One Bright Moment (Is All I Ask) *Matt Murdock* Damned If I Do Coda

Two

Icy fingers touched her side and she jerked awake, violently woken up from a rather pleasant dream. She rolled away from the source, almost falling on the floor – the arms attached to these cold fingers caught her before she could hit the hard ground. Her heart skipped a beat, before her brain woke up. She was at Nelson's. She was sharing not exactly wide bed with Matt. Thinking about it, the arms embracing her firmly felt familiar.

Vera took one calming breath, ordering her heart to stop freaking out. She ran her hand down her face.

"Jesus, Matt," she complained and slowly opening her eyes, meeting his apologizing expression. He looked... wide awake.

"Sorry," he hummed, pulling her closer, so she wasn't on the edge, the icy fingertips touching the skin on her side. She hissed, feeling she was getting goosebumps. She frowned at him, noticing he was wearing a shirt and pants. Had he gone somewhere? Considering how cold his hands were, it made sense. And now when she was thinking about it, she remembered his lips and breathed sleep, I'll be right back.

"Where were you? ... Were you building a snowman or what?"

The corners of his lips twitched. "No. Do you want to build a snowman?"

"Matt, it's too early to make Frozen references," she exclaimed, her last words transferring into a yawn.

"Make what? ... I went to church."

Vera's eyebrows shot up deliberately and she had to bite her tongue before she could blurt out 'again?'. They went together to midnight mass what could be hours ago. He went there again? She also swallowed 'why?', waiting for him to elaborate.

"I just wanted to visit my father's grave," he explained quietly and Vera felt like an ass. Right. That made sense. "And wish happy holidays to Father Lantom."

Yeah, that made even more sense. Except her brain wasn't as rebooted as she thought. "Wait... so you went to your church. What time is it?" she demanded, horrified. Jesus, did she sleep in? Was it like... eleven already? That would be so awkward.

Matt smiled, lightly kissing her worries away. "It's almost nine."

What time had he got up?!

Vera decided she didn't want to think about it, it made her feel tired. She rather gave him one kiss on her own.

"Merry Christmas, Vera." Her mouth somehow formed a smile without her being in control.

"Merry Christmas, Matt."

It turned out Vera didn't miss anything. The younger part of Nelson's household was getting up as well (apart from the twins) and slowly made their way to the beautiful Christmas tree with multiple presents under it. Vera herself sneaked very inconspicuously before she went to bed, meeting Foggy, who was placing the presents too. They politely ignored each other.

The family gathered in the living room, each with a mug of tea or coffee, in a holiday spirit, comfy and slightly ridiculous sweaters included. Vera didn't have one – Mrs.Nelson was so kind to find one for her, so she didn't feel left out. Vera would swear Matt couldn't look silly, like ever, but the sweater with a reindeer with a huge red nose did it. When Candace came with several Santa Claus hats, one for each man, it was just an icing on the cake. It was perfect and it whispered home and it almost made Vera cry.

And then the gift-giving started. Vera got nice earrings from Foggy, while Candace got a whole set – Vera thought it was fair enough, actually happy she wasn't giving Candace any more reasons for disliking her. But truth to be told, Candace seemed to be just fine; if she couldn't stand Vera (and Vera liked to think it wasn't the case anymore), she was an excellent actor.