Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“No,” Frank objected immediately, which Joe knew he would and only made the whole thing that much better. “We need a different cover. That... It won't work.”

“Why?” Joe asked, leaning back in his chair. As much as he loved his brother, there were few things in life as enjoyable as watching Frank squirm, and squirm he was, completely unnerved by Joe's simple suggestion. “You don't still think girls have cooties, do you?”

Frank rolled his eyes. “As I recall, Joe, I was over that long before you were. You still had an aversion to them until puberty hit and you started liking their... um... assets.”

“Well, I like the tops more,” Joe said, and Frank reached over to hit him. He grinned, knowing he'd really won if Frank was resorting to violence. Sometimes he was just too darn easy. “Nothing to be ashamed of, unless of course... you're not the kind of guy who appreciates the curves of the female form, in which case, you have some explaining to do because I thought for sure—”

“Joe—”

“And that would just make it even less awkward for you to—”

“Nancy is not going undercover as my girlfriend,” Frank interrupted. “It's not about me not liking girls—and I do—quit looking at me like that, you jerk—or even that I don't—you know I went out with Callie and I think she's interested in more—but none of that matters. It's just—it's a dumb cover. We need a better one.”

“On such short notice?” Joe snorted. “Yeah, right. We need something people will buy, and your girlfriend is something they'll believe. Some random girl who knows us just showing up and butting her nose in? Not gonna fly.”

Frank ran a hand over his face. “You are only doing this to mess with me, and no, Joe, it is not happening. I'll talk to Dad. He can help us with a better cover, because Nancy is not going to pretend to be my girlfriend.”

“You haven't even asked her,” Joe said, giving Frank a long, hard stare. “She agreed to come without even asking what her cover would have to be—she'll do it. She's weird like that.”

“She has a boyfriend.”

“What, that Corky kid? He was twelve.”

Frank rolled his eyes. “Did you miss the other guy? Tall, jealous, mostly quiet? Name of Ned? That one is her boyfriend. Asking her to pretend to be my girlfriend is just wrong, and I'm not doing it. We are finding her another cover. End of discussion.”

Joe just watched his brother leave the room, smiling to himself. He would bet their father wouldn't have any better suggestion—not on this kind of notice—and he couldn't wait to see Frank try and explain this to Nancy.

“Frank!” Nancy cried, waving to him as soon as she spotted the two teens on the other side of the baggage claim. She flushed a little, wishing she'd been a little less loud. She hadn't thought she'd hear from the Hardys again, not for a long time after their time in LA, but Frank had offered her a new case just when she needed it, and she couldn't help being grateful. “I'm so glad to see you.”

Frank came up to her and smiled. “Nancy.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “Seriously. I thought this was the age of PDAs. At least give her a hug, Frank. That's not against the rules.”

Frank glared at his brother, but Joe nudged him with his elbow. He stumbled forward, and as awkward as it was, Nancy finished the movement for him. She stepped into his embrace, giving him the hug that Joe suggested.

“It really is good to see you. I didn't get a chance to talk to you after the hospital, and I was still worried,” Nancy told him. Frank was kind of red now. “And I wanted to tell you about how I wrapped up the case, since you were so interested in it.”

“I am,” Frank agreed. “I mean—we are.”

“You are such a dork,” Joe said. “Here, I'll be the gentleman and take your bag for you, Nance. Frank over here is a little flustered right now. Must be having you nearby again.”

“What?”

Frank shook his head, reaching over to hit his brother. Nancy frowned, and Frank sighed. “Joe is just making my life miserable right now. It's not—well, we were a little hard-pressed to find a good reason why we were bringing in someone new. It's not that we don't need you—there are so many places that only the female guests and staff can get to because it's a spa and resort—but even Dad couldn't come up with anything better than Joe's idea of... having you pretend you're here to see us.”

“I am,” Nancy said, not sure what the issue was.

“He means to see him. As in... for the next few days, at least, you get to be his sweetheart,” Joe said, almost getting swatted by his brother again. He dodged, grinning like a fool. He was definitely enjoying Frank's discomfort.

Frank stopped, letting Joe get a few feet ahead of them. “I'm sorry about this, Nancy. I know you have someone back home. I didn't mean to get you involved like this, but with things escalating so quickly—”

“It's fine,” Nancy said, though she had to admit, her stomach had a few butterflies in it. She'd mostly ignored it before, but Frank's smile had gotten her through that first awful day at school. She'd looked for him at lunch but ended up with Inga, Trish, and Corky instead. She figured Frank was busy investigating at the time, and that—well, that was the dangerous part, wasn't it? Frank was cute, nice, and he liked mysteries.

Frank forced a smile. He swallowed. “We could be being watched now, so...”

He held out his hand, looking nervous, and Nancy gave him a reassuring smile before taking his hand in hers. It was surprisingly easy to do.

“So... Tell me about the case,” Nancy said, and Frank hoped his palms weren't sweating. At least he wasn't pulling her suitcase along. Not that Nancy packed anything on the heavy side—just the one bag—but he would have been sure to do something dumb for sure. This was hard enough as it was without grossing Nancy out.

Then again—she'd hung out with Corky, so she couldn't be that squeamish.

“Well, as we said before, a client of Dad's wanted us to look into this resort and spa. See, a bunch of his clients have had mysterious accidents or been the victim of crimes after leaving the resort. Dad thinks that they're being blackmailed for things they do at the resort and when they fail to pay, they get a warning.”

“Nothing like a close call to make someone think a blackmailer is serious,” Nancy agreed. “Are the clients rich?”

“Most are, but what these people seem to be after more is influence. A certain senator's indiscretion with a girl not much older than you was being used to try and get him to vote against a certain bill,” Frank explained. “He was ruined by the scandal. That one I don't mind so much, but Dad's friend...”

“He was a good cop, and what they wanted from him was the 'loss' of certain key evidence,” Joe said, balling his fists. “And then...”

“He was attacked. We don't know if he will come out of the coma,” Frank finished, looking at Nancy. “They could have killed him, and his wasn't the only near fatal accident.”

Nancy nodded. “I can see why you'd be eager to end this quickly.”

“Well, and that's the thing,” Frank said, still uncomfortable with the cover they'd given Nancy. “We we're not even sure how they're getting their information, and there is apparently a long waiting list to get in, which is why we had to rush you in here. We've only got our rooms for a couple more days, and if we don't find something before then...”

“Then your dad could end up being the one blackmailed?”

Frank nodded, but Joe hit him. Rubbing his arm, he sighed. “I admit, it's unlikely—since Dad wouldn't do anything he could be blackmailed for, but that's what we thought about his friend, too. More likely, they'll arrange an accident for one of us... or our mom.”

Nancy winced. Frank knew that would hit her a little hard, since she didn't have a mom, and that made him feel like a jerk for saying it, though it was true. He did think if anyone got targeted, it would be their mom first.

“I'll do what I can to help,” Nancy agreed. “Where do we start?”

“I'm going to work some Hardy charm on a certain waitress,” Joe said with a grin, making Frank roll his eyes. “You two lovebirds can go establish your cover.”

Frank glared at his brother. “You're not helping.”

Joe shrugged. “You're the one that said you thought that the more 'romantic' areas of the resort were probably a hot spot because of the potential blackmail material there. Cheating, kinks, all sorts of pillow talk...”

“I hate you,” Frank muttered under his breath. He turned to Nancy. “Don't worry. He's exaggerating. I don't think there's anything to be gained by—”

“He means there's nothing dangerous about a tunnel of love ride, right?”

Frank tried to remind himself that he really did love his brother. It wasn't easy. If Joe didn't knock it off soon, he wouldn't have to worry about someone from the resort hurting him. Frank would do that himself.

Chapter Text

“You must be Nancy,” Laura Hardy said, and Nancy nodded, unsure how to react in front of Frank's mother. Normally, she'd fall back on good manners, but she didn't know that good manners applied when greeting her fake boyfriend's mother.

The older woman embraced her, and Nancy tried not to let it be awkward. This is just like Hannah, she thought, though Hannah wasn't pretending and was a housekeeper, not a mother.

“The boys have told me a lot about you,” Laura said as she stepped back. “Seems you made quite an impression on both of them.”

Nancy felt herself flushing. She wasn't sure why—Joe didn't seem to think all that much of her, and Frank... Well, she liked the idea of impressing Frank, but she wasn't sure how to feel about him talking about her. “I... It wasn't much.”

Laura laughed. “Sure it wasn't. It's not every girl that would agree to having my sons investigate at her birthday party. Most of them would never speak to them afterward if they did.”

“Hey, that was one time,” Joe protested. “And Iola forgave me.”

Frank snorted. “No, she hasn't. She just took pity on you and let you stop apologizing because you suck at it.”

Joe tried to hit his brother, and Frank dodged it. Nancy laughed, seeing them interact. They were fun to watch.

“I am glad you were able to come,” Laura told her. “Fenton is out somewhere, investigating though he claims he's working on his golf swing. I'll take your things into the other room. The boys will have to share the fold out bed.”

“Share it?” Joe sputtered, shaking his head. “No way. I'm not doing the folding couch—not sharing it anyway. There are two beds in our part of the suite. Nancy can have one, and I get the other one, and Frank can have the hideabed.”

“Joe,” his mother began, shaking her head at his declaration. “It's inappropriate. Nancy gets her own room.”

Nancy fidgeted. “I can take the fold out. It's fine. There's only one of me and two of them.”

Laura didn't seem to like that idea. “No. You're our guest and—”

“And eventually she'll be family anyway,” Joe said, grinning madly at his brother. “She'll just marry Frank and—”

Frank lunged for Joe, getting hold of him. He held him with the arm in the cast, using his other hand to cover his mouth. “Excuse us. I'm going to go kill my brother and then we won't have an issue with the beds.”

Joe fought against his hold as Frank dragged him into the other room. Laura looked after them and sighed. “Those two...”

Nancy wanted to laugh, though she shouldn't because Joe making jokes about her becoming family weren't that funny. She had a boyfriend, and she needed to call Ned to tell him what was going on. He needed to hear it from her first that she was pretending to be another boy's girlfriend. “It's fine. Really. I can have the fold out.”

“We'll figure it out,” Laura promised. “In the meantime, why don't you take some time to look around? It's a big resort, and I haven't seen all of it yet myself. I'm thinking of getting a few spa treatments later if you feel like joining me.”

“Well...” Nancy began. She didn't know much about spa treatments or anything like that. Why did they need her if they had Laura with them? She should ask Frank about that.

Frank came back into the room, alone. He looked frustrated, and Nancy thought maybe the only reason he wasn't swearing was because his mother was in the room. “When he gets back, I am going to kill him.”

“Let me talk to him,” Laura suggested. “I'll make sure he listens. You go ahead and show Nancy around. I'm sure you have plenty to talk about—and investigate.”

“So,” Nancy began, keeping a bright smile on her face—she was more vibrant, more alive, when she was working on a mystery, a sharp contrast from when she was in school. She was still active, but there was another side to her when she discussed a case. Frank had seen it the moment she confronted him about his undercover work. That had changed her whole face. “Where to first?”

“Definitely not the tunnel of love.”

She looked at Frank, and he grimaced. “It's—sorry. I'm sure you haven't missed how Joe's been acting. He's taking this cover way too far, and I'm still wishing we had a better one. It's not right to ask you to do this.”

She nodded. “I know Ned won't be very happy about that part, but I don't want anything to happen to your mom or anyone else. It's important to judge the ends and the means together, and I think that if telling people I'm your girlfriend keeps someone else from being hurt, then it is... actually more acceptable a lie than the ones I told my dad when I said I wasn't sleuthing.”

Frank forced a smile. That was all well and good, but it didn't feel that great to have a girl say she was okay just pretending to be his girlfriend. He knew he wasn't okay with it. He'd been raised to be a gentleman, as his mother and aunt liked to say, and pretending didn't feel right. He'd rather be involved than faking it, and he thought maybe that was why he hadn't done more than a couple dates with Callie. He got the sense she wanted more, but he didn't think he was ready for that—not when mysteries came first and he didn't feel right involving Callie.

He had asked for Nancy's help, though, and that made things that much more awkward.

“Well, and then there was the room thing—we weren't able to get you one of your own—”

“I don't need one, and I am fine with the couch,” she said, reaching over to take Frank's hand. His mouth went dry, and he tried not to stare at her. “You don't have to go to any trouble.”

“Mom believes in good manners—and being gentlemen. Joe doesn't always listen, but there's a part of me that says there's no way you can have that couch.” Frank felt hot and turned away. “So... Let's just hope Mom has a brainstorm. We should look around the resort.”

“What's Joe up to?”

“He does most of his investigation from the pool,” Frank admitted. Nancy looked at him, and he nodded. “It hasn't been directed toward you—be glad it hasn't; he can't seem to stop flirting to save his life—but Joe has a lot of charm. He has made friends with all the lifeguards and wait staff down there. He's gathering information, at least. And it's not like I could do much around the pool.”

She looked at his cast. “Yeah, I suppose so. How are you feeling?”

Frank shrugged. “It doesn't hurt. Mostly it's just annoying. It keeps getting in the way of stuff I want to do.”

“Well, now that I'm here, I can be your hands. What did you want to do?”

He frowned. “Well, there are a few computers I'd like to get a look at, but I haven't been able to—I can't break in fast enough when I can only hunt and peck, and I haven't had a chance to write a program for Joe to use, either, because it's too frustrating and time consuming to do with one hand.”

She smiled. “Where are these computers?”

“This way.”

“So, wait, your parents let your brother's girlfriend come along?”

Joe nodded, sipping from his drink. He picked up the umbrella and turned it over in his fingers before speaking. “I think they felt sorry for him. You know... him being such a klutz that he broke his arm right before we came. He's not really having much fun here. That... and he was moping around without her. It was pathetic, really. We all needed her to come to put us out of our misery.”

The waitress laughed, her fruit earrings bouncing as she did, and Joe wondered how much those things weighed. She looked ridiculous with them—her hair was so short the fruit took over her whole face. She was cute enough, though, and she'd already told him plenty about her coworkers. He found it was easy to learn things from gossips, and Kerrie Berrie—he had better never call her by that name, even if he couldn't stop using it in his head—was one of the worst he'd ever met.

“Does he really have it that bad?”

“Oh, yeah,” Joe said, knowing Frank would hate him if he knew he was saying half of this. “He hasn't been the same since he met her. He started listening to her music—on vinyl, no less—and bought her the dorkiest gift from an antique store. She likes vintage, which is good because Frank is grade A vintage dork.”

Kerrie laughed, snorting loudly as she did. Joe tried not to react to her laugh. He liked her and all, since she was a good source of information even with the lousy fashion sense, but he really disliked her laugh. It drove him crazy.

“If you have any advice on where a good antique store would be that I could send the dorks off to, I'll pass it along,” Joe said. “Or maybe you know a few romantic locations they should disappear to...?”

“Are you planning on using them with some other girl?”

Joe stared at her. “Me? Just what do you take me for, Kerrie?”

“A complete flirt,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Like I haven't noticed you talking to everyone around the pool. I should shove you right in there and let you drown.”

“You wouldn't. You like me too much.”

She sighed. “That's true. I do. Did I tell you what I heard about Senator Rose?”

“No,” Joe said, sitting back and preparing to listen. Sometimes he thought the blackmailers didn't need any special equipment or surveillance to dig up dirt on anyone—all they needed was one waitress named Kerrie.

Chapter Text

“I admit, I'm not the most knowledgeable about computers,” Nancy said as she worked on the lock to the office. Frank was blocking anyone's view of her work, and she was just about done—a thrill going through her as she did—she loved cases and while she shouldn't be so happy about breaking in—it was breaking the law. She needed to call Ned, though, tell him about this and about her cover. He wasn't going to like it, but the sooner she told him, the better it would be. “There. We're in.”

“Joe will hate knowing that you're faster than he is,” Frank told her as he followed her inside, shutting the door. “He's been working on reducing his lockpicking time since we were little. He still thinks he's the best.”

“Is he?” Nancy asked, going around to the back of the desk and turning on the computer.

“No.” Frank smiled when she looked back at him. “I started letting him win when I was twelve. It was easier than listening to him whine all the time. Of course, the cast does slow me down.”

Nancy grinned, not sure she believed that, but the boys had something she'd always kind of wanted when she was growing up. She loved her dad, and she loved Hannah, but she'd wished for siblings more than once over the years. “Sometimes I wish I had a brother.”

“Sometimes I'd give you Joe,” Frank joked, and Nancy almost giggled. He pointed to the computer. “We probably shouldn't get distracted.”

She shrugged. “We need to be at least a little comfortable and know each other more if we're going to convince anyone we're really dating. So we should talk more about your family and everything else. First, though, you'd better tell me what you need besides booting up this computer.”

Frank didn't answer. Nancy tried a few combinations for users and passwords and got nothing. She sighed. “Maybe if I knew something more about the employees here. Or if you had any suggestions...?”

Her companion turned to her, dragging his mind back from wherever he'd been. “I'm sorry. I actually have what we need right here. You can thank Joe for this. Somehow—and I don't want to know how—he got a girl to admit she can never remember what her own password is for the computer system, she can't forget the default username and password—it's that obvious it's dumb.”

Frank reached over Nancy and typed in the name and password, a few fingers at a time. She tried not to notice how close he was to her. She wasn't used to having a boy in her personal space—even Ned was too polite to be like this, enough to where she sometimes doubted he liked her.

“We're in.”

“Now what?” Nancy asked, turning around to face him. Frank blinked and backed off, apparently bothered by having her so close. “Frank?”

“Sorry. It's just a little weird having you do that and not Joe. Joe... Well, he would have bumped me out of the way and taken over by now. You...”

Were still in his arms and willing to stay there, Nancy finished for herself, hoping she wasn't blushing. It wasn't like that with her and Frank. It was just... physical contact could be nice, and she was getting lots of it from the Hardys when she didn't get as much at home. Sure, her father hugged her and Hannah, too, but Joe and Frank were always roughhousing and playing and it wasn't the same as being with Bess and George, much as she liked them.

“We still need to learn how to work together, that's all,” Nancy said with a smile. “Here. Tell me what else we need to do.”

“We need the command prompt first,” Frank began, using the mouse to open up the window. “There. Now we'll need to do a bit of typing. I should have written it down, but I'll tell you what to type and you have to put it in exactly as I say.”

“Can do.”

Joe opened the door to the hotel room and almost fell over a suitcase. He frowned, picking himself up and dusting himself off. He looked around, thinking he should have come back to it empty again. Their father had claimed the golf course and club house as his part of the resort to investigate, and he was pretty dedicated to that. Their mom was “not involved” and usually off in the spa, but Joe knew if she heard anything she'd tell their father, which left him with the pool and Frank with... well, the entire rest of the resort—a lot of ground to cover.

So the luggage by the door was a surprise. “Um, Mom? Did we lose our room?”

Laura poked her head out of the other bedroom. “Of course not. Why would you ask that?”

“Oh, I don't know,” Joe said, looking at the bags again. “Maybe because your bags are by the door and we're investigating blackmailers that wouldn't want us here to find anything? Why wouldn't they kick us out if they knew why we were really here?”

“You have a point there,” Laura agreed with a sigh. “I do wish your father would arrange for vacations that had nothing to do with his work, but stopping the people who hurt Carl is more important.”

“And the bags?”

She smiled. “I figured out a solution to our rooming dilemma. We'll give Nancy the king bed by herself, and your father and I will take the other queen. You and Frank can share or fight over the fold out. I'll let you two decide that.”

Joe winced. “Really? You're going to be in with me and Frank?”

Laura put her hands on her hips. “As if we don't travel that way all the time when we're not trying to infiltrate the rich and famous. And you needn't worry about your father and I exchanging any displays of affection—though why you should be ashamed of them, I have no idea. You're ten times the flirt either of us ever was.”

Joe shrugged. Frank seemed not to care that their parents did stuff like kiss in public, but Joe still found it weird. So he was a little immature about it. So sue him.

“And another thing,” Laura began, and Joe winced to hear the lecture voice coming at him in full force, “You need to stop teasing your brother so much about Nancy.”

“Come on, Mom. It's so perfect. Frank is flustered, she's flustered, he's being such a dork around her—buying her an antique magnifying glass? Seriously? He has it bad. And you know Frank—he's not going to do anything about it. He'll let her walk right out of his life and back to River Heights without a word. Someone has to make it clear to her how he really feels about her.”

“Joe,” Laura said, shaking her head. “Even if your brother likes her as much as you think he does—and I haven't seen enough from Frank to convince me of that—it is his decision, and he did say that she has a boyfriend. That is something to respect regardless of what Frank may feel. Would you want someone coming up to you and stealing the girl you loved?”

Joe wanted to say it would never happen, but he was sure he wouldn't like it if it did. “I'd be upset, I guess.”

“You would be more than upset,” Laura told him. “You wait for when a girl truly gets your heart and breaks it. I don't want you to have to learn that the hard way, but it might be the lesson you need to keep yourself out of your brother's affairs. If Frank likes her as much as you think he does, he could end up very hurt when she leaves and goes back home to her boyfriend.”

Joe nodded. “Then we'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen, right?”

Laura sighed. “Why do I get the feeling you completely missed my point?”

“I think we were able to get most of what was on the network,” Frank said, hand tight on his flash drive. Joe had told him he was crazy to need one this large, and even his father had balked a little on the price of it—that much storage wasn't exactly cheap—but it had come in handy enough times to pay back what he'd spent and more.

“Do you think they'd actually have records of their blackmail dealings on the resort's network?”

“I'm not sure,” Frank began, considering that. “On the one hand, they need somewhere to store their data and possibly keep recordings of their guests. It would likely be local, but leaving it somewhere anyone can access it isn't smart, and these people aren't stupid. They have a pretty good blackmail scheme on their hands. And they could be using a cloud drive to keep that data even if it's recorded locally.”

Nancy nodded. “Makes sense.”

“So I think I'll go ahead and start sorting through all this,” Frank said as they reached the elevator. He pushed the up button. “It's going to be a long afternoon.”

“Not so long if I help you,” Nancy told him, smiling. He gave her a look, and she shrugged. “I like working cases. Even the boring parts can be fun—especially with company. Bess and George don't enjoy the slog work all that much, but they like helping me put the pieces together.”

“Joe usually leaves the slog work for me,” Frank said, stepping into the elevator when the doors opened. “He'll do it if he has to, but somehow something always seems to come up to get him out of it. Lucky him.”

Nancy shrugged. “Well, this time you won't be alone.”

Frank swallowed. “About that, Nancy... We should really find some way of making this cover a little less—”

“Incomplete?” Nancy finished, and Frank frowned at her. “If you tell me about your family some while we're working, that will help. I'd like to know more about you.”

Frank grimaced. That wasn't what he meant at all, but he needed to do something about the cover because it was distracting him from what they really needed to do. Joe's teasing was bad enough, but Nancy wanting to know more about him, asking about his family, saying it should be less fake...

He almost jumped out of the elevator when it reached their floor, and he hurried over to the door, opening it with his key.

“Ah, Frank,” his mother called out as he came into the room, “there you are. I've already told your brother about the switch, but—Oh, Nancy. Good. I've moved our things in with the boys, and you can have the other bedroom to yourself. Problem solved—unless the boys decide they can't share a bed, in which case we may have a fight over the bed versus the fold out, but I think we'll see how that goes.”

“It's fine, Mom. Joe can have the bed if he really wants,” Frank told her. “I'm just going to get started looking through the files we got off the computers.”

Laura nodded. “I think I know why Joe suddenly had to get back to the pool.”

Frank laughed, looking back at Nancy. “See? I told you.”

She smiled back at him. Frank ended up looking away, going to his luggage to find his computer. He was still digging out everything that went with it—mouse and charger—when his mom called from the other room.

“Frank, do you mind if I steal Nancy for a while?”

Frank carried his laptop with him, stopping in the doorway before answering. “It only takes one person to go over files. Nancy can go wherever she wants.”

His mother gave him a look, and he pretended not to notice. “Really. I don't even care if you tell her all sorts of embarrassing stories from when we were young. They'll all be about Joe anyway.”

Nancy laughed, and Laura rolled her eyes. “You two. Come on, Nancy. Let's get in a little girl time, since that is what you're here for.”

“You're not thinking of making me over, are you?” Nancy asked as Laura ushered her toward the door. “Because I'm not so sure—”

“Relax,” Laura told her. “I think you're fine just the way you are.”

Chapter Text

“Any progress?” Joe asked, leaning over the edge of the couch to get a look at the computer screen. All of that seemed like gobbledegook to him. He wasn't sure what Frank was looking at or why, but better Frank than him.

Frank looked up at his brother. “There's a lot of data to go through, even just skimming the files. I've got a lot of work to do. You could help—”

“Nope. No can do, big brother. Kerrie Berrie's got me booked solid for the night, and you know what a good source she is,” Joe told him, smiling. Frank rolled his eyes, but they both knew he was better at that sort of thing. If Frank had been the one responsible for charming Kerrie Berrie, he'd screw that right up. He wouldn't fool her for a second. Frank wouldn't fool anyone—if he wasn't genuinely interested in Nancy, no one would have believed it.

“Convenient.”

“I thought you were working with your girlfriend anyway.”

“One—Nancy is not my girlfriend. Two—she's with Mom. She said something about girl time, which means neither of them is likely to be back for hours,” Frank said, eyes back on the computer. Joe grimaced. Girl time did not sound like a good thing, even if Nancy was along to get into the places that he and Frank couldn't. “Mom did promise no makeovers, so Nancy should be fine. Have you seen Dad yet today?”

“No.”

Frank frowned. “Okay, not only is it a little weird for Dad to miss us when we just picked up Nancy, but even he can't spend an entire day on a golf course. He should be back by now.”

Joe stopped to think about that. “You think Dad's really in trouble? No one else had an issue until after they left the resort.”

“Dad could have found something that got him in trouble. He's a lot like you in that respect.”

“Hey!”

Frank shrugged. “Just calling it like I see it. I might have Dad's looks and his brains, but you got his penchant for getting in trouble. Both of you are kidnapping magnets. We're either looking for you or for him, so...”

“You have been in your fair share of kidnappings, too,” Joe said, annoyed with his brother. “You can't pretend that it was just us. We were both kidnapped in LA, remember?”

Frank nodded. “See if you can find Dad before your hot date, will you? I'd like to know he's okay. And if we do need to start looking for Dad, better we know sooner than later.”

Joe figured his brother was overreacting, but he sensed an opportunity here. “All right, but if I go on some wild goose chase for Dad, then you have to do something for me.”

“You mean besides your share of the work?”

“Cute.” Joe smiled. “No, you are going to do something much more important than that. You are actually going to take Nancy out.”

Frank shut the computer abruptly. If it was a door, he would have slammed it. “No.”

“Yes,” Joe insisted. “If for no other reason than to make sure your cover is believable. You need to eat. She needs to eat. Nothing wrong with that. Just make it a cutesy little dinner and hold her hand while you discuss the case. It's not that difficult.”

Frank's hand curled into a fist, and he sounded angry. “Go find Dad. Now.”

“You're still taking Nancy out. I'm going to make reservations for you.”

“I hate you.” Frank said, throwing a couch cushion at him. Joe dodged, and the cushion hit the wall without hurting anything. Frank groaned, leaning back on the couch.

Joe grinned, heading for the door. He knew he had won.

Frank tried to concentrate on the files from the computer. He knew it shouldn't be this difficult. He had been able to do searches while bleeding or concussed before and paid better attention. What Joe was doing shouldn't throw him off this much. This wasn't right. Frank should be better than this. He could do this in his sleep, but he wasn't. His mind kept wandering, and he had to go back and reread what he'd already looked over because he didn't remember any of it.

This was all Joe's fault. If something was distracting Frank, it should have been their father's absence, but instead, his brother had him all worked up by this idea of taking Nancy out to dinner. They had to end this cover. It was keeping Frank from doing what he needed to do. He didn't even know why. It shouldn't be that hard to pretend to have a girlfriend.

Only it was, and it was Nancy, and she wasn't like other girls.

He couldn't say Callie never asked about any of their cases, but Callie wasn't an investigator on her own. She didn't seek out cases like Nancy did. No one did, really. Frank, Joe, their father, Nancy... they were all kind of crazy when it came to mysteries. Even his mom didn't get involved in them, not that often. She was here now, and she was helping them in a limited way, but it was Nancy they'd all thought of when they wanted someone to get into the areas of the resort they couldn't.

They should have just tried to do it without anyone, even if Laura hadn't been able to come. Not that they'd ask Aunt Gertrude—that would have been a disaster.

Frank looked back at the screen. Why couldn't he just find what he needed? The sooner they ended this case, the sooner the distraction stopped and Nancy went back to River Heights. And he would never call her for help again.

He shouldn't have called her for this case.

He frowned, looking at the screen again. Wait a minute. This wasn't right. These were employee records, only they weren't labeled that way. They'd been dumped in another file, renamed to obscure their content. Who would do that? Did someone at the resort have these to keep tabs on other employees? Could some of the employees be involved in this scheme because they were being blackmailed?

He didn't know. He'd have to find a way to check these records against the other ones. Maybe—and this was a little iffy to him—the files had been copied by mistake, but if they weren't, then someone had a reason for getting this information. He couldn't think of many good reasons for that—if any. Maybe someone else was looking into the employees to find the source of the blackmail, but he would have thought they'd keep the files off the network in that case.

He needed to compare these files with the real ones. Then he'd know if anything had been altered, and if it was, that could tell him where to look next. It might give them their first real lead, and they could use that.

They definitely needed more than what Joe was getting from Kerrie.

“I've never done this before,” Nancy said, looking down at her nails. She knew that was strange, since most girls her age had plenty of manicures before, even if they weren't professionally done. She wasn't one of them, though. All of this was new and strange.

“There's nothing wrong with a manicure,” Laura told her. She studied her own hand for a moment. “Though this time I think the stylist went a bit far. I'm not sure what I'm going to tell Fenton about these ones. Joe will love them, at least, so that's something.”

Nancy had opted for a pretty tame look, she thought, but now that her fingernails were done up and bright pink, she was regretting it some. The fake nails would get in the way of her work. “I don't know. Bess has tried to get me to wear fake nails before, but those were press-ons. She never did get me or George into a beauty parlor for something like this.”

Laura wiggled her fingers. “I don't do it often—I think my wedding was one occasion, a couple of anniversaries another. Still, there's nothing wrong with a bit of indulgence now and then. If nothing else, I'll enjoy Frank's reaction as he tries not to say they're horrible.”

“I'm not really sure we learned anything from those manicurists, either,” Nancy said. “They claimed not to listen to any gossip, but with where they work, they should hear plenty. It doesn't seem right.”

“They were lying,” Laura agreed. “I think you may have pressed them in the wrong way. You made it sound like an interrogation. You need a little more... charm when you go about getting gossip. You might pick up a thing or two from Joe, much as I'd rather not encourage his bad habits.”

“I thought you weren't involved in the case,” Nancy began, asking the question that had bothered her for a while. “If you're here, why am I here? You can get into all the places they'd need a female investigator for. This... isn't some kind of trick, is it?”

“I suppose it might seem that way, since your cover was rushed and Joe is behaving rather poorly, but no, it's not a trick. When the boys called you, I was actually down with a bit of a bug, and it didn't look like I'd be up to taking this trip. Fenton almost called it off, he was that worried about me, but Frank said you would help if they needed you.” Laura smiled. “I'm glad you were able to come. Your help means a lot to them.”

“Yes, but with you here, I'm not sure I'm needed.”

“Your flight was already booked by the time I recovered enough to join my boys,” Laura answered. “And I do include Fenton in that. Sometimes he's worse than Frank or Joe with the trouble he can get into. Besides, while I am perfectly willing to assist my husband with the business, investigation never has been my strong suit. I leave that to the terminally curious and danger prone members of my family.”

Nancy nodded. She still felt something was slightly off about all this. She just knew there was something Laura Hardy wasn't telling her. “Mrs. Hardy, are you... pregnant?”

Chapter Text

“I suppose I shouldn't be surprised,” Laura said. “After all, you were asked to come because of your detective abilities.”

Nancy blinked, staring at her. Though she had quickly put together a theory and voiced it, she hadn't actually thought that she was right. She had wondered if it was a little crazy when she said it. She didn't have much evidence—just Laura's comment about a bit of a bug, Fenton being worried, and a few unconscious movements of Laura's hand hovering over her stomach.

“You really are pregnant?”

Laura nodded. “Yes, as much as that seems surreal to say at my age. It wasn't like Fenton and I just stopped trying after Frank and Joe. There were a few false alarms... a couple of bitter disappointments... Still, I never expected to be doing all this again now. My oldest is going to graduate this year, and I will be back to diapers and late night feedings... I must be crazy.”

Nancy smiled. “It's not that rare to have a baby later in life. More and more women are doing that now since they put their careers first.”

Laura put a hand on her stomach. “Not so true in my case. Fenton... I swear, if he wasn't in the middle of an investigation, he'd be hovering like crazy. He's very concerned. I'm not entirely calm about it myself, but I am trying to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.”

Nancy nodded. She didn't really know what to say now.

“We should probably head back to the room,” Laura told her. “One thing we all agreed on was a family dinner—the boys use it as their daily recap session. They go over everything they've learned—and we get the family part of the vacation I insisted upon.”

“That sounds nice, actually,” Nancy told her. She wasn't sure what a family dinner would be like with the Hardys. Hers were usually just her and her dad, and sometimes they did discuss cases, but Hannah didn't even sit in with them. Nancy supposed it might be more like dinner at Bess or George's house—even at Ned's.

She winced. She still hadn't said anything to Ned about the cover.

“What is it? What's wrong?”

“You're such a mom, aren't you?” Nancy said, amazed by how fast Laura had picked up on that. “I just... Well, I haven't called back home yet, and I know I should because Dad will worry—Dad always worries, though when I told him I had the help of several detectives on this case he freaked out a little less than normal—but more than that, there's Ned, who I told had nothing to worry about because the guy from Smallville is not my type and he isn't, but then there's this cover, and Frank and he does like mysteries which kind of does make him my type and—”

“Slow down,” Laura said, putting her hands on Nancy's shoulders. “Take a breath. You're almost as bad as Frank when he's freaking about Joe.”

Nancy did, taking a breath and letting it out.

“Now,” Laura began, “you can call your father as soon as we get back to the room. Just tell him that you're fine, and if he wants to talk to me or Fenton, he can. You are in good hands here. As for the other part... Well, you do need to talk to Ned. He needs to hear about the cover from you. The rest you still have time to sort out.”

Nancy looked at her. “Were you always sure about Mr. Hardy? Like, was he always the person for you? Did you ever think someone else was the right one?”

“Fenton was not my first boyfriend, much as Joe is unwilling to accept that. As far as he's concerned, our lives started when we became his parents and not a moment sooner. We were never teenagers with hormones or conflicting emotions. We were never even kids, much as Gertrude loves to tell stories to embarrass Fenton.” Laura smiled, her affection for everyone she spoke of clear in her voice. “It isn't easy to know all of the heart, but somehow we muddle through. You'll find the right path. You just need time. And food.”

Nancy couldn't help laughing at that last addition.

“Hey, Mom,” Frank said, closing down the laptop as Laura and Nancy reentered the hotel room. They were back sooner than he expected, but he wasn't going to complain. He gave his mother a warm smile and went over to her side. “How was the girl time?”

“Fine,” Laura told him, smiling as she did. She was in a good mood, and Joe would have said something about Nancy and teased her, but Frank wasn't his brother. She caught his chin, tapping her nails against his cheek. “Did you find anything?”

“Nothing major, not yet,” Frank told her, taking down her hand to get a good look at her nails. He winced. “Mom...”

She shrugged. “They were fun, and with Nancy picking something simple, someone had to go for the flashier look.”

Frank sighed. His mother put her hands on his face again, studying him. He hated when she did that—she saw right through him, not that it was hard—but then he wasn't exactly hard to figure, not when he was worried.

“You already know, don't you?” Nancy asked, her hands folded together. He turned to her with a frown, but Laura smiled. “You know she's pregnant. That's why you asked me to come and why you were so flustered about someone getting into the other parts of the resort. You actually don't want your mother doing any investigating.”

Frank grimaced, not sure when Nancy had learned about the pregnancy—Joe still hadn't picked up on anything, but then Joe was a little one-track minded, especially when there was a pretty girl involved.

Laura just laughed. “That is my oldest, always worrying.”

He folded his arms over his chest, feeling defensive. He didn't want to start talking about ages, but he wasn't ignorant of the math. He was almost eighteen. His mother had been older than him when she had him, making this pregnancy somewhat late in her life and therefore more risky than it normally would have been. “Well, it's a little hard not to...”

Laura wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek as she held him. Nancy seemed to be enjoying it, but he wasn't. “And that is why we all love you, Frank.”

He sighed. “Mom, Dad hasn't come back from the golf course yet. Joe promised me that he'd go look for him before his date with Kerrie, but I haven't heard from Joe, either, so I don't think that he'll be showing up for dinner.”

“I suppose you're right about that,” Laura agreed. She sighed as she let Frank go. “I think you should probably go check on your father. I hope he's just delayed...”

“You look tired.”

“I am, but you don't have to start worrying all over again. This one hasn't given me half the trouble your brother did,” Laura told him. “The morning sickness and the fatigue and the aches—I was never more ready to have a baby than I was when Joe finally came into the world.”

“Trouble from before he was born,” Frank muttered, and Laura laughed.

“Was Frank the easy one?”

“Not completely,” Laura said, smiling at the memory. “Frank snuck up on me a little. I was further along when I realized he was with me. I'd been more tired than usual, but not as sick as with Joe. He actually gave me a few scares. He'd... stop kicking or moving, and I got terrified. Still, it wasn't all bad. I love my boys.”

Nancy smiled. “I always wanted to ask my mom questions like that. Dad hardly talks about her—I know it's hard for him, and this is the sort of thing he wouldn't know anyway—”

“Are you kidding?” Frank snorted. “Dad has a whole barf bag story that goes along with Joe's time in the womb. I've heard it a few too many times. Speaking of Dad, I'm going to go find him. You stay with Mom, okay?”

“I'll be fine, Frank. You can go with him, Nancy. I'm going to take a brief nap before dinner.”

Joe was halfway toward his date with Kerrie when he stopped, groaning. Frank had told him to find their father, and while Joe didn't want to believe that anything had happened to Fenton—again—he knew that he would never hear the end of it from Frank if he didn't go look for their dad. It was a little weird that he was late coming back from golf. No one was late coming back from golf.

Well, maybe their dad had gone and himself stuck in a sandbar or something. He could be stubborn about that sort of thing. He would keep hitting even if he didn't get out of the pit.

Joe started toward the golf course. If he ran past the clubhouse, he'd probably find Fenton having an extra drink and send him off back to the room. Everything would be fine. He wasn't worried. This whole case was almost too easy—more of a vacation than an investigation.

“I'm telling you—you shouldn't have let them come. They're detectives.”

Joe stopped at the last word, trying to find the source of the voices. Were they talking about his family? Or was it something completely unrelated? He thought they were on the other side of the pillar and the plants, but he couldn't see much of anything from here.

“What was I supposed to do, refuse the reservation? Then the Hardys would know something was wrong here, and real police would get involved. This way they can investigate all they want. There won't be anything for them to find. You know that. We don't keep any of that stuff here. Not for long, anyway.”

“You're taking a big risk,” the other man said, angry, and Joe tried to peer around the pillar to get a better look at him. “They could still find something.”

“They won't.”

Joe wanted to snort. Those guys were so wrong about that. They didn't know the Hardys—they would find something.

Of course, since he'd just knocked over a potted plant and gotten both men to look over at him, someone was going to find him first.

“That's one of them! Get him!”

Chapter Text

“Your mom is really nice,” Nancy said, feeling the need to talk despite Frank's silence as they walked toward the golf course. She'd noticed that he hadn't taken her hand—she didn't even think he'd noticed what she'd had done to her nails, and she shouldn't care, but then maybe that was why he didn't want to hold hands. “I'm still not sure how she talked me into a manicure, though. Even Bess hasn't done that yet.”

Frank smiled. “Mom can get you to do things you wouldn't think you would all without you ever knowing you've been manipulated. It's where Joe gets it from, I think. It's not really like the charm comes from Dad. And it managed to skip me almost completely.”

“You're not that bad,” Nancy said, slipping her hand into his. She half-expected him to pull away, but he didn't. Good. She'd hate to think the nails ruined their cover. “You really do have a nice smile, and that first day in LA, it helped to get one from you. I... I was even hoping to see you at lunch after that, but you weren't there.”

Frank frowned for a moment. “Oh, yeah. I ate lunch with the computer club most days. Though it wasn't so much eating lunch as it was trying to squeeze a dungeon run into a thirty minute break.”

“Did you ever find out if one of those kids from the club was on the drugs you were trying to track?”

Frank nodded. “Yeah, actually. He kicked me out of the guild after the dealer was arrested and his supply was cut off.”

“Inga and Trish have forgotten about me already,” Nancy said, though she was partially relieved by that. “Though Corky still calls.”

“I told Joe he should give that kid some lessons.”

Nancy stared at him in shock. The last thing Corky needed was encouragement in that department. He was a sweet guy, but he needed to think about other things besides girls. “You didn't.”

Frank nodded. “As much as sometimes Joe really annoys me with his flirting, I know he's not a complete jerk about it. I'm not saying Corky is, but there's more to life than girls, and Joe does know that. Plus Mom and Aunt Gertrude made sure he knows how to respect women. His flirting works because he's not a creep about it, not most times.”

Nancy smiled. She could hear the affection in Frank's voice, too, and she knew he was telling the truth—he didn't like his brother's flirting, but he knew Joe wouldn't hurt the people he flirted with. “I thought you were mad at him, though.”

“For all he's been saying about us and making this awkward, yeah, I am, but that's how Joe and I operate. We're brothers. We tease each other. I get a good one in on him every time his charm fails him or he gets himself in some other trouble, and he gets me for my 'endless dorkiness,' as he puts it,” Frank said. He lead them around the corner, stopping on the path's overlook to peer down at the golf course. “I don't see anyone playing—not that there should be anyone out there, it's getting dark—so we'd better check the clubhouse.”

Nancy took her own survey of the greens she could see, agreeing with Frank's assessment just before he tugged her along again. “Do you think your father is in trouble?”

“I don't know. Sometimes with Dad it's hard to know. He kind of... disappears often. I told you—that's how Joe and I got our break in detective work. We rescued Dad a few times, and Mom said she'd much rather know that we were capable of finding him than try and keep us from what we were going to do anyway.”

“Oh... fudge,” Nancy said, and Frank stopped to look at her. She grimaced. “I forgot to call my dad. I was going to after your mom and I got to the room, but I didn't.”

“Well, fortunately, we're ahead, timezone wise, so it won't be too late when we get back. And if we find Dad, we'll be back to the room soon enough,” Frank said, letting go of her hand to open the clubhouse door for her.

She thought she blushed as she went inside, though she didn't know why. All he'd done was hold open a door. Ned had done that for her before, even Corky had, so why was Frank doing it any different?

“Do you see him?”

Frank looked around the room, frowning as he did. “Um... Maybe that back table? That guy's head is down, but that looks like one of Dad's awful golf shirts. He let Joe pick them out, and you can see how well that worked for him.”

She didn't think it was that bad, though she had noticed Joe's fashion sense was on the flashier, louder side whereas Frank was more subdued and controlled, like he picked each part for the role he was playing, or so it had seemed in LA.

She followed Frank over to the table. He reached over and put his fingers on the man's wrist as he shook him. “Dad?”

“'Fraid your father had a little too much to drink,” another man said, reaching over to pick up a glass from the table. Nancy frowned—why would he care so much about an empty glass? The server would pick that up, wouldn't they? “I would have called his room, but he couldn't remember which one it was. So I just kept him company for a spell. He said one of his kids would find him eventually.”

Frank nodded, though Nancy could see signs of his concern bleeding through his neutral expression. “Thank you for staying with him. I'll get him back to our room now.”

“No problem. You sure you don't need any help? You do have a bit of a lame mitt there.”

“No, Nancy and I have got it,” Frank said. “This is almost healed, and I'm used to it with Dad. We're good. Thank you.”

The other man raised the glass in salute before walking away. Frank went around to the other side of his father, easing under his arm. “You take that side. Let's get him out of here.”

Nancy helped him lift his father up, and Fenton groaned as they got him to his feet, but he didn't wake enough to give them much help getting him to the door. Maybe they should have found Joe first. He'd be a better help, especially with Frank's arm in that cast. Still, she didn't want their “friend” coming back.

After an awkward dance to get Fenton through the doors, Nancy grimaced, trying not to lose hold of him. “I'm not sure we'll make it very far.”

“I don't necessarily want to, but I'm not taking that guy's help, that's for sure,” Frank said, shaking his head. “Dad never drinks too much, and never on a case. And the way that guy showed up just as we found him with a story like that—”

“And he made sure he took the glass from the table,” Nancy added. “I think your father was drugged.”

Frank nodded. “Me, too. I just wish I knew why.”

Not for the first time, Joe cursed himself for being a klutz. He could have found out a lot more about the blackmailers and had faces—maybe even names—to tell everyone if he'd been able to get a better look, but no, he was clumsy and kicked over a pot. Now he had to run for it, and these guys definitely knew the resort better than he did. That was his fault for spending most of the day at the pool, but he wasn't a freak like Frank—he hadn't memorized the whole map, either.

Joe rounded the corner of the building, stopping to catch his breath. If he could remember where he was—he hadn't been all the way to the golf course yet, but he'd run in the other direction—stupid, again, maybe he might have run into his father and had help—so he was all turned around. What he needed to know was where the pool was from here. He could figure out anywhere as long as he had that as a point of reference.

“Think,” he hissed at himself, trying to figure out which way to go. If he didn't make up his mind soon, they'd find him, and that couldn't happen. He had to get back to the room and tell the others what was going on—they didn't have a cover anymore, and they were all at risk. Even Nancy, since no one who was suspicious of them would buy her as Frank's girlfriend when they knew he was on a case.

Joe pushed himself forward. He'd take the path on the right. He might be going the wrong way, but he had to keep moving anyway. As long as he didn't head back toward the guys chasing him, he stood a chance. Maybe he could find a place to hide even if he couldn't find the way back to the room right away. He could buy time. That would work, too.

He heard footsteps behind him and hurried his pace, running down a winding path and finding himself face-to-face with a large gate. Crap. The entrance to this set of gardens was on the opposite side of the park. This was the staff only door, and it was definitely locked.

He picked up the padlock and sighed. He dug out his wallet and took out his makeshift pick—Frank had better never know Joe had a hairpin on him at all times—and started working on it. Yeah, they were coming, but he was at a dead end, and unless he got in there, he'd be caught for sure.

He twisted the pin around, getting the right leverage and making the lock's interior pins shift. He got it open with a smile, and he slipped the rock off the chain just in time—still the champion, take that Frank.

He was about to push open the door when something hit him in the back of the head.

Chapter Text

“Frank?”

Fenton's eyes were open, and he seemed disoriented, but Nancy was glad to hear that Frank's father was awake. One because she didn't know that they would have been able to get him back to their room on their own, and two because it was frightening to think that someone had drugged him and they had no idea why. Maybe Fenton could tell them what happened, maybe he'd overheard something. If he knew who that man was that had drugged him, that would also help.

“Here, Dad,” Frank said, helping Fenton sit down on a rectangular planter with enough stone next to the plants to allow for a sort of seat. “Take a minute and rest.”

Fenton put a hand to his head, blinking a few times. “Tell me... that's not your brother.”

Frank managed to laugh, and Nancy looked down at her clothes. She didn't think that she looked all that bad, but she supposed that if Fenton had thought she was Joe in drag, he would have been concerned at the very least. “No, this is Nancy. When you're not drugged, you can meet her for real. Right now, we have to get you back to the room and then see about finding Joe.”

“Where is Joe?”

“I'm not sure,” Frank answered, “but I asked him to look for you, and since we found you and not him, he either blew me off... or he's in trouble. And since it's Joe—”

“He's probably in trouble,” Fenton agreed, right before he turned over and puked in the bushes next to him. Frank grimaced, turning to look around for someone that might have seen it. It was kind of embarrassing, but she thought it was more than that prompting Frank's concern. “I think...”

“I think we need to get you back to the room before we do anything for Joe,” Frank said, overriding anything his father might have been about to say. “Come on. Back on your feet. Mom can look you over and decide what to do with you next.”

“Shouldn't worry your mother.”

“Yes, well, you disappearing would have been worse,” Frank told his father, bracing himself under the older man's arm. Nancy went around to take his other side. “You'll have to tell us who you were drinking with—we met someone who was pretty suspicious, but he might not have been the one who actually drugged you.”

“Only had one glass,” Fenton insisted. “Just one.”

“Dad, this is me. If it was Joe, he'd probably be teasing you about a few too many, but I know you wouldn't do that,” Frank muttered. He still seemed really worried to Nancy, and she figured it was hard on him, having his father in this state while not knowing what might have happened to his brother. She hoped that Joe had just forgotten to check on his dad before his date, but in their line of work, that was unlikely—and as much as Frank groused about his brother, she didn't think that Joe was that irresponsible.

Fenton nodded, just once, skin shifting colors after he did. “Might end up puking again.”

“If you do, you do,” Frank said. “At least it'll be on me and not on Joe. He'd never let you hear the end of it.”

Fenton groaned, but Nancy thought that was agreement—he knew his other son would tease him. Joe seemed the type to tease everyone. He was pretty good at it, too. Nancy hoped nothing bad had happened to him, but they wouldn't know until they were able to start looking.

They had to get Fenton back to the room first, though.

“There. Stay put,” Frank told his father, knowing how stubborn he'd be. He shouldn't move—they had no idea what he'd been given or how long it would last or even if it was fatal, but he didn't want to risk going to a doctor at the resort. They'd have to do something else, but with Joe possibly missing, he'd figured taking his dad to the room was the best course. They could figure out more later, including getting in a doctor they could trust—but that was better left to his mom to do, because she had all their contacts. Frank only knew some of them.

“Can get myself to the bathroom.”

“Mr. Hardy, I think it would be better if you stayed put,” Nancy told him, wincing. “Last time you did throw up on your son.”

Fenton groaned, turning over. Nancy reached for the nearest thing she could find—the ice bucket—and rushed it over to him. Frank gave her a smile as a thank you before he walked over to the other door. He needed to change—he was disgusting, but he had been trying not to think about it.

He stopped, leaning into the bedroom. His mother had darkened it for her nap, but he had a feeling she wasn't actually sleeping. Knowing her, concerns for her husband had kept her awake despite the fatigue of her pregnancy.

“Mom? We found Dad. He's... a little worse for the wear.”

“I think he's not the only one,” Laura said, starting to rise. She flipped on the light and nodded. “Yes, that's what I thought I smelled.”

“Sorry. I forgot about your sensitivity to smells with the nausea—”

“I'm fine, Frank,” she assured him quickly. Then she grimaced. “You had better change, though. And a shower might not be out of line.”

“I'll change and wash up, but I want to find Joe before it gets any later. I want him to have just blown me off and gone on his date without looking for Dad, but if he didn't...”

Laura sighed. “If he didn't, he's in trouble because it's Joe and that's what he does. Go on. Get washed up and changed, and when you're done, see if you can find his date. Then we'll see what to do from there.”

“Dad probably needs a doctor. I'm not sure what they gave him. Neither is he.” Frank fidgeted. “I'm not even sure he should be awake yet, which is not a good thing.”

“If they wanted it to look like your father only had too much to drink, it would be wearing off by now,” Laura said. She covered her mouth. “Frank, I love you and know that you're trying to do what's best for your father, but you have to go clean up.”

Frank nodded. “You're lucky. He got most of it on me and not Nancy or himself.”

“Always so self-sacrificing,” Laura teased with a smile. She grimaced again, hurrying past Frank and into the other room. Frank sighed, yanking off his shirt and kicking off his shoes. It figured that his father would get him with the puke. He'd really hoped that Fenton would be able to keep it together until they got back to the room, but since when was he that lucky?

Never.

He switched out his pants for a pair of jeans—he figured if Joe was in trouble he'd rather have something to wear that could take a beating if they needed to—and was about to put on his shirt when he groaned. He'd managed to get some of the puke from his shirt on himself, which was just gross. He'd known there was some on his arm—thankfully it had missed his cast—but he couldn't just put on clean clothes over that.

He carried his shirt with him into the bathroom, turning on the water. He grabbed the soap and washcloth and was midway through wiping down his front when something bumped him from behind.

“Oops,” Nancy said. “Sorry. I was going to dump this and—”

“And I should have used the bathroom off the other bedroom,” Frank said, realizing his mistake a little late. “Here. You can get by now. I just need to put on my shirt and other shoes and we can go look for Joe.”

Nancy nodded. “Yeah.”

Something about her tone had him concerned. “You okay? I know you're holding Dad's barf bucket, so you can't be great, but—”

“Oh. No. I'm fine. Not nauseous. I just... I was reminded that this isn't the first time I've interrupted you in the process of changing, and I really wanted to say I'm sorry because I didn't mean to do it and it's not exactly the best habit to have and—”

“It's fine,” Frank said, pushing her toward the other part of the bathroom before this could get anymore awkward. “I'll be ready in a minute. And then we have to find Joe.”

“Where do we start?” Nancy asked as soon as the door had shut behind Frank, leaving his parents alone and grumbling at each other. Mr. Hardy was trying to tell his wife he wasn't sick, and she wasn't having any of it. They were really cute together, and Nancy could have kept watching them for a lot longer, but Frank had tugged her by the arm and pulled her out of the room first.

Frank took a deep breath and let it out, glancing back at the door. Nancy wouldn't blame him for being torn, but she thought Laura could handle her husband, even if she was pregnant. “I'm not sure. Joe didn't tell me where he had his date planned, though he did say that...”

“That what?”

Frank grimaced. “Well, he wanted us to go on our own... uh... date... for the cover.”

“Oh.”

“It really doesn't matter now,” Frank told her. “I'm pretty sure there's no point in trying to salvage a cover. They've drugged Dad and Joe's missing, which means that our cover's already blown. Well, yours might not be, but I don't know. It can't be in good shape because you are with us and we are investigating...”

“Though it's a little suspicious, you bringing your girlfriend along on a case, right?”

Frank coughed. “Um, I wouldn't, so yeah, I guess so. Come on. Let's take the other path to the golf course. Joe could have gone the other way, and maybe that's why we didn't run into him. If he did, then we might see him or some sign that he was there or something...”

“Frank,” Nancy said, putting a hand on his arm. “We will find him.”

He nodded. “I know. I'm just worried about what state he'll be in when we do.”

Chapter Text

Joe lifted his head and looked around, frowning. He didn't know where he was. He should have been at the gate, since he'd just finished picking the locks, but he knew he wasn't outside anymore. In fact, he'd almost go so far as to say he was underground. That was what the lack of light and dampness made him think.

Damn it. Why did he have to be such a klutz? This sucked. If he hadn't knocked over that stupid pot, then none of this would have happened. He'd still be free, and he'd know who was behind the blackmail.

He started to move forward, trying to get a sense of the room he was in—the ground felt cold, stone or maybe concrete—he'd have to practice that, learning to tell the difference by texture. Frank probably knew—Frank knew everything, didn't he?—and bumped into another wall. Whatever this place was, it wasn't very big.

“Investigating the crawl space. What a great idea. The best in the universe. You know we're trapped and gonna die down here, right?” Joe asked, shoving at his brother's foot in front of his face. This place was small and cramped, and he didn't know why he'd thought Frank's idea was a good one when he said it earlier. They could be out in the big, warm, living room, with nothing to worry about but when their mom would finish with dinner.

Instead, he was underneath their house, trapped because the door somehow got stuck behind them, with Frank taking up most of the space and maybe the air and maybe it was going to fall down on top of them. Houses did that, didn't they? Just up and collapsed?

“Calm down, Joe. We won't be trapped down here forever. We'll find a way out or to tell them that we're here.”

“You always say that. How is it you're always calm?”

“I'm not,” Frank muttered. He shifted in the small tunnel and looked up at the ceiling. “I've been trying to figure out where we are now. See, if we can make a picture of the house and know what part we're under, then we can find a way to let them know where we are. Or another way out. I mean, do you see anywhere that would allow someone to turn around? We're small, and even I can't do that. So I think there has to be another way.”

“You think? You mean you didn't know?”

Frank shook his head. “What's the point of exploring if you know everything you see? Besides, think about Dad. He's been kidnapped before. How did he find his way out of those places? He didn't know where he was. But he did escape before. If he can do that... we can do this.”

Joe thought about that. “Hmm. Maybe.”

He put his hand to his head. He didn't know why he was remembering that instead of working on getting himself out of here, but he would get out of here. He wasn't about to stay stuck here forever. He'd seen the people behind this blackmail scheme. He had to find them, had to tell his father or Frank.

And it wasn't like he was done teasing Frank about Nancy, so he just had to get out of here.

“I'm not not sure where else to look,” Frank admitted. He sounded miserable, and all Nancy wanted to do was take that away, make it stop. If she knew where Joe was or had some way of summoning him, she would have done it in an instant. She didn't know how to find him, though, and that was what was eating at Frank now.

“We didn't pay that close of attention to the path we were walking back with your father.” Nancy began. Frank looked at her, and she grimaced. “I'm not saying that we're not observant because I think we both are pretty good at spotting things regardless of what is going on, but we were carrying your father and then he puked on you, so we do have a reason for being distracted. I mean, as good as you are, I think your thoughts had to be caught between I'm really worried about Dad and what if that was poison and I can't puke now.”

Frank rubbed his forehead. “Add in a bit of where is Joe, and yeah, you have me down pat. That's what was going through my head that entire time. I probably did miss something. Let's retrace our steps that way, too, and if we still don't find anything, then we can head back to the hotel room and talk to Mom and Dad.”

Nancy nodded, and then she slid her hand in Frank's. He was so distracted that he didn't even look at her when she did it. Most of the other times, it had been almost as awkward as it was comfortable—their hands fit well together, and after the first couple times, it seemed natural, even if it wasn't for a cover anymore.

“Do you know where you can find this Kerrie girl?” Nancy asked. “Maybe that should actually be the step after this.”

Frank grimaced. “Joe always met her at the pool. All I know about her is that she's a big gossip with ridiculous earrings. I... Well, when Joe talks about his conquests, I kind of tune him out. I don't think I could stand knowing too much about any of that. It's not that he's a bad guy or is... spreading diseases everywhere—I don't even know that any of these romances go past one kiss, if that, but I also don't really need to know all that. Joe sometimes says I'm a prude, but it's not like... If I was going to know intimate stuff about people, it should be because I was their... friend or more, not because I was hearing it from someone else.”

“How does that work with being a detective, though?” Nancy couldn't help asking. “We look into all sorts of things in our work, including people's personal lives. We know about affairs and love children—like my Dehlia Draycott case—and there's so many other cases where those are motives and we get mixed up in them, too.”

Frank winced. “It's... It's different when it's my brother who is one of them, I guess. I can separate it easier if it's not about Joe. It's just data or facts when it's part of someone's case. It's not the kid I used to share a room with and played with and all of that.”

Nancy nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. I tend to tune out Bess talking about boys, but that's mostly because I don't have the same kind of interest in them?”

“What about Ned?”

Nancy swallowed, not sure how to answer that, but then she stopped. “Frank, look. There's dirt and a ring there like a plant was there, but there's no pot or anything. And if you look at the gaps between the other planters... There's one missing there.”

“Let's get a closer look,” Frank agreed, moving toward the spot she'd indicated. It didn't take long to confirm what she'd seen from a distance.

“Well, I'm convinced that there was a pot here and that it's not here now, but I'm not sure what that means. It is possible that if Joe was in trouble, he knocked it over, but if he did, it isn't enough to tell me anything about where he might have gone. No trail of dirt... Nothing.”

“Maybe they cleaned that up when they cleaned up the pot. They just were sloppy about where it used to be,” Nancy said. “It's not that noticeable, but we saw it.”

“We were also looking for it. Most people wouldn't be.”

“We looked for a trail from it, too,” Nancy reminded him. She reached into her pocket, taking out a glass and using it to study the ground again. Frank stared at her. She followed the dirt to the edge of the sidewalk and stood back up, shaking her head. “Wait, look at this mark again. I think it fell off and broke in the plants and rocks below. That's why there's no real trail. All the dirt ended up down there.”

“Great.”

“It's not like we thought we'd find a neon sign flashing bright in the sky that would lead us to him, not if he was really in trouble.”

Frank sighed. “I know that, but this doesn't feel right. If this is where Joe got in trouble, there should be more of a sign of it, and even if it isn't—why are you using that magnifying glass out here? It's a little... fancy, isn't it?”

She blushed. “I like it too much not to use it.”

Frank shook it off. Even if it was a little weird, it didn't matter right now. “Let's get back to the hotel room now. I have some personnel files, and I should be able to find Kerrie from them. Besides, I want to check on Dad again.”

A man walked around the corner, not far from where he'd been standing the first time a Hardy had stumbled over that particular pot. Folding his arms over his chest, he glared at the two teens as they walked out of sight. “And you thought the younger one was the problem.”

The smaller, stockier one joined him at the edge of the sidewalk. “He is. He saw us.”

The first man snorted. “So? All you know is that he saw you. You don't even know how much he might have heard. And if he did hear something, it's because you don't know the meaning of discretion. Talking in the open is not a good idea, but what did you do? You panicked.”

“Like you're all that smart. You brought them here.”

“I allowed them to come because preventing it would have made things worse. He's not the one who managed to find not only his father but also where his brother saw you. That one is the real problem, and he's not going to stop until he finds his brother.”

“Then maybe we should give him something to find.”

Chapter Text

“We didn't find any trace of Joe,” Frank reported as soon as he and Nancy had returned to the room. Nancy knew he was still worried, and she could tell he was having a hard time admitting their failure to his parents, especially with Mr. Hardy still in bad shape. Nancy wasn't sure they wouldn't have to take him to the hospital, and that was going to make things awkward because Frank wasn't going to want to quit searching for Joe. “Just a broken pot that doesn't necessarily mean anything.”

“It could mean that Joe was there and knocked it over or someone seeing him did,” Nancy told the Hardys, “but we're not really sure. We do know it was cleaned up afterward but not replaced, and that's about it. Frank was going to find information on Joe's date and see if she knew anything. There's still a chance he went on their date and forgot to check on Mr. Hardy.”

Mr. Hardy grunted, but that could have been because he was throwing up again. Mrs. Hardy backed away, holding a hand over her own mouth.

“This isn't working, is it?” Frank asked, gesturing to them. “We should get Dad to a hospital, and then we can—”

“Your father was able to tell his friend what the drink tasted like, and based on the common types of drugs and his symptoms, we have a basic diagnosis and a suggested course of action,” Laura told them. “Unfortunately, it basically involves your father emptying his stomach as much as possible. It does seem to be helping, but it is very difficult for me.”

Frank winced. “I guess I could stay here instead of going to find Kerrie. It's not like I expect her to tell us much. Joe likes her for her gossip—and I guess she's pretty, but I don't know, something about her always rubbed me the wrong way—maybe it's just because I don't like people who are nosy and gossipy, but she made my skin crawl, and she barely spared me a glance after she hooked onto Joe.”

Nancy frowned. She didn't think it was a good idea to discount Frank's impression of this girl. He did seem to have good instincts. “I think you should still go after her. She won't tell me anything—I'm lousy with girl-to-girl talk unless it's with Bess or George—and Kerrie's never met me. She knows you and that you're Joe's brother. She might tell you something she wouldn't tell me.”

Frank sighed, and Nancy knew he wasn't happy with that, but she wasn't lying—she really didn't do girl talk—if he'd seen her with Inga and Trish, and she knew he had—he knew that. Laura could agree with it, too.

“I'm afraid I agree with Nancy—you'd understand if you saw her interrogate our poor manicurists,” Laura teased with a smile before she gagged again. “Oh, Fenton, I don't know if we can stay here. You might have to go to the hospital, even if your friend is right about the drugs.”

“I can help,” Nancy offered. “Frank will still talk to Kerrie and keep looking for Joe. It'll be fine.”

Laura nodded. “We'll try that first. I need—I need to lie down again myself, try and give this one a chance to settle down. I'm hoping when she does, I'll be able to settle my stomach, too.”

Frank frowned. “You know it's a girl?”

Laura smiled, shaking her head. “No, I don't, but I've already got two wonderful boys. So sue me, I'm hoping for a little girl, since you're both still a little young to give me daughters-in-law to spoil.”

Frank coughed. “Um... I'm going to go find that info on Kerrie now.”

“I don't know about this. I mean—hurting a kid?”

Joe's head jerked up at the sound of the voices, and he tensed, looking around for some kind of way out, though he still hadn't managed to find one for all his wandering around in the dark. If there was a door in this place, he hadn't found it, though whoever was talking clearly knew where it was. They'd opened it up—but Joe didn't see a light.

Did that mean... Was he blind? Had he been hit that hard when he went down? Everyone joked about his hard head, but if it was that hard, he should be able to see something right now. Somewhere in this room, a man was talking. That meant that door was open. He should see light.

He didn't.

He tried not to panic. Unfortunately, the conversation the voices were having didn't help that very much. He couldn't help starting to worry when he heard them getting closer—or what they said.

“He's not a kid. He's a teenager, and if there's nothing else guaranteed in this world, it's that teenagers are stupid and nothing but trouble.” A second voice said, and then that man snorted. “Should know. Was one, now have three of the damn brats. Trust me, you'll be doing Hardy a favor getting rid of this one.”

Getting rid of him? Joe's mind whirled. He hadn't even found anything that useful. He didn't have any way of proving what he'd seen or heard. They could just deny that, couldn't they? They could have let him go. Yeah, sure, it would have meant they'd dig even harder for proof, but he didn't have to die for what little he'd seen.

He refused to think about that. It wouldn't happen. He would get out of here, blind or not. If he could figure out where they were and where the door was, he could get out, and he would.

“He's still a kid,” the first voice insisted, sounding disgusted, and Joe was almost relieved to be treated like a kid for once. “I don't even think he's legal to drive yet.”

“You have got to be kidding me. What does that even matter? We're talking about our entire operation being compromised here,” the second voice said. “We have to do something about this kid. You know that. They're going to keep looking for him, so we have to get rid of him or his brother. Would you rather hurt the other one?”

“Yeah, actually.”

Joe winced. Not that he wanted anything to happen to Frank, but if they chose Frank over him, it would buy him some time to get out of here.

“Ridiculous. That kid isn't much older than his brother.”

“Old enough, and I've never liked blondes all that much,” the first one said, making Joe feel sick at the same time as relieved. “Let me deal with that one. You can have this one. Not like there's any sport in killing a kid in a locked room. I like a bit of a challenge.”

“The other one has a broken wrist.”

“That didn't seem to matter to any of you earlier—you're all scared he'll find everything just like he found his father and almost found his brother. He's the real threat, right? I'll handle him. You can have this one.”

Joe had to find that door. It wasn't going to buy anyone any time if they were going to kill both him and Frank. He had to get out of here.

“Two kids dying will be a little suspicious.”

“Leaving any of the Hardys alive is a risk, and you know it. Right now, the father's out of commission, but that won't last since all you did was give him something to fall asleep and forget what he might have learned. Even if he does, when he wakes up and finds out something happened to blondie, he'll keep looking. So will the other one. So what's it going to be? You ready to take them all out? Because if you're not, then killing blondie won't solve any of your problems.”

Joe hesitated. He didn't know that the first one would change his mind, but if he did, then maybe he could wait for them to leave before trying to find the door again.

“Fine. We'll kill them all. A nice little car accident should do the trick.”

“Gee, take all the fun out of it, why don't you?”

The man snorted again, laughing. “I'm not. Do whatever you want to the kid—just make sure it's something that can be explained in a crash. That's what's in store for 'blondie.'”

Frank didn't feel right leaving everyone behind, but he didn't know what else to do. He had to find Joe. That meant going to see Kerrie, much as he didn't like her. He didn't know that she'd be able to tell him anything useful, but if Joe was there and just blowing everyone off, then that was one less thing to worry about. He knew they could all use that.

He was worried about his father, and he did think it would have been better if they got him to a hospital. Not a doctor at the resort—he didn't trust anyone here—but it wasn't like his friends could test his blood over the phone. Just because it sounded like Fenton had gotten a certain drug didn't mean that was the one he'd been given. What if that was a poison and not just a sedative with a really bad emetic side effect?

“You! You did this, didn't you? I bet you talked your brother out of showing up. I know you don't like me, but that's a little ridiculous, don't you think?”

Frank turned toward the voice, frowning as he took in the girl, all hundred pounds and garish fruit jewelry fueled fury of her. “Kerrie? What are you talking about? I was just coming to you to see if you saw Joe because I asked him to check on Dad and he never called or anything. I assumed he blew me off for you—you're saying he never came?”

She nodded, arms folded over her chest. “I had something special planned, and he knew it. He promised he wouldn't be late.”

“Well... if he did what I asked him to and found Dad, he would have been, but since he never showed—”

Kerrie's hand connected with Frank's face. “You give your brother that for me. That's what I think of him leading me on and ditching me for other girls.”

Frank winced, putting his hand to his stinging cheek. She stalked away across the courtyard, and he shook his head. Good riddance.

Only now she was a dead end, and Frank still had no idea what to do to find Joe. He didn't have anything else to go on except the two places Joe should have been—and he clearly wasn't in either of them. Frank didn't know what else to try but a place by place search, for which he needed more people, which was difficult with his dad sick, his mom sort of in the same state, and Nancy taking care of his father.

He was about to start back to the room when someone grabbed him from behind, trying to cover his mouth and nose with a cloth. Frank knew he didn't have much time if that was chloroform. He elbowed the man hard in the stomach, stomping on his foot and swinging his cast up toward where the man's face was, hoping to get the guy in the nose.

His attacker dodged the swing, knocking Frank's legs out from under him with a kick, and he hit the ground hard. He should have been able to do better, and he'd thought he'd hit the guy hard enough to stop him, but he was already back over Frank, holding the cloth over his face again.

“And here they thought you wouldn't be a challenge,” the man muttered, smiling. “I'm glad you were, though. That'll make this that much more fun.”

Chapter Text

“That is it, Fenton. We tried it your way, but it hasn't worked. Not enough,” Laura told her husband. She prodded him up, and Nancy went over to their side, hoping that she could be of some help. She didn't think she'd been much since Frank left, but that didn't mean that she couldn't still try. She just didn't know what to do.

“Laura,” Mr. Hardy began. “You don't—we can—”

“Enough is enough,” Laura insisted. “You are too sick to move, making me too sick to move, Joe is missing, and it has been way too long since Frank left. I know when my boys are in trouble, and I know it now. So we are getting you to the hospital, now, and once you are back on your feet, we are going to find the boys.”

Mr. Hardy nodded. He didn't argue with her after that speech. Nancy couldn't, either, but she didn't know how to react—Frank had been gone a while now, but she hadn't thought that it was something to worry about until Laura said something. That worried her. If Frank was missing along with Joe—but why? He didn't have any suspects. They hadn't found anything. She'd been there for that, and she didn't know how it could have gotten so bad so fast.

She didn't understand why blackmailers would have gone to kidnapping, but Joe or Frank must have seen something. Mr. Hardy must have, too, since he got drugged.

She helped the Hardys over to the door. Laura held her husband up while Nancy opened it, and then she went back to supporting Mr. Hardy on their way to the elevator. “What about the man you were drinking with, Mr. Hardy? Do you remember anything about him? Could he be the one that... went after Joe and maybe Frank?”

“Not... sure,” Fenton said. “Don't remember much of the conversation. Not sure I remember anything past the golf game, actually.”

“Who was at the golf game? Just you or were you playing with someone else?”

“Oh, they always match you with someone. I was with... Some corporate guy who didn't know much about the game. He had the golf pro with him, giving him pointers, but they didn't help much.” Mr. Hardy leaned against the wall next to the elevator. “Or was that yesterday? I'm sorry. I don't remember.”

“I think I would have if you'd told me there was a golf pro along for the game,” Laura told him. She looked him over. “I think your color is getting better, and I'm glad you haven't forgotten everything about today, but we'd still better see someone before you go hunting for the boys.”

“I can help look for—”

“Nancy, please—I don't want anyone else going off on their own and getting hurt,” Laura told her. She got her husband into the elevator and turned back to Nancy, touching her cheek. “I know asking you to stay out of it and stay in the room is like torture if you are anything like my boys, and I know you are. I'm not saying that, but please—be careful. If you can wait in the room in case Frank or Joe comes back, please do. If not...”

“I promise I'll be careful,” Nancy told her, almost wanting to call the woman mom and blushing because of it. She figured she'd start with Frank's personnel files. He seemed to think there was something in them, and maybe she could find it.

She didn't know what else to do, not yet, but she would find it. She had to help the Hardys. And find Frank.

“Frank? Frank, wake up,” Joe said, tugging on his brother's arm. He hadn't seen the light when they brought Frank in—again—and he was trying not to panic about that. It helped that they'd brought his brother here. He figured he'd gotten lucky—as much as those two voices argued and plotted to kill him, he wasn't dead yet. They must be waiting for his whole family, planning on arranging that accident they were talking about.

Only... would they really do that? And if they did, would they go after Nancy, too?

Frank was going to hate himself for getting her involved in all this.

“Ugh,” Frank mumbled, turning over. He reached out to shove Joe away but completely missed. He rolled over, forcing Joe to crawl toward him again.

“Come on, Frank. Wake up. We have to—” Joe stopped when he heard his brother start retching. He didn't attempt to move, didn't want to blindly stumble into that mess. Gross. He waited, thinking Frank was puking for way too long. Shouldn't it have been over by now? “Damn, big brother, what did you eat?”

Frank groaned, leaning back against the wall. “Wasn't the food.”

Joe rolled his eyes, settling back against the wall himself. He felt kind of sick now himself, and he was so blaming that on Frank. He didn't understand why his brother had to do that. They were trapped down here, and that smell was not going to help anything. Joe had been hoping that Frank would be able to figure out a way out of here, since he hadn't been able to find anything on his own.

“What do you mean, it wasn't the food?” Joe asked. “Look, you're the one that's good at figuring out locations and stuff. You got us out of the crawlspace back home. I was counting on you to do this. Instead, you're over there making everyone sick.”

“You think I wanted to be covered in puke again?” Frank demanded. “I got hit in the head and chloroformed. I didn't have a choice.”

Joe banged his head back against the wall, grimacing with regret. He was an idiot. That hurt. “You're not the only one who got hit in the head. I can't see.”

“There is nothing to see,” Frank told him. “It's completely dark in here—”

“I couldn't even see when the door opened and those guys came in. Not the first time—or the second, when they brought you here,” Joe said, hating how he sounded, but the longer he went without being able to see, the worse he got about it. He'd had it under control until now, since having his brother here helped, but if Frank couldn't get them out of here, then Joe was going to panic. A little.

“Calm down,” Frank said. He started to say something else and ended up throwing up again, and Joe shook his head, not sure how he was supposed to be calm with that going on.

“Are you done yet?” Joe asked, not sure how long he'd be able to keep his own stomach down with Frank making all that noise—and that smell. “Please?”

Frank shifted positions. “I can't promise anything. Like I said—concussion and chloroform. It's a bad combination. What were you saying about guys? What guys? I mean, I barely saw the one that came after me, but I think...”

“You think?” Joe prompted, wishing he could see his brother. “Did you know who he was? Because I didn't recognize the men I saw, and I know we didn't have any suspects before my date. What do you know?”

“That I'm going to be sick again?” Frank said, and all Joe could do was groan.

Nancy put the laptop away with a sigh. She didn't think there was anything she could do with those files. She didn't know what Frank saw in the files or what he might have been expecting to dig deeper into, but she didn't see it. She'd have to find something else if she was going to help the Hardys.

She glanced at the clock. Maybe she should have gone with Laura and Fenton to the hospital, but it was too late for that now. She just wished she'd heard from someone.

Wait, there was something she could do. She knew it might not lead to anything, but she did know where Frank had been going, and she could do the same thing that they'd tried to do with Joe. If she could find a sign of Frank on his path to Kerrie, that might tell her something. She'd done her best to keep from worrying Mrs. Hardy and staying in the room, but she couldn't stand sitting around doing nothing, either.

It was clear something had happened to Joe and Frank, and the longer they went without finding them, the worse it was for them. Nancy didn't want anything to happen to the guys, even if Joe was a little annoying with all his teasing. And Frank...

She shook her head, grabbing a jacket before she left the room. She knew where she was going, and she didn't care if it was getting late. She was going to talk to Kerrie, and then she'd figure out her next step.

Nancy ran down the stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator, going out the back door and into the courtyard. From what she'd seen in the files, Kerrie had a room on the other side of the resort, which would have been where Frank was headed when he disappeared. She would start there. She hadn't forgotten what Frank said about her. Since she always had a lot of gossip, she'd be in an ideal position to be a part of the blackmail scheme, and she could have been leading Joe on as a means of controlling how much the Hardys knew about the blackmail here at the resort.

Sure, it wasn't much, but Kerrie was the only suspect Nancy had, and she had to talk to her as soon as possible.

“Frank?”

He was tempted to hurt his brother, but even with that, he was relieved to know that Joe wasn't that badly hurt. They were trapped, and that was never a good thing, but he thought they could get past that if he could only stop hurling. He'd never reacted this badly to chloroform before, but then, he usually didn't get drugged right after he hit his head. If he hadn't hit his head, he might not have gotten knocked out by the drug, which just made a whole vicious cycle.

“I need a minute,” Frank said. “I'm sorry, Joe. I can't think like this. Just like Dad couldn't.”

“Wait, what happened to Dad?”

“He got drugged in the club,” Frank answered. “Nancy and I found him and got him back to the room. He's being stubborn about going to the doctor, but I think he's okay. Everyone was more worried about you by then.”

Joe grunted. “I didn't... I overheard a couple guys talking. They said we shouldn't have been able to come, and I tried to get a better look, but they saw me. I ran, but just when I thought I got away, they hit me over the head. I've been here ever since. We have to get out of here—they're going to kill us and make it look like a car accident. One guy refused to kill me, but he seemed to be looking forward to hurting you—I didn't think I'd see you alive again—not that I'm seeing you now, but you know what I mean—”

“The golf pro,” Frank said, reaching up to his head. He grimaced, trying not to vomit. “I... I only saw him for a minute, but I'm pretty sure he was the one who attacked me. I'm not really sure why. I went to see Kerrie to ask her if you showed up for your date, and then he got me... Though I suppose if I'm honest about it, I don't think he ever liked me. Not sure why. I guess I assumed he thought I was a coward for backing out of a game with Dad because of my wrist. Now, though...”

“He probably knew who all of us were back in the beginning. A golf pro would be in a good position to pick up gossip and other blackmail worthy things,” Joe said. “He's got to be a part of it. I didn't actually find anything that useful—we're all in this mess because I heard something and almost saw who said it.”

Frank was about to respond to that when he heard a noise behind them. He nudged Joe. He could see the smallest bit of light over there, not much, and that meant the door was that way, but hidden behind something else. No need for Joe to panic thinking that he was going blind.

“You go get blondie,” the golf pro said. “The other one is mine.”

Chapter Text

“Oh, crap,” Joe whispered. “They have to have Mom and Dad, right? Because they wouldn't have come for us if they didn't. This is bad.”

Next to him, Frank shifted positions with a small groan, and Joe frowned. He'd almost managed to forget how bad his brother was, and that was just so damn perfect, wasn't it? These guys had them right where they wanted them because Frank was sick and hurt, their father had been drugged, and Joe couldn't see anything.

Frank leaned into his shoulder. “They are letting us hear them. That makes no sense. They should have just come and drug us out—you were meant to hear them earlier, too.”

“What are you talking about?” Joe hissed back at him. That was crazy and stupid, and it had to be Frank's concussion telling him that. He was so beyond wrong about all of this. Why would they just be talking about hurting them? These people were close to exposure, and that usually made the creeps they dealt with start making death threats and hurting people.

“I think we screwed up their timetable by a lot,” Frank answered. “I think they only meant to drug Dad so he did something he could be blackmailed or thought he did. They weren't planning on killing him, just making him do something that he'd want to keep secret.”

“Only Dad wouldn't do that even drunk, and you said you found them,” Joe said, almost hitting him. “And they are still here to kill us. We have to move and get out of here, dummy.”

“They're as in the dark as we are,” Frank told him. “They want us to move so we give away where we are. I think that might have been why you heard them before—they were hoping you'd show yourself when you heard them threaten the rest of us.”

“You're here, too!” Joe almost shouted, keeping his voice down only at the last second. “They have to know where I am.”

“Not necessarily. I don't actually remember being brought in here. You know, though—did they carry me over to where you were or did you find me?”

“Uh... I found you, I guess. Sort of. I wasn't sure what to think of the big thump that I heard,” Joe admitted. “Which means you probably hit your head more than once, even if you were chloroformed the second time. Ouch.”

“Would explain a few things,” Frank agreed. “Right now, the important thing is not to panic. If they were going to just drag us out, they'd already done it by now. They haven't pinned us down by our voices. They're going to have to stumble back here in the dark—which means this place has no light source and...”

“And?” Joe asked when his brother didn't answer and actually might have been moving away from him, if he judged that scuffling right.

“Sorry. I have to puke again.”

Joe leaned his head back against the wall. Sure, it was good that Frank hadn't actually puked on him, but how were they going to get out of here, even if Frank was right and those guys couldn't see them in their hiding spot? That wouldn't keep them safe forever. They had flashlights, didn't they? They had to. Staying still couldn't save them if these guys got smart and brought one of them down here.

Or was that all Frank's twisted way of keeping Joe from panicking? This whole dumb theory was actually just a distraction?

“Ah, here we are. I thought I'd find blondie first, but I won't complain about getting you.”

Joe bit back a groan. They'd found Frank. And that might have been exactly what his brother wanted them to do.

Nancy almost wouldn't have stopped if she hadn't heard the giggle, but for some reason, that high-pitched squeak had her thinking that she needed to look closer, so she turned. Embarrassed, she found herself looking at two teens caught in the middle of an intense make-out session that would probably lead somewhere that did not need witnesses.

Except... those earrings.

She couldn't remember who had mentioned them—if it was Joe or Frank or even their mother—but they were very unique, with just about every fruit known to man dangling from the girl's ears. Kerrie Berrie. That was definitely the girl's nickname.

Nancy folded her arms over her chest. “You never intended to meet Joe tonight, did you?”

Kerrie and her man of the hour broke apart, both of them staring at Nancy. The guy just seemed confused, but Kerrie looked angry. Very angry. “Excuse me? Just who do you think you are, little miss fashion disaster?”

Nancy rolled her eyes. Not again. At least Inga and Trish had prepared her for this. “The only fashion disaster here is your earrings. You set Joe up with this date, didn't you? Since you clearly have another guy you're... interested in, you were just leading him along, weren't you? Was it all a set up, or did you just do it tonight?”

“I don't know what you're talking about. I don't even know who you are.”

Nancy didn't bother telling her. It wasn't important. “I think you do. I think you were supposed to keep Joe far away from his father tonight because whatever the plan was, it started with Fenton. He was drugged—maybe to create a compromising situation since he wasn't going to do that on his own—and then you were maybe going to do the same with Joe—only he wouldn't have been drugged. Not necessarily. He's a flirt, and you could have talked him into something any teenage boy might want. You might have had to drug him if he started to be the gentleman he can be and his parents raised him and his brother to be—”

“Oh, I get it now. You're Frank's girlfriend. Look, I know some girls have to know everything about their guy's life, but don't you think you're going a little far by butting your nose into Joe's life? He's your guy's brother, not your guy,” Kerrie said, and Nancy didn't know if she was being stupid or really thought that would distract her or convince Nancy she was innocent.

“Joe is missing, and Frank is, too,” Nancy said, facing the other girl down. “I know you had a part in that, and I'm not going away until you tell me the truth. Was it all an act with Joe? Did you arrange things so he could be taken?”

“What?”

“Kidnapping is a felony offense,” Nancy went on. “And being an accessory to multiple kidnappings as well as the blackmail scheme—”

“You don't know what you're talking about.”

“Kerrie, what is she talking about?” the boyfriend demanded, staring at her like he'd never seen her before, and Nancy had a feeling he hadn't. He'd never seen the real her. He didn't know what she was actually like. “Are you involved in all this? It's bad enough another guy, but kidnapping?”

“And possibly attempted murder,” Nancy added, letting that scare him more. “Do you know anything about what she's been up to?”

He frowned, starting to shake his head, but then he stopped. “Actually... I just might.”

Frank felt himself get hauled up by the shirt, and he wished he'd had time to make a better plan than the one he'd come up with in a few short seconds while Joe was close to freaking out and his head was pounding. He knew that he could trust his brother to do what needed to be done, but he hadn't exactly been explaining the plan when he was talking. Yes, he'd gotten out one part of his theory—he hadn't meant to get distracted by that thought about their father, but then his mind was all over the place right now thanks to his concussion.

He had meant to tell Joe to be ready to jump the guys when they came, and it wasn't like he thought Joe wouldn't do it, but sometimes he wished his brain didn't have to follow a certain train of thought all the way to the end before it got back to the point.

Which was that the golf pro that really hated him had him, and he was about to get slammed into another hard surface.

“I would have thought you'd still be asleep,” the creep said, and Frank could only shrugged. Trying to explain his current reaction to the chloroform was probably a bad idea, and he wasn't a medical expert by any means. “I don't mind having you awake, though.”

“Perry, you are about as cliché as it gets,” Frank told him. “Did you pick that up in a movie? I am kind of disappointed. This whole operation seems to be the work of amateurs. It seemed so sophisticated when we were on the outside of it. Smart and even on a different level from what we're used to dealing with. Then we get here, and it turns out... it's all just the same. Stupid criminals with no more imagination than killing us all.”

The golf pro snarled, and even though Frank was expecting the wall slam, it still hurt like hell when he did it. He had trouble keeping his eyes open, and he knew he was going to be sick again. He thought that was the worst of it, even with the throbbing in his head. He hated being so out of control of his own stomach and unable to do much because of it.

“Let him go!” Joe shouted, and Frank groaned as his brother's impact with the golf pro knocked him into the ground first. Something cracked, and Frank really hoped that was just his cast and not a bone again. Frank tried to move, but he seemed to have gotten pinned under Perry in the fall, and Joe wasn't letting up on him.

“Joe,” Frank croaked out, trying not to puke while still trapped underneath this guy, “the door.”

Joe grabbed hold of his arm. “Come on. Let's go.”

“Um... I'm not sure I can,” Frank admitted, since he knew he was about to pass out again.

Chapter Text

“So you honestly had no idea that Kerrie was doing any of this?” Nancy asked, rejoining the boyfriend after she'd managed to tie the other girl's hands together, looping the rope around the pillar a couple times. She didn't doubt that Kerrie could escape, especially if someone came looking for her, but right now, she just needed a few minutes of the boyfriend's time and a chance to go after Joe and Frank. As much as Nancy didn't want to let Kerrie escape, she knew her friends were more important to her, and Kerrie was not the mastermind behind all this, that was for sure.

Neither was her friend.

The other teen shook his head, looking sheepish and guilty all at once. He reached up and ran a hand through his curly hair, wincing. “I guess you could say that there wasn't much on my mind besides her when I was with her. She knew just what to do to keep me pretty distracted, and I enjoyed it. A lot.”

Nancy held back her own grimace. She didn't need all of that information, not that she couldn't have guessed what kept this guy and Joe from seeing past Kerrie's lies. Frank had, but he hadn't done much more than register dislike for her—he hadn't stopped Joe from seeing her, for one thing, and that could have changed how all of this played out.

Then again, Kerrie had seemed like an important source for them, hadn't she? She had all the gossip about the resort, and gossip, while definitely unreliable, had helped Nancy solve cases before. She supposed the guys couldn't be blamed for seeing Kerrie as a source and not a suspect.

“I liked the idea of just being here and having fun,” the guy went on. “Trust me, with my parents, there's not a lot of fun to be had. Their marriage was a business deal, and I was never supposed to happen. I get the feeling sometimes he thinks I happened because of someone else, if you know what I mean. So coming here, I just wanted to enjoy myself. And I met Kerrie. She was... She seemed so nice and friendly. She knew everyone and everything, and she was fun to hang around with.”

Nancy bit back what she almost said. She had a feeling that he'd been targeted as well, and he'd already told her much more than he should have, even if that little secret was more like common knowledge in his family's social circles. She wasn't sure, but that enough could have given the blackmailers here leverage on his mother. He didn't need to know that just now, though, since he was already feeling bad enough about things, and she wanted his help to stop what Kerrie and the others were doing. That would make whatever he'd told Kerrie useless.

“I know,” Nancy agreed, trying to be sympathetic. “I think this would be a nice place to spend time if it didn't have people on its staff working to dig up blackmail and use it against powerful, influential people, arranging accidents for them when they wouldn't cooperate.”

Horrified, he looked back at Kerrie. “Is that what you were doing? You hurt people?”

“I never had any part in that, John. You have to believe me,” Kerrie said, shaking her head. “All I did was keep my ears open. I'm good at that. You know I am. It's not a bad thing. I'm just—”

“Lying and using people?” John finished for her, shaking his head. “Look, I know better than anyone about how good she is at distracting people. If you're right about how she was supposed to keep your friend occupied, I have a good idea about where that would be.”

“He's not there,” Kerrie said, trying to pull herself free. “Hello? That's a date spot. Not a place I would take someone if I kidnapped them—not that I kidnapped anyone. I didn't. I don't know anything about any—”

“Both Joe and Frank were on their way to see you when they disappeared,” Nancy interrupted. “Joe because of your date and Frank to ask you about his brother. Since neither of them came back from that, I think it's a little obvious that you're involved.”

Kerrie shook her head. “Not like you think. I'm not going around killing people or anything.”

“No, just using their secrets against them for things other people want,” Nancy said, folding her arms over her chest. “If you really want to convince me you're not a part of hurting anyone, there are some things you should do. Starting with... tell me where they'd keep Frank and Joe—”

“How would I know that? I don't hurt anyone, and I didn't kidnap them.”

“—And tell me who is behind all of the blackmail,” Nancy finished. The other girl glared back at her. She'd expected as much, though. “I see. Well, I think we'll start with your 'date' spot, and when I get done there, I'll have a nice talk with your parents.”

“What? Why would you do that?”

Nancy smiled. “Because it's obvious you're protecting someone, and since your loyalties seem pretty flexible, I figure only family might have a chance of keeping them for long. So... I think I know who is behind this, or at least a higher player in it. Thank you.”

Kerrie snarled curses at her, but Nancy pushed John forward. “Let's go find that spot of yours.”

Joe started to ask Frank what he meant by that, but the answer was obvious when he tugged on his brother. Something heavy was weighing him down, and he didn't even so much as moan. He was out again, wasn't he? Crap. How was Joe supposed to get him unstuck in the dark and then all the way out of here? At least the one jerk who had it in for Frank was unconscious, but he had told someone else to get Joe before he came in, so what were the chances that Joe would walk right out into someone when he tried to get out of here?

He grimaced. He supposed it didn't matter all that much. He had to take the chance.

He reached out until he found the lump that was Perry, shoving the golf pro off of Frank. He did moan, and Joe winced. Okay, they couldn't expect him to be out for long, but hopefully he and Frank would be far enough away from here by then. Joe would try and wake Frank again when they were outside, since he might do too much to bring Perry around if he tried to rouse Frank now.

He pulled Frank out, trying not to mutter to himself about his brother being heavier than he looked. Frank was on the skinny side—he wasn't completely reed thin, but he'd managed to fit in with a bunch of guys whose idea of exercise was entirely virtual not that long ago. Frank should not weigh this much.

Joe refused to think he'd gotten Perry by mistake. He knew he hadn't. Perry was a lot heavier, and Joe knew he had Frank from the other times he'd done stuff like this. He didn't want to think about all the ways that added up to it—the smell and feel of Frank's skin and all—since that made it take on a creepy sense that he didn't want to think about. It was just—Frank was his brother, Joe knew him well, and that familiarity told him that he had hold of Frank and not Perry.

He dragged Frank toward the light that was the door, and then he took the final step out into it himself. Blinking, he tried to make sense of where they were, again hating himself for not memorizing the map like Frank had.

He turned back to his brother, giving him a good shake. “Come on. We're out now. I don't see anyone, but you'd know where we are and where we should go. I don't.”

Frank moaned and rolled over, but he didn't wake. Joe sighed, rolling his eyes as he started walking again. He knew that he had to find the next step out, but he didn't even know where to start. They'd been in some kind of basement storage, he assumed, and it was strange that it was hidden like that, without a real door to enter or exit, so whatever it was planned for was never on the up and up to begin with. Smuggling? That seemed strange in a place like this, a luxury resort, but then he didn't know that much of this made sense—they didn't know who was behind the conspiracy and blackmail, just one low level flunky—Perry. Joe figured he was a good information source and a bit of brawn, but he was not the brains of the operation.

The other voice had given Perry orders, but he didn't sound like he was in charge, either. He must have passed them along, and he did seem to think some on his own—more of a mid-range player than the golf pro. Could that guy work in the offices somehow? They would need someone there if nowhere else, and they had at least one gossip and blackmail source, but there had to be more, didn't there?

Joe grimaced. Why was he trying to puzzle that out now? He could worry about that a lot more when he was done getting himself and his brother out of here. He found the other door and ran back to his brother. He could handle more once he had himself and Frank out of here.

“Okay, I'll drag you more if I have to, but it would be really helpful if you woke up now,” Joe told him, giving him another light push. “Come on, big brother. I know you're more stubborn than a couple knocks to the head. Even if I'm the hard-headed one.”

Frank groaned, and Joe regretted waking him as soon as he realized what Frank was about to do. He rolled to the side and threw up again, whole body shaking with the heaves. That looked bad, but all Joe could say was, “Did you have to do that?”

His brother didn't even glare back at him. “Sorry.”

The voice was so quiet and pathetic that Joe winced. Frank must feel really, really bad. “Okay, I found the door. Let's get out of here.”

“Such an amusing idea,” a voice said from behind them. “You didn't really think escaping would be that easy, did you?”

Chapter Text

“See? It's pretty isolated down here,” John said as he led Nancy along the path, and while she tried not to think too much about that, his comment did raise warning bells in her head. She had decided to trust him, but he wasn't sure she had any reason to do so. She knew he'd acted shocked when she came up to him and Kerrie, and he'd shown that he was hurt, but he could have been acting all of that time. Nancy liked to think she knew people, but her past experiences had taught her that she was just as susceptible to falling for stereotypes and other wrong ideas about people. She might have trusted the wrong person.

She knew, of course, that she couldn't trust Kerrie, but she didn't know that she could trust John. Nancy looked around, trying not to give away her thoughts as she did. “It is.”

“Just the right sort of place for a romantic getaway that no one would interrupt,” John went on, and Nancy nodded. He and Kerrie could have spent several hours here without attracting an adult's attention, which was probably what they wanted. Would the scheme have been for Kerrie to get 'pregnant' and blackmail John for that? And was it possible that Kerrie had brought older men here? That she had gotten them into compromising situations with her?

The thought was disgusting, but Nancy didn't know that Kerrie wasn't capable of it, and she wouldn't have put the idea past her. She didn't know how far into this scheme the girl was, or if her loyalty really was to family—it could have been to money—but she would find out later. First she wanted to find her friends.

“Did you ever see anything when you were down here?” Nancy asked, still surveying the area. She thought it was secluded enough to where they might use it for things besides Kerrie's trysts.

“Well...” John began. “My mind was kind of on other things at the time.”

Nancy nodded, though again she didn't want to think about it. She started toward the bushes, wanting to get a better sense of the area, since this romantic little fountain wasn't enough to tell her where Frank and Joe were. She had hoped maybe the idea of someplace so hidden away would lead to somewhere they could have stashed the boys, but she didn't see one. The back fence was all one solid piece, no gates or locks, and the buildings next to it didn't open out to it.

It was just a teenage make-out spot. Nothing else.

Though—why had Kerrie been so quick to say she hadn't brought them here? She'd denied involvement up until then, but then she'd not only admitted it but claimed this place wouldn't be where she took someone she kidnapped. That meant that Kerrie was trying to hide something about this place. Nancy didn't know what it was, but she would find it.

“Hey, do you think that you could—”

“John, I need to find anything that is out of the ordinary,” Nancy interrupted him. “Help me look for loose tiles or planters that might have been moved. Or maybe it's in one of the buildings near here. Or the fence...” Nancy started toward it, giving it another inspection. She wasn't sure what she expected to find, but she felt sure that something was here, and if she just looked hard enough, she would find what she needed.

“You know, it is just you and me here—”

“What?” Nancy asked, turning to look at John. “Are you actually suggesting that we use this romantic spot for... that?”

“Um...” He started to blush, and then Nancy shook her head, moving away from him. She didn't understand why he would try and push for that now, here, with her, of all people. Maybe it was that Kerrie had used him, but why would he think that Nancy was any better? Or that she was interested in him? Kerrie might have had a few things wrong, but she had introduced Nancy as Frank's girlfriend.

She wasn't exactly free to be picked up. His coming onto her was just flat out wrong.

And he knew she knew it about a second before he reached for her and she did the only thing she could. She ran.

Joe looked at the man in front of him, trying to place him. He didn't find this one as easy to pin down as Frank had the golf pro, and he wished he did because he wanted to know who was doing this to them and why so he could end it. He didn't want to have to go through anything else, and Frank was already in too bad of shape for anything. They had to get him out of here, get him help.

“Escaping is not an option. Surely you understand that.”

“I think you're trying to scare us,” Joe told him, trying to sound a lot braver than he was because he knew that Frank wasn't going to be able to fight or run, and that did make escape very difficult. He didn't know that it was impossible, exactly, but then he would have to get past this guy and drag Frank past him, too. That would be difficult. Doable, but hard.

“If I were trying to scare you, I would tell you that I have your parents and that it is time for all of you to die.”

“Liar,” Frank said, and Joe looked back at him in surprise, not expecting that bravado from him. “You don't know where they are—you were expecting them to rush to a hospital right away, but they didn't. Then when they stayed away, you went to get them from the room, only they're not there, either. No one is. They got away.”

Joe wasn't sure why Frank was so convinced by that, but he would rather believe his parents were fine than that they weren't, so he would go with it. The guy was lying, trying to get them to give up.

“How would you even know that?” the man asked, going over like he was about to grab him. Joe rose, blocking the guy's path only to get smacked out of the way, hard, as he did. Okay, he hadn't seemed like any kind of bodybuilder. Where the hell had that come from?

Joe groaned, trying to get himself back up from the floor. He had to, even if that had really hurt. The guy had Frank, and with that cast and his head, it wasn't like his brother could really defend himself.

“You don't know anything, kid.”

Frank's glare wasn't all that intimidating, but then he did kick the guy in the balls. Joe winced as Frank hit the wall again, but the guy who dropped him was in just about as much pain, so that was something. Joe forced himself forward, needing to get to his brother.

“Frank?”

“Think... puke again,” Frank muttered, holding his hands to his head. “Sorry. Not sure why... can't... think. Was, but now not...”

Joe rolled his eyes. “You got slammed into a wall again, idiot. I know that hurts. It happened to me, too.”

“And maybe the third time is the charm,” the guy said, grabbing hold of Joe, who tried to twist himself in the guy's grasp only to end up getting thrown again. He hit the ground and groaned.

“What are you? Some kind of freak on steroids? Know you're not the golf guy...”

“Masseuse,” Frank said, and Joe could only stare at his brother as the supposed masseuse came over and kicked him while he was down. He moaned, curling up on himself as he did. He didn't know how much longer he'd be able to stay awake, and he didn't know that he wanted to be awake, except they had to find a way out of here, and that wouldn't happen if he passed out.

“You know—they were right about you,” the masseuse said, turning back toward Frank. “You really are too smart for your own good.”

“Leave him alone,” Joe yelled, launching himself at the man. He didn't care how much it hurt. That guy was not touching Frank again. He knocked him to the ground and hit him in the face, again and again until he was thrown back and off.

He didn't know that he could take another throw like that. It hurt too much. He tried to get up again, needing to keep his brother safe, but he didn't know that he could move and everything looked very dark right now.

Frank winced when he saw Joe go down again. Somehow this time he didn't think that his brother would be moving. He tried to focus on the man who'd done it, but Frank didn't know that there was much point. He couldn't stop him. Joe was the better fighter, and he hadn't done it. Frank could barely see and his arm was throbbing under the cast. He was not going to be stopping this guy, not alone.

He tried to sit up, needing to get to his brother before the masseuse did. He knew he hadn't liked the guy when he'd met him, but he'd just figured that was a weird stigma about massages in general that Frank hadn't wanted to admit to anyone. He didn't think he'd ever want one from anyone, professional or not. It was just... too weird.

Then again, with the way his vision was doubling up and fading in and out, everything was weird.

He heard a noise and looked over to pinpoint it, but he didn't get more than a blur and then something that smelled vaguely like fruit came near him, distracting him for a moment as he tried to make sense of its shape. Another shadow hit the masseuse, and Frank saw both of them fall, grimacing.

“Joe...”

“I think he'll be okay,” Nancy said, and Frank decided he really was further gone than he'd thought if he was hallucinating her. It wasn't like he didn't want her here, but he knew she couldn't be. They didn't even know where here was. “That is... I hope you both will be.”

Chapter Text

“Nancy?”

She looked down at Frank, biting her lip. She wasn't sure he was aware she was there. Or maybe he just wasn't sure he could believe it. She didn't blame him. She almost couldn't believe it herself. She had run from John when she realized he wasn't the victim he'd pretended to be and rather a part of the scheme, but she had not thought that run would lead her right to the people she was seeking. When she'd seen the man threatening Frank and Joe, she'd done the only thing she could—she'd led John right into him, dodging out of the way at the last second.

That meant both of them were down. She did not know how long that would last, but she had to do something for the boys while she could. She ran her fingers through Frank's hair, trying to soothe him.

“I'm here, Frank,” she told him. “How badly are you hurt? I'm not sure—I don't see anything that obvious, but I am not you, and I don't know.”

Frank groaned, shifting as he tried to get a good look at his brother. “I'm... concussion. Bad one, but that could also be the chloroform.”

She winced. That would explain the smell she could now pinpoint as coming from him. She'd thought maybe it was residual from his father, but it probably wasn't. Poor Frank. She wished she had more of a way to help him, since she knew he had to be hurting as well as perhaps humiliated.

“I'm sorry,” she told him. He gave her a small smile and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “Do you think you can stand? I don't think I can carry you, but we should get you and your brother to a hospital. I think your parents are still there. Your mother insisted on taking your father there.”

“I'm glad,” Frank whispered. “He seemed bad, but... he's so stubborn.”

“I think all of you Hardys are,” Nancy told him, smiling. “Though only in the best of ways. If you weren't so stubborn, you and Joe might have been... killed.”

Frank tried to push himself so he was sitting up. He gagged, and she eased him back against her. “Not that bad. Joe... he got us out...”

“You look terrible right now, even if there aren't bleeding wounds and bad bruises all over you,” she said. “I'm not sure you should get on your feet, but we have to wake Joe and find some way of securing these two—”

“Three,” Frank interrupted. “There's another one inside. The golf pro. Masseuse... Who is the other guy?”

“Kerrie's boyfriend. I'm not sure where he works, but he must be employed here somewhere. She's the main source, I think, and she might be involved in some of the blackmail more directly... I'm not sure, but I could see it. She wasn't very happy, and I think I may be right about her working for her parents in all this—”

“That's it,” Frank said, putting his hand to his head. “That was... the personnel files. I... think that's what I saw but didn't... She doesn't have the same last name—maybe it's her mother's maiden name? I don't know, but something there connected them. I just... I was so distracted by Dad and Joe...”

“Don't blame yourself. You knew something was wrong with Kerrie.”

“Not enough.”

“Ugh,” Joe groaned. “Stop beating yourself up over there. Don't have time for a pity party.”

“More like a concussion party,” Nancy said, grimacing. “I think you both have one. As do these three you've got here. Like I said, we'd better do something about them and get you to the hospital. You need treatment, and you shouldn't delay it any longer.”

“Well,” Fenton said, giving Nancy a tired smile, “Looks like the boys were right to call you in. You weren't even here one day and you managed to round up most of the people involved, rescue the boys, and almost single-handedly solve the case.”

Joe almost threw his pillow at his father. “Hey, she did not solve the case on her own. I was the one who found the golf pro and the masseuse, even if I didn't know that was who they were when I heard them talking. Well, actually, I think I heard the masseuse talking to someone higher up, but that's not the point. I had that piece. I even managed to fight off the golf pro and rescue Frank. I wasn't rescued. I did the rescuing.”

Frank just shook his head. He seemed more subdued than the rest of them, but then he was the one whose concussion was declared the worst grade and they were concerned that he might be allergic to chloroform, which would be kind of rough considering the work they did.

Nancy was blushing red. “I didn't actually do that much. I think it just seems like more because everything came together so fast there at the end. They got spooked and made a few mistakes, plus me having outside eyes and knowing Kerrie was involved in Joe and Frank disappearing... Well, that made it easier.”

Frank reached up to his cheek. “Still not sure why she bothered with the show. She didn't have to hit me.”

“I think she may have been marking you for the guy who went to grab you.”

Frank shook his head and looked like he regretted it. “No. I don't think that is it—Perry knew who I was. He didn't like me from the beginning, and I remember that, but I didn't think he was involved until after he attacked me. Man, my instincts were off the entire time. I feel so... useless. Not only did I miss Kerrie, but I missed the files and the golf pro.”

“You were understandably distracted,” their mother told him with a small smile, reaching over to brush back Frank's hair before leaning down to give him a kiss.

“Yeah, by Nancy,” Joe said, and Frank glared at him.

“You are such an idiot.”

“Me? What did I do?”

“Boys—”

“Your mom is pregnant, Joe,” Nancy said, and Joe turned to her, mouth falling open as he tried to comprehend that. She was joking, wasn't she? She had to be. His mom was too old for that. And it would just be weird. And maybe a little gross.

“You're kidding.”

“No, but you're oblivious,” Frank groused. “I've known almost as long as she has. You, on the other hand, still don't see it.”

“And since he's known all this time, he's very worried about it, but I'm fine,” Laura said, cupping Frank's cheek. Joe put a hand to his head, shaking it. He still found all of this very hard to believe, but that didn't make it wrong. It just made it... weird.

“Wow... So... I guess Nancy's judgment was the only one that was working, since Dad managed to get himself drugged in the golf club.”

Fenton gave him a dark look, but Nancy grimaced. “Actually, no. I don't think I can say that. I was convinced for a while that John was not involved in what Kerrie was doing and that he was just a victim. Then he started to come onto me even though Kerrie had told him I was Frank's girlfriend, and it's so wrong for a guy to do that, but I should have seen past him sooner than that.”

Joe nodded. “Yeah. So not cool to hit on another guy's girl. Not that I haven't done it a few times by accident, but never on purpose.”

“Um...” Frank began, shifting uncomfortably, “can we... not talk about this now? I... My head is getting really bad again, and I'd like to sleep. At first it was nice they put us all together, but since everyone wants to talk and my head is aching... I wish I had my own room.”

Laura frowned down at him. “I don't like the sound of that.”

“I'm just tired. I promise,” Frank told her, and she nodded.

“It is late, and you have all been through a lot. We can finish in the morning,” Laura agreed, yawning herself. She went around to Frank and then to Joe, giving each of them a kiss on the forehead in turn.

“What, none for me?” Fenton asked.

“After what you did, you think you deserve one?” she teased, but Joe knew everyone was smiling when Laura stopped to give him a kiss. Things were as they should be.

Almost.

Joe still didn't know what he was going to do about his mother being pregnant.

He decided not to think about it. No way he'd get any sleep if he did. No, instead, he'd find some new way to tease Frank about Nancy. That sounded so much better than freaking out about his mom having another baby.

“Frank?”

“Go back to sleep, Joe. It is way too early for you to start in on whatever it is you're planning.”

Joe sighed from across the room. “I can't sleep. Not with the whole 'Mom is pregnant' bombshell. I don't know how you can. It's... too weird.”

“Well, I've had weeks to come to terms with it, and I'm not so sure it's weird as... We know it will change things. A lot. You'll no longer be the youngest. Mom will be starting over with raising kids, which will be a switch since we're basically grown now—well, I am, not so sure about you—and there will be another one of us. It's going to be different,” Frank said. He would have shrugged if he thought it wouldn't hurt. “That's the thing, though. Things are always different. They change daily. So it's not like we can expect it to always be like it was.”

“Maybe not, but you'll always be my partner and we'll always be brothers.”

Frank almost laughed. “Joe, are you afraid that if this new baby gets born, you'll end up forced out from being my partner? Really? You do realize there's not much chance of our new sibling solving mysteries for at least a year. First Mom has to have the baby, and then it has to learn to walk and talk and think beyond instinct and in rational thought. You're safe, little brother. No one is going to come between us.”

“Not even Nancy?”

Frank groaned. “Joe, I swear, if you start that up again, I will get out of this bed and finish you off myself. Nancy is—that topic is off-limits now and forever. Drop it. For good. And don't think I'm kidding. I only love you so much.”

“You just said we'd be partners for life.”

“Your life will be very short if you mention Nancy again, so... technically, I didn't lie,” Frank said, and he was rewarded with blissful silence from the other side of the room. He turned over on the bed, not sure why Joe couldn't see it. He said himself that he wouldn't go after a girl who was already in a relationship—so why couldn't he leave Frank alone about Nancy, who had a boyfriend? She found that John guy a creep for coming onto her when he knew she had a boyfriend, so what would that make Frank if he at all mentioned that their... relationship confused him?

No. He just wasn't going to talk about it. The case was over. Nancy would go home, and that was the end of it.

Chapter Text

“The resort actually offered to extend our stay at no cost to us.”

Frank groaned, his head still giving him trouble, apparently. Joe was feeling a lot better—or at least he was going to insist he did—and he was more than ready to get out of this place. He hated hospitals, and it was impossible to enjoy himself here when the food was so terrible. He hated that probably the most about hospitals—the food was just disgusting—but the machines and doctors and nurses weren't that much better.

“I could use some more time at the pool.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Frank said, and Joe stuck out his tongue at him. He was just grumpy because they wanted him to stay another day, still worried about the concussion and the possibility of a chloroform allergy.

“What?” Joe asked. “It's not like the entire time we were there was bad. It was just the last day. Like, literally, the last day.”

“I think you're using the word literally wrong,” Frank muttered, rubbing his head. Their mother leaned over to give him another kiss, and Frank had to force a smile. He seemed to find her fussing harder to take than the doctors or the nurses. Joe found it funny, or he would if it didn't always seem to remind him that their mom was pregnant.

“Oh, come on, do you really want to that kind of thing in front of Nancy? You won't impress anyone by being a grammar freak.”

Frank shook his head. “You know what? Now that I have the room to myself, you can go. All of you. Right now.”

“Frank, are you sure you're feeling okay?” Laura asked, turning concern on to him in full force. “You're not usually so grumpy and for you to be so rude in front of—”

“Just tired,” Frank said, looking down at his hands and far from Nancy. “I'm okay, Mom. Really.”

She studied him, and Joe didn't think she believed him—Joe didn't either, for that matter, but they weren't going to get anything else out of Frank just now. Joe shrugged. He turned to Nancy. “I don't think you even got so much as a tour of the resort. Let me show you around some. You can have a bit of fun before you go home. It's not like you have a flight out right this instant, do you?”

“Um, no,” Nancy said, glancing toward Frank. “I wasn't planning on leaving right away. The case ended up being solved a lot sooner than I thought.”

“So, what, no one's expecting you for... a week? Maybe more?” Joe asked. He looked to his parents. “Why don't we stay? You figured out the rooming issue, so we can just enjoy this place for a while. You two can do more girl time, and I'll show Nancy the pool and the—”

“We can consider staying for longer,” Laura said, looking to Fenton.

“It might be wise,” Fenton began, getting a look from his wife. “We're not completely certain that this ends with Kerrie's parents, and it would be advisable to keep an eye on things for a while.”

“Fenton—”

“Even if it isn't over,” Frank said. “No one's going to do anything right now. They'd be fools to try it after the arrests. They'd be a lot better off if they let Kerrie's parents take the blame and find another place to start up their scheme or time and distance to make the scandal die down.”

“And asking us to stay could be just a PR thing on their part,” Joe said. “They need good publicity now that everyone knows—same with asking us to stay. They want to make it all look good. So we'll be perfectly safe.”

Frank rolled his eyes and turned over, facing away from Joe. Joe just shrugged. He turned to Nancy. “Let's go have some fun.”

“George, I need your help,” Nancy said, looking out the hotel room's doors. She opened up the ones to the balcony and stepped outside. She closed them, hoping that none of the Hardys were skilled in lip-reading. She didn't know if they were or weren't, but she wouldn't be surprised if they all knew it, except perhaps Laura.

“You know I'd love to travel with you, but my parents won't let me come on your cases,” George said. “Though I guess you can run the case by me and see if I can help sort anything out.”

“It's not the case I'm worried about,” Nancy admitted. She hadn't actually told anyone that the case was over, not yet. She needed to, but she didn't know how. She still had to arrange a flight back, but she hadn't wanted to go before Frank was out of the hospital, and now that he was, she was feeling even more conflicted. He'd been distant, while Joe was more attentive than necessary. “It's... the guys.”

George's frown could be heard across the line. “Um... that sounds a lot like a Bess problem to me, not one I know how to handle.”

“If I call Bess, I'll never hear the end of it,” Nancy said. She sighed. “I need to talk to Ned, but I don't know how to tell him, and my mind is all in a whirl because in part it was so fast but also because it's been so nice—Mrs. Hardy is like the mom I always thought mine was like, and it's almost painful—and then there's Joe who is this brat most of the time but then he can be fun, too, and he comes through with information that breaks cases—”

“So you're feeling like you cheated on your family because you're fitting in well with theirs?” George asked. “I'm not sure I understand the problem. We all have friends, and there's nothing wrong with adding in ones that feel like family. Don't you still talk to Jane?”

“Yes.”

“And she's like a sister in some ways, isn't she?”

“Yes.”

“So? You've already made friends like that before, ones you had to leave behind. This isn't that different,” George said. “You'll be able to talk to them again later. I'm sure they'll like that as much as you do. Well, maybe not this Joe guy—”

“Joe says we'll be family someday.”

“So he's into you, too?” George seemed amused, and Nancy didn't want to know what Bess would think of this conversation. “I think you can handle that, Nancy. You did it before, with Corky. I know Joe is older, but that doesn't mean you're incapable of letting him know where he stands.”

Nancy sighed. If only the problem was Joe coming onto her. She could almost wish that it was, but as fun as Joe could be and as tasteless as some of his jokes were, her issue wasn't really with him. “Joe isn't the problem—well, his teasing can be hard to take, but the thing is... It's Frank.”

“I thought you liked Frank.”

“I do.”

“Oh,” George said, and Nancy knew she now understood why Nancy was not having this conversation with Bess. “So... you...”

“They didn't have time for an extensive cover for me, and so I've been posing as Frank's girlfriend. I mean... it didn't last that long, the case is pretty much wrapped up, but now that it's over, I've got time before I go home, and it's... His hand is in a cast, so for part of it, we worked closely. It's... weird. Very weird. Like...”

“If it's that uncomfortable, then I don't know what you're worried about.”

“That's the problem,” Nancy said. “When we're alone, it's not even that awkward to be pretending. Holding his hand isn't hard. It feels right, even natural, but... I know it shouldn't. I think about Ned, and George, I don't know how to tell him about any of this because...”

“Because you're afraid you like Frank.”

Nancy put a hand to her head. “Yes. Only I shouldn't. I just got together with Ned, and I waited so long for that, and when it happened, it felt perfect. So why is it, less than a month later, something else does? Ned's always supported me with mysteries, so it's not like I can say Frank is different, though he actually wanted to investigate with me and—what should I do? I don't know—I guess if I just went home, it wouldn't matter. Ned would never have to know, and I'd stay with him, and all of this confusion over Frank would just... go away.”

“It might,” George said, “but you're not just... abandoning Frank, are you? I mean, you consider him a friend, don't you? So you'll still be in touch. It's... probably not going to go away.”

“Then what do I do?”

“Talk to Ned. See what happens. Maybe you're right and this thing with Frank will fade. But if it doesn't...”

Nancy sighed. “I wish this was easier. Laura—Mrs. Hardy—she said that we don't always know the right path or our heart, but that we muddle through.”

“So that's what you'll have to do. Give yourself time to muddle through. Either your feelings for Ned will be so strong that whatever this is with Frank will disappear, or you will find that what you feel for Frank is stronger. You can't actually love two people at once, despite what they say. One of them will always have more, as much as people try and convince the world that it can be done equally.”

Nancy nodded. “I know. I just... wish it was simpler. Clearer.”

“This sort of thing never is.”

“So... Time to head home, right?”

Nancy turned around to face him, and Frank forced a smile in the face of the awkwardness. Sometimes it was easy, despite how he'd tried to keep his distance. Even with Joe being... Joe, Frank and Nancy had managed to do some talking and have some fun while they were still together, but now she was about to leave, and he didn't know that there was any avoiding it, as much as he wanted to pretend it didn't exist. He'd hoped that with the cover more or less gone that things would be easier, that all the confusion would end, but it really hadn't.

“Yeah, I guess it is. I mean, we still don't know that Kerrie's parents are the true masters of the scheme, so we might have to come back sometime, and your mom said she wouldn't mind having me come stay for a while after the baby is born—”

“She did?” Frank asked, blinking in surprise. “I didn't know about that.”

Nancy smiled. “Well, that was kind of a part of the girl time we had yesterday, which I am actually going to miss. A lot. As nice as Hannah is, we've never really done that, hang out like I have with your mom the past few days. I love it. I... I really like your mom.”

“She's great, isn't she?” Frank said, feeling awkward again. “Well, then I guess we will see each other again.”

“Of course we will,” Nancy said, smiling. “It's not like this is death or anything. We're just going to different cities. Different homes. I'm sure we'll see each other for more than just your new sibling, too, not that I'm not excited about that. I mean, what if there's another mystery we need each other's help with? That would be great, right?”

Frank nodded. “It would. It really would.”

Nancy stepped in to hug him, and Frank held her, torn between wanting to push her away so he didn't get attached to this idea and wanting to keep her close so that he could have as much of this moment as he could possibly squeeze in.

“Hey, no fair. I want a hug, too,” Joe called, and Nancy broke off, going over to give him one. “That's better. We're all friends, right?”

“Right,” Nancy agreed, smiling as she reached for Frank's hand.