Chapter 7

Later that week, Nick had to leave the office and pick up something at his apartment, so Maya took this chance to call Mr. Edgeworth. She was going to find out why Nick was troubled and get help with Franziska at the same time. It was the perfect opportunity.

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Miles Edgeworth heard his phone ringing, and since work was already stressing him out, he answered his phone rather sourly, "Hello?"

"... I'm sorry to bother you Mr. Edgeworth... but it's... it's about Nick."

Wow, I don't think ever heard anyone sound that annoyed before. Creepy, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. she thought, getting ready to quickly hang up.

"Oh, Maya?" Miles' tone softened, now feeling a little embarrassed for making her feel bad about calling.

In a moment, he processed the rest of her statement, he spoke in concern, "Is something wrong with Wright?"

"Well... not exactly. It's... well, the first question would be: why doesn't he want to talk to you? What has happened between the two of you for that to happen! I thought you were friends!"

Perhaps she was reading into it too much, but it was there, Nick had definitely not wanted to talk to Mr. Edgeworth. Not at all, and him laughing had nothing to do with it. She knew it.

"Ahh." Miles said in hesitance at her observation.

It was obvious that Phoenix had not explained to her what had happened, and perhaps it was best that way. He wondered if he made the right decision telling Phoenix what he did, because he sure felt he had done a horrible thing when he found out Phoenix was in the hospital due to an attempt on his life.

He was just about ready to hop on a plane and tell Phoenix he was sorry for everything and that he was much too hasty, before he found out his injuries weren't that serious. But when he found out Phoenix's life wasn't in danger, he lost his nerve. And now, Phoenix went out of his way to avoid him, and really, Miles couldn't blame him at all.

Suddenly realizing that he was silent for a second too long, he quickly said, "I'm not sure what it could be. I haven't noticed anything unusual."

"Mr. Edgeworth! That is bull and you know it! I've been around Nick, who's probably the most horrible liar on the planet, long enough to realize when someone's stalling!" She frowned at the phone, if Mr. Edgeworth would go as far as to lie, then something was definitely wrong.

"You can tell me... I won't spill the beans or anything. I promise."

Miles considered briefly whether he should say anything or not, but he quickly decided against it. If Phoenix didn't tell her himself, there was no reason for him to.

"Maya, it...really is nothing. If Wright didn't mention anything to you, I'm sure it isn't a big deal." Miles said, just a tiny bit of guilt sneaking into his tone.

"Mr. Edgeworth! Stop lying to me! It is a big deal! I wasn't even sure of it until you got all avoidant about it!"

She was feeling angry and hurt. Both feelings directed to both of the men involved. She knew something was wrong, but neither of them wanted to tell her what it was and at the same time, they were being so obvious about it.

Men are stupid. Maya thought with a grumble.

"Umm, so was there another reason you called? I do have to return to my work shortly." Miles said, quickly changing the subject.

"Forget it Mr. Edgeworth. I can't ask you for help anymore. Goodbye." She made herself ready to hang up. It really was no point in asking him for advice when it came to Franziska when he obviously couldn't even handle talking about Nick.

"Wait, Maya." Miles could tell she was rather upset about not knowing what was happening, and he was guilty enough as it was, so he decided telling her a bit of what was wrong was better than nothing at all, "You're right. There is something wrong."

"Well what is it?! You used to be good friends and now he won't talk to you and you don't even want to talk about him! I don't understand it at all!" She bit her lip, she didn't want to get so emotional over it, but she just couldn't understand why they refused to tell her. Especially Nick.

Her tone bit into Miles, and he winced. He was glad this was a conversation over the phone and she couldn't see him as he said, "Well...I've said something...something really stupid."

"... what? You've said something stupid? Well... it must have been spectacularly stupid for it to have this kind of effect..."

It was true, what on earth could Mr Edgeworth have said...? Maya thought curiously.

"Believe me, you don't know the half of it." he said, his tone turning increasingly guilty.

"Well what was it? Maybe we can fix it?"

Oh wow, Mr. Edgeworth sounds so guilty, it was even worse than the time he'd convinced himself that he'd killed his own father. Oh boy.

Miles skipped over her question of what he said, sticking to being as vague as possible, "Ummm...Wright told me something, and I...I reacted in a less than favorable manner."

How dare he be so vague?! Maya thought in annoyance.

"... what did he tell you? And how did you react?" She spoke calmly, so calmly she even managed to surprise herself.

"I...the point is that it is my fault that he doesn't want to speak to me...I probably made him feel stupid for even talking to me, and I regret it." Miles said, letting out a guilty sigh.

"But if you would just tell me then we can fix it! You obviously regret your reaction! I can talk to him! He can't escape me." She would just have to fix the troubles between Nick and Mr. Edgeworth, then she could focus on Nick's love life.

"Thank you for your offer to help, Maya, but I believe the problem would be better solved if I talked to him myself. If you want to convince him into wanting to talk to me again, that is one thing you can help me with." Miles said, sounding thankful.

"But... It'd be easier for me to convince him to talk to you if I knew what the problem was! Nick is an expert on excuses, and when he runs out of good ones, he has an endless supply of bad ones!" She was happy that Mr. Edgeworth seemed to have cheered up slightly, but still.

"Don't worry, Maya. I will take care of this." Miles said, sounding just a little less guilty now and a bit more confident.

"Mr. Edgeworth..." She wasn't convinced, what if... what if something went wrong, really wrong? "Well... can't you at least give me a hint? Please?"

"I...All that I can tell you is that, Phoe--umm, Wright...told me something that surprised me. And, I just reacted without thinking. I'd already finished speaking when I realized that I hurt him. Now, I can't take back what I said, but I will talk with him and try to make it up to him." Miles said, sounding vulnerable.

Maya was silent for awhile. This didn't bode well. "Alright, I'll talk to Nick to make sure that he'll speak to you..." She bit her lip, they needed to sort this out, whatever it was.

Miles let out a sigh of relief when Maya finally dropped that subject. Then he asked, "So, was there something else you need to talk to me about?"

She bit her lip. Should she? "I... I have this problem..." She decided to go with being vague. "Well... if... if you were to.. to... talk to uhm... to Ms Franziska... ehm... what- what kind of subject would be appropriate for the situation? Ah - I... I mean... you're kind of siblings and I just... thought... that maybe you'd know?" She was nervous, asking this kind of thing but, for Nick's sake, she had to do it.

Miles was silent for a moment, a little shocked at the sudden change of topic. His eyebrows raised in surprise, he said, "You want to talk to Franziska?"

"Ah - I... I - I just... uhh..." Well, she didn't want to rat out on Nick, especially since he didn't want to ask Mr Edgeworth for help and the fact that they still hadn't resolved their issues. Maybe this was a better card to play? "I... please just tell me! What kind of non law related subjects can you talk to Ms Franziska without her wanting to... well... hurt you..." She bit her lip again.

Maya's tone made Miles chuckle suddenly, and he had to admit it was no small feat for Franziska to have inspired this sort of fear in others.

Finally he spoke, humor touching his tone, "There are very few topics that would result in a favorable response from her, I regret to say. She was always so dedicated to the study of law from a young age that I'm not sure if she had a chance to develop many other interests."

"But - but! There has to be SOMETHING! Classical music? Spirits? Make-up? BURGERS?!" Come on Mr. Edgeworth! There has to be something! She was growing desperate, if not even he knew then…then what would they do?

Miles thought carefully back on their childhoods to see if he could better answer Maya's question. He'd been vague enough in the first part of their conversation, so this time he wanted to help as much as he could.

"Well, if I remember properly, she seemed to like taking care of the plants in a little garden we had at the Manor."

"Ah! Wait! I have to write this down!" Maya when scrambling after some paper and a pen, dropped the phone in the process and rustled some more before she was finally back on the line. "Oh! Okay! So uhm... gardening? Okay! What else? Anything else?"

A grin came to Miles' face at how excited Maya was getting over this. Was there something more going on here than Maya just wanting to have an idle conversation with Franziska? It sure seemed that way.

"Hmm...she also really liked to try on all of her mother's old jewelry as well."

"Oooh! Jewelry! Perfect! Thank you so much! Really Mr. Edgeworth! This is so helpful! Thank you so much! I'll have to go try it! ... after I read up on the subjects..." She would have to test them out before she sent Nick to try, the man had this talent for tripping over his words when he was afraid, and if they weren't sure the subjects would work, well he'd be a fumbling idiot.

"May I ask why you so desperately want to have a successful conversation with Franziska?" Miles asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Uhhhh... uhm... eh... well... you see... I... eheh... it's nothing! Really!" She tried to sound convincing, but she knew that she was failing spectacularly in that department.

Miles smirked, raised an eyebrow and said, "Now, now. Don't doubt my abilities on being able to see through a lie either."

Maya started to stutter and she felt her face grow red, he was using what she told him earlier against her. that wasn't fair! "We-well! I - I don't have to answer that question anyways! I - I just... I just want to!" She probably sounded as embarrassed as she felt, but it was kind of too late to hide it now.

"Really? Because it sounds like you have some...personal interest in the outcome of the conversation." Miles said, his tone just a bit teasing.

"Well maybe I do! What's it to you?! I - I you're making me embarrassed." She sighed and stared at the floor scraping her toes against the floor.

"I wouldn't think you'd be getting all that embarrassed if it was an innocent request. I believe you must feel some sort of sudden fondness for Franziska?" Miles said, feeling like he was hot on the trail.

"Eeeek! Stop it! Stop it, Mr. Edgeworth!" Her cheeks were flaming, and she wasn't even sure why anymore. She wasn't even sure if it was for her sake of for Nick's. If she had known that things would turn out this complicated she wouldn't have... well, she would anyway. "You're... you're embarrassing me... please... don't mention this to Frannie! I - eeek! I meant Ms. Franziska! I eh... uhm..."

"Maya, calm down. I will not say anything to her. And, out of curiosity, when did you change your mind about Franziska? You two never seemed to talk much before. I wasn't certain you two had very much in common." Miles said, trying to get to the bottom of this.

"I - I... It's Nick! Okay?! Nick wants to talk to her without being whipped silly and I promised I'd help! But when I suggested he should talk to you he got real defensive and you won't tell me what wrong either! It's really unfair Mr. Edgeworth! I didn't want to tell you because you two haven't resolved whatever it is but you just... I - I... I shouldn't have called..." She trailed off. Great, now she had told about Nick. Perfect, life sure wasn't as great as it had been this morning.

For a beat, Miles was completely silent, the smirk on his face melting away, and in shock he quietly asked, "Wright is the one that wants to talk to Franziska?"

"I... She took care of him after the accident and all! I think he wants to be able to thank her and stuff without her whipping him half to death for opening his mouth in her presence!" She bit her lip, she was just spilling Nick's secrets to Edgeworth, and they hadn't even fixed their problem yet.

Miles was certain that he could feel his heart breaking, and he took a few deep breaths before he trusted himself to continue speaking.

"I see." he said simply.

I'm already too late...I made a huge mistake and now I can't even fix it...Miles thought helplessly.

"Mr. Edgeworth... what is the thing that caused the rift between you and Nick? For some reason, I get the feeling that all of this is connected. I can hear it in your tone." She said in concern as she slowly put two and two together.

The direct question and the concern in Maya's tone after receiving this less than happy news for him made something break in Miles. He knew that Maya was just annoyed at his vagueness, but combined with how suddenly this news was laid on him, he wasn't sure how he could put himself back together.

His voice quivered with emotion that he couldn't quite mask in this state as he answered Maya, "I've made a horrible mistake."

Maya bit her lip, Mr Edgeworth was obviously vulnerable right now, but she had to keep him going. She had to know. "So I've gathered." Her voice was softer this time, but it left no room for an excuse.

Miles pushed himself to keep talking, realizing that if he didn't he'd most likely break down, and that wasn't something he wanted to do on the phone with Maya Fey.

"Wright...told me he...he had some feelings for me. And I..." Miles trailed off, his voice taken by the sob he had to choke away to keep it from being heard by Maya.

"Wha...? I - oh no... you don't mean... oh no..." This, this wasn't supposed to happen! Life had been so easy this morning, everything made sense and everything was fine and now... "So he's… he's on the rebound... but... but that kind of relationship never works out! I've read that in numerous stories and seen it in so many movies! It never works! I even read it in a psychology book... oh Nick you idiot... and Mr. Edgeworth... you're an idiot too..."

Miles touched his face and he was surprised to find it damp with tears.

Oh God...I never imagined anything like this would happen...he thought, it taking every fiber of determination in him to keep from falling apart right then and there.

It didn't help that Maya seemed like she was about to cry as well.

"Maya..." he said, his voice quivering just a little bit more, "It was my mistake...and we were never in a relationship anyway. If he's fallen in love again, I...I just want him to be happy. And if...if that's with Franziska, I'll just have to..."

Miles couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, knowing that it would completely break him if he did. There was only so much he could take at one time.

"But Mr. Edgeworth!" Maya wasn't sure what to believe in anymore. Rebound relationships never worked out, they never did, she knew that.

"Mr. Edgeworth, we're gonna sort this out. I'm not sure how it will end, but I'll make sure that Nick knows the whole story, otherwise this... this..." Maybe Nick ended up With Frannie, maybe he ended up with Mr. Edgeworth, that didn't matter right now, he needed to know the whole story before making his decision. Simple as that.

"If you can't tell him, I will. I refuse to see this whole thing go down in flames! Besides! Frannie might not even LIKE Nick! We're gonna sort this out Mr. Edgeworth, one way or another."

"Please, Maya. When I thought about things later, I realized how much I must have hurt him by saying those things. Let him be happy this time. And, knowing Franziska the way that I do, I know she would not willingly take care of someone that she does not like. Taking care of someone that way would be a big deal to her, so she very well could care about Wright that way." Miles said carefully, barely able to keep his own feelings in control.

"But Mr. Edgeworth! This isn't fair! I want you all to be happy! You... you were just afraid... that's not your fault. Why should you have to be unhappy because of a mistake? A mistake that can been fixed no less..." Life was so complicated.

"I've already lost my chance. In any case, I don't deserve him." his voice sounded much stronger than he felt, some more tears slipping down his cheeks at those words.

"No! That's... that's not true! I refuse to believe that! Nick isn't that fickle! And what do you mean you don't deserve him?! How many times have you helped him in court and otherwise? This... this is... this is so bad..."

Miles knew that he was seconds away from breaking down, so he had to get off the phone before that happened.

"I...I need some time to deal with this. I...will talk to you later, Maya. Good bye."

Maya bit her lip once more. "Yeah.. talk to you later Mr. Edgeworth. We'll fix this, I promise. Goodbye." She stared at the phone as she hung up.

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