10:00 came and passed with no visitors. At 11 his mother rang him to let him know that they had to do things like grocery shopping and other things that had been neglected while he was in a coma but would be in to see him for dinner. He could hear the strain in his mother's voice as she obviously would rather be there with him.

"I look forward to it Ma, it's okay- they're taking me in for extra therapy this afternoon so you would just be sitting in my room by yourself waiting if you came."

It was a lie but it reassured her and Frank settled into his bed to catch up on what had happened in sports while he was out but within five minutes of turning on the TV he was fast asleep.

He was woken about 2 hours later by a soft hand on his shoulder, trying desperately not to startle him, but he was startled anyway by two wide smiles grinning down at him.

"Hey Frank! Remember us?"

George had always had a problem with using her indoor voice and it was quite a start for Frank

"George! Can't you see you're scaring him? Back up!" Her shorter, blonder cousin commanded, ignoring her own advice and moving her too close face that much closer.

She started talking to him as she would a child, covering his hand with hers. "Hey sweetie how are you feeling?"

"MMM George, Bess. Hi." Frank said, trying to gain his bearings and pull back a little into his pillows to escape Bess's intense blue stare.

"WE BROUGHT YOU SO MUCH STUFF" George was really excited and started pulling things out of a shiny red backpack he hadn't noticed. Books, candy bars, and even an old-school Gameboy fell onto his bed as Bess started tying balloons to his bedframe.

He was feeling slightly overwhelmed when a soft chuckle cut through his thoughts. Nancy was standing at the foot of his bed holding a plate of cupcakes that were obviously and blessed-ly Hannah-made. In her other hand she was holding a cup with the logo of the Shaggy Dog, which happened to be his favourite coffee place and (he knew) on the opposite side of town.

"Nancy!" his face flushed a little "I'm sorry- these girls were so out of control I didn't see you"

That brought an outburst of protest from the girls who were currently shaking the red bag upside down to make sure there was nothing left inside and rearranging his pillows into a much more uncomfortable stack.

Nancy rewarded him with a genuine, twinkling smile and walked forward to sit on the side of his mattress near his thigh. "I suppose anyone would get lost between these two. You are forgiven."

The cousins exchanged a look over Frank's head and suddenly became very interested with the view out his window, leaving the pair in the relative privacy of the corner while they went to look.

Nancy surrendered her offering of coffee and started taking the plastic wrap off the cupcakes that were coloured in his preferred shade of blue.

"Don't worry- it's decaf. The doctors were very insistent about that" she said with a chuckle.

"Ah yes. Caffeine is very high up on the no-fun list that I'm pretty sure they're going to tattoo onto my body if I can't recite it back to them by tomorrow."

This elicited a genuine laugh from Nancy that made Frank's stomach do a flip-flop.

"Try the coffee- they still have their fall flavours in stock. This one is pumpkin spice something something."

Frank pulled a face involuntarily, still feeling strange about having missed an entire season. Nancy misinterpreted it.

"You don't like it." She reached out to take it back but Frank pulled it out of her reach.

"What are you doing? This is my gift, you can't take it back." With that he pulled a trick she had pulled a thousand times on stakeouts- bringing the coffee to his mouth and licking the entire rim.

Nancy laughed again

"Then what was that face for?"

The smile that had been on his lips fell a little as he tried to think of a way to explain to her what he was going through. He was interrupted, however by the return of Bess and George who seemed to think they had given the two enough private time.

"Frank your view kind of sucks"

"Yeah, who wants to look at a parking lot?"

Frank swung his legs over the side of his bed away from Nancy.

"I guess they didn't really care about the view of the room for the guy in a coma…" He meant it as a joke but it fell flat as the girls didn't know whether to laugh or not.

"Oh. Frank we didn't mean it like that…"

Nancy interrupted "Girls come help Frank eat these cupcakes or Hannah is going to murder me. She left direct instructions that the plate should come back completely empty, or else."

"Nan you know you can just leave some cupcakes behind" Bess was very carefully watching her figure but picked up a cupcake anyways

"Where's the fun in that, Bess?"

Frank turned back into his pillows and obediently munched away while Bess and George tried to catch him up on everything he had missed while in a coma. He had noticed it yesterday with his parents but he was finding himself more easily confused and forgetful, making listening to Bess and George's multi-layered and somewhat abstract stream of information very difficult to follow.

"…. Paul- the one I went to senior prom with"

"Junior prom"

"No! George you weren't there- it was his senior prom"

"No- Bess you were a senior and went to his junior prom"

"Oh yeah. Well anyway he married that really tall girl last month"

"Bess that's his sister"

"Oh wait! Frank it was the short girl with the tall best friend that you had a crush on when that millionaire pretended that his groundskeeper had stolen that one huge emerald"

"I thought the groundskeeper inherited that emerald and the son was mad and stole it"

Frank was feeling a pressure headache building behind his eyes as they rattled on and on.

Their rambling was interrupted by a laughing Nancy.

"Bess, Paul was your date to our senior winter wonderland dance, his sister is Molly and she was best friends with Candace who Frank asked to his junior prom when he was here to help us find the ruby that the housekeeper stole from the son of the millionaire. Frank, the moral of this story is that you missed a wedding you were not invited to anyway. Girls I think we should go- I think Frank could use a break from us."

"But Nan, we're only here until tomorrow!"

"And we only just got here!"

"We got here two hours ago and you know it, Bess"

At that moment Frank could not keep his face from contorting into a grimace of pain as he had another one of his shooting pains in his temple. The girls saw this and fell silent.

He opened his eyes to see three solemn faces staring back at him.

"Girls can you give me a minute with Frank?" Nancy asked quietly

They quickly gathered their things and kissed Frank on the cheek, closing the door behind them as they left.

"Nan, it's nothing-" Frank started but before he could even finish, Nancy's hands were on either side of his head and she was searching his eyes intensely. He found himself unable to speak as Nancy made her impromptu medical exam.

She turned his head to the side and pushed back his hair to examine the scar that started behind his left ear and wrapped around the back of his head.

"Are you in a lot of pain? Has this been happening a lot? Do the doctors know? Is it just like a stabbing pain or a deep, throbbing pain?"

He pulled (or awkwardly pushed with is bad hand) her hands away from his face and turned to face her with her hands sort of sandwiched in between his on his lap.

"Calm down, Nancy. It's not that bad. You know I was in a coma and side-effects are common. This is normal"

Her face was still tortured as she sat down on his bed. Her hands were still in his.

"But you're in pain"

"Well I did have a pretty traumatic head injury."

She couldn't look at him

"I suppose you did"

He dipped his head, trying to make her look at him

"Hey. Nan… Nan. Look at me. What's going on."

She finally looked up; blue eyes wide and started talking too fast.

"I need to say it at least once. Frank, I am so so so sorry. I should have had your back that day and I was so focused on everything except for you. We were partners and I let you down and I. I…."

Her eyes welled up and she silently cursed herself. How did she have any tears left?

Frank felt a twinge in the area of his stomach. Oh. So she had been feeling guilty that he was in the hospital and that's why she had come to see him every day. That made a lot more sense than what he had been allowing himself to believe. He supposed if their roles were reversed he would be feeling the same.

He let go of her hands and wiped at the tears slipping from her eyes with his good thumb.

"I appreciate what you're saying Nancy but you know it's not necessary. That's the job- we both know that"

"I know, I know, it's just-"

"It's just nothing. The only one responsible for me being here is the asshole who hit me, alright?"

A moment's hesitation

"alright."

Frank was feeling somewhat deflated and the pain in his head was making him grumpy.

"I don't want to push you out or anything Nan, but I think you were right and I could use a break before my parents come back."

Nancy was a little startled by that

"Oh! Right! Of course! Let me just grab my stuff and I'll get out of your hair." She hurried around his bed to grab the plate George had left on the floor and then stood paralyzed for a moment trying to figure out how to wish him farewell. Cheek kiss? Wave? She ended up giving him a rushed handshake and a quick 'feel better!' before flying out of the room, never having felt so abruptly dismissed by Frank in her life. She was pondering this as she ran smack into a stocky but well-muscled chest that was owned by none-other than Joe Hardy.

"Well I'll be! I didn't think you'd be coming in today as Hannah had you pretty much on lockdown"

Nancy managed a weak laugh but was obviously distracted as she said "I've gotten out of tougher situations before" and started walking past Joe. He grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Holy, Nan, what's going on? Is he okay? Did you have a bad visit?... Are those Hannah cupcakes?" He genuinely cared about his friend but the youngest Hardy had not eaten lunch on account of his parents sending him to every corner of town on errands and had been planning on grabbing some vending machine treats. Next to the promise of a cupcake by Hannah, any snack he could procure seemed more like garbage than food.

Nancy wordlessly handed over the plate which had three cupcakes left on it and moved slightly robotically to a bench near a window.

"I don't know what has happened to me, Joe." She spoke as Joe unwrapped his second cupcake, not considering for a second that he might be able to savor it more if he slowed down. "He told me not to feel guilty about him being in the hospital but then asked me to leave in his next breath. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal but I just have never felt unwelcome with Frank before."

Joe nearly choked on the last bite of his cupcake.

"Wait a second. Frank. Franklin J. Hardy kicked Nancy Drew out of his bedroom? That can't be real."

"Joe! This isn't a joke! I think he might actually be upset with me about what happened."

"There's no way that's it."

"I'd be upset if it were me."

"No you wouldn't and he's not either. Don't worry Nancy. I'll figure out what's going on. Can I take this?" He picked up the last cupcake with his left hand as he licked icing off the fingers of his right.

Nancy nodded her assent and got up slowly.

"Don't ask, Joe. If he has something against me he can bring it up himself."

"Fine but if you guys don't figure it out in a week I'm doing it for you."

"Whatever. I'll see you tomorrow, Joe."

"Yeah."

She started to walk away.

"Wait, Nancy?" She stopped and turned.

"You know it's not actually your fault though, right"

"Yeah. Good night Joe."

"It's 3:00."

"I don't care." And with that she walked out of the hospital. Not realizing she was leaving her two friends behind.

Joe burst into the door of room 437 without so much as knocking.

Frank, who was standing by the window watching a solitary blonde headed woman getting into a really old blue car, turned at the interruption.

Joe held up the blue cupcake in his hand. "Guess who I ran into? Boy, you've got some explaining to do."

He closed the door behind him as he went to sit expectantly on his older brother's bed.