Epilogue
Although Klavier had been found not guilty of intentionally harming Apollo, the jury having agreed with Apollo that he could decide, there were other related matters that sent Klavier back to the courthouse in the following days. For one, he had been in possession of a controlled substance which he was using recreationally; since he was not a habitual offender, he was sentenced to a brief probation period and mandatory enrollment in a rehabilitation program. It wasn't terribly necessary, given how many eyes were on him to make sure that he didn't slip up (not even counting the press, who would have no doubt enjoyed continuing the scandal; to their dismay, Klavier didn't agree), and he had no intention of doing so, but the counseling was appreciated.
For another, his behavior during Bell's trial - until the end, anyhow - could have been considered obstruction of justice. But then again, he had never actually lied while in court, and he had confessed in the end. The prosecutors' office decided that under the circumstances, this was highly unlikely to happen again, but they couldn't possibly let it slide either. Klavier was placed on three months unpaid leave, his return contingent on successfully finishing out his probation and the program, and further sentenced to a certain amount of community service.
Klavier didn't mind the community service at all - it got him out into the public eye, where he could get back to being his usual charming self (it was much easier as his dependence on Docidone ceased, making him feel less miserable) and rebuild his professional image while doing something to help others. And with three months off, he had plenty of time.
A month into it, he already had an idea about what to do with the next two months.
It was a warm summer day - not unbearable, but warm enough that Klavier didn't feel like doing much of anything besides lounging around on the couch at his family's manor, noodling around on one of his guitars. Apollo was at the far end, once again writing in his notebook, which was settled on top of Klavier's bare feet, which were in his lap. It was all so normal and comfortable that Klavier could almost forget anything had ever happened between them.
Except, of course, that he couldn't. He hoped he never would.
"You know," he mused, strumming a few chords idly, "I don't know if you remember, but while you were asleep, I promised that I would write you a song if you would just wake up. I've spent a lot of time thinking about it..."
Apollo raised an eyebrow, looking up from his notebook for a moment. "You came up with something?"
"Ja, did I ever. Inspiration's struck hard, with all this time off - I'm going to kick off my solo career by turning 'Love's Rehabilitation' into a full-length concept album, instead of just a single."
"...Wasn't I supposed to be the one coming up with ways to punish you?" Apollo muttered, going back to his notebook.
Klavier grinned. "You were," he agreed. "But it's been a month, and I haven't heard anything about it."
Apollo shrugged. "I was waiting for you to get over the withdrawal."
"The worst of it was over even before the trial."
"And then you had another trial, and the stuff going on at the prosecutor's office."
"Over in a few more days, Forehead."
"And then we were busy moving." Apollo paused in his writing. "Trucy's really happy, you know. She's never lived in a house before. Much less a place like this."
"I'm glad I could do something nice for her. Besides, despite what Kristoph thought, the manor is too big for just one person. Or even two." Klavier picked out a little riff, his mind drifting. "...Think she's forgiven me yet?"
"I think she forgave you as soon as she knew I was safe," Apollo replied. "If not then, then she forgave you when she knew that I intended to try to make this work out, instead of just writing you off. It's really our business, after all."
"You're not conducting business, though," Klavier observed. "You still haven't come up with any punishment for me."
"I did make good on my threat to make you walk funny for awhile when I was feeling up to it," Apollo reminded him with a smirk.
"...That wasn't exactly punishment, ja?"
He grinned back at Apollo, until Apollo's smirk softened. "Honestly... I don't know."
"Don't know what?"
"If I'll be able to come up with something." Apollo nibbled at the tip of his pen absently. "...What's the point of punishment, anyway?"
"You're asking a prosecutor," Klavier pointed out. "If anyone knows how important punishment is, it's a prosecutor."
"What is the point, then?" Apollo asked, seriously. "Tell me, in general terms - why do we punish people who do things they shouldn't?"
"To start with, it's a deterrent. It keeps criminals from repeating their crimes, either by teaching them a lesson or keeping them behind bars, if necessary."
"And that's not necessary in your case," Apollo replied easily. "I already know you're not going to do it again."
"There's also an aspect of restitution in most sentences," Klavier added. "Usually monetary, but sometimes it comes in the form of service."
"You paid my hospital bills, including all the follow-up, and then said Phoenix could move into your family's manor if he wanted somewhere bigger than the office for the three of us. And ever since I've woken up, you've been taking care of everything I even imply that I might want."
"Ja, because I owe you. I nearly killed you," Klavier insisted. "The other reason punishment is important is so that the criminal will feel some of the victim's pain, rather than remaining unaffected."
"You're right," Apollo stated, finally setting his notebook aside on the coffee table. "And I saw how much pain you were in when I woke up. I can only imagine what it was like when no one was sure I would."
Klavier sat up properly, leaning the guitar against the end of the couch so he could rest his head in his hands. "You know... they told me in rehab that when you're coming out of a difficult addiction, there's a point you reach where you don't care about anything else in the world - you just want another fix. I hit rock bottom while I was still in jail, while you were still asleep. The days before the trial were the worst in my life... but as much as I wanted those pills, that want wasn't the worst."
Klavier felt a hand rest on his back as Apollo scooted closer. "Yeah...?"
"What really got to me was wanting you. Despite how terrible I felt, I wouldn't have cared about any pills, if you'd just been there to hold me... Phoenix let me hold onto your notebook and your pillow, and that helped some, but..."
The hand moved to his shoulder as Apollo put an arm around him. "...You're not exactly motivating me to punish you further, you know. And if you're done listing off the benefits of punishment, you might notice that you've already been through every one of them."
"I did almost kill you," Klavier repeated. "I never was in danger for my life - how is that fair?"
"Look." The hand on his shoulder tightened, and Apollo turned Klavier to face him with a serious look. "You don't like seeing me hurt, obviously. I don't like seeing you hurt either. So the more you suffer, the more I suffer with you. You didn't kill me. I got better, and we moved on - or at least I did. If I tried to do something just to make you feel worse over it at this point, it would just be petty revenge, not 'fair'. And as for endangering your life - how could I do that? It's pretty obvious I don't want you to die."
"...Heh."
Apollo's eyes narrowed. "What?"
"I just remembered," Klavier said, averting his eyes slightly. "I was in danger for my life... I thought about swallowing the rest of those pills before my confession - I was already high enough that I wasn't afraid to die. But I didn't do it, only because you hadn't been allowed the choice of whether or not to overdose, and so my getting to choose life or death for myself wouldn't be fair."
"...Kind of stupid reasoning," Apollo muttered, "but I'm glad you didn't."
"Phoenix was too." Klavier looked up again, meeting Apollo's eyes. "And I wasn't so sure I'd made the right decision, but he told me that someday you'd tell me I had."
"He can be weird... but sometimes he's pretty smart." After a second, Apollo smiled and nudged him. "Hey... that night, weren't you telling me that I needed to lighten up and relax and stop worrying so much?"
"Heh... You remember now?" Klavier smiled a little too at the memory. "It seems like years ago."
"I remember a little, now that I've got that notebook back and can see what I was writing. I actually wished I could relax. But you know, after all of this? All the things I was worried about seem smaller. I could have done without the coma," he added dryly, "but I am more content with everything I have now."
"And I needed to get serious and deal with my issues instead of running from them, ja?" He shrugged, leaning his head against Apollo's. "Mission accomplished?"
"Just as long as neither of us go overboard," Apollo agreed, reaching up to brush Klavier's hair out of his own face.
"And I suppose I'll never get you to go clubbing with me again," Klavier sighed, "no matter how relaxed you might be."
Apollo made a face. "Yeah, I'm kind of soured on the club scene at this point. ...But you know," he added more thoughtfully, "if you went back, I really couldn't let you go by yourself."
"Why do you say that?"
"I've been reading through what I missed while I was unconscious," Apollo told him, his smirk slowly returning. "And now I'm a little concerned about what would happen if someone did spike your drink. After all, Bell was right - you are kind of a slut."
Klavier clutched a hand to his heart, wounded... and used the other to bop Apollo on the forehead. The resulting playful scuffle ended when the two of them managed to roll off the couch, and Apollo grinned down at Klavier pinned beneath him. "Only for you, schatzi," Klavier told him, somewhat belatedly, grinning back.
"Now that you mention it, I did threaten to make you walk funny for a week, didn't I?" Apollo observed. "You were only walking funny for about a day and a half."
"I like it when you get picky about the details," Klavier admitted, and glanced up at the clock for a moment. Phoenix and Trucy were over at the office - they probably had a couple of hours.
Caught up as they were in the moment, neither of them heard the keys in the lock, or anything at all until the door opened a few minutes later and Trucy came bouncing in. "Polly, are you home?" she called. "Good ne-oh! Uh, uhm, sorry! Sorry!"
Red-faced, Apollo pushed himself up off Klavier and grabbed for his shirt, sitting up from behind the coffee table in a hurry. "Errrr..."
"Hey, you two." In sharp contrast to Trucy and Apollo, Phoenix greeted them as if everything were perfectly normal, and the two young men had not just been caught rolling around on the floor with their shirts off.
At least it had only progressed that far, Klavier thought, more amused than embarrassed, and gave him a little wave as he sat up too. "I thought you were going to be at the office for awhile yet."
"We were planning on it, but as Trucy said, we've got good news," Phoenix informed them, with a nod to his daughter, who was just barely peeking through her fingers. "A case popped up today that seems clear enough at a glance, but I think it merits further investigation."
"...You couldn't just phone about these kinds of things, could you?" Apollo grumbled, putting his shirt back on.
"It's right up your alley, Apollo," Phoenix told him. "If you're feeling up to it."
Apollo nodded slowly. "I'm fine. A little unprepared for getting back to work today, but..."
"Tomorrow's all right," Phoenix assured him. "And that's not the only good news I've got. At least, I'm pretty sure you'll think this is good news too... I've been keeping in touch with Lamiroir, and she was planning to be in the area in a couple of weeks, to check in with Machi, and she'd like to visit with us."
"Seriously?" Trucy exclaimed, uncovering her eyes in surprise. "You didn't tell me about that!"
"I figured I'd wait until we were all together," Phoenix said with a little smile. "She said she was especially pleased to hear that you and Apollo liked that lullaby on the album she'd been working on, and now she's newly inspired to put the finishing touches on it. She said," he added, looking to Klavier, "that she would love to have some guitar and maybe some more vocals in the mix, if you're willing."
"Wow... that's incredible! Would you do it, Mr. Gavin?"
Klavier glanced over at Apollo, who was still looking a bit embarrassed. "It would force me to take a little break from working on my concept album..."
Apollo shook his head. "That's okay - I'd like to hear you do a duet with her. And I suspect it would be less... loud."
"In that case, I would be honored." Trucy had no problem looking at the two of them now that Apollo had his shirt back on, Klavier observed. In fact, she was looking right at him, and he thought she might be trying to wash out the mental image of her brother flushed and sweating and shirtless with the image of him flushed and sweating in nothing but a pair of boot-cut jeans. It was, he had been told, a pleasant image.
"She'll be glad to hear that. Oh, and another thing - I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here," Phoenix added, "but now that we're living somewhere a lot bigger and nicer than the old office, it occurred to me that she might like to stay with us while she's in town. It seems like this place has more than enough room."
"Not that I'd say no anyway, but it's your decision," Klavier pointed out. "After all, I was ready to put the Gavin manor up for sale until it occurred to me your office apartment was a little small for three people, all of whom who I owe a great debt to. It's yours now."
"Well, yeah," Trucy admitted, "but you're still in your old room here. And even if we're living here too... I mean, it belongs to your family. Or at least it used to."
It had, Klavier thought, looking around at the familiar walls, and the occasionally less familiar furnishings - Trucy had immediately declared the place gloomy, and already had put up new gauzy curtains, which were drawn back to let the sun in. Not to mention the pile of Trucy's strangely-shaped props that still hadn't found a permanent home within the manor, and the pile of documents Apollo had been reviewing, and the stacks of DVDs - and the assorted trinkets and souvenirs Edgeworth had bought Phoenix and Trucy during his days overseas, arranged on mismatched shelves, and the large vintage figure from some samurai show on the piano, brought by an old friend of Phoenix's as a housewarming present. It was kind of a mess now (except for the bathrooms - Phoenix was either making excuses for checking the medicine cabinets on a regular basis, or he had an unhealthy fixation on keeping the toilets spotless), but despite Klavier's having grown up in a much tidier and more cohesive version of this same home, he thought he liked it better this way.
"I think it still does," Phoenix told Trucy, with a little smile for Klavier. "Wouldn't you say?"
"Ja," Klavier agreed, ignoring Apollo's slightly mystified look as he put an arm around his shoulders. "I'd say so."