Sorry it took me so long to reply, but, by the look of things...I guess I'm the first to reply to this wonderful addition, so never mind. XD

Lol at her wanting to go to a beach resort. :D

And, well...I couldn't agree more with that last sentence. ^^

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Yay! I've always wanted to see how Lana and Mia got on!

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Hehe, I can definitely picture Mia going to a supermarket and binging on chocolate too. Ironically enough, today was my first day back at work (summer job) at the local supermarket. It sucked hard, so I went to a different supermarket afterwards and binged on chocolate ice cream sandwiches and sushi, haha.

Anyways, I enjoyed this chapter quite a bit. I like the new direction in which the story's going. The interaction between Mia and Diego was cute in the beginning (I too thought it was funny that she wanted to go to a beach resort XD) and I loved Mia bumping into Lana. And yes, they should definitely catch up. Looking forward to the next part :D

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ANGST! ANGST! ANGST! Gee, Mia sure is Angsty in this chapter, what with all the pity and Penny guilt!

As always, Diego is spot on with his smug comments!

Nice enough chapter, to summarise it all it one word, ANGST!

If I had a bad day and money, I would so binge on chocolate...or Twilight...or Phoenix Wright. Lol. Awesome job! This is good. Update soon! Good luck with school!

Lida_Rose: Thanks for the kind reveiw, I'm more of a crisps girl more than chocolate..that's possibly more unhealthy than chocolate though.

xNoLemonHereX: ...And now you will, I hope I kept them both in charecter.

WittyVitale: You started your summer job, huh? Well I'm fast learning that work is awful with my year ten work experience. The working hours are 9 - 5 and I'm shattered! I'm used to school times so got quite the shock! I have another week of it but I suppose it could be worse, It's in a hospital so they had to send us home yesterday due to a possible flue outbreak. to sum up: work experience sucks. Moving on...

I love writing Diego/Mia stuff but the road ahead is so bumpy for the two of them I want to solidify their relationship as much as I can. Glad you enjoyed it, there's plenty more to come.

OT: WittyVitale, your signiture is awesome btw. Vicky makes amazing sigs, doesn't she?

FlyingTotodile: If ya wanna get rid of that wizard angst...or is that lice. don't ask what I'm on about here. Yeah, Mia's got very angsty latel, hasn't she? Plent more of that sinse it's not expactly plain sailing for her after this, is it? Diego's smug comments are fun to come up with.

Nacholover23: Thanks but my school troubles are pretty much over and I'm entered a new realm of annoyence. Work experience (see WittyVitale's reply for details), I'm very tired but on the bright side, I do have more time to write this now. I like to reply Phoenix Wright cases when I'm feeling down, and eat crisps.




Chapter thirty three


Mia couldn’t help but be excited at the prospect of catching up with Lana; after all, they’d always been very close whilst being educated. Mia used to have a rather hard time making friends and had never really felt as though she’d fitted in when at high school. Though she’d had what could only be described as a large group of friends, she’d never had a best friend who she could talk about anything with. Many of them had been quite fickle and only really spoken to her when they fancied complaining about the latest “bitch” - this had annoyed Mia to no end. As hypocritical as it seemed to her now, she’d always valued loyalty in a friendship, if you weren’t loyal to a friend and abandoned them when the going got tough, how could you expect them to be loyal to you when the situation was reversed? Lana on the other hand had been someone she’d always been interested in, she seemed to demand a certain given respect that no one she else knew was interested in getting.

“So, what were you about to binge over then?” Lana asked taking a sip of her coffee. They’d headed of you a coffee house where they’d taken a rather nice seat outside. The weather was warm and sunny and made for pleasant surroundings.

Mia groaned, “It’s a pretty long story that doesn’t show me in the best light if I’m honest…”

“Well, I have time…and besides, you know you can tell me anything.”

She raised her eyebrows at this.

“No, seriously, I won’t judge you, I swear! Go on, and then I’ll complain to you about my life!”

And so Mia told Lana the whole story without leaving strategic parts out –like the part where she kissed the man her friend was in love with or withheld information about their mother from Maya. She even told Lana the real reason why was finding it difficult to get on with Diego at times-

“It’s just like he doesn’t understand why I’m still upset…I mean, honestly, is it getting pathetic that I still feel guilty for what I did? Because he sure doesn’t…”

“Mia, with things like this the guilt doesn’t really go away. You’re probably never going to stop feeling bad because you never got a chance to tell Penny that you regret acting the way you did.”

“But I got with Diego of that huge mistake…I suppose I regret the fact I upset her but I’m happy with him.”

“Really? You don’t sound very happy with him.”

Mia thought about it, really though about it- When was the last time she’d been happy at all? “I feel like I’m stuck in a hole…does that sound stupid?”

“I don’t understand what you mean…”

“I feel like I’m stuck in a hole with all this misery and I can’t climb out. I haven’t even acted like myself at all recently; I know the old me wouldn’t have done that to Penny…” she looked down sadly. So far, this catch-up with Lana had only made her feel worse.

“I think your boss did the right thing if I’m honest Mia, you’re a totally mess! You need a break from everything and most of all you need to break away from this self-pitying attitude you’ve acquired lately.” Lana said, catching Mia of guard with the harshness of her tone, she knew Lana was easily annoyed but this was very unexpected, “I’ll bet Diego feels pretty guilty about everything too but have you actually tried asking him how he’s been feeling lately? I know things have been tough but sometimes you’ve got to stand up and sort your own life out rather than wait for something to happen to make everything perfect again. It’s important to accept responsibility for your actions, good and bad. Other wise you’ll never break away from that incident and no one will take it seriously next time something goes wrong.”

The whole monologue felt like a huge slap in the face to Mia, she was stung. What right does she have to tell me I’m a mess? She must have some problems too if she was bingeing she thought self-righteously and not noticing she was now scowling at Lana.

...

“For God’s sake Mia I didn’t mean to make you cry!”

“I’m not crying!” she’d replied suddenly noticing a tear role down her face.

Lana sighed, “This is what I’m talking about, pull yourself together.” her tone wasn’t any where near as harsh this time. Mia assumed she had meant it to be but Lana’s sensitive side had gotten the best of her before she’d started speaking. She was glad about this, as Mia wasn’t sure she could take shouting. “Mia, if you want to leave all this behind you need one thing and that’s closure, as clichéd as it sounds you need to say goodbye to Penny.”

Having a dumb moment Mia looked up at Lana slowly, “But she’s dead.”

“Sorry Mia, what’s your surname again…Fade, Fig, Fen?…no wait…I remember, it’s Fey and don’t you have a huge family of spirit mediums…or have I got the wrong person?”

Gee, Lana’s really got a thing for all this sarcasm hasn’t she? Surely she could have just said ”But haven’t you got a family of spirit mediums?” “I guess I could try it but…oh God, how can I face her again…what if she try to kill me or something?”

“Why would she do that? You caught the man who killed her-“

“For rather selfish reasons though, I didn't want to go to jail!” Mia continued for her.

“We’re digressing here, seriously though, you need to pick your life up and stop wallowing in self-pity. So many bad things have happened to you Mia and I understand how down that would make you feel but… the Mia I knew in law school wouldn’t have let things like that stop her. Don’t let a bad run of luck ruin your life.”

Mia looked down, Lana did make a good point and she didn’t want to sit there and admit defeat a mere six months or so into her career. She made a non committal noise and decided to change the subject-

“So what seems to be the problem Lana?” She said mimicking a doctor.

“Oh...well mine seems a bit underwhelming now…”

Mia sighed; she’d just poured her heart out assuming that Lana had some major issues.
“It’s just boy trouble to be honest.”

Rolling her eyes, Mia congratulated herself on making Lana’s problems seem much smaller.

After a great deal of giggling and talking Mia really did begin to feel a little better, she felt as though they were back in law school- Mia and Lana: best friends and yet Mia had also always seen Lana as something of a mentor. It would have been clear to anyone who’d seen how Lana had reacted to Mia’s attitude, why this was.

Mia looked at her watch; she knew it was really time for her to be going. “Lana; believe it or not, this has really helped me out, more than you know.”

“Don’t worry about it, what are friends for? Oh, and for the record I think you’re destined to be an amazing attorney. I think you did a very commendable job the other day in court.”

This caught Mia very much off guard, “S-seriously?” Mia had been bluffing the whole time, lost in a sea of panic where she was heading to jail.

“Yes, the way you look charge without thinking when the going got tough for Diego, it was like your natural instinct,” Lana smiled warmly, “I think you’re going to be fine Mia.”

All Mia could do was hope she was right, but then again, Lana usually was.




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I dropped the ball! I didn't review the last one.
Nice additions.
Go Lana! =D
Let's see how this works out, shall we?

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Yay! Go Lana! Whoo!

I feel bad for not reading any other stories or continuing my own fanfic. Still...

AWESOMENESS! We should make that a big icon. :D

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I started my summer job and then, umm... quit after a few days LOL. I've been working there for the last 2 summers and when I got back, I realized that I couldn't work there for another summer. So I quit, ha. Now I'm applying to about a million different places, hoping to get something. Until then, I'm studying/gathering information for my next semester at college. I'm starting my senior year in September (O_O), and I need to write at least 120 pages for my final project, take 4-5 intensive writing/reading courses, get an on-campus job, work at an animal shelter, and something else that has currently slipped my mind (basically, I will have little to no free time ;_;.) So while I'm waiting for possible employment opportunities, I might as well get a head start on my research (and also write fanfics and play video games on the side, since I probably won't have time to do either for a couple of months, haha.)

So you're working at a hospital? What kind of work are you doing there? And yes, work experience does suck. And yes, Vicki's sigs are awesome. I think your sig/avatar might have been the first of her work that I saw. And I thought to myself "this is gorgeous, I must ask her to make me a sig" haha.

Well, that was a long post about my life, so sorry about that. I'll review your latest chapter now:

I enjoyed this chapter very much. I liked the way you made Mia and Lana interact. It was a realistic dialogue that I can definitely see two best friends having. Also, Lana totally pwned this chapter.

I'm very interested in what is to come, I look forward to your next installment!

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Chess: Haha, it's okay and thanks for reading. Btw, I have no idea how this is gonna work out. I'm kidding for the most part.

Lida_Rose: Lana IS awesome! And i know how you feel, sometimes i go ages without writing anything and my readers just lose interest. I used to have loads of people reveiwing my story but most of them either lost interest or left the forum , still, I'll carry this on until no one is reading it. Of course eventually Mia's life ends so I guess this story isn't forever.




Next chapter coming as soon as I actually write it! XD

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Good Chapter!

How long are you working at the Hospital?
I did my work experience a few months ago, I did A video editing office, a solicitor's office and Amnesty International and after the first week of work exp. I was pooped!
Also...they had nothing for me to do
Wbu?

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Wow. I read all 33 chapters in one go, and it's pretty good. Except...


There were a LOT of spelling and gramattical errors in the chapters. And the pinkish web page blinded me. X~X But, other than that, really good job.

Awesome job! I will admit, Mia is starting to annoy me with her self-pitying attitude. (Sorry for spelling errors). It's part of the plot though, so it's all cool. Awesome job again! Update soon!

It's about time Mia started to snap out of it! After all she's only going to get a few more months with Diego until... You Know Who does You Know What to him. Well... not like she'll know of course. Good going Lana! ...And yay, I'm talking to fictional characters here. XD

Seriously though good chapter, aside from the spelling errors. Hah, I'd imagine Lana to have that sharp edge to her. I laughed when she sarcastically 'tried to recall Mia's last name'. Do wonder what happens if she does somehow contact Penny's spirit!

Ended up reading the entire story so far from a link from the P/M Fan Club topic. Extremely well done, although as always, I want moar Meigo fluff.

Speaking of which.... you've already raped canon at least twice already..... any chance of having a "Good Ending" instead of the suffering the two go though in the Canon route?

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...It really has been a long time since I've been here but i read all your chapter and your doing great (as always) :)
and.. i totally agree with lana!
and btw i kinda forgot who i thought was the mystery person.. Red white or something?...
haa. sorry

Earlier replies repeated ^.

xNoLemonHereX: Well, i did two weeks at the hospital and i just finished today! Beleive me, i was very happy, especially sinse they sent us home early as a treat! Oh, and you were lucky, they had plenty for us to do at the hospital, all of it pretty boring tbh. glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Katherin Crae Dahl: Ah thanks, I know there are alot of mistakes but I don't have an editor so my appologies for that. Hope they didn't marr your enjoyment too much.

Nacholover23: It's like FlyingTotodile said: angst, angst, angst! It's sitll not happy times ahead though. Thanks for reviewing though!

Jacks: Thanks, glad you liked it so much!

Xanatos: Haha, that would be much nicer to write, I know. Have I really gone off canon twice!? I didn't realise! Yay, another Phoenix/Maya supporter (incidently I write stories for them, too. Thanks very much for ready and hope you continue to enjoy it!

~Jenny~: It's fine, I think someone guessed it right actually when they were reading it. Glad you enjoyed catching up and thanks for reading!






Chapter thirty four


After her meeting with Lana, Mia decided to head back to the office, after all, Lana did have a point. She’d been so wrapped up in how she was feeling that she’d never even stopped to think about how Diego had been affected. She’d been quite snappy with him over the last few days but she doubted he’d even picked up on that. He’d had his usual smug demeanor and acted quite normally around her. Still, she knew better than most that it was amazing what a person could hide just by putting on a smile – she’d had her brave face on so much while looking after Maya. Showing upset about her mothers disappearance hadn’t really been an option for her, what good would it have done anyway? Losing face in front of her would have just made Maya feel guilty for taking up so much of her older sibling’s time.

Walking through the glass doors of reception she saw the friendly receptionist Daniel, who was shuffling some papers on his desk, he looked up when she walked in “Good afternoon Miss. Fey, I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.”

“Neither was I but I changed my mind and decided to come back…hey, you do know I’m on uh…involuntary paid suspension?”

“Of course I do but it’s not a crime to walk around a law office, is it?” he winked cheekily. Mia assumed this meant that she was okay with him if she walked around the law office anyway.

Smiling back at him and deciding to let the wink slide, she asked, “Is it okay if I go up to speak to Diego . . . it’s about a case.” She added at the end not wanting to put any funny ideas in the new receptionist’s head.

“Sure, that’s fine.” She felt his eyes follow her out of reception; winking aside, he seemed like a pretty nice guy and a good receptionist. Smiling a little, she headed up to Diego’s office. She knocked when she finally got there and was replied to fairly quickly, “Come in.”

When she entered he looked up from his computer, surprised to see her again, “I thought you’d gone home?”

“No, I thought I’d come and see you, I just wanted to apologize. I was a bit short with you earlier, I think…”

“…You were? I didn’t even notice so it’s fine.”

“Oh right…that’s okay then.” She couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed, his tone had been dull and almost slightly bored by her, she decided to attempt a conversation, “So…err, what are you doing now then?”

“Just answering some emails and preparing some cases.”

“Oh, do you have one tomorrow?”

“No, not that I know of anyway.”

She swallowed, “Has Grossberg lightened your work load at all?”

“No.”

Great, we’re down to mono-syllabic answers now, are we?

“Oh.” Was all she could think of to say back to him - say being the operative word – she could think of plenty of things she wanted to say to him.

There was silence in the room except for the tapping of his keyboard and the clicking of the mouse. After about ten minutes of this Mia began to frantically try and think of conversation starters. Another option was to start yelling at Diego at the top of her voice and ask him why the hell he was giving her the silent treatment for no obvious reason. In the end she went with –

“Have I done something wrong?” she said in an ever so slightly icy tone; whatever she’d done, Diego was dealing with it very immaturely in her opinion.

“No, I’m fine . . . we’re fine.” He answered, not taking his eyes of the screen.

This reply just made the anger boil in the pit of her stomach, “Well that’s fine then, I’m going now, when you feel like growing up and telling me what’s actually wrong like and adult would do, maybe give me a call, okay?” She glared at him, hoping for at least and angry response, honestly, any response would have been okay with her as she headed out of the room, hoping for him to call her back. She slammed the door, hoping that it might vent her anger in some way- it worked; now all that was left was hurt.

Feeling the tears well up in her eyes, she decided to head to the girls bathrooms hopefully tidy up her quickly decreasing amount of makeup. What was wrong with him? He’d been fine when she’d left him earlier, what had changed? What if he’d finally had enough of the mood swings that he apparently didn’t even notice? What if he’d met another woman and felt guilty about it so was pushing her away. This idea proved too much for Mia, as annoying as he could be sometimes Diego meant so much to her, he’d been her support through everything, her rock through the Fawles trial, her company after Maya had left and he’d reassured her so much that Penny’s death wasn’t her fault, no matter what she may thought. After all of that she couldn’t bare to lose him because she’d acted like a selfish little brat.

She bumped into something – or someone as she walked. This was probably because she’d been walking with her head down in hope to hide her face.

“I’m so sorry,” the-thing-she’d-bumped-into said as she looked up to see it was Daniel standing there, “I was somewhere else.”

“It’s fine,” she replied, steadying herself, “So was I.”

His face looked concerned, now that he’d seen the tears running down her face and the smudged makeup, “Ah, are you okay, I didn’t really hurt you did I!?”

“Wha-? No! I’m completely fine, I was just heading to the bathroom actually to tidy this abomination up!” she said gesturing at her face.

“Ah, well that’s worse then! If I didn’t make you cry that means someone else did.”

She smiled a little, “Oh? So you hoped that it was you that hurt me, how is that any worse or better?”

“Well If it was me, I’m sorry, but I’m guessing by the fact that you’re alone that whoever it was that did upset you, isn’t sorry.”

“What? No, I’m not really upset really, it’s just uh…” she wracked her mind for a decent excuse, “PMS, I broke my nail and at this time of the month it just hits me like a ton of bricks!”

Surprisingly, this caused him to laugh, obviously he wasn’t buying it, “Well, if you don’t want to share it’s okay with me but at least let me make you some tea or hot chocolate?”

On one hand she really didn’t feel like talking to anyone right now (bar Diego), but the idea of hot chocolate right now felt like something that could cheer her up, “I guess I wouldn’t mind a cup…”

“Great, I’ll make you one. Actually, I have a few questions I need to ask you anyway.” He replied, genially.

“Uh, sure,” What kind of questions? she added in her head.

“Well, I doubt you know this but I’m very new in town. As I just moved into my house, the kitchen’s a complete half-installed mess so I wondering if you knew of any nice places to eat?”

In Mia’s current state this just made Mia think of the many lovely romantic places Diego had taken her on their numerous dates. Gulping, she replied- “Uh, it really depends on what you’re looking for, there are some pretty good chip shops in town. Are you thinking more of restaurants?”

“Ah, yeah, anything really, just a bit of variation, I’m so sick of those instant noodles I’ve been forced to eat for the last few weeks! And then when I got this job I though “Great Dan, you’ll be able to buy some decent food now!” but, it’s not the best paid job ever, you know?” he laughed now, “Well, actually you don’t know, do you!? It’s alright for some on their attorney’s wages.”

“Well, actually, I haven’t really done any defending recently.” She said, not looking him in the eye. She hated telling people this; they always asked her why she wasn’t an active attorney.

“Oh why?” he asked, living up to expectations.

Deciding the short answer was the best to go with, she just replied, “I’m on involuntary, paid vacation.”

“Oh, right why-“

At the moment, Diego walked in, a still serious look on his face.

“Mia, I need to speak to you a minute.” He said, looking right at her. This still seemed to take her breathe right out of her.

“I’m busy.” She replied, lying and deliberately avoiding his gaze.

“Mia…I can see you’re not busy and I’m serious, I really need to talk with you.”

“Then talk with me then.” she said, nonchalantly.

He sighed, exasperatedly, “I mean I need to talk to you in private, and you know that.”
“Whatever you have to say to me you can say in front of Dan.” Mia knew how immature she was being, but still, he deserved her difficult attitude.

Sighing again, he ran his hands through his hair and looked up blankly, “Fine, have it your way then- Penny’s mum sent me an email earlier, inviting me to Penny’s funeral and I really wasn’t sure how I felt about going after what I did to her.” He paused, a look of hurt that mingled with disgust of his face, “Anyway, I’ll leave you and Dan alone now.”

And with that, he turned around and walked out.




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Someone's got a case of the green eyed monster, no?

Hope you all like it.

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Last edited by Missile. x on Sun Jul 12, 2009 5:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yay! First one to read this epic addition!

Oh...That is so depressing...The funeral thing, I mean. 8(

Anyway, I can't wait to see what happens next.

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Wow, Mia sure has grown down of late. It's gotten so bad that she's now going to find solace in the arms of daniel and cheeky receptionist... it's almost like a tacky soap what with the cheating ex-boyfriend being invited to the funeral of the girlfriend her parents, who he hardly knew! Not to mention his amazing character change from being understanding to completely cold and unfeeling, over the course of about half a day! Also, why would Diego be invited after he defended Penny's would be murderer in court? The only way this could become any tackier is if Misty turned up for a spot of tea!

There could be any reason why Penny's mother and father invited Diego. They could be dragging him into a family Eastenders' style brawl, they could be inviting him to 'make peace' (plleehh, already?). Both these would be cheesy and unbased. Why would they want to drag strangers in when they undoubtedly want to be in peace?

My thoughts are thus: they could be bringing him into their own kind of trial, asking questions about what exactly happened to make them suspect Mia in the first place. They know they've been wrong, but they're puzzled and wracked about the whole thing, grieving has only just begun and they want to know what else was causing their daughter's suffering. Obviously they want to talk to him and not Mia, because he had been more involved with Penny than Mia was. Undoubtedly they must have worked this out (unless Penny didn't mention Diego's name AT ALL to her parents when she was going out with him? Somehow I very much doubt this.. unless it was in a previous chapter and I've forgotten. I do tend to miss details....). Maybe they thought, since being Mia's lawyer, he would also know this extra information, since Mia and Diego were close (that much was displayed in court), and Mia obviously was involved with Penny. If not as much as Diego, but they might not have picked up on this...

But the phone message played at the cross-examination must have been highly suspicious. Maybe they thought inviting Mia would cause them disdain, so they decided to invite the one in authority of her. ....Okay that all got a tad rambly. And to anyone reading this, I AM AWARE she did not commit suicide. I'm not talking of a motive to take her own life. I'm trying to enter the parents POV (or at least guess at it)- undoubtedly, whether it contributed to death or not, they want to know what their daughter was going through.

That's not to say the situation won't get a smite.. ugly, but why wouldn't it? Tensions will certainly flare for one thing. Must be stupid on the half of the parents to bring him to a funeral of all things.. but as you could imagine, they're not firing on all cylinders right now. They're confused as anything.

Although I do agree that.. considering Mia's supposed growth in maturity since meeting with Lana, she did tend to lose her patience and change tack very, very quickly, uncharacteristically so. Even going so far as to say 'you can say it in front of Dan'. This part made me raise my eyebrows. Why does she want Diego to know that she's on first name terms with this stranger (he hasnt really been around that long), instead of saying something like 'you can say it in company', being a bit more subtle? And why is it she's acting so immature after the rather cold encounter with Diego, when she must have had some inkling that it would make things worse and not better? She was doing the exact opposite of what Lana advised her to do. Surely getting to the bottom of Diego's own hurt would warrant patience, and I figure she would have learned that by how strict Lana was with her. This was about getting out of her self pity bubble, not contributing to it. This is more a time for thoughts alone or a chat with Lana, who knows her better than Dan. I'm not sure I can believe this Mia, really.

Tl;dr: Not the best, but look forward to reading more of the story

Ah, I haven't been on the forums for a few days, but it looks like I came back just in time. New chapter!!

Hmm, well this story took a turn I didn't expect. It seems that Mia and Diego are having trouble in paradise. I'm very interested in seeing where you go with this. The chapter was well-written, lots of good, realistic details, especially when you described how Mia was feeling when Diego was being short with her. Keep going :)

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Lida_Rose: Thanks, and yes, this story can be alittle depressing at times.

FlyingTotodile: T-t-tacky? Whoa there, maybe little, okay, a lot cliche'd but still, I do (within reason) know where I'm going with this story. Still, you weren't to know that and it could be that you read the next chapter and think "goodness, she's made it worse...if that's actually possible!?". Anyway, bottom line is that I completely see your point and take all the critism(s) on board (same for Jacks [I'll get to you in a minute]), hopefully this is the wakeup call to make the storyline a little less..."tacky" and cliche'd. Thanks for reading anyway!

Jacks: Haha, I get the tinniest feeling you think I really dropped the ball on this chapter, still no worries, I'll try to repeair this mistake. I'm not planning on changing my original plans too much but I really like to writing in charecter, which iclearly didn't do so muhc in the last chapter.

I would give you a detailed reply about all your ideas about why Diego's been invited to the funeral but I'd ruin the storyline, wouldn't I? Sad to hear you didn't like it all that much but still, that's the point of R&R-ing, isn't it? This way I can try and improve. Thanks for reading anyway and thanks for the critisizm, like I said, it actually helps alot.






Chapter thirty five

Oh Mia, what were you playing at? She sighed, this was something she’d been doing a lot of lately, still, even recently with her immaturity she’d admit to herself that most of it had been her own fault. Besides the entire Fawles incident and being accused of Penny’s murder, after that it was pretty much all her own fault; snapping at Diego, talking to Dan with subconscious thoughts of showing Diego she was “in demand” and hoping to make him just the tinniest bit jealous.

Seriously, what were you playing at? she repeated again while she hurried along the corridor, now in pursuit of Diego.

“Please, Diego, wait!”

This was to no avail, she tried again.

“Diego, you’re getting as bad as me! Please, I need to talk to you!”

He turned around sharply, “Well maybe we’d better wait till Dan gets here? After all, “Whatever you have to say to me you can say in front of Dan”, does that rule apply all the time now?”

“What!? That doesn’t even make any sense! Listen, Diego, I know saying that was ridiculously immature but what about you with your mono-syllabic answers? What are you, six years old!? Why the hell did you treat me like that?!”

“I-I don’t know, I wasn’t actually annoyed with you so much…I just, I was just thinking, trying to decide whether or not I even have a right to be at her funeral.”

“Diego…do you feel bad for what you did to Penny?”

This caused him to raise his eyebrows, “Of course I bloody do…not as guilty as you do but still.”
“What do you mean by that?”

“Oh come on, some of the stuff you’ve been saying Mia lately - it’s total crap.”

“Uh, like what?”

“”It’s my entire fault she’s dead”, “I’m such a bitch for still dating you.”” He quoted in a silly imitation voice, “It’s stupid!”

“How is it stupid!?” she said, It’s all true she also added in her head.

“Mia, I’m getting just a little sick of this. For the last time, Penny’s death was not your fault! She already ruined our time together when she was alive and she’s doing it now from beyond the grave! Firstly, when we got together me and Penny weren’t even in a relationship! You didn’t do anything wrong, I’ll admit I maybe moved on from her a tiny bit quicker than socially acceptable but still, that’s not the point. Have we established that?”

“Err, yes.” She said, taken aback. She had no idea Diego was so riled about all this.

“Secondly,” he raved, “It’s not in any way your fault she’s dead! Did you kill her? No, you didn’t, I think we maybe established that at the trial! Mathew Fitzgerald did, not you, so stop going around feeling all self-conscious like you actually did murder her! In fact if anything, you should have your head held high, you actually did a better job that I did at being a defense attorney! And I’m pretty well renowned.” He added, back to his smug self, “So really Mia, that’s it, end of story, right?”

“I-I, well-“ Diego does have rather a lot of good points… she thought, though I thought that about Lana and then went and acted exactly the same as before!

“That’s the end of the story, right” he repeated, only more exasperatedly.

She half smiled, “What story?”

“My god, that’s probably the most clichéd way of telling someone you’re forgetting about an instance.”

“I’m sorry.” She said, approaching him for a hug.

He smirked, “What for, the clichéd banter or for blowing this all out of proportion.”

“Both.”

***

“So are you going to the funeral or not then?” Mia asked when they were back in his office.

“No, I think I’ve finally decided. For one, I don’t think Penny’s mother even knew how I hurt her daughter; she never mentioned a thing about betrayals, cheating or anything like that. She just said that she wanted me there because she knew how much Penny loved me.”

“Oh, that must have helped with the guilt then?” Mia said sarcastically.

“Exactly.”

“We can always visit her grave though, can’t we? At some point, just too really say goodbye?”
Asking this made her nervous; the conversation had once more drifted into the realms of Penny-land.

“Of course, Kitten, I don’t resent you for wanting to say goodbye, I just don’t want you to keep saying sorry all the time.”

So she didn’t and this was the last time Penny was mentioned for quite some time. Mia finally managed to forget her guilt and accept that she did make a mistake and act badly but she’d still managed to correct it by capturing the real person who killed Penny. Though she did sometimes feel she was putting a positive spin of things to make her feel better, but then she knew it was better than the way she’d acted for the week after the trial had ended, and that’s just what it had done, ended.




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Erm, hope you all like this...at least more that you liked the last one!

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We are all AA fans, therefore obligated to point out any contradictions we see. :D

Anyway, I liked this chapter. ^^

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Ahh, very nice, it looks like Mia and Diego have mostly made up now. So you're into psychology? I kind of had a feeling you were. The way some of your chapters are written have hints of psychology/human nature (like this one for example.) Being a psych student myself, I like :)

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“”It’s my entire fault she’s dead”, “I’m such a bitch for still dating you.”” He quoted in a silly imitation voice, “It’s stupid!”

Bwhahahaha. Leave it to Diego to be like cut the crap. ^^
Hooray! They made up!

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Nice job on both chapters! I was able to survive the self-pitying...ness during the chapters. Awesome job! Update soon!

Lida_Rose: Thanks, ^_^



Chess: Haha, glad I made you laugh.

Nacholover23: Glad you enjoyed it and hopefully the stories getting back on form.




Chapter thirty six

Something that greatly surprised Mia, in the weeks after her argument with Diego, was how happy she was. As she went on the fact she was off work became less of a negative thing in her life and more of a positive thing, instead Mia finally had time to do something she’d never really done growing up which was have fun. In between helping her aunt and raising Maya she’d never had much time for herself and ever since moving to the city she’d found life very stressful full of difficult times. Diego had been her main comfort in everything and Maya (for the parts she’d been included in).

She’d been off from work for 2 and a half weeks now and had got very used to her 11.30 lie in, every morning, followed by a breakfast of homemade pancakes and coffee made from freshly ground coffee beans (it seemed Diego had some find of strange fetish for the stuff). Still, Mia wasn’t complaining, right now she was in heaven.

If there was one thing Mia really didn’t like (and there wasn’t, there were amny things), it was being disturbed from her sleep. Diego had learned long ago that to wake Mia while she was sleeping was something very much worth not worth bothering with (according to Diego, Mia transformed from kitten to very angry lion when awoken by anything besides her radio alarm clock).

Needless to say, Mia was not the happiest of bunnies one morning when the phone began to ring at eight thirty in the morning. Scowling she made her way out of bed (after groping at her alarm clock that wasn’t even sounding at the time, and mumbling “go back to sleep” several times before realizing it was in fact the phone ringing, not her clock).

“Whady’ya want?” Mia asked, still mumbling before suddenly realizing there was a slight chance this was her boss ringing to tell he wanted her back at work. Luckily for her, it wasn’t, unluckily for him it was a telemarketer.

“Err, hi, I was wondering if you’d like to chat to me about the recent changes to NPower’s services?” a smooth talking male voice came down the phone, “Which gas company are you with, currently?”

Mia’s eyes widened with anger, she hated telemarketers with a passion. Right now she had an over whelming desire to track this person down and shove the telephone right up their-

“Hello? Hello?” the voice prompted, “Is there anyone there?”

If only I wasn’t, if only this person hadn’t phoned me up so damned early and woke me up… she thought, practically seething with anger.

“Yes there is someone here and no, I don’t want to discuss the bloody changes at NPower, seriously, who calls at this kind of un-godly hour anyway!?” she shouted down the receiver. “Don’t you dare call here again, but if you do, be sure to ask for Diego.”

“Is-is that you?” the man asked, seemingly all his confidence washed down the drain.

“No!” she shouted finally and slammed down the receiver grumpily. On second thoughts, maybe she had been a little harsh with the guy…He was only doing his job, after all, she thought guiltily.

“Ah, well.” she muttered, walking away from the phone, there’s nothing to be done about that now, is there? she thoguht, toying with the idea of calling back to appologize.

Riiiiiing, riiiiiing, riiiiiing-

She turned suddenly, for the love of god- she thought as a part of her, urged her to just ignore the phone this time.

“Seeming as I’m already up, I may as well- Ms. Fey speaking- how can I help?” she spoke into the receiver, greatly improving on her last phone-answering method.

“Why yes Ms. Fey! Why I do believe one was wondering if I could speak to you for a moment?” a fruity voice replied, (one that Mia instantly recognized as Maya’s).

“That was an awful attempt as a British accent, Maya.”

She smiled as she heard Maya laugh, Mia hadn’t realized how much she missed her sister. She supposed she’d just got used to Maya not being there; maybe it was for the best? It didn’t seem that way to Mia, right now.

“Anyway, you rang?” Mia said, wondering what Maya was calling about.

“Ah, yes I did! Err, just wondering, did you open your post yet?”

“Mia, I only just got up like, five minutes ago.” She replied, looking over at the clock. Lazy as it was, she really wish she had a cordless phone right now, or at least a bed side phone.

“Seriously? That’s not like you! It’s eight thirty five; you were always up by now when you lived in Kurain.”

“Uh, yeah I know but…well, my working hours are very…flexible.” Mia hadn’t yet told her sister about the trial or her “involuntary, paid suspension”, what was the point in worrying Maya with something that Mia had long gotten over anyway?

“Ah, I see, so…go check your post then!”

“Uh, okay, one second, my phone isn’t wireless.”

“Haha, neither is mine…I have to walk all the way to the nearest town to call you though so you’ll get no sympathy from me!”

Mia hadn’t known this. Then again, she’d never had any reason to call anyone before. Some day, (if I can ever afford it), I’ll buy Maya a mobile phone so she doesn’t have to walk so much.

She collected the post and shuffled through it; she very quickly found where Maya’s enquiry was likely to be going.

“So? Is there anything from Kurain?”

She looked closely at an old looking envelope that was sitting in the middle of the phone and electricity bills; she saw it bore the Kurain wax stamp on it.

“Ah, yes, one sec I’ll just open it,” she sliced open the seal and pulled out the letter-

“It’s basically just about-“ Maya started-

“Shh-shh-shh-shh- don’t ruin the surprise for me…though it does look awfully long, just give me the shortened version.” Mia said, glancing down at the page of small, italicized writing.

Maya laughed, (probably at her sister increasing laziness), “Oh, it’s just inviting you to an uh…welcoming ceremony for little Pearl.”

“A…a what?” Mia said, wondering what a “welcoming ceremony” was.

“Well, that was my reaction at first, apparently it’s just a ceremony that, well, welcomes Pearl into the Kurain community, officially.” She added.

Mia furrowed her brow, “Well I never had one of those.”

“Yeah, me neither but Aunt Morgan said it was some new thing their introducing into Kurain.”

“But Pearls is two, if she hasn’t been accepted by now I don’t think she ever will be.” Mia said sarcastically.

Maya laughed, “It’s on Saturday, and can you make it?”

“Err, I’m about ninety nine per cent sure I can go, I just need to check with Diego.”

“Ooooh Diego, eh? Why, I though he was just some guy you worked with?”

“Ah, yeah…and some more, listen, I need to go now and call him but yeah, I’ll be there, okay?”

“Yay!” Maya rejoiced down the phone, “Can’t wait! See you soon, love you.”

“Love you too, Maya.” Mia said and then hung up, she smiled, she had a feeling Saturday was going to be good fun.




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Yay! New chapter! Woot!

A welcoming ceremony, eh? I wonder what that would be like.

Can't wait for the next chapter. :D

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I just discovered this and it's so good. I haven't finished it, but man, it's really good!

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Oooo, a welcoming ceremony for little Pearl? Sounds awesome! I can't wait to see how that plays out.

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Last edited by WittyVitale on Thu Jul 30, 2009 3:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

This is a great improvement from the last time I reviewed! Firstly you managed to get Mia out of the self pitying rut she was in and then you managed to start off a new storyline without any unrealistic twists and turns. Overall a very good couple of chapters! Although a couple of parts could probably have been slightly smoother, i still enjoyed it and will look forward to reading the next chapter!

I absolutely looooove this story! I couldn't stop reading it! All the characters from the AA series were captured PERFECTLY! All of the other characters were very well created. The relationship between Mia and Maya was just how I pictured it. Diego and Mia are absolutely great together! All in all, EXCELLENT JOB!

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I just started reading this and I have to say it seems to be shaping up to something quite interesting.I will continue reading over the next few days.

;)

Sorry I haven't posted in an age, I wrote a oneshot that occupied my time on the computer for for a while and got bad writer block, hope that doesn't show in this chapter!


Lida_Rose: Haha, should be fun. Hope you enjoy the next chapter!

FlameInferno: Glad you're enjoying it so much, it could take a while to finish though, it's 109 pages long on word!

WittyVitale:


FlyingTotodile: Glad this has improved and hope the next chapter is to your liking too!

DefenseNeverRests: Thank you so much for the lovely reveiw and i'm ever so pleased you enjoyed it so much so far! ^_^

Alpheus: Yay, a new reader, I don't get amny of them as the story is so long, it's an awful lot to read in one go! Glad you like it!



Chapter thirty seven


“So you don’t mind terribly if I go, then?” Mia said happily.

“Ooh, look at you! You’re like an excitable little girl, aren’t you!?”

“Oh ha-ha, I miss her, that’s all…so excuse me for being excited at the prospect of seeing her!” Mia said, feeling a little bit huffy, even if Diego was joking.

“Mia, you don’t need my permission to go, in fact, I can do one better than that, I’m not working that weekend, how about if I come with you?”

Mia grabbed him and kissed him, “That sounds great!”

“Cool, well as long as your cousin and aunt don’t mind a non-villager being there.”

“Don’t worry, for one, I very much doubt two year old Pearl is going to mind, and even if there’s a problem with you being at the ceremony, you can still come to the after party.”

As silly as it seemed to her, she was so glad he was coming. She hadn’t exactly been looking forward to the prospect of leaving Diego all weekend; Mia missed him so much more than she’d ever admit to him.

“Thank you,” she said, sliding her arm around his waste, “It…it means a lot to me that you want to come.”

“If this is the treatment I get every time I do something like this, well, let’s just say, I’ll do random romantic things more often.”

“I have no problems with that.” she said as he leaned in to kiss her, “I love, you know that?”

“That feeling is entirely mutual, believe me,” he stopped mid-kiss and looked down into her eyes, “Uh, in fact, there was something I was wondering about actually, we’ve been together, well a while now, right?” seeing the shocked look on her face he seemed to suddenly realize what that just sounded like he was about to ask her, “No, no, I’m not talking about marriage, don’t worry!”

“Oh…oh?” for one crazy moment then she actually had hoped he had meant that, still, they’d only been together about four months, it was a huge commitment make. “So, err, what were you talking about then?”

“Uh, I was just wondering, would you’d…like to move in with me, maybe?” his tanned cheeks actually looked slightly as though he was blushing for a second then.

“Wh-? Yes, yes, I’d love to!” She grinned, that was even more romantic than his last gesture!

“Great! Well, this causes for some serous celebration…” Diego said looking over at the kitchen. “Let’s pop open a tub of the most expensive blend of coffee I have!”

...and I thought he meant champagne…

***

Mia slowly slid her leg out of the shuttle bus that had taken her and Diego up to Kurain village. Typically, as her and Diego had brought lots of heavy luggage…it rained. Badly. She was so used to seeing Kurain dappled in the sunlight and so it made for an interesting change to see it with dull grey backing. She hauled her suitcase out of the bus along with her and tried to shake her soaked fringe out of her eyes as it stuck to her face like an annoying curtain, limiting her vision.

“I really hate rain.” She said to Diego as they approached Fey manor with nothing but the thought of how nice it would be to feel dry again.

“I know you do Kitten, didn’t it rain the day you started at Grossberg’s?” he replied thoughtfully.
She smiled slightly, “You…you remember the weather of my first day…why would you remember something like that?”

He coughed and looked down, “Why wouldn’t I? It was the first day I met you…you were soaked through.”

A woman with huge black hair the size of a tire rushed to the door.

“Aunt Morgan!” Mia greeted her as they walked through the door.

“Come in, come in, you must be freezing you poor thing…” she glanced at Diego as he followed through, “You poor…things.” she corrected herself, smiling in a slightly false manor. Mia assumed Morgan hadn’t been expecting a plus one.

“Sorry Aunt Morgan, I really should have warned you I was bringing someone…” Mia said, looking at her soaked shoes embarrassedly.

“I err; hope I’m not too much trouble.” Diego added bashfully.

Morgan smiled politely, “No, it’s no trouble at all. Who is this anyway Mia, you never told me you had a boyfriend!”

“Oh, Mia never told you about me, eh? Too embarrassed I guess. I don’t have “the gift” after all!” Diego joked around, Mia knew this was trouble.

Morgan flashed an incredibly angry look, “Are you insinuating that Kurain is a scamming agency and that we possess no actual channeling abilities!?”

“N-no, not at all! I just assumed that…well, nothing…I apologize If I offended you at all Ms. Fey.”

Wow, my aunt must be really scary, I’ve never seen Diego look so intimidated before!

“Don’t worry about it Diego,” Mia said, sensing Diego felt really embarrassed or uncomfortable right now, “None of the men in Kurain actually have any channeling abilities anyway; you’ll fit right in here.” Mia smiled at him encouragingly.

“Miaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, you’re here!” Mia turned around as she heard footsteps, only to see Maya rushing towards here at a break-neck pace. Next thing she knew Maya’s arms were wrapped around her tight.

“Maya!” she exclaimed, stumbling back a little, “I’ve missed you so much!”

“Aww, isn’t that cute?” Diego said, winking at Maya when she looked over.

Maya smiled cheekily, “And you brought Diego I see Mia!”

Mia narrowed her eyes jokily, “That I did Maya, I thought he could at least come to the after party if not the actually ceremony.”

“Wow, that’s so awesome sis!-“

“Ah, I’m ever so sorry sir, it’s really only close family I’m afraid.”

“But Diego’s with Mia, so he’s like family really.” Maya interjected.

“Yes but I really don’t think-“ Morgan began with a slightly sinister undertone.

Diego shook his head, “I can understand why your Aunt wouldn’t want me there. She barely knows me after all. It’s fine, I’ll just go to the after party.”

Morgan smiled graciously, “Thank you for being so understanding, Mr.-?”

“Armando.”

“Indeed. Now, Mystic Mia and Mr. Armando must be very tired after their trip, I’ll just arrange you a room Mr. Armando-“

Mia blushed, “No Aunt Morgan, it’s fine, Diego can share with me, it’ll save space.”

Morgan struggled to find words before nodding and raising her eyebrows, “That it will…and don’t be so immature Mystic Maya.” She added when Maya started to wolf whistle.

Mia just laughed. It sure was good to be home.



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Last edited by Missile. x on Mon Aug 10, 2009 7:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Romance and expensive coffee. HOORAY!
Maya is still silly as ever.
Excellent.
Morgan is scary though. O_O
Right in character. CARRY ON! =D

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Aww! Diego is so sweet! Haha Maya is playing the typical sister part. Love this! Can't wait for next chapter!

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Haha! Very nice job on both chapters! Hurray for scary aunts! Lolz. Awesome job! Sorry for not reviewing on the first chapter. I didn't see it posted. Awesome job on both! Update soon!!

- is this not the face of evil?

- is this not the face of all that is good and coffee-related?

W00t! W00t! New chapter.
*Reads*

Haha! Good ol' Aunt Morgan. Scaring the spit out of anyone who crosses her. xD

I can't wait for the next chapter. ^^

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I loved this chapter! Morgan really must be terrifying if Diego is nervous around her, hehe. You captured Morgan's personality perfectly. And Maya's wolf whistle at the end was a nice touch XD Another great chapter!

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I really can't wait for Mia and Diego in their room. Haha Maya would be one of those sisters who would just walk in when her sister is making out.

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