The following days proved to Simon what the cards and presents had already indicated: people visited with such frequency that Athena had to shush them out when she sensed that his strength was flagging.

On the first morning after his awakening, the feeding tube was removed, although he would be kept on a diet of liquids and gelatinous substances for a few more days before solid foods would be reintroduced. Shortly after the unpleasant procedure, there was a knock on the door.

It was Aura. This time, their roles were reversed: His sister was the one accompanied by guards and clapped in irons. Nevertheless, her escorts did not hold her back when she quickly stepped forward and hugged him, her face buried in the crook of his neck. A moment later, he began feeling a hint of moisture dampening his skin, and then, she sobbed quietly, "You idiot! Could you please stop trying to get yourself killed?"

While he could not return the gesture, Simon turned his head towards her, into the offered contact.

"I shall endeavor to do so in the future."

Her fist connected with his shoulder, one of the few places on his body not swathed in bandages, to deliver a not-entirely-serious punch.

"You better, or I swear I'm going to find some way to resurrect you and kill you again,right thereat your funeral. If nothing else, it's going to be payback for making me go prematurely grey, as well."

Simon smirked. "More than enough incentive to toe the line, sister dearest. I shudder to think what you would visit upon me."

That got her to chuckle. "Be afraid, little brother – be very afraid."

A sideways glance presented him with Athena, tears in her eyes and sporting a wide grin.

Aura only got to stay for thirty minutes, and did not say much more during her time at her brother's sickbed, but the frequent glances at him, as though she was afraid that he would suddenly vanish into thin air, spoke far louder than words.

A few hours later, Juniper Woods came by; she had brought her friends from ThemisAcademy along. All of the young people, even Hugh O'Conner and Myriam Scuttlebutt, who had more than enough reason to fear Simon, expressed their relief at learning that he would likely make a full recovery, and even when he could not help but quip that that would only enable him to once more keep an eye on them, O'Conner laughed. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Prosecutor Blackquill. After all, someone has to keep us on the straight and narrow!"

The little group stuck around until Simon was becoming too tired for the continued merrymaking, at which point Athena gently complimented the four students out of the door, as she had heard his exhaustion in his heart. After they had left, she smiled at him. "Sorry if they were getting to be too much… I'll put up the 'do not disturb' sign for a bit, so you can take a nap."

"Thank you." It was becoming easier to express his gratitude, now that he had been reduced to complete reliance on others. Perhaps something like this had needed to happen for Simon to break through the problematic habits he had acquired in the clink, where complete independence at all costs had been the name of the game. With this thought in his mind, he once more sank into healing sleep.

After resting for a while, Simon was taking his lunch with Athena's help when another visitor was announced by a loud knock on the door. Without waiting to be called in, a thin, dishwater-blond man with a goatee entered the room.

"Hello there, Athena – I can call you Athena, right? Nick let me know that your friend's awake, so I thought I'd check back in!"

She smiled. "Sure thing, Mr. Butz…"

"Larry, please. 'Mr. Butz' is my old man."

The visitor stepped closer. "And how are you doing, Mr. Twisty Samurai? It was pretty scary when you were shaking and foaming at the mouth just when they were about to load you up…"

'Twisty…?'

Simon now vaguely recalled a similarly garbled term of address when he had been close to passing out that night, a detail which only now surfaced in his memory. This Larry Butz character did not seem to be the brightest of sorts, but he had saved his hide.

"I have been better, as you can probably see, but I will recover in time, thanks to you. I have been told that your quick actions saved my life. You have my gratitude."

Butz waved off his words of appreciation. "Don't sweat it – friends of Nick and Edgey are my friends, too!"

Simon, slightly taken aback by the ready familiarity, was going to set his savior's understanding of his relationship with Wright and Edgeworth straight when he saw Athena minutely shaking her head.

"… I see. Still, I am, and will remain, grateful."

Butz gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up gesture in response. "Always glad to help!"

Larry Butz would leave an hour later, after inundating both Simon and Athena in a veritable flood of meaningless jabber, which nevertheless served to lift the former's spirits. It had been a while since someone other than Athena and Gavin had attempted to engage in small talk with him, and although he usually did not have much patience for platitudes and talk about the weather, he found himself enjoying the friendly company.

When the man eventually departed, citing a date with his girlfriend Letitia (the woman who was with him that evening – I suppose not everyone has shed their fear of me yet), Simon was once again about ready to nod off. His weakness disconcerted him, even though he knew that it was only natural, considering his condition.

He awoke to find Athena in a quiet discussion with Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth, who must have arrived recently. They were talking in a language Simon did not understand, but was able to identify as German.

His superior was the first to realize that he was awake.

"Mr. Blackquill."

He nodded at Athena, who promptly walked over to the door, shutting it behind herself. Meanwhile, Edgeworth sat down at his bedside, a deep frown creasing his forehead. A few seconds of silence passed, then the chief prosecutor cleared his throat.

"I've had a lot of time to think about my management of your exoneration since your assault, and I can't help but feel that I should have done something to ensure the public understood that you were innocent beyond that single press conference."

His superior looked away, one hand at the other arm's elbow. "I bear some responsibility for what happened, especially since I had no idea that you were residing in that area… something else I should have considered. I apologize for what you had to go through, and for not thinking about the consequences you had to bear due to my mishandling of the situation, including housing discrimination – after all, I sincerely doubt that you chose your current address because you enjoyed the ambience."

Simon was unsure how to respond to Edgeworth's remorse, and remained quiet.

After a long moment, the chief prosecutor spoke up once more. "I just discussed with Ms. Cykes how we can ensure that you're given fair consideration when filling out a rental application. If you would give us permission to do so, we will attempt to find more suitable accommodations for you before your release."

The sudden offer put Simon before a difficult choice: Willingly relying on acquaintances to improve his circumstances was not something he had indulged in in a very long time; in fact, he had fought against them tooth and nail when it had come to his exoneration. On the other hand… he was not particularly enamored with his current apartment. Furthermore, he obviously could not change his living situation by himself at the moment, as he would likely be confined to this hospital bed for a while yet. And finally… allowing his superior and his friend to do this for him would prove his regard for them in ways his words often failed to convey.

He knew how he had to answer.

"I would appreciate your help."

The chief prosecutor nodded, and although his expression remained grave, the way his posture relaxed informed Simon of his relief.

"We will begin our search sometime in the next few days. Before we hand you anything to sign, we will provide pictures of the place, so you know what we have been looking at."

Simon nodded his understanding. "Thank you."

His superior rose from the chair. "I've been told that you are still supposed to rest for most of the day, so I won't keep you from doing so any longer. Needless to say, I hope you will be back on your feet soon – we're all looking forward to having you back at the office."

There was little he could reply to that, other than, "I will do my best, sir."

Later days passed much like the first one: Athena remained by his side almost constantly, only once in a while leaving for an hour to freshen up or procure food for herself. A number of other people stopped by during official visiting hours: Larry Butz, Edgeworth, Klavier. The latter informed Simon of the fact that all of his assailants had been apprehended, and that the judge was more than ready to throw the book at them. Afterwards, his serious expression segued into a smile.

"Once you're out of here… my invitation to go to the gym together still stands."

A number of detectives also visited, and now that Simon knew what to look for, he could tell that they were waiting for an official endorsement from him. Not that some of them were particularly subtle about it – at one point, Detectives Skye and Gumshoe got into a loud argument about who should be the one to work with him, the female detective declaring that she deserved to be assigned to someone who appreciated the scientific method more than "that glimmerous fop Gavin," while the burly man contended that, since Prosecutor Edgeworth had been promoted, he had not had a consistent assignment whatsoever. Eventually, a nurse asked them both firmly to leave, at which point they left with looks on their faces that reminded Simon of a kicked puppy.

When the Themis gang came by next, they had Jinxie Tenma in tow, who was over the moon when she found that her talismans were obviously helping Simon in his recovery (or so she claimed). He did not object to her interpretation of things.

On the third day, Simon, who was now strong enough to stay awake for most of the day once more, heard a commotion in the corridor just before the door of his room was pushed open and Phoenix Wright strode in in a panic, with Taka clawed into his spiky hair.

"Prosecutor Blackquill, please tell your bird to get off my head!"

At this point, laughing uproariously did not hurt so much anymore that Simon had to deny himself the amusement.

A quick whistle through almost-closed lips, as he could not use his fingers at the moment, and his feathered compatriot landed on his chest, eyeing him curiously.

"Hello, my friend. My apologies for vanishing on you."

Wright and Justice stuck around to play a few rounds of poker with him, with Athena holding Simon's cards and Taka perching on the IV stand, to the consternation of the nurse.

After a week had passed, he put his foot down regarding his young friend's constant companionship, telling her that her prolonged presence at his sickbed would have to come to an end.

"You can't stay here until I get released, Athena. If you continue to sleep in a chair and eat nothing but junk food for a few more weeks, you'll end up in the room next door. Visit every day if you wish, but you need to go back to work, and to your own bed."

She glared at him, obviously ready to launch into an argument – only to be thwarted by a wide yawn.

Embarrassment evident on her features, Athena conceded, "You're right… it's just, I don't wanna leave you here all alone…"

Simon chuckled. "I won't be. You have seen how many people visit, although I do appreciate the sentiment."

He did miss her steady presence thereafter, but it was good to see that she was much more rested when she came to visit after business hours most days, whenever she was not apartment hunting with Edgeworth.

His superior also stopped by quite often, to keep him updated on the happenings at the office and to play Chinese chess with him. Gavin, Justice, and Wright sometimes arrived together, leading to a number of poker games.

Four weeks after his awakening, the casts on his arms were taken off, returning a measure of mobility to Simon. His legs were still in the process of healing, as the fractures in his lower extremities had been more complex and required more time without bearing his weight, but he could now eat his food on his own once more, hold a book, or change the TV channel without having to call a nurse for aid. As the bandages and stitches of the various wounds on his torso had also been removed, he was now able to sit up and begin rehabilitation exercises to regain his upper body strength. However, the greatest relief came when the hospital provided him with a wheelchair for the time being, allowing him to go to the bathroom or leave the dreary room altogether, should he so desire. Truth be told, he had had more than enough of being confined, and of the indignity of catheters and bedpans.

Finally, two whole months after his assault, the doctors greenlighted the removal of Simon's leg casts, but strongly warned him against overdoing it right away – it would take at least another two weeks until he would be able to walk more than a few dozen steps at a time. Rehab exercise was excruciating and exhausting, but little by little, he regained full control over his body.

Half a week before he was to leave the hospital, Athena and Edgeworth presented him with a rent contract for one of the apartments they had viewed in his stead – pet-friendly, with spacious rooms and within manageable walking distance from the office. Simon had a hard time looking them in the eye as he mumbled his thanks and scrawled his signature on the line at the bottom, but it seemed as though both of them understood how grateful he was.

Eventually, the big day came: He was discharged. At the moment, he was still walking on crutches, and he would have to see a dentist to get his teeth repaired one of these days, but his long period of helplessness and dependence was at an end.

Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth drove him to his new residence, and it only occurred to Simon when the red sports car came to a halt in front of a modern-looking building that, as he had rented furnished before, he would likely spend tonight sleeping on the floor. However, he was not entirely sure how to bring up this thought, so he silently followed his superior into the building.

When they had arrived in front of his new apartment, Edgeworth handed him a set of keys. "Here you are."

Simon nodded in acknowledgment, and proceeded to unlock the door.

Everyone was waiting inside – Athena, Justice, Wright and his daughter, the Themis gang, Butz and his girlfriend, Jinxie and Damian Tenma, Aura with her guards, Gavin, and an assortment of police detectives.

"SURPRISE!"

Not only that, they had apparently foreseen his furniture problem, and remedied it. While the place was still mostly empty, there was a bed, complete with mattress, sheets, and pillows, alongside a table and a few chairs. Somehow, the basic but sturdy items, freely presented to him, seemed to symbolize that he had now truly arrived at the start of a new life, one filled with friendly acquaintances who were not about to permanently shy away from him.

Before he knew it, a smile appeared on Simon's lips.

At long last, he was free.