"You didn't answer my question Mr. Nick." Pearl said when she and Phoenix were at home, eating some of Maya's world famous grilled cheese sandwiches. "What is a ver-jinn?"

Maya stifled a laugh. Ignoring her, Phoenix tried to come up with the right words without warping her fragile little mind. "You know where babies come from, right Pearls?"

"Yeah," She said between bites of her sandwich. "Mommy told me everything. When a husband and wife love each other…"

"Uh, yeah. It's like that."

"Oh I get it. A virgin is someone who doesn't have any kids. Mr. Larry is lonely and he wants to have a family of his own."

"Sorta."

Pearl smiled proudly. "So I'd be a virgin and so would Mystic Maya."

"Exactly." Maya said, amused with the whole conversation.

"And so would you, Mr. Nick."

"According to your definition, I am." Phoenix couldn't help feeling a little weirded-out and not just because Maya was laughing.

"So Nick, what's really going on?" Maya asked, as she watched Phoenix load up dishwasher after lunch.

"Nothing Maya."

"Don't play dumb with me. I know when you're hiding something from me."

"Do I have some psyche-locks on me or something?"

"No, I'm just that clever." Maya began to playfully wander around him with her hands hanging behind her back. "What could it be? Oh let me, guess. You're a woman trapped in a man's body." Phoenix nearly dropped a glass at her comment. "Just kidding. It's about Larry isn't it?" It took all of his resolve to keep the glass from slipping out of his hands for a second time. "Boy you're clumsy today, Nick." Gently taking the glass off of his hands, she motioned for him to move over so she could finish loading up the dish washer for him. As perfect of an opportunity as it would've been for him to run off, he was unable to. "Pearly told me everything about what happened at the park."

"I can't believe he went back to her." He sighed, leaning against the counter. "She's just going to dump him all over again."

"Maybe he doesn't know any better."

"Oh he does."

"I don't think so." Shutting the dishwasher with bump of her hip, she turned to Phoenix. "Love's been kicking his ass his entire life, that's all he knows." She propped herself up on so she was sitting next to him on the counter. "What he needs is a nice guy like you to set him straight."

"That's ridiculous. I'm just concerned for him, that's all."

"Are you Nick? Are you really? You've been acting pretty weird lately."

"Maybe I was just curious about channeling."

"Bull. I've seen this a hundred times before. You're obviously too enwrapped with your own macho labels to realize your feelings." Maya rushed into the bedroom she shared with Pearl and came back with an armful mangas that she dumped into Phoenix's arms. "Here, these mangas will clear everything up for you."

"Undergrand Hotel? Organic Sons? Wild Rock? Maya, this is gay smut."

"Hey, I resent that. This is high quality literature here. My pal Ema wouldn't send it to me it if weren't."

"Ema?" His mind flashed back to a certain brunette girl with an uncanny resemblance to his assistant. "Her last name wouldn't be Skye, would it?"

"Uh yeah. She's my e-mail pal. How do you know her?"

"She helped me on one of my cases while you were gone."

Maya gave out a small chuckle. "Small world." Her demeanor turned a little more serious as she turned to Phoenix. "But honestly, Nick, just think about what I said."

"I'll try."

She bowed than happily ran off. Ema just had to hear this.