((Thank you very much for the very kind reviews. I take e everything you guys say to heart. Don't worry, I have the end worked out for this story so I won't abandon you guys. I'm just so overwhelmed that people are responding so positively to my writing. It means a lot to me because I've been really depressed since I lost my job, but the plus side is I get to write more often and stay home with my kids and make dinner for my husband. It means so much that people like what I have dreamed up. As usual I don't own Ghost Hunt. ))

Mai wasn't sure how to take this new Naru. He was still the same smirking, arrogant, idiot scientist that he'd been three years ago. Yet for her he was different. So far she liked the man he'd grown into. He seemed to suave and self assured. She wondered where he learned to be so smooth with her.

A jealous pang stabbed her heart. Had he been with other girls, is that where he learned to kiss the daylights out of her? Had his fingers run over another's skin? She was surprised at the intensity of the jealousy that hit her. He wasn't her boyfriend, but the idea of him having been with another woman really bothered her. She knew that it wasn't realistic to expect that a man as good-looking as he was would have no trouble finding female companionship. She also knew from Monk's continual lectures that 'Men only have one thing on their minds'.

As Mai went about the business of gathering temperatures she couldn't help but wonder what was really going on between her and Naru. He said he really cared about her. Yet she wasn't pure, nor was she experienced in how to to make a man feel good. What could she offer him? She wasn't extraordinarily beautiful, or smart.

While Mai knew that she wasn't totally unattractive she certainly wasn't in the league of women that Naru could have his pick from. While she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to what he wanted from her she made a decision that she had to ask him. It would be better for her to know where she stood than get hurt worse later.

Going to the kitchen to make his tea she saw Jackie Hines had recovered from her earlier shock and was sitting down enjoying her own tea. Mai smiled at her as she went to the store to start the kettle and she was given a sad smile in return.

"I know you probably think I'm a hysterical woman, loosing it like that. You probably have seen all kinds of stuff but this has been so scary for me"

"Oh, not at all Mrs. Hines! I think you're a good mom! Only someone that loves their children very much would be so upset." Jackie Hines looked at the tea in her cup for a few moments before responding.

"You think I'm a good mom?"

"I do." She said emphatically, nodding her head to convey her sincerity. "I can see how much you love your children. We're going to solve this and help you guys. Lin's a really powerful onmyouji. He can casts spells and use his shiki to keep you all safe. Naru's not a spiritualist but he's one of the best psychic researchers in the world. He's never had a case he couldn't solve, and he's got his own gifts."

Mrs. Hines Looked at her for a moment before taking a sip of her tea. "And you Mai? Why are you here?"

"I'm here to help." She answered honestly. "I'm here because I've been a scared girl all alone. I'm here to keep another girl from having to go through the darkness alone." When Mrs. Hines looked up from her tea she looked at Mai with a warm smile.

"I believe you," she was interrupted by the kettle's whistle. "You best make your young man his tea." As she said that she got up and left the room. Mai was left to wonder why people thought she and Naru were an item. First Adia Hines and now her mother.

Not wanting to dwell on the implications she made his tea and quickly moved off towards the base to deliver it. There as no telling what he'd do if he had to wait too long for his tea. Mai remembered int he past how his mood would grow black if he went to long without his fix. She giggled a little to herself and she wondered if they made a twelve step program for people who were.

When she walked into the base both Lin and Naru looked up from the monitors at her. Lin's face as always betrayed nothing but Naru seemed to light up when she smiled at him. His eyes looked like two sapphires alight with fire. Setting the tray down and pouring Naru's tea she asked what was going on.

Oliver accepted his tea from Mia and smiled into his cup as he sampled it. She really did make the best tea. In the first few months after he'd returned home Oliver spent a great deal of time trying to recreate Mai's tea. His mother tried, and she also had several maids try as well. In the end no one could replicate the tea Mai made him.

For many years he'd denied himself all pleasures. To lose himself to pleasure could cause a dangerous breach in his psychic control. It required lots of discipline but it was necessary. He had promised Luella and Martin as a child that he would not put himself in danger by allowing his abilities to go rogue. The few times that he'd let himself off of the chain the results were the same. He ended up in the hospital.

Tea was one of the few pleasures that he allowed himself and Mai made the best. After he'd taken a few sips he set the cup aside in favor of looking at it's maker. Lin seemed to take the hint and he excused himself from the base.

"Are you ok Mai?" She smiled weakly at him and when it didn't reach her eyes he frowned. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." She sat down and began to key in the temperature readings she'd taken. She looked at the screen and could detect no evidence of spiritual activity. There were not sharp declines in the houses temperature. While this was not a definitive way to test for a spirit's presence it was a good indicator. He came to stand behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"What's wrong?" this time he asked a bit more softly. When she lowered her eyes to stare at the keyboard he gently rubbed her shoulders. He leaned down and kissed the back of her neck. He felt her exhale as he did.

In a very small voice Mai asked, "How are you so good at all this?" She swiveled the chair to face him. Her face was guarded and he wondered what had changed in her in the last twenty minutes. Hadn't he just told her how he felt? She had seemed happy when they parted but now, he was very confused. What did she mean, how'd he get so good at ghost hunting?

"At being a ghost hunter?"

She shook her head and flushed pink before continuing. "At kissing..and touching and knowing what to say? Have you had a lot of girlfriends?" As he heard the words coming out of her mouth he couldn't believe what she was saying. Did she think he was a good kisser? Was she jealous? He couldn't understand Mai being jealous. Didn't she know how he felt for her?

"You're worried that I've been with other women? Is that it?" When she wouldn't meet his eyes he pressed on. "You think I've been around, that's how I've gained my so called skills.

"I don't know. Have you?"

"Would it make you happy if I had, if I told you I've had lots of sex, in dozens of positions in hundreds of different places?" Mai looked stricken when he said that. He leaned forward and put his lips to her ear. "Well I have, I've had you in a multitude of ways for the past few years. Every time I've closed my eyes I've been with you. I've kissed every inch of your body and tasted the salt in your skin and sweetness of your lips. I've made love to you every night in my dreams. I woke up every morning with your name on my lips. So there's no use in being jealous of yourself."

When he backed away from Mai to look at her face she was cherry red. His confession had pleased her he guess judging the big grin on her face. He picked up his tea and drained the cup and set it down in front of her. Taking the hint she rose and walked over to the tray. As she poured more of the steaming tea he moved the hair from the back of her neck and placed a searing kiss.

"Now that that's settled we need to focus on what's going on with this family. Lin's gone to take a sample of the blood that was on Amelia to a lap for analysis. We can't stay too much longer. The father will be home the day after tomorrow and he'll make us leave. I've got Madoka working on the father in law trying to get us more time but I don't know how much activity we'll see without him here. I still think what's going on here is connected to him." Mai turned and handed him his mug. He accepted it and continued. "Are you still in?

Takigawa was laying on a tropical beach next to his new wife who was in a very small bikini. He had a drink in one hand and his wife's hand in the other. He was half asleep listening to the waves lap against the shore. When Ayako's phone rang in her bag he didn't bother to open his eyes.

"Let it ring." Ayako took her hand from his and sat up.

"I can't, that's my father's ring tone."

"Why do you think I told you to let it ring? he responded opening his eyes to watch her look through her bag for her cell. He frowned at her when she answered it and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Hello Dad..Wait, she's what? Hold on." To him "Mai took a leave of absence the morning after the wedding, she hasn't been to work." Back to the phone "No I don't know anything about this, it's a complete surprise! Did she say anything else, anything at all?" Monk was listening with the utmost interest now. Mai just didn't do things like that. Since Ayako had gotten her the job at her parent's hospital she had been a model employee. When Ayako hung up the phone she relayed the information to him.

The morning after the wedding Mai had called the human resources department and told them she had an emergency and needed to take an indefinite leave. The monk was very worried and he could hear the fear in his wife's voice. They were both very worried.

"You think this has anything to do with Naru's sudden reappearance?" She asked. He looked at her a moment considering.

"I'm sure it does. Try calling her. This isn't like Mai. Even if she doesn't want work to know the details I'm sure she'll tell you."

"You're right." He grinned and her a pretended to clean out his ear with his finger.

"What was that?"

She rolled her eyes at him and searched her phone for Mai's preset information, pressing send she brought the phone to her ear. "Don't get used to it." As the phone rang he could see the tight lines around Ayako's eyes and he know that she'd be on the next plane home if Maid didn't answer. Thankfully, it appeared she did.

"Mai! Are you alright? What's going on? I just got off the phone with my father," Ayako blurted out. He moved next to Ayako and sad on her lounge next to her. Together they put their ears to the phone and anxiously awaited her answer.