It is one of her proud moments honestly holding up the white chocolate chip and telling her dad she has solved the case. It isn't her first case—not by a long shot, but she's never worked on a team before and her first try is a success.
For years, her dad had promised her that she would meet Fenton Hardy's boys. Frank and Joe were her age, and she would like them. They were good boys who liked solving cases just as much as she did. But he and Fenton were busy so that meeting didn't happen as soon as she would have wanted. Every time he came home with more stories about the mythical Joe and Frank, she only wanted to meet them more.
Last week, however, her dad had announced that the three of them were coming down from Bayport. She found it hard to contain her excitement. She had friends, yes, but not friends who understood her. They always asked why she wanted to play detective. When she tried to explain, they just didn't get it. Frank and Joe would. They doubtless knew about hearing stories that seemed too amazing to be real life and wanting to be grownups just to have a part in it all. Yes, she and Joe and Frank would get along.
They arrive, and she runs outside and stops on the front steps staring at them across the yard. It's finally happening, and she's freaking out. She wants to like them and wants them to like her so bad that she can't remember how to be the perfect little hostess.
She comes to her senses when her dad reminds her to invite them in. Everything goes well after that. The boys like Nancy's room especially her notepad, magnifying glass, gloves, and invisible ink. Frank tells her he has some at home, but Joe says those things are for babies. Frank orders him to apologize, and he does with the most sincere look in his eyes. He didn't mean it she can tell, but it doesn't stop him from snapping at Frank for being bossy. The squabble over, the three of them head downstairs for some of Hannah's cookies. Nancy is happy to say she likes them both. Frank is kind and serious, and Joe's so warm she knows he'll never feel far away.
They wander into the kitchen eager for cookies and find something even better—a case. Hannah's cookies are missing, and she needs some help. Nancy has been dreaming that something of the sort would happen, but you can't just make it happen no matter how hard you try. But she has a case, and they'll be able to solve it together as a team the way they always have in her dreams.
She rushes upstairs for her notepad Frank and Joe in tow. She's so excited that she skips steps, but she won't fall because she's Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew doesn't fall. They start, at Frank's suggestion, with a list of suspects. Joe wants to begin looking so they do. He leads the way with Frank and Nancy who are completely engrossed in her notepad following close behind. The prominent suspects are quickly cleared leaving them with minor ones—squirrelly neighbor boys—when Nancy remembers Olivia. She says something about the backyard, and it quickly turns into a foot race. Before she can figure out what to do, her foot has missed the step, and her body is flying through the air. When she lands on the grass, her ribs hurt, and her dress is up around her waist. She sees Joe's outstretched hand and twinkling eyes and hears Frank's concerned words laced with sympathy, but she pulls herself up herself. She's Nancy Drew. She doesn't need anyone's help.
The walk to the doghouse is slower now although she picks up the pace to get there first. Joe is at her side, and she's so excited to look around inside that she gives him a shove and goes in first herself. Tracing the perimeter with her hand, she finds a white chocolate chip and just like that the case is wrapped.
They walk to the house slowly, and she tells them about Olivia's antics—her beloved shitzu is not as angelic as she looks. Frank and Joe in turn tell her about Max and how he finds chocolate and runs away and scatters trash all over the floor. It's all so natural that she feels like she's known them forever.
Fenton and her dad are talking foreheads wrinkled, voices serious when they arrive. It wouldn't take a detective to know it's important conversation and that their own case talk has to wait. At last, the dads pause, and Nancy begins stopping to give Frank a chance to tell a few points. Her dad is smiling when they're done, and she feels on top of the world. But before she knows it, Joe's talking, and he has a different story to tell. The case was amazing, yes, but only until Nancy shoved him. She didn't want Olivia to hurt him she explains, and her dad buys it, but she's still maybe a little too eager to get back to playing.
They go out to her playhouse this time. The boys saw it on the case and thought it looked like fun. Joe comments to Frank about how pink it is, but neither of them really minds. She goes over to her desk and takes out a sheet of paper. They're going into partnership and starting a new firm called Hardy-Drew Investigators. They may not be together much, but they'll work together in spirit at the River Heights branch and the Bayport one. It's just play but when they all sign the contract she could swear it feels legally binding. This is forever.
They finish in the playhouse and head out to the trampoline. The boys have one at home, so it's the most fun Nancy's ever had with it. Joe can do these backflips she'd never attempt, but oh do they look fun. Frank takes her hands and tells her to jump. She flies into the air on her next leap and a smile stretches across her face. He takes a leap, and then she does, and he does, and she does. They finally stop when Fenton comes and says it's time to go.
She's not across the yard when she waves goodbye. She's as close as she can be to the car, and she's definitely already daydreaming about next time. They need to try some card games and the invisible ink, and she's sure they'd love her detective video games.
That night in bed, she's not thinking about next time or all the fun they had. No, she's thinking of pushes and little Joe's sad face and flights through the air and landings and skirts out of place.
As fun as today was, it wasn't perfect, and she wanted it to be. She wanted to be the perfect little hostess and prove to them she'd be an amazing friend. Instead, she was mean to Joe and slipped on the steps and couldn't keep her skirt down when she fell. Why did that have to happen?
This is not who she is. She's like her mother in all the stories she always hears. She's kind and caring and helpful—Hannah's right hand woman and her dad's favorite girl. She's confident and brave, the kind of girl who doesn't fall.
But today she wasn't. She fell and pushed, and she's really not sure which one she's more upset about. She's sure Joe forgives her. Heck, he wasn't mad when he left, but she can't help feeling that she did him dirty. No matter what she does, Joe will always remember being pushed by Nancy Drew.
The fall's not much less embarrassing. She's her team's best softball player and scrambles around the bases like it's nothing. But Frank and Joe don't know that. They don't know she can do anything they can. That'd be hard to know when she trips on the steps of her own house. Of course it happens on the day she forgets to put the bike shorts under her dress.
But it's just one day she reminds herself like she always does. She can pick herself up and move on. She'll see Frank and Joe again and things will be better. She's not that Nancy Drew.