Work Text:
Ema can hear Lana giggle from across the apartment.
It's been three months since Angel Starr has moved into the Skye residence. Ema's not used to a hallway overcrowded with shoes, the increased amount of hair in the shower drain, the stacks of lunchboxes in the fridge, and many other things.
She's also not used to seeing Lana so weirdly happy during some mornings.
The possible reason as to why slaps Ema's brain and she gags. She may have to wear earplugs to bed, just in case, or she'd be scarred from sex forever.
There's a knock on the front door. And Ema jumps up. "I got it!"
At the back of the apartment — Lana's and Angel's room — there's a muffled answer of acknowledgment.
At the front door, it's the delivery man and the package is for her. Ema confusingly signs on the device, thanks him and closes the door.
She doesn't remember ordering anything that could come in today, and then she looks at the details of the sender.
Huh? What else did I order from them?
She opens the package and what stares back is the Steel Samurai figure she already has in her glass cabinet.
Oh fuck, did I—
She checks her order history on the sender's website and, sure enough, she did a duplicate order three days after her initial one.
Ema doesn't need two figures that look the same. She thinks of all the people that might like it, remembers Miles Edgeworth, and pulls out her phone.
Miles Edgeworth
Hi Mr Edgeworth. Hope you’re well! I have an extra Steel Samurai 1/6 scale figure from the 10 years anniversary release. I'm wondering if you'd like to have it if you haven't gotten it yet. -Ema Skye
She rereads to make sure there are no typos or grammatical mistakes before she shoots off the message and notes the time. She needs to head to work right now if she doesn't want to be late.
There's a detective who's just transferred to Ema's precinct, and she's focused on figuring out why the detective looks familiar even after the introduction that she didn’t quite catch. She then remembers last week's email that would've had the name.
Was it Kat?
'Probably Kat' is looking at her expectedly so Ema hurries, "Ema Skye. Detective."
"Ema! Weren't we still in high school when we last saw each other?"
Ema stares.
Wait, Kay?!
Kay is in a red leather jacket, with a helmet tucked under one armpit, and her hair is let out and almost touches her shoulders. Ema remembers it was usually tied up in a tall ponytail. "Yeah," Ema finally says, "Uh, how have you been?"
"Good! I just made detective. I'll be working part-time till next year, though. I'm studying law on the side."
That arrangement reminds Ema of Lana. "Are you planning to become a prosecutor after?"
"Ah, no. Defense attorney."
"Oh." Ema is now reminded of Phoenix Wright and the Justice kid. She then remembers how they met through Edgeworth when she was in her last year of high school. And how she told everyone who would listen, Kay included, that she was going to become a forensics investigator the year after.
Ema didn't take the exam until six years later. And she failed it; she fervently hopes Kay won't ask about how she's doing with her dream job.
"... apartment is like an hour away," Kay is saying, "Do you happen to know anyone who's looking for a roommate?"
Ema grounds herself. "A roommate to replace you, or you'll be the roommate for someone who has a spare room?"
"I'll be the roommate."
"Oh. No, I don't know anyone."
Kay pouts. "I guess I actually have to look. Anyway! Have you had coffee yet?"
"Nope. I usually have one before I get here. I was in a rush today."
"Alright. Let's go get one after I see the Sergeant?"
"Uh … as in from the coffee machine in the break room?"
Kay stares at Ema and then grins. "I was thinking of going outside for a latte, but black coffee will do."
"There's creamer in the fridge."
"I don't trust stuff in communal fridges. How do we know it's not expired?"
"It's mine. I labeled it with my name. I opened it last Friday."
"Good morning, Detectives."
Kay turns to the side. "Good morning, Gumm—Sergeant! …Gumshoe."
Ema has been too busy focusing on Kay, she hadn't noticed him forming a small triangle amongst themselves. "Good morning."
Gumshoe grins in that lopsided way of his. "I see you've met."
"We met a long time ago," Ema says.
Gumshoe scratches his head. "I know I'm late, pal. But you didn’t have to rub it in."
"No, no," Kay cuts in before Ema finishes figuring out what he meant. "We did meet a long time ago. When I was helping Mr Edgeworth with his cases."
There's a blank expression. Ema knows what the new detective meant but she stops herself in adding more to the explanation.
"It involved the Zheng Fa President," Kay continues, uninterrupted.
"Oh, right!" Gumshoe says, "Yeah, I remember now."
"Yup."
"Well I have a new case for you two. There's a death on Violet Street. The husband doesn't believe it's from natural causes and wants us to investigate. I'll send you the address now."
Ema watches him go to his desk.
"So," Kay says and Ema turns to her, "Do you wanna ride with me? I have an extra helmet."
Ema considers it. The traffic should be heavy now, so being able to go ahead with the bike whenever the other motor vehicles stalled would be great. But then she looks down at her attire. "It'd be better if we took the car. I'm pretty sure my coat's going to get caught by the back tire or muffler." As soon as those words leave her mouth, she hopes that Kay won't tell her to take off the lab coat. And she suppresses a certain case from manifesting in her prefrontal cortex. She succeeds and she briefly wonders if the slowly decreasing grey matter caused by her bipolar disorder has helped with that.
Kay is silent, and Ema further braces herself, but she says, "I didn't think of that. Yeah, let's use the car."
Turns out that the death was caused by a heart attack due to health issues not disclosed to the husband, who had feared it was due to poisoning and now believes the police are slacking off and creating lies to close the case quickly.
Ema listens to Kay calming and then consoling the widower over the phone, mentally noting tones and particular choices of words that would be useful for her to use in the future.
There's a message tone.
Miles Edgeworth
Good evening, Ema. I would love to have it. How much will it be? And cash or digital?
Good evening. No, it's a gift. I'll drop it off at the Prosecutor's office by end of this week
"Wanna grab dinner?" Kay has apparently finished the call.
Ema pockets her phone. "Yeah, we can finish the paperwork tomorrow."
"Or we could bring dinner back here."
"Nope. Above my pay grade. I'm done for the day."
Kay laughs. "Fair."
They eat at the closest casual restaurant they could find.
"So what happened after you flew back?"
Kay asked the question when Ema still has her mouth full. She chews her last bite and swallows, because Angel has been berating her whenever she talks with her mouth full and it's forming a habit, perhaps a good one for once, before she asks for clarification, "Flew back?"
"Yeah, you came here for summer break. What happened after?"
"Well I finished high school. Got great marks, went into a good university and then switched to a better one."
"Oh, which one?"
"Leicester. It has the best forensics science course in the world, let alone the UK."
And it wasn't enough to pass the stupid exam here. What kind of answers is this country expecting?
"That's amazing. Did you travel in Europe much?"
"Kind of. Not as much as the other kids in class but my guardian would take me to Switzerland or France since they're so close to Italy and she's fluent in French. It helped a bit in getting around."
"Oh, you were living in Italy?"
"Yeah. Finished the rest of high school there. Italian does help with memorizing scientific terms."
"Nice. Heh, did you go to the city of Nice when in France?"
One end of Ema's lips quirks up from amusement. "No. Have you?"
"No. I've only been to a couple small cities near German borders. I can't remember the names…"
"If I remember right, you were living in Germany before you came back here."
"Yeah, I lived there for about five years. When my uncle's wife passed away, my grandparents, my uncle's son, and I decided to move back here. Well, for me, it's moving back."
"Oh." Ema takes a few bites, hoping Kay can carry on and not expect her to provide more input to the conversation. Food is getting cold.
"Yeah. And after that I just tagged along with Franny after high school with her Interpol cases."
Ema tilts her head.
Kay seems to understand her confusion and continues, "Franziska von Karma."
"Prosecutor Franziska von Karma? " Ema chokes on her food, starting a violent coughing fit.
When water is drunk and the coughing has eased, Kay asks with what sounds like genuine worry, "You okay?"
"Yeah."
"You seem shocked."
"Because I am! What did you mean by 'tagged along'?"
"Do you remember Little Thief? My device that recreates crime scenes? Among other stuff…. It was extremely useful, along with my expertise." At the last few words, Kay grins.
"And then?"
"I thought it was time to upskill formally. Enrol into Ivy University, and be like Mr Edgeworth and do the complete opposite of what our dads did."
"Complete opposite?"
"You know how Mr Edgeworth's dad was a defense attorney?"
"Oh, I didn't know that."
"Oh, well he was. But Mr Edgeworth prefers to pursue the truth as a prosecutor. Same with my dad. But I want to do it at the defense bench. I know not all of them will be completely innocent regarding the crime they're accused with, but the law as it is is so stacked against defendants who aren't backed by big players …."
"I get it. A defense attorney saved me and my sister a while back. When the Chief of Police accused us of murder. Two murders. Edgeworth was prosecuting, and he and the attorney worked together to reach the truth."
"Two murders … Who's the attorney?"
"Phoenix Wright."
"Hmm … the name does sound familiar."
"Edgeworth may have mentioned him to you once."
"That's probably it."
They return to their food. Ema learns that Kay's a fast eater. It's when the dessert is brought out to their table, and the waiter leaves them alone, that Kay brings up the question Ema has been hoping to avoid.
"So you're a detective and in the forensics team?"
"...Just a detective," Ema mumbles.
"Sorry, I didn't hear that."
Ema sighs. "I'm just a detective."
"Oh."
"Yeah … I failed the exam."
"Must've been a crazy hard exam."
"It was, yeah."
"...Sorry that I brought it up."
"It's okay." It's not, but the awkwardness is suffocating. She scoops a piece out of her chocolate cake slice. "Um. Does Gumshoe know you're studying law?"
"Yeah. He's convinced that I'm aiming to be a prosecutor, though, and I don't have the heart to correct him."
A week later, Gumshoe sends them to an annual meeting hosted in San Francisco. On his behalf. And he doesn't have the heart — or budget — in providing each of them a room. But at least they were able to fly there instead of driving there, so Ema shrugs it off and doesn't complain out loud. Lest Kay may think that Ema can't stand her presence.
They're back at their hotel room by 8PM after a dinner reception. Ema is browsing on her phone when Kay asks, "Do you need the bathroom? I want to take a shower."
"No. You can go ahead."
"Cool."
Ema is spread out across her own bed when a notification on her phone reminds her that she ought to take her daily medication. Ema sighs, and decides to do it when Kay is away so she doesn't ask questions, though Kay has proven tact since their reunion, and goes through the items they have haphazardly thrown on the shared dresser.
Ema picks up the familiar looking box and is about to open it when she realises that her name isn't on the prescription label.
It's at that precise moment that Kay has left the bathroom, clothed in sleepwear and a towel wrapped around her head. Ema watches Kay's eyes become trained on her.
"Why are you holding my medicine?" Kay asks.
Ema hastily slaps down the box onto the dresser. "I wasn't snooping or anything! I thought it was mine."
"You … thought it was yours?"
"Yeah. It looks like we take the same medication…."
Kay unravels the towel and places it around her back. She looks almost like a superhero until she takes one end of the towel to pat her hair dry. "You have epilepsy too?"
Ema sharply recalls the last time she went to pick up her prescriptions. There was an intern at the time with their supervisor. As Ema waited for them to fill up her order behind the counter, she heard their conversation:
"What kind of medicine is lamotrigine?" The supervisor asked their shadow.
"It's for epilepsy."
"Good. But do you know what else it's used for?"
"No," Ema says to Kay, looking away. "I have bipolar disorder."
"Oh. …Ohh."
Ema waits, wondering what else Kay will say.
"My cousin has it too."
Ema's startled to look back at Kay. "Your cousin?"
"Yeah, the same cousin I lived with when we were staying with our grandparents." Kay grins. "I guess we gotta make sure we're not accidentally stealing each other's meds."
Ema looks down at the box and gives it back to Kay. "Well I have mine in dosette boxes anyway, so I think it'll be fine."
Ema watches Kay pop out a pill and washes it down with water from the complimentary bottles on the dresser. "What type of epilepsy do you have?"
Kay replies with something she didn’t catch.
"What?" Ema asks.
"G forty point A."
Ema did not expect a code. She looks up on what it means.
"What type of bipolar do you have?" Kay asks, who's also on her phone.
"Type two. So I won't have many hallucinations that you have to deal with. Though I do have ADHD, so you'll have to deal with—"
"Hey! I have ADHD too. Twinsies."
They share a laugh.
"Anyway, it's no biggie," Kay continues. "My cousin gets hallucinations a lot so I kinda know what it'll be like. And, I mean, I'm assuming you're looking up what kind of seizures I may get."
Ema laughs. "Yeah, you're right."
There's silence as they continue to browse on their phones. Ema looks up and watches Kay pull her hair back into a tiny ponytail. "I remember you had long hair."
"Hm?"
"Didn't you have long hair before?"
"Ah yeah. I did in high school. Though it got in the way with the physical activities I do. And… my hair's getting thin. Because of the Lamictal, my doctor thinks."
Ema stops breathing.
"Ema?"
"That's the worst thing you have ever said to me."
A laugh bursts out of Kay. "I hope you’re not thinking of stopping your meds."
"Not until you put that thought into my head."
Kay stares at her.
"I'm not actually going to stop," Ema clarifies.
Kay smiles. "Good."
They continue to browse when Ema hears Kay sigh. "What's wrong?"
"It's so hard to find an affordable apartment near our precinct."
"Oh…yeah, it is. My sis and I manage because we split rent. Though her girlfriend recently moved in so it's not as expensive now."
Kay sighs even more.
Ema thinks for a second before she blurts out. "But it's getting stuffy with three people in the apartment now. Maybe I should move out…."
Kay grins at her. "Wanna be roommates?"
"You know what? Why not."
When Ema is home in her own room, she worries if she has made an impulsive mistake. But from the two weeks she's spent with Kay, where half of the time they were temporary roommates, it was okay. She takes several deep breaths and decides that maybe extending that arrangement will be good to undertake.
Lana has said that she'll keep Ema's room as-is, anyway, just in case Kay does become unbearable.
But it's soon a month in already, and Ema is finding that living with Kay is more comfortable than living with Angel. So when Lana checks on her, she messages with confidence that she'll be okay.
She is okay.