Apologies for any mistakes, I'm sleepy! I honestly think my writing is sub par compared to some stories on this site! I'm by no means an expert at this, legit the last time I wrote a creative essay was 6 years ago in high school lol, I do try my best! So thank you for all your kind reviews, I have missed you! This is extra long to make up for the absence. Enjoy the latest update xx


Riley

The hours flew by and then it was a few hours till the crack of the dawn the next day. The time Xavier chose to meet was when the rest of the city would be silent and asleep. The team readied to roll out on what could be her last mission ever.

"We'll be behind you, a mile out. These have been shaved down so they'll break easily with one tug." Leo put the cuffs on her.

"You got some balls Knight, I'll give you that," said Croftsky, handing her the keys to the car Waterhouse would drive to the meeting point. "Don't die," he told her matter-of-factly, which was the extent of how civil they could be with each other.

"Thanks Croftsky," she smirked, somehow finding it in her to be flippant about the whole mission, "not dying is number one on my to do list."

After a few more good lucks and downhearted goodbyes they were ready to go. "Why did I agree to this?" Waterhouse asked himself rhetorically as he started the car engine.

"Don't why you did either," Riley replied, and snorted; "don't know why I did, but here we are. Atoning for our sins."

"What sins do you have to atone for, Detective?"

"Plenty you don't need to know about, Andrew."

They drove out of the garage and onto the street, "keep your distance we don't want to raise any suspicion," said Fitz' voice into her comm piece. He was talking to Leo and Malek following behind them.

Riley was level-headed and calm for the first half hour as they drove towards the outskirts of town, occasionally giving Waterhouse directions and confirming with Fitz that they were in the clear from any tails.

"We're almost there," announced Andrew when they got to a traffic light and waiting for the lights to change.

"Call him," she instructed.

"I'll be there in 5 minutes."

"I sent you something," blared Xavier's voice into the car over loud speaker, Riley's stomach fell at the sinister note in his voice. If there was ever a time for the mission to go sideways, it would be right about-

Waterhouse's phone pinged and he opened the file Xavier sent, she peeked at it but knew what was going on immediately;

In a small clip, Xavier had Jeremy Waterhouse tied up in a chair, gagged, right eye swollen shut and blood running down the side of his head.

She swallowed the pit in her throat, she couldn't form words, she was a fool to have thought this was going to go her way, even with all their planning.

"Knight, what did he send you?" Fitz asked.

"Fuck," she rasped into the comm device, "Xavier has his kid."

"Jeremy!" Andrew gasped, his breathing altered, it was high and whistling, not good, not good at all. She watched him closely, she could see his mind moving like clockwork. The traffic light went from red to green. Riley turned to him, she was a proud woman but she was prepared to blather and plead and beg for him not to betray them;

"Just wait—"

Waterhouse pointed the gun at her forehead.

A chill ran down her spine. She had knives aimed at her and guns in the past but it was always unnerving when it was this close in such a confined space. Fitz was shouting into her ear but her only focus was on the gun in her face. She quickly put her hands up to surrender, "Andrew...please, you need to think this through."

"Shut up!" He hissed, he may been have been shaken to his core a second ago but right now there was nothing but steely resolve in his eyes, the gun was steady and his other hand was deftly placed on the steering wheel. This was what he was good at. "Ditch the comm device. Now. I know what this means."

She was both the hostage and the negotiator in this situation; "you have to cooperate with us. If you go through with this and you trade me for your kid what do you think will happen to you?"

"My son will be safe, that's what will happen!" The cold lip of the gun pressed on her forehead and she shrunk in her seat, "now tell the others to fall back and ditch the comm device!"

Cars were honking behind them as their vehicle failed to move, she licked her lips, he would not kill her now, he needed her alive. It was better that she was in one piece or not knocked out when they came to the hostage exchange. They had to save Jeremy too somehow. "Malek, Leo fall back," she complied to that at and she threw the device out the window. Her sole connection to the rest of the team.

"Andrew...we can wait for the rest of the team, we'll figure out something-"

"There's no time to waste!" He put the gear into drive and took a turn that was off the route they were initially heading in, "he's texted a new meeting point and time, that's where we're going."

She faced the front watching slowly- almost as if she weren't here at all but observing like a bystander-as she was driven to her fate.


Matt

There was no way in hell he was not going to go through with a back up plan without the Detective's knowlegde. He opened the window to Gardner's safe house and startled the man when he was leaving the bathroom. "Remember me?"

Gardner yelped and made a run for it but Matt was faster he pinned him to the wall. "You-you threw me out that window," he squealed, terrified. Not enjoying the prospect of being tossed out again and going into another coma.

"I should have done more," he pressed his elbow in deeper, baring his teeth, "I was going easy on you."

"What do you want? To throw me out there again?" He stuttered.

"The cops got information out of you, but not enough."

"Why the fuck are you interested in cop business?" He complained.

"They're after Sweeney, like I am. But they're useless at their jobs, when I know I could do more."

"D-Damn straight they're useless. That cop, Detective Knight, she's a lying bitch, she told me she would get me out of here."

At the mention of her name he unpinned him from the wall and smashed him onto the floor, twisting his arm until he squealed. "They had to get you to talk, so it makes sense. I bet it sucks to feel this much fear, to constantly be in danger, must be what the people you exploited felt like." He twisted harder until the squeal became a scream, he could easily tear the arm out of the socket, but he would save that for later; "They could only ask you to tell them the truth, but I can make you."


Riley

She had no idea where the others were. In fact, she was regretting telling Matt to stay the hell away from her for this mission. She still had a small handgun on her leg, the weight of which was comforting, but when was the right time to use it? She wished she had more time to figure out a way out of this that would not end her life or Jeremy's. They arrived at an abandoned car manufacturing warehouse. Andrew parked outside of it, the aim of his gun never left her as he walked around and open the passenger side door.

He reached in and yanked her collar at the nape of her neck, dragging her bodily from the car. "You're making a huge mistake," she barked at him.

"Jesus do you never stop talking?" He curled his hand around her shoulder and forced her to her knees like the prisoner she was. "We'll wait here for him."

She looked up at him; "You don't have to do this. Fitz is looking for us as we speak, it's not going to end well for you or your son in the long run."

"You don't know what I'd give up to see him unharmed," he replied, unwaveringly. There was a stretched out silence between them. She glanced out at the horizon, as the first hints of dawn lightened the dark sky. The last sunrise I will ever see? Will I even make it to then? She was eerily calm for a moment, as if her life was some big joke when in actual fact she was about to be executed, which led to her question;

"How does Xavier kill his targets? Is it all the same, one shot to the back of the head?"

His face twisted morosely; "He's not gonna kill you. He'll hand you over to Sweeney."

That is. Much. Worse. "Fabulous, I've been eager to finally meet him. He's been terrorising the city for a couple of months now. Of course you know what that must have been like, when the Kitchen Irish mattered in this city," Riley said, trying not to think if Roscoe would be as psychotic as his brother Rob.

Rob was going to mutilate Matt in front of me. She stared up at Waterhouse, studying him, she could tell he noticed her stare as he avoided her gaze.

"September 27th 1995. Remember that night?" She asked, out of pure curiosity.

He scoffed, disbelieving; "You expect me to remember some random date you—"

"You killed someone that day, didn't you?

He looked down at her, annoyed, she was a few more sentences away from getting the butt of the gun on her skull; "why are you asking me this? What does this have to do with my kid?"

"C'mon I don't have a wire or comm device," she reminded him, staring back with razor sharp acuity, "I just want to know."

She could decide later if she were to tell Matt.

"September 1995 huh?" He thought for a moment, "yeah I did go after someone," he replied, monotonously.

"Jack Murdock?" She goaded.

"Yeah, it was him," he nodded, grimly watching the perimeter, keeping his gun pointed at her as he did, holding onto her like she was some ragdoll. "Roscoe wanted him dead. So is that why you flipped your shit on me back at the precinct? Because of Jack Murdock?"

Riley never answered, just glared daggers at him as he went on.

"I was talented, in a different and unconventional way, and I'm not ashamed of it. It was easy money back then."

"Easy money, huh?" She scoffed; "Jack was nobody; he wasn't in the mob, he was just a second rate ring fighter who was always getting his ass handed to him. Sure he lost Sweeney some money but—he didn't deserve to die," she said. "You shot him in the alley behind his home like he was a dog. He had a son; a bright kid, who was orphaned," she said scathingly. Remembering Matt somehow made falter and she stopped.

"I'm not that person anymore," he replied, the hand on the gun tensing.

She eyed it cautiously and then looked at his face once more; "I know you're not. You're trying not to be. You have a son too," she said steadily. "What would he say if he saw what you were doing? If he knew what you were?"

"You asked me to do this," he hissed. "I was the dumbshit who agreed to it. This is your fault—"

"You were trying to do something good—"

"And look what happened! Look what I've gotten myself into! I've already lost my life; I won't let his end for my mistakes," he roughed up her collar again, keeping a hold of her so she wouldn't try anything. "I know Fitzgerald will keep his word. His life is all that matters, his survival, I'd do anything to make sure he stays alive."

It was time to act now. Riley tugged on the chains to break them and she was free, he didn't realise until she leaned her head back and bit the hand that wielded the gun. "AH!" He screamed, dropping the weapon.

She leapt to her feet and made a break for it, but he managed to grab her leg and she tripped over. She fell face first into the ground, a rock broke her fall and it was a though someone took a hammer to her skull. Her ears were ringing, Riley groaned and rolled over, in time for Andrew to get up, she reared her leg and kicked him in the stomach, giving her the advantage to straighten herself once more and run to hide. A shot fired behind her and she ducked in time into the warehouse.

...

Riley sprinted to a set of stairs, kicking up decades of dust behind her, not knowing if Andrew was following or not. Once in the stair well, she bent and retrieved the handgun from her leg. Xavier would be here any second now for the exchange. She picked up a plank from the ground and placed it across the door to prevent anyone come coming in that way. She needed to get to higher ground.

Bounding up the stairs she tried a door on the first floor, it was locked. She continued upwards, the air was stuffy and choked with dust. Running out of breath as usual, she reached the next landing and the door was locked again. Fuck. Drenched in sweat she sprinted up again—

Riley shrieked when a black figure appeared in front of her out of thin air, instinctively she aimed and shot. The bullet went into the concrete wall behind them. It was only when she saw the tinge of red the pale light gave on the horns did she realise it was Matt's Daredevil costume.

"What the fuck! What are you doing here?" She shoved him, her heart hammering in her ears, still in the midst of a heart attack. "I almost killed you!"

"I'm saving you!" He snapped at her, she knew it was only because she was reacting adversely to his aid.

"You promised not to be here," she pointed out, which was idiotic of her to say in hindsight because what difference did it make if he was here or not?

"I'm glad I am," he countered stubbornly. "Did you really think I was going to leave you for the wolves like that? C'mon, I wouldn't do that to you, even if you told me to fuck off." She was leaning on her knees to catch her breath and she glanced up at him. His words were actually damnably sweet. But if he was choosing right now to have a moment it wasn't the right time. "You're so annoying," she sniffed, the only lame thing she managed to respond with.

"I also heard over the comms that Waterhouse backstabbed you."

She coughed and wiped her forehead with the forearm that held her gun. "Son of a bitch did. Xavier has his kid. Where is Andrew?"

"He chased you for a bit but Xavier's pulled into the compound," he told her, "we have less than two minutes though, and they'll probably fan out to find you." She didn't realise that his hand was on her arm and he was hoisting her up to straighten herself from her bent over form. She hoped he didn't take note of how badly she was gasping for air.

He's here. Fuck there's no time to think of a backup plan, and I still haven't reached a sniper position to at least take them out if I have too.

"I had to get away, but it doesn't matter—I have to give myself up. I don't have a choice, I can't let that kid die, Matt," she said, her voice breaking slightly. "I can't."

Matt bent his head to make her gaze land on him; "You do have a choice," he said, and Riley wasn't sure if she heard him correctly, but he went on to explain; "I questioned Gardner further. I know more now, I made him call the precinct and speak to Detective Croftsky. I also gave them your location so they should be on their way too."

She blinked at him, caught off guard, she never asked for any of this; "You—you did what?"

In pale blue light she saw him crack a small smile. "I didn't know what the outcome of this crazy plan of yours was going to be, I had to get leverage for you in case something like this happened. Like I said, I wasn't going to leave you behind," he said softly. He reached for her cheek and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. The tender gesture may have also robbed whatever breathe she regained, but she chose to believe it was the running that was still doing that.

Matt cocked his head in the direction of the stairs she came up from. "We should get back to the ground, we can subdue them."

"Hold on, you made him? What does that mean?" She asked as they ran down three steps at a time, Matt was leaping from banister to banister like cat. Riley was still in a daze that she may not die today after all. And she felt a hundred times calmer now that he was here with her.

He titled his chin over his shoulder at her; "I don't have to spell it out for you." She knew what it meant, probably already did this whole time. She would try to stomach the fact that he tortured Gardner for her sake after this was over.

When they got to the ground floor she barred closed she flattened her back on side of the door prepared for an ambush, he did the same as he listened for the whereabouts of the two hitmen. "Sweeney kills snitches, I knew it would cost Gardner a lot to help us, I told him that he would be safe—if word gets out that this happened, that he spilled what he knew to—"

"It doesn't matter now," Matt cut her off as he finished listening, "Jeremy's still alive, he's in the trunk of the car. We need a plan and fast."

...

After they agreed on a plan, Riley hid behind the giant steel doors to the warehouse, ready. The two cars were outside on the other side.

"Let me see my son!" Andrew called to Xavier.

She heard Xavier snap open the trunk. She heard dragging sounds as he hauled Jeremy out and dropped him onto the ground, there was no noise coming from the kid which was very concerning; "here he is. Tough kid, he did put up a fight. Now where is she? Or did you double cross me?"

"She ran away."

"That doesn't sound like good news for you Waterhouse," Xavier replied.

She emerged from her hiding spot, gun out. "I think we've had enough!" She had her weapon aimed at Xavier first, she had to believe Andrew would spare her even though he probably wanted her dead now too.

Both hitmen directed their guns at her. "There she is," a wolfish grin appeared on Xavier's mouth. "Coming along with me are you, detective?"

"Not at all, step away from his son," she commanded.

As he opened his mouth to respond, Matt sailed through the air and landed on the hood of Xavier's car, he tackled him to the ground. The distraction allowed Riley to shoot at Andrew, she purposefully missed to get him scared. She lunged to him and tackled him too. Riley straddled his back as he struggled to get her off of him but she had the stronger hold.

She bent down to whisper in his ear; "you didn't think you'd actually get away with this did you?"

"He's never going to stop," spat Andrew, his cheek smothered on the ground. She wasn't certain if he was referring to Xavier or Sweeney. It didn't matter. She handcuffed him, "Shut up," she snapped and read his rights. "Do not move. I'm going to check on Jeremy."

Just before she did she glanced to see Matt after he knocked Xavier out. They heard sirens wailing. The sky was starting to turn pink as dawn broke behind the clouds. Riley leaned on the front of the car, the adrenaline rush coming down. He stood, his head was tilted to Waterhouse on the ground as he listened to him. Andrew's head wasn't turned to Matt so he wouldn't notice Daredevil's inexplicable reaction to his presence.

Matt had a dark, twisted, feral look on, like he could chew Andrew up and spit him out again, and perhaps do more than that. End him, if he chose to cross the line. And she knew he wanted too, despite the fact that Fitz and the others were almost here. He didn't care anymore. He was back lit by the bright front lights of the car, she could see his back hunched slightly, the deep, ragged breaths he was taking as he controlled the urge to tear Waterhouse to pieces. She got to her feet, the hairs on her arm prickly with fear at what he might do.

"Go," she told him, abnormally quiet, "get out of here."

His head turned to her, remembering she was there, wordlessly he bounded off into the warehouse before the team could arrive and catch him too.

...

She reached Jeremy at the same time Detective Malek did from the squad car. He shivered violently when he woke, fearing Xavier was there to greet him with more punches and kicks. He started to cough blood. "Jeremy, you're okay, we're the police, an ambulance is on it's way," Malek said lifting the the kid's head into her lap. "Slow breaths, slow breaths."

Riley stood and spun back to Fitz who was standing over Andrew.

"We have to take you in Andrew. I'm sorry," said the sergeant, lifting him to this feet.

"I did it for my son," he replied, with no regrets, an officer led him away. An ambulance arrived for Jeremy and for her as well. It was blur of red and blue lights and uniforms. A paramedic was putting a plaster on her hairline where the rock from earlier had scraped her. She did not even notice the wash of blood down her cheek until he started to dab at it. Fitz approached her while she was being tended too, he looked...happy, proud even, far from the stern demeanour he normally gave off.

"This assignment was off the books, Knight. You saved them, all those people on Sweeney's list. No one knows the sacrifice you made, this city will never know, you won't ever get medals or commemoration for what you did. But we will know, we will remember," he reached to her for a handshake, which she accepted.

"Thank you sir," she said with humble gratitude. It felt absurd to smile then. But she did. Perhaps she wasn't as insane as she thought she was for offering to do this, or inept at her job as she thought she was. Some risks had been worth it.

As that happened Xavier regained consciousness, and they were booking him. Just as the officer was putting him into the car she excused herself from Fitz and the medic and ran over.

"Hey Mahoney, give me a moment with him."

Brett gave her a look of uncertainty as to why she needed to speak with him, but then shrugged and let her pass, "alright Knight, but make it quick."

"He was so close," said Xavier, glaring at her with black beady eyes, referring to Sweeney. Nothing he was going to say would bring her down from the high she was on. She had saved dozens of people from his bullets and he was going to put away for life. The hitman was younger than Waterhouse, slim, moderately built, jet black hair, with a scar running down the side of his face from temple to jaw line.

She rested her arm on the car door and leaned to him, eyes narrowed to slits; "you tell whatever shady lawyer they get for you, that we know who's in his inner circle. I want him to know that we'll find all his lieutenants, and the rest of his family. We'll get all of them. And him. Sooner or later," she said, menacingly.

"A debt still has to be paid," he replied icily.

"I'm not going to be the one to pay it," she growled under her breath.

He smiled maliciously, with teeth like a shark, "You may have gotten Rob and you may think you have the upper hand. But he'll get you first when you least expect it. He plays a longer game, detective. Just you wait."

That struck a chord with her, and the way he said Rob's name was as if he knew him personally. Psyhopaths can be friends, right? Whatever misgivings she had, she didn't let it show, "enjoy prison," she said, having the last word. And slammed the car door shut on him.

Hopefully that's the last I see of him.

...

Late at night the same day, everything felt like a lifetime ago. She had gone home, showered, slept a bit, finished up some paperwork at the precinct, and went to the hospital to visit Gale who was currently in her own room at Metro General. She was a fellow nurse, so she was getting well-deserved special treatment by her colleagues.

As she got to the room she saw a familiar frame standing by Gale's bedside. She jumped into the air in excitement to her baby brother. He turned his shoulder to greet her just as she crashed into him, scooping him into a bear hug. "Holy shit, I'd never thought I'd be happy to see you."

"Why would you think that? Everyone's always pleased to see me, I'm a ray of sunshine," he said awkwardly patting her back, she could even deal with his terrible, arrogant snipes, she would rather listen to that than not have him around at all. "Okay you're kind of choking me now Riles," he said stiffly.

She laughed, letting him go so he could breathe. My brother is back, I have him back. She was smiling ear to ear. They both turned to Gale, resting, totally unaware that they were there. She had a ventilator and a bandage around her neck where the bullet had lodged itself but was successfully removed. Tommy held huge batch of beautiful blush pink peonies in one arm, Gale's favourite. Riley had no idea when she would wake up, but prayed she would.

"I never thought I'd be here visiting her for a change," he finally said after a long, contemplative moment. "It was always me in that bed. After shooting up, getting into trouble, yet she never judged me for it."

"She's one of the good ones," she squeezed his shoulder. "How's mum?" She asked, as he set the flowers down on the side table.

"She's getting married."

"Married?!" She burst out, she was not expecting that bomb. "What moron got down on one knee and asked to marry her?

"Patrick Dayne," he snickered, folding his arm. "I met the guy, he's too damn wholesome for our mom." He sighed melancholically, "she'll wreck him."

"Patrick doesn't know what he's getting himself into." They briefly discussed the details of their new step dad and the wedding which Riley was sure as hell not planning on going too. She would wait for her mother to personally invite her, if she wasn't bitter over endangering their family.

Even if she nearly died to save Tommy by sacrificing her life to a hitman, she didn't tell him, to spare him the anxiety. He seemed to be a better mood than usual today. As they spoke he checked his phone. "Are you going home?" She asked.

"Nah, I'm going to visit Heather, the girl from NA. I haven't seen her in a while on account of being sequestered at mom's place, while you dealt with Irish mafia."

Of course she should have known he would be off to see his girlfriend when he was allowed back into town again. They were siblings, and they were family that would always be there for each other. But they weren't best friends. Being in the system, stuck in foster care, she had missed out on chunks of his childhood growing up, the parts where you're supposed to really get to know and become a part of your siblings' life. It did fill her with nostalgia every once in a while but she didn't mind so much as she got older.

"I think she wants me to move in with her," he said, dropping another bomb.

"What? Are you serious?" When did he grow up so fast?

"I am. I really like her. She doesn't care about who I was before." She knew how important it was to him that he buried his past and made sure it stayed that way. It seemed a lot like Riley was stuck having to deal with hers while her little brother moved on with his life.

"You don't want to live with me anymore? Your big sis?" She teased, even though she didn't mind having her place back to herself.

"You always leave the kitchen in such a mess in the morning," said Tommy making a pouty mildly disgusted face.

That was only because she was always working and rushing to get to the station in the morning. She smacked his shoulder, "excuse me! I come back and clean it!"

He wasn't done with his list of her offences; "And you're always talking to yourself in your room. It's weird as fuck."

Her breath caught, I was talking to Matt, she had no idea Tommy could hear her. "I like to think cases through out loud," she fibbed.

He shook his head, "you were always like that when we were younger. Just talking to yourself."

"Overactive imagination, alright? Look at you, growing up," she tried to pinch his cheek but he swatted her hand away, she laughed, "question is; are you sure you want to live her? It's a big deal. I mostly feel bad for her for having to pick up after you.

"Hey I'm ready for a fresh start," he said defensively. "It'll be a soft move at first. Taking things one step at a time, of course." His phone started to ring and he smiled down at it, that head-over- the- heels kind of smile. She wanted to puke but also felt a just a bit jealous that he found someone.

"I better head out," he said. They hugged and her little brother-all grown up-walked out the door.

Once he left she spoke to the doctor. He informed her Gale's recovery would take a few more weeks, but she could still wake up any day now, and it was miracle she even pulled through the surgery despite how much blood she lost. She told him she had gripped her neck to stop her from losing blood too fast, and that may have been a factor in it. She was still tripped up in guilt over what happened that led to her friend being in that bed, but less so than before.

Nevertheless, despite the good news, her brother returning, she was still not a 100% Unfinished business remained. But more than anything, Riley merely needed a break, less than 12 hours ago she was staring down at the barrels of guns directed at her. She'd need just a day or so to breathe and process things, to stop beating herself up and get on with life.

She had almost died today, and willingly. She needed to deal with what that meant.

As she left the surgeon's office, she saw Alfie appearing out from the Gale's room, also dropping off another batch of peonies. They hugged and spoke for a bit, he told her about how much his wife Maggie missed having her over, and how Alyssa was rehearsing for her school play. It was nice to hear about them, and she knew she was being rude, but she really just wanted to be alone for the rest of the evening.

"We're going for drinks, do you want to join us?" Asked Alfie.

"I'll see how I feel," she told him as they left the hospital together.

She had every intention to go home, take a bath, listen some music, sleep some more. But instead—

She found herself at Matt's door.

It was getting late. Riley reconsidered her brave notion to be there at this time of night with no pressing threats to be dealt with. The last time she was here it had seemed like a permanent end to their alliance. Now, so much has changed within a short span of time. By then it was too late to turn and scurry off home, he knew she was there, because her fist had not even touched the door when he opened it.


Matt

He had not slept the entire night or rested the entire day after that. The exhaustion helped him to forget how much he wanted to hurt Waterhouse when he was lying on the ground in front of him earlier. Matt was barely keeping himself upright then, but the moment he caught her scent as she exited her car he did feel so tired anymore. In addition to not sleeping, he agreed to go to Josie's with Foggy and Karen after turning them down a dozen times the past month. He had a few drinks in him, he was only a bit buzzed though, thankfully.

"Hey," he greeted leaning on the doorframe. He'd just taken off his tie. He intended to sort out some last minute paper work for court tomorrow and eat dinner when he got back. But having the detective here felt much more appealing than any of that.

She bit her lip, leaning back, probably having noticed how tired he looked; "crap, I'm sorry, it's late—"

"It's alright, come in," he held the door open wider; "I just got back myself." She walked in past him. He scratched the back of his head, they spoke all the time, but this time felt very unfamiliar, he couldn't place why; "So, what's the status report? How's Gale?"

"She's making a full recovery," she said, lingering in the hallway. "As for Sweeney; we've got an eye on things, we know who's in his inner circle. They're in hiding, but they can't hide forever. We wouldn't have gotten anywhere if you didn't get to Gardner in time. So thanks for that."

He realised why it was awkward; she wasn't sure of the etiquette, whether she should walk into his living room first or she should follow him. Because in actual fact she had never come here unless one of them was injured or unconscious.

"You're welcome," he said, ushering her to come further inside his place.

"We finally have something over him."

"Well, we wouldn't have gotten Xavier, if you didn't go," said Matt, "you stopped him from ever killing again."

"Yeah, he's locked up. No bail."

"Good," he said, feeling triumphant over it. Even though it was really all her doing that even got them close enough to capture him.

"Do you need some ice?" He asked, he pointed at his own cheek to show where the bruise on hers would mirror it. She had fallen on a rock or something that cut her, just above her left temple.

She touched the slight swelling where the blood had collected beneath the skin, "yeah, that'd be nice."

They went to the kitchen area while he opened his fridge.

"I still feel like an idiot to let you go through with that plan."

"If Xavier was successful at least you'd be rid of me," she joked morbidly.

"True," he agreed, going along with the joke. She smacked his arm when he grinned.

"I have to say; what you did was brave," he said taking out a rack of ice cubes.

She rolled her eyes, waving him off; "oh please we don't have to—"

"Hear me out," he interrupted, as he laid a cheesecloth onto the counter. "It was stupid," he continued.

At the turn of the compliment into an insult, she glared at him.

"—But brave." He finished, wrapping the cubes up in the cloth.

"And no one will ever know," she added cynically, leaning onto the counter.

She was wrong about that; "I will." He knew she could be stand-offish and sarcastic, she would never let anyone tear her down whether they were big or small.

But she had a kind heart, kinder than she let on. He wanted to tell her that, but held back.

"You're such a big softie, you know that?" She teased with a smirk.

"I can't help it," he shrugged, grinning. "Being a softie makes me an easy person to confide in, people don't realise that. It why I'm good at my job," he stepped to her until he was a foot away and handed her the cloth; she carefully pressed the cold, damp cloth to the bruise on her cheek, hissed softly as it stung. The ice helped to soothe the inflammation.

"Ugh get over yourself Murdock."

He smiled cheekily, it had always been easy to do that around her before she found out his secret, and he knew she liked it when he did. Matt retreated slightly, he said; "I'm glad you're safe."

"Me too," she agreed, "I really thought I was a goner."

"But honestly, what you did. It was amazing," he said earnestly. Her cheeks heated up and she chewed her lip, it was very endearing to him, when it sure as hell should not be. But at the same moment she got a text.

Suddenly he felt very boxed out of her life, he shouldn't, because it was none of his business who she was getting messages from at this time of night. And they weren't exactly friends who hung out beyond this Daredevil partnership. Going against his better judgement, and due to the alcohol in his system, he gave in to temptation and asked her; "who's that?"

"Alfie, they're going for drinks," she said returning her phone to her pocket.

"You have to go?"

She hesitated. "Um. I don't want too, is it weird that I'm not in a celebratory mood?"

He shook his head; "It's not. You've been through a lot in the past 72 hours. But part of things getting back to normal is being with your friends. Well that's what Foggy always says to me anyway."

She laughed and then pursed her lips as she considered what her plans would be tonight; "mmhm spend the night in or listen to Detective Leo belt ABBA on the jukebox and watch all the guys flock to Malek?"

"Yeah but you haven't arrived yet," it was out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

She raised both her eyebrows at him, she smiled faintly, he couldn't tell if that was for his benefit to spare him the embarrassment. She was examining him in that way she did, careful and calculating, like she could see right through him. Sometimes, with the way she figured out things and studied people, it as though she had the heightened senses and not him.

"Are you patrolling tonight?" She asked, completely off topic.

God I want to die. "I feel like taking a night off," he said, and that was true.

"Duh," she chuckled; "You're not going to go out there inebriated."

He laughed with his breath; "You can tell?"

"Yeah, no shit, I'm not the blind one here," she said, smiling wider; "You look a bit more flushed than usual."

"Foggy convinced me to go for drinks at Josie's with him and Karen, he would have made the whole evening a bar crawl if it let him, but I was too tired for that, to his great displeasure."

"Josie's?" She echoed, skeptically. "Are you sure they don't have like, salmonella in their food?"

He pointed at himself, "ahem, I would know if there is was anything off about their food."

"True, you would, you weirdo."

He smiled again and leaned forward, resting his hand over hers where the icepack was. Again, he couldn't help himself. He heard how her heart rate increased whenever he touched her, how her gaze moved from his lidded eyes to his mouth. In the beginning it was because they were wary of each other, because at any moment, even during their truces they could attack one another, but he definitely could say that wasn't the case now. It was unnerving to be stuck in this in-between, and he was slapping himself trying not to analyse it too meticulously.

"I think the swelling has gone down," he told her. "A little big longer," he placed her hand back.

Neither of them said a word. She shifted her weight and bit her lip, in a way that maddened him when she did as he knew she was repressing the truth about something.

"What's up?"

She gulped; "I spoke to Waterhouse."

That fucking name again. And then he was glad he was mildly inebriated or else he would be taking this way worse; "What did he have to say?"

"I asked about whether he killed your dad."

His ribs clenched with a vice grip around his heart; "Did he?" He demanded a bit too harshly. But she didn't need to answer for him to know what she was going to say. He could hear it, feel it in how she shuddered and how her throat was stuck.

"I'm sure you know by now," she said instead, reading his mind.

He sighed heavily, backed away from her and leaned on his fridge, crossing his arms; "What's going to happen to him?"

"They took him away but they have no credible reason to hold him. In the eyes of law we never spoke to him, we never asked him to do that mission. His life goes back to normal."

"So he walks," he concluded for her, feeling the unbidden anger rising up.

"I'm sorry," she said, they were back at this argument again, he could feel the tension in his shoulders, how defensive she became. "I know how much it sucks. I told you about him and the mission was my idea, now he's off the hook again, just like that. I talked to Fitz about it, but there's nothing to keep him locked up—"

"I'm not surprised," he shrugged offhandedly; "Fitzgerald made friends with criminals, he let's them off the hook."

It was entirely his fault for starting this, despite how reasonable she was trying to be, it was different to have this conversation face to face compared to over the phone when he was trying to distract himself with hunting the Punisher. This was much more difficult.

She frowned setting the ice pack down on the counter; "I understand you're disappointed, you deserve to be mad. I don't know what else to do. I'm sorry."

He sighed, massaging his temple with his fingers; "it's fine."

She looked to the rafters, shaking her head, knowing again, that it was not 'fine' as he so simply put it. "Forget it." She huffed and wiped her wet hand on a dry cloth by the sink; "I should go. Thank you for the ice."

He was about to let her walk past him but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep without resolving this, he reached out, grabbed her arm to stop her;

"Riley—hold on," she stopped and faced him; "I'm angry, I'm sorry. I don't want to argue with you. I don't want to leave things like that."

She snickered with wry smile; "We do it a lot, if you haven't noticed already; fight and reconcile and then fight some more."

He returned that smile; "It gets kind of boring, don't you think?"

"It does, but we're both stubborn and we think everyone else is wrong and we're the only one who's right," she shrugged, that was very true. "It makes it hard to work with you, but nonetheless, I couldn't have done this without you."

"I guess that makes us good partners even though we drive each other crazy?"

"Maybe," she nodded and held his shoulder; "I know you hate him, you have every right too. And it does piss me off that I can't do anything about it. And I keep thinking that I may have-" she paused, "let you down, somehow," she finished. "Made it seem like Waterhouse was less of an enemy in order catch someone worse, when he's not like that to you. It's not fair."

"No," he said vehemently. "After what you did, for all those people, I shouldn't even think like that. And you didn't let anyone down, certainly not me," he reached to the shoulder she held and laid his hand over hers, giving it a gentle squeeze, running his thumb over her knuckles.

"It's not as simple as I make it out to be in my head. You're right." They both let go. He had gotten more time to think about his actions, thinking about what Father Lathom would have said to him if he had gone to the church. "Whatever I feel towards Waterhouse it gets less and less every time I think about, I feel that in my heart. It doesn't matter who pulled the trigger that got my dad. It matters who ordered it."

"It doesn't? Really?" She asked, taken aback. "I wouldn't think like that. I don't think I could forgive someone like that."

He shook his head; "I don't forgive him, I don't know if I ever will. But when you told me who he was, I imagined he'd be living in the seedy underbelly of New York. He doesn't. He has a son," said Matt, he remembered listening for Jeremy's young heartbeat behind him as he contemplated confronting Waterhouse, Riley had been watching him closely, almost fearful of what his next action would be. He was relieved to hear that the boy was still alive despite his many injuries.

"Yes, I wanted to interrogate him, strike fear into him, like what he did to me when I found my dad dead on the ground. But I couldn't beat him up. I'd become him. His son would find him, what would he think of his father he idolised? I couldn't put the kid through what I had to go through." And then came the hardest part, the part where he had to let go of this grudge against the precinct, Fitzgerald, against Riley, and Waterhouse; "I know Andrew is free, but maybe it's better this way, so his son isn't alone."

He felt lighter all of a sudden when he was honest with her. "I'm glad you asked him for me, I'm glad you told me, it makes things easier, believe it or not."

Riley's features softened, and the corner of her mouth turned upwards. She pulled him into a hug, she stood lightly on her tip toes to wrap her arms around him. A cloud of her scent filling his nose, she smelt like clean water and cotton. Her hair was short, just brushing her shoulders as she pressed against his neck. He felt her heartbeat push up on his chest.

"You're too good Murdock," she whispered to him.

"I'm not," he replied, still hugging.

"You are. More than I ever could be."

He was about to strongly argue with her against that point when her phone rang, startling both of them out of the other's arms. She forget for a second which pocket it was in, after another ring she pulled out her phone. "Hello?" She answered, the moment completely vanished. Her back was turned away from him thankfully as he took in a lungful of air. He tuned out the conversation to give her privacy.

"It's the hospital," she said when she got off the phone and looked at Matt. "Gale's awake, I didn't think she would even-" she was grinning at her phone, texting to someone else about the good news.

"You should go," he said, the words coming out too high to his ears. He didn't really want her to go just yet, but her mind was elsewhere.

"Yeah," she said, distracted, elated by the news, "I'll talk to you soon then." She waved goodbye and in a few strides was out of his apartment. Matt thanked God she left, he didn't want her to see how he cupped his hands and groaned into them.


God damn that was a long one, but honestly let me know if you guys would rather I split these up into smaller chapters if it's too much to read. I totally understand. Also, OMG I really thought it was time to get Matt's POV on his feels when Riley is around. Anyway, please review! Happy holidays :)