Greg had stormed out, leaving her alone with one very confused Kevin. Torn between going after his lover, and comforting his friend, Kevin had chose to stay behind with her. Now that Frank and Joe were due to arrive at any minute, she couldn't seem to shake Kevin. He was bound and determined to go with them. "I can chaperone," he'd said. "If that Frank guy does even one thing wrong, I'll pop him a good one." Nancy had assured him that wasn't necessary, but it didn't work. She finally gave in, agreeing to let him go. Kevin wasn't a fool. He knew they were probably investigating the case. She just didn't know whether he wanted to be a help - or a hindrance. Thanks to her newfound mistrust of Greg, she now couldn't trust Kevin.

As the doorbell rang, Nancy slid the photos she'd managed to print out while Greg was at lunch into her purse. Pulling the door open, she was surprised to find Frank standing there.

"Um, uh, hi," Frank said. 'Great, Hardy,' he thought. 'Real smooth. That's twice today you've greeted her by stammering first.' His eyes took in the short blue dress, held up by twin spaghetti straps on each shoulder, that she wore. Moving upward, they rested on her hair, now pulled back into a high ponytail, with a few tendrils curled loosely around her face, framing her features. "You look really nice," he said. Silently he swore to himself. 'Really nice? That the best you can do?'

Self consciously she touched her hair. "Thanks," she said. "Are you ready to go? Or did you want to come in for a few minutes?"

He glanced back at the car, where Joe and Ashlee were waiting. Joe motioned for Frank to go in. Frank turned back to Nancy. "No, I'm ready." His gaze caught a flash of silver at Nancy's throat. Reaching out, he touched the small locket she wore. "You still have it. The locket I gave you that last Christmas before..." his voice trailed off.

"Yeah," she whispered. "I wear it all the time. It means a lot to me. Helped me through a lot of long nights. Listen, Frank, maybe you should come in for a moment. We probably should talk..."

"Party!" Kevin whooped as he flew down the stairs. Decked out in black leather pants, a white tank, and a gold, sleeveless, unbuttoned shirt layered over the tank, he was quite the sight. "Sorry I'm late folks! I just couldn't do a thing with my hair!" He tossed an imaginary pony tail over his backwards. Throwing his arms around Frank and Nancy's shoulders, he steered them toward the door. "Let's go kiddos! I want to have some fun."

Frank gave Nancy a questioning look as the three of them went down the front walk. "Ask later, I'll explain," was all she said, as they squeezed into her car. Joe glanced at Kevin in the backseat, not a bit surprised to see him, and started the car.

"All aboard folks," Joe said. "Next stop, Dreams!"

*****

Pulsating rock music blasted Frank's ears as they managed to finally get a table and ordered drinks. Lights flashed across a crowded dance floor, bathing the dancers in a multitude of colors.

"Awesome!" Kevin called. "I'm gonna go see if I can't find me a dance partner for the night. Let Greg be an old stick in the mud! I'm going to have some fun!" He waved as he disappeared into the multitude of gyrating bodies.

"Good," Frank said. He scanned the club, looking for the waitresses. "I wonder which one Amber is?"

Joe shook his head. "Already trying to work. Relax Frank. She's on 'till two. And it's only 8:30. We've got plenty of time."

"You don't honestly think I want to stay here all night, do you?" He looked at Joe increduously.

"A few hours, at least," Joe said. "There's a live band playing at ten. I'd kind of like to hear them."

"Fine," Frank said. He searched the crowd again, trying to spot the girls wearing the fuschia halter tops and black shorts, which seemed to be the uniform that the servers wore here. Catching the eye of a girl near their table, he motioned her over.

Pulling out a pad, she sized up the group. "What'll it be, folks?"

"Cokes for us," Frank said, looking at Nancy. Nancy nodded her agreement. "Joe?"

"I'll have a Coke, too," he said. "For now. I'll probalby want something to eat in a little while. Ashlee?"

"Cokes? I'm here to have a little fun. Give me a martini, shaken, not stirred, with 2 olives!"

Frank beamed at the waitress. "Must get really busy in here as it gets later. They work you pretty hard?"

She smiled back. "Yeah, they do." She glanced at Nancy, as if trying to decide whether or not

"Are they going to avoid personal contact all night?" Kevin asked Joe in a low voice, watching Frank's eyes follow Nancy's movements on the dance floor. This was getting to be too much for him. He could see how badly Frank wanted to dance with her. It wasn't his place to say anything, but still...

"More than likely," Joe muttered. "I swear they're never going to talk this out. They're both acting like two people who have no history between them. I'd like to lock them in a nice little confined space for a couple of days to force them to discuss what Nancy did. I think they're afraid."

"Of what?" Kevin asked.

"Of getting too emotional. There's a lot of baggage between those too. And at the rate they're going, they're never going to get rid of it." Joe fiddled with the straw in his Coke, alternating between watching Frank watch Nancy, and keeping his eye on the guy Ashlee was currently dancing with.

Kevin sat quietly for a minute, then suddenly leaned in toward Joe, his eyes twinkling. "I've got an idea! Give me a couple of minutes to get Nancy away from that guy who has her monopolized, then find a way to get Frank to cross the dance floor."

"What?"

"Just do it," Kevin said. He winked at Joe, got up, and made a beeline for Nancy.

"Doesn't he ever run out of energy?" Frank wanted to know, watching as Kevin smoothly cut in on Nancy's dance partner. "He's been out there dancing most of the evening."

"Nope," Joe said. "Kevin's just a little ray of sunshine - with all the energy of that sun to boot!" He observed for a minute or so, then as Kevin subtly nodded in his direction, turned to Frank.

"I think I left my wallet in the bathroom, Frank? Would you check to see if it's still there?"

Frank groaned. "Joe, if you left it in there, it's gone by now. How could you do something so stupid?"

Joe shrugged. "You know me. Sometimes I do crazy things. Kevin was in there with me. If you don't mind, ask him if he saw where I put it."

"Ask him yourself when the dance is over," Frank said.

"No, that may be too late. He could stay out there half the night. I'd go myself, but if I get jostled to much, well, you've had broken ribs before. You know how much that hurts."

"I knew I should have made you stay home," Frank said, sighing as he got up and began to weave his way through the mass of dancers to get to Kevin.

Kevin watched as Frank attempted to make his way across the crowded dance floor. Twice he was stopped by women, who mistakenly thought he was interested in dancing with them. Kevin deftly steered Nancy in his direction. Without missing a beat of the music, he managed to neatly bump into Frank.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Frank!" he babbled, determined not to give Frank a chance to speak before he could get away. "Did you come to cut in? By all means, be my guest!" Before either Frank or Nancy could protest, Kevin literally shoved Nancy into Frank's arms and took off in the direction of the DJ's booth.

Frank gaped at Kevin's retreating form, then looked down at Nancy's confused face. "I think I just got set up on that one," he mused.

"What just happened?" she asked.

"I think we just got set up to dance by those two," he told her, watching as Kevin returned to the table and sat down next to Joe; then he leaned over to speak to him in a conspiritorial manner. "Think they got tired of waiting for one of us to do the asking?"

Nancy smiled. "Maybe," she replied. Tilting her head to study Frank's face, she asked. "Are we going to let them get by with it?"

Frank gazed at her for a minute, the two of them the only two people standing motionless admist the crowd. "Why not?" he asked. "Who am I kidding, Nan. I've wanted to hold you again for five years. Why not give in and let myself do that just once. If it's alright with you, of course."

"Of course it's alright. I'd like nothing better," she replied. "I've wanted the same thing all this time. I just never had the nerve to admit that I'd made such a huge mistake."

"Talk later," he told her. Frank took her hand in his; led her to a slightly roomier area; and began to move to the music. For the first time since his crazy trip to LA had began, he felt good. Really good. This was familiar. Something he'd once loved. Dancing with his girl. Even if she wasn't his anymore.

The faster pace song they'd been dancing too ended, and the strains of a slow ballad slowly began to unfold. Frank turned to look once more at Joe and Kevin, who had now been joined by Ashlee. Shaking his head, he whispered to Nancy, "Move in closer." He slid his arms around her back.

"What?" she whispered back.

"We have an audience," he told her. "Let's give them something to watch. Lean against me."

Nancy did as he told her, resting her cheek against his shoulder. "I've missed this, you know," she said.

"Shhh. No talking," he said. "Let's just enjoy the company."

Nancy nodded and swayed slowly with Frank in time to the music. For the briefest moment, her world was perfect as the soft ballad swirled around them.

Nancy looked up and watched Frank's face intently. Was it possible that he still loved her? Was Joe telling the truth when he shared that information? Part of her wanted it to be true, but she was so afraid that Joe was stretching the truth, intent upon getting her to pick the pieces of her life back up. Studying Frank, she could almost make herself believe that he would forgive her; would still want her...

Frank gazed back at Nancy, as she held his gaze with such and intense ferocity that it nearly took his breath away. What was she thinking? Joe swore she was still in love with him, but Frank couldn't see how that was possible. Too much time had passed. She was bound to have moved on by now; with one of those roommates, for all he knew. Well, maybe not that Kevin. There was something different about him. But Greg. He hoped for her sake she wasn't in love with Greg. He could imagine how much it would hurt her if his suspicions were right. And no matter what she'd done to him, he didn't want to hurt her if he could help it.

"Listen, Frank," Nancy began, whispering in his ear. "I really need to talk to you. I know Joe told you everything that I shared with him, but it's not the same as hearing it from me. I need to do this. Not just for me. But for you. So you understand that although what I did was incredibly wrong, it was done because I loved you so much." She pulled back and met his eyes once more.

Frank nodded. "I know," he said. "I'm just not quite ready yet Nan. I'm getting there though. Let me wrap up this case and we'll have that talk. A nice, long, private one. Even if we have to leave Laurie with Joe and go away somewhere together for a day or so."

"Have you noticed how sad this song is?" Frank asked her, pulling her even closer to him.

"Um hmm," she murmmered. "Do you think the guy in the song takes her back? Can you ever go back and try love for a second time?"

"I don't know," he answered softly. "Maybe. Maybe you can."

As the song ended, Frank suprised himself by gently brushing his lips against Nancy's. Stunned, Nancy did the only thing she could think of. She kissed him back. He pulled away, searching her eyes.

"Sorry," he said. "Old habits are hard to break.'

"Don't be," she said, smiling. "It's about the best thing that's happened to me all day." She looked over at the amused smirks on Joe and Kevin's faces. Even Ashlee was grinning at them. "Do we have to head over to the table, now? I'm afraid the teasing we'll get will spoil this moment."

Frank shook his head. "Why don't we go outside for a few minutes. Let them wonder where we went."

"Sure," she said. "We could talk."