Phoenix allowed his mind to wander as he sorted the various documents and pieces of evidence with Franziska. She had a trial tomorrow, prosecuting a crime lord they had been pursuing for a couple months. Through a curious series of events, she’d ended up as his right-hand woman of this strange investigation consortium he now called his line of work.
Of course, it had all started way back when, when they’d first faced each other in court. He hadn’t thought much of her back then, not more than his usual opponents in court. But he figured something was up when she was a strangely frequent dinner guest after his disbarment. She didn’t show up often, but she would show up one night, dote a bit on Trucy, stay for dinner, and then leave. It had been a welcome, if unexpected anchor for Phoenix; as he stopped talking with his other friends, Franziska would periodically re-enter his life to keep him from floating away from everyone entirely.
But as Phoenix’s old friend Maya came back into his life, the visits stopped. He didn’t think of it at the time; after all, he had been busy fixing his life and marrying Maya. Franziska was still a friend, of course, but she no longer dominated Phoenix’s social time.
That changed when he turned his family’s life – and his life – upside down. When he went into self-exile, he was back to being alone. He didn’t even keep contact with his daughter. Oh, he talked to plenty of people. He’d build up a network of allies through the years, allies he now leveraged as he threw himself into his more shadowy activities, investigating criminals outside the law. But that’s all they were, allies, not friends. Even when he saw Edgeworth, it was strictly business.
There were only two people Phoenix truly spent time with – Pearl Fey, and Franziska von Karma.
And only Franziska heard his deepest sins. Although he confided some things with Pearl (he trusted her not to betray his words to Maya), he never told her everything. Not the way he could talk freely with Franziska. He’d had to stop when Edgeworth married Maya. Besides, they were supposed to be strictly colleagues.
At least, that’s what he told himself.
“How’s your sister-in-law?” he asked idly. (He never said Maya’s name. He didn’t deserve to anymore.)