A/N: Ah, this turned out mostly fluff and filler, but it's what came out. Perhaps plot to follow... Thanks for reading!
Chapter 10
The birds woke him, and Matt found himself wrapped up in Liz. He nuzzled his forehead against the back of her neck. "Hey."
She sighed as she burrowed into the sheets and closer to him. "Can we keep doing that?"
He exhaled a low chuckle. "Sure." His arms tightened around her. "Now?"
She turned so she was facing him, their noses nearly touching. "Depends. What time is it?"
"Not sure. Somewhere around 5 or 6?"
She reached across him and smacked the talking alarm clock.
"5:45 AM, 5:45 AM, 5:45 AM," it squawked.
Liz pulled a pillow around her head as she rolled toward the edge of the bed. "Does she also think you're deaf?"
"Apparently. Where are you going?"
"Shower." She sat up. "Work. Blah, blah, blah."
He grabbed her hand. "Stay in bed."
"Someone around here needs to work," she pointed out as she stood.
"Ouch. That hurts," he joked. "But yeah. Okay. Get out of here. Bring home the bacon."
"Foggy will eat it," she decided with a chortle.
"Nah, I'd put up a fight for that." He grinned with a wink. "Atkins."
Liz looked down where Matt still held her hand. She tugged him toward her. "I've gotta get going."
"I know."
She attempted to reclaim her arm. Unsuccessfully. "Thing is, I'm going to need this hand today."
He smiled. "I know."
"You can come with me as far as the shower," Liz offered.
"Yeah?" He scooted toward her side of the bed.
"If you promise not to make me late."
He stood, inhaling deeply. Her essence permeated his house now, despite her attempts with the unscented soap. He found her pheromones deliciously intoxicating. "No promises."
She retrieved the crutches, and he followed her down the hall. The shower, while longer than any solo effort, kept Liz on track for achieving an on-time arrival at work. As long as she could remained focused.
"Do you have a hairdryer?" she asked a still not dressed Matt who had collapsed back on the bed.
"I do actually." He pointed in the general direction of the bathroom. "Under the sink. Second drawer on the right."
She pulled out a nice hairdryer than she owned. "Is this for personal use?" she inquired, stepping into the bedroom.
"Sometimes. I don't especially like walking to work with frozen hair."
"Fair point." She blasted her hair with the ionized heat from the ceramic dryer. Her short tresses were dry and fluffed in a matter of minutes.
"So, dinner tonight?" Matt queried when Liz returned to finish dressing.
"Sure. But somewhere other than here, maybe?"
"You wanna take this to the streets?" He nodded. "I get that."
She pulled on yesterday's scrubs. She'd have to walk-of-shame it until she could grab clean ones at the hospital. "Or a restaurant? Or not. Whatever you think."
"No," Matt paused before continuing with a little more vigor. "No. That's good. That's what people do."
"You sure?" She crawled across the bed behind him. He leaned back against her. "Because you don't seem sure."
"No. I'm sure," he promised. "It's just been a while."
"I could wear a spandex suit if that helps," she crooned, her lips so close to his ear he had shuddered as she spoke.
He turned to pull her back into his arms. "Maybe later," he managed.
"Right." Her lips brushed his. "But now, I have to use my powers for good rather than evil."
"Hey! Are you implying that I'm the embodiment of evil?"
"If the armor-reinforced suit fits…" she teased.
He pushed her off his lap and onto the bed, although he couldn't wipe the smile from his face. "Go to work."
"Again." She reached over and caressed his jaw. He hadn't bothered to shave. She loved the prickle of his burgeoning beard beneath her fingertips. "Someone has to."
He kissed her again, sucking on her bottom lip before he released it. "See you tonight. I'll make a reservation and send you the details. Okay?"
"Sounds great," she stood, reluctantly. "My shift ends at 7, so 8 or even a little later?"
"Yeah. Okay. I'll take care of things." Even as he said it, he realized what a welcome change that would be, taking care of something. Anything.
Liz smiled as she kissed him again. "Have a good day."
"You too. Call me if you get a break."
"Unlikely, but sure." She squeezed his hand, and then she was gone.
Matt lay on the bed for a little while longer before he finished dressing. Then, he made a pot of coffee and some toast. He sat at the table, lost in thought or daydream or whatever when Foggy arrived.
"Hey Buddy, ready for round 2?" the other man asked as he poured Matt's coffee into his own travel mug.
"More like 1.5, isn't it?"
"True," Foggy agreed with the nod of the head. "How you feeling?"
"Fine. Hoping I'll make it a little longer today," Matt clipped.
Foggy's hands rested on Matt's shoulders. "It's okay if you don't. You get more done in four hours than I do in two days most times."
"Yeah. Listen, I need a dinner reservation for tonight."
Foggy grabbed the chair to Matt's left and rested his elbows on the table, rapt with attention. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," Matt nodded slowly. "It's been a little while since I've taken a girl out like that." He and Elektra hadn't really had a restaurant-going relationship, "But I'm assuming you and Karen have been, uh, hitting the town every now and then."
"We make the same salary, Matt. Although calling it a salary would be a stretch, but yeah. Occasionally."
"Doesn't need to be anything fancy," Matt clarified.
"Definitely. We have a couple places that we like. I'll ask Karen as soon as we get to the office."
"Thanks. For everything. Foggy, seriously."
"It's nothing," Foggy deflected with a hand on Matt's arm.
"No," Matt sobered. "All this is above and beyond."
Foggy shrugged. "It's okay. You'd do the same for me."
"I'd try," Matt decided with a bob of his head, "But you're better at this than I fear I would be."
"Well, then it's a good think that the universe conspired to make you the superhero and me the trusty sidekick."
Matt's demeanor darkened at the mention of his other life. "Yeah. All for the best, I'm sure."
Foggy squeezed Matt's forearm. "Hey. We're good. And I appreciate this. What you just said. And you're welcome. You're always welcome."
Matt turned to face Foggy, fixing his eyes where Foggy's should be. "And I'm always thankful. Even when I forget to say it. Even when I don't say it."
"I know, Matty." Foggy paused, not sure where to go from here. Instead he stood. "But we've got the Davises at 9. You ready to go?"
Matt rose to meet his friend and accepted the crutches. "As I'll ever be."
Matt navigated the morning without a hiccup. Karen knocked on his door around 11:30, interrupting what had proven to be a productive hour. "Come in."
"I made you a reservation for 8:30 tonight at a new little place Foggy and I like. It's quiet and intimate, but not too intimate." He knew she was blushing, her heartbeat quickened and he felt the heat radiating from her. She laughed nervously, pushing her hair behind her ear. "If that makes any sense."
"It sounds perfect. Thanks." He handed his phone to Karen. "Can you send Liz the info?"
He'd never done anything, asked for anything like that before. "A-a-are you s-s-s-sure?" Karen stuttered, stumbling over the words.
"She programmed her number in, I think."
Karen scrolled through the contacts. "Yeah. Here it is." She held the phone out to him.
"It's just faster if you text her."
"Okay," she still sounded apprehensive.
"I'm swallowing my pride today, Karen," he reported, his tone completely matter-of-fact.
"Okay." The word felt surer this time she said it. "I like her."
"I do, too," Matt confessed. "And she likes you."
"We should do the foursome thing again, now that it's all settled or whatever."
"I think it's far from settled," sighed Matt. He knew full well dinner and sex did not a long-term relationship make. "But yeah. That would be nice."
"Oh!" Karen exclaimed. "I almost forgot. Dr. Stotler's office called. You have an appointment next Tuesday."
He assumed that meant Jim. There had been a dearth of surnames recently. "They called here?"
Karen shrugged. "I guess Foggy gave them this number."
Sure. Why not? "When is it?"
"Tuesday at 2."
Matt nodded, making a mental note. "Remind me on Monday? And Tuesday morning."
"Sure. You need anything now?"
"I'm all set. Thanks."
"Lunch?"
He inhaled with purpose. No packed lunches in the vicinity. "Are you ordering in or going out?"
"We hadn't decided yet. Did you have something in mind?"
"I'm not really that hungry." The toast this morning had tasted like sawdust and still sat in his stomach like a rock. He wasn't sure why, because when not attached to food, scent and taste continued to function normally. Well, not normally, but as usual. He just still hadn't recovered his appetite.
"Still? You have to eat something, Matt."
"I know."
"Does ANYTHING sound good? I'll do whatever I can to find it. It's New York City for goodness sake. The options are endless!"
Matt smiled but held out. "That's sweet, Karen, really. But no. I'll be fine."
Foggy walked in about the same time, as he returned from filing a brief. "Who called this meeting?"
Matt called up a little smirk at the memory of the correct answer. "Yes he did."
"What?" Karen glanced from one man to the other.
"Nothing," Matt waved his hand. "It's based on the old Abbot and Costello bit."
"Right." Karen nodded as she crossed to Foggy and linked her arm with his. "We were just talking about what we should do for lunch."
"Lunch? Yeah? Matt?" Foggy inquired in one-word sentences.
"Sure," the injured man relented. "Just get me whatever you guys are having." He'd pick around at it to make them feel better.
Karen jumped up to grab some delivery menus.
"You gonna hang around this afternoon?" Foggy asked as he sat on the edge of Matt's desk.
Matt rubbed the bridge of his nose. He needed to finish reading through the transcript of the trial from an assault and battery verdict whose appeal they had agreed to argue. "I thought I'd give it a shot. For a while, anyway."
"Yeah, but don't overdo it, okay?"
He realized Foggy would enforce this condition. Still he decided to push his luck. "Right. I might rest my eyes for a little bit, though."
"Go home, Matt," pleaded Foggy.
"Please don't make me go back there. I'm dying of boredom. I can take a nap here. Just close the blinds so no one can see," he reasoned. "There are blinds, aren't there?"
"There are."
Matt lifted his left leg from its perch on a chair. "I'm elevating it and everything."
"Okay. I guess," Foggy finally conceded. "But you're leaving at 4. No buts."
"Okay." Matt would take it.
Matt's eye resting turned into a three hour nap. Foggy returned and roused him around 3:30. Matt's fingers flew to the face of his watch. "I've got 30 minutes left."
"I think you're done, Matt. You've been asleep all afternoon."
"Oh. Yeah. I guess that's a valid point." He yawned and stretched before he reached toward his laptop. "I should finish this, though."
Foggy closed the lid of the computer before Matt's hands made it to the Braille reader keypad. "You're done for today, man. Home. Now."
"But I'm awake now," Matt pointed out, although even to his own ears the protest sounded anemic.
"Get some air, then," his friend suggested.
He sighed. "I don't mean to be dead weight, Foggy."
Foggy placed his hand on Matt's forearm. "It's fine. We're good. It would be better to have a few hours of good work from you than a full day of crap. Right?"
This didn't satisfy Matt. "Yeah. I guess, but we have four cases going to trial and two in discovery, not to mention this appeal, which is not straightforward. That's too much for you to do on your own."
Foggy waved him off before he replaced his hand on Matt's arm. "You'd pick up the slack for me if the roles were reversed. Plus, Karen's been a big help."
"Yeah?"
"Absolutely. She's great. Really amazing." Matt chuckled but Foggy continued. "No, I'm serious. I couldn't do this without her. We couldn't do this without her."
"Oh. Okay." He knew Karen had been helpful, but it sounded like she'd made herself indispensable to the firm, and to Foggy.
"And I'm not saying this because of what's going on between her and me, but we need to pay her more," proposed Foggy.
Matt's brow furrowed. "Have you run the numbers?"
"Yeah. And if we both took a 1% decrease from the billable take-home we could give her a 5% raise."
Matt nodded. He would give Foggy this one. "Whatever you think."
"Can you swing that? I know we aren't exactly rolling in it, but I think we need to do this."
"I'm fine," Matt reassured. "Don't worry about me."
"Right." Foggy laughed, hardly assured.
Matt shot him a grin with a sad shake of his head. "Don't worry about my finances. How about that?"
"Our crappy health insurance has a three thousand dollar deductible."
"I'm fine, Foggy," Matt promised. "In most every sense of the word. Really."
"Okay. I'll back off a little." He looked his friend up and down, cuts and bruises still healing on his face, leg encased in a shiny black cast. "At least, I'll try."
"I'll believe it when I see it," sniggered Matt.
"Jesus, Matt. Just let me look out for you for a little bit," begged Foggy. "I need to feel like I contribute something to this relationship."
"I let Karen send a text for me earlier." Matt revealed. "Isn't that enough help for one day?"
Foggy's big hand gently clapped Matt's shoulder on his uninjured right side. "I guess it is. Now please go home and get ready for your date."
"I have more than four hours before that." Matt's phone rang at that moment. "Saved by the bell…" He winked as he tapped the screen. Foggy stood to give him some privacy, seeing Liz's name flashing as Matt answered. "Hello?"
"Hi." Her voice greeted him. "You said to call when I had a minute, and I did. Is this an okay time?"
"It's great. I was just getting ready to head home."
"Everything okay?"
Matt blew out a quick breath that ended in a little chuckle. "I took a three hour nap and Foggy is kicking me out."
He could almost feel Liz's face erupting in to a smile. "Smart man, that Foggy."
"I feel like maybe he's overreacting a little."
"Go home!" Liz urged. "Doctor's orders."
"You're not my doctor," Matt astutely pointed out.
"No, but even from here, it sounds like a good idea." Liz was absolutely Team Foggy on this one.
"Do I sound that bad?"
Liz let out a warm and melodic burst of laughter. "No. But I know you're not back to full speed yet."
"Well, obviously."
"And full speed for you is like Mach 3 for everyone else, so I guess that's not too surprising," she added.
Now Matt smiled. She just got him, somehow. "Right. I guess I keep forgetting that."
"I know. That's why I'm reminding you."
"Should I pick you up tonight?" he asked, their conversation energizing him as he looked forward to her company.
"How about we meet at your place? It's closer to the restaurant than mine, and I can stop and pick up a few things from home on the way."
"Okay." He answered hopefully, assuming that meant she'd be staying.
"I'll be there around 8, if that works for you."
"Sounds perfect."
"Go home, Matt." Her tone took a more serious note now.
"Yeah, okay." He finally gave in. "See you tonight."
"Okay. Gotta go save some lives."
"I have a feeling you're not kidding about that."
Liz laughed once more before she rung off. "See you tonight, Matt."
TBC