Chapter 2: Aqui, we take care of each other

After the eleven minute taxi ride from Tampa International Airport to the Nelson's, Foggy is immensely glad his parents decided not to follow his advice and buy the expensive house at the Swann Estates anyways, instead of the cheaper if less conveniently-placed condo by MacDill Air Force Base. He is not sure Matt would have survived a second longer inside the moving vehicle.

"You okay there, buddy?" Foggy asks, turning from the passenger seat to glance at Matt, who's at the back, looking like he's a sharp turn away from throwing up. His face is pale, and he's been sweating ever since they left the ground at J.F.K., about four hours before. Even if it's about 68ºF warmer here in Florida, it really doesn't really account for his sweating, seeing as he has taken off his jacket.

"Gotta admit man, I've seen better days," Matt replies with a pained smile. Every few seconds he will slightly turn his head in a different direction, he's been doing that a lot since they got off the plane.

Ever since Foggy discovered his friend's 'abilities', he is getting used to Matt's particular tilts-of-head and the out-of-place-expressions he sometimes makes when listening to something too far away for Foggy to catch, but these strained grimaces and unease twitching do not seem like normal behavior – not even Matt-normal behavior.

"Now I'm worried," Foggy tries to joke, while sharing a concerned look with Karen. "You, Matt-Always-the-Stoic-One-Murdock, just admitted to not being fine. You must be dying or something."

Matt tries to smile, but it comes out more like a grimace.

"I think we are here," Karen says, pointing outside her window, and she sounds as relieved as Foggy himself feels.

As he steps out the the cab, Foggy takes in the house he had only seen in real estate pictures before. It's a nice place. With a well-maintained front yard, the traditional two-story house seems more spacious than any apartment or shop the Nelsons have ever owned before put together. Someone – most likely his dad – placed missmatching Christmas decorations all around the porch, giving the otherwise bland place some personality.

It's the kind of house he knows his mother had always dreamed about having when he was growing up, but could never have afforded, certainly not in New York.

For a moment, Foggy wonders how it would have been to grow up in a place when everyone had their bedroom — possibly with their inbuilt bathroom; with a dining room separated from both the kitchen and the living room, where everyone could sit a good distance from each other, and not get into one another's space everytime someone wanted to refill their glass of juice.

He can't imagine it.

Karen clears her throat loudly, breaking Foggy from his reverie. "A little help here?" She prompts, as she and the cabbie pull their things from the truck.

When Matt finally manages to climb out of the car, he tries to offer to help, but they brush him off.

"And now, the moment of truth!" Foggy jokes a little nervously, as the three friends stand side by side at the entrance door. He prepares to ring the bell.

"Wait!" Karen stops him.

Foggy turns wide eyes at her. "Uh. Karen, if you're having second-doubts, I think it's a little too late for you to go back now..."

"No, no," she interrupts, shaking her head and reaching out to place her hand comfortingly on Matt's shoulder. "It's just that we didn't have a moment in private to ask how you are doing – really. I mean, I know flying is not a pleasant experience for me, and I don't have super senses. So can't begin to imagine how it must feel for you, Matt."

Matt's hold on his cane visibly tightens and he shifts his weight from one foot to the other.

"Nah-ah, don't even think about lying, Murdock," Foggy interjects, before his friend has a chance to downplay whatever is up with him.

Not even Matt's dark-tinted glasses can hide the way his eyebrows rise up in surprise at Foggy's words.

"Come on, buddy," Foggy says with a smile, bumping him lightly on the arm. "We don't need to smell the saliva in your mouth, or whatever it is that you do, to be able to tell that you are almost passing out on us."

That manages to get a laugh out of Matt's grim face.

"It was the pressure, I think," Matt finally admits, a self-deprecating smiling twisting his lips in a way that makes Foggy want to shake it away. "It messed with my ears and now I'm having trouble readjusting. My hearing is all over the place. But it's getting better now that I'm on steady ground again. I should be back to normal in a couple of hours," he is quick to reassure them. "It's nothing to worry about, guys. Really."

Karen glances back at Foggy, and the pair of them share a 'can you believe this guy?' sort of look.

"We just rolled our eyes at your overly stoic attitude, buddy," Foggy helpfully informs, maneuvering Matt's hand to the crook of his elbow – just like old times.

"You know it's okay to ask for help," Karen adds, interlacing her arm with Matt's from his other side. "You don't have to bear it alone."

Matt lets out a strangled chuckle, twisting his head away from both of them. "Thanks," he stammers. "I know. You–" He cuts himself short, tilting his head to the side in a familiar way.

"What did you hear?" Foggy asks, looking around. "Please tell me aliens didn't pick Tampa as the next ground-zero for an invasion. My folks didn't have insurance to cover it the first time, and I doubt they have it now," he says, only half-joking.

Suddenly, the front door bursts open, causing Foggy and Karen to jump in surprise. Matt, that little piece of shit, doesn't even try to hide the smirk at his friends reactions.

"Uncle Foggy!" Ruthie, his hyperactive, 8-year-old niece cries out, rushing forwards to hug him.

From behind her, Oli, 10-year-old ginger, steps out, frowning slightly. "What are you doing standing out here in the porch? Weren't you going to knock?"

"Of course!" Foggy exclaims, tousling his youngest niece's hair affectionately, before turning to hug the oldest. "We were just playing rock-paper-scissors to decide who would get to ring the bell."

Olivia eyes them weirdly, but Ruth nods along, finding the answer completely reasonable.

"Aren't you going to say hello to my friends, girls?" Foggy prompts, indicating Matt and Karen, who awkwardly hover at the side.

Ruthie's eyes widen comically, as she takes in Matt's form. "Matt!" She exclaims, and that's the only warning before she's throwing her arms around his waist. Well, only warning to people with normal senses. Matt had probably smelled the sneaky attack coming.

"Ruthie, is that you?" He asks, pretending to be surprised. "Look at how much you've grown! I almost didn't recognize you," Matt says, making an effort to sound impressed, which infinitely pleases the girl.

Grinning from ear to ear, Ruth turns her head up, giggling. "Matt! Will you play Marco-Polo with me later? I had Uncle Theo play it with me last year, but he didn't have a cane, so he kept stumbling over furniture and falling to the ground."

Under his breath, Foggy mutters between stifled snorts, "he could have his eyes open and he still would have fallen on his ass, so drunk he was."

Matt's smile widens, and Foggy knows he heard him.

"I'd love to play with you," Matt says solemnly, though he doesn't manage to suppress the smirk completely. "And maybe we can even invite Karen to play as well. I bet she's pretty good at it."

Ruthie's head snaps around. "Oh, hi Karen, it's nice to see you," she mumbles somewhat timidly, still holding on to Matt's hand. She's still very shy around Karen, but Foggy's sure her reticence won't last long.

"It's really nice to see you too, Ruthie," Karen replies, smiling down at the girl. Then she inclines her body to whisper something into her ear, causing the child to start giggling again. Yep, now it's more likely.

"Hi Karen!" Olivia steps forwards, probably annoyed her younger sister is getting all the attention.

Karen turns to look at the pre-teen. "Hello, Oli! Wow! I love your jacket, it's beautiful shade of green. I goes really well with your hair," she compliments, making the girl blush.

"Hey there, Oli," Matt says, waving in her general direction. "I can't really say much about the jacket, but the bracelets you're wearing definitely make a really cool clinking noise."

Foggy hadn't even noticed it before Matt pointed it out, but sure enough, the girl does have colorful metal trinkets around her wrists that make jingling sounds when she moves her arms.

"T-thanks, Matt," Olivia stutters, reddening furiously. Foggy always thought it cute – and funny – how his niece perpetually crushes on Matt. It's even funnier now that Foggy is absolutely sure his friend can sense/feel/know/whatever it is that he does how the girl is blushing.

As if reading his thoughts, Colin, the 7-year-old mischievous boy comes running down the hall, sing-songing: "Olivia is in love with Matt, Olivia is in love with Matt!"

"I'm not!" Oli shouts back, livid, before running after him.

"Wait for me!" Ruthie exclaims, following her siblings back inside the house.

The three friends share a moment of silence, before laughing.

"Is it always like this?" Karen asks, sounding mostly amused, and just a little bit tired. In moments like these, Foggy is reminded just how resilient his friend really is.

"Just be thankful the second-degree cousins won't be making an appearance this year," Matt says.

"Damn. The second-degree cousins," Foggy runs a hand through his hair, feeling the ghost of the headache that plagued him during that particular Christmas. "That is an experience I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy."

Matt opens his mouth to say something, but no words come out. Unexpectedly, he flinches with a grimace, as if he has just tasted something disgustingly bitter.

"Is it the aliens this time?" Foggy jokes, but reaches out to hold on to Matt's elbow just in case.

Shaking his head as if to clear his mind, Matt doesn't even try to pretend everything is alright.

"Aircraft just took off," he explains offhandedly.

"Dude," Foggy begins, impressed despite himself, "you know that's insane, right? We are like, five miles from the airport."

"...from the air force base," Matt clarifies, and if he wasn't so sickly pale, he would have looked sheepish.

Karen whistles, surprised but apparently not as blown-away as Foggy.

"What the actual fuck, man," he can't help but blurt out. "This is like, Avengers-level bullshit."

Matt shrugs but doesn't reply otherwise.

Turning his attention to the entrance hall, Foggy peers inside to check if anyone's coming to receive them.

"I guess we should just barge in, guys," he decides, guiding the others inside.

"Franklin! What took you so long?" A voice calls from behind them, just as Foggy is closing the door. He turns to find his mom in an apron, covered in flour.

"Looking good, Mom," he says instead of replying, accepting her kiss on the cheek.

She snaps a kitchen towel at him, causing him to inhale some of the flour.

"Good lord woman! Are you trying to choke him before he hands in the goods?" Foggy hears his sister saying, as he coughs uncontrollably.

"Lovely to see you too, Candy," he manages to choke out. Through the tears burning the corners of his eyes, Foggy gets a flash of his sister's dark auburn hair, before she envelops him in a tight hug.

As he tries to get the worst of the mess off his face, his Mom, Candace, Karen and Matt exchange amicable greetings and small-talk, with his family asking about the flight from NYC and his friends inquiring after the move to the new house. Apparently Theo had arrived yesterday, and Candace and the kids a day before that.

"Don't get me wrong," his mom is telling Matt, as Candace shows Karen the way to the restroom, "I do miss waking up to a city covered in white, but it's wonderful not have to deal with the slimy mess snow leaves in its wake."

Matt is nodding politely, seemingly interested in what she is saying, but it's clear to Foggy that his friend is exhausted.

"Mom," he bluntly insinuates himself in the conversation – subtlety isn't really the Nelsons' style. "I'm sure Matt would love to hear all the reasons Florida is better than New York, but right now we're absolutely dead on our feet."

"Of course, you're right, Franklin," she immediately agrees. Making to climb the stairs to the second floor, she gestures for them to accompany her. "Follow me, dears," she adds a moment later, before Foggy even has the chance to narrate. After years hosting Matt during holidays and such, Foggy's family got used to making some accommodations, such as not relying on non-verbal cues around him. Foggy now knows it doesn't really matter to Matt, but it's nice to see how welcoming his family is. He hopes Matt realizes it too.

"Stairs are two feet to your right," he quietly says, both out of habit and because Foggy isn't sure his friend doesn't actually need the extra help, considering how his senses have been acting up.

Grabbing his suitcase with his left hand, Matt tucks his cane away, opting to make use of Foggy's guiding to lead him.

"Thanks, man," Matt says softly. Foggy doesn't have super hearing, but he definitely catches on to the deeper meaning of that expression of gratitude.

"Always, buddy."

"And here comes the big-shot lawyer!" Theo cat-calls as Foggy enters the living room, where most of his family, together with Karen, are gathered. "Took you long enough, bro."

"Yeah, yeah," Foggy brushes his brother off and grabs a seat by one of the armchairs.

"How's Matt doing?" Karen asks discreetly, as she passes him a drink.

Foggy takes a sip, pleased at the sweet mixture of chocolate and cinnamon. "He says he's feeling better. But it's Matt, so you can never be sure."

It's been a couple of hours since they arrived. After taking a short tour around the house and saying hello to everyone, Foggy's mom had shown them to their rooms. Seeing as the house only had three spare bedrooms, Karen and Candace were to share the smallest one, while Matt, Foggy and Theo would stay in the biggest and the kids would sleep in the remaining room. Theo hadn't been happy with the arrangement – 'you remember why we call you Foggy, right? It certainly isn't because of your opaque, mysterious nature. I can't sleep with you snoring the whole night'. So his younger brother had voluntarily moved himself to the sofa downstairs, leaving Matt and Foggy as the sole occupants of that bedroom, just like college times.

At Foggy's insistence, Matt consented to rest for an hour or two. Not wanting his friend to feel uncomfortable about it, Foggy decided to lie down for a bit too, before coming downstairs to interact with everyone. When he left, Matt appeared to be doing some sort of meditation, and Foggy felt it was better to leave him to his own devices. He would come down when he was ready.

His parents, as well as his siblings and Karen are seated around the coffee table, spread out on the sofas and chairs. The room is mostly put together, but Foggy easily spots a couple of unopened card boxes hidden in a corner. All around the house, remnants of the move can be found, be it either in unopened boxes, mismatching furniture or improvised sleeping arrangements.

From the kitchen, Foggy hears joyous laughter.

"The kids wanted to decorate gingerbread cookies," his father answers the unspoken question.

Foggy makes a face. "And you left them to it, unsupervised?"

From across the room, Candace throws a Christmas ornament at his head. "I'll have you know that your nieces and nephew are growing up to be quite the chefs!"

Theo snorts and picks up the fallen red ball, throwing it back at their sister. "Please tell me you are not planning on enrolling them on that stupid cooking show."

"MasterChef Junior is a respectable program," his mom argues back, puffing her chest a little. "Those kids are really talented." When it looks like Candace will pick another ornament from the Christmas tree to throw at Theo, their mother raises her finger threateningly at her. "Don't you dare, young lady!"

Foggy rolls his eyes at his family antics. One would think they are not responsible adults, with business or children to take care of. Besides him, Karen is giggling silently, and Foggy feels immensely glad at how relaxed and comfortable she looks sprawled on the sofa at his mother's side, wearing soft, casual clothing. That's exactly what he wanted when he decided to invite her and Matt to come here with him.

Well, that, and also make sure Matt wouldn't get himself killed while Foggy was out of town. He is perfectly aware that Matt is still going out at night back home, even when the temperatures are below zero and slippery ice covers the rooftops his friend is so fond of jumping on. But Foggy also knows that no matter how insane his friend is, even he would be hard-pressed to put on his shady-black-ninja outfit and go out to punch criminals in the streets of freaking suburban Tampa.

Foggy has learned the hard way that being confrontational with Matt regarding his night-time activities wasn't in any way productive, so he has been working to come up with a new approach – one that kept his friend alive (and hopefully out of jail) and at the same time quenched his vigilante-y thirst for justice.

Still, even though Foggy is relieved he won't have to worry about Matt dying in a gutter somewhere, after being stabbed on the chest and freezing to death buried in dirty snow, he does feel somewhat guilty for pushing his friend like that. He has always know that Matt's reluctance to take off from New York has as much to do with loving the city and everything it represents, as it has with being skittish about leaving the place he can so easily navigate in. And after witnessing just how messed up he got at the plane, Foggy more than empathises with his unwillingness to travel.

Foggy has zoned out of the conversation taking place in the room, but the mentioning of Matt's name pulls his attention.

"So, is Matt coming down to socialize or is he going to stay hopped in the room for the rest of the holidays?" Candace asks in Foggy and Karen's direction during a lull in the conversation.

"Uh, no," Karen is quick to answer. "He gets really motion sick in airplanes, so he's probably sleeping it off."

"Yeah, he'll show up when he smells dinner," Foggy adds, lightheartedly.

"Poor boy," his mom comments, shaking her head. "He's always been rather sensitive, isn't he? Remember his first New Year with us? I don't know who was more anxious when the fireworks started, him or the dogs."

Theo snorts. "Man, that was nothing compared to the Thanksgiving we spent at Aunt Jeannie's. Remember his face when Uncle Timmy puked all over dessert? Priceless!"

His dad tuts disapprovingly. "You joke now, but if I recall correctly, it was Matt who saved the infamous 2010 Easter lunch. If not for his nose, Sharon's kitchen would have burned down."

All the Nelsons have to concede a point at that.

Karen eyes them curiously. "I had no idea you've known Matt for so long," she comments, prompting them to tell her more on the subject. A journalist will always chase a good story, Foggy supposes.

"Oh, yes," his mom nods, always eager to share. "Matt's been with us ever since he and Franklin met at college some, what? 14 years ago."

Candace laughs. "The way you say it, it sounds like Matt's a lost puppy that Foggy brought home and we adopted."

"I mean, you're not wrong," Theo speaks up, shrugging with one shoulder. "You know Matt's got no family of his own, and him and Foggy have always been joined at the hip ever since college. It kind of makes sense that he would become part of the family."

Foggy wonders how they will react when they learn that Matt found the only remaining member of his birth family – and she turned out to be a nun.

Karen smiles at them. "That's really sweet of you," she quietly says. "Matt really needs people like you in his life." Foggy doesn't think he's imagining the telling shine in her eyes that speaks of unshed tears.

His mom smiles back at Karen. "You're always welcomed here too, dear," she says, reaching out to pat the younger woman on the hand. "Any of Franklin's friends will always have a place with the Nelsons."

Karen's grin widens, and she looks down, cheeks flushing. "Thank you, Mrs. Nelson."

She waves a hand dismissively at her. "None of this 'mrs' business. Call me Anna, dear."

Karen reddens a shade darker, and she stutters out in agreement.

"And anyway!" Foggy says, calling attention to himself to give Karen a chance to recompose herself. "When you say that any of my friends will be welcome here, you know that includes Marci, right Mom?"

Predictably, the older woman huffs in exasperation. "I know you tell us that girl is taking good care of you, Franklin. But I still remember the way she turned down your affections to go chase that rich doctor."

Behind their mom's back, Theo mouths out 'turned down your affections', with quotations marks and everything, causing Foggy, Karen and Candace to strain to stifle their laughter.

"You know," his sister begins, making the others turn to her, "I always kind of shipped you and Matt harder than I do you and Marci, little bro."

Everyone laughs, and Foggy splutters to respond, though he's grinning to when he does. "I'll have you know that the friendship between Matt and I is the most manly, no-homo thing you can find between two manly men."

"Keep telling yourself that, pal," Theo snorts, slapping him on the shoulder on his way to the bathroom. "Let's see if Karen will agree when I show her the picture of the pair of you cuddling back in 2008," he shoots over his shoulder, as he walks away.

"Not fair!" Foggy retorts. "We were kept up the whole night by Colin's crying. Of course we'd fall asleep anywhere after that!"

"We had a bet going, last year," Candace leans forward in her seat to confide in Foggy. "Theo as going to tell Dad's conservative relatives that you and Matt had come out as a couple. We wanted to see how many of them would believe it."

His dad tsks in their direction. "That's not a thing to joke about, kids."

On the opposite side of the living room, his mom rolls her eyes at her husband. "That's because your sister is a bigot, dear."

"But anyways," Candace interrupts before their parents can start arguing, "Matt didn't show, so we thought it best to leave it alone." She tries to say it nonchalantly, but Foggy's aware what she really means is that they weren't sure Matt and Foggy were even friends at that point, and they didn't want to bring him up and risk hurting their brother's feelings.

The Nelsons are blunt to a fault, but they also know to be tactful, when the situation calls for it.

An uncomfortable silence grows between them. Foggy knows his family doesn't really understand what happened between the once inseparable friends. And how could they? But he hopes they won't bring it up with Matt. He can't imagine that particular conversation going well.

"So," Karen cuts in, "should we check to see if there are any cookies left?"

Everyone promptly agrees, and as they get up, Foggy shoots her grateful glance.

That's what friends are for, she wordlessly smiles back.