A/N: This is my own twist on a scene from Nancy Drew Files #99 The Cheating Heart. It starts on page 84 of the book. It may have some spoilers, but not too many (at least I don’t think so). Hope you like. Please read and review.

Ned pulled Nancy against his shoulder as they walked. “Thanks for saving my neck tonight, Nickerson,” she murmured, nuzzling against him, admiring the hard muscle of his shoulder.

“Anytime,” Ned replied. “It’s the least I can do for you, considering how you’ve just saved me from being expelled.”

“I hope so.” Nancy said. “I’ll be interested to see what Carrie Yu has to say for herself.”

“What can she say?” Ned asked. “You’ve practically caught her red-handed. Why else would she have written those answers on that memo slip?”

“I don’t know, Ned,” Nancy said. “But remember, you were found with a copy of the answers, too. And you couldn’t explain why.”

An awkward pause fell between them, and Ned pulled his arm away. “I’d think you’d want to wrap up the case, so I won’t get expelled.” He sounded hurt, and Nancy cast about in her mind for a tactful reply.

“Of course I don’t want you to get expelled,” she finally said. “But the dean warned me that I can’t give you special treatment. What would it look like if I accused Carrie and then found out she wasn’t the thief? I’d rather she confessed to me before I go back to the dean.”

“Well, I guess you don’t care that my college career is on the line here,” Ned said.

Nancy was taken aback. “That’s not true, Ned! That isn’t true at all! And I am working on the case. But it’s very- baffling.”

“Too baffling for the great Nancy Drew?” Ned asked skeptically, striding ahead.

“No!” she defended herself, walking fast to keep pace. “But I can’t prove anything yet. I can’t prove that she stole the answer key. She had no more access to it than-“

“Than I did?” Ned snapped back, stopping abruptly. He whirled around, and Nancy could see the cold fire in his dark eyes. “So that it. You do think I’m guilty.”

Nancy’s mouth dropped open in shock. “What? I’m your girlfriend, Ned. I’ve never believed you were guilty. Not for one second. But what I believe isn’t going to convince anyone. So I need to catch the real thief and I need to do it the best way I know how. I’m sorry if I’m not solving this case fast enough for you!” She spun away from him, tears forming in her eyes. She stalked toward the Theta Pi house and went up to her room she was sharing with Brooke.

How could he believe that she thought he was guilty? She was trying to clear his name, but it wasn’t that easy. Why couldn’t he see that?

The next morning Nancy walked into the student center. She grabbed something for breakfast and was about to head toward a table with some girls from Theta Pi when she heard someone calling her name from somewhere behind her.

She turned around and saw a tall guy with blonde hair waving at her. She recognized him instantly. It was Brad, her ex-boyfriend form high school before she had started dating Ned. She hadn’t seen him in forever. She walked over smiling and set her food on the table. He stood up and hugged her. “Hey, Brad. It’s so good to see you! It’s been forever!”

“It’s good to see you, too.”

Nancy sat down and asked, “So what are you doing here? I’ve been to Emerson many times and I’ve never seen you.”

“I’ve only been here a couple weeks. I transferred in. What about you? I take it you don’t go to school here.”

“No. I’m actually visiting someone.” Her expression saddened and she looked out the window they were sitting next to.

“Who? I haven’t met many people yet, but maybe I know her.”

“Actually it’s a him. Ned Nickerson.” She continued to stare out the window while Brad looked at her questioningly.

“Nickerson, huh. I definitely know him. He’s the very popular jock. From what I understand every girl loves him, but he’s already got a girl. Would that girl be you?”

“I don’t know if I’m his girl anymore.” She sighed and looked down at her plate, picking at her waffle with her fork.

“Did you two have a fight or something?”

“Yeah.”

“What about?”

Nancy sighed again. “Ned’s been accused of stealing the answer key for the freshmen English placement test. I’ve been trying to clear his name, but apparently not fast enough. He also thinks that I think he’s guilty. I can understand that he’s worried about getting expelled and that the pressure may be getting to him, but I really am trying to solve the case and I don’t think he’s guilty. He’s my boyfriend for heaven’s sake!”

“Well, from what I can tell, Ned seems like a pretty sensible guy. I’m sure he’ll realize what a great girl he got mad at him and want to fix things.”

“I sure hope so.” She became quiet and Brad could tell she was upset.

“Hey,” Brad said and waited until she met his eyes. “You really are a great girl. He would be crazy to let you go, and if he does, then you can find someone much better.”

Nancy smiled at him slightly. “Thanks,” she said. Then to change the subject and to get her mind off of both the case and Ned, she asked him what he was majoring in and they began catching each other up on what had happened since high school.

Half an hour later Brad stood up, saying he had to go to his dorm room to get some things for his first class. Nancy also stood up and walked out the door with him. They hugged one more time and he gave her a peck on the cheek, then they went separate ways. As she turned around, she noticed Ned nearby. He was sitting on a bench and it almost seemed as if he had been waiting for her. He jumped up when she walked by. “Nancy, can we talk?”

“You can talk all you want, but I can’t guarantee I’ll listen.”

“Ok, fair enough. I wanted to say that I’m really sorry I said that you didn’t care about my college career and everything else too. I was wrong and everything’s just getting to me. Please forgive me, Nan. I love you.”

Nancy’s expression softened and she looked Ned in the eye. She could tell that he really was sorry. “Ok, I forgive you. But Ned, I’m your girlfriend! I would never think you were guilty of anything.”

“I know that. And I really am sorry.”

“Good.” Nancy stood on tiptoe and kissed him and he kissed her back.

“So what can I do to help out?”

A/N: Ok, that was not how I wanted it to end. I wanted to have a better make-up scene than that, but oh well. I wanted to post something.