"So, I've got Brett Mahoney here, a cop that we can trust and we'll be waiting for you to bring that lawyer to my place with his evidence, alright?" Jessica's voice sounds far away on the phone. But she's helping her, although they don't share the same bond they have in real life. Trish is eternally grateful that she can still count on her.

"Thank you so much! I had no other idea what to do." This vision of a different reality where apparently none of them have super powers is limiting her options. She could have contacted Karen, but her sister has always been her first person to turn to.

"Is he cute?"

"Who?"

"The blind guy." Trish swallows at the term Jessica goes with.

"Yeah... why?"

"Don't let it distract you. I remember how you are around guys."

Trish rolls her eyes and finishes their conversation with a pissed off "shut up" and a smile. She missed the teasing.

Looking at her grumpy companion she sees that somehow during this he must have lost his glasses and she can't recall when, but the result is that she can now clearly see that Matt Murdock is afraid. There is so much wrong with this image, she wants to throw up. It's not like she hasn't seen him afraid before, but he always had the decency to act like he's fine, at least when he knew she was watching. But now he didn't know she was, so as soon as she gets closer to him she sees him slip his carefully neutral expression back on.

And then they are running for their life again, or they go as fast as they can with Trish guiding a blind Matt, both carrying one of the memory sticks to bring down Wilson Fisk. Both beaten and exhausted. (When did that happen?) It always sounds like the man following them is just around the corner, so they keep going and try to be as silent as possible.

The alleys seem to be getting smaller and darker with every turn they take until it's pitch black and even Trish can't lead the way anymore. But as they are slowing down even the footsteps seem to be further away.

Slowly Matt takes Trish's hand and places it on his arm before she stops and he whispers: "Do you trust me?"

Every part of her body screams yes, so she grabs his arm. "With my life," she whispers back so quietly, she's not sure that he'd be able to hear her without his enhanced senses.

They're not moving fast, but they're not waiting to get caught either. Not used to navigating without sight, Trish clings desperately to her blind guide and enjoys the closeness this dream world hadn't offered her with him so far.

The fear still feels very real, despite knowing that none of this is in her more aware moments. Fisk is dead, Matt is with her, probably staying close by with Jessica, but she's supposed to surrender to this version of a reality, so she has to give in to the fear as well. She can't just concentrate on the feel of him.

Suddenly Matt pulls her into a corner, before they would enter a better lit street again. Or they could keep on moving in the dark. His suit looks torn now as well and she sees blood running down her arm, as if they were attacked again. Is that how this vision works? Jumping to crucial moments? Is this one of those?

"Our chances are better if we split up," she hears him say above her head and without thinking she snakes her arms around his shivering form, immediately freezing up in embarrassment. He doesn't know her the way she knows him. Her embrace is way too intimate for strangers and he didn't even seem to like her after she insulted him.

However, a second later she can feel the tension leave his body and his hand carefully nudges her chin up. Before she can even start to think that this is going in a direction she didn't dare to hope it would, his lips brush against hers hesitantly. After this little encouragement she pulls him closer, her mouth doing things she knows he likes while still enjoying the feeling of a second first kiss with him.

Or third, really, since she hadn't known the first one wasn't just a dream like this one. Back then she was waking up to him asking if he could kiss her and it felt all entirely too surreal and wonderful to be real. So she assumed it wasn't and the second time his lips touched hers, it was just as surprising and new, promising great - and messy - things to come.

Damn, enhanced senses or not, Matt Murdock is a brilliant kisser. He leaves her lips with a sweet little sigh and leans his forehead against hers. But this isn't enough for her, because she wasn't allowed to touch him in what feels like forever in a vision where time has no meaning. So, she pull the shirt out of his pants to his huge surprise and starts feeling his - completely smooth - skin. "Matt..."

It's the lack of scars that slowly pulls her back to the dream, to the fact that this man is kind of new to her. His body is still great, by the way - not athletic like a ninja, but he's definitely still working out at Fogwell's. And he makes a very strange noise when she feels his ass, before giggling and inadvertently reminding her that - shit - actual Matt and Jessica are sitting by her bed right now and they will totally notice if she indulges in that kind of dream. And that thought sobers her mind up.

"This was... wow." The fact that she made him speechless, this version of him, all eloquent and still very much closed off, makes her heart ache in a familiar way. Especially since she felt like he was barely tolerating her presence until now, he was putting up that stupid wall of his, to protect himself from getting hurt, being abandoned again. She didn't expect it would be so difficult to read him without her ability to sense his emotions, because her Matt was an open book to her and she didn't notice this one even started liking her.

There's so much she wants to say to him then, things she already told him and that she feels this him would need to hear, but they don't have the time, because she already starts hearing the scary footsteps of doom again. It's impossible to determine where they are coming from.

"Right. Let's split up." Both of them don't really want that, she even sees him wince at the idea now. "You have an advantage in the dark and I'll try my luck through the alley with some light."

"You'll see me at Jessica's place." He squeezes her hand.

"I'll be there." But they don't move. "I didn't think you'd... I thought you hated me..." His lips press firmly against hers one more time.

"I felt like you pitied me and that's not something I react well to. But after our first meeting you've shown more faith in me than even my best friend." Another soft kiss against her cheek. "We'll talk when we meet again." His lips brush against her temple and she sighs, still overwhelmed by this development.

Pretty sure that this will be her last moment with this version of Matt she hugs him one more time and then she sees him move into the dark again leaving her alone and actually scared.


"I think she just moaned your name. Is this a sex dream?" Jessica smirks, when she notices the blush on Trish's face spreading towards Matt who's tracing small circles on the back of her hand with his fingers.

"Or she's worried about me for some reason..." Yeah, and why would she do that, Devil Boy?

"Look, if you want to save both of you some embarrassment, maybe stop touching her like that. It's probably giving her brain ideas."

He laughs, but Jessica sees his hand covering Trish's now and not moving anymore, just offering warmth and affection. Jessica curses as her mobile starts ringing. It's Malcom. "What's going on...?"

"Oscar Arocho is at your office. He's asking when you'll be free today."

"Shit, I don't know how long this will take and if I'll even be in the mood afterwards. I wanted to visit Liam's family later."

She sees Matt smile on the other side of the bed and he says something to her that she doesn't catch while she is listening to Malcom. "What did you say..?"

"Say that you'll make it up to him." He's grinning now from ear to ear. "I know a really good Mexican place. I can watch the kid with Trish..."

"No way." Now it's Jessica's time to blush at the idea of something like a date with Oscar. She's barely aware of Malcom asking her if she's still listening.

"Jessica, come on, trust me. I've been taking your advise when it comes to taking care of myself. Let me help you with this. I'm really good at this kind of thing." There is that trademark smug smile.

Okay, Trish might have mentioned that apart from their nighttime escapades and him nearly dying every wednesday - she may be exaggerating - Murdock knows his shit when it comes to romance. Years of listening to women's heartbeats - and men's as well, because he's just that pretty - the guy obviously knows what makes them want to fuck him. Or maybe more than that...

Still, she's not the restaurants and candles type, so she mumbles: "I don't do fancy restaurants. Period. I'd feel like an idiot."

But that smug bastard doesn't stop smiling. "It's not fancy and I happen to know that they have very good Whiskey. And if you need some privacy, the roof offers one of the best views over Hell's Kitchen. I'd imagine..."

"Hell's Kitchen is ugly as fuck from all angles, Matt." He actually had her at Whiskey.

His smile and his raised eyebrow tell her that he knows he won and she rolls her eyes. "Jessica, it's not about where you go and what you do. He likes you, so he'll like anything you'll take him to and you can just tell him what you hate about it. But make an effort and he'll appreciate it. Let him know where he stands with you."

That does sound doable and Matt's actually right. Maybe she should listen to him for once. "Malcom? Tell Oscar to come over tomorrow at 8pm. We can eat out." There's stunned silence on the other end of the line. "And if he needs someone to take care of Vido, my friends offered to watch him."

She hangs up before she can change her mind.


Trish is running through alleys and no matter where she goes the footsteps are getting louder and louder. Until finally there's no escape anymore and Wilson Fisk seems to stand everywhere she turns.

"You've got nowhere to run anymore. Give me that stick and I'll think about keeping the lawyer alive. He's not going to describe me anyway..." He's getting closer now and Trish stares at the palm of his seemingly giant hand, the stick burning in her fingers.

"Over my dead body."

It's one of those horrible moments in dreams when you can't move or scream as some monster is coming at you. Trish tries to concentrate one last time to move something with her mind, but it's useless. Suddenly there's a knife in his huge hand and she practically waits for him to cut her throat.

She doesn't feel anything, but there's blood everywhere. On his knife on herself when she looks down and suddenly she drops to her knees waiting for this vision to end. Was this the point? Showing her that it's all hopeless without powers? Then the TVs in a store behind Fisk flickers on.

"I can't wait to do the same to Murdock, make him kneel in front of me. Apologise for daring to challenge me." He wipes the blood from his hands. But all Trish can think about is this: He hasn't found him yet. Matt is still alive. He can still beat him.

Suddenly Jessica's image appears on the TVs holding a memory stick in her hand and smiling. "This is evidence of all the illegal shit Wilson Fisk did to become more and more powerful. Everything Matthew Murdock said on the radio is true and we can prove it now. If you're watching this, asshole: We beat you."

She sees Fisk's scream, but doesn't hear it, doesn't hear the glass of the store breaking as he tries to destroy all the TVs showing a freeze frame of Jessica's vindictive face. Trish dies, but it's for a good cause. They win. Matt's alive and Jessica and him defeat Wilson Fisk. Everything then starts blurring around her and Trish feels kind of relieved that it's about to end.

No more struggle, no more wondering if she's supposed to have powers or not, because it doesn't matter. She knows then, no matter what, she'll fight by their side and do her best. She did it before and she made mistakes before as well. Trish starts seeing flashes from her real life. She's embarrassed when she sees herself trying to convince Jessica of a superhero costume. Her first encounters with the Devil of Hell's Kitchen who is still healing after saving her make her remember how she idolised him before, how she never thought about the toll all the fighting would take on him. She sees Jessica standing up to Kilgrave accepting that she's the only one able to fight him... and kill him. And then there's Matt punishing his tormentors and almost killing Fakedevil, almost committing a sin that could have destroyed him.

Finally she sees them all fighting together during the riot, but it all ends with Malcom taking care of Jessica and Karen, Foggy and others staying together with hidden enhanced people to fight the robbers. And then Karen's article is also on the back on her mind. "All I'm asking is that you don't look away. Look at everything. The danger, the potential, but most of all take a close look at what is happening to our city." She was addressing the regular people of Hell's Kitchen. The ones who were in the end incredibly brave and gave people shelter even when they were a little afraid of them. "Together we have power."


"Don't wake her up or it's all for nothing." Shuri warns Matt who is getting very nervous as Trish starts tossing around more and more.

Then everything that isn't fixed to the ground thats moving. The desk Shuri is working on starts to vibrate much to her annoyance and Jessica has to duck while one of the girl's inventions flies past her. The smash makes Matt cringe. "Nooo, I was almost ready with that!"

The next two minutes, all three of them catch or hold whatever is most dear to the brilliant princess, ignoring Trish. Then suddenly it stops and silence falls over them heavily.

Matt is the first one to shake out of it. "Does this mean her mind has lost it's power?"

"Or the penny has dropped." Shuri shrugs. "Our theory is that Trish was too desperate to be strong and pushed her ability to the max - unconcerned with her mental health - and she forgot how tough she is without it. The vision is supposed to give her back balance and perspective."

Shuri goes on about the mind being a tricky thing, sorting through the mess on the floor and joking how she keeps misplacing stuff. Suddenly she picks up a weird looking pen and shakes it excitedly. "Ooooh... I was looking for that!"

Then she writes something in the air and a strange substance is floating wherever she moves the pen.

Jessica frowns. "Why would you need this when you can do holograms and shit?"

"I developed it for fun. But I'm sure the blind man appeciates being able to read this." And sure enough Matt can sense her little wink as well as the substance, being colder than the air around it. The letters form the unmistakable words: "The End...?"

"Also, this is better than pen and paper because I can reuse this stuff infinitely and at the same time it needs zero power to work." Matt smiles at her and walks back to Trish's bedside. "Trust me, if you have no access to electricity you would wish to possess this little tool to note down your formulas."

Jessica snorts. "And if there's no light?"

Shuri raises her eyebrows, her eyes shining. "You're right! I need to make it glow in the dark!" Then she gives it to Matt. "You can use this one, I guess."

The man's attention however is immediately claimed by Trish the moment she regains consciousness and opens her eyes. He takes her hand in his again, rubbing it against the cold and asks her how she feels.


The migraine after her vision sucks, but it's not as bad as it was when she first discovered what she could do and started to train. Trish tells them about her dream, but not in great detail. Halfway through she sees letters in the air asking her if it worked and Shuri pointing at them. "To be honest, at the moment I just want to sleep. I honestly don't care if I have any abilities left. It certainly doesn't feel like it."

"Really...?" Jessica looks beyond sceptical.

"Really. I haven't slept properly in months. So that's all I want to do now." Then she remembers the Jessica in her dream, with a normal life... Maybe happy. "What about you? You could also take the cure and lead a normal life. Tempted?"

Matt apparently also didn't think of that so he tilts his head in Jessica's direction as well waiting for her answer, for her choice. "Huh... I never thought about it. But I think I'm good. I'm fine with who I am." By the way Matt's lips twitch up he seems to agree.

"You were not fine with being normal, by the way. Lots of anger behind these shades." She see that her vigilante boyfriend doesn't like that at all, since his temper is one of his biggest weaknesses. "But in the end it was the ordinary, blind lawyer who delivered the stick to Jessica. Well, his tongue did have extraordinary talents..."

"Oh yeah...?" Matt grins at that and Jessica then decides it's time to look for the king of Wakanda and she forces his curious sister to help her find him and give them some privacy. As soon as they're gone Trish sinks into Matt's arms, relieved that it's finally over. She's finally fixed, she can feel it somehow.

That vision also gave her some made-up memories she'll cherish. "When he kissed me, it really felt like kissing you for the first time again." She buries her face in his neck. "It was amazing."

"Should I be jealous right now?"

"Of yourself?"

"Well, if you are being nostalgic about our first kisses, maybe I've not been living up to the standard lately..."

She snorts and hugs him. "Don't be ridiculous. It's just different, okay? The first time."

"Mhm... right..." His voice sounds as tired as she feels, but there's still a hint of humour in there.

"No, really, it's just... It's not because it's new. We've kissed plenty of times and I know all your little tricks by now." She knows that she doesn't have to explain, but she wants to. It's kind of fun teasing him about the stuff he is actually ridiculously good at. Because he knows it. Except for that one time when she was somehow able to fool him into thinking that his abilities in the bedroom were overrated.

"Technically you didn't do anything different. But... that feeling of uncertainty, excitement and wonder when a relationship moves in that direction. It's something even you can't recreate." And of course, that's his cue to try. Because challenging him on that front is probably almost as bad as criticising his fighting technique. (Which she hasn't tried yet, because getting her ass handed to her is not something she's into.)

She tries to play along even, tries to imagine this being the first time. His lips claim hers, making every second count and his tongue moves as if it still has to ask for permission to discover new territory. Every cell in her body is kind of flattered by the attention and the focus he pours into this one mission: Snog her senseless. Pulling away his eyebrows are raised to indicate a silent question. Seriously? Is this a competition now? And also: When did he stop kissing her like that? Should she be offended that he doesn't put in more effort usually?

No, actually. Grinning from ear to ear Trish shakes her head, much to Matt's disappointment. "But don't worry, there's still excitement and you know what? Certainty is very sexy, because I know we'll fuck tonight and I don't have to wonder if you'll call me." He laughs at that and they stay silent for a while, still in each others arms.

She knows that he's gonna say something when he rests his chin on her head and strokes her hair. "I wanted to take your abilities from you against your will."

Trish flinches. "You had your reasons. I almost killed you."

Matt sighs at the familiar phrase, because he doesn't want to go over this again. "It was an accident. You didn't do it on purpose."

She notices though, that he isn't downplaying it anymore. He isn't denying anymore that he almost did die which confirms it for her finally. She takes a ragged breath. "It's never going to be easy, is it? Us..."

"It's also never going to be boring." Matt huffs and they both start to smile.

Trish then remembers something he said after their second kiss, the one that made him push her away and admit that she's distracting him. She smiles into his shirt and knowing that he'll hear her she whispers: "Luckily, we both don't like it easy."


Saying goodbye to Shuri isn't easy for Matt. She cared for him and even made him laugh when he thought he couldn't. He used her pen to leave her a thank-you-note in the lab and she hugs him. "You know, you don't have to break any bones to talk to me again. Just call. Alright?"

Jessica also hugs the princess and thanks her as well for everything. But T'Challa insists that they were helping just as much. "I plan to build a second Wakandan Outreach Centre in Hell's Kitchen and I think I could use your help to do that. I was also hoping you could spare your employee Malcom who showed great potential during the riot. But I won't offer him a job if you really need him."

Jessica scoffs. "I fire him regularly. You can have him." Realising that she's not making him sound very good she adds: "Oh, it's not him, it's me. I'm not very social." She smiles and shakes T'Challa's hand awkwardly.

To reassure the monarch Matt uses his most charming smile. "I'm sure Malcom will be thrilled."

All of a sudden he registers something flying through the air, but before he is able to determine if there's any danger around Trish catches the object easily with her left hand. She then stares at the little bottle and tilts her head, slowly realising what her quick reaction means. They all observe her waiting to see if this is good or bad and when she starts laughing everyone joins in.

"It's for the scars," a still giggling Shuri explains. "I'm sure you'll have fun applying it..."


Note: Okay, before we get to the last two parts.... :) Thank you so much for reading this second story, every Favorite, every Follow makes me think maybe I didn't waste my time after all! If you could leave a review, that would be awesome. Remember that you can do that as a guest as well. ;)

I posted a little Crossover with Doctor Who where the Doctor ends up in Hell's Kitchen gets mistaken with Kilgrave. It's called "Listen to Him", but you can also skip that if you're not interested.

The next one is "Hope", where Matt & Trish run into some relationship issues and try to tackle them. It's probably gonna be the last one for this series. I know. I might miss it some day maybe...

Anika_Ann: This would never have been finished without your support and input. :)