A/N: This is one of my favourite chapters so far. :)

Together, Phoenix and Molly head outside. An officer has to escort them through the broken glass of the front windows and doors. It's nice to be out in the fresh air after something so terrifying. It appears that thanks to the firefight with the police, there are a few people injured, and they're being rushed out as the ambulances finally arrive. Thankfully, it doesn't look like anyone is dead or fatally wounded. Some people stand around or sit, too dazed and frightened still to be of much use to the police. They take whoever is coherent enough to talk to them outside.

He and Molly both seem okay physically and emotionally. Molly has calmed down and aside from her make up and hair she's finally managed to go back to her regular confident self. They approach an officer together who takes them aside. The officer leads them to the sidewalk away from the building and pulls out a notepad to begin taking a statement. The culprits have been caught red handed, so there isn't much to say in the way of descriptions, but they still tell the officer how they both came to be in the building, how the robbers had barged in and demanded everyone get on the floor, and how one of them continuously shot near them to scare them, up until the police showed up and the firefight began.

The officer nods and asks some follow up questions, jotting notes as he listens.

"And you said you two were in line?" he asks.

Phoenix nods. "Yeah, I had to come get some money out to go to the store. I never thought I'd end up in the middle of something like this—"

"Oh my God, Phoenix!" Molly suddenly yells beside him. It makes him whip his head around frantically, searching for the source of her fear. He half expects more robbers to pull up and jump out of their cars with guns blazing, despite the bank now being surrounded by police officers, but all he sees is the chaos surrounding them as bank workers and police officers rush about.

"What?!" he asks. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Molly points at him, her other hand over her mouth. "Your arm!"

He glances down, and the police officer interviewing them also looks down. The sleeve of Phoenix's suit jacket is darkened by something, and it takes him a minute to realize that it's wet with blood. The officer only gapes at him, temporarily forgetting his professionalism, but Molly is fluttering around him, waving her hands.

"Phoenix, take off your jacket!" she orders, tugging at his sleeve. He does as he's told, too shocked not to. He winces as he drags the fabric down his arm. The white sleeve of his dress shirt beneath has a large red splotch on it as well, and it's still widening.

"It hurts a little," he says, almost nonchalantly.

Molly looks incredulously at him. "Roll up your sleeve," she says, already undoing the buttons on his cuff. She pushes the sleeve up his arm to just above his elbow, then places her hands over her mouth in shock. "Phoenix, I think you were shot!"

"What? No way! It hurts but it's not that painful. I didn't even notice it at first. Are you sure it's not just a scrape from being on the floor so long, or a cut from the glass, or something?"

Molly shakes her head frantically. "There wouldn't be that much blood just from a little scrape or cut. Oh God, I can't look at it anymore, I'll throw up."

The officer with them finally finds his voice. "It may just be a graze," he says, stepping forward to observe Phoenix's arm. "Being grazed by a bullet or even a fragment of one can hurt and bleed quite a bit, but with all the adrenaline pumping through you at the time, it doesn't surprise me that you didn't notice it until now. You should go get it looked at, pronto."

Phoenix can't really see what the wound itself looks like beneath all the blood. He pokes the fingers of his other hand into the skin near the wound, and yelps. "Ah! Yeah, that smarts now. But I don't think the bullet is in there…" he says, poking a little more, grimacing at the pain.

Molly waves her hand in front of her face. "Please, stop doing that! Doesn't it hurt?" She takes him gently by the hand of his good arm. "Let's go over to that ambulance to get it looked at. You might need stitches."

"I hate needles," Phoenix complains, following her complacently.

"Better a needle and some stitches than a giant infected wound, wouldn't you say?"

An EMT makes him sit in the back of an ambulance and checks him over only to determine that it's not a serious injury. He wraps a bandage tightly around the wound to stop the bleeding and tells Phoenix to wait while the other more serious injuries are taken care of first. All Phoenix can do is cradle his arm as Molly sits beside him, oddly quiet. He wants to phone Maya, to let her know what happened and why he's taking so long and that he'll be fine, but when he searches his pockets for his phone, he realizes he must have left it inside. Now that it's an active crime scene, he can't go back in to get it.

"Molly, do you happen to have your cell phone with you?" he asks her hopefully.

She blinks at him. "Sorry, I only live around the corner, so I didn't bring it with me. It's still at my apartment."

He sighs and hangs his head. When she pats his good arm sympathetically, he doesn't pull away like he normally would. For once she's not being nearly as inappropriate, and he's actually sort of glad to have someone there to talk to. "Why did you need it?" she asks.

"I wanted to call Maya," he tells her. "She's waiting for me…"

It pains him knowing that she's still there, happily waiting for his return. Who knows how long this is going to take. First he has to wait in the ambulance, and once they get to the hospital, it could be hours before he'll be seen by a doctor, given his injury isn't that severe compared to others. Just when they were finally getting somewhere, too. He wants to kick himself for not kissing her goodbye like he'd wanted to. The way she was looking at him before he left… it almost seemed like she wanted him to, but he couldn't risk it. Things would be easier if she would just give him some sort of sign, like a giant neon one that says 'kiss me, Nick!' on it. Then maybe he wouldn't keep second guessing everything so much.

She's going to start worrying if he isn't back soon. Given their history, she'd be right to worry. He sighs and looks around, deeming the coast clear of any police or EMTs. He gets up and shuffles to the back of the ambulance to jump out.

Molly follows him, reaching for his shoulder to stop him. "Where do you think you're going? You haven't been looked at yet, and that cop inside said not to leave without permission."

"I need to find a phone, or at least get a cab to the hospital so I don't have to wait for the ambulance."

"You should really just stay here and wait. The police might need to talk to you more, too."

"The police know where to find me if they need me. I need to let Maya know what happened, and my daughter too."

Molly stops him again with a gentle hand on his arm. "Alright, fine. Just slow down. My car is in the parking lot around the side. As long as no one is guarding that side of the building to stop us from leaving, I'll drive you to the hospital, and you can call Maya from there."

He looks at her gratefully. "Thank you, Molly."

She nods and smiles. It's a pleasant smile; a normal, friendly smile instead of her usual attempt at being sexy or enticing. "Let's go. Just… don't get blood on my seats. I just got this car."

Phoenix smiles. "No problem, that EMT wrapped it up pretty good."

He follows her around the building to the side parking lot. No one notices them leaving, they're all too busy with the crime scene or other injured patrons.

"Let me guess," Phoenix says as they walk through the dark parking lot, "you have some sort of fancy sports car? It's not red is it?"

Molly raises an eyebrow at him and starts to dig through her purse. She pulls out a key fob and presses a button on it. Phoenix sees the lights of a bright pink Mercedes-Benz light up across the parking lot.

"I should have known," he says. "You prosecutors and your cars."

Molly looks proud. "I had this car custom painted. She's my baby."

Phoenix has to hide his distaste. "I… like her."

"Thanks! Come on. And like I said, do not drip your blood in my car."

He nods seriously and follows her over to the car, hopping into the passenger's seat. The inside has soft leather seating and even the stitching is pink. It's a car he could picture someone like Pearl driving, if she had a licence or could afford it, not a professional prosecutor. But it is Molly he's thinking about, so he should have known her car would be as ridiculous as she is.

He doesn't drive, so he doesn't know exactly where the closest hospital is by car, but it feels like forever before they reach one. The time is passed almost silently at first, but the pain in his arm is distracting now that the adrenaline has worn off, and it feels like a hole is being burned through him.

He turns to Molly, desperate for some sort of distraction from the pain. "So, Molly… Why exactly did you break up with Larry?"

She glances at him quickly before looking back at the road. "He just wasn't my type, really," she says. "He's a nice guy and all, don't get me wrong, but we just didn't click."

"Mm, I see."

"Not like you and I, at least," she says.

Phoenix casts a sideways glance at her. "Don't start that."

She raises a hand from the steering wheel. "I'm not starting anything. I'm just saying. If you didn't have a girlfriend, you would have said yes to me. We'd be together, right now."

"How do you know that? Maybe I just don't like you." He says it playfully, but it's not exactly untrue.

Molly snorts as if it's an impossible notion. "No one says no to me."

He swallows. He can't tell if she's being vain and referring to her good looks, or if it's some sort of veiled threat. He doesn't want to test her or find out, so he stays quiet after that. Even the pain in his arm isn't worth that sort of conversation.

After what seems like forever, they pull up to a hospital he doesn't recognize. It's not any of the ones he's been to for his many injuries over the years. Molly parks out front instead of in emergency, and hops out. He follows her into the front entrance and together they find the front desk where Phoenix gives his name and birthday and all his insurance information to the nurse there. She then directs him to triage where another nurse looks him over, then sends him off to get an x-ray of his arm to be sure there are no leftover bullet fragments inside.

Molly hovers around him the entire time. Now that they're actually in the hospital, and he's being taken care of, he wishes she would go wait in the waiting room. The nurses don't seem too bothered by her, and he wonders if they're simply assuming she's his girlfriend. None of them have mentioned it yet, but he's ready to shut it down if they do.

"You're lucky, Mr. Wright," the nurse states as she jots notes on her clipboard, leading them back from the x-ray room. "It's not serious and you don't have many leftover fragments. Nothing the doctor won't be able to take out with local anesthetic at least, and at the moment there aren't many people ahead of you. I'm not sure how exactly you got way out here, but there's a hospital much closer to where you were when you were shot, so most of the injured are probably being transported there."

"Oh really?" he says, glancing at Molly. She ignores his stare. So she brought him way out here on purpose. Why though? To prevent Maya from visiting him once he's able to call her? Or just to spend more time with him?

The nurse leaves them to wait for a doctor in the waiting room. Molly says nothing as she sits beside him, back straight, staring up at the small TV which is playing some sort of talk show, the subtitles of which are garbled and impossible to read.

He stands up from his seat, and she finally looks at him. "Where are you going?"

"I think I saw a pay phone on the way in. I'm going to call Maya real quick. Come get me if they call my name."

"I'll come with you—"

He holds up his good hand. "No. Just stay here and listen for my name, please."

Her face clouds over, but she nods stiffly and sits back down, crossing one leg over the other.

Phoenix hurries down the hall near the front entrance where he'd noticed an old pay phone. Luckily he still has a few quarters in his pockets. The phone is very old school, even for him. He's surprised they even have something like this in such a modern hospital, but without his cell phone he has no other choice but to use it.

He slips the coins into the slot and dials Maya's cell phone. It goes straight to voicemail. Her phone is either off or the battery has died. Next he puts in the number to the Wright Anything Agency.

He waits a few rings, then starts to worry no one will hear the phone. He sighs when the answering machine comes on, his own voice letting him know to leave a message. "Is anyone there?" he asks the machine when he hears the beep. "Maya? Trucy? Athena?"

Nothing but silence. He sighs again. "Okay. Uh, sorry I've been gone so long. I'm okay, but I had to stop at the bank and there was a little incident there. You remember all those robberies and how we never caught the actual culprit? Well, they tried to rob the bank while I was there. Like I said, I'm fine. Let me stress that. I'm not in life threatening danger... But I was shot. Or well, grazed by a bullet apparently. Just on my arm, nothing major. I'm at L.A. General, across town. I'm waiting to be seen by a doctor so I might be a while. And Maya... you know who is here. She drove me. It's a bit of a long story but I just wanted to let you know why I'm not back yet and that I'm okay. Stay and enjoy the party. I... er, bye."

He hangs up abruptly. Hopefully someone will see the blinking answering machine and listen to it once they realize how long he's been gone. He heads back to the waiting room and sits back down beside Molly.

She looks at him. "They know?"

He shakes his head. "There was no answer."

Molly shakes her own head disapprovingly. "Shows how much she cares about you. You'd think she'd be keeping her eye on the phone after you'd been gone so long."

Phoenix frowns at her. "There was a party going on at my office. My daughter might have turned on music or something. They probably didn't hear the phone, and Maya's cell went straight to voicemail. She probably just hasn't noticed that her battery died."

Molly shrugs. "Maybe."

Phoenix rolls his eyes. He's not going to let her get into his head. Maya is probably just having fun, not realizing how much time has passed since he left, and with everyone there, she's not going to be wanting for conversation while she waits for his return.

He and Molly are quiet, being respectful of the other patients, until another nurse calls his name.

"Phoenix Wright?" she calls, glancing around the room. He stands up and heads her way. "This way please. Your girlfriend can come if she wants."

"She's not my—"

"Oh, thank you, nurse!" Molly exclaims. "I know it's not serious but I'm worried about him anyway. I can't help it."

The nurse smiles as she starts to lead them to a room. "Totally understandable. I remember when my husband got into a car accident last year. I was practically inconsolable until I saw him at the hospital, alive and well but for a few minor bumps and bruises."

Molly nods, putting a hand over her heart. Phoenix rolls his eyes and ignores them.

"Here we are," the nurse says, opening a door for them. "Wait here. The doctor will be in shortly." She leaves, and Molly sits in one of the chairs while Phoenix perches on the edge of the hospital bed.

There's an awkward silence. He knows that she knows he's annoyed that she didn't deny being his girlfriend. If anything she tried to further the nurse's perception of them by talking about how worried she was. He doesn't have the energy to argue with her though. His arm is sore, and he's tired, and he just wants to get back to Maya.

The doctor makes it into the room after a few short minutes. He's a short, balding man, but seems nice enough.

"So, Mr. Wright," he says, looking down at his clipboard. "Gunshot wound, huh?"

"Just a graze, apparently," Phoenix tells him, turning to let him get a better look at his arm.

"Hm hm, I see that. You were lucky, I'd say!"

"Will he be okay, Doctor?" Molly asks from across the room.

"Oh yes, we'll get this cleaned and stitched and send you home with some antibiotics. He should be fine."

"Thank goodness," she breathes.

The doctor chuckles. "Quite a gal you've got there."

"She's not my gal," Phoenix mutters.

The doctor doesn't seem to hear him. He's puttering around the small room, pulling out supplies from the cupboards. "Mr. Wright, if you could please remove your shirt?"

Molly's eyes practically light up at that.

"Do I have to?" Phoenix asks. Molly's expression changes to one of disappointment across the room.

"Yes, please. Your sleeve will be in the way and I don't want to accidentally poke you or your clothing with the needle, or get blood on you."

Phoenix snorts. "I'd say this shirt is good and ruined already. The blood stain on it already isn't coming out, and it has a big tear from the bullet."

"Still," the doctor says. "Please."

Phoenix groans. "Fine, but I don't want her in here for it."

Molly pouts. "Don't be like that, Phoenix. I'm here for moral support."

The doctor gives him a funny look as well. "You don't want your girlfriend to see you shirtless?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Phoenix snaps. "She's an acquaintance. She drove me here. I don't want her in the room anymore."

"Oh, I'm very sorry!" the doctor exclaims. "I thought you were together together. Please ma'am," he says, gesturing towards the door. "You'll need to leave now."

Molly crosses her arms and stands up. "Hmph. Fine. Let me know when you're finished."

She stalks out of the room and when the door is closed, the doctor turns back to him. "Sorry about that, Mr. Wright. I didn't know."

"It's fine. She has… issues. I just needed her to give me a ride," Phoenix says, carefully unbuttoning his shirt with his good hand and sliding it off. He slips the sleeve off his bad arm and grimaces. "Please tell me you're going to freeze this first."

"Of course. You won't feel a thing!" the doctor says, picking up a needle and syringe. Phoenix gulps, but the doctor is all smiles. "We'll get you out of here in no time."

It takes about an hour, but eventually the doctor finishes cleaning and stitching him up, wraps a bandage around his bicep, and writes him a prescription for some painkillers and antibiotics. A nurse comes in after to instruct him on taking care of it while it heals, informing him on how often to change the bandage and take the medicine.

When she leaves, he notices Molly lingering outside the door. He sighs and calls her in as he buttons his shirt again. She'd obviously been in the bathroom as she waited, as her hair and make up are all perfect again.

"So? Are you okay?" she asks, sitting tentatively beside him on the edge of the hospital bed.

He nods. "I'm fine. I even have full use of my arm still, though he did say it'll be sore later. It's just numb right now."

"I'm glad," she says. "And I never thanked you."

He raises an eyebrow. "Thanked me for what?"

"For saving me."

"What do you mean?"

She smiles. "Come on. You protected me at the bank, when they started shooting. You didn't even think twice. You risked your life for me."

He can't believe it, but it looks like she's actually starting to tear up. He turns towards her more. "Hey, it was nothing. My life wasn't at risk, I'm fine."

"How can you say that?" she says, a tear falling and sliding down her cheek. "You're just lucky you weren't actually shot. And that fragment would have hit me if you weren't covering me. Your arms… They were around my face. If even a fragment had hit my face, I don't know, it could've been a lot more serious. So thank you."

She places her hand on his arm and wipes at her tears with her other hand. He sighs and reluctantly wraps his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. "You're welcome, Molly."

She moves, snuggling into his side a bit more, and raises her head. "Larry was right about you."

"What did he say about me?" he says. He removes his arm from her shoulders and stares straight ahead, now uncomfortable with her closeness. She's so close that if he turns his head they'll practically be nose to nose. She doesn't seem to take the hint, and stays close to him. He knows he should push her away, but she's crying, and he can understand how suddenly realizing how close to death you were can make you emotional, so he doesn't.

"He said you're selfless," she says. "That you'd do anything to protect the people you care about." She raises her hand to touch his cheek, turning his face towards her. "Thank you, Phoenix."

Before he can do anything to stop her, her lips are against his, pressing hard, insistently. He squeezes his eyes shut, too caught off guard to shove her away immediately. He can hardly even process what's happening at first, he's so surprised. Then he comes to his senses, and uses his good arm to shove on her shoulder, pushing her away.

She almost falls off the hospital bed, putting a foot down quickly to steady herself and looking up at him, not hurt or embarrassed, but angry. Her tears have dried up in a matter of seconds. "You almost made me fall!" she yells.

He stands up, making a point of wiping his mouth. Even in her high heels he towers over her, but she doesn't even flinch under his gaze. "I've told you, I'm with Maya. What do you not get about that?" he asks, somehow managing to keep his calm.

Molly glares at him. "What does that annoying little girl have that I don't? Men don't say no to me, Phoenix," she growls. "Why did you?"

It seems almost laughable that at the beginning, the only reason he said no to her was the colour of her hair. Of course now there's more at play. He knows how awful Molly is firsthand, how vain and conniving she is, and how she can't take no for an answer, but now there's also Maya. Their relationship may have started out fake, but in the course of a week his feelings for her have changed drastically. They've been best friends for twelve years. Their friendship has overcome hardship after hardship, as well as years being whole countries apart. They've only ever been friends. Until now.

The realization hits him suddenly. He's angry at Molly, but not simply for overstepping her boundaries and forcing a kiss on him that he didn't want. He's angry at her because she doesn't believe that he's in love with Maya, when it is absolutely, without a doubt, a true fact. He's in love with Maya Fey.

He can feel that same feeling in his chest as the other night, a strange sort of comforting weight over his heart that he couldn't identify before. Now he knows what it is. Real, true, pure love for this woman that has been there with him for some of the best and worst years of his life. She's been a constant presence, even when she wasn't physically with him. There wasn't a day in his life since meeting her that went by where he didn't think about Maya.

He takes a deep breath and looks straight at Molly. "Maya is everything you'll never manage to be, Molly. She's funny and sweet and smart. She's beautiful inside and out. She's my best friend, and I love her."

Molly says nothing. He swallows as he stares at her, blinking back tears, surprised at how emotional he feels. He's not even sure why he's crying. Perhaps because he wishes more than anything that Maya had been the first to hear that. Or maybe because suddenly he feels like he's wasted so much time denying his feelings. It's one thing to form a crush on someone, to want to try dating like a real couple to see how it goes and maybe at some point in the future you'll fall in love, but it's quite another to realize you're already in love with that person. Now that he's said it out loud, now that he's finally admitted to himself that it's true and can no longer deny it, all he wants is to leave the hospital and get back to Maya so he can tell her.

Molly just stands up a little straighter, her face red.

"I'll warn you once, Molly," he finally says. "Try anything like that again and I'll sue you for sexual harassment. I'll get a restraining order. Don't contact me again. Don't try to talk to me again if you see me at the courthouse. Leave Maya and I alone. I'm not in love with you, I don't even like you, so get that through your head. Stay away from me and my family."

She narrows her eyes at him and stands aside, gesturing towards the door. "Whatever you say. I take it you can find your own ride home?"

He doesn't even nod at her, just stalks past her and out the door to get a taxi home.