Note: Towards the end of summer I decided to replay the Ace Attorney games. I hadn't gotten through the first one when I decided I HAD to write something for this pairing, because this site is seriously lacking in the Fradrian department. I don't know if they're totally in character, I did it mostly from memory. The timeline for this is sometime after JFA but with the later games not considered.

Here For You

"So um, Franziska! I wanted to tell you that I've admired you for a long time and you have a way of looking at me that makes me feel like everything will be okay forever, because you'll be there to whip everyone into submission...Wait, what? I can't say that! C'mon Adrian, you're really screwing this up..."

Adrian Andrews despaired at the blue-haired frowning face she had drawn on a piece of card. It shouldn't be this hard to express her feelings to a drawing of poor-likeness. Adrian hated that she could fake being confident to everyone but herself. Why did she have to know she was so hopeless? And why couldn't she just tell Franziska how she felt?

With a sigh, Adrian flicked the card across her cluttered apartment. She was being ridiculous, and blowing things out of proportion – as usual. What did it matter if she couldn't articulate how she felt? Nobody needed to know, not really. Adrian could hide her feelings for the frosty prosecutor; it was safer that way. After all, if Adrian didn't put her self out there, there was no chance of her being rejected and losing her source of dependence.

It hadn't been long after Adrian's trial that she had become dependent on Franziska. It had all begun with that single letter... In fact, it had begun much earlier. It had begun when Franziska had been prepping Adrian for the trial, giving her orders and directing her how best to say her testimony. Franziska had been so sure of herself, so determined, that it was only natural for Adrian to latch on to her.

Since getting out of jail, their – Adrian used the term lightly – relationship had escalated. More letters, a few phone calls and then it had been office visits. Lunches out. Meaningless encounters with idle talk that meant so much to Adrian. Too much. Each time she saw Franziska, Adrian got something like a power boost, an adrenaline rush. She had thought it was just her dependency at first but as time went on, Adrian realised her feelings ran deeper than the shallow attachment she had with Celeste.

She had begun to fall for the cold-hearted prosecutor.

As absurd as it sounded, Adrian knew Franziska was a ruthless woman, a woman who many feared to cross paths with. She was a perfectionist of the worst kind, whose tolerance for incompetence was extremely low. Franziska had more enemies than she did friends, and even the word 'friend' was used loosely to describe her. Being aware of all this, why then, did Adrian harbour such strong emotions for this vindictive woman?

Adrian supposed it had everything to do with those sapphire, calculating eyes. Those eyes that saw right through each person they fell on, that had the power to turn even the strongest characters into quivering puddles of shame. Those commanding eyes had looked upon Adrian and Adrian had felt them penetrate her core. At first, Adrian was certain she could see scorn and disdain in Franziska's eyes. Now that they knew each other a little more, Adrian saw-

"Oh hell, is that the time? I'm going to be late," Adrian muttered angrily to her self. She scrambled around her apartment, hunting for her shoes and jacket. She found one shoe underneath a pile of financial documents she had meant to shred last week – or was it the week before? – and the other was serving quite usefully as storage, holding the Cheerios she had dropped on the carpet that morning and hadn't gotten round to discarding. She tipped the cereal into the plant pot, which was empty of a plant but nearly overflowing with other junk and scanned the room frantically for her jacket.

Her eyes slid over the dusty television, the bookcase that had books falling out, the sofa hidden underneath an array of dirty – or were they clean? – clothes. Where was that stupid jacket? Adrian's heart hammered against her chest. She was going to be late. She didn't like being late. It made her feel panicky and even more out of control than she normally did and what would Franziska say to her if she arrived late-

The jacket was hanging on the coat hook, where it was supposed to be. Feeling silly, Adrian plucked it from its hook and shoved her arms through the sleeves while walking out the door. She closed it and stopped; for one horrible, gut-wrenching moment, Adrian worried that she had left her keys inside. What if she had locked herself out? Then she felt them in her jacket pocket, breathed out in relief and made her way speedily outside to the nearest underground train station. Her destination: the prosecutor's office.

X

"Ho ho ho, hey pal, are you sure you wanna go in there?" Detective Gumshoe was just as large and energetic as always, puffing his chest out the moment he saw Adrian walking towards Franziska's office. Seeing Franziska on almost a regular basis meant Adrian also met the good detective on occasion, and the two often sparked a pleasant conversation. Adrian noted that he was in that faded green trench coat that was his trademark and wondered not for the first time whether he owned anything else.

"Yes I... W-Wait, there's nothing wrong with Ms von Karma, is there?" Adrian glanced at the closed office door suspiciously, as if it was purposefully withholding information about Franziska's wellbeing. She didn't even take the time as she usually did to acknowledge that in her mind and in person, Adrian was on a first-name basis with Franziska but with anyone else, she was always 'Ms von Karma'.

Detective Gumshoe looked nervous and shifty for a moment.

"There's nothing wrong with Ms von Karma per se but everyone's noticed she's not exactly being herself today. Hasn't whipped anyone since she got here this morning! I tell you pal! It feels good to not walk around in pain!"

"O-Okay..." Adrian didn't know how to take this news. Was it good or bad? Perhaps Franziska had had a change of heart about her whip and... Even Adrian knew Franziska well enough to know she would never abandon her whip. Something had to be bothering her to cause her to refrain from whipping 'the fools she worked with', as Franziska had so delicately put it on more than one occasion.

"If you ask me, I'll bet it has something to do with the new rumours going around!" Detective Gumshoe said in a stage-whisper, almost as if he was delighted to be aiding the conspiracy of the office.

"R-Rumours? What rumours? Have people been talking about Ms von Karma behind her back?" Adrian grew suddenly defensive, although she knew that if she didn't watch herself, the entire world would soon realise her feelings for Franziska were more than just platonic. Luckily for her, Detective Gumshoe didn't notice anything odd about Adrian's unexpected indignation.

"Whoa pal, as if I'd let them talk about Ms von Karma! The rumours aren't about her but I think it will be best if I don't tell you who they're about. Its better kept hushed up, you know, quiet-like." The detective wasn't making much sense to Adrian anymore and this was usually her cue to end the conversation. He went on his way, chuckling to himself and Adrian returned her focus to the door.

There was nothing that made it any different from the others along the corridor, save for the name and room number that declared it as Franziska von Karma's. Which was odd considering Franziska had never intended to stay in the country for long. She had told Adrian as much, early on in their meetings. It seemed she had changed her mind somewhere along the way, or why else would the department put her name on the door?

Adrian knocked more confidently than she felt and heard a clear, accented voice beckon her inside the room. She entered.

The first thing she noticed was that the blinds were half-drawn, shrouding the room in a weak darkness. It wasn't enough to make it difficult to see, and Adrian was familiar enough with the layout to know Franziska was sitting behind her glass desk, the recent case reports ordered neatly on the top. Her telephone and stationary was to the left side, in perfect alignment to the reports. On the wall behind Franziska were various certificates, awards and credentials she cared little for, but had on display to show evidence of her abilities and to intimidate her colleagues.

Adrian's focus was not on the surroundings, however. It was on the form not exactly slouching in the brown leather chair, but close enough by Franziska's standards. The young prosecutor was sitting rigidly still, clutching her whip and uncharacteristically staring off into space.

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Adrian hastily apologised, wondering what was wrong. Franziska's gaze travelled up to meet Adrian's.

"I heard you speaking with Scruffy outside. Technically, you were here on time," Franziska said slowly. Something was definitely wrong with her, that much Adrian knew. Just what were those rumours Scruf- er, Detective Gumshoe had alluded to? Franziska was a tough woman to unnerve so whatever it was had to be serious.

"Franziska, is everything okay?"

"No," Franziska said to Adrian's surprise – she really didn't expect Franziska to admit something was wrong so readily. Franziska rose from her chair gracefully and regarded her companion. "If it doesn't bother you, I would like to not go out to lunch today. Perhaps we could dine somewhere that is more private?"

"Wh-Where?" Adrian all but squeaked. Franziska was patient with Adrian, quite used to her 'hysterics' by now. She was at least glad that she didn't have any pressing work to do, and was free to leave the office early. It certainly paid to be completely and perfectly efficient with one's working hours.

"My apartment is not far from here, if you remember." Adrian had been to Franziska's apartment a few times. They hadn't been particularly long visits, but only because Adrian usually ended up embarrassing her self so monumentally that she made an excuse and went home early. The first time, Franziska had needed to pick up some piece of evidence to take back to the office and had only given Adrian a brief tour of her simple yet stylishly decorated one-bedroom apartment. It was a heaven in creams and pastels. That first glance had been enough to leave a permanent imprint in Adrian's memory.

Everything had been so organised. There was a filing cabinet for work documents; a medium sized bookcase that held texts in alphabetical order and in perfectly straight lines; a small desk where most people would have a television but where Franziska had a work station and nothing was out of place. Nothing. There were no stray socks, no discarded magazines. Adrian should have expected nothing less than perfect from the prosecuting prodigy who prided herself on the trait.

Other visits were what would normally be called 'hanging out' but sounded so absurdly casual that Adrian wasn't able to connect the phrase with Franziska. Instead, she saw their encounters at Franziska's apartment as 'social calls' or 'domestic interactions'. It wasn't normal but then, nothing about their relationship was. They played chess, or read different books in the same room (Adrian hadn't finished a single book during these sittings, as Franziska's close presence was distracting. She made sure she turned a page every so often to keep up the pretence), or discussed current affairs. It was pleasant, it was neutral, and it was how they spent their time together.

"Sure. Yes. Okay. Mhm. All right." Adrian couldn't settle on one answer. She followed Franziska out of the office and they walked the short way to Franziska's apartment in silence, but travelling in this way wasn't unusual for them. The doorman greeted them with a mere nod, which he had learned was the only welcome Franziska deemed acceptable from him and the two women travelled in the elevator to the seventh floor where Franziska's apartment was located.

Once inside, Franziska took off her black leather gloves and offered Adrian a drink; the two women sat at the small rectangular table in the open-plan kitchen with a glass of grape juice in front of each of them. Adrian gulped down half of the purple liquid in one go but Franziska didn't touch her drink at all. She left her whip on the table, one hand clasping it lightly while the other was laid flat on the tabletop.

It was then that Adrian noticed the square coasters Franziska had placed underneath both glasses. They reminded Adrian of the card she had been confessing to earlier. Her cheeks tinged pink, and Adrian wondered if this was the best time to bring up something like that.

"How is the job hunting?" Franziska asked flatly. She knew Adrian well enough by now to know that small talk was practically mandatory before introducing the heavier topics. Franziska saw it as a waste of time – why bother with trivial matters? – but did notice that most people did not dive into serious conversations without some sort of build up first. Adrian liked to think that she had helped Franziska discover the art of making small talk and congratulated herself for it for the seventh time.

"It's pretty lousy actually. If I don't find a job soon, I might not be able to pay my rent this month," Adrian admitted.

"Adrian, if you need help with paying the rent I will gladly assist you," Franziska offered, a little emotion returning to her voice. Adrian held up one hand, her eyebrows shooting upwards as she protested.

"Oh no! I couldn't take money from you, Franziska! I'll get by on my own, it's fine. But thank you for offering; really, it's so nice of you. Most people don't realise this about you but you're actually really kind underneath all the layers of self-confidence you have – which I truly quite admire. Since we started spending time together and I've gotten to know you better my feelings of admiration and affection have grown strong and I think you're really great even though a lot of people are scared of you...Actually, you can still be quite scary to me as well now that I think about it...Although it hasn't stopped me from–"

"Adrian, please refrain from this foolish babbling. It's giving me a headache." Franziska's grip on her whip tightened and Adrian flinched back on instinct, although Franziska would never use her whip on her and both women knew it; Franziska more than Adrian.

"O-Oh! I'm sorry," she apologised sincerely, disappointed in her self but also a little relieved. Letting her mouth take over had definitely been a bad idea; Adrian was surprised a great prosecutor like Franziska had not picked up on the implication behind her praises. It was probably just as well, because Adrian was certain this was not a good time to reveal her true feelings.

Franziska exhaled deeply and her eyes penetrated Adrian in a manner not unlike the way Adrian had become so enamoured with. Adrian's breath caught as she observed the beauty in Franziska's eyes – and glimpsed the pain that lingered there.

"I am sorry, too, Adrian. I did not mean to be short with you. I have been feeling...foolishly out-of-sorts lately," Franziska murmured in a voice so low Adrian would have missed it had she not been so concentrated on the young woman opposite. Franziska? 'Out-of-sorts'? Wh-What's going on?

"You feel...foolish?" Adrian asked, hoping she had misheard. For Franziska to admit that meant there was something bothering her – something that would not rattle the average person. It must be serious...Adrian mused silently. Franziska nodded once.

"That is correct. Recent news has brought to light particular possibilities that I had not previously considered. I suppose an ordinary fool would say they are 'overwhelmed'," Franziska said, almost bitterly.

Adrian understood. For a woman whose one aim in life was perfection, to be overwhelmed must be terrifying. Then again, Franziska wasn't the sort who showed fear; she was stronger than that. Adrian knew Franziska must be feeling horribly conflicted inside and leaned forward with an expression that was supposed to be supportive and comforting.

"What was the news?" Adrian asked, unable to keep the burning curiosity out of her voice. However much she was concerned about Franziska, the urge to know what was bothering her so much was a powerful one, as this was an unusual situation to experience with Franziska. Franziska dropped her voice and also leaned across the table, with the intent of enabling Adrian to hear her better.

"My brother has gotten engaged to Phoenix Wright."

"The defence attorney?" Adrian's eyes were wide open and her eyebrows shot right up her forehead. This she had not seen coming. Franziska nodded in confirmation. "And this is a problem?" Adrian was careful not to sound overly concerned or affected, because why would Franziska's reaction to a same-sex marriage matter? It wouldn't; it would only matter on the off chance that Adrian's – to use Franziska's word – foolish feelings were reciprocated and that didn't seem likely at all. So Adrian remained aloof, impassive and feigned disinterest.

Of course, Franziska saw through the façade at once though she didn't give any indication that she had, leaving Adrian with the illusion that she had deceived the famed prosecutor. She knew Adrian's sexual orientation was towards women but this didn't bother Franziska, whose view on relationships was that they were an unnecessary inconvenience. This line of thinking hadn't led Franziska to ponder the nature of her own friendship with Adrian, however.

"It is not a problem in the way you might think. I am happy my little brother has found someone to care for – but for it to be that foolishly weak excuse for an attorney is almost unforgivable. I understand many people 'fall' for others whom they do not wish to and that perfectly mismatched couples have long, enduring relationships even so. Theoretically, this is absurd but I can accept that it is possible based on the wealth of evidence in the world. And so yesterday evening, I called Miles Edgeworth and gave him my blessing for the engagement.

"He was foolishly happy to hear from me, and acted all the more like a fool once he heard what I had to say. We spoke for a while and he said something to me that has caused me to be in this state that you see me today. My foolish little brother said that I would soon be following in his footsteps down the aisle! Quite ridiculous, I'm sure you'll agree. Where is this partner to whom I will be marrying? It was an obvious lie and I objected to it of course but he remained foolishly insistent that I had someone in my life worth considering.

"Even more infuriatingly, Miles Edgeworth refused to tell me who he was foolishly envisioning was my romantic partner, much like a foolish little brother's foolish attempt to tease his older sister. It is foolishly childish. And yet, I have been deep in thought since that conversation, pondering this matter."

Adrian stared at Franziska's deadpan expression, convinced that she was truly bothered by what Miles Edgeworth had said to her. It was ridiculous, Franziska was right about that at least. Adrian didn't know whether to laugh or take pity on the blue-haired prosecutor for taking Miles's teasing so seriously. Neither reaction would go down well.

As the queen of overreactions, Adrian was surprised that she didn't understand Franziska's. There was nothing to get worked up about. Unless of course, Franziska did have a secret romantic partner that Adrian didn't know about...

Adrian immediately dismissed this idea. This was a woman whose only friends were a clueless detective, and a woman with dependency issues and a criminal record. And that was if the term 'friend' was used generously. Adrian began to wonder if Franziska had told her the whole story.

"Is that all?" Adrian asked, making sure her tone wasn't accusing or flippant, to spare Franziska's feelings. She was strangely relieved when Franziska replied it wasn't. The fact there was more to the story eased Adrian a little, as her mind had been refusing to accept that something so trivial could cause such a melodramatic response in Franziska. Her Franziska was made of tougher stuff.

"How would I know, Adrian? How would I know if I did have someone in my life like that? I have no experience with such feelings. Emotions and sentiment are...beyond my comprehension. Everyone else might not be able to build perfect cases in the court of law with sound logic and deductive reasoning based on decisive evidence, but they know about happiness. They know about affection. They know about love."

Franziska bent her head in shame. This was what had been weighing down on her all this time. Adrian had been aware of Franziska's impassivity and had put it down to her lack of a carefree childhood, which Franziska had explained to her. It hadn't bothered Adrian before. If anything, she had seen it as one of Franziska's particular quirks that made her who she was. So what if she didn't express her emotions like other people? That didn't mean she didn't have any. Adrian knew Franziska was capable of happiness, affection – even love. It was all there, in her swimming blue eyes.

Adrian reached across the table to rest one hand on top of Franziska's to tell her this and that she understood. She didn't get further than touching her hand. When Franziska reacted by jumping and pulling her hand away as if she had been stung, Adrian realised her intention had not been fulfilled and she withdrew, quickly apologising.

Franziska grasped the hand Adrian had touched tenderly, as if in pain. Adrian's fingers had barely grazed Franziska's skin but it had made such an impact that Franziska was surprised there wasn't a red welt left behind. She swallowed hard and attempted to make some coherent explanation come out of her mouth.

"You..! I didn't expect...Tingling sensation...What is this?" That didn't work.

Adrian laughed nervously, trying to rectify the situation.

"It must have been an electric shock?" she said, her voice quietly shaking. Franziska knew it was not so. Electric shocks didn't happen like that, or feel so...exciting. Why was her heart beating so rapidly? What was going on? That feeling stirring in her stomach, so unlike hunger, similar to nausea but definitely not. It was new. What was this? Why was- Why was Adrian looking at her with those big brown eyes of hers?

"Why are your eyes smiling at me?" Franziska demanded to know. Adrian was understandably taken aback. She had merely been looking at the other woman. She didn't even know eyes could smile.

"Wh-What? What are you talking about Franziska?" Adrian was confused, and Franziska couldn't explain. How could she explain, when even she didn't fully comprehend what was happening between them? Franziska's only response was to shake her head silently and look away, forcing her self to calm down. There was no need to act foolishly irrational. It was all just a little too much, that was all. Miles Edgeworth, the engagement, these new...feelings.

An uncomfortable prickling in her right shoulder caused Franziska to absently touch the old bullet wound that had long since healed. Looking at her from across the table, Adrian was struck by just how vulnerable and sad Franziska looked. Not to mention young. It was so easy to forget the self-assured prosecutor was still only a teenager. However much she acted mature, Franziska was merely nineteen. As the older of them, it was Adrian's job to give her guidance and comfort. She hadn't needed to before this – of course she hadn't, this was Franziska von Karma – but it was crucial in this moment.

Adrian stood up and moved next to Franziska's chair. She reached for the hand on Franziska's shoulder and this time, Franziska didn't flinch away although she did glance at Adrian in surprise. Adrian offered what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"It's okay Franziska. I'm here to help. I'll be here for as long as you want me to be."

Franziska didn't reply verbally, but responded by gripping Adrian's hand noticeably firmer. Her icy blue eyes thawed a little as they were overlooked on by the warm brownness of the kind gaze behind familiar spectacles. Maybe Franziska didn't know about happiness, affection or love – but she was beginning to understand.