Ophelia ↠ Frank Castle

10 | an odd pair

FRANK NOTICES HER in the morning, hunched over the stovetop, empty flour packets discarded carelessly in an array on the island bench behind. He can't see her expression, but he takes a guess that its scrunched up in frustration, her failure at making an adequate pancake batter noted immediately.

The floorboards squeak tirelessly as Zach and Leo wake up and get ready for breakfast.

Frank adorns a vague sombre look as previous memories of domestic family life come back to haunt him.

Shit, he can almost hear her voice...

A flash of darkness crosses his features before he blinks out of it, shaking his head, and settled down onto one of the barstools, notifying Ophelia of his sudden presence in the room.

She jumped as he sat down in the chair, before relaxing after realising who it was.

"You scared me," She spoke, although it came out as a mere whisper muffled by the rustling of flour as it was poured into the bowl. Frank had to strain his ears to hear her properly.

"Sorry Ma'am." He replied, sheepishly gazing around the kitchen, one hand scratching his beard, an old habit he'd now relate to his anxiety.

He cleared his throat. "So uh, do you need any help with anything?"

"I could heat up oil in the plan, or do the dishes ..." He trailed off, noticing her flushed expression at the sudden question, her polite manners enforced throughout her childhood immediately taking effect.

"Oh no no," she rushed out, darting her eyes between the bowl the lumpy mixture was in and Frank. "It should be all right. I'll - I'll do it. Just--don't worry about it."

He frowned as he looked at the lumpy batter, Ophelia's eyes following his, immediately making a face as the mixture fell off her lifted spoon in dense, heavy clumps of separated flour and eggs.

Leo walked made it downstairs first, followed by a bounding Zach, he nearly toppled into his sister with excitement at the notion of breakfast.

That might change, He thought, picturing the mess that could be made with the actual cooking of the uneven batter.

Leo rushed forward to inspect the bowl, as Ophelia shrugged, displeased with her progress. Leo backtracked as she observed the mixture, and gave Frank a quick side-eye unbeknownst to Ophelia.

Meanwhile, Leo put on a brave face. "It looks yum!" She said excitedly, but the syllables tumbled out of her mouth too fast to be the truth, also evident by the fact that she was rocking on the balls of her feet hidden by the bench, a clear telltale sign that she was lying.

Zach, however, was a little more upfront. "What are you making?" His overactive voice echoed, followed by his pounding footsteps as he ran to the bench.

"A good morning would've been nice, kid" Frank spoke, arching an eyebrow and waiting for his proper morning greeting.

"Yeah, whatever."

Frank huffs, looking in the other direction, his annoyance ruined by the vague smile that spread across his features.

The clock struck 9 and Frank took the Lieberman children to school, not without some hushed debates about the song choice in the car. No, it wouldn't be a family outing without that.

When he returned from the daily drop-off the house was once again filled with a terse, awkward silence, leaving Frank to only imagine how different things would be if only Amy were here.

Thinking back to their short lasting time together, he wondered if he would really miss being the Punisher. It seemed that family life wasn't so bad at all. He just had to suffocate the feelings of guilt to quench his thirst with a sense of belonging.