Author's Note: This ended up being my most ambitious entry for GinSherry week, double the largest of my other entries hence why it took me until Friday evening to get it finished. For context, this oneshot is written as a sequel to one of my other fics titled "Gin's Treachery", but it's not required to read that before this one. Day 5 of GinSherry week and the prompt choices were family, beach, first meeting, confession.

Monday: pining, proposal/wedding, sharing clothes, AU
Tuesday: green, date, sleeping, APTX
Wednesday: jealousy, selfie, rain, hug
Thursday: family, beach, first meeting, confession
Friday: intimate, dream/nightmare, reunion, call/text
Saturday: dancing, heartache, kimono, kiss
Sunday: festival, hurt/comfort, banter, sick day, cosplay, cooking

Prompt Chosen: Reunion, Call/Text
Summary: A phone call leads to an unexpected reunion.


Prompt: Reunion, Call/Text

The house phone rang, and the Professor wasn't home, so Haibara answered it. "Hello?"

"It's been a while, Sherry."

Haibara gasped and her heart started pounding. Gin! They'd found her. It was her worst fear coming true.

"You seem to have shrunk since the last time I saw you, thought I'm more surprised to find you alive at all since Bourbon and Vermouth both claim you blew up on the Mystery Train. How curious," Gin said.

"What do you want, Gin?" Haibara asked, even though she already knew.

"To finish what I started. You knew it would come to this. No one can escape the Organization forever, Sherry."

Haibara swallowed hard and said, "If I come to you, will you leave the old man I've been staying with alone? I haven't told anyone about the Organization, and he only thinks I'm a runaway orphaned child."

Gin snorted. "How ironic that none of that is a lie. I will consider sparing his life only after we investigate if you really did keep quiet, but if you don't come tonight, he'll receive no more mercy from me than you will."

Haibara shivered. "Where do you want me to meet you?"

Gin gave her the address – it was a warehouse by the sea, of course – and then hung up. She put the phone back on the receiver and looked around at the placed she'd called home. It had been a good dream pretending she was a normal kid, but now reality was calling, and it was time to wake up. She left her Detective Boys badge and her phone behind – no sense giving Gin free info about her life or giving Kudo a means of finding her – and wrote out a note to the Professor warning him not to say anything incriminating about her or the Organization, even in the privacy of his own home, for the next few months. She left the note on his mattress underneath the covers so he would see it when he went to bed, then went to the front door. Halfway across the threshold, she stole one last look at the empty house. She longed to stay, but she fortified her resolve and left.

Haibara locked the door behind her and hid the key under a flowerpot by the front step. The only thing she carried with her to her death was the clothes on her back. She walked out of the neighborhood blocks to the business sector and entered a convenience store to ask if she could call a taxi, playing up her little girl act. The cashier looked bemused but allowed her to make the call. Unfortunately, Haibara didn't have long to wait for her ride, and gave the driver an address to a bait shop she knew was near enough to the pier that she could walk to the warehouse without trouble.

She had no complications, and no one stopped the solitary child. It was as though fate itself were hastening her along to her imminent departure from her life. This time, no one would interfere. No one would pull her away. No one would shield her. She was alone.

Haibara reached the warehouse Gin had directed her to and found the doors already open, welcoming her into their dark depths. He was already inside; she could feel his malevolent presence like a dark cloud suffocating the very air. Gin would not make this quick; his behavior towards her months ago on the Haido City Hotel rooftop was proof of that. Four shots and not a single one of them fatal, but two of them had left scars. If he expected her to be more likely to talk now, then he would be disappointed. Part of her wanted to learn how he'd found her and if he knew about Kudo, but she wouldn't be able to do anything with the information anyway.

She released a heavy sigh. No point delaying the inevitable, so she walked inside, bracing herself for the worst. The warehouse was pitch black to her sunset-adjusted eyes, but she heard nothing from Gin, not even a chuckle or a greeting though she still felt his aura all around.

An arm lunged out of the darkness and grabbed her, pinning her arms firmly to her sides. Haibara opened her mouth to scream on impulse, and a cloth covered her mouth and nose, forcing her to inhale the fumes emanating from it.

She instantly felt weak and drowsy, and before she completely lost consciousness, she heard Gin's voice say, "Sleep, Sherry, and when you awaken, I'll have a gift for you that's been long in the making."

()()()()()

Haibara awoke slowly and disoriented. The bitter taste at the back of her throat told her she'd been drugged with chloroform, but who-?

She abruptly remembered the call she'd received from Gin summoning her to that seaside warehouse. This was probably his doing, though she couldn't figure out why. That warehouse was plenty isolated to commit murder. Maybe he'd wanted to be sure she had no tracking devices on her? Yeah, that would make the most sense. Her neck felt sore and stiff, so she tried to reach up and massage it, but discovered her arms were tied, and she was sitting in a chair. Oddly, she didn't seem to have a gag on, and she wasn't blindfolded either. The darkness of the room was due to limited light coming from behind her, but she could still make out her surroundings.

She wasn't in some kind of sterile interrogation chamber, but a bedroom though not one she recognized. It was tidy and had a soft, warm look about it. There was even a dark dress suit with a skirt on a hanger that suggested the room might belong to a woman.

With a start, she realized that a woman was speaking softly in the room just beyond the door. There was something oddly familiar about the voice, and Haibara strained to listen.

"What do you intend to do about the old man she's been living with?"

"I haven't decided," Gin said. "She told me over the phone that he knew nothing, and she may have even been telling the truth. She knew how dangerous the Organization was when she ran away, and with her looking like a little kid, it would be easier for her to fly under the radar rather than explain the truth of her situation."

"Well, I know you don't care about my opinion, but Shiho would be grateful if you left him alone," the woman said.

"Hmph. Don't you ever get tired of using Sherry's opinion as bait against me, Akemi?"

Haibara's breath hitched in her throat, and she was so shocked, she nearly missed the woman's response. "Considering that's the only reason I'm alive and having this conversation with you? No, not really."

Haibara sat there utterly baffled. Now that the name had been spoken, the woman did sound uncannily like her sister, but that was literally impossible. Her sister was dead, but even if she somehow wasn't, Gin wouldn't be casually talking to her without a loaded gun aimed at her head.

"Is it time to check and see if the chloroform has worn off her by now?" the woman asked.

"Yeah, just about," Gin said.

Two chair legs scrapped the floor, and Haibara quickly went limp with her head lolling forward to pretend she was still unconscious. Soft, shoeless footsteps drew up to the door. The knob turned without a click – it wasn't locked? – and light spilled onto her closed eyelids.

"Guess she's still out of it," the fake Akemi sighed. "Come on, just untie her already. Even an unconscious sleep can't be comfortable like that."

"Hmph. You can complain about her being tied up after she stays put long enough to be filled in on what happened months ago," Gin grumbled, his voice even closer, and Haibara fought not to tense up and give herself away. She about jumped out of her skin when cold fingers suddenly brushed against her neck.

"Ah, so you are awake then?" Gin said, sounding smug. "I was wondering if I would have to resort to tickling you."

The jig was up, so Haibara gave him her fiercest glare. "What kind of game are you playing at, Gin? A nice clean murder in a warehouse too boring for you now?"

"A dangerous game where my interest or lack thereof was never the issue, Sherry," Gin answered smoothly as he walked around behind the chair she was tied to.

She heard the flick of a knife and flinched, but felt no pain and, to her bewilderment, the ropes loosened at once and fell into her lap. She pulled at an end and found it cut. She looked from the cut rope back up to Gin who was putting away his knife. What the hell was going on?

Gin noticed her staring, and his lips twitched with suppressed amusement before gesturing toward the door. "Shiho Miyano, may I present your gift, your living older sister, Akemi Miyano."

Haibara did not turn around at once. She didn't want to see. She already couldn't believe what she was hearing, and she was certain her eyes would lie to her too. Eventually, the temptation of curiosity won out, and she slowly turned toward the bedroom door. As soon as Haibara saw the woman's face, she felt like she was transported back in time. Back to when she was still a scientist working on developing the Apoptoxin project… back when she and Gin were still a couple… back when her sister was still alive.

But she wasn't. She was dead, and her murderer was standing behind Haibara's chair without a care in the world. Even so, the imposter had such an uncanny likeness to Akemi that her heart hurt, and she had to stuff all those bubbling feelings in a box.

The fake Akemi gave her a sheepish smile and a small wave. "Hi, Shiho. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Haibara stood up from the chair and made a show of looking over the other woman critically. "I must say, it's a very good physical impression of my sister, but Vermouth is also skilled enough at makeup and acting to disguise herself as anyone she wishes. While you don't feel like her, it would not be impossible to find someone with an adequate skill level to pull off this deception," she said.

The woman's smile turned wan, and she stepped carefully into the room. "That's very true, but there are some things that only the real Akemi and you would know about, aren't there?"

Haibara sniffed. "My sister and I were supervised by the Organization our whole lives. Anything we could have kept secret would have inevitably been found out by someone, and you could have gotten your information from that source."

The woman was now kneeling before her and still smiling warmly, not the least bit irritated at her obstinance. Then she opened her mouth, "For the eleven-year-old Shiho, happy birthday."

Haibara's jaw dropped, and her body trembled. No way… There was no way!

"Have you found someone you like? Mom's first love was-"

"Onee-chan," Haibara choked, tears burning her eyes as she threw herself into Akemi's arms.

It was her sister. Only Akemi could have known about the cassette tapes that Mom had left for her, but that realization had her immediately pulling away and staring back at Gin who was eyeing them both with suspicion.

"I don't understand," she said shakily, looking between the pair, her living sister and the Organization executive who was supposed to have killed her. "Akemi's still alive? How is this possible?"

Was she still dreaming and just thought she'd woken up from the chloroform? She pinched some of the skin of her forearm and it hurt. This was real.

Gin straightened, looking proud of himself, and said, "She's alive because nobody would ever doubt the word of the Organization's most ruthless high-ranking assassin if he killed her personally."

Sherry stared openly, and Akemi cleared her throat. "Gin had received orders from that person to kill me because I was still a potentially exploitable connection to the FBI through Rye, but he instead helped me fake my death so the Organization wouldn't look for me. He really did shoot me, but it wasn't anywhere immediately fatal, and he was the one who called the ambulance prematurely so it would arrive quick enough to save me. While I was in surgery, he covered my tracks to make sure there were no hospital records of my survival and created a false paper trail from the hospital to the morgue for my supposed corpse. When I got out of surgery, he had a disguise, money, new ID, and a key and directions to this house already prepared, and he sent me here that very night to get me out of Tokyo and away from the hospital as fast as possible. I don't know what he did after that, but the plan was to fake your death afterward and send you up to me."

"What? My death?" Haibara exclaimed and whirled on Gin who had shoved his hands in his coat pockets and was leaning against the wall looking annoyed.

"Yes, I expected your siter being killed for seemingly no reason would be enough to make you balk, and, because of our own history, I also expected I would be ordered to kill you as a test of my loyalty to the Organization. However, your little escape stunt threw all of my plans out of whack because now, it was dibs for whoever found you first, and they would not be trying to spare your life," Gin said.

"Spare my life!" Haibara spluttered. "You shot me four times on the hotel roof! If that's your idea of sparing my life, I'd hate to find out what it looks like when you're trying to kill me."

To her surprise, Gin winced. "I was limited in what I could do at the time. Vermouth and Pisco were already at the hotel… and Vodka was with me."

In that moment, Sherry understood what he was saying. "Vodka doesn't know about any of this," she murmured.

Gin shook his head. "No, Vodka is incapable of lying. Knowing what I've done would only get him killed."

And there was the crux of the matter. Gin had received direct orders from the boss and defied them not once but twice – first to not kill Akemi and second to not kill her – fully knowing that what he was doing was treasonous and would get him killed if his actions were discovered.

"Why?" she asked. "What are you doing this? You know what the consequences are, so what benefit do you gain from taking such risks?"

Gin looked back at her then, and Haibara tensed, feeling herself on the edge of some great precipice. He approached, and she did not move. He sunk down onto his knees, and some great and terrible emotion lurked behind his eyes as he reached out with his left hand and brushed her hair back with familiar tenderness.

"It's because I love you, and I know you would be happier reunited with the person you love most, free from the Organization's shadow, even if it means you hate me and I never see you again," Gin answered.

His frankness startled her and made her avert her eyes, not knowing how to respond. What was she supposed to say to a man she'd loved, then hated and feared when her reasons for the latter no longer existed?

All she could think of was, "Thank you for hiding my sister and reuniting me with her, but how did you know I was still alive?"

He removed his hand and stood tall again. "I didn't, I just so desperately wanted you to be that I started scouring your last confirmed locations for any sign of you. It was pure dumb luck that I saw you walking on the sidewalk home from school while I happened to be glancing out the window of a building."

His mention of school reminded Haibara of the kids, Kudo, the Professor, and the letter she'd left behind that he surely must have found by now. She'd written it thinking she was going to die, but this reunion with Gin and her sister changed everything, and she could already imagine the panic she was causing by her absence.

"Gin, I'm grateful for everything you've done for me and Akemi, but I have to get back to the old man's house as quickly as possible. It must be late, and he'll be worried about me not being home and may call the police," she said.

Gin grimaced. "I went through all this trouble to reunite you with your sister and now you want to go back."

Akemi's hands rested on Haibara's shoulders, and she answered in her place. "Shiho can't just suddenly uproot herself from the people who've been caring for her and come to know her while she's been in hiding without causing a disturbance. I would love to live with Shiho again and am immensely happy you found her alive and well and were able to bring her here, even if under duress, but this isn't the best way to go about it. You know it's true even if you don't want to admit it, though I know this puts most of the burden of our safety squarely on your shoulders. All three of us can talk about this later, but for now…" Akemi removed her hands and bowed her head low. "… Thank you for everything and forgive us for all the trouble."

"Thank you for everything and forgive us for all the trouble," Haibara echoed with a low bow of her own.

Gin sighed heavily. "Fine, it's not like I have much choice in the matter. Sherry, if it's really that urgent, then the sooner you get back, the less trouble there'll be, so say your goodbyes and meet me at the car. I'm going out to smoke."

He stroked past them both and walked left out of the room, presumably toward the exit. Once they both heard the door close behind him, Akemi smiled down at her and said, "I've really had no trouble with the Organization while I've been here, and Gin's only been by twice, not counting tonight, to keep me updated on things regarding you. How's the little detective?"

"You mean Conan Edogawa? Still fighting the Organization. Gin doesn't seem to know about him," Haibara said.

"Ah, then he'll continue to be our little secret," Akemi said with a playful twinkle in her eyes that left Haibara wondering just how much her sister knew about him.

She wrapped her arms around Akemi in a tight hug, reluctant to leave so quickly after reuniting and promised, "I'll see you again soon when I can."

"I know, and if you send me your number, I can share mine and also Gin's new one so that we can coordinate another meeting in the future and plan out how to extract you from Beika without causing alarm," Akemi said.

They hugged for a few more minutes before Haibara forced herself to step away. She shared her number with Akemi who immediately replied back with her own contact info and then Gin's. Once she had that, Haibara went out the door to meet up with Gin leaning against the car – it wasn't his Porsche – to head back to the place she currently called home.