#Frank and Karen

[silverflameataraxia]

We have scenes of Frank being tortured showing absolutely no fear at all. But the thought of Karen in danger? Pure, unadulterated terror.

[wearethherdrapes]

Frank and Karen should’ve kissed in the elevator scene idc idc idc

[stellernorth]

...

they both know he asked her to stay because he needs someone to be emotionally vulnerable with and he wants it to be her, and by asking "why did you ask me to stay" karen is basically forcing frank to ask her to leave or commit to it

[dabiensworld]

day three! wednesday, sept. 4 | through new eyes | the day of observations

outsider, 3rd party perspectives of frank and karen's relationship. no matter where it stands.

@kastlenetwork

[aiobhlin]

Witness

When Karen’s safety is threatened after she’s witness to an almost unspeakable crime, she sees Witness Protection as her only hope. Frank Castle has other ideas about how to keep her safe.

Set in a world where I didn’t rewatch any of the shows before writing it, and I just never watched Daredevil 3 or Punisher 2, so there’s lots of canon inconsistencies. Take a deep breath, buckle in, and just ride it out. We’re gonna have a good time.

This is a (mostly) finished work that I will post in semi-regular installments for my sanity and to make sure I have everything all buttoned up. I hope to have the whole thing posted before November 2023.

Credit to @garglyswoof for the magnificent, thorough, thoughtful, and supportive beta. I truly couldn't have done this without you.

For this first chapter, The Evidence, Karen goes undercover to get a story for the Bulletin and ends up seeing more than she anticipated.

“Are you going to approve my leave?” Karen kept her face neutral, and met his eyes straight on. It was a challenge, and he rose to it, holding her gaze with a challenge of his own.

“No.” He turned away.

“No? Ellison!”

“I said no, Karen. The last reporter I had who went deep on a Fisk story died. Do you remember him? His name was Ben Urich. He left the paper…”

“You fired him…”

“…chased after the story, and ended up dead.”

“I am not going to end up dead,” Karen started to protest, but Ellison waved a hand in her face and cut her off.

“Look, Ben was careful, okay? He took things slowly, asked questions discreetly. You’re like a bull in a china shop.” Karen looked like he had punched her in the gut, and Ellison mentally patted himself on the back for bringing Ben into it. “One thing I admired about Ben, and that I admire about you, is how devoted you are, how driven to report the truth. But there’s a difference between taking a chance on reporting corporate embezzlement and putting your life on the line by looking into whatever Vanessa Fisk is doing.”

“I’m hardly going to be putting my life on the line!” Karen recovered and rolled her eyes, her task of sorting files long forgotten.

“Going after anything regarding the Fisks is putting your life on the line, don’t you see? Ben was murdered for what he was trying to expose.”

“Yeah, and Fisk’s now in prison because of that.”

“I don’t want you to get killed, Karen.”

[laufeys6ns]

karen + frank scenes | the punisher 1080p

[zushigirl]

“Sammy told me the news…”

Karen frowns. Samantha Radford is the head cheerleader and most popular girl in Fagan High’s senior class. The only time she acknowledges Karen’s presence is in sixth period English.

“What news?”

Julie blinks at her. “The news about you. Georgetown. You got in, right?”

Karen bobs her head, face flushing. How she wishes Ms. Campbell hadn’t announced it to the whole room. “Yeah. They’re offering me a journalism scholarship.”

“No. Way.” Julie smiles at her – a fake, plastic smile. “Locking yourself in the newspaper office after school paid off. You’re going to escape this shit hole.” The girl pauses. “Does Todd know?”

…

Karen takes a little trip down memory lane thanks to some of the clues Frank has left for her…

Happy Thanksgiving Kastle fam🍁 Whether you celebrate or not, know that I’m grateful for all the awesome storytellers and readers and fans in this group!

[vanillasn0w]

Karen and Frank edit

[kanerallels]

"Not everything is about your blorbos" to you maybe. To me every other song and probably that car commercial is about them

[draculas-secret-blog]

"They're shipping you guys.." "..to where?"

[silverflameataraxia]

Frank's reactions to Karen being in danger

[marveldaily]

Daredevil .380 | 2.11

[stellernorth]

look at me jakey this isnt you

[dabiensworld]

Lady Macbeth's blood

Part 2 of my pilot episode of DD:BA imagination May 27th: Still All Heart Use pics from behind the scenes (the already infamous shit-eating grin one ofc) and actual set pics from Daredevil: Born Again to inspire your art/fic

@kastleexchange

When Karen was 13 she belonged to her school's theater club. They planned to perform Macbeth that summer. She used to be so excited about that, she loved Shakespeare since she was a little girl and her grandma had a whole Shakespeare collection. Her favorite one was Romeo + Juliet with a beautiful bare chested ginger woman painted on its cover. Karen was fascinated by her. Took her years to understand that Juliet in the book was only 13 years old and painting her as a naked  fully developed woman was highly inappropriate. But it didn't kill the love she had for classics. On the contrary, it made it deeper. When the Macbeth show was announced,  she knew there was only one role for her - Lady Macbeth. She knew her part by heart. Not only her lines, but her motives, her loves, her desires and fears. She was fully prepared for casting with a scene where Lady Macbeth was trying to wash the blood off her hands.

 What, will these hands ne’er be clean? No  more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that. You mar all  with this starting. Here’s the smell of the blood still. All  the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little  hand. 

She knew exactly how she wanted to say it. She was so sure, so confident when she entered the stage and all eyes were on her. 

Then someone from the audience, probably one of the boys from the older class, screamed “Casting for witches parts were done hours ago.” 

Fear paralyzed her, her back and hands were covered with sweat. She no longer remembered anything about the interpretation she had prepared. She recited her dialogues and ran away from the stage before the teacher allowed her to be dismissed. She ran into the women's bathroom and looked in the mirror.  She had had acne on her face for several months, her hair was thin and unmanageable, no matter how many cosmetics she applied to it. This is not what the beautiful and intriguing, cunning and determined Lady Macbeth would look like. So Karen was somewhat relieved to learn that she had been cast as Lady Macbeth's understudy and that she was to help with the props. 

Karen had a lot of bad memories and traumatic experiences. In a few years, she went through more than 10 people combined. Death looked into her eyes so many times that she stopped being afraid of it and started treating it like a good friend. She wondered why the memory of the school casting came back to her as she washed Foggy's blood from her hands. 

She wasn't sure how long she had been washing her hands, but the water was still angry red. Or maybe it just seemed that way to her. Maybe it was imagined blood, just like Lady Macbeth. Except this blood was real. She also had it on her clothes, face and hair. 

“Miss Page?” She heard a nurse knocking on bathroom’s door.

She tried to force her brain back to reality.  Whole city was consumed by chaos. She replayed in her head the events that had happened since the morning, she looked for signs that this day was going to end in disaster. But it was the most ordinary day. She woke up next to Frank. Took a shower. She planned to have dinner with him that evening and talk about the future of their relationship. She went to her favorite coffee shop and she bought a latte with vanilla syrup for Foggy, an Americano with milk and one sachet of sugar for Matt, and a nut cappuccino for herself. It was a ritual for her. Then she went to their office, they finally got a new place, they were still in Hell's Kitchen, but in a slightly more representative part. Matt and Foggy were already there, ever since she started dating Frank, she was finding herself last in the office more and more often, and that didn't go unnoticed by her two best friends. They both knew Karen had been dating for a while, but the fact that she wasn't giving them any details was killing them both inside. 

“I don't have a developed sense of smell, but I can smell men's perfume on you.” Sound of Foggy’s voice was ringing inside her head. It was today’s morning. Why did it sound so distant?

The workday was no different from any other, she couldn't remember the details even if her life depended on it. Maybe she wasn't focused because she was more concerned about what awaited her in the evening. But first, a drink with friends. Their tradition was to go to the sleaziest dive in Hell's Kitchen - Josie's Bar. The business had been doing quite well for a while and they could afford to go out for a drink at a good place, but it didn't have the atmosphere of the days when customers paid them in bananas and they could barely afford to pay their bills. Foggy called "Josie's" their lucky charm. He was just toasting the favorable deal he had made earlier today. 

“To Karen and her very successful love life, which she doesn't want to tell us about.”

“Foggy, why do you care so much about my love life?” she asked with a nervous laugh. 

“Because you are co-partner and our friend, so what’s yours is ours.” Foggy answered while pouring them another drink. 

“How’s my love life part of the law firm?”

Matt decided to join the discussion. “Come on Foggy, stop teasing her already.”

“Thank you Matt.” she mouthed.

“Listen Karen, Foggy and I recently talked about it. About your love life and why didn’t you tell us about it. We don't want you to feel uncomfortable about this, so we want you to know that we absolutely don't mind if you meet up with a former client of ours."

Karen paled. They knew about her and Frank. She thought they were so discreet that no one knew about it. They never went out together. They only ever met at her apartment. But then again, she should have known that keeping such a secret might be difficult when you had a friend with near-superhuman senses. Karen didn't even try to imagine what their reaction might be, so she was surprised that they seemed to accept it.

“So you know about it and you don’t mind?” She was seeking confirmation.

“No.” Matt shook his head. 

“Not at all. You and Mr. Gleeson can reveal yourself.” Foggy replied enthusiastically.

Wait. What?

“You think I’m dating Mr. Gleeson?” Karen was shocked. She didn’t expect that. Mr. Gleeson was an almost 50 years old former client, who sued his former employer for losses incurred in connection with his work. Karen caught his eye from the very beginning, he was always gallant towards her, and once he even brought her flowers - a huge bouquet of yellow tulips. A man like that is rare, and Karen even wondered why his wife divorced him. But she quickly put those thoughts aside when she got home and Frank saw the flowers. He didn't comment on it, but she could tell from his expression that he was confused and maybe even jealous. She even enjoyed the thought, and even more enjoyed all the naughty things Frank did to her that night. He effectively put Mr. Gleeson out of her mind and she didn't think about him until Foggy reminded her of him

“We saw…” Foggy started, but immediately corrected himself, while looking at Matt. “Or rather, I saw the way he looked at you. He always asked about you, brought you flowers to the office and flirted with you. And you flirted with him. This had to end in a relationship.”

“Foggy, I was only nice to him, it wasn’t flirting. And it was a nice gesture on his part to bring me flowers, but I didn't ask for it. Where did you even come up with this?” 

Both Foggy and Matt were confused. 

“It’s really not so hard to notice. You are constantly late, always on your phone, you are acting more cryptic than usual. That means you have to be in a serious relationship.” Foggy counted.

“No shit Sherlock. As a PI I have irregular working hours and that's part of my job - I have to be on call. And I've always been cryptic, ever since we've known each other. I don't know why you only noticed this now.” Karen took a sip of her drink to hide her nervousness. She wasn't planning on having this conversation today, she was still focused on what she would say to Frank. Telling Matt and Foggy about her relationship was far down her priority list.

“It's also hard not to notice that you've been happy for a while.” Matt was right, she didn’t even try to hide it. “As your friends we want to be part of your happiness.”

“Okay fine. Yes, I’m seeing someone, yes, it’s a former client of the firm  and yes, it’s leading to something serious. Tonight we are planning to talk about whether we are passing another milestone or leaving things the way they are.” 

“Was it really that terrible to tell us about it? You are not an attorney, so your relationship with our client does not create a conflict of interest. You don't have to hide it. Unless you're hiding because the guy has a wife or something.” Foggy said. 

“No, he is a widower.” Karen realized what she said a second too late. There were plenty of their female clients who were widows, but only one man, and the tragic circumstances in which he lost his family made it impossible to forget about it, and Matt's face said that he immediately put two and two together. She might as well tell them, maybe the damage to their relationship that will undoubtedly be wrought after this conversation will be less.

“I’m dating Frank Castle.” 

An awkward silence fell over the table.  Karen gritted her teeth to the point of pain. She didn't know what reaction she should have expected, but she didn't expect complete silence. Matt remained strangely silent, and Foggy made a strange sound like laughter and choking. 

“Was it a joke?” he awkwardly started laughing. “I was a good one. You almost got me.”

“Foggy. She is not joking.” Matt was surprisingly calm and it made Karen feel anxious. Being stoic was not a common thing for Matt.

“Shit.” Foggy drawled and zeroed his drink. 

“I'm sorry guys I didn't tell you, I didn't know how you would react to that. And my hunches were not unfounded.” She felt tears coming down her face. She didn't want to cry so she wiped them out with her hand. 

“What were you thinking? Dating a guy who tried to kill us, who killed multiple people. He's someone who should be in jail, not in your bed.” Karen rarely saw Foggy being angry like this. But she understood that he had a good reason for that. She didn't know how to answer that so she decided to stay silent. 

“How did this actually happen?” Foggy asked and she knew she owed them that explanation.

“Do you remember Big Armando’s case?”

“That guy who threatened you for finding more women he molested? It's hard to forget. But how does this relate to your relationship with the Punisher?” Asked Foggy.

“He didn't commit suicide. Frank found out he had been looking for a Mexican sicario to kill me and probably hurt you guys too.” Karen knew there was no excuse for Frank's actions, certainly not in the eyes of Foggie and Matt. Because for her the matter was clear. Frank did it out of love for her, like everything else in his life. 

“So this is what it will look like now?” Foggy asked. “Your man will solve all our problems in a way neither of us asked him to.”

Karen didn't think she had opened Pandora's box with this confession. She had never felt such chaos in her head before, but she made sure of one thing. Her feelings for Frank have never been as clear as they are at this moment. However, they could not overshadow her friendship with Foggy and Matt. That's why she was so shocked by their reaction. Foggy was usually the calm one and Matt was the emotional one, but today it was the opposite. She was even happy when the whole awkward situation was interrupted by Foggy's cell phone.

“I'll go pick it up and you talk some sense into her.” Foggy addressed Matt directly, avoiding Karen's eyes. She lowered her head and nervously picked at the skin near her nail. She got over this habit years ago.

“Matt…” she started.

“I knew Frank had been in Hell’s Kitchen for a while and I didn't do anything about it. I didn't think it was that close."

She didn't know what Matt's tone meant, it sounded like he was blaming himself for something.

"What are you talking about?"

“I promised myself that if he came back to the streets as the Punisher, I would stop him.” 

“He's not the Punisher anymore. He's not even Frank Castle anymore, at least legally. He uses the name Pete Castiglione and tries to have a normal life. He has an apartment in Hell's Kitchen, goes to a support group for veterans, works in construction, and his boss really likes him…” Karen noticed that Matt couldn't hear her at all. She touched his arm with her hand to get his attention.

"Something is wrong." he whispered.

***

“Tonight wasn't supposed to be like this.” Foggy paced nervously back and forth in front of the door to Josie's bar. He was completely unnerved by Karen's confession and the subsequent call about the mysterious attack. Matt decided to check it out immediately as Daredevil despite their protests and told them to stay at the bar until he returned.

“Are you mad at me?” Karen asked, although she might as well have just stated a fact. 

“No Karen, I'm not mad at you. For situations, yes, but you have nothing to do with it." He tried to convince her, but Karen wasn't the kind of person who could easily be put on the spot.

“Yeah, right.” she replied in a slightly mocking tone. 

“I'm not mad that you're dating Castle or that you didn't tell me about it. I just can't understand it. You have to see for yourself that this is completely sick." Here Karen had to admit that if she heard about it herself, she would probably think she was crazy. She must have expected that very few people would understand her feelings for Frank. Many people saw them, but no one really understood them.

“Tell me, is the situation on the marriage market really so bad that your match had to turn out to be a serial killer?” She had to admit that was a pretty good comment. Because thanks to it, she realized that there was a specific reason for her feelings for this and not another man.

“Foggy, I know this seems crazy to you and that you think Frank is crazy, but the truth is, I'm not a normal person either.” she replied and Nelson looked at her, raising an eyebrow in surprise. 

“You know my past, you know what I have done in my life and you know that... I killed a man and managed to avoid legal punishment for it. My whole life was already marked by it and I had to learn to live with it, with all this guilt, with all this baggage. The point is that not everyone will be able to carry this burden with me, and I wouldn't be able to have a relationship with someone who didn't know this detail about me. I want the man with whom I will share my life to know everything about me, so that I will never have to be ashamed of it.”

“I understand what you're saying, but do you really think that of all the people on Earth, only one Frank can understand you?” 

The tightness in Karen's chest eased slightly as Foggy stopped being nervous and returned to his former self, asking her pointed questions as he was wont to do, both as an attorney and as a friend. 

“You think I haven't tried relationships with other men? I tried and it ended in failure every time. Because I couldn't open up in this relationship and be completely honest, because I was afraid that someone would reject me because of my past.

“Haven't you ever thought that your heart problems are caused by the fact that maybe you don't like men in the way that heteronormative society tries to convince you?”

“Foggy.” Karen scolded him. “I once went on a date with a woman, sexual orientation has nothing to do with it. It's about honesty. I can't stand secrets in a relationship. And that's why it didn't work out with Matt, because we hid too much from each other. This problem does not exist with Frank, he loves me and accepts me as I am."

She saw Foggy freeze. 

“You said the L-word.”

She did and she really meant it.

“I really like the arrangement we have and if Frank wants to stick with it, I'm totally cool with it. Although I must admit that I would like something more. Because I like spending time with him, talking to him, listening to music, cooking. I like how he listens when I tell him about my day. Even though it drives me crazy sometimes, I like feeling all these emotions. I like having him next to me when I fall asleep and when I wake up. Sex is nice too. Simply…"

“ You like HIM, don’t you?” Foggy asked the question when he already knew the answer.

“I love him, Foggy.” For the first time she said it aloud and she absolutely admired how sweet and natural the words “I love Frank Castle” were on her tongue. TFoggy's growl softened. He placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her like the good friend he undoubtedly was.

“Does he make you happy?” He asked. 

Karen smiled broadly at him, the tension leaving her body and she felt as light as a feather. She was about to answer him "Yes, Frank Castle makes me happy.", she heard a noise behind her and...

“Hello Karen.”

[aiobhlin]

Witness Chapter 7: The Journey

I hope y'all have been enjoying this story! I really suck at making tumblr posts and promoting my own work but I'm thrilled people have been finding it and reading it anyway.

Summary: Karen and Frank embark on the next phase of their new life together.

Excerpt:

As soon as they were settled, the flight attendants began their safety speech, and Karen realized she was vibrating from the adrenaline. The coffee on top of very little sleep probably didn’t help, either. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, breathing slowly and deeply. She had no room for regrets now, as the plane started to move. She kept her eyes closed, mind racing with memories, and hopes, and dreams, and fears. They flitted through so fast she couldn’t focus on just one long enough to even identify it, so she focused on her breathing instead.

She woke up with Frank gently stroking her arm.

“Karen,” he said quietly, “we’re in Chicago. You need to wake up.”

[redbelles]

You bought me flowers?

THE PUNISHER (2017-2019) 1.02 Two Dead Men