hawk_shot | (Reply)

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It helped, the way the familiar weight of Lucky's head on her lap gave her something to do. Running her fingers over the fur, stroking his face and letting her fingertips run over the lenght of those ears. It was distracting, soothing. It reminded her of how for the first time, tonight, Matt had seen her face in the only way he could. Kate smiled to herself as she relived the moment, how oddly comforting it had felt to have those fingertips tracing her face.

This almost felt like an inside joke, realizing that he got to feel her face for the second time tonight, bruised and swollen and getting to fix it.

"I know I'm in good hands," she assured him, even if her face twitched lightly as he had no option but to put a gentle pressure on some particularly sore spots. But Kate held her ground. She stood still, holding her breath every time the needle pierced skin, unable to participate in the chat as her jaw tightened, grinding her teeth when Matt stitched her up.

Karen wasn't so shocked by Frank's plan. As always, Frank danced to his own tune, did his own thing. As much as she had trusted that he would follow through with her request when she first called, even she knew that there was only so much she could ask of him.

Her gaze met his briefly on the reflection of the mirror he had on his desk. Her fingers stopped working, the last stitch done. Fingertips traced her work. Nothing odd, just tracing her own work. Not a real caress.

"You do your thing, Frank," Karen agreed, her tone soft but collected. After all, she could hardly see him joining their little Scooby gang, going after the clues instead of doing things the Punisher way. It was what kept them apart, wasn't it? Like Matt, who tended to disappear when things got ugly, Frank went off the rails. It was their way of dealing with pain, for the both of them. It was how they both thought they were protecting the people they cared about.

With the knot done, Karen cut the thread and, before he could move off his seat, put pressure on his shoulder in a silent request for Frank to remain seated.

"Be careful." Grabbing his chin, she forced him to turn to face her. She scanned his face, looking for anything else she might need to take care of. "Call when you're done."