A ball formed in Phoenix's stomach, churned for a moment and then jumped straight into his chest. He slouched where he stood and stared at the spirit medium. Her glassy eyes revealed no hidden intent, purpose, or meaning.

"W-what was that?" Phoenix choked out in a steady whisper.

"We. Are. Dating," Maya said, sticking her neck out a little with every syllable, "what don't you understand about that?"

The tone was harsh. Phoenix tore his eyes away from her face to look at the floor.

"Umm…" Charles awkwardly interjected the moody silence, attempting to alleviate the sudden harsh atmosphere of the room. "Well, it was nice meeting you mister… Nick, was it?"

Phoenix straightened up, a hardened exterior forming, "It's Wright, actually."

"What's right?"

"Wright."

Phoenix was stoic. He turned to the boy, smiled lightly and then excused himself back to his work. He didn't have time to deal with children, he deduced. Maya was a young girl and he was a man with responsibilities. The vein in his neck throbbed and he rubbed harshly at it, sitting at his desk and pretending not to see the blossoming couple.

Maya watched his every move. From his shocked expression to an immediate one of…anger? Sadness? She neither could place it and nor did she want to. Contempt rose within her at an alarming rate. Why did he treat her like this? Why did she react the way she did? Why does it bother her? Bother him? Question after question swirled around in her head and most of them she couldn't even begin to answer.

She turned solemnly to Charles, filled with a sore regret. "Sorry about that… shall we go?" Maya tugged at her sleeves, pulling them over her hands, attempting to fold in upon herself.

"It's really fine… are you okay? Sorry, I hope I didn't cause any sort of trouble…?" Charles shot a glance to Phoenix, whose head was buried in a manila folder.

"No, no, it's not you at all, I promise…" Maya's voice dipped low.

("It's me...")

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two Months Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the past few weeks a great chasm seemed to have opened up and split Maya and Nick apart on either ends. Every day of not speaking or angry retorts brought them even further apart. No matter how hard she tried to fix it or pretend it did not exist, their friendship only seemed to get worse.

It pained Maya. It hurt her physically to see her friendship with Nick fall apart. It was still there of course, but it was different. It was riddled with holes and unfinished business. Maya couldn't place it. She didn't understand the anger and the regret. It swallowed her whole and she found that her only solace was in a particular distraction.

"Charlesss! Where are you?"

"Over here!" He grunted from behind a shelf. He was busy packing a change of clothes into a backpack.

"Are you almost done? We're gonna miss the train to Kurain!" The spirit medium called to her boyfriend of two months. Maya was going to visit Pearl and Charles asked if he could tag along.

Reluctantly, she had agreed.

Maya peered down at the bobbing head of Charles and momentarily thought of another bobbing head in her life. Maya gave a sudden start, shaking her head to dispel the thoughts of a certain lawyer but luck wouldn't have it. Everything she hoped to distract herself from flooded back to the front of her mind.

The distance between them tore at her. Every movement, moment, and idea brought her back to the thought of Nick.

She didn't understand this pain. It was curious, she thought. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before. Not anger, not jealously, but a deep sadness surged through her body. At night, while in bed, it was not uncommon for a tear to escape as she tried to sleep. A mind plagued with old memories kept her awake.

When Maya did speak to Phoenix, it was with a snide remark hidden behind every statement. Unconsciously she was asking him 'why don't we hang out anymore' or 'why don't you try harder to talk to me?'

'I'm right here,' she would project in her mind as she watched him from across the room. He was digging through the cupboard, his cell phone in hand. He was talking amicably with someone on the other end. A smile on his face, he continued his conversation into the next room. Sudden spurs of laughter ringed in the air.

Maya would sit on whatever surface was nearest. She'd look down at her hands, clasped in her lap, wondering where it all went wrong. They never had a genuine reason for the distance. They just drifted apart at some point. The jealously, she reasoned, the pettiness, the selfishness of her own needs and wants. The wants of his attention, and his alone focused on her. But at the same time, after the kiss, she wanted nothing more than to be distanced from the lawyer. The two conflicting ideals raged a war in her mind. Haunted by his presence and blessed with it all at the same time.

The months of them being together and solving crime had spoiled her to the point that she believed Nick and her were unlike any other pair that ever existed. Not as lovers, of course, but as soul-mates, and not in the romantic sense of the word. The ability to speak so easily and know what the other was thinking and to feel their every emotion as it played in hidden notes across their face.

Maya had assumed that her and Nick had reached that sort of point in their relationship.

But unfortunately, she now knew that was wrong. She can't have a person all to herself. She can't hold on to someone who had a life before her. Someone with their own wants, needs, and desires.

The constant urge to just talk to Nick raced through her on a daily basis. But another part of her brain told her she was a burden. That she had always been a burden to Nick. And that he put up with her because he was already in too deep to abandon her like the pathetic girl she thought she was. He was just too nice for his own good.

Maya choked back a sob. She hated when her mind ventured to such dark places. She knew she wasn't pathetic and she knew Nick cared for her in some way. But there was always that other part of her that would mock the optimistic side; kick her to the curb right after she had just stood up.

One day, Maya absolutely couldn't stand the silence and she tapped silently, like a timid mouse, on the doorframe to Nick's room.

He looked up, engaged in a book, his crooked eyebrows rising ever slightly in surprise. He didn't speak. They hadn't spoken in days.

"Uh, hi Nick," she began, hoping her voice had no trace of an edge to it.

"Hi Maya," he said quietly back.

"Umm," she hadn't thought this far past saying hello. Her voice quavered and she said the first thing she could think of. "I'm... I'm going back to Kurain for a while."

"O-Oh, are you? Well, have a good trip. Tell Pearls I said "hi" for me, please." His gaze dropped back to his book.

A pit fell in Maya's stomach. There it was. That indifferent yet friendly tone. She hated it. The uncharacteristic anger she had become accustomed to was bubbling inside her chest. How could he sound so nonchalant? Why does he speak like our silence isn't somehow also his fault?! He makes it sound like this is all my fault and he isn't affected at all!

Maya swallowed hard. Angry tears bloomed in the corners of her eyes. Her fists clenched behind her back. "I-I-I will…" Her voice cracked.

"When will you be ba-" Phoenix looked up to ask but the spirit medium was already gone.

Phoenix sighed. His interactions with Maya as of late have been anything but friendly. It perplexed him but he felt there was no other solution than to just act normal. Maya seemed to be working out her own demons and he didn't want to bother her in any way. Besides, he thought, she was busy with her new boyfriend. She didn't have time to deal with an old man like him.

Not to say it didn't bother him. It took a great deal of strength not to talk to Maya when he caught her looking solemn. He chalked it up to a lover's quarrel. But more still, Nick wondered why he didn't simply comfort his obviously hurting assistant.

He was ashamed of the answer. He didn't want to hear her problems concerning the plant-named boy. Nick felt he couldn't handle it. To hear her speak ill or otherwise was a pain he didn't want to inflict on himself. It was childish, he knew, but all the same, Maya didn't seem like she was going to be talking anytime soon.

After Maya had revealed her newfound relationship with Charles, Phoenix was perturbed at first. The sudden shift of tone between Maya and him was growing with each passing day. When did it begin, he'd wonder. Was it when he kissed her?

Such a small thing, he mused. Such a small incident. The lawyer still couldn't fathom why Maya reacted the way she did. Why she cried, why she was angry, why she ran off and met with some random loser. Was it a feat to get back at him? But back at him for what?

Phoenix sighed again, putting his head between his hands, a heavy breath of emotion that contained all that he couldn't physically express. Maya worked hard to hide her emotions but failed. Phoenix was incapable of forming into words how he felt. It was hidden within him, like an unread book he was afraid to start analyzing it, unsure of what he would discover.

On the other hand, it pained Phoenix to see Maya hurting, even if it was a hidden mask. He felt Maya didn't want to address it so he let it be. Whether that was the right thing to do, he had no idea. So he just gave her her space and the space just grew and grew on its own over time.

He figured it might have something to do with his newfound friendship with Iris. But Nick didn't dare try to work out this train of thought, even more fearful of what he might find.

His thoughts once again drifted to Maya. Her usual smile was left off her face whenever he saw her. She was in and out of the apartment without a word. He sometimes heard what sounded like muffled whimpers from within her room. He never knocked, of course. Before… didn't I always comfort her?

Phoenix leaned his head back, memories drifted to the surface of his previous engagements with the spirit medium. Their fun together, the terrors they witnessed and worked through, the days of peace. A smile broke across his face but his eyebrows knitted, a deep crease centered on his forehead.

The book he was reading had lost all meaning as the words blurred together. Touching his rough fingers to his eyes, he found himself to be crying. Perplexed, the tears came harder and confusion coursed through him.

Nick was unsure how to feel about anything at the moment. He tossed the book to the floor, rubbed at his eyes, and attempted to sleep.

In the upcoming days, Maya was on a train back to her home. Phoenix had not seen her off at the trainstation.

AN: Sorry for the long wait! I've been very busy with school lately and also a bit uninspired. This chapter was a little different, if you couldn't tell. It delves more into the emotion of the thing. As humans, no one really knows what they want and neither does anyone understand it. It's the same here, two different perspectives and neither has a clue. It's a sad chapter to me. Miscommunication can ruin all sorts of things. Life is confusing, people are confusing, and conflicts arise at a moment's notice within our relationships and within ourselves. Haha sorry, it is very late.

Please review! I appreciate any and all commentary.