Frank sat quietly, not sure what to do. 'Joe is starting to remember? Remember what?'

Suddenly Fenton stood up and walked towards the door. Frank quickly got to his feet and began to follow only to be stopped by his father.

"No!" Fenton said, forcefully. "Wait here."

"But…"

"I said wait here." Seeing the confusion on Franks face, he put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be right back. I'm just going to get your mother. She needs to be here, too."

Frank watched his fathers retreating back, his mind spinning. Returning to the couch he anxiously awaited his parents return. He tried to relax but his mind refused to slow down, coming up with various reasons to explain first Joe's behavior, and now his fathers too. Had something happened to Joe that he didn't know about? But how could that be? They were rarely separated. The sound of the office door opening brought his attention back to the present.

He looked at his parents and noted with apprehension that they had both been crying. Whatever it was they had to say, it was not going to be good. His mother came and sat next to him on the couch. Suddenly she put her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

This served only to increase Frank's apprehension. His father sat on the other side of him, with a haunted look on his face. Frank pulled away from his mother, scared.

"What’s going on? Dad said Joe was starting to remember. Remember what?"

His parents exchanged a silent glance, only heightening Frank’s anxiety level.

"Tell me!" he yelled angrily. "He’s my brother. If something is wrong, I have a right to know!"

"I can’t." Fenton whispered, looking to his wife for support.

Straightening her shoulders, Laura took a deep breath. Taking Franks hand in hers, she looked directly into his eyes.

"Do you remember when you were seven years old and you went away on a trip with Greg Lawson and his family?"

"Yes. It was the first time I was ever away from home all by myself. Whenever I went to Aunt Carol and Uncle Jeff’s, it was always with Joe." Frank said, referring to Laura’s sister and her husband. For some strange reason, it just now occurred to Frank that was around the time his aunt and uncle moved to Arizona. Laura seemed to have lost contact with her sister after that.

"Yes, that’s right. Joe was heartbroken that he had not been invited, too. He idolized you, Frank. He wanted to do everything his big brother did." She smiled sadly.

"I remember. Greg was an only child and resented my including Joe in everything we did. He was jealous of Joe. That’s why I decided not to remain friends with him." Frank frowned. "I always regretted going on that trip without Joe. Funny thing is, I had a lousy time. Kept wondering what Joe was doing the whole time." Frank saw his parents visibly stiffen and knew he had said something wrong. "Sorry, Mom. Please go on."

"Joe was so upset when you left I called Carol to see if Joe could spend the weekend with them. Even though they lived in Bayport, too, at least Joe would feel like he was doing the same thing his big brother was. And he would get to play with Kelly and Kevin." Laura said, referring to her niece and nephew.

"We dropped him off Friday morning. He called us that night to tell us how much fun he was having. He was so excited because they were going to spend Saturday at the park. Saturday afternoon we got a call from Jeff." Laura stopped and closed her eyes, obviously trying to compose herself. When she spoke again, her voice was barely audible. "Joe had disappeared."

"What?!" Frank exclaimed. "Disappeared? You mean he was kidnapped?"

Laura nodded.

"But…how?! Weren’t Aunt Carol and Uncle Jeff watching him? How could he just vanish?"

"Joe, Kelly and Kevin had been playing with a group of children from the local orphanage who were there for a picnic. Kelly fell down and scraped her knee and her face. Kevin got scared when he saw a little bit of blood on her face and brought her to Carol and Jeff. For some reason, Joe didn’t follow them but stayed with the other kids. Carol and Jeff only took their eyes off Joe for a minute..."

"That’s all it takes." Fenton said bitterly.

Laura reached over and squeezed her husbands hand tightly. "We got him back, thanks to you. That’s all that matters."

Frank recalled the day he came home from that trip. He had missed his little brother terribly and by the way Joe had clung to him for the next few weeks, he assumed the feeling was mutual. He had been so happy to be with his brother again, he had barely noticed his parents.

"But he was here when I got back." Frank said, confused.

"Sam and your father started searching for Joe immediately. They didn’t sleep until they found him and brought him home. You got back the next day."

Frank was more confused than he had been before and full of unanswered questions. "Where was he? Who took him? How come you never told me any of this before? And how come Joe has never mentioned it?"

Having regained his composure, Fenton took up the story.

"There was a large child pornography ring operating out of New York City at the time. It was run by a man named Josh Tilghman. He was extremely intelligent; had a very high I.Q. He was a member of Mensa. He would take orders from pedophiles for specific types of children. Then he would send his operatives out to find a child matching the description and kidnap them."

Frank started to shake as the pieces of the story fell into place. He looked at his father, eyes wide with fear. "They got Joe?" he asked.

"The operatives had strict orders to grab only children who had been orphaned; no living relatives. His reason being there was very little chance of a prolonged search by concerned family members. Tilghman and his family lived in Bayport but the kidnappings were spread over several counties and neighboring states so as not to arouse the suspicions of the local authorities. He was so good it was impossible to see the pattern."

Frank’s mind was moving at top speed. Knowing what his father’s next words would be, he spoke them himself.

"The operatives assumed Joe was an orphan because he was playing with the kids from the orphanage." He said looking at his father, who nodded at his correct assumption.

"Someone had placed an order for a little boy, five to seven years old with blue eyes and blonde hair. When Kelly fell and started crying all the adults were momentarily distracted. They grabbed Joe and left. Since everyone was focused on Kelly, no one saw a thing." Fenton said.

"How long did they have him?"

"Three days." His father answered, obviously guilt-ridden that it had taken him so long to find his little boy.

"Oh, my God." Frank suddenly felt very ill. "They didn’t…He wasn’t…" his eyes started to well up with tears.

"No," his mother said quickly. "He wasn’t abused. Thank God your father found him before they had a chance to turn him over to the man who ‘bought’ him." She said choking on the last few words. "But they forced him to watch other children being abused and assaulted." She continued, tears silently falling from her eyes. "They were teaching him what would be expected of him"

Frank felt ill once again at the thought of what his brother had been forced to witness. "How come Joe never told me any of this? He knows how much I love him. Nothing could ever change that." Frank felt slightly hurt at the thought that Joe didn’t trust him enough to share any of this with him.

"It’s not that he doesn’t trust you, Frank. He doesn’t remember any of it." his father replied.

Frank felt like he had the rug pulled out from under him, just when he had finally found his footing. "What do you mean he doesn’t remember? Three days of having to watch…" he shook his head. "How could he not remember?" He turned to his mother as she spoke.

"After we took him to the hospital to make sure he hadn’t been abused, we went right to a child psychologist. She was the best in her field in New York City. She saw Joe several times a week for almost a month and he never, ever said a word about that weekend. In fact he loved going to see her; said she had the best toys ever." Laura smiled at the memory.

"One day she told us we didn’t need to bring him back. Whatever he had seen was so traumatic for him, he completely repressed it; buried it in a manner of speaking. As far as he was concerned, it never happened. He had no memory of it."

"But that’s not healthy, is it?"

"No, it’s not. But Dr. Lange felt, in his case, it would do more damage to force him to remember. Other than how he clung to you for the next few weeks, he showed no ill effects at all."

"And I thought that was just because he missed me." Frank said sadly. "How could I not know something was wrong?" He berated himself.

"Frank, you were only seven years old. I know you take your role as older brother seriously, but you were just a little boy yourself. Besides, once he subconsciously chose to forget those three days, he went right back to being the happy little trouble maker he’d always been. And when you got home the next day he was so thrilled to have his big brother back, nothing else mattered."

Something still didn’t make sense to Frank. "If he never remembered anything, how do you know so much about what happened while he was there?"

Laura got up and perched on the edge of the coffee table in front of her husband, taking both of his hands in hers and holding them tightly. They exchanged a look that spoke volumes, none of which Frank understood.

"Those people," she said with hatred, "videotaped everything they forced those poor children to do. They used the tapes to teach new children what they were expected to do and as a way of showing new ‘clients’ what their filthy money could buy." Frank had never seen his mother so enraged. "Even though the doctor said they never touched Joe, we had to be sure. Your father watched all the tapes made during the three days they had Joe."

Fenton recalled, as if it were yesterday, watching hours and hours of videos of children being raped, abused and assaulted, all the while praying to God his little boy wouldn’t suddenly appear on the screen. It was the only time in his career a case had been so repulsive that it made him physically ill.

Frank looked at his father with new respect and admiration.

"When you and Callie have children, you’ll understand." He answered Franks unspoken question. "You’ll do anything for your children, no matter how painful it is for you."

"Why didn’t you ever tell me any of this before?" Frank asked, without accusation.

"At the time it happened, you were too young to understand it all even if we had tried to explain it." His mother answered. "As time went on and Joe showed no signs of remembering at all, well, we just didn’t see the point. Dr. Lange had said Joe had to remember it on his own. You and Joe are so close we were afraid if we told you, you would be so upset you wouldn’t be able to hide it from him."

"You’re right about that. I probably couldn’t have."

"Which brings us to the present." Fenton said. "Frank, you cannot let Joe suspect for even a second that you are worried about him. Obviously, you have every reason to be, but he doesn’t know that. Are you going to be able to do that?"

Frank took a deep breath and sighed loudly. Joe knew him better than anybody, even Callie. Trying to behave as if everything was fine when he was so concerned about his brother was going to require some serious self-control.

"I’ll do my best, Dad."

"You have to do better than that. You know how he gets when he thinks something is being kept from him. I know this is going to be hard for you, son, but you have to act completely normal when you’re with Joe."

"I’ll do whatever it takes. But what happens now? I mean he’s obviously starting to remember things, even if it’s not on a conscious level yet." Frank shook his head. "Isn’t there anything we can do to get him off this case?"

"I don’t see how. Unless you’re willing to give it up, too. The two of you are a team. Nothing would raise his suspicions faster than pulling him off and leaving you on. Besides, I need both of you on this one. Believe it or not, out of all the people working on this case, you and Joe are the only ones who have a perfect track record."

"Then we have to get this one solved fast. Maybe then he’ll stop having those flashbacks and we won’t have to worry about it. Maybe he can live without ever remembering that weekend."

Looking at his parents he knew they believed that even less than he did, but it was the only thing he had to hold on to. He did not want to think about what would happen if Joe were to remember the three days that caused him such terror.