love put a gun in my hand.

Over the course of the next few days, Grayson hadn’t dare to speak a word to Frank. She would contact David first to make sure Frank was out or sleeping. Then she would slip in to do research or go over findings with David. They were still trying to track down the leader of the same mafia, as Frank had only taken out half of the crew. Grayson was sure that Frank thought she was slacking off or had just left completely, as she was avoiding the man at all costs. Frank had made it disgustingly apparent that he didn’t give two shits about Grayson. She would be damned if she allowed someone to continue to make her feel that way.

Grayson wasn’t so sure why she was so worked up over the man. People had done this to her all her life. She was a petite, short girl, who looked far younger than she was. She was an easy target for those looking for someone to push around or belittle.

It was around 2AM, and Grayson couldn’t catch an eye of sleep for shit. She knew Frank’s schedule pretty well. He normally would go to bed around midnight and then get up at 4am. Grayson knew if she hurried, she could get to the bunker and get in some work. She’d be able to slip out before Frank woke and it would be as if she were never there. So, she pulled on a pair of workout shorts and yanked a hoodie over her head before driving to the bunker.

---

Grayson had been working diligently at her area in the bunker for forty-five minutes. Notes and binder paper were spread around her like a tornado had blown over the desk, her nose so close to her computer screen it was almost touching it. But the girl was on to something. She had found a ship that was being temporarily docked. The name of the boat was one of the fewer known aliases that the mafia head went by. She took a deep sigh, deciding that she needed to break for a moment. Grayson padded over to the fridge and pulled out a beer. Just as she was twisting the cap off, she heard his voice. It startled her, causing her to fumble with the beer and spill it on herself. She looked up to see Frank standing there. Grayson was clutching her chest, still spooked by his sudden appearance.

“Dammit Frank, it’s only 3AM, you’re supposed to still be sleeping.” Grayson breathed out, admittedly embarrassed as to what just happened. “I’m just getting some work done, couldn’t sleep. Sorry if I bothered you.”

Frank had thought that maybe Grayson was going to stick around. That she was tougher than he had originally thought she was but when she disappeared, Frank accepted it. He didn't want to, not really, but he wasn't going to force Grayson into helping him out. There was no one in this world that he was going to force to work with him. She made life easier on him and on Lieberman but shit, Frank wasn't going to ask more of her if she couldn't handle this anymore. She had agreed to help him because of who he had been once upon a time... he wasn't the Frank Castle that led her brother overseas. No, he was a hard shell of a man that cared only about one thing. About revenge.

Like most nights, Frank's dreams weren't exactly dreams... they were the same nightmare, over and over. His wife was shot in the head but a man who was never revealed. Bolting up straight in bed, Frank's hands propped himself up as he ran a hand over his buzzcut. His chest was heaving as he struggled to breathe, his skin covered with a thin layer of sweat. Clamping his eyes shut, Frank counted backward from five before he opened his eyes and threw his legs over the side of the bed. Sliding his feet into his boots, Frank laced them before he started for the kitchen. There was no use in trying to sleep any more, not when he would just see their faces over and over.

Frank stopped dead in his tracks when he stumbled upon Grayson in the kitchen. "THe hell are ya doin' here?" Frank bit out his eyes narrowing as his shoulders pulled together.

Raising an eyebrow at her comment about the time, Frank leaned against the doorway into the kitchen. "Couldn't sleep. The fuck does it matter to you anyway?" He asked, his eyes taking in her features. He frowned just barely, taking a small step toward her. "What is it? What'd you find?" Frank prompted, balling his hands into fists at his side.

At first, Grayson had fully expected for Frank to tell her to get out, that she wasn’t with them anymore. She braced herself for him to yell, fingers curling around the beer bottle tightly. But instead, he just chastised her for her comment. She wanted to both breathe a sigh of relief and roll her eyes at the same time. But either one of those actions was just going to cause more hostility between the two of them. “Nothing, it doesn’t matter. Was just trying to get in and out before you woke up is all. Know you aren’t happy with me at the moment, was trying to stay out of your hair.” Or the lack there of she wanted to say to be snotty.

“C’mere,” She murmured and pressed the beer bottle to her lips. Grayson walked the pair of them to her area and pulled him up a chair to sit next to her in. She threw her hair in a messy bun and rolled her neck. It was time to get down to business. “Okay, I know all this shit looks like I mess because I have finished yet. But,” Grayson began to point to different papers, showing Frank where the boat was docked and the probable and possible routes it had taken to get there. “This boat as been being temp docked for three weeks.” She paused to look at him, raising her eyebrows at him. “Round the same time that all the crime and violence and drugs started to get pulled in.”

Grayson swiveled in her chair and pulled up the boats information on her screen. “King Caballo, or more known as, King Heroin here in the states.” She bit her lip and looked at him, almost wanting reassurance that she was on the right track. “Mafia king’s alias. It has to be his. Whether or not he’s on it, that’s a different story. Trying to pull any federal water radio transcripts I can to see if my projected tracking for the boat is off or if it’s right.”

Frank followed after Grayson wordlessly, grinding his teeth together. He could feel it in his bones, he could tell that something big was about to happen and God, he was itching for it. It was like there was an itch that was just beneath the surface, that he couldn't quite reach. He dropped down into the chair beside Grayson, paying attention intently to the information that she was relaying to him. The more she told him, the more he realized that he was one step closer to taking these fuckers out. His smirk grew slowly but surely as Grayson turned toward her screen.

He gave a small nod of his head when she mentioned the boss' name. "He won't be on it. Look for other boats that could be connected, any that had hit ports near his home city. Any that have stopped in the same ports, any that have even so much as fuckin' crossed paths in the ocean," he said, a look of realization dawning on his features. "Shit, coulda even moved ships. If he's running shit again, he's either here or he's coming in soon."

"And he's going to die," Frank stated as if it was the most simple of things ever and to him, it was. People paying for their mistakes against him and his family, that was all that mattered to him. Looking away from Grayson, Frank stood and moved back toward the kitchen so that he could start a pot of coffee. Frank grumbled as he started to mix together oatmeal, ultimately deciding that he needed to put something in his body before he headed out of the bunker.

Grayson bit her lip, holding back a remark about how she was in the middle of doing all that, when Frank began to instruct her to do further research. It didn’t anger her as much as she thought it would, more so annoyed her that he hadn’t stopped to think that she was already in the middle of it. Grayson was tired of bickering and arguing with Frank all the time, if she could be the one to stop it, that is exactly what she was going to do. So, instead of giving him a smart remark she just simply said, “Got it.”

Grayson spent the better part of the next half hour tracking and cross-referencing paths and communications. David had woken and come out but didn’t really speak to either one of them. He had just sort of given Grayson a weird look, almost as if to say holy shit you two aren’t yelling at one another? She had rolled her eyes at him and gotten back to doing what she was doing.

“Frank!” Grayson yelled for the man. She had picked up on two other boats that may be connected to the first one she had found. She wrote down each tag number, the registration stickers, where they were docked, any ports they had come in or out of, and lastly, the last time any of them had used communication systems. “There’s these two—” She shoved the piece of paper with her handwriting scrawled all over it. “Not sure, but it could be something. Seems like they might be connected, but we won’t know until somebody checks them out.” Grayson was going to offer to do it, but hell, she wasn’t going to dare go down that path again. Not anytime soon.

“I’m working on some other things. But I think this is a solid start. We’ll get him somewhere, that’s for sure.” Grayson gave him a small, lop-sided smile before turning back to her computer.

Frank had shoved a handful of blueberries into his oatmeal and raised the bowl to just below his chin where he more or less shoveled the food into his mouth. He didn't need to enjoy his food, it was simply sustenance to get him through today. Hell, he would have ate the same food that he consumed in prison like it was a goddamned five course meal because at the moment, he felt like it was. He was prepping for a big day and oh, he felt the adrenaline brewing inside of him. His nerves vibrating with unspent energy that was all but begging to be used up and spit out.

He did an about face, starting right back for Grayson's area the moment that he heard his name. He didn't acknowledge Lieberman, eyes scanning over the information that she had written down and shoved in his face. Frank's brows pulled together as he scanned it, finally giving a nod of his head. Whether the boss was on the ships or not, Frank would find the bastard. He wasn't going to drag it out but he was going to make him regret everything that he had ever done that brought him in front of one Frank Castle.

Frank dropped his bowl down beside Grayson's computer, deciding he could deal with it when he got back. "Good job, girl. Dunno what I'd do without you," Frank spoke as he started for the door, reaching for his coat that hung on a hook by it. His tone was sarcastic, mocking of what Grayson had said to the two men a few days ago. He threw David a smirk before disappearing through the door, intent on wrecking havoc.

Grayson gave Frank a tight smile, once again deciding not to fight with him. Or maybe she should have. It would have given him a whole hell of a lot more anger and animosity to take out whoever he ended up finding on this hunt. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, waiting to her the door shut behind Frank.

“I’m gonna fucking kill him,” Grayson said quickly to David as soon as Frank had left the bunker, her tone dead serious and wide wild eyes. “The next time his ass needs stitching up, I swear to God I am going to stab him with a pair of sutures and watch him---” Grayson paled, thinking she heard him come back. She looked around sporadically. When she figured she was safe, she let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.

David glared at Grayson and rolled his eyes, turning back to his own task. “Oh bullshit, Gray, you have it fucking bad for that guy and it’s the only reason he digs deeper. He doesn’t want you getting attached to him. Put two and two together once, will you?”

Grayson could have thrown that beer bottle and David’s head. She should have, really. But she just scowled and moved on to looking at security cams around the dock. She sunk down in her chair and mulled over what David said. Sure, Grayson new she liked Frank. Well, Grayson really liked Frank when he wasn’t being such an asshole to her. Lately it just got worse and worse. Did David have a point?

---

It had been four hours, twenty-five minutes, and thirty seven seconds since Frank left the house. There was a power outage at the bunker and David and Grayson were working diligently to get all the equipment up and running again. Grayson looked to David and nodded towards his phone, silently asking if he had heard anything yet. When he shook his head, she mumbled fuck it, and pulled out her burner.

She sent a quick text to Frank’s burner: You good? in hopes that he would say yes.

“I’m giving him another hour before we fucking go and look. It never takes him this long, Dave.”

The closer that he grew to the docks, the angrier that he was. That was just the way that Frank had always worked. When he was on a job, he was excited and ready to take on just about anything before things really heated up but the moment that it came time to actually do business, he was angry and ready to fight any fucker that got in his way. A gun sat in the back of his pants, a knife strapped to his thigh while another sat hidden around his wrist. Frank wouldn't use the gun unless it was necessary. It was noisy, drew attention that he didn't really want to deal with before he was ready.

Frank rolled to a stop a few blocks from the dock and climbed out, silent as he started down the road. He remained hidden in the shadows, his eyes searching and never quite stopping on any one thing.

---

Frank's side was bleeding, he knew it but he was doing his best to ignore the burning pain in his side. He ultimately would be fine and he knew it but fuck if he wasn't ready to get back to his car. Frank moved forward, determined to get to the bunker before he passed out. Left, right, left, left, right, left, right, left, left. He repeated the words in his mind, over and over until his car came into view. The sight was enough to put a bit more of a pep in his step and soon enough (or not soon enough at all), Frank dropped into the driver's seat of his car and decided he'd just have a few minutes.

Flirting with sleep, it took him nearly an hour before Frank dredged up the energy to sit up and start the engine. He exhaled slowly as he pulled away from the curb, heading straight for the bunker. There was nowhere else that he needed to go.

Frank breathed a sigh of relief when he pulled into the garage, all but throwing himself out of the car. His hand was shoved against his bloodied shirt as he trudged into the bunker. "David!" He called the man's name, his voice a bit softer than usual. David and Frank knew each other well enough that he was sure the former NSA agent would be able to figure out what the fuck was going on the moment he called out. He could only hope Grayson wasn't here any more. That she had gone on home to actually do something worthwhile.

Another hour had passed and there was still no sign of Frank. Grayson and locked and loaded herself up, fully preparing to go track him down. But David had put a stop to that almost as quickly as she had started it. David said he would be the one to go look for Frank, Grayson was to remain at the bunker until Frank came back. She had been pacing back and forth for what seemed to be hours. David hadn’t called her yet and there was still no sign of Frank. She was growing sicker with each second that passed. Soon enough, she could hear Frank’s vehicle being parked in the garage and she let out a sigh of relief. She pulled out her phone and sent David a quick text.

Frank was coming in, calling out for David in a way that Grayson hadn’t heard in a long time. She peered down the hall and saw him waddling up. She could see the amount of blood on his hands and arm from where she stood. Her phone dropped from her hand and she let out a quiet fuck. Grayson ran to the bathroom and grabbed the emergency kit. She made her way to the main room as quickly as she could.

“Look, I know you ain’t gonna be happy about this,” Grayson helped him sit down, he wasn’t putting up much of a fight at this point. “David went to go looking for you,” She explained as she started getting things out. “Left me here, didn’t want me going. Pull your shirt up for me, I’ll be right back.”

Grayson went to the kitchen and grabbed the bottle of Gentlemen’s Jack that was designated for this very event. She uncorked it and handed him the bottle. “Before you start telling me I can’t do this,” Grayson started as she pulled on a pair of gloves, “Before I became the wonderful hacker that I am today, I went through EMT training. So just trust me for once, please.” She waited for the man to get to get a shot or two in him before she started cleaning and stitching up the long, deep wound on his side. He had been stabbed pretty good and by the looks of it, it could have been twice in the same spot. She was able to get a clean stitch on it in about twenty minutes, so it would heal pretty well as long as he kept it clean. Grayson looked at his face, noticing a gash above his eyebrow. She pointed to it, “You want me to clean that up and butterfly it, or do you wanna do it yourself?”

Frank didn't even give a shit that it was Grayson who rushed around the corner to help him over to the cot in the corner of the room. He let out a groan as he sat back, his eyes slipping shut. He was going to just let Grayson do whatever the hell that she needed to do and he was going to do his best to ignoring the burning alcohol. His eyes flew open the moment that Grayson told him that he wasn't going to be happy because he knew if she was starting something out like that, she wasn't fucking lying. A scowl formed on his lips, only deepening as Grayson explained the situation.

"Call him. Get him the fuck back here," Frank growled, shoving her hand away from his side. "People are going to figure out what happened. Can't have Lieberman getting hurt because he's a stupid fuck," he hissed, moving to stand right back up. His side hurt and he was losing blood, sure. But Frank Castle, he was a marine and marines never left men behind. No matter what way you look at it, Frank was a marine through and through.

Frank dropped back down on the cot, knowing he wasn't up to the task at hand. He let out a sigh, nodding as he took the bottle from Grayson. He took several deep breathes, trying to get himself in the right mindset for this. Frank knew what was coming but he also knew that it wasn't going to be any sort of fuckin' pleasant.

Quiet, Frank looked up when Grayson had finally finished up with stitching up his wound. "I can do it," Frank grunted, sitting up a bit straighter. "Where's David? He's not back yet," Frank commented, his gaze hardening as he glanced toward the door he would have come through. "If i need to head back out, I will. Shit," Frank said, grumbling under his breathe as he looked down to his side. His eyes narrowed for a moment before he stood, already ready to start right back out the door.

Grayson was pleasantly surprised when Frank had calmed down and had allowed her to do what needed to be done. It was a daunting task, sure, because she wasn’t sure if Frank wasn’t going to be happy with the work she had put it. But at the end of the day, she stopped him from bleeding and got him stitched well, he could fucking deal with it for a while. Grayson shook her head and grabbed the bottle from Frank, putting a gentle hand on his chest and easing him backward. She uncorked the Jack and took a long sip of it. “I just checked my phone, he’s on his way back. No need to go out and get him.” Grayson capped the bottle back and walked to the kitchen to set it down. “Besides, you need to relax for a minute, Frank. You lost a lot of blood and if you go moving all over to hell and back you’re gonna pop those stitches and it’s going to be worse the next time around.”

Grayson looked at him for a long moment, she was keeping her cool and trying to be a gentle as possible as not to wake the beast that raged with in Frank. He was sitting on the cot, not laying down like he should have been. Grayson walked over and sat on the ground next to him, looking up at him with her big blue eyes. “Was it those ships I thought it would be?”

It was almost like Christmas time, getting the present you wanted. Grayson had a big hunch that it was, and that she had led them in the right direction. But all she was trying to do was lead Frank into a civil conversation. She couldn’t help but let her eyes roam over his face. No matter how bloodied and bruised Frank got, Grayson had to admit he was one hell of a handsome man. When she realized she was staring, her eyes looked down at her hands that were in her lap. “Glad you made it back in one piece, Frank.” She said quietly

Frank visibly relaxed when Grayson told him that David was on his way back. He leaned back against the wall, his shoulders relaxing just slightly while his eyes slid shut again. THe one place he felt safe was here. The bunker despite how cold and lonely it was, it was home to Frank. He was safe, he didn't have to worry about anything happening to him here. He let out a sigh, simply focused on his breathing until Grayson spoke up.

Lifting his head just barely, Frank popped open one eye and looked at Grayson. He was quiet for a long moment, contemplating what to tell her. But he could tell she was eager to please and he figured he should give her something to chew on. "Yeah," Frank grunted, finally giving a nod of his head. He sighed, his hand drifted down to hold his side. Frank knew he should deal with the cut above his eye but he plain didn't give a shit at the moment. He could deal with it later, once he had rested a bit. "Fucker jumped from the fucking railing."

Frank reached up, rubbing his face with a tired sigh. "Have to. What other choice I have, girl? Job ain't done yet. Once it is, then who the hell knows..." Frank trailed off. He wasn't a man that worried about the future. Once the job was done, Frank would be lost. He'd likely end up at some dead end, mindless job that he could dull his pain with. Frank shifted slowly, gritting his teeth against the pain in his said as he laid down fully. "You did good," he muttered, lifting his head up long enough to fluff his pillow. "Next time. Don't fuckin' let David leave. You come before him. He's stupid and he'll get his dumbass hurt."

Grayson watched Frank as he talked. Mesmerized by the way his lips barley moved as he did so. She watched the cut about his eye slowly start to dry, but she knew something needed to be done about it. Grayson could have pumped her fist in the air when Frank told her that she should have went for him instead of David. A part of her thought that he was only saying so, but the both of them knew that David didn’t always seem to use his common sense.

“Lemme clean that for you, Frank. You’re exhausted, and it needs to be taken care of before it get’s infected.” Before Frank had a chance to argue, she was already getting some antiseptics, Neosporin, and a butterfly band aid. She laid her hand softly on the side of his face, moving it slightly to her. She cleaned the wound as quickly as she could and put the slave on. She placed the bandage over it and smirked down at him, “There, now you just need someone to kiss it and make it better and you’ll be good as new.” Grayson’s eyes lingered on him for a moment before she pulled away, going to the kitchen to dispose of the trash.

Grayson eyed the bottle of Jack and decided she needed a fucking drink. The longer she looked at Frank laying there, an overwhelming sense of wanting to reach out and touch him, and she knew that was definitely not going to happen. She grabbed a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with the whiskey. She took a big gulp, wincing at the burn. “You want a glass, Frank?”

Frank only grunted when Grayson said that she would clean up the wound above his ey es. She was right, he was fucking exhausted and he wasn't going to fight her on it. Not this time. As much as Grayson annoyed the ever living shit out of him, he also knew that it would help ease her frustrations to be helping him out. Frank had Grayson read like the back of his hand, the woman gave a shit about doing what was right and needed a bit of appreciation shown every once in a while. There was more to her, he was sure, but that more was going to have to remain unknown to Frank.

Frank Castle was a man that was wanted, the feds would catch his trail eventually. They would figure out that he was alive and he was going to have to either finish the job before that happened or figure out how to navigate his job even better than he was at the moment. Sighing, Frank's eyes fluttered shut as Grayson got to work on the wound above his eye. He was quiet, only gritting his teeth once when a bit of pain flared up.

Raising his head when Grayson spoke up, Frank eyed her warily for a moment. "Yeah," he bit out after a moment, reaching for the glass when she held it out to him. "Thanks," he grunted, tossing back a large portion of the drink before relaxing back. He was quiet for a while. For the first time that he could remember, the silence wasn't awkward between the pair of them. It was comforting, in a way. Frank couldn't quite place what was different but he wasn't too worried about it.

"That David?" Frank muttered when he heard a few sounds coming from the entrance of the bunker. Of course it was David, there was no one else in the world that it could be. And God forbid it was someone who wanted Frank dead... he didn't want to have to get up again. He was bone tired, Frank just wanted a bit of rest.

Grayson had been sitting with her back against the cot Frank had been laying on, staring out to the entrance of the bunker. She was beginning to get worried about her friend too. David was reckless sometimes, and it killed her to think about what would become of her if something happened to him. David was, and had become again, Grayson’s best friend. Hell, he was her only friend. She didn’t count Frank because… Well because it was Frank. That’s just the way it was.

“Mhmm,” Grayson hummed in answer to Frank, whiskey glass at her lips. It had been a while since Grayson had drank, and she was beginning to remember why. Half a glass in, Grayson was already feeling drowsy. She finished off her glass and set it on the floor next to her sprawled out legs. “Took him fuckin’ long enough.”

David appeared in the hallway, eyes widened at the sight of Frank. He opened his mouth and Grayson knew he was about to shout, so she quickly placed one finger of her lips, warning him to stay quiet. “Go get a glass and bring that bottle back over here. We are going to talk about why the hell it took you so long to get back here.” She saw David roll her eyes at her playful banter, but she smiled when he grabbed the bottle and a glass of his own. She held her glass out to him, allowing him to pour her another.

“Should you really be drinking, Gray?” David inquired, sitting in a chair across from them. “Last time I drank with you in college, you ended up on a bar like fucking Coyote Ugly. After two shots of Jameson. Just two.”

“Mind your business, Lieberman.” Grayson threw back, a playful smile still on her lips. “At least I didn’t kiss you that night,” She paused to think. “It was that night, I think, never mind.” Grayson laughed and shook her head. “Anyway, we have more important business to talk about. Are we going to start tracking that street gang with the meth or are we leaving that one to the cops? I mean, they are selling it at the Junior High…”

Frank already had a retort on the tip of his tongue, ready for whatever David was going to say to him. Lieberman always had one thing or another to say, it was like the former NSA analyst didn't know how to shut the fuck up. In the early days of them working together, Frank had contemplated killing David for no other reason than he was fucking annoying but that would have been wrong. David wasn't doing anything wrong, was simply a bit too talkative for a recluse like Frank's taste.

When David didn't say another, Frank peered over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. He opened his mouth to say something else before he opted to not say anything, deciding that the fight wasn't worth it. With how damn tired and sore he was, Frank wasn't feeling up to the fight. For once.

Frank let out a sigh, reaching up to lay his arm over his eyes as David pulled a chair up to him. He had turned away from the two of them, ready to sleep for once and it seemed like they had another plan in mind. Frank opened his mouth to snap at them, only to let out a laugh at David's mention of Grayson drunk, dancing atop a bar after only a few shots. When Grayson turned to fix him with a hard look, it only caused Frank's laughter to get louder.

He wheezed, slowly calming down. Frank reached up to wipe at his eyes, exhaling slowly. "Jesus, you know. I never thought you could have fun like that," he said, still not below getting in a mild jab at Grayson.

Frank smirked, reaching for the bottle of liquor that he had been steadily nursing with Grayson. He took a long swig before holding it out to her. "Go on. Take 'nother shot, maybe you can show off you fuckin' damn amazin' dance skills, hmm?" Frank hadn't realized how his comment may come across.

@ castle.
Grayson was beet red at this pointing, wanting to crawl away and hide from the sheer embarrassment. She was now starring daggers at her friend, thankful that her back was facing Frank, so he couldn’t make fun of her for how embarrassed she was getting. “I used to have a whole hell of a lot of fun, actually, Frank Castle. I was the life of the party at one point,” Grayson said, hoping she was coming across as confident.

“Yeah, if you call having fun looking like a damn stripper at a bar and then when dude’s tried to grab you I had to intervene.” David said sarcastically. “I couldn’t take you anywhere with out you doing something to embarrass me.”

“You should have been thankful for me!” Grayson pointed out. “People actually thought you had a girlfriend before Sarah!”

Grayson heard Franks comment and she swore her whole body began to burn. She bit her lip, knowing that it was supposed to be an innocent comment. She turned and looked at him, fire in her eyes, and grabbed the bottle straight from him. She pressed it to her lips and took another drink, clearing her throat before she added with a raised brow, “I only give private shows to those who appreciate me in this day and age.”

“Didn’t need to hear that.” David’s face was in his hands now, trying to block out the mental image.

Grayson gathered her hair up and tied it off on the top of her head. How weird this conversation had turned, she was trying to find something to do. She turned her body slightly, facing a little more towards Frank now. “How’s the side? If it’s still hurting, we have some left over Norco from the time we dug the bullet out of your shoulder…”

"Yeah. And I can't take you anywhere without you fuckin' embarrassin' me, Lieberman. Maybe she was just givin' you a taste of your own medicine," Frank growled out, his face hardening as David bit back at Grayson. He knew that this was all supposed to be fun, that they were supposed to be relaxing after a long day for all of them. He couldn't stop himself from defending Grayson. It was for the very reasons that David thought it was but Frank wasn't ready or willing to admit that to himself or to anyone else for that matter.

He settled back down, smirking when Grayson mentioned private shows. "Hm," was the only acknowledgement that he offered, his mind swirling with the images that brought up in his mind. He couldn't be sure what Grayson looked like under her clothes, sure, but he could imagine and right now, that was enough for Frank.

Frank reached to take the bottle back from Grayson, welcoming the burning sensation. It was the only thing that grounded him from nightmares. Maybe if he drank enough, it would dull the nightmares that plagued him every time he closed his eyes for more than a few minutes at a time.

Lifting his head when Grayson spoke to him, Frank grunted as he gave a shrug of his shoulders. "'m fine. Hurts but it could be worse, y'know. Rather save the norco for a really shitty fuckin' day," he said, smirking slightly. His eyes were brighter than usual as he looked up to Grayson. "s'long as that's okay with you, doc."

Grayson couldn’t help but smirk when Frank came to her defense. It wasn’t the first time, but it was the first time in a long time. Hell, it only took Frank Castle getting beat up and stabbed and a little liquor to get him to be nice… No wonder he was such an ass all the time. Grayson stuck her tongue out at David and jerked her thumb back towards Frank. “Better listen to the man, he could kick your ass.”

Grayson’s belly swarmed with butterflies as the man smirked at her. She closed her eyes for a moment, reveling in the moment before pushing it far, far away. “Yeah, maybe save it for the next time you get shot.” There’s always a next time. Her eyes lingered on his for longer than normal before she cleared her throat and looked away. She blindly reached for the bottle in Frank’s hands, grabbing it and tipping it back once more. “Okay, no, but seriously. We need’a talk ‘bout this street gang and shit.” Grayson knew she was getting drunk, it was only a matter of mere moments before it fully kicked in and she made an idiot out of herself. But she had been pondering on something for a while.

“They target kids, right?” She looked to David who nodded. She knew what was about to come out of her mouth would make Frank roll his eyes, but she was hoping he would go with it. “I was thinkin’—I was thinkin’ that I could scope where they’ve been and like go in—ya know—undercover or some shit. Get them close, and then Frank’ll get ‘em. Sure as hell that what happened tonight is gonna be all over the media. Can’t just go send Frank out into the line of fire again just yet. Rather get them to trust me, and then get them somewhere away to be taken care of. I can do it. It’s not gonna be a big deal.”

"Yeah. Ya hear that? I could kick your ass," Frank said, eyeing David with a small smirk. "Even if my state, I could kick your ass, spook," he muttered, rolling his own eyes when David fixed him with a hard look. The other man's eyes flicked to Grayson for just a moment before meeting Frank's gaze again, this time one of his eyebrows raised. Frank huffed, turning away from David before he could even say anything else.

Frank let his head roll to the side, his eyes locking with Grayson's when she started talking about the street gang that they had been targeting. "Hmm," he groaned out, all of the encouragement that Grayson would get from him to speak. He listened to her, blinking slowly as he ran over her plan in his head. Grinding his teeth together, Frank huffed. As much as he didn't want to admit it, she wasn't wrong when it came to him going back out. Usually after a take down, it was a week, if not a bit more, before he started heading back out into the world to let things start to simmer down.

"No," Frank bit out roughly, giving his head a shake. "Too dangerous. You'll end up hurt and I can't have that," Frank answered simply, glaring at David when the other man snorted, seeing right through his reasoning. "I'll rest up tomorrow then head back out the day after. Whether they see me comin' or not, I'll still kill them. They need to die, especially if they're targeting innocent fuckin' kids," Frank was all but growling his words at the end, anger building in his mind at the thought. The kids could have been his, if things hadn't gone sour... the idea of his own son and daughter being targeted by a street gang simply for profit pissed him right the fuck off.

"If they're doing that, they have no regard for others. And they'll have no regard for you if they figure out you're a rat," Frank said, his tone a bit lighter. "So. Forget your plan, you'll get me in there. Just like you always do because you're good at that. That's where you belong, yeah."