Important Note: This story is NOT for the Nancy/Frank ship. If you think that will bother you, please refrain from reading. Thanks!

For my Frank Hardy,

You'll never know how lucky I feel to have you in my life.

Nothing—not even growing up as Carson Drew's daughter and the darling of River Heights—could have prepared Nancy Drew for the train wreck that is suddenly hitting the national spotlight. She had always taken such pains to fly under the radar knowing that being all over the internet would not help further her career. Yet, all it took was a small slip of the tongue from a Bayport police deputy before everyone knew about her and Frank's role in stopping a would-be shooter at the mall. She had assumed that one article would be the end of it, but she couldn't have been more wrong. That first big article had spawned a half a dozen similar ones. After a week had passed, there was an article attempting to explore their personal lives. Before she knew it, speculation about her relationship with Frank was everywhere, and her social media follower counts had jumped exponentially before she decided to make her accounts private.

In a matter of weeks, she and Frank had become low-key celebrities. She knew that eventually everyone would forget about them, but for now, they were hot news. Suddenly, people at school she didn't even know had started walking up to her and asking her questions about Frank and the incident in Bayport. One day, she thought for sure she spotted someone attempting to photograph her as she walked across campus. It was something someone else might have dismissed as paranoia, but she had enough experience with her instincts to know that she could trust them. Seeing a long distance photo of herself pop up online a few days later had only served to prove her right. Her frustration when finding the photo knew no words. How dare anyone think it alright to invade her privacy?

Worse though than the invasion of her privacy was all the gossip about her and Frank. Perhaps people always assumed that men and women who worked together couldn't have a platonic relationship. After all, gossip about them had spread around both River Heights and Bayport for years. This, however, was a different level. She had no recourse; she couldn't simply tell her friends what was going on and wait for the truth to disseminate. No, there was nothing she could do except for stop searching their names and wait for it all to blow over. It wasn't just the gossipy articles either. Comments about her and Frank were all over social media leaving her wondering why people were so dumb. Frank wasn't shy about proclaiming that he had a girlfriend who wasn't her. Why didn't people just believe it?

Perhaps Nancy wasn't a stranger to being stalked, but watching her entire personal life broadcast all over the internet was a whole other level of privacy invasion. The people of River Heights while doting had never been disrespectful. She found herself growing suspicious of everyone she came in contact with especially when she didn't know them personally. How was she to know that they weren't interacting with her just because they wanted to ask her personal questions? She found herself staying in her apartment when she didn't have class or a case.

In her distress, she had reached out to Frank as she always did when she faced challenges in her life as a detective. He like few others in the world truly understood. In this case, he understood perfectly because he in his little campus in Connecticut was dealing with the exact same thing. His situation was worse though because he had Callie. Callie might be mature enough to weather something like this with him, but Nancy was sure that it couldn't be easy. Regardless of the challenges he was facing, Frank did his best to encourage Nancy over the weeks that followed. He reminded her that she was more than strong enough to deal with this even if it wasn't her cup of tea. Someday soon, the storm would blow over, and they would figure out how to deal with their names being all over the internet just the way that they had figured out everything else they had been through so far. As the weeks passed, he never stopped listening and encouraging her. And every time he mentioned the press, he swore. It was a small thing, but for Frank, it said a lot. His mother had had strict rules about swearing, and Nancy herself had rarely heard him swear despite all her years of taking cases with him. Hearing those words come out of his mouth served as a reminder that he while the picture of strength was feeling this just as deeply as she was.

Perhaps what she shared with Frank was so different from the picture painted by the gossip sites, but it was no less wonderful. He was not the one she kissed under the stars or whispered sweet nothings to. He was simply Frank, and she was his best friend and partner in catching criminals. She would be hard pressed to explain what they had and just how much he meant to her. It was as if what it meant to be Frank was such a big concept that her mind couldn't even understand it and that what it meant to be best friends with him was equally big and impossible to grasp. How could you explain a friendship that spanned more than a decade with someone who understood you perfectly?

This situation in a way reminded her of what she was facing the first day she met Frank and Joe. That day had been her dad's firm's fifth anniversary party. She remembered people being everywhere and trying to simultaneously avoid them while not disappointing her father. That had proved a difficult task, and she was relived when she had met Frank and Joe and had been able to spend the rest of the afternoon with them. After that, the three of them were simply friends. It was an unlikely friendship in a way due to the many miles that separated New York and Illinois. Still, Fenton and Carson had decided that the support that such a friendship had to offer their kids was worth the associated travel costs. So, she had spent a week in Bayport every summer, and Frank and Joe had come for an equally long stay in River City. She had so many memories of going to the movies and the park, playing board games, and of course solving the cases that always found them. It had been fun spending time with others who understood her story and dreamed of the same future, but growing up, Nancy had always taken their friendship for granted.

It wasn't until the teenage years hit and many of her friends constantly questioned her life choices that Nancy had realized what a gift it was to have Frank and Joe in her life. They were always a phone call or text away if she had a question about a case or simply wanted to compare notes. By their very presence, they reminded her that she while extraordinary was not alone. They too were wholeheartedly pursuing the dream of a life of detective work undeterred by comments that they weren't living the normal teen life. They didn't question the sacrifices they were making feeling instead that it was worth it to do what they loved and to be ready to someday make a difference in the world.

With the passing time, she has only become more and more convinced that what she shares with the Hardy boys and especially Frank is something special. She has made so many friends over the course of her life and has kept up with many of them. Still, there's few that she can say are truly part of her. It's different with Frank. There's this special connection that they have always shared. Maybe she wasn't always aware of it, but they have always had a similar way of approaching life that makes working together seamless. It's like they're always on the same wavelength and constantly end up saying something that broadens the other's horizons just a little more. Sometimes, though, they are literally thinking the same thing. She'll look at him, and he'll look at her, and this sense that they're right at the same place mentally will wash over her. Then, one of them will say something, confirming that that feeling was not wrong. It's a little uncomfortable at times because she never feels more exposed, but there's a unique comfort in being together even after time apart and knowing that nothing will ever be any different. It's something that she shares with Frank and no one else, and she knows that it will never change.

Despite all the local gossip, she never was really conscious of anything but platonic feelings for Frank until she dumped Ned at the end of freshman year. He had never been quite right for her, but it had taken growing up and moving on to college to realize that. When she did, it was like everything that she had felt for Frank and subconsciously repressed had come spilling out. She had always admired him, but now she couldn't get him out of her head. She could finally see why all the girls of Bayport always fell for Frank. He was incredible—kind, intelligent, and wise. How could she think anything less of him?

Since then, her relationship with Frank has been a struggle. He has only grown larger and more spectacular in her mind with every passing day, yet at the same time, she has only become more conscious of the fact that they would never work. Frank loves Callie, and they are so perfect for each other that Nancy knows that one day Callie will be his wife. Up until recently, Nancy had never been jealous of Callie. Why should she be when she got to be Frank's adventure partner and the one who understood him like no one else? Wasn't that enough to protect you from envy? Unfortunately, that all changed when her feelings for Frank came and stared her in the face. Sure, she's appreciative of everything that she and Frank share. She wouldn't trade it for the world and quite honestly can't imagine life without it. Still, she can't help but wonder what would be like to have it all. What would it be like to be the one who Frank loves, the one he can't wait to get home to, the one who is constantly on his mind?

Deep down, though, Nancy knows that even in a world where Callie did not exist she and Frank wouldn't be happy together. The similarity of their minds that makes them great work partners would cause them to get bored of coming home to each other after awhile. Besides, she knows they'd be unhappy from the start as he wants to stay close to home as much as possible while she is eager for city life and cases that will have her constantly traveling. It's simply not meant to be. She's not saying that because he's taken. She's saying it because she's never been more sure of anything else.

Still, seeing him brings an ache to her heart. It's the kind of ache that makes her feel closer to the floor than usual. She thanks her lucky stars that she's strong or perhaps it would have knocked her down by now. She's so close to yet so far from having everything. She has to watch her words and break her stare because he can never know. The perfect trust they share may be the work of years, but it could be shattered in a moment. She knows she'd never find anything like this again. Such is the pain love can bring—always wanting more, never being truly satisfied with what you have.

She is so tremendously lucky to have him in her life—not everyone gets to be his best friend. Yet, how quickly does she forget that? How rapidly does the love and trust and mutual appreciation they share become nothing to her? How wrong is that? She knows that what they have is magic; he's one of her soulmates even though he's also Callie's. There's this inherent ugliness in that; she can't believe that such a thing could be true when she wants life to be beautiful and perfect. Yet, how much is she missing when she dismisses everything that they have? Ought she not to celebrate being best friends and having someone who understands her like no one else?

Maybe that's the secret. Maybe the world is wrong when it says connection and support and even love are worth little if it's platonic. Maybe she's not seeing what she has for all the beauty that it is. Maybe she's forgetting everyone who has never known what it means to have this. Maybe she's not thinking of how she too could have missed out on Frank and everything he has brought to her life. Doesn't she have a gift that she ought to celebrate everyday? Maybe her heart is constantly wanting more, but maybe by making that her focus she is missing everything she has and how lucky she truly is.

Author's Note: I'm back after a very busy year at work. I hope you enjoyed this fic. If you remember my fic about Frank and Callie, I'm planning on finishing it as soon as I remember where I was going with it.