Chapter Text
Klavier Gavin was expecting to have a normal morning. Or, at least, normal by the prosecution’s office’s standards.
He intended to get some paperwork done, but needed some papers he last handed off to Herr Edgeworth, and resigned himself to visiting the Chief Prosecutor. However, his attempt at meeting with him was interrupted.
Klavier was not expecting any phone calls that morning, so he was faintly surprised when his phone was lit up with an unknown number.
As famous as he was, his personal number was quite hard to acquire; he recognized the area code as the local one in Japanifornia, however, and elected to answer with a sigh and a quiet apology to Herr Edgeworth.
“Guten morgen,” he greeted, “Klavier Gavin speaking.”
“Good morning, Mister Gavin,” a pleasant voice from the other end replied. “My name is Ellie Pham, I’m with the Japanifornia Child Welfare. Just to confirm before anything else, Kristoph Gavin is your older brother, yes?”
To call himself startled at the mention of his brother was an understatement. “H-He is, ja. What are you calling me for? Mein Bruder— ach, my brother does not have any children.”
Herr Edgeworth’s eyes darted to Klavier in surprise. He was grateful that he had tried to stay out of Klavier’s business, even though he had accepted the call in the man’s office. Klavier couldn’t blame the man for snapping to attention at the mention of Kristoph.
“Your niece was recently placed in foster care. Do you have a moment to speak about her future as her next of kin in the States?”
Klavier barely registered the phone slipping through his hands, clattering on the floor. Hurriedly, he scooped it back up, pressing it harshly to his ear.
“I-I apologize, but I’m afraid that cannot be true. You see—”
“We have Miss Katharina Chanson on her way to be placed in our custody, and we’ve verified she is his daughter,” Frau Pham interrupted. “If you have the time today, we would love to see you in our offices this afternoon to discuss how to proceed.”
This was moving far too fast for Klavier to follow. “I-I can, ja, but I’ve—”
“That’s wonderful to hear. Thank you for your time! We’ll see you soon.”
Klavier pulled his phone away from his head at the disconnect tone, and stared down at his dark screen.
He must have been silent for quite some time, as Herr Edgeworth cleared his throat with a tad bit of awkwardness.
“Prosecu— Klavier,” he started, but stopped. “If you need to take leave for today…”
Only half-aware of himself, Klavier found himself nodding at the Chief Prosecutor’s suggestion, staring at him dumbly. Herr Edgeworth raised an eyebrow at him after a moment, and Klavier snapped back to himself.
“That would— ja, that would be greatly appreciated, danke, Herr Edgeworth. I…” he trailed off. “I suppose I should bid you lebewohl then?”
Herr Edgeworth nodded, and rose from his chair. “I believe so, Prosecutor Gavin. I do hope whatever… personal business that has come up ends well for you,” he said, waving a hand in both dismissal and farewell to Klavier.
The prosecutor nodded, clutching his phone in hand as he dazedly looked up a certain address.
When Klavier arrived at the Japanifornia Child Welfare Offices, he was greeted by Ellie Pham, the woman he spoke to on the phone.
“I’m so sorry about cutting you off!” she apologized, sounding genuine. “It’s not really acceptable, but, ah, the hardest part is usually getting people to even come see us…”
Klavier shook his head, giving her one of his camera-perfect smiles. “It’s truly no issue, Frau Pham,” he assured, adjusting his hair twist. The woman melted a little at his smile, but she snapped to attention quickly. “Please, follow me!” she insisted.
Klavier followed the woman past the reception area down the hall, into an office with Ellie Pham, Assistant Director emboldened on the door. She pushed open the door and fussed about, quickly sitting Klavier on one side of her desk as she rifled through the drawers.
As Frau Pham did so, Klavier took in the office. It was surprisingly welcoming and cheerful. The woman had cheesy memes and posters strung up on her walls, as well as lots of pictures of what he assumed were families she had worked with. His train of thought was interrupted by a sound of triumph from the woman, and Frau Pham straightened up.
“Here we are!” she exclaimed, sliding a manila folder across her desktop towards him. “This is our most updated file on Katharina. She’s currently on her way here from New Tokyork, but her flight won’t arrive for another four hours or so. Please, take a look as long as you like.”
Klavier picked up the file, and opened the folder. He inhaled sharply at the first line of the record, and his fingers tightened around the edges before he could drop it.
He knew a part of him, deep down, hoped none of it was true, that Kristoph hadn’t been hiding a child and possibly even a family from him all this time. And even if it did end up all true, she’d at least be very young.
She was sixteen.
Katharina Chanson was born October 9th, 2011. Today was July 28th, 2028, so she was sixteen years old.
Is, Klavier thinks to himself, dizzy, she is sixteen years old. Kristoph has been a father since he was eighteen, and never told Klavier, and his daughter is sixteen years old.
And now this girl has no one, evidently.
Klavier is suddenly very aware of how long he’s been silently staring at the very first page of his niece’s (oh god, his actual niece’s) file, and anxiously flipped to the next page as he cleared his throat.
“So, ach, Frau Pham,” he began. “Do you… I mean, what can you tell me about my n-nie— about Katharina? About her situation?”
Frau Pham nodded, clicking away at her computer, presumably to pull up a digital copy. Klavier skimmed the papers he was holding as she began to summarize for him.
“Well, in short,” she said, “Katharina Chanson was born to Marianne Chanson and Kristoph Gavin on October 9th, 2011. There was never any dispute about custody, and it was never brought to legal court.”
Klavier frowned at that, inspecting the page he was on. There was never a whisper of Kristoph claiming the parentage of this child, so he wasn’t particularly surprised.
(Klavier also recognizes, dimly, that he’s detaching himself from the situation. It’s easier to digest.)
Frau Pham scrolled slightly, before she continued on. “The older Miss Chanson recently was found deceased in their home due to an overdose. Along with that, as you know, Mr. Gavin is… otherwise unavailable.”
And what is Klavier supposed to say?
This poor girl’s mother had just died, and her father (if he even had any contact with her in the first place) is in prison on death row. Klavier has no idea what to say, other than—
“And I am her next of kin?”
Frau Pham smiled sadly at him. “Her grandparents, Miss Chanson’s parents, currently live in France. They declined any rights to custody or guardianship, and claimed they had disowned their daughter about nine years ago.”
When I passed my bar exam, Klavier realized faintly. When Kristoph started his plan to—
He swallowed the bile threatening to crawl up his throat.
“So that just leaves me,” he said quietly. Klavier resisted the urge to fiddle with the rings on his fingers, before he glanced up at the social worker before him.
Frau Pham reached across the desk to take one of his hands in hers.
“Mr. Gavin,” she said, carrying an easy tone. “Katharina will be in our care for the foreseeable future. At sixteen, she has a bit more agency than younger foster children, and she’s requested that if you don’t take her in, she wants to age out of the system in a group home.”
After relaying this to him, Frau Pham winced. “I am sure you’ve heard… many things,” she continued. “For all that we try, it isn’t the greatest. I don’t want that for this young woman.”
Klavier swallowed. And he sighed. He pulled his hand away from Frau Pham’s, and anxiously picked at his pants.
It’s a huge responsibility.
After everything with Kristoph, initially, Klavier couldn’t bear the thought of any responsibility, but he had pushed through and decided to care for Vongole. He loved his dog, but bit his lip.
A child is a lot different than a dog, he reminded himself, a little desperately, despite already knowing what choice he would make.
“Let me foster her for some time, ja?” he agreed, hardly believing what he was even saying. “We will see how it goes.”
Miss Pham’s face lit up. “How wonderful!” she exclaimed. She launched into a long spiel about the process, how long it would take, and many other things. Klavier found himself meekly nodding along, feeling a weight slowly sink into his gut as he caught phrases like ‘two week check-in’ and ‘future permanent placement’.
When the woman took a breath, Klavier took his opportunity to jump in. “Frau Pham,” he interrupted. “Is there anything I need to do before she arrives?”
The woman turned to stare at him, before remembering herself. “Oh, of course!” she exclaimed. She rifled through a top drawer and pulled out a nicely paper-clipped stack, and Klavier stared wide-eyed at the inch thickness.
“Here are all of our procedures,” she said. “As well as a couple requirements we’ll have to verify, such as a home check that we can schedule in a couple days, or a week, and anything else you need to know! I hope it will be helpful for you.”
She smiled at him warmly, and slid one last paper over to him. Klavier signed his name, right below where the contract read ‘foster agreement’.
So, Klavier is taking care of his niece.
His sixteen-year-old niece.
… who he’s never met. Or even heard of before today!
Mein Gott, what on Earth am I doing!? Klavier thought to himself, sprawled out on his floor in mild despair. He didn’t know the first thing about taking care of a niece or nephew, let alone raising a kid. He didn’t even know who to ask.
The thought of Fraulein Wright flashed through his mind for a brief moment, and he felt himself go a little green at the notion of asking Herr Wright for help.
…it wasn’t a terrible idea, verdammt, and he might be the only option if Klavier wanted real help. However, at the same time, it was a terrible idea; Klavier had no wish to inconvenience Herr Wright any further than he had, beyond ruining his life for, oh, just a short while, like SEVEN YEARS.
Klavier groaned and dragged a hand down his face, uncaring of any makeup he might’ve smudged. Vongole trotted over and nudged him happily, like the very good girl she was. Klavier reached an arm up to pet her as she deserved.
Scheiße. Herr Wright was probably his only shot at giving his niece a fair chance at a normal life, what with her mother dead and Kristoph… well.
Klavier glanced to the side, where he had left the papers from Frau Pham’s office in a messy stack on the floor. He rolled over to grasp at them, clenching the long list of requirements he’d have to meet to be approved.
I will do my very best for you, nichte, he promised himself. I will, at the very least, try.
With that, Klavier Gavin made his way onto his feet, and with a rock in his stomach, out the door for the Wright Anything Agency.