the holiday au (sort of lolol): it all happens almost the same. foggy, matt, and karen work tirelessly to help the little people of the city, the ones without the power to crush the weak. the punisher wreaks havoc over the gangs of new york, before being caught on one bloody night. a freshly bruised matt doesn’t push to represent him, he’s too busy vanishing half way through the day, every day, to take secret meetings with a girl karen doesn’t recognize. she’s too busy finding that girl in his bed. the punisher makes a deal without the weary efforts of nelson & murdock. wilson fisk continues to make moves from the darkness of his jail cell, that serve only himself.
and only two days after entering prison, frank castle escapes.
it happens almost the same. karen watches foggy and matt’s desires stray to two separate paths. watches their anger at one another rise. watches her budding romantic relationship die before it even truly begins. her father won’t take her calls and when he does he’s as distant as ever. no, he doesn’t really have time to talk. no, he doesn’t think she should come home for christmas. and when she’s kidnapped and shoved into a bus with a bunch of other people daredevil has saved, the last line of her exhaustion snaps.
foggy waves his shot shoulder around for emphasis when he suggests they all need a break, but she’s determined to push through. until matt walks into their office a couple of weeks before christmas (an office in uncomfortable and uncertain limbo) and drops a bombshell that she really should’ve already known and she kicks herself for not putting together the obvious. and suddenly foggy’s suggestion sounds great. a break would do just fine.
it takes her too long to choose a house to rent. there’s hotels, but she wants to feel like she’s home in some way. there’s an exchange, but she doesn’t trust someone in her house. she chooses one as far as she can get. a small cabin in alaska, because karen likes pain or something. it’s a quiet town with interesting locals. lots of snow and dark quiet nights that are familiar to her past, but jarring after her apartment smack dab in the middle of hells kitchen.
and there’s a man. who’s awfully familiar.
karen page might be exhausted. her father might hate her, her friend group might be imploding in front of her very eyes. she might have enemies in the highest of places, prison cells or not.
but, she knows the punisher when she sees him.
happy christmas, valeria!! (@heresittinginmybed), i desperately wish i’ve ever been able to actually write and finish a fic, because i see this whole au in my head lolol, but i hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a great start to the new year! 🎄♡❄♡❄🎁
