Hardy Boys Fan Fiction at the HDA - Brain Child

It was a calm, hot, and sunny afternoon. Despite the heat, there was a small breeze in the air that ruffled the trees and offered a small comfort in the midst of the day. The sky was bright blue, interrupted only by the occasional white cloud moving slowly across the sky like a boat in an endless ocean. "It's like heaven," he whispered softly, looking from the clouds back to the ground again. Smiling genuinely, he dropped the lone apple next to the headstone.

"For an angel," he heard a voice from behind him reply.

Turning slightly, Joe Hardy saw Callie Shaw come next to him and sit down by his side. Pushing his baseball cap lower on his face to block out the sun, he tuned his blue eyes to her and repeated, "Yup. For an angel."

For a few moments, Joe and Callie stared down at Iola Morton's headstone, each lost in remembrance. Finally, taking notice of the seemingly out of place apple, Callie turned to her future brother-in-law and said, "Okay. Your turn. Tell me about Iola and apples."

Joe faced her, and beginning slowly, he started telling Callie the story that he had been reminded of lately.

The year that Iola had died had been a terrifying and life-altering one for him – for all of them. Looking back now, Joe found that so many of his days had passed by in a blur. In fact, that year was now a series of strongly remembered emotions, rather than any physical activity he could recall. The guilt had consumed him; were if not for Frank, especially, and the support of his friends and family, he knew he might not be here today.

The following year, he had come to Iola's gravesite for the first time around the anniversary of her death, and he had seen Callie there. He had frozen momentarily; it seemed somehow wrong that anyone should share in this moment with him, especially Callie. Frank's girlfriend, he'd thought, was the LAST person who should be there. Despite her friendship with Iola, and the fact that she had been present at the time of the explosion, there had always been a wall between the two of them. Callie was, he had thought, nosy, opinionated, and bossy, a girl who'd somehow stolen his brother's heart and would, inevitably, break it. He also knew that she thought of him as arrogant, stupid, a jock, and that he demanded more of Frank's time than was absolutely necessary.

Yet, despite these feelings, he had approached Iola's grave, too emotionally drained to even prepare to argue with Callie. She was there; he'd have to deal with it. Yet when he approached her, he saw that she had been crying, expressing a feeling he hadn't seen in her before.

And her words to him were even more surprising: "I'm so sorry, Joe. I know you wish it would have been me. I really cared about her, you know. I know you did, too." With that, she had looked up at him, squeezed his shoulder, just like his brother had always done to comfort him, and added, "I'll leave you alone with her."

Then, surprising even himself, he'd replied, "No, stay." They'd sat together a long time.

After the silence, which was surprisingly comforting, he had turned to her and said, "You know, Callie, I don't wish that it had been you who…it happened to. I wish it had been nobody."

"Yeah?" she'd said, taken aback. "Me, too." Then, after a pause, she'd added, "Did I ever tell you about the time Iola and I…."

And that had been the beginning of a major change in his life. Every year, he and Callie met to share stories of their times with Iola. Sometimes the stories were sad, most times they were happy, but most of all they served to remind each other of the real Iola and to help each other both remember her better and get a more complete picture of her. Sometimes it was Callie's year to tell the stories; they'd go places where she and Iola hung out together or where they'd had an especially good time. Other years, he'd be responsible for taking Callie places. In any case, every year it started out with a tangible object to begin the narrative. This year, it was the apple.

Through the years, he'd grown to really like Callie, to respect her, and, ultimately, to care for her like a close friend or a member of the family. He came to see her ‘nosiness’ as concern, her ‘opinionated nature’ to be thoughtful and intelligent, and her ‘bossiness’ to be non-existent. Above all, he knew that Callie really, truly loved his brother, and that was more important than anything else. He also knew that he could gradually let Callie see the "real" him that wasn't so 'stupid' or 'sexist.' Although they could still tease each other mercilessly, they'd grown up, together. And that, they both knew, had made Frank a lot happier. It had almost been a miracle, sent down by Iola. The ice had gradually melted away.

Now here they were. At the end of Joe's narrative, he found himself laughing along with Callie, thinking of the time Iola had tried to stuff apples down her shirt to look more 'endowed' – until the apple had rolled out of her blouse and onto the floor in the middle of one of the high school dances.

"Oh, wow," Callie laughed, wiping the tears from her eyes. "She never told me about that."

"I wonder why!" Joe quipped, smiling. "Ready to go?" he then asked her.

"I think so," Callie replied. Then, they both opened up their cans of Coke, Iola's favorite soda, and touched them together, gently. "To Iola," she said. "To Iola," Joe replied. Then he added, blowing her a kiss, "The apple of my eye."

"Joe! That's atrocious!" she laughed, despite herself. Shaking her head, long blonde hair glinting in the sun, she linked her arm through Joe's as they headed away.

"Are you looking forward to tonight?" she queried.

Sighing inwardly, Joe tried to think of how to reply, "Well," he began, "I don't know if you'd call it 'looking forward.' I mean, this is a serious case, and the sooner we get answers, the better. And we WILL get answers," he said, seriously, looking down at Callie and meeting her eyes. "Don't worry. You know Frank and I won't let anything happen to you girls. Believe me, if Vanessa and Charlotte weren't at work right now, and Frank wasn't getting everything in order for tonight, we'd all be here together." He wanted to add how the thought of anything happening to Vanessa was incomprehensible to him, how he'd give his life to protect her, as he couldn't do for Iola. But he knew that some things were better felt than said.

"I know," Callie replied, shuddering at the memory of those icy blue eyes; that cold promise. "Still," she added, "It ought to be nice to have Nancy and Ned here. I mean, I've only met Nancy once, a long time ago – was it back in high school? But she seemed nice, if I remember her correctly. And from what I hear, she's a great detective, and I know Frank's really fond of her."

Having reached his car, Joe opened the door for Callie and walked around to the driver's seat, trying not to wince at Callie's inadvertent choice of words. Frank was crazy about Callie and he deeply loved her, Joe knew that, but he also knew that there were some things about Frank and Nancy that he didn't know, and that's what concerned him. Although they'd always denied anything more than a 'close friendship', Joe couldn't shake the feeling that there was more than met the eye with his brother and Nancy. He'd give Frank the benefit of the doubt any day, especially with Ned coming, but still…a gut reaction was telling him that something not good was coming with the arrival of their friends. And he was almost always right when it came to his instinct.

"Joe?" Callie looked at him with a concerned expression.

"Sorry," he huffed. Then, forcefully, changing his demeanor, he continued, "Maybe you're right. I guess any help that we can get on this case would be good."

Callie smiled.

"What?" Joe was getting pretty good at reading Callie, and he could tell there was a bit of mischief to Callie's expression, perhaps best described as a smirk.

"I'm proud of you, Joe," she replied. "The day you admit that you could use help from anyone, even a female, is admirable."

"Yeah, well," Joe grumbled under his breath, "This case is important, like I said."

"Mmmm -hmmm," Callie murmured, then laughed. "I'll get off the sexist thing, Joe – sorry. I just can't help myself sometimes when I think of the old stereotypes I had of you. " Then, her eyes darkening, she added, "I'll admit it; I'm still …you know…"

"Scared?" Joe asked, starting the car.

Callie blushed.

Joe paused, thinking of Vanessa. Fighting the urge to say, 'me, too,' he simply replied, "Don't be. It's okay." He looked straight through the windshield of the car.

"Thanks, Joe," she whispered.

"You're welcome," he replied, a small smile on his face.

"Anyway," Callie replied, "I'm sure Nancy can lend some real experience to the case. Frank mentioned to me what a great detective she was. He said that you never know what she's up to, and that she adds an element of surprise to a case. You never know where things will end up with her."

Again wincing at her diction, Joe turned on the radio, giving Callie a small wink. Shaking his head, he murmured to himself,

"Yeah, you never know."

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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.