Hey! So it's been what... a year. Two years. Well. Now guess who's back! This one! Thank you for to every one who added this story to they're alerts. Finding those in my e-mails are the only reason I wrote this chapter and I'm glad I did. This was one of my favorites.

(Ch3)

The next morning Cassalie arrived, hours early as usual, after another uneventful night of wandering the streets. She knew it wasn't safe, especially as a woman, to sneak around the streets of New York at night but she'd been doing it for so long she had it down to a science. Thus is the life of someone less afraid of what lurks in the dead of night then her own home. Fortunately she only had to last two more days. Then the evil neighbors evil friends will go back to whatever hole they crawled out of and she would be okay to go home. Hopefully.

She blinked sleepily as she leaned against the door of Nelson & Murdok, taking a moment to collect herself before going in. She'd gonw three or four days with not sleep. Maybe more. There had been a fair amount of dozing last night but no real rest. Not because she wanted to deprive herself of sleep by any means it just didn't seem wise to fall asleep on a park bench. It may be fine for the Hells Kitchen homeless but, call her overly cautious or paranoid even, but Cassalie just couldn't bring herself to do it.

Once she felt as prepared as she was going to be, Cassalie moved to try the door but before her hand so much a grazed the nob the door lurched open. Unprepared she lost her balance instantly and stumbled into the building. By the time her tired body registered that she had fallen at all she was already being steadied by none other then Matt Murdok himself.

"Cassalie?" He asked softly, stepping aside for her to pass.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" She muttered moodily.

Matt raised a brow. From the looks of it he could ask her the same thing. "I wanted to catch you before you came in..." Although he hadn't intended it to be quite so literally.

Cassalie didn't say anything and simply slumped down at her desk. She had a feeling she already knew where this was going and she couldn't even be upset. After all she'd been waiting for it.

He moved in front of her desk while she made herself comfortable, laying her in her arms like she had the day before. If she was lucky she might be able to get an hour or two of sleep before the clients coming in.

"Cassalie." He started again before she could doze off on him. "I want to talk to you."

Her harsh sigh made him pause. The chair groaned as she lifted her head and leaned back. "Save it." She muttered. "I know where this is going."

"You do?"

"Curtain call, right?" Matt forced himself not to smile as he remembered her words from interview.

"No." His tone was soothing. At least, he hoped it was. Over the weeks he and Foggy had both some to learn that they're secretary didn't soothe easy.

"Then what do you want?" Now he was just wasting her time. If he wasn't going to fire her she saw no reason for this conversation to be happening. They could both be asleep and she could be a great deal happier for it.

After a short moment of silence, through which Cassalie had become even more irate, Matt found his words. "Are you alright?" It wasn't much but he had to tread carefully. Her usual manner coupled with her obvious lack of sleep there was no way of knowing what would set her off.

"I'm fine." She muttered, refusing to look up at him. If she did, she knew, he would be giving her that look and it wasn't something she really wanted to deal with right now. Instead her head fell back into her arms and she closed her eyes.

"We're worried about you."

"What for? I'm fine."

Matt sighed and Cassalie didn't even have to glance up to feel the look her was giving her. Brows slightly knit together, jaw set, blind eyes boring right into her. No one made her feel bad for shouldering her own problems quite like he could.

"Over the past few days, Foggy and I have noticed you've been..." Fatigued? Exhausted? Dead on your feet? "Tired. Very tired." He tilted his head to one side as if trying to look at her from a different angle. "Have you been sleeping?"

For a long while the woman stayed silent. If not for the rhythm of her heart and breathing Matt would have thought she'd fallen asleep. "I'm fine." Was her muffled reply. She couldn't say yes. He'd know she was lying. Hell, he knew she was lying now.

Matt's gripped and released his cane. This was going nowhere fast. Why in the world is she so resistant? "Are you sure you're okay?" He tried one last time. It would e a simple matter to push it but all it would do it make them both angry and he wasn't much in the mood run this circle with her.

"Yes." She nearly growled out. All she wanted was for him to drop it and go back upstairs. If he really wanted to help so much he could go away and let her sleep for a while. That would be aces.

"Alright." He said slowly, although clearly not convinced. They both knew, as he disappeared back up the stairs, that this wasn't over.

The rest of the day carried on as they always did. She made appointments, answered the questions she could, avoided awkward conversation with waiting clients, and denied yet another invitation to have lunch with her bosses. Foggy was clearly beginning to wonder why they kept trying. To top it all off, the day would not be complete is Cassalie didn't mouth off to at least one person. In this case and old woman who had non to positive thoughts about the youth of today to which Cassalie had a few choice words about the elderly. Matt and Foggy had been less then pleased about loosing the business but she had been too tired to care.

The day wound down and soon the office was empty. Matt and Foggy had been working on a case for the past hour and a half and Cassalie had been fighting the need to sleep in case another perspective client walked in or called. This she did by staring intently at the wooden desk she sat at.

She was startled out of her daze when an small white envelope entered her sights. "What's this?"

"Your paycheck." Matt answered calmly.

"It's not Friday." Cassalie noted dully. He said he wasn't firing her. Unless that thing with that old hag had changed his mind.,

"No." He agreed. "But we thought you could use it."

Her eyes narrowed slightly at the envelope. She knows why he's doing this. They're little talk this morning was coming back full circle. It had been too much to hope that he would just let it go. "I don't need your help..." Still she accepted the check, only serving to make her words less convincing.

"I know."

Hours later she sat in front of a small stack of plates, her head in her arms, lightly dozing in the booth of a diner not far from the law firm. With the money she'd been able to get a decent meal, a few meals actually, and this was certainly better then a park bench.

She started when a gentle shake of her shoulder woke her. "You alright?" It was the waitress. Cassalie was pretty sure she was ruining this woman's life. She was the only one left in the girls section. As a result the waitress had to keep coming back to check on her.

"Uh... yeah. Can I get another cup of coffee?" Cassalie knew they would kick her out eventually if she didn't keep buying food or at least coffee.

Several feet above her the guardian of Hells Kitchen sat cross legged, in a near meditative state. He had decided to put his suspicions about her situation to the test tonight. So far it seems he'd been right. Perhaps he needed to be a bit more persistent with her tomorrow.

Alright. So as always. If you have any thoughts. Ideas and such let me know although I think I know what I'm going to from here. But who knows. You guess might have better ideas then me. Also if anyone would like to see me write a story for Mac Gargon As Venom, Machine Man, Bullseye. Let me know. Also if you have any ideas for those that would be nice too.