The hospital had enough of Keith's antics, whether it were an escape to get fresh air or to walk around; Mr. Ponds, the owner, had run out of patience with the young detective. Natasha had managed to stop Ponds from sending out the transfer papers to make Keith attend another hospital, she didn't want to discuss her methods but Keith could fill in the blanks...she had begged the owner by paying him large amounts of money.

This was seen on her shadowed face as she stared down at Keith with a twisted smile on her freckled face, eyes blazing with rage as she held up a pair of handcuffs; Irene and Antonio stood by the rolling whiteboard they had brought in as they stood stiffly with frightened looks on their faces. Keith however stared up at his boss and felt as if he should've made a break for the door as she roughly handcuffed him to his bed, his heart pounded as she crossed her arms and let out a forced chuckle.

"Don't you dare think about moving from this bed, you're not getting your next three paychecks either." She giggled and then looked over her shoulder at the junior detectives, the two jumped and saluted at the same time as they made eye contact, "And for the two of you, don't even let him go to the bathroom or you're all fired."

"Isn't this a bit much Nata-" Keith raised his hand up as far as it could reacher until the loud clank of the cuffs sounded.

His eyes widened slightly as Natasha glared down at him, she impatiently tapped her index finger on her black suit jacket sleeve in anger. "Nothing is too much when it comes to you, you're such a hassle it's like caring for another child." She then turned around on her heels and began to walk away but she casted the group one last glance, "I'm going back home to attend to my real children and when I call you all in the next three hours, I better have a lead in this case because the mayor is riding my ass and that gardener is refusing to even mumble a word outside of the stupid phrase 'right under your nose'."

With that she slammed the door shut and left three shaken detectives alone in a hospital room, one handcuffed and the other two standing awkwardly. Antonio seemed to be doing better from the last time Keith had seen him which brought slight relief however, there was a sense of awkwardness between him and Irene that made him uncomfortable to sit in a room with her...involuntarily.

Antonio ran a hand through his hair slowly before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of thick framed glasses. He looked down at them for a moment before his chocolate colored eyes lifted up onto Keith. "Kogane, here. Just like you instructed me to do this morning." With one swift movement he tossed the pair over to Keith with precision.

Keith's caught it daily right before it slammed into his forehead, he slowly lowered his hand and stared down at the pair of black glasses in his hands. They were different from the old pair he used to wear but they allowed him to see whenever he didn't wear his contacts. Slowly he unfolded them and placed them onto the bridge of his nose and nodded slightly, "Thank you Antonio." He stated in appreciation as the once blurry background became clear almost as if he were looking at an HD TV.

"No problem, sir." Antonio replied curtly before he began to scribble stuff onto the whiteboard, the evidence so far they had found in the case.

Irene, while her partner wrote, presented the information. "What we have so far of the killer is practically nothing except for the descriptions Allura and Mr. Kogane were able to give to us. Pyxis is relatively short with questionable blonde hair, it was dark so the hair could be platinum or some other color, and the fact she has green eyes." Irene pointed out the obvious details and then pointed to the board with a slightly higher tone in her voice as she continued, "And Mr. Smith has found the family photo of our first victims with the stolen vase in it, also we learned that there was a painting missing from the Adam's family home that our eyewitness across the hall lived at. Kouki, the victim, claims it was a copy of starry night by-"

"Only the useful information Irene." Keith sighed in boredom, she always went overboard with details and managed to make the detective want to walk into highway traffic.

Antonio stifled a laugh with his hand as the girl clenched her jaw slightly, "Yes sir." She grumbled. "Mr. Smith has been able to uncover the most evidence so far by solving the two riddles presented to you Mr. Kogane, the answers were suicide and a clock. The Russian on the back of the photo was apparently hard to interoperate due to some of the letters being illegible."

"Also, I think I got a lead on those items." Antonio pointed out before he began to write out a link onto the board, his brown eyes seemed to be brighter than usual. Once he was done he pointed to the link that Keith had visited the night he was stabbed. "I found both a vase and a starry night painting that fit the stolen works descriptions." He seemed extremely enthusiastic about finding a lead for the team as he smiled brightly.

Irene looked less than pleased as she crossed her arms across her flat chest in annoyance, "Oh yeah you found an internet link with two coincidentally similar art works, what're the odds Smith." She sighed before she then proceeded to play with the tip of her ponytail, the corner of her lips slightly lifting up into a smirk. "I'm sure I could find another website with the same things for sale like eBay or Amazon for example. What I'm trying to say here is that your so called 'evidence' isn't exactly full proof." She finished off her sentence by putting air quotes around 'evidence'.

Keith grimaced at the sight of his juniors beginning to bicker amongst each other but he was too tired to even butt in. "Excuse me but at least I've been finding evidence unlike you Irene." Antonio stated as he tightened his grip on his dry erase marker.

Irene tilted her nose into the air in sudden anger as she narrowed her eyes onto Antonio. "Excuse me? I've been working all day and night to find something on this psycho. You cannot just dismiss the amount of effort I've put into this case and also," She pointed a finger at Antonio in anger, "To you I'm Volkov not Irene. You're not my superior in any way shape or form so therefore you're obligated to speak to me formally like we're supposed to with our higher ups."

"Why would I speak formally to garbage?" Antonio inquired

Keith tilted his head back and let out a long, loud groan as his purple orbs focused on the roof. "Shut. Up." He ran his right hand down his face in frustration, aware of the limitations set on his other hand. He looked back up to see that the two juniors were looking at him with wide eyes. "Do you honestly think I'm basically chained to a bed to listen to you two bicker for an hour?" He exclaimed and tugged on his cuffs in emphasis. "No, I'm not. I'm here because I've failed to catch this killer, now if you wouldn't mind" he waved his right hand slowly in order to coax the two into a mature conversation for the sake of his sanity. "Please, for the love of god, be adults for a few minutes."

The room was silent until Antonio slowly nodded and flashed Irene one last glare. "So," he straighted his posture and Irene mirrored him. "I've already gone out of my way and scheduled an appointment to meet this sketchy salesman." He pointed out

Irene looked at Antonio with wide eyes, "Wait what? You didn't even confirm it with Mr. Kogane or I or-or Miss Russell!" She stuttered, probably thinking of procedures in her head and not being able to speak as fast as she could think.

"Well I'm not going alone, I'm not that stupid." Antonio smirked.

Keith raised his eyebrow in curiosity, "Who's accompanying you exactly?" He asked quizzically.

"Why my beautiful wife Mrs. Smith." Antonio snickered.

Both Irene and Keith looked at each other with dumbfounded faces before glancing at Antonio. Before long the two of them were reduced to tears from laughing so hard, Antonio's soul looked as if it were floating out of his body in humiliation. "Who...the hell .. Would think that...you're married?" Irene gasped for air as tears streamed down her round cheeks.

Antonio slumped over slightly as he turned pale, "I'm sorry but I have to agree with Irene..." Keith covered his laughter up with his hand, his wound had healed enough for him to be able to laugh without pain.

"Well it's not a real wife but," his brown eyes looked over at Irene in disgust as he pointed to her, "she's right there."

The room fell silent suddenly, pink flooded Irene's cheeks as her eyes widened in surprise. She stared at her partner in confusion, "Huh?" Then sudden realization hit her and her eyebrows nearly flew off her head with how fast she raised them, "Huh! No way! Not happening!" She exclaimed, flailing her arms around in refusal.

Antonio threw his head back in annoyance as he placed his hands onto his face. "I said I would bring my art loving wife with me and there's only one woman I know who loves art okay, could you blame me for choosing you?" He exclaimed as he leaned forward to glare at Irene who was still trying to process everything while Keith sat laughing on the bed.

"You two already bicker like husband and wife so I think the role would suit the both of you very well." He snickered from the side lines and made both juniors look at him with bright pink faces.

"Not. Funny." They both shouted at him in unison.

"I'll do it but only because the investigation demands it okay," Irene pointed at Antonio before she flicked a piece of hair behind her ear, "however, don't lay a single finger on me or I'll throw you on the ground." She growled.

"Not like I even wanted to touch you in the first place you nasty-" Antonio began to make a remark when a soft tap at the door sounded.

The room fell silent once more as a familiar woman and man stepped in with kind smiles on their faces. It was Areum and her husband James Lanner. Keith's blood ran cold as he met eyes with the purple orbs across the room that belonged to someone he hasn't seen since his childhood. "Excuse us, but we wanted to check in on the investigation..." James said formally as he bowed his head to the investigators staring slack jawed at the two people who run the small city of Tristitia.

Why the hell is my mother here? Keith couldn't peel his eyes away from Areum as she smiled gently at him, her baby bump was showing beneath her dark red dress she wore that stopped at her knees. She was average height since she sported black heels that added at least four extra inches to her petite figure and her long black hair was tied neatly into a dutch bun where her bangs hung loosely in front of her right eye. She was glowing, her skin was clear and her lips were curled into a gentle smile angled towards Keith as he felt emotions threatening to spill over inside his chest. Anger, hatred, remorse, longing, wishfulness and many more he couldn't describe. Her purple iris's glowed warmly, they were much like sheets of silk, the smoothness in them were unreal. Compared to Keith's, hers looked as if they belonged in a magazine or a movie, his held a deep feeling of loneliness inside of them that anyone could find if they stared into them long enough however, no one said a word about it.

"Well my husband came to check on the progress, I came to say my thanks to Mr. Kogane." Areum spoke softly as she looked at her husband for permission to approach the emotionally torn man handcuffed to the bed.

Irene noticed the handcuffs and made a mad dash to cover them up with her body, she wore a large forced smile on her face as she tried to lean onto the bed naturally. "Oh you can just uh...erm..." Irene began to sweat nervously as she casted a glance over her shoulder at Keith who's color had drained from his skin.

"We don't mind you saying a few words to our mentor, you can place those beautiful stargazers down on the table next to his bed if you wish to do so." Antonio fixed his tie and bowed politely to Areum as he tried to take control of the awkward situation that Irene was creating.

James nodded slightly before he pointed to the whiteboard, "May I?" He inquired before Antonio nodded gracefully and coaxed him over with a gentle hand motion where he began to tell him the progress in the case.

Areum walked over to Keith's bed and placed the flowers down gently on the table as she said her thanks to him. "Thank you Mr. Kogane for saving one of our civilians lives a few nights ago. James and I have been held up with political stuff so we haven't been able to pay our proper respects to you quite yet." She stated before looking at him with joy. "However, I've been wanting to meet you ever since your first investigation!"

Keith raised his eyebrow slightly in surprise and awkwardness as Serum sat down by his feet, Irene positioned herself awkwardly as she tried to block the handcuffs from sight. Her rear brushed against Keith's hand making her turn bright pink and Keith look sick to his stomach. "Uh, why's that?" He asked as he tried not to make himself come off as uncomfortable.

Areum smiled in delight at his curiosity as she clapped her hands together and gasped. "Why? Well you're our youngest senior detective in Tristitia, of course I would be excited about that but you're also an inspiration to our younger children. Trevor, Julie and Bennett; they love to read about you in the newspaper!" She exclaimed.

Keith felt awkward as he tried to hide his annoyance. He didn't do his job to make others inspired, he did it to cleanse his past sins, he did it to fix his mistakes he made as a young teen. He didn't care for how happy it made the people of Tristitia feel; he only cared about fixing his past the best he could. He rubbed his ear with his right hand as he tired to act polite to the woman staring at him like a child staring into a candy store, "Uh, thank you I guess." He mumbled under his breath. He then widened his eyes slightly, he could further the investigation by trying to get Areum to do a favor for him. "May I ask a favor from you?" He looked at her in sudden hope.

She turned pink in her cheeks as she nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, of course, ask me anything Mr. Kogane!" She exclaimed.

"Can I have the times of people checking the city halls public records? Pyxis knew something about me that is only in the public records and I want to... I want to find out who she is to stop her from killing anymore families." I want to make sure she doesn't leak out any information regarding my history with the foster care system.

Areum suddenly looked a little displeased with his favor but she nodded her head slowly. "Of course, every citizen who wishes to enter the archive is forced to sign in before entering. I'll get the details of those sign ins from my husbands assistant." She stood up slowly and glanced behind her to see James and Antonio still chatting away, almost as if they were old friends.

"Thank you Mrs. Lanner." Keith dipped his head in respect as Irene tried to keep them from making anymore contact.

Areum chuckled softly catching the two of them off guard suddenly, then she pointed a red nail down at Keith's chest. "You're missing your locket Mr. Kogane, I see you've been busy whenever you're off of work." Keith turned bright red as Irene stiffened up slightly, she still had hers under her shirt unlike Areum, James and Keith. It was surely awkward for her to be the only one to be singled out. "Also, please call me Areum and I'll address you as Keith from now on. I left my contact details on the card n the flowers so you can ask us for help anytime. Pleasure meeting you Keith." She bowed her head.

Keith didn't know if he had imagined it or not but he could've sworn that his mother winked at him as she lowered her down politely. "It was nice meeting you too..." He breathed.

"Are we ready?" James asked as he looked over at his pregnant wife.

She nodded and began to walk out the door but Keith stopped her by asking one last question, "What will you name your child?"

She looked down at her stomach and touched it gently, her lips curling back up into a smile once more. "Nari if it is a girl, and if it is a boy I'll name it Seung after a special person I knew long ago."

Keith's voice was caught in his throat as he watched his mother leave with her husband. She was carrying his sibling and she knew he just happened to be. He knew this for a fact because as she said his middle name she threw a regretful glance at him that was full of motherly love. She never forgot about me?