Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Joe leaned his forehead against the passenger side window as they drove steadily along the darkened, back country road. They had returned Frank’s rental car and when he’d wordlessly held out his hand for Joe’s keys, Joe hadn’t even thought about protesting. In fact he’d felt oddly relieved, and turned over the keys to his older brother without question. He’d sunk into the passenger seat, drained, and had yet to utter a word, letting thoughts flit haphazardly through his mind, having neither the desire nor the energy to focus on any of them. So it was with a jolt in the pit of his stomach that Joe groaned inwardly as one of them suddenly stuck out, frightening in the possibilities it held.

Was he going to have to face his father in the morning? The man who could so often see right through him – through anybody – and automatically know when something was being kept from him? The last thing Joe wanted was for his parents to find out about any of this, at least not until and unless it was absolutely necessary. His mother, while she would probably know something was bothering him, wouldn’t press if he asked her not to. His father though…that was another story entirely.

Shifting uncomfortably in the seat, Joe tried to keep his voice casual. “Frank, is Dad gonna be in the office tomorrow?”

“Probably not,” Frank replied. “Unless something important came up since I left, he’d planned to spend the rest of this week, at least, in New York City. Why?”

Joe knew Frank was watching him as best he could while driving. He could feel his brother’s gaze without having to look. And then one word, let out in a soft exhale told Joe that Frank had figured it all out in record time. “Oh… you’re not going to tell him…or Mom.”

Joe swallowed, trying to get some much needed moisture into his suddenly very dry throat. “And I don’t want you to, either.”

Frank silently returned his attention to the road and clenched his teeth to keep from blurting out the first thing that came to his mind – it was a mistake not to tell Fenton and Laura, if for no other reason than Joe needed to know they loved him totally and unconditionally, no matter what.

“You don’t approve,” Joe said tiredly.

“It’s not up to me to approve or disapprove, Joe. But do I think you should tell them? Yeah, I do,” Frank said emphatically.

“Why? What purpose would it serve?”

Frank shook his head wondering how his brother could be so dense about the really important things. “What purpose would it serve? It would give you the support you need right now. It would let them be your mom and dad. It would let them love you…”

He stole a glance at Joe and saw him swallow hard, swiping at his eyes.

“They love you, Joe. We all love you. God, you’re making this so much harder than it has to be!” He could feel the tension between them rising. Although he was more angry at the situation in general, the incident between himself and Joe the previous evening was still fresh in his mind. He was still hurt at being shut out by Joe and despite his inclination to wait until this whole situation with Luke and Jodi was sorted out before tackling that issue, he just couldn’t seem to quash those feelings. “Fine, whatever,” he muttered, obviously unhappy. “If you don’t want them to know, they won’t hear it from me. But at least I know it’s not just me you don’t trust. I guess that’s something.”

“What?” Joe said his voice both soft and icy at the same time.

“Oh, come on, Joe. If I hadn’t tracked you down and come up here on my own, I still wouldn’t know about any of this!” Frank snapped. “Despite all your assurances to the contrary, you don’t trust me.”

“That’s not true! I wanted to tell you, you and Dad, right from the start! I was going to ask you to help me find him…find Luke,” Joe insisted.

“So what happened?” Frank challenged, already knowing the answer.

“When I said something about hoping to talk to you and Dad about it, Jodi…she just…she freaked. She begged me not to say anything to anyone.”

“But you insisted on telling Vanessa,” Frank pointed out, a trace of bitterness in the words.

“Yeah, I did,” Joe replied defensively. “We’re getting married in a few months, Frank! I couldn’t keep something like that from her!”

“Of course not,” Frank agreed, sarcastically. “But you could keep it from the person you swore you trusted more now than you ever have in your life…just not enough to keep this little secret.” Frank kept his eyes glued to the road but he could feel Joe’s heavy gaze.

“And you have no idea how much I regret that,” Joe said, his voice suddenly soft with guilt. “I wanted to tell you – you have no idea how badly. The night before you showed up at the motel I was this close to calling you,” he confessed.

Frank glanced to his right and saw Joe holding his thumb and forefinger so close together they were almost touching. “Had my phone out, ready to press those buttons…”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Dad.”

Frank wrinkled his brow in confusion. “Dad?”

“Remember when Van asked me to help her friend Kara?” Joe asked, seemingly out of the blue. “Thanks to you, Dad and I had a long talk. He said one thing he always admired about me was that my word was worth something. When I gave someone my word – when I said I was going to do something – I did it. He said that was pretty rare these days – for someone to keep their word.” Joe sighed, wondering if he could explain his reasoning clearly enough for Frank to understand – and forgive.

“And that night when I wanted to call you so badly, to tell you everything, I kept hearing Dad’s voice in the back of my head.” He stopped and stared at Frank, needing his brother to believe him. “I know you wouldn’t have told a soul if I asked you not to. Trust wasn’t the issue. It was…principle, I guess. I could have told you everything that night – or even before I left Bayport for that matter, and I know you would have kept it to yourself. But I would have known I’d broken my word and I just – I couldn’t live with that. Even if I was the only one who ever knew, from that point on whenever I gave someone my word, it would just be an empty promise. It wouldn’t mean a thing anymore.” He stopped, waiting for some kind of response from his brother – anything – to let him know Frank understood.

Frank pursed his lips and stared out at the road, considering everything Joe had said and rolling it around in his mind.

“Frank,” Joe said softly, the silence more than he could take. “I do trust you. Absolutely, completely, more than I ever have in my life. Please,” he begged. “You gotta believe that. If I didn’t I would’ve found some way to get rid of you the second you showed up at the motel, but I gave her my word….”

As he listened, Frank realized that on some level he did understand, because he felt the same way. Early on, Fenton Hardy had instilled in both his sons that their word was their bond; when it was given, it should mean something. If it really had been simply a lack of trust, Joe wouldn’t have let Frank in – physically or emotionally. He wouldn’t have opened that door; wouldn’t have begged for help; wouldn’t have confessed his darkest secret…

Suddenly Joe spoke again, a question that was asked with a pleading innocence that tore at Frank’s heart.

“Frank, are we…okay?”

With an aching sadness, Frank realized he had to stop and wonder. ‘Are we okay?’

In the ensuing silence, Frank had plenty of time to think…and second guess himself. Had Joe opened up to him of his own accord, or had Frank, however unintentionally, forced Joe’s hand? In hindsight Frank was no longer sure if he’d made a heartfelt request – ‘Please, trust me. I only want to help.’ – or laid down an ultimatum – ‘Trust me or else…’. He couldn’t answer Joe’s question until he figured out the answer to that, and it chilled him to the core. One way would strengthen their bond even more, while the other had the potential to destroy it forever.

While a part of him wanted to reassure Joe, tell him everything was fine, knowing it was what Joe needed to hear, he knew he couldn’t do that. This was far too serious. Once he replied it was for good; this issue could never be revisited again.

Joe fidgeted restlessly in the seat beside him and Frank just knew his brother was interpreting the silence as a resounding “No!”. Focusing on the blacktop as it disappeared beneath the front of the car, Frank did what he did best – replaying everything Joe had told him and paying attention to the slightest details. The words, the tone, the emotions. Had Joe freely volunteered everything, or had Frank had to pull it from him? Joe had told him about that night, the fight with their father and what had led up to it, as if it were a weight he could no longer carry. A weight he’d gladly hand off to his older brother…and then he had gone one step further. Joe had gone beyond assuring Frank with words that his trust was still as strong as ever, he’d offered something more.

‘Offered it,’ Frank realized as his hands briefly tightened on the steering wheel and then relaxed. Joe had willingly opened up to him with the most painful secret of his life. The possibility of having a son paled in comparison to the dark secret Joe had revealed. A secret he could have taken to his grave, but instead had given to his older brother as the ultimate gift of trust…

His gaze flickered briefly from the road, to his brother, and back to the road again.

Frank cleared his throat, his voice husky with emotion. “Yeah…we’re okay….”

*****

As the car glided to a gentle stop, Joe was roused awake. After hearing Frank’s reassuring “Yeah, we’re okay,”, Joe had let the emotional exhaustion take hold and fallen into a light sleep. Pushing himself up a little straighter, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and glanced around tiredly. They were sitting in Frank and Callie’s driveway, the car idling in neutral. Frank was already out of the car, the driver’s side door ajar.

“You okay to drive home?” Frank asked warily, as Joe got out and stumbled around to the other side of the car. “You’re not gonna fall asleep at the wheel or anything…”

Joe yawned and shook his head. “Nah, I’m fine. It’s only a few minutes to my place. I’ll open the windows and pop in a Metallica CD.”

Frank rolled his eyes at Joe’s musical preference as he pulled his duffle out of the back seat. Slinging it over one shoulder he mumbled a goodbye as Joe slid behind the wheel.

Joe shifted into reverse but hesitated uncertainly, making no move to leave. “Hey, Frank,” he called out, purposely avoiding eye contact with his brother. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Frank stop and turn back towards the car. “I’m glad you came…”

Frank stood silently for a moment, hefting the bag a little higher on his shoulder. “Yeah…me, too….”

Fifteen minutes later, Joe pulled into the parking space directly beneath the apartment he shared with Vanessa. Looking up, he smiled, seeing the soft glow of a light through the sliding glass doors of the balcony. He’d called before they left Sandersville to let Vanessa know he’d be arriving home sometime in the middle of the night. Anticipating his arrival, she’d apparently left a light on for him.

Getting out of the car, Joe grabbed his duffle bag and laptop and quickly made his way upstairs to their apartment. Once inside, he quietly closed and locked the door, trying to make as little noise as possible. However as he dumped his belongings on the couch, he heard muffled noises from down the hall and looked up to see Vanessa walking towards him, obviously having just woken up.

Pushing the sleep-tangled hair off her face, Vanessa rubbed her eyes. “Hey, stranger,” she joked, her voice still husky with sleep. She tried, unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn and smiled at Joe sheepishly. Joe stared at her, soaking in every detail, struck by how she seemed to look so innocent and yet so sexy at the same time. Softly she padded across the room, slipping her arms around his neck and pulling him close.

Joe melted into her arms and wished he could stay there forever. Being away from her for the past few days, alone and surrounded by dark and painful memories, only brought home how loving Vanessa – and being loved by her – was as natural and easy to him as breathing. Able to read him like no one else could, Vanessa easily saw the toll the past few days had taken on Joe. She pulled him closer still and gently stroked his hair.

For several moments Joe didn’t move, content to soak up Vanessa’s unconditional love and let it fill up the gaping hole that three days of loneliness had opened up inside him. Standing there in the safety of her arms, he was suddenly struck by the stark differences between Jodi and Vanessa. Jodi had no qualms at all about using and manipulating him, and had gotten bitterly angry with him over things that were beyond his control, all the while professing to care about him.

Vanessa, on the other hand, had every right to be furious with him and demand he put her first, now that he was home. Yet she had taken one look at Joe and immediately turned a blind eye to what she may have needed or wanted, instead focusing solely on him.

Jodi had used words to hurl accusations and cut him to the quick, then try to repair the damage by telling him she wanted him to stay. Vanessa had let him go without question and now that he had returned, she needed no words at all to let him know that no matter what had happened in the past – or what they might face in the future – he was loved, completely, totally and unconditionally.

Yet he’d left her to face their family and friends and her own personal demons, alone and scared while, against his better judgment, he left town, allowing Jodi to manipulate him and cut him off from everyone, making sure she was his only source of support. It was that sudden realization – that he’d deserted the woman he professed to love more than life itself; the woman whose actions now spoke more about selfless love than any words could say, for someone who put their own desires far ahead of anything he needed – that finally broke him.

Joe began to shake, clutching at Vanessa like the lifeline she now was. His voice stuck in his throat, finally coming out in hitched sobs. “I’m sorry…I’m…so…sorry. You deserve…so much better than me…”

“Shhhhh.” Vanessa’s voice was soft and soothing. She held him tighter than Joe ever thought possible, stroking his hair and murmuring softly to him. Minutes passed before Joe reluctantly loosened his grip. Vanessa pulled away just enough to look at him, her lips ghosting across his cheek. Her eyes held nothing but love. The kind that was deep and true and could never be expressed with mere words.

“You’re exhausted. You need to get some sleep.” She let her hands trail down his chest and tugged on his arm encouragingly. “Let’s go to bed.”

Moments later, curled tightly in Vanessa’s arms, Joe fell into a deep and blessedly dreamless sleep.

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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.