The Wright Anything Bakery
Part Two
One Small Thing
"What happened?" Apollo asked her.
Trucy was frowning. Phoenix had left his bowl of noodles on the table and retreated to his room.
"I've never seen Daddy like this before," she said.
"Was he upset about the shoes?" Apollo said.
"No, they were perfect," Trucy said, "But Miss Andrews bought them. I thought he'd be flattered, but he's not. I think he's…"
"Ashamed? Embarrassed?"
"Oh Polly," Trucy hugged him and Apollo was a little startled. But he put his arm around her and patted her back.
"Don't worry about it Truce," Apollo said, trying to sound unconcerned even though he was a little troubled about Phoenix's behavior too.
"Miss Andrews was only being nice," Trucy said, "She didn't mean to embarrass him. And… And it isn't as if I begged her to buy that pair of shoes. We were still looking, we would've found a more reasonably priced pair."
Apollo nodded in agreement and rubbed his chin.
"You know what this means, Polly?"
"No, what?"
"We've got to earn that money back!"
"Huh?" Apollo said, "Just how much were those shoes anyway?"
"Um…" Trucy said, "threehundredeightysevendollars… plus tax"
"What?" Apollo said wondering if he'd heard her correctly.
"We'll earn back the money! And we'll raise more so that Daddy can have the best suit money can buy!"
"And how are we supposed to earn all of this money?"
"I'll do a couple of extra shows after school—"
"But Trucy—"
"And I'll have a bake sale! People do bake sales all the time! How do you think the Air Force pays for its planes?"
"Uh… What?"
"Yeah! I'll make muffins and coffee cakes and cookies and brownies—you like brownies don't you Polly?"
"Eh?" Apollo said. How do you say this without hurting her feelings?
Trucy let go of him suddenly and disappeared into her room. She returned waving her magic panties, "This is going to be awesome! You'll help me, won't you Polly? And you won't tell Daddy, either?"
"Um sure, Truce," Apollo said.
"I've got sixty-two dollars and some change," Trucy announced happily, "Come on let's go to the grocery store!"
"What now?" Apollo rubbed his forehead in exasperation.
"This can't wait Polly!" Trucy said her large eyes widened earnestly and Apollo choked on any argument he might've tried. He wondered if this worked on Phoenix as well as it did on him.
Apollo sighed and let Trucy drag him out of the office/apartment. With her top hat cocked at a jaunty angle and one hand firmly attached to the front of Apollo's waistcoat she marched toward the bus stop.
The bus was crowded and Trucy had to sit one row up with an old man and Apollo found himself seated next to a man in a fedora who kept chuckling to himself. He glared at the old man beside Trucy, he looked a little creepy.
"Eggs, Flour—all purpose and cake flour and bread flour—sprinkles, icing, cake mix, baking soda—or baking powder? I should get both. Food coloring, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, chocolate chips, walnuts, raisins…"
"Uh, Trucy," Apollo said, "Just how much are you planning to bake tonight?"
"As much as I can. The rest I'll have to do tomorrow and the next day. I don't know how much suits cost—but if the shoes alone are four hundred dollars, I got my work cut out for me."
"Those shoes were four hundred dollars…" Apollo said under his breath. New clothes were one thing, but designer fashion? Maybe this was a little excessive. No wonder Phoenix was embarrassed.
Phoenix exited his bedroom to find the apartment empty.
"Trucy?" he walked around in the silent flat, confused, "Apollo?"
He could've sworn he heard the two of them chatting in here only minutes ago. Phoenix grumbled, he'd have to check the mail then.
He scratched at the beanie he wore and slid on his sandals on the way out. He pulled the bundle of envelopes out of the mailbox with a frown. Already he could recognize the formal rectangular business envelopes that the bills usually came in. The ubiquitous bills.
He flipped through the mail as he went up the stairs. Just inside the apartment one of letters, it was in an oddly shaped envelope—almost square shaped—fell on the floor. He picked it up, it had the weight of a card. Phoenix dropped the pile of bills and junk mail on the dining table and held up the card.
There was no address and no stamp, just his name printed neatly on the front. It must have been hand-delivered. He tore it open and shook out the plain white card. The word 'Congratulations' was embossed in cheerful silver script across the front. He opened the card and smiled at the message.
'I'll see you in court!' it read in a tidy hand and it was signed by none other than Miles Edgeworth.
Phoenix turned the card over and then read the message again before picking up his phone. He dialed.
"Justice," Apollo said answering his phone just in time to catch Trucy in his peripheral vision zooming away on a shopping cart.
"Oh hey Ema," he said, "No I'm fine. What's going on?"
Ema chattered about the case she was working on and Apollo's feet betrayed him, stopping his walking and his search for Trucy.
"What are you doing right now?" Apollo asked.
"Right now, right now?" Ema replied, "I was heading out."
"Do you think you could meet me? I think I need your help with something."
"Geez are you in trouble Apollo?" He could hear her crunching on a Snackoo. That was kind of annoying. It would be really annoying if it were anyone else, but he didn't mind if the crunching happened in that cute Ema sort of way.
"It's not anything like that," Apollo said, "But yeah, I need your help."
He told her the name of the grocery store and the location.
"Yeah," Ema said, "I'll be there."
Apollo sighed in relief when the call ended. Then he realized he had no idea where Trucy had got to. Crap.
"Sure," Edgeworth said on the other line, "I know a guy."
"So I'll swing by tomorrow?" Phoenix said.
"I'll come get you, around noon," Edgeworth said.
"Thanks buddy."
"You're welcome, Wright."
Phoenix smiled to himself when the call ended. He looked down at the shoebox at his feet. They really were perfect—the shoes. He'd never worn shoes like these. Of course, he'd have to find a way to pay Adrian back. Trucy shouldn't have accepted the gift—this really was too much.
Trucy. His little girl. No one seemed to take care of him like Trucy.
Phoenix leaned back in his seat and dug the heel of his hand into his eye.
A/N: Thanks for reading!
I got asked if this story was going to pair Adrian and Phoenix (I was intrigued by her compliments to him in GS3/AA3 in the DeMasque case and thought maybe Phoenix got a little so'um so'um) but their meeting was only to further the plot. I didn't answer the question because I figured the next chapter would do a better job of that. I thought it would be more embarrassing for him if someone a little further outside of his circle of friends felt the need to help him out. This story isn't about romance between characters, it's focused more on Trucy and Phoenix's relationship.
I'm sorry again, I was trying to keep him away, but Edgeworth keeps coming around. I guess I'm just too much of an Edgeworth Fangirl…