TAKING A CHANCE

CHAPTER 19

"FOREVER YOUNG"

For many moments time froze.

Nobody moved.

Nobody talked.

Joe tried to break free of the numbed shock that filled him but he stood immobile, unable to process the event toward him. Blood continued to well up underneath Frank and Miriam and he feared it was all Frank's. His mind said the same thing over and over again. "Not again, not again, not again, not again, not again…"

It was Nancy who moved first, running to Frank and Miriam's sides. When she moved it broke Joe from the spell of fear and he ran forward as well, kneeling beside his brother and touching Frank's pulse in his neck. It beat quickly and strongly underneath his fingers and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Frank?" Joe said, softly. "Frank, are you all right?"

Frank moved, blinking his eyes as he stared up at his brother. Joe smiled into those familiar, warm brown eyes and let the relief fill him, grateful beyond words that Frank was alive.

"Diana!" Frank suddenly gasped out as he struggled with his wife, who lay on top of him. Joe and Nancy helped Frank sit up and Frank pulled his wife into his arms as tears began to fall down his cheeks.

"Diana, baby," Frank said to her. "Sweetheart, talk to me. Diana?"

She stared up at him, her breath shallow and gasping. Frank tried to ignore the wound in her chest and the blood… so much blood that welled up around her. Tears continued to fall down Frank's cheeks as he glared up at his father-in-law.

"You killed her," he said accusingly. "All she ever did was love you and you killed her!"

Ras-Alman shook his head, glaring. "It is you who is at fault. And them. If you had merely ordered them away none of this would have happened."

"No…" Miriam whispered. "No… fight…"

Frank looked back at his wife and gently stroked her cheek, pushing her hair back out of the way. "Someone call an ambulance!" he shouted. "We can still save her."

Joe ignored the guns pointed his way and pulled out his cell phone. A quick call to 911 insured that both an ambulance and the police were dispatched. Ras-Alman shook his head quickly, suddenly aware that the law was about to descend on them.

"We leave, now!" Ras-Alman ordered the two goons. "Let's go."

"That's just like you, Marcius," Joe glared at the man. "Running out on your daughter and saving your own skin. I guess we know who really loves her, don't we?"

Marcius Ras-Alman raised his gun and pointed it squarely at Joe's head. Joe stared back, unflinching. He had seen the fight go out of the terrorist. His daughter was his world.

"I should kill you," Ras-Alman said.

"But you won't," Joe said. "Because you may be a lot of things but you aren't a hypocrite. You know I'm right. You know it's your fault she's dead and not mine and you wouldn't have me pay for something you did. You're big on people paying for their mistakes aren't you? How do you pay for your own?"

Ras-Alman hit Joe then, sending the younger man flying. Joe landed against a wall and slid down, his face aching.

Ras-Alman turned and left the room – and his daughter – behind.

A wall shifted.

Frank Hardy blinked as he stared at his brother and at the woman who knelt beside him and his wife and saw the world in sudden, crystal-clear clarity. The lies he had been fed since the explosion were suddenly shredded into a million pieces as he remembered.

His brother.

And Nancy Drew a friend with potential to be more.

But he couldn't go to his brother yet. His wife was dying in his arms. She held on, gripping his arm as tightly as her weakening state allowed couldn't talk. Her eyes stared into his and he saw her love for him clearly there.

"I'm so sorry, baby," he said to her, rocking her back and forth. "I'm so sorry."

"Love… you…" Diana whispered again. "Love… you…"

"I love you," Frank admitted – and felt guilty. It hadn't been the kind of love she wanted, he knew that. It wasn't really even the kind of love she deserved. But he had loved her as best as his confused, muddled mind allowed.

The world shifted into a sudden muddle of chaos. Police officers and paramedics, all kinds of people intruding into Frank's world. He gave his statement, once, and was allowed to go with Joe and Nancy to the hospital as long as he promised not to leave the area.

He sat in the hospital waiting room, surprised Diana held on as long as she had. He knew she wouldn't live – the wound was too severe – but he knew the doctors would try. Frank sat still in his chair, not seeing anything or hearing anything, merely waiting and biding his time.

It was easier not to think.

Finally, after a small eternity, a doctor in white appeared and sat down beside him.

"Mr. Fleming," the doctor said as he pulled off his mask. "We tried, son, we really did but we weren't able to save your wife."

Frank nodded, still numb and dry-mouthed. He'd known they wouldn't and yet, despite not loving her the way she deserved, he'd hoped she would live.

"We took your daughter, James," the doctor continued. Frank supposed he should correct the man but he didn't have the energy for it. "I don't know if you were aware that your wife was several months pregnant?"

"I knew," Frank said. "But she said she was only four months. I thought… I thought the baby would die with her."

The doctor shook her head. "No. She was about seven months along. Your daughter will have to be here for a few weeks to get her weight up – she's very strong – but she should be just fine. We've had children more premature than she who have survived."

Seven months. "She wasn't showing yet," Frank said. "Wouldn't she have been very pregnant? Shouldn't I have known she was that far along?"

"Some women, a few have that rare ability to not look pregnant. You can see it in her face, of course, and in her chest but while you would notice a roundness in her stomach…" Frank nodded, he had noticed that… "You won't necessarily notice anything more."

"What about… what about my brother?" Frank asked, finally. He looked over at Nancy who sat nearby, a small smile on her face.

"He's getting stitches. He should be back out here in a few minutes," the doctor said. "That was quite a punch someone had."

Frank nodded. "Doctor, my real name is Frank Hardy. Could you have my daughter's records changed to reflect that? And… can I see her?"

"You can," the doctor smiled. "She's in neonatal care, on the 4th floor. You should name her and hold her, if you can."

Frank nodded again. He was going numb again, his mind on the verge of shutdown and yet, he considered. A daughter. He had a daughter!

"Nancy," he turned to his friend. "Will you… will you go with me?"

Nancy smiled and nodded. "I'd be honored."

They went up to the 4th floor and found Frank's daughter hooked up to a few machines in the neonatal care unit.

"She's so tiny," Nancy whispered. "Look at her!"

"She's strong, though," a nurse said. "That one is a fighter. Have you come up with a name yet?"

Frank shook his head. "We hadn't really talked about names yet. I thought she was only four months… Diana never mentioned…"

He sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Diana," he said. "I want to name her Diana. Diana Laura Hardy."

The nurse smiled. "That's a beautiful name. I'll get it noted in her charts."

Frank finally got to hold his daughter for a few minutes after gowning up and putting on gloves. He gently stroked her cheek and rocked her in a rocking chair.

"Forever young, baby," Frank told his daughter. "Your mama will be forever young."

With hope in his eyes he looked up at Nancy and smiled, the first real smile since this whole thing began that Nancy had seen and she smiled back as Frank got to know his daughter.