Disclaimer: I do not own the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or any related characters and am not making any money from this story.
A/N: This is part one of a three part story taking place during The Last Resort. You all know the scene. Anyway, this is just a slightly different take on what would have happened if Frank and Nan had been trapped in the snowbound cabin a little longer... and how they would (should!) have dealt with what happened there. Enjoy!
"Joe?" George Fayne asked, eyes straining to identify the figure she'd bumped into in the dark.
Joe Hardy reached for the tall brunette's shoulders to steady her. "Yeah, it's me. Any luck?"
Bess Marvin sighed from behind her cousin George. "None. We checked the dining rooms, the disco, our room, the lobby, and all the downstairs lounges. We asked around. No one's seen them." The petite blonde shivered in the chilly air. Ever since the power had gone out in the Mount Mirage ski lodge almost three hours ago, the building had been getting colder and colder. Bess longed to join the other residents, clustered around the blazing lounge fireplaces roasting hot dogs, but she knew she'd never be able to put her mind at rest if she wasn't helping to look for Frank and Nancy. She hadn't seen them since before the power outage- nobody had- and she was starting to get worried.
"I checked mine and Frank's room, the upstairs lounges, the ski rental counter, and the kitchens." Joe said. "I talked to Ken and he said he hadn't seen them, but he told me they weren't in the basement or the boiler room... not that I'd expect them to be."
"Where would you expect them to be?" George said, attempting to warm the chilly fingers protruding from her cast with her good, gloved hand.
"I don't know!" Joe said. "That's what's bothering me. I'd expect them to be around here, looking for us! This whole power failure thing wasn't exactly in our agenda for today. It isn't like them to disappear like this." He glanced around the darkened hallway, the only source of light a long window at one end, mostly blocked by drifts of snow almost three feet high. In the leaden sky, the wind howled loudly, sending large wet snowflakes swirling to the ground.
Although she could barely make out his features in the faint gray-blue glow, Bess could clearly hear the anxiety in Joe's voice. Despite his calm facade, she knew he was more worried about his brother and Nancy than he let on. "Don't worry, Joe," she soothed, laying one mitten on his sleeve. "Frank and Nancy can take care of themselves. They're very... capable." Her suggestive wink was lost in the dark.
Joe huffed a quick laugh, but didn't sound reassured. "I don't know, Bess. I mean, if I was the one disappearing with a girl... well, that'd be different. But Frank would never pull a stunt like that."
"Not even with Nancy?" George said doubtfully. "I mean, we've all noticed it, right? They aren't always, well, their normal selves when they're together." She looped her good arm through Joe's, saying "Frank and Nancy didn't just vanish. I'm sure they're cozied up around here somewhere." George sure hoped so. She glanced out the window at the raging storm and bit her lip to keep from voicing a more pessimistic alternative. She knew that they'd checked the hotel fairly thoroughly, and no one had seen head nor hide of the missing pair. If they had gone outside...
"They wouldn't have... gone outside, would they?" Bess suggested meekly, and George's head snapped her way in surprise- it seemed that for once the dynamically different cousins were on the same wavelength.
Folding his arms, Joe turned away from the girls. "If they did, they need help." he said seriously, striding toward the front lobby. "Now."
George tagged after him. "Joe, even if they did leave, we have no idea which exit they went out or where they were headed. We don't even know how long they've been out there."
As the trio reached the stairwell at the end of the hall Bess stopped short. "We might have some idea." The window was slightly open- and caught on the clasp, a strand of pink yarn fluttered in the chilly draft. "That's from Nancy's sweater. She was wearing it this morning."
George frowned at her cousin. "Bess, are you sure?"
"Yes!" Bess insisted. "Her new sweater. I helped her pick it out. This is the first time she's even worn it."
"Okay," Joe said, clearly trusting Bess's word. "So we know Nancy was here recently." he moved closer to the window, giving it a push to close it, but it was stuck. He grunted with effort until it finally swung shut with a bang. "Ow. She probably ripped her sweater trying to close this thing. It's no wonder she couldn't get it."
"Maybe she didn't have time to finish." Bess suggested. "Maybe she saw something and ran outside." she pointed down the steps to the nearby fire exit.
"Could be. Not much to see out this window though." Joe noted. The overhang obscured most of the nearby grounds, leaving only a view of the distant mountains. "Maybe she heard something."
"But what?" George said. "We don't know if she heard anything at all, let alone what it was. I don't see how this is going to help us find them."
"Well, we're assuming they went outside." Joe said thoughtfully. "They'd have to have gotten some kind of lead to make them run out there in this."
"Maybe they were following someone!" Bess said.
"Someone who was taking a stroll in this?" Joe gestured to the blizzard. "No one should want to leave the lodge on a day like today."
George gasped and Joe and Bess turned to look at her. "Unless they lived on the mountain." George finished. "What if it was Pete? What if Pete was the one they overheard and they followed him up to his cabin?"
"Frank." Nancy whispered. "I think I'm getting warmer."
Frank's brow furrowed in concern as he looked at her. She had stopped shivering, but her face was pale and her lips had begun to take on a bluish tint. "No, you're n-not." he murmured through chattering teeth. "That's s-stage three of hypothermia."
Nancy fought the fear that bubbled up inside her at his words. She didn't want to die, not now, not here, but she was losing the will to fight. She was so cold and her eyelids were so heavy...
Frank blew a breath of warm air into his gloved hands and sat up straighter, propping himself up against the cabin's wooden wall. After discovering that they were trapped in the snowbound cabin, he and Nancy had found the spot in the cabin most protected from the wind blowing in through the shattered window. Carefully avoiding the broken glass and the snow that had spilled in during the avalanche, they had built a shelter, upending the freezing metal table to block the most direct drafts and swaddling themselves in Pete's few threadbare blankets. Despite their best efforts, however, the low temperatures were slowly draining the energy from both teens.
"Nancy!" Frank said urgently, seeing his friend's eyes drifting closed. "Nancy, open your eyes. Look at me!"
Fighting her body for control of that one little motion, Nancy complied. "It's hard, Frank." Her breathing was faster than normal and her vision seemed to drift in and out of focus.
"I know, Nan." Frank said soothingly, trying to hide his own terror. He wasn't sure which scared him more, the numbness seeping into his own limbs and creeping along the edges of his brain, or the sight of Nancy's vibrant blue eyes sliding shut, her face cold and white as a corpse's. "B-but, we can't just g-give up." He made a grab for the blanket that was draped around the pair, but it slipped right through his icy fingers. He flexed them deliberately before grabbing the blanket again, this time pulling it even tighter around them.
"Okay, so, worst case scenario, Pete's got them?" Bess asked, trying to keep up with Joe as he strode in the direction of the main dining room.
"No." Joe said through clenched teeth. "Worst case scenario is that they're stuck outside in this blizzard." His plan, whether Frank would have approved it or not, was to hop on a snowmobile and comb the area until he found them. Turning a corner quickly, he collided headfirst with a tall, dark-haired man. "Sorry." he said brusquely, before doing a double take. "Ned?"
"Joe Hardy?" Ned Nickerson squinted at the trio in the darkness. "Bess, George!" he exclaimed. "I got in late last night, before the storm started. I've been looking for you guys all day! Where's Nancy?"
Joe sighed deeply. "We don't know."
"You don't know." Ned repeated, hearing the gravity in Joe's voice. "And that brother of yours must be around here somewhere..." he prompted.
"Also missing." George said matter-of-factly. She and Bess knew firsthand how jealous Ned could be concerning Nancy and Frank's relationship, but she didn't think that now was the time to be dramatic. "There's been a murder, we were investigating, and now Nancy and Frank are missing. We think they might be in trouble."
Ned's eyebrows lifted and his jaw clenched. "Okay. What do we do?" he said finally.
Joe started to walk again and the group followed him as he explained, "I'm sure that Ken Harrison, the owner of the resort, will lend us a couple of snowmobiles. Our first stop should be Pete's cabin- the only reason they would have gone outside is if they were following-"
"Pete?" Ned questioned. "The handyman Pete? That Pete?"
Bess directed her gaze where Ned was pointing and gasped. In the shadows just a few feet away stood the gruff prospector himself.
"We've been here a long t-time." Nancy forced the words through uncooperative lips. "If no one finds us soon..." The statement went unfinished, its ending implied. "They might not even know we're missing yet. Frank..." Her voice cracked as she tried not to let the hot tears spill from her eyes. If Frank could be strong, so could she.
Frank shook his head vehemently. "I'm sure they're looking, Nan. The others... Joe..." The tears in her eyes distracted him from his sentence. After kissing her earlier, Frank had promised himself that he wouldn't do anything else he would regret later. But despite his reassuring words, he was becoming less and less sure that there would be a later.
After a long pause, he wrapped his arms around Nancy tentatively. When she burrowed her face into his shoulder, he held her even more tightly, pressing his cheek into her white wool hat. "Nancy," he said finally, his voice a low rasp. "Earlier, when I k-k-kissed you, it was nothing. I didn't mean... I mean, we were both overwhelmed... this whole situation-"
"Frank." Nancy whispered, her face still pressed to his chest. "It was something. Not j-just the situation... I've wanted you to kiss me f-for a long time."
Frank felt his heart clench in his chest at her quiet confession. They were words that Nancy might have lived her whole lifetime without saying. Feelings that might have been suppressed forever if not for the desperation of the circumstances and the undeniable knowledge that death was near. "I've wanted to kiss you too, Nancy Drew." he admitted softly, unable to smile, to look into her eyes, to do anything but hold her close and wait.
A/N: Oh, and I brought Ned in a little early. Anyway, please review! Part 2 coming soon.