"Well, considering the initials and the phone records, it's a good lead. The last date is... three days before his death." Nancy was grinning at the ledger pages spread out on her bed. Breaking the code hadn't taken long; Joey had been too convinced of his own intelligence.

"Make sure you put your copies in a safe place," Carson said, absently. He was already considering how to use the evidence as part of his defense. "And he doesn't know you found them."

Joey's desk had been a confused jumble of papers; with any luck, if he looked, he'd just believe he had misplaced them. "I'm sure he doesn't, but—" She had been about to finish with "I'll put them back before he can look," but that definitely would have set off her father's sensitive radar.

She heard a knock at the door and raced to answer it. "Someone's there?" Carson asked, sounding wary.

Ned smiled at her from the other side of the door, and she gave a little sigh, turning the deadbolt. "Yeah, it's just— someone," she said, trailing off at the end, remembering what her father had said about hearing Ned's name.

"Your young man," Carson guessed with a chuckle.

Nancy made a face, and Ned raised his eyebrows when he saw it, closing the door behind him. "Anyway. I'll get you copies so you can look over them."

"Thanks, Detective Nancy," he said, and Nancy laughed at hearing the old nickname. "One more mention, and I'll tell Hannah to make a chocolate cake for dessert for our dinner."

"One?" Nancy jumped a little when Ned caught her hand in his. "Dad..." she drawled, leading Ned down the hallway to her bedroom so he could see the spoils of their mission.

"Come on. Humor your father."

After she wished him a good night and tossed her phone onto the bed, Nancy brought out her small high-definition camera and turned her desk lamp on. "So," she began, and when she turned to Ned, she realized he was glancing with obvious interest around her room.

Then she noticed the clothes she had discarded while trying to select tonight's outfit, the tangle of underwear in the laundry hamper, the clutter of makeup and product on her vanity, and despaired a little.

"So this is your bedroom."

"No," she tried to say with a straight face, "it's Bess's. Mine is much cleaner."

"Uh-huh."

She chuckled. quickly snapping photos of the borrowed documents. Ned slipped his arm around her waist, peering at the cramped handwriting.

"And this is evidence?"

She nodded eagerly. "I cracked the code. Five notations with Jack's initials within the week of his death. Not quite sure what the abbreviations mean, but I'll figure it out," she said confidently.

He kissed her temple, and Nancy closed her eyes for a second. Her excitement over the new lead, coupled with the high she felt from Ned's closeness, made her feel almost drunk.

"So tell me you're done for the night, so we can talk over the case," Ned murmured, pulling her into his arms, and with a little sigh she slipped her arms up around his shoulders, shivering when he kissed her.

"You were a natural in there," she murmured, before claiming his lips again. "And you definitely deserve some reward for that—"

"That is exactly what I wanted to hear," Ned murmured, taking a step forward, and the backs of her knees were against her mattress.

Her bed. He was alone with her in her bedroom.

Nancy opened her eyes, her heart in her throat, her fingers tightening against him as he brushed a soft kiss against her earlobe.

They were interrupted by the sound of a key in the door, and both of them glanced at her open bedroom door. "I'm home!" George called, and Nancy heard something thud against the counter.

Nancy was equally disappointed and relieved; Ned's response was far less ambiguous, she could tell by the expression on his face. She smoothed a hand over her hair and took a deep breath before she gathered the papers and walked to the kitchen, Ned trailing along behind her. George glanced up, raised her eyebrows when she saw Ned standing there, and smirked.

Nancy glanced back and noticed that his hair and shirt definitely looked rumpled. Well, she was never going to live that down, was she, not with that half-playful bet between the cousins.

"You two have dinner yet?"

"Dinner, but no dessert," Ned said, and both Ned and George glanced at Nancy, and she made a face.

"Okay, look... let's just act like adults, here," Nancy said, exasperated.

"I think you two have been acting like adults," George pointed out with a grin, rearranging bags of frozen vegetables to jam a carton of ice cream into the freezer.

Nancy made a frustrated sound. "George, I need to ask you a huge favor."

"We've discussed this, Drew. I don't care how hot he is; no threesome."

Nancy was shocked she didn't hear Ned's jaw hit the floor. George's eyes were sparkling; she was clearly enjoying Nancy's immense discomfort.

"Sorry, sorry," George apologized, and she seemed at least vaguely sincere. "Found out I don't have to go in to work tomorrow and I'm ready to do a few shots and make some bad decisions. Just not that one."

"Well—"

Nancy cut Ned off with a raised palm. "Mmmmmm! Shh. Shh. As for you, Miss Fayne... I think our plans dovetail perfectly. You can go check in with Bess and... return these for me."

George idly ran her fingers through her hair as she accepted the papers. "And these are..."

"Uh, stolen from the bar office," Ned said, sliding an arm around Nancy's waist.

It wasn't that they hadn't been affectionate around Nancy's roommates before. It was the fact that they had just been in her room and the mention of a damn threesome, and...

George glanced up. "Sounds like a really dangerous mission," she said, speculatively. "And, since I'm guessing you two burned your bridges there, or else you would handle it yourself..."

Nancy sighed. "Okay. What do you want in return?"

"Give me a minute," George said slowly, tapping her chin. "It's gonna be good, too, Drew."

"What about a ticket to Saturday's game?" Ned mused aloud, his fingertips idly stroking Nancy's side, and both Nancy and George turned to look at him. "One of my clients has a standing offer," he explained.

"That... sounds fair," George said with a grin. "Hey, you're pretty awesome, Nickerson. Maybe that threesome decision was too hasty."

"That's it," Nancy declared, seething, and darted into the living room. She returned with a throw pillow.

Fifteen minutes later, after George had combed her mussed hair and changed into something more appropriate, promising to check in with Bess when she reached the club, she left and Nancy locked the door behind her, blowing the loose strands of hair out of her face with a sigh. Ned was sitting on the couch, his gaze dark when it met hers.

"Do you really have a standing ticket?"

"Mmm-hmm." He smiled. "I just wanted to save you from your misery. And, maybe, kinda claim that favor for myself."

"Those weren't really the rules," she pointed out.

Ned shrugged, standing up. "Well, I got to watch you have a pillow fight with another girl. I'll just let that hold me for a while."

Nancy shook her head, crossing to sit down beside her boyfriend on the couch. "You're incorrigible."

He chuckled. "I seem to remember that we were in the middle of something," he murmured.

"Yeah." She stroked her fingertips down his cheek. "Uh, my dad wants to meet you."

Ned did a double-take. "I'm sorry, what?"

She shook her head apologetically. "Your name just kept coming up, and... yeah. He's really not that scary," she hurried to add.

"Not that scary," Ned repeated skeptically. "I think maybe we have different definitions of what that phrase means."

"I know. And if you... well, I'll talk to him. Tell him to take it easy on you. And I'll sweet-talk Hannah into making some incredible dessert for you."

"And?" he prompted.

"...And?" she repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"And there's nothing else you can think of that might sweeten the deal?" he murmured, moving close to her, stroking his thumb down her cheek. Her gaze went from his lips to his eyes and back again, her lips slightly parted.

"Did you have something specific in mind?" she breathed.

She wasn't sure how much time passed between his wordless reply and his cell phone vibrating with a text message, but when she came back to herself again, panting her breath back, she was leaning back against the arm of the couch, her shirt hiked up a few inches, and her head was still spinning. Ned made a frustrated noise as he dug his cell phone out, glanced at the display, then tossed it onto the coffee table and returned to her.

She threaded her fingers through his hair, meeting his gaze. "So you'll have dinner with me and my dad?"

He brushed the tip of his nose against hers. "Sure," he murmured. "And then maybe if you're feeling up to it... we can find some place more comfortable to do this."

Nancy shivered as Ned planed a soft kiss on her lips, and the sensation sent a thrill straight down her spine. She arched a little and her breasts brushed against his chest and she let out a soft sigh as he kissed the point of her jaw.

It took both of them a moment to realize what the sound was, when the land line began ringing. They let out simultaneous frustrated groans, and Nancy groped behind her, trying to find the phone.

"Hello?"

Nancy was a little out of breath, and expected George to immediately start teasing her. Instead, George sounded worried, almost brusque. "Nan? Look, I think you'd better get down here."

Nancy sat up and raked her hair out of her face, and Ned sat back. "What's wrong?"

"You said for me to check in with Bess—"

"Yeah, she's on until eleven."

"Well, she's not here."

"And the papers?"

"I still have them. There's a guy with a gun standing outside the office, and he really doesn't look happy."