William was furious.  He could not believe how close he had come to fulfilling his deepest desire…only to have Fenton… Dad…come home two minutes too early.

He was lying in a hospital bed and his face had been stitched but he kept his eyes closed and his breathing even and so they thought he was unconscious.  He had let his head lull to the side in the police car and then kept up the pretense even while they stitched up his cheek.

It was really just a matter of control and if there was one thing William could control better then his brother it was his own body.  So even while the doctors cleaned him up, they never knew he was awake.

Oh yes it hurt but he did not even flinch. Instead he stored the pain away in the same place he kept his hatred. 

Joe would pay for this pain too…

William knew Fenton was in his room and could even feel his gaze.  He knew the man who he called, Dad, had questions.

Opening his eyes, William decided to answer them.

Round two…

* * *

Fenton ran a frustrated hand over his face.  He had no idea what was going on. 

Downstairs Frank and Joe were still being assessed in the ER while William had been quickly stitched up and moved to a private room. 

So Fenton sat with William and waited.

He kept running through the scene over and over again in his mind of wrestling with William for the gun, it going off and then William going limp beneath him.

So far he had no idea what the hell had happened to bring the boys to this point.  He wasn’t ready to just accept what Con Riley was saying.  It hurt too much and then even deeper down, he could not accept that he could be so wrong about anyone. 

Much less this kid who lay unconscious in front of him.

The bandage on William’s cheek made Fenton wince.  He wondered if it was going to scar.

Then a brief movement from the bed attracted his attention and he leaned forward and took William’s hand.

“Will? Son?” he said gently and was rewarded when he saw the boy slowly opened his eyes and focused on him, “How are you feeling?”

Offering his father a weak smile, William said hoarsely, “Fine. How’s Joe?”

Fenton sighed and leaned back in the chair, “I don’t know yet.  Both he and Frank are still being assessed. I think he’ll be fine though.  William…”

The detective’s voice trailed off as he hated to ask the next question since Will was so obviously not feeling well.

“Yes Dad?” William asked quietly.

The investigator sighed and then went on, “What happened in there?  What happened to your brothers?”

William leaned back and then said quietly, “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?”  Fenton said giving his son his complete attention.

“It got out of hand,” William admitted and then started to cry softly.

Startled by William’s admission, Fenton quickly gathered the distressed boy in his arms and held him as William cried, “I didn’t mean it…but he just wouldn’t give it up…and then… and...” 

The boy broke off in an anguished wail as Fenton tried to put some sense to his rambling.

“And then what?”  Fenton pressed gently when the boy regained enough composure to continue.

“I’m trying so hard”, William sobbed, “but Joe’s just not making this any easier.  I thought things would be like it used to be…between me and him.  But he’s so different…so bitter…a stranger really.  And I thought I was handling everything pretty good…but then both you and Mom left.”

William’s voice had dropped off to a whisper and Fenton felt his heart lurch with guilt.

…but then you and Mom left…

“Things got out of hand”, William sniffled, and “I don’t know what happened…I just snapped.  It was like all those bad things that I’ve kept bottled up inside me forever came out and I just wanted Joe to feel the pain that I’ve lived with…until you and Mom came for me.  But it got out of hand.”

Fenton was horrified.

“He just kept goading me and I lost it, “Wide blue eyes searched the questioning brown ones watching him so closely, “I am just so…so…sorry.  I didn’t mean to hurt him like that…he’s my twin… we’re one. I’m so sorry.”

William collapsed sobbing and once again Fenton grabbed him and tried to comfort him, “Sshh William… it’s okay.  Everything will be okay.  We’ll work this out somehow…as a family.  So sssh…”

As William heard the comforting words, he smiled. 

Some things never change… particularly how far a parent will go for their child…. especially one that is sorry…

* * *

Frank hissed as a doctor dressed up as Dracula gently wrapped his wrists.  The teen had done a double take when he first saw him totally forgetting that today was Halloween.

He thought of Joe and sighed sadly.  Joe always loved Halloween…this would be the first year he missed.

“Sorry”, the doctor apologized.

“S’okay,” Frank muttered tiredly.  He was exhausted and sore.  All and all he came off scott free compared to his brother so Frank was determined not to complain.

Dracula finished wrapping his wrists, gave him a tetanus shot, put little bandages on his burns, and asked him about his eye before excusing himself and leaving the room for a few moments.

When he came back he said, “I’d like to keep you overnight on an IV drip with antibiotics.”

Frank started to protest but the doctor held up his hand, “Just as a precaution.  You’re mildly dehydrated and I want to give your body a little boost.  Don’t want those wrists getting infected…besides…” the doctor leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, “I don’t think your brother would mind the company.”

“Joe?”  Frank’s eyes shot open, “Do you know anything about him?”

“Well what I do know is that he won’t be going anywhere for a couple of days anyway so a semi private room has already been arranged for him upstairs.”

“Semi private?”  Frank said and the doctor elaborated, “Yes, unfortunately due to that nasty flu epidemic, all the private rooms are filled.  It’s a semi or a ward.”

“Oh”, Frank said, “That’s fine then.  So you don’t know how he’s doing huh?”

Dr. Dracula smiled sympathetically at the kid, he could see how worried he was about his brother, “I did see him.  He’s in the assessment room by the nurse’s station.  They were just getting ready to take him down for xrays.  I tell you what Frank…give me a couple of minutes and I’ll get something more concrete for you.  Do you want me to get your Dad or someone to sit with you in meantime?  The nurse will be in momentarily to start the IV.”

“My Dad or my friend Biff, I guess”, Frank said lying down on the bed to wait.  He was much more tired then he’d cared to admit.

“Okay hang tough, I’ll be right back,” the doctor was gone and a few minutes later Biff Hooper pushed the curtain across and smiled at him.

“Want some company?”  He’d been in the waiting room and jumped at the chance to see Frank.

“Sure.  Dracula’s going to find out about Joe,” Frank said suppressing a yawn.  An older nurse came in and started to set up the IV.  Biff raised his eyebrows questioningly.

“Just a precaution”, Frank said closing his eyes briefly, “you know hospitals, any excuse to poke a guy.”

“Hey”, the nurse scoffed good-naturedly and then patted Frank’s arm to let him know she’d taken no offence.

As promised the doctor was back a few minutes later just as the nurse was leaving.  He was carrying a chart and he nodded to Biff and then spoke to Frank, “Well the good news is that your brother should be fine.”

“Oh thank god”, Frank let out the breath he had been holding since seeing the doctor push aside the curtain again.

“And the bad news?”  Biff asked.

“He is very sick”, the doctor admitted and then started reading from the chart, “he has 2^nd degree burns on 30% of his back concentrated in the lower half.  Many of the blisters have burst and have become infected.  He also has multiple lacerations across his back, three of which required stitches.”

Frank paled hearing the words as he kept remembering seeing Joe’s back for the first time and the doctor paused, “Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yes”, Frank asked, “please continue.”

“Okay then”, the doctor continued paraphrasing from Joe’s chart, “he has fingerprint bruising on his neck, as well as severe chafing to his wrists and ankles.  Suspect rib fractures, possible broken patella but we won’t know that until he’s back from x-ray, which should be any time.”

The doctor smiled weakly, “other then that when he was brought in he was in shock and suffering from severe dehydration.”

Frank just stared at the doctor numbly and then he asked, “What about the knife wound?’

The doctor glanced down at the chart again and apologized, “I’m sorry.  Yes he also has a laceration to the chest.  However, it is superficial and should heal with no little or no scarring.”

“Is that it?”  Biff finally asked reeling over the list.

The doctor smiled wanly, “he’s been given a tetanus shot.  The paramedics started an IV in transit and he is being given very strong antibiotics.  Like I said, the burns on his back have become infected and his fever is still dangerously high.”

“Oh”, Frank finally said feeling overwhelmed, “he’s still pretty sick then.”  His mind was having trouble fully processing the extent of his brother’s injuries as his exhaustion and shock combined together to create a stupor.

“Yes unfortunately for your brother 2^nd degree burns are also extremely painful and given the extent of the area affected, it might take some time before we can get the infection under control. However, he is here now and we are treating him. So take heart.  Give him a couple of days and he should be a lot better.”

Just then a tall black man came in and Dr. Dracula introduced him to the boys, “Frank Hardy, Biff? I’m sorry I forget your last name…”

“Hooper”, Biff supplied.

“Oh yes Biff Hooper, this is Dr. Greenland and he’s been looking after Joe, “Dracula smiled at the boys, “Bert, I’ve just given them a run down on his condition.”

“Thanks Howard”, Dr. Greenland said and smiled.  Frank couldn’t help but notice that he had very white teeth, “Well Frank is it?”

“Yes”

“Frank your brother is being moved into a room right now and I’m happy to say that while he has does have two cracked ribs, neither of them is broken.  They’re going to be sore for a while, but at least we don’t have to worry about one of them causing any further damage.”

“Oh thank god”, Frank exclaimed only too relieved that they didn’t have something else to worry about.

“And his knee while badly wrenched isn’t broken. However there is a lot of soft tissue damage so he’s going to be wearing a brace for a while, “Dr. Greenland finished.

Frank shook his head sadly, hardly believing the damage William had done…but then a small frown graced Frank’s face and both doctors were immediately concerned.

“Are you okay?”  both Dracula and Dr. Greenland asked at the same time.

Frank paled as he felt his stomach churn.  He wanted to forget it but he couldn’t.  They had to know… they had to know all the injuries they might need to treat.

“Yes”, he said and then he looked at Biff apologetically, “Biff can I talk to the doctors for a second…in private.”

“No prob”, Biff said stepping outside the curtain so they could have some privacy.

The two men looked at Frank and waited for him to explain himself.

Finally Frank spoke quietly, fiddling with the sheet as he did, “I…um…I don’t know but can you…” he took a deep breath finding this harder to ask then he thought it would be, “Will… he…might…well…”

“What is it son?”  Dr. Greenland’s voice was laced with concern and it gave Frank the courage to ask, “Can you check to see if he was molested…  William…he…”  Deep… deep breath, “Will might have raped him.”

A troubled look crossed Dr. Greenland’s face and he traded a glance with Dracula before turning back Frank and smiling warmly, “Thank you Frank. I’ll take care of it.”

Just then a porter showed up to move Frank up to the room where Joe was being placed.  He couldn’t wait to see for himself that his brother was indeed fine.

The list of injuries was staggering but Frank was positive it wasn’t anything they couldn’t get past.  He would see to that.

As he was leaving, Biff promised to meet him upstairs once the doctors let him and as he turned the corner he heard Dr. Greenland say to Biff, “Do you know where Joe’s father is?”

Frank frowned.  That was an excellent question.

Where was his father?