Author's Note:

Yay, another chapter from me! Thanks to those who wrote reviews for the last chapter! I appreciate any and all criticism! I wanted to get this chapter published before the holiday so I can spend my very busy weekend with family and not worry about the story. I have been tweaking it and tweaking so hopefully it comes out the way I'd like it to. Anyway, this story is almost done. I wanted this to be the last chapter but sadly, I could not get everything in without making it extremely long. So, there is one more chapter plus an epilogue (you know I love epilogues!). I would like to have it done within the next two weeks but I can't promise anything with Thanksgiving, cookie baking, and the Game coming on Saturday. So, for those of you who live in the States, have fun, cherish that special time with family (keep politics out of it!), eat lots of food, and have many blessings to you and your families. For those of you who don't live in the States, same thing anyway. Enjoy the story, don't forget to review, and one more thing: GO BLUE! Happy Turkey Day!

xxxxxxx

Chapter Ten

Nancy slowly opened her eyes, the room around her dark. She could make out the silhouettes of the sparse furniture in the hospital room, one of which was a chair that looked as if someone had slept in it. The chair now stood empty, a blanket draper over the back. The clock on her phone read 8:30 am and she could see sunlight peeking out from the sides of the blind over the window. A knock at the door drew her attention as her father walked into the room with a smile and two cups of coffee. A nurse followed close behind him, walking over to the computer stand nearby. Carson set the cups down and pulled open the blinds revealing a beautiful sunny morning. Nancy squinted her eyes to the blinding light beaming into the room.

"How are you feeling today, sleepyhead?" the nurse asked cheerfully. "Any coughing or lack of breath?"

"No, not that I know of," Nancy replied, shaking her head. She yawned and stretched her arms out as the nurse updated her file. "I slept fine once I fell asleep and I woke up just now."

The nurse didn't answer, continuing to type away at her computer. Once she was done, she began taking Nancy's vitals before she said anything.

"Looks like you're good to go, Nancy," the nurse happily announced. "Your friend has already been discharged much to the dismay of the doctor but I think he will be fine with you leaving since you seem to be doing much better. I'll go get the doctor to release you so you can leave with your friends."

"Okay, thank you," Nancy replied though she didn't seem excited about the prospect of leaving.

"Everything all right, sweetheart?" Carson asked when he noticed her demeanor.

"Yeah, I guess," she answered with a nonchalant shrug.

"You can't lie to me, young lady," Carson said sternly, his hands on his hips. "What's going on?"

"I…I don't really want to go home," Nancy stammered, looking up at her father, her eyes welling with tears. "At least not right now."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with what happened last night between you and Frank, would it?"

"It does, somewhat, but also after everything that went on with Ned," Nancy continued, looking back down at her hands. She rubbed her finger where once the beautiful engagement ring rested. "I…I just need some time to think."

Before Carson could say anything more to her, another knock came at the door. This time it was Sheriff Doyle and Marcus Windham, the professor from the dig, who walked in. The professor looked like he could be Albert Einstein's twin with his shocking white hair sticking our every which way, only Windham didn't have a mustache.

"Carson!" cried Marcus. He glided over to his old friend and shook his hand. "It's been a long time."

"Good to see you too, Marcus," Carson smiled then looked to the sheriff whose face was all business. He held out his hand to the woman who took it briefly. "You must be Sheriff Doyle. Carson Drew. I'm Nancy's father."

The Sheriff's face lightened a bit at the pleasantry Carson showed her and nodded her head in acknowledgement to the lawyer. She soon went back to business, looking at Nancy as she spoke.

"I'm glad to see that you and your friend, Mr. Hardy are doing well this morning, Miss Drew," she replied with a slight smile.

"What brings you here, Sheriff?" Nancy inquired, curious about the visit.

"Right down to business, huh. Well, I thought you might like to know that we caught the thieves," Sheriff Doyle laughed. Nancy gave her a surprised look. "Seems they were none too smart to begin with. With all the police hovering around the area of the cave-in, one would think to not return to retrieve the stolen goods. Maybe they thought no one knew about it, who knows but a few men were seen entering another shaft of the old mine on the opposite end of the mountain, one we thought had collapsed years ago. A few officers were left on duty just in case there was a way to get in to get the stolen artifacts so once the men entered the shaft, the officers arrested them. Sang like little birdies about the stolen artifacts and my officers were able to recover them."

"I am hoping that the good sheriff here would release the artifacts so I can get them to Phoenix for cataloging with the rest of research," Windham chimed in, hopefully. "It would be wonderful to see all of what was in there even if it wasn't a part of my original dig."

"And I told you, Dr. Windham," the sheriff added, "that they need to be entered in as evidence before I can release them. I am going as fast as I can."

"I understand that but…"

"You have my word, doctor, that you will get the artifacts back within the next month."

"Did any of the men say anything else about who was really behind this?" Carson interrupted, getting back to the criminals.

"Initially, yes," Doyle nodded her head. "They just turned on each other but none of them really said anything as to who was really behind it. I'm afraid we'll never know. Those two are pretty hell bent on blaming each other for getting caught than telling us who hired them. There's something else too. We have a certain young man in our jail who says you assaulted him last night. Is this true?" She looked over at Nancy for a reaction.

Nancy bit her lip, thinking about what to say. She didn't want to go to jail over punching Ned in the face, no matter how much he deserved it. Finally, she meekly uttered out the word "Yes."

"I see." The sheriff thought it for a moment then laughed. Nancy looked up at her, stunned by her reaction. "I was wondering which one of you was going to knock him one. He was a pain-in-the-ass yesterday along with Frank Hardy. I had my bets on him though rather than you."

"So, I'm not being charged?" Nancy asked.

"Oh, hell no," Doyle replied with a smirk. "I feel he deserved it, especially since he was escorted out of the hospital last night for refusing to leave. The guards on duty last night told when I contacted them earlier this morning."

"What's he charged with anyway?" Carson asked. "If you don't mind my asking."

"Oh, no worries," Sheriff Doyle waved her hand to him. "Let's see…reckless endangerment, speeding, cursing at an officer of the law…that one I wrote him a ticket on because he pissed me off when I pulled him over…resisting arrest, and evading police. I had to chase him down about three miles before he realized he was being pulled over. Believe me, he was not too happy about it either. He said he was on the phone and couldn't hear the sirens. Uh huh, sure. I also just found out there's an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Chicago. Didn't find that one out till just about five minutes ago. I'm the closest to the courthouse and the ranking officer so I have to be going here soon to make it there before his arraignment. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that warrant, would you, Mr. Drew?"

"I might," Carson replied, cryptically.

"Dad?"

"Later, Nancy."

"But…"

"Later." Carson gave her a look and Nancy shut her mouth quickly, ending the inquisition.

"Right." Sheriff Doyle eyed the father and daughter but moved toward the door to leave. "I'll keep you posted on what happens with Mr. Nickerson. You all take care now."

"Sheriff, wait up," replied Carson, rushing to the door. He left both Nancy and the professor in an awkward silence.

"I wish someone would just tell me what the hell is going on," mumbled Nancy.

"What was that?" Windham asked.

"Nothing," Nancy smiled. She eyed the professor, thinking about something. "Hey, um, do you still need any help?"

xxxxxxxx

An hour later, Nancy was just finishing packing her bag when her father walked into the room. She gave him a side glance before continuing her packing.

"I see you're mad at me for earlier," Carson replied after a brief silence. "The less you know right now, sweetheart, the better."

"I don't understand, Dad," she said softly. "Why are you treating me like I can't handle anything? I'm not a child, you know."

"I know," Carson said gently. He took her hands in his own and looked into Nancy's eyes. "You are so much like your mother. She would use that same look on me sometimes to get her own way. There were times where I couldn't resist her either."

Nancy laughed and looked away for a moment. She thought of Ned and the man's weird persistence. Then she thought of her father's secrecy that obviously had something to do with her former fiancé. Other thoughts rushed through her head including thoughts of Frank Hardy. She didn't really want to see him before they left and had remained in her hospital room even after her discharge just to avoid him. She knew she needed more time to think and her conversation with Professor Windham gave her that opportunity.

"What's going on in that pretty little head of yours, Nancy?" Carson asked with a smile, interrupting her thoughts. She looked blankly at him as if she just realized he was there. "I understand that you're staying behind, sweetheart."

"Professor Windham told you then?"

"Yes. With Ned in jail for a while, I don't think I have to worry about you going after him. Do I?"

"No, I don't think I want to see him any time soon." Nancy sighed. "I've said everything I needed to say to him. We're done. Professor Windham will be back to get me soon. He wants to get going and be in Phoenix by lunch. He needs all the help he can get with the cataloging."

"There's no more digging then?"

"Blessfully, no," Nancy laughed. Carson smiled with her, happy to see she was finally smiling after everything that went on in the past few days and weeks.

"Well," Carson sighed. "I guess I will see you when you decide to come home."

"I won't be gone long, Dad," Nancy replied. She gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek. "Maybe a week or two. It depends on how long the professor needs extra help. This will give me ample time to figure out what I'm going to do once I come home."

"Well, I'll be waiting for you, sweetheart," Carson leaned over and kissed her forehead gently. "And I'm sure that Hannah will make one of her famous meals for you once you come home."

"Thanks, Dad."

"Anytime. Are you coming out to say goodbye to Frank and Joe?" Carson asked, almost hopeful. "I think Frank wants to apologize. He seemed adamant about talking to you."

Nancy sighed. She didn't really want to confront Frank again after last night but she knew that her father would want her to at least say something to him and Joe. Nodding, she grabbed her bag and followed her father out of the room and into the hallway where the Hardys were waiting at the nurse's station.

"Joe, I don't think your wife would like to know that you still flirt with women while you're away from her," Frank replied, rolling his eyes. Joe was leaning over the counter, giving his biggest smile to the young woman sitting behind the desk. Her face went slack when Frank said "wife" and she turned away from Joe without another word.

"Man, you are no fun, Frank," Joe complained, pouting like a little kid who just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Believe me, I probably saved you a lot of anguish with Vanessa," Frank answered.

"Oh, yeah? And who was going to tell her."

"No wonder I hear your father complaining about you two when we talk on the phone," Carson laughed, shaking his head. "It's a miracle your mother hasn't pulled her hair out because of you two."

"I think she tried that when we were kids, Mr. D," Joe laughed. "She has a small bald spot near the nape of her neck which is noticeable when she wears her hair up."

"Joe, I think that was you who did that one," Frank laughed. Nancy took notice that he avoided making eye contact with her. He seemed almost nervous now that she was near him. "So are we ready to get going, now that we're all finally here?"

Nancy made a noise and gave him a look of disdain before she walked away from the three of them.

"Way to go, Mr. Moody," Joe replied, watching her leave.

"What? What did I do?"

"That was rude," Carson said, a little on the annoyed side. "She wasn't even going to come out here to say goodbye if it hadn't been for me. I thought you wanted to talk to her!"

"I did but I didn't think I said anything wrong!" Frank cried. Carson gave him a look and stormed away to catch up to Nancy.

"Dude, what's wrong with you?" Joe asked as they headed for the main entrance of the hospital. "I don't think you can put your foot any further into your mouth."

As the brothers exited the hospital, they saw Nancy and Carson talking quietly next to a car. Professor Windham was loading what looked like Nancy's bag into the trunk of the car while Nancy gave a kiss and hug to her father. Confused, Frank stepped forward and called to her only to get a longing look from Nancy before she got into the car. Moments later, the vehicle pulled out of the parking lot and disappeared down the road. Carson kept watching, ignoring Frank and Joe behind him.

"Does this mean she's not coming home with us?" Joe mumbled, breaking the silence.

"Shut up, Joe."

xxxxxxxxx

Fifteen minutes later, the Hardys were in the rental car agency, returning their vehicle while Carson went on to the courthouse. He wanted to make sure that Ned remained in jail until someone from Chicago PD came to get him to be extradited. The two brothers were silent until they walked out of the building to head towards the courthouse in order to meet Carson.

"Why did she leave without saying anything?" Frank asked. "I really needed to say something to her."

"Dude, you pretty much ignored her in the hallway then practically said she was who was holding us up to leave," Joe answered.

"Oh, I did not!"

"Um, yeah, you did." Joe stopped him in the middle of the sidewalk and faced his brother. "How did you think she was going to react? Did you think she was going to open up her arms and give you a hug, telling you it's okay? You're lucky she didn't slap you across the face for that remark. You really screwed up this time and I'm not going to be the happy-go-lucky Joe anymore to cushion you. Nancy just went through a rough time. She dumped Ned - which was totally awesome, if you ask me - plus she spent hours being trapped in a cave-in with yours truly. You didn't hear her open up her heart to me. She was devastated about Ned and then you act like a total turd to her when she was going to give you the benefit of the doubt! What the hell happened?"

"Don't you think I feel like crap for what I did?" Frank yelled. "For everything that I did in the past few days, with treating both you and Nancy like dirt just because of my own jealousy of you two? There is nothing in this world that I would do just to go back to that hospital and rewind. I didn't just want to talk to her, I needed to talk to her. But Carson told me to wait until I knew I was really ready and to give her time to do the same. Maybe that's why I said what I said, I don't know. All I know now, is that she wants nothing to do with me and I don't know if I can take that."

"You're going to have to for now, Frank," Joe said gently. The brothers began walking once more, the courthouse looming just ahead of them. "Carson is right. You do need to take your time but he didn't mean for you to be a dick."

Frank laughed at his brother's words. Joe was the only one who could really put things into plain sight for him. He looked up the steps of the courthouse to see Carson and Sheriff Doyle coming down towards them, neither one of them looking very happy.

"What's wrong?" Frank asked, concerned.

"He's gone!" Carson cried. "Ned's been released!"