3 MONTHS LATER

It was an early Sunday morning when Frank woke up. It was still dark outside and he didn't feel like getting up. Still, no matter how much he tried to get back to sleep, it didn't seem to work; he was wide awake.

He thought about the last three months. They hadn't heard a word from Joe and Frank was losing his hope. He had tried to stay busy for the summer, spending most of his time with Callie. Even though he and Callie had been dating for a long time, he felt more close to her now than ever. She had become his new best friend since Joe was gone.

He could also see that the time they were spending together was doing Callie a world of good. She was in a much better mood than usual and they weren't arguing as much as they had in the past.

Frank got up and went to the bathroom to wake himself up. He could hear that his father was already up and was making coffee downstairs. Smelling the coffee made Frank rush downstairs. Today was Frank's 19th birthday.

Soon after Joe had run away, Fenton had told Frank about the time he himself ran away. Laura had insisted on that and Fenton was glad he did. Frank had eased up and him and seemed more acceptable to the fact that they weren't going to look for Joe. It still hadn't stopped Frank from asking around but that hadn't turned up anything.

"Morning, dad," Frank said, as walked into the kitchen.

"Morning son! And happy birthday! How does it feel to be nineteen?"

"Nothing different than being eighteen. How is our schedule for to day? Any mysteries that need to be solved?"

"No, I don't believe so. Then again, you never know what might jump up. Are you going to see Tony and Biff today?"

"Yes. I am going to stop by Biff's house later on. He will kill me if I drop by so early; he likes to sleep late on Sundays."

"What about you, Frank? Didn't you like to sleep in?"

"I couldn't sleep any longer," Frank said.

"That's too bad. Want some breakfast?"

"Yes, I am starving."

Frank sat down and picked up the morning paper.

"Any thing in the paper today, Frank?"

"Well, there were three more homicides in New York last night," Frank said, without looking at his father.

"It will be alright son," Fenton said, as he gave Frank a big birthday hug. "Joe will be back," he said to himself, "We just need to give him some space."

"I hope so to dad. It's just I miss him." Frank closed the paper and took the cup of coffee from his dad.

"I do to son. But while he is gone, we should try to life our life's the best we can."

"Maybe we could just give Con a call, see if he's heard anything? Just in case." Frank said hoping his father wouldn't take it the wrong way. Fenton just smiled.

"I already have Frank. I call him every morning."

***

Joe also woke up early that morning. He knew what day it was- Frank's birthday. Brushing his teeth Joe looked at his reflection in the mirror. He had dark spots under his eyes and his skin felt rough. He looked like he'd aged five years for the past three months. He took a step back so he could see more in the mirror. He had also lost a lot of weight. Since Joe was renting this one bedroom apartment he had to be very careful to save his money for rent. Therefore, he had cut down on food. He was only eating one meal a day and that usually consisted of soup and bread. Hamburgers only came on Sundays.

Joe almost jumped as a huge cockroach crawled up from the sink. He hated cockroaches more than anything. He could almost tolerate the rats that ran across the floor at night, but the cockroaches always made him scream. Grabbing his jacket he ran out side.

"Maybe I'll give Frank a call to day and wish him a happy birthday. This must have been really hard on him, and I miss him a lot," Joe thought to himself as he put his jacket on and went outside.

He had begun to know New York pretty well for the last three months. He had found an ad in the paper from and elderly women looking for an assistant. So every morning he went over to her house, his job consisted of cleaning and shopping. The pay wasn't much but it kept him from starving. The rest of the day he spent walking around New York. His favourite route led him across Central Park. He liked watching people go on their days. Sometimes, he even saw familiar faces. This one guy always walked through the park around 3pm. He was funny looking guy. He always had the same suit on and Joe used to wonder if he ever changed. The guy looked like he'd lost something rolling around every rock he could see, on his same route every day.

After Central Park it was time for dinner. He went to this local coffee house. It was really cheap and Joe was getting along with the waitress there. Sometimes she even gave him a free cup of coffee after his soup.
The rest of the day Joe usually spent at the library.

"Funny" Joe thought "I ran away in the first place because I didn't feel like spending the summer reading books and that's exactly what I'm doing."

But that day it was different. He was going to celebrate Frank's birthday even though he couldn't share it with him.

"Time for that call now," Joe thought and walked to the next payphone. He was so excited to hear his brother's voice again. They had never been a part for so long before.

***

Back home Frank and some of his friends were sitting in the living room at the Hardy home.

Laura had made them lots of goodies to eat and was constantly running to the living room bringing them more coffee or juice.

"Do you remember when Frank was about ten years old and decided that he wanted to become a vet?" Biff said, and the rest of the crowd broke out in laughter.

"That didn't last long when he realised that he was terrified of all animals bigger than a cat!" Chet added.

"Very funny, you guys. Now can we stop telling some old embarrassing story's about my childhood, especially since my girlfriend is sitting here, listening to every single word you say!" Frank said, blushing.

"Sure thing, sport. We will try to behave," Tony said, laughing.

Their conversation was interrupted by the phone ringing. Frank got up to answer.

"Hardy residence. This is Frank speaking."

"Frank, is that really you?" Frank could feel his heart skipping a beat as he heard his brother's voice.

"Joe?" Laura froze when she heard who was on the phone and Fenton walked to where Frank was standing to put the speaker on.

"Yes, it's me. I just wanted to call and wish you a happy birthday."

"Where the hell are you?"

"Please, Frank, don't ask me that."

"Well, are you all right?"

"Yes I am fine. I lost a lot of weight but I could afford that. How is everyone?" Joe asked.

"Everyone is fine. Actually, we are all here; mom and dad, Tony, Biff and the rest of the gang."

"That's good, give everyone my love."

"Joe, when are you coming home?"

"I don't know that. I'm kind of taking this one day at a time if you know what I mean."

"No, I don't know that you mean! And to be frank, I don't realise what you are doing. Do you have any idea what you have put us through for the past three months? What you put mom through?" Frank was letting out all his rage.

"I have thought about that, Frank. I know that this hasn't been easy for any of you. Can you give mom and Vanessa my love, please? I have to go now."

"Joe, no wait…."

Joe had hung up the phone before Frank could say any more.

"At least we know that he's alright now," Fenton said looking at the caller i.d. he had gotten in case Joe would ever call. "And we also know that he is in New York."

"You got the number?" Frank asked, exited.

"Yes I did, I will call Con and see if he can get a location," Fenton said, and walked to his office to make that phone call.

Frank, on the other hand, returned to his guests who were sitting on the couch in a sheer shock. Everybody wanted to know what Joe had said, whether or not he was ok. Frank assured them that Joe was fine and there was nothing to be worried about.

Deciding to put the subject aside they started to discuss their plans for that day.

Biff and Tony had planed to take Frank out for a big steak dinner while the girls would decorate the Hardy house for a surprise party.

"Frank, we are going to pick you up at six o'clock for dinner so you be ready ok?" Tony said, while putting on his jacket.

"Yes, sure. I wouldn't miss this for the world. I have been really looking forward to this dinner you know that I love the steaks at Hubba's." Frank tried to be brave for the sake of his friends but the last thing he wanted to do right now was going out for dinner. He knew though that he couldn't put his life on hold, not even for Joe.

"We know. Why do you think we are taking you there?" Biff said, laughing.

The kids got up and walked to the door saying a short goodbye to Fenton and Laura before taking off. After seeing his friends off, Frank walked to his father's office only to find him sitting at his desk staring out the window.

"What did Con say?"

"It's a pay phone in Central Park." Fenton answered.

"My gut instinct is to rush over there and look for him." Frank confessed.

"Mine too." Fenton said staring at the phone while holding the number in his hand. "Do you think anyone will answer?" Fenton looked at Frank.

"Don't think that's likely. Maybe we should concentrate on something else." Frank suggested.

"Well what do you have in mind?" Fenton took his eyes of the phone and put the piece of paper with the phone number into the top drawer.

"What are you working on right now?"

"My new case, police brutality." Fenton replayed.

"Not here in Bayport?" Frank asked.

"No in the big cities. My friend Gregory Backers called me last week. We were high school buddies and have always tried to keep in touch. Anyway, Greg is a lawyer in New York and he is defending a client who got beaten up by the police pretty badly when he was arrested. Greg wants me to look into it; maybe even go undercover at that presentation to gather some evidence about the way they do business."

"Although I don't hold much sympathy toward criminals, this is no way to treat them," Frank said. "What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?" Fenton smiled and looked at his older boy.

"When did you come to be so dramatic Frank?"

"I don't know, in second grade maybe." Frank said returning his father's smile. "I am going to call Callie and see if she might want to take walk or something. See you later."

When Frank was gone Fenton opened the drawer again and picked out the paper.

"Please Joseph come home. I don't know how much longer we can take this. I'm so sorry for what I did. Please forgive me and come home. And soon I'm scared."

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow them without express permission of the authors.