Chapter three: Insert witty title here

I do not own anything that is mentioned in this chapter.

Hugging the large bundle of files and papers tightly Phoenix prayed they would find Miles soon. Already he had been following Franziska through what seemed like a maze of halls for at least ten minutes and his hold on the papers was becoming harder and harder to keep.

His arms ached from the heavy load he had stupidly offered to carry, but no way in hell was he going to set them down for a break in front of her, or dare loose his grip risking spilling the contents onto the floor which would end in him being killed by a very angry prosecutor.

Rounding the corner he was relieved to see Miles standing outside a large set of doors.

"Well hello Wright, Franziska. Fancy seeing the both of you together." Miles spoke, barely able to keep a large grin from overtaking his face at the sight of Phoenix following Franziska like a lost dog.

"Mr. Wright was kind enough to carry my things for me," Franziska replied.

"Isn't that nice of you Wright to help her out, your just full of helpfulness today aren't you?" Miles replied looking at the defense lawyer as he tried not to say something snippy back.

"Well you know, I do enjoy helping," Nick droned out, playing along all the while resisting the urge to smack the cup of hot tea Miles was holding into his smug smiling face.

"Shall we go and sit down?" Franziska spoke up motioning to the large set of doors.

Running ahead Phoenix fumbled with the doorknob, trying not to drop everything. Managing to get a hold of the knob he awkwardly opened it and held it open.

"After you Miss von Karma," he managed to say, his voice slightly muffled by the papers and files pressed against his face.

She calmly walked by, nodding a thank you for holding the door open for her.

When Miles attempted to walk through Nick purposely let the door slam shut, hitting Miles in the knee, causing him to spill some of his drink. Opening the door Edgeworth was glaring daggers at him, as well as sporting a large wet spot on his shirt.

"Oh sorry Miles didn't see you there. I guess I can only be helpful to one person at a time," Phoenix replied back, turning he follow Franziska to the many chairs that filled the presentation room.

"Mr. Nick we finally found you!" Pearl exclaimed happily running up to him.

Setting down the papers on the floor he took the opportunity to rest his arms but again found himself holding something as Pearl jumped onto him. Groaning slightly from his already tired arms he put up with the pain and held the small girl in his arms.

"I was wondering where you guys had gone after sending you to get something decent to eat," Nick replied.

Lifting up a plastic bag happily Maya replied, "We just got back."

Eyeing the bag suspiciously Phoenix caught the sight of the obvious corner store symbol proudly displayed on the side of the bag.

"I sent you to get something to eat and you went to seven eleven?"

"Well we just sopped in to get a candy bar for the both of us to share, and well before long…" Maya trailed off.

Sighing loudly Phoenix closed his eyes, "You spent the thirty five dollars I gave you on candy didn't you?"

"It wasn't my idea Mr. Nick," Pearl responded seeing his obvious disappointment, tears beginning to well in the corner of her eyes.

Glancing back Phoenix looked to see if Franziska was going to yell at him soon for delaying their progress to the presentation but surprisingly she held a look of slight amusement. Well she did always like to see you in distress he said to himself.

Setting Pearl down he grabbed the bag from Maya, "Well what did you get?" Shuffling the contents around he found a vast array of items all of which would guarantee to rot your teeth. "You can keep this stuff but I'm taking these two things."

"Come on Nick," Maya protested.

"Pop rocks and Coke are a recipe for disaster," Phoenix replied as if stating a fact in the court room. "You can have them later but not together. The rest of it you can keep but do not eat it all at once. I doubt Mr. Edgeworth wants someone getting sick in his car on the way home," Phoenix replied giving the bag back.

"Did I hear the words 'get sick' and 'Edgeworth's car' in the same sentence," Miles asked walking over, a concerned look on his face.

Waving the comment aside Phoenix continued, "Don't worry Miles no one is going to get sick."

"They better, that car cost me fifty thousand, not to mention…"

"You had to get the leather seats special order and it took you months, then they screwed up your order then the person driving it to the lot hit a seagull and smashed the windshield and so on," Nick continued the sentence, making sure to exaggerate every word.

Crossing his arms defensively Miles ignored the sarcastic tone dripping from Phoenix's voice.

"I don't know what you get so uptight about Miles," Franziska said. "I remember distinctly when we were younger, you getting sick all over the backseat of Papa's Mercedes-Benz."

"Nice one Miles, nothing like giving a classic car due respect," Phoenix replied, laughter apparent in his voice. "The next time I need ammunition against you I think I'll go visit Franziska."

"I had too much to eat, and it was hot out!" Miles protested, his face heating up as he tried to defend himself. All the while his mind reconsidering the bet he had just made with Phoenix, suddenly he wasn't liking this idea of Wright becoming potential friends with Franziska.

"Hey pal," a loud booming voice suddenly spoke behind them.

Turning Phoenix saw Gumshoe walking towards them, a large grin plastered on his face.

"It's so good that you guys could show up. I was going to speak with you earlier but it seemed you were all having and important conversation. It is about a new case?"

"No just about Miles chucking in the back of Manfred's car," Phoenix replied, not being able to resist the chance to jab at Miles one more time.

Gumshoe just stood their for a minute, his mind processing what Phoenix had just said, "Oh…well…sorry I missed out on that one," he continued not entirely sure what to say back.

"So, what sort of presentations will you be having today?" Miles asked trying to change the subject.

"It will be great Mr. Edgeworth. We will have people from different areas of the justice process talk to the kids about what they do and such."

"Will you be teaching them how to screw up investigations?" Franziska asked.

Gumshoe sighed, "No boss."

Both Phoenix and Miles looked at one another and pretended to whip the air, mouthing the noise 'Wa-pish' making sure Franziska did not see.

The presentations overall went alright, most of the kids seemed to busy text-messaging throughout the entire thing and didn't notice Phoenix fumble through his little talk about being a defense lawyer.

At one point Phoenix thought Miles was going to snap when a kid asked him why he was wearing pink, and when another asked him if he stole that cravat from Austin Powers.

On the ride home Nick didn't even notice the city streets fly by and Maya complain of her stomach hurting. All he could think of was a way to get closer to Franziska without ending up in a body bag.

Sorry this did not really progress the story all that much but it's to hard to resist having Phoenix and Miles make snippy remarks at one another. I feel that Miles would have far too much fun rubbing this sort of thing in Phoenix's face.