By the time the sunrise was barely starting to creep up the horizon through the clinical hospital windows, Nick was too tired to be ashamed of his red eyes anymore. He could blame it on Larry later. Usually he was good at resisting Larry's hysterics, but in this case it had been infectious, and they'd spent a good ten minutes trying to hold a conversation through the snotty sobs before mutually agreeing to hang up and give it another go later. Maybe in another few hours he could expect a call from Franziska demanding directions from the airport, and he was already praying to any and all deities available for patience in crisis. At least a sympathetic nurse had let it slip that Edgeworth was still alive. The rest of them were a solid wall of the same response. No, HIPPA regulations. We can't answer any questions unless you're family.

Maybe if more of his mind was free, he'd spare a moment to be worried about himself. As it was he stared dully at the ceiling, rubbing his eyes and then holding his hands there to block out the lights.

"Hey, pal. Two sugars and one cream, right?"

As he sat up, Nick allowed one selfish thought to flicker across his mind. Just how bad did he even look? If Gumshoe, of all people, was starting to be worried about him... Well, perhaps not. They both looked more or less equally miserable. It was just that Gumshoe had offered to go buy coffee - not the watered-down sorry excuse for it that the hospital cafe sold, but instead something decent from a local place three blocks away. Nick had insisted that Gumshoe used his money in payment for the legwork. (Gumshoe seemed awfully relieved about that.) So he mustered an exhausted smile and took the coffee, murmuring a "thanks".

One good thing about the cold weather was that apparently a brisk three-block walk in the wind cooled a tall-coffee-two-sugars-one-cream to just the perfect drinking temperature. Nick swore he meant to give a dignified sip, but that turned into a series of gulps. The warmth running down his throat was something to concentrate in. And the caffeine, well... Maybe that would make his head a little clearer. Because right now he felt an awful lot like someone with an old jalopy of a car, kicking the bumpers and yelling at the thing to start already. Except instead of a car, it was his brain. Or something. The rush of coffee finally hit him and he blinked several times before giving a long sigh.

Gumshoe didn't say anything more. Nick looked to his coffee as if the secret to life was written somewhere on the top. They'd exhausted possible conversation topics a few hours ago, of course. Gumshoe was who he had called before Larry, and he'd thanked Nick about fifteen times over for letting him know, even if by that point someone on the gossip chain of policemen and paramedics had already told him.

At least the coffee was good, he supposed.

His cell phone in his pocket chirped. A text message. That actually made him smile out of reflex. Under Maya's care, more and more of the open world had been sneaking into Fey Manor. Pearl had her own cell phone, now. Or, rather, it was one she shared with Maya, but Pearl had it most of the time. As soon as she woke up she had a habit of tapping out a good morning greeting to him which was, quite frankly, so adorable it hurt. Usually Nick saw the good morning message when his alarm went off a few hours later, and always replied, of course, even if it was just with a short greeting. Good morning, Mr. Nick!

Good morning, Pearls.

He realized the lack of an exclamation mark was not as cheerful as his usual greeting was, but quite frankly he wasn't feeling cheerful at all, so it would do. Three sips of coffee later the phone rang, and he picked it up without needing to even check the caller ID.

"Mr. Nick! You're up early! ...Is it okay that I called?"

"Yeah, Pearls, it's okay." He set down his coffee to rub at his eyes.

"...Are you all right?"

"Just tired." No, he did not want to explain to a little girl that he'd gotten a call from one of his oldest friends saying goodbye before rushing over to his house and trying for what seemed several ages to push breath into his lungs and force his heart into beating again. Even if Pearl wasgrowing up. "A lot of... a lot of things happened last night." Oh, damn, there went his voice again. Trembling despite himself.

"Mr. Nick...? What's going on?"

"Don't worry about me, okay? I'm fine. I've just got to go now for a bit. When Maya gets up, will you have her call me? ...Thank you. ...Okay. Bye now."

He realized he had been holding his breath after he pressed the end call button, and let it out through pursed lips in a long sigh. "I'm gonna... stretch my legs," he declared to nobody in particular. It was halfway down the hallway before he realized that he'd forgotten his coffee.

Hospitals were surprisingly good for aimless wandering. He could let his feet do the thinking, just turning corner after corner and keeping conscious enough to not go through any doors marked 'staff only'. There were plenty of signs, so he was sure that he could find his way back - eventually. Until then he could give the coffee some time to soak into his brain and try to clear his head by focusing on small things. Tiny beeps coming from different rooms. The clunking hum and whirr of a distant imaging machine. Soft chatter between nurses who stopped when he passed (one even giggled in a shy, flustered manner). The steady pace of his shoes against the tile.

Eventually tile became faded burgundy carpet, and he actually raised his head to look at where he was.

Oh. The Hospital Chapel. A confused and bland little space. There were some wooden pews, and something like an altar up front, but the wooden cross was sharing the space with a confusing number of symbols of other faiths. The architecture - especially the haphazard, abstract stained glass window - spoke firmly of its 1970's origin. Though there was one thing that was more modern. A bright orange extension cord wheeled out to the front-left pew, ending in a pileup of electronic plugs, all of them full of... cell phone chargers. One of nearly every type, it seemed. Well, Nick couldn't turn down an invitation like that. It was a very modern sort of charity, but one he definitely wasn't too proud to use; he had been making call after call and all his chargers were either at home or the office. So he plugged his phone in, and it gave a cheerful sort of beep, seeming content to start filling up its battery again.

He did try to sit politely in the pew by it for a time. But his head was heavy and the space was so quiet and still... He ended up laying on his back, staring at the ceiling. Old spackle. Not anything particularly interesting to look at.

"I don't get it," he whispered. "I thought you were okay." He only realized he was talking to Edgeworth after he said it. "You... you said you were okay. You said that. You even seemed happy."

A long moment of silence.

"If you'd just... If you'd called me and told me and been honest with me, I could've... I don't know what I could have done. But something. I would have thought of something."

He pursed his lips and sighed to keep from crying. And, eventually, he dozed off into sleep.

His cell phone chirped some time later, letting him know it had gorged itself on electricity. A bleary-eyed thirty minute walk back to the one particular waiting room then ensued. His coffee would surely be cold by now, but he was still looking forward to the rest of it. Maybe even a cup of the watery stuff the cafe sold. At least he wasn't stooping so low as to consider buying some caffinated soda and microwaving it for a hot caffinated beverage, but the hospital coffee was coming close...

As soon as he stepped into the waiting room, he noticed two things. One was that Gumshoe was gone. The other was the person arguing stridently with the nurse. It wasn't everyday that Nick saw someone who could probably take on Maya in a 'most unique dress sense' competition. The key in her hair was a nice touch. Nick assumed, anyway. There were plenty of good reasons why he stuck to wearing suits, and all of them had to do with his lack of fashion.

"Please! You've got to let me go see him!"

"I'm sorry, Miss... what did you say your name was?"

"Kay! I'm Kay Faraday!" This was enough to make Nick wake up a little more. So that's who the mysterious name in Edgeworth's cell phone was.

"Right, Miss Faraday. Like I said, I'm very sorry, but it's family only at this point -"

"I'm his assistant! That has to count for something, doesn't it?" Her voice went slightly squeaky at the end. Part of Nick grinned wickedly and did a small victory dance while noting down the details for the next time Edgeworth made a sly comment about how Nick always seemed to be followed by teenage girls. The other part of him understood the way the girl's voice was breaking all too well. And besides, strangers were just friends you hadn't met yet, weren't they?

"Yes, it does, but not enough. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

The nurse left the girl sighing at the entrance to the staff-only doors. Nick took some steps forward, clearing his throat. "Kay Faraday?"

She jumped at the mention of her name, and her eyes went wide. "Oh! You're, um, Wright, right?"

"Yeah, the one who left a message for you." He held out his hand for a shake.

"It's good to meet you," she chirped. "Edgeworth talks about you sometimes. I mean, when he doesn't think I'm listening. It's kind of silly." Nick felt the start of a blush burning at the back of his neck and desperately hoped she didn't notice. Her cheerfulness abruptly slid off her face as she reminded herself. "...Sorry, sorry. I'm not all that good at being serious yet."

"It's fine. I think both of us wish we were meeting under better circumstances."

Neither of them really knew what to say to that, though Kay looked at her feet and seemed preoccupied with examining her shoes. Nick cleared his throat again. It was hard to figure out what next - to fish out an appropriate string of words. Etiquette books didn't usually cover this sort of thing, after all. But Nick knew with dogged determination that if he stopped, he was going to fall to pieces. "Listen, I was going to go get another cup of coffee. If you want one, I can bring one back, or..."

"I'll come with you," Kay said quickly. "I don't really... like waiting rooms."

Nick understood perfectly, even if he wished he didn't.