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Frank answers the phone as soon as it rings.
“Kid?”
She’s changed her hair in the year she’s left, her curls swaying around her cheeks. She’s got a tan too, one from the Floridian sun. On top of her head sits a big, tan wide brim straw hat.
He’s glad to see that the dark smudges that had been under her eyes when she left, have disappeared, that they’ve stayed gone now that she’s free and safe.
She hadn’t gotten much sleep since that night in Lola’s Roadhouse, barely ate as well.
Frank had tried his best to make sure she had gotten food and at least some sleep, but that’s a hard thing to come across when you were running for your life, bullets flying passed your ears.
“Hey, killer.” She grins, waving. Behind her, he can see the beach. “What’s up?”
He rolls his eyes, grunts and settles back in the bed he’s laying on, tucks his hand under his head, trying not to disturb the person beside him. “You good?”
Frank gets an eye roll back.
“Yes, Mr. Conversationalist, I’m good. No need to come down here, guns blazing.” She swears, giving him a scout honour. “Just wanted to check up on you.”
He’s tried not looking at any calendars since yesterday, and he’s only been mildly successful.
It doesn’t get any easier, having lost his wife and kids. Especially when the day they were taken from him, suddenly dawns on the horizon, and passes just as quickly.
He’d already been to the cemetery, a warm, soft palm pressed against his, anchoring him to the present.
“Frank? Frank, you good?” The Kid asks, frowning.
It had been their way, of sorts to ask that, back when they had to share car spaces and hotel rooms. Their way of swimming through the river of shit they’d both been tossed in, and making sure the other wasn’t in over their head.
He’s glad of it now, not knowing how to voice his still present nightmares, of the ghosts that follow him.
The arm around his waist tightens slightly.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m good, Kid.” He says, softly. “How’s the diving going?”
She takes a moment to stare at him, silently sizing him up, before she must realise that he’s telling the truth. The Kid then launches into an enthusiastic babble, telling him about everything she’s learnt, what she’s going to learn, and how excited she is, that she might just be picked for an expedition out on the coast of Mexico.
“That’s — that’s great, Kid.” Frank tells her honestly. “I’m proud.”
She tries not to beam at that, he knows, and he tries not to smile at her obvious pleasure.
“You should come visit me.” She says, bouncing on the screen.
Frank huffs out a laugh. “What would I do in Florida?”
“You can get a tan, go to the beach. Scare the locals with your growls and hollering.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “Come on, even the Punisher should get days off.”
Frank feels a puff of warm laughter heat his chest through his shirt.
He gently squeezes the knee that’s curled around his legs with his other hand, and gets a soft nip of teeth in reply.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Kid.” Frank murmurs, and then watches her face fall. “Hey, hey.” He says, squinting his eyes. “Talk to me.”
The Kid laughs and it sounds harsh as it sounds like a barely there sob.
“You telling me to talk? That’s a change and certainly not normal behaviour of one Frank Castle.”
“Kid. You good?”
She shrugs, gaze turned away and Frank feels the body curled into his, begin to tense, readying for a fight.
“I just — I miss you, okay?” The Kid whispers. She shrugs again, plays with the hat perched on her head. “I miss you.”
Frank’s body relaxes, and maybe the person beside him, had only reacted to his unconscious reaction of gearing up for a fight, but they go slack again.
“You too,” he grunts. “I miss you too.”
She smiles, a little hesitant at first, before it spreads across her face.
He feels a little warm in the chest for putting it on the Kid’s face.
“You won’t be alone, right?” She asks, giving him a stern look, smile now gone. “Won’t go off into the night and beat some sorry people bloody?”
Frank huffs.
“Promise me.” She tells him. “Please? I don’t want to hear on the news you’re in trouble because of the significance of yesterday’s date. I’ll call Curtis, don’t think I won’t.”
“No need for the calvary,” Karen says then, sliding up a little to rest her head on his curled arm. She’s smiling warmly at the screen. “I promise he won’t be alone.”
The Kid’s gaze slides between his face and Karen’s, like she can’t decide on what she should address, before she settles on biting her smile away.
“Still the cutest and I’m still jealous.” She teases.
“Shut up.” Frank says, making both the Kid and Karen laugh.
“Think about it, please? About coming to see me?”
Frank nods, knows deep down he’s already figuring out if he should drive down tonight or tomorrow morning.
“Even you can come.” The Kid says, glancing at Karen. She shrugs again. “If you want.”
“I’d like that. Never been to Miami Beach.” Karen nods, smiling. “Know of any good spots down there?”
Karen listens intently as the Kid tells her of a really beautiful spot, and near a place that makes a mean burrito.
And just like that, Frank knows he’s leaving tonight.
He hears a voice on the Kid’s end, calling her name. He watches as she answers the voice before turning and facing the screen again.
“Listen, I gotta go, but I’ll —“
“Text me every two hours.” Frank says, tries not to bark the order out.
The Kid rolls her eyes again and it tells him he’s missed his mark by a mile. “Yes, yes. Text every two hours during the day, if I’m not in my class with your Marines buddy, and every five during the night, I know.”
He nods resolutely.
“I’ll talk to you later. And I’ll keep myself safe, okay?” She promises. “So long as you do the same.”
He nods again before hanging up.
“She’s a good kid.” Karen murmurs, nuzzling her nose against the side of his face, palm sliding up from his side and resting over his heart.
Frank reaches down for the hand that’s on his chest, links their fingers together. He pulls Karen’s hand up and presses a kiss over her knuckles.
“Yeah, she’s — she’s good. Pain in my ass, but a good kid.”
“So.” Karen starts. He can feel her smile stretch across his cheek. “We leaving for Florida tonight?”