Notes – for withpractice_ff for the December 2010 post at gyaku_flash. Set post-AJ.

Apollo was the sort of boy who listed things.

He'd always been that sort, as far back as he could remember. As well as writing out detailed records of his court cases of course, that was a must. He just seemed to like writing things down.

When it came to his New Year's resolutions there was no exception to that rule. He'd already decided what he wanted to do next year early into December and writing those aims out would make it easier to check if he'd achieved them by this time next year.

Leaning back on his chair, he looked over his list. It currently read:

- Take on more challenging cases

- Continue voice training

- Try to get over fear of heights

- Read those law books on the shelf

He felt it was a sensible list and left it at that, going through to the kitchen to grab some quick breakfast, since he was due in court later that day.

By the time he'd finished and come back he noticed that the space on his desk that his list had previously occupied was now empty.

He sighed and called, "Trucy, have you seen my resolutions list?"

The young assistant bounded into the room, list held firmly in one hand. He might have known.

"Don't worry, Polly, I just took it to show daddy. Your resolutions are kind of boring though," she said, passing the list back to him.

"Yes, well…" Apollo muttered, hastily stuffing the list into his court record without thinking about it, "I just want to do things that are achievable."

"Lots of things are achievable if you put your mind to them," she teased, "That's what daddy said."

Shaking his head, Apollo replied, "Maybe he can put his mind to getting a new job then. Now, I better head off or I'll be late."

Late was an understatement.

Somewhere on the route between his house and the court, Apollo's bicycle had decided now was a wonderful time to develop a flat tire, and after several failed attempts to keep it going he had to abandon it in the hope that it'd still be where he left it at the end of the day before running the rest of the way to the court house.

Hurrying up the steps he didn't even see Prosecutor Gavin until he'd slammed into him and fallen to the ground.

"S-sorry about that… in a rush…" he muttered, pulling himself up.

"No worries, Herr Forehead," Klavier said, brushing himself off, "Now you better get into there, Herr Payne is raging about how late you are."

"Sorry!" Apollo shouted, not even sure why he was apologising to Klavier of all people. Rushing around him, he made his way to the stand and apologised many more times to everyone who was present.

Beyond that hiccup the case went quite smoothly. Apollo found himself a bit jittery from being late but managed to keep his argument focused and finished the trial quite easily. Which he was glad of because today was the last day that the Judge had allowed on this particular case.

Gathering his notes together he made his way to the door, stopping at the sound of someone calling his name.

"Herr Forehead, wait a moment!"

Klavier was rushing across to him. He had no idea what the prosecutor could want since Klavier wasn't involved in the case at all, though it soon became clear to him as a piece of paper was held towards him.

"You dropped this when you ran into me this morning, I thought that I'd return it to you now that you are finished," Klavier told him, the resolutions list being given back to Apollo for the second time that day, "I hope you don't mind too much but I let the Fraulein Detective have a look at it, she wasn't particularly interested though."

"Thanks Gavin," Apollo said, through gritted teeth, "Next time you lose something private and I find it I'll be sure to show Trucy before handing it back to you." He knew it was a bit over the top referring to the list as 'private', but he was annoyed that Klavier would not only read through it himself but show other people as well.

"There are no secrets between you, the young Fraulein and myself," Klavier answered, in his usually cheeky manner, "Now, if you'll excuse me I have to be somewhere else."

"Yes, same here," Apollo said, bidding Klavier farewell then heading back the route he'd come that morning.

Luckily for him, his bicycle was still there. It seemed no thief had been determined enough to take a broken bike and after pushing it back to Wright and Co.'s he understood why.

Heading through the door he slumped down on the couch. He stayed there for several minutes, enjoying the silence that came before Trucy and Phoenix returned before leaning down to take out the details of the day's proceedings to look through.

Among the other evidence was the list - stolen, returned, lost then found once more. He glanced at it, noticing that it seemed to be a lot longer than he remembered it being when he'd wrote it that morning.

Skimming down from his own resolutions he noticed that several points had been adding in pen, in what looked like the handwriting of a young girl:

- Get to know Mr. Hat better

- Give daddy some dating advice to help him find a new mommy

- Offer my services as an assistant to Trucy, because she needs someone to practise making disappear

Below that, written in the same pen but in a much scruffier style of writing was listed:

- Clean Wright and Co.'s everyday

- Cook meals for Mr. Wright when he comes back from his hard day's work

- Water Charley

- Go down to the store once a week to buy more grape juice

This wasn't the end of the list, though the next points were written in a different pen, and in a manner that suggested the owner of that pen had practised his handwriting a lot. The ink, Apollo noted, seemed vaguely glittery:

- Put mein Chords of Steel to good use by rocking the court out

- Listen to more of Prosecutor Gavin's wonderful songs

- Polish mein impressively shiny forehead every day

Finally, the list ended with some points provided in a decidedly different pen to the previous, sparkly one, in handwriting that was somewhere between feminine and not wanting to look girly:

- Spend more time researching the wonders of science

- Stand still when Ema's trying to throw snackoos at me, because I probably deserve it

- As well as offering my assistance to Trucy for her magic stuff I should also help Ema with her forensics by offering my services as a potential lab rat

He looked at the list, trying to take it all in. It didn't take him more than a moment to work out who had wrote what – Trucy, Phoenix, Klavier and Ema, in that order. And he really didn't know whether to laugh or shake his head with concern.

The next morning saw Apollo finish his list of New Year's resolutions. He left it pinned up on the office's forgotten notice board for anyone who walked by to see. It contained only one new point that read as follows:

- Make some sane friends.