Work Text:
The End of the Beginning
The crying starts at dawn.
Miles rolls over, debating shoving his head under his pillow. That involves too much movement, though. What has decided to make that god-awful screeching noise? Has one of the local blue jays gotten more creative? Or is someone's cat making a mess in Miles' yard? If it's the latter he's going to be very annoyed.
“Miles.” Wright's hand shoves against his shoulder. “That's a baby crying.”
“Is not.” It's not his wittiest rejoinder, but he's still trying hard to be asleep.
“No, it definitely is.” Wright sits up, dragging the blanket and sheet down off Miles' back.
Miles also follows suit, glaring at his lover. “Why in heaven's name would there be a baby crying at my house?”
“I don't know, but I know that sound. Once you've babysat a kid, you can't forget it.” Wright swings his legs down to the floor. “Are you going to come check it out?”
Miles sighs, standing and shrugging his pajamas into proper alignment. He hates being seen less than presentable, but if Wright is correct and there is a child—
“Papa! Uncle Miles!” Trucy bursts into the room like a blue-and-black hurricane, her hair a frizzy mass above her head. “There's a baby on the doorstep!”
Well.
That answers the question about whether Wright is correct or not.
Miles follows behind Trucy and her father at a more sedate pace, allowing them to charge ahead. If Wright has experience with children, let him take the lead here.
The baby is in a basket on the doorstep, just as Trucy had said. Pess has his nose pressed into the blanket that swaddles the child, tail wagging happily.
“Hey there, little one.” Phoenix bends down and scoops the child up with surprising ease. “It's all right. No need to cry.”
“I'm not sure about that. Being abandoned on a stranger's doorstep seems like plenty of reason to scream.” Pulling out his phone, Miles begins taking pictures of the scene. “Let's bring the child inside and I'll call for Ema to come examine the scene.”
Phoenix retreats back to the living room and the couch, rocking the child and managing to calm the crying. “What's this? Someone put a dog collar on you. Miles—”
Pulling apart the swaddling blanket, Miles studies the fabric. It really does look like a dog collar, complete with one of those personalized dog bone tags that says Hi, My Name Is Mid. “Well, I suppose it gives us something to call the child.”
“It's a choking hazard, is what it is.” Phoenix frowns, setting the child down on the couch and disentangling the collar. The baby clearly doesn't like this, because it starts screaming again.
Sighing, Miles pulls out his phone. So much for an uneventful morning spent with his family.
***
“There are traces of blood on the basket, and fingerprints.” Ema keeps trying to peer over Edgeworth's shoulder, towards where Trucy and Phoenix are entertaining the baby.
Stepping out of Ema's way, Edgeworth gestures grandly towards the baby. “If you must, please go sate your curiosity before it leads you to miss something.”
“Hey, it's not every day someone just drops a baby on the Chief Prosecutor's doorstep.” Ema skips over to where the child is currently suckling on one of Trucy's fingers. “Hey, little one. Sorry you're mixed up in so much drama, but don't worry, you're in good hands.”
“The baby will be going to Child Protective Services as soon as I'm able to summon one of them.” Edgeworth taps one finger against his thigh, frowning at the tiny visitor.
“You can't be serious, Edgeworth.” Phoenix frowns at him.
“Please don't do that, Uncle Miles!” Trucy is on her feet between one breath and the next, and Edgeworth finds his wrist being held by slightly slobber-covered fingers. “Polly talks about the orphanages, and they aren't always nice places. Let the baby stay here.”
“The baby is part of an active criminal investigation, and I have no intention of taking on possession of the child while I'm trying to solve the mystery around it.” Edgeworth speaks more gently than he would have to an adult, prying Trucy's fingers away from his wrist.
Trucy's lip wobbles, and Edgeworth freezes, wondering if the girl is going to start crying. What does he do then?
“Come on, Miles.” Phoenix is holding the baby again, rocking her back and forth in his arms. “Try holding her, and then tell us you're just going to send her away.”
“A child is not a kitten or a puppy. You cannot ensnare me into keeping it by getting me to hold it.” Miles frowns at his friend. “Why would you want me to keep it?”
“Her. The child is a girl—” Phoenix's eyes darken, his hold on the baby tightening.
“Probably.” Ema opens her pouch, taking out her bag of Snackoos. “Could be some brand of intersex—none of us are actually doctors. Or could be trans, hard to tell at... what, three months old?”
Scrubbing a hand across his face, Edgeworth draws a deep breath. “We need to take the child to the hospital to be examined. Undoubtedly they will want to place her with a safe foster family—”
“We could be that.” Phoenix's jaw is set in stubborn determination. “The baby was left here. Clearly someone trusts you to take care of her.”
“No, clearly someone doesn't want their baby.” Edgeworth resists the urge to throw his hands up in the air. “Wright, I am not paternal in any way, shape, or form. I—”
“You've been a good uncle to me.” Trucy's soft voice cuts through his carefully-crafted rebuttal.
Edgeworth finds himself having to pause again, to take stock and re-evaluate. “Well, yes, but that's a completely different situation.”
“I would call you dad, but you get all twitchy when I do.” Trucy clasps her hands together behind her back, and for a moment she looks young—younger than even her actual age, more akin to the child Edgeworth first met at Phoenix's side.
Edgeworth suddenly regrets calling Ema so quickly. “Trucy, your relationship with me is, I hope, a good one. But I fail to see how that reflects upon a relationship with a child that none of us know.”
“She needs someplace to stay.” Trucy looks up at him, and there's solid steel behind the uncertain exterior. “Just like I did. She was abandoned, just like I was.”
I never wanted Phoenix to keep you. It's the rebuttal that he needs to make if he wants to win this argument. It's the reason this will never work, someone leaving a child with him. Edgeworth is still grappling with the traumas of his own childhood; he doesn't know how to really be a father to someone else. An uncle, yes, he could come to terms with that in time, but a father...
Even thinking of it temporarily makes his skin crawl and his breath get short, as though an earthquake were on its way.
He can't tell Trucy any of that, though. It had taken them so much time to come to an understanding with each other—so much time to exist in Phoenix's life together without either of them hurting the other. Without Miles hurting Trucy, because the impetus is always on the adult to prevent harm, and Miles knows how toxic his childhood ended up being.
Trucy's fingers slip into his, and Miles draws a slow breath, squeezing them once. “We'll go to the hospital and see what the doctors think. All right?”
Trucy nods, and a tentative smile touches her lips, there and then gone.
Miles rubs a hand across his face. “Ema, will you take care of securing the crime scene?”
“Sure thing, boss.” Ema pops another snackoo in her mouth. “I'll let you know if I find anything else exciting.”
Miles nods, beginning the process of herding Trucy, Phoenix, and the squirming infant into the car.
***
“We don't have to think about keeping the baby.” Phoenix has a bottle held in one hand, the baby cradled against his chest with the other. He manages to make the position look... natural. Relaxed.
Edgeworth finds himself looking away, staring at a reproduction of someone's flower artwork that really doesn't stand up to more than a second's scrutiny.
“I'm sorry if Trucy is being pushy.” Phoenix keeps his eyes on the infant. “I think she's projecting a little too hard onto Mid here. But you're right, it's smarter to keep distance. We don't know exactly what's going on. If the parents are dead, maybe there's someone else who would want her. If there's not, we'll make sure she's cared for. Babies are easy to adopt out, after all.”
Unlike older orphans, of which they both know far too many.
“It's not—I don't—” Miles pauses. “I would not be a good father, Phoenix.”
“Not if you don't want to be, no. That's the most important part of being a father, after all—wanting it, even when everything else around you is falling apart.” Phoenix throws a towel over his shoulder, lifting the child to burp her. “But if you ever did want it... I wouldn't mind taking care of a baby with you, Edgeworth.”
The world seems to stutter for a moment, everything pausing as Edgeworth struggles to draw in another breath. “If that was a proposition, Wright, it was the strangest one you've ever given me. And that is a high bar to beat.”
Phoenix laughs. “It's just the truth. I haven't brought it up because we're both busy, and there's been... a lot that's hit our extended family in the last few years. But I wouldn't mind having more of a family with you. I like kids, and I think you'd be good with them, too.”
“What in heaven's good name would give you that idea?”
Phoenix has the gall to start singing the Steel Samurai theme song.
Miles narrows his eyes. “Liking superheroes does not make one a viable parental figure.”
“You're right.” Phoenix returns the bottle to Mid's mouth, standing and moving to Miles' side. He presses a kiss to the side of Miles' mouth. “Being a good person who doesn't want to hurt a child does. But you do what you're comfortable doing. It's not like we don't have enough kids to take care of between your posse of traumatized prosecutors and my agency.”
“Exactly.” Miles finds himself staring at Mid's clear blue eyes, though.
He's so lost in thought he actually startles when Trucy comes barging into the room with drinks for them all, and the hour-long wait to finally see a doctor seems to pass in no time at all.
***
“Ain't she a pretty little thing.” Gumshoe pokes his finger down at Mid's face, earning a coo and a burble that might or might not have been intentional.
“Yes, yes, the baby is very cute.” Miles just barely manages to stop his foot from tapping. Phoenix's phone rings, but Edgeworth elects to ignore it. He has more important things to focus on. “You've got information for me, Detective?”
“Yes, sir.” Gumshoe straightens again, pulling a file from his briefcase. “Got ourselves a dead body that may be related to the case. Woman's name is Star Pointe. She was a stage actor, did work here, there, and everywhere. Found stabbed to death in an alley about four hours ago.”
Edgeworth flips through the file. “And you think this is relevant because...?”
“She has a daughter name of Madeleine Pointe, who everyone calls Mid.” Gumshoe nods down at the baby. “I've got Ema checking for fingerprint matches.” Gumshoe's chest seems to swell, the detective clearly taking pride in what he's done.
Given that it's halfway decent work, Edgeworth allows him to. “Any leads on who might have killed her, or dumped her child on my doorstep?”
Gumshoe nods vigorously. “There's a woman who worked with her sometimes, name of Enid Way. We've got her in custody. Caught red-handed—has the victim's blood under her nails.”
Edgeworth nods. “That should make things easy enough—”
Phoenix clears his throat, lowering his phone. “Apollo's going to be the defense attorney for Ms. Way.”
Edgeworth narrows his eyes at Wright.
Phoenix gives a shrug. “He says the woman's innocent, and he's going to prove it. He wants my help.”
“You owe me your help, because we brought a baby home.” Edgeworth points down at the child as though Phoenix may have forgotten her existence.
He should never have done it. He should have left the baby there in the hospital. But Trucy had been so hopeful, promising to help take care of the child, and the nurse had said it was a sweet and good thing, the Chief Prosecutor going out on a limb for an unknown child as though a baby might have secrets to hide—as though a baby might be responsible for anything that happened before she could even lift herself into a sitting position without help—
Phoenix lifts both hands. “Don't worry, I won't saddle you with the girl. I'll take her with me.”
“Or...” Gumshoe raises a hand tentatively. “I could look out for her? If it's all right, sir.”
Edgeworth considers before giving a curt nod. “Detective, Mid is all yours. Come, Wright. We have a case to solve before I lose my patience with the whole situation.”
“I'll stay and help Gummy, if that's all right.” Trucy smiles at Gumshoe.
Edgeworth nods. “We'll be back as soon as we're able.”
Neither Gumshoe or Trucy responds to that, and Edgeworth sighs as he leads Wright out the door and to Edgeworth's waiting car.
They'll solve the case. That will at least let them know who, if anyone, is still waiting for the child. Then... well, they'll see what the situation looks like then.
***
“I do not understand.” Edgeworth stares at the completed case file in front of himself. “Wright, I just... how? How do cases manage to become such unbelievable monstrosities of coincidence and cruelty whenever you're involved? There is no possible good reason for this. Are you somehow encouraging these situations? Do you have some kind of mutant power that changes probabilities?”
“The only magic power I have is the same power you've used, the one that Maya gives me with her magatama.” Phoenix smiles. “Though Apollo can see lies, and Athena can hear them. It does give us a bit of an unfair advantage.”
Edgeworth huffs out a breath.
“But that's not what this is about. This is about you stalling.” Phoenix gestures towards the door to the defendant's room. “We need to talk to her about Mid.”
The trial had stretched on for a full three days, resulting in a complete acquittal for Enid—actually Enid Pointe after a secret marriage that Apollo had revealed on the second day—and the arrest of Mid's father for the murder of her mother.
Meaning now Miles just has to decide what he wants to tell this woman who has lost her wife and almost lost her freedom; who has been living with the knowledge that her wife cheated on her for the better part of a year; who has just been through the hell that is a court trial.
There have been tasks he's relished less. They've been few and far between though, thankfully.
Without further stalling, he shoves his way through into the defendant's room.
Enid is carefully dabbing at her face, cleaning it after the wash of tears earlier had caused some of her make-up to smear. She straightens when Miles and Phoenix walk in, smoothing out her skirt. “Hello there, Chief Prosecutor.”
Miles inclines his head, giving the briefest of perfunctory bows. “I'm sure you know why I still need to speak with you.”
“I assume there are still some legal t's to cross and i's to dot, but I'm guessing the most important thing is... what do we do with Star's daughter.”
“That is indeed something I'd like to discuss with you. As well as the reasoning behind your dropping the child at my door.” Edgeworth crosses his arms, studying the woman with a stern look.
Enid smiles at him. “Because I trusted you to make sure the girl was taken care of, and because I didn't trust myself with the baby. She's the reason Star died, after all. Oh, I know not directly. I know it was Trey who killed Star, but Mid is Trey's daughter. She's proof that my wife would marry me, but never acknowledge me. Never really consider us a family. She's proof that Star, my lovely Star, burned brightest when she fell.”
Edgeworth frowns. “She's a child. A baby. She's not responsible for any of the decisions of the adults in her life.”
“Indeed. But I can't separate her from those decisions. And I can't help seeing Trey when I look at her.” Enid shrugs. “I put her somewhere she would be safe from him, so he couldn't kill her and get rid of the evidence. Somewhere I thought she'd be taken care of. You have a reputation for taking care of those who need taking care of, Chief Prosecutor.”
Edgeworth arches an eyebrow. “I usually hear that with regards to sending guilty people to prison.”
“Really?” Enid smiles, though the expression wobbles. “Because I've heard it about certain prosecutors. Gavin. Debeste. Blackquill. Certain detectives. Skye. Gumshoe. Certain witnesses who needed protection. You care about people, and about justice. So I'll leave Mid in your hands. I have no legal right to her—I'm not on her birth certificate, and my marriage was clearly a mess as well as a secret. Do what you think is right.”
Edgeworth stares down at the woman. “You can't seriously be washing your hands of the situation.”
“I am. And if you need to do so as well... there's a whole system out there for taking care of orphans, I hear.” Enid's face crumples. “I hope she does well wherever she goes. But I know myself well enough to know she won't do well with me.”
“Very well, then.” Edgeworth draws his dignity up around himself, keeping his voice cool and detached. “I'll have someone in with the rest of the paperwork shortly, and we'll have you out of here.”
Enid nods, moving to a bench and settling herself down.
Edgeworth leaves, and if he slams the door a bit... well, it's always possible to blame the wind for something like that.
***
The baby finally falls asleep at eleven at night.
“I thought babies were supposed to sleep a great deal.” Miles stares at the child cradled in Phoenix's arms.
“They do, just not all at once.” Phoenix yawns, looking from Mid to Miles. “Would you... like to hold her? Not because she's a kitten and I'm trying to trap you. Just to... see what it's like.”
“Just to see if I really want to run away from her screaming?” Miles sighs. “Let me try, at least. I should hold her before deciding what her future will bring.”
The child weighs only ten pounds, though the blanket gives her some additional bulk. Her lips suckle at an invisible bottle, but she doesn't wake as Phoenix settles her into Miles' arms.
Miles looks across the tiny child at Phoenix. “What are we supposed to do here?”
Phoenix throws himself down on the bed with abandon, groaning. “I don't think we're supposed to do anything. I think we get to decide what we do. And I don't think either option is bad.”
“Really?” Miles arches an eyebrow up. “You did everything short of commit murder to ensure Trucy stayed with you after the Gramarye trial.”
“Because I knew I could give Trucy a better, safer environment than any orphanage or foster home could manage. That doesn't mean it's the right decision now, though.” Phoenix bites down on his bottom lip. “Or... that it needs to be the right decision for you. I guess we've been talking about this as though one of us taking the girl means both of us do, but... well... it doesn't need to be that way. We're not actually married or anything.”
The words are a gut punch, sudden and hard and sharp, and Miles forgets how to breathe for a moment.
“Hey, hey!” Phoenix is suddenly there, right in front of him, Phoenix's hands supporting both Miles and the baby. “I'm so sorry. That was... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you with that.”
“You never said anything about wanting... about needing...” Miles draws a shuddering breath, collecting himself. “I thought we were doing just fine as we are.”
“We are.” Phoenix's hands shift, rising to cup Miles' face. “We're absolutely perfect just the way we are.”
“But you would want more. You feel like what we have... what we have is something we can break, if we need to.” Miles forces himself to be gentle with the child in his arms, to keep his voice quiet so he doesn't wake her.
“I didn't say that.” Phoenix huffs out a breath, his hands dropping to his side. “I just... I mean, the reason I haven't pushed for anything more is that I keep getting the feeling you're not ready. That you like things the way they are, with plausible deniability and the ability to just... move on, if we need to. You're the man who's going to get Trucy if I die, but you're not her father right now. You're the man I love, and I spend more time here than at my own place, but I have my own place, you know?”
Miles finds himself unable to meet Phoenix's eyes. “If it's a problem, why haven't you said anything?”
“I don't want to push you. You've been here for me through... well, through everything. And if I repaid that by insisting on some kind of normal romance when I know that's not what you're interested in...”
“I've never said I'm not interested in it. But I also know that this isn't normal, that it can't be normal, and—” Mid begins squirming, her little face twisting, and Miles forces himself to draw deep breaths again. Gently, he settles the little one into her crib and waits for her to settle again before gesturing for Phoenix to follow him into the next room.
Phoenix complies, his head high but his eyes worried.
Miles crosses his arms and forces himself to meet Phoenix's eyes. “What is it that you want?”
“Well, that's not a big or loaded question.” Phoenix huffs out a breath. “I want to keep Mid, but not at the cost of our relationship. And I want to stay with you. And I want us to keep our family, even if it 'isn't normal'.”
Miles gives a slow nod. “Well, then. It seems that our wants align fairly well.”
Phoenix's shoulders slump slightly, his analysis of whether they're fighting or not clearly shifting. “Miles... when you say we're not normal...”
Drawing a deep breath, Miles allows himself to pace from one end of the room to the other, his bare feet silent on the carpet. “That was, perhaps, a poor choice of words. I know that what we have isn't inherently sinful or wrong or any of that. I've figured that much out, Wright, don't worry. But a queer couple is still unusual, and a queer couple with one adopted teenager and one adopted child...”
“You're the Chief Prosecutor. No one could argue you don't have the capability to care for a child.” Phoenix's hands have found their way into the pockets of his sweatpants.
“But do I have the time? And do I have the inclination?” Miles gives his head a shake. “What you've done with Trucy... I couldn't have been as kind to her as you were, Phoenix. I wasn't as kind to her, not at first.”
“That stopped really quick, once you realized her situation made her more an amalgamation of you and Franziska than any kind of threat.”
“But it still happened.” Miles closes his eyes. “I don't want to value myself and what I have over others. I do not want even that little residual vestige of Von Karma to be a part of me. But when it comes to a fight, I will trust those I love, and I will see to them first.”
“And no one will tell you that's bad.” Phoenix steps closer, his fingers settling lightly on Miles' elbow. “Again, I do not want to force you to keep Mid, or to do anything else you're not comfortable with. I just want to understand, and to help if there's something to help with. And to make sure Mid ends up in a good place, because it's never the kids who are at fault, but is always seems to be the kids who suffer.”
Phoenix's eyes are full of deep, abiding compassion, and Miles knows that he is the child in question—that Phoenix sees all these other orphans and always, always senses Miles' shade in the background, his stolen childhood and abused trust Phoenix's first lesson in how unfair the world could be.
Stepping forward, Miles gathers Phoenix into his arms. “What if... we try it? Just for a little bit. If it doesn't work out...”
“If it doesn't work out, we'll find somewhere that it can.” Phoenix's hand rubs gentle circles on Miles' back. “But if it does... she's a pretty cute kid.”
Miles can't help smiling. “All human infants are strange looking.”
“But it's a good kind of strange, like those squish-face dogs.”
“Does this mean...” Trucy's voice startles them both, coming from right behing Phoenix. “We're keeping Mid?”
“It means we're going to try.” Miles straightens.
The whoop that Trucy gives is adorable, and also loud enough that it wakes Mid.
Trucy's mouth twists into a grimace of dismay. “Let me fix it! I'm sorry.”
Phoenix just laughs. “Go on, big sister. See what you can do.”
Trucy skitters past them and into the bedroom.
Phoenix pats Miles' shoulder. “Why don't you go take a nice hot bath? It'll make you feel better, and give us a chance to settle her again.”
“...you know that sheltering me from the infant isn't a tactic that's going to last long.”
“It's not sheltering you, it's splitting the burden. Which is how any parents survive without murdering someone. You and Maya helped me with Trucy, after all.” Phoenix gives him a shove. “Go on. Warm bath. Steel Samurai something or other. Relax, and when the blaring stops we'll try to have a good night together.”
Miles gathers Phoenix's face in his hands and presses a kiss to Phoenix's lips before retreating to do as he's been ordered.
He wouldn't have chosen to bring another child into their lives, but if it's someone who needs them... if it's a child who deserves a chance at a better life... well.
It may not be a normal family, but Miles is very pleased with the one he has, and expanding it a little bit further doesn't sound like such a terrible thing.