((Don't own it. Trying hard to make it good. All reviews humbly accepted. Thank you. Yes OOCness. It's just what's eating my brain. Im starting to feel like I'm butchering it, I don't know. just insecure. Please just let me know what you think. PM and reviews are always gratefully accepted. Also check out my little fluff peice SPR on Twitter.))

Mai felt like she was moving through a dream. Only Naru's arm around her shoulders kept her from floating from the earth. Naru..

"Is that what I should call him," she mused. What name is he using this time? Mai had so many questions and no voice to ask them. Every so often the man she was walking with would pull her to him and kiss her or just touch her face gently. Almost as if reminding himself she's real.

The face he wore reminded her of the dream Naru, no, Gene she reminded herself. He had a slight smile and seemed..happy. Clearly Mai had died or was dreaming, but the feel of her key brought her back to earth.

Didn't she hate him? When they reached her door she turned to him and looked at him. Did she hate him? This morning she had. During lunch she did as well. Over dinner the hate she felt was a knot in her chest, but now?

Now she loved him. She had loved him while she hated him. That's how come she hated him after all.

Mai opened her door and reached him to turn on the light. She walked over the threshold and turned to him without a word. He swallowed and took the step into her home and shut the door.

They looked at each other for a moment and then she was gathered into his arms and kissing him with abandon. She bit his lip and was rewarded with a moan from him.

Strong hands worked their way into her hair and pulled the pins holding it in place. Once released her hair fell in a silken curtain and framed her face. She gasped when he ran his fingers down her arm and was leaning into his lips when she felt his fingers close around her wrist.

"NO!"

Oliver was touching Mai's skin and kissing her lips. His every dream was coming true and he was going to pull her fingers to his lips to kiss but as his fingers closed around Mai's wrist she screamed at him.

Mai jerked violently away from him and he tried to reach for her, "What's wrong Ma..". His voice trailed off as his fingers brushed against her arm. She pulled further away collapsing on the floor and started sobbing. She was hysterical. 'What had he done wrong?'

"Don't touch me, Please don't touch me!" She yelled at him and when he tried to touch her and curled into a tight ball.

"Mai...Oh Mai tell me what's wrong. Please Mai.." He kneeled down and reached a trembling hand towards her. She pulled herself impossibly tighter.

"Please, please just don't touch me." Mai refused to meet his eyes. Her reached for and as his finger tips touched her skin he got a rush of images.

Oliver had never enjoyed his secondary ability. Psychometry was unpredictable. Sometimes he could hold an object and it was just that but others it would be a gateway to something else entirely.

Oliver was helplessly hurled into Mai's memory. He could smell the damp ground and saw the boy standing over her. He felt her terror and what followed. He drew his hand back as if burned. She had been hurt so badly. It broke his heart to see the woman he'd loved for so long hurting so badly now almost as badly as she had then.

"Mai." He couldn't really say anything else. When she looked at him through her tears he saw he was crying as well. He moved across the floor to sit next to her and pulled her to his chest. She pounded her fist against his shoulder and burrowed her chin into the crook of his neck.

Oliver wrapped both of his arms around her and placed a kiss to her temple. "I'm sorry I wasn't there. I should have been there. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Mai." He soothed his fingers over her face over and over again whispering lowly to her till she cried herself out in his arms.

Oliver was afraid to move and wake her up. He leaned his head back against the cabinet and pulled Mai closer to is chest. He squeezed his eyes shut to block out what he'd seem.

Coor, he really Fucked it up this time. She was so hurt. She had been raped when his foolish pride had him walked away. How could he ever hope to be with her now. She should hate him. He hated himself. He wanted to kill those three boys. Whenever he thought about it his PK stretched out and something broke. He'd cracked her computer monitor, wall mirror, and a table top vase, her balcony sliding door now boor a huge crack.

Mai whimpered in her sleep and he scooped her close to his heart and carried her to the couch. Pulling the thin blanket off the back he arranged it around them as he sat down with Mai still cradled to his chest. He sighed and kissed her once again, gently on her cheek and turned to watch the stars out her window.

Mai found herself in a dream for the first time in three years. She was walking through the mists towards a tall shadow. As she drew closer she saw the kind smile on the still seventeen year old boys lips.

"Gene.."

"Hello Mai," a sweet smile.

"What are you doing here! Why haven't you passed on?"

Another smile, and he took her by the hand. "Come on."

As they walked through the mist she saw a house becoming clearer.

"Why are we here Gene? What do I need to see."

"Shh," he whispered. "Look" He extended his hand to point to a window and Mai realized they were right outside of it now. Furniture was levitating around a little girl who was sleeping in the small bed. Dolls swirled around in an invisible whirlwind and the only thing left not moving in the room was the little girl that seemed to be the epicenter of the chaos. Mai watched a a dark figure filled the door way. The chaos stopped as the specter moved closer to the little girl and settled over her. Before she could process the scene she was seeing she was back in the nothing mist with seventeen year old Gene.

"You need to help her."

"Who, how can I help her when I don't even know what's going on!" She yelled at him. "You think you just get to show up and show creepy things again and I have to jump and do it! You've been gone three years buddy! I'm not his assistant anymore." Gene smiled serenely while she yelled, his face never changing.

"No. You're so much more. Just help her. I know you'll help her. You've always had a good heart." With that he was gone and Mai was thrown out of the dream. As she woke she felt warmer than she thought was normal.

Mai was mumbling in her sleep and he held her close to him. "Shh, shh." He soothed "It's ok Mai, it's ok." As she opened her eyes she pursed her lips at him. She brought her fingers up and rubbed her eyes and leaned her head back to blink a few times.

"I saw Gene," she whispered quietly. All Oliver could do was nod and watch her. He wanted desperately to ask why Gene hadn't passed on but chose for once to keep his mouth shut.

"Mai, I..we need to..Oh Mai please forgive me. My stupid pride..I was so afraid." He was rambling but for the first time in his life he was just didn't know what to do or say.

She stood up and put her back to him as she took a few steps towards her balcony. She stopped when she saw the jagged break that split the glass from top to bottom. She turned towards him with a shocked look and raised her eyebrows and shook her head.

"You're paying for that," she said and her tone reminded him of the old Mai who'd take him to task at the drop of the hat. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her eyes sparkled for a moment. He made a silent vow to do anything he could to bring the fire back to her.

"There's a little girl that needs our help Naru. I don't pretend to understand, and I know I'm not as smart as you but I can help her. I've got to do this." She looked at him as if daring him to contradict her.

"Mai, I should of never said.."

"Save it." She interrupted. "You. Me. Right now it's just not important. Ayako's marrying Monk in the morning. I'm going to get up, get my hair and make up done, get pictures taken, stand up for my two best friends in the world, eat, drink and be merry then I'm going to find the little girl from my dream and figure out what's hurting her."

"And me, what would you have me do Mai?"

Naru turned the most hopefully sad eyes to look at Mai and she felt her resolve start to weaken and bit her lip as she turned away to once more take in the damage to her home. She felt as if the earth was coming tilted off it's axis as she tried to wrap her head around the events of the last few hours. Dr. Oliver Davis had kissed her and stoked her hair. He held her so gently when she cried that she felt as if she were made of glass.

The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth as she worried on her lip more and thought back to the little girl in her dream. She hadn't seen the dream child being hurt but she knew that she was. The black shadow that had been near her had radiated pain and evil. It made Mai's stomach churn to remember it. She and Naru had so much between them that needed figuring out but as desperately as she wanted to know what he had been doing last night and what his whispered promises had meant it would have to wait. The girl in her dream needed her. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't do something.

"You, Naru," She paused drawing in a shaky breath, "I don't even know what to call you. I'm not the poor little orphan girl anymore. I don't need your 'empathy' anymore. As you can see I've been doing just fine for the last few years. I have my own home, friends who actually do love me and I'm going to be done my degree this semester. I'm not stupid little Mai anymore who is only good to make the great ghost hunter's tea."

She felt her voice rising but she couldn't bring herself to care. After holding everything in for the last few years it would feel good to unload on him. "And just look at this mess. You're gonna replace all this stuff you narcissist!" Mai was tired and even though she was very upset the exhaustion was starting to sneak into her voice. She sounded weary and sad. All she wanted to do was go to bed and forget this evening had ever happened. Her life had seemed so much more clear just a week ago. Mai knew exactly what she was doing and where she was going. Now he was back and she felt herself being pulled into the his orbit.

"Naru. Please, call me Naru." He said simply, his eyes never leaving her form. She noticed the way his eyes followed her lips and his usual easy confidence had seemingly fled. His fall of the pedestal had been complete. The great Dr. Oliver Davis was now just a mere mortal like her. She felt something deep inside her soften.

"I'm going to bed," she said turning on her heel and walking down a short hall towards an open door. Pausing just before she went in she cast a casual glance over she shoulder and smirked. "Coming?"

She heard the couch groan beneath him as he stood up and the slight creaking when he stepped on the uneven board in the hall. When he came up behind her he placed a delicate kiss on the top of her shoulder. Mai sighed and allowed herself to enjoy the sensation of his lips on her skin before crossing the small room to her bed. She climbed in and moved all the way over. Without a word she lifted her quilt for him. As he slid in next to her Mai turned her back to him and drew the blanket to her chest. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding when she felt his solid chest connect to her back and an arm snake around her waste. His breath mingled with her hair and neither of then said a word. Nothing really needed to be said. Mai was struck by the feeling of how very right this felt.

"I'll see you in the morning Naru."

"Goodnight Mai."

"And Naru?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't hog the covers." She told him as sleep began to overtake her.