"TAKE THAT!"

Apollo jumped. "No need for that!"

Athena grinned. "How will I ever improve if I don't practice presenting evidence whenever I can? I need to catch up with you! Anyway, the evidence, the evidence!"

Apollo squinted at the paper waved in front of him. "An address? By the way, you need to make sure you hold the evidence still, especially if it has text you want the witness to read."

The criticism went unacknowledged. "It's Simon's address. He has his own place now."

"Prosecutor Blackquill? That's great and all, but why are you showing it to me?"

Athena raised an eyebrow at his confusion.

"I'm talking about a house-warming party, of course!"

"Did he invite us?"

"No. But come on, obviously he doesn't need to ask."

Apollo wasn't so sure. "I don't know. He doesn't seem the kind of person who'd- I mean, I'm not saying he doesn't care, but he isn't exactly a friend of mine. I have faced Prosecutor Gavin in court more times and don't even know where he lives. It would just seem awkward for us to invite ourselves to his house. I mean, he came to that post-trial party and all but he pretty much kept to himself-"

"Nonsense. 'You have bested me in battle, Justice-dono, and thus we are friends now. Please have some cake.'. I'm sure Simon would say that. Or something like that anyway."

"Your impression was actually pretty good up until you mentioned cake. And I spot a contradiction! How is he supposed to have cake ready if we will just show up uninvited?"

Apollo's point was ignored again. "What should I get him? What kind of things people usually bring to a house-warming? I've never been to one."

"Well, he'd probably appreciate something he couldn't have in jail."

"Like a… A cannon?" Athena suggested.

"A –A cannon!? Like he needs that to be even more dangerous in court! Even more importantly, it would be illegal even outside of a jail!"

Athena huffed. "It was just a random thought."

Apollo tried to think what the prosecutor in question liked. All he could think of was samurai-stuff and throwing birds at poor defense-attorneys. And threatening defense attorneys with finger-swords. And interfering with the tell-spotting of defense attorneys. His knowledge of the man was really mostly work-related. "Wouldn't something Japanese be perfect for him?"

"Well that's a bit obvious. But not a bad idea."

"As long as it's not anything that can be used to threaten people in court."

Athena stared at the nameplate reading 'Blackquill', trying to gather her courage. Finding the apartment-building had been easy enough, but now it seemed she had hit a mental brick wall.

Why am I nervous, really? It's possible he isn't even home.

Not sure whether she wished that or not Athena knocked on the door.

She got a reply almost immediately, the door opening and revealing the prosecutor. He had taken off his surcoat, but apart from that he was wearing exactly the same clothes he did in court, much to Athena's disappointment.

Damn. I really wanted to see him wearing something more relaxed or normal. I'm feeling positively underdressed in my t-shirt and jeans.

Aloud she said "So… hi?"

Athena was greeted by a stare. She was already regretting this. I should have made Apollo come with me after all. Or Mr. Wright. Or Junie.

She tried, "Aren't you going to invite me in?" Come on, say something…

He nodded, steeping aside so she could get in. "Take off your shoes," he instructed.

Athena did so, feeling even more exposed in her pink socks that didn't quite match the rest of her attire. Although she now noticed he was wearing Blue-Badger-slippers, and that made her feel a bit better. She turned her attention to his apartment, curious to see how he lived now.

"So, this is your new place? It is…" Athena tried to find a right word to describe it. Ascetic? Empty? Spartan? Utilitarian? She decided to go with "Clean. And nice. It's nice." Apart from the small kitchenette and a door Athena guessed led to the bathroom the apartment consisted of one room with a tidy-made bed, a drawer next to it that seemed to double as a nightstand, and a small table with a chair that looked like it belonged to an office. Apart from the perch meant for a hawk in the other corner the room lacked all personality.

"It is certainly nicer that my last place." The sound of his voice made her calm down a bit.

Happiness, but also some sadness, amusement mostly, though. But I also detect uncertainty, and maybe bitterness?

He nodded towards the empty perch. "Taka seems to prefer the courthouse, though."

Amusement. This is good.

"You need to tell him that this is his home now."

"I will."

Is he trying to actively kill the conversation? Should I ask more about Taka?

Fortunately Simon broke the awkward silence by gesturing towards his work-chair. "Please, sit down."

She did, while Blackquill disappeared to the kitchen. "I don't have anything to offer, you should have called beforehand."

"Sorry. I really should have, but I just kinda…" Was afraid you'd tell me no.

"Water or milk? Or have you learned to drink proper tea?"

"I'd like some tea."

"It will take some time." As the only chair in the room was taken, he sat on the neatly-made bed.

Athena decided this was a good moment to give him the present.

"Here! Happy, um I guess new apartment? Or homecoming? I'm not sure what you're supposed to say."

"This is unnecessary. But thank you."

"Come on, open it! Actually I have two presents for you! But you open that one first!"

Simon removed the wrapping paper neatly, folding it for later use before turning his attention to the box and its contents. "It's a vase."

"I made it myself." Well, Robin helped, but it's still basically my work.

"You did? It's quite nice then. I especially like the feather-pattern."

"That's just half of the present. Here, open the second one."

The second present revealed a bouquet of flowers.

"I remembered you did some of that samurai-flower-arranging stuff, and I thought it would be nice. For, you know, your new home."

"Thanks. It's nice. I better put them into the vase at once. It's called Ikebana, by the way."

He disappeared to the kitchenette again.

"I'll put the vase on my kitchen windowsill for now. Maybe later I'll arrange a proper place for them." He told her. "Tea is ready." He set a cup of tea on the table in front of Athena and sat back down on the bed with his own cup.

Athena took a sip from her tea, and almost spit it out. Bitter!

Simon smirked. "Too hot?"

"No! No. I was just sort of surprised by the taste. But it's good."

He stood up to offer the bottle of milk to her, amused.

She took it, trying to hold her embarrassed grin from spreading on her face. "I'm used to putting milk in my tea."

"Ruining it, in other words."

"Well, I'm the one who drinks it, so who cares?"

"You're right, of course. It's no-one else's business that your taste has not matured since you were 11."

Happy with the jovial atmosphere, Athena decided to make more conversation.

"So where did you get Taka anyway? You didn't have him… Back then."

"He was trained by a thief who was in the clink the same time as me. Taka was used to steal jewelry and other small things like that."

"Don't tell me they put a bird behind bars!?"

"Not really. Taka followed his master to jail out of misguided devotion. I re-trained him."

Athena smiled at the idea of Simon rehabilitating a thieving hawk.

I really don't know if I should get him to talk about his time in prison. But if he's willing to talk about it so easily….

Athena opted for silence, expecting him to continue.

Instead, he completely changed the subject: "I'd like to ask you to defend Aura."

"What!? I mean, isn't that for her to decide? And wouldn't Mr. Wright be better? " Athena tried to gather her thoughts. "That's just-"

"I asked my sister. Her words were, and I quote: 'Hmph, do as you like.'"

"Somehow I doubt she would be just fine with that!"

"So I take it you refuse? It's understandable if you don't want to."

So, I take it he won't talk about some things. Not yet, anyway. There are still a lot of things between us, new things and old things and we have to figure it all out.

Athena flashed him a smile. "Whatever gave you that idea? Of course I'll defend her!"

But we will. We can take our time.

We have all the time in the world now.

A/N: I want to continue this, but I haven't fully decided if I want to leave this story and write a sequel to this... In any case I want to write about Aura's trial, and Athena and Simon have a lot of stuff to work through yet.