"Laurel. Laurel. Laurel." His phone chirped as he came around into Jo's coffee shop where he planned to meet Foggy before the court date which Foggy insisted that they had, but he couldn't remember.

He immediately picked it up. "So you're calling me, which means that you're not dead?" He asked her.

"When are you supposed to meet Foggy for coffee?" She asked him.

He cocked his head, "Well, I'm rounding the corner now into the shop now, but how do you know about that?" He asked her. Just a minute later, when he pushed the door open, he knew exactly how she knew. "You were supposed to call me the second you got back to safety," He told her as he wrapped her up in his arms.

She shrugged. "More fun this way, Matty." She said, with the biggest smile on her face as she put her arms around his neck.

The door opened and the bells tinkled. He smelled the spicy scent of Foggy's aftershave before he heard him. "Well, I should have known the two of you would be early and in each other's arms," He said. Matt could literally hear the eye roll. "Well, this whole thing, sorry, Lance wanted to surprise you. And what can I say, I'm a sucker for the epic romance,"

Matt nodded. "I remembered how much you liked Made of Honor," He said, but he couldn't stop smiling at Laurel.

"Well, Karen and I have a movie to get to that I don't have to narrate, so you know, I'll leave you with Lance. Lance, remember I need him in working order on Monday. We got a case to win. And your boyfriend likes to take up lost causes," He chuckled as he patted Laurel on the shoulder and then the bell tinkled again and Foggy was out of there.

Matt turned his face to Laurel's and smiled like crazy. "You are a hellcat, you know that?" He asked.

Laurel nodded and kissed his face. "Someone's gotta keep you on your toes, Matt Murdock, avocado at law." She grinned. She unhooked her arms from around his neck and took one of his hands and pulled him out onto the street.

He took her back to his place. Laurel wasn't the first woman he'd taken there, but she was the first one who turned all of the lights on. Matt chuckled, because she felt like a butterfly on the wind, a heartbeat that positively fluttered.

"I know you're hurting," He said as he sat down on his couch and patted the couch down next to him.

She shrugged. The fight was bad. It hurt like hell. It was a good thing that literally everyone she knew was there. It still hadn't been easy. But she got through it. And she came back. Just like she told him, she would.

She sat down next to him and a tiny groan came out. "Yeah, well if I don't think about it, it doesn't hurt as much," She told him and kissed the corner of his eye.

"I have painkillers. You don't have to do this. I mean, you're not even catholic," He chuckled. That was his reasoning.

She nodded. She wasn't catholic. She sometimes prayed, but she didn't know who to or what for really, made her feel better though, sometimes. "Matty," She sighed, "I changed a lot in the last five years,"

He could smell the tears starting to form in her eyes and he shook his head. This was not at all what he wanted for their first official day back together. "Shhh," He soothed, "It's okay. We both did. You don't have to be anyone but you," He promised as he held her.

"I'm a recovering addict, Matty." She whispered into his chest. "Pills and booze,"

He nodded. "Recovering means you were strong." He told her as he closed his eyes, wrapped her in his arms, and focused on her breathing, a little heavy, but evening out. She was becoming less panicky.

She nodded against his chest, let herself deflate. She was so used to everyone judgment about this part of her life and having someone who wasn't doing that, well it was weird. But it was also Matt.

"You are still as good as you always were, Matty," She murmured and snuggled closer into his arms, getting comfortable, wrapping herself around him.

He rested her head on top of hers. "I bet a nice warm shower would help with some of the soreness," He said and she almost detected a lilt.

She looked up to him and his beautiful but unresponsive eyes and opened her mouth. "Are you trying to get me naked, Matty?"

"Well, it wouldn't do me much good, I can't see what you look like. I'm blind remember?" He joked.

She slid into his lap and traced his face with her fingers. Her nails were long, but they weren't sharp, they actually felt sort of good on his skin. "How about you join me?" She asked him.

His fingers danced on her spine. That was an intriguing offer. Naked with her, in his shower, that would be a good day. The idea of her rubbing his body wash in to her skin and working the shampoo and conditioner into her hair, she'd smell like him for hours at the very least. Getting to be an active participant in it all, well that was another thing entirely.

"Still thinking, Murdock?" She asked as she placed kisses, along his neck.

She nipped occasionally and heard his breath hitch as he held her closer. "If you keep doing that, we're never going to get to the shower," He croaked out, guttural and hoarse.

She nodded and took his hand in hers and made haste to the bathroom, where she undid the buttons of his button-up first and he all but grinned, when she held his tie in her hands. "Matty, you wanna know a secret?" She asked and even though he couldn't see it, he could she was smiling and there was a light in her eyes.

"Hmm?" He asked.

"These, you fidget with them," She said as she fingered his tie in her hands. "And it does things to me,"

He chuckled. "You wanna know a secret?" He asked.

She nodded and pushed his shirt out of the way, which gave her more room to loosen the tie.

"Sometimes I did it just to do those things to you." He said and whipped her around, that way she her back was on his front. She felt the pressure as he kept his on her hips, to keep her from rocking back, presumably. When he dropped his head and planted kisses on her collarbone, she keened.

She opened her entire body up to him, just like the old days. Just like the old days, it felt like nothing was standing in there way. Everything was simple. It was just her. And him. And a shower.

Which eventually they got into. When they got out, spent and wet, they went back to the bedroom and he got dressed in a regular t-shirt and jeans. She admired him. How normal this life could be. "I'm glad I came back," She said, affectionately, and with an infectious smile.

"I'm glad I could take your mind off the pain," He said, cheer threading through his voice, before he gave her a tender peck on the lips.

She nodded and laughed. "You definitely did that and then some." She promised him as she rolled off the bed and went to find something to put on. She found a crocheted top dress and nodded to herself. "I'm starving. Do you think we could find something to eat?" She called to him.

He nodded and wrapped his arms around her. "Before we leave, I have to ask something," He told her.

"Two weeks," She answered the question, without him needing to ask it. They needed time together.

He grabbed his keys, cane, and cell phone from the counter and she grabbed her purse. They left the apartment, arms intertwined and fingers laced.

They go to a small place, around the corner that doesn't serve alcohol. They ate with ferocity as food piled high around them and the amiable company was never too far away. This is what normal felt like, she thought. She hadn't felt in in two years, and even then, it still only had a fairly shaky place in her world.

On Sunday, they went to church. Father Lantom gave an excellent mass reading out of the first John. When it was all over, he came over to Matt and Laurel. "It's lovely seeing you, again, Miss Lance. It's been awhile. I'm sorry I didn't say hello more appropriately the last time you were in town." He said with a grin, "I see that god has blessed you and answered your prayers, Matthew." He said.

"You prayed for me?" Laurel asked, as she scrunched up her eyebrows. "Why?" She didn't care, necessarily, but it was curious that he would pray for her.

He nodded. "You were on a trip," He told her, "And I didn't know what that was going to entail. You were pretty clear it wasn't going to be an easy one," He sighed. "God grants us free will, so I knew you would come back if you wanted to, but it made things easier. To pray for you."

That was actually kind of sweet. She hadn't had anyone pray for her. At least not that she knew of. He put so much of his faith in god and god was clearly important to him, to be a part of that faith, it felt otherworldy. "Well, I'm here now, and I promise I'm not going anywhere for awhile," She told him. She beamed up at Father Lantom. "That was a beautiful mass. I forgot how this could feel." She told him.

He peered over to Matt. "You got yourself a good one with this one," He chuckled. "But I have to attend to some activities today, so unless you need confession, I should be off,"

Matt tipped his head. "Have a good day, Father Lantom."

"And you, Matt. Miss Lance," He said.

When he left, Matt opened his phone, he'd felt four missed calls from Foggy and two from Karen. He pressed the speed dial for Foggy's number as they walked out of the church. "What's wrong, Foggy?" He asked.

"Why aren't you and Lance at your apartment?" Foggy asked as stopped pounding on the door.

Matt rolled his eyes. "It's Sunday." He said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Foggy said. And immediately as the words came out of his mouth, he realized what that meant. "You took Lance to Mass? I would have thought you guys wouldn't have been able to get out of bed this morning. And you went to church." He asked.

Matt chuckled. "Not like she hasn't been to one before. She met Father Lantom more than once. And I'm not going to discuss the other part of that with you," He said, awkward as they stood in church and Matt thought about what all Foggy suggested entailed. "So why were you trying to disturb me while we were at church?" He asked.

"Breakfast. I thought we could all have breakfast together." Foggy answered.

Matt turned his face to Laurel, "You hungry? Foggy is at the apartment and wanting food." He told her.

She nodded "Food would be great. Listening to how God is love and love is God, really worked up an appetite." She told him as she put an arm around his waist.

"We'll be there in ten minutes, why don't we all go to Rita's?" He asked.

Foggy nodded. "Rita's sounds good." He said.

They said goodbye and Matt hung up the phone. He waited until he could hear that the road was clear and then walked them across the road, without ever having to worry that they would get hit by a cab driver. "It still impresses me that you can do that," Laurel told him as she closed her eyes for a moment and listened to the sounds around her.

"You'd get the hang of it too, just with your eyes, instead of your hearing if you lived here long enough," He told her.

They finished getting up to the apartment where they met Foggy and he shook his head. "It's absolutely insane, the way you both look. I mean you practically fell out of a catalogue and went to church," He chuckled.

"God expects a well groomed flock," Laurel said.

Foggy waved her off and lead the way to Rita's. "Karen went ahead of us, made sure to get the table ready," He told them as they descended the stairs. "So did you guys have fun, yesterday?" He asked.

Laurel looked over to Matt and smiled. "Yeah, we found a way to occupy the time." She told him.

Foggy looked over to her, "Come on, you can eat him up when you get home, but Rita's, we actually like eating there, so you two can't get us all kicked out," He huffed. "Which means best behavior."

Matt slung his arms around her waist, "I know you've gone pretty far at Rita's with Karen, Foggy. I was at the table when you did," He grinned.

Foggy shook his head. "You're an ass."

"But I'm not lying." He said, simply.

Karen had a careless grin on her face when they walked in and she came right up and hugged Laurel. "So how was your trip?" She asked.

Laurel nodded and chuckled to herself. "It was good. Exhausting, you know, but it's good to be back where the civilization is," She told.

Karen chuckled. "That is far out,"

"You never said that you were going jungle hopping," Foggy noted.

They sat down and Laurel laughed. "It wasn't quite like that, but suffice it to say that there were not many modern amenities. Certainly wasn't easy for Barb to get around, but we managed okay. We won." She said and blushed a little, while she looked down at the menu.

"You had a case?" Karen asked, full of wonder.

Laurel shook her head and chuckled. "No, we had to save a couple of friends of mine from some bad people. Actually one bad person and bunch of his brainwashed victims, but you know, kind of the same thing in the thick of it,"

The waitress brought coffee out and sat it down in front of each of them, "You guys gonna need a few more minutes?" She asked. "Do you need any help?" She asked Matt, who straightened his tie.

Laurel put her hand on his knee and gave a territorial smile. "Yes, we're gonna need a few minutes, but I think we've got all the information we need," She said.

The waitress humphed off and Matt laughed. "You didn't have to do that," He told her. "I could tell she wasn't my type,"

Laurel shook her head. "Like that time that you were so cool with Cal in the study group?" She asked him.

"He was blatantly hitting on you. In front of me. I'm blind. I'm not deaf," Matt pouted.

Laurel snorted, "Trust me if you could see, you would have been able to tell, she was hitting on you too. While I was right here." She said and carded a hand through the hair on the side of his head.

Foggy shook his head. "You two are disgustingly cute. Now find food," He said as he picked up the menu.