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Title: Piano Man
Author:trenchkamen (via ms_asylum fic-journal)
Fandom: Gyakuten Saiban / Ace Attorney
Genre: General, romance, memory, songfic

Pairings: Phoenix/Edgeworth (throughout); Gumshoe/Maggey (in this chapter)
Warnings: Discussion of sex, graphic memories of sex, you get the idea. Sex. Of the hetero variety.
Spoilers: Entire Gyakuten Saiban series
Summary: Response to 'songfic' request on Kinkmeme. Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth have finally been able to settle down together, and both have gained tenured professorship at Ivy University. Despite re-gaining his Bar, the need to play memories on the piano has been engraved in Phoenix's psyche.

This chapter: Between GS3 and GS4. Maggey is pregnant, the kid is Gumshoe's, and nobody is sure what to do about that.
I had to split the chapter up since LJ can't handle it all at once. Sorry. Insert joke here.

Memory 01: Fools Rush In (part 2/2)

Read the first half of the chapter here.

The pale morning light was already too bright and hot for Phoenix’s liking.

Gumshoe was still sprawled out asleep on the couch after Phoenix had seen Trucy off to school. He sat down on the edge of the couch and started the coffee machine beside him, watching the detective tiredly. Gumshoe had twisted himself into an odd heap with half the blanket falling off his large frame, and he was so tall that his legs dangled off the armrest just below his knees. He had his ear-buds in his ears, chord snaking to some pocket in his jacket; the music was faintly audible at this range. Phoenix leaned down to better hear, and winced at Gumshoe’s stale, alcohol-shot breath.

Though I see
The danger there
If there’s a chance for me
Then I don’t care

Phoenix laughed quietly and shook his head. He carefully removed Gumshoe’s earbuds, and Sinatra was loud for the few moments before Phoenix frisked Gumshoe for his mp3 player to turn it off. He pressed the ‘back’ button with his thumb and noted that, unsurprisingly, Gumshoe had been looping a playlist called ‘Maggey’. He smiled, held the ‘power’ key until the player powered off, and wound the headphone chord lengthwise around before setting it on the coffee table. Gumshoe was going to be hung over; he would bet on that easily. Loud music would not wake him up in a good mood.

The coffee was finished; Phoenix poured some into a mug and took a deep draught. Ever since he had to deal with Godot, he had taken to trying coffee black, and found that after a while it had grown on him. In his half-asleep state, staring into the black pool in his cup, his mind often drifted back to that trial, that great victory before his life went to hell, and he felt sorry for the man with all the loose threads of that year wrapped around his fist.

His mind inevitably drifted to Mia, harbingered by the sheer pain he saw through Godot’s goggles, and he gripped his face, dragging his fingertips over his eyes, seeing flashes with the pressure. There was nothing he could have done. He had finally come to peace with this, but damned if he didn’t still wish he could have.

“Excuse me?”

The voice was coming through the intercom’s. A woman’s. Phoenix leaned over backward, dangerously close to knocking over the coffee stand, and held down the square manila button next to the speaker.

“Wright Anything Agency. If you’re a reporter, go fuck yourself.”

“Mr. Wright? It’s Maggey Byrde.”

“…Maggey?”

“Yeah. Is Rick… Detective Gumshoe there? He’s not at his house. He said he was going to go talk to you last night.”

“Yeah, he’s here. Hold on. I’ll come let you up.”

Phoenix lifted his finger off the intercom and looked down at himself. He was stripped to the waist, dressed in naught but sweatpants, and he hadn’t shaved in three days. His hair looked like hell. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair a few times before running downstairs and opening the front door.

“Well, I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it myself.” Phoenix looked Maggey up and down. Her eyes had widened upon seeing that Phoenix was half-naked, and she was looking him up and down—not disapprovingly, Phoenix noted with a surge of pride. He smiled and gave her a hug anyway. “Officer Byrde once again.”

“Soon to be Detective Byrde, hopefully.”

“Ah, congratulations!”

Phoenix stood aside to allow Maggey indoors, and closed the door behind her.

“Thank you.” She placed her hand on her stomach. “Though this doesn’t come at the best time for that.”

“Well, I think I should add ‘babysitting’ to the list of talents we have at the Wright Talent Agency.”

“So, Rick already told you, huh?”

“Yeah.” Phoenix ran his fingers through his hair again and started up the stairs, Maggey following him. “What he didn’t tell me was what you planned to do, as he himself didn’t know.”

Maggey stopped briefly, gripping the handrail and biting her lower lip. Phoenix paused, glancing over his shoulder.

“…Maggey… you do have to decide soon.”

“I’m keeping it.”

Phoenix took a silent breath, wanting to ask her if this was a good time, if she was sure, but the determined look in her eyes caught the words in his throat. He sighed and continued up the stairs.

“You went to Kurain, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” Maggey continued up the stairs after him. “I talked… to my mom. It really helped me work some things out.”

“And what does she think?”

“She thinks I’m an idiot for trusting that herbal birth control, but she said that if I love Rick, and he loves me, and he’s willing to… you know, work through all the hard stuff that comes with kids… everything will be all right.”

If. If. But damned if they aren’t both stubborn as hell. And if it’s true that oblivious fools are able to do the impossible because they aren’t aware it’s impossible, by their powers combined should be able to do anything.

“Maya and Pearl are doing just fine,” said Maggey. “They want to come down and visit soon.”

“That would be awesome.”

Phoenix had to shove aside a hula hoop that had fallen across the door to get into the room. Maggey stood in the doorway with a vaguely horrified expression as Phoenix jumped and picked his way across the collection of junk in his lobby to Gumshoe’s couch.

“You raise your daughter in this environment?”

Phoenix laughed. “Do you know how much of this junk is hers?”

“You’re still teaching her to be a slob!”

“She doesn’t need any teaching; trust me.” Phoenix reached the coffee stand and held out his mug. “Coffee? We do have sugar and cream.”

“Uh… sure.”

Phoenix started sifting around for a spare—clean—mug while Maggey picked her way gingerly toward the couch and sat next to Gumshoe’s legs. She leaned down close to his face as though to kiss him, and suddenly straightened, sighing.

“How drunk is he?”

“Extremely.” He offered her the character mug of cream-sugar-coffee. “I hope you don’t mind the Pink Princess mug.”

“It’s fine. Thanks.”

Maggey took a careful sip and set the mug on a cleared edge of the coffee table. Gumshoe was still snoring; she elbowed him in the ribs, but he did not respond. She sighed and took another drink of coffee.

“Well, at least he’s sleeping.”

“Did you get any sleep last night?"

Maggey shook her head. Phoenix plucked the mug from her hands mid-sip and gulped the entire mug himself. Maggey gaped, hands still curled as though holding the cup.

“…hey--!”

“I’ll give you something else to drink, but you’re going to bed.”

“Then why did you give me coffee in the first place?”

“Because I’m tired and not thinking either.” Phoenix walked toward his office with the Pink Princess mug dangling off his finger. “I think we only have grape Kool-Aid; I’m afraid I am the sort of parent who gives his kids the ‘purple stuff’.”

“…what?”

“Before your time.”

Phoenix found nothing in the mini-fridge but a McDonald’s foil-top cup of orange juice, which Maggey accepted. Phoenix stretched and popped his back loudly, yawning.

“Well, you’ve got to start taking really good care of your health until the baby is born. That means sleep and food. Folic acid and all that stuff.

Maggey checked her watch. “I was supposed to be at the station two hours ago. So was Rick.”

“Call in sick."

“We can’t both call in sick on the same day!”

“Yes, you can.” Phoenix picked up his mug and took a deep drink. “If you’re in close contact with one another, and one of you is sick, the other will probably get sick too.”

“That’s the thing. We haven’t really told anybody at the precinct that we’re… you know.”

Phoenix shrugged. “You’re co-workers. Not all diseases are saliva-or-sexually-transmitted.”

“Objection.” Maggey poked the tip of Phoenix’s nose with her forefinger. “We work on opposite sides of the building, and we’re assigned different cases lately. And nobody else is sick.”

Phoenix laughed and shook his head. “All right, fine. But you’re still calling in sick. Maya would kick my ass if she found out I let you go to work today. And so would Trucy.”

“And so would Rick, probably.”

“Gumshoe? Probably.”

Maggey sighed and took a deep drink of orange juice. “I hope he doesn’t start to do the Guy Thing and be protective of me just because I’m pregnant. I can still take care of myself.”

“If he does, it’s only because he loves you. It’s not that he doesn’t respect you. He’s… the opposite. He worships you. It’s just something guys are programmed to do to keep their genes going.”

“You’re such a romantic, Mr. Wright.”

“I know.” Phoenix rubbed Maggey’s shoulder. “I know you can take care of yourself, and I know you’ll do a fine job. You’re going to be a wonderful mother.”

Maggey smiled and saluted. “I’ll be the best mother and detective you’ve ever seen; just you wait!”

“You’re…” Phoenix paused, carefully placing his words in order. “…sure this is a good idea right now?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

Phoenix opened his mouth, hesitated, and closed it. Maggey’s expression clearly indicated that she was dead-set on making this work, regardless of the very realistic obstacles inherent in this situation. Her eyes carried the force of her stubbornness.

They burned.

“I’m not afraid.” Maggey’s voice was calm, level.

‘Fools rush in where wise men never go’, huh.

Phoenix sighed and nodded. “Well, one thing at a time. Your priority right now is to get some rest.”

“I know, I know.” She set her juice down and fished in her skirt pocket. “All right, you win.” She pulled out her cell phone. “I’m exhausted anyway.”

-------------------------

Maggey was sick the next morning.

Gumshoe was working on a report at his cubicle across the office when he saw Maggey suddenly stand up at her desk and walk briskly toward the women’s restroom, hand over her mouth. He stared at the closed door, brows knit, unsure of what to do. He knew morning sickness was normal, and that in the end, Maggey would be just fine, if not in a foul mood, but he ached at the thought of her feeling any discomfort or pain. He tried to focus on the last details of his report, but found himself glancing at the restroom door every two seconds, so he finally set his pen down and walked to the break room. Damned if he knew what was best to give a woman for morning sickness—he walked back to his cubicle and searched ‘morning sickness’ on the internet, and upon its advice, returned to the break room to make Maggey ginger tea with cut lemon. He tried to find crackers, as that was recommended as well, but could only find pretzels, which he assumed would have to do.

Maggey was back at her cubicle with her head on her desk when Gumshoe arrived. He set the tea and bag of pretzels beside her and pulled up a vacant chair, rubbing her shoulders. Her muscles were in knots

“I’m going to kill you,” she said.

“I know.” He sighed. “I’m sorry. If I could take this pain on myself, I would.”

Maggey flicked Gumshoe’s hand. “No, you wouldn’t.” She looked up at the food he had brought. “What’s this?”

“Ginger tea with lemon. Apparently ginger and lemon and tea are good for morning sickness, so by their powers combined they should be super.” He paused. “And they’re out of crackers.”

He kept rubbing Maggey’s shoulders, waiting for her to try the tea before it cooled off, but she kept her forehead on the desk. He sighed and moved his fingertips up to the back of her neck, rubbing at the knots he found there.

“Apparently the smell of fresh lemons is good, too. I was going to find some lemon-scented Lysol and bring it over here to spray around, but I couldn’t find any.”

Maggey suddenly stood up, knocking Gumshoe’s hands off, muttering an “Excuse me”, and ran toward the restroom again. Gumshoe sighed heavily and put his hands in his lap, watching the women’s restroom with worry.

“Have you told the chief yet?”

Gumshoe looked up. Gemini, one of Maggey’s closest friends on the force, was leaning around her cubicle and arching her eyebrows at Gumshoe knowingly.

“No.” He looked down at his hands for a moment before looking up through his lashes guiltily. “It is, uh… that obvious?”

Gemini gave him a flat look. Gumshoe sighed and scratched the back of his head.

“I think she’s really mad at me.”

“Oh, I’m sure she hates you right about now.”

Gumshoe sighed heavily and stared down at his hands. He heard Gemini sigh exasperatedly and wheel her chair further back toward him.

“Dick—”

“—I really hate that name—”

“—Richard, whatever, Gumshoe—”

“—Rick is fine—”

“—Rick, fine. Look. Maggey is crazy about you. She’s just in a really bad mood because she feels bad. It’s just like the UTI thing.”

Gumshoe looked up sharply. “You knew about that?”

“We have girl talk.” Gumshoe felt blood rush to his face; he wondered what the hell else ‘girl talk’ they had had about him. Gemini waved her hand dismissively. “Nothing bad. Look, the point is she loves you. And if you want to know a secret—” She looked toward the restroom. “—she’s wondering why you haven’t asked her to marry you.”

Gumshoe stared back in shock. “…really?”

“And now’s as good a time as any, don’t you think?”

“But—” Gumshoe scooted his chair closer to Gemini and leaned in. “—won’t the chief flip out?”

Gemini shrugged. “Look, if he hasn’t figured it out by now, like the entire precinct, he will.”

Gumshoe heard a chair settle behind him; Maggey was sitting back down, picking up the teacup. She was sheet-white and clammy. He scooted backwards toward her and stroked her hair, mumbling soothingly. She looked on the verge of tears. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her on the temple, still smoothing her mussed hair. She maneuvered the teacup over his arms and inhaled deeply, sighing.

“Maggey-Birdie, have you been to the doctor yet?” Gemini had wheeled closer to them.

Maggey shook her head slowly. “Once. I’m going again next week. I think I should tell the chief myself first. Since I’ve already had one checkup to confirm…”

“Speaking of which.”

Gemini nodded over the cubicles toward the center of the station; the chief was walking over at that moment. Gumshoe tensed up, wondering whether he should drop Maggey and crawl under the desk, or try to act nonchalant and come up with an excuse for why he wasn’t working.

Confirming Gumshoe’s fears, the chief stopped right next to them. He realized he had frozen with his arms around Maggey, and swallowed. Now that he thought about it, Gemini was right; this was so obvious you’d have to be an idiot not to realize—

“Gumshoe. Byrde.”

Gumshoe and Maggey stood up clumsily and saluted, saying “Yes, sir?” in unison. Gumshoe glanced to the side; Maggey was shaking slightly, and a drop of sweat rolled down from her hair, but she stood straight-shouldered and proud. Gumshoe’s heart welled.

“I need to see you both in my office.” His eyes softened as he looked at Maggey. “At ease. And you may bring your tea.”

The chief’s office was Spartan, familiar, and thankfully with two plush chairs on the visitors’ side of the desk so both Gumshoe and Maggey could sit down. The chief nodded for them to take a seat before sitting down himself in his swivel chair. He folded his fingers over his mouth pensively, then exhaled through his nose.

“First of all, I’d like to congratulate you both.”

Gumshoe and Maggey muttered a thanks. Gumshoe was staring at his hands; he was sure they were about to get fired.

“Hold it!” Gumshoe stood suddenly, pointing at the chief. “What are you congratulating us on? As far as I’m concerned, I’m not aware of anything to be congratulated for!”

Silence. Maggey hissed, “Rick—”

“Gumshoe, dammit, how dumb do I look?” The chief rubbed between his eyes. “I know you guys have been dating for quite some time now, and I know Officer Byrde is pregnant.”

Gumshoe lowered his hand slowly. “…and you didn’t fire us?”

“If I haven’t fired you by now, you oaf, I don’t see why I would over this. Sit down.”

Gumshoe collapsed into his chair. Maggey was clenching her fists in her lap. The chief sat back in his chair and looked from Gumshoe to Maggey carefully.

“Well, Officer Byrde, have you been going to the doctor regularly? You’ve got to keep healthy for your sake and the child’s.”

“I—” Maggey looked down at her hands, glancing up at the chief intermittently. “—once. To confirm the pregnancy. About a month ago. I have an appointment for next week.”

“And you’re not going to terminate?”

Maggey’s mouth firmed into a line. She shook her head. “No, sir.”

The chief looked at Gumshoe. “And you’re going to support her?”

“I can support myself!” Maggey yelled suddenly.

“I know, Byrde. But having two parents makes things infinitely more easy than one, on everybody.”

“Yes.” Gumshoe was surprised by the strength in his own voice. “I’m going to ask her to marry me, after I come up with a good way to surprise her.”

Both the chief and Maggey stared at Gumshoe in disbelief. Gumshoe’s eyes widened. Fuckshitdammit— “Wait. Uh.”

“Rick…” Maggey said quietly.

“Well, that’s… uh… good news.” The chief arched his eyebrows, half-cracking a smile. “Congratulations.”

“I didn’t say I accepted!” Maggey yelled.

Gumshoe felt as though he had been kicked in the stomach.

“Well… do you?” asked the chief.

“YES! Absolutely!”

Now Gumshoe felt like his stomach had fallen out of his body. He settled back in his chair heavily, a huge smile cracking across his face.

“Well… uh, congratulations. Still.” The chief pushed his glasses up his nose. “Now that’s… uh… out of the way… we need to discuss your salary.”

The kicked feeling was coming back.

“It’s been… uh… cut again, sir?”

“Well.” The chief pulled some papers toward himself and looked them over, then looked at Maggey and Gumshoe over his glasses. “You’re getting a raise.”

There was a dead silence. Gumshoe’s ears were ringing.

“A… raise, sir?” This can’t be happening he had to have read that wrong—

“Twenty percent, each of you.”

“…each of us?” Maggey squeaked.

“I didn’t know pregnancy messed with your ears, Byrde; I said both of you.”

“Why?” Gumshoe blurted.

The chief sighed. “Well… frankly, that’s a good question. But you have been working here for quite some time, and… well… you try damn hard.”

Gumshoe knit his brows; every time he had tried to say that he was trying to do a good job, he was told trying doesn’t get a salary raised.

“And… I think we have a need for a detective after you finish your maternity leave, Officer Byrde.”

Maggey was glowing. Gumshoe stood up suddenly and saluted her, grinning with pride.

“Congratulations, Officer!”

“Gumshoe, sit your ass down.”

“That’s fine, but on one condition,” said Maggey. She pointed at Gumshoe. “You have to give him more time off so somebody can help me take care of the kids!”

The chief nodded. “We can look into that. And HR can help you find childcare.”

“Thank you, sir!"

“You’ve had a good word put in for you.” The chief tapped the pile of papers in front of him vertically, evening them out, and set them back on the table. The look on his face was unfathomable. “You have a friend who cares about you.”

Gumshoe and Maggey exchanged puzzled looks. “…who?” Gumshoe finally asked.

“Damned if I know, but the order came from the district attorney’s office.”

-----------------------------------

“Thank you, Miles.”

Edgeworth shrugged. Phoenix smiled at the videophone and leaned on his hand. It was noon in Prague, and Edgeworth was sitting in a café on his lunch break, stunning as always in a cravat and vest. More than anything, Phoenix wished he was sitting with him, enjoying the cool air and the stunning architecture. A breeze teased the tips of Miles’ hair; Phoenix knew that sitting downwind from him, he would be able to smell his cologne, hinted with the unique touch the chemistry of Miles’ skin gave the scent. It made his hand jerk reflexively under the table; the thought made him want to bury his nose in the crook of Miles’ neck, interlace his fingers with his own. He had kept one of Miles’ shirts from the last time Miles was here, would inhale deeply of it, but the cologne along the collar had gone stale, had lost the freshness of skin.

Phoenix’s resolve to visit Miles in Europe strengthened. They had been planning an meeting for quite some time, but Miles kept being scheduled for conferences and shuttled around the continent.

“It’s no problem. I feel sorry for that poor child being raised by those clods.”

“You’re such a sweetheart.”

Miles shrugged and pushed his glasses up his nose, smiling in spite of himself. He took a sip of his tea. Phoenix stared at his lips and envied the teacup; it had been far too long since he had tasted them.

“Trucy says hi, by the way.”

“Ah, well, tell her I say hello.”

“She wants souvenirs from every town you visit. Preferably magic-related, of course.”

“We’ll have to see about that.” Miles checked his watch. “Oh, I’m almost due for a meeting. I’ll have to call you back later before you go card sharking.”

“How much longer do you have in Europe?”

Miles looked up at the camera on his computer, furrowing his eyes. Phoenix sighed; he knew he shouldn’t bug Miles so much, that he was trying his hardest to get back to the States, but the question kept slipping out. He knew it was magical thinking to assume asking more would hasten Miles’ return.

“Not long,” he said quietly. His eyes softened. “I promise. I love you, Wright.”

Phoenix kissed his fingers and pressed them against the camera. “I love you, Miles. I’ll talk to you later.”