Disclaimer: All material used in this fanfiction belongs to its respective owner(s) and I am not associated with them in any way, shape, or form. I, the writer of this fanfic, claim none of it as my own in this non-profit fanfic.
A/N: I don't know why, but out of nowhere, I was struck with the overwhelming desire to write a fanfic showcasing the Gregory x Misty ship. Sure, it's one of the most crack ships in the fandom, but there's just something about it that feels so right. We know Edgeworth's father, yet we know nothing about his mother; Mia and Maya's father died when the latter was young, with Gregory being murdered when she was only two; and just the speculation of Gregory starting the tradition of ace attorneys having upbeat, bubbly assistants.
After being a defense attorney for so long, Gregory Edgeworth felt that he could handle anything, from deceit and betrayal to straight up murder. When you've defended so many clients over the years, you begin to expect the unexpected and become desensitized to anxiety. That's how the fedora-wearing attorney was able to keep a straight face no matter how bad things looked; only cracking a nervous grin when things looked especially bad for his clients while other lawyers would be on the verge of a mental breakdown.
But on this specific night, Gregory couldn't help but have a look of apprehension on his face as he got off the bus and started walking down the dirt road of the scenic mountain village he arrived at. For the attorney knew that while this visit had nothing to do with any cases he was handling, he would still be dealing with plenty of hardship… hardship born not of ineptitude and personal flaw, but rather of circumstances beyond anyone's control. And it was this lack of control that scared Gregory; for even in the bleakest of situations, he at least had the power to determine whether or not he still believed in his client and if there was still hope that he could somehow bring the truth to light.
However, even though Gregory had his fears, he couldn't let them stand in the way of his responsibilities. So without any hesitation, the attorney made his way to the large, wooden manor that dominated the area and rapped his knuckle on the front door, which was immediately answered by a woman with shoulder-length black hair who was wearing a purple kimono and glowering at him.
"Glad you could finally make it, Gregory… three hours late." The woman snapped with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"My deepest apologies, Misty." Gregory said with a nervous grin as he put his hand on his fedora to help keep him calm. "Today was just one of those days where everything went wrong- the trial went on longer than I anticipated, Miles' babysitter was late, and I ran into traffic. So while you have a right to be upset with me, I want you to know that I did try my best to get here as quickly as I could." The attorney said with a determined look on his face, causing the woman's expression to soften.
"I'm not mad at you, Gregory." Misty sighed, gently placing her hand on the man's shoulder. "I know you'd never intentionally be so inconsiderate. I'm just disappointed… for Mia. She was really excited to see you today. You don't know how devastated she was when you weren't here by nine and I had to send her to bed."
"And I was looking forward to seeing her as well. If I wasn't, do you think I would have made the long trip up here?" Gregory explained, softly waving his right hand as he always did when making an argument. "So would it be alright if I at the very least said good night to her?"
"What kind of monster would I be if I denied you that?"
"Thank you, Misty." Gregory said with a bow. "This means a lot to me."
"I know, Gregory. But can you try to keep it brief? I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but Mia has a big day of training ahead of her and really needs her rest."
"Misty, you know more than anyone else that I'm not one for extended conversations." The fedora-wearing attorney nervously chuckled as he entered the manor.
On the upper level of the manor, Gregory stood in front of a closed door, listening to the soft sobs that emanated from behind it, hesitating for a brief moment in order to collect himself before gently opening the door.
"Mia, are you awake?" The attorney whispered as he poked his head into the dark room.
"Daddy!?" Mia squealed, lighting up the room with both a lantern on top of her nightstand and her smile before leaping out of her bed and running over to the fedora-wearing man as fast as she could in her purple robe and hugging his leg. "Oh, Daddy, I knew you'd come! I just knew it! Mommy tried to tell me you wouldn't when she sent me to bed an hour ago, but here you are!"
"Yes, Mia, I'm here." Gregory softly responded, gingerly stroking the young girl's long, straight brown hair. "I wouldn't miss this visit for the world. After all, Father's Day only comes once a year."
"Speaking of which, I've got something to show you! C'mon!" Mia chirped before grabbing the man's hand and guiding him over to her nightstand, where she pulled out a sheet of paper from one of the drawers. "I drew this for you as a present!" The young girl proudly stated as she gave Gregory a crude stick figure drawing of him in his fedora, along with a slightly shorter person with shoulder-length hair, standing behind a wooden block with his arm pointed out towards a crowd of people and the word 'Objection!' coming out of his mouth in a word bubble.
"Wow, Mia! That looks really good!" Gregory said with a tone of over-the-top enthusiasm.
"It's you objecting in court, just like in those stories Mommy tells me when she was your assistant!"
"Your mother told you about those cases?" Gregory asked with a look of concern on his face, worried about how telling his daughter about murder cases would affect her wellbeing. "Out of curiosity, how much did she tell you?"
"Mommy never told me really what happened- just that someone did something really bad and tried to get someone innocent in trouble."
"Good, good…" Gregory sighed in relief.
"And Mommy told me that she would help you make sure that the innocent person didn't get in trouble, and that without her, you would have lost all of your cases."
"Did she now?" Gregory joking asked.
"Uh-huh!" Mia said with an enthusiastic nod of her head. "Mommy would stand by your side and give you advice while you bluffed all of your theories and the prosecutor and judge would make fun of you and penalize you."
Gregory tilted his fedora down to cover his eyes. I never would have thought that I'd live to see the day when the first year of my career could be so accurately described in a single sentence… "While I'm no stranger when it comes to bringing up unusual possibilities during a trial, I'd hardly call it bluffing."
"It's not?" Mia asked, cocking her head in confusion.
"No, honey. You see, as a defense attorney, my job involves saving my clients from crimes in which they were falsely accused of. So once I confirm that they are indeed innocent, I believe in them until the very end, even when everything and everyone suggests otherwise. Therefore, while many of my suggestions may seem absurd, if my client is truly innocent and the evidence doesn't bring up any contradictions, then they are the only possibilities."
"Wow, Daddy! You're so cool! When I grow up, I wanna be a defense attorney just like you!" Mia proclaimed, giving her father a hug as he looked down at his watch.
"That's great, Mia. But before that can happen, you need to go to bed."
"But I don't wanna go to bed!" the young girl pouted with crossed arms. "You just got here and we've been having so much fun!"
"While that may be true, it doesn't change the fact that you can't have a productive day tomorrow if you don't get a good night's rest. Do you think I became a defense attorney by shirking my sleep schedule?" Gregory asked as he waved his hand in explanation.
"Fine, I'll go to bed…" Mia grumbled. "But only if you come to my birthday party next week and tell me dozens of stories about your cases- and I mean ones you've just done, not the ones a billion years ago when Mommy was your assistant! Turning ten's a big deal and I wanna impress my friends! That's why I postponed my party until I was able to invite you. I would've done it closer to my actual birthday, but Mommy won't tell me your phone number or give me your address."
"Deal." Gregory said with a grin as his daughter climbed into bed before proceeding to tuck her in.
"Good night, Daddy." Mia chirped.
"Good night, Mia." Gregory stated, kissing the young girl on the forehead before turning off her lantern and leaving the room, making sure to gently close the door behind him as he did so.
"I take it by the look on your face that your visit with Mia went well." Misty smiled as Gregory made his way back down into the main foyer, noting how the normally stoic attorney was actually grinning.
"Yes it did. Oh, if it's alright with you, I'll be coming back here next week for Mia's birthday party. She wouldn't go to bed unless I agreed, and you know how I am when it comes to keeping promises."
"Of course it's alright with me, Gregory. Why would you think otherwise?" Misty asked with a confused look on her face.
"Well, it's just that Mia's friends will be there, and probably their parents, and you and I both agreed on keeping as many people as possible in the dark about our… situation." The attorney said with a hint of sadness in his voice as he titled his fedora over his eyes.
"We've had this discussion before, Gregory. Almost all of the women in Kurain are divorced, and those that aren't have husbands who live down in L.A. So no one would judge you in the slightest without coming off as a hypocrite. If anything, you'll stand out because you're one of the few fathers here who makes an attempt to be present in his daughter's life."
"Yes, I know…" Gregory sighed. "It's just… Well, sometimes I wish that I wasn't limited to just 'attempting' to be there…"
"Gregory, can we please not travel down this path again?" Misty said with a look of concern as she wrapped her arms around the attorney's slumped shoulders in a comforting hug from behind.
"I can't help it, Misty. You don't know how badly I want us to get married. We'd move in together, Mia would have her father, Miles would have his mother, and I wouldn't have to sleep alone every night in an empty bed with only mental images of your angelic face to keep me company."
"Gregory…" The spirit medium softly said, walking around so that she could put her hands on the attorney's cheeks and tilt his head down so she could look him square in his sullen brown eyes. "I want that kind of life just as much as you do, if not more. But unfortunately, as a Fey woman, that kind of happiness is but a mere fantasy for me. I've lived my entire life seeing countless marriages fail, including my own parents', because of men growing embittered at our matriarchically ways. Now, I know you'd never be so petty, but I care about our relationship too much to risk it happening."
"But it would never happen…" Gregory said with a determined look in his eyes, taking a brief moment to collect his thoughts. "Remember when I first arrived here this evening and you chastised me about how my lateness disappointed Mia? Well, what about Miles? What about the sadness I see in his eyes every Mother's Day when I have to perpetuate your lie that you died during childbirth? Why death? Why couldn't we have simply gone with my suggestion of divorce when Miles started asking questions?" The fedora-wearing attorney growled as an icy scowl formed on his face.
"If Miles is anything like you, Gregory, if he knew I was alive, he wouldn't rest until he found me and got all the closure he could. But what would he find? He'd discover that his mother is one of the most powerful spirit mediums in Kurain, second only to my own mother, the Master- though with how her health has recently been failing her, her title and responsibilities could soon fall on my shoulders. With that in mind, how would Miles feel when he'd see everyone in Kurain showering Mia with attention for her strong spiritual powers and channeling capabilities while he'd barely be given the time of day? It would completely crush his self-esteem and leave him feeling absolutely worthless. So while it may be painful for me to be dead to our son, if it means he can live a happy, fulfilling life, then I'm willing to do it."
"… I understand your logic, Misty, I really do, but it doesn't make this whole situation any easier to swallow. I just feel so powerless. Sure, I can try to be the best father I can for Miles by dedicating as much of my free time to him as humanly possible, but by doing so, I'm completely absent in my daughter's life. What if as Mia grows older, she starts to resent my limited presence and starts wearing provocative clothing for attention or starts doing drugs or dating sleazy, smooth-talking men to fill the void that I left in her life?" Gregory asked with a troubled look on his face, putting his hand to his chin as thoughts of Mia going down a dark path entered his mind.
"You've been watching too much of the evening news, Greg!" Misty laughed. "If anything, Mia loves you too much. Why, whenever she has free time, I usually find her sitting in my room reading those mystery books you gave her last Christmas next to that fern you used to keep in your office."
"Charles is still alive?!" Gregory exclaimed, reeling back in shock.
"What can I say? He's as determined as you." Misty teased. "Though speaking of which, you don't know how many times Mia has asked me to tell her stories about the cases we worked on. I swear, I talk about that incident where that one weird guy used a glass bottle with my fingerprints on it to frame me for his crime so often that I'm half-tempted to write it down so she can just read it. And before you ask, Greg, I don't tell Mia that those were murder cases we worked on. All I say is that someone did a bad thing and tried to blame someone else, but you stopped them with my help."
"Funny you bring that point up, Misty. I asked Mia that very question, which she answered in a similar manner."
"Typical Greg…" The spirit medium tittered. "It's good to see that you never change."
Am I really that rigid? Gregory thought to himself, his hand placed on his chin as a concerned look formed on his face.
"Yes, Greg, you are indeed that rigid." Misty responded with a smile, causing the attorney to flinch. "And your thoughts are still about as secret as an open book. But those are a couple of reasons why I fell in love with you." The spirit medium said as she wrapped her arms around Gregory's waist and pulled him in for a hug. "You're an honest man with your priorities in check. That's why I have no doubt whatsoever that Miles will grow up to be as good a man as you are… and hopefully just as handsome. Though speaking of Miles, how's he doing? What kinds of t.v. shows is he watching?"
"Of course the first thing you wish to inquire about Miles is his taste in television shows." Gregory snickered. "And you say that I never change…"
"Hey, t.v. shows define character!" Misty retorted. "So, what's Miles into?"
"Well, Miles is more of a bookworm, preferring to read textbooks in his free time. Though he has on a few occasions watched the evening news with me."
"Reading, watching the evening news? As I suspected, our son's a dork after your own heart. His only hope of finding a date when he grows up is if he starts his own law office and defends a smart, beautiful woman who sees the loving sweetheart beneath his stoic, dorky shell." Misty teased.
"Yes, a girl whose love he'll win by buying her copious amounts of food and being forced to watch countless hours of cartoons against his free will." Gregory snidely responded, earning him a playful slap on the shoulder from the spirit medium.
"Though speaking of hunger, it's been so long since we…" Misty purred with a sultry grin before whispering something into the attorney's ear that prompted his eyes to widen to the size of saucers.
"M-Misty!" Gregory exclaimed, his cheeks becoming as red as a ripe tomatoe. "What if Mia hears us?"
"She's a deep sleeper, Greg. Now, let's go to my room and act out that one scene from the finale of The Dynamite Samurai, only instead of the Dynamite samurai stabbing the Shogun of Shrapnel in the heart with his Dynamite Blade, it's you-"
"I get the idea, Misty." Gregory interjected as the spirit medium took his hand and guided him up to the second floor.
About 30 minutes later, in the queen-sized bed in the master bedroom, with his clothes neatly folded and placed on a nightstand to the left side of the bed and his trench coat and fedora hung neatly on a hook attached to the door, Gregory was lying underneath the covers with a satisfied look on his face in Misty's embrace, whose previously-styled hair was ruffled and unkempt, much like how her robe was currently wadded up in a ball and tossed in a random corner of the room.
"Greg, you're like a fine wine- you get better with age." Misty purred.
"Thank you. Though I don't believe I did anything differently than the other times." Gregory stated matter-of-factly.
"Don't be so modest, Greg. Why, I believe your performance tonight could even give our first time which lead to Mia being conceived a run for its money… you know, the night after you won that big case, the dark office basked in the glow of moonlight as we cuddled on that big chair of yours…" Misty cooed as she traced circles on the attorney's bare chest with her finger.
"Actually, Misty, that was a recliner."
"Recliner, chair, what's the difference?"
"What's the difference?" Gregory asked with the tiniest hint of irritation in his voice. "Consider their basic nature."
"Yes, they're both chairs and you sit in them."
"There's so much more to it than that, Misty. A chair is completely stationary, whereas a recliner reclines back as its name suggests. Essentially, while all recliners are chairs, not all chairs are recliners."
"So you agree that they're both chairs?" The spirit medium smirked.
"No, they're entirely different pieces of furniture. That's why one is called a 'chair', and the other is called a 'recliner'." Gregory retorted.
"Gregory, stop." Misty snapped. "There's a chance that we may have created another beautiful child tonight. Is this how you want their existence in this world to begin, in the middle of an argument over furniture terminology?"
"You're right, Misty…" Gregory sighed. "I'm sorry."
"I forgive you, Greg." Misty smiled, hugging the attorney before starting to giggle.
"What's so funny?" Gregory asked with a perplexed look on his face.
"Nothing, nothing…" The spirit medium tittered as she tried, and failed, to contain herself. "It's just that you're the only person I know who'll get into debates over such trivial things. It's like that one time we saw a ladder at a crime scene which you kept insisting was a stepladder."
"That's because it was a stepladder." Gregory stated. "Miles agreed with me when I described it to him during one of our dinnertime conversations last week."
"Miles is only seven, Greg. He's too young to see past your narrow-minded perspective."
"Narrow-minded?! How am I being narrow-minded?" Gregory objected. "A ladder needs to be propped against a wall in order to be used while a stepladder can stand on its own thanks to the fact that its two sides bend open at the center. If anything, that's deep thinking."
"Well, I guess it could simply be genetic since Mia also assumed that it was a stepladder when I told her the story. She even stopped me midsentence to ask if it bent at the center…" Misty softly laughed before pausing for a moment to collect her thoughts. "You know, Mia reminds me so much of you- she's loyal, helpful, and has quite a sharp mind. She's even told me that she wants to be a defense attorney just like you…" The spirit medium stated, looking over to her lover who responded with only a simple nod. "It's going to be hard when I have to break the news in a few years that it'll never happen- not because of me, but because of my, and her, duties to Kurian. If I wasn't set to become the Master, or if I had another daughter who could fill the role instead, I wouldn't hesitate to send Mia to intern at your office when she grows older."
"As much as I'd love Mia working at my office, even if that was possible under our current circumstances, I feel that it would be a very bad idea. You see, even though Miles is quite young, he's been showing an interest in my line of work as well. Sure, there's a very good chance that Miles could change his mind and pursue a different path like most children do- after all, when I was his age, I wanted to be a cowboy, roaming the Wild West on my horse, Gingersnap- but I wouldn't want to run the risk of him coming to my office one day in the hope of becoming my protégé, only to run into Mia. Miles would immediately ask who this strange girl working for me is, only for Mia to ask the same thing about him; and eventually, the two of them would discover the truth and feel utterly betrayed to the point where they'd assume everything to come out of our mouths is a lie."
"Still, you have to admit that it'd be cute if Mia and Miles both became defense attorneys at your law firm." Misty mused.
"I agree that it'd certainly warm my heart. I'd get to see both of my children giving it their all to assist the helpless in their time of need as I pass down all of my knowledge and techniques to them." Gregory added as a warm grin spread across his face. "And from what you've told me about Mia and what I've seen with Miles, they'd become legendary attorneys in no time."
"That is, if they didn't inherit too much of your stubbornness and started bickering with each other over the littlest of things, Mr. Recliner." Misty teased.
"Don't be a pot that calls the kettle black, Misty. Petty squabbles over such trite matters require two to tango." Gregory retorted.
"Fine. I can be just as stubborn as you some of the time" The spirit medium groaned with a roll of her eyes. "Now can we finally put that matter to bed?"
"Yes." Gregory responded with a nod. "Though speaking of putting things to bed, while I hate to leave so abruptly, I think I should start heading back home now so I can relieve Miles' babysitter by around midnight."
"Alright, Greg. Thanks for taking the time to come up here today. It really meant a lot to Mia."
"Don't mention it, Misty. I'm just doing my job as a father- which reminds me, I'm excited to celebrate Mia's tenth birthday at her party next week."
"I'm looking forward to it as well, Greg." Misty replied by pecking the attorney on the lips before he got out from beneath the covers and reclothed himself.
As Gregory sat on the train heading back to L.A., he couldn't help but wonder if he was making the right choices as a father. Was Misty right in hiding the truth about herself from Miles? Was he neglecting Mia by visiting her so seldomly? What if he sired another child with Misty this evening, thereby further complicating things.
Sure, if this hypothetical child was a girl, she would be raised with her mother and sister in Kurain and the only change Gregory would experience would be doubling the number of daughters that he felt he was neglecting; but what if it was a boy? How would he explain it to Miles when he returned home one day with a baby? The fedora-wearing attorney figured that he could make up an excuse that he adopted the orphaned infant of a single father he failed to acquit, even if that did sound a bit outlandish. And even if the child was a girl, Gregory would still be put on the spot in terms of excuses if Mia did decide to travel to the city to work at the law firm, only to run into Miles and learn that her father had another child that he kept a secret from her.
While these thoughts rushed through Gregory's head, he couldn't let them overwhelm him. What good would that do for him other than make the situation even more stressful? Plus, even if things got tough, the attorney knew that he could count on Misty to give him all the help and support she could just like she did ever since she first became his assistant all those years ago. That's why Gregory knew that despite all of the uncertainties that his future had in store, one thing was clear: he would do his best to be as active in Misty and Mia's life as he was with Miles', even if he couldn't be there physically.