Chapter 20

"Oh, you're Foggy's parents?" Matt didn't know what to do or say next. He figured Foggy would be back in a little while, and he didn't want to turn them away exactly, but he wished their first meeting had come about under less awkward circumstances. For one, it would have been nice if Foggy had actually been there.

"Yes," Anna Nelson said with some hesitation, "I came into town to meet Edward and we thought we'd surprise him. It wasn't the best idea perhaps."

"Well, he's still on campus, I just came from there. He'll probably be back in forty minutes or so." Matt made a split-second decision and added, "You want to come in and wait for him? We've got some coffee if you want."

"Oh, we wouldn't want to bother you boys," Edward said and looked at his wife in a vain attempt to try to read her mind.

"It's fine. Really," Matt said as he got his key out and felt for the opening in the lock. He was wondering what on Earth he was going to do to entertain Foggy's parents until he came back, but would have felt awful if he didn't invite them in.

"Maybe just for a few minutes," Anna finally relented.

Matt got the door open and stepped to the side to let the others enter. He leaned his cane against the wall in the corner of the room, just a few feet to the right of the door and let the backpack slide to the floor with a gentle thud. Now what? Right. Coffee. Everyone liked coffee. "Uh, go ahead and sit down if you want."

"This is a nice place you've got," Foggy's father said, though he'd seen it when he and his wife dropped their son off.

"Yeah, it's not too shabby, I guess." Matt started fiddling with the coffee maker. The Nelsons still hadn't sat down, which stressed him out a little. He could feel and hear them moving around, presumably looking at everything.

"I can never get Foggy to pick anything off the floor. What did you do with him?" Anna said jokingly.

Matt smiled at the thought of what Foggy would have said if he had been there. Parents seemed to think nothing of talking openly about their children's less than admirable qualities. "I guess I gave him a reason."

As if she was suddenly reminded of how she'd neglected her duties, Anna walked over to the kitchen area. "Please, allow me." Being waited on by a blind teenage boy didn't sit well with how she normally operated.

"No, I've got it." Matt tried to go for 'nice but firm' and sensed Foggy's mother back away. "You're the guests here." He heard one of the chairs scrape against the floor behind him and felt the gentle tug of Edward Nelson sitting down at the table. His wife reluctantly followed suit. Once he heard the coffee maker start up, Matt reached out for the thin hard mass in front of him that indicated the back of a chair and pulled it out to sit down. Now what was he going to talk about?

"Foggy didn't mention your..." Edward cleared his throat, "handicap." He received a cold look from his wife and felt her kick his shin. Anna didn't believe in being blunt.

"Oh." Matt had tried not to listen to any of Foggy's phone calls, which was easy enough with so many other sounds to tune in to, but it was hard not to overhear his name being mentioned and he knew that Foggy had talked about him. He also knew that Foggy hadn't told his parents that he was blind, which was something he appreciated, even though it added to the awkwardness of the situation he was now in. "Well, I hope it's not the most interesting thing about me."

"I think it's admirable that you are getting an education," Anna said in a misguided attempt to smooth things over.

"I don't know... I'm just doing what I want to do. It sure beats the alternative." Matt opened his watch underneath the table so he could feel the time on it. Blindness sure could be a bitch sometimes, but being able to tell the time without letting anyone know was an unexpected perk. He wondered how much longer it would be before Foggy showed up, or even how long they'd have to wait for the coffee to be ready to pour so he could get back up and move around.

"I'm sure Foggy could learn a lot from you," Anna said, this time getting a stern look from her husband.

"So, Foggy tells us you're from around here." Edward added.

"If by 'around here' you mean Manhattan. I'm from Hell's Kitchen." Matt considered going with Clinton instead, but he decided against the sugarcoating, and he always liked the name of his old neighborhood anyway. At the very least, it made the place sound interesting. "You live on Long Island?"

"Yes, not too far away, I suppose." Edwards said.

"We like it," Anna added. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Matt was sure they were stalling just as much as he was, desperate for something to serve as a real icebreaker. "No, I'm an only child. I was raised by my dad, my mom died when I was little."

"Oh my!" Foggy's mother couldn't believe Matt's poor luck.

"Don't worry, he did a pretty good job." Matt smiled to put all of them at ease. The coffee was almost ready and he got up to get some cups.

"Can I help?" Anna asked now that she saw Matt getting back up.

"Well, if you want milk, there's some in the refrigerator." Matt nodded in its general direction. "Otherwise, I've got it."

"You had your first day today, didn't you?" Edward started, "do the two of you take any of the same classes?"

"Yeah, most of them actually." Matt put all the things on the table, including the box with Aunt Grace's cookies. "It's good. We can help each other out."

"So you have some of the same interests then?" Anna had returned to the table. She was relieved that the conversation was finally going somewhere.

"Yeah, we get along great. And we both want to be lawyers." Matt remembered something about how Foggy's mom wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea, but he nodded enthusiastically anyway.

"It's an honorable profession." Edwards Nelson was showing off his slightly more diplomatic side. "What kind of law do you want to practice, Matt?"

"I can't say I've decided yet, but I'm leaning toward criminal law." Matt joined them at the table again and let his guests pour their own coffee. He didn't want to give the Nelsons a heart attack by doing it for them.

"So you want to get the bad guys off the hook, huh?" Edward joked.

"Not really. I mean, everyone's entitled to a defense, right? And it's not just the guilty who get accused of a crime. Then you have the ones who really deserve a second chance. I'm all for giving people second chances. Well, some people."

"It sure sounds like you put some thought into it." Anna nodded and gave her husband an approving look. Matt might be a good influence on Foggy. Not that he had ever strayed particularly far from the straight and narrow.

"Yeah, I guess I have." Suddenly, Matt heard familiar footsteps in the hallway. Foggy was back. Just a few more seconds now. Thank God.

Foggy started speaking even before he had fully opened the door. "Hey, Matt. I'll have to finish that stuff tomorrow... I got bored." It took a few seconds for the scene in front of him to make sense. Apparently his parents had dropped by and were now being entertained by his roommate. He hoped they hadn't had time to do too much damage to his reputation. "Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, there you are!" Anna lit up at the sight of her step-son. She had been in his life since he was three and she loved him as if he were her own child.

"We were just discussing the legal system with Matt here." Edward added.

"Oh. Well, that's good... So, what were you doing here exactly?" Foggy hoped that didn't sound too harsh. They had loved, clothed and fed him his whole life and were now paying for his education - well, along with Rosalind - and he didn't want to come across as a spoiled brat.

"I was in town and we wanted to surprise you!" Anna said. By the look on his face, Foggy was plenty surprised. 

"Yeah, you really got me there." Foggy still didn't really know what to make of the situation and hoped that his parents hadn't told Matt all of his more embarrassing childhood stories. He glanced over at Matt and felt a mild frustration at not being able to read him properly. They couldn't give each other knowing looks because Matt couldn't see them and he wasn't very good at projecting them either with the shades covering a large part of his face. He did look mildly amused, however.

"Don't worry, Foggy. We only managed to cover the first five years of your life." Matt joked, guessing what Foggy was probably thinking.

"That's great!" Foggy joked back and let his guard down a little. From the looks of things, Matt had done a decent job of acting host and it was good seeing his folks again, even though he hadn't expected them.

"How about if we take the two of you out to dinner?" Edward asked and Anna nodded her approval.

"Yeah..." Foggy started, not sure of whether it was a good idea. Once again, he missed not being able to exchange non-verbal cues with Matt.

"We would love to take you. Both of you," Anna insisted.

"Okay, sure," Foggy said, noticing how Matt tensed up slightly.

"You guys go ahead and have a family dinner. It's okay." Matt didn't want to be in the way, even though he could sense their sincerity. There was nothing in their voices to indicate that they would prefer for him to gracefully bow out.

"Seriously, Matt. You've gotta come," Foggy pleaded. "Or I'm not going either."

"Well, if you're sure it's alright." There were things he needed to attend to, and he really should get a head start on his reading, but there was certainly something to be said for a distraction, especially with the state his head had been in lately. 

"It would be our pleasure," Edward said.

"Okay. Thank you." Matt suddenly realized he wasn't sure he had anything appropriate to wear. He knew the Nelson's had much more money than his father and that they would probably be going some place a little nicer. "Foggy, can I talk to you in there for a minute," he said, nodding in the direction of their bedroom door.

"Oh sure." Foggy waited for Matt to get up and then followed him into the bedroom. "What's up?"

"Is this something we need to change for? If we do, I'm not sure I have anything to wear."

"Wow, you sound like a girl." Foggy had a pretty good idea of where they would be going. His parents had a favorite restaurant in mid-town, a family-owned Italian place that wasn't exactly cheap but far from pretentious. Jeans and a clean shirt were fine.

"I'm serious. I don't have anything really nice." Matt was a little annoyed that Foggy was taking this so lightly.

"Hey, you look fine. I'm not changing into anything else. Besides, it's a Monday night and I'm pretty sure where we're going. And, they're not snobs. Just so you know."

"Okay." That was a relief. He stood out like a sore thumb as it was, and there was no need to make things worse.

"Are you boys ready?" Anna called from the other room.

"See, they're not expecting us to change. You're totally fine." Foggy gave Matt a pat on the shoulder and went back into the larger room.

"Thanks," Matt said to Foggy's back before following him out and cutting straight to where he had left his cane, letting his hand just barely trail the wall he could feel pushing on the air to his left. By the kitchen table, he could hear Foggy squirm a little while his mother poked around with his hair.

"Mom, stop fussing." Foggy pulled away from her and put his hand on his head to weigh down the stray lock of hair that always seemed to have a mind of its own.

"I'm sorry, dear. It's an old habit." Anna looked from her son to her husband who was smiling at the two of them. "Well, I guess we're just about ready then."

ooOoo

Once down on the street, Foggy noticed his dad look at him with a worried expression on his face after giving Matt's cane a once over. They'd already seen him whack one of the smaller trees that lined the sidewalk, and Foggy knew his dad was worried for his brand new car. He mouthed back an 'it's okay' and walked up alongside Matt to get him to take his arm instead. "Hey, Matt. The car's right over here."

"Okay, thanks." Matt followed Foggy just a few more feet down the sidewalk until they stopped at a big mass of car-shaped metal parked underneath a tree.

"You take this side, and I'll get the other door, okay." Foggy noticed his mom give Matt her signature heartbroken wounded puppy look and Foggy frowned back at her to get her to drop it. He hoped to God they could just get through this without his parents doing anything overly embarrassing.

Matt folded his cane and sat down on the leather seat in the back of the car. It smelled new, but there were also traces of human activity: the faint odors of lunch boxes brought to work, an occasional meal from a drive-through and sweaty sneakers. Matt guessed that Candace probably played sports, even though Foggy didn't. "This is a nice car, Mr. Nelson," Matt said, knowing that people liked getting those kinds of compliments.

"This here is a Mercedes 400SE, I just bought it this spring. It runs like a charm." Edward Nelson let out a wistful sigh, as if he had just been reminded of how lucky he was to get his hands on this pinnacle of human engineering. "Those Germans sure know their cars. Oh, and please call me Edward. There's no need to be formal."

"I don't really know too much about a cars. My dad doesn't have one. We borrow our neighbor's car when we need to go some place and that's just a beat-up old Dodge. It's not this comfortable, that's for sure." Matt wasn't generally a big fan of riding in cars since he tended to feel too cut off from the outside. He knew he'd lose his place on his meticulously maintained inner map within a few turns. With everyone buckled in, Edward pulled out from the curb.

"So where's Candace?" Foggy asked, wondering just how crazy his parents were to leave her unattended for the evening. After all, they might return to find their house burned down to the ground.

"She has a sleep-over at Allison's" Anna said, referring to the daughter of a couple living down the street.

"Does this sleep-over include sacrificing kittens?"

"Franklin, I don't appreciate you talking about your sister that way. She may have a wild streak, but she's not as bad as you make her out to be. I'm sure she'll behave herself." Anna's last statement gave away her apprehensions.

"Okay, sorry. But if the house is gone when you get back, don't tell me I didn't tell you so."

"So," Edward said, eager to turn the topic away from the wilder of his two children, "did you learn anything today?"

Foggy smiled. His dad had asked the same question every day after school for as long as he could remember. "Yeah. I learned that Matt seems to already know most of this stuff."

"Naw, that was just beginner's luck," Matt said, a little embarrassed by the comment. "And science is going to be a pain, I just know it."

"Yeah, I don't really like that they're making us take that stuff. It's not like we're ever going to need it."

"Well, you never know when you're going to need to know something, and when you do, you'll be happy you put in the effort," Edward said. "So, you're a good student then, are you Matt?"

"I guess so. I try to be." Matt knew that he was being overly modest, but he'd never been one to boast about his achievements. "My dad was pretty strict about school work, and I'm here on a scholarship so I guess it paid off."

"Well, what do you know." Edward nodded slowly, as if he was pondering this piece of information. "Did Foggy tell you I went to school here too?"

"Yes, sir. He did."

"I graduated in 1969. Ah, we had some good times back then. Don't forget to enjoy yourselves too, you hear?"

"We won't." Foggy smiled at that comment. It was a bit unexpected coming from his dad.

"Can you believe our boy is all grown up?" Anna turned around to look at him, and Foggy got the sneaking suspicion that she was going to reach out to pinch his cheek.

"Mom, please…" Foggy gave her a pleading look and glanced over at Matt who looked rather amused.

"Okay, everyone. We're just about there. Let me know if you see an empty parking spot." Edward said, sitting up a little straighter behind the wheel.

ooOoo

Matt knew they were somewhere in Midtown, but that was about all he knew. He made a conscious decision not to let that bother him. After all, it wasn't as if he didn't have a way to get back.

The restaurant was quite a bit nicer than any place he'd ever been before. Matt could only try to guess what the décor might look like, but there were other things that set it apart from the diners and chain restaurants he and his dad frequented. The atmosphere was quieter, the conversations spoken in hushed voices, and there was more wine than beer being consumed. Then there was the food, of course. The whole place smelled so good, Matt immediately thanked himself for signing up for this unexpected trip.

A waiter appeared to show them to their seats, a round table in the back, and brought over four menus, even though Matt couldn't read his. Although, this time, he could have if he'd tried. Unlike the joints he was used to, these weren't the plastic menus that one would wipe off with a wet cloth, but actual print menus with just a leather cover.

Foggy leaned over in Matt's direction. "You want me to read everything or is there some other way of doing this?"

"If it's long, just give me the headings and I'll decide if it sounds interesting." Matt was hoping something would match a particularly divine smell he was picking up on.

"Well, how about if we get som garlic bread to start with, huh?" Edward flagged down a waiter while Foggy threw himself into reading through the whole menu. It wasn't particularly long. Matt stopped him when he got to the crimini mushroom risotto.

"That's what I'm having." Matt knew that had to be what he was smelling.

"You don't want me to read the rest?" Matt's decisiveness struck Foggy as a little odd.

"No, that's okay."

"Alright." Foggy looked up and noticed his mother studying the two of them, smiling at Foggy like he'd done her proud by being such a good sport about helping out the poor little blind friend. He just hoped she wouldn't say anything to that effect. "Well, I always order the same thing."

The waiter came back around and Edward placed their orders, including a half bottle of wine for him and his wife to share.

"You know, Matt, when Foggy was maybe four or five, we took him here one time. We got him the spaghetti Bolognese and he accidentally pushed down on the edge of the plate," Anna said, unable to contain a hearty laugh before going on, "and the whole thing went flying. I think most of it ended up in his hair, but there was some on the wall too."

"Yeah, that must have been something." Foggy said through gritted teeth, though he wasn't really upset.

"Hey, I'll have my dad come over and tell you embarrassing stuff about me." Matt said to Foggy. "That way we're even."

"Okay, but I should tell you that your dad scares me a little."

"Yeah, he sort of has that effect on people. He's really quite charming once you get to know him." Matt laughed at his own choice of words. "Okay, maybe not charming, but you know what I mean."

"Besides, I doubt there's anything to tell. I'm a first-class goof, so I'm pretty sure I've got you beat."

"Okay, how about this one? Apparently, I got so spooked the first time I saw Big Bird on TV that I wouldn't go near it for a week. At least according to my dad."

"Big Bird?" Foggy looked at Matt with equal parts amusement and surprise.

"I was three, okay? I don't even remember it. And, yes, I got over it eventually." Matt smiled, and tacked on a little joke, "And I know what you're thinking. I got over it before going blind, okay?"

"I was just about to ask that," Foggy replied, mildly aware of the disapproving look from his parents who obviously didn't find blindness to be a joking matter. But Matt had said it was okay to joke about, and what Matt thought carried considerably more weight.

"I promise you, I have nothing but great memories of Big Bird."

"Well that's good to know." Foggy thought about it for a second, then added another story of his own. "One time when I was eight, I went to school wearing my sisters hat that said Candace on it. We both had identical hats with names, like the ones you order from a catalogue, and I took the wrong one."

"And how long did it take you to figure this out, Foggy?" Matt asked.

"You know," Foggy cracked himself up thinking about it, "for the longest time, I was wondering why everyone was looking at me. But I had it figured out by the afternoon."

"Wow, that fast, huh?" Matt gave Foggy one of his more sarcastic smiles and leaned back against his chair when he noticed someone bringing drinks and garlic bread their way.

"Hey, you want some bread, Matt?" Foggy reached for the garlic bread, and was ready to put a slice on Matt's plate too if he accepted.

"Sure, thanks. But, did your parents ever call the police on you?"

"Eh, no. Wow, what did you do?" Foggy wondered briefly if Matt had any kind of sordid past he hadn't told him about.

"I didn't do anything. Let's just say that my dad sort of over-reacted. I was going to go visit someone I knew from school who'd moved out to Brooklyn. Then, on the way back, I sort of got on the wrong train. Or, it wasn't really the wrong train, it was just the express train so it didn't stop at my station. They either didn't announce it, or I just missed it for some reason. Anyway, I figured it out soon enough when they went right past where I was getting off. So, I decided to get off at the next stop and then just ride the train back, which was really no biggie. Or, so I thought. It turned out that they had massive delays on the trains in the other direction. I don't know why, maybe someone jumped or something. Whatever the case was, I got delayed about one hour, and my dad was really freaking out. He'd called this friend of mine who told him that I'd left, and I'm sure he thought I was either lost or dead. So when I finally got to my station, this police officer came up to me and told me that my dad was looking for me. That's a little excessive if you ask me."

"I guess." Foggy was surprised that Matt's father was even the worrying type. He sure didn't seem like it.

"As a parent, I can certainly understand your father's concern." Anna said. "It's difficult not to worry sometimes."

"Yeah, I know. But, at the time, I was really angry about it. I felt like he didn't trust me enough. Sure, I was still new to being blind and all that, but I'd gone places by myself lots of times. If I'd been two hours late, maybe that would have been reason enough to worry. Either way, I thought it was kind of embarrassing." Matt and Jack had had a really big fight that evening, which Matt felt no need to revisit. It had been a good fight in a way, since it really cleared the air, but part of why he'd been so angry was that the experience of being lost, albeit briefly, had been more jarring than he'd cared to admit.

"But, speaking of the police, shouldn't we call to see what Candace is up to?" Foggy joked and looked at his parents.

"Your mother is right, Franklin. There's no need to talk about your sister that way. She just has a lot of energy, that's all." Edward said.

"Alright, fine. Whatever you say." Though he did love the little brat very much, Foggy still wasn't so sure she wasn't spawned by some demon. At least if those loud shrills she could muster when she didn't get her way were anything to go by.

Before long, their food arrived, and Matt had the best meal of his life. Foggy traded quips with his parents for much of the evening, and Matt learned all there was to know about being an investment banker. Foggy's parents were good people, which shouldn't have been all that surprising since – after all – Foggy was good people too.

ooOoo

They got back to the apartment around nine, and Matt was stuffed. The Nelsons had insisted they all have desserts, and Matt had tried the tiramisu.

Foggy threw himself on the couch in front of the TV and turned it on while Matt was getting ready to call Adam, hoping that he'd be able to help him out. Before he got the chance to, the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, I was looking for a Matt Murdock." The voice on the other line belonged to a young woman.

"I'm Matt."

"Oh, good. I'm calling about the ad you put up."

"Great. That's… perfect."

"So, how does this work, exactly? Do I come in for an interview?"

"I wouldn't call it that exactly. But, how about if you come over tomorrow and we'll talk about it?"

"Sure, that works for me. What time? Five-ish?"

"Yeah, I should be home by then. What was your name?"

"Oh, god. Sorry. I'm Angie."

"Well, I guess I'll see you then, Angie."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye." Matt hung up the phone and turned to Foggy. "Okay, I think I just found a reader."

"She's already hired?"

"Unless it turns out she can't read or something, yeah. Besides, she might not want the job. But she had a really great voice."

"Well, there you go. She sounds perfect, can I meet her?" Matt had sat down in the arm chair on the other side of the coffee table, and Foggy jokingly took one of the smaller sofa cushions and threw it in his roommate's direction.

"Did you just throw this at me?" Matt said, his voice tinged with mock outrage.

"Yeah, I'm just channeling some Candace Nelson over here."

"Wow, I should call your parents right now and tell them that you're harassing your poor, unsuspecting blind roommate."

"Please don't, my mom would kill me." Foggy laughed.

"I doubt it. You know, your parents aren't too bad."

"Yeah, as far as parents go, they're okay."