To all the people who have seen my fanfic else where, I say hello. I started reading Dare Devil comics in 1969, and kept reading them until 1989, when my nasty ex-husband sold them. I missed the stories terribly but vowed I'd never read them again because it hurt too much.

Well, Alice! You have changed my mind. I had forgotten just how much fun and entertainment I got out of all those comic books. So, when you suggested I write a Dare Devil fic, I went straight to you for inspiration and guidance. That is why I dedicate this to you and hope you like it.

Meet the Nelsons

Chapter one

Franklin Nelson

Attorney at Law

Oh, that would look so good on a business card. Foggy Nelson tried another variation on his signature.

Franklin Nelson BA LLD

No, this did not have the impact of the words. Attorney at Law; these were strong expressive words that told the world of his chosen profession, the law.

Sitting at his desk Foggy checked out his new home. He was in residence and he had actually managed to beat his roommate to the place. So, he got to pick which half of the room he would reside in and Foggy took the window side. He loved the view of the Columbia campus; the green quad, the gardens and statues screamed tradition and continuity. It was so different from the high rises he had grown up in. Someday he would live house like his grandfather's on Long Island, where all the walls were his and not shared by the neighbours all around him. He didn't care if he had to commute, that was all part of his life plan and until something happened to make him change his mind he was keeping to it.

Still, until the wife and the 1.3 kids showed up there was a roommate to deal with. When Foggy signed up for residence all he asked was that he be paired with someone in the same course of study. He couldn't imagine being paired with a philosophy major or, even worse, an actor. Foggy wanted someone he could talk to and maybe bounce ideas off and he couldn't see that with… an actor.

He got up and circled the room. He had his books arranged on the shelf over his desk. Pens and pencils were jammed in a can beside a stack of yellow legal pads. Foggy had a portable typewriter but he was saving up for a personal computer. This was his springboard to the future and he actually bounced up and down on his toes as if he were on a diving board getting ready to take the great leap.

That was when the door crashed open, bringing Foggy back to the here and now with a jerk. In walked a huge man with bulging muscles and a broken nose, a fighter. The man had two suitcases under one arm, a box and a typewriter under the other and a duffle bag slung across his shoulder.

"Hello, kid." The man's gravelly voice boomed at Foggy, "Jack Murdoch here."

"Franklin Nelson," he replied as he stumbled over his feet. He couldn't believe it; Foggy had watched this man win his last fight by a TKO just last night. "You're Battlin' Jack Murdoch. I won fifty bucks when you took out that punk last night."

"I'll give ya another fifty if ya tell me where to drop this stuff." The man scanned the room and dropped everything on the empty bed. "Here… right? This is Mattie's bed?"

"Yeah," Foggy tried to look past the boxer trying to catch a glimpse of his roommate, but 'Mattie' was not there. "Where is he?"

"My boy's gettin the grand tour of the place, so's I get to talk to you, private like, ya know," The man settled on the bed and toed a pair of Foggy's shorts that had missed the laundry hamper. "This ain't gonna do. Ya gotta pick up after yourself. I am gonna be very unhappy if I gotta go to the emergency room cause my boy's tripped over your stuff. And ya gotta remember to shut all your drawers all the time and keep door either all the way open or all the way closed. And ya gotta leave Mattie's stuff exactly where he left it. Don't go pickin up after him, he can take care of himself but don't be a slob yourself, unnerstand?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Foggy tried to sound like he understood everything the man said.

"Good." Murdoch eased up on the kid a bit as he studied the cramped space that was going to be his son's home for the year. "Ya know; you're a good kid. Not many guys would want someone like Matt for a roommate." Looking at the kid straight on Jack realized that Foggy didn't have a clue as to why he was getting read the riot act. "Ya got no idea what's goin' on, do ya?"

Foggy shrugged and sat on his bed. He figured an explanation was finally coming.

"Verbal, ya gotta be verbal. Say when ya come in and go out and answer with words, not shrugs or nods. Kid, ya wrote ya didn't care what kinda roommate ya got, right?"

"As long as our studies were compatible," the young man replied.

"We'll, my boy's taking law, just like you."

"Are you bragging about me again, Dad?"

Both heads turned to the new arrival standing in the doorway. He was tall, over six feet but with the long, lean look of a gymnast and not the bulging biceps of a boxer. There was the same red hair, minus the grey and the same crooked smile but this nose was not broken like his father's and a pair of dark glasses hid his eyes. The dark glasses and a long white cane explained Jack Murdoch's interrogation. His son was blind.

Well, at least Matt Murdoch wouldn't be annoyed about missing the view.

"Hello, I'm Franklin Nelson," Foggy said as he rose and approached Matt Murdoch for the first time, "but my friends call me Foggy." He lightly touched the back of Matt's right hand and shook it when Matt held it forward.

"Matthew Murdoch, but only my dad calls me Mattie." He smiled in the direction of Foggy. "You can call me Matt."

"Well, well, well;" Battlin' Jack Murdoch liked this kid and the easy way he welcomed his son. "This is just like Bogey said in that movie. This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

tbc