A/N: Hey everyone! I know a few of you were curious as to how much money Fenton and Laura gave Joe and Vanessa, but I wasn't really planning on getting in to specifics. A lot of money might mean two different things to two different people and so I think it would be better to leave the amount up to every individual's imagination. :) As for how Fenton and Laura have the cash, well…they've been saving their pennies or something. :) Fenton is a highly sought after detective, I'm sure he's well paid. lol…besides, this is fan fiction-land!

Also, I'm not sure how far I'm going to take the Chet and Bess thing…it was just an idea that popped into my head randomly yesterday when I was writing the story and I thought…eh…let's see what happens with this. :)

Anyway, this is the last chapter everyone! Expect the first chapter of my new story…still tentatively titled (and so therefore probably for SURE titled…lol) "Four Times Too Many" in the next day or so. :)

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has been reading, I really hope you enjoyed the ride. To everyone who reviewed thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words, they made my day!

The Three Minute Deal

Chapter 32

"Mom, Dad, can we talk to you for a second?" A slightly manic looking Joe pushed through the crowd with Vanessa to reach his parents.

"Sure honey, what's going on?" Laura asked as she and Fenton turned to face their son.

"We can't accept this," Joe thrust the check toward his father but neither one of his parent's moved as if to grab it. "I'm serious! Take this thing, it makes me nervous!"

"Nervous? How?" Laura was genuinely curious.

"I don't know, just take it back!" Joe replied.

"Please, please take it back," Vanessa pleaded, she was starting to fantasize about what that money could do for her and Joe…it was dangerous.

"We don't know what you're talking about," Fenton replied keeping his poker face firmly in place.

"Yes you do!" Joe cried and tried to put the check in his mother's hands. When neither one of them looked like they were going to give in Joe looked at Vanessa, "we have to do it."

"I know," Vanessa replied and nodded her head. Joe took the check in his hands and quickly ripped it in half, quarters and again.

"There!" Joe smiled triumphantly at his parents, "now we can't cash the check!"

Fenton smiled at Joe and reached out to shake his son's hand. Puzzled, Joe grabbed his father's hand without thinking and then stared down in shock as his father slipped yet another check in his hand, "sneaky," Joe muttered and opened the check. It was exactly like the last one.

"We figured you'd do something like that," Laura smiled.

"Your old man still has a few tricks up his sleeve," Fenton smiled and turned to his wife, "I think our work here is done, would you like to help me start the barbecue?"

"I would," Laura smiled and the two walked off toward the barbecue.

"Well," Joe finally managed to say.

"Yeah," Vanessa agreed, staring at the check in Joe's hand.

"We don't really have much of a choice, do we?" Joe asked her.

"Unless we want to risk offending your parents," Vanessa murmured.

They looked at each other for a moment before they each broke out in a wide grin, "Vanessa, do you know what this means?" Joe whispered.

"Yes," Vanessa said and threw her arms around Joe, "this is so wonderful."

"I know," Joe hugged Vanessa close with dreams of their future running wild through each of their heads.

"What's going on over there?" Frank asked later that evening as he and Nancy sat together at a table with Phil, Vanessa, Joe and Callie. Everyone looked to where he was pointing at Bess and Chet, who were laughing hysterically over some unknown joke.

"Whoa," Joe said slowly, "Chet and Bess?"

Nancy deliberately looked anywhere but at the group around her but Frank wasn't an idiot, "Nancy?" he asked slowly. "What's going on?"

"Bess wanted me to introduce them and so I did," Nancy shrugged indifferently. "They're just talking." At that exact moment Chet reached over and brushed a strand of Bess's hair behind her shoulder. His hand paused next to her face before he brushed his fingers briefly along her cheek.

"Just talking?" Phil narrowed his eyes, "yeah, okay."

"Chet and Bess?" Joe said again, "that'll never work out."

"How do you know?" Vanessa asked indignantly, "I think it's sweet."

Joe snorted, "You don't know Bess," Joe said, "she's Big City and Chet is Farm Boy. The whole universe is working against them."

"Oh, you're such a hopeless romantic," Vanessa said with a laugh and kissed his cheek. She turned to the group, "isn't he just so romantic? Always looking on the bright side of things, it's simply irresistible."

The group laughed at Joe and Vanessa's teasing but Frank kept one worried eye on his friend. Nancy noticed and leaned forward, "it's alright Frank, Joe is probably right. Nothing will come of it."

"Yeah," Frank murmured, "probably." But he had never seen his friend look quite that way before and when he looked at Bess, no matter how many times he had seen her 'in love' he had never seen her look that way either. It was more than a little concerning.

Soon Frank and Phil were embroiled in a serious conversation as to what technological upgrades they could make to the house. "Obviously, you're going to want to get a whole new system and set everything up wirelessly," Phil said seriously.

"Obviously," Frank nodded and he and Phil began to make the plans for the house's technological upgrade.

Nancy understood most of the words and had a vague understanding of what each of them did, but beyond that Nancy was completely lost. After listening for a moment she broke in with a laugh. Both Phil and Frank turned puzzled looks on her, "sorry," she said, "it's just…from the sounds of it I'm going to need an ID tag just to get in the front door."

Frank smiled, "don't worry honey, you won't even know it's there. You see, we plan on planting the chip right here behind your ear…" he showed her the place by laying a soft kiss on the skin there.

Nancy laughed, "as long as I don't know its there."

Fenton and Laura walked over to the group, "we're going to head home now," Laura said with a smile.

"Okay," Frank stood up. The party had started to wind down, with Michael and the other agents having left an hour ago, followed shortly after by Chief Collig and the others from the Bayport PD and then Carson had said his good byes and headed for his hotel with his brothers. They all planned to meet for dinner the following day. "I'll walk you guys out."

Frank walked beside his father and mother and the silence was comfortable. He walked them down the street where their car was parked and he reached down to open his mother's door. Laura stood there, not getting in and Frank frowned, "what?"

Laura looked at Fenton, "is this the right moment, do you think?"

Fenton's eyes twinkled, "probably."

Laura looked at her son, "I'm not giving this to you so that you feel any pressure to do something that you may not be ready for. I'm just giving it to you so you have it when the time is right." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the jewelry box holding her engagement ring. "I'd like you to have this, to use it when and where you like."

Frank couldn't stop staring at the box in his mother's hands. He knew the box and he knew the ring that lay contained inside it. He had grown up seeing it on his mother's competent hand and she had always told him that it would be his one day. She had always said, "When I see you with the woman who is right for you, you'll get it."

How amazing to know that his mother loved Nancy enough to give her the engagement ring she had worn for so many years.

"Mom…" Frank began having a hard time finding the words to express his gratitude.

"I know sweetie, take this and save it for the right moment," she placed the box in his hands and leaned up to place a kiss on his shocked cheek. Frank wrapped his arms around his mother and hugged her close.

"Thank you mom," he smiled.

"You're welcome," Laura said and pulled away to get in the car. Fenton smiled at his son and then climbed into the driver's seat.

Frank watched as his parents drove away before he walked slowly back to the house. He sat down on his front stoop and looked out over the quiet neighborhood in front of him. It was his neighborhood now and the idea thrilled him. Over the years that would pass he and Nancy would become a part of this neighborhood, as would their kids. The idea sent racing thrills up and down his spine.

There was no doubt in his mind that he was going to propose to Nancy, but he knew that it wouldn't be tonight. Frank knew when too much was too much and he wanted to wait for the absolute right moment.

He was sure he'd be able to tell the right moment when it happened.

"Thank you so much for coming Callie," Nancy said with a smile and the two girls embraced, "I definitely want to have that girl's night before the wedding."

"Me too," Callie smiled.

"Maybe we'll have this place together in time and we can do it here," Nancy suggested.

"That would be a lot of fun," Callie said and looked at Frank, "but Frank would have to make himself scarce. This is a girl's night after all."

"Don't worry, Frank can crash with Joe. Joe gets lonely when I'm not there at night," Vanessa smiled and Joe just grinned and nodded in agreement.

"Thanks for coming Callie," Frank said and gave her a big hug, "it was really good to see you again."

"You too," Callie said returning the hug, "I'll call you later Vanessa and I'll be seeing you soon Nancy. Congratulations again!" she called and walked to her car.

Now it was only Joe, Vanessa, Nancy and Frank standing on their front porch and Frank and Nancy had their arms wrapped around each other.

"You two look good in front of that house," Vanessa said with a smile. She turned to look at Joe, "don't they look good?"

"Well, Nancy looks good but I've always thought Frank was lacking in the looks department," Joe smiled evilly at his brother.

"Your words, they cut me deep brother," Frank said with a laugh. They waved good-bye to the couple as they walked down the front walkway together.

Nancy sighed, "It's too bad we can't stay here tonight," she said wistfully.

"Who says we can't stay here tonight?" Frank raised an eyebrow.

"Because…" Nancy began, "there aren't any beds…or blankets…or clothes…or necessities." She paused when she saw Frank's gloating expression, "Are there?"

"Maybe," Frank said mysteriously. "You still haven't seen the upstairs."

Nancy's eyes grew wide, "I can't believe I've been in my new home," she smiled at the word, "for so many hours and I still haven't seen the upstairs!"

Frank laughed, "Come on then." They walked together up the stairs and Nancy ooh-ed and aah-ed at little details like the baseboards and the banister on the staircase.

"Frank! Look at this!" she stopped on the landing between the two sets of stairs, "a built in shelf! Oh, I have a really cool bowl that would look just great right here."

Frank smiled, "at this rate we won't make it upstairs until tomorrow," he teased.

Nancy laughed, "You're right. Let's go." The stairs led to a hallway. To the left they found a bathroom, two bedrooms and a room that would make a good office. To the right was the master bedroom, "I feel like I should close my eyes," Nancy murmured.

"Okay," Frank moved behind her and placed his hands over her eyes. He moved her into the bedroom and stood her right in front of what he had worked on the night before. He lifted his hands and Nancy gasped at what she saw.

"Frank! When did you do this?" Nancy asked.

"Last night," Frank responded and smiled, "I wanted us to spend our first night here."

Nancy looked around at the room in front of her. It was huge, with two big windows facing the street and the side of the house. Pushed against the wall underneath the side window was a large blow up air mattress that looked like an actual bed because Frank had covered it with sheets and blankets and pillows. Nancy laughed when she saw the side tables Frank had rigged next to the bed, "milk crates?" she asked laughing still.

"I know how much you liked those when I had them in my apartment, I thought I'd bring them here," Frank smiled. Nancy laid a hand on her heart and stood perfectly still. "Nancy?" Frank asked, growing concerned by her unmoving state, "are you alright?"

"I don't know what to do with all of this emotion I have inside of me," Nancy breathed. "I have no idea how to tell you how much I love you, because it's impossible. It's impossible to put into words. Everything you've done for me tonight…it tells me exactly how much you love me…but I have no way of showing you how much I love you."

"You just did," Frank said and smiled. "Do you want to see the bathroom?"

"Oh yeah," Nancy smiled, "definitely." They walked across the room and Nancy paused at a door to the right, "is this the closet?" she asked.

"Yes," Frank replied. Nancy smiled and opened the door.

"A walk in closet! I've always wanted a walk in closet so I can see all of my clothes better and…wow. Is this for shoes?" Nancy pointed at the shelves.

"I guess so," Frank shrugged, "the closet doesn't interest me that much, let's check out the bathroom."

Nancy noticed the luggage in the corner of the closet and looked at Frank, "is that where my favorite jeans are?"

"Yep," Frank grinned.

"What about my sweater from college?" Nancy asked.

"You noticed that was missing too?" Frank asked in disbelief.

"Frank, I'm Nancy Drew," she said laughing, "It's like a requirement that I notice those kinds of things."

"Come on," Frank said laughing, "let's look at the bathroom!"

"I have a feeling that this is your favorite part of the house," Nancy smiled.

"It definitely ranks up there in the top three," Frank replied and led her through the bathroom door. Nancy stood in the doorway and stared at the beautiful bathroom in front of her. There were his and hers sinks, a shower with his and hers showerheads and a huge Jacuzzi bathtub.

"The previous owners were very fond of this bathroom," Frank explained as he started the bathtub before he walked around the room and lit a bunch of candles he had placed around the room. Soon the candles were giving off enough light that he was able to turn the overhead light off as he came to stand in front of Nancy. "This was one of the first things they remodeled and they didn't really hold back."

"I can see that," Nancy's eyes were dancing in the candlelight. "It doesn't sound like enough, but I love you so much."

"I love you too," Frank murmured.

"Are we taking a bath?" she asked with a slow smile.

"It's been a long day," Frank replied, "I need to relax."

"With the way I'm feeling toward you right now I don't think you're going to get much of a chance to relax," Nancy warned.

Frank laughed, "That's okay, I think I can live with that."

The next morning Vanessa knew it was time to confront Joe about what she knew. She waited until Joe excused himself to go shave before she followed him to the bathroom and sat on the toilet seat watching him shave the old fashioned way.

"Joe," she said finally.

"Yeah babe?" Joe replied as he scraped another line of bristles off his cheek. Despite his off hand tone Vanessa could see the far off look in Joe's eyes.

"Joe," she repeated, "why are you using a regular razor?"

Joe paused as pain flashed through his eyes. He tried for a smile, "I told you, the batteries on my…" as he was talking Vanessa pulled out his razor. He stopped talking, afraid that she was going to turn it on and bring on another panic attack.

"Joe, I know the batteries aren't dead on this thing," she set it on the counter, "and I know that if I turn it on you're going to be transported back to that warehouse," she whispered.

Joe didn't know what to say. There was silence for a moment before he quickly finished shaving and wiped his face clean on a towel. "I didn't want to scare you," he looked at her intently, "that's the only reason why I lied."

Vanessa nodded, "I can understand that, in a way." She stood up and raised a tentative hand to brush it against his short hair. "I want to help you with this," she said, "please let me."

Joe sighed, "Vanessa, short of holding my hand and telling me everything is going to be okay I don't know what you can do."

"I'll do that," Vanessa said, "I'll hold your hand. Every morning, until you can move past this and every night when you think I don't notice that your nightmares wake you up. I'll hold your hand." She placed both of her hands on his face and kissed him softly. "I want to help you, but I can only help you if you'll let me."

Joe sighed and brought Vanessa into his arms. He had been wrong to keep this from her, he saw that now. He was still feeling anxious and he could still feel the dregs of his nightmare threatening to overwhelm him, but with Vanessa in his arms he could feel the joy he felt with her begin to take the nightmares place.

"It might take awhile," Joe said.

"That's okay," Vanessa replied, "I've already said yes to forever."

"This is one of the best mornings of my life," Nancy murmured.

"One of the best?" Frank asked.

"Yeah," Nancy replied. "I have a few I consider to be the best."

"Do any involve me?" Frank ran a lazy finger down Nancy's arm.

"All of them involve you," she replied.

"Really?" there was genuine surprise in Frank's voice.

"Yes," Nancy replied.

"Do you mind telling me a few of them?" he asked.

"Well, one of them is the morning after you kissed me in the middle of the street," Nancy smiled.

"That's one of mine too," Frank agreed.

"Another is the first morning after we…you know," Nancy laughed.

"Ah yes, the night of…you know. One of mine too," Frank smiled.

"And then there's this morning," Nancy stretched, "this morning takes the cake, almost."

"Almost?" Frank asked, "What would make it rank number one?"

"Eggs," Nancy replied with a grin, "and bacon."

Frank frowned, "I don't think I remembered to pack breakfast."

"Let's see what's leftover from the barbecue," Nancy suggested and reached over Frank to grab his shirt off the floor. She slipped it on over her head and jumped out of bed. Frank pulled on his discarded pants and followed Nancy down the stairs.

"I don't know if potato salad is going to cut it for me," Frank said, "I might have to make a run to the store."

"No you won't," Nancy grinned and showed Frank the note she had found on the counter, written in his mother's elegant script.

"Breakfast is in the fridge. Preheat oven to 425 bake for 60 minutes," Frank read out loud and groaned, "my mom's breakfast casserole. He yanked open the fridge and pulled it out.

Nancy started the oven and they waited impatiently for the oven to reach the proper temperature, "your mom is so sweet."

"Yeah, she is," Frank murmured, "and her breakfast casserole is the best."

"This is enough to feed ten people," Nancy said eyeing the dish.

"I don't know about you but our recent activities have left me starving," Frank waggled his eyebrows suggestively as the oven beeped, indicating it was ready. Nancy slid the dish in and set the timer.

"Now how are we going to have the patience to wait sixty minutes?" Nancy asked.

"I've got a few ideas," Frank said and pulled Nancy to him.

Sixty-three minutes later Nancy and Frank stood across from each other at the kitchen island, each holding a plastic fork as they dug into the steamy casserole. "It's hot," Nancy said as the melted cheese burned the roof of her mouth, "but so good."

"Uhm-hm," Frank replied around a mouthful of the casserole.

"Now," Nancy said as she took a bite, "this is the perfect morning."

"Not quite, I could use some milk," Frank replied. Nancy laughed and turned to look in the fridge to see what they had to drink.

"We probably only have beer," she said and looked at the shelves. She laughed when she saw a carton of milk with another post it note on it, "For Frank," she read out loud. She turned to show Frank the carton and he smiled.

"My mom loves me," he reached for the carton and took a drink of it before passing it back to Nancy.

"You sure are spoiled," Nancy laughed when Frank nodded.

"Yep," Frank agreed and leaned forward to kiss Nancy's lips before she brought another forkful of the casserole to her lips.

"You taste like cheese," she laughed.

"So do you," Frank countered.

"We're the perfect pair," she flourished her fork before reaching down to take another bite. They really were the perfect pair, both of them able to work together and understand each other perfectly.

Nancy smiled at Frank over the casserole. She understood Frank perfectly alright and she knew that he was going to bide his time asking her to marry him, thinking that it was the right thing to do. She'd just have to take the reigns on that one herself.

If there was one thing about her and Frank, it was that they defied tradition. Buying a house before they were married and perhaps even, the girl proposing instead of the boy? Nancy smiled at the thought; it was something to think about.

Frank wouldn't know what hit him.

The End

Thank you, thank you to everyone for reading! I hope to see you all over at my next story, but if not…thanks for taking the time out of your day to read what I write. If I do see you at the next story, I can't wait! The next story is going to be a completely different kind of adventure than what we're used to for the Hardy's and Nancy Drew. Thanks again for reading!