A/N: Thank you kindly for the lovely reviews! Thanks to everyone for reading! Enjoy!
The Three Minute Deal
Chapter 28
Walking into Frank's empty apartment later that afternoon Nancy threw her keys and purse on the nearest available surface and kicked her shoes off in the same motion. She collapsed on the couch and brought the blanket draped over the back of it over to cover her. She pulled the blanket up over her face and muffled a groan into it.
It wasn't that she hadn't had a good time with Andrea, Vanessa and Callie; on the contrary it had been a lot of fun being girly and trying on dresses. Afterward they had all gone to a local café for lunch and girl talk. She genuinely liked Callie and her positive opinion of her had only grown as she had listened to the woman talk and share pieces of her life.
No, Nancy was upset for two reasons. First, she couldn't believe how exhausted she felt and knew that the events of the past week were really catching up to her. Her body ached and her wrists throbbed. The second reason was far worse in her book. She had missed Frank so much it had almost driven her to distraction. She couldn't believe that she, a seemingly independent individual minded, strong personality type of woman could find herself missing a man after only a few short hours.
It didn't occur to her to give herself a small break considering the events of the last few days. It didn't even cross her mind that she might be feeling this insane loneliness from being separated from Frank because their lives had been so stressful lately. No, the only thing Nancy could think was, 'Oh crap, I'm one of those kind of girls now.'
No matter how much the thought unsettled her she still couldn't muster up enough annoyance at the thought. She didn't want tot admit it, but she actually didn't mind being one of those kinds of girls, as long as it was Frank. Okay, well…she didn't mind that much.
She sat up deliberately and pushed the blanket off of her. To prove that she was an independent woman not pining away for the man she loved she would find something to keep her busy. Looking around the small apartment she quickly grew frustrated by her lack of options.
She was saved from the disgrace of doing a second sweep of the room by her ringing phone. She answered it a little too quickly, not sparing a glance at the caller ID. "Hello?" she said breathlessly, waiting for Frank's warm voice to answer.
"Nancy?" instead of Frank's deep comforting voice she was greeted by a little girl's squeal.
"Ashley?" Nancy said and immediately smiled, this was the perfect distraction from missing Frank, "Ashley, how are you?"
"I'm great! I have a new Barbie," the little girl chirped, "I wanted to call you all day yesterday but my Dad said I couldn't because you were super busy and you had to renumerate."
"Renumerate?" Nancy asked confused. "Oh, recuperate."
"Yeah, renumerate," the girl prattled on, "when I was at the hospital Frannie bought me a teddy bear that was pink and it came with a pretty bracelet and you should have seen my dad he just cried and cried and," the girl lowered her voice, "I cried a lot too," her voice went back to its normal volume, "and I think Frannie and my dad are in love but they're not telling me anything because they think I'm fragile," the little girl scoffed in a very Joe-like manner, "I heard them talking about it yesterday and my dad says he's taking a lot of time off of work so we can spend time together, he's going to take me to the zoo! Will you go to the zoo with us? And bring Frank? And Joe? And Vanessa?"
Nancy laughed, "We'd love to. Just let us know when you're going."
"Great! Oh, I'm so excited!" Ashley said happily.
"Me too," Nancy agreed. She almost felt silly to ask but she did, "how are you feeling Ashley?"
"Good now that I don't have to sit in the dark by myself anymore. Daddy promised me he'd keep the bathroom light on at night for me plus my nightlight so that I don't have to be afraid and later this week I'm going to visit a nice lady and daddy says she's going to help me not be so afraid anymore."
Nancy smiled, glad that Ashley seemed to be on the mend and getting the help she needed. Children were so much more resilient than adults gave them credit for. She and Ashley talked for a few more minutes and with promises that her and Frank would be there to go to the zoo with them Nancy got off the phone.
Thinking of her time spent with Ashley reminded her of Eric and that she hadn't talked to him since the day before. She and Frank had stopped in to say thank you and check on him both times that they had been at the hospital to visit Joe. She decided to call and see how he was doing. She was told by the nurse on his floor that he was out of the room at physical therapy but that she would pass along the message that Nancy had called.
Sighing and thinking that she had run out of things to keep herself busy and not thinking about her current predicament Nancy resigned herself to waiting for Frank. She tried hard not to think of it as her waiting around for Frank hoping that he would provide something to do when he got home.
She couldn't help it when she heard his key in the lock and her heart jumped, "Frank!" she cried and she threw herself into his arms before he had even gotten in the door.
"Whoa," was Frank's muffled response, his face buried in her hair, "I guess I don't have to ask whether or not you missed me."
"I didn't really," Nancy said and the kiss she laid on his lips completely betrayed her words.
"Sure," Frank smiled and returned her kiss enthusiastically. He pulled away slightly, "I missed you too. How was the fitting?"
Nancy smiled, "it was a lot of fun."
"No blood was shed?" Frank asked seriously.
"Nope," Nancy replied, "you were right. I was being stupid. Callie is a wonderful person, not that I doubted that at all. More like, I doubted myself…"
"Yes she is," Frank agreed and kissed the tip of Nancy's nose, "I'm glad the two of you got along."
"Believe me, so was Vanessa. She's Callie's girl through and through," Nancy said with a smile.
"Oh yeah," Frank nodded in agreement. "It was always weird to me, how they seemed to share the same head, the same heart. It was…disconcerting to tell Callie something and two seconds later have Vanessa know about it." Frank stretched his arms over his head, "hey, my parents invited us over for a barbecue on Wednesday. You available?" he asked.
"Yes," Nancy said, "It looks like I'm going to be available a lot of the time for the foreseeable future," she said thinking of her impending unemployment. Even if she did apply at the Bayport PD right away there was bound to be some time in between.
"Don't worry, if you get too bored we've got some filing you could do down at the office," Frank smiled angelically over his shoulder. "We pay minimum wage plus the bonus of going home with the more handsome of the boss's two sons."
Nancy laughed loudly, "sure, Vanessa would love that," she said sarcastically and laughed harder when Frank shot her a dark look.
She led the way into the apartment, watching as Frank set his keys next to her discarded purse. She frowned as she studied his back when he headed for the kitchen. Something was up. Every FBI trained bone in her body screamed that something was going on with Frank. "Frank?" she said and followed him into the kitchen.
"Hm?" he said distracted, his head stuck in the fridge. He emerged a moment later with a take out container in his hand, "what?" he asked when he saw Nancy's face.
"What's going on?" Nancy asked and folded her arms.
Frank glanced down at the takeout box in his hands and looked convincingly innocent, but Nancy knew better, "oh do you want some of this? I can heat if up if you want, but I was just going to eat it cold."
Nancy rolled her eyes, "no, thank you."
"Okay," Frank shrugged but Nancy could see the tension in his body. Something was definitely going on.
"Frank," she said again this time phrasing the word as a statement rather than a question, "what's going on?"
"I don't know what you mean," his back was turned to her as he opened a drawer to grab a fork.
"I can tell something's going on, what is it?" Nancy demanded, "It's like you're hiding something."
Frank's face had been half turned toward hers but Nancy didn't miss his grimace, "I'm not…hiding anything from you Nancy," his voice hesitating.
Nancy stepped forward and forced Frank to look at her. Her eyes narrowed, "you're nervous."
"No I'm not," Frank replied trying his hardest to employ his years of carefully monitoring his emotions so that the words came out and seemed to ring with truth. At Nancy's skeptical gaze Frank continued quickly, "I'm not nervous," he said thinking quickly, "but I guess I am a little…anxious." There, that was true at least.
"Anxious?" Nancy's eyebrows drew together again but this time it was a thoughtful expression instead of doubtful.
"Yeah," Frank responded, "I know I haven't had the nightmares since this whole thing ended but I'm afraid that once I've caught up on my sleep and I'm not so exhausted anymore they'll come back," that was mostly true, but he had to swallow the guilt when Nancy raised a hand up to cup his cheek tenderly. He wasn't really lying; he was trying to protect the surprise with half-truths.
"If it happens, I'll be there for you," she whispered.
"I know," he brought his hand up to rest on hers on his face and then slowly brought their joined hands down to clasp in front of them.
"That's not it though," Nancy murmured, "at least not all of it."
Frank swallowed, "uh," and he decided that he'd voice a real concern this time, not a half-truth, "I guess I'm feeling a little anxious about Joe," he finally conceded and he felt an incredible weight he didn't know he had lift off of his shoulders slightly at saying the words out loud. "What happened to him…" his voice trailed off as his memory betrayed him and played over what had happened in the warehouse again, "it's a lot to deal with and I have this horrible feeling that he's bottling it all up. When he does that…when he bottles it up like that, when it finally explodes it's not pleasant. I'm worried."
Nancy raised her free hand to smooth the worried lines on Frank's forehead, "and you'll be there to put him back together again when that happens," she said with conviction. It felt amazingly good to be so well understood. They stood like that for a moment, completely content in their silence before Nancy murmured, "I could swear there's something else wrong."
Frank frowned, "maybe you're overreacting, Agent. It's been a stressful couple of days." He felt bad making her doubt herself, but he couldn't help it. Now that he had decided on the barbecue surprise idea he wanted nothing more than for it to happen.
In a weird way he knew that the event would be oddly healing for everyone. Just walking through his house, their house today he had felt the raw and frayed edges of his heart begin to knit together again.
When Vanessa had arrived back at the apartment she shared with Joe she had been so excited over the success of the dress fitting and Frank had seen that excitement drain from her face as she watched a spasm rip through Joe's body. It couldn't have been clearer that when Joe felt pain, Vanessa did also and vice versa. Frank knew what that was like because he felt the same way with Nancy.
Vanessa had put on a brave face and had danced over to the couch to give Joe a noisy welcome home kiss. She had demanded to know what the doctor had said and for Frank to show her exactly which medication Joe was to take and at what times. She had promised Frank that she would keep Joe in one place if it did mean tying him there.
The whole time Frank could see the strain around her eyes, the excitement from her outing a small memory. "Vanessa," he had said when they were all settled again, Vanessa at the end of the couch with Joe's head in her lap.
"Yes?"
And Frank had told her all about the barbecue idea, seeing the excitement re-enter her eyes and then expand when she saw how much the idea appealed to Joe too. Their connection was so strong that she didn't just feel his pain; she felt his joy and happiness too. It had been hard to stop her then, when she had realized how much Joe wanted to do this and do it right.
That was why Frank was so hell-bent on keeping this barbecue a secret; he had faith that the event would have healing capabilities for all of the broken people in his life. He didn't hold out too high a hope that the party would have the same healing quality for him too, but he did hope that by seeing the people he cared about most in this world begin to heal, some of the self loathing he had felt since that horrible day in the warehouse would ease. It was becoming too much for him to bear.
"What are you thinking behind those serious eyes of yours?" Nancy murmured and Frank tore his gaze away from nothing to look down in her questioning eyes.
"I'm just thinking about the last few days," he replied truthfully, "how so many things could have gone wrong."
"Could have, but didn't," Nancy reminded him softly.
"Yes, could have but didn't," Frank responded quietly. The guilt and shame crashed over him in such a huge wave he was surprised that he didn't topple over. It was then that he realized he was still standing, still standing because Nancy's arms were wrapped around him, preventing the fall.
Vanessa sat curled up on the floor beside the couch, her head bent over the pad of paper as she scribbled furiously. Joe watched her face intently, memorizing her features for the thousandth time. He would never quite get used to how much he loved her, the love ran so deep he could feel it in his bones.
"Okay," Vanessa said finally and wiped her hair out of her eyes, "I think that's it. We have the guest list nailed down, assignments for everyone on what to bring, food, entertainment and ambience," she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at the last word.
"You're amazing," Joe said and lifted himself up far enough to kiss her temple.
"We're amazing," she corrected with a smile. "So, who should we call first?"
"I think we should call our out of state guests first, give them as much time as possible to be able to get here," Joe replied.
"Well, we really only need to call one person for that, he can coordinate the other out of state guests," Vanessa said, "you do it. I barely know him."
Joe groaned, he barely knew the man either but he picked up his cell phone and dialed a number. It rang twice before it was answered, "Carson Drew," a professional voice answered the phone.
"Mr. Drew, this is Joe Hardy," Joe winced at Vanessa and she laughed at him quietly.
"Joe?" Carson's voice was laced in panic, "what's happened now? What's going on?"
"Nothing sir," Joe hastened to explain quickly, "everyone is fine. Nancy is still doing just fine and Frank is fine." The word 'fine' began to sound weird in his ears from his overuse of it.
"Okay," Carson said waiting for Joe to continue, "And?"
Joe quickly explained the entire story and for a moment Carson was silent, "they're moving in together?" he finally managed.
Joe gulped and silently cursed Nancy for not telling her father about the impending arrangements. "Um," was Joe's brilliant reply.
"Well," Carson sighed, "that's news. Hm. Okay, I'll call who I need to. You'll definitely see me there on Wednesday."
"Great," Joe sighed in relief when he realized Carson wasn't going to go off on him, "we'll see you then and remember Nancy doesn't know about this so…keep it a surprise." Joe tried to make the words sound less like a command. The thought of ordering Carson Drew around was laughable.
"I understand," Carson replied and soon Joe was hanging up the phone with a dramatic sigh.
Vanessa giggled, "Nancy hasn't told her father about her and Frank moving in together yet has she?"
"She doesn't need to now," Joe grumbled and resolved to make Nancy pay for the uncomfortable moment later.
"Okay, I'll call the next person," Vanessa offered and reached for Joe's phone.
"Yeah, the easy one," Joe grumbled and Vanessa laughed.
"We're taking turns babe, it's a lesson we can carry over into our marriage," she ignored Joe's grunt and punched in a number. It rang a few times before the person answered, "hello Chet?" she said finally.
"Vanessa? Hey, how's it going? How's Joe?" Chet had been by to visit his friend at the hospital yesterday but hadn't spoken to him since. "Still biting to get out of there?"
"Actually, he's out. Conditionally," Vanessa winked at Joe, "Chet, I was wondering if you could do me a favor," she told him about the house and the surprise barbecue.
"What can I do?" Chet asked.
"Do you have any white Christmas lights?" Vanessa asked.
"Sure," Chet asked sounding confused.
"Okay, gather them together and bring them with you tomorrow. Call everyone, Phil, Biff, Tony, Liz…everyone. Tell them to bring all of the white lights they can find and meet us at the house on Cherrywood Drive tomorrow at ten."
"Sounds good," Chet said happily.
"Do you still have that volleyball net?" Vanessa asked all business.
"Yeah," Chet replied.
"Bring that too," Vanessa instructed.
"Can do, see you tomorrow Vanessa," Chet said goodbye and Vanessa hung up the phone, feeling triumphant.
"Good work," Joe said with a smile. They spent the next hour taking turns making phone calls, inviting people outside of the Hardy's group of friends people Chet wouldn't be know to call, filling in Joe's parents and making arrangements for seating and tables for the party. Fenton agreed to provide the services of his massive barbecue and promised he'd have it at the house by tomorrow afternoon.
When all the calls were made Vanessa leaned her head back against Joe's stomach, "phew, this ordering your minions around is serious business. I'm wiped."
Joe laughed and started to sit up, "come on, it's late. Let's go to bed."
"It's barely seven thirty," Vanessa said looking at the clock on the wall.
"No it isn't its late, time for bed," Joe replied with an impish smile.
Vanessa caught on, "Joe Hardy! You're just out of the hospital! No way!"
"I'm fine," that overused word again sounded weird on his lips, "but if you'd like you can be very careful with me. That might be…interesting." He stood up slowly and reached down to offer his hand, a challenge in his eye.
Vanessa didn't often back down from a challenge, "that is an interesting proposal," she muttered.
"I bet you can't do it," Joe said with a knowing smirk, he knew he was about to get what he wanted.
"I bet I can," Vanessa answered his smirk and began to pull him lightly to the bedroom.
"Prove it," Joe said and closed the bedroom door behind them.
