Cats and Mice

When Karen and Matt arrived the next morning, the police were still on the scene. Karen had left when she’d seen them blocking the street and didn’t want to explain why she was following her friend, and Matt wanted to wait for Rose to call him before showing up for no apparent reason. She was safe with the police. They’d spent the night waiting for a call from Rose, asking them to come over. The call never came, and they knew that none of it was good. They’d expected a call from Foggy in the early hours of the day, but their phones remained silent. Their only option had been to come over and pretend that they didn’t know anything happened, when they were both blaming themselves for everything they’d already heard about on the news. 

They turned around the corner and looked at the end of the street. There was nothing left of Rose’s hard work, of her livelihood, of her place. Karen brought a hand to her mouth, watching in horror the very thing they’d caused. Before they could reach the police barricades, Foggy noticed them and ran to meet them.

He pushed Matt away before he was even able to say anything. “That’s what you meant ?” he angrily asked. “That’s what you two had in mind ? Look what you’ve done.”

Matt could only make sense of the mess. It was all gone, and only managed to form a vague picture of what was going on there. There were too many people, too many things destroyed and being moved all over the place. And somewhere, in the middle of all this, Rose. She was answering questions. She was tired, she was angry, but most of all devastated by what had happened to her. All this, because he broke the window of her apartment instead of trusting her. “Have you talked to her ?” he simply asked. 

“Yeah, I did,” Foggy sighed. “She called me in the middle of the night. It took her 4 hours to call someone. Do you have any idea of how I found her ? She was- Shit, Matt. What happened here ?”

“I broke the window in the back,” he replied in a quiet voice. “Everything was fine when I left. No one saw me.”

“You’re sure of that ?” Matt nodded. “Someone still stopped by and destroyed everything. There’s nothing left, she’s got nothing. She thinks that they didn’t steal anything.”

“What about the cameras ?” Karen finally asked, forcing herself not to look at the shop. “She left the church in a hurry, and-”

“The alarm.”

Matt turned back to his friend. “The power was off when I left.”

“It’s convenient that it only turned back on when they were done. Something like that,” Karen said, “must’ve taken at least an hour.”

Matt’s thoughts were all over the place. Too much evidence was pointing at someone being after him, but now it all showed that these people were after Rose. He focused on the shop, hoping to find something that could help her. 

“Someone else was there,” he said. “I’ll go back when they’re gone. You think I can go talk to her ?”

Foggy sighed. “If you got no problem with your conscience, sure. I know you didn’t do that, Matt, but this is because of us. She’s got nothing left because of us.”

As Karen stayed behind with him to go over the new theories they had to form, Matt hurried to the shop. He promised Brett to answer questions soon and entered what used to be Rose’s shop. She was in the back, sitting on a half broken chair in the middle of her apartment. 

She stood up the moment she saw him. “Hey, I-”

Matt took her in his arms and tried to pull her hair out of her face. She hadn’t had a minute to rest, she was just as much a mess as her place. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “Foggy told me everything. You need to rest, Rose.”

Against all odds, she laughed. He was hoping for her to stop, to cry, to scream, but she simply laughed uncontrollably. “I’m not- No way. I’m not resting until they find whoever did that,” she said, pulling away from him. “They’re gonna need your fingerprints, by the way. I told them you’ve been here before.”

“Of course. Is there anything I can do ? Someone to call ? Anything.”

“No.”

They’d get the police report soon enough, but the first critical hours had already passed. Matt needed something to work on. He had to do something about it. “When uh… Do they know when it happened ?”

Rose pulled out her phone. “I got the alarm thing at 11PM. I was talking with the nun, you know the one who-”

“You were with Maggie ?”

“Yeah. And then I got the notification and I came back. She said she’d call the police but… I don’t know, they were already there. Someone must’ve heard all that,” she added with a laugh. “They’re gonna find them, right ? They have to. Who would do that to me ? I don’t-” She took a deep breath. She wanted to cry, and was actually doing a very good job keeping it all in. Slowly, Matt listened to her heart going back to its usual calm and steady rhythm. “They told me I was free to go if I stayed available for more questions,” she said. “I have to go beg an old friend of my father for a place to sleep.”

Before she could walk away, Matt grabbed her wrist. “You don’t have to. You can stay with me for as long as you need.”

“Thanks but I still need to go. She’s my insurer and she’s…” She let out a long sigh, looking around her. “She’s not gonna be happy. Can I call you when I come back ?”

“Of course.” He pulled her in for a few seconds, hoping that she’d at least ask Karen to go with her. Being on her own after everything that happened to her wasn’t a good idea, but he understood her need to be doing something. He wasn’t in any place to tell her anything, and simply gave her a quick kiss before she left, promising to keep his phone close by.

Rose hadn’t been gone for a minute that already Brett was joining Matt, looking for answers on who would’ve ever wanted to hurt a florist and why him and his friends were always in the middle of things like that. For once, they were the problem, Matt thought.

***

It had taken all of Rose’s self control for her not to punch Matt in the face when he showed up. The way it had been so easy for him to pretend that he had nothing to do with it, how he even offered his help, it only made her even more furious. She knew he didn’t do any of this, she wasn’t stupid enough to believe that. But she’d hoped, in the name of trust and not wanting to hurt each other, that he would’ve texted once done with his ‘new case’. He didn’t. He let that happen. And now she’d have to stay with him and let him pretend that everything was fine. 

She stopped her car in the middle of the small parking lot in front of the print shop and rushed inside. She didn’t know how long she’d be able to stand, but they had to work for as long as she wasn’t falling asleep against her will. 

“Where’s- Shit,” she breathed out when she noticed William’s replacement at the front desk. He’d always been a pain but he was of good help. His brain would’ve helped her when hers was filled with anger and revenge. “I’m going to see Marianne,” she added, already on her way to the manager’s office, surprising the actual customers with her blatant disrespect of the waiting line. 

She stormed inside of Marianne’s office, ready to take a few heads off and scream her heart out. She was actually ready for a full-on tantrum, and unlike most 5 year olds, she was in possession of a gun and knew how to use it. Her plans were cut short when she saw her father, as well as William, already waiting with her superior. 

Edward rushed to hug her, asking her if she was okay. She didn’t react until the now forbidden words were pronounced. “You’re leaving now,” he said. “We need to keep you safe.”

She pulled away from him and furrowed her brows. “That’s not happening.”

“Fleur…” Marianne tried to say. 

“No,” Rose insisted. “I’m not leaving now. If I was ready to leave, I’d have come back here instead of answering the cops’ stupid questions all night.” She sat on the only free chair around the desk and sighed. “It’s fine. Now that I don’t have to sell flowers all day, I’m gonna use my time to find both that Daredevil guy and the bastard who destroyed the shop. If they’re not the same person.”

William leaned forward and frowned. “Not him,” he calmly said. “You’re assuming it’s not the lawyers already ?”

“Yeah,” she replied. Her father handed her a cup of coffee that she immediately accepted. It was almost cold and disgusting, but it was caffeine. “You should’ve seen Nelson’s face when he got there, he had nothing to do with it. And Matt… well, he may have tried something but… well, he’s blind.”

“Could’ve bumped into a few things.” Rose threw him her deadliest stare. “Okay, too soon.” He quickly drew his laptop out and showed her the pictures the NYPD was currently uploading to their server. “Not the lawyers. Then who ? You need to get out of there, by the way. You don’t have a place to live anymore. Attacked in the street, now this, you’ll blow your own cover if you stay.”

“Matt offered to have me at his place.”

“Who ?” Edward asked, sitting back next to her. 

Rose was too busy to be embarrassed anymore. “He’s dating Rose Parsons.” She ignored how wide his eyes were and turned back to William. “Do we have any reason to arrest Fisk’s wife ? She knows I’m not who I said I was.” She refrained from talking to her father about her mother, since he made sure she didn’t know about it in the first place. “Do we have eyes on Poindexter ? The guy came to my place to deliver flowers, killed a collecting squad, a few civilians, and I haven’t heard anything else again. We confirmed the prison guard was him ?”

“Yes,” Marianne replied. “But he’s not your concern. We believe that him coming to you was a way to spy on Karen Page.”

“And if it was, he’s seen me with her,” Rose argued. “If he wants to hurt her to get to Daredevil, I might’ve been collateral damage. I want to know everything about him. We need-”

“Fleur,” Marianne stopped her. “I get that you’re upset. But your cover is blown with Fisk’s wife. She’s pregnant, so she didn’t do that. Even if she did, the shop was your cover. It’s gone, you need to go with it.”

“No.”

“It wasn’t a question.”

“I don’t care.”

Marianne took a deep breath, leaning back on her chair. “I’ve been very patient with you on that assignment. You should’ve been extracted a long time ago. Everything went wrong, and no one is blaming it on you. But now’s the time to admit to yourself that you failed.”

“I haven’t,” Rose said, wincing as another sip of coffee was making its way down her throat. “I can still find out who did that. Vanessa Fisk will never tell anyone who I am because she’s so lonely that she liked me just for being a decent human being. She’s alone. I can make a deal with her. I’ll go back to Fisk, and we’re taking the case from scratch. Maybe now that I’ve been there, I’ll see something that I didn’t back then.”

Edward and Marianne exchanged a long look. Rose wanted to remind them that her father’s presence was more of a courtesy than actual work and he had no say in any of it. Instead, she silently begged William for support. 

He rolled his eyes at her and sighed. “She could use all of that to get Page to talk. I can help her with the case file,” he added, looking everything but happy. “I have nothing to do at home anyway, I might as well send flowers to the guy who did this for saving me from becoming the new housewife of New York.”

“He killed my plants,” Rose muttered. “The real ones. Who would do that ? I’ve had them for years.”

“Another word about wanting revenge for dead plants and I’m shelving you,” Marianne coldly said. “You have a week. If there’s nothing after that, I’m sending you away. Clear ?” Rose immediately nodded. “You start it all from the beginning. I want results, and I’m getting any expense from your paycheck starting now.”

“And ask for a surveillance team on-”

“No,” Rose firmly said, looking at her father. “Karen will tell her friend about this, and we’ve already established that he has some kind of super hearing or something. Actually,” she added, crossing her arms over her chest, “do you have any idea of what your little friend is doing ?”

“Not in New York, and as long as you haven’t harmed Page, he’s got no reason to come back. You need to sleep, Fleur.”

“And you needed to tell me that Mom was looking for me,” she snapped back, already regretting what she’d said. He tried to say something, but she raised her hand to stop him. “We’ll talk about this when it’s relevant. Just make sure she stays away from me. I have a gun, she doesn’t. Can you at least keep her safe until I get to see her ?” She left her seat, unable to stay in place for one more second. “I’ll go talk to Fisk tomorrow, can you get me a suit ready ?”

“You don’t have one ?” William asked. 

“What on Earth would a florist do with a suit ?”

“What on Earth are you doing being a florist ?”

Marianne sighed, loud enough for them to stop, and nodded at Rose. “We’ll have that. What was your excuse to come here ?”

“Insurance.”

“Good, since you don’t have any of the required paperwork yet, you’ll have a reason to come back. You have a week. After that, it’s done. Do you understand me ?”

Rose nodded and walked away from the office, wanting nothing more than to start working on the case again. She couldn’t. She was too tired, too angry, she wouldn’t be of any use in that state. It could help with securing her cover with her friends however, and she rapidly went back to her car. 

As she was putting her seatbelt on, certain that she’d be having a car accident very soon, her father knocked on the window of her car. Rose gasped and took a second before opening it. “You trying to kill me ?” she asked. 

“You’re gonna crash that car,” he replied. “Stay here and take a nap.”

“I have to go back.”

“Fleur,” he started, leaning over the car. “About your mother, I didn’t mean to hide it from you.”

“Strange coincidence that it’s exactly what happened, then.” She turned back to the steering wheel and sighed. “Look, I understand. With Poindexter coming back and killing people left and right, you didn’t want me to be distracted. I get it, but I had a right to know. I wouldn’t have been able to talk to her, I’m not an idiot.”

“I’m sorry,” he simply repeated. “Be safe on the road, I’m gonna check up on her and tell her to stay as far away from you as possible.”

“Thanks.”

She drove off, already planning everything she’d have to do for the rest of the day. Sadly, taking a nap didn’t seem to fit into that schedule. 

***

It was raining when Matt entered Clinton Church. The place was empty, as usual in the middle of the day. He sat on a pew in the back, trying to find a reason for everything that had happened so far. He’d messed up, and now someone he cared about lost everything because of him. 

He recognized Maggie’s footsteps behind him before she even said anything. She didn’t speak. She wanted to, but she simply sat next to him and waited. 

“Do you know what happened ?” he asked after a few seconds. 

“We have a television, Matthew,” she calmly replied. “Father Bryant helped me get all of her tools inside, if that’s why you’re here.”

“It was my fault.” Her heart skipped a beat, but she didn’t say anything. She turned to look at him. “I broke into her apartment. It wasn’t like that when I left, but there was no other sign of forced entry. Whoever did it used the path I made for myself.”

“Why would you break into that woman’s apartment ? From what I’ve gathered, it seems that she would have invited you in.”

“Because we thought she was hiding something.”

“And you’re not ?” she asked, an eyebrow raised at him. “Have you been entirely honest with her ?” Faced with his silence, she nodded and took his hand. “We all have secrets, Matthew. What does your instinct tell you about her ?”

Matt scoffed. “At first, that she was hiding something.”

“Do you think these secrets might be making her a bad person ?” She glanced at the street outside, where Rose had been working for days. “You have spent quite some time with her lately. You would know if she was hiding something that could endanger you.”

“What if it’s something that could endanger her ?” he asked, turning to face her. “We can’t protect her if she doesn’t tell us.”

“I think if she feels like she’s not safe, she’ll tell you about it,” Maggie replied. “As for what happened, there’s nothing you can do to change the past. Find a way to help her, be there for her, and maybe she’ll tell you what she’s hiding. Or you’ll find out by yourself,” she added with a smile. “You’ll apologize when the time is right.”

A few minutes later, he left the church and walked back to the shop. He thought about getting something for Rose on his way back, still wondering why it took her so long to call him that night. She sounded angry in the morning. He considered the idea that someone might have seen him, even though he hadn’t detected anything abnormal. He brushed it off, only preoccupied with her safety. 

The man who did this didn’t want to physically hurt her. It couldn’t be the man Karen met at the print shop. Rose was on her own most of the evening, he could’ve found her there. Instead, he destroyed everything she owned. He wanted to break her, and chances were that it was a successful mission. 

The front door of the shop was locked, and large planks were now covering the hole of the bay. Matt walked around and tried Rose’s apartment. That door was unlocked, and open wide, but there was nothing coming from inside outside of Rose’s calm heartbeat. He carefully entered and breathed out a sigh of relief. 

Rose was there, sitting on her couch’s armrest, her head against the wall. She was still holding a trash bag, but must’ve fallen asleep while trying to clean up the place. Matt made sure that she was deeply asleep and took the bag from her hands. He folded his cane and slowly made his way through the mess, putting every piece of broken furniture inside the bag. 

***

“Someone’s after her,” Karen said, entering the practice with a bunch of files under her arm. “Where’s Matt ?”

“I saw him taking out the trash,” Foggy replied. “Penance, I suppose.”

“We should call him, I have information.”

“I’m Rose’s lawyer,” he argued. “And I’m still very pissed at what happened to my client. What did you get ?"

Karen nodded and laid out everything she’d come back with. “Two men from Bailey’s, it’s a greenhouse she’s working with,” she quickly explained, “disappeared on their way to her shop. August 21st.” 

Foggy grabbed the file and quickly read through the police reports. “She said something about that,” he mumbled. “They were involved in something ?”

“In their own disappearance,” Karen corrected. “Brett went to talk to her about it. Two on the previous delivery, but only one showed up at her shop. It wasn’t any of these men. They haven’t resurfaced yet, but the next delivery, the one right after Rose’s, it was never made.”

He looked at her and frowned. “The man who made the delivery here wanted to meet her.”

“But there are no footage of him because-”

“Because of Matt’s lies,” Foggy finished, now pissed again. “Anything else ?”

“She was being recorded too. Matt spotted two bugs last night,” she said. “One in the shop, one in Rose’s apartment.”

Foggy threw the file back on the desk and sighed. “It doesn’t make sense,” he said. “The one in your apartment, the attack to lure Matt out, it all points towards someone going after him. But Rose’s place being bugged, her shop, and the attack on her, that’s someone going after her.”

Karen finally sat down, her eyes glazing over the files she’d come back with. “We need to find who the attack was meant for. Someone is either trying to use her to get to him, or the other way around.”

“And we let him around her even more,” Foggy added, closing his eyes. “Can’t you take her in ?”

She shook her head. “Whatever it is, she’ll be safer with Matt,” she replied. 

They kept reading through the files. The biggest one was of course related to the previous night, with everything the NYPD had found downstairs. It had been moved to a top priority case since it wasn’t the first attempt against Rose Parson’s safety, but there were no fingerprints outside of the people Rose had already mentioned. Nothing had been stolen, and the cameras had been put back on 7 minutes before the cops showed up. 16 before Rose herself arrived at the scene. 

The investigation on her aggression was going nowhere either. The disappearance of the two delivery men also seemed to be a dead-end. They had nothing, not even the start of a lead to follow. Karen and Foggy didn’t even have a clear picture of who the real target was. They had pages and pages of information but none of it would lead them anywhere until they decided to think about two different targets. 

***

Vanessa had been looking at Dex quietly for a few minutes already. Just like everyone else, she’d heard about the flower shop. Her instinct was telling her that Dex was responsible for it, and that if he wasn’t he’d at least seen who did this. 

She’d thought about Rose Parsons a lot, or whatever her real name was. She didn’t seem like a bad person, and she’d been genuinely concerned about her well being. It changed something in Vanessa. She still wanted Matt Murdock to pay, but she had nothing against the flower girl. She’d been nice to her when no one cared about the woman carrying Wilson Fisk’s baby. 

“Was it you ?” she asked, throwing that day’s edition of the Bulletin at him. “Front page, I don’t think her superiors will like it.”

“I wasn’t the one to break in,” he simply replied, biting into a toast Vanessa never offered him. “Murdock did, I simply used the hole in the window.” Vanessa calmly nodded, wondering who she’d angered in another life to have been stuck with that man in this one. “How do you know she’s working for someone ?"

“I’ve been recording her shop for days, and now she won’t be there anymore,” she replied. “The NYPD will find that she was being monitored, and there’s a chance it’ll bring them to us. Have you thought about any of this before acting on your own accord ?”

“You asked me not to tell you everything I was working on,” he argued. “And you forgot to tell me that you were listening to her shop, like I asked you to do many times.”

Vanessa smiled at him. She was only seconds away from commanding him to leave New York. He couldn’t be trusted, she knew that now. She’d rescind his access to her resources, even if it was now too late for this, and make sure that he wouldn’t do as little as breathing without her knowing. “From now on, I’d like you to keep me informed.”

He briefly nodded and poured himself a glass of apple juice. “There’s nothing else.”

She was almost certain that he was lying, but she had no way to prove it. Vanessa didn’t have any options at the time, and she was painfully aware of it. “Leave her alone for now,” she said. “The police are investigating this, and I don’t want them to link you to me. It would ruin any chance I’d have to ever see my husband again. She doesn’t matter, Murdock doesn’t matter right now. Only my son. Do you understand ?”

Again, he only replied with a nod. He walked away, taking a sandwich on his way out. Vanessa wanted all of it to stop. If Rose Parsons was working with the authorities, she’d find out about the bug, and if her people had the power to send Jessica Jones on a visit to the Raft, the flower girl might have been able to allow her a visit to a high security prison. Vanessa was smart enough to know when she’d been wrong, and her plan now only involved getting in the good graces of her florist. 

***

Dex sent the call to voicemail one more time and threw the phone onto his control desk. This was getting tiring. That number had been calling all day, and it never seemed to stop. Another number called a few times, from another country, and the woman still refused to tell him anything. If he had to admit anything, it was that she was another kind of stubborn. 

He threw the sandwich he’d stolen from Vanessa through the open door of the cell and sighed. “Who is she working for ?”

“I don’t know,” Eva answered, crawling onto the hard concrete to grab the little food she’d have for the day. “Please, don’t hurt her.”

“Do you know what collateral damage is ?” She nodded. “Well, that’s her. When she’s lost everything, she’ll blame it on Daredevil.”

Eva closed her eyes. “You’re going to kill me.”

“I didn’t put you in here because I wanted company,” Dex scoffed. Eva’s phone rang again. “Who is this ?”

“If I tell you,” she replied, “will you at least let me say goodbye to her ?”

The phone rang again but this time, it was because whoever called her left a message. Dex smiled and put the speakers on. “Eva, it’s me,” Edward’s voice was saying. “I’ve been calling all day, where are you ? It’s about Fleur, she’s not safe anymore, and you need to leave for now. I’m going to your apartment, and don’t start telling me that I shouldn’t have looked it up. If you wanted privacy, you should’ve answered.”

Dex arched a brow at her. “That’s a worried man,” he said. “Fleur, then. That’s her name.” He stood from his chair and took a deep breath. “I guess you’ll be the one to get some company.”

“No !” she screamed as he was leaving. “Don’t hurt him ! He’s got nothin-”

Eva’s phone hit her forehead before she even had the time to see it coming, on the exact spot it had hit her twice already that day, knocking her out again. Dex only came back to lock the cell door and take the phone back, and left without giving the unconscious woman a second look. 

***

Matt had made it pretty hard for Rose to be angry. After causing the complete destruction of her shop and apartment, he’d somehow managed to clean most of her living room from the remains of her stuff. Then he got her a bag with all of the clothes that she could still use, and even offered to drive her back to his place when she was still trying to wake up. She was pretty pissed, but that had the merit of making her laugh. 

She’d never been inside his apartment, and she was almost glad now. Not that it was an ugly apartment. It seemed way better than the one she’d been living in for the past couple of months, and it wasn’t, unlike hers, bugged. She would’ve taken care of it if she’d had the time, but the opportunity never came up and now that William was in charge of all the listening, she couldn’t be happier. If he’d ever heard her snoring, she would’ve never heard the end of it. 

Matt dropped her bag onto the floor and quickly went to get her something to drink. “I really advise you against drinking coffee,” he scoffed. 

“Do you have water ? Or enough alcohol for me to forget the last 24 hours ?”

“Water it is.”

She walked around his apartment, trying to understand how he was able to navigate it correctly. She’d thought that all the furniture would’ve been close to the walls, but it wasn’t. Worse than that, there were stairs. “Are you actively trying to kill yourself ?”

Matt laughed and joined her by the stairs. “It goes to the roof,” he said, handing her a glass of water. “I don’t use it much.”

“The view must be great, between all the buildings and the… flashy billboards,” she replied, walking around the living room. “I was just starting to like New York. It’s over now.” She sat on the couch and sighed. “I talked to my father. He’d like me to come home.”

“Are you ?” he asked, sitting next to her. 

“I want to know who did this to me first. I need them to pay.”

This was more anger than Rose had ever let out. Matt was definitely surprised by her words, but she’d been through a lot and he wouldn’t hold it against her. “What matters is that you’re safe,” he softly said. 

She turned to face him and put her glass down. “I have something to tell you that I haven’t told the police.”

Finally, Matt thought. He nodded and took her hand. “Do you know who did it ?”

“No. But I lied about something,” she replied, her voice almost a whisper. “I got a call last week. A woman who wanted to put some flowers in her apartment. More like a city castle, if you want my opinion,” she added with a small laugh. “I figured that she had money, that I could bill her without a discount and cover some of my expenses for the church. I went to see her on Sunday, when I told you I was with Father Bryant.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me ?” he asked, already knowing who she was talking about.

“It was Vanessa Maria- Fisk,” she corrected herself, very proud of how good she was when she could barely keep her eyes open. “I knew who she was, and what happened between you guys and her husband. But I thought… All that I’ve read, it all said that she wasn’t involved in what he did. And then I went there and she’s… Matt, she’s very pregnant. I thought she was about to give birth while I was there. She couldn’t have done it, right ?”

He gently squeezed her hand. “I don’t think she personally did it, but it’s possible she gave the order,” he explained. “I’ll tell Karen and Foggy about it, and I think it’s better if you don’t see her until this is all figured out.”

“I’m going tomorrow.”

“I don’t think-”

“I need to do something,” she replied, moving away from him. “I can’t just sit here and wait for the insurance money. I have to do something about it.”

“Preferably not getting yourself into more danger.”

“I’ll be nice to her,” Rose argued. “She’s a reasonable woman, if I tell her that I won’t tell the police, then… I don’t know, maybe she’ll do something. Pay for the repairs or something.”

Matt quietly nodded and pulled her closer to him. She was too tired to form any coherent thought, even less to make this kind of decision. They’d deal with Vanessa themselves, they had enough leverage to send her to jail if she ever did against them. Going after Rose was a breach of his deal with Fisk, but Rose couldn’t go and learn things about him that he wasn’t ready to tell her. 

He took his tie off as she was resting her head on his shoulder, ready to fall asleep again. “Maybe you should go talk to your father instead ?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Maybe I will.”

“Karen got the paperwork from the precinct, you’ll be able to give it to the insurance company.”

“Sure,” she yawned, looking up at him. “Do you mind if I take a shower ?”

He left to get the bed ready for her, and Rose sleepily walked to his bathroom. As she was looking for bandages to replace the one on her finger, from a cut on a piece of broken glass, she was rather confused at the amount of painkillers, bandages and suture kits in front of her. Surely boxing had never required so many of those but again, she’d never been boxing before. 

When she got out and looked around for the bedroom, she turned the lights on and found Matt changing his shirt. She loudly gasped, staring at his back. “What the fuck happened to you ?”

He hurried and pulled his shirt down before turning back to her. “It’s all very old stuff.”

“From when, your time in Fight Club ?”

“I told you I was boxing.”

Rose furrowed her brows. She was tired, on the verge of passing out, but not that much. “I wasn’t aware of boxing ever involving… what, knives ? Have you been stabbed ?”

Matt sat on the edge of the bed, searching for a logical explanation to his scars. “There have been instances when I haven’t been as good at being blind as I seem to be.”

“And you stabbed yourself,” she insisted. “Repeatedly, and in the back.” Either he was making fun of her, Rose thought, or he was into really weird things. Too weird for her taste, that was for sure. 

“Well, you know that we went after Fisk, right ?”

“Holy sh- Sorry. He did that ?” He nodded. “He’s not getting out, right ? Like, ever.”

“I don’t think so.”

He wouldn’t. Rose already knew that, but as tired as she was, work never ended. She finally accepted his explanation, making sure to remind herself that she’d talk about this with Fisk during their upcoming meeting.

She quickly moved under the bedsheets and took Matt’s hand. “Can you stay ?” 

“Sure,” he said, taking his place next to her.

He noticed how different she smelled. Her usual perfume was gone, almost 48 hours after putting it in. She didn’t smell like her shop either. The lingering smell of dirt after an evening working was gone, too. She didn’t have any of those anymore, and there was no mistaking the way she was holding onto him. She was scared, and that had to stop. 

***

Edward knocked on the door one more time. Whatever game Eva was playing, it was about to end. He’d been nice enough to let her stay in New York, but now their own daughter was asking for her to leave. 

“Eva,” he shouted at the door. “You know the lock won’t stop me.”

Still no response. He rolled his eyes and took his old lock picking tools out. It had been years since he’d had to use them, but he’d never gotten around to leave the kit behind. In a few seconds, he managed to open the door and entered the small apartment. 

Eva’s car was still parked outside. Her credit card hadn’t been used in days, she had to be there. He turned the lights on and looked around. The box filled with pictures of Fleur was still open on the bed. Edward sat at the table and tried to call her again. If she wasn’t answering, he’d just send a team to locate and collect her. He was tired of it all and had better things to do. He’d already told William he’d help with working on Fleur’s target. He wanted to be useful to his child, not chase his ex-wife around New York. 

The phone rang. Edward looked up. The ringtone was coming from the other side of the door he’d just entered. He left his phone on the table and slowly stepped towards the door, his hand already holding his gun. 

The phone was still ringing. He violently opened the door, ready to shoot the first person to show up. But there was no one there. Nothing, except for the phone placed down on the doormat. He walked over and checked the hallway. No one. 

Something hit a wall. Edward lifted his arms to shoot the projectile before it landed on his head, but too late to see the bullet coming for his shoulder.