on thin ice [karen/frank - marvel]

thirty four: guido and dora

Frank had to take a trip down to his storage unit behind his building to haul out his suitcase as he realised a duffel bag he used for work wasn't big enough for a whole week in Oregon. He knew that his neighbours wouldn't appreciate him rummaging around and making so much noise at 6am on a Friday morning and they already hated him enough. Once he had pulled it up every flight of stairs, he found a small box outside of his apartment. It was red and when he picked it up it was lighter than he thought it would be.

He pulled his keys from his pocket and opened the door, rolling the suitcase inside. It landed next to the cupboard which he placed his keys on. The door closed slowly behind him and he pulled the lid off the box. A note sat on top of red crinkled tissue paper, neatly wrapped around whatever was wrapped inside.

Just an early Thanksgiving present and a happy ten months....not that I've been counting or anything. X

Frank smiled at the note, noticing it was written in the same thick black marker as when they first began their stupid exchanges under doorways on tiny scraps of paper. He tore it open and out slid a very thin cardboard box. On the front in yellow faded fancy writing it said Life Is Beautiful Original Soundtrack (1997).

Frank's eyes widened as he looked at it, sliding the CD from the box. He turned it over and let the light bounce off of it. No scratches whatsoever. He frowned at it before studying it again and smiling. He placed it back in the box before hauling his suitcase into his bedroom to begin packing.

--

Karen knocked on his door at exactly 06:59 and Frank didn't expect her a minute later. They weren't due to set off until 07:30 but he knew she would want a good half an hour to load the car up beforehand. He forced himself up at that time just for that specific reason. The flight wasn't until 10:30 but the airport was a good hours drive away.

"Need any help?" She asked, her hands behind her back innocently.

Frank grabbed the red box and held it in front of her. "Where did you get this?"

She frowned, narrowing her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about"

"These are so hard to find!" He exclaimed, waving it around.

Karen shrugged, smiling as she walked inside and Frank shut the door behind her. She turned back toward the door to face him with the smile still on her face. "Thank Oregon. There's a retro music shop there and they have just about anything going back to as far as the 50s"

"If they have the movie when we get down there, I'm buying that too" Frank replied, walking up toward her and kissing her on the cheek before he headed toward the kitchen. He eyed the white bag he had prepared with his pills from Dr. Rafferty inside and grabbed it, shoving it in his backpack on the couch before she could see.

"You don't have it?" Karen asked, frowning a little as she headed toward him. "I thought it was your favourite" Frank looked over his shoulder and saw her looking around on the surface at what else he had lined up to go inside a bag and he was suddenly grateful he'd removed the pills when he did.

He shook his head, "Got lost when I moved in here. Not at Ma's or anything. Just disappeared" He answered, shrugging as he hauled his bag toward the counter and began loading things inside. She began passing things toward him and his bag was loaded quicker than normal. "I think I'm set" he answered, before he picked the gift up once more. "Thank you for this, I didn't know we were doing gifts so?"