Author's Note: I scrambled to get a chapter written because I got nothing done on my trip. That being said, I really want to just say that I love this chapter. I'm sorry if it's tangential. I was having too much fun-although trust me, it could have been much worse... It doesn't quite end up that way though, luckily. This is the one that really drives it home. Thanks for the continued support!
Titration by HawkofNavarre
Chapter 6
Prosecutors Throw the Best Parties
She was sitting at her desk at work, holding the envelope she'd found sitting atop of it this morning close to her chest. It was truly a piece of treasure, regardless of what anybody else thought. Never in her wildest dreams did she think something like this would happen to her. It had only been a fantasy out of her reach since she was 16 years old. But now...tomorrow night, she would do something that was even better than working a case with her idol.
In her hands, she held an invitation to Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth's 36th birthday party.
Of course, she had taken great care when handling the envelope. Obviously Ema wore gloves whenever touching it. Earlier, she had dusted the envelope for prints as well to see if the chief prosecutor had indeed personally created her invitation. Unfortunately, she was highly disappointed to find that the only fingerprints on there belonged to an old cadet named Maggey Byrde. It became even more obvious that Edgeworth hadn't written his own invitations after she opened the envelope and compared the writing inside the card to past reports that had been written by the chief prosecutor. The writing in the card, while neat and aesthetically pleasing in its cursive glory, lacked the elegant dignity of Miles Edgeworth's handwriting. All the cards must have been done and sent out by this Maggey Byrde. Ema wondered what kind of good luck this woman had to be doing personal favours for the classiest lawyer in town.
"What are you holding there, Ema?"
Carefully, she placed the envelope back down on the surface of her table which she had covered with a plastic sheet to prevent any sort of contamination from touching the card. As long as nobody got any closer to her desk, the sheet would do its job. The entrance of her least favourite coworker was not helping.
"Dayton, we don't have a case so we don't have anything to discuss," she replied indignantly. Dayton was the last person she wanted to have snooping around her things. With how she was rejecting his advances, he had begun using anything possible to try to start a conversation with her. Yesterday, he'd attempted to talk about the new staplers the office had received and how they required more force to use than the old ones.
"I just want to know about your life," Dayton insisted as he leaned over the table and the detective quickly shoved him back by the shoulder.
"Yeah, and I say I don't want you to," Ema growled, making sure to hold him at bay with the envelope safely in her left hand, as far away from him as possible.
"Herr Feller, Miss Skye! Always working hard together, are we?" Klavier greeted the both of them as he approached, dropping a large bag into Dayton's arms. "Apologies, Herr Feller, but this needs to be dropped off at the evidence locker and I need a moment of Miss Skye's time."
Dayton kept any anger he was feeling off his face, his eyes lingering on the prosecutor before nodding. He stalked off silently with his lab coat swishing behind him. Ema raised an eyebrow at her superior.
"Don't think I don't know what you just did," she warned him, smoothing the envelope back down onto her table.
"Achtung! The detective's tongue is sharp!" Klavier laughed as he leaned over her shoulder and examined her piece of treasure. Somehow, this bothered her a lot less than when her fellow forensic investigator did this. "Honestly, I just happened to be passing through, and I did want a moment of your time. I see you have an invitation to Chefankläger Edgeworth's birthday party at the Gatewater Hotel tomorrow night."
She looked at him in disbelief. "Seriously, Gavin? Your 'moment of time' was necessary because you saw my invitation?" she asked in disapproval. She was grateful that she didn't have to deal with Dayton right now, but she didn't like the idea that she might possibly need saving. Ema Skye was no damsel in distress.
He shrugged, apparently not caring at all about what she thought of his actions. "Harassment is something I take seriously." Klavier slid onto the edge of her desk where she hadn't laid the plastic sheet. "Besides, I will also be a guest at Herr Edgeworth's party tomorrow. I'll be driving tomorrow, not taking my hog."
Ema raised an eyebrow. "Is this your way of asking me if I want a ride?"
"Do you?"
Her brows knitted in suspicion. She had accepted one ride home from Klavier a couple of weeks ago after his concert. Things had settled down for her since her revelation that Klavier might actually sort of be an attractive male, enough that it no longer made her blush when he accidentally brushed up against her—which was often, considering how many cases they'd stayed late working on lately. They spent nearly every day working together for several hours, whether it was solving cases or prepping for the next trial. There was a level of trust between them, but he was still flirtatious with the general female populace as ever and Ema wouldn't put it past him to use this as a ploy to flirt with her as well. He definitely still used lines on her, even with the knowledge that they wouldn't work.
"We are not going to Mr. Edgeworth's party together," she answered cautiously.
Klavier sulked a little at her statement. "Honestly, fräulein, do you really think so lowly of me?"
The detective considered his inquiry for a short moment. If he'd asked her that six months ago, she would've automatically replied with the affirmative, but she now she knew more about him than she cared to admit. "...No, but you still flirt with every female in the vicinity," she shot back. "I know how you function, Gavin."
Looking slightly exasperated, he muttered something under his breath in German and hopped off her desk. "I'm offering you a ride, Ema," he reiterated with emphasis, likely a bit insulted by her insinuation if the way he was pouting was any indication. The prosecutor moved his bangs out of his face. "How exactly do I function?"
She thought about how to answer that. Maybe talk about the 120 pound models hanging off his arm at regular intervals? But she thought better of it, realizing that she was falling back into old patterns of judging Klavier about things she wasn't fully aware of. She definitely saw a different model with him in magazines here and there, but it was pretty obvious that he didn't have a lot of time to date when he was working late with her so often. Ema couldn't even fathom how he could have possibly had any free time back when he was with the Gavinners either.
"Sorry, that was uncalled for," Ema apologized after a second. "A ride would be appreciated."
The frown he was wearing disappeared quickly as his expression brightened. "Alright. I'll pick you up at your apartment tomorrow at six!" He turned to leave, but his hand lingered on her desk a second more. "By the way, Miss Skye, I applaud your effort at dodging the question."
Oh no he didn't. Ema glared at his back as he walked off to wherever, recognizing the familiarity of this situation. Klavier Gavin was always getting in the last word. No way. Not this time. Especially not after the way he played off his hurt feelings by teasing her.
"You function glimmerously!" she called after him with a huff, wishing that she hadn't apologized after all.
Despite her initial misgivings, Klavier didn't make any passes at her on the ride to the hotel. He did, however, continue making flirtatious comments, though no more than his usual. Ema was grateful that she hadn't let her first instinct spread to her mouth, especially now that they were starting to actually be friends. Even if he did date a lot of women, she was certain that he always treated them with respect. There was no need to judge him for something she knew nothing about.
Instead, she focused on the gift she was bringing to the birthday celebration instead, really hoping that Mr. Edgeworth would like it. The invitation had said that gifts were not expected or necessary, but Ema didn't feel like she could show up empty-handed at a party for her idol. It was nothing huge; just a very clean-cut pair of silver cufflinks that were regal enough to match the chief prosecutor. She felt proud of herself for finding such a suitable gift for him on such short notice. Klavier, however, only pulled his guitar out of the trunk before they went inside.
"Are you singing for Mr. Edgeworth or something?" Ema asked as they walked toward the entrance.
Klavier simply winked. "You'll just have to wait and see."
A private room had been booked out in the Gatewater Hotel for the party where they found Detective Lieutenant Gumshoe greeting people as they entered. There was a short brunette with glasses standing beside him who Ema wasn't familiar with.
"Herr Gumshoe!" Klavier greeted eagerly. "It has been quite a while since we last worked together. Did you organize Herr Edgeworth's birthday celebration?"
Dick Gumshoe scratched back of his head. His face was clean-shaven and he was wearing a dark green button down that was tucked into a pair of belted black pants, but he still somehow managed to look slightly unkempt. "It's nice to see you, Mr. Gavin. Actually, my wife put together mostly everything. I can't even keep my shirts and socks separate."
"Ah, and this must be your lovely wife," Klavier said, turning his attention to the small female dwarfed by her husband. He picked up her hand to kiss it and Ema rolled her eyes at his archaic gesture as the recipient of his actions blushed accordingly. It seemed that even Mrs. Gumshoe wasn't immune to Klavier's charms. She exchanged her own greetings with her senior detective. At least this solved a mystery for her, with Mrs. Gumshoe being the spitting image of the former cadet Maggey Byrde.
"Make yourselves comfortable! There's plenty of food to go around," Maggey said as she eyed the small gift bag that Ema was carrying. "And I know the invitation said no gifts were necessary, but everyone ignored that anyway. The gift table is on the right side at the back of the room."
"I set up some speakers like you asked, Mr. Gavin," the older detective stated as he led them into the room, his wife hanging back.
"Perfekt! Then let's get started right away!"
Ema separated from the group, heading towards the gift table at the back which was already stacked with presents. Some people hadn't even bothered to wrap their gifts, a huge basket filled with Steel Samurai merchandise with the tag "Love, Wendy" sitting there like the main event. She couldn't fathom how someone would even buy a juvenile gift like that for Miles Edgeworth. It only got weirder when she saw that one gift's wrapping paper had been torn by the item inside; more specifically, there was part of a plastic sword sticking out of the top.
...She had to be missing something here.
"Detective Skye! Hi!" Athena called out as she skipped up to her with Trucy in tow. Athena was in a lovely yellow spaghetti-strap dress while Trucy was blue and white diamond-patterned dress that still gave off the impression that she was a magician.
"Hey guys. Did you get Mr. Edgeworth a gift too?" she asked them.
"Daddy let Miss Fey choose the gift. He said she had the best taste when it came to Mr. Edgeworth," Trucy supplied, bouncing on her toes.
Maya Fey, the head of the Fey family and the master of the Kurain Village Channeling Technique, had a personality that was probably the exact opposite of Miles Edgeworth. From what Ema recalled of old cases, the woman was also rather obsessed with children's TV shows. She had picked out the present? The more information she obtained, the odder things appeared to be. Suddenly, her cufflinks didn't feel like the right choice at all.
"I...haven't even seen Mr. Edgeworth yet to wish him a happy birthday. Do you guys know where he is?" she asked the two females, uncomfortably trying not to regret the present she'd bought as she added it to the pile.
"Oh, I think he's over there being harassed by that lady with the whip," Athena replied as she gestured towards the crowd of people in the middle of the room where the food table was.
Mr. Wright and Maya were standing there along with the infamous Larry Butz, who Ema seemed to find lurking around crime scenes so often that it was starting to become completely unbelievable that his presence could always be a coincidence. And, of course, the woman with the whip was renowned international prosecutor Franziska von Karma who had been working to put criminals behind bars since Ema had been in middle school. Along with those four, Edgeworth was being hounded by his self-proclaimed assistant from years back, Kay Faraday. She was now an expository freelance journalist who went after the biggest scoops with no fear of however powerful the corporations she was exposing were. She flew under the radar extremely well, but a groundbreaking piece from her would appear in newspapers every few months.
"We should go over there too!" Trucy suggested eagerly. "I want to meet all of Mr. Edgeworth's friends!"
The younger girl hooked her arms around Ema and Athena and began to pull them towards the crowd. Ema didn't resist, also wanting to greet the chief prosecutor and see what all the ruckus was about. Of course, she was familiar with everyone else there and was a little more wary to be that close to Franziska when she had her whip in hand.
Trucy's grip loosened as they entered the swarm of people, chirping an introduction of herself to Kay. As Athena joined her, Ema made her way over to the birthday boy who was still speaking with his adopted sister. She made sure her snark mode was off from sitting in the car with Gavin before she spoke.
"Sorry to interrupt, Ms. von Karma. I just want to wish Mr. Edgeworth a happy birthday," she cut in politely, a wave of relief pouring over her when Franziska didn't seem annoyed by the intrusion. "Thanks for inviting me, Mr. Edgeworth."
"It's always a pleasure to see you, Miss Skye. Thank you for coming," he replied, always the picture of a gentleman.
"I see you don't always favour incompetent detectives, little brother," Franziska remarked snidely, and Ema wasn't sure if she had just been insulted or complimented.
"And traveling internationally clearly hasn't improved your manners," Edgeworth shot back.
Suddenly, Larry threw his arm over the birthday boy's shoulder, beaming at Ema. "Heeeey, Edgey! You never introduced me to your gorgeous friend over here!" He waggled his eyebrows at her, something Ema assumed was supposed to be seductive. "'Sup, babe? You like artists?"
Edgeworth looked like he was about to dump his glass of wine on the man's head. "Larry, you know Detective Skye."
It was obvious he was doing a double-take as his eyes widened in recognition and beads of sweat started to form on his forehead. "D-detective Skye...?"
She smirked. "Hello, Mr. Butz. I see you got home safely after our last encounter."
He sputtered for a moment and pulled himself off his childhood friend, straightening out. "S-say, can we just forget about that, detective? You sure clean up nice without that lab coat!"
The detective was rendered momentarily speechless by his thoughtlessness. This time, she knew she'd been insulted, whether it was intentional or not. Evidently, Franziska seemed to have flown through the exact same thought process as her as the sound of leather striking the floor rang out.
"This foolhardy fool had better shut his foolish mouth before I shut it for him," the prosecutor hissed menacingly.
Larry's eyes sparkled with tears. "But Franzy, I thought we had something special!"
Glaring, Franziska stepped forward to make good on her threat as Edgeworth grabbed her around the waist to hold her back. Ema was stunned by how close Franziska really was to escaping Edgeworth's grip. That woman was truly as tough as she looked.
Larry was lucky when a loud "Achtung!" came over the speakers, effectively diffusing the entire situation. Klavier was standing on a small platform that looked like it was used during presentations when there were conferences at the hotel. He had his guitar strapped on with a single amp hooked up to it and Ema let herself bask in a brief moment of satisfaction at finding out she had been right.
"Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth, I know gifts were not necessary for tonight, but you have helped guide our legal system from a dark age into a brighter one. I think I speak for all of us when I say we are blessed to have you around. I hope you enjoy this short performance I prepared," Klavier spoke into the microphone, then backed up and began to pluck at his guitar strings.
For a second, the detective had no idea what he was playing. A few notes later, she realized he was playing a slow finger-picked version of the Steel Samurai theme song and her jaw dropped in utter disbelief. It wasn't that it didn't sound good, because it did, but what in the Law Goddess's name was Klavier thinking when he decided to play the main song of an old children's cartoon for his boss? She snuck a peek at Edgeworth to see his reaction to such a bizarre song choice and saw him with a small smile despite his crossed arms, a finger tapping along to the rhythm.
Her jaw was not going to be picked up off the floor anytime soon. She really had to be missing something here.
When the song ended, there was polite applause and some whooping from over where Maya was standing. Edgeworth's had reverted to its signature sobriety without a trace of his prior enjoyment showing and Ema wondered if the expression she had seen on his face earlier was something she'd just imagined. Gumshoe took over on the platform as Gavin started to put his guitar away.
"Hey pals, Mr. Edgeworth wants to thank you all for coming. Food's coming out now and there's plenty, so eat as much as you want. Happy birthday, Mr. Edgeworth, sir!"
There was an echo of "happy birthday" from the guests before everyone started to flock towards the food. Slowly, Ema followed suit. The night...was off to a weird start.
As dinner continued, the day got weirder. As if all the references to a children's cartoon weren't strange enough, some of the people at the party began to act wildly out of character...or in Athena's case, way too in character. The girl was practically bouncing off walls, trying to get people to dance and unwittingly attacking innocent bystanders in the wake of her quest to find Apollo, who was still thousands of miles away in Khura'in. Ema was genuinely frightened of what would happen when the girl accidentally barreled into Franziska, but then the young prosecutor just burst into tears and buried her face in Edgeworth's cravat, hugging him tightly.
The reality of what occurred definitely scared Ema more than the predicted result. A vulnerable, sobbing Franziska von Karma just...didn't look right.
"What's going on? Maya's out of control," Phoenix lamented, approaching them with his former assistant stumbling at his side.
"I'm not outta control, Nick. You're outta control!" she claimed grumpily, her words slightly slurred. The spirit medium paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing as she got on her tiptoes to investigate Phoenix's face. "Were your eyebrows always bendy? I mean, bundy? Or...was I right the first time? Hehe, we should get som'ore burgers."
"Mr. Wright, doesn't Ms. Fey seem...kind of drunk to you?" Ema suggested hesitantly as she looked around the room as chaos unfolded. Trucy seemed to be having all kinds of fun convincing people to be the subject of her magic tricks while their inhibitions were lowered.
The lawyer tried to placate Maya as Edgeworth patted his own current issue on the back awkwardly, visibly uncomfortable. "She's right, Wright. Franziska is clearly inebriated. She would never behave in such a manner otherwise. I assume Ms. Fey is as well."
"Ema! Du sollst mit mir singen!"
Before she knew what was happening, Klavier was leaning on her shoulder belting out lyrics in German like there was no tomorrow.
"Oh god, not you too," Ema groaned as she tried to push the prosecutor off her, but he just ended up stumbling back into her instead. Like he wasn't already obnoxious enough when he wasn't drunk.
"How did Maya get drunk?" Phoenix demanded in annoyance, Maya still causing a ruckus ("Niiiiick, stop ignoring my burgers! Ba-ba-ba-burgers!"). "She didn't even have any wine! She's been drinking punch all night!"
"I wouldn't know! I could say the same of Franziska!" Edgeworth retorted.
"I have no idea what this guy was drinking," Ema added as she gestured to the serenading man using her as a crutch, "but I'm gonna go ahead and guess it was the punch too. Someone must have spiked it."
What happened next was one of those moments in life that Ema wished she could have filmed just because of how amazing it was. Just as she finished her sentence, both Edgeworth and Phoenix simultaneously turned towards the same exact spot in the room and shouted, "LARRY!"
Said man was halfway through eating a slice of pie when he perked up in attention and sauntered over with a stupid grin on his face. "Aw Edgey, Nick, are ya missin' me already?" the man asked as he took another bite of his dessert. He blinked, then glanced sequentially at the sobbing Franziska, hyperactive Maya, and expressively singing Klavier. "Wow, what happened to them?"
"You know exactly what happened to them!" Edgeworth shouted in full outrage, all the while patting his adopted sister on the back to try and separate soothing her from his anger.
"You spiked the punch, didn't you, Larry? That's why three quarters of the room is going nuts," Phoenix added accusingly. She didn't say anything else, seeing how incensed the two men were. Ema thought it was best that she let them deal with it. The point was elegantly made anyway when Athena, who had somehow recruited Kay to her cause, knocked over the entire gift table.
Larry frowned, putting his plate down on the adjacent table as the noisy collapse of the gifts went completely ignored by the immediate party. "Oh, I see how it is. Something goes wrong at Edgey's fancy party and you go right ahead and blame Larry! Then I have news for you! You accuse the multi-talented Laurice Deauxnim?" He raised a hand dramatically and pointed at Edgeworth. "Laurice accuses you!"
He stood proudly in the pose that his two childhood friends used every day in the courtroom. There was a beat of silence as Edgeworth and Phoenix were stunned into submission. And then a silver flask fell with a clang out of Larry's jacket onto the floor.
The reaction was immediate. "LARRY!"
"I JUST WANTED TO LIVEN UP THE PARTYYYY!"
Ema watched in amazement as the lawyers did their best to attack their troublesome friend with females hanging off them. She'd never seen Edgeworth that angry before and she really wanted to see where this "fight" was going, but Klavier's weight on her was starting to become a burden and she realized that the singing had come to a halt and he was starting to sag asleep against her.
"Wow, rock star can't handle his liquor," she commented in amusement. She tugged on his braid, causing him to blink himself awake. "Come on, glimmer boy, give me your car keys. I'll take you home—and no falling asleep until we get there."
He muttered a few things in German before pulling his keys out of his pocket and handing them to her without a fuss. Ema pulled him towards the exit and relayed to Gumshoe what had occurred. In full understanding, the senior detective told her he'd have Klavier's guitar delivered to his office over the weekend and they exchanged goodbyes.
"Sing," Ema demanded as they walked toward the parking lot. It was the easiest way to keep the guy awake and, admittedly, even drunk, Klavier could hold a pretty good tune. She was most certainly not going to let him fall asleep. The idea of trying to lug 170 pounds of deadweight into a condo if she couldn't wake him up was not the least bit appealing to her.
"What do I sing for you, Ema? You hate everything," he replied like a pouty child as Ema opened the passenger side door for him. He got inside, fumbling with the seatbelt like a true drunk person, eyes intensely focused.
"I don't hate everything," she defended before shutting the door and walking around to the driver's side to get in beside him. He made her sound like a negative person. "Sing The Guitar's Serenade, okay? I know you don't play it anymore, but I don't really care. Just stay awake."
Obediently, he began to sing with his eyes closed. Still, at least if something was coming out of his mouth, she'd know he was still awake. "Sugar...sugar..."
Satisfied with her handiwork, Ema focused on trying to get the car started. She was a little bit thrown off by the mechanics of his fancy car and took a few minutes trying to figure out how to use the GPS display. Luckily, he had "home" programmed into the GPS and it was easy enough to have the system find a path there. Ema inwardly congratulated herself for navigating through the intricacies of rich people gadgets. She'd only now noticed his dashboard had more glowing knobs and buttons than she had ever seen in a car before.
She drove as smoothly as she could having been away from the wheel herself for the last six months. It wasn't like she had access to a car regularly. Lana was able to lend hers if Ema really needed to get somewhere that couldn't be accessed through public transit, but otherwise, she walked or took a taxi wherever she needed to go. She was just grateful that Klavier didn't drive a standard; then she'd really be lost.
It was a bit of a jerky ride, but Ema thought it was probably useful for keeping Klavier awake. After The Guitar's Serenade, he moved on to a slurred version of Atroquinine, My Love, followed by Love With No Chance of Parole, and Guilty Love. She realized that the worst part of it all was the fact that she could actually identify each one he was singing, like some sort of Gavinners fan. It kind of made her feel sick—well, it was either that or her own poor driving. Either way, she felt sort of queasy when she turned into the garage of his apartment building. She used her top-notch investigation skills to figure out which stall to park in, which meant she actually just looked at the sticker that denoted it on his windshield.
After a slightly crooked parking job, she got Klavier out of the car. Yelping, her knees buckled slightly as Klavier lost his balance and leaned against her with more of his weight than he had earlier.
The prosecutor chuckled as he steadied himself. "Apologies, Ema, but your driving is terrible and the car was already spinning."
"Yeah yeah, but you're alive, so who cares," she drawled, holding on to the arm he had around her shoulders and guiding him towards the garage elevator. She didn't even care that he had insulted her driving; he certainly wasn't wrong about it.
Klavier was present enough to press the button to the top floor and Ema narrowed her eyes. How predictable that the bachelor celebrity prosecutor would live in the penthouse suite of an expensive apartment building like this one? She had to tug on his braid again to keep him awake on the ride up to his place. Everything else was fairly straightforward with Klavier getting out his keys himself and managing to navigate to the door. Ema admired his condo as they walked through the entrance, a fairly large living room with a big flat screen TV and a full surround sound setup that led into the kitchen. The dark mahogany of the cabinetry contrasted the white quartz countertops, making the room look brighter, if the huge windows around the living room weren't enough. She eyed the large island in the middle of the kitchen jealously; she'd love to have a kitchen that big.
The penthouse had two bedrooms. Both were visible from the kitchen and it was clear which one Klavier slept in, considering that one of them was full of musical instruments and recording equipment. She dragged him into his own room and finally dropped him off at his bed. Klavier kicked off his boots and rolled onto the bed rather ungracefully.
"Thank you, fräulein. Not how I ever imagined bringing a woman to my room for the first time though," he laughed, words muffled by the pillow.
"Really? The first time?" Ema retorted dubiously as she kicked the garbage can over by the door to the side of the bed.
"I enjoy my privacy," the prosecutor replied somewhat defensively, then turned onto his back. "Ach, I'm drunk. How am I drunk?"
"Punch bowl was spiked," she answered. "You're just noticing you're drunk now?"
"I'm just thinking about it now," he said, eyes closed.
He looked like he was beginning to slumber and Ema made her way back into the kitchen to get him a glass of water. She had to look through a few cupboards to find where he stored his cups and filled it up using the water dispenser built into the refrigerator (because of course he had a fancy refrigerator like that). By the time, she got back to the room, his jacket and chain belt was on the floor, all rings had been strewn upon the nightstand, and he was halfway under the covers, hugging a pillow. She smirked at his childish appearance; Klavier Gavin was always keeping up his professional persona in public, so it was refreshing to see him so unguarded.
She placed the glass of water down on the nightstand and moved to pull the covers fully over him. It was strange to think about how just a short time ago, she'd been marvelling over the fact that she had sort of become friends with Klavier. Now she was taking care of him like an actual friend? Well, if you could count bringing him home and giving him water as "taking care of him."
Ema shook his shoulder gently. She could never have imagined herself in this scenario a year ago, but oddly enough, she found herself in the realization that Klavier would probably have done the same for her if their places were switched. "Klavier, you have to drink some water before you sleep."
He made a soft noise of complaint before sitting up slightly as she took the cup from the table and handed it to him. He chugged the glass and settled back into his prior position. It looked like her work was done, so she grabbed the glass and was about to head back to the kitchen to refill the cup when Klavier spoke.
"...I miss Kristoph," he admitted, so quietly that Ema nearly missed it. "I know he is a murderer, yet I still miss him. Is that wrong?"
Ema bit her lip. If there wasn't enough evidence that Klavier was drunk before, there definitely was now. The topic was completely out of the blue and such a raw issue. Klavier still regarded Kristoph as his brother, but he never talked about their actual relationship. "No... No, I don't think that's wrong at all. No matter what he's done, he's still your brother," she answered despite her intense hatred for Kristoph Gavin. The man was a self-important egomaniac, but she understood sibling love more than anyone. It made her sick to think that Kristoph might have been faking his affection for his little brother all along.
"He was the only one I had. Friends...aren't the same. Sometimes I feel alone."
They were so similar in some aspects that sometimes she forgot because of the differences in their personalities. It was no secret that Klavier's mother had died when he was a baby and that his father had passed when he was in his early teens. Just like her, he had lost both of his parents and was left with only his older sibling to take care of him. Lana had become the parent figure in her life as well, but even though her sister loved her more than anything, Ema knew exactly how Klavier felt.
She put the glass back down where it was before and walked around the bed to the other side, kicking off her shoes. That same wave of solitude hit her just thinking about it and she didn't want to just let it be. "I do too," Ema conceded as she settled in beside him. "My sister...she basically raised me. She spent her whole life trying to do what was best for me and ended up in prison for it."
Ema had no idea what was possessing her to tell him all this. Maybe it was the fact that he was drunk or that what he was feeling was just so relatable; she couldn't be sure, but she knew that she wanted to. "She's not in prison anymore and I see her pretty often, but she has a family of her own now. She got married and had kids and I guess those things take precedence over her independent little sister." She let her head drop back, looking up at the ceiling. "I get it. I really do. It's where she needs to be. It's just..."
She swallowed. "Sometimes I feel alone, but I know I'm not. Neither of us are. I'm here with you and you're here with me." At this point, she wasn't even sure who she was trying to convince.
Klavier showed no signs that he was even conscious until he spoke again. "...Are we at work? I thought you would be sick of me by now."
Ema laughed as she leaned back against the headboard. "Yeah, me too, Gavin. Me too." She knew she should get a taxi home since Klavier didn't need a caretaker anymore, but she didn't feel like getting up. Or leaving, for that matter.
All she wanted to do was stay.