Fandom: Daredevil
Author: gaelicspirit
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Matt, Foggy, Karen, Claire, Father Lantom - GEN

Summary: Set post S1. Daredevil may be the Man Without Fear, but Matt Murdock is terrified. Especially when the law isn't enough and Daredevil can't save everyone. It's said that there is someone in Hell's Kitchen who will hear a cry for help, but what if the person calling out is Matt? Who saves him when Daredevil can't?

Disclaimer/Warning: Based on the Netflix version of Marvel's Daredevil characters. Nothing you recognize is mine. Including the odd movie line; I like to work quotes in here and there if I can. Usual canon-compliant violence and a fair warning for angst. Also, everything I know about lawyering I learned from John Grisham books, so.

Author's Note: I decided I had another DD fic in me, since I can't seem to be able to shake my fascination with Matt Murdock. Turns out it was a case-fic dancing around in the corridors of my brain, so for you fellow h/c junkies this is one of those slow-builds, but I hope the h/c you'll find in the latter chapters is satisfying enough to balance the overall story.

Oh, also. Some who reviewed my last Daredevil story asked for more Karen and the best way I could think to bring her into the mix a bit more was for her to discover the truth. So posting a warning for post-S1 AU-ishness (what? it's a thing) on the Karen front. Many, many sincere thanks to ThruTerrysEyes for her sanity check.

If you read, I hope you enjoy.


"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."

- Anthony Brandt

The snow swirled around him like a miniature cyclone, wind gusting without mercy as they stood facing each other on the barren rooftop. He was breathing hard, shoulders heaving with the effort, lips slightly parted as though trapped between gasping for air and trying not to scream. His hands—half curled into fists, blood-crusted knuckles visibly swollen in the pale light—shook at his sides, the motion a confession of vulnerability his lips would never utter.

He was swaying, not just from the force of the storm, but from his rapidly weakening body, yet he refused to move. It was as though he'd frozen there, trapped in a world that betrayed him by suppressing the fire that had always guided him. His expressionless eyes darted, fear drawn in blood and bruises on his face.

Foggy started to reach out, to offer a hand and guide his friend to safety. The storm surged then and turned the snow into icy pellets that sliced and burned. Matt stumbled forward, hand out in a helpless gesture of defiance against the forces buffeting him from outside and within.

"Foggy?"

A world of questions captured in a word.

"Here, buddy." The emotion in Foggy's voice was practically a living thing, stepping forward and standing between them, demanding to be recognized.

"I can't…."

Whatever Matt was going to say was lost to the storm. He wavered, his legs buckling. Foggy was out of the doorway and across the roof before Matt's knees hit the surface, his friend collapsing against him in a tangle of trembling limbs.

"I gotcha," Foggy promised. Karen felt tears blend with the smack of snow across her cheek. "I gotcha, buddy."

Matt said nothing, as if he already knew this was going to be one of the longest nights of his life.