Ok, so note that all other fics that I have uncompleted EXCEPT 'When was your?' are on hiatus until I can recover some of the data from my old computer, where all the plans for chapters were stored, at least on 'When Was Your?' I make it up on the spot based on people's requests.
Anywho, an update on my story posting (or lack there of), I apologise based on these excuses: college, University applications and ill health. But enough of me complaining :D
I actually have a request not about ApolloxEma! So, on behalf of Cloud Zero I shall begin...
Phoenix hadn't taken the phone call seriously at first. There was something about a girl he hadn't seen since she was 18 years old calling him out the blue from across the Atlantic. The girl in question was one Ema Skye, a now 21 year old university graduate. He had first met her when he defended her sister, Prosecutor Lana Skye in the Goodman case, and was amazed by the wealth of knowledge a mere 16 year old possessed. She didn't see him again until she was 18, the last time he had seen her was just after she had run into Edgeworth and the mysterious wolf-man Lang.
Before leaving, she gifted him with her notebook, upon which was a drawing, a drawing that she would use to identify herself if she needed to find him.
"...Remember me?" The voice giggled.
"Who is this?" Phoenix mumbled drearily.
"The notebook. It has the faces of the three badges I wore as a kid in the shape of a water molecule, my favourite animal, the panda and a drawing of Strelitzia reginae..."
"The bird of paradise." Phoenix finished. He knew in that instant who he was talking to. "Long time no speak...Ema."
"Indeed." She giggled a little more. "I called to ask a favour as it happens."
"And what favour can I offer a girl more than 5000 miles away?"
"I'm closer to about 500 as it happens." She responded quickly. "I am back in America."
"Y-you're what? Since when?"
"About 2 hours ago."
"What can I help you with?" Phoenix blurted.
"I need a place to stay for the night when I land, well, more accurately it will be morning when I return to LA."
"O-of course, where are you now?"
"New York. That's why I'm calling in advance."
"I'll be at the airport waiting."
"Cool, uh...here's the code...TOM456 – track it online."
He then drifted back into a half sleep for all of half an hour before his morning wake-up call had burst through his bedroom door and bounced on his bed.
"Daddy! Daddy! Get up! You need to help me get ready for school!" The eleven year old pounced straight onto his chest.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay!" He wheezed from beneath her.
At 11, Trucy Wright, his adoptive daughter was still over-excited about going to school. She still had her morning look right now, a mass of dark brown hair tangled down to her shoulders, a black dress on and her cape fixed too far to the left. Phoenix yawned, glanced at the clock, mentally cursed Ema for waking him and set out on his morning routine.
-x-x-
"Please Edgeworth!" He pleaded. "I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important!"
"Wright, get out my office." Edgeworth demanded, he was trying to be stern, but the pink cup in his hand was a little distracting from that objective.
"Please! Just today! I need to meet someone." He was one step away from falling to his knees and begging.
"Not another new lover I hope?" Edgeworth raised his eyebrows.
"You know full well I haven't been in a relationship since I took in Trucy!"
"I know, I know. Fine just this once, but she scratches my car there's trouble." He took a sip of tea. "It would be good for Trucy if you did get a stable relationship, she's at the age where she'll start to ask questions about where she came from."
"I...I don't have time."
"That's rubbish Wright and you know it." Edgeworth glared. Phoenix took a glance at the only photo Edgeworth had in his office, on the bookshelf behind him, as if to say "Look at how awesome I am!". This picture was of Edgeworth's very beautiful wife, and yes, I mean wife, Phoenix was shocked too. He couldn't help but think Edgeworth was one very lucky bastard.
Phoenix glanced at his watch as he left. He still had another hour to get to the airport before Ema's plane would land, at least now he didn't have to worry about Trucy.
-x-x-
"Wow, you've sure changed. The kid ok?" She pulled away from his embrace.
"Trucy? She's fine. How are you."
"I failed..." She sighed before placing a smile on her lips. "But that doesn't matter. Science is in the heart, not on a slip of paper." Phoenix needed no Magatama to see the locks on Ema's heart as she said that.
"Come on, you must be hungry. Let's grab a bite to eat!" He ushered her away before she cried.
"Finally! Decent coffee!" Ema declared as she grabbed the caramel latte.
"Surely, you got good coffee in...where were you again?"
"Germany and England." She poured six sachets of sugar into the mug.
"Ema! That's disgusting!" Phoenix declared."Heh, whatever." She smiled. "So, what's been happening while I've been gone?"
"Nothing really, been switching between jobs, supporting Trucy...the normal things a man does I guess..."
"You and normal! Ha! Something I never thought the great Phoenix Wright would be!" She laughed loudly.
"Ema!" He scolded, almost by instinct.
"Calm down!" She snapped back.
"Sorry...habit..." He fell silent.
"What about the others?" Ema asked. "Gumshoe, Edgeworth, Franziska, everyone...!"
"Gumshoe married Maggie, last I heard he got a promotion. Franziska went back to Germany along with that wolf-man detective to work on some new interpol case or something. Edgeworth, he's married now."
"Married!" Ema looked stunned. "To who?"
"A young college graduate, his understudy during her studies. She qualified last year and now works in the prosecutor's office with him. Didn't your sister tell you?"
"How did you know Lana got her job back? You don't go to the office all that often..."
"I saw her name next to her office door." He smirked. "So anyways, let's head back, I gotta collect Trucy from Edgeworth on the way."
-x-x-
"Sit tight for a minute okay." Phoenix hated pulling up outside the apartment building where Edgeworth's penthouse was situated. It made him feel inferior and a failure (which in reality, he felt he was all the time).
"Nice building." Ema smiled, stretching like a cat in the seat.
"I'll be as quick as I can."
Despite being on the 25th floor of the apartment complex, Phoenix knew Edgeworth would have taken the stairs, despite making good progress on his recovery from his lift phobia – a glass elevator climbing up the edge of the building was not something Edgeworth was going to indulge in. On the plus, that means Trucy would be tired, which would make her complain, which would make her more tired.
"Trucy! Put that down!" He could here Trucy giggling and Edgeworth yelling.
"Oh hush Edgy, she's just having fun." The woman giggled. "Teehee! You're a real character!"
"Give it here!" Followed by a scuffle. Phoenix knocked on the door.
The girl that answered was a tall thin creature, slight curvature where curves was needed. She had long auburn hair which trailed down to her waist. Phoenix couldn't help but glance up and down her. She was wearing her suit she wore to work, the grey suit jacket clung slightly to her waist before flaring out ever-so-slightly. He then took a brief glimpse of that face, that imperfection-free and child-like face that attracted all men to her.
"Good afternoon Katya, I hope she wasn't too much trouble." Phoenix smiled.
"Got'cha!" Edgeworth caught hold of Trucy and wrestled something from her grip. It was his Cravat.
"Trucy!"
"Daddy!" She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. It was almost hard to believe that this girl was 11, she still acted 5.
"Were you good for Edgeworth?" She smiled and nodded, a glance up to Edgeworth confirmed she had not.
"I'm sorry." Phoenix looked solemn.
"No problem." Edgeworth set about sorting his Cravat out.
"Thanks." Phoenix held out a twenty dollar bill.
"Keep it!" Katya smiled. "We love to look after her!" She could feel Edgeworth's eyes boring into her. "Well, I do!"
"Daddy! My day was a-mazing! Me and Alice played pranks on our friend Jo! Then at lunch time, there was a food fight but I listened to you and stayed out the way! And where were you to pick me-" She stopped dead, silently observing the person in HER seat of the car. "Daddy? Who's in our car?"
"Hm... a friend honey, now get in the back of the car please." She clambered into the back seat, her bag beside her.
Phoenix climbed into his side of the car.
"Hey lady!" Trucy began. "Who are you?" There was no response, it was then that he realised Ema had shuffled to a comfortable position and dozed off while he was collecting Trucy. "Lady?"
"Honey, let her sleep."
The car journey was quiet. The quietest Phoenix could ever recall, there was no Trucy yelling how awesome her day had been at the top of her lungs and him scolding her to be quiet. There was nothing but silence, but this was no ordinary silence, this was the silence that was anticipating the rowdiness in the near future.
"Trucy honey, go head inside." He passed her the door key.
"Ok!" She hollered. As soon as the little pre-teen girl had opened the door and head inside he leaned towards Ema to wake her.
"Hey Em. We're here." He whispered.
"Nngh..." Her dark eyes glistened and somehow, even though he shouldn't, Phoenix admired her. "...oh, sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep." She looked a little pale too. Must be all the flying...he thought.
"Come on, I'll get your stuff."
He lived in a humble little abode, a simple house with two bedrooms and small living quarters.
"You can stay in my room." He grabbed her case from the boot of the car.
"Thanks, I'm sorry if I'm an inconvenience."
"No not at all." Phoenix smiled shyly. "Go on in."
"Hiya!" Trucy giggled. "Pick a card!"
"Hello again Trucy." Ema smiled back.
"Again? So I've met you before!"
"Yes, a few years ago, you've grown!"
"Oh ok!" She giggled. "Well anyways! I have work to do!"
"A kid that does homework without being asked? Wow, you've got her trained good." Ema smiled.
"Oh no, she doesn't mean homework." Phoenix chuckled. "She's got a taste for...tricks, for magic. She practices for hours."
"Shouldn't she be doing studies?"
"Yeah, I know she should, but it's hard to get her to focus." He sighed, rubbing his neck.
-x-x-
Like a normal teen, she scurried off her room, only to emerge when food was needed like a gremlin. She spent most of the time demonstrating her new magic trick to her friends in front of the webcam.
"H-hey guys..." One of her friends stuttered, appearing later than the appointed time on the web chat.
"What's wrong?" All of her friends asked.
"Mom and dad wanted to teach me where babies come from." Her friend shuddered.
"Oh and where do they come from?" One of the girls asked curiously.
-x-x-
"You hungry?" Phoenix asked, setting down the coffee mug in front of her.
"Uh...yeah, yeah." Ema rubbed her eyes.
"What would you like?"
"Something greasy, and American."
"Trucy! Get down here! We're going to the burger joint!"
Normally, he would hear an excited squeal and a sound akin to an elephant stampede. Instead, a daunted looking young girl paced down the stairs slowly and silently.
"Trucy? What's the matter?"
"Nothing daddy..." She whispered and walked out to the car.
"What's gotten into her?" Ema asked.
"I don't know." Phoenix shrugged. "Let's go get you the biggest, juiciest burger we can get!"
Trucy took the keys from her father and went and unlocked the car and climbed into the back without argument. Phoenix was now very suspicious.
"Go ahead Ema, let me just go grab my wallet."
"Sure." She stepped out the door and raced after the little girl.
She sure has grown, she's calmer...a lot calmer...He smirked to himself.
"She's matured a lot too, she's a very beautiful woman." Phoenix physically slapped himself for thinking that. "Damn it! She's a lot younger than you! And you knew her when she was a child!"
"Hey!" The little girl chirped, much unlike she was thirty seconds before.
"Hi." Ema smiled. This was Trucy Wright, this was the girl Ema blamed for losing Nick his job, but she was only a small girl, she couldn't be cruel to her so she resisted to growl at the girl.
"I remember you! You were at that theme park that time!" The little girl giggled.
"Yep. That's right. I hope you don't mind me staying with you and your daddy for a night."
Ema always felt awkward around children, in particular teens and pre-teens, since they were smart and having someone unfamiliar in their house could lead to them making the wrong conclusions.
-x-x-
"But sis!" Ema whined into the phone.
"...I'm sorry Em. We just haven't finished yet." Lana sounded sympathetic.
"B-but! Aargh!" She whimpered.
"Something wrong?" Phoenix asked as he hunted for Trucy's missing textbook.
"Huh? Uh...yeah. Sister not ready to take me in yet."
"Well you're welcome to stay here longer. Say, have you seen a blue textbook somewhere?"
"This thing?" Ema felt behind the cushion and handed him the book.
"Yes! Thanks." He shoved it into her rucksack. "Trucy! School time!"
In contrast to the previous night, she rushed down the stairs, straight into the kitchen and towards the fridge like a blur. In a scene that reminded Ema of when she was still at school, Trucy went straight in and was grabbing handfuls of food and shovelling them into her mouth.
"Look, I'm gonna drop her off." Phoenix forced her away from the fridge and down the road towards the school bus.
"Bye!" She called as she climbed onto the bus.
"Hey Trucy!" Her friends called, she took the only seat left at the back of the bus, which was next to the friend responsible for scaring her the night before.
"That thing last night was gross!" Her friend Jo called.
"Yeah, but mom and dad said when we get a little bit older, we'll all start wanting special someones, and we won't always make babies and stuff. Like Jo's dad's special someone isn't Jo's mom."
"Oh, I see your point now." Jo nodded. "Say Trucy, does your dad not have a special someone?"
"Huh? No I don't think so."
"Well what about the lady at the burger bar last night?"
"Oh? Her? She's daddy's friend."
"Na, I think she's the pink hat to your daddy's blue hat really!" Jo winked.
"Pink hat to...oh! You think so?"
-x-x-
"So what do you do with yourself these days?" Ema asked.
"Right now, I work in a shop." Phoenix sighed heavily. "Not really ideal for the great Phoenix Wright is it?"
"Did you...really forge that evidence?"
"Not intentionally, but I presented it without knowing it's source, so technically, I did. I deserved to be disbarred." Ema started to notice how he looked his age, the fresh faced lawyer had long since gone. Something, the ruggedness, she thought, made him a little more appealing. "Besides, I don't need the money, I can live off the finance I earned from my years as a lawyer."
"But for how long?" She was met by an awkward silence.
"And what about you?"
"I-I don't know...I can't do what I want to do anymore." She looked tearful.
"Well, I'm sure I can help you out, I still have some influence in law enforcement."
"I'll wait for my sister to take me in, then I'll sort it." She dismissed more discussion about it.
-x-x-
"Daddy, I'm gonna go do some homework." Trucy smiled. "I'm not hungry, so you and your 'friend' here can have dinner without me." She had a devious look about her as she rounded the corner and sat on the staircase, ready to listen in on daddy and his 'special someone'.
"Sorry it's just take-out Chinese." He handed Ema the noodle box.
"Don't complain!" She ignored the fork he offered and took the wrapped up chopsticks that always came with the noodles. "This stuff's good!"
"Haha, if you're sure. Hey! Don't eat all of them!" He twisted the fork into the noodle box.
"They're mine!" They began to scrap over the noodles in the box.
Trucy giggled to herself, taking note of this event.
-x-x-
That night, she heard Ema go to bed early, it was only 9pm and already Ema was going to bed. Trucy needed to speak to her daddy, so she was glad.
"Daddy?" Trucy glanced into the living room to see her dad sprawling out on the couch.
"Hm...? Oh Trucy, what's the matter?"
"Daddy, may I have a chat with you, about mummys and daddys please?"
"Oh no! I knew this day would come..." Phoenix sighed. "Come, sit." He shuffled up the couch and sat cross legged, Trucy then took the vacant space and did the same. "You see sweetie, when a mummy and a daddy love each other very much-"
"No daddy! Not that!" Trucy giggled. "That's not what I mean!"
"So-uh-what do you mean?" Phoenix was truly at a loss.
"I mean, how come some mummys and daddys live together with their children, and other kids have two mummys and daddys, why is that?"
"Well...some people aren't meant to be together. And those kids that have two sets of parents usually have a mummy and a step-daddy, then a daddy and a step-mummy. These step-parents are from remarriage or new relationships." He scratched his neck. He could predict what was coming now.
"So where's your special someone daddy? Where's your pink hat to your blue?"
"I don't need a special someone."
"Is that because you already have one?" She asked curiously.
"Hm? And who are you referring to?"
"The science lady upstairs!"
"Huh! Ema! No honey! You have it all wrong!" He protested. "She's been friends with me since she was sixteen!"
"Can't fool me daddy!" She giggled, bouncing off the couch and charging upstairs.
"T-Trucy! No!" He called. "What the hell is wrong with that girl?"
-x-x-
Over the next three days she spotted several other examples of mummy-daddy relationship.
"Ow! Nick! The shower's broken!" Ema cried out.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Nick rushed up the stairs, ignoring the small head that had popped from behind the bedroom door. He swung open the bathroom door and was on fire. She was wrapped tightly in a blue towel. "Uh...I...uh will take a look..."
"Huh? T-thanks." She now turned crimson realising she was dressed in next to nothing and stood before her once idol. "I-uh- will be waiting in my room!"
-x-x-
"Noodles again? You're starting to remind me of that stupid detective." She giggled.
"Gumshoe? Na, I actually have the money to eat things other than instant noodles. I just choose to eat them a lot." He offered her the box.
"Haha, if you say so!" She tipped the contents onto the plate.
"It's a nice Chinese!" He reached over her with the chopsticks to grab the chicken from the noodle pile.
"H-hey!" She went ninja on him, stabbing him with her chopsticks.
-x-x-
"Hey, Nick, everything alright? You look sick..." She leaned down so she was level with him, pressing a hand to his forehead.
"Oh it's nothing, maybe just a cold." He sneezed.
"Man flu more like." Ema giggled softly. "Alright, look, stay here and wrap up, I can take Trucy with me."
So, that was how Trucy wound up sat in a car with Ema, rather than her daddy.
"Hey Ema, are you going to be around much longer?" The little girl asked curiously.
"Huh? Do you not like me being around?" Ema tried to disguise her disgust at being asked.
"N-no! I mean yes! I mean..."
"Take a breath Trucy and start again."
"I like you being there, cause you help me with science, and you make daddy happy. But do you not have a home to go to? Daddy said something about a sister."
"My sister is rebuilding a house, it's not ready for me to move in yet. Once it is, I'll be gone."
"But daddy will be sad without you!" Trucy protested. "A-and so will I..."
"Trucy, do you think your dad and me are...close?" She tried to chose careful words.
"Uh-huh." She nodded.
"In what way close? Friend close or close close?"
"Um...friend close and close close."
"Sweetie, it's not like that." Ema smiled. "I have a lot of respect for your daddy, he helped me out when times were tough, and that's what he's doing now. I don't...you know...like him like that..."
"Oh..." The little girl fell silent. "But...I want a mummy..." The little girl whimpered silently to herself.
-x-x-
Another month passed, the house which Lana had bought for Ema having to be sold due to unforeseen finance issues meant Ema had made herself a permanent house at the home of Trucy and Phoenix. It was evening, and as per normal, Trucy refused to go to bed.
"Please Ema! One more game! Pleaaaassse!" She begged, holding out the controller for one final go with her on the fighting game.
"No Trucy, bed." She smiled, playfully pushing the little girl out the door towards her room.
Despite her previous aversions to her new young friend, she had warmed to the young girl and was unintentionally treating her like she was her daughter, and it hadn't gone unnoticed by people, in particular Phoenix.
"You've warmed to her, haven't you?" Phoenix smirked as Ema sat back down on the couch with him.
"I...I guess..."
"What did you have against her in the first place?"
"I guess I always blamed her for you losing your job, the great Phoenix Wright took a great fall..."
"Maybe I did, but I'm much happier that way. She makes me smile. That is better than any job in the world, her love is all I need." Phoenix smiled to himself, brushing his still spiky hair with a hand.
"I never saw it like that." Ema suddenly found a new found respect for him. "But don't you wish she had a mother, even a stand in one?"
"She doesn't need one, she has people like you, who treat her as if she was their child. She has love."
"It's not her I worry about. It's you, Nick."
"I'm happy this way Em. Don't worry about it." He stood up and approached her. "I don't need a woman to make me happy." She stood up and had to give him a hug.
She held onto him for longer than she intended. She had finally gotten him to open up to her.
"G'night Nick, I love you now more than I ever did back then." She kissed his cheek. "Thanks for opening up."
-x-x-
As time passed, so did her desire to leave the house, so Trucy took great pride in demonstrating her new stand-in-mum. She never told anyone about the kiss she saw Ema give to her daddy, she knew deep down Ema loved her daddy in a similar way to the way she loved him.
"Hi, this is Ema. She's my stand-in-mum! I don't need a real mummy, since I'm lucky enough to have a daddy that loves me more than anything in the world. But I love Ema just as much." Trucy stood proud with Ema at her side in the bring-your-parents to school day, so others could see the backgrounds of the students. "Ema here works for the police force!"
The 'wow' from the crowd soon died down, and soon there were cries of 'do you have a gun?', 'have you caught a bad guy?' and 'have you shot anyone?'. Ema smiled to herself, and to the now 12 year old at her side, she saw what Nick meant all those months ago, he didn't need the love of a woman, someone who pretended to love Trucy. All he needed was the little girl and the young woman who stood at her side.
"She does everything a normal mummy would do, she takes me to movies and shopping. She talks to me about the stuff that daddy gets embarrassed about and she taught me how important daddy is to me! Couldn't ask for a better mummy, even if I wanted one! And what you did at my birthday party was the best!"
Trucy had bought along the video of her birthday party, when in an effort to proof how much she cared about the girl Ema had defied all belief.
"She needs a mom!" Edgeworth scolded.
"She's happy isn't she, and that's all that matters!" Phoenix smiled as he lit the candles on the cake. "Now lets go into the next room."
Trucy sat patiently waiting for her cake alongside all her friends. Phoenix wondered where Ema was gone, she hadn't given Trucy her gift yet...
"Happy birthday!" Ema leapt out a large cardboard box hidden in the corner of the room. There she was, dressed up in a pink hoodie, pink beanie hat and dark jeans. Cradled in her arms was the tablet computer the little girl had been begging for.
"Yay!" She leapt into Ema's arms. Hugging into her chest. "Thanks...mummy."
"No problem Trucy."
"...Now, how many kids can say their mummy would do that?" Trucy declared.
Since this isn't my norm, and it's been a very long time since I've written anything so I may be a little rusty, please review etc. Bla bla...
Oh and also, I wanna have a little fun, so can peeps follow me on Twitter please SpyroChar (There'll be a picture of me playing a baritone sax) please send me all requests and perhaps more importantly the questions for 'When was Your?' via there please!
P.S. hope this was ok Cloud Link Zero and sorry for it being later than originally forecast thanks!