Disclaimer: Guess what! Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys? I don't own 'em! Woo-hoo! Oh, wait… dangit.
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Chapter 1
The airport wasn't too terribly crowded, as Nancy Drew awaited the arrival of her longtime boyfriend Ned Nickerson. In the past, she would have been excited to finally see him after a long time apart, but today, like recent months, she grew nervous whenever she would think of him. Their relationship hadn't been doing so well, and Nancy was beginning to think there was no way to patch things up, that maybe they should go their very separate ways. However, they had convinced themselves to give it a shot.
It was the summer before Nancy started college, and Ned had been taking some summer classes and working an internship until just the week before. Their plan had been to meet and spend the week together, seeing the sites and, basically, just spending time together; a whole mystery-free week. The main problem in their relationship was that Ned felt he was playing second fiddle to Nancy's mysteries, but how could she give them up? She couldn't and she wouldn't. Ned would have to live with that, or they'd have to find a possibly less appealing alternative. Less appealing for both of them really. Breaking up was not an easy thing to do, especially when you've been with that person for as long as Nancy and Ned had been together.
So, they were trying to work things out with a little vacation in Seattle, Washington, but Nancy wasn't very optimistic. She stood wringing her hands as she waited for Ned. His flight had been delayed from Chicago, due to bad weather, but he was due any minute now. She had just finished a case in Cincinnati and had flown in from there the day before, so her bags were already at the hotel. She was standing at the corner of a little pretzel shop when she heard someone call her name.
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Frank and Joe Hardy's plane had just landed at the Seattle airport. They had taken the first available flight from New York, when they received an anonymous tip involving the case they were working on. This tip, via telephone, had led them to Seattle. Their case involved a missing teenage girl, named Mindy Sellars. She was the daughter of a friend of their father, who would have taken the case himself, if he wasn't on a case of his own in Spain, at the moment. However, because he knew his sons were up to the task, he asked them to help find the girl. They had been on the case for two whole weeks now, without a lead, until a man with a muffled voice had called them and told them they may find their answers in the Emerald City. Since they had had no other leads, they decided to chance a wild goose chase and fly to Washington.
As they made their way off the plane, Joe yawned, "Let's hurry up and get to the hotel, so we can grab some food."
"You're hungry already? You just ate on the plane, not to mention that you ate half of mine, as well," Frank laughed.
"Well, you can hardly call that food," his younger brother replied, with a smirk, as his stomach growled.
"Fine, we'll get something to eat as soon as we check in and drop our bags off in the room. We really can't do any investigating today now, anyway, it's pretty late…" he trailed off.
When he stopped, Joe nearly ran into him. "Hey, what's—oh." He saw what had stopped Frank in his tracks, or, more precisely, who. Joe then put on his biggest smile and strode past his brother. "Hey, Nancy Drew!" he called. Frank blinked several times to clear his head and followed his brother.
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Nancy couldn't believe her eyes, though she should've expected this, since it seemed that no matter where she traveled, she ran into the Hardy boys. Joe smiled as they approached and hugged Nancy, while Frank hung back a bit. Once Nancy had finished with Joe, she and Frank looked at each other awkwardly for a split second, then broke out into smiles and finally hugged. Neither one really wanted to let go. Frank was the first one to break away.
"It's been a while, Drew," he said softly.
Nancy sighed, "Yes, it has, hasn't it?" Smiling, she glanced over at Joe. "So, what are you two doing here? A mystery, no doubt?" She grinned.
"What else?" Joe answered.
"Yeah, we're here looking into the disappearance of a girl from back home," Frank told her. "Got an anonymous tip, had no other leads, so here we are…"
Joe's face lit up a little more, "Hey, since, you know, you're here and, well, we need help with this case and all, why don't you join in on the mystery fun?"
A quick look of uncertainty crossed Nancy's face, which was replaced by one of what seemed to be regret, as she thought about Ned. She smiled slightly, "No, I'm sorry, but—"
"She's got other commitments," Ned said, as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to kiss her on the top of her head. He was smiling.
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Ned couldn't decide if he was nervous or excited or both, as he got off the plane he had taken from Chicago. He had missed Nancy but was not sure if it was in the same way he had missed her in the past. Things had definitely changed between the two of them. He still loved her but didn't know if he could handle her choosing her cases over him. He was also somewhat jealous that he couldn't share her love of mysteries with her, and that there was someone else out there who could. Ned knew of the special connection Nancy had with the Hardys, but particularly with Frank. And, how wouldn't he know? He'd seen it, felt it. That chemistry. Well, this vacation would put a stop to all his worries. He'd have Nan all to himself; no mysteries and, especially, no Hardys. If things couldn't be worked out between them, they'd just have to move on, that was all there was to it… but could he do that? He wasn't sure and most certainly didn't want to find out.
As he walked off of the ramp from his plane, he saw Nancy where she had been waiting for him, but things were not as he had pictured. She was not standing there, waving and smiling for him, nor was she running to be in his arms. No. There she was, in the arms of Frank Hardy. Ned stopped, stunned, for a few moments. Then shook himself, took a deep breath, and walked toward them with a smile on his face. As he approached he heard Joe ask her to join in on the "mystery fun." After a slight hesitation, Nancy turned the offer down, to Ned's vast relief. He then decided to make his presence known.
Nancy was obviously startled by Ned's appearance and felt slightly ashamed to have even considered Joe's proposal, considering the state of her relationship with Ned. Not to mention, she felt guilty that Ned had to start their vacation seeing her with Frank, as she knew he had had to see her hugging him.
After standing there for another awkward moment, Nancy suggested that they all find their luggage. After doing so, they stepped outside to find a taxi. When one finally pulled up to them, Frank offered to let Nancy and Ned take it, while he and Joe waited for another.
"Don't be crazy, Hardy, there's plenty of room for all of us," Ned, of all people, replied. So, after their luggage was safely placed in the trunk of the car, Joe climbed in front, and the other three sat in the back seat, Nancy between Ned and Frank.
"So, where to?" asked the driver.
"The Hyatt," Frank and Ned said in unison. Then they just stared at each other for a moment.
Nancy broke the silence, as the taxi began to move, "Sit back, boys," as she gently pushed them back into their seats. Joe just raised his eyebrows, grateful he was not the one sitting in the middle of that. Another awkward silence prevailed, until Nancy said, "So, the Hyatt, huh? That's quite a coincidence."
"Yeah. So how long do you plan on being in Seattle, anyway?" Ned asked, and Nancy knew what he was getting at. He was hoping the brothers were only in town for a very short time, afraid of them ruining his much-needed time with Nancy.
Joe was the one to answer, "Um, actually, we don't really know yet. Just gonna see how things go, I guess. You know," he said, not wanting talk about a case in front of the driver.
"Oh," Ned hid his disappointment well enough, though Nancy could still see it in his body language.
After more silence, the driver announced they were at the Hyatt. While Ned and Frank both insisted on paying, Nancy had already been prepared to pay the driver herself, anticipating such an occurrence. As soon as she had given the money to the driver, both boys paused, mouths open in mid-sentence, and silently got out of the vehicle. The three guys grabbed their luggage and they all headed inside. In the lobby, Nancy and Ned separated from the Hardys and made their way to an elevator.
"Maybe we'll see you around the hotel, or even the city, sometime," Joe said, smiling, though secretly he wanted to laugh. Even though he never wanted to be caught in the middle of it all and did feel a bit sorry for all involved, he thought it was the funniest situation ever. Before he could stop himself, he said, "Hey, would you two want to maybe go out to grab some food with us somewhere?"
Nancy looked up at Ned, and though it was against his better judgment, he replied, "Sure, why not. We'll meet you down here in, say, twenty minutes," he glanced at his watch.
"Okay, it's a date," Joe smiled and chuckled slightly, as they turned toward the front desk in the lobby.
"You know, Joe, sometimes I think you may just be evil," Frank said, as he gave their names at the front desk and got their keys. Joe just grinned.
Once they had checked in, Frank and Joe made their way up to the sixth floor. As they were walking down the hall, looking for the number that matched that on their keys, Nancy stepped out of a door up ahead. "Oh, hey," she said. "What room do you have?"
"Hm… let's see." Frank glanced down at the key in his hand once more and looked up at the doors, as they passed. He stopped at the door across from Nancy.
"You're not serious?" Nancy looked over his shoulder at the key he was holding, and, sure enough, the Hardys were directly across from Nancy and Ned's room. Her eyes widened and she laughed, "Talk about crazy coincidences."
"Yeah, that seems to happen to us a lot, doesn't it," Frank said, scratching his head.
"I think this is great!" Joe blurted. "I mean, unless you don't want to see us during your vacation, Nan." He feigned hurt.
Nancy just gave him a skeptical look. "Don't worry, Joe, I always enjoy your warped sense of humor," and, smiling, she nudged him with her shoulder. "So, what exactly were your plans for dinner?" she asked.
"Well, I'm always up for Chinese," Joe replied.
"Chinese sounds fine to me," a voice came from the door behind Nancy. "Is that your room?" Ned asked, nodding to the door Frank had just opened and hoping there was some sort of mistake.
"Uh, yeah. Weird, huh?" was all Frank could say, as he laughed softly.
"Yeah, weird."
"Well, you guys should get your stuff into your room, and we'll just meet here instead of downstairs. Just knock when you guys are ready," Nancy said, this time before anyone could stand there awkwardly.
Once back in their room, Ned plopped down on one of the double beds. Nancy sat down on the edge of the other. "You know, Ned, you don't have to do this."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I know," he stared at the ceiling. He forced a smile and said, "No worries. I'm fine with it. It's not like you're going to be working on this mystery with them or anything. I still have you basically to myself."
Nancy stood up and started toward the bathroom, "You're a really great guy, you know that?" With that, she closed the bathroom door. However, Ned wasn't feeling so great right then.
A few moments later, as Nancy came out of the bathroom, she heard a noise in the hall and, thinking it was Frank and Joe closing their door, she went ahead and opened hers. However, the person in the hall was most certainly neither Hardy boy. Instead, a man dressed in jeans and a black hooded jacket was stooped in front of the Hardys door. Nancy couldn't see what he was doing, but whatever it was seemed very suspicious. "Can I help you?" she asked.
The man jumped up, startling Nancy, even though she expected him to be so, and whirled around in an instant, giving her a glimpse of pale skin and a nose ring under a hood pulled down so low, she couldn't make anything else out. Nancy glanced down to see a manila envelope pushed just barely under the door across from her and took a slight step toward the man and repeated, "Can I help you?"
"Mind your own business, lady," the man said.
Just then, Nancy heard the door start to open and took another step forward. The man, obviously hearing the noise as well, pushed Nancy back hard, and she fell into her own doorway, just as she saw Frank, with Joe behind him, appear in the other. The man had taken off in that same instant.
Frank knelt down by Nancy, as Joe chased after the guy, mumbling, "Damn… we just got here… I haven't eaten yet…" as he turned a corner up ahead.
Nancy sat up, as Frank asked, "Are you okay? What happened?" He smoothed the hair back from her face. Just as she was about to answer, Ned stepped up behind her.
"What happened?" he asked, looking at Frank, suspiciously. "I must've fallen asleep, but something woke me up. A noise. I guess it was Nancy falling."
"Pushed, but I'm fine," Nancy said, glancing up at Frank.
"Are you sure?" he asked, as he helped her up.
Nodding, "Yeah, landed on my backside pretty hard, but mostly just knocked the wind out of me." She looked at the floor, "He was leaving you something."
Frank followed her gaze and picked the envelope off the floor. At that moment, Joe came back around the corner, panting slightly. "I lost him in the stairwell. Man was in pretty good shape, might I add." He looked at the envelope in Frank's hands. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Seems that way," Frank said, hesitating to open it. "Well, here goes nothing."
Ned pulled Nancy towards him, as Frank withdrew a single sheet of paper containing two, simple words, "Go home."
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Hi. Thanks for reading my first Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys fanfic. (Unless, that is, you actually skipped over the whole chapter and are just reading this…?) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, if you did read it! I'm going to try to update at least once a week; "try" I say, because I cannot guarantee it. Anyway, read and review! Love ya' all! Thanks!
Also, I have one other story on the site that needs to be updated... my excuse is I'm in college and, since I feel I need to do a little reading to refresh my memory on certain details of the stories, I have no time to read anything other than others' fanfiction and school stuff. So, while I'm taking time to write a little for this fanfic now, I will eventually update the other, though it may take some time.My apologies to anyone this inconveniences.