Thanks to FraidyCat for the beta.
Jason
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A/N: I think I've much improved since my last Hardy Boys/numb3rs story, which went down the turf… well, fast. I'm going to let this story spin itself out, although I have it pretty much planned. Reviews and suggestions are nice.
Also, this takes place back when the house was Alan's. That means Megan and Larry are still on the show. I just couldn't see Alan imposing a sixteen year old on Charlie…
Oh, one more thing. When I first posted the story, Charlie's age was 23. Now, I've moved his age up to 28, and I put Don's age at 33.
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28-year-old Charlie grumbled. He really had to use the restroom. And somebody had locked the stupid door, again.
It wasn't that he couldn't go to the one upstairs. He just thought that might take too long. "WHO THE HECK IS IN THERE?" he shouted.
He received no answer. Sighing, he pulled out the key off of the nearby table and turned it loose in the lock.
To his surprise, a roughly sixteen-year-old boy was there, frantically trying to get out the window. Forgetting all about the urge to go to the bathroom, Charlie shouted, "Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my house?" He grabbed the teenager by his arms and violently shook him.
The teenager sunk to the ground and curled up to a ball on the floor. He didn't look Charlie in the eye, but silent tears spilled out, and he covered his face with his hands, with a look that said, "Please don't hurt me!"
Charlie mentally cursed himself for over- reacting. "DAD!", he called. "Who the heck is this kid?"
"Oh," Alan said absentmindedly, carrying a box of books to the garage. "This is Frank Hardy. You remember Fenton Hardy? I forgot to tell you…"
"Yes," Charlie said, his face one of pure hatred.
"Well," Alan said, ignoring Charlie's look and looking worriedly instead at Frank, who was still crumpled up in a ball, "I've agreed to foster him for awhile."
"But why?" Charlie had never liked Fenton Hardy. The man was a show-off, and used his kids for his own political pawns. The kids knew it, too, but didn't let their anger show through. At least, Charlie assumed they were angry – who wouldn't be, in their position?
Alan glanced at the shaking teen, and sighed. He had a pretty good idea what happened. "Go to the bathroom,", he sighed to Charlie. "Then we'll talk."
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Twenty minutes later
Don cursed. "Charlie's still not picking up his cell. Megan, what do you have on those guys?"
"Not much that's of any use," she replied. "We need him to run his data. How long can we hold b-boy?"
"Thirty more hours," Colby said. "Can you call your house, or Cal Csi?"
"He's not picking up at either place. I'm getting worried," Don admitted. "He went home to grab his laptop, and he's been gone for two hours!"
"I'll run by the house if he's not back in another hour," Colby said. "Look, in-between then and now, let's get together on this. We can't waste time panicking."
Don forced himself to slow down. "You're right."
While he had walked down the aisle, Colby sighed. "Don't even go there, Megan," he said at her curious glance.
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Frank had been sent to his room so Alan and Charlie could talk. "Recently, he's had some pretty bad stuff happen to him. A gang attacked him… since then he hasn't been speaking. Awhile before that, though, he was kidnapped by a motorcycle gang Fenton was after, and he's been having wild mood swings ever since. Fenton tried sending him to his uncle's, but he seemed to only get worse. The gang attack certainly didn't help. Fenton sounded at his wit's end on the phone."
"When did all this happen?"
"It's been set to take place for about two weeks. He got here late last night."
"How did I not notice he was here?"
"I gave him the spare bedroom, Charlie. Do you always check it before you go to sleep?"
"No," Charlie admitted with a sigh. "What did he mean, he's been sending him to his uncle's?"
Alan shrugged. "He wouldn't say."
Charlie sighed. "The poor kid is probably scared out of his mind right now because of me," he said. "I kind of shook him up a little bit."
"I'll talk to him. In the meantime, you might want to get back to the office. You've been here over three hours." Alan suddenly had an idea. "Want to take Frank with you? It would give you two a chance to bond."
Charlie shrugged, and Alan went upstairs to ask Frank if he wanted to go, while Charlie gathered his papers.
Frank didn't verbally answer Alan, but he went back downstairs and started following Charlie around like a shadow, so it looked like he was interested. Ten minutes later, they were riding in the car together on the way to the office.
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Charlie had to pull some considerable strings to get Frank a Visitor's Pass without a background check first, but he managed. Close to one full hour later, Charlie and Frank approached Don's desk in the bullpen. Don was just slamming the phone into the cradle, having tried again to reach Charlie. He lifted his head to yell at Colby when he saw his brother with the strange kid. He looked pretty young to be one of Charlie's students…but maybe he was another genius? "Who's this?", he asked, standing.
Frank immediately shrank behind Charlie, who ignored him in his haste to get out what he'd been waiting to say for so long. "Not now," he said impatiently. "I found some things on the case. You remember Kiplinger?"
"Yeah. That kid at the gas station. Why?"
"Well, I did a deeper background check. That 'kid' is actually 30 years old, and he has a hefty record. Drugs, gun running, you name it, he's probably done it. He was also arrested with – get this – Johnson."
"Our baseball guy," Don said. Things started to click. "Colby?"
"I'll get Johnson's prison records."
"Megan, can you also do me a favor and run a background check on the prison where they were at? David, can you call downstairs and tell them not to let Johnson go, and have them place him under arrest? After that, you and I are going after a warrant. We're going to search Johnson's house."
Frank watched all the activity flurry around him without saying something. He knew he could probably talk to these people, but he didn't want to risk it. He knew something about the case they didn't know, but he wasn't sure they'd believe him…
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