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: Surprise! Yeah, I'm not dead. I know it's been a while, but, if anyone is still reading, then I hope you like what I have now. For clarification, this chapter, much like the update, takes place a month or two after the last one.
I wanna pull it apart
And put it back together
I wanna relive all my adolescent dreams
Nancy blew a loose strand of her hair away from her face as she picked up her laundry basket, full of clothes ready to be folded. She balanced it on her hip and held it with one hand as she closed the dryer door. Nancy was bringing the basket into the living room when the doorbell sounded loudly. She finished the walk, figuring that at the mid-morning hour of a weekday, it couldn't be anyone that important; everyone that she would have expected it to be was busy. She put the basket on the coffee table. The doorbell rang again.
"I'll be there in a minute!" Nancy called. She brushed her hands off on the sides of her legs, and then went to the door. She twisted the lock and opened it. "Joe." She gave the young man a puzzled smile. "What are you doing here?"
The blond shrugged. "I felt like going for a drive."
Nancy took in his appearance. He had his leather jacket on, and a backpack slung over his shoulder. If she had to hazard a guess, she would say that Joe hadn't slept, and a peek into the driveway revealed his motorcycle. He had probably ridden through the night. She chose not to bring up the fact, curious as to what he would reveal without much prodding. "I thought you were supposed to be studying for your finals." She knew this mainly because she was planning on making her way to Bayport next week, when his exams would be over, to attend his graduation.
"I've got my books." Joe shrugged again.
"Well…come in." Nancy swung the door open wider, and stepped aside for his entry.
"Thanks." Joe came in, and kicked off his shoes. As Nancy closed the door, he looked her over, and took in her haphazard hair, athletic shorts, and oversized tee-shirt. "Did I wake you up or something?"
Nancy shook her head, relocking the door. "You caught me on laundry day. I haven't gotten dressed yet. Let me get your bag." She reached over and grabbed the strap of his backpack as he started to shrug out of, and pulled it off of his arm. "What have you got in here?" She asked, balking somewhat at the weight.
"My textbooks, my laptop, a couple of sets of clothes."
"Well…aren't you prepared,"
"I just grabbed some stuff last night. I figured it would be enough for a couple of days." Joe explained as they reached the living room. "That is…if I can stay here for a couple of days." He turned to face Nancy. "I should have called and asked, I know, but it was this spur-of-the-moment thing and--,"
Nancy cut him off. "Joe, relax. Of course you can stay. It's not like you're imposing on any big plans. It's laundry day." She deadpanned. "I'll go put this in the guest room for you."
"Thanks, Nance."
"It's not a problem. I'll be back in a minute. Make yourself at home." Nancy made it all of three steps when she came to the conclusion that if it was a spur-of-the-moment trip then his family was probably waiting for some kind of phone call. Wondering if they would be more forthcoming with information about what was going on, she turned back around and held the bag out. "On second thought, why don't you have a shower and get some of that road trip grime off? I'll put some coffee on and get the guestroom set up."
"A nice, hot, shower does sound pretty good."
"Well that settles it. You remember where the bathroom is, right?"
"I think I can manage to find it."
"All right. Take your time."
Joe took his bag and started down the hall. Nancy watched him round the corner before she picked the phone up from its place next to the laundry basket and dialed. As she waited for an answer she started to sift through her clothes. She pulled out a pair of jeans and was grabbing a shirt when a stressed male voice finally answered.
"Hello?"
"Frank! Hi!" Nancy smiled, cradling the phone between her ear and her shoulder. "I haven't spoken to you in forever. How are you?"
"Nancy, I don't have time to talk right now." Frank replied shortly.
Nancy started into the kitchen to get the coffee machine going. "Well hello to you too. I see we're in a cheery mood this morning."
"We need the phone free."
"What? Why?"
"Joe's missing. There's no sign of him anywhere."
"You mean he didn't even leave a note?"
"Wait, you know where he is?"
Nancy searched the drawers for a clean coffee filter. "Yeah. My shower."
"What?"
"I was just calling to let you guys know that he got here safely."
"So he's in River Heights?"
"He showed up on my doorstep about five minutes ago." Nancy confirmed. "You really didn't know about any of this?"
"Does it sound like I did? Last night Mom, Dad, and I went out for ice cream, and Joe insisted on staying home to start studying. When we got back he was gone. We've been looking for him all night. So have the police."
"He rode his bike. Didn't anyone think to check the garage?"
"Joe leaves notes."
"Apparently he doesn't." Nancy sighed at the trouble Joe seemed to have caused. "Look, I'm sure he just wasn't thinking straight. Can you think of any reason why he would run away?"
"No. He was fine when we left."
"Well, he seemed pretty upset when he got here." Nancy countered.
Frank lost a bit of his patience. "Look, can you just put him on the phone so I can yell at him? And then pass the phone to my parents so they can yell at him? And then they can pass the phone to Chief Collig so he can yell at him."
"No can do." Nancy started out of the kitchen with the coffee maker starting its work. She paused in the living room to pick up the clothes she had grabbed earlier and then started up to her room to change. "I get the feeling that yelling at him will only make things worse. Especially when you don't know what's wrong in the first place."
And a little more of his patience slipped away. "What is he even doing at your house anyway?"
"I wouldn't know. I haven't really had the chance to talk to him yet." Nancy answered, maintaining as calm of a tone as she could. "I'm guessing that he has some kind of problem in Bayport that he wants to get away from for a while." She slipped out of her shorts and into her jeans as she spoke.
"That's ridiculous. If Joe has a problem he always comes to me first."
"Well, maybe he--,"
"Hello, Nancy?" A new male voice came over the line, cutting Nancy off.
Nancy frowned. "Fenton?"
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I didn't think you deserved to be on the receiving end of Frank's rant so I took the phone away from him." Fenton explained. "Now, you said that Joe was with you?"
"Yeah. He's taking a shower. He didn't really say anything but…"
Fenton sighed heavily. "I get the feeling that he's more upset about some news that Frank gave us last night than he was letting on."
"Frank had news?"
"I'll let Joe explain it to you. I will say that I'm not that happy about it either, but I imagine that it's harder on Joe than me. Does he have anything with him?"
"He mentioned his books and a couple days worth of clothes."
"Good. I think a couple of days away from here might do him some good."
"So you want him to stay awhile." Nancy nodded, working on switching shirts without losing the phone.
"I think it would be a good idea as long as it wouldn't be imposing on you."
"No, it wouldn't be a problem."
"Good. Have him call us sometime today, OK?"
"Of course."
"All right. I assume you're doing well?"
"Yeah. That vacation did me wonders."
"I'm glad to hear it. I'm sure we'll be talking soon. Thank you for looking out for Joe."
"It's not a problem Fenton."
"All right. I'll let you go."
"OK. I'll have Joe call you tonight. Bye."
"Bye."
Nancy hung up the phone and tossed it onto her bed. She finished changing, and then left her room in favor of going to the guestroom to prepare it. After a quick stop at the hall closet to grab some sheets, she was in the room making the bed and wondering what Frank could have possibly said to make Joe upset enough to run away.
"Nancy?" She was barely disrupted in her work by Joe's call.
"In the guestroom!" She shouted back.
A few moments later, Joe was entering the room with wet hair, in jeans and a tee-shirt. "You know, you didn't have to change on my behalf." He smiled. "We're practically family."
Nancy rolled her eyes. "In that case, I guess I can be the one to lecture you about not leaving a not for your parents. They were up all night, along with the Bayport Police, searching for you."
"Umm…oops?" Joe offered with an innocent smile.
"I'm not the one you should say that to."
"Yeah. I'll call them." Joe didn't bother asking why she had called his parents to begin with. He knew her well enough to know that she was probably just being considerate for him. "I suppose you want to know what's going on."
"If you want to tell it."
Joe stepped further in and grabbed half of the sheet to help Nancy. "Frank's not going to be a private detective."
Nancy barely stopped her jaw from dropping in shock. "You're kidding."
"Oh yeah." He glowered. "This is my big elaborate joke for the year."
"But…being a private detective and opening an office with you is all that he's mentioned about his future for…ever."
"Well…he was seduced by the dark side."
Nancy knew what that meant. "Which agency got to him?"
"Who else but the FBI?" Joe commented. There was no missing the bitter tone in his voice. "I should have expected it. I mean, after we took the case at Quantico he talked about it all the time."
"So what? He just decided that once he graduates he's going to sign up?"
"Not exactly."
"Then…what?"
"Apparently they're in desperate need of field agents that have specialties so they've arranged it so that he doesn't need to take any of his prerequisite courses at school. He's just been taking course for his criminology major and doing training with the FBI in his spare time. He'll graduate next year, and instead of Quantico, he'll go through a two week final exam of sorts. Then he's a full-fledged FBI agent."
"So…they're just going to let him shoot people before he can legally drink?"
"You caught on to that too, huh?"
"What did your parents say?"
"They're not that happy, but they're still proud of him. It's not every day that your son is invited to participate in the experimental entry program of an elite government agency."
Nancy glanced down at the now made bed, and then grabbed Joe's elbow to start guiding him to the kitchen. "Well, I'm guessing that you didn't just up and leave out of your absolute thrill for him."
"More like absolute pissed off-ness. I can't believe he would just sign up for something like this without talking to me about it." Joe revealed. "There's never been anything that he's done that I haven't known about him thinking about him doing first. Hell," Joe sighed, sitting down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar, "I knew about his first kiss with Callie two dates before it happened."
Nancy almost snorted. She turned her back to Joe and opened one cupboard, removing two coffee mugs. "He's always been a planner."
"And that's what I don't get." Joe nodded. "We've been planning to open up our own agency after college for as long as I can remember. And he's just said no to that. Without a word to me. I'm his brother. I'm supposed to be his best friend. But he didn't tell me."
"That explains Frank's problem." Nancy muttered under her breath in realization.
Joe looked over, confused and momentarily distracted from his anger. "What?"
"Nothing." Nancy dismissed, shaking her head. "Look, you know I have, like, no advice to offer you about this. I can't possibly relate. I don't have a brother, or even a best friend, that has done something like this to me. At the same time, I want to help."
"Right now, I just want to study. I can't let this screw up school. Especially now that I'm going to have to rethink everything."
Nancy filed that remark away for a later time. "In that case, I can be the taskmistress that keeps you on track. But I should warn you that I run a tight ship when it comes to studying."
"Sounds like what I'll need."
OK, I know the FBI thing completely wouldn't happen, but it was a step that I could see the logical character of Frank making.