Phoenix woke up the next morning with something wrapped around his chest so tightly he could scarcely breath. When he opened his eyes, squinting against the sunlight streaming in through the open curtains, he saw the hotel room and Maya beside him, and remembered the night before. He groaned. Of course they had fallen asleep together. He could never make it through a whole movie if they started it after 8 PM, he fell asleep every time. How could he have thought watching a movie in bed would make that any less likely to happen?

Maya had a death grip on him, and it wasn't very comfortable. She had turned onto her left side and had flung her right arm over his chest. He was quite broad, so she had squished herself right up against his side in order to reach all the way across, and was squeezing him like a teddy bear.

He shifted a little, trying not to disturb her sleep too much but hoping that the movement would at least make her release him. She only mumbled something incoherent, and snuggled in even closer to him. He wriggled his right arm, which was trapped between their bodies. She barely flinched, but he did manage to pull it out from between them. This only provided her with more room, and she nudged in even closer, under his arm.

He sighed, putting his arm around her, since there was nowhere else for it now. He turned his head to the bedside table, hoping to look at the time, but it was empty. He could have sworn there was an alarm clock there last night. Judging by the sunlight through the windows it had to be midmorning already. He mentally reprimanded himself for not closing the curtains the night before. If not for that he might have still been sleeping, and maybe Maya would have woken before him. There was no way he was getting back to sleep now, not with the sun and Maya's vice grip on him. All he could do was lay there, trapped.

At least, that's what he told himself, that he was too nice to disturb her sleep by trying to get up, and not the fact that he didn't necessarily mind being this close to her. It wasn't like they had never touched before, they did spent most of their time together and Maya regularly used him as a punching bag, a shield, sometimes a pillow if they were watching TV on the office couch. She had even jumped on his back a few times, usually in unprofessional situations when he wasn't expecting it, which usually ended up embarrassing both of them. She did it once while it was raining because she insisted it was easier for both of them to get under the one umbrella if she held it over them while he carried her, but he was pretty sure she was just tired of walking after their investigation that day. But this now, laying in bed together, was more intimate, more personal, and still he didn't mind.

He was absentmindedly running his fingers through some strands of her hair when she made a snuffling noise and squirmed against him.

"Mmf… Nick," she mumbled.

"Are you finally awake?" he asked, keeping his voice low.

She didn't answer him, instead her fist gripped into his shirt and she let out a long, low moan. His eyes widened and he stared down at her under his arm, hoping she didn't make anymore noises like that. He noticed her smiling then, and narrowed his eyes. "Maya, are you messing with me?" he was a little louder now. If she was purposely trying to make him feel awkward, it was working.

She still didn't react to his voice, but let out a long "mmmm" noise instead. He was starting to feel very awkward, and decided it really was time to get up, even if it meant waking her. He grabbed the wrist of the arm she had draped over him and pulled it away from him, shaking her hand a little so she would let go of the fabric of his shirt.

She suddenly jerked her arm out of his grasp, and thrust it at his face. "NO, NICK! IT'S MINE!"

"Ooow, Maya!" he said, shaking her this time. Her eyes popped open right away, and she looked up at him. He had his hand over his nose, eyes closed in pain.

"Wh-What happened?" she said. She noticed how close she was and shifted away from him, lifting herself onto her elbow.

He rolled away from her and sat up, swinging his legs off the bed. "You just hit me! What the heck were you dreaming about?"

Her eyes glazed over. "The most delicious hamburger I've ever tasted. You tried to take it for yourself, but I wouldn't let you."

"Yeah, you certainly wouldn't."

"Sorry." She crawled across the bed to his side. "It's not bleeding, you're fine, you big baby." He made a face at her and she smiled brightly. "I guess we fell asleep during the movie, huh?" she said. She didn't want to make this into something awkward, especially not after kissing him last night. It wasn't even a real kiss, but she still felt a little weird about it.

"We sure did. And Pearls didn't wake me. Sorry if it was weird."

She waved a hand. "Nah. I trust you. Did I… cling to you?"

"Yeah, you kind of did."

"Sorry. This is kind of embarrassing to admit but I still sleep with a teddy bear, it's one Mia gave me for a birthday when I was younger, so it's sentimental. It reminds me of her. I guess you were just the alternative for the night."

"It was fine, just be careful with that teddy bear. You might squeeze the stuffing out of it one night."

"It was that bad, huh?"

"Like a boa constrictor."

"Don't compare me to a snake," she said, slapping his arm. "Hey, where's Pearly anyway?"

"She must have slept on the lounge chair in the other room, where I was going to," he said, getting up. Maya followed him off of the bed and into the sitting room, where they found Pearl still fast asleep. Phoenix noticed the alarm clock on the floor right away, but he had no idea why she needed it. He knelt down and gently shook a shoulder. "Pearls, we have to get ready to leave soon."

She yawned, stretched, and opened her eyes. When she saw Phoenix and Maya leaning over her, her eyes immediately went to the alarm clock. She scrambled out of her makeshift bed and grabbed it, clicking over to the alarm. She smacked herself in the forehead with her palm. "I accidentally set it for 8 PM instead of AM," she mumbled to herself. It was currently a little after 10 AM.

"Why did you have the alarm set so early? There wasn't something you wanted to do today, was there?" Maya asked.

Pearl shook her head. "No. It was nothing, never mind. Did you and Mr. Nick sleep well?" she said, a smug smile on her face.

Phoenix gave her a disapproving look, but couldn't deny the fact that the bed had been very comfortable. He was really going to miss it. "Yeah, actually, I did."

"Me too! It's going to be hard getting used to my bed again, this one was way better," Maya said excitedly.

"But this was a one time thing. No more fancy hotels for us, unless you're paying. Anyways, we should get dressed and head down for breakfast. Our checkout time is a few hours away, so we can make it."

"You're going to pay for breakfast?!" Maya said, excited again.

"It comes with the room, so take advantage of it. Plus," he said, pausing for dramatic effect, "it's an all-you-can-eat buffet."

Maya gasped. "The best kind of buffet!" She hurried back into the bedroom. "I'm taking a shower! Don't come in!"

When the shower had started running, Phoenix turned to Pearl. "Hey, Pearls?"

She looked at him, hoping he wasn't mad that she hadn't woken him up last night. Instead she found him staring at the floor, not able to look her in the eye. "Thanks. For not waking us up, I mean. But don't tell Maya I said that, she might get the wrong idea. The bed was just comfortable, that's all."

Pearl grinned. "You are welcome! Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," she said, smirking and running into the bedroom. He didn't like how she said that, but he still felt he could trust her.

He followed her back into the bedroom and opened the door that led to the patio, letting some fresh air in. The view they had was pretty amazing, and he found himself a little disappointed they hadn't used this area the night before, during the night when the city would have been lit up. During the day, it was just a normal view of downtown. When he went back inside he noticed the rose petals on that side of the bed. Maya must have pushed them off before he could see them the night before. The bottle of champagne was still unopened, floating in its bucket on the table, the ice now melted.

"Pearl, do you mind heading back into the other room so I can get dressed? It'll be quicker than waiting for Maya."

"Sure thing, Mr. Nick," she said. She grabbed her own clothes and headed into the sitting area and around the corner to get dressed herself.

He found his clothes and went about getting dressed. He wasn't paying attention to the noise in the bathroom, so didn't hear the shower turn off, and didn't notice when Maya came back into the room. She stopped mid step when she saw him. He was facing away from her, so she could only see him from behind. He had one arm in a sleeve and was in the process of pulling his other through, and all she got a glimpse of was his shoulder and the back of his neck. She was grateful she hadn't seen more than that, as her face was already red. But she couldn't look away, and when he was finishing buttoning the shirt he turned around, physically jumping in fright when he saw her. She was already dressed in her spirit medium outfit, her hair back in its usual style.

"M-Maya!"

She swallowed, a goofy grin spreading over her face. If her face was red, his was redder.

"How long were you standing there?" he said, not able to meet her eyes. Instead he walked around the bed, found his suit jacket and pulled that on hurriedly too. In his haste he totally forgot about his tie.

"Not long enough, apparently," she said. The fact that he was so embarrassed somehow made her feel better, and now she just wanted to tease him about it, but he only looked at her, unamused.

"Let's go, I'm starving," he said.

"Aren't you forgetting this?" she said, picking up his tie from where he had left it, and hanging it in front of his face.

He grabbed it from her hands and stuffed it in his pocket, not even bothering to put it on. He wasn't sure he'd even be able to tie it properly at the moment. "Pearls! Are you dressed?" he called.

She came around the corner. "I'm ready to eat!"

"I can't wait!" Maya said. Phoenix opened the door, holding it open for the two girls. Together they went down to the dining hall where Maya ate her fill, heading back to the buffet at least three different times.

When they were finished they went back to the room to tidy it up, not wanting to leave a total mess for the cleaning staff, then headed back down to the lobby to check out.

"I trust you two had a good stay?" the man at the counter said. He was different from the one Maya had spoken to the night before.

Phoenix was tapping his fingers impatiently on the counter, Maya beside him. "Yeah, it was great," he said. "We just need to check out now."

"Name?"

"Wright."

"Okay. You're checked out. You and your wife have a lovely day today and congratulations again," the man said.

Phoenix's lips tightened, but he he huffed out a hurried "thank you" and turned away from the counter. Maya followed after him, face red, and Pearl behind her. But Pearl was smiling.