Missing You: Chpt 1

Disclaimers: You should know by now I’m not Gosho Aoyama. I seriously doubt he’d do things like this to his characters.

AN:// This is the sequel to my hit story Going Down on fanfiction.net as requested by dewdropfirefly. I don't plan to post that fanfic on DeviantART until I rewrite it- if I do. So go to my fanfiction.net account- Ooshii Kurai to read it.

What's happened so far? Conan was the only one of eight to survive a tragic elevator crash, and only to be trapped in a deep coma. Kogoro took on the case to find the murderer. With some help from alcohol, sleepless nights, and hallucinations Kogoro figures it out. Mere days later, Conan wakes from his coma. But he's not the same...

Chapter One: All Better Now

The worst is over now
And we can breathe again
-Amy Lee

Conan drummed his fingers against the plastic armrest. The nurses were spying at him from behind the corner- making sure he didn’t try to get out of the wheelchair unsupported. Honestly it irritated him that they were always on his beckon call. He had been in this hospital for nearly three months now- and only two of those months were he conscious for.

It felt good to be back in street clothes again. Jeans hugged his thighs while a light blue pullover neatly put his appearance back into one of health. He hated wearing the hospital gowns that seemed to have illnesses and weakness clinging to them like moss.

The boy flexed his legs in the wheel chair testing them each in turn. Sometimes the shakes still spazzed through his healing body, reminding him of the days he had forgotten to use it. They didn’t hurt so to say. It was just an uncontrollable feeling that made him angry with his body more often than naught.

Sighing, Conan fingered his comforting glasses and looked around the waiting room with impatience. A few people were scattered throughout the room. Grownups read assorted magazines in various waiting chairs. Some kids played in the corner with the colorful lego set. A little girl was hogging the blue pieces for her very blue tower that seemed to resemble nothing at all but a big giant stick. And seeing the way she banished it at the other two boys with her, Conan didn’t doubt that was what she was going to use it for.

Occasionally an adult would send him a sympathetic look that he’d ignore. He’d been in the hospital long enough to not feel sorry for himself anymore. After all, they caught the person who did it. At least that’s what Ran said.

Ran.

Conan couldn’t help but smile every time he thought about her. She was such a nice girl. She was there when he first woke up and was the first person he remembered a name for. It seemed to come instantly even though he wasn’t quite sure when he met her. His memories had become a mess of photographs that he couldn’t quite yet place together in chronically order yet. Everyday they made more sense. The ones that didn’t, he’d just push back and wait for his memory to fill in the gaps. It was a good way to keep him from becoming frustrated.

Grinning to himself, Conan leaned lazily back in his wheel chair. The ceiling was uneventful but it gave him a blank slate for him to think upon. This churning mind of his often gave him trouble with its incessant need to keep a flow of thousands of things running through his mind all at once.

He tipped his head up at the sound of the jingling bells- the door opening. His eyes lit up. Almost too eagerly, Conan’s tiny hands grabbed hold of the wheels of his chair and propelled himself towards the entrance.

“Ran-neesan!” Conan piped happily almost colliding into the teenager with his mobile chair. Ran caught the wheels just in time, jerking the kid to a halt, and grinning at him a few inches from his face.

“I caught you this time,” Ran smirked triumphantly releasing the wheels so that Conan could tether backwards a bit. He giggled childishly and then suddenly felt the compelling urge not to do so. Frowning, Conan looked back up to Ran as she made her way around the wheelchair. She gave a wave to the stoic nurses, who barely gave acknowledgement back, and then pressed forward on the handles as Conan cooperatively kicked open the door.

And then they were free.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn’t worth the effort carting the wheelchair up the stairs. So leaving Conan to support himself, Ran folded the device up and hefted it up to the office before coming back down to fetch him.
Holding tight to her arm, Conan took small-calculated steps back up to a home that was bursting with waiting familiarity.

Ran looked down at the young boy with a quiet smile. His wondering eyes seemed to speak for themselves. “Do you remember this place, Conan-kun?”

“Yes,” Conan nodded before noticing Kogoro sitting behind his desk- slobbering drunk as usual. Conan waved with his other hand to the man, just getting a grunt and a toast of his beer can in return. “Hallo Uncle Mori.”

“Oi Conan-kun,” Kogoro muttered dully. “Welcome back.”

“Geez, Dad,” Ran spat angrily- moving forward too fast for Conan’s legs to keep up. “Couldn’t you have waited until after Conan got home? It’s not even noon yet. And I told you he was coming home today. I just got this floor clean.”

She kicked a few beer cans away in frustration before realizing she had just dragged Conan halfway across the room.

“Oh! I’m sorry, Conan,” Ran sputtered, helping him up off his knees. The poor kid didn’t even get a chance to get his slippers on yet- dragged along the floor with one socked and one shoed foot.

Conan shrugged, embarrassed that she had been able to so easily overwhelm him. Ran started on helping to get his other shoe off when Kogoro let out a loud belch. Conan saw Ran’s face get red and immediately knew to duck and cover.

Ran walked smartly over to her father, whacked him over the head with Conan’s shoe, and then proceeded to dumping all his cans in the trashcan- and confiscating all others not yet opened. Conan watched from between his shielded arms realizing that this was the first time since the accident that he had seen Ran angry. But yet somehow he instinctively knew what was going to happen.

Pleased with himself, Conan pulled his body up onto still somewhat shaky legs and walked over to the couch to sit. He yawned and looked over his hands somewhat absentmindedly. One hand was normal enough. The other had a scar from the accident. It was long and went down his entire palm- grinning pieces of broken flesh that never seemed to stop making fun of him.

Conan didn’t remember much about the accident. He was curious about what happened but every time he asked about it the room would go quiet. He remembered an elevator and the sickening feeling of falling down- but the scar was strange. Conan couldn’t remember how he hurt his hand.

He ran a finger down it, cringing slightly at its rough feeling. It looked sort of like a check mark almost. Conan wondered what he had fallen on to make such a weird indentation.

The phone rang making everyone in the room jump. Conan looked over just in time to see Ran race to it. She grabbed the receiver before her father and answered in a rush, “Moshi moshi?”

Her expression dulled when she heard the voice on the line but only momentarily. It was so sudden that Conan wondered if perhaps he had imagined the change.

“Hello Kaasan!” Ran grinned sending a wink over Conan’s way. “Yes, Conan got released today. Uh huh. You don’t say? Hey, Mom. Wanna talk to Dad?”

Before either could protest, the receiver was pressed into Mr. Mori’s hands. Grumbling, Kogoro gave an irritable hello that eventually spawned into a “well-I-didn’t-much-wanna-talk-to-you-either”.

Ran chuckled deviously as she plopped down on the couch across from Conan. She shared with him a knowing smile, before placing a finger to her lips.

Conan remembered Kogoro and Eri’s relationship. Even if he didn’t- he saw enough of it when in the hospital. Eri often came to visit while he was still recovering, sometimes even at the same time that Kogoro did. They barked and yelled at each other but Conan knew that somehow they must have cared enough about Ran to care about him in turn. So perhaps their marriage wasn’t as much of a failure as the two often made it up to be. Ran might very well be the reason the two get back together. After all, Ran told him that the two were living back home after the accident but as soon as things lifted again- Eri moved out again.

‘Perhaps I should have stayed in coma a little while longer then?’ Conan had offered half-heartedly. His remark earned him Ran’s sharp retort and her urging not to have him speaking like that anymore. And because it upset her so much, Conan decided it was best to do as she said.

“Hey Ran,” Conan asked leaning against the armrest with curiosity brimming his words. “Are you expecting a call?”

Ran immediately flushed. “No, why do you ask?”

“No reason,” Conan began playing his fingers along the seam of the couch. “It’s just that- well, you seemed to answer that phone call awfully fast. And when you found out it was your Kaasan… Ran-neesan, you looked sad for a moment.”

Ran sighed, tipping her upper body over her knees. Kogoro had begun yelling at the receiver and Ran didn’t say anything until after he had slammed it down back into its place.

“I was waiting for Shinichi to call. You see- he hasn’t called me in awhile,” her blue eyes wandered up to meet his. “So I suppose I’m just worried about him.”

“Oh,” came Conan’s reply. He thumbed the seam some more before tilting his head ever so slightly and asking, “Do I know him?”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To Be Continued…
Please R & R!

Yes. I am still an evil author. Fear me.

Please review and stay tuned for future chapters.

With a keen eye for detail, one truth prevails.