Maya fussed over the sign in her hands, balancing awkwardly on the revolving office chair as she attempted to tack the string to the wall without plummeting to her death. It was the evening of the party and the office was crammed with people helping to get things perfect for the big moment.
Two weeks had gone by in an absolute flash, with Maya having busied herself with secretly collaborating between the party guests, Gumshoe, and herself. Phoenix had taken on a number of simple pleas through the Public Defender's office to ensure that the bills would be paid, and for that she was grateful—it had taken him out of the office the majority of the time. While there wasn't a whole lot to do leading up to the party, it did make things a great deal easier for her to be able to simply sit at the desk and plan. Across the windowsill from her stood Mike Meekins in all his lanky glory, waiting loyally for instruction.
"Is your side secured? Good. Come over here and hold this chair steady for me while I nail this half in," she grunted at him. She had been genuinely surprised to see him show up, having been convinced that Edgeworth had put the fear of God so far into Meekins' soul that he'd never see the light of day again. Still, she was happy to have him around. He made her laugh. The tack finally seated itself in the drywall and she dusted her hands, accepting the hand that the former officer offered to her to help her down. "Thanks! Whew, I think it's finally coming together!"
She turned and surveyed the tiny office, admiring the collection of officers, prosecutors, lawyers, former clients, and plenty others she couldn't recognize. They had all done a little bit to help set the tone for the surprise, most having brought food or snacks or beverages of some sort. Others brought small gifts or flowers, tokens of warm wishes toward the man formerly known as The Demon Prosecutor. Even she was impressed with the turnout; she had expected maybe six or seven people to show, but they were clearly pushing the capacity of the office at this point. She thought for sure that Mr. Edgeworth would be unable to feel anything other than the warmth of the atmosphere and enjoy himself. How could anyone not fall victim to the cheer in the air?
At that moment, she felt her phone go off in her belts and she fished it out before flipping it open. A text from Gumshoe:
ETA 5. He has no idea. Be rdy.
Maya smiled and tucked the phone away before clapping her hands loudly. The mild din that had risen amongst the party guests, most of whom were already imbibing, settled somewhat quickly as all eyes turned to her. "Alright, everyone! They're 5 minutes out! The eagle is about to land! Places! Places! Somebody get the lights!" There was a flurry of activity in response to her short speech and she squealed to herself, certain of victory. Patting at her belly, she quickly found where she had tucked away a small digital camera and turned it on, readying it to capture the moment when Edgeworth burst in the door, unaware that all of his closest friends and comrades lie ready and waiting to ambush him.
Distantly, she wondered just where Phoenix was, as she had called him to the office to help her to "tidy up some files"… and had asked him to let her know when he was on his way. She congratulated herself on the idea of leaving Pearl with him as a handler—she would ensure that not only would he stay distracted, but that he would ultimately arrive in the first place. It wasn't entirely unlike him to forget or even to deny her request, but tonight of all nights, she wanted nothing left to chance. They had more or less engineered it so that he would have remained at the courthouse with Pearl until the time was right for him to head over, as the structure of their building wasn't nearly strong enough to prevent the lawyer form hearing the din of the crowd through the floor of their apartment. Still, she thought to herself as she settled behind the arm of the couch, this party wasn't exactly for him. It would be okay, if not a little irritating, if he and Pearl were late.
She adjusted her feet a bit so that she could kneel, hiding, but centered in front of the rest of the crowd. She wanted a completely uncompromised shot of the moment of surprise.
A glance at her phone. "Two minutes," she whispered to the crowd, and each second seemed to pass by like an eternity. She tried counting the time down in her head but either counted too quickly or continued losing count, and so she simply waited, heart thundering in her chest. When she heard the distinct, heavy footsteps of Detective Gumshoe lumbering down the hallway, her body tensed and she couldn't resist turning and whispering, "Okay, everyone, this is it! Nice and loud!"
It was as if everything happened in slow motion.
The crank of the doorknob seemed to echo in the deafening silence of the room while everyone held their breath. The door swung painfully slowly and lurched away from the prosecutor's fingertips, gradually opening wider and wider to reveal Miles Edgeworth, stood clutching a briefcase and looking dashing as usual in a navy pea coat and his trademark cravat. The resounding, "Surprise! Welcome home, Mr. Edgeworth!" was loud enough that it seemed to shake the very skeleton in her body. She couldn't have been more proud as she blindly snapped off a few pictures, assaulting the stunned man with the camera flash.
Near immediately, Edgeworth turned on his heel to leave, but was stopped by none other than his faithful detective, whose large frame took up the entire doorway. Maya caught Gumshoe murmuring something silently to the now-furious prosecutor, who very quickly composed himself and turned back to face the party. Upon noticing everyone's eager faces and realizing that the crowd was waiting for a response to their surprise, Edgeworth cleared his throat a few times and tried very hard not to look anybody in the eye.
"Ahem, ah, thank you, everyone. This was…highly unexpected," he began, feeling twice as awkward for having been put on the spot. "I am…flattered…and deeply humbled by this impressive gathering."
Maya watched in dawning horror as Edgeworth tried twice to swallow, clearly uncomfortable. This wasn't the way this was supposed to go at all. Frantic to salvage the situation, she stepped forward, interrupting another stuttering sentence. "Mr. Edgeworth, welcome home! Hey, someone get this guy a drink, how about it?"
There was a cheerful roar from the crowd as everyone raised their own drinks, immediately focused instead on who would have the honor of pouring Miles Edgeworth his first drink upon his triumphant return. Satisfied that she had taken the attention off of him for a moment, she instead turned her gaze quickly to Gumshoe, who was still guarding the door like a bouncer. She glared at him for a moment, flicking her eyes toward the door and back until he reluctantly obliged her by shutting it behind him. Scampering up to the still-stunned prosecutor, Maya wrapped her arms around him, ignoring the way his body tensed up under her touch. "Really, we're glad to have you back. Sorry if you don't like surprises."
Edgeworth at least had the grace to bow his head, still reeling from the ambush. "It…certainly is a spirited display. I can tell that you put a lot of work into it."
Maya beamed at him and turned, insisting on grabbing him a beverage. While her back was to him, Edgeworth turned and fixed a poisonous glare at Gumshoe, who instantly looked as if he would appreciate nothing more than to become the umbrella stand sitting in the corner. The prosecutor felt something being placed into his hand and he looked down to find a glass of wine swirling within his grasp and Maya fluttering away, calling out, "You like wine, right? You seem like a wine guy."
He groaned internally. As Gumshoe stepped forward to hang his coat on the hooks jutting out from the wall, Edgeworth turned to him and growled under the roar of the party, "How long, exactly, are we expected to participate in this, detective?"
As expected, the larger man visibly cringed and scrubbed at the back of his head. "I'm not entirely sure what she had planned for this, sir, I was only in charge of getting the invites out—"
"So you knew about this!?" The words came out in a hiss.
"Ah, yes, sir, I did know, sir," the detective sighed and hung his head, "she was so excited about it I couldn't really say no. You know what she's like."
Forcing himself to take a few deep breaths to get his temper under control, Edgeworth felt his hand clench around his briefcase while he considered his next course of action. The manners instilled in him insisted that he remain for at least one drink to be polite; after all, he had been sincere when he told Maya that it looked like she had put a lot of effort into the event. There was a wide spread of a variety of foods, beverages, gifts, even a punch bowl and a stereo he could tell most certainly did not belong with the office décor.
Most of the faces were ones he only distantly recognized from his time spent mulling over evidence in the Criminal Affairs Department or the Prosecutor's office. The crowd was mingling comfortably, most engaged in avid conversation, though he could already notice that some eyes were beginning to glance over in his direction. He felt a tremendous amount of relief that the attention had been taken off of him, at least for the time being. Setting his briefcase and glass of wine down on the counter, he shrugged off his wool coat, hanging it neatly next to the detective's battle-worn trench. Once he was satisfied that it was at least relatively safe from any potential party hazards, he slid the briefcase off the counter and tucked it up against the wall, as well. Finally, he delicately picked up the glass of red wine, impressed that it was, at least, real glass. One drink, Miles. Don't be rude.
He watched idly as he swirled the liquid within its confines, unimpressed by the legs of the wine left on the glass walls. Deep down, he knew what was going to happen if he went any further with trying to assess the drink's quality, but he pushed forth anyway, largely out of muscle memory. Sinking his nose into the glass, he inhaled deeply, nearly gagging on the acrid scent that hit the back of his throat. Maybe not even one drink… Did this come from a box? He surveyed the room, noting that most were getting their beverages out of a massive tub that sat centered on the table against the far wall. It smelled…sticky. He grimaced. At least it couldn't get any worse.
In that moment, he heard the door latch behind him and turned to find Phoenix Wright stepping in through the doorway, unaware of what he was entering into. The man was having a rushed conversation with Pearl, who was two steps behind him and rushed to scoot inside the door before the attorney closed the door with a loud thud. Edgeworth felt his heart sink and fought the urge to cringe; if the defense attorney hadn't already been part of the surprise, then that likely meant—
"Hey, everyone! Hey! Look, Nick is here! And he brought Pearls with him!" The party roared in response, much like they had done at the suggestion of getting Edgeworth a drink, and the attorney whirled around, suddenly realizing where he was. "Now we can get the real party started!"
Blue eyes met gray in a panic. "Edgeworth—what—"
"You know about as much as I do, Wright. They ambushed me as well."
"Mister Edgeworth!"
The prosecutor startled briefly and glanced down at the shrill voice that had managed to chime out even over the clash of the crowd gathered around them. A rather young child, dressed in the same strange garb that Maya always sported, was gazing adoringly up at him and bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet. His indignant rage momentarily forgotten, he tried desperately to remember where he would have met this child before. Pearl took the opportunity to wrap her arms around the prosecutor's legs, nearly toppling him. "I'm so glad you're back!"
Phoenix chuckled at the display and glanced around the room before resting his gaze upon the sign on the wall: WELCOME BACK! His shoulders drooped. He knew he should have been suspicious when Maya Fey, of all people, told him that he needed to report to the office after business hours for cleaning. How could he have been tricked so easily? Pearl had been so insistent that they go right now, Mr. Nick, and he had no other choice but to chalk it up to another one of her fanciful matchmaking schemes… Deciding instead to simply abandon all hope of sorting it out, he turned to leave, finding Maya between himself and the door. "What is with you two and trying to leave so suddenly? Come on, it's time for the speeches to start."
Both men froze and called out, "Speeches!?"
"Yep, come on, guests of honor!" Unaware of their panic, or perhaps merely unaffected by it, Maya took both of them by the hands and led them to the center of the room where two chairs had been set side-by-side. While Edgeworth had had a precious minute over Phoenix in terms of adjusting to the situation, neither was particularly prepared for what was coming. Before they could properly react, the duo had been seated, Phoenix found a shot in either hand, and a semi-circle of party guests surrounded them.
Before he could say anything, Phoenix was cut off by a painful, yet familiar electronic screech. Seconds later, Mike Meekins emerged from the semi-circle, megaphone in hand.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN," he yelled into the device, nearly leveling the party as the guests groaned in protest. Maya elbowed him and glared hard, still covering her ears. Meekins cleared his throat and continued at a much more appropriate volume, "Ahem, Ladies and Gentlemen, let us focus our attention on our guests of honor: Mr. Miles Edgeworth and Mr. Phoenix Wright!"
Applause rang out in the room and defense fixed prosecution with a long, suffering stare. Pearl finally squeezed herself out of the forest of legs and beamed at them, unaffected by the pair's dour mood.
"We've all gathered here to celebrate the return of the greatest prosecutor who ever lived!" Again, Maya elbowed Meekins before whispering something hastily into his ear. Expectedly, the former officer yelped and brought the megaphone up to his mouth, close enough that it crushed his lips over to one side. "AND HIS FAITHFUL PARTNER IN CRIME, PHOENIX WRIGHT!"
The megaphone screeched mightily again, and Maya finally yanked it from the poor M.C.'s hands, much to everyone's relief. As she set it down on the table next to the punch bowl, she turned and gesticulated toward the entire room. "As Mike here has said, we've all come together to welcome home Mr. Edgeworth, who thought that he could somehow sneak back here without anyone noticing." There was a ripple of laughter that floated through the crowd. Edgeworth had resorted to ignoring his rival in favor of glaring daggers at Detective Gumshoe, who was trying very hard to hide in the back of the room. Phoenix took his first shot and grimaced.
"Furthermore, we're also here to reunite Mr. Edgeworth with his fearless rival and my closest friend, Phoenix Wright, Attorney at Law, Master of the Cold Sweat!"
The laughter intensified among the participants. Some people let out a small, "woo!" Others raised their glasses. Phoenix took his second shot.
"Anyone who's been involved in a case with these two know what a real rollercoaster it can be, am I right?" Maya smirked, enjoying the attention, as cheers and jaunts alike emanated from the crowd. "So it's only fitting that they be together again after Mr. Edgeworth has come back from the dead."
Someone had taken the empty shot glasses from Phoenix's hands and replaced them with two more. Edgeworth actually sipped at his own drink, fighting the urge to spit it out onto the carpet. This did come from a box…
"So without further ado…" Maya held her hands out toward the guests, grinning brightly, "Who would like to be the first to step up and say a few words celebrating our heroes' triumphant return?"
As the crowd buzzed with energy and people murmured amongst themselves, many fighting for the chance to be the first to step up and speak, to be noticed by the famous prosecutor, Phoenix took his third shot and leaned toward Edgeworth. "Couldn't you have at least sent a letter or a postcard or something? You know, something along the lines of, 'Hey, I'm not dead, Sincerely, Edgeworth'?"
Edgeworth finally broke his stare at Gumshoe, much to the detective's relief, and turned his head back toward his rival and current comrade-in-agony. "There was nothing stopping you from reaching out, yourself, you know. I had a lot on my mind—"
"A lot on your mind!?" Phoenix halted abruptly for a moment as the first speaker, a grizzled police officer who had obviously already had too much to drink, stepped forward and separated himself from the crowd. "We all thought you were dead and you had a lot on your—"
"Listen up, ladies and germs," the man swayed threateningly, holding his solo cup full of golden, frothy beer above his head, "this here is the finest example of justice to ever hit our jurisdiction," he turned rapidly to face the two men who were still having a very focused, heated argument amongst themselves, "and y'all both are a Goddamned inspiration to the rest of us!" Emboldened by the alcohol, he clapped a meaty, calloused hand down onto Edgeworth's shoulder, causing the prosecutor to jump violently mid-sentence. His grip was tight and Edgeworth stared at him in shock as he waved his beer around throughout his speech, nearly spilling it across the man's lap an overly large number of times. Phoenix took the opportunity to take his fourth shot and stared desperately at Maya, who did nothing but gesticulate frantically toward Edgeworth.
He rolled his eyes and instead gave a pleading stare to the nearest officer, holding up his empty shot glasses. They were dutifully filled from the nearest liquor bottle. From where he was seated, Phoenix could just snag a soda from a cooler full of ice and various nonalcoholic beverages. Just as he cracked it open in preparation of chasing his fifth shot, Edgeworth finally shrugged his shoulder out of the chief's offensive grip. Pearl glared at Phoenix, unhappy that he was paying attention to his drink instead of his partner.
Cheers erupted from the crowd as the next officer came forth, and then another, ultimately refocusing the party's energy on who could tell the best "Wright vs. Edgeworth" story the loudest. The music and laughter served as an effective, albeit ironic, cover for the harsh words the two men began sharing between them and Maya watched from behind the water cooler, dismayed. It was very clear that there was a lot of severely unfinished business between the two of them and she wondered with a note of sadness whether this had been entirely too premature, after all. Still, they were there, and she was bound and determined to make the most of it.
It was easy enough to seek out Detective Gumshoe, as he was simply one of the largest people in the room. Now that Edgeworth had relaxed on attempting to murder the detective with his eyes alone, the man had settled into arranging a heaping pile of snacks upon a plate, apparently quite enjoying the challenge the large selection presented. Leaving the two attorneys to battle it out for a few minutes, Maya scuttled over and stomped on the detective's foot. Pearl wasn't far behind her and followed suit, nailing the man's thigh with a patented Pearl Slap.
The detective yelled and startled, nearly dropping his plate. "Now what did ya have to go and do that for, pal?!"
"Detective, look!" She pointed frantically at Phoenix and Edgeworth. Phoenix had finally taken his fifth shot and Edgeworth was rubbing abrasively at the bridge of his nose, having turned his back to the attorney. The prosecutor was trying valiantly to maintain at least some semblance of calm as people filtered over to him, each insistent on offering their personal regards to him, unaware of the heated argument that he had unwittingly been drawn into. "It's falling apart fast! We need to get them out of here now before it gets any worse!"
Gumshoe sighed. He had seen this coming, of course—even an idiot like him could have predicted this happening. About a week prior to the party, he had called Maya with his concerns, trying valiantly to have her call the party off and be patient a while longer. When that didn't work, he suggested that they at least have a backup plan, something that would allow the two men to take their leave if—when, he amended—things got heated. Maya still hadn't been thrilled but was willing to at least hear him out. He took one last, mournful gaze at his plate of goodies, then set it back down on the table. "Hey, everyone—"
The party continued on, oblivious.
"Excuse me," he tried again.
The sounds of cracking cups, ice being refilled, music being changed, laughter, yelling, stories exchanged… It all blended together into a raucous sort of hum.
"HEY PALS, WOULD YA KINDLY CAN IT FOR A SECOND!?"
And just like that, twenty-odd voices fell into a stunned silence, with only the distant uhn-tiss uhn-tiss uhn-tiss of the music bumping as a backdrop. Gumshoe chuckled to himself and spread his arms wide, parting the crowd, to reveal Phoenix and Edgeworth, who had both since stood from their chairs. They, too, stared at him in shocked curiosity, and Phoenix was beyond relieved when Gumshoe pointed at the prosecutor instead of him. "Listen, sir, some of the other officers and myself, here, we uh…" He habitually raised a hand to the back of his head and scratched lightly, feeling awkward as the center of attention, "We got ya a little somethin' to welcome ya back."
As soon as the officers in question realized where Gumshoe was going with this, they managed to surround Edgeworth in anticipation of presenting his gift. Phoenix saw his opportunity and took it immediately, slinking around the back of the crowd and managing to escape out the door without being noticed. Edgeworth, on the other hand, had no route of egress and simply awaited his fate, wondering for the nth time if it could somehow continue to get worse. Soon, Gumshoe burst forth from the crowd clutching an overly-large gift bag that had been hastily stuffed with tissue paper of various colors. The bag was thrust into his hands and everyone leaned in, eager to watch his reaction.
Resigned to his fate, Edgeworth sat back into the chair that had held him hostage earlier and placed the bag at his feet. Delicately removing the crumpled tissue paper, he tried silently counting backward in his head, wishing desperately that he could leave. Once the paper was removed, he discovered that the bag contained an impressively large framed photograph and he removed it to stare at the occupants.
I remember this…It was from the celebration following the completion of the trial where Chief Gant had been convicted, when everyone had sort of organically migrated together to celebrate the overwhelming, if unexpected, victory. The picture depicted himself, Phoenix, Maya, and Lana in front with the rest of the force behind them. It had been a major blow to a lot of people, but still, they had managed to seek out the truth. Those who had remained loyal to him had made a significant effort to find reasons to stop by his office and congratulate or thank him. Given where his mind had been at the time, it had been tremendously awkward…
Still, as he gazed at the photo and recalled the sense of belonging he'd felt at that time, he was surprised to discover that he was actually grateful for the physical reminder. When he looked up at the crowd, he realized they were still waiting with bated breath, and he offered a genuine smile. "This was extremely thoughtful of all of you. I truly appreciate it."
There was an audible sigh of relief as the tension left the room. Gumshoe cocked an awkward half-smile at Edgeworth. "It was the last time we had the opportunity to really work with you. You changed a lot of lives that day, sir. We're all grateful to you for what you've done, especially me. When you left—" despite the heartwarming speech, Gumshoe's voice cracked on the word and Edgeworth winced, knowing full well the pain that the detective had felt before he'd reached out to him a few weeks later, "—when you left, the whole department sort of fell apart. We're just really glad you're back."
There was a cheer from somewhere in the back as someone called for, "Three cheers for Mr. Edgeworth!" As the guests stumbled through their hip-hip-hoorays, Edgeworth scanned each of their faces, but came up empty. Where had Wright gotten to? Surely he hadn't managed to escape? He took advantage of the crowd's distraction and navigated through them, ultimately setting the offensive glass of wine on the counter and reaching to lean the photo against his briefcase. People had returned to talking animatedly amongst themselves, some even beginning to make the motions of preparing to leave. He felt his lip curl briefly as he watched them and for a moment, he attempted to count the imminent DUIs.
Phoenix was nowhere to be seen.
His eyes paused as he caught the gaze of Maya Fey, who had clearly been watching him for a few moments. He held steady as she stared at him for a second and then her face suddenly softened, surprising him. He watched her roll her eyes over an amused smile and she began to make her way over. When she paused in front of him, she seemed to consider something before she reached out and took his right hand between hers. "Look, Mr. Edgeworth, this party… It was only supposed to be a fun reason to get the two of you back together again." There was an apology hidden amongst the words and he felt a pang of guilt over how ungrateful he had been throughout the ordeal, even if he had also felt very much like a cornered animal. "Whatever it was that he said to you, please don't be too hard on Nick."
The surprise he felt at her comment must have found its way to his face because Maya allowed his hand to fall, choosing instead to wrap her arms around her midsection. It was obvious to him that she was trying very hard to choose her words carefully; he saw the same gesture and expression in court all the time. Still, he commended her, even if he had the sinking feeling that he wasn't about to particularly enjoy what she had to say.
"Nick...took it the hardest out of all of us, you know. He wouldn't even let us say your name. You really do mean a lot to him, even if you don't believe it... So please talk to him. It doesn't have to be tonight, or tomorrow night, but please let him know how you feel. I know you have a heart somewhere in there, and Nick could really use it right now." She let out a wispy breath that she had been holding and reached up to adjust his cravat, needing something else to focus on to release the tension. "Now's probably your best chance to leave, if you want to. Sorry we ambushed you."
Not that he felt he particularly needed the permission of a teenage girl to leave a party he didn't want to be at, he was grateful to receive it just the same. He gave her a curt nod of gratitude before slinging his coat over his elbow. He found it simpler to swipe the photo and the briefcase with one hand and open the door silently with his other, and with a flap of his coat, he was gone.
Maya watched after him for a few moments longer, despondent. For all the time, effort, and emotion she had put into this party, she wondered if it could have possibly gone any worse. She had seen the way that Nick and Mr. Edgeworth had argued with each other when they sat down… Of course, what did she think would happen? That they would just suddenly throw all their history away and reunite as long, lost friends?
For a moment, irritation bubbled within her. Well of course that's what she expected to have happen. It wasn't her fault that they weren't any good at this sort of thing.
Still, she mused, the cat was officially out of the bag, now. Nick knew Edgeworth was back, and Edgeworth knew that…well, knew that everybody knew he was back. It was only try number one, after all, right…?
A pair of large, calloused hands came down on her shoulders and massaged briefly before letting go and she turned to find Gumshoe chuckling behind her. Pearl sat upon his massive shoulders, pawing at an eye. Surprised to see him in a lighthearted mood after the disastrous evening, Maya peered at them, curious.
"I think it went well, pal," he started in, refusing to stop even after Maya snorted at the assessment. "I'm serious. I think that was genuinely as good as that could have gone. And look," he patted her on the back as his chuckling grew into legitimate laughter, "the backup plan even worked. They both ghosted."
Maya felt a laugh bubbling within her, as well, despite her dour mood. "You think he went to chase after Nick?"
"Wouldn't doubt it, kid," Gumshoe sighed and crossed his arms. "You know Mr. Edgeworth. Once he catches scent of his prey, he doesn't let up until it's a done deal. I imagine he has a lot that was left unsaid before he left… I just hope Wright's up to hearing it."
Maya sighed and watched idly as more guests began to filter out after noticing that the two guests of honor had already departed. "Something tells me he will be. He's been waiting almost 20 years to hear whatever it is." She thought back to how utterly defeated the man had looked, staring out the window at the rain. "Edgeworth is the only person who ever lit a passion in him, even more than my sister. When he was gone, it was like—like a widow waiting for her soldier to return from war. I know Mr. Edgeworth isn't good at expressing himself, but I sure hope he manages it sometime soon, for both their sakes."
Silence met her ears and she turned to find Gumshoe reaching for his trench coat. "Oh no you don't," she called out, relishing the exaggerated cringe that crushed the man's shoulders inward. He turned to grin sheepishly at her, shrugging.
"Someone has to stick around and help me clean all this up!"