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Published:
2021-11-05
Updated:
2021-12-27
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6/?
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Chapter 3: Building a Team

Summary:

I'm doing each episode from either Ace or Nancy's POV. Welcome to Ace World in 1 x 3

Chapter Text

Since becoming Bess's platanchor he was suddenly a confidant at all hours of the night. He felt oddly protective of this small, lost woman who clearly needed someone to talk to. As he was walking into the Claw this morning he found George desperately trying to clean the blood off the back steps. He glanced up into the furious, distressed face of his boss he was hit by a sudden realization. They all needed each other. Him, Bess, George, Nancy they were all pretty lost and isolated right now. They needed each other. "Stop staring Ace!" George hissed furiously. Suddenly a crack sounded overhead and buckets of water began to fall on them. 

"That'll help!" Ace called. 

He went into the empty store and filled a bucket with industrial soap and a splash of hydrogen peroxide and cold water. He went back outside and began to help the now soaked George continue scrubbing the caked on blood. George left out a dry laugh. "Okay okay Ace just dump the bucket over the stairs and let's go in" George said sounding resigned, but marginally better.

"Oh god Ace. That looks really bad!" a thirteen-year old Nancy said worriedly.

"Kicking out that window seemed like a good escape plan" Ace groaned struggling to sit up on the cold tile floor of Nancy's bathroom. 

"Well maybe next time just use your foot not your whole leg" Nancy said getting scissors and cutting up the side of his pants to his knee where a large glass shard was embedded just above his knee. 

"Duly noted" he grinned crookedly but then hissed in pain as Nancy put pressure on his leg. 

"Shh I know it hurts but you have to stay quiet alright?" Nancy whispered sliding her hand into his. He squeezed once but stayed quiet. Nancy grabbed a pair of purple tweezers and removed with difficulty the largest piece of glass. Ace grabbed her hand towel and gripped it tightly. 

"Oh" Nancy said surprised. He glanced over to see a blushing Nancy examining the wound. 

"What? You've cleaned blood off me before? Is there an alien in there this time?" he joked studying her face curiously. 

"No, it's...I just...it's nothing" she stammered trying to maintain a straight face as she plucked a small glass shard out of the wound. 

"Come on Drew. Fess up" he grinned despite the pain and poked her in the side. 

"You just....are growing leg hair okay?" Nancy said blushing deeper. 

"I've heard girls get that stuff too. You can show off for me when you get some" Ace teased but a light blush crossed his face. 

Nancy wrinkled her nose. "No that's weird. But hey next time you might be pulling glass from my leg" Nancy mused.

"What are friends for" Ace laughed. Nancy grinned holding up a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. 

Ace blanched. 

"George is extra prickly today" Nancy called walking swiftly into the kitchen ripping him back to the present. A distant part of his brain wondered if she had made up with Nick.

"She kicked a blood bucket. So the curse says she'll be dead within a year" he told her. 

"Wait you saw it?" Bess whispered. 

"Yeah. There's a lot of it. It'll ruin your morning" Ace said thinking of all the blood buckets he had kicked over the years that had been water. 

"Oh please. George doesn't believe in curses. It's the one thing we agree on" Nancy said reasonably. 

"Did you hear Sally J's bucket was blood?  I heard she started planning her funeral" Ace asked twelve year old Nancy as they sat on his hammock in a hidden corner of his yard. 

"Sally J just wants the attention. Pretty sure she said the same thing two years ago and she clearly lived through that curse" Nancy reminded him rolling her eyes on the word 'curse'. 

"Did you even put out a bucket?" Ace asked her knowingly. 

"Never do" Nancy said crossly. 

"Typical Drew" Ace laughed. 

"You probably put it out every year and actually fear death"  Nancy said knowingly. 

"I like believing" Ace said simply. 

Nancy smiled at him tenderly and he held her gaze, taking in her strawberry blond hair shining in the sunlight, her soft pale face cheeks just starting to pinken, and her lips shiny with her favorite new lip gloss and he felt something new and strange blossoming in his chest. He glanced away quickly, his pulse racing. 

"What?" Nancy asked giggling at the blush creeping across his face. 

An alarm sounded from his backyard, his dad's silent GET HOME NOW signal. For once he was relieved to go home. 

Knowing he couldn't hear him, Ace hopped down and took off running.

"Then she's probably worried about the nor'easter storm that's coming" Ace suggested pulling himself into the present again. 

"The locals tell tales" Ace added to Bess.

"Tales as in fictional stories" Nancy insisted. 

"Okay" Bess held up a hand placatingly. 

"About...how the nor'easter blows restless spirits ashore" Ace continued ignoring Nancy's protests meeting her determined blue eyes. 

"Oh dear" Bess fretted. The bell on the restaurant rang. 

"I'll get it" Nancy offered irritably. 

"Don't worry Bess. You got me now to watch out for you" Ace winked at her reassuringly. 

She gave him a small grateful smile. "Are these storms that common around here?" she asked. 

Ace opened his mouth to respond when he noticed the customer Nancy was serving. It was the District Attorney. He had many memories of Karen from Drew family parties, hanging out at Nancy's house. His Drew trouble sense stirred and he walked out of the kitchen. 

"You want Nick" he heard Nancy say sounding tired. 

"He's got a criminal record. We got the protective order lifted and uncovered a motive" Karen said as he walked over to where George stood. 

"So when they say juvenile records are sealed, guess they don't mean sealed sealed" Nancy sighed bitterly. 

"I know you didn't kill Tiffany. If you give me something on Nick, enough to take the interest off of you, your criminal charges go away. You don't want a felony conviction on your college applications, Nance" Karen said sincerely. Ace felt a lump in his throat at the thought of Nancy's carefully thought out plans being stolen from her. 

"I'll give you till the end of the day" Karen continued. Noticing all of us staring at her she straightened. "Stay safe everyone. Feels like a nor'easter spinning up" Karen said. They waited fifteen seconds after Karen exited the restaurant before George, Bess, and Ace all slipped into the booth across from Nancy. 

"The cops think Nick killed Tiffany?" George demanded. 

"She said motive. Something about his juvenile conviction?" he questioned his voice getting a little husky. Nancy met his protective gaze with a warning look. 

"Wait did he do something violent?" Bess asked. 

"Like how violent? Like assault, robbery?" George added. 

"Manslaughter?" Ace asked raising an eyebrow at her, his mind going to worst scenario. 

"Did he kill someone?" Bess gasped. 

"No, manslaughter's different" Nancy said slowly. 

"But he did kill someone?" Ace demanded, his gut twisting. Nancy always loves the bad boys, he thought ruefully. 

"I don't...have all the facts. He-he never told me what happened" Nancy replied shakily. 

"Okay we're missing the silver lining here. If Nick did kill Tiffany, we're all off the hooks as suspects" George said eagerly. 

"That's a little harsh" Nancy argued. 

"So? You get a clean slate, all my customers return, and then Bess can go back to being a carefree rich girl slumming it as a subpar waitress" George replied reasonably. 

"Ah. You said I was improving" Bess interjected. 

"Pretty low bar" George retorted. 

"What made the cops look at Nick?" Ace continued. Nancy glanced away and he could see her wheels spinning as her phone vibrated loudly. 

"Speak of the devil" Nancy muttered as she checked her phone. 

Ace watched her as she walked swiftly to the back of the restaurant. 

He hadn't spoken to her more than a few words in weeks but somehow they both ended up at Tommy Hart's birthday party. The drinks were flowing and so were the games. He grudgingly sat down for a game of spin the bottle/seven minutes in heaven. As they waited for each pair to return to the circle, he watched annoyed as Ken Biggs flirted heavy with a giggly 16 year old Nancy. 

Ken Biggs was one of the guys Ace hated. The guys who thought girls were just boobs to brag about. The guys who didn't take no for an answer. Ace's blood boiled as Ken ran a hand up her leg. 

"Nancy your turn" Stacey called as she plopped back down in the circle looking quite disheveled. 

Nancy smiled happily meeting Ken's eyes as she spun the bottle. It spun quickly, slowing until...it stopped on him. Ace's jaw dropped as he glanced across the circle at Nancy who looked equally shocked. 

"Oooh" the boys and girls all cheered as Ken looked rather sour. Ace headed to the closet without looking back to see if Nancy was following him. He walked into the closet and spun on his heel to see Nancy pulling the door shut. 

"Heyy Ace" she said uneasily. 

"Hey" he said shortly. 

"I was surprised to see you tonight" she offered. 

"Yeah I thought it would be more fun" he replied dryly. 

"Yeah this is not how I wanted this to go" Nancy sighed fiddling with her skirt. 

Ace narrowed his eyes at her. "Please tell me you weren't dreaming of kissing that jerk Biggs" he scoffed. 

Nancy flushed bright red. "You don't know him!" she hissed annoyed. 

"I do actually. He's a jerk and you deserve better than that Nance" he argued stepping forward. 

"Oh like Patrice Jenkins?"  Nancy argued stepping closer still. He blinked surprised. 

"So we made out a few times" Ace shrugged. 

"She...she's horrible"  Nancy stammered irritably. 

"She is but she owns that. Biggs on the other hand will get you alone and then paw at you like a rabid animal" Ace growled stepping closer so he towered over her. 

"I'm a big girl Ace" she growled crossing her arms over her chest sending a small electric spark along his chest. 

"I'm aware" he murmured inhaling softly as he realized how close they were standing. 

Nancy must have realized as well for she swallowed sharply. He stared down into her green eyes his heart thumping. 

THUMPTHUMP Ace stumbled backwards as Nancy whirled around and ripped open the door.

"Time's up Drew" Stacey grinned at her eagerly glancing past her to Ace who fought hard to control his blush. 

Nancy walked swiftly back to the circle but Ace walked out of the closet and fled the party. 

~

Ace stepped out of the smelly van as his phone rang. "Hey Nancy" he answered. 

"Hey Ace what's going on?" she asked. 

"Bess. She needs a place to crash" Ace said without preamble. 

"What's wrong with her aunt's place?" Nancy asked in his ear. 

"She's not...she's been staying in a van. Right now she's parked along Cherry Street but the van can't be moved. It's completely waterlogged and she can't live in it for a few days at least" Ace informed her trying to ignore the gaping questions he had himself when he discovered his best friends living situation. 

"She's living in a van?" Nancy repeated in surprise. 

"Nance she needs us. I'd offer my place but..." Ace trailed off thinking of the rocky environment he lives in. He never knew what would happen or what mood his father would be in. Sometimes he was kind and wise but most of the time he would be arguing with every thing Ace does. 

"It's okay Ace. Bess is growing on me. She can come crash with me" Nancy said softly in his ear. 

"Would you mind convincing her?" Ace asked shuffling his feet a little to warm up. 

"Cherry?" she sighed. 

"Thanks Drew. See you soon" he murmured. 

"Yeah yeah" she grumbled clicking off.