SUNSHINE [Frank Castle]

CHAPTER SEVEN - AN ADMISSION AND A DETECTIVE

Frank Castle woke with the sun. As soon as it rose, so did he. Charlotte hadn't slept that night, but when the birds began to chirp from outside her open window, she heard him up. Not long after, she smelled coffee.

She smiled to herself and put her black robe over her red nightgown, both made of extremely comfortable silk, then walked out into the living room. He stood in the kitchen at the island, pouring two cups of coffee.

"Morning," she greeted, and he glanced up.

"You look like hell."

"Thanks," she replied, running a hand through her messy hair. She probably did look like hell, though. She hadn't slept a full night in days, maybe weeks.

"How many sugar?"

"Three."

"Three? You actually even taste the coffee with all that sweet shit in there?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "No. That's the point. Not everyone can go through life with no taste like you can."

"Not everyone can handle coating their arteries in sugar either. Good on you, sweetheart."

"No, no, no. One nickname is enough, thanks." She took her cup of coffee from him and took a long sip. "So, I was thinking that I'd meet with a few friends of mine, see if they can find out who this guy is."

"What kind of friends?"

"Well, my friend Karen works at the Bulletin, you met her when we were working on your case. My friend Jessica is a PI, I think you'd get along amazingly with her. And my friend Misty is a detective in the NYPD. I do not think you'd get along with her."

"Why's that?"

"She wouldn't put up with your bullshit."

"And you do?" He gave her a skeptical look as he sipped at his coffee.

"Amazingly, yes." She was about to sip when she answered, and her lips pulled up into a smirk behind her mug.

"What about your bullshit, huh?"

"Oh, I am completely at peace with my bullshit." She drained her mug of coffee and set it down on the island. "Most of my bullshit is adjacent to or because of you, anyway."

He simply shook his head, and she changed the subject. "So, how do you want to play this? It's you he's after, I think you should lead this."

"I think he might be after you too," Frank admitted. "If he knows that you hadn't told me about yourself, he must know the stuff you didn't tell me."

"He couldn't. Those are classified SHIELD documents, most of which are redacted for everyone but myself, my sister and the Director." Her brows furrowed in confusion, until it dawned on her. "Three years ago my sister released all SHIELD information onto the internet when she found out that HYDRA had secrets of its own inside of SHIELD. My file was probably released with it all."

She sighed, and continued, "But why would he be after me, too? To get a reaction from you? That doesn't make sense, I was just your lawyer." Something on his face changed then, and he looked away. "Frank? What is it?"

He looked reluctant to say anything, as if he didn't know how to get the words out or what the right words even were. "You're not. . . You're not just my lawyer."

His eyes returned to hers, hoping that she would understand without saying anything more. She did. And a smirk crept onto her lips. "Is that your way of saying you care about me?"

"Stop." He shook his head, trying to make his slight embarrassment seem like annoyance.

"I care about you too, Frank," she told him, completely serious. "It's okay, you know. To care."

"Until the person you care about is in danger."

"Frank. Hey," she said, her words making him look at her again. "If we're going to work as partners we have to trust each other. I trust that you can take care of yourself. Can you trust me to do the same?"

Frank nodded and she smiled. "Good. Now, I'm going to go down to the 29th precinct and see if Misty can help us any. If she can't, I'll have to call someone else. You should stay here, in case he calls or shows up. Call me if he does."

Frank did not look impressed. "We're partners, right?"

"Right," she replied, her face in an expression of 'well, yeah.'

"So we do this together. I'm going with you."

"Frank," she said, "you do realize that I'm going to a police precinct, right?"

"I'm not Frank Castle anymore. I'm Pete Castiglione. I keep my head down I'll be alright."

She gave him a skeptical look but for once, she didn't argue with him.

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They walked into the police precinct with Frank trailing behind her. She scanned the room for Misty, who she saw sitting at her desk on the other side of the room.

"Detective Knight," she greeted, a lazy half-smirk on her lips.

Misty looked up at her and mirrored her expression. "Charlotte Romanoff. Who's your friend?"

"This is Pete," Charlotte introduced, gesturing behind herself but still keeping him shielded.

Misty cocked a brow and gave her a suggestive look. "Boyfriend?"

"Just a friend," she told the detective, shooting Frank a smirk at the comment.

Misty only shrugged. "So, why are you here?"

"I need your help. I think this would be better discussed in a more private setting."

Misty nodded, understanding. "Yeah, of course. Come with me." Misty lead them into what looked like a closet and shut the door behind them. She then turned toward them expectantly and waited. "So, what do you need?"

Charlotte sighed. "Do you promise to keep this between us?"

Her brows furrowed in confusion, but she nodded. "Cross my heart."

"Misty, this is Frank Castle." Misty's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "He's good, Misty, I promise. And he's got a guy after him, and we have to figure out who he is."

"Is this guy a police officer?"

Charlotte gave her an unamused look. "Very funny. Please, Misty. I need your help."

Misty still looked skeptical. "You know that he murders people, right?"

"I do." She nodded. "But only bad people. I know that being in law enforcement you may not agree with that, but he's still doing good for the community. He's still a good man."

Misty sighed and lowered her voice, though they had already been speaking in whispers. "Fine, I'll look into it. I don't know how much I can do, just give me all the info you've got."

Charlotte turned to Frank and gestured toward her friend. "Your turn, Castle."