A/N: Not having a computer is really cramping my style, so SO sorry for the long wait between updates. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing…as I always say (but it's never untrue) I really appreciate hearing your thoughts! Enjoy!

Quintessential Bliss

Chapter Six

Frank was frustrated.

He was sitting in the Chief of Police's office with the beginnings of a nasty headache forming behind his eyes. Lack of sleep and frustration were acting as quick fuel for the pounding in his temples. "Sir, you have to admit that the circumstances surrounding Charlie MacGregor's disappearance are suspicious," Frank leaned forward in his chair.

Frank had already been to the hospital earlier in the morning, only to learn that the people he needed to talk to wouldn't be on shift again until the following evening.

"Well now Mr. Hardy, I don't have to admit any such thing," the Chief said slowly. "Now, if Mr. MacGregor went on a little man's weekend without telling his lady then that's his prerogative. I can't be sending my men out looking for someone who seems to be on vacation."

"That's just the thing," Frank said quickly, "Callie hasn't heard from him since that night. He hasn't called her or anything. That's not like him at all. Does that sound like any man that you know?"

The Chief sat back and studied Frank, "No, it doesn't," he replied honestly. "But the fact remains that Mr. MacGregor signed himself out of the hospital and there are several witnesses that state he left under his own power and appeared to be under no duress."

Frank sighed in frustration, "Then there's nothing you're willing to do?"

"I'll tell you what. If Mr. MacGregor still hasn't made contact within twenty-four hours, call me and I'll see what I can do." He held up a hand when Frank began to say something, "In any missing person's case I'd have to wait twenty-four hours, this is more than I should be doing."

"Fine," Frank reached out and shook hands with the Chief. "Thank you for your help."

"Call if you need me," the Chief followed Frank to his door and escorted him out.

Frank wound his way through the precinct, deep in thought. "Hey," a detective stood up from his desk, "I'll walk you out."

"It's okay, I know the way," Frank replied absentmindedly.

"Still, I'll walk you out," the detective insisted. Frank shrugged and let the man lead the way. When they were standing outside on the sidewalk the man reached into his jacket and pulled out a cigarette and lighter. He offered one to Frank but he shook his head no. "Good for you," the man said as he lit the cigarette, "these things will kill you faster than a bad marriage."

"Detective," Frank said starting to get annoyed, "what do you need?"

The man blew smoke and looked at Frank through narrowed eyes, "You were asking about Charlie MacGregor, that man that disappeared? He lives in the Ananda community?"

"Yes," Frank said and his attention was immediately grabbed.

"The Chief put you off, didn't he?"

"Yes," Frank replied.

"I thought so," the man took another drag of the cigarette. "Chief doesn't think anything fishy is going on, but I do. There have been a lot of weird cases coming out of that community for the last couple of months. Chief tells me I'm being paranoid."

"Like what kind of cases?" Frank asked.

"Let's not talk about it here," the man crushed out his cigarette. "I'm off duty tomorrow; we can talk about it over lunch. Here's my card," he pulled one out of his wallet and handed it to Frank.

Frank looked at the card, "When and where Mr. Hubbard?"

"One o'clock, Ruby's on the corner of 6th and Roosevelt," he turned to go back into the precinct. "And watch yourself, that neighborhood is messed up. Do you know what Ananda means, the name of that community?"

"What?" Frank asked as he tucked the man's card in his wallet.

"It's a Buddhist thing, means pure bliss," he shook his head. "I've seen that neighborhood with its rows of perfect houses and smiling housewives. Ain't nothing blissful about that, in my opinion. More freaky than anything else, see you tomorrow." With that he opened the big glass doors of the precinct and stepped inside.

"Ananda," Nancy read the welcoming sign as she and Joe drove through the front gates of their new community.

"Funny name for a place," Joe observed. "Rolls off the tongue though, doesn't it?"

"It means pure and absolute bliss," Nancy said absently, her mind digging for any information she knew on the term.

"Huh? How do you know that?" Joe asked and spared her a quick glance.

Nancy shrugged, "A roommate in college tried the whole Buddhism thing for about six months."

"Interesting," Joe nodded.

"The word ananda means 'bliss' in Sanskrit. Ananda was one of Gautama Buddha's chief attendants and was well revered by Buddha for having such a powerful memory," Nancy recited as they pulled behind a large moving truck.

Joe put the car in park and turned to stare at Nancy open mouthed, "Who knows that kind of stuff?" He held up a hand before she could answer. "Never mind, Frank knows that kind of stuff, which is why you guys are so annoyingly perfect for each other."

"Look who's talking Mr. Vanessa," Nancy said with a smile.

Joe just smiled back and shook his head, "Time to act like you love me, wifey."

"Oh Joe, I don't have to pretend. I love you like a brother," she smiled sweetly and grabbed her purse.

"Yeah, just don't shout that from the rooftops while we're here," Joe suggested as he pulled the keys out of the ignition.

"Deal," Nancy laughed and climbed out of the car.

Frank groaned when he pulled up to Callie's house and saw the flashy sports car parked behind the moving van across the street. "Bet Joe is loving this," he muttered to himself as he climbed out of the car. He walked across the street and paused to inspect Joe's new ride. He had to admit, it was a beautiful machine even if it was a bit too much for his taste. He chuckled when he noticed the speeding ticket on the dash, leave it to Joe.

"Hey," Frank looked up and smiled at Nancy who was standing on the sidewalk and smiling back at him.

"Hello," Frank replied. It was weird not to go to her, pull her in his arms and kiss her like he wanted to so badly. It was harder than he thought it would be to keep himself in check and remind himself that if he kissed Nancy the way he wanted to right now it would be extremely hard to explain.

"I'm Nancy Livingston," she held out a hand and Frank took it, squeezing lightly before letting go.

"Frank Hardy," he replied and grinned. "Welcome to the neighborhood."

"Where do you live?" she asked.

"I actually don't live here; I'm just visiting a friend. Callie Shaw, she lives across the street from you," He pointed at Callie's house.

"Oh yes, Callie. She's in the house right now, helping me get all the stuff put away in the kitchen. She's wonderful," Nancy smiled.

Joe walked up then and smiled widely before wrapping an arm around Nancy's waist. "Hello," he said, still smiling.

For some reason Frank couldn't tear his eyes away from the arm gripping Nancy's waist. He had sudden and very vivid images of himself rushing forward and yanking Nancy away from his brother's grasp. If fists flew well then, so be it. He shook his head to clear out the thoughts. What was wrong with him?

"Mr. Hardy?" Nancy said still smiling, "This is my husband, Joe Livingston."

Frank tried to not to cringe at the word 'husband'. He held out a hand, "Nice to meet you. I was just admiring your car…and the speeding ticket on the dash." He couldn't resist teasing his brother about that.

Joe didn't even look embarrassed he just shrugged, "why have the car if you're not going to drive her like she's meant to be driven?"

"An excellent question darling," Nancy said smiling over at Joe. Frank had to work hard not to gag. Darling? Please, if Nancy ever called him darling he'd find a dark room and hide.

Frank cleared his throat, "Well, do you guys need any help?"

"Sure," Joe said happily. "Follow me. Our movers did most of the work actually but now we just have to set up our personal odds and ends."

Frank followed Joe into the house, Nancy went toward the kitchen and Joe and Frank climbed the stairs and ducked into what looked to be an office. A large mahogany desk dominated the space and the bookshelves were full of books Frank was sure Joe would never see the need to read. Looking at the titles Frank was sure he would never see the need in reading any of them either.

A computer was the only thing that sat on the desk aside from a few boxes. A few more were stacked on the ground. Joe closed the door behind them and turned to face his brother, "I swept this room, it's clean. We can talk freely."

"Nice speeding ticket," was the first thing Frank said.

Joe shrugged, "The Network will pay for it. You know," Joe crossed the room and pulled open a box, "you turned about ten shades of jealous out there when I put my arm around Nancy. You're lucky no one was around."

"No I didn't," Frank said defensively and pulled open a box.

"Sure you didn't," Joe laughed and pulled out files and papers.

"What's your job again?" Frank asked as he pulled out a small trophy.

"Investment banker," Joe visibly shuddered. "Let's not talk about it; I'm pretending it doesn't exist."

Frank held up the trophy and read the inscription. "To The Best Husband Ever. Love, Your Scuttle Bug." Frank passed the trophy to Joe who looked horrified. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"I'm not calling her that," Joe said decisively and put the trophy as high up on one of the shelves as he could manage. "There is no way I'm going to call her that. Nope. No way."

"But what if national security depends on it?" Frank asked innocently.

"Screw national security," Joe replied passionately.

"Dad would be so proud," Frank chuckled and reached back into the box he was unpacking. He paused when he unwrapped a picture frame. The picture had obviously been taken somewhere warm and tropical. It was of Joe and Nancy with their arms wrapped around each other, smiling hugely for the camera. "Well," was all he said as he passed the picture to Joe.

Joe looked at the picture and back at Frank's carefully blank expression. "Yeah," he said suddenly uncomfortable. He placed the picture on the desk, "The Network said we had taken a cruise last year…"

"A cruise? Sounds fun," Frank replied and reached back into the box, telling himself it was ridiculous to feel jealous of his brother over a vacation that had never happened. He pulled out another wrapped picture frame, this time it was of Joe and Nancy, bundled up in thick winter jackets, skis and ski poles in hand.

"Uh," Joe held out a hand for the picture. "We also went on a vacation to Whistler."

"Bet that was loads of fun," Frank said dryly.

"Frank, we didn't actually go to any of these places. You know that right? These are photo shopped pictures," he looked down at the one in his hands. "Really well done photo shopped pictures…but still."

"I know that," Frank said defensively and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Okay," Joe didn't know what else to say. After a few more minutes of awkward silence Frank began going through his box again. After three more pictures of Joe and Nancy in various states of matrimonial bliss, the last of their actual wedding, Frank threw up his hands in frustration.

"I know this is stupid but I can't look at these pictures anymore," Frank walked over to another box. "Isn't one of these stupid boxes full of dusty books nobody would actually read on purpose?" He groaned when inside the box were only more pictures of Nancy and Joe. "Someone in the art department at the Network sure did go a little overboard."

"It must have been my handsome face," Joe tried to joke. "Nobody gets tired of looking at it." Holding up a picture of Joe and Nancy laughing next to the Eiffel Tower Frank shot his brother a dark look. "Except you, apparently."

"I feel stupid," Frank said finally.

"Well, you're acting kind of stupid," Joe agreed.

"Funny," Frank walked across the room and sat down in one of the chairs. "Why am I acting like this?"

"Good question," Joe said and sat down in the chair beside his brother. "You do remember a woman named Vanessa right? Tall, all leg, blonde, love of my life?"

"Yeah, I remember," Frank sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes. "I feel stupid," he said again.

Joe slapped a hand on Frank's back, "That's okay; you always were the unintelligent one." When Frank laughed Joe decided that the drama had passed. "When all of this is over, I have a feeling that you and Nancy are going to go on a cruise." When Frank punched his shoulder, and none too lightly, Joe laughed and got up out of the line of fire. "Or perhaps a little ski trip?" Joe laughed and put the desk between himself and his brother. "I wonder if Nancy has ever laughed under the Eiffel Tower. Oh, wait…" he pointed at the picture of him and Nancy in Paris. "It looks like she has!"

"It's a good thing mom likes having you around," Frank said shaking his head. "Otherwise…" he let the unspoken threat hang in the air.

Joe laughed, "You like having me around too, don't deny it."

"If you say one more word about Paris and the Eiffel Tower, my feelings can be readjusted," Frank said trying to look serious.

Joe held up his hands in surrender, "Understood. Now help me unpack the rest of these boxes so I can get down to doing whatever it is an investment banker does."

Frank rolled his eyes, "This is going to be interesting. When we're finished here, I'll give you a quick lesson in investment banking 101 Mr. Livingston."

Joe sighed in relief, "I was really hoping you would say that."