"What just happened?" Karen asked as she came into the conference room. "I just saw Mrs. Helm leave and she looked like she felt guilty doing it."
Matt had cocked his head to the right when she'd entered and he continued to follow her with his ears as much as his head as she came to sit in the chair that their client (no, ex-client) had just vacated not five minutes earlier. He leaned back in his chair, giving a wince when his sore elbow brushed against the hard frame, and stretched out his legs under the table. His ankle had been screaming at him for making the walk over to the conference room and he'd been ignoring the pain as was his habit. The real problem (for him at any rate) would come when he tried to go back to his office. He had no doubt that the ankle wouldn't tolerate much of his weight, if any, and that was a problem.
Loathe though he was to admit it, Matt needed the Daredevil as much as Hell's Kitchen did. There was a certain catharsis when he was battling the criminal element. He knew that he was doing good and it made him feel like he'd made a difference. The fact that it also helped him to release some of his pent-up anger was also a bonus but that was a part that he wasn't necessarily going to cop to.
Becoming the Daredevil and helping his city with an injured ankle, however, was going to be a challenge at best and chances were that any criminals that he would come up against would be able to kick the ever-loving shit out of him because he wouldn't be able to balance upright for very long. Granted the support his boots could give might help but that wasn't a chance that Matt was willing to take.
"Evidently Cameron is a seedier bastard than we thought he was," Foggy said, his voice bringing Matt back to the present as well as answering Karen's question. Even without his super-hearing Matt could hear the anger in his friend's voice and he now focused on the man sitting beside him. He wondered if Foggy was mad because of the underhand tactics the opposing counsel used and the residual bit of anger that had been brought on by Matt's confession was only helping to fuel his dislike of Cameron or if it was the fact that it might have been Marcie that had, essentially, betrayed them.
Now that he thought about it, it probably hadn't been the best idea to reveal all of what had happened during that first encounter. He knew that he should have left the last conversation out, knowing that Foggy would believe himself guilty for all the bruises and injuries which Cameron had doled out when he really wasn't.
The way Foggy's heart had sped up had told Matt all of this but it also reminded him of something else - the night that Matt had confessed to everything. The heart rate was in the same rhythm as it had been that night, suggesting that Foggy was not only feeling badly but was also angry. Then Foggy had spoken two words and those two words had nearly broken Matt's heart because they had showed him that Foggy still felt the pain and betrayal of the first, monumental, lie and this one had reminded him of it.
Now Matt wasn't naive. He knew that it was going to take Foggy a while to get over the fact that he'd been lied to from the moment they'd met. And, logically, he could understand that every day was a work-in-progress as far as their newly-built relationship was concerned. But emotionally, Matt simply wanted things between him and Foggy to be like they once were. The trouble was that he didn't know how and the slight reminders of the wrongs he had committed against his friend were getting tiring.
Matt hadn't been able to keep the tears from choking his throat as he'd spoken his friend's name. He also hadn't been able to stop the pleading that had come out in the tone because he was begging his friend. He was begging Foggy to forgive him for this little lie as well as the other, larger one. The squeeze that Foggy had given his shoulder had helped to sooth his conscience but it hadn't dispelled the worry away entirely either. That, Matt was certain, was bound to stay for a long while.
"Meaning, what?" Karen asked. Her heart began to beat just a little faster and, judging by the brief shot of sweat he could smell, Matt guessed that she was nervous about what she might hear.
"Meaning that someone dressed as a nurse got into Mr. Helm's hospital room and offered Catherine a settlement. Which she took," Matt filled in. His hands tightened into fists again as he thought about the disrespect of a person doing that. That was a new low for anyone.
"Oh no," she said. Her voice made her sound dazed but Matt knew that it was actually just the way she sounded when she was trying to allow her mind to catch up with reality and then sort through things. It didn't take long before she came to the conclusion that had both Matt and Foggy truly upset. "Which means that Cameron won."
"And it gets better," Foggy said with fake cheer in his voice. "We think it was Marcie who did it."
"We don't think it was Marcie," Matt argued. He didn't want one of the only relationships Foggy had ever had since meeting Matt to be broken apart by circumspection rather than fact. It was too bad that he did believe it had been Marcie because then he might have actually been able to talk Foggy into believing it too.
"Oh come on Matt, you heard the way Mrs. Helm described the woman. All she would have had to add was the fact that the woman didn't have a soul and it would have described Marcie to a T!"
Matt reached out to touch Foggy's arm, to reassure him that things would be well but Foggy quickly moved out of the way. Evidently he didn't want to be placated right now and, honestly, Matt couldn't blame him. There had been a lot that had been heaped on Foggy today and he had just figured out that he needed to process it.
The conference room door opened and Matt automatically got up to chase, saying, "Foggy, Foggy," but stopped when his ankle refused to hold him and he sat rather ungracefully back in the chair. Still, he could tell by how strongly he heard the two heartbeats that Foggy hadn't left the room yet and so he spoke again. "Just, be careful out there."
"Yeah," Foggy answered, his breathing almost as fast as his heart. "You too. Stay in here if you need to."
Matt smiled but didn't say anything. He didn't want to keep his friend trapped in here when all he wanted to do was find out answers. It wouldn't be good for any of them. And so he listened to Foggy leave, hoping that he had at least taken his coat.
Foggy was having trouble thinking. His thoughts swirled around in his mind but they never stayed put long enough for him to grab hold of one. And so his mind raced as fast as his heart was pounding. He couldn't believe that Marcie would do such a thing. Could do it, yeah; she was a cold bitch when she wanted to be, but he had believed that they had formed something beyond being fuck buddies. But what if, to her, they hadn't? What if that had only been in his head.
His breath fogged up in front of him as he breathed out a sigh and pulled out his phone. Without bothering to let himself calm down he found her contact and pushed call. Her beautiful face popped up on the screen as the call went through and rang.
"Hello Foggy-bear," she greeted sounding cherry as ever.
"Did you do it?" he asked , ignoring the annoying pet-name she used for him. "Did you dress up as a nurse and visit my client?" The answering sigh was all he needed to hear. He knew of her guilt, though she would never admit it in case of legal ramifications. He felt tears fill his eyes and not long after, one fell. "Was I ever more than a good time to you?" he asked, cursing himself as his voice broke a little. "Or was I simply a means to an end?"
"I think you know the answer to that, Foggy," she answered without the slightest hint of contrition in her voice.
"Yeah," he said almost absently. Anger now replaced the hurt and he heard it solidify in his voice, hardening it, strengthening it. "I guess I do now."
He hung up before she could respond since he didn't really want to hear another thing that would come out of her mouth. Taking a moment to simply breathe and get his emotions under control, Foggy remained where he was. There were other things that he could technically stand around and think about but as he'd rather do that inside where it was warm, that's where he headed. Besides, he wanted to make sure that Matt hadn't been stupid and had tried to go back to his own office.
Matt. Now there was a man who seemed cloaked in lies. Seriously, one lie after another seemed to just roll off his tongue. It was getting to the point where he wasn't sure if he should believe anything his friend said. But then, in contrast to the major ones that he'd been keeping, this latest one hadn't been all that bad. And Foggy could at least understand why Matt had kept this one. After all, if the positions had been reversed, Foggy would have done the same.
Protecting each other was something that the two of them had gotten used to doing while in college. It hadn't really been necessary until Cameron had come along but there had been little threats to both of them that had watered this instinct until it had groaned. Of course the threats had nothing more than blustering but by the time that had been discovered, it had been two late. The two had formed a bond that would never allow one of them to get hurt if the other could prevent it.
And so, Foggy realized, he could forgive Matt for this latest lie. And quite possibly all the others. After all, the main reason for Matt not telling him right off (behind lack of trust in a complete stranger) was because he hadn't wanted anyone to get hurt because they knew about him. With Fisk running through the streets, Foggy had also understood where that logic had come from. If the puppeteer had had even the whiff of an idea that Foggy had known anything about the black mask there would have been a good chance that he would have been tortured for the information.
With that in mind, Foggy shivered and then went back inside. Maybe he could convince Karen and Matt that they should all just go home. Maybe even all go home together and just ride out the weekend winter weather together.
Foggy snorted. Yeah, he thought, and pigs will fly and hell will freeze over too while it's at it.
Matt was still in the conference room when Foggy came back inside but he had moved so that his back was to the wall and not the glass windows. Annoyingly, even that little movement had been hard and at some expense but at least he'd done it. Now he sat with his ankle elevated and an ice pack lying around it (per Karen's demands, by the way) while he attempted to organize the files into the file box. Though it was doubtful, they just might need to review the papers again and so it was best to keep them in order rather than a gigantic mess. The real problem came when the papers didn't have brail, then he didn't know where they belonged in the grand scheme of paper organization and so he usually ended up guessing and hoping he was right.
"You okay?" he asked as Foggy came into the room and plopped down onto a chair. All things considered, Foggy hadn't been gone nearly as long as Matt had believed he would have been which probably meant that his friend had only dealt with one thing - Marcie. And he now seemed dejected and tired, both of which Matt could relate to and sympathize with. He hesitated before asking, "Was it Marcie?"
"Yeah, it was Marcie," Foggy answered, sounding resigned.
"I'm sorry, man." There was really nothing more beyond that that Matt could say. He hadn't ever really thought that Marcie had been a good fit for his friend but he had held his tongue and had hoped for the best. And now Foggy was hurting and he felt bad for that but he was also glad because the ruthless attorney was no longer in his friend's life. "You need anything? A good drink maybe? Although I think we'll have to go somewhere else for that since we drank all of it when we put Fisk away."
That got him a little chuckle but he still sounded upset. The sound of a teardrop splashing onto the table reached his ears and Matt frowned at the sound of it. Foggy was crying. Maybe not all-out since that was the first and only tear he'd heard and he was sure to hear more if there had been more, but he was still crying. Matt wished he could get up and give his friend a hug but he couldn't. He wouldn't have been able to get over there without falling on his face and he'd always felt uncomfortable trying to comfort someone when they were sad. That was more Foggy's area than his.
The smell of lilacs permeated the air and he smiled as he realized that Karen had come in and that she had done what he hadn't been able to do. He looked over the rim of his glasses to see if she was looking at him and upon sensing that her head was faced in his direction, he mouthed 'Thank you'. He heard her nod and then bend her head so that her mouth was, no doubt, on the top of Foggy's head.
"I think we could all use a drink," he said, trying to sound more so cheerful than the atmosphere in the room felt.
"Where are we gonna get that?" Karen asked. "There's nothing here and I don't know about you guys but I don't keep good alcohol on hand."
"Matt does," Foggy answered, his voice a little cracked from silently crying. "He may only offer that crappy German beer but he has the good stuff. He just hides it."
Matt smirked. "If I kept it out, you guys would always come over to my place when you wanted a drink rather than going to Josie's."
"True," Foggy admitted. "To be fair, we should help Josie keep her bar open. I mean, it only makes sense after we worked so hard to keep it from closing."
Matt chuckled. "Well what do you think, Karen? You up to hanging out at my place for a while?"
The fact that she was surprised wasn't hard for Matt to figure out. But it became abundantly clear when Foggy said, "Dude, her mouth literally fell open. I can't remember the last time that happened."
"I think it was when I told her that I was the Daredevil but that could just be my faulty memory."
"No, I think there was a time after that but I can't remember it."
"Ha ha, you two are so not funny," she said, stopping them before they could debate it further. In spite of her words, however, she did have a smile in her voice and that made both Matt and Foggy smile. "And, hey, who am I to turn down good, free, alcohol?" She paused where, Matt assumed, she bit her lip and frowned in concern, and then she asked, "But, are you sure you're okay to be walking? I mean, you had a hard time getting around the table."
"We'll be taking a cab, Karen, I think I can handle that," Matt answered with a slight laugh and a smile.
As much as he wanted to tell them to stop fussing over him, Matt didn't dare. Although the feeling was unusual it wasn't necessarily unwelcome. As Karen had said, he'd been used to only having himself to care about him and while, yes, he'd had Foggy for a long time, he'd never fully allowed his friend to help him for fear of him finding out Matt's secret and/or getting hurt because of him. Now things were different. But old habits and all that and he was still working hard on breaking them.
"How's the wrapping on the ankle holding up?" Foggy asked and Matt was glad to note that his voice sounded stronger and happier. "Should we redo it?"
Matt frowned as he thought about it. He really didn't want more attention on the injury than what they already had paid but he also knew that if he had any hope of calming them down, it was to be honest with them as well as being able to make it out of the office and into his own apartment on his own two feet.
So without really knowing whether or not the bandaging needed redone he said, "Yeah, we might as well."
"That's as close to a 'yes, please' as we're gonna get," Foggy whispered conspiratorially out the side of his mouth. "I say we go with it and not ask any more questions."
"Good call," Matt heard Karen whisper back.
"You guys know that I can hear you right?"
"Oh we weren't trying to hide it," Karen called back as she left the room.
"She's going to go get our stuff together while I work on you," Foggy informed. Either he wanted to make sure that Matt knew he was moving or he was being unnecessarily loud but Matt heard the telltale signs of shoes against the carpet and cloth against cloth (like when someone is swinging their arms) as clearly as he could hear a voice. "So I see Karen got you to stay in here, huh?"
"It wasn't so much that she persuaded me as my body did," Matt admitted, though he hated doing it. He didn't like the fact that he wasn't able to do things like he normally could. Give him a torso injury over a leg (or arm, now that he thought about it) injury any day of the week. "It was uncomfortable to get over here, to say the least."
The sound of the ice pack being lifted told Matt that his friend had removed it but he hadn't been able to feel it. Thanks to the cold, his ankle was now numb, which he supposed was a good thing. His leg got lifted and then he heard Foggy sitting down before it was lowered and, assumingly, placed on Foggy's thigh like it had been earlier.
"Well, thanks to the ice, some of the swelling has gone down but the bruise is still pretty definitive," his friend told him as he, no doubt, worked. "This looks pretty painful, Matt, are you sure we shouldn't, I don't know, take you to the ER or something?"
"I appreciate your concern, Foggy, but I'll be fine," Matt said, not really wanting to go to the hospital for something like this. There were people who had real injuries to deal with. "I've had worse."
"That's true," Foggy agreed. There was a pause, his hands stilling as his mind thought of something, and then he continued to bundle up the injury. "Wait, so that time that you'd broken your ankle falling down stairs, did that really happen or was that Cameron?"
"It really happened, Foggy," Matt assured. The numbness was now starting to fade and he could now feel a faint throbbing coming from his ankle. It wasn't too painful yet but he didn't want to know how it would feel while he was walking on it.
"I'm guessing it really happened because Cameron had pushed you down the flight of stairs."
Matt wished he could read minds. He'd love to know what was going through Foggy's mind right at this moment. By the time he'd finished his statement, Foggy's heart beat a little faster. While the heartbeat was a good way to help anticipate attacks, it didn't necessarily help when it came to one's friends. Was Foggy angry? And if he was, was it with Marcie, Cameron, or Matt, himself?
"That's what I thought," Foggy continued after, apparently, watching Matt for an expression. The cold was replaced and Matt jumped when he felt it. The sensation felt good but the pressure with which it had been applied had hurt and he let out a small, brief, cry. "Sorry."
"It's fine."
"No, it's really not, Matt," Foggy argued, sounding a little angry. "You shouldn't have had to endure all that."
That was true, at least. But that didn't mean that Foggy needed to feel guilty for it, either.
"Yeah, well, I survived, didn't I?" Matt hoped that his smirky smile would help to calm his friend. What had happened, had happened, and there was no point in continuing to hash it out. When Foggy remained silent, Matt leaned forward to grab Foggy's hands and enclosed them within his own. "It's fine," he said, reiterating his message with enough punctuation on the word to let his friend know that all was well. "And besides, it wasn't like it was for that long."
"Yeah," Foggy agreed not sounding in the least like he agreed. "At least there's that. But, can you do me a favor? And I realize this is asking a lot of you but, no more lies."
Matt smirked. The request was so small but Foggy had a valid point in his sarcasm. That was a lot to ask of him because Matt used his lies like a shield. They protected him and those around him. He wasn't sure that he could do it - not lie. Again, old habits.
"I'll try," he agreed. "Foggy, that's all I can promise."
Foggy sighed. "I suppose that's all I can ask for then."
A swish of skin on cloth confirmed that Foggy was shaking his head in disappointment but just as Matt was about to elaborate, the door opened and in walked Karen. "Hey," she said, "you guys almost ready?"
"Almost," Foggy answered on a sigh. "Just need to get his sock and shoe back on."
"Are you sure that's wise? I mean, he could barely do that earlier and I can't imagine it'll be any easier this time around."
"Well unless you think it's better for me to walk around parts of New York City without a shoe, it's pretty much our only option," Matt interjected. Since he was getting a little tired of them talking about him like he wasn't there, the words had come out a bit sharper than he'd meant them to and he winced. "Sorry," he apologized.
"It's okay," Karen forgave. "But you have a good point. You can't go walking around New York with only one shoe on."
"Okay, so shoe it is," Foggy said. He leaned to his left where Matt assumed that his abandoned shoe and sock lay and then he righted himself. "K, this may hurt."
Matt hissed as the shoe was forced on but that was all he would allow himself to do. After all, this wasn't the worst injury he'd had in his life. Painful, yes, but he'd experienced far more painful in the past. Foggy's heart rate increased, expressing his friend's apology far clearer than any words could have and Matt tried to smile at his friend to assure him that he understood. Whether or not it worked, he didn't know, but he guessed it did since Foggy's heartbeat slowed down to a relatively normal rhythm.
"So," Karen said, evidently uncomfortable with the silence. But apparently she had nothing to follow that up with and so the quiet descended once again.
Well, it was quiet for them. Matt, on the other hand could hear their heartbeats, the cars outside, the phone ringing in the apartment two blocks down, as well as the snow ghosting on the ground just outside the building. The world was a noisy place. It's funny how he didn't know it until he became blind.
"And that'll do it," Foggy said, breaking through their quiet with something akin to triumph in his voice. "And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to grab my coat, and yours, Matt, so we can get the hell out of here."
"Sounds like a plan." Matt smiled at his friend as he left. He placed his hands on the arms of the chair and began to push himself out of it. Since his left leg was uninjured, and therefore the strongest, Matt made sure to balance as much of his weight as he could on that leg. His right hand stretched out and touched the table. He wanted to make sure that he had a good makeshift cane should he need it as he made his way out of the conference room. Not only that but it helped him judge the distance between the wall and the table as well as anticipate where a random chair might me.
Muffled heels on the carpet told him that Karen had moved towards him, presumably to help. As much as he wanted to, Matt didn't wave her off. He heard her reach out and then felt her gently touch his free arm, noticing how she deftly avoided the areas that were most sore and smiling at it.
"I'm not sure how much it'll help but I'm here if you need it," she offered, however shyly.
Matt smiled at her, saying, "Thank you," but silently wondering how much good she could actually do. Still, he appreciated the offer. "But I think I'll be alright."
Seeing no point in delaying, and actually finding that he wanted to get home, Matt began walking. The first step had his ankle wobbling under him and it definitely didn't get better the more steps he took but at least it held his weight. The pain of it, however, had him grimacing and once or twice he had to swallow a groan. He had just gotten to the reception area when Foggy joined them, helping Matt into his coat, and then replacing Karen by taking Matt's arm and slinging it over his shoulder, he allowed Matt to lean some of his weight onto him.
"Come on buddy," Foggy said as they slowly made their way to the door. "Let's get us all to your place and drink. Cause, I don't know about you, but I could certainly use one."
"Sounds like a plan," Matt said, his face pulling into another grimace as they made their way out the door. "Hey Foggy?"
"Yeah?" Foggy's voice was quiet, suggesting that Matt could lower his to a whisper too which was fine with him since he didn't believe that Karen really needed to know what they were talking about at the moment anyways.
"I'm sorry that I can't be the type of friend that you want."
Because that was what it came down to, in Matt's opinion. Foggy wanted someone who could be as open and honest as Foggy himself could be as well as someone with the same moral principles. And for the most part, that just wasn't Matt. Oh they both agreed on some morals but where as one was willing to let the law take things at a certain point, the other was not. To a degree, Matt supposed, he did believe himself above the law but he rationalized it by believing that it was because he picked up where the law left off. And Foggy just didn't agree with that.
There was a shudder out of his friend, as though Matt's words had brought on some sort of emotion which Matt hadn't a clue what it was. Foggy's hand tightened around Matt's waist, essentially giving him a hug.
"You're the best friend a guy could ask for," Foggy assured. "Whether or not you're protecting the city."
Matt smiled and laughed a little at that. "I'm not just protecting the city," he said, thinking of the two that were by his side.
"I know buddy. I know." There was a pause in which Foggy inhaled deeply and his grip tightened on Matt to keep him from falling. Matt could feel ice coldness in front of him and he guessed that they were about to go outside. "Now, come on, let's get you home and drink ourselves silly. Maybe we can teach Karen about being avocados at law."
"Just be careful out there you two," Karen said from far behind them. Evidently she was still at the office still getting things together (if the sounds coming from the office were anything to go by). "The sidewalks are apparently really icy."
Matt's laughter followed Foggy and himself out of the building and into the cab. There weren't a lot of way in which he could be considered ordinary but at this moment, right now, he was the most normal guy in the world.
After all, even a blind ninja can have people that love and take care of him.
Fin