A/N: So, first off, this chapter is not happy. It mentions the murder of Matt's father, there are tears. Third, it's my own head-cannon that Foggy's mom won the lottery which was how she was able to kind of "escape" her old life and buy such a nice house. Lastly, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to eve lmyg. Thanks for the wonderful idea, sorry I took so long to actually write it! Anywho, hope you all enjoy!

It was late on a Thursday evening over spring break and some of the older cousins, plus Foggy and Matt were engaged in a game of truth or dare. And as the case was with all things involving the family Nelson, the game was intense.

There was no backing down, no skipping, and absolutely no lying. They'd already discovered that Tristen was no longer a virgin, Mark had been forced to eat a disgusting concoction involving meatloaf, toast, and whipped cream, Josh had stolen candy and it hadn't been when he was a little kid, Chelsey had nearly vomited after downing a shot of straight vodka, Foggy was forced to drink hot sauce, and Chris had snorted powdered sugar like cocaine.

It was Matt's turn and to say he was nervous would be a huge understatement. He felt it best to shy away from the dares, all of them so far had involved ingesting something the player would rather not ingest and he wasn't sure his sensitive pallet could deal with something so harsh. Then again, it wasn't as if the truths had been all that easy either. If he chose dare, his blindness was sure to be taken into account, but he would most likely receive no mercy for his delicate senses.

"Come on Matt, what's it gonna be?" Chelsey demanded eagerly, hiccupping softly. It was her turn to ask and she was more than ready for her chance to inflict her wrath upon an unsuspecting victim.

"Truth." Matt replied with a cringe.

"Okay. What iiiiis," Chelsey paused a moment in thought, "the worst thing that's ever happened to you?"

The living room was engulfed in silence as five pairs of disbelieving gazes fell on Chelsey. It took her a moment longer than it should have to realize what the problem was but when she did her hand flew to her mouth, a shocked "oh god" escaping her lips.

"Matt, I-I" she'd just begun to formulate an apology when Matt's quite but captivating voice penetrated the palpable tension in the room.

"I was nine. It was after the uh, accident."

Foggy's eyebrows dove in confusion. He'd been so sure his friend was going to talk about the day he'd lost his sight, what could be worse than that?

Matt took a moment, inhaling deeply before speaking again, his voice less steady than mere moments earlier. "My dad, he was uh- he was murdered."

A unanimous gasp resounded throughout the otherwise absolutely silent room, but no one dared interrupted Matt's story, all six pairs of wide eyes focused intently on the blind man speaking.

"He was a boxer, a pretty good one too. But uh, his boss- they were fixing the fights. My dad was given a lot of money to go down when he was told. I-I had no idea, not at first anyway, but I overheard the conversation about when he was supposed to take the fall in his fight again Creel." Matt paused a moment, breathing deeply and desperately blinking back tears, but he'd started the story, there was no turning back now. "I tried to convince him to actually fight, I quoted fricking Thurgood Marshall." Matt released a breathy laugh, shaking his head back and forth. "I don't know if I convinced him or if he convince himself but uh- He was," Matt paused, swallowing thickly, "He was the better boxer, by far, and he proved that. And he paid for it." Matt stated, voice breaking and tears beginning to fall. "And I can't help but think, what if, ya know? What if I had just kept my mouth shut? Maybe he'd still be-" Matt's sentence was cut off abruptly by a sob; he covered his face as his shoulders began to shake.

"Oh honey." The unexpected addition of Foggy's mom's voice to the conversation made everyone jump, aside for Matt who had been acutely aware of when she had slipped into the room.

Rosalind quickly crossed the expanse of her living room, falling to her knees and pulling Matt to her chest. "Shhh, honey shhh." She whispered, rubbing soothing circles on Matt's back and fighting to keep her own tears at bay. "Oh Matthew, there are so many what-if's in life hon. What if my marriage had worked out? What if I hadn't won the lottery? What if Franklin had been born a female?"

The last question elicited a surprised, albeit wet, laugh from Matt and an indignant squeak from Foggy.

"The point is, you can't dwell on any of that, it won't do anyone any good. And I can't say, no one can say for sure, why bad things happen. We can only know that it was for a reason, and live with everything else."

The room lapsed into a silence that stretched on until Matt's breathing fell back to a rhythm that was closer to normal.

"You okay hon?" Rosalind asked softly.

Matt simply nodded.

"Good." Rosalind smiled, leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss on Matt's forehead.

The tender treatment caused a few more tears to squeeze their way out of Matt's eyes but he was quick to wipe them away. "Can we uh-" Matt sighed heavily, voice still a bit too shaky for his liking, "watch a spy movie?"

"Of course." Chris responded immediately.

Mark stood and shuffled to the DVD rack, searching quickly through its contents. "How's classic Bond sound?"

"Why not?" Tristen responded, trying to break the awkwardness that had formed within the room.

Josh also readily agreed, most likely eager for a distraction, but Foggy remained unusually silent.

He was staring at his friend in shock and sadness. To think that on top of everything that had already happened to his friend, his dad had been murdered. Obviously Foggy was aware that Matt was an orphan, but he'd never thought that it was due to such traumatic events. And he hadn't wanted to ask because he could tell it was a touchy subject for Matt; after the story he'd just witnessed, he understood why.

Chelsey also remained silent, even after the mood in the room had lightened considerably she refused to talk.

Matt didn't say much for the rest of the night either, but all the Nelsons' kept an especially close eye on his to ensure he was actually 'fine' like he kept insisting.

Overall it was not the fun, care-free experience they'd all been expecting and every one of the Nelson relatives was more than ready to let themselves become engrossed in the movie and put the whole thing behind them.

A/N: Alright so, kind of short. Let me know what you think! I think this is the first like, sad chapter I've written… Did it work?

Until next time!