Author's note: This is an update and a continuation of my 2007 fic s/3768554/1/Arson-and-Lace I couldn't access my old account so I had to start a new one. A few things before you start reading.
1) I have gone through the entire episode and written down all dialogue and scene directions. What I am going to keep and what I'm going to change I haven't decided yet. I am going through the "script" a bit at a time and adding and deleting things as needed. My goal is to get a chapter up a week.
2) I don't have a beta I'm using just editing from word and Grammarly so please forgive me.
3) So even though this is me reworking an episode from the 70's TV show you should know that I'm mixing it with the first Supper Mysteries series. What this means is Nancy and Frank are single for one. Ned clerks for Carson Drew and Callie is Fenton Hardy's secretary. They both have had dates with their respective partners but it never leads to anything serious. The boys and Nancy meet for the first time in Munich Germany when Fenton went missing (Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys meet Dracula 70's TV 2 parter). Laura Hardy is presumed to be dead, Aunt Gertrude has moved in with Fenton to help raise the boys.
4) All episodes of the 70's show are cannon and I am putting season three before season two the first two episodes where Joe's finance is killed are replaced with the first casefiles book where Joe's girlfriend Iola was killed. State Department = The Network.
5) As this is based on the TV show. Frank = Parker Stevenson, Joe=Shaun Cassidy, Nancy = Pamela Sue Martin, Fenton = Ed Gilbert, Carson = William Schallert
6) Lastly it is set in the late 1990s early 2000s for ease of plot.
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"Why didn't anyone tell us," Frank's agitation and ire falling on his father
Joe puts a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Frank you have to calm down.:
"Calm down!" Frank whirls on his brother, "Six months she's been missing, and no one told us!"
Joe was just as frustrated as his brother. The brothers had just come back to the states after being undercover in Italy for the last few months. The worse thing about being undercover was that they had no contact with family and friends. "Frank, no one knew how to get in touch with us. You can't blame dad or anyone else for us not knowing."
"She was missing for two months before we left for that assignment Joe, and Grey Man could have gotten word to us if he needed to." Frank was still upset but he could feel the anger start to drain away a little.
Fenton chose this moment to approach his two sons. He gestures for them to resume their seats. "Frank I'm sorry, but it was what Carson wanted."
Frank looks at his father in disbelief, "But why? Mr. Drew should have known that we would want to help look for her. It doesn't make any sense for him not to have told us she was missing."
Fenton rubs his hands through his hair in frustration, "I don't understand it all myself, Frank. I only got the call about it a little more than a month ago. I tried my best to get in touch with the network but all my contacts with them seem to have dried up."
"Well, that's the network for you," mumbles Joe. "They are never around when you need them." He looks between his father and his brother. Worry is etched on both men's faces. "What can you tell us about what happened to Nancy?"
Fenton gives Joe a relieved look and leans back in his chair. "Well from what Carson told. She had just finished up the case in L.A. The night before she was to fly into New York to meet Carson, Nancy went out to eat. That was the last anyone saw of her."
"When she didn't show up in New York, Carson got worried and had the police look for Nancy at her hotel room. They found all her belongings neatly put away as if she was planning on coming back to that room. They asked about her around the hotel, but no one had seen her in days.
"Without any leads, Nancy's trail soon went cold. If someone had wanted to hold her for ransom or revenge, we would have heard about it. So the police concluded that she must be dead."
Frank holds his right fist in his left hand, "She's not dead." He growls softly.
Fenton looks at his oldest and shakes his head, "Frank, Carson is holding a memorial service for her in a week. I know you just found out, but he's been living this nightmare for six months. If he feels she's dead, then she's dead."
Joe looks over at his father in disbelief, "Don't tell me you think that too? We all know Nancy; she has enough brains to stay alive and wait for a rescue if she couldn't get out herself."
"Look boys, I want her to be alive as much as you do but the fact remains that there have been absolutely no clues whatsoever. Don't you think that if she was alive, she would have attempted to contact anyone?"
Frank had had just about enough of this, "I don't care what the cops or Mr. Drew say. I think she's still alive, and I'm going to find her." He stands up and leaves the room.
Joe looks over at his father, "You know he's going to get involved, right? He's not going to stop till he finds her alive or dead. And god help whoever took her if she's dead."
Fenton shakes his head and looks over at Joe. "There seems to be something here I'm missing. I know that Frank tends to hold his cards close to his chest. But the last time I saw the three of you together, Nancy and Frank seemed fond of one another, but I hadn't thought it had gotten serious."
Joe moves to sit next to his father and lets out a genuine chuckle. "Let me tell you a bit about Frank's technique."
Fenton raises his eyebrow, "Do I want to know?"
"You do if you want to understand what is going on between him and Nancy."
"Ok go on, Joe."
"To understand those two, you need to know why the core personality that both drive each other insane and that they find enduring at the same time. For Frank, it's that Nancy always tries to do everything by herself and doesn't like to have help from who she considers civilians. For Nancy it's Franks chivalry, wanting to help women in particular with the implication that women can't do it themselves.
"This led to the two of them bickering like an old married couple at first," Joe smiled at the memory. "They were always on the same wavelength, probably why they bickered. But when they would put the bickering aside … I don't know how to put it other than they just fit. They would start to finish each other's sentences. One of them would share a piece of evidence and the other would come up with the same conclusion with the same plan without having to talk it out. And then there were the touches."
Fenton raised his eyebrow again, "touches? I really don't want to know."
Joe lets out a small laugh, "I meant more like I would find them mid stake out cuddling or holding hands, and the damndest thing was I don't think either of them even realized they were doing it in the first place. Bess and I have a pool going on who and when the proposal would be." Joe frowns, "or I guess when it would have been."
Fenton runs a hand through his hair, "So how bad is this going to get?"
"Remember how I dealt with losing Iola?" Joe hears his father sigh. "The fact that Frank never told Nancy how he felt, might make this worse."
Fenton suddenly felt old. He never wanted his children to have to go through the heartbreak he did when Laura passed, but Joe had lost Iola a bit over three years ago leading to the boys working for the Network. The Network was an organization dedicated to fighting mostly terrorist groups and stopping assassination attempts, mostly by putting their agents in deep cover.
Now it looked like Frank had lost his other half. "Well then," Fenton starts, "I guess it is up to us to make sure he stays levelheaded. I'll work on Carson; you work on your brother."
Joe gives his father a wry smile, "Sounds like a plan."