on thin ice [karen/frank - marvel]

sixteen: all you had to do was ask

His eyes were heavy as he opened them. His back ached, especially where his scar was and he tried to roll over without making too much noise. Frank was laying on the ugly beige couch. His face was scrunched as he rolled over, trying to listen out at the same time for whereabouts Karen was.

He turned toward the small coffee table next to the couch and in front of him were multiple dried bloody tissues which caused him to look at his hands. The bruises were ripe and the blood had dried and he sighed loudly. He flexed them slowly, grimacing at how much it hurt when he balled his fists. The scabs cracked, more blood slowly beginning to rise to the surface.

Her footsteps crept across the apartment and she appeared in his vision wearing a pair of sweat pants and Frank's jacket. Karen approached him, perching on the edge of the couch where Frank's legs weren't taking up room. She placed a hand on his leg, Frank's jacket sleeves covering her hand but he still felt the warmth ripple through.

"Are you okay?" She asked quietly, running her hand over his leg which sent bumps all up his body. It only made him colder than he already was and he shivered quite visibly. "You wiped out pretty quickly last night"

Frank's throat hurt and he croaked. He lifted his head upward to try and allow himself to speak more audibly but it didn't help much. She frowned at him, still stroking his leg. "Cold"

Karen leaned across him, pulling a blanket from the top of her couch and laying it across him. It was also cold which only added to Frank's discomfort but he knew it would help him eventually. He was grateful. "You can come to bed, you know. Much warmer and comfier"

Frank shook his head, relishing the warmth from the blanket as he pulled it across his bare arms. He scrunched his eyes shut in pain and tried to relax a little as he managed to get a little more comfortable. "I'm sorry"

Karen frowned instantly, placing her hand on Frank's cheek, directing his eyes toward her when he was so clearly avoiding her. "Why are you sorry? You never did anything wrong, Frank, you saved me. I should have listened to you in the first place. You helped me"

He reached up, tracing the unfortunate bruises Carson left on the baseline of Karen's neck, tears prickling in his eyes. She placed her hand on top of his, pulling it down toward her lap and lacing it with hers. "I should have stopped him"

"You did" Karen answered, forcing him to look at her once again. He swallowed his tears down quickly, painfully. She had tears of her own springing upon her.

"Sooner," Frank said. "I should have stopped him sooner, Karen. That's something I'll never get back; the times that he has hurt you before I even met you. How am I supposed to fix that now?"

"You can't. But that doesn't matter, Frank. What matters is now, and what we do together. How we help each other and care for each other in the present. Everybody has a past, you do and I do. But they were separate. Separate for a reason" Karen answered, placing her hand on his bicep and squeezing a little.

She then looked toward the ground, her hair falling past her face, causing Frank to lean up and tuck it back behind her ears. He sat himself up, ignoring the pain sprouting at the bottom of his spine and the ache in the rest of his body. She shuffled further onto the couch, their hands still linked as Frank tucked more of her hair away. "Why didn't you get help before?"

She shook her head, tears glazing over her eyes creating a lovely reflection from the windows opposite the two of them. "I felt weak. If I got help, I'd be weak. I wanted to sort things on my own. I am my own person and I didn't want his inhumanity to take that away from me"

"You're never weak when asking for help. Someone will always help you without judging you or the situation you're in. Sometimes help is the only way out" Frank answered, watching her the whole time. He definitely knew. Sitting in a hospital bed, not being able to get up without assistance made him feel weaker and dumber than ever. But it made him stronger.