Chapter Text
He wakes up the next morning at 7 AM, as he always does, which is thankfully earlier than both of the kids. He catches a quick glance at Franziska, still sleeping peacefully, before getting out of bed to start the day.
First things first, work. He usually goes into the office at 9, but he can’t trust that the police will come to collect Franziska before then. If Miles doesn’t have school (like today, as it is both winter break and a Saturday) he usually leaves Miles home alone. It’s not a decision he’s happy with, but it’s perfectly legal and he knows Miles can take care of himself. However, he absolutely cannot leave Franziska unattended. This leaves one option.
He pulls out his cellphone and calls Raymond’s number. It rings a few times, and he starts to worry Raymond isn't going to pick up, as he’s not due to come into the office until 10, but thankfully he picks up on the fourth ring.
“...Mr. Edgeworth?” Ah, he woke the poor boy up.
“Yes, Raymond, it’s me. Sorry to call so early. I need you to do me a huge favor.”
“...Yeah?”
“I need you to come into the office at 9 today. I will not be there all day, so I need you to watch over the place until we close. If any potential clients come in, just take down their contact information and forward it to me. Tell them I will be in touch. I’ll pay you overtime for this.”
“...That’s it? You don’t need to pay me more for that, Mr. Edgeworth,” a yawn was heard on the other end. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Well I would like to. It’s a big help to me, and you deserve it.”
He can almost hear Raymond blushing through the phone. “Okay, Mr. Edgeworth. I’ll do my best! Is something wrong? Are you sick?”
“Everything’s fine. It’s a bit much to explain over the phone, though, so I will explain it to you next time we see each other. Thank you for all your help.”
“Of course. I’ll do my best today. Talk to you later!”
“Mhm. Bye.”
Gregory hangs up the call and then snaps the phone shut with a loud sigh. Alright, that’s the first order of business taken care of. Next order of business: feeding the children.
He goes to the kitchen and begins preparing a simple breakfast of pancakes and eggs. Midway through, he suddenly gets struck with the thought what if she’s allergic to gluten? and he pauses. Would a three year old know they're allergic to gluten? Well, if any three year old would, it would probably be Franziska. What does he do if she is, though? Does he have—
“Father, if you keep just staring instead of actually cooking, the pancakes are going to burn.”
Gregory is pulled out of his haze by Miles wandering into the kitchen—ever the early riser himself. He then takes the time to actually look at the pancakes and oh, yep, those are starting to burn.
He rushes to flip them, clearing his throat. “Yes, yes, er, thank you, Miles. I’ve got it”
Miles doesn’t seem very convinced. “Do you need assistance?”
Gregory lets out a long sigh. “No, no. Just a bit distracted, what with Franziska and all.”
Miles parks himself at the kitchen island. “What is it that’s distracting you?”
“Ah, well it’s…” imagining himself saying it aloud, he just now realizes how silly he sounds. “I was worried she might be allergic to gluten.”
Then Miles stares at him—completely straight faced—for a solid few seconds. “Do you remember when Mother used to say you worried too much?”
Gregory can’t help but laugh. “Yes, you’re right. I suppose if she’s even old enough to know she has a gluten allergy, she’d tell us.”
Miles nods. “Of course she would. She is no ordinary child.”
The way Miles says it with the cadence of a 40 year old man with two kids, a divorce, and a mortgage makes Gregory laugh again. He gets to see this every day, but it will never not put a smile on his face.
Miles furrows his brow—the most emotion anyone can ever seem to draw out of him. “Why are you laughing?”
“Because I love you, that’s why.”
Instead of smiling back, or returning the sentiment, Miles just looks down at the griddle and says “They’re burning again.”
Gregory once again rushes, this time to put them on a plate. Sure enough, they’re a bit burnt, but still edible. Eh, whatever. He’ll make some more for Franziska. He’ll force Miles to eat these ones.
“It’s because you’re distracting me,” he deflects, utilizing those amazing debate skills he went into debt for. “Go watch some TV or something while I finish breakfast.”
“Okay.” Miles obeys and crosses over to their living room, which sits right in front of the open kitchen. He watches as Miles turns on the TV to that Samurai show he likes. Gregory is the first to admit that he doesn’t really get it, but it makes Miles happy, so he tries to pay attention.
As he gets started on the eggs, Franziska wanders out next. She scans the open space, taking note of anything and everything, before she proceeds. She walks right up to Gregory and then stops at his side.
“Good morning, Mr. Edgeworth.”
“Morning, kiddo. Sleep well?”
“It was adequate.”
He hopes that 'adequate’ is the von Karma word for ‘good.’ “Alright, well, I’m almost done with breakfast, so while we wait for the eggs to cook, why don’t you join Miles in the living room?”
“Understood.”
She proceeds to follow his instruction, walking to the sofa with her back perfectly straight and her stride perfectly steady. Did von Karma send her to a charm school or something?
And then she does something that makes Gregory pause in his metaphorical tracks: she struggles to climb up onto the sofa. He watches as she puts her arms on top of the cushion and unsuccessfully tries to propel the rest of her body weight upwards, kicking her legs fruitlessly. She furrows her brow in the same way that Miles does, and it’s very adorable (although she would hate to hear it).
It’s such a real moment, it’s shocking. He had almost forgotten that while she may be a von Karma, she’s still a child.
Miles observes this too, and looks down at her. “Do you need assistance?”
“No! I can do it by myself!”
The curtness of Franziska’s words catch Gregory off guard. Seems this one is very susceptible to her own emotions. She and Miles are so similar in so many ways, but polar opposites in others.
Miles continues to watch her struggle, blank faced as always. “...I really think you need help.”
“I said no! I’ve got it!” She kicks a few more times before Miles just reaches over and grabs her.
“Here, let me—”
Franziska lets out a concoction of high pitched whining noises, making her disapproval of this sheer manhandling known as she continues to kick wildly and thrash about, but this doesn’t phase Miles. He just holds her by the arms and hoists her up, placing her on the sofa next to him.
“There you are.”
Franziska’s face flushes red and she lets out a huff. “I could do it on my own!”
“Maybe so. But now you got it done faster. Generally things happen faster when two people are doing them.”
It seems Franziska doesn’t have an argument for that, because she’s silent for a few moments before saying “...What program are you watching?
And then Miles just looks at her with the most incredulous look on his face. “Signal Samurai? You don’t mean to tell me you’ve never heard of Signal Samurai. Everyone knows Signal Samurai!”
Franziska’s face scrunches up, all hot and red. “Well…they probably don’t have this inane drivel in Germany! That’s all.”
Miles doesn’t miss a beat. “Yes they do. I’ve seen the German dub.”
“How do you even know that?!”
It’s Miles's turn to blush, averting his eyes. “...I just really like this show.”
Gregory was tempted to interfere, but watching them bicker with the cadence of fully grown adults was so funny he decided to just let them do their thing. He had never thought Miles would meet his match, and certainly not with a three year old girl, but hey, truth is stranger than fiction.
Franziska crosses her arms and lets out a triumphant ‘hmph’ sound, but Miles shakes it off like a champ.
“Listen, I promise it’s a really good show. You’ll like it.”
“...you promise?”
“Yes. All of the kids at my school love it. I watch it with my friends Phoenix and Larry all of the time.”
“Fine then.”
So Franziska casts her gaze to the screen and the children watch their samurai show together. Just as peace is reached, breakfast is done, so he brings the children their plates at the couch.
“Here you go, bon appetit!” He says with a smile. Franziska scrunches her nose.
“You eat in front of the television in this household?”
Geez, did they not have any fun in the house of von Karma? Gregory shrugs. “Sometimes. Usually we eat at the table, but you two looked like you were having fun, so I figured I wouldn’t disturb you.”
That seems to settle Franziska a bit, but she still seems hesitant as she takes a bite. However, as soon as she puts the fork in her mouth, her face almost lights up. “This is good,” she says, almost as if it were a question.
Gregory laughs. “It’s just box pancake mix.”
Franziska clears her throat. “Thank you for the food.”
“You don’t need to thank me. I wasn’t going to let you starve.”
Franziska looks at him blankly. “Well, nonetheless.”
“Anyways, I’m going to go to my office to work on some paperwork from yesterday. Miles, I trust you can take care of Franziska for me?”
“Yes, Father.”
“Thank you,” he kisses Miles on the head before grabbing his own place and heading to his home office, leaving the door open to keep an eye on them.
Things are pretty quiet for a while. He will admit, he is a bit distracted as he tries to work, so it takes him about five times longer, but can you blame him? The two most interesting children he has ever met are outside the room, there’s no way he couldn’t keep an ear tuned into them, even if he does trust Miles wouldn’t let a fire start or something.
Most children, when left alone together, would either start playing or arguing. Not Miles and Franziska, however, as they are currently having the most awkward conversation of either of their young lives and trying to out-formal each other.
“Ahem,” he hears Miles say. “So, you said you would be going to live with your sister?”
“Well, yes, it is the only option. My father is now in prison and my mother is dead, so she is my only family left.”
Miles clears his throat. “Yes, ah, my condolences. Pardon if this is inappropriate to ask, but what were the circumstances behind your mother’s passing?”
Gregory laughs under his breath at condolences and circumstances. It’s cute.
“It is not inappropriate. People die every day. Everyone has to die sometime.”
Wow, that’s incredibly wise for a three year old. Then again, Gregory can’t help but want to kick von Karma in the teeth for making his three year old think this way already.
Franziska continues. “It was complications with childbirth.”
There’s a pause between the two children, and then Miles speaks again.
“I understand. If you haven’t been able to surmise this, my mother is dead too.”
“...surmise?”
Aha! A word Franziska doesn’t know. It’s kind of insane that this is the first one.
“Oh. Ah, yes. Er…”
He can hear the surprise in Miles’s voice. He had thought there would be some satisfaction in it, having won their unwritten I’m more grown up than you game, but he just seems very shocked that he won.
“It means like…guess? Or, not guess, like…to pick up on something even though someone hasn’t told you about it.”
“Ah. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Another pause. Gregory hasn’t written anything for a good few minutes.
“...Well, since I told you about my mother, what about yours?”
“Pardon?”
“What were the circumstances behind your mother’s death?”
“Oh.” Miles’s voice gets a bit small. “She had cancer.”
“...My condolences.”
It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. Miles had come a long way since he lost his mom, and the two of them had been working through it for years, but it was still something terrible to grapple with, especially cancer. It’s always something you never think is going to happen to you.
“You don’t need to say that. It was years ago.”
Silence again. These two really didn’t know how to have a normal conversation, did they?
This back-and-forth continued for a bit before Miles decided to show Franziska the wonders of cable television. It seems she didn’t have one back at home (and with everything Gregory learned about the von Karma household his contempt grew even greater).
Eventually, at half past two, he had finished his paperwork, and the police had yet to call. Were they still having trouble finding her sister? Well, nonetheless, he would just have to call them first. As much as the girl had grown on him, he couldn’t keep her forever. He pulls his phone out and makes his second call for the day.
“You’ve reached the Los Angeles police.”
“Hi, yes, this is Gregory Edgeworth, I’m calling about a Franziska von Karma?”
“One moment, sir.”
After a moment, a man’s voice is heard on the other end of the phone.
“Ah, Mr. Edgeworth. You’re calling about Franziska, right?”
“I am.”
“Right, well…”
Oh no. This doesn’t sound good.
“Listen, tracking down this sister of her’s is harder than we expected. The last phone number on record for her just goes straight to voicemail. We’re communicating with her local police to send people to her address, but the long-distance communication is tricky. You understand.”
He knit his brow. “Right, so what you’re telling me is…?”
“We need some more time. Until the end of the week, no later. Of course, legally we can’t make you, but we can easily extend your temporary foster license if you’d like to help. We would really appreciate it. We’ll compensate you, of course.”
And obviously there is no way he could say no, even without compensation. “Right. Of course.”
“We’ll call you as soon as we have news. Have a good day, Mr. Edgeworth.”
The officer hangs up the phone, and Gregory lets out a sigh. He was not prepared to house two children but…for Franziska, he’d make it work.
He walks out to the living room where the children are watching some sitcom show. As he enters the room, both heads immediately turn towards him, like a pair of owls.
“Well, I have news,” he announces.
Miles looks skeptical. “Good news or bad news?”
“Um…” he scratches his chin. “Neutral news. Franziska is going to be staying with us for a little bit longer, okay?”
Franziska seems a bit worried, hearing that, but Miles smiles, ever so slightly.
“Don’t worry,” he tells Franziska. “We’ll take good care of you, alright?”
The little girl nods. She seems hesitant, but trusting. That’s all he could hope for.
“Now Miles,” he turns to his son. “How would you feel about your uncle Ray coming over for dinner? We have a lot to explain to him.”
Miles’s face lights up, and Gregory goes to make yet another call.
They’re going to figure this out.