Nurse Lenz arrived and took his pulse. “You need to stay as still as possible and give yourself time to heal,” she reprimanded him.

“I’m sorry,” Joe apologized. “I was trying to get comfortable.”

“I know it’s difficult,” she said, fluffing his pillow and adjusting the bed. “Can I get you anything? A drink of water, perhaps?” she offered.

“No, thank you,” Joe declined. “I think I’ll just take a nap.”

“That’s the best thing for you,” she approved. She switched off the light and closed the door as she left.

It wasn’t even a minute later that the door opened and someone slipped into the room, closing the door behind them. “Russ?” Joe asked in surprise.

Russell turned on the light and walked over to Joe’s bedside with an impish grin. “Sorry, I didn’t think about you being asleep,” he apologized.

“I wasn’t,” Joe admitted. “Not yet anyway.”

“I know you aren’t supposed to have visitors but when Frank said you had gotten hurt on your way home last night, I felt terrible,” Russ confessed.

“Why?” Joe asked, narrowing his eyes on his visitor. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Well, I kind of feel responsible anyway,” Russ explained as he continued his apology. “The brownies we had were made with grass but you didn’t know it.”

“Maybe laced with something else too?” Joe asked.

“Like what?” Russ asked, genuinely perplexed.

“LSD.”

“No way!” Russ shouted, forgetting he wasn’t supposed to be there. “That stuff is dangerous. I’d never do acid. Pete wouldn’t either.”

“Why did you give me the brownies when you knew what was in them?” Joe demanded, believing Russ about the LSD.

Russ shrugged. “We heard you had been in rehab and thought you might like to feel good for a change.”

“Marijuana doesn’t make you feel good,” Joe argued.

“Sure it does,” Russ objected.

“Not really,” Joe insisted. “Sure, you get high and forget your troubles and if you have enough, you might even have some hallucinations but it doesn’t last and then you just feel worse than you did to begin with.”

“I’m sorry,” Russ apologized looking miserable. “I didn’t mean any harm.”

“Where does Pete get the weed?” Joe asked. Russell looked hesitant. “Look, someone slipped me some acid yesterday,” Joe said, his blood pressure starting to rise drastically as he sat up straight. “Then they stabbed me. If you know who supplies Pete and Walter you had better tell me or you will be charged as an accessory to attempted murder.”

Joe groaned and fell back onto the bed as the monitor went wild. Russ took a step closer to Joe but was terrified when he saw Joe had lost consciousness. He turned around as the door opened and shoved his way past the nurse.

Nurse Lenz recovered quickly and rushed to Joe’s side. Seconds later, she hit the call button. “Code blue. Code blue,” she said. Minutes later, Joe was breathing but still unconscious.

“Sir, his bandage,” Nurse Lenz said. The doctor looked at Joe’s stomach where the bandage surrounding his abdomen was becoming soaked in blood.

“Contact his family,” the doctor ordered. “And have OR two ready.”

The nurse hurried out of the room to do as bid while Joe was transferred to a gurney and hustled down the hall and onto the elevator.

Russell watched in wide-eyed fright as Joe was rushed to the elevator then left, taking the stairs. Had Walter really been responsible for this? Did Pete know? Terrified, Russell hurried away from the hospital; running down the street wondering if his new friend was going to die.

***

Frank reached the front door as his parents were hurrying back out. “What’s wrong?” he demanded, seeing the pallor of his parents’ faces.

“They have taken Joe back into surgery,” Fenton said, pulling the front door shut.

The three Hardys reached the hospital in just under twenty minutes. “What happened?” Fenton asked Nurse Lenz.

“His monitor went ballistic,” she informed him. “When I went in to check on him, a boy shoved past me and took off running. Joe’s heart had stopped.” She put a hand on Laura’s arm and squeezed it gently. “When his heart rhythm returned, we noticed he was bleeding through his bandage. He was taken straight to the operating room.”

“What did the boy look like?” Fenton demanded.

“An inch or so shorter than you with curly brown hair,” Nurse Lenz described him. “About seventeen or eighteen.”

“Russell Nolen,” Frank murmured as the nurse moved away.

“Where are you going?” Laura demanded as Fenton started to walk away.

“To call Collig and have him pick Russell up for questioning,” Fenton answered.

***

Three hours later, Dr. Benson entered the waiting room. Fenton, Laura, and Frank leapt to their feet to meet him. “How is he?” Frank asked, his voice thick with the bottled up emotion he was feeling.

“He’s doing better,” the doctor replied. “He’s been put back in intensive care but I think that maybe his blood pressure won’t be such a problem any longer.”

“Why is that?” Laura queried.

“The damage before was very extensive,” Dr. Benson explained. “There was a lot of internal bleeding and his intestine had been severely damaged. However, there were two small incisions on his liver. The cuts grew progressively worse with time. It was these injuries which were causing the fluctuation.”

“Can we see him now?” Laura asked.

“You may,” Dr. Benson agreed. “But he may remain unconscious for several hours.”

“I’m staying here,” Laura asserted later when Fenton and Frank decided to continue with their plan and go to the police station. “Even if they make me wait in the hall after he wakes up,” she asserted, glaring at Fenton and Frank.

“Good,” Frank said, smiling and kissing his mother. “We’ll be back as soon as we can,” he promised.

Fenton kissed Laura’s forehead. “Joe’s strong,” he told his wife. “And you heard the doctor. He’s going to get better now.”

“You better,” Laura whispered fiercely to Joe after Fenton and Frank had left. She sat down in the chair by his bedside, tears streaming down her face. “You better get well again.”