Chapter Text
"Geez, Nick, what's taking him so long?" huffed Maya, craning her neck towards the door which remained slightly ajar.
"There's a lot of witnesses today," replied Phoenix, taking the time he had to organize the Court Record. "Some of them, we might not have time to let testify. Edgeworth claims he has an airtight case this time around."
Maya laughed. "So, you've got a trick up your sleeve then?"
He almost glared at her but tried to soften his expression, "I don't think as a lawyer, I should admit I know 'tricks'. Bad ethics."
But Maya still laughed, and Phoenix turned away and glanced at the defendant's teenaged trainer, who wore a full equestrian outfit complete with a helmet inside the court room. She looked very scared, and every time Phoenix talked to her about her horse Mittens, her lip quivered and a tear would roll down her cheek.
That, he heard from Gumshoe, made interrogation time really awkward for Edgeworth, who had tried to comfort her by patting her helmet and saying 'there, there' with a reluctant grimace. Of course, Phoenix wouldn't tell Edgeworth that she called him a yellow-bellied chicken when they visited her right after questioning.
"Where is Prosecutor Edgeworth?" muttered the Judge, stroking his beard. Phoenix knew that look: it was the look of the judge running out of patience. He waited a few moments longer, and then called over to the bailiff. "Tell Prosecutor Edgeworth to hurry up, or he will be held in contempt of court!"
"Contempt of court?" gasped Maya to Phoenix. "No way... he can't do that!"
"He can. Edgeworth should have prepared his witnesses the day before while investigating," said Phoenix, sighing.
"I know the Judge can but... that would suck for us!" said Maya, leaning over the desk to get a better view of the lobby. "Then we'd miss a day of testimony and on top of that, have to bail him out of jail!"
She's right, he thought as the bailiff poked his head out the lobby doors. Who's supposed to be the lawyer here again?
"Well then sir, you tell the Judge that he's going to have to hold his horses!" he heard the exhausted voice of Edgeworth snap, which echoed through the court. The Judge looked quite ruffled and he heard chaos ensue in the lobby.
Maya glared at him, urging him to do something, anything. "Your Honor!" he shouted rather loudly, snapping the Judge out of his impatient trance. "Due to unforseen circumstances, Edg- er, Mister Edgeworth needs more time registering each witness. I was thinking... if I help him, will you allow a 30 minute recess?"
The Judge deliberated silently. Half of him appeared to want to adjourn for the day, so that other cases could be prepared for, yet Phoenix knew he'd be reluctant to let another Wright vs. Edgeworth courtroom showdown pass him by.
He banged his gavel. "I grant a 30 minute recess. In that time, I hope the prosecution will be fully prepared by then and ready to do their duty."
"C'mon," he said to Maya, jerking his head towards the lobby.
There were many more people in the prosecution's lobby than he had anticipated. It felt like half the stadium that attended on the day of the murder had shown up. Half of them seemed fearful and distraught, while the other half appeared to be incredibly excited to speak about what they saw.
"Ah, so you must be Mr. Wright!" said a woman, walking over to him with an unsettlingly bright grin. Maya's eyes widened and she stepped away from her, hiding slightly behind Phoenix. He didn't blame her.
"Yes, I am!" he squeaked. "Has he, I mean, has Prosecutor Edgeworth accounted for you yet?"
"Why yes! He's told me so much about you," she said cheerfully as she took some paper and wrote something down. He pulled at his collar slightly and wondered exactly what Edgeworth told her. "So when did you get together?"
He felt his eyebrow raise almost before he completely processed what she said. No, this must be a case of bad wording. He faked a cheery smile, not enough to rival her own. "Oh! I'd say our first case together was about a few years ago. Recently, we've been working cooperatively to find the true criminal in each case."
Thinking she'd be impressed with the answer, he was surprised when she looked unsatisfied. She jotted something in her notes and bit her pen's cap. "Interesting, interesting," she replied, not sounding interested at all. "What kind of things do you do outside of court?"
Other than investigating crimes? Not enough! "Well, not much usually, but sometimes he comes to the office and-"
Before he could continue, he felt eyes on him and a shiver ran through his body as he heard a familiar voice snap "Wright!" from very close by. Edgeworth's irritated stare made Phoenix's face go bright red. Talk about a faux pas! "You're supposed to be helping me prepare the witnesses, you know."
Phoenix looked away from him without acknowledging him. He turned to the witness. "I can't help you out with whatever you're doing right now, but my assistant Maya can provide... emotional support. Right, Maya?"
Maya appeared too nonplussed to disagree with him. Her mouth bobbed open and closed like a fish and he quickly strut away, a hand covering his flushing cheeks. How long was he listening to us? Did I say something I should be embarrassed about? He thought for a second back to the conversation. No, not really.
Preparing the witnesses was very quick business once Maya was done talking to the strange woman. There had to have been nearly fifty witnesses in that lobby. Phoenix wondered how far that pushed against the fire marshal's occupancy limit, but a particularly tall man covered the whole sign with his shoulders. When they finished, the witnesses waited patiently outside the courtroom doors, and the lawyers and Maya took their places once more.
"Oh my gosh, Nick," said Maya, whispering so quietly only he could hear. "You should've stuck around. That lady thought you and Edgeworth were... were... necking!" A full beat of silence went by and Maya was reading his face for a reaction. Phoenix knew he looked almost panicked.
"M-Maya, shush! Talk about this later," he said, raising his eyebrows at her choice of terminology. I hope no one heard her say that.
"But Nick, he heard her and he got scary!" she said, more quiet, glancing from the desk to Edgeworth's general direction. "He was all... professional and stiff."
"So he was embarrassed? I would be," he replied with a slightly unsteady tone, hoping Maya would leave it at that. He began to sweat, cold enough for him to feel sick. "I mean, we'd both get harrassed by all sorts of paparazzi if it were true. We couldn't work on cases together anymore, I don't think. And I'd probably lose some business..."
"Business worth losing then," said Maya bitterly. "But I guess that makes sense. She did look like someone who'd blab to those nasty tabloids." Phoenix shot a brief look at her. You read those tabloids all the time!
She continued, leaning her head towards the desk, "Then I guess I'm glad Mr. Edgeworth squashed those rumors though, hm?" She didn't look glad. The load of psyche-locks that suddenly encircled her confirmed this.
And as the Judge slammed down his gavel, Phoenix wondered how many psyche-locks would appear around him when he replied quietly, "I am too."