Thank you everyone who has encouraged me with this story! It's close to a finish I think so not long now. - Red.

CHAPTER 9- Distance

"Frank!" I screamed, opening my eyes. The light hurt my eyes from the early morning. I clawed at the tubes, ripping them out.

"Hey, hey, stop. Karen you have to stop" Matt said, holding both my hands. I looked at his face, every bruise and cut were in the same place as I had seen them through Frank's eyes. Which meant my fucked-up body share with the punisher wasn't some delirious dream.

"Matt" My voice cracked as his name left my lips.

"Karen, I'm sorry"

I pulled my hands away and scrambled up the bed. A hundred stabbing pains acquainted themselves with me. "Don't move, there's a lot broken and bruised"

"I fucking know Matt, I was there" I snapped. "You gave Frank the address. You and Foggy set him up." I have may have been battered but the pieces only fit together one way. His silence was the answer. My head was ringing, my body throbbing, I was nauseous and now I had to deal with the fact that Matt had set up Frank.

"Wait, how…Look, we made a deal. The FBI would chase after the organisation who has been investing in experimental research and they will shut them down, but they wanted the punisher in their pocket"

"You piece of shit"

"Karen, it's where he belongs. You said to me once that jail is where he probably belongs" Matt poured some water and passed it to me. "You need to drink"

I knocked the damn thing from his hands and it shattered against the wall.

"That's where Electra belonged, and you let a building fall on top of your fucking head so she wouldn't be alone. Don't use my words against me Matt. According to the law that you built your career on, you and I should be behind bars alongside Frank."

"What does that mean?"

"It means we've both sought our own justice that lacks a system. Now Frank is alone and everyone from all sides will want him dead" I said, pulling the covers away.

"There's nothing you can do now Karen. All you'll do by trying to leave is hurt yourself. You need to rest and heal" He said, trying to get me back into bed. I pushed his hands away and he stepped back.

"You don't know what I can do Matt, not anymore. You never did" I said. I got up and he was just about to press the alert button on the side of my bed.

"Stop" I told him. His fingers froze. He didn't understand yet. I didn't understand how, but I knew now that I could make anyone stop and that I would to get to Frank. He'd come for me every time. He'd brought me back from that place, where I almost slipped away.

I got out of bed, swallowing the pain. Willing the pain to lessen so I could walk. Vertigo hit me a few times as I took Matt's long coat from the arm of a chair and wrapped it around myself. Matt started to move again, turning toward me.

"He will never choose you over killing people" Matt said. I stopped. The ice cold, sober honesty of it all hit me all at once.

"You know what's interesting. You, tell me of how Frank Castle wants people dead, but you know they won't put him in cell Matt. You know they will send him off to die without a second thought" I said. Matt rubbed his face roughly, he had no response and I didn't want to hear one.

"You're going to let me leave and you are going to stay here" I ordered. A little successful tug pulled at me. It left me winded and it only added to the pressure that was building on my head. I turned to the door, opening it but before I left, I looked at Matt's disappointed face.

"How could you stay in that building with her Matt?" My eyes filled with tears again. He reached out for my face, but he let his hand drop. There was nothing he could do.

The door opened but the latch was on still. "Karen?!" Toby yelled, throwing the door open wide once it was off the latch. He let me lean on him as he led me into his mother's house.

"Hi Toby. I need your help. I'm sorry to ask, I really am but I had no one else…." I trailed off, thinking about my words. I didn't have anyone else, but Frank did. He told me about Micro, he could help if I could find him.

"Your….awake and here, out of the hospital. Karen you look terrible, I'll call an ambulance"

"No. No Toby, I can't go back there. Frank needs me, he's in trouble. Can you drive?" I asked him. He shook his head, worriedly. I took a deep breath, I needed something for the pain but I couldn't think of anything that would touch this.

"I have car. I will drive you wherever you need to go Karen" Toby's mother said, rushing to her side.

"Thank you, Mrs Preston,"

"Please Karen, please be careful and let me know if you need anything else. Are you sure that's all I could do?" Mrs Preston asked as we pulled up by the curb.

"You've fed, clothed and transported me Mrs Preston. You've done so much. Go and be with Toby and try and get your lives back" I said. She rushed around my side of the car and helped me out. I groaned when I got out of the car, feeling something tear but trying to contain myself so she didn't worry.

"Karen. Thank you, for all of it. For bringing him home to me, more than once" She said. She brushed tears from her face and went into hug me. When she was gone, I made my way to the front door. This had to work, I didn't know what I was in for here, but it had to work. This was the last shot because I was running of steam and rapidly.

I knocked on the door and waited. I knocked again, and a woman came to the door. She was pretty and blond, but she had cautious eyes. "Who are you?" She asked. I held the doorframe for support. Dark spots were dotting my vision.

"I'm….I'm err…Karen Page. I…" I clutched my stomach, waiting for the nausea to pass. I clearly had the concussion from hell. I felt the woman's arm around me as she helped me into her home and settled me on her sofa. I managed to catch my breath now I was sitting down.

"Karen Page….why is that familiar?" The woman asked.

"I'm Franks…friend" I said. Her eyes widened.

"I don't want anything to do with his trouble Karen. My children are upstairs" She said.

"I'm sorry. I needed to talk to Mr Lieberman. Frank's been taken and he's in big trouble Mrs Lieberman. I had trouble of thinking of anyone who would help me save Frank" I admitted. She smirked and it broke some of the tension.

"I will call my husband. Frank, well, we owe him" She said. I sighed in relief. She called him and assured me he was on his way. I hoped she hadn't just called the police and any minute I would be getting dragged away. At this moment I hadn't the energy to worry that much.

"What happened?" She asked. So much has happened, things that people wouldn't easily believe.

"The state I'm in has nothing to do with Frank. He actually saved my life" I explained, figuring that's what she really wanted to know.

"Why aren't you in the hospital?"

"He doesn't have anyone else"

"You are close then?"

"We have been lately. Besides, that's what we do. We show up for eachother" I said. I remembered all the times I'd seen him blast through people so come and save me from the stupid shit I'd gotten myself into. All the times I thought I was going to die….. Frank had brought me back from somewhere close to death, just by the sound of his voice and his touch and the way nothing stopped him from finding me.

"David told me about that time he made him look up that bomber because he threated you" She recalled, thoughtfully. I couldn't help but smile.

"Yea…"

The door swung open and a man with a head of curly brown hair and big eyes rushed in. He stared down at me.

"I've just heard. Franks being held by the FBI. I've already called my contacts there but it's out of their hands. It's nice to finally meet you Miss Page" David said, looking me up and down concern.

"I can get him out. I just need to know where he is" I said. They both looked at one another.

"You should rest for a while, Karen" David said.

"Look, I know I don't look like much help right now. Broken and bleeding over your cushions, but I can save him. Please David, just find where he is. You don't have to do anything else" I said. Micro sat next to me on his sofa.

"Ok, but I'm not hacking anything here. I have a place, that's untraceable. I keep my stuff there in case of emergency. Karen, while I am gone please rest, have a nap, catch up on some tv just please don't die. Frank would lose his shit" He said. His wife shot him daggers.

"Karen, I will clear one of the kid's rooms out for you to stay in until your up to this insane rescue mission"

"I won't be staying long. Frank doesn't have long. Everyone will be gunning for him"

"If he gets the death penalty it will take years…."

"A lot of people want him dead. Last time he was attacked by an entire cell block" I sat up and winced.

"Frank will be more than capable of taking care of himself till we can get him out" David said. I hoped that was true, but he's now got more enemies than ever.

Sarah rubbed my arm soothingly. "Let's try and get you cleaned up. Some of your cuts have come open, I will get the first aid kit"

"Actually, if you point to the bathroom that would be great. I think I'm gonna throw up" I said. She helped me up the stairs and let me puke my guts up alone, which I was grateful for. Mrs Preston's soup didn't taste as good on the way up.

"I'm fine" I assured them. I was lying in Leo's bed. The room was all pink and girly and bright. David and Sarah stood in the corner of the room while Curtis checked me over.

"Karen, from a person that's treated war injured men- You need to go to the hospital. The swelling on your head is still there. You are far too pale which could mean anaemia as repercussion of blood loss and lack of eating which Sarah has told me you've not been doing enough of. Not to mention, these wounds need to be kept a close eye on for infection" Curtis said.

I ran my fingers through my hair. "You know what I need, I need David to brush off the dust on his hacking skills" I said.

"Hey, I'm trying but they are keeping the records tight or possibly using non-digital ones. They must already know he was associated with a hacker- me- and me doesn't want to push too hard because me wants to stay a free man with a beautiful family and a sweet vanilla life"

It's been seven days since Frank was taken. David had brought Curtis back with him the first day and that was a good thing because I'd passed out in the bathroom. Luckily it wasn't quite so comer-y as the last time and I'd recovered with a drip and some reapplied stiches form Frank's marine friend.

Seven fucking days and we had nothing. The ones who had Frank weren't taking any chances. His location had a tight lid on it and it was driving me insane.

"I know. I'm sorry"

"Don't be sorry, just be still. Stop trying to do things you aren't able to do" Sarah said. Days with them and I knew they were good people. The kind that Frank trusted and that was something. I did wonder how hard it must have been for him to be around them though. They had a son and daughter just like he did, so it must have been painful for him. Or maybe working to reunite them made him heal, even if it was the smallest bit. I wanted to ask him.

"Thank you, Curtis, for checking up on me" I said. He gave me a warm smile. I saw so much of Franks mannerisms in Curtis, the ways soldiers move, how they position themselves and those same wide eyes that might never truly know rest again.

"Here. Take these. You're still losing blood because you won't give your body chance to heal itself" He handed me iron tablets and antibiotics- he'd been topping me up with them in case one of many wounds became infected.

"It is better…. some" I assured. He stared at me with one eyebrow raised. "I'll take them"

When they let him out, David came back up to sit with me. We felt the same obligation to keep Frank safe, we both had a loyalty to him that we couldn't explain to anyone else. "I am trying"

"I'm just frustrated. I wish there was something I could do but I'm stuck like this, fucking useless" I said. I put my face in my hands.

"You aren't useless. You are trying everything you can think of…." David said. My head popped up and I stared at him. "What?"

"Everything I can think of. I'm such an idiot. I've done it before….but not with the distance…. I don't know if it's even…but I can try"

"What are you talking about?" David questioned.

It was dark, I lay down in the bed and I closed my eyes. I thought of Frank's broken nose, his bruised eyes, his smile, his dark eyes that had witnessed more than one person every should. I thought of the way it felt to be in his mind, to be moving under his skin.

"Karen?... I feel you" He said. It was Frank. This wasn't the way it was when I was unconscious. I could feel his body and mine. I knew my body was warm, but Frank's wasn't. He was cold and isolated. There were no voices other than his and nothing to grasp around him. There was nothing I could use to find him. No faces of guards or signs or colours of a jumpsuit. Fuck.

I'm coming Frank.

"You're afraid, I know you are. It's over, I want it to be over. Let go"

I snapped back fully into my body. Has he just pushed me out? What the hell happened.