Author's Note: Per request there's more Edgeworth/Phoenix and Trucy family fluff in this chapter. There's also a minor reference to the second case in Apollo Justice and references to the card game, Uno. Huh, only four more oneshots after this one.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney.
Turnabout Twelve
Storms
'Nearly done.'
Edgeworth typed the last few paragraphs of his report, ignoring the dull patter of rain against his office window. He could hear Trucy pacing the hallway behind him—she didn't like thunder and lightning storms, but she wasn't childish enough to be afraid of them. He wondered where Phoenix was—couldn't he entertain her for a while so she wasn't bothering him?
Lightning struck again outside the window and he heard a sharp crack. Edgeworth paused for a moment, pulling back the window curtains. The rain was falling more heavily now, illuminated briefly by another lightning strike and accompanied by a roar of thunder. Pess barked from somewhere in the back of the house, only to be quietly shushed by Phoenix.
The lamp on his desk flickered several times and suddenly shut off. The other electronics in the room—the overhead lamp, the hallway lights, and the small LCD clock nearby—followed in suit.
Edgeworth felt his heart skip a few beats when his computer clicked, the screen going dark as it shut down. His mind began to race, trying to remember the last time he had remembered to save his important document.
The ominous crash of dishes in the kitchen didn't even register as he cursed loudly, slapping the palm of his hand against the desk.
"I told you to invest in a laptop. It would still be on right now," Phoenix said smugly, leaning past the threshold. "And watch your language around my daughter."
"Shut up, Wright." It was all Edgeworth could manage past the haze of frustration.
"The TV isn't working and nothing's turning on! Did the power go out?" Trucy said, biting her lip awkwardly as she returned to Phoenix's side. She had a guilty look on her face and was holding a small shard of glass in her hand. "Sorry, when the lights went off I couldn't see and I tripped over Pess when I was putting dishes away…"
Edgeworth took a deep breath, massaging his temple with one hand. "It's fine, just make sure you clean it up…"
Trucy scampered away, smiling briefly when she realized that Edgeworth wasn't going to bother reprimanding her.
"I know something fun we can do to pass the time," Phoenix suggested teasingly.
"Good God, Wright. Don't get upset with me for profanity if you're going to say something as vulgar as that."
Phoenix laughed, "I didn't mean that. You sure have a dirty mind, Edgey."
"What do you expect me to think when you put it like that?"
"Dunno. But I was hoping you were a little more mature. You are an attorney, after all."
"'Mature attorney?' Have you seen Justice lately? Wasn't he carrying girls' panties in his pockets for a while during that one case?"
"True…he's a good kid, though. He works hard. And he kept reminding people that those panties were part of the evidence in the court record."
Trucy skipped back to the room, brandishing a deck of colorful cards. "I know what we can do! Let's play a card game!"
Phoenix smiled, ushering the girl into the office. "Sure! That sounds like fun!"
Edgeworth sighed, but didn't protest. He had nothing else to do, after all—his computer was down and he couldn't drive to the law office anyway. Both Trucy and Phoenix grinned as he sank to the floor, sitting cross-legged across from them.
Trucy shuffled the deck and passed each of them a set of cards. "The name of the game is Uno," she said, giving herself a handful. "First to zero wins!"
"Ooh, I love this game. Edgey always gets frustrated and loses," Phoenix said brightly, eyeing his own hand of cards.
Edgeworth muttered a few inaudible words under his breath and picked up the colored cards Trucy had thrown at him. He bit back a string of curses—they hadn't even started the game and he already had a bad hand.
"There's a first time for everything!" Trucy said, raising her hand. "You might win this time, Edgey!"
"I don't know. He's never won a game of Uno since I moved in. I can't even remember him winning when we were kids."
"Let's get the game started," Edgeworth said irritably, resisting the urge to reach over and punch Phoenix in the face. He didn't want to do anything rash in front of their daughter.
He coughed, mentally correcting himself: Phoenix's daughter.
"I'll go first," Trucy said, throwing down a red card. Phoenix also added a red card to the pile and looked back at his hand.
Edgeworth looked through his cards—he wasn't surprised that he didn't have a red at all. He drew another card from the pile, relived that he got a red on his first try and tossed it down, face-up.
"Aww, a Skip!" Trucy pouted, fanning herself with her cards.
"Stop abusing my daughter, Edgey," Phoenix said as he dropped another one of his cards in the pile, this time switching the color from red to blue. Edgeworth smiled triumphantly—this time he had the right color in his hand.
"Wow, you're actually doing pretty well this time. Must be your lucky day," Phoenix observed, giving him a grin.
"I don't play on luck, Wright. I play with skill."
"Ooh, touché, Mr. Edgeworth. Let's see how this game plays out."
Trucy looked back and forth between her adoptive father and Edgeworth, smiling widely at their exchange. She set her own blue card down.
"Oh, shoot," Phoenix muttered, reaching for the pile of extra cards. He drew one and looked at it, smiling deviously.
"Ha!" he laughed, throwing down a Draw Two. "And you miss a turn!"
"Damn you, Wright," Edgeworth muttered, drawing several cards. "Lucky draw."
"So you do admit that this game is based on luck?"
"I never said that."
"Yeah, you just did."
"That's enough, Wright."
Phoenix chuckled under his breath. "Sure, sure, whatever you say…"
The game continued this way for several minutes—Phoenix and Edgeworth vying for first place with Trucy watching innocently from the sidelines, quietly playing—before both men were down to one or two cards. With the game finally in his favor, Edgeworth knew he had a chance of winning this time.
'Eat your words, Wright,' he thought, twisting his last card in one hand.
Phoenix glanced at him, smiled good-naturedly, and placed a Reverse card on the floor. "Uno! And your move, Trucy."
"Here you go, Edgey!" she said, throwing a Wild Draw Four into the pile, "Sorry!"
"Wh-What?" He blinked several times, praying that he had misread the words on the card. He hadn't. "Wright, you set me up!"
Phoenix smiled slyly, but said nothing. "You heard the girl, Edgey. But you don't have to draw any cards this time—I won!"
Edgeworth dropped his remaining card on the floor, sighing heavily. He could have won, if only-
"Aww, you don't have to win every time, Edgey," Trucy said, patting his shoulder. "You win every court case anyway!"
"Yeah! That's true," Phoenix said, nodding with agreement. "Defending your client is much more important than winning a card game."
"But just once it would be nice…" Edgeworth said, looking absently at his computer. The screen was still black.
Trucy pulled another deck of cards from her pocket, shuffling them in her gloved hands. "I've got it! Let's play poker this time!"
Edgeworth swallowed uneasily, seeing the mirthful exchange of glances between Phoenix and Trucy. There was no way he could win against either of them in poker.
