Maya once told Phoenix about what she believed to be the reason for Pearl's beliefs regarding their relationship. He seemed sympathetic, and to preserve the poor girl's fragile emotional state, the two never stepped in to clear up the misunderstanding.

Nick was always fun to embarrass, but Maya couldn't pretend that Pearl's misunderstanding never caused her any level of grief as well. She wondered at times whether she could've done anything back then to prevent it from coming to be in the first place.

Maybe she could've gotten the hint when Pearl asked her upfront about whether Nick loved her. In retrospect, it was a pretty clear warning.

"Aww, Pearly, who wouldn't love me?" might not have been the best choice of answer. If nothing else, admitting the possibility that she might've had the tiniest possible crush on Nick as well was definitely not a good call, at least.

Pearl would need a good talking-to somewhere down the line, though. Maya didn't like to imagine how it would go.

Pearl's continued belief that the two people caring for her whenever she stayed in the city were madly in love was impossible to keep from the council of Kurain elders, as well. Maya felt conflicted on the idea of letting them meet Nick for themselves. She had several glaring reasons to be very opposed to the idea to start out, but at least it might ease off a few of their frequent criticisms.

According to the warped understanding that Pearl had managed to instill in their minds, as innocent as her intentions might have been, Maya had followed the path of her sister, who had left the village to pursue a future in the very profession that cost Kurain its reputation all those years ago. The elders made no small point of indirectly mentioning their disdain for Mia's career choice, particularly when addressing their apparent need to "correct" Maya's course in life. They seemed deeply resentful toward the defence lawyer who they came to believe had seduced Maya into a lifestyle that disregarded the needs of Kurain's future.

None of them had even met him, yet, but Maya thought so far that it would be best for Nick to keep it that way.

Pearl didn't need the knowledge of the trouble her exuberance had inadvertently caused for Maya.

It was around the time of the Hazakura case that Maya came to realize Pearl was not the only one to believe that she and Nick were something more than friends. Sure, they sometimes caught the odd comment from the employees of burger restaurants and department stores about Nick and "his girlfriend", but they'd always just laughed those off. The way their other friends and associates began to speak of them following that case's harrowing events gave Maya a very different feeling.

The way she explained it to herself was fairly simple. She loved Nick, but not in the way that the people around them seemed to believe. Of course, using that particular phrasing never seemed to make any difference either way, so she eventually dropped explaining it.

Pearl's explanation would always have a considerably greater impact, anyway.

"Hey, Nick?" Maya asked one late evening a month after her 20th birthday, which found her in the office's upstairs apartment, huddled up on the couch with Phoenix, both of them covered by her favourite blanket.

A rather sleepy-sounding noise took the place of a reply from Phoenix.

Maya yawned. "Yeah, I'm about to tip over, too." she said. "First, I wanna ask you something."

A yawn of Phoenix's own, much louder than Maya's, prefaced his response. "OK, shoot."

Maya opened her mouth, but paused first. Her eyes briefly shot a glance at the closed bedroom door just into the hall. It was still hard to wrap her head around the idea that Nick was a father now. Maya felt sure that he'd do a great job. He got plenty of practice with Pearl, and little Trucy was a girl of a very similar sort.

"Nick," she finally began after taking another moment to switch off the TV, "What would you call it when two people are… well, super close to one another, - like best friends times ten - and all one of them wants to do is hang out with the other… forever…?"

…

Phoenix didn't reply. Maya watched him for a few seconds. Maybe he was asleep already. She sighed.

"Tryin' to have a heart-to-heart here, Nick…" she grumbled. Phoenix wasn't snoring yet, so Maya hoped he'd at least pick up her words. "I just wish things didn't keep trying to get in the way. For so long it was always cases, or training back in Kurain… It's not like we didn't get plenty of time, but now this comes up…"

The fallout from the Gramarye trial was the biggest shake-up they'd ever been through. Nick wasn't a lawyer anymore, he had a daughter to take care of - and even though it only took one meeting for Maya to adore Trucy, she didn't stop missing the old days.

She knew Nick was innocent. There was no way in hell he would ever have even considered doing something as low as forging evidence just to win a single case. Maya had expected him to bounce back and throw himself into investigating the incident for himself - Detective Gumshoe had even come by just the other day to offer his help - but now Nick was putting aside his own needs to care for this poor abandoned girl instead, and Maya worried just how long it might be until they could eventually start to sort things out again.

She'd talked to Mr. Edgeworth, and he seemed to believe in Nick just as strongly as she did. They'd find something, but just how many things would have to come first…?

"Nick," Maya said softly, feeling more and more sleepy for herself now, "I know things are gonna be tough for a while, but… you've always been there to help me, and I'm gonna do the same for you." She yawned again and gently nuzzled herself tighter against his side. "… I promise."

Maya's eyes had just drifted shut when she heard an unexpected reply. Nick's voice was low and quiet as he asked, "Did you say something, Maya…?"

Maya felt like sighing loudly and rolling her eyes 'til they threatened to drop out of her head, but instead she just tugged the loose blanket over her shoulder and answered, "Yeah, Nick, I did. I'll tell you about it in the morning."

Soon, she and Phoenix were both asleep, their combined snores filling the air of the otherwise silent living room.

Neither of them heard the sound of a certain bedroom door creaking shut again, nor the voices of the two young girls crouched by the door as they giggled and gossiped amongst themselves.

Pearl… might not have been quite so far off the mark.

So day four comes and goes.