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The first thing Nancy did when she arrived home from Massachusetts was collapse onto her bed. Her only real wish that evening was for an uninterrupted night of rest. As much as she lived for the thrill of a midnight phone call asking her to take on an investigation, her most recent case hunting “ghosts” in Salem had taken its toll - on her sleep schedule, her psyche, and possibly even her relationship. Nancy was about to close her eyes when her dad’s head popped into the doorway.“Just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay!” Need anything?” he asked.Carson was never not worried about Nancy. When she was away on a case, Nancy could at least keep his concerns at bay by providing him with a highly redacted version of events over the phone. When she was home, though, she knew her dad could see through her act and watch her near-burnout firsthand.“Right now, I just need some decent sleep,” Nancy replied with a yawn.“Of course. Maybe you should eat something first, though?” Carson asked. “I can’t imagine the airplane food was any good.” He made a face. Nancy knew that his years of business travel meant he was more than familiar with starving his way through a flight. She sighed in recognition that her dad had a point. Even if she didn’t want to move a muscle - let alone walk all the way downstairs - she was hungry.“Do we have anything good?” Nancy asked as she reluctantly left the comfort of her bed and made her way down to the kitchen.“Hannah made lasagna before she left to visit her sister. Several lasagnas, actually. I get the sense that she thinks I can’t take care of myself,” Carson said as he reached into the fridge for one of the trays.

“And she would be correct,” Nancy laughed.“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that and choose to instead be thankful that my wonderful daughter is home safe,” Carson said with a smile as he got Nancy a plate. He piled it with far more lasagna than she would be able to eat. Despite the continual nature of her dad’s concern for her wellbeing, she knew it came from a place of love for her, as well as the lingering pain of losing her mom. Because of this, Nancy had all the patience in the world for his worry. As she ate what she could, Carson continued.“So how were things in Salem? You gave me the rundown of the case over the phone, but you didn’t tell me much about the rest. Did you get the chance to do any sightseeing? How are the Hardy brothers?”“Oh, uh, they’re good,” Nancy mumbled through a mouthful of lasagna. “Busy with cases too. I think they’re going to make the leap into investigating full-time.”Carson had asked Nancy more of a loaded question than he could know. She knew that he only meant to learn about his old friend’s sons, but it made her feel on edge anyway. There had been something different about investigating alongside Frank and Joe this time. Especially with Frank, if Nancy was being honest with herself... This difference was noticeable even before the brothers made their repeated inquiries as to whether Nancy would consider working with them on a permanent basis. She had kept her responses to that particular inquiry deliberately vague in an effort to avoid any serious discussions before heading home. As much as the idea made perfect sense professionally, Nancy knew there were also other considerations. For one, she lived halfway across the country from Frank and Joe, which would mean either she or the brothers would be required to move. For another, Nancy couldn’t help but worry about what might happen if the three detectives ever didn’t see eye to eye on a case. They had always worked exceptionally well together, but Frank and Joe meant more to Nancy than just colleagues. She didn’t want to risk losing two long-time friendships over a business disagreement. There was also the whole matter with Frank…Nancy was a detective. Even if she hadn’t been a detective, she also wasn’t blind. Nancy had long ago realized that Frank very likely had feelings for her. The stuttering responses to her compliments of his detective work, the longing glances when he thought she wasn’t looking, the red on his face when Joe made jokes about how close Frank and Nancy were… The clues were certainly there. Nancy usually chose not to think too hard about it. Frank had never made so much as a hint of an advance towards her, and he had always respected her relationship with Ned. Frank had even helped her through some of the tough spots she’d had in her relationship. Frank Hardy was nothing if not a good friend, and for that Nancy was grateful. It wasn’t like she was worried that working with him regularly would cause any of that to change. She was, however, worried about how the perception of the situation could impact her relationship with Ned.Things between Nancy and Ned had been rocky for longer than she would care to admit. Nancy also knew she was mostly to blame. If Sassy Detective had a World’s Best Girlfriend category, she wouldn’t even make the shortlist. She forgot anniversaries, missed dates, and left town without warning on a regular basis. None of this made for a thriving relationship. Still, Nancy held out hope that Ned would learn to understand her. She wished he could see that she needed this kind of life like she needed air. The idea of signing up for college classes or finding a day job in River Heights made her skin crawl. Nancy only felt like she was where she needed to be when she was caught up in a case, even if it sometimes meant her life was on the line. She knew most of Ned’s frustration with her lifestyle came from his worry for her safety, not unlike her dad. She also knew that Ned wanted - and deserved - someone who was around to celebrate the holidays and fall asleep together at night. It worried Nancy that she might never be able to offer that. In the first couple of years since they had graduated high school, Nancy assumed she would eventually run out of cases to solve or find a less demanding calling. As time passed, the reality that this was the life she wanted for the foreseeable future began to call out louder. The call had gotten so loud that it had been almost impossible to ignore on this last case. Ned was naturally upset that she had once again left him behind for a case. When the fact that Frank had been working the case too was added to the situation, Nancy knew she had the risk of a breakup on her hands. She had grovelling to do now that she was back home if she wanted to maintain her relationship with Ned. It was enough of a routine at this point that Nancy had already mentally blocked off time tomorrow morning to fix things with him. Part of her wondered how healthy any of this was or whether she even wanted to keep going around in these circles. She quickly shoved those thoughts down in favour of polishing off the lasagna. In the stress of thinking about her dad’s question, she had managed to devour the entire plate.Nancy shared a few highlights from Salem to put her dad at ease that the entire trip hadn’t been casework, then quickly said goodnight. She needed to rest, not worry about where her relationship was going or whether she wanted to start a business with her friends. Nancy checked her phone as she headed back upstairs and crawled into bed. She saw a few missed messages.
Deirdre Shannon: hey drew, i just wanted to say thanks again for the help

Deirdre Shannon: but don’t expect me to act like i like you once we’re both back in river heights
Nancy let out a chuckle. Deirdre was a lot to handle, but Nancy was glad to have seen another side to her in Salem. She wouldn’t call Deirdre a close friend, but Nancy could appreciate that they did have some similarities after all.
Team Danger - Bess Marvin: Did you make it back ok?? We want all the details of your trip when you’re up for it!!!

Team Danger - George Fayne: I’m dying hear all about these ghosts

Team Danger - Bess Marvin: And I’m dying to hear all about the Hardy brothers ;)
Nancy texted the group chat she shared with her two best friends to let them know that she was indeed back in River Heights and that she would find time to see them tomorrow. She chose to ignore what was being implied in Bess’ last message and instead turned her attention to texting Ned.
Nancy Drew: Are you free tomorrow morning?

Nancy Drew: I’m back in town and I’d love to see you :)
Nancy watched as three dots popped up on her screen and held her breath waiting for the answer.
Ned Nickerson: Sure

Ned Nickerson: I can come by your place around 10
Nancy sighed. Ned was obviously still upset with her, judging by the cool tone of his messages. She reminded herself that he had every right to be angry as she texted him back to confirm their plans. After saying goodnight to Ned, Nancy set her phone on her nightstand and began mentally planning her apology speech as she drifted off.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Morning came far too soon for Nancy’s liking. She would have given up almost anything to roll back over as her alarm buzzed. The thing she would be giving up if she slept in, however, would be her relationship with Ned, and Nancy wasn’t willing to risk that over ten more minutes of sleep. She dragged herself out of bed and into some clean clothes before heading to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast. Nancy looked through the nearly bare cabinets and settled on what looked to be the least stale of the cereals. When Hannah wasn’t around, their household almost ceased to function. Nancy made a mental note to do some grocery shopping later so she and her dad wouldn’t starve before Hannah’s return.

Before long, the doorbell rang. Nancy went to answer it, knowing that her father had long since left for work. Even after all these years, Ned still wouldn’t let himself into her home unannounced. As Nancy opened the door, she was met with the sight of Ned’s expressionless face. She had naively hoped that seeing each other face to face would remind them both of what they meant to each other. Instead, Nancy just felt a pit in her stomach.

“It’s so good to see you!” she said in a cheery voice. Maybe if she tried hard enough to act normal, things would work themselves out.

“If it’s so good to see me, why is this the first time you’re seeing me in weeks?” Ned said bluntly. It felt like a shot straight to Nancy's heart.

“I see we aren’t beating around the bush,” she replied uneasily. “Look, let’s not do this in the doorway. Just come in and we can talk.”

Ned reluctantly followed her around the corner to the living room. Nancy sat in her usual spot on the couch but instead of cozying up beside her, Ned chose the armchair.

Nancy felt nauseous. She was trying to remember the apology she’d prepared in her head last night when Ned spoke first.

“What are we even doing?”

“Well, I guess right now we’re talking about us…” Nancy replied hesitantly. She knew full well what he really meant, but she wasn’t ready to have that conversation yet.

“Don’t act like you don’t know what I mean,” Ned sighed. “What are

we

doing? You and me, this relationship… if you can even call it that.”

It didn’t seem to matter if Nancy was ready to have the conversation or not, because for once Ned wasn’t holding back. His usual patience for Nancy and her inability to prioritize him seemed to have finally worn thin.

“Ned, I’m sorry,” Nancy said. “I know I let you down when I went to Salem. But when Deirdre called-” 
Nancy was hoping to justify her actions, but Ned cut her off before she could start.“I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want the explanations and the excuses about how someone else needed you. Have you ever once stopped to consider that I need you?”
“You don’t need me, Ned,” Nancy replied earnestly. “You have your college friends, and your coursework, and your job at the paper. You have a full life whether I’m always around or not.”

“That’s not the point! You’re

never

around.” Ned’s voice was becoming angry. “I’m pretty sure half of my friends from school think I’ve made you up! They keep telling me to bring you to parties or football games, and I have to tell them that you’re on the road

again

. ‘Sorry guys, Nancy couldn’t make it again this time! She’s busy running around Massachusetts with her other boyfriend and his little brother!’”

Nancy’s anxiety was quickly replaced with anger. Ned was taking cheap shots. Even if she was a subpar girlfriend, she didn’t deserve that.

“That’s not true and you know it! There’s nothing going on between me and Frank,” Nancy snapped. “And you’re one to talk, you know! You never explained who that girl was who answered your phone.”

“She was my partner for a journalism course project. I met up with her twice,” Ned replied sharply. “I’m pretty sure that’s magnitudes less than the number of times you’ve talked to Frank Hardy in the last year.”

Nancy was about to snap right back at Ned when he let out a long breath and continued to speak.

“I’m sorry, Nancy. That wasn’t fair of me. I know you’d never cheat. Sometimes I just think it would be easier if you had...”

“And

what

exactly does that mean?” Nancy demanded. She was equally shocked and confused by Ned’s words.

“It means that it would be easier if you had done something to make me hate you.” Ned’s voice was shaking slightly. “If I could just write you off as a bad person, I would just be able to move on and not keep clinging to the pieces of whatever we used to have.”

Nancy felt the tears start to form in her eyes. This was it. She had pushed just a little too far this time and now she was going to lose Ned. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything and instead let Ned continue.

“Nancy, I love you. I always will. But at some point we’re going to have to acknowledge that we want different things. We’re going in different directions and it’s splitting both of us down the middle to keep holding on.” Ned hesitated slightly before saying the words Nancy didn’t want to hear. “I think we need to admit to ourselves that we’re over.”

“Ned, I’m sorry…” Nancy whispered.

This time, she wasn’t pleading for his forgiveness or for another chance. She knew he was right. They were over. They had probably both held on for longer than they should have. All she wanted was for Ned to know that she had given it her best.

“I swear, I tried…” she continued as she bit back the tears. “I tried to be what you needed. I just couldn’t be someone who…”

Nancy trailed off as she looked for the right words. For once, Ned seemed to understand her perfectly.

“I know you tried. We both did,” Ned said gently. “I wouldn’t want you to be anyone but yourself, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I was the one who made you bury who you are.

Ned’s ability to be kind even in their worst moment made the conversation that much harder for Nancy as he kept talking.

“I hope you find the craziest cases in every corner of the world. I hope it brings you joy. And I hope you call me every now and then to tell me about it.”

As he finished speaking, Ned stood up from his chair and pulled Nancy into one last hug. Nancy tried not to break down completely when Ned let go of her and made his way to the door. With one last glance in her direction, Ned let himself out the front door and out of her life. As the first sob left Nancy’s lips, she reached for her phone.

Team Danger - Nancy Drew: Come over now

Team Danger - Nancy Drew: Please

—

Bess and George reached Nancy’s house in record time and came flying through the front door without hesitation.

“Are you okay?” George called out. “Should we call the police?”

Given that Nancy hadn’t responded to any of their concerned messages, it was reasonable that Bess and George weren’t sure what they’d encounter upon arriving at the Drew household. Knowing Nancy’s history, the situation was just as likely to be a kidnapping in progress as a breakup.

“I’m… I’m in here,” Nancy managed between her tears. As the cousins turned the corner into the living room, Nancy waved feebly from where she was curled up on the couch.

“Oh sweetie, what happened?” Bess said, rushing to wrap Nancy in a hug.

George was close behind, even joining in on the hug for several seconds. Nancy was especially grateful for that, given that George wasn’t exactly big on hugs.

“We broke up…” Nancy whispered as her crying slowed enough to allow her to speak. The words felt wrong coming out of her mouth. She and Ned were supposed to be together forever. How was she sitting here telling her best friends that her relationship was over?

George gasped at the news, while Bess just squeezed Nancy tighter. They all sat together in silence for several minutes, until Nancy had regained enough composure to begin telling her friends what just happened. She explained how things had been difficult with Ned while she was in Salem and how it had ultimately proven to be too much. She chose to leave out the parts where Ned’s jealousy of Frank came into view. Bess already enjoyed teasing Nancy about Frank’s crush on her. There was no sense in adding fuel to that fire.

“I know right now this probably feels like the end of the world,” George said gently as Nancy finished her story. “But it sounds like you already know on some level that it was the right decision.”

Nancy appreciated George’s consistent ability to be practical in emotional situations.

“It’s still awful…” Bess said. “I’m so sorry, Nancy.”

“You know what’s not awful, though?” George asked with a small smile. “Reese Witherspoon practicing law!”

George reached for the TV remote to search through the streaming apps for Legally Blonde. It was the movie they always watched when Bess or George went through a breakup. Nancy knew the familiar tradition would be comforting, but she couldn’t believe this time the breakup was her own. Bess headed to the kitchen in search of snacks as George pulled up the movie.

Later that day, Carson came home and found the girls watching Elle Woods giving her valedictorian speech. Although he was familiar enough with the routine to know that the movie meant there was a broken heart in the house, it was clear he didn’t yet realize whose heart it was.

“Oh Bess, I’m really sorry to hear that things didn’t work out between you and that new guy you’d been seeing,” Carson said sympathetically. “I know you were really excited about him.”

As Bess shook her head quickly, Nancy made eye contact with her dad. The sight of his shock as he put the pieces together brought Nancy’s tears back to the surface. Ned was practically family. Her dad surely assumed she and Ned would end up married one day. How was she going to explain that she had ruined everything? Nancy braced herself for his disappointment.

To her surprise, Carson said nothing of the sort and instead hugged her while muttering that he knew enough judges to get away with egging Ned’s house. Nancy laughed for the first time that day. She filled her dad in on what had happened earlier. When she finished telling the story, Carson spoke in a firm voice.

“Any man who can’t give you the life you need to be happy isn’t the one for you. You deserve someone who sees you for who you are and loves you because of it, not in spite of it.”

Nancy had tears in her eyes for the dozenth time that day, but this was the first time she wasn’t crying over Ned. Her dad’s words meant a lot. Nancy knew that he had loved her mom because of who she was, not in spite of it - and that he still did, even after everything that happened. Nancy vowed not to settle for anything less.
  
The three friends had set up camp in a pile of pillows and blankets on the living room floor for the night. Just as they had all agreed to get some rest, Nancy’s phone started to ring. She groaned and hoped to herself that the late night call wouldn’t be a case request. She needed at least a few days to recover from both the Salem case and her breakup. To her surprise, the caller ID on her phone was a familiar one.

Call from Frank Hardy

Nancy was immediately concerned that Frank was calling at such a late hour. If it was already 11pm in River Heights, that meant it was midnight in Bayport. Concern flooded Nancy’s thoughts. Was Frank in danger? Did he need urgent help on a case? She picked up as she made her way into the dark kitchen so she didn’t disturb Bess and George, who had already dozed off.

“What’s going on?” Nancy asked as she picked up Frank’s call. She didn’t want to waste time on hello if someone was in danger.

“I think I should be asking you that question.” Frank’s voice was soft and full of concern. “Are you okay?”

Nancy realized that Frank wasn’t calling about a case. He must have heard about the breakup.

“Who told you?” Nancy asked, ignoring Frank’s question entirely.

“Your dad texted my dad just now,” Frank explained. “He said you could probably use a friend.”

Nancy felt a rush of gratitude for Frank. He could’ve easily waited until the next morning to call, but he had called her at midnight just to make sure she was okay.

“Thanks for calling,” Nancy said as she tried to hide her emotion. “Is Joe there too?”

“He passed out about an hour ago,” Frank replied. “I can get him up if you want to talk to him too, though. He won’t mind.”

“No, no, don’t wake him. I was just curious.” Nancy felt slightly relieved that Joe wasn’t on the call. As much as she loved Joe, right now she just wanted to talk to Frank.

“So… how are you really?” he asked softly.

Frank’s voice cut through the chatter in Nancy’s head about what she should or shouldn't be feeling and she found herself opening up. Not just about what had happened that day, but also about everything that had led up to it. The fights over Nancy being away or putting herself in danger, the guilt she felt when she realized she was happier on a case than she was at home, the sleepless nights spent wondering how she would ever make a relationship with anyone work if this was the life she wanted… Nancy could open up about all of it because she knew Frank understood. He was probably one of the only people who could ever understand, because he had lived it too. Nancy knew he had gone around in these circles with his last girlfriend, Callie. Frank had the same fears as Nancy. He understood what Nancy was going through without her even needing to explain, and she was beyond grateful for that connection. Nancy could have kept talking to him all night, but she knew it was late for her and even later in his timezone.

“I should probably try to get some sleep,” she said reluctantly.

“I’d tell you to sleep well, but I know that’s probably easier said than done tonight. I just hope you’re able to get a bit of rest.” Once again, Frank had a precise understanding of the situation without Nancy ever having to explain. “And call me if you need anything, okay? Doesn’t matter what time it is. I’m always here. Uh, Joe and I are always here, I mean.”

Nancy wished Frank goodnight as they hung up the call. Despite her insistence that she needed to sleep, she made no effort to head back to the living room where Bess and George were snoring. Instead, Nancy stayed sitting at the kitchen island for several more minutes, wondering what the odd feeling was in her chest.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It had been almost a week since the breakup and Nancy was doing better than she expected. It was hard to break the habit of reaching for her phone to tell Ned about her day or waiting before bed for a goodnight text, but Nancy found a lot of comfort in her friends. Bess and George were trading shifts with Carson to keep an eye on her, despite her protests that she didn’t need to be constantly looked after. Joe had called to see how Nancy was doing the morning after she’d spoken to Frank, and she had been in steady communication with the brothers since. To Nancy’s surprise, she even got a text from Deirdre.

Deirdre Shannon: word’s been getting around about your breakup

Deirdre Shannon: that sucks

Deidre Shannon: i promise not to go after your ex now that he’s on the market

Nancy was slightly surprised by Deirdre’s last message. Deirdre had always shown interest in Ned, so for her to say that she wasn’t going to pursue him the second he was single said a lot to Nancy about the connection the two women had developed in Salem. Either that, or Deidre had her eye on someone new… Regardless, Nancy texted back a quick thank you for Deirdre’s sympathy.

Nancy checked her other text messages as she sat in her room. She had one from Frank, asking her if she wanted to have a video call with him and Joe. Nancy chuckled to herself, knowing that the call was bound to lift her mood. Talking to both brothers at once was never a dull moment.

Nancy Drew: I’d love to! Are you both free now?

Frank Hardy: We sure are! Call whenever you’d like

Nancy hit dial on Frank’s contact. Within seconds, she was looking at Frank and Joe sitting in the living room of their shared apartment.

“Hey Nancy!” Joe’s unfailingly cheerful nature made Nancy smile.

“Good to see you smiling!” Frank’s voice was softer, but still cheery. “How are things?”

“Not too bad,” Nancy replied. “People are being really nice about the breakup. I even got a message from Deirdre just now. Can you believe it?”

Nancy had meant to share that fact as something for them all to laugh about, but instead her words almost seemed to hit a nerve. Frank sighed loudly in the direction of a guilty-looking Joe.

“That wasn’t your business to share with Deirdre!” Frank grumbled.

He was clearly scolding Joe, but Nancy didn’t understand why Frank thought Joe had been the one to tell Deirdre the news.

“I’m sorry! It just came up in conversation! What was I supposed to say?” Joe paused before speaking directly to Nancy. “I’m really sorry, Nancy. I didn’t mean to talk about you behind your back.”

“Joe, it’s no big deal. It’s not like the breakup is a secret,” Nancy replied. “I’m just surprised that you’ve been talking to Deirdre at all. Did something else come up with the case?”

Nancy wondered what loose end they could have possibly forgotten to tie up. To her surprise, Joe went entirely quiet, which was something Nancy didn’t even know he could do.

“Nope, the case is still closed,” Frank said dryly. “But Joe seems to have made a new ‘friend’ while we were in Salem.”

Nancy stared in disbelief. “Joe and Deirdre? They’re together?”

“No!” Joe said quickly. “We’re not… it’s not like we’re… Look, there’s nothing going on! We’re just friends!”

Joe’s woeful attempt to deny any romantic connection to Deirdre made Nancy grin. He would make a truly terrible criminal if this was how he tried to keep a secret.

“Right… There’s definitely nothing going on,” Frank replied sarcastically as he rolled his eyes to Nancy through the phone. “That’s why you’ve been talking about her every day since we got back.”

“Hey, it’s not like you haven’t spent every day talking abou- OW!” Joe winced and reached down to rub the foot Frank had clearly just stepped on before he kept talking. “Anyway… Uh, yeah, Deirdre and I have been talking. She hasn’t said anything to you about me, has she?”

“Now is not the time, Joe,” Frank groaned.

Nancy laughed. She really did love the constant banter between the two brothers. Working with them again on the case in Salem had reminded her of how great it was to be around them. She wished they could work together more often. Something in the back of Nancy’s mind reminded her that the only thing stopping that from happening was herself, but she pushed those thoughts aside.

“Well, Deirdre did tell me that she didn’t have plans to go after Ned now that he’s single,” Nancy replied. “I wasn’t sure what she meant by that at first, but now I’m thinking maybe she has someone else in mind…”

Nancy couldn’t help but smile as Joe’s face lit up. She wasn’t sure she could fully wrap her head around what Joe saw in Deirdre, but if he was this happy just talking about her, Nancy figured it must be something special.

“She’s moving to New York in January!” Joe said excitedly. “Her dad got her a job doing investigative journalism for this online newsroom. Now all we need is for you to agree to the agency plan and we could move the River Heights party to the east coast!”

Joe’s words made Nancy cringe slightly. They had managed to go this long without anyone bringing up the business pitch, but clearly that was too long.

“Look guys, I don’t know…” Nancy said with hesitation.

Nancy started to form her rationale for turning them down when she stopped herself. Every argument she reached for revolved around Ned.

Ned and I wouldn’t be able to handle long-distance if I moved away.

Things with Ned would be awkward if he knew I was working with you guys every day.

If I finally admit that I’m doing this detective thing full-time, my relationship would be over.

Nancy stopped. Sure, she had other reservations about going into business with the Hardy brothers - how their friendship would go, or whether she was ready to leave River Heights - but none of those were truly stopping her. What had been stopping her most of all was the guilt of making a choice that would leave Ned behind. Given the events of the last week, Nancy realized that none of it applied anymore. She was free to go where cases called, without the constant anxiety of what it would mean for the other pieces of her life.

“I’m considering the agency,” Nancy said suddenly. “I haven’t made up my mind yet, but it’s definitely on the table.”

Her words seemed to surprise both Frank and Joe, but no one was more surprised than Nancy herself. A week ago, her final answer would have been a gentle yet firm no, but a lot had changed since then. Nancy felt differently about a lot of things, not the least of which were her future plans.

Frank quickly insisted that Nancy take all the time she needed to give them an answer and that she shouldn’t rush into any decisions. While he had a point, Nancy was pretty sure she already had her answer before she even hung up the call. She still needed to talk to her dad before making anything official, but Nancy could hear the voice in her head whispering that she was New York-bound.
  
As Carson sat down for their dinner of more lasagna, Nancy was unsure of how to start the conversation. Her dad seemed to tune into this fact quickly.

“I know that face,” Carson sighed. “You’ve got another case already, don’t you? How far away is it this time?”

“Uh, New York,” Nancy said hesitantly.

“That’s not too bad!” Carson replied. “It’ll be a relatively short flight and it’s somewhere you’ve been before. What’s the case?”

Nancy knew she was about to break her dad’s heart. She had been his whole world since she was three. How could she tell him that she wanted to leave? Still, she had to follow the voice in her head.

“So the thing is… Do you remember how I mentioned the Hardy brothers were starting a business solving cases full-time?”

“Yes,” Carson replied as he chewed his lasagna very slowly. Nancy knew that he already had a good idea of where she was going with this conversation.

“Well, when I was in Salem, they asked me if I wanted to join them… and I think I do.” Nancy’s voice was steady, even though she didn’t feel that way inside.

Carson sighed immediately and put down his fork. “Nancy, I know your life was just turned upside down, but I don’t think moving to Bayport on a whim is the answer.”

“It’s not a whim! I’ve been thinking about it ever since they asked,” Nancy clarified.

“So all of two weeks?” Carson had pulled out the stern voice he normally reserved for the courtroom.

“Dad, please just hear me out... It makes a lot of sense. I’m thinking about my future. Bess has her fashion design program and George just signed on to do another internship in Colorado next month. Everyone around me is starting the next chapter of their lives and I need to do that too.”

“You’re already solving cases successfully on your own. Why do you need to team up with anyone?” Carson’s voice was staying level as he asked his questions, but Nancy could see the emotion in his eyes. “And if Frank and Joe want to work with you so badly, why don’t they move here?”

“I don’t

need

to team up with anyone, but I do think it would be beneficial. I’d have other people to keep me company on the road or to go over tough case files together. Plus, it means I’d always have someone around to look out for me when I get myself into risky situations.” Nancy knew her dad wouldn’t be able to argue against any point that prioritized her safety. “I’ve worked with Frank and Joe enough times to know that we work well together. Either I do this with them or I do it on my own, and I’d rather not be their competition.”

Carson seemed to begrudgingly accept the logic of Nancy’s arguments. Still, he wasn’t totally convinced.

“But why move there?” he continued. “If you’re looking to set up some sort of head office, there’s space available in my building. I could put you in touch with the leasing office tomorrow. The rent has to be better here than in Bayport.”

Nancy paused. She had also considered this. Frank and Joe had never explicitly asked her to be the one to move to their location. In fact, she was quite certain that if she told them a condition for working together was that they all set up shop in River Heights, Frank and Joe would be loading a U-Haul in no time. Despite all of that, Nancy knew what the voice in her head was telling her and she was completely determined to listen this time.

“If I’m thinking practically, I want us to be based near a major airport. It’s all the extra flights between Chicago and River Heights that have been killing me lately,” Nancy clarified. “So it wouldn’t be Bayport either. I was actually thinking about New York City.”

Carson coughed a little on his lasagna but Nancy kept talking. She knew that if she lost her courage now, she’d never be able to finish this conversation.

“Before you start lecturing me about crime rates and the cost of rent, I’ve already thought about it. I’ve weighed the pros and cons and when it’s all said and done, this is what I want. I love you and I love River Heights, but I think it’s time for me to start a new adventure.”

Carson blinked back a few tears. “I suppose I could look into renewing my New York bar licence. I let it lapse years ago, but I guess I’ll need an excuse to expense all the flights I’ll be taking into JFK.”

Nancy beamed. As much as she knew that her dad loved having her around, he had never been one to stand in her way. Without any hesitation, Nancy pulled out her phone and texted two words to her group chat with Frank and Joe.

The Usual Suspects - Nancy Drew: I’m in

Frank and Joe had called Nancy almost immediately when she had confirmed that she wanted to be part of the detective agency plans. Joe was blowing a party horn as soon as she picked up. Where he got it from on short notice, Nancy had no idea, but somehow she wasn’t really surprised. Frank looked so happy that Nancy thought he might cry. She had laid out her expectations straight away - an even partnership between the three of them, their homebase in NYC, and her name first in the agency title. The last one was more of a joke than anything, but both men agreed to all of her requests without hesitation. Before long, Nancy had various documents in her inbox - a business plan, a marketing strategy, pages of financial projections… Frank and Joe had clearly done their homework.

Nancy spent the next several days reviewing what the brothers had prepared and making plans of her own. This included breaking the news to Bess and George that she was going to be leaving River Heights. She had asked them to meet her at Scoops. Even if it was November, no one from River Heights would pass up a chance for ice cream. While a few tears were spilled when Nancy told them her plans, the cousins were ultimately happy for Nancy. George was headed back to Colorado in a little while anyway, so they were already prepared to keep in touch long distance. Nancy didn’t feel bad about leaving Bess behind in River Heights either. Bess had made at least a dozen new friends in her college program, so Nancy knew she would be anything but lonely.

“When’s the big move?” Bess’ voice came from behind the massive ice cream cone she had ordered. Nancy could barely see her face, but she knew Bess was excited for her.

“In just a couple weeks,” Nancy replied. “We’re in the process of signing leases on office space and apartments. We’re just lucky that Fenton has a friend in real estate who owes him a favour. He’s already found what we need. Frank and Joe are driving over to see the places in person this week before we make it official. And then we just have to finalize the business plan and file some paperwork with the state.”

“Good thing you know a lawyer,” George said with a chuckle.

She wasn’t wrong. Nancy was incredibly grateful to have her dad’s expertise on hand as the trio of detectives set up the structure of their business. There was far more paperwork involved than Nancy would have guessed.

“This is so exciting!” Bess giggled. “I already can’t wait to visit. My classmates are going to be so jealous when I tell them I have a free place to stay during Fashion Week!”

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out from over Nancy’s shoulder.

“I heard a rumour that you’re going to be joining me in the City. I guess it’s true…” Deirdre’s tone was full of her classic snark. “You just can’t get enough of me, huh Drew?”

“Oh?” Nancy replied. She figured two could play at this game. “And who did you hear that rumour from? I only told Bess and George today. That just leaves a few other people who know my plans - my dad, Frank,

Joe…”

Nancy emphasized the last word, which led to raised eyebrows from Bess and George. She hadn’t yet filled her friends in on the news of the strange yet budding romance that existed between Deirdre and Joe. Deirdre’s face went red as she snapped back.

“So what if I’ve been talking to Joe? Big deal. It’s not like you and Frank don’t text every day.”

Nancy was caught off guard by the comparison of her friendship with Frank to whatever was going on between Deirdre and Joe. The two were categorically different. Nancy and Frank were longtime friends who were about to go into business together. They weren’t on the verge of striking up a relationship like Deirdre and Joe. Nancy was also surprised that Deirdre even knew that Nancy and Frank texted every day. For that information to make its way to Deirdre, Joe must have told her about it. Which meant that Frank was texting Nancy frequently enough for Joe to notice.

It was all perfectly innocent. She and Frank had lots to discuss before the move. Texting each other at all hours of the day was completely normal behaviour between two friends. It wasn’t like Nancy’s heart went a little faster when she saw Frank’s name on her phone screen… or did it? Nancy started to think about the feeling in her chest when Frank had called her the night of the breakup, but George’s voice snapped Nancy out of her thoughts.

“Keep walking, Shannon. This is a private conversation that doesn’t concern you.” George’s hatred for Deirdre ran deep, even though Nancy had tried to explain that Deirdre had a semi-decent side buried under all the snark.

“Whatever…” Deirdre rolled her eyes and turned to walk away. As she was leaving, she called out to Nancy over her shoulder. “You should call me when we’re both in the City. We could grab lunch or something.”

The idea of an entire lunch alone with Deirdre filled Nancy with dread, but she made a mental note to reach out after she moved anyway. Nancy figured she should make an effort to get along with Deirdre for Joe’s sake. As the friends finished their ice cream and made their way down the street to check out a few shops, Nancy sent Joe a quick text.

Nancy Drew: Just ran into Deirdre. I got the sense she’s excited to move to NYC

Nancy Drew: Maybe even for more reasons than just the new job ;)

Joe’s response came a few minutes later, as Bess was insisting Nancy try on an ugly sweater that was apparently the latest trend. New York City-bound or not, Nancy was never going to appreciate fashion the same way Bess did. She did, however, agreed to humor Bess by trying on the sweater just as her phone buzzed.

Joe Hardy: You’re the best wingwoman ever

Joe Hardy: If there’s ever anyone I can set you up with as a thank you, all you have to do is let me know…

Nancy idly wondered what Joe meant as she made her way to the fitting room.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When Nancy had first settled on a moving date with Frank and Joe, it almost didn’t seem real. Time had done its usual tricks, however, and moving day was suddenly here. Hannah had spent the week leading up to the big day helping Nancy condense a lifetime of things into one U-Haul. Nancy chose to leave a lot at her dad’s house, knowing that a New York City apartment wasn’t going to be very spacious. It wasn’t as if her dad was short on space in the giant house anyway. She packed what she knew she’d need to be comfortable and planned to pick up anything she was missing once she arrived. As George helped load the last box into the back of Carson’s SUV, Nancy realized there was nothing left to do. She had planned and prepared and organized everything she could. Now it was time to start the next chapter.

Nancy turned to the group of her loved ones that had gathered in the driveway, who were shuffling around to keep themselves warm in the cold air. She hugged Hannah first and already found herself holding back tears.

“You’re going to do amazing things. I don’t doubt it for one second,” Hannah said with a smile. She also seemed to be holding back tears. “Just don’t forget me while you’re out there changing the world, okay?”

“I could never forget you, Hannah,” Nancy insisted. “I’ll be sure to call every week. And please look after Dad. He thinks he can handle everything himself, but he needs all the help he can get.”

“Hey now! I can hear you!” Carson teased.

Nancy was grateful she didn’t have to say goodbye to him just yet. He had taken a few days off work to accompany Nancy on the drive to New York.

Bess and George were next. George was leaving for Colorado in a few days, so this goodbye felt especially tough. For three girls that had spent their younger days being inseparable, the realization that they would be split across the country was hard for all of them to swallow. Still, Nancy knew everyone was headed where they needed to be.

“I’m going to miss you both so much,” Nancy said, once again tearful. She hugged them both, and for once George didn’t even flinch.

“Call us as soon as you get settled!” George’s unnaturally cheery voice was clearly covering up how emotional she was.

“Yes! We expect a full video tour of your fancy New York City apartment!” Bess added. She was still hung up on the apartment, and it made Nancy chuckle.

The apartment was nice, but it was no penthouse suite. Frank and Joe had shown it to Nancy over a video call during their trip to meet with Fenton’s real estate friend. This had given Nancy a rough idea of the layout, but ultimately she told Frank that she would trust his decision as to whether she should take the place. Frank took his responsibility seriously, as he had a tendency to do, and did several more laps around the apartment before confirming to Nancy that he thought it was suitable. She put the same faith in Frank when it came to viewing their future office space. While the brothers weren’t able to find a two-bedroom in the same building as Nancy’s apartment, she was glad that they had secured one in the same neighborhood, and that both of their places were within walking distance of their new office. Nancy was perfectly okay to keep to one corner of the City until she got the hang of things.

With a promise to update everyone at every step of the drive, Nancy and her dad climbed into the SUV. Carson had volunteered to do the first leg, leaving Nancy waving from the passenger seat as they pulled away. When the house was out of sight and they were starting down the highway, Nancy reached for her phone and her water bottle.

The Usual Suspects - Nancy Drew: On the road!

The Usual Suspects - Joe Hardy: WOOHOO! Let’s get this party started!

The Usual Suspects - Frank Hardy: Can’t wait to see you, Nance!

The Usual Suspects - Joe Hardy: He sure can’t. He even has a countdown on his phone til your arrival :)

Nancy coughed a little on the water she was drinking. She wasn’t sure what to think about the information Joe had just shared or the way it made her heart race.

“All good?” Carson raised an eyebrow at Nancy’s sudden inability to drink water.

“Yup, everything’s great!”

Nancy’s reply wasn’t a lie. She was on her way to her first apartment, where she’d be starting a full-fledged career doing what she loved. Everything was great. The little butterflies she felt when she thought about Frank these days weren’t worth worrying about.
  
The 13 hour drive had been long, even when spread over two days, but Nancy enjoyed the conversations she’d been able to have with her dad. Between Nancy frequently being away for an investigation and Carson forever working on a new court case, it had been a while since they’d both had an extended opportunity to talk. As they reached the outer edge of New York City, Nancy stopped at a gas station to switch drivers once last time. She was grateful not to be the one navigating them through the impending chaos. When they were back on the road, Carson continued their previous discussion.

“It makes me happy that you get along so well with Fenton’s sons, though it’s baffling to think we’re both old enough that our kids are starting a business together. You know, if someone had told your mom and I when you were born that this was what you’d end up doing with your life…” Carson’s voice trailed off momentarily. “What I’m trying to say is that your mom would be proud of you. I want you to know that.”

Nancy was searching for the right words to reply when a horn started honking beside them. One car had nearly hit another while changing lanes.

“Ah yes, the joys of big city living…” Carson joked. “I’m sure it’ll all be familiar soon enough.”

They crawled through endless streets of traffic until they reached the address of Nancy’s new apartment. Nancy was relieved to see that there was slightly less commotion in this area than there had been when they’d first entered the City. Nancy was reaching for her phone to inform Frank and Joe of her arrival when she spotted them standing on the sidewalk in front of her building. Fenton and Laura were also there. Carson hesitated as he looked for a place to park, but Fenton directed him to the loading zone near the front of the building.

“I can make a parking ticket go away,” Fenton said with a wink through the open passenger window.

Nancy laughed as she stepped out of the car. Suddenly, she was being wrapped in a hug from Joe, while Frank stood with his hands in the pockets of his sweater vest and a smile on his face.

“This is gonna be so great!” Joe sounded like a kid on Christmas morning. “We’re so happy you’re here!”

“So am I!” Nancy grinned at Joe, before gently extracting herself from his rib-crushing hug and turning to Frank.

Suddenly, the air shifted. She had spoken to Frank a hundred times over the phone since she’d last seen him in Salem. Why did things feel so different standing here with him now? As Frank leaned in to give her a quick hug, Nancy was immediately aware of the muscles that were showing through the thin fabric of his shirt sleeves. Nancy prided herself on noticing things, but this was the first time she had any awareness of Frank’s arms. It wasn’t possible for him to have put on all that muscle since she had seen him a month ago. She must not have been paying attention before…

Frank gave Nancy an odd look, and she realized she had been caught staring at his arms.

“You must be freezing in just that sweater vest!” Nancy said quickly. It wasn’t her smoothest ever cover, but Frank seemed to buy it. Nancy turned quickly to the larger group. “Let’s get inside before anyone gets too cold!”

Frank handed Nancy the keys to her new place and they all made their way to the fourth floor walkup. Nancy felt a little nervous as she turned the key in the lock. She has signed a lease for an entire year without seeing the apartment once. As she opened the door, though, Nancy realized she shouldn’t have doubted Frank for a second. She could see that the one-bedroom apartment wasn’t very big, but it was beautifully bright with high ceilings. She began to walk around, taking the place in. Carson called out from the doorway that he and Fenton were going to start moving the bigger pieces of furniture up the stairs. Frank and Joe quickly followed the pair of fathers, looking to make themselves useful as well. This left Nancy alone with Laura, who began to excitedly point out different features of the apartment. Nancy had always liked Laura’s soft enthusiasm for life and her unwavering support of the people she loved. Nancy could easily see the ways in which Frank took after his mom.

As a dresser made its way into the apartment courtesy of Joe and Carson, Laura helped Nancy start to figure out how she wanted the place laid out. With six pairs of hands, it took barely any time to unload the furniture and boxes into Nancy’s apartment. They had placed the larger pieces of furniture where they belonged, and Nancy figured she could work on unpacking the rest of her things later. Carson had gone out in search of a not-so-prohibited place to park the SUV when Fenton spoke up.

“Anyone hungry? I know a great Italian place around the corner. You’ll want to get to know what’s in your neighborhood anyway.” Fenton had spent enough time in the City to know his way around better than any of the others.

“I’m never not hungry,” Joe replied.

“Everyone here knows that…” Frank said with an eye roll.

With a chuckle at his sons, Fenton texted Frank the directions to the restaurant. He told the three new business partners to grab a table at the restaurant, and that the others would walk over once Carson was back from his search for parking.

As the trio made their way down the street, Joe began to point out the landmarks he had learned so far that day.

“Mine and Frank’s apartment is around that corner and down a few blocks. You know you’ve gone too far if you see the laundromat. The laundromat with the blue sign, I mean. The one with the green sign means you haven’t gone far enough. And then our office is in the opposite direction. And there’s a bakery right next door!  got a donut earlier and it was the best thing I’ve ever tasted. It’s gonna be dangerous to work so close by. And don’t get me started on the coffee shop on the next block over…”

As Joe continued to share various points of interest, most of which were food related, Frank shot Nancy a sly grin. Nancy was no stranger to Frank’s good-natured mocking of Joe’s excitement about eating. This time though, Nancy felt her stomach do a flip at the way Frank’s grin was meant just for her. She chalked it up to an appreciation of her close friendship with Frank and continued to listen to Joe, who had now moved onto a list of food places nearby that he wanted to try next.

Fenton had been right. The Italian place was great, though Nancy couldn’t fully appreciate it as the exhaustion of the day started to creep up on her. When the time came to head back to their apartments, they all stopped at the street corner that split the route between the two buildings. Nancy thanked Fenton and Laura profusely for their help. They were planning to hit the road to Bayport first thing tomorrow morning to avoid the rush hour traffic, so now was Nancy’s chance to say goodbye. She gave Fenton a quick hug and promised to give him a call if they ever got too stuck on a case. Laura whispered quickly into Nancy’s ear as they hugged as well.

“If my boys are ever too much, don’t hesitate to call me. I’ll set them straight.”

Nancy let out a little laugh. Frank and Joe weren’t men whose behavior she worried about, and even if something did come up, Nancy knew how to handle them. Nonetheless, she appreciated Laura’s offer. Carson hugged Laura and shook hands with Fenton before turning to Frank and Joe. Carson’s expression shifted from friendly to stern as he began speaking.

“I want you both to listen to me

very

carefully. I’m not only leaving my daughter in the largest city in America, but I’m also leaving her here to pursue a career chasing down criminals. I know she can handle herself, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t expect both of you to be looking out for her at all times. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!” The sound of both Frank and Joe replying in terrified unison made Nancy chuckle.

Her dad didn’t need to scare Frank or Joe into looking out for her. It was something they both seemed to do instinctively anyway. With an apology for her dad’s thinly veiled threats, Nancy said goodnight to Frank and Joe. A long goodbye wasn’t necessary for once, as she’d be seeing them every day for the foreseeable future.

When they reached Nancy’s apartment, both she and Carson were quick to get ready for sleep. Nancy had volunteered to sleep on the couch, knowing that her dad was the one with a bad back and two more days of driving ahead of him. As she laid down, her phone lit up on the coffee table in front of her.

Frank Hardy: I’m really happy that you’re here

Frank Hardy: I hope your first night in the new place is a good one :)

Nancy Drew: I’m really happy too :) So far the new place is great!

Nancy Drew: I’ll have to come over tomorrow to see your place before we get started at the office

Frank Hardy: For sure!

Frank Hardy: Why don’t Joe and I come get you around 9 tomorrow morning to show you the route to our place and the office?

Nancy Drew: Sounds perfect! Sleep well :)

Frank Hardy: You too :)

Nancy found herself smiling as she looked at her phone. For the dozenth time in as many days, she told herself it meant nothing. She was almost certainly lying to herself at this point, but she told it to herself all the same.
  
Carson was up and ready to hit the road bright and early. It was a brief but tear-filled goodbye on both their parts, alleviated only by the knowledge that Nancy would be home for Christmas in just a month’s time. They had both said what they needed to say during the car ride, so Carson just reminded Nancy to be safe and to call him whenever she got the chance before heading out the apartment door. Nancy turned to face her new apartment. It felt both terrifying and exciting at the same time. It was the same feeling Nancy got when she started a new case, except this time she was starting a whole new chapter of cases. As she stood taking in the sight of her new place, her phone buzzed in her pocket.

The Usual Suspects - Frank Hardy: We’re outside whenever you’re ready!

The Usual Suspects - Joe Hardy: The parents are gone! We’re officially doing this on our own!

Nancy grinned. She was absolutely ready to take on this chapter.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy rolled up to the office later than usual that morning. She knew it was late when she spotted Joe, a perpetual night owl, already at his desk. Nothing had gone right so far that day. She’d spilled her cereal all over the floor, she couldn’t find the file she needed for today among the pile she had brought home last night, and when she had finally made it out the door in one piece, some guy on the street walked right into her and poured his iced coffee all down her coat. She was a little surprised that some people were still drinking iced coffee in the middle of January but pleasantly so, given that hot coffee would have resulted in a nasty burn. Nancy dropped her bag at her desk and walked over to the kitchen area to see if her coat was salvageable. Frank’s head popped around the corner.

“What happened?” He pointed to the brown trench coat that Nancy was furiously scrubbing with a paper towel.

“Iced coffee versus my coat. I think the iced coffee won.” Nancy held up the stained coat as she abandoned any remaining hope of getting it clean.

“Who drinks iced coffee in the middle of winter?” Frank asked with a chuckle.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Nancy knew she could count on Frank to be on the same page as her, even about something as mundane as coffee orders. “It wasn’t mine. It was some guy on the street who wasn’t paying attention to where he was walking. Probably a tourist.”

Nancy couldn’t help but roll her eyes. A month and half into living in the City and she had already adopted several New York mannerisms. Rolling her eyes at tourists was a personal favorite. Frank grumbled in agreement at Nancy’s remark, then made a suggestion.

“We could go over to Macy’s at lunch to find you a new one. They’ve probably got their coats on sale by now anyway.”

Nancy nodded as she felt a rush of affection for Frank. They both made their way back to their desks, but Nancy couldn’t stop thinking about the brief exchange. Frank was always looking out for her, but somehow he did it without ever making her feel suffocated. It was a very specific skill that no one else in her life had ever perfected. Only Frank seemed to know the line of when to offer Nancy a hand and when she needed to figure things out on her own. It was one of the many things about Frank that Nancy found herself thinking about on a regular basis these days. She thought about his ability to piece together the most cryptic of clues, or his unwavering love for his brother despite all of the sarcastic comments, or the way his laugh sounded different when he finally let his walls down, or the sight of his abs when they had gone swimming at the hotel pool after finishing up their last case… Nancy was often berating herself for the way her mind wandered lately.

At first, she had assumed these feelings were some sort of knee jerk reaction to her breakup. As time passed, though, she knew she was more or less healed from what had happened with Ned, and yet her mind still wandered to Frank. Nancy was continually reminding herself that Frank was a colleague and more importantly a friend. There wasn’t anything going on between them and there never would be. She had actually briefly considered pulling at the thread of whether he still had any feelings for her, but Joe had inadvertently shut that idea down. The day that Nancy had thought about digging around to see if Frank still liked her was the same day that Joe told Nancy about the blind date he was setting Frank up on. Nancy realized that she had been naive to think Frank was still holding onto some teenage crush. As she thought about all of this, she let out a sigh of frustration, and it was apparently loud enough to catch Joe’s attention.

“Tough day already?” he asked.

Nancy wasn’t about to let Joe in on her internal struggles over her feelings towards his brother. Instead, she pulled out the file she had so desperately tried to find this morning and brought it to his desk.

“I want your opinion on this request,” Nancy said. “A family reached out to us about tracking down a missing heirloom jewel, but the whole thing screams insurance fraud to me.”

In terms of case requests, the agency was going better than any of them could have imagined. Their combined reputations as detectives meant their phones were ringing off the hook with pleas to solve the unsolvable. Nancy was living her dream. The team had weekly meetings to discuss the cases they wanted to work on next, and this missing jewel was high on Nancy’s list. She loved a good

your-contact-is-the-culprit

case. There was something especially poetic about being hired by someone who didn’t think the detectives were smart enough to figure out the truth, and then figuring it out anyway. Joe agreed that Nancy was probably onto something with her initial observations, and Nancy set the file aside to propose in their next meeting.

Things between the three detectives were also going remarkably well. Nancy had been nervous that working together day after day would eventually wear their patience thin, but instead she found herself increasingly grateful for the presence of the Hardy brothers. With triple the eyes investigating, they were able to solve more cases in their first month and a half than Nancy even thought was possible. Frank and Joe already knew how to work as a team on the regular, and Nancy quickly figured out where she fit into the puzzle. Both Frank and Joe had tried to make sure Nancy felt like she was an equal third of their new team, not just an add-on to their preexisting duo. They both paid careful attention to how they spoke to ensure that Nancy never felt dismissed or talked over, whether in a meeting or on a case. Nancy remembered Laura’s words on her first night in the City and laughed to herself. As if Frank or Joe would ever need to be set straight…

When lunchtime rolled around, Frank got up from his desk and headed to Nancy’s.

“Still want to go coat shopping?”

“Whether I want to or not, I don’t think I have a choice,” Nancy sighed. “I’m supposed to have lunch with Deirdre tomorrow and there’s no way I’m showing up in a stained coat.”

Nancy knew that Deidre had moved into her own place in the City at the start of the month. Nancy also knew that Deirdre didn’t have a lot of friends around here yet, so when she texted to ask about grabbing lunch together, Nancy had reluctantly agreed.

She was doing it for Joe, if nothing else. He and Deirdre had been seeing each other since she moved and things seemed to be going well. Well, Nancy assumed they were going well based on the fact that Frank started finding excuses to stay late at Nancy’s apartment anytime Joe and Deirdre went out together. When Nancy pushed Frank on his reluctance to go back to his place, he awkwardly explained that the walls at their new place were much thinner than the walls at their apartment in Bayport. Nancy immediately regretted asking as her brain conjured up a mental image she couldn’t unsee, and she promised Frank he could spend as much time at her place as he needed.

It wasn’t an entirely unselfish offer. Nancy wanted Frank around. She loved spending time with Joe too, but she felt something stronger when she got to spend time alone with Frank. The feeling was not unlike what she felt when she was solving a puzzle on a case. This was why Nancy wasn’t exactly disappointed when Joe said he was going to swing by Deirdre’s office over lunch instead of joining in on the coat shopping.

As Nancy and Frank walked towards Macy’s, she realized that he seemed to be building up the courage to say something.

“Is everything okay between us?” Frank asked softly.

His question came entirely by surprise to Nancy. She thought everything was great between them. She wondered if maybe Frank didn’t feel the same way.

“Of course everything’s okay!” Nancy replied quickly. “I mean, everything’s okay on my end, if that’s what you mean. Why do you ask?”

She looked at Frank to search for a hint about what was behind his inquiry, but she only saw relief spreading across his face.

“That’s really good to hear!” Frank said with a smile. “I was getting worried that maybe I’d done something to upset you. I was trying to remember if I said anything on our last few cases that could’ve gone over the wrong way…”

Nancy was confused. “Frank, you don’t have to worry. If there was ever an issue between us, you’d be the first to know. I’d want us to work it out, not keep something buried. But either way it’s irrelevant. I don’t think you’ve ever done anything to upset me, and definitely nothing during our latest cases.”

Frank was still smiling with relief, but Nancy continued to be unsure of why he had felt the need to ask the question in the first place. Being a detective had its pros and its cons, and one of those cons was Nancy’s inability to let anything go until she had all the information.

“I still don’t get it,” Nancy persisted. “What gave you the impression that I was upset with you?”

Frank hesitated slightly. “You’ve just been… different, since we all moved here. At first, I thought maybe it had to do with your breakup or the move, but you seem to act the same as always around Joe. It’s just when you’re with me that sometimes you seem tense or uncomfortable… I never want you to feel that way around me, and I’m really sorry if I’ve done anything to cause that.”

Nancy wanted to walk into traffic. Not only was Frank catching on to her internal struggles, he also thought it was somehow his fault. If Nancy was uncomfortable in Frank’s presence, it was because she’d been caught wondering what he looked like in the shower, or something equally inappropriate to be thinking about her close friend and business partner. Meanwhile, Frank was busy racking his brain to figure out what he’d done wrong. Nancy was pretty sure this qualified her for the

World’s Most Oblivious Person

award. She figured she should probably start keeping a list of new award suggestions to send to Sassy Detective. Nancy swallowed down her self-loathing and tried to reassure Frank.

“You haven’t done anything wrong. I promise you. If I’ve seemed off, it’s just because I’ve had a lot on my mind this past little while.”

Like wondering what kissing you would be like.

“There’s nothing to worry about between us.”

Except for this massive crush I have on you.

“I’m sorry that my own issues have bled into our friendship. I’ll try to do a better job of keeping things compartmentalized.”

It won’t work anyway. I’ve already tried.

“No!” Frank clarified immediately. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to pretend you’re okay if you’re not. I want you to feel comfortable telling me anything - good or bad. I just needed to make sure that I hadn’t done something to jeopardize our friendship, because it means everything to me.”

Frank was doing that thing where he got brutally honest about his feelings, and Nancy could hardly handle it. Frank so rarely spoke about how he truly felt and Nancy knew it was a privilege that she was among the select few who were allowed to witness it. It was a privilege she didn’t deserve, not unless she could be fully honest with him in return.

“You mean everything to me too,” Nancy said in almost a whisper.

Frank’s head turned in surprise at her statement. Nancy was dangerously close to saying things out loud that she hadn’t even admitted to herself yet, when the sight of Macy’s caught her attention.

Right

. They were here to buy a coat, not for Nancy to make a confession of love. She pointed to the poster in the store window ahead of them, desperate to change the subject before she lost her mind again.

“You were right! They’re having a winter coat sale.”

Frank nodded quietly. He looked almost disappointed, but he quickly recovered his smile and asked Nancy about what style of coat she wanted to buy. Nancy tried to keep the conversation light as they headed for the doors. She couldn’t afford to slip up like that again.
  
Nancy admired the green of her new coat as she made her way to lunch with Deirdre the following day. Nancy had been planning to go for another brown trench coat, when Frank had commented that the olive green one went nicely with her hair. Suddenly, Nancy had decided that the green coat was the one for her. She would probably drop dead of embarrassment if anyone knew just how far gone she was at this point. Luckily for Nancy, no one did. Bess and George would have seen right through her act in an instant if this was happening back home in River Heights, but text messages and phone calls gave her enough distance to keep some things to herself.

Nancy entered the restaurant Deirdre had chosen and immediately felt out of place, new coat or not. It was much nicer than Nancy had been expecting, though she probably shouldn’t have been surprised that Deirdre’s definition of a casual lunch was miles apart from her own. Nancy squared her shoulders and tried to appear confident as she gave Deirdre’s name to the hostess, who brought her to the table where Deirdre was already seated.

“Hey Drew, how’s it going?” Deirdre asked as Nancy sat down.

“Pretty good!” Nancy replied. “How about you? How’s the new job?”

Nancy figured she’d start small with Deirdre and work her way up to gathering some intel on the situation with Joe.

“It’s alright…” Deirdre replied with a shrug. “I was hoping to jump straight into a big investigative report, but for now I’m just fact checking. I’ll get there eventually, but for now my job isn’t nearly as exciting as yours. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard…”

Nancy immediately tossed aside her plans to work up to Joe as a topic of conversation. She was dying to know what Deirdre had to say anyway.

“And who have you been hearing that from?” Nancy asked with a grin.

“You’d be a pretty bad detective if you didn’t know the answer,” Deirdre replied with a hint of sass. “And I’d be a bad investigative journalist if I didn’t think everything I said today wasn’t making its way straight to Joe as soon as you leave.”

Nancy felt a twinge of guilt. She only wanted to play wingwoman for Joe, not seem two-faced.

“I don’t want you to think that I’m in the habit of gossiping, because I’m really not,” Nancy clarified. “I just know that Joe really likes you and I was hoping to find out if you feel the same way. I don’t want him getting his heart broken.”

“Jeez Drew, are you giving me the

‘What are your intentions with my friend?

’ speech? We’ve been on a few dates. I’m not asking him to marry me.” Deirdre seemed to hesitate before continuing. “And for the record, I really like him too. I’m not going to break his heart. Breaking hearts is more your territory anyway.”

Nancy was about to ask Deirdre what exactly she meant when the waiter came by to take their order. Nancy quickly asked him to bring her today’s special and some water so that she could get back to her conversation with Deirdre, but Deirdre seemed to enjoy Nancy’s discomfort and took her time deciding what to eat.

Finally, Deirdre ordered before turning back to Nancy.

“Where were we?” Deirdre asked.

“You were calling me some sort of heartbreaker. Which I’m not, for the record. Ned left me.” Nancy wanted to make sure they were entirely on the same page.

“I’m not talking about Ned,” Deirdre replied with a smirk. “I’m talking about whatever weird situationship you have going on with Joe’s brother.”

Nancy froze in her seat. This was the second time Deirdre had implied that there was some sort of spark between Nancy and Frank. Nancy wouldn’t have given Deirdre’s opinion much weight, except that Deirdre had barely seen Nancy and Frank together, with the exception of some interactions in Salem. If Deirdre was suggesting there was something going on, it was more likely to be because Joe had been telling her something.

“What did Joe say to you?” Nancy asked.

She knew she had said it too quickly as soon as the words left her mouth. Nancy had shown her cards and now Deirdre knew that she was desperate for information. Nancy certainly wasn’t doing a good job of proving she wasn’t a gossip.

“Hang on, now,” Deirdre said. “I’m not about to give away any secrets. Not for free at least… Let’s make a deal. You tell me what Joe has been saying about me, and I’ll tell you what I’ve heard about you and Frank.”

Nancy sighed. Betraying Joe’s trust was off the table. Still, Nancy figured she could come up with enough innocent stories about Joe’s feelings to convince Deirdre that she was giving up the whole truth.

“Deal,” Nancy agreed.

“Cool. You go first,” Deirdre replied.

Nancy couldn’t help but think that Deirdre was going to make a good investigative journalist once they put her on a real story. With a sigh, Nancy tried to decide where to start.

“Joe likes you. A lot. A shocking amount, really,” Nancy said. “He’s never been one to date seriously, so the fact that he’s been talking to you since October is surprising to everyone.”

“Is he talking to any other girls?” Deirdre inquired.

“Not that I’ve ever heard about,” Nancy replied. “My turn for a question. What does Joe think about me and Frank?”

“He just says that you two have some sort of not-quite-relationship that Joe can’t explain and that Frank won’t acknowledge…” Deirdre shrugged. “My turn again. Does Joe ever say anything bad about me? Things he doesn’t like?”

Nancy’s head was spinning from the news of Joe’s perspective on her and Frank. Years of questioning suspects had taught her how to keep her cool though, and she answered Deirdre’s question.

“Never. He pretty much adores everything about you. And you should really hold onto him, because I don’t think you’re going to find that kind of attitude everywhere.” The rapid-fire nature of the conversation had made Nancy blunt. Deirdre’s feelings didn’t seem hurt, however, so Nancy continued. “Has Joe ever told you anything that Frank has said about me?”

“Not really,” Deirdre replied. Nancy’s heart sank a little. “Joe says Frank is incredibly tight-lipped when it comes to talking about you. But Joe knows Frank well enough to know that there are things he isn’t saying.”

Deirdre hesitated as she realized that she had given Nancy a bonus piece of information without an equal exchange. Both women went quiet. Their food had long since arrived, but neither of them seemed to care that their very expensive meals were getting cold. They both wanted the truth and they both knew that this speedround of highly personal information wasn’t doing either of them any favors. To Nancy’s surprise, Deirdre broke the silence first.

“Frank got drunk at their family’s New Year’s Eve party and told Joe that working with you is the hardest thing he’s ever had to do because all he wants to do is be with you.”

Nancy’s jaw dropped. “Deirdre, I swear if this is some sort of joke…”

“It’s not,” Deirdre said firmly. “From what I’ve heard, Frank is crazy about you.”

Nancy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Frank wanted to be with her? What exactly was she doing spending all her time denying any feelings she had for him if he wanted her too? And most of all, how on earth was she hearing this for the first time from Deirdre of all people?

Nancy realized Deirdre had voluntarily shared a secret that could very easily ruin what she had with Joe. Deirdre was trusting Nancy and doing something that in no way benefitted herself. Nancy realized that she felt some sort of obligation to return the favour. She took a deep breath and hoped that Joe could forgive her if he ever found out about what had gone down at this lunch as she spoke.

“Joe has told us twice that he’s in love with you, but he says he’s too scared to tell you because he doesn’t think you feel the same way.”

Deirdre’s face lit up. “He loves me? For real?”

Nancy nodded. She felt the strangest bond to the woman across the table from her, even if she could usually only stand her in small quantities. As they both reached for their plates to finally begin eating, an understanding hung in the air. Today’s conversation would stay between them. The topic of discussion drifted back to work, but Nancy’s story about her latest case was interrupted by Deirdre’s sudden snort of laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Nancy asked with concern. She was worried maybe this whole thing had been some sort of setup.

“I just realized that if all of this works out, we could end up being sisters-in-law. We’d have to spend Christmases together at their parents’ place and stuff.”

That particular possibility had not crossed Nancy’s mind until that very moment. A lifetime of sitting across from Deirdre Shannon at the holidays seemed like a hefty price to pay until Nancy remembered that it also meant she’d be sitting at those tables next to Frank. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so bad.

“I guess we should do lunch more often then,” Nancy replied with a small smile.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Flashback - December 31st

Frank wasn’t usually one to go very hard at parties, least of all at a party that included his parents. Yet somehow, it was 11pm at his family’s New Year’s Eve party in Bayport and Frank was pretty sure he was drunk. He would have been more sure as to whether he was drunk if the room would stop spinning long enough for him to tell.

“Hey buddy,” Joe said gently. “I know we’re all having a good time, but maybe slow down a little?”

Frank hadn’t noticed Joe arriving in his corner of the room. Joe tried to take Frank’s latest drink - a rum and Coke - out of his hands, but Frank refused to let go.

“You’re one to talk,” Frank said. Or at least that’s what he tried to say. His voice was a little unsteady. As were his legs. Regardless, he had a point to make to Joe. “I’ve seen you so wasted that you were having a conversation with a tree.”

“That’s true, but it wasn’t at a party hosted by Mom and Dad…” Joe replied. “Listen Frank, I’ve been trying to run interference all night but unless you stop drinking and go to bed, Mom and Dad are going to notice how drunk you are and you’re going to hate yourself tomorrow.”

The joke was on Joe. Frank was going to hate himself tomorrow anyway. Tomorrow was the day they were driving back into the City to return to work. And that meant seeing Nancy again.

Nancy...

Frank felt a warm rush at the thought of her name. Well, either it was that or it was a side effect of all the alcohol he had consumed tonight.

Earlier that evening, when Frank was still expecting to have a grand total of one or two drinks all night, Nancy had texted the group chat she shared with Frank and Joe. She was also at a New Year’s Eve party, but hers was halfway across the country in River Heights. When Frank had seen her name on his phone screen, he hadn’t expected it to ruin his night.

The Usual Suspects - Nancy Drew: Happy New Year’s Eve from River Heights! Hope your party is fun! I’ll see you guys tomorrow :)

Along with the message, Nancy had sent a photo. It was a picture of her, Bess, and George grinning in glittery dresses at their party. Frank recognized the room behind them in the photo. Their party was at Nancy’s home. Frank wasn’t surprised. The Drew house was a common gathering spot on New Year’s Eve. The entire Hardy family sometimes even attended. This year, however, Frank’s parents had decided to stay in Bayport for the holidays and they were hosting a party of their own.

It wasn’t that Frank felt he was missing out by being in Bayport tonight. It wasn’t even the way Frank noticed Ned in the background of the photo. No, it was Frank’s own reaction to the photo that caused him to spend the night swimming in liquor. When Frank saw the photo on his phone, his first thought was that Nancy was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. His second thought was that he hated himself for his first thought.

Frank knew the way he felt about Nancy wasn’t okay. They were friends and now they were also colleagues. He wasn’t supposed to be in love with her - not while she was with Ned, not while she was getting over her breakup, and definitely not now that they worked together on a daily basis. None of it mattered, though. Stopping the way his heart raced when he saw her was like stopping a hurricane. You could prepare and hope to make it through unscathed, but you could never stop the storm from doing whatever it wanted in the end. These days, Frank wasn’t even close to making it through unscathed.

He had been elated when Nancy had agreed to join the agency. When he and Joe had dreamed up the initial plan, they both knew from the first day that they wanted Nancy to join them. From a business standpoint, she was the best detective among them, so it only made sense for them to try to get her onboard. Beyond that, though, Frank and Joe were close friends with Nancy. They both loved spending time with her, but it wasn’t something they got to do all that often because of their different hometowns. Working together would mean seeing her all the time. Frank had assumed this would be a good thing. He loved talking to Nancy, and he loved solving cases with her, and he was in love with her. Frank was sure that seeing her every day could only be a good thing.

He had been wrong.

Working with Nancy during their first month of the agency had been excruciating. They got along perfectly, they were speedily solving case after case and they were even hanging out after work most evenings. It was everything Frank had hoped would happen when they moved to New York City. The problem was that he hadn’t factored in how difficult it would be to spend so much time being in love with someone he couldn’t have. He used to spend weeks thinking about the limited number of interactions he had with Nancy when they saw each other on a case or a joint family vacation. Somehow, it hadn’t crossed his mind that having endless daily interactions with Nancy would be that much harder to push out of his mind. Frank had been too excited at the prospect of being around Nancy every day for him to realize that it would only make him fall harder.

Every day of the last month had gone the same way. He would spend the entire day captivated by Nancy’s every move, and then he would go home, alone, to his empty bed and hate himself as he fell asleep. It wasn’t okay that his heart fluttered when she said his name. It wasn’t okay that when she wasn’t around, he wished she was. It

definitely

wasn’t okay that he sometimes noticed the neckline of her top sliding down when she leaned over his desk to look at a case file with him. Frank prided himself on being a decent man, but a decent man would have found a way to move on by now to ensure that these feelings didn’t bleed into their friendship or their work.

Frank had spent a lot of time hating himself over the last month, and when he saw the photo of Nancy on his phone tonight, he hated himself all over again. Most nights, Frank coped with the self-loathing on his own. Tonight, however, he had access to a virtually unlimited amount of alcohol to help him feel better. This was how he had ended up standing in the corner of the party while wrestling with Joe over a glass of rum and Coke.

“Frank, I’m not kidding around anymore,” Joe said as Frank still refused to let go of his drink. “I don’t care that it’s not midnight yet. You’ve had enough. Put the drink down and go to bed.”

Frank grumbled, but ultimately followed Joe’s instructions and put his drink down on the table beside him. He started towards the stairs to his childhood bedroom and immediately stumbled.

“Whoa, easy there! Let me help you,” Joe said as he pulled one of Frank’s arms over his shoulder.

Even in his current state, Frank couldn’t deny that Joe was being far more patient with him than he deserved. Joe helped Frank navigate up the stairs and into his room. Frank collapsed on his bed as soon as he saw it. Joe’s idea for Frank to go to bed suddenly seemed like a fantastic one.

“Where’s your garbage can?” Joe said as he looked around. “I want to put it by your bed, cause you’re gonna need it in the morning.”

Frank wasn’t paying much attention to what Joe was saying. He had something else on his mind.

“I made a mistake,” Frank mumbled.

“Yeah buddy, you did,” Joe replied with a chuckle. “It’s okay, though. We’ve all gotten too drunk before.”

“No, not the drinking. Okay, maybe the drinking…” Frank knew Joe had a point, but he was trying to say something else. “I made a mistake with the agency too.”

Joe spun around immediately to look at Frank. “What are you talking about?”

“Do you know how hard it is to spend every day working with Nancy? It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. All I want to do is be with her, and that’s never going to happen,” Frank rambled. He was barely able to keep his eyes open anymore, but his words were still flowing. “I’m not gonna leave the agency. I love it. But I love Nancy even more, and she doesn’t love me.”

Frank heard Joe’s voice one last time as he fell asleep.

“Hey man, I’m really sorry. I can’t imagine how hard that is for you. We can talk about Nancy in the morning, okay? Right now, let’s just worry about you getting some sleep. I’m putting the garbage can right here beside the bed for when you need it.”
  
The next day, a thoroughly hungover Frank downed a bottle of Gatorade from the passenger seat of their rental car while Joe drove them back towards the City. Joe didn’t make a single joke when he had to pull over twice for Frank to throw up. Frank knew he didn’t deserve his brother’s compassion. He had done this to himself. When the pounding in Frank’s head slowed enough for him to be able to hold a conversation, Joe seemed to have a topic in mind.

“Listen, you said something last night while you were drunk…” Joe kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead as he spoke. “I was wondering if you wanted to talk about it.”

“Joe, I drank so much last night that I’m pretty sure my liver is going on strike,” Frank replied. “I probably said a lot of things, but I don’t remember any of them.”

Joe laughed and then asked Frank about his opinion of the song on the radio. Frank was grateful for the change of subject. He absolutely remembered what he had said to Joe last night, but he wasn’t about to admit it. As Frank complained that the pop song was too repetitive for his taste, his phone buzzed.

The Usual Suspects - Nancy Drew: Just landed at JFK!

The Usual Suspects - Nancy Drew: Once we’re all back and unpacked, we should grab dinner together

Frank sighed. He knew that last night had to be a one-time lapse in judgment. Going forward, he had to do a better job of keeping his feelings in check, for Joe’s sake and especially for Nancy’s. He tried to channel that mentality as he composed a reply.

The Usual Suspects - Frank Hardy: Sounds great! I’ll text you when we reach the City and we can all make plans :)

Nancy’s reply came through almost immediately.

The Usual Suspects - Nancy Drew: Awesome :) I really missed you

Frank’s heart raced. Nancy had missed him

.

Just as his mind started to wonder what that could mean, his phone buzzed one more time.

The Usual Suspects - Nancy Drew: *you guys

Frank really did hate himself.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy had spent several sleepless nights trying to decide how to approach the situation with Frank since her lunch with Deirdre. Even if Nancy knew that Frank had feelings for her too, it didn’t mean that acknowledging their feelings was without risk. If they gave a relationship a try and it didn’t work out, it could ruin things with the agency. The trio had such a good thing going on and Nancy didn’t want to be responsible for burning it to the ground. Somehow, though, she found herself staring at the matches anyway. Nancy had still been debating what, if anything, she should do about the situation with Frank when he had come over to kill time at her place while Joe brought Deirdre over.

“Thanks again for saving me,” Frank said as he hung up his jacket and made his way into Nancy’s living room.

“Anytime,” Nancy replied with a smile. “I’d never expect you to suffer through hearing all of that. Or having to make small talk with Deirdre.”

“I still can’t believe you had lunch with her the other day and didn’t have a single complaint,” Frank commented. He had been surprised when Nancy had informed both him and an anxious Joe that she had a good time at lunch with Deirdre.

“She’s actually not that bad. I know that I take jabs at her a lot, but I’m starting to get what Joe sees in her. Well, some of what Joe sees in her. She’s not exactly my type,” Nancy joked.

“She’s not?” Frank pretended to be shocked. “Well what is your type then?”

Nancy knew Frank was teasing, but she felt the temptation to push her luck a little. The single glass of wine she’d had with dinner had apparently hit her a little harder than she anticipated.

“Hmm…  For starters, he has to be taller than me, although that’s not a wildly hard standard to meet,” Nancy began. “He needs to have a good jawline and kind eyes. Oh, and some muscles. But not totally muscular, you know? I like it when a guy looks a little lanky, but when he takes his shirt off, it’s clear he’s been working out.”

Nancy knew she was veering into dangerous territory with her last comment, so she shut her mouth before she could do more damage. She realized that Frank was staring at her and that he looked more than a little disoriented at the turn their conversation had taken. Instead of pushing it any further, Nancy decided to change the subject. She hadn’t even decided if she was going to pursue things with Frank. It wasn’t right for her to play games.

Nancy asked Frank what he’d like to watch and before long they were caught up in an episode of Murder, She Wrote. Nancy knew that as much as Frank liked the show, he had chosen it because it was Nancy’s favorite. She tried not to lean into Frank as they watched. It felt so natural to share personal space with him, but her earlier promise to not toy with him until she had made up her mind was ringing in her head. Instead, Nancy sat firmly on the other side of the couch and tried to focus on Angela Lansbury.

After a few episodes, Frank’s phone started to ring. Nancy could see Joe’s name on the caller ID, which was a bit odd. Normally Joe just sent Frank a text when it was clear for Frank to return to their apartment.

“Hey Joe, what’s up?” Frank said as he picked up. “Whoa, she said that? Man, that’s amazing! Congrats! Listen, Nancy’s probably sick of me and wants to go to bed. Can I come back now? Awesome, see you in a few!”

Frank hung up the phone and immediately filled Nancy in.

“Deirdre told Joe that she loves him. Joe’s over the moon. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him that happy.” Suddenly, Frank cringed. “She’s going to end up being my sister-in-law, isn’t she?”

Nancy laughed, but inside she felt something shift. If Deirdre had been able to act on the information she had learned during their lunch, Nancy could find the courage to do the same. Tonight probably wasn’t the right night, as Frank had already made his way towards the door. He gave her a quick hug as he left and promised to text her when he made it back to his apartment. As Nancy waited for the text that signified Frank had made it home in one piece, she promised herself that she would take the risk. If there was so much as a single chance of controlling whatever fire came from all of this, she figured she had to try.

As Nancy sat back on the couch to figure out her next moves, her phone buzzed.

Frank Hardy: Home safe

Nancy Drew: Very glad to hear it :)

Nancy Drew: I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you

Nancy was wondering if she had made a mistake with her decision to take the risk as she stood outside Joe’s favorite coffee shop while waiting for his arrival. She had texted Joe earlier that day and asked him to meet up with her.

Joe Hardy: We can definitely meet up! Frank and I are both free around 2 if that works?

Nancy Drew: Actually, I was hoping just the two of us could talk

Joe Hardy: Oh, okay

Joe Hardy: In that case, how about 3? At Gracie’s?

Gracie’s had the best cup of coffee in all of New York City, at least according to Joe. Nancy had agreed to Joe’s proposed plans, which is how she now found herself outside Gracie’s. To Nancy’s surprise, the place was packed. People were taking up every possible seat inside, with the lineup for the counter starting to make its way out the door.

“See, I told you this place had the best coffee,” Joe said with a grin as he walked up to Nancy.

“How about I take your word for it?” Nancy replied. “There’s no cup of coffee that I need so badly that I’m willing to spend half an hour in line.”

Nancy wanted to sit down face to face with Joe, so that she could have the conversation she’d practiced in her head. Despite his love for the coffee at Gracie’s, Joe agreed.

“How about we just go back to my place instead? My instant coffee is nothing to write home about, but it doesn’t come with a wait time either,” Joe suggested. He must have understood the hesitation on Nancy’s face, because he continued to speak. “Frank isn’t home. He’s going to be at the gym for at least another hour.”

Nancy agreed with Joe’s new plan and they headed back down the block towards the apartment Frank and Joe shared. Nancy could tell Joe was nervous. She hadn’t meant to stress him out. She just needed to clarify a couple things with him before she moved ahead with her plan to talk to Frank. As they made their way into the apartment, Joe seemed unable to hold back any longer.

“Is it Deirdre? Do you know something? If she’s going to break up with me, please just tell me.”

The worry in Joe’s voice made Nancy’s heart hurt. He was clearly in love and desperate not to lose Deirdre.

“No, it’s nothing to do with Deirdre,” Nancy clarified quickly. “I actually wanted to talk about Frank.”

Joe’s expression shifted. His face was suddenly unreadable.

“Oh… What’s up?” Joe’s voice was casual, but Nancy knew he was concerned. He fussed with the instant coffee as Nancy hesitated.

“It’s… complicated. Maybe we should sit down first?”

Joe nodded and carried the two cups of coffee that he had just prepared to the living room. Nancy took one as she settled onto the couch. Joe sat on the opposite end of the couch, but didn’t touch his drink. Instead, he was scanning Nancy’s face. She knew that he was searching for any hint as to what she wanted to talk about. Hesitantly, she began to speak.

“I guess I’ve always had this sense that Frank had feelings for me… You know, when we were teenagers. And it was never an issue back then. But since we started this agency, things have been different. A lot different, actually. I think I’ve finally realized that not talking about it just makes it harder. But it’s complicated because of the agency, you know? So I wanted to talk about it with you, to see what you think I should do.”

In Nancy’s head, her rambling explanation made sense. She had forgotten, however, that Joe was coming into this conversation with a very different perspective. He didn’t know what Deirdre had told Nancy, or that Nancy had feelings for Frank. Based on what Joe had just heard, he clearly assumed Nancy meant something entirely different.

“Listen, if Frank has done anything to make you uncomfortable, I promise you he didn’t realize it,” Joe said firmly. “He wouldn’t be able to stand himself if he thought he’d done anything to cause you any stress, let alone enough that you felt like you had to come talk to me about it. If you’re thinking about leaving the agency because of Frank-”

“No!” Nancy was horrified. She needed to set the record straight right away. “Frank’s never done anything like that. Not to me and probably not in his entire life. If anything, I’m the problem. I’m the one that keeps making things weird between because I can’t stop thinking about him. Frank has spent all this time burying his feelings to keep our work together from being awkward, and here I am willing to risk it all the second I fall for him.”

Joe’s face broke out into a massive smile as he realized what Nancy was saying. “You have feelings for Frank? For real?”

Nancy chuckled at the way Joe had picked up one of Deirdre’s speech patterns. “Yeah, I do… I like him a lot. To be honest, it’s borderline pathetic how much I like him.”

They shared a laugh at Nancy’s confession. Joe was clearly happy about the news, which gave Nancy some relief that she wasn’t heading down the wrong path. Suddenly, however, Joe’s face shifted into confusion.

“Wait, why are you telling me this?” Joe asked. “Shouldn’t Frank be the first to know?”.

“That’s the thing… I need to know how you feel before I do anything.” Nancy knew that Joe’s reaction so far had been positive, but she still needed to know how he really felt.

“Nancy, if you’re asking for my blessing to ask Frank out, consider it done. Now if you want to marry him down the road, we might need to have a bigger conversation.” Joe had a gleam in his eye that he only got when his jokes were on a roll. “Look, if I’m the one in charge of who gets Frank’s hand in marriage, I think that means I’m owed something. I’ll accept payment in the form of cheeseburgers. And not the cheap kind either. I expect you to shell out for the fancy ones from that gastropub near your apartment. My brother is worth at least that much-”

“Joe, I’m being serious!” Nancy snapped.

She would normally have found Joe’s comedy routine funny, but right now she was just anxious. Nancy needed to know where he stood, because she needed to know if she was going to be able to tell Frank how she felt.

“I’m being serious too!” Joe replied. “You don’t need my permission to ask Frank out. I don’t even know why you think that you would.”

“Because it affects you too,” Nancy said with a sigh. “If Frank and I give things between us a try and it doesn’t work out, it could ruin everything we’ve built with the agency. I’d like to think that Frank and I are both mature enough to keep working together regardless of how things go, but I know enough to realize there’s always a possibility that it could be too uncomfortable. You signed on to be a detective with us, not the third wheel on some reality TV show waiting to happen.”

Joe seemed to choose his next words carefully. “When it comes down to it, that’s a risk I’m willing to take. If you want my permission or my blessing or whatever, you have it. I mean it. I could never be the one to stand in the way of what would make my brother the happiest he’s ever been.”

Nancy had never known what it was like to have siblings, but at that moment she could understand just how much love there was between the two brothers. She was also struck by Joe’s last sentence.

“I doubt me asking Frank out is going to make him the happiest he’s ever been,” Nancy said with a chuckle.

“Are you kidding me?” Joe replied. “This is my brother we’re talking about. He’s been in love with you since we were kids. He tries to pretend like he isn’t, but it was always written all over his face anytime you’d call us for help with a case. And the times we actually got to work together, he wouldn’t shut up about you for weeks afterwards. Now that we’re all here with the agency, he’s got it even worse. You should have been there on New Year’s Eve-”

Joe’s ramblings were suddenly cut off by the sound of keys being slammed onto the counter in the kitchen behind them. Nancy and Joe turned towards the kitchen in surprise. Neither one had heard the apartment door open, but Nancy knew they had both been too wrapped up in the conversation to notice. She and Joe were met with the sight of Frank, who looked livid.

“I see that your afternoon plans to ‘run errands’ are going well,” Frank snapped. Nancy realized that Joe must have lied to Frank about meeting with her. Nancy wanted to clarify that it had been because of her that Joe felt the need to lie, but Frank kept talking. “Do you two always get together to talk about me behind my back, or is today a special occasion?”

“I thought you were supposed to be at the gym,” Joe said. His voice sounded anxious.

“And I thought you were supposed to be my brother,” Frank seethed. “For your information, I twisted my shoulder, so I thought I’d head home early. But if I’m interrupting your little gossip session, I can come back later. Or maybe I should join you two! Are there any other topics you guys want to cover? Let’s see, we’ve already checked off ‘Frank is in love with Nancy’. We could always go with the classic ‘Frank is too awkward to get a girl’ or maybe we could switch it up a little and try ‘Frank is dead weight at the agency’! Or have we already gone over those too?”

Nancy felt her stomach drop. Frank obviously hadn’t heard their entire conversation. He must have walked in just as Joe was talking about Frank’s feelings for Nancy. If that was all he had heard, Nancy couldn’t blame him for thinking that they were just gossiping about him.

“Listen Frank, I know this looks weird.” Nancy tried to keep her voice steady in the hopes that her calm would transfer to Frank. “But I promise nothing dodgy is going on. We were just trying-”

“Trying to what? Ruin my day? Hurt me? Break my trust in the two people I trust most? Well congratulations because you managed to do it all in record time.” Frank’s characteristic sarcasm gave way to a tone that broke Nancy’s heart. He sounded devastated.

Before Nancy could explain any further, Frank grabbed his keys back off the counter and walked out the door. It fell shut behind him with a slam. Nancy immediately started pulling on her shoes and coat as Joe rushed behind her to do the same. They needed to go after Frank so they could prove to him that none of this had been malicious.

“He thinks I was just gossiping about him!” Joe sounded distraught as they tore out the apartment door and down the stairs. “He’s never going to trust me again…”

“Don’t say that,” Nancy implored. “We just need to calm him down enough to get him to listen to us, and then we can explain. It’s all a big misunderstanding that we’re going to laugh about later.”

Nancy wished she could believe her own reassurances. Every thud of their footsteps on the stairs felt like a nail being hammered into her coffin. She would never forgive herself if the way she’d gone about handling this caused a rift between Frank and Joe. Nancy couldn’t even begin to think about what this might mean for her relationship with Frank. She had done this because she wanted to be with him, not obliterate any connection they’d ever had.

Nancy hit the main floor landing with Joe on her heels. They both looked around frantically for Frank, but there was no sign of him. Nancy could barely breathe, but she wasn’t sure if it was from running down three flights of stairs or the crushing feeling of dread rising in her chest. She looked over at Joe, but he had pulled out his phone and seemed to be searching for something.

“He’s not going to pick up our calls if he’s this upset,” Nancy said hopelessly. How was she going to find Frank in a city of eight million people? She started to make a mental list of places Frank might go, when Joe spoke.

“I’m not trying to call him. I’m pulling up the tracker.”

Nancy couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of that herself. Joe was clearly doing a much better job of thinking under pressure than she was right now. They had all installed a shared tracking app on their phones when they started the agency. It was a mutual agreement that the tracker would only be used in emergencies, like if one of them went missing on a case or they had reason to suspect someone was in danger. Nancy figured if she and Joe both decided this was an accepted use of the tracker then it wasn’t technically breaking the rules.

“Found him,” Joe said immediately. “He’s at the office. Or at least his phone is.”

They both took off in the direction of their office building. It wasn’t a terribly long walk, but it wasn’t just down the block either. If Frank had already made it there, he must’ve been practically running. Nancy felt her chest tighten at the thought that Frank wanted to get away from them that badly.

They darted through the crowded sidewalks and Nancy briefly considered ignoring her own advice about calling Frank. All she wanted was to talk to him, but she decided against it. If she tipped him off that they were looking for him, he might turn his phone off altogether and then they’d be back to searching for him in his favorite bookstores.

As they reached the front door of their office, Nancy didn’t hesitate to unlock it and go straight in. She was prepared to come face to face with Frank’s anger, but instead she was met with darkness. Nancy’s heart sank. Frank must have guessed that they would try to track him and left his phone here to throw them off. As Joe turned on the lights, Nancy realized she was mistaken.

Frank was sitting on the floor with his back leaning against the couch in the waiting area. Nancy had expected to see anger on his face, but instead she only saw agonizing hurt. As she and Joe hurried towards him, Nancy noticed that Frank’s eyes were red. She felt a pit in her stomach as she thought about what must have been going through his head while he was sitting alone in the dark.

Joe was the first to speak. “Frank, I need you to know that I would never go behind your back. Not without a good reason. I only ever want what’s best for you, I swear.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Nancy added desperately. She needed to get through to him that neither of them would ever do anything to purposefully hurt him.

“I’d like to believe that,” Frank said in a hoarse voice. He didn’t make eye contact with either of them and chose instead to stare at a spot on the wall behind them. “But I’ve been sitting here trying to think of a single good reason as to why you’d be having that conversation in the first place, and I’m coming up blank… If you guys don’t like me or you don’t want me around, just tell me to my face. I can take it.”

Nancy felt her heart snap.

“Frank, we love you. Joe loves you. I love you. I love you so much…” Nancy ignored the fact that the words coming out of her mouth had a deeper meaning than she was ready to acknowledge. For now, she just needed Frank to understand his own value. “And we absolutely want you around. Do you think either of us could keep this place running without you? We’d drown in a mountain of paperwork. And that’s only if we didn’t come across a tricky cipher, because we all know you’re the one who can decode them best. If Joe and I were left to our own devices, I don’t know that there’d be a whole lot of solved cases to file paperwork about.”

Frank was watching Nancy out of the corner of his eye, and she took it as a sign that she was starting to get through to him. Nancy knelt down on the floor beside him, and Joe did the same on the other side of Frank.

“That doesn’t explain the conversation I walked in on,” Frank said.

Nancy knew he had a point. She still hadn’t justified why Joe was sharing Frank’s secrets with her. Nancy hesitated for only a second to gather her courage before she spoke. It was well past the point of backing out.

“Joe was telling me those things because I had just asked his opinion on whether I should ask you out.”

Frank’s fixation on the wall broke immediately and his head snapped towards Nancy. He stared at her in disbelief. Nancy felt her next words leave her mouth before she even realized she was still speaking.

“Because I’m in love with you.”

In a way, it was a relief. Months of dancing around the subject and telling herself these feelings were nothing had washed away to leave one single truth. She was in love with Frank. It was really quite simple.

Frank stared at Nancy as though this was the first time he had ever seen her. Joe stood up suddenly.

“I just remembered that I have to be somewhere that’s not here right now,” he muttered as he made his way into the board room they used for meetings.

As Joe closed the door behind him, Nancy was acutely aware that Frank had still not said anything in response to her confession. Nancy was about to start filling the silence when Frank finally spoke.

“I still don’t get it. Why would you be asking Joe’s opinion? Why wouldn’t you just ask me out if that’s what you wanted? And why now? We’ve been working together for two months, and we’ve known each other for years. What changed today?”

Nancy just smiled. This was why she loved Frank. They were the same. In the face of news that could change everything, even good news, he needed to get to the bottom of the situation. He wouldn’t act until he was sure he had all of the facts. Nancy figured she’d better start at the beginning.

“I asked Joe to meet me today, and I specifically told him that I didn’t want you to come with us,” Nancy began to explain. “That’s why he lied about his plans for this afternoon. I wanted the opportunity to talk to Joe honestly about these feelings I have for you. Because as much as the only thing I want these days is to be with you, I know my first responsibility is to the agency. I needed to know if Joe would be okay with me telling you all of this, or if I’d be putting him in an awkward position. He was more than okay with it, for the record. That’s why he started telling me all those things about you. He was just excited. You happened to walk in at the wrong moment. If you had come back two minutes earlier, you would’ve heard me rambling about how much I care about you instead.”

Nancy watched as the understanding of what had really happened began to hit Frank. His eyes started to light up, and Nancy knew she owed him the rest of her explanation.

“And as for your question about why this all went down today… I guess it really comes down to Deirdre.” Nancy stifled a laugh. How had Deirdre come to play such a big role in all of this? Nancy saw the confused look on Frank’s face and continued to explain. “I’ve had these feelings for a while now, but then Deirdre told Joe that she loved him the other night. I figured if she had the courage to tell the person she loved how much he meant to her, I could do it too. I’m certainly not going to be outdone by Deirdre of all people…”

Frank laughed at the dig towards Deirdre, but as his laughter faded, his gaze settled on Nancy. When he spoke, his voice was soft but rushed. It was as though he had everything to say, but wasn’t sure if he was allowed to say any of it.

“I love you. I’m pretty sure I always have. You have no idea...”

“I’m starting to think I do…” Nancy’s voice came out in a whisper as she leaned towards Frank.

She was shaking slightly as her lips met his, but any trepidation she felt was quickly replaced by the fireworks going off in her chest as Frank returned the kiss. Nancy’s hands found their way onto Frank’s chest, while his hands ended up tangled in her hair. Nancy could’ve stayed in the moment forever. As the kiss broke, Nancy remained where she was, leaving her hands on Frank’s chest and resting her forehead against his. All she wanted to be was close to him.

A voice from across the room caused them both to jump. Nancy had forgotten they weren’t entirely alone.

“You know, if you two are gonna give things a try, I’m going to have to set some ground rules,” Joe said. “No making out in the office, for starters. And Nancy, I expect you to have him home by ten. Maybe eleven on the weekends if I’m feeling generous.”

Nancy laughed at Joe’s teasing while Frank shot him a death glare.

“I’ll kill you for this later,” Frank grumbled. “This time I mean it.”

“Hey now, I consider myself an indispensable piece in making this all come together,” Joe replied. “You should really be thanking me.”

Joe’s voice was teasing, but it was clear from his face that he was also concerned about whether things were okay between him and Frank. Nancy felt a twinge of guilt that she had been monopolizing Frank while Joe was sitting in the boardroom worrying. She moved away from Frank, who looked distressed by the sudden loss of contact. Nancy just pointed at Joe.

“Go tell your brother everything is okay!” Nancy said adamantly. “He’s obviously worried sick. I’ll kiss you later.”

“Oh? Is that a promise?” Frank grinned as he stood up.

“You know what, I don’t need an apology after all,” Joe said. “I just need to never hear you two flirting again.”

He made a gagging motion as Frank walked over to him.

“Oh yeah, like I haven’t had to listen to you and Deirdre going at it,” Frank shuddered. “That’s the stuff of nightmares.”

Joe gave Frank a friendly shove in response and Frank shoved him back before the two had a quick hug. Nancy wasn’t sure she’d ever truly understand how men’s brains worked, but she understood enough to know that everything was okay between the brothers.

As Nancy stood up, she realized that she wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen next. If this had been a brand new relationship, she might have asked Frank what he was doing that evening and set up a date. It wasn’t a brand new relationship, though. It was Frank. He knew everything about her. They saw each other every day. They weren’t about to make small talk over drinks. It suddenly occurred to Nancy that she hadn’t even been on a first date since high school. What if she was horribly out of practice?

Frank’s voice cut straight through her worries.

“Wanna grab dinner?”

His eyes were warm as he looked at her, and she realized that regardless of whatever came next, she could handle it if Frank was the one beside her.

“Sure thing!” Joe said quickly. His reply was unsurprising. The man had never turned down an opportunity to eat in his life.

“I wasn’t talking to you, Joe,” Frank replied. He didn’t break eye contact with Nancy.

“Oh I see how this is gonna be…” Joe teased with a wink as he headed for the main door. “Fine, leave me out of your little date night. I’ll just go find my own fun.”

“Call Deirdre. I’m sure you two can find something to do…” Frank said with an eye roll.

As Frank finished his sentence, Joe’s face took on a fiendish grin.

“Well I would,” Joe started. “But then you and I would have to fight over who gets to use the apartment this evening.”

Joe shut the office door behind him before Frank could tell him off. Instead, Frank turned slowly to face Nancy. His face was bright red as he spoke.

“Don’t take him seriously. He’s just trying to get under my skin. I don’t have any expectation that you… that we…  it’s not like I think we’re gonna…”

Nancy contemplated being merciful and leaving the topic alone, but she was feeling bold from the high of their earlier kiss.

“You mean you’re not taking me back to your place after we have dinner?” Nancy asked coyly. “That’s a shame. I was looking forward to it…”

Frank made a strangled noise. Nancy just laughed and reached for his arm to tug him towards the main door. As she locked up, Frank seemed to regain the ability to speak.

“Where do you want to eat?” he asked.

Nancy hesitated. She was a little self-conscious of her appearance.  What if Frank was hoping to go somewhere nice? She had thrown on her horse t-shirt and some jeans that morning with the assumption that she’d only be seeing Joe for a chat, not having a first date with Frank. She hadn’t done anything special with her hair or put on any makeup besides some concealer. She could almost hear Bess’ voice in her head begging her to at least add some mascara. As Nancy considered her options, Frank seemed to notice her hesitation.

“We don’t have to go anywhere,” he said quickly. “If you’re busy or tired, we can just call it a day.”

“I wouldn’t care if I was busy

and

tired. I’d still want to go to dinner with you,” Nancy said softly. She saw the quiet happiness on Frank’s face from her words. By way of explanation, Nancy opened her coat and pointed at the horse on her shirt. “I’m just not exactly dressed for a date right now.”

Frank didn’t miss a beat. “Are you kidding me? You look beautiful. You always do.”

Nancy’s heart did the usual flip that happened when Frank complimented her, except this time it felt even more disorienting. It had been fifteen minutes since they’d kissed and somehow she had fallen even harder. If this relationship went anywhere, Nancy was pretty sure she was going to need medical attention.

“Let’s go back to that Italian place from our first night in the City,” Frank proposed.

His suggestion made sense. It was casual enough for the jeans they were both wearing, but quiet enough that they would be able to talk. Nancy agreed, and they started off down the street. The conversation stayed light as they walked. They talked about which cases they were hoping to take on next and the invitation they had received from Laura and Fenton to spend a weekend in Bayport during their next break. Nancy knew she and Frank were both deliberately staying away from the bigger questions.

How would they balance dating and working together? What would happen if things didn’t work out?

Nancy knew they’d have these conversations eventually. For now, she was just happy to be walking beside Frank while listening to him describe what Laura had planned for dinner on their next visit.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy fidgeted with her fork as she and Frank sat at their table in the quiet restaurant. Even just hearing the host ask if they wanted a table for two felt different now. She and Frank weren’t just grabbing food together the way they had done a thousand times before. This was technically a date.

“Are you thinking we should look into the sabotages on the cruise ship or the missing family heirloom next?” Frank asked.

He was being remarkably… normal. Given everything Nancy knew about Frank, she had expected him to be shy or awkward, but he was asking her about work like he had done any other day over the last few months.

“Uh, I had talked to Joe about the missing heirloom case, actually. We, uh, we both agreed it sounds like insurance fraud,” Nancy stuttered. She wouldn’t have bet that she’d be the one stumbling over her words and overthinking her every move.

“Ooh, really?” Frank replied. “I’ve barely looked through the file, but I knew it was top of your list, so I figured it had to be good.”

The waitress stopped by briefly to take their orders. As soon as she left, Frank’s eyes met Nancy’s.

“Everything good?” he asked softly.

“I’m just trying to figure out if you’re handling this way better than me or if you’ve done a phenomenal job of burying all the reason to worry about how wrong this could go,” Nancy blurted out.

“Oh definitely the second one,” Frank replied with a grin. “If I thought about any of it for more than a minute, I’d probably throw up.”

Nancy laughed with relief as she replied. “Look, maybe we should just talk about the big stuff now and get it out of the way. I want to enjoy this, but I’m not going to be able to do that until I know we’re on the same page.”

Frank took a long sip of his water before nodding slowly. “You’re right. Where do you want to start?”

“Work,” Nancy replied immediately. “The agency is important to me and as much as I hate to say it, Joe probably had a point when he said there should be ground rules.”

“Agreed. We can aim to keep work as separate as possible from this,” Frank said as he gestured between them.

“The problem is I’m not even sure how to do that…” Nancy said hesitantly. “We’re never going to stop bringing files home with us at the end of the day, or working weird hours, or being on the road. Work-life balance has never been either of our specialties.”

“You have a point,” Frank nodded. He seemed to be thinking things over before he spoke again. ”Maybe we need to flip how we’re looking at this. Work is going to bleed into our personal lives and vice-versa. It always has. We just need to be ready to handle it when it does.”

“I keep thinking about what it would be like if we had a fight,” Nancy said. “What happens the next day at work?”

“If we fight, then I swallow my pride and admit that I was wrong, probably,” Frank said with a grin.

Nancy laughed. “And what if I’m the one who’s wrong?”

“Extremely unlikely,” Frank replied. “But I guess if we really can’t decide who’s wrong, we can do the same thing we do with a case disagreement.”

“You want us to let Joe vote on who’s right?” Nancy said with a laugh at the idea of Joe having to mediate a disagreement about whose turn it was to do the dishes.

“You know as well as I do that he’s more likely to side with you anyway,” Frank chuckled.

He was smiling, and Nancy realized this was going a lot better than she’d expected. She had assumed it would be awkward or uncomfortable to have these kinds of conversations right away. Instead, it was just another conversation where they put each other at ease.

“You know what? If Joe’s okay with it, then it works for me,” Nancy said with a smile. As she thought about the next thing she needed to ask, her smile faded. “What happens if this doesn’t work out? What if we end up hating each other?”

“I wouldn’t know how to hate you,” Frank said softly.

“But what if I screw this up?” Nancy whispered.

She was painfully aware that she had already caused a mess between them that even involved Joe, and this was only the first day. She knew she wasn’t great at being a girlfriend. How would she be able to stand herself if she dropped the ball with Frank?

“Then it gets screwed up,” Frank replied simply. “And then we figure out how to fix it. And then I’ll probably screw it up in a different way, and then we’ll have to fix it again.”

Frank paused as if he was deciding whether to continue speaking, but eventually he did.

“Nancy, I’ve loved you since I’ve known you. There’s no turning that switch off. That train left the station a long time ago. No matter what happens, this doesn’t end with me hating you.”

Nancy felt the urge to kiss Frank again. As she contemplated whether the table was too wide for her to lean in, the waitress came by with their food. Nancy paid very little attention to her eggplant parmesan as Frank spoke again.

“My turn for a question. What do you want from this?”

Nancy took a gulp of water to avoid answering the question right away.

“That’s a pretty big question for a first date,” she said nervously.

“It’s not a first date though. Not really,” Frank replied. “This is easily like a third date. We know each other. And I know you well enough to know that you’re not going to want to waste time with someone who doesn’t want the same things you do.”

Nancy sighed, knowing that Frank was right.

“I want the life that I have right now,” Nancy admitted. “I want to solve cases and run around the world chasing leads and be able to drop everything on a moment’s notice. I don’t want someone who needs me to be home every night in time for dinner, because I can’t promise that. Not unless I give up what makes me happy. In the future, I can see myself maybe getting married or having kids, but even then I don’t know how it’s all going to work. I’d like to think that I’ll settle down eventually, but if my mom is any indication of who I’ll turn out to be, I probably won’t.”

Nancy glanced hesitantly at Frank. She wasn’t sure what to expect from him in response. She knew she hadn’t exactly made a pitch for the perfect future together. Frank, however, just smiled back.

“If you think I somehow expect you in the kitchen making dinner every night then I really need to do a better job of explaining what I like about you,” he replied. “The only thing more exhilarating than chasing down a suspect or making it out of a collapsing cave is doing it with you beside me. I doubt either of us are going to make it home in time for dinner in this relationship.”

Nancy felt a wave of relief wash over her. She wasn’t even sure what she had been so worried about. Frank was living this life too. Clearly, he wanted the same things. Nancy realized she was feeling remarkably calm. They had talked about the big stuff. It had gone surprisingly well. Now, they could just enjoy the night.

“I think that’s everything that I wanted to ask,” Frank said. “Anything else on your mind?”

“I really just have one more question…” Nancy knew she was pushing her luck, but the temptation was too strong. “You said this was basically our third date, right?”

“I mean, technically, yeah,” Frank shrugged. “We know each other’s jobs and what kind of families we come from and what we like about each other. We can skip the small talk.”

“Perfect,” Nancy smirked. “So then I’m just wondering… If this is a third date, why haven’t you taken me home yet?”

Frank choked on his water. Nancy could see the way his gaze changed as he recovered. She was familiar with his soft glances, but the look of want on his face now was something new. It sent a shiver down her back. Frank quickly waved over their waitress and asked for the bill.

In a different situation, Nancy might have given him a hard time for paying the bill for both of them. Right now, though, she wasn’t concerned with chivalry or independence. All she was concerned with was how fast they could get back to one of their apartments. As they exited the restaurant, Nancy felt Frank’s hand rest on her lower back. She leaned into his touch and wondered what it would feel like without the layers between them. As they reached the street corner to turn in the direction of Nancy’s apartment or Frank’s, they both hesitated.

“Your place is empty,” Frank suggested.

“Your place is closer,” Nancy replied.

She knew it was ridiculous to suggest that walking two less blocks was worth kicking Joe out of his own apartment, but Nancy needed to get her hands on Frank as fast as possible.

“Can’t argue with that,” Frank said with a grin as they turned down the street to his apartment. His hand was still lingering on her back.

They were both giggling by the time they reached Frank’s building. Nancy grabbed his hand and pulled him up the stairs to his door. The dull light of the empty hallway was the closest thing they’d had to privacy since she’d suggested they go home together at the restaurant. Nancy couldn’t help but pull Frank into a kiss as he reached into his pocket for the keys. Frank managed to unlock the door without ever breaking their kiss, which Nancy thought was a fairly impressive move. As they stumbled into the apartment, Joe’s voice called out from the other side of the couch in the living room.

“Hey man, how did things go?”

“They’re going great!” Nancy replied. She knew Joe wasn’t expecting to hear her voice, but she had heard enough stories about Joe and Deirdre making Frank squirm that she figured it was her turn to play this game. “But you might not want to stick around, because things are about to get even better!”

Joe stood up and turned slowly to face the kitchen where Nancy and Frank were standing. Frank had an arm around Nancy, and Joe took in the sight with a slightly horrified look.

Frank reached into his pocket with his free hand and chucked his wallet in Joe’s direction. “Go get a drink. Or some food. Get a cheeseburger at every restaurant in the Village for all I care. Just don’t be here.”

Joe quickly followed orders. He grabbed his jacket and the wallet Frank had thrown before wordlessly letting himself out of the apartment. As soon as the door shut, Nancy and Frank dissolved into laughter.

“You mess with my brother

and

you want to sleep with me?” Frank grinned. “Oh, you’re amazing.”

“I try,” Nancy replied with a smile as she leaned in to kiss him again.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy was used to travelling for cases. She knew how to pack her bag and be out the door on a moment’s notice. She navigated airports like a pro and always slept great in hotel rooms. This particular instance of travel for a case felt different, though. For one, it had been three weeks since Nancy and Frank had started dating. Things were going great. They were managing to balance working together and seeing each other, and Joe only had to occasionally clear his throat to pull them out of a gooey stare in the middle of a meeting. This was their first case on the road as a couple, though, and Nancy felt a little nervous. She wasn’t entirely sure why. They were spending every waking hour together these days, and a lot of the sleeping ones too. It wasn’t like anything would be drastically different while working on this case. Still, Nancy felt uneasy. It was like her brain was trying to remind her of something, but she couldn’t figure out what. She just felt a sense of trouble looming.

As they entered the hotel lobby, Joe headed for the front desk to get them checked in. Nancy stood with Frank and their bags near the bank of elevators.

“Do you think this is going to go okay?” Nancy asked with a hint of nervousness.

“The case? I mean, it’s definitely a complex one,” Frank replied. He had clearly misinterpreted her question. “I think we have a lot of questions to ask before we’ll even know where to start. But I know we’ll get there. We always do.”

Nancy had been about to clarify what she meant when Joe came back with their keys.

“Rooms 204 and 223. We’ll be down the hall from each other at least,” Joe said. He handed Nancy and Frank their keycards and pushed the button for the elevator.

“Joe, you got the cards mixed up,” Frank sighed as he looked at the keys. “You have Nancy’s key.”

As Nancy looked at the room numbers written on the envelopes, she realized that she and Frank both had keys for room 223.

“Nope,” Joe said plainly. “You two are an item now. If you can share a bed at home, you can share one on the road too. My days of listening to you snoring are over.”

Frank began to sputter that Joe had no business making that decision, but Joe just hopped on the elevator with a grin. As the elevator doors closed behind Joe, Frank looked at Nancy with mild panic in his eyes.

“I didn’t ask him to do that,” Frank said quickly as he pushed the button for another elevator. “You don’t have to share a room with me… I’m gonna go set him straight right now.”

“I’m okay with it if you are,” Nancy said softly. They spent a lot of nights together at one of their apartments anyway. This would really be no different.

Frank’s head snapped back to look at her. “Really?”

He seemed surprised, but Nancy understood his reaction. This was somehow bigger than the nights they’d spent together before. It felt more of an official sign of their relationship than anything they’d done so far.

Nancy nodded and she could tell Frank was holding back a smile. The elevator arrived and they headed to their shared hotel room. As they started to get settled in, Nancy felt silly for her earlier worries. She and Frank made a great team, both as detectives and in this relationship. Nancy had nothing to worry about.

The detective trio spent the evening meeting with the contact who had hired them before discussing where to start their investigation the next morning. When they were satisfied with the plan they had laid out, they made their way back to their respective rooms for the night. Nancy was happy to crawl into bed beside Frank, who seemed equally happy to be there with her. As she drifted off, she was thinking about the answers they had gotten from their contact and how it all might fit into the case. Any relationship concerns were far from her mind.

Nancy’s phone buzzed on the bedside table, but she was already fast asleep.

Calendar Reminder: Valentine’s Day - Tomorrow

When Nancy woke to the sound of her alarm, she was a little surprised not to find Frank beside her. She enjoyed waking up with his arms around her and the lack of contact felt odd. Nancy shook her head at how quickly this relationship had become second nature as she looked around the room for Frank. He was standing at the desk with his back to her, quietly fussing with something.

“Morning,” Nancy yawned.

Frank jumped. He looked like he had been caught red handed as he turned around, which she thought was a little odd.

“What are you up to so early?” Nancy asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh nothing…” Frank replied vaguely. “How did you sleep?”

“I slept great, but it’s not like hotel rooms usually bother me anyway,” Nancy said distractedly.

She was confused by Frank’s attempt to divert the conversation. Curiosity got the best of her and she got out of bed to see what Frank had been doing. It was still dark in the room, but Nancy could make out a rectangular box sitting on the desk. She flipped on the lamp and saw that the box was red and had her name written on it in Frank’s neat handwriting. Nancy was even more confused. Frank had gotten her a gift? Why?

Behind her, Frank slipped his arms around Nancy’s waist and whispered in her ear. “Happy Valentine’s Day…”

Oh no.

It couldn’t possibly be Valentine’s Day. Nancy tried doing the math in her head. They had started dating towards the end of January, which was around three weeks ago, which meant that today was…. Valentine’s Day. Nancy had forgotten entirely. Between the rush of her new relationship with Frank and the excitement of the cases they had been working on, Valentine’s Day hadn’t even crossed her mind.

Nancy was grateful that Frank was standing behind her so that he couldn’t see the panic on her face. She reached for the box as his arms stayed around her waist. Nancy delicately lifted off the lid and saw that inside was a book. It was the new edition of Things Every Detective Should Know, which Nancy had been excitedly telling Frank about for weeks. She promptly burst into tears.

Frank’s arms tensed around her waist and his words came out in a rush. “Nancy, I’m really sorry if this wasn’t the right thing or if you don’t like it or if you were expecting something different or…“

This only made Nancy cry harder. Frank had gotten her the perfect gift and now he was apologizing to her, when she hadn’t even remembered the day. It was exactly how this relationship was going to go. She had always known it on some level. Nancy was not good at being a girlfriend. She forgot things and she let people down. Nancy wished that the facade of their relationship going well could have lasted a little longer, but clearly that was too much to ask.

“Nance, tell me what’s wrong...” Frank’s voice was full of concern as he used the hands on her waist to turn her around to face him. “You’ve really got me worried…”

Nancy swallowed back her tears. There was no sense in putting off the start of everything falling apart for any longer.

“I forgot…” she whispered. “I didn’t realize it was Valentine’s Day and I don’t have anything for you.”

Frank looked at her with confusion. “So?”

“So I’m bad at this!” Nancy replied. “I’m really, really bad at this. I forget holidays and anniversaries, and I don’t return calls right away, and I get distracted by cases, and someday it’s probably going to end up ruining this thing we have together…”

Frank didn’t seem to hesitate with his reply. “Nancy, none of that matters to me. I don’t need any of it to know that you love me. I know that you love me because you spend every day working with me and you still want to see me in the evenings. Or because you leave case files you think I’ll find interesting on my desk with sticky notes about who you think did it. I know that you love me because you’re here with me on this case. I don’t need anything else to prove that.”

As Frank finished speaking, Nancy felt a weight lift that she hadn’t realized she had been carrying. While the past few weeks with Frank had been amazing, there was a part of her that had been waiting for the other shoe to drop the entire time. Nancy had been anxiously awaiting Frank’s realization that she wasn’t what he might have hoped, and the fight that would inevitably follow. To her surprise, the shoe had dropped and Frank didn’t seem to be bothered by it in the slightest. Nancy slowly realized that Frank knew her well enough to know what he was getting himself into, and he seemed to be perfectly okay with it.

Nancy threw her arms around his neck with relief. As she pulled away from the hug, she saw an almost guilty look on his face.

“I also have a confession to make…” Frank said sheepishly. “I didn’t actually remember Valentine’s Day either. Joe was the one who reminded me yesterday morning. He’s the only one who’s any good with remembering dates. I spent an hour before we left running around the City trying to find something for you. So if you’re bad at this, so am I. You know, we really compliment each other that way.”

“How about we make a deal?” Nancy said with a laugh. “Next Valentine’s Day, let’s promise to both forget.”

Frank got an odd look on his face and his voice was suddenly soft. “You’re planning on being around next Valentine’s Day?”

“Well someone has to be here to distract you from Joe’s ramblings about how much he loves Deirdre,” Nancy teased.

She gave Frank a quick kiss and let herself hope that things between them would go well enough that she would indeed be around next Valentine’s Day.

Nancy’s assumption that Joe would be lovestruck was proven correct an hour later when they met up with him in the lobby. They were supposed to be leaving for the museum to start investigating the site of a theft, but Joe wouldn’t hang up on Deirdre.

“Listen, I have to hang up… I don’t want to stop talking to you either, but I have to go… Frank is glaring at me… I love you too… I’ll be home in a few days and we can celebrate Valentine’s Day properly… Oh you know exactly what I have in mind… Okay, Frank is really mad now! I have to go for real. I love you!”

As Joe sheepishly hung up the phone, the trio made their way onto the street outside. Nancy just shook her head in disbelief. She couldn’t decide which turn of events was more surprising - Joe falling so hard for Deirdre, or things going so well between Nancy and Frank.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“We’re

together

, right?”

Frank’s question caught Nancy off guard. The two had long since agreed to be exclusive and Nancy was actively referring to Frank as her boyfriend. That was without mentioning the fact that she was currently lying in his bed, which was where she spent most of her nights anyway. It seemed a little late for Frank’s sudden concern about the status of their relationship.

“I sure hope we’re together,” Nancy teased. “Otherwise I have some questions about what exactly I’m doing in your bed.”

Frank chuckled. “That’s not what I meant. I just mean…like are we

together

together? You know, publicly…”

Nancy was no less confused by his elaboration.

“Frank, I love you but I have no idea what you’re saying,” she laughed.

Frank sighed. He looked embarrassed as he spoke. “I want to know if it’s okay for me to post a picture of you on my Instagram.”

Nancy giggled. “You’re asking me if we’re Instagram official?”

Frank nodded sheepishly.

“I didn’t think that was something you’d even care about,” Nancy replied.

She knew that Frank wasn’t someone who engaged in a lot of social media. He had an Instagram account, but it only had a handful of scenery pictures from places he’d traveled on cases over the years. Nancy knew he spent time on Instagram because he was always quick to like her posts, but she also knew that he was someone who generally preferred not to share his business with acquaintances on the internet.

“I never really cared before,” Frank said. He paused like he wasn’t sure he should admit to what he was about to say. “But I want to show you off.”

Nancy blushed. That was a pretty big compliment coming from someone as reserved as Frank.

“Well in that case, my answer is yes,” Nancy smiled. “I do in fact consider us Instagram official.”

Frank’s face broke into a grin.

Their conversation drifted away from social media and onto plans for their next case while they were both still scrolling through their phones. After a little while, Nancy figured she’d check her Instagram feed one more time before putting the phone down to get some sleep. She opened the app and stopped in her tracks.

Frank had already posted the picture of her. He must have had the draft ready to go when he asked. Nancy glanced over at him out of the corner of her eye. He was scrolling through his phone with a soft smile on his face.

Nancy looked closely at the new post. It was a photo she hadn’t seen before. She remembered Frank taking it, but she hadn’t paid much attention to the result. Now that it was in front of her, she was impressed by Frank’s photography skills. The picture was one taken earlier that day as they had been walking down the street. Frank kept saying that the sunlight looked fantastic in Nancy’s hair. Nancy remembered rolling her eyes a little because Frank was always complimenting her hair, even when it was messy, but this time he had a point. The lighting in the photo really did make her hair look great. Frank had taken the photo from an angle that showed only a hint of her smile, with her hair falling in front of the rest of her face. Nancy felt pretty flattered that Frank had managed to get such a good picture of her, and even more flattered that he had insisted on posting it.

Nancy looked to see what Frank had captioned the photo.

tobefrank

I’m pretty good at solving mysteries, but the case of how I got this lucky has me stumped.

Nancy blushed again. Frank was usually the quiet kind, so it did something to her heart for him to love her out loud like that.

Nancy scrolled through the likes on the post. Most of them were who she expected. Joe, Deirdre, Bess, George, some of Frank’s childhood friends, some names she didn’t recognize…. and Ned. Nancy was surprised. She wouldn’t have expected her ex-boyfriend to show any kind of support for her new relationship, especially when it was with Frank. Nancy felt a sense of peace in knowing that Ned was in a place where he could like the post. He must have been doing better too.

There were a few threads of comment and replies, so Nancy checked the first one.

New Comment From besswiththedress

Umm do we have a new winner of Sassy Detective’s Cutest Couple or what???

Reply From georgeofthegym

Even I have to admit these two are adorable…

Reply From deirdreunfiltered

They’re definitely cute, but no one beats me and my partner in crime <3

Reply From cheeseburgerjoe

: I second Deirdre!

With a smile, Nancy checked the next thread too.

New Comment From cheeseburgerjoe

This isn't a mystery I’m going to be able to help you solve, my dear brother… I’m just as shocked as you.

Reply From tobefrank

I can’t blame you. I’m absolutely batting above my league.

Reply From besswiththedress

And don’t you forget it!

Reply From georgeofthegym

Or else…

Reply From tobefrank

Never.

Nancy was grinning like a kid. There was something undeniably sweet about watching her friends talk about her relationship with such happiness. Nancy liked the post and the comments, but she couldn’t decide on what to comment herself. After a little thought, Nancy figured that if Frank could be a little cheesy, so could she.

New Comment From nancythesleuth

Pretty sure this is an open-and-shut case of having my heart stolen.

Nancy set her phone down on the bedside table with a smile. She was about to close her eyes when Frank kissed her forehead.

“Open-and-shut case, huh?” he murmured.

“Yup,” Nancy replied softly as she started to drift off. “Easiest one I’ve ever solved.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy felt the exhaustion setting in as she looked over at the clock. It was already 11pm. She and Frank had been sitting in their hotel room for hours trying to figure out their next move on a particularly tricky case. Joe had long since called it a night and headed back to his room to get some sleep. Nancy knew she and Frank needed to do the same, but she just couldn’t bring herself to put down the files they were looking through.

“I think we should start off tomorrow by checking out the Harrington estate again,” Frank suggested.

“We’ve been there three times already!” Nancy groaned. “Why would we waste time going back?”

The lack of sleep wasn’t doing Nancy’s patience any favors. She was angry that she had gone the entire day without making any progress on the case, and the idea of having to retrace their steps felt like admitting defeat.

“I know going there again feels like a step backwards, but it just looks like we missed something,” Frank replied.

“Well maybe you missed something in your section of the house, but I certainly didn’t,” Nancy snapped.

“Nance, that’s not what I meant…” Frank’s voice was soft and apologetic, but it just made Nancy angrier about the entire situation. How was he still so composed? They had been working since first thing that morning.

“Look, if you really want to go back there tomorrow, we can!” Nancy snapped again. She was too tired to be gentle. “And then you can figure out what you missed!”

Frank’s eyes flashed with frustration, though his voice stayed calm. “I didn’t miss anything either.”

“You just said someone did!” Nancy replied with anger. “Joe was talking to witnesses, so that leaves you and me. And I know I didn’t miss anything.”

Nancy was fuming. If Frank didn’t think he missed anything, then it implied she had been the one to miss something. He had no right to insult her like that.

“I didn’t miss anything either,” Frank repeated pointedly. “And before you say it, that doesn’t mean that I think you did. When I said we missed something, I meant in general. Maybe there was something in the corner of the property where we didn’t look…”

“That doesn’t even make sense!” Nancy was aware that she was speaking at a raised volume, but she didn’t care. “We know the exact path the thief took and it wasn’t anywhere near there! I’m not wasting time going back tomorrow.”

“Fine, where would you like to go?” Frank sighed.

“I don’t know yet!” Nancy was half expecting a noise complaint from the front desk if she kept her voice raised much longer.

“If you don’t know, then why can’t we just start the day by going back?” Despite the mild frustration in his tone, Frank seemed to still be staying relatively calm. His ability to remain composed was driving Nancy crazy, and that fact was in full view in her next sentence.

“Fine!” she yelled. “I’ll go back tomorrow, find whatever it was that you missed that cost us this entire day and then show you how to do this job properly!”

Nancy was immediately aware that she had gone too far. She felt all the anger drain out of her as a wave of hurt flashed across Frank’s face. As quickly as the hurt had appeared on his face, it was replaced with anger.

“Have a great time investigating by yourself tomorrow… and sleeping by yourself tonight.” Frank’s voice was low but seething. He grabbed his phone and wallet off the bedside table and started to leave. As he stood in the open doorway, he turned back momentarily. “You know, you might be the best detective, but you’re a pretty terrible girlfriend.”

The door swung shut behind him, but Nancy was too tired to cry. Instead, she pulled on a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt, crawled into bed and very deliberately did not think about the fact that she was indeed a terrible girlfriend.
  
Nancy woke up to her phone alarm going off the next morning. As she reached over to shut it off, the fight with Frank flooded into her mind. She was so caught up in the idea that Frank had insulted her that she had ended up being the one insulting him. As Nancy replayed the night in her head, she realized that Frank hadn’t said anything remotely critical about her detective skills. The closest he had come to an insult was when he called her a terrible girlfriend. Nancy didn’t think she could count that as an insult, though. It was really just a fact at this point.

She checked her phone for any messages from Frank. In the rare instances when they had disagreed before, Frank had always reached out right away wanting to work things out. This time, Nancy had no missed messages. Frank was an early riser like her, so it wasn’t like he was still asleep. He was probably sitting in Joe’s hotel room planning out how to break up with her when they got back home. Nancy couldn’t blame him if he was. She had said he didn’t know how to do his job. It wasn’t even something she thought was true. Frank was excellent at what he did. He was absolutely on par with Nancy, and in certain areas of detective work, Nancy knew that his skills even surpassed hers. She had just been overtired and angry about her own lack of progress with the case, and she had taken it out on Frank because he happened to be around.

Nancy sat in bed and tried to figure out what to do next. She decided she would get ready for the day in the hopes that Frank and Joe would be downstairs in the lobby like usual, and that Frank hadn’t meant what he said last night about her working on her own today. She could talk to Frank once they were face to face.

As Nancy got ready, her mind wandered to what was probably being said in Joe’s room. Was Joe angry with her too? She had said an awful thing about his brother. What if it changed the way Frank and Joe saw her? What if it impacted things with the agency?

A knock at the door pulled Nancy out of her thought spiral. She looked at her phone and saw that was barely past seven. Nancy wondered why housekeeping would be there so early. When she set down her hairbrush and went to open the door, she discovered that it was not housekeeping on the other side of the door. It was Frank.

He was wearing the same jeans as yesterday and what looked to be one of Joe’s t-shirts based on the fact that it was slightly too small. Nancy felt guilty that she had driven Frank out of his own hotel room so fast that he didn’t even take his suitcase. He was also holding a bouquet of what looked to be some sort of white flowers. Nancy couldn’t help but cringe a little. His solution to this mess was flowers? As soon as she made eye contact with Frank, he began to speak.

“Nancy, I’m so sorry. You are anything but a terrible girlfriend. You trusted me enough to tell me that’s something you worry about and I used it against you.” Frank paused and took a deep breath. “If you can find a way to forgive me, I swear it will never happen again.”

Nancy felt relief wash over her. Frank wasn’t there to try to sweep everything under the rug or pick another fight. He was here to talk to her. She gestured for him to come inside as she began her own apology.

“Of course I can forgive you. Anyway, I’m the one who’s sorry. What I said was awful. Frank, you have to know that I don’t think any of those things about you. I was tired and I took it out on you. I’m a pretty terrible girlfriend and you had every right to call me out on it.”

Nancy sat down on the edge of the bed in defeat.

“No, I didn’t,” Frank said firmly as he sat beside her. “Because you’re not a terrible girlfriend. I couldn’t ask for anyone better than you.”

Nancy shook her head. “That’s not true and we both know it.”

“It is true,” Frank implored. As if to further his point, he held the bouquet towards her.

Nancy didn’t think it was a great time to tell Frank that she wasn’t a big fan of flowers. Instead, she accepted the bouquet from his outstretched hands. She glanced quickly at what she had earlier assumed to be flowers. When she looked closer, however, she realized that the bouquet seemed to be made of some sort of paper. Nancy inspected one of the “flowers” and discovered that it was composed of rolled sheets of paper that had been torn out of a notebook. Nancy noticed writing on one of the handmade flowers. She unfurled it to reveal a series of numbers, letters and symbols. It was a coded message. One by one, Nancy unfurled the twelve carefully made flowers and found a different type of code written on each one.

“How long did this take you?” Nancy whispered in disbelief.

She had been imagining that Frank was in Joe’s hotel room planning out how to break up with her, but instead he had been hand making her an apology that she barely deserved.

“I woke Joe up early and he helped me. It didn’t take too long once we got on a roll encoding the messages,” Frank replied with a shrug.

Nancy knew he wasn’t being entirely honest. Encoding a dozen messages, each with a different pattern, was no small task.

“You made your brother, who once hit snooze sixteen times in a row, wake up extra early to do arts and crafts?” Nancy laughed as she pictured Joe begrudgingly rolling up sheets of notebook paper into flowers first thing that morning.

“He’s bound to screw up with Deirdre eventually. I’ll just owe him a hand fixing things when he does,” Frank replied with a smile.

Nancy checked her phone. It was almost half past seven. She knew they had to get their day started soon, but she was still curious as to what exactly Frank had put so much effort into encoding.

“So what’s the theme of this bouquet?” she asked. “I’ll decode it later, but for now I want a hint about what to expect.”

“They’re all the reasons you’re the perfect girlfriend,” Frank said simply.

Nancy’s heart almost burst.

At the same moment, a knock came at the room door.

“That’s probably Joe,” Frank said as he got up to answer.

It was in fact Joe. Nancy had expected him to look half asleep, but instead Joe looked energized as he walked into the room and began to ramble.

“Great news! Remember Emma Harrington? The daughter that always has the blue nail polish and doesn’t seem to like that we’re investigating this case for some reason? Turns out she took a bunch of documents out of the folders we were given when we arrived. We didn’t have the whole picture. Her dad just dropped the missing pages off. I was flipping through them in the elevator, and I can already see a lot for us to work with.”

Joe sat down at the desk and laid out the new documents. He began to point out connections between the new information and what they had previously learned. Nancy and Frank quickly joined Joe at the desk as they all started to discuss the case in a new light.
  
The trio had the case solved and the thief handed over to the police before dinnertime that day. It had been Emma Harrington’s secret boyfriend who had committed the robbery. The missing pages had been crucial to understanding the family’s messy history and their disapproval of Emma’s boyfriend. Neither Nancy or Frank had missed anything. Their lack of progress had been no one’s fault. Well, except maybe for Emma…

Later that evening in their hotel room, Nancy and Frank were lying in bed as the TV droned in the background. Frank was scrolling on his phone, and Nancy was trying to do the same. She still felt guilty about what had happened. Nancy started to repeat to Frank how sorry she was, but he immediately cut her off with a kiss.

“Quit apologizing, or else I’ll start apologizing again too, and then we’ll be stuck in a never-ending loop,” Frank said with a soft smile. “We had a bad night. It happens. What matters is that we made it through.”

Nancy leaned into his chest. She knew he was right. They had a bad night, but they made it through.

Suddenly, Nancy remembered the bouquet of messages to decode. It had slipped her mind with all the turns the case had taken that day. Nancy got up and brought the bouquet of paper back to the bed. She grabbed her notebook from the bedside table and began to analyze the first code.

“Well, this one’s obviously some sort of Caesar shift cipher,” Nancy commented as she started scribbling out ideas about how to solve it.

Frank grinned from beside her. “You’re already on fire, detective!”

Before long, Nancy was surrounded by a pile of decoded messages. Frank had written small things like “

You know what my second favourite Subway sandwich is

” and “

You don’t mind that I snore

” but he had also written other things like “

No one else understands me like you do

”.

Nancy carefully tucked each message into her notebook. She kissed Frank, though she had trouble finding the right words to fully express how much his gesture meant.

“Thank you,” she whispered hoarsely as she curled into his side. “I know I’m a lot to handle-”

“You’re not,” Frank whispered as he kissed her head. “I’m so sorry that I ever made you feel that way.”

“You said no more apologies,” Nancy smiled.

“I guess I lied,” Frank smiled back. “You’re not a lot to handle. Being with you is the easiest thing in the whole world.”

“Even when I’m awful?” Nancy asked quietly.

“You weren’t awful. You were tired,” Frank replied.

“Fine,” Nancy smiled. “Even when I’m tired?”

“Always, Nancy,” Frank whispered into her hair.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy was thoroughly enjoying making out with Frank in his bed after their latest date. They had both stripped each other down to their underwear and Nancy was very confident about where things were heading. Every other date night they’d had before ended up exactly here and Nancy knew what came next. She figured that since she was the one closest to the bedside table where Frank kept the condoms, she’d grab one herself this time. As she reached for the drawer, though, the mood suddenly shifted.

Nancy watched Frank’s hand shoot past her and hold the drawer firmly closed before she could even pull the handle. As she turned back to look at him in confusion, she could see panic in his eyes.

“Oh, uh, I’m sorry,” Nancy said quickly. “I shouldn’t have done that…”

Frank cringed as he pulled his hand back. “No, no, it’s fine. You don’t need to apologize.”

Nancy shook her head. “No, I shouldn’t have assumed it was okay for me to look in there.”

Frank let himself fall back onto the pillows with a groan of frustration. “You probably think I’m awful, don’t you?”

“Of course not,” Nancy said softly. “You’re allowed your privacy.”

“I don’t want you to think you can’t trust me… I swear it’s nothing bad. Not really. It’s just embarrassing,” Frank said quietly.

“Well, I figured the drawer is too small for you to be hiding a second girlfriend in,” Nancy chuckled. She laid down beside him on the pillows. “But I don’t like the idea of you feeling embarrassed to tell me something. You can tell me anything. I’m never judging.

Frank didn’t meet Nancy’s eyes as he spoke. “It’s complicated…”

“Is it about sex?” Nancy asked honestly. “If it’s about a kink or something, I’m open to trying anything with you.”

Frank met her eyes this time. “It’s not like that,” he chuckled. “But it means a lot that you’d try weird sex stuff to make me happy.”

“Are you saying you wouldn’t try weird sex stuff to make me happy?” Nancy teased.

“I’d do anything to make you happy,” Frank said softly.

Nancy’s heart fluttered at the earnest nature of Frank’s statement, though she couldn’t resist teasing him all the same.

“In that case, I’m bringing handcuffs next time I come over,” she grinned.

“Anything you want, Nance,” Frank said with a laugh.

“Well, what I want is for you to tell me what’s going on so I can show you that I’m not judging,” Nancy said softly. Frank sighed again, so she continued. “Or I can just keep guessing… Is it a diary? If it is, I promise that I won’t read it.”

Frank chuckled again. “No, I’ve never kept a diary. Although if I did, you’d be in there a lot. ‘

Dear diary, today I saw Nancy. She looked pretty.

’”

Nancy giggled. “Fine, no diaries. Is it a teddy bear? Cause you know full well I’ve got mine sitting on my bed at my apartment.”

“I wasn’t a teddy bear kid,” Frank replied with a smile. “I had a blanket though. Like that kid from the Peanuts… But that’s in a box of my mom’s keepsakes back in Bayport.”

Nancy sighed. “I’m running out of ideas… is it medication for some terrible health condition?”

Nancy had meant that one as a joke. She knew Frank enough to know that he didn’t have health issues. Or at least, that was what she thought until he didn’t respond to her comment.

Nancy sat straight up as Frank deliberately avoided eye contact.

“Oh my god, are you sick?” Nancy asked in a shaky voice.

“Sick is a relative term…” Frank said without making eye contact.

“Frank…” Nancy whispered with concern. She put her hand on top of his. “Tell me what’s wrong. I don’t care what it is. I just want to know if you’re okay.”

Frank finally met her eyes again. Nancy could see fear, but she could also see trust. Frank leaned back over to the drawer he had refused to open earlier and reached in. He produced an orange prescription bottle and held it out towards Nancy.

Nancy anxiously took the bottle from Frank’s hands. She wasn’t sure that the prescription’s name alone would tell her what was going on, but then she saw the label.

Hardy, Franklin F

Prozac

Nancy certainly knew what Prozac was. It wasn’t exactly shocking to learn that Frank was taking an antidepressant. He was certainly an anxious enough person. Still, Nancy hadn’t realized things were serious enough for him to be taking medication for the issue.

“This is

nothing

to be embarrassed about,” Nancy said firmly. “I’m glad you’re looking after yourself. And I’m really glad you feel comfortable telling me about it.”

Nancy reached out and squeezed Frank’s hand. He squeezed back and Nancy felt relieved. She wanted Frank to be comfortable trusting her with this.

“Is it for anxiety?” Nancy asked gently.

Nancy watched as panic flew back into Frank’s eyes. Her detective’s instinct to know the full story had already gone too far.

“Shit, no, that’s none of my business. I’m sorry,” Nancy said quickly.

Frank sighed again. “We’re dating. It’s your business to know what you’re getting yourself into…”

Nancy squeezed his hand again.

“I’d really like to know because I love you and I want to know if there’s anything I can do to help you with whatever you’re dealing with,” Nancy said. “But you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to tell.”

Nancy watched as Frank took a deep breath. He didn’t look at her face as he spoke.

“A couple years ago, I was dealing with an eating disorder.”

Nancy froze. It was as if her brain wasn’t processing the information she had just heard. Frank had an eating disorder? That she didn’t know a thing about? Frank, however, clearly misinterpreted Nancy’s look of confusion.

“I know it’s weird,” he said quickly.

“No!” Nancy said immediately. She hadn’t thought that for a second. “I’m just… confused. I don’t remember ever hearing about this.”

“No one outside of my family knows about it,” Frank said with a shrug. “Telling people you’re anorexic doesn’t make for good small talk...”

Nancy’s head was spinning. She was a goddamn detective. It was her literal job to notice things, and it hadn’t once occurred to her that this was something Frank might be struggling with.

“I know you probably have questions…” Frank said quietly. “You can ask.”

Nancy had about a hundred questions, but for once she wasn’t sure where to start gathering information. This wasn’t a suspect. This was her boyfriend.

“You said this was a couple years ago…” Nancy said carefully. “What exactly happened?”

Frank kept his eyes fixed across the room as he spoke.

“I don’t really remember how it started… I just remember that Joe and I were running from case to case that year, and I was so overwhelmed. There was so much pressure to solve cases and to help all these people. I just felt like I was crumbling. At some point, I figured out that there were a lot of things I couldn’t control, but food was something that I could... I started eating healthier, and I told myself it was to help give me the energy to keep up. And I started exercising more. And it was nice to see some results. I was looking better. And then I started eating less. And going to the gym even more. And it got kinda out of control…”

Nancy could see that Frank was struggling to continue his explanation.

“What do you mean by out of control?” she asked hesitantly. She was a little scared to know the answer.

“Joe and I were in Louisiana on a case in the middle of summer. We were walking to meet our contact and I passed out from the heat. Well, the heat and also the fact that I hadn’t eaten in a couple days…”

Nancy inhaled sharply at Frank’s confession.

“Joe told me after that he thought I’d been poisoned,” Frank said with a dry laugh. “It was definitely a wake up call. Joe had to finish the investigation on his own. And my parents had to fly out to look after me because I wasn’t in any shape to fly home for weeks…”

“How- how bad was it?” Nancy asked in a whisper.

Frank swallowed hard. “The doctors made it pretty clear that I could’ve died.”

Nancy’s heart lurched. Frank had struggled so much that he could’ve died? And she hadn’t even noticed? They were closer now than they’d ever been, but she had always considered him one of her closest friends long before they started dating.

“Why didn’t you tell me this?” Nancy whispered in horror.

Frank hesitated. “You, uh, you’d just come back from Scotland when it happened. I figured you didn’t need to add my stuff to your plate.”

Nancy’s head was spinning. She remembered calling Frank as soon as she’d gotten back from Scotland. She remembered pouring out her heart on that phone call. Frank had been his incredibly supportive self and had listened to everything she had to share about her mom and about the case. He had been going through his own nightmare at the same time and she had been too wrapped up in her own life to notice.

“You said you were in the hospital for weeks…” Nancy said suddenly. A realization had hit her. “Were you

in the hospital

when I called you?”

Frank paused. “I mean, yeah I was, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to hear from you.”

“Oh my god… oh my god, I’m so sorry,” Nancy whispered.

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about,” Frank said firmly. “You were dealing with real stuff.”

“This is real stuff too,” Nancy whispered back insistently as she squeezed his hand. “I wish you’d told me… Either way, I’m really glad you’re telling me now. Is this- Is this still something you’re dealing with?”

Nancy gestured at the pill bottle that had been left on the bedside table.

“Yes and no…” Frank said quietly. “It’s not like it was back then. And the meds help a lot. I’ve done therapy too. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t cross my mind from time to time. Worrying about what I’m eating at lunch, or seeing myself in the mirror and thinking I could stand to be thinner…”

Frank shrugged like this was an everyday conversation and not one of the most devastating things Nancy had ever heard him say.

“What can I do? How can I help?” Nancy asked immediately. “I hate that this is something you have to deal with at all…”

“Just having you around is more than enough,” Frank said softly. At Nancy’s skeptical look, Frank continued. “But if you really want to know what to keep an eye on, you’re probably better off asking Joe. He’s always trying to look out for me. I’m not usually the best judge of when I’m struggling. I thought I was handling things just fine and then I woke up in a hospital bed covered in wires and monitors.”

Nancy pushed away the mental image of Frank in the state he’d just described. Instead, she put her arm around him as she laid down onto his chest and held him tight. They laid in silence for several minutes and Nancy soaked in the sight of Frank’s chest rising and falling. He was okay and he was here with her. That was all she needed. Frank, however, didn’t seem to share this sense of peace.

“Do you think less of me?” he asked in a whisper.

“Of course not,” Nancy replied immediately. “I think the world of you and nothing could change that. Especially not this... There’s nothing shameful about it.”

She sat back up so that she could kiss Frank. As she did, she tried to put every feeling into the kiss that she couldn’t convey with words. How much she loved him, how scared she was of losing him, how amazing she thought he was…

As they pulled apart, Frank spoke first.

“I really love you. And uh, sorry for killing the mood…” he chuckled. “I’ll make it up to you on our next date.”

Nancy laughed. She couldn’t have cared less that they hadn’t ended up having sex. This conversation had been far more important.

“I already explained our next date to you,” Nancy teased. “I’m bringing handcuffs.”

Frank burst out laughing.

“I’m really starting to question whether you’re kidding,” he said with a grin.

“You’ll just have to wait and see…” Nancy replied with a wink as she laid back down on his chest.

They laid together in comfortable silence for a while. Nancy heard Frank’s breathing shift as he started to snore. She was glad he felt comfortable enough to fall asleep next to her. Nancy, however, was still wide awake. She just kept turning over Frank’s confession in her head. She was going back over every memory she could to see if she had missed anything that should have tipped her off.

Nancy heard footsteps in the hallway outside Frank’s door and knew that Joe had gotten home. She remembered what Frank had said earlier when she asked how she could help. Clearly, he was okay with her talking to Joe about this. Nancy gently slipped out of Frank’s arms while doing her best not to wake him. She pulled on her clothes and made her way down the hall to Joe’s room.

His door was ajar and Nancy stuck her head in.

“Hey,” she said quietly. “Do you have a minute?”

Joe looked up from his phone. He was laying on his bed but as soon as he saw Nancy’s face, he started to get up.

“Of course,” he said quickly. “What’s going on?”

Nancy choked back the sob that threatened to leave her mouth.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Joe asked as he hugged Nancy. “Did Frank do something stupid?”

“Something like that,” Nancy laughed dryly.

Joe sighed. He gestured for Nancy to come into his room and closed the door behind him.

“What happened?” Joe asked as Nancy sat on the edge of Joe’s bed.

“Why doesn’t Frank think he’s enough?” Nancy asked tearfully.

Joe’s expression shifted. “Ah… I just assumed Frank put his foot in his mouth. That’s not what this is about, is it?”

Nancy shook her head miserably. “I almost found the medication in his bedside drawer, and he ended up telling me everything. I know that this stuff are complicated, but… but how does he not know that he’s the best person I’ve ever met?”

“I ask myself that question regularly,” Joe said with a sigh. He sat down in his desk chair. “I’ve always known that he doesn’t think very much of himself. He makes these sarcastic comments about himself that everyone thinks are jokes, but I know him well enough to know that he means them. And I’ve never, ever understood it. He’s able to juggle ten things at once without ever dropping the ball, he’s the smartest person I know, he looks after everyone around him… I’ve looked up to him my whole life. It kills me that he can’t see that.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t know…” Nancy whispered.

“Try being the one who was with him every day up until he collapsed,” Joe replied. “He admitted in the hospital that he hadn’t eaten in days, and I hadn’t even noticed that anything was different. I was so angry with myself. He could have died and I didn’t even notice. I’m just glad I got another chance. I know that I need to look out for him now.”

“That’s what Frank said - that you’re always looking out for him,” Nancy said. “I want to help. I want to look out for him too. What do I need to know?”

“Frank is really good at hiding this stuff,” Joe said quietly. “It’s the little things that I remember realizing last time. We’d get lunch and he’d say he wasn’t feeling well when I noticed that he barely ate anything, or he’d have to skip a run because of a case and he’d freak out. He’s quiet, and you and I both know that, but sometimes he folds in on himself entirely. That’s the big thing. That’s when it’s the most dangerous.”

Nancy nodded slowly as she took in the information. “Well, there’s two of us looking out for him now. That’s double the chances that we help catch anything before it becomes dangerous.”

“Thanks, Nancy,” Joe said quietly. “It’ll be easier knowing I’m not the only one who knows.”

“We’re a team,” Nancy said firmly. “You, me and Frank. Whatever one of us is going through, we’re all here to figure it out together.”

She gave Joe a hug before saying goodnight and heading back to Frank’s room.

Halfway down the dark hallway, Nancy walked straight into Frank.

“There you are!” he whispered. “I woke up and you were gone…”

He almost sounded afraid. Nancy realized he probably thought that he had scared her off with his earlier confession. She put her arms around Frank and hugged him tight.

“You aren’t getting rid of me that easily,” she whispered.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Laura had been persistent in her request that Frank and Joe come home to Bayport for a weekend so that they could have a family dinner. The initial invitation had been made just after Christmas, and at the time it had been extended to include Nancy as a family friend. It was now the end of March, and Nancy was no longer just a friend. She was Frank’s girlfriend. Nancy hadn’t been able to come up with a reason to cancel her RSVP to dinner at the Hardy residence that didn’t involve admitting that she was nervous to see Fenton and Laura under these new circumstances. As a result, she found herself in the passenger seat as Frank drove their rental car to Bayport. In his usual spot in the backseat was Joe, but to everyone’s surprise and mild discomfort, Deirdre was sitting beside him. Joe had decided this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce her to his parents. Nancy just hoped that Deirdre’s presence would be enough to distract Fenton and Laura from her new relationship with Frank.

Nancy adored both Fenton and Laura. The gruff retired detective always had a soft spot for Nancy, and he could wrangle a favor out of almost any police department in America when she needed a hand. Frank and Joe’s mom was much quieter, but she could also be tough as nails when she needed to be. Nancy admired Laura’s ability to set aside her worry and focus on supporting her family as they dove head first into dangerous situations. It was a skill Nancy’s dad had never quite perfected. Nancy had known Fenton and Laura for years, so it was odd that she felt like this would be an introduction. In a way though, it was. It was Nancy’s introduction as Frank’s girlfriend.

“So Frank, what do I need to know about your parents?” Deirdre asked from the backseat. “Joe just keeps saying they’re going to love me, but I need a little more to go on if I’m going to impress them.”

Deirdre’s words might have come off to some as a shallow desire to be liked, but Nancy knew it was coming from the same place as her own worries. Both women wanted this visit to go well because the outcome could very well impact their relationships going forward.

“Well, our mom is easy to get along with,” Frank started. “Just tell her you like her cooking and you’ll be in her good graces in no time. You’ll even get bonus points if you help her cook. Our dad is a little trickier to win over, but if you tell him about your latest report at the newsroom, he’ll be all over that.”

Nancy took mental notes of Frank’s suggestions, even if they were meant for Deirdre. She figured she could use all the bonus points she could get.

“What’s your take, Drew? You already know them,” Deirdre inquired. She seemed unconvinced by Frank’s straightforward advice.

“They’re lovely,” Nancy said, and she meant it. “They’re two really good people who raised two really good people. I’m sure they’ll think you’re great in no time. Plus, you know that Joe has been talking you up.”

“I sure have been talking you up,” Joe grinned to Deirdre. “When I talked to Mom and Dad last week, I told them about your promotion and how you’re officially an investigative reporter. Dad was pretty impressed!”

Nancy could hear Deirdre’s giggle as she and Joe kissed. She silently hoped that Frank had been talking her up as well.

Nancy squirmed in her seat as she saw the sign for the Bayport exit approaching. She wondered what to expect when they reached the Hardy house. Would Fenton and Laura think she and Frank were making a mistake? Nancy’s dad seemed to think that. She had called her dad shortly after she and Frank had started dating, and she had expected her dad to share in her excitement. Instead, she had been met with a long silence before he began to interrogate her like a courtroom defendant. “

Have you thought this through? How is this going to impact the agency, and your overall career plans? Does Frank want the same things as you? Have you given yourself enough time since your breakup?”

Nancy had rebutted every one of her dad’s concerns with the skill only a lawyer’s daughter could manage, but the whole exchange left her feeling uneasy. Her dad had always liked Frank. Why wasn’t he excited for her to date Frank? Ever since that call, Nancy had avoided talking to her dad about Frank in much detail. She made especially certain not to bring up how quickly things were moving with Frank, given that her dad’s head was liable to implode at that news.

Nancy wondered what information Frank had shared with his parents as she saw the familiar brown house in the distance. Did they know she and Frank were spending all their time together, or were Fenton and Laura under the impression that she and Frank were casually dating? And if they did know that Nancy spent almost every night at Frank’s apartment these days, would they approve? Nancy didn’t care about many people’s approval of her choices, but Fenton and Laura made the list.

Frank parked the car in the driveway and Nancy was forced to push her worries into the back of her mind. As they all piled out and towards the front steps, Nancy glanced at Frank to try to figure out what he was thinking. He looked the same as he had on the drive - completely at ease.

“The gang’s all here!” Joe yelled out as they shuffled inside the entryway. Laura came around the corner with a warm smile and open arms. Fenton was behind her. It was a mess of hugs and “

How are you

?” and tripping over shoes and bags. It was exactly what Nancy had come to expect when she visited the Hardy home. Laura wrapped Nancy in a hug, which Nancy took to be a good sign.

“It’s so good to see you, Nancy!” Laura said. “Oh, and you must be Deirdre!”

“That’s me!” Deirdre replied. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Joe has told me so many wonderful things about you and your husband!”

Deirdre extended her hand to shake Laura’s and Nancy almost laughed. She glanced over at Frank and they shared a look of amused bewilderment. Who knew Deirdre was good with parents?

After they had all said their hellos, Laura headed back to the kitchen to continue her dinner preparations, with Fenton following behind her to help. As the overnight guests carried in their bags, Nancy automatically made her way towards the stairs to the basement.

“Where are you going?” Frank asked in confusion.

“I’m gonna drop my bag in the guest room and get freshened up before dinner,” Nancy replied. She wasn’t sure why he seemed confused.

Frank paused. “You know you don’t have to stay in the guest room, right? I mean, you definitely can if you want to, but…”

Nancy stared in disbelief. “You want me to sleep in your room?”

“I guess I just assumed you would,” Frank replied.

Nancy couldn’t believe how casually Frank made his suggestion.

“This is your parents’ house!” she hissed.

Frank laughed. “Nancy, we’re two adults with our own places in another city. I don’t think my parents are going to be shocked if you spend the night sleeping next to me. Besides, Joe and Deirdre are definitely sharing a room.”

Frank gestured up the stairs to where both men still had their childhood rooms, despite moving out even before they left Bayport. To Nancy’s surprise, she could hear Deirdre’s voice coming from Joe’s room. Nancy hesitated slightly before steeling herself and heading for the stairs to the second floor. If Deirdre could do it, so could Nancy. For whatever reason, that seemed to be a common theme lately…

Nancy entered Frank’s room and set her bag on the floor. The room didn’t look much different from how she remembered. It was still perfectly organized, with shelves full of books and awards for good grades. Frank had been such a stellar student. He probably could’ve gotten a scholarship to any school he wanted if he had gone the college route. Selfishly, Nancy was glad he hadn’t, because they wouldn’t have ended up here. She perused the books on the shelves as Frank walked in behind her.

“I brought all the best books with me to the City,” Frank commented.

Nancy wasn’t surprised. Frank always had a stack of things to read on his bedside table. Nancy liked to read police reports or books on investigation techniques, but Frank would read anything he could get his hands on. She loved that about him.

Nancy heard Deirdre’s footsteps in the hall and realized she was probably heading back downstairs to help Laura in the kitchen. Nancy quickly rummaged in her bag. She figured she’d freshen up and then make her way to the kitchen as well.

Frank seemed wise to Nancy’s plan without her having to say a word.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to have some sort of competition with Deirdre over who my parents like better,” he said with a laugh.

“It’s not a competition!” Nancy insisted. “It’s just that I can’t let her win…”

“The presence of a winner heavily implies that there’s a competition,” Frank replied with a grin.

“It’s not funny!” Nancy said adamantly. “Deirdre is obviously good at this whole ‘

meeting the parents

’ thing! I have catching up to do if I want them to like me.”

“Nancy, they already love you,” Frank said incredulously. “They’ve known you for years. Nothing about that has changed now that we’re dating. Why would it?”

Suddenly, a realization dawned on Frank’s face.

“Oh…” he said quietly. “Your dad doesn’t like me, does he?”

Nancy hesitated. “It’s not that he doesn’t like you! I promise he does! He’s just worried! He’s always worrying about me, but it’s really just because he wants what’s best for me.”

Nancy regretted her choice of words as soon as she said them.

“And what’s best for you isn’t me…” Frank said quietly. He sounded dismayed.

“No!” Nancy said quickly. “That’s not what I meant. I just meant… Listen, you are absolutely the best thing that’s happened to me. My dad just hasn’t seen that yet. He’s supposed to be in the City for a meeting next month. We’ll all go out to dinner, and he’ll see us together, and he’ll realize that you and I are great for each other.”

Frank grimaced. “Your dad scares me on a good day, and now you’re telling me I get to go to dinner with him while he’s actively upset that I’m dating his daughter? I’m going to need to go into witness protection…”

Nancy was laughing as Joe poked his head into the room.

“Hey Frank,” Joe said. “Dad wants to hear about our last case. You guys coming down?”

Nancy reached for Frank’s hand as the trio made their way to the living room to tell Fenton about their latest adventure. Frank looked over at her as they walked. She shot him a smile in the hopes that he hadn’t taken the news of her dad’s opinion too hard. Frank intertwined their fingers and smiled back, and Nancy breathed a sigh of relief.
  
The evening had been fairly uneventful, and Nancy was okay with that. Everything felt familiar as they had dinner. Joe had too many helpings of potatoes. Fenton asked Frank about what cases the detective trio had coming up next. Laura talked to Nancy about all the things she never got to talk about in a family of men, like where Nancy’s sweater was from. Nancy had used that particular opportunity to pull Deirdre into the conversation, who had been remarkably quiet up until then. Nancy realized Deirdre was probably a little unsure of her place among the chaos of the family’s conversations, so she decided to lend a hand. Frank had been right. It wasn’t a competition for Fenton and Laura’s approval. There was plenty of love to go around at this table.

The evening flew by, and before long Nancy found herself laying in Frank’s bed as he snored softly beside her. To Nancy’s relief, neither Fenton or Laura had said a word about the sleeping arrangements as they all said goodnight. The entire thing had gone off without a hitch, but Nancy was lying awake anyway. She usually slept like a rock when Frank was beside her. Nancy figured it was the residual effects of how stressed she had been earlier and she decided to sit downstairs to avoid disturbing Frank.

As she entered the dark living room, Nancy saw the glow of a phone screen lighting up Joe’s face. She sat on the other side of the couch from him.

“Can’t sleep either?” Nancy asked.

“Not a wink,” Joe replied. “Deirdre’s been out since I turned off the lights, but I just can’t stop thinking.”

“About what?” Nancy asked. She couldn’t help but be surprised. Joe wasn’t usually one to have late night anxiety.

“It’s just all so crazy, you know?” Joe said quietly. “Me and Deirdre, you and Frank…. We were all sitting around the table earlier and I thought to myself ‘

This is how it should always be.

’ Which is crazy! None of us have been dating that long. But suddenly I can’t picture us having a Christmas morning or a Fourth of July barbecue without you and Deirdre being there too. Our family was always four people, but suddenly it feels like six.”

Nancy was thankful for the cover of the darkness in the room as she blinked back a few tears. Joe’s observation had struck a chord. Nancy had always had a singular definition of family. It was really just her dad. Hannah was the closest thing she’d ever had to a mother, but that also was a one-on-one relationship. Nancy had never experienced the concept of family as a unit. She had no firsthand experience with the dynamic of a group of people that all loved each other unconditionally, even though sometimes they also couldn’t stand each other. The knowledge that Joe saw her as a permanent part of his family caused something in Nancy to heal that she hadn’t even realized was hurting.

“I like the sound of that,” she said. Her voice was full of emotion, despite her attempts to keep it steady. “I’m pretty sure Deirdre would too.”

“I hope so…” Joe replied hesitantly. “Sometimes I’m not sure where Deirdre’s head is. One minute I think we’re on the same page and the next minute she seems distant…”

The worry in Joe’s words made Nancy’s heart twinge.

“Joe, she’s crazy about you,” Nancy insisted. “I’ve only been to lunch with her a few times, but I know that much for sure. If she’s being distant, it’s probably because she’s overwhelmed with how quickly things are going. Or at least that’s how I feel sometimes…”

Joe didn’t seem convinced. “Every time I ask her if she wants to take our relationship slower, she says no. If she’s overwhelmed, why isn’t she telling me?”

“Well, I don’t always tell Frank when I’m overwhelmed because I don’t want him to get the wrong idea,” Nancy explained. “Being overwhelmed isn’t inherently a bad thing. It’s overwhelming to think that I haven’t slept at my own apartment in a week, and it’s overwhelming that when I think about my future, it always seems to include Frank. But those aren’t bad things. I’m overwhelmed with excitement and love and maybe a little bit of fear… But mostly just happiness.”

From what Nancy could see in the dark, Joe was listening carefully to her little soliloquy.

“Next time Deirdre is distant, ask her why,” Nancy added. “I know it’s scary to talk about things when you think something is wrong, but I think you’ll be surprised by her answer.”

Joe nodded intently as he took in her words. Nancy briefly wondered what business she had giving other people relationship advice. She had always considered herself pretty bad in that department, but as she thought about it, Nancy realized that she was actually doing pretty well these days. She could communicate her fears and worries to Frank. She was able to show up for him in the ways she knew he needed. She could tell him how much he meant to her. For the fictitious winner of Sassy Detective’s

World’s Worst Girlfriend

award, Nancy wasn’t doing too badly in this relationship.

Nancy chatted with Joe for a few more minutes before the urge to sleep finally started to hit her. She said goodnight and made her way back to Frank’s room. He was still snoring, but as Nancy got into the bed beside him, his arm reached out instinctively and wrapped around her. Nancy leaned happily into his touch as she drifted off.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy was having breakfast at the kitchen island in Frank and Joe’s apartment while she scrolled through New York City apartment listings. Her building was apparently in some sort of development zone, which meant that her landlord had the right to break her lease at any time to renovate the building. Nancy had received a letter to this effect informing her that she had fourteen days to find another place to live. She had immediately called Fenton’s friend in real estate, but right now wasn’t an easy time to be apartment hunting. There were certainly places to be had, but it seemed that for all of them, the rent was exorbitant or the entire place had less room than the closet in Nancy’s current apartment. Plus, none of them were in her neighborhood, which would mean adding a subway ride to work each day.

Nancy was ranting about all of this to Frank and Joe over her bowl of cereal. They would all be heading to the office shortly, but for now Nancy wanted opinions on which apartments she should see.

“This one is probably the only one that has decent square footage,” Nancy commented as she showed the brothers the pictures on her phone. “But the trip back here would be almost an hour, and that’s only if there’s no delays on the subway. I’d rather go broke from the rent around here than waste that much time commuting every day.”

“Once you factor in the cost of a subway pass, the rent isn’t really any better either,” Frank added.

Nancy sighed, knowing that she was running out of options to find a place to live. Frank picked up on her stress.

“You know that you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you need,” he said. “Don’t feel like you have to rush into finding a new place just because you only have two weeks left in your old building.”

Nancy was grateful for Frank’s offer, but she didn’t want to overstep. Joe was patient enough to not be upset that Nancy spent most of her time at their place anyway. Staying temporarily felt like asking too much. Joe didn’t seem to share these concerns, however, based on his next question to Nancy.

“Why don’t you just move in here?” he asked.

Frank had taken a sip of his coffee just in time to choke at Joe’s words, but Joe didn’t pay any attention to Frank’s coughing fit.

“You’re here every night anyway,” Joe shrugged. “It’s kind of silly that you’re paying New York City rent for an apartment that’s basically a glorified storage unit.”

Nancy was stunned. She figured Joe had just been putting up with her continual presence at the apartment.

“Wouldn’t you mind?” she asked.

Joe chuckled. “If I was going to mind, I think it would’ve been when our water bill went up from you showering here every day, or when things started showing up in the kitchen cupboards that Frank and I don’t even like.”

Joe pointed at the box of Nancy’s favorite cereal on the counter in front of them. He wasn’t wrong. Nancy had certainly made herself at home in the brothers’ apartment. She had several drawers in Frank’s bathroom and a section of her own in his closet, not to mention that she never hesitated to add things to the grocery list on the fridge. Joe had clearly noticed.

“Seriously, I’m all good with it,” Joe insisted. “I’m at Deirdre’s place half the time anyway.”

Frank had finally expelled all of the coffee from his airway.

“Joe, you need to mind your own business,” he snapped before looking over at Nancy. “Just ignore him.”

Nancy felt slightly disappointed by Frank’s reaction. It would have been silly for her to move in so soon, but part of her wanted to do it anyway. Her disappointment must have shown on her face, because Frank spoke again.

“Unless… unless you want to move in?” Frank asked in a quiet voice. Nancy realized he sounded hopeful.

“Yeah… Yeah, I think I do,” Nancy said.

Nancy and Frank stared at each other silently as the realization of what they had just agreed on hit them both. Joe, on the other hand, took the opportunity to begin cheering, which only made Nancy laugh.

Frank asked if Nancy was sure about her decision to move in on six separate occasions that week. Nancy reassured him each time this was what she wanted, as long as it was what he wanted too. Given the short timeline for Nancy to move out of her current place, the detective trio agreed that she would move in that weekend. Frank had even asked Fenton and Laura to drive into the City to help with the move.

As the Hardy family helped Nancy carry boxes out of her old apartment, Nancy found herself a little nervous about what Fenton and Laura might think of the decision for her to move in. She quickly realized that they seemed to be fine with it.

“Ah, to be young and in love…” Fenton said with a chuckle as he maneuvered a large box down the stairs.

“You’re certainly no longer young, but I hope you’re still in love.” Laura was grinning at her husband as she spoke, and Nancy quietly hoped that she and Frank would one day be joking about their relationship that way.

“I’ll always be in love with you, my darling,” Fenton replied.

Joe made a gagging noise from behind his stack of boxes. “That’s gross! Cut it out!”

“This is what I have to put up with when you’re with Deirdre,” Frank said with an eye roll. “It’s really just a taste of your own medicine.”

When all of Nancy’s things were moved into Frank and Joe’s apartment, she thanked Fenton and Laura profusely for their help and offered to buy them dinner. Fenton made it clear that while they would love to have dinner together, Nancy was not going to be paying, which only made Nancy smile. It wasn’t hard to see where Frank picked up his insistence on getting the tab.

Joe invited Deirdre to join their dinner plans, and suddenly they were having a repeat of their weekend in Bayport as everyone laughed and joked around the restaurant table. Nancy just smiled at the newfound family she had stumbled into.
  
“We need to talk.”

At Nancy’s words, Frank’s head snapped around faster than she’d ever seen him move. He dropped the book he was reading on the coffee table and looked straight at her with terror in his eyes. Nancy immediately realized that her choice of words might not have been the best. She tried to offer her reassurance by moving closer to him on their living room couch.

“Everything’s ok!” Nancy stumbled. “Well, not quite… but it will be!”

She was dreading having this conversation with Frank, but she knew that she was running out of time. Now was as good of a time as any. Joe was down the hall in his room napping, which gave Nancy the chance to talk with Frank.

“My dad is visiting this week,” Nancy said finally.

She had figured the clarification would make Frank less terrified, not more, but she watched as he somehow turned paler than before.

“You mean the man that doesn’t like that I’m dating his daughter?” Frank said nervously. “The one I’ll be having dinner with while he plots out how to kill me, and how to use his lawyer connections to get away with it?”

“He doesn’t want to kill you,” Nancy chuckled.

“He wasn’t a fan of me when we were just dating,” Frank replied. “I’m sure the fact that we’re now living together doesn’t increase my standing.”

Nancy hesitated. “So that’s the thing… I didn’t tell my dad we’re living together.”

Frank turned another shade paler. “You’ve been lying to him? About me?”

“I haven’t been lying to him!” Nancy insisted. “Not really… I just didn’t mention anything about me moving in here… and I’d like it if you didn’t either.”

“You want

me

to lie to him?” Frank said incredulously. He looked like he was going to throw up.

“It’s not lying,” Nancy said firmly. “Look, my dad and I have the kind of relationship where I don’t always tell him everything that happens in my life so that he’s still able to sleep at night.”

“Well I’m glad someone can sleep at night, cause I sure won’t be!” Frank said with a hint of terror in his voice. “If your dad finds out I’m lying to him, I might as well start writing my will...”

“Frank, it’s all going to be fine,” Nancy replied. “I know my dad. Once he sees us together at dinner, I’ll tell him about me moving in. I just can’t tell him right now because it’ll only feed into his idea that I’m having some impulsive fling to cope with breaking up with Ned. He keeps going on and on about how I’m just trying to distract myself with a rebound and-”

Nancy stopped talking when she realized Frank wasn’t finding any of this as humorous as she had expected. Instead, Frank’s eyes went dark and his tone shifted entirely.

“Oh is that what I am?” Frank snapped. “Your rebound?”

“Of course you’re not!” Nancy said as she tried to find the right words. “My dad just has the wrong idea!”

Frank stood up abruptly from the couch and started down the hall.

“Frank, you know that’s not what’s going on here!” Nancy called after him.

He made no effort to turn around as he walked into Joe’s room and closed the door behind him with a thud. Nancy sank into the couch cushions. The conversation had gone worse than she expected, and she hadn’t expected it to go well as it was.

She figured she’d give Frank a chance to cool down before she tried again to reassure him that her dad’s opinion didn’t matter to her. As it was, Nancy was surprised the comment had struck such a nerve. She didn’t realize her dad’s opinion was that important to Frank.

Against her better judgement, Nancy pulled out her phone and texted Deirdre.

Nancy Drew: Hey, are you free?

To Nancy’s relief, a response came through within a minute.

Deirdre Shannon: yup. what’s up?

Nancy Drew: I think I need a friend who’s not my boyfriend or his brother right now…

Deirdre Shannon: meet you at gracie’s in 10?

Nancy was grateful for Deirdre’s willingness to meet. It wasn’t like she could call Bess or George. With the way sound traveled in this apartment, Frank would overhear the entire conversation. Nancy wanted to talk to someone face to face anyway.

When Nancy entered the coffee shop a few minutes later, she spotted Deirdre holding a table for them. To Nancy’s surprise, Deirdre already had two coffees and held one out to Nancy. Nancy took a sip and realized that Deirdre had gotten her order entirely wrong, but she appreciated the effort nonetheless.

“So what did he do?” Deirdre asked as Nancy sat down. She had clearly understood the meaning behind Nancy’s messages.

Nancy sighed as she began to explain the situation with her dad and his dislike of her relationship with Frank, and Frank’s reaction to this news.

“So Frank just stormed off after one mention of Ned?” Deirdre asked.

Nancy couldn’t tell if Deirdre’s interest was because of her investigative journalism habits or because she just loved to gossip. Either way, Nancy needed to talk about this with someone.

“Yes! And I have no idea why!” Nancy said.

“Sounds to me like he’s more insecure about your relationship than you realize,” Deirdre said.

Her statement was blunt but also insightful. Nancy had just assumed Frank’s anger had more to do with her dad’s opinion, but from the way Deirdre saw the situation, it sounded like this might be a symptom of a different issue.

“What does he have to be insecure about, though?” Nancy said. “We run a business together

and

we live together! What else does he need to know that I love him?”

Deirdre paused before responding. “I can’t say that it totally makes sense, but I do get where he might be coming from... From what I’ve heard Joe say, Frank has always had feelings for you, even when you were with Ned. Imagine finally getting the thing you wanted for years… the thing you thought you’d never get. Wouldn’t you be worried that it was too good to be true?”

Nancy was once again surprised by Deirdre’s insight. Nancy’s instinct was to go straight back home to talk to Frank about things, but she figured he probably still needed time to blow off steam with Joe. She decided to stay chatting with Deirdre for a little while longer.

As Nancy sipped the last of her terrible coffee, Deirdre nodded towards the door. Nancy turned around to see Frank and Joe making their way across the coffee shop to their table.

“Hey…” Joe said quietly. He sounded uneasy. “What are we talking about?”

“We’re talking about how you two are idiots,” Deirdre snapped.

“Hey I didn’t do anything!” Joe said immediately. “Frank’s the one that screwed up!”

Nancy couldn’t help but chuckle at the way Joe had immediately thrown his brother under the bus. To her surprise, however, Frank didn’t engage in his usual banter with Joe in return. Instead, he remained a half step back from the table with his hands in his pockets and an embarrassed look on his face.

“Just because you didn’t screw up today doesn’t mean you’re not still an idiot,” Deirdre said with a shrug. “Don’t get me wrong - I love you. But you’re also an idiot.”

“I can work with that!” Joe laughed.

He leaned over to kiss Deirdre and Nancy couldn’t help but smile. They really did make a good couple.

“Do you guys think you could give me and Nancy a minute?” Frank asked suddenly.

“I need more coffee anyway,” Deirdre replied. As she stood up, she whispered low enough that only Nancy could hear. “You’ve got this, Drew.”

Deirdre made her way back to the counter with her arm around Joe, leaving Frank and Nancy alone at the table. Frank sat down in the spot Deirdre had just vacated.

“I’m so sorry,” Frank said immediately. “I overreacted and it wasn’t fair. You know your dad best, and however you want to handle the situation is what we’ll do.”

Nancy reached out for Frank’s hand.

“It’s okay,” she said softly. “I’m not mad. I’m more confused than anything, if I’m being honest. How come what I said upset you so much?”

Frank sighed as he searched for his words.

“Do you know how scared I am?” Frank said finally. “I worry all the time that you’re going to wake up one day and realize that we are a horrible mistake. To hear that your dad, who knows you best, thinks that this is some sort of rebound… that’s terrifying.”

“But why?” Nancy asked. “We live together. We run a business together. Things are pretty solid as far as I’m concerned. Why are you spending so much time worrying about this thing ending?”

“Because I have to…” Frank said quietly. “I have to think through all the possibilities and worry about all the ways I could lose you, because if this thing between us does end and I don’t have a plan, it’s going to kill me. I’m talking ‘not getting out of bed for a month’ kind of heartbreak. I’m perfectly happy to do this for as long as you want to do it with me, but I also know that the odds are that you’ll find someone else. Someone better… I have to start getting ready for that now if I stand any chance of making it through.”

Nancy’s heart hurt at Frank’s words. She wanted to be with him, and she wanted him to know that.

“I worry about losing you too, but not because I think you’re going to walk out,” Nancy said firmly. “I worry that you’ll get hurt on a case or hit by a bus. But I don’t worry that you’re going to walk away with no warning because you’ve done a damn good job of showing me that you’re in this with me. I’m really sorry that I haven’t done a better job of showing you the same thing.”

Frank shook his head.

“My insecurities are not your problem,” he said firmly.

“I still want to do more to show you that I’m here with you,” Nancy said softly. “I want you to know that I wouldn’t waste my time on someone I had no intention of staying with. I love you, and because of that I’ve chosen you and I am going to keep choosing you. I hope that’s enough for you to start to see that I’m not going anywhere.”

Nancy squeezed Frank’s hand and he squeezed back. Her words seemed to have resonated with him.

“Please don’t put any weight behind my dad’s opinion of us,” Nancy continued. “I love my dad and he knows me well, but his judgement gets cloudy when it comes to things like me being in danger or who I’m dating.”

Frank nodded intently. “That’s okay. I’ll just let him see how much I love you when we have dinner. It’s like you said - he’ll come around.”

Nancy was smiling as Joe and Deirdre made their way back to the table while carrying several coffee cups.

“I got you another one,” Deirdre said as she held one of the cups out to Nancy.

Nancy winced at the knowledge that she would have to drink another cup of whatever concoction Deirdre thought she liked, but she accepted the coffee anyway. Joe handed a cup to Frank, and Nancy saw the glance they exchanged. Joe raised an eyebrow as if to ask how things had gone, and Frank nodded quickly. Joe looked relieved. He and Deirdre rejoined the table, and soon the four of them were chatting about cases and news reports.

“I just realized that we’ve never had a double date,” Deirdre said suddenly. “We have to plan something!”

“You know, that sounds like a great idea,” Nancy replied.

Joe’s face broke out in a grin, while Frank looked aghast at the prospect. Nancy just laughed, knowing that Frank would eventually see the kinder side of Deirdre too.
  
As the week progressed, Nancy watched Frank become increasingly more anxious about Carson’s impending visit. They were supposed to meet him at the restaurant in an hour, and Frank was currently deep cleaning the inside of the microwave.

“You know my dad isn’t even coming over here, let alone checking the cleanliness of the microwave,” Nancy teased gently

“It’s only going to take us ten minutes to walk over, and I need twenty minutes to get ready, which leaves me with half an hour to either distract myself or have a panic attack,” Frank replied.

As he finished with the microwave, he looked around the room for something else he could clean.

“Come here,” Nancy said softly, gesturing for Frank to take a break.

Frank reluctantly pulled off his rubber gloves and walked over to Nancy. She held out her arms and Frank walked straight into them, burying his face in her neck.

“What if he hates me?” Frank whispered.

“Then he hates you,” Nancy whispered back. “Doesn’t change a thing for me.”

While Nancy respected her dad’s opinion, she had always done what she thought was best in the end, even if it didn’t align with her dad’s view. If it had been up to him, Nancy would never have ended up with detective work as a career. The situation with Frank was no different. Nancy knew what she was doing and what she wanted, and no one else’s opinion was going to change that. Besides that, Nancy also knew that her dad would come around. All he wanted in the end was for Nancy to be happy and safe, and Frank contributed a great deal to both of those things.

As they stood in the kitchen, Nancy lifted Frank’s chin up from her neck and pulled him into a kiss. She started to get lost in his lips when a voice rang out behind them.

“Gross! Not in the kitchen!” Joe called out.

He had agreed to come to dinner with them. Nancy figured it would ease the tension to have someone else with them. This way, it could be more like all the times Frank and Joe had dinner at the Drew house, and less like Nancy was bringing her boyfriend to have dinner with her dad for the first time.

“Joe, can you please help Frank get ready, or at least keep him distracted?” Nancy chuckled. “Otherwise he’s going to start scrubbing the floors.”

“On it!” Joe said before grabbing Frank by the arm and dragging him down the hall.

Nancy headed into the room she shared with Frank to start getting ready herself. When she moved in, Frank had gone to great lengths to ensure Nancy felt like it was their room, not just his. He had condensed all of his things into exactly half of the space - the closet, the drawers, the shelves - and he insisted that Nancy make any decor changes she liked. Frank had even bought new bedding, with the rationale that his old bedding “looked like it belonged to a bachelor”. Nancy didn’t really care about the color of their sheets, but she loved that Frank had such a strong inclination for her to feel at home in their shared space. The way he cared about her made Nancy even more sure that her dad would warm up to him.

When Nancy was finished getting ready, she met Frank and Joe at the door. They were headed back to the same restaurant where they had eaten on their first night in the City and where Nancy and Frank had their first date. This meant they didn’t have much of a dress code to worry about, but Frank had obviously done his best to look polished anyway. Nancy chuckled, and Joe seemed to catch on as to why.

“Look, I tried to convince him to at least mess his hair up a bit,” Joe joked.

“I don’t want to look like I’m not trying!” Frank argued. “Unless it looks like I’m trying too hard?”

“You look great,” Nancy insisted. “It’s all going to be great.”

She herded the brothers out the door and down the street. When they arrived at the restaurant, Carson was already seated. He stood up as the trio arrived. Nancy ran over to give him a hug.

“It’s so good to see you!” Carson said with a smile. “It’s been too long since you were home at Christmas.”

“I know,” Nancy agreed. “I’ll see what I can do about coming home soon.”

Nancy’s suggestion put an even bigger smile on her dad’s face. He then turned to where Frank and Joe were standing.

“Good to see you, Joe!” Carson said. “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good these days!” Joe replied as he shook Carson’s hand. “How are things with you?”

“Pretty good too!” Carson replied.

As Carson turned to Frank next, the air at the table shifted. Carson extended his hand far less enthusiastically towards Frank. Frank shook it quickly.

“It’s great that you’re here!” he said. “I know how much Nancy was looking forward to seeing you.”

Frank was doing a fairly good job of not appearing completely terrified. Carson just nodded sharply and pursed his lips.

“Alright, well let’s all sit down so that we can get to ordering…” Nancy said quickly.

She knew the first portion of the evening would involve running interference until her dad got reacquainted with Frank in this new context. Nancy opened the conversation by telling her dad about their latest case, and she tried to pull Frank into the discussion at every opportunity. Joe was also doing a good job of talking Frank up as often as he could. By the time everyone had their meals in front of them, their work had paid off and the conversation was flowing nicely. Frank clearly still wasn’t Carson’s favorite person, but they were talking without Carson shooting daggers in Frank’s direction anymore. As the conversation lulled slightly, Nancy figured she’d ask her dad about the reason he had come to the City in the first place.

“So, how was your meeting?” she asked.

“Surprisingly productive,” Carson replied. “Sometimes these big meetings are just a lot of nothing. You don’t want to fly to another state for something that could’ve been an email. Although I’ll gladly take the excuse to see my daughter either way.”

Nancy smiled at her dad, but as his story continued, the smile quickly fell off her face.

“The logistics have been so disorganized, though,” Carson said. “I sent in all my information on time to the organizing team and they still managed to mess it up. They don’t have a hotel room for me! Can you believe it?”

“That’s so frustrating!” Nancy squeaked. She had her suspicions about where this conversation was going, and she didn’t like it.

“I hope you won’t mind your dear old dad crashing on your couch,” Carson said with a chuckle.

Nancy felt the panic rising in her chest.

“This is New York City!” she said quickly. “I’m sure they can find you another hotel room. You don’t want to sleep on a couch anyway. Your back would hurt for days.”

She was desperate for a good reason to turn down her dad’s request without appearing suspicious.

“I thought so too!” Carson replied. “But there’s some concert at Madison Square Garden tonight and a big dentist convention happening this week too. Everything is booked solid. It’s either your couch or the airport floor.”

He pointed below the table to the spot where Nancy realized his suitcase was sitting. She felt her stomach drop as she racked her brain for any possible solution that didn’t involve confessing to her living situation, but she drew a complete blank. Nancy looked over at Frank and saw that he was staring into his soup with the same look in his eyes as someone on death row.

“What’s wrong?” Carson asked. He had clearly picked up on the tension around the table. “Is it a problem if I stay with you?”

“Of course not!” Nancy said quickly. “It’s just that, well I’m not living in the same place that I was before…”

At Carson’s look of confusion, Nancy continued.

“The landlord decided to do renovations and gave everyone two weeks to move out,” she explained.

“That barely sounds legal!” Carson replied. “You should have called me. I could’ve looked over your lease. Although what’s done is done, I suppose. Where are you living now? I hope the rent is reasonable.”

“Um, yeah, the rent isn’t bad actually. I’m splitting it with two other people,” Nancy said carefully. She figured she could ease her dad into the news.

“Roommates?” Carson said with a frown. “I didn’t think you wanted any roommates. If money is an issue, you know you can always come to me.”

Nancy knew she was running out of ways to avoid telling the truth.

“I don’t mind these roommates, actually,” she continued. “And it’s not about the money. I moved in because it made sense for a lot of different reasons.”

Nancy took a deep breath before she spoke again.

“I moved in with Frank and Joe.”

Carson’s fork dropped onto his plate with a clatter. He looked directly at Nancy as he began to speak.

“I think I need to get my hearing checked, because there is no way that I just heard my rational, level-headed daughter tell me that she moved in with some guy she’s been seeing for ten minutes.”

“Dad, it’s not like that-” Nancy started.

“I’m pretty sure it is!” Carson had started to raise his voice. “You’ve been dating him for - let me see - all of three months? And you’ve moved in? Have you lost your mind?”

Carson was visibly furious. Frank’s head was turning between Nancy and Carson as though he was watching the most terrifying tennis match of his life, while Joe had suddenly become very engrossed in his phone. Nancy wasn’t scared of her dad’s anger, though.

“I was having a hard time finding anything decent within walking distance to the office,” she explained firmly. “This made the most sense.”

“I think a subway pass would have made the most sense!” Carson fired back. He clearly wasn’t backing down.

“Dad, I understand that you’re upset that I didn’t tell you about this,” Nancy said calmly. “But moving in was the right call. Frank and I are serious about each other. I want us to build a future together, and Frank wants-”

Carson let out a sharp laugh. “Oh we all know what he wants!”

Nancy gasped. She couldn’t believe that her dad would imply that Frank was only interested in sleeping with her. She had been about to defend Frank when, to her surprise, Frank spoke up.

“Do you remember when we all went to that cottage upstate the summer after Nancy and I graduated?” Frank asked. His voice was remarkably steady as he addressed Carson, though Nancy had no idea where he was going with this attempt at a subject change.

“I do,” Carson replied tersely. “But I don’t see what it has to do with you living with my daughter.”

Nancy knew the trip Frank was referencing. Fenton and Laura had rented a beautiful cottage for a few weeks that summer, and Carson and Nancy had been invited to stay with the Hardy family. Nancy remembered lots of bonfires and afternoons spent swimming with Frank and Joe. She couldn’t think of anything from that vacation that would help the current situation. Frank, however, seemed confident as he continued to speak directly to Carson.

“There was this one night that we were all sitting around the fire roasting marshmallows. And at some point, Nancy, my mom and Joe had all gone inside to bed. It was you, me, and my dad left by the fire. I don’t remember exactly how we got on the subject… I think you and my dad were just reminiscing. You started telling all these stories about Nancy’s mom. None of them were about anything exciting. I would have expected that your favorite memories of your wife would be big, important moments - your wedding day or buying a house - but everything you talked about was mundane. One of the stories that stuck with me most was when you said you regretted not doing more dishes with her. And I didn’t get it back then. I even said something stupid about how I couldn’t imagine that I’d ever regret not doing more dishes with the girl I was seeing at the time. And when I did, you said to me that she wasn’t the one for me, because when you find the one, you’d give anything for one more chance to do the dishes together. I remember thinking back then that there was a girl inside the cottage that I wouldn’t mind doing dishes with. And now that I have her? Yeah, I finally get it. I swear to you that I’m not in this for the wrong reasons. Even if she never spent the night with me again, I’d still want another chance to do the dishes with her.”

For the first time that evening, Carson remained silent. Joe had finally looked up from his phone and was watching his brother’s impromptu speech. Nancy didn’t really notice either of them, because her head was still spinning from what she had just heard. The way her dad had said something so beautiful about her mom, or that Frank was saying the same thing about her almost brought tears to her eyes. Nancy looked over at Frank, but he wasn’t looking back at her. His eyes were searching Carson’s face for an idea of how the man would respond. After what felt like an eternity, Carson spoke to Frank.

“I’ll give you a chance. But only one. If you hurt her, you’re not getting back into my good books.”

“That’s all I need,” Frank replied. “I’m not about to screw this up.”

Nancy beamed.

At the same time, their waiter came by to ask if they needed anything.

“Just the bill please,” Carson answered. “I think we’ve all had enough excitement for one evening.”

Nancy could breathe easy again. Things had not gone at all how she’d expected, but somehow they had worked out all the same. She finally caught Frank’s eye. He looked shaken but relieved. Nancy smiled at him, hoping he would understand how much the things he said meant to her.

“So does this shared apartment have a couch?” Carson asked while they waited for the bill. “Or should I call a cab to the airport?”

His question reminded Nancy that they still hadn’t resolved the issue of where he was going to sleep.

“Of course I’m not going to make you sleep on the airport floor,” Nancy said with an eye roll. “But I’m still worried about your back hurting on the couch.”

“Why don’t you take my bed?” Joe said. It was the first time he had dared to rejoin the conversation. “I fall asleep on the couch half the time anyway.”

Carson graciously accepted Joe’s offer and paid the bill before the group made their way back to the apartment that had been the source of so much contention.

Nancy milled about the apartment as everyone settled in for the evening. Eventually, Carson said goodnight to everyone - even Frank. Nancy left Joe in the living room where he was dozing off to the sound of the TV. When she entered her room, Frank was already climbing into bed. Nancy pulled the door behind her and got into bed too, before leaning over to kiss Frank goodnight.

“I love you,” she said softly. “I know tonight was a nightmare but you handled it like a pro. Who knew you were so good at talking down your future father-in-law?”

Frank chuckled. “Don’t let him hear you say that. We just barely have him on board with us living together. If he finds out you’re talking about the long-term, I’ll have to think of some other memory to keep him from killing me.”

Nancy laughed as she leaned onto Frank’s chest. She let her mind wander to how her dad might react if Frank decided to propose someday. There would probably be more yelling, but Nancy was confident Frank would be able to bring her dad around.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy groaned as she realized she was on the last tampon in the box under the bathroom sink. She had been looking forward to spending the evening doing absolutely nothing with Frank, not going running errands. They had just gotten back from the airport earlier that day after being away for a case, and Nancy was exhausted. She wanted to take advantage of Joe visiting Deirdre and fall asleep on the couch with Frank. Reluctantly, she made her way to the door and started to pull on her shoes.

“I’m gonna run to CVS,” Nancy called out to Frank, who was in the living room.

Frank walked over to where Nancy was standing.

“I’ll go with you,” he smiled.

As they started down the stairs, Nancy checked the shopping list on her phone to see what else she needed. She was slightly uncomfortable knowing that she’d have to buy tampons in front of Frank. It wasn’t really something she’d done around him before.

The pharmacy was on their block, and it took them no time to walk over. As they entered, Frank looked around.

“What was it you needed?” he asked.

Nancy almost chickened out of saying it, but she couldn’t come up with a better answer on short notice.

“Um, tampons…” she said quietly.

Frank didn’t seem to blink. He started towards the right aisle and Nancy followed behind him. When they reached the display, Frank turned to Nancy.

“Show me what you usually get,” he said. “That way I’ll know what to buy if I ever need to grab some for you.”

Nancy looked at Frank with surprise.

“Really?” she asked softly.

Frank seemed surprised by Nancy’s own surprise.

“Of course,” he said with confusion. “I wouldn’t want to get the wrong ones.”

“I’m just surprised you wouldn’t mind getting them at all,” Nancy replied.

Frank chuckled. “What are we - thirteen? I think I can handle buying some tampons for my girlfriend.”

Nancy felt an odd rush of affection.

“These ones,” Nancy said as she grabbed a box off the shelf.

Frank took the box from her hand and inspected the label, before turning back to her.

“What’s next?” he asked.

Nancy held her hand out to take back the box. “I’m not going to make you carry those.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” Frank chuckled as he held firm to the box. “My mom would drive straight here to smack me if she thought I couldn’t handle carrying a box of tampons around a CVS. Now, what’s next on your list?”

“Let’s see…” Nancy said as she checked. “Shampoo. I’ve actually been using yours for a few days...”

Frank grinned. “I thought it was running out quicker than usual. I should probably get some too.”

“Sorry,” Nancy blushed.

Frank kissed the top of her head. “You’re always welcome to anything of mine.”

When they reached the shampoo aisle, Nancy grabbed the bottle she normally used. Frank, however, paused.

“I was thinking about getting a different kind…” he mused as he looked over the options. “Figured it’s been a while since I switched it up.”

“No!” Nancy blurted out.

Frank turned to look at her in surprise.

“Um, I just… I like how your hair smells,” Nancy confessed sheepishly. “I wouldn’t want it to change.”

Frank’s cheeks went ever so slightly pink. “I didn’t know that was something you noticed…”

“It’s nice…” Nancy said softly. “Feels like home.”

“The same one it is then,” Frank said with a small smile tugging at his lips. He grabbed the shampoo in question and then turned back to Nancy. “Next?”

“There’s this new blush that Bess insists I try…” Nancy laughed. “I don’t know what’s so special about it, but she swears I’ll love it.”

When they hit the makeup aisle, Nancy found the blush right away. She looked through the shades and narrowed it down to two.

“Which one?” Nancy asked Frank. She held up both options.

Frank took his task seriously and inspected both shades closely.

“That one,” he said confidently and pointed to the one Nancy was holding in her left hand.

“How come?” Nancy asked curiously. She had very little opinion on the entire endeavor, but Frank seemed to have one.

“It’s more red,” Frank said. “It looks really good with your hair.”

Nancy couldn’t help but grin.

“What’s your deal with my hair?” she giggled.

“What do you mean?” Frank asked.

“You’re always saying how nice my hair looks,” Nancy said.

“I’m only saying it cause it’s true,” Frank shrugged.

Nancy giggled. “I must be in love cause your lines are working on me.”

“It’s not a line,” Frank said with a smile.

“Whatever you say, smooth talker,” Nancy teased.

“I don’t think anyone’s ever said that about me in my entire life,” Frank laughed.

Nancy grinned and gave Frank a quick kiss before turning back to her list.

“Last thing is cereal,” Nancy said. “We’re low.”

She couldn’t help but notice the way something shifted in the air when she said that. Frank was still smiling, but it wasn’t reaching his eyes anymore.

“Everything okay?” Nancy asked softly as they walked towards the food section.

“It’s, uh, it’s just been a tough week,” he said quietly.

Nancy felt her stomach knot. She hadn’t realized Frank had been struggling.

“Let’s skip the cereal,” Nancy said firmly.

Frank shook his head. “It’ll only be harder next time if I avoid it.”

Nancy slipped her hand into Frank’s as they hit the cereal aisle.

“You take the lead,” she said softly. “We can get whatever you want.”

She watched Frank’s eyes take in the aisle, and his hand squeezed hers a little tighter as he did. Finally, he reached for the Koko Kringle flavored cereal.

“You don’t have to get that one just cause it’s my favorite,” Nancy said.

“Yeah, but it makes you smile when we have it for breakfast,” Frank explained. “And then I get to focus on your smile and not spend the whole time worrying about what I’m eating.”

Nancy couldn’t help the soft smile that spread across her face.

“Yup, that’s the smile I’m talking about,” Frank chuckled. “Anything else on the list?”

Nancy shook her head. “Nope! Time to get out of here.”

When they reached the cash, Nancy was busy making small talk with the cashier when she saw Frank swiping his card.

“You didn’t have to pay for that!” Nancy insisted as they walked out of the store. “The only thing that was yours was your shampoo!”

“It was a couple of things at the pharmacy,” Frank shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

“You’re always paying for things,” Nancy continued. “We need a better system… How were you and Joe managing finances before I moved in?”

“We just sort of have an ‘I’ll get the next one’ approach,” Frank replied.

“That’ll only work for us if you actually let me get the next one,” Nancy laughed. She paused to think. “What about a joint account? We could each put some money in when our paychecks come through and then we can use it for groceries and household stuff.”

Frank looked at Nancy with a hint of surprise. “You want us to get a joint bank account?”

“I mean, it only makes sense,” Nancy replied. “And if there’s some leftover, we can start to save up for something. A vacation, or a down payment on a house, or something.”

Frank didn’t say anything right away and Nancy worried she overstepped. The comment about the down payment had just fallen out of her mouth.

“I didn’t think going to CVS was going to be my favorite date night, but here we are,” Frank said finally. His voice was quiet, but happy. “And that’s a yes, by the way. We can do the joint account thing.”

“This whole thing is terribly domestic, huh?” Nancy said.

“Do you hate it?” Frank asked.

“Not as much as I would have thought,” Nancy grinned. “But it’s still a good thing that we leave soon for the next case. I can really only handle so much domesticity before I get nauseous.”

“Ditto,” Frank said with a laugh as he unlocked the door to their building. “I could use a good old fashioned threat to my life right about now.”

Nancy giggled as they headed up the stairs. As they entered the apartment, Nancy was surprised to see Joe pacing around the kitchen.

“Hey, what are you doing back here tonight?” Frank asked curiously.

“Are we out of cereal?” Joe asked, ignoring Frank’s question entirely.

“Yeah, but Nancy and I just grabbed some,” Frank replied. He reached into the bag and started to hold the box of cereal out to Joe.

“Of course you did!” Joe snapped. “Of course you two are doing your little happy couple shit!”

“Whoa!” Frank called out. “What’s your problem?”

Joe said nothing.

“Did something happen with Deirdre?” Nancy asked gently.

“We broke up,” Joe snapped as he snatched the cereal from Frank. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go eat this entire box of cereal in my room.”

He stormed down the hall and slammed the door to his room behind him.

“Shit,” Frank said under his breath.

“Were they having problems?” Nancy asked. She hadn’t heard anything to suggest that at her last lunch with Deirdre.

“Nothing that I’d heard about…” Frank said as he shook his head. “I’m gonna go see if he’ll talk to me.”

As Frank let himself into Joe’s room and closed the door behind him, Nancy hesitated. Joe was her friend above everything else. If there was a side to be taken in this breakup, she’d be on his. Still, Nancy knew how much Joe loved Deirdre and how much Deirdre loved Joe. Whether they had just broken up or not, Nancy wasn’t convinced things between them were over. She was also aware that Deirdre didn’t have many friends in the City. She spent most of her time with Joe, or the trio of detectives. Chances are she was going through whatever this was alone. Given all of this, Nancy found herself pulling out her phone.

Nancy Drew: Are you okay?

Deirdre Shannon: no

Nancy Drew: I’ll be right there

Nancy headed straight to Deirdre’s building. Deirdre buzzed Nancy up without saying a word. Before Nancy could even knock, Deirdre opened the door. She had clearly been crying.

“What happened?” Nancy asked. She found herself hugging Deirdre in the entryway.

“We’re done,” Deirdre said. She was clearly trying to sound firm, but she was still choking back a sob. “I’m done with him.”

“Can I ask why?” Nancy said gently. She followed Deirdre into the living room.

Deirdre sank into the couch. “He doesn’t trust me.”

Nancy sat in the chair next to Deirdre. “Somehow I doubt that…”

“He doesn’t! I’m not about to put up with that. I told him if he didn’t trust me, then he should leave!” Deirdre’s voice broke. “And then he did…”

“I don’t understand what prompted this,” Nancy said.

Deirdre sighed. “I was showing him a picture on my phone. It was just a dumb meme I screenshotted cause I knew he’d find it funny. But I accidentally swiped the wrong way and he saw a bunch of screenshots of texts between me and my ex… But Joe didn’t even read them! He just flew off the handle! He had this stupid idea that I had saved all these screenshots because I wanted my ex back or something!”

Nancy was trying to picture what she’d do if she found out that Frank was saving screenshots of messages from Callie. The thought of it wasn’t a good feeling.

“So why were you saving them?” Nancy asked. She was trying to keep an open mind, but she couldn’t help but wonder if these were Deirdre’s true colors showing through.

Deirdre took a deep breath before she replied. “The ex I’m talking about is Blake Anderson.”

The name was slightly familiar to Nancy.

“He played football in high school, right?” she asked. “I remember Ned saying he didn’t really like the guy.”

Deirdre let out a dry chuckle. “That’s the understatement of the year… He’s not a nice guy. I mean, he is when you’re getting to know him… but then things change fast.”

Nancy’s stomach knotted. She didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“A girl I don’t know messaged me on Instagram last week,” Deirdre explained. “Apparently she’s been dating Blake. And he… he hit her. Badly. She ended up in the hospital.”

Deirdre was choking back more tears, but Nancy realized these ones weren’t related to the situation with Joe.

“They charged Blake with assault,” Deirdre continued. “And this girl said her lawyer told her it might help if I had anything to share. And I do have things to share…”

Deirdre reached for her phone and pulled something up before handing the phone to Nancy. Nancy could see the screenshots that had been the source of contention with Joe. They were datestamped from late last year.

Deirdre Shannon: just leave me alone

Deirdre Shannon: please

Blake Anderson: im not going to fucking leave u alone until i know ur going to keep ur whore mouth shut

Deirdre Shannon: i’ll do whatever you want if you just stay away

Nancy’s stomach lurched. She had no idea Deirdre had gone through anything like this.

“Deirdre, I’m… I’m so sorry you had to deal with this,” Nancy said quietly.

Deirdre shrugged. “I figured it was all in the past. But when I got the messages from this girl who got hurt, I just thought I could help. I thought I could be brave and help put this guy away. You and Joe and Frank are always making sure people get justice. I figured this was my turn. I just didn’t expect that it would cost me my relationship…”

“Does Joe know any of this?” Nancy asked gently. “I’m not saying he didn’t make a mistake by going off, but I’m absolutely sure that if he knew the whole story, he wouldn’t be behaving this way.”

“I haven’t told Joe anything about this,” Deirdre replied. “We tell each other a lot, but this one just felt too complicated. I wanted it to be behind me.”

“I get that,” Nancy said. “But maybe you can shift how you’re looking at it. Sometimes talking about it is putting it behind you.”

Deirdre sighed.

“I don’t want to lose Joe over this,” she said. “But things just blew up. I’ve been scared all week about what might happen if Blake finds out I sent those screenshots to the lawyers. And then Joe just assumed I was cheating, or that I wanted to cheat, and it just felt like too much.”

“In my worst fight with Frank, I pretty much told Frank he was a bad detective,” Nancy said. “And then he called me a terrible girlfriend.”

Deirdre’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, how did you even get past that?”

Nancy shrugged. “I think we were both angrier about our own issues than we were with each other. It’s easy to let all the insecurities creep in, but at some point you have to make a decision that your relationship is worth the risk that comes with being vulnerable.”

Deirdre paused.

“Joe is worth that,” she said finally.

Nancy smiled. “I’d invite you back to my place to talk to Joe, but we all know how thin those walls are. Why don’t I head home and when I get there, I’ll send Joe back over here?”

Deirdre smiled with relief. “Thanks, Drew. I, uh, appreciate you.”

Nancy laughed. “I appreciate you too.”

Nancy headed quickly back to her place. She wanted to set things straight with Joe as soon as she could. He was surely hurting right now because he didn’t know the whole story. As Nancy walked into the apartment, she found Frank and Joe drinking beer at the kitchen island.

“There you are!” Frank blurted out. “I was getting worried.”

Nancy hesitated when she saw a small pile of empty beer bottles already on the counter.

“How much have you had to drink?” she asked hesitantly.

“Oh, I’m very drunk,” Joe slurred. “It was either that or cry, and this is way more fun!”

“You really thought the best option was to get him drunk?” she sighed to Frank.

“He’s my brother and he’s hurting,” Frank said indignantly. “Plus, this is the only way we know how to cope with a breakup!”

“That sounds healthy,” Nancy said with a chuckle. She could tell Frank was also a little tipsy. She pulled out her phone.

Nancy Drew: So Joe was so upset that he got drunk…

Nancy Drew: Are you okay waiting a little while to talk to him?

Deirdre Shannon: omg

Deirdre Shannon: is it weird that i’m kinda flattered that he was screwed up enough to get drunk over me?

Deirdre Shannon: tell him to come by whenever he sobers up

Nancy looked over to the brothers, who were still drinking.

“Okay, beers down for starters,” Nancy said firmly. She gestured for both men to hand over their bottles. When neither complied, Nancy spoke directly to Joe. “Deirdre wants to talk to you. She has a very reasonable explanation for what happened, and I think you should at least talk to her before you decide to throw everything out the window and drink yourself to death.”

Joe’s eyes widened. “R-really? She wants to talk to me?”

Nancy nodded and gestured again for his beer. This time, Joe obliged, and Nancy poured the remainder down the sink.

“Now go sleep this off,” she chuckled as she pointed down the hall.

Joe didn’t hesitate to stumble to his room, leaving Nancy in the kitchen with Frank.

“Are you done drinking?” she asked him.

Frank chugged the rest of his beer before replying.

“Yes,” he said with a smile.

Nancy shook her head with a grin of her own. “So now I’m going to have to put up with your drunk ass all night?”

“Yes, but you love my drunk ass,” Frank replied teasingly.

Nancy laughed and made her way to the living room. Frank followed behind her like a puppy.

“So this is how you guys cope with break ups?” Nancy asked as she sat down on the couch.

“Yup,” Frank replied. He sat immediately beside Nancy and leaned into her shoulder. “For every girl we’ve ever broken up with or that’s broken up with us, we’re allowed one night of getting absolutely wasted. Then we have to figure out how to cope like grown-ups.”

Nancy chuckled at the mental image of the two brothers commiserating about girls over drinks.

“It would take me way longer than that to figure out how to cope with losing you, though,” Frank mumbled into Nancy’s shoulder.

“Good thing you don’t have to worry about that,” Nancy said with a soft smile.

It was only a few minutes before Frank was snoring. Nancy chuckled as she pulled out her phone.

Nancy Drew: Your man got mine drunk too and now I’m going to be looking after two hungover idiots tomorrow morning…

Deirdre Shannon: ha

Deirdre Shannon: better you than me!

Nancy Drew: Are you good?

Deirdre Shannon: i will be

Deirdre Shannon: thanks, drew

Nancy woke up the next morning still on the couch with Frank. As she shifted to stand up, he groaned.

“How’s the hangover?” Nancy chuckled as she started towards the kitchen.

“I’ve survived worse,” Frank grumbled.

As Nancy came back to the living room with coffee and an Advil in hand, Frank’s face lit up.

“My hero,” Frank smiled as he downed the Advil.

At the same time, Joe came down the hall looking remarkably awake for someone who didn’t usually get up this early on days he wasn’t hungover.

“Are you on your way to Deirdre’s?” Nancy asked.

Joe nodded. “I called her first thing this morning. We talked about everything… God, I feel like such an ass.”

Nancy shook her head. “You had no way of knowing. None of us did.”

Frank looked up at Nancy in confusion, but Nancy gestured for him to drop it for the time being.

“Send her our best!” Nancy called after Joe as he headed out the door.

“What happened?” Frank asked.

Nancy sighed. “The ex-boyfriend that Deirdre had those messages from? Turns out it’s because there’s a lawyer back in River Heights putting an assault case together against the guy and she wanted to help send him down.”

Frank’s eyes widened. “Shit,” he whispered. “I had no idea…”

“I know,” Nancy agreed. “I only saw a handful of the messages, but they were terrifying.”

“Is she safe now?” Frank asked. “Is there anything we can do?”

“It sounds like the guy is still in River Heights,” Nancy explained. “I think she just needs our support while that case goes to trial.”

Frank nodded. “Next time you see her, tell her if there’s anything we can do, we’ll do it.”

“I will,” Nancy said. She stood up. “We should probably pack today.”

Frank followed Nancy down the hall.

“Yeah, it’s better to pack early…” Frank said in a teasing voice. “That way, you don’t have to worry about forgetting anything.”

“It was one time!” Nancy giggled. “It was one time that I forgot pajamas!”

“I loved that case,” Frank grinned.

“You loved that case or you loved me sleeping in your t-shirt every night?” Nancy grinned back.

“Can’t I love both?” Frank asked.

Nancy just laughed as she started to reach into the dresser. She waved a pair of pajamas in the air.

“I’ll pack these first just to be safe!” she giggled.

“I might just steal them anyway,” Frank grinned. “You looked awfully good in my t-shirt…”

Nancy smiled as she tossed her pajamas into her suitcase. As she watched Frank start to pack his bag, she couldn’t help but think that their strange mix of domestic chaos worked perfectly for them.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“I just realized we haven’t been on a date in a little while,” Nancy said as she was getting ready for bed.

Frank looked up from where he was already lying in bed with a book.

“Huh, I guess you’re right…” he said. “I’m sorry, Nance. I should’ve been more on top of planning something.”

Nancy smiled at him softly. He didn’t need to apologize, but here he was doing it anyway.

“It’s no one’s fault,” she said. “We’ve been on the road for back to back cases. And I wouldn’t change a thing about it either. I was just thinking that since we’re back home, we should do something.”

Frank nodded. “What did you have in mind?”

Nancy made her way to bed and crawled in.

“I actually don’t know…” she replied. “I was trying to come up with something fun, but I’ve been drawing a blank.”

“Well, leave it with me, then,” Frank said with a smile. “I’ll think of something new. In fact, it’ll be a surprise. Just keep your schedule open on Friday night.”

He leaned in to kiss her as he turned off the light. Nancy couldn’t help herself from ribbing him a little.

“This Friday night?” Nancy said into the darkness. “That’s actually not great timing for me.”

“Oh, that’s no problem,” Frank said. He sounded like he was trying not to sound disappointed. “We’ll find another time.”

Nancy giggled.

“Are you messing with me?” Frank asked. She could tell he was smiling even though she couldn’t see it in the dark.

“Of course I am!” Nancy laughed. “Who else would I be spending Friday night with?”

“I don’t know!” Frank said with a laugh of his own. “Maybe you and Joe have plans.”

“Ah yes, your brother is definitely taking me out on Friday night,” Nancy giggled. “We’re probably having an entire secret affair. You should make plans for dinner with Deirdre just to get back at us.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Frank groaned. “I can’t decide what’s more horrifying - you leaving me for my brother or me having to spend an entire dinner with Deirdre.”

Nancy laughed again as she snuggled into his chest.

“Good thing it’s you and me on Friday night, then,” she whispered softly.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Frank whispered back.
  
It was Friday afternoon and Nancy felt awful. Her period had showed up in full force that morning and brought ridiculous cramps along with it that no painkillers could touch. Nancy was no stranger to a bad period, but she was particularly frustrated that it had come today. Tonight was supposed to be Frank’s surprise date. Nancy knew she couldn’t cancel, even if all she wanted to do was spend tonight lying in bed with a heat pack and some bad TV. She knew Frank had put a lot of effort into whatever he was planning and she didn’t want to let him down. As Nancy was struggling through the pain, Frank approached her desk.

“You okay?” he asked. His voice was full of concern.

“Just cramps,” she said quietly.

Frank frowned. “You should go home.”

Nancy shook her head. “I can handle it. It’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”

“There’s barely anything left to do today,” Frank insisted. “Go back to the apartment and take it easy. Joe and I will finish up.”

As much as Nancy wanted to push through, her body clearly had other plans. As another wave of cramps hit her, she agreed to Frank’s suggestion. Though he offered to walk her back, Nancy insisted she could manage on her own. She made the walk back quickly and was very excited to change into some sweats before crawling into bed with a heat pack. With the TV droning in the background, Nancy dozed in and out. She figured she would rest now so that she could be ready to go when it was time for Frank’s surprise date.

To Nancy’s dismay, she wasn’t feeling any better when Frank and Joe got home from work. As Frank entered the bedroom, Nancy felt a wave of dread. There was no way she was going to be able to go out tonight.

“Hey Nance,” Frank said softly. “Feeling any better?”

“Worse, actually,” Nancy replied. She didn’t want to have to cancel, but she didn’t really have much of a choice. “I’m really sorry, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to have that date tonight.”

Frank just leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Don’t even worry about it. Can I get you anything? Want me to reheat that?”

He gestured at the heat pack and Nancy nodded, before heading off to the kitchen to microwave it again. Despite Frank’s unbothered reaction, Nancy still felt guilty. When he came back with the newly warmed heat pack, she tried to apologize again.

“I’m really sorry,” Nancy said. “I know you put effort into planning tonight. If there was any way I thought could manage it-”

Frank cut her off gently. “The only thing I’m concerned about is how you’re feeling. Lay back down for a while, and call me if you need anything, okay?”

Nancy nodded as Frank gave her a soft kiss. She was grateful for his patience with the situation, but she still wished she hadn’t needed to cancel. With a sigh, Nancy turned back to whatever was on TV. She paid it almost no attention as she drifted back off.

About an hour later, Nancy woke to her stomach growling. She pulled herself out of bed and headed for the kitchen. When she reached the main hallway, though, she stopped in her tracks.

All of the furniture in the living room had been pushed out to the edge of the room. The couch cushions had been laid on the floor and they were covered with what appeared to be every spare blanket and pillow in the apartment. One of the blankets had been hung over the makeshift bed like a canopy. The entire thing was illuminated by a string of fairy lights. In the middle of it was Frank, adjusting the blankets. He turned around at the sound of Nancy’s footsteps.

“Hey, how are you feeling now?” he asked.

Nancy didn’t respond right away. Her cramps had subsided momentarily at the sight of the blanket fort.

“What’s all this?” she asked in surprise.

“It’s the best I could pull off on short notice,” Frank replied sheepishly. “I was wondering if you still wanted to do date night?”

Nancy just nodded. She would have said more, but she was worried she’d get emotional. She found herself a little overwhelmed by the way Frank had gone to the effort of replanning his date night surprise around the current situation. Instead of feeling guilty, she just felt loved.

Frank walked over to where Nancy was standing in the hallway. He gave her a smile as he took her hand. Nancy allowed herself to be led to the makeshift bed of cushions. As she laid down, Frank covered her with a blanket. Without saying a word, he went back down the hall. Nancy wasn’t sure where he was going until he came back with the heat pack. He popped it into the microwave again, then turned back to her.

“Can I get you anything?” he called over from the kitchen.

“Well, I originally came out here to get something to eat,” Nancy replied. “Would it be too much to ask for a smoothie?”

“One step ahead of you,” Frank said. He opened the fridge and pulled out a pitcher. As he poured the smoothie into a glass, he also grabbed the heat pack from the microwave. He walked back to the living room and handed them both to a surprised Nancy.

“How did you know?” she asked quietly.

“You always seem to go for a smoothie when you aren’t feeling great,” Frank replied as he climbed into the makeshift bed beside her.

Nancy wasn’t sure anyone else paid that much attention to her habits. As she sipped at her cup and leaned into Frank, a question occurred to her.

“Where’s Joe?” she asked.

“I kicked him out,” Frank replied with a chuckle. “Told him to go stay at Deirdre’s. It’s not like it took a lot of convincing.”

He picked up the remote and started to search through the streaming apps on the TV. Nancy was going to suggest Murder, She Wrote because she knew it was something they both enjoyed, but Frank seemed to be looking for something in particular. Nancy was surprised when he finally found it.

“Love Is Blind?” Nancy asked in disbelief. Frank hated reality TV.

He turned to her with a smile. “Come on, I know you love this show even though you won’t admit it. What episode of this season are you on?”

“Nine…” Nancy confessed. She had no idea that Frank knew that she watched this show. She considered it a relatively embarrassing secret that she tried to keep to herself. Somehow, he knew anyway.

“You’ll have to catch me up so I can follow along,” Frank said.

Nancy laughed. “You’ll just judge me for knowing this much about strangers’ love lives.”

“Never,” Frank said emphatically. “Now tell me about that guy.”

As Frank pointed to one of the people on the TV, Nancy began to explain what had happened in the episodes she’d already watched. She could hardly believe that Frank was paying attention to the drama of a reality TV show the same way he had paid attention to the details of a new case. They laid together in the soft glow of the fairy lights and the terrible television for hours. The cramps were still bothering Nancy from time to time, but they were easier to tolerate when everything else was so nice.

As the evening drew on, though, a thought creeped into the back of Nancy’s mind. Their date nights usually ended with a lot more than just a kiss goodnight. Nancy certainly wasn’t up to their usual fun, but it didn’t mean Frank shouldn’t still get to enjoy himself. As exhausted as she was, she knew Frank deserved to know that she appreciated what he’d done tonight.

She leaned over to kiss him, which he returned happily. Nancy tried to deepen the kiss as she let her hands wander down his chest. When she reached his waistband, though, he pulled back.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Frank chuckled.

“Just because I’m down for the count tonight doesn’t mean there’s not a way for me to show you how grateful I am,” she said softly.

As she reached for his waistband again, Frank gently pulled her hands away.

“We don’t have to do that tonight,” he said gently. “I don’t need a thank you. All I need is to know that you’re feeling better.”

Nancy kissed him again, but this time it was soft.

“I love you,” she whispered.

Frank smiled back at her. “I love you, too.”

Before long, Nancy was falling asleep in Frank’s arms. When she woke on their makeshift bed the next morning, it was still with Frank’s arms around her.

“Morning, beautiful,” Frank murmured. He kissed Nancy gently before getting up.

“Where are you going?” Nancy teased.

“I figured I’d start breakfast,” Frank replied.

“You’re pretty amazing,” she smiled as she got up to follow him into the kitchen.

“It’s really the bare minimum,” Frank shrugged.

“I mean it,” Nancy said as she stood by the kitchen island. “You’re always taking care of me, and it never seems to bother you.”

Frank seemed to be holding himself back from saying something as he reached into the fridge for the carton of eggs.

“What is it?” Nancy asked. She wasn’t sure what it was that Frank wasn’t saying.

“You’re not a burden, Nancy,” Frank said. “I want to watch bad TV with you and make you breakfast, and I want you to know that I’m doing it because I love you, not because I’m expecting sex or compliments or anything at all. I know you hate the feeling of asking for anything from anyone, but I’d do this stuff every day for the rest of my life if you let me.”

Nancy’s heart skipped a beat at Frank’s choice of words. She tried not to get her hopes up too high and instead took a more casual route with her response.

“Are you telling me that you’ll watch the next season of Love Is Blind with me?” she teased.

“And the one after that too,” Frank smiled as he got out a frying pan.

“You must really love me,” Nancy giggled.

“You know, the show was more interesting than I would have thought,” Frank replied. “But yes, I do really love you.”

Nancy kissed Frank.

“Just let me take care of you every now and then too, okay?” she said softly.

“Deal,” Frank smiled back.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It all happened while Nancy and Joe were tailing a suspect. They were in the middle of Austin, Texas following the most promising lead on their current case, while Frank was back at the hotel trying to crack a set of coded emails. Nancy was actually fairly pleased with the progress they’d made on the case so far, or at least she was until she realized their suspect noticed them in the same alley as him. Nancy was pretty confident that the man they were following was their culprit, and he didn’t even know he was being investigated by the detective trio. They were all undercover as the road crew for a band while they looked into a series of death threats against the lead singer. Everything was pointing to the band’s PR manager, Tyler Donovan. If he clued in that Nancy and Joe were following him, they would be risking all the progress they’d made so far in getting close to him.

Nancy turned to Joe. It was clear he also understood the situation they were facing. Nancy was trying to decide the best path to slip away quietly when Tyler began to retrace his steps. They had definitely been spotted. Now they had to come up with a good reason for being in an alley at 2pm on a Tuesday that also just so happened to be the same alley as Tyler. Nancy knew there was one failsafe way to get out of a situation like this, but she was begging herself to come up with any other idea. The scared look on Joe’s face suggested that he was thinking of the same idea. As Tyler got a little closer, Nancy realized it was either the idea they had in mind or the risk of ruining the progress they’d made on the case. She knew Frank would understand her choice not to blow their cover. Nancy gave Joe a tiny nod and he nodded back.

In a second, they were up against a wall kissing. All Nancy could think was that the lips on hers were not Frank’s and that she hated every second of it. She slid her arms around Joe to give some semblance of realism to their kiss, but Joe couldn’t even seem to bring himself to put his hands on her. He kept them firmly against the wall on either side of her head instead.

“Whoa, sorry to interrupt!” Tyler’s voice rang out.

It finally gave Nancy and Joe an excuse to pull away from each other.

“I was coming down here to ask what you two were doing in an alley at this time of day,” Tyler said with a chuckle. “I guess I have my answer.”

Nancy tried to keep her composure despite the fact that she now felt like she needed to wash her mouth out with soap.

“Oh yeah, you know how it is!” she said with a fake giggle. “Any excuse to sneak in a kiss before we go back to work!”

“Tell me about it!” Tyler replied. “It’s hard to keep the romance alive when you’re working shows most nights. Glad to know you guys don’t have that issue.”

Tyler winked and Nancy felt nauseous.

“Just make sure you two make it back to the venue in time for soundcheck!” Tyler said as he turned to leave. “See you then!”

They both waved as Tyler headed off back down the alley. When he was around the corner, Joe spoke immediately.

“I’m so sorry, Nancy. If I thought we had any other choice-”

“We didn’t have any other choice,” she said firmly. “It was either that or blow our cover, and I wasn’t about to do that. We didn’t do anything wrong."

“Right,” Joe nodded. “They’ll understand.”

Nancy still felt a wash of guilt. She had not only kissed someone who wasn’t Frank, but she had also kissed his brother of all people. Appalled didn’t even begin to describe how Nancy felt.

Nancy couldn’t find any more words to respond to Joe because she was putting all of her energy into figuring out how she was going to tell Frank about this. She knew he wouldn’t be mad once he understood why it had happened, but she dreaded his initial reaction all the same. Wordlessly, Nancy and Joe turned back up the alley and headed towards the venue to resume their investigation. Joe broke the silence as they walked.

“So that was…” he started.

“Awkward? Terrible? Horrifying?” Nancy suggested. She was finally finding the words to describe what had just happened.

“I’m so glad you said it first,” Joe replied with a laugh of relief. “I didn’t want to imply that you’re a bad kisser but that was awful!”

Nancy burst out laughing. “I know I’m an only child, but I’m pretty sure that’s what kissing your sibling feels like.”

They both continued laughing as they walked. Nancy felt better. They were on the same page. Nothing had happened beyond something they needed to do for the sake of the case. As they turned the corner to the venue, Nancy caught sight of Frank waiting outside. She only hoped that he would understand that too.

“How did it go?” Frank asked. “Did you learn anything good?”

Nancy hesitated. “Well, Tyler almost caught us tailing him.”

Frank’s eyebrows raised in concern. “Oh? Well, I’m glad he didn’t, because we’d be in a lot of trouble if he had figured you guys out.”

At Nancy and Joe’s lack of reply, Frank continued.

“What’s wrong? Do you think Tyler is suspicious anyway?”

Nancy shook her head. “No, I think we convinced him we weren’t following him. It’s just the way we went about it…”

Frank shot Nancy a confused look. She was trying to find the right words to explain the situation to Frank when Joe spoke up.

“I kissed Nancy,” Joe explained. “So that we could distract Tyler. I’m really sorry.”

Frank’s eyes got wide and his voice sounded strangled as he spoke. “You

what

?”

“We kissed,” Nancy said. She didn’t want to have this conversation at all, but she knew she needed to be upfront with Frank. “I’m really sorry. Neither of us would have done it if I thought we had any other way to avoid Tyler’s suspicion.”

Frank let out a heavy sigh. “Understood.”

Nancy cringed at his one-word response. “Are you mad?”

“I’m not mad,” Frank said quietly. “I get why it had to happen. I’m just… well, nauseous mostly.”

“That makes three of us!” Joe said with a laugh.

Nancy was grateful for Frank’s understanding. She pulled him into a quick hug. As she did, Joe spoke up.

“Oh yeah, rub it in my face that you two are fine! Meanwhile, I still have to call Deirdre. I’m going to be grovelling for weeks…”

Joe looked pale at the prospect of explaining the situation to her.

“I’m sure I’m going to get a text hearing what she thinks of me now,” Nancy groaned.

Nancy grabbed Frank’s arm and turned towards the venue. They had to get to soundcheck soon. As she did, though, she felt Frank’s hand shaking slightly. Nancy just squeezed it and hoped it would help to convince him that nothing illicit had happened.
  
It only took the rest of the day to solve the case. It had indeed been Tyler who had been sending the death threats. He was angry that his contract wasn’t being renewed, and the detective trio had been able to prove he was the culprit with enough certainty for the police to press charges. They had a flight back to New York tomorrow, but tonight they had the evening off at the hotel. Joe planned to spend the evening on a video call with Deirdre. She had taken the news of the kiss between Nancy and Joe remarkably well. Nancy was actually pretty impressed by how maturely Deirdre was being about the whole thing.

Frank hadn’t brought up the kiss again. Nancy figured he must not have been bothered either. They were both lying in their hotel bed as Frank read a book and Nancy texted with Bess and George. Both cousins had thought the story of the awkward kiss was hilarious. As Nancy said goodnight to her friends, she turned to Frank.

“I was thinking of going to sleep,” Nancy said. “Do you want me to leave the light on for you to read?”

Frank shook his head. “No, you can turn it off.”

He set his book down on the table on his side of the bed, then settled his head onto his pillow and closed his eyes.

Nancy froze as she was reaching to turn off the lamp on her side. They hadn’t gone to bed without a kiss once in their entire relationship.

“You’re mad, aren’t you?” Nancy said quietly.

Frank sighed then opened his eyes. “I’m not mad.”

“Then why didn’t you kiss me goodnight?”

Frank sat up and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Better?”

“No, it’s not better,” Nancy replied. She knew that Frank would have given her a proper kiss if everything was okay. “You’re obviously mad.”

“I’m not mad,” Frank repeated quietly.

“Then why won’t you kiss me?” Nancy asked. She was a little frustrated that Frank wouldn’t just admit that he was angry with her.

“Because I’m terrified that he was better!” Frank blurted out.

Nancy just looked at Frank in confusion. “Terrified that who was better at what?”

Frank shot her a look as if to say that it should have been obvious. Finally, Nancy’s brain caught up to what Frank had meant.

“Whoa, hold on,” Nancy chuckled. “Are you saying that you’re worried that your brother is a better kisser than you?”

“I know it’s pathetic,” Frank snapped.

“Hey now, I didn’t say that,” Nancy said gently.

She reached for Frank’s hand but he brushed her away. His eyes were fixed on the wall across the room and his jaw was set.
 
“Frank…” Nancy whispered softly. “Talk to me.”

She reached for his hand again and this time he didn’t pull away.

“Why did you pick me?” Frank said in a small voice.

“Pick you for what?” Nancy asked softly. She was confused but she wanted Frank to know she was trying to understand. His hand was squeezing hers like he was terrified that she would disappear if he let go.

“Why did you pick me and not Joe?” Frank asked again. His voice was barely a whisper.

“What are you talking about?” Nancy asked. Her voice was still soft but her tone was incredulous. She couldn’t wrap her head around Frank’s question. He finally turned to face her.

“You two are the same, you know?” he said. “Everyone knows that you’re both good looking and charismatic and fun. You and Joe would make a lot more sense than you and me.

Nancy was in absolute shock, but Frank continued to speak.

“I think about it sometimes when I see you two really getting along on a case. I wonder why you picked me, and then I wonder if you’re wondering the same thing. And now that you kissed him today, I’m even more scared that you’re wondering whether you picked the wrong brother.”

Nancy’s heart hurt that this was something that had even crossed Frank’s mind. She was in love with him. Joe meant a lot to her too, but not like that. If anything, today had only solidified all of that.

“Frank, it wasn’t a toss up,” Nancy said firmly. She was still in disbelief that this was even a conversation they were having, but she knew she needed to clarify how she felt. “I didn’t throw a dart and settle on you. Joe is the closest thing I’ve ever had to a brother, and sure, we get along fantastically, but I’ve never once looked at him as anything more than a friend. You, on the other hand… I couldn’t just be your friend if I tried. I am so unbelievably in love with you. There’s nothing about what we have that doesn't make sense.”

She paused for a moment before continuing.

“And as for who’s the better kisser? Let’s just say I hope for Deirdre’s sake that today wasn’t Joe’s best work.”

Nancy tried to make her last sentence light in the hopes that Frank would laugh and to her relief, he did.

“I’m sorry,” Frank said softly. “I know it’s a ridiculous thing to be worried about. I trust you completely. It’s just that my head gets away from me sometimes...”

Frank squeezed Nancy’s hand again, though she couldn’t help but notice that he still hadn’t kissed her.

“It’s okay,” Nancy said softly. “Or at least it will be once you kiss me.”

Frank’s face faltered. “I think I’m more nervous to kiss you right now than I was the first time we kissed.”

“Then we’ll take it slow,” Nancy replied softly. She placed one hand on Frank’s cheek and ran her thumb over his lips. “I really do love these lips, you know. Kissing them feels right.”

She watched as a small smile formed on his face. Nancy let her other hand rest on Frank’s neck. She trailed her fingers down the back of his neck and she felt him shiver slightly.

“I always assumed that eventually the butterflies I got in my chest when we kissed would go away. I thought someday it would just become routine,” Nancy said as she leaned in. Their faces were just inches apart. “It still hasn't, and I don’t think it ever will. I hope I never kiss anyone else for as long as I live.”

Frank seemed to respond to Nancy’s last sentence most of all and he closed the gap between them. As his lips met hers, Nancy felt the familiar rush that always came with kissing Frank. This time, her head wasn’t screaming about how wrong it felt. Instead, she felt like she was where she belonged. These were the lips she was supposed to be kissing. As their kiss broke, Nancy rested her forehead against his.

“Just like I thought,” she whispered with a smile. “I definitely picked the right brother.”

Frank smiled back. Before long, they were settling back down for bed, and this time Frank didn’t hesitate to kiss her goodnight. As Nancy was lying in the dark room with her head on Frank’s chest, she had no doubt that he was the brother for her.
  
At the airport the next morning, things felt relatively normal. Frank had kissed Nancy several times as they were getting ready that morning, so she knew that his worries had been put to rest. Still, Nancy sensed a hint of tension left between Frank and Joe as they waited at their gate. Nancy figured the best thing she could do was give the brothers some space to work things out, so she excused herself to grab a coffee from the kiosk next to the spot where they were sitting. Curiosity got the best of her, however, and she stood checking out the snack section intently for the sole reason that it was close enough for her to eavesdrop. At first, neither brother said anything. Finally, Joe broke the silence.

“You can punch me if you want… if it’ll fix things.”

Frank sighed. “I’m not going to punch you.”

“I kissed your girlfriend,” Joe said. “You punching me is pretty much the bare minimum.”

“You were doing your job,” Frank replied. “I’m not going to blame you for it.”

“Yeah well, I didn’t like doing it, for the record,” Joe added. “Nancy is wonderful but she is not the girl for me.”

Frank just chuckled. “I think the feeling is mutual. She said you were no good anyway.”

“Hey now, I’m a good kisser!” Joe replied defensively. “It’s only when I have to kiss the girl who’s basically my sister that I’m off my game.”

“Nancy told me she would have rather kissed a dead fish,” Frank said bluntly. “She even said it didn’t really seem like you knew what you were doing.”

Nancy had said nothing that harsh, but she knew that Frank was enjoying embellishing her choice of words to taunt his brother.

“I just feel bad for Deirdre,” Frank continued. “I’m sure there’s some tutorials online you could look up…”

Joe only became more defensive. “I’m an excellent kisser! Just ask Deirdre. You know what? I’m gonna call her right now just to prove it.”

Nancy giggled from her spot at the snack section. It was loud enough for Frank to turn around. As she met his eyes, he shot her a sly smile and Nancy blew him a kiss back. She could hear the brothers continuing to bicker behind her as she paid for her coffee.

“Look, Deirdre’s not picking up, but as soon as she does, she’ll tell you that she likes kissing me!” Joe said indignantly.

“She’s probably not picking up because she’s embarrassed to be dating someone your age who still doesn’t know how to kiss,” Frank replied with a shrug.

“I know how to kiss, Frank!” Joe yelled back.

Nancy just laughed.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy felt sick as she paced around a grey hospital waiting room halfway across the country. They had been working a case when Frank had taken a bad hit over the head courtesy of a suspect. Nancy and Joe had managed to get the upper hand before any more damage was done, but Frank had been left in rough shape. As the police arrested the assailant, the paramedics loaded Frank onto a stretcher. He was drifting in and out of consciousness as the ambulance doors shut in front of Nancy’s terrified face. She and Joe had raced to the hospital, but the nurse that met with them didn’t have many updates on Frank’s condition. The nurse had just explained that they were still running tests to determine the extent of Frank’s injuries. She had used phrases like “ruling out intracranial bleeding” and “potential consultation with a neurosurgeon”. Nancy had never felt more scared in her life.

“What if he isn’t okay?” Joe asked in a hoarse voice from his spot in a waiting room chair. “Wouldn’t they know by now if everything was normal?”

Nancy knew that as sick as she felt, Joe was just as scared.

“The wait doesn’t mean anything,” she said firmly. She was desperate to believe her own words. “If they were rushing him up to surgery, they would have told us. The fact that we’ve waited this long probably means he’s perfectly fine and they just have sicker people to look after before they come to talk to us.”

Joe looked a little comforted by Nancy’s theory. She hoped with everything she had that it was correct. Nancy was about to make another anxious loop around the waiting room, when the same nurse that had updated them before walked into the waiting area. Nancy and Joe both rushed over to her.

“Frank is okay,” the nurse said immediately. Relief washed over Nancy as the nurse gave them the full picture. “He’s actually doing quite well given the circumstances. He has a bad concussion, but he’s conscious and alert.”

Nancy turned to Joe, whose face showed the same relief that Nancy felt. She gave him a hug as the massive worry lifted off their shoulders.

“When can we see him?” Joe asked.

“You’re welcome to see him now,” the nurse replied. We’re finished with our tests for today. We’re going to keep him under observation until we’re sure he’s fully out of the woods, but he’s certainly able to have visitors.”

She wrote down Frank’s room number and gave them directions, and Nancy and Joe immediately rushed through the hallways. Nancy wasn’t used to being on the other side of the waiting room. She wondered if this was what it felt like for her dad and her friends all the times she had gotten herself injured on a case.

Joe pointed to the sign on the door indicating that they had reached the right room number. As they turned the corner, Nancy was met with the sight of Frank sitting up in bed. He had the beginning of a black eye and some bandaged scrapes, but he was smiling at the sight of his visitors. Nancy once again felt a rush of relief. Frank was okay.

Nancy bolted to his bedside, but stopped herself from kissing him. She didn’t think contact with Frank’s head would do any good for his concussion. Instead, she reached for his hand and squeezed it.

“Hi Nancy! Good to see you!” Frank said cheerily.

Nancy couldn’t help but laugh at his tone. It was as though he was talking to a friend he hadn’t seen in a little while, not his girlfriend of six months. She chalked it up to a combination of the head injury and the pain medication. Suddenly, Frank pulled his hand away from Nancy and turned to face Joe. She was a little thrown by this. She wondered if his hand had also been injured, but she didn’t see any bruises as she looked at his hand.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Joe said. “You really had us worried. They were talking about brain surgery for a minute there! Although, it would’ve made an epic story if you had needed it…”

Frank let out a laugh, then immediately winced. “Try not to make me laugh too hard, okay? It hurts my head.”

“I’ll do my best, but I really can’t make any promises,” Joe grinned. “You can’t just turn off a talent like mine at the flip of a switch.”

Frank just rolled his eyes slightly. “Have you seen my phone? They said my things were around here somewhere…”

As Joe looked around the room, Frank turned back to Nancy.

“It’s really kind of you to be here,” he said. “I appreciate it.”

Nancy was even more confused. Where else would she be if not at his bedside? The concussion must really have done a number on Frank’s ability to make sense.

“Here it is,” Joe said, holding up Frank’s phone from across the room. He handed it to Nancy, who passed it to Frank.

“Thanks!” Frank replied. “I’m just gonna give Callie a quick call.”

Nancy felt all the air leave her lungs.

Her boyfriend had just survived what could have easily been a life-threatening injury and his first response was to…

call his ex

? Nancy was having trouble breathing. Why was he calling Callie? Was there something going on behind Nancy’s back? Or had Frank had some kind of realization that he was in love with Callie all along? Is that why he’d pulled his hand away?

“You’re going to do what now?” Joe asked in disbelief.

“I’m going to call Callie,” Frank repeated, as though calling his ex-girlfriend was a daily occurrence. “She’s going to be mad when she finds out about this. I might as well get it out of the way.

Nancy didn’t know what to do. Frank didn’t seem to be giving an ounce of consideration about how Nancy might feel at the news that he was back in touch with his ex. Nancy felt tears start to sting at her eyes.

“Why would Callie care?” Joe asked incredulously. “Actually, better question - why do

you

care?”

“Uh, because she’s my girlfriend…” Frank replied. He was clearly confused by Joe’s line of questioning. “This is pretty much our whole deal. I get hurt on a case, Callie gets mad, we fight, we make up, rinse and repeat.”

Nancy froze. The nurse had said Frank was fine. They had done all their tests, and they had said he was fine. Why wasn’t Frank making any sense?

“Frank, what day is it?” Joe asked, suddenly serious.

“The nineteenth,” Frank replied. His answer was correct, leaving Nancy even more confused.

“Of what month?” Joe continued. His voice was raising with concern.

“September,” Frank said matter-of-factly.

It was July.

Joe looked straight at Nancy and spoke with a shaky voice. “Go get the nurse.”
  
As it turned out, Frank’s concussion was more serious than the tests had originally shown. When Frank had identified the current date as the nineteenth and answered a few other questions correctly, the doctor administering the cognitive tests had marked Frank as having no signs of amnesia. In actuality, Frank had lost any memory of the last ten months. Given the new development, the doctor had returned to ask Frank more questions.

“What do you remember doing before getting hit?” the doctor asked.

“Joe and I were chasing a suspect through a forest,” Frank replied confidently. “We were working a kidnapping case.”

The doctor looked to Joe for confirmation as to whether Frank’s answer was correct. Joe shook his head miserably.

“That case was ten months ago…” Joe whispered. He sounded terrified.

Nancy had barely said a word since she’d run to find the nurse. She felt out of place, which was something she had never felt around Frank and Joe before. She just wanted to hold Frank’s hand. To Frank however, that wasn’t something they did. He clearly had no memory of them being together, which was made clear by the way he kept thanking her for sticking around and asking her what she was doing in the same city as him and Joe. Nancy wanted to cry. She and Frank had just spent the most incredible six months together. How could he forget all of it?

As the doctor finished his tests, he confirmed what they already knew. Frank had a type of amnesia. The doctor emphasized that this wasn’t uncommon given Frank’s injuries and that, in most cases, the missing memories would come back on their own. Nancy felt a miniscule glimmer of hope.

“So uh, did I miss anything big?” Frank said with an awkward chuckle once the doctor had left the room.

Nancy knew that chuckle. It meant Frank was starting to panic, but he was trying to seem like he wasn’t. Nancy just wanted to hold him and tell him it would be okay.

Joe stared at Nancy from the opposite side of Frank’s bed. They had both pulled up chairs, figuring they had a lot to explain. The doctor had said it would be fine to bring Frank up to speed on what he couldn’t remember. In fact, it could even help bring his memories back quicker. Despite her desire to help Frank recover, Nancy didn’t know how to begin to explain what their lives looked like now. They had started the agency together, then they had started dating, and they were even living together…

On top of it all, Nancy was still reeling from hearing Callie’s name come out of Frank’s mouth. What if it was some sort of sign? Maybe Frank remembered being with Callie because she was who he truly wanted to be with. Joe, however, seemed to know where to start.

“Well, you and Callie broke up for good,” Joe began bluntly. To Nancy’s surprise, Frank didn’t seem to take this news very badly.

“I can’t pretend like that’s a big surprise,” Frank said with a shrug. “We’d been running thin for a while now. When did it happen?”

“End of September,” Joe answered. “You forgot a dinner date because we got hired on a case at the last minute, and she dumped you over the phone while we were at the airport.”

Frank let out a small laugh. “I probably deserved that.”

“And then we worked with Nancy again at the end of October. We were all in Salem,” Joe continued to explain.

Frank’s eyes lit up as he turned to Nancy. “That must have been great!”

Nancy laughed. It hadn’t felt so great at the time. She remembered being terrified of losing Ned and not wanting to discuss joining the brothers with their agency plans, and even how she still had a certain dislike of Deirdre at the time… Things sure had changed.

“It was the first time we asked Nancy if she wanted to work with us full-time,” Joe said. “And in November, she said yes.”

Frank’s head snapped around to look at Nancy. The joy on his face was immediately replaced with a wince. The head turn had clearly been too quick for his recovering brain. Still, Nancy was relieved to see that Frank was excited by the news that they were working together. She took it as a sign that the news that they were dating - and living together - might also be well received.

“Seriously?” Frank asked. His grin returned as he recovered from the pain. “That’s fantastic! What convinced you?”

Nancy hesitated slightly. “Well, Bess and George were both pursuing their passions. Bess was taking a fashion design program, and George had another tech internship. I figured it was time to pursue my own passions. And Ned and I broke up, so there really wasn’t much left for me in River Heights.”

“Oh Nancy, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Frank said. His voice was sympathetic in the same way it had been the first time she’d told him this news.

“I’m okay,” Nancy replied. “The breakup was months ago. And I’ve actually been seeing someone else for a while now. Someone who makes me really happy.”

“Oh, uh, that’s great to hear!” Frank replied in an overly cheerful tone.

Nancy knew that tone. He was trying to force himself to be happy for her. For the second time that day, Nancy felt relieved. Frank still felt something for her. Even if he didn’t remember dating her yet, Nancy realized they would be okay. She would remind him of every moment they had spent together if that was what it took for him to remember, and if he didn’t ever regain his memories, they would just start over. All Nancy needed was to know that Frank still cared about her.

Joe chuckled, also recognizing Frank’s fake tone. “Yeah, Nancy sure is crazy about this guy. I couldn’t tell you why, though. He’s nothing special. He’s not much to look at, either...”

“Joe!” Frank scolded. Even concussed, he was still trying to keep his brother in line. Frank turned to Nancy. “Ignore him. I’m sure your new boyfriend is great.”

“He is,” Nancy replied with a smile tugging at her lips. “He’s perfect. Everything I’ve ever wanted.”

Nancy saw the flash of disappointment on Frank’s face and realized it was probably well past time to let him in on the secret. Nancy nodded over to Joe to signal that he should be the one to tell Frank.

“You’ve actually been seeing someone too,” Joe said as he suppressed a grin. Frank looked surprised as Joe continued to speak. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy. You’ve even told me that you see yourself spending the rest of your life with this girl.”

Nancy’s breath caught in her throat. She and Frank had done a bit of a speed run with their relationship so far, but Nancy knew it was because Frank was who she wanted. The confirmation that Frank had been feeling the same way made Nancy feel all the more confident that they would get through this.

“Woah…” Frank replied as he took in Joe’s words. “I can’t believe I’d forget all of that… Who’s this girl? Would I remember her?”

Grinning, Joe pointed slowly across Frank’s bed to where Nancy sat.

Frank didn’t even seem to consider that Joe could be telling the truth. Instead, Frank just looked over to Nancy as his face went red.

“Again, please ignore him,” Frank said as he turned back to shoot daggers towards Joe. “He’s just trying to make me laugh so that my head will hurt again. Except his jokes

aren’t funny

.”

“He’s not joking,” Nancy said softly.

For the second time, Frank’s head snapped around to look at her too quickly, resulting in a wince of pain.

“You really have to stop doing that,” she said with a tiny chuckle.

Frank just stared at Nancy in utter disbelief. “You… and me? You and me?”

“Yup,” Nancy said with a smile. “You and me. Six months now.”

Frank had taken the news of the things he had forgotten quite well up until now, but he didn’t seem to be able to process this latest development. He just kept staring in shock. Nancy gently set her hand on top of his. She didn’t want to be too forward if he still didn’t remember anything, but she needed him to know that she was there. Frank looked down at their hands, then back up at Nancy.

“I’m everything you’ve ever wanted?” Frank asked in a hoarse voice. He was clearly trying to reconcile Nancy’s earlier statement with this new information.

“And then some,” Nancy said. She needed him to know how much he meant to her. “Listen, I know this is a lot to take in. But you and me, we’re incredible together. You understand me, in a way no one else ever has. And I know how to get you to open up even when you try to keep things buried. We can spend every day working together on cases and still not feel like we’ve seen each other enough. You and me together just makes sense. So however long it takes for you to remember that, I’ll be right here.”

Frank stared at Nancy in awe. Nancy squeezed his hand, and he tentatively squeezed back.

“Listen, I’m really gonna need you to figure out how to get your memories back,” Joe said with a grin. “Because it’s just gonna be weird if we’re all living under one roof and you don’t even remember your girlfriend.”

“She lives with me?” Frank said in a strangled voice.

Nancy laughed at his reaction as she nodded.

“Oh this is definitely a dream,” Frank muttered. “I’m probably in some sort of coma…”

“That’s the same thing you said the first time we slept together,” Nancy replied.

Frank made a choking noise.

Joe laughed. “We’re gonna have to go easier on him or he’s gonna die before he remembers anything.”

“Tell him about Deirdre then,” Nancy suggested with a smile.

“Do you remember Deirdre Shannon?” Joe asked. “From River Heights?”

“That snobby, self-important girl that George hates?” Frank replied. “Yeah, I do.”

Nancy was stifling more laughter. She had expected it to be gut-wrenching to fill Frank in on what he had forgotten. Instead, it was almost a good time.

“Deirdre is Joe’s girlfriend,” Nancy said between laughs. “They’ve been together a little longer than us.”

“Okay, now I’m sure you guys are just messing with me,” Frank replied with a grin.

Joe began to justify his relationship and tried to explain how Deirdre was a lot different once you got to know her. Nancy even found herself adding her perspective of Deirdre to help convince Frank. As they continued to talk, the conversation flowed from Joe’s relationship, back to Nancy and Frank, then to cases they had solved together, and then to updates about their friends and family. Eventually, a nurse came by to let Nancy and Joe know that visiting hours were over. Nancy squeezed Frank’s hand as she got up to leave.

“I love you,” she whispered.

Frank seemed unsure of how to reply.

“You don’t have to say it back,” Nancy said quietly. “I just need you to know that I love you.”

Joe gave his brother a quick fist bump and promised that he and Nancy would be back first thing tomorrow morning. As they made their way out of the hospital, Nancy felt the anxiety creep back into her thoughts.

“What if he doesn’t remember?” she asked quietly.

“He will,” Joe said firmly. “I refuse to believe there’s any way that my brother’s brain wouldn’t eventually remember you, head injury or not. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to him. He’s not going to permanently forget that. Plus, it’s only been a day. The doctor said to give it at least a week before we start to worry.”

Nancy nodded. She knew that Joe had a point and that it wasn’t time to panic yet. She tried to hold onto the hope she felt when Frank had squeezed her hand earlier. They would be okay. They had to be.
  
Nancy and Joe had both woken up first thing the next morning and scarfed down a quick breakfast before heading back to the hospital. Nancy had spent most of the night prior thinking of more stories to tell Frank to try to jog his memory. She had even stayed up making a list on her phone of every one of their dates that she could remember.

As they entered his hospital room, Nancy saw that Frank was still sleeping. He let out a groan at the sound of their footsteps and barely lifted his head.

“What do you want?” Frank mumbled. He sounded like he was in pain.

“Hey now, that’s no way to greet your two favorite people,” Joe teased. “I know the doctor said they were taking you off the stronger pain medication today, but you could at least say hello.”

Frank seemed to register the sound of Joe’s voice and opened his eyes slightly in the direction of the door. Nancy watched Frank’s furrowed brow disappear as he spotted her. His hand reached out for her, as if by instinct. Nancy quickly grabbed it. Any sign that Frank was feeling comfortable around her was a good sign.

“Hey, Nance,” Frank mumbled softly. His eyes had closed again and he was clearly still in a lot of pain. Regardless, he continued to speak, although it was a little broken. “So glad you’re here… feel better when you’re around… love you so much…”

Nancy stopped dead.

“You love me?” she repeated. She wasn’t sure of what his words meant about the state of his memory.

“Course I do… you’re everything… best girlfriend ever,” Frank continued to mumble. The pain seemed to cause him to lose his usual filter when it came to talking openly about his feelings.

“Do you… do you remember me? Do you remember us?” Nancy asked anxiously. She knew now probably wasn’t the best time to be hounding Frank with questions, but she needed to know.

“Obviously,” Frank muttered, almost to himself. He still hadn’t opened his eyes. “You’d be hard to forget…”

Nancy’s heart soared. The doctors had been right. Frank’s memory loss had only been temporary. Nancy heard a snore from the bed and realized Frank had fallen back asleep. As Frank slept, Nancy and Joe conferred in the hall with the doctor currently overseeing Frank’s care. She agreed that Frank seemed to be recovering well. The pain he was feeling was expected to pass shortly and he’d likely be able to go home tomorrow. Nancy and Joe were thanking the doctor profusely when Joe’s phone rang.

It was Fenton. He and Laura had taken the first flight they could and they had just arrived at the hospital. Nancy and Joe headed to the hospital entrance to meet them. Nancy called out as soon as she spotted Fenton and Laura.

“He’s doing so much better already!” she said.

Nancy watched as relief washed over their faces. Everyone exchanged quick hugs before heading towards Frank’s room.

“Joe, you mentioned on the phone that Frank’s memory wasn’t great…” Laura said hesitantly.

“He’s already back to himself,” Joe replied. “Frank was rambling about how much he loves Nancy as soon as we saw him this morning. If there was ever a sign that he’s going to be okay, that’s it.”

A small laugh broke out among them as they turned the corner into Frank’s room. The noise woke Frank up, who seemed to be a bit more coherent than earlier. Frank greeted Joe and his parents before reaching again for Nancy’s hand.

“So now can you tell me what day it is?” Joe asked with a glint in his eye.

“Everyone keeps asking me that,” Frank sighed. “It’s July twentieth.”

“And who’s this?” Joe pointed to Nancy.

“Uh, my girlfriend,” Frank replied, visibly annoyed at Joe’s questioning.

“Do you remember anything from yesterday?” Nancy asked. She was curious to know if the episode of memory loss had itself become a lost memory.

“I remember my head hurting and that’s about it,” Frank said with a shrug.

Nancy and Joe both laughed. Nancy couldn’t believe she had ever been worried that Frank would forget her for good.

“What’s so funny?” Frank asked in confusion.

“Oh nothing,” Nancy said. She figured they’d save the explanation of Frank’s temporary amnesia for a time when his head wasn’t quite so sore. “I’m just happy that what you and I have is too important to forget.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy was enjoying a lazy afternoon lying next to Frank on the couch after work. They were both scrolling through their phones, when Frank sat bolt upright. He got up immediately and headed straight for the door.

“We need to go to Deirdre’s now,” Frank said.

Nancy didn’t hesitate to follow him.

“What’s going on?” she asked anxiously.

“Joe just texted,” Frank replied. “Deirdre’s ex showed up at her building.”

Nancy’s stomach dropped. Joe was out of town to testify in a court trial related to a case they’d solved a few months back. She didn’t like the idea of Deirdre being on her own with her volatile ex around.

“Did he do anything?” Nancy asked anxiously as they rushed out of the apartment.

“Deirdre said he didn’t get violent, but if he’s willing to track her down all the way here, I don’t trust him not to try,” Frank replied.

They reached Deirdre’s apartment in record time. When Nancy hit the buzzer, Deirdre’s shaky voice answered.

“…Hello?”

“It’s us,” Nancy said immediately. She didn’t want Deirdre to worry that it might be Blake again.

Deirdre buzzed them in, and Nancy raced up the stairs with Frank on her heels. Nancy pulled Deirdre into a hug as soon they got inside. Deirdre looked terrified.

“Are you okay?” Nancy asked immediately.

“I guess so,” Deirdre said hesitantly. “I’m probably just overreacting.”

“I sincerely doubt that,” Nancy replied. “What happened?”

Deirdre sighed. “I was coming back from work and I ran into Blake in the hall. It was like the whole world stopped spinning. This is a city of eight million people! I don’t understand how he found me… I tried calling the police but they said he isn’t doing anything wrong by being here.”

“Of course…” Nancy sighed.

“I’m sorry for worrying you guys,” Deirdre said. “I texted Joe because I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t mean for him to get you both to rush over here. I’m fine. You don’t have to stick around.”

“No,” Frank said firmly. “We’re not leaving you alone until we know this guy is gone. Joe’s going to be stuck in Montana for at least a few more days for that court case. In the meantime, we aren’t leaving your side.”

Deirdre looked surprised.

“I mean, you’re welcome to make yourselves at home here, but I’m not the best company right now,” she said with a dry chuckle.

“Actually, I’d really like it if you’d come stay at our place,” Frank replied. “This Blake guy knows you live here. It’s one less risk by having you stay with us.”

Deirdre’s eyes widened. “I-I couldn’t ask you guys for that. What if Blake finds me there?”

“Then there’s other people to help you deal with him,” Frank replied simply.

“Why don’t you pack a bag?” Nancy asked gently. “And then we can get out of here.”

“Are you sure?” Deirdre asked hesitantly.

“Of course we are,” Nancy said.

Deirdre started to wipe a tear away from her eyes before she headed down the hall. When she reappeared with a bag in hand, the trio made their way down the street. Nancy could see the way Deirdre jumped at every man they passed that looked even remotely like Blake, and it made Nancy’s heart break.

When they got back to the apartment, Deirdre stood awkwardly in the entryway. She didn’t seem to know what to do without Joe around.

“Anything particular you’d like for dinner?” Frank asked gently.

Deirdre shook her head quickly. “No, no, whatever you’re making is fine.”

As Frank started to make dinner, Nancy gestured for Deirdre to follow her to the living room.

“Are you okay?” Nancy asked.

“I’m just so freaked out that he found me,” Deirdre replied in a shaky voice. “I’m not shocked he came all this way to scare me after he heard that I’m giving evidence in the trial, but how did he know exactly where I lived?”

“I was wondering that too,” Nancy said. “Would any of your friends from back in River Heights have told him?”

“I used to share my phone location with a few of them,” Deirdre replied. “You know, to keep tabs on each other on nights out and stuff. They aren’t all the greatest people, but I don’t think any of them would have given Blake my location…”

“Can you give me the list of who has access to your phone location?” Nancy asked.

Deirdre started to pull up the list, then froze.

“Shit…” she whispered.

“What is it?” Nancy asked.

“Blake is still on here,” she said with horror. “I was completely sure I had taken him off ages ago. Oh my god, this is my fault…”

“None of this is your fault,” Nancy said firmly.

“Yes it is,” Deirdre replied. “It’s my fault that he found me before and now it’s my fault that he knows I’m here too… I’m so sorry. I should go.”

“Absolutely not,” Nancy said.

“I’m putting you guys in danger just by being here!” Deirdre insisted.

“We put ourselves in danger for a living,” Nancy said with a shrug. “This is nothing we can’t handle.”

“Look, I just took him off my location tracker, but he could very well be coming here next anyway,” Deirdre continued. “It’s going to be better if I’m not here if he does.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Nancy insisted. “We are not leaving you to handle this on your own. Besides, Joe wouldn’t speak to us again if we did."

Deirdre gave a hint of a smile at Nancy’s remark, but it faded as Frank walked in with a tray of plates.

“So, we’ve got a bit of an issue,” Nancy said calmly as she reached for some of the pasta. As Frank looked over at her, she explained the situation.

“I’m so sorry,” Deirdre said in a shaky voice when Nancy finished explaining.

“It’s fine,” Frank said with a shrug. “If he’s stupid enough to show up here tonight, we’ll deal with him.”

Nancy figured it was best to try to keep Deirdre’s mind off the situation.

“Do you watch Love Is Blind?” Nancy asked.

“I’m obsessed,” Deirdre said earnestly. “Why?”

“There’s a new episode today,” Nancy replied. “Wanna watch?”

“Wait, you’re telling me that you watch Love Is Blind?” Deirdre laughed.

“She loves it,” Frank replied.

“So do you!” Nancy grinned. She turned to Deirdre. “He says he watches it for me, but I know full well that he’s enjoying watching it too."

“It’s… an interesting kind of social experiment,” Frank said thoughtfully. Nancy burst out laughing, and Frank rolled his eyes before grinning too. “Fine! Okay! I like it! Happy?”

As Deirdre laughed at Frank’s confession, Nancy pulled up the show. They sat watching and making jokes throughout the episode. When it was done, Deirdre yawned.

“I think it’s time to call it a night,” Nancy said.

At the same time, Deirdre’s phone started to ring. Nancy looked over anxiously, but she was relieved to see Joe’s name on the caller ID.

“Hey!” Deirdre said as she picked up. It was the first time Deirdre looked truly at ease all day, and Nancy was glad to see that Joe had that effect. Deirdre continued to chat with Joe for a few minutes. “No, really, I’m fine. Nancy and Frank insisted I come back to your place, so I’m here… I’m going to be okay… No, Joe… No, you don’t need to fly back… There’s no sense in screwing up your testimony because you’re worried about me.”

Frank held out his hand. “Let me talk to him.”

Deirdre handed Frank the phone.

“She’s going to be okay… Yeah, I know Blake knows she’s here… If he shows up here, we’ll handle it… Joe, he’d have to kill me first before he ever gets to her… Exactly… Alright, sounds good… I’ll be sure to call if anything changes.”

He handed the phone back to Deirdre, who said goodbye to Joe. As Nancy turned to make her way down the hall, she could tell Deirdre was getting nervous, which was a pretty reasonable reaction. There was a very real possibility that Blake could show up tonight.

“Why don’t you crash with me?” Nancy asked as she pointed to her and Frank’s room.

“What about Frank?” Deirdre said quietly.

“I was planning to sleep on the couch anyway,” Frank replied. “I want to be close to the door in case Blake shows up.”

Deirdre burst into tears.

“I’m so sorry,” she choked out. “You should be able to get a full night’s sleep in your own bed without worrying about needing to fight off some guy for me…”

“Deirdre, I don’t mind,” Frank said gently.

“You barely even know me!” she said in disbelief. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

Nancy couldn’t help but smile slightly as she replied on Frank’s behalf.

“The thing you need to understand is that Frank and Joe come as a package deal,” Nancy said. “When you started dating Joe, you got Frank in your corner by default. That’s just how these two work.”

Frank nodded in agreement, though Deirdre seemed to not quite believe Nancy’s explanation. Nancy could appreciate that it was hard for people who hadn’t experienced it firsthand to understand the unbreakable bond between the two brothers.

In an effort to put Deirdre at ease, Nancy gestured again for Deirdre to follow her down the hall.

“Let’s go have a good old fashioned slumber party,” Nancy said with a smile.

As they entered Nancy’s room, the two women settled into bed to sleep.

“We’re all going to be okay,” Nancy said quietly into the darkness. “You’re safe.”

“Thank you, Nancy,” Deirdre whispered back.

Nancy froze. Deirdre hadn’t once used Nancy’s first name before.

“Anytime, Deirdre,” Nancy replied.
  
Nancy hadn’t even realized she’d fallen asleep until she woke to the sound of pounding on the door. She sat straight up.

“Oh my god, he’s here,” Deirdre whispered from beside her.

Nancy had been about to reply when Frank stuck his head in the bedroom door.

“Nancy, take Deirdre and lock yourselves in the bathroom,” he said. “Reinforce the door if you can, and don’t open it until I tell you it’s clear. I’ll deal with this moron.”

Nancy might have argued with Frank that she could be of assistance in a fight if the circumstances were different, but she knew she would be the biggest help to the situation by keeping Deirdre calm. She grabbed Deirdre’s hand and pulled her towards the adjoining bathroom. Deirdre sank to the floor as Nancy locked the door and looked around for something to use to help secure it. Nancy settled on pulling down the shower curtain rod to use as a makeshift security bar. When she was confident they were as secure as they were going to be, she sat down beside Deirdre on the floor.

The two women sat in silence for only a minute before Nancy heard a slam through the wall and her stomach lurched. It didn’t sound like a good situation out there. There was another minute of thumps and then things went quiet. Nancy hesitated. Silence could be a good thing… or it could be a very bad one. What if Frank was hurt?

Nancy was seriously considering unlocking the door long enough to check on things when her phone rang.

Call from Frank Hardy

“Are you okay?” Nancy asked as soon as she picked up.

“I’m fine,” Frank said immediately. “This Blake is a big guy, and he’s drunk as hell, but I’ve got him under control. I already called the cops. When he’s cuffed, I’ll come knock on the door to let you know it’s safe.”

“Sounds good,” Nancy replied. “Just be careful, okay?”

Frank chuckled slightly. “You’re starting to sound like me. I’ll be okay. Just sit tight. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Nancy said softly as they hung up.

She turned to Deirdre. “The police are on their way. It’s all under control. When he’s gone, we’ll go back out there.”

Deirdre nodded. She still looked terrified despite the reassurance.

After a few minutes, a knock came at the door.

“All clear,” Frank said.

Nancy pulled the shower curtain rod away from the door and opened it. Frank looked a little roughed up, but mostly okay.

Nancy hugged him immediately. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“I opened the door to tell him to fuck off, and he started swinging,” Frank said. “I think he thought I was Deirdre’s boyfriend, and that just made him angrier. He certainly knows how to put up a fight…”

Frank turned to Deirdre.

“I’m really sorry you ever had to deal with him on your own,” Frank said.

Deirdre stood up shakily. “So they arrested him?”

Frank nodded. “I gave them my statement, and the information about his charges back in Illinois. I’m sure they’ll want to talk to you about everything later, but for now, things have been dealt with.”

“Thank you,” Deirdre whispered in a shaky voice.

“Always,” Frank said with a quiet smile. “You two try to get some sleep. We’ll deal with the rest in the morning.”

As Nancy and Deirdre crawled back into bed and Frank made his way to the living room, Deirdre seemed to fall asleep almost immediately. Nancy was so glad to see that she finally felt safe enough to do that. Nancy, however, was still awake, so she pulled out her phone.

Nancy Drew: You’re sure you’re okay?

Frank Hardy: I’ve taken worse hits

Frank Hardy: The guy was big but he doesn’t have good aim

Nancy Drew: Good <3

Nancy Drew: I really love you, by the way

Frank Hardy: I really love you too

The next few days were a little chaotic. Nancy and Frank accompanied Deirdre to talk to the police so that they could continue to build the case against Blake. Joe arrived back home and refused to leave Deirdre’s side for days. Eventually, things started to go back to normal. Some things remained changed, though. For one, Joe moved in with Deirdre permanently. Another one of those things was the relationship Nancy observed between Frank and Deirdre. Nancy could tell that Frank had finally come to see Deirdre as a sister.

When the trial finally came around, Deirdre was on edge. This was especially obvious during one of the nights they all had dinner together

“What if he gets away with everything?” Deirdre asked anxiously over dinner.

“He won’t,” Joe said firmly. “They have a massive case against this guy.”

“But what if he does?” she repeated. “And he comes looking for me again?”

“He can come looking for you all he wants, but he’s not getting anywhere near you ever again,” Frank replied. “You have all of us around to make sure of that.”

“Thank you guys,” Deirdre said softly.

“Quit thanking us,” Nancy smiled. “We’re family now. It’s just what we do.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy was vaguely aware that Frank’s phone was ringing, but she wasn’t about to wake up on account of it. She was far too comfortable in her half asleep state curled up in bed.

Frank, however, must have answered the phone, because she heard his voice and felt the loss of contact of his body against hers. Nancy disliked that Frank had gotten out of bed, but she knew some things were more important than a lazy morning. Still, it wasn’t Nancy’s phone that had rung, so she figured she could stand to stay in bed a little longer.

She let herself drift in and out for a little while before eventually climbing out of bed. As Nancy made her way towards the kitchen, she was immediately met with the sight of Frank rifling through her purse. Nancy was a little taken aback at this sight. She had nothing to hide, but it still felt a bit excessive of him to be going through her things. Nancy was about to ask him exactly what he was doing when Frank saw her.

“Hey, Nance,” he said softly. “Come here.”

He held his arms outstretched. Nancy walked into them instinctively and Frank seemed to guide her to sit at one of the island bar stools.

“What’s going on?” she asked. She wasn’t completely awake yet but something seemed off about everything.

Frank sat down on the bar stool next to Nancy and held both her hands as he spoke.

“Hannah called me this morning,” Frank explained calmly. “She wanted me to talk to you. Your dad had a heart attack.”

Nancy’s stomach dropped.

“Is he okay?” she gasped.

“He’s in surgery,” Frank said. “Hannah said they haven’t given her many updates yet.”

“Oh my god,” Nancy whispered. “I- I need to be there.”

She started to look around frantically for her phone. She needed to figure out how to book a flight home immediately. To her surprise, Nancy felt Frank’s arms pulling her in.

“I know this is scary, but we’re gonna get through it,” he said softly. “I’m booking the flight now. I just need your licence and then we can pack and get a cab to the airport.”

Nancy nodded, but she wasn’t sure she was processing any of this. She managed to grab her wallet out of her purse and hand it to Frank before her brain stopped working. To her relief, Frank guided her gently down the hall back to their room. Nancy stood in front of the closet and couldn’t help the tears that started to fall.

“I don’t- I don’t know what to do…” she whispered.

Frank didn’t hesitate. He guided her gently to the bed and sat her down, before reaching under the bed for her suitcase. He tossed a few things in, then reached under the bed for his own.

“What are you doing?” Nancy asked.

“I’m just gonna grab a few things for myself and then we can get going,” Frank replied.

“You’re coming too?” Nancy asked in confusion.

“Of course I am,” Frank said without hesitation. “I’m not putting you on a plane by yourself to deal with all of this.”

Nancy felt like time was blurring together. She only just processed the experience of stumbling out of their apartment and into a cab, and then stumbling out of the cab and through airport security. It wasn’t until they were in the air that Nancy started to regain the ability to think clearly.

“Shit,” she muttered as she rooted through her purse. She hadn’t charged her phone last night.

“What’s up?” Frank asked gently from the seat beside her.

“My phone’s almost dead. I was going to see if I could use the plane’s wifi to send Hannah a message.”

Frank reached for his backpack and produced a charger.

“Here,” he said as he handed it to Nancy. “I was already messaging Hannah. She still hasn’t heard anything, but she’ll let us know as soon as she does.”

“Thank you,” Nancy whispered in a shaky breath.

She didn’t just mean the phone charger. Airports had never seemed overwhelming to Nancy before today, but every step felt like too much this time. She wasn’t sure she would have even made it onto this flight without Frank.

Frank squeezed Nancy’s hand, and she leaned her head onto his shoulder. Her mind was racing, and his presence was calming, so she felt the urge to be as close to him as possible. She kept her head on his shoulder for a while. She had lost all track of time as she tried to keep herself from wondering if her dad was going to be okay.
 
Frank’s phone buzzed in the seat pocket and he reached for it immediately. Nancy sat up and watched Frank’s face as he read whatever message he had just received. He showed no emotion as he started to type a reply. Nancy’s stomach lurched. She knew that expression. He used it on cases when he was trying to keep information from a suspect.

“What is it?” Nancy asked in a shaky voice. “What did Hannah say?”

“There’s nothing to worry about right now,” Frank said firmly.

Nancy knew he wasn’t telling her everything.

“Tell me or I’ll message Hannah myself,” she insisted.

“Hannah said your dad had a double bypass surgery,” Frank said calmly. “There were some complications. He’s in the ICU now, but they said he’s in rough shape. What’s important is that your dad made it through and now he’s getting the best care possible.”

Nancy wasn’t sure she had registered anything. She wasn’t even aware that she was crying until she felt the tears on her cheeks. She felt Frank’s arms around her pulling her into his chest and she went willingly. Nancy spent the rest of the flight curled up into Frank’s side.

When they had landed and the seatbelt sign went off, Nancy felt the same panic as before. She tried to remember the steps - she needed to gather her things, she needed to collect her bag, she needed to get a cab… Nancy wasn’t sure if she could manage any of those things right now. To her relief, Frank was already looking after things. He had gathered Nancy’s things from her seat and was guiding her gently down the plane’s aisle.

For the second time that day, Nancy found herself climbing blindly into a cab. After a few minutes, they arrived in front of the River Heights hospital.

“What about the bags?” Nancy asked. She glanced over at Frank, who had both of their suitcases.

“We’ll go find Hannah, and then I can run them back to your house,” Frank said.

He led the way into the hospital and Nancy followed behind him. For someone who had never been to this hospital before, Frank seemed to know where he was going. A short maze of halls later and Nancy saw Hannah in the distance. Nancy bolted straight to her.

“Oh darling,” Hannah said as she pulled Nancy into a hug. “Thank goodness you’re here.”

“How is he?” Nancy asked in a shaky voice. She was scared to know the answer.

“They said he’s stable now,” Hannah replied. “He’s still sedated. They want to give him a bit more time to recover. But they think he’s going to pull through.”

“Oh thank god,” Nancy whispered.

She noticed that Frank was on the phone behind her. As he hung up, he started to speak to Nancy.

“Bess and George should be here any minute,” he said. “I’m going to bring these bags back to your place, and then I’ll come right back, okay?”

Nancy nodded as Frank kissed her on the head and left her sitting beside Hannah in the waiting room.

Just as Frank had said, Bess and George came flying around the corner a minute later. To Nancy’s shock, Ned was with them.

“Oh Nancy, how is he?” Bess asked as she pulled Nancy into a hug.

“They’re saying he should be okay,” Nancy replied.

“Thank god,” George sighed. “I couldn’t believe it when Frank called.”

She also gave Nancy a quick hug and both cousins took seats in the row of waiting chairs. Ned stood back a couple steps hesitantly. Nancy looked up at him from her seat.

“Hey,” he said quietly. “How are you?”

“I’m okay,” Nancy replied softly.

It was strange for her to see Ned. It wasn’t the first time she had seen him since the breakup. He had been invited to her family’s New Year’s Eve party months ago. This time felt different, though. The breakup wasn’t fresh. It felt like it was very much in the past, and it didn’t hurt to see him. It just felt nice that he had shown up.

Nancy gestured for Ned to sit down with them, and he seemed to relax somewhat at the idea that she wanted him around. Before long, everyone was chatting idly while they waited for any more updates. It was an odd feeling for Nancy to be back in River Heights sitting with Hannah, Bess, George, and Ned. She could almost mistake the moment for a simple dinner at her house a few years ago, and not desperately waiting for news on her father’s condition.

A little while into their conversation, Frank came back around the corner.

“Any updates?” he asked with concern.

Nancy shook her head.

“Well, maybe no news is good news…” Frank said with a sigh as he took a seat in one of the chairs.

Bess started to ask Frank about their flight in, but Nancy was painfully aware that Frank now knew about Ned’s arrival. As much as Nancy was grateful for Ned’s presence, she realized that Frank might not feel the same way. She sat anxiously watching the conversation flow between everyone with the hopes that nothing would start between Frank and Ned. To Nancy’s pleasant surprise, the conversation stayed entirely civil.

After what felt like an entirety of waiting, a nurse came out to speak to them.

“Carson is awake. He can have one visitor for now, but he’s still quite heavily medicated, so you should be prepared for him to be groggy.”

Hannah turned to Nancy. “Why don’t you go see him now? We’ll wait here.”

Nancy nodded and followed the nurse down the hall. When she entered her dad’s room, she was met with a sight that brought tears to her eyes. Her dad had always been unflappable, yet here he was, lying in a hospital bed and covered in wires.

“Hey,” Carson croaked as he saw Nancy in the doorway.

She rushed to his side.

“Hi Dad,” she whispered. She squeezed his hand. “How are you?”

He let out a dry chuckle. “I’ve been better.”

“No kidding,” Nancy said. She was trying to stay calm but it was hard to see her dad in such rough shape. “You sure scared me.”

“Sorry kiddo,” Carson replied. He seemed to come to some sort of realization. “How did you even get here so quickly?”

“Frank,” Nancy said simply. “He dealt with everything… I haven’t been functional since Hannah called this morning, but Frank made sure we were able to make it on the first flight out.”

Carson nodded slowly. “Frank’s a pretty decent guy, isn’t he?”

Nancy laughed. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said about him.”

“Well, I am on a lot of painkillers right now,” Carson chuckled.

Nancy stayed chatting with her dad for a few more minutes, but she didn’t want to stay too long either. She could tell he was already exhausted.

“I’m gonna let you get some rest, okay?” Nancy said as she kissed her dad on the cheek. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Hannah wants to see you too.”

“Sounds good,” Carson said with a smile. “And tell Frank thank you for me. I appreciate that he got you here.”

Nancy nodded as she headed back out to the waiting room.

“He’s okay,” Nancy said quietly as she met the anxious crowd back outside. She saw the relief on their faces. “He’s tired, but he’s okay.”

“Well, I think we should all try to get some rest,” Hannah said. “It’s going to be a long few days.”

As everyone filed out of the hospital, Nancy said a quick thank you to Bess, George, and Ned before making her way with Frank to Hannah’s car. As soon as they got into the backseat, she realized that she was wiped. The anxiety of the day was fading for now, and she was exhausted. Nancy didn’t remember much else about the rest of the evening, except when she woke up briefly in Frank’s arms as he was carrying her up the driveway.

“Shh… go back to sleep,” he whispered as Nancy dozed back off. “I’ve got you.”
  
The next few days went by both quickly and slowly at the same time. Carson was generally recovering well, but it was still hard to watch him struggling with the pain that accompanied his recovery. As Nancy got back from visiting her dad on the third day, she paced anxiously around the kitchen. She needed to find herself something to eat, but she couldn’t stop hearing the voice of the doctor who had come to discuss Carson’s long term recovery. It was looking like weeks, or even months before he would be fully back on his feet. Nancy knew there was no way she was going back to New York anytime soon. This was her dad. They had only ever had each other, and that meant that she would drop everything to look after him just like he had done for her a hundred times in her younger days.

As much as Nancy knew what she needed to do, she didn’t know how to break the news to Frank. She didn’t want to leave Frank or Joe hanging with the agency, but she knew she didn’t have a choice. There was no way they could all just hit pause on the agency for the foreseeable future. Nancy also wasn’t looking forward to being apart from Frank.

She gave up on her search for something to eat and headed to her room, where she found Frank sitting at her desk.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” he said into his phone. “I’ll talk to Nancy about it in a bit. Just call me when you get there, okay? Bye!”

He hung up, but didn’t seem to notice Nancy’s presence in the room as he continued to work at his laptop.

“Hey,” she said quietly.

Frank turned around.

“Hey!” he said with a soft smile. “I didn’t hear you get back. How are things today?”

At Nancy’s hesitation, Frank stood up. “Is your dad okay?”

“He’s fine,” Nancy said quickly. “I mean, he’s as fine as he was yesterday.”

Frank smiled. “That’s good!”

Nancy just sighed as she sat down on her bed.

“The doctor talked to me about my dad’s long term recovery today,” she said quietly. “It’s gonna be weeks… maybe even months.”

Frank nodded. “I mean, I figured that would be the case, given what happened.”

“So then you know what I’m going to say…” Nancy sighed. “Look, I’m really sorry, but I can’t go back to New York anytime soon. I know we have a case lined up in a couple days, but I’m not going to be able to go. And I doubt I’ll be able to make it to whatever we line up next either.”

“It’s no problem, Nance,” Frank said gently. “I wouldn’t expect you to do anything besides being here with your dad.”

He carried his laptop over to Nancy’s bed.

“I was just talking to Joe,” Frank continued. “He’s on his way to California for the case we had lined up.”

“When do you think you’ll head out to meet him?” Nancy asked. She didn’t want Frank to leave at all, but she knew he needed to help Joe.

“I’m not leaving,” Frank said immediately. He gestured at his laptop screen. Nancy could see the secure drive where they kept their case records. “Joe’s going to take as many photos as he can while he’s investigating, and his phone’s going to sync to the drive. I’ll help him from here as much as I can. And you can too if you feel up to it, or if you need a distraction. Worst case scenario, I can fly back and forth. But I’m not leaving you here.”

“I’ll be okay,” Nancy said firmly. “I have Hannah, and my friends, and-”

“And I’m so glad that you do,” Frank clarified. “But you also have me. I’m not going to leave you here to look after your dad while Joe and I run around solving cases. I know you enough to know that you’ll lose your mind if you’re here without a case and worrying about your dad for weeks on end. This way, we can juggle both at once. And I had Joe pull all the cold case requests from the Chicago area. We can line up our next few cases around here to make it even easier.”

Nancy pulled Frank into a hug. She was overwhelmed by his willingness to shift things to make her life easier.

“Thank you,” she whispered into his chest.

Frank kissed the top of Nancy’s head.

“Whatever I can do to help, Nance,” he said softly.

“You’ve already done so much,” she replied. “I’m going to owe you forever.”

Frank shook his head. “I’m not keeping score. We look after each other. That’s just how this works.”

As Nancy breathed into Frank’s neck, she realized she wasn’t nearly as worried as she could have been. Her dad was going to pull through. Her relationship with Frank was going to be okay. Her job was going to be right where she left it.

She was going to be okay.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“I don’t know what to do, Joe! That’s why I called you!”

The sound of Frank’s panicked voice on the phone down the hall made Nancy’s stomach drop. She had just gotten up and made her way out of her room. She knew Frank had gotten up earlier to get some groceries, but she had taken the opportunity to catch up on some rest.

“I hate keeping anything from her, but this isn’t an ideal time to break the news either,” Frank continued. “There’s no good answer here!”

Nancy walked into the kitchen, where Frank was pacing the room with his phone pressed to his ear. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Nancy.

“Shit, I have to go,” Frank said quickly as he hung up.

Nancy crossed her arms over her chest in the doorway.

“Exactly how much of that did you hear?” he asked hesitantly.

“Enough to know that you’re considering keeping something from me,” Nancy replied. “Not enough to know what it is. I take it this doesn’t have to do with my dad, though.”

Frank shook his head quickly. “No, not at all.”

“So what exactly was so important that it’s worth having secrets?” Nancy asked.

Frank sighed. “I don’t want to have any secrets. But I also don’t want to add to what you’re going through right now.”

“I don’t need you to decide what I can handle,” Nancy said firmly. “I’ve never kept anything from you, and I think I deserve at least that much in return.”

Frank hesitated. “Okay, look, I ran into Ned just now while I was shopping. He was kissing someone.”

“Wait, you thought that was going to bother me?” Nancy laughed. “I’m pretty sure Ned is allowed to kiss whoever he wants. I’ve definitely done more than that with you since he and I broke up.”

Frank swallowed hard before speaking again.

“It was Bess,” he said quietly.

Nancy was entirely certain that Frank was mistaken.

“No, there’s no way,” she replied. “You must have been confused. Bess would have said something.”

“I followed them around the store just to be sure,” Frank said quietly. “I realize that’s weird, but I wanted to be absolutely certain before I said anything to you.”

Nancy couldn’t quite process what she was hearing.

“I don’t understand…” she said with confusion. “Where did you see this? What were they doing?”

“I was at Target getting the groceries, and I saw Ned and Bess down the aisle,” Frank explained. “I was about to go over and say hi when Ned leaned in and kissed Bess.”

“And I take it she kissed him back?” Nancy asked hesitantly.

Frank nodded slowly.

“I’m really sorry, Nancy,” Frank said gently. “I know it can’t be easy to see Ned move on with your friend and-”

“I don’t care who he moved on with,” Nancy said with disbelief. “That’s his prerogative. But for Bess to not tell me about this? That one stings…”

Nancy couldn't understand how Bess could fail to mention that she was involved with Ned. Nancy didn’t have a single inclination that this was even something that was on Bess’ radar, let alone something serious enough that Bess was kissing Ned in the grocery aisle.

“Were they… together?” Nancy asked. “Did this look like some sort of awkward first date or did they look like a couple?”

Frank hesitated. “If these were suspects I was tailing, my report would be that they looked like they’d been together a while…”

“Why wouldn’t she just tell me?” Nancy said as she shook her head. “I mean, sure, it’s a little weird, but it’s not like I was going to be mad…”

At the same moment, Nancy’s phone started to ring. As she reached for it, she realized it was Hannah. She knew Hannah had been visiting with Carson at the hospital this morning, and she was a little worried as she picked up.

“Hi Hannah, is everything-”

“Nancy, you need to get back to the hospital,” Hannah said immediately. “They’re saying that they need to bring your dad back up to surgery. Something’s gone wrong.”

Nancy’s stomach dropped. “I’ll be right there,” she whispered as she hung up.

Frank seemed to understand the severity of the situation from Nancy’s tone. He grabbed the keys to Carson’s SUV off the counter and followed Nancy to the driveway.

“They had to take him back into surgery,” Nancy whispered in terror as they climbed into the car.

“It could be a minor complication,” Frank said as he started to drive them towards the hospital. “We won’t know until we’re there.”

Nancy nodded. Her head was still swimming from the news of Bess’ secret, and now there was the fact that her dad’s condition had deteriorated. It wasn’t even ten in the morning yet and Nancy was already done with the day.

She didn’t say much as she and Frank rushed back to the same waiting area they were all too familiar with.

“How is he? What happened?” Nancy asked as she ran to talk to Hannah.

Hannah shook her head. “They just said the original surgery they did on his heart wasn’t holding up the way they had hoped, and that they need to go back in.”

Nancy sank into a chair. She couldn’t lose her dad. She just couldn’t…

Frank sat down beside her and held her hand. Nancy tried to focus on the feeling of Frank’s thumb rubbing the back of her hand and not the terror she felt. To her relief, the nurse came out only a short while later to inform them that Carson’s second surgery had gone very well. Nancy breathed a massive sigh of relief.

The nurse explained that Carson would still be sedated for the rest of the day, so Nancy, Frank, and Hannah made their way out of the hospital.

“I’m going to make a couple of stops before I head home,” Hannah said as they reached the parking lot. “I’ll see you back at the house in a little while.”

Nancy gave Hannah a hug and thanked her again for being such a pillar of calm in all this chaos before heading home with Frank.

When they arrived back at the Drew house, Nancy saw a car already in the driveway. As she stepped out of the car, she saw that Bess, George, and Ned were waiting in the driveway.

“What are you doing here?” Nancy called out.

“Hannah called us!” Bess said. “She said they had to take your dad back into surgery, and that we should come by to see you. Is everything okay?”

Nancy let out a sharp laugh. “Oh, it is far from okay…”

Her friends’ eyes widened at her choice of words, but Nancy was too frustrated to bother correcting their assumption. She walked straight past them up the driveway.

“Carson’s fine,” Frank said curtly as he followed Nancy up the driveway. “It’s been a long morning. I think we’re just gonna rest until Carson can have visitors again.”

“What’s going on?” George asked with confusion. She was following behind Frank.

“Like you don’t know!” Nancy snapped from the porch. “There’s no way Bess didn’t tell you! And you were both perfectly happy to keep this from me!”

“Nancy, I have no idea what you’re saying,” George said with even more confusion. Nancy realized that George might not have been in on this after all.

Nancy could tell from the look on both Bess and Ned’s faces that they, however, knew exactly what she was talking about.

George might not have been a detective, but even she seemed to know something was up.

“Could someone let me in on whatever’s going on here?” she asked.

“Those two are together,” Nancy snapped as she pointed to Bess and Ned in the driveway.

“Yeah right,” George laughed. She turned towards Bess and Ned with a chuckle that was quickly cut short. “Oh my god, is she right?”

Neither Bess or Ned spoke.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” George asked Bess incredulously. “You got with Nancy’s ex behind her back?”

Bess looked like she was about to cry, and Ned just looked pale.

“I’m so sorry,” Bess whispered. “We’re both sorry, okay? We didn’t mean for this to happen, I swear. We just- we got closer because we were the only two left in River Heights and-”

“Oh my god!” Nancy yelled in frustration. “Why does everyone keep acting like Ned is the problem here? I don’t give a damn who he’s with. What I give a damn about is the fact that I’ve been asking Bess if she’s been seeing anyone on every video call we’ve had since I moved and clearly she’s been lying to my face!”

“I didn’t want to hurt you…” Bess said quietly.

“Why would I be hurt?” Nancy said in disbelief. “Are you happy?”

Bess nodded hesitantly.

“Then I’m happy!” Nancy replied.

“Nancy, he’s your ex,” Bess said gently. “You’re allowed to be upset.”

“I don’t care!” Nancy emphasized. “I haven’t been out here with my life on hold for the day Ned came back around. I’m with the person I want to be with for the rest of my life - full stop. All I want is for you to find that too, Bess. If that person is Ned, knock yourself out!”

As Bess’ face broke into a smile and she pulled Nancy into a hug, Nancy was suddenly very much aware that she had just blurted out that she intended to spend the rest of her life with Frank for the first time. She hadn’t started this conversation with the idea of saying that. As soon as she said it, though, she knew it was true. It happened in the same way that it did on the day she confessed her feelings while sitting on their office floor. Frank was the one she wanted for the rest of her life. There had been silent hopes and teasing exchanges, but for the first time Nancy was completely certain.

“I think these three need a chance to talk,” Frank said. To Nancy’s surprise, he was talking to Ned. “Do you, uh, do you wanna grab a coffee?”

“That sounds awful,” Ned laughed. “Let’s do it.”

Frank kissed Nancy on the cheek as he turned to leave.

“Just call if anything changes with your dad,” he said.

“I will,” Nancy replied with a soft smile.

As Frank and Ned made their way down the driveway, Nancy let herself into the house, with Bess and George following behind. Nancy collapsed onto the couch in a pile of exhausted emotions.

“Alright,” she said to Bess. “Start talking. You’ve kept both of us in the dark, and we need to know what’s happening.”

Bess hesitated. “Well, um, what do you want to know?”

“Everything!” George said. “For starters, I want to know how long this has been going on.”

“Well, we’ve been together almost two months,” Bess replied. “But if I’m being honest, there’s been something between us for a bit longer… We tried to ignore it for as long as we could before we couldn’t anymore.”

“You should have just told me,” Nancy sighed. “You could have had my blessing from the start, if that’s what you wanted. I want you to be happy. I want Ned to be happy. That’s all I want.”

“You’re a good person, Nancy,” Bess said quietly.

“It’s not hard when you guys are good people too,” Nancy replied. “Now start at the beginning. When did you start having feelings for him?”

“Well, we kept running into each other because we both had a class in the same building,” Bess began. “And then Ned asked if I wanted to grab lunch…”

As Bess recounted how she fell for Ned, Nancy couldn’t help but smile. Two wonderful people had found happiness with each other. Nancy couldn’t have been angry about it if she’d wanted to be.
  
It wasn’t until Nancy was making dinner with Frank long after Bess and George had left that she had the chance to bring up the day’s earlier events.

“So how exactly was that coffee with Ned?” Nancy asked as she chopped carrots.

“Excruciating,” Frank laughed. “He asked me if I watched last night’s soccer game, and I said no. And then I asked him if he had listened to any good podcasts lately, and he said no. And then we sat in silence for four straight minutes. I even counted on my watch.”

Nancy was almost doubled over with laughter. “Oh my god, you should have texted me! I could have easily faked an emergency with my dad!”

“I’m not gonna pretend like it didn’t cross my mind,” Frank grinned as he stirred the noodles. “But we muddled through some small talk. Anyway, I wanted you to have a real chance to talk things over with Bess and George. How did that go?”

“Pretty good,” Nancy smiled. “I can understand why Bess did what she did. She wanted to figure out if things were working between her and Ned before she told anyone else. And by the sounds of it, they’re the real deal.”

Nancy smiled as she returned to chopping. Her smile faded as she remembered there was an unaddressed topic of conversation.

“Um, so about what I said earlier in the driveway…” Nancy started hesitantly. She wasn’t sure what to expect from Frank.

“Consider it forgotten,” Frank said immediately. “You’ve been through enough today. I don’t want you worrying that you’re stuck with me forever just because you were trying to be nice to Bess.”

“That’s not what I was worried about,” Nancy said softly. “I wasn’t just trying to be nice to Bess. I meant everything I said… I just wasn’t sure if you want that.”

“Have you met me?” Frank chuckled as he stirred the noodles. “That’s all I want.”

“Well, good,” Nancy said firmly. “That's all I want too… if it works for you.”

“It works for me,” Frank replied without taking his eyes off the pot.

“That’s great,” Nancy said pointedly. “So I guess it’s settled then.”

“I guess it is,” Frank said.

They stood in silence for a minute before Frank turned to Nancy and spoke again.

“Did we just agree that we’re spending the rest of our lives together?” he asked softly.

“Pretty sure we did,” she whispered back.

“Are you sure?” he asked. Nancy could hear the hope in his voice.

“A hundred percent,” she replied. “Are you?”

“Without a doubt,” Frank said.

“Alright,” Nancy whispered with a tiny giggle of joy. “You and me forever. End of story.”

Frank stepped away from the stove and pulled Nancy into his arms.

“I actually think it’s the start of the story,” he whispered after a moment.

Nancy just smiled into Frank’s neck.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The team had been on a case in Germany just two weeks before Christmas when Nancy overheard a conversation that wasn’t meant for her to hear. The case had actually just been solved. The kidnapped woman was found safe, the culprit had been turned over to the police, and the trio of detectives were back at their hotel. Nancy was resting in the room she was sharing with Frank. She had taken a tumble during their altercation with the kidnapper, but her only injury was a twisted ankle. Frank was fussing over her anyway.

“Do you want another pillow under your ankle?” Frank asked as he grabbed another pillow. “It should probably be raised up more.”

“I’m fine, Frank,” Nancy insisted. “Really, I am.”

Despite Frank’s insistence, Nancy didn’t mind his concern. She was used to it by now and besides that, Frank never let it get in the way of her independence.

As he gently put another pillow under Nancy’s ankle, she spoke again. “Go have that drink Detlef wanted to buy you.”

Detlef, the man who hired them, had insisted on buying the detectives a drink as a thank you for their quick work in finding his cousin. Nancy had politely declined, citing the need to rest her ankle, but she wanted Frank and Joe to go anyway. Frank was clearly reluctant to leave Nancy, but she continued to insist until he agreed. Frank kissed her forehead and reminded her to text him if she needed anything before leaving the room.

Nancy figured she’d spend the evening in bed watching TV. She wanted to find out if she had picked up enough German to understand a dubbed rerun of The Office, but after a while she realized that her ankle had other plans. It twinged as she sat, and Nancy realized she probably should have asked Frank to bring her some more ice before he left. While Nancy knew all she had to do was text and Frank would be back with a bag of ice in a heartbeat, she didn’t want to bother him. He deserved to have a drink in peace without having to worry about her.

Nancy gingerly tested her ability to put weight on her ankle as she stood up from the bed. It wasn’t overly sore, so she decided to make the trip to the ice machine herself. As she got to the end of the hall, she noticed the posted sign. Her German was good enough to realize that the ice machine was broken and that she’d need to go to the lobby bar to get some ice.

Nancy groaned. Now would have been the right time for her to text Frank. Her headstrong need to not bother him and to prove that she could look after herself was apparently bigger than the twinge in her ankle, however, and she found herself waiting for the elevator to arrive. She could already imagine Frank shaking his head at her stubbornness if he spotted her at the bar. She stepped carefully into the elevator and hit the button for the lobby.

When the elevator doors opened, Nancy made a slow walk to the bar, with her ankle beginning to protest the distance. She gladly took a seat at one of the bar stools as she asked the bartender for a bag of ice. He went into the kitchen to fulfill her request, leaving Nancy alone at the nearly empty bar. She hadn’t spotted Frank, Joe, or Detlef. Nancy was wondering if they had already finished up when she heard a laugh that she knew by heart.

She turned towards the source of the sound and realized that she hadn’t seen the three men because they were sitting on the other side of a massive fake plant. She could only just make out three silhouettes. If she hadn’t recognized Frank’s laugh, Nancy wouldn’t have even been sure it was them.

While the plant provided an effective physical barrier, it offered no sound absorption. Nancy could hear their conversation as though she was sitting beside them. She had been about to call out to get their attention when she heard Detlef speak.

“So how long have you been with Nancy?” he asked.

“Almost a year!” Frank replied cheerfully. “But it feels like more. I’ve known her my whole life, and I’ve pretty much loved her the whole time too. We’ve been living together for months. I wouldn’t know what to do without her.”

Nancy’s heart did a little jump at Frank’s words. She didn’t doubt that Frank loved her, but it was still nice to know that he spoke so warmly about her even when he didn’t think she was around to hear it.

“Sounds like you need to marry this girl!” Detlef said.

Nancy stopped herself again from calling out to the men. She was suddenly very aware that she was eavesdropping. She wasn’t above listening in on conversations, but she generally tried to reserve that behavior for case work, not her boyfriend’s private conversations. Nancy knew it was wrong to keep listening. She knew it, and yet she made no move to leave her seat at the bar or to alert the chatting men to her presence.

Frank chuckled uncomfortably. “Marriage isn’t really in the cards for us.”
Nancy’s heart dropped. She and Frank had never really discussed marriage. They would often talk about being together for the rest of their lives, but a conversation about making it official had just never happened. It was almost ridiculous that neither one of them had broached the subject. When Joe had moved in with Deirdre, Nancy knew those two had a long conversation about their future together. It had made Nancy consider bringing marriage up to Frank on several occasions, but something always stopped her. Part of her just assumed that if it was something Frank was interested in, he would have brought it up by now. If it wasn’t what Frank wanted, Nancy figured she wasn’t going to be too upset. She knew they were going to be with each other forever either way. 
Nancy hadn’t even thought she wanted to get married for the longest time. She had always assumed it would mean making promises she couldn’t keep, like being home on time every night or giving up working on cases. As time passed with Frank at her side, she realized she wasn’t as opposed to the idea of marriage as she thought. In fact, it was something she found herself actively wanting. Frank wanted the same things in life as Nancy, and their relationship worked. She wasn’t scared by the idea anymore.

When Frank had given her a small box on her birthday last month, Nancy’s heart had soared. She had been so sure he was about to get down on one knee. Nancy did her best to hide her disappointment when she saw the gift inside. It was a miniature copy of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. The entire book has been published in a font so small that it was only visible through a magnifying glass. It was a truly wonderful gift that reminded Nancy of how much she loved Frank. She had just been hoping for something else…

Sitting here now at the bar and hearing that Frank had no intention of marrying her made her stomach drop. Nancy realized she wanted to marry him a lot more than she’d ever thought. Detlef’s reply broke through her thoughts.

“Why not get married?” he asked. “Don’t tell me you’re scared!”

Nancy heard Joe laugh. “My brother, scared of marriage? Not a chance.”

There was a pause in the conversation. Nancy wished she could see Frank’s face to better understand what he was thinking. Finally, he spoke again.

“I’d marry her tomorrow if I thought it was what she wanted,” Frank said. His voice sounded wistful. “I’ve thought about asking her a lot. But Nancy told me when we started dating that she didn’t want that. I’ve learned how to be okay with it. Nancy is her own person above everything else. At the end of the day, I’m just happy to have her in my life in whatever way she wants to be part of it.”

Nancy stood up immediately from the bar stool with the intention of going over to where Frank was sitting to set the record straight. He had it all wrong. What she had said about settling down on their first date was miles away from how she felt today. She hated that she hadn’t made that clear to him. In the chaos of her racing thoughts, Nancy had forgotten about the twisted ankle that had brought her to the bar in the first place. Her ankle buckled as soon as she put weight on it and she fell straight down onto the floor. The sound of her falling must have been loud enough to attract attention, because three heads popped around the fake plant.

“Nancy! What happened?” Frank asked with concern. “Are you okay?”

He rushed over to her with Joe at his heels. Neither of the brothers seemed aware that Nancy had just overheard their conversation.

“I came down to get some ice for my ankle,” Nancy explained with a wince.

Frank and Joe each put an arm around her to help her up.

“Why didn’t you just text me? I would’ve brought you some,” Frank said. He looked both worried and exasperated.

“I guess I’m just too stubborn for my own good,” Nancy replied with a grin.

Frank’s eyes rolled as he let out a chuckle.

“That much we already knew,” Joe laughed.

The brothers said goodnight to Detlef as the bartender returned. He looked mildly concerned by Nancy’s state and quickly handed Frank the bag of ice. The brothers began to help Nancy hop slowly towards the elevators. After making it a quarter of the way across the lobby, Frank stopped.

“This is ridiculous,” he muttered. “Joe, take this.”

He handed the bag of ice to Joe and proceeded to slide one hand behind Nancy’s back and another under her knees. Before she knew it, she was being lifted into Frank’s arms and he was carrying her towards the elevators. She had never been one for the damsel in distress act, but she also wasn’t going to complain about this particular excuse to be in Frank’s arms.

He carried Nancy up to their room and set her gently on the bed. Joe handed Frank the ice, and Frank fussed with the pillows under Nancy’s ankle once more. When Joe was confident that Nancy was okay, he said goodnight and made his way back to his own room. Frank had finally stopped fretting about whether Nancy needed to see a doctor for her ankle and he laid down beside her in the bed. They watched the German news and tried to see how many words they could understand.
Despite the sound of the TV, Nancy was still thinking about what she had heard in the lobby. Frank didn’t seem to have any idea that she had overheard him. She was trying to find the right words to clear things up, but she was coming up short. What exactly was she supposed to say? It felt presumptuous to inform Frank out of the blue that she wanted a proposal.

I was eavesdropping on you earlier and I just want you to know that I expect you to pop the question any day now!

The exhaustion of the day hit her all at once. Nancy decided it wasn’t the right time to bring up what she’d heard. She needed to be able to form coherent sentences to get across to Frank that she really and truly wanted to marry him. As she laid in his arms, she promised herself that she would find the right time as soon as possible.

It had been a week and a half since they’d returned from the case in Germany, leaving only a few days until Christmas. The group had given themselves a holiday break as of today, meaning they didn’t have any more cases lined up until after New Year’s. Nancy’s ankle had pretty much fully recovered, and she had spent all of her spare time thinking about what to say to Frank.

Given the rarity of all three detectives having an extended break, Laura had taken the initiative to rent a cabin where everyone could spend Christmas together. She had insisted that Nancy, Carson and even Deirdre join the Hardy family. They were all heading to the cabin on Christmas Eve, which was in two days. Nancy knew that didn’t give her much time to get her plan in place, which was why she was now at Joe and Deirdre’s apartment while Frank thought she was running errands.

“You know, having a secret meeting that excludes Frank didn’t go too well last time,” Joe joked.

“I think everything turned out okay in the end,” Nancy said with a smile.

She couldn’t believe that big misunderstanding had been almost a year ago now, or how far her relationship with Frank had come in that time.

“What’s the deal, Drew?” Deirdre asked. “Why can’t Frank know that you’re over here?”

“I need your opinion on my Christmas present for Frank,” Nancy replied.

“Well, you remembered to get him a Christmas present, so I think you’re already doing pretty well,” Joe teased.

Nancy laughed. “Do you remember the night when we were in Germany and I fell at the bar while I was trying to get ice for my ankle?”

Joe nodded as Nancy continued.

“The truth is I had been sitting at the bar for longer than you guys realized. I overheard some of your conversation - specifically, the part when Detlef was asking Frank why he hadn’t proposed.”

Joe and Deirdre’s eyes both widened.

“The thing is… Frank has it all wrong,” Nancy explained. “I want to marry him. I really, really do. The things I told him when we started dating aren’t how I feel now. And I had planned to just tell all of this to Frank, but it didn’t feel right to just blurt it out over dinner one night. It felt like I would have been telling him that he needed to propose to me. And then I realized that I should just propose to him instead.”

Joe’s jaw dropped and Deirdre’s face broke out into a huge grin.

Nancy spoke directly to Joe with her next question.

“I need your honest opinion about whether that’s a good idea,” she said. “Do you think Frank would find it weird? All I want is for him to know that I love him.”

“Ah yes, you know how it is with my brother and his fragile masculine ego…” Joe replied with a level of sarcasm that could have given Frank a run for his money. “Nancy, you could write a proposal on the bottom of an old shoe and throw it at Frank’s head and he’d still be thrilled.”

“He’s right, Drew,” Deirdre added. “I know that I don’t know Frank as well as either of you, but even I can see how much he loves you.”

Nancy was relieved. She didn’t think Frank would be upset if Nancy was the one to propose anyway, but hearing confirmation from both Joe and Deirdre solidified her decision.

“Sounds like we better get planning,” Nancy smiled.

“We?” Deirdre asked with confusion.

“Well, I’m going to need some help to pull this off in time for Christmas,” Nancy replied.

“Count us in!” Joe grinned.
  
Nancy had spent the last two days conspiring with Joe and Deirdre over a newly created private group chat and trips to do “last minute Christmas shopping”. She had been extra careful not to tip Frank off in any way. The last thing she wanted was another misunderstanding.

It was lunchtime on Christmas Eve and Nancy was getting into the passenger seat of their rental car. The two couples had made enough visits back to Bayport together that road trips felt routine.

“Does everyone have everything?” Joe asked as he and Deirdre climbed in. “Suitcases?

Christmas presents

?”

Joe emphasized the last two words as he glanced at Nancy. She nodded quickly, hoping Frank wouldn’t pick up on Joe’s hint.

The trip to the cabin upstate felt like no time at all. As they pulled into the driveway, Nancy saw her dad waving from the front window. Nancy had called him as soon as she had settled on her plan to propose. The call had gone exceptionally well. Her dad and Frank got along much better these days. Carson had come to appreciate Frank, just like Nancy knew he would, and he seemed okay with the idea of Frank sticking around permanently.

The two couples lugged suitcases and bags of presents in from the car. Laura was the first to greet them.

“Ah, here are my two favorite people! And also my sons…” she grinned.

Laura might have been a quiet woman, but Joe wasn’t the only one in the family with a sense of humour. She gave each of them a warm hug as Fenton and Carson came to the entryway too.  They exchange handshakes and hugs with everyone. Nancy also introduced Deirdre to her dad. The two had crossed paths in River Heights long ago, but Nancy figured Deirdre deserved the chance to start fresh.

Soon enough, everyone was settling into their respective rooms. Nancy carried the bag with her gifts for the others down to where Laura had already set up a beautiful tree. Her hand shook a little as she placed the rectangular present with Frank’s name on the tag underneath.

“Ooh, you got me a book!” Frank said from behind Nancy as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Nancy knew his words weren’t sarcastic. He would have loved to receive a book.

“It’s something like that…” Nancy murmured.

She was a little distracted by the realization that Frank was standing inches away from the gift that would change the direction of their relationship. Whether Frank said yes or no tomorrow, things between them would be undeniably different. Nancy crossed her fingers that things were going to change in the way she hoped.

“What’s up?” Frank asked. He had caught onto Nancy’s worry, even if it was a small one.

“Nothing really…” Nancy said vaguely. “Just hoping you’ll like your Christmas present.”

Frank let out a chuckle of disbelief. “Since when have I ever given you the impression that I care about presents? Don’t get me wrong - I appreciate you thinking of me, but I wouldn’t care even if you hadn’t gotten me anything. You’re all I want for Christmas.”

“You’re not going to start singing Mariah Carey, are you?” Nancy replied with a chuckle.

She was laughing, but inside she felt relieved by the reminder of what she meant to Frank. The twinge of anxiety about whether Frank would say yes started to fade into the background.

“I’m not much of a singer, but I’m sure those two could be convinced to do some karaoke,” Frank said wryly as he gestured towards the kitchen where Joe and Deirdre were helping Laura prepare dinner.
  
Waiting for the household to wake up on Christmas morning hadn’t been this difficult for Nancy since she was seven. Although it felt like it took an eternity, the entire group was eventually gathered in the living room around Laura’s beautiful tree. There were pastries and coffee being passed around as presents were being opened. The whole thing was a mess of talking and laughter that Nancy had come to expect when she spent time as part of the Hardy family. Deirdre was currently squealing with excitement over the skincare set Joe had given her. Nancy didn’t know what was so special about it, but she figured she’d ask Bess later. Nancy had texted Bess and George earlier in the week to let them in on her proposal plan. They were both ecstatic at the news and made Nancy promise to call them as soon as she knew Frank’s answer.

Frank, who was sitting beside Nancy, reached under the tree and handed her a square box. It was a little too big to be a ring box, but Nancy wasn’t disappointed this time. After all, she had taken matters into her own hands.

Nancy opened the box from Frank and gasped.

“What is it?” Deirdre asked excitedly.

Nancy was speechless. It was a small magnifying glass on a pendant. The magnifying glass had a real lens and was completely functional. It wasn’t the gift itself that had Nancy at a loss for words, but rather where it came from. Nancy’s gasp had attracted the attention of the room and she held up the necklace for everyone to see.

“Oh that’s gorgeous!” Laura said.

“How did you manage this?” Nancy asked Frank, who was smiling softly at her reaction. She realized that the rest of the room wasn’t aware of the meaning behind Frank’s gift, so she began to explain. “I saw this necklace while we were investigating a couple weeks ago in Germany. It wasn’t for sale, though. It was part of the collection owned by the family that hired us. They let us into their vault to look for clues. There were all these diamonds and jewels, but I thought this was the nicest piece of jewelry I’d ever seen… I don’t understand how it’s here.”

Frank still had a smile on his face as he took his turn explaining. “After we solved the case, when I went for that drink with Detlef and Joe, the first thing Detlef said was that he wanted to give us something from the vault to say thank you, besides just paying us. Normally I would have turned down the offer, but I thought I’d try my luck. I asked if he’d let me have this necklace to give to you. I noticed how much you liked it while we were investigating. Detlef didn’t even hesitate to say yes.”

Nancy didn’t remember saying that much about the necklace, but clearly Frank had picked up on what she was thinking. Nancy so often felt seen by Frank in a way no one else did. She gave him a quick kiss in an attempt to convey what his gesture meant to her.

“That’s not what Detlef wanted Frank to take, though…” Joe said with a sly grin on his face. “Detlef was pushing for Frank to go with a diamond ring.”

Nancy felt Frank tense beside her. He shot Joe an angry glare and quickly reached back under the tree to hand a few more presents around the room. The conversation picked back up as Laura brought out a fresh pot of coffee.

If Nancy hadn’t just received her gift from Frank, she might have been worried by his reaction. He was clearly trying to change the subject, but Nancy understood why. If Frank had declined the offer of a diamond ring in Germany, it had been because he thought Nancy didn’t want to marry him, not because it was the other way around. Nancy knew Frank well enough to know that his reaction to Joe’s comment had almost certainly been in an effort to make sure she didn’t feel uncomfortable or pressured. For someone who knew her so well that he could read her mind about a necklace, Frank sure was off base when it came to Nancy’s opinion on marriage.

Nancy figured now was as good a time as any to set the record straight. With a deep breath, she reached under the tree for the box she had placed there yesterday and handed it to Frank, who smiled. The entire exchange was very casual, but Frank seemed to pick up on the way the atmosphere in the room had shifted. Joe and Deirdre had executed their final task perfectly, which had been to quietly get everyone paying attention when Nancy gave Frank his gift. Frank hesitated slightly at the attention, but then unwrapped the gift. As he lifted the lid off the box, his eyes began to read the paper inside.

“What is it, son?” Fenton asked. He was clearly curious to see what was so important that they all had to pay close attention.

Frank was beaming. He held up the box. Inside was a brochure for the New Year’s Eve event on Jake Hurley’s newly refurbished train. Two tickets were taped to the front.

“Nancy got tickets to the New Year’s Eve party on the same train where we investigated a case together years ago,” Frank explained. He set down the box and turned to Nancy with a massive smile. “This is amazing! Thank you.”

He kissed her gently.

“You know, I had heard about this event too,” Frank added. “But when I tried to get tickets, they were already sold out.”

“They were sold out when I tried too, actually,” Nancy replied. “Turns out Deirdre’s dad knows how to get tickets to just about anything, though.”

Nancy gestured at Deirdre, who was doing a great job of pretending like she didn’t know what was going to happen next.

“Wow, thank you,” Frank said to Deirdre.

He turned back to the room, as if he thought the tickets were the entire present. Even then, he seemed completely thrilled.

“Open the brochure!” Joe called out. He seemed to be just as anxious as Nancy for Frank to realize what the real gift was.

Frank sighed at his brother’s persistence, but obliged. As he did, five more tickets fell out.

“Whoa, I think we all get to go!” Frank said as he held up the extra tickets to the room.

“I thought it was important that everyone could be there…” Nancy said with a sly smile. “Sorry Laura, I know you had rented the cabin until New Year’s Day. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if we took off early.”

“Of course I don’t mind,” Laura replied with a smile. “This sounds wonderful!”

Nancy turned back to Frank, who was looking over the brochure. Nancy had left sticky notes for him throughout it. She had scribbled messages about various memories of their previous adventure on the train. Frank was smiling as he read them. Nancy watched his face carefully as he reached the last sticky note. His eyes went wide as read it.

Nancy had found out that the train’s new owners had done some refurbishments to make it a space for hosting events, all while trying to maintain the original spirit and atmosphere. Part of the renovation plans involved hosting weddings, and there was now a tiny chapel onboard. Next to the section of the brochure that talked about the chapel, Nancy had left a very specific sticky note.

This part of the train is new. I don’t have any memories with you there. Wanna make one?

Frank stared at the sticky note for several seconds before looking up at Nancy.

“I don’t understand…” he whispered.

Nancy knew that Frank understood what she was trying to say perfectly, but that he wasn’t allowing himself to believe it.

“Do you want me to sound the words out for you?” Joe called out.

Laura shushed Joe, but Frank didn’t even acknowledge the quip. He just kept staring at Nancy in disbelief. Nancy looked back at Frank as she began to speak.

“My dad told me once that I should be with someone who knows me, and who loves me because of it, not in spite of it,” she explained. “There were days when I wasn’t sure I’d even be able to find that. I know that I can be a lot, and that I’m not the perfect partner. But you know me inside and out, and you don’t make me feel like I’m too much or not enough. You know me and you love me because of it. I really hope you know that I feel the same way about you. I know who you are, and I want every part of it. And I want it forever.”

Nancy paused to take a deep breath.

“Long story short, I was wondering if you wanted to marry me?” she asked. “There’s an open slot next week in the train’s chapel…"

“You want to get married? Next week? To me?” Frank asked in a shaky voice.

“Well, I’d like to marry someone next week,” Nancy teased. “If you’re not up for it, I could always ask Joe…”

“Hands off, Drew!” Deirdre smirked. “This one’s mine.”

She had a massive grin on her face and so did Joe. Nancy took in the other faces in the room. She wasn’t surprised that Laura was crying. She wasn’t even surprised that her dad had shed a few tears. She was surprised, however, when she caught Fenton quickly wiping his eye.

Nancy turned back to Frank.

“If Joe’s out, it sounds like it’s gotta be you and me…” she smiled. “What do you say?”

Frank whispered a single word in response.

“Yes.”

The room erupted into cheers as Nancy and Frank kissed. Joe was blowing a party horn like he had the day Nancy had agreed to join the agency. Deirdre, not one to be outdone by Joe, had brought some sort of shiny confetti, which she was tossing into the air towards Nancy and Frank. There was a frenzy of hugs, handshakes and congratulations. Nancy barely had the chance to actually talk to Frank. Instead, she found herself explaining to Fenton and Laura how Joe and Deirdre had helped with her plan. Nancy also saw Frank shaking hands with her dad out of the corner of her eye. She was about to join them next, when she remembered to fulfill her promise to call Bess and George with the news. They were overjoyed and made Nancy swear to record the upcoming ceremony so that they could watch it.

Finally, Nancy found herself standing next to Frank. Deirdre was telling everyone the story of how her dad had managed to get seven tickets for the New Year’s Eve party on the train on such short notice, with Joe chiming in here and there. Frank’s face was focused on the conversation, but Nancy felt his hand reach for hers. She intertwined their fingers as he made contact. As everyone was laughing at Deirdre and Joe’s banter, Frank leaned over and whispered in Nancy’s ear.

“I love you, Nance.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy and Frank were still lying in bed long after the sun had risen on the day after Christmas. They had decided to stay in bed “a little longer” at least four times now. Nancy was happy to linger in their own quiet moment. The day before had been wonderful, but it was focused on sharing their joy with their families. Nancy wanted a few more minutes with the man who was now her fiancé before they rejoined the excitement of the entire group. As she laid against Frank’s chest, he was looking down at what she was writing in her notebook.

“Why are you trying to forge my signature?” he asked with a chuckle. “I already agreed to marry you. You don’t need to fake my name on my paperwork.”

Nancy knew he had seen her signing “Hardy” again and again on the page.

“It’s not for your signature,” Nancy clarified with a soft smile. “It’s for mine.”

She wrote out “Nancy Drew-Hardy” on the page and felt Frank inhale sharply beside her. Nancy turned her head to look at him and saw the shock on his face.

“You want to add my name to yours?” Frank asked in disbelief. “It hadn’t even crossed my mind that you would…”

“You know, I never really thought it was something I’d do either,” Nancy replied. “But when I thought about it, I realized that it’s something I want. I’d never drop Drew, but I also really love the idea of being a Hardy. If you’re okay with it, that is.”

Frank seemed to be blinking back tears.

“I’m more than okay with it,” he whispered softly. “I don’t mean that to sound weird. It just means a lot to me that you want to call yourself part of this crazy family.”

“Of course I do,” Nancy replied with a smile. “I love your family.”

“They’re yours now too,” Frank said. “In fact, they have been for a while.”

Nancy beamed.

“Speaking of family,” she said suddenly. “We should probably get up and see everyone else.”

“If you insist…” Frank chuckled.

They slowly dragged themselves out of bed and downstairs to join the others for breakfast. The discussion about last names didn’t come up again until later that afternoon, when Nancy saw Frank gesturing for her to join him in the empty kitchen as she walked by. Nancy knew the look in his eyes. He had an idea that he couldn’t wait to share with her. It was the same look he got when he came up with an idea for how to proceed on a tricky case.

“I just realized that I want us to have the same last name,” Frank said excitedly as soon as Nancy walked in.

Nancy chuckled. “I already told you that I was going to do that.”

“No, the exact same last name,” Frank clarified.

Nancy was taken aback. How had Frank gone from not expecting her to change her last name at all to wanting her to take only his name in a matter of hours?

“I’m not dropping Drew,” Nancy said firmly.

She had already made her position on the matter clear. She was pretty surprised Frank was even pushing her on this. It seemed more than a little out of character.

“No, no, that’s not what I mean,” Frank explained. “I mean Drew-Hardy. Let’s both do it. I’ll change my name too.”

Nancy looked at Frank in surprise. “You’d do that?”

“Of course,” Frank replied softly. “I want to be part of your family too.”

It was Nancy’s turn to blink back tears.

“I’d like that a lot,” she whispered. She leaned up to kiss him.

“I don’t know what kind of paperwork is involved, but I figure your dad can help us navigate it,” Frank said with a smile. Suddenly, his smile faded. “Your dad won’t mind if I’m a Drew, will he?”

Nancy just chuckled at Frank’s nerves.

“I’m sure my dad will come around…” she said with a grin.
  
In the days that followed, Deirdre had jumped into the role of Nancy’s wedding planner without hesitation. She had a checklist of tasks to be completed before the wedding that she was assigning to each member of the family. Nancy wasn’t terribly concerned with most of the items on the list. She would have married Frank in sweats if that’s what it took. Still, something about the planning was a little exciting.

“Alright, I’m in charge of decorations,” Deirdre said as she looked over her list. “Joe, you need to help Frank find a suit.”

Deirdre had called a meeting in the dining room with Nancy, Frank, and Joe to discuss their plans. Nancy was relieved that Deirdre was thinking the details through, because it meant she didn’t have to worry about missing anything.

“Drew’s dad is filing the paperwork for the marriage license,” Deirdre continued. “He’s got some sort of rush application in. And the next on my list is vows. Have you two started writing them?”

As Deirdre looked over at Nancy and Frank, Nancy felt slightly embarrassed. It had crossed her mind that she needed to write something to say to Frank at the wedding, but so far she had been drawing a blank. Nancy turned to Frank and realized that he looked equally guilty. Deirdre caught onto this and sighed.

“Just don’t forget to write something before we get on the train, okay?” she said with an eye roll. “The last thing I need is this wedding going off the rails.”

Nancy shot Frank a grin and he grinned back. Deirdre was certainly running a tight ship.

“Drew, we’ll talk about your dress when the boys aren’t around,” Deirdre continued. “It’s bad luck for them to be here.”

Nancy chuckled. She didn’t care much about what was lucky or not, but she knew better than to argue with Deirdre at this point.

“That just leaves the rings,” Deirdre said. “Drew, your dad said he wanted to talk to you two about that. I think he wants to be the one to pay for them or something.”

Nancy was pleasantly surprised by that information. She knew the gesture would be her dad’s way of showing his acceptance of the wedding. As everyone began to file out of the study, Nancy realized that Frank was also surprised, but not in the same way.

“Your dad shouldn’t have to pay for our rings,” he said firmly to her. “I’ll look after that. Does he think the reason I didn’t propose myself was that I couldn’t afford to buy you a ring? Because that’s not-”

Nancy cut him off with a kiss. “I’m sure that if he wants to pay for our rings, it’s because he wants to show us that he’s happy we’re getting married.”

Frank nodded, though Nancy could see he wasn’t convinced.

“Drew!” Deirdre called out after her.

Nancy hung back in the study where Deirdre was still sitting.

“What’s up?” Nancy asked.

“What’s the deal with your wedding dress?” Deirdre replied. “I was gonna assume you had it under control but then I remembered it’s you that we’re talking about… You’d show up to your wedding in what you’re wearing right now if I let you.”

Under the sass, Nancy knew Deirdre had a point. She had been avoiding thinking about what she was going to wear to the wedding because she had no plan. Nancy had only thought as far as the proposal and making sure the chapel booking on the train was secured. She had tossed a couple nice dresses into her bag when they left for the cabin just in case, but none of them were right. She knew Frank wouldn’t care what she wore, but part of her did want to feel special.

“Uh, I don’t actually have a plan for my dress,” Nancy admitted sheepishly. “I have a beige cocktail dress in my suitcase. It’s probably going to have to do.”

Deirdre just shook her head. “I’ve seen you wearing that one. It won't work.”

She pulled out her phone and started to look at something.

“There’s a couple thrift stores not too far from here,” Deirdre continued. “Wanna go dress shopping?”

As Nancy nodded in agreement, Frank and Joe came back into the study

“We’re gonna take the car for a bit!” Joe said with a grin. “We need to take care of something…”

Deirdre shook her head. “No, Drew and I need the car right now.”

“Frank and I have top secret wedding preparation to do,” Joe argued with a mischievous glint in his eye.

“So do me and Drew!” Deirdre replied with a huff. She turned to face Frank. “It’s not a good look to start your marriage out by disappointing your fiancé, you know…”

Frank chuckled. “How about Joe and I drop you two off wherever you need to go, and then we’ll take the car for a little bit before we come back to get you?”

“Deal,” Nancy said with a smile.

As the two couples made their way to the car, Nancy slipped her arm around Frank.

“What’s so top secret about your wedding prep?” she asked. “I’m just seeing if I can find a dress on short notice.”

Frank was clearly trying to stifle his smile.

“Not telling,” he said with a wink. “Mine’s very much confidential. Or at least it is for now…”

As they got into the car, Nancy wondered what exactly Frank was planning.

Before long, Nancy and Deirdre were being dropped off in front of the thrift store on the nearest town’s main street. It was a small shop, and Nancy worried that they wouldn’t be able to find anything worthwhile. Deirdre didn’t seem to share these concerns.

As soon as they got inside, she tore through the rack of dresses and began to hold up options. To Nancy’s surprise, Deirdre seemed to have a pretty solid idea of her taste. Deirdre skipped over the princess ballgowns and went instead for simple white dresses. There weren’t an endless number of options, but the two women worked through what was on the rack until they had settled on three final options.

The entire situation hit Nancy at once as she was about to try on the first option. She had been about to pull on the dress when she started laughing and couldn’t stop. This time last year, Nancy had been home in River Heights for the holidays after her first month in New York City. Her life sure had changed. As Nancy continued to laugh, Deirdre called out.

“You good in there, Drew?”

Nancy came out of the fitting room wearing the first option.

“I just can’t believe any of this is real,” she explained between her giggles.

Deirdre seemed to hesitate at Nancy’s reaction.

“This isn’t some kind of cold-feet breakdown, is it?” Deirdre asked. “Cause you’re making the right decision. Frank really loves you, and I know you love him. You two are right together. Whenever you tell me about your relationship over lunch or Joe hears about it from Frank, we both feel like we should be taking notes because we want to have something that’s as strong as what you and Frank have. You two are doing something right."

Nancy was rendered speechless by Deirdre’s words. She hadn’t been having a moment of cold feet. In fact, she was perfectly sure of her decision to get married this week. Hearing Deirdre’s words, though, only served to further solidify that certainty. Nancy had once thought she wouldn’t ever be able to manage a marriage, and now her relationship was something to look up to for another couple.

As Nancy was about to reply, she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. This dress was the plainest of the three, which was why Nancy had tried it on first. She assumed this wouldn’t be her favorite and planned to get it out of the way. It was just a simple white sheath dress with short sleeves. It could have easily been something Nancy would wear to meet a new client. Somehow, though, Nancy knew immediately that this was in fact the dress she was getting married in.

“This is the one,” she said firmly.

“You know, I’d try to convince you to see how the other ones look first,” Deirdre began with a chuckle. “But we both know that once you’ve made up your mind, there’s no turning back.”

Before long, Nancy was holding a shopping bag with her wedding dress carefully tucked inside as Frank and Joe pulled up to where she and Deirdre were waiting.

“How did it go?” Frank asked as soon as Nancy started to climb into the passenger seat.

“I found a dress!” Nancy said excitedly. “I really like it. It’s got a nice-”

“Drew!” Deirdre yelled. “You can’t tell your fiancé what your dress looks like. He only gets to see it at the wedding.”

Nancy was chuckling at Deirdre’s obsessive concern with avoiding any possible bad luck for the wedding when she noticed another shopping bag in the car.

“I see you two went shopping as well,” Nancy said as she gestured towards the bag. “That bag is too small to hold a suit. What else were you guys trying to find?”

“Not telling,” Frank said again with a grin. “That one’s also a secret for a little bit longer.”

Nancy rolled her eyes playfully at Frank. “You know I’m a detective, right? I’m sure I can figure it out.”

“Your detective skills are second to none,” Joe began with a grin of his own. “But this one might be enough of a surprise to throw you off your game.”

Nancy spent the rest of the car ride wondering what exactly they had up their sleeves.
  
It was towards the end of their week at the cabin when Nancy got a cryptic text from Joe.

Joe Hardy: Family meeting in the study in 5

Nancy wasn’t sure what Joe meant by “family meeting” but she followed his instructions nonetheless. When she stepped into the study, she was met with the sight of Fenton, Laura, Frank and Joe in the room already. Joe gestured for her to close the door behind her.

“What’s going on in here?” Nancy asked curiously.

“Well, rumor has it you’re going to be one us soon,” Laura said with a smile.

Nancy realized that Laura was referring to her decision to add Frank’s last name to her own.

“You heard right,” Nancy said with a small smile. “I hope that’s okay with you all.”

“Are you kidding?” Joe replied with a massive grin. He was sitting on the edge of the room’s wooden desk, swinging his legs like a kid. “Of course it’s okay! I finally get a real sister!”

“To be clear, you’re family to us no matter what your last name is,” Fenton added. “But Laura pointed out that if you’re officially going to be a Hardy, you might need one of these.”

Fenton gestured to Frank, who was standing near the door holding a shopping bag. Nancy recognized it from the day she had gone dress shopping with Deirdre. Whatever the surprise was, the entire Hardy family must have been involved in planning it. Nancy glanced at Frank’s face as she took the bag from his hands. He was beaming.

Nancy opened the bag carefully and immediately recognized the shirt she saw inside. It was a New York Giants jersey. She knew that each member of the family had a jersey with “Hardy” written in the player’s spot and a number from one to four. She had seen Frank wearing his

03

jersey plenty of times around their apartment. As Nancy took the jersey out of the bag, she saw what the back read.

HARDY

05

Nancy couldn’t help the tears that flooded her eyes. What Fenton had said was still true. Nancy knew the people in this room were her family regardless of what her last name was. The gesture of the jersey, however, felt like real confirmation that they saw her as one of their own.

“Thank you,” Nancy breathed. She wanted to say more, but as she looked around the room at the four faces smiling back at her, she knew they understood it already.

“So Nancy…” Joe said with a sly grin. “How are we going to break the news to your dad that you’re rooting for the Giants now?”

Frank groaned. “Carson doesn’t need another reason to want me dead!”

“Maybe I’ll take him out for a few beers before we drop that bombshell,” Fenton chuckled.

Nancy just laughed in agreement.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Frank had been heading into the study to work on his vows when he realized Carson was already in there.

“Oh, sorry,” Frank said quickly.

The last thing he wanted was to bother Carson. He knew that Nancy’s dad didn’t hate him entirely these days, but Frank wasn’t looking to test the limits of their newfound understanding either.

“Actually, this is great timing,” Carson replied. “I wanted to talk to you.”

Carson gestured for Frank to close the door, and Frank nauseously obliged. He had somehow given Carson the perfect opportunity for a ‘talk’. Frank sat down in one of the armchairs by the door and swallowed back his nerves. He’d gotten talks from the fathers of his girlfriends when he was a teenager, but those were more about having the girl he was seeing home by ten. Frank wondered what a talk sounded like when he was about to marry the girl in question.

“How are you feeling about everything?” Carson asked.

The question seemed casual and Carson’s tone was friendly, so Frank answered honestly.

“I’m really excited,” he said. “This is everything I’ve wanted, and I can’t wait.”

Carson nodded. “I hope you know that it’s not always going to be smooth sailing. Getting married is a lot of fun, but staying married takes work.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes for us to spend the rest of our lives together,” Frank said confidently. He wasn’t just saying it to impress Carson. Frank would do anything to spend forever with Nancy.

“You can do it all, and it still might not be enough,” Carson said quietly.

Frank froze. He hadn’t meant to imply that Carson had somehow not done enough to keep his wife safe.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” Frank said quickly.

Carson waved a hand in the air.

“No offense taken,” he said. “I know what you meant. I just want to make sure you understand that Nancy will follow her own lead at the end of the day. She’s as stubborn as her mom that way.”

Frank couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh I know,” he said with a smile. “I wouldn’t want it to be any other way, though.”

Carson paused. He seemed to take his time choosing his next words before he finally spoke again.

“I liked Ned a lot, you know?”

Frank felt like he had been slapped. He knew this conversation had been going too well. This was the  first normal conversation he’d ever had with Carson, so naturally the whole thing had to fall apart.

“Ned was so worried about Nancy all the time,” Carson continued. “It gave me a sense of peace. There was someone around to hold her back from going too far. When you came into the picture, I was so upset. I figured you two would just egg each other on until one of you ended up dead.”

Frank wasn’t thrilled with where this conversation was going, but he kept listening anyway.

“I even tried to convince Nancy to break up with you at one point,” Carson said with a chuckle. “Flat out told her I didn’t approve. She didn’t care in the slightest. I should have expected that… There was this one day a few weeks later when she called me, though. She was describing a case you guys had been working on, and she just sounded so happy. Probably happier than I’d ever heard her. And I just thought to myself ‘What kind of father wants anything to hold his daughter back?’ It was selfish of me to want my own peace of mind more than her happiness.”

Carson paused momentarily.

“I know I’ve given you an exceptionally hard time,” he continued. “But you make my daughter happy. Really, genuinely happy. And I know you worry about her too. You’ve just mastered the art of balancing worry and support a lot better than I ever have.”

As Carson finished his sentence, he reached over to his briefcase that was sitting on the floor and pulled something out.

“All of that to say that…. I was wondering if you’d like to have these,” he said quietly.

Carson set a small box down on the table beside Frank. Frank opened it and saw two gold rings. He was about to thank Carson for paying for a set of rings, when Carson spoke again.

“They belonged to me and Kate.”

Frank’s eyes went wide. To his knowledge, Carson had never stopped wearing his wedding ring. A quick glance at Carson’s empty left hand confirmed that the rings Frank was holding were indeed the rings that belonged to Nancy’s parents.

Frank just stared at Carson in shock. This was a bigger gesture than he had expected. It felt like acceptance from Carson of Frank’s role in Nancy's life.

“I’d be honored,” Frank said finally.

Carson smiled at Frank and for the first time in their complicated history, the smile seemed to reach his eyes.

“You’ll probably need to get them resized when you’re back in the City,” Carson added. “But I wanted you to have them ahead of the wedding.”

“Thank you,” Frank said. “Truly.”

“Just don’t mess it up,” Carson replied as he turned back to face his laptop. The stern tone had returned to his voice. “I still have the means to convince a judge your death was accidental. Understood?”

“Loud and clear, sir,” Frank said with a smile as he left the study.

When he got to the living room, he found Nancy sitting by herself on the couch looking a little pale.

“How bad was it?” she asked anxiously. “Joe said he saw my dad corner you in the study.”

Frank smiled. “We actually had a really good talk.”

Nancy looked skeptical, so Frank pulled the ring box out of his pocket.

“He gave us your parents rings,” Frank said.

Nancy let out a small gasp and reached for the box. When she opened it, Frank could see that she was moved by her dad’s gesture. He reached out and pulled her into his arms.

“If I end up getting myself killed on a case-” Nancy started, but Frank cut her off.

“Then I will gladly spend my life raising our hypothetical daughter in a slightly overprotective manner,” Frank smiled.

“Good,” Nancy giggled.

Frank chuckled. “If I have a say, though, I’d prefer you stick around.”

“I’ll do my best,” Nancy replied with a smile.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy slipped her hand into Frank’s as they waited to board the train. Deirdre was running around ensuring no one had forgotten anything and Nancy was happy to let her do it. Pulling together a wedding in a week had been more stressful than Nancy had assumed, even if they were keeping things small.

“You two,” Deirdre said as she walked over to where Frank and Nancy stood. “Did you finally finish your vows?”

Frank nodded.

“Yes, ma’am,” he joked.

Nancy felt guilty. She hadn’t finished hers yet. It was hard to sum up everything that Frank meant to her in one speech. Nancy was trying to decide whether to admit to this or not when Deirdre got distracted by Joe asking about the decorations. When they were left alone, Frank squeezed Nancy’s hand.

“I definitely didn’t finish my vows,” he whispered with a grin. “And I know you haven’t either. We’re both gonna have to ad-lib something up there.”

Nancy dissolved into giggles. They might have both been bad at this kind of stuff, but at least they were bad at it together.

“Just pretend we’re under cover,” Nancy whispered back with a grin of her own. “We’ll act like we’re getting married to help crack a case. It’ll be easier to make something up."

As she and Frank were busy laughing, the train station staff began beckoning for the guests to board. Walking onto the train felt new and familiar at the same time. The renovations had changed a lot of things, but as Nancy caught sight of certain details of the car, memories of the first time she boarded flooded her mind. It had been one of the first cases she worked with Frank and Joe. It had felt tentative and uncertain at times. Now, she found it hard to imagine she had ever felt that way about working with them.

Everyone headed to their assigned rooms in the sleeping car to drop their bags, though it seemed no one had expectations of spending much time there. It was New Year’s Eve after all, even for the guests who weren’t attending a wedding tonight. Nancy’s first instinct was to explore the train with Frank, but Deirdre already had a plan in mind.

“Joe, take Frank to our room to get ready,” Deirdre said. “Nancy can get ready in their room. And as of right now, you two aren’t allowed to see each other until wedding time. It’s bad luck.”

Frank rolled his eyes slightly. “We’ve already seen each other today. Besides, it’s not like Nancy and I believe in that kind of stuff.”

“I really don’t care,” Deirdre replied. “I’m trying to make sure this wedding goes off without a hitch and that means playing by all the rules.”

With a light sigh in Deirdre’s direction, Frank kissed Nancy before reluctantly following Joe down the hall.

“Alright Drew, I’ll leave you to it,” Deirdre said. “I need to make sure the decorations are set up in the chapel, and you need to get changed. It’s almost go time!”

As Nancy was left alone in her room, she quickly got ready. It didn’t take her very long to pin back her hair, put on a little makeup and slip into her dress. When she was done, Nancy took in her reflection in the mirror. She could almost picture Frank’s face in the chapel when he saw her for the first time. As she was thinking about it, Nancy realized that she wanted to see Frank before the ceremony. She didn’t care if Deirdre thought it would be bad luck. Nancy wanted to see Frank’s reaction first in a private moment before they shared their wedding with the others. She quickly pulled out her phone and texted Frank to make it happen.

Nancy Drew: Meet me in Jake’s car?

She knew that particular car was closed for the evening, but an “Off Limits” sign had never stopped her before.

Frank Hardy: Be there in 5!

Nancy pulled her trench coat over the dress. She figured the sight of a woman sneaking through the halls in a white dress might attract more attention than she wanted right now. In her mediocre disguise, Nancy made her way to Jake’s car.

When she got there, Nancy sat down in one of the armchairs by the door to wait and took off her coat. It wasn’t long before she heard footsteps in the hall outside, but something about them was off. She could recognize Frank’s footsteps anywhere, and these weren’t his. Nancy was about to turn around to see who else had decided to explore the restricted area of the train when a pair of hands wearing blue nail polish pulled a sweet smelling rag over her face and the room went black.
  
Nancy woke up in a dark room feeling groggy. She tried to quickly take in her surroundings. She was in some sort of storage room. It had a very low ceiling. This certainly wasn’t Nancy’s first kidnapping, though it was the first time she’d been kidnapped on her wedding day. She could hear the clattering of the train’s wheels, which meant she was still onboard, which was somewhat of a relief. The train wasn’t scheduled to stop until shortly before midnight for the guests to take in a fireworks show. This gave Nancy some time to figure out how to get away from whoever had taken her hostage before she risked being taken to another location where it would be harder for Frank and Joe to find her.

Despite still being disoriented, Nancy tried to get up. She quickly came to realize that her hands were handcuffed to a pipe. Nancy considered calling out for help, but she guessed that no one would be able to hear her over the sound of the train rumbling. Yelling would probably just alert her kidnapper that she was conscious, and it might result in her being chloroformed again. Nancy looked around to see what she could use to break herself free. There were a few boxes out of her reach and the rest of the room was empty.

Even though she didn’t have good odds of getting out of here by herself, Nancy wasn’t very concerned. Frank and Joe were on the train, and Frank had been expecting to meet Nancy in Jake’s car. When he saw that Nancy wasn’t there, he would certainly know something up.

Or would he?

Nancy felt panic start to bubble in her chest. When Frank didn’t find her waiting in Jake’s car, would he think something had happened to her, or would he think that she had gotten cold feet? If he thought Nancy was backing out of the wedding, he wouldn’t be looking for her, and neither would Joe. In fact, Joe would probably be comforting a distraught Frank over a drink. Nancy realized that she had to figure out how to get out of here on her own, so that she could get back to safety and back to Frank.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When he got Nancy’s text asking to meet in Jake’s car, Frank knew he’d have to find a way to sneak away from Joe, who had been diligently following all of Deirdre’s orders about the wedding.

“I’m just gonna go talk to Carson for a minute,” Frank said quickly.

It was a flimsy lie, and Joe saw right through it.

“You’re going to voluntarily start a conversation with the man who’s daughter you’re going to be marrying in a little bit?” Joe laughed. “Yeah, right. I like Carson and all, but we both know he still has mixed feelings about you. Let me guess - you’re going to see Nancy?”

Frank knew there was no point in lying to his brother. “Yeah, I am… She asked me to meet her in Jake’s car.”

“Have fun!” Joe grinned. “Well, not too much fun. You still need to look presentable for the ceremony... Just don’t tell Deirdre that I let you out of my sight!”

Frank rolled his eyes and made his way through the train’s hallways. When he reached Jake’s car, he didn’t see Nancy. As he went to sit down in a chair by the door, he saw the green coat Nancy had bought all those months ago during their lunchtime shopping trip. Frank thought it was odd that Nancy had already been here. He figured maybe she had forgotten something and gone back to their room in the sleeping car. Suddenly, his eyes saw the piece of paper sitting on top of the coat.

I can’t do this. I’m sorry.

Frank felt panic rise in his chest. He grabbed the coat and the paper, and tore back towards Joe’s room. As he burst through the door, Joe looked up in surprise.

“Whoa, what’s the hurry?” he asked.

“Someone took Nancy,” Frank said immediately.

Joe jumped to his feet. “What happened? How do you know?”

Frank held out the note. In the commotion, Carson and Fenton had joined them in the doorway to see what was wrong.

“What’s going on?” Fenton asked.

“Someone took Nancy,” Frank repeated. “She asked me to meet her, and when I got to Jake’s car, there was just a note.”

“A ransom note?” Fenton asked immediately.

After a career of being under pressure every day, Frank wasn’t surprised that his dad was still able to keep calm in a crisis. Carson, on the other hand, looked sick.

“No, it’s not a ransom note…” Joe said suddenly. He seemed hesitant to keep speaking.

“What is it then?” Carson asked anxiously.

Joe held the note out in a shaky hand for the other men to inspect. Frank saw the look on his dad’s face as he read it. It was a mixture of sympathy and pity.

“She didn’t leave,” Frank said adamantly. “I know what the note says, but someone must have planted it.”

Joe finally made eye contact with Frank, and Frank saw the same look he had seen on Fenton’s face.

“Frank,” Joe said gently. “I know this isn’t what you want to hear right now, but it looks like maybe Nancy changed her mind and-”

“No,” Frank repeated firmly. “I know Nancy. I know that this is what she wanted, and I know that if she decided it wasn’t what she wanted anymore, she would have told me.”

Frank looked to Fenton for confirmation that his dad saw it the same way. Fenton looked back at him, but it wasn’t agreement that Frank saw on his face. Frank couldn’t understand how they weren’t seeing what he was seeing, and it was making him angry. They were wasting time when they needed to be looking for Nancy.

“Son, I’m sure this is hard to swallow, but-” Fenton started.

Carson cut him off. “Frank is right.”

Frank looked at Carson in surprise. Those weren’t words Frank expected to ever hear from Carson.

“My daughter wouldn’t leave someone in a note,” Carson continued firmly. “She has more than enough courage to do that face to face. And besides that, I have no reason to think that she wanted to leave at all. I haven’t known her to be anything but incredibly happy with Frank. If she’s not here, it’s not by her own doing.”

Frank felt a rush of gratitude for Carson’s insight and turned back to his dad. Having heard his old friend’s perspective, Fenton seemed to finally understand the reality of the situation and he didn’t hesitate to start giving instructions.

“Carson, go tell the conductor that we have a missing person and ask him where we can find a blueprint of the train’s layout. Joe, go tell your mother and Deirdre what’s going on. We need all hands on deck if we’re going to find her before the train stops at midnight.”

The two men took their orders from Fenton and left the room. As they did, Fenton held the note out to Frank.

“Is this Nancy’s handwriting?” Fenton asked.

Frank had questioned that himself. It looked like it could be. The swoops and slopes of the letters mimicked Nancy’s familiar penmanship, but it was just a little too messy to be hers. Frank shook his head.

“It’s close, but I don’t think it is,” he said. “It looks like someone tried to copy her writing style."

Fenton nodded. He clearly wasn’t doubting his son’s knowledge of Nancy anymore.

“This had to have been planned by someone who knew her,” Fenton said. “I’m going to go see the conductor too and ask for a passenger manifest. Follow Joe and start looking in all the cars you can get into.”

Frank didn’t waste any time rushing into the next room. Joe was filling in both Laura and Deirdre on what had happened. Before long, the four were tearing through the train cars. Frank started in the dining car, checking the cabinets for locks and the walls for secret panels. He tried to remember everything he could about the last time there had been a missing person on this train, but none of what happened with Lori felt helpful in this moment. As Frank was about to make his way to another car with Joe on his heels, Fenton and Carson came around the corner. Fenton held out some papers to Frank.

“This is the passenger manifest,” Fenton said. “Carson and I will take over looking for Nancy in the cars. You and Joe look this over to see if you can figure out who took her. You’ll have a better idea of who might want to hurt her than us.”

Frank nodded as he sat down. As much as he wanted to keep searching for Nancy himself, he knew this was the most effective way for him to help. Joe joined Frank at the table and they started to look over the list.

“Do you see anything?” Joe asked after a few minutes of looking through names. “Nothing’s jumping out at me.”

Frank just shook his head. He went through the list again.

Caroline Edward

Sophia Morales

Aisha Patel

Emma Miller

James Wellington

Five names down the list of cabin assignments, something clicked in Frank’s brain.

“What was the last name of the guy that robbed the Harrington family?” he said suddenly. “From when we were on the case where Nancy and I got into that big fight.”

Frank was pretty sure he knew who had taken Nancy, but he wanted to confirm with Joe before he jumped to any conclusions.

“Uh, Miller, I think?” Joe replied. “But his first name was Ethan. I don’t see any Ethans on this list.”

Frank pointed at the name that caught his attention. “Emma Miller. It’s Emma Harrington. She’s just going by her boyfriend’s last name. It makes sense. She probably hates her family for pressing charges against her boyfriend. And us for bringing it all to light.”

Joe immediately texted the others to come to the dining car, while Frank dug through the files on his phone to see if he still had a copy of Emma’s photo. Fenton and Carson arrived first. Carson looked even more distraught over the fact that they hadn’t found Nancy than the last time Frank had seen him. Laura and Deirdre rushed in just behind them.

“I just sent a photo of Emma Harrington to all of you,” Frank explained calmly. “She’s definitely involved in Nancy’s disappearance. Once we find her, we can find Nancy.”

As they spread across the train to look among the guests, Frank let his mind wander to Nancy. He couldn’t stand the idea that she might be hurt and alone. He needed to find her and make sure she was okay. To his relief, it was only a few minutes of searching before Frank heard Deirdre calling out his name. She was dragging someone into the lounge car by the collar of their shirt. Frank looked at the face of the woman and sure enough, it was Emma.

“Found her!” Deirdre said as she shoved Emma into a chair. “She won’t tell me where Nancy is, though.”

“I don’t know what you're talking about!” Emma snapped. “You have no right to manhandle me! You know, my dad knows a lot of people and he can make your life really difficult.”

“My dad knows a lot of people too,” Deirdre replied. “And I’ll make sure he knows to make your life difficult too, seeing as how you kidnapped my sister-in-law.”

“No one even likes your dad,” Emma snarled. “He’s a jerk, just like you are apparently. My dad says that’s what everyone thinks about your family.”

Emma’s eyes widened as she realized she had said too much.

Frank had wondered how the news of his and Nancy’s last minute plans to get married on the train had made their way to Emma. A connection between Deirdre and Emma’s fathers made it all come together. Deirdre’s father had probably bragged about snagging last-minute tickets to a sold-out event to his friends, which included Emma’s father. In turn, Emma’s father had probably told his family the news that the detectives that solved their family’s robbery were getting married. Emma would have had to pull together a plan to kidnap Nancy quickly, but clearly she had managed to think things through, right down to the detail of copying Nancy’s penmanship from whatever paperwork her father must have had leftover from the case file. The detective in Frank was pleased to know the details of how it came together, but the rest of him just needed Emma to explain where Nancy was.

“I really don’t care whose dad did what,” Frank snapped. “I just want to know where my fiance is, so start talking.”

“You ruined my life, you know?” Emma yelled back. “I was going to marry Ethan and now my family hates him even more because of what you did.”

Frank didn’t have time to point out that Emma’s family hated Ethan because of his own actions, or that they were all the more likely to hate him because of her current lapse in judgment. He only cared about one thing right now.

“I’m going to ask you again,” Frank said in a low voice. “Where is she?”

Emma huffed but Frank could see the worry in her eyes as she finally confessed. “There’s a raised floor in the storage car. She’s in the space underneath.”

Frank didn’t even give Emma another glance as he took off. There were enough people who had gathered around at the sound of the commotion that someone was bound to keep an eye on her until she could be handed over to the police. The only thing Frank cared about was getting to Nancy and making sure she was safe.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nancy was replaying what she could remember from the kidnapping in her mind. Chloroform tended to do a number on a person’s ability to remember details, but Nancy could clearly remember seeing blue nail polish. She had seen that blue nail polish somewhere before… Emma Harrington! That made sense. The investigation had revealed Emma’s secret relationship that didn’t have her parents’ approval and resulted in her boyfriend doing jail time. Nancy wouldn’t be surprised if Emma had tried to ruin Nancy’s relationship in retaliation. If anything, she was almost impressed with Emma’s ability to pull the whole thing off on short notice.

Nancy was trying to come up with a new plan to get out of these handcuffs when she heard the trapdoor open from the ceiling above. Nancy expected to see Emma coming down into the storage room, but instead she heard a familiar voice calling her name.

“Nancy!” Frank yelled as he dropped through the door and looked around frantically. “Are you down there?”

“I’m right here!” Nancy called back from the corner.

She watched the relief flood Frank’s face as he saw her shadowy figure. He crawled over to where she was handcuffed.

“Are you okay?” he asked anxiously. “Are you hurt?”

The words were coming out of Frank’s mouth faster than Nancy could reassure him that she was unharmed.

“I’m fine,” she said quickly. “But Frank, I didn’t leave. I swear I didn’t leave. I would never, ever-”

Frank just kissed her. From behind him, a second voice called out through the darkness.

“He didn’t even think that a minute,” Joe said. “Some of us did, but he didn’t.”

“You weren’t worried that I got cold feet when I didn’t show up?” Nancy asked with a hint of surprise.

She knew that Frank usually had his worries about their relationship, so it wouldn’t have been a stretch for him to assume that she left.

“Nope,” Frank said simply. “I knew someone took you. Granted, my money wouldn’t have been on Emma Harrington as the kidnapper, but I knew we needed to find you.”

There was no hesitancy in Frank’s voice. Nancy realized that he really did know her inside and out, even to the point of being able to set aside his own insecurities. She was also pleased to know that she had correctly identified the culprit.

“So it

was

her!” Nancy replied. “That’s what I thought.”

Joe went back up to get the key to the handcuffs from Emma. Nancy began to explain her memory of the nail polish while Frank filled her in on what he had discovered from the passenger manifest and Emma’s confession. A few minutes later, Joe dropped back through the trapdoor, but he didn’t appear to be holding a key. Instead, he had what looked like a lantern and… snacks?

“So bad news…” Joe started with a grimace. “Emma tossed the key off the train as one last act of retaliation.

Nancy groaned.

“The conductor called the fire department at the next station and they’re going to meet us with the right equipment to cut the handcuffs off,” Joe explained. “They’ll hand Emma over to the police then too, but we’re still about 45 minutes away. For now, I’m afraid you’re staying put.”

Nancy sighed. She was about to tell Frank to unwrap a granola bar from the snack pile for her before he left, but instead he took the lantern from Joe and made himself comfortable beside her. Frank barely looked fazed as he flipped on the small light and reached for the granola bars.

“There’s only apple cinnamon here, Joe,” Frank said. “Nancy doesn’t like those. Go switch them for something with chocolate.”

As Frank tossed the granola bars back towards Joe, Nancy spoke.

“I don’t expect you to sit down here for 45 minutes just because I’m stuck here,” she said to Frank.

Joe crawled back out the trapdoor to fulfill the granola bar request, but Frank didn’t follow.

“It’s ‘for better or for worse’,” Frank replied simply. “I don’t think whoever wrote that specifically meant for it to cover sitting in the hidden basement of a train car while your fiancé is chained to a pipe, but I’m pretty sure it applies all the same.”

Nancy couldn’t help but smile. Her future husband was sitting with her in a cramped storage room at what she was pretty sure was the exact moment they were supposed to be getting married, and it didn’t seem to bother him one bit. If Nancy had any remaining doubts about whether this was going to work, they had just disappeared.

Joe eventually came back with various chocolate granola bars, which he tossed over to Frank. As he started to pull himself back out of the door, Joe got a fiendish grin on his face. Nancy knew it meant he had a particularly bold joke to share, and she was proven correct when Joe spoke.

“Frank, I get that you’re staying down here because you’re into your fiancé in handcuffs, but maybe next time keep it in the bedroom?”

Joe disappeared out the trapdoor as Frank hollered threats of dismemberment. Nancy just laughed.
  
Eventually, the train stopped at the next station and a team of firefighters boarded. While the police arrested Emma, the firefighters used various tools and techniques to get Nancy out of the handcuffs with no more injury than some sore wrists. As Nancy and Frank finally climbed out of the trapdoor and into the light of the room above, Frank inhaled sharply.

“What is it?” Nancy asked with concern. She wasn’t sure she had the patience for something else to go wrong today.

“You look amazing…” Frank whispered.

Nancy looked down at herself. Her once-pristine dress had huge patches of dust and dirt, she could feel that her makeup was smudged on her face, and the pins she had put in her hair were falling out. Frank’s reaction made Nancy remember their first date. Horse shirt or stained dress, Frank never seemed to stop thinking she was beautiful.

Nancy gave him a kiss, but they were quickly interrupted as Carson rushed in. He had yelled down to her in the storage room earlier to confirm that she was okay, but Nancy had insisted that he shouldn't crawl down below to check on her for the sake of his back. Instead, he had been anxiously waiting in the dining car with everyone else. Nancy gave her dad a hug and assured him again that she wasn’t hurt.

“What time is it anyway?” Nancy asked suddenly.

It looked dark outside from the view through the storage car’s single window. She had no concept of how long she’d been stuck in the room below, but it had to be pretty late.

“It’s a quarter to midnight,” Carson replied.

Nancy sighed. They had definitely missed their spot in the chapel. She hoped that there could be a workaround.

“Do you think they’d let us get married tomorrow morning?” she asked.

Carson shook his head. “The license is only good until midnight tonight.”

Nancy sighed again. She knew it wasn’t the end of the world that she and Frank couldn’t get married on the train after all. They could come up with new wedding plans once they were back home. Still, she had been excited to marry Frank here today.

“Fifteen minutes is enough,” Frank said. He wasn’t using his trademark sarcastic voice, but Nancy was sure he had to be joking. She came to realize he was serious as he continued to speak. “I don’t need anything from a wedding checklist except you as the bride. Let’s go get married right now.”

Nancy’s face broke into a smile.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” she said softly.

Nancy told her dad to meet them at the chapel while she and Frank took off to the dining car to grab the rest of their guests. When they reached the car where Fenton, Laura, Joe, and Deirdre were sitting, everyone rushed over to Nancy to see how she was doing.

“Oh sweetie, are you okay?” Laura asked immediately.

“I’m great, but, uh, well… Frank and I decided to get married tonight anyway,” Nancy explained hurriedly. “We only have fifteen minutes until the marriage license expires.”

“Well then, we need to get going!” Joe grinned.

The group took off across the train to the chapel. Nancy hadn’t actually seen the inside yet. The original wedding plans were supposed to happen during the last slot of the evening, so Deirdre’s decorating efforts were still up. Nancy was astonished to see that Deirdre had gone to far more effort than she would have thought. Nancy was expecting to see some bows and garland. Instead, Deirdre had somehow managed to print out dozens of photos of Frank and Nancy that were now hung around the room. Some of them were silly photos they had taken together over the last year, others were from their days of childhood friendship. Nancy caught sight of one Joe had taken on their first night in the City. She found it hard to believe that was just a little over a year ago. It felt like a different lifetime.

“Thank you,” Nancy said softly as she turned to Deirdre.

Deirdre just shrugged off the compliment, but Nancy made a promise to herself that she’d make sure Deirdre got an equally beautiful wedding when it was her turn with Joe.

“Alright, we’ve got ten minutes!” Carson called out.

While Nancy and Frank had planned to make use of the officiant provided by the chapel, it was too late to coordinate that now. As a lawyer, however, Carson could technically officiate. He began to call out plans.

“Joe, come stand here beside me. You’ll need to be Frank’s witness. Deirdre can be Nancy’s. Fenton, you and Laura can take a seat, and then we can get this thing going.”

Everyone took their newly assigned places, leaving Nancy and Frank standing near the door. Frank stuck his arm out.

“Are we doing this thing?” he asked.

“We sure are,” Nancy said with a smile.

She took his arm and they walked up to where Carson was standing at the front of the room.

“I’d normally start by saying a few words while officiating, but we’re really cutting this close,” Carson said while checking his watch. “Is there anything you two want to say to each other before I make things official?”

Nancy looked at Frank. She had ideas for a whole speech of vows, but she didn’t feel the need to say any of it right now. Even if they had the time, Nancy wasn’t sure it would have mattered. Frank knew her and she knew him. They knew what they wanted their life together to be.

“I think we’ve said it all already,” Nancy replied.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Frank smiled back.

“Alright then, does anyone protest this union?” Carson asked quickly.

He waited all of half a second for any protests. Nancy chuckled at the speed at which their wedding ceremony was taking place, but she and Frank had done a speed run with everything else in their relationship. It only made sense to keep things going that way. Carson looked at Nancy and pointed towards Frank.

“Now Nancy, do you take this man to be your husband?” he asked.

“I sure do,” Nancy replied with a smile.

Carson turned to Frank and pointed at Nancy.

“And Frank, do you take this woman to be your wife?” he continued.

“I do too,” Frank said with a smile of his own.

“Then I now pronounce you husband and wife,” Carson said quickly. He immediately checked his watch. “Three minutes til midnight! Everyone, start signing.”

Nancy scribbled her signature on the marriage certificate her father held out, and Frank did the same. Joe and Deirdre filled in their signatures as witnesses before Carson checked his watch again.

“Folks, it’s official! We did it with one minute to spare!” he said with a smile.

“They didn’t kiss!” Joe called out.

“Well, it is almost midnight on New Year’s Eve…” Frank said. He turned to Carson and pointed at his watch. “Mind counting down for us?”

Carson looked at his watch and began to count backwards from ten. The others in the room joined in.

“...three…two…one!”

As the craziest year of Nancy’s life ended, she started the next one by kissing her husband for the first time.

“Here’s to a new year,” Frank whispered as they pulled apart.

“And the rest of our lives,” Nancy whispered back.

Nancy was elated. She and Frank were married. Despite all the chaos, they had made it over the finish line hand in hand. After a few minutes of chatter and congratulations, Fenton suggested that they move their celebrations to the dining car to enjoy some champagne. Nancy had every intention of having a glass or two alongside her loved ones, but as soon as she downed the first sip, the entire day hit her at once. Nancy was still elated, but she was also exhausted. Frank seemed to pick up on this right away.

“Everything okay?” he asked her softly as the rest of the group chatted away around the table.

“I’m burnt,” Nancy replied quietly.

Frank took Nancy’s hand as he stood up and spoke to the rest of the table.

“I think we’re gonna turn in,” Frank said. “We are both so grateful to you all for being here, but I think we’re in need of some rest after everything that happened today.”

“Right,” Joe said with a smirk. “You guys are running off to ‘rest’.”

Nancy cringed. She truly just wanted to go to bed, and the last thing she needed was her dad thinking she was running off to sleep with Frank.

To Nancy’s surprise, Frank didn’t seem bothered by Joe’s jab. Instead, he shook his head as he replied.

“Nah, tonight’s more of an opportunity to do the dishes,” Frank said simply. “I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

Nancy saw her dad’s smile and she was relieved that he understood.

When they got back to their room, Nancy started to fuss with the pins in her hair first. They needed to come out before she would be able to lay down, but there were so many. Nancy was starting to get frustrated searching through her hair when Frank gestured for Nancy to sit down on the bed.

She obliged, and he began to run his hands gently through her hair in search of any remaining pins. When he seemed satisfied that he had gotten them all, he started to rummage through her suitcase. As Frank pulled out clothes for Nancy to sleep in, he gestured for her to stand up and unzipped the back of her dress.

“I bet this wasn’t the way you thought you’d be unzipping my dress tonight,” Nancy said with a soft chuckle. She felt the tiniest twinge of guilt that they weren’t doing what anyone might have guessed they would be doing on their wedding night.

“I meant what I said, Nance,” Frank replied without hesitation. “The only thing I want to do tonight is watch you fall asleep in my arms so I know you’re safe.”

When he had finished helping her change, Nancy started to crawl into bed. She didn’t care that she still had on her makeup, but Frank was one step ahead of her. He passed her the makeup wipes from her bag and she couldn’t help but admit that it felt nice to clean her face.

Finally, Nancy was settled into bed. Frank had quickly changed out of his suit and was crawling into bed to join her. As he did, he pulled her close. Nancy drifted off the same way she did every night - happy to be beside the man she loved.
  
The next morning, Nancy woke up with one of Frank’s arms around her. The unfamiliar bed barely registered at first. Nancy was far too used to sleeping in beds that weren’t her own on the road. After a few seconds, though, the realization that today was very different from a day of working a case occurred to her. She was married to Frank.

As Nancy beamed at the memories of yesterday, Frank stirred beside her.

“Morning, Nance,” he murmured in his still half-asleep state.

“Pretty sure that’s Mrs. Hardy to you,” Nancy replied with a sly grin.

She watched as Frank’s eyes flew open. Nancy knew the same realization about yesterday’s events had just hit him.

“So I take it that yesterday really happened?” Frank said with a soft chuckle. “Cause there’s still a very distinct possibility that I imagined the whole day - possibly even the whole last year.”

“Nope,” Nancy said as she leaned in to kiss Frank. “It’s you and me now.”

He started to intertwin their hands then stopped. Nancy looked over to see why, but Frank was already getting out of bed.

“We forgot these last night,” he said as he rummaged through his bag.

Nancy wasn’t sure what to expect until Frank turned around with the ring box from her dad.

Frank climbed back into bed and opened the box. Nancy looked at the two rings that once belonged to her parents with a smile.

“Feels weird to just put them on…” Frank said. “We’re supposed to promise each other things when we do this.”

“Hmmm…” Nancy said. “How about you start by promising me that you’ll keep finding me when I get myself kidnapped?”

Frank laughed. “I promise. But only if you promise to never stop being the girl who loves her job so much that she doesn’t mind getting kidnapped.”

“Deal,” Nancy grinned. “Oh, and let’s promise that we’ll always forget Valentine’s Day.”

“That’s an easy one,” Frank chuckled back. “We should probably add our anniversary to that list, too.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Nancy said. “New Year’s Eve or not, we’re probably still going to be caught up on a case.”

“Promise me that you’ll always remember how much you mean to me, and that if you ever start to doubt it, you’ll tell me,” Frank said softly. “And if it does happen, I promise to always remind you.”

Nancy leaned over and kissed Frank.

“I promise,” she murmured. “As long as you promise me the same.”

“I promise too,” Frank whispered back. As he did, he took the smaller ring from the box and reached for Nancy’s left hand. She held it out, and Frank slipped the ring onto her finger. Nancy’s hands shook slightly as she reached for the remaining ring. She slipped it onto Frank’s finger and then leaned in to kiss him again.

Frank’s phone buzzed on the table beside them and he rolled over to check it with a groan.

“Joe wants to know when we’re joining everyone for breakfast,” he groaned. “Sounds like they're all planning to meet in the dining car.”

“I suppose we should go too then,” Nancy chuckled.

Reluctantly, she dragged herself out of Frank’s arms and started to get dressed. When she and Frank were both ready, they made their way hand in hand to the dining car. As they approached, Nancy could see Joe, Deirdre, Fenton and Laura at the table. Everyone looked exhausted and slightly hungover, except for Joe who looked exhausted and extremely hungover. As Nancy and Frank sat down, Carson also joined the table. His brow was furrowed as he sat down.

“You must have really overdone it last night to be so out of sorts this morning,” Fenton commented with a chuckle.

Carson didn’t reply. Instead, he turned to Nancy and Frank with a sigh.

“I need to talk to you two…” he said. All the heads around the table turned to face him in confusion as he began to explain. “In the rush to try to get everything done on time last night, the paperwork wasn’t done correctly. I only noticed it this morning when I went to send a copy to my office to have it filed.”

Nancy let out a sigh of her own. “Are you telling me that after everything that happened yesterday, we still aren’t actually married?”

“I’m afraid not,” Carson replied.

Nancy turned to look at Frank. As soon as their eyes met, they both dissolved into laughter. In the end, whether they had snuck in under the midnight deadline or not didn’t matter. They were together, and a piece of paper didn’t change that. Nancy figured it gave them a good excuse to hold another ceremony. She could make sure Bess, George and Hannah were able to be there next time.

“It’s okay,” Nancy said with a smile. “I really wouldn’t expect anything different for us.”

“Well, that’s not all…” Carson said. He seemed extremely reluctant to share whatever else he had to say. “When you signed the certificate last night, everyone signed on the wrong lines. So while you and Frank might not be married, you were both witnesses to the fact that Joe and Deirdre are now married.”

For the first time, Nancy watched as Joe did not have a clever comeback. His eyes went wide as everyone else around the table burst into laughter. Frank was laughing the hardest of all, while Carson was trying to explain between his own chuckles that it would only take one set of paperwork to correct the issue. When Deirdre’s laughter slowed, she turned to Joe with a grin.

“Well… I suppose what’s done is done,” she said with a quiet smile. “It sounds like we’re stuck with each other now.”

Joe’s brain finally seemed to catch up.

“It sounds like we are,” he replied with an equal grin. Joe then turned to Frank with a look that suggested that he had finally come up with a joke. “I know it’s probably awkward for you that your little brother got married before you, but I just want you to know that if you ever need any marriage advice, I’m here for you.”

“You attended my wedding last night,” Frank replied pointedly. “I got married first.”

“Pretty sure the paperwork says that was actually my wedding,” Joe argued with a grin.

As Frank and Joe began to bicker over who had technically gotten married first, Nancy leaned back in her seat and took in the whole table with a smile. Frank, Joe, Deirdre, her dad, Fenton, and Laura… The way her definition of family had evolved over the last year was nothing she could have seen coming, but it was something she loved all the same.

Nancy turned to Deirdre with a grin.

“Our husbands are some real pieces of work, huh?” she chuckled.

Deirdre laughed back. The rest of the table were still discussing the turn of events, but Frank seemed to drop his argument with Joe and lean into Nancy’s shoulder.

“So, any loose ends that need tying up?” he asked.

Nancy looked at him in confusion. It was a question they often asked themselves at the end of a case, to make sure they hadn’t missed anything.

“The case of us,” Frank continued. “You and me - together forever. Any outstanding questions?”

Nancy shook her head with a grin. “Nope. I think this case is closed.”

“Best case of my life,” Frank said softly.

“Same here,” Nancy replied as she squeezed his hand.