A/N: Finally a one-shot that I've been wanting to do for a long time. Enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: Ace Attorney belongs to CAPCOM

Jealousy

Beep.

Athena, this is Simon. Forgive me for the late notice but I can't have lunch with you today.

"No, not again…"

The yellow-haired lass massaged her forehead. Not headache, but just pure frustration. This was the second time Simon canceled their lunch date.

She had been looking forward to the lunch. She knew the lunch date wasn't special or some sort, but she had not seen Simon for a while.

Ever since Simon was released from the prison, Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth had been pushing difficult cases to him. Sometimes they met in the court, as rivals. Or even at the crime scenes. No doubts, Athena had grown to care for him. She always did, but after they constantly met each other during their line of work, romantic feelings began to surface. Even Apollo could see her blushing every time she talked to the scary prosecutor.

Eventually, Apollo and Mr. Wright had to be the head defense for cases that Simon prosecuted because Athena would be too distracted. Like a high school girl in love, Mr. Wright laughed.

Simon took the first step. He asked for her number. She was delighted. A couple of months later, they started dating secretly. Rumors about an ex-convict prosecutor having a girlfriend began to circulate among lawyers and in the courts. What people knew was that his girlfriend was a lawyer as well. No more than that.

"What's up, Athena?"

Athena looked up from her desk. Trucy was holding what looked like a dangerous prop for her magic show. "Oh, hi Trucy."

"Are you free during lunch break? Come help me set up the stage for my magic show tonight! And you can be my assistant too, teehee."

"I'm okay with setting up the stage, but I'm not sure about being your assistant…" she laughed nervously. Athena remembered that one time she thought she had indirectly killed Trucy by releasing a school of piranhas when Trucy barely escaped the water tank. But lo and behold, Trucy appeared behind her and tapped on her shoulders. She wailed at the thought of losing Trucy. That was embarrassing and scary. I don't want to do that again…

"Come on, it will be fun!"

She sighed at her defeat. "Okay, Trucy. Whatever makes you happy."

Before they walked out from Wright Anything Agency, Mr. Wright came out from his private office and handed out a list of grocery to them. The grocery store was near to the theater where Trucy was going to do her performance, so they might as well buy things Mr. Wright wanted before coming back to the office. Not surprisingly, a bottle of grape juice was listed.

"I think Mr. Wright is stressed by his new case."

"You should have seen daddy before he retook the bar exam. Grape bottles were everywhere in his office."

"Maybe I should start drinking one too." She sighed loudly, remembering the voice mail Simon had left for her.

Setting up the stage was fine. A lot of people were there to help Trucy. They knew more about the stunts Trucy planned to pull, so Athena stayed back and observed them. She didn't do anything much.

When it's time to go to the grocery store, she recognized the man whom she should be having lunch with. The man with jet black, unkempt hair. He walked into a coffee shop that was across from the theater, following an elegant lady inside. Simon? What's he doing there? And who is that?

"Isn't that Prosecutor Blackquill?" Trucy asked. "I didn't know he has a girlfriend."

Athena's face dropped. Right, Trucy didn't know we're dating. But that woman is certainly not his girlfriend, is it?

"Hey, do you wanna take a detour and find out?" Athena flashed a grin. But she was already burning with anger and jealousy inside.

Trucy being Trucy, she nodded. They went up to the glass wall of the shop when they saw Simon looking friendly with this unknown lady. She was beautiful, full of poise and grace. Her short, silver hair coupled with porcelain skin made her looked like a model, but a fierce one, perhaps. They were having cups of coffee and chatted with each other. Although Athena and Trucy couldn't tell what it was they're talking about, both of them seemed to be good friends.

Could it be more than that?

"I wonder who that is."

"Assuming she's from the Prosecutor's Office, we could ask daddy when we get back. This is going to be exciting!" Trucy beamed at the thought of telling this to everyone in the office.

"You love gossips, don't you?"

Athena turned her attention back to Simon just in time when he opened a jewelry box and handed it to the woman he's with.

"Look, look, Athena! He gives her earrings!"

Trucy turned to look that Athena had already walked away. "Hey Athena! Wait!"

"No way, Athena! Why do I only know about this now?" Trucy seemed eager to know more.

"Trucy, you're the first person to know about this besides me and him." Athena looked down, crestfallen. "I don't even know what we are anymore. If we're still a thing. We rarely see each other now. He canceled our lunch date and I thought he's gonna be at the office, or the crime scene, or anywhere else but the coffee shop… with a beautiful woman." She held back a sob.

"Maybe they are just friends?" Trucy attempted to comfort her but she didn't reply. The walk back to the office was quiet. Trucy felt bad. Maybe I'll just ask Apollo to be my assistant tonight.

They opened the door to the office to see Mr. Wright arranging evidence at the table between the sofas.

"Hi daddy!" Trucy hugged Mr. Wright from behind. "I never saw you this fired up for a case."

Mr. Wright laughed heartily. "I can't afford to make a stupid blunder this time. The trial is in 2 days. The prosecutor is a formidable one."

"I thought you will be facing Prosecutor Gavin?" Athena questioned. Surely Prosecutor Gavin isn't that bad?

"Oh no, not him. He had to take an emergency leave. This is a former opponent of mine. Even the judge is scared of her once she cracked her whip."

"Oh, this is the first time I've heard of this. What's her name?"

"Franziska von Karma. I had faced her father in the court too. Suffice to say, they truly are father and daughter." Athena picked up some distress signals from Mr. Wright's heart.

"Daddy, daddy," Trucy interrupted. "We saw Prosecutor Blackquill with a beautiful lady in a coffee shop just now. Short, silver hair. Could she be Prosecutor von Karma?"

"That's a simple description, Trucy. It could be her. She's with Prosecutor Blackquill? They could be friends. They're around the same age, I think."

Apollo burst into the office. "You wouldn't believe what I saw just now. The scary Prosecutor Blackquill was having a coffee with his girlfriend."

"You're late to the party, Apollo." Trucy crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "We saw that too. Besides, how do you know that woman is his girlfriend?"

One of Apollo's horns fell like it always did when Apollo felt disappointed. "Okay, but I went inside to get a coffee and I heard him saying 'I love you.' For real."

Athena's face dropped again.

"Uh… Athena? You okay?" All of them looked at Athena who already turned pale. She was devastated.

"Can I take a leave now? I promise I'll come in early tomorrow." She quickly packed her stuff and left.

Mr. Wright and Apollo looked at each other confusingly.

"Apollo, you're my assistant for tonight!" Trucy exclaimed cheerfully.

"Wha- wait, Athena! Come back!"

Simon, do you think I'm pretty?

?

Am I pretty?

Of course you are, Athena. It's 1 a.m. Go back to sleep.

Am I too young for you?

Is something wrong? Tell me.

I don't think I'm perfect for you…

Athena blinked her tears and flipped the phone down. She knew that Simon always worked overnight. He always did. That's one of the reasons his eye bags never went away. He's just trying to prove to his fellow prosecutors that he was a hardworking person. People around his office looked at him with dismay when they found out that Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth assigned cases to him. For them, a former jailbird could never be accepted back into the Prosecutor's Office.

It was raining outside.

She remembered what Apollo said earlier. She spent the night crying on her pillow. Maybe she's not Simon's girlfriend. Simon never once said 'I love you' to Athena. He canceled the lunch dates twice. They never went on a date publicly. No one knew about their relationship. Heck, they never even kissed. Maybe he's better off with Franziska von Karma.

A few hours later, she woke up because somebody knocked on her doors. It's 3.30 a.m. Who could it be?

"Athena, it's me."

"Simon?"

She quickly opened the door to find Simon drenched in rain. He didn't have an umbrella with him, so he probably ran on his way to Athena's apartment. She ushered him in quickly, gave him a towel, and boiled some water to fix him a cup of tea.

Athena felt strong hands wrapped her from behind. His hands were still cold from the rain and the weather outside.

"Did I do something wrong?"

Athena pulled away. "Um, you did cancel our lunch date. For the second time."

"I'm sorry."

"I saw you with someone. Prosecutor von Karma?"

Simon was surprised that she saw him. "Yes, I had a coffee with her. How did you know?"

"So important that you had to miss our date?"

"Athena, listen to me-"

"Maybe," Athena held her tears back. "Maybe it's best to go separate ways."

"What are you talking about? Listen, Athena. It's just a coffee, with an old friend."

Her tears started to roll down her cheeks. "You gave her earrings and said you loved her. Things that you never did to me. You never even said you lov-"

A kiss.

It was short, but it was blissful.

When Simon pulled back, he covered his mouth and looked away. Athena could see his face grew redder and redder beneath the dim light in the kitchen.

"I l-l-lo…" he groaned. "It's so difficult to do this."

Athena was taken aback by the kiss. She was shocked. That was the first time Simon being bold to her.

"Athena," he whispered as he pulled her into a hug. "I love you, Athena."

Athena still had not stopped crying. She hiccupped, "but-"

"Shhh, let me explain first, okay?" He held a finger to Athena's lips, calming her down. He let Athena leaned her head on his broad chest. "Franziska's an old friend. We knew each other before I was imprisoned. She just landed back here a few days ago and I bumped into her when I was looking for something. We had a coffee together before going back to the office."

"I showed her the earrings because that was her line of products. I just wanted her to know if I made a good choice."

"The 'I love you' part was a practice. She knew I had difficulties expressing my feelings. So she helped me practice saying that. It was really embarrassing."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know you saw us. I never meant to hurt you this way. God, Athena, it kills me to see you crying." He embraced her tighter, didn't want to let her go and this moment to pass by quickly.

"The first time I canceled our lunch date was because I wasn't ready to be in public, especially with you. People out there recognize how involved we were in your past. I didn't want you to hear what a lot of people had been saying."

"This time I wanted to buy you something, but it wouldn't be a surprise if I brought you with me."

I really love you. I really do, Athena.

Athena felt a warm emotion from him, accompanied by his beating chest.

"I know I'm a coward. I'm weak. And I'm not romantic at all. But the last thing I would ever do to you is to make you cry. I'm so sorry, Athena." He whispered her name slowly, brushing her soft hair with his fingers.

"It's just a misunderstanding?"

"It is. Athena, you should have talked to me when you saw me."

"But you're so friendly with her…"

"Do you know why she came back?"

Athena shook her head.

"She's marrying Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth."

"Really?" Athena was astonished. She had been thinking how Prosecutor von Karma was perfect for Simon. Until Simon told her that the woman he's with was engaged to Mr. Wright's good friend.

"I could have introduced you to her."

"I'm sorry, Simon."

"No, forgive me, Athena. I made mistakes and I didn't realize it. It saddens me to see you like this." He rummaged his pockets and held out a jewelry box to Athena.

A pair of moon drop earrings.

"Simon, this is…"

Simon looked away, flustered. "I know it's nothing compared to the earring you have right now, but I feel like they will look beautiful on you." He placed a quick peck on Athena's lips.

It was Athena's turn to wrap her hands around Simon's neck. "Simon?"

"Yes, Athena?"

"Stay."

Without saying anything, Simon nodded.

Athena didn't fulfill her promise. She arrived at the office five minutes late. The crew was already on their second cup of coffees. Apollo looked super tired and pale. Did Trucy do something dangerous and drag Apollo into it?

"Are you okay, Athena? If you're feeling sick, you can take a day off, you know?" Mr. Wright expressed his concerns.

"Oh don't worry about me, Mr. Wright. It's really nothing."

"Please worry about me." Apollo spoke wearily.

Mr. Wright held up a card in his hand. "Also, we got an invitation from Edgeworth. Seems like the two are getting serious now."

Trucy grabbed the invitation card from Mr. Wright. "Hey, the bride's name is Franziska von Karma."

So it was true…

When lunchtime came, Mr. Wright asked if anyone's interested to go to Eldoon Noodles. Athena politely declined. She had to make up for her early leave on the previous day.

Everyone else left for the salty noodles, including Apollo who was initially hesitant to go there. Athena was sorting the case files when she heard knocks on the door.

Before she could open it, Simon made his way inside and grabbed her face, kissing her deeply.

"Wanna have lunch?" He asked with a smile.

Athena happily locked her arm in his and locked the door behind her.

Maybe they weren't ready to announce to everyone that they're together. But what's important was that their feelings were real. They both knew it. Despite what everyone would say and think, they knew they would brave them together.

And Athena knew a little bit of jealousy would bring them closer than ever.

~The End~