[A scene I couldn't fit into You Are Cordially Invited so I made into a seperate chapter.]
"Little brother!" Miles had got very used to those words being the first thing he heard when the door to his office was suddenly flung open. Despite the fact that, at 29, he was seven years older than 22 year old Franziska von Karma, he'd been 'little brother' since the moment she'd first uttered the words 'kleiner Bruder'.
"I have news. I felt you should be the first to know," she continued. Despite the bravado in the way she spoke, her body language was oddly defensive. One arm was wrapped across her chest, holding the shoulder where she'd been shot four years ago. Franziska seemed to realise this herself, and she shifted slightly, crossing her arms instead.
"Yes…?"
"I am engaged to be married." She said it like a challenge, almost as though she wanted him to object.
He looked over his glasses at her, then back at his papers. "To Ms Andrews, I assume." He knew the two women were more than friends, and was only uncertain when the shift from friendship to romance had occurred.
"Naturally. She is a very remarkable woman." This was as close to 'I love her' as Franziska would ever get.
"She is…" Franziska searched for the right word. "Not what father would've wanted." Her mouth twisted when she said that, but if it was a smile or a scowl Miles couldn't tell. "She's not… perfect."
"Franziska…"
His sister held up a hand, "I'm not finished, little brother." Franziska took a deep breath. "She overcomes this – everyday – to be the person she wishes to be. It's why I –" she paused. "Find her remarkable."
That appeared to be all she wanted to say.
"As long as she makes you happy, Franziska." The words are the ones a person is meant to say in this situation, but nevertheless, Miles meant them.
"She does."
It occurred to Miles that he was, more or less, Franziska's only male family member.
"Will you be needing me to –"
But, thankfully, she cut him off before he could finish.
"'Give me away'? Foolish little brother, whatever gave you the idea that Adrian and I would be engaging in outdated, patriarchal customs such as that?"
"I merely thought I'd ask," he replied, with a shrug.
"Well, it won't be necessary. Adrian and I will walk each other down the aisle. It will symbolise our new life. However, that was… considerate of you."
Can't you just say, 'thank you'? But Miles has used similar phrasing in the past. They're very alike, despite not being related.
Instead he said, "Would you like some tea, Franziska?"
"I suppose. I have nowhere better to be." Despite her apparent disinterest, she almost immediately made herself at home on the office's couch, kicking off her boots and putting her feet up.
Miles made the tea and wondered what it would be like to have a sister who doesn't treat social interactions like a competition, and whether he would even prefer that. Franziska is prickly and cold and difficult, but she's still family.
(family gained through her father's desire to take revenge against a man who slighted him, but no-one ever really gets to pick their siblings)
"Adrian and I have some ideas for where it should be held," Franziska told him, when she had a teacup in her hand.
"Oh?"
"We thought the Gatewater International."
Miles stared at her for a moment. "The hotel where Corrida was murdered? The crime Ms Andrews was nearly convicted of? The trial that led to you getting shot?"
"Exactly!" Franziska sipped her tea, apparently completely content, "it holds many sentimental memories for us both."
