Note: I'm getting married in the morning, ding dong the bells are going to chime!...or rather, on Saturday. Soooo, I'm posting up this chapter and the epilogue at the same time, so don't forget to read the other posting! Thank you everyone for your awesome feedback, you all ROCK!

Chapter 33

Nancy was led into the hospital room by Fenton with a gentle hand on her arm. She didn't feel totally prepared for what was likely to be facing her. But to be fair, she didn't suppose anyone would be prepared for something like that. However, she was pleasantly surprised by what she found when she stepped fully into the room.

Frank was lying on the bed looking very peaceful in his slumber, his hands relaxed and lying one on top of the other on his stomach. No mountains of trailing wires, or tubes down his throat or any of that paraphernalia, he was in fact less trussed up than Joe. An IV in each arm, a heart monitor and his leg in plaster under his draw-sting pants. The worst sight was that the one side of his face was sporting a sparkling arrangement of black, blue, green and yellow, and there was a bandage around his head, but other than that…

She looked to Fenton for guidance.

He leaned towards her. "Dr Cox assures me he'll wake up when he's ready. He's working through a few things, getting stuff sorted out in his head – after all, he's had a lot going on in there over the last few months, and it took quite a bashing at the hands of those thugs." He flinched at the memory, but then smiled and nudged her. "Hey! He's probably dashing through the rooms in his psyche, opening windows, running a vacuum cleaner around and sweeping out a load of cobwebs – you know how obsessed with tidyness my son is! He's making room for more stuff to cram in there. Not that I think there's much room in there for much more, he's too clever by far already for my liking."

"Should I talk to him?" she asked.

"That's exactly what I've been told to start doing." Fenton looked down at her and smiled encouragingly. "I've pretty much had my say, so it's your turn." He placed his hands against the small of her back and delivered a tiny push. "Go on, see what you can do."

Fenton opened the door and then quickly turned back. "I'll leave you to it and go and see Joe. He's officially the worst patient they've ever had, there's talk of dedicating an award in his name!" he tutted lightheartedly and left the room, although for a split second a vein of worry in his eyes betrayed his jovial spirit.

Nancy approached Frank's bed and set her handbag down before quietly lowering the side so she could sit on it next to him. She didn't see the harm, it wasn't like he was going to fall out or anything and she wasn't going to trample him. Picking up his hand, she put it to her cheek, it was warm – but why she thought it would be any other temperature, she just couldn't comprehend. She put it down onto her lap and gripped it tightly.

"Hi Frank," she started, falteringly, "it's me…Nancy...Nan…" and then stopped, not really knowing what to say and sat there in silence for a while instead, stroking his face and wincing at the swollen and bruised left side.

She suddenly had a burst of inspiration and sat up straighter. "Oh! I know what I can talk to you about, the news! But not the boring stuff from the TV, about what happened after you were brought here with the flashing lights and all that noise."

"Okay: I destroyed Pandora for you, just like you asked me to. It got quite dicey for a while because the Network decided suddenly that they didn't want it destroyed and ordered me to turn it over to them, along with the code, but I wouldn't. So they came after us, but we managed to do the job before they could stop us. The Network made a proper mess of Andrea's house and she was less than impressed." Nancy smiled, "Vanessa's mom's a real knockout isn't she? I'd hate to have a mom that could easily steal my boyfriends from me!"

In order to continue with her tale, she carefully placed his hand back down and made herself even more comfortable by stretching herself out on her side so she was lying down the length of the bed and propped herself up on her elbow so she could talk directly into his ear. She placed her hand on top of Frank's again and started kneading his fingers.

"Joe didn't do himself any good climbing up the side of the building. He pulled all his stitches out. Dr Lyndsey wasn't very happy, but he patched him up again and there's no long-term damage, but it's slowed up his recovery time. He's desperate to see you, Frank, he's been saying that he knew there was something wrong and is feeling incredibly guilty that he couldn't get back up the stairs. He's going to make himself even more ill if he doesn't stop, but it just goes to prove that you're not the only worrier in the family."

Frank suddenly gripped her hand and she sat up slightly higher. "Frank?" she asked hopefully, but he didn't react further, so she assumed the squeeze had been involuntary. And then the door opened to the room, making her jump. She turned over onto her back to find a male nurse frozen in the doorway. "Sorry," he said quickly, and bailed out.

She groaned and lay back down. "Well, that was kinda embarrassing!" she muttered and then mentally waved it away. "Never mind…"

"Sam Radley got in touch about Mrs Holliday – that was a real nice thing you did for her. She was in quite a state by the time she arrived so they let her stay for another couple of days. She's threatening to visit you, so hold onto your hat, Hardy!" she sniggered. "You'll be flattered to know she's started a new scrapbook, especially dedicated to the Hardy & Sons Agency."

She chewed her lip in thought, contemplating this last piece of news. "Okay, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be telling you this, because I don't know if Joe's even been told, but…Con has come to the conclusion that he doesn't want to be a Lieutenant on the force anymore. He had the time of his life helping your dad all week so he's belatedly accepted your dad's offer of a partnership. So you're going to have more competition with another PI in residence. The firm won't be called Hardy & Sons, it's going to be renamed Hardy, Riley & Sons – which now I think about it, makes it sound like Con's your dad!" she giggled. "I'm sure Fenton will fill you in on the details when you're awake."

Running out of news, she stopped and lay there quietly for a few minutes, looking up at the ceiling. "So there you have it. Pandora's destroyed, just like you wanted, although it burns that the gang got away in that helicopter because we've never not caught a bad guy before. There's been no sign of trouble since the programme was destroyed though, so I think they've gone for good."

Nancy stared up at the light and began revisiting in her mind the last few days she'd spent with Frank. Remembering the adventures they'd had, but most of all, the intimate moments they'd shared. Five years of waiting condensed into five or six days of utter madness that made her head practically spin, but in the best way she could ever have imagined. She'd gone from believing she wouldn't meet anyone who could challenge her, to meeting someone who, unbeknownst to her, had been under her nose the entire time, and someone who was so multi-layered that she just couldn't imagine being with anyone else – someone who was quite literally prepared to hang himself rather than to see her hurt. Not that Frank had believed that was possible when she left him on that cold stairwell, and she'd missed the opportunity to tell him.

Yes, her biggest regret was that she hadn't taken the time to go back and make him understand that one simple reality.

For the entire time, all Frank had really been demonstrating to her was that he was doggedly loyal and that he cared so much that he was going to fight tooth and nail to keep everyone safe – at the expense of his own well-being and health. Unfortunately, all he'd done personally was to blame and torture himself for every bad thing that had happened, when in fact, he'd prevented a lot of far worse things from occurring. He could have just thrown in the towel and run as Arthur Gray had instructed him to do, but he hadn't. He sorted out the mess in the best way he knew how, thoroughly tying himself up in mental knots until in the end he just couldn't struggle free of his own self-administered bindings.

"Frank," she whispered and closed her eyes. "I don't want to be alone any more, waking up every morning and seeing my life playing out before me with no one to share it with." She sat up and leaned over him, her eyes roving from one side of his peaceful face to the other. "Please Frank, come back. You shouldn't be sorting all this stuff out on your own, I can help. You don't need to have the weight of the entire world on your shoulders, you can share some of the burden now. I didn't get the chance to tell you, and I wish I had, but I love you too, more than you know – I think I always have…and I'm lonely without you." She leaned down to give him a kiss, her lips trembling and tears spilling forth.

And then she was imagining that he was responding and kissing her back and that his hand was on the back of her head, stroking her hair.

She finished her kiss and pulled back to wipe her face dry, but his hand remained and he was looking back at her with those dark, warm, brooding eyes of his, locking her in place with his intense gaze.

"Hello," he smiled, his voice dry and slightly gruff. "What are you doing in my bed again? This just isn't acceptable - think of your reputation!"

"Frank? I thought I was trippin'!" Nancy spluttered and began desperately stroking his cheek. "You're not going to disappear again are you, you are staying?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Frank assured her, and began brushing the tears from her cheek. "It was too much like hard work getting back here – please don't cry." He pulled her forward and gave her another kiss. When he released her again, she'd stopped weeping and was smiling instead. He studied her face for a few seconds before saying in wonderment: "You look amazing, Drew, really amazing!"

Nancy blushed.

"Can you get me some water, my mouth is really parched?"

Nancy slid off the bed. "Yes, just…just don't go anywhere, stay there, don't go to sleep or anything," she said holding her palms out. "I'll go get someone…"

"Please don't Nan, don't get anyone just yet, give me some thinking time," he begged.

"Okay, but stay," she said again, and left the room at speed.

Frank sat halfway up and looked for the bed's remote control. Finding it half buried in his pillows, he pressed the button and raised the head end up until he was sitting comfortably. "Ouch, my face! What's up with that?" he asked himself, exploring its contours carefully with his fingers, the one side felt spongy to the touch.

The door opened again and Nancy came back in with a jug of water and a cup.

"You didn't tell anyone, did you Nan?"

"No one even noticed me." She quickly poured him half a tumbler worth and passed it to him, but without letting go.

"It's okay Nancy, I'm not going to break, I've just had a good sleep is all," he said and gently removed her hand to take a long drink. Eventually he set the tumbler down on the bedside cabinet. "Have you got a mirror?" he asked.

"What for?"

"I want to see myself. My face feels weird, and kinda numb."

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Yeah, I really do. It's not that bad, is it?"

Nancy scanned the room. "Doesn't look like…oh, hang on!" She picked up her bag, unzipped the inner pocket and rummaged until she found her little hand mirror and unfolded it. She turned it around and held it in front of him. He took it from her and stared at himself for some long seconds – but only into his own eyes at first, and then he dropped his gaze and turned his face to the right to take a closer look at his left side. "That's pretty," he said eventually.

"It's much better than it was," Nancy assured him. "It's nowhere near as swollen. It's just deep tissue damage that will heal over time. What did they hit you with, a truck?"

Frank gave it some thought, trying to recall. "It was a gun I think. How long have I been out for?" he asked, returning her mirror.

"Three days."

Frank eyebrows shot up in surprise. "That long?"

"They wouldn't let anyone come see you apart from your dad, and then he wasn't even allowed to talk to you until today. You scared me silly – scared us all silly!"

"I'm sorry," Frank said and beckoned her forward. She slid closer and he pulled her into his arms and laid his right cheek on the top of her head. "Are we still an item, then?" he asked her.

"Of course we are," she muttered and looked up to kiss the hollow area at the crook of his neck and then snuggled back in again. "I'd be mad to let you go. How many men would dance with me as enthusiastically as you do?"

Frank paused for some long seconds and then said: "…so, does that mean I've still got my bargaining privileges?" he asked.

She sat back up. "What does that mean?" she asked, suspiciously, her eyes narrowing.

"I want you to help me tunnel out of here."

"What?"

"You heard right!"

"Am I going to realise in a minute that this is all happening in your head and I'm one of your imaginary characters?"

"I hope not! I need to go and visit Joe. But I don't think they'll let me. From what you and Dad have been saying, Joe is unable to come here but I think he has to see me and it's important. It's the least I can do."

Nancy's mouth dropped open in amazement. "Could you hear what we've been saying to you?"

Frank smiled. "Every word. But it was weird, like I was hearing you both from a great distance away. At one point, I was standing at a crossroads making a choice. I knew that if I went straight on, things would just continue as they were. If I went left, the journey would be easy and quick, but the other way would be a tough slog. And then I heard you both and your voices were coming from the direction of the hardest road. I just decided not to tread the easy path and started down the challenging one, and then – woosh – I snapped back!"

"Wow!" Nancy said. "I can't believe you remember all that."

"So…are you going to help me?"

Nancy looked doubtfully back.

"Aw, come on Nan, for old times sake. When have we ever done what's expected of us?"

Nancy narrowed her eyes at him again. "You're going to be hard work, Hardy, I can sense it!" she sighed loudly. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"

Frank lopsidedly grinned and pointed towards the first aid box hanging on the wall. They spent the next ten minutes carefully removing the IV tubes from the back of his hands and cleaning the entry wounds before attaching gauze dressings, then Nancy went and switched off the heart monitor and Frank unclipped the sensor. Afterwards, Nancy left the room to return five minutes later with a wheelchair which she pushed up to the side of the bed to await its rider.

"I knew I could rely on you. You're special, Nancy Drew, do you know that?" he asked, winking at her.

With Nancy's help, he put on his robe and then managed to shuffle himself to the edge of the bed. Once there, it was easy just to slide off the edge until his left foot made contact with the floor to take his weight. As soon as he was upright, he experienced an intense headrush as the blood suddenly started pumping properly around his system. "Whoa!" he said and gripped the edge of the bed, squeezing his eyes shut.

Nancy offered him further support by slipping her arms around his middle and holding him tightly. "You okay?" she asked.

Eventually his face relaxed again. "Yeah, just went on a trip. Okay, here goes…" He reached back for the wheelchair and slowly worked his way into it. Once he was sitting down, Nancy went around to the front and unfolded the footplate so he'd have somewhere to rest his injured leg.

"I still can't believe you're finally here!" she said again and revelled in being able to throw her arms around his neck again. "I really missed you."

Franked pinned her gaze with dolefully. "I missed you too, I thought I'd blown it back there on those stairs at the High School, I nearly threw the towel in right then and there." He leaned forward and kissed her deeply again.

When they'd finally finished, Nancy laid her forehead against his. "Don't ever think that again, I don't scare that easy, Hardy." She got up off her knees and looked him over. "Comfortable?" she asked.

Nodding, he said, "Let's do this," in a determined tone.

So Nancy went to the door and peeked out. The coast was clear so she returned to the chair and quickly angled it through the door. Once outside, she pushed him to the elevator and pressed the button. It didn't take long to get to their floor, but as the door opened, there was someone inside who stepped out. Frank quickly put his face in his hand as Nancy wheeled him in. The woman didn't take any interest in them. Nancy pressed for Joe's floor and the doors slid shut.

"You still feeling okay?" she asked.

"Top of the world."

"Warning: Joe's level is a lot busier than yours, so keep you hand over your face. You were purposely put in a quiet part of the hospital, so it might come as a bit of a shock."

The doors opened and Frank immediately saw that she wasn't exaggerating. As he was wheeled out he was confronted with a flow of humanity that jolted him back into the seat. He took an audible intake of breath and held it. All he could see were legs in every direction he looked, people walking too close to him – way too close – and then at the last second, veering away. Someone was wearing heels, the tippy-tappy sound echoing around his head, someone else was wearing squeeky sneakers. Frank flinched and closed his eyes to try and block them out and the noise they were making, feeling a sudden pressure bearing down and experiencing sickening vertigo.

He could feel he was starting to lose himself again and he had to fight to concentrate on keeping himself in the here-and-now. Then he felt gentle hands on his arms and drew back his fingers to see Nancy's worried face looking back at him. He realised he'd hunched himself forward and now had both his hands over his face.

"Look at me!" she commanded, pointing from his eyes to hers. "Just look at me, Frank Hardy and nothing and no one else." She then positioned her hands until they were like blinkers on the side of his head and waited for him to focus on her. "Do you see me?"

"Yeah."

"I'm taking you back, this was a bad idea!" she said.

"No!"

"Don't be so blasted stubborn - you were making a strange noise and starting to panic."

"Was I? No, I don't want to go back, just take me quickly to Joe's room and out of the way of these people," he said. "I need to get to Joe more than I need to go back upstairs."

"Okay, but let me know if it gets too much, I don't want you going away again." Nancy moved to the back of the chair and began pushing him at a fast clip down the corridor, this time Frank kept his head well down, with his hands not only over his eyes, but also his thumbs pressed into his ears, determined to calmly tollerate the short journey to his brother's room and not worry Nancy further. Eventually he felt the chair draw to a halt.

"This is it." Nancy announced loudly.

Frank didn't wait for her to open the door, he groped blindly forward and rapped on it insistently. He needed to get away and he needed to do it right now. A split second later, the door was opened and Nancy was telling someone to 'get out of the way' and he was being shoved inside.

"We're in," she said into his ear. "You can come out now."

Frank uncovered his face and saw another pair of legs in front of him, but very familiar ones this time. He allowed his eyes to scan up and confirm it was Fenton, gawping down at him, with his mouth hanging wide open in shock.

"I…what are…are you…I don't believe it! Frank?" Fenton dropped into a crouch and crushed him into a hug. "God son, I was starting to think – actually, I don't know what I was starting to think." He pushed Frank back away and held him at arm's length so he could look at him properly. "Why are you here, you shouldn't be here, but you are, you're here!"

"Hi Dad," he said and slowly grinned. "I heard that Joe needed to see me. You're not angry are you?"

"No – yes – no – oh, I don't know, I'm just too overwhelmed. Holy cow!" Fenton's hands moved to Frank's cheeks and he kissed him unbridled on the forehead and took him into another warm embrace.

Frank closed his eyes, enjoying the closeness and tangling his fingers into his father's sweater, smelling his familier scent. It wasn't often his dad treated him to such a show of unrestrained affection. He then opened them to look over Fenton's shoulder towards Joe's bed and saw that his brother was asleep.

"Well that's just terrific. I crawl out of my sick bed to get here, and he's not even awake, huh?"

Fenton finally stood back and Nancy put the brake on the chair to allow Frank to start raising himself awkwardly by pushing himself up via the chair arms.

"Easy, junior," Fenton whispered and helped Nancy to ease him the rest of the way out, concerned eyes not straying from his son's determined face for even an instant.

Frank shot him a grateful smile and slipped an arm about his father's shoulders and leaned against him, allowing Fenton to finally take some of the weight. He was then able to balance himself before hopping to Joe's bed to sit on the edge, careful that he didn't settle himself on any of the drainage tubes. As soon as the bed moved, Joe sighed and his eyes opened slightly.

"Hi, Bro," Frank said.

"Dude, there's only room here for one." Joe muttered hollowly, obviously still full of sleep. His eyes slid shut again, and then a second later, they snapped wide open and he gasped, "Frank?!" and reached out. "Is that really you?" he asked, feeling his brother's arms up and down.

"Yeah, it's really me. How you holding up?" Frank asked, quietly, uncertain.

"Better for seeing you. Wow, dude!" Joe's face broke into a huge uncontrollable grin and he dragged his brother down and embraced him. Long enough for Frank to know that, as far as Joe was concerned, everything was more than cool between them, that it was, in fact, pretty awsome!

Frank carefully extricated himself from his over-excited brother. He needed to say something important: "I had to break out and thank you properly for what you did and also to apologise. I should never have asked you to come to the school. I didn't reckon on you having to climb up to the roof, I thought they'd just finish me off in the Principal's office and then you'd just have to jump in and do what was needed. What I asked you to do – now I realise – it wasn't right or fair. I didn't know what I was thinking. Still don't!" he waved a hand helplessly.

Joe looked steadily back at him, studying his face. Finally he tilted his head to one side curiously. "What's fairness have to do with it?"

Frank was back-footed by such a strange reaction and question. "Well…It's got everything to do with it. What if you'd not been able to bring me back? You'd have been stuck with that guilt for the rest of your life."

"But at least I'd have had that chance of getting you back, I never got that with Iola. The alternative would have been far worse – it wasn't about fairness, it was about duty."

"But what if you'd been killed? It would have…"

"…Tell me something, Frank," Joe cut in. "If I asked you to do that same thing for me, would you?"

Frank snorted and looked away for a second shaking his head. Finally his gaze shifted back. "Without hesitation, but that doesn't make it right, bro!"

"Yeah, actually it really does," Joe said, taking Frank by the shoulders, "It's the one thing that made it so the right decision and the easiest choice I've ever had to make in my short and illustrious life. What you did was amazing, whereas all I had to do was to climb up onto a roof – pathetic, really. Don't forget, I watched you actually just lying there allowing someone to kill you for us!"

"It was the only bargaining chip I had left," Frank explained. "I didn't want to turn the memory stick over to the gang or The Network, I wanted to make sure no one would get the opportunity to activate the programme. So, one way or the other, I had to convince everyone that they'd won, even if only temporarily so I could give Nancy the opportunity she needed to finish it."

There was a cough to the side, and Fenton spoke up. "But you didn't finish it, son, not all together, not really – the gang escaped. How can you be sure they won't be coming back?"

Frank cocked an enigmatic eyebrow. "Did they escape?" he asked.