A/N: I've decided to make this into a sort of series of one shots revolving around Phoenix and Maya (and Trucy and Pearl and anyone else who I happen to get the urge to write about) post-SOJ. I guess you can think of it as a sort of slice of life fan fic with no real overarching plot, or at least not a super dramatic one. That being said, if anyone has any suggestions or prompts for situations you'd like to see particular characters in, drop me a PM or say so in a comment! I can't promise I'll write it but I'm open to suggestions.

Please enjoy!

Phoenix tried not to sulk as he sat at his desk in the darkened office of the Wright Anything Agency. The only light was coming from the lamp on the desk as his pen moved across the papers in front of him. Athena had gone home hours ago, and Trucy was already upstairs in bed. He was the only one left in the office and now that they were one lawyer short, the paperwork and potential clients were starting to pile up.

He hoped Apollo was doing okay. The last letter he received from him came in the mail two weeks ago and Apollo hadn't called lately, but Phoenix tried not to take it personally; he knew how busy Apollo must be. It wasn't going to be easy to completely reform an entire country's legal system by himself, but Phoenix knew that if anyone could do it, it was Apollo. Sometimes he still couldn't believe he had only known Apollo for three years. It felt like so much longer. Phoenix was just grateful Apollo had stuck around to continue working for him after everything he put him through during that first year. He certainly hadn't made it easy on the poor kid.

He set his pen down, the letters on the page starting to blur together and lose meaning in his tired state. He glanced at his watch. It was already after 1 am. He leaned back in his chair, willing himself to get up and go to bed and not just fall asleep over his desk.

His eyes were just about closed when he saw a light turn on in the hallway. A few seconds later a tired looking Maya Fey appeared in the doorway, rubbing her eyes. "Nick? Aren't you coming to bed?" she asked, stifling a yawn with her hand.

"In a minute," he said. "I was just finishing up some paperwork." Maya would scold him if she knew he was falling asleep at his desk.

"Hmm." She pulled her housecoat around herself tighter and walked over to the desk. She moved behind his chair and leaned down to rest her arms on his shoulders, nuzzling her face into the side of his neck. "Do you miss Apollo?" she asked in a babyish voice. He could feel her breath tickling his ear as she spoke.

He sighed, leaning back into her embrace. "Maybe a little," he admitted.

She laughed softly. Trucy may have been the only one to call Phoenix 'Dad', but Maya knew he felt almost as much fatherly love for Athena, Apollo and Pearl as he did Trucy, even if he wouldn't admit it. It had to be killing him that Apollo was gone so far away.

"He's not gone forever, and we can always visit," she reassured.

"I know. But I also have the office to think about. Athena still isn't experienced enough to run it on her own if I'm not here, and we can't afford to keep closing up shop for weeks at a time. It'll be a while before we'll be able to go anywhere."

Maya turned her head, her lips grazing his cheek as she placed a kiss there. "Aren't I good enough company?" she whispered.

He laughed and swivelled his chair around so he was face to face with her. "You're very good company," he said, pulling her into his lap.

"Nick! Not here."

"Relax, I'm too tired right now anyway."

"When are you ever too tired for that?" she said, rolling her eyes.

He didn't bother answering her. Instead he wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer. "I never want to let you go again."

She rested her head against his shoulder. "You don't have to worry. I'm never leaving again." She paused. "But you have to admit, all those times we met in secret before I went to Khura'in… They were exciting, right? I kind of miss it." She lifted her head to grin at him and he gave her a disapproving look.

"Maybe for you. I don't think you ever did grasp how dangerous it was to be seen with me after I was disbarred. I was constantly worried someone would see us and use you against me." After finding out Kristoph Gavin's plan, he had actually tried to cut ties with Maya and Pearl for their own safety. But Maya would have none of that, and he couldn't stay away from her either, as much as he told himself he should.

"I don't seem to remember you protesting too much during some of those late night rendezvous," she paused and sighed dreamily. "And you looked so hot back then. You should go for the casual, scruffy look more often, Nick."

"No one would hire me," he said. Though, he did have to admit, if there was one thing he missed about the role he had played for seven years as disgraced, disbarred attorney turned shady piano slash poker player it was not needing to care what people thought about him or how he looked.

"Oh, I think legendary Phoenix Wright could get clients no matter what."

He smiled. "Well, I wouldn't want to risk it. And if I showed up in court as the attorney instead of the defendant, looking like that, I'd be laughed out of the courtroom." She giggled herself, and then there were a few seconds of comfortable silence. He didn't want to start a serious discussion, he much preferred their silly banter, but he had to ask. "Maya, when will you need to go back to Kurain Village?" She was officially the Master now, and she would have to return sometime, despite her earlier declaration that she was never leaving again. And he had to let her go; she had responsibilities there.

She was quiet for a moment. "Not for a while. Pearly's taking care of things, and she insists I stay with my special someone as long as I want to." Pearl had grown out of her fixation on Maya and Phoenix's relationship over the years, but she was still a hopeless romantic.

"But you will have to go back eventually," he stated.

She nodded. "I actually wanted to ask you something sort of related to that. I wasn't going to bring it up until later but since we're talking about it…"

"What is it?" he asked. She looked suddenly unsure, like she didn't know if he would like what she had to say. "Maya, don't hold back on me now."

"Well, you've lived here for years now, right?"

He nodded. "Ever since you've known me. I took over the lease after Mia passed and moved in upstairs. You know that."

"Right. Well, I was thinking… it's kind of small. And you have a teenaged daughter now who probably wants a room a little further away from her dad's. Especially now that he has a steady girlfriend…" she said, smiling a little.

"What are you getting at?"

She was just going to come out and say it. There was no need to beat around the bush. "Do you want to move in with me? You and Trucy? We could look for a house or a larger apartment in between Kurain and the city, so we can both travel back and forth to work and Trucy can still get to school. You could rent out this apartment and obviously we could never move the office." She took a breath. "I just want to stop with this going back and forth between you and Kurain. I want to come home to you every night. Don't you think it's about time?"

He hadn't actually thought about it that much if he was being truthful. He was so used to the long distance relationship and spending so much time apart that it almost seemed surreal that starting a life together was now an actual option. But Maya was right, it was about time. They had managed to get through seven years of sneaking around and hiding their relationship, then two more years of being apart completely. Now that she was back for good and they were both in good places personally and with their careers, there was no reason not to.

"Now it's your turn not to hold back, Nick," she said, not liking his silence.

He slid his hand around to the back of her neck and pulled her in gently to kiss her. She put her hands on either side of his face to kiss him back, but she pulled away before it got too heated and rested her forehead against his. "Can I take that as a yes?"

"Of course."

She squealed and jumped off of his lap, spinning back around to face him.

"Maya, you'll wake Trucy with all that noise," he said, finally getting out of his chair, but he was grinning along with her.

"I wish we could go tell her right now! Do you think she'll be happy?"

Phoenix nodded. "Trucy loves you, Maya. And I'm sure she'll be happy to have a bigger room, too, especially if that means more space for her magic props. God knows we're running out of room here. Unfortunately, I have to wake up early tomorrow to meet a potential client and Trucy has school, so we'll have to wait to give her the good news until later. For now, let's go to bed."

Maya pouted. She was the one complaining he come to bed earlier, but now she was wide awake. "Aaw. I won't be able to sleep now."

"Sure you will," he said, walking past her towards the hallway where the stairs were. She surprised him by jumping up onto his back and wrapping her legs around his waist.

"Carry me, Nick."

"Ugh. You do realize I hurt my back in Khura'in, right?"

"Really? You never mentioned that to me. Jeez, you're getting old, aren't you?"

"You're not getting any younger either, Maya."

"But I will always be younger than you," she countered.

There was no contradiction in that statement, so he wrapped his arms around her thighs and hefted her a bit higher. "If we kill ourselves falling backwards down the stairs, it'll be your fault."

She squeezed her legs around him as if spurring a horse and pointed forwards. "Onward!" With a groan he made his way towards the stairs, slowly but surely making his way up them. Maya dangled her hands in front of him, her chin resting on his shoulder.

"This is the slowest piggy back ride of my life," she commented when they were finally halfway down the upstairs hallway towards the bedroom. "I should've brought a Sudoku puzzle or something to pass the time. Got any in-flight movies, Nick?"

He ignored her jibes, finally making it into the bedroom. Maya had turned a lamp on before coming downstairs, so he didn't bother with the overhead light. He turned around and sat down on the edge of the bed with Maya still clinging to his back. She finally let go and flopped onto the bed.

She giggled. "You're really out of breath! I'm not that heavy. You should start working out more often, old man."

"You're right, I'm exhausted," he said, falling backwards as well and trapping her under his dead weight. "I'm not sure I can get up."

"Nick!" Her hands pressed into his back. "You're heavy! And your hair is going to stab me to death!"

He turned over, bracing himself with his forearms on either side of her. She held his eyes as he gazed down at her. "How did I end up with someone so beautiful?" he finally said, leaning down to trace kisses along her jaw, down her neck, and across her collarbone. One of his hands had made its way inside her housecoat at some point, pushing it open to reveal more of her chest.

After all these years he knew exactly what she liked and it was hard to resist him, but she managed to grab his hand before it got any further and pushed him away. "Sorry. Flattery will get you nowhere tonight. You're the one who said you have to get up early. It's bed time."

He glanced at his watch, but sighed when he saw it was just after 2 am now. "I hate it when you're right," he said, sliding off of her and the bed.

"Which I always am."

He made a face at her and headed to the bathroom. She took her housecoat off and hung it on the back of the bedroom door. In just her silky purple nightgown she crawled into bed to make herself comfortable under the covers, relishing the warmth they provided.

Phoenix came back into the room and very ungracefully stripped down to his boxers, almost falling over in the process of taking his pants off. Maya stifled her laughter under the covers.

"What was that?" she said. "I don't get a sexy strip tease or anything?"

He crawled into bed beside her and flicked off the lamp on the bedside table. "Nope. You said it was bed time." He turned over and she wrapped an arm around him, taking her place as the 'big' spoon for the night.

They were quiet for a few minutes, until Maya opened her eyes again. "Hey, Nick?" she whispered to the back of his head.

"Hmm?"

"Now that we're moving in together… When are you going to propose to me?" she said, smirking to herself. It wasn't a serious question, she was perfectly happy with their relationship and wasn't in any hurry to get married. She just wanted to see what reaction she could get from him. She was expecting rushed excuses maybe, or at least bewilderment at the sudden question. Instead he just patted the arm she had wrapped around him.

"One thing at a time, Maya. One thing at a time."