Tifa & Yuffie II

[Tifa Lockhart]

((Yeah, i'll get to the crux of the matter))

Miles was OK for most of the day, arriving at the office and beginning a new case investigation with only a few small bouts of coughs. When he arrived back from a crime-scene in the afternoon and sat down at his desk, he noticed how exhausted he was. He felt more drained than he would usually, to the point where his hands shook ever-so-slightly.
Ridiculous... you really are getting old... he groaned inwardly, exhaling with a heavy sigh.
He'd started going back over his day's notes when the uncomfortable ache in his chest flared up again as it had the night before, stabbing painfully enough to make him clutch his ribs and bend over slightly.
Then the guttural barking cough return, the air being forced up from far deeper in his lungs then he ever thought possible. It was blinding, the coughs barely giving him enough time between them to breathe.
Everything around him seemed to dim, sight and hearing wise, all he could hear was his own barking cough and the high pitched wheeze in those rare moments where he did manage to inhale.
The coughing was beginning to slow when he tasted something tangy on his tongue, it wasn't an unfamiliar taste to him, but it wasn't one he EVER enjoyed.
God no... he fretted, moving his shielding hand away from his mouth.
Sure enough, his palm was speckled with blood.
"Dammit..." he cursed, pulling out his handkerchief to clean the blood off of his hand. He then reached over to pick up his phone, hurriedly calling a familiar number.
"Gumshoe's Noodle house! Richard speaking!" the voice on the other end said.
"I need you to pick me up and take me to the hospital," Miles said hurriedly, choking on another bout of coughs.
"You alright, Mr. Edgeworth?" Gumshoe replied in alarm, though Miles could already hear Dick talking to someone on the other end, telling them to cover his shift for a few hours.
"NO, Detect- pardon me, NO Gumshoe, I'm not. Would I be asking you to--" he was cut off by a hard cough, and the bitterness in his mouth again.
"Alright Mr. Edgeworth, i'll be there right away," Gumshoe announced, hanging up immediately.
The moment the engaged tone rang, Miles collapsed into another bout of violent coughs.

When Gumshoe arrived Miles was sitting on his red suede couch, his head between his knees, his breath wheezing worryingly every time he inhaled.
"Come on Mr. Edgeworth," Gumshoe urged, helping the prosecutor to his feet. The other man insisted he could walk, and made his own way down to Gumshoe's car, but his giddyness was obvious in his step.
Edgeworth demanded that Gumshoe keep his hospital visit a secret, but Gumshoe never had been very good at keeping quiet... in this case, his silence seemed like a BAD idea. Edgeworth had gone very pale, and the coughs had grown more and more frequent. Gumshoe also knew - despite his former-boss's attempts to hide it - that Miles was coughing up blood, not in large quantities, but it was there.
So, once Miles had been taken away by a doctor into the out-patient's clinic, Gumshoe dialed a number on his cell-phone, waiting for Phoenix to pick up.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Phoenix was immediately surprised when his phone rang...his cell phone...he answered no less, almost sure of what the call would be, though he wanted it to be something else. "uh, hello? Phoenix Wright speaking" he answered, a bit apprehensive.

[Tifa Lockhart]

"Uh hey pal," Gumshoe began awkwardly. "He told me not to call but... well I dunno, I thought it would be the right thing to do so..."
The ex-detective seemed somewhat tense as he spoke, but he did the best he could.
"I just brought Mr. Edgeworth down to the out-patients clinic at the hospital... he hasn't been feeling so well today..."

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Phoenix flinched. 'shit...i KNEW this would happen...' he kept his cool as best he could though. "I understand, I actually just finished my work for today, I'll be there shortly." he replied, setting his pen down and standing up. He said a quick goodbye and hung up, calling over to Esme in the other room that he was packing up and would be heading out in a moment.

[Tifa Lockhart]

"Is everything alright, Mr. Wright?" Esme asked, looking up from her desk as Phoenix excused himself. He'd seemed kind of distracted all day and now he was about to leave.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Phoenix just nodded "everything's fine." he said, almost alarmingly blandly. "I'll have my phone with me if you need anything, okay?" he then said, heading out as he called a goodbye over his shoulder.

[Tifa Lockhart]

"Alright Mr. Wright, i'll be here if you need me," she didn't sound so convinced, but she smiled and returned her attention to her work.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Phoenix headed very quickly to the hospital finding gumshoe immediately, that actually surprisingly familiar look on his face of "where is he, you tke me to him now and I don't kill anyone". It was rather amazing how the man's usually calm and warm personality could swing so drastically when Miles was in any form of trouble. He knew Miles and he was sure that he would only have agreed to go to the hospital today if it had gotten WORSE...which meant it must have done so.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Gumshoe always felt intimidated when Phoenix was in his fiery mood. So the Noodle-man lead Phoenix right down the hall towards the doctor's office where Miles was already being looked after. He knocked on the door first and then pushed it open when a voice inside admitted them.
The doctor was by a computer, a patient expression on his face as he scrolled through what looked like test results. Miles was at the back of the room, sitting on the bench with an oxygen mask on. His eyes were closed and he was breathing deeply, but they flew open when the door opened and fixed immediately onto Gumshoe in a dark glare.
"Mr. Wright I assume," the doctor greeted somewhat blandly.
"You're lucky I'm no longer the monitor of your salary, Gumshoe," Miles breathed darkly, his voice airy from the pure-oxygen he was breathing.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Phoenix just offered a brief glance to the doctor before he turned to Miles with a light glare that wasn't really angry. "don't bother telling me...I don't want to know" he said, folding his arms and sighing. "why can't bad luck just leave us alone for once...?" he said, walking over to where Miles was. He frowned worriedly "you just have to go and get yourself in more trouble don't you?"

[Tifa Lockhart]

"This isn't anything of my doing, Wright," Miles growled tiredly, stopping a moment to take another deep breath.
"I'm just waiting on the results from his x-ray... they should confirm my suspicions as to what this is," the doctor interrupted.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Phoenix sighed again, shaking his head. "I know it's nothing you did, Miles...but you know me" he said, glancing rather irritably over at the doctor as he spoke, before turning back to Miles again. "I don't really want to know...I'm already aware that I'm not going to like what I hear....I just know it" he said, brushing anxiously at his fringe. Only Miles would see the extent of his fear, since it only showed in his eyes and very few knew how to translate his emotions to the deepest of extents, like Miles did. The doctor, who he didn't even know, wouldn't even catch that the emotion was there, it was that subtle.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Miles urged Phoenix to sit beside him before resting his head on his shoulder. He felt dreadful, and though the oxygen was helping to refill his ailing lungs, he could feel more coughing just waiting to bubble to the surface.
"The Doctor suspects Bronchitis at this point..." Miles explained, ignoring Phoenix's desire to not know. He then coughed once or twice, wincing slightly. He was glad that the blood from before decided not to make an appearance, because he knew that would have distressed Phoenix quite badly.
"Harsh bronchial coughing, wheezed inhalation, burning sensation and an aching heaviness in the chest... all point towards Bronchitis. Swelling of the Bronchial tubes in the x-ray will confirm this... they should be through any minute."

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Phoenix made a particularly irritated expression. "I'm sorry, was I thinking what I thought I just said out loud or did you just decide to ignore me?" he grumbled, putting his arm around Miles' shoulders. "really, I don't care for details, I just know that you're not well and that's enough for me...who needs details anyway?" he glanced down at Miles with a slight sigh, then. "we never get a break, do we? always some form of trouble trailing around behind us..." he seemed rather anxious as he spoke, his tone reflecting a certain tiny spark of said anxiety. "...I'm sorry...my bad luck seems to follow you, ever since we first met in the courtroom..." he then growled in irritation. "I feel like some sort of bad-luck charm! everyone who hangs around with me ends up in trouble...gah! why can't my life just be normal for once!??!!" for a moment it seemed like he was going to completely lose his cool over all the horribly unlucky events that seemed to just magnet to his presence, but he then rather suddenly became flawlessly calm, with a sigh and hit himself, gently (he had obviously learned from every other time to be more gentle with himself) "Bad, Phoenix, bad...losing one's cool over something that's plagued you for your whole life is stupid...." he then pulled a rather comical expression of dismay, continuing his little battle of emotions. "now I'm talking to myself....someone shoot me before I go completely mad..." he then seemed to remember that he was sitting next to Miles...in the hospital of all places..."oh...right...ignore me, Miles, I'm just talking my own brain out of my head over here...I think my childhood's catching up to me after some 30-odd years." he sighed again, rubbing the back of his neck, uncomfortably. "me and my passing bad luck on seems to be getting to me...hang on, am I talking too much? do tell me to shut up if I am, we already know I'm crazy enough, I needn't stoop my reputation for being sane any further" by now it was getting rather worrying how much he had just ranted on a completely pointless subject in the middle of a hospital...all the stress of everything really was beginning to catch up with him, it seemed.

[Tifa Lockhart]

The doctor sniffed somewhat indignantly and turned his attention back to his computer, where it seemed the results had arrived. He hurriedly began to look over them.
Miles didn't really approve of Phoenix's behaviour, so he sat quietly and stared at Phoenix, as if trying to subtly urge him into silence.
"Honestly Phoenix, you need to STOP this incessant stressing," he snapped, resting his head back against Phoenix's shoulder, coughing softly.

The doctor was now wearing a rather concerned expression.
"With all due respect Mr. Wright, if you weren't interested in details, now might be a good time for you to leave. It's not Bronchitis..."