Short chapter. Had sort of a tough time with this one, writing it out, even though I knew what I wanted to happen in it. Once enough people read it, I'll make sure to finish up/post the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Ace Attorney series characters!

Chapter 17 - Turnabout Affair

"Cykes-dono. Come on. It'll be nice to go and take a nice walk in the park."

Has it really come to this? Me, asking Athena to go to the park? This is horribly wrong. I must find a way to fix this!

"Do I have to?" Athena whined. Lately, she wasn't too fond of going outside. She much preferred staying in Simon's office when she didn't have a case to handle. She had grown rather accustomed to sitting there quietly while he went about his work.

"Yes, you do. Now let's go." He literally had to drag the orange-haired defense attorney out of his office.

They walked in silence all the way to the park. Athena was quite occupied with her own thoughts to realize where they were headed. She looked up at the park entrance. "People Park," she read the sign above them before looking at him. "Why are we here?"

He shrugged. "It's a park, and there should be people here, right? You need to be around people, Cykes-dono. Now stop dawdling."

"I wasn't dawdling."

"Hmph." He waited for her to walk in front of him, but she stood her ground. Sighing and rolling his eyes, he took hold of her hand and pulled her behind him. He slowed down a little, glancing over at her. His eyes immediately went to Widget, who was pink. Quirking an eyebrow, he felt her squeeze his hand in hers and realized that she was blushing because he was holding her hand. It was a gesture he didn't do in public.

Perhaps I'm not too bad at being a boyfriend. He smiled to himself, giving her hand a squeeze as well.

"So…what are your plans for the summer, Juniper?"

The black-haired girl thought about the question. "Well, I'd like to spend some time with my parents, tend to my garden, knit some more outfits with my grandma, and…" She stopped.

"And?"

"And spend time with my boyfriend."

Apollo chuckled, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Sounds like you've got everything all planned out!"

"I sure do. And what about you, Apollo? What are your plans?"

Apollo sighed heavily. "Besides handling more cases and spending time with you, nothing else really."

"No magic shows to look forward to?"

Apollo frowned. "No, afraid not. I can't believe I'm saying this, but…I kind of miss being Trucy's assistant."

That was quite a shock for Juniper, since a quarter of their conversations were about how Trucy had another magic trick for which Apollo had to act as her assistant. "Well, you know what they say. You don't know what you have in front of you until it's gone."

"Yeah, that's pretty accurate."

It had to be fate that the paths all led to the center of the park.

"Cykes-dono. Isn't that your friend Juniper and Justice-dono over there?" Simon pointed.

Athena brightened up a little. Releasing Simon's hand, she jogged up to them. "Hey you two! I didn't know you were going to be here at the park!"

"Same here, Thena."

"Athena."

"Apollo."

The atmosphere wasn't tense between the two defense attorneys, but it wasn't exactly relaxed either.

"So…" Athena began, kicking her foot in the dirt.

"Yeah," Apollo nodded his head, looking down at the ground.

"Justice-dono, Woods-dono."

Juniper giggled a little. "Mr. Blackquill, you can call me Juniper, you know."

"Yeah, Simon. That's what you used to call her!" Athena added.

"Er…alright…Juniper." He cringed. He didn't like addressing people by their first name and without "dono" added to the end.

Just then, they heard another pair of footsteps come by.

A woman with black, shoulder-length hair was staring down at the ground as she nearly walked passed them.

"Iris!" Athena called out, causing the woman to stop and turn around.

"Athena, Apollo." She slowly made her way over to them. "How are you two?"

"Awesome!" Athena replied, holding up a peace sign.

Simon snorted a little. Liar.

"I'm fine, Iris. How about you?" Apollo asked.

"Me? I'm…well, thank you."

Ugh. I can hear the pain in her heart. I wish I could do something to help, but…

"H-how's…Fe…Mr. Wright?"

"He's alright. Pretty busy with work and stuff," Apollo explained.

No one had spoken for a while after that. All of them had their minds on the spiky-haired defense attorney.

Just then, Juniper gasped, a hand going to her mouth. "Oh my gosh! I need to go back to my grandmothers!" She smiled at the others. "It was nice seeing all of you. Bye!" She then brushed a quick kiss on Apollo's cheek. "I'll call you later, Apollo."

Apollo just waved at her as she ran off, his cheeks red.

"Aw…look at that. Apollo's blushing!" Athena teased. "How cute!"

Apollo just crossed his arms, but his face only turned more red. His eyes then landed on Iris, who was standing there awkwardly, head down. Apollo motioned his head to her, looking at Athena.

Athena sighed a little. "Iris," she began. "You haven't been coming to the agency much." She watched as Iris nodded her head. "We miss you, you know."

"And your mini-omelettes!" Apollo added enthusiastically, only to get a glare from Athena.

"Have you not resolved things with Wright-dono?"

Iris shook her head. "No, I haven't. After that day…I decided not to ask him about it anymore."

Athena tapped her earring, her head tilted up at the blue sky. "What could it be that Mr. Wright's hiding from us?" She wondered aloud.

"Beats me," Apollo answered.

Athena's eyes darted to him. "What?" Apollo repeated himself. She narrowed her eyes. Something…in his voice…tells me otherwise.

"Why are you glaring at me, Athena?"

"You know something, Apollo," she stated, making Iris and Simon now stare at Apollo.

Apollo's eyes widened. "W-why would you say that?!"

"Now you're nervous, and now I know you know something." Athena walked up to him, leaning forward, a menacing look on her face. "Mr. Wright told you about his secret, didn't he?!"

Apollo walked backwards away from her. "No! He didn't! I swear! He hasn't said a word to me!"

Athena crossed her arms. "Then what are you so nervous about?" She saw him fidget a little. "Come on, Apollo."

"Well…you see…the thing is…"

"Justice-dono. Out with it already!" Simon threatened.

"Alright! Alright!" He sighed. "You guys…I…I've been thinking about this for a while, and…well, I think I may know what's going on with Mr. Wright and all of his secretiveness."

"Well? What are you waiting for Apollo?! Spill!" Athena demanded.

Iris looked at Apollo with interest. Did he really know what was going on with Phoenix?

He looked all around them, and then motioned for the three of them to huddle in closer to him. He whispered to the group, and all they did was gasp before separating a little.

Iris covered her mouth with her hands. "Feenie…he…he wouldn't…" Iris began stuttering as tears filled her eyes.

"Apollo! How could you say something like that?!" Athena shouted. Has he gone insane?!

"That…does make sense, Athena. Think about Wright-dono's mannerisms. His secretiveness, refusing to tell anyone where he's going or what he's doing. But, what evidence do you have, Justice-dono?"

"Juniper and I followed him about two months ago to an apartment building, and he went to one of the apartments there, obviously visiting someone."

"Who was he visiting, Apollo?" Athena asked, feeling a little skeptical about the idea.

Apollo gave her a name. "N-NO WAY! That's…no!"

"Think about it, Athena! This person hasn't come to visit in a while, has she?" Athena realized that Apollo was right.

"But…would she…how could she…agh!"

"Am…am I not good enough?!" Iris asked brokenly.

Athena hugged the woman. "You're more than enough!" She paused before adding, "And if Mr. Wright doesn't see that, then…he's blind!" Unfortunately, rather than console Iris, this had only made her cry harder.

"Hmph. This doesn't surprise in the very least. I knew there was something odd about her. We must confront her immediately!" Simon declared.

Uh oh. I hope he isn't thinking of doing anything too drastic.

"I agree, Prosecutor Blackquill. Let's get going. Come on, Iris, Athena."

Unfortunately, the four of them were unable to locate the person of interest, but instead ran into another person, who knew of the "other woman," as Athena now referred to the person as.

"So you know her?" Apollo asked.

"Quite well, yes."

Athena jumped in. "Has a lawyer come here to meet with her?"

"Why yes, he comes here quite often. And I know for sure that he's got his eyes set on her."

Athena could sense some bitterness from the man. "Do…is she important to you?"

"Is she important to me?! What kind of question is that?! She's my girlfriend!"

"G-g-GIRLFRIEND?!" Athena exclaimed.

"But then…you…you know that she and him are…" Apollo sputtered. Does he not realize his girlfriend is cheating on him?!

He sighed. "Yes, it breaks my heart to think that she could betray me like this, but…I will wait for her. I know that she will soon see that she only needs me!"

Athena shook her head. Gee…this guy seems really taken on her. What a shame things had to end up this way.

She smiled at him a little. "So she'll be here tomorrow?"

"She sure will be! But sadly, I won't."

"Then we will be back tomorrow," Simon responded. Athena had noticed that he was quite interested in this whole affair thing, but why, she had no idea.

As the four of them walked away, Athena and Apollo spoke to each other. "Should we confront Mr. Wright first?"

Apollo considered the idea. "Mm…no. I think we should confront her first. Once we do, then we can nab Mr. Wright."

Athena nodded. Sounds good. She couldn't wait for tomorrow. She glanced over at Iris. I can't believe the two of them would do something so…horrible to Iris. What did she ever do to them?!

Simon noticed how Widget was now bright red. Hm…Athena must be thinking about this affair. I never pegged Wright-dono as being one who would do such a thing, but…I don't really know him that well anyway.

Iris had been quiet throughout the whole trip. Why Feenie? Why did you do this? Why couldn't you have just broken up with me? She fought off the tears that were desperately seeking to leak out of her eyes. She didn't want tomorrow to come nor did she want to be there for the confrontation.

…I have nothing to say here. *Hides under the table.* Except for please feel free to leave a review or private message me. Thanks!