There needed to be a time in her life when Charlotte felt at peace. She guessed that it would come to her at some point, but she figured that it wouldn't be anytime soon. She was sat in a diner around the corner from Jonathan's apartment after Matt had insisted on her staying away. She'd been with him on the rooftop of a building before he had taken off. She'd told him that she wanted to go with him, but he had told her that was never going to happen. So she had gone back to the diner on street level and told him that she would wait for him there. She had ordered a coffee and a slice of carrot cake, but there was no chance she was going to eat it. She did drink the coffee however. She was draining that at an alarming rate which meant the server seemed to be continuously coming round to fill her up.

"Rough night, honey?" the waitress finally asked her on her fourth refill. Charlotte looked up to her, tucking her wavy hair behind her ears and forcing herself to smile. She didn't want to look suspicious. The waitress almost did a double-take and Charlotte guessed she recognised who she was from the way her kindly eyes narrowed and her lips turned thin and pinched.

"I'm fine, thanks," Charlotte settled on saying.

"Yes, I can imagine," the woman simply said to her and then left her alone.

Charlotte bowed her head, trying not to let her bother her. She should get used to it. She waited patiently for Matt to come back. It was less than an hour before he walked into the diner through the main door, the bell chiming above him. He had his cane in front of him and was wearing jeans and a black jumper, looking completely different to the masked man who had jumped off a building earlier. He asked for a coffee before instinctively making his way over to where Lottie was sat. He slipped into the booth next to her, forgoing the opposite seat.

"Jesus, Matty," Charlotte whispered at the sight of him. He had dried blood by his lip and there was a dark bruise forming on his cheek. "What happened to you?"

"Security at that place is tighter than you might have mentioned," Matt settled on saying to her and he felt her move her hand down his arm. He could sense her checking him over and looking for anymore injuries. He suspected that he had a bruised rib, but it wasn't anything he couldn't smile through. He tried not to think of it. He moved his hand until it was holding hers, fingers entangling into hers and squeezing tightly.

"I'm fine," Matt promised her, picking up her hand and kissing the back of it.

"I don't get it…I gave you all the codes…the security guys."

"Looks like he's invested in more security. Don't worry, no one saw my face and Jonathan wasn't there to see me," he said to her. "I got out as soon as I realised that he wasn't there. I couldn't smell him there or sense his heartbeat. He must be meeting somewhere else."

"So we're no closer to finding out what was on that memory stick," Charlotte said and Matt picked up on her defeated tone as the waitress brought him coffee. Judging by the way she practically slammed it in front of him, he would say that she knew who they were and didn't entirely approve of them.

"Hey," Matt said, lifting their entwined hands up until he was able to brush her hair softly with his own knuckles. "We'll get there, trust me. Whatever is on that stick won't stay hidden long forever. These things have a habit of coming to light and they will. It will all come to light, I promise."

Charlotte nodded and Matt kissed the side of her head before taking a sip of his coffee and wondering if he truly believed that himself.

…

"If there was a break-in at your apartment then you need to find out who it was."

Jonathan was completely on edge. He was struggling to think coherently after a day of rallies and meeting with the public. He'd kept sneaking shots of whiskey out of his hipflask and then chewing on mints, hoping that no one noticed. The pressure was a lot for him. He needed to be re-elected to still have worth. He knew that. He also knew that the charges against him had been dropped and he would be expected to repay that favour at some stage. He didn't know however, though. He never knew how. He was just a pawn in this game. Initially, he'd liked the power. He'd liked the idea of being a Senator but not as much as he enjoyed the money that came with his influence.

"I'll find out," Jonathan promised the man dressed in the three-piece suit with glasses across from him. He was the one he always dealt with. The main boss never deemed it important enough to come out of wherever he was hiding. It almost made Jonathan wonder why he took this guy's shit. But he did. He did because, truth was, he was almost scared over what could happen to him if he didn't. He did it for his own sense of self-preservation. He only cared about himself and that had worked out for him for a number of years.

"No, you need to sound more bothered about this. On the same day you go to your wife's apartment your own apartment is broken into."

"She has no idea what is on this memory stick."

"That might be so, but I imagine she knows it isn't good if you needed it so urgently."

"She doesn't know anything. She just thinks it's business."

Jonathan knew that was a lie. Charlotte was many things, but unfortunately she wasn't dumb. She had been ignorant for a long time while she had been with him, but he knew she was clever. She could hold intelligent conversation and she had seemed so worldly too. He guessed that was why he'd been initially attracted to her. He liked that she was different to the other socialites.

"Your wife had been snooping earlier, Mr Jonas," the man responded, pulling down the cuffs to his shirt and fiddling with the cufflinks, looking like he was more interested in them than in Jonathan. "I went to see her and I had words with her. I warned her away and I thought that would do the trick, but if I find that she is getting herself involved in business that doesn't concern her then you know that won't be good for your campaign."

"She won't. You threatened that blind lawyer she's screwing, didn't you? She'd do anything for him, even after all these years."

"Matthew Murdock, yes," he responded with a nod of his head. "I made it abundantly clear what would happen to him if she continued prying. But I need to know what the chances of her having seen what was on this memory stick are considering you left it in her possession."

"I didn't leave it in her possession. I left it in her jewellery box where I knew it was safe. The lining was still intact and she had no idea what I was looking for…trust me, she knows absolutely nothing. We're safe."

"On your head be it," the man drawled lowly and Jonathan resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"She's too scared to come snooping and her only friend is a blind lawyer. What damage do you think he could possible do? We're fine."

"I imagine you would know all about your wife being scared," the man said and Jonathan's eyes narrowed. He glared at him and sniffed, moving a hand underneath his nose as he stepped closer towards him.

"What did you say to me?"

"I'm not an idiot. We know what you did to her and we know what she has on you. You see, you might enjoy beating women who are weaker than you to make you feel more like a man, but we don't go in for that type of thing. We might need you because yes, you make a good pawn, but that does not mean we respect you or see you as anything other than vermin who has a use."

Jonathan was completely aghast at what he was hearing from him, but he didn't say anything else. They just continued to glower at each other.

"Watch it, Wesley," Jonathan warned him.

Wesley just chuckled. "Or what?" he questioned and adjusted his glasses on his nose before holding his hand out in anticipation for the memory stick. "Now, give me what I need and I will be on my way. I have no desire to spend any more time with you."

Jonathan grunted, but he did reach into the pocket of his suit jacket and pull out the memory stick. He handed it over to Wesley who then placed it into his own pocket before turning on his heel without another word. He moved back towards the car that had been sat by the main road the entire time and climbed in, speaking to the man in the backseat. Jonathan just rolled his eyes and made his own way to his car and climbed into the backseat, snapping at his driver to take him back home.

…

"You know, I can imagine you look absolutely adorable right now."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, glad that he couldn't actually see her. She would prefer to him not to know how she looked at that moment in time. She was sweating profusely, her leggings clinging to her calves and her sweatshirt also covered in sweat. She had gone to the gym with Matt and he had been training her the basics of self-defence. Once they had finished in the ring, Charlotte had perched on the ground, legs crossed and draining the bottle of water she had brought with her.

"I look anything but adorable," Charlotte said and she watched as Matt grabbed a towel from his bag. His grey top was also covered in sweat, the joggers he wore hanging low on his hips. He was wearing white sneakers and thick white socks. His hair was also mussed up on top of his head.

"You do," he retorted and climbed back into the ring, sitting down next to her. "I bet your cheeks are red…hair a complete mess…strands falling out of your ponytail."

"And you find that adorable?"

"I find you adorable," Matt replied and nudged her in the arm, chuckling as she rolled her eyes again and looked over to him, her eyes moving over the side of his face. She couldn't deny that he was handsome from that angle, giving her a good view of his prominent cheekbones.

"You know, girls don't really want to be told they're adorable," she replied.

"Then what would you prefer? Hot…sexy…god-damn beautiful."

"Don't use the lords name in vain," she chided him.

"Hardly in vain, sweetheart," he said to her. "Besides, you might look adorable, but I can smell the sweat coming off of you. I didn't work you that hard, did I?"

"I'm not sure why we had to skip for ten minutes."

"You need to be light on your feet and increase your stamina. You were complaining about being exhausted after five minutes in the ring," Matt said, moving his hands behind him and supporting his weight. He stretched his legs in front of him and tilted his head back, stretching the muscles in his neck.

"The only exercise I ever really did was Pilates when I went to classes with some of the other wives," Charlotte said. "And they never taught me to how to throw a right hook or insisted on me lifting weights."

"I'm just trying to keep you safe," Matt said. "I mean, the chances of you ever needing to use the things that I teach you are slim, but I would rather you know them…especially after what happened last week with Jonathan."

"A swift kick in the balls worked," Charlotte said.

"But it might not always work," he retorted. "I just want you to do this to humour me…please?"

"I don't mind, Matt," Charlotte said to him. "It's good to know this stuff…I just…is it strange being back here? In the gym?"

Matt shrugged his shoulders. "I guess it's strange being here with you," he admitted, his sightless gaze moving in her direction. "I remember when you used to come here and watch me train. You'd sit in that chair in the corner and just read. I remember wondering why you came…if you got bored…but then I liked it. I liked knowing you were there."

"I guess I just liked spending time with you, no matter what we were doing," Charlotte said and he moved down towards her, kissing her softly on the top of her head.

"You know, people at work have started whispering about me. You should have told me we were on the cover of Places magazine," he said and Charlotte let out a shrill laugh before turning her face up so that she could look at him. She let her eyes scan over his face, drinking in his features as he moved towards her, nose brushing hers. He heard her heart begin to race and he could feel the warmth from her cheeks.

"It was a bad photo," Charlotte said. "It was us two in the diner…I think that waitress took it."

"She didn't seem to like us."

"Most people don't," Charlotte said.

"Most people aren't my concern," Matt said.

"But if people are talking about you at work then won't that hurt your-"

"-Let them talk," he interrupted her, not wanting her to start fretting. "I don't care what they say because I'm going to leave as soon as I can. Besides, I'm not interested in what people think about us. We know what we are…who we are…and that's all that matters to me."

She went quiet then and he moved closer towards her, giving her time to back away from him if she wanted to. Since their first kiss, he had always been keen to let her initiate things. He didn't want her to feel pressured into anything. He just wanted her to be comfortable with him. And she was. She was always comfortable with him. At that moment in time, he was almost desperate for her to press her lips against his after he had spent the entire night pressed up against him as he taught her to fight.

He was about to kiss her when she spoke again. "But you shouldn't have to deal with it. I'm sorry…I don't want this to impact your job."

"It won't," he said, a hand lifting up and stroking her cheek with the back of it as he moved closer to her again. Charlotte closed her eyes and prepared to kiss him, wanting to kiss him and be as close to him as possible.

"But-"

"-Charlotte, darling, I am actually dying to kiss you right now," Matt interrupted her and she saw his lips arch into a smile. He took a moment to gather her reaction and found that she was also laughing with him.

"I don't think that's a cause of death."

"It will be when they put on my death certificate. I'll insist on it."

"You can't insist on it because you'll be dead," Charlotte responded and he rolled his eyes to the ceiling before he curled his fingers behind her neck, pulling her closer to him.

"Then you'd best stop talking and just kiss me," he urged from her.

"If it keeps you going then so be it," she sighed in mock dramatics and kissed him firmly on the lips, her lips turned upwards and smiling widely.

…

"She asked for a quick divorce and amazingly she's got it," Matt said to Foggy as they sat in their office/storage cupboard. He had just come off the phone with Charlotte. She was working at the gallery for the day but had called him during her lunch break to tell him that Jonathan had signed the divorce papers and she was free. She was officially Charlotte Daniels once again.

"So she's single?" Foggy checked, flattening his tie out against his chest and ignoring the pinning from new emails clogging up his inbox. He was more interested in what Matt was telling him. "Does that mean you're officially dating then?"

"No…I mean…I don't know," Matt settled on saying. "I don't think there is any need for us to define what we are. She's just Lottie and I'm just Matt…I mean…maybe in the future we might talk about it, but for now I'm just glad she's away from Jonathan. It's what she needed and she deserves better than him."

"I know," Foggy said. "I just think that she's good for you too…even though you have come into work with a black eye for the past few weeks."

Matt chuckled, but shook his head slowly. "Nothing to do with her and everything to do with me being clumsy," he said to Foggy. He didn't want to tell him the truth even though he was his best friend. The previous night he had gone back to Jonathan's apartment to try and find anything out. He had overheard some interesting conversations and he was pretty sure he had caught the name of one man called Turk Barrett. He knew he would have to do his research into him.

"She told me that you're teaching her self-defence classes."

"Do you two often talk behind my back?"

"We have a secret club with a handshake and everything," he retorted and Matt chuckled at his friend's sarcasm. "But, in all seriousness, I just text her occasionally. You know that we always got on whenever she came to visit you at college."

"I know, I'm just kidding," Matt said and he leaned back in his chair, tugging slightly on his tie. He moved his finger over the watch on his wrist as he checked the time. He only had twenty minutes before he could leave. He intended on getting back early enough to cook dinner for Charlotte who was working later than he was.

"She did invite me for dinner this weekend though," Foggy said.

"She mentioned something about dinner," Matt said.

"I mean, you two are already hosting joint dinner parties," Foggy retorted.

Matt chuckled and decided to try his luck and see if he could escape work twenty minutes early. He stood up and reached for his suit jacket, shrugging it over his shoulders and pushing his arms into it. "It's dinner at our apartment, Foggy, hardly a dinner party."

"Our apartment?" Foggy checked with her.

"She's there to stay, Foggy," Matt said. "I lost her once before. I have no intention on losing her again."

"Most sensible thing you've ever said since you two started this relationship," Foggy said and then frowned, checking the time on the bottom of his computer. "And are you trying to escape work early?"

"Yep, and you can cover for me," Matt said, slinging his bag over his shoulder and reaching for his cane. Foggy sighed loudly and slumped back in his chair.

"I guess I can do you a favour," he conceded.

"I owe you."

"You owe me several!" Foggy called back as Matt took off, smile firmly stuck on his face.

…

Charlotte was packing everything away after another successful gallery event. It had just gone seven and Matt had called her half-an-hour ago to tell her that there was a mac-and-cheese in the oven that he'd made and he had even picked cheesecake up for dessert. Charlotte had beamed widely for the rest of her time at work. She talked to Marianna about her shift for the next week and sorted out the logistics of it all.

"Was it him?"

She had just left through the main door when she heard Jonathan's voice from further down the sidewalk. The night had hit the city and his face was illuminated by streetlamps while his car was parked to the side. Charlotte tugged her coat tighter around her body and began to walk down the sidewalk and away from him. She was glad she had left her heels at work and changed into her white sneakers. She heard Jonathan move after her, chasing her down the sidewalk.

"Charlotte, I'm talking to you," he snapped at her, reaching for her arm and grabbing hold of it, stopping her from walking away.

"I don't want to talk to you," she retorted and remembered what Matt had taught her. She got out of his grip quickly, pushing his hand from her. "I have nothing to say to you."

"I saw the video footage of who broke into my apartment that night and it was him…I could tell it was him," Jonathan said and Charlotte tilted her head to the side. She remained composed, knowing that she couldn't look flustered. He would suspect her and then she would be in trouble.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Charlotte said.

"Your boyfriend. It was him. I recognise him even through that mask. I saw him."

Charlotte laughed at that. "Wait," she said, holding a hand up. "Someone broke into your apartment and you think it was Matt? Matt Murdock? You are aware he's blind, aren't you?"

"Blind and can throw a punch like I haven't seen before."

"And how many security guards do you have? Ten…fifteen?" she guessed for him. "And none of them could stop him? He might be able to throw a punch but he can't even walk down the sidewalk without his cane. You're being ridiculous, Jonathan. Is it the drink? Is that's what's making you so delusional?"

"I'm not delusional!" Jonathan snapped and she could smell the alcohol on his breath as he took a step towards her, but she jumped one pace back. "I know it was him and I'm going to prove it. I might have signed the divorce papers, baby, but you're not done with me."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Whatever, just stay away from us," she said, dismissing him as drunk.

She turned on her heel and began to walk away quickly. She didn't pause or hesitate. She just rushed away and thankfully he didn't follow her. She adjusted her brown leather bag on her shoulder and headed in the direction of Matt's apartment. She kept looking over her shoulder to make sure that she wasn't being followed. Once she came to the building, she slipped her key into the door and headed upstairs. Coming to the apartment, she opened the door wide and dropped her keys onto the sideboard, kicking the door shut with her heel.

"Hey, sweetheart," Matt greeted her at the end of the corridor.

His white shirt sleeves were rolled up to his forearms and he had a towel slung over his shoulder. He was holding two glasses of wine and Charlotte almost wanted to keep what had just happened from him, but she knew she wouldn't. They agreed to no secrets and she wasn't going to go against that.

"Hey," she greeted him back and he instantly picked up on her hesitant tone. His brows knitted together on his forehead.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"Jonathan," she said, blurting it out to him. He placed the glasses down on the sideboard and stood before her, hands going to hold onto her forearms. She reached for his shoulders. "He's seen the CCTV footage from the night of the break-in and he knows it was you. The mask didn't work, Matt. He's not an idiot."

"How…I don't understand…I…"

"I tried to play it off as him being drunk and hardly sane. I mean, you're blind and he doesn't know some strange old man named Stick taught you how to fight," Charlotte said. "But if he suspects something then he will keep digging. I need you to be careful, Matt…if he comes for you…I don't know what he would do."

"He has no concrete proof it was me. He…he's just clutching at straws and he won't find me. He won't."

Matt wrapped his arms around her and he knew that things were going to get much deeper. He only hoped they would both be able to stay afloat.

...

A/N: Not sure if anyone is still interested but would love to know your thoughts!