Warning: Swearing.
Karen cries.
Cries for a long time, drinking herself under the table in a bar, over her newspapers at home, and huddled in Matt's apartment as she and Foggy attempt to clean it out but just end up crying together on the couch.
She drinks a lot, too, during this time, and occasionally she'll see Jessica Jones, who will raise her own glass and greet her with a bitter smile.
Sometimes, if she's feeling up to the company, she'll slide in next to Jessica and talk about how she's being stupid. Jessica will agree, tell Karen she's an idiot, and then continue that everyone has emotions and that it's "healthy or some shit like that that you're expressing it, or at least that's what the fucking therapists say". She'll also add that she "thinks it's shit, but then again, I'm not exactly a the pinnacle of mental health".
Karen will make a half laugh, half sobbing sound, and agree, "Well, I'm not either."
Jessica will laugh bitterly and answer, "At least you're better than me."
Karen can't help but agree with that, and they'd continue drinking, mostly in silence, or sometimes just talking about stupid things.
She cries, mostly, for the friend she lost and the life that he could have won.
She cries about the fact that he could never have been just Matt Murdock, that Daredevil was also a part of him and she mourned how stupid it was to have ever thought otherwise.
Then, a few nights later, she's cried dry, so she goes back to the office and asks the chief for any and all articles on Daredevil, before pouring over them over long nights with nothing but a mug of beer to keep her company.
Foggy says she's going crazy.
The other journalists say she's weird.
Jessica just shoots her a look that's almost sympathetic.
Trish, when she comes to collect Jessica, gives Karen the same look as she squeezes her shoulder and says softly, "The first time... when she escaped that first time, I guess... Jessica did the same with Kilgrave. Poured over articles and searched him up everywhere."
Strangely enough, that might be the most comforting thing that Karen's heard.
But the worst part is, she thinks bitterly to herself, Kilgrave came back.
Kilgrave, the villain, returned.
And Matt, the hero, is gone.
He's helped crime rates, she knows that.
She has heard so many testimonies of people being saved by Daredevil.
She's heard of rape victims saved and being told about the nearest help clinic.
She's heard of children being saved and sent to Officer Brett.
She's heard so much.
But she's also been saved by Daredevil, been saved by Matt, that first time, when she was accused of murder and nobody but the lawyer with his walking stick believed her, when she thought all was lost and he came and promised her that Nelson and Murdock would help her.
Karen mourns her friend. She mourns Matt, with his crooked smile and his taste for coffee and the way that he tilts his head to the side ever so slightly.
But she also mourns the hero of the city, with all his scars and bruises and him sobbing as he tells her that he's sorry, the way that his voice hardens as he tells her, regretful but honest, that he has to save people. She mourns the Daredevil of Claire's stories, stiffly sitting through the pain, she mourns the one that kept his identity a secret and tore himself in two so that he could protect everyone, the people he knew and the people he didn't.
She mourns, and mourns, and eventually, when her tears have dried and she's been drunk a bit too often (far too often), she collects the articles and police records and she types up an article about Daredevil.
It's only right, after all.
A/N: Admission time? I adore Jessica.