Joe laid his head against the side of the porcelain bowl and just felt miserable.  

“Miss me…sweetie?”   

He could hear William’s voice echoing around him until it felt like the very walls of the bathroom were reverberating with it…and then he heard Frank’s voice.  

“Joe! Open up!”  

Joe never answered his brother or moved, but he did use the sound of Frank’s voice to help drown out the sound of William’s in his head.  

And then he heard his father talking….Will needs to disappear and unfortunately your brother makes an obvious option. He’s done it before… and his stomach revolted again.  

He couldn’t do it again. He couldn’t…not with William around or even the threat of William being around….  

Suddenly he felt like he was in his closet again…and then he heard his father’s voice…. I’m having your brother put into protective custody and moved to a safe house – today….  

And he knew that William had won. They were sending him away.

* * *

The sound of the bathroom door opening stopped whatever response Frank was about to make, as a very white-faced Joe came out.  

“How are you feeling, son?” Fenton asked gently as Joe walked over to his bed and sat down.   

The boy never answered the question, instead he just said, “You want to send me away.”

Frank moved to sit beside his brother as his father sighed, “I want you to be safe, and right now I think that this is the best way to do it.”  

He didn’t say ‘no’…  

Fenton, expecting an argument, continued – determined to convince his son that this was the right thing to do and even more determined that this was what was going to happen, “Joe, I refuse to take the chance that William will do something to hurt you – to take you away from us. We came too close to losing you already—”  

“But—“Joe tried to say something but his father cut him off.  

“Please just hear me out son.” And when the younger boy nodded, Fenton continued, proud of the way Frank had put a reassuring hand on his brother’s leg – silent but supportive at the same time. “Joe, we…that is, Sam, Ezra, myself and even Con, firmly believe that William is going to try and take your place – to become you. After all, he has done that before with a fair amount of success.”  

Joe flinched, assaulted with his own memories of what happened when Will masqueraded as him. He swallowed back the bile in his throat as his heart began to race…  

They don’t want me around anymore….  

Frank watched his brother closely, worried, and not too sure he liked how this conversation was going.  

“Joe, do you really want to take the chance that someone might get hurt by William when he’s pretending to be you?” Fenton saw the distress on his son’s face but refused to back down. He needed Joe to go willingly along with this and if he had pull out the big guns to do it – he would. This was Joe’s safety they were talking about.  And Fenton would do or say whatever it took to get Joe into that safe-house.  

Joe gave a quick shake of his head, and his father continued, “Neither do I. But I’m afraid that if you don’t go to a safe house that is exactly what is going to happen. What do you think William would do to Frank…or Biff…or even your mother or I if he thought, for a second, that we were on to him?”  

The younger boy actually gagged, fighting determinedly to keep his stomach under control. He knew exactly what his twin would do. William wouldn’t hesitate to hurt anyone who got in his way – anyone.  

“Then you have to leave. Not just for your safety…” Fenton paused briefly before continuing, hating himself for saying it but feeling it was the only way he could get Joe to go along with this. The younger boy might be blasé when it came to his own safety…but no one else’s, “but ours.”  

Take the puppy back to the pound….  

The words were hardly out of his mouth when Joe was gone; off the bed, down the stairs, across the living room and out the front door before either his father or brother could stop him.  

He was just gone.

* * *

“DAD –” Frank yelled, hardly able to believe that his father would use his brother’s intense need to protect the people he loved, like this! The younger boy still bore the scars from his last attempt to keep his family and friends safe….  

“Just stop him!” Fenton yelled back, already pounding down the stairs a second behind Frank.  

They were both thinking the same thing – William had just gotten the opening he might have been waiting for!  

“Damn,” muttered Fenton as he jumped down the last two steps, “could I have screwed this up any worse if I’d planned it?”

* * *

Joe ran.  He couldn’t help it and he hated himself for it, but he couldn’t stop it either. Even Frank’s steady hand on his leg had not been enough to keep him there.  

He had panicked.  

It had been bad enough finding out that the person who haunted his every moment - waking and otherwise - was on his way back to town. But then to find out that he was going to have to deal with this alone – in a ‘safe house’ surrounded by paid strangers, refreshed the fear Mackoff had scarred him with, and he panicked.  

Joe heard his brother right behind him and he burst out of the front door only a few seconds ahead of him and their father.  

But then he got his break….

* * *

Reginald Shaw pulled up out front of the Hardy house and sighed heavily. He really did not like the position he had been placed in, but he felt this needed to be properly dealt with to ensure nothing like this ever happened again.  

His daughter in detention! The respected lawyer shuddered to think that this day had come….  

And all because of that Hardy boy!  

So, stepping out of his silver Mercedes, he was almost at the front door when it suddenly opened and a blond-haired teenager barely managed to swerve and avoid running into him.  

Reginald didn’t have a chance to ponder this near miss though when a second later, Frank barreled right into him and they both went down in a heap!  

“Mr. Shaw!” Frank said, horrified to find himself on top of his girlfriend’s prestigious father, “Oh my gosh!”  But as he helped the man up, his heart sank. He would never catch Joe now!  

And then his father was there, asking Reginald if he was all right even as he indicated with a quick nod that he thought Frank should continue his pursuit anyway.  

Mr. Shaw glared at Fenton and folded his arms. He was expecting an explanation about this…and a very good one at that.

* * *

Peter Bristol, Todd Russell and Ramon Thierry could not believe their good luck. They had been hanging out at Todd’s house trying to decide what to do today when they saw something too tempting to pass up.  

“You’re not going to believe it,” Todd said as he looked out the window and saw the blond-haired teenager, “but little Joey Hardy is out for a walk…all by his lonesome.”  

Immediately two other faces were pressed up against the glass, and then Peter grinned as he rubbed his jaw ruefully, “Well boys, I think it’s time for a little payback – let’s go teach that little shit some respect for his elders. Todd, bring your best bat. I feel like a little batting practice this morning.”  

And moments later when they advanced on the hapless teen, Peter knew this was going to be a great day…for them.  

 

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.