Hello everyone, and thanks for sticking with me! This is the last chapter! I'm sorry it's so short, I really did plan for this story to be longer, but it is what it is! A HUGE thanks for everyone who put this story on their favs, or followed, as well as to anybody who left a review! It definitely made my first fanfic a great experience! And of course, if you didn't review, I'm still happy you took the time to read this!

On that note, I will be putting up a new story, but it won't be sequel to this one. Please give it a look! It's pretty different than any ND/HB fanfic I've ever seen, so that leads me to believe that you all might hate it... but hopefully not! So please give that a look when it's up if you'd like, and tell me what you think.

I do not own Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys.

"Hey, Joe, how are you feeling?"

The voice floated towards him in the darkness, oddly familiar. Joe groaned. He realized with surprise that he wasn't in too much pain. Pain meds for the win!

"Like I got in a car crash, half froze, and then got cut open on a operating table," Joe mumbled in reply, opening his eyes. "George?" he said, surprised to find the muscular girl sitting beside his hospital bed. "Hey look, it's Georgia!" he grinned, slowly moving himself into a sitting position. George narrowed her dark eyes dangerously.

"Don't call me that unless you'd like to end up on that operating table again," she threatened.

"Whoa," Joe held up his hands. "Just kidding."

At his exaggerated scared tone, they both burst out laughing. A doctor came in and checked Joe over, informing him that the operation had been a success and warning him not to get out of bed or move too much.

"So, how'd you get here?" Joe asked. Quickly George told him about her conversation with Frank.

"What about you? What happened?" George asked.

"Well, you know, hospitals are the best place for finding hot nurses..." Joe began. He was met by George's withering stare. "Someone messed with our car and we flipped," Joe admitted. "We're on..."

"A case," George finished for him, brushing a strand of her black hair out of her face. "Same one as Nanc?" she asked after a second.

"Sort of. Where is she, by the way?" Joe's expression became serious. George stiffened.

"I don't know. I talked to your brother about an hour ago and he was on his way trying to find her." George began absentmindedly clenching her hand into a fist.

"So... you think they'll end up as couple?" Joe grinned. He knew that George was worried about Nancy, but there was nothing they could do at the moment but wait.

"Try Bess if you want to talk about that. You're asking the wrong cousin," George grimaced. "You know that, Joe Hardy. Don't even try to pull me into this."

Joe's grin widened. Good ol' George.

A loud ringing filled the room. "Hold on," George said, digging into her tote bag and pulled out her cell phone. She listened for a moment. "Ok, I'll be right down."

"Who was it?"

"Frank. They're on their way to the hospital. I'm going to run down and meet them, okay?" George grabbed her bag.

"Tell them to come say hi to me," Joe suggested.

"Will do." George flashed a quick smile whichdidn't quite reach her worried eyes, and left the room.

George tapped her leg nervously as she waited to be allowed to see her friend. She had been waiting for about half an hour, and was beginning to get pretty impatient. She had been in the hospital for Nancy several times. More than several times.

George picked up her cell phone and saw that Bess had texted back.

Omg! Tell me as soon as you know how she is!

George quickly replied.

K, waiting to see her, I'll let you know.

"Georgia Fayne?" A nurse called. George jumped up.

"Can I see Nancy now?"

"She should be ready to see a visitor, but she's going to be out of it from the pain meds," the nurse informed George, who nodded and followed the nurse down the call. She didn't ask how Nancy was doing, unwilling to prolong the wait to see her any longer.

A strikingly handsome dark haired man was sitting outside the door, dark eyes crinkled with unease. It took George a moment to recognize the man as Frank Hardy. George gasped as she noticed that a large portion of his shirt on his shoulder was burned away, revealing damaged skin.

"Frank! What happened? What are you doing here?" George breathed. "You should be seeing a doctor!"

"He's refused," the nurse told George, concerned face folded in a frown. George shot Frank a questioning look.

"I already went and saw Joe really quick But I want to see how Nanc is doing too before I get treated,," Frank explained. His expression held almost an element of desperation.

"Why can't he see her?" George asked, turning to the nurse and ignoring the relational implications of Frank's insistence.

The nurse simply drew her thin lips together in a tight straight line.

"They think I'm the one who did it to her," Frank explained, a muscle in his jaw flexing.

"Did what?" George's heart began beating a little faster. She had assumed that Nancy was in for the usual- a concussion, maybe a scrape or two, that was the worst it usually got.

"Ms. Drew is sustaining several deep cuts, along with other minor injuries, as a result of a fairly severe beating."

"He didn't..." George hissed, clenching her fists. "What a..."

"But it wasn't me," Frank cut in, giving George an understanding look. "You can find your culprit in the downtown jail."

"He's telling the truth," George said. "Frank would be the last person to hurt Nancy."

The nurse hesitated. Then she opened the door and ushered them both in.

The sight of Nancy, small and bundled in so many bandages momentarily shocked Frank. She looked so... fragile. It was like the complete opposite of her usual character, and the difference made his chest feel like it was being crushed.

"Lose the frown, Hardy," Nancy had rolled over and was giving Frank an unreadable look. "What the heck are you doing here! For goodness sake, get your shoulder looked at!" Nancy exclaimed, blue eyes falling on Frank's shoulder with a mixture of exasperation and concern.

So much for small and fragile.

It was not exactly the reception Frank had been expecting. His shock must have showed, because Nancy's expression softened.

"We can talk later," she promised.

"Hey, Nanc, look we can be broken rib buddies!" Joe grinned.

"Awesome!" Nancy gave him a high five. "And Frank and I have matching forehead gashes."

"Maybe you'll both get a Harry Potter scar," Joe suggested excitedly.

"Okay, the painkillers are definitely making you both go crazy," Frank grumbled, fingering the bandage on his shoulder. They were all in Joe's room, reunited after undergoing medical bandaging. The doctors had decided that all three needed to stay for some time for observation, especially Joe, who wasn't even supposed to leave his bed, but had allowed the young adults to visit each other in Joe's room.

"You do realize that the doctors are calling you three the Concussion Club?" George said, leaning back in her chair, keeping a careful eye on Nancy. It had been hard to see her best friend so battered. In fact, it made George want to go punch the jerk who had hurt her. Unfortunately Nicholas was unavailable- Brandon Potters had hauled him off to jail.

"If we ever started a detective agency, we should call ourselves that," Joe laughed. Frank groaned and rolled his eyes. He was just thankful that Nancy and Joe were feeling well enough to joke and laugh. Out of all three, he was the least injured, a fact which bothered him a lot. Joe was recovering well from the emergency surgery on his heart and was expected to make a full recovery. Nancy had several stitches for the deeper cuts and bandages of varying sizes all over, as well as broken ribs and bruises. And, of course, they all had suffered a concussion.

Joe's cell phone rang, and he glanced at the caller id, and smiled widely.

"Hey babe," Joe smiled into the phone. He made a shooing motion at Frank, who walked out of the room with Nancy and George.

"Must have been Vanessa," Frank guessed.

"I had surmised that he had a girlfriend. Don't tell me he's settled down?" Nancy grinned.

"He's as settled as Joe gets." Frank met Nancy's gaze.

How was she so darn attractive even with gauze wrapped around her head? Another image flashed into his head... Nancy beaten and bruised, tied to that pillar... The memory made his blood begin to simmer again.

"What are you thinking about?" Nancy asked. Frank started and saw that George had tactfully slipped off.

"Nothing much." Frank let his gaze drift back to her face.

"I don't believe I ever thanked you for coming to get me at the warehouse," Nancy said softly, sitting down next to Frank in his hospital room.

"I wish I had gotten there earlier," Frank sighed, his eyes falling on the bruise on her jaw.

"Well, it all worked out," Nancy said lightly. "So I guess the case is closed, once they round up the rest of Nicholas' thugs."

"Your case. We still have to wait and see if a drug was found in the Senator's system. I'm pretty confident they'll find it though." Frank sighed. "With what was salvaged from the warehouse, and the confessions of some of Nicholas' accomplices, I think we can nail murder on him pretty easily."
"So the case is closed," Nancy smiled.

Still, for some reason, the thought of going home made her hesitate. Usually she was thrilled at an end of a mystery, but this time... She felt like she was leaving something behind.

"Hey, Nanc?" Frank said suddenly.

"Yes?"

"What if..." Frank hesitated. "I don't know if you'd be ready for this, after we just finished this case, but what if you came and gave Joe and I a hand with our next case? I'm sure we'll have something waiting for us at home."

A touch at her hand brought her gaze back to Frank. He was looking at her with a mixture of longing and control. Nancy reminded herself that they had both lost a partner, Ned and Callie. She knew she needed a little space before she could get back into a relationship again.

"I'll have to see," Nancy murmured. But a smile spread across her face, and she was almost positive she would be seeing the Hardys again.

The End!

I might do a sequel at some point, and I apologize to those F/N fans who wanted them to end up as a couple at the end, I just felt like they would have to be together a bit longer for that to happen. So probably in the sequel.

I would really appreciate any reviews on this chapter, and on the story as a whole!

Remember to check out my new story when it's up!

Thanks!