Foggy hadn't thought about the Battle of New York for months. Well, actually that wasn't true. He had nightmares on a regular basis about the Chitauri returning, and it was constantly being talked about on the news, and he was constantly forced to walk past fallen buildings and rubble in his neighborhood that reminded him of beloved businesses no longer there, people driven screaming from their homes. But those things he could detach himself from. The Battle of New York was a thing that happened. But he couldn't really think about it as being a thing that had happened to him. He knew that if he thought about his sister's begging, or the 55 missed calls from his mother and crying voicemails, or the desperation that Matt clutched him with as he cried and hugged him afterwards, he'd have to leave New York City like his sister had because he'd never be able to feel normal again.

So when the door at Nelson and Murdock opened one morning, only days after they had signed the lease and taken Karen on as their secretary, Foggy was more than a little terrified to see Captain America himself, Steve Rogers, standing hesitantly in the doorway.

Matt had called in sick, had said he had a headache which was worrying to Foggy. And Karen had stepped out to pick them up some lunch. So it was only Foggy there to greet one of history's greatest heroes.

"I'm looking for Franklin Nelson?" Steve asked.

"That's me!" Foggy said, surprised. "Hi," he said, standing up and moving to shake the man's hand vigorously. He only realized how vigorously a minute or so too late when things got awkward. But Steve just smiled. It must have happened to him all the time.

"I'm Steve-" he started to say.

"Rogers, yeah. I know," Foggy said, starting to sweat, his heart beating fast in his chest. "Captain America," he continued, unable to stop himself. "You saved my life during the Battle of New York. You probably don't remember. Holy crap. Cow! I mean, holy cow! Sorry!"

"It's okay," Steve said, laughing, and Foggy reflected on how incredible it was that the man seemed to actually be as humble and down to Earth as everyone liked to imagine he was. "I'm sorry to just show up here out of the blue. I probably should have made an appointment but your phone wasn't working when I tried to call."

Foggy blushed, embarrassed. "Yeah, we're still having some issues with the set up. The office is pretty new, so..." He didn't know what else to say. How do you make small talk with an unfrozen WWII soldier?

"Wait..." Foggy finally asked, "Did you say you were looking for me?"

"I am," said Steve. "I am in need of a lawyer, a good one, and a friend of mine told me that you would be able to help me."

"Really?" said Foggy. "I don't know who your friend is but I've technically only been a lawyer for a couple of weeks now. So I'm not quite sure what I did to deserve that reputation. Plus aren't you friends with Tony Stark? I'm sure he's got a whole team of sharks on his payroll who he could introduce you to." Internally, Foggy reprimanded himself for blowing it. Why was he telling Steve to go to someone else? What was wrong with him?

"You are definitely right about Stark's legal team. They're who I've been using until now. They're... aggressive," said Steve, and it was clear that he was trying to be nice. "I just wanted to find my own lawyer. Someone who I could trust and who I knew was more interested in doing the right thing than money. My friend told me that I wouldn't find someone who fit that bill more than you. Worthy, actually, was the word he used."

"Wow, really?" Foggy said, wondering who it was. Worthy? Him?

"Absolutely," Steve said with certainty. "Are you busy, Mr. Nelson?"

"Foggy, please!" Foggy insisted, leading Steve into his office.

Steve laughed. "Foggy? Alright, then. I was led to believe that nicknames like that were a bit old-fashioned these days."

"Really? Nobody told me." Foggy said. "Plus, it's better than Franklin." He wrinkled his nose as he said it. He had always hated his given name.

"Hey," said Steve, "Don't knock it. I knew a Franklin once. He was one of the best men I ever met."

As he closed the door behind them, Foggy realized who Steve was referring to and his knees just about buckled under him, his mind unable to even really process what was happening.

"So," he said, turning to walk towards his desk as Steve settled into the chair across from him. "What can I help you with?"

"Well, I'm not sure if you keep up on the news or not, but I recently separated from the organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D.,' Steve explained. "They, along with the Stark Industries legal team, were doing a lot of the heavy lifting for me related to re-integrating me into the world, which from my understanding hasn't been an easy thing to do in the eyes of the law."

Foggy sighed, unsure. Steve's situation wasn't exactly one that Columbia had prepared him for. "You're not wrong," he said. "Officially you were dead for over 70 years, so even just getting you proper identification and having your existence be legally recognized would have been a pretty crazy undertaking."

"It was," Steve said, "But it wasn't enough. I have ID, which is good. I can rent an apartment, apply for a credit card. Those are good too. But I don't want to just be able to move on and set up a new identity for myself. I want my old life back."

"Ummmm..." said Foggy, wondering if maybe he had gotten in over his head already. "I don't think I understand."

"I know I can't go back in time. That's not what I mean," explained Steve. "But I had things, belongings, before I went in the ice that I feel entitled to. I've been trying to hunt some of it down through collectors or museums, but apparently there's a lot of gray area around who it all belongs to now. You'd be surprised how many people are more concerned with how much one of my family heirlooms is worth than the fact that it belongs to me, that it has sentimental value that I can't put a price on."

"Wow, really?" Foggy asked. He'd never considered that before.

"Yeah," said Steve. "And there's also a lot of misinformation floating around in the culture about Captain America and about me that needs to be corrected. I can't believe some of the ways my reputation has been ruined by people over the years. Do you know that there's a museum in Brooklyn claiming to be located in the building where I grew up? It's not even close. All the stuff in it is bunk. And there's a lot of biographies out there making money for publishers or authors that I had nothing to do with. Some of them are pretty outlandish."

"I can imagine," Foggy said. And he could.

"I'm getting frustrated. All of the other lawyers I've met have told me that it's not worth my time or energy to fight for my reputation or the things that I had," Steve said. "It's like my absence means that I don't have a say in any of it. I need someone on my side who understands why I'm fighting and won't back down. I know it's a lot to ask. I'm not even sure if it's something that you're interested in."

"No!" said Foggy, "I'm interested, and I understand exactly why it's so important to you. I mean, I can't even imagine what it would be like to sacrifice yourself like that and then wake up in a world that's completely different, where everyone and everything has moved on. But I can see why the little things, the stuff you owned and the stories people told about you, would matter to you."

"Yeah?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Foggy said with more confidence than he felt, shrugging his shoulders and gesturing with his hands like the answer was obvious.

Steve nodded his head, and so Foggy opened his laptop and began pulling up copies of the paperwork he would have to print to take Steve on as a client.

When Foggy politely excused himself and stepped out of the office to print the paperwork he needed, he noticed that Karen had come back from lunch.

"Hi," she said, smiling at him. "Do you actually have a client in there?" She sounded excited.

"I do," Foggy said, "And you will never guess who it is."

"Wait, what?" Karen asked. "Who is it? You have to tell me. I'm going to find out anyway."

"Steve freakin' Rogers," Foggy said.

"Okay, ha ha Foggy," Karen said, walking back towards her own desk.

"I'm not kidding," said Foggy. "Captain America is in my office right now prepared to hire me on as his personal attorney!"

"And you're saying yes?" Karen asked.

"Uh, yeah? Why would I say no?" Foggy asked.

"Because you and Matt are partners and he has a say in it too," Karen explained. "And I'm pretty sure that taking Captain America on as a client violates the innocent clients only rule you guys have."

"What?" asked Foggy, completely blown away by what she had said. "Captain America isn't innocent? They don't come any more innocent than that! Are you crazy?"

"Foggy, the intelligence organization that he worked for up until very recently turned out to be secretly infiltrated by Hydra," Karen said. "Did you even read any of the information that was dumped from the S.H.I.E.L.D. servers? It was not exactly puppies and rainbows. And he's friends with Tony Stark. Otherwise known as the asshole who once said that world peace could be privatized?"

"Wow," said Foggy slowly, "Not an Avengers fan, are you Karen?"

"They're impressive," she said, "but do you really want to take on any of their legal problems? And you know that Matt is going to agree with me."

Foggy sighed. She was right. He knew she was.

"So we don't tell him," Foggy said. "Steve didn't ask for Matt, anyway. He asked for me. And it's nothing too extensive or time consuming. Plus, it'll keep the lights on while we wait for all of the poor innocent souls of Hell's Kitchen to show up who need help. Do you wanna work for free forever?"

"No," Karen agreed.

"Please, Karen?" Foggy asked. "That guy in there saved my life during the Battle of New York. I owe him."

"Fine," Karen said. "What's one small secret, I guess. Plus, he is Captain America. Do you think he would give me an autograph?"

"I think he would give you the shirt off his back if you asked him," said Foggy. "He definitely lives up to the hype."

"Wow," said Karen.

"Wow," Foggy agreed.