Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for your feedback! You guys are awesome and it is very much appreciated! Yes, we can absolutely be friends. :)

These types of chapters are always the most difficult for me to write, but I usually find they end up some of my favourites. This one I just find turned out hilarious and I don't think I'll ever get over it.

Titration by HawkofNavarre

Chapter 9

Don't Preconceive Your Notions

Nobody knew a thing. Ema was walking through the hallways of the Prosecutor's Office and everybody was going about their day as if they knew nothing about what was about to happen to her. The receptionist on the ground floor greeted her brightly as usual, telling her she could go ahead and take the elevator up to Klavier's floor. In the elevator, she ran into one of the office paralegals who engaged in small talk with her. On Klavier's floor, Prosecutor Debeste told her how wonderful she looked today and went on a fairly long spiel about his latest conquest in court. It was all so ridiculously normal that Ema was having a hard time believing she was about to be fired herself.

But just because nobody knew didn't mean it was going to change the course of her fate. She'd never felt this nervous before, even when she was standing in front of the door that led to the forensics exams. Seeing Klavier for the first time since making sense of her feelings while being reprimanded for insubordination was a really bad idea. Ema was about to be on the receiving end of a ruthless tongue-lashing and all she could do was stand there and take it. Then she would swallow her pride and apologize if she had to.

She would swallow her feelings and get this over with.

Even after Prosecutor Debeste talking her ear off for a good few moments, she was still early to receive confirmation of her demise. She raised her hand, hesitating only for a second before her knuckles rapped against the door. Waiting, she heard two male voices from within the room and she panicked, wondering if he had brought the Chief Prosecutor into the fold about their situation as well. Granted, the whole thing had happened when she was technically off the clock, but even off duty, she was still an officer of the law.

A muffled "come in" came from the other side of the door and the detective took a deep breath, steeling herself as she turned the knob and passed through the threshold.

Klavier's office had undergone a major overhaul over the last couple of years. Since he had more or less withdrawn from his career as a musician, the giant stereos he had previously used as desks were gone and replaced with a modern black desk in front of the window at the back of the room. Legal books and case files that used to litter the floor were now neatly put away on shelves that took over the display case that had held his guitars. He only had one guitar in the room now and it sat on a stand under his smart screens that were still mounted on the wall. Despite not coming here all that often, considering Klavier was generally down at the precinct when he discussed cases with her, she was familiar with his office's new look since the Gavinners had broken up. What she hadn't expected, however, was the man standing in front of Klavier's desk.

That wasn't Miles Edgeworth. That was her coworker Detective Spex.

The glasses-clad man was a couple years older than her, but she knew him pretty well. They had attended the academy together and climbed the ladder to become detectives in the same promotion period. The man was very serious and had basically no sense of humour, but his deductive reasoning made him very good at his job. He turned to look at her as she entered the room, the same no-nonsense expression he always wore sent in her direction.

Her mind raced. What the hell was he doing here? Had a precinct sent him over to check on the situation after Klavier had complained to the commissioner? It didn't help at all that he was so difficult to read, even with how long she'd known him.

Klavier was no easier to read. His expression was stern, but he greeted her all the same. "Good morning, Fräulein Detective."

And now she was back to being a nameless detective too. "Good morning, Prosecutor Gavin," she gritted out politely, unsure if she was sad or angry. Ema strode over to the front of the table where her colleague was standing, regarding him with a nod. "Detective Spex."

"Detective Skye," the spectacled man said in return, emotionless.

Tensions were high in the room and the pleasantries had been anything but. She'd only been inside that office for a minute and already she felt like she wanted to die.

"Thank you for coming. Your punctuality is appreciated," Klavier started politely, a little more formal than she was certainly used to, but it was what she expected in a situation like this one. His lack of warmth was also something she had anticipated, yet she couldn't help but feel a little hurt by it. Regardless of her deeper feelings, they had become good friends over the last few months. The detached way he was looking at her now was like a punch in the gut.

Remorse ate at her. She'd ruined everything by opening her stupid mouth. The last time Klavier had looked at her like that was two years ago during the LeTouse case when he'd thought so lowly of her that he had withheld Lamiroir's blindness from her. Still, Ema couldn't entirely regret her little mutiny when she'd just been trying to do what was best for him. She wondered if he even realized how much he'd been shaking. Probably not, seeing as how he'd immediately covered it up with his rock star persona, pretending like nearly getting shot hadn't bothered him in the least. So then again, the whole reason she was in this position was that glimmerous fop's fault.

In the end, though, it didn't matter who had been right or wrong in that scenario. She had defied him when she knew she ultimately had no authority to do so and wrecked her career in the process. Even if she was the police officer and not him, Klavier would always have more sway with the Chief of Police than she ever would. Ema had to salvage the situation.

Just as she opened her mouth to make her apology, Klavier cut her off abruptly. "I'm glad you two know each other. Fräulein Detective, Herr Spex will be taking over all of your active cases with me, so please give him a rundown before you start on any new cases with your next prosecutor assigned."

Ema mentally froze. What did he just say?

He kept going, staring at an open folder and addressing her before she had time to process the whole thing. "The transfer is more or less all set, so you'll be reporting to Prosecutor Payne tomorrow." The male closed the folder in front of him, pushing it forward on his desk. "This contains a list of his open cases that you can review after you've finished walking Herr Spex through ours. The paperwork will not go through until tomorrow, so you are free to do what you want for the remainder of the day. Just be sure to check in with Prosecutor Payne."

She stood there, mouth slightly open and eyes locked on the large folder being offered to her. Ema had walked into this room fully expecting to be fired, but that wasn't what happened at all. Instead, she was getting transferred to work under Prosecutor Winston Payne, which was a punishment that was worse than being booted off the police force. Every thought she'd ever had about Klavier being the most conceited person on the face of the Earth was currently being retracted on account of Payne. The man was arrogant without the skill to back it up, generally pulling out his convictions only when up against lawyers who were newer to the courtroom. He had been a pretty average prosecutor back in the day, but he was now nearing his mid sixties and while the attitude had stayed, his mind's sharpness hadn't. He was terrible at getting his point across and worse at making rebuttals. Going on the stand with him at the helm would mean constant courtroom humiliation. He would make it look like her work was sloppy and useless so her reputation as a top detective and forensic investigator would be crushed before she got fired.

This couldn't be happening. Her brain was short-circuiting trying to process it all.

"Detective Skye, aren't you going to take the folder?" Spex asked, obviously confused by her hesitance but stoic enough to keep from showing it on his face too much.

Klavier remained silent, though he was eying her intently, as if challenging her to protest his decision. It was clear he knew that he'd saved her ass by not narking on her to the commissioner, but somehow, he'd come up with a punishment that was even worse. She didn't feel any anger, however. She just felt...morose that he would go out of his way to do this to her. It was like the relationship they'd built over the last few months didn't mean anything.

Ema felt her eyes burning with the beginnings of unshed tears. Before, she'd just been planning to apologize for her actions and not really mean it, but now she realized he was out for serious revenge. That was hitting her harder than she could have ever anticipated. All she had been trying to do was protect him.

"Detective Skye?" her colleague prompted.

"Could you... Could you give me a moment to speak with Prosecutor Gavin privately?" she asked, swallowing the emotion that was threatening to overwhelm her.

Her fellow detective looked to her and then back at the seated Gavin, both of them unmoving. Lifting an eyebrow, he seemed to register how heavy the atmosphere had become and offered her a polite nod before swiftly exiting the room.

Silence. Ema tried to gather herself, not even sure about what she wanted to say.

"What did you want to speak about, Fräulein Detective?"

The feeling of melancholy settled and her temper flared. Was he seriously playing dumb with her right now?

"I think it's pretty obvious!" Ema hissed, flinging her arms up in aggravation. She started pacing back and forth in front of the desk. "I know what I did was technically wrong, but I honestly didn't think you were capable of being this much of an asshole!"

Klavier's jaw was clenched tight in annoyance at her barb, but they weren't the type of people to mince words when it came to one another. "It is abundantly clear how lowly you think of me, fräulein."

"That's not—" she started, abruptly cutting herself off with a noise of frustration. Letting out a breath, she tried to gather herself. It was literally like the last few months had never happened. They were back at the beginning where they'd started, miscommunications abound and throwing shade at each other. She didn't mean for things to turn out this way. She didn't want things to turn out this way. Then again, she hadn't been the only one reacting to the situation. If Klavier had just gotten her fired or demoted, she wouldn't have had any problem at all. It had been her expectation, after all. Instead, he'd decided to act like an extra vindictive jerk and she couldn't just walk out of here with an apology like she'd originally planned.

"This doesn't have anything to do with what I think about you!" Ema shot back, stomping up close to his table and slamming a hand down against the surface. "This is about what you think about me!"

"What exactly are you insinuating?" the prosecutor demanded as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.

She was unsatisfied by the fact that Klavier still continued to act as though he didn't know what she was referring to. "You know exactly what I'm talking about," she spat, glaring at him for a moment but continued with her own rant just because she could. "I know that I spoke out of turn at the concert the other night, but you didn't have to sic Prosecutor Payne on me so you could ruin my entire reputation! If you'd just fired me, I'd still come out of this looking better!"

For the first time all morning, Klavier's expression changed from its stern seriousness to amazed incredulousness. "You're angry with me for keeping you employed?" he asked in disbelief.

"You're conveniently leaving out the part where you ruin my entire life."

"Be quiet."

Klavier stood from his seat, his eyes blazing with fury. He was pissed, and for the first time since entering the room, Ema's attention was wholly on him. "You think I would do this to you for revenge? You think I would stoop so low as to try and ruin your career because you went against me?"

She was afraid to answer him, not because her answer was the affirmative, but because it wasn't and her gut reaction had still been to assume the worst of him. It had seemed right until just now, considering his own outraged response to her accusation. Suddenly, Ema felt much less certain of her stance on the entire issue.

...They weren't back at the beginning, but some things took longer to change than others.

"N-no, I don't," she answered quietly, far more subdued than she had been only a minute ago. "But why else would you get me assigned to Prosecutor Payne? You work with him. You know as well as anyone how much of a liability he's become to the office."

Her calm seemed to settle Klavier as he sank back into his chair. He still looked considerably more aggravated than usual though. "I didn't have you assigned to him for any petty reason. Prosecutor Payne just happened to be the only one in need of a lead detective at the moment."

"You knew that, but you still had me transferred," Ema argued stubbornly.

"Because I thought we had learned to work well together, but I was wrong," he explained somewhat bitterly. "When it came down to our disagreement, it was apparent that your feelings about me haven't changed at all. That was when I knew we needed to work with different people."

The detective let the words sink in as she stared at him with wide eyes. She had been so, so sure that what she'd done could only lead to one course of action; that was why the only explanation that occurred to her as the reason for Klavier transferring her had to be to worsen her punishment. That he had interpreted the situation in a different way had never even crossed her mind.

"I'm glad you're finally being honest about where your priorities lie!"

Those had been her parting words with him before he walked on the stage that night. She'd been worried about him and angry that he had clearly been putting his concert over the state of his mental health. Ema had been so desperate to get him to put that guitar down and pay attention to his own wellbeing that she'd grasped for anything that would've gotten him to stop, low blows included. Suddenly, his perspective on the issue appeared entirely too understandable.

Part of her was a little pleased to know that he cared about her opinion, but Ema banished that notion into the crevices of her mind when she knew she'd only gained that knowledge because he was wrong about it. God, he was both right and wrong. They did work well together. She had never faked how she felt working alongside him and she wanted to keep working with him. All this new information was making the situation distressing for a totally different reason altogether.

"We do work well together!" Ema stated, pacing again. She had to make him understand, do her part to fix this because nothing was happening for the right reason. It vaguely occurred to her that she was fighting with a lawyer, someone whose livelihood depended on a winning argument. Even without the difference in authority, it was obvious how the prosecutor had gotten the upper hand in their last dispute. "Klavier, we've closed cases together. I put my life on the line for you."

He was unconvinced. "And I appreciate that, but you were only doing your job. People can only hide their true convictions for so long."

"I didn't mean to say what I did," she said desperately.

"You still said it."

"Because I was mad at you, not because I don't care about you!" she shouted in exasperation, stunning him into silence. She would've felt more victorious about getting Klavier to shut up if this situation wasn't so messed up. She barely even cared about what was pouring out of her right now as long as she could get him to realize how wrong he was. "Do you even know what they teach you in the police academy? They teach you how to avoid getting shot, so do you really think I'd jump in front of a gun for someone I don't love?"

Ema was waiting impatiently for an answer from him, but he was staring at her blankly like she hadn't just spoken plain English. Then there was a long, pregnant silence.

Just as she was about to get fed up with waiting, Klavier spoke with that same bewildered expression on his face. "Apologies, fräulein, but I think I just had a hallucination."

"What hallucination?" she asked, annoyed that he had changed the subject.

"I thought you said you love me."

She blinked, doing a double-take. Police academy...getting shot...guns, and then...

Ema groaned and rubbed her temples. So maybe her feelings for Klavier was going to play a greater part in this than she'd originally thought. As much as she wanted him to know absolutely nothing about her feelings, everything was already so messed up as it was. To lie would just create unnecessary obstacles for herself, and frankly, maintaining the lie would be more effort than it was worth.

"You're...not hallucinating," she stated reluctantly, unable to meet his eyes. "It's the truth. You know what I said. Don't make me say it again."

"You..." the prosecutor started. "You're..."

Finally, Ema worked up the courage to look at the man who barely ever struggled to find words. He was staring down at the table, an elbow resting on the surface as his hand raised slowly, obscuring part of his face. However, that didn't help much to mask the redness that was covering his cheeks.

"Are you blushing?" she asked incredulously, taken off-guard. "Stop blushing!"

Upon this realization, she could feel her own face start heating up for multiple reasons. For one thing, she had just confessed love to a man, which was something she'd never done in her life, and she had taken it in stride until she saw his face. Now she was just embarrassed because Klavier seemed flustered, which was also something that never happened. And then, of course, the rare expression he was wearing because of her words immediately set her face on fire. To her horror, she was vaguely aware that this was the same reaction his fangirls had whenever Klavier looked in their direction.

This day was seriously the worst.

Unfortunately, Klavier seemed to be having just as much luck as she was trying to find his composure. His cheeks were still coloured and he looked slightly undone by the information that had just been presented to him. "Mein gott... Then you're serious? You really...?"

Apparently, the idea of restating her confession was even too much for him and he couldn't finish his sentence. This was ridiculous. The room was occupied by two awkward, blushing dorks and Ema couldn't believe she was one of them. She refused to let things continue on this way.

"Look, when I said those things the other night, I was just trying to stop you from playing the concert. I knew you weren't okay, regardless of what you said," Ema explained without acknowledging what had just taken place. Her face was still warm, but the situation was far from resolved. "My first instinct isn't to doubt you, Klavier. I just wanted to protect you."

The room was quiet as Ema watched her boss, contemplating her words as he stood up and moved to stand in front of the desk with her. He leaned back, crossing his arms. "I...believe you."

With things starting to finally move in a positive direction, she pushed a little more. "So you won't transfer me...?"

He swallowed audibly. "If that's truly how you feel, then I won't transfer you."

A wave of relief washed over her. She wouldn't have to work under Prosecutor Payne, and better, she could continue working with Klavier without worrying about her reputation being shot to hell. She couldn't help the smile that broke out on her face. Somehow, this had ended up being a much better outcome that she could have ever anticipated. "Thank you..."

She glanced at him and his eyes were on her, blushing with an uneasy look on his face again. Ema felt her face burn in response.

"Would you stop looking at me like that?" she demanded in embarrassment. "Hordes of women throw themselves at you on the daily, but this makes you blush?"

Klavier rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort. "I know we became friends, Ema. I just never expected that you of all people would..."

"Ugh, would you just say it? You were the last person I expected to fall in love with too, Gavin," she replied irritably. The detective took a couple steps back before spinning around to examine the books on his shelf. Now that he was on the same side of the table as her, she felt a little more self-conscious about her feelings. "And it's not your stupid charm or your looks or your terrible fashion sense either. But...when it's just the two of us, when we talk...I feel like I'm not—"

"—alone," Klavier finished for her, causing her to redden further. So although he had never made a mention of that night he'd been so inebriated, he remembered all of it just as well as she did. They had been enjoying each others' presence long before that, but that night had been the one she felt like she'd connected with Klavier more than any other. "I feel the same way, Ema."

He wasn't suddenly confessing his love too, but he was admitting he felt something between them as well. That in itself sent her heart rate skyrocketing and she couldn't bear to turn around and face him. They were both too vulnerable and Ema didn't trust herself not to act on her emotions if she saw him looking like that. Inwardly, she scolded herself for being a coward.

"Then...what do you want to do?"

Her finger froze on the spine of a book, completely unprepared for the question he'd just posed. Figuring out her feelings for Klavier last night had seemed completely irrelevant in light of their meeting today, but they had made all the difference in the last fifteen minutes. She really hadn't thought any further on what she would do with those feelings, let alone what she wanted to do if he ever became aware of them. And it was pretty safe to say that Klavier was very aware of them.

Everything had turned out to be so messy, but she had stopped things from changing too much. All she knew was that she didn't want things to change much more. She and Klavier could be friends again; she didn't want to consider the possibility for anything more than just that. Contrary to what Lana thought, Ema was perfectly happy being on her own.

"I want to go to work tomorrow and pretend like none of this ever happened," she replied dryly, mostly because it was the truth, but partly because she just didn't feel like dealing with any of this anymore.

"Okay."

Surprised, she turned to look at him, fingers still on the shelf. With that blush finally gone, he looked quite sober in his response. She was serious about what she wanted, but she hadn't quite expected to hear him agree quite so easily to her request.

"If that's what you want, I will do my best to act as if this never happened," he stated quietly, arms crossed in contemplation.

Ema didn't know if she had ever seen Klavier quite so subdued before, but it was making her uncomfortable. She shifted in her spot, unable to find the words to respond. If he was expecting her to say something else, he certainly didn't wait for her to do so.

"I'm sure you still have the police report to complete from the night of the concert, so you're dismissed. Please send in Herr Spex on your way out."

That was it? It seemed almost cold-hearted, the way he was talking to her after all that. Then again, this was what she'd asked for. Once the initial shock of her confession wore off, it appeared that Klavier was able to jump right back into the usual business. There was absolutely zero indication that anything had even happened between them over the last couple of days.

Nodding, Ema headed towards the door.

"Miss Skye?" he called after her and she paused for a moment to look back, her heart clenching painfully at the address. Klavier smiled. "I look forward to working with you."

The corners of her lips lifted gently despite the conflict within her. "Let's close some cases, Gavin."

She let herself out of the office and directed her colleague who had been waiting outside (and probably wondering what the hell was going on since he'd been out there for an abnormally lengthy amount of time, and that was if he hadn't heard all the yelling) back into the room. Things couldn't have turned out any better for her; by all means, Ema knew she should be soaring out of that room, but she wasn't. She'd gotten everything she wanted, right? Why wasn't she just happy? Ema was convinced that nothing she'd done back there was anything she regretted.

The forensic investigator strode through the halls of the Prosecutors Office, quashing any feelings of doubt. This was what she wanted. To go to work in the morning, perform the will of science, and close cases with a friend. A friend. Because all that stupid love drama was over.

Yeah, definitely over.