"Hey, Rebecca!" Leslie called from the receptionist station as Nancy walked into the building. "What are you doing here? Greg said you needed some time off today to take care of some of personal stuff."

"I did," she replied. "But I got that taken care of and thought I'd come in, catch up on some work."

"Catch up on work? Since when are you ever behind?"

Nancy winked at the girl. "It happens. Hey, do me a favor, Les? Don't mention to anyone that I'm here right now. I'm going to hide out in my office for awhile. I need a little time alone to sort some stuff out."

"Got you," she said. "If anyone calls for you, do you want me to just take a message?"

"Yeah," said Nancy, heading towards her office. She stopped suddenly. "Unless it's a guy named Joe Hardy. If he calls, put him through immediately."

"A guy named Joe Hardy, huh?" Leslie grinned conspiratorially. "Ah ha, the plot thickens. Personal business my foot."

Nancy rolled her eyes at Leslie. "He's babysitting for me!"

"Is he cute?"

"I don't know. I suppose so. Is this conversation going anywhere, Les?"

The receptionist continued grinning. "Sure. You've been holding out on me, girl."

Nancy sighed and shook her head. "You have no idea, Les. No idea."

*****

"Are you really my uncle?" the tiny little girl strapped into the back seat of Joe's convertible asked.

Joe glanced at her through the rearview mirror. Holding a conversation this way was going to be hard, he thought. He'd tried to put her in the front seat by him, but she'd quickly informed him that little girls had to ride in back because of air bags. They hurt little kids if you have an accident, she solemnly informed him. Joe had chuckled at her seriousness, but a quick glance into her eyes silenced him.

"I sure am," he said.

"Like Uncle Greg and Uncle Kevin?"

"No. I'm your real uncle," he said.

"What's a real uncle?" she inquired.

"It means I'm your dad's brother."

"REALLY!!" he heard a small commotion and felt her brush past him as she tumbled over the seat and plopped down next to him in the front.

"Hey!" he cried. "Seatbelts, remember? And what happened to little girls having to ride in the back seat because of airbags?"

She grinned. Joe was in awe. Looking down into this little face was like going back in time and looking at Frank as a young boy. Her face was slightly narrower, more feminine looking, of course, and her hair was longer - close to her shoulders. But the color was the same dark brown, with the same amount of curl that Frank's hair had held as a child. The only real difference was her eyes. Looking into Laurie's blue eyes was like looking into Nancy's eyes.

"So," she said. "You don't hit anyone and I won't tell Mommy that I was in the front seat."

Joe considered this for a moment. "Deal." he decided. "As long as you buckle yourself in."

Laurie fumbled with the seat belt. 'Her hands are so small!' he thought. 'Are all four year olds this small?'

"Ok," she proudly announced. "all buckled up! Now, tell me about my daddy!"

"You want to know about your daddy?" he asked.

"Yup. My friends at school have daddies. Except Margo. She only has a mommy, like me. And Keith only has a daddy, no mommy. I got his picture."

"Keith's picture?" Joe asked, amused.

"No, silly. My daddy's picture. Mommy gave it to me for my birthday. I'm four!"

"Yes, I know. Nancy - I mean your mommy, told me."

"I know my daddy looks like me. Except I got blue eyes." She reached up and put one little hand on his cheek, trying to turn his face toward her. "Hey, you do too! Just like me and mommy!"

"Hello, I'm driving here!" Joe told her. "Yeah, I have blue eyes too. Just like you."

"Cool! I like that word. Cool! Kevin uses it all the time!"

"Yeah, I've heard him use it a lot too." Joe agreed with her.

"You know my uncle Kevin?"

"I work with him sometimes." Joe glanced at Laurie. She was thoroughly enchanted by Joe now.

"Wow! You know everyone! Do you know Miss Morgan?'

"Um..." Joe began. "I don't think I do."

"Oh," her face fell. "She's my teacher. I like her too."

"Well," he said. "That's good, right? That you like your teacher?"

"Uh huh." she nodded. "Where are we going, Uncle Joe?"

Uncle Joe. He grinned. He kind of liked the sound of that. "I thought we'd go get some ice cream, then maybe go play at a park for a while. Or maybe go to the mall to shop. Do you like to shop?"

She wrinkled up her nose at him. "No. Shopping's boring. Unless it's a toy store. I like toy stores. Toys "R" Us rocks! That's something else Uncle Kevin says! Can we go there?"

"Sure," Joe said. "Whatever you want to do, Laurie."

"Great!" she said. "I want a new Barbie. Do you play Barbies, Uncle Joe?"

Joe nearly laughed out loud. Play Barbies? He'd never touched a Barbie in his life. Well, that wasn't entirely true. He'd once buried the Barbie that belonged to the little girl who lived next door to them back in Bayport. His dad had made him buy her a new one out of his allowance when Joe couldn't find where he'd buried the doll back later.

"I don't think I've ever played Barbies." he said.

"Oh, I can teach you. We can go to my house and play. Uncle Kevin plays Barbies with me all the time. We dress them and brush their hair and make them talk to each other."

"Yeah," Joe said. "I'm sure he does."

"So can we?"

"Can we what?"

"Buy a new Barbie?"

"Why not," Joe said, flipping on the turn signal. "Let's go hit a toy store."

*****

Three hours later Nancy was still glued to her computer screen. She'd already saved a dozen files, and was now extending her search back to five years rather than the original two that Joe had asked for. She almost wasn't believing what she was seeing.

A knock resounded on her door. Leslie poked her head through. "Hey, Rebecca. There's a guy for you on line one. He says his name is Joe Hardy."

Nancy glanced up. "Oh my!" she exclaimed. "What time is it?"

"Nearly five. I'm getting ready to go home for the day. Do you need anything?"

"No," Nancy shook her head and reached for the phone. "Thanks Leslie, have a nice evening."

Leslie just shook her head at Nancy. "Go home, girl. You're working entirely too hard these days."

Nancy waved at Leslie and stared at the phone in her hand. She tried to ignore the knot in her stomach. What if something had happened that Joe couldn't handle? She said a silently prayer and punched line one.

"Hello? Joe?" she asked.

"Nan! How's it going?"

"I'm almost done. You wouldn't believe what I've found." She could hear a lot of noise in the background. "Joe, what's going on? What's happened? Where are you? Is Laurie all right?"

"Slow down!" Joe laughed. "Have a little faith in me, please? Nothing's wrong. I'm at your house, with Laurie and Kevin."

"Oh," she sat back in her seat, relieved. "So why are you calling? And what is all that noise?"

"That would be a combination of music from The Disney Princesses vol. 1 CD and a Playstation game." He paused. "something Barbie, I think."

"Joe," Nancy said slowly. "Laurie doesn't have a Playstation. She has tons of educational computer games, but no Playstation. She isn't old enough for a Playstation!'

"Really?" Joe responded. She swore she could almost hear him grinning. "She does now. Actually, it's a Playstation 2."

"Joe, you didn't!" she shrieked.

"You know, Nan," he said. "It's been a long time since I've been in a Toys "R" Us. I really enjoyed myself today!

"Joe!" she exclaimed again. "What all did you buy?"

"Now, remember, Nan," Joe said. "I have four years of birthdays and Christmases to make up for..."

"Joe..." Nancy groaned. "I'm trying so hard not to spoil her. What did you buy?"

"You mean besides the Playstation 2?"

'I'm not going to kill him. I'm not going to kill him.' she chanted to herself. "Joe?"

"We bought a few things. The Disney Princesses CD, a Barbie doll, the Playstation 2, and a couple of video games. Nothing bad, I promise. A Barbie game, and a Disney games. Oh, and a pair of shoes - little red ones with straps across the top. Like Dorothy's shoes, in the Wizard of Oz."

Nancy sighed. 'What was she going to do with him?' "Joe, you can't afford all that."

"Sure I can. As long as I don't do it every time I take her out." he paused. "I'm supposed to ask if you're coming home anytime soon."

"Yeah, I've about done here. Stick around there Joe. I think I found some stuff you and Frank can use."

"I'll be here. I'm fixing dinner while Kevin and Laurie play the Barbie game."

"You're cooking?" Nancy asked, astonished.

"Yeah, I'm cooking. And before you make a wisecrack, yes, I can cook. Quite well, thank you very much. And I got the better end of the deal. It was either cook or end up playing Barbie."

Nancy laughed. "I understand. I'll be home in about half an hour. You are never going to believe what I found!"

She hung up and shook her head, still laughing. Laurie had obviously already wrapped Joe around her little finger. This meant that at some point, Joe was going to want to tell the rest of his family about her. Last night that thought scared the daylights out of her. Amazing how right now, that didn't seem like such a bad thing.