Finding Mr. Wright

S t u t t e r i n g a n d n i c e g u y s

It was late evening as Phoenix Wright sat in his office with no company except Maya and Pearl. They were pretty much in the same routine now; spend the day together, come back to the office, then they’d watch Pink Princess re-runs and go to bed when it got late. Phoenix had enjoyed this routine so much recently that he’d actually taken to turning down any defense requests he’d received, spending time with Maya and Pearl was time much better spent in his eyes, especially with the recent events at Hazakurain. While this was true, Phoenix wanted to spend time with them more than he felt obligated to. He loved their company and was glad they were more like a family than a professional law firm, no matter how low on funds they were.

He sighed happily as he sat there, his arm around Maya whose arm was safely tucked around little Pearl who was now fast asleep. The happy scene was interrupted but a knock at the door.

“Ugh, who could It be at this time of the night?” he asked, now feeling rather grumpy at being disturbed as he made his way over to the door.

Maya peeked up from the sofa, over at the door, “Geez Nick, don’t be such a fuddy duddy, it’s only like 8.30!”

“Hmph, still…” he opened the door slowly still looking across at Maya who’d now moved up to perch on the arm of the sofa after laying Pearly down across the sofa to sleep.

The man who stood before him seemed to be in about his early twenties, his had light brown hair and a light complexion to go with the light blue shirt he wore unbuttoned over a darker blue T-shirt.

“Uh, hi, can I help you?” Phoenix said, leaning against the door frame casually.

“Hi!” he began jumpily, his voice sounded a little too eager which he seemed to realize, he now threw back his shoulders and took a death breath in- and then out.

“Hi, can I help you?” Phoenix repeated after waiting for him to answer his question but had just been instead he’d just stood there bobbing, jumpily on the spot.

This guy pretty weird he thought to himself, waiting for a reply again.

Apparently he’d now snapped out of his dream world and was ready to answer- “Uh…yeah…I hope you can-“

“Ah, is this about a defense request because if it is-“Phoenix started to cut across him.

“No!” the man replied quickly, “I’m…I’m here to see…uh, Maya Fey. Is she err…here?”

“Yeah…who’s asking?” The guy seemed shifty which bothered Phoenix, the last thing Maya needed right now was more trouble.

“Uh, Hugh Dellamy…but she’s never actually met me…”

“Maya, There’s someone here to see you!” he called not too loudly since Maya was only sitting about 3 meters from where he was. Getting up with a bemused expression on her face she joined him at the door. Giving Phoenix a friendly push out of the way she stood at the door, her long hair hanging way past her hips as she pushed it behind her ears.

“Hey, you called?” she said, Phoenix couldn’t help but notice she was smiling, clearly someone had better bedtime manners than he did.

With his face growing progressively redder Hugh now stared straight down avoiding her gaze. “M-Maya Fey!?”

“Yes, that’s me. Can I help you?” She said, still maintaining her pleasant demeanor, despite how he’d already been asked that question three times that day and none of them were any the wiser about what they could actually help him with.

He nodded, “Y-yes…well, at least I hope you can! I came here to…ask you something!”

“Right, well…ask ahead!” she said, raising her eyebrows a little and clearly wishing he’d cut to the chase.

“M-Maya Fey, w-will…will you…maybe…well, if you want to-“

Uh-ho, I think I can see what’s coming Phoenix thought to himself, brace yourself Maya…

“Goonadatesometime!?” he finally hurried out the rest of his sentence and kept his eyes solidly fixed to the ground, (which was lucky as he doubted Maya really wanted anyone to see the amazingly bright shade of red she had now turned).

Fighting back laughter, Phoenix now turned around to give then both a little privacy, he was rather enjoying his arrogant assumption that there was not way in the world that Maya would actually say yes to such a nervous wreck, not to mention Maya was hardly the dating type what with her pending career and all-

“Uh…” Maya mumbled, it appeared this was all she could manage as a reply to him.

“I-I know you must get this all the time,” he said, clearly seeing how embarrassed she was and not feeling all too encouraged by her rather lacking answer.

“Actually, I don’t…” she said still mumbling and dittoing his staring competition with the floor.

“What! But that’s impossible! You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen!” he said, his voice a little shaky but determined.

Unfortunately, this did little to make Maya feel more comfortable, If anything she now looked more embarrassed than before. “Uh,” she began stroking her hair and grinding her foot into the ground nervously “Thank you…I’m err, I’m very flattered,”

Looking more confident by the second, (clearly Hugh had realized he was the more comfortable out of the two of them) he now smiled “No need to thank me, it’s just an observation…when I saw your picture in the newspaper…why, I just had to see your beauty in real life…and here it is…as radiant as a flower on a bright summers day!”

Of course, it now made sense, the Hazakurain incident had been all over the newspapers, what with Elise Deauxnim, the famous children’s author being murdered, the press had been all over the case like a rash. Clearly Hugh had seen the article and tracked them down, or rather, tracked Maya down anyway.

“Listen, Hugh is it? I’m not really looking for that sort of relationship with ^anyone^ at the moment, I’m sorry.” She said, regaining her composure and looking him in the eye now. His now found confidence had obviously rubbed off on her.

“B-but…grr, It’s just like all my work mates said…they’re right, I’ll never get a girl like you,” he said, his head drooping and turning around, “I’m sorry I wasted your time…”

“N-no, that’s not true, you’re really sweet and very charming…” Maya attempted to reassure him.

He turned back around, “Then, please go out on a date with me, just one, if you don’t like it then I’ll go and you never have to see me again, I swear!”

Her face softened as she considered for a while, “Hmm, okay, if you insist…one date though, that’s all, right?”

Seeing his face perk up, she smiled, “Here’s my number,” she said, handing him a piece of paper where she’d messily scrawled her number earlier.

“Y-yes, wow, thank you…you won’t regret this, I swear! I’ll pick you up tomorrow around 7.30pm, okay?” Hugh went, now grinning enthusiastically and running down the stairs before turning around one last time, “Until tomorrow, Maya Fey!”

Shutting the door slowly she now turned to Phoenix, “Wow, well that’s never happened to me before!” she said, an amused expression on her face, “The most beautiful girl in the world?” she quoted, with her eyebrows rose “Clearly he’s not seen many women in his time.”

Wondering what mirrors Maya had been looking in, Phoenix tried to grin and get himself ready to tease her about this…but for some reason there seemed to be something wrong with the muscles in his face, all they could manage was a solemn but blank expression.

“So you’re really gonna go out with him?” he said, hating the jealous sounding tone that had come to his voice suddenly.

“I guess so,” she replied, smiling a smile that didn’t disappear after she’d spoken, “He seems nice.”

“Yeah, I guess…hmm, you never really struck me as the dating type.”

“Ah, Nick…clearly you know next to nothing about the complex minds of women! All women are “the dating type” whether they choose to admit that to other people or not!” a mysterious glint had now come to her eyes.

“Maya, I had no idea you felt to compelled to see other men! Am I not good enough for you?” he said joking but with a secret part of him (he didn’t want to listen to) hoping to hear her say something along the lines of “You’re all the men in the world I’ll ever need, Nick! I’m just doing this as a pity date!”

Instead, she just laughed, “You know it’s not that, he just seems…nice, and he came all this way!” she now paused, “Besides, you never know, he could be…the one, you know? He could be Mr. Right!”

Not having a clue what she was on about he just rolled his eyes, “Yeah…I’m going to bed okay, See you tomorrow, goodnight.” He tone was moody which he rather hoped she didn’t notice, (though it had changed quite obviously since she’d said yes to Hugh).

As he made his way upstairs to the room they were renting above the office but he couldn’t help but think back to how he’d felt when she’d accepted Hughes request, he’d tried so hard to find it in himself to tease her about it when he’d really just wanted to go sulk in his room. Was this jealousy he was feeling at the idea of another man being near Maya, holding Maya, being there for her when no one else was? All these things that Phoenix had come to take for granted could all be taken away from him; After all, if Maya liked Hugh and they became a proper couple, how much time would Maya actually want to spend with him anymore? She was only his assistant in all this, putting aside her connection to Mia, what was really keeping her here with him, instead of at Kurain with ““Hugh” – who’s such a nice guy” and little Pearl; their would-be daughter?

Though all these worries had come to Phoenix from one tiny date, he lay there in bed for many hours, tossing and turning, finding pernickety problems with Hugh and his apparent “nice-ness”, a plan of action was needed to stop this chain of events (he was sure had already began) from happening and Phoenix had a feeling he knew exactly who to go to for help…

H e n r y , H a r r y a n d H u g h

“So let me get this straight, you want follow Maya and Henry on their date-“

“It’s Hugh,” he corrected-

“Yes, whatever, watch how well they get along and stop anything romantic happening to them,”

“That’s right,”

“And you want to do this because even though you’re totally not jealous or anything, you’re worried about how Maya’s relationships could effect Pearl?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Edgeworth’s eyebrows were now raised so high Phoenix was concerned they’d disappear into his skull soon if the went any further, “Wright, I’ve got to be honest with you; that’s possibly one of the stupidest idea’s I’ve ever heard and let me tell you, I’ve heard some stupid idea’s in my time, remember, I do have detective Gumshoe working for me.”

“I don’t see what so stupid about it.” Phoenix replied. Edgeworth had to suppress a smirk; Phoenix’s tone currently reminded him of a sulky child.

“Okay, so It’d be a fine idea…was it not for one tiny little thing, Wright,”

“What’s that?”

“If there’s one thing that women hate - and there’s not only one thing might I add, there are millions - It’s when men intrude into their business with other men, especially if there’s no good reason as you’re totally not jealous or anything.”

Phoenix scowled; Edgeworth was now pulling his “I’m so superior to you and I know everything” face. Not to mention Phoenix really couldn’t see what was so wrong about following someone, (of whom he had no interest in romantically) on their date.

“Hmph, so when did Miles Edgeworth suddenly become such a whiz when it came to women? You’re just a clueless as I am!”

“Yes, be that as it may, I’m not stupid enough to think that that monstrosity of a plan, is a good one.”

There it was again; that stupid, self-satisfied smirk, “Well, if you’re so in-tune with what women don’t like, what should I do?”

“Hmm, what an interesting question and one that does not concern me at all! I have no idea why you came to me of all people to help you. Now kindly get out-“

“Whoa! That’s not fair, come on Edgey, school buddies to the end!”

“That’s like the kind of ridiculous thing Larry would say-“

“Fine, Come on Edgeworth, you know you want to help me really!”

“That’s where you’re wrong, what’s in this for me?” he asked, he looked wearisome and yet also somewhat amused by his old friends begging.

He had Phoenix pretty much stumped here, “I don’t know, I don’t even know what’s in this for me of I’m honest…”

“…Oh?” Edgeworth feigned an interest.

“I mean, I don’t even know why I want to stop this from happening, it’s not like we’re together or anything.”

“So, you’re unsure of how you feel for her are you?”

“Why are you asking, I thought you couldn’t care less what happens to me?” Phoenix said, maintaining his sulky demeanor.

“I don’t, I just happen to find this situation amusing, why it seems you’re as blind to your feelings as those mice from that song are, to objects.”

“What kind of stupid metaphor is that and what are you on about?”

“Oh, come on Wright…you seriously don’t know how you feel about Maya Fey?”

“No, I seriously don’t.”

“Hmph, why if I had that green stone thing at the moment there’d be psycho-locks all over the place!” Edgeworth said, clearly referring to Maya’s Magatama and the psyche-locks it revealed. “Let’s think about this shall we?”

“Uh, okay?” Phoenix said, feeling unsure of what Edgeworth was getting at.

“So,” he began as Phoenix prepared himself for some major eye brow rising, “You’ve defended her, what is it, three times in court?”

“Just doing my job, she’s Mia’s little sister, she didn’t have anyone else.”

“Fair enough, you went to extreme lengths to save her from that kidnapping-“

“Of course I did, I didn’t want her to die! She’s a huge part of my life!”

“Fine, but here’s the clincher, you crossed a burning bridge to save her.”

“You say crossed, I never really got that far did I?”

“Fine, whatever, you attempted to cross it though didn’t you?” he corrected himself.

“Yes but like I said, I didn’t want her to die!” Phoenix’s voice was now almost hysterically high in denial. Why did it seem to be so obvious to everyone else but him? Was he surrounded by people just waiting for something to happen between him and Maya and he’d had no idea the whole time? Most importantly: was Maya waiting for around for him to make the first move and confess his love for her?

“Wright, at the end of the day it all comes down to one thing- Do you love Maya Fey so much that the idea of her with another man makes you want rip the man she’s with limb-from-limb?”

He sat and thought a moment, Edgeworth’s question (though a little over the top), was a good one. Thinking back he did seem to hate Hugh for no particular reason besides him asking Maya out of a date. Though Hugh had seemed a bit strange and nervous when Phoenix had met him, he’d not started to get irritated until he’d started talking to Maya.

“Edgeworth, whatever my feelings are romantically towards her,” Phoenix began hoping Edgeworth wouldn’t notice him avoiding the question, “I can’t lose her…”

“Well…what about…” he now seemed to be deep in thought about the situation, “What about…if Maya…had no reason to want to go out with Hugh? What if…you were all she needed?”

“Okay, okay, there’s no need to rub it in that I’m not!”

“No, you idiot! I mean Maya wouldn’t want to go out with Hugh if she had some kind of…let’s say superior offer.”

“What like?” Phoenix asked, now he was borderline interested in Edgeworth’s idea.

“Well, imagine she’s about to go off on her date when…hmm, what’s that smell, burgers?”

“Edgeworth, are you seriously suggesting I bribe her not to go out with anyone else?”

“Bribe is a strong word, Wright. All I’m saying is, get ready to have a nice night in watching her favorite programs, eating her favorite foods and then see if she’s still keen to go out with Harry then!”

“Hugh, his name is Hugh!” Phoenix corrected.

“Why do you care? Besides, I thought you wanted my help!”

“Ha! If I’d known this was the kind of help to be expected then believe me, I wouldn’t have asked!”

“Fine, whatever Wright, why don’t you go and ask Larry, he’s the real whiz with the ladies.” Phoenix could only assume this was sarcasm and yet he couldn’t help but be curious as to what Larry would say…


“Nick! Whazzup!?” Larry answered, as he picked up the phone.

“Uh, Larry, hi…I was just wondering…I need some advice-“

“Ah, Nick, say no more. That is not my field of expertise, you need to go to a doctor for that kinda thing!”

Cringing silently Phoenix shook his head, “No Larry, not that kind of advice! Besides, it’s err, not for me…It’s for…uh, Edgeworth. It’s about a girl.”

“Whoa? Seriously? Edgey’s interested in a girl…wait…Edgey’s interested in anyone?”

“Hmm, apparently, I was surprised too but he likes someone.”

“Oh yeah, who?”

“Uh, her names…Ma- Maria…yeah, Edgeworth’s been friends with her for a long time but she likes someone else and he’s afraid of losing her.”

“Oh, his booty-call?”

“No! It’s not like that, they’re just friends but he’s worried she’ll get hurt by this guy and he cares about her…”

“Ah, I see…hmm, well Nick…I’m glad you came to Larry Butz- master of all plans!”

Don’t you mean: Larry Butz- when something smells…

“Edgey’s predicament is simple-“

”Predicament”? Where’d Larry learn a word like that!?

“I’m sure that Edgey and Maria have been friends for a long time and he probably likes her and I bet she likes him too-“

That’s an odd assumption to make about someone you’ve never met…

“-But you see the problem is that neither of them really knows it. She wants to see other guys because Edgey just isn’t satisfying her need for male attention and so has no reason to give him any particular privileges. To get her to see that dating other men would be silly, Edgey needs to become her perfect man who she’ll realize she’s in love with and they can fall into each other’s arms and live happily ever after!”

WHAT!? Phoenix couldn’t help but think, “But that was exactly what Edgeworth said!”

“Well, if he has the good advice then why you callin’ me then Nick!? Listen, I gotta’ go now, ladies to woo and whatnot. Smell ya’ later!” Larry hung up leaving Phoenix feeling rather confused. Since when did Larry and Edgeworth have similar advice to hand out!?

It was simple, he was going to have to follow their advice whether he liked it or not…

I can’t believe I’m actually following a piece of Larry’s advice. Ah well, guess there’s a first time for everything…




--------

B o w e l t r o u b l e ?


“Maya I….”

“Hey Maya, I was wondering…”

“Maya, do you have a map, Sorry but I’m lost in your eyes…”

Phoenix sighed, the last one in particular was maybe the worst way ever to confess his feeling for Maya. So what to do? He was now majorly worried about his appearance, did Maya like it? Did she hate it? So many unanswered questions Phoenix, honestly, couldn’t imagine ever getting the answer to.

Grimacing at the mirror he’d now been staring at (for what seemed like hours, now) he sighed again.

“Nick, what are you doing in there? No one should take that long going to the toilet!” Maya called through the door.

Wow, nice going there Phoenix, now she things you have bowel trouble or something.“Uh, sorry, I was just…doing my hair.” He said, walking our casually.

“Riiiight, sure you were Nick,” She replied I a tone that clearly said “I don’t believe you but whatever you say.” Turning around on her way into the toilet, she grabbed his arm. Phoenix shivered a little, his heart leaping as he wondered what it was she wanted, “Oh, by the way Nick, my date with Hugh is tonight, incase you forgot.”

Forgot? If only I could…

“Ah, right, no problem then.” he said, “Though it’s burgers for two tonight if you’re sure you don’t wanna make some excuse and hang at home tonight.”

“What? Geez, Nick, that’s so typical of you! You chose to have burgers on the one night I have a date!?” she said laughing but sounding frustrated too.

“Yeah well…” he replied, trailing off, “The offer still stands…and it’ll be quiet since Pearls in Kurain until Wednesday."

Once he’d gone round the corner and out of Maya’s sight he went back to grimacing, That was painful… he thought to himself, I mean seriously, that was the best I could do at asking her out on a date? After all those practice attempts too…She probably didn’t even know I meant just the two of us...

It was about 7.25 in the evening when Hugh knocked at the door.

Phoenix sniffed, He got here early? Not a good sign is it? Shows he’s desperate, nothing will happen I’m sure. he told himself as Maya rushed to the door as Phoenix sulked on the sofa.

“Hey Hugh, so sorry, I’m not quite ready yet. Just give me a min-“

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry, I’m early…it’s just…I couldn’t wait to see you beautiful face again…” he blushed and looked down as Maya giggled slightly and turned around to finish getting ready.

That’s so creepy,[i] Phoenix though, his blood boiling at the thought of this guy taking Maya out tonight, [i]If does anything to hurt her I’ll-

“Hey, Mister-“ Hugh began, startling Phoenix out of his daydream involving Hugh, large amounts of flammable gas, a match and some rope.

“Huh, are you talking to me?” Phoenix said, Mister? How old is this guy? He's speaking to me like I'm a senior or something...

“Uh, yeah, you, listen, I d’know if you and Maya are some kind of “would-be” item but…uh, she’s mine okay. You can’t possible think she’s as attractive as I do so…back off.”

Oh…my...God…control yourself Phoenix… he swallowed his barrage of insults and three monologues about what he’d do if Hugh ever spoke to him like that again and coughed, “Right, no problem. We’re just friends so there’s nothing to worry about.”

He knew shouting at Maya’s date would be a very bad decision and wouldn’t earn him any brownie points with Maya herself, either. He’d just found it so irritating being spoken to in that way by Hugh (who Phoenix already disliked), who didn’t even know Maya…who was he to judge what their relationship was?

“But, just to warn you Henry,” Phoenix congratulated himself on pretending to forget his name.

“It’s Hugh.”

“Right, sorry…Hugh, Maya isn’t and never will be your property and if you ever speak about her in that way again I will-“

“I’m ready Hugh,” Maya butted in smiling and walking across the room to Hugh. Both their jaws dropped.

“Maya, wow, you look-“

“Stunning,” Phoenix cut across him, before Hugh could finish and Phoenix had time to consider what he would say before he’d said it.

“Gorgeous.” Hugh continued shooting Phoenix a look.

“Uh, thanks…both of you…” she said, her facial expression was strange. Phoenix could have sworn he saw her eyes linger on him for a moment.

Wishful thinking probably…

“Bye Nick,” she called and with that left nick all alone in the flat with his thoughts.

E v e n L a r r y w o u l n ' t...

He’d never really noticed how quite it was without Maya there with him; then again he’d never really noticed he was in love her either.

The moral of this story? I need to pay more attention to things… Gazing around room he felt his eyes fall on a small picture of him, Maya and Pearl at the circus, he remembered having it taken after the incident at the big top. They were all smiling but Phoenix particularly noticed how happy Pearl looked. Now he couldn’t help but think about how him and Maya’s “would-be” (as Hugh had called it) relationship would affect her. Come on Phoenix, let’s face it, she’d be over the moon if we got together… then his mind changed course to But…what if we broke up and stopped talking? I’d lose her anyway then…

But how was he meant to forget about it? He’d spent the last day basking in a sudden rush of feelings for Maya and he knew it would kill him to just stand there and watch Maya with another man. Phoenix knew there was nothing for it, if he got Maya that’d be the way it would stay because losing her would be unbearable for him.

“I want it to last forever…” he spoke aloud without realizing, “But how to get her…”

He stood up paced for a while, waiting for some random idea to pop into his head. No matter how awful, it was still a start wasn’t it? How could he get inside Maya’s head? How could he possibly find out what she wanted and what her “Mr. Right” would be like?

Then something clicked, an idea, something to go on.

If I was a girl, no, if I was Maya, where would I confess all my deepest secrets?

My………diary?

No Phoenix, you really can’t do that…that’s actually a truly appalling thing to do…you can’t.

Yes you can, how it is any different to looking around a crime scene?

That’s work, that’s different and you know it.

But what if there’s something about me in it?

Wait…who even says Maya has a diary?

Well there’s only one way to find out…

He absentmindedly padded along to Maya’s room and pushed open the door lightly.

Oh wow, you’ve just sunk to a new level…I don’t think even Larry would indorse this sort of plan…

He looked around; he’d been in there before but never really looked properly at all of her possessions.

Maybe that’s because you hadn’t been possessed by Creepy-Mc-reeperson then?

So maybe this was an awful thing to do but what’s the worst that could happen?

He pulled open a draw gently; despite being alone in the house he still felt he should be quiet. Inside he just found some random objects such as hair straighten-ers, a comb, a brush and some curlers.

Geez, who spends that much time of their hair? He paused think for a moment, Wait, don’t ^you^ have like a million things for your hair too?

He shut it and opened another, this one was worse; it had some elastic bands and a bouncy ball in it. He yawned, hoping the next would be better but the final draw had nothing in it at all.
Suddenly he felt his skin crawl, I cannot believe I just looked through Maya’s draws, I’m actually as creepy as Hugh is! he slammed the draw shut but as he walked past her bed on the way out hit something hard with his foot.

What’s this? he thought bending down to see a small pink box under her bed. He pulled it out further to get a better look. This looks really personally, you can’t look inside it…or can I?

On some level he knew he was just looking for a decent reason why he should look inside and so he delved far into his thoughts and came up with a reason why he should-

I’m like…her best friend, what’s mine is hers and what’s hers is mine, right?

He knew deep down this didn’t justify his actions at all but it made him feel a little better about his incredibly selfish act.

His first thought, when he opened in was surprise at how full it was. Resting on top was a cream scarf he remembered to be Mia’s, he picked it up and stroked it. He felt a fresh wave of guilt as he imagined what Mia would say if she saw him now. Underneath was a small Blue book he remembered belonged to a young boy named Cody; the book had actually been given to Mia but he assumed Maya had kept it anyway. He now spied a wooded ear amongst the mess, after pulling it out he saw it was the small bear puzzle from the Shelly de killer kidnapping incident. He wasn’t sure why she kept that in here, after all, he’d done his best to forget all about that case. Right at the bottom of the box he finally found two more items, an amethyst jewel he knew had belonged to her mother and a picture pushed flat to the bottom of the box-

Jeez, she kept this stupid picture Larry did? He scowled as he saw the outline of either Iris or Dahlia (he’d now forgotten which one it was in this picture), swinging across the bottom of the bridge with Misty’s body.

He hated thinking about that case; it was the fifth case he’d had to face the possibility of losing her to either jail or death and remembering just dredged up feelings he’d long repressed. How long had he loved her and not known? Since the first day he’d met her? No, it couldn’t have been then. He’d given up on love-at-first-sight ever since Dahlia. Perhaps it had been at the Kurain channeling incident when he defended her for free, even when all the evidence had been stacked in the prosecutions favor? He’d still believed her anyway. When his eyes flicked over the bear puzzle he thought back to how he’d felt when he’d gotten the call from de Killer. He’d nearly blacked out from stress and worry. Maybe that was when he’d loved her for the first time? Finally he thought back Misty Fey’s death, he knew how much that had scared Maya and just how traumatizing it must have been for her to go through and she’d been all alone through it too but he knew that wasn’t when it was either.

Was she though? He suddenly thought about it, really thought about it, had Maya been alone? No was the conclusion he reached, She had me, Mia, Edgeworth, Franziska, Gumshoe and even Larry to a certain extent. Not to mention Godot and Misty who’s sacrificed their lives to keep her safe from Morgan. She’ll never be alone…because she belongs with me…I want to keep her safe…forever…

Unfortunately he was still unaware of when he’d fallen in love with her. Thinking about the past events he knew it hadn’t been at any of those times. It’s like I said to Edgeworth, all those actions are thing a friend would do to protect someone they cared about.

He took a last glance at the box before noticing something about its bottom, it seemed almost….lopsided. Where the bottom should be didn’t match up with where it was. He pushed down one on the bottom and felt it slide a little as he realized there must be some kind of secret compartment. He dug his nail under and pulled it out to find underneath...a book.

Oh God…this must be Maya’s diary, he thought flicking it open to see pages of writing, do I read it…or not?

Without even thinking about it properly he flicked it open about a quarter of the way through-


Dear Diary,

I honestly can’t believe what happened after such a good day yesterday, Ami’s sacred Urn was taken from the exhibit. I know I don’t usually just get started like that I can’t believe it! Pearl was gutted about it too; I just hope Nick can get it back like he promised he would. He always keeps his promises so I’m sure he will, he always saves us in the end. I was kinda annoyed with him at first, taking the case for someone who stole our precious Urn! Still, I know he just wants to figure this out so he can get it back for us!-


He flicked a few pages across, scanning for his name-


Dear Diary,

Nick did it! I can’t believe it; well…I can but still. He’s such a great friend, and he sorted out the murderer too. That Urn means so much to us and he knew that. That must have been why he did all that, for us. After all, it’s not like he’s getting paid or anything. He’s like family to us now. I know he always was like that since he saved me from being accused of Mia’s murder but still, I can always count on him.


Oh geez, did she write this specifically to make me feel guilty?

He flicked to about half way-


Dear Diary,

I can’t wait to ask Nick about that magazine article I wrote about yesterday, It looks like just thing to boost my powers and it’s be WAY more fun if Nick comes along with us! I’ll ask him tomorrow, I can’t wait!-


He now noticed there was nothing else really written in for the next few days, he turned past the blank pages and to the next one with writing-


Dear Diary,

I haven’t written in here fro what seems like months…it’s only been about a week. So many awful things have happened and I really haven’t felt like writing in here. I would explain but I think it wouldn’t really explain how terrible things are…not to mention I don’t want to talk about it. It’s so so difficult to stay strong after everything but how can I let Pearly see how much this has hurt me? I have to be strong and I feel like this is really the only place I can be honest with myself. No one understands but I can’t say that without sounding like some sort of miss-understood teenager…Nick saved me again which means a lot to me, I can’t ever tell him though…him and Pearl mean the world to me, I guess they’re my family now aren’t they? They’re all I have left and It’s gonna kill me to let go of them after this…Walking away seems like the right thing to do because I don’t think I’ll survive a goodbye again…

Walk away…? What’s all this about? he thought to himself, sitting on her bed to make himself a little more comfortable.


Dear Diary,

This is it, I don’t really think I can keep a diary anymore, this’ll just be like a reminder of what happened and more than anything, I want to forget all about this. I spoke to the elders and they were angry…another person to add to the list of people who don’t get it.
In happier news, (well, kinda happy news anyway) some guy turned up asking me out, he seemed nice but it was almost creepy how into me he was. I’ve never really dated properly before so I said yes to see what it’s like. He’s not the one I really want though, I don’t think Hugh will be my Mr. Right-


Mr. Right? There’s that saying again…I wish she’d be more specific about these things, I wonder who he is then…

Phoenix sighed and paced the book down on his stomach as he lied back and shut his eyes for a moment and thought about Maya. That was all he could remember up until-

“Nick, what are you doing in my room?”




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Oh Christ, there really isn’t any decent excuse for this is there?

“What are you doing in my room?” She repeated, Phoenix felt himself turn red. Maya looked mad, really mad.

“Uh, I think the real question here is what are you doing back here, so early? I wouldn’t have done this if I’d known you’d be back in an hour!” he hoped she understood this was a joke. He assumed he couldn’t make the situation any worse anyway.

“Get out,” she said, her tone ice cold, Phoenix had never seen her this angry before, actually, Phoenix had never really seen her really angry anyway.

“Maya-“

“Get out, now!” she now shouted.

“Please, Maya-“

She shook her head, “No, don’t make excuses, there’s actually isn’t any worthy excuse for looking through a friends personal belongings. You’re worse than Hugh.” She said, realizing Phoenix’s past fear.

“Wh-what happened?” he asked, noticing how sad she’d looked when mentioning Hugh’s name.

“I don’t want to talk about it, okay? Now, I’m telling you, get out!"

“Can’t you just let me explain-“

“No, I can’t…Phoenix.”

He felt the colour run out of his face; she’d only called him Phoenix when they’d first met. He stood up and walked out of the room. How could I have been so stupid to fall asleep on her bed with her diary in my hands? You’ve blown it Phoenix, she’ll never forgive you for this and now you’re chucked out of you own office! He slammed the door on the way out. He couldn’t help but fell a twinge of anger, while it was true he didn’t have a decent excuse she didn’t even give him a chance to explain he wasn’t doing it for no particular reason.

Phoenix walked the streets for many hours, mainly just wallowing in his own self-pity and regrets. He still couldn’t believe his own stupidity and work out when he’d turned into such a creepy sap. After a short cup of coffee he managed to scrape some change together for, he decided to try and find somewhere to stay. He knew where his first stop was-

“Edgeworth-“he began.

“Wright?” he asked squinting, “What on earth are you doing here this late!?”

“Ah, yes, that’s the thing; Maya kinda…kicked me out.”

“How can someone “kinda” kick you out? Actually and more importantly, what did you do?”
Phoenix looked down guiltily, wanting to avoid eye-contact, “Uh, I um, looked through her thing when she was out and then…maybe…read her diary…” he paused waiting for a reaction, “So, I was wondering…can I stay here?”

“Wright how can you even ask me such a thing, we’ve known each other all these years and you actually ask me to stay here?”

“Edgeworth, you’re a great friend to me and you have no idea how much this means-“

“I mean seriously Wright, what you did was appalling. Looking through someone’s private property and diary? To be frank Wright, I don’t even want to look at you right now, just go.”

“Wh-what? But-“

“I said, go.”

Phoenix Trailed back down the ornate path with his head slumped down; it seemed he was being deserted in his hour of need. As he left he swore he heard Edgeworth mutter something along the lines of “I must give poor Maya a call too if she’s okay after that insensitive idiot-“

Sighing, he knew there really was only one other person to go to-

“Larry?”

“Heeeey, Nick! How’s it hanging man?”

“Uh, that’s not really important…listen, can I crash at your for abit, Maya kicked me out.”

“Ah, what’d you do? Spy on her getting changed, steal her thongs?”

Thongs, surely Maya doesn’t wear one of those- stop it Phoenix, that’s a new level of creepiness! Think about something else! “No Larry, I’d never do something like that-“

“Oh, lat’s why my last girlfriend kicked me out, well, not girlfriend, more…hot girl I met in bar who invlited me back, weeeeell, she might have been…a hot girl I followed home one night…anyway, that’s not the point, the point was she had very sexy underwear that I wanted, wait…what was the point again, who is this?”

“It’s Nick! Geez Larry, are you drunk?" Larry's words did seem unusually slurred.

“A bit, well, more that I originally thought I was anyway…listen Nick, if you ever need more advice about sex…I’m here for you man!”


Sighing, he decided to just cut to the chase again so as mot to confuse him, “Can I stay at yours please Larry?”

“Suuuuure Nick, no sweat! But don’t get here till 11.66,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “I have a girl here with me.”

What’s he been drinking, spirits? “Sure, I’ll see you soon then; I need to pick my stuff up first." That should be fun…


He pushed the door open slowly to find the room with no light switched on, it looked much like the night he found Mia, but it hadn’t been trashed like that. He saw Maya was sitting on the sofa in silence.

“Uh, before you start yelling at me, I’m just here to get my stuff okay?”

“I won’t yell at you…I was just so angry when I found you, like the icing on the cake to a bad evening.”

“You…had a bad time with Hugh?”

“Yeah...”

“What happened?”

“Well…you know when he said “It’s just like all my work mates said…they’re right, I’ll never get a girl like you,”? Well, he really meant that, it was a bet…he told me so at dinner, just casually. I was so mad. The whole time they were just playing “pick a random girl from the newspaper and I-bet-she-won’t-date-you” (a game they play regularly apparently). He said he’d give me a cut of the money…so I slapped him..and took the money.”

“Maya, don’t be sad, he’s just a stupid jerk who threw away the best thing that ever would have happened to him.” Phoenix said, now daring to sit down next to her on the sofa.

“So are you.”

“Yes, but I’m a well meaning jerk who threw away the best thing that ever would have happened to him. Look, if it helps at ^all^ I never read anything that important.”

“Don’t you get it Nick? All of it was important, every last word of it was private. No one was meant to read any of it.”

“Are you embarrassed that I know how unhappy you’ve been recently?”

“No, well a bit, yes. Some of it was over-dramatic. I was thinking of leaving because…this will sound stupid-“

“Go on,”

“Every time I’m close to someone, they seem to get killed either protecting me or just for being my friend. Especially you Nick, you ran across that bridge, you could have died and it’d all of been my stupid fault for inviting you to Hazakurain!”

“No, It would have been my fault for caring about you and trying to save your life! If I could turn back the clock…

…I’d it again. If I could turn back the clock for reading your diary and invading your personal space…”

“You’d do that again too. I know you would,”

“Does that annoy you?”

“It can it, no really, I’ve done it enough times myself on our adventures, haven’t I? Looking the around crime scenes, when we’re not meant to.”

“Oh come on, this was very different to that and I want you to know just how sorry I am.”

“I don’t understand how you could have done something as ^stupid^ as that though…”

“You don’t, really? But it’s so obvious,”

“It…is?”

“Yes, it is. It’s because It’s like you just said, I’m stupid, I’m a complete idiot, no wait, I’m a blind, out-of-touch-with-his-emotions, idiot.”

“Nick, there’s no need to be facetious.”

“No Maya, I mean it. I was so desperate not to lose you to that twat Hugh that I did something that resulted in me losing the one person…” Phoenix trailed off now, and sat for a moment.

“The one person who…?” Maya asked after a bit, clearly she’d been hoping he’d just finish the sentence on his own.

“You know how that sentence ends…”

“No, I don’t.”

“Maya Fey, I’m in love with you.”

Sitting with a stunned expression on her face she said nothing for a while. Obviously the silence was actually excruciating for Phoenix but he knew it was her call so he waited.

“Oh Phoenix…” she shook her head, “Oh wow, I never knew…”

He felt his heart leap, she didn’t sound angry or sad anymore-

“I never knew that you were so incredibly stupid, Nick.”

“Wh-what?” he stuttered out.

“Five words, “I’m-in-love-with-you” and you actually think that’s all it take to make someone forgive you!? How could you? I’ve wanted to ask you that ever since I found you earlier and how dare you put me in this position. I mean seriously, you read my diary because you’re in love with me? That’s what you invaded my personal belongings, for that? That’s not the mark of someone who loves me! That’s the mark of someone who assumed I’d never date and got a nasty wake-up call when they actually noticed that they wanted to date me. You noticed I’m actually a girl and a attractive one at that but thought you’d missed your chance, so rather than just telling me they liked me and putting themselves out there, they read my diary and found (quite disappointingly) that it didn’t contain and details about my romantic feelings for anyone.”

“Maya-“

“No Nick, I waited so long to hear you say that and now you have, frankly, I’m underwhelmed! I assumed you just thought of me as a colleague, a friend and nothing more - that was that. It took this for you to realize!? Well, it’s a little too late for you to come back, say it’s just a mistake…think I’d forgive you like that?” she snapped her fingers together, “I don’t think so. This is male pigheadedness all over! I deserve better and until you grow up a bit I don’t want this.” She gestured between the two of them to show she meant them as a couple, “So I’m sorry…It’s not good enough…”

“Right…well, I’m sorry I don’t live up to your oh-so-high expectations then.” he snapped before getting up and heading towards the door and slamming it shut as he left.

“Wait, Nick! I didn’t mean…”

But he’d already gone…




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