A/N: BIG thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter (and waited so patiently for it). I so appreciate it…so thank you, thank you, thank you! To prove how much I appreciate it…here's another chapter and so soon after the last! GASP! :) Enjoy!

Quintessential Bliss

Chapter 24

Nancy felt as if she had been traveling for days and been without sleep even longer than that and yet her brain was running a thousand miles a minute. For right now however, she wasn't responsible for anything except to sit in the car while Joe drove. She willed herself to relax, willed herself to let the tension leak out of her chest.

She looked at Joe from the backseat and noticed the way his hands gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles white and the muscle in his neck strained. She watched as Vanessa slowly reached over and pried one of his hands off the steering wheel and brought it down to rest in hers. The gesture had tears coming to Nancy's eyes and the pain of missing Frank was so acute she could barely breathe.

When they reached the hospital Nancy climbed out of the car with wooden legs. She stretched her back and looked up at the night sky. What time was it, very late or extremely early? She didn't know anymore nor did she really care.

They found Frank's room number and made their way to floor 3, Intensive Care. They found Laura standing in the hallway under the dim lights. "Joe," she smiled when she saw her son and gave him a big hug. "How was the flight?"

"Long," Joe replied gruffly. "How is he?"

"They've already started testing," Laura replied. "They drew blood and…and…" she threw up her hands.
"I actually don't know what they've done. Fenton and I were just told to wait out here and they wheeled in a big machine. That was about an hour ago."

"Where's Dad?" Joe asked.

"He's getting us some coffee," Laura replied.

"I'll go and find him," Vanessa offered, "Tell him to add three more to that order." She leaned up and kissed Joe quickly on the cheek before heading back down the hallway toward the elevators.

Five minutes later the door to Frank's room opened and two technicians rolled a large machine out of the room followed by Frank's doctor who was so preoccupied looking at his clipboard that he walked straight past the family and down the hall.

Laura looked after him in surprise and Joe immediately followed, demanding answers. It was then that Nancy heard something from Frank's room and she quickly rushed inside, followed by Laura.

Frank's eyes were open but unfocused, "Am I home?" he whispered when he saw Laura approach his bed.

"Yes honey, you're in New York," Laura replied and picked up her son's hand and he winced. "What is it Frank, are you in pain?"

"It hurts…when people touch me. My skin…" Frank groaned and shifted. "Even the blanket…hurts. But I'm cold."

Laura removed her hand from her son's even though it was so hard to break the connection. Frank looked over at Nancy. "Nancy?"

"Hey," Nancy smiled down at Frank but was careful not to touch him. She lifted a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear and she watched his eyes follow the movement, his eyes fixed on her ring finger.

Frank's eyes filled with a new kind of pain now and he whispered, "Congratulations, he's a lucky guy."

Nancy laughed and nodded, "He sure is."

Frank was silent for a minute, "I love that you're here Nan, but why are you here?"

Nancy's breath caught in her throat, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"We haven't talked in five years," Frank replied. "I thought…I thought you didn't want to hear from me again." When he finished he got a troubled and confused look in his eye, as if he didn't understand what he was saying.

Nancy was silent as she stared at him in disbelief. She stood up slowly and felt numb, numb all over. Frank didn't remember their relationship? Frank didn't remember their time together, everything they'd been through together? He didn't remember asking her to move in…that they were engaged to be married? The tears burned so hotly in her throat she could barely stand it.

"Nan?" Frank asked in confusion, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Nancy managed. "I'm a little thirsty actually. I'm just…if you don't mind…" she smiled at Laura desperately and she hastily retreated from the room. "I…" her voice trailed off before she turned and dashed out of the room.

She walked down the hall blindly and ran straight into Fenton carrying two cups of coffee. The coffee spilled everywhere, the hot liquid burning her arm but she barely felt it. Frank could be dying and he didn't remember anything about their life together.

The rational part of her brain told her to calm down, told her that the important thing was to stay calm for Frank's sake but the part of her that was tired and hungry and sleep deprived was panicking inside. The part of her that had held on this long had been able to with the knowledge that no matter what happened, she and Frank would deal with it…together. How could they do that if Frank couldn't remember them being together?

She became aware suddenly of someone gripping her shoulders and shaking her, "Nancy, are you alright? What's going on?" Fenton's concerned face finally registered.

"I…" she looked over Fenton's shoulder at Joe and Vanessa before looking back at Fenton. Frank looked so much like his father. "Frank…doesn't remember me."

"Oh Nancy," Fenton hung his head.

"Did you…know?" Nancy whispered.

"Yes, I had a suspicion…things he said, on the plane." Fenton looked up at her. "Nancy, everything is going to be okay. He'll get his memory back."

When Nancy didn't say anything Joe stepped forward, "Nan, your arm looks badly burned. Let's take a look at it."

Nancy wrenched her arms out of their grasp, "Frank calls me Nan."

"Come on," Vanessa stepped forward now. "Let's go get you something cool to put on your arm."

"I'm okay," Nancy took two steps away from them. "I'm fine. I'm okay." She looked down at the coffee on the floor. "Let me find someone to clean that up and I'll get some more coffee. I'm sorry I spilled it."

"I'll go with you," Vanessa offered.

"No," Nancy replied quickly and felt the hysteria bubbling up again inside her. She had to make her escape and fast. "No, I've got it. I'm fine." She turned and rushed through the doors of Intensive Care and rushed toward the elevator. She punched the down button repeatedly, willing the elevator to come quickly.

When it didn't she headed for the stairs and started to jog down them, her vision getting blurrier and blurrier as the tears she had been trying to hold back came on their own. She reached the ground level and burst through the main doors, heedless of the concerned looks of the other patients and visitors around her.

She needed out. Her chest was tight and she was breathing heavily, the tears falling freely down her face now.

"Nancy!" Bess called when she saw her friend stumbling out of the hospital. It had begun to snow and Nancy wasn't wearing a jacket. Bess looked up at Chet in concern before taking after her friend. "Nancy!" she rushed after her and grabbed her arm.

"Bess?" Nancy's face was streaked with tears.

"Nancy, what's going on? Is Frank…?" Bess couldn't finish the sentence.

"No," Nancy gulped. "Frank…he doesn't remember me, us. Frank could die and he doesn't remember."

"Oh Nancy," Bess pulled her friend into her arms as Nancy began to sob.

"Bess, please…I'm falling apart. I can't be here," Nancy cried.

"Of course honey," Bess soothed and stroked Nancy's hair. She looked over at Chet. "Chet, your keys."

Chet pulled them out of his pocket and shrugged out of his jacket. He placed the jacket around Nancy's shaking shoulders and handed Bess the keys to his truck. "We'll be right back," Bess said.

"Of course," Chet replied and kissed Bess on the forehead before walking into the hospital.

Bess didn't know where to go. She'd been to New York before but she wasn't so familiar with it that she knew where she and Nancy could go. She settled on just driving endlessly and ended up on the freeway heading nowhere. Nancy had been silent for a long time now and Bess kept throwing her worried glances. She knew her friend however and knew that when Nancy was ready to talk, she would.

"You can turn around now Bess," Nancy said quietly. "Let's go back."

"Okay," Bess replied and got off at the next exit and quickly found the onramp that would send them back in the direction of the hospital.

"How are we on gas?" Nancy's voice was hollow.

"We're fine," Bess replied. "Nancy…do you want to talk."

"I'm fine," Nancy replied and sat up straighter. "Whose truck is this?"

She must have really been out of it not to notice Chet and the fact that she was wearing his jacket, Bess thought. "It's Chet's. You're wearing his jacket."

"Oh," Nancy looked down at the jacket as if noticing it for the first time. "It smells like him. Like the farm and leather."

Bess smiled because it was so accurate. "Nancy, I know Frank is going to be just fine."

Nancy turned to look at Bess with blank eyes, "You're the first one to say that."

Bess shrugged, "It's true."

"How do you know?" Nancy asked.

"Because he's Frank Hardy and he loves you Nan, even if he doesn't remember that right now, Frank would never leave you like this," Bess replied confidently.

"I fell apart," Nancy said after a few moments. "I've never done that before."

"And you did it big too," Bess replied. "That's my friend Nancy Drew everyone. Leave it to her to never have a panic attack in her life and when she does it's a doozy."

Nancy laughed hollowly and stared at her hands, "I shouldn't have left."

"Everyone needs a break," Bess shrugged. "And you're going back aren't you?"

"This isn't about me," Nancy replied. "It was selfish."

Bess rolled her eyes, "Yeah, how selfish of you Nancy. How dare you crack after being awake for God knows how long with as much pressure and worry you've had on your plate? You mean to tell me you're not Wonder Woman?" When Nancy didn't reply Bess continued, "You are allowed to fall apart Nancy."

Nancy shrugged, "Maybe. But I'm okay now. I just want to get back to Frank."

Bess looked at her friend in concern, "That's our next stop." Bess wished for even a small piece of good news, anything that would help her friend and lift her spirits. She could all but see Nancy building the walls around herself, to keep people out and allow herself to lie about how she was doing. Even though Bess already knew what the answer was going to be she asked anyway, "Nancy, how are you...really?"

Nancy turned and smiled tightly, "I'm fine."

"What are you doing here?" Joe said in a steely voice as the Gray Man walked up to him and his father in the hallway.

The Gray Man ignored Joe and turned to Fenton, "We need to transfer your son to our government hospital where we are better equipped to test the toxin in your son's body."

"Where have you been?" Joe demanded.

This time the Gray Man turned to Joe, "We've been a little busy."

"A little busy," Joe threw up his hands and walked away.

"Your son will be provided for, our facilities are better suited for his needs," the Gray Man didn't bat an eye as he turned back to Fenton Hardy.

Fenton nodded, "I know."

"We need to move him as soon as possible," the Gray Man responded.

"Is it safe to move him so soon?" Fenton asked.

"That's why I brought Agent Frederick," the Gray Man turned and motioned a nondescript man forward. "He will evaluate your son."

"Mom," Frank whispered. "What was wrong with Nancy?"

Laura didn't know how to respond, what did she say to her son? Did she lie and tell him she didn't know? Did she risk upsetting him and possibly doing more harm by telling him the truth? "Honey," she started slowly, hoping something would guide her in the right direction, "What year do you think it is?"

Frank answered immediately, "2008." Laura closed her eyes. "What? Mom, what is it?"

"Honey, its December…2009," Laura watched as her son's eyes filled with horror.

"It…what?" Frank tried to sit up but it hurt too much. He closed his eyes and thought hard through the haze of medication pressing on his brain. "I…I know that. Or…" his brows furrowed in concentration. "I think I do…" He sighed in frustration. "I…it's Christmas time, right?"

"Yes honey, Christmas is in a week," Laura replied.

"I can't remember anything else," Frank replied and looked at his mom in horror, "Mom, I can't remember anything else."

"Its okay honey," Laura soothed and wanted desperately to hold her son. "You will soon, just as soon as we find out how to cure you."