Eleven o'clock rolled around much faster than Joe had expected it would. He had stopped to pick Nancy up at her house. She was waiting outside, sitting alone on a porch swing, staring off into the distance, listening to something through a set of headphones when he pulled up. He thought about honking the horn, but somehow, that didn't seem like the right thing to do. Slowly, he opened the door and stepped out of the car. Nancy didn't move. He walked around to the sidewalk, carefully regarded Nancy on the swing, then moved up the front walk. He stopped before the steps and realized that she still hadn't noticed him. He took a moment to take in his surroundings. It was a nice house, a two story, with a large yard, wrap around porch, and a two car garage. Flowers blossomed in every corner. If he craned his neck just right, he thought he could see the edge of a swing set peeking out from the back yard. "Nice," he said aloud.

"Joe," Nancy said. She had finally noticed him and was removing the headphones. "I'm so sorry. I didn't hear you drive up."

"Obviously," Joe said dryly, pointing at the headphones. "You do know too much loud music can damage your hearing, don't you?"

Nancy gave Joe a curious glance. "Uh, yeah, think I heard that a million times when I was a teenager."

Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Figured it must have been pretty loud for me to be able to sneak up on you like I did."

Nancy shook her head. "No, I just wasn't paying attention. Guess my mind was elsewhere."

'Wonder where that might be?' Joe thought. Aloud, he said, "Well, if you're ready, I'd like to go. I know a little cafe that sits near the beach that should be fairly empty right now. But it gets pretty packed between 1 and 2 o'clock, so if you want any privacy, we need to get there soon."

Nancy nodded. "Just let me put these up and get my purse." Joe waited for her to come back out of the house and walked her to the car. He even held the door for her as she got in.

"Thanks," she said.

"Sure," Joe replied.

"This is.." she stopped. Joe started the car and pulled out onto the street. "This feels weird." she tried again.

"Can't imagine why," Joe replied.

"No, not that." she grinned at Joe. "I think that's the first time you've ever held a door for me. Like a date or something. When did you become such a gentleman?"

Joe glanced at her in disbelief. "If you're trying to soften me up, Nan, it won't work," he said. Then, with a hint of smile crossing his features, he added, "and when we're done with our serious talk, I'm going to get you for that gentleman remark."

Joe's cafe was quite charming. He found them a seat at a table outside. Since the temperature was still a little on the cool side, they were the only diners sitting on the patio. They sat quietly, waiting for their orders, watching the waves break occasionally along the shoreline, neither quite sure where to begin.

Joe finally decided to take the plunge. "Look, Nan. I don't know exactly how or why you ended up here, but I have to say this."

"What?"

"I sort of feel as if this was my fault. I mean I know it isn't, but I have to wonder..."

"How could me running from my problems be your fault?" she interrupted.

"Well," Joe paused while the waitress set his plate in front of him. The roast chicken sandwich had sounded great on the menu, but now he found he had lost his appetite. He waited until the waitress had placed a chef's salad in front of Nancy, then continued. "Remember the night you told me about the baby?"

"How can I forget?" she said, making a face. She looked down at her salad, picked up her fork, then placed it back on the table.

"I was so wrong that night Nan. I should've never said those things to you. If I'd been more supportive, you wouldn't have run off. Frank wanted to marry you. He'd already bought a ring. He planned to give it to you at the end of the semester. Your pregnancy wouldn't have changed things that much, only sped things up a little. I blew it by acting like an immature little brother."
"You didn't blow it. You didn't say a thing to me that I hadn't already thought. And you were an immature little brother. That was part of your job description." She speared a tomato and popped into her mouth.

"Still.." he tried.

"No," she answered. "Stop right there. This wasn't your fault. It wasn't Frank's fault. It wasn't even my fault, at least the first few months. I wasn't thinking straight. Once Laurie was born and I still didn't go home when I had the chance, then it was my fault. But not yours, okay?

"Ok," Joe began. "Let's try something else then. I guess you like living in California. I mean, the weather is a far cry from the all the snow and ice River Heights is still getting right about now."

"I guess so," Nancy replied, picking at the salad on her plate, but not actually eating any more of it.

"Tell me one thing, Nan. Why did you leave? You let EVERYONE think you died in that accident. Do you know what that did to your friends? Or to your dad and Hannah? To Frank?"

Nancy glanced away from Joe, tears glinting in her eyes. "I had to, Joe. There wasn't any other choice to make. If I had stayed, everything would have changed anyway. Even if Frank did plan to marry me, there's no way I would've let him do so before we graduated college. We were only 21. We both still had a year to go. And I would have still managed to hurt my family and friends. By letting them think I was dead, it solved my problem. They grieved and moved on. One less problem in their lives."

"I just would have never expected this from you," Joe said. He shook his head. "You've always been so level headed. Running away from something just isn't your style. Jeez, Nancy, Frank's heart was broken! He's never really moved on. He lost the love of his life that night and with that, he lost a piece of himself. It hurt so much to watch him grieve for you. He still isn't dating anyone seriously. He may say he is, but I know him too well. You're the only woman he still wants!"

"I'm sorry," Nancy said. "You have no idea how sorry I am. And believe me, Joe, it hasn't been easy for me either. I loved Frank very much. I still do. I don't know exactly when I fell so hard for him, but I did, and I'd give anything to be with him for the rest of my life. But I'm not what he needed. You said so yourself, Joe."

"Since when did you ever listen to anything I say? I'm always putting my foot in mouth" Joe replied.

"I don't know. It just made sense. I figured that with me gone, maybe Frank would try to get Callie back. They could get married, stay in Bayport, be near their families..." her voice trailed off.

"Well, that didn't happen. Frank hadn't been in love with Callie for some time, anymore than you were in love with Ned. I know you two were attracted to each other for years, but honestly Nancy, he waited until he was sure he was over Callie before reaching out for you. He didn't want to hurt you."

Nancy didn't respond. She was staring out the window at a lone bird, circling over the beach. Her silence hung heavy between them. Joe had no idea if he was getting through to her or not.

"How did you do it? Fake your own death? That accident happened only a few hours after I yelled at you. Did you already have it planned?"

Nancy shook her head. "No, I really didn't." Her eyes drifted out to the water. Joe watched her anxiously, suddenly aware that the local oceanic view wasn't what she was seeing. "I was upset. I had no business driving that night, but I did it anyway. I wanted to go home so badly that I just threw my stuff together, dumped it in the car, and took off, despite the storm or the fact that it was already well past midnight.

"I know that part," Joe said.

"I remember crying, I think," she said. "I turned on the radio, and there was this song playing. Some love song where the guy loses the girl and is crying about how he'll always lover her and would do anything to get her back. And I thought to myself - what do I do? If I try to pull out of the relationship now, Frank isn't going to let me. He'll be like the guy in the song, not ready to let go. There's no way to keep him from trying to take on the responsibility of a wife and child now. If I cut off all contact, he'd want to know why. I knew you'd tell him, and he'd just show up on my doorstep. I could just try vanishing, but he wouldn't stop searching until he found me." She looked over at Joe. "Am I right?"

"Yeah," he said softly. "He would've searched every nook and cranny on the planet for you. We both would have."

She nodded and gazed back out at the water. "I wasn't watching my speed very closely and somehow it had traveled up to nearly 80 miles an hour. I came around a sharp turn along the bluff and hit the brakes too fast. The tires spun, the car fishtailed back and forth across the road for a moment or two, then headed for the edge. I thought to myself, this is it. Problem solved. I'm going to die."

Joe reached across the table and took her hand in his. She continued to stare out at the water.

"But I didn't. My car broke through the guard rail and hung, caught on the metal, partially over the edge of the bluff. It took a few seconds for me to realize I was alive. Bruised beyond belief, but alive." She stopped. Judging from the faraway look in her eyes, she was reliving the memory. "I managed to unbuckle my seatbelt. My hands were shaking so bad, I still don't know how I did it. I crawled as slowly as possible into the back seat, carefully opened the back door and slid out of the car. I remember standing there for awhile, staring at my Mustang balanced on the edge of the bluff, and it hit me hard - I nearly died. A few more inches and I would've been dead. The baby along with me. I turned and started up the highway, thinking that I should get help when I heard a tremendously loud grinding sound and glass shattering."

"The guard rail pulled loose and the car went over the edge, didn't it?" Joe asked.

She nodded again. "Yes. I went back over to the edge of the road and looked down. There was my car, upside down in the water. Only the wheels were sticking up.

My brain just shut down at that point, Joe. I started back along the highway and the next thing I remember, I was sitting alongside this trucker heading out of New York State."

"You hitchhiked?" Joe cried out. "Jeez, Nancy! You could've been picked up by some psychotic mass murderer or something! What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't," she said. "I honestly don't even remember him offering me a ride. I must have been a mess because he seemed to feel quite sorry for me. I think he somehow got the impression that I was on the run from an abusive husband. He asked me something along those lines, trying to get what had happened out of me. I just kind of nodded and said yes to his questions. Anyway, he decided to be my knight in shining armor and brought me with him to Texas. To hide out, of course. I had to keep quiet when he was on the radio, though, because he wasn't supposed to pick up riders, he said. I remember he was a perfect gentleman. He even paid for my meals and motel rooms along the way. He took me to a center for abused women and children in Dallas that he helped out with from time to time. Very decent man."

Joe sat in silence, processing this information. He wasn't sure how to respond.

"So you lied to him?"

Nancy looked at Joe. "Yeah, I guess I did. I mean, he came up with the story for me, but yeah, I didn't correct him. So I guess I lied to him. I've never been in an abusive relationship in my life. I've had exactly two real long term commitments and you couldn't ask for a better guy to be with than Ned or Frank.

"So how did you end up in LA?" Joe prompted her.

"After Laurie was born, the lady that ran the shelter kept pushing the idea of adopting her out to a family. I wasn't about to give her up. From the moment I held her I knew I was meant to have her. Besides, she was my only link that I had left to my life, to Frank. So one day, when she was about a month old, I packed up what little belongings she and I had accumulated, and headed home."

"For River Heights?"

"For River Heights," she confirmed. "We arrived late in the afternoon, and I went straight to my house before I lost my courage. No one was there."

She sighed. "I went next door, to the Masters' house. But they had moved and the new neighbors told me that all they knew was that the lawyer that lived next door was out of town. Apparently his daughter had died some time back and he was finally taking some time off to grieve. She said he was on some kind of fishing trip and wouldn't be back for at least a week. She didn't know where Hannah Gruen was, she said. Maybe on a vacation, too."

"You obviously didn't stick around." Joe said.

"I came back that night, just in case Hannah had stopped in. She hadn't. I still had my keys - don't ask me how, but I did. Maybe I had grabbed them out of the ignition. But I carried them every where I went. I know it sounds silly..."

"Not at all," Joe said, thinking of a set of keys that he used to carry everywhere, and still kept in his sock drawer.

Nancy smiled at him, obviously thinking of the same thing.

"Anyway, I let myself in. I wandered through the house for a while. When I finally gathered the courage to go into my room, I found everything packed up. It was all still there, but it was in boxes."

"I think your dad kept everything Nan. He couldn't quite let go, either."

"Yeah, maybe. But to me it looked like he was finally grieving - letting go of me. If I came back now, what kind of problems might it cause?"

"Problems?" Joe asked. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Nope," she said. "That's what I was thinking. So I took advantage of my stuff being boxed up. I figured I could take a few things without them being missed. I rummaged through, pulled out a few things I wanted to keep, pictures, some jewelry that Ned and Frank had given me, a ring of my mom's, a couple of sweaters, and a packet of papers."

"Papers?" Joe asked.

"Papers," she said. "Passport, visas, driver's license - all for Rebecca Addison."

"You still had those," Joe said, his eyes widening.

"Yup," she said. "That case meant a lot to me. It was the first time I realized I was beginning to fall in love with Frank. I couldn't do anything about it - I still had Ned and he had Callie. And I did love Ned too. But I also loved Frank. So I kept the papers to remind me of the time I spent "married" to him.

"And you decided to become Rebecca Addison," Joe finished for her.

"Yeah," she answered. "I did. They were very good forgeries. I managed to get a birth certificate and Social Security card with them. The driver's license was actually on file in the State of New York. I simply took the written test for a new one in California."

"Wow," Joe said. "Creative."

"Yeah," she said. "I'd been here a few months, working as a waitress, when I made friends with Kevin and Greg. They came into the diner where I worked every day for lunch. Eventually, they discovered that Laurie and I were living in a little 2 room efficiency apartment in a not so great section of town. They convinced me we were better off with them. I help pay the utilities. I don't have to pay any rent since Kevin's grandmother left him the house. We've been very lucky. Plus there's the added bonus of not having to worry about either one of them hitting on me for dates since they're both quite gay - and in love with each other. Laurie adores them. Her uncle Greg and her uncle Kevin." She glanced down at her now wilted salad. "I guess I won't be wanting this anymore." She sighed and looked at her watch. "If I've answered all your questions, I need to go. I have to pick Laurie up from preschool in less than an hour."

"How did you get her in preschool? Is her birth certificate faked too?"

"No. Her birth certificate is perfectly legitimate. Her mother is Nancy Drew and her father is Frank Hardy. I guess I hadn't been declared dead at that point."

"Officially, I don't think you have been yet, either," Joe said.

Nancy shrugged her shoulders and continued. "Her name is even listed as Laurie Hardy. Kevin says she's going to get quite a bit of teasing over that when she gets older. Preschool was easy. It's getting her into kindergarten next year that's going to be tricky. That's public school and they want more verification on paperwork. And since I haven't been going by Nancy Drew..."

"Laurie Hardy," Joe said. "Laurie," he repeated. Suddenly he sat straight up. "You named her after our mom!"

"Sort of," she said smiling. "I changed the end of the name a little. From Laura to Laurie. I thought one day she might like knowing she was named for her grandmother."

"I like it," Joe said. "And anyone that teases her over her name will have to answer to me!" He grinned.
"One more thing..."

"What?" she asked.

"Nancy, I have to know...Don't you miss your old life?"

Nancy's looked like she'd been slapped. She fumbled for her purse and began to stand. "Well, this has been SO much fun, but I really have to go. "

Joe lunged forward and swiftly grabbed Nancy by the wrist, pulling her back down to her seat. "You didn’t answer my question."

"You’re hurting me!" she cried. Quickly Joe released her, and Nancy slumped back in her seat.

"Sorry. Well?"

"Let me ask you a question," she said softly, "since I've done most of the talking. Do you miss YOUR old life?"

"Every day," he replied. "Every single day."

"Well," Nancy said with a sad smile. "Who would’ve ever guessed that one day we’d have so much in common." She reached out and squeezed Joe’s hand. "I really do have to go now. Maybe we’ll get the chance to talk some other time." She took a few steps away from the table, then turned back to Joe. "I just wanted you to know, it’s been good seeing you again."

"Wait," Joe called out.

"What for?" she asked.

"I need a favor. It's for Frank."

Nancy eyed him suspiciously. "What kind of favor?"

"I need you to look up some information on infant abductions for a case he's having trouble with."

"He can't do it himself?" she asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, he can," Joe said. "But this is your field, sort of. He won't know who gave me the information. At least not yet. Not until you're ready. I promise."

Nancy came back to the table and sat down. "Tell me what I'm looking for."

After Joe finished explaining Frank's case to Nancy, she sat back in her seat.

"Wow," was all she could think of.

"Yeah, wow," Joe said.

"You know, abductions by strangers are really rare," she started to say, but Joe cut her off.

"I know, I know. You guys said that last night. But Frank thinks he's on to something. All I'm asking for is facts, statistics,...mmm., maybe check to see if there have been any rises in infant abduction rates anywhere in the country in the past 2 years."

"When do you need this by?"

"Tonight would be good."

"Tonight!" Nancy cried. "Joe, I have to pick Laurie up soon from preschool. I can't possible take her into the center with me to search for the stuff you need. It could take hours."

"No problem," Joe said. "I'll baby-sit."

"You'll baby-sit?" Nancy asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I'll baby-sit. What, is there an echo out here?"

Nancy cocked her head to one side. "Have you ever spent any time with a small child, Joe?"

"I've helped a few out on cases."

Nancy closed her eyes. This was a disaster just waiting to happen. "No, Joe," she said patiently, "I mean one on one with a preschooler. Someone with the energy of a small tornado."

"It's no big deal," Joe grinned. "I can handle one four year old for a few hours. Unless you think she'll be afraid of me."

"Oh, no, that won't be a problem. Unfortunately, she's too friendly. It's going to get her in trouble one day," Nancy grimaced, thinking about how many times her little girl had ran up and introduced herself to perfect strangers in the past year, despite their many "discussions" on stranger safety.

"Ok," Joe said. "It's settled then. We'll go pick up Laurie, drop you off at work, and Laurie and I will bond. Get some ice cream, go to the park, head for a mall to shop for shoes.."

"She's four, Joe, not fourteen."

"What girl doesn't like to shop for shoes?" he grinned and then ducked as Nancy threw a piece of her roll at him. Joe motioned for the check. "So, tell me, Nan, what's my niece like?"

"She's very friendly and outgoing, incredibly smart, has a great sense of humor, stubborn, a bit reckless, and often doesn't display one ounce of common sense when it comes to her own safety. You two ought to get along great."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

Nancy grinned. "Let's just say she takes after her father's side of the family - but not after her father directly."

"Are you saying I'm all those things?" Joe asked with a grin.

"If the shoe fits," she smiled.