Chapter 3

I wonder if they have another crime scene for me to investigate today...Mai thought, already feeling bogged down by paperwork from other investigations she participated in.

"You busy Mai?!" Maya said urgently, yet not at the same time somehow. "We need help with setting up a date!" Maya was being pretty blunt about the situation.

"Oh, hey Maya...A date? Oh, don't tell me this is something else having to do with Phoenix and Miles..." Mai said, immediately realizing where Maya was going with this, feeling like she had gotten tangled up in one too many spying schemes with her in the past.

"It does." Maya explained the whole thing to Mai. "And so now we need help making up for what we've done." In truth, the thought of spying on Phoenix and Miles did not come up in her mind until Larry had refused to believe her. "So will you help us?"

Mai let out a little sigh and said, "Alright. I have a bit of paperwork to get done, but I can meet you at Phoenix's office after that."

Maya smiled happily as she hung up. "Alright you guys! Let's start planning!"

An idea suddenly came into Maya's head. She decided the best way to do this was to enlist the help of a certain sister…

It had been entirely too long since Phoenix had gotten a moment alone with Miles like this, the kiss he shared with Miles feeling absolutely wonderful. He pulled Miles into him

and deepened the kiss.

Miles wrapped his arms around Phoenix as the kiss was deepened. He'd kissed him so many times yet he always wanted more. He missed being able to embrace Phoenix like this.

As Phoenix kissed Miles, he forgot about the restaurant incident, and Larry and the rest of the world for just for a few fantastic moments. Finally he pulled back from Miles slightly to catch his breath, and then leaned back toward him, gently beginning to lower his lips to Miles's neck.

There was a sudden loud banging at his door which caused Miles to come back to reality. Pess went shooting towards the door barking gleefully. He slowly broke free from Phoenix's embrace reluctantly and headed for the door. A puzzled expression was on his face, wondering who would come knocking at his door. He unlocked the door and opened it to find Larry, grinning like he usually does, at his front door.

"Larry?" Miles looked at him in slight trepidation, wondering why he was so happy.

Phoenix had followed Miles to the door, also curious about who it could be, but having a sneaking suspicion on who it was. When Miles opened the door, he found out he was right.

"Let's let him in." Phoenix said, not wanting to create a ruckus in their neighborhood too if Larry suddenly decided to start yelling on their doorstep.

Larry still had his big grin plastered on. "It's not me coming in, it's you two coming out!"

Miles looked even more confused now. Is Larry planning something? Oh, I don't know about this… "We're going out? But where?" It was odd to think that Larry had something planned at all.

"I don't know, Larry..." Phoenix said hesitantly, unable to decide if this would be a good idea or not.

"Oh come on, Nick! I promise it'll be worth it!" Larry looked determined to get the two out of the house.

Phoenix then looked at Miles as if to see what he thought of this, and when he saw Miles seemed just as confused as he felt, he agreed reluctantly, "...alright."

"Great!" Larry waited for the two to come out and lock the door.

"So what's this all about?" Miles asked curiously.

"Can't tell you two," Larry said happily.

"Let's just go. He's going to make us come anyway." Phoenix said dryly as they followed Larry to his car.

Miles locked his door and followed the two.

"On the way I want you two to tell me everything!" Larry didn't sound angry though, just curious.

When all of them were in the car and had begun to drive, Larry began with the questions.

"So, when exactly did you guys get together anyway?"

"Well...ahh...we've actually been together for more than a year..." Phoenix said hesitantly, giving Larry a sheepish smile.

"WHAT?! A whole year?!?! And you didn't even tell your best friend! This can't be true, Nick!" Larry said rather loudly and melodramatically.

"Also," Larry said as he regained his composure, "I went by your place first and when I knocked on your door, these strangers answered it. Did you move or something?" The expression on Miles's face was similar to Phoenix's embarrassed expression.

"About that," Miles said thoughtfully, "Well you see, he's actually living with me now..."

"I just can't believe it..." Larry said as if he was in shock, "Together for so long and living together?! Man, this is just unreal!"

Miles was deep in thought. He took that pretty well actually. I expected him to totally freak out, even if he is driving. Miles was also becoming more curious of their destination, but it seemed Larry wasn't going to tell them anything.

After driving quietly for a while, with Larry smiling broadly. Both Phoenix and Miles were extremely curious about what he had up his sleeve, but they just waited quietly until he said something.

Mia had taken over and was making sure everything was coming together perfectly. She was sure Ema wouldn't notice the difference between her and Maya and Pearl was still naive, but Mia had made note of how perceptive Mai was. If anyone is to notice, it would be Phoenix and his cousin. I guess it runs in the family.

Mia was right. Mai had seen the Maya that had come in the door, and she knew that within a few minutes that Maya looked very different. When she spoke, she even sounded different. Something funny definitely was going on here.

Oh, the Maya I knew definitely liked to eat, but I didn't have much stock in her cooking ability. This person here seems to be an excellent cook. Mai thought.

When Ema and Pearl went off to set the table with the fancy dishes, silverware, and table cloth she handed them, she approached "Maya" in the kichen.

Mai slowly touched her shoulder and said hesitantly, "Ummm...you look different...Maya."

It probably wouldn't hurt to tell this girl. Mia thought. She turned smiling at Mai.

"Did you know the Fey family have had a long line of spirit mediums?" She was testing Mai's skills in deducing things. If Phoenix had said anything about her, especially about her death, than she might be able to piece two and two together. Let's see your detective skills at work.

Mai narrowed her eyebrows in thought at "Maya" as she put together what she was just told. She knew that Maya had spirit channeling abilities, she just never knew that it was this easy for them to channel. As Mai studied the face in front of her some more, she saw that this face looked like Maya, yet it wasn't. This person had to be someone closely related to Maya, and they had to be dead, obviously since they were being channeled by Maya.

"You're Mia Fey!" Mai finally said in surprise as all the pieces finally fell into place in her mind, "Phoenix has told me all about you..."

"He has had he? That's good to know." Mia continued cooking quite impressed with Mai. "You're quite the detective. Most probably couldn't pinpoint me as quickly as you did. And you thankfully did not faint." She remembered when she had came to Phoenix's aid and the shock had caused him to pass out...twice. There seems to be a connection with skill and rookie with his family. Mia thought amusedly.

Mai gave Mia a smile and said, "Thanks for helping us...lately we seem to keep ruining the times that Phoenix and Miles want to spend with each other...we really had to make it up to them this time."

"He does tend to attract problems," Mia said thoughtfully. Actually, Phoenix, Larry, and Miles all seem to attract horrendous problems on themselves..."Although I did expect him to have better taste," she said jokingly. The two getting together was a shocker, but at the same time, it seemed to make sense.

"Oh, I don't know, I think Miles is kind of good looking, in a brooding sort of way..." Mai said in humor.

Mia laughed at the comment. "Maybe if he wore normal clothes more often, magenta isn't a brooding color after all. And Phoenix never struck me as the type to go for them."

"Well, I guess he surprised all of us, didn't he?" Mai said, always suspecting that Phoenix was gay, but never having heard it from his own lips.

Ema and Pearl finally came back to the kitchen to inform Mai and Mia that the table was ready.

"I think we placed everything perfectly, scientifically speaking." Ema said confidently, with a smile.

"The food is almost done and I believe Larry should be back with the two soon." Mia was going to make sure this dinner would come out perfect for the two. She suddenly pondered for a few seconds, "how can we perfect the atmosphere? We have the candle, table, food..." There was something missing that would help a lot.

Finally Larry, Phoenix, and Miles came to a stop in front of an apartment building. Suddenly Phoenix recognized this as Mai's apartment complex.

What are we doing here? Phoenix wondered as Larry led both he and Miles inside, grinning widely.

Miles followed still clueless of their location. When Larry got to the door, he knocked on it. Mai opened it smiling happily and let them in. As the three walked in, Miles was shocked to see what was before them. It was a small table set neatly. There was a single candle and a small vase with flowers in the center of the table. There were also two chairs facing each other set up. Mia had realized earlier that there needed to be music and had spent a few minutes with Mai looking for any CDs that would help in the atmosphere.

"What's going on?" Miles was nearly dumbfounded at the arrangement.

Pearl suddenly came up to Phoenix and Miles, sounding very apologetic as she said, "We felt really bad about ruining your special time together, so we really wanted to make it up to you! Just follow me to your table!"

Pearl brought them to the set up table and directed them to their seats.

"This seat is for you, Mr. Nick, and that one is for you, Mr. Edgeworth!"

"Oh Pearls...you guys didn't have to go through all this trouble..." Phoenix said, a slight blush coming to his cheeks.

Mia walked out of the kitchen. "Of course we had to. Not only to make up for the screw up, we wanted to show you that we support you two." She was sure Phoenix would recognize her. "Now please take your seats and we'll serve you dinner." Mia smiled warmly at them.

Miles had sat down slowly, still a little speechless of everything. "T-Thank you," Miles said as best he could, stammering. Mia disappeared back into the kitchen taking note that Phoenix had surely been a change for Miles, in a good way.

Those two are so hopeless. Mia thought amusedly.

The surprise and recognition flashed immediately on Phoenix's face when he looked at Mia, but he said nothing since he was with Miles. When Phoenix took his seat at the table, he noticed that some romantic sounding music was playing softly in the background.

"Wow, this is really...nice..." Phoenix said, giving Miles a small smile.

Pearl had disappeared back into the kitchen before coming back out with a basket of garlic bread. She was soon followed by Ema who was carrying the plates of pasta. Mia soon came back to view with a bottle of wine. It wasn't an extremely expensive bottle, but it wasn't a totally cheap one either. Mai already had the wine glasses in her hand.

"It...is." Miles couldn't help but smile. He didn't think their day would improve at all and yet he found himself sitting here with Phoenix.

Mai placed the wine glasses in front of Phoenix and Miles and then Mia poured some in their glasses. When they were alone again, Phoenix took a sip of his wine and found that it had a rather nice flavor. Then he reached out and had a piece of garlic bread.

"This is good bread." Phoenix said, taking another bite, "Mia--umm, I mean Maya, really outdid herself..."

"I didn't know she could cook. Although something about her didn't seem right..." He had also taken a piece of garlic bread and was eating too. "But you know, it really is nice they set this up for us." To think I nearly threw this all away... He took a sip of his wine, although he was still thinking intently and didn't really acknowledge the taste.

"Yeah, even if some of them are overly curious most of the time, their hearts are in the right place." Phoenix said in slight amusement, now picking up his fork to start on the pasta.

Which, he had to say, was just as delicious as the bread.