Edgeworth was waiting at the dinner table of the Wright household while Trucy and Phoenix bustled about in the kitchen.

"Are you sure there's nothing I can help with," Edgeworth called out.

"No!" Trucy said firmly. "You stay right there! I've got everything under control, I've just gotta…figure out the logistics."

Phoenix brought out a large pitcher and set it on the table.

"Is there anything else you want me to get?" Phoenix asked.

"Nope!" Trucy replied. "Thanks daddy!"

Phoenix sat down across from Edgeworth.

"She wanted to make everything herself," Phoenix said with a shrug. "She really liked the recipes you sent her."

"I'm glad," Edgeworth said.

They both studied their hands in silence until Trucy brought out the first dish.

"It's just a casserole," Trucy said, setting it down in the middle of the table and pulling off the lid, letting a puff of steam into the air.

"I'm sure it's lovely," Edgeworth told her.

"Smells great," Phoenix said, rubbing his hands together.

She disappeared and brought over a couple more side dishes. Finally she pulled a warm dish out of the oven and took it to the table, gripping the sides with potholders.

"And finally, the main course: chicken and rice!"

She made room amongst the crowded mass of dinnerware and ran back to the kitchen to grab a few extra serving spoons before taking her seat.

"It's still a little hot but everything should be edible. Dig in!"

They obliged, going in a circle and filling up their plates with heaps of steaming food.

Trucy took a few bites off her plate and glancing intently across the table, watching for their reactions.

"This is delicious, Truce," Phoenix said around his fork. "Hey, now you can make dinner every night!"

"No way," Trucy said with a laugh. "It's so much work."

"Once you learn how to balance all the tasks, it'll get easier," Edgeworth assured her. "This really is very good, though." He took another bite.

She flushed pink. "I'm glad you both like it," she said.

"You really outdid yourself, Trucy," Edgeworth said with a warm smile. "I didn't expect you to make the whole meal yourself, and so successfully. You're a great chef already."

Trucy's smile couldn't have been wider. She laughed and bit her lip. "Thanks dad."

She immediately covered her mouth. Edgeworth's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Phoenix was holding a forkful of chicken in front of his open mouth, unmoving, staring at her.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Edgeworth chuckled. After a moment she laughed too, and they both went back to eating.

Phoenix kept staring at his daughter.

Throughout the rest of their dinner, dessert, their light conversations, Edgeworth's apology that he couldn't stay longer, Phoenix kept glancing back at his daughter, studying her like she was a brand new lifeform.

Later on, they were sitting on the couch, watching TV before bed. She leaned against him, resting her head on his arm as she started to blink slower and slower until her eyelids fluttered shut.

He stared down at her. She'd grown so much in the last few years. She was just on the verge of adulthood, and he could see it in her face, all those years behind her. Yet something in her features remained soft and childlike. He wondered how long it would last.

"Do I have something on my face?"

She had one eye cracked open, trained on him.

"No, you're good," he said hastily.

She frowned. "What's wrong?"

He hesitated. "Trucy, I…" He sighed and shook his head. "It's nothing." She glared at him. "I'm just exhausted after eating such a hearty dinner." He patted his stomach.

Trucy laughed and closed her eyes again. "Okay, dad."

She started to nod off after that, her breath warm on his arm. He glanced from the TV and back at her until everything in his immediate sight started to blur into background noise behind his jumbled thoughts.

After Phoenix gently shook Trucy awake, guided her into her room and said goodnight, he lay in bed and stared up at his ceiling for hours, unseeing, just thinking and thinking and thinking.

The next time Phoenix and Edgeworth met was at the courthouse. It was a gray day; rain drizzled down from the cloudy skies. They'd both gone to oversee the culmination of a case that their subordinates were handling, and bumped into each other during a recess.

"Ah, Wright," Edgeworth said, glancing away quickly. "I was hoping I'd see you here."

"You were?" Phoenix asked.

"I thought perhaps we could…talk," Edgeworth said, still evading his gaze.

"Here?" he said.

Edgeworth nodded.

Phoenix looked around. People were starting to head inside. The recess would be over soon.

"Just a moment," he said, holding up his finger. He went over to Athena and Apollo and gave them a few extra pointers. He knew just which witness was bluffing, and why, and he knew that they did too. They'd be fine without him. Just as the call came out that court was resuming, Phoenix ran back to Edgeworth.

"Do you need to go back in, or…" Phoenix asked.

"No, I'd like to talk now."

"Okay," Phoenix said.

They stood for a moment, staring at the floor.

"Let's go for a walk," Edgeworth said suddenly.

Phoenix nodded. "Sure."

They retrieved their umbrellas and left through the front door. They walked along in silence through the entrance to the park, through the trees now mostly devoid of leaves, branches shaking gently in the rain.

Edgeworth stopped in the middle of the path. Phoenix paused when he noticed Edgeworth was behind him and turned around. Edgeworth was looking at him with a heavy gaze.

"Phoenix," he started, his shoulders locked with tension. He took a deep breath and lowered his head. "I can't do this anymore."

"Hm?" Phoenix walked over to him. "You want to sit down?"

"No." Edgeworth shook his head. "That's not what I-"

He looked off into the distance, past the trees, across the lonely wet field.

"I can't do this. Our charade. Our 'relationship'. I'm sorry, but it's just too much."

Phoenix stared at him. "You…you're breaking up with me?"

Edgeworth looked up at him. "What? What are you talking about, Phoenix? We're not dating, that's the…" he slowed down as he realized what he was about to say. "That's the problem."

Phoenix's eyebrows shot up.

"I can't keep pretending. I can't. I thought I was stronger than this, I thought that since I was older I would be able to control myself, control my feelings. I thought that maybe if I indulged in this fantasy I might be able to cast off this ridiculous infatuation once and for all." He dug his heels into the trodden earth. His lip quivered. "But I can't. I'm weak. I'm weak, and this is killing me. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Phoenix."

When he finally looked up, Phoenix was staring back at him, lips parted in surprise.

"You don't have to say anything," Edgeworth said. "In fact, you don't have to speak to me ever again if you choose. But please know that in some self-loathing way," Edgeworth managed a thin, wry smile, "I don't regret any of it."

Phoenix hadn't moved an inch. Edgeworth nodded. "Take care, Phoenix."

He turned to walk away.

"You were always so hard on yourself," Phoenix said softly.

Edgeworth looked back at him.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know you felt-" Phoenix stopped. He scoffed at himself and shook his head. "No, that's not true at all. I've known for a long time. Somewhere inside, I've known. I just didn't want to know," he whispered.

Edgeworth flinched. He clutched his arm and shifted his weight.

Phoenix took another step closer, one hand firmly in his pocket and the other gripping his umbrella.

"Please, don't go yet," he said, his eyes wide. "There's just - there's something I need to say."

Edgeworth nodded slowly, pale and exhausted.

"A long time ago, you were…torn from my life," Phoenix said, glancing down at the ground. "Of course, it was nothing compared to what you went through. I can't even begin to imagine how painful it must have been. But it made an impact on me too, even if it was small. It planted that fear in my head. And years later, when you disappeared again, it nearly broke me." He looked up and Edgeworth looked back, his cheeks pink. "It took time to rebuild that trust. I'm not sure that it ever completely healed."

His knuckles started to turn white. Edgeworth stared down at his hands.

"And then Trucy came into my life, and with everything else that was happening, I just…I couldn't afford to fall apart. I couldn't take that risk. So I closed off that part of myself." The umbrella fell and he clasped his hands to his mouth. He blinked quickly as water dripped from his eyelashes onto his cheeks. "I've been using her as an excuse." His voice was shaking. "I can't believe it took me so long to figure it out. God, I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm such a mess. I was just so scared of what could happen if I let myself feel that way again." Phoenix laughed sharply. "Isn't that pathetic? A grown man terrified of starting a relationship."

Edgeworth drew a shaky breath and shook his head. "No. I don't think so." He chewed his lip. "And if it is, well, you're not alone."

Phoenix looked at the ground, a small smile on his lips. "I spent so much time being angry about people trying to mess with my personal life, I didn't even think about why they were doing it, and why it scared me so much. And Trucy…I just figured she was doing it for me. Because she wants me to be happy." He glanced up at Edgeworth through his damp eyelashes. Edgeworth was flushed, his face frozen in bewilderment. "It never crossed my mind that she was also doing it for her."

Edgeworth's eyes softened and his lips parted. The umbrella was shaking in his hands. "What now, Phoenix? Just tell me, please." His voice wavered but his gaze held some last vestiges of hope. "What is it that you want?"

"What do I want?" Phoenix repeated. He blinked as a heavy drop of rain fell from a branch overhead onto his face. He bit his lip and took a few more steps forward, starting to close the gap between them. "Well," he said softly, "a lot has changed over the past few months."

"It has," Edgeworth breathed thickly.

"And I think maybe…" Phoenix continued.

"Yes?" Edgeworth whispered.

"Maybe it's time for me to suck it up and give us a fighting chance. I want to take that leap. For us." He smiled. "And for her."

Edgeworth blinked and let out a small, disbelieving laugh. He glanced down at a puddle forming near his feet and watched the water ripple with each falling droplet as his head rushed with mounting intensity. When he looked back at Phoenix, at his big, earnest eyes and his lopsided smile, he sighed. He took one more step towards Phoenix and held his hand out. "Together?"

Phoenix nodded and took his hand.

"A real, adult relationship," Edgeworth said, inches from Phoenix's face.

"A family," Phoenix said, squeezing Edgeworth's fingers gently.

"No games." Edgeworth's gaze was commanding even as his voice shook.

"No games," Phoenix whispered. "Let's do this."

They looked into each other's eyes. Edgeworth tossed his umbrella to the side and they crashed together like a breaking wave. They kissed, familiar and new all at once, their faces wet and their hands clutching, with no regard for the time or the weather or who may or may not have been watching. It was real – it was real and it was just for them.

They pulled apart when they started to feel dizzy, like their bodies were full of nothing but light and air and warmth. Phoenix giggled like a boy and looked back to find Edgeworth wearing the widest, most earnest grin he'd ever seen. He suddenly looked ten years younger. Phoenix's heart skipped a beat. He slid his fingers through the back of Edgeworth's hair and drew their lips together, kissing the daylights out of his official boyfriend Miles Edgeworth.

"I'm sorry," Phoenix said, kissing him again, this time more frantically, moving from his lips to his cheeks to the tip of his nose. "I'm sorry I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for everything I've done, god."

Edgeworth caught Phoenix's face in his hands and glanced his thumb across Phoenix's cheek, wiping away the rain water. "Hey," he said softly.

"Sorry," Phoenix said again, wincing at his own eloquence. "It's just really starting to hit me. How stupid I've been. Everything I've been putting you through. God, I'm just the worst."

Edgeworth blinked and then leaned over and rested his forehead against Phoenix's.

"I'm sorry," Phoenix murmured.

"Shh," he said, running his fingers through Phoenix's hair. "We can talk about it later if you'd like. Right now let's just stay like this."

"So you don't mind dating a grade-A asshole?" Phoenix said.

"If I did I never would have fallen for you in the first place, now would I."

Phoenix pulled away and narrowed his eyes at him.

"What?" Edgeworth said with a grin. "You're the one who came up with the label."

A smile slowly spread across Phoenix's lips and he tugged Edgeworth back to him by the scarf.

When they had some sense of time and reality again, they reluctantly decided to start walking. Edgeworth's umbrella had blown to the other side of the walkway, and before he could say anything Phoenix ran and brought it back. He handed it over and buried his face in Edgeworth's neck.

Edgeworth laughed breathlessly and Phoenix pressed several small kisses along Edgeworth's jawline.

"I've always wanted to kiss you here," Phoenix said between kisses. He felt a small rumble of laughter from Edgeworth's throat.

"You can kiss me anywhere you'd like," Edgeworth said.

Phoenix pulled back. "Oh? Is that a promise?"

Edgeworth blushed and took his hand. "One thing at a time, Phoenix. The trial must be nearly over. Let's go back."

Phoenix grinned and matched his leisurely pace back to the courthouse.

As soon as they got inside, they were passed by several spectators. Court had just been dismissed. With one last kiss in a hidden corner, and a squeeze of his hand, Edgeworth departed for the prosecution's lobby.

Phoenix waited for his young companions, bouncing on his heels, unable to hold back the smile threatening to split his face.

Athena bounded out of the courtroom first with Apollo hot on her heels. She was barely able to get the words "we won" out of her lips before Phoenix was hugging her tight.

"Whoa, Mr. Wright," she wheezed, her voice strained by the pressure of being squeezed. When Apollo approached, Phoenix somehow managed to catch him in the hug too, like a damp human vortex.

"You did a great job," Phoenix said, choking up, not quite aware of what he was saying.

"Thanks," Apollo said as he gasped for breath. He managed to wrestle his way out of Phoenix's hold. "We appreciate your support Mr. Wright, but could you please stop trying to kill us."

"Sorry, sorry," Phoenix said, his smile still as bright as the sun. "I'm just…glad. I'm really, really glad."

"Yeah, we are too," Athena said with a grin. "But jeez, what happened to you? You're soaking wet!"

Phoenix laughed as though she'd just cracked a hilarious joke and started walking backwards towards the entrance. "I just got caught in a downpour! Don't worry your beautiful head about it."

They both looked at him like he was insane, but followed after him regardless.

On the way out, they walked by Edgeworth. He and Phoenix exchanged a small but brilliantly happy glance and went on their separate ways.

Phoenix lay in bed late that night. His face hurt from smiling and he couldn't sleep.

He deliberated for a few minutes before grabbing his phone from the night stand.

"Phoenix?" Edgeworth sounded tired. "Do you realize what time it is?"

"I couldn't sleep," Phoenix said.

There was a long pause on the line. "Neither could I."

Phoenix rubbed his neck anxiously. "I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date this week."

"Of course. Would you like to have lunch tomorrow?"

"I'd love to," Phoenix said softly.

He rolled onto his back and chewed his lip.

"This might sound kind of weird, but…would you just talk for a while?" he asked.

"Talk?" Edgeworth said. "About what?"

"Anything. I just want to hear your voice."

There was a sputter and another long pause. Finally, Edgeworth sighed. "Alright." He clucked his tongue in thought. "Hmm. Did I ever tell you about the time that Franziska almost set fire to the von Karma living room?"

Phoenix laughed, pulling the covers up and cradling the phone against his shoulder. "No, you didn't. You've barely told me anything about that part of your life."

Edgeworth smiled gently. "Well, I guess it's time that I start."

Phoenix drifted off several stories later, happy and warm and emotionally exhausted, wrapped in a cocoon of blankets as Edgeworth murmured softly in his ear.