Gary and Fenton had worked together when Fenton was in the police force. Fenton had helped Gary out eight years ago when Gary had been wrongly accused of murdering his wife. As it turned out, his partner at that time had been secretly in love with Gary’s wife, Rosa, and had accidentally killed her when she didn’t want to be with him. In desperate act to save himself, he had made it look like Gary had walked in on them having sex and shot her. It had been a long investigation, but Fenton had eventually been able to clear Gary’s name. Now it was Gary’s turn to help Fenton.

The drive to New York took Fenton an hour longer than usual because of heavy traffic, but Fenton didn’t mind. He had a lot to think about.

The past three months Joe had been a missing had taken its toll on him. Although Frank and Laura had been understanding he still couldn't help feeling guilty. Eventhough he knew deep inside he had done the right thing not looking for Joe he worried that Joe might take it the wrong way. Like he didn't care.

"I have to talk to Joe. Just let him know why I didn't go after him. He has to know I love him. Maybe a good long vacation would do us all good," Fenton thought, deciding right away to discuss it with his family once he got back home and every thing had settled.

First he just needed to wrap this case up and clear Joe’s record.

When Fenton arrived at the police station it was close to three. Officer Mike watched as Fenton walked into the office and, for a moment, Fenton could see the look of defeat in his eyes. Deciding to ignore him, he rushed over to Gary and Davenport where they were waiting for him inside the Chief’s office.

Chief Brian Simons was in his mid fifty’s. He was a tall man with dark hair and green-blue eyes. As Fenton walked into his office, Chief Simons stood up and shook his hand. He offered them a seat and some coffee.

"Welcome! I’m Chief Simons and you must be Fenton Hardy."

Although the Chief never had the pleasure of meeting Fenton Hardy he had followed his career closely and had the highest respect for him.

"Yes, I’m Fenton Hardy and this is my lawyer Davenport and my friend Gary Smith," Fenton said.

"It’s very nice to meet you all. I must say, Mr. Hardy, I wish we had met under better circumstances. I have always admired you greatly," Chief Simons said. "Mr. Smith, I believe we have already met."

"We have. We worked on a drug bust three years ago if I remember correctly," Gary Smith said.

"That’s right! We nailed Harry Welch and his gang. It’s nice to meet you again," the chief said ,running his fingers trough his greasy hair. "Now, Mr. Hardy, I have been told that your son had some trouble with two of my officers."

"Please-- call me Fenton," he said. "Mr. Hardy makes me feel so old. But you were right about the reason we are here. My son was here yesterday and I needed to discuss a few things about his case and the way it was handled." Fenton told the chief the whole story. The chief took some notes and seemed very concerned.

"I’ve had a feeling about this but, until now, no one has been willing to talk. If I pursue this matter further, can I ensure your son will testify against them?" the chief asked Fenton.

"He will. Just get them off the streets and, by all means, get them off the force."

"Don’t worry, Mr. Hardy- Fenton- I will. This has been a problem for a while now. I know my station doesn’t have good reputation and I want to change that. I’m sorry to report that my predecessors didn’t do much to prevent acts like these. I only took over six months ago. There is a lot of work to be done around here."

Fenton and his friends said good-bye to the Chief and left the office. Chief Simons promised to keep Fenton informed of the investigation and Fenton thanked him.

Once outside, Fenton turned to Gary.

"Do you trust him?"

"Yes, I do Fenton. Brian Simons is a good man. He lost his first partner because of a crooked cop and he’s always made it very clear that he hates them. He will do anything in his power to stop them."

"But I wonder why he hasn’t done anything sooner?" Fenton opened the door to his car.

"You heard him. Up till now, no one has been willing to talk. They have all been too scared to."

"At least now he has someone willing to stand up to them. Joe has never been scared of bullies like that." Fenton smiled, thinking about his son.

"That’s the first step. It won’t be easy, Fenton, I have to warn you." Gary had seen these sort of things too often. "These men can be ruthless when it comes to silencing their victims."

"You don’t think they’ll come after Joe, do you?" Fenton turned around and looked back to the station.

"No, I don’t think they’ll dare to touch him. But they will try to incriminate him as much as they can. They will probably try to hold on to the silly drug charges."

"Do you think they really found that cocaine on my son?" Although Fenton truly believed his son would never do drugs, he had to ask.

"No, I don’t think he would. But then again, I would never have thought he would run away from home, either." Gary didn’t want to tell Fenton that it might be a possibility that Joe might have had those drugs on him.

"This is too much to handle," Fenton said, leaning back against his car. "I used to think I could handle everything: My job, my family, my life. Then something like this happens and you see that you don’t have everything under control."

"Nobody has everything under control Fenton. Who would want to?" Gary was trying to reassure his friend.

"I need to get back home." Fenton got in his car and started the engine. "Talk to you soon, Gary."

***

Back home at the Hardy house, Joe was sitting on his bed going through his c.d. collection. His wound was bothering him some and he reached for the medication the doctor had prescribed him. He looked at the bottle and read his name. For the first time in a long time Joe felt proud to be a Hardy. His experience in the past few months had really made him appreciate his life and his family. He realised now that for a long time he had taken them for granted. Joe pulled out a tablet and drained it down with some cola. He instantly felt better.

Frank walked into Joe’s room.

"What’s making you so happy, little brother?" Frank sat down on the bed next to Joe.

"It’s just so good to be back home, Frank."

"It’s good to have you back home," Frank replied, and Joe put his head on his shoulder.

Frank was surprised because Joe hadn’t done that since he was twelve. Welcoming the gesture, Frank gave him a bear hug.

"Promise me you will never to that again!"

"Oh I promise you that! Don’t you ever worry about that I will run away again," Joe said, letting out a small laugh. "I learned from that one."

"What you say we go and meet the girls now," Frank suggested, standing up. "I know you have a lot of explaining to do to everyone, but I think Vanessa comes first."

"You’re right. I need to talk to her. Does she know that I’m back?"

"No, no one does. We didn’t exactly have time to tell people when you called. Let’s go meet the gang. They will be so glad," Frank said, and walked to his room to change clothes.

When the boy’s were about to leave Fenton called them into his office. He filled them in on what had happened in New York.

"Chief Simons is going to keep us posted on what’s going on. My friend Gary says he is to be trusted," Fenton said, looking at Joe, and, at the same time, wondering. His biggest fear had always been that one of his sons would get into trouble with drugs. Up till now, he never had any reason to suspect that.

"But what about the drug charges?" Frank asked, as if he knew what his father was thinking. "Are they going to remain on Joe’s record?" Frank was concerned for his brother’s reputation. It wouldn’t be easy going through life with a criminal record, even if they were false.

"I have a meeting with the judge tomorrow. Joe, you need to come with me. Hopefully they will be dropped. Dr. Metz is going to write a report on Joe’s injuries. I think they will help us clarify his story."

"I will come with you, too," Frank said.

"Alright, Frank," Fenton said, and opened the door. "But would you mind giving me a few minutes with your brother?"

"All right," Frank said, confused. He had never been asked to leave the room before. He went to the hallway to wait for his brother.

"What’s up, dad?" Joe asked, expecting his father wanting to discuss his leaving.

"I don’t know how to ask this, Joseph, but I have to." Fenton said.

"Just ask, dad." This was unusual.

"Were those drugs yours?"

Joe didn’t believe his father had really asked him that.

"No!" he screamed so loud Frank could hear him in the hallway where he was still waiting. "How can you ask me that? Don’t you trust me?"

"I want to trust you Joseph!" Fenton tried to explain. "But I have to know. You’re my son and if you are in trouble I have to know."

"No, dad," Joe said, as calmly as he could. "Those drugs were not mine. They planted them on me to have some reason to hold me. I have never done drugs and I don’t plan to."

"Alright," Fenton said, staring at the carpet. "I believe you. I just needed to ask. Go and meet Vanessa. I will take care of this."

"Well you obviously don't trust me, otherwise you wouldn't have to ask" Joe was feeling hurt.

"I trust you Joe, but sometimes you get into trouble." Fenton tried to explain.

"I'm always getting into trouble dad but drugs?"

"I'm sorry Joe I shouldn't have asked you that. I do know you're smarter then that but with everything that has been going on I couldn't be sure. Now I am." Fenton tried to smile to calm Joe down.

"I have really made a mess out of this." Joe said. "I don't know what I was thinking when I ran away."

"Don't feel bad." Fenton said and put his arm on Joe's shoulder, "I know what you were going through and I don't blame you. I'm not saying you did the right thing by running away but since I did this myself when I was your age I really don't have any right to judge you."

"You ran away?" Joe said shocked.

"Yes I did." Fenton said and told Joe the story. Joe was stunned hearing his father talk about under what circumstances he himself had run away. "So you see that's why I didn't come looking for you. I knew this was something you needed to do on your own. I didn't want to make the same mistake my parent's made. I didn't want you to resent me for the rest of our lifes. Were you hurt that I didn't come looking for you?" Fenton finally asked.

"In a way I was." Joe said realising for the first time that he had been bummed out when no one came. "I thought you all forgot about me."

"We could never do that Joe." Fenton said and hugged his son. "We all love you Joe, you know that."

"I do now." Joe smiled.."