Next chapter! Yay for Frank and Nancy! Here's some Helen action! (I've developed quite an interesting story for her)
Thanks so much for the reviews! And to all that are reading, of course :) See you all at the next chapter! Please keep the reviews up!
Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew or Frank Hardy
Helen woke up with a start. Quickly she glanced at her alarm clock.
It was very, very late. She felt a surge of panic, thinking she would be late to work, and then remembered that it was Saturday, her day off. With a sigh of relief, she fell back against her pillow.
The previous day's events began flooding back to her, the shooter, going to Nancy's friend's house. It felt so unreal.
Helen had immediately felt at home. Joe and Vanessa were so kind to her! So were Fenton and Laura. Helen couldn't help but envy the fact that Nancy got to be part of the family.
Nancy definitely deserves it though, Helen thought as she got up. It felt as if her world had been turned upside down since that day Nancy and Frank had shown up on the doorstep of the house she was staying at. Living with Nancy and her children made Helen feel safe for the first time.
However, she didn't have a divorce yet. She had zero communication with her husband Charly since Nancy had driven her away from his house. Initially, Helen had thought that she would miss Charly. Maybe she did, a tiny bit, but Helen knew that going with Nancy had been one of the best choices she had ever made. It was such a relief to not live in constant fear.
But now Helen wasn't feeling as safe. What if the shooter was somehow connected to Charly?
The thought made her shiver. She wasn't as brave as Nancy, who seemed almost unaffected by the attack. No, Helen had been afraid for her life. She had felt the cruel unfairness of the situation; so soon after she began enjoying life, it was going to be taken away from her.
But waking up in a large warm bed in a beautiful room, Helen felt some of her fears melt away. She got out of bed, and quickly changed.
Stepping out of the bedroom, Helen made her way to the staircase and quickly descended, determined to find her way to the kitchen without getting lost.
Someday she wanted to have a beautiful house like Joe and Vanessa's.
The sound of crying quickly caught Helen's attention. She had lived with the Drew children long enough to know that it was Zoe who was crying. Stepping into the living room, she saw a flustered looking Laura attempting to calm down a hysterically sobbing Zoe. Nick was hugging Lizzy, also looking quite upset and unsure of what to do.
"Hey, what's going on?" Helen asked Fenton, trying to keep the suspicion out of her voice. She knew that Nancy explicitly trusted Fenton and Laura, but couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
"Separation issues. Nancy went to talk to Frank," Fenton explained, a helpless look on his face. Helen nodded understandingly.
"I…. want… Mommy!" Zoe howled, tears streaming down her face, moving away from Laura.
Helen reached out to take the small girl, hoping that she could offer some help. After all, Nancy's children knew her very well. But depending on their mood, sometimes nothing would offer a temporary substitute for their mother.
"Hey sweetie, what's the matter?" Helen picked up the four-year-old, rocking her slightly. Zoe's sobs quieted slightly.
"I want my mommy," she hiccupped, her crying rising again.
"I know, honey. She'll be back in a little while. Did you know that I don't have work today? So maybe I can play with you," Helen told her. Zoe wiped her eyes with a small hand, her crying pausing.
"You don't have to go to work?" Zoe asked with a sniff.
After moving in with Nancy and her children, Nick, Zoe, and Lizzy had been very disappointed when they found out that Helen would be gone a lot because of her job as a waitress.
"Nope. Today I get a day off," Helen told her.
"What…what about Mommy?" Zoe was cautiously halting her crying.
"She'll be back in a little while. How about we do some coloring?" Helen suggested. "And your Grandma and Grandpa can join us, and so can Ivan, Lizzy, and Nick. It will be like a coloring party!" Helen said excitedly.
"I want my mommy," Zoe said stubbornly, but she stopped crying, instead looking at Zoe with large tearful blue eyes.
"I know. How about you draw your mom a picture?"
"You're not going to work?" Zoe checked suspiciously.
"Nope, not today. Do you like crayons or markers or colored pencils?" Helen asked, glancing at Laura. The older lady smiled, looking relieved.
"Um…. Crayons," Zoe decided.
Crisis averted, Helen thought to herself with a smile.
Soon the kitchen table was covered with crayons, markers, and colored pencils, and sheets of paper were flying all over the place. Nick and Zoe were laughing over something Fenton was drawing, while Lizzy was deeply involved in her drawing- mostly a mass of blue scribbles.
A touch on her shoulder caused Helen to jump. She turned to find Laura Hardy beside her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Laura apologized.
"Oh no, it's fine," Helen smiled.
"I just wanted to thank you for calming Zoe down. Fenton and I were starting to get worried," Laura told Helen gratefully. "You were so helpful."
"Oh, you're welcome. I guess I picked up a few tricks from Nancy," Helen said shyly, feeling a rush of pleasure at the woman's praise.
"I'm so happy that we're all going to be staying together for a little while," Laura touched Helen's hand lightly. "I'm glad you're here with us. Nancy has told us how great a friend you have been to her."
"Oh," Helen glanced at the ground, feeling shy again. "Well, that's Nancy for you. I didn't really help her much; I mean I wish I could have done more for her. She's really been a blessing to me, actually," Helen admitted.
"A friend in a hard time is one of the greatest gifts there is," Laura agreed. "That goes for what Nancy has done for you and what you have done for Nancy."
Helen smiled at the kind lady, feeling very happy and loved. She felt a sudden wistfulness. The last time she had seen her parents, her mother had been sobbing as her father threw her out for becoming pregnant with Charly.
She had had a miscarriage, rousing Charly's fury. It wouldn't be her last either. When she had attempted to go back home, her father wouldn't even look at her, and wouldn't allow her to see her mother either.
She had returned to Charly. At least he was loving and kind between his bursts of anger.
"I'm glad I'll be staying here for awhile too," Helen looked up at Laura, her brown eyes shining with happiness.
It has to be a drug dealer, Nancy decided, looking over Frank's notes. It was the only thing that tied the two deaths together. It made sense. Theo had been involved with drugs, and Pency, being his best friend, probably knew about it as well. Then for some reason they had decided to kill Theo, and Pency sent in the anonymous tip that Theo had been murdered. Then the dealer had gotten wind of that decision, and doubled back to kill Pency.
At least, that's what Nancy was thinking. She knew better than to come to any definite conclusions. It had been a long time since she had worked on a mystery, but the rules of the game were permanently set in her head.
First rule: Everything is subject to questioning. Anybody can be a suspect.
Nancy knew they needed to talk to Greta Patterson in order to get some more information on who Theo might have been obtaining drugs from. And why they might have wanted to kill him.
Then again, the deaths were both inside jobs. Perhaps Theo's seemingly innocent girlfriend actually had a hand in what was happening. After all, the notes stated that she had known about Theo's drug addiction.
And then there was the break in at the apartment. Somebody already knew Frank was on the case.
Checking her cell phone, Nancy realized that she should probably go back home. Worriedly she hoped that Nick, Zoe, and Lizzy were doing alright, reluctantly leaving Frank's notes.
Nancy tiptoed into Frank's bedroom. He was fast asleep, tired face smoothed into a peaceful expression. Quickly she wrote him a note and left it on his bedside table. She would call him in a couple hours.
As Nancy walked up to the house, she mentally prepared herself for her children becoming attached to her.
Opening the door, Nancy heard laughing. A small smile spread on her face. She walked into the kitchen and saw that Nick, Zoe, and Lizzy were all drawing and laughing with Fenton, Laura, and Helen.
"Mommy!" Nick jumped up to give her a hug, but then returned to his drawing.
"I made you a drawing!" Zoe waved a piece of paper in the air.
No tears, no hysterical pleading, no crushing grips. Nancy beamed at Helen.
"Is this for real?" she whispered.
"They're having a great day," Helen agreed with a smile. "How was Frank?" she asked cautiously.
"Fine," Nancy's eyes twinkled. "We talked." Nancy grinned. Helen shook her head with a smile.
"You didn't go too hard on him, did you?" she asked helplessly.
"Mmm," Nancy didn't say anything.
"Did you figure out why that person broke into the apartment?" Helen asked hesitantly.
"We're thinking it's a drug dealer," Nancy said softly. To her surprise, Helen's eyes widened.
"Dope?" Helen asked faintly.
"Well, there's definitely heroin involved, yes." Nancy took Helen's hand. "Helen, why?"
"Oh my god. Charly…"
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