Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

It was an agonizing four-hour wait for Fenton and Frank, they spent their time either sitting in the chairs, or pacing the waiting room. Frank, always the protector over the welfare of his younger brother, acted this way every time Joe was hurt or missing. Fenton, although no one could doubt that he loved and cared about his boys, it was unusual to have him display emotions. Sam Radley, although he was sitting quietly, was twiddling his thumbs, he looked over at Fenton, and fully well understood how he felt over his long association with the Hardys.

It was then that a tall, medium-build doctor came into the waiting room, he saw Fenton and Frank look up anxiously at him. "Mr. Hardy?" he asked. "I’m Dr. Dawson."

"Yes," Fenton replied, rising from his seat. "How is he?"

"I’m afraid your son is in critical condition," Dr. Dawson started, Fenton and Frank gasped. "Am I to understand, he received a majority of his injuries over a period of several days?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, he was kidnapped by serial killers, I have been investigating for several years," Fenton replied.

"Well, apparently they didn’t feed him, so he is somewhat malnourished, and has started to lose some weight, but not a lot, do he has a NG tube, so he can readjust easier to eating easier than with IV nutrients, he is also moderately dehydrated, partially because he has been throwing up due to the lack of food, and some of the beatings I suspect," Dr. Dawson paused to collect his thoughts, rarely has he seen someone so abused in his years of practice.

"Why was he taken to surgery doctor?" Fenton asked.

"Come with me, and I’ll show you," Dr. Dawson replied. He led them to an x-ray viewing room, and he pulled up what looked like a chest x-ray. "Joe as you can see here, two broken ribs on his left, and two on his right, one of them on his right, punctured his right lung, and we had to go in and repair it, but he developed pneumonia, before we got in there," Dr. Dawson explained, then continued. "There is also the question of his eye, we don’t know if that was damaged or not, we need to wait until the swelling goes down to access any damage, he is on medication for the swelling, the cut on his neck needed six stitched to close, but that was the biggest one, the others were basically nicks. He is on antibiotics, and painkillers, and I have him on a respirator for a day or two, depending on how much progress he makes with the pneumonia, it will help him breathe easier, and heal faster," the doctor explained.

"What’s his overall prognosis?" Fenton asked.

"Overall, I say he should recover, especially if there is no damage to his eye," the doctor replied. "Basically, it’s just a lot of bruises, abrasions, and rest."

Frank breathed a sigh of relief at that.

"Can we see him?" Frank asked, his voice just barely above a whisper, to keep his emotions in check.

"Yes, he’s in ICU, so only two at a time," Dr. Dawson said. "Follow me, I’ll take you to him."

Fenton and Frank followed Dr. Dawson up to the ICU floor and into Joe’s room, Frank gasped, he couldn’t believe his eyes, Joe’s right eye was covered, his neck had a bandage on it, where he saw the cut on his neck at the house, he had several IV’s and the respirator, he turned to the doctor. "Why does he have a heart monitor?" Frank asked, worried.

"It’s just a precaution," Dr. Dawson explained. "I think once the pneumonia clears up and his lung starts to heal, which it should, he will be fine, surgery went smoothly, and as long as there is no permanent damage done to the eye, he should be fine in a few days, he’s in the ICU so he could be closely monitored, he may be in a normal room, in a day or two."

Frank went over to sit in the chair beside Joe’s bed, sat down, and took his brother’s hand as carefully as he could without disturbing the IV’s. The right side of Joe’s face had been bandaged to cover his swollen eye and the various cuts he had on that side, he had a bandage on his neck, he looked pale, but Frank imagined, that was from the pneumonia, but his face was still slightly swollen where the bandages didn’t cover, although he had improved slightly from when he seen him last.

"Joe you’re safe now," Frank whispered through his tears, he felt his father’s hand on his shoulder, he looked up at him. "He has to make it Dad, he has to."

"He will son, he didn’t fight the Draven’s to lose now," Fenton comforted his oldest son.

Their vigil was interrupted by Sam walking into the room, he gasped when he saw Joe, but quickly composed himself, "Fenton, Con called, and he said he needed you to come down to the station, they are going to have an emergency hearing to keep the Draven’s from getting bail, and they need the evidence that you managed to locate," Sam explained.

"Okay, but I don’t want Frank alone, he’s a wreck until Joe shows signs of improving," Fenton whispered to Sam.

Sam nodded. "I called Biff, he should be any minute, you might want to warn him about Joe’s condition, he didn’t see Joe at the house," Sam cautioned.

Fenton nodded. "I’ll have to go home and tell Laura and Elizabeth before I go to the station, they will want to come," Fenton paused. "How am I going to explain this to Laura, she always worrying about the boys."

"Don’t worry Fenton, she’ll be all right, and Joe will be all right, you just have to keep telling her when she sees him," Sam tried to console his friend.

"Mr. Hardy, Sam called me to come over," Biff said as he walked down the hallway to where Sam and Fenton were standing in the ICU waiting room.

"Yes, I want you to keep Frank company, just sit with him, I have to run by home, and then the station to make sure the Draven’s don’t get out on bail, and thanks for helping earlier," Fenton said.

"No problem, I’ll do anything to help," Biff replied.

"I have to warn you, Joe’s condition is critical, and he looks pretty bad. I’ll explain on the way to his room," Fenton explained.

They walked towards Joe’s room, along the way Fenton explained what Dr. Dawson had told him, and what he saw when he was in there earlier, and telling him he would be back after his business at the police station was done. He then left, knowing he would have to explain to his wife and daughter, why he hadn’t called them yet.

Biff walked into Joe’s room, he couldn’t believe his eyes, he walked over to Frank and placed his hand on Frank’s shoulder. "How are you doing, buddy?" he asked, softly.

Frank turned toward Biff, "Hi Biff, why are you here?" he asked, not having realized that Biff walked into the room.

"Your Dad didn’t want you to be alone, and I can see why, how is he?" Biff asked.

"The doctor thinks he should be okay, but it’s so hard to see him look this bad," Frank replied.

"Don’t worry, Joe’s a fighter, he’s not one to give up without a fight," Biff tried to console his friend.

Before Frank could say anything, he thought he felt movement in the hand he was holding, he looked over at Joe, and saw his left eye open, looking at him.

"Joe, you’re awake, I missed you so much," Frank said, excitedly. Joe could only blink but it seemed to Frank, the feeling was mutual. He looked over at Biff.

"Hi, buddy, we’re all rooting for you," Biff said, Joe blinked his eye at Biff too.

"Joe, I’m so sorry, I should have been with you," Frank said, as fresh tears began to fall. Joe shook his head slightly, in protest to what Frank said. Then, Frank noticed Joe’s left eye getting heavy, "Joe, stay with me," Frank cried out, but Joe closed his eye again.

Biff ran out to find Dr. Dawson, a page went out for him, and Biff returned to the room, "Don’t worry, Frank, that means Joe is fighting," Biff said, trying to be encouraging.

Frank knew he was right, he also knew Joe would get better, no matter how long it took Joe would fight these injuries, and go back to be his normal self. Joe had a strong spirit to go along with his stubbornness.

Ten minutes later, Dr. Dawson came into the room. "Sorry, it took so long, I was just finishing up examining another patient. What’s wrong?" he asked.

"He woke up, but didn’t for long, what’s wrong?" Frank anxiously asked.

"Don’t worry, Frank, that is normal, the pain medication will help him through the worst of it, but it is all making him very sleepy, he is bound to do that, until the pain medication wears off, but I didn’t expect him to wake up this soon, that shows he’s improving at a much faster rate, but I still want him to rest. He has been through a lot," Dr. Dawson explained. "Did he recognize you?" he asked, curiously.

"Yes, he acknowledged both of us," Frank replied.

"That’s a good sigh that there isn’t any other damage other than what I told you, I don’t think he received blows to his head to cause more than a concussion," Dr. Dawson continued. "He should wake up in the next 24 hours, and if he continued to improve, I will remove the respirator."

"Thanks, doctor," Frank said, gratefully. His hope was coming back with the good news that his brother would get better and be off the respirator soon. Frank looked over at Biff, he could tell that when he came into the room, he was upset, but it seemed as though now, he was looking more confident as well.

"See what I told you, he’s fighting back from this," Biff said, encouragingly.

"I know, and for the first time, I believe it, now if only the Draven’s stay in jail, they’re bound to try to come after him again, or someone else," Frank paused. "Did they tell the police where there last victim was?"

"Yeah, they’re informing the family now, they killed him a month ago," Biff replied. "Alex is confessing to the whole thing right now, your Dad should know most of the details soon."

"To think, this all started when their Mother walked right in front of a car," Frank said. "I can only imagine how they feel, losing their Mom so young, but it was an accident, and look how many families they have made to suffer because of it."

"I know, remember John Bentley?" Biff asked.

Frank nodded. John Bentley was a kid they had grown up with, he had moved out of town last summer when his father was transferred to Washington, DC.

"He lost his Mother when he was five to an accident, his Dad misses her terrible, but he never went off the deep end, and he raised John in honor of her, and he got a scholarship to Yale after he graduates."

"I know, we used to talk at lunch sometimes, he barely remembered her, but he always felt that he knew her by the home movies he’s seen, and how his Dad describes her." Frank said. "Also, I think I recall Dad telling me that the defense tried to plead insanity when Dad finally caught up with their Dad."

"Speaking of Dad’s, how is your Dad taking this?" Biff asked. "I noticed him earlier, and he looked like he was going to break down." he observed.

"Yeah, he’s trying to stay strong for us all, he feels guilty that it took Joe being kidnapped to tie the Draven’s to the other kidnappings/murders."

"He shouldn’t, he can’t read the future, and you can’t either," Biff said to Frank.

"I know, but it’s still hard to know he went through so much pain," Frank paused to collect his thoughts. "We expect trouble on cases, and I know Joe knows he would get hurt playing sports, but this is something totally different. Dad isn’t to blame, those creeps are."

"If the Dad was so crazy, why was he convicted, why wasn’t he just sent to a mental institution?" Biff asked, curiously.

"His lawyer tried to argue it, but he was evaluated by four different psychologists, they all declared him fully aware of the consequences of his actions, they said, if he got counseling when his wife died, he would have never started this, it also may have had something to do with the fact his own Mother was killed by a car when he was young, except that was a case of hit-and-run, and the person was never caught," Frank explained.

"Still, to raise your children to have such hate," Biff said as he looked down at Joe. "It will never make sense to me."

"Me either," Frank said. "Dad even suspects, that their Father planned this all before he died."