Mai knew it had been the right decision, but right now, she felt awful. Physically, she felt violated, empty and rather sore. Mentally… She did not even know where to begin.

But it had been the right decision, now was not the right time in her life for those things to happen. She wasn't stable enough, financially or mentally for those things to happen.

She now had two days of rest before she would have to be back at work, though she suspected she could probably get a third day if she wanted. Part of her wanted to go to work right now, to pretend it had never happened. The rest of her just wanted to cry.

Mai slipped the two week check-up appointment card into her pocket and started to walk down the street. She could have got the bus, but she wanted to walk home. It wasn't far and it was a beautiful spring day.

Spring, the time of new life.

But not for Mai.

She could see some school children walking home together, and flowers blooming in the parks. She could see smiles and laughter. She wanted to smile too, but her mouth seemed unable to respond.

How could she smile now? When she had just…

When Mai arrived home, she felt exhausted, despite the walk only taking 20 or so minutes. She desperately wanted a bath, but she had been warned against such things, so took a shower instead.

After that, she climbed into bed with a bar of chocolate and her laptop, hoping to watch a film before sleeping. Hoping that a film would distract her from the guilty thoughts rushing though her head.

It was going to be a long two days.

Two days later, Mai arrived at work with a letter clutched in her hand. She had had her doctor write her a note excusing her from all forms of exercise for 2-4 weeks, though she had emitted the reason.

Mai took a deep breath before knocking on Oliver's office door.

"Enter." His calm voice said. Mai walked in and closed the door behind her; she walked over to the desk and placed the letter down in front of him. "What is this?" He asked, picking it up with a slight frown.

"It is a letter from my doctor. I cannot do any exercise or lifting for two to four weeks."

"Which is it?"

"Huh?"

"Two or four weeks?"

"Well I have an appointment in two weeks, so I can see if I'm okay to do exercise then." Mai said, she had yet to look at her boss, but was staring at a stain on his desk. It looked like split tea, but she wasn't sure.

"You realise this means you are essentially useless on any cases we take?" Oliver said coldly. "If you can't lift any equipment, or run when you get into trouble…" He trailed off, sighing. "You may as well have two weeks off." He added resignedly.

"No!" Mai protested. "Please, I need to do something, I need to work!"

"I would still pay you." Oliver rolled his eyes.

"No it's not that… I just need to keep busy." Mai said quickly, trying to hold back the tears. "I can still make you tea and watch the monitors and write things up or something…" She wiped her eyes and finally looked up at her boss. "Please…" She begged.

"Mai, if you cannot run from danger, you will be a liability."

"I'm a liability anyway." She said.

Oliver did not dispute this fact, but sighed once again.

"Fine, but on your own head be it." Oliver said. "Tea."

"Thank you." Mai turned and left the office.

Oliver opened the letter and read the contents, or rather, read the hiragana translation of what had been written that he assumed Mai had scribbled down the side for his benefit. Yet the letter did not hold the answer he craved: why was his assistant now partly useless?

He sighed and looked down at the case he planned to take, should he put it off if Mai wasn't right? It did not look like a serious case, or rather, not a violent case. Their potential customer believed that a ghost had been hiding his things, most commonly his glasses, toothbrushes and other everyday items. Normally, Oliver wouldn't have bothered with it, but two things had changed his mind. One, his father had been doing research into non-violent spirits and wanted some physical evidence. Two, the client himself had tried to video happenings and this willingness to accept modern methods had lead Oliver to believe that this client would not be difficult to deal with, as so many seemed to be.

Then again, if this was a non-violent case, then perhaps it would be a good choice while Mai wasn't capable of much. It would provide suitable distraction for her and would provide evidence for his father. A win-win situation.

He was just about to pick up the phone to contat the client and inform him of the decision to take the case, when he heard a smashing sound. Normally, he would have ignored it, but Lin was out and Mai had been upset earlier; so Oliver got up from his desk and walked to his office door.

Upon opening the door, he heard a soft weeping. Mai was crying.

Frowning, Oliver made his way to the kitchen to find Mai sat on the floor, hugging her knees and crying. Beside her was a smashed mug. Oliver picked up the dustpan and brush and cleared up the mess.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed. Oliver did not reply, but pulled out a new mug and poured out two cups of tea from the teapot. He then passed one mug to Mai and stood beside her, nursing his own cup.

"I presume you do not want to talk to me about whatever it is that has happened." He said finally. "But if you would like me to call Ayako or someone else in this afternoon…"

"Ayako is at work." Mai sniffed. "I'll be fine. I'm sorry."

"I have some post I cannot read, I believe it's to do with tax or something of that sort, would you be able to write out the hiragana for me?" Oliver asked.

Mai looked up, shocked that Oliver had asked her to do something, as opposed to just telling her to do whatever he wanted.

"Yes." She replied meekly.

"Good." Oliver placed his now empty cup by the sink and held out his hand to Mai. She took it and he helped her to her feet. Oliver used his thumb to wipe her tears away, then gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and left the kitchen.

Mai, still slightly shocked by his acts, washed up the mugs and then returned to her desk, where a stack of post was waiting for her to sort.

Meanwhile, in Oliver's office, he was waiting for Ayako to pick up. The thought had occurred to him that Ayako, as a doctor, might recognise the advice Mai's doctor had given her.

"Matsuzuki speaking?" Ayako answered the call.

"I need to know what these aftercare instructions mean." Oliver said, straight to the point.

"Naru? What are you talking about?"

"I have a list of aftercare advice and I need to know what the problem was in the first place, can you help me or not?"

"I can try."

"No swimming, running, horse riding, lifting or other exercise for two to four weeks." He said, reading from the letter. "And emotional, prone to being upset." He added, remembering Mai's earlier behaviour.

"Any sign of physical ailment?" Ayako asked, trying to reduce her mental list of probable problems.

"Nothing physical that I can see, so if there is, it would be hidden under clothing."

Ayako paused for thought.

"Who is this about?"

"I can't tell you that information."

"Male or female?"

"That would give you the information to work out who this was about."

"Well it's either Lin or Mai." Ayako reasoned. "I would hazard a guess at Mai, as any reason Lin would have had for these things he would have told you without embarrassment. Mai, on the other hand, would very much appreciate it if you left the situation alone and gave her an excuse for her current situation." Ayako paused for a moment and Oliver could hear her breathing heavily. "Get hold of a wrist support and an ankle support. Tell her to wear them until her problem has gone away, and then anyone asking about it will assume she had just hurt herself. Suggest that she tell people she fell down the stairs or something. I will phone her today and talk to her personally."

"But you won't tell me what it is?"

"It's a private matter and I imagine you would be the last person on this planet she would tell."

Oliver rolled his eyes.

"Fine."

"And don't you dare take any dangerous cases until she is better." Ayako scolded. "And be nice to her." Oliver rolled his eyes again.

"I will heed your advice, goodbye." He hung up. He would pick up the suggested items at lunchtime.

"What do you want for lunch?" Oliver asked as he pulled on his jacket.

"I'll just go and get something when you're back." Mai said automatically, not looking up from the letters that she was still sorting and writing out.

"No, I want you to watch the office; I will pick up your lunch." Oliver said with his face blank of all emotion.

"Just some sushi then please, or a takeaway bento box or something…" Mai mumbled.

"Do you need anything else?"

"No." Mai watched him leave, feeling suspicious, had Oliver worked it out? She hoped not.

When he returned he gave her some food and a small bag with a wrist support and an ankle support in it.

"If anyone asks, you can say that you fell down the stairs." He said, reiterating Ayako's suggestion. "So you have an excuse not to be carrying anything or running while on a case. I can tell Lin not to question it, but the others are bound to ask questions otherwise. We are taking a case tomorrow, but I have only invited Monk."

Mai could feel tears rising to her eyes again and she smiled in gratitude.

"Thank you."

"And if you wish to tell me what is wrong, I will listen." He said stiffly.

"Are you sure you're okay Naru?" Mai asked, almost laughing. "It isn't like you to be so-" But Oliver cut her off.

"My employee is unable to work to full capacity which is affecting my research and the cases we are able to take. I am right in wanting to speed up their recovery so I can get back to more important cases."

Mai fell silent. His words had felt like a slap to the face.

"I have finished these letters, what do you want me to do next?" She said dully, not looking up.

"Eat your lunch." Oliver said, picking up the letters adorned with Mai's scribbles. "Then check over the equipment for the case tomorrow and get all the relevant documents together. If you can't check something because it's too heavy, then take note of it and I will check it later." He returned to his office, and closed the door forcefully.

Mai burst into tears and pulled the food towards her. It was beautifully arranged sushi, maki and sashimi; which made Mai cry harder.

Then she felt her mobile vibrate in her pocket. Stifling her sobs, Mai pulled out her phone and answered it, trying to inject a cheerful tone into her voice.

"Hello?"

"Mai? It's me." Ayako said. "Look, Naru phoned me earlier with a list of things someone can't do and asked me what ailment had caused them. I figure out he was talking about you but didn't tell him my main suspicion, okay?"

Mai felt unable to speak.

"Did he get you the supports like I asked?"

"Yes…" Mai mumbled. "You know?"

"I could guess from the list he gave me, but I might've checked your record."

"I didn't think you were allowed to do that." Mai said quietly.

"So would you like me to come over later? We can just eat ice cream and watch movies?" Ayako ignored her question. "And if you want to talk about it, then that's fine too okay?"

"Okay." Mai agreed.

"Great, I will pick you up from the office at 5pm!" And she hung up.

Mai ate her lunch, the occasional tear running down her face. She hated feeling like this. One minute she was fine, the next minute she felt like her world had ended. Guilt racked her body and grief coursed through her like fire. The doctor had told her that her emotions would be all over the place for a while because of hormones and stuff, but she hadn't expected it to be this bad.

Once she had finished eating, Mai went to the loo to wash her face, put on the two support bandages and then began checking the equipment.

Ayako arrived at 4:45pm, glared at Oliver until he let Mai leave and took her home. Mai didn't talk as Ayako drove, so Ayako filled the silence with amusing tales from her day at work.

When they arrived at Mai's house, she let them in and made them both a cup of tea. Then they both sat down on the sofa and Ayako spoke.

"So tell me what happened."

Author's note: This idea came from a review I read on my first FF. I would love to hear your reviews and ideas!