A/N: This is a sort of Alternate Universe story. I was reading Tuck Everlasting this week (oddly, I never read it when I was younger), and the issue of never changing/growing came to my attention. Now - unlike a handful of my friends - for some reason, I actually liked the fact that the Hardys and Nancy were pretty much forever the same age. It's not realistic, of course; but not everything in the glorious, limitless world of fiction has to be realistic. That's a good portion of the beauty of it. But that being said, I started to think about what that sort of permanence would mean to the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys characters if something happened to make them truly ageless (like how in the PC games, it's always the year that the game is released and yet Nancy is eighteen every time), and this fic is the result. I hope you enjoy!

{You know the drill; I own neither Nancy Drew nor The Hardy Boys. ;) }


[...Present Day...]

Nancy Drew fingered the simple, elegant men's watch on her left wrist and almost smiled. It was a Swiss watch, incredibly enduring - its brown leather band was a little loose on her wrist, but she hardly noticed. It still worked, after all these years, and she would wear it long after it stopped ticking.

It was a part of her at this point. It always would be.

She thought about how she had changed, and how she was the same, and how - while some things do shift - so many things are eternally permanent.

She would always be the Drew girl. She would likely always be the strawberry-blonde in a practical, pretty, unassuming dress with a pen and notepad in hand. She would certainly always be curious, and wondering about everything, and solving puzzles of innumerable types. She would always be a problem-solver.

And she would always...she would always be.

Always.

That was her lot.

[...85 Years Earlier...]

No, no, slow down...think, Drew…think! Nancy commanded herself as she worked her hands from the thin rope that trapped her in the rickety chair. There was a way out; there always was. Always!

A muffled yell issued from the room across the hall - and Nancy grit her teeth as she recognized Frank's low voice. What on earth was happening in there? Nothing Frank couldn't handle, surely, but still…she flinched when the next thing she heard was something hard breaking.

She held her breath and strained to hear the conversation across the hall.

"Look, boy," a deep, rough voice growled - presumably directed at Frank. "You're going to tell us sooner or later. Who else knows about the experiments?"

The experiments? thought Nancy. Her fingers stopped working the ropes for half a second. What experiments?!

"Wouldn't you like to know?" a younger voice taunted - a voice that most certainly belonged to Joe. A dull thud followed a breath later.

Goosebumps prickled the back of Nancy's neck as that sunk in. They had Joe in there, too? That was bad news for everybody.

They had been in worse situations, though. They would figure something out. She would just have to keep working these stubborn knots...

The three young detectives were in this rotting, dilapidated old factory in search of Nancy's father, the renowned attorney Carson Drew. He had been kidnapped a week earlier under highly mysterious circumstances. Nancy had suspected it had something to do with the lawsuit he was in the midst of (though she was in the dark about the details), so she had asked the Hardy brothers to assist her in tracking down the kidnappers.

They had come right away.

And so here they all were now.

She finally slipped out of the knots but she stayed seated in case the burly man who had tied her up came back in before Frank and Joe were left alone.

And soon enough, the men left the Hardys and congregated in the rusty hall. Nancy could partially see them and fully hear them now.

"I don't like the blond kid," one of the men - the burly one who had tied Nancy up - snarled. "He's got a loud mouth."

"Hey, you got a good punch in - really, it's the older boy we have to worry about," a tow-haired man countered. "He's too quiet. He's thinkin'. And did you see the look in the girl's eyes? Spittin' fire and brimstone. Almost as bad as the lawyer!"

"Fool," the leader hissed, his tone heavy with scorn - Nancy could not see his face from where she sat, but she could imagine the disdainful expression perfectly. "She's the lawyer's daughter. As long as we have Carson Drew, the girl will be manageable. The blond kid will follow his brother's lead. We just gotta make sure we keep the quiet one shut up."

Nancy bit her lower lip and angled her arms to look like she was still bound, just in case they looked into her room.

The man who had claimed Joe had a loud mouth spoke again - but quietly this time. "Do you think those kids know about the...tonic water? The blond brat seemed to know something."

Tonic water?! Nancy was burning with curiosity now. That had to be a code-word. What was happening here? Then she thought of her father and a little - only a little - of the curiosity subsided. She had to find him. They had to get him out of here. After she saved Frank and Joe, of course - but soon. These hooligans were up to no good.

The leader shook his head, but from Nancy's restricted view his stance looked uncertain. Frazzled, even. "How can they know? Drew hardly knows himself!"

"I don't know, Boss," said the one who had called Frank too quiet. "These kids sure have an uncanny way of looking 'round. Like they own the place."

"Well," the leader snapped, "they don't. So after we get done with Drew, I want you to make sure those kids understand in what position they're in."

A dull chill ran up Nancy's spine.

As the three men walked past her door, she held her breath, but they - overconfident in their binding skills - walked past without more than a quick glace her way. Part of her wanted to creep behind them to discover where Dad was, but the rest of her knew she could never leave Frank and Joe behind. The trio's heavy footsteps echoed as they went, growing more distant by the second.

When she could no longer hear their echoes, she gingerly left her seat and sneaked across the hall, rubbing her wrists as she went.

"Frank? Joe?" she whispered, discreetly slipping inside the door. "Are you all right?"


TBC


Let me know your thoughts and if you're interested in the rest! I really enjoy hearing from you all. :)