Disclaimer: I don't own this, as I'm sure you all know. If I did, what would I be doing writing fanfics?

A/N: I know that I said my next posting would be BLOOD AND BLACKMAIL, but unfortunately, ModernScribe doesn't listen to me much. She started to edit this one and forgot about B&B. Hopefully she'll do that soon... Anyway, this is a what-if fic. That's all I'm going to say. Well that and thanks ModernScribe, even if you do drive me nuts.

A/N2: So guess what? Girlwithoutfear made a good argument. The prologue to this story is now gone. This is a complete AU.

Chapter 1: A Family

"What is his name?" The nurse asked, filling out the birth certificate.

"It's Matthew Michael Murdock. That's with a K at the end." Jack Murdock, the baby's father, leaned over the nurse, still giddy from the birth.

Maggie, Jack's wife and Matt's mother, sat up from her position on the hard hospital bed, "Jack, will you sit down and let the woman work?" She sounded rough, but Jack knew she was just as happy as he was.

When the nurse left, she asked, "What happened to the junior idea?" The young couple had decided beforehand that their first-born would be named Jonathon, after his father.

Jack kissed her lightly on the cheek. "I realized that the only way I was going to convince you to have another child was by saving the name."

Maggie swatted him playfully, a smile curling her lips despite her hardest efforts to keep it at bay. "You really are manipulative, you know that?"

"And that's why you love me."

"You better believe it."

Matt was two weeks old when Jack told Maggie that he was going to retire from boxing.

"But why?" Maggie couldn't understand why her husband would quit boxing, especially after his magnificent victory last week.

Jack lay down on the bed, snuggling closer to his wife. "I was thinking about it while the doc pulled out the stitches," he gestured to the healing cut above his eyebrow. "I decided that I want my boy to see me as a man, not a scar. And, what's more, he's going to need to go to college, and I can't make enough money boxing."

Jack sounded so serious. It almost scared Maggie. Jack was hardly ever serious. It was plain that nothing she said would make a difference. "If that's what my love wants to do, well then by God, he should."

Jack's solemn expression vanished, replaced with a laughing smile. He loved when Maggie imitated her father.

"But what will you do instead?" Maggie asked after the joke laughed itself out.

Jack blushed. "I always thought I would own a gym one day."

"Is that what you want to do now?"

He thought for a moment, looking at his son sleeping in the crib next to their bed. "Yeah, it is."

"Just as long as you don't expect me to workout with you," Maggie replied, the smile growing wider.

"Was that a possibility?" Jack couldn't remember his wife ever lifting a weight in her life.

Maggie kissed Jack on the cheek, not bothering to answer the question. "I guess that settles it then. You're getting your own gym."

Almost a year later, Jack opened the door to his new gym, leading his wife and son in hesitantly. "Well?"

Maggie passed him Matt, who was teething at the moment and couldn't have cared less where he was. She looked around the room, noting the old machinery and boxing ring that looked like it'd been used a dozen times too many. She turned back to her husband, "I think it needs a lot of work, but there's something."

"Yeah, that's kinda what I thought," he replied, trying to prevent Matt's fingers from pulling out his hair. After a moment, he added, "I have another surprise for you."

He led his wife outside, encouraging her to walk faster, his excitement becoming unbearable now that he'd told her he had a surprise. Jack stopped at a building a couple of blocks from the gym.

"Jack," Maggie sounded puzzled, "Did you do what I think you did?"

He nodded fervently, "And wait until you see!"

Jack practically carried his wife up to their new apartment. "Our old one was too far from the gym," he said, feeling the need to explain.

But Maggie hadn't heard him. She was walking through the small, Hell's Kitchen apartment with a critical eye. There were two bedrooms, a tiny bathroom, and a kitchen that opened into a living room. It was larger than their current apartment on the edge of the Kitchen.

"How did you pay for this?" she asked, her eyebrows arched slightly.

"I, um, saved a little more money than I actually needed for the gym," Jack blushed.

"And that is why I love you." Maggie kissed him long and hard on the lips. "I think now's a good time to tell you my surprise. Jack, I'm pregnant."

"Excuse me?" Jack wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly. "Did you just say I'm going to be a father of two?"

Maggie nodded and was immediately swooped up into the air. "The name is going to be Jonathon, though."

"Whatever you wish, my love." Jack kissed her again, happiness brimming over the sides of his brain.

"Mattie, meet your little brother." Jack held the newborn in front of his first son, rocking him slightly. "His name is Jonathan."

Matt had just barely mastered the art of walking, and was still struggling with speaking, so he didn't say anything as he starred at his little brother. He reached out to touch the little bundle.

"Careful now," Jack said, watching as his first explored his second. "Well, Mattie, is he a keeper?" he asked when Matt had finished.

"Ha?" Matt replied, running into the kitchen to find his mother.

"I guess that's a yes," Jack whispered. "Hear that, Natty? Your brother approves."