Do As I Say, Yada Yada

My tag to 2x05 when I wish Frank just went a bit more parental on Amy about stealing from Madani… Rated T for (threats of) spanking.

The first part of dialogue is straight from the show, then it's all me. I own nothing! Though, I wish I had a piece of Frank Castle…

If you squint, you'll notice a small timeline error as far as canon goes. Just keep reading.

Frank walked up the last flight of stairs to Agent Madani's floor. Making quick work of the walk to her apartment door, Frank walked into the woman's apartment. He shut the door a little harder than necessary to help alert the girl, with her back to him, of his presence. He quickly looked around, noticing the aforementioned girl had a laptop and was surrounded by bags. What the Hell?

"What is all this shit? It's a mess in here," Frank cringed at how parental that sounded. Not important now, though. "You went out?" He followed up, half accusing, half asking.

Amy turned toward the man, "I did not," the teen stated confidently.

"So how'd it get here?" the questions were slowly killing him. She responded quickly, "I don't know, you can get pretty much anything delivered these days."

Frank was caught off guard. "Delivered?"

"Here, I got you something too," she said, both ignoring and handing the confused man a paper bag. As he walked away to set it on the counter she added, "I figured you weren't into experimenting with color in your wardrobe, so…"

"Who paid for this?" Frank wanted to know, looking back toward the girl. Amy simply flashed a black card his way, her back again to him. Frank stepped toward her, "Jesus Christ, what is that?" Immediately realization flooded his features, then quickly turned to anger, "So this lady, she puts you up at her house and what? You steal from her? That's what you do?" He scoffed, "You're something else."

Amy started her justification, "It's not like she can't afford it. Have you seen her shoe closet?!" Her voice started raising.

Frank matched hers in volume, "What has that got to do with anything? You think she's gonna be happy about this?" the girl shrugged, "I don't know, is she ever happy about anything? Like ever?" Amy drolled.

Frank's shook his head, "Chrissake, you're unbelievable." But what could he do about it? Amy rolled her eyes and turned back to her typing while Frank continued to stare at the back of her head. He couldn't believe his - uh, this - kid. Stealing from the people helping you isn't right, even the Punisher knew that.

Without thinking too much into what really couldn't be called a plan, he went to stand in front of her, arms crossed over his chest. When a couple beats passed and the teenager seemed to have no intention of acknowledging the man before her, Frank reached down and plucked the computer from her lap, effectively snapping it shut and setting it none too gently on the coffee table.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, shooting up from the chair to stand in front of him, "I was working on something there!" He had to note that while she was obviously frustrated, she didn't look much more dangerous than a chinchilla could be. But, back to business.

Arms still crossed, Frank strengthened his glare, voice in its usual gravel tone, "I asked you a question. Is this what you do? You steal?" Amy dropped her jaw for a moment, then sneered, "Uh, yeah, that was literally my job until you brought me into this whirlwind."She motioned around with her arms. Amy then straightened her back to its full height which was still, unfortunately, at least four inches below Frank's.

Frank growled deeper, "So you do this to someone helping you? You'd pull this shit with Fiona?" Amy's face turned white. Yahtzee.

"N-no, she is- was family."

Frank nodded, "Look, I know my life is complicated. Shit's a little fucked up and that's putting it mildly most days, but there are still things I gotta live by. One of those? These good people helping, they're family. I don't shoot family in the back, and I definitely don't thank them by stealing," he finished, his voice low and strong, but a little softer than before.

Amy's resolve strengthened at that, "ha, right, because I'm supposed to believe Frank Castle gets close enough to call people family," she looked off, refusing to show the emotions she felt.

Frank snapped his fingers, "Hey! Eyes here." Once he had her full attention, he continued, "Listen to me, kid, you are just that - a child. I am the adult. So guess what? What I say - it goes. You get me?" He swore they had had this conversation in the past.

He saw the girl's eyes widened for a split second before narrowing, "Yeah okay, do as I say, yada yada."

Frank took another step toward her, causing Amy to plop back into her chair. He pointed a finger in her direction, "You are riding a thin line here, Kid. Wanna keep going?"

Amy pushed his hand away, her blue eyes blazing, "What're you gonna do about it?"

If there was one rule to live by, it was don't challenge Frank Castle. Preferably, ever.

In a swift motion Frank pulled her up by her arm with his uninjured one, turned her to the side, and again with his left hand, laid three strong swats on the seat of her pants. Amy quickly stepped away, then turned to face him.

"What the heck was that?!" she screeched.

Frank, while a bit unsure himself, didn't let it show, "That was the line." He turned and walked away, feeling his point was sufficiently made.

Amy ran around the couch, cutting Frank off and standing before him again. But, not too close.

"No, no way you just do - THAT - and we don't talk about it. So, what, you're just gonna smack me around any time I say something you don't like now? What's next? You gonna shoot me, Frank?!"

The man in question was the one to roll his eyes this time, "Don't be ridiculous, I'm not gonna shoot ya, Kid," meeting her eyes he became serious again, "but I'll sure as hell keep your ass in line as long as I'm the one in charge of it. Capiche?"

Amy sputtered, thrown off by her feelings. Isn't this what she wanted? Protection and family? But, she decided, not like that, "Uh, no no no, not 'capiche' Frank. Don't I have any say in this?"

"The way I see it? No," Frank shrugged, "You're the Kid. Kid's never like the consequences."

Amy, for once, was speechless. Frank's nose picked up on something else, over to his left… "Is that Lombardi's?" he asked, walking over to it.

"Uh- yeah, sausage and mushroom," the teen confirmed. "Holy shit," muttered the man who proceeded to open the box and remove two slices. Nearing the girl again, he held one out to her. Figuring this was the closest she'd get to a peace offering, Amy accepted.

Pushing some bags off the couch she made a spot for Frank, which the man quickly filled. The pair then stared at the wall, ate their pizza doubled over, and processed the last few minutes.

The End.

I'm thinking of tagging some other moments, too. Any requests? I'm also kicking around a chapter fic with Kastle & Amy if that interests folks at all… Let me know in a review!