Note: Thanks for your comments, favs, and alerts! Dayton has more of a purpose in this story than to just be a bad name pun, I swear.

Titration by HawkofNavarre

Chapter 3

I Did It For Science

It had been a rough day. Ema had testified in court that morning for the fop, and just like he'd said, they didn't have enough evidence to definitively say the man they'd arrested was the murderer. Phoenix had made relatively short work of the case, if she were being honest. If Klavier had been a worse and less-prepared prosecutor, he would've looked like a fool in the courtroom with the way things had gone down. Ema had taken a rather distressing beating on the stand as well as the lead detective. Her frustration at the pushiness of the police commissioner to make an arrest had only been surpassed after she had failed the forensics exam for the third time.

Thankfully, she had a cup of coffee in her hands. The rush of caffeine in her system was a welcome sensation after the way Phoenix had torn her testimony to pieces. Even better, after working security for Klavier's concert the other night, she was able to loosen her purse strings a little.

Luckily, the rest of the day would be fairly easy, considering Phoenix and Klavier had teased out the details of the case in the courtroom. The right man was now in custody and all she had to do was some paperwork to complete the processing. It would be boring, but pretty calm until she was assigned her next case.

"Ema."

Wrong, Ema. Not boring. Or calm.

"Good morning, Dayton," she greeted the visitor to her desk wearily. She had very little patience for dealing with him today, and the coffee she'd picked up earlier was not going to help all that much.

He sat down in the chair in front of her desk, smiling at her casually. "So I guess I was wrong about the killer then. I just can't believe it. The evidence so clearly pointed to our suspect," he admitted, head cocked to the side in thought. She was unsurprised that people in the Criminal Affairs Department thought he was cute—smart, romantic, gentle mannerisms, aesthetically pleasing facial features… Scientifically speaking, she should've been attracted to this man if she were going by society's standards.

Of course, Klavier Gavin was a similar case and she didn't want anything to do with either of them.

"Well, that's why they call it 'framing,'" Ema replied dismissively. She continued to fill out the piece of paper in front of her, hoping the forensic investigator would get the hint since her directness had somehow already failed.

"You have a very good point," Dayton conceded, which led to an uncomfortable long silence that Ema ignored. She continued to work on the report in front of her, wondering how long he was just going to sit there. She didn't want to deal with him any longer than she had to.

"So you went for coffee with Prosecutor Gavin that time I asked you at the crime scene," he suddenly commented.

She scribbled furiously on the piece of paper in front of her. Spelling mistake there, smudged words here... "You were the one who brought it up."

Dayton was relentless in the obnoxious department. "And I declined afterwards, meaning you essentially went on a date with Prosecutor Gavin," he finished.

Finally, Ema dropped her pen on the table, unable to take anymore of this. "Oh my god, Dayton. I went out on one coffee date with you, realized I wasn't interested, have turned down all subsequent date requests, and yet you're still on this? I don't think I can be any clearer about this," the forensic investigator hissed in absolute exasperation.

"You're not interested, I know, but I think if you really gave me a fair chance, you'd change your mind," he shot back in retaliation. "Besides, I wouldn't get anywhere if I just gave up on the things I wanted."

She was certain she was starting to feel a migraine coming on. Ema was the last person on the planet who would claim patience as one of her virtues, but boy was her patience wearing thin.

"I think I gave you a fair shot and I don't have anything other than platonic feelings for you," she lied, mostly because any feelings she did have for him had quickly turned into ones of animosity after that coffee date. He was like some guy lamenting about being trapped in the "friend zone," banging on the doors like a brat until she paid attention to him.

"It was coffee, Ema. To me, that opened the door for something more," Dayton stated in determination. If anything, that man knew how to be the most persistent thing since her trying to become a forensic investigator. His eyes were locked onto hers and he wasn't backing down at all. "All I want is to take you out on a real date, Ema, some place that isn't a coffee shop, with a nice atmosphere where we can sit face-to-face and get to know each other."

"I don't think so," she refused him again as she picked up her writing instrument, ready to end this discussion.

"Come on, Ema. We're both people of science. Isn't it our job to consider all possibilities until we find the right one?"

She froze, her jaw set in anger. He was trying to manipulate her into agreeing to this date. Even worse, it was working. To insult her ability as a true investigative scientist was to challenge her, and by the slightly smug looked on his face, he knew that too.

She seriously hoped that this would be where everything ended.

"One date," she relented, "and that's it. Next time, if I say no, it's a no you're going to accept."

"Of course."

"Alright then. Tomorrow night at six."

"Wonderful. I'll pick you up. What's your address?"

"You can pick me up at the precinct," Ema denied him quickly. The last thing she wanted was gifts showing up at her doorstep, and considering how he'd brought her flowers and chocolate to a crime scene, she definitely wouldn't put some romantic notion like blasting "In Your Eyes" out of a boombox outside her window past him.

Still, he nodded with a smile. Evidently, he was happy with what he was given to work with. She would've thought the dimples that appeared on his cheeks were cute if she didn't know how completely annoying he was.

"Great. Wear something nice," he advised her before he popped up and headed back to the lab.

Somewhat regretting her decision, Ema put her pen back down on the desk and opened her top right drawer, pulling out a bag of Snackoos from her stash. The things she did for science...

She didn't know if things would become better or worse by going on this date, but she had resolved to give it an honest chance, just as Dayton had requested. It seemed ethically wrong to her to do anything else, especially since she had accepted on the grounds of science. And so here she was at her desk in at the precinct at 5:50 in the evening wearing a nice little black dress that Lana had forced her to buy a couple years back along with high heels. Legitimate high heels. Not low wedges or anything. Ema loathed wearing heels.

Yet here she was, waiting to go on this date in an outfit she would otherwise never dream of wearing. Life was hard sometimes.

"Fräulein Detective! You are looking nice tonight!"

She whirled at the voice in horror. However, as soon as that blond hair was in her sights, her stomach dropped in confirmation. The last thing she needed was more ammunition to give to Gavin to tease her with.

"What are you doing here, Gavin?" she asked in resignation. This was what she got for coming back to work early to prepare for her date like a polite person.

"Just needed to pick up some files on my way home," he replied casually, grinning, "although I am certainly glad I decided to do it myself. I may not have seen you looking so beautiful."

Ema rolled her eyes. Like those lines would ever work on her. Klavier certainly did know how to shoot his sweet-talking mouth off though. If she were someone else, she'd probably be on her knees from how absolutely romantic and wonderful he was.

"Save it. It's not like anyone can trust your sense of appearance when you wear clothes like that."

As usual, Klavier burst out laughing at her scalding comment. "Ach! Fräulein, you wound me!" She thought that he was going to continue poking fun at her like he always did, but he turned and winked at her instead. "I will leave you be, since you're obviously waiting for a date. You really do look beautiful tonight, Miss Skye."

The sincerity was something she was unprepared for and she couldn't keep the tint of red off of her cheeks as he walked off. "I don't need you to tell me that," she muttered stubbornly.

He always had the ability to leave her irritated, not that her mood had much improved since yesterday after having to give in to Dayton's request. Sulking that he still managed to get in the last word, she touched up her makeup as she waited for her date to arrive.

It bothered her that Klavier could still get under her skin. He just had to act like his normal self and voila, she wanted to grab the closest bag of Snackoos and shove them into her mouth. And though he was flirtatious on a daily basis, wore his gaudy chains, and left all the investigating at crime scenes to his subordinates, she knew he was more than that. He was different in her eyes, but he was also still the same. That was why it bothered her.

Her thoughts were cut short when Dayton appeared, holding a nicely wrapped box in his hands. "Hello, Ema. You look gorgeous," he greeted her with that charming smile that did nothing for her.

"Thanks," she replied courteously, giving him a once over. He was wearing a blue collared shirt and black pants. Nothing special or out of the ordinary. "You look good too."

Dayton beamed like she had given him the greatest compliment ever. Ema inwardly groaned, thinking that she probably shouldn't have said anything at all.

The box in his hands turned out to be a new bottle of luminol, which was a thoughtful gift to get her in general, considering flowers seemed extremely pointless to her. She was actually kind of impressed that he might have gotten the memo about his bringing her a bouquet last time. Who knew, but she accepted the present, nonetheless, and for once she didn't feel dreadful about it.

She followed him out of the precinct to his car. It was a very respectable car, probably something that she wouldn't be able to afford for at least another five years—and that was only if she was able to pay off all her student loans. He opened the door for her to step into like a gentleman and then they were off.

True to her word, Ema put in effort. She commented that his car was nice and asked when he'd gotten it. He told her that he'd bought it new a couple of years ago after he'd been accepted as a forensic investigator. The conversation carried on as easily as it could between two people who didn't care too much about cars. He asked her if she had a car and when she told him no, he asked her if she had ever considered getting one. It was such an innocent conversation that Ema realized that it was the first time she had no problem with him.

They arrived at a fancy seafood restaurant, which had Ema feeling glad that she had taken Dayton's advice to "wear something nice," if only not to make a fool of herself in front of a bunch of people. They had a reservation and they were seated immediately at a two-person window table. Soft jazz music played in the background, giving the restaurant a romantic atmosphere among the low lighting and dark red colours. There was a dainty centerpiece on the table, a single glass vase that held a dethorned rose, although the rose looked like it hadn't been replaced in a couple of days. The petals were crumpled and drooping and Ema was amused that such a fancy restaurant wouldn't have caught something like that.

The pair of them didn't really speak until their orders were taken. She was too busy marveling at how high the prices were and trying to figure out whether she should feel bad or not for ordering something on the pricier side of the menu. Then again, Dayton had chosen the place, manipulated her into going on a date with him, and had been ridiculously persistent over the last three weeks. With that in mind, she ordered the lobster for herself.

"Ever since I first laid eyes on you, I knew that I had to have a date with you," Dayton said, not mincing sappy words.

"And when was that?" she asked absently, unimpressed by his flattery.

"The forensics exam three years ago. I forgot a pen to write the exam with and you lent me one," he supplied with a soft smile. "It was a really considerate thing to do."

Oh, so it was a little act of kindness that had gotten her into this situation? And that was one of the exams that she'd failed. She didn't remember offering him a pen at all, but it did sound like something she would do. The bitterness of failing the exams was something she had more or less gotten over now that she had her dream job, but the irony that this man who kept hassling her for dates had only passed because she'd brought a few (it was actually more like ten, in her crazed determination not to let anything prevent her from passing the exam) extra pens with her made her heart sink a bit.

"Well, it's nice that you were able to write the test because of that," Ema said, smiling awkwardly. "But if you wanted to date me so badly, then why did you only ask me out recently?"

"Once I was accepted as a forensic investigator, I was placed on Prosecutor Blackquill's team. You were still with Prosecutor Gavin at the time, and because of that, I never really saw you," Dayton answered as the food arrived. He shifted the cutlery in front of him to make room for their dishes, but didn't pause in his explanation. "I requested a transfer to Prosecutor Gavin's team as soon as I hit a year in forensics and I was lucky enough to get through. It was unfortunate that after I got transferred, you were assigned to Prosecutor Sahdmadhi because of the short staffing. And then, of course, you went to work abroad with him for half a year, and when you came back, I was nervous they were going to place you with a different prosecutor."

Ema bit her lip. To know how long he had been pining after her was kind of...weird. That he wanted to ask her out that much did strike her as a little sweet. At the same time, he had totally set himself up for heartbreak. She hadn't even known who the hell he was until a few months ago.

She suddenly really wanted some Snackoos, but as she looked down, there was only a plate of lobster and pasta in front of her. Eh. She'd take what she could get.

Considering they were in a really nice restaurant, she didn't start stuffing her face like she would with her favourite munchies. Instead, she picked up her spoon in her left hand, grabbing the fork with her right, and swirled the pasta like a dignified lady.

"I'm...flattered, Dayton, but don't you think that's going a little far for someone you don't even really know?" she questioned hesitantly, mostly because she was a little nervous to hear the answer.

"One cannot be half-hearted when it comes to matters of love," he replied as if it was that simple.

She poked at her lobster nervously. That was most certainly not what she wanted to hear. She could understand that level of longing if two people broke up after having a long relationship, but Dayton had known almost nothing about her besides the fact that she was passionate about science and had been nice enough to offer him a spare pen when he'd been in need. If she could disregard everything she already knew about him, she still wouldn't want to go on a date with someone who was that into her. It would be like being in the passenger seat of a car that was going way too fast; maybe the driver would be comfortable with the speed, but she sure as hell wouldn't. She could feel this date going slowly downhill with every development.

"So you had a case with Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth a little while back. How was it working with him?" Dayton continued politely as Ema just continued to follow the conversation. At least it was an easy topic to talk about.

"The best," she said honestly. Working with Miles Edgeworth had been a dream come true. Not only was he impressively thorough with his investigations, but he openly praised her for her skills as well. It had been the best day of work ever, one she'd cherish while shunning the memory of Mr. Wright picking her carefully crafted testimony to pieces the very next day. "He was so professional—he just exudes experience when he's at a crime scene. But at the same time, he was very polite and appreciative of my work. Definitely a model prosecutor."

"You're lucky! I can only imagine what working with the Chief Prosecutor was like," he replied, enthused before he sighed. "It would be nice to work under a prosecutor who was serious for a change."

She'd been enjoying her lobster. She really had been. Until now.

Ema frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

Her date chuckled as he took a sip of water. "Come on, Ema. You can't honestly tell me that you think Prosecutor Gavin takes this job seriously. I mean, just look at him."

She could feel her blood begin to boil, but she suppressed it to a simmer. It was a fair assessment for someone who hadn't worked for Gavin as long as she had. "Yeah, I thought the same thing about him for a long time, but that isn't true at all. Gavin really cares about justice," she defended her boss, trying to reason with her coworker.

"I don't know how you can say that," Dayton admitted incredulously. "I thought for sure we'd be on the same page about this. I mean, the guy plays air guitar in court! How can you even say he cares with a straight face?"

It was then that Ema realized that the feeling of dread she'd had about this date going downhill had been successfully fulfilled. She remembered the reason that first coffee date had gone so badly back then; it had all come down to Dayton's stubbornness and closed-mindedness. And at that time, it had just been a simple discussion about coffee. Now, he was refusing to accept her different perspective on Klavier, which was ridiculous considering she'd used to hate Gavin for the exact same reasons as him.

"He helped expose his best friend and his brother as the true culprits in court. It seems like he takes his job seriously to me," the forensic investigator argued. She was offended for Gavin and all she wished was that she had another bag of Snackoos to throw at this judgemental prick's head.

"But did he really have any other choice? It seemed to me that he was just out-manoeuvred in court."

Her jaw dropped along with her fork, the piece of silverware falling onto the other cutlery with an audible clang. Over and over and over again, all she heard were compliments, often to great hyperbole, about Klavier Gavin. On occasion, there were little salty remarks about his obnoxious personality from people like Apollo or herself, but never in her life had she ever heard anyone talk down about her boss like Dayton was doing right now. Even Kristoph's cold dismissal in court didn't measure up to this after he'd realized his younger brother was no longer on his side. But Klavier's reputation as an international prosecutor was good for a reason, and she'd had a front row seat to that for two years. For someone to say otherwise enraged her to no end. He didn't deserved to have his name slandered anymore than Phoenix had.

"Of course he had a choice," she growled, standing up and turning to gather her bag, "and so do I. I'm out of here."

Her date jumped to his feet in concern. "What? Ema, be reasonable. It's just a difference of opinion," he tried to placate her.

"Yeah, about our boss, who I happen to think is a good prosecutor, even if he's the most annoying glimmerous fop in Los Angeles," Ema shot back without missing a beat. She spun to storm out, but the ringing of her cell stopped her.

Vaguely, she heard the ringing of another mobile as she answered the call. "Hello?"

"Detective Skye? There's been a homicide."

"On it," she replied, kind of relieved to have something else to think about besides the date she'd just been on. "Text me the address."

Ema ended the call and saw Dayton holding his phone out of the corner of her eye. Clearly, he'd just been on the phone as well. He looked at her hopefully.

"I'll drive?" he offered.

She was looking down at her tablet to look at the victim's information when a smoothly-lined jacket slid over her shoulders. Surprised, Ema glanced back to see Klavier standing behind her in just his black button-down and realized that the sport jacket he normally wore was now on her.

"It wouldn't be good for the lead detective to be cold at the crime scene," he told her warmly. She almost rejected the statement and article of clothing as she normally would, but for once, it didn't sound like he was trying to get a rise out of her, and she hadn't brought a coat on her date with Dayton. It was generally sunny where they lived, but it still got chilly at night.

Shrugging, Ema immediately briefed him on the case. "The victim's name is Garret Fehl. It looks like someone pushed him off the fire escape of this apartment building, but it's going to be hard to figure out from what height."

Klavier snapped his fingers in thought. "Lots of legwork to be done about interviewing the tenants as well before we can even pinpoint a suspect, I assume," he stated with a nod. "It's unfortunate that this had to interrupt your date, Fräulein Detective."

She sighed, making a mental note of how comfortable Klavier's jacket really was. The gigs from his musical career paid seriously well if he could afford to wear something like this on a regular basis. "No, I'd much rather be here than where I was," she replied testily, "even if working in heels sucks."

The prosecutor blinked at her, slightly taken off-guard. "Bad date, fräulein?"

Ema shot him a dull look, the very person she'd been defending only about an hour ago. She recalled how ridiculously aggravating he could be, but she also knew she had done the right thing. He was a good guy and a good prosecutor who worked more than almost anyone she knew. Him being a fop didn't change any of that.

Breathing out in frustration, she turned back to her tablet. "You have no idea."