Author's Note: You know, this story was supposed to be a one shot, but reaction to the story was so positive that I decided to continue it.


The trial was a major success. Phoenix successfully proved Iris' innocence, and Godot had been sent to jail for murder. Phoenix was glad—finding out that the prosecuting attorney was the real murderer had given him bad flashbacks of the Manfred Von Karma trial.

Phoenix was hoping to have some time after the trial to talk to Maya and try to explain that the whole marriage thing was just a big mistake—the Judge rarely understood things correctly, after all—but before he got a chance, all his friends showed up to congratulate him.

"You won, pal! Gumshoe said.

"An admirable performance, despite all the flaws in your case," Edgeworth said.

Typical Edgeworth, Phoenix thought when he heard the backhanded compliment. He started to reply when he got tackled by Pearls.

"Mr. Nick! I'm so happy for you and Mystic Maya!" Pearls said excitedly. "I always knew you two were a perfect couple and now you're getting married and I can be a bridesmaid!"

"Woah woah!" Maya said. "Pearl, I think you're taking this marriage thing a bit too quickly."

Phoenix gave a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Maya didn't seem to be as crazy as everyone else was about the idea of them getting married.

"I getcha," Larry Butz said. "You want Franzy to be a bridesmaid! She would look pretty hot in a dress..."

Franziska's whip flew through the air and hit Larry in the face. "Silence, fool!"

"Yes, ma'am," Larry said obediently.

"This marriage is so exciting!" Gumshoe said. "Have you picked a wedding date yet?"

"We should have a party!" Pearls said excitedly. "To celebrate!"

"Yeah, let's all go out and eat!" Larry said.

"Objection?" Phoenix protested weakly. "Maya and I can't—we don't—"

Franziska whipped Phoenix. "Out with it, fool! Don't stutter!"

"Maya and I have to talk!" Phoenix blurted out. "Privately!"

Larry wolf-whistled. "Nick, you dog!"

"I hear you, pal!" Gumshoe said. "We'll just head on over to the restaurant, and you can meet us there! Let's go, everyone!"

The group started leaving the courtroom. Sister Iris cast a longing look back at Phoenix as she left, and Edgeworth smirked at the couple. "Don't be too long, or there will be nothing left over for you except the bill," he said.

Finally, everyone was gone except for Phoenix and Maya.

"Are you okay, Maya?" Phoenix asked. "I was so worried about you being trapped in the Inner Temple."

Maya smiled. "I'm fine, Nick. I'm just a little confused, that's all. Why did you tell everyone that we're getting married?"

"I didn't!" Phoenix said. "I—that is, they—it's not—"

"Why are you so upset, Nick?" Maya asked giving Phoenix a sly smile. "Do you not want to get married?"

"Yes! I mean, no! I mean, yes?"

Maya laughed. "You're so much fun to mess with, Nick! So come on, tell me what's up."

Phoenix sat down on one of the benches in the lobby. "Godot tried to convince the court that you and I are going out."

Maya looked confused. "Going out where?"

"Going out as in dating," Phoenix explained. "Like, a romantic couple. Two people who love each other and go places together and that sort of thing."

"I know what a romantic couple is, Nick," Maya said sternly. "I'm not a kid, you know. I watched about it on the Steel Samurai."

Oh boy, Phoenix thought to himself.

"When a heroic samurai and the beautiful princess fall in love, the samurai defeats evil villains in her name," Maya explained. "And he buys her chocolates. Lots of chocolates. Why don't you buy me any chocolates, Nick?"

I think you've had enough sugar today, Phoenix thought to himself. "I'm not made of money, Maya. I can't afford to buy you chocolates. I already waste enough money buying you hamburgers."

"You're such a cheapskate, Nick," Maya said. "Come one, don't you want to make your beautiful princess happy?"

"You're not my princess!" Phoenix said.

"But we do everything together," Maya insisted. "And we care about each other. You said that makes us a couple."

"There—there's more to being a couple than that!" Phoenix said.

"What?" Maya asked.

Phoenix reflected. He wasn't quite sure what to see. After all, he hadn't been in any serious relationships, and seeing as his relationship with Dahlia Hawthorne had been solidly proven as nothing more than a sham...

"Er...I don't know?" Phoenix asked.

Maya laughed. "It's okay, Nick. I don't really want to go out with you. I like you too much."

Phoenix smiled. Finally he and Maya were on the same page. "Me too," he said.

Phoenix and Maya hugged each other in a special "best friends" sort of way.

"I suppose everyone will be disappointed to hear we're not going out," Maya said.

"They probably will be," Phoenix agreed. "But I'm not worried, as long as you're the one who tells Pearly."


Having gotten the difficult stuff over with, Phoenix and Maya chatted with each other the whole way to the restaurant.

"So this is what, the third time you've been cleared of murder charges?" Phoenix asked. "You're lucky you've got me around, or else you'd be in jail by now."

"And you're lucky you've got me around, or else you'd never win a case," Maya said.

Phoenix laughed. "Nobody's told you this, but I only keep you around because you can summon Mia. She's the Fey who I'm going out with."

Maya snorted. "And what about Pearls? Are you going to replace me with her?"

"Maybe when she's older," Phoenix said. It looked creepy when Pearl channeled Mia. Really creepy. Seeing his favorite ten-year-old girl grow humongous breasts was not a pretty sight.

Finally, the two of them made it to the restaurant where everybody else was.

"You made it, pal!" Gumshoe said.

Phoenix and Maya sat down at the table with all their friends and semi-friends like Edgeworth. The girls were on one side of the table, and the boys were on the other.

"That took longer than expected," Larry grinned. "You stayed back to make out with Maya for a little bit, eh?"

"Make out?" Maya asked. "What's that?"

Larry's face fell. "You don't know what making out is?"

"No," Maya said. "What is it?"

Using a few discreet words, Edgeworth leaned over the table and whispered an explanation into Maya's ear.

"EW!" Maya said. "Why would anyone want to do THAT?"

Maya threw a look of disgust at Larry and pushed her chair away from him, even though they were sitting at opposite sides of the table.

"If anyone tried that with me, I'd punch him in the nose!" Maya said hotly.

Franziska nodded approvingly. "You are not so foolish."

Larry was confused. "But—but! You two kissed in the courtroom today! Everybody saw!"

Phoenix turned red, and if he had looked, he would have seen that Maya had turned red also. "That was just a one-time thing," he said.

Pearls shot Phoenix the Look of Death. "You're still going to get married, though, right, Mister Nick?"

"Um, sure," Phoenix said. "We just have to find a veil big enough to cover Maya's top knot."

"It's not a top knot!" Maya insisted angrily. "Say that again, and I might not marry you!"

Pearls gasped.

"Please don't talk about Maya's top knot!" she begged Phoenix.

"It's not a top knot!" Maya said, pounding the table and getting food all over Phoenix's suit.

"Way to go, Maya," Phoenix said. "Getting this suit dry-cleaned costs a ton."

"I'll help you clean up," Sister Iris volunteered quickly. "We can get a wet rag from the kitchen."

Iris rather forcefully dragged Phoenix to the kitchen and closed the door behind her. Then she turned around to face him.

"Feenie, we need to talk," Iris said.

"What about?" Phoenix asked, a little off-put by Iris' serious manner and the use of Dahlia's old nickname for him.

"It's hard for me to say," Iris said. "But I have to tell you the truth about when you were going out with my sister."

"The truth?" Phoenix asked. "I know the truth. Dahlia was only going out with me in order to get the locket."

"That's not it," Iris said, looking down. "You...you only saw Dahlia twice."

"Twice?" Phoenix asked. "I saw her every day for months!"

"Not really," Iris said. "You saw her in court, that's true, but the rest of the time...that was me, pretending to be her."

Iris had tears in her eyes. "She wanted to kill you outright, but I convinced her not to. I thought if I pretended to be her, I could get the locket from you, and you wouldn't have to be hurt..."

Phoenix was shocked. Iris was the one he had dated for six months?

In a small way, it made sense. The Dahlia he had seen in court...the evil girl who tried to kill him...that couldn't have been the girl he had loved so much. He had told himself this over and over again, years ago. But to learn it was true...

As happens so often in his life, everything had been turned upside-down.

"Iris, I...I..."

"That's why I asked you to be my lawyer," Iris said, head down. "I knew if anything bad happened, you would help me...Feenie..."

"I don't believe it..." Phoenix said, more to himself than anyone else.

"I'm sorry," Iris said. "I know you're marrying Mystic Maya. I just...had to tell you."

Before he could respond, Iris turned around and ran out of the kitchen. Phoenix stood still, trying to absorb everything she had said. Eventually, he cleaned himself up and went back to the party.

"What'd you say to Iris?" Maya asked. "She ran out of here, crying."

"I'll...tell you later," Phoenix said. Pearls was giving him a very suspicious glare.

"But she looked really upset," Maya said.

"I wouldn't make too much of it," Edgeworth said, coolly. "Most of my clients react the same way when they hear about my fee."