AN: Disclaimer: I own nothing!!!! I'll talk more at the end. Enjoy! :)

"Nick is telling the truth."

"How do you know?" Nancy asked, leaning forward eagerly and exchanging an excited glance with Joe.

Frank pushed forward the appointment card and medical test results. "It's the same doctor."

Nancy looked at the top of the test results. In small black print, it read 'From the offices of Dr. A. P. Utterson', the same doctor for whom the appointment card was made. "So, you think it's the doctor?" Nancy asked, not following Frank's train of thought.

"No," Frank said, shaking his head. "Nick took this steroid test Wednesday morning. This appointment was on Wednesday afternoon. I think that our bad guy must have used their appointment time to tamper with either Nick's test, or the test results. There is no way this could be a coincidence."

Joe nodded. "I think this is definitely another strike against Steven…Dr. Utterson is the team's doctor, right? Isn't that what Nick told us?"

"Yeah," Nancy replied. She hesitated before voicing a thought that had popped into her head. "Guys, what if this wasn't our bad guy's appointment card."

"What do you mean?" Joe asked. Frank was looking at her intently.

"Well," she rested her chin in her left hand, her elbow resting on the table as she studied their clues. "We found the card by the car, right? How do we know it wasn't Nicks? Couldn't he have dropped it while getting out? What if, for some reason, Nick isn't telling us the truth."

"It's possible," Frank admitted somberly.

"I don't think so," Joe said. "I know it's possible, but I really believe Nick. He says he was there Wednesday morning, and my gut feeling is that he's innocent. Why would he want his results to come back positive anyway?"

"Who knows," Nancy said. Though she agreed with Joe, she wanted to look at every angle.

"It couldn't be publicity… he's kept this whole thing pretty hush-hush," Frank replied. "I agree with Joe. I don't think Nick has anything to do with this."

"Yeah, I think you're right," Nancy said. "It was just a thought."

They sat in silence for a moment, each thinking their own thoughts about the case. "How do you want to go about checking out the doctor's office?" Frank asked, looking between his brother and Nancy.

"Well," Joe said as he returned to his food. "I'm not sure."

"Those patient confidentiality laws drive me crazy," Nancy muttered. "I understand them and all, but they definitely don't make cases any easier."

Frank chuckled. "We know what you mean," he grinned at her softly.

"We can't go over there today," Nancy said, "Keeping an eye out for Nick is too important. Why don't we plan on heading over there tomorrow morning? My tee time tomorrow is at twelve-thirty, and Nick won't tee off until around three, so we could go check it out right after breakfast."

"Sounds good to me," Frank shrugged.

"You had better get going," Joe told Frank after glancing at his watch. "Nick should be teeing off any minute… if they are still letting him play."

"You're right," Frank nodded. He stood up from the table, pulling on a light brown jacket over his royal blue polo shirt. "See you guys later."

Nancy and Joe quickly finished off their breakfasts and paid their bill. They split up so that Joe could take his place as a spectator, and Nancy could look for anything suspicious as she prepared for her own round of golf.

Nick's tee time was moved back to ten o' clock. It took him an hour to work out the test results with the tournament committee and his golf coach, but they finally allowed him to continue participating in the tournament after he told them about the threats and offered to take a blood test to prove he hadn't taken any performance enhancing drugs.

Joe kept an eye on Madison all day. Though he was more concerned about the next 'warning', he never let her out of his sight. If the person threatening Nick was willing and able to tamper with Nick's steroid test, he had no doubt that he wouldn't think twice if he decided to target Madison as a way of getting to Nick.

As they had expected, the galleries were almost four times larger than they had been the previous two days. The people flocked from all the surrounding areas to support the charity tournament and enjoy the nice weather. Frank stayed as close to Nick as possible all day, acting as a personal bodyguard throughout the round. He spotted his brother in the dense crowds multiple times, and was glad he was there for backup if needed.

Nick finished his round at three under par, putting him at twelve under and in first place for the tournament. Steven picked up four strokes, putting him at ten under, and in second place. Nancy also played well, picking up four strokes of her own and remaining co-leader of the women's division of the tournament.

The day passed surprisingly quickly and, luckily, without any excitement that had to do with the case.

"So what are you thinking about the case?" Nancy asked Frank and Joe as they walked back to the hotel from the course. Bess, Madison, and Nick were walking a few feet in front of them.

"I don't know what to think," Joe said, shaking his head in frustration.

"Same," Frank replied, sighing and running a hand through his hair. "I was really expecting something to happen today… I suppose Nick's test results could count as a warning, but that doesn't seem too likely. This guy seems to like announcing his warnings."

"That's what I was thinking," Nancy said. She stared at her feet as they walked, deep in thought. "I have to admit, I'm a little worried. Tampering with those test results is a serious thing to do…It makes me wonder how far this guy is willing to go."

"Me too," Joe nodded. He hesitated. "So, going back to the fact that we weren't told this was a warning…"

"Yeah?" Frank asked, looking up at his brother curiously. "What are you thinking?"

"Well… I don't know," Joe shrugged and sighed, frustrated and confused by the case. "The whole thing seems strange to me. It just doesn't follow the same…pattern, for lack of better word, as the other warnings."

"You're definitely right about that," Frank said. "I've thought about the same thing. I think it could be because, technically, this was the first warning. If we are correct and the guy tampered with the results on Wednesday afternoon, then that was the first real action he took against Nick. Maybe he didn't decide to do the whole 'warning' thing until later."

"Maybe," Joe shrugged. "I just don't know. This whole thing has me confused."

"Same," Nancy replied. "We'll just have to be extra careful tomorrow. We should probably come up with a cover story to tell when we go to Dr. Utterson's office."

"Ah, we can figure that out later," Joe said, waiving away the topic. "I do my best thinking on the spot anyway."

Frank laughed. "Whatever you say, little brother," he replied dryly. He caught Nancy's gaze over his brother's head and rolled his eyes, causing her to chuckle.

"What?" Joe asked, completely oblivious to his brother's amusement.

"Nothing," Frank said, holding his hands up innocently, only causing Nancy to laugh harder. She had really missed these two, always having loved the way the brothers interacted. Being an only child, the closest things she had to siblings were Bess and George, and as much as she loved them both, there was just something different and special about Frank and Joe's relationship that she had to admit she envied slightly.

"Yeah, yeah... Keep laughing, Drew," Joe said, rolling his eyes at her, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly as he tried not to smile.

"I will," Nancy retorted, still grinning as her laughter subsided. She put an arm around each of the brothers' waists, lengthening her legs' strides a bit so she could stay up with them as they walked. "I missed you guys," she sighed, looking up shyly at Frank through her eyelashes. "We haven't really kept in touch," she spoke softly.

Frank returned her gaze with his chocolate brown eyes intently, which didn't go unnoticed by his younger brother. He looked as if he was about to say something when Joe spoke up.

"And whose fault is that?" Joe laughed, mussing up Nancy's strawberry-blonde hair, causing her to switch her attention from the elder Hardy to the younger. "It's your fault. You're the one who doesn't own a computer."

Nancy laughed. "I do too own a computer," she rolled her eyes. "I just have other things to do. There are only so many hours in a day."

Joe laughed. "Whatever," he grinned as she removed her arm from around his waist to fix her hair. He looked up at his brother, giving him a pointed look and nodding towards Nancy's other arm, which remained loosely around the older brother.

Frank met his brother's gaze for only a second before he looked away, and put his arm around Nancy's shoulders. "We missed you too, Drew," he said. "Cases with you are always more fun."

Joe snorted, trying to make his laughter pass as a cough. "Maybe not more fun, but definitely more…interesting."

Frank glared at his brother, who just laughed.

Nancy blushed, but rolled her eyes. She removed her arm from Frank's waist, embarrassed. "Yeah, interesting because you always seem to get yourself into some kind of trouble that I have to get you out of," She retorted, instantly missing the contact of Frank's strong arm as he removed it from around her shoulders, also catching on to suggestion in his brother's comment.

"Hey!" Joe exclaimed as they walked up the front steps of the hotel. "You two have gotten yourself into trouble plenty of times."

"True," Frank said. He shrugged nonchalantly, but his mind drifted to the time when he and Nancy had gotten snowed into a suspect's small mountainside hut by an avalanche. They had shared their first of only two kisses that day, both of them believing there was a possibility of not getting out; hypothermia and/or starvation both very real possibilities. Frank was definitely not going to complain about that particular bit of trouble they had gotten themselves into. Being stuck alone with Nancy was something he knew he would never complain about… they had gotten out, right?

They caught up to Bess, Madison, and Nick and quickly said their goodbyes before parting ways in the elevator, all apprehensive about what the next day was going to bring. For some reason, none of the detectives could shake the feeling that this was the calm before the storm.

AN: Alright, so there is the chapter!!! A little dry, but trust me, the next one won't be. Think of this as -- like I said-- the calm before the storm :) We are coming into the final few chapters, and I'm so excited!!! Thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter! I didn't get as many as I had for the previous chapters, but honestly, I will take what I'm given and be happy!!!! LOL :) I would have had this chapter done much sooner but unfortunately, I had a pretty bad flare up of a preexisting medical condition, and ended up in the hospital for six days. Total bummer. Anyway, I am now stable and feeling much better, so I hope to have chapter ten up by Saturday! Please review and let me know what you think!!!

Thanks again!

Emeralds and Rubies

AN2: OK, so I have the next chapter finished, but would like a few more reviews on this one before I post it, just to make sure everyone is still enjoying this, and I don't need to clarify anything. I'll have Chapter 10 up by Sunday for sure, but sooner if I can manage to get a few more reviews from you guys! Thanks again!