A/n: Chapter 2 is up, everyone! I'm so excited for the last Harry Potter movie, I can hardly breathe.

Anyway, happy reading!

Chapter 2: Afternoon Picnic

"Just wait! In three days, you two will realize how much you really love each other." Pearl put on another one of her dreamy looks. "I can just picture that very moment. Oh, the romance!"

Maya felt herself slightly blush at Pearl's words, but managed to quickly shake it off. A slight frown fell upon her face as she looked at her cousin. "Uh… Pearly? Did you forget that in three days, you and I will be heading back home?"

'Home.' Maya thought to herself. It was something she had been trying to push to the back of her mind for the last few days, afraid that if she were to think about it, she would feel more sorrow… more hurt. She didn't want to have to feel that again, not anymore.

Pearl stared at the floor as she replied, "I didn't forget." She looked up at Maya. "I'm really sad that we're going back, and I know Mr. Nick will miss us very much, especially you, Mystic Maya."

Phoenix stood there, not having said a single word. Instead, he just listened intently to the small conversation, unsure of where it was going exactly.

Pearl then faced him and quickly continued. "But Mr. Nick can visit anytime he wants, right? Before we leave for the train on Monday, you two will have already kissed and then you'll be married and then live happily ever after!" Pearl squealed with delight.

"Okay, okay. That's enough." Phoenix flinched at how high-pitched her voice was. He shook his head lightly at the small girl. "I'm sorry, Pearls, but I don't think that's gonna happen."

"Why not?" A serious look fell upon the young spirit medium's face, her eyes immediately locking onto his as she silently waited for his answer. It was a bit intimidating really, especially for Phoenix.

"B-because… because…" He found himself stuttering as she continued to stare at him with great intensity. This girl sure can make him feel uncomfortable. He sighed. "Pearls, you really need to understand that Maya and I… we're just fr–"

Before he could finish, Pearl's hand flew across his face, leaving a bright red handprint on the lawyer's cheek. He slowly brought one of his own hands up to rub the stinging pain, his eye and mouth twitching in response. After these few years being with Pearl, he should have expected that already, yet it still caught him by surprise every single time.

"You shouldn't say that in front of Mystic Maya or she'll get upset," she said, her face remaining serious.

He gave her one of his own stern looks. There was no way he was going to let a 9-year-old smack him around. "Pearls, I've already told you –"

'Smack.' There it was again. Phoenix received another vicious slap from the small kid. That was twice in one day, not that that was uncommon.

'Ouch.' He winced in pain. 'This kid is too much.'

"Um…" Maya started nervously. "Okay, moving on. Uh… so, um… Nick, will we be preparing soon?"

"Prepare?" he asked, still rubbing his cheek.

"Yeah. Don't tell me you've changed your mind again?" she said, placing her hands on her hips.

Phoenix was confused. "Prepare for what?"

"Our picnic, silly! We were supposed to go to the park today, remember?" Her eyes glistened wildly as she waited for his response.

Pearl jumped up in excitement. "Yeah, Mr. Nick! You promised."

He had totally forgotten about that. Yesterday, he promised that he'd take Maya and Pearl to the Nature Park down at Gourd Lake for a picnic, so that they could spend more time together. All of this office cleaning must have made him forget. He shouldn't have forgotten about something as important as this.

"Alright, alright. Let's head over to my apartment and pack a few things," Phoenix said as he grabbed his keys.

"Hooray! Picnic!" The two spirit mediums shouted in unison.

Phoenix softly exhaled and glanced at the newly fixed clock. The ticking was barely audible, but he could still hear it. It was like music to his ears. As he stared at it for another few seconds, his brows furrowed. Rolling up his sleeve, he glanced at his watch. 11:32. Then he glanced back at the clock.

"We'll leave as soon as I adjust the time on this clock."

"Aww…"

Phoenix's apartment was about 2 blocks away from the Wright and Co. Law Offices. Once they were there, he wasted no time in preparing for their little outing. He quickly packed a few snacks and placed them into a small picnic basket, while Maya grabbed a few outdoor blankets. It didn't take them long before they arrived at their destination.

Gourd Lake was quite busy today. People were happily enjoying themselves, taking relaxing walks, and spending time with their loved ones. In the distance, small kids bustled about merrily and played an exciting game of tag, while their parents stood there taking as much memorable photos as they can. A pair of elderly women sat on a bench nearest to the lake, chatting away like there was no tomorrow.

Phoenix looked over to the main picnic area. Most of the tables were occupied by several large groups of people, all belonging to one entire family. It was likely they were celebrating a birthday, seeing as they were all wearing birthday hats and preparing a large cake with candles. The rest of the tables were taken by a couple of teenagers who were also enjoying their day and laughing hysterically.

The trio walked past the benches and tables toward the grassy areas, searching for the perfect spot where they could set up their picnic.

"How about here?" Maya pointed to a section of the grass underneath a large tree, which provided quite a nice amount of shade. Phoenix nodded.

"Looks good," he said as he prepared the blanket for them to sit on.

Pearl stood in one spot, bouncing her favorite ball a few times without much enthusiasm.

"Hey, Pearly. What happened to your bubbles?" Maya asked, noticing Pearl's sudden lack of interest.

"Oh, um… I left that at Mr. Nick's place. The bubble soap is almost gone."

"Well, you know Nick could just buy you another one. Won't you, Nick?" She turned to Phoenix, who was at the moment paying very little attention to them.

As he continued to spread the cloth out flat and evenly, he quickly answered her, not really knowing what the question was exactly. "Hmm. Oh, uh yeah of course I will!"

Pearl bit lightly on her thumb. "Um, it's okay. I'd rather save this one. It's special."

Maya shrugged. "Okay."

"All finished," Phoenix said, sitting on the blanket as he brought the picnic basket onto his lap.

"Oh, that's good. Now we can eat." Maya sat next to him, licking her lips and eyeing the basket hungrily.

Phoenix stared at her in wonder. "I swear, you are the only person I know who constantly craves for food, Maya."

She laughed. "I guess that makes me unique, huh."

"Unique and very weird," he responded.

She puffed out her cheeks at him. "Hey!"

Pearl watched the two as they started laughing. 'They look so happy.' Pearl thought to herself. 'Why can't they admit that they're happy together and in love?'

In her frustration, the small girl bounced the ball using all her strength, only to have it fly a good distance away.

"Oh no! Come back, ball!" Pearl cried and immediately started after it.

After a few seconds, the pair had finally stopped laughing, letting out a sigh of contentment. Then a heavy silence fell between them. Phoenix looked around awkwardly. He then noticed Pearl was missing.

"W-Where did Pearls go?" he asked, getting a little worried.

"Don't worry. She's just chasing after that ball of hers. She'll be back," Maya answered, lying down on the blanket with her hands supporting her head like a pillow.

He placed the basket down on the spot to his right. "We should wait until she gets back. Or else there won't be anything left." Phoenix chuckled as he sat there and began fidgeting with his red tie.

"Hey, Nick. Do you really have to wear your suit everywhere we go?" she asked, really curious as to what his answer would be.

He stared down at her, giving her a questioning look. "What's so wrong about the suit?"

"Nothing. I like the suit. I just thought that since we're not doing any investigating today, maybe you should wear something more casual. It's not like we'll have a case anytime soon, right?"

He stared straight at the lake ahead of him, thinking about a few distant memories. "Well, you never know what could happen. And plus, I like having people know that I'm –"

"Not many people would know you're a lawyer, Nick." She quickly cut him off and smiled softly.

"Eh, it doesn't matter." He shrugged nonchalantly. "At least people will know that I'm someone important, right?"

"Your logic makes no sense whatsoever." She giggled at him.

"Speak for yourself." He smirked. Once again, he brought the basket onto his lap. "I'm sure Pearls would be back soon. We should at least prepare the sandwiches."

Opening the basket, Phoenix searched through its contents, taking out three homemade sandwiches wrapped in plastic. He began unwrapping one of them, but stopped when he noticed something in the sandwich or actually what wasn't in the sandwich. He started laughing, catching Maya's attention. She sat up and turned to see Phoenix with a sheepish grin.

"What's so funny?" she asked him and then gasped. "Oh my gosh! Have you actually lost your mind?"

"Here, take a look at the sandwiches."

Maya grabbed the sandwich from his hand, taking off the remaining wrappings so she could examine it. There was the two slices of bread, the cheese, the lettuce, the tomatoes, and the mayonnaise... Where was the meat? Placing down what seemed to be an incomplete sandwich, Maya stood up. She smiled down at Phoenix who looked a little embarrassed. After all, he was the one who packed up the sandwiches.

"It's alright, Nick. I'll just go ahead and buy some samurai dogs," she said, pointing to the samurai hotdog stand located in the bench area.

Phoenix nodded and took out his wallet. "Here," he said as he handed her some cash. "That should be enough."

Maya took the money and began to make her way toward the hotdog stand but stopped shortly. "Do you think Larry's still selling samurai dogs? I wonder if he would cut the price in half for us." Her lips curved into a radiant smile.

He lifted an eyebrow and shook his head. "No, he quit… or got fired or whatever. He's an artist now, remember?"

She placed her index finger on her chin. "Oh yeah, I remember." Walking in a march-like manner, she headed over to the bench area. "Samurai dogs coming right up!"

Phoenix sighed and searched around for a small girl in pink. He spotted her heading over to the birthday area, but then lost sight of her near the bushes. Her small size made it difficult for him to keep an eye on her. He stood up, deciding to go and help the kid find her lost toy.

Pearl was now in the birthday area, still searching desperately for her beloved ball. This had to be the only place left. Where else could it have gone? Looking around, she noticed a faded blue object in the bushes not too far from where she was standing. She hurried over to the bushes and found her ball stuck in between its branches. With a little pull, the ball was free. Pearl hugged it with all her might, afraid that it would vanish from her sights again. She was about to leave and head back to the other two when suddenly she heard loud talking. Curious, she peeked through a small hole in the bushes to see two women, most likely in their early twenties.

"It's so obvious he's in love with her." One woman said as she painted her nails. "Everyone knew that, but he just kept denying the fact."

"And then out of the blue, he falls for her." The other responded. "I mean, he should've realized it earlier. Why now?"

"I'm telling you the guy was jealous! As soon as he saw her with another man, he just waltzed up to her, confessed his feelings, and told her how much he was in love with her."

As Pearl listened, an idea began to formulate in her head. Taking the ball with her, she quickly skipped back to the others, smiling the entire way.

"I'm guessing he wasn't too lucky." The woman continued.

"Of course not! She slapped the guy so hard and shoved him into a pond for interrupting her date."

"That didn't turn out so well."

The other woman shook her head as she continued painting her nails. "Nope."

Pearl made it back to the picnic spot, only to find Phoenix and Maya gone. Their belongings were still there, but no sign of her cousin and the lawyer. A soft tap on her shoulder caused her to shriek in fear.

"Eeek!"

"Aaaah!" The sudden outcry caused Phoenix to scream as well.

"Oh, it's you, Mr. Nick," she said feeling a sense of relief. "I thought something bad happened to you."

"Well, thankfully I'm not deaf," he said, rubbing his hand against his ear. "Looks like you found your ball."

"Yes, I did." She held it up in the air for him to look at. "So when can we eat, Mr. Nick? I'm quite hungry."

"Um, in a bit." He sat down on the blanket and patted the spot next to him. "Why don't you rest awhile?"

Pearl nodded. She looked around, noticing her cousin was still missing. "Where did Mystic Maya go?"

"She's gonna go buy us some hotdogs," he said excitedly, placing the basket in front of him and peering inside. "Do you want some water while we wait, Pearls?"

"No, thank you," Pearl answered. She looked over to where the hotdog stand was and saw Maya having a friendly chat with a young man, probably a little younger than Phoenix. This was Pearl's chance.

Pearl got up and sat directly in front of Phoenix, leaning forward slightly so that she could see his face. "Mr. Nick?"

"Yes, Pearls?" he asked, shuffling through the basket.

"There's something really important that I have to tell you."

"And what's that?"

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Nick." She tried her best to put on her saddest look. "I was wrong."

Phoenix looked at her with a confused look. "Wrong about what?"

"You and Mystic Maya. I guess you two aren't in love after all."

Phoenix smiled. She finally understood about him and Maya. It was about time too. "Well, I'm glad that you finally understand. I mean it's true that I deeply care for Maya, but that doesn't mean that we're in love."

"Yeah, I've realized that maybe you just weren't good enough for her."

"Exactly… wait, what?"

"I mean she seems to be a lot happier with that other man over there." She sighed dreamily. "Isn't it romantic."

Phoenix glanced over to where Pearl was looking at. He saw Maya, along with a blond-haired man wearing a red blazer and a pair of loose-fitting jeans. He and Maya appeared to be having a very interesting conversation and she seemed to be enjoying it. Phoenix didn't move, but the more he watched, the more he wanted to just look away. At that moment, something had ignited in him.

Keeping his gaze fixated on Maya and her little friend, he stood up. "Excuse me, Pearls." As if by instinct, Phoenix began marching toward the pair.

"I'll just wait right here, Mr. Nick." Pearl smiled mischievously.

"So, you truly believe that this Gourdy exists. Am I right?" The young man asked.

Maya nodded in delight. "Well, of course Gourdy exists! Who says he doesn't?"

"But how can you know for sure?" He eyed her, waiting for her response.

She thought for a while and then answered him.

"Well, how can you know for sure that there are no aliens from outer space? It's not like these guys are going to just happily show themselves to the world. I mean c'mon! The only reason why people don't see these guys is because they're afraid they'll end up as human experiments." Maya felt proud of her answer. "It makes sense, right?"

"Um, I guess. Anyway, thanks for answering my questions. I'm sorry if I took up too much of your time."

"Oh, no. Not at all. I was glad to help." Her face was lighted by a beaming smile. Unbeknownst to Maya, certain footsteps, not too far from them, were treading closer.

"I'm going to need to put you down as a reference." The blond-haired man said as took out a few sheets of paper and a small pen from his pockets. "Could I have your name, please?"

Her face was lighted by a beaming smile. "That would be Maya. Maya Fey. M-A-Y-" She stopped abruptly when she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. She turned around to see Phoenix, his hands in his pockets and a strange expression on his face that was quite difficult for her to read.

"Oh hey, Nick!"

"Hey," he simply replied.

The young man also greeted him. "Hello, sir. I was just –"

"Yeah, yeah. I know what you're up to." Phoenix folded his arms across his chest and stared at him. "But you've been wasting a lot of our time and we were supposed to be eating lunch by now."

"O-Oh, I'm really sorry. Um, I didn't mean to be wasting anyone's time, but I'm finished here so I'll just... be going then." He said uneasily before scurrying away.

Maya placed both arms on her hips and glared at Phoenix. "What was that all about, Nick? You scared him off."

"That's a good thing. That guy shouldn't be hitting on you."

Maya couldn't believe what he had just said. Was he actually jealous? Or was he just being overly protective, the way an older brother would. She quickly shook the thought from her head. This was no time for wishful thinking.

"Nick, he was just writing a report about mythological creatures. All he did was ask me a few questions about Gourdy."

There was a long pause.

"Oh." Was all he could say.

Nothing but awkwardness followed as Phoenix and Maya went to buy lunch at the stand. They returned with three small trays of delicious samurai dogs. Pearl, who was lying on her stomach with her chin on her arms, gazed up at them.

"What took you two so long?" Pearl asked.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure you know, Pearls." Phoenix eyed her suspiciously.

"I don't know what you mean, Mr. Nick." Pearl smiled innocently. He simply shook his head.

The day was almost up and everything went perfectly for Phoenix, Maya, and Pearl. Their day at Gourd Lake was something they would remember for a long time, along with all of their other precious memories together. A few people were already packing up and exiting the park, heading back to the real world.

After playing with Maya and Phoenix, Pearl had become exhausted and was fast asleep on Maya's lap. She wasn't the only one who was wiped out, though.

Maya let out a yawn. "Whew! Pearly really knocked me out."

"You? Knocked out?" Phoenix questioned, doubtful that she could ever be exhausted.

"Hey! Some of us young people need to rest too, you know," she explained.

He chuckled softly, lying down flat on his back as he stared at the leaves above him. "Well, you weren't the one to carry her on your back, pretending to be a magnificent pony."

Maya laughed quietly, not wanting to wake her sleeping cousin. A few seconds later, her smile slowly disappeared as her mind drifted elsewhere, specifically to three days from now.

Time had been going by really fast these last few days. There was no way to slow it down or to stop it like that clock that was once broken. Maya glanced sadly at the man beside her. She didn't want to have to leave Phoenix behind. He was the best friend she ever had. But she had to go back. She had to take on her responsibilities as master. However, she was afraid that once she leaves for Kurain, she and Phoenix would drift apart. Her days as master would be busy with very little free time on her hands. And she knew Phoenix probably wouldn't be visiting often, him being a city boy and all.

'I don't want to have to say goodbye.' She thought to herself.

"Hello? Earth to Maya?"

Maya snapped out of her thoughts, her eyes focusing on the man in front of her. "H-Huh?"

"Did you hear what I said?" he asked, still waving his hand in front of her.

"Oh, um. What was it you were saying?" she asked, trying to remember exactly what he was saying while she was spaced out.

"I was asking if you wanted to go get some burgers on our way back." He paused a bit, becoming a little worried. "Are you okay? You seem a little out of it."

"I'm fine. I was just thinking about some things." She smiled reassuringly.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Oh, nothing important. Just some random thoughts that I always get. You don't know how many of those enter my silly little brain," she laughed weakly. "So how about those burgers, huh."

He nodded slowly. "Alright. Let's wake Pearls."

The spirit medium sighed inwardly, and then smiled at the lawyer who in turn smiled back. How could she leave? It felt like she was leaving behind so many wonderful memories, but she needed to go back. Kurain was always a place she had called home, but deep down, Maya believed that whenever he was around, she was already home.

A/n: That's that. End of chapter.

Thank you to those who have reviewed. And to those who haven't… nah, I'm kidding. But they really are appreciated. ^_^