Hey everyone! I have admit, I've debated whether I should post this or not. Honestly, I got a couple still on the go and haven't looked at in sometime...sorry about that. But I've hit a creative wall on those two projects. I'll get through it...eventually. Occasionally, though, I get hit with a fit of inspiration as was the case with this story. I wrote it in a matter of weeks. I was a little slow to get onto the Daredevil Netflix series (now on Disney +) bandwagon, but I finally watched it about his time last year...and have watched it like 3 times since. I technically wrote this around that time but like I said, I was debating.

The first couple chapters take place during the third season and is focused on the OC, not Daredevil/Matt Murdock. It has been edited but that was like in May and I'm notorious for missing shit, even when I've read it through six times.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Daredevil or Marvel Comics, just the character Halina Jackson. (I don't know if this is still a thing but at least I'm covering my ass).

Clouds floated beneath the wings of the aircraft as it made its final descent. From one of the tiny windows, Halina Jackson watched as the sky slowly cleared and shiny buildings shimmered in the mid-morning sun. It was the beginning of winter and even though the temperatures were well below freezing, Halina was happy, excited. She was about to start a new life, a new adventure, thanks, in part, to her father's new wife, Ellen. Halina wasn't the biggest of fans but she made her father happy and it turned out Ellen had some contacts in New York and she'd used them to get Halina a cushy job at large law firm, or at least as cushy as entry level legal jobs can be.

Halina had some experience practicing law, but only at an intern level. But luckily for her, it had been a prestigious firm in Boston which made her resume look good. Not to mention she'd graduated near the top of her class. All that mixed together to get her a slightly better pay then entry level, despite her position and she hoped to move quickly up the ladder so she could move out of Hell's Kitchen as quickly as possible. Ellen had warned her about the neighbourhood, saying it was one of the more dangerous places in the city but quite simply, it was the only area she could afford to rent at this point in time and was somewhat situated near work. What other options did she have?

Once the plane had landed, Halina waited for almost an hour for her three bags of luggage to slide down the conveyor belt then it took over another hour to reach her apartment building. The taxi driver was no help, simply hauling her luggage out of his trunk before getting back into his cab and driving away. Halina groaned, dreading dragging those three massive bags down the steps, though they were not far away. The building was ten stories tall and had no elevator, if she had to go up, well now that would have been a chore.

"You Jackson?" A male voice asked from the top of the stone steps that sat beside the ones that led down.

Halina had called the superintendent when she was only a couple blocks away, to let him know she was almost there, he agreed to meet her outside.

"Yes, I'm Halina Jackson." She confirmed as she held out his hand as he walked towards her. He shook it momentarily then slowly walked past her to the stairs going down.

"Follow me." He said "Don't know if I should say lucky for you or unlucky for you but your apartment is this window right here. Lucky for you, its recently been remediated so shouldn't be no mold, bugs or otherwise."

He stopped by the door and simply watched as Halina awkwardly dragged her three massive bags to the top of the steps then take each individually down to the bottom, before going inside. He was, at least kind enough to hold the door open for her as she pushed the each bag through the door. They had entered a long hallway that was lit with only two of the five lights and one was flickering, threatening to go out. Just as promised, Halina's door was the first door on the left, with the door reading 'B1A', but the 'A' swayed back and forth as the superintendent unlocked the door and stepped inside. When Halina stepped inside, she was hit with a strong smell of chemical.

"Yeah, sorry. You might want to air the place out, still smell of the stuff they used to remediate it. I wouldn't recommend leaving the window open past 7 though, someone might get some ideas. Especially with a pretty young lady such as yourself livin' here. Also, I wouldn't recommend leavin' food out, try and put as much of it as you can in the fridge, otherwise the rats and cockroaches will come back. The rats can be particularly bad in these basement apartments." He turned back to Halina and held out the keys. "Got your payment for the month but remember rent is due on the last day of the month, no exceptions."

"Right." Halina said as she grabbed the keys from him.

He turned and left her then as she stood near the doorway, staring at her new abode. Definitely the dingiest place she'd ever lived in but, apparently, things could be far worse in the neighbourhood. The floor were a dark green and white checkboard linoleum that looked like it belonged to the 1980s which flowed into a low pile rug of the same shade of green. The couch and armchair, at least, looked like it belonged to this century. The kitchen had decent looking appliances but the paint had been chipped in several places. The countertops were cheap arhbarite but otherwise were in decent shape and the small half circle table looked to be in decent shape.

Halina shook her head, she needed to get her luggage into her apartment before someone tried to snatch it, although she doubted they would make a quick getaway considering how heavy they were. Once inside, she finally shut the door and went to the kitchen to open the window, despite the mid-winter chill. She hauled two of her three bags into her bedroom, if one could call it that. A single bed was pushed up against one wall and the other wall was occupied by her closest and a dresser. Otherwise, there was scarcely enough room to walk.

Weeks Later

As she walked down her street to the nearest market, Halina couldn't decide how she felt about New York City. The upper end of city was certainly dazzling with all it shiny skyscraper but the streets were always busy and there was always noise. She had originally thought she wanted to eventually move there, when she made enough, but now that thought was in doubt.

At the same time, Hell's Kitchen wasn't what she'd call beautiful but it also wasn't quite what she had imagined, either. Sure, it could be dangerous at night but thus far she'd hardly noticed any criminal activity. The place was colourful, lively, and the people, for the most part, seemed pleasant. It was quieter here and you could often see kids running around and playing, little concern with having almost no greenspace. She'd recently heard about a lawyer from Hell's Kitchen that was willing to do pro bono work for those who could not afford to pay even the lowest lawyer fees, and apparently, he wasn't a low level hack either, but exceptionally gifted. Apparently, he frequently went toe to toe with the city's largest firms and, more often than not, came out on top.

One of the owners of the nearest markets to her apartment, had talked to no end about him when she had heard that Halina was also a lawyer and even told her where he lived and where his office was. She also mentioned that he was very single and very attractive. The elderly woman had even walked up to her while she was shopping one day, and showed her a picture of him that was on the front page of the newspaper. She had to admit, he was good looking, but she didn't really trust men like him. Caleb had everyone convinced he was a good guy, even Halina, even after he'd hurt her, repeatedly, but it took years of abuse to realize that he was in fact a monster.

Otherwise, her life was going well. Work, while it was incredibly tedious and massively underwhelming, was going well. She might even get a pay raise soon. Halina suddenly stopped, a big sign up on the second floor suddenly catching her eye. Across the windows was the word "FOGWELL'S" and beneath the sign was a doorway with another sign reading: "Fogwell's Gym – 2nd Floor". Halina continued to her destination, just half a block further down the street, then pointed the place out to the cashier.

"What kind of gym is that?" She asked.

The cashier looked in the direction Halina had pointed. "Boxing, mainly."

Halina smiled. "Boxing? I'll be right back."

Halina crossed the street, and walked to the building, still smiling. She pulled open the door and climbed the stairs to the second floor. Even before she opened the door, her senses were assailed with the familiar smell of sweat, testosterone and the sounds men made when they boxed. Halina loved it. When she opened the door, she was greeted by a dingy but wide open space with a boxing ring in the center and punching bags scattered around it, along with various other forms of exercise equipment scattered about.

"You lookin' for someone, pretty thing?" Asked a man who had been punching the nearest bag.

"Who runs this place?" She asked him and the man looked slightly disappointed but indicated with his head, an office tucked in the corner.

Halina walked over to the office and knocked on the door frame. A man who looked to be in his mid to late fifties looked up from the sports section of the newspaper. His expression quickly became guarded as he looked at her. She was still dressed in her blazer and skirt and probably looked ever bit the lawyer she was.

"Yes?"

"Nice gym you got here." Halina said trying to be as pleasant as possible.

"I suppose."

"Are you guys ever open late? Or maybe on the weekends?"

The man's face became suspicious. "Not normally. Sometimes if we got a big fight comin', I'll let the fellas stay late. Why?"

"Well, I work late a lot and I usually can't make the hours you have on the door."

"And what you plannin' on doing here? Box?" The man snickered.

"Well, yes."

"You don't look like a woman who does boxing." The man muttered as he lifted his paper once more.

"That's because I'm in my suit, I just got off work." Halina said starting to get annoyed. She should have expected this. "Look, I grew up in places like this and yeah, I don't do it professionally but more as a stress reliever and admittedly, to help with a bit of homesickness."

"Your old man a boxer?" The man asked from behind his paper.

"Yeah, Boot Jackson."

The man slowly lowered his paper and studied her. "He won the heavy weight title once, didn't he?"

"Yeah, a little over ten years ago. I was there. I don't know about here but the photo the local paper had a picture of me on my dads shoulders."

"Sorry kid. Even if your old man was famous once, we don't allow girls."

"Good thing I'm a woman, not a girl, and I'm not asking to be sparring with the guys. I'm just asking to come here a few times a week to let off a little frustration." The man looked at her uncertainly. Halina sighed. "Look, it doesn't seem like you have anyone cleaning up the place, so how about I clean the place say—three times a week? After hours? And afterwards I get free range of the place."

The man chewed his lip for a moment as he thought. Finally, he let out a big sigh and stood up. "Fine, how can I turn away free labour?" He turned around and reached into a nearly empty vault and grabbed a box of keys and rummaged for a moment. "Here, key for the doors."

Halina smiled as she grabbed the two keys. "Thanks."

"Also, you may not always be alone. There's a guy that comes by from time to time. His old man used to box here back in the day, and he comes to do pretty much do what you want to do, vent. I'll let Matty know he may have company; he's used to bein' alone. He's been coming to this place since he was in diapers and I'd appreciate it if you'd leave the man be. He's unlikely to bother you."

"I'm Halina, by the way." She said offering him her hand.

He grasped it firmly and shook it. "Ted. If you show up on tomorrow night at 8, I'll show you what you gotta do. Matty's usually here on Friday nights, he can lockup."

"Right, I believe I can do that. I'll see you tomorrow." Said smiling Halina then turned and left.

111

At five past eight the following evening, Halina ran up the stairs as fast as she could in high heels, taking the steps two at a time. Just as she reached the top, the door swung open revealing Ted, all bundled up and ready to leave. He looked down at her unhappily.

"There you are." He grumbled as she put a hand to her chest, trying to catch her breath.

"Sorry, my boss kept on giving me more and more work." She gasped. Halina had planned on changing at home but luckily, she had planned ahead enough to have packed some gym clothes in her briefcase, just for this reason.

Ted stepped back into the gym and turned the lights back on as Halina closed the door behind her. Ted showed her where all the cleaning supplies she needed were and what he wanted to her to do. Most of it she expected, clean the floors, clean, and sanitize the equipment, including the gloves but there was also a disturbingly big pile of sweat saturated towels that needed washing and smelled to high heaven. Once satisfied that she knew what she had to do, he turned to leave, leaving her alone in the laundry area. Not five minutes after leaving her alone, she heard him calling her name.

She left the changing rooms to find Ted talking with a tall reddish blonde haired man. The man held what looked like a long walking stick in his hands, a gym bag slung over his shoulder and a pair of dark tinted glasses on his face. Suddenly, she realized that she recognized him. Who Ted had been calling 'Matty' was in fact the locally famous lawyer, Matt Murdock.

"Matty, this is Halina. She's gonna clean the gym a couple nights a week for me. You two got a lot in common apparently. Both got fathers who were boxers and both lawyers, although her old man was a lot more famous than Jack."

"That's not hard, really." Matt said smiling slightly. "Dad wasn't really all that famous outside New York."

"Well, I'm already late for supper. Night Matty."

"G'night, Ted." Matt said as the door opened and shut behind him. "Sorry about Ted, he's a bit of a surly character. Good guy though."

"That fine, I know his type." Halina said smiling slightly, then turned and walked back into the locker room. "I'll get out of your hair."

As Halina began to clean, she heard Matt drop his bag then a little while later heard him punching a punching bag. Stopped for a moment and listened. He certainly, sounded like a man who knew what he was doing; his punches had a certain rhythm to them and it sounded like they were pretty hard. Halina walked quietly to the door of Ted's office and watched him for a moment, his stance was almost perfect, although a little flat footed but his punching technique was excellent.

"You can ask questions, if you want." Matt said as he continued his punching. "I know Ted said to leave me be, but I'm not against friendly chatter."

Halina, blushed. She had no idea how he could have possibly known she was watching him. The guy was blind. Halina brought her broom with her as she walked his way.

"Sorry. Ted said you grew up here, so I was little curious if you were any good." Halina said sheepishly.

Matt let out a chuckle as he continued to box. "Why? Because I'm blind?"

Halina looked at him shocked. It really hadn't crossed her mind that his blindness might make it impossible to box, but she imagined he got that a lot. "No. I just thought that, just because your father was a boxer, doesn't make you any good."

Matt paused, holding out a hand to prevent bag from swinging back and hitting him, and was silent for a moment. "Sorry, I shouldn't make assumptions. I hate when people do that about me. I should know better." Matt resumed punching the bag as he continued talking. "So, if you're a lawyer, why are you cleaning this place for Ted?"

"He didn't want to let me box, so I told him that I would clean this place three times a week if he'd let come at night."

Matt winced as he stopped again. "Sorry, a lot of the guys are very old school around here."

"I noticed." Halina smiled slightly. "It's fine, I'm accustomed to it. Law office's can be just as much of an all boy's club as the boxing arena."

"Sorry." He said again as he winced.

Helina laughed this time. "I guess it doesn't bother you, though, women who can kick ass on the street and in the courthouse?"

Matt snorted. "No. I've known my share of strong women. They tend to be hell of a lot better at their jobs then most men and I think that's what most men don't like. We're a competitive bunch, we don't like anyone being better than us."

Halina laughed again as she turned away and continued on with her cleaning. An hour later, the gym was clean, and Halina put the second load of disgusting towels into the washing machine, wearing rubber gloves, and holding them at arms length as she shoved them into the machine. There was still a large pile of towels, but at least she'd cut the stack in half. In the main part of the gym, she could still hear Matt punching and, occasionally, kicking his bag. His slightly unusual stance made sense when she saw him kicking the bag, the guy obviously knew martial arts and likely messed with his stance when he boxed.

Halina sat on the bench in the locker room for a moment and considered whether she really had enough energy in her to box for an hour or so. Matt had to be getting tired by now and he was supposed to lock up, not to mention she had to get up in the morning to go back to work. Finally, she told herself 'screw it' and stood up. She had changed into her gym clothes before she'd started cleaning, so she just strode into the gym and dropped her briefcase and jacket not far from the bag she'd decide to punch her frustrations on.

Matt had since stopped, leaning against the boxing ring as he took a water break and chewed on what looked like an energy bar. He stared blankly straight ahead as she began to box, but she got the feeling that he was watching her. For a solid five minutes, he sat there chewing and drinking as she punched before he finally started stretching out his wrists and arms before pulling his gloves back on and returning to his bag. After only half an hour, though, Halina was out of gas.

"How do you do it?" She grumbled as she rested her head against her bag.

"Do what?" Matt asked as he continued to punch his bag like he hadn't been doing it for the last hour and a half. His gym clothes were completely soaked through with sweat, but he wasn't slowing down.

"Have enough energy to keep going. I mean, you have your own firm, right? That has got to be stressful and draining and probably makes you work long hours." Halina sat down on the ground then rolled onto her back on the now clean floor.

"I freelance these days, actually, but yeah, the hours can be long. I've been told I have way too much energy by several of my friends." Matt said with a laugh. "I've also been doing this fairly regularly since college, so I've built up a pretty good endurance."

"So do you come here a lot?" She asked from the floor.

"Not as much these days, maybe once a week, if I'm lucky." Matt shrugged in between punches.

Halina didn't say anything for a while as she tried to work up enough energy to regain her feet. After several minutes, she looked over at Matt's sweat drenched form. Damn he cuts a sexy figure she thought but said, "Who was your dad? Maybe I've heard of him."

"Not likely." Matt said between punches. "He did tour a bit but he rarely left the state, especially later in his career. They used to call him Battlin' Jack Murdock."

"Why Battlin'?" She asked curiously as she finally sat up.

Matt let out humourless laugh as he stopped again. "My dad used to say that there were plenty of men who were better boxers then he but few as tough. He said that when he realized he was out matched in skill, he'd let them punch him until their fists bled, you know wear them down. Once they were sufficiently tired, that's when he'd strike."

"My dad's got a nickname too but it has nothing to do with boxing." Halina as she reached for her water.

"Oh?" Matt asked as he took off his gloves, she was probably annoying him with all her chatter but she'd never met anyone else who'd grown up in the boxing world. And he seemed interesting.

"Yeah. Boot." She said with a laugh.

"As in Boot Jackson?" Matt asked as his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wow, Ted wasn't kidding. Always thought that was a weird moniker. So, why Boot?"

Halina laughed. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I've never asked but I know he hates being called Frank because that's what his fathers name was and dad hated him. My grandfather was a horrible father, you see. Never met my grandfather, for good reason, I'm sure."

"So, Boot is like a childhood name?" Matt asked as he began unwrapping his hands, obviously giving up trying to box.

"Yeah, I think so. Everyone I know calls him Boot." She answered as she too began to unwrap her hands.

Matt laughed. "Well, my best friend calls himself Foggy, so I guess I'm not one to judge."

"Sorry, I've probably completely ruined the quiet night you had planned." Halina said as she finally got off the floor.

Matt smiled as he shook his head. "No, its actually nice. I literally know no one who knows anything about boxing, let alone growing up in that world. None my dad's buddies ever had kids and when he died, I was completely cut off from that world for a few years."

"How old were you when he died?" She asked quietly. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Thirteen. And the next question is always 'what happened?' to which the answer is; he was murdered for refusing to take a dive." Matt's face darkened as he stared blankly at the floor.

Halina looked at him in shock. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

Matt closed his eyes and shook his head. "It's fine."

"Your poor mother must have been devastated." She said thinking of her own father and how he had felt after her mother's death.

Matt shrugged. "Maybe. Probably. I don't know. She was never in the picture. Spent my teenage years in an orphanage just down the street."

"Oh…I..."

Matt smiled darkly as he shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Old news. Anyone whose spent the last twenty years here, knows all about my dirty laundry. I guess that's part of the reason why the neighbour likes me, trusts me. They feel like they know me. Find me relatable."

"So why stay here? If there's so much baggage here. I mean, I'm sure you could have a nice firm in a better part of town. Or at least work at one."

"I could, sure. I could be rolling in it if I wanted to but this is home. I actually love Hell's Kitchen. I know a lot of people have a hard time understanding it, especially wealthy people, but there are a lot of really good people here. People who are struggling to get by, people to tend get punted out of the only living situation they can afford. Someone has to stick up for them and very few are willing to."

"That's very…noble."

"I've been called an 'idealistic fool' many times." Matt said as he zipped up his hoodie and reached for a pair of sweatpants.

"People have a hard time understanding something different and I guess because they would never sacrifice themselves for others like that, they find it foolish. I don't think its foolish, I think its admirable." Halina pulled on her jacket, obviously Matt was intending to leave. "I wish there had been someone like you in our town. Everyone thinks that because my dad won one big fight, that we were living large but honestly, we were poor pretty much my entire life. Dad got in trouble a few times, had to pay some ridiculous penalties that we couldn't afford."

"Being a boxer certainly isn't for the faint of heart, is it?" Matt said as he began toss his gloves and wrap into his gym bag.

Halina walked slowly to the door as Matt picked up his bag and grabbed his walking stick. "Thank you for tolerating me." She said sheepishly by the door as Matt walked over to her.

"Honestly, its fine." He said as he felt long the wall, finally finding what he was looking for and hitting the lights.

Halina waited for him as also exited the door and turned back to lock it. The two of them walked down the steps together, Halina just a few steps in front of Matt. She waited for him to lock the second door then smiled as he tucked the keys into his pocket.

"Well, maybe I'll see you around." Halina said politely and for once, actually meaning it.

Matt smiled and nodded his head. "Are you gonna be okay, walking home this late? Hell's Kitchen can be less then friendly at night. I can walk you home if you like."

Halina laughed. "That's awfully…chivalrous but I'll be okay. Goodnight, Matt."

"Goodnight, Halina."

So hopefully you've enjoyed this. This is fairly standard for me, chapter length-wise. I should be fairly quick with posting chapters as it is already completely written (except for the next 10 days or so as I have essays to write because I'm a dumbass who decided to go back to university at 30 then change my major 3/4 of the way through and start all over again). Let me know what you think of Halina so far.