Nancy Drew sighed, "why are fanfiction writers so intent on shipping me with Frank Hardy?" She wondered. "If they weren't so insistent I wouldn't be in this predicament. I love Ned. I have for years. But I can't deny that there is something fascinating about Frank Hardy."
She mentally slapped herself. "Where did that thought come from? Ned is dependable, always willing to help, and has gotten me out of a lot of tight places," she told herself."
"But Frank is exciting, and impetuous, and spends just as much time solving mysteries as I do," a little voice in her head started nagging.
Nancy sighed and resumed searching the attic for items to donate to charity. She stopped when she discovered a stack of letters addressed to her mother, Carolyn Drew. The letters were all from the same person, Laura Hardy.
"Frank and Joe's mother?" Nancy thought, surprised, "why would she have been writing to mom?"
She opened the first one and started reading. It was a letter of congratulations on her marriage and was signed "Love, your older sister, Laura."
Nancy gasped, dropping the letters. "Frank and Joe Hardy are...My cousins?" She grabbed for the phone. "Ned! You'll never believe what I just found."
"Tell it to Frank Hardy," Ned told her bitterly, "you care more about him than you do about me."
"Ned you know that's not true."
"That's what you always say and then you run off after Frank, claiming he and his brother have a new case that they want your help on. I know you're just going to see him."
"No Ned, listen, please. Frank and Joe Hardy...are my cousins."
"They're what?" Ned asked, shocked.
"My cousins Ned. My first cousins. Their mother was my mother's older sister."
"So you, you're not...?"
"...In love with Frank? Of course not. I love you Ned."
"I love you too Nancy."
A/N: I'm not fond of this ending but I can't think of anything else to do with it. And Nancy's description of Frank better describes Joe, I know, but it's part of the joke.