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Jen parked her car in front of her parents garage. She sat there for a while, gathering her thoughts and trying to not get overwhelmed by the feelings buzzing inside her. She took a deep breath and made her way out of the car to the door.
"Hi mom, hi dad." Jen yelled into the house, hoping that someone will answer her.
"In the kitchen" her mothers voice reverberated through the house.
Jen steps took her to her mother's side, whatever she was cooking there smelling amazing.
"Hi honey, what are you doing here?" she asked surprised. She didn't expect her daughter to visit them in the middle of the week, but she was happy to see her.
"I came to talk to dad, do you know where he is?" Jennifer asked, sneaking green been from the pan.
"In the backyard, watering the plants." her mother looked disapprovingly at Jen's action. "Will you stay for the dinner?"
"Sure. I'll go talk to dad, okay?" she kissed her mothers cheek, leaving through the back door to the yard.
Jen watched her father standing at the back of the property, watering the plants, making sure they won't be without moisture in this hot July weather. He loved taking care of his garden, his pride and joy, just after his best achievement. His daughter.
"Hey dad" she smiled in his direction.
"Hey sweetheart! What are you doing here?" be beckoned her to come closer. When she did, he turned the hose off to hug her tightly, the way only father could.
"I came to talk to you." she took the hose from him, turning it back on and spraying flowers in front of her "Today, my boss called me into his office to announce that our firm will be opening new branch in New York..."
"That's great Jen!"
"Wait, I'm not finished. Apparently, due to more heroes residing in New York, they want to move whole super-law division there, especially their pet mascot She-Hulk. They want to do it as fast as possible, so with the end of this month, we are supposed to be fully operational. They are sending me tomorrow there, to take a look at the new office. Sadly, this offer in no negotiable, and if I want to still have a job, I need to make a move." Jen told her father, frown marring her face.
"Oh Jen! That's a great news, why the long face then?" he asked worried. "Won't there be raise with it?"
"Yeah, there will be. They even have prepared apartments for us, as a compensation for the move."
"Then what's the problem?" he tried to understand, why there was no excitement in her at the news.
"I don't want to move so far away from you and mom." she sulked.
"Oh sweetheart!" her father chuckled.
"I like it here. I like to have you so close, and I love our family dinners and BBQ. They can sometimes be annoying, but isn't it the charm of family gatherings?" She mused. There was a moment of silence between them, her father giving her time to articulate what she was feeling. "I don't want to travel to the other side of the country to be alone in the unknown city" she confessed the reason that was stopping her from being happy.
"Come here" her father said, sitting on the bench and tapping the seat next to him for her to take. When she did that, he put his arm around her shoulders, squeezing her to his side. "You remember your college days?" he asked.
"Mhm"
"Do you remember living on the campus, studying so hard that you only had time to visit us only on the bigger breaks?" he reminded her. She reluctantly nodded her had.
"See? This will be no different than that. You will visit us whenever you will be able to, I'm sure of it. Of course, our family time will suffer a little, but what is internet for, am I right?" This put a quaint smile on her face.
"And will Nikki go with you? And Pug?"
"Yes, they will go too, only Mallory staying, Holliway decided that someone had to stay to take care of this division in here." Jen answered, her voice a little bit lighter than few moments ago.
"See? You won't be alone in this new city, you will have your friends there to help with the change." her father laughed to her. "And if I'm not mistaken, you're forgetting about something."
"I am?"
"Remind me, where does your boyfriend live?" his cheeky question surprising her.
"Oh my god, I completely forgot about Matt!" she exclaimed shocked.
"Maybe you won't, if you're able to see him more frequently" he joked. "Just don't forget about your old folks when you're there, okay?"
"I could never, dad." she looked him straight in the eyes, sincerity shinning in them.
"Okay, kiddo. Now, get up, your mother is weaving at us. I guess dinner is ready."
"What do you think?" Jen asked Nikki, both of them looking through the windows in Jen's office.
"The view is definitely different." Nikki remarked.
"Are you okay with this?" Jen gestured to the space around them.
"Yeah, I actually like it. Not only the office, but the whole move. I get to flex my fashion sense and also I get whole new dating scene. Can you imagine?" Nikki laughed excited.
Jen made her way up the staircase to the apartment 6A. Usually when she came to New York, she met Matt in his office, but this time she decided to surprise him at his home. It's 6.30 p.m., where else could he be?
She knocked on the door, sure that he would hear that. After short moment, the doors opened up and her eyes met with Foggy's annoyed ones.
"Foggy?"
"Jen?"
"What are you doing here?" they said in unison. She gestured inside, him opening the door more, to make room for her.
"I came to surprise Matt, my firm sent me here for a thing, so I decided to use it to my advantage." she answered, both of them walking in the direction of the living space.
"A case?"
"No, something different. I'll tell you other time. What's up with you?" she redirected question to him.
"I'm on babysitting duty. Water?" Foggy went to the kitchen, glass ready in his hand.
"Sure. He didn't...?" she drifted off, both of them perfectly well knowing what she meant by that.
"Oh yeah, he did." he laughed humorlessly. Jen looked at Foggy. Rumpled shirt taken out of pants, dark shadows under his eyes and his tired posture, telling her that situation had to be dire, if he looked like that.
"Hey, I will take it from here. You go home and rest." she took the glass from him, leaving it on the counter, before she hugged him tightly.
"You sure?" he asked. She felt him relax in her embrace, tension leaving his body.
"Yeah, I'm sure. You need rest and Marci is probably worried sick about you. Go" she stepped back from him, sending him reassuring smile.
"Thank you" he squeezed her shoulders in gratitude and made his way out.
"Say hi to Marci from me." she said just before he left.
"Will do" he closed the door behind him, leaving her in quiet apartment.
Jen slowly stepped to the doorway to Matt's bedroom. She stopped instantly at what she saw in bed, her hands coming to her mouth to cover the gasp that escaped her. Next to the bed laid his armor, deep slashes tearing fabric, blood soaked completely through the material.
She side-stepped it and sat at the edge of the bed, near his legs. He was covered with thin sheet, his torso exposed to her eyes. White bandages covering his chest, deeply contrasting with dark bruises on his pale skin. He had few gushes on his arms, his fists scrapped and bloody, laying slightly away from his body, probably to not touch clean gaze and dirty it.
Matt's face was in no better shape than the rest of his body, split bottom lip, jaw bruised and swollen on the left side, cut on his right cheekbone and busted left brow, stitches in place. They probably had to call Claire in, to patch him up from that.
Jen took his right hand in hers, lightly touching as not to hurt him and massaged his wrist, the only place she felt was safe to touch.
She sat like that for a while, trying not to concentrate on all the bad scenarios that were filling her head, until his voice brought her back from her dark thoughts.
"Jen, is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me." she transferred one of her hands to his head, her fingers petting his sweaty hair.
"I thought I might have hallucinated you again. I'm so happy you're here" he croaked, his voice harsh from disuse.
"I'm not so much. What happened?" she asked, her voice soft but worry clearly mixed in.
"Ninjas. I hate ninjas."
"Yakuza again?"
"Something like that" he groaned, trying to get up to the sitting position. Jen instantly stopped his efforts, knowing better to not strain muscles, when there were stitches in them, and she was sure that there had to be some under the gaze on his chest.
"What are you doing here, if you're not my hallucination as we just established?" he inquired.
"Smart ass." she chuckled. "I came here to share happy news with my boyfriend, but imagine my surprise, when I found his best friend at the door instead of him." she stopped unsure, if she should tell him. "Maybe it should wait." she squeezed her fingers around his hand, her eyes focused on his beautiful brown ones.
"No, please, tell me" he begged.
"GLK&H is opening office in New York and they want to transfer most of supernatural division here." her hand traveled from his hair to his face, delicately touching it, bypassing any injuries to not inflicting pain in him.
"Which means..." she could see how the cogs were working in his head, realization at what that meant showing on his face.
"... that I'll be moving to Big Apple for more permanent stay than few days." she clarified, so there was not misunderstandings between them.
"How do you feel about this?" he asked, surprising Jen with it.
She took a moment to answer him. "I'm scared. I have never lived so far from my family. There were vacation here and there, but it always was a short-lived." she stopped to take a deep breath and to calm herself, because all the emotions she was feeling were clogging her voice. "I'm scared that my ties with my parents and the rest of family will grew weaker with time and distance." she fell silent, her fears taking over her head. Matt squeezed her hand, grounding her this way to here and now. "But as my dad pointed out, there is a lot of means of communication now," she chuckled, her laugh wet from the unshed tears. "And he obliterated my fear of being alone in this city, by reminding me that I already have someone who will help me navigate my life here." she smiled at him.
Matt's hand went to her face, his palm feeling how her face moved to form a smile, her heartbeat calm in his ears, assuring him that she was okay with the decision of moving here, to his city, leaving hers behind. "A truly wise man, that father of yours" he whispered to her, tugging her to his side, so she could cuddle to his less injured side.
"And don't you forget about it." she chuckled, allowing him to pull her to lay next to him, careful to not aggravate his hurt body.
They laid together on his bed, comfortable with each other, Jen drawing patterns on his exposed pecks, examining old scars with her fingertips, his hand petting her curly hair "You know what that means?" she asked after a moment of silence.
"What?"
"It means that my boyfriend needs to get back in shape to help me pack all my stuff."
"I'll see what can be done in that department."
"You better."