The front yard was nicely manicured with flowers placed in postcard picture precision and although he hadn’t been in the back yard yet, he could see that there was a large old tree that probably held a tree house or two over the years.

Not bad little brother, he thought to himself as Frank helped grab his scanty belongings and carried them into the house for him. Laura and Fenton smiled at the teen as they both said warmly, "Welcome home, Will."

William sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, hesitatingly before he nodded his head and followed Frank into the house.

"Frank take his bags up to Joe’s room, please," Fenton instructed although his oldest son was already halfway up the stairs anyway.

William paused only briefly before following Frank as his eyes roved over the stone fireplace in the warm family room and he saw its mantle laced with pictures of Frank and Joe. And then he turned and went up the stairs.

* * *

Joe’s room had been changed to accommodate the extra bed and Frank was only slightly surprised to find that the bunk beds had been laid side by side with a night table between them instead of stacked, like they were expecting.

William was disappointed. He had so much wanted the top bunk but Laura in a moment of insight had decided against setting up a situation of having one brother higher up then the other recognizing bunk bed politics would not be welcome right now.

"It would give us more room if the beds were stacked", William did say as he glanced around the small room.

"Yes it would", Laura had to admit, "but for now I’d like it this way. It’ll be easier for you to talk and I’m sure you’ll have a lot to talk about it. After that if you guys want to stack them later, knock yourselves out."

Satisfied for now, William picked the bed closer to the door and the bathroom that connected this room to Frank’s. The other bed was in the corner underneath the window.

"Well it’s kind of late, so I guess we’d better call it a night", Fenton said as he watched his new son check out the comfort level on his new bed. They had been lucky that the beds could be delivered on such short notice, further strengthening their resolve that this was the right thing to do.

William smiled and stood up, "Thank you very much Mr. and Mrs. Hardy’, his voice caught with emotion, "you…you have no idea what this means to me."

Laura felt tears well up in her eyes and she quickly embraced her new son warmly before pulling away and placing her hand gently against his cheek once again marveling how much he was like Joe, "I think we do…Will. And please…" her eyes turned to her husbands beseechingly and he finished, "Mom and Dad…Mr. and Mrs. Hardy sounds so formal."

Nodding in understanding Will pulled away and reworded himself enjoying the obvious pleasure that they took in being addressed by their new moniker, "Well then…Mom…Dad…I’ll see you in the morning."

* * *

Frank left with his parents but not before glancing over his shoulder to take another look at his new brother. It was eerie to think that the brother, who would be sleeping in the room next to him, would not be Joe.

Have a good night Joe, Frank thought to himself as he quietly closed his room door, so you can come home tomorrow. I miss you.

He would have liked to have stayed at the hospital with Joe but his parents had set their foot down. They needed him at home to help welcome William.

So after brushing his teeth and throwing on a clean set of PJ’s, Frank went to bed.

* * *

William did not settle down so quickly. He was dying for a smoke!

So after he saw the light go out from under the door that connected Frank’s room to the bathroom, he waited a respectable amount of time and then quietly climbed onto the bed that Joe would use, opened the window as far as it would go and lit a smoke.

Inhaling deeply, he wondered if Joe was having a peaceful night.

Enjoy it while you can Joey, he thought peering up at the dark moonless sky, enjoy it while you can.

* * *

"So do you think we did the right thing?" Laura Hardy murmured into her husband’s ear as they finally settled down for the night.

"What thing?" Fenton asked half asleep, "About William?"

"Well yes and no, "Laura said before clarifying, "Yes about William and his adoption but No because I was actually thinking about our not letting Frank stay at the hospital with Joe. You know how much he frets whenever his brother is in there…and to tell you the truth I get some comfort knowing they’re together."

Fenton sighed and rolled over to look at his beautiful wife, "Honey, we did what was in the best interest for the boys. William and Joe are brothers. And brothers need each other," and then thinking of the irony of that statement he relented, "and on that note. I guess we should have let Frank stay…but Laura this is Will’s first night here and it is important to let him know that we all want him…Frank included. If it were any other night…"

"I know," Laura sighed, "but I still feel awful thinking of Joe all by himself in that sterile old hospital room."

"Laura…he’s 15. I am sure he can survive one night alone in the hospital, "rolling back over, Fenton signaled the end of this conversation and within minutes both he and Laura had fallen into a peaceful sleep reassured that they were doing the right thing…for everyone.

* * *

‘AHHHHH!’ Joe screamed and bolted up out of bed startling the nurse who had come in to check on him. It took him a moment to collect himself and realize that not only was he having a nightmare but that the nurse had been speaking to him.

Forcing himself to focus he heard her repeat herself, "Are you all right?"

Gasping, Joe could only nod his head as he didn’t trust his voice yet. And then he groaned as his body, protesting the sudden movement, made itself loud and clear.

‘I’d better get the doctor", the nurse was gone before Joe could stop her so all he could do was lay back in bed and try to get himself under control. His exhausted body demanded sleep but his addled mind, as it had been doing so since he first saw that damned photo, refused to give him any solace.

Instead it met him with half memories and nightmares that reminded him why he was terrified and didn’t want William back in his life.

The Hardy’s could never understand why little Joey was adamant about not having pets. But if they had even a glimpse of where this adamancy came from…then they would have had a horrifying understanding.

Joe was shaking even worst by the time Dr. O’Neal came in. He had only been back on duty for a short while when the nurse had come to tell him about 43A’s abrupt awakening.

Smiling at the young man, he picked up the chart and absently began reviewing it as he surreptitiously eyed him, "Having a little trouble sleeping?"

"A little", admitted Joe, "I’m not feeling very well."

"You’re in pain?" The doctor asked and then as he double checked the dosage of pain reliever the boy was on, he wasn’t overly surprised. It was a fairly low dose as they didn’t want to overmedicate the teen if he didn’t need it.

"A bit", Joe lied. Although his body was still sore, it was not the reason why he wasn’t feeling very well.

"Well I’ll have the nurse give you a shot of Demerol. That should help you sleep as well," as he made the notation on the chart he continued, "How long have you been having trouble sleeping?"

Caught off guard, Joe answered honestly, "A little while now…" then catching his blunder he tried to correct it quickly, "since I’ve been in here."

The doctor was not convinced and noticing that Dr. Real hadn’t written any comments on his earlier observations, Dr. O’Neal took a stab, "So you have a burn mark on your arm that you don’t want to talk about…you’re not sleeping well…and you’re not eating very well.."

Joe was stunned and the doctor smiled warmly, ‘Don’t look so surprised. I am a doctor. I do notice these things…" and then as if letting the boy in on a big secret he said in a hushed tone, "besides that your family doctor, Dr. Bates, gave me a brief run down on your recent visit with him."

"Hey what about patient-client confidentiality", Joe blurted out feeling a bit betrayed and Dr. O’Neal laughed, "Doesn’t apply to a minor when the guardian has given express permission for such information to be released."

Joe didn’t say anything for a few moments before eyeing the doctor suspiciously, "Why’d you talk to him? I’ve been in the hospital before and you guys didn’t call him."

Dr. O’Neal grinned. He liked this kid’s spunk and if nothing else it was taking his patient’s mind off whatever had driven him from his sleep, "Well. Firstly all family doctors are notified when one of their patients is hospitalized and secondly I just had some questions to ask him. I wanted to make sure you received only the finest care."

That made sense now that the boy thought about it. He had always thought it seemed odd that Dr. Bates always seemed to know when he was in the hospital and came to check on him.

"Now back to my earlier observation, is there something going on at home, maybe, that you’d like to talk about?" Dr. O’Neal put the chart down and focused on the teen in front of him. He had his suspicions but most of them were alleviated by his conversation with Joe’s doctor, but they were being reawakened by this nightmare.

"No."

Sucking in a deep breath, the doctor made a leap, "Joe…is your father abusing you…in any way?"

An audible silence filled the room as Joe stared at the doctor, horror-faced, before finally stammering, "N-no. He’s the greatest Dad in the world!" and seeing Dr. O’Neal didn’t look very convinced, "honestly…it’s not my Dad."

"Then what is it?" he was determined to get an answer.

Joe froze. He had no idea how to explain this all but at the same time he could see that this man wasn’t going to give this up. He wanted an explanation…so Joe gave him one. One he knew he would believe.

"A couple guys at school have been giving me a hard time…"

* * *

Frank couldn’t sleep. His mind was fatigued over guilt and worry about Joe.

He had almost killed his brother. This shook him up even more then he was willing to admit. Every since Joe had come to live with them, Frank had taken to him. He couldn’t explain it, and he even got into more then one fight because of it, but there was something vulnerable about Joe. Something that made him feel like it was his duty to protect him.

Maybe it was the open adoration that the younger child had for him…maybe it was the knowledge that this child had no other family…or maybe it was the utter look of sheer terror in the child’s eyes the first time Joey had met him…

Maybe….

Frank’s eyes shot open. How could he forget??

A sound from Joe’s room made Frank jump as for some reason his heart was racing in his chest.

Sitting up quietly, he strained his ears for any other sounds but heard nothing. Finally deciding it was nothing, the 16-year-old lay back down but a small frown graced his handsome face……’cause that’s what big brother’s do…

Suddenly Frank was overcome with an intense desire to see his brother.

* * *

Finally satisfied that he knew what was going on with his young patient, Dr. O’Neal oversaw the injection of Demerol sure that it would also double as a good sleeping aid for the teen. As well as being a pain reducer, the narcotic was a sure-fire drowsy agent.

Joe was asleep before the man left the room, his exhausted body relishing in that uncommon bliss.

* * *

William hid his cigarettes and lighter underneath Joe’s mattress as his eyesight got accustomed to the dark. And then pulling out the small flashlight that he always carried, the blond youth started to search his brother’s room. He knew that this would be the best chance he would ever get to see exactly what was going on in Joe’s life before the other teen got home from the hospital.

He held his breath once when he accidentally knocked something over, half expecting for Frank to come bursting into the room and demanding to know what he was doing. But Frank never came and encouraged by this, William continued his search.

* * *

In his drug induced sleep Joe Hardy never consciously realized that there was someone else in his room.

But as his hand was picked up and held in a gentle, familiar, grip, a part of him let go of some of the tension he was feeling and he slide more deeply into a sound sleep.

A soft kiss graced his forehead and a voice whispered in his ear, "I’m so sorry baby brother…so sorry."

And then Frank Hardy settled himself down in the chair next to his brother’s bed, laid his head on the bed next to Joe’s body, and fell asleep.

Only now that he could hear the gentle sounds of his brother’s breathing, did he get the comfort that he didn’t know he was seeking.

Joe was truly still here. Alive…safe…and sound…