"Alright Chii, let's make some Tanabata decorations today." Shinichi excitedly told his daughter as he settled himself down on the floor in the living room.

"Yay!" Chiharu replied with the same manner as her dad, as she waved both her hands in the air. She went to sit down beside the detective.

Ai came into the room a second later, bringing some origami papers, scissors, thin wool yarns, and markers with her. She sat across the father-daughter duo.

"What color do you like to choose, Chii?" Ai laid some origami papers with different colors in front of them and let the little girl be the first one to choose.

"Nn!" Without any hasitation, she put her index finger on top of a pink origami paper.

Ai smiled at her and nodded, telling the little girl to get a piece of it with her own hands. Then, she gestured for Shinichi to pick next– he took the blue. After everyone had gotten their origami papers, Ai began to fold the square into a triangle as she explained thoroughly the things she did on hand, showing them how to create a paper crane one step at a time.

Chiharu tried to follow the instructions but she didn't truly get it. She was still a seventeen-months-old baby after all. So instead of folding the origami paper, she crumpled it. Giggles were escaping her mouth right after that, a sign that she had so much fun. Shinichi and Ai were laughing at her cuteness, trying to teach the baby to fold properly without crumpling the paper. But it was all in vain.

She couldn't hide her front teeth for more than five seconds since then, especially when her hand went to take her nth origami paper to fold (crumple). No one stopped her though as they let her explore with the thing.

On the other hand, Shinichi had successfully folded one bird despite his first attempt. It was unexpected of him to be so skillful in his craftwork which surprised Ai in a way. He was a fast learner.

It was almost time for lunch when they finished all the decorations. They made pretty lots of paper cranes, also some paper stars– as for not letting the crumpled origami went to waste– then hung them all on the arranged bamboo stalks that Ai had placed on the side table in the living room. And lastly, the finishing touch for the Tanabata decorations would be the paper strips that had their wishes written on.

Unlike Chiharu who was done writing her wish with colorful scribbles, both Shinichi and Ai were stuck on this. They couldn't think of anything to wish for at the moment because, what more would they wish for when they already had everything they had ever wished?

They stayed silent, deeply in thought while the little girl was drawing on a paper with her crayons beside them– she had gotten bored of crumpling the origami papers for now. Minutes had passed, but they still hadn't come up with any wishes yet. Realizing they were at the end of their thoughts, the young couple eventually gave up and sighed.

They looked up to each other upon noticing their synchronization, then they chuckled lightly.

"I never knew that thinking of a wish to make can be this hard." Shinichi said.

"While we used to have a lot of them years ago." Ai continued in agreement.

They somehow fell into a pleasant silence once more, as if both of them were contemplating on their numerous past wishes that were somehow impossible to be granted. It felt like a miracle that life allowed them to have all of those wishes for real right now.

Chiharu suddenly crawled onto Ai's laps, breaking their silence.

"Mamma, am-ungry." She said as she was gesturing her hands and mouth, telling her mom she was hungry.

Ai smiled at her, and so did Shinichi.

Well, it looked like they needed to take their lunch break before they continued crafting their wishes.

.

.

.

"I think I'll write a wish so you will agree to move into my room before the end of the month." Shinichi said his thoughts out loud to Ai with a grin smeared all over his face.

She choked on her drink once she caught his saying.

The two of them had just finished eaten their lunch, while Chiharu had been fast asleep in her room for her afternoon nap shortly after she finished hers. She was tired out after learning their new activity but on the contrary, the detective was still as energetic as ever. It seemed he couldn't wait to continue with the thing they had left of.

He sounded desperate though, as if his brain had reached a total dead end to think of any other logical wishes.

"Are you sure you're going to waste your precious wish on such a nonsensical thing?" Ai scoffed. "Why don't you wish for your death magnet to cease instead?"

"It's not a nonsensical thing, you know." He retorted. "Since we have no more reason to stay in our separated rooms now, but you refused."

And he knew how hard it was to change her mind, so he thought of making that as his wish for this year's Tanabata day.

As much as Ai wanted to retaliate against his retorts, she had to agree that the things he said was true. With their old tragedy completely settled, they had nothing else to hide from each other anymore. But first and foremost, she knew well enough they had crossed all their personal boundaries, physically.

So, for what more reasons should a single wall kept them apart? They were now a husband and a wife after all.

However, only because Ai was being herself, she wouldn't concede that easily to his whim.

"Then tell me one reason why we shouldn't stay in our separated rooms anymore?" Ai rolled her eyes.

And Shinichi knew she wouldn't simply acknowledge the fact that she actually agreed with him on this. Even so, he still tried to answer her question, hoping it would succeed to convince her.

"Because it has been proven scientifically that cuddling with your spouse while sleeping at night promotes a better sleep." He told her in a deadpan tone.

There was somehow an imaginary cold breeze passing through in between them right after he finished his sentence. Ai couldn't help but snickered at his answer as well as the tone he was using; he sulked in return with a blush on his cheeks.

"Convincing, huh?" Ai sarcastically replied him.

"What else should I say then?" He was annoyedly embarrassed now. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you the real reason anyway."

"Oh, try me." She sweetly smirked.

The detective blushed more at her challenge, forgetting his feeling of annoyance but replaced it with edginess. He averted his gaze away from her and brought one of his hand to cover the crook of his neck. He was nervous to hear what her reply would be if he told her his real reason for asking her to sleep on the same bed with him.

Even though his motives were actually pure and sincere.

"W-Well." He started. "It's because I love watching your serene sleeping face, Ai."

Then he turned his eyes back to her, to see her straight in the eyes with so much earnestness.

"Whenever I see you sleeping in my arms with such a face, it reminds me that you are mine to hold and to protect with all my life. And that you are someone I dearly love with all my heart."

Ai was stunned for a second to hear his real reply. She could slowly feel her heart racing, urging her to comply with his whim again.

Screw him for always making her heart weak against his words.

She almost opened her mouth to reply him with a positive answer, if it wasn't for her ego that stopped the word from escaping.

"P-Pervert." She tried to look annoyed, but the light blush on her cheeks failed her.

In the end, she could only utter that one word in a stutter.

Shinichi's blush was diminished at once; he was dumbstruck by her response that he failed to notice the crimson color on her cheeks. Then the annoyed look he had some seconds ago came back to his face, accompanied by the words 'See, I knew it!' silently written all over it. He rolled his eyes and leaned forward slightly to the table to shorten the gap between them.

"Then why don't you give me a reason why we should keep staying in our separated rooms?" He asked her back the question.

She widened her eyes in surprise before she shifted her look to her side in order to hide her deepened blush. Of course, she didn't have any idea to answer that question since she only refused to sleep under the same blanket with him because she hadn't gotten use to any of those stuffs at all.

She, who used to sleep all alone in her private space, was now to share a bed with him and to sleep in his protective arms every night. That was just so weird for her.

But she didn't know how to explain it all to him.

"It's because…" She was trying to find some words now.

"Because?" Shinichi was impatiently waiting for her prolonged pause.

"It's because you're a pervert!" Ai raised her voice a little bit too high as she slammed her hands on the table and abruptly stood up from her seat. She took some of the empty plates then walked to the kitchen sink to avoid herself from her husband's startled gaze.

She couldn't find some proper words to explain herself at last, so she gave it up.

The detective was left on the table in a daze. Again, he was too flabbergasted by her sudden put-offs to see her reddened ears. With an unexplainable dumb look, he chased after her clarification about her ambiguous answer, only to get another one from her.

In the end, Shinichi gave up to pursue Ai's truest reply and he ended up writing such a wish for real on his paper strip. He felt satisfied once he hung it along with the other decorations, ignoring her previous protests.

She could do nothing but sighed in defeat.

"What are you wishing for, Ai?" He asked once he was done tying his wish on the green stalks. He was looking over from her back, to the blank paper strip that Ai was going to write her wish on.

Her hands halted, then she turned her head to throw a smirk in his face.

"I am wishing so you will take your written wish down soon."

He was stunned before he smirked back in amusement.

"You won't ever get that wish of yours granted then."

"Oh, let's see."

If anyone had ever saw the thing these two did with their wishes, they would certainly tell them to ask the gods for forgiveness for treating this like a joke. However, both Shinichi and Ai knew more than anyone else how it felt to truly wish on something with all their lives and waited so long enough for fate to grant them.

So, wasn't it alright for them to enjoy themselves this time around?

.

.

.

The sun rose from its designated direction, starting another new day of the week. The Kudo Residence was as busy as it had always been, although it was unusually rowdy this morning with the sound of slamming doors and clumsy footsteps all over the second floor.

"Shit! I overslept!"

Shinichi finally ran down the stairs after he created enough ruckus upstairs and went straight into the study room to take his stuffs. He was walking in a rush when he entered the kitchen as to not disturb the other members of the household from enjoying their not so quiet morning.

"Words, please." The strawberry blonde reminded him to choose his words carefully when Chiharu was around.

"Ah, sorry." He apologized then returned his attention to his warm-almost-cold morning coffee, finishing it up in one big gulp.

"I put your breakfast inside, just in case." She said as she handed him his lunch bag.

"Thanks, Ai." He slowed down his pace to give his wife a kiss on the forehead, his hand moved simultaneously, taking the lunch bag from her hand. "I'll get going then."

"Mhmm." She replied timidly.

"Dadda, bye-bye!" The little girl was waving her hands from her high chair, bidding her dad farewell with a very big grin on her face.

"Bye, Chii!" Her dad patted her head and smiled before he quickly walked out of the kitchen.

The house was quiet once again after the main door made a final clicking sound as a sign of being locked.

What a morning. Ai sighed to herself.

Just then, she noticed there was a black folder that seemed to be out of place, sitting at the end of the kitchen island. That area was a blindspot to begin with, so no wonder she overlooked it this morning when she prepared his bento.

She went over to check the inside and assumed it was a recent case file Shinichi had brought home, probably last Friday. Perhaps he had been studying the case for the whole night in the kitchen, accompanied by some glasses of coffee.

Ai smiled at the thought of his efforts to stay awake, fighting against his tiredness after having their family activities, to finish his work alone late at night. While he could have had the whole weekend for himself, he chose to spend it with her and Chiharu.

Is that why he overslept this morning? She thought.

She took her phone and was going to give him a call to notify him about his forgotten file, but the bell on the door rang so suddenly. It left her flabbergasted when she heard the bell rang once again. It was only early in the morning on a weekday and she wasn't expecting any visitors or any packages delivery today.

Could it be Shinichi?

Didn't he have his key with him?

She told Chiharu to stay on her high chair, then she went to the genkan with the case file in her hand. She was startled once she opened the door. It was indeed Shinichi who stood by the porch, but why did he look as much surprised as she did?

Her eyes darted to his hand that held out a key, as if he was going to insert it into the keyhole at the same time as she opened the door.

"Why did you ring the doorbell if you have your key with you?" She plainly asked him.

"Eh? But I didn't ring the bell." He replied.

"Strange, I heard it rang twice." She told him with her curious look. "If it weren't you, then who did?"

Shinichi instinctively turned alert. He knew Ai wouldn't lie just for the sake of throwing some jokes on him or to have her payback for yesterday– not when she knew he was late for work.

Who could it be?

"Maybe it was just some pranks made by the neighboring kids." She tried to tame his mind.

By the look on his face, Ai knew he had started to suspect this as a somewhat situation that might lead them to danger. He hadn't let go of his habit for being overreactive, huh?

Shinichi understood her intention and tried to ease his inside by taking her words into his mind. It had been eight years now and those people were no longer exist in this world, so there shouldn't be anything they must worry about now. Right?

"Anyway, you are here for this, aren't you?" She showed him the case file he had left on the kitchen island.

His expression was brightened up all at once upon remembering his original reason for coming back this soon.

"Yeah." He said in amazement after he checked the content, making sure it was the correct file he needed. "How did you know this is the important file I've forgotten to bring?"

"I was your partner for nothing, wasn't I?" She smirked.

"Heh, lucky me." He teased.

"You better get going." She shooed him as she tried to hide her shy face, which he found it so endearing.

"Not before I get this from you." He replied her, leaning himself forward to close the gap between them.

Shinichi knew he was running late, but he couldn't just miss this chance with his wife. With that in mind, he brought his free hand to her nape, massaging it lightly as he kissed her sweetly on the lips. He didn't intend to deepen it though, knowing full well he wouldn't be able to stop himself if he did.

Ai held his wrist and closed her eyes, enjoying the tenderness he infused into her heart. From his gesture, she understood he didn't intend to skip his work today, so she also responded to him necessarily to prevent them from being too caught up with each other.

"I actually have an extra five minutes now because you helped me get the file." He grinned once their lips parted although he still kept their closest distance by leaning his forehead to hers.

"Then use that extra minutes to get to the office now or you're going to be really really late." She chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah." He began to part from her forehead, but his eyes were still showing his stubbornness. "We'll continue this once I get home tonight then."

Ai couldn't contain her embarrassment anymore as she felt her ears were getting hotter from listening to his last utterance. He smiled smugly at her reaction.

"How can I leave now when my wife is so adorable like this?" He laughed.

He slid his hand from her nape to cup her cheek and kissed her forehead once more. She mumbled some protests on his pick-up lines, nevertheless she couldn't refrain herself from smiling. He then released his hand from her cheek– she released hers too– and was going to leave for real now.

"Woof!"

Both of them widened their eyes in surprise. Their sweet parting moment was instantly replaced with silent questions written on their faces. Since when did they have a dog in their yard?

They began to look around for it without leaving their spots. It shouldn't be that far since the woof sounded so near. But as far as their eyes went everywhere around the yard, they found nothing. They were going to brush this off but then–

"Woof!"

The dog made a louder noise this time. They turned their heads to its direction and saw a golden retriever walking out from behind the bushes near their porch. It approached them and sat nicely on the ground with its tongue rolled out, panting.

Then they noticed the dog's collar by its neck. It looked exactly similar to the one they saw last Saturday, the one that Tomomi's golden retriever wore.

"Haru-chan?" Shinichi said in disbelief. "Did you slipped off a–"

"Ah, wait Haru-chan!" A boy shouted to the dog in a suppressed voice, almost like in a whisper, but failed since the young couple heard him very clearly.

Their eyes looked up to the same direction from where the dog walked out, and they found someone they recognized. He was still halfway out from the bush, in a crawling position, with many leaves stuck on his hair. His expression was so hilariously bothered by a lot of questions in his brain and he looked panicked for being caught red-handed for sneaking into someone's yard. The fact that he had been eavesdropping on their conversation didn't help him either.

"Yuuto-kun?" Shinichi and Ai said at the same time, both were in shock.

Everything in their minds seemed to be clicking together once they saw him. Definitely, he was the one who rang the doorbell twice because how else could he enter their yard unseen if he didn't arrive before Shinichi did?

Also, seeing Haru suddenly appeared in their yard with him seemed to connect the boy to the old lady of their acquaintance. Could it be him whom she told them about last Saturday? If their suspicion was correct, that meant Yuuto was Tomomi's grandson who was away on a three-days summer camp, as well as the owner of the golden retriever.

On one side, they were relieved to have catch the culprit behind the mysterious doorbell rings, but on the other, they were perturbed by the realization that the boy might have been witnessing everything since the beginning of their conversation by the door– his flirtatious words, her responses, their kisses, and most importantly his last sentence calling her his wife.

They were only out on the porch of their own house, so how could the two of them still screw this up? Was this, perhaps, a punishment from the gods for writing such half-joking wishes yesterday?

Oh, dear.

Author's note: I am so sorry for the late update! I was doing the final proof-reading when I got another idea to some of the lines, so I tried to adjust it and I unknowingly changed almost the whole part. For that, I had to redo my proof-reading again (cry).

By the way, I was honestly surprised that some of you had guessed right about Yuuto being Tomomi's grandson. I was even laughing myself when I read the reviews (haha). Well, it was obvious anyway since I didn't really make this storyline to be so complicated.

Even so, I hope you all still have fun reading this fic!

And no secrets stay secrets forever, right? Don't worry, I'm not that cruel to make this favorite couple of mine suffer (wink).

Do not forget to give your comments and reviews.

Happy reading!

Disclaimer: All characters of Detective Conan are belong to Aoyama Gosho. I don't own any single of them.