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She didn’t know what family was until she ran into the Hardy brothers. Quite literally, she will add. Sixteen years old, contemplating suicide as she wandered the streets, only to knock right into Joe, who had been chasing after a petty pocket thief. He ended up enlisting her help, and they uncovered a pretty intense investigation, and Frank was brought in to help. Somehow, the three of them worked well together, even if Taylor thought they were crazy, this other sixteen year old and his fifteen year old brother playing detective like it was something they did on a daily basis.
When the case was over and done with, and the bad guys properly arrested, the Hardys extended Taylor an invitation to Bayport with them. They were staying with their parents in the city, they replied, and their aunt would love to have someone else to feed and lecture, and their mother would be pleased to have a girl in the house she could give wisdom to. And their father, of course, would be intrigued by her, as she showed a lot of promise as a detective herself.
Seeing as Taylor was practically an emancipated minor by this point, she saw no harm in following the Hardy family back to the quaint little seaside town. She figured she would stay for a few weeks at least before moving on.
But she never did.
The Hardys had welcomed her into the family like it was something they did all the time. Laura was the first mother figure Taylor had in her life that was…actually a mother. Not some chain smoking bitch who only cared about the foster care checks, nor some prim and proper woman who had strict rules and denied her food if she prayed wrong. Laura was kind to her, spoke to her with genuine warmth and affection in her tone, and even gently touched her in a way that showed a real mother’s love.
Trudy was the brisk aunt who always needed to have the last word, but she gave good advise and she seemed to truly love cooking, and definitely enjoyed feeding people with the food she made. The first meal she made when Taylor was living at their house, she even slipped the brunette seconds, saying something about putting some meat on Taylor’s bones, but smiling when Taylor actually ate.
Fenton ended up establishing his pet project, which turned into a pretty big thing. American Teens Against Crime, or A.T.A.C for short – something she and Joe made vicious puns for for weeks – was like a James Bond set up but for teenagers. Frank, Joe and Taylor were the first teenagers who were sworn in, and the training began. She actually learned things that were useful, like how to fight properly, how to administer first aid, from minor things to major injuries, learned languages and disguises and accents. She even learned how to work with weapons, though the trainers did seem a bit concerned by how overzealous she was, especially where the guns were concerned.
But it was Frank and Joe themselves who seemed to impact her the most.
First off, Joe was the adorable “little brother” to pretty much everyone. Their senses of humor were very similar, and they wrestled a lot with each other, especially after A.T.A.C was funded and they needed to practice sparring. Their most essential bonding moment was having a belching contest with each other, as Frank looked on in mild disgust and horror. They bingewatched movies together, they played video games together, they even played sports together, usually one on one basketball games in the driveway or in the park, or getting the gang together for a game of baseball. They were the bottomless pits of the house, and some of their snacking experiments were very…interesting.
Frank was almost polar opposite of Joe. He was steadier, calmer – most of the time – and he was good for more quiet activities, like reading books or just listening to some music. Their tastes in genre were similar, and they could debate on theories and characters for hours. They were both incredibly sarcastic when the situation called for it, but sometimes late at night during the summer, they could be found sitting on the roof of the house, watching the stars and talking about life in general. Frank became her confidant, and Taylor in turn became his. They formed a special kind of bond, something that didn’t need explaining, something they just wordlessly understood.
The Hardys accepted her as she was. They helped her break down some of the walls she had brought up around herself, taught her that trusting other people was actually nice, most of the time. They helped her get into school again, helped her keep her grades up, helped introduce herself to their friends. And after the day came when she had planned to leave, Taylor found herself scrapping the idea and deciding to stay.
As the years went by, as they grew together and matured – kind of – together, Taylor knew that finally she had found her family. She finally understood the meaning of the word, finally felt like she belonged here, with these people, in this town. She still had a lot of wanderlust – and A.T.A.C sending them elsewhere on missions definitely helped with that – but this time she finally had somewhere to return to, when seeing the sights began to numb her, when the idea of briefly meeting new people began to feel like a chore. She didn’t have to drift on aimlessly. She had a home to return to, a “mother” to hug and greet her at the door asking how her day was. An “aunt” to offer her a snack after school, but also gave her plenty of lectures about motorcycle safety. A “father” to teach her new things, who looked at her with pride. And a pair of “brothers”, who made her laugh, who surprised her with hugs when she least expected them, who protected her wholly and with the intense ferocity of mother lions protecting their cubs.
Frank and Joe were her boys. It was like the Universe knew that, had done everything in its power to bring them together. The “Golden Trio of A.T.A.C”, a dynamic unique to the three of them that somehow worked. They were meant to be together, like this. From battling baddies in video games to baddies in real life, they always had each others’ backs. There was no one she loved more, she decided, than her boys.
(*)
Summer was fast approaching, and to kick off the end of the school year, A.T.A.C had sent them a disc with their mission on it. Some kind of worries over an eco terrorist in the desert, and since it would take at least a week, maybe a week and a half, to reach the camp, Frank and Joe were all for sightseeing along the way. Frank wanted to see Mount Rushmore – fucking nerd – and Joe wanted to see The Thing – “It’s this Thing, in the desert, no one knows what it is, that’s why it’s so awesome” – and Taylor made it her own mission to find the best diner along the way. Greasy food, here they came!
Before they left, Laura and Trudy were giving them advice, making sure they had enough changes of clothing and money and food and gas for their bikes. Fenton checked their tires and some of their secret additions to the vehicles, to make sure they were in working order. All they had to do now was try to, y’know, escape the endless chatter of the overprotective adults.
“Come on guys, let’s get a quick selfie in,” Taylor said, holding up her phone and grinning. “I plan on taking lots of pictures during this ‘trip’ of ours.” Being careful about mentioning their missions was always a bit of a drag, since Laura and Trudy didn’t know their children were secret agents. It was a safety issue, Fenton had told them. For who’s safety, she wasn’t sure, but she didn’t try to question it.
“Of course you are,” Frank said dryly, wandering over to her, grey eyes sparking. “How did I know you were gonna say that?”
“Because you know me,” Taylor quipped, and Joe snickered.
“She’s got you there bro,” he remarked.
Frank just shook his head in fond exasperation before wrapping his arm around Taylor’s waist, drawing her to his side. “Alright. One picture. Then we gotta get going.”
“Alright!” Joe squeezed in on Taylor’s other side, over excitable blond puppy as he always was. “Everyone say, ‘road trip’!”
They did, and Taylor’s phone made a shutter noise as it captured the moment. They didn’t know what the mission entailed completely, and they weren’t sure how dangerous it was going to be. But for this one second, they could pretend that they were three rambunctious teenagers going on a cross country trip, just seeing the world and having fun.
It was what they did best, after all.