Wandering around the store, Charlotte kept Matt's hand in the crook of her arm. It wasn't as if he needed her to guide him. She knew precisely that he was able to make his own way round, but it was nice having him close and this way he didn't have to focus too hard. They had fought their way through the press that had been outside of Matt's apartment waiting for them. Matt had held onto her arm, his other arm going around her waist and trying to keep her shielded. He had heard the questions they had shouted at her, his teeth grinding together as he tried to keep his temper under control. He knew that he was prone to outbursts, but now was not the time for it. He had managed to get them into a cab and they had gone shopping, trying to avoid people as they wandered round stores.

"Well, this one has apparently been reduced by twenty-five percent," Charlotte suddenly spoke and Matt's head turned in her direction. "Plus it comes with all the streaming services…you know how much I love binging shows."

"I remember well," Matt confirmed to her. "So do you think you have a winner?"

She was silent and he could hear the tell-tale sound of her hesitant hum. He arched a brow at it as she moved around the stand that the TV was perched on, her hand skimming over the top of it. Matt took a moment to wait for her to say something, giving her a chance. She looked over to him as he kept his hands clasped tightly around his cane that he had folded up once they'd entered the store and Charlotte had just guided him.

"What is it?" Matt asked.

"I mean, are you sure about this? About me staying with you?"

"Lottie, it's just a TV, I'm not adding your name to the lease," he told her and she cocked her head as she saw his lips arch upwards, his glasses covered eyes moving in her direction. "And yes, I am sure. You're staying with me until this has blown over. So…whatever you want…you can have it."

"Then I want this TV," she said and patted the top of it.

He chuckled and she moved back around to him. She was close. He could sense that she was almost a foot away from him, inhaling her familiar scented perfume and her shampoo. He nodded, moving a hand out to her arm and placing it on her shoulder. He squeezed it softly and she turned her head back to look at the screen that was playing some generic advert.

"Then you can have it," he told her.

He felt her take his hand from her shoulder, squeezing it tightly before she tracked down a sales assistant and set about buying the television. Matt let her do the business, listening to her as she arranged delivery, his lips arched into a soft smile at hearing her. She was staying with him and even though the circumstances were far from ideal, he quite enjoyed the idea of Charlotte being in his apartment. He was kidding himself when he said that it wasn't for his own benefit. Yes, he would make sure Charlotte stayed safe while with him, but he finally had her back after years of wondering how she might react if he made contact with her.

"Have you seen how she's walking round here?"

Matt let Charlotte finish paying at the sale's desk in the middle of the store as he remained where he was. He listened in to the two women who were stood about three rows behind him. He kept quiet, lips pursed. He knew he shouldn't listen. He should keep quiet and walk away. He should just ignore them. But he couldn't.

"And she's walking round with her blind bit on the side," the other woman responded, voice slightly higher than a normal pitch. "She has some nerve…so brazen…such a hussy."

"I know her husband had his faults, but Jonathan Jonas is a good man at heart…and after the lies they told about him, the fact she couldn't stand by his side is despicable."

"Not as despicable as aborting his child without telling him."

"Well, why do you think she did that? Do you think it was hers or someone else's? It could have been her blind boy toy's?"

"I didn't think of that."

"Hey," Charlotte's voice pulled his attention away from the gossiping women. He tried to look normal, but his face was still tense and scrunched up. Charlotte picked up on it straight away. She stood in front of him and her gaze went over his shoulder. She saw the women stood there, glancing in her direction, shooting her dirty looks. "Guessing you heard something you didn't like?" Charlotte asked from Matt.

"And I take it they're staring?"

"As bold as brass."

"Are you alright?" Matt asked from her and her eyes widened as she picked his hand up and laid it into her arm, staring to walk away.

"I've got my TV and it's being delivered this afternoon in time for me to set up for Dancing with the Stars. I'm perfect," Charlotte promised him and he could hear that she was faking it. She came to the foyer of the store and held the door open, Matt stepping through it just in front of her. Moving onto the sidewalk, he looked in her direction once again.

"Lottie, seriously," he urged.

She said nothing as she stood on the sidewalk and Matt stopped moving too, his hand still inside of her arm. She looked around, noting how people were tutting at having to move around the couple, but she didn't care. She looked to Matt as his gaze went over her shoulder, but she knew he was listening to her. She knew that he was intensely waiting for her to say something, but if she told him the truth then all he'd do is feel bad for her and she didn't want that. She wanted to be able to go out with him in public and not be recognised. She wanted to be able to hold his hand and guide him without being judged.

"Should we get lunch?" she decided to ask from him.

Matt let out a frustrated sigh, knowing that she was deflecting. He moved a hand through his hair, rumpling it up and looking up to the sky. Charlotte noted how his jaw twitched and his cheeks puffed out as he let out a deep breath, clearly annoyed with her.

"You don't need to hide."

"You're wrong, Matt, I do," Charlotte responded and she stepped closer to him, her voice lowering so that no one around could hear them talking to each other. He smelt the mint on her breath from the gum she'd chewed on the walk to the store. He smelt the strawberry shampoo she'd used considering she'd bought her own eventually. And then there was the familiar smell of her perfume. He tried not to be completely overwhelmed by her presence, but he was finding that incredibly difficult.

"I need to hide because it's what I want to do. If I told you right now that all I want is to go home and cry into a tub of ice cream then you'll feel sorry for me and I don't want that. Besides, you were the one who was trying to get me out of your apartment and here I am," Charlotte replied. "So, yeah, I might not be great right now. I might hate the fact that I know people are talking about me and calling me names behind my back, but I just…I don't want to feel this way…I don't want it to be like this and so I need to hide how I actually feel, Matt…but when there's just you…when I'm with you…I don't want to pretend. I want you to know that this sucks, but when you're with me…it sucks a little less."

Matt could sense that she was feeling slightly awkward as she moved a hand down the back of her neck and scratched at it. She looked down to the sidewalk and exhaled a sharp breath. Matt reached for her, stretching out a hand and letting it graze against her cheek. Charlotte looked up then as Matt stepped towards her, his other hand lifting up to run his fingers into her hair and brush it behind her ear.

"I'm glad it sucks less," he whispered to her. "I just don't want you to feel like this at all."

"I'll be old news soon enough," she assured him. "And then everything will be fine…maybe…I don't know what Jonathan has planned."

"Whatever he has planned and whatever he is involved in, we'll get through together," Matt said to her and Charlotte had no idea what she had done to deserve Matt coming back into her life. "And if you wanted to go back home and eat an entire tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream then I'd be fine with that…but equally…I think I admire you more for wanting to stay out and not hide."

"You know you can't say equally and then say you admire me more, right? Equal and more are two very different things," Charlotte pointed out and Matt rolled his eyes at her and his lips quirked upwards.

"Shut up," he said to her and he heard her laugh before moving his hand from her cheek and pinching her arm lightly as his other hand fell down to her forearm once more. "And where are you going to take me for dinner then?"

"I'm paying, am I?"

"Well, I believe you did just come into a lot of money," he said and Charlotte started walking again with Matt by her side, his hand still holding onto her arm. "So I do believe you might be able to afford at least a slice of pizza."

"One each?" Charlotte questioned. "I'm not sure about that. You might be pushing your luck there, Murdock."

"Well, I was going to suggest if you buy dinner then we might be able to stop by Jenny's on the way home…and I'll grab us some cheesecake for tonight and you can watch your terrible shows on the new TV while I regret saying you could have one."

Charlotte's smile continued to grow as she thought about what he was suggesting. It sounded perfect to her. It was exactly what she wanted. She wanted nothing more and it took her back to their time together when he had been in college and she would go and visit him. Those had been the best days she could remember but she hadn't known it at the time. She'd had no idea that was what she longed for later in life. She just wondered if Matt felt the same or if he was just being nice to her.

"Sounds perfect," she whispered and Matt's smile remained on his face as his hand squeezed her arm once more and he longed to tell her that he also couldn't think of anything more perfect.

Macy's Bar

Charlotte sat on a stool in the corner of Macy's Bar. Matt had been in college for what felt like an age and in that time she had gone from one waitressing job to another. She had gone to visit him for the night, needing to see a friendly face after the week that she'd had. Matt had been dating Elektra for just under three weeks and it was all he talked about whenever she spoke to him which, while it used to be every day, had turned into once a week. In the space of three weeks, Charlotte felt as though she was losing her best friend and she didn't know what to do about it. She'd been dating Jonathan for two weeks, agreeing to go out with him as soon as Matt had told her he'd met someone else and was instantly besotted by her.

"Right, what's going on?" Matt wondered from his childhood friend and she shrugged her shoulders and let out a deep breath. She knew that he couldn't see the crestfallen look on her face, but she imagined he knew that something was wrong with her.

"Nothing is going on," Charlotte said to him and she watched as a brow arched on his forehead. She hardly wanted to tell him what was going on with her.

"You know that I know when you're lying, right?" he checked with her and she rolled her eyes. "And when you roll your eyes."

"How could you possibly know that?" Charlotte asked from him.

"Lottie, I know you better than you know yourself," he retorted. "That's why I know that something is going on with you. You're not exactly the best at hiding things and I don't want you to feel that you have to hide things from me."

"It's fine," Charlotte said to him. "How's college anyway? Law school still kicking your ass?"

"You're not changing the topic that easily."

"Can't blame a girl for trying," she retorted.

"Well, you'll find I can," Matt responded. "So spill what's going on or I'll end up telling Foggy that he can come back early and not worry about giving up his bed for you."

"You're too pushy, anyone ever tell you that?"

"The nuns might have mentioned it," he responded and she picked up her glass of white wine and took a sip of it. Matt kept a hand wrapped around his beer bottle but didn't lift it to his lips. He tuned out the background noise from the bar, not wanting to listen to anymore of what was going on as he focused solely on Lottie. He heard her deep breath after she'd taken a drink of her wine and the scratching of her fingers against her scalp moving through her hair.

"I had a fight with Jonathan," she finally confessed and Matt nodded thoughtfully.

"Alright," he said, knowing that he needed more information than that.

"It…I don't think he was keen on me coming here tonight and staying the night. He thinks that there's more going on between us than there is."

"I see," Matt said with a thoughtful nod, trying not to get too worked up over the idea of someone upsetting Charlotte. He found that difficult though. He'd always been protective over her, ever since they were in the orphanage together.

"I told him that he was wrong," Charlotte said. "I mean, I said nothing about our past, but I…I don't know…I kind of get it. I'd probably be upset if I heard he was off to stay at some girl's place for the night."

"I'm not just some guy though, am I?" Matt said. "I'm your best friend."

"Yeah," she said and Matt's face scrunched up. He frowned, tilting his head to the side at her tone. He moved his hand from his beer bottle and dropped his hands to his thighs.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Matt asked from her.

"It's supposed to mean that I'm not entirely sure what's going on between us anymore considering I've hardly spoken to you in the last three weeks," Charlotte bit out and Matt exhaled sharply, cheeks puffing out and he moved his glasses from his eyes. He tucked them away into his shirt pocket, his sightless gaze moving around her.

"I've been busy, Lottie," Matt defended himself.

"You've been busy before but always had time to talk to me," she retorted to him and he knew that was true. His mind had been entirely consumed by Elektra and he didn't know how to focus on anything else. He knew that Charlotte was his best friend. He also knew that there was a part of him that wanted her to be more than that, even now. He'd been apprehensive about what he might do when he met her considering that, no matter how hard he tried in the past, he always ended up back in bed with her.

But he didn't say any of that. He didn't tell her that his feelings for Elektra were completely different to his feelings for her. He didn't tell her that he was scared that, no matter how besotted he was with Elektra, as soon as she came back to him she was all he wanted.

"We're not joined at the hip, Lottie," he decided on saying, regretting the words instantly. Charlotte's heartbeat picked up and her breath hitched. "I mean that…it's only been a few weeks…that's not a long time."

"I guess it's not," she said, her tone going defensive instantly and Matt knew her walls were back up. He reached for her hand on the bar, but she pulled her fingers out from underneath his. "You know what? I should go and sort this out with Jonathan."

"Lottie-"

"-It's fine, I mean…you're busy…not like you have time for me now, is it?" she said and climbed down from her stool.

Matt scrambled around on his stool and grabbed his cane from the bar. He jumped down from his seat and followed her out, cane moving in front of him. The cold air hit him and he realised he'd forgotten his jacket, not that he was going back for it just yet.

"Lottie, come on," Matt called after her, hearing the familiar noise of her ankle boots hit the floor as she stormed off. But she didn't stop. She kept going and Matt followed her, jogging to catch up with her until he finally grabbed her by her elbow, thankful for his heightened senses.

"Lottie, stop-"

"-I'm not doing this, Matty," Charlotte interrupted him and she tugged her elbow from his grip. She turned around and look at him dressed in his blue shirt and dark jeans, hair messily tousled on his head. "I can't keep doing this…coming here…not knowing what the hell is going on between us. You…you know there's something between us. You know it and I know you know it."

He was quiet then. It wasn't as if they'd had the big talk since the night they'd gone home together after the college party. They hadn't said anything the next morning. They'd claimed it had been a drunken mistake, but Charlotte knew better than that. She knew that it was. She didn't want it to be thrown away as some drunken night. But Matt had insisted that was all it could have been.

"I know," he agreed with her.

"Then what are we doing?" Charlotte demanded from him, arms flapping out by her side. "Why are we pushing each other away? Why are we not just letting ourselves be happy?"

"Because I…the feelings I have for you will never disappear, Lottie," Matt confessed to her. "There is always going to be a part of me that loves you. I've grown up with you. You are the only constant I've had in my life…but I can't pretend that Elektra hasn't made me feel something too. It's something new and exciting and I want to explore it. I want us both to be able to explore…we're young…you…I do love you, but I just don't know if we're right for each other in the long run."

"You were never willing to give us a chance," Charlotte whispered and Matt felt a drop of rain fall from the sky and land on his nose. He moved to brush it away before it could drip down his skin.

"I…" he stammered because he knew she had a point. He knew she was right. He hadn't given them a chance. He had wanted to. He really had wanted to. But he was scared that eventually she would find someone better than him; someone who could make her happier than he could. And so he had pushed her away, but here she was wanting to come back.

"I don't know if I can stick around and watch you fall in love with someone else, Matty," Charlotte whispered, admitting everything to him and it felt right and good. "You're my best friend…and I want you in my life…but I…I think we do need space. I think we need space because this hurts too much right now."

"Lottie, please," Matt pleaded with her and he reached for her hand before she could move away. His touch almost felt like it burned her as she looked down to his fingers wrapped around hers. Her eyes moved over them and she stepped forward, moving quickly and holding Matt tightly, arms going around him.

"I'll always love you," she said to him. "But I can't be with you right now…just let me go…"

And he did. He let her peel herself away from him and he didn't chase after her as he heard her walk away, the rain falling heavier than before and her cries echoing into his ears. He bowed his head and felt an instant sense of regret.

…

Charlotte had spent over half-an-hour sorting out the new television that evening when it had been delivered. Considering Matt had no TV stand, she'd had to improvise with two crates from the kitchen to sit it on top of. She'd tried to angle it away from the window where the light from the billboard didn't reflect onto it. That had been difficult.

"I think the next thing we're going to do is get curtains," Charlotte said to Matt as he finished cutting them a slice of cheesecake in the kitchen. They'd grabbed the last chocolate brownie cheesecake before Jenny's had sold out of them.

"You're really changing my apartment, aren't you?"

"I just think some curtains might not be a bad thing. You might not be able to see out, but it would give you some more privacy…you know…means people can't look in."

"We can get curtains," Matt promised her.

"You don't need to just humour me if you really don't want curtains."

"Lottie, I can't see a thing so I don't care. If it makes you happy then it makes me happy."

"Your happiness shouldn't rest on my happiness," she retorted and finally got the TV working, tuning in and loading. She left it to do its thing before heading over to where Matt was now sat on the sofa, two plates of cheesecake in front of him on the coffee table.

"Well, at this moment in time, it kind of does," he said to her and she watched him intently before going to sit down next to him, curling her legs beneath her and leaning back in the seat. "So…how long does this TV show of yours-"

"-I still love you."

Matt did a double-take at her interruption, wondering just what the hell was going on at her sudden intervention. But she had needed to say it. She'd wanted to say it since she'd seen him again. She'd wanted to tell him how she'd never really moved on. She wanted to hear him tell her that he felt the same. She just couldn't go on living in the same apartment as him and saying nothing.

"What?" Matt asked her.

"I can't keep doing this, Matty," she said to him. "I can't keep pretending that there's nothing there…that I don't still love you…that I haven't spent the last several years longing to be back with you because I have."

"Lottie, you're just getting a divorce. You-"

"-Stop doing that!" she snapped loudly at him, moving to her feet once more, her hands going through her hair and tugging at it. "You always did that. You always told me how I should feel or what it was I should do. I'm sick of it. You're not doing it to me anymore, Matt. I know how I feel and I know that I've been in love with you since I was a teenager. Those feelings haven't gone anywhere, no matter what we've done or what's happened and you…you say things like you just said and I…I don't know what to think."

Matt remained silent then as Charlotte watched him. It was like he was stewing and nothing was snapping him out of it. She huffed loudly and shook her head. She should have known that this would happen. He would go back to silently brooding.

"I'm going to go for some air," she settled on saying.

"Don't," Matt said to her.

"It's fine. I clearly overstepped. I always had a big mouth."

She headed on over to the coat rack and reached for her jacket. She heard Matt stand up and follow her. Before she could shrug into her coat or reach for her boots, he had grabbed it from her hands and tossed it off to the side. Charlotte blinked profusely as he dropped his hands to his hips.

"You're not going out there and you're not running away before I do this," he replied. "I've let you walk away too many times. I'm not doing it again. That day at your wedding…when I came to the chapel and tried to stop you from marrying Jonathan…I never told you why I did it. I made up so many excuses about how he just wasn't good enough for you, but the truth was that I wanted to be selfish. I wanted you to leave him because it's always been you, Lottie. It's always been you I've loved and I've wasted so much time denying it and pushing you away because I thought that you would eventually do better or want someone else…because I just didn't listen to you."

Charlotte was amazed at what she was hearing. It was all she'd wanted to hear from him. It was everything she'd hoped for. Shaking her head slowly, her eyes started to water as everything bubbled up to the surface. She watched as Matt moved a hand up towards her, his fingertips gently brushing against her cheek until he reached back and tucked her hair behind her ear. She took a step closer to him, unable to stop herself, feeling the warmth of his body radiate against her front.

"Do you mean that?" she asked from him.

"I mean it," Matt promised her in a soft voice. She moved her own hand to take hold of his against her cheek, her fingers brushing into his. "I just didn't want to say anything…not right now…not while you're going through what you're going through. I thought it would be too much for you."

"Not when it's all I can think about," Charlotte confessed to him and he let his lips arch at hearing that. He wanted to hear that she felt exactly the same as he did. "I thought that time would help, but it didn't."

"Did the opposite," Matt said. "Made me miss you even more."

"Then what do we do, Matty?" Charlotte wondered from him and he couldn't help but think that she sounded lost. The trouble was that Matt was as lost as she was. He had no idea how to do any of this. Things with Elektra had been different. It hadn't been anything like it had been with Charlotte.

"We…we don't have to do anything," Matt decided on saying. "We can just be us…Matt and Lottie…but without hiding how we feel."

"I like the sound of that," Charlotte said and in Matt's mind he could picture her with a wide smile on her face.

"You're smiling, right?" Matt checked. "I haven't said the wrong thing? Upset you?"

"Why don't you find out for yourself," she suggested and he moved a finger over her face, feeling the dimples in her cheeks and the muscles contract as she smiled. His own face relaxed then and he let out a deep sigh of relief before he felt her lips under his fingers. How many times had he felt those on his skin? How many times had he taken her for granted?

"Happy then?" Matt checked, his own genuine smile refusing to drop.

"More than happy," she promised.

"And we go at whatever pace you need…I know what Jonathan did to you-"

"-Can we not ruin this by bringing him up?" Charlotte asked from Matt. He nodded his head once as he felt her hands run up to his shoulders, squeezing them tightly under her grip. He ducked his head slowly and pressed his forehead to hers. "I know you're being sweet by telling me that…and I appreciate you so much for it…and there…it might not be easy in some respects and I don't know what will happen because I don't think I can go back to how we used to be."

"Hey, hey, hey," Matt said, sensing that she was becoming anxious from her breathing and heartrate. He moved a hand to cup her cheek as his other hand ran down her upper arm. "You don't need to explain to me. I don't want it to be how it was. I just want you to tell me what you want, alright?"

"But it's not just about me," Charlotte said to him.

"At this moment in time, yes it is," Matt retorted to her, not backing down. "So we do whatever you're comfortable with, but just…know that I'd never hurt you, okay? I would never hurt you like he did."

"I know," Charlotte agreed and pecked him on the cheek before letting her head rest on his shoulder. His arms wrapped tighter around her as he held her to him. "I just love you so much, Matty. It's always been you."

"I love you too, Lottie," he promised her, kissing the top of her head. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving you again. I promise."

…

Laying in bed at night, Matt tried to get some sleep. He was content, he really was. Charlotte was laid next to him, tucked up on his sheets and under his duvet, her head resting by his chest, her arm slung over his waist. She had a leg placed over his own and was plastered to his side like a starfish. He had an arm around her shoulders that he'd long lost feeling in, but he tried not to think of that. His eyes were wide open, sightless gaze on the ceiling above him. He could smell Charlotte's shampoo and the faint whiff of his own cologne from the Colombia top of his that she was wearing over her own pyjama bottoms.

She was breathing softly, her soft snores echoing through the room. He moved his chin to rest by the top of her head, letting her hair tickle his skin as he kissed her there. This was all that he had wanted for such a long time, but he couldn't rest because all he could think about was Charlotte's husband. She wondered just what it was he was doing that made him so important to people. What could he give them? Who were they? Why had he given Charlotte up so easily?

And then there was the noise next door. He had tried to tune it out, but he couldn't. It was the only thing he could focus on. There was a child next door who was crying. There was a father yelling. And Matt could hear it all clear as day. He knew exactly what was going on and it made him sick. He let out a deep breath and felt Charlotte stir against his side.

"I can hear you thinking," she muttered, still on the verge of sleep.

"I'm not sure you can hear someone thinking," he responded in a soft whisper.

"You, I can," she mumbled, stretching her leg over his and then opening her eyes, a hand running up and down his chest and crumpling the grey top he wore. "What's up?"

"It's next door," he said to her. "I can hear…the father…he's beating up his kid."

"What?" Charlotte asked, suddenly awake. She propped herself up to her elbow, hair tumbling down her face and neck, eyes heavy from sleep. "You can hear them?"

"He's just got back," Matt confirmed, shaking his arm to get some feeling back into it.

"We should go round and do something," Charlotte said, but Matt shook his head.

"We get involved then what does he do to us?" Matt asked. "He sounds like the kind of guy who would get retribution…and I'm not getting you dragged into anything else."

"We can't just leave them."

"We're not going to," Matt assured her. "I'll call child protection services and get them out here."

"I'll find the number," Charlotte said and he felt the bed shift as she moved around. She sat up, crossing her legs underneath her and she reached for her phone. She unlocked it before reaching for the bedside lamp table she had insisted on buying. She let her eyes adjust to the light before searching for the number. "Want me to call?"

"I'll do it if you hit the button," Matt said to her.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," he promised her and she pressed the button for him. He heard the phone begin to ring before he pressed it to his ear. Climbing from bed, he pushed the duvet to the bottom of the mattress and kissed her quickly on the forehead.

She watched him move away from her and she wrapped her arms around her legs, drawing her knees to her chin. She heard him from the kitchen as he moved around and spoke in a hushed tone. He started to sound agitated, Charlotte seeing his face pinch tightly and before long he came to her, phone dangling by his side. He handed it back to her and she checked it was locked before placing it on the bedside table.

"What did they say?" she wondered as he settled down on the side of the bed.

"Nothing they can do until morning. The cops can't get out tonight because it's too busy."

"Tomorrow?"

"It's gone quiet," Matt declared. "But I just…I don't know…"

"You sure we shouldn't go round there?"

"We should do this the right way. I don't want to make things worse for that kid by going round and getting involved," Matt said. "If the cops and child protection services come out tomorrow then they will sort this."

"You believe that?" Charlotte wondered and he turned his head in her direction.

She drank in his dishevelled hair and the stubble around his jawline. He moved one lip over the other, shoulders moving up and down.

"I don't know," Matt said. "I know what it was like for us…back at the orphanage…the kids we saw…what they'd been through before they got to us…I don't think I understood the magnitude of it back then. It's only when I look back on it when I realise how horrible it all was that we were there."

"Yeah," Charlotte agreed loosely with him on that point. She did know. She knew entirely what he meant.

"I told them that I'd be in tomorrow to make a statement if they need me," Matt said and he felt Charlotte move a hand to his upper arm, running up and down it soothingly. "It's the first time I've heard it. I'm just wondering how long it's been going on for…if I hadn't picked up on it before…"

"None of this is on you, Matty," Charlotte assured him.

"I might have been able to help sooner."

"You're helping now that you know," she replied, not wanting him to feel like he was responsible for any of this. Charlotte moved to sit on the edge of the bed next to him. She took hold of his hand inside of hers, fingers squeezing tightly in his. He turned towards her, feeling around until his lips hit against her forehead tenderly.

"I guess I just feel like I left everything too late…and that's not a nice feeling."

"Matty," she sighed his name softly and he let his chin rest on top of her head. "You don't need to blame yourself about anything that's happened in the past. You've always done the right thing. You've always had your heart in the right place and we both know that. We both know it and that's all that matters."

"Yeah," he said in a non-committed tone and she knew that he was dwelling in his own thoughts. There was nothing she would be able to say to him that would make him feel any better about the situation. She could just sit there by his side. It was a few more minutes that went by before he spoke. "You should get some sleep."

"Are you coming back to bed?"

"Not sure I could sleep. I'll just go and sit on the sofa…listen to an audiobook or something…"

"Well, if you're not going back to bed then neither am I," Charlotte said.

"Lottie-"

"-Not going to work," she replied and moved to her feet, taking hold of his hand and hauling him up to stand with her. "Now, what do you want? Lemon or green tea?"

"You don't need to."

"I do and I am," Charlotte said and he heard her head into the kitchen after she'd let go of his hand. He moved to the doorway of his bedroom, the noise of water filling the kettle echoing into his ears. Despite everything, his lips arched as he imagined her moving around, hair out of place and dressed in his crumpled top.

"I don't deserve you," he said.

"Well, I'm not sure about that," Charlotte replied, looking to him over the kitchen worktops. "But you're stuck with me now, Murdock."

"I like the sound of that," he admitted to her.

...

A/N: Sorry it's been a while since the last update! Things have been very busy and I wasn't sure if anyone was interested in this story. If you are then it would be great to hear from you!