Archive of Our Own

It was supposed to be just a simple case, but then, when had things ever been simple for the Drew Crew?

It had all started when Nancy had received another call from Hannah Gruen. Before Hannah could hand the Historical Society over to Bess, there were a few loose ends she had to tie up. Some of those loose ends required a bit more of a… hands-on approach, and Hannah had outsourced a lot of them to Nancy and her friends—as if she considered them her own personal version of the Ghostbusters, and honestly, with how much Nancy had complicated life for Hannah this past year, she couldn’t entirely fault her.

“The Richardsons are new in town,” Hannah informed Nancy over the phone. “They just moved into a house on Maple, and they came to me asking if I knew of anything weird going on around the house. They claim they haven’t been sleeping well because they’re hearing what sounds like crying at night. I did some digging, and there was only one death in that particular house. In the seventies, the house was occupied by John and Miriam Quinn. After a lovers’ spat, John left to cool down, only to be tragically run over in traffic. Upon hearing the news, poor Miriam took her own life. It should just be a run-of-the-mill haunting. I don’t think this one will give you any trouble.”

That should have been Nancy’s first warning. Instead, she was just glad that she wouldn’t be starting out with zero information.

“Okay. What do you need me to do?”

“Go there tonight, try to find the ghost and help her move on. I’ve told the Richardsons to take a room in the Breaker while you do your thing, so you shouldn’t be disturbed.”

“All right. Thanks, Hannah. Text me the address, and I’ll let you know when I’m done.”

Nancy hung up and made her way over to the bar, where George was cleaning glasses. As soon as George looked up and spotted Nancy, she shook her head. “No. Nuh-uh, Nancy, not another one. My wedding is only a week away! I’m supposed to be zen and happy and on cloud nine, not chasing after another one of Hannah’s ghosts.”

Nancy stared at George for a moment, wondering when the hell she had become so uncannily good at reading her face. She shrugged it off as yet another of her George-isms, though, and instead offered George the good news.

“Well, according to Hannah this one should be a real breeze, so I actually think I might be able to do this one alone.”

“No,” George said sternly, and she put her glass and tea towel down, widening her stance to show she meant business. “If you think for one second we’re letting you go into a haunted place on your own, you’re sorely mistaken, Drew. Besides, when have things ever been simple for us?”

Deciding to ignore that last quip, Nancy argued, “The Richardsons have been in that house on their own and they’re completely fine. They just heard some crying at night, that’s all.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sure they don’t have your penchant for getting your ass into trouble. We’re coming with you, Drew, and that’s final.”

“Am I sensing tension? Why am I sensing tension?” Bess asked, abandoning her binders to come see why Nancy and George were bickering. “The wedding is only a week away! I will not have tension in the group!”

Upon learning of George and Nick’s engagement, Bess had become their de facto wedding planner. George didn’t care much about the wedding itself as long as she would be married to Nick, and Nick didn’t care as long as George was happy, so they’d both been more than willing to hand the reins over to Bess. In these past few months, Bess had transformed into more of a bridezilla than George ever could have been.

“Nancy wants to go into a haunted house on her own,” George said, an eyebrow raised, as if to say ‘can you believe this dumbass?’

“Nancy wants to do what now?”

Nancy stiffened at the sound of Ace’s voice. Whereas she was usually so good at tracking his whereabouts—mainly for avoidance reasons—this time she hadn’t even heard him approach. (Nick and George really should look into fixing that damned bell above the door.)

Only George and Nick truly worked at The Claw anymore, but Bess was there so often to discuss wedding plans with the co-owners that she might as well don her uniform again. Ace wasn’t there nearly as often, but somehow, every time Nancy went to The Claw to get a quick lunch and to see her friends, Ace also seemed to be there.

“Don’t worry, I already told her no. She’s bringing us, and I’m bringing my crowbar.”

“George, it’s just the ghost of a grieving widow, I doubt we’ll really need your crowbar,” Nancy said, feeling more and more annoyed.

“Maybe we can leave Shirley at The Claw,” Ace said, “but we’ll definitely come with.”

“You named my crowbar Shirley?” George asked, incredulity coloring her voice.

“Much like Florence and Madeline, it came to me in a dream,” Ace deadpanned. “And I always abide by my dreams.”

“Look,” Nancy cut in before George could get (even more) upset about Ace naming her crowbar. “Hannah said that it was going to be simple. Her exact words were ‘I don’t think this one will give you any trouble’.”

“And while I trust Hannah’s judgment a great deal more than I trust yours,” George said, “we’re still coming with you, and that’s final.” She released a deep sigh. “Great. And now I’ve got to tell Nick about all of this,” she grumbled, and she stomped off towards the office.

***

Nancy and her friends stared up at the house Hannah had sent them off to. Standing on the driveway, no one would ever be able to suspect there was a ghost haunting the house. The house was quaint, in Horseshoe Bay’s typical coastal style, with sage green details. They weren’t here to study the house’s architecture, though, and George was already stomping towards the front door, Shirley the crowbar in hand.

Before George even had the chance to think about breaking open the front door with her crowbar, Nancy ducked down and retrieved the house key from underneath a loose rock on the pathway. She unlocked the door and they entered the house.

“Where did Hannah say the Richardsons heard the crying?” Nick asked, firing up his EMF meter. He had modified the device using the same frequency in his ghost goggles and camera and made a functioning EMF meter that actually responded to ghostly presences instead of just electric wiring, which had come in handy so far with their investigations.

“The attic,” Nancy said, using the light of her phone’s screen to find the light switch.

“Of course, it had to be the freaking attic…” George grumbled.

“At least it isn’t the basement,” Bess offered. “I really don’t like basements…”

“Let’s just try to find her and help her move on,” Nancy said, and she headed for the stairs. “We’ll be out of here before you know it.”

“Famous last words,” George mumbled, just loud enough for Nancy to hear.

Nancy ignored her, knowing her friend wasn’t nearly as grumpy as her prickly exterior made her seem.

The Drew crew climbed the stairs together, all five of them huddling in the Richardsons’ attic.

“What now?” Bess asked in a hushed voice.

Nancy raised a finger to her lips, signaling for silence. Hannah had mentioned that the Richardsons had heard crying coming from the attic, but Nancy wanted to hear it for herself to make sure it actually was the crying of a ghost instead of the hum of faulty wiring or something similar.

The house was eerily quiet. Aside from their breathing and the rustling of clothes as the group fidgeted, not a peep could be heard—not even any sounds from the street outside.

Then Nancy heard it—the faintest crying sound. She strained her ears even more in case her mind was playing tricks on her. Then she heard a small sob, quickly followed by the whine of Nick’s EMF meter, giving her all the confirmation she needed.

“Miriam Quinn, are you here?”

The whine of the EMF got louder, and a light breeze lifted up a few strands of Nancy’s hair. She shared a worried glance with George.

“Miriam Quinn?” Nancy tried again. “We’re here because we want to help you.”

“How could you possibly help me if you can’t even help yourself?”

As her question still echoed through the attic, her spirit blinked into view. She wore a nightgown and was soaked from head to toe, water dripping to the floor in steady rivulets. She was so pale she was almost translucent, dark purple circles under her eyes, and the wet strands of her hair were plastered to the side of her face. She looked deeply, deeply sad.

“Miriam?” Ace asked, and she gave a slight nod of recognition. “I promise we don’t want to hurt you. We just want to help you.”

“And my question to you is exactly the same. How could you possibly help me if you can’t help yourself?”

Nancy shared a look with the rest of the crew and quickly realized they had no clue, either.

“Miriam,” Bess started carefully, “we don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe you could—”

“LIES!” Miriam bellowed, and suddenly she was almost nose-to-nose with the group. Her eyes glowed an angry red, the wind inside the attic had picked up, and Nick’s EMF-meter was going haywire.

Nick turned the device off and carefully maneuvered himself in front of George. “If you could maybe just explain what you mean,” he started, having to raise his voice in order to be heard over the intense gale inside the attic, “then we—”

“STOP LYING!” Miriam yelled, and Nancy now had to shield her eyes from the intense red light emitting from Miriam. Her hair whipped around her head.

Miriam released a sudden, ear-splitting shriek, and Nancy wrapped her arms around her head in an attempt to protect herself. It proved to be futile, however. Darkness pulled at the corners of her vision, and she fell to the floor.

***

When Nancy finally came to, she felt like there was a tiny little monster in her brain, banging on the inside of her skull with a hammer. She tried to lift her hand to rub her temple, but she found that she couldn’t—something was pulling on her wrist.

“What the hell?” she muttered, having to fight through the cotton in her mouth. God, this was worse than any hangover.

“Ow…” she heard Ace grumble beside her, and then she felt a tug on her left wrist.

“What…?” Nancy struggled to sit up. Whatever Miriam had done, that blast had really taken it out of her. She felt like she hadn’t slept in a week while simultaneously having been moonlighting as a punching bag. She tried to lift her hands to rub at her eyes, but once again felt resistance from her left wrist.

“What the hell is that?” Ace mumbled next to her.

Nancy blinked a few times in an attempt to get rid of the spots swimming in front of her eyes before she glanced down at her hand. “No way…” There was a cuff around her wrist, with a chain leading to an identical cuff on Ace’s right wrist. “Miriam! What the hell kinda joke is this?”

“Can you please not shout?” Bess moaned from the other side of the room. “I feel like someone used my head as a dinner gong.”

“Nancy…”

Reluctantly, Nancy swiveled her gaze to Ace. He had finally spotted the handcuffs and was eyeing them with a mixture of horror and wonderment.

“Why are we handcuffed together?”

“You guys are what now?” George asked. She sounded as if her tongue was just as dry as Nancy’s felt.

Slowly, everyone scrambled up into a sitting position so they had a better view of Nancy and Ace in their horrible predicament. Bess looked stupefied, George looked semi-amused, and only Nick seemed to have the common courtesy of looking like this was a very bad, no good situation.

Overwhelmed by the number of questioning eyes on her, Nancy lifted up her wrist to better inspect the cuff. Ace lifted his hand in her direction to give her more slack.

“The cuff appears to be made of metal but feels gentler on the skin. It’s too tight for me to get my hand through without breaking my thumb. It’s a perfect circle—no lock that I can see, so I don’t think I’ll be able to pick it.”

“I don’t think that ghost wants you to pick it. I think she put them on you for a reason,” Bess pointed out.

“Yeah, and after that blast, let’s not piss ol’ Miriam off any more than necessary,” George agreed.

“But we don’t know what she wants,” Nancy said. “Ace and I can’t walk around with these cuffs on until we magically figure it out.”

“I’ll go to the Historical Society,” Bess offered, “see if Hannah and I can learn anything about… ghostly handcuffs. Meanwhile, you guys see if you can get Miriam’s attention long enough to ask why she did what she did.”

“Take the Sunbeam,” Nancy said, and she tossed Bess the key. Normally she didn’t like anyone else driving her beloved blue car, but it didn’t look like she’d be driving anytime soon anyway with that cuff on her left hand.

And so Bess left for the Historical Society while the remaining four tried all they could think of to summon Miriam the ghost back, but it was all to no avail. With every failed attempt, Nancy grew more frustrated, and the only thing keeping her from smacking the wall in anger was that she was constantly aware of being tethered to Ace.

“Guys, it’s almost two in the morning,” Nick said. He rocked back on his haunches after the umpteenth failed try, a defeated look on his face. “I hate to say it, but I don’t think we’re gonna fix this tonight—at least not with Miriam’s help. I think we should call it.”

Easy for you to say, Nancy thought bitterly. You’re not chained to the guy you’ve been desperately trying to avoid for the past few months.

Undoubtedly having seen the stormy look on Nancy’s face, George quickly said, “We’re not giving up, though. We should go to the Historical Society to see if Bess and Hannah have found anything before we properly call it a night.”

“Fine,” Nancy finally allowed, and she let Ace help her upright. They collected the items they’d used for their last attempted séance and put everything in the Richardsons’ attic back roughly the way they’d found it before making their way down the stairs and out the front door. Nick and George got into Nick’s truck, but Nancy and Ace hesitated in front of Florence.

“So…” Ace started. “How are we gonna do this?” He lifted his right hand, which was still very much bound to Nancy’s left one.

Nancy understood his dilemma. With the way they were cuffed, she had already gathered that Ace would have to drive, unless they wanted to get into some really weird positions—and Nancy liked to drive, but not nearly enough to turn herself into a pretzel. What she hadn’t thought of, however, was the act of actually getting inside the car. They could hardly get in from their respective sides.

“I don’t think there’s really any other option but for me to climb over the console. I’ll be gentle with Florence, I promise.”

Ace gave her a small smile. “I know.”

He opened the driver’s side door and cleared some albums from the console, one of which his beloved copy of AC/DC’s Back in Black, fumbling a bit when he put them in the dash compartment because he had to do it one-handed.

Nancy carefully placed her knee on the driver’s seat, angling her body in such a way that hopefully wouldn’t make her feel like she was dislocating her shoulder. Before she could get her second leg in the car, though, she felt Ace’s fingers wrap tightly around hers to offer her more support. She bit the inside of her cheek, trying desperately to ignore the pang in her heart.

Crazy to think that at some point in her life, the thought of Ace holding her hand would’ve given her butterflies. Now, all she saw was the image of his bloodied form cradled in her arms in her mind’s eye—she had never hated her perfect memory more.

Eventually, with a little struggle, the both of them got in the car, only to go through the entire process again in reverse when they reached the Historical Society.

Bess’s face fell the moment Nancy and Ace walked in and she could see that their handcuffs were still on. “I was just about to call you guys. You haven’t been able to contact Miriam again?”

“No,” Nancy said through a frustrated sigh. “No matter what we tried, it was like she was never even there—and I feel like we tried everything. Any luck on your end?”

“It appears there are multiple reasons why a ghost would want to bind people together,” Hannah said.

“So it has happened before?” Nancy verified.

“It’s rare, but it does happen.”

“A common denominator seems to be that it has something to do with the way the ghost died,” Bess said. “Miriam died after a lovers’ spat, so maybe it has something to do with that.”

“Yeah, well, Ace and I aren’t even a couple, so,” Nancy said, and her accompanying shrug felt defensive even to her. Bess and George shared a knowing look that Nancy did her best to ignore. “Why Ace and I in particular? Why not Nick and George?” She shook her head, putting up her free hand to stop anyone answering. She wasn’t ready for any of their potential answers. “Anyway, the why of it all doesn’t matter right now. How do we get these things off?”

“Well, turns out that the why actually does matter,” Bess said, making her way over to a pile of opened books and notes. “In every single account we’ve found, the bonds don’t come off until the ghost wants them to, or until you’ve done what the ghost wants you to do. They’re indestructible, and people have died trying to forcefully take them off, no matter which form the bonds took on—rope, chains, or handcuffs like in your case.”

“So, our only bet seems to be to try and get Miriam to talk to us again to find out what she wants from us, which seems unlikely,” Nancy said, “or we find out ourselves. We should go to the precinct, see if we can look at the police reports from her and her husband’s deaths. Maybe there’s something in there that could give us a clue, or maybe some witnesses that we could talk to.”

“In any case, it’s way too late for that now,” Nick pointed out. “We should all get some rest, start with a fresh perspective tomorrow.”

“Ace, you’ve been quiet,” Bess said. “What do you think?”

Some silent communication seemed to pass between the two platanchors, and normally Nancy would’ve let them have their private moment, but this time she hated not being able to tell what was being said, especially because she had a sneaking suspicion it was about her.

“I think Nick’s right,” Ace said, giving Bess a final pointed look that made it clear their discussion was over. Bess looked frustrated but resigned. “We don’t seem to be under a life-threatening curse, so we should take our rest before we let our frustration get the better of us. Hopefully tomorrow Miriam will have calmed down enough to take these cuffs off us, and if not, we’ll start our investigation.”

As much as Nancy hated what ‘taking our rest’ implied, she had to admit that Ace was right.

She awkwardly cleared her throat and gestured at their cuffs. “So, uh, how are we gonna do this then? I mean, we obviously can’t both sleep in our own beds tonight.” She tried very hard not to blush at the implication that they would be sharing a bed.

Ace nodded solemnly. “We can crash at your place or at mine, whichever makes you more comfortable.”

A small lump formed in Nancy’s throat. Even after the way she’d treated him these past few months, he still showed her so much kindness—proving exactly why she didn’t deserve him instead of the other way around.

“I think your place, if you’re okay with that. My dads would never let me live it down if I showed up in the middle of the night, handcuffed to you.”

Ace pulled a face. “Good point.”

“Bess, could you pick up some clothes and toiletries for me?”

“Yeah, of course,” she said, and she started piling up the books in front of her.

“Let me do that,” Hannah said, gently taking the books out of Bess’s hands. “Go help your friends—I’ll clean up here.”

“Are you sure?” Bess asked, clearly hesitant to let go of the books.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Hannah said, in that tone of hers that sounded gentle and kind but left no room for discussion. “I feel partially responsible—I should’ve done more research before sending you into that house.”

“Hannah, no,” Nancy said, taking a step towards Hannah to reassure her before remembering she was still bound to Ace. “I can say with a hundred percent certainty that no one could’ve predicted this. We willingly went into that house—you didn’t force us.”

Hannah gave her a small smile. “Thank you, but still. You guys should go, get some rest.”

Nancy sighed. She recognized her own stubbornness in Hannah, and she knew there would be no arguing with her. “All right. We’ll see you soon, Hannah.”

The five of them left the Historical Society, reluctantly leaving Hannah behind to clean up.

“Poor Hannah,” Bess sighed once they were all outside. “She still carries so much guilt about releasing the Copperhead, and now this…”

“None of this is her fault,” Ace said. “Neither was the Copperhead.”

“No, it’s not,” George agreed. “And we’ll do our best to convince her of that soon, but for now we all need sleep. Nick and I have an early meeting with a vendor tomorrow.”

“Go, sleep,” Nancy said, waving them off. As Nick and George made their way to Nick’s truck, she turned to Bess. “You know what to pick up for me, right? And I don’t think my dads will be awake, but if they are, just tell them I’m caught up on a case.”

Bess nodded. “Will do. I’ll see you guys soon with Nancy’s stuff.”

While Bess drove off to the Drew house in Nancy’s car, Nancy and Ace awkwardly shuffled into Florence. When they arrived at Nick’s building, they could see Nick’s parked pickup, but the lights in his loft were already off, which probably meant he and George had gone to bed to crash the minute they got home. Nancy felt guilty about keeping them up so late to solve yet another one of her crises, especially in the week before their wedding. If she was the reason the bride and groom had bags under their eyes in their wedding pictures, Bess would probably kill her.

Nancy tried to focus on her guilt as she and Ace entered his apartment, because it was infinitely easier than facing the reality of her situation. After Ace had fulfilled his duties of perfect host by asking if Nancy wanted something to drink and she held a glass of water in her unbound hand, the pair sat down on Ace’s secondhand couch to wait for Bess.

“I’m really sorry for dragging you into my shit again,” Nancy said, focusing on her thumb as it traced the rim of her glass so she wouldn’t have to look at Ace. “I know I promised all of you that I’d be more careful and not drag you into my problems anymore, but here you are. I’m keeping Nick and George up way too late the week before the wedding, which I hear is already a stressful week for couples about to get married anyway, so I’m sure this is really not helping. And speaking of the wedding, I’m pulling Bess away from her wedding planning duties. And you’re literally chained to me, which is probably the last—”

“Hey,” Ace said softly, and he intertwined their cuffed hands together. Just like that, Nancy’s eyes swiveled from her glass to their interlocked fingers, and all wild thoughts in her head quieted, save for the ones about Ace, which seemed to crescendo. “This isn’t on you. If it’s anyone’s fault—besides obviously Miriam Quinn’s—it’s the rest of ours’ because we insisted on coming with you.” Nancy chanced a look at Ace’s face and found only genuine honesty in his ocean eyes. “And truthfully? I’m still really glad we went with you—not in spite of what happened but because of it. Miriam’s clearly a very powerful ghost, and who knows how she would’ve taken her anger out on you had you been alone.”

Nancy was about to retaliate that she preferred that unknown over pulling Ace into her mess yet again, but she heard a key turn in the lock, signaling Bess’s arrival, and she decided the interruption was probably for the best, because Ace likely would’ve fought her over it anyway.

Bess entered the apartment, a linen tote bag hanging from her shoulder. She gave the two of them a tired smile. “Hey, guys. I’ve got Nancy’s stuff here.” She let the tote slide from her shoulder before setting it down next to the front door. “I’m gonna go again, though. I have a meeting with a vendor for the napkins for the wedding early tomorrow morning, and the shop is closer to the Drew house. I’ll see you guys after, though, to continue searching for a solution to your problem. Night, guys.” And she was out the door before either Ace or Nancy could think to wish her a good night in return.

Nancy looked at Ace. “Napkins?” she asked with a rise of her eyebrows, and they both laughed softly at the extravagance that was Bess. Whether Nick and George liked it or not, their wedding would undoubtedly be the event of the year.

But soon her laughter died out, reality setting back in.

“We should probably get some sleep, huh?”

Did Nancy imagine it, or did Ace’s cheeks get slightly darker with a blush?

“Yeah, we really should.”

The two of them stood up from the couch, picking up the bag Bess had left by the front door before making their way to Ace’s bedroom.

As soon as Nancy saw Ace’s bed, her throat felt tight and her head swam with visions of their night together. It might not have actually happened, but it had felt incredibly real to Nancy. She could still feel his lips on her skin, feel him worshiping every inch of her body—and knowing how eager to please Ace generally was, the vision probably hadn’t been far from the truth.

Desperately trying to pull her focus away from that part of the vision, Nancy focused on the contents of the bag Bess had packed for her, only to cuss out her roommate under her breath. Bess had packed Nancy’s summer pajamas, which was literally just a midnight blue satin cami and matching shorts that she only wore when the nights were truly sweltering. That, along with Bess’s hasty exit, convinced Nancy that neither were a coincidence or a mistake. That conniving minx.

“Everything okay?” Ace asked.

“Yes. Well, no.” Because along with the realization that their friend was a matchmaking fiend, another realization had hit. “How in the hell are we gonna get changed?”

Ace’s jaw slackened as he also seemed to realize the logistics of changing shirts while cuffed to another person. “That’s… a good point. Maybe we can try to fit the shirt through it?” he suggested, and he inspected the cuff.

Like Nancy had observed earlier, their cuffs weren’t on super tight, leaving enough wiggle room to make them comfortable, but it wasn’t nearly enough for them to slip their hands through. Nancy doubted a shirt could properly fit through either.

Before Nancy could offer any input, Ace was already in the process of taking his long-sleeved shirt off. He first pulled his free arm out of his sleeve before pulling his head from the collar.

Nancy’s mouth felt dry as she tried not to stare, she truly did, but his full torso was on display, and she was only human, okay? Temperance’s vision had done a relatively good job of portraying his physique, but it still felt different now, standing here chained to him, knowing he was forbidden to her. She found herself mesmerized by the way his muscles moved under his skin as he lifted the fabric over his head, the way he shook his head to get the hair out of his eyes. The instinct to brush his hair away from his face was great, but luckily for Nancy, she was provided a distraction by way of Ace’s shirt falling to the ground.

“What the hell?” she muttered, staring at his shirt on his bedroom floor. She had fully expected the shirt to pool around his wrist, stopped from properly coming off by the chain that bound her and Ace together, but instead it was like the chain hadn’t been there at all, even though she could still very clearly see it in the dim light of the room.

“I swear I didn’t do anything,” Ace said, looking at his shirt with the same surprise Nancy was. “It just… fell to the floor.” He picked up his shirt, shaking it out to check if there were any tears in the fabric. There were none.

“Try to put it back on.”

Ace did as instructed, and instead of the sleeve getting caught on the cuffs like they expected, they could clearly see the fabric going through the chain, as if the metal links were nothing but a projection.

“What the hell,” Nancy said again. As Ace kept his sleeve halfway up his arm, still going through the chain, Nancy grabbed hold of the links, expecting her hand to go through as well, but instead her palm met cool metal. She tugged on the chain, but nope—she was still firmly attached to Ace.

“I know they say not to look a gift horse in the mouth and all,” Ace said, “but this is one of the weirder things to have happened tonight. Still not weirder than waking up with mystical handcuffs on, though, I think.”

“At this point I’m just relieved to have one less obstacle.”

“Same. Anyway, uh… if you want to change, I’ll turn around, give you some privacy.”

“Thanks,” Nancy said, and she had a feeling they were wearing matching blushes.

Ace let his shirt fall to the floor again and turned, holding his arm out so Nancy could still use her left hand enough to change out of her clothes and into her pajamas.

“I’m ready,” Nancy said once she was finally done changing. She had especially struggled with the button of her jeans, because she hadn’t wanted to pull on his arm too much—and honestly, leading his hand in the direction of her crotch just felt wrong. “You can change now.”

It was as if Nancy’s senses heightened as Ace changed. The rustle of fabric, the unbuckling of his belt, the sound of his zipper going down, it all seemed to roar in her ears. And she really tried not to picture him in his boxers—his long muscular legs on display, the definition of his abdominals, the hard planes of his chest—but it was like the visual was seared into her retinas. Her fingers burned with the need to touch his velvety soft skin, her lips ached to kiss every perfect mark on his body. Nancy wasn’t sure if this was a case of wanting something even more because she couldn’t have it, or Ace just being naturally intoxicating to her, or if it was a mixture of both, but Nancy felt like she was slowly being driven insane. They weren’t even in bed yet, so Nancy truly worried about being able to keep her traitorous thoughts in check.

She knew Ace wasn’t dumb. In fact, he was the most observant person beside herself she knew. Maybe it was a side effect of Captain Thom losing his hearing, but Ace seemed to be a master of reading people beyond just listening to what they said. He could read body language like no other, and Nancy knew she wasn’t always subtle about her attraction to him. She knew he was aware of her true feelings, no matter how much she tried to convince him otherwise with her words. She was half-surprised that he hadn’t yet exploded with frustration about her lies.

“I’m ready,” Ace announced. “Brush teeth?”

“Right, yeah. Oral hygiene. Important.”

Fucking work like you’re supposed to, brain, she chided herself. She envisioned herself slamming her head into the wall, and she hoped that imagining it would be enough, because actually doing it would alert Ace to her fragile state even more. She actively tried to get her shit together as she collected her toiletries and they made their way to the bathroom.

Ace’s bathroom was a lot tidier and cleaner than she expected the bathroom of a single guy living on his own to be. The bathroom was smaller than Nancy was used to, with just enough room for a vanity, a shower and a washer and drier in the corner (probably there courtesy of Nick), but it didn’t feel cramped—or at least it wouldn’t have if she hadn’t been standing next to Ace with reminders of his presence everywhere around her. On the shelf under his mirror stood the staple toiletries that could be found in pretty much everyone’s bathroom, along with his cologne and some hair products. There was also a face wash, moisturizer and an SPF, and Nancy had no doubt that Laura Tandy had drilled the importance of skincare into him. The shower curtain was open, and Nancy spotted separate body wash, shampoo, and conditioner—none of that shitty five-in-one stuff Gil had used (full offense to Gil). It wasn’t quite at an Owen Marvin level of hygiene products, but that was probably for the best—he’d had even more hygiene and beauty products than Bess had (no offense to either Marvins).

Nancy kind of wanted to take a shower, because she usually showered after a long day to wind down, but that was a step in her nighttime ritual that she wouldn’t be partaking in tonight—for very obvious reasons.

“Dith ith weird,” Ace said around his toothbrush, managing his usual deadpan tone even with a mouth full of toothpaste and a toothbrush. “I’m not uthed to bruthing my teeth with my left hand.”

In spite of the absurdity of their situation—or maybe because of it—Nancy couldn’t keep in her laugh. She quickly covered her mouth with the crook of her elbow before she could spray toothpaste all over his mirror.

“Thorry,” Ace said with a grin that showed he wasn’t sorry at all. His toothbrush still hung from his lips and his blue eyes shone with mirth.

Nancy shook her head affectionately. Leave it to Ace to break the tension, even just a little bit.

After brushing their teeth and taking turns washing their faces, it was finally time for the dreaded moment.

“I’d ask you what side of the bed you usually sleep on, but…” Ace lamely lifted his right hand, lifting Nancy’s left one up with it.

Nancy figured it wouldn’t really matter what side of the bed she slept on anyway, because she doubted she’d be getting much sleep regardless.

“It’s okay. I’m sure we can make do.”

Figuring their car strategy would work just as well with a bed, Nancy got in first, scooting over to the other side to make space for Ace. He joined her in bed, leaving a respectable distance between them without straining their cuffs too much. They were still sitting upright, neither of them really ready to lie down yet.

Meanwhile, Nancy was debating the stupidest dilemma of the night. When she had been changing, she hadn’t taken her bra off, mainly because the material of her pajama top was so thin that Ace would be able to see literally everything (once again, curse Bess). Now, though, having Ace see the jut of her nipples through the satin of her cami seemed preferable over sleeping in a bra. She could already imagine all the ways the underwire would stab her during the night.

“Ace. Could you, uh… Could you unclasp me?”

“Uncla— Oh.” Ace’s face clearly showed exactly when he realized what Nancy was asking of him. Nancy would’ve found it comical, hadn’t her heart been in her throat. “Yeah, of course.”

She twisted her upper body for him. His free hand dipped under her camisole, his calloused fingers coming in contact with her lower back, slowly inching up to the band of her bra. If she hadn’t known any better, she would’ve been convinced that the move was meant to be sensual. She fought a shiver as his hand flattened, his palm warm on her spine, flexing against her skin.

Before Nancy could be fully taken over by her need to ravish Ace just from the way he was touching her back, his fingers reached the band of her bra, and he nimbly undid the clasp. She gasped at how quickly he’d unfastened her bra and at the sudden loss of his hand on her.

“Thanks,” she managed on a breathless whisper. She didn’t turn back to face him yet as she slid her bra straps down her arms, fearing Ace could read off her face how much he’d affected her. Only once she’d fully removed her bra and placed it on the nightstand next to her did she feel safe enough to face him, though she did pull the covers up to her chest.

Ace was looking at his phone instead of at her, his features fully smoothed out. His face was unnaturally void of emotions, which meant he was probably just as affected by her as she was by him. She should’ve been relieved he was hiding his feelings from her—it made everything so much easier—but instead she felt irrationally hurt.

“I set an alarm for eight a.m.,” Ace said. He still wasn’t looking at her, which was unusual for him; Ace never shied away from eye contact, even if it was difficult. “It won’t give us a lot of hours of sleep, but I figure you want to start as early as possible tomorrow.”

“Yeah, thanks.” How was his tone so steadfast but she sounded like the wind was knocked out of her?

“Well, good night.”

“Good night.”

They finally properly lay down to sleep. The most comfortable way for them to lie with their cuffs on was on their sides, facing each other. She hated how vulnerable it left her. Ace had turned his bedside lamp off, blanketing the entire room in darkness, but she still felt entirely exposed.

She lay awake for what felt like hours. She kept her eyes closed, pretending to sleep, not opening them until she heard Ace’s breathing deepen and she was sure he’d fallen asleep.

It was so dark in the room that she could only see the outline of his face, but her infallible mind could perfectly conjure up the features she couldn’t see in the darkness. Thanks to Temperance, she knew exactly what Ace looked like when he slept—though she doubted he’d be smiling in his sleep this time.

Ace put up a good front, but that internal spark that made him the carefree Ace she’d fallen in love with had been missing for months. She knew she was the reason behind his misery, and she hated herself for it. But self-hatred she could deal with. Self-hatred was a familiar companion. What she couldn’t live with was being the reason he got hurt.

She’d stopped the moth from flying out of Temperance’s mouth. A quick but thorough check from Bess had confirmed that none of them were under any curse—Nancy had given Bess some flimsy excuse about making sure Temperance hadn’t found some way to screw them over in death. Bess had given her an odd look, but she’d complied with the request without further questioning, and Nancy was all the more grateful to her roommate for it.

Still, though, curse or no curse, Temperance had done her damage. That vision Temperance had shown her had frazzled her beyond anything else had ever done. She’d lost her father and the love of her life within a month—held both of their corpses in her arms, had clung onto them as she sobbed—only to find out only a fraction of a second of real time had passed and Ryan and Ace were still alive. She’d felt raw, as if someone had ripped her to shreds before they’d haphazardly stitched her back together. She’d never felt agony like that before—not even when her mother died or she found out that Carson and Kate weren’t actually her birth parents—and she knew she could never go through that again. It would quite literally be the death of her.

She knew it was illogical, but the fear that she would be what would kill Ace in the end lingered, like a persistent toddler having a tempter tantrum. And she’d do anything to keep him safe. If that meant she had to keep the man she loved at arms’ length, so be it. If it meant hurting him now to save him in the long run, so be it. If it meant watching him move on and build a life with someone that wasn’t her while she knew she would never be able to move on from him, so be it. Any sacrifice she made was more than worth it if it meant he’d be able to live a long and happy life like he was meant to.

Sleep still didn’t come for Nancy. Not only was her brain fucking her over with all of these depressing spirals, but her body decided to join the party, too. Her left side was starting to get numb from lying on it for too long, and she really wanted to roll over to her right side, but unless she wanted to dislocate her arm, that wouldn’t be happening. On top of that, her bladder also started to make its presence known. She pressed her thighs together and squirmed as much as she could without jostling Ace, but the overwhelming need to pee didn’t dissipate no matter what she did or how much willpower she summoned. Why in the hell had she accepted that glass of water from Ace earlier?

Eventually she realized she couldn’t hold it in any longer. As embarrassing as it was to wake Ace up to take him to the toilet with her as she did her business, it was clearly a much better alternative than pissing the bed.

She gritted her teeth together in frustration and embarrassment as she placed her hand on his bicep and shook it gently. “Ace?”

He stirred at once. “Nancy?” he managed, still clearly drunk on sleep. “What’s wrong?”

She bit her lip. She’d forgotten how sexy his sleepy voice was. “I really need to pee.”

“Hm.” His hum of acknowledgment had sounded more like a moan, and it did things to her insides that almost made her forget how badly she needed to pee. Maybe Temperance’s vision had been off after all—there’s no way Nancy wouldn’t have stayed in bed for a few rounds of wake-up sex with Ace with him sounding like that. “I’ll come with you.”

They got out of bed clumsily—Ace because he was still half-asleep and Nancy because she was worried the slightest move would jostle her bladder too much. Nancy thanked her lucky stars that Ace’s toilet was separate from his bathroom. The small size of the room meant Ace would have to wait outside, and though the door wouldn’t properly close because of their handcuffs (of course clothes could go through the ghostly chain that bound her to Ace, but not doors—she fucking hated it here), she was glad for any semblance of privacy she could maintain.

After clumsily washing her free hand when she was done, she exited the bathroom to find Ace leaning against the wall. The light was slightly better here, meaning she could actually make out his features instead of just a seeing a shadowy blob where his head was. His eyes were closed, and though the lighting wasn’t nearly good enough to see his long lashes rest on his cheekbones, she knew they’d be covering dark circles.

“Let’s go back to bed,” she whispered.

She could see his mouth twitch even in the darkness. “Yeah, let’s.”

The husky warmth was back in his voice, and this time Nancy squeezed her thighs together for an entirely different reason than her bladder.

The two of them successfully made it back to Ace’s bed, lying down under the covers like they’d done before. This time, though, they were closer together. His knee pressed against her, the thin material of his pajama bottoms not nearly enough to stop his body heat from warming Nancy’s bare leg.

“Sweet dreams, Nancy.”

“Sweet dreams, Ace.”

***

Nancy must’ve fallen asleep after all, because next thing she knew, the loud blaring of Ace’s alarm shocked her awake.

She awoke in a tangle of limbs. Somehow, during the night, Nancy and Ace had drifted even closer in their sleep. Her leg was trapped between his, and they were chest to chest, his free arm slung around her waist. Honestly, Nancy shouldn’t be surprised. There was a gravitational pull between her and Ace that always drew the two of them closer than they should’ve been.

Ace groaned weakly as he blindly reached behind him to turn the alarm on his phone off, and the sound went straight to Nancy’s core. She prayed to any deity that could hear her that they would be able to get the handcuffs off today; she genuinely didn’t think she could handle another night like this.

Ace rolled onto his back, freeing her leg. “Morning,” he grumbled. He clearly wasn’t a morning person. Honestly, she couldn’t entirely blame him for being grumpy when they’d slept so little and their cuffs hadn’t magically disappeared overnight.

“Morning.”

Nancy rolled onto her back as well. With a little effort, she managed to sit up against the headboard. Ace’s hand limply followed her, too tired to sit up yet. She grabbed her phone and sent a text to their group chat to ask when everyone was available to meet up at the Richardsons’ house, hearing Ace’s phone buzz with the notification. He still didn’t stir, not even when the others’ answering texts came in.

“The others are meeting us at nine thirty,” she told Ace. She half-expected him to not hear her, thinking he’d fallen back to sleep.

“Good,” he said. He sounded surprisingly awake, especially because he hadn’t properly opened his eyes until a second ago. He sat up, too, mirroring her position against the headboard. His hair was mussed on the side he’d slept on, making him look adorable. “That gives us plenty of time to eat some breakfast and get ready.”

They got out of bed and brushed their teeth before taking turns to change out of their pajamas. Nancy dressed in yesterday’s jeans and the long-sleeved shirt Bess had packed for her, tucking it into the waistband of her jeans.

Finally dressed, they made their way to Ace’s small kitchen. Nancy felt useless as she stood by while Ace scrambled up some eggs, toasted a few bagels, and brewed up a pot of coffee.

“Thanks for breakfast,” Nancy said once they’d sat down to eat. “Sorry I couldn’t do more to help.”

“It’s okay,” Ace said with a small smile. “I like cooking for people.”

With a jealous pang, Nancy wondered how many times he’d cooked for Laura and Amanda. She knew she had absolutely no right to be jealous, especially because she was the main reason why she and Ace would never be a couple, and she knew that technically he’d cooked for her just now. She knew it made no sense to be jealous, and yet that little green monster had nestled itself on her shoulder, dragging her down.

They ate their breakfast slowly, knowing it would only take a few minutes to go from Ace’s apartment to the Richardsons’ house. Eventually it was time to head out the door, though, and Nancy helped Ace clean up before they left the building and got into Florence.

When they reached Maple Street, their friends were already waiting for them.

“Still chained up, I see?” George said by way of greeting.

“Good morning to you, too, George,” Nancy deadpanned sarcastically. “And yes, sadly.”

The five of them looked like a sad bunch. It was obvious that none of them had had enough sleep last night from the matching bags they all wore under their eyes.

“I was thinking last night,” Bess said. “I think Ace and Nancy should go in alone. Maybe if the rest of us aren’t there, Miriam’s more willing to share why she’s cuffed the two of them together and what they need to do to get them off.”

“I mean, it’s worth a shot,” Nancy said with a shrug. “We’ll meet you back down here in roughly ten minutes.”

“If you’re not back by then or we see a flash of red light,” Nick said, “we’ll be right up.”

Nancy and Ace gave him a nod of thanks before they headed inside the house and up the stairs.

The attic seemed exactly as they’d left it just last night. In the far left corner stood a pile of boxes the Richardsons probably hadn’t had the time to unpack yet. Against the right wall stood a heavy wooden desk, piles of hardcover books covering its surface. The small round window in the wall opposite Nancy and Ace let in beams of morning sunlight, highlighting the dust particles that danced in the air. There was no sign of Miriam.

“Miriam?” Ace asked tentatively. “We wanted to talk to you about… you know, handcuffing us together. Is there any particular reason why you did it?”

Only silence answered him back.

“We heard that we can only get these off if you want them off or if we’ve done what you want us to do. Is that true?” Nancy asked. “And if so, could you please tell us what you want us to do?”

Nancy yelped as one of the books from the desk suddenly whizzed by her head. She jumped closer to Ace, her free hand on his chest. The book hit the wall behind them with a loud thud.

“Miriam, is that you?” Ace asked. “Please, we just want to help you.”

Ace’s only answer was another heavy book flying at their heads. Miriam was clearly holding on to a lot of anger, because just one book wasn’t enough for her this time. Book after book sailed through the air.

Ace grabbed hold of Nancy, his long fingers digging into her arms as he pushed her to the wall and shielded her body with his. He grunted with each book that made contact, but he never let up on trying to protect her.

“Ace,” Nancy managed. Panic at Ace getting hurt—once again because of her—was making her throat close up. “We—we need to get out of here. Can we make a dash for the door?”

“We can try,” Ace said through gritted teeth. “One, two, three, go!”

Ace dragged her to the door, still shielding her with his body as he yanked the door open, pushed her through, and slammed it closed behind them.

“Are you okay?” Ace asked her once they were relatively safe. They could still hear the thud of books being thrown at the door.

“Never mind me. Are you okay?” Nancy countered. “Show me your back.”

“I’m fine, really.”

“Ace,” Nancy said sternly, looking him dead in the eye. “Show me your back.”

His shoulders slackened with defeat. “Fine. But really, I’m okay.”

Ace turned for Nancy, tugging up his shirt so she could see his back. His back was covered in red welts, some of which would undoubtedly bruise, but luckily the blows from the books hadn’t drawn any blood. Nancy gently traced the marks with her fingertips. She told herself it was to make sure his skin truly wasn’t torn, but if she was really being honest with herself, it was because she simply couldn’t stop herself from touching him.

“I think you’re gonna get some nasty bruises, but you’ll be fine.” At least it wasn’t a steak knife to the leg this time, or a meat hook to the arm.   

 “Well, that was quick,” Bess said once she spotted Nancy and Ace coming out of the house. “What happened?”

“Miriam lobbed a couple dozen books at our heads,” Ace told her.

“Yeah, she’s clearly in no mood to talk to us,” Nancy said.

“If that isn’t the biggest ‘figure it out your damn selves’ I’ve ever seen, I don’t know what is,” George said.

Bess huffed out a frustrated sigh. “Sorry, guys. I really thought sending you two in alone would be a good strategy.”

“Maybe it was a good strategy,” Nick suggested, “but we just went about it the wrong way.”

Bess knitted her brows together in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Maybe it’s Ace and Nancy in particular that are aggravating her and why she’s not showing up and telling us what she wants,” Nick explained. “Maybe we should go in without Nancy and Ace.”

George eyed Nancy and Ace. “How many books did Miriam have left to throw?”

“I’m pretty sure she had to have been close to running out,” Ace said. “Though I don’t know if she’s added them back to her arsenal again.”

George hummed. “Well, fine. We’ll try to reason with the angry ghost.”

“While you guys do that,” Nancy said, “I want to go to the precinct, see if there’s anything in the police files that can grant us clarity.”

Nick nodded. “We’ll keep each other updated in the group chat?”

“Yeah. If we don’t get any new leads, we’ll reconvene at the Historical Society in, say, an hour?”

“It’s a deal. Good luck,” George said.

Nancy gave her a grim smile, not getting her hopes up. “You, too.”

***

The very last thing Nancy wanted to see when she and Ace arrived at the precinct was Detective Abe Tamura, but yet here he was. Of course, the very day she and Ace get handcuffed together, he randomly decides to come back to Horseshoe Bay.

Tamura looked up when Nancy and Ace entered the building, a look of incredulity on his face. “I go to Augusta for a few weeks, and this is the crap I get back to?” he asked, eyeing the cuffs that bound Nancy and Ace together with a raise of his eyebrow.

“You’ve been gone for months, not weeks,” Ace corrected him. “And this is none of your business.”

Nancy tried to hide her amusement. Despite Tamura’s extended absence, Ace still clearly didn’t like him.

“What are you doing back?” Nancy asked.

“I came to get some stuff out of Evidence for Everett’s trial. Seriously, though, what’s up with the handcuffs? You two get up to some trouble?”

“No. A ghost is playing an evil prank on us,” Nancy said. “That’s why we’re here, actually. We need to look at some incident reports from 1978.”

“I can’t just let you into Evidence to look at some files, no matter how old they are,” Tamura said.

“Actually, she works here now as a community liaison, so she doesn’t need your permission,” Ace said.

Nancy bit the inside of her lip. She wasn’t used to Ace being so confrontational. Actually, he’d been like this with Park as well, and with Gil. Was Ace jealous of her and Tamura? Honestly, there wasn’t much to be jealous of. True, at some point Nancy might’ve thought there was something between her and the detective, but that had been before she’d realized she was in love with Ace. Compared to her feelings for Ace, the feelings she’d once had for Tamura were nothing more than an infantile crush, simple lust borne from their shared need to solve puzzles. Even though she knew she could never be with Ace, Nancy didn’t think she could start anything with Tamura, either. It wouldn’t be fair to string him along when she knew her heart would always belong to Ace.

“Right. I guess a lot has changed in my absence,” Tamura allowed. “Anyway, I’m sure you’re all more than aware where the Evidence Room is, so I’ll let you go.”

“Thanks,” Nancy said quickly, dragging Ace over to the Evidence Room before he could fire off another sarcastic remark to Tamura.

They found the files easily enough, but they were a lot thinner than they had hoped. The information inside was to-the-point, matter-of-fact, and none of it new. Nancy had hoped that she might find something that indicated that there was more to John Quinn’s accident and that’s why Miriam had bound her and Ace together, because she wanted them to investigate her husband’s death, but there was nothing in the file that pointed in that direction. The driver that had hit John had been a young man by the name of Elijah Hill, and according to the report, he’d turned the corner of Maple, and before he could spot John, he’d already hit him. He’d gotten out of the car, called for help, and attempted to apply CPR, but it had already been too late. Nothing in his statement seemed to stand out to Nancy as it having been a purposeful hit.

Miriam’s file was even thinner. All it contained was her cause of death, the location they’d found her, and the name of the neighbor who’d found her body, Gertrude Taylor. Miriam’s suicide had occurred over forty years ago. Nancy prayed to all her lucky stars that Gertrude Taylor was still alive.

Nancy tossed the files onto the table with a frustrated sigh. “Well, that was even more of a bust than I’d feared.”

“Not necessarily,” Ace said, looking up from his phone. “Both Elijah Hill and Gertrude Taylor are still alive. Elijah Hill still lives in the same place in Trenton as he did forty years ago, but Gertrude relocated to Portland shortly after John’s and Miriam’s deaths. Still, Portland is only a three-hour drive away.”

“It’s a lot more than we had an hour ago,” Nancy allowed. Her mind raced, thinking about what their next steps would be. “We’ll visit Gertrude, and maybe the others can pay Elijah a visit. I’d feel bad asking them to make the longer roundtrip while we’re the ones with the problem to solve.”

Ace nodded in agreement. “The hour’s almost up anyway, so we should head to the Historical Society, wait for the others.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Nancy said, already gathering the files to put them back in their respective evidence boxes.

Nancy and Ace cleaned up after themselves before they made their way back to the precinct’s bullpen.

“Nancy? Ace? What are you two doing here?”

Nancy froze at the sound of Carson’s voice. Both of her dads stood in front of the open door to Tamura’s office, ready to be let in by the detective.

“Why are you cuffed together?” Ryan asked, and he sounded angry on his daughter’s behalf. “Did Tamura already arrest you in the two short hours he’s been back?”

Tamura raised his hands in a placating gesture. “This one has nothing to do with me.”

Ryan raised his brows, looking at Nancy for confirmation on that statement.

“He’s right,” Nancy said reluctantly. “This isn’t his fault.”

“It’s the fault of a ghost, apparently,” Tamura said, rolling his eyes. She’d almost forgotten he didn’t really believe in the supernatural after Park’s refreshing open-mindedness.

“Wait, is this why you didn’t sleep at home last night?” Carson asked. “I love Bess, but that girl is a terrible liar.”

“Yeah… Ace and I couldn’t exactly sleep in separate beds last night, and I didn’t want to worry you.”

Ryan smirked, not even attempting to hide it. This was exactly what she’d been worried about. “I see.”

Nancy cut Ryan a glare, but it did absolutely nothing to diminish his smirk.

“Wait, tell me more about this ghost being the reason you’re handcuffed to Ace,” Carson said, showing the clear difference in parenting style from Ryan. While Ryan was always there to cheer her on and obsessed a weird amount about her love-life, especially where it concerned Ace, Carson was always the problem-solver. He’d become less intrusive since she’d found out everything about her true parentage, but he still made sure she had all the tools she needed to solve her own problems, and he still liked to be privy to what was going on in her life.

 “It’s a woman who died in 1978,” Nancy said, reluctant to share with her dads, especially Carson, who had the tendency to worry. “These cuffs aren’t coming off until she wants them to, so we’re investigating her death now, trying to find out what she wants from us. We actually have a pretty solid lead now, so hopefully we’ll have these cuffs off by the end of the day, but that does mean we have to leave now.”

“Okay, go then,” Carson said. “But I do want a better explanation later today, make sure you’re truly okay.”

“Yes, Dad,” Nancy said, fighting hard to suppress an eye-roll. “Come on, Ace, let’s go.”

For the second time that morning, she dragged Ace out of the precinct’s bullpen by his hand. This time, though, he gave her a bit more resistance so he could give her dads a sheepish wave. “See ya, Mr. D, Mr. H! Tamura.”

***

An hour later, Ace and Nancy sat in Florence, following the I-95 towards Portland. Meanwhile, George and Bess were on their way to Trenton to see Elijah Hill. Nick had felt bad about not joining them, but George had convinced him that his tutoring sessions at the Community Center definitely took precedence.

Music was playing softly inside the car, and Maine’s beautiful landscape whizzed by outside the windows, but all Nancy could pay attention to was Ace.

The last time they’d spent an extended stretch in the car alone together had been when the Wraith was tearing at Nancy and her essence. Back then the stakes had been so much higher than they were now. Their trip to Westchester, New York had been their only hope. Either they found what they needed to get rid of the Wraith, or Nancy would die. She’d never seen Ace so worried. There had been no music playing in the car so he could hear whether or not she’d still been breathing, and he’d looked at her more than at the road. Every few minutes he’d either touched her arm or called her name to make sure she’d stayed conscious.

He was so much more relaxed now. He had one hand on the steering wheel, one hand on the gear stick, hers close by so he had enough slack to change gears when needed. He hummed along to the music occasionally or drummed his fingers on the wheel. It was a stark contrast, but she massively preferred this version of Ace.

Despite the situation, Nancy felt herself relax for the first time that day. The weather was great, Ace’s mood seemed even better, and though she’d really like to get these handcuffs off, she had to admit it wasn’t the worst curse to be under. The handcuffs weren’t a death sentence—as far as anyone had figured anyway—and if she was being honest, part of her was grateful for the handcuffs. Being bound to Ace meant she was forced to spend time with him one-on-one, something she hadn’t done in months. She’d avoided him as much as she could, and for good reason—she didn’t want to be the reason Ace got hurt or lost his life, she couldn’t—but she had missed him, and she hadn’t realized just how much until now.

The two of them had always worked well together, complemented the other where they lacked, but Nancy knew there was much more to their bond than that. Ace knew her, because she had allowed him to. There was something about him that told her she was safe with him, even before they’d even really been friends. He’d been the first one she’d confided in after losing her mom and tanking her grades. Back then she’d thought that he wasn’t even really paying attention, and if he was, he’d forget as soon as his joint started taking effect. Now she knew that he’d probably treasured those nuggets of information, gently filed them away in his mind. He had been there when John Sander told her of her true parentage, and looking back, she was glad for his steady presence, the only anchor she had while her whole world collapsed in on itself. He knew her, the best parts of her, the worst parts of her, and yet he didn’t run, like so many others would. Like so many others had. He stayed steadfast by her side, no matter how hard she tried to push him away.

Ace was the only one Nancy could sit in a comfortable silence with, other than maybe Carson, and Kate before she’d gotten sick. With others, Nancy would feel the need to fill the silence with words that didn’t really say anything, or they felt that need with her. Ace’s silence was a soothing blanket, though. She knew he wasn’t sitting there silently judging her for her rough edges or the promises she’d made to herself that she’d broken over and over. She genuinely hoped he felt the same about her in that regard.

When they arrived in Portland, Ace parked Florence along the curb in Gertrude’s street. The two of them didn’t get out of the car yet, though, instead peering at Gertrude’s house through the car windows. Her front yard was tiny, but the front door of her house was barely visible from all the rose bushes she’d planted. They were all pruned to perfection, many roses of all colors blooming despite it being only early spring. The rose bushes were barely contained by the white picket fence that cordoned off the front yard.

“So, how are we going to do this?” Ace asked. “I don’t know how open-minded Gertrude is, but she might find our handcuffs… troubling, and I doubt she’s gonna take ‘ghosts’ as an answer.”

“Maybe we could throw my coat over it?” Nancy suggested. “At least until she lets us in and we can explain everything a bit more. If she even lets us in.”

“She’ll let us in,” Ace said in that quietly confident way of his. “Old ladies love me.”

Nancy pressed her lips together, suppressing a smile.

The two of them clambered out of the car. Despite having done it a handful of times already in the not-even twenty-four hours they’d been bound together, they still hadn’t quite found a way to do it gracefully yet. Nancy shrugged off her denim jacket, throwing it over their wrists. Walking even closer together than usual to hide their handcuffs—and to stop the jacket from falling through the chain—they headed up to Gertrude Taylor’s front door. Looking at Ace one last time for support, Nancy knocked.

A few moments later, the door swung open to reveal a woman Nancy guesstimated to be somewhere in her eighties. Her hair had long since faded to white, but it still looked thick and well taken care of, not a curl out of place. Her face was kind, weathered by sun exposure and long years filled with laughter. Her outfit was vibrant, and many necklaces of different colors rested on her chest and belly.

“Hello,” she said with a kind smile. “Can I help you lovely kids with anything?”

“I hope so,” Nancy said, mirroring her smile. “We’re looking for Gertrude Taylor.”

“That’s me.”

“Oh. Um, hi. I’m Nancy Drew, and this is Ace. We wanted to ask you some questions about a rather sensitive subject. It’s about an old neighbor of yours, Miriam Quinn.”

Gertrude’s smile dimmed. “Why don’t you come inside? Would you two like some tea?”

Nancy and Ace glanced at each other. “Tea sounds great,” Ace said. “Thank you, Ms. Taylor.”

“Please, call me Gertie; everyone does,” she said as she led them into her house. “Please sit, make yourselves at home.”

Nancy and Ace sat down on Gertie’s small green loveseat as Gertie dipped into the kitchen. She was still very sprightly for an octogenarian.

“Gertie is a crazy plant lady,” Ace whispered into Nancy’s ear.

Nancy pressed her lips together, fighting a laugh. He was right, though; there were houseplants covering nearly every surface, including the floor.

Gertie’s house was just as vibrant as her outfit. There was sunshine yellow paint on all of the walls, the loveseat Ace and Nancy sat on and the matching recliner were a forest green, and the rug under their feet was baby pink. The little surface area that wasn’t covered by plants was covered instead by crystals and other knickknacks.

Gertie returned, carrying a tray with tea things, and Ace shot forward to carefully move one of the plants on the coffee table to the side to make space for the tray, mindful to keep his right hand near Nancy to keep their handcuffs covered.

Gertie smiled. “You’ve snagged yourself a fine young man here, Nancy.”

“Oh, we’re just friends,” Nancy said quickly, feeling a blush heat her cheeks.

Gertie raised an eyebrow as she set the tray down. “You mean to say you two aren’t sneakily holding hands under that jacket?”

The heat in Nancy’s cheeks intensified, creeping down to her jaw and neck. “No. That’s actually part of why we’re here, though.”

“Gertie, do you believe in ghosts?” Ace asked before Nancy could say anything more. She cut him a look.

Gertie gave him a grim smile as she sat down in the recliner. “Sweetheart, why do you think I left Horseshoe Bay? My sweet Miriam’s death was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Nancy didn’t quite know how to respond there, so she just sat there and gaped at Gertie.

The elderly woman barked out a laugh. “Dearie, I’ve been telling everyone willing to listen that Horseshoe Bay is drowning in ghosts and whatever other entities there are, but somehow no one’s believed me. It’s quite refreshing to have someone come up to me to talk about ghosts for a change.”

Nancy and Ace exchanged a glance. Just how sane was this woman?

“Anyhoo, please don’t tell me my poor Miriam is haunting this plane?”

“I’m sorry to say that she is, Gertie,” Nancy said, not entirely sure how to approach the situation yet.

She hadn’t quite expected Ace to just start about ghosts like that. She’d hoped to talk about Miriam first, slowly easing Gertie into the topic of ghosts. She especially hadn’t expected Gertie to be fully on board the ghosts-are-real train.

“A new family recently moved into the house where Miriam died,” Nancy continued eventually. “They’ve been hearing what sounds like crying coming from the attic, so we went over to the house to investigate last night. We found Miriam, but she wasn’t exactly in a talkative mood.” Nancy pulled her denim jacket away, revealing the handcuffs.

“Oh, my,” Gertie breathed, sitting up a little straighter as she peered at the handcuffs with interest. “Miriam did that?”

Nancy nodded. “She kept saying ‘how can you help me if you can’t even help yourself’. When we made it clear we didn’t understand what she meant, she got angry. There was a bright red light that knocked us all out, and when we came to, Ace and I were bound together with these handcuffs and Miriam refused to make another appearance.”

Gertie smiled, but her eyes were sad. “That sounds like Miriam, all right. I truly loved that girl, but her communication skills were awful, and she was as stubborn as a mule. It’s part of why she and John were having marital problems, you know? He was just as bad at communicating as she was. Such a shame, honestly. I’ve never seen a couple that loves each other as much as they did, but they kept running into trouble because they refused to talk to each other about their feelings.”

Sound familiar? an annoying little voice whispered in Nancy’s mind. She quickly squelched it.

“And there was nothing else that caused tension?” Nancy asked carefully. “No… affairs, of any kind?”

“Oh, heavens, no,” Gertie said, her eyes wide. “Definitely not from Miriam’s side; she confided in me about everything. And there were never any rumors of John having an affair. I haven’t set foot in Horseshoe Bay in forty years, but I doubt it has changed much, so you probably know you can’t fart without anyone knowing about it. If there was an affair, I would’ve heard about it through the grapevine.”

“And there wasn’t anyone who held a grudge against the Quinns? Or against John in particular?”

“You aren’t suggesting that John’s death might’ve been more than an accident, are you? Because everyone loved the Quinns. All of Horseshoe Bay mourned for weeks when they passed.”

Nancy shrugged. “Honestly, I’m just exploring every possible avenue in order to find out why Miriam’s spirit still hasn’t moved on.”

Gertie hummed, lost in thought. “Well, dearie, I wish I could help you with that. Miriam was a dear friend and I want her soul to find peace. But honestly, I don’t know why she wouldn’t move on or why she’d put you in this situation. I’m honestly surprised she didn’t move on the second she could so she’d be reunited with her John. I truly wish I could help. I’m sorry.”

***

Nancy and Ace stayed at Gertie’s until they finished their tea, though Nancy was sure Gertie would’ve liked them to stay for a lot longer than that. She especially seemed to take a liking to Ace—turns out old ladies truly do love him. Nancy had been itching to leave, though. She felt like they’d just wasted a whole afternoon. They hadn’t learned anything new and were no closer to getting these damned handcuffs off. Worst of all, she had no idea what to do next.

She slammed her head into the headrest in annoyance. “Damn it!”

“Hey, be careful,” Ace said softly, letting go of the gear stick to take hold of Nancy’s hand instead. “If not for yourself, then at least for Florence; she’s a sensitive girl.”

Normally Nancy would’ve at least smiled, but she was too worked-up for that now. “Sorry. It’s just that we went all this way for nothing.”

“I wouldn’t exactly say for nothing,” Ace offered. “We’ve made a new friend.”

This time Nancy couldn’t stop her smirk. “You mean you made a new friend,” she countered. “I dare say sweet old Gertie has a crush on you.”

Ace gave her a grin that nearly stopped her heart. “I just can’t help it. Like I said, old ladies love me.”

“I guess so.” Her smile fell. “But really, though. I have no idea where to go from here. Either way, it’s looking like we’re not getting these damn things off today.”

Ace squeezed her hand. “Hey, that’s okay. There’s no real rush to solve this. Besides, there are many things we haven’t tried yet. We can go back to the Historical Society to research more, and maybe we can ask Bess and Hannah to reach out to their network of other Keepers to ask if they know anything. And the Richardsons are coming home tomorrow, so we can go over to ask them about their experiences with Miriam. Maybe that conversation will bring us a new lead.”

Nancy gave him a weary smile. She was grateful for his endless optimism. “Yeah, maybe. Anyway, it’s looking like I’ll have to spend the night at yours again, so we should go to my house so I can pick up some more stuff. My dads know about the cuffs now anyway, so no need to avoid them anymore.”

Ace nodded. “True. Besides, Mr. D wanted to talk.”

Nancy groaned, and she threw her head back at the headrest again, though this time a lot more gently. “Yeah, I’m not looking forward to that.”

Ace gave Nancy’s hand another squeeze. “Your dad cares about you—they both do. I know it doesn’t always feel like it, but that’s a real gift.”

His words were like an emotional gut punch to Nancy. She knew his relationship with his father was still strained, and he doubted it would ever truly get better. Honestly, Nancy had some choice words for Captain Thom about the way he treated Ace, but she knew Ace wouldn’t appreciate her saying them. Instead, she just squeezed his hand back, hoping that said all she needed to say.

They reached the Drew house, and Carson was already standing in the door opening before they could even properly get out of the car.

“Nancy, Ace. I heard Florence, so I thought I’d open the door for you.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Nancy said, though her first instinct was to bite back that she was still capable of putting a key in a lock, thank you very much.

“I take it your lead didn’t pan out?” Carson asked as he led Nancy and Ace into the house.

“No,” Nancy replied, and she couldn’t quite hide the annoyance in her voice. “I think we’re gonna research some more at the Historical Society tonight, though, so I’m just here to grab some more clean clothes for tomorrow.”

“Will you at least stay for dinner?” Carson pleaded. “I’m guessing you haven’t eaten in a while.”

Before Nancy could reply that they would just grab something quick at The Claw, Ace said, “Dinner sounds amazing, Mr. D, thank you.” At Nancy’s disapproving look, he shrugged. “What? I’m hungry.”

Nancy didn’t bother to reply. Everyone in this house knew he’d only said yes to the invitation to make sure Nancy would eat properly.

“Will Bess be joining us for dinner as well?” she asked instead.

“No,” Ace said, and she raised an eyebrow at him. How the hell did he know that? “She has a date with Addy tonight. Addy insisted that they keep at least some semblance of normalcy and routine, so they have a weekly date night.”

“Right,” Nancy said, and she wondered for a moment at her sudden rise in anxiety before she realized this would be the first time she’d have dinner with Ace and both of her dads. It would be an incredibly domestic scene—even with their handcuffs on—and it would be a glimpse into what she could’ve had in a relationship with Ace. It would be like Tantalus in the Underworld, starving, the delicious, ripe fruit of a blossoming fruit tree hanging over his head, always just out of reach. To have Ace join a family dinner with her and her dads, in a mockery of the casual domesticity she so desperately wanted but could never have, it would be torture.

“Dinner will be done in about half an hour, so—”

“Good,” Nancy said quickly, cutting Carson off. “Ace and I will be upstairs. I need to grab some stuff for tonight and tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Carson said, and he had that look on his face he usually wore when Nancy was acting skittish and he tried to be overly supportive to put her at ease.

Nancy led Ace upstairs to her room, determined to leave before Ryan could pop into the living room.

Only when they reached her bedroom did Nancy feel like she could breathe again. She loved her fathers, she truly did, but it was situations like these where they easily overwhelmed her. Carson with his incessant worrying, and she knew Ryan meant well, but his constant smirks every time Nancy and Ace were in the same vicinity together was making her blood pressure rise. Part of her couldn’t fault him, not really. He was right on the money about their feelings for each other, and how could he know not to tease (something fathers were known to do regardless) if she had never told him about what had happened in the vision Temperance had created for her. Dredging all of that up, verbalizing all the fucked up shit that had happened in the vision, Nancy didn’t think she could handle the pain of that, not now, and maybe not ever. Watching two of the most important people in her life die as she held them in her arms, real or not, had well and truly fucked her up, especially after all of the very real death she’d already experienced.

While Nancy had been trying to calm herself down, Ace had taken the time to look around Nancy’s room from where he stood. She realized belatedly that he’d never been in her room before, not actually. He had been in her dream, yet another that had started wonderfully but had ended with him dying. She should’ve taken that nightmare for the foreshadowing it clearly had been.

Ace noticed her looking at him, or maybe he felt her eyes on him like she so often felt his eyes on her. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

“Yeah,” she said through a deep breath. “Just… overwhelmed.”

“I’m sorry for saying yes to dinner. I should’ve checked with you first. I just thought it would be the only way to make sure you would eat. We haven’t properly eaten anything since breakfast this morning.”

She smiled, and it felt only a little forced. “I know. And I should thank you, I suppose, for always looking out for me.”

He shrugged. “It’s second nature,” he said simply.

She supposed that was true enough. It always had been instinctual for the two of them to look out for each other.

“Well, thank you anyway.”

She gave him one last smile before she felt too vulnerable and started distracting herself by packing a weekend bag with clean clothes and pajamas that covered a bit more than what Bess had packed for her yesterday. She took her time collecting her stuff, wanting to delay going downstairs to her dads for as long as possible. Eventually, though, she couldn’t any longer when Carson yelled from the bottom of the stairs that dinner was ready.

Ace squeezed her hand. “It’ll be okay. If you need an out, just kick me under the table, okay?”

***

Dinner was a quieter affair than Nancy had worried it would be. She had a feeling Carson had had a conversation with Ryan to tone it down a little bit. Ace and Nancy had explained everything that had happened with the handcuffs—withholding everything concerning their sleeping situation—and she only caught Ryan hiding a smirk three or four times.

Ace, who generally wasn’t the most vocal person, had taken the lead during dinner, which Nancy was grateful for. It helped that he had a really great relationship with both of her fathers, so conversation just flowed more naturally. Her fathers hadn’t seen Ace in a while, mainly because Nancy had been avoiding him so much, so they had a lot of catching up to do. Ace told them all about his new job working with Connor, and Nancy found herself listening intently. Most of it she knew already through Bess, but hearing it firsthand from him felt more special. She caught details that Bess had neglected to mention, mainly because they probably just hadn’t been important, but Nancy cherished every single one of them. She fell in love with him even more with every new detail he revealed about himself.

And she fell in love with him even harder when he excused them both shortly after dinner, even though she knew his hands were itching to do the dishes as a thanks for the meal.

When they were safely seated inside Florence, Nancy gave Ace a hug, for as well as their handcuffs allowed. “Thank you for tonight.”

A slight blush colored the apples of his cheeks. “No problem.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, to the Historical Society?”

Nancy thought for a moment. She did really want to do more research, but she had to wonder how useful it would be. Both Bess and Hannah were thorough, and if there was anything else to be found, they would’ve found it already. All they could really do was wait for the other Keepers to get back to them if they had any new information. There were still the Richardsons, but Nancy didn’t want to disturb them at this hour, and besides, they wouldn’t be home until tomorrow anyway. But the real reason Nancy hesitated was the sight of the dark circles under Ace’s eyes.

“Why don’t we go to your place?” Nancy suggested. “I doubt we’ll find any new information. You’ve been driving most of the day, and we’re both exhausted. I think we should just have an early night, start fresh tomorrow morning.”

Ace smiled. “Who are you and what have you done with Nancy Drew?”

Nancy chuckled, playfully shoving his arm. “Shut up. It’s a one-time offer, so you’d better take it.”

“Oh, I’m taking it.”

They drove to Nick’s building in a better mood than they’d been in all day. When they entered Ace’s apartment, though, Nancy couldn’t help but pick up on his nervous energy.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He cleared his throat and awkwardly scratched his head. “So, um, I don’t want this to come off the wrong way, but… I feel kinda gross, and I’d kill for a shower right now. But…” He shook his wrist, making the chain that connected them jangle.

Nancy was pretty sure that her whole body was red. “Oh,” she managed, her voice a little higher than usual. “Yeah. Um, not gonna lie, I would also kind of like to shower. Maybe…” She felt feverish. Was it usually so hot in Ace’s apartment? “Maybe, we could, um, take turns? While the other stands outside the curtain?”

“Yeah, that’s sounds, um…. That sounds like the best option,” Ace said, and his voice was also definitely higher than usual.

The two of them made their way to Ace’s small bathroom, picking up Nancy’s bag of toiletries on the way. The shower basin was lowered into the floor, and his shower curtain was made of what looked like an organic fabric instead of plastic, beige macramé attached to the top of it. It was far from the kind of shower curtain she’d expected Ace to have.

“So, what’s up with the macramé?” Nancy asked, if only to fill the awkward silence.

“It was a gift from Bess.”

“Ah.” Nancy cleared her throat. “Anyway, uh, you should go first. I’ll, uh… I’ll just turn around, I guess.”

She turned her back to him in a weak attempt to give him some semblance of privacy. Her imagination worked overtime, though, no matter how hard she tried to chastise her brain. Every sound Ace made was amplified as her mind’s eye attempted to assign images to all she heard. The rustle of fabric as he undressed, the stream of water as it hit the shower floor, and then the way the sound of the water changed as Ace stepped underneath the shower head. No matter how many other mental images Nancy tried to conjure, she couldn’t stop herself from imagining how Ace looked under the steady stream of hot water, or the path the water would take down his body, his water-darkened hair, or the way water drops would cling to his eyelashes. She had to stand close to the shower, closer than was probably safe in her current state, and to allow Ace more freedom of movement as he washed his body and hair, her arm had to go behind the shower curtain. Depending on how Ace moved, the hot stream of water would hit Nancy’s hand, electrifying her senses. She wanted to stretch out her hand, reach out to touch his skin. She couldn’t help but imagine herself in the shower with him, bodies pressed close as they stared into each other’s eyes.

Ace kept his shower short, but it still felt like an eternity to Nancy. When she heard him turn the water off, she tried her hardest to yank her head out of the gutter. As good as Ace was at reading body language, he was even better at reading her, and the last thing she wanted was for him to know where her mind had gone.

Ace awkwardly cleared his throat from the other side of the shower curtain. “Could you please hand me a towel?”

“Oh! Yeah, of course.”

After that, Nancy showered hastily. She couldn’t recall ever showering that fast, and she probably skipped a few steps in her haste, but she couldn’t wait to put this awkward moment behind them. She prayed to any god that could hear her that their meeting with Oliver and Ella Richardson tomorrow would prove fruitful. The sooner she and Ace could take those fucking handcuffs off, the better.

***

Nancy stared up at the sage-colored house with a sense of hopelessness. It had seemed like a good idea at first to question the new inhabitants, but now that the moment had arrived, it seemed rather pointless. What could the Richardsons possibly know? From what she had gathered from Hannah, the couple weren’t believers of the supernatural, so the odds of them knowing of a way to get rid of the cuffs seemed lower than zero.

Ace, probably sensing her despair, took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “We’ll figure it out, Nance. If we don’t learn anything new talking to the Richardsons, then we’ll try something else. We’ve got more options still.”

Nancy gave him a wry smile. She was grateful to him for trying to lift her spirits, but they both knew they were quickly running out of options and out of time. Nick and George’s wedding was days away now, and though she supposed it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they showed up to the ceremony still cuffed, George and Nick would still be upset. They might not say so, but Nancy would know. Besides, there would be plenty of wedding guests attending who weren’t privy to the supernatural, and it would be pretty hard to explain why one of the bridesmaids was handcuffed to one of the groomsmen.

As one, Nancy and Ace made their way to the front door. Ace knocked, three quick raps on the oak, and it didn’t take long for the door to swing open, revealing the Richardsons.

“Hi, you must be Nancy and Ace,” the woman who Nancy assumed to be Ella Richardson said. She radiated a nervous energy, which Nancy couldn’t entirely blame her for. Honestly, she probably would too if she had to live in the same house as an angry, handcuffing, book-throwing ghost. “Please, come in, come in. Hannah Gruen called to say what happened, and I’m so sorry. I never thought anything like this would happen. Honestly, when Hannah suggested a ghost was causing all of the disturbances, I thought she was just a crazy charlatan who was after our money, but this…”

Ella had been talking the entire time as the newlyweds led them further into the home, not taking a pause to breathe once. She only just remembered to gesture for Nancy and Ace to take a seat.

Nancy gave the couple what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “To be fair, none of this is generally the conclusion that people jump to. We’ve seen our fair share of crazy paranormal stuff, and this is a new one even for us.”

Oliver Richardson awkwardly scratched his neck. “I mean, I’m still not entirely convinced this isn’t some elaborate scam. I don’t mean to be rude, but it all seems kind of far-fetched.”

Ella elbowed her husband, quietly hissing his name.

Despite rationally knowing that Oliver’s suspicions were very normal—hell, she’d have the exact same holdups if she’d been in his shoes and the Nancy from just a year ago actually would’ve come to the exact same conclusion—but she couldn’t help but feel offended at the accusation. A deep breath and a quick squeeze from Ace’s hand helped center her enough to reply.

“I fully understand where you’re coming from, Mr. Richardson, but we’re not—”

“Please, call me Oliver.”

Nancy briefly gritted her teeth before relaxing into a polite smile. “Right, Oliver. As I was saying, I understand where you’re coming from, but we’re not asking for money, nor will we. All we wish to do is help you, though I have to confess that, for obvious reasons, our interest has become a little more selfish. Please just indulge us, at least for a little. When did you first notice something was off?”

Ella straightened slightly in her seat. “We heard what we thought was crying the first night we’d fully moved in. We were getting ready for bed, and I heard this faint wailing sound. Oliver heard it too, but only after I pointed it out. He checked if it was faulty wiring or pipes or whatever, but he couldn’t find anything. Eventually the sound stopped anyway, so we just went to bed and kind of forgot about it until it happened again a few days later.”

“And each time you noticed something, it was the sound of crying?”

“Yes.”

“And what about what happened before the crying? Were there ever any squabbles between the two of you right before you noticed the sound?”

Ella and Oliver looked at each other to contemplate the question for a moment, but then they both shook their heads. “No, not that I recall,” Oliver said. “We hardly ever fight. I mean, we have disagreements here and there, every couple does, but we always talk them out.”

“We had a major fight a few years ago that almost caused us to break up,” Ella confessed. “Ever since then, we’ve always been extremely good at talking through our problems, because we don’t want to go through that again. No holding anything back, no burying of any feelings. A small disagreement is the worst fight we’ll have these days, and they’re usually fully resolved within a day. But I don’t recall any of those lately, especially not when we heard the crying.”

Nancy had to literally bite her tongue to withhold a sarcastic good for you. She had bigger problems than petty jealousy towards this seemingly perfect couple.

She and Ace looked at each other, coming to a silent understanding. If Miriam’s anger wasn’t triggered by a fight between the Richardsons, then it was pretty safe to assume that the solution to their handcuff-issue wouldn’t be found with the Richardsons either.

When Nancy turned her gaze back to the newlyweds, she couldn’t hold back her yelp. Standing behind Oliver and Ella was Miriam, looking as lovely as ever. Her dark, almost black hair was plastered to her face, and her soaked nightgown steadily dripped water onto the floor. There was less anger in her expression now, though. There was only immense sadness.

At Nancy’s yelp and Ace’s wide-eyed stare, both Ella and Oliver turned in their seats. When they spotted the ghost, the newlyweds screamed as one. They clutched each others’ hands and practically rocket-launched themselves to the other end of the living room, cowering behind Nancy and Ace. The whole thing had been incredibly in-sync. Maybe they truly were the perfect couple.

Miriam fully ignored the Richardsons’ theatrics. Her gaze had never left Nancy and Ace. She opened her mouth to speak, and Nancy braced herself for hurricane-force winds, flying books, or a red light that could knock people out, but none of that came. Instead, all Miriam said was, “I see you still don’t understand.”

The ghost lingered for a few more moments after that single sentence, maybe in the hopes that understanding would finally dawn on Nancy and Ace, but then, visibly disappointed, she blinked out of existence. The only evidence that she’d ever been there was the small pool of water on the floor where she’d stood.

Miriam had never left so quietly before, so there was a slight hope starting to form in Nancy’s chest that this whole nightmare was finally over. One look down at her wrist, however, and that little sprig of hope was squashed quite violently. The handcuffs were still firmly in place.

“W… What was that?”

The petty part of Nancy that hadn’t forgotten Oliver’s earlier distrust couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit of joy at the fear in his voice. She had a feeling he’d never doubt the existence of the supernatural again.

“That was Miriam Quinn, your friendly neighborhood ghost. It’s her you’ve been hearing at night.”

Both Nancy and Ace knew there was very little reason for them to stick around. There was nothing they could learn from the Richardsons, and Miriam still seemed adamant about letting Nancy and Ace figure it out for themselves. It took some serious cajoling from Nancy and Ace to convince the Richardsons they were safe in their house for the time being—it was pretty clear Miriam was really only interested in the people she’d handcuffed together, not the residents of her old home—but eventually they’d calmed down enough for Nancy and Ace to leave and head for The Claw.

They found George, Nick, and Bess in the restaurant, completing the group. They looked hopeful at their arrival, but their faces fell as soon as they realized the handcuff-curse still hadn’t been broken. Seriously, they had to stop giving Nancy those pitying looks soon, or she was going to scream.

Bess, though, ever the optimist, still managed to ask, “Did you guys learn anything from the Richardsons?”

“No,” Nancy said, and she sounded defeated even to herself. “They’re apparently the perfect couple and never fight, so nothing they did triggered Miriam.”

“Our favorite girl did make an appearance, though,” Ace said. “She didn’t even throw any books this time.”

“No, all she said was “I see you still don’t understand” and then just dipped again. Probably traumatized the Richardsons for life, though.”

“So her beef’s definitely with you then,” George said gruffly. “That’s just great. The two of you had better figure this shit out before the wedding, because I’m not having the two of you handcuffed together in the damn wedding pictures.” With that, she turned on her heel and stomped off to her office, slamming the door behind her.

Nick turned to Nancy and Ace with an apologetic look on his face. “It’s not you guys she’s mad at. She just received her father’s RSVP. Not only is she pissed that he took his sweet time responding, but it’ll also be the first time in years that Victoria and Edward will be in the same room together, and she’s stressing out.”

“I know,” Nancy said, trying to sound calm, though she couldn’t help but pick at the skin at the side of her thumb with her nails. Wordlessly, Ace took her hand in his again, stilling the nervous tic. “Listen, tell George that we’ll have this handcuff-mess sorted before the wedding. And also tell her not to worry about Victoria and Edward. We’ll all run interference if necessary. It’s your special day, and I’ll be damned if it’s anything less than perfect.”

***

The night before the wedding, Nancy and Ace still hadn’t managed to escape their bonds. They’d just had a late dinner at Ace’s apartment and now sat on the floor, surrounded by piles and piles of old books, ancient tomes that really should have been preserved behind glass in some fancy museum somewhere, but now covered almost every inch in Ace’s apartment.

It was the eleventh hour—almost literally, Nancy noticed with a glance at the clock—and they still weren’t any closer to finding a magical cure to their problem than they were at the start of the week.

There was only one option Nancy hadn’t tried, though. She’d wanted to save it until they’d truly exhausted all other avenues, but they were out of time now. There was no real guarantee that it would actually work, and just the idea of it alone made Nancy want to run far, far away—maybe to Siberia or something—except that she and Ace were literally stuck together, so that wouldn’t work anyway. Besides, it would mean missing George and Nick’s wedding, and she’d have to be dead for that to happen. She’d meant it when she’d promised to have this fixed before their special day. She’d be damned if she didn’t try every single option at her disposal.

Even if it terrified her.

Honestly, this potential fix was so obvious that she was sure Ace had come to the same conclusion, but he’d never once pushed her. He’d been right there beside her—both literally and figuratively—scouring every inch of Horseshoe Bay and beyond, searching the far reaches of the internet even when Nancy had already passed out, all so Nancy wouldn’t have to be pushed past her limits. Even if it meant that he’d never have true privacy again, would always be bound to her, would screw up his best friends’ wedding… If Nancy was never ready, he’d be okay with that.

It only made her love him even more. Ace was the one constant in her life, the only one who truly understood her. Time and time again, he’d shown up for her, had never wavered in his support. Even when she’d broken his heart, he was still firmly in her corner. Honestly, he gave golden retrievers a run for their money.

And it also made her fear that much more real. If she ever lost him, if she ever had to live in a world that didn’t have Ace in it, it would genuinely kill her.

With a frustrated huff, Nancy shut her book and tossed it on the much-too-big discard pile.

“You good there?” Ace asked as he looked up from his own book, eyebrow raised.

“I feel like I need a drink,” Nancy groaned, burying her face in the hand that wasn’t bound to Ace.

“I have a bottle of wine in my cabinet,” he offered. “Laura gave it to me a couple of weeks ago, so it should be good stuff.”

Nancy’s head snapped up sharply. “Laura was here? In Horseshoe Bay? In your apartment?”

The corners of Ace’s mouth trembled, but he managed to hold back his smile. “You know what Laura’s like. One night she’s suddenly knocking on my door, and she blows in like a hurricane.”

Nancy hated the taste of jealousy. It was much too bitter.

“Oh?” she managed to ask, her voice surprisingly level.

This time, Ace did nothing to stop his smile. “She flew all the way over from Paris to tell me she’s getting married to this French tech mogul, told me the whole sordid story of how they got together—I barely got a word in. Then she hands me the bottle of wine, kisses me on the cheek, gives me one last “Miss me”, and then she’s out the door.”

“That sounds like Laura, all right,” Nancy agreed. “So she came all the way over here from France just to tell you she’s engaged now?”

Ace shrugged. “Truthfully, I think she came to go to Tiffany’s grave, give her sister the good news in person. I was just a courtesy call.”

“Some courtesy call…” Nancy muttered.

Ace flashed another small, knowing smile before going back to the task at hand. “So, do you want a glass? We could both probably use a break anyway.”

Nancy breathed in deep, releasing it slowly. Maybe some liquid courage could help her with what she knew she had to do. “Sure.”

The two of them stood up, arranging the books in somewhat neater piles before collecting their drinks and settling down on the small, secondhand sofa. Ace seemed to realize Nancy needed some time to collect herself, so he just sat there next to her, taking a small sip of his wine. He’d never needed to use empty words to fill up a silence, and Nancy appreciated that. She nervously fingered the stem of her wine glass as she tried to find the words.

“I haven’t been entirely honest with you,” she finally blurted out, before she even fully knew where she was going. “Not just this past week, but the past few months. I’ve been hiding a secret—from everyone, really, but it mainly pertains to you—and I think Miriam caught on to those vibes and that’s why she cursed us the way she did.” Internally, Nancy cringed at herself for using the word cursed. Pretty shitty word choice, all things considered. “I could be wrong, but I’m hoping that if I tell you, she might release us.”

Ace sat up a little straighter. There was a look of hope in his eyes that almost broke Nancy’s heart. “You don’t have to tell me. If you’re not ready—if you’re never ready—that’s okay. I don’t ever want you to do something you don’t want to do, especially when it comes to me. Even if it means we’ll ruin George and Nick’s wedding pictures, I’ll be okay with that.”

Nancy gave Ace a watery smile. He wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know, but she still appreciated hearing it. “I know, but I won’t be. I can’t mess up my friends’ lives because of my actions—or inaction, for that matter. Not again.”

“George might’ve been grumpy about it earlier, but you know she didn’t mean it. If you’re not ready to tell me, we’ll figure something else out. One way or another we’ll get these cuffs off, even if it takes us a while.”

Nancy huffed out a nervous laugh before taking a big gulp of her wine—Ace was right, Laura did know her stuff. “Could you please stop being a gentleman and offering me ways out, so I can just say what I need to say?”

Ace pressed his lips together and nodded.

Nancy took a deep breath, trying to find a good place to start her story. “Everything… traces back to Temperance. Remember the night of the tsunami?” she asked, waiting for Ace’s nod of confirmation before she continued. “That night, I had the chance to kill Temperance, to put a stop to everything before it started, but I hesitated. And I told you I was doing it for us.”

“I remember,” Ace said, voice gentle.

“What I haven’t told anyone is what happened before that. I… I didn’t realize it at the time, but a few weeks before, at the beginning of the Frozen Hearts Killer investigation, when Temperance and I did that mind weave to find out more information about the van that was used to move the body, she put a safety lock in place. If I were to ever try to kill Temperance, it would trigger a vision. And it did. In the vision, the hatchet had shattered, just like in real life, a shard of it hitting Ryan. That was the only positive coming out of that vision, because I then knew what I had to do, after… after Temperance was dealt with.”

Nancy took a big gulp of her wine again. Ace was looking at her with such patience and affection that it made it hard for her to concentrate. She had to look at the hand gripping her wine glass to be able to continue.

“The vision felt so real… After I killed Temperance, God, we were ecstatic. We all went to The Claw to regroup and to celebrate our miraculous win, and you and I…” She stopped herself, not willing to go there yet. “But then Ryan started to have a reaction to the shard in his neck. There was nothing we could do. He was… He was gone so fast. After losing Mom, after having to come to terms with the fact that I will never really know my birth mother, to then lose Ryan, too… A whole month passed by, and I was pretty much catatonic through most of it, but I still remember every single day. I remember the funeral, I remember the pitying looks from everyone, I remember how hopeless Carson was because he couldn’t make it better… And you…”

Nancy laughed softly, and the wet sound made her realize she was crying. She put her wine glass on the coffee table so she could have her hand free to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

“You brought over sorbet every damn day. Our freezer was overflowing with it and I don’t think there was a single pint of sorbet to be found anywhere in Maine because you’d bought it all. I never answered the door. You always had to give the sorbet to Carson because I refused to show my face to anyone, but you still showed up every day because you knew I loved it and it might cheer me up. I don’t really eat sorbet anymore, because now it just reminds me of that vision.”

Nancy cleared her throat, swiping at her cheeks again.

“Anyway, a month after Ryan died, I finally gained the courage to face the world again. I went to The Claw, and there you were. And god, you were being your sweet self, guiding me through Horseshoe Bay, reminding me of all I’d saved. You always have been great at… not really showing me my worth, but reminding me of it. And then we were looking at each other, everything spoken and unspoken between us, and I was so sick of being apart from you any longer. We, um… We went to your place, and we slept together, and it was everything I ever could’ve dreamed of. Then the next night we were all at the Community Center, all of us having a great time. It was the first time since Ryan’s death that I truly felt like myself again, but better, because you and I were finally together.”

Nancy stopped her story again, breathing in deep. She leaned over to grab her wine glass, took a big gulp, set the glass back on the table again. Took another deep breath. This was the part of the story she’d been dreading. It was painful enough to have had to experience, and then to relive it again, night after night whenever she closed her eyes to sleep, but to recount it out loud in front of Ace… It felt unbearable.

And then Ace gently squeezed her hand.

“We were driving back from the party, and we were laughing and flirting, so carefree. I just remember feeling so happy, like I could burst. We didn’t see the other car coming. I know they always say ‘it happened so fast,’ but it really did happen so fast. Before I knew it, we were lying in the street, me badly wounded, and you…” Nancy choked on a sob, finally daring to look Ace in the eye again. “I held your mangled body in my arms, Ace. You were covered in blood, you weren’t breathing. You were dead, when seconds earlier we’d been talking and laughing. When a month earlier, I’d buried my father. I’d never felt such despair in my life.

“Imagine my shock, then, when Temperance stepped onto the road, glass from the car wreck crunching under her feet, when I’d been fully convinced I’d killed her a month ago. She told me then about placing the safety lock, about how it would be triggered if I were to make an attempt on her life. She warned me that if I were to go through with it, she’d curse us with her final breath. If I were to ever act on my feelings for you, you would die. For real this time. Then I blinked, and I was suddenly back at that night. You were still alive. Ryan was still alive. I was frozen in shock for a moment too long, reeling from the knowledge that I’d just lived a full, very vivid month in the span of a blink. I made the wrong decision and I let her live, triggering the tsunami. I’ll forever regret the harm that caused.”

He looked like he had something to say about that, but Ace being Ace, he held back until Nancy finished her story.

“Eventually, I rectified that mistake. I killed Temperance, stopped her from wreaking further havoc on Horseshoe Bay. I even stopped her from releasing that curse by holding my hand over her mouth and nose as she died. I have to admit it was kind of satisfying to watch her choke on that damn moth in her final moments, even though it made me feel like an awful human being, but the damage was already done. I prevented any curses from taking hold, and Bess confirmed as much—you might remember Bess putting you through all that testing—but at that point I’d gone through so much heartbreak. I can’t emphasize enough how real everything felt. And if I lost you, for real this time…” Nancy shook her head, unwilling to think about that for too long. “I have a history of hurting the people I love, of them dying, so even though there was no curse, I just couldn’t… I fell back into old habits and patterns and started pushing you away, because it was just easier than facing everything. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like you weren’t good enough for me, Ace. The opposite is true. You were never lacking. You mean the absolute world to me, and having to live in a world if you’re not in it… The thought alone is enough to break me.”

Ace nodded, swallowing thickly. “This is a lot to take in.”

“I understand. I’d give you a moment to process, but…” She lifted her hand, showing that she and Ace were still very much connected. Coming clean hadn’t worked.

“I can’t lie,” Ace said carefully. “I kind of wish you’d told me this earlier. Partially because it would’ve been nice to know why you were pushing me away, but mainly so you wouldn’t have had to carry this all on your own. It breaks my heart to know you’ve been walking around with these memories for months, with no one to share the burden with. I should’ve sensed something was wrong instead of just letting my ego get in the way.”

Nancy shook her head. “No, Ace, none of this is your fault. Despite how well you know me, you’re not a mind reader. No one is going to think, ‘Oh, I’ll bet she’s pushing me away because she lived a full month in a fraction of a second where both her father and the love of her life died and it was all her fault, only to then have to come to the conclusion that it didn’t actually happen’. That’s an insane deduction to make.”

Ace went preternaturally still, and it was only then that Nancy realized what she’d said. “The love of your life?”

She’d already exposed so much of herself at this point, she might as well bare herself entirely. In for a penny and all that…

“I don’t think I would’ve had such a visceral reaction to anything less than that. It’s always been you, Ace. I just wish it didn’t take any fucked up dreamscape illusions for me to realize it. Remember when I was the Wraith’s host and I almost died, and we had to use Temperance’s device to get rid of it? When I went under, I reunited with my past selves, choosing to start healing my trauma instead of running from it—which I realize sounds ironic after what I’ve just told you.”

Ace gave her a small smile of amusement before gesturing for her to go on.

“First was the persona I’d adopted to deal with the Hudsons. Dream George helped me with that one. Then there was me as a kid, when I solved my first case, and Bess helped me through that. Nick helped me make peace with the part of me that I almost lost when my mom died. And then I was on the bluffs, where Lucy had given birth to me before ending her own life. You were there. I was so convinced I’d been born broken, but you told me I wasn’t. Hurt, maybe, but never broken. Right after you said that, the baby version of me appeared in my arms. I asked if you’d hold me, you replied that you thought I’d never ask, and then as I handed the baby version of myself over to you… we almost kissed. Then when I finally came to, you were right there, and I just couldn’t get that almost-kiss out of my head. That’s when I realized how I feel about you. To my credit, I did go to tell you the next day, but you’d already left on your trip with Amanda. After that, though, I just chickened out. I had no idea you felt the same until you told me. And then everything just kept getting in our way.”

“Dream me is smart. You were never born broken. You are fire and passion and curiosity and kindness. No matter what life throws at you, it could never break you.”

Nancy looked down at her lap. “I don’t know. I’ve felt pretty broken the past few months.”

Ace squeezed her hand again, making her look back up at him. The sincerity in his eyes was almost painful. “I can’t imagine the pain you must’ve felt, losing both Ryan and me, especially after everything you’ve already lost this past year. If I could’ve sheltered you from it all, I would in a heartbeat. But I’m here now. You don’t have to deal with it alone anymore. I love you, Nancy, and I have for as long as I’ve known you.”

Nancy turned her hand, twining her fingers together with Ace’s. “I love you, too.”

The hope in Ace’s eyes grew. “So we’re doing this?”

“I think we’re doing this,” Nancy confirmed with a small smile.

Ace smiled back at her, and his smile was so beautiful that Nancy swore she could actually feel her heart skip a beat. “We’re doing this.” He allowed himself a moment to smile and be happy, but then got slightly more serious again. “Please promise me, though, that you will talk to me from now on, and I’ll do the same. No matter how difficult it is, we’ll talk things out.”

Nancy nodded. “I promise. I want this to work more than anything.”

“It seems you’ve finally figured it out. I was almost starting to lose out hope.”

Nancy almost jumped out of her body, a scream stuck in her throat. Miriam Quinn stood in the middle of Ace’s living room, smiling at them. She was still wearing her white nightgown, but she was no longer dripping wet. Her dark hair was perfectly curled and quaffed. Instead of an angry red, her eyes were now a bright blue.

“Oh my god, Miriam.”

“Hi, Nancy and Ace. I’m so sorry I put you through all of this, but the moment I felt both of your pain, I knew I had to do something. You both reminded me so much of me and John. We loved each other so much, but we never talked through our issues. The pain of our deaths kept me grounded here, but your love helped me break through the haze. Thank you for releasing me.”

“Uh… you’re welcome,” Ace said, though it sounded more like a question.

Miriam smiled again. “Remember what I’ve taught you. I wish you both luck and happiness on your journey.”

And with that, she was suddenly enveloped in a blinding golden light. When Nancy blinked, Miriam was gone. After all Miriam had put them through this week, it felt like a very anti-climactic end.

“But wait! Your forgot about the—oh.”

Nancy looked down at her hand, still holding on to Ace’s. The handcuffs were gone. They were finally free. Funnily enough, the last thing she wanted now was to put physical distance between her and Ace.

“The handcuffs are gone,” Ace said softly, stating the obvious. “You did it, Nance.”

Nancy untangled her fingers from Ace’s, and before the hurt could take hold in Ace’s eyes, she sat up on her knees, swinging one leg over Ace’s lap. She sat, knotting her fingers in the hair at the back of his head. She stared into his eyes, a happy, goofy smile on her face.

“I love you.” God, it felt so good to just say it after all this time.

He copied her smile. “I love you, too.”

Nancy leaned in slowly, wanting to savor the moment. She wanted to always remember how she felt when she finally truly kissed the love of her life for the first time. She wanted to remember how giddy with joy she was, the butterflies in her stomach. She praised the stars for her perfect memory, grateful that she’d always remember both the love and the heat in Ace’s eyes. Ace cupped her jaw in his hand, his thumb stroking her cheek. He seemed just as eager to memorize this moment as she was.

Finally, Nancy pressed her lips to Ace’s. The kiss started slow and sweet, as if they had all the time in the world to explore each other. His lips were soft and warm, and felt so much better than they ever did in Temperance’s vision. Nancy could stay in this moment forever, sharing slow and languid kisses with Ace until the world perished.

But then their tongues connected, Ace moaned low in his throat, and all bets were off. One of Ace’s arms wrapped around her waist, pulling Nancy tight against his chest, and his other arm went up her back, his hand cupping the back of her head, fingers tangled in her hair. In this position, she was more trapped than she ever was when the handcuffs were still on, and she couldn’t be happier about it. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, torso pressed to his, and she still didn’t feel close enough to him.

Nancy nipped at his lower lip with her teeth, and Ace backed up his head enough to look at her as if she’d just issued him a challenge. He grinned back at her with heavy-lidded eyes, and she felt heat pool low in her tummy. He was looking at her like he wanted to devour her, and she couldn’t remember anyone ever looking half as attractive as he was in that moment.

“Fuck, Nance,” he said, voice low. “Is that how you want to play this?”

Oh god, she’d never been more turned on in her entire life.

“What if I do?” Nancy breathed.

Ace leveraged his hand in her hair to pull her head back, exposing her throat. His eyes trailed down her body, and his expression was so open, never once hiding his desire for her. Eventually his eyes met hers again, that seductive grin still on his face.

“Just making sure you know what you’re in for.”

Nancy bit back a whimper. “Ace…”

His grin widened slightly. “Yes, Nancy?”

“If you don’t put your fucking mouth on me right this fucking second, I’ll perish.”

Ace chuckled. “So dramatic… But your wish is my command.”

He tilted her head back a little more, his own dipping down so he could press his lips to her throat. Her heartbeat spiked as his teeth grazed her sensitive skin before his tongue soothed the sting of his gentle bites. He pressed kisses all over her neck until he found the spot that made her breath catch. As he sucked on that spot, his hand slowly travelled from her waist to her ass, splayed so he could feel as much of her as possible. Nancy moaned his name, and he smiled against her skin in response, his grip tightening on her ass.

Nancy’s hands clawed at Ace’s shirt, needing the offending garment off right this fucking second. She needed to touch his bare skin, needed to trace her fingers over the contours of his muscles. She wanted to map out the entirety of him, commit it all to memory. Finally she managed to wrest the damn thing over his head and she tossed it to the other side of the room. It probably landed on one of the ancient books they’d borrowed from the Historical Society, but she really couldn’t be bothered to care.

Nancy reconnected their mouths. She kissed him with such abandon that she’d be embarrassed if he were anyone other than Ace. He didn’t seem to mind. He kissed her back in kind, still using the hand in her hair to guide her head, easily dominating the kiss. Ace had always been a take-charge kind of guy, and Nancy appreciated him for it so much.

Nancy let her hands feast on Ace’s body. His skin was soft and smooth, but the rippling of his muscles underneath betrayed his strength. Now that there were no more barriers between the two of them, she couldn’t wait to explore all the ways he could use that strength to her advantage. Already, fantasies of him fucking her against a wall, or guiding her as she rode him filled her mind. She wanted to do all manner of filthy things with him, and she couldn’t wait to make all those fantasies a reality. She wanted him to fuck her until all the memories Temperance had planted in her brain were gone.

Ace wrested his mouth from hers, breathing hard. He buried his face in her neck again, peppering kisses on her throat. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Nance,” he rasped against her skin. “I’ve dreamed about doing this for so long, and the real thing is still better than anything my brain could’ve conjured up.”

“Ditto,” was all Nancy could say, because Ace had gone back to swirling his tongue on her skin, making all her faculties shut down.

He released the back of her head, and she already missed his hand there. His long fingers curled around the hem of her shirt instead, making eye contact with her as he silently asked her permission to take it off. She granted it easily with a nod of her head. The sooner they were both naked, the better. Before she knew it, her shirt was off and on the ground, quickly followed by her bra.

Ace hissed in a breath as he took her in. “So much better…” he repeated. He held her waist, his large hands covering so much of her. His thumbs skimmed the underside of her breasts, making her shiver. “I first noticed you in high school, you know,” he breathed. He was looking at her so reverently. “A silly little crush I knew would never go anywhere. You were already so beautiful and so fucking smart, and I was just me. And then you started working at The Claw, and you actually opened up to me, when you were still so closed off from everyone else. Do you have any idea how special that made me feel?” He leaned forward to press a kiss to her chest, right next to her heart.

Nancy tangled her fingers in his hair. If they both lived for an eternity, she still didn’t think she’d ever get enough of touching the soft strands.

“You’ve always been good at weakening my defenses.”

“I think that’s when I fell in love with you,” he confessed. “You didn’t seem interested in me in that way, though, so I stuck to fantasizing and loving you from afar.” That reverent look in his eyes turned to a wicked gleam as his hands slowly crept up, cupping her breasts. His left thumb grazed her nipple, making her arch into his touch. “And there were so many fantasies, Nancy. In all of them, you ended up screaming my name with my cock buried deep inside you.”

Nancy moaned, both at his words and the way he flicked her nipple. “Ace…”

“I’m no longer content to just fantasize.”

And with those words, he gripped her thighs and stood up, easily carrying her weight. He swallowed her yelp with a hungry kiss as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She clung to him, answering his kiss almost desperately as he carried her over to his bed, somehow managing not to trip on any of the books. He sat her down on the middle of his bed and crawled over her, never once breaking the kiss. He palmed her breasts again, tweaking a nipple between his thumb and index finger.

“Do you know how hard it’s been to have you in my bed without being able to touch you? It’s been the purest form of torture.”

“I know,” Nancy said breathlessly. “I wanted to do so much more than touching, though. In fact…” She gave him a wicked grin. “I kind of wish we still had the handcuffs. I’m sure we could find some creative uses for them.”

Desire flashed in Ace’s eyes, bright and hot. “Don’t say shit like that to me right now, Nancy.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m already rock hard, and I want to take my time with you, not come within five seconds like an inexperienced teenager.”

Nancy dragged her fingers over his bare back, relishing in his shiver and the feel of his muscles jumping under her touch. “What if I want it hard and fast?”

Ace nipped at her bottom lip with his teeth. “There’s plenty of time for that later. For now I just really need to fucking worship you.”

“Yeah?”

His eyes flashed to something behind her. “Were you serious just now about the cuffs?”

There was a nervous, excited flutter in Nancy’s tummy. “Yeah…”

He kissed her, brief but hot, and then motioned for her to scoot back. “Move, and lie down on your back.”

She did as he’d commanded. He crawled after her so he could reach behind her to grab something from her nightstand. It was the silk scarf she’d been wearing yesterday. He knotted one end of the scarf around her left wrist, tight enough so she wouldn’t be able to slip out of it, but loose enough to still be comfortable.

“Lucky me, falling in love with a Boy’s Scout,” she teased.

He grinned at her. Both of his knees were on either side of her legs, and he leaned some of his weight on her as he guided her hand towards the vertical bars of his headboard. “That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble soon.”

“I think you like my mouth, and the things it could do to you.”

Ace groaned, capturing her lips for another searing kiss. “Like I said, it’s going to get you in trouble. You forget, my love, you’ll soon be at my mercy.”

“My love. I like you calling me that.”

He smiled and slowly guided her right hand up to join the other one, placing languid kisses on her arm as he went. “You’d better prepare yourself. I’m about to unleash all the nicknames on you. Baby, beautiful, light of my life, sweet cheeks, sugar tits, sex kitten… I could go on if you like.”

Nancy giggled. “Please don’t.”

Without realizing, Ace had finished tying Nancy’s wrists to the bed. She gave an experimental tug to test her bonds. She was well and truly stuck. Anticipation was building in her body, setting her every nerve on edge.

Ace sat back to examine his handiwork. Her breasts were fully exposed and with her hands tied up, there was no way to cover herself, but she didn’t want to anyway. He was looking at her with such reverence, as if he really did want to worship at the altar that was her body. Honestly, she was probably looking at him the exact same way. The way he was leaning back on his haunches showed off his powerful thighs, thick and clearly muscular even through the denim of his jeans. Nancy trailed her eyes higher, to the bulge in his pants. His erection strained against the fabric, the denim pulled so taut that she was sure it had to be painful. Higher still, the smattering of hair that would lead down to his cock. Defined abs and obliques, strong pectoral muscles. Nancy had no idea where Ace had earned his muscular physique, but she made a mental note to thank him for it later. They drank each other in hungrily, shamelessly.

At last Ace leaned forward again, zeroing in on that sensitive spot on her neck with his lips. “So many things I want to do to you, baby, and so little time.”

“We have all night,” Nancy reminded him breathlessly.

“Like I said,” Ace said gruffly, tracing kisses lower until he was an inch away from her nipple, “so little time.”

She wanted to laugh, but then his mouth closed around her breast, sucking on her flesh as his tongue caressed the sensitive peak, and all humor vanished from her mind. She moaned and arched her back, wanting to press closer to him. She was already beginning to regret bringing up the idea of having her hands tied up. She flexed her fingers, wanting desperately to touch him.

Ace caressed her body, his hand slowly sliding towards the waistband of her jeans. He deftly undid the button one-handed before dragging down her zipper. His fingers dipped into her jeans and into her panties. His teeth gently grazed her nipple just as his fingers found her clit, circling it once. Nancy moaned his name loudly, arching her back even higher.

“You’re so fucking wet for me already, baby,” he rasped, and the sultry look in his eyes sent a shock straight to her core.

“Fuck, Ace, I’ve never been this turned on in my entire life,” she confessed, and she couldn’t remember her voice ever sounding quite so needy.

“I love knowing that I turn you on this much.” He flashed her a grin. “I can’t lie, it’s a massive ego boost.”

“Good. It’s all for you, Ace. From now on, it’s all for you.”

He retracted his hand from her pants, and she whimpered at the loss. He leaned back again, and if he wanted to drive Nancy insane with his back and forth, it was working. But then he hooked his fingers in the waistband of her jeans and told her in a demanding voice, “Lift your hips.” She did, and he tugged down her jeans and underwear in one smooth motion. He helped her take her feet out of the legs, and then she laid bared before him. “Fuck, Nance, you’re a fucking vision.”

She squirmed under his watchful gaze in anticipation of his next move. His hands covered her thighs, spreading her legs agonizingly slowly. He looked at her hungrily, groaning when her legs were spread as wide as they would go. He pressed a kiss to the inside of her knee before licking a path up to her center, stopping just short of his final destination. She whimpered desperately.

Ace moaned. “Fuck, Nancy,” he breathed. He gently bit the inside of her thigh. “That sound is going to be the death of me.”

“Ace,” Nancy whined. “Please…”

“Please what, Nancy?” he asked, a challenge in his voice.

“Please put your fucking mouth on me, or so help me god.”

He chuckled lowly. “Yes, ma’am.”

And then his mouth was on her, sucking on her clit. Nancy bucked her hips with a shout, stars already swimming in her vision. Ace hooked one arm around her hips, keeping her locked in place. He moaned, feasting on her as if she was the best meal he’d ever had. Already the pressure was building in her core, her every nerve ending on fire. Ace had always been a master at reading her, and a brilliant student. He paid attention to every sound she made, every jump of her muscles, learning what she liked. He had her worked up in a frenzy faster than anyone ever had.

“Fuck, Ace, just like that,” she moaned. Her hands were clenched in tight fists, her nails digging into her palms, and her toes were curling so hard almost to the point of cramping, but she didn’t even care. All she cared about was chasing that high that she knew only he could give her.

Still lapping her up hungrily, he inserted a finger. Then, finding her plenty slick enough, he added a second one. He curled his fingers inside of her, pressing against that sensitive spot that drove her crazy over and over again. She was pulled so taut she feared she might snap, and she just might if she didn’t come soon.

“Oh my god, Ace, you’re gonna make me fucking come,” she moaned. “Please, please, please make me come.”

“Open your eyes, baby. Look at me.”

She hadn’t even realized her eyes had been closed. Even though it felt like a Herculean task, his command couldn’t be ignored. She wrested her eyes open. Just as her eyes connected with Ace’s, his fingers curled again and he sucked on her clit hard. She came with a scream, straining against her bonds, her body shaking violently. He guided her through her orgasm, prolonging it until she couldn’t take it anymore.

“You did so good, my love,” he murmured, pressing kisses to her lower abdomen.

“Oh my god,” she managed. Her body still spasmed every now and then with the aftershocks of her climax. “Oh my fucking god…”

Ace grinned up at her proudly, looking like a cat that got the cream. “Watching you come for me is the sexiest thing I’ve ever fucking seen.”

Nancy gave him a dopey, satisfied grin. “I didn’t realize you could get so cocky.”

His grin widened, and he teased his knuckle across her still sensitive clit, making her shiver again. “How can I not be, when you respond to me so well?”

“Speaking of cocky…” she purred, eyeing the erection still straining painfully against his jeans. “I need yours in me, right now.”

He pressed another kiss to her belly before getting up from the bed. He stood, watching her watch him as he unbuckled his belt. He tugged on the buckle, pulling the belt out of the loops in one swift motion. The move was so hot, Nancy swore she almost came again. He undid the button, tugged down the zipper, and pulled down his jeans and boxers. The moment he sprang free, her mouth actually watered. He was long and thick and magnificent, and not for the first time, she cursed herself for thinking being tied up was actually a good idea. She so badly wanted to put her hands on him. He grabbed a condom from his nightstand drawer and rolled it on as Nancy watched him hungrily. She rubbed her legs together, seeking the delicious friction that he was still withholding from her.

“I’ve already made you come once, and you’re still so impatient,” Ace teased, crawling on the bed. She automatically opened her legs for him so he could settle between them. “I’m beginning to think you might be insatiable, Nancy Drew.”

She leaned up, chasing his annoying tease of a mouth for a kiss, but he stayed just out of reach. “For you, yes.”

“And a sweet talker, too,” he continued to tease. His smirk would be maddening if it didn’t turn her on so much.

“Ace…” she whined, her hips seeking his.

He leaned down, bending his elbows as he finally pressed a kiss to her mouth. He worked her lips apart and his tongue dipped into her mouth, exploring slowly, confidently. He knew exactly what to do to turn her to absolute putty in his arms. Still leaning his weight on one hand, he used his other to guide his cock to her entrance. He rubbed the head against her clit, making them both moan as her body jumped.

“Ace, oh my god…” She was impatient almost to the point of panting for him like a dog.

And then he drove home in one thrust, and Nancy was blissfully full. He was big and beautiful, providing a perfect stretch. Nancy wriggled her hips, needing him to move, but Ace seemed insistent on his earlier promise to take his time. He pulled out maddeningly slowly, and with her still so sensitive from her earlier orgasm, she felt everything, every single glorious inch of him. Then he thrust again, hitting that spot that made her see stars, and she strained against the scarf that was keeping her from touching him.

“You feel so fucking good, Nancy,” Ace moaned against her lips, still keeping that slow pace. Even though she couldn’t touch him with her hands, she could still feel the massive amounts of restraint he was using. At this point, she wasn’t sure who felt more tortured. “I want to fuck you until my touch is all you remember.” He kissed her deeply, timing it perfectly with his next thrust. “My real touch.”

Nancy wrapped her legs around Ace, and his next thrust was even deeper. “Oh, fuck, Ace! I need…”

“Tell me what you need, baby,” he said, voice low and husky.

“Faster. Please—oh, fuck!”

Ace delivered on her command, doubling his speed and then doubling it again as his control began to slip. Nancy was a moaning mess, needing to use her hands to brace herself against the headboard now. She vaguely realized that she was screaming, but she had no idea what she was saying or if it was even coherent. All she knew was that she was so close to that precipice again, and she wanted to fly off it.

“You take me so fucking good, Nancy,” he whispered in her ear. The look in his eyes was almost manic, so close to losing the final vestiges of his control.

“Ace, please,” Nancy begged. There were tears in her eyes because it was just so good, so intense. “Ace, baby, please untie me. I need to touch you.”

Wordlessly, Ace reached up and released her with one single tug on the scarf. She vaguely recollected thanking him as she wrapped her arms around him, holding on to him for dear life as he hammered into her, hitting that spot every single time.

Nancy dug her nails into Ace’s back, making him growl in pleasure. She loved how vocal he was with her.

“I’m so fucking close, Ace.”

“Fuck, me too, Nancy.” He shifted slightly so he could press his fingers to her clit. He circled it, applying the perfect amount of pressure. “Come for me, baby.”

And Nancy did, flying into the stratosphere. The pleasure was so intense she was sure she couldn’t take it, but Ace guided her through it. While she was still in the middle of her own climax, his hips stuttered as he, too, came with a shout.

They rode their highs out together, Ace still buried inside of her, his face in her neck. They were both breathing hard.

“If that’s you worshipping me,” Nancy managed through big gulps of air, “you can do that every night.”

Ace laughed, happy and boisterous and satisfied. “Come here, you little minx.”

***

Leaving Ace’s apartment the next day wasn’t easy. They kept getting distracted while they were getting ready, and they’d inevitably end up with Ace buried deep inside Nancy, making her scream so loud the whole of Horseshoe Bay probably knew about their union. Eventually, though, they managed to cross the threshold, only stopping to kiss three (okay, maybe four) times on the way to Florence.

On the way to the wedding venue, they first dropped by the Richardsons to tell them Miriam wouldn’t bother them again. They seemed relieved but still a little hesitant, only really relaxing when Nancy and Ace told the newlyweds they were free to contact them if they ever encountered another ghost.

They arrived at the venue, a beautiful clearing in a woodsy area, way before any of the wedding guests. They’d promised Bess that, no matter the situation with their handcuffs, they’d show up early to help with the final preparations. They didn’t see Bess anywhere, but an occupied-looking Addy whirled past them, letting them know that Bess had assigned them to centerpiece duty before she went back to her own task.

Ace and Nancy shared a look of amusement. Ace’s platanchor truly had settled into her wedding planning duties—almost scarily so—and clearly even her own girlfriend hadn’t been safe.

They made their way over to the tastefully decorated party tent where the reception would be held. Everywhere they looked, they saw stunning flowers and greenery, courtesy of Lily. Multiple tables were spread throughout the tent, leaving enough space for a dance floor. Luckily, name cards had already been placed at every seat, so they wouldn’t have to consult Bess’s planner of horrors for that—every time Nancy saw Bess carrying it around, she swore it had somehow doubled in size.

“Oh, good, you’re here!” A frazzled-looking Lily beckoned Ace and Nancy over to a makeshift stand covered in stunning crystal vases and multiple bunches of flowers. “Bess said you two would help me with the centerpieces. Normally, I do them myself, but I still have some arrangements to finish by the aisle.”

Nancy gave the overwhelmed florist a kind smile. “No worries, Lily. Just let us know what to do, and we’ll take it from there.”

Lily showed them how to assemble the centerpieces, supervised them while they filled one vase, and then, clearly confident enough to leave them on their own, she practically ran off, presumably to where the ceremony would be held to finish her work there.

When all centerpieces were done and placed on all of the tables, Nancy and Ace stood, holding hands as they examined their handiwork.

“We did good,” Ace said with a nod. Then he looked down at their intertwined hands, a funny smile on his face. “It’s weird to hold your right hand after being on your left side for a week.”

Nancy laughed. “Yeah, it’s nice to switch it up for a change.” She pressed a quick kiss to his lips before pulling away again—if she’d learned anything in the past twelve hours, it was that Ace was incredibly easy to distract. She squeezed his hand. “Anyway, concentrate. Does anything look off about this one? We used everything Lily laid out for us, but I could swear this one is missing something.”

Still holding on to Ace’s hand, she reached forward to fluff the bouquet with her free one, and that was exactly when George and Bess walked into the tent, clearly doing some last minute checks on the venue, judging by Bess’s open binder. George’s gaze landed where Nancy and Ace stood together, intertwined hands hiding behind the centerpiece of bouquets and floating candles, and her face fell.

“So I guess you guys didn’t find a way to get the cuffs off, huh?” George asked. She looked a little sad, but not nearly as pissed off as Nancy feared she’d be. Honestly, the sadness was worse than the anger anyway. “When there were no updates in the group chat I kind of had a feeling, but I guess there’s a part of me that still had some hope.”

“It’ll be okay, George,” Bess was quick to assure her. Still, though, she looked at Nancy and Ace with a furrowed brow. Nancy swore she could see the cogs spinning in Bess’s head. “Something’s off…”

George nodded to herself, clearly not having heard that last bit—or maybe she just thought Bess was talking about the centerpieces. “It’ll be fine. We just need to come up with a plausible excuse as to why a bridesmaid and groomsman are handcuffed together. Maybe we can say you guys pissed Tamura off and he cuffed the two of you together in retaliation. Tamura hates the two of you, so I’m sure people would buy it. Or maybe we could—”

Bess cut George off with a gasp, grabbing George’s arm in a vise grip. “They’ve switched!”

“Ow, Bess!” George pulled her arm free, rubbing the spot where Bess’s fingers had been. “What the fuck are you even talking about?”

Bess pointed at Nancy and Ace, her eyes wide and excited. “They’ve switched sides! Remember? Because Ace always had to drive? They’ve switched!” she repeated again with a squeal.

Nancy and Ace smiled at each other. They gave each other a nod, coming to the same silent agreement. They started walking around the table on opposite sides, holding hands until they were so far apart that they couldn’t anymore. They reunited again in front of George and Bess, Nancy slipping her hand in Ace’s again.

“Oh my god!” Bess squealed. She jumped up and down in her joy, her holy binder completely forgotten.

George smirked at the new couple, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Well, well, well… Looks like we’ve missed something huge here. How’d you get Miriam to release you?”

“You know that saying ‘the truth will set you free’? Apparently Miriam takes that incredibly literally.  Ace and I finally talked yesterday, about everything. It’s a long story, and I’ll probably share it when it’s not, you know, your wedding. It gets a little dark in the middle, and I don’t want to drag the mood down.”

“But you’re together now?” Bess asked. She was practically vibrating with unreleased energy.

“We are,” Nancy said with a smile. “Miriam showed up a little bit after, released us, and then moved on herself. We told the Richardsons this morning that she wouldn’t be a problem anymore.”

There was a look of horror on Bess’s face. “She didn’t, like, catch you… in flagrante, did she?”

Ace grinned proudly. “No, that came after.”

“Oh my god, ew,” George said, even though she was smiling.

“Aww,” Bess cooed, smiling like the sappy romantic she was. “I’m so happy for you guys! However, as much as I hate to separate the two of you after everything, we really need to steal Nancy away. It’s time for hair and makeup.”

“All right, I’ll allow it,” Ace said, though he didn’t look exactly happy about it. Nancy understood how he felt. It’d be the farthest they’d been apart in over a week, and now that they were finally in a relationship, everything bared to each other, she was reluctant to leave his side, too, even though she knew they’d be reunited soon enough.

Ace took her face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers. He kissed her hungrily, as if there were no witnesses at all. He was apparently a big fan of PDA—when it came to Nancy, anyway—and she wasn’t complaining. She happily kissed him back, knotting her fingers in his shirt. Bess squealed again, making both Nancy and Ace smile into the kiss.

They only broke apart after the third time George emphatically cleared her throat. Ace was smiling at her dopily. “Now you can go.” He pecked her lips one more time. “Love you.”

Nancy easily returned his dopey smile. “Love you, too.”

Bess and George hooked their arms around Nancy, carting her off before she and Ace could start kissing again. Ace waved at her until she disappeared from view.

“The two of you are going to be absolutely disgusting now, aren’t you?” George asked.

Nancy was so happy she didn’t even bother denying it. “Probably, yeah.”

The three girls joined George’s sisters to have their hair and makeup done. George hadn’t wanted to cause a fight among her sisters about who would be a bridesmaid and who would be maid of honor, so she’d elected to not make any of them bridesmaid, choosing to name Bess as her maid of honor and Nancy as her bridesmaid instead. Nancy hadn’t seen the decision as a slight against her. She was so busy and focused on other things that she knew Bess as the maid of honor was the best choice. Jesse and Ted, meanwhile, had been made flower girls, a job they took very seriously. Charlie had been chosen to be ring bearer, a symbolic vote of trust and love after the whole debacle with the engagement ring a few months back. Charlie had been incredibly honored, vowing she wouldn’t let them down.

When they were done, everyone apart from George was dressed in flowy dresses in a beautiful powdery blue color that matched the wedding’s color scheme. Their hair was loosely curled and styled in a romantic half updo. Nancy felt like a wood nymph, perfect for a woodsy outdoor wedding.

George, meanwhile, looked absolutely ethereal. Her dress was full ivory satin, a simple cut and no frills to really center the bride instead of the dress. Her hair was piled together in a loose bun in the nape of her neck, a few loose strands framing her face. She looked beautiful and classy, but the essence of George still shone through.

“George, you look absolutely stunning,” Nancy told her earnestly. Tears were actually threatening to spill over, and only the fear of ruining her makeup kept them in. Nancy had grown a lot this past year, but so had George, and Nancy couldn’t be prouder of her friend.

“Stop…” George said. She was clearly emotional too. It was as if she’d heard Nancy’s thoughts and wanted to prove them right.

The girls all gathered in a group hug, squeezing each other tight.

“I can’t believe you’re getting married,” Jesse said. “I’m so happy for you, George. You’ve been caring for us for so long, so it’s high time that you found someone to take care of you for a change.”

George sniffled. “You need to stop it too. But… thank you.”

They split apart from the hug. Bess took Nancy’s hand and squeezed it. “Let’s give the sisters a moment, yeah? Could you go over to the boys and let them know that George is almost ready to go?”

“Yeah, of course.”

Nancy gave George one last hug before she left the room, walking down the hall to the room where she knew the men would be getting ready.

She knocked on the door. “Is everybody decent?” she asked. Both her dads should be in that room, and she’d really prefer not to walk in on them in any state of undress.

“Come in!” Ace called from the other side. Immediately, butterflies started dancing in Nancy’s tummy, just at the sound of her boyfriend’s voice. She was so far gone, it wasn’t even funny.

Nancy entered the room, coming face to face with Ace, Nick, Carson and Ryan, all impeccably dressed in their wedding finery. She didn’t miss the lovesick grin Ace sent her way, or how good he looked in his three-piece suit, only egging on those darn butterflies.

“Hey guys, Bess sent me over here to let you know George is almost ready to go.” She looked over at Nick. He looked incredibly handsome in his expertly-cut suit, a mix of happiness and what Nancy assumed to be wedding jitters on his face. “Ready to get married, Nickerson?”

Nick smiled, bright and happy. “To George? Always.”

“Okay, you sap,” Ryan teased lovingly. “Move over so I can thank my daughter for bagging me the perfect son-in-law.”

“Oh my god, Ryan,” Nancy said, snorting at his words. As Ryan wrapped her in a tight hug, she said, “You do know that just because Ace is my boyfriend now, he isn’t going to keep doing your dishes, right?”

Ryan squeezed her even tighter. “I know. I’m just really happy the two of you are happy.”

“And you called Nick the sap,” Nancy teased.

“Shut up, oh daughter of mine.”

Next to hug her was Carson. “I’m really proud of you,” he whispered in her ear. “I know opening up to Ace couldn’t have been easy, but you did it.”

Surprised at Carson’s sincerity, Nancy blinked back tears. “Thanks, Dad,” she whispered back.

“I hope it’s okay I told them about us,” Ace said, awkwardly scratching his neck. “They asked about the handcuffs, and I couldn’t explain without also telling them about us.”

“It’s okay, Ace,” she said, giving him an easy smile. “Besides, it’s probably for the best I wasn’t there when Ryan found out. His complete and utter joy at finding out you’re now his son-in-law would’ve probably given me the ick.”

“Hurtful, but most likely true,” Ryan admitted.

Nick took her aside then. “I’m really happy for you and Ace, Nancy.”

She smiled at him, mentally bracing herself for some serious emotions. It was Nick’s wedding day and he was allowed to be sappy and emotional, but she had a feeling he was about to drag her down with him.

“It’s really weird to think you and I used to be a thing,” Nick mused. “Especially now that we’re both finally with the people we were always meant to be with. Still, though, I don’t regret a thing. If not for you, I probably wouldn’t have been part of this friend group that’s come to mean so much to me, and I probably wouldn’t have gotten nearly this close with George. And despite it all, you’re still one of my best friends, Nancy Drew.”

“Likewise, Ned Nickerson.” She smiled at him, love for him, and for George and for everyone at this wedding threatening to make her heart burst. “You and George are perfect for each other, Nick. I’m sure your future together will be filled with nothing but happiness.”

He smiled back at her. “Thank you, Nancy. Likewise, with you and Ace. That man is perfect for you. It’s about time you finally see it.”

Nancy laughed, giving him a playful shove. “Shut up, Nickerson.”

***

The ceremony was beautiful and heartfelt, not a dry eye in the house. Nancy was filled with so much joy as she stood up there, watching two of her best friends get married. It didn’t help that Nick had chosen Ace as his best man and Ryan as his groomsman, two of the most emotional men she knew. As she faced them, both openly wiping away tears, she broke too. Making matters even worse was Carson officiating the ceremony. He poured so much love into his words, and he clearly took the whole officiating thing incredibly seriously, adding gravitas to the ceremony as he clearly realized what an honor it had been to be chosen to officiate. He’d taken on a fatherly role with both George and Nick—for all of Nancy’s friends, really—and he no doubt felt like he was marrying off two of his own kids (in the most non-incestuous way possible, of course).

Both during the ceremony and the reception afterwards, Victoria and Edward were on surprisingly good behavior, Nancy, Ace, and Bess only needing to provide minimal interference. Victoria even stayed away from alcohol—impressive, considering there was an open bar. To be fair, though, that was mainly due to Bess’s planning skills. She’d placed wards all around the perimeter, claiming that no supernatural creature would fuck up her friends’ special day if she could help it. And with no chance of any ghosts or demons making an appearance, Victoria didn’t feel the need to drink.

Still, though, both Nancy and Ace had been kept incredibly busy. They hadn’t had a moment alone since making those centerpieces that morning. The sun had already gone down, twinkling fairy lights all around the tent bathing everything in a soft romantic glow.

Nancy had finally found a moment of peace when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Already knowing who it would be, she turned around with a smile.

“May I please have this dance, my beautiful lady?” Ace asked. At some point during the night, he’d lost his suit jacket. His tie was slightly loosened, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He looked sinfully good.

“Yes, you may.”

Ace took Nancy in his arms, slowly twirling the two of them around the dance floor. He rested his chin on the top of Nancy’s head while she pressed her cheek to his chest. She inhaled his scent. It had been a long day, and she hadn’t realized how badly she’d needed this moment to recharge.

“I know this is a ridiculous thing to say after this past week,” Ace said softly, making his chest vibrate pleasantly, “but I’ve missed you today.”

Nancy smiled, holding on to him a little tighter. “I’ve missed you too.”

Ace rubbed slow circles on Nancy’s back, and she swore she melted into him. “God… This past year has been wild, hasn’t it?”

“It really has,” she agreed. “It’s insane to think so much has happened in so little time.”

“I can only speak for myself, of course, but I don’t regret a single moment of it. All of it brought us here, and I couldn’t be happier, Nancy. This past year was simply a dark blip on the radar. A good teaching moment and probably necessary, but it’s behind us now. From now on, our days are going to be filled with nothing but love and happiness. I know it.”

Nancy pulled back enough so she could look at him. His face shone with unadulterated love and confidence. He really did mean it. His confidence bolstered her own. She knew that realistically his predictions wouldn’t be true. Life still happened and it would put more hardships on their path. But she also knew that, together, they were strong enough to handle anything life would throw at them.

Ace gave Nancy her favorite smile, the one that told her he was up to no good. He cradled the back of her head and held on tightly to her waist, and then he suddenly twisted their bodies, dipping her. Nancy hooked a leg around his hips, both for extra balance and just because she wanted to.

When he finally pressed his lips to hers, there was a chorus of whoops and good-natured jeers from the crowd around them, but Nancy ignored them all. She surrendered herself to the kiss, allowing Ace to take the lead. He kissed her deeply, sucking her bottom lip into his mouth. Nancy tightened her grip on his waistcoat, feeling like she had to ground herself to him or she’d ascend out of her body.

After what felt like the most mind-blowing kiss of her life yet, Ace broke away from her lips and righted them both again. Slowly, Nancy put her foot back on the floor. Ace looked thoroughly kissed, happiness pouring from him like sunbeams. He kissed her once more, gentler this time. The kiss was full of love and promises of a bright and happy future.

“I love you, Nancy Drew.”

“I love you, too, Ace Hardy.”