Chapter Text
It wasn't a clear win. They had worked hard for this case. It had been their top priority for about two months - two months of working day and night, weekdays and weekends, sharing meals at each other’s places so they would keep working on it every waking hour ; going on their own, then sharing their findings. Karen must have talked to a hundred people. Matt had staked out, trailed, and sometimes caught and extracted intel from almost as many ; he also had tried and sometimes succeeded to be at the office in time in the morning, and had worked there as long as the others. Foggy had worked his ass off trying to find loops or precedents allowing them to win - so much that Marcy often had to come to pick him up at ungodly hours. Often, eventually, she would stay with them.
Yet the jury stalled, and went for a middle ground solution that was easy for them, and would satisfy no one involved.
It was a very bitter end, to their biggest case yet since they had started over.
But it was over, at last.
Karen looked at Matt and Foggy, standing next to each other at the entrance of the courtroom. The audience was over, their clients had left, but they were still there. Not even talking. Just standing there, and she didn't have to imagine the sour taste in their mouths. All that work. And for what?
They both looked run down, even if they had tried to look decent for the trial. But Foggy's hair was flat, his face pale. Matt looked even worse - no wonder, when he had given twice as much. His cheeks were red, but the rest of his face was livid, and she knew his glasses conveniently hid severe shadows under his eyes. His lip was cut. It was as if he was trying to redeem himself, to make the fact that he had a second chance at working with them worth it, at the expense of his sleep, and health. But there was no telling him off it.
Karen felt it would calm down once he had finally understood that he didn’t need to atone. That Foggy and her were just so glad to have him back, and working there, that he didn’t have to work twice, three time as much as he did before. In the meantime, she would try to support him in this. To make it less hard on him.
Matt immediately smiled when he sensed her approach, causing Foggy to turn towards her and smile too. Not too bright a smile - but one of relief.
“Thank God it's over!” Foggy blurted out, waving his hands palm up to the sky.
“No appeal?” Karen asked, feeling she must.
“No.” Matt shook his head, bringing the hand that held his cane against his chest. “Our clients think it's not worth it.
“And we're not going to try and change their mind." Foggy shrugged.
“No, because they're right.” Matt raised. “I guess we won't be able to get anything better. Sometimes…"
“Sometimes you have to admit defeat.” Foggy cut, and looked at Matt with a frown. Karen knew what was coming. It was an old debate.
Matt tilted his head backward, sighing. “It's not defeat, Foggy."
“It's not a win either and you perfectly know that, Matt."
“But it's over, and you did all you could.” Karen put her hands on the arms of her friends.
“We did all we could,” Matt smiled again, this time gesturing towards Karen. “You did as much as we did, you are part of the team."
“Oh yes, K.” Foggy slid his arm over her shoulders. “We couldn't have done it without you. Even if it didn't work that well. We'll do better next time, but we still can be proud of our work. All of us."
“Thank you, Foggy. I still wish it had turned out better."
“Ah, well. What's done is done.” He let go of Karen and clapped his hands. “Now, we deserve a break - who wants to go and drown his sorrows at Josie's?”
Karen was opening her mouth, ready to just say that she felt too tired for this, when Matt got ahead of her.
“I - Karen and I - wanted to do something after the case was done.” He turned towards her, as he had of course picked up her surprise. “You remember that night we talked? You still want to go someplace to look at the stars?”
There was some genuine eagerness in Matt’s voice, and the way his eyebrows shot up over his glasses made him look almost like a child.
Foggy however, had a way more adult expression on his face. A way more understanding one. Karen pointed her finger at him, trying to stop him in his tracks.
“We talked about how I missed stargazing in New York. I see you coming, Foggy. I’ve offered Matt to find a place where we could do so after the trial. Do you want to come with us?"
“Ab-so-lu-te-ly not, my dear."
“Foggy…” Matt didn’t even look embarrassed. He just sighed and tilted his head backwards again. “Shut up. Okay?"
“I will shut up. When you two come back and tell me all about it.”
Matt held his hand up. “Don’t."
“I just want you two to have fun, you know that."
“Of course, Foggy."
“I’ll just go, and leave you two alone then."
“FOGGY!”
Foggy laughed and left, not without waving at them from down the street.
Matt sighed again and shook his head. Karen turned back towards him, frowning.
“Do you still want to go? I mean. Looking back at it, it feels really silly. And you wouldn't get much from it. And maybe the car isn't -” She was wringing her hands. Matt caught them in his, with a soft smile.
“You sounded like you really wanted to go, that time we talked about it."
“I do, but…"
“And I'm eager to hear you talk about something you're passionate about. And to experience a new place.”
He didn’t add it out loud, but he hoped she heard it anyway. With you.
Matt automatically took Karen’s elbow to get down the stairs.
“Do you have any idea where we could go?"
“I looked a little into it, like, two weeks ago. I was thinking Long Island, that should do. It’s still a long drive, though, for someone who’s not used to it…"
“I’ll be okay."
“The car, isn’t it too much noise or -"
“You know, I’ve already been in a car…"
“Yeah, but for that long?"
“Karen.” Matt looked amused. “I’ll be okay. I'm not made out of sugar.”
"Okay, okay." They were at the bottom of the stairs. "Real question, now." Karen stopped and faced him, lowering her voice. "Will the city survive one night without its favourite vigilante?"
"Now you're teasing me. You might have noticed I haven't been out as much these last weeks."
"What happened to your lips, then?"
"I said as much ." He sighed. "I don't know what it means, but it's been very calm lately. Too calm. Let's hope it'll be calm for one more night. Besides, we're not staying the night, right? We'll be back by morning? I've asked Luke to keep an eye on Hell's Kitchen, but -"
"Now that is the Matt Murdock I know." Karen chuckled.
Matt felt his cheeks heat up as he understood he had played himself.
"You might want to change for more comfortable clothes," Karen went on. "You won't need a suit where we're going. Rather a thick sweater. We can change, and I'll pick you up in, say," she glanced at her watch. "Forty-five mins?"
"Sounds good. I'll grab sandwiches on the way, I'm starving."
They parted, and Karen took a last look at Matt. Indeed, they had been laughing Foggy's comments off, but she still felt a little dizzy at the idea of spending the evening, and probably a good part of the night, alone with Matt. It wasn't exactly the first time - Foggy had been trying to set them up for months now - but this time it wouldn't be at Josie's.
They had not talked about it yet. They had not even acknowledged their past together since the crypt. Tacit agreement. Only Foggy teased them constantly, but they just laughed and let it slide. Maybe they shouldn't. Maybe they should have a conversation. She felt a wrench in her gut. Not tonight. She wasn't ready. She still wanted to go, dearly, but she wasn’t ready.
***
Matt was waiting in front of his building's door, his hearing searching for the sound of Karen's car - it had a specific vibration, probably something slightly unscrewed; he had to look into it, but never found the time. They recently had a client who was a mechanic - maybe they should call him.
The evenings were getting cooler, thankfully, and he was tolerating his sweater. He also had a jacket on the arm that held his cane, just in case, and a bag of sandwiches in the other.
His famished belly was growling, what with the heavenly smell - they were from Nonna's - but the pain in his gut wasn't hunger.
They couldn't talk tonight. Too soon. Yet, he couldn't help but let his mind wander, imagining what they would say, what could happen. What could happen . But, in these little daydreams, Karen was always okay with it, even eager. In real life… He knew she wasn't. And it was okay. She still wanted him in his life, and that was more than enough. He was happy with it. But he couldn't help. He couldn't. His mind always strayed where it shouldn't. Her voice, her smell, all of her, were almost too much to handle.
His thoughts were there, when he picked up her car's sounds, two blocks away. He waited for her to be close enough, and folded his cane once she stopped in front of him - double-parking, she didn't even cut off the engine. He felt her smile when he waved the sandwich bags.
Had he really put on jeans? Karen racked her memory, but she couldn't remember seeing Matt in jeans before. He was like an all or nothing kind of guy. Fancy suit or darted pants, and sweatpants, no in-between. And she would have remembered. These looked old, just like the thick knitted sweater he wore, too, but they were… Fitting .
She had an appreciative smile, which turned into a chuckle when Matt noticed, but obviously misinterpreted it.
"I got your favourite!"
"Of course you did."
He got in the car and she climbed back in too. Matt threw his folded cane nonchalantly on the back seat - he wouldn't need it later.
"What?"
"Nothing." Karen bit her lips, both to hide her smile, and because if it started that way, she was even more anxious about the following parts. This was Matt's effect on her. He made her happier, he made her feel good, but also incredibly wary and tense. Because she couldn't. She had nothing to make him as happy as he made her - quite the contrary. And he made her happy. But he could also hurt her. He had. Too much. She didn't know if she could let it happen once more.
She shook these thoughts off. She was going to enjoy this evening between friends.
Friends. This she could allow. And she needed it.
"Let's go? We have roughly three hours and a half before we get there."
"Let's go."
***
They had talked for the first hour, mostly about their case, replaying it, trying to find ways it could have played better in their favor, ways their clients could have gotten better justice.
But even Matt - even Daredevil - couldn't get it for them. No matter how good it could have felt, it was not a matter of throwing fists into people's faces. Big companies and administrations couldn't be fought like this. When you pushed a bad link away, some other would take its place.
Karen felt Matt was taking it worse than Foggy and her, especially for this reason. He had given all he had, exhausted himself working day and night, and yet there was nothing to be done. And no one to punch.
When he dozed off, she turned down the radio, and it woke him up.
"Uh. Sorry." He took in a big breath, stretching like a cat, still half asleep.
"For what? Falling asleep when you're exhausted? Sleep. We still have an hour and a half to go."
"Yeah. Okay." Matt sniffed, then took off his glasses and folded them in the glove box. He curled up as much as he could on the seat. "You can put the radio back up. It helps."
Karen complied, wondering how he could actually sleep with all that noise - the noise she could hear, and the noise she couldn't but she was sure was there. But his breathing quickly became slow and even, and his head fell down.
It felt weird. Even lately, when they had settled back in their friendly relationship, Matt was always slightly guarded next to her, never letting go totally - just like she did. And yet here he was, fully relaxed, sleeping, curled up on a seat next to her. She felt the urge to pass her hand through his hair, and kept her hands firmly on the wheel, her eyes fixated on the road. But she couldn't stop her mind from remembering the feeling. And how she missed it, even if it was attached to a bunch of memories that were way less pleasing.