A/N:

Pardon me for being self-indulgent trash. Because, you know, who doesn't love pansexual!Ryan :P

-Reddie

"Pancakes?"

"Pancakes," Kaede replied simply, squirting batter from a bottle onto her griddle. "I can also make great crepes and okonomiyaki." She bragged, only leading Barnaby to roll his eyes.

"So," He began, "you're basically saying you only know how to make pancakes?"

"I just said I know how to make crepes and okonomiyaki too."

"Those are just variations of the same thing."

She scoffed, "If you don't want it, then go out and get your own breakfast. Sorry I bothered to try and make something nice for you."

"No, no. I really appreciate it. I just think you should learn to cook other things too, for the sake of your health. I could show you how."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm fine. Those three are easy to make, and I don't have a lot of time to learn new recipes. I mean, I tried making Dad's fried rice, but it kept spilling everywhere!" Barnaby couldn't help but snort out a chuckle at this, putting a hand over his mouth. "What's so funny?"

"Sorry, that's exactly what happened to me too first time I tried making it."

"What? Really?" Kaede stared back at him in disbelief. "You actually messed up at something like that?"

"Well, yeah. I'm only human, Kaede. Did you think I was incapable of screwing up or something?"

"But… you made everything look so easy!" She said abashedly, flipping over her pancake. "I remember in high school, when you cooked dinner, you could cut things up so fast, and you knew exactly how to sear or bake or fry it so it got to just the right consistency. And it wasn't just cooking either." She turned around at looked at him, "Whenever I had a question for homework in any subject, you knew the answer. And you could mend and sew things together like nothing happened, like the time my cousin accidentally tore the curtains. And when we had computer viruses, it literally took you like ten minutes to get rid of them. And when I was busy asking Dad for advice involving interviews and college essays and what to wear, you would chime in from the other side of the room and your idea… wouldn't sound half bad. I ended up taking a lot of your advice to heart, because I figured you knew exactly what you were talking about." Kaede furrowed her brows, "So how the hell does a guy like you screw up at fried rice?"

He shrugged, "It was hard to make it the same way your dad did. I did get the hang of it eventually though. It just took some practice."

"Mm." Kaede hummed apathetically, flopping the pancake onto a plate before setting it down in front of Barnaby with a fork. She couldn't help but smirk at the look on his face when he saw it was shaped like a rabbit. "Eat up, Old Man. For the sake of your health, you know?"

Exhaling the lightest breath of chuckle, Barnaby took up the fork. In a few minutes, she sat across from him, with a pancake of her own shaped like a cat.

After a bit of back and forth, it was decided that Barnaby would be joining her on the way to work. It was only when she reached her office that she realized Anya had snuck into her bag again.

The cat beamed at her, mewling the second she unzipped her bag.

"Not again!" Kaede gave a start, as the cat jumped out, "Anya! Darling baby, no!" Barnaby couldn't help but snicker as the cat rubbed a cheek against her leg. The investigator glared at him, causing him to put up his hands and stifle the last of his laughter.

"That cat sure does love you." He couldn't help but quip. At the sound of his voice, Anya's ears perked up, and she turned tail towards him, standing on hind legs as she pawed at Barnaby.

"Yeah, well Anya loves you too, Old Man." She opened up her computer and scooped a couple of folders from her bag, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do."

Barnaby bided his time at the side with Anya as Kaede flitted between public databases and the folders in front of her. He didn't expect her research to take so long, but then an hour passed, and then another, and then a couple more, until the sun was setting and Anya lay curled in a ball at his feet. He sent a weary smile Kaede's way when she wasn't looking, admirable of her meticulous work. He could definitely admire in his own way that she didn't jump right into things unlike a certain someone he knew, but as her fingers flew at the keys, he could see where the passion of the tiger had rubbed off on her.

She only smirked at him, because she could practically feel his green eyes boring into her.

"You regret coming with me now, don't you?"

"Not at all," He replied, crossing his legs. "What makes you say that?"

"You sound bored."

"Funny, I don't recall having made a single noise all afternoon."

"And that, Old Man, is the sound of boredom," She turned off her monitor. "Anyhow, I'm done with research for the day. I… found some interesting things, to say the least."

"Oh?" Kaede shifted, holding up a sheet from a separate case file.

"It seems I have received three related cases. Now, as you are not aware, I mostly take on cases that involve recovering lost information. It's something I'm good at, and I frankly wouldn't have bothered with Sharon Shale's case had it not been for Dr. Page's name coming up. Murder cases, though not impossible for me, are out of my league."

"We don't know that it's a murder though." Barnaby reminded, causing her to scrunch her face, as if pushing back words already formed in her throat.

"Anyhow…" She pointed to the middle of the sheet, "here is a case request I received from Sternbild United Hospital. They have a few holes in their records that they'd like me to fill in. They're missing background information for nine doctors who'd either quit or transferred over the past few months to work elsewhere, one of them being Dr. Page." Switching gears, she put the sheet back in its proper folder and pulled a new one from another file. "And here is a case request I received directly from the Century Center for Health to investigate the records of Dr. Page. They're missing medical information regarding a few patients who had been under her care during her time working there. Sharon was included among them."

"So, really," He smiled triumphantly, crossing his arms, "this is nothing but a large information mishap."

"But this is all very strange, isn't it, Barnaby?" Kaede insisted, waving her papers, "That Dr. Page's name showed up in all three of these separate cases. That one of the case requests involving her just so happened to be from the hospital where Dad was treated." Before Barnaby could open his mouth to respond, she glared at him pointedly, saying, "Now, I'm not going to jump to conclusions just from these leads, but you can't keep denying that there's something wrong here. There are too many holes in Dr. Page's information to just be coincidence. My gut tells me so." She slapped the folders back onto her desk. "I have to get her."

"Alright then." He crossed his legs, reclining, "Say Dr. Page had killed some patients. Say Kotetsu was among them. What would you do then, if that was really the case? Arrest her? Or kill her on the spot?"

"Ohhh. Is that what you think I am, Barnaby?" Kaede gave off a harsh laugh, "Listen, I am nothing like you used to be. I'll have you know that I don't see myself as someone who has the right to end another person's life. In fact, I don't think anyone has that right," She crossed her arms. "I'm a woman of justice. And I'm going to make sure the guilty get exactly what they deserve."

"So then what do you think Dr. Page deserves?"

Kaede harrumphed, "Right now, due process. Because she hasn't been proven guilty of anything. Yet." She then took up her jacket and tugged on the sleeves, "Wake Anya up and come on. We're leaving now."

"I need to know that no one had taken my baby from me."

Thinking back on it now as she glided down the highway back to Sternbild, she could understand Edmond's sentiment. It was the kind of "what if" that kept her up at night, made it hard to fall asleep when the only thought that filled her mind was finding out. What if her dad had been taken from her before his time? What if he had at least a week left before his heart finally got to him, before someone else could stop it?

And so what if Dr. Page had murdered her father?

It only brought more questions to mind, burning her with need for an answer, any answer. "How" was a question that made her stomach turn, and she tried to ward her mind away from the awful thought of her father poisoned by overdose, or of him suffocating with nobody around to save him. And "why" was even worse, because it made her blood boil to think that maybe there was no answer to that question. It wasn't as though her father had given anyone reason to go after his life. He was a hero. He did what he could to bring good to the world. So why would anyone want to kill him?

Was Dr. Page sociopathic? Did she get a kick out of having that sort of power over the ill? Kaede wouldn't have been so surprised if that really were the case. It was an ugly world. There were people like that out there, still bringing about havoc, bringing about pain…

Barnaby answered his phone, stealing Kaede away from her head for a second, "Hello?"

"Hey, Junior! It's been a while."

"Ryan!" His eyes went wide, "How have you been?"

"Ah, great, great," Ryan laughed heartily, reclining on his couch with knees far apart. "I'm kicking it back at my place, nice and easy. Having a very good time right now." A giggle sounded in the background, confusing Barnaby.

"Oh, do you have someone over?"

"Why, yes I do!" His cup clinked with that of the beauty across from him, before he took a sip of hard lemonade cocktail. He gave an exhale of refreshment, practically singing, "Ah! Guess who has a smoking hot date with him right now~?"

"Heh. So you're calling to brag then?" Barnaby leaned back, "Alright, what's her name? What's she like?" Ryan practically roared with laughter.

"You don't need me to tell you stuff you already know…"

"Ahhhh," Barnaby chuckled. "So someone from our old workplace? Agnes then?"

"Geeeeeeeeeeeez, Handsome, you sure are dense," Nathan chimed in, sounding a little tipsy. "Come on, Agnes? Really? After he dropped that lovely little hint of me being 'smoking hot'?"

"Oh, my bad!" Barnaby laughed, "I figured you were more interested in the men outside of work, Nathan, so this comes as a bit of a surprise."

"Mhm. Anyhow—ah!" Their date poked a lizard kiss on their shoulder, "Ryan, stop, that tickles~!"

Ryan whispered seductively against their tattoo, "I'm just digging your sweet ink, cutie, that's all~"

"Oooh, goodness, you spoil me. Let me talk a moment, okay, honey? It's important," The smile on Barnaby's face fell when he heard this.

"What is?"

"Well. I'm not sure how to say this over the phone… but if you could find a time to drop by my place tomorrow evening or whatever time you have this week, I have something to discuss with you regarding Hero TV. It's confidential information, so I can't quite reveal much here."

"Alright then." Barnaby looked ahead, watching as Kaede shifted to the exit off the freeway, "I'm a little occupied myself at the moment, so I'll call you back and let you know when I have time."

"Super!" Nathan beamed, "Okay, handing it back over to Mr. Iguana over here."

"Welp! What can I say, Junior? Nathan already wrapped it up pretty well, so let's just leave off on that note. Have a nice night, whatever you're doing right now!"

"Thanks. You too."

"Oho, you can be sure of that!" Ryan said, slinging an arm around his date. Barnaby could only hear Nathan give some sort of elated squeak on the other line before hanging up.

"You know, you could easily open up your plans if you want." Kaede chimed in, "You don't have to follow me around for this. Hell, I'll drive you to Nathan's place tomorrow if you want."

"It's fine. I'm still going with you."

"Look," She pulled over to the side. "I already said I wasn't going to do anything to Dr. Page. I'd just make sure she'd get what she deserves is all."

"Now, see, that last part you added in there is exactly the reason I worry about you. Aren't suspects supposed to be innocent until proven guilty? We don't even know for sure if she'd actually done anything wrong, and yet you talk about her as if she'd definitely committed the crime."

"I just need to find out!" Kaede snapped, smacking her hand against the top of the steering wheel. "You know, I'd expect you of all people to be a bit more sympathetic. You already must know what it feels like, to be kept awake at night because your head keeps creating questions that you can't answer. It's… it's like that one question on a multiple choice that you fill in anyhow, for the sake of your sanity, because you'd rather have an answer that only might be right rather than no answer at all. I really want to believe for certain that no one took my dad from me. But I need to know for sure first." Silence passed between them for a still moment, before Kaede reignited the car and got back on the road.

"…say, where were we even headed?"

"We were going to Sternbild United Hospital first, but it's too late now. If I remember correctly, visiting hours should be over by now. So I guess I'll drive you back to your place? Or Nathan's right now?"

"Nathan's not home tonight, so I can't even if I wanted to."

"Alright then, your place it is."

Upon reaching his apartment, he invited her to stay the night, saying she could have his bed while he slept in the chair. She adamantly refused and drove back to Century City, dropping onto her couch in exhaustion the minute she arrived home. Anya crawled atop her, licking her forehead just as she began dozing off.