Lost

Frank was pulled from sleep by a cold nose nudging against his hand. Looking down, he smiled when he seen Bo, a Miniature Australian Shepard had nudged him, trying to wake up him and get him out of bed. He scrubbed his eyes with the back of his large hand and squinted at the alarm clock

5:45Am

Frank climbed out of bed and moved quietly to the closet to pull on a pair of jeans and a thermal. Backpedaling for socks, he grabbed them and then headed out of the bedroom. Ambling down the stairs after brushing his teeth, he shuffled into the kitchen and started the coffee, not forgetting the dog that was following him like a shadow.

“Give me five minutes and we’ll go to work.”

Bo’s ears perked up and he tilted his head to the side, his whole body starting to wiggle.

“I know, you’re always ready for work, bub. But I gotta have my coffee first.”

Frank moved through the house quietly, stopping in the mudroom to shove his feet into a pair of boots and slip his coat on. Stopping to make sure he didn’t hear Grace moving upstairs, he let out a soft whistle and Bo was by his side in the next instance. He waited another moment to see if Piper was going to come along this morning, but wasn’t surprised when he didn’t hear the loud thump of the dog jumping from the bed.

Bo trotted closely to Frank’s side, never straying to far from him as they made their way to the barn. The other animals on the property starting to wake as the sun peaked over the horizon. Frank, in a million years, had never thought he’d be able to settle down, to make a life for himself. One that didn’t include violence, that is. He still held grief and anger, but he had come to realize that this would probably never change.

Pushing the barn doors open, he fell into his routine. He fed the horses, opened up the gates so they could get into their pasture, fed the chickens and glared at the rooster, daring the animal to charge him like it did many mornings.

“I ain’t afraid to punt you across this yard.” He muttered, pointing a thick finger at the beast. Thinking briefly that Curtis would be laughing his ass off if he could see Frank now.

He hopped on the tractor next, preparing to feed the cows as they were starting to get restless and irritated knowing that their food should be coming. Shaking his head as he watched Bo stalk and herd the cows, knowing it made no difference to try to stop the dog, it was ingrained in the animal, and was one of Bo’s favorite things to do.

“Good boy,” Frank praised after parking the tractor, grabbing the ball that Bo had found in the yard, he pitched it as far as he could. Knowing Bo used ball as his reward for getting his “work” done. Frank tossed the ball a few more times before motioning to the house, “Come on, Bo, let’s go get Momma up.”

Tucking his hands into his jacket, Frank made his way towards the house, wondering if Grace was still sleeping or not. He entered the house just as quietly as he had left. Toeing off his boots, and shrugging out of his coat, he then moved to pour himself another cup of coffee. Taking the cup with him, he climbed the stairs, listening for movement.

He smiled softly when he reached the bedroom that he shared with Grace; she was still sleeping soundly, Piper stretched out on his side of the bed. The Great Dane mix taking up almost as much room as Frank did. He leaned against the doorframe, soaking in the peacefulness of the moment. He sipped his coffee, his mind wandering.

Frank Castle was lost…he spent a better portion of an hour denying it as he tried to navigate along the back roads of some random town in the thumb of Michigan. It was raining so hard that he could barely see, and he had thought about pulling over more than once. Sighing, he ran his hand along the back of his head as he tried to figure if he wanted to keep going or just pull over and sleep in his van for the night.

Lost in his own thoughts, Frank barely had time to react as a mass shot out of the corner of his vision and into the light shining from his headlights. He swore loudly and hit the brakes so hard that everything in his van jolted and shuttered before coming to a stop mere inches from what Frank could barely make out to be some sort of animal.

“What the hell.”

Throwing the van into park, he pushed his door open and rounded the front of the vehicle. There sat a dog, a very large dog, huddled and shaking and covered with mud. Frank held out his hand, allowing the animal to sniff him before he tried to pet it.

“Hey there, pooch.” He murmured softly, ignoring the chill soaking into his skin from the rain, and scratched the dog’s ears gently. “What are you doing out here?”

Frank would never admit it to anyone else, but he did have a soft spot for dogs.

“Let’s get out of this rain, huh? See if we can find your owner…”

The dog surveyed him, now standing and ready to make a run for it, trying to decide if it should trust the large man in front of it, or take off. Frank noticed this, and quickly opened his door, whistling as he grabbed the bag of jerky off of his passenger seat and pulled a piece out of it. He offered it to the dog, and he chuckled to himself as the dog bounded up into the vehicle, whole body wiggling as it danced in anticipation of the treat Frank held in his hand.

Frank quickly climbed back into his van and shut the door, feeding the dog another piece of jerky as he located the tag on her collar, the front had her name, Piper and the back, thankfully, listed a phone number and an address. Digging his small, black, phone out of his glove box, Frank chuckled as Piper managed to give him a slobber filled kiss. Wiping his face, Frank turned up the heat before turning the phone on and dialing the number from Piper’s tag.

The phone only rang once before a women answered,

“Hello?”

“Hi.” Frank grunted, “I, uh, I found a dog…and this was the number on her collar so I was just wonderin—.”

“Oh my god, you found her? You found Piper? Where are you, I’ll come get her right now…thank you so, so much. I’ve been so fucking worried about her.”

It’d been history from that night, now almost three years ago.

“Frank?” Her voice, heavy with sleep brought him back to reality.

“Hey Babes.” He replied softly, moving into the bedroom, setting his coffee mug onto his bedside table and rounded the bed to sit next to her. Brushing her hair off of her face, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“You’re cold,” She whined as his nose skimmed her jaw before he buried his face into her neck.

“Got the chores done,” Frank replied, huffing out a laugh when she tried to pull him back down into bed, he gave in and let her. His large body covered her own, and he held himself up on his elbows to stop from squishing her. “Bo was ready to go to work.”

“Thank you.” She hummed, running her fingers through his hair and up and down his back soothingly, still hazy with sleep. She pressed a small kiss to his lips, giggling when Piper let out a large, annoyed huff beside them. “We’re invading her space, you know.”

“Oh, the horror.” Frank replied, moving to lie on his side beside Grace. His hand skimmed over her arm, watching goose bumps break out on her skin. Feeling heat start to settle in his belly, he trailed his lips over the delicate skin on the side of her neck.

“Oh no,” Grace laughed, shimmying away from him and giggling when he caught her before she could get too far away. “Breakfast, Castle.” She quirked an eyebrow at him and shook her head as he flopped onto his back, tucking his hands behind his head, causing his thermal to hike up and expose a slice of his toned stomach. Tempting. She thought to herself, but no cigar.

“Breakfast in bed, maybe?”

“No.” She maneuvered so she was straddling his waist, bending she pressed another kiss to his lips, “Pancakes.”

Frank laughed, he couldn’t help it…he let her off of his lap and watched as she maneuvered into the bathroom down the hall. Shaking his head at the way that her hair created a wild halo around her head, and the fact that she was clad in only panties and her favorite shirt of his.

Reaching out his hand, Frank scratched Piper’s ears, thinking about how his life had changed the night he had found her. Without knowing it, Frank had also found himself that night. Slowly and surely bringing himself back from being lost.

“Castle!” Grace’s voice carried through the bedroom as she moved passed, heading for the stairs. “I’m going to get hangry if you don’t get your ass moving. We all know, we don’t like me when I’m hangry!”

She tried not to smile as she heard Frank’s laughter echo off of the walls, knowing he was shaking his head at her while running a hand over his face.