𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 - the pills and liquor

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"𝐖𝐇𝐘'𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏 the necklace?" Matt had asked Olivia the moment Sister Maggie had left the room and returned upstairs. He had been curious; he knew that Olivia wasn't religious in any way and didn't have a reason to keep the cross for herself.

The two were sat opposite each other on their respective beds which creaked and groaned with every movement.

Olivia hummed as she turned the cross over in her fingers, examining each dent and scrape on the object; it was old, that much she could tell. "Why do you care?"

"I don't. Just curious."

"I don't think I'll ever be a religious person, but I've always wanted... craved forgiveness for all of the awful things that I've done."

She wasn't lying, in fact, she was telling the truth; she had always needed the acceptance and forgiveness for the monstrous things she had done in her past and never believed people when they said the things she'd done didn't matter. Though, she primarily kept the cross for Matthew's sake.

"You've mentioned things like that before, your anger, your past, but you've never explained it."

"Like you said, I'm not an open book. You might run around in the middle of the night and beat people up but..." She paused as a heavy sigh left her and she put the cross back on the white covers of the bed. "I've done horrible things, Matt."

Matthew picked at his fingers, the cuts that had scabbed over being reopened, and yet he still couldn't smell the usual metallic twang that came with the crimson liquid. "Will you ever tell me?"

Her eyes drifted down to his hands, seeing the small smudges of red that were painted across them. Her heartbeat grew faster at the thought of telling yet another person about the blood that stained her own hands, about the ghosts that followed her every move. Oddly enough, over the past month that she had sat by his bedside making sure that his breathing never stopped, her care for him had grown and though they hadn't known each other long, she trusted him. "Let's get used to our new surroundings first shall we?"

"You're evading."

The wolf scoffed as she rose to her feet and made her way over to the sink on the opposite side of the room, turning on the tap and splashing her face with water that dribbled down her neck, soaking her shirt. "And you're prying." She shut the water off and grabbed a small, clean towel from one of the shelves to dry herself and placed it on the side of the sink. "I trust you, oddly enough. But there are just some things that need to stay buried."

"I get it. I do. But you can tell me" He spoke, his voice softer than she had heard it since he had awoken. "For now, how about this; why are you still here?"

"Eager to get rid of me already? Strange because you were flirting with me back in that hole."

"Yeah? Well, you flirted back." Matt ducked his head with a small laugh before his mirth sobered, "I just- I don't know why you'd stay."

Olivia sucked in a breath as she pushed herself away from the sink and rubbed her hands on her joggers that Jessica had bought for her seeing as jeans were a bit of a struggle to get into with aching legs. She slowly made her way over and perched next to Matt. "Because I care about you. You seem to be okay with me being here and..."

Olivia searched her mind for the best way to finish her sentence, she didn't want to give Foggy and Karen false hope; the man next to her had said that Matthew Murdock was dead, that only daredevil made it out.

"And?"

"I don't want to give people false hope, Matt. If people see that I made it out, they're going to think or hope that you did too."

Matt nodded; he knew who she was talking about. "You don't have to put your life on hold for me."

"I'm not. Jess and Malcome are working cases -she won't tell anyone about us by the way- and I said Malcome could take my room. I don't have a job or a home now and neither do you. Two peas in a pod, huh?" She laughed softly before furrowing her brows.

Now that she thought about it, Matt was pushing everyone away with the whole 'Matthew Murdock is dead' and yet she still remained by his side and for some reason, he hadn't argued with her about the fact.

"So, why haven't you tried to get rid of me yet?"

Matt cocked a brow, his head twisting to face her, revealing the small smirk on his lips, "Would you have listened?"

"Hell no."

"There you go, I've learned to not argue with you or Jessica; I'd be doomed from the start. You've been doing this all your life haven't you?"

"Fighting?" She questioned before nodding to herself. "Yeah, yeah I have."

"You're strong, fast, smart." The man swallowed. "You'd be out there with Jess getting into trouble if you weren't here with me, so why stop you? I uh, I trust you to keep yourself safe."

Olivia smiled to herself, glad that she wouldn't have to fight to stay because she definitely wasn't leaving. "Well, good. Even if you did tell me to leave, I wouldn't."

"Oh, I know."

⋆⋆⋆

As soon as the sun began to set, Olivia passed out on her bed. The days upon days of taking Matts pain and slowly healing herself were catching up on her and the second her head hit the relatively soft pillow, she was out like a light.

Matt had tried talking to her and knew the minute that she didn't respond, that she had fallen asleep, that that he could blame her. So, he shut his mouth and grabbed one of the extra blankets from a shelf and carefully placed it over the woman.

The wolf tossed and turned as she slept, her ever-present vivid dreams keeping her from falling into a deep sleep and with every sound around her, her body twitched. It must have only been a few hours after she had fallen asleep that a loud bang had her jolting upwards, the blanket that she didn't remember tucking into falling to the ground as she ran a hand through her hair.

She could hear the pained grunts of Matt and quickly stood, ignoring the feeling of vertigo that rushed to her brain; as it had been for the past few weeks.

She found him, on the ground and clutching his leg in pain and before she could ask if he was okay, Sister Maggie had joined them, clutching two mugs a pill bottle and a glass bottle as she stared down at the man. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Falling."

The women shared a glance and Olivia shrugged as a yawn escaped her. She tried her best to blink away the sleep that lingered in her tired eyes and lowered herself to sit beside the man and just a moment later, Sister Maggie followed suit. "I brought you something."

"Is it food? I can't smell anything."

"A hot toddy. It'll help open your sinuses." The woman replied as she placed one of the mugs in his hand, receiving a small 'thank you' in return before she stretched over and passed the other to Olivia who nodded in thanks and took a long sip, savoring the warm drink.

The nun held up the pill bottle, undid the lid and tipped out some of its contents into her hand. Two small, white pills fell into her palm and she held them out to the vigilante before passing the bottle to Olivia. "And you need to keep taking these. I won't have Olivia keep taking your pain if it stops her healing, got it?"

"Got it." The man nodded. He supposed the least he could do for the wolf was take some actual medicine for his pain and allow her the chance to finally heal her wounds. He tipped the pills into his mouth, ignoring the bitter taste as he took a deep sip of the drink, throwing his head back to force the pills down his sore throat, though he couldn't taste the drink at all. "Well, it's hot, but... I still can't taste anything but blood and ash."

"That taste only just went away for me, you got a while yet." Olivia spoke before taking another gulp of the hot liquid; it soothed her throat; the burning sensation was something she had missed.

"Great." Matt groaned before he held his cup up towards Olivia. "Cheers."

The wolf rose a brow but clinked her mug against his nonetheless before bringing it close to her chest and wrapping both of her hands around it, relishing in its warmth.

"Pills and liquor, modern medicine at its finest."

"Easy smart-ass. If you want modern medicine, the door's straight ahead." The nun retorted, Olivia feeling slightly sorry for her; she had taken the two in as if they were strays and continued to do whatever she could to help them, and yet here Matt was, being a little shit as ever. "How's the buzzing?"

Matt shook his head, the static in his hear becoming louder as he paid it more attention. "Not getting better."

"Give it time." Sister Maggie reassured as she looked at Olivia. "After the beating you both took, everything's swollen."

Olivia hummed in agreement. "My throat was so swollen that I sounded like a man for a week or two." She bumped Matt's shoulder with her own. "Your senses should come back when the swelling goes."

Matt appreciated the reassurance, he did, but she was a supernatural being, a supernatural being with healing abilities. Yes, her senses had returned, but even for her, it had taken time. Who knew how long it would take for even one of his senses to return to him.

"She's right." The Sister agreed as she tilted her head. "Or maybe it'll come out when you take your head out of your ass."

Olivia had been mid-sip and couldn't help but choke on her drink, hot toddy spilling down her chin as she laughed. Her misfortune had caused the other two to laugh at her.

Matt brought an aching arm up to pat her back as she tried to clear her throat. "Warn her the next time you insult me; she likes to laugh at my misfortune."

"I'll remember that." The Sister responded, a lick of amusement lacing her words as she smiled at the wolf who had finally managed to clear her throat. The room fell silent for a moment and the mood fell once again. "What you said... about rather dying as the Devil than living as Matt Murdock... I just want you to know that I think you're a hero."

Olivia carefully swallowed her mouthful of the alcoholic drink at the Sister's sarcastic tone and set the mug on the ground without a sound. She clasped her hands together and decided to wait for whatever onslaught that was about to leave the nun.

"Hiding down here, feeling sorry for yourself. I mean, just out back, there's an orphanage of kids who've lost everything and everyone. Some of them are disabled, much worse off than you ever were. And they're still trying to make the most out of life, the little cowards."

The wolf brought a hand up to cover her mouth, okay, she certainly had to give it to the woman and decided just from that, that she would never, and she meant never, get on Sister Maggie's bad side.

"Okay. All right." Matthew huffed as he put his drink down and began to stand, his bones protesting at his own weight.

But Sister Maggie most certainly wasn't done; "And here you are, with all the gifts God gave you. Handsome, smart, a law degree, people who care about you and this woman who has stayed by your side to make sure you got better. And you're bravely giving up."

"Well, you know, thank you... for the tough love, Sister. And your charmingly simplistic view of God and the world. I appreciate everything you've done for me, I do, but don't for a second think you know anything about me or my life."

The wolf closed her eyes and shook her head. Yes, what the Sister had said was harsh, but she was right and he needed to hear it. Yet there he was, pacing and calling the woman out for being honest.

Olivia rose to her feet and outstretched an arm to help the Sister up too. Sister Maggie offered a smile of thanks before she continued after Matt, not done with putting the man in his place. "I've been a nun for thirty years. I know self-pity when I see it. Your father was famous around here."

Now that got Matt to pause and finally listen to the woman. Olivia could see the way his head tilted as it always did whenever he was listening intently and Olivia herself paused her steps; she didn't know too much about Matthews father, only what Jessica had previously mentioned and so, she too listened to the nun's words carefully,

"I saw him fight. I saw him go down many times. But he never stayed down." Her tone held finality as she finished her sentence. The Sister said nothing more, she simply nodded to Olivia before making her exit out of the room.

After that, Matt seemed frozen in his place and it took Olivia placing a hand on his arm to finally break him out of his thoughts. He hated to admit it, but what Sister Maggie had said struck a chord; his father was a fighter and who was he to give up, who was he to not live up to the Murdock name?

The warmth from the hand resting on his bicep broke him out of his daze, he offered the woman a short nod and although he couldn't see; she rolled her eyes and tugged him along behind her until they reached their makeshift and musty bedroom.

She walked over to her own bed and swiped up the blanket that had fallen to the floor and threw it at the man's face, ignoring the noise of protest that slipped through his pouted lips. The look on his face when he pulled the soft fabric down made the wolf let out a breath of a laugh; it was the same look he always wore whenever she had previously mocked him.

With the shake of her head, she turned away and hopped on her own bed, pulling a book out from under her pillow, "Go to sleep, Murdock."

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06-08-2020