A/N: Huh, part two didn't turn out quite as hilarious as I'd envisioned it, but even so, I like it. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: As always, this story was written strictly for fun and not profit. None of the characters used belong to me.

"Ungh." Nancy grunted as she laboriously made her way through the hospital parking lot on her new crutches. Her father had offered to push her to the car in a wheelchair, but she had stubbornly insisted on 'getting some practice'... a decision she was now regretting.

Carson hovered at her shoulder, his hand only a few inches from her elbow, ready to catch her at any moment. "Sweetheart, don't push yourself so hard. Take your time. You're still recovering from a bad accident."

"I'm fine." she lied, sweat beginning to stand out on her forehead.

Her father shook his head and moved ahead of her to open the car door for her. "It's okay to need help sometimes." he chided gently, taking her crutches as she sat, and guiding her broken leg into the car.

She sighed. "Sorry, Dad." She was exhausted- she couldn't believe what a toll just walking now took on her body. She was already dreading the ascent up the stairs to her bedroom when she got home.

"You know, Frank and Joe are leaving tonight." Carson remarked conversationally, starting the car and backing out of the parking space.

"Oh? So soon?" Nancy couldn't tell if she was more relieved or disappointed. She loved spending time with the Hardys... but right now, even the mention of either boy- but especially Frank- made her flush with embarrassment. She hadn't talked to either since her medicated confessions to Frank, half-hoping that if she waited long enough to break the silence the incident would be forgotten.

"It has been a whole week since the case was wrapped up." Carson reminded her. "It was very nice of them to stay around so long to see you into recovery... especially considering you've barely said two words to them all week."

Nancy lowered her eyes. Frank and Joe had come to see her in the hospital every day, and she always managed to be 'asleep' at the time of their visit. She had the feeling she hadn't been fooling anyone, and it looked like her father was no exception.

The car pulled into the Drew driveway and was met by Ned. He opened the door for Nancy and helped her out of the car, pulling her close for a kiss. "Welcome home, Drew." He supported her weight as her father readied the crutches. "Shall we go in?"

Nancy took a deep breath, subtly rolling her aching shoulders. "Let's go."

Carson and Ned guided her as she worked slowly towards the front door. Once inside, she looked around in stunned amazement. The entire contents of her bedroom- bed, desk, wardrobe- were arranged in the living room, just as they had been in her room upstairs. Hannah, Frank, and Joe were waiting for her, and they grinned as she gazed around, astonished.

"You moved my room!" she gasped at her father, eyes wide, relief washing over her at the prospect of not having to climb the stairs.

"We all did." Carson chuckled, gesturing to Hannah, Ned, the Hardys, and himself.

"Thank you." Nancy said gratefully, her eyes resting on each in turn.

"It was Frank's idea." Hannah said, smiling proudly at the older Hardy. "He realized that you'd be having a hard time getting around, and thought up a solution so you wouldn't be trying to get up and down those stairs all the time."

Nancy stiffened at Frank's name. She couldn't believe he had set this up for her... it was one of the sweetest things she had ever heard. But just the thought of saying so made her cheeks redden. She glanced at him quickly before dropping her gaze to her feet. "Thanks, Frank."

"You got it, Nan." he replied quickly.

"Oh!" Hannah said, oblivious to the tension in the room. "I made cake. Cinnamon chocolate chip, your favorite!"

Nancy smiled warmly at the motherly housekeeper. "Wow, I should break my legs more often- this is better than my birthday!" she said. "You didn't have to do that."

Hannah quirked an eyebrow. "Does that mean you won't want a piece?" she challenged.

"No." Nancy said immediately. The group laughed as they headed into the kitchen. Nancy paused, however, as Ned stayed behind.

"I can't stay." he confessed regretfully. "I have to go back to work."

"I understand." Nancy replied. She reached for him and pulled him into a one-armed hug that nearly sent her crutches clanging to the ground, but he caught them with the reflexes of a quarterback and offered them back to her before kissing her deeply. "Thanks for everything." she said breathlessly as they parted. "Do you want a piece of cake for the road?" She glanced through the kitchen door and saw Frank and Joe talking earnestly with Hannah. Frank happened to meet her gaze and they both blushed.

"No thanks." Ned said, his expression darkening as he followed Nancy's line of vision. "Earth to Nancy. What are you staring at?"

Nancy's attention returned to Ned as she scrambled for an explanation for her flushed cheeks. "It's nothing, I, ah, was just thinking, I said some weird things to Frank and Joe in the hospital, because of the pain meds, and I just know Joe is going to tease me about it." It wasn't exactly a lie.

"Oh." Ned said shortly. He gently released her. "I'll call you tomorrow, Nancy. Love you."

"Love you too." she answered. When he was gone, she turned back towards the kitchen and was startled by Joe, who was standing right behind her with a piece of cake. "Joe!"

He steadied her as she took a seat on her bed. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." he said, offering her the cake. "Hannah told me to bring this to you."

She accepted it, eyes narrowed. "Thanks."

"You know, you can't avoid my brother forever." Joe said conversationally, sitting next to her.

Nancy plunged her fork into her cake. "I wasn't." she said dryly. "I was avoiding you."

Joe placed a hand over his heart. "You wound me, Nan." he smiled slyly. "It's because of my smart mouth, isn't it?"

Nancy vaguely recognized the words and found herself blushing yet again. "Yes." she sighed. "Do I want to know exactly what I said to him?"

"I dunno, Nan." Joe grinned, obviously dying to tell her. "You threw around some pretty complimentary words... sweet... smart... sexy..."

Nancy cringed. She didn't remember the exact exchange, but the very idea of saying that to Frank mortified her beyond belief. "I can't believe I did that."

"You had nothing nice to say about me though..." Joe continued, musingly. "Odd..."

"Not that odd." Nancy said, shooting him a glare.

Joe laughed. "No need to be hostile. Frank knows you were a little out of it."

"A little?" Nancy muttered darkly.

"Every time I teased him, he kept saying 'She's drugged up, she doesn't know what she's saying'." Joe reassured her. "He doesn't think it means anything. Of course, I know better."

Nancy raised both her eyebrows. "And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked defensively.

Joe shrugged. "I dunno. Just that, sometimes, when people are drugged up, they lose their inhibitions and admit to things that they suppress when they're sober." he said innocently.

"You're full of it, Joe." Nancy scowled. "What do you think you are, a psychologist?"

"Freudian." Joe confirmed with a nod of his head.

Nancy rolled her eyes and gave him a shove. "I don't have a crush on Frank." she denied.

"You said it, not me." he replied infuriatingly. He rubbed his shoulder where she had pushed him. "And you're lucky my mother taught me not to hit girls." he grumbled.

Nancy was fed up with his teasing. "Get out of my bedroom!"

Joe looked around. "Oh, I thought this was the living room." Nancy threw a pillow at him and he backed out of the room, hands in the air. "Alright, alright..." he murmured. "Geez, that will teach me to bring a girl cake..."

Nancy carefully swung her legs onto the bed, leaning against the headboard and picking up her cake. "Such a drama queen." she huffed under her breath. She sighed, then groaned. If she was honest with herself, Joe had been right. She had always had special feelings for Frank. He was one of the kindest people she knew, and one of the cleverest as well. As a fellow detective, she couldn't help but admire him, and as a close personal friend, well, she could admit, if only to herself, that she had wondered a few times what it would be like to cross the line between friends and something more. Of course, nothing could ever really happen between them- she had Ned, and he had a girl in Bayport, Callie- but she couldn't deny she felt a connection with the older Hardy brother that occasionally strayed into romantic territory.

And her words to him in the hospital had definitely crossed that carefully-constructed line that they both faithfully toed.

She took a bite of Hannah's delicious cake and chewed it slowly, ponderously. She needed to clear the air between her and Frank... and to do that, she'd have to talk to him.

"Frank?" Nancy called up the stairs. She knew he and Joe were packing for their return to Bayport, and she wanted to talk to him before they were on their way out the door. "Can I talk to you for a second?" Just the sight of the eleven steps to the second story made her feel tired.

Frank appeared at the top, the large duffel he had been living out of for the past few weeks slung over his shoulder. "Sure, Nancy." He made it to the bottom of the stairs and set the heavy bag at his feet. "Do you want to sit down?" he asked.

Nancy was touched by his concern. "I'm fine for now." she said quietly. "Look, Frank, I just wanted to say thanks again, for all this." She waved her hand to indicate her newly relocated bedroom. "It was really thoughtful of you."

"It was nothing." Frank said, matching her soft tone.

"It was something." Nancy corrected gratefully. "You have no idea how much I was dreading that climb."

"Well, in that case, you're welcome." Frank returned warmly.

"And there's something else," Nancy began her attempt to apologize for her behavior in the hospital, but she was suddenly starting to feel lightheaded, whether due to the rush of blood to her cheeks or the strain of propping herself up she didn't know. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears. "In the hospital. I didn't... I wasn't... I was-"

"Don't worry about it." Frank said. "We'll strike it from the record."

Nancy's eyes met Frank's for the first time in the conversation. "It's not that I don't-" she started, trying to explain that while she did think he was an amazing person, she hadn't meant to say it so candidly, but as her mind reeled she lost control of her crutches and they went tumbling to the ground yet again.

Unlike Ned, Frank let them fall on the carpet with two resounding thumps, instead extending his hands to her elbows to hold her up. She clutched his upper arms like a lifeline. "Thanks." she said breathlessly. "I'm no good with those."

"I think you should sit down." Frank said, not moving for fear of knocking her off-balance again.

"Me too." Nancy agreed ruefully. She allowed Frank to loop her arm around his neck and guide her to her bed. His touch somehow evoked her hazy memories of seeing him in the hospital. Frowning, she reached a hand out to his face and lightly stroked her thumb over his cheekbone.

It was Frank's turn to blush; he had doubted she would remember his actions so clearly. "I didn't mean anything by it, Nan." he said lowly.

"Me neither." she whispered. They had reached an impasse, trapped in exactly the sort of tender moment they had always tried so diligently to avoid. The silence between them lengthened as the distance between them lessened, as though they were drawn together by some hypnotic gravitational force.

"Frank, I can't find my razor." Joe appeared in the doorway.

Frank let out a long breath, half-relieved, half-disappointed. "It's packed." he answered.

Nancy used Joe's distraction to regain her composure, and when Frank turned back to her, she gave him a smile. "So... stricken from the record?"

"Stricken from the record." he agreed gratefully. He gave her hand a quick squeeze and rose from the bed. "And next time Joe's laid up in the hospital, looped up on pain meds, I'm video taping it."

"Make me a copy." Nancy requested with a grin.

Frank returned it. "Of course."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!