Disclaimer: I don't own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with them.

Author's notes: Thank you very much for all of the reviews. I'm glad that you all think I'm doing a good job. Especially with Joe because his characterization always concerns me. Anyway, here's more of the fic.

Family, You Can Live With Them, But They Definitely Have Some Timing Issues

Joe looked back and forth between his brother and his 'sister' who both weren't speaking. "You feeling better?"

"Um…yeah." Nancy answered somewhat quietly. It was clear she was still a bit off, but she was definitely better than she had been the previous night. "Thanks."

"Not a problem." Joe went back and forth again, inwardly laughing at the plot forming in his head. "Why don't you get some breakfast while I see if your clothes are dry?"

"Sure." Nancy stepped into the room and aside, allowing Joe to exit. This left the two detectives in a silence. Nancy was trying desperately not to stare at Frank's chest; Frank was doing the same with Nancy's legs. It was after a moment of this silence that Nancy finally spoke. "So, it's good to see you."

"Yeah." Frank agreed quietly. "Nice shirt."

Nancy looked down at the t-shirt that read, 'I taught your girlfriend that thing you like.' "Oh." She laughed a little. "That would be your brothers."

"I know." Frank nodded, trying to think of any plausible explanations. Currently it was looking like Nancy had spent the night with his brother. He couldn't really see this happening, but it was the only impression that he could get from the situation. The best way to learn was definitely to ask, but the proper words were alluding him; it was easier to just casually mention something. "I'm a little curious as to why you're wearing."

"I made a spur of the moment trip here without packing and Joe…recognized that issue."

This sort of eased Frank's mind. It wasn't exactly explanatory, but it seemed to deal with the fact that nothing had really happened. "Yeah. Why are you here?" He scratched behind his ear after he asked the question. For the first time that he could remember, things were awkward between him and Nancy, and he wasn't sure why. "Not that you're not welcome it's just that…it's a pretty sudden visit."

Nancy fiddled with a strand of hair for a moment before answering, and tackling the sensitive subject. "I just had a real tough case that didn't end well. I needed to be around someone else who had that happen." She had pretty much summed it up without really explaining things. It wasn't helpful for the most part, but it got answering the questions out of the way, which was all that she wanted. She wanted to move on to a topic that would return things to normalcy.

"Oh." Frank's face fell for a moment realizing that it wasn't the best of circumstances. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Nancy hesitated. "Joe kind of took care of it last night, and I don't really want to think about it right now." She shrugged. "But later…"

"Right. I'm here." Frank nodded in the understanding.

"Right." Nancy sat down, looking over for a moment. "What happened to your eye?"

"I stopped a mugging last night."

"Good for you."

"Yeah, I thought it was a pretty good one…"

In came another silence that was awkward, but Nancy had to break it. "So how's Callie?" It was the first topic that came to mind, and by the look on Frank's face, she knew it was the wrong one.

"We broke up last night." He informed; his voice wasn't very upset, but the news still came out in a rushed manner, as thought he was trying to get the news over with.

"Oh."

"Yeah…What about Ned?"

Nancy did the same with her own news. "He left a few days ago."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Another awkward silence ensued. The two detectives seemed unable to escape the fact that they were both half-naked, and it was putting a bit of a damper on the situation. Once again though, it was Nancy who took the initiative to talk. "I guess this puts us in a bit of a weird place."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, now we could…" Nancy stood and walked to the fridge, turning away from facing Frank, as though the implication was embarrassing to her.

"Without any-," Frank picked up where she trailed off, completely understanding what she meant. It was that easy to pick up on the thoughts.

"And nobody…" Nancy cut him off, turning around, but she trailed off again.

Frank didn't say anything, but he stood walking to her position, and stopping in front of her, feeling in the moment, and reveling in the chemistry that was radiating between them.

She leaned back against the fridge, making the distance between them remain constant. Even as she did this, she looked at him, in a way that there eyes met, and just a short spark of electricity was shared between them.

Frank's head came closer, but he paused, using one hand to move a strand of her hair out of her face. His hand remained in the same place as he continued to get closer again, the room just getting more and more quiet and full of an energy.

"Your shirt is still pretty wet so I put it in the dryer again, and I'll get you another one in a minute. And I brought your jeans." Joe finished his sentence as he entered the room and then nearly dropped the jeans. Frank jumped away from Nancy, Nancy's hand went up to fix the hair that Frank's hand had just fixed; both of their cheeks were quite flushed and they were breathing almost nervously. Joe grinned a little. "Should I come back later?"

"So…" Nancy looked to Frank, who was sitting across from her. They had arranged this when they sat back down at the table for breakfast, which neither of them really ate, but it was a good excuse for sitting, and putting furniture between them. Joe, their main safety net, however, had just left, saying that he was going to research their vacation, but he had winked at Frank on his way out. This meant that whether he was actually researching, or just putting them in a room alone together was very questionable.

"Yeah…" Frank echoed her tone, in recognizing where the conversation was about to go, and in realization that they still weren't very clothed. He still finished his thought. "I'm not sure that what just happened."

Nancy nodded in complete understanding, but she was able to find an answer. "Well we almost kissed."

"Well yeah, but it wasn't like it should have…we shouldn't have been doing that, right?"

"Right." She didn't disagree. "We aren't exactly in our right minds. Especially me. If we had done that…"

"We were just being vulnerable. It didn't mean anything."

"It didn't mean anything." Nancy repeated.

"It didn't mean anything. I think that just about covers it." Frank inhaled a bit. "It was just a momentary lack of…whatever."

"Right. That…almost kiss was just a momentary lack of…whatever."

"So that was a pretty intense…moment."

Frank sighed as he reached the upstairs hallway. Joe had been waiting for him, and now had him cornered, clearly looking for information. This was not a good situation. "It wasn't anything."

"You were about to..." Joe smirked a little as they started down the hall to Frank's room. He knew the way to annoy Frank, but at the same time it would get him to talk. Just leave things to suggestion.

"We weren't. It wasn't anything like the other times that we've kissed." Frank admitted without even realizing."But-."

Joe stopped dead in his tracks. "This has happened before?" He cut his brother off almost in shock. He had known of Frank and Nancy's closeness but this was bigger. "When?"

"The ski resort…the Egypt case." Frank shrugged at Joe's eagerness. In his eyes this wasn't a big deal. Each time that it had happened they had both agreed that it wasn't right. "It was only once or twice and we both agreed it wasn't supposed to happen. At the time we both had someone else."

"And now you don't." Joe grinned a little, sitting on his brother's bed, as Frank took a seat in his computer chair.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"That there's nothing holding you two back. That was a perfectly legitimate moment."

"Legitimate?" Frank raised an eyebrow.

Joe waved his brothers thoughts away with an air of dismissal. "Bad choice of words. The point is you two have always had this little flirting, oh-so-perfect for each other attitude and you've never been able to be together. And now you can."

"Not exactly." Frank ran a hand through his hair, leaning back in his chair and looking at the ceiling.

"What did you do?" Joe inquired with a slightly accusatory tone. This did not sound good coming from his brother's mouth.

Frank came back from his reclined position. "Why do you assume that it's something I did?"

"Because Nancy is like a sister to me."

"I am your brother."

"Well…she's cuter. Now what did you do?"

"We…" Frank shot his brother a look, reprimanding him for his attitude. "both decided that…whatever that was, was a mistake that we made when we both weren't in the best state of mind."

Now it was Joe's turn to give Frank a disappointed look. "You have got to be kidding me. That is the biggest load of--."

"It is not." Frank protested. "It's a rational decision. I just broke up with Callie, she's clearly upset. We aren't thinking clearly."

"Did she say this?"

"Yes. That is why I am fully confident that this is the right decision. It just isn't really right. She said it."

"She was lying."

"What do you mean she was lying?"

"She wanted that kiss to happen as much as you did."

"I did not want that—she wanted it?" Frank interrupted his own protests out of an irrepressible curiosity.

Joe smiled in his triumph of revelation. He now knew he had won. "So you do like her."

"Fine. Yes. I like her." Frank sighed, feeling as though he was in the fourth grade, discussing secret crushes. "Now explain this. She wanted us to kiss?"

"Yeah. Because she definitely likes you."

"And how did you come to this conclusion?"

"I'm Joe Hardy. The female mind is my forte." Frank snorted. "Hey, you may laugh, but I'm not the one who is having girl troubles, am I?"

"Fine. Fine. All hail Joe." Frank rolled his eyes a little. "Now please explain how you have drawn all these conclusions."

"Well let's face it. She didn't drive all the way from River Heights for the both of us. She wanted for you to be there for her. Now I know I make a great substitute, but she wanted it to be you."

"She told you this?"

"No. But I know it's true. While we're on this trip she's going to be busy looking at you, and looking to you for help."

For a brief moment Frank didn't say anything. He was taking the entire conversation in. In reality all the information that Joe had given him made sense. He and Nancy had always had chemistry…they had always decided it would be better to ignore it. It would make sense if the feelings were resurfacing. However, Frank didn't want to live in reality right now. He was just content saying that he and Nancy were friends and that was what they had decided on staying. "Why did she come here anyway?" He finally asked, choosing a neutral topic. "I know it was a bad case, but that was all she would tell me."

It was in a quiet voice that Joe preceded to relay the information to Frank, who listened carefully. "That's why we're taking this vacation. She really needs it."

OK, I promise that the next chapter is going to have the development of the case, but I just felt like I needed to develop everyone's relationship a bit more before we got to the other stuff.

Thoughts?