Chapter Text
For E.G.
My favorite little artist
Forever appreciating your talent and prospective
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As time passed, Frank and Callie"s relationship became more serious, and she watched her parents" attitude toward him change. At first, she wondered if it was her imagination, but eventually she had to admit that it wasn"t just in her head. It surprised her though when they had been together two years already and her parents had always liked Frank. Besides, it was hard to believe that he had done anything to upset them when he was always so conscientious about doing the right thing. She began pondering what possibly could be the cause and felt like it had to be Frank"s detective work. True, her parents had always known what he did and had never complained about it. However, they had been just a little under informed about what said work entailed. More recently, though, they had gotten to know Laura and Fenton better, and it was more than likely that they had had heard their fair share of stories about what had happened to the boys on various cases. Given the fact that Frank made no secret of his intentions to become a detective full-time after he finished his education, it was likely that they were worried that staying with him would be too much for her.
The whole situation set Callie on edge. Watching her parents grow increasingly cold to Frank was upsetting, and she had no one to talk to about it especially since Frank who was generally observant but not particularly socially aware appeared not to notice. Eventually, she was so frustrated that she found herself spilling her guts to Joe who she happened to find alone at the Hardy house when she stopped by one Saturday afternoon. He expressed sympathy and the belief that she would figure out what to do. Spurred on by his confidence in her and knowing that the brothers didn"t keep secrets from each other, Callie brought it up to Frank who felt terrible when he heard what was going on and even offered to talk to her parents himself. She immediately rejected that idea, and they worked together to make a plan of how she could broach the subject with her parents.
Later that week, she sat down with her mother and explained her determination to stay with Frank. She had had many talks with Laura Hardy and knew exactly what she was getting into. Her life with him would not be easy, but she loved him and didn"t want to live life without him. Furthermore, there was no way that she could ask him to do anything other than what he had set his heart on when she respected him for living a life consistent with his belief in justice and his desire to make world a better place. Callie"s mom listened respectfully explaining her concerns yet expressing her support for whatever Callie decided.
Weeks had passed since then, and things were getting calmer. Still, Callie had to admit that everything that had gone down was fresh on her mind. Her parents were so important to her and feeling their disapproval even momentarily had been so hard. It bothered her to know that they thought that she would be better without Frank. Hardships be darned, that was completely untrue. It was with Frank"s support that she was working on the insecurities that kept her from being able to be herself. Surely, that was a good thing.
Walking through the door of the Hardy house, Callie was happy to hear the sound of voices—Frank and Joe were home. She had guessed as much after seeing Frank"s car in the driveway, but you could never be sure. Callie went over to there most Saturdays regardless of whether or not the boys were home. On days when Frank was available, they usually played games or went to the mall or the park. If he wasn"t, she baked something with Aunt Gertrude or did some sketching while Laura did housework. Today, though, Frank was home, and she was particularly glad about that as they had both been so busy lately that she felt like she had hardly seen him.
As she took off her shoes, she noticed another voice joining Frank and Joe"s—a young sounding female voice. It was Nancy Drew; it had to be Nancy Drew. Callie had heard a lot of stories about the young detective which wasn"t too surprising given the fact that Nancy was a close family friend. From what Callie had gathered, Nancy and Frank shared a special bond that had led many including his parents to speculate that the two would eventually become a couple. That obviously hadn"t happened—Frank was dating her, and Nancy"s boyfriend was a guy named Ned. Callie had long been curious about what Nancy was like since they had never had the opportunity to meet because Nancy"s visits to Bayport were so brief and , it looked like the chance had finally come.
As she walked down the hallway, she found herself rethinking her decision to go meet Nancy. It was likely that no one had heard her enter, so it wasn"t too late to turn around and go home. On second thought, Callie wasn"t sure she wanted to meet Nancy. From the looks of everything, she sounded incredible, and Callie didn"t feel like she could trust herself to not make a fool of herself in the presence of such an incredible person as Nancy Drew. Worst of all, she wouldn"t just be shaping Nancy"s opinion of herself. No, Frank would be there too watching the whole thing.
In the end, though, Callie"s curiosity got the better of her, and she made her way to the family room wondering if she was making a big mistake. Surveying the room, she saw Joe in his favorite recliner in the corner; Frank and Nancy were on the couch bent over a laptop.
"You must be Callie," Nancy said rising to meet her. Callie felt her voice catch in her throat. Nancy was gorgeous in every way she herself wasn"t. Her hair was the most beautiful shade of strawberry blonde, and her eyes were bright and hazel. No one would have called Nancy tall, but standing next to her, Callie felt like a midget. Looking up at Nancy, she saw that the other girl"s nose was peppered with dainty brown freckles. Why hadn"t anyone told her Nancy was so pretty?
"Yes," she managed after a moment. "I"m Callie Shaw, Frank"s girlfriend." She instantly regretted her words. Given the fact that Nancy doubtless knew she was Frank"s girlfriend, they sounded really possessive. She was off to such a great start already! But how could she help it when Nancy had such an imposing presence?
"I"ve heard so many good things about you," Nancy said in a tone that struck Callie as sincere. "It"s so great to finally meet you."
Callie smiled and tried her best to sound more excited than she felt. "Nice to meet you too." Nancy seemed so nice that she wanted to like her. She just wasn"t sure she could.
She was pondering what to say next when Frank hopped up and joined them. "Callie, this is Nancy. Nancy, Callie." The girls both laughed. Frank had apparently missed their introduction. He generally wasn"t this unobservant, but Callie had noticed that when it came to cases he had a one-track mind.
"I know. I believe you missed the introductions, Frank," Nancy said.
"We already met," Callie added.
"Well, I"m glad you didn"t wait for me. I like ambitious girls who are ready to take initiative. I"m glad to see you both pass the test," Frank replied. Callie was feeling decidedly awkward. She didn"t like being lumped together with Nancy. She was getting the feeling that there was a third wheel, but she wasn"t quite sure who it was yet. Frank put his arm around her and lead her down onto the couch next to him. Nancy took the other side, and Frank balanced the computer on his lap again. "Callie, why don"t you show Nancy some of your sketches?" he asked. Turning to Nancy, he added, "She"s such a great artist. I"d love for you to see her work".
Callie felt fear rising in her chest. She was always nervous showing her art to new people. She enjoyed drawing, but she was far from a professional. If you were looking for good art, there were so many other people"s work you should check out. She knew Frank wasn"t trying to make her uncomfortable on purpose. However, she wished he could get it through his head that she was insecure about her art. "Maybe some other time?" she said noncommittally. "I don"t want to interrupt you while you"re working on your case."
"Nonsense," Nancy said. "I"d love to see it, and at this point, I"m really just looking on with Frank. He can easily do this himself."
Callie reached for her purse which she had set at the foot of the couch and pulled out a small notebook. She handed it to Nancy who looked it over before opening it. "It"s such a cute little sketchbook," she muttered.
"It was a gift from my friend Iola," Callie said shyly. "She got it for me for Christmas last year."
"How nice. Is there something you want me to look at?" Nancy asked.
"You can peruse if you"d like. A lot of it isn"t that great, but still."
Frank rubbed her back affectionately. "Callie"s just modest is all. She"s a very talented artist."
As Nancy flipped through the pages, Callie felt her nervousness grow. Maybe she was just meeting Nancy, but Nancy was an important person to Frank. That made her opinion very important to Callie as well. What if Nancy saw her art as junk? Nancy stopped on a page with a portrait of Frank. "Wow is that lovely!" she commented turning to look at Frank. "That"s a really good likeness." She turned to another page— a typographic representation that Callie had done of a favorite quote. "Real love is like a painting," she read. Eventually, she closed the book and handed it back to Callie. "That"s really cool. You"re definitely very talented."
"Thank you," Callie said tucking the book back in her purse. She settled down next to Frank very relieved to see for herself that there was nothing between Frank and Nancy except years of friendship. She had thought as much, but sometimes in moments of weakness, she imagined that Frank wished he could date Nancy. That clearly was not the case. What she saw was Frank in detective mode. There was nothing more, and that gave her a lot of reassurance.
Still, she couldn"t help feeling uneasy as Frank and Nancy got back to work on the case. There was no doubt who was the third wheel now. Even though it was all that was going on, Nancy was still giving Frank the help that he needed for his case—help that Callie herself wished she could give. She had long wanted to be able to help Frank with his work instead of sitting by him sketching while he stared at his computer screen. But hours of looking over clues trying to come up with the connection between them was not her forte. She gave up too quickly because her brain didn"t work that way. It wasn"t rational or linear or any of those lovely things that Frank and Nancy and Joe"s were. No, she wasn"t like that, couldn"t be like that as much as she wanted to be part of the beautiful work that they did.
Eventually, she excused herself talking about how she needed to take some pictures for an assignment for her photography class. Nancy was nothing but kind, but Callie knew her thoughts were taking bad turn, and she needed to leave before it got worse.
A few days later, Callie saw Frank again, and he asked about what he thought of Nancy. By that point, her feelings had calmed down enough to let her say the nice things that Nancy deserved. Frank seemed genuinely pleased to see her reaction and expressed his hope that the two girls could become friends. Callie didn"t know what to say to that. She liked Nancy well enough, but she didn"t like how Nancy reminded her of everything she wasn"t—someone who could enter fully into Frank"s world and walk every part of his life with him. That was something that Callie had never brought up with Frank but often felt. She wasn"t sure he would ever understand what it was like to be on the outside looking in, knowing there were certain ways you would never fit in. He would point to the fact that she was accepted and appreciated. That was true but didn"t change the way she felt.
It was a few months later that Callie snapped. It was during a conversation that she had with Frank about a date that he had had to cancel. She didn"t really mind that he had cancelled—she enjoyed the alone time she got when he was off on a case. Yes, she missed Frank when he was busy, but her life was so full that she rarely had time to just sit down and create, and any extra time to do that felt like a gift. Frank, though, was apparently not okay with having cancelled the date and the fact that he had broken his promise to not let his work interfere with their relationship. Callie hated seeing anyone feel guilty. Why couldn"t he see that she understood that his work was consuming and often time sensitive? It was the last straw, though, when he said something about how she wouldn"t understand. She could not take that when he was implying that because she was not a detective there were certain things that she would never understand. That was simply not acceptable. Callie prided herself on being an understanding person and the fact that she could support Frank even though there were certain aspects of his life they didn"t share. With his words, she was taken back to every doubt that those around had ever expressed about their relationship. If Frank didn"t think she could hack it, why was she even bothering to date him? Feeling very upset, she had made some comment about how if he wanted a detective he should just date Nancy. Frank had reminded her of everything that he had done for her before angrily disappearing from the room.
After that, they hadn"t talked for several days. That was her fault; Frank had started trying to call her a few hours after their argument. Eventually, she had realized that she missed him and had asked him if he"d be willing to talk. Since they were actually feeling calmer, they had been able to have a reasonable conversation during the course of which they both apologized. Callie felt so much better after that—things were going to be alright. After patching things up, Frank began telling her things that she had never heard him say before. Despite her belief to the contrary, he did not want her to be a detective. He appreciated that she wasn"t and that with her he had conversations about other things—the normal life that he sometimes felt like he was terrible at. He had always known that he had workaholic tendencies and having chosen a consuming line of work he knew that he was in danger of descending into the deep, dark abyss of becoming a workaholic. Callie was his anchor helping him find balance that he knew he was unable to achieve on his own. She helped him slow down and realize that life wasn"t always as urgent as he thought he was. Besides, he wouldn"t ever want her to quit art; her art made him really happy, and he loved watching her be an artist.
As Frank"s words sunk in, Callie felt a sense of settledness she had never felt before. She had been drawing since she could pick up a pencil, but she had always struggled with her identity as an artist. She loved art, but it had always just been something she did because she couldn"t help it. Her parents had encouraged her talent, but she had always imagined that she would grow up and pick a normal job like a teaching or drafting or computer programming. She would still draw because she could never imagine quitting art no matter what path her life took. She loved it too much and literally couldn"t stop herself from doing it. As she got older, she took art classes at school where she got the attention of her teachers who praised her talent and skill and encouraged her to pursue a career in the field. With her parents" support, she was tentatively planning to do just that after high school. Despite what everyone said about her work, however, she still felt guilty about becoming an artist. She would just be creating something that made her happy or maybe her client happy. She wouldn"t be helping people like her nurse practitioner mom or making something useful like her engineer dad. She would be doing an "easy" major, not taking all the math and science classes like her parents did. Maybe that was good when she was the whimsical little artist who wasn"t smart like they were.
Frank, though, disagreed with everything that she had ever told herself. He loved her for who she was—the little artist who"d never be a detective. He saw her work as just as important as his. Maybe she wasn"t saving people, but who knew what it might mean that she made things that made them smile? If she made everyone just a fraction of how happy she made him, it was totally worthwhile. Frank"s prospective was so tremendously freeing that Callie found herself longing to see herself the way he did, and she knew that with his help she someday would.