Phoenix and Maya spend the next few hours helping the cleaning crew where they're allowed to, and reorganizing the files that Molly didn't ruin. Once the cleaning crew has finished up, and once Phoenix's mattress has been taken out of the apartment and lobbed into the closest dumpster, he and Maya decide to head out for something to eat. On the way back, they stop at a garden centre to pick up some fresh soil and a new pot for Charley. It seems to cheer Maya up significantly, and Phoenix actually finds it kind of nice to help her pull Charley out of the old pot, break away the old soil from around the root ball, and add him to some fresh soil. Phoenix hopes it will signify a fresh start for the office, once Molly is out of the way and behind bars, or in a mental institution, where she belongs.

They spend the rest of the night watching TV in the apartment, until it's late and Maya yawns, reaching her hands above her head. She turns to him on the couch. "Nick… Where are we supposed to sleep now that you've thrown out your mattress?"

He feels kind of stupid for not thinking about that before now. He shrugs. "You can take the couch. I guess I'll sleep on the floor?"

"With your old man back? I mean, if you think you'll be able to move in the morning…"

"Okay, not the floor, but there's really nowhere else. We can't sleep in Trucy's room, that'd just be weird." He thinks for a moment. "Well, she probably wouldn't mind if you slept in her room, alone. I could take the couch out here."

Maya frowns and moves in to wrap her arm around his middle. "I don't want to sleep away from you. Knowing that Molly is still out there free to roam around creeps me out. I don't want to be alone and I don't want to leave you alone either."

"What if we got a room at the hotel? It's close."

Maya makes a face at him, and he knows why. Edgeworth had called them earlier to let them know that Molly had indeed been staying in the Gatewater Hotel all of last week, in the same room April May once used. The room had been cleaned by hotel staff after her departure, so there was no evidence left of her being there, but fortunately for them the hotel still had her name on file as the last user of the room. It was stupid of her to not use a fake name, but Phoenix is glad she didn't. It's just more solid evidence against her.

"I don't know, Nick," Maya says, fidgeting a bit. "I think I'd actually feel safer here so long as the doors are locked and the blinds are kept closed. Besides, it's late and I'm tired. I really don't want to walk over there to see if they have a room open, and we'd have to pay for it, too."

He sighs. "Well, then the floor and couch are all we've got if you want to stay close to me."

Maya's face lights up suddenly. He can practically see the lightbulb going off above her head. "Wait, the couches downstairs would work! We could move the coffee table and push them together, they'd be just like a little bed!"

"I think I'm a little tall for them…"

"You're not that tall, Nick. Just curl up a little bit and you'll fit. It's better than the floor."

"Ugh, alright, fine. You grab some clean blankets from the closet near the bathroom and I'll head downstairs."

Maya reaches out to turn the TV off, then stands up. "Sure thing. I'll be down in just a second."

He nods and heads downstairs. It's clean now, everything back in its proper spot or cleaned up. Charley looks good in his new pot, and the old pot still sits empty beside the new one. Maya had joked about getting Charley a 'girlfriend' and using the old pot for it, but Phoenix thinks it really might be a good idea to do in the future.

He goes over to the couches and pulls the coffee table out from between them, pushing it to the side of the room and out of the way, then heads around the back of one of the couches and pushes it forward until it touches the front of the one across from it. It is a pretty small space, but he's sure the two of them will fit.

Next he goes to the windows. Normally he would keep the office blinds open, but not anymore. They're old and dusty as they haven't been moved for months, but they slide closed over the windows anyway, obscuring the inside of the office from the view of anyone in the hotel across the way.

He hears the door open behind him and turns to see Maya entering the room. She has a big bundle of sheets and a blanket in her arms, which she brings over to the couches and drops there.

She's changed from her Master's robes into a skimpy nightgown that barely falls to mid-thigh, and his eyes roam down her body as she turns towards him, her hips and breasts more defined beneath the clinging satin material.

She smiles at him. "This was the only nightgown I had clean when we left Kurain… I'm not trying to look sexy, just so you know."

"You're managing it anyway, though," he says.

Maya rolls her eyes, but can't hide her pleased smile at his compliment. "Do you have any pyjamas? I didn't bring anything down for you."

"I had the cleaning people put all my clothes in garbage bags so I could wash everything, even the stuff Molly didn't touch, just in case, so no."

Maya raises an eyebrow. "So, what? Are you planning on sleeping naked? I wouldn't mind of course, but these are the office couches, where clients might sit."

He shakes his head. "I do have boxers on, you know. I'll just keep those on. Besides we're going to put a sheet down."

Maya steps in a little closer to him, lifting her hands to the collar of his shirt. His tie and jacket are upstairs, having taken them off hours ago. Maya stares at her hands while she fiddles with the top button on his shirt.

He lifts his hands to place them over hers. "Maya?"

She looks up at him. "We'll be okay, right, Nick? This whole Molly thing will be resolved soon and we'll be fine, right?"

"Of course. Edgeworth said earlier when he called that the DNA stuff at the lab can take a day or two, but he put a rush order on our case. I bet by tomorrow they'll have enough to arrest her."

Maya sighs, her shoulders drooping slightly. "I hope so."

He bends to place a kiss on her forehead. "We'll be fine."

She lifts her hand to caress his cheek, pulling him down to rest her forehead against his. He closes his eyes, his own hands moving to rest on her hips as Maya lifts her face to his, placing a soft kiss against his lips. "Let's go to bed, Nick," she murmurs once she's pulled away. "We've had a long day."

They put the sheets and blankets on their makeshift bed together, then crawl under the blankets. It's not too terribly uncomfortable, and even if it was, having Maya curled into his side makes it more than bearable. She nods off almost right away, but Phoenix finds himself unable to easily fall asleep. He knows it's his nerves. He's going to be on high alert until Molly is arrested. He can't help it. Protecting Maya feels almost instinctual for him after all these years.

He tightens his arm around Maya's shoulders as he stares at the ceiling, and she murmurs something in her sleep that he can't understand before settling again. He's not sure how long he lies there, but eventually he manages to drift into a restless sleep himself.

When Phoenix wakes the next morning, the first thing he notices is that Maya is gone. He sits up quickly, looking around, and finds a note on the couch beside him. He breathes a sigh of relief as he reads Maya's handwriting, letting him know she's gone out to get them breakfast, but that she wanted to let him sleep. He still can't help feeling a little annoyed that Maya went out alone, even in the daylight, but the little hearts she drew at the end of her note make it hard to stay that way.

He gets up and pulls his clothes back on before cleaning up the blankets and putting the couches and coffee table back in their proper places. Once he's finished that he finds himself simply sitting there, waiting. Maya's note hadn't indicated what time she left, so he has no idea how long she's been gone, and it worries him.

He's jolted from his thoughts when he hears his cell phone start to ring, and he feels another sigh of relief leave his lungs. It's probably Maya calling to let him know she'll be back soon.

He grabs his phone and answers without even looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Phoenix."

The sultry voice on the other line makes his blood run cold. He never would have thought that a woman's voice could make him feel so scared, and yet it does. He sits forward. "What do you want?" he says, making every attempt to keep his voice steady.

"That's not a very nice way to greet me, Phoenix," Molly says. "I just heard from some of the officers at the police department that someone broke into your law office yesterday, and I was worried about you, so I thought I should call to see how you're doing."

Phoenix clenches his jaw. How dare she phone him and act like she's concerned? And he's going to make damn sure that Edgeworth finds out which officers talked to her to have them punished.

He wants to yell at her, scream at her that he knows it was her, but he holds his tongue. "Everything is fine here, Molly. Thanks for your concern though. The person who broke in was pretty stupid actually, they left evidence literally all over the apartment. I'm sure we'll know who it is eventually."

Molly makes a noise on the other end, like she simply finds this an interesting fact. "Let's hope so."

He takes a deep breath. His conversation with Edgeworth is playing in the back of his mind. Don't be a hero. Don't be a hero. Don't be a hero. He can hear it over and over in his head, and he knows he should listen, but Molly is dangerous. Molly is a threat to Maya and Trucy and Pearl, and he would never let something happen to any of them if he could prevent it first.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to you sometime, Molly," he says casually. "Maybe at your apartment? I have something I want to tell you. I finally realized something recently."

She's silent for a few seconds, and he wonders if he underestimated her. Perhaps she's not so far gone yet, and knows that he's lying. He was almost positive she would do anything for him though.

"Alright," she finally says. She sounds slightly hesitant, but it's enough that she's agreed. "What time did you want to come over?"

He checks his watch. It's almost 10 am, so he can't see Maya being much longer. "How about around noon?"

"That sounds perfect," Molly purrs. "I can make us something for lunch if you want."

"Um, sure, okay."

"Great! I can't wait to see you, Phoenix," she says. It makes his skin crawl.

"Yeah… I'll see you then."

He hangs up with her after she gives him her address. She seemed to believe him. He can only imagine what her warped sense of reality is making her think he's coming to confess. He's not sure he even wants to know.

He jumps when the door behind him opens, and he turns quickly to it. Maya enters the room, dressed in her usual outfit, with a paper bag full of food in one hand and another plastic bag from the local department store in her other. She smiles at him. "Good morning, Nick. Did I wake you?"

He shakes his head. "No, you just scared me a little. I'm still a bit jumpy."

Maya smiles as she approaches. She sets the bag of food on the coffee table in front of him, and sits down beside him. "Sorry. Did you get my note?"

"Yeah. Maya, please don't go out on your own right now," he says. "I had no idea how long you were gone or where you went. It worries me."

"Sorry, Nick. But honestly, I figure you're the one in more danger here. Not to freak you out or anything, but I thought I'd be safe outside so long as I locked the office door behind me so no one could get to you."

He scratches the back of his neck, knowing full well he has no right to scold her when he's made plans with Molly behind her back, and has no intention of telling her about them. "Well, it's fine. You're here and you're safe. What's in the bag?"

"I bought you some clothes, since all of yours are in the wash. Don't want you stinking up your suit, right?"

"Jeez, Maya. One day without a shower isn't going to kill me."

"Nick!" Maya says, putting her hands on his shoulders to face him directly. "You've put that life behind you." She points dramatically to his Papa hat perched on the trophy across the room. "That is not your life anymore."

He can't help laughing. Maya never was a fan of his messier appearance during his disbarment. "Come on, you liked the stubble."

She purses her lips. "Okay, it made you look pretty hot, I won't lie. But I can only imagine that it'd be kind of painful to kiss. Besides I like you looking all professional and lawyerly," she says, teasingly running a finger along his jaw.

"What did you buy me anyway?" he asks, taking the bag to peek inside.

Maya shrugs. "Some more dress shirts, a sort of nerdy looking sweater thing and jeans that I hope will make your butt look even better. And underwear because you are definitely changing those."

"A nerdy looking sweater thing. Gee, thanks."

"Trust me, Nick, it's totally your style."

"How did you even know my sizes?"

"I looked at your clothes before I left, since you just left them all over the floor."

"We just vacuumed the floor last night, it was fine," he protests.

Maya shakes her head. "Still. Let's eat, then you can go take a shower and get dressed."

He sighs but grabs the paper bag from the table to get his breakfast.

After they eat, Maya insists he shower and get changed, which he thinks is probably a good idea if he's going to see Molly later. Though, he doubts Molly would care if he showed up unshowered for a week and wearing days old clothes. It'd probably turn her on, weird as she is.

He shaves and then pulls on the clothes Maya got him, and he has to admit she does know his typical style when he wears casual clothes. He's pretty sure he's worn this exact ensemble before.

He leaves the bathroom and heads back downstairs where Maya is sitting on the couch watching TV. She looks up at him and smiles.

"Why did you call this shirt nerdy, Maya?" he asks.

"Uh, you have the collar of your dress shirt poking out. It's adorably dorky, Nick. But! Turn around." He furrows his eyebrows, but does it. Maya grins. "Yes! Your butt does look good in those jeans."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Why do you sound so down, Nick? I'm sure Mr. Edgeworth will be calling us any minute now with news about Molly's arrest."

"Yeah, I hope so."

He has to think of something to tell Maya so he can leave to go meet Molly without her being suspicious. It's almost noon already, and he doesn't want to give Molly a reason to be mad at him by being late.

"Actually, you just reminded me, Maya. Edgeworth called when you were out. I have to go talk to him about some of the stuff that happened at the hospital with Molly."

"Oh, okay," Maya says, smiling up at him. He feels terrible lying to her, but if she knew what he was going to do, she would stop him. He can only hope that she'll forgive him when she does find out what he's really been doing.

"Are you okay staying here on your own? I should probably head out soon, we wanted to meet around noon."

Maya nods. "Yeah, sure. Just be careful on your way there, okay?"

"I will."

He stands there fidgeting for a moment, and Maya simply stares at him, a little smile on her face. He doesn't care if it might make her suspicious, he can't leave without saying goodbye to her properly first.

He steps forward and grabs her hands, pulling her to her feet, and then pulling her against his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her in a hug. Maya hugs him back, but looks up with eyebrows raised.

"Nick?"

He leans down to kiss her, deep and loving. When he pulls back, Maya's eyes flutter open again, and she smiles. "What was that for?"

"I didn't get to kiss you yet today. And I love you."

She reaches up to brush back that stubborn piece of hair from his forehead. It falls right back into place. "I love you, too. You should probably go now, though. Edgeworth doesn't like when people are late."

"Yeah, you're right." He leans down to give her one more quick peck, then grabs his wallet and keys and stuffs them into his pockets. "I'll be back soon."

Maya follows him to the door, and he can hear the deadbolt slide home again once he's closed the it behind him. Knowing he's the only other person with a key to the office gives him some semblance of comfort as he heads to the elevator down the hall.

Phoenix decides on walking rather than taking a cab. It might have to do with how nervous and shaky he feels. Perhaps he can calm himself down some on the walk there. He doesn't feel like he should be as scared of Molly as he is, but he is. For all he knows she'll open the door with a gun pointed at him, so he can only hope she believed he was sincere about wanting to tell her something.

Molly lives in a high rise building similar to where Edgeworth lives, and it's not hard to find. He steps into the entrance and finds the button on the intercom for Molly's apartment number. He presses it, and hears a buzz not a few seconds later. He swallows and opens the door, entering the main lobby, all marble flooring and high ceilings. It's definitely a fancier apartment building than where he lives, but he shouldn't be surprised by that, given her job.

He goes to the elevator and hits the button for the top floor before he can chicken out.

When the elevator dings and opens, he nods to a woman and a child standing outside waiting. They both look at him before they enter the elevator themselves, and the thought that someone witnessed him entering the building gives him a tiny bit of relief, in case he happens to go missing tonight.

He shakes his head. He can't keep thinking thoughts like that. He has to act nice, pretend to be concerned for her wellbeing. If he can just talk to her, get her to see that she needs help, maybe she'll go with him voluntarily. Despite everything she's done to him over the past two weeks, he'd prefer to end this civilly, and to get her the help she so clearly needs. If he's the only one she'll listen to, he has to give it a shot.

He finally reaches her door, and lifts his hand to it, but the door swings open before he can knock even once. She either has cameras set up, or she was standing at her door looking through the peephole, waiting this whole time for him. It wouldn't surprise him if it was the latter.

Molly smiles pleasantly at him from inside the apartment. She's wearing a black cocktail dress, very short, tight, and showing as much cleavage as possible without being entirely inappropriate. It still doesn't leave much to the imagination though. She's beautiful, and he thinks it's sad that she's so obsessed with someone she can't have. She could have any other man in the world if she could only take the one 'no' she ever got for an answer. And what she sees in him anyway, he still doesn't know. It's strange to think it's only been two weeks since they met.

"Phoenix," she says, standing aside to let him in. "I'm so glad you came over. You look great, by the way. I've never seen you wear anything other than your suit. Very handsome."

He steps inside the apartment, nodding at her and trying not to think about the fact that she has most certainly seen him wearing something other than his suit, when she was watching him from the hotel as he undressed for bed every night. He thanks the heavens that he doesn't sleep totally naked.

He looks around the apartment cautiously. He's so used to Edgeworth's lavish penthouse, with all its antique furniture, pine flooring, and fancy chandeliers. Molly's apartment is just as nice, but much more modern. It's an open concept, the living room with furniture that looks new and a large flatscreen TV, and across the room a kitchen with a bar and stainless steel appliances.

The only thing slightly out of place that he notices are the wine bottle and two glasses Molly has set out on the coffee table, already poured, and across the room, hanging on the back of one of the dining chairs is a blue suit jacket, the arm of which is covered in blood.

Seeing that is almost too much. It makes him want to bolt from the apartment, but Molly takes him by the arm, and he has to use everything in him not to pull it away from her. He lets her lead him to the living room instead.

"Sit down, sit down! I already poured us some wine, if you'd like some," she says, picking up the closest glass and handing it to him.

He takes it. He doesn't want it, but he also doesn't want to do anything that will make her upset. He takes a few sips from it before setting it back down. He looks over at Molly and finds her staring at him. That's not unusual, but there's something about the way she's watching him that makes him uneasy.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" she says, leaning forward ever so slightly, revealing even more of her cleavage, using her arms to subtly press her breasts closer together. "You mentioned on the phone that you realized something recently…"

He swallows again. He really should have thought of something to say before coming here, but having no plan is usually what he's best at. He stares down at his hands as he speaks.

"Molly… I kind of wanted to ask you something personal."

She tilts her head, a coy smile on her face. She must think this is his idea of flirting. "Go right ahead."

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything…"

"Of course I won't."

He takes another sip of his wine, using it to pause and think of what he wants to say. He can only think of one thing. He looks up at her, looking her straight in the face. "Are you okay?"

She blinks, confusion passing over her face. She sits back slightly. "What kind of question is that?"

"I just feel like you've been acting sort of different lately," he says, trying to keep up the concerned act. "I just want to make sure you're okay, you know? I know I said some things at the hospital that night, but I didn't really mean them. I'm just concerned, as a friend. I do care, so if you need help with anything, you can tell me."

She lifts her chin slightly, looking down her nose at him. "That's the only reason you came here? To ask if I was okay?"

"Yes. Like I said, I care about you—"

"Are you still with Maya?" she interrupts.

It's his turn to blink. He was hoping to avoid the topic of Maya altogether, but he supposes that's probably all Molly has been thinking about this past week, so it's not surprising she's bringing the subject of Maya up.

"Y—Yes, I am," he says firmly. He's not about to lie, not about that.

She sneers. "Of course. You're trying to trick me," she says.

Phoenix can immediately feel his heartbeat speed up. "W—What? Of course I'm not trying to trick you. I don't know what you're talking about."

Molly stands up and begins to pace in front of the coffee table. "You know, don't you?" she accuses, pointing at him with one of her long, red fingernails.

"Know what?"

"That I was the one who broke into your apartment!"

He wishes he had the foresight to wear some sort of wire. Not that he'll need it with all the DNA evidence she left behind, but it would have been nice to have a recorded confession.

He nods slowly, knowing the jig is up. Well, he tried. "Who else would it have been?" he asks, unable to keep the venom out of his voice now that he has no reason to hide his disdain. "Who else would have been crazy enough to break into my apartment and rip Maya out of all of my family photos, other than you?!"

Molly shakes her head. "You should have left her! After she saw us kiss, she left you without even talking to you first! What kind of girlfriend does that?"

He stops. "Wait. How did you know Maya saw you kissing me?"

Molly smiles triumphantly. "Because I saw her coming in to visit you when I was on my way back to your room that night. I knew she would see us, that's why I did it. Not to mention I just wanted to," she says, taking a step closer to him, staring down at him like he's a piece of prime meat. She licks her lips as she stares at him, her eyes glancing down at his own lips.

He smiles. "Well, the joke's on you, Molly. Maya wasn't even my girlfriend when you kissed me."

"What?! Of course she was!"

He shakes his head, finding some satisfaction in telling her this. "Maya and I have been friends for years but we never dated, not until I met you. You wouldn't take no for an answer so I lied and said I was dating Maya. We were pretending the whole time, just so you would leave me alone, because I have zero interest in you! Then again it was because of you that I realized I really do love Maya, so I should be thanking you. Your kiss at the hospital was the catalyst for me to tell her how I felt, and she felt the same. I was away this whole week because I was spending time with Maya, now that she's my real girlfriend."

Molly takes a deep breath, her face turning red, but he's not about to stick around here any longer. He stands up quickly, a little too quickly. He sways where he's standing, a dizzy spell overtaking him for a few seconds. He closes his eyes, trying to focus.

When he opens them again, he looks at Molly, standing only a foot or so away. She's watching him carefully, and he gets that same uneasy feeling as before.

Molly steps up to him, lifting her hand to touch his jaw with a fingertip. He can feel her fingernails scraping lightly against his skin. "Do you feel okay, Phoenix?" she says, her voice sounding almost like she's speaking to a sick child. "Maybe you should sit back down?"

He feels strange, almost drunk as he sways in his spot, but a few sips of wine shouldn't have been enough to cause him to feel this way. Even he's not that much of a lightweight, and he has some experience with wine drinking anyway. There's no way he got drunk from one glass.

Molly puts her hand on his chest, pushing on him. She feels stronger than he would have given her credit for, and he can't seem to resist her. He flops back down onto the couch, the dizziness becoming stronger. He feels tired and weak, and he doesn't have the strength to stand up anymore, let alone stand up to her.

"What'd you do?" he asks, and it feels like it takes all he has just to form those four words.

Molly tsks and picks up his wine glass, swirling the leftover liquid in it. "You're slurring your words, Phoenix," she says. "Too much wine?"

He's so tired he can hardly concentrate on what she's saying, but through the brain fog he manages to understand her meaning. The wine. There was something in the wine and he drank it, not even thinking. How could he have been so stupid?

Molly continues. "I thought maybe you'd try something like this. I've read all of your case files, you know. You seem like a smart man, Phoenix, but you were pretty dumb to come here all on your own. Do you think I'm stupid?"

His muscles feel heavy and uncontrollable, and he finds himself slowly slumping into the arm of the couch, unable to find the strength to move. Still, Molly continues speaking.

"Well, I won't lie, I did kind of get my hopes up, thinking maybe you finally realized that I am the better choice, not Maya, but I still had to take some precautions, just in case. And I'm glad I did."

She sets the wine glass back down on the table and leans down towards him, reaching a hand out to touch his face. He wants to cringe back, do anything to get away from her, but he can't.

Molly stares at him lovingly, brushing that lock of hair back against his forehead. "You are so beautiful, you know. Yet you seem the type of man who doesn't realize just how good looking he is. But those pretty eyes, that jawline, and your body…" she grins. "How old are you again? Thirty-six? You look great for your age. A lot of guys tend to let themselves go once they hit their thirties."

"Please… stop…" he mumbles.

He thinks she's smiling, but his eyelids are so heavy now he can barely make her out as he fights to stay awake. He can feel her hands on him, touching his shoulders, and then even worse, she climbs into his lap, straddling his waist with her legs. He tries once more to move, but he can't. His head ends up lolling back on the couch, and he feels Molly lean forward, pressing her breasts against his chest.

"You know what I did in your apartment, right?" she murmurs, close to his ear. "In your bed, imagining it was you," she says, moving her hips against his. Her hands slide down his arms, finding his own hands, her fingers gently caressing the tops of his. "Imagining your hands touching me instead…"

Darkness begins to close in around him, and when his eyes drift shut this time, he can't open them again. As much as he's trying, he can't stay awake any longer. Even the fear isn't helping, not against whatever sort of drugs she's given him.

Is she going to kill him? Rape him? Leave him here and go find and hurt Maya? He doesn't know, but it's out of his hands now. All he can do is hope that someone realizes what he's done and where he's gone, and finds him eventually.

The last words he hears before he loses consciousness are whispered straight into his ear, and despite the warm breath he feels against his neck, he feels a chill go through him.

"You will learn to love me, Phoenix."