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Miles Edgeworth walked down the hall towards the Wright Anything Agency, a binder full of court records in his hands. He had been working on a rather confounding case recently; all the evidence appeared to point towards the defendant as the killer, but the autopsy report seemed to throw that out the window. And then there were the eyewitness testimonies; how four separate witnesses had such radically different testimonies, Edgeworth would never understand. The wrench probably isn’t even the murder weapon , he mused as he strode towards the familiar door. He shook his head. It was a baffling case, and he needed another viewpoint - one that’s particularly skilled at turning things around.
Edgeworth slowed to a stop as he approached the door. He lifted his hand to knock, preoccupied with his thoughts, when he realized the door was cracked open. He blinked. This is a public building, he thought. I’ll have to talk to Wright about proper security. Edgeworth moved to enter but hesitated as he heard a voice.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Cent. We’ll do what we can to prove your wife’s innocence.”
Edgeworth peaked inside. In the common area, he could see Wright and another man - Mr. Cent? - conversing. Mr. Cent was slouched forward, his exhaustion apparent. Wright leaned in with concern, his hand resting on Mr. Cent’s shoulder. Mr. Cent turned to the side slightly, and Edgeworth could see that he had crying. His eyes were red and puffy behind his glasses, and his face was splotchy.
“Thank you, Mr. Wright. I appreciate it.” The man’s voice wavered.
It was at that moment that Edgeworth realized something else about the man.
He was holding a baby.
Edgeworth blinked, unsure of how he hadn’t noticed it before. The baby fussed slightly, as if rousing from sleep. The man turned his attention to his child, sniffling slightly.
Wright talked to the man in a low voice, saying something that Edgeworth couldn’t quite hear. Mr. Cent nodded and wiped his eyes, then carefully held his baby towards Wright, who took it delicately. Mr. Cent hesitated for a moment, gauging his child’s reaction, and once it was confirmed that his child would not start hollering at this stranger, he nodded and trudged off in the direction of the bathroom.
To clean himself up , Edgeworth assumed.
Edgeworth glanced towards Wright again. Wright was looking down towards the child, a tenderness in his eyes. He lowered his head a bit and murmured something, then made a face. A faint giggle emanated from the baby, and Wright gave the child a soft look that Edgeworth had only ever seen him direct at Trucy.
Edgeworth’s heart melted as he watched, and he could not stop the fond smile that appeared on his face. Although Wright was, truly, a softie at heart, Edgeworth could not say he saw this side of him very often. It was mostly reserved for when Wright thought other people weren’t looking.
He could use to show this side more, Edgeworth thought. It was his favorite.
Edgeworth let his eyes linger on Wright for a moment longer. His thoughts briefly flickered to the times he had met with Wright a few years ago. He had been much more guarded and bitter. Edgeworth’s brow furrowed. It... had been a rough time for the man. Edgeworth was eternally grateful that Phoenix did not have to go through it alone and had Trucy to be a light in his life. Edgeworth shuddered to think of what might have become of Phoenix without her.
But seeing Phoenix whenever he was like this… was a relief. The creases and tiredness and tension that were a result of his disbarment seemed to fade from his face. Looking at Phoenix as he was now, Edgeworth could see Phoenix’s familiar spirit that he recognized from many years ago - the same one that had refused to give up on Edgeworth and had always believed he still had good left in him.
Edgeworth stared as Phoenix bounced the baby up and down a few times, the same soft look still on his face. Phoenix glanced up towards the direction of the bathroom as Edgeworth heard a shuffling sound. The man must have returned , Edgeworth thought. Sure enough, Mr. Cent stepped into Edgeworth’s view a minute later, carefully grabbing his child back from Wright. The two exchanged a few more quiet words, and then the man began to pick up his bag, getting ready to leave.
Edgeworth realized at that moment that he could not get caught like this. The chief prosecutor, intruding on a private conversation? Edgeworth quietly took a few steps back, then turned and walked away. He shifted his case files in his hands, abruptly remembering why he had come here in the first place. He shook his head; he could ask Wright about that case later.
Faintly, he could hear the door creak open and closed down the hall. As he neared the staircase, Edgeworth’s mind wandered to the image of Phoenix he had observed - how unusually soft and unguarded he was. Edgeworth smiled.