Notes: Just so you know, I'm planning to do another alternative ending if this isn't the one you were hoping for. It picks up after chapter 18.

I don't want to repeat too much, so some of the information that I already provided in the previous ending won't come up in detail here. Some of it is slightly different. You'll see. :)

KAREN

Hopefully, there won't be any ninja attacks in the second finale for Everlasting's season with Matt. They shot it the day before, so someone would probably have mentioned if there were any massacres, right? And they wouldn't air it then anyway. Elektra and Jessica also won't be a part of it, so Karen is a little less nervous about the outcome. No matter what happens: at least this madness will finally be over. No more watching the guy she's kinda drawn to make out with other women on TV after this. Just one more episode to get through.

Jessica said that she'd bring Matt back to her and she did. But he was distant. He got hurt quite a bit, but that wasn't the issue. It's not like Karen expected him to ask her out right away, so if he hasn't done it yet, it wasn't mean that he won't. There's no hurry, really. Still, something tells her that her time is running out and the longer it takes, the more likely it is that he just wants her to be his friend. Or maybe he needs time to get over Elektra, maybe he still has feelings for Jessica that she can't return.

He hugged her when he came back and she held him as long as he allowed her to. Which was quite long. Of course, Karen was careful not to put pressure on any of his wounds, but he made no sign of being in pain. Physical pain at least. After a long moment of being comfortable in his arms she whispered in his ear that she was so relieved to see him alive. "I really thought we lost you." He squeezed her a little harder then and that must have hurt somewhere, but he still didn't acknowledge it, before letting go of her suddenly and collecting himself.

After readjusting his glasses, he sighed and then went right back to business, to Rachel's case. They didn't talk about anything else since then.

Maybe he just wants to finish the show first and everything connected to it. Next time she sees him, she's gonna ask directly. She needs to know where she stands with him. If they're gonna stay friends she'll be able to deal with that, but she needs to know. It would be fine. It was fine before. There always was this tension between them and they never did anything about it. It's not like she's gonna think back to that kiss they shared all the time.

Although it was a great kiss... But no, really... She'll get over it.

She will!

Okay... it may take some time to get there. Of course, she can't get there while she watches close-ups of him licking those lips nervously on TV. Karen also sees him stiffen visibly which makes her worry again. Something's up. Again, this is a recording, silly, nothing will happen to him.

And then... Oh, crap.

When Jessica shows up on her screen Karen's jaw drops and she puts down her glass of water. He could have told her about this today at work, but he didn't. He must know that they are airing it today. Matt doesn't even look surprised to see the PI interrupt him and Celine, not even when she says she changed her mind.

When Matt is getting up from his chair there's a light in his eyes making it seem like he's genuinely happy to see Jessica again. "What did you change your mind about...? Me?" The woman he was talking to before is now rolling her eyes in the back and Karen can relate, although she was just as annoyed at her before. This is so cringy it has to be scripted.

"About me, actually." Yadda yadda yadda... she should switch the TV off really. She knows where this is going and she won't know if it's genuine anyway, unless they tell her it is the next day. And either way she's seen him kiss enough.

But they would have told her before if it isn't real, right? If Matt still intended to go out with her, he would have made sure that she didn't watch this or at least didn't take this seriously. The more she thinks about it the more obvious it seems that her little crush is rather hopeless. Watching Jessica claim his lips once more, Karen finally gives up and switches the TV off, cursing Matt for not having the guts to tell her himself and letting a reality show settle things between them. "What a coward...", she mumbles.

"I didn't think we'd agree on this." The voice behind her makes Karen jump up and grab the closest weapon she could think of which happens to be a fork that still has some spaghetti on it. "Relax, I'm not here to harm you or you'd be dead already."

Karen tries to push down her panic and focus on the intruder standing in her living room as if he has every right to scare her like this. It's when she notices the old man's strange eyes that the penny drops. "You're the guy who trained Matt..."

"You're clever. Good. I don't have to waste time with introducing myself, then."

"What do you want?", Karen practically growls. She remembers the nun's stories about a young innocent boy who was clearly mistreated by this man and she remembers her own anger at hearing about it. But at the same time she is aware that she's no match for Matt's mentor, so she needs to stay calm and find out what that asshole wants. If he hits children, she guesses that he'll have no qualms about hurting women...

"I've got good advice for you." Hearing that Karen scoffs and crosses her arms. Yeah, so much for the plan of not antagonising the blind ninja. But she can't help it. Advice? Really?! "You young people think you've got it all figured out, don't you?"

Glaring at him Karen says: "No, but I'm not taking advice from a guy who screwed up a friend of mine for life."

Stick tilts his head in a way that is earily similar to the way Matt moves and it gives her the chills. "Sweety, I'm the only reason he's still alive. With his sense of justice, how long would it have taken for him to piss off powerful people who wanted him dead, even without his little hobby? What do you think?"

An image of James Wesley with several gunshot wounds pops up in her head and she stubbornly ignores it. "Violence isn't the solution-"

Now it was Stick's turn to scoff. "You don't even sound like you believe that."

"Fine, say your bit. Like I care."

"Oh, you're gonna care." He steps closer towards her, but Karen doesn't retreat an inch. "Because the Hand is gonna be back, with the Black Sky on their side, just because your... friend was too weak to do what needed to be done. He just let her walk away with Nobu to safe some lives risking thousands and more."

So, this is how he gets into Matt's head. How he manipulates people into seeing what he wants them to see and not what's right in front of them. "You know what I think?"

"Thrilled to find out," Stick jokes.

Karen offers him a smile. He wants 'sweet', well he can have it. "I think you're the coward."

He laughs at that. "Yeah, right."

"You were there, weren't you?" Bingo, Karen thinks, because he doesn't have a quick retort for that. "So, this means you didn't kill Elektra either."

"I wasn't as close as him. If I had given up my cover and failed they would have killed me and there'd be nobody left to fight them."

How convenient. Could it be...? "And if Matt would have been outed as Daredevil and arrested, he wouldn't be able to help you fight them either..." Stick's sightless eyes widen all of a sudden which confirms her suspicion. "It was you! You took the suit! YOU helped him."

"I had no choice." Karen sees the rage in him building up, about getting caught like this by one of Matt's friends, about failing as a mentor in his eyes. "He created such a stupid spectacle! It's like he forgot everything I taught him. I told him to stay alone and not trust anyone, not pull anyone into this war. They are all distractions!"

Karen feels tears of anger in her eyes at the words she hears, but she keeps her mouth shut. "And what does he do?! He dates on TV! He was mocking me! And look at how many people died because of it. Because Matty wanted people in his life. You need to stay away from him. You must understand that."

This is wrong on so many levels that she doesn't even know what to say. But strangely, she settles on feeling pity for this old man who was abandoned, apparently by two of his protégés and saw his whole life's legacy trampled on. He won't live much longer and there's nobody left to fight his war for him. Nobody who's willing to stick to his inhumane rules.

"Thank you." There. That takes him by surprise and she also really means it. "For helping Matt and drawing the attention away as Daredevil. But now: Get out." There's no point arguing with someone like that.

"If you think this is over and you can be with him now you're making a huge mistake." Matt's former mentor doesn't move for a few seconds and she doesn't react, doesn't remind him that Matt is with Jessica now - and that's okay, really, she doesn't think he deserves to be alone like this asshole apparently drilled into him. He deserves to be happy, even if it isn't with her. So Stick eventually starts to walk back to the window, her angry glare following him.

He tilts his head back to her one more time when he's already halfway out. "He'll die one day. Protecting you or somebody else he's stupid enough to keep around." And with that the blind man vanishes into the night.

A cold shudder crawls down her back. So, this is the type of teaching Matt grew up with. It figures.

RACHEL

"So, maybe Jessica could ask Luke to do a guest appearance. That could get people interested, right?" Trish invited Rachel to her place to talk about their potential new project and to be honest it makes her nervous that the has been celebrity would be so eager to work with a producer who was accused of murder among other things. It feels wrong, like there's something about "Patsy" she should know before agreeing to be a part of this.

But it's not like she can afford to be picky. At least Trish knows her story and her idea for a show on people who don't have powers and still want to make a difference does seem like the sort of thing she always wanted to do. Plus this Claire Temple woman seems to be a good place to start. She looks pretty in that picture Trish provided and she's dating Harlem's hero which would make her interesting enough already for a lot of viewers.

Then again, Rachel has had enough of programmes in which women only matter if they can get some dude interested in them. "You know what? Let's not bring Cage up. Claire Temple is a hero of her own. We have to make people see that and bringing a superhero in will only draw attention away from her own work."

A huge grin spreads on Trish's face. "I like the way you think. Although, I feel with her clinic being especially for enhanced people we will need to talk about some of them..."

"She can talk about them. But I don't think we need to see them on camera. Do you even think that you could make Jessica talk to Miss Temple?" Rachel knows how hard it was to produce the grumpy PI. She doesn't think anyone could make her do anything she doesn't want to do, especially for a TV programme.

"You won't have to worry about Jess." Walker's certainty somehow reminds Rachel of Quinn. She also always knew how to get things done and make her do things that made her feel ashamed of herself. That was the reason she had to go, because she sometimes went too far, even in Quinn's opinion. Working with Trish is supposed to be different...

"Right, you even made Jessica go back for Matt, didn't you?" Rachel was surprised when Trish's adopted sister showed up at the second finale. Not being involved in any part of the production for once she just got to watch the outcome on TV, like everyone else, without a clue how they made this happen. She was a little impressed with their work, to be honest.

"Well... no." The woman in front of her leans back in her chair. "That was Elektra. She warned her that Celine was part of that freaky ninja cult and that she was there to kill Matt. Jessica was only there as a friend, to save his life."

Wow, kudos to the team then for making it look so real. "Wait, so there was another fight behind the scenes? Did anyone see...?" If Matt had to fight Celine in front of a bunch of TV producers, he was screwed. It would only be a matter of time before his secret got out.

"No, no. Celine vanished, after Jessica showed up. Matt somehow thinks that his mentor must have killed her."

Oh. Rachel feels horrible for hoping he's right. "So, Jessica and Matt... they're not dating?"

"No, they're just friends, it seems." She then rolls her eyes. "My mother even tried to get Jessica to do a show where she gets to be the star who chooses a man, but you can probably imagine her reaction to that..."

Rachel actually laughs out loud at the idea. "I hope she's still alive?"

"Yeah, she's back on my case now." Now Trish starts to sound very bitter. Which Rachel can relate to. Seems like they both have complicated relationships with their mothers. "She's not happy that I'm considering to drop my show and work with you."

Rachel nods carefully. "And why are you? Just curious..." Mystified, to be precise.

"I... Jessica told me some things about you." Trish catches her eyes in a way that makes Rachel feel like she's seeing right through her. It makes her a little uncomfortable since their most difficult contestant didn't have a lot of good things to share about her. "From what I've heard, you've seen the ugly side of this business and so have I. And I feel like maybe we could try to do it differently together. Maybe we can have each other's back."

Rachel doesn't know what to say. She's always gotten her hopes up about this, usually with some dick involved, but working with women seems to have its own pitfalls. In a way Quinn's cynicism hurt even more sometimes and she's not so sure what exactly Trish is after yet. She wants power over her own programme, that much was clear, but what will Rachel's role in this be? "Let me think about it."

"Take your time." Walker looks a little surprised when Rachel doesn't jump right in, but there are just some things she needs to figure out.

First of all she needs to give Nina that letter from Lucy and for some reason it's less exciting without any stakes in the matter. She doesn't need to catch her reaction on camera and she doesn't need to worry about the ratings this will get. Technically she should just put it in the mail, especially since Nina doesn't like her that much. However, for some reason she rings the bell and she's surprised when the door opens to a concerned face. "Rachel...? I heard what happened to you. How are you?"

Considering that Nina bought Jeremy's version of events it's a little gratifying to know she changed her mind after Rachel nearly died. "Hey, I'm good. I just came to give you something."

Nina frowns and takes the envelope, then looks around to check for cameras which Rachel sees as a sign that she really should just go. But when she starts to move Nina tells her to wait. So she just stands there awkwardly while the former contestant reads Lucy's letter. Eventually she dares to glance at her and catches the hint of a smile, then Nina quickly folds the letter and puts in away turning back towards Rachel. "I'm surprised you remembered to give me this after everything that happened..."

"It's the least I could do." She shrugs.

"I appreciate it. Thank you." Nina smiles. "Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta call someone."

"Good luck!"

Walking back to her car that needs some repairs real soon Rachel feels a weight taken off her. It's not like everything she did was wrong. She did some good things, too. Matt wouldn't be representing her if he didn't think she deserved a second chance. Right?

When the lawyer later visits her with his partner Nelson, he doesn't treat her like the asshole that she is, the one who blackmailed him and caused him a lot of pain, physical and emotional. No, he's very understanding and tells her that Jeremy won't be a threat anymore. That he's actually taking the blame now for everything to make sure she doesn't go to jail. Still trying to be her hero after all. Somehow that freaks her out even more than him calling her a manipulative bitch and making it all her fault.

"He feels horrible for hurting you, Rachel," Matt explains to her. "I don't think you'll have to worry about him anymore, even after he's released. He'll keep his distance, because... we made sure he knows that he's too dangerous for you." Something about the way he says that sounds wrong and it takes a while for Rachel to understand what it is, while Nelson explains to her what's gonna happen next. She takes some notes, still thinking about Matt's words and his appearance, his tired look and the lack of sass when he talks to her. He's a shadow of himself, really.

Matt's red shades of course hide his eyes again. Still, Rachel has gotten good at reading him and he is obviously not in a good place. If they were on TV she'd know exactly what to do to bring his issues up for the audience and she wouldn't hesitate, pretending that it would be good for him, too. But shouldn't she interfere for real? Or would it only make things worse?

Rachel doesn't say anything. She's done with this. It's not her problem.

But seeing Matt like this when he's helping her get her messy life back on track after she fundamentally screwed with his life, his career and his relationships makes her feel like she owes him. What if she could make things better? She did produce happy endings sometimes and if anyone deserves one it's the guy who saves people every night. Who saved her.

She has to try at least. Before she can change her mind Rachel sends Nelson a message asking if there's anyone Matt believes he's too dangerous for. He doesn't answer right away. Checking again and again Rachel later sees those dots appear, suggesting that he's writing something, but he doesn't send it.

Not sure what else to do, she calls Trish Walker to ask for her opinion. "Hey Rachel. You made up your mind finally?"

"I think I need some advice." This is probably a bad idea. "I've got a hunch."

"What kind of hunch?", Trish would like to know.

"I think Murdock's being an idiot."

"You're not trying to play matchmaker again, are you? I thought you put that behind you?" Sounds like Walker is sceptical about her instincts after all which is kind of a relief.

"I'm trying to help a friend," Rachel says, just as Nelson sends her a name. And suddenly she can't help feeling giddy about it. "I think, he's just trying to protect someone and it's not Jessica."

There's a pause. "Alright, I'll bite. What do you want to do about it?"

JESSICA

It wasn't easy, getting Matt to agree to her offer of protection during the day when he is a little more vulnerable. Maybe in the end his armour just being returned to him by his mentor helped reminding him that he needs this, more than he'd like to admit. People who can cover for him when he's in danger of getting exposed. Or killed.

It's obvious that he doesn't want to talk about it, but they both know she saw it happen, so there's really no reason to mention it. "You think there are any more ninjas out there after you?"

Matt shighs and slumps on the couch. "Not more than usual."

Jessica ignores a sound from her phone to ask if he's alright, not that she's expecting an honest answer. "I'm fine."

"Bullshit... I might not be able to hear your heartbeat, but you're such a bad liar, it's a miracle you weren't identified as Devil Ears way before your reality TV heartthrob act..."

"They're horns." Jessica rolls her eyes, but she sees a little smirk at the corner of his mouth, so she decides to drop it. For now. It's not like she gives a damn. Not much.

When her phone signals another message, the third one within five minutes she thinks it's time to check if it is anything important. "Just keep me in the loop if you hear or smell anything weird," Jessica mumbles while seeing that Trish is asking if she's still at Matt's place and telling her to get out of there if that's the case.

Expecting trouble, Jessica wants to know why, to which she only receives an ominous "just trust me, you don't want to be there...".

WTF? Should she be searching the place for ninjas? "Don't worry. It doesn't concern you," Trish clarifies after a second, sending her a bunch of cryptic and annoying emoticons that explain nothing, like a devil, a heart, a dancing woman in a red dress and a piece of paper.

Then Matt is suddenly tilting his head, indicating that he's listening to something outside. "Karen's coming. She's... she's running..."

Running? Oh. So, Karen's on her way and she was wearing a red dress when she appeared on Everlasting... Putting it together Jessica thinks that, really it's time to go home. "We'll be in touch," she says before quickly grabbing her bag and her drink.

She's already on her way to the roof access when Matt stops her. "No, wait! Maybe she needs help."

Jessica winces at his hand grabbing her arm. "She wants your help, Matt. Not mine. That's why she's coming here."

But his hold on her is desperate and while she could easily free herself, she suddenly understands what this is about while she sees him struggling to come up with some excuse. "I just... I can't..."

She firmly moves his hand from her arm and rolls her eyes. "Just talk to her. If you need me to hit someone you can call."

There's a nervous knock on the door and while going to open it Matt again soundlessly begs Jessica to stay. She justs stands there and watches him vanish around a corner to his entrance. Still contemplating if she should be listening to this asshole or to her sister, she waits to find out what's up. If it's about anything personal, she'll just slip away as quickly as possible.

Something tells her that Rachel's involved in this. It really smells of Goldberg-fabricated drama and Jessica again curses the day that producer met her sister who totally got it in her head that not all of that woman's instincts are destructive and dangerous.

She hears Matt greet his visitor, while Page is completely out of breath and apparently wet, because he is offering her something to dry herself. "Come in, please! Jessica is also here. She can help, if you're in trouble..."

Karen's footsteps come to a halt immediately. "Jessica is here...?" Damn it, Murdock, why mention her name? She was so close to running off.

Jessica finishes her drink and prepares herself for another shitshow. At least this one won't be on TV. "Yeah, let me get you a blanket." Matt hurries to his bedroom, seemingly still quite unaware what conclusion this woman is going to draw, seeing them together after they've snogged in front of cameras a couple of times. Sure, Jessica told her she'd bring him back to her, but she barely knew what she was saying back then. Or why.

Now face to face with a shivering Karen Page, she really doesn't want her to get the wrong idea. "I was just here to offer my protection... for Matt Murdock. Not the other one... You don't need my help, do you?"

The secretary / reporter still looks a bit confused, but manages a little head shake, just when Matt comes back with the blanket, quickly draping it around the freezing blonde and Jessica thinks that, yeah, alright, maybe he needs that little push.

"Okay, I've got places to be," she says leaving those two behind to finally figure their shit out. When she's outside she warns Matt to not be a jerk, although she's not really sure if he's even listening to anything besides Karen Page right now. A part of her still expected that she'd feel jealous, but she actually values her friendship with him and she was glad to see this smitten smile on his face just now. Hopefully, Karen will get to see it, too. And if she doesn't get why he is being such an idiot, then screw her.

MATT

The last couple of weeks have been hard. Ever since the show ended it all felt so unreal, like none of it actually happened. Elektra bringing up all those old feelings and finally going with the Hand to bring them down and save everyone. Or him flirting with Jessica Jones to mess with her. It even seemed like there was something going on between them for a while, but now Matt thinks that was just Rachel Goldberg messing with his head. He's never going to listen to her again.

And today there was this revelation that Stick was there all the time. That he helped him protect his identity and that he still considered him a failure for letting Elektra live. And before Matt could process all that Jessica ambushed him with an offer of watching his back whenever he had to appear helpless. His bruised ego didn't want to accept it at first, but of course she was right and it wasn't just about him. She had to remind him that Foggy and Karen would also suffer for his recklessness and that made him agree.

He didn't even have time to thank her for caring enough, for trying to make sure he's okay while obviously neither of them was eager to talk about the Stick situation. And suddenly there was a wet Karen on his doorstep making Jessica flee the apartment.

And his confused friend is currently not really telling him why she's even there, after running through the rain in a dress. Whatever it is, it seems to scare her so much she's apparently too afraid to talk about it. He wants to punch whoever is responsible for making her heart beat so fast and for making tears gather in her eyes. "Karen, if someone is threatening you... You know that I'll do anything to protect you, right?"

At bitter laugh escapes her at the comment, which seems rather rude, since he's done a decent job of that in the past and he knows that she's aware of that now. That she figured it out on her own, brilliant that she is... And is that the red dress she wore when he tried to tell her...?

No, wait...

"It's not your protection I want... It's you." Matt blinks a couple of times, because that is not what he expected her to say. "I mean, of course I wouldn't mind your protection, but I kind of figured that I already have that."

Of course she has it. And of course this really shouldn't surprise him. They did kiss during the shooting of the show after all and he implied that he had to figure some stuff out before...

This was one of the things that now felt unreal, the way that his emotions got the better of him. He thought that this could be alright, that maybe this could be something good.

Then the finale happened and he remembered that all his relationships were destined to end in death and destruction. Heartbreak was the better option. It means that she's alive. And he thought she gave up on following up on their kiss after the second finale in which he apeared to choose Jessica. He did not think he'd be able to tell her in person that maybe they better stay friends. Which now he has to do.

"Um, Karen, I'm sorry..." He can hear how Karen pulls the blanket tighter around herself. "I can't."

Her heart is beating even faster and he'll punch himself for that later... "Why? I know it's not because of Jessica or Elektra. Rachel told me."

Goldberg. Of course...

He strokes her arm in an attempt to show how much he regrets this. "It just hurts too much."

"Matt..." Letting the blanket drop from one shoulder Karen reaches out to touch his cheek. He didn't even realise how much he was craving this and how much he was afraid of it at the same time. But before he can pull away, she's kissing him again, her lips moving slow and confident. And he can feel himself react. His hesitation melts away like snow in the sun. Matt releases a sigh and eventually starts to kiss her back with an urgency that surprises even her.

He's barely aware of the blanket falling to the ground and Karen basically replacing it with him. Pulling him close and wrapping his arms around her, while her own delicate fingers start to investigate. She's still drawing little circles on his back when she cruelly tears her lips away from his and breathes out a question that she already knows the answer to: "And? Did this hurt?"

He shakes his head. No, but it would one day. It'll leave the ugliest scar of them all.

"Karen, you don't understand... You were safe, because you weren't there. Because you weren't with me," he's almost pleading with her, his voice raw and broken.

"I understand perfectly. I do..." And then she hugs him again, but this time he's able to break it off, desperate to make her accept that he just can't take that risk anymore.

"No, you don't. You can't!", he insists, now softly, but firmly pushing her hands back.

Karen then finally takes a deep breath. "You know what Stick told me?" Matt's breath catches at the horrible idea of Karen meeting his mentor and even her voice is wavering a little when she elaborates: "He told me you will die one day, trying to protect me."

"When did you talk to him?"

Karen scoffs. "Matt, focus here. He wanted to scare me away from you, but I'm here. You better believe me when I say I do understand very well."

"Okay, okay..." It's not very wise to argue with Karen Page, when she's like this. Stubborn and determined. He can relate actually. It seems that she clearly has more guts than him. Still: "Are you... are you sure about this? It's just, I know I'm gonna mess it up, I always do..."

When she carefully takes his hands in hers, he doesn't protest. "You think I'm not afraid of that? Me messing it up?"

He shakes his head and almost laughs, when he suddenly feels her hand over his mouth and he can almost feel her glare at him. So, when she moves that hand away again, he just frowns, waiting for her to go on.

"I'm terrified. I don't want to talk about it right now, but I've done some horrible, irresponsible things in the past that I cannot take back-"

"Karen, James Wesley-"

"I'm not talking about that," she snaps and Matt immediately shuts up. "Just, trust me when I say that I get it and that I'm afraid of ruining this, too. Am I lying?"

Matt swallows. "No..." Perhaps he really doesn't know as much about Karen Page as he thought he did.

"Still want to kiss me?" Her heart is pounding so loud and clear that it deserves a fitting answer. So he gives her one, in form of a searing kiss, tasting both of their uncertainty on his lips - a promise to try their best, even if it hurts.

And this is when he finally understands. Whether he'll die one day protecting her, or she'll die because he can't, none of them can really prevent that. But at least they don't have to live in denial.

Notes: So, let me know what you think. :)

And if you have any suggestions for what an Elektra/Matt ending should look like, tell me. I've got some ideas, but let's see...