Take A Chance On Me

Chapter 11

'You look as bad as I feel,' Nancy gestured towards Frank's under-eye bags. 

'Good morning to you too babe,' chuckling to themselves. Frank gave her a slow kiss on her forehead. He moved her strawberry blonde hair out of her sapphire blue eyes so he could take her features in. The couple heard slight shuffling outside their bedroom door. 'I've got to see Mum and see if she's alright. I didn't realise she came back last night.' Nancy kissed his slender nose and exhaled.

'Neither did I. She must've had less sleep then we've had. Laura's gone through so much just in the past couple of days; having both her husband and one of her boys have been shot. I'll go make breakfast, get dressed and meet me in the kitchen,' Nancy and Frank kiss slowly before finally getting up. 

The couple slowly wrap themselves in their dressing gowns and made their way down the hallway; Frank stopping at his mother's room to check up on her. Nancy turns the radio on, flicking on the news for a brief moment then changing it to her favourite music station. Unluckily, or in Nancy's case luckily, it was the hits of 1970's so that meant there was a good chance of ABBA. 

Nancy heard a stool pull out from behind the breakfast bar and the kettle turning on.

"Did you get much sleep last night Laura?" Concern running through her voice. When she turned around Nancy came face to face with a pale faced Laura. Bags were under her eyes, tear streaks were cascading down her face, her usually beautifully bouncy blonde hair was flat and going in different directions. Nancy went around the bar and gave her heavy hug and let her second mother cry into her. Frank placed 3 cups of coffee on the bar behind Nancy and enveloped his mum into a giant hug. Whispering soothing words into her ear and kissing her forehead.

It was this moment that Nancy realised how much the Hardy's meant to each other and Nancy herself. No matter what, they always had each other and knew that all they had was each other. Laura and Fenton had both accepted her as one of their own, especially after her own mother died. They both knew that Carson was doing as much as possible to give her the best childhood a single father could, which she did. She could never fault her father, he really did give her everything, so did Hannah.

Laura turned her head slightly to face her surrogate daughter. "Carson flew in last night and should've arrived early this morning. If he isn't here already he must've gone to the hospital to go see Fenton." That sounded like her father. Carson cared about the Hardy's as much as Nancy did. 'Thank you' Nancy mouthed.

Suddenly 'Does Your Mother Know' came on faintly on in the background. Nancy quietly sang to herself, not wanting to break the moment that was happening between son and mother.

'So you're blue but I can't take a chance on a chick like you. It's something I couldn't do,'  Nancy sang to herself, slowly dancing to the stove to continue making breakfast. The Hardy's giggled to themselves.

'There's that look, in your eye. I can read in your face that your feelings are driving you wild. Ah, but girl you're only a child', Frank sang back to her. Laura became shocked. Nancy looked at him with offence in her eyes.

"Now Mr. Hardy. There's less then a year between us. If I'm a child that makes you one as well."

"You know the words to ABBA as well?" Laura still slightly shocked retorted.

"Mum, when you spend as much time as Joe and I do around Nancy, you start to know the words to ABBA songs." The trio chuckle to themselves. 

Frank and Nancy finally got breakfast ready (along with multiple cups of coffee) and decided that they finally had to break the tragic news to Laura that who they thought was a friend was actually a foe. Honestly, Laura was never a big fan of Ned Nickerson. She thought her foster daughter a better partner, like for example her actual son Frank. She knew it was a bit of a biased opinion but mothers always knew best. 

The eldest Hardy boy put his utensils down. Lightly grabbing his mother's hands in his own, he could see the confusion and worry in her face.

"Mum. Nancy and I have something very important to tell you," Frank's voice didn't waver surprisingly with anger.

'You're not pregnant, are you Nancy?' Laura looked shocked. 'Wait until both of your father's hear about this. How long have you two been sleeping together for? I thought you two only just got together?' Laura looked questioningly at both of them. Nancy was trying to stifle a laugh while Frank was turning bright red.

'Mum! No! That's not it!' Frank embarrassed, retreated into his own seat, not wanting to look at either his girlfriend or mother. Nancy, seeing her embarrassed boyfriend and knowing he would be too awkward to carry on decided to take over the conversation. That was the good thing about their relationship was that they could read each others body language. It was with all of three of them.

'Laura,' the younger female started, 'we know who the culprit is. We know he shot Fenton but we aren't certain that he shot Joe as well,' Nancy was about to continue on when the blonde beauty cut her off.

'It's Ned isn't it?' The young couple were taken a back, both of their jaws hitting the floor.

'How... How did you know?' Frank finally stumbled out.

'Well who else was jealous enough to come after us Frank especially after you two came out as a couple to us I thought that Nickerson boy would've been one of the first to find out whether by accident or purpose. If there is one thing that anyone can fault your father on is that sometimes he doesn't know when to shut his mouth when it comes to you Nancy and since he runs the law firm that Ned works for my guess is that he would've accidentally spilt his guts to the poor boy.' All the dots were connecting in the couple's brains. They had figured out mostly everything else just not the how he found out their location. Nancy had been giving Carson updates here and there as the case went on.

'Speaking about Dad, I better ring him. You said be should be at the hospital, yeah?' Laura nodded as Nancy excused herself. Opening her phone she realised she would have to break the same news to her father. 'In person' she muttered to herself.

After a quick phone call and getting ready in comfortable clothes, the trio were off to the hospital to meet the the eldest Drew member and hopefully, no, eventually get the perpetrator that harmed ½ of the Hardy family.