Disclaimer: I do not own and am not affiliated with Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or any of the characters associated with them

Disclaimer: I do not own and am not affiliated with Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or any of the characters associated with them. I also do not own or am affiliated with any pop culture references that I may choose to include.

Author's Notes: Thanks to those of you who reviewed. Now that everything's a bit more in perspective, I feel a bit more relaxed about the whole thing and, as a side note, I didn't intend to suggest that anyone was wrong to have their opinion and to speak it, but the way in which it was said was less than helpful. Sorry if I sort of scared people, but I can get angry and rant-y sometimes.

That being said, to clear up any remaining confusion: Yes. This story will be a Joe/Nancy. However, I don't have any plans of it being some sort of love triangle or a big betrayal on someone's part. There's a journey involved to getting to the point where the ready to be together, and there's also a lot about all the characters that has changed, needs to be explored, or both.

Also, Frank will be making appearances. While at this point in the story he's not present, eventually, he will become an important role.

Other than that, most of the questions asked are ones that will eventually be cleared up within the story so I will not be answering them now. Please continue to ask questions, as they do help me improve in the way that I explain things as well as in my general plot development.

Lose my breath in waves

Knowing that every crash

Is bleeding the hour glass

"We're sharing a room, since that's what Bess, George, and I were planning, but there are two beds so it shouldn't be too big of a problem." Nancy explained as she started to unlock the door of their hotel room. She pushed the door open and started in as Joe started to talk.

"What were you planning on doing if there were three of you and only two beds?" He asked, a little curious as to what the thinking was in that aspect of planning.

"Maybe take turns sleeping on the floor. Order a cot." She turned back to Joe, grinning. "Or push together the beds and all share. After all, girls don't have that same freak out about it that guys do."

Joe raised an eyebrow. He had the feeling that the last suggestion was less of a possibility and more of Nancy's way of teasing him some, but he wasn't entirely sure. He had seen her in a non-mystery setting before, but had never quite been able to pin down what her sense of humor really was. Going with the feeling that it was just a bit of a joke, he quickly shot back, "I don't suppose that that option is still open for discussion with us?"

Nancy hoisted her suitcase onto the far bed near the window. "Considering that between the two of us we don't have quite the same numbers issue that we'd have between the three of us, I'm going to have to say that your chances are about as slim as Bess' chances of marrying Matthew McConaughey are." She grinned wryly. "But, you could always dream of the possibility like she does."

It wasn't the humor that he expected out of her, and he had never seen it before, but Joe liked it. "I'll keep that in mind for future reference."

"So," Nancy started after a few moments of silence, "what exactly are the sights that I have to see while we're in town? You know, I'm going to be relying on you for quality control of this trip."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm not familiar with the park. You are."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Joe held up a hand, looking over at Nancy somewhat incredulously. He could not believe what she had just said. "Are you seriously telling me that you're a Disney virgin?"

Nancy blushed and briefly glanced down at the suitcase that she was now unpacking. She had made the offhand comment that she was expecting him to take the lead in deciding on their activities during the vacation, and to designate which activities were ones that were essential to the Disney experience. She hadn't thought that the comment was that big of a deal, but if she were to judge by Joe's reaction then she was sorely mistaken. "If by that, you mean that I've never been to Disneyworld, then yes. I'm a Disney virgin."

Joe seemed mildly appalled at the confession. "You are 19 years old. How have you never been here?"

"I don't know." Nancy shrugged. "The occasion never came up I guess. Most of the vacations that I took with dad were I either to visit family or friends of the family, or they had at least some level of educational purpose. Neither of which could be found at Disney. And when I took trips on my own, it just never occurred to me to come here."

Mild dismay turned to abject horror that remained on his face for a few moments until it transformed into seriousness that Nancy wasn't sure that she normally saw in Joe; there was just a hint of mischief that let her know that, in at least some respect, he was joking with her. At least she thought so. "OK. I'm going to pretend that you didn't just say that there was no educational purpose to Disney. And the fact that it never occurred to you to come here. There's a level of naïveté that comes with being a Disney virgin and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that that is what caused you to speak those words."

Now Nancy giggled. "I didn't realize that I was entering into such serious territory."

"Few do," was Joe's clipped reply. He abandoned his own suitcase in favor of going to retrieve the park brochures he had seen earlier in Nancy's purse. "All right. We're here for eleven days, ten nights. Obviously, we can't skip over the Magic Kingdom or Epcot. The Magic Kingdom will take at least three days to do properly depending on the crowd levels. We'll probably work in Animal Kingdom and Sea World; it might be pick and choose with the water parks...I'm sure we both have cameras, so that's taken care of, but the first thing we'll have to do when we get to the park is go to a gift shop to buy you an autograph book and cute pen so you can meet all the characters."

"Are you serious?" Her jaw dropped. She didn't think a theme park was worth quite this much fuss.

"Well..." Joe finally cracked a smile. "Not really. Disney is not the place for planned excitement Nancy. It is about spontaneity. None of that stuff was for real. Oh! Except for the autograph book. Everyone needs to get pictures and autographs with the characters their first time at the park."

"Really?" Nancy asked, somewhat skeptically. "You're not just saying that because you want to see me acting completely like a little kid?"

"First of all, it's Disney. Even people in their seventies act like little kids here; I'm not gonna have to lie to get you to do it. Second of all, it's tradition. All the cool kids do it."

"Oh? So I'm one of the cool kids?"

"Not now. But I think you could be with a little work."

Nancy scoffed a little. "I'm so glad to have the Joe Hardy stamp of "what might one day be approval."

"All right...earliest childhood memory."

A day and a half after the arrival in Florida and the two were having a grand old time. They had, thus far, spent the majority of their time in the park, exercising a level of activity that left them exhausted by the time they had returned to their hotel room, leaving them to sleep soundly until the next morning when the process started itself over again. Joe had taken the lead in choosing their destinations; it was only fair given that he was familiar with them and Nancy wasn't, but they were both having a more than fun time, as far as their typical adventures went.

Once their snooping complexes had been satisfied, the pair had turned to a different way of getting to know each other a bit better. They would take turns naming categories in which they would both give a response, which would inevitably lead to more conversation on the subject. These discussions took place mostly while they were waiting in lines, a situation which Joe couldn't find fault with.

Typically when he went to amusement parks with girls, the time in line was spent convincing the girl that the ride wasn't dangerous, and that even if she got scared, he would be there for her. Rides at Disney, were not as a general rule intimidating, and even if they were, Nancy was not the type of girl to let a ride scare her. It was a good thing to have something to do while waiting.

"I guess it's when I was three." Joe started after taking a moment to think. "I was playing next door with our neighbor, Mindy, who was my age. We were making mud pies, although, if I remember right she was kind of against the idea, and for whatever reason, I suppose I didn't fully understand the concept of cooties, I went and kissed her on the cheek."

"So you always were a womanizer." Nancy commented cheekily.

"She didn't take to kindly to it. She dumped a mud pie over my head."

Nancy couldn't stop the laugh from escaping at the concept, for which Joe was glad. He knew that she was having fun, but there was something about the girl that was nagging at him as being off, and he couldn't really figure out what it was. "So not all girls are susceptible to the Hardy Charm, huh? And here I thought there was no immunity for those who were unattached."

"Some studies have suggested that there's a recessive gene which grants immunity, I have been saddened to learn." Joe hung his head in mock mourning. Only moments later though he perked back up. "What about you? What is it that you can remember from the earliest reaches of your childhood?"

"Not a lot, actually." Nancy shrugged. "Mostly, I attribute it to getting so many knocks over the head, but my early childhood is pretty much a blur. Although the smell of gingerbread always reminds me of helping my dad make a gingerbread house for the holidays. We started doing that the year that my mom died, so I guess if you want to get technical I was three. But it's not so much a memory as it is a...jumbling of memories."

"It's a good one though." Joe conceded, hoping to not dwell on the sad topic of her passed on parents, however selfish that may seem. "Just how many times have you been knocked out?"

Nancy thought for a moment. "Let's see. For simplicity's sake, let's say that it has happened about every other case sense I started working serious cases. It doesn't really happen that often," she confided, "but there have been a number of cases where it has happened more than once during the span of the investigation, so it all balances out in the end. Now, I started real cases about when I was sixteen, and I'd say that since I turned sixteen I've worked about 160 cases. You can do the math on that."

Joe seemed dumfounded as they stepped forward a little with the line. "Wow. It's a wonder that your brain's not just a big pile of mush with all of that trauma. You must have a skull of steel."

"It's an iron alloy, actually. What about you? I'll take your surprise as a sign that you don't get knocked out that often."

"Not as much as you do. That's the beauty of working with a partner. For the most part, you only deal with the bodily harm about half of the time."

"So that's where I went wrong." Nancy nodded in understanding. "I should have insisted upon having a trusty sidekick like Frank did."

"What makes you think that Frank's not my sidekick?"

"Call it a well educated hunch."

"Well, you're only half right. We happen to have a system in place in which we alternate cases. Every other case I am the hero while he is the mere sidekick."

Nancy started to laugh, but it didn't take long for the look of joy to turn into more of a wince. Mindful of the children all around her she censored what she had planned on being an expletive to a much milder, "Oh, boy."

Joe frowned, looking around; he expected something like that to mean that she had spotted something unpleasant, but he could see nothing that would warrant such a reaction. "What is it?"

"It's nothing." Nancy shook her head, but the action only seemed to make things worse. "I've just had a bit of a headache all day and it is fighting back through the aspirin I took with a new found strength." She glanced up at the semi-imposing facade of Splash Mountain. "I think after this one I'm gonna head back to the hotel and try and sleep it off or something. With any luck I can just take a nap and meet up with you later this afternoon."

Joe thought about it a moment before filing his protest. "That's stupid. Then you'll just miss out on stuff that you should do. Not that I would be opposed to doing them again but..." He trailed off, briefly faltering. "Besides, I'd be better off going back with you and replenishing my own energy stores. It's no fun to hang out at a theme park by yourself."

"You're not tired." Nancy pointed out.

"Maybe not. But my other arguments still stand."

"Argument. You already countered the first part saying that you'd be willing to do stuff again." She absentmindedly retorted. "Your only real point is that it's no fun to hang out at a theme park by yourself. And if anything, my leaving would only help you in that respect."

"You've officially lost me. And where did you learn to argue?"

"I've seen girls looking at you and you looking at girls all throughout the past couple of days. None of them want to approach you because they think I'm your girlfriend." Joe couldn't help but snort at the concept, and Nancy rolled her eyes. "Gee thanks. And you won't go over to them because you have some sort of holdup about leaving me to fend for myself. My leaving gives you the perfect opportunity to make a friend or two. And where do you think I learned to argue?"

Her father, Joe realized. It had been a bit of a stupid question. It was probably in her blood. "Well you're too good at it. There's no fun in it at all. And what makes you think I want to go make friends?"

"Because, I'm not an idiot. Just do me a favor and stay and have some fun will you?" Nancy finally sighed, dropping half of the argument. "I'll feel better faster knowing that I'm the only one missing out on some fun."

"All right." Joe nodded begrudgingly. "You've won this one Drew. Next time won't be so easy."

By the time that she had made it back to the hotel, Nancy's head had been throbbing, to the point where every step was like driving hot copper nails into her temples. She changed from her shorts to a pair of sweats, just to be a bit more comfortable, and had just gotten into the bed when the door opened. She groaned; she hadn't thought of putting up the do not disturb sign. "Could you please come back another time, and hang the do not disturb sign on your way out please?" She called quickly.

"Nance, it's just me."

Nancy opened one eye to see Joe standing at the end of her bed. "What are you doing here?" She started to sit up, ever so slowly.

"Don't get up." Joe urged, holding a hand out to stop her. "I decided that I didn't want to just stay at the park without you, so I called a cab about two minutes after you left."

"That was stupid of you." Nancy said, lying back down. "What are you going to do sitting around a hotel room while I sleep?"

Joe shrugged. "I figured I'd take care of you. I have a few headache tricks up my sleeve. Now, what makes yours worse? Light? Sound? Movement?"

"Light." Nancy answered softly. "And movement."

"All right then." Joe walked over to the windows, starting to pull the curtains closed. "You stay right where you are then, and we'll get rid of this light." After the curtains were closed, he checked all of the lights, which were off, and then sat down on Nancy's bed, next to her.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

Joe gently lifted her head from the pillow, shifted himself over, and placed her head back on his lap. "Giving you the headache treatment that my mom always gives to me. It'll help you fall asleep. Just relax." He started to gingerly massage her scalp with his fingertips. Nancy didn't immediately protest, which he took as a good sign. After a brief moment he started to speak in low, hushed tones. "There are strange things done in the midnight sun, by the men who moil for gold; the Arctic trails have secret tales that would make your blood run cold..."

The first thing that Nancy noticed when she woke up was that the pain in her head was gone. Then she caught wind of the fact that the room was very dark, indicating that the night had fallen and she had been asleep for some time. It was only after these two observations that she came upon her third discovery. Instead of on a pillow, her head was on Joe's lap, and he was also asleep, albeit sitting up, and gently snoring away. It took her a moment to remember that he had been trying to help with her headache, massaging her head and reciting poetry before she fell asleep. After deciding that he must have lulled himself to sleep, Nancy started to carefully remove herself from the bed so she wouldn't wake him.

She took a moment to fully orient herself again, and learn that it was indeed a little past eight, before locating her purse and removing her cell phone. She dialed as she went closer to the door, to give herself a bit more privacy as well as to avoid waking Joe. The phone rang a few times before it was answered.

"Hey Nancy."

"Hey Bess."

"How's Florida?"

"It's good. I just wanted to check in and see how things were up there."

"They're great. Meet any cute guys yet?"

"Not yet." Nancy shook her head, despite not being able to be seen.

"Well get to work." Bess ordered. "Oh, before I forget, I've been meaning to call and ask if you know why Joe Hardy e-mailed me to tell me that he hopes that my leg feels OK and heals quickly."

Nancy sighed. "It's a bit of a long story."

"Like the kind of long story where you go on a vacation to Florida without your best friend even though she's on spring break right now?"

"Gosh, we're playing hardball tonight, aren't we?" She paused. "I already told you. This was a really last minute trip. I just really needed to get out of town for a while and be away from everything. Besides, I didn't think Disney was really your kind of vacation."

"Of course it is. Have you seen some of those princes?" Bess joked. "OK, I've got to get going or I'll be late for my date. I met this drop dead gorgeous guy the other day and he's taking me to some play. But seriously. When you get home, I fully expect to here both of these so-called long stories."

"As you command it." Nancy rolled her eyes. "Have fun on your date."

"I plan to. Talk to you later."

Nancy hung up the phone and walked back to the rest of the room to put it back in her purse.

"Feeling better?"

Nancy jumped up, startled, clutching a hand to her chest. She turned around; Joe was awake and stretching. "Joe! You startled me. I thought you were still asleep."

"Nope. I'm up. You're headaches gone?"

"Yeah. A little sleep did the trick."

"Good." Joe nodded. "So, I think you owe me an explanation."

"What for?" Nancy asked.

"Like why you told me that this trip was something that you planned but some mishaps nearly ruined, while you just told Bess that it was a last minute thing because you wanted out of town." Joe stood.

Nancy decided her only way out of explaining would be to go on the defensive. "You were listening to my conversation?"

"Well, yeah. With the walls as they are, the guy in the next room over was probably listening to your conversation." Joe answered quickly, effectively squashing her idea. "Now, I know that something's up with you. You're lying to either Bess or me. Or both of us even. And you don't lie to people that often. Factoring in some of your other behaviors..."

"All right." Nancy sighed. "I get it. I've been acting suspicious, you've caught on. The jig is up."

"Yeah."

"OK, you've probably figured that this wasn't a planned trip." Nancy started.

Joe considered it very briefly. "The thought crossed my mind once or twice."

"What I said to Bess was more or less the truth. I needed to get away for a couple of days, and find something to take my mind off of things. And I didn't want to go alone, but at the same time I didn't want to go with anyone from back home, so the logical choice was to call your family. When you were able to come I was pretty happy; I knew you'd be able to keep me distracted."

"Distracted from what exactly?"

"Well, you remember the nosebleed and the headache?" Nancy waited for Joe to nod before continuing. "I've been getting those a lot lately. And a bunch of other things. I went to the doctor, and to make a long story short, I'm waiting on test results and I didn't want to sit around back home going crazy, so I figured I could at least organize a trip and pretend to have fun while I'm waiting. I'm supposed to get the call with the results tomorrow."

Joe asked his next question carefully. "And what exactly are the results going to tell you?"

"Whether or not I have cancer."

Thoughts?

This plot point is not meant to offend anyone who has lost someone to cancer or is fighting a battle with cancer. It is meant to be an exploration of character. Nancy, Joe, and Frank are constantly having near death experiences from violence, and I wanted to explore a different avenue from which this could come.

The poem that Joe starts to recite is "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service.