After what seemed a long while, Frank calmed down and pulled away from his mother’s comforting embrace.  “I’m sorry,” he said sheepishly, but Laura just shook her head and gave him a gentle smile.

“Honestly, I don’t know who’s worse – you or your brother!  Sweetie, you never have to apologize or feel embarrassed because you’re hurting and you need comfort, especially your mother’s comfort.”  She patted his arm.  “And sometimes a Mom likes to feel she’s still needed every now and then…”

Frank gave her another quick squeeze.  “Well then rest assured,” he smiled. “’Cause you are still very much needed…loved…and appreciated. Thanks, Mom.”

Laura blushed, feeling warmed inside to hear her oldest say this, but before she could respond in any way, the sound of shifting on the bed behind them, made them both turn around to see Joe awake and watching them.

“How are you feeling, honey?” Laura asked, moving quickly to his side and appraising him.  He was still too pale for her liking, and she saw the tell-tale swollen eyes and wondered how much he had overheard.  Frank stood a bit behind her; she heard him shift nervously and felt great sympathy for him.

Joe took a moment to think about that before he answered.  “Better. I’m still a bit cold, and definitely achy, but much better now.”

“I’ll get you a warmer blanket,” Frank offered and was out of the door like a shot, before Joe could answer. The blond teen watched his brother’s hasty retreat with a small frown on his face.

“He’s mad at me, isn’t he?” Joe asked softly, picking up on his brother’s agitation.

“Oh no sweetie,” Laura rushed to assure him, “Frank’s not mad at you at all!  At himself, and about everyone else, but definitely not at you….”

Joe didn’t look so convinced and sighed, “So what happened?  How’d I get here, anyway?”  His memories of the previous night were a jumbled mess but he did remember Lily having a gun and then her rambling about how this was his own fault….Closing his eyes, he swallowed hard and tried not to remember anything else.

His mother squeezed his hand and he shivered slightly beneath her touch.  She felt so warm while he still felt so cold…inside.

“I think those are questions that you need to ask your brother.  He was there.”  She reached up and smoothed the blond hair from his face as she added softly, “but Joey, believe me…Frank isn’t angry with you in any way.”

Joe nodded almost imperceptibly, and then opened his eyes as he heard the door.  Frank was back with a blanket out of the warmer.  He gave his brother a brief smile as he and Laura replaced the other blanket with this new one.

“Thanks,” Joe nodded, feeling the comforting warmth right away.

“No problem,” Frank said, and then stood there looking awkward.

Laura felt the tension in the room grow. The brothers needed to talk…

“Your father should be here any minute,” she said, looking at her sons.  “I think I’m going to grab him and head up to the cafeteria for some breakfast.”  She smiled affectionately at her younger son.  “I really didn’t feel like eating anything earlier…unless of course you’d--”

“It’s okay Mom,” Joe said, “Go.  Eat.  I’m not going anywhere.”

“Not until this afternoon, hopefully, anyway,” Laura told him, standing up.  “I won’t be gone long.  And I’ll catch your father at the door, make him treat me.”

“Good idea,” Joe smiled.

“I’ll bring you back something,” Laura promised Frank, knowing her older son wouldn’t have had anything to eat either, and then she added to both her boys as she headed out the door, “Remember what I said…okay?”

The door closed and Frank and Joe were left alone.

* * *

Fenton was just coming into the hospital when Laura caught him.

“How’s Joe?” he demanded, his brow creased with worry.

“Awake, lucid…worried,” Laura told him, after giving him a warm hug and quick peck on the cheek.  She hesitated briefly in his arms, reluctant to pull away too quickly.  “But then again, so is Frank.”

“Which?” Fenton asked enjoying the embrace, “Awake, lucid or worried?”

“All three.”  Laura gave a small laugh before she became more serious, again, and then explained, “Frank is worried that Joe won’t forgive him; and Joe thinks Frank is angry at him.”

“That’s ludicrous on both counts,” Fenton said as Laura pulled away from him but wrapped her slender arm around his waist. They walked towards the elevator.

“I know that and you know that, but our sons have yet to figure that out!” Laura told him, as they went into the elevator and she pressed the button for the ninth floor.  When her husband looked at her questioningly she shrugged, “And now’s as good a time as any for them to do that!”

“Gotcha,” the detective said and then let out a weary sigh.  “I just want to get them home and have this whole nightmare over with.”

“Me too,” Laura admitted even as she sighed, “But somehow I don’t think things are going to be that simple…”

* * *

“You’re not in any pain are you, or need anything? Are you still cold?” Frank asked, shifting uncomfortably next to Joe’s bed.  “I can get you another warmed blanket...” he was already making the move towards the door again when Joe’s voice stopped him.

“Please don’t,” Joe said, his blue eyes blazing brilliantly in his pale face.

Frank stopped and looked at his brother.  “You don’t want another blanket?”

Joe sighed and fiddled with his blanket. He shook his head.  “A warmer blanket isn’t what I need, brother.”

The older boy felt a hitch in his chest as he sat down in the chair next to Joe and said quietly, “Guess not.”

A heavy silence fell between the boys.  Each wanted to start, but neither knew where.  Finally Joe broke the stalemate:  “So what happened, anyway?  I don’t really remember much.”

Frank sat back in the chair and rubbed his tired eyes. His voice sounded as weary as he looked.  “Well, once we realized you never got to Biff’s we started looking…and of course never found anything—”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Joe admitted quietly.  “Davis jumped me about a block from home….I never even saw him coming.  I was – I guess I was bit distracted….”

“Yeah, I’d guess so,” Frank agreed and then continued, “anyway, I had just gotten home and was going to call the guys to help look – Dad was already with the police – when I got an unexpected visitor at the door.  Callie,” he added when Joe raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“Ah,” the younger said, already suspecting how things went from there.

“She enlightened me on a couple of major things.”  Frank stood up and started to pace, an unnatural act for him and one Joe found extremely unsettling to watch.  “Lily, mostly.  Callie told me she’d been in the alley when you got beaten up….”  The dark-haired teen looked at his brother.  Joe nodded but didn’t say anything.

Continuing pacing, Frank explained, “We went to the Gettys’ but of course they weren’t there—”

“Of course.”  Joe repressed a shudder – the Gettys had been with him.

“So we went after Seth Major…” Frank stopped and looked at Joe.  “Did you know that his father is a judge?  Judge Caleb Major?”

Joe gave him a strange look as he said slowly, “Yeah…I thought everyone knew that.”

“Not me,” Frank admitted and started pacing again.  “Well, when Callie threatened to tell his old man that he’d been in on…well…on beating you up, Seth caved.  And then when we told him that you were missing and that we thought the Gettys might have you, he realized there were just some things even he couldn’t be a part of….”

Joe struggled but it was no use; Seth and Jorgen were just too strong….They tightened their grasp on him… he felt the first punch knock the wind out of him; he tried to sag but they held him up… and it continued…and continued…and continued…

Your brother told me what you said….

“Joe?”

“Joe!”

The blond boy blinked and looked into his brother’s concerned face. He realized Frank must have noticed him zone out.

“Are you okay?” the older boy pressed when he saw his brother focus on him.  For a few moments it seemed Joe had been somewhere else.

“Huh? Yeah, just a bit tired,” Joe admitted, slipping his hands beneath the warm blanket so Frank wouldn’t notice them trembling, but his older brother wasn’t so easily fooled.

Frank immediately stopped pacing next to the bed.  “You’re tired.  This can wait a bit.  Why don’t you get some rest?”

“No!” It came out sharper than Joe intended, but he didn’t want it to stop here, not like this, not for another time. They needed to finish this, right now!

“Joe?”  The older boy was taken aback by the forcefulness of his brother’s protest.

“Frank, we have to talk now or else we never will!” Joe admitted, looking his brother directly in the face.  “We won’t intend to put it off, but we will…something will always come up and I—”

“And you what?” Frank pressed when Joe seemed to falter.

“And I hate it when you’re mad at me,” the younger boy admitted, his voice wavering a bit as he refused to meet his brother’s eyes.

“What?”  Frank was stunned, why would he be angry at Joe?

“You heard me, angry.  I know how much you cared for her and if I – only—”

“Joe…little brother,” Frank broke in slowly shaking his head, “Yes, I cared for her, or at least I thought I did, but – kiddo – there is no one I care about more than you!  I love you, Joey, and I am not angry at you!”

“But – but…” Joe was confused.  “You left….You didn’t want to be here….”

“I left?  When?” Now it was Frank who was confused.

“When Mom was here,” Joe said, “you just took off—”

“To get you a warm blanket, kiddo!” the older boy said, realizing now what his brother was referring to.  “Only to make sure you weren’t cold!  It was something I could do for you, so I did it… that’s all.  It certainly wasn’t me trying to get away from you.  Oh kid…get that thought out of your mind right now!”

Frank ran his hand across his face as he crouched down by his brother’s bed.  “Joey, I am so sorry…oh God, I was such an ass…I was so stupid…so pathetically blinded….I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but brother…I – just—”  As the words stuck in his throat, the older teen blinked back tears; totally blindsided by this guilt and self-denigration over what had happened.

As Joe watched his older brother’s normally composed exterior start to crumble in front of him, he felt his own eyes burn with tears again. He could feel his brother’s pain as strongly as if it was his own and he couldn’t do it…he couldn’t let Frank anguish like this, not as long as there was something he felt he could do…and there was.

Reaching out with his own trembling hand, Joe touched his brother’s arm, and when Frank looked at him, his handsome young face marred by grief, Joe whispered, “It’s okay, big brother….It’s okay….”

He reached out towards his brother, and when Frank hesitated, Joe added, “I forgive you….”

As Frank felt his brother’s arms surround him and pull him close, he wondered at himself and how lucky he was to have Joe as his brother….

And as Joe gently stroked the back of his brother’s head in the same gesture he, himself, found so comforting, he sighed.  He forgave…that was the easy part.