love put a gun in my hand.

Frank had been innocently trying to enjoy a luke warm shower when David had burst into the little room, looking all wide eyed and nervous. It wasn't an emotion that David often showed so immediately, Frank drew to attention, reaching out to turn off the shower. He reached with one arm for the towel that had been tossed on the toilet, wrapping it around his waist as he listened to Lieberman begin to ramble about how there was something wrong with Grayson. About how a man had showed up at her apartment several days in a row, only to leave unsettling letters and gifts.

It wasn't very often that Frank was truly and genuinely unnerved, most often he was more annoyed and put off by potential problems. If either of them sent him out on a job, Frank knew what he was getting into. He'd known what he was getting int the moment that he had vowed to avenge his family's death but this, Frank had no fuckin' clue. Just the general creepiness of the situation had the hair on the back of Frank's neck raising.

"Be ready to head out in five minutes," Frank uttered, disappearing into his room. It was only three minutes later that Frank reemerged, dressed in a pair of black jeans and.a black tshirt that hugged his muscles just right. It wasn't too tight around his midsection but his arms, they were all but bulging out of sleeves. A permanent scowl seemed fixed to his features as David drove to Grayson's apartment, he hadn't said a single damn thing the entire way there. He was sure that David could tell the sort of raw anger that was brewing inside of Frank and simply wanted to avoid bearing the brunt of it.

Frank's face hardened as they stepped up to Grayson's door. His head turned from one side to the other, trying to detect any sort of clue but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. It was just your average apartment hallway. Huffing, Frank lifted his head when the door opened in front of them and he was quick to follow after David. He rolled his eyes when Grayson immediately started in on David for telling him.

"Hey, don't put this on me," David countered, looking at Grayson like she'd grown a second head. "What good do you think I'd be if some creep comes around? Frank's the machine, I'm just the brains around here."

Frank stepped around david, his attention turned back toward Grayson. "Show me the letters," he demanded, his voice rough as his eyes narrowed. Just the idea of someone hurting Grayson, it had him pissed off. He was upset that she seemed so intent on leaving him out of the situation but that was an issue for another day.

With Frank standing in front of her, demanding to see the letters, Grayson did feel less terrified. There was something comforting about having the Punisher on your side; she knew with Frank around nothing was going to happen. She was sure of it. But she had been so damned nervous for Frank to know about what was going on. She didn’t want him to tell her how stupid it was for her to stay in one place for so long, both he and David told her she should have rented a new apartment in case anyone tracked her for any reason. It was never good to stay in one place according to Frank Castle.

Grayson sighed as she looked at Frank as he asked her for the letters, her eyes lingered on his for longer than they should have, and she turned away. She gathered the notes off the counter, being sure to put the one that stated something about 9pm that evening at the bottom, and handed them to Frank.

“I never got a look at his face,” Grayson mumbled. “By the second time it happened I was too afraid to even answer the door. I’ve checked street cams that are nearby and got nothin’. And we don’t have cameras here so….” Grayson turned away, not wanting Frank to be able to see the petrified look in her eyes. “I just didn’t know what to do.”

Grayson crossed her arms over her chest and kept her back towards them. She closed her eyes and tried not to picture what would have happened if she didn’t call David. She could have ended up dead that night for all they knew. So much for getting some time away to think, only to have Frank come in and have to save her ass.

All but ripping open the letters once Grayson had handed them over, Frank scanned the papers several times over before shoving them in David’s direction. He hadn’t noticed anything particularly important - the letters were bland at best. But the vagueness of them was almost another reason to be concerned because none of them had any clue what this man was planning. Could have been your standard creep or someone after Grayson, to get to Frank. That possibility had Frank pissed right the hell off. No one would ever be harmed again because of him, because they had gotten close to him when they shouldn’t have. His jaw flexed at the thought, turning toward David when the man dropped the papers down on the table.

“I got nothing. There’s no... there’s no indication of who they could be,” David said, blinking slowly as he looked up to meet Frank’s gaze. “If it helps, I think the guy just wants her... for her. Not to get to you, specifically.”

Frank scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Is that supposed to be comforting or some shit, Lieberman? You really need to try harder than that.”

David gave a tight smile, raising an eyebrow. “What now?”

“Now, we sit and we wait for 9pm,” Frank answered as if it was the simplest idea ever. To him, it was. He already had the upper hand, knowing that whoever this was, would show up around 9pm. The stalker, he had no clue David and Frank were here.

Frank cleared his throat, shaking his head as he looked toward Grayson. “Nah. On second thought, start packin’ your shit. You’re gonna move to the bunker. This place isn’t safe anymore,” Frank uttered, turning in a slow circle.

“Then you and David are going to head back to the bunker and I’m going to enjoy myself while waiting for our little guest.”

Grayson opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to find words to counter back at Frank with. Moving to the bunker was most defiantly not something that was on her to do list; neither was it something that Grayson thought would be good for her mental health. “Frank, I can, I can move to a different apartment, I can break the lease here—” She started to ramble on, but seeing the look on Frank’s face, the warning in his eyes, she decided to shut the hell up. She stared at the man for a moment, silently pleading with him to rethink his order. But it was of no use, he just started right back at her with expectancy for her to get her ass moving. Grayson closed her eyes and nodded her head in understanding, turning on her heel to move back to her bedroom to start packing some things.

Grayson got together all her clothes and the things she used on an everyday basis. She grabbed her keepsakes and gathered her pillows and blankets, moving to start stacking things in her living room. She knew she was going to have to come back at another time to get the rest of her shit. She knew Frank was waiting impatiently for her to finish and get the hell out of dodge. Grayson, over the course of the past year or so, was slowly starting to learn it was easier just to do as Frank said rather than fight him on it. She was sick of bickering with the Marine.

When she was finished gathering things David began to take all her stuff out to the car. While she had a moment alone with Frank, she stood awkwardly in front of him. “Thanks for coming,” She whispered, not daring to look at him. She knew he was probably upset she didn’t go to him first. “I’m glad I can always count on you. Just-just don’t make too much of a mess here, if you can’t help it.” Grayson cracked a small smile at him, finally peering up sheepishly through her lashes at him. “I’d like to at least get back most of my security deposit. I don’t think blood stains will go over too well on that one.”

Frank's shoulders pulled together, his back straightening as Grayson started to attempt to argue with him. His mind had been made up, long before he had even bothered to say it to her so if she thought she had any chance at changing his mind, she was out of her Goddamned mind. Frank wasn't ready to admit it to anyone, not even himself, but Grayson mattered a helluva lot to him. He wasn't going to let any harm come to her and it was simply safest if she was close by him. If she was only a few feet away from him most of the time, not a single damn hair on her head would be harmed. It was easier that way, safer... smarter. Right? That's what he kept telling himself, anyway.

He stood in the living room, all brooding anger as the anger brewed inside of his chest. The thought that someone was even considering hurting Grayson, making her do something that she just plain didn't want to do, pissed him the fuck off. His hands were shaking with a raw sort of anger that he wasn't used to feeling. Gritting his teeth, Frank crossed his arms and remained silent as he watched David begin to take Grayson's things out to the van.

"Fucker comes in here expecting to see you, he might be angry... no fuckin' promises, girl. He comes in guns ablazin' , then he's going to have another fuckin' thing comin' his way," Frank growled, snarling as he looked toward her. His features softened only slightly at the look on her face. He exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself enough so that he could at least say something halfway decent.

"David can probably get your money back," Frank said after a moment, a smirk settling on his features at the thought. He knew the man could hack into just about anything, the account that Grayson's rent was deposited into would be nothing compared to some of things that he had done. "Maybe even a bit of interest for the trouble you've been through."

Grayson stood there and listened to Frank, probably looking like a small child as she clutched her blanket to her chest with a backpack strapped over her shoulders. She nodded. Frank was right. He always seemed to be right. “Yeah, he can get it back.” She murmured, no longer gazing into his eyes, but instead, she was looking down at her feet. “Just be careful. See you back at the bunker.” Grayson turned to walk away, pausing briefly in the door way of her old home to cast him one last glace. “Thanks again, Frank.”

---

Grayson and David had made it back to the bunker, successfully bringing most of her belongings inside and getting them into the spare room. She sighed as she looked around the dingy walls and the tiny little bed. She was definitely going to beg Frank to go back and get her bed, or at least let her buy a new one. It was all that she could do to keep herself together and not break down crying like a hormonal teenager. So, she settled on taking a shower. Grayson washed the worry away with the barely warm water, the familiar scent of her shampoo and body wash calming her senses just slightly.

Grayson got out of the shower and walked to her room in just a towel. David had retreated to his area and for all she knew Frank hadn’t made it back yet. She changed into a pair of short pajama shorts and the t-shirt Frank had let her borrow. She was sure she would get a snide remark; it would be her only sense of satisfaction from the day she had. With her hair wrapped in a towel, Grayson went to pilfer the kitchen in search of food. She poured herself a glass of whiskey, God knows she needed it, as she began to look around. There was hardly anything to choose from, nothing to cook. For some reason this brought Grayson to tears. She had plenty of food in her refrigerator at home! Grayson downed the rest of her whiskey and began wiping at her eyes with the backs of her hands. When she looked up, there stood Frank, and it scared the living shit out of her.

“Frank!” She held a hand to her chest and shook her head, a small, sad smile appearing on her face. “God, I hate it when you are so silent like that. Never know where you’re at.” She licked her lip and looked away from him, hoping he hadn’t caught her crying like a child. “You okay? Need anything?”

When the man finally showed up to Grayson's apartment, Frank simply sat in the dark living room waiting for the sorry bastard to break in. He knew that the man was coming and unfortunately for him, Frank was a helluva lot scarier than what turned out to be some lanky man who had grown obsessed with Grayson. Who lived in the same apartment building. Frank would never know of the house the man had recently purchased with the intention of taking Grayson there because, well, the man didn't get to do a whole lot of talking. He screamed a bit but it wasn't long before Frak had twisted his neck, letting his drop to the floor. Frank wasn't a man of mercy. If he thought you had done wrong, that was all that he needed to know. Nothing more, nothing less.

Frank returned to the bunker, relieved when David gave him a nod. It was an unspoken reassurance that Frank needed, to know that everything was okay at home. He turned away from David, heading for the kitchen where he could hear someone rummaging around. And the only other person in the bunker right now was Grayson. He had to see her. To see that she was okay, to let her know that he was, in fact, okay.

Standing behind Grayson, Frank couldn't help but smirk as she jumped. He shrugged his shoulders, looking around the room slowly. "Ya hate it but.." Frank trailed off, shrugging his shoulders. "S'habit," he explained, biting back a sigh as he allowed his eyes to roam over Grayson's body. She seemed to be okay and that was really all that he wanted to reassure himself with.

"'M Good. Guy was some fuckin' creep who lived in your building," Frank explained lowly, letting out a small sigh. "S'how he could get in and out so easy. Probably how he knew there were no cameras, too," he said with a huff.

"Ya alright?" Frank asked, eyeing the shirt she wore with a slight smirk. Him asking the question spoke volumes about how much he cared for her, more than his words ever would.

Grayson was relieved that Frank came back with out blood all over him or any sign of him being injured. She hated waiting for him to come back from a job, not knowing how the hell he was going to look when he got back in. She canned him, looking for any new cuts or bruises. She sighed a silent sigh of relief when she saw there were none. She poured herself another glass as he began to explain who exactly it was and why they were able to do what they did. She reached in the cabinet for another glass, pouring a bit for Frank and sliding it his way.

“It’s fucking disgusting, really, when you think about it. What if he had already been in my apartment, Frank? What if—” Grayson cut her sentence short before she could continue talking. She shook her head and sipped at the liquor, trying to focus on the burn rather than the nagging thoughts in her mind. It didn’t matter what could have happened or what might have happened. All that matters is the guy was taken care of and she was safe here in the bunker with David and Frank. She helplessly looked at Frank, allowing herself to take in his features and his body language. He wasn’t scowling at her like normal or standing rigid and alert. He was softer and more inviting. God, all she wanted to do was throw herself in his arms and feel him for just a moment, show him she was grateful for what he had done. But she didn’t. She couldn’t.

“I’m alright,” She said quietly. “Tired and stressed and I need a hug and some food… But I’m okay.” Grayson licked at her bottom lip, reaching up to pull the towel off her head. Her blond hair was still damp as it fell to her shoulders in messy, wet waves. “Thank you. For everything, Frank. I don’t know what I would do without you—or without David for that matter.”

Truth be told, Frank hadn't even broken a sweat when he fought the man. If anything, he had simply been annoyed that he even had to bother with this situation. The man had thought he could have Grayson all to himself and he had been dead wrong. Grayson was his, even if Frank wasn't ready to lay claim to her just yet.

Frank nodded when Grayson commented on how disgusting the situation was because she was right. For once, Frank didn't have a single angle that he could argue from. He was left standing there, frowning as she started to ask about if the man had been in her apartment. Frank had thought about that and truthfully, he wouldn't have been all that surprised to find out that the man had, in fact, been inside her apartment. But he didn't need to tell her that, not right now. Not with everything that had just gone down and for once, Frank admitted that. He was alright with not berating Grayson for being fucking stupid and not telling him about the situation in the first place.

Looking down to his feet, Frank frowned slightly at the mention of a hug. He would be highly uncomfortable but... Frank swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. He drew in a deep breathe, looking up to Grayson slowly. He reached out, stiffly wrapping his arms around her shoulders before pulling her to his chest. He sighed, running a hand through her hair slowly. "You'd have a lot less fuckin' headaches without David is what you'd do without him. Wouldn't have him to talk your fuckin' ear off," Frank grumbled, pulling away from her after a moment.

"Go sit down. I'll toss something together and I'll let you know when I'm finished," Frank said, turning to step around her to rummage through the cabinets. There wasn't too much to even put together but Frank had always been good at piecing together puzzles and this was just another one to him.

Grayson was taken aback, just for a moment, as Frank pulled her into his arms. She melded there so quickly, her head laying on his chest. Her fingertips dug slightly into the muscle of his back as she breathed him in. There was something calming about being so close to Frank in this way. Then, his hand was in her hair, making her let out a just-barely-audible sigh. She closed her eyes, not able to help the smirk that was donning her face as he began to talk about David. “Hey now,” She murmured softly into his chest, “David is kinda my best friend, so I am kind of obligated to keep him around.”

When Frank pulled away, Grayson couldn’t ignore the little urge and the little itch in her mind to run straight back into his arms. But she knew she would be pushing it if she did that. It must have taken a whole hell of a lot for Frank to be so close to her in the first place, and she had to respect that. Grayson stepped back and watched him turn away from her to scour the kitchen. “Alright, well just let me know if there is anything I can help with,” She stated. “I appreciate it, Frank.”

Grayson bit her lip and turned on her heel to go sit at the makeshift dining table. She couldn’t help but allow her eyes to follow Frank’s every movement. The black t-shirt he was wearing was pulled so taught across his shoulders, she could see his muscles working beneath the fabric with every move he made. Grayson allowed herself to stare at him a while longer before he turned and could now catch her in the act, so she swiftly looked away, eyes pretending to be stuck on something imaginary on the cement wall.

Frank only grunted in return when Grayson offered help if he needed, another grunt when she told him of her appreciation. He didn't gave a damn if she appreciated his efforts or not. So long as she ate the food that he prepared, he would be happy and that's all that was really necessary. Shifting through the cupboard, Frank ultimately settled on making a home made tomato sauce and spaghetti. They didn't have any meat so it was a meatless sauce but even without, the pasta would be filling enough that he hoped it would allow Grayson to rest. She needed it, after the shit she had been doing with for the past few days.

Turning to say something to Grayson, Frank raised an eyebrow when he watched her gaze flit in another direction. He had no clue what she had been looking at before but somehow, it must have startled her when he turned. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, motioning toward the stove where he had just stirred the spaghetti into the sauce. "Grab the parmesan out of the fridge if you want it," he muttered, motioning toward the fridge as he grabbed himself two pieces of bread. Buttering them, Frank scooped some spaghetti onto his plate before moving to sit at the dining room table. He perched over his food as he fell quiet, focused only on eating his food. Frank Castle fucking hated being interrupted when he was eating because he never knew when he would get enough down time to enjoy another well made meal.

Grunting, Frank stood in the middle of his meal and stalked over to the cabinet to grab a glass. He poured himself water before returning to his abandoned food.

Grayson wasn’t sure if she had actually seen Frank cook in the kitchen before. She was fully aware that he did, often at that when he had the time to. But she couldn’t really recall if she had ever seen him do so. There was something about Frank as he moved about the kitchen. She watched his shoulders relax, just barely, as he got into the rhythm of what he was doing. There was something…. Something so absurdly normal that aired from him as he focused on preparing a meal. She hadn’t really seen him seem so… not Frank Castle. But maybe that is how he was before everything.

Grayson often wondered how Frank might have been in his “previous life,” as she silently referred to it. She imagined that Frank was one hell of a father and a loving husband. Only because she knew that Frank had a habit of putting his heart and soul and every fiber of his being into the tasks at his hand. Grayson allowed her eyes to drift back to Frank once she was sure he wasn’t looking at her any longer. She smiled. Grayson wished Frank would trust her more, wished that he would be a little softer. She wasn’t stupid, she knew Frank couldn’t fucking stand her. But she also knew Frank liked her. How much? That she wasn’t sure of.

Grayson nodded to Frank as he told her there was parmesan in the fridge. She stood up from the table and made her way into the kitchen to plate out her food. She opted for a bit of the parmesan and grabbed herself a glass of water before returning to the table. She knew Frank hated small talk while he was eating, she didn’t know why. So, she tried her hardest to keep her mouth shut. She waited until he was almost finished before she spoke up. “I know you don’t give a shit or whatever, but I really do appreciate you Frank.” She murmured as she looked down at her plate. “You’re a good man.”

There was something so nice and genuinely easy about cooking that Frank liked to do it. Of cours,e he needed to eat and more often than not, he ended up eating sandwiches or frozen meals that had been tossed in the microwave. When you were out at all hours of the night, you got home and were usually way too exhausted to do anything. Sometimes too beat up to do anything but drop into bed and fall into the abyss that was your mind. Even on the days when he'd been knocked so damn hard that it was all Frank could do to get back to the bunker before succumbing to his injuries, his dreams were nightmares that were filled with losing his family. Whether it was Maria, the kids, or hell, he would never admit it but even David had been in a few. David's family, too. And Grayson had begun to appear in them. Something that Frank could never admit to anyone, not even Grayson herself. It would just open up a door that Frank wasn't willing or ready to open back up yet.

Frank had been lost in his thoughts, perched over the pasta as he all but shoveled the food into his mouth. He had no need to savor it. Food was simply fuel and if it tasted good while it went down, all the better but he had eaten his fair share of MREs. He could stomach them, more than he cared to admit. Huffing when Grayson spoke, Frank looked up from his nearly empty plate of food. His eyes narrowed slightly as he listened to her.

"Most people disagree with you," Frank grunted before returning to his food. He knew it was true. Most people wouldn't bother to disagree with Grayson because they believed the stories on the news more than they bothered to do their own research. There wasn't a whole lot of information out there on the internet about Cerberus and Agent Orange but if you dug deep enough, it was out there. Just like everything else in the world.

"I kill bad people. Don't make me a good man," Frank said, pushing to his feet once he had finished his food. He trudged to the kitchen where he started washing his dishes. There was no reason to leave the dishes sitting around when he could do it. Frank hated leaving tasks undone.

"The shit I did with Cerberus..." Frank trailed off, letting out a dry laugh as he shook his head. He slammed a glass down on the counter that he had just finished cleaning. "S'all you need ta know I ain't a good man, Reed." Frank, deep down, liked to think that he was a good man but he knew what the world thought of Frank Castle and he had to leave it at that. Changing millions' of peoples' minds wasn't his job; his job was killing people that needed killing.

“I don’t give a shit if most people would disagree with me or not,” Grayson looked at him pointedly as she stuffed another forkful of her pasta into her mouth. “Frank Castle, you could do whatever the fuck you wanted to do and that doesn’t change the fact that you are a good man. You are a good man who was done wrong by so many different people on so many different levels. It’s the way of the world for you to make it right—I don’t give a shit what anyone says about you. I’ll be the first one to go down swinging.”

Grayson held her fork up at him and shook her head, knowing that he would have something to say to her about that one. “Let me finish,” She swallowed her food and looked at him once more, her eyes pleading with him to just fucking listen to her for once. “It’s not your job to make people think what I see, or what David sees. It’s what you see, Frank. And I’m telling you right now, that God, I wish you saw what I saw.”

Grayson finished her plate and walked to the kitchen, maneuvering around Frank to wash her plate. “And what I see is a man who was torn down to almost nothing, and has had to rebuild himself from the ground up. I see a man who takes out the evil in the world the best way he knows how. I see a man who tries to do right by those who do right by him. A man who will go to the ends of the earth for the people he loves and cares about.” Grayson continued on as she washed her dish, hoping that Frank wasn’t just tuning her out at this point. Grayson turned and looked at Frank, a mere foot in between them at this point. “I see a man who cares and wants what is best for those who deserve. And I’ll be damned if I haven’t told you how handsome that man is, inside and fucking out, Frank Castle.”

"I'm a Goddamned Marine, Grayson," Frank pointed out lowly. He would always be a Marine, there was no way around that fact. He had gone into the Corps straight out of high school and it was all that he had ever known. He was damn good at what he did though, that was the whole reason why he had ended up in this mess to begin with. If Frank had only known where being too damned good at killing people would lead him, he would have held back. He wouldn't have excelled, he would have been comfortable loving Maria and raising his children to be the amazing people that he had known they would be. But then, maybe he wouldn't have cared so much about the wrong that he would have never been involved in...

"Loyalty is in my blood. Doing right by innocent people. Protectin' them, it's in my blood. I don't got a choice in that," Frank answered, shrugging his shoulders. He didn't like what Grayson was saying to him because he thought it was ridiculous. He didn't understand why she was so insistent on him being a great man because he fuckin' wasn't. Frank was a lowlife piece of shit who killed lower pieces of shit than him.

Frank scoffed almost obnoxiously when Grayson called him handsome. He looked up to her, raising an eyebrow. "The fuck ya tryin' to say? You got the hots for me, Reed?" he asked, a little smirk quirking its way onto his features. "That why you're always so damn annoyin' and shit? Huh?" Frank pressed, turning so that he was facing her a bit more. "Bet you it is. That's what girls always do, huh? If you ain't givin' them attention they want, they'll damn sure try'n get it somehow."

Grayson’s entire body was on fire now, from the anger and resentment towards the man in front of her and the sheer proximity of how close he was to her. Grayson stared up at him, her blue eyes glaring into his as her mouth sight in a hard line. She had one hand gripping the sink so tight her knuckles were beginning to turn white. She drew her bottom lip and bit down on it. She was never going to win with this man. She was never going to be able to get through to him. Grayson knew now she needed to kick all of her feeling to the curb when it came to Frank Castle.

Grayson was willing her eyes not to glass over in front of him. She needed to remain strong and hold her ground. The more she showed Frank how much he affected her, the more he was going to continue to do the shit he did. “Why are you always like this?” She asked him harshly. “Why are you always such a fucking asshole to me?” Grayson’s brows were furrowed as she looked up at him. “The only person I can recall you being genuinely fucking nice to is Karen Page. Not me, not David. God forbid you be nice to the people who fucking work for you.” Grayson rolled here eyes and took a step back, giving her so much needed space between her and the man before her.

Grayson shook her head at him, her moth settling in a tight line. “Thanks for the dinner, Frank. But I’m starting to wish I never would have fucking called David. I’d probably be in a much better place by now if I wouldn’t have. Fuck, I wouldn’t be here to annoy you and try to get attention from you.” Grayson swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat and turned around to walk back towards her ‘new’ room. “Bye, Frank.”

It was like a switch had been flipped for Frank. The moment that the words came out of his mouth, he realized that he had been wrong to speak them but it was far too late to take them back. He had already spoken them, there was nothing more for him to say. Swallowing the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat, Frank turned away from Grayson before she even finished speaking to feign like he didn't care. It was a lot easier, a lot better than letting Grayson see the regret flash across his features. It wasn't there for very long at all but still, it was there.

Frank spun on his heel, reaching out and grabbing Grayson by her shoulder. He shoved her into the wall, standing not more than a foot away from her. A scowl formed on his lips as his shoulders pulled together. "Better fuckin' place, huh? How 'bout ya woulda been raped 'n abused til he decided he was done? Then ya woulda been killed. Any part o' that sound like fun ta you?" Frank's words were more growls than actual spoken words.

"Sure I can find ya a guy who'll be willin'. All ya gotta do is walk through Hells Kitchen," Frank snapped, his hands balling into fists at his sides. He exhaled slowly, giving his head a shake as he let out a bitter laugh. "You know, fuck it. You wanna go? Go. But don' be plannin' on comin' back." He twisted, storming toward where his shitty little bedroom was. He just wanted to get away from her before he said something he would end up regretting.

And just like that, they were back at square one. Grayson wasn’t sure how it always happened that way, all she knew was that it did. Every time progress was made with her and Frank, she either said something or did something and it all went back. Grayson had had enough.

Grayson spent the better portion of the next week scouring the web to find a new apartment. Any time David or Frank walked by, she would minimize the screen and pretend to be working. She hadn’t uttered one single work to Frank and she was barely talking to David. Grayson was starting to get the feeling that her time here with these two men had run its course. Hell, she had done her job and done it well. But maybe it was time for a fresh start, for something new. The only downfall was that she didn’t have a single employment record from the past year, because she had been working for them. It was going to take her a while to come up with some type of excuse for the lapse in her employment.

The weekend had rolled around and Grayson was getting more and more antsy from being holed up in the bunker. She received a text on her regular cell from her college roommate asking if she wanted to go out with the girls to the bar, so of course she said yes. She spent most of the evening getting ready—as ready as she could with the shitty water pressure and shitty lighting—not mentioned to either Frank or David what was on her agenda for the night.

When Grayson finally finished getting ready and had entered the common room with her heels dangling off her finger, David spoke up.

“Fuck, Grayson, what are you—” David paused, suppressing a laugh as he watched her struggle to strap the heels on with out sitting down. “You look nice… Where you headed to?”

“The bar.” Grayson stated matter-of-factly and grinned at him slyly. “Ashley invited me out. Maybe I can actually get laid or some shit tonight.”

“Well have you told Frank? After what happened I don’t think he would—”

“I don’t give a flying shit. Frank has made it very, very clear to me that he doesn’t want anything to do with me. I’m not going to keep putting my life on hold for a man who won’t even give me the time of day.” Grayson rambled, not even giving it a second thought that Frank might over hear her confession. She didn’t care. “I’m a grown woman. I’m going out with my friends. I’m allowed to have a life and have fun and be happy for once. I’m tired of wasting my time trying to give someone a part of me that they don’t want, David Lieberman.”

Frank had been out working a job that Lieberman had pointed him on. Grayson hadn't been much help lately but Frank didn't think too much about it because if she was going to get so bent out of shape over something that he considered small, meaningless, that there nothing he could say or do that would fix the situation. And to be perfectly honest, he didn't really give a shit about it either. Frank had long since sworn off women after his family had been murdered that he thought this was maybe a blessing in disguise. Maybe it was a good thing that he had pushed Grayson away because keeping her at an arm's length did more good than it did harm. Maybe it made her resent him but resenting Frank Castle was far easier than loving him.

When he arrived home and David immediately started yammering on about there being an issue with Grayson, Frank fought back a sigh. David normally knew well enough to stay away from Frank when he first got back from a job. So Frank knew that whatever David was talking about wasn't going to be good. That he wasn't going to get the rest he had been dreaming about.

"She, she went out to a bar, Frank, and I-" David had been talking but Frank lunged at the hacker, yanking him to his feet by his shirt collar.

"The fuck ya mean she went to the bar?"

"Grayson, you gotta understand something, Frank. She's been upset for awhile now. I don't know, maybe you said or did something..." David held up his hands when Frank's face darkened. "I'm not saying you did but I'm saying maybe she took something you said or did the wrong way. That's all, Frank."

As Frank was headed for the door, David called out again, "she likes you, Frank. No damn clue how someone as sweet as her likes someone as ugly and stubborn as you but she does," he offered, hoping like hell that it would ease whatever Frank was sure to unleash on Grayson when he finally found her tonight. Frank was already in a bad mood from his job, going out and finding Grayson at the bar with a bunch of friends would do no one any favours.

Grayson had been thoroughly enjoying herself with her friends that she hadn’t seen in a long time. And for once, Grayson felt good about herself. She had curled her blonde hair, put on more makeup than she had in over a year, and the dress she was wearing did her a lot of favors. Initially, Grayson thought she would maybe have a few drinks with her friends and then hit the dance floor, but ultimately she felt content sitting there, sipping at her liquor, and reminiscing on days gone by.

“Grayson was a fucking crazy girl in college!” Ashley divulged to the group. “If this were six years ago, her ass would have already been on the table dancing and had scored a guy to go home with.”

Grayson shook her head and laughed along, mentioning that she wasn’t that type of girl anymore. One of the other girls piped up and asked Grayson if there was a lucky guy in her life. That sure as shit almost spoiled her mood. All she could do was shake her head no and look down at her drink. The other girls got the hint and moved on to talking about someone else.

Grayson tried her hardest not to let her mind wander to Frank, but here she was, verging on drunk while she sulked over a man who didn’t want her. Grayson was surprised that her phone hadn’t been blown up yet by David or Frank. For a man who told her over and over again how disinterested he was in women (and quite annoyed with Grayson’s presence) Frank Castle surely was one hell of a clingy man. Grayson snapped herself out of her funk and joined the conversation once more, smiling brightly and laughing along to something Ashley had said. Her eyes scanned the bar for a moment and found their way to a familiar figure.

Frank.

While everyone else wouldn’t recognize the brooding, hulking man; Grayson would recognize that baseball cap tucked down low from a mile away. Grayson excused herself from the table for a moment and marched her way over to him, her heels click-click-clicking every step of the way. For how tipsy she was, Grayson’s balance was impeccable and there was a powerful confidence that was exuding from her.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Grayson hissed at him, grabbing his arm and leading him out of sight. “Why can’t you just let me enjoy myself with people who actually want to fucking be around me for once?”