Hey everyone, I know it has been a long time since I posted anything and sadly it has been a while since I have written. Life has been a complete wreck between losing 2 jobs getting a new one I'm not satisfied with and having family in and out of the hospital for the last year but I am going to try to finish this and write more, please be patient.

One thing I'd like to note. I am not great at shipping characters and Lin/Mai is not what I planned but this is taking place some time after the manga. I calculate Mai was 16 in the manga which took around 3 years. Then Naru left for 2 years and came back. Then the last few Stories I've written have taken another 3-4 years and Mai has matured quite a bit. My brother was 20 when he married a 30 year old girl and barely anyone cared, now with him 35 and her 45 with 2 kids no body blinks an eye. Age means very little in love. If Mai was still 16 I would not put them together but if you have a problem with their relationship please don't flame. Creative criticism is always appreciated and lots of reviews.

It was Monday, Martin once again requested Mai's presence. She was surprised as he walked her to the familiar room. He was happy, talking animatedly of possibilities once the testing was through. She followed, letting what dread she felt for the tests ebb away as he spoke. He motioned her in, heavy walls surrounding her as she looked at new items. The bed was gone, stanch white walls glared at her and the items as though they didn't belong. Fluorescent lights buzzed its annoyance and Mai couldn't help but feel the unease of the room but when she turned back the door had closed, not a sound coming from outside.

"Hello?" she asked, hoping a familiar voice on the speaker, maybe Charles or she'd even take Martin's, but nobody answered. She stayed by the door staring at the intruding items in the room. A doll, a desk, a school locker and lamp. She looked at them and they stared back in all innocence but she did not move forward, instead sinking to the floor by the door.

"Anyone out there?" she knocked on the door. "Hello?" she called to the speaker. The light flickered and zapped. A second later darkness encompassed the room. She screamed.

"Mai, wake up."

"Mai!" Lin's calm but slightly worried voice worked through her mind. "Wake up!"

"Kojou!" she yipped diving into his arms, "I'm sorry." She sobbed in his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and waited as she cried.

"Mai~" he murmured softer.

"Koujo, I'm sorry," she finally pulled away from him.

"Tell me what happened," his voice was gentle.

"It… it was nothing." She turned her head away from him.

"Mai, you were screaming."

"Oh, eh."

"Was it one of those dreams?"

"No, no, well…" she shook her head then looked away again, was it? She wasn't sure.

Lin mentally worked through all of the case files he'd let Mai read or organize. Most were superficial, 80% of cases in England were hoaxes, leaky pipes or faulty wiring or something like that. They didn't discriminate like Noll, they took cases, filed reports whether hoax or real. There was only five that were worth any interest of Noll's and the teams had been well established groups. No one was worried about these cases. He worried if they should be.

"It wasn't like on a case," Mai murmured. Lin took a deep breath and relaxed. "It is just the testing."

"You don't like the testing? Did they do something wrong?"

"No," she whined and Lin knew she was feeling guilty.

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"But Martin thinks I don't have any abilities and you and Noll have vouched for me."

"If he doesn't notice your abilities it is his own fault."

"I just don't want to let you down."

Lin laughed, a guttural laugh that bubbled from deep.

"Lin~!" she squealed, making him laugh even harder, she beat her hands against his chest, first in annoyance then in play.

"Mai, you could never let me down."

"But"

"Mai," he interrupted her, "You are impressive, amazing in your heart and strength. Your abilities mean nothing to any of us."

"They do to Naru and Martin."

"You know Naru better."

"He only wants me for my tea." She pouted.

"And he is going through withdrawal."

"But to Martin!"

"To Martin, yes." Lin sighed, "To him the reason you are here is for your abilities. Sadly he wants to see how good you are. The reports are in the case files show significant assistance with cases. He wants to verify the findings before he tries to improve the results. He believes in achieving a baseline through testing and then train people and again test to show results."

"Can't he take the case histories as baselines?"

"He hates to but for you he might have to." Lin sighed, "I'll talk to Martin on Monday."

"No!" Mai squeaked, "you are already having problems because of me."

"Mai, it is not your fault I was not home for one night."

"But," Lin placed a finger on her lips to silence her.

"It is not your fault." He spoke slowly and deliberately.

"I don't like lying."

"You aren't." he released his hold on her and sat back against the headboard. "What if we do something different, there is a street fair tonight."

"Can we get fish and chips?"

Lin groaned, "Fish and chips, about as refined as rice balls."

"Well will they be there?"

"At every food vendor, who told you about fish and chips?"

"Charles," she covered her mouth with a hand, "I'm not supposed to know that."

"Why aren't you supposed to know?"

"Don't tell Martin, he'll get in trouble. Charles has been assisting Martin in the testing. While Martin was coming to the room to take me back to the office he talked to me. I asked who he was."

"I don't think Martin would be upset."

Mai shook her head. "He hasn't let anyone else talk to me during the testing or anything." Lin sighed, Martin was definitely taking the wrong approach to testing.

"We have three hours before we have to get up, did you want to go back to sleep?" Lin watched as Mai bit her lip and he knew the answer. "I got an idea, get dressed." He got up leaned over to give her a kiss on the temple and headed out of the room. Face red Mai lay back on the bed with a sigh, she wore pj's that covered everything but the absence of his warmth, those two words, 'get dressed', made her blush clear to her toes, that and a kiss from a man who never showed his emotions.

Half hour later Mai was curled close to Lin's warmth once more, a single word from him again sending thrills down her spine. They stood on the docks looking out over the river, or was it an ocean, it didn't really matter. Mist hung close to the water and the sun began to peak over the horizon. The light reflected through the water setting it a fire. The hazy mist hung there as the sun burned down on it, prisms of light reflecting colors beyond imagination through the waters.

"Like the view?" Lin's warm breath tickled the back of her neck, she could only nod. He pulled away from her and she shivered in the cool morning air.

"Mai there is a question I want to ask your family when we go back to Japan." Mai tipped her head back to look at Lin. Her family? Her mom and dad were long dead. The only other family she had was the team, Naru, Bou-san, Ayako and John-san. What would he need to ask them about, he would talk to Naru later today.

"What do you mean Koujo?"

"Until we see them would you wear this? It is the promise of my intentions with you." Mai felt a chain loop around her neck and something settle on her chest. Looking down she saw the silver chain looped through two rings. She picked them up in one hand. One a simple gold band with a small stone embedded in it. The second larger was just a little wider simple gold band. His and her engagement rings. Mai was speechless.

"You don't have to answer now," he was quick to add, nervousness edging his voice, "wear the necklace for now and think about it. If you decide against it just give me back the necklace, but I hope you agree this is where my future leads." He looked down at her smile for a second before bending his head and giving her a chaste kiss. She held the rings and saw an inscription on the inside. 'My heart resides with you.'

Martin appeared at Lin's office later that morning, expecting to see Mai, a plan formed around her abilities for a different type of test, and found it empty. Neither Lin nor Mai appeared to have come in yet.

"He took a personal day, said Taniyama-san was also not coming in." Lin's secretary told him as she returned to her desk cup of coffee in one hand eyes trained on a gossip magazine, the woman's name slipped Martin's mind.

"He has never called in sick," Martin murmured.

"This girl is the root of all these problems." The secretary spoke a little too loudly. "Since she has come he gives little more than a cursory look to anything and then ducks in his office. He won't let anyone in there. I don't think it is appropriate the way they are."

"And how is that?"

"Well you know they speak in a language all their own, in whispers and nods. I'm not sure if she is reading his mind. She put a hex on him for sure."

"I doubt she is capable of that."

"Don't you think it is strange though?"

"What?"

"The way they are." The woman stood and glared at Martin. "Except for you she never speaks to anyone, not even the other 'mediums' which she is supposed to be. She goes for testing then hides in his office most of the day. She even files his papers and looks over case reports. Not right, he doesn't even let me sort the papers or take books back to the library."

Martin looked at the woman, a busybody if he'd ever seen one. Maryellen, he remembered her name, she was the cousin of someone. Quoted to have some abilities, but grew out of them young. Her family claimed discrimination of some sort although Martin was unsure on what basis so she was tossed around as a secretary until she was given to Lin. He didn't need nor want a secretary. She had no responsibilities except guarding his door and it worked out well especially when Lin was in Japan.

"He has always been self sufficient." Martin sighed, "But I believe we should look into giving Miss Taniyama other people to talk with."

"Someone she can't corrupt, what of that weird little medium? Twitchy?"

"Twitchel," Martin absently corrected her, it wasn't the first time he'd heard him referred to as such. "He isn't much help on cases but has been fully trained. We'll see."

I hope you enjoy.

I'm sending a special thanks out to Umiron who has reviewed a few times even in my absence. Thank you.