Frank opened his eyes, to a hospital room. He looked over, and saw his brother with an oxygen mask over his face. He moved his aching body over. His nose felt congested, and his head hurt. He reached for a tissue, and sneezed into it. "Great! What a perfect time for a cold!" he thought.

"Joe?" Frank whispered, leaning over him. "Joe?" he said again. Still no response. Frank felt a tear at the corner of his eye, but he quickly wiped it away when he heard footsteps coming towards the door. He looked over and saw Con Riley coming into the room.

"Con? What are you doing here?" Frank asked.

"The hospital called. What happened, what’s going on here?" Con demanded.

"I had fallen asleep…" Frank paused as he silently cursed himself for falling asleep. "I woke up when I heard sounds. That’s when I saw someone trying to strangle Joe."

"Who? Can you describe him?" Con asked.

Frank shook his head. "It happened so fast. He was dressed all in black and was wearing a skimask. I don’t even know how he got in here."

"Well, I intend to find out. Do you want me to call your parents?" Con asked.

"Not now, and tell the doctor not to tell them. We’re in the middle of an investigation and can’t afford anyone else getting hurt," Frank explained.

"I want a full explanation when this is cleared up," Con demanded.

"Don’t worry, you’ll get one," Frank promised.

Con nodded and left. Frank turned his attention back to his brother. "Joe…Joe please wake up," Frank pleaded.

Joe eyes fluttered and finally opened. "Wha….what happened," Joe quietly asked.

"You were stabbed by the killer," Frank explained, trying to be as gentle as possible.

"I felt all this pain when I entered that room, after that it’s a blank," Joe said, looking tiredly at his brother.

"Don’t worry about it," Frank told him.

Joe struggled to sit up. "Don’t move Joe, you need to let those wounds heal," Frank gently rebuked him. Joe sighed and sat back. Frank fidgeted for a minute, then sighed. "Brat, I’m sorry. I was trying to keep you safe, and I let you down." He blurted out. Joe opened his eyes, and gave his brother a murderous look.

"Frank…" he warned. "I don’t want to hear it…you’re talking nonsense again!" He smiled up at his brother. Frank started laughing. He gave Joe a quick hug, being careful not to hurt him further. He sat back, then, and watched his brother drift off to sleep. This time, he vowed to stay awake.

When Joe awoke the next morning he found Frank sitting in a chair next to his bed. To his surprise Frank was awake.

"Frank…did you really stay up all night?" Joe asked.

"After last night, there was no way I’d fall asleep," Frank replied, and then sneeed.

"Oh, oh…" said a nurse that had just bustled in with a breakfast tray for Joe. "Do I hear a cold coming on?" she asked. Frank’s response was to break into a coughing fit. The nurse shook her head, gave the tray to Joe, and beckoned for Frank to follow her. "Looks like it ‘s time to give you some cough syrup!" She gave Frank a mischivious grin, and laughed at the look on his face. "Don’t worry! It’s cherry!"

********************

An hour later, Joe was done eating, and Laura, Gertrude, Matt, and Fenton walked in. They all greeted Joe hapilly, glad that he was awake. Then, Joe asked,

"Where’s Jason?" Laura explained that Vanessa and Callie were taking care of him at the house.

"Mom, how is the adoption going for Jason?" Joe asked.

"They’re going fine so far. The judge is really going to consider a permanent adoption," Fenton happily replied.

"What about the twins?" Frank asked.

Laura’s face fell, and tears fell from her eyes. "They still won’t consider us as parents."

"Laura, I have an idea," Gertrude spoke up. Ever since she married Matt, her attitude towards Laura and the brothers had changed dramatically. She had become a kind, gentle person.

"What is it?" Fenton asked.

"Well, Matt and I discussed it. And we decided we would like to adopt the twins." Gertrude explained.

At first, everyone was shocked. Laura only cried more. She had wanted to be the ones to raise the twins, no one else. She ran out of the room, still crying. Fenton ran after her.

"Did I say something wrong?" Gertrude asked Frank.

"Mom really wanted to raise the girls as their mother. It’s hit her hard that the courts won’t let her," Frank explained.

"Maybe we should have waited to tell her what we were planning to do," Matt said remorsefully.

"How could you? How could stab mom in the back like that?" Joe demanded struggling to get out of his bed.

"Joe, calm down," Frank urged him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Gertrude’s eyes start to tear up.

"No, I won’t calm down. You saw it Frank. You saw how mom fell head over heels for those girls. You know how much she wants to adopt them!" Joe nearly shouted, but stopped himself when he realized he was still in a hospital.

Gertrude accepted Matt’s handkerchief. "Please, you must understand, we’re only doing what we think is best for the twins. We can’t let them be adopted by someone else, or end up in the foster care system," Gertrude tried to explain.

"Don’t try to reason your way out of it. I’m not listening to any of them because they’re all lame," Joe snapped.

"Joe…" Frank tried to say.

"Don’t try to cover for her Frank, I won’t listen," Joe snapped at him.

Gertrude and Matt left without another word. Frank didn’t know whether to yell at Joe, or agree with him. His heart nearly broke when he saw his mother in tears. Yet, he knew that the twins needed a good secure home. He sighed. They really didn’t need this now. With a murderer and a stalker on the loose they couldn’t afford a break in their concentration.

"Joe," Frank said.

"I won’t listen," Joe told him stubbornly..

"I know. We can’t worry about that now. We have to do something about that stalker before he hurts Jason," Frank said.

Joe instantly put aside his anger and looked at Frank. "Did you see anything after I collapsed?"

Frank shrugged, "Only what I could see through during the lighting and in the shadows."

"Did you see his face?" Joe asked.

"No. But he was strong, and stood shorter than me. He was really quick with that knife. He was following us from the start. He knew we’d chase him," Frank said.

Joe nodded, "And knew I’d take him down, if he hurt you."

Frank nodded and inwardly shuttered. Joe had nearly died trying to protect him. "Then as soon as you get out of here, we’re going back on the case."

"There’s no reason to say why we can’t work from here," Joe said.

"You really need to rest," Frank insisted.

"I can’t. We can’t. Not with that crazy killer out there," Joe replied.

The week that passed while Joe recovered in the hospital, passed by slowly, and bitterly. Laura refused to talk to Gertrude, and even once threw her and new husband out of the house. Frank could tell that Laura was severely heart broken, and didn’t know what it would take to get her speaking again. Joe’s wounds were healing very fast, much to the doctor’s amazement. Staci and Vanessa tried to smuggle Jason into the hospital room where Joe was staying, but the nurses caught them. Joe had to call Jason at home to ensure him that he was all right. It was Thursday night, when the brothers were going over the information they had gathered again.

"I keep going over and over this, and I still see two people," Joe remarked.

Frank tiredly rubbed his closed eyes. "Yeah. I know, but there’s got to be something here we missed."

"Do you mind if I turn on the news to get the scores?" Joe asked.

Frank shook his head, but didn’t look up from the papers on Joe’s table. Joe turned on the TV to the local news.

"Frank, look," Joe said, his eyes wide.

"Oh no, not again," Frank moaned.

"My God. He’s still killing," Joe remarked.

"And the body count is going to continue climbing until we can figure out who this guy is," Frank added.

"Well, I’m being released tonight. Do you want to talk to Jerry’s family tomorrow?" Joe asked.

"Yeah, let’s do that. We also have to go grocery shopping, Mom hasn’t been doing much except locking herself in her room," Frank told him.

"Has Dad done anything to help her?" Joe asked.

"Well, he’s taking her to a nice place on the beach in New England for a long weekend. They left this morning. She really needs to get away," Frank explained.

Joe nodded, "Yeah, let’s get going. I’m not staying here any longer."

They gathered up all their things. After Joe got dressed, and checked out, they left for home. When they arrived they had found that Staci and Vanessa had prepared a welcome home dinner of lasagna, salad, and home made rolls. Jason was excited to have his older brothers home. They ate while Jason told them how his week had gone. It would be a quiet evening at the Hardy home. Staci and Vanessa, along with Boomer, stayed again to help baby sit while the brothers investigated their cases.

The next day, Frank and Joe left for Jerry Muddles house, while the girls stayed to baby sit. They had left in the late afternoon, after playing games with Jason in the backyard. It was a long ride as Jerry lived in the northeast part of Bridgeport. The sky was already getting dark by the time the arrived at the house.

"Do you think they’ll talk to us?" Joe asked as the pulled up near the Muddles’ home.

"They have to we’ve got to get a break on this case," Frank replied as they walked up to the front door.

"Oh are they going to pay… They took my precious ones away from me… Now they’ll never love me," he remarked as he stared through the bushes into the living room of the Hardy home. He watched as the two girls played with Jason and the dog for awhile. Then the girl with the dog went out and walked him, and came back in a few minutes.

"Please Mr. Muddles, we need to talk. If we don’t find the killer more people are going to die," Joe practically begged.

The teary eyed man looked back at them, and finally nodded his head. He opened the door and they stepped inside. Mr. Muddles looked like he had been crying for days. His brown hear was a mess, and his brown eyes were bloodshot.

"Good that little brat is asleep upstairs. It won’t be a problem to get him," He thought as he watched Vanessa carry Jason upstairs. He walked towards the door as Vanessa disappeared upstairs. He easily picked the lock, and got in.

"Where does your son go to school at?" Frank asked.

"Bayport Community college. It was the only school around that had the courses he wanted," Mr. Muddles replied.

"What classes did he take?" Joe asked.

"Chemistry, Biology, English, and a computer programming course," Mrs. Muddles replied.

"Who did he have chemistry with?" Frank asked.

"A man named Richards," Mr. Muddles said. "Why?"

He silently made his way into the home through the back door. Boomer pricked up his ears. Staci had turned off the living room lights, so that she and Vanessa could watch the movie easier.

"Boomer, what’s wrong?" Staci asked, wondering what was wrong. She too sensed something was wrong.

Boomer began to growl. It was then that Staci saw the shadow appear on the wall. The shadow had a knife.

"Frank, we’ve got to get back to the house," Joe said. He knew now that they had to talk to Professor Richards.

Frank nodded. "Well, be back later, or we’ll send an officer. Right now, you’ve given us an important clue."

The brothers left the house and drove back towards Bayport.

The shadow came towards her lunging with the knife in his right hand. Boomer growled, and grabbed hold of the man’s wrist, chomping down and refusing to let go. The man screamed and moved his arm around trying to get Boomer to let go. Staci ran upstairs and told Jason to hide, and for Vanessa to get to her car and call the cops. They ran back down stairs.

Staci turned and saw the intruder take the knife into his left hand, and viciously stab Boomer in his side. Boomer yelped and let go.

"Boomer!" Staci yelled. She launched into a flying kick, slamming into the intruder’s back, knocking him away from her dog.

Vanessa ran out and frantically looked for her cell phone. Seeing it on the floor she dialed 911.

Joe had an uneasy feeling when they drove back home. For some reason it caused him to push the van to the speed limit. Frank said nothing. He too had the eerie feeling that something was wrong, and knew they had to get back to the house as soon as they could.

The intruder spun around slashing at Staci’s arm. She ignored the pain and countered with a kick to his stomach. Countering the move the intruder grabbed her leg, and ran the blade into it, causing her to scream in pain.

Vanessa turned around when she heard the scream and yelled into the phone, "Hurry, please hurry!"

Jason had come down. He didn’t want to hide; he only wanted get out of that house! The intruder saw him, and lunged after him.

"No!" Staci screamed. Staci ignored her pains and grabbed the intruder’s arm. He swung her around, viciously slamming her head into a wall. Staci’s eyes fluttered closed, and she blacked out.

Vanessa saw the intruder coming out, carrying a screaming Jason, with the bloodied knife at his throat. Vanessa tried to stop him. The attacker swung at her, causing her to lose her balance. She fell, hitting her head against the sidewalk. She was stunned. She watched in tears as the intruder threw Jason into a dark car, drove off.

Joe continued driving the van at a frantic pace. He could have sworn he broke every speed limit in getting to their house. Something inside him was telling him to get home, and to get home fast.

It was only ten minutes later when they did arrive at their house. Coming up their street, they saw a least half a dozen police cars on their street, all with their lights flashing. An ambulance was there, along with an officer from the ASPCA.

"Frank…" Joe said, but didn’t say anything else. They pulled up as close as they could and got out. Running towards their home, they saw paramedics carrying Staci on a stretcher from the front door. Her eyes were closed, and there was blood soaking through on her leg and arm.

"What’s going on here?" Frank demanded of the first officer he saw.

"You’ve got to calm down. Please," the officer replied.

"CALM DOWN!" Joe thundered, "WHAT IS GOING ON?"

"He got him," a tearful voice said behind him.

They brothers turned around and saw Vanessa looking back at them. She looked terrible. Her face was pale, and there was dirt on her clothes. She had a bandage around her upper arm, and was holding an ice pack to her forehead.

"Vanessa!" Joe shouted, grabbing hold of her.

"We…..we tried to stop him…please believe us," Vanessa begged, nearly hysterical.

"Stop who? Where’s Jason?" Frank demanded.

"He was kidnapped," Vanessa replied, she broke down in Joe’s arms. Joe hugged her close.

Frank ran over to Staci who was being loaded into the ambulance.

"How is she?" he asked the paramedic.

Staci opened her eyes. She was crying. "Frank…." She mumbled.

"Staci!" Frank shouted taking her hand.