Karedevil

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Karen and Matt are friends, just friends, for a long time, but something's bothering Matt. He never explained the whole Elektra thing. It's not that he needs Karen to think better of him, and it's not that he wants her back. It's that he can't stand her believing someone would do that to her. He knows she's she's handling it, and she's even willing to let it slide, but he knows it hurt her, so he catches her on the way home one day and he explains what really happened, ninjas and all.

He stammers a lot and apologizes even more, and Karen doesn't know where to look or what to say. "It's not like we were really, um... I'm fine, really." It's still painful for Matt to talk about Elektra. "You don't have to explain," Karen says.

"I do," Matt insists. "You just shouldn't think that, that, that anyone would betray you like that."

"It's sweet of you to think so, but I don't know. People just aren't always reliable. Sometimes I think I attract it."

"It's not just you," Matt sighs. His mother abandoned him to his father, his father abandoned him to die in a blaze of glory, and Stick abandoned him just as he opened up, then sent Electra to shipwreck his future. "You deserve better."

"You too, Matt."

And they go on being friends, just friends, for a long time. But something is bothering Karen. There isn't anybody like Matt. He's the only one: the only man who cares about justice like it's personal, who makes her feel innocent and safe and always has, who gets better and better the deeper she looks. She knows she can't hide her feelings from him, and she knows he hasn't made a move, but she knows he's the only Matt Murdock she'll ever meet, so she catches him on the way home one day, and she takes his hand and she whispers softly, "Tell me you don't feel the same way."

But she's the only Karen Page he'll ever meet, the only one there is. There are so many women—strong, sharp, graceful, sweet women—but none of them are Karen. What can he say? He squeezes her hand. "I can't." He can't deny it. He lets her hand go. He can't be with her. "You deserve better." She deserves someone she won't always be worried for, someone who won't have to protect her because he won't put her in danger in the first place. She deserves someone whole, not someone split down the middle.

She takes his hand again. "So do you."