Without further ado, here's the last chapter. This one has everyone in it!

Twenty minutes later, now dressed in clothes free of bloodstains and knife gashes, Matt arrived at the nearby hospital. He focused his hearing, looking for anything that would help him find his way to Foggy. To his surprise, he heard a familiar voice giving instructions to another nurse. With a small smile, he approached the nearby nurse's station.

"Excuse me," he asked politely, "I'm looking for a friend of mine, do you think you could tell me which room he's in?"

The resulting clatter of papers from her hands onto the desk told him that she physically started at the sound of his voice, and the sight of him standing before her.

"Matt!" she exclaimed before looking around to make sure no one was in earshot. She lowered her voice regardless, "what are you doing here? Are you okay? And how did you know where I work? I never told you."

"Honestly," he began, "I wasn't looking for you. I really am looking for my friend. Finding you was more of a happy coincidence. And yes, I'm fine, nothing major."

If he could see her clearly, he suspected she would have been raising her eyebrows. "That's hard to believe, but good, I suppose. You do realize you're going to have to explain some more of this to me now, right?"

"You're right, I owe at least that to you. But first, can you help me find my friend?"

"I find it a little hard to believe that you have friends."

"Ouch Claire," he replied drily.

"What's your friend's name?" she asked instead, ignoring his mock indignation.

"Foggy Nelson. Or, Franklin Nelson. Not sure which it would be under."

He heard the sounds of clicking keys as she entered the information into the computer.

"Looks like we have a…Foggy Nelson. Room 256."

Matt breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you Claire."

"I have a few minutes, would you like me to show you the way?"

"That would be nice, but only if you have the time."

"I do."

Matt heard the rustle of fabric as she strode out from behind the desk and to his side. He lightly placed a hand on her arm as they moved forward.

There was silence for a few moments before Claire spoke again, "You're really worried about him, aren't you?"

"What? How can you tell?"

"Your entire body is so tense I'm surprised nothing's snapped yet."

He blew out a short breath of air in an impersonation of a chuckle. "I'm not really that worried. Our secretary was with him, and she left me voicemails with updates on his condition and I know he's fine now."

"But?"

Matt sighed, "But this never should have happened. Fisk was behind this, and now what he does is passing the Mask and bleeding into my real life."

He stopped, bringing her to a halt as well as he turned to face her, "I wear the mask to protect the people I care about Claire. There is no one I care about more than Foggy. He is my best friend, my business partner, and the closest thing I have to family. But Fisk got around the Mask, and he hurt him. He also hurt Elena, and who knows how many others? And it's…" he paused, looking for the right word, "disquieting."

Claire was silent for several moments, in what Matt suspected was an effort to weigh her words. Finally, she spoke, "then all you can do is to keep going. Keep doing what you do, and use this anger and guilt you have to fuel what you do. But," she paused and put a hand on his arm, lightly squeezing it for emphasis, "you can only do that if you keep yourself alive. You're no good to any one you care about dead. All you're going to accomplish by dying is hurting the people who love you. So you have to be careful. Watch your back and don't take any stupid risks. That's all I'm asking, okay?"

Matt sighed, but his mind could not find a way to discount her logic. "Okay."

"Good," Claire said with an air of satisfaction. They continued on their walk.

A few moments later, they arrived at the correct door. As they halted, Matt reached out and felt the braille at the base of the number plate. He moved his hand over to the door handle, turned back to look at Claire before opening it.

"Thank you Claire, for everything."

"You're welcome Matt," she said with a smile. Before she walked away, she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I'm glad you're not dead, or in prison," she added.

He gave her a genuine smile, "Me too." With those parting words, he turned the doorknob and stepped inside the room. Before she left, Claire heard a woman's voice, full of excitement and relief, "Matt, thank god!"

Claire smiled at the closing door and rolled her shoulders before turning back towards the nurses' station, preparing herself for the long night ahead.

Karen looked up at the sound of the door opening. In an instant she was out of her chair besides Foggy's bed and across the room, throwing her arms around the new arrival.

"Matt," she exclaimed, "thank god! We were so worried about you. What happened? Why didn't you answer your phone?" As she spoke, she took a survey of him. His face seems to have a few more cuts and bruises, but it was hard to tell what was new and what was healing. Overall though, he looked fine.

Matt returned her hug, "I'm fine Karen, and I'm sorry for worrying you. The explosions kind of upended my living room and I couldn't find my phone in everything. I did finally find it while I was just about finished cleaning everything up, listened to your messages and came right here."

As he said this, he looked over Karen's shoulder to the bed she had just been sitting by.

He was beyond relieved when he heard Foggy shift in bed to get a better look at him. He stepped delicately around Karen and found his way to the bed, reaching out a hand to grasp the side rail.

"Foggy, how are you feeling? I heard what happened in Karen's messages."

Foggy studied the man standing before him, "much better now that I know you're okay buddy. You really had me worried."

Matt shook his head in exasperation, "Foggy Nelson, ladies and gentleman. Gets impaled by a shard of glass and is more worried about his best friend than himself."

Foggy chuckled, "Yep, that about sums it up."

"Seriously Foggy," Matt continued, all playfulness dropping from his demeanor, "are you okay?"

"Seriously Matt," said Foggy, matching his friend's change in demeanor, "I am. It hurts like hell, but I'm luckier than so many other people."

Karen watched her two bosses interact from where Matt had left her. Matt still seemed doubtful, but Foggy rolled his eyes and lifted his hand up so that it was on top of Matt's.

"I'm really okay buddy," he repeated, lightly squeezing the hand gripping the bed rail.

Whether it was the sincere tone of Foggy's words or the contact, Karen watched as Matt finally relaxed. She smiled and returned to her chair, watching as Matt used his cane to feel around him for a chair. Finding one, he sat down, never breaking the contact with the other man.

The three were quiet and Karen settled back into her chair, the desire to sleep that she had been holding off for so long returning and her gratefully accepting it. The three of them were together, and everything would be all right.

Her last view before sleep overtook her was of her bosses relaxed, easily chatting, still connected by a hand on the bedrail.

And there's that. Hope you all enjoyed!