I feel so at peace. It had been months since I'd last seen Maya. But yesterday she called out of the blue to say that she could come visit and when she arrived it was like no time had passed at all.

I look around my room. We've been together so long now that the snapshots she sends me have overtaken two walls and the ceiling of my room, or my hovel, as she insists on calling it. It doesn't feel like a hovel when she's here. That's for sure.

I hope Trucy didn't notice Maya and I creep in here together. Trucy's asleep in the next room, but I try not to worry too much about hiding any of this from Trucy anymore. Pearls and her both know that Maya and I are dating. If that's the right word…I'm not really sure. I wish I could say engaged, but that hasn't happened yet, and it's my fault, of course. Oh, well. She's here with me now, what does any of the rest of it matter?

Maya's not really into traditional romance but tonight we lit a couple candles and she looks so beautiful bathed in the flickering candlelight as she sleeps. She's lying next to me her head resting on a pillow just an inch or so from me, the bed sheets just barely shielding her cleavage from my view. She looks like a work of art, a really sexy work of art, except that I can see her chest raising and falling. I lean down to give her a kiss and I hear a voice…

"Phoenix!"

I leap up from my bed. Maya has never called me Phoenix in her life, not even when she's mad at me.

She sits up in the bed and it's not Maya anymore. It's Mia.

"Phoenix, what is going on?"

I grab my boxers off the floor and pull them on while simultaneously trying to get as far from Mia and her naked body as I can. I mean technically it's Maya's body, but it sure doesn't look like Maya's body not with those intimidating large curves that are pointed my way.

As I back away in shock and embarrassment at seeing my former boss naked, Mia seems for the first time to comprehend the state of the body she has been channeled into and lifts the bed sheet to cover herself.

Now that she's covered up I feel a little better. I never saw her naked while she was alive and it's even weirder to see now that she's dead.

"Hi, Chief!" I try to play it off like this isn't a highly unusual visit. The ghosts of my former bosses come visit me in bed all the time, naked.

She looks at me sternly and asks, "Phoenix, what is going on with you and Maya?"

I grimace. I've always wondered what Mia would think about me and Maya being together, but now that I'm in a position to actually find out I'm feeling like I don't really want to know after all.

"I suppose denial is out of the question at this point," I say this trying to get a laugh out of her, but instead Mia continues her seriousness.

"Well, considering I'm in Maya's body and it's in your bed and it doesn't have any clothes on I would agree that denial is not the best strategy."

I take a deep breath and go to sit on the bed next to her. I don't really want to be that close to her but in my hovel there's no other option. The space is too small for a chair so the only place to sit is the bed.

I rub my face with my hand for a moment and then breathing a sigh I say, "Maya and I are in love."

Mia smirks. "Tell me something I don't already know."

I didn't really expect that reaction and it piques my curiosity.

"Mia, I don't mean to be rude, but why are you here? Why did Maya channel you now?" I emphasis the now. Even for Maya this seems strange. If she wanted me to talk to her sister about us wouldn't it have been better when, say we were both dressed, for example?

"Maya didn't channel me. Our bond is close enough that I can come when I feel I need to as long as she is calm and at peace enough not to fight it."

I smirk a little. Of course, when would Maya and I be more at peace than when we were together and have just made love.
"But, Phoenix, she has been blocking me. And I want to know what is going on."

I'm not really sure where to begin.

"Well, Mia, I don't really know how much you see…"

"On the other side I get mainly feelings, vibes, the auras of things happening and sometimes those yet to happen and that's why I'm here. Maya is deeply troubled."

"You just said she was calm and at peace!"

Mia grins at me. "She just had sex, with her knight in shining armor no less. What do you expect?"

I guess I can't claim that Maya and I have simply become nudists.

"So, tell me about you and Maya." Mia's eyes meet mine and I feel as though she is looking deep into my soul. It's a kind of penetration I've never known before and I squirm.

"I love Maya and we're together."

"But you're not really together are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Where are we?"

"This is my room. Well, it's really a closet I converted into a room when I adopted Trucy, my daughter."

"Why are you locked in here?"

"Well, we're kind of keeping our relationship a secret."

"And why is that, Phoenix?"

I knew this was coming.

"There's a bunch of reasons. Trucy's caseworker would have found my relationship with Maya inappropriate, the elders limit Maya's contact with me because she's Master now, and Maya and I both have work to do. That last case is still unsolved. The turnabout hasn't happened yet, Mia, and call me paranoid, but somebody's going to die before it's over. And I'll be damned if it's Trucy or Maya."

Mia looks at me. She is continuing to scan my thoughts or my emotions or something and I think my answer was too fast, too rehearsed for her liking.

"It's hard for me to get a sense of the passage of time on the other side. Phoenix, how long has this little arrangement been going on?"

I gulp. "Five years."

Mia nods her understanding.

"Phoenix, there are some things you don't understand about my sister. One is the depth of her love for you. I have no doubt that you love her, but you need to be fair to her. You are forcing her to lie to her family. You are denying her the ability to have a normal life. She will do anything for you and I don't think that will ever change, but that is not a good thing for her. Surely you can't think this relationship qualifies as healthy?"

"It's functional." I grunt. I can't believe she's doing this, especially after five years. It's not like Maya or I could just call this thing off at this point. Our lives are hopelessly intertwined, secretly of course.

And here I've craved seeing Mia. Longed for her advice and now that she's here she's lecturing me about my relationship with Maya. How dare she!

"Phoenix, Maya is sad…"

"Well, I'm sad too. I wish we could be together every moment, but that's not how life works. At least not right now and Maya isn't a little kid anymore. I've talked to her about this and she insists that this is what she wants. I'm not forcing her to do anything!"

"You don't have to force her. You're like a drug to her. She will do whatever she has to do to be with you and to make you happy even at the expense of her own happiness."

My nostrils flare. I can't believe I'm hearing this.

"Come on, Phoenix you know it's true. She's already admitted to you she did it once." I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Iris. We seem haunted by my mistake.

"Look I don't like you comparing our love to some kind of addiction. We help each other. We support each other."

"No, Phoenix. She helps YOU. She takes care of YOU. Phoenix how much does she talk to you about HER life. Her challenges, her hopes and dreams? It is always about you. Her spirit is being drained from her because she is supporting you and her spirit is growing weary of it, but she won't say it. She will live this way forever. There is no limit to her devotion to you. Phoenix, you must realize that and you must quit being selfish."

"Are you telling me to break up with her?!" I'm furious.

Mia doesn't answer me directly instead she says, "Think of her. How much of this is your pride getting in the way?"

I put my head in my hands and start balling. I glance over to look at Maya, but of course she isn't where she was. She isn't really anywhere, because Mia is here. It makes me feel very alone and I feel chills going up and down me that I've never felt around a channeled spirit before.

"Ok, ok, so I have some pride. So, I don't feel like she should be with a disgraced former lawyer. I mean what I said, Mia. I've been hoping you would come to help me. I need your help to clear up this case. I need you!"

"No, Phoenix. You're the one who must do what needs to be done. Both with the case and with Maya."

Once again I twist my head searching for the vision of my peaceful Maya as she was just a few minutes ago. "Mia, I can't break up with her. I can't. I think I'll die."

Mia wraps her arm around me. "And what does that say about you? Don't you think Maya deserves to not have those kinds of things on her conscious? She is worried about you all the time. I feel her scheming to find ways to bring you happiness while she toils away at a job she hates, but you don't help her. You only take."

I'm balling and Mia's accusations or advice or comfort or whatever she thinks she is doing isn't what I need. I need Maya. I need MY Maya back.

"I want Maya back. Give her back to me. I need her." I'm feeling an enormous rage swelling within me. She wasn't invited. She shouldn't be here and by her coming she has taken what is most precious to me away. My whole body is shaking and my hands are forming into fists.

Mia looks sad. "Phoenix, if you insist on continuing this secret relationship with my sister you should know bad things are going to happen. I can sense that things will get worse. Maya will become more unhappy. She will lose her faith in you."

"But we'll get though it, won't we? Please, Mia, please tell me we have a chance at being together." I'm panicked. I can barely breath. If I can't have Maya in my life I'm giving up.

"If I told you that you don't would it make any difference?"

I shake my head.

"Maya says we're in this together."

"For better or for worse?" Mia mocks me a little.

"Mia, just because things didn't work for you and Diego-"

Mia's face looks so pained at the mention of his name.

"Mia, Mia, I'm sorry."

"Phoenix, you've changed."

"But Maya helps me to remember who I really am."

"Well, good luck to her then and good luck to you both. You're going to need it."

And she lies down in the bed and her form slowly shrinks until it is once again Maya who is snoozing in my bed.

I wipe the tears away from my eyes and try to slow my racing heart. I eventually quit tremoring and climb back in bed. I feel the need to touch Maya to reassure myself that it really is her. Ever so gently I brush her silky hair away from her face.

"Hhhhmmm. What's going on?" She murmurs.

"Oh, Mia just came for a visit."

Maya's eyes open a little and she looks at me adoringly. "Really? What'd she say?"

"She said she's very happy for us."

Maya smiles and sleepily rubs her head into my chest.

"Oh, good. I knew she would be."

And the lies keep piling up.