CHAPTER 19

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know I said daily updating, but I didn't yesterday. As I felt I was losing touch with some of the characters, I took the day off to replay the first Ace Attorney game. I apologize for any inconvience. Luckily, I felt I gained some more insight into the characters, Miles Edgeworth in particular, so I wrote this up last night, and I'm halfway through the chapter after this one that takes place Edgeworth-centric, which picks up were this one leaves off and then goes into the court trial. Ohh, it was a tough couple of chapters to write, too. Really tough :(

Franziska lay herself down in bed beside Miles that night; the hamburgers they had eaten for their dinner earlier that night with Maya and Phoenix Wright didn't exactly live up to Maya's description. In fact, she thought they were absolutely horrible. It was just a greasy slab of meat between two pieces of bread...she thought to herself. After a while, she went to sleep.

When she woke up the next morning around 5 a.m., she found Miles seemingly distressed, looking over the case files in his nightwear while drinking a cup of tea. She walked up beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Good Morning, Miles. Is there something troubling you?" He looked up at her; "No. I'm just reading up on de Killer's case; they rescheduled it for tomorrow."

She grew serious; "Oh, I see." She sat down with him and helped him prepare his case. As they went over the case file together, she kept losing focus, gazing into those serious, charcoal gray eyes. Feelings of love overwhelmed her; she spoke before she thought. "Miles Edgeworth...let's get married."

He quickly looked up in shock, eyes widened, absolutely flabbergasted at her proposal. Those were the last things he had expected to hear her say at that moment. She noticed him struggling to find his words; "I-I...I...uh..."

Franziska had always been one to always be logical and sane with her decision making; she rarely ever acted on impulse such as this. As he continued stuttering, she stood up out of her chair and made her way towards him; she was relatively short in nature, especially when standing next to him, so she didn't have to lean down very far in order to plant a deep, passionate kiss on his lips in order to help him make his decision; after this, she realized that she was completely serious about marrying this man, that her rash decision was one that she had always wanted.

"Y-you're not joking..." He looked down for a second. She could read his thoughts; he didn't know what to do. "F-Franziska..." She sat in his lap at the dinner table and wrapped her arms around his shoulders; usually, she wrapped her whip around his shoulders, as she found it more convienent and because she didn't harm him with it while doing so, but she had left it on her side of the table when she got up to make her way over to him.

"M-Miles E-Edgeworth..." She found herself trembling, trying to get her next words out; "E-ever since I met you...I k-knew I was in love with you. N-Nineteen years, Miles E-Edgeworth..." Her voice was growing shakier with every word. "M-Miles E-Edgeworth...I-I w-want to m-m-marry y-you..." Once she had finished, she realized that she could have worded that so much better. Fear overtook her as she awaited his response. His face showed no emotion as he stared into the distance, at nothing. She knew when his face read that, he was overtaken by emotion. All of a sudden, he looked to the other side of the floor, away from her, and grabbed on to his elbow.

"Franziska...I just don't think I'm ready...I'm sorry..." Warm tears began to fill her eyes. "Y-You don't m-mean th-that, d-do y-you?"

He looked up with a dead serious expression in his smokey gray eyes. "I'm afraid I do, Franziska."

Tears began rolling down her eyes uncontrollably; she grabbed her whip and just began running. As she ran out the door, Miles stood up and yelled "Franziska, wait!" But she didn't listen, she just left.

She had found herself seated in the darkest corner of the parking garage under Miles' apartment complex. He had come down with a flashlight looking for her, but she didn't let it be known as to where she was. She sat there in silence, only allowing the occasional sniffle to sound out. Most people would be thinking of themselves as foolish for what had happened back there, but she didn't allow herself to think. She just sat in mental silence, whip in her left hand, arms wrapped around her knees while she was still in her nightgown. She was in somewhat of a ball position, with her head buried into her knees, so the end of her nightgown would soke up her tears.

She felt as if she wouldn't mind dying right then and there.