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

9) A step to nowhere

"I'm... I think they are waiting upstairs. We should... we should probably let them know-" she mumbled, his hand still on her jaw. It felt... really good. Right. Her body responded to the familiarity with soothing calm – which was quite unfair, because goddammit, her heart. Her body should be more protective of her heart, seriously.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll go."

He hesitantly let her go, making his way to the stairwell, grabbing his glasses. He didn't get half up when Vera heard the door open.

"We figured you would be done about now," Felicity chipped, her heels clicking. When had Felicity come here? Had they really been talking for so long?

"Yeah." Matt cleared his throat and Vera saw the IT girl's face was slightly flushed. Vera didn't spend too much time wondering why – it didn't matter.

Matt slowly approached her, taking her hand gently in his, wordlessly letting them know how their talk went. Vera interlaced her fingers with his, shyly looking up to their faces, too afraid to look into Matt's – but he was the one to take her hand first, right? Oliver smiled at her reassuringly, just like Felicity; Sara was grinning widely as if there was an inside joke Vera couldn't perceive.

"We, uhm... yeah," Vera mumbled, lowering her gaze, Matt giving her hand a squeeze. It was ridiculously comforting. "I guess I'll be out of your hair soon."

"Understandable. But it doesn't have to be right now, there's no rush from our side. You can stay. You know that, Vera," Oliver offered softly, rewarded by Vera's unsure smile.

"Thank you. I'm... I appreciate that. I'm not sure how soon we can find a flight and I need to think of a way to... say thank you. We'll find some hotel and-"

"You don't have to. When I said you could stay, I meant here. That is, if you want, of course. The hotels will be ridiculously expensive if you do reservation for tonight now."

Vera bit her lip. Well. She would appreciate some privacy, but on the other hand, she could imagine it might be awkward. Not to mention the price, they had a point. On the other hand, she really didn't want to impose-

"The nearest open flight to NY is tomorrow at seven p.m. Their security is a joke, I can get you seats without paying a single penny," Felicity hummed as if incidentally, meeting Vera's shocked gaze as she looked up from her tablet. Vera peripherally saw Matt's lips part. Felicity's eyebrow rose. "You're interested?"

Matt's face was priceless. Vera chuckled, all tension falling from her shoulders, and she broke into a full laughter.

"She wasn't— she wasn't lying," Matt stuttered and it made Vera chuckle again.

The corners of Oliver's lips were twitching. "She does that a lot. She could probably find you a hotel too."

Vera licked her lips, eyeing Matt hesitantly. He gave a light shrug, still awed. She wasn't sure what to do. "I... I wouldn't mind staying here, but I don't... I don't want to impose."

"Vera, honey, he wouldn't offer you to stay if he didn't mean it," Felicity noted, still waiting for yes or no for the flight.

"Matt?"

He turned her face to Vera, small smile on his lips. She watched them hypnotized; a natural effect of him wearing glasses (and not being with him for days, missing him smile for even longer). "I don't really care. It's up to you."

What he was actually saying with the little she could see of his expression was 'whatever you want'.

"Yeah, uhm... if you guys wouldn't mind, I rather stayed here and if you actually can do the magical flight thing-" Vera asked cautiously, gaining an offended look from Felicity