"More?" Nancy groaned. This was not one of the more exciting parts of the job.

"More!" Leslie declared, plopping the box on the table in front of her. "My, aren't we Little Miss Grouchy today? What happened, Rebecca? Stay out to late with your new boyfriend?"

Nancy glared at Leslie for a minute, while trying to think of a really great comeback. But after only a few hours sleep - in a car, no less - the right words eluded her. Instead, she rolled her eyes at the girl.

Leslie laughed, obviously taking Nancy's reaction as an affirmative to her assumption. "You're going to have to bring this guy by here some day so I can check him out. Anyone that can keep you up most of the night must really be worth having."

Nancy grabbed a full box of fliers, centered packing tape along the top, and sealed it. After affixing a label on the box; this one headed for the area Wal-Marts and their affiliates; she smiled. "He sure is. But he's not mine. He belongs to someone else. I think she's a model. So that pretty much lets you and me both out, don't you think? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to mail a couple of these packages and I'll be back later. If anyone calls, could you take a message?" Nancy smiled sweetly at Leslie, enjoying the scattered laughter of the volunteers and the scowl that had begun to creep across Leslie's pretty features.

Nancy had almost reached the door when Greg's voice rang out. "Rebecca, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Sighing, she turned slightly, juggling her load of boxes and envelopes. "Greg, I really don't have much time. I need to get these out today. I don't want to fall too far behind."

Greg came up to her and took the top two packages. "The post office doesn't close 'till five. You've got plenty of time. Tell you what. Come on into my office and talk with me for few minutes and I'll make your post office run for you? Please?"

"Well, when you put it that way, how can I say no?" Nancy smiled and handed Greg the rest of the packages. "Today I'm more than happy to let you take some of my work load off my shoulders."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Greg said as the pair went into his office. "Why was I the only one home again last night? No one was there when I finally gave up and went to bed around 1 o'clock. And this morning, when I woke up your bed and Laurie's bed both looked like they hadn't been slept in. Kevin was there, but he was so dead to the world that I couldn't get a coherent word out of him. What's going on?"

Nancy settled into an office chair and stared at Greg for a moment. Just how much should she tell him? It was bad enough that Kevin was already mixed enough in this. If she got Greg involved, too, would she be putting him in danger as well? Still, he had been one of her best friends for nearly four years. He shouldn't be kept completely in the dark.

"It's the case I've been helping Joe with. It's been keeping us pretty busy."

"It's even keeping Kevin and Laurie busy? Explain how that's possible. Kevin's not the detective type. And Laurie's only four. How exactly is keeping her away from her home all night helping Joe Hardy's case? He doesn‘t still have her hid out, does he?"

Nancy motioned for Greg to sit down. He took the chair next to hers, arranged it to face her, and sat. Taking her hands in his, he spoke softly. "Tell me what's going on. I'm worried about you Rebecca. Talk to me."

"I’m so tired, Greg. I think I had maybe three hours sleep last night. And only four or five the night before. I’m so out of practice at this detective thing."

Greg leaned in to put his arms around her. "It’s going to be okay, Rebecca," he said. "I’m here. Tell me exactly what’s going on. I need to know so I can help you. I could get it out of Kevin, but I think you need to talk about it. It will make you feel better."

"Joe went to talk to a witness. The girl over in Salinas that we think sold her child to the man in charge of this adoption scam. The case his brother Frank is working on in New York. I told you about this, right?"

"Yeah, you did. What did the girl have to say?"

"I don’t know for sure. Joe never got in touch with me yesterday. It turns out that someone ran him off the road on his way back home. He’s in a hospital over in King City." She closed her eyes, playing back the scene in Joe’s hospital room. Boy, did that ever go over well! She felt guilty over not telling Frank about Laurie sooner. As soon as he spotted Laurie’s things in the backseat, she should have told him all about her. Why was it she could pour her heart out to Joe, who was only a friend, but not to Frank, who she knew she still loved?

Greg straightened up in alarm. "Does he still have Laurie? Was she with him? Is she okay?"

"Oh, no, she’s fine," Nancy quickly reassured him. "She’s with a friend of ours. No one can get to her, Greg, I promise. Bess will guard her with her life."

"Bess? Who is Bess? You told me about a Bess once, but I can’t place her."

"She’s a friend who grew up in River Heights with me. She’s also here in LA, has been for a couple of years." Nancy smiled. "Small world, isn’t it?"

"So Joe took Laurie to this Bess...Bess...I’m sorry, I didn’t get her last name."

"Marvin. But don’t worry. Bess is good with kids. Laurie’s probably having a blast. Last night I was worried sick about her, but now that I’ve had a few hours sleep, I realize that hiding her there is good. Laurie’s safe."

Greg frowned. He knew he’d heard that name somewhere recently. "Still, I’d feel better if I could check up on her. Where would I find this Bess Marvin?"

Nancy waved her hand. "Greg, don’t worry about it. She’s fine. You’d never get through to Bess anyway. Too much security, according to Joe. Can we get back to the case?"

He nodded. "Of course. I’m sorry. Please continue."

"Anyway, Kevin and I turned Joe’s apartment upside down trying to find Frank’s phone number to let him know that Joe was hurt. While we were there, he called. He already had a flight to LA booked, so I went to pick him up last night. I drove him straight to King City. That’s why I was gone all night." She raised a hand to her mouth, trying to cover an involuntary yawn. Briefly, she wondered if Frank was as tired as she was. Probably even more tired, considering that long flight to LA.

"Laurie’s father is here? Frank Hardy from New York?"

She nodded.

"Where is he? Did you bring him back with you last night?" Greg glanced around the office, as if expecting Frank to pop out at any minute.

"No, I left him there. He kept my car and Kevin brought me home. He went on ahead to the hospital to check on Joe and wait for us to arrive." She decided to leave out the part about being sent home with Kevin by an extremely angry Frank.

Greg got up and walked to the window. He shifted a curtain slightly to the left and peered out at the street below. "I don’t like this. He knows you’re alive now. What if he wants you back?"

Nancy rose and walked over to stand by him. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Why would he? After what I’ve done, I’ll be lucky if he even speaks to me again."

Greg turned to meet her eyes. "But you still love him. Don’t tell me you don’t. I can see it in your eyes. You love him as much as I love Kevin. And you’d do anything for him, wouldn’t you?"

Nancy dropped her eyes to her feet. "Yes I do. But that doesn’t mean he feels the same way about me. I’ve been ‘dead’ five years. He’s moved on by now."

"What if he hasn’t?" Greg persisted. "What if he still loves you? And even if he doesn’t, what if he wants Laurie? She is his, you know. You put his name on the birth certificate. He has a right to at least share custody."

Nancy shrugged. "Then we work it out. I know how important family is to you Greg. You’re not going to lose your family. It’s probably going to change, though. You’re going to have to get used to that. We’ve been over this Greg."

"We could leave," he said.

"What?"

"We could leave," he said. "I’ve got some money put away. Money no one knows about. We’ll all go. You, Laurie, me and Kevin. We’ll go somewhere that Joe and Frank Hardy won’t ever bother us."

Nancy stepped back from him in disbelief. "I can’t believe you just suggested that, Greg. I’m not running. I want this. I’m tired of living a lie. I want to be Nancy Drew again, not Rebecca Addison. I didn’t realize how much I missed her life until I spent this last week hanging out with Joe. I like the person I was. And I want Laurie to know the people I left behind. She has grandparents, Greg. Grandparents that she’s never met. I want her to know them. And she so desperately wants a real dad. This is her chance to have one, I hope. And Joe, she’s so completely nuts over Joe that I couldn’t even begin to think of tearing her from him!"

"I thought I was doing a pretty good job of being her father figure," Greg said. "And she’s got Kevin for an uncle."

"It’s not the same," Nancy said. "She already knows you’re not her real dad. Her friends have ‘real’ ones. She wants one too. And she can have both Kevin and Joe. And you. Why shouldn’t she have it all?" She turned to leave the room.

"Look, I’m sorry. It was just a thought. A momentary thought. I didn’t mean to upset you." Nancy stopped, still facing the door."

"Well, you did. I already ran once and look what a mess I made of that. I won’t ever do that again."

Greg came up behind her. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Forgive me?" He whispered softly into her hair.

"Sure," she said, turning around. "That’s what friends are for, right? They forgive each other." She turned to face him. "Speaking of friends, I just thought of something I meant to ask you."

"What’s that?"

"Who was that guy yesterday? In your office? When you saw me watching the two of you, you closed the door. Who was he?"

Greg’s eyes widened in surprise and some of the color drained from his face. "Yesterday? I’m not sure who you’re talking about?"

"I think you do," she said. "He was standing by the door. A young man, near my age."

Greg shook his head. "I don’t know. I had interviews with several people yesterday. We may have an opening coming up soon. They were all young men in their twenties. Could’ve been any of them."

Nancy gauged his reaction carefully, not happy with what she was seeing. "It was when we were talking. I’d just told you about the case..."

"Sorry, I don’t know which one it was. Why?"

Nancy started to explain where she’d seen the guy before, then, for some strange reason, thought better of it. Suddenly she wondered if maybe she‘d told Greg too much already. ‘Can‘t start that,’ she thought. ‘Can‘t start suspecting what few friends I have of being involved in this.’ "No reason," she said. "I was just curious, I guess." She gave him a weak smile. "Maybe I’m not the only one worried about losing their family. Thought maybe you and Kevin were starting to drift apart and you’d found someone new."

Greg laughed. "Not likely. I’ll belong to Kevin until the day I die."

"Hey, have you seen Rebecca? Oh, there you are!" Leslie was standing in the doorway.

"Yeah," Nancy said. "Here I am. Did you need me?"

"Yes, there’s a Frank Hardy on line 2 looking for you. Something about bringing his brother Joe home from the hospital?"

Nancy’s eyes lit up. "Frank wants to speak to me?"

"You’re the only Rebecca we have, right?"

"Yeah, I guess I am. Excuse me," she said, trying to slip past Leslie to get to her desk.

"Hey, I’m sorry about earlier. If I’d known that guy was in the hospital, I wouldn’t have teased you about being up all night."

"It’s forgotten," Nancy said. "I shouldn’t have been so rude back to you. It was the fatigue talking, not me."

"Cool," Leslie said as Nancy headed toward her desk. "By the way, if this brother of his is available, maybe you could fix me up with him and we could all go on a double date sometime, when Joe feels better of course." Nancy didn’t reply as she picked up her phone and pressed line 2.

"Don’t bother, Leslie," Greg said. "You’re asking to be set up with the wrong brother. Frank’s the one she likes. Joe’s just her friend."

"Really?" Leslie said, watching Nancy speaking on the phone. "How come I’ve never heard her mention his name before, then?"

"Frank’s the father of her little girl."

"Wow!" Leslie said. "And all this time I thought the little girl belonged to you or your boyfriend."

"Yeah," Greg replied. "Let’s just say I was beginning to feel like she belonged to me too."