A/N: Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing! I really appreciate it, thank you thank you!

Quintessential Bliss

Chapter Ten

The next morning Joe woke up slowly, groggily. He was laying flat on his back in bed and his left arm was numb, sharp pricks running along the length of it from being asleep so long. Groaning he opened half an eye and wondered why he had woken up at this ungodly hour.

Shifting his head, eyes closed, toward the bedside table he squinted and read the time on the alarm clock. 5:45 am. Joe had never woken up this early in his life. Shifting his head to look the other way, Joe quickly discovered the reason why his arm was numb. Nancy lay on the bed next to him, her head resting on his shoulder, his arm pinned beneath her and her hand on his chest. Her hand was bunched into a fist and Joe smiled, she was on guard even in her sleep.

Feeling uncomfortable, Joe tried to think of the best way out of this situation. How could he get away from Nancy as quickly as possible without acting suspicious for the audience he knew he had? Joe cleared his throat, hoping that maybe Nancy was a light sleeper. When Nancy just smacked her lips and cuddled in closer Joe swallowed and tried to slowly shift out from underneath her.

Hopefully his actions would look more like a concerned husband not wanting to wake up his wife and less like a man who would rather be in almost any other situation than the one he was currently in.

Biting his bottom lip he slowly pulled his arm out from underneath Nancy. He was just about to free his wrist when Nancy gasped and shot straight up in bed. Breathing heavily she looked around the room, wild eyed. Joe quickly sat up and wrapped his arm around her shaking shoulders. He knew a thing or two about waking up suddenly from nightmares and so he recognized it when someone else was.

"Hey," he said softly. "It's weird to wake up in a new place, huh?" He looked at her meaningfully and waited until she had composed herself. He wanted so badly to ask her what she had dreamed about but knew he couldn't risk it.

Nancy stared at him for a moment with eyes full of grief. She raised one of her hands up to lay against Joe's cheek and then closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath she answered with more composure than she thought was possible. "Yeah," she agreed. "Weird."

"Come on, let's get ready for work," Joe suggested and leaned over to give Nancy a quick reassuring kiss on the forehead. "I'll even let you use the bathroom first."

Nancy stood in the shower with the water as hot as she could stand it, she felt like the hotter the water the better chance of washing the dregs of her nightmare away. She had never dreamed so vividly before and she blamed the late night reading about the Ananda community and all of the mysterious disappearances of it's members.

She had been in the dark, unable to see anything, but she hadn't been scared. She knew first hand what fear was like, what fear tasted like and being stranded in the dark came nowhere near the kind of fear she had experienced in her life.

In her dream she had walked slowly forward, sure that she would find some source of light if she just kept walking. After a half an hour of wandering aimlessly in the dark, she still wasn't afraid but more irritated than anything else. Why were the lights of? Why couldn't she find the damn switch? She was just about to call out in frustration when she saw a light in the dark, a small pinprick of light on the horizon. Walking quickly toward it she heard nothing but the slap of her tennis shoes on the pavement. The light grew larger and larger until she was right in front of an open door. Walking through it she found herself on a dock at night, the dock lit up by lights every twenty feet or so. Looking back and forth she wondered where she was.

Walking down the dock she was sure she was alone. Alone and no idea where she was. A sound to her right had her pausing and moving cautiously toward the noise. A group of men worked quickly on the deck of a boat securing line and getting ready to leave the dock. Their faces were obscure, just blurring dots in an otherwise crystal clear dream. Not knowing why she felt so compelled Nancy moved quickly down the dock toward the boat and jumped onboard as quietly as possible.

She heard the men speaking and the sound was clear but the words she couldn't understand. Their words should have been clear and easy to understand but for some reason they didn't make sense, they didn't connect.

Nancy rested her forehead on the tile in the bathroom and took a deep breath. What had happened next in her dream had been what had made it into a nightmare. The men on the boat had cast off and were slipping the boat out of the harbor and out toward sea. One of the men, his face still frustratingly obscured had gone below deck and pulled another man, this man in handcuffs out onto the deck. This man's face was also obscured but there was something oddly familiar about the features she could make out.

Another man was pulled out to kneel next to the first and this one Nancy did not recognize. She blinked a few times, the sky was turning a kaleidoscope of different colors. That wasn't right...it was supposed to be nighttime...where were the colors coming from?

Nancy let the hot water pour over her head as she thought about what had happened next. In her nightmare she had rubbed her eyes as if to clear them and just as she had pulled her hands away from her face, the first man in handcuffs turned to stare directly at her.

It had been Joe.

In an instant Joe and the other man who was in handcuffs were pulled roughly to their feet. Nancy watched in horror, trying to move toward them but being unable to move, as the men on the boat backed Joe against the railing. One of the men shot him point blank in the chest.

Nancy was screaming as Joe went flying over the railing and into the dark swirling waters below.

'Well,' Joe thought to himself as he pulled his car into the driveway after his first day of 'work', 'that was a complete and total waste of time. Eight hours of sitting around in a Network operated building playing solitaire and looking up the same information over and over again about these creepy Ananda community members'. Joe was pretty sure he knew more than he cared to know about his new neighbors. Mrs. Zuckerman liked to play bridge and had won the county prize for best apple pie three years in a row. Mrs. Zuckerman's husband Fred, who Joe had yet to meet because he was 'out of town on vacation', was an avid golfer with a love for fine wines and the opera.

Joe sneered, a man who lived in this type of neighborhood and liked to play golf, what a shocker.

Looking over at the passenger seat he snarled at the briefcase that lay there. Stupid briefcase full of paperwork he didn't understand or care a lick about. Picking it up with more force than necessary Joe got out of the car and walked down the driveway toward the mail box.

"Hello neighbor!" a voice called from behind him. Joe gritted his teeth, he really wasn't in the mood for the whole happy neighbor routine. One of the Network's new I-Have-Something-To-Prove interns had beaten him all seven times they had played chess before Joe had decided that seven and a half hours at his new job was enough and had left for the day. 'Chess is a stupid game anyway...meant to be played by nerds like Frank who need to feel better about themselves and their nerdiness.' Joe comforted himself with that thought and turned to greet his neighbor.

"Hello," Joe smiled and secretly congratulated on not scowling at the unknown man in front of him. "I'm sorry, so many new faces. Have we met?"

"No," the man held out his hand to shake Joe's, "My name is Fred Zuckerman. I believe you have met my wife."

"Oh yes, you wife has been very welcoming." Joe sized the man up, broad shoulders, blonde hair with a hint of gray and an impressive looking suit. "So, everyone is back from the trip?" Joe looked across the street at Callie's house, hoping for some sort of sign that Charlie was home. Of course, he had talked to his brother just an hour before and Frank probably would have mentioned it.

"Just me," Fred replied easily and rocked back on his heels. "There's only so much of the wilderness I can take. I was...called back unexpectedly. Business, you know."

Joe realized that Fred was waiting for him to respond and so he nodded as if he knew exactly what Fred was talking about, "Absolutely. Business." He rolled his eyes as if business had caused him a headache a time or two.

"Yes well, I was just on my way to Miss Shaw's house," He indicated Callie's house and for the first time Joe noticed an envelope in his hands. "Her fiance Charlie gave me a note to give her. The reception is just terrible where we go camping, but it's beautiful up there. You'll have to join us sometime."

"I'd like that," Joe replied.

Fred stared at him a moment as if he was making some sort of dramatic decision. "Joe, are you free tonight?"

"Aside from a date with some Squash Goulash my wife has had a wild hair and decided to make, yes," Joe replied with an easy grin.

Fred laughed, "Good, come by my house around 8. Gentleman's club, port and cigars. You know the drill."

"Of course," Joe nodded wisely and thought to himself, 'what drill?' and wondered if he'd be able to choke down port and cigars.

"You seem like the type we would like to have in our club, Joe. I'll see you at eight," with that Fred turned and walked across the street toward Callie's house.

Frank rubbed his temples with such force there was no hope of it actually helping his pounding head. He had no idea what move to make next, where to turn or what to do. He hated it when a case stalled like this. He wasn't as bad as Joe, but there was only so much sitting around doing nothing, researching and learning the same things over and over again he could do before he went crazy. He was really close to crazy.

The knock on the front door interrupted his thoughts and Frank quickly walked out to stand at the top of the stairs. Callie walked out of the kitchen and looked at Frank before reaching for the front door. "Mr. Zuckerman!" her alarm had Frank walking quickly down the stairs to stand beside her. "You're home!" she said in surprise. "That means..." she looked over his shoulder as if she were looking for someone. "Where's Charlie?"

"Charlie is an adventuresome sort," Zuckerman handed her the envelope he carried. "He and the others have decided to prolong their trip. He wanted me to give you this." He turned to look at Frank. "You must be the houseguest my wife told me about," he held out his hand. "Fred Zuckerman."

"Frank Hardy," Frank replied and shook the man's hand.

"Hardy?" Fred sized him up. "Sounds familiar."

"Could be it's just a common name," Frank shrugged.

"No, I don't think so." Fred looked at him thoughtfully for a moment and then shrugged. "Oh well," he turned back to Callie. "Well, I've done my duty. Better get home to the wife." With a jolly wave he turned and walked back down Callie's driveway.

"What does it say?" Frank asked as Callie turned slowly, reading the letter. Frank closed the door and followed her into the living room.

"Here," she handed it to him and folded her arms across her chest.

Frank grabbed the letter and read the short paragraph to himself.

Cal-

Hey baby, I hope everything is going well down there in the valley. I'm having a great time camping with the boys and getting back to nature. I'll be home in a few days, I sure do miss you!

Love,

Charlie

"That's his handwriting but those aren't his words," Callie whispered. "He doesn't sound like that and he never calls me baby."

Frank looked at the note a moment longer, "you're sure this is his handwriting?"

"Yes," Callie replied and walked back to the kitchen. She pulled a note off the fridge and handed it to Frank, "Here, he wrote this to me a few weeks ago."

It was a sappy card, meant to be cheesy but Frank could see that the two samples of handwriting matched perfectly. "At least we know he's okay, since he wrote that." Callie said softly. Frank looked at her for a moment, saw the grief in her eyes and pulled out his phone. "Who are you calling?"

"Joe," Frank replied. "We're inviting ourselves over for dinner." Frank waited for the call to connect. He may not know what move to make next but there was one thing he was absolutely sure of. He missed his brother, he missed Nancy and his sudden need to be near them was to overwhelming to ignore.