Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

**A/N: Many, many thanks to Sparks and Evergreen for allowing me (and Joe!) to recreate the awesome marriage proposal they wrote for Laura and Fenton in Death on the Fourth of July. J**

Vanessa absently twisted the engagement ring on her finger. It was one of a kind – “Just like you”, Joe had said when he gave it to her – and touching it somehow made her feel closer to him. She could hear the soft murmur of voices in the living room where Callie and Laura were talking, but for the moment she wanted to be alone with her thoughts. Pushing open the back door, Vanessa stepped out onto the deck and leaned against the railing. She gazed out across the lawn for a minute and then looked down at her ring.

Vanessa traced the heart-shaped diamond, encircled by tiny rubies. Joe had gone to great lengths to recreate what, in Vanessa’s opinion, had been the most romantic marriage proposal she’d ever heard of – the night Fenton Hardy asked Laura to marry him. Joe had duplicated everything right down to the last detail, except for the ring. He’d insisted Vanessa was too special to have the same ring as any other women, even his mother, so he’d done something even more romantic and had a ring specially made just for Vanessa. There wasn’t another one like it anywhere and that made it even more extraordinary to Vanessa. Slipping the ring off her finger, she stared at the words carved into the band “I LOVE YOU” and then the date inscribed inside it, 11/22/05 - her birthday and the day Joe had proposed. It had been over a year and a half but she still remembered every single detail as if it had just happened…

Vanessa snuggled deeper under the blanket thinking her birthday couldn’t possibly get any more perfect. Joe had spared no expense on a weekend in New York City doing all the things she loved. They’d stayed at The Plaza hotel, shopped on Fifth Avenue, eaten in the best restaurants, seen a show on Broadway and gone to her favorite museums. Joe had capped it off tonight by taking her to Tavern on the Green for dinner and they were now spending their final evening in the city indulging in a moonlit carriage ride through Central Park. Best of all, she’d had Joe all to herself for the whole weekend – no family, no friends, no mysteries…just the two of them. Pressing herself closer to him, Vanessa thought she had to be the luckiest woman in the world.

It had started to snow earlier in the evening and everything was covered with a beautiful blanket of white. Snuggled up against Joe and gazing at the beauty around her, Vanessa remembered the story Laura had told them of the night Fenton Hardy had proposed to her in this very same place. Almost as if he knew what she were thinking, Joe smiled mysteriously, leaned in and kissed her deeply. With a sigh of contentment, Vanessa laid her head on his shoulder trying to stave off the melancholy of knowing their dream weekend was coming to an end. She closed her eyes and thought of how romantic that moment must have been for Laura, when Joe nudged her.

"Would you like to open your present now?"

Her eyes popped open and she stared at him, stunned. "My present? I thought this weekend – this trip – was my present! You mean there’s more?"

Joe produced a small, velvet box with a tiny silver bow. She immediately thought of Laura’s description of the box her engagement ring came in and held her breath. Vanessa lifted the lid and found herself staring at a large, heart-shaped diamond ring. Speechless, she looked at Joe.

"I know it’s not Christmas Eve but…Vanessa, will you marry me?"

To say Vanessa was stunned would have been a massive understatement. Although she and Joe had been living together for over two years and she had realized long before that, that Joe was ‘the one’, she was sure he wasn’t even close to being ready for that commitment. Joe seemed perfectly content with the status quo and Vanessa hadn’t even expected to talk about marriage for a few more years yet, let alone get a proposal. Even after Frank and Callie got married and the ribbing from their friends for Joe to make an “honest woman” of Vanessa started to increase, he simply let it roll off his back. Marriage seemed to be a step he wasn’t ready to take just yet and Vanessa promised herself she wouldn’t push him. When it was time, she told herself, he’d know it. And he did.

Ever since he did propose, however, the world seemed to be conspiring against them, throwing everything in its power at the young couple to ensure the wedding never happened. Involuntarily she thought about all the things that had transpired in the last eighteen months and felt her hope slipping.

‘No!’ she thought fiercely, sliding the band back on her finger. ‘He’s fine. Laura said so. He’ll be home by tonight and in three months we’ll be married…’

“Vanessa?” She spun around at the sound of Laura’s voice. “Are you okay, sweetie?” Laura asked, putting an arm around her.

Vanessa let out a shaky breath as she nodded silently.

“Frank and Joe are together and Fenton said they hadn’t been hurt,” Laura said squeezing her shoulder. “He and Sam and the police are on their way right now to get the boys out of this.”

Vanessa turned and looked at her, struck by how much Joe resembled his mother. “I know.” She looked down and ran a finger along the railing. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“How do you do it?” Vanessa asked, now looking back at Laura. “No matter what happens you’re always absolutely sure that they’ll be fine. They’re not just words to make the rest of us feel better. When you say it, you really mean it.”

Laura nodded, faith shining in her eyes. “They’re my children….I have to believe it. I refuse to believe anything else. And I firmly believe that by tonight, you and Joe will be home together, exactly where you belong.”

Vanessa felt her eyes burn and hugged Laura tightly. Resting her head on the older woman’s shoulder she whispered, “Thank you.”

*****

Furious didn’t even begin to describe how Frank Hardy felt. Others had tried to frame each of the Hardys at one time or another but none had been as good as these men. Even Frank had to admit he and Joe hadn’t really been ‘framed’, not in the traditional sense. Though technically he hadn’t actually stolen anything, Joe had ‘acquired’ all the items needed to make the bombs. And Frank had built the bombs himself and, it seemed, was destined to detonate them and remove millions of dollars from the freight train.

‘I wonder if they can still charge me with felony theft if I don’t get to keep any of it,’ he thought sardonically.

For the past hour their captors had been cleaning out the house in preparation for their final departure, giving Frank plenty of time to think. He’d been tied to a chair much like Joe and while they were still in the same room, they were now under armed guard with orders not to talk. And so Frank sat and fumed, his thoughts vacillating between the perfect crime these men might very well pull off and Joe. Joe had been staring at him for a while now and at first it had unnerved Frank to no end until he realized that while Joe was staring at him, he wasn’t really seeing him. Joe just needed something to focus on to keep from falling headfirst into hell and Frank happened to be that something.

Frank had to give his younger brother credit; Joe was doing an admirable job of hiding what he was really feeling, at least from everyone but Frank. As he was sending out silent messages of encouragement Frank realized something had suddenly changed. The feeling in the air was now one of anticipation and excitement. Glancing around he realized the room had been cleared of everything the men had brought with them. The only things left were the sparse furnishings and unneeded items that only Frank had touched.

‘More evidence against us,’ he thought disgustedly, although it quickly fled his mind when another armed man entered the room. He gestured at the one who’d been guarding them and, together, they approached Joe.

“Hey.” One of the men nudged Joe’s arm and he flinched.

Joe didn’t take his eyes off Frank, but simply growled, “What?” He was barely maintaining his outward air of composure and Frank hoped this distraction didn’t cause it to crumble completely.

The man gestured with the automatic weapon for Joe to stand. “Time to go.”

Joe’s eyes widened and Frank saw the flash of panic in them. They’d both known this was going to happen eventually but that wasn’t much help at the moment. “Let me talk to him, just for a second,” Frank said. It sounded like a simple request but something in his voice let everyone know it was a non-negotiable demand. Both men looked to the leader of the group, who was watching from the archway. He nodded silently and one of them men came over to Frank and untied him from the chair. With his hands still bound behind him, Frank was led over to Joe who was now also standing, hands tied behind his back.

Frank stared at him intently. “Remember what I told you. Concentrate on Vanessa, the wedding, the honeymoon…okay?”

Joe squared his shoulders and nodded, refusing to acknowledge there was anyone else in the room besides him and Frank.

“Good,” Frank smiled encouragingly. “You just take it slow and easy and I promise we’ll be home before you know it. Got it?”

“Got it,” Joe agreed.

“Okay.” Frank was pulled back and Joe was led towards the door. “See you soon, bro,” he called out. His last image of the youngest Hardy was Joe looking back over his shoulder and silently nodding in agreement.

The leader said something to the men with Joe as they passed and then turned his attention to Frank. “You’ll be leaving shortly with my associates. Just remember, as long as you follow our instructions to the letter, you and your brother will be fine.”

Frank stared at the man for a moment and then replied, his voice deceptively calm, “And you remember….If anything happens to my brother, I will hunt you down and kill you.” The man’s gaze wavered for the briefest second, then he turned and walked out the door.

*****

‘It’s not too tight….It’s not too tight…It’s not too tight…’ Joe swallowed, very gingerly, fully expecting to choke on the leather strap around his neck. He took in a shallow breath, exhaling slowly as he kept his eyes locked on the passing scenery. As long as he focused on that he could keep himself here, in the present, instead of chained to a fence in the wilderness being tortured to death in gradual, escalating increments. Not that being here was all that much better. He felt utterly helpless, completely at the mercy of these men and dependent on someone else to get him out of it. Joe had only felt that way once before in his life….He shivered as Keith Rashman’s face briefly loomed into view, and quickly shook it off. Frank and his dad had come through then; he fervently hoped they would again.

‘Maybe Biff and Phil didn’t listen to me….Maybe they told Dad what was going on….Man, I hope so.’ The alternative wasn’t all that pleasant. Frank would, at the very least, have to destroy property and possibly worse. As much as Joe hated the thought of it, Frank had made it clear that he would do anything – anything – to ensure Joe’s safety. And that was assuming the men who had orchestrated this whole thing would follow through on their end of the deal. ‘Yeah, right,’ Joe snorted to himself. ‘When was the last time you met an honest crook?’

The car suddenly made a sharp right turn onto a partially hidden gravel road. Bouncing over the uneven terrain jolted Joe back to the present and he stared out the window as they continued on for another mile or so. The trees on either side of the road got progressively more dense until they came to a very small clearing. The driver slowed, making a U-turn, and then brought the car to a stop, facing the direction they’d just come from.

Joe swallowed hard, the leather collar forgotten for the moment, as he looked at the two men in the front seat uncomfortably. A train whistle sounded not far away and the leader turned in the seat to look at Joe. A smile played across his face as his gaze briefly flickered to the bomb and then back to Joe. “It’s almost over now,” he said cryptically, then shifted to look out the windshield again.

A chill raced through him and Joe got a very bad feeling at the ominous words. He stared out the window and answered his own question, thinking he’d never met an honest crook. Suddenly the strip of leather felt a little tighter. He resumed his silent mantra. ‘It’s not too tight…it’s not too tight…it’s not too tight…’

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.