"And who is this fine specimen of a man?"

"This," Nancy said, with her hand already raised, the glass turning her palm slick with condensation, the straw brushing her shining lips, "is Ned Nickerson, one of Chicago's finest, who helped rescue me when I was stuck in that airplane hangar."

At that she took a long sip of her amaretto sour and Bess Marvin, blonde curls high and eyes heavily lined, gave Ned such a scrutinizing look that he shifted uncomfortably in his chair, and Jenny made a noise deep in her throat that made his stomach sink a few feet below the floor.

"Policeman?" she asked Nancy over her shoulder, gaze still locked on Ned.

"Even better. Fireman."

Somehow, Bess's gaze brightened. "Has anyone ever told you that you'd make a killing modeling?" she asked, slowly reaching for her own drink. "God, your cheekbones. Any wife would buy her husband a three-pack of boxer-briefs if you were smiling at her from the box."

Ned cleared his throat and shoved the wedge of lime into the neck of his beer bottle. "Um..."

"You're in modeling?" Jenny broke in, sounding unconvinced.

"Oh, I know," Bess said, smoothing her shirt down over her hip. "I'm short. But no one cares how tall you are when you're modeling jewelry."

"Right," Jenny said, and, having contributed all she was going to, returned to her drink.

Ned had been in Martin's a few times, on weekends, and had never scored a seat at the bar. Nancy walked in and immediately barstools were cleared for her and her party, which had included Bess within five minutes of their arrival. Bess regarded Bill with barely veiled contempt, and Bill went out of his way to ignore Bess. Their feud seemed almost comfortable, and epic in scope.

"So you were in on that fire."

"He pulled me out," Nancy admitted, and Ned shot her a glance immediately. Since they had walked in she had downed drink after drink after drink, never ordering the same thing twice. She slammed down her latest shot and signaled for another, as Bill shot Nancy the same dirty look.

"You didn't tell me that," he said, face flushing as he looked over at Ned.

"I was there and I helped," Ned rushed to clarify, if mostly inaccurately. "That's all."

Nancy nodded petulantly. "Right. He helped. So put it back, no one needs to see it," she said, patting Bill on the knee. He immediately flushed a dusky red and grabbed her arm, practically yanking her off the barstool so they could hide in the relative privacy of an alcove and gesticulate madly at each other.

Bess sighed and picked up the shot Nancy had just ordered. "Another fun night for the lucky couple. So, what exactly was Nancy doing in that burning shack?" she asked, then tossed it back.

"I honestly don't know," Ned said, looking over at Jenny. His girlfriend was tearing a straw paper into tiny pieces, her blonde head bent over her work. "I didn't think to ask her. It was quick."

Bess grinned, her eyes sparkling, and despite himself Ned liked her. Even if she seemed to be doing her damndest to piss his girlfriend off.

"Things usually are with her," Bess said. "Except her engagement."

"Forgot about that," Jenny muttered, and she sounded almost happy.

"What, her and Captain America back there?" Ned asked, making a quick nod in their direction.

Bess nodded, but the almost malicious glee in her expression was tempered. "Supposed to be in the fall," she said. Even though Nancy wasn't there, when Bess crooked her finger at the bartender, the harried girl responded immediately.

"Supposed to be?" He didn't know why he was asking. It wasn't like it mattered.

"She's put it off a few times. Oh look, he's coming back," she said, glaring at Bill as he strode back.

"I really think we should be going," he said, without preamble, and reached for his wallet.

"Read my mind," Jenny groused, sliding off the barstool and reaching for Ned's arm. "Come on."

"Just..." And Ned trailed off, because there was nothing he could honestly say after that that wouldn't make Jenny even more irritated with him. He looked over at Nancy, who had that same stricken expression in her eyes that he had seen at the hotel's bar. Then Nancy glanced over at Bess, who immediately responded.

"Yeah, go ahead home," she told Bill, patting Nancy on the arm. "Paradise has a special on Jager bombs tonight."

"Really?"

It squeaked out of Ned and then they were all looking at him. Bill, blond hair combed back, still scowling, a thick roll of folded bills in his hand. Nancy, whose hair was tumbling loose down her back, her skin faintly gleaming, her hand in Bess's. Bess, who looked like she wanted to have Ned for dessert, her every curve displayed in a green halter top and a leather miniskirt. And Jenny, who still looked beautiful and brilliant, in the dress that made her look like a lost and abandoned bride, so entirely out of place in a downtown bar.

"Can we talk for a second?" Jenny demanded, grabbing his arm. He stumbled along after her, through the door and outside, and before he entirely realized what she was doing, she was hailing a cab.

"Hey!"

"What the fuck?" she spat out, her eyes slitted, when she turned back to him. "Are you trying to piss me off, is that what this is? Or are you really this much of a jerk."

"Jenny," Ned said, trying to be soothing, while he was still trying to figure out that strange tableau back at the bar, all those signals they had been sending. "I'm sorry. I am. It's just... when she came out of that fire, she was really upset, and it's like no one else cares what happened to her that night, and..."

"And what?" Jenny wasn't softening. "She has a fiance. She has a best friend who really, really likes you. So why am I here? And why are you, really?"

"You don't want to understand," Ned shot back. "You're just jealous."

"Oh?" Jenny's eyes widened. "Jealous of the way you look at her, yeah. Anyone can see it. And she's keeping you around because she likes that attention, and you're totally oblivious."

"She needs my help."

"No," Jenny said, shaking her head. "I need your help. I need you to get in this cab and come home with me right now, or else..." She trailed off, anger choking her.

"Jenny, come on."

"No. You come on. If this is all as innocent as you say, then get in the damn car. She's going to be fine. You're not going to be fine, trust me." She crossed her arms.

Ned was still weighing the promise of Jenny's wrath against the insistence of his conscience when Nancy and Bill came out, followed closely by an unsmiling Bess. "Come home with me," Bill said, but he wasn't begging, not yet. And, Ned was pretty sure, not ever.

"It's just a few drinks with Bess," Nancy said, just as stubbornly.

While their fight continued, Bess sidled up to Ned, a glowing smile suddenly on her face. "Look, you don't have to say you're interested, and there are absolutely no strings attached to this, but give me your number, and if any opportunities come up..." She shrugged elegantly, and despite himself Ned's gaze was drawn to the way the light shifted and reflected from her top with the movement. Then he jerked his gaze back up to her face, but from the look there, Bess had seen his lapse, and so had Jenny.

"I... don't know..."

Jenny was tapping her foot. "Five seconds," she said warningly.

Ned snapped, his face flushing as he turned back to Bess. "Five five five oh two seven three," he said, and Bess groped in her purse for her cell phone, her lips moving as she repeated the numbers.

Jenny's face was flushed as well. "Fine. You can come by and pick your shit up in the morning," she said, her voice rising, and swung into the cab, slamming the door behind her. Ned immediately took a step toward her, but the cab pulled off, and he was left staring after her.

"I need to go after her," Ned said, in a monotone.

"Yeah," Bess agreed, and hooked her arm through his. "But if you give her a few hours, she'll cool off."

Ned shot a disbelieving look at her, and she flashed him a brilliant smile in return, which made him laugh. "No, she won't," Ned said, but not without humor. "And the longer it is that I wait, the more convinced she's going to be that I was cheating on her. Probably with you."

"Was that a proposition, Mr. Nickerson?" Bess said, fluttering her eyelashes madly.

"As pretty as you are, no," Ned said, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "God, I hate it when she gets like this."

"Does she get like this often?"

Ned had been keeping an eye on Nancy and Bill, whose conversation had become a series of urgent, sometimes sharp whispers. Now she pushed him away, and he stumbled on the cracked sidewalk, his eyes starting to glow with rage. Ned had a sudden surreal vision of Bill suffused in green, tearing his tuxedo jacket in half with football-sized fists, and let out a choked laugh.

"You think I don't know? Why don't I call them right now and find out how much you've spent this month?" Nancy took out her own cell phone, skillfully maneuvering out of his grasp when he lunged for her.

"If you weren't such a frigid bitch latelyã"

A crowd had formed around them, the other couples waiting for cabs, knots of friends giggling together, and as one they sucked in a swift gasp, eyes wide. Nancy reeled back and slapped him hard in the face, and he rebounded off a parked car, setting off the alarm, which was ear-piercingly loud.

"Slut," Nancy shot back, panting, as Bill held his cheek in his cupped palm.

"It's okay, they do this all the time," Bess said reassuringly. Ned had forgotten she was there, and he glanced down at her quickly before returning to the drama in front of them. Bess was smiling, but that worried expression had come back into her eyes.

"You'll be back crying in the morning, like always," Bill sneered, hailing his own cab.

"Yeah, just make sure you hide all the evidence first," she replied, slamming the door behind him. "Asshole!"

Bess smiled when Nancy stumbled over, still muttering under her breath, and linked their arms. "Ned, coming?" she asked with a smile.

Ned chuckled. "How can I miss the rest of this?"

"You can't," Bess said, mock haughtily. "And I'm sorry about what I said back there." She held her arm out for him to take in his own, so that they could walk abreast. "If you want to make her happy, send her flowers in the morning. On the other hand, if you're getting sick of putting up with her bullshit, I will be more than happy to come over and answer your door for her in one of your shirts. I can rock a button-down Oxford like you wouldn't believe."

On Bess's other side, Nancy was barely bothering to hide her laughter, but every few steps she was still stumbling a little. "Her middle name is 'Homewrecker,'" Nancy said, then laughed until she couldn't breathe.

"You're a riot," Bess said dryly. "Speaking of, what the hell was that back there? Other than Bucky making the usual ass of himself."

Nancy shrugged, her expression clouding. "He's just mad because Frank and Joe are coming in tomorrow and he knew he wouldn't be getting any for a while."

Ned had to concentrate to keep his gaze on something other than her. Streetlights, graffiti, mailboxes. "Frank and Joe?"

"Yeah," Nancy said. "Um, I just want to say I'm sorry about the little stunt Bess and I pulled back there."

"What stunt?"

"Well..."

Bess sighed. "You get one chance on this, Lancelot," she said. "Go home and call your girlfriend, tell her you love her and you're really sorry, you didn't mean to make her upset, you're going to make it up to her, you'll give her tonight to cool off and you'll call her in the morning. Then you turn your cell phone off and catch a cab to Paradise, if you want to help us track down the guys who caught that hangar on fire while Nancy was inside."

"Basically," Nancy chimed in, nodding. "Couldn't have put it better myself."

"So you were actually trying to piss my girlfriend off?"

"She seemed like the jealous type," Nancy said, catching his gaze and holding it. "And if you want to walk away, you can. I have some other contacts I can get this from. But you already have an in."

"Everything you said back there..."

Bess tugged on his arm. "Oh, stop it. It's not like anything we said was a lie. And all Bill does is try to keep Nancy from doing this," she said, shooting Nancy a glare. Nancy ducked her head, concentrating on her shoes.

Ned sighed. "Does this actually mean I'm going to help you?" he asked, his eyes lighting up a little.

"Yes," Nancy said seriously. "We'll need all the help we can get. But, like I said, you really don't have to do this."

"Yeah I do," Ned said, holding her gaze.

Jenny was harder to calm down than he had anticipated, and as soon as he hung up the phone he ordered her a dozen roses, to be delivered when she woke up in the morning. Then he grabbed his jacket and keys and headed out again, feeling elated.

Nancy was sitting at the edge of the bar, in front of a video blackjack screen. Three empty Pilsner glasses stood beside her elbow, along with a pile of quarters and a few empty peanut hulls. She fed quarters into the machine and pressed the command buttons with equal abandon, unaffected when she lost or won. He watched her go through the cycle a few times before he touched her shoulder, and she startled, her face pale when she turned.

"God," she panted, her blue eyes wide.

"Sorry," Ned said, sliding onto the barstool next to hers. "Did Bess decide to skip this?"

Nancy shrugged, color slowly coming back into her cheeks. "She ran into someone she knew from high school," she replied, and the way she rolled her eyes answered the next question more eloquently than anything else.

"Well, if it's just the two of us, what you said back there..."

Nancy quickly motioned to the bartender for another round, including him, and then leaned forward, catching and holding his gaze hard. "Why have you been telling everyone it was that other guy?"

Ned shrugged. "He's bucking for a promotion," he explained. "I'm not. I don't want to sit behind a desk the rest of my life."

"But you told him... so he could cover his ass."

Ned accepted his beer with a nod of thanks. "I told him I walked in, found you in the back disoriented from the smoke, and a can of accelerant near the flames."

Nancy nodded, and then her gaze was somewhere over his shoulder, just as Bess bumped against him. "Hey stranger," she drawled, chewing on a straw. "You know, if you stick around, I might have to move up my date in the pool for how quickly we're going to shoot Bill's blood pressure to some dangerously high spike."

"Is that your plan?"

"One of them," Bess shrugged, then raised an eyebrow at Nancy. "So what's the strategy, fearless leader? Or are we going to wait for the big strong boys to show up before we make any decisions."

"What are you trying to say?" Ned shot back, chuckling.

"And here I was thinking you were secure in your masculinity," Bess said, rolling her eyes. "Come on, you two. To the couches."

Once they settled down Nancy scooped up her heavy hair and twisted it efficiently into a messy ponytail. Her skin was pale and still gleaming a little, and he forgot himself as he let his gaze trail over her in the grainy light. The length of a purple bruise showed dusky against her collarbone, half obliterated by the shadow of her necklace, and when she started to cross her legs, she grimaced a little and quickly put both feet back on the floor.

He had almost given up on Bess's advice at the last minute, had almost broken down and asked if he could come over to Jenny's place, make it all up to her. He was glad again that he hadn't, no matter how much sucking up he might have to do to make up for tonight.

"See, now you look like her," he said, his voice pitched low as he gazed at her.

"Who?" Nancy said, already knowing the answer.

"Nancy Drew. Not Nancy Austin."

Nancy and Bess shared an exasperated look. "Let me guess. Was it the Morning Record? Dammit, I'll tell Frank to hack in tomorrow and make sure it's changed for good this time."

"Why does it matter?"

Bess jumped in before Nancy could. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to make up a secret identity after the fact?"

"Secret..." Ned glanced back and forth between the two of them. "What, you're really Super Girl?"

"Secret identity is the wrong word," Nancy put in, glaring at Bess. "Cover identity. Enough people see me as Nancy Austin, they think I'm harmless."

"You mean, put your hair up and put on glasses and you're someone else?" Ned scoffed.

"Worked for Clark Kent," Bess pointed out.

"In a comic book," Ned replied.

Nancy had her head tilted. "How did you even know? That story's years old."

"Jenny went to elementary school with you," Ned admitted, ducking his head. "Didn't you recognize her?"

Nancy shrugged. "People change a lot," she said quietly. She pushed her bracelets up her forearm and rubbed at her left wrist absently. Ned's gaze followed the movement and he saw the circle of tender flesh there, blistered from the heat, irritated from the continual cut of the handcuff.

What the fuck happened to you in there, he wanted to say, and it was all he could do to return his attention to Bess when she started talking.

"So what is Ned here for, exactly? Come to think of it, why are we here?"

"Because Ned can look up the name that hangar was leased under," Nancy said, covering her injured wrist with her other hand as she leaned forward. "Ned can find out where they've set up shop for now. And we can take them down."