"I got your message."

"Well, yes. That was kind of the point." Haruna's face scrunched up as a familiar blonde foreigner walked towards them. "I wouldn't put a message in your pocket and not expect you to look at it."

The woman rolled her eyes, an amused smirk on her face as she stopped in front of the mother and daughter.

The three were at a park near where the mother and daughter pair lived. It was quiet, and there wasn't much foot traffic. It was a place where they wouldn't be disturbed. 

"Hi, Auntie Sharon!" Reiko waved cheerfully and grinned up at the woman known as Sharon or Chris Vineyard. 

Sharon looked down at the child, a genuine smile gracing her face. "Hello Reiko. It's nice to see you again." She pulled the girl in for a quick hug. "I only wish it were under better circumstances."

Reiko frowned. "Mhm." 

"So," Haruna crossed her arms. "I take it you know what I wanted to talk to you about?"

Sharon rolled her eyes, pulling away from Reiko and crossing her arms as well. "You know, I do wonder how the two of you always manage to see through my disguises."

"It's a gift," Haruna shrugged nonchalantly before looking at Sharon seriously. It was an expression that didn't really suit her. "So," she started pointedly. "Is the doctor that you disguised as still alive?"

"Who knows?" Sharon replied loftily, avoiding the drilling eyes of Reiko. The girl always seemed to be able to see the truth with a single glance to the eyes. 

"How comforting."

"I like to think so."

Reiko stared between the two women with a blank expression on her face. There was a growing tension between the two, and Reiko couldn't help the frown that began to form. 

While she certainly didn't approve of her Auntie Sharon's work, she still cared for the woman, and she knew her mother was the same. The two women had been friends for years, and Sharon had become a constant in Reiko's life ever since she had been born. 

It was moments like these, however, that Reiko wondered how the two always seemed to get along so well, especially with Haruna's disapproval towards committing crimes. 

Then again, Haruna had once been a criminal herself, so it wasn't as though she could judge all that much. 

"Here," the American actress broke the tension by handing her friend a large envelope filled with documents. "It isn't everything, but it should be enough to satiate at least a bit of that never ending curiosity of yours."

Haruna opened the envelope and flipped through the documents briefly before releasing a resigned sounding sigh.

"You know," she started, sounding awfully tired. "Sometimes I really wish that you'd stop working for them…"

Sharon, to her credit, only smirked. "If I did that, then where would you get all of your insider information?" The woman, who was also known as Vermouth, switched her attention to look towards Reiko who had been staring between the two curiously. "Now, enough of that. I believe that it has been a while since the last time I brought my niece out for ice cream."

Reiko's eyes sparkled, and she began to bounce on the balls of her feet as the two adults watched her with amused expressions. If there was one way to get her to actually act her age, it was definitely ice cream. It was her favorite food and was the perfect thing to get if you wanted to bribe her. In fact, her cousins often bribed her whenever they needed her to keep a secret. 

Unfortunately, Furuya Reiko was an addict at only seven years old. 

But that's a problem for another day. 

*****

"You have everything, right?" Haruna fretted over her daughter as they stood in front of the Mouri Detective Agency and Café Poirot. 

Haruna was off to investigate the information from the files that Sharon had given her, and Reiko was to be staying with the Mouri's and Conan while she was away. Normally, she'd be staying at the Kudo's or the Kuroba's, who happened to actually be blood relatives. This time around, however, the Kudo's were obviously a no-go as Yukiko and Yusaku were back in America while Shinichi was stuck with his 'little' problem. As for the Kuroba's, Haruna's sister Chikage was off travelling while the woman's son was still in high school and may or may not be busy with pulling off heists as Kaitou Kid. Besides, Kaito and Chikage weren't always the best influences… 

(Seriously, though, what seven year old needs to know how pickpockets or the best ways to utilize her size when taking out a fully grown man? Then again, Shinichi and Yusaku weren't much better with how often they brought her to crime scenes.)

That left Ran, not really Kogoro, as most of the other people that Haruna trusted were either dead or out-of-town/country.

"Do you have your toothbrush? Changes of clothes? Your hairbrush? What about your phone and charger?!" Before you ask, yes. Yes, Haruna did always act like this. 

"Mhm," Reiko nodded with a small smile. "We already went through this at home, okaa-san."

Haruna pouted. "I know, but I don't want you to leave!"

"The only other option is for me to join you on your work trip," Reiko reminded her mother, once more acting as the adult of the duo. As for the whole 'work trip' thing, it was mainly just an excuse so nobody questioned why Haruna was away. Though, technically, her investigation could be considered a type of work. She'd probably be sending anything pertinent to the FBI after all. "And we both know that that's not going to be a possibility."

"I could just stay home…" Haruna sulked, hugging her daughter tightly. Reiko only raised a brow in response, not that Haruna could see since the younger girl's face was currently smushed into the hug. 

"No, you can't."

The actress sighed. "No, I can't." 

"Does this mean you're finally going to leave?"

The two girls turned their heads, still embraced in a hug, to look at Conan. The shrunken boy had been watching them refuse to let go of each other for nearly twenty minutes. Well, it was more so Haruna refusing to leave. He actually felt a bit of sympathy for Reiko for having to try and convince the woman to actually go and do what she needed to do. Luckily, Ran knew what was going on, so she didn't worry about what was taking so long as she finished cooking dinner. 

Also, for those wondering, Shinichi was back to being Conan as a few days had past, and he had shrunken once more. Apparently, it had happened in the middle of a date, too, so he had not been the most happy about that. Honestly, Reiko felt more pity for Haibara, who had to deal with the boy constantly bugging her for another temporary antidote. 

Her and Haibara had actually been getting along fairly well now that the whole secret identity thing was out of the way. The age gap didn't really affect anything, and Reiko enjoyed hearing Haibara talk about all of her science-y things. Haibara may be a child now, but she was still a scientist. Just because she had essentially been forced into it by the organization didn't mean that she didn't like science as a whole. Having Reiko listen to her talk about it was a good way to process her thoughts as well. On a similar, but slightly separate note, Haibara enjoyed hearing as much blackmail material as Reiko had to offer about Shinichi, and the young blonde definitely had a lot. Of course, the topics of their conversations were very rarely ever shared with others. 

So, basically, they bonded through science and blackmail. 

Yay.

Anyways, getting back on track, Haruna narrowed her eyes slightly at the boy she considered a nephew. "Well, now I'm tempted to stay just a bit longer…" she said.

Let it forever be known that Nomura Haruna lived mainly off of spite. 

And the adorableness of Reiko. 

And maybe just a few truckloads of coffee. 

But that's beside the point. 

"But I really do need to get going," she sighed, reluctantly breaking out of the hug with her daughter. "My flight leaves in a few hours, and I don't want to miss it." She knelt in front of Reiko. "Behave for Ran and that impatient cousin of yours, okay?"

Ignoring Conan's look of annoyance at Haruna's comment, Reiko smiled and nodded. "I will," she said. "But only if you try not to get in too much trouble."

"Of course," Haruna kissed the girl's forehead in reassurance. Reiko was all too aware of the dangers that come from getting involved with the organization, and she especially knew the dangers of going against them. She may not show it too well, but she was very worried about her mother and the attention that she may garner from her investigations. Luckily, Haruna was easily able to tell whenever she got worried, and she always made sure to reassure her when she did. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Mhm," Reiko hummed with a nod as her mother stood up and turned to look at Conan. 

"Take care of her," Haruna requested, and the boy nodded, taking the request seriously.  He may be in the body of a child, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to make sure that Reiko stayed safe and away from danger. The real hassle was probably going to be keeping her from going towards the danger on her own volition. "And make sure to take care of yourself, too."

Conan blinked a bit in surprise as Haruna gently smiled down at him. 

"I, uh, I will," he told her. Honestly, it was kind of rare nowadays to find people telling him to take care of himself. People just sort of expected that he was always fine on his own, and he tended to be the person that a lot of people looked to in a crisis. The expectations had lessened since he had become Conan, but they were still there nonetheless. 

"I should be back by next week," she reminded the two before planting a kiss on each of their foreheads. "Call me if you guys need anything."

The three said some quick goodbyes before Haruna was off to the airport, and Conan and Reiko were left to head up the stairs and into the Mouri's apartment. 

"We're back!" Conan called out as they entered the apartment. 

"Ah, just in time!" Ran smiled at the two from where she was setting up the table. "I just finished up dinner!" She placed a couple of plates on the table. "It's too bad that Haruna-san couldn't stay any longer."

Conan laughed dryly. "If Reiko hadn't convinced her to not just change her flight, I'm sure she would have."

Reiko only sighed in agreement, walking over to help Ran set out the silverware. Making sure that Haruna didn't change her flight had definitely been a job and a half. 

Ran just laughed a bit awkwardly, definitely being able to imagine it. 

"So we have another freeloader?" Kogoro had walked into the room. He honestly didn't mind Reiko's presence all that much, but it was another mouth to feed. Their apartment didn't have the most room, either. 

The blonde child only held out a simple slip of paper in response. Kogoro took one look at it and nearly ended up doing a spit take. Ran walked over curiously, only to look wide eyed at the piece of paper that happened to be a check for a million yen.

"This much for only two weeks?!" Ran looked at Reiko worriedly. It seemed a bit excessive, and the teen wasn't entirely sure she'd feel comfortable accepting so much, especially since Reiko was such a well behaved kid. "Are you sure this—"

She was interrupted by Kogoro shushing her before he turned to Reiko. "You're welcome to stay as long as you like!"

You could practically hear the cogs turning in his head as he seemed to contemplate all the things he could buy with a million yen.

Reiko just gave a close eyed smile. "Thank you very much."

Her and her mother totally didn't plan this.

*****

2068 words excluding A/N's

Finished - October 16, 2021

Bye~