Chapter One Several months later.

Carson Drew glanced over at his daughter, who was leaning back in the passenger seat, dozing, before turning off the freeway.

"This isn't the way home," Nancy muttered, not even bothering to lift her head up from the head rest.

Carson chuckled, "You're right, this isn't the way home, how did you know?"

"The cows," Nancy slurred, flicking her hand absently towards the open window. Sure enough they were driving past a cow pasture.

Carson flashed her a smile, "No wonder you are such a good detective, you know exactly where you're at even no matter what."

Nancy didn't respond, and Carson wasn't sure if she was even awake anymore, but he kept talking, trying to get a response out of her, "Well, it's about lunch time, and if you are anything like your old man, you probably can't wait to eat something that isn't hospital food. So, I figured we can stop and eat at Lilac's Inn, we can get pie, and gain back some of that weight that you lossed."

"I don't want to go to Lilac's Inn," Nancy muttered, "I don't want pie, I just want to go home. Home with Togo and Hannah and Mr. WoggleWoggles."

"We are headed home," Carson insisted, "I just think that we should grab some lunch first. Lilac Inn is one of your favorite places to eat, and Emily still gives you free pie."

"Pass."

Carson sighed, looking at his daughter with concern on his face, "Nancy, I know that… a lot has happened to you the past few months, but you can't just lock yourself up in your room all the time. You need to get out there. Show the world that can-do spirit of yours. Prove to them that nothing can stop you."

"That's easy for you to say," Nancy snapped, "You aren't the one who just spent three months in the hospital relearning how to walk. You aren't the one who aren't going to be able to read, or look at clues, or chase suspects ever again. Face it Dad! My life is over!"

"Nancy," Carson sighed, "It's not the end of the world."

"I'm a detective Dad, that was the one thing I ever wanted to do, the one thing that I was good at. Now, now, I can't do it, I can't solve cases without my eyes."

"Look, this is still new to you, maybe you can figure something out, adapt," Carson insisted, "You are so talented, you'll figure something out."

"All I've ever wanted to do was solve cases," Nancy pointed out, "But I can't do that without my eyes."

"I don't know," Carson said, "Look you know that I don't always encourage your pursuits in solving crimes, but look…"

Nancy growled, "I can't look, remember, I'm blind."

"You were able to tell that we weren't headed to the house simply because of the smell of the cows, you still have the rest of your senses. As much as I would rather you stay home with me, if you want to continue solving cases, I'm sure that you can figure out a way."

"Whoop dee do," Nancy exclaimed sarcastically, "I know what a cow smells like."

"Nancy."

"Look Dad, I know you are trying to cheer me up, but it's not working. There's no way I can solve cases like this. I guess that I'll have to call Frank and Joe and tell them I can't take them up on the offer. You know I was going to, before this."

"I know," Carson sighed, "We'll figure things out, you'll see."

"I doubt it," Nancy muttered, "Everything's gone wrong. One moment I was at the top of the world, another case under my belt, I had a good, paying job offer, I was looking at apartments, now… Now I don't know who I am anymore."

"Well, I do," Carson insisted, "You are Nancy Katherine Drew, my brilliant daughter, who always finds a way out of tough situations, who I love no matter what."

Nancy trailed off allowing them to drive in silence for about a minute before she found, "Dad, I told you, I don't want to go to Lilac Inn!"

Carson grimaced as he pulled into the Inn's parking lot, "Well, I thought it would be fun to pick up a cherry pie to take home. What do you think?"

"Yeah, okay," Nancy sighed.

"Great," Carson said, parking the car, "You're coming in with me."

"What! Dad, I told you, I don't want to go in."

"Nancy, it's illegal to leave your child in the car, especially in the middle of summer."

"I'm not a child," Nancy pointed out, "I'm almost nineteen, Mom was a full fledged spy by the time she was my age."

"Your mother hadn't just spent three months in the hospital nor was she…" Carson quickly closed his mouth.

"She wasn't what, Dad? She wasn't blind? You just told me that I could do anything I set my mind on. Well, I've decided that I'm staying in the car!"

Carson raised an eyebrow, giving her a look that he had used multiple times with her growing up to get her to go along with him when she was little.

"I'm blind," Nancy suddenly announced, "The Look can't work on me anymore."

"How'd you know that I was giving you The Look?"

"We're having an argument, you want me to do something I don't want to do, that is when you pull out the look. So… obviously that is what you are doing."

"You're right, I am giving you The Look," Carson insisted, "You don't have to come in if you don't want to. They have a nice porch with benches out front, you can sit on one of them while I buy the pie, but you are not sitting in the car by yourself."

"You didn't park next to the inn," Nancy announced, "I don't want to have to walk across the parking lot, with cars driving back and forth, and I can't see them."

"How do you know that we aren't parked in front of the building?"

"I can hear cars driving slowly behind us, it's around Noon, you told me that earlier, that it was lunch time, therefore it is time for the lunch rush. Not only that, I know that Lilac Inn faces the road. The turns you took into the parking lot and parking were all wrong to line us up with the front of the Inn."

"Nancy Drew with that kind of deduction power, I'd be surprised if you haven't solved cases with your eyes shut before. You know exactly where you are."

"That's because I've been here a thousand times," Nancy insisted, "In a new place, I'll be lost."

Carson frowned, she had a good point, and it wasn't like he really wanted her to go off and solve mysteries, but she needed to know that this wasn't the end of the world, and her world had been solving mysteries. He pulled out of the parking spot and moved the car to a handicap spot next to the restaurant.

"This better?" he asked, pulling out a handicap sign from where he had placed it in the console, hanging it up on the rearview mirror.

"I guess," Nancy muttered, shaking her head slightly.

"Good," Carson said, unbuckling, "I'll help you, just sit still."

"I can do it myself," Nancy growled, fumbling beside her until she could find the button to free her from the seatbelt, "See?"

Carson smiled softly, glad to see a little bit of his daughter's independent spirit shining through again, "Okay," he said softly, "Then let's see you do it."

Nancy felt along the car door, until she finally found the handle. Getting out was easy once she opened the door. Soon she was standing next to her father's car, a white cane clutched uncertainty in her hand

"Just a short stop, right?" she asked, as she took a couple of steps away from the car, meeting up with her father who took her free hand and tucked it just above his elbow.

"That's right, you need to get used to being up and about again," Carson insisted, guiding her carefully to a padded bench out on the porch of the restaurant, "There you go," he said, "I'll just step in and grab a pie."

"What's the special today?" Nancy asked, gesturing to where there was a large blackboard sign.

"You know where the special board is?" he asked.

Nancy shrugged, "I told you before, it's just cause I know where everything is here. We've been coming here since I was little."

"True, but why do you care? You don't want to stop for lunch?"

"Curiosity killed the cat," Nancy confessed, "It's frustrating, knowing that there's something right in front of me, and not knowing what it is, or in this case, what it says."

"Well, we can't have that now can we," Carson offered, "It's fried chicken today."

"Really?" Nancy asked, "Or are you just saying that because you know that that's my favorite?"

"Really," Carson insisted, "You want to have lunch here? You don't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to."

"How busy is it?" Nancy asked, "I…"

"I'll ask."

…

"I'm so glad that you are out of the hospital, Nancy," Emily stated, leading Nancy and her father to a small table in the back corner, "Your father told me that you would prefer a table out of the way."

"Yeah, thanks," Nancy said, allowing her father to guide her into a seat.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Emily asked.

"I'll have a coffee," Carson stated, "Nan what do you want."

"Um, how about a lemonade."

"Great, what flavor?"

"Just regular."

"Do you know what you're having?" Carson asked as Emily disappeared.

"The special," Nancy said, with a shrug.

"I'm glad you changed your mind about coming here," he said, "They have raspberry pie in."

"Yeah," Nancy muttered softly, shifting slightly in her chair, there was a voice, a female voice that sounded familiar.

"...place is so romantic…" it was saying. Was that Bess, or George, no it wasn't one of them. Was it Deirdre?

Emily returned then with their drinks, "Are you ready to order."

"Yes, I believe we are," Carson insisted, "Nan?" he called out, noticing the look on her face, as if she was trying to figure out something.

"Is anyone from high school here?" Nancy asked, "I thought I recognized someone's voice."

"No… no one's here from high school, why?"

"Thought I recognized a voice," Nancy confessed, "And it's not like I can see anything, so I thought I'll ask."

"Well what can I get you?"

Both Carson and Nancy placed their orders, "You know, I won't be able to just go to random restaurants anymore. The only reason I knew what to order was because I have this places menu pretty much memorized. I wouldn't be able to go anywhere without someone with me, I can't drive."

"We'll figure something out Nancy, just take it one day at a time."