Chapter 1

"Hey, Anka…who's this?"

Anka Wright saw her new friend from her journalism class, Julie, pick up a picture frame in her living room. Anka realized it was a picture of Phoenix when he'd just graduated from law school.

"Oh, that's my brother Phoenix." Anka replied, walking over to Julie.

"Wow, I didn't know you had an older brother. He is kinda cute." Julie said, giving Anka an amused smile.

"Umm…sure…" Anka said hesitantly, really unable to see Phoenix in that way at all.

"How old is he anyway?" Julie asked.

"He's twenty six." Anka replied in amusement, "Definitely too old for you."

Julie blushed slightly and said, "Oh, come on…"

"He's actually going to be visiting in a few days, so maybe you'll get to meet him!" Anka said with a little excitement, always happy to see her brother since his visits were really few and far between since he had started college and then become a lawyer.

"So what does he do?" Julie asked with interest.

"He's a defense attorney. But he doesn't like to talk much about work for some reason. I bet he just wants to get away from all of that when he comes home." Anka replied.

"I see…I guess it must be really stressful. I wonder why he wanted to be a lawyer then?" Julie pondered.

Anka also thought it was odd. He had actually gotten a degree in theater, but he'd surprised the whole family (mostly his parents since Anka was only eight at the time) when he suddenly decided to get a law degree after. She realized that she'd never thought to ask him why that was since she was too young then.

"You know, I'm not sure myself…when I was a kid he'd always wanted to be an actor. Not sure why he changed his mind. Maybe I should ask him that." Anka replied, mostly thinking out loud to herself.

"Yeah, I think I'd like to know too. That seems like a really weird change to make just for no reason." Julie said with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I think I will." Anka replied, making a mental note to ask him sometime on his visit.

Phoenix had finally gotten a little time off, so he decided to come home and visit his family. He was actually really looking forward to the visit, finding himself missing them when he was in the main city. He got a small bag and packed it with things to stay for a week, deciding to just take the time off from cases and just spend it with them.

Phoenix felt like he really earned his time off since his last case was exceptionally difficult, complete with a client that wouldn't divulge everything they knew, lying witnesses, and a judge that was much too easily swayed in Phoenix's opinion. But in the end, Phoenix did come through, proving his client to be not guilty.

I wish Edgeworth was the prosecutor in this case…it would have made this trial much less long and tiring since he would have helped me get to the bottom of things faster…Phoenix thought, but the mere remembrance of Edgeworth made him feel a pang in his heart.

He had not seen or heard from Edgeworth in almost two years, and at this point he was trying to give up on the hope that he'd actually see him again. He'd tried to look for Edgeworth in all that time, but he'd still come up with nothing. It really wasn't in him to give up on anyone, least of all Miles Edgeworth, but he was beginning to think that perhaps he was wasting his life away, waiting for something that would never happen.

I think I have to move on with my life. Phoenix thought, now feeling a little depressed as he thought about Edgeworth, I may love him, but that isn't going to bring him back.

Phoenix figured that his parents were wondering why exactly he hadn't found someone he wanted to be with and settled down already. He knew they married young and they had already had him at by this age, and here he was at twenty six, not even in a relationship.

Me not being in a relationship is under my control, so I suppose I should do something about it. If I can't have Miles…there is no reason to disappoint everyone else. Phoenix thought, deciding the only way he'd move on from him is if he started dating someone else.

But now Phoenix was at a loss at who exactly he should date. For all these years he'd been so focused on Miles, he'd never even really considered any one else in that way. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by someone walking into his office.

"Hey, Nick. I just brought over the last bit of paperwork you had to finish about this trial," Maya Fey said, smiling at him as she put a stack of papers on his desk, "You really did do a great job. Near the end there, I thought we were done for, but you found a way to turn things around like you always do."

Phoenix did not immediately reply to her, instead studying the way she was looking at him. He'd always wondered exactly what the nature of her feelings for him were, but he'd suspected for a while that they were a little stronger than just friendship.

How could I even ask Maya out? I'm not even remotely attracted to her…Phoenix thought, realizing that trying to date Maya would probably be a bad idea.

He'd ended up staying silent for a moment too long, just staring at her, so she gave him a look of confusion, waved a hand in front of his face, and said, "Hello, Nick! Earth to Nick!!"

Suddenly he shook his head and replied, "Uhh…sorry. What were you saying?"

Maya rolled her eyes at him and said, "Geez. I just said I brought over the paperwork you had to finish. Is there something on your mind? You seem really spacey."

Phoenix looked at her and impulsively came to a decision.

But I know for a fact that she cares about me, so I could do a lot worse than her…Phoenix thought, certain that dating someone that cared about him was as good a way as any to move on from Miles.

Although, deep down, he didn't think he would ever really move on from Miles.

"Yeah…there actually is something on my mind." Phoenix said, the words slipping out of his mouth before he could over think what exactly he was doing here.

"Oh yeah? What is it?" Maya said, looking at him questioningly.

Phoenix now took a deep breath and pushed the words out of his mouth before he lost his nerve to say them.

"I just wanted to know if…you know…you wanted to go out for, uhh, burgers or something. Like…ummm…just us…the two of us." Phoenix said in a rush, feeling like what he was trying to say came out absolutely horribly.

Maya narrowed her eyebrows in confusion at him and looked at him curiously, trying to figure out what he just said meant exactly.

"When we get burgers, it usually is just us, Nick." Maya said slowly, still pondering over his words.

Phoenix took another deep breath, realizing that there was no way he could just dance around the edges of this, he had to just say exactly what he meant so that she would understand him.

Now he spoke slowly and looked at her meaningfully, saying, "Umm…what I mean is that…I would like to take you out for burgers."

Maya's look of confusion was finally replaced by a look of understanding, a slight blush spreading on her cheeks.

"Oh! Oh, I see." Maya said at first in surprise, then her tone turned shy.

She looked away from Phoenix momentarily, almost unable to believe that this was really happening. As she mulled over the implications of his statement, Phoenix felt a little nervous, but he relaxed a little when a small smile appeared on her face.

Maya finally looked back at Phoenix with the blush still showing on her cheeks and she said softly, "I'd really like if you took me out for burgers."

Phoenix smiled back, saying, "I'm glad."

"So did you just want to meet at the usual burger place at seven? Then maybe we can go to a movie or something." Maya said, looking like she might burst from excitement.

"Sure, that'd be fine." Phoenix said.

"Okay, I'd better get going then, but I'll see you at seven!" Maya said, giving him a big smile and then running out of his office door.

After she left, Phoenix thought about what had just happened. He realized that he'd just asked Maya Fey out on a date, finding that completely unbelievable since he'd never seen her as anything but a sister. He decided not to think on that any further, deciding to just try to have fun on this date, since he couldn't even remember the last time he'd been out on a date at all. He thought a bit more of his exchange with Maya and he suddenly laughed.

I was the one who asked her out, and she ended up making all the plans for the date! a smile of amusement now on his face, Oh well, I'm no good at planning these sort of things anyway.

Phoenix decided to now put thoughts of the date aside and finally picked up the stack of papers Maya had brought to him. He knew that it would be better if he got them done before he left the office today, not wanting the work to pile up right before he left for his parent's house.