For the second time in as many days, Apollo awoke to find Klavier spooned up behind him, the rockstar's nose buried in his hair and his breath whooshing against his scalp. There were differences, however. No Athena gawping at him this time, thankfully. But unless he was mistaken, Klavier was naked. And so was he.

Fuck. He'd done it, hadn't he? Memories from the night before flooded in. Klavier had been as wild and untamed in bed as Apollo had imagined and his face flooded with heat at the thought. But now it was morning and in the cold light of day, Apollo began berating himself. What the Hell had he been thinking last night? But he knew the answer to that all too well, even if he didn't want to admit it. He'd let his attraction to Klavier overrule his good sense, simply because the man had turned on the charm. He was a fool.

"Stop thinking," Klavier mumbled into his ear. Apollo wriggled free and got out of bed, searching the floor for something, anything to wear. Klavier sat up, his hair delightfully mussed and his face creased. Apollo's stomach lurched at how adorable he looked.

"Apollo," Klavier said, snapping his fingers in front of his face. Shit, had he zoned out?

"Uh, hi," he stammered.

"Forehead, you are not about to do the walk of shame, are you?"

Apollo gulped, his stomach tied into knots. "No, I uh, I just have to… go. Uh, to the hospital to see Mr Wright."

"Ah. I'll take you, and Miss Trucy of course."

"No! No, there's no need. We can ride the bus," Apollo said desperately.

Klavier leaned back against the leather headboard, still flagrantly naked and apparently unconcerned about it. "Apollo, do we need to talk about last night?"

"What? No, no, definitely not. I uh, we… Well, we were overwrought and there was… adrenaline, yeah, and I was freaked out and you were freaked out and-" he was cut off by Klavier bounding out of bed and kissing him thoroughly. When the prosecutor finally released him, he stared up at him uncertainly.

"This was not a one-off," Klavier said seriously. Then doubt and uncertainty clouded his pretty face. "At least, not for me."

"Klavier…" Apollo sighed and Klavier held up one hand.

"Nein, Apollo," he said. "If you are going to tell me how it can't work, or that I'll get bored with you or some other nonsense I swear I will scream!"

Apollo eyed him in alarm, he didn't put it past Klavier to actually start shrieking. "Klavier, I'm just trying to be practical."

"Bah! To Hell with practical," Klavier snarled. "I love you."

Apollo staggered backwards in shock. "You what?"

"Verdammt, Apollo, I did not mean to say that." Klavier said, wincing. "At least, not yet."

"No, this is insane," Apollo insisted. "You're insane."

"Apollo, schatzi, I'm sorry. This is not at all how I wanted this to go. But, ja, it is true. I've felt this way for months. Or longer, I don't know." Klavier dropped to his knees and gathered Apollo's hands into his. "Bitte, Apollo."

Apollo looked down at Klavier, his head bowed in supplication. This was just too surreal. Klavier Gavin was begging him not to walk away from this as a one night stand? "Klavier, I didn't meant to hurt you. I just thought, you know, that you'd come to your senses this morning."

"I don't want to 'come to my senses', Forehead," Klavier said, looking upwards and miming the air quotes. "I want you to consider trying to make this work. It's not going to be easy, I won't lie. But that awful woman last night made me realize that if you're going to be under the microscope for dating me, we might as well make that a reality if that's something you think you could want."

"You're waffling," Apollo said fondly. "And I still think you're certifiable. But… OK. If this is really what you want, who am I to say no?"

Klavier shook his head and stood up. "Nein, Apollo. You have to want it too."

Apollo stepped closer and looked up into his bright blue eyes. "I never said I didn't want it," he pointed out. He reached up and tugged Klavier's head down for a soft, sensuous kiss. "Now, Trucy will be up any moment. I don't think she should catch us like this."

"Hah," Klavier said. "The fraulein magician doesn't miss much. But we do need to get back to the hospital." Apollo gulped guiltily and kicked himself for his selfishness. Mr Wright was lying in a coma and here he was cavorting around naked- Klavier kissed him and his brain rebooted. "Stop that," he said. "Now, let's get moving." Klavier swatted Apollo on the bottom and he yelped.

"Hey, cut it out!"

Klavier grinned at him. "But it's irresistible!"


Athena had been so focused on Simon's distress she hadn't checked her phone all night. So it was with some alarm that she read the series of messages from Apollo and Trucy about the night's events.

"Simon," she said, touching his shoulder. "Wake up. Mr Wright's been hurt."

Simon rolled over and looked at her through a fringe of hair. "How?"

"There was a bomb in Mr Edgeworth's car! Him and Trucy are OK, but Mr Wright's in a coma!"

"A coma? That's not good. Do you want to go straight to the hospital?"

"Yes," Athena said. She cupped his face in her hands. "Are you OK to come with me?"

"Yes, yes," Simon said gruffly. "This is more important."


The front of the hospital was blocked by a throng of reporters. A hospital security guard was standing in front of the doors, trying to convince them to leave but without much success. Athena looked at the crowd in dismay.

"They're going to pounce on you like wolves," she predicted.

"Possibly," Simon agreed. Taka stretched out her wings as if preparing for a fight.

"Athena!" A voice hissed from behind her car.

"Apollo?" she said in surprise. "What are you doing hiding back there...oh hello Klavier, Trucy."

"We're hiding from the press," Apollo said acidly. Athena frowned at him in confusion. "Don't ask."

"All right," she said lightly. "So what's the plan?"

Klavier slid one hand around Apollo's hip in a very familiar fashion and Athena's eyes widened. Apollo glared at her, daring her to say something. She kept her mouth firmly closed.

"There's a back entrance," Klavier said. "Ema's going to let us in." His phone buzzed. "She's there now, come on, follow me!" He took off across the parking lot, heading for the rear of the building. Athena and Simon jogged easily behind him, Trucy and Apollo bringing up the rear. None of the reporters seemed to notice, they were all too busy arguing with the security guard.

The door at the rear was labelled 'Deliveries' and a tired-looking Ema Skye stood propping it open.

"Fraulein detective, you are a lifesaver," Klavier said as he hustled everyone inside.

She gave him a sour look. "I haven't actually been home yet, so watch your mouth, fop," she said in lieu of a greeting.

"How's Mr Wright?" Athena asked.

"Hmm, hard to say," Ema said. "He's still in a coma. Mr Edgeworth stayed by his bedside all night."

"Can we go in to see him?" Trucy asked.

"You can, no problem," Ema said. "You're family. I don't know about the rest of you."


Trucy tiptoed into the room where her Daddy lay insensate. Uncle Miles was slumped in a chair, his mouth hanging open.

"Uncle Miles?" she whispered. His eyes popped open.

"Trucy? Is it morning already?" he said indistinctly.

"Yes," Trucy said softly. "How's Daddy?"

"The doctors seem happy with his progress," Uncle Miles said. "They're saying they're going to keep him unconscious for another day before seeing if he'll awaken naturally." Trucy bit her lip. She wasn't going to cry, she wasn't. Uncle Miles spread his good arm and she took the offered hug willingly. "He'll be OK, Trucy." He kissed her head. "He has to be."

Athena peered in the window of Mr Wright's room, where Trucy was curled up in Mr Edgeworth's lap.

"What can you see?" Apollo asked impatiently.

"Not much," Athena admitted. "Trucy's hugging Mr Edgeworth."

"So, what's new with the investigation?" Klavier asked Ema.

She popped a Snackoo in her mouth and crunched. "Not a lot. The bomb was some kind of improvised explosive device. Not uncommon these days, any moron can find the instructions on the internet and all the components are easy to find. The only lead is that the bomb was on a timer made from an old cell phone. A really old cellphone."

"Oh," Apollo said. "Is that significant somehow?"

"Maybe," Ema said, looking thoughtful. "It's a really old model. At least twelve years old. But the attached Steel Samurai strap is limited edition."

"Is it one of Mr Edgeworth's old phones?" Athena asked.

"No," Ema said. "That was my first thought too. The phone is pink, so it seemed possible. But according to his assistant, it's not his."

"How did you find a cellphone in the first place if it was part of a bomb?" Apollo asked curiously. "Surely it was blown up?"

"Of course," Ema said irritably. "But there were fragments. Enough that the lab could identify the make and model as well as the color and the strap was remarkably undamaged."

"Oh, yeah," Apollo said, feeling stupid. Klavier's hand came down on his shoulder and squeezed.

"I have to head over to the detention center," Klavier said apologetically. "Brandi Snapps a.k.a. Brandi Darke, is being questioned this morning."

"I'll come with you," Apollo said. "I'm not much use here and I can walk over to the prosecutor's office from the detention center."

"I'm staying here," Athena said. "Simon?"

"I'll come with you, Gavin-san, if it's not too much trouble," Blackquill said quietly.

"There you are," a voice said brightly from behind Apollo. "Thought I was going to have to put out an APB on your cute little ass."

"Officer Plige, please, your sense of humor is getting away from you again," Blackquill snapped.

She gulped in horror. "Oh, uh, I didn't see you there, Prosecutor Blackquill." She turned her attention back to Klavier. "Well, you're late. I was instructed to come round you up."

"Late?" Klavier said, sounding baffled. "I have no appointments until this afternoon."

"Huh," Krige said. "Well, you're down as the next of kin and I know identification in this situation is just a formality but somebody's got to do it and-" Klavier was staring at her, his mouth open and his skin bone-white.

"What do you mean?" Apollo demanded. "Next of kin? His only next of kin is his brother."

"Yep," Krige said, apparently impervious to the way the temperature in the hallway had dropped. "That's the one. Kristoph. They need someone to formally identify the body."

Klavier swayed alarmingly and Apollo steadied him. "Officer Plige," he said between gritted teeth. "I find your levity to be entirely inappropriate. Kristoph Gavin was not scheduled to be executed until Thursday evening. The identification would have been scheduled for Friday. Today is Tuesday. Are you telling us he's dead? How?"

"I don't know," Krige said, cowed now and backing away. "Nobody tells me anything. I was just told that the next of kin were supposed to show up and formally identify the body at 10am. And that next of kin is Mr Gavin."

"Officer Plige," Klavier said faintly. "I- I'm coming."

"Then I'm coming with you," Apollo told him.


Klavier stared down at the off-green sheet that covered… the body.

"You ready?" Mike Caldwell asked, his voice sympathetic.

"Nein," Klavier said. "I don't think I'll ever be ready. Let's just get this over with."

Apollo grabbed Klavier's hand and squeezed. The blond looked down at him and gave him a tiny smile of thanks. Mike lifted the sheet away from Kristoph's face and time seemed to stop. Everything seemed to stop. Kristoph's face seemed older, drawn and gray. There was more silver in his hair than Klavier remembered, but in fairness he hadn't seen his brother in a really long time. It was over. Kristoph was dead.

Klavier stared down at the body of Kristoph Gavin, the blood draining out of his face. He swayed and then he turned his head towards Apollo, his eyes rolling up in his head as he slid gracelessly to the floor. Apollo threw out his arms to catch him and they'd landed in a heap, limbs entangled.

"I'm sorry," Mike said. "I thought he'd be more prepared."

"What went wrong?" Apollo asked. "Klavier was working on his mental preparation. But we thought the execution was scheduled for Thursday."

"No idea," Mike told him. "I just found out when I got to work this morning that the date had been moved up. I assumed he'd be contacted."

Klavier's eyelids fluttered. "Apollo," he mumbled.

"I'm here," Apollo said. "Doctor, do you need Klavier to sign something?"

"Yes," Mike said. Apollo heard the rustle of the sheet and then a clipboard appeared in front of him.

"Can I sign it instead? I don't think Klavier's in any fit state right now."

"Oh, that's right, you were Mr Gavin's employee. Yes, yes, you can sign. As long as you're willing to swear an affidavit in court should there be any question."

"Is that likely?" Apollo asked, his eyebrows diving over his nose.

"What? Oh no. But it's the law, so I have to say that."

Apollo signed the paperwork and shoved it roughly at Mike. It wasn't the bald little man's fault of course, but he'd had enough of everyone today. Except Klavier. He stroked the blond's cheek.

"Hey, Klavier," he said softly. "Are you ready to go home now?"

Klavier nodded and they scrambled to their feet. Mike had taken the trolley with Kristoph's body away, thankfully and so Apollo could just guide Klavier out of the morgue and towards the garage.

"Well, your car is here and your motorcycle is at the prosecutor's office," he said. "We can get a cab, but then you won't have a vehicle at home."

"We take the car," Klavier growled. Apollo stared at him, startled.

"Uh, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I'll take the car then," Klavier told him. "You can take a cab."

"No way," Apollo said. "I'm not letting you drive on your own after the shock you've had. You want to kill yourself, you're going to have to take me with you!" He blinked at himself. That was… not quite what he'd meant to say.

Klavier was looking at him like he'd slapped him across the face. "Damn you, Apollo," he said. "Come on then."


Ema offered to drop Blackquill off when she was leaving to return to the police station. But Simon just shook his head and stalked off.

"Sorry, Ema," Athena apologized. "He's taking this suspension hard."

"It's all right," Ema said indifferently. "I'm used to it." She offered Athena a Snackoo, who accepted gratefully. "What do you make of this business with Kristoph Gavin?"

"I don't know," Athena said. "Apollo's text just said they moved up the execution date and didn't tell anyone."

"Huh," Ema said. "That's illegal. Any request to move an execution date has to be approved by the governor."

Athena's phone buzzed again and she looked down at it. "Apollo and Klavier identified the body and now they're headed home. I think Klavier's in a bad way."

"Of course he is," Ema said. "Kristoph was his only family. Poor fucker."
"Don't tell me you're actually feeling sorry for him?" Athena said in surprise.

"I'm not made of stone," Ema said. "The fop's annoying, although less so than he used to be. But he's not a bad person."

"Apollo will take care of him," Athena told her.

"Yes, so I understand," Ema said significantly. Athena blinked at her. "Didn't you see they way they were with each other this morning? They slept together last night."

"You mean like slept together slept together?" Athena clarified, feeling a little alarmed.

"Like, did the nasty, the horizontal tango. They fucked. I'm just saying." Ema crunched idly on another Snackoo. "Thought Apollo would hold out longer to be honest."

"I'm not sure this is good news," Athena said, her nose wrinkling at Ema's crudity.

"Why not?" Ema retorted. "Apollo needed someone to yank that stick out his ass. Gavin's good for that at least. They'll get it out of their systems and then things will go back to normal."

"Do you have a single romantic bone in your body?" Athena asked sadly.

"Nah," Ema said. "Had that beaten out of me a long time ago. OK, I gotta run. Seeya!"

Athena watched her leave. Ema was too young to be so cynical, she thought.


Miles jerked in surprise when there was a tap at the door. He cast a look at Trucy, who was chatting to Wright about inconsequential things and then answered the door to Athena.

"It's late," she said without preamble. "I should get Trucy home and get her something to eat. Do you want to come along? You need to get some proper rest. I can't believe you're sleeping well in that chair."

Miles smiled at her. "Thank you, Athena. No, I'm going to stay here. I don't want Wright to wake up alone. But Trucy should go home. Did anyone call her school? I completely forgot about it."

"Don't worry, I took care of that," Athena told him. She gave him a pained smile. "It seems I'm in charge of holding it together for everyone today."

Miles looked at her sharply. "What else has happened?"

"Oh, of course, you haven't heard. Something weird happened. Kristoph Gavin's execution got moved up but nobody told Klavier and he had to go and identify the body…" she trailed off at the look on Miles's face. "You already knew," she accused.

"Not the specifics, but yes in general," he admitted. "I was the one who submitted the request to Governor Kaling."

"Oh," Athena said. "Oh. Oh, I wish you hadn't told me that."

"Klavier will find out sooner or later," Miles told her. He looked back at Wright and swallowed hard. "Trucy? Athena's going to take you home now."

Trucy looked up. "Do I have to go?"

"No, but I promised your Dad once that if anything ever happened to him, I'd take care of you. That means making sure you eat and sleep and things like that. You don't want me to break my promise to him, do you?"

Trucy glared at him. "I'm not ten years old anymore. You can't manipulate me with emotional blackmail." Her shoulders slumped as she looked back at Wright. "OK, maybe you can. But just this once!"

She kissed her father on his forehead and then followed Athena out of the room. Miles looked down at Wright and after a moment struggle with himself, took the attorney's hand.

"She misses you," he said. "Dammit, Wright, I miss you. You have to come back to us. Soon."