The Wright Anything Bakery

Part Five

Word-of-the-Day

"Mmmm…"

Apollo awoke to find Ema snuggled against him. She had her head on his shoulder her face so close to his. Close enough for him to see pale freckles scattered in tiny flecks over her nose. Her brown lashes were copper in the morning sunlight and draped over her pale cheeks. She was really pretty.

Even with a spray of flour on her nose. She smacked her lips. It was cute—weird—but cute in an Ema sort of way.

"Ohh," she moaned in her sleep, "…thas… very kind of you..."

Apollo smiled and it spread across his face like the sunrise. He turned his grin toward the ceiling, feeling like he'd finally moved forward. Like he'd been hacking away at the same tree and finally it was starting to fall.

He looked down at her, wanted to kiss her awake and hold her while they watched the rest of the sunrise. She pushed her self closer against him, nuzzling his chest.

"Mmmm…"

Apollo swallowed. This was frightening but wonderful.

"I've never…" she spoke breathily in her slumber. It made him blush.

"M-miles…"

What?

"Can I call you Miles?"

Really?

Apollo shoved her off of him and sat up.

"Hey!"

"Come on Ema, we gotta sell some cupcakes!"

He got to his feet and went to the small tidy kitchen, his apartment's layout matched the Wright Anything Agency downstairs—except for the extra room. He made coffee and left it to percolate and turned on the shower in the bedroom.

"I'm going to run home real quick," Ema called through the noise of running water.

"Hurry," Apollo said.

"Polly said he'd set up and man the booth while I'm in class," Trucy said.

Phoenix still couldn't speak. But he smiled and nodded and sipped his coffee. Trucy slathered jelly on her toast and grabbed her bag.

"Bye Daddy!" She kissed him on the cheek and left.

Phoenix took another draught from his coffee mug and then shuddered as he stared out at the piles of pastries heaped onto any available surface, all set neatly in trays and wrapped in cellophane or baggies and labeled for sale. He swallowed apprehensively.

"Sometimes, you just have to tell her no. Why can't you do that?" He said to his wavering reflection in the coffee mug.

There was a knock at the door, but Apollo let himself in before Phoenix could stand up and open it.

"Morning, Mister Wright," he said.

"Apollo," Phoenix said, "Coffee?"

"No thanks," Apollo said, "I've already had some—Ema's on her way back soon and she's bringing a couple guys from the precinct to help out."

"Good," Phoenix said and his eyes swept the bread and pastry covered landscape again, this time with less dismay.

"Do you think you could hang out and wait for them?"

"Are they going to come by before noon? I have an appointment…"

"You have an appointment, Mister Wright? Already?"

"Well no—it's not… It's not a client. It's a personal matter."

Apollo frowned, "I don't see why they'd come after noon. The money time is now. For all the folks that skipped breakfast."

"Okay," Phoenix said.

"Well, I'm going to run. I thought I'd put up a couple flyers to advertise the sale."

"Good idea…" Phoenix said absently.

Marketing might help boost sales—but this late in the game? Phoenix was starting to wonder if they should just hire a garbage truck to take the lot of it away before Trucy got back from school. He'd find a way to deal with the expenses.

"Bye, Mister Wright," Apollo said as he brushed past toward the door. Phoenix hadn't realized Apollo was still in the apartment. But then, he kind of worked here.

"Look lively, fellas," Ema said to the line of detectives and police officers she'd managed to gather for her cause—there were nine of them.

She had her hands on her hips and leaned forward toward them pointing a beat up Ticonderoga No.2 pencil in their direction.

"We've got a big job ahead of us, boys," Ema said, even though only six of them were male. She started to pace.

"The fate of Justice hangs in the balance. You need to know what every other guy on the team is doing. Every single one of you needs to be in harmony with the others, working in unison like cogs in the machine. We are only going to be strong together. It is imperative that we present a united front."

She paused for a moment and glanced up at Apollo when he entered the room.

"You might have heard that some people over at the prosecutor's building are calling this a waste of resources. Well I say we are servants of the people! And if helping the community is wrong then I don't want to be right!"

The detectives stared at her with a mixture of concern and confusion. Apollo frowned.

"The odds are against us," Ema continued, "But we're not here about the odds. The times are changing here, people and we're bringing Wright back to the world. Today we're cancelling the apocalyp—"

"Okay," Apollo said and threw his arms around her, "Whoever's helping out with the bake sale gather around."

Phoenix stepped out of the fitting room and stood with his arms down at his side and grinned at Edgeworth.

"How do I look?"

Edgeworth didn't look up from the newspaper he was reading, "I don't care and I have no opinion."

"Hey, this was your idea—"

"Considering the high risk of you showing up in a sweatshirt," Edgeworth said pointedly, "One can hardly blame me for suggesting this. As long as you're wearing a proper suit, I could care less how it looks or fits."

"So what do you think about—"

"Just hurry up and decide what you want, Wright. I have to get back to work before the children tear the place down."

Phoenix smiled again and raised an eyebrow, "Well… Next you'll be yelling at them to get off your grass."

"Oh, how clever Wright—you realize we're the same age."

"I wasn't making fun of your age, I was making fun of your cantankerousness."

"Did you learn that from your 'Word-of-the-Day' desk calendar?"

"Ha!" Phoenix said, "You can't prove that I—"

He didn't see where Edgeworth pulled the small square leaf of paper from, only that he suddenly had his hand up and the paper was resting between his first and second fingers. It reminded him of one of Trucy's magic tricks.

It took Phoenix a moment to shrug off his startled hesitation, but he stepped down from the raised floor and took it and then stepped back up.

'Otiose' the paper read and the IPA spelling was held in parenthesis next to it. Lazy, useless… Why did Edgeworth give him thi—

"Turn it over," Edgeworth said as if reading his thoughts. Phoenix shot him a glare and then turned the leaf of paper over.

'Daddy,

I'm not coming home after school. I will be with Apollo and Ema at Expose Park to help with the bake sale! I hope you come by!

Love,

Trucy'

Phoenix was smiling as he read it. He could hear her sweet voice forming the words—hang on!

"How did you get a hold of this Edgeworth?"

Edgeworth took a moment to fold up his paper and tucked it down into the seat beside him. He whipped off his glasses and leaned forward with a smirk.

"My," he drawled, "You're angry."

"Edgeworth! How the hell did you—?!"

"Ah. One: I proved that you do—in fact—have a 'Word-of-the-Day' calendar—it's from last year, by the way—and two: I've given you a very important message that otherwise might have been missed. You should be glad, if not utterly amazed."

"Yeah but—"

"While I'm flattered that you seem to think I've managed to sneak into your flat without you noticing, peruse the place for information without you noticing, and steal this document—I assure you that's not what happened. I saw it stuck to the sleeve of your ridiculous sweatshirt—another reason to be rid of it—and merely retrieved it. I didn't know at that time that it was important."

Phoenix stared at him. He was starting to get that creeping feeling in his gut—like he felt before a trial. Like he was still missing something or he wasn't ready.

"I don't know if I'm ready to go back to court."

Edgeworth leaned back in the chair he was sitting in and smiled. It was only a small smile, tight lipped but genuine, "You were never ready, even back then. That never seemed to stop you before."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please leave a donation! (or a Review…)

(or Edgeworth will ninja into your house and take your secret notes)

Next the thrilling conclusion! (I hope it's thrilling… Especially after Ema's battle speech…)