Chapter 12

"Where do you want, anyway?" Frank was cradling the phone in his neck while typing away in his keyboard. He was finishing some research assignment and talking to Callie at his cordless phone. They were trying to decide where to have their "late" Valentine's dinner, since they weren't able to celebrate it because of their small "argument" that time.

"Mm-hmmm… not bad… Okay… What?! Cal! I'm the one who's paying!" There was a pause, then, "No! Honey, look. It's my fault why we are having a very late Valentine's dinner so I'll be paying and anyway, even if we had that dinner on that day, it's still me paying." He paused again, listening at Callie then said, "Uh-uh. Cal…Mm-hmm… alright, alright! Dessert's yours, I'll pay for the meal. Period." Pause. Chuckling, Frank said, "All right. I'll fetch you at 6 pm. Okay… uh-huh. Yup. See you. Mm-hmm. 'Kay. Love you, too."

He hung up the phone and quickly finished the last part of his report.

"Hey Frank?"

Frank stood up and opened the printer. "Yeah?"

"Are you going to use the van today?" Joe entered his brother's room through the connecting bathroom and sat at his brother's bed.

"Yup. Cal and I will be having our postponed date. Why?" Frank said, finally looking at his younger brother.

"Uh, nothing really," Joe responded, lying now on Frank's bed, his hands behind his head.

"Going somewhere?"

"Nah. You're using the van, anyway. I'll just call Van to come over here. We've decided to finish that project we've partnered in at school," Joe said, closing his eyes and stifling a yawn.

"Oh yeah?" Frank chuckled. "Joe?

"Hmm…?"

"If I'm not mistaken, you slept at 2 am last night, I mean, last morning and woke up at noon. Don't tell me you're still sleepy?" Frank asked incredulously, taking the paper from the printer sheet and closing the printer. He looked at his brother, who was now reaching for one of Frank's pillows.

"I'll just take a nap. Fifteen minutes only…" he muttered.

Frank shook his head, thinking "I really can't believe Joe." Speaking out loud, "I'll just take a bath and get ready for tonight."

He started to walk toward the bathroom, stopped, then turned to Joe, "Hey, don't you have a room of your own, Joe? Why take a nap here?"

"Shut up. You're too noisy," Joe muttered, turning on his side.

"And you're quieting me down, right here in my own room!" Frank grinned, debating with himself whether to annoy Joe more but then, he decided not to and turned towards the bathroom.

* * *

Frank stopped at the Shaw's driveway, checked his reflection at the mirror one last time then went out to the Shaw's door. He rang the doorbell and after a few seconds of waiting, the door was opened by a petite woman, whose looks and features matched those of her daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw have always been nice to him. They always treated him like their own son and made him feel comfortable around them.

"Good evening, Mrs. Shaw," Frank said with a smile.

"Good evening too, Frank," Mrs. Hardy said, opening the door wider to let Frank in. "Come in for a while. Callie will be ready soon."

They walked to the living room where Mr. Shaw was watching the television. He looked up when his wife and Frank came. "Frank, I haven't seen you for some time."

Mrs. Shaw motioned Frank to sit down and complying, Frank said to Mr. Shaw, "Yeah. We've been quite busy these days."

"Case?" Mr. Shaw asked knowingly.

"Nah. Joe and I are on a break for that now. I'm talking about schoolwork," Frank responded.

"Oh. Anyway, seniors seemed to be really having a pretty hard time, as I see in Callie," Mrs. Shaw said, taking a seat beside Frank.

Before Frank can respond, Callie walked in to the living room, wearing a simple but semi-elegant looking lavender dress. She walked up to Frank and kissed him in the cheek.

"You look nice, as always," Frank said softly.

"Thanks," Callie whispered back then turned to her parents. "I guess we better go now."

"Take care. Have fun and enjoy, honey," Mrs. Shaw said, after receiving a kiss in the cheek from her daughter.

"We'll try to be home in a couple of hours or three," Frank said.

"You don't have to strain yourselves. Just enjoy," Mr. Shaw said, getting up to walk the two to the door.

* * *

"And there," Vanessa said, after typing the last of their project. "Anything else missing?"

Joe scanned the book he and Vanessa borrowed from the library for their research. "Hmm… let me see… I guess we got it all." He looked up to Vanessa with a smile. "Can we rest now?"

Vanessa slapped Joe playfully in the leg. "You just had a nap before we started, Joe," she paused and said, "However, since we're finished with the typing and all we need are illustrations…"

Joe's smile got wider. He stood up from his seat and offered a hand to Vanessa, "C'mon. Mom was baking some cookies before we started and…" he sniffed the air and continued, "…I can smell it now."

Standing up from the computer chair, Vanessa giggled and said, "That, I can't resist."

* * *

"Thank you," Frank said, giving back the menu to the waiter.

He looked at Callie who seemed to be happy and content. He leaned towards the table and reached for Callie's hand, giving it a light squeeze. Callie squeezed back.

"Thanks Frank," Callie said softly, her eyes showing the love and happiness she was feeling.

"It should be me thanking you, Cal," Frank said, staring deep into Callie's brown eyes.

They were just still, staring into each other's eyes. Frank thought, "Am I so lucky to have her." He said softly, "Thanks for the four years."

Callie just gave him a small smile and brushed his hand with her thumb.

Frank continued on thinking, "What have I done to have such a perfect girl…", still staring into Callie's eyes.

"Here are your drinks, sir," the waiter's voice broke the spell and the couple just couldn't help smiling.

The waiter set their drinks down, told them their food is on the way then left.

"About what happened to Joe, do you think it really was just a prank?" Callie asked, picking up her glass and taking up a sip of her iced tea.

Frank grinned, "I didn't know you care that much for my li'l bro," he kidded.

"Yeah, yeah," Callie responded good-naturedly, tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"But seriously, we are hoping it's just a prank," Frank said. He leaned back in his chair and continued, "And I also hope that what I said about those cryptic words are true. That they're probably nothing."

"But deep inside, you have a feeling it can't be nothing," Callie said softly, looking at Frank's face.

Frank smiled as he looked back at Callie, "You really know me too much, don't you?"

"After years of being stuck with you? Of course I can't deny that," Callie said with a smile, while taking Frank's left hand with her right one.

"Mr. Hardy?"

The couple looked up to where the voice came from. The waiter who served their drinks was on his way back to their table.

"Yes?" Frank inquired, noticing that their food wasn't with the waiter yet.

"A message was left for you at the restaurant desk. It said that you had left your car's headlights on, sir," the brown-haired waiter said.

"Oh, thanks," Frank replied, getting up from his seat. He turned back to Callie and said, "I'll just go turn it off, Hon."

"Okay… be careful though," Callie said, unsure of why she suddenly felt worried.

"I will," Frank said before leaving their table and heading outside. He knew from past experiences that something as simple as this could be part of something, probably a trap, But since we're not on a case or anything, that something could just be nothing.

When he was only a few feet from the black van, he noticed that the headlights weren't on. Instincts made him stop from walking and hide himself behind another parked car. He checked his surroundings to check if somebody was watching him. He saw nothing, but still, insisted himself to count to 100 before approaching the car, which, he noticed, has a small paper inserted in the windshield.

"…99…100," he muttered, getting up from his hiding place and discreetly neared the van. He put his hand inside his pocket and used his handkerchief in getting the paper. He opened the note and read softly to himself, "Death, revenge, bell, hell."

He felt his spine shiver at the words. Then, he felt like someone was watching him. He was just about to turn around when he heard a soft "Ping!", fell to the ground while feeling a searing pain in his left thigh.

* * *

"Finished?" Laura Hardy asked her son and Vanessa when they approached the kitchen. She moved toward the sink to wash the baking equipment she had used and said, "Vanessa, honey, can you take the cookies out of the oven? You can use the pot holders there"

"No problem, Mrs. Hardy," Vanessa said, moving toward the oven. She took the cookie tray out and put it at the table, which was by the large glass window. "Maybe you can help me place these cookies over the cooling rack, Joe," Vanessa said, removing the potholder from her hands.

"Sure, Baby," Joe closed the refrigerator and was near to Vanessa when he saw a large bowling ball zoom towards their glass window where Vanessa was standing near. He suddenly threw himself at Vanessa and both were knocked to the floor as the ball broke the glass and zoomed inside. Before he could warn his mother, he heard her scream.