A/N: Thanks for all of the great reviews! I really appreciate it. So, yes, Frank is coming back, and someone brought up the valid point that he wouldn't be able to find out where Joe and Nancy lived without finding out they were married. I thought over that one for a long time, but decided that I wasn't going to rob you of the reactions, so you can just read on and see how I put it all together!
The Saturday started out like any other. Joe woke up early to do some running. Joe had used to be a late sleeper, but somewhere during the years Frank had been missing he learned to survive on very little sleep. By the time he got back and showered, Nancy had gotten up, made pancakes, and was eating them and doing her homework at the same time.
Joe came up behind her, stole her fork, and popped a piece of pancake into his mouth. Nancy swatted his hand. "Hey! Get your own!"
Joe laughed. "Pancake miser." He bent down and kissed her. "Good morning."
"Good morning." Nancy smiled.
The doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." Joe volunteered. Nancy just reburied her nose in her psychology book.
Joe checked his watch as he made for the door. They weren't expecting anyone today except George, Bess, and Bess's fiance Steven, who were coming over for dinner. But that wasn't for hours yet. Joe opened the door, and stared at the man on the doorstep. He was looking into the face of a ghost. His throat was suddenly dry. "Frank!" he rasped, launching himself into the arms of his older brother. After a minute, Joe pulled back and looked at him. Six foot one, brown hair, brown eyes... It was really him. A little older, and a little worse for wear, but it was definitely Frank Hardy. "You...You're back!"
Frank seemed as overcome as Joe was. He pulled Joe into another hug, his eyes shining with unshed tears.
"Joe?" Nancy called, poking her head around the doorway. "Who was at the-" she stopped short, eyes wide.
The two brothers pulled apart, and Frank's grin broadened. "Nan?"
Nancy flew into his arms. Frank kissed her on the lips, softly, but Nancy pulled back reflexively. "You're here!" she exclaimed, backing up next to Joe. "Oh my God! Come in! Sit down! Can I get you anything? Tell us everything!" Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
Joe took her arm. "Calm down, Nan." He was laughing and crying at the same time. He put an arm around his brother's shoulders. "Have a seat, Frank."
The trio crossed to he couch and sat down. "What happened? Who else knows you're back? When did you-"
Joe cut Nancy off. "First things first. Where are you staying? Did you talk to Mom and Dad?"
Frank nodded. "I saw them first. I made them promise not to call. I wanted to surprise you."
"You did do that." Joe conceded happily.
"As for where I'm staying," Frank continued. "I'm sure there's a motel around..."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Joe said. "You can stay here."
"I was hoping you'd say that." Frank admitted. He looked at Nancy. "I guess you want to hear the whole story."
Nancy blushed. "Only if you're ready to tell it. If you're too tired, we can do it later." But her eyes gave away her eagerness.
Frank's eyes softened as he looked at her. "I don't mind." he sighed. "Well, starting at the beginning... After the Assassins kidnapped me, they tied me up and knocked me out. I don't remember much of what happened after that, but when I woke up a couple of days later I found out that they'd shipped me halfway across the world to one of their bases in Russia. I remember being surprised that they didn't kill me right away. I guessed that maybe they had a bigger plan for me, you know, some other kind of revenge. But they just kept me in this underground cell block with a bunch of other prisoners, none of whom spoke English."
"Do you know where the base is?" Joe wanted to know. " Did you tell the police about it?"
Frank nodded. "We had to abandon the base a few weeks later. Apparently the police had found out somehow. But the Assassins just, very efficiantly, knocked out all of us with some kind of injection and brought us all to a new base. I don't even know what country that was in, but I would have to guess that it was still somewhere in Russia, because all of the guards spoke Russian. We stayed there for about a year and a half, and no one ever came for me. I wondered if they'd forgotten about me. I still don't know. Maybe I wasn't as important to them as I thought I was. Anyway, I spent the rest of the time moving from base to base, trying to communicate with the other prisoners, and learning Russian."
"Wow." Nancy said. " That's amazing."
"Yeah." Frank agreed. "This Russian man who was sharing a cell with me started giving me Russian lessons, and I tried to teach him English. Then, one day, the guards took him away. I tried to find out what happened to him, but, of course, no one would tell me." He shook his head sadly. "I'll probably never know."
"How did you escape?" Nancy asked gently.
"Lucky break." Frank admitted. "We had been moved to a base somewhere in the Middle East. One of the more powerful Assassins at the base was caught by the Network. He poisoned himself rather than confess where their hideout was, but the agents found some incriminating papers hidden on his person, so they found the base and moved in before the remaining Assassins had time to get anyone out." He looked around. "The Network had to keep the bust a secret, of course."
Joe had a thought. "Who was the Assassin?"
"His name was Hassan Roshida." Frank answered.
Joe and Nancy shared a grin; they had done some of themajor legwork that had led to the capture of Roshida.
"All of the prisoners, myself included, were sent to a hospital to get checked out, and then I was sent back to the States. I contacted Mom and Dad, and, well, you know the rest."
Nancy's eyes teared up again. "We thought we would never see you again." Joe noted uneasily the way Frank was looking at his wife.
Frankslipped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "You have no idea how much I missed you, Drew."
At the mention of her maiden name, Nancy sat up straight and met Joe's eyes. The realization had hit them both at the same time. Frank didn't know they were married!
Nancy untangled herself from his arms. "Frank..."
"What's wrong, Nan?" Frank picked up her left hand and stroked it absently.
"I'm...we're..." Nancy had a hard time saying the words. "Frank-"
Frank had stopped stroking her hand. Instead he was staring at the ring in silent disbelief. "You're married." he finished.
Nancy didn't trust herself to speak around the lump in her throat, so she simply nodded, trying not to look at either Frank or Joe.
Joe knew Frank would find out sometime, and it would be better to hear it from him. "She's married to me." He said quietly.
Frank's eyes flickered from Joe's to Nancy's, searching for the joke. "Joe? Please. No." He could see they were serious, but he refused to believe it. His world was spinning. His eyes scanned the room and rested on the damning evidence. Their wedding photograph.
Suddenly, his disbelief was replaced by anger and a sense of betrayal. He stood up, eyes blazing. "And WHEN, exactly, were you planning on telling me this?" he asked coldly. "Were you going to wait until I told Nancy that I still love her? Or was I going to have to wait until someone else had the time to fill me in on how my own brother married my girlfriend while I was being held prisoner!"
A/N: Well, wouldn't you be angry? Anyway, I'm having so much fun with this story, and I really hope you're enjoying it too. Please, please, please review!