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: Thank you for your reviews. I'm glad that you all are supportive of this story. I promise your confusion about what's going on with Nancy will be cleared up eventually.

Italics are thoughts.

Chapter Three

When Frank arrived at the hospital, Dr. Millet was sitting behind his desk working with some papers. "Sorry it took me so long to get here. My cab got caught in traffic." He apologized quickly. Getting away from the dinner had done him a world of good. He was calmer, and generally felt better now that he had something to focus on other than Nancy.

"You haven't missed anything." Millet waved the apology off.

"Nothing else has happened?" Frank verified, taking a seat that Millet gestured to.

"Only the note." Millet found the sheet of paper over to Frank as he announced this. "When I spoke to your brother over the phone he said that you would both be here."

Frank unfolded the paper while answering the question nonchalantly. "We were in the middle of dinner with an old friend of ours that we ran into here. I volunteered to come alone since he's had a long day." It was a short note, typed and centered in the middle of the sheet of paper. Overall it was a rather standard threat. "If you're not careful, the next life you have to save may be your own." He read the note aloud under his breath, then raised his voice. "Were the messages you got on your voicemail like this?"

"They were along those lines yes." Millet paused, thinking back to Frank's previous comment, his curiosity quickly getting the better of him. "Who did you run into here? Was it a patient or an employee?"

"Actually it was Nan--…Dr. Drew." Frank sighed after cutting himself off and correcting his statement. It sounded too natural to say Dr. Drew. It wasn't supposed to be a natural title. She was supposed to be just Nancy Drew, or Detective Drew, or even Special Agent Drew, but she wasn't supposed to be Dr. Drew. "It turns out that she was the girl that I mentioned to you earlier."

Dr. Millet raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He sounded rather interested and mildly surprised. "That's surprising. I can't imagine her as anything but a doctor."

I can't imagine her as anything but a detective. "I guess people surprise you everyday." He coughed uncomfortably, wanting to be on any other subject but Nancy. "Does this note give you any ideas on who would want to threaten you?"

Millet thought for a moment. "I still don't know of anyone. As far as I know, no one is this angry with me."

"Well, it has been…brought to my attention that sometimes when you lose a patient their family might blame you." Frank didn't want to, and wasn't about to explain that Nancy had provided him with this concept. He didn't want to admit that it was a good thought, and he certainly didn't want her to know that he was using it; he didn't want to have to admit that she could still work mysteries even though she had abandoned that job. "Has anything like that happened recently?"

"I can't say that it has. I don't see as many of those reactions like the ER does."

So much for that option. Millet was not making it any easier to attempt and solve the case. "Does anybody have access to the mailbox that this came in?"

"Anyone who works at the hospital. But it probably wouldn't be too hard to get in without working here."

Thanks for clarifying that. It's not like we want to narrow down our suspects or anything. "In that case we should probably get you home. Are you done here?"

"I was just waiting for you."

"Let's go then. If what you've suggested is true then you shouldn't be spending much time here until we have a better feel for the case."

"All right. I'll just put these papers in order and we can get going." Millet shuffled the papers on his desk, moving a few into files that were then put in a drawer of his desk.

Minutes later the two were on their way to the parking garage. Frank was planning on bringing Millet safely to his home, and then most likely he was going to go back to his hotel and sleep. He pulled his cell phone out. "I'm gonna check in with Joe, He's probably done with dinner and he should know what's going on." Millet waved him off unconcerned as they entered the parking garage. Frank dialed while he followed the doctor. He waited, listening to the rings that were eventually followed by a generic voicemail message. He hung up without bothering to leave a message. "That's weird. He's not answering."

"Maybe he and Dr. Drew have found a connection that they hadn't realized because of their time apart." Dr. Millet suggested.

Frank nearly blanched at the thought. Before that day he would have laughed at the suggestion, but everything he had thought about Nancy was quickly destroyed when he saw her as a doctor. She was quite different. Who knew what she would do now?

The screeching of tires brought Frank out of his thoughts. The walking companions froze in their tracks, with Millet slightly ahead of Frank. Frank's head snapped to the right, and saw nothing coming towards them. His head went to the left and he saw a dark car with blinding headlights speeding at them showing no signs of stopping.

Frank ran forward and dove into Dr. Millet, sending them crashing into a parked car. He listened to the sound of the car going past combined with a now active car alarm and pushed himself off of the doctor to turn just as the car rounded the corner with another scream of its tires.

"Frank what is the meaning of this!" Millet picked himself up off of the car and turned to face the detective.

There was a loud crash accompanied by the sound of crumpling metal. "That guy just tried to run you down." Frank informed, starting to run again, going around the corner until he saw the dark car next to a concrete barrier. He went to the front of the car and tore the door open to find the driver slumped over the wheel.

"Why are you running?" Millet was breathing heavily when he reached the location. "Oh." His eyes fell on the crash. "Well, move, I can help the man."

"There's no need." Frank pulled his hand away from the driver's neck. "He's already dead."

"You know." Joe smiled a little as Nancy finished her story. They were sitting in a small gray walled room, at a folding metal table in two folding metal chairs. Joe wasn't sure where the building that the room was located was, because his 'captors', and he would use that term very loosely at this point, had been very careful to not let him near any windows or furthermore, fresh air. According to Nancy, she didn't know either. "Frank would probably ease up on you a little if you told him what you just told me." He continued leaning back in his chair. "It kind of puts his little ER theory to sleep."

Nancy, who had managed to wipe the blood away from her split lip, but had done little else to treat the bruising flesh, crossed her arms over her chest. "The only reason that I'm not going to get fired for telling you is that Shaw and the others dragged you into it."

"So?" Joe shrugged. "Get them to drag Frank into it."

"It's not that easy. I only get…visits, like the one you were just involved in, once in a while. Besides, after tonight they'll be a lot more careful about when I'm approached."

"Fine. But you know what they say about rules…" Joe trailed off, his old mischievous grin on his face.

Nancy rolled her eyes. "I thought you were the responsible Hardy now."

"I am. But that doesn't mean that I'm not above breaking a few rules every now and then." Joe shifted in the chair that he had been sitting in and waiting for almost an hour. "Is this the most comfortable room that they have around here?"

"I'll put it this way. Furnishing does not get top billing in the budget."

"That it doesn't, Ms. Drew." A hard voice spoke loudly as its owner opened the door and entered the room. He was bald, broad shouldered, and had icy green eyes that added to his stern and rough around the edges persona. "And…" He gave Joe the once over. "Welcome to our establishment, Mr…Hardy was it?"

Joe grinned and stuck out his hand to the man. "Please, call me Joe."

The man's hands remained laced behind his back. "It will do you good to remember that everything you been told and that you hear tonight is never to be repeated, Mr. Hardy." He informed in a clipped tone. "Now Ms. Drew, I brought you in today for a reason."

"Well, I've never known you to do things for laughs O'Neil."

He sent a glare towards her at her slight sarcasm. "You're about to go into the next phase of our plan."

"So is everything always so cloak and dagger?" Joe inquired slightly cheekily after they were dropped back at the location where they had been picked up. He had to admit that he had been pretty surprised by the information that Nancy had provided him with. Not to mention that the method of which it was revealed earned points for creativity.

"More so." Nancy nodded her head, pulling her car keys once more and matching his tone. "Normally we have suspenseful background music and theme songs." They laughed and walked in a silence until they reached Nancy's jeep and got in. "Call your brother. He might have tried to call you when we were with O'Neil."

Joe reached into his pocket and pulled the phone that had been on silent per Nancy's instruction since their so-called abduction. He opened it and started to adjust the volume. Not seconds later it started to ring. "Hello...Well Nan and I got a little tied up in something in…No, I'm not gonna go into details with you right now…You're kidding…I missed the entire case?"

"What's going on?" Nancy interrupted.

Joe looked over. "The guy making the threats tried to run Millet down, he crashed, and died on impact." He turned his attention back to the phone. "What Frank…No, I was just telling Nancy what's going on…Yeah, she's driving me back to the hotel now…Of course we weren't already at the hotel…OK, you seriously need to get some sleep…I'll see you back at the hotel." Joe hung up the phone. "Well. That was easy."

Nancy threw her bag on the kitchen table tiredly when she finally managed to enter her apartment. It had been quite the day, even by her standards, and all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep. However, she knew she would never be able to sleep if she didn't talk to someone.

First, she walked over to the refrigerator and opened the freezer, pulling out an ice pack. Then she grabbed the phone off the wall receiver and a dishtowel off of the handle of her oven, went to the living room where she sat on the couch and began to wrap the ice pack in the towel. Once it was wrapped she placed it gingerly to the corner of her mouth and then dialed a familiar number.

"Hello?" A sleepy voice answered.

"Bess?" Nancy asked hopefully. "It's Nancy."

"You do realize what time it is right? That us normal people are sleeping at this hour?"

"I ran into Frank and Joe today." Nancy blurted, the ice pack crackling every time her jaw moved.

Bess' voice immediately perked up. "Hardy?"

"Yeah."

"Well, give me details. How are they? Are they still as cute as ever? What are they up to? Don't tell me they're doctors too. That would be too weird."

"No, they're not doctors. But they sure have changed."

"Oh no. They aren't cute anymore."

"Bess, I didn't mean superficially."

"Thank goodness. You had me scared there Nan. So, if they're still gorgeous and they're not doctors, than what has changed?"

"Well for one thing, Joe has a daughter. That's how I ran into them."

"What? Joe Hardy has a kid? How old is she?"

"She's four. Her mother died right when she was born. Joe's been raising her on his own."

"No kidding. I would have thought that Frank would have settled down first. Anyways…what else? What are they doing in Port Winston?"

"They were working a case. But I guess that wrapped itself up, so they probably won't be here much longer."

"Well, make sure you got contact information. And then make sure you send it to me."

"I can get you Joe's. I can't really guarantee Frank's though."

"What do you mean? I thought you and Frank were thick as thieves?"

Nancy sighed. "He didn't exactly take the whole no more mysteries, I'm a doctor thing so well."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. He's actually pretty mad about it I think. We almost got into a huge fight in the middle of a restaurant."

"I can't believe out of all the people that he would do that. What is that crackling noise? Are you on your cell phone?"

"No." Nancy shifted the ice pack. "I'm icing down my chin."

"You mean Frank hit you?"

"Of course not. This is from a different fight."

"Well good…So what are you going to do about Frank?"

"What exactly do you want me to do Bess?"

"Clearly you have to get him to play nice again so you two can get together."

"Bess, that's not gonna happen."

"Why not? He's not seeing anyone is he?"

"Not that I know of but--,"

"Then make nice with him and then make out with him. You have been far too single lately."

"Bess, I didn't call you for advice on my lack of love life."

"Well that's what you get when you call me. If you wanted actual advice you should have called George."

"Carry on."

"All you have to do is show him that you're still the same Nancy. Solve a case with him."

"They just finished their case."

"Find another one. You only get like what, fifty mugging victims a day at that hospital of yours? They can't catch all of them. Pick one and hunt him down."

Nancy shook her head at Bess' exaggeration. "Bess, do you have any idea how hard that would be?"

"Make it work."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Good. Ooh, I met this gorgeous guy at the coffee shop today, named Michael. We're going to dinner tomorrow night."

"Bess weren't you seeing someone like…two days ago?"

"You mean Andrae?"

"Yes. What happened to Andrae?"

"So are we planning on talking about it?"

Frank turned at Joe's question as they entered their hotel room. It adjoined with the one that Camilla and Katie had been sharing. "About what? The case?"

"You're kidding right?" Joe raised an eyebrow. His brother could really be dense. "How about we talk about Nancy?"

"There's nothing to talk about." Frank's face darkened as he sat on the bed, removing his jacket.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"But…but…she dyed her hair!" Joe mocked quickly, then transformed back into a serious tone. "You're telling me you said that earlier and you think that there's nothing to talk about? OK, then." He removed his own jacket and tossed it over his suitcase that he had yet to unpack.

"OK. Maybe there's something to talk about." Frank sighed, flopping backwards onto the bed.

"Good." Joe jumped onto his bed, landing on his side with a slight bounce facing Frank. He clasped his hands across his chest. "The doctor is in." There was a silence. "OK the whole talking thing works when the one with the problem does the talking."

"Well you pretty much already said everything."

"What did I say?"

"She dyed her hair."

"That's it?" Joe could not believe that his brother was so worked up over hair color.

"Well, that and the fact that she's a doctor now."

Jackpot. "Why does that bother you so much?"

"She's different Joe. Don't you see that? She's not the same Nancy."

Oh if I could tell you. "She's not that different Frank. The best point you have for that argument is that her hair is darker."

"She's a doctor. A doctor. Not a detective, or an agent or anything. A doctor."

"The essentials of her are still there. She still helps people, she still solves problems." Joe hesitated before adding the next part, but he knew that it would definitely lead to something from Frank. "She's still drop dead gorgeous."

"Don't go there, Joe. I am so not in the mood to go there with you right now."

"Fine. But trust me. We will be going there."

"I can hardly wait." Frank paused, sitting up again. "I just keep getting the feeling that something's off."

Joe knew that his brother wasn't voicing everything that he thought, but he also knew that now wasn't the time to push the truth out of him. "We'll talk more in the morning."

Frank didn't have time to say anything as his phone rang. "Hello?" He answered quickly. "What…we'll be right there."

"What's going on?" Joe sat up, looking at the deadly serious look on Frank's face.

"That was the police. Dr. Millet and his wife were just shot. They're both dead."

Thoughts?