[ Laura is not dumb. There are many things she is still learning about the world, but she knows the looks that people give each other. The special ones that say they like someone in a way that is not just friendly. She also knows when she should "make herself scarce" as the saying she has heard goes.
She does that so that they can have time together with just the two of them. It is a good thing. She has watched shows. She has asked questions. Karen is surprisingly open about these conversations where Matt and Foggy sometimes stumble. This gruff, dangerous man makes Matt happy. He does bad things, but it makes her daddy happy to be around him.
They do not always agree, but neither do Matt and Laura. Matt says it is important that they feel comfortable enough to disagree. She wants to understand what Frank wants. She wants to know if she can trust him, too.
Which is why she comes over onto the couch where he is sitting one day, and sits cross-legged next to him. Watching. ]
What do you want here?
[ Her English has gotten a lot better, but it is still heavily accented. ]
[Not startling has been a bit of a challenge for Frank. Laura is very, very quiet on her feet. Matt is ever unsurprised when she pops out of nowhere. And in Frank's opinion he has taken to this paternal guardian role swimmingly. It's great. A little suspicious on both sides, but great. He's got a magazine he's flipping through. Matt was supposed to be here by now. Just the two of them. Waiting.
Frank looks up from his magazine.]
Right now? I'm waiting here for Matt.
[The literal answer is likely not at all what she was looking for. Her dark eyes are on him, analytical.]
[ She has always been like that. Quiet and quick. Matt is used to it. Frank is not. Laura has thought of being a little louder, but then she does not know if she cares to do that yet.
Her eyes narrow slightly. Expression pinched. ]
No. With Matt. You are around him a lot. You like him?
[Coming and going out of a room as she pleases. That whole ninja stealth approach only more like a house cat somehow. Still deadly.
Frank lifts an eyebrow. He can't and won't tell her that he's liked railing her father figure when they get the private time. That would also be a lie. It's more than that. He sighs and shuts the magazine.]
[ Laura knows a lot. Probably more than Matt might have expected. She knows that what they do alone is their business. Karen helped explain a little when Foggy balked at the task. It wasn't that she didn't think Matt could explain, but it's that she thought if Foggy was uncomfortable with it then he might be as well.
Better to ask someone else. ]
Si, he does. You do things he does not like though. Out there.
[ She has not seen those things be brought up here. This is as much of a safe place for Frank as it is for her. He's always insisted that it is as much. ]
[Laura by extension of Matt, is surrounded by good people who want to not only protect her but keep her informed. It's a healthy balance. This support, this tiny village keeps the peace and the balance. Foggy indeed is one to have his moments of flipping metaphorical tables he still would be a voice of answers and reason however he can.
Just not on the subject of Matt Murdock's love life.]
Yeah. I do. And he does things I don't agree with. That's called compromise.
[Frank can feel where this is going. And she wouldn't be a charge of Matt's if she didn't align herself to his ideology in some if not all ways.]
[ They all take care of her very well. She hopes that she is able to return that in her own way. They say she doesn't have to, because she is a child, but she wants to help. She likes to. ]
I know what compromise is. I want to know that you do not want to hurt him. Hurt his heart.
[ She loves Matt. She is her daddy. He has become that for her. She had no idea what it was until this. But he is not made the same way. He can be very hard, yes. She's seen what he does at night. This is not the same. ]
[Already Nelson, Murdock and Page were a unit. Laura added to the mix has given them an additional cause to bond through. All of them have separate world views and ways they crew up. The collective efforts help Laura have a better, rounded world view. Not to mention cut Matt some slack in the parenting department.
Letting Laura be a child has been the best outcome. She deserves to be taken care of. Just because she could beat a military onslaught doesn't mean that she is invulnerable.
Frank sees a seasoned killer looking at him through the eyes of a child. This is a threat and he knows it to be. A smile tugs at the side of his mouth.]
I'm not trying to hurt him, no.
[And that assessment is so accurate that it hurts.]
You're right. He's not. That doesn't mean I don't like him or don't want to see him happy. Has anyone ever told you sometimes we can't decide what makes us happy?
[ They each offer wonderful things at the table in order to help each other and Laura. Foggy even mentioned trying for meeting his nieces and nephews. She would like that. She hasn't seen any of the other kids she escaped with since they ran.
Being a child is difficult in ways she did not expect. It is not easier than what they wanted them to do in the place she left. She still has nightmares. The couch has suffered. They hide it from visitors. ]
You're not lying.
[ Matt isn't the only one with that party trick. She can smell it on him. Hear his heart as well. Frank doesn't want to hurt Matt, and he does care. ]
[Laura is trying to figure out not only the world but herself. Matt hasn't divulged all the details to Frank. Not that he doesn't trust the Punisher. He has theorized that the fewer people that know about Laura's past, the smaller the chance that she would be discovered. And through that she'll have a better chance being her own person, determining her own fate.
Which seems to be looking out for Matt Murdock with just as much vigilance.]
Huh. So you do that too.
[Heartbeat thing. Laura can see just fine. If she looked any harder than she is, she'd pierce Frank with lasers.]
It means that sometimes our likes or dislikes just...don't have any reason to them. You like someone or something and that's that.
[ It's a difficult task. She's never had any experience before now. She knows Matt does not tell people her past. Her secret. Part of that is to protect her. Another part, he's told her, is that it's her story to share if she wants. He only wants to take care of her.
Just as she wants to take care of him. ]
Yes, I can do it too. And other things.
[ Her head tilts as she listens and takes in this new information. ]
[Man, they all sure have some stories to tell. Not like any of this projects easily on looks or through small exchanges. Frank has just seen a peculiar girl. Her eyes are more sharp and her reflexes more honed. Maybe just a cast of from that cloud of ninjas that busted into their lives more than a year ago.]
Oh yeah?
[Now that could just be a fact or a threat. Curious small person you are, Laura.]
The same here. Yeah. I like him. That's that. Warts and all.
[ Laura does not know what ninjas are. Unless one counts Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since Foggy decided to introduce her to it recently, and the pizza test. It isn't good pizza if it doesn't past the cheese pull test. ]
Yes.
[ Just a statement of fact. One Frank would do well to take into account if she had her way. He does not seem so bad since they have talked, though. Her nose scrunches at what he says. ]
[The ninjas they are personally acquainted with are not heroes on a half-shell. Just assassins of the Hand. No reason why a ninja fighter like Matt wouldn't find a child ninja and try to do the right thing to help. He has toes his way around talking to Frank about Stick. Someone had to teach him what he knew. And not like he would imagine Murdock finding and teaching a kid on his own all he knows. It's not like him. It's not in him. Frank has seen how Laura and Matt get along, that's not some teacher and student bullshit. It's loving, familial.
So it is probably not as shocking she's footing around warning about the consequences.]
That's another expression. Warts are...these small bumps that just grow on your fingers and toes. They don't hurt. They're just not great looking.
[At least that's how he's come to take it. Frank clears his throat.]
Look, I mean I like him for the whole package. The good, the bad and the things that just are.
[ She likes the turtle kind. The others sound bad. Matt may not have taught her the things she knows from that place, but he taught her other things. Better things. She is still learning.]
He does not have warts.
[ She says and is about to question exactly what he means by this but then Frank explains. Ah. ]
Then we are the same in that way. He likes us even with warts. Even though we have done things that he does not agree with.
[Frank wets his lips. The magazine folds shut and he leans to put it on the coffee table. On one hand he wants to say that Matt is a gift to them. Though that spins it that it is an act or some charity. It isn't. The choir boy really means all the shit that comes out of his mouth. And he saw good in this little girl and brought her here. One great big, bleeding sacred heart of Jesus.]
I like him the way he is. I don't wanna change it or hurt him. That's not what this has been about. I didn't--plan on liking him. Maybe he didn't plan on liking me either. We found an understanding.
[ It's strange. This talk of warts and differences. It proves that she still has a lot of things to learn. A lot of things for Matt and maybe Frank now to teach her. He folds up the magazine, this must be a serious thing.
She's noticed that Matt other adults do things like this when something is important. ]
Understanding? He understands you even if you've done---bad things?
[ Is she asking for herself or for Frank? Matt has pieced things together, she knows. They have never said out loud what she was made for, even if they both know. ]
[Perhaps going at it with the idiom was not the best action. Oh well. At least they're talking. She is the kind of kid that you can practically see them thinking and working through what you're saying. The conversation might come to a close, though she'll think on it, remember it and bring it up at a later time. No wonder she's trouble.]
Yes. See, he believes in forgiveness, in the way that people can change and be better than their bad habits.
[Which is the antithesis of Frank Castle. No mercy. No forgiveness.]
[ Maybe not. She's still learning about those and that they don't always mean what they say they do. Or they mean different things. It's confusing. Matt might say she is trouble for a different reason.
Like how she manages to sneak sweets despite him. ]
I do not think that is always true.
[ That people can be different. Not just directed at herself. At others. ]
Not all bad people can do anything but be bad. It is the way they are.
Yeah, that's my thoughts too. For Matt he doesn't think of it as putting a sick animal down. He believes in putting people like that in jail, safe away from other people.
[Hard to keep the humor of that out of his voice. It's a dumb as hell reasoning. Evil exists then, and it will spread in the prison system. Best just to wipe them out. Totally.]
And before they're locked away he wants them to stand in a court of law and have them judged by peers. Not just him making the call. Keeping it fair and a group decision, like.
If they are not breathing then they are safe from other people.
[ These are things she would not say around Matt. It would make his heart hurt, she thinks. Her mouth purses as she thinks and mulls over what Frank is explaining. ]
I think---I think that he has not ever had to be in the place to have to do killing. [ Close? Of course. Many times. ] It is a bad place to be.
That is a conclusion you made all by yourself. I just want to be sure you're aware of that as you speak it.
[And if she parrots it to Matt, holy shit. Though he has the feeling that here and now they are speaking as equals. They both care about Matt Murdock. They both know they are not of the same spirit or kind as he. And as much as they care about him, they know that there is a disparity in morals.]
It's a hard place to be in. And it is bad. I don't want him to have to go there if he doesn't have to, no matter how much I disagree.
I know. [ There are some things she may never speak to Matt about. This is likely one of those things. ] There were people where I came from. They hurt me.
[ Not just her. Her friends. The other kids. The nurses.
It feels different to be able to speak to Frank like this. To be honest with him like this. She knows Matt does not begrudge their differences but he may not understand them no matter what happens. ]
I do not want him to have to be in that place either.
[For as much as Frank understands, Laura is a girl that has been through trauma a girl her age should not go through. She is someone's child, someone's out there that betrayed that trust and truth that children should be protected.
Someone should have protected his children. Someone should have protected Laura. At least now Matt is here for her.]
A day will come when all of that will feel differently than it does now. It makes you scared and still hurts. It will get better. You got through it.
[He says this because he has an obligation to tell a child she won't be like him. Frank is his own kind. He was always this way. There is hope for Laura. He really believes this because he's seen of how she is calm and gentle with Matt, how they are growing closer and closer together all the time. It really must have been hell because she's learned to tie her shoes and read. She sits up straight when a car up the street is too loud. Cop shows make her anxious even though they're just shows.]
No, I don't either. He doesn't need to understand first hand.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
for endlesswar.
She does that so that they can have time together with just the two of them. It is a good thing. She has watched shows. She has asked questions. Karen is surprisingly open about these conversations where Matt and Foggy sometimes stumble. This gruff, dangerous man makes Matt happy. He does bad things, but it makes her daddy happy to be around him.
They do not always agree, but neither do Matt and Laura. Matt says it is important that they feel comfortable enough to disagree. She wants to understand what Frank wants. She wants to know if she can trust him, too.
Which is why she comes over onto the couch where he is sitting one day, and sits cross-legged next to him. Watching. ]
What do you want here?
[ Her English has gotten a lot better, but it is still heavily accented. ]
no subject
Frank looks up from his magazine.]
Right now? I'm waiting here for Matt.
[The literal answer is likely not at all what she was looking for. Her dark eyes are on him, analytical.]
...what do you want here?
no subject
Her eyes narrow slightly. Expression pinched. ]
No. With Matt. You are around him a lot. You like him?
no subject
Frank lifts an eyebrow. He can't and won't tell her that he's liked railing her father figure when they get the private time. That would also be a lie. It's more than that. He sighs and shuts the magazine.]
Yeah. I like his company. He likes mine.
no subject
Better to ask someone else. ]
Si, he does. You do things he does not like though. Out there.
[ She has not seen those things be brought up here. This is as much of a safe place for Frank as it is for her. He's always insisted that it is as much. ]
no subject
Just not on the subject of Matt Murdock's love life.]
Yeah. I do. And he does things I don't agree with. That's called compromise.
[Frank can feel where this is going. And she wouldn't be a charge of Matt's if she didn't align herself to his ideology in some if not all ways.]
no subject
I know what compromise is. I want to know that you do not want to hurt him. Hurt his heart.
[ She loves Matt. She is her daddy. He has become that for her. She had no idea what it was until this. But he is not made the same way. He can be very hard, yes. She's seen what he does at night. This is not the same. ]
He is not made of the same things we are.
no subject
Letting Laura be a child has been the best outcome. She deserves to be taken care of. Just because she could beat a military onslaught doesn't mean that she is invulnerable.
Frank sees a seasoned killer looking at him through the eyes of a child. This is a threat and he knows it to be. A smile tugs at the side of his mouth.]
I'm not trying to hurt him, no.
[And that assessment is so accurate that it hurts.]
You're right. He's not. That doesn't mean I don't like him or don't want to see him happy. Has anyone ever told you sometimes we can't decide what makes us happy?
no subject
Being a child is difficult in ways she did not expect. It is not easier than what they wanted them to do in the place she left. She still has nightmares. The couch has suffered. They hide it from visitors. ]
You're not lying.
[ Matt isn't the only one with that party trick. She can smell it on him. Hear his heart as well. Frank doesn't want to hurt Matt, and he does care. ]
No one has told me that. What does it mean?
no subject
Which seems to be looking out for Matt Murdock with just as much vigilance.]
Huh. So you do that too.
[Heartbeat thing. Laura can see just fine. If she looked any harder than she is, she'd pierce Frank with lasers.]
It means that sometimes our likes or dislikes just...don't have any reason to them. You like someone or something and that's that.
no subject
Just as she wants to take care of him. ]
Yes, I can do it too. And other things.
[ Her head tilts as she listens and takes in this new information. ]
And that is the same here?
no subject
Oh yeah?
[Now that could just be a fact or a threat. Curious small person you are, Laura.]
The same here. Yeah. I like him. That's that. Warts and all.
no subject
Yes.
[ Just a statement of fact. One Frank would do well to take into account if she had her way. He does not seem so bad since they have talked, though. Her nose scrunches at what he says. ]
Warts? What are those? Are they bad to like?
no subject
So it is probably not as shocking she's footing around warning about the consequences.]
That's another expression. Warts are...these small bumps that just grow on your fingers and toes. They don't hurt. They're just not great looking.
[At least that's how he's come to take it. Frank clears his throat.]
Look, I mean I like him for the whole package. The good, the bad and the things that just are.
no subject
He does not have warts.
[ She says and is about to question exactly what he means by this but then Frank explains. Ah. ]
Then we are the same in that way. He likes us even with warts. Even though we have done things that he does not agree with.
no subject
[Frank wets his lips. The magazine folds shut and he leans to put it on the coffee table. On one hand he wants to say that Matt is a gift to them. Though that spins it that it is an act or some charity. It isn't. The choir boy really means all the shit that comes out of his mouth. And he saw good in this little girl and brought her here. One great big, bleeding sacred heart of Jesus.]
I like him the way he is. I don't wanna change it or hurt him. That's not what this has been about. I didn't--plan on liking him. Maybe he didn't plan on liking me either. We found an understanding.
no subject
She's noticed that Matt other adults do things like this when something is important. ]
Understanding? He understands you even if you've done---bad things?
[ Is she asking for herself or for Frank? Matt has pieced things together, she knows. They have never said out loud what she was made for, even if they both know. ]
no subject
Yes. See, he believes in forgiveness, in the way that people can change and be better than their bad habits.
[Which is the antithesis of Frank Castle. No mercy. No forgiveness.]
no subject
Like how she manages to sneak sweets despite him. ]
I do not think that is always true.
[ That people can be different. Not just directed at herself. At others. ]
Not all bad people can do anything but be bad. It is the way they are.
no subject
[Hard to keep the humor of that out of his voice. It's a dumb as hell reasoning. Evil exists then, and it will spread in the prison system. Best just to wipe them out. Totally.]
And before they're locked away he wants them to stand in a court of law and have them judged by peers. Not just him making the call. Keeping it fair and a group decision, like.
no subject
[ These are things she would not say around Matt. It would make his heart hurt, she thinks. Her mouth purses as she thinks and mulls over what Frank is explaining. ]
I think---I think that he has not ever had to be in the place to have to do killing. [ Close? Of course. Many times. ] It is a bad place to be.
no subject
[And if she parrots it to Matt, holy shit. Though he has the feeling that here and now they are speaking as equals. They both care about Matt Murdock. They both know they are not of the same spirit or kind as he. And as much as they care about him, they know that there is a disparity in morals.]
It's a hard place to be in. And it is bad. I don't want him to have to go there if he doesn't have to, no matter how much I disagree.
no subject
[ Not just her. Her friends. The other kids. The nurses.
It feels different to be able to speak to Frank like this. To be honest with him like this. She knows Matt does not begrudge their differences but he may not understand them no matter what happens. ]
I do not want him to have to be in that place either.
no subject
Someone should have protected his children. Someone should have protected Laura. At least now Matt is here for her.]
A day will come when all of that will feel differently than it does now. It makes you scared and still hurts. It will get better. You got through it.
[He says this because he has an obligation to tell a child she won't be like him. Frank is his own kind. He was always this way. There is hope for Laura. He really believes this because he's seen of how she is calm and gentle with Matt, how they are growing closer and closer together all the time. It really must have been hell because she's learned to tie her shoes and read. She sits up straight when a car up the street is too loud. Cop shows make her anxious even though they're just shows.]
No, I don't either. He doesn't need to understand first hand.