Heyy all :)

Today is the 31st of December, the last day of 2009!! yay :)

Happy New Years and all the best of luck in 2010!!

Heres the next chapter just reuniting some more of the Phoenix Wright caracters.

Thank you for reading :) please review

Goddess95 :D

October 24 9:20 am

Criminal Affairs

"Well it took you long enough, pal" Gumshoe said as he walked me in the precinct.

"Gumeshoe" I said as I sighed deeply. "I live in New York."

He looked at me for a while and then kept walking.

"Oh" he said. "Right. So Franziska gave you the badge" He looked very pleased with a toothy grin as he unlocked his office door which exposed some whip marks on his lower arm. Poor, poor Gumshoe.

"So… you finally got an office…" I said surprised as I walked through the precinct. I stopped in front of a door that had "D. Gumeshoe" in a very clean and shinny gold lettering on the top of a wooden clean cut door. I wondered if Gumeshoe had actually changed from the once sloppy, scruffy and not very bright detective that had been a helpful but painful thorn in my side all those cases back. He nodded quickly, as if he was going to burst with excitement all of a sudden. He pushed open the door and walked inside briskly as he sat in his chair. And then a comforting smile swept over my face.

It had been apparent that Gumeshoe had actually not changed, at all. Papers where still aimlessly wandering for a home on the floor, Chinese noodle boxes littered his desk with the occasional noodle here and there. On the seat at the back of his office had a variety of books, the top one reading "Detective work for dummies".

"Wow" I stuttered. Words couldn't put the state of his office. "It's…. really something…"

What was that awful stench?

"I know, pal" he said pleased. "Been trying awful hard to take care of it off duty"

"Oh…" I said as I nodded quickly, watching my step.

"Have a seat pal" he said as he pointed to a once blue but now green seat.

"Uhh" I said looking at the chair. How disgusting. "No thanks, really, I'll stand."

"Ok" he said uncomfortably. He stared at me with a smile for a few minutes, as I looked at his office once more. Noticing his stare, I grew vaguely uncomfortable and suspicious.

"What" I said as I eyed him carefully. I checked my Tee shirt for a stain and ran my fingers through my hair.

"Nah pal" he said quickly. He looked as if yet again he was going to burst into tiny pieces. "It's just… well" he looked at me once more and blurted out laughing.

"Thanks Gumshoe" I said sighing. "Thanks a million"

"Aw sorry pal" he said holding his laughs in. "I just thought I'd never see the day Phoenix Wright would wear something as low as that"

Offended, I stretched my tee over my jeans and wondered what exactly was so wrong with it, or was I that New York customized to not notice?

"Gumshoe, you did send me half way across America for a reason, didn't you?"

"Oh" he said as he wiggled in his seat. "Right. Would you like a drink?"

"Oh sure" I said surprised.

"All the benefits of having an office pal" he said as he pressed a button. As soon as he pressed the button, a woman with a coffee stained shirt and messy hair waltzed in.

"You called" she said with a hint of annoyance.

"One coffee and a…" he said looking at me.

"I'll have a scotch" I said as I turned to face her, to find she was so busy fiddling with her nails. Women, I'd never understand them.

I turned to Gumshoe who's mouth was nearly reaching the floor.

"Scotch?" he said surprised. I gave him a confused look. "You drink scotch"

"Yeah…" I said slowly. "And?"

"Oh nothing pal" he said leaning back in his chair. "Never saw you to be one for a scotch in the morning. You've changed a lot."

"Listen Gumshoe I don't even know why I'm here. I can't help you." I said as I turned my back on him.

"Pal I don't need help. Amber does. Hey you never told me you had a…"

"I don't Gumshoe" I said as I cut him off. "I don't. Not anymore."

"Phoenix…"

"Gumshoe, people change." I said with a sting. "Everyone changes." I wondered if he would ever change.

"Oh" he said disappointed. "And you changed"

"Yes. I did."

"You don't have to change." He said with a shrug. "You can still defend her…"

"It has nothing to do with what I can or can't do. It' about what I will or not do."

"Pal, all she needs is you to be there for her. She's suffering, pal, she wants someone close. I thought who'd be better than her brother? If I knew Phoenix Wright, as well as I thought I did, I knew he would help anybody who was trialed for something they didn't do." he said as he stood up from his desk. Surprised I watch him growl at me with no resistance. "Guess I really don't know him at all, pal"

I stared long and hard at him, confused by his bitter words. Was I really that shallow, so depressed in my own problems that I couldn't see anyone else's? Had I really changed that much, changed into such a coward, that I thought I could sit and watch my sister be put to trial for something she didn't do? Was I that heartless?

He picked up a file report and chucked it on the desk in front of me.

"If you change your mind," he said, glaring at me. "pal"

I grabbed the file and walked out of his office and closed the door behind me, his words leaving a heavy sack on my shoulders. I looked to my left to see the assistant that came into the office minutes before buffing her nails.

We never did get those drinks. And I was thirsty, too.

I walked up to the chief behind the desk on the opposite side of the glass doors, with a five dollar not in my hand.

"Hey" I said quietly. "Where the best bar in this god for saken town"

"Sir… I… have no idea…" he said, a little hot under the collar. I could tell that he did, by the size of the sweat drops running down his neck.

I slipped the five dollars into his hand and asked him again.

"3 blocks down. Take a right at the last intersection and you'll come across 'Joe's.'"

I nodded a quiet thanks and walked out of the precinct.

October 24 10: 15 am

Joe's.

"Scotch on the rocks" I said from the little seat behind the bar. The bar tender nodded and started to prepare my drink. From looking around the bar, there wasn't much to it. It was a small shack with lot's of smoke, a pool table in the middle and a small row of bar stools. From what I could tell, the place was pretty much deserted, unlike a typical New Yorken bar.

Behind me, a mysterious woman sat next to me on the stool. She had long black hair that overlapped her black cloak as it shadowed over most of her face. I turned to the little glass on the counter of which Joe had politely placed in front of me. I didn't take much notice to the woman, I had seen enough freaks to last me a life time, I didn't need to know her storey.

"What he's having" she said in a low voice. The bar tender nodded and fixed another glass.

Surprised I turned to look at her as she twiddled her thumbs, barely acknowledging my presence. I cleared my throat and pulled the file out of my jacket and began to open it, taking a sip of my scotch. And actually, it wasn't half as bad.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the bar tender lay the glass in front of the woman, and saw her pick it up. At first, I thought she hesitated to drink it, but she took a sip. Almost instantly, she coughed it back up and sat it all over my file.

"Hey!" I said angrily as I fanned the file trying to dry it.

"How can you drink this?!" she said in an alarmed tone. I looked at her confused. Just who was this girl and who did she think she was going and spitting scotch on people's case files?

"Excuse me?" I said as I turned to face her.

"How can you… that tastes so bitter! Geez you got to lighten up" she said as she pushed the glass away. And then it hit me. I smiled a "I can't believe it" smile and took a gulp of my scotch.

"No one forced you to drink it" I said, fiddling with the glass.

"Yes you did" she said in an alarmed voice.

"Oh?" I said with a laugh.

"I had to get your attention somehow." She said in a lower tone.

"A little tap on the shoulder or a hello would have been nicer" I said as I shrugged.

"Oh…" she said as she squirmed in her stool. "And like you would have listened, just like 7 years ago when I told you to land his sorry butt in jail." My smile disappeared and all I wanted now was to be somewhere else. She pulled off her cloak and revealed her presence that confirmed my suspicion. She had long black hair with a short front fringe and still that little bob at the top. She hadn't changed her clothes much, but she looked more like her sister as she had grown older.

"Maya" I said shocked. "Land his butt in jail? Are you crazy? I might as well have driven a knife into you"

And then she hit me. Across the face, she slapped me. Maya slapped me. And boy did it hurt.

"Ow!" I screeched. "What was that for?!"

"Don't' ever leave me again" she said as she hugged me tight. "Ever!"

I could feel her tears land on my face as she held me tight. So many emotions were circling inside me I didn't know which one was what I was feeling. But I hugged her back. I missed her, after 7 long years without a hawk like her over my shoulder. And I kind of missed that. I felt lonely without her.

"Maya I'm so sorry…" I started to say, but was cut off with another slap. "Ouch! Jesus can you stop slapping me already?!"

"Oh" she said whipping her eyes. "I'm so sorry Phoenix. It's just… well… I've been holding all that in for so long."

"But Maya" I said confused. "How did you know I was here?"

She smiled one of her devious smiles. "You'd be surprised how much a chief would tell with a little 5 dollars" she looked at me, then my case file, and my attorney's badge on my tee shirt collar.

"So" she said surprised. "The Phoenix is rising from the ashes once more, and strikes terror into all the prosecutors hearts once more, huh?"

"Thanks for the dramatic quote, but not exactly" I said as I gulped the rest of my scotch down. "Are you going to drink that?" I pointed to her glass.

"Huh?" she said shocked. "Then what are you doing here?"

"Can't a man say hi anymore?" I said as I reached for her glass.

"After seven years with a case file and attorney's badge? Nope." She said as she eyed the case file. She reached out and snatched it from my hands as he nearly tipped the glass over.

"Hey!" I said trying to retrieve it. "That's private"

Ignoring my plead, she opened the file up and started to read it. I saw her eyes widen and her mouth drop as her eyes skimmed the page.

"Oh brother" I muttered as I skulled the glass.

"YOU HAVE A SISTER?!" she yelled. "AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME?!"

"Now Maya" I said trying to calm her down. "Don't get too… Ouch!" I yelled as s he slapped me again. "I probably deserved that one."

"Phoenix what were you thinking?!" She said as she kept reading the file. "You chose of all things to hide from me about how you have a sister"

"I didn't hide anything from you" I said casually as she eyed me like she was going to go on a slapping rampage any minute. "She's not my sister. Not anymore. I haven't seen her in 18 years."

"18 years?" she repeated, unable to take in the news.

"Please Maya, I'd rather not…"

"Phoenix, I don't know what happened 18 years ago, but she's your sister. You can't leave her." She said seriously. Where did this come from? Like I needed her to tell me as well as the rest of the bloody world to tell me what I should do.

"Maya…" I tried to interrupt, but she kept on speaking over me.

"Phoenix, before Mia died, I rarely even saw her. The first night in forever that I came down from the village was the night I found her murdered. The biggest regret of my life was not being there for her, not being with her that night and every other night. Don't make the same mistake, Phoenix. Please." Her eyes began to fill with water as a look of plead and hurt came over her. I felt it hard to even think of saying no to a face like that, and really thought about it. I forgot about how devastating Mia's death was to her sister Maya, and being charged for her murder was worse. Maybe she was right.

"Ok, Maya"

"huh?" she said as she whipped her eyes.

"I'll stay, and I'll try." I said. Her eyes left it's gloom and came back to it's bright chocolate colour, full of joy.

"Y… you mean it?"

"I'll try Maya" I said as I pulled her into a hug. "I'll try for you. But I need your help."