Disclaimer: I do not own, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the characters associated with them, or any pop culture references I may choose to include.

Author's notes: Nothing yet. It's all self explanatory so far.

Italics are thoughts.

Chapter One

Ten Years Later

The emergency room of Community Care General Hospital was bustling as usual when the shifts changed on an early September morning. Sometimes the crowd in the waiting room never seemed to die down, mostly because it somehow ended up being the only hospital in the city of Port Winston; the city that was about the size of Portland, Maine, but with twice the population.

"Morning Dr. Drew." A blond nurse behind the admissions counter greeted.

"It's Nancy." Nancy Drew admonished. "Margie, how many more times am I going to have to tell you that?"

"Probably a lot." Margie admitted. "Here are your first cases. There's a high fever in one, and some cuts and bruises in two."

"Thanks Margie." Nancy picked up the two charts and briefly walked into the locker room, trading off her black leather jacket for her white medical jacket, occasionally trading greetings with her coworkers. "Morning Tom." She smiled at the doctor that was leaning against the wall, rubbing a face that was in need of a shave. "Late night again?"

"Just some fun with my friends." Tom answered quickly. "Something you know little about." He stood straight from the wall and looked around briefly. "Julie's supposed to be bringing me some aspirin."

"She's at the front desk. A bit to public for your tastes isn't it?"

Tom laughed, starting to walk away, but turned back. "True. However it's just so easy to move to an empty room." He paused. "Although I don't have my eye on Julie."

"Just the girl next to her right?"

"Something like that." Tom confirmed.

Nancy turned to enter one of the exam rooms. "Well whoever your conquest is remember that there are children out there."

"And they're all your responsibility." Tom finished the conversation as Nancy opened the door and entered the room.

Inside sitting on a bed was a young girl with thin, straw blond hair, green eyes, and a light sheen of sweat covering her face. She had already been changed into a hospital gown, and seemed to be waiting patiently, talking to a woman with a concerned look on her face that was brushing the young girl's hair away from her face. Quickly Nancy glanced down at the chart and started reading.

'Patient's name is Camilla Hardy.' Hardy? It couldn't be the same. Nancy shook her head briefly, clearing away thoughts of the past. 'Camilla is four and a half years old, and is presenting with stomach pain and a fever of one oh four. "Good morning Camilla." She spoke with a bright smile as she walked to the bed. "My name is Dr. Drew." She pulled a rolling stool over and sat down on it and then looked more over her chart quickly, rolling over her vitals. "But you can call me Nancy. How are you feeling today?"

The girl simply shook her head a little. "Not so good huh?" Now the girl nodded. "Well we'll be changing that."

"You're probably going to have a hard time getting her to talk. Camilla's really shy." The woman spoke.

Nancy looked to her. She was pushing towards close to twenty with short brown hair and green eyes. "Are you her mother?"

"No, no." The woman shook her head. "I'm her nanny."

"Have her parents been called yet?"

"No…I've been waiting with Camilla." The nanny denied.

Nancy then looked to a phone. "Well why don't you do that now? I'm going to start my preliminary exam."

"Um…OK. What do I say? Should I tell him it's serious, or not to worry? This is my first real job, I really don't want to lose it, this isn't my fault is it?"

"I can assure you Ms…."

"It's Katie."

"I can assure you Katie that Camilla is just sick, and you can't prevent that. Why don't you just call the family and tell them that she has a high fever, so you brought her here to be safe?" Nancy confirmed. "The phone's right there. Press 1 for an outside line." Nancy then turned back to Camilla. "OK then Camilla, you said that your tummy doesn't feel good? Can you show me where?" Camilla didn't nod or point. "I want you to lie down and I'm going to poke around your stomach and you can tell me when it hurts OK?"

Frank Hardy glanced at the scene around him. 10:00 in the morning and he was already talking with the cops. He never really wanted to get involved with chasing down muggers all the time, but it just seemed to happen; the goodness in his heart wouldn't allow him to ignore it.

His brother Joe stood next to him, a laugh echoing in his face. "Tell me again what happened? Because if I recall correctly we came here to investigate something about threats to the life of some bigwig at a hospital, not a small time mugging."

"I just need to give my statement about what happened up until the guy got away. Then we'll need to get over to that place where we're meeting the client." Frank shook his head.

"I still can't believe you let him get away."

"I didn't let him get away." Frank sighed, removing the ice pack from his face, revealing an ugly bruise with a cut near his eyebrow. "He threw the lid of a trash can at my head. There's a distinct difference."

Joe was about to speak again when his cell phone rang. Instead he held up a finger and turned away. "Hello…Katie….Katie what's wrong….what…I'll be right there." He quickly turned back. He was no longer smiling, and his face had gone pale. "That was Katie. Cami's in the hospital."

"What?" Frank too started frowning. "What's wrong?"

Joe ran a hand through his hair. "She says it's just a stomachache, and a high fever. She's at Community Care. The emergency room."

"Go now. See what's going on. She needs you. I'll stay here and meet with our client. I'm sure he'll be understanding. Call me when you know how she is OK?"

Joe jogged into the emergency room, not stopping until he reached the admissions desk. "Excuse me, I was told that my daughter was brought here."

"Name?" A tired nurse requested.

"Joe Hardy." He answered quickly, not thinking.

The nurse did a double take. "You named your daughter Joe?"

"No. No." He shook his head. "Her name's Camilla Hardy. Where is she? Is she all right?"

"Your daughter is on her way up to surgery now. I'm sure that Doctor Drew will be right…There she is now." The nurse pointed and Joe turned to see a female doctor with a friendly face walking up. She had shoulder length auburn colored hair, and bright blue eyes. If he didn't know any better than he would have said it was Nancy Drew, but it couldn't have been. "Dr. Drew, this is Camilla Hardy's father."

The doctor briefly paused in her walk before smiling. "So it is you. Joe Hardy. I wasn't sure when I saw the name but--"

"How is she?" Joe cut off his longtime friend, even though his mind didn't register that it was her. Concern for his daughter pulled rank. "I mean what's wrong? Why does she need surgery?"

"Relax." Nancy spoke quickly, but in a calming tone. "Camilla's going to be just fine. All it is, is acute appendicitis. She's going upstairs to have it removed right now and she'll be perfectly fine. You'll be able to see her in a few hours."

Weight lifted off of Joe's shoulders and a sigh escaped his lips. "Thank god." It was then that he pulled a double take. "Wait…Nancy? Since when are you a doctor?"

"I'll explain later. Let me take you up to where you can wait for Camilla OK? This is a long story, and it'll have to wait until my shift's over." Nancy gave him a brief hug.

"OK." Joe complied quickly, still in a tiny bit of haze and easily agreeing to things. "Where's Katie?"

Nancy began leading him into an elevator. "She's already upstairs waiting." Nancy pressed the button and they began going up. "What about her mother? Has she been notified?"

"No…" Joe once again became somber. "Camilla's mother died right before she was born."

"Oh Joe. I'm sorry. We haven't talked in so long…I didn't know." Nancy looked down.

Joe shook his head. "It's all right." He paused. "She was in labor. We were on our way to the hospital when there was a car accident. She was killed, but the doctor's were able to save Camilla with an emergency cesarean."

"Then she's most definitely got luck on her side." Nancy gave a small smile, and then changed the subject. "So what's your brother up to?"

Frank Hardy sat at the café table with an apologetic smile on his face. "I'm sorry that I'm late." He apologized quickly. "I had to give a statement with the police about a mugger. But you don't need to know about that." He offered a hand. "Frank Hardy."

"Dr. George Millet." The balding man in front of him shook his hand with a smile. "It's quite all right about the delay. You've simply been very helpful in providing me with a longer break."

"I'm glad to have been of service then." Frank glanced around briefly. "Now when you contacted us you mentioned threats. Could you be a little more specific?"

Dr. Millet sighed. "Right down to business I see." He paused. "It was a few messages on my voice mail. They were talking about how I would pay for my past mistakes. It was basically the same message over and over."

Frank nodded, taking it in, even though he was recording the conversation, per his own policy. "Can you remember the exact words?"

"Not exactly." Dr. Millet shook his head. "I'm not really that concerned about the whole thing. It's my wife who made me call you. She has a friend who your family helped out and ever since has decided that if anything happens your word will be the gospel."

"That's probably a little too kind." Frank almost blushed. "You say the threats said you would pay for past mistakes?"

"That's about all they said." Dr. Millet confirmed. "I'm almost positive that it's nothing."

"Why don't you let us decide that?" Frank suggested quickly, but good-naturedly. "No offense meant to you, but there have been too many times that someone has brushed these things off, and then ended up hurt or worse."

"Oh, right." Millet was suddenly subdued.

Frank thought for a moment. "Now until we can learn more about your specific situation what I'd like to have happen is for you to not go anywhere alone. Preferably, me or my brother will either be with you or following you extremely discreetly. If you get anymore threats you'll need to contact us immediately and save them. If we're going to determine whether or not this is serious and whose behind it we need to have something to work with. Now can you think of anyone who would want to threaten you? See you hurt or killed?"

"Not that I can think of no." Dr. Millet shook his head. "Speaking of your brother, I was under the impression that he would be meeting here as well."

Frank paused thinking for a moment, wondering what he should reveal. "He was going to, but circumstances came up concerning his daughter. He'll be joining on with me as soon as possible.

"Is everything all right?"

"We're not sure yet. He just got a call saying she was in the emergency room of your hospital."

For a brief moment it seemed that Millet was wracking his brain. "Then she's in good hands. Dr. Drew's shift just started. She's a wonderful doctor, of course she's not from my department, but she's the best pediatrician we have. Nancy will take wonderful care of your niece."

"Did you just say, Nancy Drew?"

"Yes, why?"

"I know a Nancy Drew, but she's a detective."

"Can't be the same girl then. Dr. Drew works as though all her life she's been in medicine." Dr. Millet paused. "Why don't you come with me, and I'll take you to her?"

Frank surveyed the room where a few people sat waiting, including his brother, who was absentmindedly flipping through a magazine. "So what's going on?" He asked as he was approaching him. "Do you know what's wrong?"

Joe sighed, rubbing his face. "Cami's having her appendix taken out as we speak. According to the doctor that diagnosed her everything is fine."

"That's good." Frank took a seat. "I remember when you had your appendix out."

Joe started laughing. "What was I? Twelve? Man I milked that for all it was worth."

"I remember you told all the girls, that if they kissed you the cut would heal faster."

"And it worked on over half of them." Joe shook his head. "Those were the days." Then he paused. "Remind me not to let Cami visit any 12 year old boys who recently had surgery."

"You'll have to wait awhile for that to happen Joe."

"I know. Just one of those mental notes."

A female voice spoke up. "Goes right up there with not letting her date boys like you right Joe?" Both brothers turned, and that was when Frank saw her. Leaning against the wall with bright blue eyes sparkling, her face just as beautiful as ever. The only difference he could see was the way that her hair was a dark red instead of the way that he remembered it; as a light strawberry blond. "Frank, don't tell me you ran into a door on your way up here. I thought I'd get to see you looking as handsome as the cavalier Bond wannabe that you used to be."

Joe almost started cracking up. "First of all, everyone knows that I am the handsome cavalier Bond wannabe. Besides that you're making my brother blush."

"She is not." Frank denied although his cheeks were tinged with pink.

Nancy gave him a hug, and then leaned back crossing her arms. "So what did you do? That cut looks pretty bad. Not to mention the bruise." She gently fingered it, sending a slight twinge across his face. "Have you had anyone look at this?"

"Just some ice." Frank shook his head. "I was busy talking to the police." He spoke not really explaining what had happened. He could remember how he used to have a thing for Nancy; really how they had a thing for each other, and now it was all he could think of.

"Frank went after a mugger, and he got the lid of a garbage can thrown at his head." Joe smiled jokingly.

Nancy frowned. "This looks like it needs stitches. And you should get a tetanus booster to be safe. I would pass this off to a med student but today is a light day, and I think that I can definitely brush up on my skills." She paused. "Why don't we head downstairs and I can patch you up?"

Frank seemed hesitant. "I should wait here with Joe, and see how Camilla is. And then I have a case to get to work on."

"Just like a man." Nancy sighed. "Your case will go down the tubes if in the middle of some chase the infection you get from not closing this cut starts acting up." She paused checking the clock. "Camilla has about half an hour of surgery left and she won't be able to talk to you for a while after that. You'll be back up here in plenty of time."

Joe looked to his brother. "Listen to her Frank. She's a doctor now."

They hadn't really spoken since they had left for downstairs. Frank somehow found her different; things were now awkward. It used to be that they were on the same playing field. Both were detectives, solving cases together, and having this amazing chemistry that they were both always trying to deny, simply because they each had had someone waiting for them back home. Every time they did give in, somehow things always went awry. It was as though someone didn't want them together.

And now….suddenly she was no longer the ace detective that he had last known, but a doctor. Something he never would have pictured her doing; Nancy had never been that type of girl. And her hair…he had loved her hair. He could remember on the Egypt case, when they pretended to be married, watching her do her hair. It always complemented her beautifully.

"Have a seat right there." Nancy pointed to the end of a bed as she closed a door to the exam room. Then she was walking to a store closet and grabbing a suture kit. "I'll have a nurse go get your tetanus shot in a minute." In a smooth motion she pulled the rolling stool over with her foot and sat on it. She started setting the kit out on a small tray. "You've had stitches before right?" Frank nodded. "Then you know that this is going to sting a bit. Close your eye please." She began pouring some disinfectant onto a cotton ball.

They were into silence again, Frank winced as Nancy started rubbing the disinfectant onto his cut. "Ow. That's more than a bit." He complained.

Nancy laughed. "You're worse then a seven year old."

"What?" Frank asked somewhat confused, forgetting himself again.

"I'll tell you what. If you behave I'll give you a lollipop." She was teasing, putting them both into a silence one more.

She was wiping the blood off of his face, when he couldn't stand it anymore, and broke the silence, no matter how awkward a transition it was. "So…you dyed your hair."

"Yeah." Nancy nodded. "Around the time I started med school. Why?"

Frank shrugged. "I just noticed it."

"Well…you didn't. Dye your hair that is." She saw him frowning. "Look, I know that you want to ask so you might as well just do it."

"Ask what?"

"Why did you give up the lucrative career of being a world class detective, a career that you loved and were great at, to become an underpaid overworked pediatrics resident in an emergency room?"

Frank sighed. "OK then. Why did you give up the lucrative career of being a world class detective, a career that you loved and were great at, to become an underpaid overworked pediatrics resident in an emergency room?"

Both smiled at the tone, and laughed gently. "It's a bit of a long story." Nancy admitted. "It started about ten years ago… At the car accident that killed my dad, there was also a little girl. I saved her life, and then I did a lot of thinking while I was waiting for my college acceptance letters. The day that it all happened shook me up, but it also opened my eyes; I'm good at solving mysteries, but I didn't just solve them because of that. I could have easily blown them all off and left them to the people who were responsible. I solve them because I like helping people. And I realized that solving mysteries wasn't the only way to help them.

"So when I got my acceptance letters, I got one from Oxford, and I went there, and I started studying medicine, and then I got into pediatrics, and while I got residency offers from a few very nice prestigious and well paying hospitals, I chose to come here, because it's one of the best teaching hospitals." Nancy finished the story, leaning back to examine the stitches she had made so far.

Frank showed his understanding without nodding. "I thought it was a long story."

"That's the reader's digest version." Nancy informed. "Because I need to know what's been up with you for the past ten years."

"Same as always. No big changes on the Hardy front. Except for Cami…"

"Yeah, Joe told me about that." Nancy nodded quickly. "I'm sorry to hear about it. She seems like a really sweet girl."

"She is a really sweet girl. Spoiled by my parents, but she's a really good kid."

Nancy was about to say more when the door opened and a male nurse ducked his head in. "Nancy, there's a three year old drowning victim coming in, ETA five minutes."

Nancy turned around. "Thanks Jeremy. I'll be right there." Jeremy left and Nancy turned back. "I have to take this. I'll send someone in to finish you up." She paused as he nodded and then stood. "My shift ends at six tonight. How about we meet somewhere for dinner and you can tell me about the case that you're working?" She started removing her gloves. "I'll call you around five-thirtyish, and see how the outlook is?"

"Sounds like a plan."

"Dr. Drew, good evening."

Nancy turned wearily, looking at the doctor in front of her in the lounge. He was an older man, wearing blue scrubs that were starting to strain against his stomach. "Dr. Millet…" She half smiled. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Dr. Millet also smiled. "You saw a girl this morning…a Camilla Hardy?" He paused to clarify, mostly for his own benefit, but Nancy took the opportunity to speak anyway.

"Everything went all right with the surgery?" She frowned, thoughts of complications hurriedly running through her head.

"Oh yes, everything's fine." Millet quickly informed. "Girl is a gem. I just wanted to thank you for taking good care of her. Her father and uncle are doing some work for me."

A few things connected in Nancy's mind as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. "I was unaware of that."

"Yes, yes, fine gentlemen those two are." Dr. Millet adjusted his glasses. "Her father says you took wonderful care of her. He's extremely grateful." Then he started picking at a chart he was carrying. "His brother is under the impression that he knows you. He thought that you used to be a detective."

Nancy nervously laughed. Damn it Hardy. "Well, before today I hadn't seen anybody by the name Hardy in over ten years. He must be mistaken."

"That's what I told him." Millet confirmed, checking his watch. "I have to go up to surgery. I just wanted to thank you for taking such good care of Camilla."

"It's not a problem Dr. Millet. I was just doing my job." My real job. And I'm not about to get caught up in the Hardy's case. She turned to the front desk ready to grab the phone, but she instead saw Frank standing there with a smile.

"I know you said you'd call, but I had to come downstairs anyways and figured that I'd just talk to you now." He announced.

Nancy quickly came to the conclusion that he was trailing Millet and was intrigued as to why. Although it won't hurt if I ask them what their case is about.

Thoughts?