Chapter Text
Frank helped two Coast Guardsmen transfer Nancy to one of the Zodiacs, which set off for Gage so Nancy’s injuries could be treated in the cutter’s sickbay. Meanwhile, the four smugglers were loaded into the other Zodiac to be transferred to Gage’s brig. One of the Zodiacs then returned to retrieve Joe and Callie and place a skeleton crew aboard the submarine to secure it as evidence.
Aboard Gage, Frank, Joe, and Callie were each taken to an interview room to give statements regarding the events that had just taken place. When all three had given their statements, a lieutenant escorted them to sickbay so they could wait for word on Nancy’s condition. As the three lowered themselves into the provided chairs, Frank let out a heavy sigh, staring down at his shoes with unseeing eyes.
Callie turned to look at Joe. “Would you…give us a moment?”
Joe nodded silently and stepped out into the passageway. When he had departed, Callie asked Frank in a low tone, “You wanna talk about it?”
Frank sighed. “How much did you see?”
“Most of it,” Callie replied. “Sorry I couldn’t be of any help. Nancy was…interrupted before she could finish untying me.”
Frank turned his head to look at her. “I would’ve done it, Cal. If Joe hadn’t been there to talk me down…I would’ve pulled the trigger.”
Callie placed a hand on top of his. “To be perfectly honest…if the positions were reversed, and it was me holding a gun on the person who’d just shot the man I loved…I probably would’ve done it, too.”
“Yeah, but…that’s different,” Frank pointed out. “You’re, if you’ll pardon the expression, you’re just an ordinary joe. I’m a detective. I’m going to be dealing with these sorts of situations on a regular basis hopefully for years, if not decades to come. I have to be better than that.”
“Frank, you’re only human,” Callie reminded him. “It’s a natural reaction to want to protect the people you love.”
“Hmm?” Frank asked, looking at her quizzically. Then comprehension dawned, and he added quickly, “No, no, no. It’s—it’s not like that.”
“It’s okay, Frank,” Callie assured him. “You don’t have to try to protect my feelings. I can handle it.”
“I’m not protecting your feelings,” Frank insisted. “Nancy and I are just good friends, that’s all.”
“But you wish you could be more than that,” Callie said.
Frank sighed. “I don’t know, Cal. I really don’t. I mean, she’s certainly a very attractive girl, anyone can see that, but…I have you, and she has Ned, or at least she did until a few days ago, apparently, and…and so I’ve never really entertained the possibility outside of once or twice when it looked like we were both goners.”
“And on those one or two occasions when you did consider it…what did you conclude?” Callie asked.
“I…we kissed,” Frank admitted, “but you have to remember, Cal, staring death in the face isn’t exactly conducive to thinking straight, and both times, Nancy and I agreed afterward that it’d been a mistake.”
“Because you didn’t feel that way about each other, or because of me and Ned?” Callie asked.
Frank didn’t answer.
“Frank…you’d agree that Joe’s in love with Iola, right?” Callie said.
Frank nodded uncertainly. “What’s that have to do with anything?”
“You remember when those terrorists blew up your old Impala?”
Frank nodded again.
Callie took a deep breath before asking, “Do you remember the way Joe was acting that week Iola spent in the hospital after it happened?”
Another nod.
“Frank, that’s how you’ve been acting ever since we rescued Nancy two nights ago,” Callie pointed out.
At first, Frank didn’t react; then his eyes slowly began to widen as the similarities between the two situations made themselves known in his mind.
“So I’ll ask again,” Callie said. “Did you think the kiss was a mistake because you didn’t feel that way about each other or because of me and Ned?”
The question hung in the air for a long moment before Frank finally responded, “You and Ned.”
“And I believe I heard you say that Ned is no longer in the picture?” Callie asked.
Frank sighed. “Yes, but it’s not that simple, Cal. There’s no guarantee her reasons for thinking it was a mistake are the same as mine—”
“Well, the only way to find out for sure is to just ask her,” Callie told him. “Look, we’ve still got the better part of a week before we fly back to New York. Give it a couple days to let her body recover, and then just…sit down and have a conversation.”
“But—”
“But nothing, Frank,” Callie interrupted. “You’re both smart people, and I have every confidence that you are both mature enough to be able to remain friends even if Nancy doesn’t feel the same way.”
“Are you okay with this?” Frank asked.
Callie nodded. “Yeah, I am. She’ll be good for you.”
Frank put an arm around Callie’s shoulders. “You’re too kind, Cal.”
“I just want you to be happy, Frank,” Callie replied, “and as much as I’ve enjoyed the last three years…if you’re looking for a relationship that will last, you’re gonna need someone who really understands on a deeper level why it is you do what you do, and…that’s not me.”
With a chuckle, she added, “When Iola told me a few weeks after the bombing that she wanted to get more involved in your guys’ cases, I was of half a mind to call the doctor and have her checked for lingering concussion symptoms.”
A smile tugged at the corner of Frank’s mouth. “I’m guessing she didn’t take too kindly to that?”
“Well, I didn’t actually do it,” Callie clarified, “but yes, I think it’s safe to say she wouldn’t have appreciated it very much if I had.”
They sat in silence for a moment before Frank asked, “You’ll…you’ll keep in touch, right?”
Callie nodded. “And Frank? If you ever need relationship advice, don’t hesitate to ask.”
Frank’s brow furrowed uncertainly. “You sure? I wouldn’t want to make things awkward between us, especially since it sounds like you still do have feelings for me.”
“I’ll be alright,” Callie assured him. “Like I said earlier, Nancy understands you in a way I doubt very many others can, and I would hate to see the two of you have a falling out over something that could’ve been avoided.”
Frank smiled. “Thanks, Cal. Anything else, or can I invite Joe back in?”
“Nothing else on my end other than to wish you luck,” Callie replied.
Frank stepped out into the passageway and was mildly surprised to find Bess and George standing next to Joe and conversing with him in low tones.
“Hey,” Joe greeted Frank on seeing his arrival. “You two clear up whatever needed to be cleared up?”
Frank nodded, and the four made their way back inside. “So, what’ve I missed?”
“Coast Guard wanted to get statements from the whole group for thoroughness’ sake,” George explained. “Bess and I came aboard to give ours, and a couple of Coast Guardsmen went aboard Lady in Red to take Chet and Angela’s statements, and then they’re gonna make sail for Kauaʻi to talk to Iola.”
“Is Chet gonna show them the location of that cave on their way back?” Frank asked.
“Not sure,” George replied. “I did give them the GPS coordinates of the cave in my statement, so they should be able to find it on their own if Chet doesn’t show them.”
“Good,” Frank said. “I don’t know whether there was actually any meth aboard the sub or whether they were just taking it out to dump Nancy and Callie at the bottom of the Pacific, so hopefully that cave is where they had their lab set up and the Coast Guard will be able to get some hard evidence from it.”
George nodded in agreement. “Yeah, let’s hope so.”
“How’s Nan?” Bess asked.
“No word yet,” Frank told her, “but…she was in pretty bad shape when they took her in. It looked like either her head wound had reopened or she picked up a new one…something happened to one arm. I couldn’t tell what, but it was just sort of hanging at her side…she’d been shot in the leg—”
“Shot?” Bess interrupted.
Frank nodded sadly. “Nine-millimeter. Bess…whatever the doctor eventually comes out of there and tells us, she’s looking at a pretty tough next few weeks. Joe and I and our group will help out while we’re here, but…when you guys head back to River Heights, you and George will need to keep her spirits up, and…and as hard as I’m sure it’ll be, you’ll probably have to hold her back. If she starts taking cases again before she’s fully healed and winds up reinjuring something…she could easily wind up dealing with the aftereffects for the rest of her life.”
The cousins were now leaning on each other for support, both looking rather pale.
“How are you taking all this?” Joe asked Frank quietly.
“I don’t know,” Frank responded. “It doesn’t quite seem real yet. I’m still…”
“Expecting to wake up and find the last three days have been nothing but a bad dream?” Joe supplied.
Frank nodded silently.
“Yeah, I sort of feel like that, too,” Joe agreed.
Before anything further could be said, the hatch at the far end of sickbay swung open and a doctor walked over to them.
Frank stood to greet him. “How is she, doc?”
“She’s got a trying road ahead of her, but there’s every reason to expect a full recovery.”
“Okay, this’ll probably sting a bit,” Frank warned.
Nancy nodded. “Just get it over with.”
Frank removed the dressing from the entry wound on Nancy’s leg and placed it in a plastic bag. He then rinsed the wound with distilled water and applied a new dressing. Once he was satisfied that the new dressing was secure, he repositioned her leg atop the stack of pillows they were using to keep it elevated and repeated the process with the exit wound.
It had now been three days since the confrontation aboard the submarine. Gage’s doctor had had Nancy transferred to a shore hospital once he was sure her condition was stable, and she had remained there for the rest of that day and all of the next before being released the following morning.
“How’s the pain?” Frank asked.
Nancy just groaned. “I mean, I’ve had worse pain in individual areas before, but…between the head and the leg and the shoulder…I’m miserable, Frank.”
Frank took Nancy’s hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You’ll be alright, Nance. Just hang in there.”
“Change of subject,” Nancy said. “Was I right about Turner being the inside man?”
“Mostly,” Frank told her. “Turner was the main guy on the inside, but apparently he also kidnapped the eight-year-old son of one of the security staff and used that to coerce the guy into serving as a lookout.”
Nancy shivered. “That’s just sick. Have they found the kid?”
Frank nodded. “Coast Guard found him sedated in the cave the smugglers were using as a makeshift submarine pen.”
“That’s good to hear,” Nancy remarked. “What about Turner? Did they get him?”
“Honolulu police picked him up last night,” Frank replied.
A wan smile came to Nancy’s lips. “So that’s it, then.”
“Yep,” Frank responded. “All that’s left is the trial.”
Silence descended over the pair for a long moment. Eventually, Frank said, “Nance…after that guy tried to use you as a human shield…I almost shot him. I was this close to shooting a guy who’d already surrendered.”
“But you didn’t?” Nancy asked.
“Only because Joe was there to talk me down,” Frank replied.
“I’m glad,” Nancy said. “Dying would’ve been too good for him.”
“Nancy, I…I saw a side of myself on that sub that…really scares me,” Frank admitted. “A side that was prepared to kill an unarmed man.”
“But you didn’t,” Nancy pointed out.
“How different are we, really, from the people we go out there and try to put away?” Frank wondered.
“You’re nothing like them, Frank,” Nancy assured him. “Yes, we often have to forcibly subdue a suspect in the course of an investigation, but it’s just a necessary task for us. We don’t attach any emotion to it. These…sickos, for lack of a better word, get their jollies from hurting other people, whether that’s physically, financially, or emotionally.”
“But that’s just the thing,” Frank countered. “I…I think I would’ve enjoyed it if I’d gone through with shooting that guy. I wanted to hurt him.”
“Why?” Nancy asked.
Frank stopped short. “Pardon?”
“Did you just want to hurt him for the sake of hurting him, or was there some other reason?” Nancy clarified.
“I…” Frank faltered. “Seeing you in the state you were in…battered, and bloodied, and shot…something just snapped. I wanted to hurt him the way he’d hurt you.”
“And if I hadn’t been beaten up like that…let’s say I’d managed to get away from them on the cliffs, and it was just the smugglers aboard the sub…would you still have been tempted to shoot the guy?” Nancy asked.
“I don’t…think so?” Frank responded.
“And that’s what makes you different,” Nancy told him. “Sure, you might be tempted, but…there’s an underlying reason. You don’t just want to hurt people for the sake of hurting them. The people we go out there to catch don’t need a reason. They’ll hurt people just because they feel like it. You would never intentionally hurt someone without provocation. That’s just not who you are, Frank.”
“But how can you know that for sure?” Frank asked.
“Because I know you, Frank,” Nancy replied. “I’ve known you almost as long as I can remember, and I’ve never seen you show any sort of proclivity for needless violence.”
“Nance…” Frank’s voice trailed off as tears began to well up in his eyes.
“Come here, Frank,” Nancy said, holding out her arms for a hug.
Frank sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned into the embrace, letting his head rest on her uninjured shoulder as she rubbed soothing circles on his back. Finally, after several minutes, Frank got up, adjusted the stack of pillows supporting Nancy’s injured leg, and lay down beside her.
“Callie and I had a…very interesting conversation last night while she and Iola were helping me wash myself,” Nancy said. With a slight chuckle, she continued, “Callie gave me her blessing to date you if we decided that was what we both wanted.”
Frank let out a long breath.
“Frank…of all the cases I’ve worked, there’s only ever been one that I wished had taken longer to solve,” Nancy told him.
“Egypt?” Frank asked quietly.
She nodded. “Looking back, I think that was the beginning of the end for my relationship with Ned. He was never a big fan of me working cases with you and Joe. I told myself it was because he was afraid I’d want to move to New York and open an agency with the two of you, and he’d have to either move to New York with me or try to make a long-distance relationship work, but…if I’m being honest with myself, I think he was jealous of…of the way you and I can go two months without seeing each other and both still be able to know what the other’s thinking like it’d only been a day or two.”
She took a deep breath before continuing, “Frank…you’ve always been special to me, and not just as a fellow detective, not just as someone else who understands that rush. You and my dad are the only two males I’ve felt like I could talk to about anything that was on my mind. Even…even on the best days of my relationship with Ned, there were things I wouldn’t have felt comfortable telling him, but…with you, I’ve never felt the need to hide anything. I’ve always felt like I could be completely myself with you and not have to worry that you would think less of me because of it.
“Frank, I love you,” she finished in a voice barely above a whisper.
Frank sighed. “Nance…I could say a lot of the same things about you that you’ve just said about me, but…it—from what you’ve told me, it sounds like you and Ned ended things pretty recently, and…Nance, I don’t want to be a rebound. I want to make sure that if and when we do this, we give ourselves every chance to make it last for the long haul.”
“You won’t be a rebound, Frank,” Nancy assured him. “Ned and I may have only said the words last week, but…it’s been over in all but name for a while now. Look, if you’re that concerned about it, let’s just…agree to start off slow. Because you’re absolutely right, Frank, I want to make this last for the long haul, and…and even if it somehow can’t, I don’t want to lose what we already have. So let’s take it slow at first, and make sure our friendship stays the most important thing even as we explore the possibility of something more, and…is there anything else you can think of to add to that?”
Frank shook his head. “Nothing comes to mind off the top of my head.”
“So it’s agreed, then,” Nancy said.
Frank smiled, snuggling into her side. “Yeah. It’s agreed.”
Nancy’s eyes fell shut, and a contented sigh escaped her lips as she nestled her head into the crook of his neck.
“Nance…you’ve always been special to me, too,” Frank told her. “You were the first girl my own age I felt like I could actually talk to and be able to connect with on more than just a superficial level, and…working with you, or even just being with you and spending time together…it’s like a breath of fresh air. I never feel like I’m being put under a microscope, I never feel like I’m under pressure to live up to any sort of expectations…I can just be, and if I make a fool of myself, all I’ve done is given us a funny story to look back on and laugh about later.
“And Nance…more importantly than all of that, you’re my moral compass,” Frank added. “Even when you’re not around…if I feel like I’m getting in too deep on a case and I start to question whether my judgment might be compromised, I…just try to mentally take a step back and ask myself what you would do if you were there…and of course, on a case like this one, you…you always seem to know what to say when I think I might have crossed that line.
“So…so yeah, Nance,” Frank said. “I love you, too.”
A companionable silence settled over them.
“This is nice,” Nancy said eventually.
“Yeah, it is,” Frank agreed, reaching over to brush a few stray hairs away from Nancy’s face. “Hey, Nance? You don’t think a kiss would be moving too fast, do you?”
“As long as it’s not anything too involved,” Nancy replied.
Propping himself up on one elbow to get a better angle, Frank leaned down and gently pressed his lips to hers, warmth filling him from head to toe as they kissed for the first time as a couple. The kiss lasted only a few seconds, but it left them both smiling fondly as Frank lowered his head back down to the pillow.
“I could get used to that,” Frank murmured.
Nancy snuggled closer to him. “Yeah, so could I.”
As silence descended once more, Frank promised himself to make the most of the next few days before they were due to fly back to their respective homes. He and Nancy were each facing their own challenges—she had her injuries to recover from, and he his conscience to wrestle with—but as long as they had each other, Frank knew they would be alright.