It wasn't until Phoenix travelled to London that he realized just how dull British court cases could be. He was sound asleep when the judge slammed his gavel hard, signaling the end of what had quickly become an uneventful murder trial.

"Thank you all. We will reconvene tomorrow!"

That's all Phoenix caught on the first day of the trial, and he only heard it because of a rude awakening from the gavel. "Oh… great…" Phoenix muttered as he raised his head, watching the courtroom empty out. Beside him, Maya was pulsing in anger.

"PHOENIX! Can you believe that prosecutor? He just stood there and laughed at the poor kid on the stand! He was so insensitive, and the defense attorney didn't do anything!"

Trying to come up with something mildly intelligent to say, Phoenix turned to Maya. His drowsiness must have shown, because before he could even open his mouth to speak, Maya's anger changed course entirely.

"Don't tell me you slept through the whole thing Phoenix! You needed to pay attention! How are you going to take this case if you don't have any clue what the witnesses just said?"

Phoenix was still waking up from his untimely nap, but he knew that Maya had a point. There was a real chance that the case would be dumped on him since the attorney originally assigned to the case lacked experience of any kind. The attorney had graduated law school only weeks beforehand, and the fact that his name still eluded Phoenix was a testament to the new attorney's inability to handle an important case like this.

"Maya… I'm sure they keep…. Court records here in England."

"Well you'd better hope they do, because based off of how today went… the defense is going to want a new lead attorney!"

Phoenix sighed, slumping back into his seat. This trip was going to take much longer than he had hoped.

Meanwhile at 221B Baker Street:

After almost an entire week without an interesting case, Sherlock was getting restless, and John could tell. "How about we take Mrs. Reed's case?" he suggested, trying to stumble upon something that intrigued his friend.

"No, she obviously suffers from delusions. Her first account of the 'mysterious visitor' in her apartment was drastically different from the second, and if we are holding to the fact that she is doing her very best to tell us the truth in both accounts, which I'd imagine she is, then there is little to discuss."

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Still, it would be our first case in a while."

Sherlock didn't look at John as he got up from his chair and began to pace. "No, it wouldn't be a real case because there's no real case there. We'll stumble upon something interesting eventually… Or with some actual luck, something interesting will come to us!" With those last words, Sherlock's face seemed to light up.

Seemingly on cue, Mrs. Hudson walked in to scold the two. "Why are you boys dawdling about again? Don't you have something you should be working on?" She crossed her arms as if it made her appear more intimidating. Sherlock and John smiled innocently enough, and Sherlock gave a simple explanation for their idleness.

"We are in between cases Mrs. Hudson, but we hope to find another soon."

Mrs. Hudson waved them off as she walked out of the room, but even she could see that Sherlock needed a new case soon. Fortunately the week was just beginning, so it was likely that a new case would reach 221B Baker Street before long.

Phoenix sat in a sea of papers that stretched from one end of his makeshift desk to the other. I see what Maya was talking about… this case really is more complicated than you'd expect. There were two suspects grabbed from the scene of the murder, but neither has any real motive to kill the victim… or at least neither appears to.

Before Phoenix could make sense of any of the case, Maya came into the room. She was still a bit suspicious that Phoenix would be asleep at his desk, so she entered quietly, hoping to catch him in the act. To her relief, Phoenix was still wide-awake and looking over the case.

"I hope you bring good news… Can we go home now?" Phoenix asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Sadly, no. You've been made the lead defense attorney for the case, just as we expected."

"Well, at least they know there's no one better for the job!" Phoenix grinned at Maya, his ego suddenly taking hold.

"Actually, although it hurts me to tell you this, the family came to you because you were one of only two attorneys who would even take the case. The defendant is… widely disliked around here."

Phoenix looked a bit hurt, but he laughed it off. "Well, it's a good thing I agreed to take the case then. The other attorney didn't seem to know what he was doing."

"Phoenix… he wasn't the one sleeping during the trial."

At this comment, Phoenix froze. His smile faded as he thought for a moment. Then he rose, putting his hands on the table. Papers scattered everywhere, many of them falling to the floor as he spoke with determination:

"Enough of that! I will not be sleeping through this case! I'm perfectly wide-awake, and will be for the rest of the trial!" As long as the rest isn't as dull as the first day was…

Maya smiled as she finally saw the determination that made Phoenix such a good attorney. We'll see about that Phoenix…