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Inside the small, quiet apartment, faint traces of moonlight filtering past the curtains, the warm smell of cinnamon, gingerbread, and pine still heavy in the air, father and daughter spent the lingering hours of Christmas Day together. It was their first Christmas together, and the two were enjoying their evening after a packed day of bonding over festive traditions and lasting merriment. Phoenix Wright kept a wide grin on for Trucy’s sake, burying the pain deep inside to ensure the young girl experienced a wonderful day free from unremitting misery and hurtful memories.
Eight months ago, the renowned defence attorney was disbarred from law and lost nearly everything. His career and reputation were lost. The shining gold badge he once pinned to his lapel and wore with pride was taken from him. That navy blue, polyester blend suit hung abandoned in a wardrobe. Exiled from the world he once knew and labelled a liar, Phoenix laboured to rebuild his life. A vagrant who could not get any placement in the legal area and struggled to hold down various side jobs, his sole, paltry income came from the Russian restaurant he worked in most evenings of the week. These scant earnings were enough to cover their rent and utilities, but not much else. Mercifully, the rest they needed came from Trucy’s shows, but still they were flooded with debt.
Every day, more letters would arrive, each adding to the outstanding balance. Phoenix did not spend money frivolously. Far from it. Merely existing in this city was expensive. Leaving, however, was not an option available to them. Too many ties kept them there.
Phoenix gathered the newest crumpled envelopes that had been pushed through the mail slot, scooping them up into a haphazard pile. He skimmed over the labels as he did so–some were addressed simply ‘to the occupier’. Others were from debt collection agencies and impersonally stamped with ‘final notice’.
The more innocuous in appearance targeted Phoenix by personal name, likely from soulless reporters trying their luck to grab an in-person interview. The disbarred defence attorney did not bother to open any of them, attempting to keep in the holiday spirits and forget about it all for a short while. He took them to the shoddy desk on the far end of the lounge and added them to the already overflowing mountain of paperwork.
A large Christmas tree, which was a hand-me-down that lived in storage most of the year in the Wright Talent Agency, dominated Phoenix’s cramped living room. Decorated with a variety of glistening red and green bobbles, the thick branches were draped in sparkling gold tinsel and illuminated in glowing, multicoloured fairy lights. Crowning the towering pine was a dainty, miniature version of Mr Hat Trucy had lovingly crafted from bits of spare fabric and wood for a makeshift Christmas tree topper. The original, life-sized version sat nearby on one of Phoenix’s lumpy couches, surrounded by newly opened presents and shredded wrapping paper.
Evidence of the guests who dropped in earlier remained scattered around the small apartment. It came in the form of gifts, empty glasses and a stack of plates which once contained homemade baking and a variety of other festive foods. Now they were pointedly devoid of anything, and only crumbs covered the kitchen counters and nearly every other flat surface in the home.
The only item which remained untouched was the unopened gift basket on the floor behind Phoenix’s desk. A single mauve ribbon wrapped in a bow and the eloquently written tag attached which read ‘All the best from Gavin Law Offices’ revealed the sender’s identity.
Maya and Pearl Fey had visited earlier that day, having caught the one train that was running from Kurain village to drop in unannounced on Phoenix and Trucy. They spent most of the day entertaining them with a variety of games, playing festive music, and eating Phoenix out of house and home before heading out an hour prior. Since their departure it was quiet and still in the Wright household, the only sounds intermittently breaking the silence coming from Trucy practising with one of the new magic props Maya got her, and the occasional ping coming from Phoenix’s phone. It alerted him to the new messages that had been sent to the group chat Maya had dragged Phoenix into. In high spirits, Larry had messaged some animated emojis to celebrate the occasion, along with sending them a few photos of him together with his newest paramour out in some remote European wilderness. Edgeworth had, to Phoenix’s surprise, broken his typical silence to write a short message wishing them all well, although he did not respond to Larry or Maya’s subsequent prodding.
Phoenix stared for longer than he realised at the short, curt greeting Edgeworth wrote. They had not seen each other since the summer, when the prosecutor paid him an unexpected visit upon learning of his disbarment, trying to understand what had happened to destroy Phoenix’s career and repute in the blink of an eye. Phoenix had firmly refused to go over it with Edgeworth, in spite of him repeatedly insisting that he could do something to help the disgraced lawyer regain his badge. Whether his old friend understood exactly why Phoenix was completely reluctant to do anything to prove his innocence, or thought he was refusing over bruised pride, Phoenix could not say. Since then their contact was civil but sparing. Phoenix just knew that it was because Edgeworth was disappointed in the fact he had simply given up. But Phoenix could not risk doing anything to jeopardise losing Trucy.
In truth, Phoenix hoped to officially adopt Trucy and was going through the long, tedious, bureaucratic process of gaining full legal custody. Although she had already become a daughter to him, there was a risk that their happiness was destined for ruination. In most cases, the overloaded foster system readily supported prospective adoptive parents. However, various factors had prevented Phoenix from advancing any further in his goal.
The first and most prominent of these disputes was, indisputably, due to his disbarment. As a consequence of presenting falsified evidence, a black mark was left on Phoenix’s record that spanned beyond his position as defence attorney. The foster system worked closely alongside the legal system and viewed this damning blemish as a stain on his previously respectable reputation. In the absence of any other alternative options for Trucy’s care, they granted Phoenix only temporary custody. If he were to make any further mistakes or come under legal fire again, the disbarred lawyer risked losing Trucy permanently and squandering any chance he had to call her his child.
The second concerned Phoenix less so, but remained a niggling concern in the back of his head. Should any of Trucy’s other biological relatives emerge from the woodworks, or even her father who abandoned her without a second thought, they would automatically be considered the preferred placement option. Then Phoenix’s custody of that beautiful, wonderful child would be revoked immediately.
Trucy… She was the light of his life and the one who had kept him going throughout the unending months of misery. Most others, his friends, and family alike, Phoenix had pushed away out of self-loathing and guilt. But Trucy… already, in such a short time, Phoenix loved her so much. Losing her over an administrative stipulation, never seeing her radiant smile or hearing her delightful laughter again, would extinguish the last embers of hope left in Phoenix’s heart.
Phoenix read Edgeworth’s message again, seeing that he was online only a few minutes ago but had expounded no further in the group chat nor privately sent anything to Phoenix. It was likely he was abroad working hard in another high stakes, international investigation. Additionally, the end of the year was marred with past regrets and bitter memories. Edgeworth typically isolated himself to deal with his grief alone, so Phoenix did not think to try to contact him, nor did he have any expectation of physically seeing him.
Two soft knocks on the door drew Phoenix from his ruminative thoughts. A quick glance to his phone announced it was getting late in the evening and was far from socialising hours. A visitor at this time on Christmas? Surely debt collectors wouldn’t work during the holidays. Then who was the person knocking on their door this late? Furrowing his characteristic brows, Phoenix rose from the couch and made his way to the door.
“How unexpected,” Phoenix mumbled to himself.
After adjusting his new blue beanie – a gift lovingly made for him by Trucy - and taking in a deep, steadying breath, Phoenix opened the door. A tall figure stood there in the communal hallway, clutching a leather briefcase in one hand and a perfectly wrapped package in the other. Phoenix’s widening, incredulous stare tracked up from the man’s polished shoes and crimson suit pants to the knee-length sable jacket he wore around his upper body, then further still, to the crisp white cravat covering his pale neck and those sleek, kempt ashen bangs and finally fixing on the unwavering grey eyes locked onto him.
“E-Edgeworth?” Phoenix stammered, recognising exactly who the caller on his doorstep was.
Miles Edgeworth greeted him with a small, affable smile. “Good evening, Wright.” A light pink shade dusted the prosecutor’s high cheekbones, presumably from the cold temperature outside. Or was it from embarrassment? Phoenix was not able to tell for certain.
“What are you doing here?” Phoenix blurted out the first thought that came to mind. At Edgeworth’s raised eyebrow and questioning glare, Phoenix hastily elaborated. “I mean, I didn’t expect to see you till after the New Year–”
Phoenix could have sworn that if his childhood friend’s hands were not otherwise engaged in holding the belongings, he would have crossed his arms grouchily. “Hmph. Is that any way to greet a friend?” Edgeworth shot back.
Face now steaming red, the cogs in his brain barely functioning and a bead of sweat carving down his forehead, Phoenix sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “Urk! Right, sorry. Merry Christmas, Edgeworth.”
Still thoroughly stunned from the top prosecutor’s unexpected arrival, Phoenix was hardly able to move a muscle. A dozen erratic thoughts spun in his head. Why was he here? Edgeworth had never paid him a visit before on Christmas day, nor was he particularly approachable around the month itself because of the traumatic experience he endured when they were children. Was Phoenix supposed to offer a glass of eggnog? Shake his hand or pull him into a hug? No, Edgeworth was far too prideful for anything so intimate. There was a gift in his hands too. Who was that for? Someone was planning on meeting after checking in on them? Was it a present for them? Hell, Phoenix had not even anticipated Edgeworth showing up on his doorstep, nor had he any thought of getting the other man a gift!
Edgeworth’s patience for his vacillating was wearing thin, and the scowl emerging on his countenance was one Phoenix was all too familiar with. “Are you going to invite me in, or were you intending on hosting me in the hallway?”
Grasping that time was, in fact, still moving around him, Phoenix took a sharp step back and motioned for the prosecutor to enter. “Y-yeah! C-come in.” Edgeworth huffed softly but refrained from commenting on his flustered behaviour, heading into the apartment. Phoenix skimmed the lounge for his daughter and called out, “Trucy! Someone is here to see us! Come and say hello.”
Trucy bounded over from the Christmas tree, and, recognising who was there, her whole face brightened like a brilliant dawn sunbeam at the sight of him. “Uncle Miles!”
“Good evening, Trucy.” Edgeworth greeted.
“You really came!” Trucy bounced on the spot, a slew of excitement coursing through her tiny body. The young magician then glanced down at her new plastic Pink Princess watch, her cheeks puffing out as she looked back up at her ‘uncle’. “Look at the time! You’re late!” she exclaimed.
Edgeworth’s confidence stance faltered subtly. It was not noticeable to less perceptible eyes or those who did know the prosecutor well, but Phoenix noticed the way he slightly flinched. “My apologies, the roads at this hour were unusually busy. But I’m here now.” Edgeworth replied, offering a sincere apology.
Phoenix put their two statements together and frowned. Before he knew it, he was shouting the statement he had once used so liberally. “Hold it!” Both Trucy and Edgeworth rewarded his outcry with startled looks. Phoenix coughed and lowered his voice, “y-you two planned this? Since when?”
“Trucy asked me to visit her on Christmas when we last met.” Edgeworth explained as if it were matter-of-fact. “She was quite persuasive.”
The prosecutor knelt down until he was at eye-level with the eight-year-old. With a soft smile, he presented the neatly wrapped package to her. “This is for you.” Trucy’s eyes lit up in delight, an enthusiastic squeal escaping her as she took the gift and examined the sparkly paper, reading the tag with ‘Miss Trucy’ written on it in Edgeworth’s inimitable handwriting. “Merry Christmas.” Edgeworth added in a low, gentle voice.
In a flurry of wrapping, Trucy quickly opened the gift, revealing a deck of custom-made cards adorned with designs inspired by Mr Hat.
Custom-made cards? Phoenix thought to himself. How kind of Edgeworth. Those probably cost him more than I’d pay for two months of rent!
“Ahhh! These are amazing! Thank you, Uncle Miles!” Trucy said, examining every inch of the elaborate patterns.
“I hope you’ll put them to good use.” Edgeworth replied.
Trucy nodded rapidly. “Yes! I’ll use them in my next show!” The young magician set down the cards on the coffee table and pulled off her hat. “Here, Uncle Miles! I got you something too!” After speaking some magic words, she wiggled her fingers and pulled a Blue Badger plush toy from the hat’s depths. It looked handmade, knitted just like Phoenix’s beanie. It wore an amaranth coloured ribbon tied into a bow around its neck and held a tiny gavel.
“Ta-da!” Trucy exclaimed, offering the Blue Badger to the prosecutor.
Edgeworth took it with a fond expression. “… Why thank you. This is a… lovely gift.” Edgeworth ran a thumb across one of the button eyes. “I will treasure it.”
“Tee-hee! I thought you’d like it, Uncle Miles!” The young girl plopped her hat back onto her head, then scooped up her new cards. “I’m going to show these to Mr Hat!”
With that, Trucy scampered off, leaving the two men alone.
“Don’t you dare tell her how much you don’t like those.” Phoenix teasingly warned, reading between the lines and remembering both he and Edgeworth’s thoughts on the infamous Blue Badger. Neither would have expected their first brief encounter with the wriggling police mascot during the Skye case to spawn into a full-blown franchise.
“I won’t speak a word.” Edgeworth glanced down at the plush in his hand. “Though I will never understand how Detective Gumshoe’s peculiar creation gained so much popularity to warrant the opening of an entire theme park filled with them…”
Phoenix laughed.
~
The evening went on, the two men filling their time together with a pleasant conversation. Rather than sit adjacent to him, Edgeworth had opted to sit next to Phoenix on the same couch, probably because Mr Hat and the pile of torn wrapping paper were taking up most of the space on the other. Trucy performed one of her famous magic shows for the prosecutor, proudly showing him everything new she had learned since they last met shortly after she came into Phoenix’s care. Eventually, the day’s bustling activities finally caught up with Trucy. Yawning, she curled up on Phoenix’s lap and soon fell into a comfortable slumber.
“She’s fallen asleep,” Edgeworth observed.
“Yeah. It happens a lot,” Phoenix replied with a fond whisper, pulling Trucy’s cape around her to use as a blanket until he put her to bed. “My lap must be pretty comfy.”
“Should I leave or–?” His old friend moved to stand up.
The thought of their unforeseen evening together ending so soon drove a knife into Phoenix’s chest. “D-don’t go–!” Phoenix bit his tongue, stopping himself from sounding too desperate for Edgeworth to stay, especially since he knew that Edgeworth was already doing so much for him by simply being there. “It’s fine, really. If we’re quiet, she won’t wake up.” Phoenix clarified.
Edgeworth slowly settled back onto the couch. “Very well.”
A pregnant pause hung over the trio. Trucy remained fast asleep, nuzzling her head onto Phoenix’s lap. Phoenix carefully took off her magician’s hat and brushed a few strands of hair out of her face, watching her brows knotting and eyelids fluttering slightly. Away in a dream land, Trucy was unaware of the disquiet atmosphere swelling around her.
“So… how long are you planning on staying?” Phoenix asked in an attempt to disperse the fresh awkwardness in the air.
Were things between them always so strained? Phoenix thought that they had gotten over this in the year since Edgeworth returned to his life. Yet here they were now; the prosecutor he called his closest friend remaining reserved and quiet and Phoenix, self-conscious and clearly struggling to come up with something to say. Perhaps it was the months apart, the lack of contact, the prolonged silence , that stirred this feeling of hesitation.
“Not long. I am expected to attend a conference in Zheng Fa in four days.” Edgeworth informed.
“You travel so often…maybe they’ll come out with a next hit video game… it’ll be called ‘Where in the World is Miles Edgeworth?’?” Phoenix tried to loosen the conversation up with a light-hearted joke.
Edgeworth smirked. “It would certainly be a valuable way to teach children geography, wouldn’t it?” Picking a piece of shredded gift wrapping off his jacket, the prosecutor continued to talk in a hushed tone. “I also paid a visit to my office and the criminal affairs department before making my way here. Everything seems to be in order.”
Phoenix raised both eyebrows. “Yeah? Nothing on fire or broken into this time?”
Edgeworth scoffed. “Hardly. They’ve improved security significantly since that incident.”
Being a lawyer came with its oddities and difficulties; Phoenix knew that from both his own first-hand experiences and of the recent ones Edgeworth had told him about that summer. However, despite everything that had happened, Phoenix missed it. He missed the thrill of being behind the defence’s bench ready to defend his client through thick and thin, of the burning passion he'd feel when seeing a certain prosecutor in red raring to go at the bench across from him. Phoenix suddenly frowned, his previously content expression falling into a remorseful moue, which he covered with a hand, feeling the unshaven stubble grazing across his clammy palm. He did not want to remember how happy he was when he was in court and how dreadfully he regretted losing it. How he yearned to have it all back and awoke every day wishing he could turn back time.
“Is everything alright?” Edgeworth’s calm and collected voice interrupted him, unaware his intervention had supplied Phoenix with a rope to hang onto lest he fall further down that pit of despair.
“Huh?”
“You seem… distracted.”
The prosecutor scrutinised him the way he examined a piece of testimony for thoughtless inconsistencies and flagrant omissions. It was a piercing glare that cut straight to the bone and exposed his innermost thoughts.
A thick rope of nausea coiled around Phoenix’s twisting stomach. Admittedly, Phoenix had started to consider the worst when Edgeworth did not reach out to him, suspecting the renowned prosecutor was keeping his distance to preserve his own reputation. The heated whispering was loud enough back when they were rivals in court, the prying glares and wagging tongues fixed firmly on them. On top of that, Edgeworth had already been wrapped up in a scandal involving tampered evidence in the early years of his career, albeit he knew nothing of the fabrication until Damon Gant exposed in court how he’d manipulated both prosecutor and evidence to reach the outcomes he desired. However, unlike the punishment the Bar Association dealt upon Phoenix Wright for presenting the forged diary page in his last trial, Miles Edgeworth’s transgressions were overlooked by the Prosecutorial Investigatory Committee, and he retained his badge.
Still, Edgeworth was a cautious man who thought ahead. In the years which followed that notorious affair, he had continued to rise in both rank and prestige. Most people who valued their advancement would naturally cut off anything holding them back, including connections to former friends since tarred pariahs. If Phoenix had successfully proven himself innocent and reclaimed his badge, things would be different. But Phoenix remained in limbo, his life on hold and reputation in ruin, to protect her .
Yet Edgeworth had never cared for the gossiping or empty titles. A noble man after his father’s heart, the prosecutor strove onward purely to expose the truth, refusing to be shackled by rules and regulations. Furthermore, Phoenix trusted him. Completely and unchangingly. Surely his friend would not cast him and their shared past aside again.
“… I just… I really didn’t expect to hear from you, far from seeing you tonight.” Phoenix hesitantly voiced his suspicions, the words nearly becoming trapped in his throat. He pressed on. “I wondered if… I thought… you were avoiding me because of what happened.”
Edgeworth recoiled immediately, the impact of Phoenix’s uncertainty hitting him like a runaway train.
“ What ?” open-mouthed, his hasty answer was heavy with disbelief, “Nnngh! N-no! I would never think to–!” A soft noise passed through Trucy’s lips, her small body curling up closer into Phoenix’s lap. Realising he was speaking too loudly, Edgeworth, his face reddened and sleek brows knotted, lowered his voice, “I’ve been involved in a great deal of cases lately. I did not realise how long it had been since we last spoke like this.”
Phoenix stifled an embarrassed groan. “Ugh… sorry. My head’s been a mess since…” he trailed off. Both men knew what incident he was referring to, and neither wished to hash it out again.
“I… I confess, since our previous conversation, I had thought to give you room to process everything instead of pushing it.” Edgeworth answered earnestly, reassuring him and seeking to alleviate his friend’s emerging worries. “I understand you have your reasons not to pursue anything currently. I would never think to turn my back on you, Phoenix.”
Relieved to hear Edgeworth speaking so candidly and vanquishing the doubts encircling him, Phoenix sighed and smiled. “It’s good to see you again, Miles.”
Edgeworth matched his lightened expression with an indulgent smile of his own. “And I you. I’ve sorely missed these friendly talks of ours.”
“Aww, you haven’t missed when we’d shout at each other for hours?” Phoenix could not help but jest, grinning from ear to ear.
The prosecutor exhaled and shook his head. “Yes, that too. I’ll dare say you’re the only defence attorney who I long to face again… although I accept that as of now you have no intention of returning to court.”
Phoenix quietened, the smile slipping slightly. Although he was not preserving in his earlier attempts to rouse the flames in Phoenix to fight back against the Bar Association’s decision, Edgeworth had clearly arrived here with an agenda. Phoenix would make no moves until the opportunity presented itself. Until then, he would suck it up, endure the humiliation, and try to ignore the pitying glaze in Edgeworth’s stare. Knowing he could not change Phoenix’s mind, what then had brought Miles Edgeworth to his apartment on Christmas day?
“… What are you really doing here, Miles?” Phoenix asked, straight to the point.
Edgeworth met Phoenix’s questioning gaze and replied, “have you checked your mail recently?”
The spiky haired man made a face. “O-of course! What kind of adult do you think I am?”
Edgeworth chuckled softly. “That growing pile of unopened letters on your desk speaks differently, Wright.”
Phoenix looked away, following Edgeworth’s pointed look over to the paperwork Everest in question. Ugh… this guy… as if I could forget how perceptive he is…
“Alright. You got me. I haven’t. It’s mostly bills anyway.” Phoenix conceded. Barely staying afloat from his part-time work at the Borscht Bowl Club, the continuous influx of bills were sucking him dry. “Or requests from tabloids for interviews… can you imagine? ‘Read all about it! Phoenix Wright’s infamous fall from grace!’” Phoenix complained, grateful that those vultures had eventually stopped showing up unannounced at his complex entrance.
“Keeping your silence on the matter was the apt choice.” Being no fan of journalists either, what with how quick they were to label him a murderer during the DL-6 retrial, the prosecutor agreed with his decision. “Words can be twisted.”
“While evidence is indisputable, right?” Phoenix remembered those lessons well. But why was Edgeworth inquiring about his mail? “Why are you so interested in my letters anyway?”
“There is a gift amongst them.” Edgeworth replied.
“A gift…?” The vague wording did not answer Phoenix’s growing list of questions.
Contained in one of those letters was a gift? From Miles Edgeworth? Why would the prosecutor send him a letter as a gift? Phoenix himself hadn’t written a letter in years. Previously he had written them constantly to his boyhood friend during the years they were forcibly parted, pouring his heart into each and every one, though they had all gone unanswered.
“One of those letters in particular is something of great importance. It will have an official logo on the envelope.” Seeing Trucy was still fast asleep on the other man’s lap, Edgeworth motioned for him to remain in place. “Stay there. I will search for it.” The crimson suited prosecutor stood and made a beeline for the desk. Faced away with his back turned to him, Phoenix could still tell Edgeworth was wearing one of his patented scowls toward the mess. “It should have arrived around a week ago. Since I had not heard anything from you, I made the logical deduction that you were yet to open it. Here it is.”
The prosecutor returned to the couch but remained standing, holding out the relevant letter to Phoenix.
“Hold it. What is this about?” Phoenix asked, recognising the symbol on the envelope. In jet black ink, stamped on the face beneath his name, was a small courthouse. It did not soothe his frayed nerves in the slightest or raise his quelled spirit. “This one? It’s from the court – far from a ‘gift’, if you ask me.”
“Open it and see.” Edgeworth said, again giving no indication as to what the letter contained.
Cynical that any official letter from the court could be considered a ‘gift’, Phoenix began to break the seal of the letter. Before he knew it, a hundred ideas were running through his head, each increasingly more dire.
Is it from the Bar Association–?
Edgeworth read the look on his face and interjected to stop his imagination running wild. “Perhaps it would be best if you read it first before drawing any conclusions.”
He opened the envelope and tracked his hesitant gaze over the lines, skimming through the usual bureaucratic jargon. He kept going, until further down the paper, he spotted something he hadn’t seen before–a bright green ADOPTION APPROVED stamp. The full gravity of the situation hit him then, and Phoenix’s eyes blew up wide. His mouth hanging ajar, he loudly gasped, the papers slipping through his grasp and fluttering to the floor. Edgeworth said nothing from where he stood, allowing him to process the new information at a comfortable distance.
Trucy stirred then, sitting up and blinking the sleep from her eyes. “… Daddy?” she murmured, drowsiness still plain as day on her face.
Stammering, Phoenix tried to speak normally, his throat tight and heart pounding. “H-hey, sweetheart… I didn’t mean to wake you…”
Phoenix's hands flew to his mouth to hold back a sob that threatened to escape him. But he couldn’t hide it–not from that wonderful, perceptive little girl sitting beside him.
His star, his light, his Trucy.
His daughter –
“Wahh! What’s wrong?!” Trucy was fully awake now, grabbing at the sleeve of his baggy hoodie to get his attention. “Are you hurt?!” she demanded.
“Shhh. It’s okay. I’m fine, really!” Phoenix shushed her, eyes darting from the alarmed child to the paper in his trembling grip.
Her cheeks puffed out – she clearly didn’t believe him.“Then why are you crying, Daddy?”
“They’re tears of joy… I’m happy… because of the gift Uncle Miles gave me.” He met Edgeworth’s eyes, though it was brief–the other man looked away shyly. “Miles… I… I don’t know what to say–” “Th-this… this is the best gift I could have ever received…”
Trucy glanced at the papers on the floor, and though she couldn’t understand most of the official wording, she was quickly able to piece together the meaning of Edgeworth’s gift too – in her own special way.
“It is my professional opinion that fatherhood suits you,” Miles stated, not even attempting to hold back the smile forming on his face. “Don’t you agree, Trucy?”
“Yes! You’re the best, Daddy!” Trucy agreed wholeheartedly, with a slight bounce on the couch. She was beaming like a blinding ray of sunshine now.
Hearing that name again made it all finally come out unrestrained. Much like during his early university days, Phoenix became a hiccuping, snotty, watery mess of emotion. He looked up at Edgeworth once more through his tears, trying to say something. But anything and everything he wanted to say remained unspoken on his quivering lips. Nothing could be enough to convey the sheer happiness and relief he felt, or enough to convey his heartfelt gratitude.
Phoenix hadn’t seen such a bright smile on Edgeworth’s face around this time of year–not since the afternoon out in the school playground he explained his winter break plans back when they were children. “If anyone deserves this, it’s you, Phoenix.’’
“You had a hand in this, Miles,” he finally managed. “That's why you're here.”
“I was very vocal about the matter, yes.”
Behind the scenes, Miles had used his position and the resources at his disposal to tactfully pull strings. It was the undisputable testament of his good character
“I… I can’t believe it…” Confusion and disbelief was evident in the haggard man’s tone. Scooping up the paperwork and rereading everything over and over, Phoenix’s blown pupils darted from it, to Trucy, and back to Miles. “How did you…? I mean, I thought that… after what happened in my last trial–”
He was labelled a liar, his reputation was in ruin, and yet Edgeworth…
“I successfully persuaded the relevant authorities that awarding you full custody was in their best interests.”
“Why risk your reputation to help us?”
“Having experienced the foster system myself for a brief time, I would not wish it upon any child,” the prosecutor stated, a solemn waver noticeable in his tone. “So I believe…that if I can prevent even one loving family from being torn apart needlessly, then I will do what I must.”
“Thank you… thank you so much, Miles… I don’t know how I can ever repay you–”
“Hmm. I’ll think of something.” Edgeworth teasing tone alongside one of those iconic smirks wholly inveigled Phoenix, melting the dark haired man's heart and making him weak at the knees. “Well, it’s getting late, and with the good news delivered, I should leave now.” Miles said, standing.
“A-ah, y-yeah… I need to put Truce to bed.”
Ignoring Trucy’s pouting protests she made in an attempt to stay up even longer, Phoenix brought her into his arms. They headed to the door together with Edgeworth, who was already wasting no time in putting his coat back on.
“Before you go,” Phoenix started as Edgeworth reached for his briefcase, “I know I’ve thanked you a dozen times already, but honestly, I’m so grateful.”
“On the contrary, I should be thanking you. This has been the best Christmas I’ve experienced in a long time… I hope we will see each other again soon.”
“Yeah… let’s meet up when you’re back. All of us. Together.”
“I’d like that. Good night, Phoenix.”
“Good night, Miles.”
Once the door closed with a soft click, Phoenix blinked a few times, wondering if everything he just experienced that mind-blowing night was, in fact, real. A light tap on his stubbly cheek brought him back to the present. Though Trucy was evidently tired, she also looked so, so happy. Phoenix ruffled her hair and pressed a tender kiss on her forehead. They gazed up together, looking at the miniature Mr Hat sitting proudly in his place on top of the tree.
This day was the best gift either of them could have ever received.
~
