And in fact now that Frank thought about it, Joe hadn’t said anything since.

"You okay?" he found himself asking as he absently wondered just how many times he had either asked or been asked that same question in the last 24 hours. Joe gave no signs of having heard him so Frank reached out to touch his arm in an attempt to get his sullen brother’s attention.

Joe yelped in surprise and pain from the sudden contact as Frank had unknowingly rubbed the painful burn.

"Joe?" Fenton’s voice from the front seat was concerned as he glanced in the rearview mirror to see what had happened, "What’s the problem back there?"

The blond haired boy couldn’t help but rub his arm and Frank grabbed his wrist to get a better look at the mark he caught a glimpse of, "What’s this?"

"Nothing", Joe said feeling very surly struggling to pull his arm free. He really just wanted to be left alone so he had some time to figure out what to do about this latest development. He knew that his parents were going to consider adopting William if he hadn’t already been adopted but the rate at which this was all moving was terrifying him. Joe thought he would have more time.

"It looks like a burn", Frank speculated as Joe managed to pull his arm free, "Where’d you get it?"

"Nowhere…I don’t know", Joe answered not really too concerned about the burn, except when someone touched it. Damn, he had forgotten how much those things smarted.

"What burn?" Laura asked turning around in her seat so she could get a good look at her younger son who was sitting behind her.

"It’s nothing. Really", Joe said hiding his arm from her view.

Laura wasn’t buying it but knew it was futile to argue about it. If Joe said it was nothing, then it probably was nothing.

"You still didn’t answer my question", Frank said a few kilometers later. It was a two hour drive to Bayport from the orphanage and they were only about half way there. They would have flown if Jack Wayne, their father’s friend and personal pilot, had been in town but he was flying charters and wouldn’t be back until later that night.

"What question?" Joe asked still looking out the window.

"Are you okay? You seemed kind of upset earlier," Frank said as he watched his brother slump down a little more in the seat although it now made the seatbelt uncomfortable on his neck. But Joe never moved to adjust it.

"I’m fine," was the reply and for some reason Frank just wasn’t convinced. He started to press it but then decided it could wait. The last thing he wanted was to make Joe feel like he was being backed in a corner.

Normally a free-spirited happy-go-lucky kid, Joe did have a volatile temper and did not react very well when he felt trapped. And in a car surrounded by Frank and their parents, any attempt at confrontation would definitely not end very well.

"Okay", Frank said letting Joe alone for now. But he resolved to talk about this with his brother later. If there was going to be a problem, he preferred it deal with before William moved in. He remembered how hard it was making the adjustment of having Joey in their family and Joey had only been 5. Frank couldn’t even imagine what it was going to be like having another 15-year-old around. Heaven knows Joe was a handful by himself.

And then he groaned, "Oh man!"

"What’s wrong?" Fenton asked instantly concerned by the sound of total despair in his older son’s voice. Laura also turned around and even Joe stopped looking out the window long enough to make sure Frank was all right.

"What’s wrong?" Frank repeated sounding incredulous that they didn’t know, "What’s wrong is that I just realized I am going to have two Joe’s to try and keep track of!"

While his parents laughed, Joe’s faced turned to stone as he said icily, "William is nothing like me!"

The amount of venom in his brother’s voice took Frank by surprise and he was only happy that his parents, still chuckling in the front seat did not hear it. It would have most certainly led to an incident right then and there.

* * *

William Doe strutted back to the ward where the children slept. As one of the oldest residents, he was afforded his own small cubicle and only had to share a bathroom with one other boy.

Humming he stopped to ruffle the hair on a couple of the younger kids who stared at him in wide-eyed fear, only breathing again once he moved on. Everyone knew William. And except for two or three ‘privileged’ boys, everyone else lived in fear of him.

It was rumored that William didn’t have a heart. A rumor that was also rumored to have been started by him.

"You’re looking satisfied", smirked one of William’s friends, Doug, "just like the cat that ate the canary."

William laughed, "Well not exactly. More like the cat that just got permission to move into the canary’s cage. The Hardy’s want to adopt me."

Doug and their other friend, and fellow instigator, Peter, were in utter disbelief.

"No way!" Peter scoffed, "You gotta be kidding. No one adopts teenagers…it aint’ done."

"Well it is done…and it’s going to be done", William grinned plunking down on the edge of his neatly made bed, "Thanks to my little brother. I’m going to be Will Hardy. A Mom, Dad, big brother and everything."

"No way", Peter repeated in awe this time.

"Some guys have all the luck", Doug grinned before reaching over to shake his friend’s hand, "Well then we gotta make sure all these little minions are given something to remember you by. William Doe is a legend. And all good legends need a memorable legacy."

William shook his hand back, "I like the way you think my friend."

* * *

"Are you kidding?" 16-year-old Chet Morton asked when Frank told him about Joe’s twin brother, "A twin? You gotta be crapping me!"

Frank heard Mrs. Mortons’ voice behind Chet "Chester Morton we don’t use words like crapping in this house!" and grinned, "No I am not crapping you. Joe has a brother. His name is William and we’re adopting him."

"That’s too cool!" Chet decided but then a second later as his younger sister, Iola, pestered him to get off the phone he recanted, "Or not. Man another teenage male in the house. Poor you."

"And to top it off, he and Joe are identical", Frank added with a grin as he visualized the look of disbelief that would be passing over his best friend’s face when he heard that.

Chet actually gave a whistle of incredulity, "Wait until I tell Iola…she’s going to be moving right on in!" Both boys laughed as Iola, only hearing Chet’s side of the conversation suspected she was the brunt of their joke, so she punched her brother in the arm.

It was common knowledge that Iola Morton was sweet on Joe Hardy.

"Ouch", Chet complained, "look Frank I gotta go before this psycho female kills me. I’ll see you at school tomorrow."

With a final goodbye, the two friends hung up and Frank went into his room to go to sleep. Although he wasn’t too sure if he was going to get any with the idea of another brother running through his head.

Where’s he going to sleep? Was the last thought that Frank had before falling asleep.

* * *

Joe spent the night pacing. By 6:00 am he was exhausted and had come no closer to figuring out what he was going to do when William moved in. The only thing for sure was that he didn’t think he could go through it again.

* * *

"So is it true?" 16-year-old Alan "Biff" Hooper wanted to know the next day in school when he saw his best friend. Although he was a year older and quite a bit bigger then Joe, he and the younger Hardy had been best friends for about 5 years now.

"Is what true?" Joe asked as he picked at his lunch. Feeling too tired to even eat it. He and Biff were eating outside as Joe did not feel up to hanging out with the gang today.

Normally, he, Frank and Biff ate lunch with Chet Morton and his sister Iola, Tony Prito, a dark skinned Italian youth, Phil Cohen, a quiet brainiac, and Callie Shaw, Iola’s best friend.

Callie always tried to sit next to Frank whenever she could and was hoping that Frank would finally ask her out. They hung out a lot but nothing formal.

"That you have a twin brother and your mom and dad are going to adopt him?" Biff peeled an orange as he spoke. Chet had told him about it when they first got to school and Biff was slightly hurt that Joe had not confided this to him before now. The thought that his best had a brother that no one knew about was mind boggling. And it made him question just how much he knew about his best friend.

Sure he knew the more obvious stuff like Joe’s enthusiasm for cars, comic books, most anything athletic particularly skiing and football. He knew that Joe had a good singing voice, played the guitar, sucked at chess, loved the rain but hated the dark. He knew his favorite foods, tv shows and songs…but he never knew he had twin brother.

"William", Joe said without much enthusiasm and then he turned his gaze to his best friend and Biff was surprised to see so much anguish in them.

"Joe, what’s wrong?" Biff immediately asked unable to conceal the concern in his voice. Something wasn’t right. Joe was not acting like someone who was going to be reunited with his brother.

Joe didn’t say anything for a little while as he just stared at Biff, as if making a decision. Finally he pulled his gaze away and spoke softly, "Biff…you can’t tell anyone."

"I can’t tell anyone what?" Biff asked automatically lowering his voice; his interest and his worry peaked.

"You can’t tell anyone. And I mean no one. Not my parents, not Frank…not even your dog!" Joe hissed thinking of Biff’s beloved bloodhound puppy, Sherlock.

Biff became even more concerned wondering what Joe was going to say and he nodded, "Scouts honor. My lips are sealed."

The younger boy studied him a little longer as if trying to decide whether or not Biff would tell. But then thinking about his best friend, he knew he could trust him…with his life.

* * *

John Casing sat behind his desk and stared off into space. His mind was mulling over the file that was sitting open on the top of his desk. WILLIAM DOE.

A younger man poked his head in around the office door, "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes Matthew", John said forcing a smile on his face, "please have a seat."

Matthew Rollins seated himself down in a chair across the desk from his colleague and then waited for an explanation as to why John had called to see him.

Sighing heavily, John picked up William’s file and passed it to the younger man, "We have a family that wants to adopt Will."

A look of surprise filtered over Matt’s face as he quickly perused the thick file, "Really? Anyone I might know?"

"Fenton Hardy," John Casing said waiting for Matt to make the connection.

"Hardy…Hardy…now why does that name ring a bell", and then realization hit Matt, "wait a second isn’t he that big shot detective from Bayview or somewhere?"

"Bayport", John corrected, "Anything else come to mind?"

At first Matt shook his head and then glancing back down at the file, his face paled and he looked back up at John, "Didn’t he and his wife adopt Joseph, William’s brother?"

"William’s twin brother at that", John said, "somehow the family found out about Will and came to see him today."

Matt was shaking his head, incredulous that after all this time the Hardy’s were back to try and adopt William, "Joseph told them?"

"I doubt it", John admitted thinking about he small blond boy that had stayed with them so many years ago. William’s reflection…at least appearance wise anyways.

"Do you think that’s a wise idea", Matt closed the file and thought back to his first year at the orphanage. He remembered William and Joseph very well as they had been the first children he had worked with when the Social Services Department brought them in.

"I don’t think we’ve much choice", John remarked not really answering Matt’s question because for both of them the answer was obvious, "they are biological brothers and they’ve already adopted one. They are respected members of the community and could provide a very good home for him."

"If he wanted one", Matt couldn’t help but say as he thought about William, "Are you going to tell them about what happened here?"

John Casing sucked in a deep breath as that is what it all came down too. To tell or not to tell. But he had already made his decision. He had to do what was best for them and for William. And on paper, this looked like it would be the best for William. After all he would be reunited with his brother.

Matt knew the answer by the delay. No, they weren’t going to tell the Hardy’s anything.

John finally spoke, "Look it is not our place to tell. If Joseph wants his family to know, he’s old enough to tell them. People change."

"Yeah…but not William", Matt finished before tossing the file back on the desk, getting up and leaving the small office. He desperately needed some air.

He just hoped they were doing the right thing.

* * *

Biff was just beginning to think Joe wasn’t going to tell him anything at all when Joe took a deep breath and spoke.