Joe groaned as he looked at the manual in his hand. It seemed like he read the same paragraph over and over again. They were sitting in the Chief’s office, trying to soak up as much information as they could in one day.

"Frank, I give up!" Joe said, exasperated, and flipped the manual on the desk. Rubbing his eyes, he suppressed a yawn. "I really don’t care what museum I tour, to be honest with you. I just think that we should do it together, in case any trouble comes up."

Frank looked up from the manual he was reading as he listened to his brother. "I know, Joe," he said with a small smile. "And I know you’re tired—so am I. This hasn’t exactly been the world’s most exciting day. But, if we’re going to pass for guides, we need at least a minimal amount of knowledge about these museums," he said. "And the only way to do that by tomorrow is to keep reading."

"Well, I don’t really want to read anymore," Joe argued. "I’m tired. I’m hungry. And, I’d like to spend some time with Vanessa, if that’s possible." Leaning back, he raised an eyebrow at his brother. "Don’t you want to see Callie? I’m surprised she didn’t kill you, by the way, for getting us involved in this. As it is, this is gonna cost me a lot of flowers and some expensive dinners for Vanessa. Hey- I should charge you!" Joe joked. "This was your idea!"

Finally, Frank put down the manual he was reading. "Yeah, of course I want to see Callie," Frank said at last. "I know she’s being incredibly patient with me on this case. But, Joe- come on! This is an interesting case, and I plan on not getting involved in any more until I go to school. Believe me, I wish I could spend all my time with her- I miss Callie."

Joe sighed. "Well," he said, "We ALWAYS plan on not taking on cases, but somehow, we always manage to get on them."

Frank was about to respond when his cell phone rang. Thinking it was Callie, he answered, "Hey, baby," into the receiver.

"Well, hey baby yourself," the voice responded.

"Oh," Frank stuttered sitting up in his chair. "Hi, Jenna. Sorry about that. I thought you were Callie."

Joe shook his head as he listened to Frank speak to Jenna. That girl seemed to have impeccable timing. He began to get concerned when he saw Frank’s face change and heard responses like, "Really?!", "Great idea," "That’s okay," and "I’m looking forward to it." By the time Frank hung up with Jenna, Joe was almost afraid to ask. But- he did.

"Is there something I should know about?" he asked his brother, point blank.

"Yeah," Frank said, a serious look on his face. "Jenna had a good idea. With her tour guide pass, she can get us into the museums at night. Since we already have a head start, she suggested that we go with her tonight to one of the museums in the area and check out the basements where things are stored. With the Chief’s permission, perhaps we can find something out- snoop around after hours. I’m surprised I hadn’t thought of that."

"She does seem to think of everything," Joe replied sarcastically. As Frank was about to make a retort, Joe pre-empted him. "Frank, come on! You can’t keep breaking promises to Callie- it’s not fair. I don’t plan to break mine to Vanessa, either. We promised them dinner and to spend some time with them. Their understanding can only go so far," Joe finished.

Frank sighed. Joe was right. "I know, Joe," he said. "But tell me you’ll come with me tonight. I really can’t do it without you- you’re my com padre, you know?!" Frank gave Joe a small smile, and Joe shook his head in exasperation.

"Joe, please?" Frank asked. "We’ll take the girls out to dinner; maybe rent a movie or hang out or something. Believe me," Frank continued, knowing what he had to say next. "This is NOT to spend time with Jenna. Callie’s my girl, Joe. I hope you know that by now. I’m not trying to defend myself here about this any more, but, you know…" his voice trailed off.

The light dawned on Joe at once, and his mouth fell open. "Frank Hardy!" he snapped at his brother. "I GET IT all right! You want me to come not because I’m your partner or whatever, but because your girlfriend would kill you if she knew you were spending a long night alone with Jenna!" Joe couldn’t believe this. Frank was, by nature, not a devious person whatsoever.

"That’ not true!" Frank yelled back. "If you don’t want to come, fine. I’ll go by myself. I asked you because you see things I don’t a lot of the time, and if something happens, I would like you there. I can’t believe you’d say that!" Frank was getting tired of this. It seemed he was constantly defending his relationship with Callie to everyone but Callie, herself. With Joe’s attitude, it might be better if he didn’t come along.

Joe paused, unsure of whether or not Frank was telling him the truth. "All right," he said slowly. "I’ll come with you. If I was wrong, I’m sorry."

"Thank you," Frank said, letting a deep breath go.

"But I don’t think I am- at least totally," Joe had to add.

"Oh, Joe- for Pete’s sake! You’re being ridiculous. If I wanted to be alone with Jenna, would I have asked you to go?! No- I would have asked you NOT to go. Can we drop this- now?!" Frank asked, feeling his breaking point coming very quickly.

"Fine," Joe muttered.

After a few more minutes, they headed back to the hotel.

To their surprise, several hours later at dinner, they found that their girlfriends had met a new friend, and had invited him to dinner with them. As Joe listened to them all talk about their day, he felt conflicted. On one hand, he was happy that the girls had found a way to entertain themselves and had met someone who could show them around. Also, Dave seemed nice; he was funny and outgoing, and clearly knew that their girlfriends were spoken for. On the other hand, he wasn’t crazy about how friendly Vanessa and Callie appeared to have gotten with him, especially with someone who was so handsome. Stop it, he told himself. Trust Vanessa.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Vanessa give him a wink, and he knew everything would be okay. Reaching over, he squeezed her hand, and smiled when she blew him a kiss. Instantly, he felt better.

Frank, on the other hand, wasn’t feeling as good. Like Joe, he had been glad that Callie and Vanessa appeared to have had fun, especially since it was their fault that the girls were alone to begin with. However, although Dave seemed friendly, he couldn’t help but to notice how much subtle attention he was paying to Callie. He listened a bit more carefully when she spoke, laughed a little more at her jokes, and seemed to have a reason to reach out to touch her on far more occasions than was necessary. He felt himself getting a little jealous and angry, and had to remind himself that Callie was a beautiful girl, and it was perfectly logical for any guy to want to be with her. Plus, Callie didn’t appear to return his affection. On the contrary, Frank noticed that she sat closer to him and kept trying to involve him in the conversation.

"Isn’t that right, Frank?" Callie’s voice brought him back to the present. He looked around and noticed that everyone was staring at him, waiting for a reply. He had never consciously been aware of how loud silence could be until that moment, or how out of character he must seem to everyone at the table.

"Oh, uh," he stumbled, feeling like more of an idiot in front of Dave. "I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. I guess I was thinking," he added with a blush.

"About the case you’re working on?" Dave asked, curious.

Frank shot him a look, and Joe did the same. "Oh, Vanessa told me a lot about it," he apologized. "I didn’t know it was a secret."

Vanessa mouthed "I’m sorry," to Joe, and then said out loud, "Yeah, guys, I’m sorry. I didn’t get into details with Dave, but I told him you were working on something at museums in the area. I mean, that does explain your noticeable absences."

Joe sighed. Vanessa was the best, but she did tend to chat a bit too much on occasion. They didn’t even know this guy! Still, he was sure that Vanessa had been quiet about the important parts; she wasn’t stupid.

"Yeah, Dave," Joe responded. "We’re working on a little something. It should be done, soon, hopefully, and then we can relax and enjoy the summer- with our girlfriends," he added, slipping an arm around Vanessa. It couldn’t help to remind Dave that both Vanessa and Callie, whom, Joe noticed, was getting a lot of attention from Dave, were taken.

"Well, that’s great," Dave said at last, breaking the silence.

Again, the phone rang at that moment, and Frank excused himself to answer it. Joe could tell at once, even at a distance, that it was Jenna, from the look on Frank’s face. He also noticed that Callie noticed, too. Uh, oh, he thought.

"We should probably get going," Frank said, coming back to the table. He had told the girls about their plans for the evening earlier in the day. "That was Jenna. She’s waiting for us at the Metro stop by the Capitol. I told her that I… we…" he added quickly, noticing the look on Callie’s face…"would be there in a half an hour or so."

"I thought we were going to hang out for a while before you had to go," Vanessa said pointedly to Joe.

"Yeah, me too," Joe answered her, and looked at Frank.

Frank looked uncomfortable. "There’s nothing I can do. She’s waiting."

"She put herself in that position," Vanessa sighed. "Oh, all right. Go ahead. Callie and I can get back by ourselves."

"There’s no need for that!" Dave cut in. "I don’t want the girls wandering around D.C. at night- it can be dangerous. I’ll be happy to escort them back."

Joe was caught between annoyance and gratitude. He didn’t want to endanger Vanessa, but he should be the one taking her back. Vanessa was right- Jenna had put herself in the compromising position. "Thanks," he managed at last. "That’d be great."

"There’s no need for that," Frank interrupted. "I guess I can call Jenna back. I can take Callie back," he said.

Joe tried to hide his surprise. Frank had been perfectly willing to ditch Callie to see Jenna until the prospect that Dave would be spending time with Callie came into play. He saw the jealously right away in his brother’s eyes, and couldn’t believe the double standard going on. What’s more, Callie, Joe noticed, hadn’t so much as said a word during this entire exchange; she had absolutely nothing to do with his brother’s change in demeanor.

Trying to save his brother from looking worse, Joe interjected, "No, Frank. I’m sure the only reason to wanted to go in the first place is to get started right away, right? Regardless of where Jenna is," he added, meeting his brother’s eyes. "Let’s go where we need to, and let Callie and Van go back to the hotel with Dave." Turning to Dave, Joe extended his hand. "Thanks again, man," he said.

"No problem," Dave said, shaking it.

Joe gave Vanessa a quick hug and kiss good-bye, and told her to be careful. She smiled at him, and he knew she had forgiven him for yet another catastrophe.

Frank turned to Callie, and hugged her tightly. He was a little surprised that she didn’t return his embrace as enthusiastically. "I’ll see you later tonight," he said softly to her. "I love you."

Callie met his eyes, and gave him a tight smile. "I love you, too," she managed to get out. Then, as if on second thought, she reached into her pocket as Vanessa headed outside with Dave. "Here," she said, handing Frank a small piece of paper. "This fell out of your pocket when you went to answer the phone." With a choked voice, she said to him softly, "Have fun."

Puzzled, Frank opened the piece of paper as soon as Callie left.

Biting his lip, he felt a sudden sadness and worry come over him. Somehow, Callie had picked up Jenna’s phone number…

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