A/N Hello, everybody, sorry for the long wait. I've been swamped lately, I had state debate number one last weekend, so I've been busy preparing for that.

Thanks to all reviewers!!

Dedication: To sparkreno, my newest reviewer.

Disclaimer: I own nada.

"Alan, good to see you again, it's been a while." Fenton Hardy greeted his brother-in-law upon being ushered into what was now Charlie's house.

"It has," Alan acknowledged. "How are Laura and Gertrude? Well, I trust?" He asked as he bustled about the kitchen looking for seasoning to add to the chicken stir-fry he was currently concocting.

"They're doing well, Gertrude sent a recipe with us to give you, and Laura sends her love to the three of you." Fenton replied.

"Where are the others?" Alan asked after accepting an index card from Fenton with a recipe for for manicotti written in Gertrude Hardy's precise handwriting.

"They dropped me off at the car rental lot, and then they were going to stop at the store and pick up some beer, according to Charlie, you guys are fresh out of it." Fenton replied.

"Speak of the devil," Alan remarked as the front door slammed open with the sounds of four loud male voices. They seemed to be arguing over what team was most likely to win the super bowl that year, and despite the well-reason arguments on both sides (read: loud and clearly partisan) none of the four seemed likely to change their minds. "Looks like they're back." He added unnecessarily.

"Uncle Alan, how've you been?" Joe questioned breaking off their argument in order to greet his uncle.

"Very well, thank you, Joe." Alan replied. "Frank, how have you and Callie been? Still in the Honeymoon stage?" He added by way of greeting to his elder nephew.

"We've been great thanks, she's going to the spa this weekend with Vanessa." Frank replied.

"Ah, yes, and how is your relationship going, Joe? Planning to follow in your brother's footsteps any time soon?" Alan asked.

"It's going well." Joe answered seemingly ignoring the veiled hints about getting married.

"We're not enough for you anymore, Dad?" Don asked teasingly. "Got to start marrying off your nephews, too?"

"Only because I'm beginning to lose hope that either of you will ever settle down. I'm doomed to a grandchild-less existence." Alan retorted. Of the four younger men, Frank was the only one who looked amused. "Anyway, dinner should be just about done, so if Charlie would be so kind as to set the table we could eat in a few minutes."

Charlie dutifully followed his father into the kitchen to get the cutlery while Don led the others into the dining room. Less than ten minutes later they were all seated around the table enjoying Alan's stir fry.

"How goes the case?" Alan asked.

"It doesn't." Don answered glumly.

"We have no leads." Joe elaborated.

"Ah." Alan replied succinctly. "I'm sure you'll get some soon." He added to reassure his eldest.

"I hope so." Don answered.

"What's on the agenda for tomorrow?" Alan asked.

"We're splitting into separate teams to hunt down leads." Don replied. "Charlie together with Frank and Joe are leading the research down at Calsci, looking for similar cases and other connections between the current ones. I'm going to be at the LA office coordinating the teams, and Uncle Fenton is going to be going with a few other agents to talk to family members of the LA vic."

"I still don't understand why I'm on the research team." Joe complained. "Charlie I understand completely, Frank probably has every case regarding serial kidnappers, killers, and every crime ever memorized so that makes sense too, but why do I have to research?"

"I do not have every case memorized." Frank dissented. "And, you're just as good at researching as I am."

"You have a fresh way of looking at things, you'll bring a new ideas to the case." Don replied.

"Besides, between me and Frank do you really think either of us will consider a gut-feeling?" Charlie asked. Both Frank and Charlie were notorious for their disregard for anything that couldn't be be proven by logic and evidentiary support.

"Speaking of Calsci, you should be sure to introduce your cousins to Amita." Alan hinted to his youngest son and brought an abrupt end to any further discussion on the topic of tomorrow's case.

"I will." Charlie affirmed.

By this time they had finished with dinner, and Alan exited the dining room and returned with a large apple pie which he had baked in honor of the Hardys' arrival. They lingered over dessert for another half an hour or so, before the Hardys decided they should return to their hotel room, and Don reluctantly agreed that he should head back to his apartment as he needed to be into work early tomorrow to begin filtering through their scarce leads. They were planning to set up a tip line to see if anyone had knowledge about the disappearances, which would inevitably lead to a multitude of false leads which would take hours if not days to sort through. Though, he supposed it would be worth it if they managed to glean the least bit of reliable evidence or even just a nudge in the right direction. Tomorrow promised to be a very long day, Don mused as he followed his cousins and uncle out the door of his brother's house.

When the Hardys arrived back to the hotel, Frank and Joe went straight to their shared room after exchanging a brief good night with their father. Both Frank and Joe immediately pulled out their cell phones and proceeded to call Callie and Vanessa respectively.

"Hey, Cal." Frank greeted as soon as his wife's voice sounded through the earpiece.

"We're not supposed to use the phone, you know." Callie said in a mock-reproachful tone. "Something about relaxing from the outside world or whatever."

Frank snorted at the very notion of Callie giving up her phone. "So, you're enjoying the spa then?"

"Yes, overall." Callie replied. "The spa treatments are wonderful even if they do have skewed beliefs about cell phones. How is your case going?" She continued.

"We don't have much so far," Frank admitted. "Charlie, Joe, and I are going to go through files of old cases and looking for similar cases, although Charlie will hopefully be able to narrow them down for us in some fashion first."

"Well, I hope you guys find some leads soon, I'd like nothing better than for you to solve this case and get back home."

"Me too. Though it is nice to see my cousins and Uncle Alan." Frank replied.

"I'd better go, Vanessa and I are attending a yoga session tomorrow morning. And, by morning, I mean morning, as in like, sunrise."

"Joe will be horrified." Frank said with a laugh. "Talk to you later, Cal. Love you."

"Bye, Frank. Love you, too." Callie answered before ending the call.

At the same time as Frank and Callie were holding their conversation, Vanessa and Joe were updating each other on the past day's events.

"How's the spa weekend progressing?" Joe asked.

"It's been great so far, I had a lovely facial this afternoon." Vanessa replied with a grin which was sadly wasted on her long time boyfriend as he was unable to view it through the phone. "How is the case going?" She added.

"Eh. It's going...slowly, very, very slowly." Joe answered. "We don't have much in the way of leads so far."

"I'm sure you'll get some soon." Vanessa said soothingly. "Anyway, I'd better get going, Callie just hung up with Frank, and we have an early start tomorrow."

"Ugh. Morning." Joe replied eloquently. "Love you, babe."

"Love you, too." Vanessa replied laughingly as she pictured the disgruntled look on his face at the thought of rising at such an obscenely early hour.

Joe concluded his conversation with Vanessa and decided to follow her example and head to bed, since he too was facing a fairly early morning. He mumbled a good night to his brother before tumbling into his bed.

A/N Review, please. Next chapter will be out soon.