She woke the next morning with the sun shining directly into her face. Usually when she woke up, the buildings around Matt's apartment were too high and the sun too low for the rays to reach her. Feeling confused, she reached for her phone and found the nightstand empty. Her head pounded, especially the back of her head, and neck was also painful and stiff. Looking behind her, she saw that Matt was not in bed beside her and his talking clock was too far away for her to reach without moving. It took a few moments for her to remember what had happened the night before and when she did, she wished she hadn't.
The door slid open, and Matt walked in, still in his sweatpants and a t-shirt. "Hey babe." He said softly as he put a glass of water on the nightstand beside her and crouched down, bringing his face level with hers as he stroked her hair. "Head must be killing you."
Halina just nodded as she continued to just lay there on her side. He held out his hand and dropped a pair of aspirin in her hand.
"This should help. Are you hungry? I could make you some breakfast."
Halina finally sat up painfully, popped the pills into her mouth then washed them down with some water. Everything seemed so bright, it felt like the sun was stabbing her eyes and her body protested with every movement she made.
"What time is it?" She asked, her voice a little hoarse.
"10:30." Matt responded making Halina curse and try to get up, but Matt grabbed her knees to prevent her from getting up. "I called Hogarth, you're taking the rest of the week off."
"The rest of the week? It's only Tuesday!" She said weakly. "I have so much work to do."
"Babe, you've been through a traumatic event, you need to rest." Matt said firmly but gently. "Hogarth wasn't happy, but I made it quite clear that she did not want to cross me on this."
"What did you say?" Halina asked mortified.
"Just threw some legal stuff in her face, if she decided to force you to come in or fire you for needing some holiday time." Matt said with a shrug as he stood up. "She's not the only who can play hard ball. I'm not very nice when people cross me, especially when it comes to people I love. Her firm is barely staying afloat, poke one little hole in it and her ship could sink. I'm very good at poking holes."
"Matt, that's my job, my boss. I have to go back to that." Halina angrily, though she was kind of glad for the distraction from the thoughts that were floating just beneath the surface.
"Trust me, babe, she's not going to hold it against you." Matt said. "If anything, in some weird way, it made her respect me."
"Why aren't you at work?" She said, grabbing his arm and hoisting herself to her feet.
"I'm not going to leave you alone." Matt said frowning. "I'll work from home."
Halina hugged him, suddenly needing some physical contact and grateful for his presence. He wrapped his arms around her as she buried her face in his neck, not crying just needing to be soothed by him. They stood there silently for several long minutes, only interrupted by him kissing her shoulder then the side of her head.
"You should eat something." He said quietly as he pressed his cheek against her head.
They spent the day together, filled mostly with silence. After getting her to eat, they remained on the couch for most of the day with him working through his various files, making the occasional call, and her lying on her side, curled up into a ball with the top of her head pressed against his outer thigh. She wanted to talk to him more about what was going through his head, back at Hollar, but then she would have to think more about what happened, and at the moment, she just wanted to stare blankly at the coffee table and enjoy the occasional stroke from Matt's hand. Sometime after lunch, Mahoney had called Matt to give him an update.
Caleb was still in the hospital with a pretty severe concussion, some internal injuries, and several broken ribs, but he was going to live. He had formally been charged with stalking, assault, and harassment but they were still investigating the murder charges, but Mahoney was reasonably certain that, with the help of her recording, he'd at least be charged with murder of the men from the boat. Once he was well enough, he was going to be transferred to prison. That news had made Halina feel a little better, enough to sit up and start rummaging through Matt's files and look at what he was working on. He didn't seem to mind, probably happy that she was being nosy rather than borderline catatonic.
Mahoney agreed to come to Matt's apartment with another officer to get Halina's official statement, which she was grateful for. So, around late afternoon, he showed up with a uniformed officer in tow and took her statement. Matt sat there, listening carefully to her retell the story and answer the questions Mahoney asked, ready to jump in if need be but Mahoney seemed sympathetic to her situation and believed what she had to say. Besides, he would unlikely trip her up, even if he wanted to with her being a lawyer and Matt also had a reputation for being incredibly sharp. Before he left, Mahoney gave her back her cell phone and wished her well, making sure she would call him if she needed anything else.
When she turned her phone on, she noticed she had a dozen texts from Marci, as well as several missed calls from her and one missed call from her father. She hadn't talked to him in a couple of weeks, but she didn't think she should call him right now, she was still a little shaken up and she didn't want to make him worry. So, she called Marci instead, she was less likely to make her cry. She settled on to the couch, her back resting against Matt's shoulder as he awkwardly continued to work around her. She shifted a little to give him more range of movement as she rested her head on the couch and tapped Marci's name. She picked it up on the first ring.
"Lina!" Marci nearly sobbed. "Are you okay? I've been calling you!"
"Sorry, the police had my phone up until now." She said as she closed her eyes.
"I came to work, and Hogarth told me you took the rest of the week off after you'd been assaulted at Hollar. She's suing them." Marci said.
"She's suing Hollar?" Halina asked in shock. "What about the case?"
"She's quitting the case, although I think she was just looking for a reason. Things were getting a little…dirty. I don't think she realized who Melvin was in bed with before she agreed to help him." Marci sighed. "Enough about them, what about you?"
"I'm fine. Matt's here, keeping me company." She looked back at him and realized he'd been listening to her conversation. "He's going to be working from home for the rest of the week, if he can."
"Good." She said softly. "Do you want me to come over tonight?"
Halina thought about it, but she really wasn't feeling very stable yet. "Not tonight, but I'm sure it'll be fine tomorrow, though."
"Alright, I'll come over tomorrow. I'll bring supper and Foggy, he'll give Matt something else to focus on for a little while." Marci offered.
"Sounds wonderful, thanks." Halina sighed. "I really am okay, Marci. Just a few bumps and I've got Matt to kiss those better." She looked at him again and he smiled slightly.
Marci chuckled. "I'm glad. Look, hun, I've got to get back to work."
"Yeah, sorry about that." Halina winced. "I've kind of left you hanging."
"Don't worry about it." Marci said dismissively. "It's nothing I can't handle. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye."
She dropped her phone beside her and sat there silently for a time. After a while, she realized that it had been over a day since she'd bathed and with her body aching the way that it was, she decided to have a hot soak in the tub. Kissing Matt on the lips, she got up and went to the bathroom and started the water, dropping a bath bomb into the water, then went into the bedroom to get some clean clothes. Not bothering to close either door, she undressed, then stopped to look at herself in the mirror. The bruise on her neck was the most obvious sign of her struggle. It was largely purple with some ugly brown and green splotches mixed into it and cover almost the entire front area of her neck, from her jaw to just above her collarbone. Her left eye was the next most obvious thing, with the blood vessels having ruptured and making the whites of her eye red. Whether it was because of the head trauma or the suffocation, she didn't know. When she turned to see if there was anything visible on her back, she saw some bruising at the base of her neck going down between her shoulder blades, along with a bit of a dried blood smeared down her neck.
Sighing, she turned back to her now nearly full tub and turned the water off, stepping into its warm depths. She laid back in the water and let it soak into her sore muscles, relaxing away the tension that had lingered. After about ten minutes of just sitting there, tears started to fall silently down her cheeks as she fought to keep the images from flashing in her mind. She was frustrated that that bastard kept on getting more time in her head, why couldn't he just leave?
"Babe." Matt said softly from the door. "Are you okay?"
"It's kinda hard having privacy around you, isn't it!?" She said angrily.
"Sorry." He mumbled as he turned away.
"No, wait." She said as she put her head into her hands, instantly regretting that she'd snapped at him. "I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that. If I wanted privacy, I should've shut the door."
Matt stood there looking uncertain as to what he should do or say. Halina sighed; he was probably very confused and uncertain as to what he could do to help her. She didn't really know what he could do either, besides staying with her.
"Sit down, Matt." She said, indicating the toilet.
Matt did as she instructed while she chewed on her lip, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. After a moment, she sat forward in the water and placed her hands on the side of the tub then her rested chin on them as she looked up at him.
"I'm…angry with myself, I think."
Matt frowned. "Why? You didn't do anything wrong."
"I know." Halina stopped again, thinking. After a moment she started again. "It's just…I keep telling myself, 'I'm done with being afraid', 'I'm over it' or 'I won't give any more of my time to him'. But then…I think about him, about what he's done, let him make me feel afraid. After I'd told him off at Hollar the last time I'd seen him, it barely bothered me. I thought 'finally, I'm done with that fear'." Halina paused as a tear escaped her eye, so she lifted her hand and wiped it away. "I wish I was like you, Matt. You're afraid of nothing. You never let people affect you, change you."
"That's not true." Matt said softly. "I'm afraid too. Afraid of losing the people I love, especially you. I'm afraid of screwing us up, doing the wrong thing, making you hate me. I'm afraid that you'll see the monster that I really am."
"You're not a monster, Matt." She said softly.
"I was ready to kill him, Halina." Matt said looking darkly at his hands. "He hurt you and that was, is, unacceptable. I felt…I feel like I failed you. I had to make him pay for what he did to you. I only stopped because you begged me to."
"If you were going to kill him, you could have snapped his neck, easily." Halina said, confidently. "You would've stopped, eventually, I just stopped you sooner. You're not a killer, Matt."
Matt didn't say anything as he stared at his hands for a long time. Finally, though, he looked up at her. "Halina, what he did to you, it's not something you just get over. You spent years under his control, and you never really got help for the psychological damage he did to you nor faced that fear, until very recently. When I was on that roof and when I was running down those steps, I saw a woman standing up to her abuser. You were strong, Halina. You didn't let him intimidate you, you fought back. You may feel like shit now, but in a few days, you'll look back and see what I see. An amazing woman."
A few more tears slipped from her eyes, but this time it was because she was touched by what he said. She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards her, so he bent forward and kissed her. When he pulled back, she smiled at him weakly.
"You're going to be so sick of me by the time we're eighty." She said and Matt laughed as he pressed his forehead into hers. "I'm not going any where's." She whispered.
111
The next couple of days flew by. The first few were uncomfortable as she was plagued with images that kept rising up in her head but as Matt had suggested, those images eventually faded. He was right, she hadn't shown any fear to that bastard, even when he'd pinned her to the wall. Marci and Foggy had been a good distraction for both Matt and Halina, as they had lingered in Matt's apartment for almost two days, by the time they'd brought supper. Foggy caught Matt up on their office going on's and brought a few more files for Matt so he could help with a case he was working on. Marci also filled Halina in on what was going on at the office but was more inclined to gossip. She even shocked Halina when she told her that she was thinking of quitting Hogarth & Associates.
"I just can't take it anymore." Marci said, wine glass in hand as she sat next to Halina on the couch. "I know we're defense lawyers and that means that sometimes we defend some shady characters, but the people Hogarth keeps on taking on and then shuffling them on to me. I'm sick of it."
"What'll you do?" Halina asked as she took as sip from her own wine, playing with the scarf she'd wrapped around her neck so that Marci and Foggy couldn't see her ugly bruise.
"I don't know." She said with a sigh. "It's likely to be the same story no matter where I go."
"Come join the dark side." Foggy said trying to mimic Darth Vader's voice. "Join us."
Matt chuckled. "Or start your own firm."
Marci laughed as she shook her head. "For a start, Foggy, we're relying on my pay cheque to pay for our very expensive apartment."
"Screw fancy apartments." Foggy said grinning.
"You might be content living in run down apartments, but I like fancy thing." Marci rolled her eyes. "Secondly, a firm implies more than one person."
"I'll join you." Halina said smiling. "Nelson, Murdock and Page need some healthy competition, we'd totally destroy them."
Marci laughed.
"You can keep your fancy things because we don't have their attachment to Hell's Kitchen or clients who can't pay. We'll take middle to upper class clients who will actually pay us." Halina continued.
Marci smiled at Halina softly. "Are you serious? I mean it took them months to get their first client."
"I wouldn't say months." Foggy said wincing. "But maybe weeks. You also have to remember that Matt and I were fresh out of Law school at that point, we had zero reputation at the time. You have a reputation and might even be able to take some clients with you."
"Would you actually be okay with that?" Marci asked him. "I mean, we're getting married in the summer, we need the money."
"We've paid for most of the most expensive parts already, we'll be fine." Foggy said, waving his hand dismissively. "Besides, things are picking up for us at the office. We're even looking into hiring a secretary, Karen's getting sick of doing almost everything at the office. She says she feels like absolutely nothing has changed from last time."
"We do take advantage of her a lot." Matt said, wincing.
"My point is, we'll be fine, babe." Foggy said. "If you really want to start your own firm or even if you want to go independent, I'm okay with that. Besides, what kind of prick would I be if I didn't support you after everything you supported me through?"
Marci smiled at Foggy. "Aww, Foggy bear." She sighed. "I'll think about it. It's certainly more appealing than going back to Chao & Benowitz."
The next day, Halina was called into the police station to answer questions about Monday's attack and answer questions about the apparent girlfriend that Caleb had had while also dating her. Halina had nothing to really say about her, as Jessica's report was the first time she'd even heard about the other woman. She was happy Matt was there, acting as her counsel. In her frazzled state, the officers had fired some leading questions at her that could paint her in a negative light, but Matt defended her like a bulldog, keeping it completely professional while deflecting and even firing some irritated accusations back at them. They wanted to paint her as some jealous ex-girlfriend using Caleb's damaged property as evidence for her temper, which was absolutely ridiculous. Her father had done most of the damage but no way in hell would she implicate her father. The interview with the detectives made her wonder who was really paying them, the city or someone else. They would hardly be the first corrupt cops.
That evening, Matt had tried to sneak out of the apartment unnoticed. Ever since he'd taken up his old mantel once more, he had successfully left the apartment without her notice. She slept like a baby then, though, feeling safe and comfortable in their bed. And while she felt no less safe, her mind had been unpleasantly shaken by the painful memories she'd been trying to crush for so many years but forced to relive them with those asshole detectives she'd spoken with earlier in the day.
Matt had managed to change into his Daredevil suit and was halfway up the steps when she opened the door and saw him standing there. He must've been waiting for her, because he wasn't facing towards the steps but rather looked down towards her, head tilted as he listened to her moving towards the door. She crossed her arms to shield herself against the chill of the evening air as she stared up at him silently. After a moment, she climbed the steps and stopped on the step he stood on and looked up at him. She first ran her hand over the side of his helmet, feeling its horns and ridges, then down his protected neck and over the body armour before grabbing his hand and running her thumb over his protected knuckles.
"I'm sure criminals shit their pants when they see you coming." She said with a slight smile.
Matt smiled slightly as he raised his other hand and stroked her face. "Some, yeah, but they rarely see me coming."
"Does it protect you from bullets." She asked, tapping the chest of his body armour.
"Yeah, but the bad guys have a hard time locking onto me. I'm too fast for them. I've only been hit once and…well my armour did its job." Matt said as continued stroking her cheek. "Most of those scars you've seen come from when I wasn't wearing body armour."
Halina looked up from her hands that were still, tracing the lines of his armour and kissed him. "Be careful." She said softly.
"I have everything to live for." He replied, matching her soft tone. "Go to back to bed."
Matt turned and continued up the steps, stopping a moment in the doorway then disappeared from view. Halina stared at the closed door for several long minutes before turning and walking down the steps and returning to the warm bed and thought of him in that armour, wondering if most people would be bothered by what he did. If she should be. But then she thought of the pain that Caleb had caused her and likely caused other women. His wealth had kept him from being held accountable for his actions, if it wasn't for Daredevil, he'd still be stalking the streets. Part of her was glad for Caleb's stupid and egotistical behaviour, if he hadn't attacked her and if she hadn't had the presence of mind to record their conversation, he likely would've never ended up in prison. No, she thought, she didn't regret loving Daredevil, the world needed him. He did what was necessary.
Sorry, this one was a little short. The next one will be twice as long, I swear.
-Shockra