December 24th

11:43 AM

Criminal Affairs Department

The wind rattled the front doors as Ema Skye walked into the precinct. She slipped her hood off of her head and glanced around. As was to be expected around Christmas, there were relatively few officers and detectives present. The recent lull in crimes in the local area was holding fast, and the police chief had opted to give most of the homicide department more time off than average. Ema had been offered a complete vacation for the weeks before and after Christmas, but, in light of her ongoing streak of perpetual boredom, had decided to still visit the precinct on a few days of the week to check on things. She started toward her office, taking off her coat as she walked.

"Hey there, Ema." a voice called from across the room. Ema turned.

"Hey, Gumshoe." she responded, a slight smile on her face. Considering the slump that her work was in at the moment, it was nice to see a friendly face like that of Chief Detective Gumshoe.

"Still pretty quiet around here," Gumshoe said, leaning around the computer at his desk, "why don't you go find something more interesting to do?" Ema sighed.

"Because, Gumshoe, there's nothing to do outside of work right now." she responded, continuing toward her office. Gumshoe scratched the back of his head, thinking.

"Why don't you go see...what was his name? Mr. Wright's student, Judgement, or something?" he suggested after a pause.

"It's Justice." Ema corrected, sitting down, "Anyway, Apollo's busy with paperwork from the trial the other day." she finished. As she spoke, she began to dig around in her bag.

"On Christmas Eve?" Gumshoe asked, surprised. Ema, without looking up from her bag, continued,

"You've met Apollo, Gumshoe. You know how serious he is about work."

Gumshoe leaned back and thought for a moment. He had first met the young attorney a week ago, when he had come to the precinct to pick Ema up for a date. In the week since, he had spoken to Apollo a few times, mostly about his work with Phoenix Wright. Gumshoe had taken an immediate liking to the young man, particularly in light of the role that he had played in proving his mentor's innocence in the infamous evidence forgery case of seven years prior. If there was anyone that Dick Gumshoe would trust the honesty of immediately, it was Phoenix Wright. In the fateful trial that had cost Wright his attorney's badge, Gumshoe had immediately and completely refused to believe that he had been responsible for the evidence forgery that had cut off the trial. Along with this, in the short time since Ema had begun dating Apollo, the young woman's usual bitter temperament had near completely vanished. She had not returned to being the bright-eyed girl he remembered from before her entry into Criminal Affairs, but she was certainly more open and generally cheerful.

At this point, another thought occurred to Gumshoe. He looked over to Ema.

"Say, Ema. Did Mr. Wright invite you to his Christmas party over at his office tomorrow, as well?" he asked. Ema glanced up from her computer. She had been sitting in front of it for at least a minute, but it didn't appear that she had actually turned it on.

"Yeah. Lana, too." she said, resting her chin on her hand. Gumshoe grinned.

"You'll be able to spend Christmas with Apollo, then." he said, hoping to improve Ema's spirits at least a little. She gave a tiny smile, and responded,

"Yeah. We've been talking about it for the last couple of days. Apparently, Mr. Wright's inviting all of his old clients and friends. I just hope his office has enough space for everybody."

Gumshoe sat back again, returning his thoughts to the ex-attorney. A lot of people had Phoenix to thank for keeping their lives afloat. He had defended personal friends, celebrities, people he had never even heard of, and every time that his clients really were innocent, he had never failed to save them. Gumshoe glanced downward at his hand. The wedding ring that he wore on his finger was just as closely tied to Phoenix's work as anything else. Had it not been for Phoenix, Maggey Gumshoe would have been wrongfully thrown in prison eight years ago, and even if she had somehow avoided conviction, without the influence of Phoenix's actions, Mr. Edgeworth never would have authorized that the detective be given the unprecedented bonus that he had received to pay for his engagement to Maggey. Starting with the year after their wedding, their luck had finally seemed to turn around. He had been promoted to Chief Detective, and Maggey had found a stable job as an evidence filer in the precinct.

Coming to the end of his train of thought, he glanced over at Ema again. She was still sitting in the same position, staring blankly at the ceiling. Her bag was open, and a few miscellaneous objects were sticking out. As could be expected with Ema, there were a few empty beakers, as well as her collection of various tools for forensic inspections. If a different detective were the Chief, they probably wouldn't be as willing as Gumshoe was to allow Ema to experiment in crime scenes, as she wasn't technically certified to do so, but Gumshoe had seen her at work enough to know that she was easily more capable than most of the actual forensics team. Usually, when Ema was bored, she would pull out her notepad and look through her detailed descriptions of her experiments, as well as jot down ideas for future work. Gumshoe surmised that she had to be well beyond her usual state of boredom to be skipping an opportunity for even that. Finally, he spoke up again.

"Ema, you really ought to go and see Apollo. I know he's really into his work, but I doubt he'd really rather bury himself in paperwork than see you." Ema remained silent for a few moments, before her head slipped off of its position on her propped-up arm. Her face hit the desk, and she gave an abrupt jerk. Shaking her head, she looked back at him.

"I must be getting bad about this, huh?" she said, sighing. She closed her bag and slung it back over her shoulder. "Fine, I'll go over to the office." she stood up and began to walk back to the front doors.

"OK, pal. I'll see you tomorrow, then." Gumshoe called, grinning once again.