It arrived a handful of days early, and Foggy was not at all surprised. Of course she was going to get her period on their first day at Landman and Zack. At least it had the decency to arrive before they left the apartment, so she was able to slip a pad on.
She should’ve taken the painkillers then too. She knew that. But when the pain on the first day was nothing like what it had been, and also they were getting more pinched for money now that Matt had to be careful with what was left of his inheritance and there seemed to be more bills than there’d been. Plus there was that whole plan of them getting married at some point, although she suspected ultimately her parents would step in and insist they arrange and pay for everything, because her mother really wanted to see her married sometime within the next five years. So she’d started to feel the temptation to do without, and for the majority of the time they’d been getting ready before leaving to catch the bus, Foggy had been in almost no pain at all.
Naturally, that changed when they were on the bus, that was when the pain started becoming constant, and stronger. Foggy had at least put the pills in her purse, figuring she’d need them later in the day, but neither of them had any water on them, and they were too big to easily swallow dry, enough so to further deter her from trying.
In the crowded bus, Foggy had been pushed up against Matt, until her knees were slung over his. When, about five minutes into their bus ride, the pain got back enough she had to concentrate on breathing and not making any sounds, he pulled her closer, and settled his fingers on her back. “I can’t do as much for you as I’d like here,” he whispered, “but I could try stroking your lower back?”
Anything that would be of help was welcome. “I assume you will be a gentleman and keeping your fingers above my waistline.”
Keep them up there he did, mostly pressing at either side of her spine, and he slid her up and fully into his lap, then whispered, “Can we find a position where the casual observer would be less likely to notice?” and Foggy managed to maneuver herself into the best one she could figure out. It was one which had one of Matt’s hands pressed between her back and the seat, and relied on his other one having a grip on her to secure her through the buses stops and starts. Under other circumstances this would’ve been when Foggy snuggled into him. This meant he was working much more on one side of her than on the other, but at least he dug his fingers in deep on that side, even getting them under her suit jacket so they were separated from her skin only by her thin blouse, and that provided something for her to focus on best she could.
Most of the bus passengers weren’t even looking at them. They were focused on their phones, or talking to each other, or paging through a newspaper. And when Foggy’s eyes first fell on her, Marci was no exception. She was a little surprised she was on the bus, actually; it did not strike her as a particularly Marci place to be. But there she was, on the phone with what sounded like her brother, that jerk who thankfully lived all the way in San Francisco; it was a good think when he’d said what he’d said when he’d first seen her it had been over Skype, so Matt hadn’t been able to do what Foggy had known he’d wanted to do.
In fact, Marci was definitely sounded exasperated with him, though she wasn’t quite loud enough for Foggy to pick up her exact words, and she huffed in irritation as she hung up. That was also when her eyes fell on the two of them. The same moment, unfortunately, that Matt got bold enough to press the fingers of his visible hand very close to Foggy’s butt. Foggy watched as Marci saw that, craned her eyes, presumably judged the likely location of his hidden hand, and smirked as Foggy turned red. Seriously, why did she have this woman as her best female friend, whom she possibly had a bit of a girlcrush on?
The flush of heat to her face, of course, was something Matt could detect, and he leaned in whispered to her, “Am I doing too much? I suppose…”
“Yes, Murdock,” Marci said, getting up and taking the two steps over to them, “you are being watched.” Oh God, Foggy was going to die of embarrassment. “By the way, where’s her ring? You’ve been engaged for ages now, haven’t you?”
“We’ll probably buy that when we can actually afford it?” Foggy offered.
“Look,” said Matt, trying to speak softly, but there were still many strangers who could hear his, “She’s got cramps, and she can’t take the painkillers without water.” Yep, now everyone in this section of the very crowded bus was staring at them. This was totally not worth the minimal pain relief.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” sighed Marci, then looked at him as if daring him to chide her for taking the Lord’s name like that. Thankfully he had the sense not too, especially when she pulled a water bottle out of her purse. “You really should keep this on you, Foggy.”
“Thank you,” breathed a still mortified Foggy as she took the water. She nudged Matt, which got him to thank Marci too. He sounded hostile her, which was weird; hadn’t Foggy explained to him why she was really a much better person than she seemed at first glance?
It hadn’t kicked in yet, but Foggy was relieved to stand and walk as they got off the bus. Then, when they were off it, Matt said softly to her, “She’s attracted to you too, you know.”
“What?” That made no sense at all. She’d never even shown an indication of being anything but straight, let alone attracted to someone of Foggy’s looks.
“Her heart and breathing made it very obvious. And she sounded pretty tense too. I think she might have been a little aroused, though it was difficult to be sure in the crowded bus.”
This was crazy. Especially because he actually sounded anxious. “Matt,” Foggy said carefully, “you do realize I’m not going anywhere, don’t you?”
He actually didn’t get a chance to respond, because they were passing through the revolving glass doors, and into the stone and glass foyer which was spectacular enough a sight she actually gasped at it. “Pretty place?” he quipped, but it didn’t sound like his heart was entirely in it. Nonetheless she described it to him, because there were also too many people in this foyer she did not want to overhear the alternative conversation, and he took her arm as she led them up to the front desk.
But she was thinking of that second night together, in the apartment, and what she’d heard him murmur in his sleep. “Don’t leave me, Foggy.” At the time she’d figured it was just a subconscious fear; no one expected those to be rational. Now, for the first time, she wondered if it had just been that.
After that they didn’t get a chance to talk alone together again until the long first day was over, and they stood waiting for the bus. “First day of Nelson and Murdock taking on the world,” she declared. He’d insisted on that night he’d proposed on the steps she should keep her name, and they should even order them that way. “Sounds better,” he’d said. “You know how good my ears are. Besides, given how long it’s probably going to be before we can afford a proper wedding, you’ll likely get yourself established professionally as Nelson first.” Now she found herself thinking about how it would also make it all too easy for her to break from him if she ever wished to. So she added, “First of many to come.”
“I hope so,” he said, and well, that was final confirmation of her fears.
“Matt,” she sighed, “remember when you said I shouldn’t get anxious every time someone attractive spoke to you? Even though most of them do find you hot, and there are plenty of them where I can tell too?”
“And you shouldn’t,” he said. “You still have no idea, do you, Foggy? Even though a woman as attractive as you’ve repeatedly told me Marci is wants you-shouldn’t that tell you something? And you could, you know. If I didn’t exist-”
“But you do,” she cut him off, almost angrily. “And no occasional crush is going to stop me from thanking my lucky stars every day that you’re here and you want me, so will you please just…”
She really hoped he wouldn’t call her out for hypocrisy, though. Because that very day, she’d seen him attract the eye of multiple lawyers, including a male one, and her heart still clenched at it, unable to stop being just a little scared. She would have laughed now, if it hadn’t been so pathetic.
The bus was pulling up, and she all but bumped him with her arm to encourage him to take it. “I’m not leaving you ever,” she insisted, as a closing argument. “Not for another man, not for another woman, not for another job, not for anything.”
He let her lead him onto the bus without responding.