Finding You Again by Emachinescat
A Hardy Boys Fan-Fiction
SUMMARY: Fifteen years after Joe Hardy's death, his daughter, Joline, finds reason to believe that her father may not be dead and embarks with her cousin Darren to find her father again in Washington, D.C.
Finding You Again
Chapter One
"Your life dreams are shattered, and you've gone away. We've cried here for hours, and the hours turned to days. We know you regret this, leaving us here, with portraits and memories that we've held so dear. When I hear your name, it's not the same. No matter what they say, I'm not okay."
"Zero" by Hawk Nelson (Tooth & Nail Records) from Smile, it's the End of the World
His hair is as black as coal, his eyes filled with a hatred so intense she knows that the devil himself is looking straight into her soul. He fingers that button, a wicked grin curling over his rotten teeth. "No!" she hears a young man scream. "Don't, please, take me instead!" She tries to protest as well, but the words stick in her throat. She lets out a silent scream as her twenty-one-year-old husband mouths, 'I love you' from behind the tempered glass of the black van. The man pushes the button, and she rushes forward, her brother-in-law beside her. They are too late...The van, with her husband trapped inside of it, is torn to shreds in a giant ball of flame...she hears sirens...the terrorist, the Assassin, slips away...the police...they're too late, too late...Joe Hardy is dead.
Thirty-five-year-old Vanessa Hardy woke with a start, tears streaming down her face. She had relived this nightmare thousands of times since her husband's death fifteen years ago, and it never got any easier. She could clearly remember that day, when her husband had been killed in a fiery explosion by an insane terrorist, an Assassin, Al-Rohan, the brother of Al-Rossussa, the man who had killed Joe's first love, Iola, in a very similar bomb blast. Al-Rohan blamed Joe for his brother's death. He had kidnapped him, and a week later, Joe's brother, Frank, who was closer to him than anyone, managed to track him down. When they found him locked in a van in front of Bayport Mall-the same place Iola had died-they arrived just in time to see the Assassin blow up the van-Joe trapped inside of it. The terrorist was never captured.
Joe and Vanessa had only been married for two months when the tragedy happened. Two weeks later, Vanessa had learned that she was little over a month pregnant. That knowledge was the only thing that kept her from giving up in the agonizing months to come. As difficult as it was to fathom, she knew that Joe's untimely death had taken an even greater toll on Frank.
She cried into her pillow, like she had done so many times before. "Joe, why did you have to go?" For tonight, she was twenty again. She was watching her husband die before her very eyes.
"Jo! Jo, c'mon, baby, get up. Time for school!" Vanessa tried without success to rouse the grumbling lump under the covers. The sandy-haired fifteen-year-old mumbled incoherently and rolled over. Vanessa sighed. "C'mon, Jo. I'm not playing."
Joline Iola Hardy peeped open her vibrant, deep blue eyes-the same as her father, she had been told many times-and muttered, "Whattimeisit?"
"Time for school," Vanessa answered. She frowned. "Why didn't your alarm go off?"
"It did," Joline yawned, sitting up and brushing her shoulder-length hair from her eyes. "But I pushed snooze. Five times."
Vanessa rolled her eyes and sat down on the corner of the bed. "You're just like your dad was," she said, laughing.
Joline looked up in interest, something she always did when her late father was mentioned. "Dad was like this?"
"Just ask your uncle," Vanessa smiled, wiping a tear from her eye. She paused, and gave her daughter a quick pat on the leg. "Get dressed. You'll be late."
"She mentioned Dad again this morning," Joline informed her cousin, Darren Michael, as she climbed into the passenger's seat of the seventeen-year-old's lime green Eclipse. Darren picked Joline up for school every day, because they both attended Bayport High-Joline a Sophomore and Darren a Senior. Darren's mom, her Aunt Callie, or his dad, Uncle Frank, would take their other two children-Joseph Samuel, who was twelve; and little Jessi Marie, who was only four (or four-and-a-half, as she always insisted)-to school. Darren had been two when her father had died, but he couldn't tell her anything about him, except what his dad had told him, which was a lot of great things, but not many details of how he died. Still, Joline loved to talk to her cousin about her father. And he loved to listen.
Darren and Joline were best friends. He was more like an older brother to her than a cousin. It had been this way as long as Joline could remember. He was very protective of her, and they spent all the time they could together. His dad has often commented that their bond was very similar to that he and his own brother-Joline's dad-had shared.
Darren glanced over at her, interested. "She did? What'd she say?"
Joline grinned sheepishly. "Basically that I'm as lazy and stubborn as he was."
Darren laughed, his blue eyes twinkling. He rolled down the window and let the crisp morning air ruffle his short black hair. "That's you, alright, JoJo," he agreed, using his "pet-name" for her. He frowned.
"What's wrong?" Joline asked instantly. She could read Darren better than anyone else.
"Nothing important...it's just Dad," he admitted. "He's been pretty cool about this whole college thing." He grinned for a moment. "I forgot to tell you-I got an acceptance letter from this great college. Mom and Dad couldn't be happier. Then Dad found out that it's a police academy-I'm wanting to major in forensics, or some such field of study that involves crime fighting. And Dad's not happy about that at all."
Joline frowned. "Uncle Frank has always been very supportive. Why not now?"
"See, that's the mystery here, isn't it, JoJo?" Darren grinned. "I think it's got something to do with your dad's death."
Joline wrinkled her nose. "Nah, it can't be. Mom said that Dad died in a car accident."
Darren shrugged. "Just a hunch," he stated as he pulled into a parking space in front of the school and hurried inside. "But, hey, JoJo, don't worry yourself about it, a'ight?" Darren said, giving his "little sister" an affectionate squeeze. "Dad'll come around. He always does." He paused, a sly grin appearing on his handsome face. "Especially when Mom gets to work on him."
Joline shrieked in mock horror. "Oh, the mental images...ewwwww!"
"Get to class, you pervert," Darren laughed as he walked toward his locker.
~Emachinescat ^..^