Thank you, My Turnabout
Chapter 8 – Teamwork
It was the middle of the second week of their European law trip and they had arrived in the Hague, the Netherlands, two days ago. Miles and Phoenix had been quite busy with attending formal meetings and presentations and networking with new professionals these last 10 days, and more of those events were about to come.
Formal meetings meant formal clothes, something Phoenix was not really used to anymore. When at home with Trucy, he always wore his 'lazy outfit', as he called it. Miles hated it and had expressed his dislike many times. He himself was not really bothered by it, he was normally only at home or in the club. Phoenix had no other suits, so he eventually decided to take that one with him. It was mentally difficult to get this old, blue suit that was hanging in the back of his closet. He never imagined wearing it again.
That afternoon, both men had a day off from all events and were both sitting in Edgeworth's hotel room on the chairs next to the window. They had decided to discuss the topics of the presentation that had been given the day before. The information of the presentation was handed out afterwards and now Miles was flipping through it.
'I got a phone call last evening and they want me to present about the American law system by giving some case studies,' Miles finally said without looking up from the information.
'Well, that seems interesting. Haven't you earlier held some university lecture? I remember you said something like being a guest lecturer last year,' Phoenix commented and crossed his legs.
'Yes, it was not really to my liking, I must admit,' the other man answered and finally looked up. 'However, these are all professionals and it was a request I do not want to refuse. I have to think of some case studies which would be interesting to present.'
'When do they want you to hold the presentation?'
'Next week, the day before we leave for America.'
'I am glad to help, if you want any assistance.'
'If you could, please,' Miles answered and grabbed his notebook and a pen.
'I am thinking of evaluating two case studies of which I both prosecuted and that clearly represent aspects of American law in contrast to the European law systems that we discussed in these weeks here.' He scribbled something down. Phoenix listened attentively to the prosecutor and gave some alternative ideas. Teamwork at his best.
It was quite nice weather and the sun was shining brightly through the window into Miles' hotel room. Phoenix had proposed to get some fresh air and they had settled down on some chairs on the terrace outside of the hotel.
'Kan ik uw bestelling opnemen?' a young waitress asked them and got out her electronic order pad and stylus. When she saw both men's puzzled faces, she understood that she had to switch from Dutch to English. 'Ah, I am sorry, would you like to order something, a drink?'
'Ah yes, a lemon iced tea, please. ' She noted it down, softly ticking with the stylus on the little screen.
'And you, sir?' she asked Miles and looked up.
'Still water, please.'
'Alright, I will bring it to you,' she giggled and played with her blond hair with one hand and then eventually left.
'I think she is pretty,' Phoenix commented when the waitress was out of sight, not meaning to say that out loud.
'Yes,' Miles said and saw the shocking look on the other man's face when the word came out of his mouth.
'You agree?! You think she is pretty?' Phoenix asked him eagerly, not regretting expressing himself out loud earlier. He had never talked about women with Miles before. This comment of Miles definitely piqued his interest.
'Yes, pretty annoying,' Miles sneered.
'Oh, come on, Edgeworth.' Phoenix sounded disappointed. Miles only smirked at him, satisfied with his answer.
Suddenly, both men were startled by the sound of a telephone ringtone. Miles got the mobile phone out of his pocket and looked at the ID caller. He smirked and took the call. 'Ah, Hallo Franziska.'
Phoenix tried to follow the conversation, but was distracted when the waitress came to bring their drinks. He smiled softly at the lady, thanked her and went back to eavesdropping. It wasn't like he could understand it, as Miles and Franziska seemed to have a conversation in the German language.
After some minutes, the conversation ended and Miles put his phone back to its original place.
'How is Franziska doing?' Phoenix asked him, since he understood as least Miles' greeting and who he was talking to.
'She called me to check how everything is going. We usually call each other once every two weeks when we are not working on a case together for Interpol.'
'In order to keep in contact with each other…,' Phoenix concluded.
'You can say it like that. She is working on a new Interpol case revolving around the smuggling ring in Bulgaria. She asked me how that foolish fool was doing and if this trip was even useful,' he tried to say neutrally, but snorted eventually, hiding a laugh. Phoenix watched the man who was clearly very amused. 'I said that the foolish fool was doing fine and that I believe that we both gain a great deal from this trip.' Miles gave Phoenix an teasing looking face and reached out for his glass with water.
Phoenix looked at Miles's face and laughed heartily, almost sweeping his ice tea from the little table.
'Wright, you are indeed a fool,' Miles concluded with a smirk.
Again, they were both startled by a ringing telephone. Now it was Phoenix's. Phoenix noticed how the man looked at him intensely when the Steel Samurai ringtone was heard. Fanboy, Phoenix thought in himself showing a smile and then answering the call.
'Daddy, daddy!' Phoenix heard on the other side of the line. Even Miles could hear her shouting in Phoenix's ear and looked at how the face of Phoenix lit up. 'Hey Truce, how are you? Is everything all right with your stay at the Feys?' he asked her. As expected, he got this waterfall of sentences all over him, resulting in him not saying anything for at least five minutes. 'That is good to hear,' he finally said. 'Ah, yes, I will come back next week. I will give you the date and time when I know them. Yes, I will give my regards to Edgeworth. Yes, he is sitting next to me. No Trucy, I will not wave at him on your behalf. He has already heard it all. ' Miles amusingly listened to the conversation and mouthed at Phoenix. 'Ah, Edgeworth is giving you his regards back. No, he will not wave. Be a good girl and I will see you next week, ok? Yes, daddy loves you too. Bye bye, Trucy.' Phoenix ended the call and sighed.
'This is how every conversation on the telephone works when talking to her. I love her, but it is hopeless sometimes,' he laughed.
'It was enjoyable to listen to your replies,' Miles admitted with a smile. 'Is she asking everyone to wave at them through the telephone?' he said, almost grinning.
'Oh, yes. And now Maya is doing it too,' Phoenix commented with a fake displeasing tone in his voice. Both men smiled at each other and drank from their glasses.
They had discussed the presentation of Miles throughout the next week, in-between all the meetings and presentations of others. They had come up with a clear structure and Miles had explained the cases that he wanted to refer to in the presentation. It was almost finished, now Miles only had to read his text a few times to remember it.
'Wright, there was something I did not tell you yet.' Miles and Phoenix sat again in Miles's room, it was late in the evening and Phoenix was ready to leave for his own room a few doors away. Phoenix was already standing, but sat down again after hearing Miles speak up.
'Oh, tell me. What is it?'
'Before we went on this trip…I have asked one of the prosecutors I know here to give me some information on Kristoph and Klavier Gavin, since they were born and raised in Germany, and studied law there. The prosecutor wanted to give me that information when we were still in Germany, however, it took longer than expected.'
'Oh… was that prosecutor capable of accessing that information? A-and is that even legal to ask for such information?'
'I am breaking none of the laws and… I have my ways. That prosecutor is very capable.'
'You sound like a member of a gang,' Phoenix joked. Miles gave him a glare and continued.
'I will receive it tomorrow via mail, likely. He called me yesterday evening to inform me on that matter…and I now inform you. There could be something useful in there.'
'Yes, I hope so. It has been a long time since we started our investigation, but unfortunately without many results.'
'My apologies that I cannot be more of any help,' Miles answered, turning his head towards the other man.
'It is how it is. You are a great help, I would be nowhere if you had not helped me.'
'…'
'Alright, thanks for the info. I think you will want look through your text a few more times, so I will be right in my hotel room,' Phoenix finally said.
'Thank you for your assistance. The presentation will be no problem tomorrow. What I almost forgot to tell you is that they expect us to be there a little earlier.' Miles stood up and followed the man towards the door.
'No problem. Good luck with rehearsing, see you tomorrow.'
'Yes, goodnight, Wright.'
Miles closed the door behind the man and sat down on the chair again. His text for the presentation was already in his head. Tomorrow he would hold the presentation and the next day, they would fly back to America. Phoenix was talking about Trucy often when they would have dinner. It was obvious he missed her dearly. It had been three useful and efficient weeks, Miles concluded. They had learned many new things, new insights and met many people they could add to their network lists. Furthermore, Phoenix Wright's presence during this trip was an enjoyable one. That was something he could not deny. Their friendship had grown.
Miles decided to go straight to bed after going through the text one more time, just in case. The time had flown, and if the trip was a week longer, Miles would not have complained about it.
