Disclaimer: I do not own and am not affiliated with Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or any of the characters associated with them. I also do not own or am affiliated with any pop culture references that I may choose to include.

Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. As always feedback is helpful. I will say I was surprised by some of the reactions as some interpretations were not the way that I was intending to write the characters, but I can see how they can be taken that way, so I'll try to be a bit clearer in the future.

This is the final chapter in Shuffle. I'm really sorry about all of the delays that you had to go through to get here, but thank you to everyone who stuck with it until the end.

Still I know to trust my own true mind

And to say there's a way

Through this

"Hey."

"Hey."

"You're OK?"

"I will be. They'll let me out in a couple of days. You?"

"It takes more than a couple rough hands to hurt me."

"What about Nancy?"

"She'll need some help doing…well, anything for a while, but she'll be fine. She's a little shaken about shooting that guy."

"Good. That's good."

With the awkward start of the conversation out of the way, Joe sat down in the chair next to his brother's hospital bed. Frank had been awake for a while, but had first been occupied by doctors and then their parents. Joe had figured that this conversation was meant to be private, so he had waited a little bit longer. Now that he was there, he was unsure what to say. He had been angry for a while, and now it all seemed rather unfounded, even aside from the near death experience. Joe had long ago come to the conclusion that he wasn't very good at apologies, and he certainly didn't want to mess things up any further.

"So…"

"Joe, you don't have to apologize for being mad at me." Frank cut in, surprising his brother. "We don't keep things from each other, and I did."

Joe shook his head. "Yes I do. That's not why I was mad."

"Then…what?"

"Well it was sort of that," Joe admitted, fighting over his next words in his head a bit, "but it was more me being a…you're my older brother."

"Last time I checked." Frank commented dryly, unsure of where Joe was going with that statement.

"I mean, from the moment that I was born, you've been there. Even when one of us has been kidnapped or…whatever…there was never been a point where I thought that we weren't still going to be there for each other. We were always going to get through it. And between you being at college and me doing my senior year we definitely aren't as close anymore. Then to find out that you've joined the FBI…

"I was counting on working with you someday. Maybe as a PI, maybe as something else but...what can I say? We never spent time apart as kids…I never even thought about what would happen when we actually grew up."

There was a long moment where Frank took in what had been said by his brother. Why Joe had been as upset as he had been had been bothering him, and to hear it explained logically, without the influence of intoxicated confused anger as it had been when Nancy had called, helped him immensely. "First of all, I never meant for us to…not be close. We just had too much work between us to be in touch all the time."

"I know that and I don't blame you for it."

"You don't?"

"The out of touch thing is just as much my fault as it is yours. It would be…stupid to be mad at you for it. I'm just pissed that I didn't realize that the FBI was a possibility for you and that you didn't tell me that it was going to happen."

"Agent Burr gave strict instructions that what we were doing was classified at the time. For everyone."

"Callie knew." Joe pointed out, somewhat bitterly. He was trying, quite hard, not to lose his temper over the Callie situation; he knew, despite the manipulations that Callie had admitted to, that there was a possibility that Frank would have taken the job. Despite whatever he felt on the subject, he knew that he needed to know exactly what the truth was.

"Yeah. I talked to her about it when it was first offered to me." When Joe didn't say anything, Frank sighed. "Go ahead and ask, Joe. I know that you want to know."

"All right. Why did you break classified for her and not your family?"

"This was a life changing decision."

"And…?"

"And when I look at you and mom and dad I see my family and know you'll support me no matter what I choose to do. When I look at Callie…I see someone that I'm seriously considering spending the rest of my life with. And that being the case, I wanted her opinion. She needed to be OK with how I spend my life."

It didn't really make him happy, but the explanation made sense to Joe. He took a deep breath, and looked his brother hard in the eye, very unsure about what the answer to his next question might be. "Would you have taken the FBI's offer without her pushing you to?"

"Honestly? I don't know. I was having a hard time making a decision. But you should know that I don't regret it. I like what I'm doing with them, and I don't know that I'd be happy going back."

"All right." Joe sighed; it certainly wasn't what he wanted to hear but he couldn't argue against it.

"That being said, I am not happy that Callie did what she did. She manipulated me. She had chances to come clean, and she didn't. I'm not OK with the fact that she wasn't honest with me."

"What are you going to do?"

"I need to know what she has to say for herself. And we'll see what happens from there."

"It might be a while until you see her. Mom may or may not have scared her off when she heard about what she did."

"Figures." Frank shook his head, half a smile on his face. Laura Hardy knew the protective mother role extremely well. "I don't suppose you had anything to do with the intimidating, did you?"

Joe shook his head. "I just made sure she knew that apologies had better be coming our way. But that whatever happened past that was up to you."

"That's…highly mature of you Joe."

"I kind of thought so."

"Much more than running away was."

"Well, now that I look back on it that was kind of stupid."

"She's good for you."

Joe raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Nancy." Frank filled in. "Your night of underage drinking aside…she's helped you grow up a lot. The old Joe wouldn't have come in here to have a rational conversation for another couple of weeks. And he certainly would have let Callie have it. You and Nancy…it's a good thing."

"I don't know what you mean. Nancy and I are just friends."

"Hey, maybe I was a bit clueless before but the FBI training does have some benefits. The way the two of you look at each other…you're close."

"Yeah. We're close friends."

"You know, I think that I may have heard that somewhere before. Oh right. I used to say it all the time when you thought she and I had something going."

"So the FBI taught you sarcasm. That's great Frank."

"I'm just saying…"

"I think you need to get some sleep." Joe announced, having none of this particular conversation. He stood, knowing that he really should get going anyways. "You're talking crazy from the exhaustion."

Frank just grinned. "Whatever you say. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sometime in the afternoon. I still have exams to take. The others will be by though."

"All right. I'll see you then."

Joe agreed and started out of the room. He was almost out the door when Frank's voice stopped him.

"Hey Joe?"

"Yeah?"

"We OK?"

Joe nodded, and smiled. "Yeah. We're OK."

Three meals after her hospital visit and Nancy was already looking forward to when at least one of her arms would be healed enough to use on its own. Being able to do absolutely nothing for herself was not only quite the hindrance, but having other people feed her was certainly verging on humiliating. Still, she could think of worse situations to be stuck in. "Not that I'm not glad that you and Frank are on better terms now, but didn't you even think to ask him about this Delphinium business?" She asked after swallowing her last bite of omelet that Joe had been feeding her.

Joe stood, ready to make his own breakfast, now that it wouldn't get cold in the process of helping Nancy with hers. "It didn't really come up, and I doubt he would have taken well to me asking. He's still waiting to hear back from the FBI—what kind of government agency involving violence and the investigation of hardened criminals goes straight to voicemail anyway---and he probably wouldn't want to break classification orders just to satisfy our curiosity as to why we…you…had to kill someone in our house."

"Fair enough." Nancy sighed, not exactly pleased. "Think it will be anything worth all this mess?"

"Well, it's an FBI project so…probably not."

"Your father said that Frank's supervising agent should reach town today."

"How about we leave this until he does show up?" Joe suggested. "I don't think that nefarious plots and conspiracy theories are the best tools to help me pass the rest of my exams." In a phone call with the principal of Bayport High, Joe had arranged to take the exam that he had missed the day before directly after the exams that he had had scheduled for the day. After the extra hour and a half, all that he would have left of high school would be to walk in the graduation ceremony.

"And what would you like to talk about then?" Nancy asked. "Last minute review?"

Joe shook his head. "No. It's best not to think about it at all."

"OK. So…"

"So you'll never believe what Frank did tell me after we straightened things out." Joe sat down with breakfast in hand, and explained the tail end of his conversation with Frank in between bites of his breakfast.

"You have got to be kidding me." Nancy groaned. "Why is it that every time I get to be close friends with a guy someone has to turn it into a torrid love affair? I am so sick of this. No offense to you or anything, but…you would think I go around kissing every single guy I meet or something."

"No, just us Hardy Boys." Joe smirked.

Nancy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you're real cute Joe."

"Well, I would hope you think so if we're having such a torrid love affair."

"Ah, Ms. Drew, I was wondering when I might run into you."

Nancy did a double take when she caught sight of the burly man in a suit exiting Frank's hospital room. She herself was on a way in for a visit, possibly in the hopes of setting him straight on the matter of herself and Joe. However the man in front of her certainly would derail her mission for a moment. "Agent Burr. I didn't realize that you would be coming to Bayport. Are you Frank's supervisory agent?"

"Yes, I'm the agent in charge of the new unit. I actually got the idea for the project when you and the Hardys visited Quantico a while back and schooled so many of our trainees. Your name was on the short list of recruits for the project before the unfortunate business with your father. And between you and me, I would be willing to work you into the program should you decide that it is something you're interested in. According to every account of the events of the Hardy household invasion, you demonstrated that you have the basic skills and aptitude for it."

Nancy pressed her lips thinly together. "I think that before you get ahead of yourself Agent Burr you should consider telling me a bit more about what exactly has been going on. Frank has been claiming ignorance to the project, which I assume is his refusal to discuss it without your permission."

"I gather that you're referring to the Project Delphinium the suspects were referring to." When Nancy nodded Agent Burr continued. "Actually Frank doesn't know about Project Delphinium."

"Then I imagine you have an extremely good explanation as to why those guys decided to try and kidnap him to get information on it."

"To put it simply, Project Delphinium doesn't really exist. It's a name that we've attached to the development of the new unit. Various undercover operatives have been making deliberate leaks about the project for a while now, in the hopes that the mystery of it all will draw some people we've been after for a while out of the woodwork."

"So you're using Frank, along with however many other recruits as decoys?"

"No." Agent Burr shook his head. "None of the approved leaks featured any unit members' names. We've already launched an investigation. And we don't anticipate any other incidents."

"Well, you didn't anticipate this one, so you'll have to forgive me when I'm not overwhelmed with confidence."

"Ms. Drew, you have to understand that these were unpredictable consequences."

"Funny. I would think that when you set someone up as bait for hardened criminals you might expect one of the consequences to be your bait getting attacked, whether you thought that you were keeping his name confidential or not."

"Now really--,"

"I've heard enough Agent Burr. I won't be joining the FBI. I'm going to go visit with Frank now. Hopefully he'll be out of the hospital in time for his brother's graduation ceremony."

"Yes. Well…Do you happen to know if Joseph will be visiting Frank later or if I'd have better luck reaching him at the Hardy household? I'd like to discuss his own opportunities within the--,"

"With all due respect, Agent Burr, I fully intend on telling Joe everything that you've just told me. And while Frank might be willing to look past the total disregard that you held for not only his but several other people's safety, I can guarantee that Joe will not be making the same mistake. Talking to him to offer anything other than an apology would not only be a waste of your time but it would also serve to make me much, much, angrier. Perhaps you should do us all a favor and just go back to Quantico and oversee the investigation."

"Very well then. Good day, Ms. Drew."

It was after Agent Burr had left and she was about to enter Frank's room that Nancy realized just what she had done.

Joe exited Bayport High School with a grin across his face; his high school career was all but over. There was only the long and drawn out ceremony to go. Despite all of his varied experiences over the years, Joe felt confident in the thought that no feeling he had experienced thus far quite compared to the freedom of being done with high school.

His smile grew a bit wider upon reaching the student parking lot. It was mostly empty due to the fact that he had taken another exam after everyone else had finished, but pacing the pavement next to where his motorcycle was a young woman, with the unmistakable shock of strawberry blond hair. "Nancy, I didn't expect to see you here." Nancy started and turned at his greeting. His smile dropped a bit when he saw the worried expression that she wore. "Is something wrong?"

"Joe! Finally." She hurried to meet him. "I owe you an apology."

"For what?"

Nancy looked down at her feet, and didn't answer.

"Nancy what do you possibly have to apologize for? You didn't purposefully teach me the wrong stuff for my tests or something, did you? I'm not gonna flunk and not graduate, right?"

"No, of course not." Nancy shook her head, softening a little bit. "I would never do anything like that."

"Then what is it?"

"This afternoon at the hospital I ran into Agent Burr at the hospital. He explained Project Delphinium to me, and how it was just this red herring attached to the new recruits to bluff criminals out of hiding. Then he told me that he was planning on inviting you into the program that Frank's involved with. I turned him down for you and told him not to go anywhere near you.

"I'm still not seeing what you need to apologize for."

"Joe, I took control of your life without even acknowledging what might be best for you. I didn't even talk to you. I just did what I felt like. It's no better than what Callie did. It's practically worse. I mean, despite how awful what she did was, at least she did it for a reason. I was just angry and didn't want to see Agent Burr win. I might have just completely ruined your future. On what planet, do I not owe you at least an apology, if not my first born child or something?"

Joe placed two reassuring hands on Nancy's shoulders, trying to ground her a bit. "Nancy. It's OK. Really. Yes, you probably should have mentioned some of this to me before, so I could have been there when you tore into him, and maybe joined in, but you did the right thing. I'm not an FBI guy. You know that. I'm horrible with authority figures. I'd never survive having to follow all of that protocol. And you are better than Callie. Callie didn't apologize until she got caught. You…you folded like a cheap lawn chair."

Nancy blushed. "I guess I got a little panicked there for a moment, didn't I?"

"That's the first time that anyone has offered me their first born in order to apologize."

"Well, I took a cab straight here once I realized what I had done, so I've been waiting for a couple of hours, and I got to thinking about it and it occurred to me that maybe my decision would keep you from meeting the girl of your dreams and you'd live a life of eternal womanizing bachelorhood and never have kids of your own, and you mentioned once that having a family was something that you were looking forward to one day."

"OK, you're not allowed to panic anymore. You have an overactive imagination when you panic."

"Well…I'm sorry. For everything."

"Apology accepted. Think you can relax now?" Joe didn't wait very long for a response. "I suppose the real question now is, how are we going to get you back to my house? You can't exactly hold on to ride the bike with me."

OK. There it is. I know I said that it was going to be Nancy/Joe, but I've been stuck trying to find a place to go from here forever, and everything just felt really forced and rushed. I wanted to finish this before I left for my summer classes, and before I started working on any other story ideas, so I just decided to let it be a bit more unresolved. At some point I may come back and add on, but I wouldn't consider that to be a very likely option. I'm very sorry to anyone who was really looking forward to the Nancy/Joe relationship.

Thanks to everyone who read!