As soon as the light is off and she hears Phoenix's footsteps fade down the hall, Maya allows herself a small smile. She pulls the blanket up over her face on the off chance Phoenix comes back, and turns on her side.

She can't stop reliving the entire night in her head. There's so much to focus on, but her mind continuously goes back to the kiss outside the restaurant. His eyes were so blue, his smile beautiful, and his hair surprisingly soft when she ran her fingers through it. Not to mention how handsome he'd looked wearing something other than his regular suit and tie she always saw him in. She feels like a teenager obsessing over her first kiss with her crush. After all, that is essentially what's happened, minus the teenager part.

And to make things even sweeter, he'd kissed her goodnight, thinking she was asleep. While the kiss at the restaurant was amazing, it was—only partially, she reminds herself—for Molly's benefit. She doesn't want to get too excited over it, in case it does end up being nothing but part of their ploy to trick her. But the kiss on her forehead… He didn't need to do that. He just did, because he wanted to.

She touches her lips softly with her fingertips. What she wouldn't give to kiss him again. She pulls the blanket back down to her neck. The apartment is dark now, no sound of Phoenix getting ready for bed. He's probably in his bedroom by now.

Maya sighs and turns over again. She has no experience with romantic relationships. She doesn't know how to let him know that she wants this to be real. She wants it to be real more than anything in the world right now. It's all she's wanted for years, she realizes. She can't pinpoint when exactly she started feeling this way. He's done so much for her over the years that it all seems to bunch together into one big ball of feelings.

But she knows she loves him. She can't deny that anymore. She loves him so much. She's always loved him in one way or another. As her guardian and protector, as her best friend, and now as so much more.

She's nervous now that the trial is over. They may not be seeing much of Molly anymore, and that almost makes Maya sad. She doesn't want to go back to Kurain any time soon. She wants to stay in the city with Phoenix. She wants to stay and figure out how to tell him how she feels.

She closes her eyes. She doesn't think she's going to be able to sleep, but she has to try.

She does sleep, and she dreams. She dreams about him. Kissing him again, deeper and more meaningful. She dreams about him touching her, fingers gliding down the curve of her back, hands sliding over her bare shoulders, down to her waist where he can pull her closer against his chest.

She closes her eyes as his lips press against hers again, as they kiss down her neck and into the crook of her shoulder. Her hands press against his chest, suddenly touching warm skin instead of the fabric of his shirt. "Nick…"

"Maya…"

"Nick…"

"Maya?"

Her eyes pop open, and she jumps when she realizes the real Phoenix, not her dream version, is kneeling on the floor in front of her, a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry to wake you so suddenly," he says, smiling. "Were you dreaming?"

"Uh… yeah, sorry." He stands up, and she's grateful he doesn't ask her what exactly she'd been dreaming about. She sits up, the blankets falling down into her lap. "What time is it?"

"Only 9 am. I know it's early, but your phone was ringing. You must have left it in my room the other night when you were drunk. It woke me up."

He holds her pink smart phone out to her, the Steel Samurai keychain dangling from it, and she takes it. "Oh yeah. I forgot to bring it to the restaurant yesterday. Thanks." She unlocks the screen to check her missed calls, and sighs. "It's from Kurain."

"Pearls?"

"No. Probably one of the Elders. I have to call them."

He nods. "Well, I'm going to make some coffee and breakfast. Trucy isn't up yet but I'm sure the smell of food will wake her."

He leaves, giving her privacy to make her phone call. Maya stretches, wishing she had changed out of her dress before falling asleep. She yawns and dials the number to the head elder in Kurain.

It rings only a few times before the sweet old voice of Mystic Lucy answers. "Hey Mystic Lucy," Maya says, stifling another yawn. "You called?"

"Oh, yes, Mystic Maya! I'm so glad I managed to get ahold of you. When will you be coming back to Kurain Village? We don't mind that you go to assist Mr. Wright every now and then but don't most trials only last three days?"

Maya shifts on the couch. "Uh, yeah, the trial is over. We won."

"That's wonderful news, Mystic Maya!" Lucy says excitedly. "Now when can we expect you home? We need our leader, you know. There's so much to do, and you know certain clients will only use the services of the Master. Some of them are just so entitled, they refuse to let an acolyte channel for them. Even Mystic Pearl, your second-in-command is often denied by them!"

"How is Pearly?" Maya interrupts. Lucy could go on forever about anything, and all Maya wants to do is avoid the topic of her coming home.

"Oh, she's doing amazingly, as usual, Mystic Maya. She still insists on training every day even though we both know she doesn't need it. She says she needs to work just as hard as you did during your training in Khura'in if she wants to be as good as you someday."

Maya smiles. Now that she's the Master no one would say so, but Pearl has always been a more talented spirit medium than she has. Pearl could have taken over as the Master by the time she was ten years old if she needed to. Thankfully she never had to. Pearl surpassed her long ago. Maya is the one who needs to continue practicing and training herself even now, to be sure she doesn't fall behind.

"Pearly always was a good student."

"Yes, she really is. Now, about you coming home?"

Maya sighs and turns on the couch to look back into the small kitchenette where Phoenix is staring at the stove, watching over the eggs he's cooking. She smiles. He was never a good cook back in their early days, but years of taking care of Trucy have made him learn.

She doesn't want to go back, but she can't think of a good enough excuse to give to Lucy to let her stay longer. She knows she loves him and she knows she wants to stay, but she can't. She has responsibilities in Kurain. At home. The Wright Anything Agency is not her home, much as she sometimes wishes it was. Besides, maybe a week or two there will give her time to think on her feelings, and give her time to figure out how to let him know, to make sure what she's feeling is real and not just infatuation after a nice kiss.

"I guess I could probably take this afternoon's train and be back by this evening," she finally says, albeit reluctantly.

"That would be great, Mystic Maya," Lucy tells her. "We look forward to having our Master back."

"Mhm. I'll see you later, Mystic Lucy."

She hangs up, letting the feeling of disappointment settle on her shoulders. She can't let it weigh her down too much, though. She sets her phone on the table with a clunk and gets up to head into the kitchen, putting on a happy face.

Phoenix glances at her as she moves to stand beside him, looking down at the cooking eggs, now with bacon added to the pan. "So domestic," she says. "I'm really glad you can cook, Nick. I don't think I could date a guy who doesn't know how to cook."

He raises an eyebrow. "Well, I do have a teenaged daughter. I guess cooking breakfast is a bit domestic. All I'm missing is the real girlfriend, right?"

"I suppose so."

She sits down at the small table in the kitchen, sitting back to watch him. He's still wearing flannel pyjama bottoms and a white t-shirt from sleep, his hair looks a bit fluffier than usual, and she can see the dark shadow of overnight stubble on his jaw. Maya smiles to herself. It's not the first time she's seen him like this. They used to spend nights together regularly before Trucy came along, before he was disbarred and that whole fiasco with Kristoph Gavin happened.

Back then she found him cute, in a dorky sort of way, especially when he'd wake up in the morning and make her pop tarts or waffles for breakfast. Anything you could put in a toaster, really. He's still a huge dork, but he's not cute anymore. He's handsome now. Aged like fine wine, as they say. He doesn't look old, in fact he still looks rather young for 35, but there's a certain amount of wisdom and an air of confidence to him now that was never there when he was still a rookie.

Plus, he can cook. If that's not an attractive quality in a man then Maya isn't sure what is.

Phoenix glances at her. "So, is everything okay in Kurain?"

Maya blinks. "Oh, yes. Um, actually, they sort of need me back there soon."

"How soon?" he finally asks, looking back to the cooking food. She's not sure, but she thinks she almost sees a look of worry pass over his face before he turns away.

"I told them I could take this afternoon's train and be back by this evening."

Phoenix is quiet for a few seconds while he concentrates on flipping an egg. "Don't you think that's a little soon?"

"Well, the trial is over. We won. I don't think you'll be seeing Molly again, for a while at least."

"But… what if she's keeping tabs on me? Don't you think it'd look a little suspicious if you go home the day right after the trial?"

Maya purses her lips. "Maybe… But we did tell her we were sort of in a long distance relationship. Besides, I'm sure that kiss last night convinced her."

He sighs. "Maybe. It's only been a few days though, I thought maybe you could stay a bit longer so we can just hang out without worrying about seeing her."

"Sorry, Nick. Apparently they really need me."

He keeps his face turned away, staring down at the crackling bacon and eggs. "Yeah. Sorry. I know, you have a job and people to take care of now. I guess I just miss when you and Pearls would hang out here at the office more often."

She smiles sadly. She misses it too. Before she can say anything, toast she didn't know was toasting pops up from over on the counter and Phoenix grabs the pieces quickly, throwing them onto a plate. He plops her eggs and bacon beside them and sets the plate in front of her. "Enjoy. I'm going to go wake up Trucy. I'll be right back."

She nods and picks up her fork, ready to dig in as Phoenix heads down to Trucy's bedroom. She's about halfway done before either of them come back.

"Sorry," Phoenix says, going back to the stove to get the rest of the food, probably half cold now. "Trucy was showing me a new magic trick."

Trucy nods happily as she sits down to wait for her food. Maya smiles. "Oh! Can I see it?"

Trucy balks. "Um, actually, not yet. Sorry, Miss Maya. It's not right yet."

"Yeah," Phoenix nods his agreement. "Sorry, Maya. I'm the only one who gets to see Trucy's tricks before she's perfected them."

Maya huffs, biting into a piece of bacon. "Fine then."

Phoenix and Trucy are still eating when Maya finishes. She brings her plate to the sink to drop it in. "I'm gonna go get changed," she says. "I shouldn't have slept in this dress. It's going to be so wrinkly."

Phoenix nods, mouth full. "Mhm."

"Miss Maya, I washed your robes! They're in the back room on top of the dryer. I didn't know if I should dry them so I let them air dry. They should be good now."

"Thank you, Trucy!"

Once she's changed into her more comfortable master's robes, she makes her way back into the living room. She can hear Phoenix and Trucy talking in hushed whispers in the kitchen. She's curious, but decides not to get closer to eavesdrop. She drops into the couch and moves to flick the TV on, but is interrupted by the chirping of her cell phone.

She rolls her eyes. What could Mystic Lucy need now?

She picks it up and presses the green accept button. "Hello?"

"Mystic Maya!"

Maya blinks in surprise. "Hey Pearly. What's up? Is everything okay?"

"Of course, Mystic Maya! Everything is great here. Mystic Lucy told me you were coming home later today, and I just thought that was way too soon! You've only been there three days, and that hasn't been long enough for you to make time to spend with your special someone! Especially since you were in court for two of those days."

"I wish I could stay longer, Pearly," Maya says, for once not denying Pearl's 'special someone' exclamation, "but I need to come home. I have responsibility there."

Pearl hums. "I already told Mystic Lucy I would work extra hard while you're gone, so she agreed it would be okay if you stayed a little longer with Mr. Nick. Some of the clients won't be happy, but she said as long as I deal with them, she doesn't mind."

"Pearly… You didn't have to do that."

"I'm happy to do it for you and Mr. Nick."

Maya smiles into the phone. "Thank you, Pearly. To be honest, I did want to stay longer to visit Nick some more. You wouldn't believe the last few days we've had. It's been crazy."

"You should stay as long as you want. Nothing should get in the way of true love."

Maya sighs. "You're right, Pearly. Thank you again. I'll see you next week sometime."

"Okay. Goodbye Mystic Maya! Tell Mr. Nick and Trucy I said hi!"

"I will. Bye, Pearly."

She hangs up, stuffing her phone into her sleeve this time. She's in a much better mood as she makes her way back to the kitchen. Trucy and Phoenix stop talking as soon as she comes in. She decides to ignore their suspicious behaviour, and sits back down across from them at the table.

"Good news, Nick!" she says.

"Hm? What would that be?"

"I'm staying a little longer, so you'll get to hang out with me some more," she tells him, smiling happily.

His eyes practically light up, and he exchanges a glance with Trucy before looking back at her. "That's great, Maya."

"Mhm! So, Nick… What are we going to do today?"

He sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I need to take a shower before anything, but I'm sure you'll find something to entertain us."

The thought of him in the shower makes her mind jump to certain things they could do for entertainment, but they're the type of things that make her blush and her stomach feel funny, so she puts those out of her mind and taps her chin. There's plenty to do in the city, she knows she can think of something a little more appropriate.

The day is fun, but uneventful. Now that Trucy is old enough to not need supervision all the time, it feels much like how it used to be. Just the two of them, having lunch together at a fast food joint and then finding something else to do to kill the time until they go back to Phoenix's apartment for dinner.

Still, it doesn't feel as comfortable as it used to. Where before she would take his hand or grab his arm to drag him somewhere, it now feels awkward. She can't decide what's appropriate now; what's just friendly and what's part of their dating act, an act which they don't need to keep up with when Molly isn't around, but that they've grown used to. It's all very confusing.

They go to bed that night after watching a movie together, and Maya manages to work up the courage to cuddle up to him during it. She always used to, even when there wasn't any sort of tension between them, so she doesn't know why it should be any different now.

Phoenix says nothing as she rests against him, and she spends more of the movie listening to his breathing and paying attention to his subtle movements and how good he smells than paying attention to the movie itself. When it's over he bids her goodnight, reminding her that they have to go to the airport to pick up Athena tomorrow. She changes into shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in and goes to bed on the couch again.

The next day, Maya manages to wake up first and get to the bathroom to shower and dress before anyone else. She spends the rest of the morning eating and watching TV with Trucy while Phoenix phones Athena every hour or so to get updates on her flight, which is supposed to be arriving sometime in the afternoon.

Athena is more than capable of making her own way back from the airport, but Phoenix being Phoenix has offered to help her with her luggage and simply wants to make sure she gets home safe. Maya smiles when she overhears him tell her that. Athena is like another daughter to him, and Maya knows he's missed her absence, but really, the most dangerous part of the journey is over. She's made it all the way back from Europe, and unless their car crashes on the way from the airport, she's going to be fine.

Phoenix has to talk Trucy out of coming with them. Neither of them can drive, so they have to take a taxi, and with Athena's luggage it's already going to be a tight fit. Trucy pouts a little, but when Phoenix takes her into the other room to, as Maya believes, scold her for talking back to him, she comes back seeming much happier than before he'd talked to her. Maya yet again marvels at Phoenix's parenting ability. How often can a father scold his daughter only to have her smiling right after? Maya thinks it's more likely that he bribed her with money or the promise of bringing her something home than actual discipline, but she supposes he has to use whatever works.

They head out just after lunch, catching a taxi and making small talk on the way to the airport. Maya carries with her a sign that Trucy made, welcoming Athena back to the country. It feels a little funny, since she and Athena aren't that close to begin with, but she finds it cute how excited Trucy is to welcome her friend back home, even if she's only been gone a week.

They wait inside the terminal as the passengers get off the plane and make their way inside. Phoenix points when he notices Athena's unmistakeable bright yellow blazer and her red hair bobbing along.

"There she is," he says.

Maya holds up the sign above her head, and Phoenix chuckles. She looks at him. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just funny."

"Why is it funny?"

"You're so short," he states.

She puffs her cheeks out. "Hmph. Then why don't you hold it?"

He shakes his head. "Trucy gave it to you. Don't worry, you're doing a good job," he says, waving. "She sees us."

Athena makes her way over with her carry on over her shoulder. She grins at the sign. "Hey Ms. Fey! I love the sign. Let me guess, Trucy made it?"

Maya nods. "Yep. She wanted to come but Nick invited me since I haven't been around in a while."

Athena nods and looks at Phoenix. "So you did need her help for the trial, huh? Did you win?"

"Yes, we won."

"Kind of," Maya clarifies. "Our client was innocent, but we never did figure out who the actual culprits were. They're still out there."

Athena frowns. "Darn. Oh well, I guess all that matters is you proved your client innocent. That's good news, at least." She looks at Maya again. "Are you staying for a bit longer, Ms. Fey?"

Maya nods. "Yep. It's been a while since I've had time to hang out with Nick, and Pearly is taking care of things in Kurain, so I'm staying a few more days."

Athena smiles, glancing between the two of them. Maya shifts uncomfortably. She knows all about Athena's special hearing, and she wonders just what exactly her words are telling Athena about her feelings towards Phoenix. She trusts Athena not to say anything, she doesn't exactly use her powers to embarrass people, but the simple fact that Athena probably knows exactly what's going on just from those few simple words is embarrassing enough.

They make their way to pick up Athena's luggage, which Phoenix carries for her despite Athena protesting that she's in better physical shape than he is, and then head back out to their waiting taxi. Athena insists on sitting up front, so Maya and Phoenix crawl into the back seat together.

"So," Athena starts as the taxi pulls away from the curb. "What have you two been up to, besides court of course?"

"Not much."

"Nothing really."

Phoenix and Maya look at each other when their answers come almost simultaneously. Athena turns in her seat to glance at them behind her. "Come on, something interesting must have happened," she pushes. "I've read about all of your court cases together, you know," she says, addressing Maya. "It seemed only fitting to read about the early days of the great Phoenix Wright when I accepted his job offer two years ago, and you were mentioned in almost every single case, Ms. Fey. Something crazy always happened. Don't tell me this is the only time you've actually had a normal trial?"

Maya smiles, feeling a bit like a celebrity. "Well, the new prosecutor is kind of… interesting."

Athena's eyebrows raise. "A new prosecutor?" She looks at Phoenix. "Who was it, Boss?"

"Her name is Molly Hott—"

Athena gasps. "I've seen her around! She's new but she already has a really good reputation. And she's beautiful too."

"Beauty isn't everything, Athena," Phoenix says.

Athena looks at Maya and frowns. "Huh? He has seen her, right?"

Maya chuckles. "Oh yeah. Honestly, Athena, you wouldn't believe the trouble she's given us this week."

"But you won your case, so she couldn't have been that terrible, right?"

Maya sighs, and Phoenix crosses his arms. "She's pretty terrible," he states.

Maya smiles again. She can't deny how much she loves hearing him disparage Molly. Molly is exactly the type of woman that Maya has always been jealous of, but knowing that Phoenix doesn't find her attractive in the slightest makes her very happy.

"I need more context," Athena says, looking at Maya again. "We have a while before we get to my apartment, mind telling me about it?"

Phoenix purses his lips. "Okay, fine. As long as I can trust you not to tell Pearl or Trucy about any of this."

Athena's eyes light up. "Ooh, a secret? My lips are sealed."

"Are you okay with it, Maya?"

Maya nods. "Yeah, Nick. You can tell her. Honestly, it'll feel good to let someone know."

Maya sits back and lets Phoenix tell Athena all about the past few days. The trial, Molly's incessant flirting, and their fake relationship scheme. Maya doesn't miss how he skips over their kiss at the restaurant, though.

She also doesn't miss how intently Athena listens to him, or how her face changes as he tells her everything. What starts out as an excited smile at the promise of a juicy secret slowly fades into something more… knowing.

When Phoenix finally finishes, telling Athena that he doesn't think they'll see much more of Molly now that the trial is over, Athena nods and turns back around in her seat.

"It sounds like you two have had quite the week," she says. There's a pause, before she adds onto that thought. "Your secrets are safe with me, by the way."

This time, what Maya does miss, is Athena's plurality of the word 'secret'.

A/N: Well, the fic isn't finished yet, but I'm a few chapters ahead, so I figured I could start posting again. I should have a much more regular updating schedule for the next few weeks. I'll probably post a chapter every two weeks for now.

I got a lot of super nice reviews on the last chapter so I just wanted to give another big thank you to everyone for that! It really, really helps motivate me when I know people love what I'm writing, so thank you!