Author's Note: I wrote this story quite a long time ago (after finishing Trials and Tribulations for the first time), but never published it. I'm not sure why, except for that I'm not quite sure who would be the right audience for this story. In any case, I found it on my hard drive, and thought I might as well release it. This story takes place sometime after Trials and Tribulations, but is AU beyond that point.

The funny thing about hitting rock bottom, if there can be anything funny about it at all, is that people never notice when it occurs. Once they get around to picking themselves up (if they even bother, that is), they come to realize where they've been. But, at the exact moment of impact, they don't feel like they've stopped. Rather, once rock bottom occurs, it only feels like they're falling deeper and deeper into despair.

Living such a contradiction was a man named Miles Edgeworth, although he could perhaps be more accurately described as just a shell of a man in his current state. Sadness was nothing new to poor Edgeworth, as a tragedy resulting in the death of his father set the course for his angst-ridden life. Yet, even during those years of unhappiness and arrogance, which eventually became freckled with moments of joy and friendship, he had always been known as an overachiever.

The loss of such a distinctive trait made it evident that Miles Edgeworth had hit the lowest of his lows. His apartment was in shambles, his face was unshaven and stubbly, and his clothes were neither clean nor ironed. As for his job, well, that was a touchy matter in itself. After the accident, or more accurately, after Edgeworth's reaction to the accident, the Prosecutor's Office forced the talented investigator to take an "indefinite" vacation. Not that Edgeworth could blame them, as he'd been showing up late, sometimes drunk, and he just didn't give a damn about his work anymore. It was as if someone had entered his body and physically beaten the crap out of the perfectionist inside him.

In any case, young Edgeworth was not himself, and the only person to blame was Phoenix Wright. It had been hard enough loving Wright in the first place, knowing that his feelings for the defense attorney would never be returned, but that he could have at least lived with. Not having someone was a bearable pain, but losing them – well, that was another thing all together.

And yet, how could Edgeworth have "lost" Wright if the spikey-haired lawyer had never been his to begin with? Simple: through death, of course. Not only did Wright have the nerve to go and die on him, but the strong-willed ace attorney didn't even manage to die meaningfully.

As sick as it sounds, a part of Edgeworth couldn't help but wish that the man he loved had been murdered instead, so that he could have spent the rest of his life (or however long it took) finding and prosecuting the bastard who did it. At least then he would have had a purpose in his life, something that he was severely lacking at the current moment. But, no, Wright had unromantically slipped on a patch of ice while driving and rammed his car straight into a tree. Unfortunately for Edgeworth, the law doesn't allow people to prosecute against trees (not that it didn't stop him from trying), so it wasn't long before he just stopped giving a damn about anything at all.

Even on the road to despair, though, there are obstacles along the way, so it should come as no surprise that Miles Edgeworth would soon encounter one himself. The roadblock in question was none other than Maya Fey, and if he hadn't known before, the young prosecutor would soon find out that the eccentric spirit-medium was a force to be reckoned with.

The day in question had started the same as any other after the accident. Edgeworth woke up with a scowl, as usual, and shortly afterward he downed a few doses of his favorite intoxicant. His spirit of choice was cognac (after all, he was still a gentleman), which always burned delightfully while coursing down his throat.

It wasn't long, though, before the doorbell disrupted Edgeworth's daily routine. It was only with great irritation that he trekked down the stairs of his large, lofted penthouse and opened the door — although, to be completely honest, most of his actions were met with irritation these days.

A dramatic gasp greeted him before his synapses could process any sort of recognition, though it wasn't long before he managed to identify the visitor (and gasper) as Maya Fey. "Mr.—Mr. Edgeworth?" she stuttered with surprise, clearly shocked by his appearance. "Wow, I didn't know you even owned jeans!" she teased, recovering quickly from her shock and placing a big smile on her face.

"And what do you want, Ms. Fey?" he asked more harshly than he intended to – not that he was sorry for it. Wright's (former) assistant was a nice enough girl, but he didn't have the energy to deal with her of all people right now. Furthermore, her energy and smiling face only served to annoy him. The last thing he wanted was to be around someone so sickeningly cheerful.

"Nice place you've got here, Mr. Edgeworth!" Maya remarked while pushing herself past the scowling man, seemingly oblivious to his mood. "You sure do get paid a lot, huh?" she wondered out loud.

"I do all right," he muttered dismissively. "Now, can I help you with something?" he asked, wanting to get her out of his apartment as soon as possible. Nonetheless, his voice was laden with a detached politeness that had become second nature to him over the years.

If possible, her smile only grew larger at his question. "No, no, don't trouble yourself," she said quickly. "I just stopped in to see how you were doing. I haven't heard from you since…" She ended her sentence abruptly, but he knew what she was going to say. Since the funeral. His funeral. Her face had darkened, but only for a brief moment. It was so brief, in fact, that he wondered if he had imagined it in the first place. "I haven't seen you in a while, is all," she finally finished, her face as bright and vibrant as ever.

"I'm fine," he said with a sigh, already tired of this interaction between the two of them. "How have you been?" he asked obediently, not really interested in her answer.

"Oh, you know, same old," she said, and he nodded.

There was an awkward pause between them, and he could tell that she was forcefully stopping herself from saying something. The girl was easier to read than An Introduction to Prosecuting, Volume 1. "Whatever it is, just say it," he ordered harshly, making her jump. "I can tell that you have something on your mind."

"Oh!" she blushed, looking sheepish. "Um… well, excuse me for saying so," she began nervously, "but you don't really look fine to me, Mr. Edgeworth."

"And what do you expect?" he asked bitterly. "Although, I suppose you wouldn't understand."

Maya's face softened with concern, and she stared at him intently. After a while, she confessed quietly, "Actually, I do understand. I… I was in love with him too, you know."

Edgeworth immediately tensed, wondering if his feelings had been so overtly obvious to others around him that even a girl oblivious to everything had figured him out. What if Wright himself had noticed? Gritting his teeth in frustration, he glared at Maya. "You know nothing," he growled, feeling the need to lash out at her. "If you felt even one inkling of what I felt for him, you wouldn't be standing here right now with your stupid smile and ridiculous buoyancy."

Her expression changed to one that he had never seen on her before, and not long afterward he felt the palm of her hand connect forcefully with his cheek. "Fuck you, Mr. Edgeworth," she said heatedly, but it was her words and not the slap itself that caused his eyes to nearly bulge out of his skull. He never in a million years thought he'd hear a curse word coming from sweet little Maya Fey. "I obviously made a mistake in coming here. Have a nice day," she said after composing herself, walking quickly to the door.

"Wait," he called, grabbing her by the wrist of the hand that slapped him and pulling her roughly in his direction. She looked down at where he was gripping her tightly and then met his grey, piercing gaze. Fear was written all over her large eyes, causing him to release her appendage instantly. He wondered why he had even bothered to stop her to begin with. She was on her way out, and that was what he'd wanted, right? What did it matter if she was cross with him?

Perhaps it was because he could feel the anger of a certain attorney piercing into him. Of course, that was impossible, since the lawyer in question was dead. Still, it was no surprise that Wright had entered his conscience so deeply, that he had effectively become his moral compass of sorts. "I'm sorry," Edgeworth said sincerely, watching as her face softened. "It was rude of me to trivialize your feelings like that."

She nodded in agreement. "You know, Mr. Edgeworth, just because I'm not wasting my life away like you doesn't mean that I didn't love him," she said slowly. "Nick was everything to me… he was my friend, my mentor… my hero. He took care of me, and I knew I could always count on him to get me out of a jam. But, I'm forcing myself to be strong and trying to be happy every moment I can, because that's what Nick would want me to do."

"I know," Edgeworth replied, not surprised that she turned to Wright for inner guidance as well. He was ashamed to admit it, but Maya Fey was a hell of a lot stronger than he was. She had been through as much as he had in his life, if not more, and yet she always managed to come out smiling. To his shock, he came to the realization that he actually envied her. "I truly am sorry," he repeated, not knowing what else to say.

Her mouth quickly flipped upwards, causing him to wonder if there was some sort of magnetic contraption implanted in her face. How else could someone smile so often? "Well then, apology accepted!" she said vibrantly. "Anyway, I don't know about you, but I'm famished. Want to go grab some grub with me?" she asked.

"Ah, no thank you," he declined, knowing that there was nothing he'd rather do less. "Thank you for stopping by," he said, politely opening the door for her.

"Hey, do you mean that?" she asked happily, and Edgeworth audibly gulped with dread at what he knew was coming next. "In that case, I'll come by again," she said, confirming his worst fears. "And you better be in a better mood next time, Mr. Edgeworth!" she added, for good measure. Before he could politely object to her offer, she gave him a slight wave and darted quickly down the hallway.

He slammed the door behind her, once again annoyed. Hopefully, she had no intention on following through with her pledge.

Perhaps if Miles Edgeworth had known Maya Fey a little bit better, though, he would have realized that it was futile to waste his time wishing for such a thing.

Maya's next visit came a little over a week later. He had finally managed to get the meddlesome girl out of his mind, only for her to show up immediately afterward. It was as if she had some sort of sixth sense regarding the best way to disrupt his life, which could very well be possible, considering her occupation as a spirit-medium.

It's not that he didn't like the girl, because he did. He would never forget how she had gotten herself thrown into jail for contempt on his account, adamantly believing that he hadn't committed murder despite the fact that he had been nothing but an ass back then. And, when her life had been threatened by Shelly de Killer, he had been truly concerned for her safety. That was why he had helped Wright prolong the open-and-shut case against Engarde, after all. Then, when she was feared dead at Hazakura's Inner Temple, he had even found himself praying to a long forgotten God that she would be all right. He knew how much Maya had meant to Wright, and surely that had manufactured part of his concern, but there was more to it than that. There was something endearing about the girl and how she was constantly trying to bring him out of his shell.

Still, even though he liked Maya Fey, that didn't mean he wanted her hanging around him, especially now. Ever since Wright died, Edgeworth just didn't have the will or energy to bother interacting with people. To make matters worse, her presence was a constant reminder of his dead friend, since the two of them had practically been joined at the hip before Wright's death. Being forced to think about Wright was painful, and he missed the numbness that he had grown accustomed to before Maya barged into his life.

Now, she was in his loft, babbling on about some nonsense that he couldn't care less about. He hadn't been paying attention and successfully managed to tune her out, that is, until she started waving her hand in front of his face repeatedly. "Hello, Earth to Mr. Edgeworth, are you in there?" she asked loudly.

He glared at her, internally scolding her for her childish antics. As if she understood, she retracted her hand immediately and gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, Mr. Edgeworth, but it seemed like you kind of spaced out there. Anyway, like I was saying, I ran into Iris and-"

"Iris?" Edgeworth interrupted, intrigued despite himself. The thought of that girl made him tense-up uncomfortably. She was, after all, the one who had finally managed to win Wright's heart. If you asked Edgeworth, it wasn't really fair to begin with. Wright had been in love with Iris a long time before Edgeworth reentered his life. Once the defense attorney had found out that his "Dolly" hadn't been faking her feelings for him, it was only natural for Wright to gravitate back to her, effectively crushing both Edgeworth and Maya in the process.

"Yeah, Iris," Maya repeated, noticing Edgeworth's discomfort. "We can talk about something else, if you want. Oh, I know! In the newest episode of The Pink Princess, this guy-"

"No, no," Edgeworth interrupted quickly, not wanting to hear about Maya's ridiculous television show. "I'm just surprised that you converse with Iris."

"Oh," Maya said, looking confused. "Why does that surprise you?"

He sighed heavily, wondering how anyone could be so completely clueless. "You loved Wright, but Wright loved her. Didn't that make things rather… awkward between you two?" he asked curiously.

"Not really," Maya said with a shrug. "I mean, she made Nick happy, so I couldn't really fault her for that." Edgeworth shook his head in bewilderment. "Oh, don't get me wrong, I was plenty jealous. I'm only human, after all. But that didn't stop me from liking Iris. Why would it?" At her words he almost scoffed, but managed to hold it back. Wright's affection for Iris had certainly been enough of a reason for him to dislike the girl. "Pearly on the other hand, she wouldn't talk to Nick for months after they got together."

"Don't tell me that she was in love with Wright, too," Edgeworth said dryly, causing Maya giggle loudly. He almost smiled back at her, but quickly caught himself and scowled instead.

"Oh, no, of course not," Maya said between laughs. "Pearly was just under the impression that Nick and I were a couple. She was mad because she thought he was cheating on me," she explained.

"I see," Edgeworth said with a frown, but his mind was elsewhere. Had he really almost smiled just before? And all because he managed to make a silly, practically insufferable girl laugh? Ridiculous. He hadn't felt like smiling in a long time, and a part of him wanted to keep it that way. Ever since his father's death, he couldn't help but believe that he didn't deserve happiness. And, now that Wright was dead, he didn't want to be cheered up; all he wanted was to be left alone. Why couldn't this girl understand that?

It wasn't long after their conversation about Iris that Maya excused herself from Edgeworth's apartment. Once again, she promised to return, and surely enough, she did so the following week. It had started to become a routine, with her coming like clockwork on Saturdays at noon. Each week he tried to act more and more detached from her, but she didn't seem to get the hint. One time he even made it a point to be out of his apartment during their meeting time, only to find the persistent girl waiting in front of his door when he returned. More specifically, she was sitting cross-legged against the wall with her eyes closed, possible sleeping.

"You're still here," he greeted coolly once he reached his door, and took out his keys to unlock it.

"Mr. Edgeworth! There you are!" Maya said merrily as her eyes shot open. "You weren't here when I came by, but I wanted to wait so I could give you this," she said, shoving a hastily wrapped box toward his face. He took the small item from her delicately and examined it with a furrowed brow. The wrapping paper featured a character whom he could only assume was the "Pink Princess" that Maya had been blabbing about last week.

"What… what is this for?" he asked, confusion etched all over his handsome features.

"Why, your birthday, of course!" she said with excitement. "Oh, happy birthday, by the way. Hey, are you going to invite me in or what?" she said, tapping her foot with mock impatience.

Noticing that they were still standing in the hallway, he finally opened his door and motioned for her to come inside. After closing the door he looked down at the gift in his hand, and realized that he had almost forgotten his own birthday. "How could you possibly have known?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "Actually, Nick knew, don't ask me how. Before he… got into the accident, we had been planning to throw you a surprise party today."

"Ah," he said, having to swallow down a lump is his throat. It had been such a long time since someone wished him a happy birthday, let alone gotten him a gift. And, never in his life had anyone planned a surprise party in his honor. Truth be told, he would have hated a party of that sort, but he suspected that Wright and Maya knew that before coming up with the idea in the first place. "Thank… thank you," he stuttered, not knowing what else to say.

"You're welcome," she said softly, studying the man before her. "Well, aren't you going to open it?" she asked him with anticipation.

"Oh… yes, I suppose I should," he said with distinction, as if shaken out of a daze. He began to carefully rip off the tape and unfold the wrapping paper neatly, to the dismay of the girl in front of him. When he finally got around to opening the box, his lungs constricted upon seeing the small item inside. He glanced at her with a lost look on his face, causing her to frown.

"It's Nick's defense attorney badge," she explained, unnerved by his wide-eyed expression.

"I know," he responded, picking up it up and enclosing his hand around it tightly. He had even worn the badge once, at Wright's request. To him, perhaps to her too, this badge symbolized everything that Wright stood for. "But why?" he asked Maya, still unsure why she had given him something so precious. Surely the item was dear to her as well.

Maya shrugged, her frown growing larger. "When Nick died he left me a lot of stuff, including the badge. I thought… I just thought you'd like to have it, but clearly it was a stupid idea," she said sadly. "I can take it back, if you want."

"I think you misunderstood," Edgeworth said slowly. "I can't express how much this means to me," he told her, watching as her face immediately brightened. "I just don't understand why you would give it to me, and not keep it for yourself," he clarified.

There was a small but perceptible pause before she answered him. Finally, she said simply, "I think you need it more than I do." Maya then gave him a slight, knowing smile. "Look Mr. Edgeworth, I'm not an idiot. I know that I annoy you, and it's obvious that you don't want me around."

"That's not true," he protested weakly, but his shame was so deep that he was unable to look her in the eyes. Apparently she had gotten his hints after all – loud and clear, in fact. He had never felt like more of an ass than he did at that very moment, and, knowing Miles Edgeworth's past, that was saying a lot.

"That's kind of you to say," she said sincerely, "but you've made it pretty obvious." From the look on her face, it seemed that her feelings weren't hurt. He didn't know why he was relieved to know that, but he was.

"I apologize for my behavior," he told her, and he meant it. No matter how he was feeling, treating her like he did was inexcusable.

"Don't – you were always a perfect gentleman," she told him. "Besides, like I told you before, I understand how you're feeling. I went through it myself."

An image of Maya popped into his head from Wright's funeral. He had noticed the girl sobbing quietly to herself as they lowered the casket into the ground, and yet, he had been too wrapped up in his own grief to give it a second thought. Thinking about it now, though, he couldn't help but feel for the poor girl. She had lost her sister, mother, and best friend (who happened to be the man she loved) in such a short span of time. No one so young should have to bare such a burden.

"Do you know why I even came to see you in the first place?" she asked and he shook his head. "It was Nick's idea." His eyes bulged in shock, causing her to laugh. "I know you have trouble with the whole spirit-medium thing, but as you saw with your own two eyes at Iris's trial, it's real. Anyway, Pearly channeled Nick even though I expressly ordered her never to do so. I can't even tell you how disturbing it was to see a Nick-Pearl hybrid," she said, and Edgeworth almost shuddered at the thought. "After we talked for a while, Nick said that he was worried about you. Then he asked me if I wouldn't mind checking up on you."

"I see," Edgeworth said lightly. "And is that why you kept coming back?"

"At first, yes," she nodded. "But after the first few times, something changed. I found that I wanted to help you for me, not for Nick. I don't even think I was helping much, because you only seemed to get irritated every time I came around. Still, every second you were annoyed was one less second that you were completely deflated, so I figured it was better than nothing."

She paused for a moment, and when she started talking again, she sounded much more self-conscious than before. "Besides, Pearly is the only person I have left, you know. And while she's great, she's only a little girl and doesn't truly understand the seriousness of the situation. I thought that, you know, maybe you and I could help each other. In fact, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that was Nick's plan all along."

Edgeworth remained speechless, taking in everything that she had said. It didn't surprise him that even in death, Wright would try to look out for two of his closest friends. Somehow, as always, his harebrained scheme ended up working out. Edgeworth looked at the badge clasped tightly in his hand and laughed internally. Wright was certainly cleverer than he gave him credit for.

"I should probably get going," Maya said nervously. Now that everything was out on the table, she didn't know where she stood with Edgeworth. He certainly didn't have much of a reaction to what she had just told him. "Pearly will be waiting up for me," she explained while gathering up her things.

"Maya," he called out and she turned around, looking like a deer caught in headlights. "I'll see you next week, then?" he asked, giving her a small but visible smile.

She returned his grin with one of her own, only hers was so big that it nearly covered her entire face. "You bet ya, Mr. Edgeworth. See you next week," she said before leaving his apartment.

Looking once again at the tiny badge Maya had given to him, Edgeworth couldn't help but feel, for the first time in a long time, that everything would be okay. It was as if today, on his birthday, Wright had managed to give him the gift of renewed life, simply by sending that ridiculous girl to him. It may have taken a while for her to chip away at his armor, but she had succeeded through persistence.

If he listened hard enough, the prosecutor could have sworn he could hear someone whispering, "Happy birthday, Edgeworth!" But then again, it was probably just his imagination.

Fin.

For anyone who did end up reading that, I hope you enjoyed it. If there's enough interest, I might write a sequel, but it'd be a Miles/Maya story and I know not a lot of people ship them.