((still don't own it. But boy would I love to. Remember there will be very strong language in this story, this chapter will have some very troubling themes as well as some..well just wait and see. Also my computer spell check changed all Ayako to Aayako for some reason and I apologize for any confusion this has caused. I haven't written in a few years and never fanfiction, but well..eating my brain like I said before. Enjoy. I'm really happy that people seem to be responding to my humble rambling. Also I swear there will be a true "case" I just really need to set the stage.))

Chapter 3.

3am that same evening

Mai laid in her bed not really sleeping, but just letting her mind wonder. She was thinking about her life since she'd been telling ghost stories in that classroom with her friends. Gods he was beautiful that day, like a statue brought to life. All ivory skin and dark hair and eyes. A teenage girls dream given life. She shifted and looked at the clock again. 3:02am. She groaned. She had class in five hours and 13 minutes. It was important that she not let herself get behind after having almost lost her scholarship because of the depression he had caused. She was so very close to graduation and her degree that she couldn't let him take that away from her. He'd taken her love, her happiness, her self respsect and her sense of self with him when he'd returned to England. She had so much trouble trusting people since he'd told her the truth. She had been so shocked, and had reeled from it for days.

Mai knew she should tell Monk and the others everything but she couldn't. She didn't want to take away the allusions they had. Monk hero worshiped Dr. Oliver Davis and read every paper he published, pulling quotes out whenever he needed a trump card in a fight with Ayako. She didn't know how her best friend would take the news of his grand deception. Knowing Ayako things would be broken. A lot of things. A smile ghosted on her lips as she considered it. She could warm herself with Ayako's anger. It would help but in the end Ayako only knew that 'Naru' had left. She'd tried to poke the subject gently a few times but when the tears had welled in Mai's eyes she dropped the subject easily not wanting to hurt the younger woman. Father Brown didn't know. As far as he know Kazuya Shibuya had simply moved on but he'd been kind to Mai and had even prayed over her and for her when she had been at her absolute lowest. He'd gone so far as to tell her that suicide was a sin, just in case she had been considering it. In the end Masako knew.

She had been sitting next to Mai on the couch one day. Out of the blue she'd offered to come sit with Mai so Ayako could take a double shift at the hospital, Takigawa had a gig and Father Brown had to lead mass. Ayako really needed to work because she'd been taking off so much time to take care of Mai that she was in trouble at the hospital her parents owned. She hadn't questioned the teenage medium's offer. Masako just looked at her and Mai would never forget what she said. "So, Oliver did this to you. He finally told you the truth about who he was?"

Mai looked at her and could only nod. She was shocked that anyone else knew. Masako pressed on "Do you remember when you asked me if I had some dirt on him?"

"Y..yes."

"That was it. I had seen him at a demonstration when I visited England a few months before his apperance in Japan. I was there for a conference. I didn't meet him, but I did see him demonstrate his amazing PK." Mai looked at her and then the other young woman smiled sadly and looked at her hands "There's more to why he was here, isn't there Mai?"

"Yeah."

"You want to talk about it?"

""No." Just like that Masako dropped in and picked up the tv remote and flipped through the channels before settling on a rerun of her own show. They sat in companionable silence. Though they never talked about it again they slowly warmed to each other and had formed a friendship.

_

Across town in a small apartment above the new BSPR offices Oliver sat at his desk and reviewed his notes. It was obvious that her friends didn't want him anywhere near Mai. He didn't know if she'd disclosed the events of their last meeting to the team but he could only operate on the assumption that they knew that something terrible had happened. It didn't take a genius of his level to figure out that they were trying to protect Mai. He could only smirk as he looked at his notes and and compared their statements. Takigawa had claimed to not her her number. The priestess said Mai was off jet setting with another man. Father Brown had commented that Mai had moved on to the University in Tokoyo and thus had very little time. Yasuhara had been the most creative of the bunch with his claim that Mai had undergone a sex change operation and now went by the name Mori. His lips twitched when he remembered the utterly serious manner in which Yasu had delivered that statement before offering to give him the details of exactly what type of surgery was performed.

He had to give it to them. At least they were loyal. That was good. Mai deserved good people around her. She had been an orphan much like him and unlike him didn't have the advantages of a wealthy adoptive family, a stellar education, and of course he'd had Gene. He'd never been alone. Mai had spent a large chunk of her life alone, relying only on herself. Oliver had to admit he didn't know if he'd have coped as well as she had. He'd always had the backing of BSPR to help him with his unique gifts and when even they couldn't help manage the intense PK he was showing his parents had combed the world, literally and found Lin in Hong Kong and made the older Chinese man an extremely lucrative offer to relocate and work with him to control the strength in him.

Speaking of Lin, Oliver got up and went to peer out of his room across the small living room to Lin's private quarters. His door was ajar and a small table side lamp was on. He took that to mean that the other man was also awake and strode across the way to talk to him. Perhaps Lin could help him by sending a spirit out to see if Mai were close or something.. He raised his hand and knocked softly twice before hearing Lin's voice telling him to come in.

He pushed inside the door and looked at the Chinese man.

"Yes Noll?"

"Do you..Do you now anything else about her?" Lins face twitched into a sarcastic smile as he rose and went over to his brief case left on his desk. He put in his code and snapped the locks with an audible click. Reaching inside without a word he withdrew a large yellow envelope. He handed it to the younger man and looked at him steadily for a few moments. "That's everything I've known about her since you first hired her. Her most recent information is in the back, but Noll. Think about what you're doing. Do you really want to upset her life? I mean..well.." He trailed off and left Oliver looking at him.

"You mean? Say it man. I need to know"

Lin sighed and looked at his young charge. While Noll wasn't the most emotional Lin had known that something was there when he'd kept the young woman around. You didn't pierce the spirit veil and come back the same. He'd been touched by the hand of Gods and the experience had changed him on a deep level. He knew that eventually the younger man would want to track down his love and he'd covertly kept tabs on her so that when he finally screwed up the courage to ask he could save the young man the anguish of searching. He knew from the former freelancers he'd kept in touch with they really didn't want 'Naru' anywhere near the girl and he couldn't blame them but they just didn't know what he did about Noll.

"You hurt her deeply Noll. I've been keeping track and by all accounts whatever happened that last night caused her a great deal of pain. So much so that She needed medication and round the clock care. From what I understand she even received counseling from Fr. Brown. She's only been back in her own apartment for nine months and is close to finished her degree. I really hope you know what you're doing because I don't think she'll survive another trauma. You might need answers but so does she. Just..just try to be mindful that she has feelings too."

Oliver looked at the other man stunned. Mai was hurt so deeply. Was is the sudden shock of finding out about Gene? Did finding Gene's body stop his visits to her dreams and did that wound her or had it been his refusal of her feelings? He blinked and closed his eyes expelling a frustrated breath. He was so lost in his own head he barely heard Lin's next words.

"What is it you hope to accomplish here Noll? Do you only want to know for your own curiosity? Do you care? I know you lied when you asked me come back here under that thin excuse of wanting to explore the Japanese paranormal community more deeply."

Oliver opened his eyes and leveled them at his friend, possibly the only one he'd ever had beyond his own twin. He decided not to lie out of respect for the bond they shared and for all that he owed Lin "I love her. She's in my blood. I've felt like I cut my own arm off since we left. I can't even seem to get enough air in my lungs in England. Every day it beats inside my head. I can't take those insipid little girls in my lectures. With their come ons and suggestions. Every time they touch me I feel like screaming at them. I am going to find out who she loved Lin. I have to know. It eats me alive. She's in my dreams, my thoughts, on the tip of my tongue."

"And if it was Gene?"

"Then I have to make her love me instead." He said simply want turned on his heel leaving Lin to consider what he'd just been told. He had reading to do.

He walked across to the small kitchenette and put a kettle on the stove, lighting the burner. Tea would help. He sat down in the kitchen chair and pulled the papers that Lin had compiled out of the envelope. A picture of Mai was on the top. It looked recent. Her hair was longer and she was modeling a light blue dress in a mirror. She had her eyes closed and a small smile on her lips. She was no longer the girl he'd left but a woman. He swallowed when he saw that she had developed into quite a stunning woman. He noted the gentle curve of her waste and the slope of her hip. He looked at her photo and just stared till the spell was broken by the loud whistle issued from the tea kettle announcing that his water was boiling. Reluctantly he set the photo down and went to turn off the stove.

Takigawa rolled over in bed and looked at his bride to be. How he loved that fiery woman. In nine, no, now eight days she'd be his wife and forever bound to him. He smiled wondering what she'd look like when she walked down the aisle to him. He'd roped Father John into performing the ceremony and all of his friends from his band and SPR would be there. Her Doctor parents had given them an exotic honeymoon and he was very excited to see her on a beach in a two piece he suddenly didn't want to leave Japan. He had seen Mai at dinner and while he knew that she was deeply troubled by Naru's reappearance on Japanese soil. He was scared to leave her alone and he knew that Ayako felt the same way. Even though they were swamped with work and last minute wedding details Ayako had invited her back to their apartment two floors above her own for a "girl's sleep over". He hadn't been fooled by her light tone. He saw the fear in her face. She love Mai like a younger sister and had lived in terror the first six months after Naru's abrupt exit. She thought that Mai might not hurt herself to escape whatever pain had been inflicted on her by the callous young man. His fiance sighed in her sleep and rolled over to him looking at him. "Can't sleep either Monk?

"No. I'm worried about Mai. I don't know if she can take Naru being around again."

"I've been thinking the same thing. But what do we do?"

"We go to SPR tomorrow and find out what exactly happened three years ago, and then we fix it if we can."

"Do you think we can?"

"I hope so Ayako because if not we might not ever get her back." He said sighing as he pulled her close and breathed in the scent of her hair. Holding her close to him he wondered just what tomorrow would reveal.