Joe heard his father come into the room and opened his eyes to look at him. “Hi Dad,” he offered, his voice hoarse from sleep.

“How are you feeling, son?” Fenton asked as he appraised the pale face looking at him and knew the teen was definitely not feeling very well.

“I’ve been better,” Joe admitted as he smothered a yawn, “Sorry.”

His father smiled at him but the blond youth saw something behind the smile that sent a little warning bell off.  “Is something wrong?”

Fenton was always amazed at just how intuitive the boy was, and he shook his head, in wonder, and then sighed, “Actually Joe, there is.”

Immediately the teen pushed himself up into a sitting position, wincing as he did so.  His father saw and asked, “Are you all right?”

“Just a bit stiff,” Joe offered vaguely and then pressed his father, “What’s wrong?”

“There was another burglary last night,” Fenton started as he sat down on the edge of the bed and watched as Joe nodded, knowing it was related to his father’s new case.  “The Mortons’ farm was broken into.”

“What?” Joe’s eyes widened in disbelief as he rapidly fired questions at his father:  “Were they home?  Was anyone hurt?  What was taken—”

“Whoa, easy son,” Fenton interrupted, “One thing at a time!”

“Sorry, Dad,” Joe said contritely and then waited, a bit more patiently for his father to fill him in.

“Yes, they were home and unfortunately something was taken…something precious,” he paused before continuing. “Joey, they abducted Iola from her room and then released her about a mile from the farm,” the detective rushed to finish, as Joe stared at him in horrified shock.  “She’s got a sprained wrist and is pretty shaken up but other than that, she’s fine.”

For a moment the teen didn’t say anything and then Joe finally managed, “You’re—you’re sure she’s all right?”

“Yes,” his father reassured him, “like I said, she’s pretty shaken up and her wrist is sprained, but she’s home and that’s the main thing.”

“I need to see her,” Joe said, surprising himself.  But hearing what had happened to Iola suddenly released in him an intense need to see her, and to verify for himself that she was okay.  It was a strange overwhelming feeling that took him completely off guard!

“Your mom is going over this afternoon, so maybe if you’re feeling better, you can go with her then,” Fenton said, a bit surprised by the flash of protectiveness he saw on his son’s face.  Maybe he does know how she feels about him, after all, the detective mused, and just maybe he feels the same way…even if he hasn’t recognized it yet….

“Okay,” Joe said, although he really wanted to go there right now; but he didn’t have a ride and he still had his own problems to deal with; namely, an incredibly sore body.  Definitely time for another ibuprofen!

“I had an early morning so I’m going to try and lie down for a couple of hours,” his father told him.  “If you need anything, just holler.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Joe said as the dark-haired man stood up and looked at him fondly.

“Get some rest, son,” he advised, and then left the room, leaving the teen alone to settle back down under his covers and go back to sleep.  Joe glanced at the clock and sighed.  As much as he wanted another pain reliever, it was too early yet.

Closing his eyes and pulling the blankets up to his chin again, Joe started to think about Iola…. She really did have the most beautiful eyes….

* * *

Lily was having an excellent morning.  She had acted surprised when Frank told her Joe wasn’t at school today; apparently he wasn’t feeling very well.  She would truly have been surprised if the kid had been here – Davis and Evan had been very thorough.

Neither of the Mortons was here, either and she found that incredibly amusing.  Poor little Iola, she thought, had a nasty ole scare and had to say home with mommy and daddy today.  She snorted, pathetic! All in all, the cafeteria would be a lot less stifling today without the three of them!

“Lily,” Frank’s voice beside her, broke the girl’s musing as they walked towards the lunchroom, arm in arm, “We need to talk.”

“Oh really?” she said sweetly, “About what?”

“A couple of things actually,” the handsome young teen admitted, “now, before we go to lunch might be better.”

“Okay,” she said, letting him lead her towards one of the exits.  She burned with curiosity; what was on his mind?  she wondered.  A few minutes later she found out.

* * *

“Hi guys,” Biff said, shifting uncomfortably as he stood at the side of the table looking at Tony, Phil and Liz.  With Chet, Iola and Joe gone today, and Frank moved into the Getty camp, the table felt very empty.

“Biff,” Tony greeted warily, wondering if the muscular teen’s timing had anything to do with the fact that Joe wasn’t here today.

The big teen shifted uncomfortably on his feet.  “I’ve already spoken to Joe…and things are okay between us, but I feel I owe you guys a big apology too.”  He sighed.  “I’ve been a big jerk. I thought Davis and his friends were so cool and I kinda lost track of who the really cool kids in this school are…”  He looked at each of them before saying, “you guys.  Look, I know I don’t deserve a second chance, and—”

Phil looked at Tony and Liz who shrugged, and then he cut Biff off, as he rolled his eyes.  “For Pete’s sake, Hooper, will you just sit down so we can finish our lunch?  We only get one hour, you know!”  As far as they were concerned, it was Joe who had been wronged by their friend, and if things were okay between Joe and Biff, then they had no trouble welcoming him back into the fold.  And they knew that the one thing Biff would not do was say things were okay between him and Joe, if they weren’t….

Biff looked at them in shock, but as he saw the easy reacceptance on their faces, he sat down and wondered how in the world he could have ever thought Getty’s gang was a step up from this!

* * *

Frank had been trying to think of the best way to break this to Lily, without hurting her feelings.  In the end, he decided to just be blunt with her and then do damage control as required.  “I can’t keep the coat…or continue to use your car,” he admitted to her as soon as they got outside and moved away from the door for a little privacy.  “I really do appreciate it, but it doesn’t feel right.”

“What do you mean?”  Lily was totally confused.  How could anyone turn down something she’d given them??

“I mean I should have never accepted the coat to begin with. I’m sorry, but it isn’t right—”

Lily cut him off, her blue eyes shining with hurt.  “What do you mean it isn’t right?  Frank, I’m rich…it’s nothing to me!”

“But it is to me,” he said quietly as he looked deeply into her eyes, and was determined not to lose himself in their depths this time.  “Lily, you don’t have to buy me…I like you without this kind of a gift.  And I’ll just feel a lot better about it, if you’ll let me give it back to you.”

The girl didn’t say anything for a moment and than she sighed, “It is a nice coat.”

“Yes it is.  I never said it wasn’t,” Frank agreed softly, “It’s just not my coat.”

“I don’t think I understand poor people and all this value they place on objects,” Lily finally pouted, and then gave him a small smile before he could say anything.  “But I suppose if you’re not comfortable with it, then I can take it back…”

“Thank you, Lily.”  Frank felt an strange amount of relief about that –  and than he pressed, “and the car—”

“No way,” the girl said, “you look damn fine in that BMW; it suits you a hell of a lot better than your mom’s car!”

“Possibly,” he had to agree on that point, “however it is your car and I’d feel terrible if anything happened to it. So for peace of mind, I need to give it back.”  Not completely true, but he felt it was a nicer way of handling that part of it.

“Again the money,” Lily muttered, sighing and leaning back against the school wall. Inside she was seething at these rebukes – how dare Frank just toss off these improvements!?

“No, this time it’s not about the money,” Frank admitted, surprising her.  “This time it’s about my conscience.”

“Bloody useless thing,” Lily scoffed, and then wrapped her arms around Frank’s waist and snuggled into the warmth of his strong chest.  “I’m not going to pretend that I’m not offended, because I am. However, if it means so much to you, than fine, give me the keys and I’ll have Evan drive it home for me.”

“You are wonderful, have I told you that lately?” Frank murmured as he rested his cheek on top of her raven-colored hair.  “Thank you for understanding.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far…” Lily teased as she raised her face up to meet his, “but I’ll take the wonderful comment as often as you want to give it.”

Lowering his face to hers, he kissed her passionately, feeling the familiar longing stirring in him again whenever he was near her.

After a few moments, Lily pulled away breathlessly and grabbed his hand, leading him back towards the school.  “Come on Hero, I’m hungry.”

“Me too,” said Frank, feeling much better about all this than he had since Joe’s tirade at Mr. Pizza’s yesterday!

A few minutes later, he was frowning, though, as he noticed a fairly empty table – where were Chet and Iola?

* * *

“Joe, honey, how are you feeling?” Laura asked her son as she brought up a small tray with some of the chicken soup that she’d made, on it; along with a small glass of apple juice and a couple of crackers. Knowing that he hadn’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday, she was determined he’d eat something now!

The teen smiled when he saw the food.  He’d just gotten back into bed after taking two more pain relievers, and his stomach had growled, letting him know it was ready for some attention now.  He was still in a lot of pain but knew he needed to try and eat something or he’d just feel worse later on.

“A bit better,” he said, stretching the truth.

“Feel up to eating something?” his mother asked, already putting the tray down in front of him.

“Sure, thanks Mom,” the teen said as he gingerly leaned back so he was sitting up against the back wall.  It would be a lot easier to eat this way.

Laura’s eyes narrowed as she watched how her son moved.  An expert at assessing her oft-times injury plagued family, she knew he was hurting…and it was something much more than flu achy-ness.

As Joe lifted the spoon to his mouth, he smiled at his mom.  “You don’t need to watch me eat; I really am fine.”

“I know, sweetie.”  Eyeing him carefully, she added off-handedly,”I’m doing a load of whites right now, so why don’t you give me that shirt and I’ll toss it in?  You’ll feel much better in a fresh one.”  Immediately Joe paled, and she recognized the flash of panic on the young teen’s face.

“That’s okay, Mom,” he said hurriedly, “I only put it on last night.”

“And you’re sick today,” Laura reasoned calmly, “all the more reason why you should let me get you a fresh one and wash that one.”

“Really, it’s okay Mom—” Joe stopped mid-protest as he saw the knowing look on his mother’s face.  He sighed resignedly and put down his spoon.  His voice was quiet as he just said, “You know.”

Laura nodded, her face concerned, and her tone gentle.  “Show me.” She reached across the bed and removed the tray, placing it on his desk.

Joe looked down at his hands in front of him and felt hot tears burn his eyes.  “I can’t,” he whispered and then lifted his eyes to her face, and she gasped as she saw the pain reflected in them as he admitted, “I can’t get it off…my-myself.”  And it was the truth; the shirt had been hard enough to put on last night, he knew he’d never be able to lift it over his head today….He was too stiff and in too much pain!

Alarmed, his mother instantly, and gently, lifted up the shirt and caught a glimpse of his colorful torso.

“Ohmygod!” she gasped, looking at her son.  “Who did this to you?”

Joe shook his head, he couldn’t tell her.

Realizing what he had meant now when he said he couldn’t take the shirt off, Laura quickly hurried to her room and came back with a pair of clothing shears. Before Joe could form a protest, she ran the shears up the side of the shirt and cut it off.

“You have a hundred t-shirts,” she told her shocked son as she lifted the shirt away and got her first good look at the damage.

“I’m taking you to the doctor,” she announced a few moments later when she finally found her voice again.  Laura was shaken by the extent of bruising, and knew that some of them were quite deep.

“It’s okay Mom, it’s not as bad as it looks,” Joe tried to console her, although he was inwardly relieved that this was out in the open and he didn’t have to hide his pain anymore.

Laura shook her head, snorting softly.  “I swear, child, if you cut your finger off, you’d try and convince me it was nothing more than a paper cut! It’s not working this time, young man. You’re going to see Dr. Bates, and that’s that!”

Joe scowled but knew he’d never win this battle.

“Now eat up your soup.  I’ll have your father help you get dressed and then we’re going!”  She placed the tray back on the bed in front of him as she added, her tone much softer now, “And then on the way home, we’ll drop by and visit the Mortons…”

The teen brightened considerably and he even managed a small chuckle as he heard his mother mutter as she left the room… “unless of course you get admitted or something!”

A few minutes later, as Joe finished the last of the soup; his father came into the room and frowned when he saw his colorful torso.

“Who did this to you, son?” Fenton asked softly as he moved the tray back to the desk, and then helped Joe put on a button-up shirt, socks and a pair of pants.

But again Joe just shook his head, not saying anything, and his father sighed, “You’re not going to tell me are you?”

“I can’t, Dad,” the teen said, looking at his father earnestly.

Fenton regarded him for a moment and then slowly nodded his head.  “Okay, for now.  Can I assume that your brother doesn’t know about this?”

Joe looked down at his hands as he answered quietly, “He doesn’t.”

The detective sighed but didn’t ask anything else.  He wanted to find out who had beaten his son like this, but decided he’d have to wait until after the teen saw Dr. Bates.  At least then they’d know for sure the full extent of the damage.

After seeing Laura and Joe off, the detective came back into the house, closed the door and frowned. Someone had beaten Joe up and Frank didn’t know about it?  Fenton started to get a very bad feeling about this….

* * *

Callie Shaw watched Frank and Lily come into the lunchroom and she frowned. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Biff Hooper do the same thing, scowl.  She had missed Biff’s apology to his friends but had been given an abridged version of what had happened when Liz hurried to catch her at the door.

Biff seemed nice enough, although Callie had to shake her head as she thought about the odd motley of people that seemed to make up this close-knit group of friends. The girls, she understood, but the guys…hmmm….

Okay, she could easily see Joe and Biff being friends – blond, blue-eyed, athletic; very easy to imagine a friendship there.  Like attracts like, though it was too early to tell if the similarity carried over to their personalities.  She’d have to see Biff and Joe together first.

By appearances, Tony Prito was a little less obvious fit.  However, the friendly, handsome Italian youth reminded her of a toned down, Mediterranean version of Joe, complete with charisma and a quick smile.  However, he was a lot more wary than his younger friend, his dark eyes appraisingly alert; definitely street-smart.  And she absently wondered if there was mob in his blood….

Then came the ones that Callie couldn’t quite figure out: Phil Cohen and Chet Morton.

Phil was quiet, serious, obviously a thinker; he wasn’t a big talker and stood more like an observer than participant among his friends.  Callie liked him, she just didn’t understand how he had gotten drawn into this pack, as opposed to the more geek-lined table at the front of the room!

And Chet Morton?  A very easygoing guy, Chet was fun to be around and had a way of setting people at ease.  However, like Phil, at a glance he seemed an odd duck around people like Joe Hardy and Biff Hooper.  Callie thought about his pretty, dark-haired sister and wondered if that was his ‘in;’ however, that didn’t quite feel right…in fact, it kind of felt the other way around, that it was Chet who had drawn Iola in; particularly since the younger Hardy seemed oblivious to Iola’s attention.

The connection point was missing, as far as Callie was concerned. And then her attention was drawn back to Frank and Lily again. Suddenly she had no desire to even be in the same room as the two of them!

Getting up, she brushed past Lily, but not before looking right into Frank’s dark eyes and scoffing, “You really are a piece of work, aren’t you?”  And then she hurried out of the lunchroom, leaving a stunned looking Frank in her wake!

“What the—?” he said as he turned to see the stunning brunette fly out the door.

Lily just rolled her eyes and quipped, “Jealousy is so unbecoming in a girl; come on, let’s sit down and eat.  I’m starved!”

“Hold on one sec, Lily,” Frank said, not ready to just brush off this strange girl’s hostility so easily.  He prodded her towards her brother’s table.  “Go sit.  I’ll be right back.”  Frank actually had no intention of sitting with Davis Getty and his buddies today, but he’d save that conversation until he came back.  Right now, he was determined to catch the brunette and find out what that comment was supposed to mean!

Lily started to protest but Frank had already turned around and was moving quickly across the cafeteria.

* * *

“What’s up with Callie?” Tony asked, looking at Liz who just shrugged, equally miffed by her friend’s abrupt departure and curt words to Frank.

* * *

“Hey!”

Callie heard Frank’s voice behind her but didn’t stop.

“Wait up!”

A moment later, he had caught up to her and grabbed her arm to stop her.  “What’s your problem?” he asked, looking at the new girl intently. He recognized her as the girl who had been staring at him in Mr. Pizza’s, and had seen her around school, but didn’t know her anymore than that.

Callie jerked her arm away.  “You’re my problem!” she said angrily, and remembering her promise to Joe, she started to walk away again.

“How can I be your problem, when I don’t even know who the hell you are?” he asked; an unaccustomed note of anger in his voice, as he really did not appreciate being treated with such hostility, especially by a stranger!

The girl snorted and turned back to him with faux pleasantry.  “Callie Shaw, pleased to meet you.”

“O-kay, that’s a little bit better, I think,” Frank said slowly, “Now you want to tell me what your beef is with me?”

“I can’t,” Callie admitted, trying not to look into his dark brown eyes.

“Well that’s hardly fair,” Frank protested, his voice back to its customary calmness, “You obviously hate me—”

Callie cut him off.  “I don’t hate you.  Disappointed, definitely, but not hate.”

“Disappointed?”  Now Frank was really confused as he mulled it over in his mind.  How could I have disappointed her when I don’t even know her?

“Yes,” she said.  “Until I met you, I’d always wanted to have a brother or sister….But now, thank you very much, I’ve never been so happy to be an only child!”

If Frank was confused before, it was nothing to how he felt right now!

“Callie, I’m sorry, but you’re not making any sense.”  She’s a nutcase, he thought as he started to turn away, having had about as much of this conversation as he could take right now.

“Do you care about him, at all?”  Callie’s question made Frank turn and look back at her.

“Care about who?” he asked, quizzically, as he watched the pretty girl intently.

“Your brother,” Callie pressed; needing to know.

“Of course I do!” Frank said, stunned by her question, “And what kind of question is that?”

“You have a funny way of showing it!” the girl retorted.

“What are you talking about?” Frank’s frustration with this conversation was evident in his tone.

Before she even knew she was going to say it, the words were out of Callie’s mouth:  “How can you be anywhere near her, when her brother and his friends beat the crap out of your brother?!”

Frank’s face paled as he growled, “What the hell are you talking about?”

”Yesterday, that’s what I’m talking about!” Callie retorted.  “What did you think had happened to your brother?  No wonder the poor kid isn’t in school today….Davis and his friends are goons!”  Without saying another word, Callie shook her head sadly and headed back into the school, leaving a stunned Frank standing there trying to digest what she had just said….

And as all the pieces fell into place, his face darkened, he turned and went back into the school….

Davis never knew what hit him.  He saw Frank stalk back into the lunchroom and grinned at the furious look he saw on the other teen’s face.  But before he realized what he was going to do, Frank had grabbed Davis by the sweater, pulled him up out of the chair and growled, “What the hell did you do to my brother?”

Lily stood up to intervene but Frank ignored her as he gave Davis a vicious shake.  “TELL ME! NOW!”

Davis snorted and enjoyed every word.  “We taught him a lesson, that’s what we did, Frankie…a very painful lesson—”

He never got another word out as Frank drew his fist back and coldcocked him, with one punch!

Around him the cafeteria grew silent as he let the unconscious teen slip to the floor, and then he turned around and said to an approaching teacher, “I know, I know, principal’s office, right now.”  

Behind him, his small group of friends silently cheered even as they wondered what the heck had just happened!

* * *

Lily scowled as she watched Frank leave the room accompanied by the teacher.  Joe had told….