A/N: I have no excuse. But for a sort-of long-winded apology, see my profile. If you're not interested in lame apologies then you're in luck because the next chapter starts...now!

Quintessential Bliss

Chapter 29

When Nancy approached Frank's bedroom that morning, a small part of her, a part she was intensely ashamed of, told her to run in the other direction. You can't take any more. You can't take any more emotional abuse; you can't walk into that room knowing Frank doesn't love you. You just can't. Protect yourself. The side of her that begged for self-preservation urged her to walk away, but the bigger part of her, the part of her that loved Frank with all of her heart wouldn't allow it. She, Nancy Drew, was no coward and the man she loved and wanted to spend the rest of her life with, needed her. She reached for the handle, took a fortifying breath and pushed the hospital door open.

Frank couldn't remember what it was like to live without pain. He couldn't recall a time when he didn't feel this way. He slept in fitful spurts laced with terrifying nightmares of explosions and guns and fire…images from his past. Sometimes, he would find some respite, usually after a nurse injected him full of powerful drugs, but even the drugs couldn't keep the dreams at bay.

His subconscious seemed to tense as sleep came for him, readying for the nightmares that were sure to come. When they didn't come right away, he slowly started to relax, as he dreamed of a beautiful beach with not a soul in sight. For the first time in days he was offered some relief and in his dream he could feel the warm sun on his face, the wind in his hair and the sand under his feet…and it didn't cause him any pain. He smiled when he looked down the beach and saw Nancy walking toward him in a pale yellow sundress. She was beautiful.

"Hi" she said as she approached him and slipped her hand in his. "It's beautiful here, isn't it?" She looked out at the vast ocean in front of them and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Yeah, it is. What a beautiful place to get your vows renewed," Frank wrapped his arm around Nancy's waist.

"Bernie and Mary Anne are so adorable together," Nancy looked up at Frank and smiled. "Do you think we'll be that cute when we're their age?"

His love for Nancy swelled up inside him and he smiled back at her, "Oh yeah. We'll be just as sickeningly in love as we are now. Joe will tease us forever."

Nancy laughed and Frank loved the sound, "You're right, he will."

"I love you Nancy, no matter what, I'll always love you," Frank turned her in his arms and held her close.

"I love you too, Frank."

"Frank?" The image of the warm, sunny beach faded and Frank felt himself coming back to reality and the pain. He would have tried harder to go back to that beach if the voice calling his name didn't make him feel full of hope and happiness. He suddenly knew, without a doubt the man he was and who he loved.

Nancy looked down at Frank and the dreamy expression on his face. She was sure he had said her name when she walked in the door, "Frank?"

He turned his head toward the sound of her voice and opened his mouth, like he was trying to say something. "Frank?" Nancy tried again and pulled up the chair next to his bed.

Frank opened his eyes and smiled at her, halfway between sleep and wakefulness, "Nancy."

"Hi," she smiled at him and set her purse on the table next to his bed, "How are you feeling?"

"It's you," Frank said.

"What?" Nancy wasn't sure what he was talking about. "Yes, it's me, I'm here." She suddenly had the sinking feeling that he was going to ask her to leave again, like he had last night. She stood up abruptly and hastily grabbed her purse. "I'm sorry, you're tired…I'll go…"

"No," Frank said more forcefully than he had been able to in days. He reached out and grabbed her hand, ignoring the pain that coursed through his body at the touch. He gritted his teeth and held on. "It's you," he said again and Nancy held her breath, unsure of what to say. "Nancy, it's you. You're the one. I love you."

He said it with such conviction and emotion Nancy had to sit down. Tears welled up in her eyes and she was completely speechless.

Frank was still holding her hand and he squeezed it lightly. "We stood on a beach, in Hawaii when Bernie and Mary Anne renewed their wedding vows." Frank was suddenly flooded with memories. Memories of the past year, memories of his time with Nancy and he inhaled sharply.

"Frank? Are you alright?" Nancy asked.

"Yes," Frank smiled at her. "We kissed in the snow in the middle of the street. You teased me about the crates I used for furniture in my apartment. I bought the house we kissed in front of and I was so nervous to tell you about it because I thought you'd be mad you didn't get to choose the house yourself. We got engaged, in our house, in our bedroom. God, I love you Nan."

"Come on Joe, answer your damn phone," Vanessa mumbled as she paced the floor of the hospital. Why wasn't he answering his phone? She had been trying him for hours. Not only did they need him to get home ASAP to get tested to see if he was a match for a bone marrow transplant for Frank, but she was worried about him.

"Anything?" Laura Hardy asked as Vanessa hung up her cell phone.

"No," Vanessa sighed. "It just rang and rang and then went to voicemail, like his phone is on silent."

Laura closed her eyes and shook her head. Sometimes she wished for a normal, boring family. A tax accountant husband who would only disappear around tax time and two sons whose biggest worry was maintaining their grades to stay on the high school basketball team. If only.

"It's okay Laura, Joe will call. He never lets us down," Vanessa rubbed the woman's back in reassurance.

"You're right," Laura sighed and smiled at Vanessa. "He never does."

"Mud sucks. Rain sucks. Trees suck. Being cold sucks. This jacket sucks." Joe listed off all of the things he currently hated as he slogged around to the front of the house he had been watching for what seemed like an eternity. He had yet to formulate a plan as to what do next, luckily for him because there had been no movement inside the house for hours. Or he thought it had been hours, he hadn't really checked the time in awhile.

Pulling the sleeve back on his worthless, sopping wet coat Joe groaned when he saw that his watch was gone. There was no telling where he had dropped it in this muddy pit of despair and there was no way he was going to slog around in his already destroyed tennis shoes to look for it. He'd buy another damn watch.

Growling in frustration Joe reached for his cell phone in the pocket of his jeans and flipped it open to check the time, "Whoa" he breathed when he saw that he had missed 17 calls. "Geez Vanessa, I'm fine." He opened the call log and frowned when he saw it wasn't just Vanessa who had been trying to call him. He had missed calls from his mom, dad, Nancy and even Phil. "Uh-oh," he glanced up at the house and started dialing the first missed number on his list, Vanessa.

"Joe!" she cried, her voice sounded relieved when she picked up.

"What happened? How's Frank?" Joe asked immediately.

"Frank is okay, he's the same," Vanessa explained.

"Why have so many people been trying to call me?" Joe asked.

"Phil found the cure!" Vanessa cried with excitement. "Only…not really. I mean, he thinks he knows where it's being kept…but he also found some stuff that will help Frank right now but it won't cure him and he-"

"Wait a second, did he find a cure or not?" Joe couldn't understand his babbling fiancée.

"Oh, I am just no good at this at all! Here, talk to your dad," there was a muffled sound and then Fenton's voice came across the line.

"Hello son."

"Dad, what's going on?" Joe asked.

"We need you to get back as fast as you can," Fenton explained about what Phil had found on bone marrow transplants and how it would significantly reduce the side affects the toxin was having on Frank's body. "Your mother and I have already been tested, as have all of your friends but none of us are a match. They're searching for a donor at the bone marrow center that might be a close enough match to Frank but a match found in a sibling is ideal. Frank is too weak to go through a failed bone marrow transplant."

Joe listened as his father explained the procedure to him and the importance that Frank receives the transplant as soon as possible. He stared back at the house that he knew housed Beatrice, the woman who had caused all of his brother's pain and suffering and he knew that he didn't have any other choice, he would have to walk away and get to his brother as fast as he could.

Leaving Beatrice meant that he would surely lose her but for Joe there was no choice. His brother needed him.

"Dad, I'll be home as soon as I can," he said good-bye and walked away from revenge and toward the older brother he couldn't live without.