Miraculously, Matt eventually surfaces from the darkness, clinging once again to consciousness. He takes a deep breath in, and then lets it out. For a second, he expects to be back in the metal chair with his hands and feet tied, but instead he feels...a warm blanket, on his body? And what feels like the soft cushions of his couch underneath his fingertips? And the warmth of sunlight on his face and arms?
He groans, which catches the attention of Jessica. "Hey, Matt," she says, very near. Matt reaches a shaking hand out towards her and manages to grasp her shoulder. Jessica grabs onto his hand and squeezes. "You're at home. You're safe," she assures him.
He frowns, electing to ignore...a lot. "Are you...sitting on the floor next to my couch?"
"Yup. Also stole some of your shit beer."
"Should've expected that," Matt says, then sudden realizes how dry his throat is. He swallows a little, and grimaces. "Do you have water?"
"Here," she says, helping him sit up and then pressing a glass into his hand. "Small sips."
He scowls, says, "I'm not an idiot," and then proceeds to accidentally drink slightly too quickly, the cool and soothing water turning not so soothing as it goes down the wrong pipe and he launches into a coughing fit. Jessica's hand lands on his back and starts patting, which is not at all helpful. His chest aches but not like it did before.
"You are an idiot," she says once his coughing fit has stopped.
"Thanks," Matt says sarcastically. A few footsteps sound from somewhere else in the room, and he tenses.
"That's Claire," Jessica says quickly, before he can launch himself into something way more than a panic attack, a panic invasion, maybe? "Met her when I was breaking someone out of a hospital." What?
"Sorry, should've introduced myself before," Claire says. She has a nice, warm voice, so Matt decides to forgive her.
"What...are you doing here?" he asks, sounding far more confused than he'd like.
"She patched up your sorry ass when you were unconscious," Jessica says succinctly.
"Ah," Matt says. He has no comeback for that. "Thank you."
"No problem," Claire says. "Try not to get hurt again."
"What if I get a papercut level of hurt, then?" Matt says with a weak grin he doesn't feel.
"Fucking lawyer," Jessica mutters under her breath.
"Not my problem," Claire says, but he can hear the smile curling her words.
Matt successfully drinks some more water, cradles the glass in his lap, and frowns. "No offense, but why didn't you take me to...y'know, a hospital?"
"Fisk could find you there," Jessica says.
"Fisk could find me here," he retorts.
"We don't know who Fisk has under his thumb. Any hospital employee could kill you in your hospital bed."
"We nurses are very capable," Claire says dryly.
"At least here we can keep a closer eye on you," Jessica finishes.
A memory flashes and echoes in Matt's brain. "He owns the police."
"What?"
"Fisk, he said he owns the police. He said we shouldn't bother trying to imprison him. He'd just get out anyways," he says, voice growing more desperate and strained by the end. He pauses. God, how had he forgotten? "Where are Foggy and Karen?"
"They're coming," Jessica says, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder.
"What are they doing?"
"Buying get better soon cards for you."
"Jessica."
"They went forward with the trial," she says. "Fisk sent them footage of you."
"No," Matt gasps out. He'd let them down, they must've seen...everything, how weak he'd been, how he couldn't do anything right.
"Yes," Jessica says. "Don't run from the truth."
"I'd like to," Matt says, his hands suddenly shaking. Jessica takes the glass away from him, allowing him to bury his face in his hands.
"They're going to be fine," Jessica says after a few moments. Claire has busied herself in the kitchen, the sound of dishes and utensils emanating from her general position. "They know what they're doing."
Matt nods. "I don't doubt that. I didn't want them to drop the case."
"And they knew that, so they went forward with it, even though they were super worried about you. I was the one who got to do all the detective work to find you, and I got you out when we knew Fisk would be busy with trial stuff."
"What trial stuff?"
"Trial stuff. I'm not a lawyer."
Matt sighs. "I still didn't want them to see," he says after a moment.
"You're stronger than you think," Jessica tells him, and leaves it at that.
The verdict is guilty. Fisk is indicted. Fisk escapes from his transport. Jessica goes after him with the guy she broke out of a hospital. There is a fight. Fisk goes to prison. Claire sighs and tends to their wounds.
But that is not what matters to Matt tonight. He did his part in this fight, and now there are others to finish it. What he focuses on are Foggy and Karen sitting next to him as they eat takeout together and watch Legally Blonde, Foggy and Karen taking turns doing the audio description while Matt complains about its inaccuracies.
"Maybe Harvard's just on another level," Karen says, laughing.
"Harvard's different, sure, but not that different," Matt complains.
"Columbia's where it's at," Foggy says, gently bumping shoulders with Matt.
He falls asleep later right there, surrounded by his friends and their warmth.
