Author's Note: I think I will refer to Mimasaka as Akira and Nishikaido as Soujiro from this chapter on. For one thing, it's easier to type ;). There's also another reason which will become obvious later on. Forgive me if I use their surnames and first names interchangeably.

I'm so happy that you all recognised Shinichi Kudo from Detective Conan! As you can probably tell, I'm a big fan of Conan too...

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Except the plot. :)

Family Planning

By Onkiu

Chapter 11: Tango One

Later that night, police began the operation to rescue Tsukushi. Swiftly but silently, occupants of the apartment complex in which Tsukushi was held were evacuated. After that, police invaded the building; taking over the guard's office in which the surveillance and control of the elevators was placed. Roads surrounding the building were cordoned off. The emergency stairs and exits were sealed off to prevent any of the kidnappers escaping, and counter-terrorism police, masked and deadly looking, moved in. The plan from the counter-terrorism department was to surround the kidnappers from all sides so that not a single one of them could escape, and in the process, wrench Tsukushi from their grasp, thereby killing two birds with one stone; their arrest and Tsukushi's freedom.

"Do we really need counter-terrorism police?" said Domyouji, amazed at the meteoric way in which the police operation had stepped up. "They're just professional criminals out to make a quick buck from me."

"They're terrorists because they have the potential to ruin the economy. Economic terrorists," replied Detective Shinichi Kudo. "Plus, we need a real life hostage drama every now and then, and who better than to have the girl that's been part of the headlines about a 'fairytale union'?"

The F4 were sitting in a large police bus, parked in a quiet corner of the street, that served as the control centre of the operation. It looked like a plain bus on the outside, except for the weird antennas and satellite dishes sticking out of it like a sore thumb. Inside was a vast array of computers with very specialised operating systems and all sorts of strange devices that even Domyouji had not seen before. He wasn't even sure why he was allowed into such an area - wasn't this unprofessional conduct? - but he supposed that the F4, all being men of high profile, were given some leeway. A media contingent had been alerted to the unfolding hostage drama and had gathered around the scene of crime, and the police had decided to allow the F4 access to the police bus to give them some privacy (as well as preventing them from blurting anything that may hinder police operations.)

Ah, the perks of being rich and famous! Domyouji had never really been an avid fan of police dramas, but he felt that his opinion was going to sway after this.

The commander of the counter-terrorism department was finalising the plans with Detective Hattori Heiji and Shinichi Kudo, tweaking the fine details. From the blueprint of the building, apartment 27H had one face on the western face of the complex, and a bedroom and the kitchen had windows on that face. Two squads of five counter terrorism police were to invade apartment 27H simultaneously; the 'red' team, as they were dubbed by colours, was to abseil down from the top of the thirty fourth floor into the kitchen and the apartment; the 'blue' team was to burst in through the front door.

The police had no idea how many kidnappers were involved, but an estimate on their dossier was around five - a number that they were confident that their ten well equipped men were able to handle easily. Another unknown was where exactly Tsukushi was held, but their guess was either the living room or the bedroom.

"Red team, blue team," said the commander of the counter terrorism department into a microphone. "Are you ready?"

"Red team is ready," replied the leader of the red team, his voice reverberating though the bus.

"Blue team is also ready."

"The time now is twenty two fifty five. At twenty three zero zero, at my command, red team is to swing in through the windows and the blue team is to burst in through the doors. Once you find tango one, report. The rest of you are to cover for him until he is safely out the front door with tango one. You are not to abseil her down, because tango one is pregnant and if you make her lose the baby, I'll have to pay with my head. Also, you won't have the time to hook abseiling equipment onto her. After tango one is safely out, you are to make sure none of the kidnappers escape. I want them captured by all means, dead or alive, but preferably alive so I can question them. Finally, I wish you all good luck. You'll need it."

Domyouji felt that was very true, and crossed his fingers. The police were confident, but there were so many variables in this - he just hoped that it would go well.

He hoped to see Tsukushi very soon, to be able to hold her in his arms once more.

"Damnit," said Gin, punching the keyboard of his laptop. He was checking the balance of his foreign bank account, and it had not increased by a cent. "That kid still hasn't deposited any money in!"

"I think I know why," said one of his four accomplices, a bulky man called 'Vodka'. "Look out the window."

Gin rushed to the window and cursed under his breath. Being so high up from the ground offered him a good view of what was happening on the road. They had been cordoned off and police were redirecting traffic elsewhere.

"Seems like we're surrounded, boys. And girl," he added, when his one and only female accomplice, a woman codenamed 'Sherry', glared at him.

His final accomplice, 'Tequila', had turned on the television to see if there was anything about them. Sure enough, a reporter was in the middle of saying something. She was standing outside a place that looked strangely like the neighbouring apartment complex.

"... The mission to free Miss Makino is currently underway. Police have currently not released any details yet, however-"

Gin swore loudly.

"We've been had," he snapped dangerously. "Give me the pistol."

"What are you going to do?" said Sherry, surprised.

"I'm going to kill her!" he said, throwing the cigarette he had been smoking onto the ground and stamping on it.

"You can't kill our trump card! We're not going to get away from this if we kill her!" cried Sherry, restraining him, but to no avail. "We might be able to get away if we still have her as our hostage!"

"Get off me! I don't care! This is the punishment that stupid rich kid is going to get for not listening to my orders!" He jerked away from her, grabbed his gun and opened the door to the bedroom where Tsukushi was held.

Tsukushi's eyes widened at his wild entrance with the gun in his hand. She wanted to scream, do anything to deter him or alert the neighbours, but couldn't; her mouth was gagged.

"Mmmm!" she cried through her gags.

"You are a troublesome one," he whispered, finger on the trigger. "Goodbye."

Tsukushi squeezed her eyes shut.

This is the end of me, she thought. It's been the best time of my life knowing you, Domyouji...

I love you.

Goodbye...

Suddenly, there was a very loud burst. But she felt no pain. She opened her eyes and found that the windows had shattered, and she quickly covered her face to shield herself from the shards of glass. Two men, uniformly covered from head to toe, leapt in in a display of agility despite the heavy weapons they were carrying.

More kidnappers? she thought wearily. The five men did look like the kidnappers; head to toe in dark clothes - except they seemed to be decked out in all sorts of equipment that the kidnappers lacked. They were more well armed and armoured.

One of the men spotted her and quickly lifted her up over his shoulders so that she was being carried with her head dangling over his back.

"Red five has tango one," he said.

She had no idea what on earth it meant, and she had no idea who they were; but they had saved her from being shot. At the very least, she felt a slight sense of gratefulness towards these two men.

"No!" screamed Gin, lunging for her, pulling at the trigger of the pistol, but the other man shot him in the leg, thereby setting the pistol off in the wrong direction - towards the ceiling.

"Red five covered," said the other man, his eyes firmly fixed on Gin, who was now writhing in pain on the floor, blood drenching his left leg as he screamed and cursed.

Red five, whoever he was, quickly carried her out the bedroom and through the living room - which she had never been into before - and she found five men, also dressed like the first two, had surrounded the last three accomplices. Three other men were scouring the other rooms of the apartment, searching for any more criminals that may have hidden.

Without so much as a glance towards the other men, red five ran out the front door of the apartment into a deserted corridor, where a lift was already waiting for them. Controlled from the guard's room on the ground level, the lift automatically shut its doors and went down. Once the doors had safely shut, the man put her onto the floor, where he undid the ropes binding her and pulled the gag off her mouth. She finally understood who they were - seeing the logo embroidered on his uniform, she realised that he was, in fact, a policeman.

Tsukushi felt the sensation returning to her limbs, which she hadn't exercised much for the past two days. She stretched herself and jumped up and down in relief. She almost felt like dancing.

"Thank you so much for saving my life," she croaked hoarsely. She hadn't had much to drink lately, nor had she spoken at all except for the times she had to confirm that she was still alive to Domyouji.

The man didn't even look at her or even act as if he had heard her.

Tsukushi shrugged the snubbing off. They had reached ground floor, and the doors to the lift opened. The first thing she saw was the thing she wanted to see most during these horrible two days.

"Domyouji!" she cried, running straight out of the lift and into his waiting arms. She felt the emotion well up inside her and burst into tears.

"Makino! You're okay! Did they hurt you?" said Domyouji, relief flooding all over him. When one of the counter terrorist policemen had confirmed that he had gotten hold of Tsukushi, he had run out of the police bus and into the lobby to wait for her, despite police orders because it was still dangerous Her small form in his arms did every bit to attest to the fact that she was truly alive and well. He ruffled her hair gently and pulled himself even closer to her in a protective manner.

"Not so much as Eitoku did," she said. "Remember what I said? They didn't hurt me as much as the great bullying octopus head did."

Domyouji laughed. He knew exactly who she was referring to.

"But..." she whispered. "I thought I was going to die. He.. he pulled out a gun, and if the police didn't come in at that moment, I would have died..." Tsukushi looked around for the policeman who had rescued her, but he had disappeared once the mission had been completed.

"I'm ... I'm... " Domyouji wanted to apologise, but somehow, he had never been quite able to say the word 'sorry' properly.

"That's okay," said Tsukushi, reading his mind, placing her finger on his lips. "I understand. I'm not mad at you - for now."

Domyouji simply held her even more tightly. He needed no words to express his feelings. He pulled closer to her, and as his lips were about to meet hers...

"Excuse me, Miss Makino?" said a paramedic, popping up in between them and ruining their romantically tender moment in the most anticlimactic fashion possible.

Tsukushi quickly lurched away, face beet red with embarrassment. Domyouji's face went through all the shades of a glorious sunset. They had totally forgotten the police presence and had not noticed the media, which was finally allowed to come closer to the building and had as close to them as the police barricades allowed. There were many sudden flashes of light from photographers trying to get some shots of their kiss.

"Um, um, what!" stammered Tsukushi quickly, to no one in particular. "I was just making sure that he had no food stuck on his lips! Yeah! That's right!"

"You are to come to the hospital for a check up," said the paramedic, pretending that he hadn't noticed that they were about to kiss. "We want to make sure that you and your baby are alright and that you've suffered no trauma, and if you did, to be able to receive adequate treatment."

"Um... okay," she said uncertainly, following the paramedic.

"Don't worry," said Domyouji, squeezing her hand reassuringly. "I'll come with you."

He didn't let go of her hand as they made their way to the ambulance which was parked within the police barricades. As they stepped outside the building, more flashbulbs went off. Tsukushi climbed into the ambulance with Domyouji following her. As the paramedic was about to close the door, she caught a glimpse of her four kidnappers being escorted out the front lobby by nine counter-terrorism officers. She was finally able to get a glimpse of their face, which she had not seen during her time as their hostage because they had covered it with balaclavas. Their appearance diverted all media towards them instead.

Once Tsukushi was safely on the stretcher, and Domyouji seated on the other, the ambulance started up and made its way towards the nearest hospital.

"What am I supposed to do there?" she asked the paramedic that was tending to her.

"The usual - assessing if you've suffered any psychological trauma, tests to make sure you're okay, and that your baby's okay; you know, no miscarriages or anything. Shock usually causes miscarriages."

"Oh right," said Tsukushi. "WHAT! MY BABY?"

She nearly forgot that she was supposed to be 'carrying' a baby from all the excitement of the past few days. From the look on Domyouji's face, it seemed as if he had forgotten too.

"No! I don't want a check-up!" wailed Tsukushi, wriggling and struggling against the bounds of the stretcher.

"Please, Miss Makino! Don't struggle!" said the paramedic, looking rather frightened.

Tsukushi had to find a way to get away from the check up. There was no way on earth she was going to pass it.

Next Chapter: The hospital check-up - will disaster strike? Well, obviously, or else I'll run out of things to write about!

This little episode finally ends! Drama isn't really my thing - especially hostage dramas. I think I'll stick with humour. So it's back to our regular, funny updates :)

Tango one just means target one. Fancy police jargon.

Originally, I was going to make the codenames of the baddies Domo-kun, Hello Kitty, Kero-chan, Pen-pen, Calcifer, and other cute non-human characters. But then, they wouldn't sound evil enough... :(