I DO NOT OWN PHOENIX WRIGHT. ANY CHARACTER YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE IS PROBABLY MINE

Phoenix Wright bit his lip and glanced over at the clock. Where is she...?

His daughter, Mia, still hadn't returned home, and it was almost 11:30 PM. An hour after her curfew. Mia had mentioned she was going over to a friend's house, but she had promised she would be back by 10:30. She had gone out to see her friends in the evening before and returned home in time, so her parents continued to trust her to do so. It was strange for her to so blatantly break the rules like this...

Phoenix's wife, Julie, had gone to bed almost forty minutes before, leaving him up to wait for their daughter. He was fighting the urge to fall asleep himself in case something important happened.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Phoenix shot to his feet from where he was almost asleep on the couch to open the door...to see a familiar detective standing at the door. "Gummy...? What is it?" Phoenix frowned in concern. This wasn't good. Detective Dick Gumshoe only appeared to him when there was a murder.

Gumshoe inhaled deeply. "Sorry to bother you at such a late hour, pal, but this is important. Mia Wright is your daughter, right?"

Phoenix's frown deepened. "Yes, she is... Did something happen to her?!"

"Physically, she's perfectly fine," Gumshoe reassured. "But we were forced to arrest her."

"Arrest her?!" Phoenix repeated in shock, unable to believe his ears. "But what did she do?!"

"Nothing is confirmed at the moment." Gumshoe sighed. "But a little over an hour ago, we found her alone at a crime scene. She was sitting in front of a dead body."

"What?!"

Gumshoe flinched. "The poor girl didn't even react when I put handcuffs around her. I tried to interrogate her back at the station, but she was too shell-shocked to say much at first. Then she just refused to talk; I don't know why. If she's innocent, you'd think she'd be willing to defend herself as viciously as possible. Especially with you as her father."

Phoenix crossed his arms, scowling. "Don't tell me you actually believe she did it!"

Gumshoe's eyes widened. "Of course I don't, pal! I know she's innocent- I know her well enough to know she'd never do something like that. But the rest of the police force doesn't have the same mindset as me, and we had a witness claim she saw the whole thing."

"Well, I'm absolutely defending her. When's the trial?"

"I'm not sure," Gumshoe admitted. "Not many are aware of the murder right now, but the police are probably calling the court as we speak. I'd say a good guess would be in two days."

Phoenix nodded thoughtfully. "It's not public yet?"

"Not yet, pal, but I'm doing everything I can in my power to keep it that way. You know how the media is; despite all my effort, this will be all over Japan in a few hours at most." Gumshoe frowned. "Everyone will think the daughter of a defense attorney is a murderer. If Mia gets a guilty verdict at the trial, it could slaughter your reputation."

Phoenix scowled again. "I don't care about my freaking reputation! I just care about proving my daughter innocent!"

"N-Nick? What's all the noise?"

The two men turned to see a young woman with long brown hair was watching them with wide brown eyes. She stood hugging herself in her nightgown. As soon as she spotted Gumshoe, she blushed in embarrassment and began to bite her nails. "O-Oh... Hello, D-Detective."

Gumshoe looked away awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Wright."

"Nick, what's he doing here?" the woman asked nervously. "And where's Mia?"

"Julie..." Phoenix inhaled deeply and explained everything to her that he was just told.

Julie's eyes filled with tears, and she bit down hard on her thumbnail again- a bad habit she fell into whenever she was nervous. Phoenix hugged her tightly. "Hey, don't worry, Jules. We both know she's innocent, and I'm going to prove it. Okay?"

Julia nodded weakly as Phoenix gently pulled her hand away from her mouth. "Y-You're right..." She took in a deep breath.

Gumshoe looked away, obviously feeling awkward at seeing this intimate exchange. Phoenix chuckled weakly and backed away from his wife. "Sorry."

"I should probably get going," Gumshoe admitted. "It's practically midnight. I did what I came here to do, anyway."

"Alright." Phoenix nodded. "Thank you for letting us know, Gummy. We'll be at the station tomorrow to visit Mia."

"Understood." Gumshoe nodded in return. "If I don't see you tomorrow, I guess I'll see you at the trial. Good luck, pal."

In case you're curious, Julie is a character originally from the second P.W. manga. She appears as the hostess of the Sparklestar show in Turnabout Showtime