Chapter 1

Phoenix walked into the deli that was near his office with the intention of getting himself lunch and then returning back to work, but after he'd picked up his order, one of the deli patron's faces caught his eye. He simply couldn't believe he found this person just having lunch like this with all the things he'd heard on the news about him. Phoenix supposed the same could be said about him, so he figured he couldn't judge.

"Hi, are you Derek Stiles?"

The dirty blonde man looked at him questioningly for a moment, when Phoenix suddenly saw a flash of recognition on his face.

"Nick? Nick Wright?"

Phoenix smiled and replied, "The one and only."

Derek's face lit up too, and he held out a hand for Phoenix to shake.

"It's really been too long, hasn't it? How are things going for you? Besides all of the things I've heard about you on the news." Derek said with a small chuckle.

"Hey, likewise for you. Things are going alright with me I guess. Exposing corruption in our police department and prosecutor's office…you know, all in a day's work." Phoenix said in humor, then taking a seat next to Derek at the table he was sitting at.

"You know, I'm surprised you didn't become an actor after how involved you were in drama club. You did a great job in 'And Then There Were None' after all."

"You do remember that was just high school drama, don't you?" Phoenix said, laughing a little, "But when I went to college, I was an art major for a while. I actually switched into law later."

"Wow, really? How come?" Derek asked curiously.

"I…just really wanted to help people." Phoenix replied with a sheepish grin, then he smiled when he continued to speak, "I know you always wanted to be a doctor. I'm glad that you actually did it and became so successful."

"I'm really happy for you too, Nick." Derek said, smiling back.

"So, from what I've heard in the news, you've done a lot of traveling around the world." Phoenix said, genuinely curious since the farthest he'd ever gone was into the next state over to visit a cousin, "How is it? Are the other places you've gone really different?"

"Africa is really unusual," Derek admitted, leaning back in his chair a little bit. "It's just so different from what you see here, for the most part, anyway. It actually surprised me a lot."

"You're really lucky getting to travel the world and help people. It must be really great." Phoenix said, giving him a small but genuine smile.

That was one thing they always had in common - Derek and Phoenix. They both always had a tendency to want to help people. "Sometimes it's kind of weird. Scary. Especially when you don't know exactly what you're dealing with, or whether your patient will live or die..." he looked to the attorney. "I bet it's kind of like that being a defense lawyer, too, huh?"

Phoenix laughed and said sheepishly, "Yeah, more than you think. I mean, one misstep, and my client spends the rest of their life in jail. It's a lot of pressure sometimes."

"So in the end, we both took risky jobs helping people. It's hard to hold fate in your hands," he sighed, though that smile of his was still present as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Yeah, it really is. But it's totally worth it just to see my client happy at the end of the trial." Phoenix said, smiling back.

"Yeah... like seeing someone walk out of the hospital well," Derek picked up his iced coffee, taking a drink. "So, what about your personal life? Are you still dating that...Dollie, was it? We only talked a couple times over college but I kind of remember something like that..."

Phoenix's face darkened slightly when Dahlia was mentioned and he said, "Umm, no. I'm not dating her anymore."

"Oh, Sorry... something bad happened?" Derek frowned, looking uncomfortable as he tried to think about what to say to change the subject. "Are you... living the single life or do you have someone else?"

"Ahh, well, everything was fine with her until she framed me for murder." Phoenix said dryly, but then he smiled and said, "Well, have you heard of Miles Edgeworth?"

"Wait, she framed you for murder?" Derek stared at the other. "You can't just drop a bomb like that and move on in your conversation, Nick..."

"Well..." Phoenix wondered exactly where to start, and he decided to stick with the most simple explanation, "She plotted to kill me at first, but her twin sister stopped her, and so it was her I'd been dating for a while, until Dahlia decided to kill her ex-boyfriend and then frame me for it."

Derek just gaped at the other for a long few moments, wondering at first if his old friend was serious. "That's... really messed up. Worse than I've dealt with and let's just say conspiracy doesn't even begin to cover some of the things I've had to fix," he took another bite of his sandwich, giving the topic a moment to pass. "For me... there's this girl named Angie. She's my assistant. We're engaged."

Phoenix smiled at the news, glad the topic had been changed off of Dahlia and that whole mess with her. Talking of that time still hurt a bit, those wounds cutting deep.

"I'm really happy for you."

Derek smiled. 'You'll have to meet her sometime. You'll like her," he said, looking the other over. "You were talking about someone earlier. Miles Edgeworth. He's that Demon Prosecutor I heard about, right? What about him?"

Phoenix laughed when he heard that way of describing Miles, and he said, "Well, he's my boyfriend."

For probably the third time in this lunch period, Derek stared at the other for a good few seconds. "Your... boyfriend? Okay, wow. I have to admit, I somehow wasn't expecting that."

Phoenix was amused by the expression on Derek's face and said, "We were friends since grade school. Larry, me, and him. Just...a lot of things happened in between when we lost touch for a long time."

"Okay... so, You, Miles Edgeworth, and Larry were best friends. Mr. Edgeworth... left and you lost touch? I don't remember him being in high school with us. Then, he comes back, and... you two..?" Derek shook his head. "I'm having trouble putting this all together, but hey. As long as you're happy!" he laughed. "What about Larry? What's he doing these days?"

"Other than chasing after yet another model? I think he was trying to write and illustrate children's books. I shudder to think of the results of that." Phoenix said in humor.

Derek chuckled. "Sounds like him. So... you and this Edgeworth guy... is it serious?"

"I'd think so. Weve been dating a few years and we're living together now, anyway." Phoenix said, sounding a little sheepish.

"Woah! Way to go, Nick," Derek grinned, honestly happy for him. "A prosecutor and a defense attorney, huh? I bet the press would have a field day with that if it got out..."

"Yeah, that's why it'd be best if we keep this as low key as possible. We've actually only told our closest friends about us, we don't want it leaking out." Phoenix said in a tired tone, knowing just how out of hand the media could get.

Derek nodded. "Don't worry, I understand. I'm used to keeping important things under wraps."

Phoenix gave him a grateful smile.

"So when's the wedding?"

"It's a couple months away yet, but we'll add you to the invitation list, okay?" Derek glanced at the clock. "I need to get back to the hospital - lunch break's almost over," he said, taking out his cell phone and sliding it over to Phoenix. "Put your number in, all right? I don't want to lose contact with you again."

"Sure." Phoenix said, quickly entering his number.

Then he pushed the call button on Derek's phone after entering his number to get his.

"We should have lunch again soon. Maybe I can try bringing Miles and you can bring Angie." Phoenix said, really looking forward to next time already.

Derek nodded, shoving his phone in his pocket. "Great! I'll call you and we'll find a time in our schedule. Dinner sometime, even. See you later!" he waved, hurrying out of the deli.

"Bye!" Phoenix said, waving back, then picking up his own half eaten ham sandwich to take back with him to the office.