DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Nancy Drew series or any of the characters. This is based on the original series written by Carolyn Keene who was smart enough to make the whole thing up.

Chapter 02

"What the hell?" Nancy said, staring shocked as she spotted it. Some guy was getting into it. From the distance she heard the engine rev and the guy began to back up. "HEY! That's my car!"

Nancy raced forward. The guy hadn't heard her and skillfully backed up, weaving through the cars that had crowded the driveway. He drove it onto the far part of the lawn and Nancy sped up. To her relief, he parked it and shut off the car, stepping out.

"Hey, hey, hey! What the hell do you think you're doing to my car?" Nancy yelled, coming to a halt in front of the guy. "You can't just-"

The guy turned to look at her then, a look of surprise on his very cute face. He looked about nineteen years old and was tall, an inch or two over 6 feet, and well-built, lean and muscular, but not overly big. He had beautiful brown eyes that were amused as they looked over her flushed, angry face. His features were defined and angular. He had thick brown hair that flopped handsomely over his forehead, swept to one side, and hung at the nape of his neck. He was holding back a smile that was tugging at the corner of his lips. He had his hands shoved into his pockets and was waiting for her to finish her sentence, which had petered out as he had looked at her.

"- just, uh…" she blinked hard. "You can't just get into other people's car, you know."

He smiled apologetically. "Sorry. I would've had a fit too, but I couldn't stand by and watch a beauty like this get destroyed. I saw the keys in the ignition and I figured I save it." He reached into the car and pulled out the keys that George had left in the ignition. He smiled again and held them out to her. "1953 Porsche 356 Roadster. She's gorgeous."

Nancy looked him over closely, still somewhat unsure. She took the keys. "Yeah, thanks. Hey, um, you didn't see two girls near the car, did you?"

He thought for a moment. "Nope. Little girls?"

Nancy laughed. "No, my age. A blond and a brunette. Probably fighting with each other."

"Blond and brunette. What are the odds? Need help finding them?"

Nancy looked him over again from the corner of her eye. She gave a small smile. "Sure, thanks."

They set off, looking over the grounds and weaving through people.

"You said fighting, right?" he asked suddenly, looking to the left of them.

"Yeah."

"Is that them?" He pointed.

Nancy looked over and saw Bess, shrieking and on the verge of hysteria, and George, absolutely pissed off and snapping at Bess. Nancy shook her head.

"Yeah, that's them. Thanks for your help," she said to him.

"No problem. Take care of your car," he said with another knee weakening smile and slipped into the crowd.

Nancy looked after him for a moment, then turned as George called out her name. She braced herself as Bess nearly tackled her in a desperate hug.

"Who was that guy?" George asked, nodding towards the spot where the boy had disappeared.

Nancy sighed. "I don't know."

"What does that mean?"

Nancy quickly explained, scratching her head. George raised her eyebrows and Bess gave Nancy a look, a smug smile on her lips.

"I think we should get out of here, we're just taking up space," Nancy said with a sigh. She led the way to the car, trying to get out before everyone else, but a traffic jam had formed.

George sighed. "Honk! That's what the horn is for." She leaned over and pressed on the horn for a long moment.

"It doesn't do any good," Bess said, annoyed.

"It does plenty good for my rage," George snapped back.

"Calm down, for God's sake, we're all stressed. Look, we're almost out anyway."

"Well, if George could just – look out!"

There was a loud crunch as someone rammed into Nancy's back fender. The girls were all jolted. Nancy looked at the others.

"You okay? Bess, you?" she asked.

The two girls nodded, shocked and still flushed with fright. Nancy took in a deep breath as she threw the car in park. She wretched open the door to her car and walked around to the back and gaped at the damage.

"Shit!" she cursed.

From the other car emerged a thin, gangly man in his late forties. He was squeezing his hands nervously.

"Don't you look where you're going?" George shouted.

Usually Nancy would have stopped her, but she was so pissed about her car, she didn't make the effort, she just glared at the jumpy little man.

"Oh my lord," he said in a trembling voice and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Oh, oh, oh, oh my. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I will pay for the repairs, I promise you."

The poor guy sounded like he was on the verge of tears and was so panicked he was pale. Nancy gave a sigh and relented. Even George let up.

"Can I get you information?" Nancy asked. "George, grab my camera and take some pictures for me, will you?"

"Yeah," George said and rifled through Nancy's purse for the camera.

The man's name was Baylor Weston and he quickly wrote down his phone number, address, and name on a sheet of paper. As he was doing this, George took some pictures of the damage.

"I need your insurance company's name, too, please," Nancy said, glancing at the paper.

"Oh, sure," Weston said, lowering the pen to the paper. He stopped, then looked up at Nancy. "I… I can't remember it. I apologize. Please, forgive me, but I swear that I will cover all your expenses. If you want to try the number I gave you, it goes right to my cell phone. Check it now if you want." He began to fumble for his phone.

"That's okay," Nancy said, stopping him. "I'll call you when I get the bill. Thanks."

"No, thank you for being so kind. The last person I ran into was an absolute horror," Weston laughed as he got into his car and drove off.

The girls watched the man disappear and George shook her head.

"That man should not drive," she said, climbing into the car with the others.

They started out on the road, the back bumper scraping noisily along the road. Nancy grimaced.

"Man, my dad's going to kill me," she moaned, pulling over to the side of the road and got out of the car to see if she could stop the noise until she could get to a garage. "This isn't even going to make it home. God damn it!"

The three girls look up as there was a honk and a flash of headlights. Another car pulled up behind them. It was a black Mustang GT convertible, nicely kept. The lights switched down and the engine was turned off. The door opened and out emerged the same guy who had helped Nancy find Bess and George. He gave a small laugh.

"So much for taking care of your car, huh?" he said, looking over the wrecked bumper hanging at a dangerous angle. He pulled a hand from his pocket and ran it through his hair. Bess's jaw fell open and George kicked her. She grunted, forced a smile, and scowled at her cousin who innocently was looking ahead. "Need some help?"

Nancy laughed, realizing she'd been wrong about him before. All suspicion crept from her mind. "Thanks. Some… guy bumped into my car."

"I can see. Real shame to see a vintage in this shape," he said, bending to take a good look. "You're going to have to get her to a garage."

"Is there one around here?"

"Yeah, about two miles up in Mapleton. It's a great place, they'll treat you really good."

"Two miles?" Nancy groaned. "I don't think I can even make two miles. The bumper is dragging-"

With a deft twist and a sharp twang, he wretched the bumper off and placed it in her back seat. Bess gave a sharp little gasp and raised her eyebrows at the ease he yanked the twisted scrap of metal from the car. "Not anymore. You should be fine."

Nancy gaped at her lack of bumper. "What…? Why would you…?"

He grinned. "Calm down, they would've had to take it off anyway. Trust me, I wouldn't do anything to damage your car, it'd be a crime. You'll make it to Mick's now." He gave her directions on how to get there, telling her to go inside and ask for Victor.

"And how do you know so much about this garage?" Nancy teased, smiling at him.

He laughed. "Because I live in Mapleton and it's the only place I trust with my car. Look, I'm going that way anyway, why don't I just follow you? You know, make sure you make it okay and everything."

Nancy smiled slowly. "Sure, I'd owe you one."

"You would owe me one," he said, mimicking her grin and looking over her face for a moment.

Nancy sobered and held out her hand. "My name is Nancy Drew, by the way. These are my friends, George Fayne and Bess Marvin. They're cousins."

"Ah, the fighting girls," he commented, shaking their hands. Bess blushed and giggled and George shot her a dark look. "I'm Ned Nickerson."

"Nice to meet you," George said with a smile.

"Right back at you. We should get going before they close for the day."

"Right. Thanks again," Nancy said.

"Thank me when we get to Mick's," Ned said as he walked back to his car and got in, waiting for Nancy to begin driving.

As they started down the road again, Bess gave a gasp, looking back at the black mustang following them.

"Oh my God," she managed out. "How hot is he?"

"Smoking," Nancy answered.

"You always have all the luck," George griped. "If I'd been near the car to see him, he'd been throwing double entendres at me, not you."

"What? What double entendres?" Nancy asked, pretending to be oblivious as she fought down a blush.

"'You would owe me one,'" George repeated in a husky voice.

"Oh, come on. That didn't mean anything," Nancy said, entering the limits of Mapleton.

"Oh, yeah, nothing at all," Bess mocked. "Except 'lick me all over' maybe."

"Shut up," Nancy said, climbing out of her car and heading towards the office of Mick's Garage.

Ned smiled at her, opening the door for the three girls. He took his place next to Nancy and rang the little bell on the counter obnoxiously.

"I'm comin', I'm comin'. Christ," a man in coveralls said, emerging from a back room, shaking his head, annoyed. He looked up and saw Ned grinning at him.

"Nickerson! Well, I'll be damned. I haven't seen you in a while. And you come with a posse of gorgeous ladies. If only to be you for one day. I'd have fame, fortune, and hair like an angel's."

Ned laughed and shook his hand. "Hey Vic. I need you to check out my friend's car. Someone rammed into her."

"Tough break," Vic said, following Ned towards the car. He fawned over the car and Ned pointed out the damages. He introduced Nancy as the owner and put in a good word for her. Vic winked and nodded, understanding. He gave an apologetic shrug and a frown. "Bad news, kid. I can't do anything to get this car ready. It hardly made it here and it won't make it back to River Heights for sure. It won't be ready 'til tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? How am I going to get home?" Nancy said. "You can't just get it ready so I can make it to a garage."

"Sorry, sweetie, I can't do it."

Nancy sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Yeah okay. I understand. I guess we'll have to wait for one of our parents to come pick us up."

"Or…" Ned said.

The girls looked at him hopefully. "I mean, I wouldn't mind driving you guys home."

Nancy blushed, flattered. "Oh, now way. You've done enough for us already. We can't let you."

"Don't worry about it. Seriously, I'd love to. I don't mind at all. If you want, call your parents and tell them you're going to have dinner and then I'll drop you guys off."

"What are you? Some kind of Good Samaritan or something? No one is this nice nowadays," George said skeptically with a playful smile.

Ned leaned in and said in a purposefully loud whisper, "Truth is, I was going to take you to an abandoned barn a couple of miles from here and sacrifice you all to Bubo, the Great Cow God."

"Well, I hear he's the best Cow God there is."

"Oh, definitely."

They all laughed and Nancy looked at him.

"You don't have to do this, you know," she said to him, low enough so that the others couldn't hear.

Ned unlocked his car and let Bess slip into the back seat with George. He smiled at Nancy with a soft look. "I know. What are you in the mood for?"

They stopped at a quaint little burger joint and got to know each other a little more. The girls all liked Ned. He was chivalrous and funny, not to mention very good-looking. He stole glances at Nancy out of the corner of his eye when she wasn't looking. George and Bess gave each other a comprehending look. At the end of the meal, Ned insisted on paying.

"You're crazy if you think we're going to let you pay for us," George said.

"Look, George and I will pay for ourselves," Bess said, a glint in her eyes. "You can pay for Nancy if you want."

"No, he isn't, especially if you guys are paying for yourselves," Nancy retorted.

"It's already paid for," Ned said, interrupting the brewing fight.

"What? How? You haven't even gotten a check."

"My aunt owns this place and I get basically whatever I want if I do her the free service of promotion by word of mouth, so… eat at Julie's. Come on. We'd better get out towards River Heights before it gets too late."

The ride was just as fun as dinner, the four of them bantering. Nancy led him to her house. Bess and George would be sleeping over that night. Ned parked in the curved driveway and peeked up at the colonial style brick house.

"Nice place," he whistled. "A roadster, a mansion… you've got a pretty good life."

Nancy laughed. "It's not a mansion. My dad inherited this house from my grandfather."

Ned nodded. "Well, see you Bess, George."

"Bye Ned. Thanks again," the cousins said, heading into the house.

Nancy leaned at the open window and smiled. "Really, thanks a lot, Ned. It was great meeting you."

Ned gave a smile and reached out to grab her hand for a moment. "You too, Nancy. I'll see you later, okay?"

Nancy's breath caught in her chest. "Okay."

Ned gave a final smile and drove off into the night, heading back towards Mapleton. Nancy smiled, watching after the car for a bit, then gave a small laugh to herself and walked inside her home.