Hellcat

Chapter Six

I had finally regained some composure after my little mental breakdown in the office. There was still some unspoken tension between me and Matt, but the others thought we had patched things over. We pretended, just for Foggy and Karen, that things were fine – that we had made up and everything was okay. But, in truth, the talk I had with Matt had just left an emptiness inside of me. I felt too vulnerable for comfort.

With having only one weakness over the last 13 years, and no one to share my demons with, I felt exposed. I had been trained to never give the enemy any information to use against me. But Matt's not my enemy, right? But he knew something about me now – something no one else knew. That it affected me more than I'd like – what I had done. It ate at me and tore into my soul with claws sharper than any knife in existence. Having anyone – even someone like Matt – know that about me created a weakness. I had a weakness and I hadn't had one in a long time.

But, that night, I walked with Matt and Foggy as we left the precinct. "My mom wanted me to be a butcher, you know that?" Foggy started tiredly as the three of us stepped into the night air. Once outside, Matt reached out and took my hand in his. I watched him in confusion as he took my hand and looped it through his arm. Once my hand was settled on the material of his jacket, he gave it a pat before focusing on his friend once more.

"Oh, not the butcher story," Matt groaned softly, shaking his head. "I said, "no, mom, I want to be a lawyer." I don't remember what I said next," Foggy continued with the story, ignoring Matt's discontent. "No, you never do," Matt drawled on. "But I'm fairly certain it wasn't about bailing out a piss-drunk electrician who nearly burned his house down," Foggy said, glancing around. I looked around as well. I thought he had seen something suspicious. Turns out, he was just watching traffic. "Let's cross," Foggy said, veering towards me suddenly. I let out a small squeal, bumping into Matt who expertly maneuvered around me. "And I thought I was the blind one," Matt commented with a chuckle. "You still are, Counselor," I teased.

"Ed's wife left him, Foggy. It was an accident," Matt reminded his friend. "Admittedly involving cigarettes and gasoline," I said with a small nod. "But still," Matt said, trying to counter my counter-argument. "I could be carving my own corned beef. Making my own pickles, have a little shop of my own," Foggy continued on with the butcher story. "You've got your own office," Matt tried. "We have office space. An actual office would involve plantery and equipment, fax machines or whatever successful people use," Foggy countered. Matt chuckled softly. "I don't think they use fax machines anymore," Matt told him. "Besides, at least you have your own desk," I countered.

"How would I know? Which is endemic to the problem," Foggy said as we stepped onto the sidewalk. "Matt, what if we're doing this all wrong? What if Landman and Zack was the way to go?" Foggy asked, stopping us on the street corner. "You hated interning there," Matt reminded him. "I hate being broke," Foggy countered before moving to the edge of the sidewalk to signal a cab. "You think Landman and Zack would have helped out Ed?" Matt asked.

"No. But they had free bagels... every morning. And they had furniture that didn't smell like a pack of cigarettes," Foggy continued, earning a chuckle from Matt as I shook my head. I couldn't help but smile at how much the little things mattered to Foggy. "And elevators. God, I miss the elevators," Foggy added. "We're doing good here, Foggy," Matt said, reminding his friend of why they started their practice. "Are we?" Foggy asked before noticing a cab. He hailed it. "Yeah, we're making a difference," Matt said before his phone started to ring.

Matt reached for the phone in his jacket pocket and I slipped my hand from his arm. Foggy stepped up to the cab, pausing to look back at us as I waited for Matt. He pulled out a flip phone and answered it quickly. "You got a new phone? We can afford that?" Foggy asked, glancing over at me. I shrugged and shook my head. Didn't come out of the office's money. "Hey, uh, one sec," Matt said into the phone before holding it away from his ear. "Foggy, I'll see you tomorrow," Matt said, taking a step back from the cab. Foggy held the door open, waiting.