The Next Verse in the Science of Life

Chapter 4

"Turnabout Curiosity"

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from Ace Attorney. All credits go to Capcom, they own the rights to everything. This story here however is completely original and was created by me.

Second Disclaimer: The three Gavinners Raoul, Deston, and Seren don't belong to me, all credit for them goes to Stormy.

The nursery was ready to go, for whenever the twins decided they wanted to be born. Ema surveyed the room; it was a nice mixture of yellow and pink, two colors typically designated for girls. The walls alternated with the pink and yellow, as Ema thought it would be good mental stimulation for the twins when they surveyed the room, it gave their minds more to process.

Ema wanted her children to get off to as good a start as possible. She knew their lives would be difficult since they'd be in the spotlight from birth, and she'd be encouraging them to focus on their education so they would have something to focus on other than the media hounds that she knew would be bugging the girls once they got old enough.

Ema was broken from her thoughts as her phone buzzed in her pants pocket, and she pulled it out to see who it was. She slid the touch screen lock open and pulled the message up. It was from Klavier, telling him he was going to be running a little late.

[Ema, it looks like I'll be here another hour or so, that alright?]

The clock on her phone told Ema it was only five in the evening, so that would get him home around quarter after six if an hour was all he'd be.

[Sure, that's fine. Just make sure you're in time for dinner, don't want you missing it like you did the other day. I was going to make ravioli.]

[I'll be home in time, I promise. Just trying to get everything organized with all these case files and filling things out. It's taking longer than usual.]

She hoped he'd keep good on his word. The past week Klavier had been running late by at least half an hour almost every day, she assumed keeping busy with Deston's case.

[That's because you don't have me there to help you with all of it anymore, you're not used to being on your own. Poor fop is lost without me.]

[Hah, you're probably right there, having my best detective gone has made work more difficult. I still wouldn't mind seeing that change.]

[You know it most likely won't, fop. Apollo does expect me to come back to him once my maternity leave is over, I can't exactly bail on him and Aria.]

[I know. You're not one to abandon someone. Anyway, talk to you when I get home?]

[Yup, get back to work and come home fop. Love you.]

Ema tucked her phone back in her pocket and padded in to the bathroom to get a shower before she started dinner.

She turned the knob for the hot water and watched the steam rise to the ceiling. She shed her loose sweater and jeans before tugging her hair from its tie and shaking it loose around her shoulders. Ema stepped into the stall and pulled the opaque sliding door shut behind her.

She kept the shower routine simple, partially because she was pressed for time and being so round with the pregnancy made it hard for her to maneuver, especially if she dropped something. She was in and out in fifteen minutes before she dried herself off and walked into the connected bedroom and pulled on fresh clothing.

Dinner was fully prepared when the lock clicked and the door swung open to allow the blonde prosecutor inside. Ema looked up from the sink, midway through draining the pasta.

"Hey, you're home, good."

"I said I'd be an hour Ema, you expected something else?" Klavier strode over to his fiance and dropped a kiss on her lips before leaning backwards against the counter next to her.

"I don't know, you've been late a couple times this week, so I wasn't sure if today would be another one of them." Ema explained as the dropped the drained pasta back into the pan and mixed it with the tomato sauce she'd heated up.

"Ema, I apologized for that. I got caught up in paperwork and lost track of time." Klavier knew she'd grumbled about that once or twice since he was normally very good at being punctual and coming back when he said he would. He gave her an apologetic look and she gave him a half smile in return.

She nodded to him in acquiescence and began plating up their dinner. "I know. I'm just glad you made it home on time today." She handed him his plate and started toward the dining area, and he followed right behind her. They both sat down and began eating in silence.

"How were you feeling today? Any problems with the twins?" Klavier asked. Ema had been feeling some extra movement from the babies in the past week and they were wondering what was going on.

Ema shook her head. "Nothing out of the ordinary. I had some heartburn, but that only lasted for an hour or so. I slept that off thankfully."

That much was true. Ema had taken a nap shortly after two in the afternoon, waking up to feeling rather refreshed, which was a pleasant surprise. The pregnancy had been wearing on her, so sleep for her was much appreciated. Having your first pregnancy with twins was especially hard on the young woman, since her body was unaccustomed to the physical changes that came with the growing babies.

"Plus they didn't move hardly at all today, which was surprising. Now that they're getting bigger they have less room to move, I read makes them more restless in the last few months of a pregnancy."

Klavier nodded thoughtfully. "Good, sounds like you're keeping up with your body's needs. You said you have another doctor's appointment tomorrow, ja?"

Ema nodded in response and finished with her mouthful of pasta before she spoke. "Yeah, at noon. Just another ultrasound to make sure they're still in a good position and checking their growth."

"You want me to come with you Ema?"

"No, you don't have to come if you're busy at work. You were there for the last two, we got pictures then. Alison wanted to come to this appointment since she's yet to see the girls firsthand." Ema saw no reason to take him to every appointment, considering she was going every week now.

"That's fine I suppose. Call me and tell me how it goes, I still want to know."

Ema nodded and gave him a smile. "I will, don't worry. It'll probably be around twelve thirty, so you should be eating lunch and be free to talk anyway."

The following afternoon, Ema was laying on the examination table, her large stomach exposed between her pushed up shirt and the hemline of her pants, Alison sitting in a cushioned chair next to her. They were just waiting for the technician to come back so they could begin the ultrasound.

Dr. Rodriguez came in and gave Ema a wide smile. The graying doctor had been so good to Ema throughout all her examinations, answering all her questions, reassuring all her worries or concerns, and giving her useful advice that Ema never would have thought of on her own. Having four children of her own, Dr. Rodriguez was a good person to ask advice for regarding children.

"Anything to report since last week Ema?" Dr. Rodriguez busied herself about the room, switching on the ultrasound monitor, washing her hands then covering them with latex gloves.

Ema shook her head and shifted her weight, trying to get more comfortable. "Not much. I haven't had as much heartburn as I was in previous weeks and the movement of the twins was down today, but other than that I've been doing really good."

The doctor nodded but had a thoughtful look on her face as she brought the camera extension up to Ema's stomach and squirted out some of the fluid onto her skin. Ema jumped a little from how chilly the liquid was but she adjusted and smiled when the monitor sprang to life as Dr. Rodriguez pushed the camera against her stomach.

Alison gasped lightly as she saw the twins for the first time and her eyes went glassy, marveling at the little babies, like a girl would. Dr. Rodriguez moved the camera around at different angles, and her eyebrows stayed unrelaxed, as if something didn't seem right to her.

Ema noticed the doctor's expression and grew a little concerned. "Is something wrong with them?"

The older woman looked up at Ema, as if broken from a slight stupor and shook her head. "Nothing really. One of them is lower than she should be, but I believe it's nothing."

That's odd, they shouldn't be shifting too much, it's still early for that. The magazine I was reading said they wouldn't be moving that drastically until the last few weeks.

"Well I trust you if you say it's nothing then, you're the doctor. Anything else to report?"

The doctor shook her head and shut the monitor off. "Not at all. They both look like they're developing right on schedule. I just want to see you come back every week like normal until it's time for them to be delivered. Same time next week for your appointment?"

Ema nodded and pulled her shirt back over her stomach as the doctor made a note of that on her clipboard, pushing herself up to a sitting position. Alison picked up both their purses and handed the messenger bag over to the brunette. Ema slung it over her shoulder and stood up.

"Thanks Dr. Rodriguez. I'll see you next week."

The doctor gave Ema a quick hug and saw her and Alison to the door before moving on to her next patient.

As they walked down the one flight of stairs, Alison pulled out the car keys to her borrowed vehicle. "Did you want to swing by the store for anything?"

Ema nodded immediately. "I want to get some Snackoos and some more reading material. I finished off everything I got last week within a few days, I need some more magazines."

Normally Ema wouldn't partake in reading 'rags', as she called them. But when she was home almost all day every day, any kind of reading material was welcomed, even if the fuss over the latest gossip seemed like a complete waste to Ema. If anything, she got amusement out of reading how another celebrity was content to waste more money on plastic surgery procedures or throw away a perfectly good relationship or a marriage for an affair.

It reminded her of what she never wanted her life to end up at, since she was engaged to a celebrity herself, and one who'd be in the spotlight for many years to come.

Alison nodded and they walked in a comfortable silence to the sedan. Both women got in their seats and they went on their way after buckling in their seat belts. Ema pulled out her phone to call Klavier and tell him the appointment was normal and there was only one minor thing to report.

"Hallo liebe, what did Dr. Rodriguez have to say?"

"Not too much. One of the babies moved down a bit, but she assured me it's nothing. Other than that they're doing fine. How's work?"

"Rather busy. I just got off the phone with Deston about ten minutes ago, he told me the DEA came across another confirmation of the tip they received last week about the case they're working on. He'll be leaving normal time regardless of the lead."

"Okay, good to hear his case in headed in the right direction. Alison and I are on our way home now, we're just stopping at the store for a minute."

"Getting Snackoos I assume?" Klavier chuckled as he immediately guessed what those two would be doing.

"Of course, you expected anything else?"

Klavier shook his head to himself, even though Ema wasn't able to see it. "Nein, just pointing out the obvious in a slightly sarcastic manner."

"You're a fop, but I love you. I'll see you when you get home."

"Ich liebe dich auch. Wir sehen uns heute Abend."

"No German!" Ema laughed for a moment then hung up the phone. He loved teasing her by switching to his native tongue, of which she knew very little.

The redhead turned the radio up after Ema ended the call and both of them brightened when a song they liked came on at the end of the commercials. Ema flashed back to when they were in Germany, right after she'd met Alison and they were driving somewhere and singing in the car. Then her memory continued to the freak accident they were involved in, and she cringed a little to herself, but shrugged it off. The accident was exactly that, an accident, and the odds of the same thing happening again were slim to none.

The car ride was smooth sailing, everything was as it should, and they quickly pulled into the parking lot and walked into the store side by side. They both immediately detoured to the aisle that housed the packets of Snackoos (that was one of the first things Alison and Ema did together, Ema showed her the store that had the largest supply of Snackoos). Both women grabbed a bag of Snackoos each and then walked over to the newsstand so Ema could grab a couple magazines.

The ones she read had no particular meaning to her, she just grabbed whichever one had the most outrageous headline and picked that one, they always gave her the biggest laugh. She knew the credibility of the magazines were low, but the things they came up with still amused her. She picked one about a singer ending up in the hospital after another late night drinking binge, talking about how her career was on the rocks at the young age of 26. Another one she grabbed was the 'Best and Worst Bodies of the Year'. Trying to guess what celebrity was attached to the bodies on the cover was something for her to do.

Then one smaller headline caught Ema's eye, because it was a name she saw each and every day. It was what was attached to the name that made her eyes bug out of her head for a moment before a poker face made its way onto her features and she nonchalantly put the magazine at the bottom of the small stack in her arms, not wanting Alison to see it.

She'd be reading this later. Alone.

German Translations:

-Wir sehen uns heute Abend: I'll see you tonight.

Author's Notes: Hah, don't you guys hate a cliffhanger? Bet you're wondering exactly what the headline Ema saw is and who it's about. It can be any number of people, but only I know who it is~

Many apologies for the *cough* 4 month delay of this chapter, but the last semester just did not allow for writing besides what was required of me. This was written in a day, a matter of hours actually, as a much overdue Christmas present to all my lovely readers who's been eternally patient with me, you guys are too wonderful to me! Depending on how this semester goes, I'm really hoping that I'll be able to update more regularly with this story, as well as the other story I'm going to start writing before I go back to college. What I'll probably do is alternate between the two much like I did with LILA and The Sibling Bond way back in last summer, alternate between the two for updates.

Anyway, this was pretty much a filler chapter, but the next one and the one following should have more in it for all you drama llama's out there. I hope you enjoyed the update you guys have been waiting anxiously for and that you'll be waiting around for more work from me! :)