HDA - Where Troubles Melt by Cherylann Rivers Introduction

Joe waited nervously at the entrance to the kitchen for his brother to get off the phone. He couldn't help but to think to himself that this very phone call could change Frank and Callie's lives forever. He ignored the bustling of Aunt Gertrude by the oven telling him that he should hurry up, and of his parents, who were busy setting the kitchen table. He was amazed at how normal everything seemed, with his family blissfully unaware of what was going on in Frank's life. He could only pray that life would continue to be normal for all of them.

In moments, Frank entered the dining room, adjacent to the kitchen. The look on his face said it all. Joe sucked in a sharp breath and followed his brother, who was hurrying outside. He ignored the puzzled looks from his parents.

"Frank!" Joe shouted, right before his brother was getting into his car. "Wait! Hold on a minute!"

Frank, hesitantly, took a moment to look at his brother, his eyes burning with unshed tears. Joe, looking at Frank, felt his own eyes begin to fill. "Oh, Frank…." he managed, before his voice trailed off. He began to understand to the severity of this very moment, and it began to overwhelm him.

Much to his surprise, it was Frank who reached out to him, and quickly rubbed his shoulder. "Hang in there, Joe. I've got to go," he said, quietly.

Joe could only nod, as he watched his brother get into the car, back up the driveway, and speed off in the direction of Callie's house. Slowly, he rubbed his forehead, trying to erase the stricken look on Frank's face from his mind. It wasn't working.

In record time, Frank arrived at Callie's house, his heart pounding in his chest. Those simple words, I have cancer, echoed through his mind over and over again. Strangely, he heard the words, but he couldn't fully process them; not yet. As he stood at Callie's door, he wiped away the tears from his eyes, and he was frightened that they seemed to keep coming, no matter what he did. He took a shaky breath and sat down on Callie's porch, where they had spent so many nights together, and tried to collect his thoughts and to get himself together. The memories came flooding back to him as he looked at the simple surroundings that he knew would never look quite the same to him again. At once, he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, as, for the first time, he recognized innocence lost, in a way he never could have when he was living through innocence, itself. Covering his mouth, he closed his eyes for a moment and prayed silently, Please, God, just let me be strong for her.

At once, he heard the door open and he turned around. There was Callie, looking no different from when he saw her last. Only, unlike last time, she didn't have the optimistic demeanor she normally so bravely wore. Then again, she wasn't crying, either.

"Hey," she said softly to him, with a small smile.

Frank stared at her incredulously for a moment. She was smiling! How could she smile when Frank couldn't even force one at this very moment? At once, he stood up, and walked over to Callie, taking her in his arms. He didn't think he'd ever held her so tightly. Callie just reached up and gently stroked his hair, in a gesture of comfort.

"Come on," she said, after a while, "Let's go inside. My parents aren't here. They're visiting my aunt." She paused, and met his eyes, trying to stay calm. She was shocked by the look of utter horror in Franks' eyes, and she felt uneasy. Frank had always been the one to keep her grounded; now, she had to hold him together. "They're coming home, of course, now that I called them, but they won't be home until tomorrow morning, early," she continued. Holding onto his hand, she led him into her living room, and they sat down on the couch.

"Well," Frank managed to choke out when they were inside, "What did you find out?" He heard his own voice trembling, and he immediately stopped talking. Not crying had never been so difficult in his life.

Callie fought back the lump in her throat. She longed to throw herself into Frank's arms and to sob about how unfair this was. Part of her was still in denial; she couldn't really fathom the thought that here, at 18 years old, she had cancer. A transient thought entered her mind about the times she had cried over an argument with Frank, or a disagreement with friends, or general disappointments. And now, when she was literally fighting for her life, she couldn't cry. She could die. The thought was too big, too utterly overwhelming for her. So, she found herself gathering strength the only was she could; by giving it to others.

She managed to smile for Frank, and watched as the emotions in his face seemed to calm a bit. She realized that for the first time, Frank was being reactive instead of proactive. If she remained calm, she hoped he would, too. She couldn't handle seeing her boyfriend in so much pain.

"Honey," she began, gently. "The doctor told me that the needle biopsy came back positive for cancer. Kind of ironic, huh? Positive for cancer. I'd think they'd phrase it 'negative' for cancer." She looked at the floor, as Frank remained silent.

Finally, she looked up again, and went on. "They're continuing to do tests to determine what kind of cancer it specifically is, and what stage it's developed to. That means… you know..." Callie began to choke on her words, and she felt Frank's arm on her back as she looked the other way, "how serious it is."

She took a deep breath, and faced him again. She struggled with the next words.
"Obviously, it's some sort of brain tumor, and I'm going to need to go in for surgery late next week. They've already scheduled it. I guess the good news is that it is operable." She smiled bravely at him. "I'll need blood tests and more CAT scans, and then they'll determine if I need radiation or chemotherapy…" Suddenly, the impact of what Callie was saying actually hit her, and she choked back a sob. Covering her face with her hand, she walked across the living room and looked out the open window, trying to regain some semblance of control.

Frank felt something inside him snap as he watched Callie and listened to her words. At once, he felt like he was someone outside his own body, watching disaster happen but unable to do anything to prevent it. "No," he said forcefully, standing up, too. "No. There must be some mistake. You've got to get a second opinion."

Callie, hearing the change in tone of Frank's voice, turned around in surprise. She stood, shocked. She was in Frank's presence, but she suddenly realized that Frank wasn't fully there. She had no idea what to do. "F… Frank?" she managed.

"It's a mistake!" Frank shouted. Callie stood dumbstruck. Frank never raised his voice.

She tried to calm him. "No, no it's not," she said, staring at him. "It's okay, Frank. It's going to be okay."

"No!" Frank shouted again, grabbing a magazine he saw on a nearby couch and throwing it. He wanted to throw something else, to tear at something, to take out his own fury on something that couldn't fight back. Not seeing anything else, he literally began to see red.
"It's not fair! It's not right! Not… not YOU, Callie. Anyone, anything else but YOU!" He punched the wall, furious.

Callie began shaking. In all their years together, she had never, ever seen Frank lose his composure, much less his sanity, which it looked to her like he was doing. Strangely, as horrifying as seeing Frank unravel was, she began to feel a small sense of empowerment. She had no control over the cancer, but she did have control over helping Frank, and she was going to try.

"Frank! Stop it!" she cried, and came up behind him, wrapping her arms around him from behind. She felt him quaking with anger, and tried to calm him. Resting her head on his shoulder, she continued. "Frank, you have to calm down. There's nothing you can do. Just… just be here for me, okay? I need you to be here."

Frank heard Callie and felt her arms around him, but he still wasn't totally himself. In his whole life, he'd never felt out of control with his emotions. Now that he didn't have control, he had absolutely no idea what to do to regain it.

Whipping around quickly, he inadvertently pushed Callie away, and he saw her off balance for a moment. Instinctively, he reached out for her, and pulled her to him. He was overwhelmed with a desire to help her, to do anything for her that he could. At once, he tilted her head towards his and kissed her intently and forcefully.

Callie didn't know what to do. She sensed the passion and the urgency in Frank's kiss, and part of her wanted to give into it, to forget her worries and to allow Frank to comfort her and to take away her pain. The other part of her somehow felt that this wasn't Frank she was with, and his touch, which she was so familiar with and generally longed for, wasn't his at all.

Her hesitation gave Frank the wrong impression. He held her tighter and kissed her more intently, pushing her back onto the couch. At once, she felt Frank's body pressing against hers as he continued to touch her. She was literally pressed down beneath him. "Frank, Frank… stop! Stop it!" she gasped. "You're hurting me!"

Then, as suddenly and urgently as it had begun, it stopped. Callie's words registered somewhere in the back of Frank's mind, and he felt common sense and control snap back into him as quickly as it left him. Shaking his head, he looked down at Callie's terrified face and he jumped back from her.

Staring down at her, he felt his heart stop. What had he been doing? Her words echoed in his mind-you're hurting me. Frozen, he stared at Callie and saw the fear in her eyes. In all their years together, she had looked at him with a lot of emotions-love, passion, anger, sadness- but never, ever with fear. He sank down in the couch on the other side of the room and, all at once, started to cry, shoulders wracking with sobs. He suddenly didn't know himself anymore, and now he feared Callie wouldn't know him, either.

Frank lost track of time, but very soon, he felt Callie's arm around him. He managed to stop crying, and felt a mixture of fear, anger, and shame that he'd never experienced before. He couldn't meet her eyes.

Callie leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Frank, look at me," she said, softly.

Swallowing his pride, Frank met her eyes, at a total loss for words. Still, he had to try. "Callie, I… I'm so sorry. I… I'd never hurt you, ever. I should be here for you. I…" he couldn't finish.

"I know that," she said, as she took his hand. "And I know that you will be here for me, no matter what. You've never let me down before, and I know you won't now, either." All fear forgotten, she looked at Frank, who looked so devastated to have lost control. There, in front of her, was the man she loved, the one who would do anything for her. Touching his cheek, she moved in, and kissed him softly.

Frank, unsure of what to do, didn't move.

"I love you, Frank," Callie said softly to him. "Tonight… let's just forget about it, okay? Late next week, I'll really need you. Right now, we have each other, and we have to make the most of that."

Frank exhaled slowly, realizing again how wonderful Callie was. With hesitation, he gently wrapped an arm around her waist. Callie covered his hand with her own. "I'm so sorry," he said to her, now in control again. He made a mental note to never lose control like that again, and wondered, for an instant, if that was how Joe led his life-dictated by emotions. Frank had never felt such highs and lows, and he developed a new respect, then and there, for his impetuous brother.

"Don't be," she replied. "And now, feel free to tell Joe or whomever about what's going on. I think we'll all need each other's support."

Frank sighed, and smiled gently at Callie. "He knows, Callie. He overheard me talking to you on the phone. I just asked him not to say anything." He waited for her backlash, but there was none.

"Oh. Well, at least that's one less person you have to talk to," she replied with a small smile. "How's your case going?"

Frank stared, stunned. "Are you kidding me?" he managed. "After all this, you want to think about a… a case?"

"Why not?" Callie asked, matter- of- factly.

"Because…. Because…." Frank couldn't even answer her- it was so obvious.

"Because why? Come on, distract me," she said, "and move over while you're at it." With that, Callie snuggled into Frank' arms and felt comforted when she felt his arms encircle her and hold her. She closed her eyes.

Frank, still holding back tears, began. "Okay, then…" and, for the next twenty minutes or so, filled her in on everything.

"Mmmm…" she murmured when he finished, and opened one eye to look at him. "So you're going to Nebraska tomorrow, huh?" she asked.

"No way!" Frank replied. "Not with you … sick…" His voice trailed off.

"Fine," Callie replied, closing her eyes and resting her head against his chest. "Then I'll go with you!"

"What?" Frank asked, aghast. She felt his heart rhythm change, and smiled softly to herself. "No, you're not!"

"Yes, Frank, I am," she continued, determined, as exhaustion began to take over her. "Look, I have a little over a week until surgery. I'm not going to sit around here and feel sorry for myself. Like I told you before-you only live once, so you might as well make the most of it. Don't even think about arguing with me, because you won't win. That's it. Period. End of point."

"Oh, Callie," Frank sighed, and pulled her closer to him. "What am I going to do with you?"

Callie smiled as she drifted off to sleep with Frank holding her. "Just stay with me, Frank, and make my troubles melt away. That's all I ask."

Frank, overwhelmed by the evening's events, kissed Callie gently as he watched her sleep. "That's the least I can do, baby," he whispered.

He knew that his life was about to change forever.

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors 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 them without express permission of the authors.