A/N: I'm so sorry I haven't updated in two days, but I'm thinking of ways to make it up to you guys as we speak. :) Thank you so much to everyone who continues to read and thank you so much to those of you who have taken the time to leave a review, I love to hear your thoughts! We're winding down to the end here, probably only a few more chapters to go! Okay, here it is…enjoy!
The Three Minute Deal
Chapter 26
Nancy brushed her hair nervously in the mirror and for the third time decided to put it up in a relaxed pony tail. Sighing in disgust she yanked the hair band out and smoothed her hair back down.
She kept telling herself that it was ridiculous to feel nervous about a dress fitting, but in truth she was. Dangerous felons and crazy mad men she could handle, ex-girlfriends of the man you planned to marry someday she could not.
She groaned, she couldn't even hate Callie Shaw because the girl was so nice. The few times she had met Callie, she had been warm and funny and sweet. Of course, that had been before she had started dating Frank.
Then there was Vanessa, and Nancy's hands stilled as she looked at herself in the mirror. She knew that Vanessa and Callie were best friends and no matter how much she liked Vanessa and how much she wanted to be good friends with her, she would never stand in the way of that friendship.
Nancy didn't do well with awkward situations and she was afraid that she was willingly walking smack dab into the middle of one. 'Stupid,' she thought to herself, 'you're stupid to be doing this. Call them and tell them that you're still worked up over the last few days. Tell Vanessa you're sick…or that you've been called into work because a foreign diplomat is coming to visit and you've been assigned to guard duty. Tell her it's that time of the month and so you're all bloated and won't get an accurate dress fitting…' Nancy stared at herself in the mirror and then let out a small chuckle, 'you're being an idiot, Drew,' she chided herself.
Frank walked into the small bathroom just then and leaned against the doorjamb. He stared at her for a moment and then laughed, "You're nervous," he stated.
"What?" Nancy said trying to look confused, "no I'm not."
Frank stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, "yes you are and I think it's adorable."
Nancy made a face, "adorable? Yuck."
Frank smiled, "you don't have to be nervous. Callie and I are on good terms. She's getting married in a month and I think she's truly happier than I've ever seen her. She doesn't harbor any hard feelings."
"Toward you maybe," Nancy replied, "but me on the other hand…"
"Callie isn't like that Nancy; you don't have to worry about anything," Frank looked at their reflections in the mirror and smiled.
Nancy continued to look doubtful, "if you say so."
Frank's arms tightened around her as the buzzer in the front hallway sounded, "you're heart rate just sped up," he said in disbelief.
Nancy pulled herself out of his arms and flushed in embarrassment, "no it didn't."
Frank laughed, "Yes it did. I could feel your hear pounding under my arms. I could practically hear it."
Nancy didn't answer but made a rude face and walked out of the bathroom to answer the buzzer. Frank followed behind and shook his head laughing.
Vanessa was soon knocking on the front door and Nancy hurried to answer it, "hey!" Vanessa said enthusiastically. "You ready?"
"Yeah," Nancy replied with a smile, "just let me grab my purse."
"Great," Vanessa replied and turned to Frank, "I just came from the hospital."
"How's Joe," Frank asked.
"Grumpy," Vanessa replied and shrugged, "he really wants to leave."
"Sounds like Joe," Frank replied with a smile, "I'm going to head over there in minute, help break up the monotony a little bit."
"Good, he has an issue of Car & Driver he's currently abusing. He could use a distraction," Vanessa smiled at Nancy when she came out of the bedroom, "good to go?" she asked.
"Yep," Nancy leaned up and gave Frank a quick good-bye kiss, "bye," she murmured.
"Bye," he returned with a smile, "have fun. I love you."
"Love you too," Nancy replied and headed for the door.
Vanessa couldn't help but smile at the touching exchange and think of Joe. She was so happy that Frank had finally found someone. For so many years after his breakup with Callie he had insisted that he was fine being alone, that he preferred being single. When Nancy had shown up Vanessa had seen a light enter Frank's eyes that she had never seen before. It made her so happy that the brother that meant so much to Joe was finally happy.
"Let's go," Nancy said opening the door.
"I can't believe Frank asked you to move in!" Vanessa gushed as they made their way down the hallway, their voices carrying back to Frank who was standing in the open doorway watching them leave.
"I know, it was great," Nancy replied happily.
"That apartment definitely has potential," Frank heard Vanessa say as they neared the elevator; "I'm assuming you guys are staying here in Bayport."
"Of course," Nancy replied, "I would never break up the dynamic Hardy team."
Vanessa laughed, "I remember when Joe asked me to move in. We started all over from scratch in a new apartment because we were both too stubborn to compromise on anything," she laughed again as the elevator doors opened, "I doubt you and Frank will have that problem."
Nancy's response was drowned out as the doors slid shut on the two girls. Frank walked back into his apartment and closed the door, "we definitely won't have that problem if I get the house," he said out loud.
The phone rang then and Frank walked across the room to answer it.
Joe flipped through Car & Driver a little more aggressively than he should have early Monday morning. He hated being in the hospital and had made his sentiments well known to anyone who happened to make the unwise choice of walking into his room.
His next victim happened to be his nurse who walked in, annoyingly cheerful for the early morning hour, "good morning Mr. Hardy. Did you sleep alright?"
"Fine," Joe grumbled and tossed his magazine aside, "when do I get to go home? I've been here forever."
"Just two nights," the nurse answered with a smile and checked his chart. "Would you like some more pain medication?"
"No," Joe replied and folded his arms across his chest. He was barely able to suppress a shudder that wracked his body.
The nurse frowned, "you're still having spasms."
"Not that often," Joe replied pouting.
"What about your head? Let's take a look at those cuts," the nurse very bravely put her hands next to Joe's snarling face and began to inspect the bandages. "Everything looks good here," the nurse said, "but we'll change them again this afternoon, just to be safe."
"When do I get to go home?" Joe repeated.
"I'll have to ask your doctor," the nurse replied and set his chart back at the foot of his bed. "I'm surprised by you, Mr. Hardy. You're a legend around here for sneaking out before you're officially allowed to leave. We all thought you'd be long gone by yesterday afternoon at the latest."
Joe groaned, "I promised someone that I wouldn't leave until the doctor gave me the okay."
"I see," the nurse smiled, "well, the doctor is just making his rounds now, so you'll be able to pester him momentarily."
With that the nurse turned to the door and opened it just as Vanessa was about to enter, "good morning babe!" she called out and came right over to give him a kiss.
"Morning," Joe grumbled.
"Come on, don't be mad," Vanessa sat on the edge of his bed, "I was just stopping by on my way to pick up Nancy to go to the dress fitting. You should be happy."
"Ha," Joe said, "I don't know why it was so important to me that you go to that dress fitting. Like you said, the stupid things are going to get finished one way or the other."
"You're just mad because you're stuck here," Vanessa replied lightly and ran her hand over Joe's hair.
"Of course I'm mad! I hate the hospital."
"Yes, well…we did make a deal," Vanessa laughed at Joe's sour expression. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be released from the hospital soon and relegated to couch duty in no time."
Joe was silent for a moment, "this might not be so bad if I didn't have this horrible nagging feeling that I'm forgetting something important about today."
"Like what?" Vanessa frowned.
"I have no idea," Joe threw his hands up in frustration, "that's just the thing. I don't know if it's a meeting or a football game on TV I want to watch or what, I just know something is supposed to be happening this morning."
"Well, whatever it is…I'm sure it will come to you," Vanessa smiled and looked down at the battered copy of Car & Driver, "is that the new issue I just bought you yesterday?" she said her voice amazed.
Joe looked down at the wrinkled magazine, one corner of it had been ripped off when he had flipped the cover open a bit too aggressively, "uh, yeah," he said sheepishly.
"The poor thing," Vanessa replied, "it probably never even knew what hit it." She leaned down and placed a kiss on Joe's forehead, "try to be more careful with it Joe, remember it never did anything to you." She smiled down at him and then glanced at her watch, "okay, I'm going to be late picking Nancy up. I'll come back as soon as we're finished and bore you with all of the girly details."
"Wahoo," Joe said without much enthusiasm, "and I'll be stuck here, doing nothing." Joe rolled his eyes, 'Unless of course, I can convince the doctor to spring me.' He didn't voice this out loud however, he didn't want to give Vanessa any reason to try and stop him.
"Okay, I love you," Vanessa said and leaned down to give Joe a good bye kiss on his unhappy lips.
"I love you too," Joe replied and watched as Vanessa bounded out of the room. "Sure, she gets to leave this place," he muttered under his breath.
He spent a frustrating hour waiting for the doctor to make it to his room and when the man finally did turn up Joe was at his boiling point, "where have you been?" he demanded.
"I've been checking on other patients, other patients who depend on me for their survival," the doctor replied with a smile. He was very familiar with the Hardy men having stitched up or nursed back to health every one of them multiple times over the years. He knew that young Joe was just itching to get himself out of the hospital.
"Sorry," Joe mumbled, thoroughly chastised. He took a deep breath and tried to sound calm, "when can I get out of here?"
"Well, let's take a look at your chart," the doctor pulled the chart out and began "hmming" and "ahahing" for the next several moments.
"Are those good or bad sounds?" Joe asked suspiciously.
"Neither," the doctor replied, his eyes crinkling with a smile, "they're my thinking sounds."
"Well, are you thinking that it's about time you let me out of here?" Joe asked hopefully.
"See, for anyone else I would say I might be able to let you out later today if I was sure you were going home to rest, but you're the famous Joe Hardy. I know you, you wouldn't do as I ordered." The doctor smiled, "so I think I'm going to need to keep you here for a few more days…"
"What!" Joe cried, "No. No way, I need to get out of here now!"
"Why?" the doctor asked clearly amused, "do you have some sort of urgent appointment?"
"No…at least, I don't think so," Joe replied in frustration, trying his hardest to remember what it was about Monday morning he was forgetting. His eyes lit up as it all hit him at once as he remembered the call from the realtor a few days ago, "yes!" he said loudly, "I do have an important appointment this morning…well, my brother does anyway. You have to let me leave!"
"If it's your brother's appointment, why should I sign you out?" the doctor asked.
"Because he doesn't know about it!" Joe was growing agitated as he looked at the clock and saw that the morning was starting to get away from him. He knew the process of checking out; getting someone to pick him up, bring him a change of clothes and get to Frank would take up a lot of time.
"Then why don't you call him and tell him about it?" the doctor suggested kindly.
Joe groaned in frustration, "Look Doc, what do I have to do to get you to let me out of here? Sign something in blood saying I'm going to stay put for the next few days? I just want to go home and recuperate."
The doctor thought it through for a moment before reaching his decision, "Okay, but there are a few conditions. First, you fill this prescription," he took out a pad and hastily scribbled something before handing it to Joe, "and you take them." Joe nodded his agreement, "Second, you make a follow up appointment with your doctor for one week from today and you go to it. Third, you are to go home and rest and I mean really rest. Watch all three of the Lord of the Rings movies Extended Editions with subtitles in Japanese if you have to, just stay put." Joe nodded again, "and fourth, you call your brother Frank to come and pick you up because I know that if I tell him that you are ordered to rest and about the first three conditions, he'll make sure it happens. I'll tell him you have to stay put if it means tying you to the couch." The doctor gave Joe his most severe authoritative look, "Can you agree to those four things?"
Joe nodded his head quickly, "yes, yes, just get me out of here!"
The doctor chuckled, "okay, I'll go start your paperwork."
As soon as the doctor left Joe reached across to pick up the phone on the table beside his bed, "Frank," he said impatiently into the phone, "I'm being released from the hospital. Come and get me. Bring clothes."
"You're what? They're releasing you?" Frank's voice sounded doubtful, "listen Joe, I know how much you hate being there but I'm not going to be a part of your escape attempt."
"I'm not escaping, the doctor said I could go on four conditions," Joe replied quickly.
"Which are?" Frank asked.
"I'll tell you when you get here, but get here fast. We have a stop to make on our way home," Joe ordered.
"A stop? Joe, I'm sure running errands is not on the list of the doctor's conditions," Frank's voice was stern.
"Just get here!" Joe growled and hung up the phone. Resigning himself to the fact that he would have to wait he picked up his discarded copy of Car & Driver and resumed flipping through it, slightly less aggressively than he had earlier but you could definitely still tell he was aggravated.
As soon as Frank walked in the door, looking slightly wary Joe started to swing his legs over the bed. He reached for the bag in Frank's hands, "close your eyes so I can change," he said in way of hello.
"You can't be serious," Frank said and rolled his eyes, "you're feeling modest all of a sudden?"
"Just close your eyes," Joe ordered and Frank sighed and did as he was told. In truth Joe didn't really have a modest bone in his body, but he had seen his torso and knew how awful it looked covered in ugly bruises, he didn't want Frank to see that.
As quickly as his sore and stiff body would allow Joe shoved his feet into the jeans Frank had brought him and then awkwardly pulled the shirt over his head, gritting his teeth and the screaming protest of his body at the movement.
"The pants are a little short," Joe said and Frank opened his eyes.
"Yeah well, I had to stop by mom and dads for clothes because it was on the way. The only clothes you have there are from high school," Frank shrugged, "you seemed to be in some all fired hurry to get out of here so I figured old clothes were better than taking longer."
"You figured right," Joe said and took a seat on the edge of his bed, "what's taking the doctor so long?"
Frank studied his brother, "You're even more restless than usual Joe, what's going on?" he asked suspiciously.
"Listen Frank," Joe began to explain his forgetfulness when the doctor came breezing in, cutting him off.
"Well, you owe me Hardy, I rushed all of this because I like you," the doctor smiled and turned to Frank, "now I've told your brother that his release is conditional. He has to take the medication I've prescribed him, he has to make an appointment with the doctor for a week from today and he is to rest. I'm telling you all of this because I trust you'll make sure your brother does it," the doctor looked severe again and Frank nodded.
"Of course," he said.
"Great, let's go," Joe said standing up.
"Not so fast," the doctor held up a hand, "stop at the nurses' station on your way out and sign your paperwork."
"Got it," Joe said, "thanks Doc."
Joe walked as quickly as he could out the door as if he was afraid the doctor would change his mind. Frank exchanged a look with the doctor and they both smiled and followed Joe out of the room.
Frank caught up with his brother at the nurses' desk and then followed him to the elevator. Joe looked over at his brother, "what time is it?"
"When are you going to start wearing a watch?" Frank mumbled and glanced down at his own, "ten thirty."
Joe swore, "We have an errand to run."
"I don't think so Joe, you're supposed to be resting," Frank replied and followed Joe out of the elevator.
"I will," Joe said in exasperation, "I will, I promise that I'll be super lazy just as soon as we finish this errand."
"Why don't I drop you off at your apartment and then I'll go run this all important errand for you?" Frank suggested as he pulled out his car keys.
"That's pointless because this is your errand," Joe replied and waited for Frank to unlock his car doors.
"Huh?" was Frank's brilliant response.
"This is your errand," Joe replied and buckled himself in, "I forgot to tell you, with everything that's been going on the last few days. The realtor called."
Frank was silent for a moment, both hands on the steering wheel, staring at his brother, "and?"
"And," Joe took a deep breath, "your offer was accepted and I told them you'd be in to sign the paperwork today, this morning. I just remembered."
Frank was stunned, "I got the house?" he said in disbelief. "I got the house?" he said again a little louder this time.
"Yeah bro, you did," Joe said grinning.
Frank grinned back, "I got the house!"
"Not yet you don't," Joe reminded him, "start driving brother."
With a huge smile on his face Frank threw the car into reverse and headed toward Bayport Realty.