Ready to Suffer, Ready to Hope *Matt Murdock* (book three of Damned-3b) x Arrow

4) Not so secret lair

The night was the same. Full of nightmares and memories. Except this time, she was less exhausted so the cold kept waking her up; she missed her personal heater, she missed Matt's arm wrapping around her waist at some point of the night, his body, his general warmth. She put on another hoodie, but it didn't quite help.

The morning was brutal - she was woken up at eight by her ringtone. It was very unpleasant, because her pulse skyrocketed almost to 200 at the idea of Matt trying to contact her again. She wasn't ready to talk, even though she had to admit she would love to hear his voice. Not to mention she was still... unnerved he hadn't tried to call her again.

Goddammit, Veronika.

It wasn't her ex-fiancée. It was Terri. Vera couldn't say she wasn't disappointed a little bit more. And also utterly relieved.

"Hi, Mechy! I'm just heading to the café and I wondered if you've already talked to Mrs. Walker? I want to let her know I'm ready to go back to work, so if you have any note you want to me pass- Vera? You there? You okay? I'm not interrupting some morning-- whatever, right?" she asked cheerily.

Vera blinked to the darkness of the secret lair, processing her best friend's words. Vera hadn't talked to her since they saw each other in the cab after the explosion. Šmarja. She was such a shitty friend to have. Also, ouch. Terri was definitely not interrupting 'some morning whatever'.

"Hey, Terri."

"Hey you. I woke you up, didn't I? I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Tell Walker I still need several days off and I'll let her know as soon as I'll know when I'm coming, okay? Thanks," she mumbled. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fabulous, thanks, why don't you sound so good? Why do you need extra days off and it feels like you need a lifetime off? What's wrong?" Terri demanded, worried.

Vera bit her lip. "It was... a lot to process, Ter. I'm gonna be okay. I just need a little bit more time." Understatement of the year.

Her friend didn't say anything for several moments. The silence was ominous. Terri was no fool. "Try again, Mechy. Or I'm gonna check on you myself, screw the fact you need some alone time with your man."

Vera let out a choked noise; her eyes burned again. Ježišmarja, she just really wanted to stop crying. It didn't help anyone.

"I wouldn't do that, Ter. I'm not at-" home "-not in Hell's Kitchen."

"You what?! Where are you? What's going on? Can't you stay out of trouble for a goddamned day?"

"I... I don't want to talk about it, don't take it personal, it's just... I'm not in Hell's Kitchen and I can't tell you where I am, because you never know who's listening."

"What the actual fuck, Vera?!" Terri burst out, making Vera squeeze her eyes shut. Vera loved Terri, she really did, but this time, she so didn't need her concern.

"Look, we... we broke up, okay? I-I couldn't-- please, I really don't feel like talking about it yet," she whispered, her throat tight, her cheeks already damp.

The strangest thing was that maybe she wanted Matt to be listening in. So he would know she was hurting and so he would go and try to find her. He hadn't tried to call her ever since the evening they parted ways and it actually hurt. It went against everything Oliver had said about the events at Midland Circle.

"I... I am really confused, I feel like I'm missing something huge here, I don't understand at all, but okay. Call me when you're ready to explain what the hell happened that my OTP just broke apart. And- just... call me, okay? And don't do anything stupid."