(Two years later)

Nancy groaned, gesturing to the massive pile of toys, books, clothes and carseats. "Come on, people, I'm having twins, I'm not the octomom. Much appreciated, but these kids will never be able to learn to walk, with my new house covered head to foot with assorted paraphernalia." Nancy tried to get out of the kitchen chair to help with the post-party cleanup, but soon realized that she was stuck.

Joe's wife Amanda laughed at her. "Just be glad Joe and I didn't decide to clean out all our old hand-me-downs for you," she teased, walking around the room with a trash bag. "Sit down, Laura and I've got this."

The sight of Amanda picking up trash reminded Nancy of her former client Maria. Nancy had thought it was her own job to teach Maria something, but the two women had ended up empowering each other. "Geez, we're in the third millennium A.D., and the wives are still cleaning up while the men lounge in their man cave?"

Raucous laughter floated out from the living room, where Frank, Joe, Fenton, and Carson were watching a very old black-and-white Halloween movie, originally intended to be scary but now hilariously funny.

Laura gave her daughters-in-law a wink from her spot washing dishes. "We'll consider this our special present to them, for being good sports about coming to a baby shower." Laura had assessed her options and ultimately chosen to stay in retirement, but this time her decision had been made with dignity.

Madeleine waddled into the kitchen and straight for her favorite aunt. Nancy laughed and searched for a napkin to remove the frosting caked on both cheeks. Madeleine's brother ran in a minute later, breathless from all the running. He couldn't help but immediately focus on the planet attached to where Nancy's waist used to be.

"What are you naming the babies, Aunt Nancy?" he asked, grabbing more candy.

"Well, I think I need your help with that," Nancy said thoughtfully. "I'm thinking Mario and Luigi. Or maybe Batman and Robin. Tweedledee and Tweedledum has a nice ring to it."

"I can hear you, Nancy, and hell to the no," Frank called from the living room.

"Watch your mouth," Laura called back.

When Frank and Nancy's house was mostly straightened and the movie was over, the men finally emerged from their haven. "Glad I survived that party," Joe said. "I've conquered a fear today, and it wasn't all that bad. Always wondered what kind of witch-brewing you ladies did at these things." Amanda rolled her eyes.

Joe turned toward Nancy and gave her his typical conspiratorial wink. It was Nancy's turn to roll her eyes. She had tried to convince Joe many times that she and Frank would have ended up married despite Joe's interference, but Joe would not be persuaded. Nancy allowed Joe to stroke his own ego because she would always have blackmailing leverage. She had never told Frank about the conversation she and Joe had at Bess's rehearsal dinner.

Last to come out of the living room was Fenton, sweat beginning to bead around his temples. He grimaced and put more of his weight into his cane as he walked.

"Bad today, honey?" Laura asked quietly. Arthritis had long since crept into his knee wound, nevertheless Fenton Hardy still spoke of October 31, 2015 as a positive turning point in his life.

"Still glad I came, of course," Fenton said, the family gathering in the kitchen to say goodbye. Nancy knew that she couldn't get up and her father-in-law couldn't come down, so she blew him a kiss this time.

"Frank, see you guys at church tomorrow?" Fenton asked, raising one arm.

Frank walked into his father's side-hug and squeezed briefly. "See you there, Dad. Love you." Joe took Frank's place and hugged his father as well. Madeleine gently squeezed her grandfather's good leg.

Carson and Laura were talking in the outside hallway. Nancy strained to hear them over everyone's packing up and saying goodbye.

"I know you're getting ready to do it, but I've been thinking," Carson said to Laura. "The flowers were something you sent when you felt guilty, so I think it's time to choose a different way to honor Kate. Maybe we can all spend an extra family day together, make a wreath for her grave or something, I don't know."

"Of course, Carson, that's a fabulous idea. Call me sometime next week, we'll work it all out," Laura said, kissing Carson on both cheeks.

Finally Carson approached Nancy's chair to say his goodbyes.

Nancy arched an eyebrow. "Don't try to keep secrets from me, young man."

"What?" Carson asked mischievously.

"You've got a glow about you. You're dating someone, Dad!"

And her father actually giggled. "It's only been a few dates, Nancy, nothing serious, so don't get your hopes up."

"My hopes will not be ordered around by you, but no pressure," Nancy said, beaming up at him. She'd saved her most warming, heartfelt smile for her father.

Finally the front door closed behind the last person. "All right, let's get started on the thank-you notes," Nancy called to Frank teasingly.

Frank walked in and leaned on the kitchen wall in front of Nancy. "I don't think there's enough stationary in the world, what with the presents from church, the presents from work, the presents from graduate school…and Bess and George throwing you another party next week…and geez, if I never hear the name Derrick Ridlan again, it'll be too soon." The twin baby bouncers from Professor Ridlan took up half the living room wall.

Nancy laughed but had to protest. "Come on, Frank, he'll be my advisor for my Master's thesis in another year. We agreed that I'd take next semester off for the babies, but starting next September…well…you know how I get when I'm excited about a school project."

Frank rolled his eyes. "My wife, the forensic social worker. Women. Why did we ever let them out of the kitchen?" Nancy threw a sponge at him.

Frank dodged and held out his hands. "Come on, honey, you knew this moment would come."

"Stand up?" Nancy squealed. "Frank, you try to stand up when—"

"But you have to pee, am I right? And sorry, I can't do that part for you." Amid many grunts and groans, Nancy finally emerged from her chair and made it to the bathroom. They had to use the same techniques to stand her up all over again.

"Forget it, this is it," Nancy said, rolling her eyes and brushing her teeth. "I'm getting right in bed." And she did just that, balancing her textbook against her massive stomach.

Frank worked in his office for another forty-five minutes, making sure he stayed on top of his missing persons case. The biowarfare terrorist case had turned out to be much more complicated than hoped for, and Frank and Joe had worked very long hours to try to prevent a similar catastrophe from cropping up again. When Nancy had learned that she was pregnant, Nancy and Amanda had talked to Frank and Joe together about the possible consequences of continuing in the terrorism field with small children at home. The men had gratefully handed the reins of the case to another set of partners, and were now working in a different arena. Missing persons wasn't exactly safe either, but Frank and Joe required a certain amount of adrenaline rush.

As soon as he was able, Frank joined Nancy in the bedroom, pulling on the raggedy sweatpants that she couldn't convince him to throw out. She couldn't complain, though; Frank had allowed her to hang a picture of Edgar Allan Poe over their bed, as Nancy still read his works on the subconscious mind like a psychological textbook.

"Schoolwork, typical," Frank said with an eye roll.

Nancy smiled sideways at him and kept reading, but suddenly gasped and clutched her stomach, her textbook falling to the floor. "Oh!"

"What?" Frank practically screeched, always at high alert when it came to Nancy's pregnancy.

"One of them is kicking, come feel it! Right now!"

Frank dived across the bed, bouncing toward Nancy's direction, and put both hands on Nancy's stomach. "Ooooh, I feel it!" he said excitedly. He rested his head on Nancy's stomach and was instantly rewarded with a karate kick to the cheekbone.

"Ow!" he protested, Nancy laughing.

"Well, what did you expect?" she teased. "That answers my question, then. I was wondering whether it was David or Goliath who was kicking."

Frank peered suspiciously at Nancy. "You know I'm not going to leave you alone with the hospital staff, right, Nancy? Our sons will not be happy if we have to burn their birth certificates. Let's work it out and stick to the plan, shall we?"

Nancy giggled.

Frank lay next to Nancy, one hand on her stomach as the baby calmed down. He propped his head on his elbow. "Now seriously, Nance, don't be mad, I'm just the concerned husband. Today must have been very stressful for you. Did you see or feel anything out of the ordinary?"

Nancy saluted. "All in order, Sergeant."

"I'm serious, Nancy!"

"I'm serious too!" Nancy said, laughing. Several months after their crisis on the bridge, Nancy had begun very slowly to wean off her antipsychotic medication. When she'd discovered that she was pregnant, the psychiatrist had been forced to abruptly discontinue the pills. Nancy had not seen or felt a shadow since the month of the twentieth anniversary of her mother's death.

"It's an interesting question, isn't it, Frank," Nancy said, musing. "I know we've always lived in the realm of logic, but that doesn't mean there can't be a supernatural explanation. There is a sort of logic in saying that maybe my mother was watching over me, or maybe our daughter. I know that I skipped a few days of meds before that night in the barn, but was it really just coincidence that I happened to smell my mom's perfume? My dad couldn't believe I could describe that perfume so accurately. Your father is still adamant that he felt something in that upstairs room in the church, something he couldn't feel just from a draft. And I know that man in the barn felt it."

Frank was never comfortable with this type of conversation, but pushed aside his mental barriers. "I keep coming back to this business about conversion disorder, how family secrets or dysfunctions can suddenly manifest themselves in different ways years or decades later. It is a good, solid, very pleasant fact that you haven't blacked out since we found out about…your mom and my…my…"

Nancy and Frank both wrinkled their noses at the reminder. "Forgiveness is a process that has to happen every day," Nancy said. "Especially self-forgiveness."

"True," Frank agreed. "And if we hadn't found out about all that mess, and secrets, and guilt, and even beginning to speak about our miscarriage, nobody from my family or yours could have really processed it and begun to move forward."

Nancy sighed and interlaced her fingers on the top of her stomach. "Mental illness…what is it? With the crazy world we live in, a person would have to be crazy not to be affected by all the shenanigans going on around them. 'Crazy' is just a term we give to behavior we don't understand, people who can't absorb it all anymore, who fight back, who won't go on with the normal cycle of life until something changes."

"Yup, that sounds like my wife," Frank said.

Nancy gave him a withering look. "Thanks so much. I'll have you know, the psychiatrist said that if I continue to do so well, he might be able to erase this diagnosis from my chart in a year or two. I like that guy, but it would be so nice never to have to see him again."

Frank raised his eyebrows saucily. "Better never say that about me."

Nancy's expression softened, and she found that she couldn't banter any more. "Never," she said, gazing into the depths of his brown eyes. "You are my rock, Frank. You are all the things that I was incapable of being for myself."

Frank found that he couldn't speak past the lump forming in his throat. He took Nancy's left arm and rolled her towards him. Their sons between them, Frank kissed her long and thoroughly.

*Finis*

A/N: Thank you so, so much to my reviewers, max2013, J, all the fabulous Guests that I can't contact, CorkyBookworm1, SparklingSoul, popalot, BucketOfSunshine, Torchwood Cardiff, and 1Roanoke1. It was exciting to see a few kind souls reviewing throughout, and also exciting to pick up some reviewers along the way. Either way I wouldn't have bothered posting this entire story if I'd gotten no feedback, so my hat is off to all of you. I wrote this story back in November 2015 for nanowrimo, which I would recommend every writer participates in at least once ( ). It took me two and a half weeks to write, and over three months to post. Thanks again, until next time, JB