She walked home alone, the dim sidewalk lit only by the distantly laid streetlamps, and, despite the daunting atmosphere, she hummed happily as she recalled her latest performance at The Wonder Bar. A man stood at her doorstep, and though she was too far to identify them, their red suit gave her a good guess.

"Polly!" she called, waving one hand to grabbed the man's attention, and cupping the other to amplify the sound. "Did you lock yourself out again? Hold on, I've got a key." She sprinted to the doorstep, where she could only halt in surprise as she saw the man turn, saw his grey hair, his glasses, his true height...This man was definitely not Apollo Justice, her close friend, and, even if not from direct descent, her brother.

The man before her meant so much more than that.

"D-daddy?" She murmured, and when he smiled, tears of joy seeped from her eyes as she practically leapt into his arms.

"Don't you mean--" The man began, but she already knew the response.

"Papa Edgeworth!"

They held their tight embrace, standing there until Edgeworth finally broke it.

"Trucy," He began, his face shifting to it's typical solemn seriousness, "There's something I'd like to talk to you about. May I come inside?"

Even though the smile had left his face, the smile on his daughter's continued to glow, even as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Of course! I just have to unlock it." Grabbing a key from the pouch at her side, Trucy unlocked the door and let her adoptive father in. Edgeworth could only hold back a gasp when the lights were flicked on and he saw the entirety of the clutter spread out over tables, dressers, even the piano he had so thoughtfully bought for his husband was impossible to reach, let alone play with the different piles of random junk accumulating on it.

"It's worse than I thought," He murmured to himself.

"What?"

A sigh passed his lips at his daughter's response. "Trucy, I need to talk to you about something important. Phoen--Mr.Wright... Does he always let you walk home alone?"

"Do you mean Daddy?"

"Yes, yes sorry. Does your daddy"--The word felt so wrong on his tongue--"always let you walk home alone?"

"Well, of course! He's got his own work to do over at the Borscht Bowl."

Edgeworth's teeth clamped together. "Unbelievable." Seconds passed as he tried to form words, tried to tell his daughter what was to come without hurting her. He could only take a deep breath to prepare himself. "Trucy, I believe that your father... doesn't know what he's doing. I believe that he's not taking care of you very well."

Trucy's happy demeanor dropped, and had it been tangible, Edgeworth was sure he would have heard it shatter as it hit the floor. "What?"

"It pains me to say it, but I--your father--we need..." This only worried Trucy more. She had watch every filmed case in which her fathers had gone head to head in, that she knew they weren't ones mince words, especially her prosecuting father.

"What's going to happen?" She whispered, a fresh set of tears coming forth but for an entirely different reason.

"I need to talk to your father, and things are going to get a bit difficult. I'm going to have you stay with your aunt Maya up in Kurain for a while."

"When will I come back?"

"When I can let your father come pick you up as a respectable person. Now, pack your bags; I want to get you to a better place as soon as possible." As she left for her room, he took the chance to truly get a look at the place. He could remember what this room had looked like, back when his husband had still been a defense attorney.

"Why... Why did you have to forge that evidence? Why did you have to let your life go to shambles?" Edgeworth dropped onto the couch before him. It seemed out of place in the wreck of a room, as it was clear of all the unnecessary clutter laying around. Just like myself, he thought with a small laugh. At least Wright had the mind to at least leave a place to sit in this dump.

"...Papa Edgeworth? I'm ready to leave." His head flicked up to look at his daughter as he just now noticed that he had shoved his glasses up to his forehead and had been clutching his face in despair.

"Right. Just let me..." Moving items out of the way, he made his way to the piano, and began clearing the mess off of the front until he was finally able to lift the lid and play a single note. It rang through the air, long and sweet before it slowly dispersed.

"One note, and I already can tell that you're better at playing the piano than Daddy."

"Of course I am; I'm the one who taught him. Now come along, let's get to the car."

☞ ☜

The silence in the car was thick and awkward, leaving both passenger and driver wanting to break it. It almost seemed impossible, despite the obvious dislike of it.

"...I've never been in a car before," Trucy began, and had Edgeworth been drinking anything at the time, it would have most surely been spewed across the windshield.

"Never? I know your father doesn't have a license, but never?" She was left to think about that one.

"Nope, I don't think so. Even my real daddy would always move around in their van. But I like your car, Papa Edgeworth. It's nice and comfortable. I also like the color."

"Trucy, do you want to learn to drive once you can get your license?"

"Yeah! I want to be able to show more people my magic. It'd be so much easier to get around by driving."

He smiled. "I'd be happy to sign you up for lessons, or I could teach you myself."

"Really?"

"Mhm. I'd be willing to whenever you're of legal age and ready to."

"And then maybe I could take you and Daddy for a ride some day."

At first silence only followed her sentence, Edgeworth looking intensely at the road ahead as he kept his emotions in check. Then he finally answered, "I'd like that," leaving the rest of car ride in silence, though this time is was more natural, as nothing more was needed to be said; a calm quietness instead of pure silence. Finally, it came to an end at the same time the car ride did. "We're here."

Even in the ominous darkness, Kurain Village was still able to hold a state of serenity and peace. Had a complete stranger come there for the first time, this fact could only hold true. Before the daughter and father lay an impressive building, the Fey residency where the woman Trucy had always considered an aunt lived. Edgeworth grabbed her suitcase from the trunk and carried it for to the door way.

Only one knock was needed to summon the woman who owned the house. "Hello?" she said as she opened the door only enough to peak out, but once she saw the two familiar faces, the door was opened fully. "Mr. Edgeworth! Trucy! Come on in, you two must be tired from the trip. I'll get some tea ready, too."

"Maya, there's really no need to..." Edgeworth began, but soon trailed off when the woman had disappeared into the house. They entered the house together, Edgeworth taking the lead as he knew his way around the house well. The two passed through the Winding Way and finally arrived in a side room, waiting not long for Maya to return. "First of all, Maya, I would like to thank you for hosting Trucy here until things settle down again. If you don't mind, I'd still like to visit often."

"No problem, come as often as you want. It gets kinda lonely and boring only seeing the same people every day. Anyways, it's late. Do you want to just crash here tonight?" Politely refusing the tea he was being offered, Edgeworth stood, brushing off the front of his shirt.

"I'm afraid I have to decline your offer, I have some other business to attend to, and I don't intend on staying here much longer." He cast a glance down towards his daughter. "Trucy, I'm sorry our reunion wasn't more pleasant, but I have to leave you now. I'll see you again soon." With that, he turned to leave.

"Papa Edgeworth, wait!" Trucy called, and he stopped in time for her to grasp him into a hug. "How soon is 'soon'?" Her face was pressed into his back, making her voice quiet and inaudible for all but herself and her father.

His voice matched hers in volume as he spoke again. "Very soon, tomorrow or the day after that at the most. I'll see you then, Trucy."

"I love you, Papa Edgeworth."

"I love you dearly, Trucy."

And then he left the house, leaving his daughter feeling alone.

"Okay, how about we get your things unpacked tomorrow; you can sleep here tonight. Pearl's in the other room watching old recordings of The Steel Samurai if you want to join her."

"No thank you, Aunt Maya. I think I'll just get to bed."

"Come find me if you need anything, okay? Good night, Trucy."

"Good night, Aunt Maya."

That night, Trucy cried herself to sleep.

☞ ☜

Using the key he got from Trucy, it was easy for Edgeworth to get back into the Wright Anything Agency, and, even though it was past eleven at night, Phoenix still hadn't returned home. Only when the door handle finally began to turn as the clock neared midnight did Phoenix return.

The first thing he noticed was that the husband that he had thought had left him was standing in his living room, if it could be called that.

"Well, if it isn't Mother Hen Edgeworth."

"Wright," his reply came, curt and sharp.

"What are you doing here, did someone let you in?" Edgeworth just stood there, arms crossed as he waited, tapping his finger on his arm in irritation, scorn painted across his face. The two let moments pass in silence.

"Unbelievable."

"What?"

"Were you even listening to me? I said 'unbelievable' fairly clearly."

Phoenix's eyes squinted slightly in annoyance. "I heard. I wanted to know what you thought was so 'unbelievable'." In mockery, Phoenix imitated Edgeworth's voice, and suddenly Edgeworth's hands were hanging at his side, his fists clenched. Had he been another man, Phoenix surely would have wound up with a broken nose or jaw.

"You've become a disgusting man, Wright." --a moment passed-- "Do you even know where Trucy is?"

Phoenix's eyes lit up in alarm as he frantically glanced about the house. "Did something happen?" He whispered quietly. Then he yelled through clenched teeth, "Where is my daughter?" His hand found its way to Edgeworth's collar where he pulled his husband's face towards his own, and to anyone else, they'd have been cowering, worrying about whether they'd have to visit a hospital anytime soon. But Edgeworth knew better.

"You've become more violent since I last saw you; all the more reason to justify my actions." His voice was smooth and calm as he talked to the ex-defense attorney, pulling the hand off his collar and straightening his cravat. "Wright, I've known you for more than ten years. I know that you're all bark and no bite."

"Fine, you saw through my bluff. Now tell me where my daughter is."

"Do you mean our daughter. Remember, we were married when you adopted her, and we still are to this day; you studied enough in law school to know that I have custody, as well."

"Edgeworth, answer me. Where is Trucy?"

"I took her away."

"What? Where, when... Edgeworth, what--"

"--If you'll stop asking questions, I will explain to you the situation. Wright, you do realise that you've been putting Trucy through a stressful and emotionally unhealthy environment with this situation. I caught wind that you are not the sole breadwinner to this household, if you can even call it that. You realize that in a normal household, the parents are the ones who pay the bills, that it is not a shared responsibility between parents and children? You don't even have a real job."

"Of course I do--"

"--For god's sake, Wright, you're a gambler! You pretend to be a pianist when you can't even play a single note well, only so that you can play poker in some shady secret hideout below a restaurant."

"That's not gambling. I only play to keep my streak."

"No, Wright, it is gambling. Say you lose. Say your precious 'seven years undefeated' streak gets broken. You may not be gambling with money, but you're gambling with your job. If you lose one game, you lose your job, not to mention if some fiasco like what happened last year turns up and you're accused of having cheated your way to the top, or worse, murder. If you lose this 'job' of yours now, you and Trucy might as well be living on the streets; you'll be hard pressed to get a new one with only a degree in art and law."

"Fine. You've proven your point, that I'm a disgraceful Ace Attorney turned Ace Hobo. What more do you want from me? You still haven't told me where Trucy is."

"Trucy is in a safer environment than she was here: she's staying with Maya in Kurain for the time being."

"Kurain? You've got to be kidding me, she's that far away? I should still be able to catch a train if I leave soon." Having never been able to even take his shoes off, Phoenix was still completely dressed to leave the house, though his hand couldn't even touch the handle as he was verbally prevented from doing so.

"Wright, don't you dare even try."

"... You're going to stop me from seeing my own daughter?"

"At the moment, yes. You're posing to be a negative influence to her, and I can't allow you to unintentionally harm her any further, at least not until you shape up. If you try to see her without my consent, I will get a restraining order under the pretenses that you are a gambler and a drunkard--"

"--It's grape juice!"

"We all know it's bloody wine, Wright! And go ahead, try and get your little 'apprentice' Apollo Justice to defend you, he wouldn't last a minute against me in court." A sigh passed by Edgeworth's lips has he tried to calm himself. "You've fallen, and you've fallen hard at that. I just want to fix things so that this situation is better for both of us."

Phoenix's shoulders slumped as his stubbornness no longer seemed to hold up. "Fine. Just-just tell me what I need to do, how I can see Trucy again."

"Retake the Bar exam. I know you have a thick head, but that doesn't change the fact that you couldn't have forgotten everything you learned about law, and if that doesn't work, get a job, a real job. I don't care if you only apply for some and land a few interviews or if you end up getting hired by a burger joint, just have an actual income that you can rely on to pay your bills. Consider getting a driver's license, this is just sad that Trucy may get one before you. And finally, clean yourself up, you look like you're already a hobo, though that's not all you need to clean up; clean up your act, as well. I've heard that you haven't been acting like an actual father should, and that, above all things needs to change." Edgeworth's hand slid down the side of the couch where two items lay on the floor. He picked them up, and, as he headed for the door, shoved them into Phoenix's chest. "Consider them a present to give you a start on your new life."

"...A suit and a razor?"

"Don't worry, you shouldn't need alterations. The suit should fit rather well."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

A mischievous smile--almost a smirk--danced upon Edgeworth's lips. "Wright, we're married, we've even slept on the same bed before. It's not too difficult to figure these things out when we also shared a closet." With that, his hand fell on the doorknob and swung it open. Unspoken words kept him from leaving.

"Wright... I want you to realise that I've loved you ever since you defended me in court and helped me out of my nightmare."

"Funny how you're calling me 'Wright', if you love me so much."

"I fell in love with the man I called 'Phoenix'. But you've changed from then." He turned his head so that his face looked out onto the quiet street before him. "You're the one who never once called me Miles." And then he left, his arm bumping into the light switch as he left, efficiently leaving Phoenix in darkness.

☞ ☜

Maya entered the side room expecting to wake Trucy up to join her and Pearl for breakfast; what she didn't expect was to see the girl she considered her niece sitting in a daze in the corner, her eyes puffy and bloodshot with dark bags to accompany the look, making her expression even more dreadful. Maya did the best thing she could think of. She went to Trucy's side and put her arms around the girl, pulling her into a hug.

"I'm sorry all this had to happen to you." A bit a relief flooded into Maya as Trucy relaxed, laying her head into her aunt's shoulder and accepting the gesture of kindness. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I want to talk to Apollo," Trucy whimpered with a sniffle, giving Maya a hard time of figuring out if she truly just wanted to talk to someone she was so close to, or just wanted to change the subject.

"The home phone's in the main room if you want to use it." The silence made her continue. "C'mon, I'll show you." She helped Trucy to her feet, and although her niece looked completely healthy and stable, Maya had the underlying worry that Trucy would suddenly collapse, as if the situation she was going through was a physical, burdening weight laying across her back. When Trucy's fingers flicked across her own, in an attempt to leave a gentle yet firm hold on her aunt's hand, Maya suddenly realized how Trucy felt. She must be feeling like how I did when I got released by my kidnapper; I remember almost constantly clinging to Nick. Trucy was grounding herself to reality, Maya knew that much.

"Go ahead and talk for as much time as you'd like." Trucy gave a slight smile. "And Trucy? Don't forget, I'll always be here for you if you need me, and I'm sure Apollo will say the same thing." Maya smiled and left the room, giving Trucy the space she needed to finally let out some more held-back tears. She was sobbing on the floor before she even dialed Apollo's number.

"Hello?" His voice finally came through after a couple rings, groggy and hoarse like it always was in the morning.

"Polly..." The obvious sadness and tears flooding her voice shocked him upright with worry.

"Trucy, are you okay? Hang on, I'll head over to the Agency to talk to you in person."

She initially shook her head to signal that no, she wasn't at the Wright Anything Agency. "I'm not there right now. I'm not going to be back f-for a...for a while." Her voice raised in pitch as she began sobbing even harder.

"Where are you? I'll come by and get you."

"K-Kurain Village... it's two-two hours by train."

"Got it, just hold on until I get there, okay?" The line went dead as he hung up and hustled to the train station.

"Please hurry."

☞ ☜

The two hour train ride was terrible for Apollo and worse for Trucy. For the whole ride, all Apollo could do was wait and worry, worry about Trucy and what had made her cry so much and so hard. All he could was sit idly and hope to catch a cell phone signal so that he could talk to her more, all the while counting down the stops before the train made it to Kurain.

Trucy kept sitting in the main room alone, waiting for those two terrible hours to pass away as Maya worried for her; she just sat leaning against the wall futilely trying to call Apollo's cell phone. Her saving grace was a knock on the door, signaling her brother had finally arrived.

He was able to take only a single step inside before Trucy was clinging to him, sobbing pitifully into his sleeve. "Trucy, what happened? Why aren't you at the Agency, why are you even here?" Her hand grabbed onto his wrist, and she lead him into the side room where she was staying. Only when they were alone did she feel comfortable enough to speak.

"Papa Edgeworth thinks that Daddy isn't doing a good job as a father, and he wanted to keep me in good hands while Daddy improves."

Apollo's face warped even further into one of sorrow. "Oh my god, Trucy, I'm so sorry... I think this is all my fault. I... I told Mr. Edgeworth about Mr. Wright, but I thought he was only going to talk to him as a friend; I didn't think he would go this far, or even that they were, well, married."

"I don't blame you Polly..." She murmured, and he could feel a bit of relief well up inside him. "I'm just glad you came here."

"...Can I ask you a question about Mr. Wright and Mr. Edgeworth?

"How long have they been married? And why don't they live together or anything?"

"Papa Edgeworth and Daddy got married a few months before Daddy adopted me. Apparently they were really happy together. But then Daddy was found to have used illegal evidence, even though he didn't know it. Papa Edgeworth was appalled, and he called Daddy out on it. Daddy thought Papa Edgeworth didn't trust him anymore and got angry. And then, shortly after Daddy adopted me, Papa Edgeworth left us. I f-finally got the see him after seven years and then... and then..." She burrowed her face into Apollo's arm as she cried even more.

☞ ☜

It had been a couple weeks since Edgeworth had visited Phoenix and took Trucy to Kurain. Things were starting to settle down, and hope was seeming to fall. Trucy was beginning to calm down, and, with Maya's agreement, Apollo had decided to stay at the Fey household for a while with Trucy. Edgeworth had followed his promise and visited almost daily. He was there that day, too, when things changed once again.

Trucy and Apollo were sitting around the television with Pearl, watching some  random show one of them had chosen, while Edgeworth and Maya sat nearby chatting over tea. Then the knock on the door came.

"I'll get it!" Maya called over her shoulder as she went to open the door. When she saw who was behind it, she didn't know how to feel; Shock, nostalgia, worry, happiness... it all jumbled inside of her as she could only step aside and let the man in.

"Maya, who is--" the words stuck in Edgeworth's throat and he stood, setting the teacup down in shock. Edgeworth didn't speak, but Trucy did.

"Daddy!"

Everyone was surprised, to see him there, to see him in all his former glory with his typical blue suit and hair spiked back the way everyone knew him for. Phoenix smiled, sending a glance in his daughter's direction, but quickly returned his gaze to his husband's. He was there to see Trucy, but first, he had to prove himself.

"I took the Bar exam. I'm waiting on the results, but I'm pretty confident about it."

"Wright... What are you doing here?" Phoenix only sighed, lettings his head hang almost limply downwards before snapping upright and looking the man before him straight in the eye, his voice ringing strong and true as he spoke.

"Miles Edgeworth," He began, "I have loved you ever since you supported me through my trials, and haven't stopped loving you since. You are the love of my life and I'm sorry that I disappointed you, but I thought that you had lost your trust and faith in me when I presented that forged evidence. But I didn't know at the time that it was illegal.

"I love you, Miles. And I'm sorry."

"Phoenix Wright, I believe you entirely. I'm sorry I acted so out of line all those years ago. I love you too."

The two men stood there looking at each other and smiling, not quite sure what to do next, how to hold themselves, what to say, until Maya pushed Phoenix over. Edgeworth, luckily and as Maya had intended, caught him.

"Come on, Nick! Just hurry up and kiss him!"

"You're glasses are steaming up," Phoenix said, pointing out the obvious blush coming over his husband's face.

"My god, Wright, shut up."

"Just make m--" Edgeworth efficiently peck a kiss onto Phoenix's lips, silencing him.

"Was that sufficient enough?"

"Not at all."

Their lips met once again, and for the first time in seven years, the three could truly say their family was back together.