Case Closed AU

By: FunahoMisaki

(A/N: I own nothing and read last chapter)

"Achoo!" Irene sneezed, wincing since she had done so through her bow tie and into the phone where Rachael was on the other end of the line.

"Oh yeah that's nice Jimmy. Don't call for over a month and then sneeze into my first thing when you do call." Rachel growled into the phone receiver.

"Sorry about that Rachel. I'm swamped with a top secret case that has me going everywhere in every which way. I've been on the move so much I guess it finally caught up with me." 'Jimmy' said causing Rachel to sigh.

"I understand, it must be hard contacting someone when in the middle of an important case." Rachel said softly and causing 'Jimmy' to wince slightly, making a note to call more often.

"By the way, I saw that Irene and your dad have gotten a bit famous since I vanished. The sleeping sleuth and Shinigami detective I think they're being called?" 'Jimmy' asked causing Rachel to brighten up.

"Yeah they both are doing so well! Irene-chan even acts just like you do when on a case but slightly different. I… can't put my finger on it… but you two are so similar and yet so different at the same time." Rachel said causing 'Jimmy' to sigh slightly that his secret was still safe.

"I saw that Irene even became a famous movie star, showcasing her cases. I can't often do it but I try to watch each of her movies as soon as they come out. She's almost as good as my mom when acting." 'Jimmy' said and he could practically feel the glowing of Rachel's pride at her 'daughters' achievements.

"It's okay… and I'm sure she understands if you can't make it to all of them. One of her friends, the director and one of the actresses in her movies, keeps spare copies of each movie along with the bloopers they made while making the movie. When you come home we can watch it together with Irene-chan." Rachel said causing 'Jimmy' to wince. That would never be possible… but it was a nice dream.

"That reminds me. I talked to Irene-chan earlier… she made a mention of finding you a new love and her a new tou-san? Serena's doing I'm guessing?" 'Jimmy' asked causing Rachel to sigh slightly.

"Yeah. I'm sorry if it upsets you but those two have it in their heads-"

"It's okay Rachel it doesn't upset me." 'Jimmy' interrupted quickly.

"What?" Rachel asked blinking slightly.

"It doesn't upset me that they want you to find a new love for yourself and a new tou-san for Irene-chan. I understand that we had crushes on each other almost all our lives but… if you think about it we've always been more like siblings than boyfriend girlfriend. Besides… even if I were interested in you like that…this case… it's incredibly dangerous Rachel, more dangerous than any if my previous cases. It's… entirely possible, likely even, that I might not be coming home from it. I don't want you to spend your whole life waiting on me to come back, it's not fair to you or Irene-chan. And while part of me will always consider Irene-chan as mine, heck I told my parents about her and they love the thought of having a granddaughter like Irene-chan, I understand that she might need a paternal figure that's actually there for her when she needs him and right now…I can't be that figure." 'Jimmy' said softly, for a moment there was dead silence from Rachel's end of the phone before there was a loud sigh and a slight giggle.

"I'm glad to hear you say that Jimmy. Was trying to figure out a nice way to say something similar… by the way…don't tell Irene-chan this but I'm already seeing someone. Her name is Jessica… she's the director I was talking about earlier. I'm probably the more maternal figure between the two of us but we've decided to keep it between ourselves until we knew for sure whether or not we were going to seriously stay together." Rachel said sheepishly, and almost apologetically, causing Irene to nearly fall over in surprise, out of all the things Rachel could have said that was not what Irene was expecting! Although it did explain the two women weird behavior lately…

"Wow wasn't expecting that… can I watch you two kiss sometime if I make it back from this case alive? Uh-oh got to go Rachel! Bye!" 'Jimmy' quickly hung up, snickering since she could just picture the look on Rachel's face at this.

"Oh man. She's going to kill me for that later." Irene said snickering as she walked out of the telephone booth, quickly helping and running for it when a bunch of nearby women tried to glomp her or ask for her autograph. Finally she had made it back to the detective agency and noticed the new voice, a male teenagers.

"Achoo!" Irene sneezed as she opened the door.

"Irene-chan are you sick? You're looking a little pale." Rachel asked turning her back on the hat wearing boy as she kneeled down to look over Irene, who nodded looking quite miserable.

"Why don't you lie down a minute? First Seiko and Jessie, then Jimmy, and now you. I wonder if there's something going around." Rachel said as she picked Irene up, rubbing the girls back soothingly.

"Kudo's sick? Well that's some diagnosis doctor considering you have no idea where the patient is." The boy said turning to look at Rachel who turned and glared at him.

"For your information he called me a few minutes ago while I was on the phone with a friend of mine and Irene-chan's. I put him on a conference call with me and Dr. Keeler without his knowledge and then after he hung up she agreed that he seemed to have the same symptoms as Jessica, Seiko, and now Irene-chan." Rachel said causing Irene to grin slightly, so Karen had heard all of that? Knowing the auburn haired doctor… she had busted her butt laughing at 'Jimmy's last remark before hanging up.

"So Kudo called you?" The guy asked as Rachel closed the door and began walking towards the couch.

"Yeah so?" Rachel asked as she walked past him.

"That's interesting. So the rumors I heard were true. You are Kudo's girl." The boy said causing Rachel to drop Irene on the couch in shock.

"Excuse me!?" Rachel demanded spinning around to look at him with a blush on her cheeks.

"Who told you that?" Rachel demanded causing the boy to smirk.

"Only your best friend and school mate Serena Sebastian. Jimmy's been missing school a lot this year, and your best bud seems to think you've been hiding him." The guy said causing Rachel to snort and cross her arms.

"So sorry but Jimmy is like my brother, not my boyfriend, and I'm not hiding him anywhere. If you must know he's out on a dangerous case, and he can only call very few times." Rachel said glaring slightly at the boy.

"Oh yeah I talked to Jimmy-tou-san earlier too, and he sent me a text message when just before I got up the stairs." Irene said causing both teens to turn to her.

"We just talked about the cases I'd been on and the movies made on them. But the text message was weird." Irene said causing both teens to give her their full attention.

"Oh yeah? What was it?" The boy asked causing Irene to smirk up at Rachel.

"He told me that kaa-chan found me a new tou-san… he worded it like I didn't already know that." Irene said causing Rachel's whole face to turn bright red.

"Oh yeah and how would he know a thing like that?" The guy asked with his hands in his pocket.

"I told him about my date while we were on the phone. How did you already know Irene-chan?" Rachel said her face redder as she looked at her 'daughter'.
"I'm a detective kaa-chan. Of course I'd notice when you start acting strangely and then figure out the reason behind it. So who are you anyways?" Irene asked wiping her runny nose with a tissue as she looked up at the guy before sneezing.

"The name's Harley Hartwell. While Kudo is called the great detective of the east I'm the great detective of the west. That sounds pretty bad kid. I've got just the thing to get you back on your feet." Harley said putting his duffle bag down and pulling something out.

"Now that you mention it I have heard about a great western detective." Richard said, having woken up during the commotion.

"That's right. I'm known as the great western Detective or the Kudo of the West depending on who you're asking. Although lately I've started being referred to as the Edogawa and Irene of the west, and I'm always being compared to two people. Jimmy Kudo and Irene Edogawa. Here squirt drink up." Harley said as he finished pouring something into a cup and handed it to Irene.

"Thanks." Irene said, having watched to see if he slipped anything in it and not noticing anything, before tossing back the whole cup in one go.

"Strangely enough though it seems that Kudo vanished and word around town is that he's missing. I just wanted to come and see if he and this Edogawa girl are talented enough to be in my league. If they are…then they'll be the first." Harley said shrugging his shoulders while Irene suddenly felt tipsy and began stumbling around.

"Oh no. What's wrong now?" Rachel asked rushing over to Irene and holding her by the shoulders.

"Hey there kaa-chan…you-you're really beautiful." Irene said before hiccupping.

"Oh no Irene-chan. Just what was in that drink?!" Rachel demanded angrily.

"Just an old Asian remedy. I thought it'd make a nice gift since I'll be a guest until Kudos decides to make an appearance." Harley said smirking as he unwrapped the bottle to show that it was liquor.

"Why you conceited thoughtless little!" Rachel began to stand up angrily, rolling up her sleeves before Irene hiccupped again.

"Hi there! A-are you looking for us?!" Irene tipsily asked with a hiccup, looking at the woman at the door… and saving Harley from the beating of a lifetime courtesy of Rachel.

"What I'm looking for is a detective who doesn't ignore clients." The woman said coldly as she looked at everyone behind her sunglasses.

"Well you're in luck then! Three ace detectives in one room." Richard said causing Rachel to growl.

"Give me five minutes with Hartwell here and they'll only be two ace detectives left." Rachel growled out, glaring at Harley while Irene stumbled towards the woman.

"You know I'm sensing a lot of hostility from you. Why is that I wonder?" Harley asked grinning slightly at Rachel who snarled at him.

"You fed my daughter, who's only in first grade mind you, liquor!" Rachel snarled causing the clients eyebrows to shoot up as she finally noticed the small child in front of her swaying and stumbling around.

"Ugh I'm going to kill him later. So you want us to go to your home and investigate your son's girlfriend. Alright let's get this over with. Come on Jiji, kaa-chan,…Harley-san." Irene said a few minutes later after her body burned away the alcohol in her system, glaring at Harley.

"Huh? All of us?" Richard asked looking at his granddaughter who sighed.

"Well we could invite baa-chan to make the ruse complete if you want, but it looks less conspicuous if a grown man, his daughter, her supposed boyfriend or fiancé, and their kid show up than it will if three ace detectives openly showed up at a diplomat's place." Irene said as she looked boredly up at her Jiji while the woman, Camilla, gave her a look of surprise before smiling slightly while Richard looked open to inviting Eva but paled at how angry she likely would be if he had called out of nowhere and interrupted her day.

"She must be the brains of the outfit." Camilla said causing Harley and Richard to look insulted.

"Are you sure you feel up to it?" Rachel asked worriedly as she carried Irene-chan to the car.

"Harley-san's 'medicine' worked, I feel a lot better now. Besides even if I didn't I'd go anyways. After all…it doesn't matter if the detective is feeling well as long as the murderer kills." Irene said narrowing her eyes at Camilla's back and causing the woman to stiffen imperceptivity.

"Murderer? It's just a simple case of investigating the son's girlfriend. Who says you can come along anyways?" Harley asked looking at Irene funny.

"Hey for the guy who says he wanted to see if I'm in his league… you don't even know who you're dealing with." Irene said smirking as both Harley and Camilla stopped and looked at her.

"The name's Irene Edogawa-Moore, also called the Shinigami detective because usually when I have a case no matter what it starts out as… it turns into a homicide." Irene said causing both Camilla and Harley's eyes to widen shocked as they stared at Irene, causing Rachel to snicker at the look on their faces before her face flamed a brilliant shade of tomato red at Irene's next 'innocent' remark.

"Hey kaa-chan. Since you got me a new tou-san since Jimmy-tou-san said he might not survive his case… does that mean I should take Jessie-tou-san's last name too?"