As promised...

Past Tense

Chapter 4

“Hi,” Fenton said shyly when he saw her smiling at him.

“Hi,” she said back.

And then they said nothing.

“For Pete’s sake!” an exasperated voice called out, and they looked up to see Paul’s head sticking out from the window above them. “Laura, this is Fenton….Fenton, this is Laura. He’s a cop and she’s a pain in the ass – now guys, if you don’t mind, try and say something…this time!”

“YOU’RE DEAD, PAULIE! DEAD! DEAD!” Laura yelled up at her infuriating brother, and then she turned on Fenton when she heard him chuckling. “Oh you think that’s funny, do you?”

Fenton tried to hide his laughter but her indignant expression wasn’t making it very easy. “No…no…” he stammered, and she continued to glare at him.

Damn, he thought, she’s even prettier when she’s pissed off.

“Hmmm, what’s wrong with your voice, anyway?” she demanded, “or is it just me you can’t talk to?”

“I can talk just fine,” Fenton finally managed to get out, and then added, “usually.”

Laura tried to hold her glare but she couldn’t, so instead she sighed and pointed towards the now empty window. “See what I have to put up with?! Little brothers should be illegal!”

This made Fenton chuckle again, and she countered, “You don’t have one do you?”

“No”, he said and then grinned, “But I do have an older sister!”

The look she shot him was priceless, had no name and sent him doubling over with laughter. Which wasn’t helped when she continued a moment later, “Well that explains everything! You are no help at all!”

“I really am sorry,” he finally managed, and then noticed her shiver and realized the night air was getting quite chilly. Without saying anything, he took off his jacket and passed it to her.

She looked at him suspiciously and he just cocked his eyebrow, daring her to deny she was cold.

“Fine,” she said, and draped it over her shoulders, inwardly very thrilled that he had done so. “And thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Fenton said, and then he extended his hand. “Can I try this again? My name is Fenton Hardy, and you are the most beautiful girl I have ever laid my eyes on.”

If she was surprised, Laura didn’t show it. Instead she took his hand, shook it with a surprising amount of strength and said, “Thank you, Fenton. My name is Laura Scott, and I’m glad your shoulder was bothering you tonight.” She smiled shyly as he looked at her in confusion. “Because otherwise we never would have spoken!”

An hour later, when he pushed her back into the hospital and towards the elevator, Fenton Hardy knew one thing: he had just met the woman he wanted to marry.

Gerry Moore came out of the examining room with his hand heavily bandaged. He frowned when he didn’t see his partner in the waiting room. Yes, Fenton had said he was going outside, but that was a while ago, and he should have been back in by now. And then his frown deepened when he saw Fenton waiting for the elevators with the most beautiful creature he had ever seen before.

What the hell is she doing with Fenton? he wondered, as he hurried towards them.

“Hardy!” Moore called out, and was pleased when he saw the slight frown cross his partner’s face. Aha, he thought, he knows when his better has arrived.

“Who’s the doll?” Moore asked when he got close enough not to have to yell anymore.

Fenton saw Laura’s shoulders tense and was inwardly relieved; obviously she had taken an instant disliking to his partner.

Good instincts, Fenton thought, even as he said, “Laura Scott, this is my partner, Detective Gerry Moore. I’m just escorting Ms. Scott back to her room.”

Fenton did not want Gerry going with them. “Why don’t you check in with the precinct and let them know we’re back on now? I’ll only be a moment.”

Gerry opened his mouth to protest, but the doors to the elevator had already opened and Fenton was pushing Laura in. And then as the doors were shutting, the dark haired cop added, “Or a little longer….”

“Is that guy really your partner?” Laura asked as they rode up to her floor. They were the only ones in the elevator, and she appraised the dark haired man as she spoke.

Oh God, he was handsome….

“Yeah,” Fenton said, “just like families…you don’t get to pick them.”

“Do you guys work well together?” Laura asked as the elevator stopped and Fenton pushed her out, “Because I get the feeling you aren’t too fond of him.”

“You’re very perceptive,” he praised her, impressed by her insight, “And yeah, we do work very well together.”

Laura blushed slightly under his compliment. “It runs in my family, actually.” And then she added,”Paul’s gut instinct can set clocks.”

“Wow,” was all Fenton said, as he saw a tall, dark-haired man with a frown on his face standing in the open doorway of the room Laura indicated was hers.

“Hi Dad,” she said when they got closer.

“Who’s this?” Dr. Scott demanded, although Paul had already given him the run-down of why he had come back upstairs by himself – and been chastised already for it, too.

Laura could see her brother sulking in a chair next to her bed, and she looked at her father, “I’m 18, Dad, not ten. And you had better not have given my brother a hard time, because I was in safe hands. Dr. Daniel Scott, this is Police Detective Fenton Hardy.”

Fenton started to extend his hand, but the surgeon brushed him off and glared at his daughter instead. “I know exactly how old my children are…both of them! And you, Laura, are certainly not ready to be left by yourself with some stranger who could have been masquerading as a cop! And your brother knows better!” He shot a quick look at his son, but Paul was too busy scowling at a spot on the wall above the bed to notice.

“Sir—” Fenton tried to cut in, but Dr. Scott silenced him with a penetrating glare, reminding Fenton of the looks his father used to give him when he was a little boy and had spoken out of turn.

“I’m talking to my daughter, sir. Not you. When I choose to address you, then you will be the first to know!” the older man said haughtily, and Fenton felt his ire going up. He did not like being spoken to like that.

“Enough!” Laura shouted, her voice loud in the hallway. “Dad, I won’t have you talking to my friends like that! Now you can either apologize to Fenton…and Paul, or…or…” She was too angry to even figure out what to threaten him with.

The three men looked at her, and Fenton got the impression that, although she tormented her brother, Laura Scott did not normally talk to her father like this.

Whatever it was, Dr. Scott straightened up, pursed his lips and said tightly, “Fine, Laura. I’ll be back to see you in the morning. Good night.”

Then he was gone before anyone could say anything else.

“That’s your father?” Fenton said, wondering how someone who seemed to have a granite heart could raise two people like Laura and Paul. Although he had just met them, he knew right away what kind of people they were.

And he wanted to get to know them much better….Especially Laura.

tbc