"Buddy-buddy With a Vigilante"
Karen, amidst all of the action that happened in the last two hours, was ultimately surprised that Heather hadn’t bombarded her with a million questions. She chalked it up to her being in shock, as silence took less effort than talking.
She sat next to her on the couch, gesturing towards the mug of coffee in her hand. Heather politely declined with a shake of her head. She was still too fueled up on adrenaline, and adding caffeine to the mix might put her on the brink of a full-blown panic attack.
Heather sat, the events that had unfolded in the past few hours playing in her mind on repeat. She tried to make sense of it all, but there was truly no logical explanation that satisfied her mind.
Why would Fisk want Matt dead? The man who saved his life? The one who took a literal bullet for him? It didn’t make any sense to her, but then again, she had the feeling that there was a lot more behind Matt’s and Fisk’s history than he cared to explain.
The way Matt was able to fight back against Cashman was a whole other mystery that she had no idea how to explain. There was also the part where Matt led them down the stairs and through the hallway without her help or the aid of his cane.
She put her head in her hands, as the overthinking was doing nothing to dull the headache that made its way into her head. Karen sat quietly beside her, occasionally taking a sip of coffee. She waited for Heather to talk, knowing that she had to be full of questions needing answers.
After a few minutes, Heather looked over to Karen, not knowing how to start. What would she even ask? ‘Hey, is Matt actually blind, or has he been faking it for his entire life? Oh, and also, why does the mayor of New York City want him dead? Also, why was Matt buddy-buddy with a known vigilante?’
It sounded borderline fucked up to question whether or not her boyfriend was actually blind or not, but her desire to be crass went out the window the second she saw Matt beaten and bloodied in a hospital hallway.
“Karen,” She spoke before she even knew the words left her mouth. “I-I’m so confused. I’m so worried about Matt but I have no idea what the fuck is going on and I don’t know how to help or what to do-”
Heather’s rambling was halted by Karen, who pulled her into a hug. The warm embrace seemed to calm her down, and the tears building in her eyes were dangerously close to falling.
She took a deep breath, attempting to regain at least some sort of composure.
“I’ll explain what I can to you, but I think it’s best if Matt tells you some of it himself.”
Heather nodded in agreement, wiping the evidence of tears off of her cheeks.
Karen sighed, deciding where the hell she should start.
“When I first met Matt, he and Foggy were partners. They had just opened their firm, and I was framed for murder.”
Heather’s eyes widened at the information, but she nodded in response and urged Karen to continue.
“Matt knew I was innocent, and at the time I didn’t know how he did, but he trusted my word, and I trusted his. He had faith in me, and he helped me uncover the real killers and prove my innocence. For that alone, I owe him everything.” Karen paused and took a deep breath.
“I then began to work at Nelson and Murdock, and we took on many cases.” She explained. “Long story short, Matt went up against Fisk, and it got nasty fast. In the end, Matt ended up convicting Fisk of his crimes and he went to jail.”
Karen left out some important details about Matt's secret life as a crime-fighting vigilante, but she thought it best that Heather hear that from Matt himself.
“Everything was good for a while. The firm was taking on cases, we were successful and happy even. But when Foggy died…” Karen trailed off. A little of a year from losing one of her best friends wasn't nearly enough time to deal with the trauma.
“Everything changes. I just couldn’t be here in New York anymore and Matt, he dealt with his grief in his way.”
Heather frowned, she knew that Foggy’s death affected Matt deeply, but she truly didn’t know the extent of the pain he was suffering.
“With Fisk being the mayor and suddenly thrust into Matt’s life again,” Karen continued, “I guess things got bad again. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I heard that Matt got shot and had to make sure he was okay. Apparently, I can’t even leave him alone for a few months without shit hitting the fan.”
Heather chuckled at the remark. She did her best to process the information Karen shared with her. She knew there had to be some gaps, and pieces of information that would explain the remaining questions she still had, but she decided not to probe Karen on it.
“Thank you,” Heather put her hand on Karen’s. “Thank you for telling me.”
Karen smiled back. She looked at Heather, she seemed like an amazing woman, and she couldn't be happier that Matt had found someone who loved him and cared for him like Heather had.
While the notion of Matt loving someone else left a small pang in her heart, she knew that she and Matt were old history, and it was best left that way.
“I’m gonna go see how Matt’s doing,” Karen said as she got up from the couch.
Heather sat there, staring at the wall, now knowing how to feel. While Karen told her several clarifying details, she had more questions than before.