hardy boys fan fiction

A MISTAKE IN JUDGMENT

hardy boys nancy drew fan fiction

by

Shayla

The Story

hardy boys fan fiction

THE CHAPTERS

INTRO

THE STORY

“Get over it! We can come back another time!” Nineteen-year-old Frank Hardy snapped at his younger brother. Frank was driving as his brother was in the passenger seat of their van fuming over having to leave early from their trip to the mountains.

“Why does your girlfriend have to interrupt our plans? We hardly ever get to go away or even out without her butting in! She is so…” Joe ran his fingers through his ruffled blonde hair. “Needy!” 

“Needy! No she isn’t! She leaves in two days for California and I promised her I’d spend tomorrow night with her. It’s my fault. I made the mistake, Joe!” 

“Stop making excuses for her! I could be snowboarding and you could be skiing right now! At least Vanessa doesn’t boss me around or make me cancel plans.” He crossed his arms and looked out the window. 

Frank shook his head. He knew, no matter what he said, that his younger brother would still be upset. “Joe, I’m sorry! I really am, but don’t ruin our trip over it! I’ll make it up to you. Plus it’s getting dark so you wouldn’t have been snowboarding. It’s just one day.” 

“Hmph…until she makes you cancel them or wants to come along.” 

Frank sighed. “Joe, seriously, stop it! When has she made me cancel plans with you?” 

“Um, let’s see. How about last week when the four of us were supposed to see a movie and she wanted alone time with you? Or last month when Brooke and Tony wanted to hang out with us and again she wanted to spend time alone with you?” Joe retorted. “Or how about when you and I were supposed to go over to Chet’s house and hang out with him and Biff! But no, she called up and you canceled on all of us! That woman has you tied around her finger!” Joe blurted out. 

“She’s not that bad! Joe, if Vanessa wanted to spend time with you, that’s fine. You two are together a lot! Callie likes spending time with me, that’s what a relationship is all about!” Frank said and slowed down as he rounded a corner. He peered over the guardrail briefly and couldn’t see the bottom of the hill. He knew the driving conditions were going to get bad and had made sure they left earlier than planned. But even when he explained that to Joe, he didn’t listen. 

“Don’t lecture me on relationships. I just wish you would say no to her once in awhile. It’s not like you’ll never see her again.”  

Frank looked over at his brother. “Joe, grow up! Come on! We work together on cases and with Dad, hang out, just about everything under the sun! Losing a half a day of snowboarding won’t kill you!” 

“Grow up?!” Joe exclaimed, his temper rising. “I can’t help it if I want to spend time with my brother!” 

Frank knew they hadn’t had many opportunities to spend time alone or hang out other than working on cases or helping their father. With Frank now in college and Joe a senior in high school, both their schedules made it harder.  

“Joe, I wanted to be fair to both of you. Come on, we had two days of snowboarding and skiing, isn’t that good? This was your idea. It made me forget about the plans I had…” 

“So it’s my fault? Oh come on. Can you tell that woman to please back off and give you some breathing room before she suffocates you?”  

Frank was starting to get more annoyed. They rarely fought about anything and when they did, it was normally over and done with in a few minutes, but Joe had been going on and on since they left the White Mountains in New Hampshire. 

“Frank, watch out, someone’s on the side of the road,” Joe said as he pulled out his cell phone. “I may as well let Vanessa know we’re coming home.” And he started sending her a text message. 

Frank saw a car parked on the side of the road with its emergency lights flashing. “They may need help. Let’s check…” 

“And make your precious Callie wait longer?” Joe smirked. “Whatever.” 

Frank saw a young girl and two men standing outside the car with the hood up. “At least we can make sure they called for assistance. It’s cold out.” 

Joe made a face as Frank pulled over ahead of the car. Before he got out he turned to him. “Joe, please stop. Maybe when Callie’s gone, next weekend we’ll plan another trip. Whatever you want to do. I am very sorry I had to cancel. Please, and I am asking you nicely, little brother. Just stop being selfish. I am trying to make you both happy. It’s not an easy task but I love you both. Okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah… Give me a minute. I’ll be right out,” Joe said and took a deep breath. He saw Frank still watching him. “What?” 

“You amaze me sometimes. You’re stubborn, you know that?” 

“That I am,” and he smiled. 

“That’s what I like to see. Come on…hurry up and text her! You slow poke.” Frank closed his door, shaking his head. “He’s a handful.” he thought to himself. He walked over and saw the girl watching him. “Hey there, what seems to be the problem?”  

“Hi,” the girl said nervously. Her hair was thrown up in a pony tail, rather messy. “We had car trouble. It won’t…start…” she stuttered. 

One of the men walked around from the side of the car while the other was hunched over the engine. “Howdy. My bro here is trying to fix it but we aren’t havin’ much luck.” 

“My brother will be out in a minute. He’s a genius with cars,” Frank said and walked over, still keeping an eye on the girl. ‘Why’s she so nervous?’ He looked back at the man walking towards him and saw he had a split lip. The other man, who had been bent over looking at the car, had now turned around. Both looked in their early twenties, average height.  

“I’m Jake; do you happen to have a spare flashlight or anything in your van? My bulb just died in mine.” 

“Um, sure. One second.” Frank walked back over to his van and opened the back door. “Joe, hurry up, these people are…” 

Joe was laughing. “Huh? What…” 

Frank reached in and grabbed a flashlight. “Hey, Einstein, hurry up! I need your help!” Frank heard a door close behind him. 

“Okay! I’m coming…” 

Frank closed the back door to the van and turned around. Before he knew it, something hit him on top of the head, sending him crashing to the ground.  

Frank felt a kick to his stomach and was lifted off the ground by the two men. A third guy was now in front of him, punching him in the chin. Frank kicked out, hitting the man in the stomach, but the other two still kept a firm hold on him, dragging him near the guardrail. “Joe!”  

Joe put his phone in his pocket and had grabbed the door handle when he heard his brother scream. He opened his door and peered back, just in time to see Frank get punched in the face again as the men continued to beat him up. 

Joe jumped out of the van, ran towards them and as he got there the man gave one last kick, sending Frank tumbling backwards, just enough to fall over the guardrail and down the steep hill below! 

“Frank!” Joe ran and peered over the edge, barely able to see anything, just as he was also grabbed from behind. He wasn’t about to let the same thing happen to him. He swung out, striking one of them in the face.  

He felt something smash down on the back of his head, sending him to his knees. 

“Stop it!” he heard a girl yell. 

“Shut up!” 

With all his strength, Joe tackled his attacker to the ground. He got up, swinging a punch and struck the man in the face. Not even seconds later, there were two men grabbing him from behind again. “Let me go!” He pulled an arm free and swung wildly, his thoughts racing about his brother and wondering if he was all right. 

“Don’t move!” Joe turned and saw one of the guys pointing a gun at him. Joe stopped fighting, as the man grabbed the girl by the arm. “We’re going. Take care of him.”

“Hold him.” The stronger of the two held Joe’s arms down as the gun was still trained on him. Before he knew what was happening a fist came at him, connecting with his jaw. The man let go and Joe fell backwards to the ground.  

He lay there, stunned. Moments later he heard tires squeal. “Ugh…” he grumbled as he got up. He got to his feet and saw the van was gone. He swore under his breath and made his way to the guardrail. “Frank!?” he yelled and got no reply. “Damn it!” He pulled out his cell phone and called for help.  

“My brother fell over a guard rail and our van was stolen!” Joe gave them their location, explaining there was an abandoned car on the side of the road. “I tried calling down but I can’t see down there. It’s too dark! He’s not responding.” He waited for the emergency operator to finish. “Yes, thank you.” He hung up the phone and peered back over the rail, trying to call for his brother again. “Come on…”  He turned and spotted a their flashlight on the ground. “Yes!” He ran over to it, picked it up and turned it on.  

He pointed the flashlight in the direction that Frank fell, and his heart sank when he noticed how far the drop was. “Oh no.” He saw Frank lying facedown at the bottom, not moving. Joe couldn’t just stand there and wait, he climbed over the guardrail, and started to descend.  

About halfway down, he began to think this wasn’t a very good idea. His foot slipped out from under him and he fell on his bottom, dropping the flashlight. He swore and slowly continued to make his way down. He saw the flashlight had landed a couple feet from where Frank was lying. 

He continued descending; not being able to see anything made it even more difficult. As the hill got steeper, his foot got stuck on a large rock and he tripped, causing him to lose his balance, sending him tumbling down the hill! 

He screamed in pain when he landed, his right foot had twisted in a way it wasn’t designed to go. He lay on his back, taking deep breaths. ‘Why couldn’t I just get out of the truck!’ he thought angrily to himself. ‘No, I’m a selfish, stupid, moron! Frank, I’m sorry!’  He turned onto his side, and saw the flashlight wasn’t too far away. He crawled, as fast as he could, without putting pressure on his foot.  

Joe grabbed the flashlight and scooted over to his brother. “Frank!?” He nearly yelled it. “Come on bro!” He got no response. He placed the flashlight down, pointing it toward Frank so he could see. He saw part of his brother’s back, exposed and bloody. “Oh God…” He quickly pulled off his jacket, ignoring the cold winter air and placed it next to Frank. He gently turned his brother over, onto the jacket. 

Frank had a nasty cut on his forehead that had blood trickling down, and Joe saw his wrist twisted at an odd angle. 

“Frank, I am so sorry!” Joe said sadly. He checked for a pulse and found one. It was strong, but Frank’s injuries still worried him. “Come on, wake up and yell at me”, he urged, trying to wake his brother up. “Kick me in the rear for being a jerk. I’m sorry…” Guilt started to settle in as he remembered taking his time in the van, time that gave the men even more time to hurt Frank. 

He remembered his brother’s last words to him: ‘Just stop being selfish. I am trying to make you both happy. It’s not an easy task but I love you both.’ “I admit it, I was being selfish, okay?! You were right! I love you, come on, you have to wake up!” 

Joe’s demands were not met, as Frank lay motionless.  

“Come on big brother, it’s my turn to save you,” Joe said and crawled behind Frank, slipping his hands under his brother’s arms. “One, two, three…” Joe tried pulling Frank up the hill and his foot burned in pain. “Ahhh!” He screamed and had to stop. The pain was almost too much. He looked up and wondered when help would arrive. It had only been a few minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. “I can’t do this…I let you down.” He sighed. 

“I’m an jerk, I’m sorry. I screwed up. I should have understood you wanted to come home and spend time with your girlfriend,” Joe groaned. “She’s gonna kill me when she finds out! OH NO! Mom and Dad will kill me first! This is all my fault!” 

“Joe—”  

“I’m dead, I can’t freakin’ believe this. I screw up and this is how I—” 

“Joe—”  

“Frank!” Joe leaned over and looked at his brother. “Frank, can you move? Does anything hurt? I am so sorry…” 

Frank slowly opened his eyes. “Head hurts. Wrist…OUCH!”  

“What!?” Joe panicked. “What’s wrong, Frank?” 

“I think it’s broken…. Are you okay?” 

“Don’t worry about me. Frank, I’m sorry this happened. I should have never let you get out of the van alone. I wasn’t thinking…” 

“It’s okay,” Frank said quietly and closed his eyes. “call…help…” 

Joe could barely make out what he was saying. “What did you say?” 

No response.  

“Frank?” and again he got no reply. Luckily he heard sirens in the distance. “Thank God!” 

A few minutes later a paramedic descended. “What happened?” 

“Some guys punched and kicked him. He fell over the guardrail,” Joe explained. “He woke up for like, thirty seconds. He said his wrist hurts and so does his head.” 

“What about you? Any injuries?” she asked quickly. 

“Just my ankle. I may have sprained it. That’s it.”  

The medic got on her radio. “We have a male, around twenty years old, broken wrist or arm, possible concussion and unknown injuries.” She started looking Frank over.  

“Frank, his name is Frank.” 

“Thank you,” she said and gave him a reassuring smile when she noticed his worried expression. “He’ll be okay, don’t worry.”

“Thanks,” he replied and watched her work on his brother as a second medic climbed down to assist. 

They soon had Frank on a stretcher and started bringing him back up the steep hill. “We’ll be right back. Don’t move,” the medic instructed Joe. 

Once they had Frank in the ambulance, the medic came back down to assist Joe. “Your ankle hurts, right?” the man asked.

“Yes, that seems to be it,” Joe informed him. 

“Okay, I’m going to help you up this hill. If there is any problem, let me know.” 

“Okay…”  

He helped Joe up the hill.  After they reached the top, the paramedics looked Joe over, and he got into the back of the ambulance with Frank. 

The entire ride to the hospital, Joe watched his brother, knowing Frank might forgive him, but he also had to forgive himself for what he had caused by his inattention. 

When they arrived at the hospital, the paramedic assisted Joe out of the ambulance and had him sit in a wheelchair. Soon he was being wheeled away and he glanced back at his brother. “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be fine,” a nurse tried to cheer him up. “We’re going to take you in for x-rays and check your foot out. Any other injuries?” 

Joe shook his head. “Just the ankle. A couple small scrapes but that’s it.” 

“My name is Karen and I’ll be working with Doctor Stevenson. If there is anything you need or want, you can let me know.” 

“Thank you,” he answered and wondered how Frank was doing. 

A couple hours later Joe was sitting in the waiting room, a pair of crutches beside him. He knew his mother and father would be there in another hour or two, wondering what had happened. ‘What do I say? We had a small argument, I was an idiot and we pulled over to help some people who beat Frank up before I could help him. I was in the van taking my time getting out because I was annoyed with him.’ He sighed and scratched the back of his head. ‘Ugh, this sucks. Why did they steal the van? Why us?’

“Excuse me, you’re Frank Hardy’s brother right?”  

Joe looked up and saw an older man wearing a hospital ID tag looking down at him. “Yes, I am.” He reached for his crutches to stand. 

“Stay seated. I know your ankle is sprained. I just spoke with Doctor Stevenson. I’m Doctor Kevin Morales. I’ve been taking care of Frank.” 

“How is he?”  

“He’s doing better. He was unconscious for a while.  He does have a concussion. His right arm was fractured and his back and other areas have minor cuts and bruises from the fall. He’s on some pain medication at the moment, drifting in and out of consciousness, but he may be released in a few hours. We want to make sure he has no serious side effects from the concussion. He just needs lots of rest.” 

Joe sighed in relief. “Thank you very much. Am I able to see him?” 

“Of course. Come with me. Karen informed me she called your parents. I’ll let the receptionist know you’re with him so when they arrive they know where to find you.” 

They stopped in front of a room. “Here you are. If you need anything at all, please press the call button.” 

“Thanks.” Joe walked into Frank’s room, noticing his arm in a cast and a small bandage on his forehead. He sat beside his bed and wondered if he should try waking his brother. He decided to wait it out. 

As he sat beside Frank’s bed, guilty thoughts again rolled through Joe’s head. “How am I supposed to apologize for being a complete ass?” he asked aloud. 

“For what?” 

Joe looked over at his brother and saw Frank staring at him. “How long have you been awake?” 

“A few minutes. You seemed preoccupied so I didn’t want to disturb you,” Frank said with a small smile. 

“What’s so funny?” Joe asked. 

“Nothing. Is something bothering you? You seem out of it.” 

“Hmm, let me think. I start a stupid argument with my brother and then we pull over to help some stupid group of people who decide to beat him up and throw him over a guardrail and then steal our van. No, nothing’s wrong.” Joe crossed his arms and leaned back, a frown on his face. 

Frank sat up and leaned forward. “How’d you get the broken foot?” 

“It’s not broken, it’s just sprained.  When you fell and those guys took off with the van, I climbed down after you. I couldn’t see very well and tripped on a rock or something and just fell to the bottom. I had to make sure you were okay.”  

“Joe, you could have been hurt. That hill was too dangerous,” Frank started scolding him.

“Frank, I couldn’t let you lie down there without knowing if you were even alive or dead. Come on! Don’t lecture me right now. Please don’t…” 

“I’m not lecturing you!”  

“Yes you are! You just said I shouldn’t have gone down after you.” Joe stopped when he realized it was just going to lead to another argument. “Okay, let’s just stop. We seem to be arguing a lot lately.” 

“Yeah, but what can you expect? We’re brothers. Brothers are meant to argue once in a while.” Frank said with a wink. “Don’t feel bad about what happened. It was all bad timing today. I just want to know why those people had to steal the van!” 

“If I find them, I’m gonna kick their…” 

“Joe!” Frank almost laughed. “I know you’re pissed about what happened. Trust me, I can see it in your face.” 

“Frank, I’m sorry I was snapping at you about Callie. She’s a nice girl for you and I guess you could say that I’m a little jealous. We used to hang out all the time with our friends and now we just seem to be going our own separate ways. Sometimes I just miss the old days when you and I would go to the mall and hang out, or just work on a case together. Are you mad at me?”  

Frank shook his head. “No! Joe, I am not mad at you. You’ve said things before about Callie and guess what, she says the same things about you. She gets jealous sometimes when I tell her I am going to stay home and help you with an assignment or just stay in and watch a movie. You both have the same problem. I admit; sometimes you are both a handful, but I love you both.” 

“Awwww, Frank,” Joe joked. 

“Joe, stop! I am serious. You both mean a lot to me.  Anyway, I’ve wanted to ask you something. Since we have time, maybe now is better then later,” Frank said seriously.

“Oh gosh, what is it?” Joe sobered, hoping it was nothing bad. 

“I was thinking of moving out of the house this summer. I was going to ask Callie if she wanted to move in, but I think it’s too soon for that. Then I thought, why not ask my best friend? You. Would you want to do that?” Frank asked. 

“Move out? You want to move into an apartment with me?!” Joe exclaimed. 

Frank laughed. “True. What am I thinking?”  Joe’s expression made Frank laugh even more. “I’m kidding! Joe, seriously, I thought it’d be good for us.” 

Just as Joe was about to answer, there was a knock on the door.  Their father, Fenton, and their mother Laura walked inside. 

“How are you boys doing?!” Laura asked, kissing Joe on the cheek and gently hugging Frank. 

“Some guys roughed us up and stole the van. My ankle is sprained. That’s about it for me,” Joe informed them. 

“My arm is broken and my head hurts a little,” Frank told them. 

“I called the police on the way. They found your van,” Fenton said. 

“What about those guys and the girl?” Frank asked. 

“They had pulled into a gas station and they were arrested. It turned out you two were lucky. They had shot a cashier and stolen some money and other items from a convenience store about an hour’s drive away.”  

“You’ve got to be kidding. We have the worst luck,” Joe groaned.  

“Well, be happy. They’ve been caught. The van is fine. You guys were very lucky.” 

“I thought you boys were coming home tomorrow night?” Laura asked. 

Joe glanced over at Frank. “Frank had other plans for tomorrow. We had to come home early.” 

“Really?! You had planned this all out a month ago,” Laura said in surprise. 

“Yeah, but Callie leaves for her own vacation soon, and Frank also had plans with her. So, to be fair we came back early,” Joe explained. 

“That’s nice of you both. Maybe we all can come up here together in a month or two. A nice family vacation,” Laura said, gently rubbing Frank’s hair. 

Joe grinned. “That’d be awesome! Frank?” 

Frank agreed. “Sure. Sounds great to me. Next time I’ll make sure I don’t have plans.” 

“Well, I’ll make sure to keep my schedule open. Frank, the doctors want you here for a couple more hours to make sure you’re all right. You boys can go home with your mom and I’ll stay here and get your van and bring it home. Sound good?” Fenton asked. 

“That’s good. Sounds like a plan! I could use a nice nap on the ride home,” Joe said with a grin. 

“You and your sleep.” Frank shook his head. 

“Hey, my leg hurts. I can’t drive anyway.” 

Fenton looked at his wife and smiled. “All right boys. Your mom is going to drive me to the police station so we can get your van back. Joe, are you staying here or coming with us?”

“I’ll stay and keep Frank company.” 

“Joe, you can go with them. I’m gonna just relax. I’ll see you when you get back,” Frank said. 

“You’re sure?” 

Frank nodded. “Of course. I’ll see you in a bit.” 

Fenton and Laura said goodbye to Frank and left the room. Joe stood up, grabbing his crutches, and gave his brother a brief hug. “I really am sorry about earlier. I won’t let it happen again.” 

“Don’t worry about it. We all make mistakes. I’ll see you later,” Frank replied. 

“Thanks.” Joe said. “Love ya, big brother!” 

“Love you too, little brother.”

The End

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