Author's Note:

I want to apologize for the delay with this chapter. I thought I was going to get it out much earlier than this but life happens. August is always a busy month for us as it's our anniversary month, my daughter's birthday, and, of course, the beginning of the school year. I have three different school calendars to look at too which is insane plus school shopping and a massive birthday party (which went rather well, I might add). Anyway, I trust that everyone had a great rest of the summer. If mine wasn't so crazy, I would have enjoyed it more! Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter and a special thanks to those who left reviews. I must give you warning about this chapter, it's deep. I'll leave it at that. There are so many things I wanted to include in this chapter but they might pop up in another one...or two. Anyway, I will leave you to it. I hope that you enjoy the chapter and, if you will, please leave a review to let me know what you think! Have a great evening and God bless!

Chapter Twelve

"Get them out of here," ordered McGinnis.

"You'll regret this, McGinnis!" he shouted, struggling with the officers as they handcuffed him. "The mayor will back me up along with half of the town!"

"I'm sure I'm going to be okay, Hartley," the chief shook his head. "The mayor and I have an agreement ourselves. You should be more worried about where you're going since you won't be arraigned until Monday and that's if you're lucky."

The color drained from the man's face as his body went slack. Hartley silently went out of the house, the fight gone from him.

"Do you think he'll get out, Bill?" Carson asked, coming up behind him. He held a large piece of meat to his face that Hannah had given him to help with the swelling from the punch Hartley gave him. Carson knew he was going to have a nice shiner the next day but any coolness to his face did help.

"I'm not sure, Carson," McGinnis sighed. "There's always a possibility that someone will vouch for him or defend him though I don't think anyone will before Monday. The mayor and I are going to have a chat about his relationship with Hartley too before he gets the chance to defend him. I don't like the fact that they became close over the past few years. Makes me wonder sometimes. Even on the slight chance Hartley gets out, I'll put an officer I trust to be with you at all times. We'll also pick up Jackson Daily and get his story in all this. Are you sure you don't need a doctor?"

"I'm fine," the lawyer answer, taking the meat off his face. The chief cringed at the sight though he said nothing. "That bad, huh?"

Owen groaned interrupting their conversation. The man was still on the ground, trying to regain consciousness. He had a bloody nose and a cut above his right eye was bleeding as well.

"Not as bad as him," McGinnis chuckled, watching two officers handcuff Owen before lifting him off the ground, "I don't think he'll give Nancy any problems as long as Frank is around. Not after what just happened."

"Sorry about that," Frank softly replied, stepping forward. Nancy was by his side, her blue eyes watching Owen intently. "But I did warn him."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, son," he smirked. "That was pretty impressive. What I'd like to know is where you learned to do it? I don't recall you being the fighting type from what I heard."

The young man's face burned red for a moment, embarrassed by the attention. "I…I boxed to get through college. It was the only way to pay for bills without calling home."

McGinnis whistled. "You must have been some fighter to be able to do what you did."

"I wouldn't say that," Frank shrugged modestly.

"You think you're tough, Hardy" Owen laughed, his words slurred. "You just caught me off guard. When I get out, you'll be sorry!" He turned his attention to Nancy, his eyes blazing though he swayed slightly. "And don't think I forgot about you, Nancy. You'll regret…"

His words were suddenly interrupted by Nancy who lashed out at him, punching him in the face. Owen stumbled back into the wall, his nose spurting out more blood. The officers let go of the man as he dropped to his knees. Nancy glared at Owen as she stepped toward him.

"Stay away from me and my family, Owen," she spat angrily. "Or next time, I won't be so 'nice.'"

Owen kept his eyes trained on her as he was finally escorted outside. It wasn't until he was gone, when Nancy finally blew out the breath she had been holding the entire time.

"Nice job, Nancy!" cried the chief. "Are you sure you didn't learn any pointers from Frank?"

"I learned from the best," she smirked, glancing at Frank.

"Are you going to be okay?" Hannah asked quietly as she came up beside her.

"Yes, I think so," Nancy replied, rubbing her arms. She wanted to talk to Frank but noticed that he was not speaking in low tones with Chief McGinnis and her father. Sighing, she looked back up at Hannah. "I'm just glad that it's over but I think I'm more upset with myself than with Owen."

"Why is that?"

"Because I let him get away with it," she answered sadly. Nancy could feel the tears coming though she didn't want to let anyone see her strength falter. "I don't understand why I didn't see it coming."

"Oh, honey," Hannah tsked, bringing her close, "what happened with Owen was not your fault. He took advantage of your situation when you were the most vulnerable. You should be mad at me more than anything."

"Hannah?"

"I'm serious, Nancy," she continued. "I should have stopped it a long time ago but your father said you had to be the one to make the decision to leave Owen. He was only trying to protect you since Owen Hartley Sr. had sway over him." Hannah leaned in closer, glancing at Carson. "Between you and me though, I think it's part of the reason why he hired Frank. I just wish that Frank arrived sooner than he did."

"What are you saying?" Nancy stepped back, looking at the woman in surprise. "You think Dad brought Frank in…to save me?"

"Maybe…" Hannah said, shrugging. "Your father wanted to protect you and he had his own way of doing it. I just want you to be happy, Nancy, as does your father but Owen wasn't going to do that."

"I know, Hannah," she replied, bowing her head. "Took me too long to realize it though."

"I'll make some phone calls," Chief McGinnis announced, interrupting their conversation, "just to see what's going on, if anything."

"What's wrong?" Nancy asked as McGinnis went toward the kitchen. Frank headed toward the stairs, determination written on his face. Nancy followed him up the stairs when no one answered her. "Frank? What's going on?

"He's calling Bayport Police," Frank replied, heading down the hall to his room. "What Owen said about Dad and Joe worries me. McGinnis is checking out to make sure everything is good at home."

"Then why aren't you making the phone calls?"

"Because it would be better coming from him," he explained, pulling out a suitcase from the closet. "I don't know if the same people are in the police department in Bayport. Whoever's there may not know me. Besides McGinnis would be better suited to ask the right questions and I've decided to go no matter happens."

"Why make the phone calls at all if you've already decided to go home?" Nancy asked, watching him pack his clothes.

"I need to know what I'm going into, Nan. I can't go in blind and find out later that something happened to Dad and Joe before I even got there."

"Then I'm going with you," she urged. "You need backup especially if no one can help you when you get there."

Frank stopped his task and turned to her. He looked into her eyes, seeing the determination behind them, the pain and fear from earlier gone. "No, I…I can't let you go, Nancy," he finally stated. "Not after what you've been through with Owen. He could have killed you tonight. No, if something is going on in Bayport, the best place for you to be is far away from whoever is looking for me. If anything were to happen…I don't know what I'd do."

"You need me, Frank," Nancy stated, folding her arms across her chest. "I can handle myself. You know that!"

"No, Nancy." Frank unfolded her arms, taking her hands as he gazed into her eyes. "I've already lost my mother and now there's a possibility that Dad and Joe are in danger for something I bought innocently. I…I can't lose you too."

She looked into the depths of his deep, brown eyes, seeing the pain of the past coming back to haunt him. There was an underlying reason for his reluctance of having her come with him but she could only speculate it. Tears began to well in her eyes and Nancy suddenly looked away, hiding the heat coming to her face.

"Please, Frank," she whispered. "I owe it to Joe. I couldn't live with myself if something were to happen to him and I did nothing."

Frank took a step back, letting go of her hands. Thoughts roamed through his head, one of which he felt was farfetched though not completely impossible. The only thing was that it didn't figure in with was the whole Owen situation.

Sensing his thoughts, Nancy took his hand. "I need to show you something."

Fenton could feel Joe sitting behind him, their hands practically handcuffed together. That was about the only thing he could figure out other than the fact that the room they were in was windowless and dark. He could also hear voices coming from the other room recognizing the man who had kidnapped them, Walter Tannen, but Fenton couldn't discern what they were saying.

It was only an hour before that he and Joe were in their office, planning their evening out. It didn't take Tannen and his cronies to get the Hardys settled into the uncomfortable chairs they were currently in. Neither of them knew where they were either due to the hot, burlap sacks that were placed on their heads at the time they were taken. Fenton sighed, realizing these men meant business. Only thing that was confusing was why they were taken if they already knew where Frank was.

Frank. Fenton wished he knew what they wanted with his son. Tannen said something about jewels but Fenton still didn't know what he was talking about. How would Frank have bought anything like that without him knowing it.

"Dad?" Joe mumbled, startling him.

"Yes, Joe?"

"Do you think he was telling the truth about Frank? About where he was?"

Fenton sighed and bowed his head. "Yes, I do. Tannen seemed really confident about it."

"But then that would mean that Nancy knew too."

"When was the last time you actually talked to her?"

"It's been a while," Joe shrugged. "Maybe four months. Every time I got the chance to call her to see how she was doing, she wasn't home. Or the jerk would answer the phone. Even Vanessa has tried calling her but nothing. You don't think she was avoiding me because of Frank, do you?"

"No, I don't think that's the case here, Joe," Fenton replied calmly. "Who knows how long he's been in the Chicago area, if that is where he really is. I still have my qualms about it because of the fact that I think Nancy would have called you about it by now."

"Dad?"

"Yes, Joe?"

"Do you miss him?"

Fenton got quiet, thinking about the words. There was no doubt in his mind that he missed his oldest son but the circumstances they were in, he secretly hoped that Frank would stay away. Their lives weren't worth it after what they did to him. "Yes," Fenton finally croaked out an answer. "There's nothing I wouldn't do to see him or your mother again. I would even turn back time just to stop myself from saying the words I said to him the last time we saw him."

"Do you think he'll come?"

"I don't know, Joe. I don't know." Fenton looked away, not knowing what else to say. The only thing he could do was say a prayer and hope that if Frank really did come home, he'd hurry up.

Nancy silently led Frank outside into the warm evening, the sun still setting. The neighborhood around the Drews' house was very nice, with immaculate lawns and quaint houses. They walked about a block before turning down a road. She stopped on the sidewalk outside a small house with a white picket fence. A small red ball lay forgotten in the yard giving the impression that at least one child lived there. Frank was curious about the house though he said nothing as Nancy continued to stare blankly as if reminiscing a forgotten time.

"This was our house," she finally announced, her voice breaking slightly. Frank followed her gaze to the house where a light blazed in the front window. He could see silhouettes though unsure of who lived there. "Ned and I bought it a few months after we were married. We had dreams of a family one day, after he returned home. At the time, we knew we weren't ready for a child. He was off on deployments for the Army and I had my career. Ned knew my career was important to me but he also didn't want me to be raising a child on my own should something happen to him."

She paused, still staring at the house. Frank could see her struggling to keep her emotions in check. Nancy sniffled, quickly wiping a tear that escaped down her cheek.

"I never thought I'd be living without him, Frank," she confessed. "Ned was everything I ever wanted though I had my own doubts before we were married. There was a time that I felt that I wasn't supposed to be with him, that there was someone else after my heart. I still feel guilty of that after all these years. But then you left…so I felt I was meant to be with Ned. And we were happy. Then the unthinkable happened…"

Three years before…

"I don't think I can do this, Nancy," George replied. She set the potato peeler down and sighed.

"Do what?" Nancy laughed. "Peel potatoes? I just needed a little bit of help to get ready for dinner tonight."

"That's not it. I don't want to leave you. You'll be all alone!"

Nancy laughed again. She stood at the counter near the kitchen table where George sat, preparing the roast that was on the counter. "I'm not going to be alone. I have Dad and Hannah...and Ned...eventually."

"But you won't have any friends around you anymore! I can't leave knowing that. Maybe Burt can get a different job in order for us to stay here."

"Are you sure you want to do that to Burt?" she asked, giving her friend a look. "It's his career on the line. Asking him to either stay in his current job or find something else just to stay in River Heights isn't really fair to him, don't you think?"

"I guess," George sighed. "But what about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Bess already left earlier this year and now I'm leaving. What are you going to do?"

"Ned's coming home soon and I'll be fine."

"Yes, and when was the last time he wrote you?"

Nancy furrowed her eyebrows, thinking about the last time she actually got to see her husband let alone hear from him. "Three months…one week…five days…" she finally said, bowing her head. "But he said he was going to be in an area where he wouldn't be able to get a letter out right away."

"Are you sure he didn't meet some Korean girl and is just letting you down easy?"

"George!" Nancy cried. "You know good and well that he would never do that to me! At least not as long as I was living."

"You can look too, you know."

"George!"

"That Owen guy is cute, the one in your dad's office. He seems to be infatuated with you."

"No, thank you. I'm happily married. Besides, there's something about Owen that seems off. He's too..."

"Perfect?"

"Yes."

"Well, he's not the only one in the sea."

"George, leave it alone!"

"Okay, I'm sorry," George held her hands up defensively. "It was just a thought, that's all."

The two women went back to work on their respective duties. It wasn't long before Nancy sighed, breaking the silence in the room. "I worried though," she said.

"About what, hon?"

"What if…" Nancy sighed, plopping down in the chair next to George. She poked at the peeled potatoes sitting in a pot on the table. "What if he doesn't come home? I mean, I wasn't lying about how long it's been or where he was going. I just thought I would have heard something by now."

"You will, Nan," George said, squeezing her hand. "He's probably writing something right now or maybe making his return home a surprise. You never know."

"I know, but it's the agony of waiting that's the problem." She giggled, blushing slightly as a thought popped into her head. "What I do know is that when Ned does come home, you won't be seeing much of us for the first few days! We'll be spending a lot of time in the bedroom together!"

"Nancy!" her friend cried in mock horror. "The scandal!"

The two burst out laughing just as the doorbell rang. Nancy exchanged a look with George before scrambling to the front of the house. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the unmarked car sitting along the street. Did Ned really come home without telling her?

Nancy's smile stretched brightly across her face as she opened the front door. She expected see the smiling face of her husband but who she saw made her heart drop. Nancy stared at the familiar face, dressed in an Army uniform and leaning on a cane.

"Nancy…" he replied, slowly pulling off his hat.

"Joe?" she croaked, her breathing heavy due to her heart beating fast. Nancy searched his eyes though all she saw was pain and grief.

"I'm sorry, Nan," Joe said sadly, his own voice cracking.

She shook her head, her hands going to her mouth as she cried out. "No!" He stepped forward, catching her as Nancy's knees gave out. She wailed loudly as George rushed in from the other room. The woman exchanged a brief expression with Joe before running back to the kitchen. Seconds later, he heard her voice as she spoke with someone on the phone. All Joe could do was comfort his best friend's wife as she grieved for her husband.

"Joe was in Ned's squad when they went over to Korea in the fall of 1950," Nancy explained sadly. "They became really good friends during the time they were together. It was nearly year later that Ned died."

Frank didn't know what to say. It was hard listening to Nancy talk about the events.

"There was an ambush and Joe was hit in the leg," she continued. "Ned half-carried him out as they retreated…" Nancy bowed her head, her lips quivering. "What Ned didn't tell anyone was that he too was injured, though his injuries were more substantial. Right before they arrived at their rendezvous point, Ned…collapsed. The…the medics couldn't get to them in time and…and he died in Joe's arms." She stopped and turned to Frank, tears streaming down her face. "Joe risked his life to bring Ned home to me."

Frank pulled her to him and held her as she sobbed, reliving the worst day of her life. "Nancy, I'm so sorry," he said apologetically, rubbing her back. "I should have been here…for you and for Joe." He sighed and looked toward the house once more. There times he wished he had stayed home and he wondered what would have happened if he did.

"Now you see why I need to go with you?" Nancy asked, looking up at him. "Joe did a lot for me and even stuck around for a few months after the funeral." She laughed, as she swiped at her face. "He even told Owen to stay away from me. Owen wouldn't even come near me while Joe was here. I guess he didn't get the message and neither did I since we started dating not long after Joe left to go back to Bayport. I don't even know why I gave in to that man."

Frank looked down at her, seeing the pain in her beautiful blue eyes. What he wouldn't give to take that pain away. He closed his eyes to the negative thoughts that suddenly came into his head. When he opened them, he felt a fury rising in him like never before. "We'll deal with this together. I'm not going to let anything happen to you or Dad or Joe. Whoever this guy is who's looking for me, he's going to pay for he's done."