"I need…uh…"

The girl in front of Karen trailed off, clearly considering her words.

"Legal help?" Karen supplied, forever the helpful receptionist, her eyebrows raised. Granted the girl was better dressed than their usual clients, but that didn't mean much considering how little clients they had.

"No! Actually I need a job?"

The second thing Karen noticed about the girl was that she spoke with her hands, rather enthusiastically, and with an English sounding accent.

"I have a CV," she went on, digging in her bright red satchel for the paper, "I promise, I'm an accredited lawyer, like, I passed all the exams and stuff."

Karen frowned, mouth opening slightly as she took the paper off the girl, scanning down the qualifications.

"I don't doubt that you're a perfectly qualified lawyer, Miss…" she looked for the name on the CV, "Jennifer Carlile, but we're struggling here to support three people. I mean, we're not really in a position to be taking on anymo-"

"Yeah I totally get that, but listen, I'm good at what I do," Jennifer pleaded her case, "Like, really good. I can talk to people, clients, they want to tell me shit. Look at me! I have big trusting eyes!"

Karen laughed slightly , but pressed her lips together, "I really do wish I could, but maybe try somewhere else? You're pretty well qualified as far as results go."

The blonde handed back the resume, but the girl refused to take it. She was now looking at her feet, her previously hyper demeanour now resembling that of a kicked puppy.

"You guys are my last chance at anything, please," Jennifer looked up from her feet to meet Karen's eyes, "I'm deaf."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm deaf- well, hard of hearing," she signed and spoke at the same time, "I use hearing aids, but since I'm unemployed there's a chance they'll stop working and I won't be able to afford to replace them. I can't use phones, so I can't get a job without going directly to the place, and most companies won't hire deaf people because the insurance is too much for them. People claim there's positive discrimination in the workplace, if that's the case I'm yet to see it. I'm not trying to be a sob story, I just thought you guys have-"

"Look!" Karen spoke sharply but not unkindly, "I get it, okay, and I'm sorry, I really am. But there must be something you can do besides working here?"

Jen planted herself firmly, "I'm a lawyer, and I have the fortune of being able to hear with aid; I can get jobs, I can talk to people without them having to know sign. Other people don't have that and I…I just want to help."

Karen sighed out her nose, closing her eyes briefly.

"I can't promise anything."

Jen let out a squeal and jumped once in excitement, a grin splitting her face, "Thank you! Thank you so much…oh my god, I don't even know your name!"

"Karen, I'm Karen Page," she smiled as the girl grabbed her hand and excitedly shook it, "But please, don't get your hopes up too much, worst comes to worst I'll see if I can get you a recommendation."

"That's all I'm asking for, again thank you!"

Karen smiled as the girl headed for the door, a spring in her step.

"Oh!" she turned back to Karen, "Uhm, you probably guessed you can't really call me, but text or email is completely fine. If you do phone it'll let you leave a message and my thing will print it out. But like maybe don't do that because it doesn't work too well, so yeah."

Jennifer headed out the door just as Foggy was walking in, and she gave an excited sounding giggle as she left.

Foggy frowned at her retreating figure, pointing with one of the coffee cups he was holding, "A client?"

"A potential co-worker, actually," Karen went back to her filing as Foggy placed a cup on her desk.

"You know, we can barely make rent every month, never mind pay another person…no matter how cute said person is," he said in a matter of fact tone.

Karen rolled her eyes, "I know, but she's literally scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as jobs go. We should at least see what she has to offer before we outright reject her."

"Huh," Foggy nodded, heading towards his office to dump his bag and jacket, "Good to know we're the sludge at the bottom of the law firm barrel."

/

"I think we should at least give her a chance, Fog."

Matt was surprisingly on board with the whole new employee thing.

"Worst comes to worst we get a week's free work and we can tell her she's not right for the position."

Foggy sighed, unable to find a flaw in his friend's logic. He cast a glance through the yellowed blinds to where Jennifer was perched on one of their waiting chairs chatting to Karen.

"Are you doing that thing again?"

"What thing?" Matt scoffed with a smile.

"That thing where you somehow know when the girls are hot!"

"You think I would hire someone based on appearance? Foggy I'm blind."

"I hate you so much sometimes."

/

"Do you want anything? Water, coffee, tea?" Matt offered but the girl shook her head before replying.

"Oh, no, that's okay. Thanks for the offer though."

The two lawyers sat down opposite Jennifer in the dingy office area that they usually used to talk with clients.

"So Jennifer- "Foggy began, "Jen? Is it okay if we call you Jen?"

Jennifer shrugged, "Sure."

"Let's dive right in then," Matt spoke this time, "What would you say, as a lawyer, are your biggest strengths?"

/

"Ey this is my first fanfiction in a while, sorry if I'm not in the flow of writing that I used to be! Let me know how I can improve and hopefully this story will get better for all of us. I know this chapter is pretty short, in all fairness it's more setting the scene than anything else. I've considered a lot about this OC and their backstory within the MCU and I hope you guys like it and don't find it too ridiculous lmao