Edgeworth sighed wearily, gathering his materials as he waited for the courtroom to clear out. Having just flown back from a quick work trip in Germany and then having to take over last-minute for another prosecutor, he'd only had about a three hour nap on the couch in his office in between his return and appearance in court. Fortunately, the Prosecutor's Office had been in contact with him far enough in advance to have been able to send all materials and information pertaining to the case before his return flight, giving him time to review them on the way back. Needless to say, after a full two weeks of working in Germany plus this added case and transportation to and from, one Miles Edgeworth was exhausted.

After taking a few minutes to rest and compose himself, Edgeworth made his way to the lobby, the thought of just how nice it would be to return to his family giving him the strength to keep from dropping on the spot from exhaustion.

"SIR!"

Edgeworth jumped at the loud voice breaking through his thoughts. After taking a deep breath to steel himself for social interaction, he turned around to greet none other than Detective Dick Gumshoe.

"Another excellent trial, but what can you expect from the best prosecutor around!" The detective gushed. "A victory, as usual!"

"Thank you, detective,"Edgeworth replied, biting back a more scathing remark at the interruption to his plans. Had this happened years ago, he would have let the comment fly, but the good detective and his energetic wife have shown themselves to be invaluable in their support for the Wright-Edgeworth family, and have many a time taken on a last-minute baby-sitting task with smiles on their faces. "How have you and Mrs. Gumshoe been? The children haven't given you too much hassle in my absence, I hope?"

"Oh no problems at all, sir!" Gumshoe enthused. "In fact, I'm kinda sorry you missed us taking Trucy to the traveling carnival that just left town. She had a blast! Though now that I think about it, maybe you're the lucky one, because you didn't have to see Maya and Truce's eating contest." Gumshoe shuddered as his eyes unfocused on some horror Edgeworth was, in fact, glad he had not be around to witness. "I feel bad for the carnies that had to clean up after they got on that ride."

"That does sound... fun, " Edgeworth replied, joining in Gumshoe's cringing. He actually was a little hurt about not being around for the adventure, as Edgeworth was not as adverse to such family outings as he would like to have everyone believe. He actually cherished every moment he got to spend with his beloved family, despite the handful they proved to be at times. "As always, we're eternally grateful to you and Mrs. Gumshoe for all the time you've taken out of your busy schedules to fit us in."

"It's no big deal, sir!" Gumshoe smiled brightly, before turning as if the end the conversation. "You make sure you get home to rest sir, I just remembered that you just came back into the country. Have a safe ride home!"

"Thank you, and the same to you as well. Be sure to thank Maggey for me," Edgeworth said, with a slight bow before making his way out of the courthouse.

Once outside, he sighed tiredly once again as he imagined the ride home, wishing that he'd had the time to alert Phoenix about his return so that he could be picked up. Instead, he called up a taxi, and tried not to fall asleep as he awaited its arrival.

More than 2 hours later, a travel-weary Edgeworth arrived at his home, dragging his luggage and work materials up the stairs, muttering curses under his breath about the traffic as he made his way to the door. Having no energy left, the thought of being near his family gave him the strength to walk back to the cabbie to pay his forgotten fare and trek back to the door to fumble with his keys. Before fully making it into the threshold of the home, he was halted by Apollo's powerful voice coming from further inside.

"TRUCY! FOR THE LAST TIME, STOP USING MY WORK MATERIALS FOR YOUR MAGIC TRICKS!"

Shaking his head, Edgeworth pulled his things into the closet by the door, too tired to drag them upstairs to his room to sort and unpack as he normally would after such a trip. He could think of nothing better than a round of hugs and God-willing a nap and a kiss from his husband. Nothing would be better, in his opinion.

"OH SHUT IT, APOLLO! YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS TRUCE'S TRICKS ARE COOLER THAN YOU ARE!" Edgeworth could hear Maya shout, seemingly from the same room as Apollo.

"YEAH, YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS!" He had to admit, he was mildly impressed that Trucy, Pearls, and Athena were so coordinated in their addition to the loud conversation, if it could even be called that.

With his cravat loosened and shoes left at the door, Edgeworth made his way to the living area where he assumed everyone to be, none too surprised at the sight before him. Apollo stood next to the coffee table, red-faced with his hands on his hips over a pile of torn paper. Edgeworth could only assume were his work documents at some point, before they were colored and mixed with glitter, some of which having fallen onto Apollo himself, taking a little bit of the edge out of the stern look on his face. Tucy stood on top of the coffee table taking a bow along with her magic hat, as Pearls, Maya, and Athena applauded whatever trick she had just completed.

As he entered the room, the applause came to a stop, as Trucy launched herself from the coffee table into Edgeworth's arms before he could even register that she had moved.

"PAPA! YOU'RE BACK EARLY!" She screeched happily as she refused to let go, hanging from Edgeworth's neck in a tight hug. Of course, her announcement started another cacophony, as everyone in the room scrambled to join in, yelling out similar greetings.

It took a whole ten minutes to get everyone to calm down and to hug everyone, even Apollo, who stood off the the side with his arms crossed, pretending like he didn't care either way.

"What brings you back so soon? We weren't expecting you for another week," Apollo asked, after the others raced to Edgeworth's luggage to scavenge for souvenirs.

"I got called in to cover last-minute for another prosecutor," Edgeworth explained, holding back a yawn as he looked around, hoping to spot Phoenix lurking about somewhere. "I haven't had the chance to rest more than an hour in two days, so I hope you guys won't mind if I retire right now."

"No, not at all. I'll tell the others you're exhausted from your trip," Apollo reassured him. "Hopefully they won't be too disappointed that we weren't there for your case." Normally, the kids and anyone not working on their own case in the family would sit in the gallery as support for whoever was currently working.

"I'm actually glad everyone wasn't there. It was a rather dry case. They would have been bored anyway," Edgeworth admitted. "And it would have been even harder to leave the courtroom, as they would have undoubtedly found someone to talk to at length." Both Edgeworth and Apollo let out a small chuckle at the truth of that statement. Holding back another yawn, Edgeworth looked around again for any sign of Phoenix.

"Mr. Wright's upstairs, if that's who you're looking for. He went down for a nap a little while ago, the old geezer." Apollo couldn't help but take a jab at Phoenix every now and then, as the man never passed a chance to do the same to him.

"Thank you." Edgeworth smiled his gratitude before turning to go upstairs, in hopes that he could finally get some much-needed rest. "You should probably hurry to the others now, before they steal your souvenir." He chuckled to himself as Apollo at first tried to look unaffected by the statement, but after a few seconds of thought, rushed to the front of the house to claim his gift.

After a stop in the bathroom to change, Edgeworth walked into his bedroom to see Phoenix fast asleep, curled up in the covers. With a soft smile, he watched his husband's steady breaths for a few seconds before carefully climbing in behind him, trying hard not to wake him. He should have known that wouldn't work, since Phoenix had come to be a surprisingly light sleeper since adopting Trucy.

"Mm, wuzzwrong Truce," Phoenix mumbled sleepily as he turned over to face the new person in the bed. Blinking a few times, Phoenix jumped, sitting up a little bit as he noticed it was not, in fact Trucy, but Edgeworth.

"Miles? What're you doin' back so soon?" Phoenix asked, yawning as he settled back down.

"Work. Time for sleep," Edgeworth's voice was barely audible, as his head was buried in Phoenix's chest and he was on the cusp of falling asleep, hair tickling Phoenix's chin with each deepening breath.

Chuckling at how incredibly cute a sleepy Edgeworth was, Phoenix stroked his husband's hair as he felt his breathing even out into a deep sleep.

"Welcome home, Miles," Phoenix whispered, as he kissed the top of his husband's head and prepared to go back to sleep as well.

Wow, I'm sorry this took me so long to upload. I planned on uploading on a specific day, but then ffnet crashed or was doing updates or something, then I've been in all-day job training for a week, then straight into working this past week. It's a lot of work, but it's been fun.

Let me know what you think of this little snippet. It's based in an AU that I made with a friend where Edgeworth and Phoenix literally adopted all of the "kids" (Trucy, Maya, Athena, Apollo, Pearls), and it was pretty fun to write :) (My view is that Apollo still regularly calls Phoenix "Mr. Wright", because calling him "dad" makes him get all sentimental and embarrassed and he hates blushing because Klavier always points it out and calls him cute)

Thanks for reading!