Convalescence (September 1983)

Her father was a fairly short man, most italian men were and he wore wire framed glasses and had balding gray hair. It was early morning and he was still in his red and yellow robe and matching pajamas. Her mother wore glasses as well and had, long black hair, mixed with gray. She wore a pair a light blue jogging pants, a dark blue sweatshirt and her dark green robe. Both were doctors and lived on the outskirts in a very large house on a decent amount of acreage. In the winter they flew south to their cottage in the Florida Keys and they also had an apartment in Northern Italy.

Luca her brother happened to be there as well. He was visiting for a few days. He was your typical Italian. Dark, hair and eyes, a bit taller than his father and leaner. Handsome by all accounts but hadn’t met the right woman yet it seemed. Something Isabella ribbed him about often. “Isabella?” Luca said. Lorenzo had opened the passenger door and was looking at Frank.

“You look terrible,” Luca said. Lorenzo straightened. “Elena, get the wheel chair,” Lorenzo said. “He’s too big to carry I think,” He said in exasperation and gave Isabella a cool look. The kind that meant he was not pleased about what was happening and that they’d certain have words later. Luca noticed that she hobbled and he dipped his shoulder and allowed her to use him to help her walk. “Isabella, what happened?!” Her mother asked worriedly.

Isabella knew that what was happening right now was only going to give them fire in their argument that she did not need to be working for the CIA. They had both wanted her to become a doctor, like them, and to live a more normal life. They had expected her to marry Noah and settle down and have children. Her mother had been particularly upset when she had told them that she and Noah had split up again...for good this time. She couldn't give them the kind of life they expected from her. That just wasn't her.

Isabella was surprised to see Luca there and she could see the worry and fear in his eyes as he looked at her. She allowed him to help her and she looked at her mother. "I'm fine Mother...really. Please just help him," she said, indicating Frank.

Her mother went and grabbed the wheelchair and brought it out. Luca helped their father get Frank out of the car and into the wheelchair. Isabella, meanwhile, went into the kitchen and got out an ice pack to put on her jaw, which still ached after getting punched several times. She didn't want to look at herself in the mirror because she knew she looked terrible.

Frank stirred as they moved him but he quickly faded back into unconsciousness as they wheeled him inside. Her parents had a large parlor with a large table they used for hobby related projects. They brought him in there and her father and Luca managed to get him laid out onto the table. “Jesus!” Luca said when they began to cut off Frank’s pants. “Dad, we really need to take him to a hospital,” Luca said worriedly. “You heard your sister, go get my medical bag and the large first aid kit in the hall closet. Oh and the bottle of peroxide and rubbing alcohol!” Lorenzo said.

Elena had gotten her own medical bag and brought it to Isabella who was at the sink in the kitchen. “What the hell Isabella? I knew this was NOT the right choice for you, who is that man? Why did you bring him here? Is he a criminal? Are you in trouble? I hope your not...no, I won’t even say it,” She said as she pulled out peroxide, ointments, bandages, a pair of small scissors and stitch thread. She lightly touched Isabella’s cheek and jaw and winced when she winced. She hadn’t liked her and Noah ‘shacking up’ as she called it and she certainly wouldn’t like it if she and this...stranger were as well. Isabella’s parents were very old fashioned and also veyr Catholic.

Isabella looked over at her mother as she walked in with her first aid kit and she sighed. However, she let her mother examine her.

"Mom, I'm sorry but I can't tell you anything. I'm not in trouble though. Something just happened last night. I can't tell you who that man is either. Let's just say that people think he's dead and we need to keep it that way. Please...."

“Don’t you ‘please’ me Isabella, its as simple as endangering all of our lives for one man. I doubt you’d do it for someone you didn’t ‘know’,” She said and it was as if her keen eyes could read her like a book, which they could. “God, you ‘are’ involved with him,” she said and crossed herself quickly. “Where did I go wrong Isabella?” She asked and then her eyes widened. “You’re not...you’re not pregnant are you!?” She asked as if that was worse than a man dying a few rooms away from them. She dabbed a bandage with the peroxide and began to clean a cut on her cheek.

Isabella’s eyes widened at what her mother said and then she shook her head. “No! I’m not pregnant.” She was still quite upset over what had happened and was trembling slightly. She remained quiet while her mother cleaned her up. After she was done she took her cell phone and walked outside to call Lauren. She told her what had happened, although she left out the part about Frank.

“Their bodies are still there,” she said as she gave her the address.

“Well this is a dog’s dinner!” Lauren spat into the phone. “The deputy director is breathing down my neck Isabella. He has Agents out looking for you with KOS orders,” She said as she put the dossiers back into their folder. “I’m headed to DC to speak to the Director myself. ‘Maybe’ I can convince him that Victor is a liability. Would it have been too much to ask for you to have held your temper with Thomas? We could have used him. Now he’s dead and everything he knew about Victor died with him. Both him and Alan,” She said. “I’ll send your team over there to collect evidence but I can’t promise that this won’t blow up in our faces. I have to say I’m disappointed Isabella. I thought you were better than this,” she said and hung up.

Already she felt the bruises and the stiffness of being beaten and nearly raped. Her back and her left cheek had gotten the worst of it but she had bruises here and there about her body. She had bruises on the insides of her legs as well but those were cause from having rough sex with Frank. Luca appeared and waved to her. “Father says we need to give blood...Frank’s dying Isabella,” He said.

Inside her mother laid clothes out for her and in the parlor a trash bin was filled with bloodied towels, cloths, bandages and a few dispensed syringes. There was an IV bag on a stainless steel pole and her father squeezed his fist as blood pumped out of him and into Frank. Lorenzo looked up when he saw her.

“Luca...help your sister,” He said and pointed to the transfusion kit. “He’s lost alot of blood Isabella,” Lorenzo said gently and in that tone he used when the outcome was all but decided. “Only you and I are compatible,” he said.

Isabella sighed as she hung up the phone with Lauren. She hadn’t told her everything about what Thomas had done to her. Only that there had been a serious altercation and both men were dead. She sighed as she hung up the phone and had to take a few minutes to breathe. Everything was falling apart and Frank might now die.

She held herself together as she followed her brother back inside. She noticed that he said Frank’s name but she didn’t question him about it. She got changed and then walked into the parlor where her father had started a blood transfusion for Frank. She was deeply concerned for him and was willing to do whatever was needed to to help him.

She sat down and rolled up her sleeve. Her brother and mother helped her prepare for the transfusion and after her father stopped his they started the transfusion of her blood into Frank.

“I’m going to go get a shower, get dressed and get some orange juice,” her father said and left Isabella and Luca with Frank. Luca watched him leave then turned toward his sister. “He’s Frank Castle, isn’t he?” Luca said in a low tone. “I remembered his face from the news. I take it he didn’t kill his wife and son but what’s going on has to do with it though?” he said as he looked at Isabella. He could see she was barely hanging on and he shifted and took her other hand into his.

“One of the proudest moments in my life was the day you walked across that stage and got your badge. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. You’ve done something very few women have ever done and it says something about you that you’re trying to protect him like this.” he said. “Mother and father can’t understand it because they live in a different world than we do,” he said. “Do you love him?” he asked softly. When she looked at him he tilted his head slightly. “I’ll never say if you do,” He said with a small smile for her.

Isabella sighed a little when Luca asked her if the man they were helping was Frank Castle. She slowly nodded and then looked at him. “No, he didn’t murder his wife and child.” She knew she could trust her brother so she told him everything. She needed to get this off of her chest and there were so few people now she felt she could trust.

When she finished she became quiet for a moment before looking over at Frank. “Yes, I do love him.”

Luca paused for several moments. “Does he love you? I mean, does he know how you feel?” he asked. He didn’t expect that answer. It had to be at odds with her being a CIA agent as well. He wouldn’t think she’d let anyone or anything get in the way of her budding career so he felt his question was entirely valid. He could see her taking on a lover but keep him at an emotional distance. He looked over at Frank. ‘This was something different’ He thought. Frank had a bandage on his face and head, one on his shoulder, one around his body that covered his chest. One around his body that covered the left side of his abdomen and several smaller ones on his right arm and leg. In just his black boxer shorts all of his previous scars were now visible.

“He looks like hell Isabella,” he said. “Like he’s lived with violence in his life for a long time,” he said. “He looks Italian,” Luca said.

Isabella had not told Frank, nor did she plan to. She had told him that there was no strings attached to their relationship and she was not going to go back on her word. After last night she knew that there were feelings between them, but Frank was wanted and they couldn't exactly have a conventional relationship.

She looked at Frank and her heart broke for him. He had suffered so much, both emotionally and physically, and she wasn't sure how to help him...or even if she could, besides just being there for him when he needed her.

"He is Italian," she said to Luca. "We actually had a pasta dinner together last night. It was nice."

“Well, if he’s had your sauce then he might have fallen for you and just hasn’t said anything to you, like you to him,” Luca said trying to raise her spirits. “As odd a relationship as I’ve ever heard of. Two people who laugh at danger and neither of you can tell the other what they truly feel. He could...well, he could leave you and he’d never have known Isabella. I don’t know why but that makes me feel sad. I want you to be happy Isabella. Happy with your job, your life, everything.

Being in the CIA...sometimes going out of the country, working all hours...maybe what you have with him just works? I know I hate the ‘clingy’ types,” he said but that had little to do with what was going on and more to do with Luca’s short attention span. He became bored too easily with the women he went out with. Like Tony he was somewhat of a womanizer and often dumped women the day after they slept with him.

Isabella sighed as she thought about what Luca had said. Things were complicated enough as it was. She didn't want to complicate them further. Besides, Frank was still grieving the death of his wife and son.

"What we have is not traditional in any sense of the word, but it works for us. Things are...complicated...seriously complicated."

She looked at him. "But you...you need to settle down with a nice girl. What happened with the last girl you were seeing?"

Luca tilted back in his chair and looked out toward the hall to make certain neither of their parents were near enough to hear. He righted himself and cringed. “She caught me in bed with her best friend,” he said abashedly and gestured with his arms. “I know I don’t know what's wrong with me. Luca had a confident way of speaking to women that most women found tantalizing. That and he had that, dark and handsome Italian thing going on. He hadn’t changed much since high school and now, since he was a Lawyer...with money, he had women clawing to get at him. A few times when they went out together, she had seen that happen. Once it had actually came to two women trying to scratch one another’s eyes out. It was...quite embarrassing.

“Well I worry bout ya sis. Our parents do to but their afraid of saying anything. They don’t want to create any friction though mom would have you married and with 2 babies by now if she had her way. Noah came in to see me a couple months ago. He was pretty upset about what happened between you and he asked me how he could fix it. I told him that he had to let you do you and that was the last time I heard from him. Its odd, isn’t it? Mom and dad give you shit for living in sin yet don’t say nothing to me about that,” he said smiling at her. And that had always been the way of it as well. A double standard if there ever was one.

Isabella sighed at her brother when she heard that he had cheated on that girl. She didn't know what was wrong with him, except that he hadn't found that right girl yet. She was confident once he found that girl that he would stop his old ways. At least she hoped that would be the case. Luca had a lot going for him and he deserved to be happy. She loved her brother. He was the only one who had really supported her decision to join the CIA and had always been there for her if she needed him. They were close and enjoyed spending time together.

Hearing that Noah had gone to visit Luca and talk to him after they broke up surprised her. Noah had been extremely upset and angry and she didn't know why he would want to get back together with her after what had happened.

She glanced at Luca when he talked about the double standard her parents had for them. "Mom and Dad are old fashioned and set in their ways. I'm grateful for all they've done for me and I love them both so much, but I'm not going to let them guilt me into doing things their way."

Two days had passed and they had moved Frank into the spare bedroom next to Isabella’s room. He had had a fever but that was quickly quashed from the medications her father had given him. Between them they had nearly 80 years of medical experience and had seen their fair share of bullet and stab wounds. Isabella had rested her head on the side of Frank’s bed when she heard him speak.

“Where...where am I?” he asked hoarsely. “I take it we managed to get away?” he asked. He hadn’t opened his eyes but he smelled her shampoo. He winced when he tried to move his right arm. “Fuck…” he groaned as he opened his eyes.

No word from Lauren and the CIA had come to the house but her father was well known and they did not press him when he told them that Isabella wasn’t there. They hid the black sedan in the garage so there was no real evidence for them to get suspicious about.

Isabella was anxiously awaiting any word from Lauren about what was going on. She had to remain inside the house. Yesterday morning the CIA had come to the house. Isabella had been up in the bedroom with Frank when she heard her father talking to them. She had held her breath as she strained to hear what was said. To her relief, the agents left without searching the house.

Isabella remained by Frank's side, changing bandages as needed and watching over him. She knew she seriously owed her parents for what they were doing for her, but couldn't imagine how she would ever pay them back.

She was by Frank's side with her head resting on the bed and her eyes closed when she suddenly heard him speak. Her eyes quickly opened and she looked at him in relief. "You're at my parent's house. I brought you here because you were seriously hurt and needed medical attention. I couldn't take you to the hospital so I brought you here because my parents are both doctors. We've been here two days now."

Memory, dark as it was flooded into him and though it hurt to move he bent his arm and touched his face. Most of the puffiness had subsided, another remedy that her father knew well for such injuries. His left eye was still filled with blood however and he had a few, smaller band aids on his face. “I suppose I’m not as pretty as I once was,” he said with a chuckle then groaned in pain.

“I was an idiot Isabella. An ignorant fool to be caught so easily,” he said and then his face contorted into severe regret. “I’m...sorry I wasn’t...I’m so sorry babe,” He said as his eyes welled up with unshed tears. He saw what Thomas was doing to her. He wasn’t there to protect her when she needed him. In that, like so many other times before, he had failed. He hadn’t noticed but he had, for the first time, called her something else besides her proper name and there was a great deal of affection in how he said it as well. He turned his face away shamefully. He was better than this. But they had suckered him in.

Isabella reached up and gently touched his face. She turned it back to face her and looked at him. "There is no need for you to apologize. I...I confronted Thomas Redding and basically told him that I knew what he was doing. He threatened me...us. I wanted to warn you, but I didn't know how to find you. I'm the one who should be sorry because I feel like I failed you...Lauren...my team. There is apparently a KOS order out on me because of what happened," she said as tears came to her eyes. "Lauren is trying to fix it, but in the end I feel as if I failed and let her down. I don't know what I'm going to do."

As she explained Frank’s face darkened. “Who...is ‘everyone’ in that office dirty? What the fuck!” he said angrily and loudly. A bit too loudly. “Help me up,” he said and it was not a question. “If its a KOS order it has to be someone of authority, not Lauren then who?” he asked. Up until now he hadn’t known about Victor Teagan, the Deputy Director. He gritted his teeth as he shifted to sit up. Apparently he had bruised ribs as well and he laid back down. She saw his face go from red to ashen in the span of a few seconds. Likely anyone else would have passed out from the pain. “Fuck me,” he groaned as dark spots filled his vision. He was hurt alot worse than he thought he was. “Not a great way to meet the parents...I guess,” he said seeing her worried face and trying to brighten her mood. "What are 'we' going to do about this?" he asked.

Isabella sighed as she watched him try to get up. She wanted to stop him, but he didn't appear to be in the mood to be stopped. She could only sit back and wait for him to realize that he was too injured to go anywhere. When he finally made that decision she helped him lay back down. "You almost died Frank so you're not going anywhere anytime soon. And besides, what were you going to do? March into the office and confront Victor? I think it's best if you and I just lay low for a while. All the evidence is there of what's going on. You and I have done enough."

She stood up. "Now, can I trust you to stay there while I go get you some water and see if my parents will let you eat anything?"