So, I have vague idea about what's going to happen in this chapter. I apologize in advance with how long it will take for this chapter to come out. With the holidays and the new Hyrule Warriors game out, along with life in general, it will take me a while to finish all my stuff.

Chapter 14 – I'm Surrounded by Your Embrace

Apollo

"Do you think he's lying?" Mr. Wright asked as we made our way down the street.

"I don't think so," I replied. "My senses didn't pick up on anything at least. Then again, he was so relaxed that he could have been telling a lie but was really good at hiding it."

It had been hard coming up with any more questions to ask Mr. Sana when he was so insistent about having not gone to work that day. Gavin asked him to describe the woman he had been with the night before the murder, and all he could say was that she had been wearing a sexy red dress.

"Shmoot's starting to think she might have slipped something into his drink because it started tastin' funny and then Shmoot passed out," he had said.

"Do you remember anything after that?" I asked. He thought for a moment.

"Only that Shmoot woke up in his own bed the next day," he replied eventually.

"And you don't remember anything about this mysterious woman?" Gavin wondered.

That's when Shmoot described the woman's dress in vague detail. Though he couldn't keep straight about what her dress was like, he was adamant that it was red. We asked him about the bar he had been drinking at, and all he could remember was that it started with a "T."

"If he's telling the truth, then what does that mean for your client?" Mr. Wright asked, lowering his voice so Gavin, who was walking behind us, couldn't hear.

"I don't know," I replied, wringing my hands and staring down at the sidewalk. "The trial is in just a few hours and this Shmoot Sana is unreliable at best. My entire case is riding on him being the killer."

"Not necessarily," said a calm, sexy voice close to my ear.

Feeling my heart pounding a mile a minute, I jumped and spun around to find my douche of a boyfriend standing right behind me, bending over with that douchy, charming smile on his face. I glared at him.

"Don't do that," I growled.

"What do you mean by 'not necessarily'?" Mr. Wright asked, trying to hide the smirk on his face and failing.

"I mean there was definitely someone else on that tape who was the only one who could have brought the body to the security room," Gavin replied. "And that person wasn't Herr Curity. If it wasn't Herr Sana, then it was someone impersonating him."

"Do you think you'll still call him in as a witness?" I asked. He thought about for a moment.

"Possibly," he said. "At the very least, I'll call him down to see if he can identify who might actually be in the video. I can't rule him out as a suspect just yet though."

I opened my mouth to agree, but our conversation was interrupted by Gavin's phone letting out a loud bell tone. Frowning, he reached into his pocket and pulled it out, taking a moment to read over the text he had just received. A smile slowly crept onto his face.

"Good news, Herr Forehead," he said. "It looks like we'll be having more time to look over the case than we thought." He held his phone out for the two of us to see. "Herr Judge just cancelled his court sessions for the day."

"Really?" Mr. Wright asked. "What for?"

"Apparently there was a hot dog eating contest for charity down at the mall," Gavin replied, reading over the text once more. "The judge entered and got first place, but came down with a terrible stomach ache afterwards. We should be reconvening on Thursday."

"Aw, poor judge," Mr. Wright tutted, trying to stifle his laughter.

"What kind of charity runs a hot dog eating contest and how would that work?" I wondered.

Instead of replying verbally, Gavin reached into his pocket and pulled out a flyer for the charity. A picture of a starving looking kid digging into a giant plate of hot dogs was at the center of the flyer. The big lettered caption at the top read "Food for Folks presents Dogs for Days!" The flyer went on to explain that for every hot dog eaten during the contest, the organization would feed a family.

"Why were you just carrying this around in your pocket?" I asked, looking up at him. He gave me a shrug and looked away sheepishly.

"I thought it looked interesting," he replied simply.


Not even five minutes after we got back to the office, Gavin was blowing up my phone with texts. I tried to hide my vibrating phone from Mr. Wright, but he noticed almost immediately and gave me a cocky grin.

"Ooh! Who's been texting you so much?" he asked. "Someone we know?"

"It's none of your business, Mr. Wright," I growled, shielding it from his view. I quickly turned my phone off while he tried to look over my shoulder, because the last thing I needed was him snatching it out of my hand and seeing all the flirtatious texts from my secret boyfriend.

"I need to concentrate now," I told him, finding my way over to my usual spot. "I need to figure out how all of this connects."

He didn't reply right away and instead flopped down on the couch.

"I think it's rather simple, myself," he said at last. "Whoever murdered the guard either is the janitor and he's lying, blackmailed the janitor and he's lying, or disguised himself as the janitor and he's telling the truth. Either way, I think you have more than enough evidence to get your client off the hook."

"It still doesn't answer who's responsible for this and why," I moaned. "And why go through all this trouble to move the body in the first place?"

"Unfortunately, I can't answer that for you," Mr. Wright sighed. "But part of being a good lawyer is being able to put your trust in others. Not just your client, but the prosecution, the law enforcement and the judge as well. You all have to work together to uncover the truth."

I blinked in surprise at him. Sometimes, I just didn't understand Mr. Wright. And sometimes, he just made too much sense. I don't know how he did it, really.

"I suppose you're right," I muttered.

"I know I'm right," he replied, raising his head proudly. "But that's Mr. Wright to you!"

I let out a groan and rolled my eyes as he chuckled at his own joke. His laughter was abruptly cut off when I decided to throw the nearest pillow at him.


I didn't turn my phone on again until I had left the office.

The rest of the day had passed well enough. Trucy came back from school then proceeded to berate us both for investigating without her. I was pleased to have her back. I couldn't admit to her just how awkward it was to be alone in a room with her adoptive father. Especially ever since that comment he made about something about me being similar to Mr. Gavin. I still didn't have the courage to ask him about that.

Before I left, however, he suddenly called me back into the room.

"You know, Apollo, that you can talk to me about anything," he said, quietly enough so Trucy couldn't hear. "You can come to me anytime."

I couldn't help but gape at him. He knew! I don't know how he knew, but somehow he knew! My heart was pounding as he gave me his lopsided grin. Did we really give it away so quickly? Were we really that see through?!

"I…I-I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Wright," I managed to sputter before racing out the door.

As soon as I managed to get my breath back outside, I turned on my phone and saw that I had about ten or twelve unread messages from Gavin.

KG: Looks like we'll both be free after all!

KG: ;)

KG: Call me when you want to hang out!

KG: I'll be counting the seconds…

Then the rest of his texts were just a random assortment of x's and o's. A smile tugged at my mouth as I rolled my eyes. I already knew that Klavier Gavin was cheesy, but sometimes he still managed to surprise me.

I made sure that I was a good few blocks away from the Agency before calling him. I was probably being paranoid, but you could never tell when the Wrights would pop up. And that last conversation with Mr. Wright still had me on edge. He picked up in the middle of the first ring.

"Hallo, Schatzi," he greeted, sounding slightly out of breath.

"You know you seem desperately clingy when you pick up the phone that fast," I teased.

"Ach! You wound me, Herr Forehead," was his reply. "I haven't had a chance to relax all week and I am always eager to hear your voice."

"Are you free after work tomorrow?" I asked, trying not to blush. "I was thinking I could come over to your place. I have an idea of what we can do."

"Well, thankfully, my day just freed up a bit due to Herr Judge," he replied. "You know I am always happy to see you. Hopefully Herr Edgeworth won't pile any more work onto me tomorrow. I am eager to see you again! It's been so long!"

"We saw each other not two hours ago," I pointed out with a laugh.

"Ja, but that was just business," he pouted. "I want to see your personal side again."

I hung up shortly after and continued down the street. I was also thankful for the extra time the judge had given us. I had a lot to think about with the case and what Sana had said. If he really meant what he said, then I had to assume that the woman he was with had somehow impersonated him. But for what reason, I couldn't figure out. Was she the true murderer? Was she working for someone else? Was she also blackmailed?

The next day, Trucy and I decided to search the list of all the bars in the city to see if they could identify Sana. Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. There were way more bars in town that started with the letter T than I first thought. And we had to call up each and every one of them or visit them to find out the truth.

"Maybe we should take this Shmoot guy to all these bars and see if he recognizes any of them," Trucy suggested after we had called twenty or so different bars.

"Do you know how long that would take?" I replied, throwing my phone onto the table with frustration. "That would be assuming that Shmoot would be willing to go with us in the first place. I think we should narrow our search a bit."

"How do we do that?" she wondered.

"Well, chances are he probably went to a bar that's close to where he lives," I explained. "We already know the bar's name begins with a T. If we combine the two, we'll have a narrower radius to search through."

"Great idea, Polly!" Trucy cheered.

We spent a while longer mapping out all the pubs and bars within a twelve block radius of Sana's apartment building, crossing off all the names that didn't start with a T.

"So, how was working with Daddy yesterday?" Trucy asked at some point. I hesitated.

"It was…fine," I replied. "Kind of awkward. I haven't really been alone with him since I first met him. And even then I had Mr. Gavin with me."

"Daddy said he enjoyed investigating with you," she told me. "You know he's been thinking of taking the bar exam again?"

"I-Is he really?" I wasn't sure why I was stuttering. "I think I remember him talking about it, but for some reason I didn't think he was serious."

"Daddy's always serious when it comes to being a lawyer," Trucy replied with a hint of pride in her voice. "He says that Uncle Edgeworth has been helping him study so he can be a defense attorney again."

"Where is Mr. Wright anyway?" I wondered, realizing that I hadn't seen him all day.

"I don't know," she admitted. "He just said he had something to take care of and then just kind of left." I let out a sigh.

"If he really wants his badge back, he's going to have to stop doing that," I muttered mostly under my breath. "It'd be hard for clients to hire him if keeps disappearing all the time."

Trucy and I spent the rest of the day calling bars, but without a good description of the woman Sana might have been with, it was hard to make any sort of progress. I was really looking forward to hanging out with Gavin by the time work was over.

I headed home first to grab a couple of things. I could have brought them to work with me, but there was no way I was going to let Trucy ask me endless questions about what I was planning to do after work. When I finally started towards Gavin's place, I had with me a stack of DVDs and a duffle bag filled with clothes and other essentials.

He didn't take long to answer my knock and as soon as the door closed behind me, his lips were pressed to mine and he was throwing me against the wall.

"Gott, I've missed you and your magical lips, Schatzi," he muttered against my mouth.

"Jeez, if I knew you were this horny, I would have gotten here sooner," I panted as he started kissing up and down my neck. "Or I might have walked more slowly to torture you more." He cut me off as he kissed back up to my mouth.

"If you ever did do that," he said between each kiss, "then I would be forced to just make love to you as soon as you walked through the door. Just right up against the wall."

"That sounds kind of hot, actually," I replied, only half-joking.

"So," he breathed as he kissed all over my neck and face, "just what did you have planned for us this evening, Schatzi?"

You know, I was having trouble remembering, actually. I could barely remember how to breathe, as a matter of fact. Gavin's mouth had that effect on me, I guessed.

"Your kisses are melting my brain," I managed to gasp. He let out a sigh and finally removed his lips from the crook of my neck. I took a few moments to catch my breath before I could finally speak again. "I thought we could watch some movies or something. I brought a couple of things that I owned but never got around to watching." I gave him a side-long look. "I know it's not as glamorous as a restaurant or the space center, but…"

"Schatzi, as long as I am spending time with you, then anything you suggest is the perfect date," he replied, giving me a small kiss and causing me to blush. Then he saw the bag that I had dropped at my feet. "Are you hoping to stay the night as well?" he asked with a hint of excitement in his voice.

"I-I guess," I muttered. "If that's alright with you, that is." He kissed me again as an answer.

"Why don't we get started then?" he murmured.

He led me to a room I hadn't yet seen; an entertainment room if I were to take a guess. There was one of those giant, in-wall flat-screen TVs (because of course he would have one of those!), several bean bag chairs and love seats, tables with built-in cup holders, a couple of games and several guitars. The room was also decorated with posters of different bands that were surprisingly not his own. Like everything else in his house, it was bigger than my entire apartment, much to my chagrin.

"So, what movies have you brought for us to peruse together?" he asked once we had made ourselves comfortable on one of the love seats. I gestured to the stack of movies.

"See for yourself," I replied.

"Wait, you've never seen the original Star Wars trilogy?" he gasped, reading the titles over. "What is wrong with you?"

"I've seen the first one," I defended myself. "I never had the chance to see the other two because I was in college by that time. I was one of those people who actually studied when they went to college."

"Herr Justice, is that piece of information about yourself that you're willingly sharing with me?" he asked, a wide grin on his face. I blushed and turned away from him.

"Just put in the movie," I muttered.

He had managed to equip the room with a stereo system so that when the movie started, it sounded like it was happening all around us. Thankfully, the volume was turned down enough so that my ear drums weren't torn apart by the soundtrack.

Not long into the second movie, he maneuvered himself on the couch so that his arms and legs were wrapped around me and I could feel his lips on the back of my neck. I let out a sigh and leaned into him, barely paying attention at all to the movie and just enjoyed the feeling of being enveloped by him.

"You know what would make this even better?" I asked eventually. "Popcorn."

"I can go make us some if you want," he offered. I immediately snuggled further against him in protest.

"No," I stated simply. He laughed and wrapped his arms tighter around me.

"Maybe I can get house cleaner to pop in a bag when she gets here," he replied after a moment of silence. I squirmed around to look at him.

"You have a house cleaner?" I asked nervously.

"Of course I do, Schatz," he answered, kissing me gently. "I can't clean a big house like this all by myself. Thankfully, this new girl doesn't seem all that interested in me and the guests I bring home. She's more focused on cleaning."

"Well, that's good, I guess," I replied, leaning back into him.

"And there goes one of the most misquoted lines in movie history," he said near the end of the second movie.

"Yeah, but at the same time it sounds better to just walk up to someone and say 'Luke, I am your father,' instead of 'No, I am your father,'" I pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure it only sounds good if you walk up to a guy named Luke and you were his father," he argued with a laugh.

"Well, that's just silly," I said, folding my arms. He laughed and pressed his lips to the back of my neck in response.

The maid he had been talking about arrived a few minutes later. She was rather tall and thin with light hair and skin. She barely glanced at us as she started her work, though she went into the kitchen on his behest without a complaint, returning a few minutes later with a large bowl of popcorn. There was something unusual about her, I was sure, though I couldn't put my finger on what it could be.

"Thanks, Diane," he said when she set the bowl down in front of us. She said nothing, but simply curtsied and went back to her work.

It wasn't until the third movie that either of us spoke again.

"Wow, with all his popularity, I expected Boba Fett to have a larger presence in these movies," I complained. "But no, he just shows up, says a few lines then dies like a little bitch."

Gavin burst out laughing at this and wrapped himself tighter around me.

"You seem to have an opinion on everything, don't you mein Schatz?" he giggled, burying his face in my neck. I leaned into him without replying. "You know, Kristoph and I used to watch these movies all the time when I was a kid. Or, I would watch them. He would complain about the nitpicky problems and how 'that's not scientifically possible' or something."

"That sounds like Mr. Gavin," I replied, ignoring the uncomfortable prickling I got in the back of my neck. I still had problems talking about my former boss, even around his brother. Thankfully, he noticed my discomfort and changed subjects.

"Are you and Fraulein Trucy coming to the Gavinners' farewell concert?" he asked. "I know Sparky said that he was going to score you a couple of tickets for you."

I let out a sigh in response. "I really should," I conceded. "Someone needs to keep an eye on Trucy and I know she won't stop bugging me until I agree to go with her." He gave me a sad, puppy-eyed look.

"Is that the only reason you want to come?" he pouted.

"Oh, and I guess I should go to support my boyfriend or something," I said, inspecting my nails in pretend nonchalance.

"Schatz, you're horrible," he growled, shoving me away from him. I immediately snuggled back up to him, nuzzling my face into his neck.

"I'm joking, Klavier," I told him. "You're so sensitive."

"You already broke my heart once, Apollo," he pointed out. I sat up and grabbed the remote on the table, pausing the movie before turning around to look at him. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not, but even if he was, there was still a truth to what he said.

"Let me make it up to you," I said earnestly. He blinked in surprise.

"You've already more than made up for it, Schatz," he reasoned, leaning forward and kissing me gently. "You don't have to prove anything."

"Yes, I do," I replied, turning fully around. "You've been so good to me. I feel like I've just been acting like a grouch this whole time."

"I know you've been trying," he replied, wrapping his arms around my waist. "If you can look me in the eye and say that you're happy and you don't regret going out with me, then I am content, mein Schatz."

I gave him a small smile before leaning forward and kissing him gently.

"Of course I don't regret it," I murmured. "Do you know how lucky I am that a guy like you is interested in a guy like me? I just don't want you to think I'm ever taking you for granted. That's all."

"I never once believed that," he replied, giving me his winning smile. "And if anything, I'm the lucky one. I don't know how someone as amazing as you could ever glance in my direction, let alone want to go out with me."

"Oh shut up," I growled, rolling my eyes. "I'm an absolute mess. You're pretty much perfect in every way. Why would you be attracted to someone like me?"

His eyes widened with surprise at my words. "You really think I'm perfect?" he asked in a low voice. I stared at him, suddenly realizing what I had said. I could feel my face start to heat up and I avoided his gaze.

Thankfully, I was saved from having to reply when he lunged forward and kissed me deeply. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and kissed him back just as deeply. He fell onto his back suddenly, pulling me on top of him as we continued to kiss passionately. I could feel his hands roaming around my body, and my spine tingled at his touch.

"Do you want to… take this upstairs?" he eventually asked in between kisses.

"Like you have to ask," I breathed, keeping my mouth pressed to his.

It still took a while for me to be willing to get off of him long enough for him to sit up. When we finally did manage to make it up to his room, it wasn't long before my mind was descending into pure bliss.

I woke the next morning with his arms wrapped tightly around me. I would never admit this to him, but I loved the feeling of being surrounded by his embrace; his arms around me, his lips in the back of my neck and his breath on my shoulder. Even that first morning we spent together I couldn't help but feel… safe… in his arms.

This time, I had fallen asleep facing him, so I woke up to the feeling of his lips on my forehead, kissing it repeatedly. A smile formed on my face as I took a moment to admire his amazing body: his tanned skin, his lean muscles, his golden blonde hair that had somehow managed to stay perfect despite me running my hands through it constantly last night. I could see why so many people fell in love with him.

And now he was mine. And I was his. What a world.

I snuggled closer to him, pressing my face into his neck and reveling in the warmth of his embrace. A soft bit of laughter came from him as he wrapped his arms tighter around me.

"Guten Morgen, mein Schatzi," he breathed. "I hope you slept well."

"I did," I mumbled, pressing my mouth to every part of his neck I could reach. He let out a sigh of pleasure as I did so, relaxing further into the bed. "How's work going with you?" I decided to ask him.

"Herr Edgeworth has me working three other cases at the moment," he sighed. "So, it's just a normal day at the office, really."

"Have you thought about that janitor at all? Shmoot Sana?" I asked. "Do you think he might be able to testify at all?"

"Now Schatz, you should know better than to ask me that," he laughed. "But even so, it's hard to say at the moment. He wasn't exactly helpful the other day. To either side. I'm going to have to think carefully about whether or not I call him as a witness."

"Mmm."

We lay there for a few more minutes, just enjoying each other's company. Eventually though, we had to admit if we lay there any longer, we weren't going to accomplish anything and he would be late for work.

He offered to drive me to work, of course, and this time I put up little to no protest. We managed to get dressed and eat breakfast in record time and the car ride over to the Wright office was pleasant enough. When we finally reached the building, I leaned over and gave him a long kiss before thanking him and getting out of the car. Even with my back turned, I could feel his eyes on me with every step I took.

I was actually feeling rather content at the moment. I had an extra day to investigate, I had a wonderful boyfriend, and I was certain that we were going to get Mr. Curity off the hook.

Then I reached the door to the Wright Anything Agency and my blood ran cold. Lying on the floor, in front of the door, was a faded yellow envelope, just like the one Mr. Curity had received. And it was addressed to me.

I'm going to end this chapter here because it's a good cliff-hanger and it has gone on long enough. I think this might have been the longest one yet. But there was no way I could split in half so… yeah. Anyway, next chapter we'll see what's in the envelope and we'll finally start the main plot line of Apollo getting blackmailed.

Also, if I don't see you again, have a lot of happy holidays and a fantastic new year! I hope all of your dreams come true and that you stay safe, my friends.