Houston, We have a Slight Problem; Okay a big Problem

She felt a soft bed and warm sheets around her and as she returned to her conscious state. Soft murmurs and intangible words seemed to surround her as her eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the light of the room. Something was wrong, yet she couldn't put her finger on what it was.

The girl's legs and arms flexed to allow her to sit up against the wall as her pillow acted as a cushion. Amber stared; the room she was in was in a hospital. Her hands moved up to the bandage around her head. The soft gauze concealed a large bump, "Probably where I hit my head last night." She thought, as her brain began to process the information. Yet, her head felt unusually heavy. She allowed her fingers to trace her bangs which, as usual, parted and fell halfway down her cheek. The girl allowed her hand to follow her hairline down. Her index finger pulled a lock of gold foreword, accept this strand would have came just above Amber's waist, if it had been in its proper place. "Long hair? But, I haven't had long hair since I was a kid." The strands of hair slipped past her fingers as she examined her hands. They were smaller, softer, the hands of a child. She starred, dumbfounded by this occurrence, and if not for the throbbing on the side of her head, would have blamed it on a dream.

A soft click echoed through the room as the door opened. Her eyes followed the sound and settled on two men. One was short and on the heavy side while the second was lean and tall. All the color and warmth drained from her face before squealing and falling off the bed. Luckily, the men were too engaged in their argument to listen.

The shorter of the two spoke first, "Well, what do you think Mr. Moore?" The second scratched the back of his head; an uncaring and lazy expression crossed his face.

"Well, I don't know, what am I supposed to think? It's just another brat with a bump. I really couldn't care less… Why am I here again?"

"Mr. Moore! Stop acting like a brat, you baby, and focus on the reason that she's here. Someone finds her in the middle of the night, brings her to us, and you don't think there's anything suspicious about that?" The irritation was growing in his voice. This was apparently not the first time they had this conversation, or a similar one to it. The second one, Detective Moore, shrugged nonchalantly.

"Heh? No, kids' runaway all the time," as he made this comment, Amber pushed herself against the wall and slowly edge toward the door. "A T.V. show, another world?" She turned the cool metal of the door handle as she slipped out and dashed down the hall. "What the hell am I doing here, more importantly, how did I get here?" She couldn't fathom it; this was supposed to be impossible. The voice from the shorter man, Inspector McGuire as she recalled, carried through the hall.

"Richard, you half-wit! Wake up already, would you? We're on to something and all you do is brush it off!"

The youngest one shook his head at the detective's idiocy. His dark, chocolate brown hair brushed lightly across his face and over his aqua eyes. The child, Conan Edogawa, also known as Jimmy Kudo, processed the information in his head. Something was up with this girl but he couldn't figure out wha—hey! The girl had slipped out of the room, undetected by the adults' bickering. He followed her calling out, ""Hey! Girl, where are you going? Aren't you hurt?" The blond stopped and muttered something that sounded similar to "busted," yet it was so quiet, Jimmy couldn't be certain if he heard it correctly or not. Afterward, the child turned around waving.

"No, I'm okay, bye,"

The boy stared, as if trying to decipher the child. She was abnormal and bizarre, whether it was a result from her injury or not; the boy wasn't sure. His gaze followed the blonde's movements as she ran down the hallway. "Why would a girl be—Hey! She's ditching!" The truth hit the detective like a ton of bricks. As he was standing and contemplating the girl's actions, she had taken advantage of the opportunity to slip away, almost undetected. "Ugh," Instinctively, Jimmy's feet began to move at steady sprint while he attempted to head the child off, "Hey wait."

Rachel, noticing "Conan's" dash through the hall, called after him, but the young boy ignored her as he continued to chase Amber. The teenage brunette called once again in a useless attempt to insure authority. A discouraged look crossed her face as she realized that she would have to follow him. Rachel Moore moaned as she exited the room, beginning to follow the boy she was responsible for.

But, Jimmy Kudo had a significant head start. Conan called after the blonde, trying to stop her, yet his attempts were futile as she quickened her pace, reluctantly, Jimmy Kudo noticed that if he wanted the child to stop, he was going to have to force her. As a last resort, he flipped the top of his watch up, aiming, then pushing in the sides. A thin silver needle shot through the air, hitting the girl in the back of the neck. Gradually, her speed began to descend as she collapsed on the ground. In the back of Jimmy's mind, he praised himself for hitting his target, and then "prayed" that the child wasn't too upset with him. After all, he would be pretty angry if someone had shot him with a tranquilizer. Yet, unknown to the detective, the blonde had realized when the needle pierced through her skin. And, her last thoughts were cussing the tranquilizer and forcing her feet to continue moving.

Conan moved steadily toward the child; then bent down to pick her up. He chuckled and shook his head in remembrance at the child's strange reaction as he cradled her petite frame; the single word that projected into his mind was "Kids," then putting on his child like face, called for assistance from his guardian.

"Rachel, Rachel help!" She ran around the corner, her pace slowing as she approached the young boy, who held a small child in his arms, "I knew she was hurt and I tried to stop her and all out of nowhere she slowed down and hit the floor." Rachel bent over in order to take the girl from Conan.

"So that's why you took off down the hall,"

"Yeah! That's why," the boy responded as he followed Rachel back to the room. After she had replaced the blond in the hospital bed, she turned and directed her attention to the bickering inspectors. Her face was serious and her voice could be projected to the next county.

"Are you two crazy? Stop arguing and start paying attention to more than just yourselves!" As usual, Detective Moore turned around clueless.

"What?"

"SHE COULD HAVE GOTTEN SERIOUSLY HURT!" The inspector and the detective exchanged confused looks. The child was asleep, wasn't she?

"How? She's been in here with us the entire time,"

"Okay, then who was that running down the hall? Ugh! You're lucky that Conan noticed her or she— well, something really bad might have happened!" Apparently the response that Rachel's father had given wasn't sufficient for her. The man's hands rose up defensively, trying to ward off his child's attack.

"We would have noticed it sooner or later,"

"What happened to the sooner?"

"Like I said sooner or later," Detective Moore laughed nervously as his daughter glared at him, furious at his irresponsible behavior. She looked as if she was ready to murder her father within seconds. Conan chuckled, admiring the show. Unfortunately, Detective Moore had overheard him, and it wasn't long until the man's fist collided with Jimmy's head as he growled, "What are you laughing at, you little brat?"

"Father!"

"That little snot was laughing at me," The adult held his hands up in defense, responding similar to how a child would say, "He started it." Rachel threw her arms up in exasperation; her father could be so difficult at times.

"Oh yeah, Dad, Conan's really laughing his head off. He's in fits of giggles, just mocking Detective Moore," she rolled her eyes before they returned to her father, glaring. He was so immature, and sometimes she questioned whether, between Conan and Detective Moore, which one was better behaved. "Come on, Dad. I really think Little Conan's got better things to do."

"Then why is he here?"

"I just love watching you solve these cases, it's amazing what a great detective you are." Detective Moore muttered something under his breath, but even though Jimmy couldn't hear it, Rachel did. Perturbed, her fingers pinched the end of her father's ear as she yanked forcefully.

"I heard that." The adult whined like a beaten dog, begging his teenage daughter to release him. Inspector McGuire cast a concerned look to the bickering family.

"Can we just focus on the case?"

"Like what?"

"Like what we're going to do with her," Inspector McGuire stared at Detective Moore, as if in disbelief. Was it really possible for a person to be this dense? As always, the detective shrugged off the question as if he were deciding what he wanted for lunch.

"Oh, just send her home already." The Inspector shook his head, his frustration rising.

"We don't know where that is, Moore- and if she doesn't know either, then we're in trouble,"

"Well that's just stupid, why wouldn't she know?"

"Because, you knucklehead. Can't you see the huge lump on her head under the bandage? We're afraid she might have taken some serious cerebral damage. She might not have a clue, and to only prove more that she's not in any good condition, from the sounds of what your daughter said, she wandered off and lost consciousness," Jimmy Kudo stared at the adults; he smirked, knowing that they didn't know half of the story.

As the drug wore off the blonde began to come out of her unconsciousness, again. The muttering became clearer at the seconds past and her ears began to adjust to the sounds around her.

"Hmm- Maybe you're right Inspector- Maybe we do have a case or something on our hands," He allowed his shoulders to rise then fall back to their normal position as a sigh escaped his mouth. "Eh- who knows? But, I do know that I want to go home and sleep, we've just been standing around here for her for two days now," She felt the acid in her stomach threatening to surface again.

"TWO DAYS—Hey, cool, I'm awake. Wait a second, two days—I've been out for TWO FREAKIN DAYS?" The scream echoed in her brain as her body propelled her into a sitting position, "How? When? Why? What the hell? What the hell? What the hell? No! No! No! This is not supposed to happen!" Her fingers began to fidget as the panic rose. This was wrong, on so many levels. She was in a T.V. show, or another world, or wherever she was. On top of everything, she was a child again, and short-er, how does that work, you age up not down! And, now she had nowhere to go. But, she had to calm down, if she didn't, she wasn't doing anybody any good, including herself. Acknowledging this, Amber forced her lungs to open to allow them to fill with air and calm her nerves. All she needed was a plan; at least some idea of what she could do.

"Oh! Look Conan! She's awake!" Rachel and Conan walked toward the bed taking interest toward the young child who just awoke. Her deep green eyes met the boy's blue as she turned her head to face him. The boy, Conan, smiled, and it appeared genuine.

"So, what's your name little girl?"

She felt the vein pop in her head. "Little? You ain't much taller then me pipsqueak!" Again, she inhaled to force herself to control her temper while debating to give them her entire name or an alias. Then again, if they were asking for her name, maybe she could use it toward her advantage. If she claimed that she didn't remember anything, then she would be guaranteed a home, and the story would fit because of the large bump she had acquired, "Uh, Amber."

"Oh, well that's cool- where did you come from?" He was obviously trying to get the case moving, probably because Detective Moore wasn't paying attention to anything else but himself.

"Umm," The girl looked thoughtful as she lifted her eyes to the ceiling. Shortly after, her hand grabbed the side of her head, as if a sharp pain had shot through her skull, "Ow."

A concerned look crossed Jimmy Kudo's face, "Are you okay? What happened to your head? Did you fall," This was not good, if she couldn't remember anything the entire investigation was at risk.

"Umm," The blond, Amber, stared at him, and then shrugged, "I dunno."

"That's okay," She stared at Conan's expression. He was obviously worried or disappointed; it was difficult to read his face exactly. However, Amber was sure that he did not believe everything was alright. Yet, he smiled and acted as if it wasn't important. "Can you remember anything?" At first, she stared at him, as if the answer lay in his face, before shaking her head.

"Mm-mm," Her green eyes fell as she began to examine her hands and swing her legs back and forth. He was concerned, she could sense it. Taking into consideration of what he had been through, he was probably worried about the men in black that fed him the poison to begin with. For all he knew she may have had something to do with them, or at least be a witness, and if that wasn't the case, if this was a "real" investigation she could have been the only link.

As she processed this information her foot collided with Conan's back. It wasn't very hard, but it got his attention, "Oops, sorry. Hey, are you okay? You seem pretty worried?"

"No, I'm alright," He gave an encouraging smile, but Amber saw through his deception. Jimmy was apprehensive and not sure what to do. The guilt gnawed at her heart. Disappointment was not something she dealt well with, especially if it was someone else, and if she could see it. She contemplated her next action in her mind for a few minutes.

"Wait- It was raining yesterday," at first, the detective seemed puzzled, but then began to register what the comment meant.

"Oh, you mean before you fell asleep? That was almost three days ago now."

"THREE DAYS?" Amber felt the sharp intake of breath, earlier they said two. Then again, they mentioned that they had been waiting around two days. It was possible that Inspector McGuire called Detective Moore after the first day.

"Almost, well, hey at least you remembered something," she watched as his face began to relax. At least she had given him some peace of mind. Her lips curved into a relaxed smiled as Detective Moore's voice carried through the room.

"Hey what are you about—Oh look the little brat's awake, can I go home now?" She observed the inspector as he walked toward her. As he did this, Rachel moved to the other side of the room so that she wouldn't get in the way.

"That depends if she remembers anything." She felt the soft material from his glove on the side of her head as his large hand gingerly examined the bump. Amber winced and pulled away from him as the fingers settled on an area where the skull was still tender. The center hadn't completely healed yet.

"Well she said it was raining yesterday, but she means when she fell asleep; her name's Amber," The inspector shook his head, less than thrilled at Conan's response.

"Well that's no good. We need a last name in order to get an ID. But, at least she knows who she is, maybe there's a little hope." He grinned before turning his attention to the detective, "But, don't get too excited, Moore, the damage may be permanent." Detective Moore cast a worried look. He had a bad feeling that the next thing he heard, he wouldn't like. Amber smiled; she knew her entire name, Amber Amora Collins, but if the adults knew that, they would have a lot of questions, questions that she didn't even know the answers to. So, she allowed the adults to continue.

"So what are we going to do with her now?" Detective Moore whined. He really didn't want another child to care for, yet, judging by what Inspector McGuire was inquiring, might be where the discussion was headed.

"Well, you're the detective, Moore. This might mean she's going to have to stay with you until I or we or you figure it out," He exhaled, as if all of the problems in the room would disappear with the toxins in his body. "Jimmy Kudo, where are you? You never complained like this moron does."

"WHAT? Who needs that guy anyway?" The man practically screamed the response; which was followed by his traditional laugh.

"God, was it possible for someone to have such an obnoxious laugh." Amber shook her head clearly annoyed, but she remained quiet as he continued.

"There's a new sheriff in town, and his name Detective Richard Moore! You got that? Nobody needs that cocky brat now that you have ME!" Amber looked at Inspector McGuire. By the looks of things, Moore wouldn't even have the job if Kudo hadn't gone missing.

"So are you taking her or what, Moore?"

"Of COURSE I'm taking her! You think I'd let that Kudo brat look better than me? No sir! I'll be glad to take her!" His hand wrapped tightly around her arm. As he hoisted her up she practically flew out of the bed. This was followed by him attempting to drag her across the room.

"Dad, knock it off!" Rachel exclaimed, furious at her father. After he had finally stopped trying to dislocate Amber's shoulder from its socket, Rachel held her arms out, "come here sweetie."

Amber gapped, "Swe—Sweetie?" Her head turned between the two, belittlement, or abuse from an idiot. She considered her options for a moment before settling on the belittlement, after all, it was safer. Whining like a child, she ran into Rachel's arms, who, in return began to stroke her hair and comfort the young "child."

"See it's okay, don't be scared. It'll be alright, you'll see," After, the teenage girl turned to her father; she grabbed his ear as she muttered through clenched teeth, "See dad? She's not just some doll! She's a child! And if you don't start being considerate instead of arrogant, I swear I'll rip that ear right off your head!"

"Oh, just shoot me now," Amber screamed through her mind. Why did this have to happen to her? Detective Moore looked at the group, he was ready to leave and the sooner he got home, the sooner he could sleep the events of the day away.

"Alright, let's go," He opened the door as Rachel stood up and grabbed Amber's hand. Conan followed close behind; she starred at the boy, a touch annoyance rose into her thoughts. How was it that even when they were in another world, she remained at least an inch shorter from one of the smallest guys there!