The story stats are working again! That makes weirdly happy. And thanks to my to my first reviewer MERO Julie for your kind words, I'm glad you're enjoying it...anyways enjoy!

"I've never once thought you were ever capable of hurting me." Halina said as she stroked Matt's cheek. "I still don't. I know there's anger in you, I've seen it but I've also seen you keep it tightly under control. I've seen you at what I can only presume to be your lowest point and never thought to be afraid of you. I can only imagine what a hard life you've had, being left alone when you were so young and what that's done to how you view the world. You're a fighter Matt, a survivor, there's nothing wrong with that. And unlike most people, you use that fight to help people, however you can."

"When I told Karen about Daredevil…she felt betrayed, like I'd lied to her, like our entire relationship was a deception." Matt said sadly. "She and Foggy convinced me to stop, for a while…but I couldn't."

"I don't care, Matt. I don't care if you're Daredevil or the Delhi Llama. I…I love you." Halina couldn't believe she'd actually said those three words, but it was true. She also meant what she said about Daredevil, it didn't matter to her, she just wanted him. "And I'll never ask you to be who you aren't. You're right, the law doesn't protect everyone and you're not the first person to take the law into their hands. Hell, the Avengers do it all the time and most people practically see them as Gods."

Matt pressed his forehead against hers. "Where have you been all my life?"

Halina smiled and kissed him before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the bedroom.

111

"Can I ask what happened? How you got hurt?" Halina asked. It was one in the morning, and they were naked in bed, Matt tracing her spine with his fingertips as she ran hers over the scars on his chest.

"The short version." Matt said sleepily. Halina was happy that her question didn't rile him up again. "There was this secret organization, I'd known about them for a while, I'd already stopped them a few times. Or so I thought. I didn't realize at the time, they had much bigger plans. About six months ago, they implemented them. Do you remember that earthquake?"

"Yeah, really weird for New York to have earthquakes. Didn't they say that some company had dug too deep into the bedrock and made the surface unstable?"

"That's what they said." Matt yawned. "Not entirely true but not entirely false either. It was the Hand, that's what the organization was called. They were looking for something underneath the city and found it. They wanted to mine it and in doing so, would've destroyed the large portions of the city."

"Jesus."

"I found out about it by accident, really. I was practicing law by myself for several months by that point, largely doing pro bono work. Foggy and I had started patching things up and he'd handed me a few cases that he knew I'd like to lighten his load. There was this client, Jessica Jones, she was a little…odd. She refused my services, but something was off when I spoke to her, which made me follow her…I can't really say what. I tend to trust my instincts, though, they rarely fail me. Anyways, following her led to a whole series of events. I suddenly found myself working with a bunch of other…gifted people. We discovered the Hand's plan, made our own and then eventually went to Midland Circle to put an end to it. I promised Foggy and Karen that I'd stop but, with what was going on, it was too important for me to sit on the sidelines. The plan was to strategically place bombs on key points in the building, bring it down to bury the hole they'd made. I, uh, stayed back to slow someone down, got buried under the rubble."

Halina looked at him shocked. "How did you survive? Get out? They said there was no one in the building."

"There was, but they were all killers and were in the hole beneath the surface, near where I was. Maybe they were never found. As for me? I have no idea. The last thing I remember is the building crashing down around me. Apparently, I somehow washed out into the Hudson, managed to crawl onto the shoreline. A cabbie found me near the shoreline and apparently, I asked him to bring me to Father Lantom."

"That priest who died recently."

Matt's jaw flexed. "Yeah. He…he's known me my entire life and was one of the few people who knew about Daredevil. Anyways, he brought me to St. Agnes, where I grew up after my dad died. The nuns there, looked after me, nurtured me back to health, much to my chagrin at the time." Matt said nothing for a moment, just pressed his cheek to her temple.

"Sister Maggie eventually took sole responsibility for looking after me, although I think she was more concerned about my emotional and spiritual scars. If I seemed angry when we met for the second time, I was even angrier during my time at St. Agnes. Said a lot of really unkind things to her. I was bitter about not dying, I think I wanted to, I probably could have escaped the building if I'd tried but I didn't. Maggie, she brought me back to life, kicking and screaming but she dragged me there." Matt chuckled sardonically. "For a nun, she has a really sharp tongue. I guess I inherited that from her."

Halina frowned in confusion and looked up at him. "What do you mean, inherited?"

Matt grunted. "I'm not going to have any secrets from you soon, will I? It's my own fault though, I seem to have set myself up." Matt sighed. "Maggie, she's my mother. That's what I was talking about in your apartment that night you fed me. I had no idea who my mother was until the night previous. And she'd been there since I was a kid but was too afraid to tell me the truth."

"That must've been hard for you, I can't imagine." Halina had a hard time imagining a mother abandoning her child, but she also knew that there was likely more to the story then either of them knew.

"I've mostly made peace with it. I've talked with her a few times since."

"I'm sorry. I keep asking uncomfortable questions."

Matt laughed. "Think of it this way, we've survived some pretty uncomfortable and intense topics so far. The rest of our relationship should be a breeze."

Halina laughed, then they were silent for a long while but Halina's mind continued work. Matt had dumped a lot of information on her over the last few hours. She wondered if she should be disturbed by the fact that her boyfriend was a man notorious for violence. Some of the stories mentioned criminals who'd been hospitalized, beaten to a pulp, thrown off a building. Halina's mind suddenly snapped back to the threat Matt had made at Caleb and realized that he might actually do what he said.

"Do you still go out? We have spent almost every night together. I've never noticed you leave." Halina asked and Matt flinched a little, she was pretty sure he'd dozed off. "Sorry, you were asleep."

Matt cleared his throat as he rubbed his eyes. "No, I just barely drifted off. Um, no, I promised Maggie that with Fisk in prison, I'd let my body heal completely first." Matt yawned. "I should probably find a suit again, most of these scars came from when I wasn't wearing body armour."

"I just assumed they came from your accident." Halina said, fingering them once more.

"No. I mean some are, but most aren't." Matt kissed her head. "Babe, I'll happily answer your questions in the morning, but we should sleep. We could forgo your lessons if you want, get a couple more hours."

Halina shook her head as best she could, laying on his shoulder. "No, I want to be able to protect myself. You can't always be there for me."

"Fine." Matt said although she barely heard him as he drifted back to sleep.

111

This time it was Halina who woke Matt, mostly because she hadn't slept a wink. By three o'clock she'd given up trying to sleep and had gone back into the living room to search for more information about Daredevil and the events at the Bulletin and Clinton church. For over three years there had been rumours of a man attacking criminals, some had ended up in comas. For the first while, they called him 'the Devil of Hell's Kitchen' but eventually the moniker changed to Daredevil. From what she could tell, the neighbourhood loved him, but the rest of the city was wary of him, found his violence to be a little excessive.

Then, stories suddenly stopped a year ago, likely when Matt had given it up to please his friends. There was no mention of him being involved in the Midland Circle event but there was little information all together. Stories of Daredevil didn't reappear again until just before the attack at the Bulletin. Many seemed convinced that Matt's Daredevil was the perpetrator of that attack but from what she read previously, it didn't line up. Matt seemed to try to make himself as invisible as possible, often fighting from the shadows like a ninja, while this other man would walk straight into well lit room to be seen by everyone. It seemed intentional; it probably was. Matt had said back at Fogwell's that Fisk was using a fake Daredevil to draw attention away from himself.

When she realized it was time to get up, she closed her computer and woke Matt up. They dressed and once again, jogged to the gym. Matt was obviously still tired and so was she, as she hadn't slept, so there was little flirtation and Matt had shown her some incredibly useful techniques. The productivity of there session made her determined to not get distracted in the future. Matt was a gold mine for fighting skills and how best for her to apply them. He told her he knew how to use most weapons; he'd been groomed to be a killing machine, but his mentor had abandoned him before he'd managed to break Matt's moral code. Halina was excited to continue practising what she'd learned and was hungry for more.

This continued all week. Them getting up early in the morning, Matt refining what he'd taught her, occasionally teaching her something new. After, they'd returned home they would get ready for work and Matt would take her to work. She insisted he didn't need to keep doing that, but he said it was just as much for his peace of mind as it was for hers. Hogarth came through on her promise and had Caleb replaced by another young executive who Hogarth was equally displeased with but had no reason to dismiss. By Thursday, Halina had finally managed to win her Zackman's trial, her first win as a lawyer that'd she won entirely on her own. Hogarth was pleased with her, having won her case in half the expected time, and winning a substantial sum for her clients which won the firm a significant sum and money always pleased bosses.

Late Friday night, Marci walked into Halina's office, jacket over her arm and briefcase in hand. She was smiling as she watched Halina continue to work, trying to catch up with the new case, so she could help Marci.

"That's enough, hon. Lets go out and celebrate!" Marci said enthusiastically. "Your first win and a big one at that!"

"In a little while." Halina muttered, not entirely paying attention.

"Matt and Foggy said they'd meet us at the bar." Marci said as she rounded the desk and pulled on Halina's arm. "And you need a little fun."

Halina gave her a half hearted glare. "I have fun."

"Some drunken debauchery once every few months doesn't count." Marci said as Halina finally relented as she stood. "Besides, Foggy and Matt are kind of fun drunks. I mean they act like complete morons but cute morons. Although Matt's mellowed out a lot since college and I haven't been around him since then either…like at all. Well, there was that funeral but otherwise."

Halina smiled. She had a hard time seeing Matt drunk. He made some off hand jokes and smiled for her a lot but mostly Matt was a pretty serious man. She powered down her computer, stacked her papers and put them away before finally grabbing her own jacket and briefcase. They walked together to the steps and down to the front door, discussing their case as they went.

There was not much left of the snow, Halina noticed while they tried to hail a taxi, hopefully this meant that spring was just around the corner. Halina hoped so, she was tired of the cold, although she'd had a nice heater sleeping beside her for better part of the last two weeks and Matt seemed to never be cold. Once they finally hailed a cab, they rode in comfortable silence as they both occupied themselves with replying to a couple last minute emails and texts before both putting their phones away.

Foggy and Matt were already at the bar when they arrived, saving a table big enough for all of them, including Karen. Halina was a little put off by her presence, but she told herself to be kind to the woman as she was still Matt's friend. Marci though, looked at Halina with a surprised look and leaned in so Halina could here her over the noise.

"I didn't know they'd bring her." Marci said. "I thought it was going to be just the four of us."

Halina shook her head. "It's fine. We'll still have fun."

The two of them walked over and Matt pushed a drink across the table to her and Foggy did the same for Marci. Halina was impressed with Matt's choice in drinks, they'd never talked much about booze, and they'd only ever drank beer and wine together, and Halina was pretty sure Matt only drank the latter for her sake. But Matt had ordered her a drink she'd never seen before and found it was rather delicious.

"A pretty solid end to your week, huh?" Foggy said over the noise.

"Yeah, it was but I think I might still have to kill you." Halina making Matt laugh.

"Oh, c'mon. I had to try." Foggy said smiling.

"You've been warned Nelson, next time I break your nose." She said smiling then took another sip from her drink.

"She'll do it, Fog." Matt said. "She got a pretty mean right hook."

"You make it sound like she's tried to hit you before." Marci said grinning.

"She did." Matt replied returning her grin before taking a sip from his drink.

Halina rolled her eyes. "I had my headphones in, and the music cranked up. Matt scared the shit out of me, and I took a swing. I missed though." She explained.

"Note to self, don't scare Halina." Foggy said happily.

"So, uh, I hear you won a big case." Karen said, probably feeling little like the fifth wheel.

Halina smiled at her. "Yeah, I'm a little younger than these guys so I haven't had as many cases. And I haven't won any solo before."

"Zackman's was a big deal." Marci said. "Hogarth was seriously impressed; I wouldn't be surprised if you get another pay raise by the start of summer."

"That'll be nice." Halina said with a sigh. "This city isn't cheap."

Everyone chuckled. "Where are you from, anyways?" Karen asked.

"Michigan." Halina replied. "But I stayed in Boston after I graduated."

"She went Harvard." Matt said before taking another sip of his beer.

"Wow, isn't Harvard like super hard to get in?" Karen asked.

"Only a three percent acceptance rate." Foggy said. "On the level with Columbia."

"Well, it is a tiny bit more difficult to get in then Columbia." Halina said smiling smugly.

"Oh, you think you're better than us?" Foggy returned her grin and nudged her.

"Definitely." Halina said as Marci gave her a playful shove and Matt and Foggy rained cashews on her and booed her. "Obviously I'm not serious."

"So why law?" Karen asked. "I mean Matt's a bleeding heart who has this strong inclination to help people, particularly those who struggle financially. Foggy was in it for the money…"

"Ouch." Foggy said putting a hand to his heart. "And not true."

"And well, I hardly know Marci so I don't know why she did, but everyone seems to have a reason when it comes to law." Karen continued ignoring Foggy.

"Karen, stop grilling Halina." Matt said, sounding a little testy.

"No, its fine. Its a fair question." Halina said touching Matt's hand. "I believe only Matt knows this, but my dad was also a boxer. He…had a lot of issues. Usually financial ones, although those tend to stem from the fact that he kept on getting into fights, outside the ring. He also got a couple bullshit fines from the league. I guess, I felt like he'd been given a raw deal from the start and things just got worse as he got older. If the law had done its job, maybe Dad could've stayed out of trouble."

"Is he in jail or something?" Karen asked.

"Karen!" Foggy exclaimed. "You can't ask people that!"

"No, its fine and no. I mean he's been in the drunk tank a few times but most of his issues with law enforcement were relatively minor. Small communities tend to look the other way if its small, but they add up over time. He cleaned up in a big way after my mom died. Worked his ass off to get me to Harvard."

"And that's enough grilling." Matt growled.

"I'm just trying to get to know her." Karen said sounding a little exasperated.

"It's fine really. I don't feel like I'm being grilled, she's basically the only one here who doesn't know me." Halina said then downed what remained of her drink. "C'mon Matt, I need another drink."

Matt straightened up as Halina walked around the table then grabbed his hand and the two of them walked to the bar. And waited for the bartender to acknowledge them.

"I can't decide if you're trying to protect me from your ex or if there's a different reason for you to be so short with her." Halina said, with her back to the bar as Matt stood close in front of her, one hand on the bar top, the other in his pocket.

She was tempted to take his glasses off so she could see his eyes, she could read him better when she could see them, but he didn't seem to like to be in public without them. At least not when he was dressed as Matt Murdock. He said it made people uncomfortable, but she wondered if, in some way, it was like wearing a mask for him. A way to shield himself from the world. Matt looked down, obviously debating whether he should tell her what was on his mind.

"See, if I tell you, then you might get mad." He said, wincing a little.

Halina studied him a moment, interrupted by the bartender coming over. As Matt ordered drinks, it gave Halina some time to think about what he said and decided to take a shot in the dark.

"She's still into you, isn't she?" Halina asked once the bartender cleared out.

Matt winced, bullseye. "She hasn't really said it that way, but she's been very vocal about our relationship from the beginning. She thinks we're moving way too fast. I overhead Foggy suggest that she might be still in love with me, the other day. She got way too defensive about it." Matt looked down. "Foggy hasn't said it but, I think he agrees with her."

"And what do you think?" Halina asked, she truly wanted to know but she was a little scared about the answer.

"I've given it a lot of thought and honestly, I don't have a problem with the speed we're going. I…think that what we have, between the two of us, is one in a billion. The chemistry, the compatibility, its very rare so I think people have a hard time seeing it as love, just lust."

Halina smiled at him. "Is that your indirect way of finally saying, 'I love you' back?"

Matt smiled and stepped closer to her. "I love you." He tilted her chin up with his finger, then kissed her deeply.

"There you go, love birds." The bartender said behind Halina, making them both chuckle.

An hour later, Halina found herself alone with Foggy. Matt and Marci had teamed up to con two mouthy business exec's out of their money by playing pool. Marci told her that back in college, Foggy and Matt were pool sharks and had made some healthy winnings beating unsuspecting victims. After all, no one believes a blind man should be able to hit shit. They were on game two, Matt and Marci had won the first game with Marci breaking and Matt doing clean up. Before every shot, Halina noticed Marci whisper something in Matt's ear. Curious, she asked Foggy what she was saying to him.

"Matt knows exactly where those balls are, but he can't hear the difference between a stripped ball and a solid one." He'd answered.

Now, Karen had walked off to the bathroom and they were completely by themselves. Halina looked at Foggy as he watched Marci doing pretty good job sinking balls herself. She hoped Matt was too focused on the game to overhear this conversation she was about to have.

"Are you okay with Matt and I dating?" Halina asked him.

Foggy looked at her surprised. "Why wouldn't I be okay with it?"

"Marci isn't too thrilled; she thinks he's going to break my heart."

He winced. "Yeah, he's done that a lot. Although, its usually not his fault. Women just tend to have unreasonable expectations of him. Honestly, I think you're great for him. I haven't seen him this happy since college. I think it's because of you that I got my best friend back, fully. Not just a part of him. I admit, I think you guys are maybe moving a little bit fast but that's just seems to be the way Matt rolls with women he really likes."

"He's done this before?" She asked, surprised.

"Once, yeah. In college, there was this woman. A rich, spoiled princess who somehow managed to hook Matt. Matt nearly got kicked out of law school because of her and it utterly devastated him when they broke up. She was a psycho, though, and bad for Matt in all kinds of ways."

"Did her name happen to be Elektra?" Halina asked.

"I'm surprised he mentioned her to you." Foggy said as Karen suddenly appeared at the table.

"Yeah, before we started dating, he mentioned how some woman had completely crushed his heart. Called her a one woman wrecking ball." Halina said as they continued to watch Marci single-handedly winning the game. Only two balls left.

"Sounds about right." Foggy muttered. Obviously, he didn't like her.

"He mentioned her again later on, this time using her name and I just put two and two together."

Foggy didn't say anything immediately and when she looked over at him, he looked like he was contemplating whether he wanted to voice his thoughts.

"Matt's…always had this weird weakness for her." Foggy started. "Even, after what she did to him in college, she randomly popped back into his life at the worst popular moment and ultimately, he chose to help her then help us with the biggest case of our careers."

"The Frank Castle trial." She said softly.

Foggy nodded. "It hurt for my best friend to basically abandon me for that woman. But no one else has ever been able to sway him like she could...until you." Halina looked at him surprised. "If she walked into his life again, I don't think there would be anything she could say or do to pull him away from you. And unlike her, you make my best friend a better person, a more complete person, not that angry, self-loathing prick that he became when she was around. So, no, I have zero problems with you and Matt."

Halina smiled at him. "Thanks, Foggy, that means a lot."

Foggy suddenly straightened up, looking over her head towards the pool table. The business execs weren't too happy about being schooled by a woman and a blind man. They were trying to get into Marci's face, but Matt had put himself in between them and Marci, and was practically nose to nose with the guy. Foggy took a swig of his beer and walked over hurriedly with Halina at his heels.

"Gentlemen, you lost fair and square." Foggy said holding his hands up in a placating manner.

"They had to have cheated, no way these two could have won a single game." Said the man who was in Matt's face.

Marci walked towards Halina as Foggy walked closer to his friend. Matt didn't need backup but Foggy was trying to prevent a fight as Matt currently looked more ready to knock the man's lights out then talk his way out of the situation. He did say he had a temper and alcohol was likely making him less in control of that temper.

"I assure you, there was no cheating involved. Now hand over the money you owe this fine gentleman and be on your way." Foggy said firmly but still trying to calm everyone down.

Movement caught Halina's eye; a man had moved behind Halina to the far side of Marci. Suddenly the man grabbed her roughly by the arm, it was the other business exec.

"You cheated us, bitch!" He growled in her face.

Both Foggy and Matt had already turned around, but Halina was considerably closer. She pried the man's hand off Marci's arm with her left hand then reached back with her right and put all her pent up anger and frustration with stupid men and sucker punched him as hard as she could. He fell backwards on to the floor and didn't get up again, he was lights out.

"That bitch!" The first man said as he tried to move past Matt, but Matt grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and shoved him back hard against the pool table. Matt was just about to start punching him but Foggy grabbed his arm and held him back.

"Your friend deserved that man." Foggy said, prying Matt off the first business exec. "Now give up the money, take your friend and leave, while you still have use of your legs."

The man rummaged in his pants, pulled out a couple of bills dropped them on the pool table then went over to his still unconscious buddy, hauled him to his feet and dragged him towards the door. There was a couple applause and laughs as the two made their way, then everyone went back to their drinking. Marci gave Halina an impressed look.

"So, Daddy taught his little girl a thing or two about boxing, huh?" Marci said as Matt and Foggy walked over.

Halina chuckled as she rubbed the back of her head. "Maybe a little."

"Impressive, a little emasculating but impressive." Foggy said as the four of them walked over to where Karen sat drinking her scotch.

"Are you alright?" Matt asked Marci as he handed over her portion of their winnings.

"Well at least Matt asked if I was okay." Marci said smiling but sounding a little annoyed.

"Shit." Foggy muttered then tried to put on his most winning smile. "I was just so stunned by you kicking ass and looking beautiful that I forgot myself."

Everyone laughed, including Karen. "Oh boo, Foggy." Karen said as they threw cashews at him.

"Cheese ball." Marci said then gave him a kiss.

This is one of the chapters I felt like I should have combined with another, but this is how I wrote it so its how I'm posting it.

-Shockra