-whistles while staring at the stats for this fic- Wow. Compared to The Smallest Thing, this fic is doing pretty good. XD

BlueRaider: My theory is that some of Phoenix's older self returns once he talks to Pearl or Maya. Like, when you have a change in personality, you act differently around some people but act like your old self around others. (And even if that doesn't work, there's always the argument that no one can relax with Pearl or Maya around.) Glad to know you found it funny! -sucks at humor-

lazyguy90: -has now updated- Thanks for the praise!

princessphilomena: -meant later- Thanks. -has fixed it- This is my first time writing Maya/Phoenix, actually, and my first time writing anything with Maya in it for about eight months. Apparently, people liked it, since I didn't get any flames, which I was expecting. (XD) Maybe I'll write more.

Elixhay: Hopefully, you enjoy the way Maya greets Phoenix. -intends it to be funny, but it probably isn't, as she sucks at humor-

Disclaimer: I do not own Phoenix. I'm not talking about Hobo!Phoenix, or Attorney!Phoenix, or Young!Phoenix. I'm not even talking about Human!Phoenix. The Phoenix I'm talking about is owned by whoever invented him in The Phoenix Wright Files. You'll see who he is soon enough.

2. Same Old, Same Old

"Apollo! Apollo, wake up!"

Sleepily, Apollo rubbed his eyes. Time to get up already? he wondered. Then he remembered that he was the only person living in this apartment, and his eyes immediately shot wide open to find Trucy standing next to his sofa bed, already wearing her signature blue cape and top hat and looking as if she'd been awake for hours.

"Trucy! What are you doing in here?!" he bellowed, feeling his throat sear with pain. Apparently, sleeping hadn't cured his sore throat from the day before.

Trucy poked him. "We're going to the train station!" she said with a big grin on her face.

Apollo glanced at his clock. It was a quarter past four – in the morning. "Trucy, do you know what time it is?" he grumbled. "And why on earth do you want to go to the train station?"

"Remember when Daddy called Maya back? He said he was going to the train station at five. I want to go see why he's going!"

I knew it was a bad idea to give them a spare key to my apartment in case of an emergency. "Why do you need me to go along?" he whined, pulling the sheets over his head.

"I don't want to go alone," Trucy replied, tugging absently at the finger of one of her gloves.

Sighing, Apollo turned over onto his side. "Why not just ask your dad to bring you along?"

"He left ten minutes ago. Besides, it loses its mysteriousness if he knows I'm there," she explained. "Get dressed, Apollo! I will go by myself if you don't hurry."

"What about Mr. Hat?"

Trucy shook her head. "No. If I'm going with someone, I want him to be a real person."

Apollo rolled over again and peeked out from underneath the sheets at her. "Trucy, I never thought I would ever, ever have to say this, but here it is: We are not stalking your dad."

"It's not stalking!" Trucy argued. "It's following. Shadowing. But not stalking."

"It is too stalking." Then, with a sigh, he added, "But I can't let you go out there alone; Mr. Wright would literally kill me. Wait outside my apartment, okay?"

She walked out into the hall. Apollo locked the door to make sure she didn't pop in on him – you never knew with Trucy – and quickly threw on his regular red vest over a long-sleeved white shirt, along with a pair of red pants. Then he took a handful of gel and molded his hair into two horns sticking straight up in the hair. He looked at himself in the mirror, moved the left spike in a bit, and then let himself into the hall outside his apartment.

"You took long enough!" Trucy complained with a smile. Before he locked the door behind him, she ran off down the hall, toward the staircase. Sighing, he followed her, wondering why he even bothered with these things.

—Phoenix Wright—

Leaning against a pillar, Phoenix waited. And waited. And waited. He waited for a little over an hour for the train that would be bringing Maya and Pearl here for the first time in seven years, trying not to fall asleep. That was a hard feat, as he'd gotten maybe an hour or two of very light sleep, thinking about seeing Maya and Pearl tomorrow. It had been a long time since he'd had to buy them cheeseburgers – and he hoped he wouldn't have to this time – or sit and endure an episode or two of the latest Samurai show, or sit on the couch and watch Kid's Masterpiece Theater with Pearl. It had been way too long since they had done any of those things.

Then, a thought hit him. Did Pearl still think he and Maya were dating?

I hope not, he thought. I don't really want any more slaps in the face.

About fifteen minutes after it was supposed to arrive, Maya and Pearl's train chugged into the station. Shifting his weight to his other foot, Phoenix waited for the passengers to start to disembark. He tried to watch all of the doors at once, and by the time luggage-ridden passengers began to step out onto the platform, a large, hard knot had formed in his stomach, making him feel slightly nauseous.

There was one large advantage about Maya and Pearl coming on the early train. Even if there had been many, many more passengers, it still would have been incredibly easy to pick them out among the crowd. It wasn't too hard; both wore spirit medium costumes and magatamas around their necks, and even if they wore regular clothes, they were easily the most energetic amongst the otherwise-sleepy passengers.

Phoenix spotted the two within three minutes. Maya caught sight of him at the exact same second, and she gently set down a pet carrying case but threw her other luggage away and ran through the crowd toward him, absolutely beaming.

"Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!" she cried as she ran, and then she threw herself at him to give him a huge hug. Phoenix nearly toppled over – she'd gained weight and he had lost some – but managed to give her an awkward pat on the back. Then Pearl, who set her luggage down much more carefully than Maya had, was standing next to them, probably wanting to greet Phoenix but not wanting to interrupt this somewhat-awkward reunion.

"Hey, Maya, Pearls," Phoenix replied, waving at Pearl. Presently, Maya stepped back and examined him critically, looking him up and down. He gazed back, smiling slightly. Maya looked different. She was still small, and she still had the long black hair with the topknot, but she had gained some pounds and over her purple-sleeved spirit medium costume, she wore a grayish-black Master's robe. She kept the red and yellow Master's talisman in sight, and Phoenix gazed at it for a moment, remembering how he had found it nearly eight years ago, in the snow, and the picture that had been inside of it. And, when she stayed still and didn't talk, she had an air of refinement that she had been lacking in when they had last met.

A refined Maya. . . heh, Phoenix thought, his smile broadening. Right. Just like there's a rich Gumshoe and a music-hating Klavier Gavin.

Pearl took advantage of this long pause in conversation and gave Phoenix a small, quick hug before retreating to go get their suitcases and bags.

Finally, Maya said, "Whoa, you've really let yourself go, haven't you, Nick? You look. . . kinda like a hobo."

He sighed and, unable to think of any other way to reply, shrugged. Then, Pearl reappeared, trying to carry all of the luggage by herself, including the pet carrying case.

"Pearly! Don't try to carry that all by yourself!" Maya insisted, grabbing the pet carrying case and several bags.

Pearl shook her head and protested, but Maya took about half of her younger cousin's load and handed Phoenix the cage, from which an indignant mew suddenly came.

Phoenix stared at it. "Is that–?"

"Yep, that's Phoenix," Maya replied, looking at the cage fondly as she shouldered two bags at once. "I couldn't let him stay back home."

". . ." Phoenix continued to stare at the cage that contained the small gray tabby he had allowed Maya to adopt about a week before his last case. "I thought you changed the name?" he muttered at last.

She shook her head. "No, I didn't." With one of her hands finally free, she reaccepted the pet cage and started murmuring, "It's okay, Phoenix, you'll be out of there soon."

Phoenix glanced behind him. "Since you were probably going to meet them anyway, I'd like you to meet a couple of people." He pointed at a nearby bench. "The guy sitting there and hiding behind a newspaper is Apollo Justice."

Apollo lowered the newspaper. "Trucy made me do it," he said with a sigh. Then he looked at Maya, and smiled. "Hi," he rasped.

Maya snapped her fingers. "Ah! So you're Mr. Justice."

Then, Phoenix gestured toward the garbage can sitting next to the bench. "The girl trying to hide behind that and who thinks I've stood here for over an hour and haven't noticed her is my daughter, Trucy."

Trucy popped up from behind the garbage can with her hands on her hips. She opened her mouth to reply, but Pearl, who had glanced at the young magician for two seconds, proceeded to slap Phoenix across the face.

"Mr. Nick! You're filthy!" she cried, slapping him again.

"Ow! That hurts, Pearls! And what did I do?" Phoenix cried, trying to block the slaps. But it was harder now that Pearl was sixteen and only a head shorter than him, because it was much easier for her to hit him now than when she had been nine, and every time he did block a slap, she punched him in the arm. Hard.

"You have a daughter!" Pearl exclaimed loudly as Maya watched, apparently torn between laughing and stopping her cousin from pummeling her ex-boss. "What – about – Mystic – Maya?" She enunciated each word with a slap or a punch.

Maya decided to intervene here. "Pearly, Pearly, please calm down," she begged her little cousin as Phoenix turned away, looking for a Kleenex in his pocket to see if his nose was bleeding. "Trucy is Nick's adopted daughter, okay? He's not married to someone else or anything. And I–"

Pearl turned to look at Phoenix. Whatever Maya had been about to say trailed off quietly as Pearl stared at him for a long moment. He had found a tissue and, sure enough, small traces of blood stained the white Kleenex. He turned back around to find her mouth having formed a comical-looking "o."

"Oops. I'm sorry, Mr. Nick," she apologized sincerely.

"It's my fault," Maya confessed. "I didn't tell her that Trucy was adopted."

Phoenix shook his head, covering his nose with the tissue. "S'okay," he mumbled.

Pearl and Trucy disappeared to go get a taxi, and after Phoenix shot a look at Apollo, the young attorney followed them, still holding his newspaper and looking as if he would like nothing better than to sleep. Cat!Phoenix meowed again, spurring Phoenix to say, "Do they even allow cats at the Gatewater?"

Maya shrugged. "I don't see why they wouldn't. Phoenix wouldn't disturb anyone! Would you, kitty-kitty?" she stuck her fingers in through the mesh of the cage's door. The tabby batted at the finger playfully and purred.

"Well, they'll have people staying there that are allergic to cats. And besides, cats are noisy. They scratch things up. They–"

"That was your argument when I first found Phoenix, Nick," replied Maya, smiling sweetly. "Who won that argument again?"

Phoenix sighed. "You did. But I think the manager of the hotel will be harder to convince than I am."

"Well, you'll defend me and Phoenix, Nick!" Maya said confidently. Then, seeing the smallest of sad smiles on Phoenix's face, she bit her lip. "Uh. . . sorry," she mumbled.

"Never mind," he replied, waving a hand dismissively, even though her comment stung a little.

Trucy appeared then, saying that they had managed to get a taxi, and Phoenix helped his ex-assistant carry the luggage out of the station and onto the sidewalk. Apollo had disappeared, presumably to get some sleep, and Maya seemed disappointed about this.

"You said he does Chords of Steel training, right?" she asked Phoenix as she closed the trunk of the taxi on their luggage. "That sounds awesome! And his hair looks so cool. It's spiky, like yours, only, you know, cooler."

". . ." Phoenix touched his light blue hat, then remembered he had better things to worry about than the coolness of his spiky hair, mainly making sure Maya didn't get charged for murder or get kidnapped or something.

Maya opened the taxi door. "Why do you wear that hat, anyway?" Then, she gasped, as if an idea had just hit her. "Did you go bald?"

"I'm not that old!" Phoenix replied, insulted. "I'm only thirty-three!"

She shrugged. "Either way, do you want to go to our old usual place for lunch later?"

At that moment, Pearl appeared with Trucy from the station, for they had gone back to use the rest room. Hearing this, the two girls dropped what they were carrying and ran over to the pair, talking over each other in their anxiousness to get their points across.

"Oh! Mystic Maya! You're going out with Mr. Nick today?" Pearl cried excitedly. "I'll not–"

Then, Trucy's voice covered Pearl's. "Are you getting me a new Mommy, Daddy?" she asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, and she spoke like a young child asking what she would be getting for Christmas. "Are you?"

Phoenix held his face in his hands. Maybe he should have gone back to his apartment like Apollo had.

As Maya tried to convince Pearl they weren't going on a date and Trucy began to orally plan out a wedding, the taxi driver yelled, "Can we hurry up already?"

Grudgingly, Pearl got into the taxi and waved to Trucy and Phoenix as it drove off toward the Gatewater Hotel. Maya stuck her head out of the taxi and yelled, "See you at your place at lunch, Nick!" leaving the magician and the "hobo" (as Maya had called him) standing on the sidewalk. Phoenix silently turned and walked back to his apartment, and Trucy followed just as quietly, which surprised him. After a while, she stated simply, "I like Maya and Pearl."

He nodded and continued walking.

"Maya's really funny," Trucy continued, flicking a lock of her brown hair out of her face. "And Pearl is so nice."

He nodded again, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he walked. "They both are."

"Will Maya be my new Mommy?"

Phoenix laughed softly. Apparently, Trucy was convinced that he and Maya would marry, just like Pearl had been. "No, it's not like that. Maya's my friend."

Trucy took a few long steps and turned around so that she was walking backward and could face her adoptive father. "Really? Because Pearl said that Maya–"

"Pearl has always thought that Maya and I were dating." He quickened his pace slightly. "But we never have, and we never will."

Trucy was quiet for a moment, but continued to walk backward, gnawing on her bottom lip before saying at last, "You seem upset, Daddy."

He gave her a small smile. "I'm not upset. I'm tired." Then, he overtook her and, calling over his shoulder, said, "Let's go back and get some sleep, okay?" With Maya around, I'm going to need all the rest I can get, he added in his mind. You never can tell when she gets involved.

And, of course, he was absolutely right.

—Later—

At eleven-thirty, Phoenix was waiting for Maya and Pearl to come, staring dolefully at the money he could afford to spend on lunch between himself, the two mediums, Trucy, and Apollo, assuming the last two would be coming along, too. He only had five dollars, and even that was stretching it to a dangerous point. I wish our old place was cheaper, he thought, playing with the bills in his fingers. Or that we could go to Eldoon's. But Maya would rather a cheeseburger than noodles, I think.

The door opened, and he looked round to find Maya and Pearl come in, both looking well-rested. Maybe they'd had a nap at the hotel. Or maybe they got up early every morning in Kurain and were used to it.

"Wow," Maya said, blinking as she looked around the room. "This is really different from the last time I was here." Then she found Trucy's spare top hat sitting on the dusty piano and perched it on her head. "Hey, Nick, do I look like a magician?" she asked, tipping her hat in a perfect imitation of his daughter.

At that moment, Trucy herself walked in. She caught sight of Pearl and ran to give her a hug. Phoenix watched as Pearl gave her a hug back. Apparently, they had hit it off well at the station, because they were acting as if they had known each other all their lives.

Still wearing the top hat, Maya ran over to the potted plant sitting in the corner. "Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarllllllllllieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" she cried, in much the same fashion as she had when she had seen Phoenix at the station. "I missed you!"

"You know about Charlie?" Trucy asked, glancing over at the spirit medium, wide-eyed.

"Yep! He was my sister's originally. When I worked here, I watered him. He's a great plant to talk to. He's even better than Nick!" Maya had a reminiscent sort of look in her eyes.

. . . A plant is better to talk to than I am? Phoenix thought disbelievingly.

Suddenly, Trucy noticed that her spare hat was on Maya's head. "You look a bit like a magician," she told her with a smile. "Can you do magic?"

"I can channel the spirits of the dead! Does that count?" Maya asked over her shoulder, smiling hopefully.

As if being told by the person she was talking to that they could channel spirits was a normal, daily occurrence, Trucy shrugged. "I don't know." Then, she asked, "Want to see a magic trick?"

Maya turned completely around now, clapped her hands together, and nodded. "Yes, please!" Then she looked sideways at Phoenix. "I'm jealous – you can watch all of these magic shows for free!"

Smiling proudly, he nodded. "She's a good magician. If this is the trick I think it is, you're going to like it. A lot."

Apollo walked into the room sleepily, carrying a sandwich that had just made in the kitchen. "What's happening now?" he asked, his voice sounding much better than it had this morning, though he only sounded half awake.

"Trucy's going to do a magic trick now, Mr. Justice!" Pearl explained happily, beaming.

He gave a start. "Trick?"

Suddenly, from beneath Trucy's cape, a seven-foot puppet made of wood unfolded itself and stood upright, sweeping her silk top hat off her head and perching it on its own. Pearl gave a small scream and tripped over backward. While Phoenix leapt forward to catch her before she fell and hurt herself, Maya was gazing at the puppet, evidently trying to figure out how she had done it.

"Cool, huh?" Trucy asked. "His name is Mr. Hat."

Maya grinned. "Hello, Mr. Hat!" Then she looked at Trucy. "How did you do it?"

Mr. Hat slid back under her cape. Trucy, reclaiming her hat and putting it back on her own head, replied with a smile, "Magicians never reveal their secrets!"

"Aw." Maya turned to Phoenix. "So, you ready to get some cheeseburgers?" she asked, switching gears quickly.

Phoenix glanced at the five dollars he had to split between three to five people. It was still lying on the table where he had left it. Maybe for one person. "I think," he replied aloud.

Maya's eyes flicked to the five dollar bill as well. "I'm paying," she insisted, patting the purse that she had slung on one shoulder.

She's. . . paying? Phoenix stared at his ex-assistant, bewildered. Usually, Maya made him pay for everything.

"Nick." Maya sounded dead serious. "I would have paid, even if you had more than five bucks to buy lunch for you and me. Besides, I owe you."

Phoenix opened his mouth to argue. Then, realizing he was going to get a free meal, he switched tactics quickly, "Only you and me?"

Maya slid up to him and whispered in his ear, "Pearly insisted that you and I have some alone time. I had to beg her to come here."

Both of them turned to look at Pearl and Trucy, who were sitting beside Charlie, talking to him energetically. Apollo was eating his sandwich, watching the two girls through half-closed eyes. Phoenix called over to them, "Trucy? Pearl? You sure you don't want to come?"

Pearl turned to face him and shook her head. "No! You and Mystic Maya go have lunch, Mr. Nick! I'll be fine here."

Define "fine." "Trucy?" he prompted, gazing at his adopted daughter.

"No. I'll stay here with Pearl," Trucy responded cheerfully. Then she walked over and poked Apollo in the ribs. Hard. "Apollo can stay with us."

Apollo groaned softly. Whether it was from the poke or the prospect of staying with Trucy, Phoenix couldn't tell.

"Okay, then. Apollo, make sure they don't break anything or get into the pudding I bought yesterday." He turned to Trucy. "Trucy, make sure Apollo doesn't use that as an excuse to 'guard' the pudding. He has to wait for his paycheck." He turned to Pearl, leaving Apollo looking extremely indignant. "Pearl, make sure neither Trucy nor Apollo get into the kitchen and have some kind of mini-war for the pudding."

After assigning several more duties to the three of them, Phoenix and Maya left. As soon as they had left the building, Maya turned to him and enquired, giggling, "You pay your employees with pudding now?"

He shrugged. "Only Apollo. Trucy makes her own money."

"I can see why. That Mr. Hat trick was awesome! And defense attorneys never seem to get paid a lot anyway." She bit her lip. "So. . . what does he do with the pudding?"

"One, Grossberg was a defense attorney, and he's stinking rich," Phoenix pointed out. "And two, do I even have to answer that question?"

Maya nodded. "I know, I know. It's so obvious what he does with the pudding."

"Good. I was wondering if–"

"He sells it online." Maya hit herself on the forehead and continued walking. "That's so obvious! He probably makes lots of money. 'Pudding from the famous forging attorney!' Not that you actually forged anything, but that's what people think. I bet it would sell like hot cakes!"

It was then that Maya noticed Phoenix had stopped about ten feet back, staring at her as if she were insane. "Something wrong?" she asked, walking back and waving a hand in front of his eyes. He turned his head to stare at her face.

"Were you kidding?" he asked.

Maya looked confused for the briefest of seconds. Then she grinned. "Of course I was!"

Phoenix rolled his eyes. "Sure you where," he replied sarcastically. They continued walking.

"I thought for a second that you were offended over me implying you forged that evidence," Maya murmured after they were a block away from their usual restaurant. "You know that I know that you didn't do it."

Phoenix slightly stiffened for a moment, then relaxed. "That's been over with for seven years," he told her gently.

She shook her head. "No. They finally caught the real forger, didn't they? It happened last month. It was all over the papers. All because of Apollo, wasn't it? Everyone in Kurain was talking about it, since you had such close ties there." She was silent for a moment. "It's too bad that they still won't give your badge back."

Normally, Phoenix would have steered the conversation away from this topic, but this was Maya. He'd talked to her about it before, shortly after he had adopted Trucy. And sometimes, on the phone, they discussed it briefly. She was the one person who was even close to understanding the pain caused by being toppled from a high, high throne. It had happened to her now deceased mother, and Maya had grown up seeing the destruction of her mother's grave mistake that wasn't even a mistake, though that had only been discovered fifteen years after it had happened.

"It is," he agreed softly. He would have said more, but Maya suddenly grabbed his arm, startling him slightly.

"We just passed the restaurant," she said, pointing toward a corner shop with the words "Walter's Burger Joint" written on the restaurant's large glass window. "Let's finish this conversation after I eat. I'm starving."

Yep. Definitely same old, same old, Phoenix thought as he allowed Maya to drag him through the shop's door, something that had happened many times, back when he had been a defense attorney.

And the same old thing was not a bad thing, not in the slightest.

Bad ending, I know. Sorry. D8 Maya's pet cat, Phoenix, isn't my idea, as I said (or tried to) in the disclaimer. That was from the Phoenix Wright Files, and it was my favorite story in the whole book. So, I decided to put Cat!Phoenix in here, too.

Next chapter will mostly be in Apollo's POV. What Trucy and Pearl are thinking and talking about back at the Wright Anything Agency is something very, very important.

. . . Plus, I like writing about Trucy, Pearl, and Apollo. XD