Hardy Boys Fan Fiction at the HDA - Brain Child

Vanessa opened her eyes, immediately realizing that she must have fallen asleep with Joe on the sofa. Within seconds, she managed to ascertain that she’d only been resting for a half hour… and that someone was knocking on the door.

“That’s weird,” she whispered to no one in particular. “Where’s the cop?” Carefully moving herself up as not to disturb Joe, Vanessa made her way to the door, nervously. Peering through the peephole, she breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that it was just Officer Daley, and that he was signaling her to open the door.

“Hi,” he said, smiling sheepishly. “I’m so sorry to bother you, but I’m dying here! Do you mind if I use your bathroom?”

“No! Of course not!” Vanessa answered with a smile. “Come on in! I had a mini panic attack there,” she added. “I was wondering where you’d gone.”

“Oh… well, I’m here.” His voice held a nervous, embarrassed even, tone to it. It seemed to Vanessa that this Officer felt ill at ease for some reason. Whether his demeanor was a result of being assigned to a case where he was essentially a bodyguard, or because he simply felt silly asking the person that he was supposed to protect for a favor, was unclear.

After a moment of awkward silence, the officer continued. “Um….”

Realizing that she was essentially blocking his way, Vanessa hurriedly ushered him into the apartment. “Sorry,” she continued. “Down the hall, second door on the left,” she finished, gesturing with her hand the direction that he should follow.

With a polite smile, the officer tipped his hat and, with a soft “thank you very much,” he followed Vanessa’s direction into the apartment.

Vanessa watched the officer disappear down the hallway and, stretching, she took a seat at the kitchen table. Before she sat down, though, she caught sight of Joe and instantly felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. Unable to help herself, she couldn’t tear her eyes off him. Instantly, she felt herself slip into reverie.

She and Joe had been together for a long time now, and it was still hard to believe that each day she found her love for him grow stronger. Somehow, Joe had won her heart in their youth, despite her best efforts to hold onto it. When they had met in high school, she had been a quiet, relatively guarded teen who, new to Bayport High, had tried really hard to keep to herself. That is, until the school hunk and relentless flirt, Joe Hardy, had managed to keep her from anonymity.

To all appearances, Joe was outgoing, funny, at times obnoxious, and, above all, a ladies man. She, on the other hand, was soft-spoken, scholarly and driven, and somewhat of a homebody. More like Frank than Joe, she had to admit. Now, that thought often made her laugh, because as much as she cared about Frank, it had taken Joe to make her realize that she was nothing like him.

Slowly, taking his time and expending his energy carefully, Joe had managed to worm his way into her heart and make her see her as HE did; and she had never felt so beautiful. Joe had made her realize her true potential; that she had been hiding behind a façade as a defense mechanism to prevent getting hurt. Ever since her father had died, that persona had worked for her. Once Joe captured her heart, though, and promised to protect her and never let her get hurt, she had slowly come to believe him… And he had kept that promise.

As the years went by, Vanessa came to know a part of Joe that rarely anyone saw. His sincerity, loyalty, honesty, and intelligence were paralleled by almost no one. Still, he remained a little wild and reckless, a little bit of a bad boy despite everything good he had done. Above all, he was so much fun! And he had made her realize that it was okay to loosen up; to be a little dangerous. It was fun to let loose and to go out as much as it was to stay at home. He had encouraged her always to speak her mind, a decision, Vanessa couldn’t help but to smile, that he probably lives to regret every day! More than anything else, though, Joe had taught her to love herself and to trust again.

Although she knew that Joe loved her completely, occasionally she still felt pangs of jealousy when she realized that she had not been his first love. Iola Morton had held that spot and, despite the passage of time, Vanessa knew that Joe could never fully forget her. Occasionally, he would reveal to her that Iola’s death often saved his own life; that he believed that she was a guardian angel looking down on him. It was through her tragic death that Joe learned always to rely on his instinct, and never to let his guard down. Her death had changed him forever. Still, when Joe saw the expression that she must have shown in her eyes, however guiltily, when he spoke of Iola, he had told her, simply and in his own way, “She was my first love, Van—but you’ll be my last.” Looking now at him sleeping so peacefully, she couldn’t help but to long for forever; she honestly didn’t know what she would do without him.

“Uh… thanks.”

Vanessa inadvertently jumped and felt the color rush to her face as she realized the officer had returned from the bathroom and was staring at her, unwilling to disturb her as she daydreamed.

“Oh!” Vanessa said, covering her mouth with her hand. “I’m so sorry. I guess you caught me… thinking.”

“No problem, ma’am,” he replied. Vanessa noticed that the officer looked unsure of what to do or say next, but there was something about him that caught her eye. He was a little older than her, probably in his early 30s, with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. She didn’t know if it was because she felt safe in the presence of an officer, or if it was because she wanted details on the case, or even if she just wanted company waiting for Joe to wake up, but, despite the safety issues involved, she didn’t feel like pushing the officer out the door.

“Vanessa.”

“Excuse me?” The officer looked puzzled.

“You can call me Vanessa. I’m a little too young for ma’am,” she answered.

The officer smiled. “Well, Vanessa, it’s nice to meet you, since I’ve been assigned to watch you. If you’d like me to call you by your first name, you’ve got it,” he replied. His voice was soft, accented by a persistent cough. When he noticed Vanessa looking inquiringly at him, he apologized. “Sorry. I’ve had this stupid cough for a while now. The only thing that seems to help is tea. But…” He looked towards the door. “I guess I should get going. You know—look out for the usual suspects.” He gave a small wink, which Vanessa wasn’t quite sure how to take.

“Would you like some tea?” she asked, trying to be polite.

He looked into the kitchen longingly. “I... Well, I don’t want to make you go to any trouble.”

“Don’t be silly, Officer Daley, “ Vanessa responded. “It’ll just take a few minutes. Do you—want to wait outside? Or stay in here?”

“John.”

“Hmmmm?” Vanessa couldn’t make out how she felt about him. Even though he seemed perfectly nice, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something a little off. This scenario, she knew, was perfectly innocent, but she knew enough from Joe’s escapades to realize that people in law enforcement were supposed to do their jobs objectively, and that often meant no interaction with ordinary civilians, particularly those involved in a case.

Still, almost at the same time, she knew that he was young and might be new to the force, and that Joe was right there with her. At that realization, she was instantly comforted.

“You can call me John,” he repeated, coughing again. He looked at the ground, shyly. “If you want to, I mean… seeing as though you said I could call you Vanessa. Heck…” he added, slowly looking around, “I might be assigned to watch Callie Shaw tomorrow—who knows? It’s just nice to be treated good by a nice girl. I’m awfully sorry about everything you went through, by the way,” he added, again coughing.

“Oh,” Vanessa replied. Inwardly, she was a little conflicted as to whether this guy was a little weird or just plain shy. “Yeah, sure. My pleasure. I’ll… uh… get the tea.”

Following her into the kitchen, he sat down at the table as Vanessa brought out the teapot and the water began to boil.

“You know,” he said, after a pause, still looking around. “I… I guess you think I’m a little weird. I’m sorry.”

Startled, Vanessa stammered, “No. No, of course not. Thanks for watching me. It’s, uh—nice to know that there’s protection for me, even if there’s only one guy left out there.” Inadvertently, she shuddered.

“Aw,” he managed, then coughed again. “I think you’ll be okay. That guy is probably as far away from Bayport as possible. Plus, they got the other suspect, right? It’s a pretty cut and dry case.”

“Yeah. That’s what they say, anyhow,” Vanessa replied, unsure of how to take this conversation.

Finally, he met her eyes, albeit briefly, then looked down again. “I want to explain,” he finally managed. “You know, about my comment. I don’t mean to be weird or anything. It’s just that I recently broke up with my girlfriend, and I’ve been out of the dating scene for a while.” He gave a short laugh before continuing. “Do you know I tried to think of a witty comment to say to you as I left the bathroom because I was embarrassed to even have to ask you? And all I could think of was something along the lines of, you know—my name is John, and I’m coming from the john, and...” he stopped as he noticed the expression on Vanessa’s face.

Standing, he finally smiled and spoke, sheepishly. “I’m not doing anything to make myself seem less weird, am I?” he commented.

Despite herself, Vanessa laughed. “No, not really.”

“I’ll wait outside. Let me just run down to the patrol car and grab some donuts.” He held up a hand. “Don’t say anything, please,” he said with a smile. “I just thought it would go well with the tea, if you wouldn’t mind sending it out in about five minutes.”

Easing up, Vanessa replied, “Sure,” beginning to feel like officer John was nothing more than a little awkward and feeling grateful that her man was considerably more suave than him. Still, she felt a little bad for him; she knew what it was like to feel like a loner, and made a decision to try and be more friendly.

After several minutes, Vanessa heard the familiar whistle of the tea pot from the kitchen. Grabbing a cup, she filled it up and opened the door. THAT is when her hell began.

As soon as she opened the door and shut it softly behind her, she felt someone grab her from behind and shove her against the wall, pounding her head savagely against the brick. She would have screamed, had not a hand covered her mouth and blackness swim in front of her eyes, adding more to the confusion. The tea flew everywhere, scalding her hand as she struggled to break free.

“Now you’re mine,” she heard a voice whisper in her ear, hot and raspy.

Shaking, Vanessa tried desperately to get her bearings, to call out to Joe, to make some sense of what was happening. She felt a hand reach under her blouse, trying to tear it. At that very moment, she felt her world was going to end. In the back of her mind, she knew only seconds had passed, but time seemed to stand still.

Then, in what could only be a blessing from above, she felt herself slammed against her apartment door and the hand reached from around her to open it. He wants to get IN, she managed to realize. Oh God, Joe. Help me.

The door crashed open with a sickening thud.

Joe, sleeping soundly, jumped up, awakened, heart pounding wildly in his chest. “What the hell?” he stammered, shaking his head to clear the fog. In an instant, the one thing he saw was Vanessa being shoved to the ground and some guy, dressed in black, almost on top of her. At the sight of Joe, he seemed to freeze and looked as startled as Joe felt.

At once, Joe bolted from the couch, fire in his eyes.

Time seemed to freeze.

The guy, from nowhere, pulled out a gun, and aimed it straight at Joe, while still trying to keep a semi-conscious Vanessa on the ground.

In one instant, the gun was up and pointed.

In the next, Joe caught sight of… a police officer?… running into the room, gun drawn, shouting.

Joe got up to move.

Then, there was a hail of bullets flying, fire and ice and hell suspended in time.

He knew it was going to happen before it actually did.

There was a burst of incredible pain.

And then…

Nothing.

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.