SUNSHINE [Frank Castle]

CHAPTER FOUR - FOUR MONTHS LATER

It had been four months since Charlotte last saw Frank Castle. She had been right in thinking that he wouldn't return for a long while, but still didn't expect him to be back so quickly. Four months didn't seem like very long anymore.

She got a call on a Saturday morning while she was just waking up. Her eyes still adjusting to the light, she blindly reached over to her bedside table for her phone. When she finally found it and answered it, her voice sounded hoarse.

"Hello?"

"Hey." The voice from the other end of the line was so unmistakably Frank that as soon as that one word was said, her eyes widened.

"Frank?"

"Yeah. You busy right now?"

"No, you just woke me. Why?"

"I'm in the diner just around the corner from your apartment. The one we went to before. Was wondering if you were still up for coffee."

"Yeah, yes, uhm. . ." Still half asleep, she reached inside of herself for a coherent answer. "Yeah, I'll be there in fifteen. I'll see you then."

"See you then."

When she got to the diner, he was sitting in the back, and the same booth that they had sat at before. He had a full beard now, and his hair was longer. She smirked at the sight.

"Going for the hipster look, I see," she commented as she slipped into the booth across from him.

"Yeah, people keep saying that."

"I think it suits you. Just tie all that hair into a bun and you're set."

"Yeah, not gonna happen." He took a sip of the coffee he had in front of him, then looked her over, eyes lingering on her now shoulder length and straight hair. "You changed your hair."

"How observant of you." The corner of her mouth quirked upward into a smirk. "It only grew a bit. It was almost a lot more different. I almost dyed it blonde."

His brows knitted together, then it was his turn to smirk. "Can't see you as a blonde."

"Oh, I look fantastic blonde," she bragged, leaning back in the booth. "I've been blonde before. And brunette. Never black, though. Maybe next time."

Then the waitress saw that another person had come, and she decided to come over.

"Hey, honey, anything for you?" She asked, waiting patiently with her notepad and pencil.