Moving to the dark haired boy who was slumped over the bed, he placed a hand gently on his shoulder and shook him as he whispered, "Frank. Son wake up."

Instantly Frank opened his eyes and for one moment he was confused until he remembered his late night excursion, "Dad?"

"You really gave your mother a fright when she checked your room and you were gone," the older man admonished gently as he gazed at the blond haired boy still lost in sleep. Joe looked terrible.

Ironically enough the lest of the damage looked the worst as the road rash had scabbed over and now looked even more painful as the gown he was wearing hid the taped ribs and other bruises that dotted his chest. His leg was still elevated to help the swelling go down in his knee and sometime during the night, the nurse had placed a pair of crutches within easy reach of the kid.

"Sorry", Frank mumbled stifling a yawn and stretching. He rubbed his neck which had a kink in it from his unorthodox position. His father was still looking at his brother and Frank became a little alarmed, "Is something wrong?"

Fenton didn’t answer right away as he watched the easy rise and fall of Joe’s chest as he slept. The doctor had seen him in the hall and filled him in on Joe’s nightmare, telling him that the boy would probably still be fairly sound asleep and not to worry if he didn’t rouse immediately. The doctor had also taken the minute to talk to him about what Joe had confided in him regarding the bullying.

This had surprised Fenton, and worried him, particularly because neither of his sons fit the victim profile of a bully. Joe was fairly popular with lots of friends, socially gregarious and more a ‘jock’ then anything. Frank was the scholastic achiever of the two, however, like Joe, he was very popular and athletic.

So when the doctor told him that some kids were giving Joe a hard time, as shocking as it was, it also helped him understand a bit more about what might be going on in Joe’s head right now.

"Dad?" Frank’s voice sounded alarmed and Fenton pulled himself out of his thoughts and smiled reassuringly at his oldest son, "Everything’s fine. Although he does sound a bit stuffed up this morning." The dark haired boy could hear the gentle wheeze with each breath and nodded in agreement, "He’s got a cold."

"Just what he needs", Fenton mused. Having had broken ribs on occasion in the past, he did not envy his son the thoughts of a cold on top of that. Coughing would be torture.

"Yeah", Frank knew what his Dad was talking about, "I’m sorry for worrying Mom but I couldn’t sleep and I just…I…it’s hard to explain but I just wanted to be here."

Fenton nodded in understanding. He was proud of his sons’ closeness, "You’re a good brother Frank." And as he said that he thought about his talk with the doctor again, "Frank?’

"What?" Frank stood up and stretched his back. Now that his father was here he thought he could slip out and grab a coffee.

"Is Joe having any trouble at school?"

Frank stopped mid stretch and stared at his father, "What kind of trouble?"

"Kids harassing him or anything," Fenton watched Frank carefully for any signs of duplicity. The boys were close…sometimes too close. And it was not unheard of for one of them to try and cover up for the other. The result was usually lousy all the way round as both boys were horrible liars.

Frank laughed as he tried to envision that…some one giving Joe a hard time, "Dad…with Biff Hooper as his best friend…I don’t think so. That wouldn’t be a bully that would be someone with a death wish" Biff was almost as protective as Joe as he was…and he was a very big, brawny guy even at 16.

Fenton let out a small laugh and then became more serious, "Still promise me you’ll keep an extra eye out. Joe told the doctors it was someone from school who burnt him."

Scowling, Frank felt his ire raising at the idea of someone intentionally hurting his brother and he nodded, "Say no more. I’ll see what I can find out."

"Find out about what?" a groggy sounding voice from the bed told them Joe had woken up. His question was punctuated by a cough and then a groan.

His father waited until he settled back down before responding, "Finding out what I can about springing you from this joint."

The smile on Joe’s face was forced as he watched his father leave and then turned to Frank, "Did I dream it or did you come back last night?" His voice sounded a bit off as this morning’s new list of complaints included a stuffy nose and sore throat.

"Guilty as charged", Frank grinned as he picked a cup of ice water and offered it to his brother which Joe gratefully took and sipped on. The coldness helped his throat a bit and he was able to clear it before speaking again.

"Well thank you. I always sleep better with you around."

Frank beamed, happy that even asleep his presence lent comfort to his brother, "Good. Hey I thought I should tell you. Will isn’t sleeping on the top bunk."

The sip of water he just took seemed to freeze into a junk of ice at the mention of his twin. His brother continued, "Mom had the beds placed side by side."

"Oh" was all the boy could manage as he was once again reminded that he wasn’t really that excited about going home, "You know Frank…I’m not feeling that well. Maybe I need to stay here another night."

Frank couldn’t’ believe what he was hearing. Joe hated hospitals but before he could comment, his father was back in the room with great news. Joe could go home!

Whoopee, thought Joe…whoopee.

* * *

William and Laura were in the kitchen when Fenton and the boys pulled up in her car. His car was still in the garage and wouldn’t be ready for another day or two.

"They’re here!" the boys mother said excitedly as she put her half drank cup of hot chocolate in the sink and went to meet them. William followed but at a slower pace, savoring the last of the chocolate until it was all gone. And then putting it in the sink beside his new mother’s, he followed her outside.

"Joe!" she called out and rushed to give her youngest a hug as he eased himself out of the back seat. Frank was already out and holding his crutches for him.

"ooph" was all Joe could say as the force of his mother’s greeting caught him off guard. Seeing him wince, Laura apologized and released him, "I’m sorry sweetie…I’m just so glad to see you home. We both are."

She turned so Joe could see William coming around the car towards him, "Here little brother let me help", and before Joe could protest William had taken him by the arm and was helping him towards the house.

"Will…I have crutches", Joe protested trying not to wince at the pain in his arm from where William was griping it tightly, digging in with his fingers actually...wonderful, thought Joe sarcastically, new bruises to hide.

"Fine", Will withdrew his support so quickly that Joe almost fell, forcing him to put his weight on the injured knee.

The younger boy bit back the cry of pain but managed somehow to keep his feet, quickly grabbing the crutches that Frank were holding even as the dark haired boy reached out to steady him.

"Son, are you okay?" Fenton asked coming around to Joe’s side of the car to see what all the commotion was about.

"Y-yeah", Joe managed before starting towards the house.

* * *

Joe spent most of the rest of the day in his room. Although Dr. O’Neal had prescribed him both pain killers and a cough suppressant to help, he still felt miserable and dozed off and on all afternoon.

To his great relief Will had only come upstairs once and that was to grab a hooded jacket. Biff and some of their other friends had dropped by to see how Joe was doing and to see if Frank and Will wanted to go to the park with them for a friendly game of football. Joe saw through their façade. They were dying to see Will to see for themselves if he was as identical as Frank said.

And he was.

Frank was reluctant to go because he hated doing things like that when Joe was laid up. It just didn’t feel right but his parents talked him into it. In fact they insisted on it saying that Joe would not want him moping around home if their places were reversed. "Besides that," his mother put it, "It would be a good chance for your friends to get to know William."

So Frank went but only after checking on Joe and promising to bring him back a slice of pizza as undoubtedly they would end up at the pizza joint after the game.

The younger boy watched them leave from his room window before sighing and lying back down. He just wished he was going with them. If nothing else so he could keep an eye on William.

* * *

The boys had a great time and by the time they got home later that night it was dark. Their parents knowing they were going to Mr.Pizza’s had not held supper for them and they listened as William excitedly told them about what a great time he’d had.

Frank excused himself from the details as he went upstairs to see Joe. As promised, he had brought his brother back some pizza.

Briefly knocking on the door, he pushed it open and saw Joe was asleep in his bed. So quietly he placed the pizza on the small night table between the two beds and started to leave when he heard a soft voice, ‘Frank?’

"I didn’t mean to wake you", Frank said turning around and coming back to the bed.

Joe sat up slowly and smiled as he saw the pizza, "That’s okay. I was getting hungry anyway. Did you have a good time?" he asked as he picked up a piece and took a large bite.

"It was all right. You would have laughed though, the guys kept calling Will ‘Joe’. I think he was actually getting peeved by the end. But it was all in good fun," Frank’s eyes twinkled brightly as he talked. Joe couldn’t help but grinning himself as he could easily imagine how much it would irritate William.

"Wish I was there", Joe said swallowing his bite and then putting the pizza back down on the box.

"Is something wrong the pizza?" Frank demanded playfully, "Since when did Joe Hardy only have a bite and put it back?" Although the smaller of the two, the younger boy was well known for his normally hearty appetite which could easily put away three or four pieces at any one sitting. Well until recently anyway.

Joe shook his head and reached for a tissue to blow his nose at the same time, "No. It’s good but I’m not as hungry as I thought I was. You know what it’s like when you have a cold."

"Do I ever", if Joe was plagued with accidents, Franks plague were colds. It seemed hardly a month went by when he didn’t have a cold of some type so his brother had his sympathy.

"Okay well I got to finish my science project but if you need anything…holler!" Frank said as he purposely left the doors open between the bathroom and the bedrooms so he could hear Joe if he did need anything.

"Thanks", Joe said before burrowing down under his blankets and nodding off into the last peaceful sleep he would have for a long time.

Frank was in the room next to him, with the door open.

Frank was watching over him.

* * *

It was 10 o’clock and the children had just been settled down for the night when Adrienne Penny was told that John Casing and Matt Rollins wanted to talk to her.

Taking a deep breath, she thanked the other woman and headed towards the small office.

She knew what they wanted to see her about and wasn’t surprised that they had figured out it was her…she was however surprised that they had figured it out so quickly. She thought that it would take them a little longer.

* * *

"Well what did you expect me to do?" she asked rhetorically, "That boy was a menace!’

"So you think that breaking into confidential adoption files was the answer?" John was trying hard to keep his patience but it was difficult in light of Adrienne’s attitude. The woman had no idea what she had done or how serious it was. She had been the one who contacted Fenton Hardy and gave him the photo of the two little boys.

"Yes. Yes I do", she was adamant as she looked from one man to the other, "twins need each other. It was obvious that William’s anxieties over being separated from his twin was manifesting in aggressive outbursts."

Running a hand over his tired face, Matt spoke up for the first time since Adrienne sat down and they confronted her about what she had done. As she heard the words, her heart was chilled and for the first time since she had broken into the files, she wondered if maybe she hadn’t done the right thing…, "William Doe hates his brother."

* * *

It was almost 10:30 before William came to bed. He said goodnight to Frank, closed the door between the bathroom and their rooms, brushed his teeth and then came to bed.

Joe watched him with growing wariness. Other then the little incident at the car, William hadn’t done or said anything else to him. In fact, upon reflection Joe realized this was worst then when William was being terrible. The suspense was killing him as he waited for the inevitable.

The sound of a click startled Joe even as he had watched William lock both the doors in the bedroom, the one to the bathroom and the one to the hallway.

"What are you doing?" he asked trying to fight back the wave of fear that assaulted him with the knowledge that he was know locked in a room with William.

"Old habits die hard", William said by way of explanation and then coming towards Joe he said, "Get out of bed."

Like a deer in the headlights, Joe didn’t move for a moment wondering what his brother was up to but a moment later as Will made a move to bodily haul him out of bed, Joe scurried off the end and away from Will, wincing as he did.

Amused, the older twin lifted the mattress and pulled out his cigarettes and lighter, "I’m dying for a smoke." And then he lightly hoped up on Joe’s bed, opened the window and lit his cigarette.

"You can’t smoke in here!" Joe was so horrified that the words came out of his mouth before he even thought about them. His parents would kill them if they ever found out. But as William cast a brief glance over his shoulder at his panicking brother, Joe suddenly found the idea of dying at his parents hands much more attractive then whatever his brother could plan.

Joe started coughing again and William watched him, amusement clearly written on his face as Joe struggled to cough and keep from jarring his ribs very much. He started towards the bathroom to take one of the cough suppressants that the doctor had prescribed when William quickly snuffed out his smoke and jumped off the bed, "Where do you think you’re going?"

His tone was dangerous. If anyone asked Joe to describe it, it would have been impossible to. But it was one that Joe had learned to recognize when he was a child…and there was no other way to describe it. It was dangerous.

It had been 10 years since Joe had heard that voice and although he thought he had ‘reconciled’ to it, as he had told Frank, the wave of fear that made him tremble was from habit…a conditioned response and it served to make him realize that he had not gotten as far past this as he thought.

So he stopped and waited. He knew what was coming but he still waited. To him, right now… just as it had been back then, there was no alternative.

William walked in a slow circle around his brother appraising him with eyes used to assessing damage. He reached out his hand and was amused to see the way Joe still flinched when he came close. It satisfied the yearning he’d had for the past decade and he relished the way fear radiated from his brother’s body as he savored every moment of it.

He knew what was going on in Joe’s head. The other teen was terrified, wondering what William was going to do next. It was one of his favorite games…cat and mouse.

His hand undid the top button of Joe’s pajama top and he felt his brother trembling. Closing his eyes as feral satisfaction pulsed through his veins, William licked his lips in anticipation. He finished unbuttoning the top and let it slip off Joe’s frame and then he stood back and admired his brother’s decorative chest.

"Frank really did a good job on you", he hissed softly as he ran his fingers over a particularly painful looking bruise and savored his brother’s soft gasp of pain, "almost worthy of me."

And then he frowned as he saw the bandages that were still wrapped around Joe’s midsection and he spoke quietly, "Now I wonder what’s behind door #1?" And he began unwinding the bandages.

Joe bit his lip to keep from crying. His fear was beyond reason now and he stood and let his brother remove the dressings… too terrified to think beyond that. Even Frank next door or his parents down the hall brought him no comfort as right now, to him, there were only two people in this world. Joseph and William.

William admired the dark black bruises over Joe’s ribcage and the younger boy squeezed shut his eyes and brought blood to his bottom lip to keep from crying out. And then he did yelp as unexpected pain almost doubled him over but a rough hand over his mouth muffled the sound and kept him on his feet.

"Shut up", William hissed angrily as he continued to press and probe against his brother’s ribs causing Joe to squirm and try and break away. The pain of having any pressure against them was all consuming and it made him forget.

Forget what happened when you resisted.

Suddenly, a strong arm wrapped around his neck cutting off his air supply. Panicked, Joe frantically grabbed at William’s arm but it was useless and he couldn’t break the hold.

The last thing he remembered thinking before passing out was that his brother was finally going to kill him.

* * *

Disgusted, William let Joe’s body fall onto the bed.

Still as weak as ever, he thought before rummaging through his things until he found what he was looking for. Two silk ties. Not very big on wearing formal shirts, William had brought the ties along for this very occasion.

With the speed and ease of experience, William had Joe trussed, hand and foot, within minutes. And then he quietly pulled his bound brother to the closet, pulled open the door and unceremoniously dumped him inside. He didn’t bother to gag him because he knew from past experience that Joe wouldn’t make any noise.

He never did.

Closing the door, William leaned against it for a few moments before going back over to the window and having another smoke.

"Well little brother," he said over his shoulder, "thank you for sharing your room with me. I think this is going to work out just fine."