Frank had enough time to familiarize himself with all the details of the investigation, hardly believe in having a brother and think of something to try and improve the situation. In fact, he thought about it so often that he got scolded at by his physics teacher who was dissatisfied with his best student being so inattentive and distracted during his lesson. The teacher’s remark made him realize than only by talking was it possible to get something from someone. And that was his decision – he couldn’t think of anything better than just come and make Joe listen, no matter how, but just talk to him. He hoped 4 days were enough for Joe to calm down and so Frank took his time to come to New York and visit the Owens after school.

Frank shifted from one foot to the other one as he stood patiently in front of the front door of the their house, breathing deeply to relax before the crucial point.

Moments later the door opened and he saw a woman, looking inquiringly at him, "Hello, may I help you?" she asked.

"Yes, my name is Frank Hardy and I would like to talk to Joe, if you don’t mind," Frank replied.

"Come in, I'm Mary Owen," the woman said and let him in. "Does he know you? Are you his friend?"

"Yes….kind of," Frank answered. Obviously Joe hadn’t told the Owens about everything that had happened to him some days ago. "Is he here?"

"He is in his room, that’s upstairs, the second room on the left. Will you be able to find it? You see, I'm cooking and I wouldn’t like anything to get burnt," Mrs. Owen smiled sheepishly.

"Don’t worry, I won’t get lost," receiving a nod in reply, Frank walked upstairs, doing his best to relax and calm down. Soon he was in front of the needed door. Frank swallowed hard, took a breathe in, crossed himself and knocked. "Hello….may I come in?" he asked as he peeped into the room, hoping he sounded calmer than he really felt inside.

Joe, who was sitting on his bed with a magazine in his hands, raised his head to look at his guest and instantly his face grew strained. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Um…mind if I come in first?"

Joe gave him a rather doubtful look, but nodded his head anyway. He put his magazine away and stood up, watching Frank with an unreadable expression on his face.

"I think you know why I came here," Frank started, closing the door behind himself.

"Then you’re just wasting your time."

"I somehow knew you’d say that," Frank chuckled and put his hands into his pockets. "Dunno, but it seemed to me you’d agree to listen to me."

"Frank, don’t. You’re not gonna get any sense out of it."

"Can I at least try?" Frank looked up at him.

"Was it your Dad who sent you here?" Joe asked, coming to the window and sitting down on the windowpane.

Frank shook his head, "No, it was my decision. He wouldn’t ask for anything like that. Believe it or not, but he doesn’t want to vex you."

"In any case…" Joe rubbed his pale forehead and winced as his fingers touched the injured place. "In any case whatever you say it won’t change anything."

"But will you let me tell you everything? You must know about it before judging, don’t you think? I swear when I finish, I‘ll go away and you’ll do whatever you want."

"Why should I believe you?"

"And why do I need to lie?"

"To probably justify Fenton."

"Do you really think I would justify anyone who gave his child away?"

"Frank, how-how can I know? I don’t know you, you don’t know me. I won’t be able to understand if you’re telling the truth or not…maybe you will tell the truth you know from your father, but I can’t know if what he told you is actually true."

"Joe, don’t make a fool of yourself. I know you thought about everything even more than I did, didn’t you? And if you did, you confronted all the facts. Do you really still think that you were given away?"

Joe didn’t have the answer to that question. Frank was right, he did think a lot about everything and the more he did the more confused he was getting.

"Listen," Frank mentally repeated everything he was going to say. "You were the second child, right? They wouldn’t have another kid after me and then give him away, pleading their inability to care about him, if they weren’t sure they needed him, would they? If you were the firstling, maybe, but…. Besides, those people who gave you to Paul, they were 30, Mom and Dad were barely 25 at that time…. Joe, you were kidnapped, Antoneskou wanted to take revenge on Dad, why don’t you want to understand that? Why do you think Antoneskou started to threaten you and Paul only when you came to the town where we live? Why did he want to…you know what?" before Joe could answer, he said it himself, "Not to let Dad find you. Think about it, it’s as clear as day."

Joe put his face into his hands, collecting his troubled thoughts. Frank only repeated his own suppositions he had been thinking about for the last several days. On one hand, his facts were quite cogent, but on the other if it weren’t Fenton and Laura, then who did give him to Paul? And even if Joe knew, would it really change anything?

"I kind of understand how you feel. You know, I got to know about…about you and me being…" Frank still couldn’t get used to that thought, "brothers only 4 days ago."

"But you didn’t lose your father 5 days ago, did you?" Joe asked, his voice wavering. "You didn’t see him being buried a day ago, did you?…." he was silent for some moments. "Frank….Frank, he was my father after all."

"I know…. I’m sorry, I-I can’t even imagine what it feels like…." Frank waited for some moment before going on. "I wish there was anything I could say that could make you feel better…."

Joe turned his head away and looked out of the window, "Don’t say anything then… Nothing or no one can bring him back…." he bit his lip. "I lost him…."

"You know, it seems to me that I’m loosing my father, too," Frank said seconds later and went to sit on the edge of the table. Before Joe could say anything, he continued, "He is very upset, he told only me about what had happened between the both of you 4 days ago, Mom doesn’t know anything…. Dad is very worried, he’s become so dispirited, so taciturn, so…so depressed since then. Your answer was a shock to him…. He really had been looking for you, waited for the day when you’d be found, hoped the family would be back together."

"Frank, don’t ask…"

"But you believe they’re not to blame, don’t you?" Frank asked him hopefully. "That it was only Antoneskou’s fault that it all happened?"

"I don’t know…." Joe sincerely replied. "I mean… you’re right, everything tallies, but I don’t know what to do with it…. I need time, I need proof…."

"There is abundant proof!"

"Frank…."

"How much time do you need? Just…"

"Frank, why are you doing this?" Joe stopped him and looked pleadingly at him.

"Why am I doing this?" Frank dumbly repeated and looked aside as if trying to find the answer written somewhere on the floor. "Well, there are many reasons, actually…. First of all, I don’t want to see my family falling apart, to see how Mom is always sad and quiet, how Dad is shutting everyone out, how everything is literally turning upside down. Then… then I want everything to be the way it should have been…. And thirdly…." Frank sighed and rubbed his chin, "thirdly I always wanted to have a brother," he finished quietly and looked into Joe’s haunted eyes.

Joe, unable to say anything to that, just lowered his head. It seemed so strange not only to realise he had a brother, but also to see him right in front of him and hear him, a person whom he didn’t know at all, say those words.

"Yes, you’re right," Frank said as if reading his mind, "we don’t even know each other…to say the least. But who knows, maybe in the course of time, some weeks, months, maybe years it will become better? I’m not saying we’ll become real brothers…." he quickly added, "maybe just friends? At least?" Frank was starting to feel it was a lost battle, he could barely get a word out of Joe and even if he managed to that, it still wasn’t what he needed. "Joe, no one expects you to pack your bags today, come back to us, start calling them Mom and Dad, we all know that everything can’t be ok straight away," Frank said, standing up and coming a bit closer to him. "But please, just don’t reject them."

Joe found no words to reply to that. Them. He wasn’t talking about himself.

"Just….Just maybe it’s worth trying?" Frank coaxed.

"Worth trying what?"

"Communicating, trying to get to know each other, spending time together, you name it…. We’re a family after all."

"A family…." Joe bitterly said and shook his head. "No, Frank, it’s your family, not mine…. I don’t have a family anymore."

"You will have it if you want it."

"All I want is for my father to be alive. At the moment I want nothing else. Only in this case I’ll have a family, he is….God, why am I still speaking of him in the present tense?" he asked himself. "He… he was-was my family…" he raised his eyes at Frank, "and I don’t want another one. I'd rather be alone than have another family."

"Don’t say so! You don’t even know what it’s like," Frank tried to persuade him. "Joe, this is difficult for all of us, yes, it’s much more difficult for you, no doubt. But it doesn’t change the fact that you do have a family. Think about it."

"I will," came the short reply. "I will think about it, in fact, all I’ve been doing lately was thinking about it… I will think, but I don’t promise anything else."

"At least may I ask you for one thing?"

"What?" Joe stood up from the windowpane and went to stand near the curtain.

"Call him. Just call and tell him you’re not angry with him and that you know he hadn’t given you away. You can’t imagine how much it will mean to him…. Please? Let it be the first step. It’ll be easier after that."

"Gosh, how do you know what it’ll be like after that?" Joe asked somewhat derisively.

"I don’t, but…" Frank shrugged his shoulders, "but I wouldn’t come here and ask you for anything if I didn’t care. I just want everything to be ok."

"Frank, I want it too, but…."

"But you’re afraid? I was, too… At least I was when I was coming here. I just wanted to help, thought it would be good for everyone…. I know I won’t be able to bring your father back, but…but you had lost someone else long before that. As well as we had. And now you can bring them back. And they can get you back, too."

Joe stood silent for some moments, his fingers touching the silk of the curtain. He pretended to be busy just looking at the material, but his face showed deep thoughtfulness anyway. "Frank, how did it happen that he let him kidnap me?" he finally asked a long minute later. This question had been swirling in his mind for the last 4 days.

"He didn’t let him, he just couldn’t do anything. Antoneskou almost killed him when he tried to stop him. He’s not to blame. We’re all the victims of Antoneskou’s doing," Frank replied. "Do you believe me?"

"Dunno…. I mean, I do. Don’t know why, but I do… though it won’t change my decision."

"Which one?"

"I’m not going back. I doubt I ever will."

"Joe, it’s your home there."

"Frank, don’t start it again, I…I can’t do that, at least not now. I need time so I can think things through, understand everything, make some decisions."

"How much time?"

"Don’t know."

Frank sighed in defeat. "But will you just call them?" he asked hopefully.

"I’ll…I’ll think about it. Promise."

"Alright…But if…."

"Frank, when…if the time comes and I feel like coming to you, I won’t resist it… I’ll take the road that is destined for me. And if I must reunite with you some day, let it be. But I need time."

"You’re a fatalist?"

"Kind of," Joe gave out a quick waned smile.

"Well, at least I know something about you…" Frank smiled too. "Can I leave you my phone number? It’s in case you…Well, just…what if you need to call me one day and…."

Joe looked at him, studying his – no matter how odd it seemed to be – brother’s face. Why couldn’t he say no to him? Why didn’t he desperately want him away? Something deep inside answered all the questions, but yet he was not ready to think about it thoroughly. "Alright, give it to me," he finally agreed. As they exchanged numbers, an awkward silence filled the room. "Frank, I’m sorry," Joe said.

"What for?"

" I know you probably wanted more."

"Well…. At last I have something, not everything, but…" Frank chuckled. "It’s not that bad then."

"Perhaps you want me to come back, talk to your father and…. Maybe, just maybe one day….But not tonight. Not with you."

"I understand. In fact, I didn’t expect more…. May I tell you one thing?"

A knock on the door interrupted him. The door opened and they saw Mary Owen there, "Boys, the dinner’s ready. Frank, will you stay with us?"

Frank shook his head, "No, thank you, I must go. It’s going to be a long way back to Bayport and I can’t stay."

"That’s not too good," Mrs. Owen commented. "Anyway, Joey, come as soon as you can."

Joe nodded his head and watched her disappear.

"Ok, I'd better go then, don’t want to bother you anymore," Frank said. "Thanks for listening and understanding."

Joe nodded his head in reply, but remained silent. He watched as Frank went to the door and opened it when he remembered something, "Frank, what did you want to tell me before Mary interrupted you?"

"I…" Frank mustered all the courage he had to say the next words, "I wanted to say that I'm glad Dad found you," he said sincerely.

Joe felt dizzy. He wished he could say so too, but he his mind was too confused and baffled to tell him what he really thought about the situation and if he was glad about what was happening to him. "I…" he wanted to say something not to seem impolite, but what was there to say? "I hope everything will be alright. Tell Fenton I'm sorry for what happened back then."

"Maybe you should do it yourself?" Frank asked.

"Maybe I indeed should," Joe agreed, but added nothing else.

Frank shot the last glance at him and inwardly sighed. Fenton was right, it will be extremely difficult to get some sense out of Joe. But after all, he himself was right too, it was possible.

"Bye then," he said, watched Joe wave his hand and left, hoping it hadn’t been the last time he was able to talk to him.