Opening Day
If Matt had to be honest, he was a bit disappointed. He’d thought that Jessica would’ve done it by now. It wasn’t much, just running a name through whatever she was used to doing, and tell him if Rose was to be trusted or not. He understood that she was already working a case, but he would’ve done it for her. She didn’t even reply to the text he’d sent, after fighting for a good 10 minutes with his speech-to-text. That thing wasn’t very cooperative, but Matt did it anyway. He’d sent that text with Rose’s name on it and the address of her shop. All that, and he hadn’t heard back from Jessica yet. Yes, he was disappointed.
Of course he didn’t know that the phone he’d sent the text to was in pieces somewhere near the Maryland border of DC. Jessica had made the effort to buy a new one, even bothered to forward her calls to her new number, but didn’t think for one second about the text she was supposed to get. She’d thought about calling Matt during the weekend, though. She ultimately decided against it, since she was busy and he hadn’t been able to send her a simple text. After all, it was maybe not as important as he’d first said, and Jessica had better things to do. If he really wanted her to work for him, he’d call again, she’d thought. Which Matt wasn’t planning on doing. Instead, he’d decided to take matters into his own hands.
It would be a lie to say that Matt hadn’t considered the idea of simply starting a fight with Rose Parsons. What made him change his mind wasn’t the fact that beating up someone dressed as Daredevil wouldn’t have helped his current PR case, nor the fact that he had substantially no reason to ever attack Rose. No, his real issue with fighting the flower shop owner was that she’d probably tell Karen about it. And of course Karen would tell Foggy, and he’d lose his friends again.
Instead, after staying up all night to find a better way to deal with Rose Parsons without causing his own downfall, Matt had come up with the perfect plan. He’d found the place where Rose was buying her coffee beans, the one two streets away from the hospital, and stopped there on his way to work. Today was her big opening and surely Foggy wouldn’t mind that Matt was making real efforts to be friendly.
He stopped in front of the flower shop, where the door was now open for customers, and knocked on the glass. Rose’s heartbeat accelerated, surely because she thought there was a customer, but quickly went back to its calm rhythm when she realized it was only her neighbor.
“Oh, hi,” she said, the usual smile in her voice almost inaudible. “Tell me you’re here to buy flowers.”
Matt smiled and handed her the brown package with the coffee beans. “Happy opening day.”
She looked inside and laughed. “That doesn’t count, it’s like getting a vacuum cleaner on Mother’s day.”
“I can take it back.”
Rose’s perfume quickly hurried back behind the counter. “No way,” she said. “I’m keeping it for when I don’t have any money to buy some myself.”
Matt turned to the rest of the shop, which seemed to be very empty. “It’s still early.”
“And my hopes of reflowering this corner of the city are already gone,” she sighed. “I guess I should’ve printed more flyers.”
“They’ll come.”
“You sure you don’t want to buy some ? Like, for yourself ? People can buy themselves flowers, you know,” she said, almost begging him. “It won’t make you less of a man either. Flowers are for-”
“They’ll come,” Matt laughed. For a moment, he thought that it might have all been true. Rose was genuinely sad that no one showed up, even if she’d been open for a couple hours. There had been many strange coincidences surrounding that woman, but he couldn’t deny the fact that this shop seemed to be her whole life. For a second after that, he actually considered buying himself a plant. “Foggy’s getting married,” he blurted out without really knowing why. “You can try and offer to help with the flowers.”
“That’s… shit, that’s genius,” Rose happily replied, her smile back in her voice. “Maybe I can find other places I can help, in exchange for some advertisement. Thanks, really. Let me get you something to drink.”
She led him to a stool at the counter she was using to make her bouquets. As Rose was telling him about all the very sudden ideas she’d had to improve the shop, which in Matt’s opinion would make it too good for Hell’s Kitchen, he heard Foggy’s footsteps on the sidewalk. He was walking too fast to even notice him sitting here, Matt wouldn’t have to explain himself.
But Foggy was a very nice man, and a friendly neighbor. He slowed down and stopped by the door, ready to wish Rose a good opening day. That was when he noticed his friend sitting inside with a coffee, talking to the woman he’d promised never to talk to again. Needless to say, Foggy wasn’t happy with it.
“Hey,” Rose said, waving at him. “Coffee ?”
“Maybe later,” Foggy replied, still looking at his friend. “What are you doing here ?”
“Bringing a gift,” Matt said with an innocent smile, “and drinking coffee.”
“How very neighborly of you.”
“I think I’ll hire him soon,” Rose joked. “After the legal advice, I’ve just gotten some amazing business ones.”
Foggy’s heart skipped a beat. Now that Rose had reminded him of the camera incident, he was angry at Matt again. “I’ll stop by later to buy some… well, the prettiest bouquet you can come up with. Make it big, she’ll like it,” he said with a laugh. “But I’ll have to steal my partner back from you, we have a client.”
Rose almost jumped from her seat. “Right, sorry ! Some people do have customers.”
Matt leaned over and placed a hand on her arm. “It’s still early. Be patient, they’ll come,” he whispered, trying to reassure her.
She smiled back at him and nodded. “Sure. Thanks for the gift.”
She waved at them on their way out and went back to her usual business, which right now was washing the dishes since selling flowers didn’t seem to be a thing she’d do at all. Matt pushed his friend away from the box full of cacti on their way out and followed him outside, waiting for the lecture that would inevitably come.
“Business advice ?” Foggy asked in a quiet voice. “Hope these were true.”
“A new client ?”
“Coming over in 25 minutes,” he replied. “I’m not a liar.”
“Me neither,” Matt scoffed. “I did bring a gift.”
“Better be apologies.”
“Coffee beans. I found where she’s buying them.”
Foggy stopped in the stairs and grinned. “Sweet. I love that coffee.” He sighed as he opened the door of their office. “You know, she really is nice.”
Sadly, Matt had noticed that. After everything he’d done to discredit her, the possibility that he’d been wrong was making its way into his mind, and his conscience didn’t like that.
***
Rose on the other hand had noticed something entirely different. Something that got her stuck behind her counter, holding the coffee cups she’d meant to wash. She was staring at the box of cacti she’d left on the floor to remind herself to move them to a better spot on the shelf. She replayed the whole scene in her mind for the third time, still not getting it.
She’d come back to get the cups and ask the two men if they wanted to take her coffee pot with them for the day. She didn’t get the time to say anything, because she watched as Matt pushed Foggy out of the way and jumped over the box to avoid it. He didn’t bump into it and then say something. His cane didn’t touch it since he was holding Foggy’s arm and it was still folded from when he’d sat to drink. And Foggy didn’t tell him to be careful since he was the one to be pushed out of the way. No, Matt simply avoided the box from being pushed over, like anyone would’ve done. Anyone who wasn’t supposed to be blind.
It wasn’t that he jumped over it like a deer or anything, she thought. What had caught Rose’s eye was how normal it looked. If she hadn’t known, she would’ve never guessed or even believed that Matt was blind.
Rose knew better than to question someone’s disability, but it all looked too strange for her taste. Now that she was overthinking it, she remembered how Matt’s cane was always folded by his desk whenever she was coming to bring them coffee. She’d guessed that it was just like her when she was able to walk around her place at night without turning on the lights. She remembered how he’d avoided the paint on the day they met, and she’d thought that he was simply lucky. She was even trying to figure out if there were any advantages to being blind that would explain a lie like that.
She let out a long sigh and moved away from the counter. It wasn’t any of her business. She wasn’t here to discover who was faking what, and why. She didn’t even know if he was, and that wasn’t something she’d work on.
A woman entered the shop, sending any thoughts about Matt Murdock a mile away from Rose’s mind. She had a customer.
She welcomed her with her brightest smile. “Hello, welcome to Bees’ Paradise, may I help you ?”
The woman, rather young, with dark hair and clear eyes, gave Rose an embarrassed smile. “I hope so,” she said. “Is there any way I can use your bathroom ?”
“What ?”
“I’m very sorry,” she quickly added. “I know there’s a public restroom around the corner, but it’s just so… and I have a job interview in an hour, and I’m on my period and I really-”
“Yes, sure you can,” Rose interrupted her, forcing herself to keep smiling. “Follow me, it’s in the back.”
The young woman kept thanking Rose, telling her how she was saving her from whatever disease was on that public toilet, and how she’d make sure to clean it and leave it as if she’d never been there. Rose wasn’t listening. She wasn’t expecting her first day to be stellar, but that was worse than she’d imagined. People were now more interested in her bathroom than in her flowers.
She left the woman to her own business and walked back to her shop. Since there was nothing else to do, Rose took a bunch of cacti and succulents from the box Matt had suspiciously avoided, and a large glass bowl. Pretty to look at and very low maintenance, a terrarium was just what Karen needed for her place. Brightened up with a very well hidden microphone under the moss, this would be the perfect gift.
As she was carefully placing little rocks around a kalanchoe, the woman left Rose’s bathroom and kept thanking her. “It’s okay,” Rose replied, disappointment peeking through. “Good luck with your interview, and don’t forget about me if you ever need a plant.”
“I will, I promise.” She pointed at Rose’s current work. “That’s super pretty.”
“Thanks.” She thought about explaining what it was to that girl, but she was already gone.
Instead, Rose focused on placing the microphone inside the terrarium. She had to choose somewhere protected if Karen ever decided to drown it and moved the tweezers to the side, under a decorative camera, a touch that she’d thought would make Karen smile. She looked at the finished product, quite proud of herself. At least one of her jobs was being successful. Rose activated the device and set the terrarium aside for delivery.
***
A young woman, with dark hair and clear eyes, entered Vanessa’s car, where she’d been waiting with Dex for a while now. “It’s done,” she sighed. “Why are you doing this ? She seems nice.”
Vanessa handed her the envelope with the ten thousand dollars they’d agreed on earlier. “Nice people can also be dangerous. Thank you for your assistance.”
“Yeah, right.” The woman left the car just as fast as she got in. 10K would definitely help her, and it was only a small microphone she had to place over there, it couldn’t be that illegal after all. She didn’t quite understand how the woman with the flower shop could be a danger to anybody, but it wasn’t her problem anymore.
In the car, Dex put on an earpiece, eager to be listening to what was going on inside Rose’s apartment. Now that he’d have to leave on another mission for Vanessa, he was glad she’d thought about bugging the flower girl’s place.
“You’ll have to send another one for the shop,” he told Vanessa after making sure everything was working with that one. “She spends most of her time there.”
Vanessa looked at him, smiled, and politely nodded. She didn’t like him telling her what to do. She’d do what she’d deem necessary, and he’d do what she told him to do. Dex indeed seemed to have issues remembering who was in charge here, but Vanessa was forgetting that not being in Benjamin Poindexter’s good graces could be extremely dangerous. She was however a smart woman who knew how to always agree with men before doing what she’d first intended to. So far, it had always worked.
“Have you started working on what I asked ?”
Dex nodded. “I’ll need a vehicle. Large.”
“Gun ?”
“I don’t need a gun, maybe a saw,” he replied with a slight smile. “Do you want to know how I’m going to do it ?”
Vanessa shook her head and turned back to look at the streets. “I just want to know when it’s done. I’ll make sure to have all our resources made available to you.”
The fact that Vanessa wasn’t, at heart, a bad person, made her oblivious to the implications of some of her decisions, like making sure Dex had access to anything he might’ve wanted. Luckily for her, everyone on Wilson’s team wanted his child to have a long and safe life.
As soon as Vanessa’s driver stopped the car and Dex was out, he looked at her in the rearview mirror. “You should keep an eye on him, Ma’am,” he warned her. “For your own good.”
Vanessa looked at him, smiled, and politely nodded.
***
“Drink ?”
Eva looked at the bottle in Jessica’s hands and frowned. “Isn’t it a little early to- No, thanks,” she finished instead.
Jessica sat in front of her and downed her drink. “So,” she started, now ready to work, “what branch of the government is your husband working for ?”
Eva’s eyes widened. “He- No, he’s… well, he’s my ex-husband. We’re divorced.”
“Not what I asked.” Jessica leaned forward. “Not everyone gets to live in DC, lady. You two moved too many times, and he kept moving after you ditched him. Just point me in the direction of the right letters.”
It had never been Eva’s intention to have anyone go that far. If only Edward had agreed to help her when she asked, Eva thought. Now, knowing his line of work and who she brought into this, it was too dangerous for too many people. “He doesn’t matter,” she calmly replied. “Did you find Fleur ?”
“Yeah,” Jessica sighed, resting her back on her chair. “Up until she turned 22. After that, she disappears. Nothing to track her anywhere. You know what that means ?”
Eva nodded. This was the confirmation she’d been waiting for. Fleur had followed in her father’s footsteps. She’d never be able to find her without his help, and he was withholding it. “What did you find ?”
“Wait, you’re not gonna tell me who I pissed off for you ?”
“It’s better if you don’t know,” Eva said in a quiet voice. “If they think it was just me… well, I’m no one and you’re… Yeah. It’s better if you don’t know.”
What Jessica knew was that there was something very off with that case. Something she now wanted to get to the bottom of and that didn’t require Eva Duchamp’s money or approval. “If you say so,” she replied, pushing a file towards her client. “She got a double degree in botanics and flower arrangement. Didn’t know that existed, but she got those. Went to all kinds of flowery events for a year after that, and then nothing. Gone. She doesn’t own a car or a house, and she has no social security number.”
“What ?” Eva asked with a laugh. “She’s alive, she must have one.”
“Sure she does,” Jessica replied with an annoyed voice. “But it’s buried under all these letters you don’t want to tell me about. Did your ex use his real name when you got married ?” Eva nodded, reading through all the information Jessica managed to dig up. “Well, she’s not married, then.”
“You wouldn’t know,” Eva mumbled. She looked back at Jessica and shrugged. “That’s how I found out. I needed a marriage certificate, and no one could give me one. I was married, but it wasn’t showing up anywhere.”
Jessica remained silent. Whoever they were, they were being very careful and surely high up. She couldn’t believe her work was done here. “She had her degrees in New York, and it required a 6 months internship. The place that took her closed shop a few years ago, but she must’ve worked somewhere before leaving. I can take her picture and-”
“No,” Eva firmly said. She closed the file and handed Jessica an envelope with the price they’d agreed on. “Thank you for your help, Miss Jones. You’ve done more than what I thought was possible, but it’s safer for people like you to stay out of it.”
Jessica squinted. “People like me ?”
“Take care of yourself.”
Jessica looked at her, smiled, and politely nodded.
***
It didn’t take long before Marianne Ballister had to send another text to Edward. It seemed to her that it was all she’d been doing for the past few days, and it never seemed to stop. First it was his child, and now someone was looking into him too.
Edward sighed when he received that text, but wasn’t surprised that Eva went as far as giving his name to whoever she’d hired to find their daughter. He’d been studying the transactions from her bank account for a while now, pinpointing them on a map from the comfort of his room in a hotel in Manhattan, only 10 minutes away from the apartment she was renting at the time. He’d thought about paying her a visit, but it was still too soon. He needed more information on who she’d been talking to.
Information that came to him in the form of a notification that Eva had just used her credit card in a coffee shop. He recognized the name since she’d been there a few times already, the last time less than an hour before. It couldn’t be a coincidence that someone looked into him at that time.
He searched for all the PIs in that area. Only one of them caught his attention. Jessica Jones’ little business was only a street away from the coffee shop.
Edward was torn. On one hand, he was impressed that Eva went to the most skilled PI available to her and managed to convince that girl to help. On the other hand, Eva didn’t know the details of his work and went to Jones anyway. With the little knowledge she had about his job, she must’ve known how dangerous it could’ve been. In the end, Jessica Jones wasn’t in any danger and Edward was rather grateful that Eva had chosen her. PIs could be a real problem, but that one would be easily dealt with..
He took his phone and called Marianne to ease her mind. “It’s me,” he said. “Don’t worry about it, I-”
“I’m way past worrying, Ed,” Marianne replied with a nervous laugh. “Do I need to have her arrested until it’s all done ?”
“It’s Jessica Jones,” he calmly insisted. “Eva hired Jessica Jones.”
“Thank God,” Marianne breathed out. “I’m calling them, but you still need to talk to your wife.”
“Ex-wife.”
“Of course, yeah.” Marianne hung up, leaving Edward with the feeling that things would get better soon.
***
Rose was definitely sharing her father’s hopefulness. With the grand total of zero customers on her first day, she’d had some time on her hands. Firstly, she’d delivered the terrarium to Karen, who thanked Rose multiple times for the gift, and congratulated her on the beauty of it. Secondly, she’d thought in depth about Matt’s advice and realized that flyers and online ads weren’t doing much here. She needed the people of Hell’s Kitchen to hear about her and see what she could do.
So she called the hardware store. The owner didn’t see any use in displaying some of her plants but still wished her success in her business. Rose didn’t hold it against him, and noted that it would in fact be easier to convince people if there was a mutual advantage to the partnership. That was why she was now calling the sad and cold church she’d visited a few days earlier. Every day since that first visit, on her daily morning run when she was going past the church, she’d thought how better the place would look with newer and more seasonal plants and bushes.
“Father Bryant speaking,” a man said.
Rose cleared her throat and mentally prayed for a miracle. “Hello, I’m very sorry to bother you, could I have a minute of your time ?”
“Of course, who is this ?”
“Great. I’m Rose Parsons,” she said. “I’ve just opened Bees’ Paradise, a flower shop a few streets away from your church, you might have heard of me ?” He didn’t reply. That was how known Rose was in the neighborhood. “Well, I was wondering if you’d be interested in uh… renewing the flowers of your church ? I also do plants and I can take care of all the landscaping, too.”
Father Bryant let go a few seconds, enough for Rose to start thinking about who she could’ve called next. “It would surely help bringing people back,” he said, “but we are still paying for the major degradation we’ve suffered and I don’t think we’d have enough money to pay for your services.”
“Money’s not a problem,” Rose immediately replied, keeping in the back of her mind that she’d have to call Marianne about that. Money would be a problem for her. “I just need some publicity, and what better place than church ? You’d get people to come in, and if they ever ask about the flowers you’d simply have to tell her where it comes from ?”
“This is… Miss Parsons, this is a very generous offer,” he replied, audibly grateful for the opportunity, maybe just as much as Rose. “I think we should meet to talk about this, I wouldn’t want this to be a burden on a new business like yours.”
Rose checked her schedule. She didn’t have anything else to do, but now that she had to stay in the shop all day for customers that weren’t coming, her free time had indeed been cut short. “Well,” she said, looking at the calendar, “I could come to mass on Sunday ? If that’s okay with you ?”
“Everyone is always welcome to mass, Miss Parsons,” he softly replied. “We’ll talk after, then.”
“Perfect,” she joyfully said. “Thank you so much, Father. I’ll see you on Sunday.”
He thanked her back for reaching out to him, and Rose hung up ready to jump all over the place. Not only was she going to work for something good, and Marianne would never say no to charity, but she’d just now had a second brilliant idea.
She turned back to her shelves, walked away from the cash register with a large wooden box, and took as many plants as she could fit in. She wanted nice scents, and she wanted bright colors. September was around the corner, and she picked some crocus, marigold and mums. They’d be in bloom very soon and in time, she’d bring some sunflower bouquets, too.
On her way out, she put up a ‘back in 20’ sign on the door. She was pretty sure no one would show up in the next 20 minutes, but it didn’t matter. She was now in a very good mood, and she was certain that customers would come eventually.
***
Foggy was staring at Matt with confusion. He’d left his office in a hurry and was now waiting by the door, looking as puzzled as he was himself. Knowing about his sixth, seventh and eighth senses wasn’t making things any less weird.
He joined him and rested his back against the wall. “You’re being weird.”
“Flowers,” Matt replied with a frown. “Coming up.”
Foggy sighed. “I thought you were done spying on her. You can say her name, you know. It’s not cursed or anything.”
“No,” Matt insisted. “I mean flowers are coming up.” He turned back to the door and winced. “A lot of them.”
Someone knocked on the door. Matt quickly left for the kitchen, leaving Foggy to deal with their visitor. He wasn’t surprised when he found Rose standing behind the door. He was however more curious as to why she was bringing them so many flowers.
“Are you being evicted already ?” he asked, closing the door behind her.
She chuckled and shook her head. “These are for your office,” she replied. “You have customers.”
“We usually call them clients,” Matt said, joining them in the room.
She turned to him, her smile growing even wider. “You,” she said. “I could kiss you right now. You’re a genius.”
Please do, Foggy thought, certain that this would solve many of his current problems. “We’re good when you bring us coffee, you know.”
“But I’m not selling coffee.”
He shrugged. “You should, it’s good coffee.”
“You’ll pay for it, then,” she replied with a wink. “But I need the three of- where’s Karen ?”
“Working,” Matt answered. “So you want us to advertise for you.”
Rose pointed at him and turned back to Foggy. “See ? He gets it. I don’t need you to tell people to come and buy flowers from me, I just want to put some of those here, and if they ever ask…”
“We tell them there’s a flower shop downstairs,” Foggy finished. She nodded and kept looking at him, silently begging for his help. He sighed and looked at her box, filled with potted plants. “That may be too much.”
“I wanted you to have options,” she laughed. “And don’t worry about keeping them alive, I can come up and water them for you.”
He briefly looked at his friend, who didn’t seem to mind. He then turned back to Rose and nodded. “Sure, help yourself. I like the… well, they’re all flowers so… Yellow ? Like your shop ?”
“Marigold it is, then,” she happily said, already setting some pots around the place. “Between you and the church, I might finally get some customers. I just need-”
“Church ?” Matt asked. “Which one ?”
“Clinton church,” she replied, walking to the conference room with another potted marigold. “I’m reflowering it,” she shouted. She came back to them and crossed her fingers. “I still have to meet with Father Bryant on Sunday, but I think it’s a done deal.”
Foggy waited for her to be done, to promise to come back the next day to water the plants, to have thanked them at least three times each for their help, and to have left, before turning to his friend. “Isn’t that your church she’s reflowering ?”
“It is.”
“And she’s gonna come to take care of the flowers every day,” he added.
“Don’t,” Matt sighed, going back to his office.
Foggy followed him, repressing a laugh. “You know what I think ? I think she’s just too innocent for your taste. If she had a little more danger in her life, you’d be all over that woman.”
“She sleeps with a gun,” Matt snapped back. “And no safety on.”
“How- no, don’t tell me,” Foggy stopped himself. “Many people have guns, and I really want to believe that you knew that before you promised me to stop stalking her.” He stepped out of Matt’s office but quickly came back in. “She said she could’ve-”
“Get out.”
“About to,” Foggy replied with a laugh, already on his way to the front door.
In no time, he was entering Rose’s shop. The unused flowers she’d brought back were already on the shelves, and she was starting the confection of a rather huge bouquet.
She glanced at Foggy and smiled. “For your girlfriend,” she said. “If you still want it.”
“You remembered.”
“Well, you’re kind of my only customer of the day, so yeah,” she laughed. “As long as you don’t mind paying ?”
Foggy shook his head and looked at how serious she was. She was only starting, but the amount of roses on her counter would be enough for Marci to think that he was cheating on her. “Is it because of your name ?” he asked out of the blue, looking at the red roses. “Is that why you chose to work with flowers ?”
“No,” she said with a light chuckle. “But I think it was destiny.” She put down her small pruning shears. “My mother used to love flowers. We were always working together in her garden. And after she was gone, it was the only thing I had left from her. I guess I held onto it. As for the name, she wanted something flower related.”
“And you can’t name your child ‘flower’, right ?” Foggy laughed.
Rose looked at him and smiled. “I guess not. Do you want to take it now ? I can keep it in water until you’re done, it’s not like I’m leaving anyway.”
“Oh, no, yes, keep it,” he quickly mumbled. “That’s not why I came.” She arched a brow at him. “Marci and I are having a dinner party soon. It’s to celebrate the big come back of Nelson, Murdock and Page. There’ll be a few friends of ours that you don’t know, but Karen and Matt will be there, you know them. It won’t be too awkward.”
Rose frowned. “Would I be the only one without a law degree ?”
“Karen’s not a lawyer.”
She laughed and nodded. “It’ll have to be enough, I guess. Thanks, of course I’d love to. I’ll make sure to clear my schedule, then.”
Foggy tapped on the counter, sealing the deal. He promised to come back before she closed for the night, and hurried back to his office. He already knew that Marci would love the bouquet and wouldn’t mind adding a plate for dinner if it meant getting some free advice for the wedding.
When he entered his office, Matt was waiting for him, arms crossed. “I knew you’d be listening.”
“You think this is funny ?”
“Who’s the genius, now ?” Foggy asked with a proud grin.