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When Karen finds out she's pregnant, her first reaction is not joyful. Her first reaction is not to cry in joy or jump up and down or to call everyone. Her first reaction is sad and anger. Her first reaction is, I can't have this baby.
It's not that she doesn't want it - she'd have ten of Frank's kids if they could. Frank is The Punisher, he's supposed to be dead. He can't be there at doctors appointments, he can't be there when she gives birth, his name can't be on the birth certificate, he won't be able to be there for school functions. Even if she wants nothing more than to have a bunch of Franks children, it's selfish to want that. And how do you explain to a child why daddy can't go to school functions?
At first, she isn't sure what to do about it. Could she really go through with an abortion? She's always been pro-choice, but that didn't mean she ever thought about actually having an abortion. And if she could go through with it, could she really go through with it without telling Frank? Her body, her choice, but their baby.
Should she just tell Frank? See what he thinks? What if he's angry with her? They've never talked about having kids before, it was something that just never came up in the years that they'd been together. She's always assumed it was something that he didn't want now.
Karen mulls over her decision for several days, going back and forth between telling Frank and not telling Frank. She hides herself away from Frank, from Matt, from Foggy, from her job, knowing that any one of the could figure out what was going on.
She even made a pro/con list to go over everything. The cons of not telling Frank about their baby outweighed the pros. In hindsight, the pro/con list should have just been written in her head. Or on her cell phone.
When Karen comes home the next day from work, she finds Frank sitting on the couch in their living with a beer in his hand and her pro/con list, along with a folder of information about babies and abortion that she had looked up. Why didn't she take that folder with her? Where did she leave it?
“Frank..”
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
“Frank...”
Karen steps over to him and sits down, too afraid of his reaction to reach out and touch him. “I didn't... I haven't...”
Frank looks over at Karen and he looks relieved. Now that she's closer to him, she can see that his eyes are bloodshot like he's been crying. “You didn't?”
“No.” Karen says, setting her hands in her lap.
“Do you want to?”
“No.”
“Then why all this?” Frank leans forward and picks up the folder full of information about abortion, including abortion clinics, that Karen had collected.
Karen sighs and takes the information from Frank, looking from him to the folder. “Because you're The Punisher. You're supposed to be dead, Frank. You can't... You can't be at doctors appointments, or baby classes, or... You can't be there when the babies born. You can't go to school functions.” Karen starts, staring at the folder in her hands. “Because this baby will never have a normal life and normal parents. How do we explain that to a child? How do you plan on explaining to this baby that Daddy can't go to a game if they play sports? How would you explain to a little girl that her Daddy can't take her to a daddy daughter dance?” Karen goes on for a few more minutes before Frank cuts her off.
“Will you shut up for a minute?” Frank asks. Karen falls silent and looks at Frank, who looks equal parts pissed off, upset, and frustrated. “Look, I get it. It'd be hard but... Do you want this baby?”
“Of course, Frank, but-”
“Then no but's. No excuses about how I can't be there because I'm the Punisher because if you actually think there'a a damn person that could stop me from being the first one to hold our baby, you're out of your skull. Okay?”
“Okay.”