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Hot sauce why was there hot sauce? Why was there so much sirens there were always sirens there was never a day gone by without fish why was there fish now fish and hot sauce was the hot sauce for the fish iron lots of iron thats all he could smell why was there so much iron it smell like-

A slight twinge began to blossom where was it coming from what did he land on ow it was getting bigger its not a twinge can't breath can't breath pain so much pain throbbing can't breathe can't breathe

Matt groaned as he rolled himself to face forward, his body exploding in pain. He could feel his already slight grasp of consciousness rapidly slipping away. He ripped off his mask in a desperate attempt to wrench any oxygen he could from the putrid air of the dumpster.

He was going to be a little late.

Jane sighed as she pressed the redial button again. This was the third time she had called.

"Come on, come on, come on," she mumbled as she jammed the phone closer to her ear as if that would make Matt answer his phone quicker.

"You ok kid?"

Jane turned startled at the sudden appearance of another human in the building.

"Uh yeah," she said pulling her phone away from her ear.

Who was she kidding? Matt always answered her calls on the first ring. Even in he was in a class her call would always go through, just in case for whatever reason, she needed him. The only reason he wasn't answering would be because -

"Matt's a little late tonight, is everything ok with you two?" Tommy asked looking at the young woman worriedly.

Tommy had been told that she was attacked a few months back, but no details beyond that had been shared. Not that he had needed any, just the fact that someone could be so horrible to attack such a good person as Jane. He had watched as the young woman had slowly come back to her usual upbeat and cheerful self, yet still, there was always that hidden anxiety that Matt seemed to be the only one to calm.

"Yeah, he's just uh.." Jane grappled for a suitable excuse, "He's working late, at the uh the library, so he's just not answering any of my calls."

Jane silently chastised herself; she was a horrible liar, even to someone who was not as in tune with her heartbeat as Matt.

Tommy nodded, reluctant to believe Jane's poor excuse.

"Sure," he said, "You want a ride back home? I'd be happy to drop you off."

Jane shook her head, "Nah, I'll just let Foggy know I'm done and he'll come grab me, its fine."

Tommy lived on the other side of town, there was no way that Jane was going to inconvenience him just to make sure she got home ok.

Tommy threw his hands up in surrender, "Whatever you say Jane, I have a few things to finish up here, so just let me know when Foggy gets here so I can close up shop."

Jane smiled, "Thank's Tommy."

"Sure thing kiddo!" He called turning back to his office.

Jane pulled out her phone again and sighed, there were really only a few numbers on it, and there were only three in her frequent call list. She clicked Foggy's name hoping against hope that he was still awake and not deep in debt at Josie's.

He answered on the third ring.

"Foggy? I uh-" she cleared her throat, "I need a favor."

"Pour oh pour the pirate sherry fill, oh fill the pirate glass, and to make us more than merry," Foggy belted as he danced around his office, "Let the pirate bumper pass, for today our pirate 'prentice rises from indenture freed, strong his arm and keen his scent is, he's a pirate now indeed-"

"You know I'm still here, right?"

Foggy froze as Karen's voice came through the glass walls. He stumbled over some empty boxes as he grabbed his coat and opened the door, looking at Karen with a horrified look on his face.

"Could you...could you hear me just now?" he asked, knowing that with the volume level he had just been singing the entire block had heard him.

Karen smiled mischievously, "Nope."

Foggy perked up, a grin slowly spreading, "The correct answer is, 'yes and you sound amazing!'"

Karen shrugged, "Well off the two lies I took the lesser."

Foggy didn't even pretend to be offended, instead he watched her as she continued to unpack boxes. Boxes of what Foggy had no idea, they had only had these offices for a few days.

"I thought you went home," he said leaning against the door jam, "What are you still doing here?"

Karen raised an eyebrow, "Uh, I could ask you the same."

Foggy straightened up and used his best lawyer voice, "Yes, but I am a partner at a prestigious law firm with very important documents needing to be documented, so we can start generating some revenue, while you are..." his lawyer voice was failing as he looked very thoroughly at Karen's figure, "also very integral in you own special," he shifted as Karen began to laugh, "manager.." he sighed, "I dug myself in too deep an I can't clim out.

"You need a hand with that?"

"Please," Foggy asked.

"Oh!" Karen teased, "Not gonna happen."

Foggy's brows furrowed as Karen went back to organizing her desk, "Seriously, what are you still doing here?"

"I have work to do."

"What work?" Foggy scoffed, "We don't have any clients yet."

"Well," Karen said looking around the dismal office, "Your shit's not gonna unpack itself."

Foggy stepped forward and took a box out of Karen's hands and placed it on the desk.

"This box of vital import will be here in the morning," he looked at the young woman before him.

"You should be out having a life, doing poppers and flapper dancing," he said laughing, "I don't know what kids do these days."

Karen laughed, "We're the same age, Foggy."

"So you're saying I shouldn't be here, either?" he asked as if this seemed like new information to him.

Karen nodded, "Yeah."

Foggy shrugged, "Fair enough. But I'm awkward," he said addressing Karen as if she was a juror, "and unfashionable. Those things don't seem to apply to you."

Karen's smile fell, "I just don't feel like going home okay?"

Foggy nodded, knowing more than likely exactly why she didn't want to go home.

"Well, we can't stay here. Not enough money in the kitty to keep the lights on past midnight. So let's hop a few bars, not think about it," he offered.

"Yes," Karen said, her smile returning, "Big fan of the not thinking."

She grabbed her bag as a faint buzzing started from Foggy's pocket.

"You'll fit right in here," he said pulling his phone from his pocket.

"Hello," he answered listening to the phone brows furrowed, "Sure thing, be there in just a few."

Karen looked at Foggy, waiting an explanation.

Foggy put his phone back in his pocket, "Jane," he explained, "Mr. Smarty pants is studying some cases in the library so he forgot to pick her up from work."

Foggy moved towards the door, "Wait this is awesome!" he said catching Karen slightly off guard with his newfound enthusiasm.

"Jane knows all the good bartenders in town she can hook us up! YES!"

Jane pulled her jacket closer around her shoulders, "No Foggy, I'm not going to call Matt again!"

"Come on!" Foggy begged, "We're introducing Karen to Josie's and I have high hopes its gonna go terribly, he needs to be here to bail me out!"

Jane shook her head with a bemused smile, "Let's go Foggy, I left him a message he'll come over when he can."

"You saved the best for last, huh?" Karen said stepping into the bar behind the two.

Foggy nodded proudly looking over the dingy bar as a father would look over his only son.

"Oh yeah," he agreed proudly, "This place is a shit hole."

The three made their way to the bar and plopped themselves down on three rather rickety stools.

"Its our shit hole though," Foggy continued looking over the bar at the line of bottles, "The city's tried to shut it down half a dozen times, but I helped Josie with the liens, and as a result, we get to drink for free!"

Josie, the older and slightly portly owner of the bar, rolled her eyes at Foggy's tactics, "You absolutely do not get to drink for free."

Jane mouthed a thank you when Josie passed over three glasses and a bottle of what Jane could see was whiskey, Foggy's favorite.

Foggy smirked, "Let's agree to disagree."

He poured a healthy amount in Karen's glass, "Thank you," she said blushing at the constant attention he was giving her.

Foggy poured a smaller portion in Jane's glass knowing that she hated to be drunk.

"Cheers!" Foggy said raising his glass with a ridiculous smile on his face.

Karen too a big sip while Jane watched the two out of the corner of her eye amused at how hard Karen was trying to keep up with Foggy.

"Oh-" Karen coughed, sputtering at the burn from the whiskey.

Josie just shook her head, "You could do so much better, love."

"Thank you Josie," Foggy sputtered, "But this is my employee for your information, and-"

He refilled both his and Karen's glasses.

"We are not on a date. Are we on a date?"

Jane laughed. Foggy was used to having to play wingman to Matt, even after Jane was in the picture. Attractive women, all women really, seemed to flock to Matt, it was like he was a magnet for the opposite sex. Not that it mattered, Matt's world did not exist beyond Jane.

"You want a beer sweetheart?" Josie asked Jane noticing the barely touched whiskey glass.

Jane nodded. Her wild partying days were over, since she left law school she had stopped drinking all together except on the rare occasion when Foggy and Matt decided to go out.

"No," Foggy defended, "You gaze at me lovingly when you think I'm not looking."

Both Karen and Jane laughed at Foggy's ridiculous daydream.

"What?" he said with mock hurt, "You might. How would I know? I'm not looking. Just let me live in it."

"Is there something in here?" Karen asked, her attention suddenly diverted by the strange object in the whiskey bottle.

Jane looked carefully at the bottle, "Oh Foggy!" she chastised, "At least start her off with something easy!"

Foggy only laughed and raised his glass, followed by a reluctant Karen, and drained it.

"Ah man," Foggy said, the effects of the alcohol slowly starting to take effect, "I've gotta pee. Josie! Keep an eye on these girls for me!"

Jane laughed and shoved Foggy playfully on the shoulder as he walked by.

She took a long sip from her beer and watched Karen with a careful eye.

"How are you holding up Karen?"

Karen shrugged, turning back to her drink, "Let's leave it alone."

"Sure," Jane shrugged, "Only sometimes its better if you just talk -"

"I can't get the blood out of the carpet," Karen blurted out, "Its like somebody spilled a wine bottle and it won't come...And a man broke into my apartment and tried to kill me. He dented the wall where he bashed my head into it. If that guy in the mask hand't have been there..."

Karen sighed as if a huge weight had been dropped from her shoulders. She reached a shaking hand out and downed the rest of her whiskey. Jane felt terrible for Karen. In a sick twist of events this perfectly normal woman had her entire life turned upside down.

"Listen Karen, I know its not going to sound like much but, trust me, you'll be ok, you will get through this," Jane paused, noticing that her words had little effect on the woman sitting beside her.

"It gets better, you learn to live with it."

Karen looked up at Jane, the once seemingly carefree woman now showed a deep sadness in her eyes. She bit her lip, trying very hard not to break down in the middle of the bar.

"I don't see the city anymore. All that I see are its," she looked around sizing each and every patron in the bar with a wary eye, "dark corners. I look around this room and all that I see are threats."

"Hey," Foggy said returning back to his seat, "This room?" he scoffed.

"These guys are harmless. Look," he slowly began pointing out each and every dangerous looking person, "that's Tom Belkin. He's the Road Captain in the Kitchen Hellions. He organizes the food drive every Thanksgiving. Thats Rob Donohue. His wife Mira? She works at the dry cleaner around the corner from our office. That's Clint Peterson. He...Okay, he is a criminal. He's done time for Larceny and distribution. But he's turning it around, and we are this close to getting his kids into Saint Agnes Daycare. Saint Agnes!"

Karen laughed, slightly more at ease as Foggy slowly dismissed each and every one of her fears.

"And this very bar, is were Matt met Jane!"

Jane smiled remembering that night very clearly, "Its true."

Karen smiled, "Okay, okay."

Foggy placed a hand on Karen's back, "You don't want to go home, you don't want to go home. We can stay out all night!"

Jane shook her head, her eyes wide with fear.

"Oh no! Foggy," Jane said, "the last time we did that, you and I almost got married, I need to go home. Besides,"

She finished a beer and paid for the rest of the group as she stood up and grabbed her coat and purse, "Matt's probably home sleeping, something I would really like to do as well."

Foggy pouted but he didn't argue. To be honest he was a little surprised that Jane had agreed to stay out as late as she had without Matt.

"All right, all right," Foggy said, waving goodbye to Josie, "Let's get you home."

Matt and Jane's apartment was really only just two blocks down the road from Josie's. Normally it would take only five minutes to get to the apartment building. However, with Jane corralling not only Foggy but Karen as well, it took a good twenty minutes before she was standing outside her apartment door fighting with Foggy to give her enough room to unlock the door.

"Matt!" Foggy yelled, "Matt, come on! Get up! I drank the eel!"

Karen laughed equally as drunk as Foggy, "Oh, no."

"Not a euphemism!" he sputtered both he and Karen laughing their heads off, "Matt I know you're in there, get up!"

"Foggy be quiet!" Jane hissed in a whisper, she loved Foggy, but sometimes, he was just too loud, "Fran is probably asleep!"

Foggy just shrugged, "You all set Jane?"

Jane pushed the door to the apartment open and turned on the light, "Yeah I'm good."

She turned back to Foggy and in her most stern voice said, "You be careful Foggy. Take good care of Karen."

Foggy only grinned like an idiot and pulled Karen's hand back down the stairs, "Come on! We're staying out till the sunrise! We're gonna go to the fish market!"

The last thing Jane heard before she closed her door was Foggy yelling back up the stairs that he was going to buy a bluefin.

Jane sighed as she face the open apartment. She most certainly was not all set. The apartment was empty. Matt was still not home.

Foggy pulled out his watch, "Ok we've got, what?" he squinted trying to make the numbers less blurry, "Two hours to kill. Let's brush you up on some Japanese auctioneering terms."

Karen shook her head as she stumbled slightly into Foggy. She hand't been this drunk on purpose in a while.

"You don't have to do this Foggy."

"Do what?" Foggy shrugged, "You haven't lived until you've argued with a 90-year-old Okinawa survivor about sturgeon meat."

Karen laughed and shook her head, "No, for staying out all night, I needed this."

Foggy shook his head, "It's no big deal, I used to do this all the time with Matt when Jane needed," Foggy paused.

Even in his altered state of mind, he knew that he probably should watch a little more carefully what he said.

"Well, its not really my place to say."

Karen watched Foggy carefully, she hand't been told exactly what had happened to Jane, but from their conversation earlier, Karen knew that it wasn't good. The effect of that one night hung like a shadow over the three friends no matter how hard they tried to ignore it.

"Well, thank you anyway," she continued, drawing the conversation away from Jane, "I really needed this. But it's late, and we should go home."

Foggy's eyes widened dramatically, "Are you kidding me?"

Karen chuckled, "Yes!"

"After what you told me, I'm never going home again!" He looked back and forth down the street, his arms out as if to protect Karen from going to far, "Men are waiting in the dark corners of this world to prey on us."

Karen hid her face as a very deep blush began to work its way across her cheeks, "Oh God."

Foggy stepped forward and thrust his chest out, "The valiant, the kindhearted! We must band together! We must never sleep! We must remain vigilant! Here in the lights of Hell's kitchen."

He ended his monologue as if he had just recited Hamlets lines to be or not to be. Karen smiled, pulled Foggy's arm closer to her and placed her head on his shoulder. Foggy looked down at the young woman with a fond smile.

"Hmm," Karen mused, "Never sleep."

"The city will protect us!" Foggy continued his ridiculous monologue.

Karen giggled, content for once, mostly due to the vast quantity of liquor she had consumed that night.

"This city's beautiful."

"Yeah"

For the first time since the incident at her apartment, she really and truly felt that it was.

Jane was pacing. This was beyond Matt's normal late night disappearances. He didn't say goodbye, he always said goodbye.

She looked down at her phone. Nothing. Not a call, not a text, Matt was gone; somewhere in the city, he could be lying helpless and she was powerless to do anything to help him. She jabbed a button on her phone, it would be almost ten o'clock in Iraq, he should be able to answer his phone. It wasn't until the answering machine picked up and the short message played through the phone that she realized the cellphone that she was calling was nowhere near Iraq. It was most likely sitting in storage at Fort Benning, or some other random location.

Jane groaned in frustration and threw her phone down on the couch, plopping herself beside it. She looked at her watch again. Three thirty. It was three thirty and still no word from Matt. He had been gone for -

Jane froze when a giant thump sounded against the door. It wasn't the front door to the apartment. The top door, the door that lead to the roof, was shaking as someone from the other side fumbled to get in.

Was it locked? Jane wondered. Of course it was locked, Matt always made sure of it, especially if he knew she was going to be home along. Jane felt her stomach drop. When Matt was out in his suit, he always left the door open so that he could come back into the apartment without anyone seeing. Matt hand't been able to pick her up from the bakery which meant he had not been able to come home. The door was still unlocked.

Jane launched herself off the couch and ran to the kitchen grabbing the first thing that she could reach and hid behind the couch.

The door creaked open and Jane habitually reached into her back pocket for her phone.

"Shit!" she whispered almost inaudibly.

Her phone was sitting on the other side of the couch.

"Jane?" a raspy voice called out into the apartment.

Jane leapt up. A dark figure stood slightly hunched at the top of the stairs that lead into the living room. He was breathing heavily and his hand was holding on to his ribs as if to keep them from springing out of his chest.

"Matt!" Jane breathed rushing up the steps to great him, "Oh thank God."

She threw her arms around him not wanting to let him go in fear that he would disappear again.

Matt winced and gingerly held Jane so she did not irritate his wounds further. The flinch however did not go unnoticed by Jane who now took a step back and looked at Matt more closely.

"Geezus, Matt," she breathed, "What the hell happened to you?"

Matt shook his head and grimaced in an attempt to smile.

"Just a minor altercation between me and, a," He winced as he took the last step into the living room, Jane following close behind.

"Me and a knife," he clarified.

Jane's brows furrowed, "Sit down," she said softly.

Matt continued to limp into the living room towards the kitchen ignoring her request.

"Jane really, I'm-"

"Sit. Down."

Matt stopped in the middle of the room. It was no use, he just didn't have the heart to argue anymore, he had nothing left.

He slowly and gingerly eased himself onto the couch, not far from where Jane had just been sitting. She quietly walked over to him and kneeled down in front of him. Between the light from the giant billboard and the soft glow of the kitchen, every one of Matt's cuts and bruises was painfully clear. She ran her fingers over his cuts. For the most part, they were well stitched, though a few had pulled and dried blood surrounded the neat stitching. A few new cuts and scrapes had come up after Matt had managed to get himself fixed up.

Jane walked with purpose into the kitchen and pulled out a rather large first aid kid from under the sink. Matt pulled his mask off and tried to wipe the grime of the night from his face. He closed his eyes when Jane returned, breathing in the comforting scent of her shampoo.

"Jane, I swear I'm fine, I'm just tired I'll-"

"Matt please," Jane said, looking him in the eye.

He may not be able to technically see from his eyes, but that did not erase the feeling that every time Jane found herself staring into the deep brown eyes that Matt was able to see straight through to her soul.

"For once in your life, just let me take care of you," she continued, almost begging him to let her fix him.

Matt stopped protesting at the sound of her voice, the desperate pleading broke his heart. Jane carefully started cleaning the cuts that were not already taken care of, watching for any sign of discomfort that Matt showed. The apartment was silent, and yet almost echoing with the words that were left unspoken.

"What happened?" Jane asked too quiet for any normal human to hear and understand, yet she knew Matt could hear her plain as day.

Matt cleared his throat, there were things that he really didn't want to tell Jane, things that she would be a lot safer not knowing, but he could not bring himself to lie to her. Not to Jane.

"There was a boy," he started, his voice heavy as he slowly explained everything that had happened that night trying almost desperately to justify leaving Jane alone for the night.

"He was forced to watch as Russians beat his father before he was taken. I tried to save him then, I really tried, but they were waiting for me, it was an ambush."

By now Jane had finished as best she could, her nursing skills were certainly not as well developed as her cooking skills, yet with a boyfriend like Matt, she was able to patch up and get him back on his feet. Besides, someone had already done the hard part. She sat in a chair across the room, watching Matt carefully.

"A uh, a nurse found me in a," Mat stopped, perhaps Jane didn't have to know every detail, she would worry too much.

"She found me and fixed me up, and I went back to get the boy, and brought him back to his father."

Matt listened to Jane, waiting for her to say something, "I saved him Jane, they would have killed him."

Jane nodded, slightly unable to speak. Until this point she thought Matt was simply helping random people, but this, this was personal.

"Matt," she said pulling her hair from her face, "why are you doing this? Why are you getting involved in the Russians? They have a Mafia for christ's sake, what do you think you're getting yourself into-"

"I'm sorry Jane, I'm really sorry."

Jane sighed, "Why was there an ambush? They wouldn't do something like that unless they wanted to get rid of you, what did you do to piss the Russians off Matt?"

Matt closed his eyes. He knew he had to tell her, there was no other way around it.

"When you, uh," his mind was traveling at lightning speed to a place he never wanted to see again, "When I knew you were going to be ok, after you woke up, I uh-"

He paused, this was harder for some reason than he thought. He worked so hard to keep the evil that had threatened his love as far away from her as possible, yet Jane had a right to know.

"I hunted down the men from the alley, and it led me to a trafficking ring," he could almost hear the blood drain from Jane's face, "I interrupted a shipment and pissed a couple people off."

He couldn't stop now, the words were tumbling from his mouth almost relieved that someone other than himself knew what he had discovered.

"The Russians kidnapped the boy knowing I would come running, Jane I couldn't let them take him."

Now it was Matt's turn to plead, willing Jane to understand why it was that he had to help, that he couldn't stand by and watch.

"And Claire, the nurse, I didn't tell her about you, or say anything that could put you in any danger if they start questioning-"

"Matt please," Jane said resting her head in her hands, it wasn't anything she was surprised about but Matt confessing everything that had been going on the past few weeks just made everything seem so real.

"I don't care what you told or what you didn't tell this Claire, I just want you to come home safe."

Matt waited ad she took a few moments to gather her thoughts.

"Jane," he said gently, moving to kneel down in front of her, "people in this city are getting hurt, someone is causing them pain, I have to help them."

"I'm just trying to make my city a better a place," he pleaded.

Jane nodded, Matt didn't miss the tears that had begun to pool in her eyes, "At what cost Matt? At what cost? What am I supposed to do if you don't come home? What do I-" she stopped unable to voice the fears that had been plaguing her all night.

"Hey," Matt soothed, wiping the tears from her cheeks, "I will always come back, maybe with a few extra bruises, but I will always come back for you."

Jane took a deep breath, "Always?"

Matt kissed her gently.

"Always."

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