Dear Karen,

Do you remember that day at work, after I spent the night at your apartment? I can't remember ever asking you how you felt then, but for me, it was strange. You had arrived before me, and you had clearly filled Foggy in on what had happened. When he saw me, he called me a dog, and hugged me. You suppressed a laugh.

"It's about time you two made things official! When should I rent a tux?" Foggy was joking. Foggy only jokes when he's having fun or he's nervous. Even I couldn't tell which it was on that day.

"It's just a date Foggy." You said, but I still heard your heart skip a beat, and you blushed. You were adorable; you looked up at me and then quickly back down. I wanted to hold you again.

"Pshh, you don't understand Karen. I've always wanted to be a best man, and if Matt and you get married then you guys like, literally have to make me best man. It's all a part of my devilish scheme!"

"I thought I was the devilish one around here?" A joke? I told a joke about myself being Daredevil? The things you did to me Karen, how you changed me in a natural but profound way, sometimes without me even realizing it.

"Oh my God, he told a joke that was overly dripping in sarcasm and darkness." Foggy sounded shocked and pretended to fall into a chair. He then pretended to beat his chest with his fist in an attempt to save himself from his fake heart attack. He was in rare form that day, but I guess we all were.

The mood was so different in the office. There weren't any secrets between us anymore. We worked like normal, but there were more jokes, and more time to just chat and be friends. We still got work done, we still filed, researched, called, scheduled, but everything seemed lighter. A weight that I had been voluntarily carrying for the past few months was gone. And my world on fire suddenly seemed under control. I didn't see a raging, hellish inferno anymore. Now, I saw a beautiful world, with you being a beautiful woman in it, lit by sanctimonious candles.

At about five in the afternoon, we were all packing up to go. You left first, as was normal. You hugged me though, before you left. It was so chaste, it just seemed like a hug, but you kissed me on the cheek. I could feel your lips, the lipstick on them, the intoxicating smell of jasmine and vanilla. It was almost too much to not grab you and kiss you back. But Foggy was right there. He couldn't see the kiss from his angle, but if he had I know he would have agreed with me about what it meant. It was a promise, a mark, and a covenant. It was a brand that spoke to me, of a future worth protecting. Of a future with you.

When you left, I got the third degree from Foggy. He wanted to know literally everything that happened, and I obliged while still keeping our privacy. Our, it was our privacy now.

"You know you're probably the only guy who can tell the woman of his dreams that you have lied to her face for a month, after calling her before that and telling her he's dying, and then still get to stay at her apartment and get a date with her tomorrow night?"

"Well," I really hadn't considered all of those things at the same time, "when you put it like that."

"Ah, who am I kidding?" Foggy put his arm around me as we walked downstairs. "I'm happy for you two Matt. But what are you two going to do about the whole Daredevil thing?"

I practically winced at having to remember that, "we've kind of decided to cross that bridge when we come to it I think. We haven't talked about it in detail."

"Well that's probably the best thing you can do." Foggy smiled as we exited the door to the street outside. He clapped me on the shoulder and said a simple, "well good luck buddy," before he turned around to walk home. I turned around too, but suddenly I had a thought.

"Hey Foggy," I called. He wheeled around and immediately came back. "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Sure, what's up Matt?"

When Foggy and I got back to my apartment, he was still giving me a hard time. By the time we finally got to my closet, he was chaining jokes together like my dad used to chain uppercuts and hooks.

"The great Matt Mudock, lady killer, lawyer, vigilante, scared by one little date with Karen!" He was having the time of his life at my expense. "And yet, who does he come to for advice? Me, the best best friend to ever best friend."

"I just need help picking out what to wear Foggy." I said deadpan. Foggy could be a little over enthusiastic sometime. But, he was the only one who knew my secret, and knew what colors looked good on me. For all that abilities that I have, I'm still blind, and I still have to have brail tags to tell the difference in color in my ties and clothes. Depending on the material, I can sometimes tell the difference by touch, but that isn't the most reliable way to choose a set of clothes. Besides, I needed everything to go right tomorrow night.

"Let's see her," I heard him shuffling through my clothes. "How formal is this going to be anyway?"

"Um, I don't know. I thought about taking her to Louis'."

"Ok, so kinda business casual, cool, cool. Hmm, how about this little ditty?" He took out a shirt, some pants, and a blazer. "It's navy pants with a matching blazer, but with a striped shirt to kind of break up the patterns a bit. Plus it will make your hair and glasses stand out through all the blue!"

"Ok, do I look alright in blue?" I was far more comfortable in red. It was a special color to me. After all, my Dad wore it.

"You'll look fine. Trust me I saw her glancing at you all day today, you could wear a loin cloth and probably still get her to fall for you."

I smiled, it was a joke but he was trying to make me feel better. Foggy is a good friend.

"Thanks Foggy. But, you should probably get going now." I said as I got out the trunk that contained my Daredevil gear beneath my Father's robe and gloves.

"You going out tonight?"

"Yeah, I won't be out there tomorrow night, so I need to tonight." I said, matter of factly. It made perfect sense to me.

"Don't you want to be well rested or something tomorrow? What if you get like really hurt and can't go?"

I hadn't thought of that. But it didn't matter I still had to go. I continued talking as I changed. "I can't let what Karen and I are doing now interrupt my nights. People out there rely on me, and I stop good people from getting hurt. Besides, Karen would understand."

Foggy through his hands up in a surrendering pose. "Alright, alright. Just, be careful ok Matt?"

I was careful that night though. It was a slow night; it was almost like the city knew I just wanted it to be over so I could see you tomorrow. There was a man who had been stalking his ex-girlfriend. He planned on stabbing her to death but hadn't worked up the courage to do it yet. I had warned him to stop or there would be consequences. I found him outside her apartment building that night, and I broke his arm. He should have listened to me. Around four in the morning, I was slowly making my way back to my apartment across the rooftops of Hells Kitchen, when I heard two men say something that made me stop dead in my tracks.

I thought maybe I was just imagining it. But I had a bad feeling, so I followed the sound of their voices. They were talking in an alleyway behind a nightclub that was well known to have connection to organized crime. It was one of the few actual mafia clubs left in Hells Kitchen, only allowed to still be operating because where it was located didn't matter to Fisk or any of the now more powerful players in my city.

"Yeah, the boss says that if we can find the woman who killed Fisks right hand guy, that maybe it'll get us a favor with the fat guy."

"Hey, watch what you say about him, alright? He may still be in prison, but he's dangerous man. And you sure it's a girl that offed his assistant?"

"Yeah, apparently some bum down by the docks saw Wesley drag some blonde girl into a warehouse. A few minutes later, the guy heard gunshots, and then out comes the blonde. Seems pretty cut and dry."

"So, there a hit out on this girl yet?" I was getting angrier and more worried with everything they said. There were a lot of blondes in New York. But how many were directly associated with Fisk, to the point that his second in command would abduct her? There was only one answer to that, and I didn't like it.

"Nah, the boss is inside, talking it over. I mean I doubt we could ever find out exactly who this girl is, but if we did, and we did kill her, man can you imagine the kind of leverage that could give us?"

I had heard enough. I jumped down and tackled one of the men to the ground. The other fumbled for the gun I knew he had stuck in his waistband. I cracked his collarbone with my billy club, before stomping the other man on the head, knocking him out. It wasn't enough though, and I knew it. Luckily for me, I was angry now. And when I'm angry, I'm determined. And when I'm determined, I can fight through a lot of men. So I walked calmly into the bar.

It took me a second to locate the mob boss that was considering putting a hit out on you. It was disgusting; he was weighing the pros and cons of killing you like most people decide if they should go to the bank or grocery store while it's raining. It made me even angrier. He and his men numbered about seven, and five of them were carrying guns. The only way to get toward them was to cross directly toward them across the dance floor. Lucky for me, it was a slow night. Even luckier, I found the fuse box, the hum and feel of electricity around it was unmistakable. It gave me what I needed to make this work. I immediately ran in, and jumped up on the stage. The fuse box was directly to my left. The thing most people don't realize is that action is always faster than reaction. If you don't train, human reactions are actually pretty slow and easy to anticipate. And luckily for me, these mob idiots rarely practiced.

"Anyone here who doesn't want to see the inside of an ambulance, leave now!" I commanded. It got a few people out of the door. It also drew the attention of the mob captain and his soldiers. I heard them coming toward me, I heard the sound of metal and polymer being drawn from holsters. I heard the sound of a revolver hammer being cocked.

One man turned to the mob captain and asked, him, "Is this guy for real, like is that really Daredevil?"

"Yeah he's for real. Hey! What do you want?!" He yelled at me. He had four men with him, luckily for me, three of the men bolted. I later found out I had beaten them up a few weeks before.

"The blond woman, you're not going to put a hit out on her. You're not going to touch her; you're not going to even think about her anymore. Do you understand?"

The man chuckled, it's amazing the false confidence superior number and weapons give men. "I don't think that's going to happen buddy."

"Well then, it's time to give the Devil his due." I said, as menacingly as I could. I flicked my combined billy clubs into the fuse box and it had the effect I wanted. The entire club was plunged into darkness. Suddenly, every single person in the club was blind. All the mob guys panicked, one even mistakenly shot one of his friends. I don't see why they were so scared about being blind. Everything seemed normal to me.

I made quick work of them. They were practically useless without being able to see. But it took me a few seconds too long. The mob captain was able to escape out the back, the way I came in. I chased him down after I retrieved my billy clubs. He was out of shape, he smoked, and I followed the smell of his cigarettes and cheap wine, and the sound of his wheezing from the rooftops. I was just waiting for the right moment. Eventually, he turned down the wrong way, into an alley. He gave me all the privacy I could ask for.

I jumped down, and knocked him to the ground with one punch. I then held his wrist in a hold, and threatened to snap it if he moved or screamed.

"The woman. You're going to leave her alone do you understand?"

"Yeah sure, whatever you say!" He was lying; he just wanted to be left alone.

I twirked his wrist a bit and punched him in the mouth. I felt one of his teeth fly, and heard it fall to the ground. "If you lie to me, I will know. Now, you will leave her alone, and you'll use your connections to make sure no one tries to find out anything about her, or they'll have to deal with me, do you understand?"

"God ok yes!" he cried out, and he was telling the truth this time. I threw him against a wall and he held his mouth with one hand while rotating his wrist to make sure it wasn't broken.

"Now, usually I'd break your jaw right now." I said as I came closer to him. He was scared of me. He reeked of fear. I smelt the horrible smell and realized he had wet himself. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna break your jaw, because you need to tell others to leave that woman alone, right?"

"Yeah, yeah of course."

"Good," I said, and then I delivered a straight to his thoracic diaphragm. It wouldn't break anything, but it would knock the wind out of him, and hurt like hell. I made my way back to my apartment that night, and I thought about our date the next night. I was still looking forward to it, but now I had something else to reckon with. We had to talk about so much, and now I had to ask you if you had killed Fisk's right hand man.

What tangled webs we weaved.

Love,

Matt