Karen's moment of joy at finally voicing her choice only lasts a day.

By the third day, she's a sobbing mess. She could blame it on the hormones, but it's so much more than just that, even if they may be contributing to it.

No, it's just the fact that Frank hasn't shown up in eleven weeks. That even if she had a chance to find him and tell him about the pregnancy, there wasn't even a shred of a guarantee he'd want anything to do with it or her. Not after his family, and most certainly not after a single night that she's ninety percent certain he views as a mistake.

But then she sees herself with a tiny thing, being able to finally have a family. Something that can't be ripped out from under her again and again. A little thing with big eyes and a bright smile. A little thing that she can teach and dress and love.

But then it's back to Frank, and having to face this alone, and trying to find space in her schedules for every bit of prenatal care and planning that needs to be done.

Trish is helpful, of course, and if she's not able to, then Jess shows up in her absence.

But they're not great friends. They're not as close as Matt and Foggy. Before this, they were coffee dates and occasional lunches and business meets. Now they're phone calls and occasional shopping trips.

She pushes on, though. Pushes on and digs for Frank, who has to be somewhere in this goddamned city.

Another month passes, and Karen awakes to a bump.

It's not quite what she'd expected. Sure, she'd read the manuals, but a small part of her still thought the whole baby bump thing would be a gradual thing. But no, today was the day that her uterus was able to push forward through her abdominal muscle to give her a bump. Nothing large, and still very much slight enough to be covered with a looser blouse, but she could see it in the mirror after her shower.

And that set off a whole new round of emotions, one that ended with her purchasing a pregnancy test and angrily sticking it into the pot of roses that had sat on her window sill for the past four months.

"Damn, Barbie," Jessica squints at her midsection, lips somewhat twisted in a considering manner. "From your freak out over the phone I would've thought you'd swollen up like a balloon,"

"It feels like it!" Karen exclaims, running her hands over the slight roundness. Ever since she was a little girl, she'd always been too tall, too bony, awkward Karen Page. But now there was this, however slight it was, and she was sort of tripping out.

Jessica sighs. "Poor you and your supermodel body,"

Karen catches her little smile, though.

He still doesn't come.

But David does.

Two days after the flower pot debacle, the man is outside her apartment, hair fluffed curls and all.

"I'm, um, sorry to bother you, ma'am," he speaks nervously but quickly, eyes darting about a small bit. "But I'm . . . I'm David. David Lieberman."

Politely, she reaches out to shake his hand. "Would it be eerie to say I know?"

He grins. "Probably not as much as what I'm about to tell you,"

Karen's eyebrows raise, and she self consciously pulls her cardigan tighter about her, leaning further into the door post. "And what would that be?"

David cringes, and it's almost comical. "There is quite literally no easy way to say this, but I've been hacking into the security cameras across the street to make sure you're okay since Frank refuses to show his face around here,"

Her jaw drops, and she's not sure if it's out of a bit of warmth that this man had taken it upon himself to look after her, or outright anger that he'd ever had the audacity to do such a thing.

But then her mind catches on Frank and everything freezes.

"Frank?" she nearly whispers, and dammit Karen has always considered herself feminist and above being some lovelorn girl, but hell if she doesn't miss him. Pregnant or not, she's still sure the tears would develop in her eyes at his name. "Where is he?"

David sighs, and looks down. "Honestly? I have no damn clue," his fingers tap at his sides. "I . . . I still have his number and he shows up at my place every few weeks, but that's it. He hardly even picks up. I don't have an address or anything. I'm sorry,"

Karen puts on a brave face, ignoring the sinking in her stomach. Her lips twitch into a smile, and she holds the door open wider. "It's alright. I'm assuming you have . . . something more to say than that?"

"Yeah. Just a bit," he chuckles, stepping into her apartment. Karen clicks the safety back on her gun, shoving it in her purse as she passes it and leads the way inside. "Coffee? Water?"

"A, uh, water would be nice," he offers, and she nods, grabbing a bottle from the fridge as he sits gently on the edge of her couch. "Thanks," he nods, accepting it as Karen sits opposite him on a chair.

"Is it alright if I just . . . come out with it?" David asks, fingering the label of the bottle.

Karen nods, brushing a strand of hair back.

"I saw your flowers. Have seen them, actually, since last November and all of . . . that went down. Signal was Frank's idea, but I'm the one who kept an eye out,"

Ah. Micro. "With the cameras?"

"Yeah. Not exactly legal, but neither's what happened to Frank, so I call it even." David shakes his head. "Anyways, after everything, Frank would never speak to me about you. I . . . I don't mean to imply, but I know you're special to him. He nearly beat the shit out of me for questioning why you're so important, and so it sort of makes sense that he cares for you. Deeply."

Karen clears her throat, hoping and praying that her cheeks aren't nearly as red as they feel. "Yeah, well, the feeling's mutual,"

His face softens. "Again, creepy, but I know. Frank never talked about you after everything, but I was worried, so I kept an eye out. And then, a few days ago, I saw the-the test,"

She can't help but put her head in her hands, because of fucking course. Of course Frank wouldn't see it, but his ally — friend? — would.

"You're pregnant?"

Karen can't bring herself to meet his eyes, but she pushes her hair back and nods, eyes on the ground. "Yes. Four months."

"And . . . And it's Frank's?"

She levels him with a look. "Who else?"

David holds up his hands, placating. "Just . . . clarifying,"

Karen nods, and looks out the window. The roses are still there, moving with the breeze. The white stick stands tall.

"I . . . I know he wouldn't be happy. Not with me, and not with a baby. He's had that, and he's lost that. And I have no right to ask him to do it over again,"

David shakes his head, sniffing. "I know. I know," he seems lost in his thoughts for a moment. "But he — he cares for you. He still needs to know, to have a choice."

"I know," Karen mumbles. "I know that. And if I had any way to tell him, I know I would. He does deserve that much,"

She sniffs, forcing down the wave of emotions that her hormones and thoughts are pushing on her. "And I just miss him,"

But she's lived without him before, with no idea of how or where he was, and she can do it again.

But her heart aches at that thought.

David heads home with a headache. One that doesn't end even when Sarah's lips meet his and the kids crowd around his legs.

It's simply Karen. Karen who doesn't deserve to do this alone, and Frank who should be at the very least supportive. It's not like he expects them to tie the knot at this point — he's simply hoping for a bit of contact and friendship between them, and maybe they can figure out the whole romance thing later.

He tells Sarah as much later, laying in bed and taking in the silence.

"He loves her," she says simply, shrugging against where she's tucked into his side. "He's not going to admit it, not after what happened to Maria. But that doesn't mean he can't still feel things."

It's true. Frank feels far too much, and yet he'll never say anything. He's spent weeks with the guy, he's practically a raw nerve when it comes down to it.

"And Karen?"

Sarah takes a longer silence.

"I think Karen's going to do what's best in the long run," she answers finally. "She's been put in an impossible position. When she finds Frank, they're going to have to hash it out. And I think from there she's going to do what's best for the baby, whether that involves Frank or not,"

David's nose brushes through the hair atop her head, and he drops a kiss on her head.

"You seem confident they're going to find each other,"

"Oh, they are," she states seriously. "I'm here to see that through."

And honestly, David doesn't doubt that one bit.

Though he'd be lying to say he wasn't at least a bit nervous to see what came of his wife interfering in the Punisher's love life.

"I still can't believe you cheated me out of a night of bar hopping," Foggy groans, and Karen has to stifle a smile. "You and that damned adorable baby to be,"

She looks around them, at Foggy sitting next to her at the waterfront, the people milling about, the questionable hour of the night. He has a point, but there's also nowhere she'd rather be.

"You bet they're gonna be stinking cute," Karen bumps his shoulder with hers. "And after all of this is over, I owe you about a week straight of alcohol, so just wait Nelson. You'll get your tequila worm,"

He laughs, glancing down at the pavement.

"You know, I still can't believe we're here." Foggy tacks on after a moment of silence.

"At the river?" Karen raises an eyebrow, teasing. He pushes her fondly.

"No, just — here." His hands gesticulate widely. "No Nelson and Murdock, no Matt, but you're having a baby and I'm getting married. Like how the hell does that happen?"

Karen smiles softly, looking down at her hands. "Feels like just yesterday we were set up on a date by Ms. Cardenas."

They both chuckle at that, but then the wind blows, and Karen's sharply reminded of how everything led up to this. Of meeting the pair of them, of running for her life from Frank, of trying to understand Matt Murdock and his ways. And then, finally, perhaps inevitably, losing him.

"Do you think he'd be proud?" Karen asks quietly, blinking rapidly.

"I hope so," Foggy answers honestly, and that's when she leans her head against his shoulder, watching the moon dance across the water.

Probably not gonna continue posting on here, but I hope if anyone is reading this then they enjoy it.