One Step Closer

By Raining Dreams ("Bunny")

Shut up and listen: Whoo. Another fic. Go me. Don't expect this one done as quickly as Last Shot at Love, either. This is the sequel Last Shot at Love. Yeah. You feel joy, do you not? For the record, I've payed a visit to the official English Case Closed website. As it happens, I was spelling "Rachel" wrong. Meh. Silly Funimation dubbers. Can't give us any fun spellings. I'm still too lazy to use the proper japanese names.

I know that Harley becomes an ally to the group in the manga and that I'm messing up that bit. But he makes SUCH a lovely antagonist. I'll make him nice. Later. Maybe XD

Oh yeah. And I decided that "One Step Closer" sounded much better than "One Step Closer, Two Steps Back". Yesh.

Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own Detective Conan. No witty remark for this, either. I think I'm losing my touch.

One Step Closer : File 1

It had been nearly a year. Eight months and twenty six days, to be exact. She'd been counting. Rachel ((A/N: This feels so weird spelling her name like that)) stared idly at a dusty picture in her hands. Jimmy and her; standing atop the Empire State Building in New York. The moment the camera had captured was more than just Jimmy and her with their arms around each other in a cute pose. No. That particular moment, he with his arm around her, was when she first realized just how attached she was to the boy. The feelings she held for him. Tears stung angrily at the teens eyes. Why had he left like that? She missed him terribly. Not just because he was her best friend, as she claimed. After he had left, she had felt like a part of her had been torn out and stashed away in some unknown place. She batted her eyes, holding the warm, salty drops behind her lids. It burned, yes, but she didn't want to cry any more. Conan was home and dad was sleeping off a drink. She needed to be alert and ready so her parental skills could preform at their peak. Plus, Conan always got very upset when she cried. He would curl up in her arms and cuddle her until she stopped, offering soft words of encouragement until she calmed enough and smiled.

A soft smile tugged at her lips at this thought. Conan. Sweet, sweet little Conan. What would she do without him? He was her little guardian angel. She loved him just as much as she would love her own child if she had one. He was the sole thing that kept her going with a smile on her face.

Speaking of the child, he was dozing in the chair opposite his caretaker, snoozing after staying up late the night before to watch a movie. He stirred lightly, muttering something that sounded distinctly like "keen eye!" in his sleep. Of course, this made no sense whatsoever to Rachel, who just smiled at him, getting up and kneeling beside him, consulting her watch. Yep. It was high time he woke up. He had been asleep since one that afternoon and it was now four thirty. She smoothed his hair in a motherly way, before calling out a soft "Conan. Conan, wake up."

It amazed her just how much he had grown, as well. When he had first come to them, he'd been a short little 7-year-old...he'd since turned eight and grown from having the top of his head brush Rachel's hip to having it now come to her elbow, when she was standing straight. He frowned sleepily, squinting his eyes.

"Aw, Rache. I was having a good dream!" he mumbled, closing one eye, but keeping one open to watch the girl. She stared for a moment. The only people who had ever called her that were the guy who had kidnaped her and...Jimmy. She continued to stare, and it took a moment for Conan to realize where he'd slipped, his eyes snapping open. Rachel just smiled, however.

"Jimmy called me that." She said it with a smile, but her eyes fell to the floor. Conan had learned long since that Jimmy was a sensitive subject for Rachel; they normally didn't talk about him at all.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, as if there was an invisible infant sleeping nearby. He sat up properly, wrapping his small arms around Rachel's shoulders.

She smiled. "It's alright, Conan. Call me whatever you like." There was a moment of silence in which Conan buried his face into her hair in an apologetic way. He noticed she still used the same soap from their early teens. He'd recognize the scent anywhere. Raspberries and vanilla. He knew it so well from all the times Rachel had hugged him. He felt so bad. She'd forever hugged him, offering words of friendly affection. But he never had. He couldn't remember a time he had hugged her, in fact. It was such a trifle thing to worry about, but he felt he was making up for it now. Repenting somehow. Of course, something HAD to go wrong. With a swift, dramatic opening of the Moore's front door, Harley walked it. Conan jumped off of Rachel, glaring up. Rachel had a glare to match, gingerly hiding the old photo under a newspaper on the end table. If Harley saw it, he'd take it and analyze it so much, she'd probably never see it again.

"Didn't I lock the door?" Rachel inquired bitterly. In response, Harley whirled a key around one finger.

"Your dad gave me a house key so I wouldn't have to constantly bang on the door." he said simply. Rachel and Conan exchanged glances. Richard Moore. "Great Detective" and avid drinker. He'd probably issued the key while drunk. Rachel made a mental note to hide all the alcohol in the house until he apologized and reclaimed the key. Harley plopped onto the sofa, turning on the television. "That wasn't very nice yesterday. You know, ditching me at the ice cream parlor."

"It wasn't very nice of you to just barge into our home looking for my best friend who is God knows where solving some case!" Rachel retorted. She was long past the "polite and quiet" stage. Conan just nodded in agreement. The older boy rolled his eyes.

"Kudo could've shown up! His girl and cousin in an ice cream parlor! What better place to stop and say hi??"

"I haven't seen him in...!" she paused in a thoughtful manor, her firey temper dying down. "...a long time." she finished softly, standing. "Conan, what do you want for lunch?" the child opened his mouth to request peanut butter and jelly, but was cut off by Harley.

"A ham and Swiss sub with chips and a soda." The fire started right back up. She whacked the mooching boy over the head firmly, taking the remote and throwing it across the room.

"Is your name Conan?!"

"You were getting up to make lunch!"

"I'm not going to wait on someone who barged into my house!"

"The kid barged in!"

"That's different!"

And so went on their screaming match. It wasn't uncommon. Rachel didn't like Harley bossing her around and taking over her house, while Harley was so cocky he thought the world was on pins and needles, anxious to wait on him hand and foot. Conan sighed, smiling softly in Rachel's direction.He tottered off to the kitchen, making himself a sandwich and getting a glass of milk, sitting in the doorway with his meal. Better than tv. Bite his oversized head off, Rache. he thought to himself, watching with interest as they spewed venom at one another, each finding something witty to snap out at the other.

"All I wanted was a sandwich!!"

"I'm not your slave!!"

"You wait hand and foot on the brat!"

"He's SEVEN!"

"I was already solving mysteries at seven!"

"Conan is already smarter than you are now!"

"Oh yeah right!!"

"He's more like Jimmy than you could ever HOPE to be!!"

Conan smirked, taking another bite. You have no idea just how right you are.

SHHHHH!!!: Wow. Chapter one got done... fast o.o; Really fast. I didn't anticipate on having it out until tomorrow or even Sunday or Monday. It initially started out so warm and heartfelt. I'm sorry it got so ish there at the end. I just couldn't resist. I'm sorry it's so short, too.... Oh. And if ANY of you know exactly what happens in Monday's episode, please email me with that information. Highschool starts Tuesday and unless I figure out how to work the VCR (highly unlikely) or manage to sneak staying awake without mum catching me (even MORE unlikely) I wont get to see it. I know VAGUELY what happens, but I'd really like to know the details. Thanks a ton!