A/N

I hope you all had a great halloween!

When writing this I felt like it was time that Miles and Nina became friends of sorts - although I've been having a bit of writer's block this week, hence why it's taken me a while to finish this chapter. But I hope you find it to be a good chapter and if so please review if you have the time!

Now that Miles was able to admit to himself that he did indeed have feelings for Nina Forester, he'd been feeling a lot better; even more so now that Mark and Nina were no longer dating. It meant that he could have a chance with her.

But of course he could never profess this love to the beautiful brunette.

He didn't know how to possibly display affection towards a woman; how to make her happy and to take all of her fears away. This was the first time Miles had felt this way about anyone. Especially someone as stubborn as Nina.

Deciding to attempt to worm his way back into her good books, Miles decided to send the ex-officer an email, since she had yet to replace her mobile phone – and because he didn't want to have to mumble his words in an anxious, lovesick voice. He was sat at his desk for twenty minutes, staring desperately at the laptop screen in the hopes that a friendly email would materialise. It was times like these when the chief prosecutor wished he could borrow an idea or two from his childhood friend Larry Butz; the man would have already arranged to go on a date with Nina if he was in the same unfortunate position. Miles sighed in defeat and closed his laptop, the right words seemed so far out of reach.

However, it seemed like lady luck was in a good mood that day when Miles' phone rang – and Nina's unique accent could be heard on the other end.

"Hey Mr Chief Prosecutor, it's Nina Forester."

Miles smiled to himself, "Hello Miss Forester. How can I help you?"

"I, uh, think I left my purse in your car last night." She laughed, "I trust you haven't taken it and robbed me of the $5 that was in it?"

"N-No, of course not..! I wasn't even aware that y-you left your purse behind."

"It was a joke, I know you wouldn't steal from anyone." Again, Nina laughed. "I was just wondering if I could come down to your office and get it?"

The chief prosecutor felt his face flush. "Uh…I-I can always...come to you?"

"Are you sure you're not too busy?"

"It's no trouble, I can be there in an hour if that's alright with you?" Miles was trying his hardest to keep his voice calm and even.

"That's fine, thank you. See you soon." And then she hung up.

Miles stood up quickly; he'd have to make sure he looked presentable when he went to Nina's apartment. Making his way to the parking lot, he climbed into the front seat and checked his reflection in the overhead mirror; reluctantly deciding to ruffle his hair and remove his waistcoat, even though both actions almost killed the formal-loving part of him. If a colleague would've seen him now they'd have either laughed or complimented his change in appearance – although Miles prayed that neither would've occurred.

Driving over to Nina's, the chief prosecutor had never been so nervous. It wasn't even like he was about to ask her on a date – or was he? It wasn't impossible to do so but Miles wasn't even prepared. He should've come armed with flowers or chocolates and his appearance still didn't look right. Casual just didn't suit him.

Amongst the chaos of preparing to see the brunette, Miles had forgotten the purpose of the drive to her apartment: the purse. Once he had arrived outside Nina's house after 40 minutes of panicking in his office and panicking in his car, Miles checked under the seat for Nina's purse; sure enough, he found it, although the contents had spilled out onto the car floor. Amongst these was the $5 note Nina had spoken of, her driving licence, painkillers of some sort and a small photo of a young boy in school uniform – presumably Nina's son Oliver. Miles put these safely back in the purse before glancing at himself in the mirror yet again – still anxious about his appearance not being casual. It pained him to do so but the chief prosecutor removed his cravat from around his neck in an attempt to seem much less formal. It did work. But Miles almost felt naked without all his layers of clothing.

He sighed to himself, feeling foolish to even believe that he'd have a chance at winning Nina's affections, before he buzzed up to her apartment from the ground floor. "H-Hello Miss Forester, it's Miles Edgeworth…"

"Hey there Mr Chief Prosecutor, come on up. It's number nine." She unlocked the door and Miles headed up the stairs – staying away from the elevator – and was outside Nina's door in just under 5 minutes. In fact, she was waiting outside the door for him. "What took you so long? Is the lift not working? And what happened to your hair? Is it windy outside?"

"I-I have your purse…" Miles handed it to Nina in order to change the conversation, feeling a little disheartened.

"Thank you." She smiled at the man in front of her. "Would you like to come in for some tea or orange juice?"

Miles nodded, his face bearing a slight hint of a blush.

"Great, well come on in. Make yourself at home and all that jazz." Nina held the door open for Miles and he followed her inside; she seemed like her usual chirpy self and it was almost as if her vulnerable side hadn't been revealed to him the night before.

The first thing Miles picked up on was that Nina was quite messy; either she didn't have the time to clean or she didn't have the tolerance. Either way, the scattered cds across the coffee table and the cardboard boxes scattered around the floor certainly painted a picture of the brunette. He glanced over some of the albums, only recognising the names of a couple of the bands and even then he'd never listened to any of their songs.

"You'll have to excuse the mess." Nina called from the other side of the room, noticing Miles' glances. "I'm deciding to sell lots of old things since I've not got enough room in this pokey apartment." She explained, walking over with two cups of tea and a plate of biscuits balanced on a silver tray. She blinked at him, glancing him over. "Where's your cravat?"

"Oh…t-they were all being washed today…" Miles lied quickly, blushing under Nina's gaze.

"That's a shame. I like your cravats; they're very posh and make you look dapper even if they look like frilly tissues."

Miles couldn't help but smile at Nina's realness. As always she was being genuine in everything she was saying. And she didn't care so long as she spoke the truth.

She joined him on the sofa and handed him his tea, which was in a Homer Simpson mug. "Yeah, Chris took the fine china so all my current kitchen ware was bought before I even met him." She held up her mug with Mickey Mouse's face on it. "I think my dad bought me this one almost fifteen years ago, I've only just started drinking from it." Nina sighed, "I know you probably don't want to believe it because the law is superior and all but my dad was a good man. He was a good father and husband and definitely not a murderer." She smiled sadly, "but you didn't come here to hear that. Although if you came for good company, you might be a bit disappointed."

The chief prosecutor shook his head, "I do enjoy talking to you. Your anecdotes are particularly intriguing." He'd paid attention to every word that Nina had said; drawn in by her genuine smile and soft accent.

Nina laughed, clearly amused by his comment. "I wouldn't call them intriguing. They're daft and immature; I'd have thought you wouldn't approve, Mr Chief prosecutor." She then widened her eyes and smacked Miles on the knee. "Hey, did I ever tell you about the time me and my brother climbed into a port-a-potty and rolled down a hill?"

Miles was stunned but couldn't stop himself from chuckling. "That's…that's so amusing yet so stupid."

"To be fair, we were wasted." Nina added with a smirk. "My arm was in a cast for weeks after that."

The pair of them couldn't stop laughing as Nina told Miles stories from her adolescence regarding late-night parties and embarrassing moments; the tea and biscuits had soon gone and Miles had forgotten all about work.

"So what about you?"

Miles blushed, her question taking him aback. "What about me?"

"I hardly know anything about you. You know all about my daily misfortunes and yet I know very little about you."

"There's hardly anything worth saying. I'm just the chief prosecutor for the district. I like tea and chess, that's really all there is to know." Miles couldn't stop stuttering; he didn't want to tell Nina too much about his well-concealed past, she'd have treated him completely different because of it. Telling her would make him weak.

"Well I think there's much more to you than meets the eye, Mr Chief Prosecutor." Nina smiled and tilted her head to the side. "I'm sure I'll crack the code sooner or later."

Just then, Miles' mobile phone rang: Detective Gumshoe. He excused himself and answered it impatiently. "What is it Detective?"

"Mr Edgeworth, you should've been at the prosecutor's meeting twenty minutes ago! Where are you sir?"

"I'm…at Miss Forester's apartment." He mentally groaned, knowing that Gumshoe and everyone else would make fun of him later.

"Are you two dating sir?!" Gumshoe exclaimed on the other end, clearly excited by this fantasy.

"Of course not, Detective. I'll be right there."

"But, Mr Edgeworth sir—" Miles hung up quickly.

"You're busy huh?" Nina stood up, "I'd expect nothing more from Mr Chief Prosecutor."

"You're always welcome to visit me at the Prosecutor's office if you have the time…" He smiled and set down his mug, preparing to leave.

"I'm still looking for a job so I've got all the time in the world." She went over to the door to see Miles out. "Good luck with your meeting, Mr Chief Prosecutor."

"Thank you. Good day Miss Forester." Miles headed out of the door and began walking down the corridor, smiling contently at how the afternoon had gone.

"It's Nina..!" She called after him, a grin was on the brunette's face when he turned around to look at her.

Miles was so pleased with how things had gone; he'd remained calm for the most part and he and Nina seemed to be on good terms once again. Soon she could be offered her job back at the LAPD and hopefully she'd say yes.

Once he'd arrived back at the prosecutor's building – almost an hour late for the meeting – Miles was almost pounced on by an enthusiastic Gumshoe. "Mr Edgeworth sir, the meeting had to be cancelled but how is Nina? Did you tell her how you feel?"

"Detective, for the final time, Miss Forester and I will never have that kind of a relationship. It's strictly an acquaintanceship that we share." Even Miles himself knew that he was completely lying at this point.

"Sir, you don't have to lie to me." Detective Gumshoe smiled and patted his boss' shoulder. "I just want you and Nina to be happy."

What Gumshoe had said stuck with Miles until the early hours of the following morning. Did the detective really think that he was the right person to make his best friend happy? After hours of thinking the whole situation through, the chief prosecutor decided that he'd take Nina out for a nice meal during his lunch hour; she clearly hadn't eaten well in weeks, nor had she left the neighbourhood for a long while – so Miles knew that the brunette would be appreciative of the offer of good food and a nice chat. Maybe more? Perhaps Miles could talk to Nina about the possible spark between them; the one that Gumshoe and Phoenix and apparently half the precinct had picked up on. Well, one step at a time.

However, less than 24 hours later, said steps became miles.

Nina Forester was officially pronounced missing at 10:29pm the following night.

A/N

I hope this chapter was cute and all. Well, apart from the last part of course. I do think that Nina's whereabouts are a little too obvious though but I'm not that creative so I apologise for that. Still, there will be plenty of drama during the next few chapters.