Chapter five: Not so foolish

Franziska slammed the door shut loudly, almost catching poor Mr. Payne in the process. She grumbled to herself muttering the word fool under her breath. Turning to face him she could again feel her face become hot, she wanted to think it was from her outburst just now but she knew better then to fool herself.

Phoenix to still had a slight blush on his cheeks, pretending to scratch his face in an attempt to hide it he failed miserably, deciding it would be easier to just avoid her eyes.

"I'm sorry for grabbing at your shirt in such a way, I should have asked beforehand if you needed assistance," Franziska spoke suddenly, her tone stern, eyes fixed on the wall across from her.

Nick only stared back, his mind slowly processing her words before he replied, "No its fine. I don't mind you undressing me," Phoenix started swearing in his head at his idiocy even before the last word left his mouth. "I mean…wait that came out wrong. What I meant was," he fell over his words as he attempted to pull together a sentence that wouldn't make him sound stupider then he already was.

Franziska on the other hand stood silent her face now bordering on slight embarrassment, and pity for the fumbling attorney that stood before her. His face was now bright red and his hand movements greatly exaggerated as he attempted to make a coherent string of words.

With a pounding head and the hard stare of Franziska bearing down on him he felt like curling up in a corner. Lowering his head he carefully cradled his pounding head in his hands mumbling softly to himself.

"I'll just call Maya up and get her to help me back up to the office," he finally managed to say, his hands muffling his words. "You have helped me enough today already."

"Are you sure?" she asked her voice sounding unconvinced.

"Yah, they should be there," reaching for his discarded suit jacket he pulled out his cell phone, his shaking fingers pushing the numbers out of sheer memory, all the while his eyes trying to avoid hers.

One ring, two rings, three…COME ON AND PICK UP THE F$# PHONE!! He yelled in his head, while his face managed to remain calm. He wanted to get away so he could avoid making more of an ass of himself and maybe cry alone in the bathroom of the office. When the answering machine kicked in, he never though he would hate the sound of his own voice more then at that moment. He debated just pretending to talk to Maya on the phone but he knew that Franziska was far smarter then him and would figure it out, so he sucked in a breath and kept reminding himself that this day wouldn't last forever.

"Must be out for lunch," he said more to himself then to her.

Grabbing his things Franziska headed for the door, "Then it's decided you will come with me to my office."

"What!?" he almost fell over again at her words when he attempted to get up.

"I'm not leaving someone who just hit their head all alone. You could go unconscious, or worse. Until you get a hold of your assistant you will stay with me," her tone left no room for argue so Phoenix found himself limping behind her to the elevators, still dressed in only his pants and undershirt he knew that this must look bad on all to many levels. His odd situation, earning himself a few looks from passerby's, luckily most he had never seen before.

When they finally reached her office Phoenix found himself looking around at the new environment. He had never been on this floor of the building before. He found out about a week after starting at the firm that wandering around exploring would get you lost for half and hour and a very angry Mia to come back to.

On the dark wood of her office door was a small gold strip that had the name von Karma in black letters. Huffing to himself he wondered why he didn't have a fancy name thing on his door, only a picture that Pearl had made of him that said Mr. Nick in bright pink letters. Note to self should probably tell Pearl to put that picture inside the office not outside.

Flicking on the lights he was met with a very large room, the desk and couch looked as if they where about to be swallowed up by the large looming bookcases that rose almost to the ceiling on either side of the room.

"Have you read all these books?" Phoenix asked looking up at the intimidating amount of legal books before him. Some in English the others he could only assume to be German.

"More then once," she calmly replied as if it was nothing spectacular.

Nick could only mouth the word 'Wow' in response.

"You may sit on that couch and wait for your assistant to call you back," she pointed to a hard ridged looking black couch.

Cringing Phoenix could almost imagine the number of people who had sat on this thing cowering in fright as they listened to Franziska carefully instruct them what to say in their testimonies.

As he sat down he was surprised that it was more comfortable then it had looked, but then again maybe it was to lure people into a false sense of comfort.

"So, this is your office?" he said awkwardly, not entirely sure if he should be speaking or not.

"That is what the name on the door says," she replied back, the sarcasm in her voice not lost on him.

He wanted to say something back but kept reminding himself about the bet he had with Miles. Be nice Phoenix don't say anything.

He watched as she dug around in one of the many drawers of her desk before pulling out a small bottle. Walking over to him she handed him the small white object.

"Take one of these and it should get rid of your headache, I think there is a water fountain down the hall."

He nodded back looking the bottle over pretending to read the instructions all the while watching her out of the corner of his eye. He had wanted to talk with her today and maybe get a little closer at convincing her to go to the annual dinner and dance, but never did he think it would cost him almost killing himself on some stupid marble stairs.

Getting up slowly he hobbled outside, enjoying the less tense atmosphere of the hallway. Spotting the fountain he walked over to it and pressed the small metal button, sighing in frustration at how little water pressure it had.

"They almost make to suck your water out of these stupid things," he looked at the back of the bottle seeing how much to take. After a few minutes of not finding any instructions he just judged that four should be enough for his pounding head and bruised side.

Popping the pills in his mouth he swallowed them all at once, having to cough them down when they got stuck in his throat. Nothing is going for me today.

When he stepped back into her office she was already busy at work her fingers tapping quickly over her keyboard as her eyes scanned a file full of documents. His shirt and jacket neatly folded on the arm rest of the couch with his cell phone resting on the pile. That is probably the first time that shirt has been folded. He thought to himself when he saw the small mound of clothing.

He set the bottle on her desk and muttered a thank you before sitting back down, his body sinking down into the cushions making him feel even more trapped in her dark office.

"How is your head feeling?" she asked her fingers still dancing over the keys with amazing speed.

A little surprised that she was still bothering to speak with him he straightened himself up on the couch, "Better. I've hit my head worse then this before."

"Really? How did you manage that?"

"A new mountain bike and Larry telling you 'don't worry you'll make it'," he replied forgetting for a second that he was speaking with Franziska.

He felt a little odd making small talk with one of his rivals that actually disliked him and didn't bother hiding it.

He watched in shock when a ghost of a smile crept over her lips at his response, but it didn't last long and strangely he was disappointed when it had left.

Running his finger through his hair like he often did when nervous he looked around the office, noting how very little she had in it besides books. Even her desk was practically empty, not like his that looked like someone had detonated a paper bomb on it.

A large window let in a small amount of light that managed to filter through the curtains, the light reflecting brightly off of her finely polished wood desk. She looked very small in her large black leather chair, the top of it at least three inches taller then her, and when Phoenix glanced down at the floor her feet just touched the floor. For a second he thought how cute she would have look as a child working away at a large business desk, feet swaying in the air.

His attention was brought back to her when she huffed in frustration, her eyes were glued to a file her finger tapping the table lightly.

Phoenix wanted to ask what she was working on but her whip sitting next to her on the desk was a good reminder to stay silent. But when he heard her sigh again he couldn't help himself.

"What are you working on?"

Slamming her file down she glared over at him, "Nothing of your concern. Just remain silent or I will make you stay silent fool," her fingers trailed over the leather of her whip dangerously.

"I was just thinking that maybe I could help," he added trying his best not to enrage her further.

She looked back at him, her face as blank as paper. This he determined scared him more then her looking angry, at least when she looked angry you knew that a face full of whip would be coming your way.

"Fine, I'll tell you what the problem is," she let go of her whip just as Phoenix let go of a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

"I have a suspect that the police are certain committed the murder in question. He had a clear motive; the only problem is his alibi is rock solid."

"How was the victim killed?" Phoenix asked, hoping that he would be of some help.

"Shot once in the chest, then the building he was killed in set on fire. We were lucky that the body was in the area of the home that did not catch on fire so it was not damaged."

"The defendant has an alibi, so that means the time of death would have been when he was with someone correct?"

Sighing she set the file down, "That is what I believe an alibi is, unless it is different here in America."

Give me a break I just cracked my head open! "Well did the medical examiner take into account that the body would have been heated by the fire, throwing off the actual time of death?"

As she was about to open her mouth she stopped suddenly the word fool just about to leave her lips, "I do not know if he did," she sounded almost surprised at his reasoning.

"If he didn't then the defendant would no longer have an alibi." Phoenix was very proud of himself at finding a possible hole in the case that the great daughter Manfred of von Karma didn't even see. If he wasn't trying to win her over he would have enjoyed shoving it in her face. But he just silently gloated in his head over his victory.

"That is a very good point Mr. Phoenix Wri…I mean," she paused for a second an odd expression on her face, as if she had just ate something sour, "Good point Phoenix."

He couldn't help but smile hearing her force out only his first name, it sounded so strange coming from her but at the same time oddly familiar.

Leaning back in triumph he closed his eyes, "Well I was always smarter then the average bear."

"The average what?"

Opening his eyes he saw that she honestly had no idea what he was referencing to, "You know Yogi the bear, and his side kick Boo Boo?"

Franziska only raised a slender brow, "I have never heard of this yogurt the bear before. I never watched any television growing up except the news."

"Its Yogi the bear," Phoenix spoke under his breath, not even bothering to correct her. He had grown up watching T.V when he was little probably too much if you asked his mother. He and Franziska truly were from different worlds, maybe Miles was right, maybe he would never be sophisticated enough to even ask her to some stupid dinner.

For the next few minutes the pair sat in silence, the air slowly becoming heavier. Phoenix never liked awkward silence but knew better then to interrupt her again. Sitting back against the softness of the couch he could slowly feel his mind becoming cloudy, his eyes started to droop closed and his breathing deeper. He didn't want to fall asleep especially in her office but he couldn't help himself.

I shouldn't have taken so many pills, he reasoned.

Eventually the sound of her fingers clicking against the keys became fuzzy, each sound slowly blending into the next almost to the point he couldn't distinguish one from the other. Resting his chin against his chest he lost the fight and soon the sound of his heavy breathy accompanied the tapping of her writing.

Franziska stopped writing, rolling her chair over so she had a clear view she was amazed to see her rival fast asleep, his chest slowly rising and falling keeping a constant rhythm one would associate with sleep. Arms crossed and chin resting on his chest he was slumped over towards the arm of the couch.

She debated walking over to him and cracking her whip next to his ear, but figured what would be the point helping someone then scaring them half to death ten minutes later, it would be illogical.

Getting up, her feet carefully moved over the polished wood floor of her office, hands on her hips she looked down at him debating what to do. Bending closer to him she examined him figuring what would be the harm considering he was asleep. His bare arms now exposed she couldn't help but notice that he wasn't as scrawny as she would have made him out to be, and she had to admit he wasn't as repulsive looking as she would like to admit. Stubble could been see on his face masquerading as a beard, and the line of his jaw looking as if it had been carved out of stone.

Before she had a chance to continue she jumped back when a strange noise filled the room. Looking around in slight panic she found the source of the disturbance.

Picking up his phone she saw the name on the display to be that of his assistant, seeing as he was still asleep she answered it.

-Hello. Franziska spoke into the phone.

-Hello...umm. Did I call the right number? This isn't that Chinese restaurant I keep calling by accident is it? The confused voice of his assistance replied on the other line.

-This is Mr. Phoenix Wright's phone.

-Then who is this? Maya continued obviously still unsure at what was happening.

-Franziska.

-...What are you doing with his phone? Is he dead?

-No he is currently asleep in my office.

-Do I want to know why he is asleep in your office? Or should I just pretend I didn't hear that?

-Just come and get him! Franziska hung up setting the phone back down. "This place is full of fools," she uttered to herself.

Kind of a transition chapter I guess you could call it, hope to update over spring holidays when I have more time and no stupid mid-terms grrrrr.