A/N: Sorry for the delay! This chapter is a little shorter, but I hate having more than three scene changes per installment.

Only This

by Shimegami-chan

Chapter 6

He'd been up all night, hands curled around a cup whose tea had long gone stone cold, sitting opposite from Yukiko at the kitchen table. If she was half as tired as he was, she hid it well, offering him a fresh drink every fifteen minutes as she drained her cup again and again. Yuusaku had left at ten; it was now two-thirty, and fire trucks and ambulances had been screaming past 21 Nichoume since one o'clock.

Yukiko stared into her cup, tired of making empty conversation. Heiji was too exhausted for speech, but was trying to be alert to her mood changes. He was genuinely concerned for the woman's health after all this stress.

What shocked them both out of their respective silences was the shrill ring of a phone in Heiji's pocket. Not his own - though he kept it regularly charged, he was routinely waking up to twenty voicemails from Kazuha, and had started recently to leave the phone on silent mode or not take it with him at all. The one that rang now was Kudo's, and though he was in the section of the hospital that allowed cellular use, the boy had recently entrusted the phone to Heiji to fulfill the dreaded promise he had made to his dying friend.

In all this time, though, it had never rang before. Heiji flipped it open - concealed number. He hoped it wasn't Ran, not at this hour...? "Hello?"

"Oh!" A female voice on the other end sounded genuinely shocked and a little bit familiar. "I was looking for Cool Kid..."

Heiji was struck dumb with recollection. "Jodie-sensei?"

Yukiko stared at him from the other side of the table. Who? she mouthed.

The voice paused and made an excited noise. "Oh! Is this Cool Kid's obentou friend?"

"It's -ben, Kansai-ben," Heiji said through gritted teeth. Why was this woman calling for Conan at almost three in the morning? Worse, he thought, why was she playing dumb? He knew who she was, so shouldn't Kudo/Conan have filled her in on the fact that he was involved with this stuff too? And he was certain she knew he knew that she had been covering up her excellent Japanese skills before. There was hardly any point to playing games at this time of the night, unless...?

"That's right, you're Hattori-kun," she said, sounding pleased. "But this is Cool Kid's cell phone, isn't it? Are you at his house?"

"Yes, I am," Heiji replied, irritated.

"Oh, I see! And is Mouri-san awake?"

"She's not here," the Osakan said quickly, aware that he'd made a blunder. He was at Kudo's house, not Conan's.

Jodie made an ahh sound. "Then, you're alone there?"

"I'm not actually at his house," Heiji corrected, transferring the phone to his other ear and waving Yukiko, who looked extremely interested, away. "I'm just in town to visit him, and I forgot to give him his cell phone back."

"Oh! Then you're not at the Detective Agency at all?"

"No."

"Good, that's good." The schoolteacher's voice seemed to come down an octave. "If you're someplace safe, we can talk about something important. With current events as they are, I woudn't say it's safe to assume that Mouri Kogorou's agency is free of wire-tapping devices and bugs."

"What do you mean?" Heiji asked, mouth dry. Jodie was finally speaking in a normal tone of voice, but everything she said seemed to be a riddle. "I'm in a safe place. We checked for bugs just a few hours ago, so come out with it."

"I don't know if Cool Guy's in danger from it just yet," Jodie said finally, in a hushed voice, "but Vermouth has been captured. By the Japanese police and the FBI in a raid a few hours ago."

"Kudo-han went to that," Heiji realized out loud.

"I somehow figured you knew Kudo Yuusaku, seeing who his son is." The agent didn't give Heiji a chance to reply. "In any case, it went very well, though most of the Organization members who were present were killed or killed themselves to prevent leaks - except her."

Heiji had never actually met the woman known as Vermouth, but he had been part of several of Kudo's plans that had crossed her path. It was amazing, he thought, that she of all people had allowed herself to be taken alive. "Really."

"She was injured and weaponless, so she came willingly," Jodie said quietly, preempting his question. "She asked for sanctuary - trading information on the Organization in exchange for her life and freedom. We had no choice but to at least take her into custody for questioning."

"She's a murderer," Heiji said, remembering Kudo's suspicions on what had happened to that television reporter. Recalling the story of how Teitan High's school doctor's identity had been completely assumed by the wily agent, and the attempt that had been made on the lives of him and his family. Even that little scientist girl who lived next door had barely escaped alive when she'd encountered Vermouth.

Jodie's voice rose. "You think I don't know that!?"

"Sorry. You're worried about K--Conan's safety, then?"

"Somewhat," she said hesitantly. "Vermouth has spared him until now. I can't imagine why, but even if he's not in danger, I wanted him to know that we got her. He's been a big help to me."

"Right, of course." Heiji wondered if Jodie even knew Kudo's condition just then. He was probably in more danger of dying from heart failure than Vermouth's flunkies, especially if no one in the Oragnization had made the connection between him and Kudo Yuusaku. Even so, Heiji couldn't bring himself to say anything about it.

"And," she continued, "if he wants to go to the Japanese police with what he knows about them, now is the time. They enemy is moving, trying to throw us off their trail, and Cool Guy's been part of a few cases involving them before I came here, I know. He and that other little girl should tell the police anything that might be of help, but not information that could be traced back to them. I don't want them to get hurt."

"I'll pass the message on." Already Heiji was at the kitchen window, checking for signs of activity in the big, oval-shaped house next door. Several lights shone through the windows onto the grass - Haibara and the Professor were probably still awake, still working on their desperate cure.

Jodie was silent for a long moment, to the point that Heiji even glanced at the screen of the phone to ensure that the call hadn't dropped. "Jodie-sensei?"

"Ah, so sorry," she said in English. "But thank you for your heIp. I have to go, Hattori-kun, so I'll call Cool Guy - or you - again later."

"Okay. Thanks," he said hurriedly, but she had already hung up. He let the phone close with a snap, the soccer ball charm that dangled from its strap swinging in the air.

"It was about Sharon, wasn't it?" Yukiko's expression was glum. "I could tell from what you were saying. They caught her, didn't they?"

"They did," Heiji confirmed, remembering that Yukiko had known the woman Vermouth had originally been. "Jodie-sensei wanted us to know. I have to go to the police station - but I have to talk to that 'Neechan first--" He glanced out the window again. "I hope she'll agree. Kudo's in no shape to deal with it right now."

Yukiko was on her feet and locking eyes with him in an instant. "Make her agree. The more information we have about the men in black, the better chance Shin-chan will have to survive."

"You think I don't know that?" He echoed Jodie's earlier words. "She's not someone who can be ordered around - but she cares about him at least. If you call a taxi for me, I'll have her convinced in the next ten minutes."

Yukiko looked abashed. "Heiji-kun..."

"No worries." He winked at her and turned his baseball cap around so the brim faced front. "I won't let you or Kudo down now. See you later, Yuki-neechan."

Megure glanced from the clock to his visitor and then back again. "I know why I'm here at three in the morning, but why are you here?"

The Osakan teenager looked rumpled but excited, seating himself across the table from the bulky officer. "I heard that the operation tonight went successfully, and I've got some information that might help you."

Raising an eyebrow, the Inspector did not question outright how Heiji knew about the raid. "Is that so? What kind of information?"

"I've been in touch with a few someones who know about this Organization of yours."

Megure's interest was instantly piqued. "You do? Well, who is it, then?"

"I can't say. They believe one of these people to be dead, and if anyone found out he was alive, he'd be targetted again. The other, they've been hunting down for quite some time." Rubbing at his eyes to keep alert, Heiji leaned his elbows on the table. "My sources trust you, Keibu, as well as some of your personal staff, but we can't be sure about other officers. It's better if they remain anonymous."

"All right," Megure agreed. "But you realize that we've done some research of our own as well, I'm not sure if your sources will have anything to offer."

"They do," Heiji said grimly. "You probably already know that I've been staying at the Kudos. I wouldn't come to you with anything I thought Kudo-han might already know. For example, what kinds of drugs the Organization was probably working on in that place." He removed the folded piece of paper Haibara had given him and slid it across the table. "The strange appearance of the agent you've captured..."

"Yes," the Inspector mused, "you're not the first to point it out, actually; we had an anonymous letter come in about an hour ago pertaining to her. Carried by pigeon."

Heiji wished he could pretend he didn't know what that implied. He pushed on. "In any case, both Interpol and the FBI are aware of her...quirks...but they don't know the specifics. We can't say for sure, but these are my sources' best estimations."

"You knew that were were in contact with Interpol and the FBI?"

"I did. It's because of that fact that this person is helping me provide you with information. Megure-keibu, I hope you realize what you're getting into." Heiji's tone of voice was more serious than ever, and his eyes were fierce. "Up until now, we witheld this because we believed it would not be taken seriously, and you would all be killed. But with the interventions of the other bureaus, you might be able to stop them. A lot of people have died because they blundered into the Organization's way, and I want to see it end. If you have time to talk with me a while longer, I'll tell you everything I know about Vermouth...and point out every single unsolved case in your files that I know has something to do with the Organization."

"Hattori-kun, you're a brave kid. You remind me of another high school detective I know." Megure rose and poured himself another cup of coffee, digging around in the filing cabinet one-handed. "You probably won't be surprised to see I have a stack of cold cases here that I'd hoped to go through looking for connections, so you came at a good time. But you probably will be surprised to know something else I do."

"Huh?" Heiji wrapped his hands around the hot mug of coffee the Inspector placed in front of him.

"You've been in Beika for almost two months. Why is that?"

Heiji froze. That ossan, he didn't tell Megure-keibu about Kudo, did he? I thought he said "the less people who know, the better," right...? Stay cool, Heiji. Figure out how much he knows. "Well, how do you know I've been here that long?"

Fortunately for the Detective of the West, Megure gave up this information freely. "Your father contacted me soon after you decided not to return home. He seemed to think you'd gotten involved in some dangerous case down here and that I'd know about it. But that's not how it is, unless you've been investigating very slowly and quietly. You're here for Conan-kun, aren't you?"

He doesn't know? "Yes," Heiji said, somewhat meekly. "This stuff with the Organization just happened to coincide with the time I was here visiting the kid, so..."

"Hmm," the Inspector said, looking out the window with his back turned to Heiji. "And you're staying with Yuusaku-kun because you're a friend of Shinichi-kun's, am I right?"

"That's right," Heiji agreed. He was so relieved that his story was accepted that he missed noticing that Megure had said staying with Yuusaku-kun rather than staying with Shinichi-kun. "Too much work and money to commute back to Osaka every day, you know how it is."

"Of course, of course." The Inspector turned with a bright smile and sat back down, laying the papers on the table between them. "These are the cold cases I mentioned. You're sure your source gave you enough information to identify every one?"

Heiji nodded, taking a folder from the top of the file and opening it to read the details of the case. "I can call him, if I'm not sure. He won't mind being woken up for something like this."

"Hattori-kun." Heiji glanced up and realized that Megure was looking at him with an unusually serious face. "This source of yours whose life is in danger...isn't Shinichi-kun, is it?"

Wide-eyed, Heiji prayed his features wouldn't betray his thoughts as he scrambled for an answer. "I, uh...well, I do have to be anonymous, sir; I can't confirm or deny anyone in particular."

Megure exhaled, his face unreadable. "Never mind, then."

There was a television suspended from a metal arm in the corner of Conan's private hospital room, and each morning before his mother and Hattori arrived Conan would switch on the TV with a remote kept on the bedside table. Somehow, he felt less confined when he was watching the morning news, as though he were out there rather than in here. Today, he was particularly tired after being kept up all night by frequent and intense attacks, but now that they had settled awhile, he had refused breakast and propped himself up on two pillows to watch television while waiting. It was seven a.m. on a Friday morning, one of those lonelier days when his stream of visitors was sure to be slow, especially since his parents seemed to be caught up in Haibara's research all the time as of late.

The high voice of the news reporter came snaking past Conan's gloomy thoughts and abruptly garnered his attention. "...with fourteen unidentified deaths. Flames broke out around midnight last night. While it is still unknown how the fire began, police are investigating, and asking witnesses to please come forward. It is believed that the pharmecutical company was operating under an illegitimate license as well..."

"A scam...?" Conan said aloud, waiting for the reporter to repeat the name of the building that had burned down. What were people doing in the building at midnight? he wondered. That's suspicious. I should call Megure and ask...ah, but Hattori has my voice-changer. He frowned, disappointed; the prospect of a case (even one he couldn't leave the hospital to gather evidence on) had been enough to marginally lift his spirits. He supposed it wasn't even worth trying at this point - the aleatory nature of his attacks made it difficult to even have a short conversation with his mother; forget bringing anyone else who wasn't aware in on it. But it's really a shame, Conan thought, sitting up straighter to read the news feed scrolling across the bottom of the television screen. There's something about that report that I can't quite put my finger on...something about that name that doesn't sit right with me...

And then, Hattori Heiji burst through the door, breathless.

-to be continued...

A/N: This story makes heavy heavy heavy canon references to everything from Jodie's "boxed lunch" joke to Shinichi's cell phone strap to the cell-phone policy in Beika hospital. The Pandora Gem's suspected involvement with the Organization, even, and Jodie's totally fake bad Japanese. God damn, am I ever a nit picky person. I hope at least some of you will appreciate the attention to detail. XP