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Chapter 21

A Dining In

They lay there groggy from a nap in the deepening light of the afternoon. No one had come to disturb them and Miles thought with relief that Lang must have known to keep away and distract Adrian and Lauren.

He could hear Phoenix's stomach growling audibly now and Miles turned to look at him. Phoenix was lying flat on his back with his hands behind his head and staring blankly at the ceiling. He'd grown leaner in recent weeks—almost too much so. It made all of his muscles stand out with stark definition, and it might have impressed some people, but all it did was make Miles worry about him all the more.

They'd gone twice more and had fallen asleep debating as to whether or not they should order room service.

"It's after five," Phoenix said to the ceiling, "I guess we should get ready for this thing."

"Yes," Miles replied unmoving. He'd much rather not go out in so grand a hotel, with only the meager and inadequate luggage he'd brought. Besides, there was only one officer in the Air Wing that drew his interest.

Phoenix got up and went to the foot of the bed and started digging in the beat up black duffle he had. Instead of clothing he pulled out a can of Mountain Dew. He held it up to Miles in a silent toast and then popped it open to drink. Miles smiled at the ceiling, they really ought to get dressed and get down there. He rolled out of bed and threw the covers back into place looking for the tee shirt he'd tossed off earlier.

"Oh man, that's better," Phoenix stifled a burp and set the can on the dresser beside his toiletry kit.

Miles chuckled at him, "I was curious about that," he slipped his tee shirt over his head, "The Chiefs were giving out soda on the pier, why did you pay for that?"

Somehow in the short space of time it had taken him to find and put on his tee shirt, Phoenix had managed to get on his shorts and a pair of jeans, and he was in the midst of cinching a wide leather belt at his hips just below that angle of muscle above his hip bone. Hopefully, he wasn't gawking too obviously at him, and Miles was a little relieved when Phoenix didn't spare him a glance before turning to grab the soda can off of the dresser and returned to show it to him up close.

Miles frowned, it certainly looked like a Mountain Dew can, but the letters made no sense, "I don't get it. Is it Borginian Mountain Dew?"

"Yeah," Phoenix grinned and turned the can in his hands, "Here it's made with real sugar, instead of corn syrup. So much better—"

"Hey," they both turned, startled, neither of them had heard the door open, but there was Lang grinning at them, "Adrian insisted that I come up to check on you two. There's that thing with the CAG… Everyone is already hanging out and dinner is at six."

"We're almost ready," Miles called to him sliding on his khakis from earlier before digging into his bag for a decent shirt.

"Is that thermal underwear?" Miles looked up at Lang when he asked and saw him standing near Phoenix tugging at the smooth thin fabric of the long sleeved undershirt Phoenix was tucking into his pants.

"Yeah, I get cold a lot lately," Phoenix smiled at Lang, "I use this thing on the plane all the time it's awesome."

"Ah," Lang nodded and Miles could see him studying Phoenix appraisingly, "and you're going to wear this over it?"

Miles groaned and started buttoning the shirt he'd decided to wear.

"Miles! You nerd," Lang barked at him, "What's with the business casual? I thought this was a party?"

Miles glared and Phoenix laughed, buttoning his own simple dress shirt, "Miles you look fine."

Lang made a noise and walked over to him and started poking around in his bag, "Ugh… hopeless…"

"It's fine," Phoenix had come around to tug at Miles' arm, "Lets go, I want to eat."

"This isn't right," Lang grumbled as he followed them out the door.

Lang led them to the elevators and was shocked when Phoenix explained they'd rather take the stairs. Lang glared at Miles, "Let me guess, you're clithrophobic too?"

Phoenix held up an arm before Miles could reply, "I am. I can't stand elevators."

Lang made a face at him, "Aren't you a fighter pilot?"

Phoenix shrugged, "So not the same thing. I'm in control of the plane, she's mine. She obeys my every command. Sitting in a little metal box dangling from a cable is way scarier than that."

Miles could feel his heart rate pick up at Phoenix's description and Lang grimaced.

"Huh," Lang grunted, "Stairs are fine."

It didn't take them quite as long going down, and despite the tedious turning and the monotony of the stairwell, they were all in relatively good spirits when they exited the into the main lobby. Once there, Lang took the lead, having just spent a few hours exploring the hotel, and ushered them toward the ballroom and into the bustling antechamber.

It hadn't been decorated elaborately, but there was a general palette of blue and gold, an homage to the Navy. Most of them were dressed nicely but not formally in tasteful civilian attire and Miles was relieved he didn't really stand out too much in his pressed khaki pants and a maroon button down shirt.

"What's the occasion anyway?" Miles asked as he stared out over the crowd. In spite of the casual dress, and the mingling of the crowd, it seemed almost too obvious this was a military gathering. There were just too many clean cut men and women here.

Phoenix stuck his hands in his pockets and scrutinized the gathering, "It's just sort of a 'dining in'. The only occasion is we're off of that boat. But if you ask me, CAG is trying to keep us all together so she can keep an eye on us. Last deployment we had two Air Wing officers arrested in Istanbul."

Miles frowned, "Clever woman, your CAG."

Phoenix shrugged, "It is what it is, at least we're allowed outside. After the incident last deployment we were confined to the pier. No overnight Liberty for anyone in the Air Wing below Command level."

They stood a moment longer and then Phoenix tapped his arm, "Come on, there's someone I want you to meet."

Miles followed him through the crowd of people—their party was at least three-hundred strong—finding himself tickled at the number of other officers that stopped to greet Phoenix, or shake his hand. He was popular among the other Air Wing officers and carried himself with an easy self-confidence that seemed to buoy the others he interacted with. His open demeanor and a friendly smile made him stand out among this group of mostly pilots of one kind or another.

A few of the people they met greeted him as the JAG—probably having recognized him from the port brief. But most of the attention they received was for Phoenix specifically.

"Dude," Larry slid in beside Phoenix shoving Miles to the rear, "Where have you been?"

Phoenix stopped walking even as Larry threw an arm over his shoulders as if to direct him, Miles could see him turn to look for him, "Come on Larry…"

"You don't have a beer yet man, let me get you a beer," Larry said and tipped the one he had in his hand back, emptying it into his mouth.

"Yeah, okay Larry," Phoenix had managed to get out from under Larry's arm and was craning his neck now looking for him.

"I'm right here," Miles said and he smiled at the unwarranted concern on his face.

Phoenix grabbed his arm, just above the elbow, "I don't want to lose you," and pulled him back into step ducking away from Larry and continuing toward the opposite wall, where several men and a woman were standing and talking.

Besides the obvious difference in their ages, there was a note of power and command around that particular group. Phoenix let go of his arm suddenly and Miles felt him stiffen noticeably as they approached. The crowd was thinner here, so they had less of an issue approaching them.

"Sir," Phoenix greeted the nearest officer, a tall lean man wearing a pin-striped vest over a red shirt. He was deeply tanned and his handsome face wore a smirk as he looked out over the group. When he turned to look at Phoenix, his smile widened into a grin.

"Nick Wright," he offered his hand in greeting, "Glad you came out."

"Sir, this is—" Phoenix started to turn toward Miles.

"JAG," The man offered his hand to shake, "Lieutenant Edgeworth, isn't it?"

Miles felt a flutter of apprehension, he'd never seen this man before, "Yes, sir."

"Miles, this is Commander Armando," Phoenix said with his eyes still widened at the revelation Commander Armando knew who Miles was, "He's the Air Wing CSO."

Commander Armando gripped his hand firmly and gave him a dark appraising look and then grinned before releasing his hand.

"Nice of you to join us," Commander Armando chuckled, "Hopefully none of these guys cause you any headache."

"Lieutenant Edgeworth, what a pleasant surprise," CAG herself had turned to shake his hand then, and Phoenix's eyes almost bugged out of his head.

"Ma'am," Miles said.

"Of course you know the ship's XO, Captain Gant and our XO, Commander Gary?"

Miles shook hands with each of them in turn, "Sir, good evening."

Phoenix gaped at him incredulously, and CAG smiled.

"Lieutenant Wright, I see you've met the Strike Group JAG."

"Yeah," he said, "Um, yes ma'am. We go way back…"

Miles shot him a warning glare, and then smiled, "It's very kind of you to organize this, Ma'am."

She laughed congenially, "And I'm glad you had the courtesy to join us."

Phoenix looked like he was about to throw up then and Miles made excuses politely and pulled Phoenix away from the group.

"Seriously?" Phoenix hissed at him in an undertone, "How do you know like all of my leadership?"

Miles smirked at him, "Perhaps I seem a bit out of place on the ship. But I am the JAG, or as you so blatantly put it the other day, 'a Command Assistant'. I at least understand my duties in that regard."

Phoenix laughed at him and turned to go back into the crowd, "Oh boy… I need a beer."

"Oh now," Miles followed after him, "Don't tell me you're upset about that."

"No," Phoenix paused to meet his eye, "I just didn't think—I'm a little surprised you know?"

"I have to go to all the staff meetings, so I see them almost every day. I report to the Admiral weekly, most weeks."

"And here I thought you were just a lawyer…" Phoenix laughed again and made his way to one of the bar lines where a liveried native man was serving drinks. Phoenix ordered a beer and had Miles carry a second one for him as they pushed through the crowd toward the dinner tables set up in the ballroom.

They'd only just entered when Adrian called out and waved them over to the large round table she was sharing with Lauren, Larry, Doug, and Lang. Miles glanced over the empty seats at the table, it sat twelve, and there were at least thirty such tables crammed around the perimeter of the ballroom, with a parquet dance floor in the center flanked by a scaffold of lights hung over DJ table. The scope was jaw-dropping, even more so when he considered the ship had just pulled in that morning, so much of the planning for this event must have been coordinated while they were still at sea.

"Where'd you chuckleheads disappear to?" Lang gave them a pointed look, "I thought you were right behind me."

"We stopped for a quickie on the way over," Phoenix dropped himself into the chair next to Adrian and leaned over and smiled, "Hi."

She grinned at him and blew him a kiss.

Miles sat on Lang's other side still grimacing at Phoenix's comment, "Phoenix wanted me to meet the Air Wing CSO."

Phoenix shrugged, "He already knows everybody. I wish he would've warned me."

"He's the JAG," Lang said and sipped what looked like cold tea with no ice, "The Air Wing really knows how to dine out."

"It's a dining in," Phoenix said and took a drought from his beer.

"It's nice, this CAG is amazing," Adrian piped in and stirred her drink, smiling before turning to Phoenix, "So Nick, what did you get up to today? I thought you guys were going to meet us for lunch?"

Miles blushed hearing her question and Lang bumped his arm, stifling a laugh. Phoenix glanced at him and then looked at Adrian, "Ah… I was tired… it's a nice change to sleep in a real bed."

"Was it restful?" Lang asked innocently and Miles glared sidelong at him.

"Yeah," Phoenix said studying the label on his beer, "what did you guys end up doing?"

"There's a Japanese restaurant here in the hotel," Adrian said, "We had some pretty amazing sushi."

"Nice," Phoenix quipped absently and took another swig from his beer.

"Then Lang took us to the spa—there's a spa here too," Lauren said, "We had a 'massage a trois'," she giggled and Miles met Lang's eye inquiringly.

Lang gave him an innocent look in reply and shrugged at him.

"Dude, why didn't you tell us?" Larry asked with no small amount of disappointment. Lauren and Adrian laughed and shared a look with each other.

"Nah," Lang smirked, "too much sausage."

"I don't think Kiyance would like that anyway," Doug said dully.

Phoenix laughed out loud.

"Who's Kiyance?" Lang leaned forward and turned his wolfish stare on Larry.

"Kiyance Parker?" Adrian clarified and raised her eyebrows at him.

Phoenix had his beer raised toward his mouth, but he shot the group a mischievous grin instead, "That's his imaginary girlfriend."

Doug slammed the table triumphantly, "I knew it!"

"Nick!" Larry protested, "you've met her!"

Miles sat back as they continued their abuse of Larry with Lang goading them on. He didn't care about whether or not Larry was dating this actress that he'd never heard of. But it was nice to watch Phoenix relax among his friends.

"When something stinks…" Phoenix was saying and the rest of the group laughed, except Larry who was starting to pout and Miles who hadn't been listening.

"You're awful quiet," Lang turned to him and ducked his head, "Is everything good?"

Miles met his eye and nodded, "We're just hungry…"

Lang chuckled and sipped at his drink, "Your own fault, lawyer-boy."

"What are you drinking? I thought—"

Lang grimaced, "It's just iced tea—minus the ice, because Borginia is lame."

The group erupted in another burst of laughter and Miles looked up in time to see the waitress approach their table.

"Good evenink," she smiled catching the table's attention, "And velcome to Borginia! We are having tree shoises 'dis evenink. I am takink your selections 'dis evenink, yes?"

"Tree shoises?" Phoenix whispered loudly toward Adrian.

"What are our three choices?" Miles asked politely and the waitress beamed at him.

"Yes, ve are havink shicken, beevs, and ze fish."

"Let me point out that Borginia does not have the land required for bovine husbandry… I'd recommend the fish," Lang announced lazily to the others.

They stared around at each other and at Lang then the waitress and back.

"Chicken what?" Doug spat out finally, basically asking the question everyone else was too polite to ask.

"Ah," she held up an index finger, "vait vun."

She turned abruptly and walked away from their table.

"Wait one," Phoenix mimicked and Adrian mouthed the phrase with her index finger raised. Miles frowned.

"Somebody likes ze sailors…" Lang chuckled.

They were startled by the arrival of Matt and Juan each leading a local woman dressed for a ball. They sat without greeting anyone or introducing their dates, though after a moment's thought, Juan looked around at them and said, "Sorry we're late."

"Sorry you came," Lauren huffed in an undertone and Adrian covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.

Miles sighed and looked across the table at Phoenix, he too looked sullen and had slid his empty beer bottle toward the center of the table and started on his second one. The waitress returned with a menu card showing the selections for the catered banquet, though chicken, beef, and fish were mostly accurate insofar as a description of their options. At his request, the waitress produced a wine list, and Lang peered over his shoulder to peruse the wine selections with him.

"Wine, Miles?"

"Hmmm," Miles nodded absently, he was focused on studying the wine list, "It seems I may need to be fortified for this."

Lang laughed loud enough for the others at the table to pause and look at him and he grinned defiantly at them in reply, "The wine is funny here too."

"Who are you?" Matt spoke up loud enough to startle the people sitting at the next table over. Miles looked up in sudden concern and glanced first at Lang and then at Phoenix.

"He's my friend," Phoenix said in quiet nonchalance and drank his beer.

"Yo, he was at the pier, Okay?" Juan said leaning over the Borginian woman to stare at Matt, "it's cool. He's with us."

Lang only smiled, not taking any offense, and sipped his tea.

"Hey, Wright," Matt said leering at him, "Where've you been all day, man?"

"Oh the usual," Phoenix smirked at him, "doing my best to avoid you guys."

Phoenix's response drew laughter from the rest of the table, but Miles' thought he saw Matt's expression sour momentarily.

"Aren't you going to introduce your friends?" Adrian asked looking pointedly at Matt.

He gave her an unctuous grin, "I thought we could do that later, Andrews, when it's just the three of us."

She lifted her chin insolently at him, "No thank you."

Juan cleared his throat and in an obvious effort to diffuse the situation, he stood and dragged the woman he was with to stand with him, "Hadrina here is a local actress and movie star. Darling," he continued, addressing the woman, "These guys are in the Navy too."

"You are all pilots, like Juan?" She looked around the table brightly and smiled. She was rather plain featured and not very exotic, Borginia was quite westernized, but she was made up prettily and her gown and accessories certainly lent her a bit of glamour. She caught Miles studying her and must've mistaken his curiosity because her smile widened as her gaze lingered on him.

"Er, no," he said and pointedly looked away from her, "I'm not."

Matt swung his thumb in Lang's direction with a casual grin and said, "Neither is that guy. He works somewhere inside the ship."

Miles glanced over at Lang, feeling offended for him. The other aviators were glaring at Matt. Lang only chuckled in good nature and took a drink from his tea.

Phoenix was frowning slightly at Lang when he turned to Matt, "He protects the ship," he said simply and then glanced at Miles, "He protects the Navy. Neither of them should be brushed off so casually."

No one said anything while Phoenix finished his second beer, but Matt's look clouded noticeably, Phoenix's rebuke he'd been aimed at him. He crossed his arms suddenly and Miles felt Lang stiffen beside him. Phoenix was staring at the center of the table rolling the empty beer bottle in his hands his expression stern.

Matt slammed the table suddenly and all of the women reacted with shock, then he stood and walked away grumbling. Lang raised an eyebrow inquisitively but Miles only shook his head. Phoenix set his beer bottle on the table and studied it with too much scrutiny.

"Dude," Larry was looking at Juan, "Did something happen?"

Juan shook his head, "Who knows?"

The awkwardness at the table was broken by the arrival of their meals, and except for Juan and the two Borginian women who hadn't yet made their selections, they all busied themselves spreading napkins and arranging silverware. Adrian paused with her fork midair and glanced around inquiringly.

"I'm not waiting for him, if that what he thinks," Phoenix muttered stiffly at his plate before tucking in.

Conversations quieted noticeably while they ate, and Miles looked around in amusement to see the incongruous discipline with which the officers ate. Well, they did refer to Officer Training as 'Fork and Knife School'.

As they finished their meals, conversations began to build back up and drinks were being served at the tables. Miles sipped his wine and watched quietly as Doug relayed some anecdote about a port visit earlier in deployment, before he'd come aboard. He wasn't listening, it didn't interest or concern him. Matt's abandoned date, eventually introduced as Naterinka, stood and sat on Phoenix's other side to try and get a better vantage of the conversation.

The waitress set another glass of wine in front of him just as he finished the current one. Lang stifled a yawn and crossed his arms.

"Is something else expected to happen?" Miles asked him.

"When we have a dining out, the XO usually addresses us and then we're left to our own devices," he met Miles' eye, "I've never done this with the Air Wing—in a foreign port no less. The Captain is here too, so who knows?"

The group started laughing at something Larry had added to Doug's story and Miles looked up to see Phoenix staring at him from across the table. Phoenix dropped his gaze immediately and made as if he was listening to Doug's story.

The room quieted again and CAG and her XO walked to the front of the room to stand under the scaffolding above the DJ booth.

They'd barely taken their places when the room erupted in some chant that Miles, in his surprise, couldn't make out. Something to do with flight and fight. He glanced at Lang who had a very amused grin on his face. The two of them addressed the team, praising their work and their efforts.

"You guys put your lives on the line every day," Miles hadn't really been listening but he looked up at that. He glanced over at Phoenix, but he was turned to listen to the CAG, and Miles only saw back of his spiky-haired head.

"The sacrifices you make for your Navy—your country are immense," Miles swallowed, startled at his sudden emotion. Maybe it was the wine. Maybe it was the passionate moments they'd shared only a few short hours ago.

Commander Gary was speaking now relaying the biography of a Naval Aviator Miles' had never heard of. A loud sob broke on the other side of the room and the other pilots stood as the XO asked them for a moment of silence to remember.

He and Lang stood out of courtesy, and they shared the grim solemnity that hushed the room, but they were outsiders. Miles studied Phoenix's back, his head was down shoulders squared. Miles longed to look into that face, to hear how he felt about the risk—truly felt. It wasn't a secret, there was always going to be risk.

He didn't know why it suddenly bothered him so much.

A/N: Thanks for Reading! O.o

Clithrophobic does not mean elevator phobia…

Disclaimer: Ace Attorney and all characters are copyright by CAPCOM; I'm just a fan imitating. The stories presented are influenced by the multiple games as well as the comic (Manga written by Kenji Kuroda).