A/N: Sorry for the wait, guys! This is a pretty short chapter for me, but I wanted to post a thing, and also the cutoff ended up being short. If I'd tried to add another section, I'd have kept you all waiting another week at least.

On that note, the next chapter may be a week late. I have burnt through my chapter buffer yet again, and I'm also at a point where I need to do a little bit of detail planning. More relevantly, RL is kicking my butt, hard, at the moment, and I need to feel like I have a little more of a grace period so fic doesn't become a background stress to the new and constant flow of work deadlines.

That said, miladyRanger is best and warnings are in the end-notes!

Chapter 39

Eisuke tried to focus on chasing the last grain of rice across his plate, because it was much easier than trying to process any of what was happening. They'd just told the Nagano police, for all intents and purposes, Kaito had nearly gotten tackled for having a gun he didn't actually have, and the kitchen still smelled more like home than anywhere had since he left Japan, except maybe Kiyoshi's apartment.

He snuck a glance at Hakuba. He was shuffling Kaito's well-worn card deck with the kind of flourishes Eisuke had only ever seen in movies about Las Vegas, his face blank except for a small frown of concentration.

Kaito was checking his phone, glib smile plastered to his face as if he hadn't spent most of the morning panicking. Heiji had gone back to their room to get something; or at least that's what he'd said he was doing. Eisuke wasn't sure he'd believed him, but Heiji had left before Eisuke had a chance to press. Shinichi seemed unconcerned and had in fact taken his coffee, though he'd put his portion of natto on Heiji's plate by way of exchange. Eisuke had a feeling Heiji wouldn't begrudge Shinichi the theft, since just holding the beverage in his hands seemed to be relaxing him.

Yamato, who Eisuke couldn't quite get himself to call Kansuke, was back at the table too, though sans his investigative partner, and also fortunately sans the deluge of probing questions. He also hadn't passed comment on any of the odd things occurring at the table, for which Eisuke was grateful. He seemed the type to at least tell Kaito to put his phone away, but maybe he'd realized that Kaito was using it as a distraction.

But, just in case, it might be time for Eisuke to run just a bit of interference.

"Thank you again for breakfast," he said, with his brightest smile.

Yamato huffed. "Don't thank me, thank Koumei. If it were just me, you all would have ended up with toast."

"I'll be sure to thank him as well, then," Eisuke said.

"Don't bother," Yamato said. "You'll feed his ego. D*** showoff."

"I hope you weren't speakin' about me," came Morofushi's voice, lightly tinged with threat. He emerged into the kitchen moments later.

"What of it?" Yamato asked grumpily. "You find the Osakan kid?"

"He'll be along," Morofushi said serenely, sitting down at the table.

A sharp inhale from next to him caught Eisuke's attention. Kaito was staring down at his phone, eyes wide.

"Kuroba-san?" Hakuba asked softly.

"Mom texted," Kaito said. "It's safe to go back to Tokyo, she says."

"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Inspector Yamato asked.

"She said she gave her a false lead," Kaito's voice had dropped to a whisper. "That means she talked to her. S***."

Kaito was rigid; his knuckles were white around his phone.

Eiske turned over that sentence in his head once, twice, then finally decided he wasn't misinterpreting. "Seriously?" he breathed.

"Yeah."

Shinichi swore.

"Don't go throwin' words like that around," Yamato scolded him.

Wordlessly, Hakuba handed the deck of cards back to Kaito, who accepted it, pocketed his phone, and then split the deck into sections. He started tossing the sections between his hands without ever looking down, face blank.

"Why would she do that?" he asked. "That was stupid, that was so stupid-and she could have at least-well, not asked, I'm her kid, and it's not like she has to, not that she ever would, but she could have warned us-" he broke off, hands moving more quickly.

"You wanna clue us in here, kid?" Yamato asked.

There was a sharp rap against the door, and Morofushi stiffened, expression souring. Then, he swore. "We're in for it now."

Eisuke tensed, and he knew he wasn't the only one.

Yamato shot him a dirty look. "Don't think the kids are up to joking, Koumei, not even gallows humor," he said. He turned to the rest of them. "It's Yui, here to drag us down to the precinct, by our collars if she's gotta."

"You can tell just by the knock?" Shinichi asked.

"I mean, she does knock a certain way," Yamato said, thoughtful. "But mostly we shoulda known better to skip out on work and not expect her to chase us down."

"We'd best go distract her before she barges in and sees Hakuba-kun," Morofushi said. "She'll want to report in about it as soon as she sees him. I imagine that wasn't your plan?"

Saguru stiffened.

"I think we'd really rather just take him back home and let his dad report it in," Kaito said.

"I can see your rationale, but it does involve allowing the resolution to a case to go unreported for an extended period," Morofushi said. "If nothing else, you can understand her reasons for objecting, yes?"

"Of course," Saguru said quietly.

"Let's get a move on," Kansuke said. "She's got a house key."

"Why, Kansuke-kun!" Morofushi said, face lighting up in mock delight as he made for the door.

"Shut it, idiot," Kansuke said, following.

Their conversation carried across the house as they left.

"But if you two have that sort of arrangement, is it really all right for you to be her superior officer?"

"It's not like that!"

"Of course it isn't."

"Where'd the police go?" Heiji asked, coming into the kitchen.

"Officer Uehara's outside; they're playing distraction," Shinichi said. "You okay?"

"Been a long coupla days for me, too, Kudou," Heiji said, with a slightly wan smile. "I needed a few minutes."

Shinichi looked troubled. "Hattori, if there's anything I-"

"You got enough on your plate right now," Heiji said, with a wave of his hand. "Hey, Eisuke, after everything settles down a bit, can I call you?"

Confused, Eisuke nodded. "I'll need your number. Right now, I can only videocall you."

Heiji grinned, and rattled off a number.

"Hattori-san, I don't have a perfect memory, and I left my phone in America!" Eisuke said.

"Don't worry, I texted it to you," Kaito said. Somehow, the cards had been replaced by his cell phone when Eisuke wasn't looking.

"Thanks," Eisuke said. He paused, then decided to take a risk. "If Hakuba-san says it's okay, could you text me his number, too?"

"I don't have it," Kaito said, glancing at Hakuba.

"Are you quite certain you want it?" Hakuba asked.

"I meant what I said in the hotel room," Eisuke said. "I'd like to get to know you." He paused. "Oh, and thank you for the doves!"

"Are they doing well?" Hakuba asked, almost hesitantly.

Eisuke nodded. "They're boarding with a vet who's related to one of my classmates right now, but they've been doing really well. Well, I mean, sometimes Smiley decides my homework looks chewy and I think they'd both like it if my apartment was bigger, but…"

"Smiley?"

"After George Smiley," Eisuke said. "That's what I named the one with the thicker band on his neck. The other one's Q, after the Quartermaster from James Bond. I thought, since they were from you, and you had Watson, it was...fitting, I guess."

Hakuba looked surprised for a moment, but then smiled, just slightly. "Your tastes tend toward spy fiction, I suppose?"

"Well, not just that," Eisuke said, unsure of himself. It was one thing to say he wanted to join the CIA; another to announce that intention to someone who'd been essentially acting as a deep cover agent for years. He felt very young, suddenly.

"Eisuke's planning on going into the family business," Kaito said, before Eisuke could quite sort out how he wanted to put things.

"Are you?" Hakuba asked. "Well, it isn't as if I can judge that course of action, given my own choices in life. And you conducted yourself very well when we met. I certainly can't call you unprepared." He smirked. "You'll be better at it than Hattori-san would be."

"Will ya lay off?" Hattori groused. "Do you really gotta poke at me all the time? Ya acted like ya didn't like me 'cause I wasn't by the book but that can't be it, ya used ta be the Ka-"

"Ah, Hattori-san, you might not want to say that quite so loudly with three police officers in earshot," Kaito said, voice strained.

"Sorry," Heiji said. "But, ya know what I mean, right?"

"I do," Hakuba said. "I...likely owe you an apology, Hattori-san. To a certain extent, I do find your approach to detective work frustrating, but for the largest part, I simply found you a very easy and rewarding person to tease."

Heiji looked thunderous.

"I think you should explain," Shinichi said, frowning.

"It is not as if I simply ceased to be my former self in the second I took up the name Hakuba Saguru," Hakuba said. "I spent most of my life working to elicit reactions from audiences. I miss that sometimes."

"So you piss me off for fun instead?" Heiji asked, glaring.

"I never claimed it was a constructive solution, or fair to you," Hakuba said. "And...perhaps I was also jealous. It was sometimes frustrating to watch you speak your mind so carelessly, with no fear of consequences."

Heiji sighed. "And now you gotta go remindin' me of Kudou. Look, we're gonna talk about this again, but after you've got your head on straight. If you try and cut it out for now, we can be okay, at least 'til then. How's that?"

"Quite generous of you," Hakuba said softly.

"Okay, maybe we should talk about how we're all gettin' home," Heiji suggested. "Is it safe for you guys to go back?"

"Mom says it is," Kaito said. "Says she talked to Vermouth and made sure."

"She what now?" Heiji asked.

"She's insane, but she wouldn't invite us back to Tokyo on less than a near-certainty," Hakuba said. He turned to Kaito. "When you were shot, it scared her. I doubt she'll be taking risks with your safety anytime soon."

"So you think we can trust her on this?" Shinichi asked.

"The alternative is to prevail upon Inspector Yamato's hospitality indefinitely," Hakuba said. "Which I would prefer to returning to Tokyo, but it isn't feasible in the least."

"Don't you want to see everyone?" Kaito asked.

"I'd rather not face their disappointment," Hakuba said tightly. "I ran away because I couldn't handle the concept of someone knowing my actual circumstances. From there, I committed a combination of fraud and theft to travel to multiple continents. As I took very little with me, this will be very obvious to anyone who thinks about it."

"What did you do, anyhow?" Shinichi asked.

Hakuba stiffened.

"No one's getting arrested," Eisuke said, giving Shinichi a stern look. "I'm pretty sure he was just curious."

"A bit of hacking into corporate bank accounts, supplemented by selling information about the criminals in black to various law enforcement agencies under multiple false identities," Hakuba said.

"Yeah, you're gonna need to wipe that computer," Kaito remarked. "...Wait. Selling information? They pay people to help with...this?" He gestured expansively.

"They bribe minor criminals to tell them about things happening around them," Hakuba corrected. "Occasionally, when desperate. As they are in this case. It's essentially the same thing I did when I was in London the first time." He paused, thoughtful. "Or what I've been doing over the past few years. The only real difference is that while I was living with the Superintendent-General I generally kept the money for expenses like disguise makeup and Kaito's bulletproof vests rather than putting it toward plane tickets or food."

"So that's what you were doing overseas all the time?" Kaito asked.

Hakuba blinked.

"The London cops never saw ya, but Kuroba-han said you were takin' trips overseas all the time," Heiji said.

"The less of Them there were, the less danger for...well, everyone," Hakuba said. "Kuroba-san particularly, but my father, the Task Force, and everyone else caught up in this as well. But fighting them too close to home was risky. Father thought I was visiting friends, when I explained myself at all."

"Do you ever take breaks?" Eisuke asked, despite himself.

"I hardly thought I could afford to," Hakuba replied.

"Hakuba-san's a workaholic, what else is new?" Kaito said, deliberately flip.

"Makes sense, knowing you," Shinichi muttered.

"So...you can go back," Eisuke said. He looked at Shinichi. "If you can, I probably can, too, without worrying about Hidemi-nee. Though...does this mean we need to talk to your parents again?"

Shinichi groaned. "Probably." He glanced toward the door. "Probably before those two come back."

"Maybe in the guest room," Hakuba suggested.

Shinichi rose, as did Eisuke. Eisuke saw the surprised expression on Shinichi's face and smirked.

"You think I'm going to let you talk to them alone?" he asked. "You'll come out and tell me they bought me tickets for a flight with a three-day layover in Aruba because they thought I seemed tense."

"...You're not wrong," Shinichi said with a wince. "That still might happen."

I was exaggerating, Eisuke thought, apprehensive, as they headed for the guest room. I get the feeling you aren't.

A/N: Warnings for all the maladaptive coping mechanisms. In particular, mention of a past non-constructive application of Hakuba's Kaito-derived fondness for attention and head games.

Did anyone figure out that explanation of the Hakuba/Heiji dynamic ahead of time? Me and my beta worked it out in slightly more detail over the last year, but it's basically been in place since Heiji's chapter in RiR.

I swear review replies are coming! Eventually… Sorry guys, I am just...very tired and somewhat overworked.