A/N: Reviews, comments, and/or general feedback are all totally awesome. Special thanks to Shani for her constant reviews along with all you other lovely folk! I hope everyone's enjoying their holiday break :)

Nancy's first thought was to spring to the door and slip out, the three knocks signalling that someone was about to enter the room. The doors were close enough that anyone who saw her leaving would naturally assume she was with Frank, leaving from 405. Chances are the warning was for a cleaning lady, but with any luck she would start with a different room down the hallway. Before Nancy could reach the door, though, the sound of a key card clicking in was audible, and the door knob jiggled.

She mentally cursed and dashed back to the balcony again, willing to at least take the chance she could make the trip across balconies by herself if she was careful enough. As a plus, there was almost no chance the maid was going to go out onto the balcony, not during the winter, anyway, which meant either way she would be safe. But before she could open the balcony and dash out, the door began to open.

Frank stood guard as Nancy searched, leaning casually against the door of 405 but on alert for any sounds. Nancy had been inside for a short time when he heard footsteps accompanied by a faint rattle approaching. He gave the door a quick tap with his foot on the off-chance it wasn't another resident, warning Nancy that someone was around. With any luck, they would enter their room and avoid 404 completely.

He waited as the footsteps drew nearer until he saw the person accompanying them: a maid, pushing her supply cart in front of her. That was what the noise came from, Frank grimaced as he saw the wheels rattling around. She was at the opposite end of the hall, separated by a large number of rooms, and moving very slowly towards him.

He glanced sideways, noting the number of doors between them and saw a few 'do not disturb' signs hung up. But a few rooms looked like they didn't have the signs - if he called Nancy out now, the maid might see her leave anyway and get angry before Nancy had the chance to fully investigate. And after the room was cleaned, none of the victim's personal belongings would remain - this was their only chance. Frank hesitated, but decided in the end not to call Nancy out just yet in case it was a false alarm.

Leaning against the door under the pretense of waiting for someone inside, he watched out of the corner of his eye as the cleaning lady continued towards him, not stopping at the other doors like he'd hoped. Although he wanted to give Nancy as much time to search as possible, it would be better that they leave empty-handed then get caught snooping around in an area under the police's interest.

He leaned against the door of 405 and kicked his heel back three times, trusting it would be loud enough for Nancy to hear even though she was in the room next door. He just hoped he hadn't waited for too long. The cleaning lady had almost reached him, still moving at an exhausted shuffle, but if Nancy slipped out quickly Frank was pretty sure the maid would assume she had come from room 405 instead.

He thought he could hear Nancy moving towards the door, and crossed his fingers. But before the door opened, the maid reached him, sparing a tired glance to him before unlocking the door to 404. He swore to himself, hoping Nancy had a place to hide. He knew Nancy was quick on her feet, and judging by the silence in the suite he assumed she had heard the key card and managed to get out of the way. He had to do something before she got caught, and fast. Frank decided he would give her exactly 45 seconds before he tried anything, to search for a diversion while giving Nancy a chance to escape on her own.

AaA

Nancy groaned inwardly, careful not to make a peep. She'd dashed back to the balcony in a sprint, dove to the left behind the bed and just managed to scoot under as the door opened. She held her breath as the stranger, presumably a member of the cleaning staff, entered the room. Though she doubted her breathing would be heard from under the bed, she had a feeling a gigantic sneeze would not go as unnoticed. Judging by the copious amounts of dust covering the floor and bed frame, no maid had cleaned under here for months. Nancy shuddered. She had only been under there for a few seconds but she was already longing for a long shower to rinse out the dust from her hair.

Frank would already be planning a way to lure the maid out, but she didn't want to just lie there idly. She tracked the movement of the unknown person with her ears, a blanket blocking her line of sight from under the bed. She heard the footsteps come closer, pause, then retreat to what she assumed was the bathroom. Seizing the opportunity, she slid back the way she had come as silently as possible, trusting that even if the maid was still in the room the bed would block Nancy from her view.

She was almost out when she felt a small tug on her hair. Grimacing, she reached up to her head and awkwardly felt around for an obstruction. She soon found what her hair had caught on: a piece of tape, holding a paper of some sort to the underside of the bed. This could be exactly what I'm looking for, Nancy thought to herself with a growing smile.

Upon further investigation, always hard in the semi-dark with minimal arm space, she concluded that it was an unsealed envelope although she couldn't discern its contents. Silently untaping it from the bed frame, she stuffed it into her blouse for temporary safe keeping, not able to comfortably place it in her pocket while lying on her stomach.

Nancy finally extricated her body from the bed completely, still keeping one ear tuned to the sounds of the stranger as she hunkered down on the floor and glanced to her right. The balcony door didn't squeak when it opened, judging from when she'd entered the room, so if she could just be absolutely sure the maid wasn't going to look over and spot her sneaking out, she could get out onto the balcony. From there it would just take some careful manoeuvering and she could leave from room 405 and meet up with Frank again. Unfortunately, leaving by the front door wasn't an option - no matter how silently she got to the door, the sound as it shut would catch the person's attention immediately. No, if she was going to escape undetected, it would have to be by the balcony.

Her keen eyes snapped shut momentarily, calculating where the maid was probably standing right now based on what she could hear. She guessed that, assuming it was the maid, she was standing in the bathroom. She could hear a faint wiping sound, accompanied by the click of heels on tile floor. Although the balcony door would likely slid open with virtually no noise, if the maid caught a glimpse of the curtain moving or the door opening in the mirror, or of Nancy herself sneaking out, it would all be for nothing. If the saboteur or murderer knew she had been poking around with Frank, it could put both of them in danger and ruin Frank's chance at solving his and Joe's case. She had to get this right if she was planning on escaping undetected.

Suddenly, Nancy heard a loud knock on the door and flattened herself to the ground once more. Listening intently, she picked up the sound of Frank's voice and the unknown female's. Chancing a quick peek over the bed, Nancy caught a glimpse of Frank standing behind the supply cart of a woman, ruffling a hand through his hair and opening his deep brown eyes in a pleading manner. She would definitely have enjoyed watching him in action, but she didn't want to waste the chance he was giving her.

Quickly but carefully, she opened the balcony door a sliver and slid out, making sure not to ruffle the curtains on the way. Silently closing the door behind her, she let out a breath of relief and silently thanked Frank for his intervention. She guessed he would keep her talking for a few minutes, but she wasn't too concerned the maid would want to stand on the balcony anyway. The only problem now was crossing to room 405 without falling. Nancy stood at the railing and evaluated her options again.

AaA

Frank groaned. His 45 seconds were up, but a cursory glance around the hotel provided nothing that would bring the maid running, save for the supply cart. He had briefly considered using that itself, but the carpet provided too much traction for rolling it into a wall and it was too large to overturn on his own. Nothing was available to throw around, which meant he'd have to go with what they had planned in the first place.

Frank leaned over the supply cart blocking the door and knocked firmly, slicking back his hair and tucking in his shirt as he waited. He listened as the woman made her way to the door slowly and opened it. As soon as she made eye contact, he launched into his act.

"Um, hi," he said, biting his lip with a nervous smile and aiming for a self-deprecating tone. "I just saw your cart here, and I was wondering if you could possibly do me a huge favour and open my door for me," he said, glancing down at her name tag before rushing on. "The thing is, Samantha, I was supposed to meet my wife at the room. She's got our key card, and I've left mine inside the room. I've already been waiting for 25 minutes and she said she would be up in 10, and I really need to use the washroom. But, I don't want to go down to the lobby and miss her on her way up. So I'm kind of stuck right now, and if you could help me out I would owe you big time," he finished with a pleading look and a slight squirm for good measure.

In his experience, making people feel bad for you could be a pretty useful tool. Add that in with a long story, and by the time you were done talking all they really wanted you to do was stop and leave them alone. Checking her name tag could help to - it was a reason to believe he might report her for not helping him, or commend her for lending a hand. All he had to do now was wait.

Judging by the quick glance she'd given him going into the room, she had seemed exhausted from a long day of work. Just another person, waiting for their shift to finish so they can go home already. Luckily for Frank, this meant that by the time he'd finished his lines, she just wanted to finish her job in room 404. And the fastest way to do that would be to just let Frank in and get back to work. She didn't disappoint - without more than a word, she moved around her cart and opened the door to 405, watching Frank rush in with a quick 'thanks!' over his shoulder before returning to her clean up of room 404.

Frank knew Nancy hadn't been able to leave from the front door with the maid so close, but he didn't want to risk asking to be let in to a farther room. It would be way too suspicious if the maid wondered why a guy waiting outside one room wanted to be let into another on the opposite side of the floor, and chances are she would just leave him be.

So, in all likelihood Nancy was still inside the room. But now Frank planned on making his way over the balcony and giving her a hand. He knew Nancy wouldn't have sat around while he'd kept the maid occupied, and he'd bet money that she had made her way out to the balcony to ensure she wouldn't be found inside, just waiting to find a safe way across.

As it turned out, Frank was mostly right. Nancy had left the room while he was occupied, and she had made her way onto the balcony. But she had also decided not to wait, it seemed, as she was already halfway over the railing balanced precariously with one leg on the ledge. Not wanting to startle her, he whispered her name and gestured to wait for him to help. She smiled upon seeing him, a sight that filled him with warmth in the cold night, but continued on her way. Sighing, Frank decided not to push it - she was already doing well herself and until she hit the halfway point there was no way to reach her anyway.

He leaned over the railing anyway, arm outstretched and hand at the ready to grasp her once she came within reach. Accepting his hand, Nancy ever so carefully moved along the ledge and let out a breath of relief when she made it to the railing. Wrapping his arms around her, Frank helped lift her onto the balcony's floor.

Nancy had planned on making the way across herself, but she was relieved that Frank had made it before she'd gotten too far away from the railings. Ice covered the stone on the ledge, and a biting wind blew through the sky. Slipping here would be undoubtedly fatal.

As he gently set her down on the balcony ground, she found herself subconsciously snuggling into his muscular arms, holding onto his waist for support. Nancy realized she didn't want to let go of him as they stood wrapped together on the balcony. She looked up and met his eyes, blue to brown, and lost her train of thought. Hearing a door slam shut in the distance broke her out of her reverie. Nancy was mortified at having clung to him like that, and she quickly let go of him. Almost immediately regretting her decision as the cold surrounded her once more, she hurried into the warm building followed closely by Frank.

AaA

Frank stood in the elevator, thinking back to what had happened on the balcony. They had been standing there, holding each other and staring into each other's eyes like something... well, something a lot more than friends. Her deep blue eyes made him lose track of time until the faint sound of a door slamming shut broke the trance. Feeling her grip on him loosen, he immediately stepped back and dropped his eyes to the floor. Good going, Hardy, he berated himself, wondering what Nancy was thinking as he followed her to the elevator.

What am I even thinking? Frank wondered with alarm. Since the day we met, I've admired and respected her, but since then... I've always avoided thinking of her like that because of Ned. And as far as I know, they're still together, meaning I've got no chance anyway. But do I want one?

Judging by the amount he'd enjoyed holding her on that balcony, he had a feeling the answer was a definite yes. He would have to think about this for a while before doing anything rash - above all, he wouldn't sacrifice their friendship for a crush. He promptly decided that for now, he would push it to the back of his mind. There was a bigger issue at hand at the moment: someone on this resort was a saboteur and possibly a murderer. His first priority should be to find and stop them.

"You know, it's a shame we didn't even find anything after all that effort," he commented conversationally. "I guess the police were very thorough in their search." Without a lead, they didn't have a great chance of finding out what was going on or figuring out if the murder was connected to the sabotage.

"Oh!" Nancy exclaimed, drawn out of her thoughts. "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot about why I even went in there! I found out two things: first, the victim's name is Jake Haines. Secondly, I found this." Frank startled as she suddenly reached down the front of her shirt and brought out a small envelope. Nancy hid a smile as a blush creeped up Frank's neck while he coughed, but the reminder of the clue brought it to the focus of her attention. "I couldn't reach my pockets," she said as explanation while she examined the envelope carefully in the light.

"Where did you find that?" asked Frank, focusing on the envelope instead. "Is there anything inside?"

"Um..." Nancy opened the flap and pulled a small scrap of paper, torn on one side, out of it. "Yeah. I guess there is. But I have no idea what it says."

"Can I see it?" Frank asked curiously. Nancy obliged at once, and handed over the small piece of paper. It was blank on one side and the other simply had six strange symbols written on it, each one a partial square, some with a dot in their corner.

Frank studied it curiously. "AOLFFL? NOLFFL?" he said, trying to form letters from the shapes in the same way you would read block letters. Sadly, he didn't think it would be that easy to understand. "I'm going to go ahead and assume those aren't meant to be letters, which means it's got to be encoded somehow. Do you recognize the cipher?"

"No, although it looks familiar. I feel like I've used something similar for a case once, but we can ask George once we get back. I have a feeling she'll be able to shed some light on the matter," Nancy said as they made their way through the snow to the lodge. "By the way, it's been just about half an hour, although it feels like much longer, so Bess and Joe are probably back by now."

The two hurried through the doors, stomping off the snow from their shoes. Making their way to where they had left George, they caught sight of their friends sitting around a table laden with trays and plates brought by Bess and Joe. If nothing else, both blonds definitely shared a love for good food. George waved them over and they sat down opposite each other.

"So, Frank, George tells us that you guys suddenly got this burning passion to go 'investigate' a hotel room and you left the caf running. Anything you want to tell us?" Joe smirked, a twinkle in his sky blue eyes that caused both sleuths in question to blush slightly. Nancy knew Joe was just joking but her mind jumped to the thought of Frank's strong arms around her again, his warmth surrounding her in the cold.

"Save the jokes for later, Joe," Bess said playfully. "C'mon, guys, we want to hear about your adventure. And is that a dust bunny in your hair, Nan? What did you guys get up to?"

Frank insisted Nancy did most of the explaining as her story was much more interesting than his by far, and so she gave a brief recap of what had transpired in the hotel room during most of the 30 minutes. Taking the envelope out again, the paper was passed around from person to person to see what they thought of the strange message.

Joe reached the same conclusion as Frank and Nancy, and like them, didn't recognize what code was being used. Bess merely shrugged and passed the paper on after giving it a glance, but George paused in thought and cocked her head, squinting her eyes slightly. "A code, huh? This actually looks pretty familiar. Do you guys mind if I hang onto this for a while? I might be able to figure it out after I do some research." No one had any objections, so George tucked the paper away safely and vowed to figure it out as soon as possible.

They continued to eat, chatting lightly about what they'd been up to since they'd last seen each other. Soon, their conversation moved to skiing and who was better at it between the brothers.

"Please. The only reason you never wipe out is because you've never done anything harder than a beginner slope," Joe quipped.

"First of all, that's totally untrue. You always drag me along with you when you feel like showing off to girls on the expert slopes, and I get by just fine, thank you very much," Frank replied with a pointed look. "And I think it would be an appropriate time to mention that on that one case, it wasn't me that broke their leg and almost let the killer get away."

"Ooh, ouch," Nancy said with an exaggerated wince.

"One case. That happened on one case," Joe pouted, to everyone's amusement.

"Don't worry, Joe," Bess said smiling sweetly. "Me and George totally believe in you."

Joe put on a wounded face, recognizing sarcasm as easily as he used it.

George snorted. "I hope you don't think she's being serious. I bet even Bess could take you."

"And what does that mean, Ms. Fayne?" Bess replied haughtily, the smile on her face ruining her attempt at anger.

"How about this, guys?" Nancy interrupted. "We have a few hours before the slopes close and we were planning on going skiing together anyway. Why not now?"

"I'll second that. Besides, there's no way I'm letting my little brother show me up," Frank said with a snort. The five reached a consensus quickly and they quickly finished eating, then put away their trays.

As the five headed to the slopes, armed with gear from the rental shop, Joe leaned in to Bess and whispered, "And so Step 1 begins."

A/N: So I'm guessing most people won't really care anyway, but the paper has an actual message on it and I always hate when I can't visualize something I read. I don't really know how to describe these symbols in words either, so I updated the story cover to include the six symbols at the bottom. Just in case you were wondering :P