Disclaimer: I don't own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the characters associated with them, or any pop culture references that I may choose to include.

Author's Notes: Thank you to those who have read and taken the time to review. It makes me really happy to know that you like and appreciate my work.

In regards to updates, I am in school, but as it's college I have a bit more free time than I used to, so I'm aiming for an update per week. Hopefully this will work out, but if it doesn't please be flexible, as school does have to come first.

Italics are flashbacks.

Chapter Two

"Frank, we need to talk. Meet me at the park in half an hour?"

Frank leaned on his elbows on the footbridge that crossed the small pond located towards center of Bayport's park. Joe had called him nearly twenty minutes ago, insisting on meeting face to face to talk. Frank didn't know if it had anything to do with the mysterious phone call he had received that morning, the babies that had been left on his parents' doorstep, or something else entire; Joe hadn't been clear other than to say that they had to talk.

He had reached his destination some five minutes earlier and was now waiting on his brother's arrival and trying to ignore the cold of the winter air, but he wasn't entirely hopeful that Joe would be on time. Over the years, Joe had developed the habit of giving someone a meeting time, and consistently arriving at least ten minutes late. Sometimes it was for a legitimate, case-related, reason, but more often than note, Joe refused to explain himself.

Frank sighed, scanning across the park. Joe was nowhere in sight.

"Hey."

Frank nearly jumped when his brother's hand clapped down on his shoulder. Joe was nowhere in sight because Joe was behind him. He nodded as his brother slid into place next to him. "Hey." But after his greeting, Joe didn't say anything; he just stared out across the pond. "So…"

"So…" Joe echoed.

"You wanted to talk about something?" Frank prompted.

"Right." Joe sighed. "That." Still, he didn't explain anything, and it was then that Frank realized his brother was nervous about what it was that he had to say. Again, it wasn't entirely out of the norm for Joe anymore (a lot had changed in the past year), but something had to be pretty important to work him up.

"What is it Joe?"

"You know how earlier you asked me why I took your toothbrush?" Joe waited for Frank to nod before continuing. "Well…I lied when I said it was because I didn't want to go to the store to get one for myself."

Frank couldn't help it. He laughed. Even now it didn't seem as though Joe would be apprehensive over something as simple as a stolen toothbrush. "Is that what this is about? Joe, it's a toothbrush. We'll all survive. If it's really bothering you all that much just give me a couple of bucks so I can replace it."

"This isn't about the toothbrush." Joe corrected. "Well it is, but…it has to do with why I took it." Frank just gave him a blank look, so continued. "I gave it to Con so he could run a DNA test."

"What? You've decided we're not really brothers or something?" Frank was joking, but he frowned when he saw his brother's completely serious face.

"Maybe we should go sit down."

"We…are brothers, aren't we?"

Joe nodded. "Yeah. We're brothers. The test was to compare your DNA to the babies'. And…the test came back with the conclusion that…you're their father."

Frank was momentarily stunned into silence. "I'm sorry, I could have sworn that you just said that I'm their father."

"Yeah. About that…" Joe ran a hand through his hair, standing straight. "Frank, there's something that you should know. When Nancy was kidnapped…she was pregnant." Frank didn't say anything right away, so Joe took that as his license to continue. "She had just taken a test and found out about it. At the time, I didn't want to bring it up because I thought it would only make things worse, but now…Frank, do you realize what this means? It's possible…highly likely even…that Nancy's still alive."

"No." Frank murmured quietly, shaking his head. "No. Nancy's dead."

"Frank,"

"We had a funeral Joe. Three months ago."

"I know. There was no reason for us to think that she was alive. But now we know that, at the very least, she was alive a few days ago to give birth. And I think she called you this morning. You said yourself that you thought it was her."

"Because I miss her!" Frank's eyes flashed. "Everything reminds me of her. That doesn't mean she's still alive."

"But this time was different, wasn't it?" When Frank didn't answer, Joe continued. "You and I both know that DNA doesn't lie. Those kids are your son and daughter, my niece and nephew. And Nancy's ali--," Joe's words flew out of his mouth and a bright light exploded behind his eyes as Frank's fist collided with his jaw. He had to thrust his hands out quickly to catch on the footbridge railing, and not go over the edge onto the icy pond from the momentum. He paused a moment to regain his surroundings, but he didn't retaliate. "You feel a bit better now?"

"You had no right to keep this from me." Frank informed, shaking his fist out. "It may not have changed anything, but you had absolutely no right."

"I thought that I was--," Joe thought better of this statement and stopped himself. At this point what he said wasn't going to make a difference. "I know. I'm sorry. Are we gonna be OK?"

Frank nodded quietly. "Yeah." It was too much to process. Nancy was alive. Almost even more shocking, he was a father. Given the circumstances he figured he was reacting remarkably well by only punching Joe once and not passing out or throwing up, but that was really all that he could manage. Even with some sort of preparation, this wasn't the type of news that left you feeling the same as you were before you heard it. "Does anyone else know yet?"

"Just me, you, Con, and Chief McGinnis. I asked them to let me tell you first. When we're done here, I'll call them, and then they're going to get to work making all of the other calls. They'll also really put the push on NYPD to get to work on finding that midwife."

"And the twins?"

"I'm not sure. I'd guess that they'll get pulled from the group home they got put in this morning and go to you."

"Me?" Frank barely choked out.

"You're the father. So unless you know of some reason why you can't take care of them, it only makes sense."

"Yeah…I guess so."

"And I'm sure mom and dad will be more than willing to help you out, until we find Nancy and everything gets resettled." Joe added, making quick note of Frank's glaringly obvious unease with the idea. "And I'll go shopping with you to get all of the supplies. Don't worry. You're not doing this alone."

Frank shook his head. "No."

Joe frowned. "No, what? No, you don't want mom and dad to help? Or no, you don't want my baby supply expertise?"

"No, I can't take care of them." Frank corrected, taking a step back from the railing.

"Frank they're your kids." Joe protested.

"And mom and dad's grandkids. And your niece and nephew. Hell, I'm sure when Carson gets the phone call he'll be on the red eye out and he'd love to take care of them. So let him, let mom and dad, you can take care of them if you want to, but I can't."

"Frank--,"

"You don't get to lecture me on this Joe."

"But--,"

"But nothing! This isn't something that I asked for, and it's not something that I'm ready to deal with. Exactly how would you feel if I just came up to you out of the blue and told you that it wasn't Iola who was killed in the car bombing? And just handed you a couple of kids saying, 'here you go, Dad, they're all yours'?"

"That's a little different Frank."

"Whatever. I'm just…I'm going to go away for a few days."

"What? You're just going to run away?"

"I need some time to think about this, Joe. This isn't something that I can just process and be done with in just a few minutes. I thought that Nancy was gone. Dead. I closed that chapter of my life. And even if I hadn't, we had never planned on kids. This is the farthest out of left field you can possibly get. I need some time, alone, to figure things out."

Joe swallowed, realizing that nothing he could say was going to change Frank's mind in this moment. "Where are you going to go?"

"I don't know. Somewhere that's not here."

"Fair enough, I guess." Joe muttered. "What do you want me to tell everyone?" It was unspoken that the truth was not going to be an option, and as Frank's brother, it was his duty to cover for him, at least within reason. Joe had already made the decision that if this trip lasted more than a few days it was crossing the line of reason and, barring being consumed with finding Nancy, he would tell everyone exactly what Frank had done and they would hunt him down together.

"I don't know."

"Helpful."

"You'll think of something. Do me a favor and don't call, OK? I'll send you an e-mail when I get…wherever it is I'm going to let you know that I'm safe."

Joe nodded. "If we find her…?"

"Tell her I love her, that's not going to change." Frank paused. "I'll be back eventually. I'm sorry I punched you."

Joe watched as Frank turned and started to walk away. His brother was almost off the bridge before he spoke. "Hey Frank."

Frank spun back around. "Yeah?"

"For what it's worth, I think that you can do this."

"Thanks, Joe." He half-smiled, shaking his head. "But I'm still going." He turned again, continuing on his way."

"Figures." As his brother left, Joe brought a hand up to massage his now, throbbing jaw. He looked out across the pond. This wasn't the way that he had anticipated things going. "All right, Joe. How are you going to fix this?"

Nancy cut her plain chicken into small pieces, and ate it, along with her corn and dinner roll in complete silence. The meal was entirely bland in comparison to what she had prepared for the man sitting across the table from her; he had gotten haddock with white sauce and several other side dishes. But per his rules, she got the chicken.

"You're becoming a much better cook, dear."

She glanced up at him long enough to glare briefly, but didn't respond. Although it was his desire that they hold polite conversation when eating at the dining room table, as they did for every breakfast and dinner, she had made her stance on the issue very clear. Nancy was not going to speak at the table until he stopped restraining her. Every time they sat down to eat, she was placed in the chair that was bolted to the floor, and a rope was tied around her arms and chest, binding her to the seat back. She couldn't reach for anything, and she certainly couldn't attempt to do anything to harm him. While his own dark eyes were piercing into hers, almost daring her to respond, she popped another piece of chicken into her mouth.

"I mean, the fish is actually cooked all the way through this time. How's your chicken?"

Silence followed. If he thought that discussing how bad of a cook she was was the way to inspire conversation he was certainly mistaken. Especially given that she had spent much of her time cooking, purposefully sabotaging the recipes, knowing that it wasn't what she would be having.

"You know, things would go much more smoothly if you'd at least try to enjoy yourself dear."

He was trying to mold her into the perfect housewife. He'd been trying since day one. For the most part, he wasn't terribly violent, which confused Nancy. Still, she tended to pick her battles wisely, especially in the previous eight months, when it wasn't simply her life at stake.

"Well, I don't know how you get your rocks off, but I'm not the type of girl who goes for being tied up." She finally commented in a smooth tone. After eight months of captivity, Nancy was simply too tired and disheartened to muster up anger. The situation was what it was, and for all her trying to get out of it, being angry wasn't going to do anything.

"Please forego the vulgarities, dear. You know that we're above them." He paused. "I suppose now that you're speaking with me, it would be a good time to have our discussion. Are you finished with your meal?"

Nancy quickly decided to go back to not speaking. She knew exactly what this discussion was, and that things were about to get ugly. She did, however, place her fork down on the plate, knowing that no matter what her answer would have been, meal time was over.

"Very well then." He stood, and walked over to behind her chair, beginning to work at the knots of her bindings. "You'll clear the table later on tonight. We have other business to attend to." He pulled the rope from up around her form, and grabbed onto one hand to guide her away from the dining room. They went down the hall, stopping when they reached the doorframe of the stairs that would lead up to the attic. "Remove your shoes."

She slipped out of the pumps that she was to wear around the house, leaving her feet bare, and he prodded her to go up the stairs. Nancy walked as slowly as she thought she could get away with, knowing that what was coming wasn't going to be pleasant. About as far from it as you could get. As they went up stairs, he spoke again.

"You realize that you picked a very bad day to disobey me, dear. It's been a week since you were in labor. What was the deal that we made when you first came here?"

Nancy made the decision to respond, wondering if following his rules now would make things any easier. "We agreed that throughout the pregnancy, you would withhold punishments for any infractions so no harm would come to the child. Children." She corrected herself. "You would give me a week after I went into labor to recover, and then you would act on all punishments." At the time, the deal had seemed perfect; it kept her children safe, and herself relatively free from harm as well. Nancy had never anticipated that she wouldn't have been rescued within a few days of her initial kidnapping, let alone long enough to last through the entire pregnancy.

"Very good. Now, I don't expect you to remember eight months worth of infractions, although you may rest assured that I have kept good record of them so that not a one will go unpunished, I would like you to tell me what it was that you did today that was completely inappropriate."

They reached the attic landing. Boxes and cabinets were neatly organized along the walls, but the center was largely free space. Wooden support beams criss-crossed along the ceiling. There wasn't a speck of dust to be seen.

"When you left the phone with me this morning, I used it to call…someone."

"Who did you call?" Nancy didn't answer. "If you don't tell me, I'll be forced to assume the worst. You're only making things harder on yourself."

"It was Frank."

"Thank you. That wasn't too hard, was it?" He grabbed onto her hand again, leading her to the center of the room. "You know, if this relationship is going to work, we're going to need to build mutual trust." He turned to one of the cabinets, opening it and searching through its contents. "Now, I have given you every reason to trust me. I made this deal with you, and I helped facilitate returning the children to their family…all so we could have a fresh start now, as a new family. Have I ever gone back on my word, dear?" He turned back around, and Nancy saw that he had take out a pair of handcuffs.

"No." He closed one of the cuffs around her right wrist, cinching the metal as tight as it would go. This arm was lifted and stretched so he could loop the cuffs over a support beam.

"Exactly." Her left arm was lifted and cuffed in the same manner. "Which is why it's all the more disheartening that you continuously choose to disobey me. I hope that this punishment will be enough to dissuade you from any future acts of misconduct."

The beam was high enough above her that in order to take any pressure off of her shoulders, Nancy had to stand on her tip-toes. Even then, there was a straining pain that radiated from the joints.

"In fact, I'm confident that it will." She felt his hands at her back, and then the sensation of her back being exposed to the chilly attic air as her dress was unzipped. The zipper went the entire length of the dress, and when he was done, although her front was still covered, the only thing that protected her modesty from the angle he was viewing was her underwear. "Please remember, dear, that I don't want to hurt you." It was entirely disheartening to Nancy how calm and level his voice was. "You brought this upon yourself by choosing to break the rules. This punishment is for your own good. I hope you understand that." In the pause, Nancy thought she heard him turn away, presumably to take something else out of the cabinet.

"I won't be having you count the lashes." This comment officially answered the question of what her punishment would be. He was going to whip her. "I will explain each infraction before you receive the punishment for it. We will start with the issues from today and work our way backwards. You may cry out, if it helps you to deal with the pain."

Nancy clenched her teeth together trying to prepare herself for what was to come. She had never been more determined not to scream then in that moment.

"These first few are for your phone call this morning."

For one reason or another, it surprised Nancy that she could hear the whip whistle through the air as it came towards her, and in the moment before impact, it almost seemed as though everything was moving in slow motion. Then the line collided with her shoulders. At the fiery impact, her eyes clenched shut and her body instinctively swung forward, partly in momentum, partly in an attempt to escape the next swing. When the next blow still came, this time stinging lower on her back, she moved her teeth so she was biting her lip, and quickly began trying to think of something else; she knew if she was going to get through this, she had to be anywhere but there.

It had been one of those days when nothing had gone right until the very last second, and even then, calling what had happened right was debatable. Everything that could have gone wrong with their case did, and it was only through sheer determination that Frank and Nancy hadn't drowned in the raging river, instead staying afloat long enough to arrive at a shore, miles away from where they had started with no supplies, and no way to get to help. Surely, no one thought that they would have survived.

"Any luck?"Frank asked as Nancy returned to their makeshift campsite. As the healthier of the two, she had been elected to go search for anything they might be able to eat; her turn in the rapids had left her plenty of bruises, a jagged cut on her forehead, and a broken wrist, but Frank had gone in with her, refused to let go, and attempted to shield her from as many of the rocks as he could, leaving him with more bruises, more specifically bruised ribs, and knee that was almost certainly going to need surgery judging from the way that it was swelling. In the meantime, his mission had been to attempt to start a fire with the Swiss Army Knife that had somehow made it through their trip in the rapids, and he had just managed to have his own success in that area.

Nancy shook her head. "Nothing but stuff that I know is poisonous. And I didn't want to go too far. It'll be dark soon. It looks like we'll just have to deal without it."She gestured to his work. "At least you got a fire going." The fire was a necessity, not only for light and heat at night, but to dry them off as well; they were both still soaked to the bone from the river. "Do we have enough wood to keep it going?"

"For now." Frank nodded. "Come sit down." He patted a section of the log that he sat on, and watched as she gingerly made her way over. "How's the head?"

"Good enough." At his pointed look she sighed. "Throbbing." She admitted. "But I really don't see the point in complaining about it, because there's nothing we can do. Our bags—and Davis—," she tacked on somewhat bitterly, "are long gone by now."

"Any dizziness or double vision?"

"I don't have a concussion. What about your ribs? Is your breathing any worse?"

"No. I'm sure they're just bruised."

"Well that's a relief. Given our current lack of supplies I doubt that I could have MacGyver-ed a chest tube up for you if a stray rib pierced your lung." Having a darker sense of humor was a side effect of being exhausted when you'd gone through everything that they had together.

"You would have tried though. And the thought is certainly appreciated."

"Can you imagine the news headlines if they rescued us then?" Nancy smiled. "19-year-old amateur detective with no formal medical training saves the life of another 19-year-old using combined techniques from a beloved fictional 1980's secret agent and watching Grey's Anatomy."

"And you wouldn't even have that much to work with if I hadn't made you sit down and watch it."

"I know Hardy. I owe all of my medical knowledge to your…bizarre obsession with Grey's Anatomy."

"Hey! Not all of us like to spend all of our time solving mysteries and then sit down for Law and Order marathons. Some of us like a break from all the action and suspense."

"I didn't say it was a bad thing. I just said it was bizarre. I never would have expected it from you." Nancy gingerly leaned her head against Frank's shoulder. "And for the record, you're much better looking than McDreamy."

It was something that she had always teased Frank about. He had gotten into, and consequently introduced her to the show a few months ago when they had both been single and in the full-force flirting, but not quite ready to date stage of their relationship. It was a constant game to claim that Frank couldn't quite measure up to the doctors of Seattle Grace. For Nancy to bring it up now, and saying what she actually thought put a bit of a damper on the light mood they had been building.

Frank frowned, even though in their current position, she couldn't see him. "What makes you say that now?"

"I thought you should know. Just in case."

There wasn't much question as to what she was referring. He leaned away so his girlfriend was forced to sit up straight once more. "First of all," he started, regarding her quite seriously, "we've been in far worse situations than this and made it out alive, so you can stop with the negativity. Second, even if we weren't going to make it out of this, which we are, we have a lot of time before we get to the part where we get all serious. You know as well as I do that any big heartfelt confessions come way later. We're pros at this by now, don't start going all amateur on me just because started to date." He teased.

Nancy laughed. "You may have a point there."

"I do have a point there." He corrected. "And third, you should remember that no matter what the situation, the only way I'm not getting you out of it alive is if I'm gone. And clearly, I'm not gone."

Nancy leaned forward and kissed her boyfriend. There wasn't much else to say.

Nancy was surprised to find herself sobbing when she came back to reality. Her back felt as though it was on fire, and couldn't tell for sure because of the pain, but she wouldn't be surprised to find blood dripping from the lashes. He was releasing her wrists from the hand cuffs. Clearly, the punishment was over.

The moment both of her wrists were free her legs crumpled beneath her, too weak to support her weight, but he was prepared and caught her by the elbows. She landed, still sobbing, with her face to his chest.

"There, there, dear. I know it hurts, but it's making you a better person. You'll appreciate this when it's all said and done. Now, let's go get you cleaned up, and then you can finish your evening chores."

Thoughts?