Joe was thrashing about with his good arm and trying to shake his hurt arm free of the sling. His eyes were still closed, but when his injured arm hit the bars on the side of his bed, his eyes flew opened and he yelled.

Joe was breathing rapidly and trying to sit up in his bed, when a nurse and doctor rushed in. They had heard his shouts from the hall.

“You’re okay now,” the doctor said softly. “Calm down and take a deep breath.”

Joe barely heard him. He had so many things running through his head he couldn’t focus on what the doctor was saying. He needed to figure out what all of this meant. Maybe it was part of what he couldn’t remember or maybe it was just a nightmare. He wasn’t so sure he wanted it to be true.

“Frank, talk to him and see if you can get him to respond,” the doctor was saying to Frank when Joe finally started to hear what was going on around him.

Joe turned to Frank but the movement made his arm hurt. A moan escaped his lips. Frank looked over at him, “Joe, look at me. Are you okay?”

Joe tried to clear his head and looked over towards Frank. “I’m okay. I just hurt.”

The doctor stepped up closer to Joe and checked him out. He carefully adjusted the sling so it was holding Joe’s arm correctly. “Are you awake now Joseph?” he asked.

“Yes. I’m okay now. I just had a dream,” Joe said quietly.

“I’ll give you something for the pain and to help you sleep,” the doctor said.

“NO!” Joe said quickly. He needed to talk to Frank, not sleep. And sleep wasn’t as comforting as he thought anyways.

“Joe, it’s okay. Take something for the pain and we can talk until you’re tired,” Frank said.

Joe sighed, “Fine, I’ll take something. Can I go home today, too?” he asked the doctor abruptly.

“Joe, I want to keep you one more night and make sure that you are on your way to healing. If you are okay tonight, then you can go home tomorrow. But you will have to take it easy in order to heal both your arm and your head,” he smiled kindly at Joe before he left. Just then, the nurse came in and gave Joe a shot.

When Frank and Joe were by themselves again, Joe said, “I had the most horrible nightmare. I was trying to get to a girl to help her, she needed help desperately, and I couldn’t get there. Someone was holding me back and then I got the awful feeling that it was just too late,” he shivered slightly. “I don’t remember having nightmares very often, this one was terrible.” Joe yawned and his eyes were beginning to close despite his efforts to keep them open. “So was tha’ somethin’ tha’ really hap…” he never finished his sentence as his eyes closed completely and he was asleep.

Frank’s heart was racing. “Of all the things for him to try to remember first, this had to be the worst. This is not going to be an easy conversation. It wasn’t easy the first time and it is not going to be any easier this time,” Frank thought. He wasn’t convinced that letting Joe out of the hospital tomorrow was a good idea given all of the things that could so easily set him back.

Fenton and Laura returned to the hospital while Joe was still asleep. Frank quietly let them know about Joe’s nightmare and the fact that Joe will need to stay one more night.

Dr. Bates entered the room then and said, “Well, the good news is that Frank can go home after I give him one last check. The bad news is that I want Joe to stay for one more night before he can home.” The relief at the last statement showed on Frank’s face.

After seeing the look on Frank’s face, Dr. Bates smiled and joked, “What Frank? Do you want me to keep Joe here longer? I thought you guys got along well.”

Joe stirred and caught the last bit of that statement. “We still get along well, don’t we?” he said sleepily.

Dr. Bates chuckled, “I was teasing Joe. You two look like the best of friends to me.”

Joe was relieved, he didn’t know what all he missed in the last year, and he would hate to have drifted apart from Frank and not know it.

Dr. Bates pulled the curtain around Frank and gave him one last check. He said as he reopened the curtain, “Frank can go home. He should leave the sling on for three days just to help protect his arm while it heals. I’ll submit his release paperwork, and the nurse will come in with a wheelchair to take him down soon.”

After the doctor left, Frank started getting dressed in the clothes his mom had brought him. Fenton said, “Boys, I want you to be very careful. I searched the car after your accident and found your cell phone, Joe that had the pictures from the stake out. I was able to identify both of the other men in the restaurant. They each had a record including grand theft and assault among many other things. Chief Collig already has the police on the alert for these guys.

Frank, you are going home with Mom and you will stay there with the alarm set. A police officer will be stationed in front of the house. Don’t get any ideas of going anywhere. You are not in any shape to follow up on clues or, more importantly, defend yourself.”

Joe had been listening with his eyes half shut. He really wished he could remember what had happened at the stakeout so they knew what was coming. His father turned to him then and said, “Same for you Joe. You are staying here, doing what the doctors tell you to do. There is already an officer stationed at the door here. If you remember anything at all about the case, call home. Let the officer outside your door know as well.

“I’m very serious Joe. Don’t get any ideas about doing anything on your own or leaving here before the doctor releases you. With your recent head injuries and then the car accident, you need to rest and give your memories a chance to come back.”

“Recent head injuries?” Joe asked. “I was hurt before the accident?”

Frank jumped in at this point, “You fainted at school and hit your head on the floor. You were checked out at the hospital, but they said you had a very hard head and would be fine.” Frank gave him a very condensed version to avoid the whole Iola topic again.

Just then the nurse arrived with the wheelchair and Frank and Laura said their goodbyes. Fenton settled down next to Joe and said, “Just rest. I’ll stay with you for awhile.” Joe’s eyes closed involuntarily and he was asleep again.

“The newspaper didn’t say the accident was fatal, Ron. I thought you said there was no way for them to survive that crash,” Lane said nervously. “You need to take care of that kid. I don’t want our chance at retirement screwed up because of a kid, even if it is one of Hardy’s kids.”

“I’ll take care of him,” Ron said gruffly. “I don’t want loose ends on this one either.”

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The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency 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 original characters without express permission of the authors.