Thank you so much for all of your feedback on my recent fics. I really appreciate all the support. This is especially for Ritu who asked for something about how Frank and Callie got together.
Frank had always told Joe that love at first sight was a bunch of hooey. Maybe it would work if you were looking for something temporary, but not when you were looking for a wife especially the kind of wife who would be as strong, independent, and determined as their mother. You needed so much more than instant attraction for a lasting relationship—you needed to be compatible with the other person. That compatibility strengthened by love had to be enough to last a lifetime. Plus, they needed a girl who was up for the hardships of a detective's life. You couldn't tell if that was there at first sight.
But somehow when Frank met Callie, he knew this was it. They barely talked for two minutes, but it was enough for him to know that she was his pick for the future Mrs. Frank Hardy. As much as he wanted to tell Joe, he didn't. He could hold it in. He did not want an I told you so.
Frank was no stranger to girls being interested in him. He might not have girls flocking to him in droves like Joe did, but there were still a lot of interested girls—too many girls. The attention had started in fifth grade, and honestly it drove him crazy. He hated the stares and whispers as he walked the halls school. Worst of all were the girls who gave him no personal space following him everywhere he went, standing so close to him he felt smothered, and assuming he wanted to spend time with them.
Then, there was Nancy Drew too. She wasn't quite like the others because she was his best girl friend or rather his best friend who happened to be a girl. They had grown up together, solving cases side by side since they were tiny. Whether it was that—the years of working together or something else entirely, he and Nancy thought so much alike. To others, it appeared to be telepathy, but it was so much more than that. It wasn't so much the ability to communicate without words as the knowledge of what the other was thinking because you were thinking the exact same thing. Their brains just worked in a similar way and at a similar pace; that was all Nancy and Frank had been able to come up with. Whether that was it or not, working with Nancy was magical. There was no other way to explain it when it was so seamless and beautiful. Sure, they had their arguments and problems, but these were only occasional. The trust built on years of depending on each other in sketchy situations was strong and not easily broken.
As they grew older, Frank grew cognizant of the expectations and hopes of those around them. It only made sense. He and Nancy had similar goals and aspirations. When they wanted to solve cases together for the rest of their lives, it wasn't such a large leap to imagine that they would want to marry and become life partners as well. But he didn't like Nancy like that really. She was beautiful and charming and fun and familiar, and he found her attractive; but it wasn't like that somehow. It wasn't like he disliked the idea of spending the rest of his life with her, but he didn't particularly like it either. That was enough for him to decide to push against other people's expectations and just stay friends and colleagues. It was better that way.
Still, Frank couldn't help feeling a little sad when he found out Nancy was dating Ned. It would have been so easy to date her and have his future settled. The older he had grown, the more that he had realized that it wouldn't be easy for him to find a woman to settle down with. What he wanted in the long run was a wife, someone who would hold down the fort at home and be the best mother to his children. There were a lot of girls who'd be happy with that, true, but he was also asking the future Mrs. Hardy to be a private investigator's wife. That was no picnic.
He had accepted it all as a matter of course when he was young, but his mother put up with a lot. His dad was gone from home on a regular basis particularly when he and Joe were young, and on any of those occasions the worst could have happened. Mom had faced it all with courage even the times when Dad had gone missing. Despite the hardships of her life, she had never discouraged her boys from following in their father's footsteps wanting them to live full, happy, impactful lives.
Frank had known that that was what he was looking for, and it had initially made him despair. None of the girls he knew were like that. They might be impressed by his work, but they would not have been so impressed by him asking them to live the life his mother did. Asking any one of them to do that was unthinkable until he met Callie.
Callie was different—he knew that immediately. Maybe he could best describe it by saying she was a study in contrasts. She was poised and graceful, but her manner also conveyed spunk and independence. She had her hair in a ponytail and was dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans that somehow looked girly yet still communicated she was ready to work. Frank could tell that she was interested; he knew all the signs after all. Still, she maintained her distance and didn't resort to flirting with him.
After their brief conversation, all Frank could think about was Callie. He did his best not to spill the beans about what he thought about her at dinner and actually bemoaned the fact that it was Friday because he didn't have any chance of talking to her until Monday. He dreamt about her that night and woke up mad it was Saturday.
But when he got to Joe's football game that afternoon, who should he see standing next to Iola but Callie? Seeing Iola was no surprise because she'd been attending Joe's games since last season. If Frank didn't miss his guess, the guarded Miss Morton was nursing a bit of crush on his little brother. Normally, he would have been ready to go tease her, but today he was on a mission—getting to know Callie. He found out that she had moved to town with her parents. Her mom was best friends with Mrs. Morton, and Iola knew Callie because Callie was her cousin Sandra's best friend. Years of visits into the city had paved the way for a long distance friendship, and the girls were thrilled to finally live close. The conversation ended up being long because football games aren't exactly short. By the end of it, Frank had found out quite a bit about Callie and gotten a date with her setup for the following day.
One date turned into two dates which became a relationship. It didn't take long for Frank to have a hard time remembering his life before Callie. She simply fit him and his life so well. Maybe she didn't quite understand his lifestyle—she hadn't grown up a detective's daughter after all, but she was quick to embrace it. Unlike most of the girls, heck, people he'd ever known; she could see that to be Frank was to be an investigator. There was no happiness for him like doing what he believed himself to be uniquely gifted for and destined to. She felt the same way about art and supported him wholeheartedly.
Her positive attitude and acceptance of his life choices made it all work. She loved spending time with him and kept him thoroughly distracted from work when he was not on a case, yet she appreciated the time for herself she got when he was away. Her independence was one of his favorite qualities; she valued his support but didn't need him to survive. This protected her from jealousy and kept her grateful for what they had.
He for his part was grateful for her approach to life. Frank was the habitually dissatisfied type, constantly working his hardest to reach the next step. He had one speed—focused and ready to conquer—and always struggled to slow down and savor life. There was always one more reason to not relax.
Callie by contrast lived life at a much slower pace. She was ambitious, yes, and dedicated to her goal of becoming an artist, but she was content take it all one step at a time. When he was with her, Frank felt his heart rate slow and himself reach a level of chill he rarely achieved. With Callie, he didn't think about work, and that was something that he had always been missing.
Ever the planner, Frank made the decision to propose to Callie when they were still in high school. He kept that to himself though knowing that their parents would be a lot happier if they finished their education first. He made up his mind to propose after college and formulated a savings plan so he would have enough money for a downpayment on a house and beautiful ring by then.
Despite being separated for college, the college years were relatively smooth sailing. They talked about marriage from time to time, and Frank had the security of knowing he and Callie were on the same page. It was senior year, though, when disaster struck. Frank was so busy then, balancing his cases, school, and Callie. Out of the blue, she called him letting him know that she wanted to break it off.
He was heartbroken and found it impossible to understand. Just two weeks before, Callie had been telling him all about her plans for a fairytale wedding, and she had seemed so happy. He pondered the situation for hours believing that there had to be some sort of logical explanation, but he came up with nothing. Eventually, he called Joe because there was no way he could sleep in the state he was in. After talking to Joe, he decided to go up and visit Callie the next day.
He spent the entire drive terrified she would refuse to speak to him. When he arrived, however, she opened the door at his knock and agreed to his plan of going out for dinner. It was still a far cry from the typical Frank and Callie. Callie was so standoffish staying as far from him as possible rather than taking his arm and holding his hand like she normally did.
Dinner was awkward. How could it not be when they were broken up but still cared? He cared at least— enough for the both of them, and he had his suspicions that she did too. It wasn't hard to see that knowing her like he did. He waited silently yet attentively for her to open up. She did although it took her awhile.
It all had to do with what he had suspected it might—Nancy and his detective work. The ever patient Callie did have her limits. She was worried something was going on between him and Nancy. They'd been taking a lot of cases together lately, and Nancy was newly single. She wouldn't have thought a thing of it except Frank seemed different too. He was silent and distant and preoccupied. How was she not supposed to worry a little?
Frank immediately cursed himself for getting distracted by the impending proposal and the busyness of his life. Callie deserved better—she deserved to always know she was his number one. He acknowledge that he had been busy and distracted lately, but he explained that it didn't reflect the state of his feelings. Callie was his one and only. If he had wanted Nancy, it would have happened long ago. It could have happened easily. But Callie was the only one who had his heart. He liked working with Nancy, but that was it.
They both had apologized repeatedly before the night was over, and Frank drove back to school knowing his future was secure. Callie was a gem. Still, he would learn from this—to not let himself grow complacent and unappreciative. Callie and their relationship needed careful attention and love to thrive. He couldn't let himself forget that.
It had been three years now since they tied the knot, and time had only proved the worth of his confidence in Callie. The years had not been good to them—they had lost their first baby, Callie had been ill for awhile, and he had been swamped with difficult cases. Still, Callie had stood strong; she was his rock just like he was hers. Together, he had no doubt that they could weather every storm that life could throw in their way. Just like he had known when he first met her so many years before, she was the right girl for him—she was home.
Author's Note: I'd love to know what you think of this especially if you are a Frank/Calle shipper. Did I touch on some of your reasons for shipping them? Joe is my favorite, but I enjoy writing Frank too because I relate to him a lot. I'm planning to write a series next about Joe and Nancy when they were growing up and tell it from Joe's point of view this time.