AN: I took suggestions for my writing and I am back hopefully with a better written story than before. Let me just say I am hoping this is the only Author's Note you will come across, and I am really striving to finish this without abandoning it.
Again this is based on the 70's show the Nancy Drew Hardy Boys Mysteries. This one is based on Arson and Old Lace. For those of you who have not seen the show, Nancy is kidnapped and six months go by and Frank and Joe finally have a clue as to where Nancy is. They follow the clue and while Joe is evacuating people from a burning building Frank rescues Nancy. I think that this will most likely be multiple parts, but I will see where I can go with this.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters seen in the Nancy Drew Series or the Hardy Boys Series. They belong to Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon and the show belongs to Stratemeyer Syndicate.
"You've never given up have you?" Nancy questioned relieved to finally be safe and with her father again.
"After all we've been through" Frank replied with a different meaning behind it then he thought Nancy would pick up on.
Six months ago Frank was going to take Nancy his then-girlfriend out for a dinner and give her a promise ring, but that had never happened. He never even had the chance to tell Nancy that he loved her, and he had almost lost her forever. Frank is shaken out of his memories as Nancy passes him with paramedics surrounding her.
Nancy is ushered into an ambulance to be taken to a nearby hospital and Carson is riding in the ambulance with her. The ride is silent they are both holding on to each other silent tears running down their faces. The ride is only a few minutes long and when she is being wheeled down the halls of the hospital because the paramedics refused to let her walk; Carson is stopped by nurses and is forced to sit in the waiting room.
He looks up as Frank and Joe along with Fenton Hardy walk into the waiting room. They are all silent until Frank looks up at Carson a question in his eyes that Carson can answer without even needing the question voiced.
"No, we just got here a few minutes ago I do not know anything about how she is or what her injuries are."
Silence falls over the waiting room once more another couple looks up as Carson answers then they quickly return to their means of keeping themselves occupied. An hour goes by and they still have no word from the doctors, and everyone is fearing the worst of what her injuries were. They all did not think she had anything wrong because she was walking and while it looked like she lost a little weight it was not much. Finally, after an agonizing hour and a half, a doctor comes out to address the group.
"Hello. I am Doctor Maria and I am the one who is taking care of Nancy. I am sorry it took so long I wanted to make sure she had no internal injuries as well as outer. Only one person can go at a time and only for a few minutes each she needs her rest. There were no injuries that I could find she is very weak which is most likely from the climb in the elevator. Let me know if you need anything at all" Dr. Maria stated with a smile on her face.
Frank already knew that she was weak and he also knew it was not from the elevator climb as he recalled that Nancy had to stop twice throughout the climb and one was right at the beginning. He also already knew she had lost quite a bit of weight because he could hold them both up for the three minutes at each stop she made.
A silence fills the waiting room once more as Carson starts to head to her room. The other couple in the waiting room look up and smile at them happy that at least they heard some good news today even if it was not for them.
Carson walks into Nancy's room she is staying in overnight for observation, leaving everyone else to their thoughts. Carson knocks on her door and opens it to see Nancy trying to find any kind of clothes for her to put on other than the hideous lacy dress she was forced to wear during her capture.
Carson chuckles lightly as he says, "You aren't thinking of leaving yet now have you?"
"Um... No?" Nancy says as she spins to face him, surprising not only her father but herself too.
"Well. I will make a deal with you. If you stay overnight for the doctors I will make sure you are released early tomorrow morning."
Carson knew he won by the look on Nancy's face as she crawled back into the bed. She watches Carson very carefully as he moves closer to her. Carson sits on the bed and leans in for a kiss missing Nancy's flinch.
The father and daughter sit quietly hugging and Carson occasionally kissing Nancy's forehead. Finally, Carson realizes that as much as Nancy wanted to see him there is someone else she was hoping to see.
Giving Nancy one last kiss, Carson leaves the room and walks back to the waiting room where the squeaking of his shoes is the only thing he can hear. He finally makes it out of the long dimly lit hallways into the open space of the waiting room. Everyone looks up when Carson comes in, catching Frank's eye he nods down the hall. Quickly Frank stands up and practically runs down the hallway to reach her room.
Frank bursts into the room making Nancy jump who is still sitting in her bed. Frank crosses the room in two strides making it quickly to her bedside. He kneels next to her and just stares at her relief and adoration in his eyes.
For a moment they just stare into each other's eyes and when Frank leans in to give her a kiss he is surprised when it is her cheek he kisses. He pulls back looking into her eyes, it is then that he notices the fear in her eyes so Frank just sits in the chair near her bed not talking.
They sit in silence until a nurse comes in telling Frank he needs to leave because visiting hours are over. Frank turns to Nancy gives her a very sad smile, a quick kiss on the forehead, and a promise to be there when she is released from the hospital, he turns and follows the nurse out of the room leaving Nancy all alone with her thoughts.
After too much tossing and turning, Nancy asks for something to get her to sleep. In the morning Nancy is feeling a little rested if only because it was the first time in six months where she did not have a dream, she sits up to see her father and Frank waiting quietly for her to wake up. It looks like neither of them got any sleep and they had yet to notice that Nancy is awake.
Nancy quietly clears her throat to get their attention making both of them jerk their heads up to look at her. Carson is the first to stand up and he hands Nancy a new change of clothes, as Frank leaves the hospital room. Nancy looks at her father questioningly wondering why Frank had left.
"I thought you would want to take a shower after you woke up."
With a quick nod in understanding, Nancy stands up and tries to pull her hospital gown shut as she walks past her father towards the bathroom. She is surprised when her father follows her into the bathroom though. She quirks an eyebrow up in question as she starts the water.
"I don't know what you were thinking but I am not leaving the room, and I thought you would rather have your father than some stranger helping you shower. Don't worry I will just sit on the toilet until you tell me you need help and don't even think about being stubborn" Carson explains.
"I... okay I can't deny you caring about my well-being."
When the shower gets warm enough for her to feel comfortable she quickly strips once her father closes his eyes, and she steps into the shower a sigh of relief escapes her as the warm water hitting her muscles.
She then starts lathering her hair and cleans it at least three times and then turns up the heat to where it is burning her and she scrubs every square inch of herself too many times to count. By the time she turns off the water, her skin is rubbed raw with how many times she scrubbed it.
She grabs a towel and wraps it around herself then opens the curtain for her father to help her shuffle out of the bathroom and into her hospital room. He then turns his back so that Nancy can change, but he will be there in case she needs help. Nancy does know the routine with the family having done it so many times before, but she can't help but think how much different this time is.
Once Nancy was changed into a pink blouse and blue jeans with her signature kitten heels, Carson and Nancy left her hospital room to see Frank standing right outside. He looked up at her a devastated look in his eyes. Frank wished that he knew what Rathbone did to Nancy so that he knew how he could help her heal. Frank didn't know how much he didn't want to know what he did. No one knew the extent of her injuries, not even the doctors.
Frank gave her a hug which she stiffened in until she seemed to melt into it. The hug lasted only for a few minutes but it was enough to give Frank a little closure that everything will work out for the best. Nancy held his hand although she was hesitant to like she was afraid he wouldn't want to hold onto her.
Nancy armed with Carson and Frank on either side of her sign her discharge papers and they leave the hotel. Carson had taken her blue roadster to the hospital hoping to give her a sense of familiarity. Nancy sat in the backseat and Frank chose to sit in the back with her.
When they arrived home Hannah and Joe were waiting for them at the door. Hannah engulfed Nancy in a bone-crushing hug and gave her repeated kisses to her head, whereas Joe pulled her in for a brief hug. They entered the house to see Fenton sitting in an overstuffed armchair reading the paper, but when he noticed Nancy had entered he set down the paper and pulled her too in a hug.
The Hardys and the Drews have been friends for quite some time and when Nancy visited Bayport she always thought of Fenton as a second father to her. Although this time she could not allow him to hug her; she had quickly pulled out of his embrace and ran up the stairs to her bedroom.
Everyone looked confused at Nancy's sudden departure not quite sure why she couldn't hug Fenton back. Nancy was way too polite to deny someone a hug. Everyone had their suspicions but no one wanted to voice them for fear that it was true.
Lunchtime neared and Nancy still had not come out of her bedroom, so armed with a sandwich Frank headed up the stairs to her room. What he thought he would see never prepared him for this moment. When he opened the door he saw her clothes strewn everywhere. Anything white or with the slightest hint of lace was torn into pieces her whole room was destroyed. Things were thrown around and broken, even the picture Joe had taken of her and Frank kissing on their last case in Hollywood.
Laying on her bed Nancy was asleep her hands bleeding from destroying all of the fabric with her bare hands. Sighing Frank set down the plate on her desk and went to wake her up, shaking her lightly and calling her name Nancy started to stir. When Nancy woke up and saw Frank she backed as far away from him as far as she could. Frank although surprised knew better than to approach her. Instead, he went to her bathroom and grabbed a washcloth slowly approaching her he held out the towel to her.
"It's okay Nance you're home you are bleeding you need to wipe your hands. I understand it's okay."
Nancy slowly reached out for Frank's outstretched hand and took the washcloth and started wiping her hands off until she got every inch of blood off of her. When she looked up she realized that Frank wasn't in her room anymore, and with that, she cried herself to sleep.
A few minutes later Frank entered her room to see her fast asleep. He set down the gauze and medical tape and slowly pried the towel out of her hands, and started wrapping her hands to prevent any more bleeding. He then grabbed the plate of food, set it on her bedside to where she would see it right away, and he then left her room.
It was almost dinner when Nancy emerged from her room looking more put together than she did before. Carrying in her still wrapped hands was her laptop, she came into the living room and still distancing herself from everyone else she pulled it open and signed into her email account.
She had to start rebuilding her life as quickly as she could if she had something to keep her busy than she would not have time to think about everything that happened over those six months. The quicker she can erase that she was gone the sooner.
Seeing that she had more than a thousand emails she sighed and started going through it all. Emails from friends abroad who didn't know she had disappeared, coupons for stores, and lastly case-related emails. Quickly replying to her friend reassuring them she was okay and that she was just really busy. Deleting all the spam from the stores, and as she glanced through the case emails she didn't pay attention because she wouldn't be able to solve any of them.
One email caught her eye though, a few days ago someone emailed her asking about a case she replied saying she had time to meet up at the local ice cream store Scoop for that Saturday to discuss things further.
When she finished, Hannah had said dinner was ready for them to eat. The meal had gone by with mindless chatter something she did not realize she wanted after having to watch those films and new channels while she ate per Rathbone's orders. She engrossed herself in the conversation and surprising everyone by eating everything on her plate. While in that penthouse she had only eaten frozen dinners and having one of Hannah's meals let alone her favorite was enough motivation to eat.
After their dinner, they played a quick game of Spades where Frank and Hannah had won. Nancy did not like being paired up with Joe he kept betting way higher than he could realistically get. So naturally, they were dead last with zero points.
Joe would argue that he isn't the kind of person to do puzzles but everyone knew that he was just as bright as Frank he just didn't like to show it. They had to stay the stereotype brothers the brain and the brawn and they can't have to brains, so Joe lets Frank do all the puzzles but he does occasionally step in to help.
With promises of a rematch against the champions, everyone headed up to bed but Frank and Nancy stayed behind. Standing in the kitchen on opposite sides of the island the cards still laid out on the surface Frank asked the question on his mind that he had since she didn't let him kiss her.
"What is wrong? Are you rethinking our relationship? Just because you were gone for six months doesn't mean my feelings have changed and they haven't. Nancy I lo..." Frank couldn't finish he wouldn't now is not the time to tell her that he loves her. He has to let her heal.
"I don't want to talk about it, Frank. I'm sorry I just need to think and I will tell you as soon as I know what I am going to do with myself. Goodnight."
Staring at each other for another moment until Nancy turned and headed up the stairs to her father's bedroom, and saying a quick goodnight and giving him a kiss left and went to her bedroom.
Meanwhile, Frank is still standing at the kitchen island thinking over what she said as he fingers the ring on the chain he is wearing around his neck. He wanted to give her the ring as soon as possible. He wanted to tell her so badly how he felt but knew what that monster did to her would take time. He just hoped he was patient enough.
Slowly Frank headed to the guest room he would share with Joe, upon entering the room he noticed Joe's clothes were already strewn around and he was on his half of the bed snoring. Settling in for the night and taking off his shirt and changing into basketball shorts he crawled into the other side of the bed.