Almost done...
I do not own the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew.
Enjoy!

~Joe

"So how are we gonna do this?" I asked Ivy. We were on the staircase near the cafeteria, where both chess teams were meeting. I was hoping that Phil could help us, but he was stuck with a project, and headed to the library instead.

"I have an idea, but it all depends on how Matt reacts. Remember the way he reacted when we told him about the GSACA?"

"Freaked out, clueless, something along those lines."

"Well, I was thinking that maybe he's hiding his own feelings."

"Repeat that?"

"No support system, no GSA, no reliable friends, as far as we can tell. So, if he has weird feelings, who's he gonna confront about it?"

"So, there's a slight possibility that he's gay?"

"Slight." She held up her fingers, pinching the air with her index finger and thumb. "You can't tell who's gay or not just from that. But something's telling me that he either knows one, or is hiding in the closet himself."

"Well, I agree with the 'no idea of knowing' part," I commented.

My mind went to Frank. Dammit, he's been officially gay since October, and I never even noticed! We were close back then, too. The drama that I introduced into our lives with quitting ATAC started at the end of December, which would have given me two to three months to observe any change. But it was… normal.

Shaking my head out of my little daydream/brainstorm, I asked, "So…?"

"I pull him out of the crowd with that as a topic starter, and you plow him down. Since you're a bit klutzy, it'll probably look normal."

"Thanks." I closed my eyes, and sat on the stairs. "Can I ask you somethin' first?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Is there the slightest possibility that somehow, Frank turns straight again?"

Ivy looked up at the imprints of the staircase above us. "You're worried about what your dad can do, right?"

"Yeah."

She sighed. "Joe, I might have predicted what happened, but that was only a guess. You know what Einstein said once?"

"Um… e equals m c squared?"

"Close." She closed her eyes. "He said the only thing that you can be certain about in this world is the speed of light."

"So everything else is what? An illusion?"

"I guess you can interpret it that way. I think that it means that everything can change. You just hope it's for the best." Ivy got up, using the railing for support. "I'm gonna distract him now. You better be ready."

For some reason, my mind couldn't focus on the current situation around me. Even when I "ran" into Matt, sending both of us down, and I could hear someone yelling at me for being an idiot. I didn't even pay much attention to when everyone realized that the stuff that came out from Matt's bag, which he wore twenty-four/seven, were not normal books. Instead, they were knives and even a gun tucked away under all of the paper.

The phone call I got from Mom while some kids were restraining Matt as the police came explained so much, yet so little.

"Frank's been shot."

Everything else was a blur. I could hear everyone screaming, crying, or just watching the murderer. Then Ivy came and told me that she would take care of everything, and that I should go and help my brother.

And once I got into the car, I couldn't stop crying.

---------------

One moment, I was in the car, crying. Next moment, I realized I had drove to the hospital without mentally being there. Kinda scary, isn't it?

I found Mom outside of the room where Frank was.

"He was shot in the arm. The doctors think it was from only a few feet away. They… they said he was lucky," she muttered, staring at the ground for some answers. "They think that whoever it was didn't want to kill him."

"How long?" I asked quietly.

"An hour and a half ago. I tried to get to you earlier, but then your father took my cell phone and said he'll contact you. And… when Frank came out of the ER…"

"What? Is he okay?"

"Physically, yes. But he won't respond to anyone! And Fenton's been in there with him for at least thirty minutes. And when you didn't come, I assumed your father didn't contact you yet…"

"It's okay," I whispered. My mind was racing a mile a minute. The whole time I was at school, my cell phone was on (yeah, I know, against school rules and all). Anyone could have gotten to me, since the school had pretty decent signal. Hell, even when I plowed Matt over, I still would have noticed if my phone went off. So why the hell did Dad not call?

"I'll talk to Frank, and try to get him to snap out," I promised, before entering the room.

It was a depressing sight to see my brother there, staring into open space with a blank look. The infuriating sight was that I saw was my father, trying to talk to Frank. Frank was clutching onto Mom's cell, and every time our dad tried to hold his hand, Frank pushed him aside.

"You should go, Dad," I said, hiding any venom from my voice. He turned and looked at me, as if debating if I could mess up whatever he had been telling Frank. I'm assuming that in the end, he figured that if he couldn't get to Frank, then there was no way in hell I could. He nodded, and left the room, closing the door behind him.

I took the chair he was sitting in, facing the bed. "Hey, Frank. Guess what?"

Frank didn't respond in the slightest, so I continued.

"We proved that Matt was the killer! And I think I heard that they were arresting a guy named Jason for helping Matt." I frowned as I said this. Both of them were at school at the time of my brother getting shot. So that meant there was one more still out there.

Another memory crossed my mind. Nancy, Ned, and Bess weren't at the meeting. And since George was with Callie…

Damn.

"Hey, can I see the cell? I promise to give it back." I placed my hand over his, waiting to see how Frank would react. His grip loosened on the phone, so I took it.

I scrolled through the calls. According to the records, Dad did make calls after Frank was shot. Just not to me. One was listed to be to Callie's house. I thought it was weird that he would know that number, until I remembered that this was Mom's phone and our mom and Callie's mom were BFFs.

I didn't recognize the other number, so I punched it into my phone for later reference. I handed Frank back the phone, but this time he didn't even touch it.

"I think Dad tried to get a hold of Callie. He thinks that she still has a crush on you," I said, as if this were a normal conversation. "But, for crying out loud, you have clearly established the fact that you're gay! I mean, not that you remember it or anything. But damn… I think you were really happy then."

Frank once told me that I ramble after near-death experiences. And I do, especially when I'm just overwhelmed. I guess this counts as one of those times.

"It's kind of weird, too. All these girls are attracted to you for some weird reason, and yet you go after Phil Cohen! Not that there's anything wrong with that, really. I won't have to deal with a sister-in-law, and that would have been horrible. I mean, if you fell for Callie! She would be kicking my ass during every family reunion for doing something…" I grinned at the thought, looking at the bed sheets.

"You know what this kinda reminds me of? When we were at that juvenile detention center... Camp Wilderness! That 'Smiley' guy tried to torch you, and when they treated you for all the burns, you were on those pain meds. And when you get pain meds, you get all loopy. You were talking about Santa, how you liked Nancy's car… I think you mentioned that you liked her hair too, but that's before your whole inner-turmoil thing. And… and you were talking… and…"

I was ready to cry again. I wanted my brother back. The one that was smart, witty, gay, and just fun to have around.

"And you saved my ass, too. Even though you were the 'hard core, I don't give a damn' kind of guy, and I was Mr. Couch Potato. Damn, you've saved my ass so many times… And we went to so many cool places. Philly was awesome, and that extreme sports contest was cool! Remember the monster loop we went through, because we thought Chet was Mr. X?"

"Joe?"

"Hold on a minute, Frank-" It took me a second to realized what I just said. I looked up, and saw Frank looking back at me, smiling. "Frank!"

His smile grew wider as I got up to hug him. "You okay, little bro?"

"Okay? You were the one who wasn't responding to anyone!"

"Yeah-" Frank frowned slightly. "Wait, everyone?"

"Well, except for me."

"I was trying to ignore Dad originally," he explained. "He kept on going on about how he was calling my 'girlfriend' to the hospital… I just got sick and tired of it, so I started spacing out. I kinda just got back to reality when you gave me back the phone."

"Wait, so you heard me rambling?"

"A bit," he admitted with a grin. "I wasn't fully back, and it was nice remembering all the old missions."

I thought for a second. "You're probably on meds because of your arm, and considering how well you and painkillers mixed the last few times, I guess it added up."

"I guess." He looked down at his arm. "I was walking home, and then all of a sudden my arm is shot! And the weird thing is, even though I didn't see the person, I think I heard them talking!"

"Who was it? Male or female? Who-"

"I don't remember the voice. I think it was muffled, anyways," Frank said, stopping my questions. "But I kinda remembered what they said. I… I think they called for an ambulance for me!"

"Well, that's not weird. Shooting someone, then making sure they got the proper care. It's like they didn't want to kill you!" I explained the stuff Mom told me about the attacker.

"So injure me, but not kill me?" He looked puzzled. "Why?"

"I think it's like Ivy said. The person doesn't want you dead, just out of the way."

"Which crosses Ned off, doesn't it?" Frank stared at the wall for a second, which freaked me out. I was not going to ramble to get him back to reality again!

He spoke before I smacked him, though.

"I… I just realized… I remember everything! About being with Phil, hanging out with Ivy, and the whole case with Stacy!" My brother's eyes were wide in disbelief. "I think the shock and emotional stuff cuz of Dad undid whatever Stacy did to me!"

"Alright! Now all we need to do is let your arm heal," I said, motioning to the cast and sling his left arm was now donning.

"Yeah. It's weird, though." He frowned again. "I'm right-handed, so you think that if a person wants to make sure that I'm out of the picture, they would shoot my right arm instead."

"It makes me think it was Nancy," I commented.

My phone began to ring. Taking it out, I checked the number before putting it on speaker. "Callie?"

"Is Frank okay? Your dad left a message on my answering machine, and he said that Frank was hurt and-"

"I'm fine, Callie," Frank said, smiling.

"Oh, thank goodness! Wait… weren't you shot?"

"In the arm," he admitted. "But I got my memory back because of it, so I think it evens out…"

"It 'evens out'? How the hell can you say that?! But… never mind. We got bigger issues."

"What's up?"

"Well, Matt and Jason confessed to Adria's and Adam's death, but not Stacy's. Police think that there's one more person, so school's been shut down for the rest of the week."

"That's not too bad," I commented.

"Not funny, Joe. Brings me to issue number two; Nancy, Ned, and Bess had apparently disappeared after school, and no one knows where they are!"

The old missions that Joe mentioned were actual UB books. The first mission was "Operation: Survival" and the second one was "Extreme Danger"