A/N: Well, I've got this all ready to go, so here's the next bit. Longer, and there's more plot. I'm building blocks for something, I just wish I knew what. xD

"…What."

"Hey, pal, it's exactly what I said! EVERYONE knows about it, Mr. Edgeworth! Wherever you've been the last few years, did they not have anything like it?"

Miles was pretty sure he was going to have creases between his eyebrows from the rest of his life and the bridge of his nose would have indents from how hard he was pinching it in distress. As familiar as he was with a certain Detective, there were several things that still caught him off guard every time. The first thing had to be his stupidity. The second had to be…well…him.

Gumshoe stomped a foot, and in unison, the child astride his shoulders bobbed her pointed finger at him. The girl was small and young, and had messy brown hair to rival the mess atop Phoenix's head. She had her own mini-trench coat and a set of hair clips to keep the mess from hanging in her gentle face. The fact a child was in the building didn't surprised Miles at all; it was just so expected in his hectic life that he stopped fretting such things. From Kay Faraday to Pearl Fey to even Miss Trucy Wright--even including himself, at one point in time--young people in the courts just failed to shock him anymore.

Nonetheless, the offspring of Gumshoe and Maggey Byrde ( now Maggey Gumshoe) was not an expected visitor, especially atop her father's broad shoulders. Having only heard second hand from the Detective about his little girl, Clue, Miles was relatively surprised to actually see the little girl here. Was the girl even out of her diapers?

"No, Detective, I am pretty sure there was no 'take your daughter to work day', at least not that I had ever heard of."

"Well, pal, I guess you missed out. Or will always miss out--seeing as you and Mr. Wright--"

Miles intensified the glare he had shifted onto Gumshoe and let the other interrupt himself. Mentioning the relationship Miles had with Phoenix was taboo. It was one of those things that if Miles thought about it too much, it hurt his head. It was better to just accept and never speak about. Not to mention that the idea of having children anyway, even adopting, made him shudder a touch. There was nothing wrong with children, but the idea of diapers and bottles and mess and noise…

Miles shivered and sighed, deciding to just forget about Clue sitting on Gumshoe's shoulders and continuing on with business.

"So, do you actually know anything about the case I have today, Gumshoe? Or are you too busy playing daddy? If I have to flounder alone in that court, I will."

Gumshoe beamed, chuckling a little. His daughter mimicked the action, effectively distracting and unnerving Miles. Gumshoe took this moment to straighten up. "I have you covered, don't worry, Mr. Edgeworth! I triple-checked all of the facts I get to say; not a single loop-hole! Nobody will be able to pick it apart!"

Miles stared at Gumshoe. "Even against the student of a certain former Attorney, Gumshoe? Who is exactly who I am going up against?"

"You're going up against Apollo?" Gumshoe said, blinking. He paled, and Clue tugged on his hair worriedly. Why were they so synced up? Did Clue even have a clue about what was going on? Gumshoe nervously frowned. "Aw, he's got Wright's knack for pointing out stuff that seemed right. Wait, why are you going against Mr. Justice?"

Miles was actually a touch curious of something else, so he ignored the other's questions and asked his own. "Gumshoe. How do you know Apollo Justice?"

"Aw, well, who doesn't know him? The kid's got a knack for nailing fidgety folks. Especially after that case with the older Gavin--the one with the trial-Jurist thing?" Gumshoe recalled, itching at the back of his head--Clue doing the same--and then laughed. "See! I know stuff, pal! What do you think of me now, huh?"

Miles figured this conversation wasn't going to get much further, or be all that effective, and either way he needed a few moments to prepare his evidence and pep-talk his witness following Gumshoe. Knowing Wright, and any attorney who followed in his footsteps, was bound to be a pain in the ass to deal with in court.

As he entered the room, ready to greet his witness (a miss Nikki Nine), he stopped dead and gawked. Nikki glanced over, detaching herself from the taller male she was sucking face on, and laughed openly at Miles. Miles bristled, not being a fan of being laughed at so mockingly, and scowled at the large, blonde intruder. Everything about the young man screamed bouncer, or perhaps bodyguard, and everything seemed to scream 'silent type'. However, as soon as Miles opened his mouth to demand who would do such lude acts such as making out in the lobby room (completely forgetting how very often he and Phoenix had desecrated, inevitably, the exact same lobby in years past), the blonde beamed and waved enthusiastically.

"You gotta be the Prosecutor, right, yo?" the male cried out, holding out his hand for a handshake from a downward angle, stepping forward. Miles stared, utterly unsure whether or not it was a trap, before he reached out his hand--straight, even, perfect. The guy snatched up his hand in his awkward angle and slammed his chest into the other, then looped the arm around his shoulders. "Alright, yo, I'll leave you two be, yeah? Nikki baby, don't let me down. Remember--it's for the band!"

"It's for the band!" Nikki echoed just as loudly, and the two threw out peace signs. After several other various exchanges of hand gestures, Miles cleared his throat and recovered from his shock, turning on the male.

"Excuse me! Who are you? I don't believe I said you could visit with my witness--"

"Aw, dude, don't sweat it, you know?" the giant blonde hair, fussing with his beanie and coat. He grinned. "It's no problem. Her nerves are all gone now, yeah?" He tossed his head back and held out his hands casually, laughing. "I just got her all warmed up." The male vanished from the lobby and left Miles feeling so agitated, he was half-curious if he could pull off a whip as well as Franziska could. Taking it out on Happy the Bouncer seemed all too pleasant an idea. His chest still hurt from their 'man-bump'.

Nikki, a young lady with a fierce rocker style, fiddled with the ridiculous amount of rings on her fingers. As soon as the man from before was gone, she seemed positively apathetic.

Miles' case was over an oddly tangled murder. It revolved around a young college band called Violent Peace. The front man, Tommy had been playing by himself in the garage to the small home that Violent Peace rented and lived together in, when he was shot dead. Nikki Nine, Miles' witness, had been the one to see part of the crime and call in the murder. The defendant, Freddie Five, was said to have been feverishly jealous of Tommy's fronting, singing position in the band, and had--as Nikki had put it-- 'thrown away the virtue of being a member of Violent Peace and shot Tommy in the back.'. On the surface, the case seemed relatively easy and surface deep, but apparently, from the evidence gathered, there was more to it than just that.

"Who was that young man?" Miles asked sharply, having not quite recovered from getting flustered.

"Oh, him?" Nikki stated dispassionately. "That's Kevin Seven. He's my boyfriend, and drummer for Violent Peace."

"What was he doing here? You know that he wasn't allowed--"

"What?" she asked, taking out her earphones, fiddling with her MP3 Player. Miles stared. Hadn't he dealt with enough obnoxiously obnoxious witnesses and clients over the years? Hell, just being friends with half of them had to give him karma points! So why did he have to keep dealing with people like this? It just wasn't fair--but then again, fair was in the fall…

"Looks like another lulu," Phoenix sighed.

Wait…what?

Miles whipped around, looked at the man leaning against the door to the Lobby. What was with all of these people stepping on etiquette--let alone Phoenix!

"How in the hell did you pry yourself out of bed? And get here almost as soon as I did?"

"Oh, well, like, two minutes after you left, Trucy came over!" Phoenix announced happily. "She said it was 'take your daughter to work day'. So…." He held out his arms. "Here I am!" Beaming he itched at his beanie. "Did you miss me? It's been so long."

"Phoenix, it's been perhaps a half an hour. If that."

Miles did not have the time for this. After sharing a few words with his witness again, he re-checked his watch, before he moved with Phoenix--who insisted on dogging him to the courtroom--to the elevator. Elevators remained to be one of Miles' least favorite things in the entire world, but time demanded that they take one. As they stepped into one together, Phoenix's fingers found Miles' free hand, and the other gave Miles a too-wise smile.

"I know how we can fill up the 60 second ride."

"No."

"Aw, please?"

"No."

"Bu--"

"NO."

Phoenix pouted, but sighed. "Alright, fine," he said in submission, watching the door close. Miles watched him and tried to ignore the feeling his stomach got from moving in an elevator. And the pressing stress from being an elevator--ignoring that was nice too.

Fate was a cruel mistress.

There was a loud, creaking sort of rumble. Phoenix and Miles instantly were on edge--but it was the violent, brief shaking following the rumble that was what pushed Miles over the edge. Whatever the actual outcome was, Miles passed out cold on the spot. Inside of an elevator, there was little doubt he would be nervous. Inside of an elevator…during an earthquake? And Phoenix wondered why Miles wanted to get the hell out of California and live some place a little less shaky…

The earthquake was brief, and as Miles blinked straight into a faint, Phoenix caught him. Before Miles lost all of his senses, he could see the lights flicker and hear the painful grind of the elevator jamming up--and then the power to die. With that darkness came Miles' darkness…and his world faded.