Everything happens for a reason. Yet there are times in which reason is impossible to find. Times when everything is backward, when evil seems to be the only glimpse of reason there is. So this story starts, on the night when my life was turned upside down, when reason abandoned me and I was left with the cold hard face of night when my life changed forever.

"LAST CALL!"

"Thanks Sarah," Jane said laughing, as the last few drunks jumped at the sudden noise. Sarah only waved her away.

"Go home Jane! You've been here since six!"

Jane looked at the clock cringing at the time. It was now half past three, way beyond the time any sane person should still be awake, let alone working at a stinking bar. She brushed her hair away from her face trying to convince it back into its loose ponytail. Sarah looked at the girl in sympathy.

"Come on," Sarah said taking the tray of glasses Jane was trying to organize back in the racks, "I can close up here, you head on home tell Matt I said hello."

Jane wasn't one to argue. She had been up since five o'clock that morning working, studying, she hand't been home all day long. She gave Sarah a quick hug.

"Thank you!" she called running to the back room to pick up her purse, "I owe you!"

Sarah rolled her eyes smiling as she put away the rest of the glasses, "Just go home and make sweet sweet love to McDreamy and get some sleep!"

Sarah turned to look towards Jane as she walked into the main part of the bar and laughed when she noticed the very dark blush flushing Jane's cheeks.

"I'm just picking on you," she said still laughing slightly, Jane was always very private about that aspect of her life and Sarah loved to pick on her.

"Hey!" Sarah called just as Jane was about to leave, "take the trash out before you go, its on your way and I hate doing it."

Jane just smiled and grabbed the enormous trash bag Sarah was holding out to her.

"Only because I love you," Jane mumbled as she dragged the bag down the back hallway of the bar and shoved the door open. A faint buzzing rattled her bag. She stopped dragging the trash out the door and frantically began searching through her large shoulder bag looking for her phone.

"Come on!" she muttered, she didn't have that many rings left before the call would go to voicemail. Her slim fingers suddenly grasped the slim phone on the bottom of her bag next to a few tubes of chap stick.

She yanked out the phone and frantically pressed the answer button, "Matt!" she exclaimed.

"Janie!" answered the voice on the other side, "Are you still working?"

"Nah," Jane answered picking up the trash bag and dragging it towards the dumpster in the alley, "Sarah's letting me go home early, apparently I look like I needed a break."

"Well you do work too hard," Matt answered.

Jane laughed, "Coming from the person who I am sure is just leaving the library now."

Matt chuckled and Jane smiled at the sound, the past few weeks that he had been interning had been very stressful. It was good to hear him laugh again.

"I can't argue with that," he said, "I'm walking by the bar you want me to pick you up? See if we can't find something to eat before we head home."

Jane thought on it for a moment as she swung the large bag into the gaping mouth of the dumpster. She turned and was about to leave the alley when something caught her eye. She couldn't put her finger on what it was that made her pause, she thought she had seen a shadow move. She looked closer into the corner of the alley, against some crates, surely there had been something that moved, yet when nothing did, she shook her head. It must have been a rat.

"Jane?" Matt asked, slightly worried at the silence.

"Sorry," she said looking once more towards the crates before turning to leave, "I have some leftover cheesecake I was kind of hoping to-"

A rough hand shoved itself over her mouth cutting of the scream she was about to release as a very strong arm held her in a vice like grip. The phone dropped to the ground, forgotten, as Jane squirmed to get loose.

"Jane?" she heard Matt call, she did her best to scream, make any sound that she could but the man had a firm hold on her, "Jane? Are you ok?"

Jane grunted as she thrust her elbow back, jabbing the man that was holding her square in the gut. She could hear his sharp intake of breath and could feel his hold loosen just enough for her to squirm loose.

"Ma-"

Another set of hands grabbed her and threw her against the ground. Her head hit the rough asphalt with a resonating thunk, cutting off anything she was going to say. Everything was blurry, Jane could just barely make out the shapes of two men, one kneeling on the ground clutching his stomach and one towering over her holding something that Jane really hoped was not a knife. Jane kicked her feet out hoping to catch the knife man off guard, but it was no use, her movements were too sluggish and the man was too large. He laughed as he sent a well aimed kick straight to her stomach.

Jane rolled over. Any air that she had to scream was gone, her body trying desperately to choke in some oxygen, but her muscles would not allow it. Her side was now exploding in pain, matching the throbbing ache in her head.

"Aw man, he said no damaged goods!" the man on the ground wheezed.

"Its not that damaged," knife man said, shoving Jane over with his foot, " besides, have you every actually kicked a woman?" he asked sadistically, "It's really quite fun."

"Aw come on man, it's getting late, I just want to get paid."

"Don't be such a pussy," knife man said.

Jane struggled to get closer to the bar, hoping that by some miracle someone would hear her yell over the thumping music.

Knife man noticed her movement and dragged her by her feet away from the open door. He kicked her square in the stomach, once, twice, three times. Each kick felt as if his foot was going straight through her. Jane could feel each of her ribs crack, and break, she could feel her organs bruise, but she was powerless to stop it. Black dots were swimming through her vision, taunting her with sweet oblivion that would take her from this wretched place.

"That's enough," the first man said, "nobody is going to pay for this mess!"

"They will if the product is good!" knife man sneered.

The first man threw up his hands in frustration but didn't make another move to save Jane. It was as if he knew that knife man would do whatever it was he wanted. The first man would just take whatever was left.

Knife man leaned down and grabbed Jane's face pulling it towards his own, "She's not too bad to look at, but lookin' is just one thing there sweetheart, you have to be able to do the job."

He shoved her face away and Jane's head thudded against the ground again. Jane fought to keep her eyes open, not wanting to see what was about to happen, but dreading the thought of what would if she were to loose all consciousness. The cold steel of a blade chilled her to the core as knife man slowly split her shirt open. The cold night air raised gooseflesh on her skin and even in the horror of what Jane was sure was about to happen, all that could cross her mind at that moment was the fact that her favorite shirt was now being ruined.

She felt rather than heard something in the alley change. Knife man was suddenly pulled off her. She couldn't move, surely this was the end, she was finished, God had sent her an angel to free her and take her away.

"Jane!" a familiar voice called out, "JANE!" she felt strong arms gently lift her from the ground but their was no malice in these arms, they were strong and unyielding, yet they held her with such care. Cradling her. She wanted to fight, wanted to get away from this strange man. But that voice...the voice, she knew.

"Janie, stay with me ok!" the voice cried, breaking. Jane, in her semiconscious state couldn't help but begin to feel fear. This voice never broke. Her guardian angel, was scared.

Seven Months Later

"Foggy, Foggy, Foggy, Foggy,"

Matt jerked his hand toward the nightstand, the automated voice was echoing in the apartment. It was way too early for any sort of noise.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled fumbling for his phone pressing the screen at random just trying to turn the sound off.

"Hello," he murmured once the phone had beeped, signaling the call had been connected.

"Good morning sunshine!" Foggy's voice chirped echoing through the room almost louder than the ring had. Matt cringed as he picked up the phone making sure the speaker was off before he answered the annoyingly cheerful voice.

"What time is it?" has asked, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Half past get the hell up. Let's go, we gotta meet the real estate agent in 45."

Matt sighed, he had forgotten all about the real estate agent, he turned his head toward the slumbering form next to him, quiet as he listened carefully, trying to detect any sign that he had disturbed her with the phone call. She was still dead asleep, curled up next to him, her hand resting on his chest. Foggy seemed to sense his concern.

"How is she?"

Matt sighed again, the she in question, Jane, had been doing fine, until he startled her last night when he came home after a brief rendezvous in the shipyards. She had been listing to music when he had come in and had not noticed his presence until he put a hand on her shoulder, which triggered a panic attack that took him nearly an hour to calm her back down enough to attempt going to sleep.

"It was a rough night," Matt said tiredly carefully sitting up making sure he did not wake her up.

"Is she ok?" Foggy asked, knowing exactly how rough a night could have been for Jane after the incident.

Matt stood up, tiredly walking to the kitchen to start a fresh pot of coffee, Jane was still dead asleep and there was going to be nothing that would wake her save for a fresh cup of coffee.

"She's healing," Matt answered, his attention never leaving that of the bedroom, "Its just going to take some time."

Foggy cleared his throat, "Well, uh, just try to make sure you're there for the showing, Jane can come too."

Matt smiled, "I'll be there I promise, after I drop Jane off at work."

Foggy, happy with this answer, cheered up, "All right, shake it. I gotta go bribe a cop."

"Ah!" Matt interjected in disbelief at the things his friend was willing to say, "Foggy!"

"Kidding, NSA, if you're listening."

Matt chuckled.

"But seriously, yeah, I gotta go bribe a cop."

With that, Foggy hung up. Matt set the phone down on the edge of the counter, and pulled Jane's mug from the sink. The fact that it was in the sink showed just how much she was drinking coffee, trying to stay awake rather than sleep. Matt sighed, he knew it was his fault, that she was not getting enough sleep. She was fine if he was home, but the past few nights he had been away, dealing with the small trafficking ring in Hell's Kitchen, which meant that Jane was left to try and sleep in a big empty apartment.

The smell of coffee slowly began to fill the kitchen bringing Matt out of his brooding, this was a new day. He set her cup on the counter and turned to the fridge hoping that she hand't moved the creamer again. Jane was generally decent about keeping the house the same but sometimes-

"Yup" Matt muttered as he opened the fridge.

A blackberry and chocolate tart of some kind was taking up most of the shelf in the fridge as well as a small cheesecake. She had been busy last night, and now the fridge was in all disarray. He gave up on his search for the creamer, the coffee was done, and it was getting late, he still had to wake Jane up.

He poured the coffee, added the usual four scoops of sugar and hoped she wouldn't notice the lack of creamer right off the bat.

Matt walked back to the bedroom armed with the steaming cup of coffee. He paused in the doorway and waited, listening carefully to every minute sound that Jane made. She was so peaceful, her petite body spread over the bed subconsciously moving toward the empty warm space that Matt had been occupying. He entered the room and carefully sat on the edge of the bed, holding the cup of coffee by her nose.

"Mmmphm" she grumbled as she slowly wrenched her eyes open.

"Morning love," Matt said bending down to kiss her forehead.

Jane sighed as she stretched shifting the blankets around her, Matt was relieved, as he was every morning since she had healed, that he no longer heard the creaking of her bones. She was physically sound once more.

"It's too early," Jane mumbled as she sat up and took the coffee from Matt taking a deep sniff of the bitter aroma.

Matt smiled and hit his alarm clock.

"Eleven thirteen."

"Oh shit!" yelled Jane leaping from the bed she handed the coffee to Matt now wide awake and rushed to the bathroom frantically pulling her hair into a bun.

Matt smiled as he himself began to get ready for the day.

"I did no' wan' o lee' ah' ahe'" she tried to explain while brushing her teeth, she spit into the sink.

"I had a huge cake to finish today, by six!" She explained rushing through the room putting on her clothes bit by bit.

Matt was calmly tying his tie when she started pulling on her boots.

"What day is it today?" she asked.

Matt smiled again, "Thursday."

"Don't you have that thing with Foggy?"

Matt nodded, picking up his briefcase, "We're meeting with the realtor on that last property she had for us."

Jane sighed picking up her bag and her coffee and moved towards the door waiting for Matt.

"I hope its better than that last place you were shown, that was a mess!"

Matt chuckled, "It wasn't ideal but then again we can't really afford to be that picky. Whatever this next place is like we have to take it."

"Hey," Jane said stopping Matt as he walked out of the door, she gave him a big kiss and smiled, "I think what you and Foggy are doing is really great, don't forget why you're doing it."

Matt grinned, "Why to be rich and famous lawyers of course!"

Jane just shook her head and locked the apartment behind her, "Matt I think I'm in love with a fool."

Matt's grin only grew wider and he turned his head towards her, "Is he bigger than me?"

Jane only smacked him lightly on the arm and laughed. Matt missed this, seeing Jane at ease, with a ready joke on hand. Slowly but surely the old Jane was coming back. She would just need time.

Matt held out his arm, "Shall we milady?"

Jane took his arm and the two walked out into the bustling New York streets.

"You've got a reception area, a conference room, and two offices," the realtor explained walking Foggy through the office, "Corner suite has a view of the Hudson. You can flip a coin with your partner for it."

Matt chuckled walking through the door, "Uh, he can have the view."

The realtor turned suddenly at the new voice in the room. Foggy rolled his eyes, you could always count on Matt for a rather dramatic entrance.

"I'm so sorry," she said quickly trying to make up for her blunder, "I didn't mean to-"

"Of course not," Matt said waving her concern away as he placed his briefcase in the corner of the room.

"Susan Harris," she said reaching her hand out for Matt to shake, "Midtown Property Solutions."

Matt knew the hand was there, he could hear her watch ticking as it moved closer to him, but out of principle of playing the blind man, he ignored it.

"Matt Murdock."

Susan looked towards her hand and her eyes suddenly widened as if she just now realized that blind men could not shake hands easily. She awkwardly brought her hand down and for lack of anything else to do, gave a rather embarrassed curtsy.

Foggy chuckled, "She just curtsied, it was adorable," Foggy couldn't help but smile at the blush that was again creeping onto the realtors face, the poor woman must feel like she had pulled the short straw on showing offices to the two of them.

Matt smiled, "Well, its nice to know that chivalry isn't dead."

Susan chuckled lightly, put at ease by Matt's easy going attitude.

"Susan," Matt said trying to bring the meeting back to the office, "Would you mind walking me around the space?"

"Of course!" she answered, "My pleasure."

She rushed over to offer her arm to Matt. Foggy followed the two in disbelief. He was not even trying and Matt had the woman hung on his every word.

"As I was telling your associate," she said walking Matt by the elbow around the room, "this office was barely touched by the incident, which is why it's on the market already. The neighbors weren't so lucky."

"The incident?" Matt asked, smiling at the choice of words, "Is that what we're calling it now?"

Susan nodded, "Well it sounds so much better than death and destructions raining from the sky, nearly wiping Hell's Kitchen off the map."

Matt nodded his approval, "Shorter too."

"I don't know," Foggy said looking out the window of the suite with the incredible view, "Owner figuring in the delightful view of cranes and scaffolding? Feels like we're getting pre-incident prices."

Susan turned to Foggy rather smugly, "They're a quarter of what they used to be. Hell's Kitchen is on the rebound, Mr. Nelson, and in eighteen months, you won't even be able to rent a broom closet at this price point."

Matt smiled, "We'll take it!"

Foggy scoffed flustered at the sudden approval from Matt, "Uh, we will talk about it" he said holding a finger to the now very excited realtor, "because we're not sure we can afford even this palace, unless we make some changes to our current clientele policies."

Matt turned back to the realtor who was standing with a pen outreached towards the two waiting to sign this rather desolate office.

"My partner and I are having some disagreements over the direction of Nelson and Murdock. I believe we're here to defend the innocent-"

"And I believe the innocent includes everyone not yet convicted of a crime," Foggy explained trying to be as charming as possible, "You know, as the law states."

Matt smiled, "He tends to use fancy terminology."

The realtor just smiled and nodded, hoping that the two would soon make a decision, she had eight more showings that afternoon and this one was taking longer than she had anticipated.

Foggy rolled his eyes again turning back to the rather disinterested realtor, "And my partner fails to recognize that, as defense attorneys, we're never gonna be able to keep the lights on, waiting on a horde of innocent souls to stumble into our loving arms."

Matt smiled, fiddling with his cane, he could sense the realtors urgency to have the office settled, "At this point I'd settle for just one."

Foggy, as if for the first time, also noticed the rather frustrated realtor, and smiled awkwardly.

"We'll take it."

"So Foggy agreed? He let you take this one?"

"He didn't really have a choice, we're both fed up with looking at these places."

Jane laughed, Matt smiled at light sound coming through the phone. It had been a while since he had heard that sound.

"How's work?" he asked.

"Uhmmm," Jane sighed, Matt could see her running her hand through her hair, the thought of her slightly frazzled state as she sat in the middle of a bakery with several cakes around her made him smile.

"I have two cakes started, one is a wedding cake, I've done all the piping I just need too-"

Matt was listening, happy that Jane sounded so excited with her work again, but something else had caught his attention. Foggy had gotten a call, no doubt from the police officer he had bribed earlier that day, Foggy was never one to get numerous calls.

"Jane," Matt said quietly, "I think we have a client."

"Matt that's great! New office now a client!"

Matt smiled, then heard Foggy hang up the phone and rush into Matt's office.

"I have to go now Jane, it might be a late night are you-"

"I'm fine! There's a lot of work I can finish up here, Tom and Bridget are still working here as well, I'll be fine. I'll see you when you're done with your client."

Just the way she said client made Matt smile, he and Foggy were finally doing something.

"I love you," Matt said ignoring Foggy's impatient twitching by the door, "I'll let you know when I'm on my way home."

"Love you too Matt."

Matt set his phone on his desk and turned to Foggy waiting for the news.

"Well?"

"Homicide," Foggy answered all but pulling Matt out the door, "Female suspect found at the scene."

"Has she been charged yet?" Matt asked putting his jacket on and following Foggy out the door.

"Assistant DA hans't made the call yet."

Matt nodded as the two rushed towards the police station which conveniently enough was only a block and a half away from the office.

"Definitely qualifies as interesting,"

Foggy laughed, "Oh yeah Brett can deliver."

"Do you have a name on the suspect?" Matt asked his eyebrows raised at Foggy's youthful glee at finally having a case.

"Yeah, uh," Foggy looked down at his notes as the two climb the steps into the police station, "Page. Karen Page."

Jane stood up, stretching her back with a groan. She had been sitting in front of this cake for three hours. It was going to a blushing young bride who had been very particular about the design of the cake. While at first Jane had been reluctant at the scope of the project, she had to admit the end result was beautiful. Delicate floral patterns covered each layer of the cake and at the center of each design stood a bouquet of carefully crafted sugar roses, calla lily and violets.

"Lookin' good there Miller."

Jane nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Geeze Tommy, you scared the shit out of me!" she yelled punching him lightly on the shoulder.

Tommy chuckled making Jane smile, she could not be mad at the man ever. He was barley taller than her petite five three frame, and was such a portly fellow that it was really no wonder he owned a cake shop. Tommy pulled down the baseball cap he always wore. The man was bald, by choice, yet he always covered his head.

"Listen kid," he said sitting down next to Jane, "My friend is the executive pastry chef at a rather, well," Tommy scoffed, "He's the executive pastry chef at Per Se. His soux chef, is leaving next week to go on maternity leave for at least the next year. I told him I knew someone who could fill the job."

"Tommy," Jane said laughing as she stood up to put her cake away, "I decorate cakes for a living, Pre Se is a little bit fancier than that."

Tommy scoffed, "Come on Jane, we both know you can do more than cakes. Listen," he held up his hand cutting off her rebuttal, "It's just an interview, go talk with him, make some delicious desserts, I told him you're a little rusty but you're worth the investment."

There was a quiet knock on the door, Tommy stood up to go answer it, "Just promise me you'll at least sleep on it ok?"

Jane nodded, though at that moment, she had absolutely no intention of doing so. She wheeled her cake into the cooler, five layers of serious wedding cake was no easy feat to carry.

When she walked back into the kitchen she was met with a sight that brightened her entire day.

"Hey Matt!" she called running toward Matt who was smiling equally as big.

He pulled her close and kissed her gently on the forehead, "Sorry I'm so late, Foggy and I had to throw a couple ideas back and forth."

"Its fine," she said picking up her bag and hastily clearing away the last of her bits of frosting and frosting bags.

She went to join Matt by the door.

"Think about it ok Jane?" Tommy said as led the two out of the bakery, "And get some sleep we have a slow day tomorrow, take a personal day, do something fun alright? Have a good night kids."

Jane waved to Tommy as the two walked arm in arm back to their apartment.

"Did you take the case?" Jane asked in a somewhat teasing tone, mimicking the tone of some private eye on a t.v show.

Matt chuckled, pulling her closer as a group of rowdy students walked by, "Yeah we took the case," Matt sighed.

Jane looked up at Matt, "What's wrong?"

Matt shook his head, "Something just seems off about this whole case."

"What's the charge?" Jane asked, it had been a long time since she was in law school, but nothing was forgotten.

"Thats the thing," Matt said, leading Jane into their apartment building, "There is no charge, not yet. The client was arrested as the sole suspect for a murder."

"Well," Jane said unlocking their door, "They're just collecting the rest of the evidence, making sure everything is solid before they charge.

"No they have all the evidence they need," Matt countered putting his cane against the wall, "They only have 24 hours, she should have been charged with something."

"Maybe she's not telling you something," Jane added, "Maybe the charge is a little bit bigger than you thought."

Matt nodded, grabbing leftovers from the fridge. Jane had already gone into the bedroom Matt could hear her dropping her clothes on the floor. He smiled, Jane was not a messy person, in fact, having worked in a kitchen, she was generally very particular about how things were put away, save for the occasional misplacing of the creamer. But Jane would never put her clothes in the hamper.

"You know," she called from the bedroom, coming out in sweatpants and from what Matt could tell one of his shirts, "They may not want this to go to trial."

Matt's brows furrowed, "What do you mean?"

"Well," Jane started, stealing the piece of pizza he was eating and taking a bite, "If they charge the suspect, and it goes to trial, there is going to be a lot of media attention. Maybe this woman is involved in something bigger than just a murder."

Jane jumped onto the counter sitting in front of Matt, "Quite honestly I haven't even looked at the case and I smell cover up."

Matt smiled and kissed her gently on the lips, "You know," he said huskily, "You would have made a good lawyer."

Jane snorted in a rather undignified manner, "No," she giggled, "I would have made a great lawyer. But-"

She kissed Matt again and smiled, "who would feed you and Foggy?"

"Is that right?" Matt asked.

"Uh huh," Jane teased kissing him again, "You'd be hopeless."

Matt chuckled as she trotted to the bedroom, his head tilted towards her footsteps. He had come close to loosing her once, and knew without a doubt, he would be absolutely hopeless without her in his life.