Disclaimer: I, Amaxing, officially withdraw from my responsibilities to finish stories, blaming my undiagnosed and most likely fictional ADD as the true cause.

I also don't own Ace Attorney.

Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Turnabout

Chapter 3

The office was brightly lit, and decorated simplistically with a few small trees and potted flowers dabbed here and there to give it a natural feel. Chancellor and Cassie sat down on two chairs of slightly above average quality, across from a fair, redheaded reporter… also of slightly above average quality.

"Chancellor… it's been a while hasn't it?" Melissa asked, looking down at the floor.

"Yeah… yeah, it's…" Chance also eyed the floor (to be fair, it was very interesting), "it's been what, three… four years?"

"Something like that," Melissa nodded. "I… I actually hadn't expected you to ever come back, you know?"

"Come back?" Cassie whispered, wary enough not to interrupt the quiet atmosphere. "Come back from where?"

"Oh… right, I never told you," Chance said, picking up a little Moore steam, "I never actually finished my law degree at Boston University… I ended up going to Sydney."

"SYDNEY?" Cassie's respect for the atmosphere had officially vanished. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you spent three years in Sydney, Australia and never bothered telling me? What gives? Do you know how to throw a boomerang? Can you teach me? OH MY GOD, DID YOU GET TO ATTEND STEVE IRWIN'S FUNERAL? This is the kind of thing you tell people Chance! You just don't leave out entire chunks of your life to people you habitually spend time with! That's absurd! Ridiculous! I'd give you another synonym but then I'd sound like Alexis!" Cassie took a deep breath. "So…" she began again, "why did you end up transferring to Sydney?"

"It was as far away as possible…" Melissa said softly, eyes still rooted to the floor.

"Hey…" Chance said comfortingly. "That's not… I mean…" He paused. Since when had he fumbled for what words to say? "It wasn't your fault, ok? I mean… it wasn't just your fault."

"But it still was, right?" Melissa's lip trembled. "Chance, I… you have to understand, I never…"

"It's ok," Chancellor asserted. "I forgave Ricky years ago, you know? The only reason I haven't forgiven you yet is because, well, this is the first time I've seen you since… yeah."

"Could someone please fill me on what happened between you two?" Cassie asked, beginning to get annoyed. "And, on a fourth-wall breaking note, when does the funny stuff start happening?"

"Oh, right, sorry," Chance apologized, simultaneously racking his brain for a reference to make. "Right… um… jokes… no, that'll offend feminists… no that'll offend animal activists… no, that'll offend the children of Atlanta, Georgia…"

"Hey, Chance…" Melissa offered. "What do you think of when you hear the word 'Monday'?"

Chance was silent for a minute, and a smile slowly creeped across his face. "Oh… I missed you, Melissa." She flushed red, and Chance cleared his throat. "Monday means day of the moon, which is the satellite that orbits our planet, Earth, which is much smaller than Jupiter. Jupiter is entirely made of gas, and so if Jupiterians existed, they'd have to use airships to get around or, as we see in the movie Treasure Planet… solar surfers." Chance smiled. "And that, dear Melissa, is why Monday is the day of wind surfing."

Melissa laughed, looking up at Chancellor and Cassie for the first time. "I'm glad you're back, Chance," she smiled. "Though I'm curious… why are you back? We all thought you were gone for good."

"So did I," Chance admitted with a shrug. "But you know how it is… a national icon dies… your father gets arrested for murder… and good God, have you seen the Cane Toad problem they have over there? I got tired of waking up seeing one hump my sneakers." He shuddered. "Which happened on a far too regular basis, thank you very much."

"Too much information, Chance," Cassie groaned, clutching her shoulders tightly. "I mean, c'mon… a little discretion? Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with sugar on top? Pretty please with sugar on top, ice cream in the middle, some French baguettes, and a generous side of chocolate covered strawberries?"

"Sorry," Chance said with a smile. "Now… Melissa… on to business." He cleared his throat. "I believe you have aforementioned chocolate covered strawberries in this very room, yes?"

"What, I…" Melissa was caught off guard. "No, actually, I don't…"

OBJECTION!

"I'm afraid that contradicts all the evidence, Ms. MacDonald," Chance said, whipping his hair back and forth knowingly (none of them can whip it back and forth like Chance do). "For you see, I happen to have caught a glimpse of the 'upcoming stories' list on one of the outside boards, and you're covering the story on 'Chancellor Moore's past', yes?" He slammed Melissa's mahogany desk out of pure habit. "But I know for a fact, Ms. MacDonald, that you already know quite a bit about that subject, you don't need an interview at all!

Ergo! You did not call this meeting for purely work-related reasons! You wanted to catch up with how I was doing, and with this motive in mind, you undoubtedly got chocolate-covered strawberries for the occasion!

Right?" Chance forced his bottom lip to tremble, face resembling that of a moe anime girl. "You… you did, right? Pwease?"

Melissa, head down on the desk and laughing uncontrollably, reached into a nearby drawer and pulled out a box of treats.

"Yays!" cried Chance, grabbing a plump strawberry and dropping it into his mouth. "Oh, and by the way Melissa, even if I hadn't forgiven you years ago, this alone would have made me take you back. Also, on a completely unrelated note, I'm planning a pre-wedding reception for my friend and, because of the work that goes into such, haven't had time to secure a date." The puppy-dog face returned. "Go with me? Please? We've got a lot to discuss, you and I."

"Chance…" Melissa said softly. "Did you even have to ask?"

"Well, yeah…" Chance said with a 'well duh' tone. "If I hadn't asked, you wouldn't have known about it, and if you hadn't known about it, then you couldn't have come, and if you didn't come, then that would mean I'd be kind of sad and I don't like being sad and so that's why I asked because if I hadn't asked, then…"

"Oh my god, that's actually how your mind works," Cassie interrupted in a state of unadulterated horror.

"What? No, that's the dumbed down version," Chance said nonchalantly. "The real version would be…"

"Of course," Melissa interrupted quickly, fighting back laughter again. "Knowing you though, you haven't decided when and where it's going to be yet so… call me?" She pushed a slip of paper with her number across the table. Chance, beaming broader than he had in a month, took it carefully, placing it in the pocket of his sweater jacket.

"You know I will," he said. "Now, as much as I hate to say this, I have to get back to work or my boss will kill me, so…"

Melissa frowned. "You can't be just a little late?"

"You don't understand," Cassie explained for Chance. "Chancellor's NOT exaggerating. If we don't get back in time, there will be a shotgun involved. Which strikes me as a little extreme because how on earth does Morage expect to be able to replace people at the rate at which they're being 'let go'? Not to mention Chance is a junior partner, so replacing him will be…"

"Point made, Cassie, and you're wasting time," Chance spoke up quickly. "We've got precious little time to make it back to the office as is." He paused for a minute, and then took Melissa's hand, kissing it softly. "I'll see you around, kid."

Had he not turned around immediately afterwards, he would have seen tears of joy welling up in her eyes.

- The Green Corvette. 9/03. 4:30 pm.

"We are not amused," pouted Cassie.

"No kidding?" Chance chuckled. "I thought from the crossed arms, furrowed brow, and turned head that you were happy with me."

'Alright, ONE." Cassie began, the rant bursting out uncontrollably. "You didn't even introduce me in there. For all she knows, I'm just a random blonde-haired girl who followed you in and randomly spoke! Which brings me to my second issue: I didn't get to say jack! The two of you practically glazed over the fact I was even there, and you still didn't answer my question about what happened between you!"

"I'm not going to, Cassie," Chance smiled. "It's in the past, and it should kind of just stay that way. Can I offer you stories about Australia as a cop out?"

"Maybe…" Cassie frowned. "But that still doesn't cover all the issues I had. I kind of assumed you'd be taking me to that reception, you know?"

"Cassie…"

"Not like that!" the pigtailed assistant yelled quickly, looking away quickly. "You know not like that."

"Why don't you just go with Liam?" Chance asked.

"Because he isn't invited," Cassie stressed. "We don't want any untimely deaths right before Tanya's wedding."

"Oh, c'mon," Chance argued. "He doesn't actually have a supernatural death aura around him, you're just being silly."

Cassie cocked one eyebrow. "You do remember what happened at graduation, right?"

"It was a hot day and the air conditioning wasn't working; the fact that the superintendent's heart gave out at the exact moment Liam shook his hand is a tragic coincidence and nothing Moore."

"You're honestly not afraid that one of us is next?"

"No, I'm not." Chance laughed. "This is all supposedly a 'story' right? They wouldn't kill off anyone important."

"You're just tempting fate on purpose now." Cassie scolded. "Or did you actually forget that Morage will have a shotgun ready back at the office if traffic doesn't let up?"

"Don't be silly," Chance assured her. "We'll only be a few minutes late… at most, he'll bring out the chainsaw."

Author's Note (Don't care? Don't read.)

Alright, fine, I wrote another one. Happy?

No, but in all seriousness, thanks to everyone who's actually been waiting for this. I've started to become as irregular as an elderly person who doesn't eat Activia, so thanks for the support, really.

Also… yes. Things are happening. Someone is going to die in this installment, and believe it or not, a lot of the pieces are falling into place already. You may want to go back and review all the new information you've been exposed to this time around. Next Chapter: The pre-wedding reception! (Eventually…)

Character Profile: 'Yonkers' Doth.

All right, so what gives about suddenly punching Chancellor in the face? Well, to be honest, it wasn't that strange a thing to do back in the day. Granted, Yonkers was the only one brutish enough to assault Chancellor, but giving Moore a hard time was pretty much a pastime at that place.

Incidentally, his best friend's name is Aster Roth… named years back when I started this story, before the singer of the same name came out. Though it did work out pretty well, because both Aster and Yonkers loved college.

FAVORITE! SONG! : Aster Roth's "I Love College'. Duh?

Middle name? : Hackl.

Is 'Yonkers' a nickname? : Yes. It's self-imposed, and doesn't relate to his real name at all… that he knows of, anyway. His real name should be easily figured out by his middle name, and various information mentioned in part two of this case.

Anyway, I've got finals this week, so see you not soon, but sooner that usual!