Written partially for the PWKM, partially as a prompt on my fan fic blog. Could have sworn I posted it here too, but apparently I never did.

"I don't know, Edgeworth. Sometimes I just think, what if, you know?"

Trucy stopped outside the doorway to her dad's office as she headed towards her bedroom. Hearing him say something like that piqued her interest. There was silence as Phoenix listened to whatever Edgeworth was saying, then a sigh.

"Yeah, I know, I know. Life is great now. But it could've been better in the past. Don't you think it would've been good for Trucy if Maya had been around more often back then? If I hadn't been so stupid about my feelings for her Trucy would have had a role model to look up to who actually deserved her admiration, not just a single dad who could hardly afford the monthly rent. She would have had the mom she begged me for all those years, and she would've been able to see Pearls more often too."

Another pause. "Yeah, you're right, I know. I just… regret not telling her sooner, I guess… You know I've loved her for years, Edgeworth. I think everyone knew before I figured it out. I know it shouldn't matter now that we are together but still… No, I mean, I don't think so, she's never said anything."

There was more silence as Phoenix listened again, then Trucy could hear him snort. "Like I need relationship advice from you, Mr. Perpetually Single. Anyways, thanks. I know you're trying to help me feel better… Mhm… Okay. Bye, Edgeworth."

Hearing him say those things hurt her heart, and she suddenly felt terrible for all the times she'd asked him for a new mommy. It wasn't like she'd had a depraved childhood. Phoenix was a good dad, no matter what anyone said about him. He always made sure she had a roof over her head and food to eat. He loved her and never once had she been scared he would leave her. That was more than could be said of her real father. She never really minded that all she had was him. They were fine on their own all those years.

She heard the click of the computer mouse and then the start of some typing from within the office, so she headed past the doorway, but instead of going to her room like she planned, she went down the hallway towards the living room, where she found Maya on her own laptop.

"Hey Maya," she said, sitting down beside her. For all intents and purposes, Maya was her mom now, but after years and years of referring to her by her first name, it was hard to break that habit.

Maya looked up at Trucy, noting her subdued tone of voice. "Hi, Trucy. What's up? Something wrong?"

"Maya… Can we do something nice for my daddy?"

Maya closed her laptop and set it on the coffee table. "Sure, but why?"

"I overheard him talking to Mr. Edgeworth on the phone," she said, looking away. "He probably wouldn't want me to tell you but he was talking about how he was sad that he didn't tell you he loved you sooner, because it would've been better for everyone."

"Better how?"

She shrugged. "I heard him say that I would've had you to look up to instead of him, and I could have seen Pearl more often." Her eyes teared up. "I don't want him to think he wasn't good enough for me just because I always bugged him for a mom."

Maya wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Oh, Trucy, your dad doesn't think that. He knows you love him." She lowered her voice. "Have you ever heard of a mid-life crisis?"

Trucy sniffed and nodded. "That's when you get old and want to buy a new car because it'll make you feel young again, right?"

"Well, kind of. But it also sometimes has to do with regretting decisions you made or didn't make in the past. Maybe your dad is just going through something like that right now."

"But my daddy isn't middle aged yet!"

Maya laughed lightly. "Maybe not but he's getting there, and sometimes it happens earlier or later than normal. But we definitely need to cheer him up. Did you have an idea?"

"Hmm. We could… cook him dinner? Or bake a cake. Or… I don't know. Just spend the night with him. He's been working a lot lately, I think he needs a break."

"You're right about that." Despite living in the same apartment now Maya felt like she hadn't seen Phoenix for days. He came to bed after she'd already fallen asleep, and woke up before her in the mornings. She didn't know what had gotten into him, since he'd never been a workaholic before. "Hm, I've never been much of a cook but we could try making dinner and dessert, and maybe let him choose the movie for once?"

"Okay," Trucy nodded. "I'll come home right after school so we can make dinner. I'm gonna go to bed now so I won't be tired tomorrow."

"Great." Maya bent slightly to place a kiss on Trucy's temple. "Good night."

"Night, Maya!"

Trucy skipped back down the hall, stopping again at Phoenix's office door. She knocked lightly.

"Come in."

She opened the door and peeked around it. Phoenix was bent over his computer, staring at the screen. His jacket was thrown over the back of his chair and his tie was loose, but otherwise he looked as if he was hard at work. "Daddy?"

He finally looked up over his computer. "Oh, hey Truce. Going to bed? It's getting late."

"Yep. I just wanted to say good night," she said, stepping around the computer desk to stand beside his chair.

"Oh, okay. Good night."

She bent down and wrapped her arms around his neck quickly, placing a quick kiss on his cheek. "I love you, Daddy. You know that, right?"

He hugged her back. "Of course I know, Trucy. I love you too."

She smiled. "Okay. Night, Daddy."

"Night."

He watched her leave, wondering what had prompted that. Trucy was getting older and she was finally starting to mature. She went to bed on her own and got up for school on her own now, usually worked late at the Wonder Bar and came home late to cook her own dinner, and she certainly did not want to spend as much time with her dear old dad as she used to. She hardly ever prompted hugs or I love you's anymore, but she'd seemed to be in a fine mood otherwise, so he shrugged and went back to work.

The next day, after Maya met him at the office to walk home together, she took his hand in hers and swung it between them. "Nick, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Are you happy with life right now? With me and Trucy, and Pearly when she visits?"

He looked down at her, but she kept her gaze straight ahead. "Of course I am, Maya. Why... Are you not?"

"No. I'm happier than I've ever been, I think. We're at good places in our lives now. If anything had happened before now… Maybe we wouldn't even be together still. Maybe it wouldn't have worked out between us if we didn't wait until now."

"Hm." He always thought Maya could sometimes read his thoughts, but this was just strange. He hadn't mentioned anything to her about what he'd spoken to Edgeworth about, but it sounded an awful lot like she was trying to reassure him his regrets were unwarranted, as if she knew how he'd been feeling lately.

"I'm just saying… I love you, Nick, and I'm happy." She smiled up at him, her eyes squinting together in the sunlight. "I want you to be happy too."

"I love you too, Maya… And don't worry, I am happy. Thanks."

When they got home he could smell… food? It was an unfamiliar smell in his apartment, truth be told. Neither he nor Maya were much good at cooking, and Trucy wasn't usually home this early to do dinner, so they mostly ate take out. But whatever it was smelled delicious.

Trucy appeared through the doorway to the kitchen and ran down the hall, sliding on the wooden floors in her socks. She slid right into Phoenix's arms. "Daddy! You're home! Oh! Surprise!"

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders but looked down, confused. "Huh? Did I forget my own birthday or something?"

Trucy shook her head. "Nope! Maya and I just wanted to do something nice for you today. You've seemed kind of down lately, so we thought we'd cheer you up."

He turned to look at Maya, who was slipping off her sandals at the door. She smiled at him when she noticed. "You've been working nonstop lately, Nick. You need to relax tonight, just the three of us, a sort of family night."

"I made dinner!" Trucy said. "It's chicken penne casserole with salad. It's going to be so yummy! It's almost done too, so you're just on time." They heard a ding come from the kitchen, and Trucy ran back to the oven to pull the food out.

Maya pulled on Phoenix's arm. "Come on, Nick. Let's go eat. It's been so long since I've had homemade food. And I made a cake for dessert!" she said proudly.

"You made a cake?"

"Yep! I did it before I came to meet you at the office, so it's been cooling. I put icing on it and everything!"

Maya dragged him down the hall to the kitchen, and when they arrived he was surprised at what he saw. Trucy had the small table set up with three chairs and a fancy tablecloth, and had even set out wine glasses for Maya and Phoenix. She set the casserole down in the middle of it and then the bowl of salad, and grinned at him. "This is for you, Daddy!"

"Truce… You didn't have to do this for me," he said, taking a seat. Maya and Trucy followed suit. "But I really do appreciate it."

She smiled proudly. "You deserve it, Daddy. So let's eat."

After finishing their dinner, Maya brought out the cake, which she'd iced the way she said and written "WE LOVE YOU" in big letters. It looked sort of messy, but it tasted amazing. Phoenix was impressed, Maya had never shown any prowess as a baker before.

When they were finished dessert, Phoenix helped bring the dinner plates to the sink, then went to excuse himself after thanking them again. Maya grabbed him by the sleeve. "Nu uh, Nick. This is an all night family night. No working!"

"What else did you have planned?"

"Movies!" Trucy said. "But for once we're going to let you pick. Any Netflix movie or show or…" she pretended to shudder, "documentary you want."

"Hey now," he said. "I'm not that boring."

Together, Trucy and Maya pushed him back into the living room and onto the couch. Trucy grabbed the TV remote and a blanket, and threw it over the three of them. Even though he was allowed to pick whatever he wanted, Phoenix still chose a movie he'd heard both Maya and Trucy talk about wanting to see. They were doing all of this for him but he still wanted to make them happy.

Before hitting play, he wrapped an arm around each of the girls and squeezed them to him. They both cuddled in, getting comfortable for the movie. "Thank you, you two," he said quietly. "I really needed this tonight and somehow you both knew."

Trucy and Maya exchanged subtle glances. "You're welcome, Nick."

"Yeah, Daddy! It was no problem. We should do this more often. Maybe next time Pearl has time off from her duties in Kurain she can come over too."

"That'd be nice, actually."

They settled in and quieted down after starting the movie, and two hours later, Trucy was asleep as she leaned against him from his left side. Maya held onto his arm as she leaned into him from the right side, but she'd managed to stay awake. When the credits began to roll, she snuggled in closer to him.

"Nick, I have to tell you something," she mumbled quietly, not wanting to wake Trucy.

"What is it?"

"Trucy… She overheard you on the phone last night, talking to Mr. Edgeworth. She heard you talking about how you regret not telling me how you felt sooner, because it would have been better for her if you had."

Ah. So that was why Maya was saying those things on their walk home earlier. She did know about that conversation with Edgeworth. "Maya…"

"I just want you to know that me and Trucy don't see it that way. You were a good dad to her, Nick. She didn't need me or any other mom, because she had you, and she feels that way too. She doesn't want you thinking you weren't good enough for her. And you and I both had our own issues to deal with during that time. Like I said earlier, who knows if we even would have worked out if we'd been in a relationship during all that. It would have been a lot of stress on all of us. We're happy in the present, and I hope we'll be happy in the future, but the past is behind us, so stop thinking things like that, okay? We're a family now and that's all that matters."

He swallowed the lump in his throat when Maya was finished. "I'm sorry…"

She squeezed his arm tighter. "Don't apologize, Nick. It's okay. I just don't want you to ever feel like we would resent you for something like that."

He turned his head slightly and she leaned up to kiss him, then smiled. "Hey… I may have planned a little something extra for your cheering up tonight," she whispered, close to his ear. "Something I couldn't tell Trucy about, if you're up for it."

He laughed quietly. "How can I resist?"

He turned away from Maya to Trucy instead, and shook her shoulder. "Truce… the movie is over. Maybe you should head to bed now?"

She groaned and buried her face into his shoulder more as she woke. "I don't want to move," she mumbled. "Carry me to bed like you used to."

"Trucy, you're too old for that now."

She made a whining noise. "I'm so tired though."

He sighed. He couldn't say no to her, just like he'd never been able to say no to Maya. He shifted so he could slide his arms under her legs, and caught her smirk as he lifted her, happy that she'd gotten her way. She was still pretty slight, so she wasn't too heavy. Maya got up off the couch and followed him to her room so she could pull back the blankets on Trucy's bed. Phoenix laid her down and she snuggled under her covers.

Maya hurried out of the room while he looked down at his daughter, who was already half asleep again. He leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Thank you for tonight, Trucy. I needed it. I feel a lot better now."

She nodded absently. "Mhm. You're welcome."

He pulled the blankets up and tucked them around her, feeling like she was nine again instead of 17. She really was growing up too fast. She'd drifted off to sleep again completely by the time he closed her bedroom door behind him to go to his own bedroom.

He didn't want to keep Maya waiting.