Spying
“Finally.” I sighed, closing my laptop with a satisfying snap and rolling my shoulders back. I checked my watch and was surprised to see that two hours had passed since I’d started writing. The sketch was done and sent off to Dan for approval, but Frank was still gone.
“Where do you think he is, Lola?” I patted the couch next to me and Lola jumped up, thrilled that I was finally paying attention to her. She licked my cheek and I scratched her ears, trying not to think about where Frank could be. I was just thinking about texting him when I heard a noise on the fire escape. I got up cautiously and tiptoed over to where the curtain was drawn over the newly fixed window. I crouched down til the top of my head was beneath the sill, feeling ridiculous, and cautiously moved the curtain an inch to the left. My worst fears were immediately confirmed as I saw a pair of feet at the edge of the platform.
I sucked in a breath and let the curtain fall back, my mind racing. What the fuck was I supposed to do in this scenario? I decided to brave it and take another look out the window and yelled in surprise when someone’s face was right near the glass.
“Jess?” I spluttered, staring into the wide brown eyes of Jessica Jones.
“Hey.” She waved casually, motioning for me to open the window.
“What the everloving fuck are you doing on my fire escape?” I pushed the window up and she climbed not so graciously into my living room.
“Keeping an eye on you.” She said, taking a long drink from the coffee cup in her hand, the alcoholic fumes from which I could smell from two feet away.
“Keeping an eye… Frank.” I growled,
“Well, Frank by way of Matt.” Jess shrugged, sauntering over to my kitchen table and putting her feet up on it as she sat down. Lola trotted over and Jess begrudgingly let her hand be licked.
“For God’s sake.” I groaned, slapping my palm to my forehead. “What does that even mean?”
“Frank called Matt to come sit on your fire escape and make sure nothing happened to you, but Matt was out with Karen, so Matt called me! I guess they both figured you’d be less pissed off if you caught me anyway.” Jess leaned back in the chair, examining her fingernails.
“I’m going to kill both of them.” I announced, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Happy to help if you want me to.” Jess quirked an eyebrow. “So, got any booze?”
“In the freezer.” I motioned towards my fridge and started pacing the floor. “Does he really think I can’t take care of myself?” I asked, whirling around and staring at Jess accusingly.
“Who, Frank?” Jess dropped some ice cubes into one of my glasses. “Oh, definitely not.” She poured a healthy measure of vodka into the glass and shut the freezer door.
“That is such bullshit!” I exclaimed.
“I mean, he’s got a point.” Jess waved her free hand up and down my body.
“I have a gun!”
“Yeah, so do the Russians.” Jess said flatly. “Look, he just cares about you or something gross, so just let him do his whole Punisher protecting thing, okay?”
“Not okay!” I shouted. “I do not need to be babysat!”
“Oh, shit.” I heard from behind me and turned around to see Frank framed in the doorway, a very guilty expression on his face and a giant duffle bag and Whole Foods bag at his feet.
“You!” I pointed at him.
“I see Jessica wasn’t exactly as discreet as I would have hoped.” Frank glared at Jess, who blinked innocently.
“I dropped my phone!” She said. “She probably would’ve figured it out anyway.”
“That’s debatable.” Frank shot back.
“Excuse me, can we just get to the part where I tell you that if you have people come over and spy on me again I’ll cut your balls off?” I asked, frowning at him.
“Not spying!” Jess put her hands up in a “don’t shoot” gesture. “Just…. watching.”
“Same difference!” I shouted. “Frank, I get that you’re worried about me, but it is deeply uncool to send my friends to sit on my fire escape without my knowledge.”
“Okay, this is starting to sound like a lover’s quarrel, so I’m gonna go ahead and head out.” Jess drained her glass, stood up and gave Frank a mock-salute. “See ya later, soldier. Sorry Ella. Even though it’s not my fault.” She disappeared out the front door, closing it none too quietly behind her.
Silence descended on the room as Frank rubbed his hand through his short hair and ducked his head, avoiding my eyes.
“El, I’m sorry.” He finally looked up after I made it clear I wasn’t going to talk first and took a few hesitant steps towards me. “I swear, it’s because I care about you, not that I don’t think you’re capable of handling shit on your own.” He halfway smiled. “I’ve been in the ring with you girl, I know you can do what’s necessary.”
“Then let me if I have to!” I said, taking a step towards him.
“It’s just, I’m worried.” Frank said lowly, his eyes searching mine. “The Russians, they’ve got it out for me ever since last year when I took a ton of ‘em out. They know who I am, Pete Castiglione, Frank Castle, all of it. I can’t let them get to you. I just can’t.” He said pleadingly, reaching out and cupping my face in his hands.
“I know you’re worried.” I said slowly. “But you can’t just have me watched, that’s not fair. Let’s come up with a plan together.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Frank stroked his thumb over my cheekbone and I leaned into his touch. “A plan, that’s good.”
“Yes, it is.” I nodded. “But first, let’s make dinner. I’m starving. Actually wait, why don’t you tell me exactly how you came to know Jessica Jones?”
“How about you tell me how you know the grumpiest woman in New York City?” Frank retaliated, his thumb rubbing my lower lip.
“I know Trish Walker from when she was on SNL. We hit it off and have stayed friends, thus I met Jess through Trish. Though of course I knew who she was already thanks to the whole ‘Defenders’ fiasco.” I rolled my eyes.
“Mm.” Frank grunted. “I met her in a bar.”
I burst out laughing despite myself. “Please tell me you tried to buy her a drink.”
“No way.” Frank scowled. “I watched her almost put a guy’s head through the bar after he touched her ass and figured she might be a useful woman to know.”
“Oh, she is.” I quipped.
“How was it for you, you know, when Matt was ‘dead’?” Frank asked bluntly, actually going to the trouble to make the air quotes.
“It sucked.” I shrugged. “Thinking that my last relative in the world was dead, I mean…. I never knew any of my mom’s family because she ran away from home when she was 18 to be with my dad. And after they both died,” I swallowed hard. “It felt like such a miracle that I found Matt, you know? And then to think that I’d lost him.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I kinda lost it for a while.”
Frank brought his hand back to my cheek and tilted my chin up to look at him.
“Well you’ve got it back now.” He half-smiled. “You’re a brave woman, sweetheart.”
“Yeah.” I said ruefully. “Haven’t had much of a choice but to be.”
Frank kissed the tip of my nose.
---
“You may be forgiven because that was so good.” I handed my empty plate to Frank and he smiled, dropping a kiss on the top of my head as he brought our dishes to the sink.
“Eggplant parm is always a winner.” He said, running the hot water.
“So, how was seeing David?” I asked carefully, not sure if this was an off-limits topic.
“That guy’s a pain in the ass.” Frank grumbled. “But he had some decent intel and Leo and Zack were home, so it wasn’t all bad.”
“Those are his kids?” I asked, remembering he’d mentioned their names before.
“Yep.” I could tell Frank was smiling even though I couldn’t see his face. “Leo’s 12 and Zack is 10. Good kids.”
“I bet they love you.” I said.
“Nah.” Frank put the clean dishes in the rack to dry and pulled me out of my chair. “Well, maybe Leo does. Zack’s warming up to me. He didn’t take the whole ‘finding out I was The Punisher’ thing super well.”
“Understandable.” I said, nuzzling into his chest and letting him wrap his arms around me. “But I bet he still loves you.”
Frank grumbled his assent and I felt it reverberate through his chest into mine. I pulled away from him and stood on my tiptoes, nudging my nose against his and he chuckled and kissed me, hands digging gently into my hips.
“Shall we plan?” I said, gesturing my arm dramatically towards the couch.
“In a minute.” Frank whispered, pulling my mouth back to his. I melted into him, loving the feel of his skin on mine as I snuck my hands underneath the hem of his t-shirt and let my fingers dance over the muscles of his abdomen. I felt goosebumps raise where I touched him and smiled into the kiss.
“Okay, come on.” I broke it off and took his hand, leading us towards the couch. “I’m dying to know what you found out from David. Also intensely curious to know what was in that giant duffle bag you brought home, though I’m about 99% sure it’s mostly guns.”