Joe sat up knowing she was right. "Sorry, Babe." He whispered leaning down to kiss her before getting out of bed.

"Mmmm. It’s okay." Vanessa replied with a yawn. She wasn’t exactly sure what was troubling Joe, but knew it had something to do with what he’d found out that evening. He’d been trying to hide it all night, but she knew he was worried about Frank.

Joe smiled to himself as he stood and watched her drift off to sleep. Sometimes she knew him better than he knew himself. He stared at her a moment longer thinking that despite all the misfortune fate had thrown at them the past six months, he was still the luckiest man on earth.

Quietly making his way down the hall to the small office, Joe closed the door and walked over to the desk. Taking a seat, he got out all the papers he and Vanessa had been looking over earlier. Reaching for the phone he stopped, unsure of whom to call. Not wanting to worry his brother based on a gut feeling, he decided to call his father. He dialed the number, knowing his father would grab the phone on the first ring, having become accustomed to late night calls.

"Hello." Fenton answered, not sounding the least bit sleepy.

"Hi, Dad."

"Joe? Are you okay? Is Vanessa all right?" Fenton asked, instantly alarmed.

"Yeah, we’re fine." Joe quickly reassured him, mentally kicking himself. Of course his father would think there was something wrong with either he or Vanessa, getting a phone call from him at one thirty in the morning.

"You’re sure?" Fenton pressed, still concerned, knowing his youngest son hated asking for help, and had a bad habit of waiting until a situation was almost unbearable before "bothering" anyone with his problems.

"Yeah. I’m sorry for calling so late." Joe apologized, suddenly thinking this wasn’t such a good idea.

"You can call me anytime, Joe, day or night. For anything. You know that." Fenton told him. "Is there something you need to talk about?"

Joe could tell by the soft background noises that his father had left the bedroom and walked down the stairs, probably to the kitchen or the living room.

"Well…yeah, there is. After I got home from therapy I was looking over the notes and reports from the case and I found a connection between all three victims. Something besides their age and how successful they are."

"Joe, that’s great!" Fenton exclaimed. "Frank and I worked on it for hours after you left and couldn’t come up with a thing." He stopped, suddenly realizing Joe didn’t sound very happy about his discovery. "What is it you found?" He asked, more subdued.

"All three victims were born on the same day, in the same city, in the same hospital." Joe replied, still not showing much enthusiasm over his findings. "July 14, 1977, in Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City." He finished, not at all surprised at the deafening silence that followed.

It was almost a full minute before Fenton spoke again. "Frank was born on July 14, 1977 at Lenox Hill Hospital." He said quietly.

"I know. I called Mom earlier and asked her." Joe admitted. "Dad, do you think…"

"That’s a long shot, Joe." Fenton quickly tried to reassure him, understanding he now thought his brother was a target. "A lot of people were born on that day in that hospital and there are only three victims. Did you find out anything else?"

"Vanessa helped me get a list of everyone born on that day in Lenox Hill Hospital. The three victims were attacked in the order they were born. But there were people who were born in between them, that haven’t been assaulted."

"So it doesn’t necessarily mean everyone born on that day will be targeted." Fenton observed. "But you are definitely on to something."

"Do you think we should call Frank?"

Fenton hesitated a moment. Joe had obviously called him not to share what he had discovered, but because he was concerned that his brother might become a victim. He knew the only thing Joe really wanted was reassurance that Frank was not in any immediate danger.

"I don’t think we need to wake him up. All the victims were attacked late at night, outside their homes, when they were alone. Frank is already home, hopefully sleeping right now and he has no reason to go out tonight. And he’s not alone. I think we can wait until tomorrow to tell him about this. I’m sure he’ll be fine." Fenton assured Joe, smiling when he heard an audible sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Dad." Joe said, feeling a little more at ease.

"You’re welcome. Now get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay. Night, Dad."

"Goodnight."

*****

Frank walked into the office to see his father and Joe huddled over the conference table, papers spread everywhere. Striding purposefully to the table, he pulled out the chair next to his brother and sat down, not even trying to hide his annoyance.

"Thanks a lot, Joe. You couldn’t even be bothered to call and tell me yourself. I had to hear it about it second hand." Frank said, obviously dismayed. "No, make that third hand." He corrected himself, looking rather put out.

Joe quickly looked at his father, his blue eyes huge. Fenton shook his head no, indicating he hadn’t spoken to Frank about their late night call and had no idea what his older son was referring to.

"Um…I’m sorry." Joe apologized, hoping to buy some time to figure out why Frank was angry with him.

"I mean really, Joe. I had to find out from Callie, who found out from Vanessa. Did you know about it, Dad?" Frank asked, turning his withering gaze on Fenton.

"Uh…well…to be honest, Frank, I have no idea what you’re talking about." Fenton admitted.

"So I guess he didn’t tell you either." Frank snorted, oddly relieved that he wasn’t the only one who had been left out of the loop.

"Tell you what?" Joe asked, frustrated. Something he had done, or hadn’t done, had obviously upset his brother and he wanted to make it right.

"Oh, come on, Joe! Tell me about your appointment with Dr. Gregory!" Frank exclaimed. "You didn’t think I’d want to hear something like that right away?! We’ve had more than enough bad news lately. I thought you’d jump at the chance to share some good news for once. Guess I was wrong." Frank finished, a wounded tone in his voice.

"Dr. Gregory…" Joe said, thinking out loud. "Oh, shoot! I’m sorry, Frank!" Joe cried out, smacking himself in the forehead.

With the disturbing discovery he had made the day before, and the ensuing arguments with himself that Frank was not in any danger, Joe had completely forgotten to call Frank after his therapy appointment.

‘Well, not exactly...’ Joe thought, eyeing the smoldering look on his brother’s face. Joe knew he wouldn’t be able to hide his apprehension from Frank and so had just avoided calling his brother until it was too late to do so. Putting two and two together, Joe realized Vanessa and Callie must have spoken that morning, before Frank left for work. Vanessa had apparently told Callie that Dr. Gregory felt the burns on Joe’s arm were healing well enough that skin grafts would probably be unnecessary – something Frank definitely should have heard from Joe firsthand.

"I…got busy…working on the case. And by the time I realized I hadn’t called you, it was way too late. I didn’t want to wake you up."

Fenton watched, relieved that it appeared to be just a simple misunderstanding between his sons. Wisely, he remained silent, not telling Frank that Laura had shared Joe’s good news with him the second she got off the phone.

"You can call me anytime, Joe and you know that! It’s never too late especially with news like that!" Frank said, hurt.

"Frank, I’m sorry. Really. I just forgot. I know between this and not telling you about the vitamins you probably think I’m brain dead, but I’m not. Honest. I’m just…blonde." Joe gave his brother a cheeky smile, a twinkle in his eyes.

Frank tried to remain angry, just to make his point, but found he couldn’t contain a small chuckle. "Oh, all right. Apology accepted. But don’t let it happen again." Frank warned. "So, did you make any progress on the case? Dad and I struck out." Seeing the uneasy look that passed between Joe and Fenton, Frank got the feeling there was something else he hadn’t been told.

"Actually, he made quite a bit of progress." Fenton began. "He found out that all the victims were born on July 14, 1977."

"Really?" Frank’s eyebrows shot up. "That’s my birthday."

"And they were all born in New York City." Joe continued.

"Same as me…again." Frank noted.

"And they were all born in Lenox Hill Hospital."

Frank looked at his father, knowing he didn’t need to ask the question out loud.

"Yes, you were born in Lenox Hill Hospital." Fenton confirmed soberly.

As Frank sat and digested this information, Joe handed him a piece of paper. "Vanessa helped me find a list of everyone born in that hospital on July 14, 1977." Joe explained. "Graham, Soris and Linges were all attacked in the order they were born, but there are people who were born in between them who weren’t attacked."

"So whoever is doing this isn’t necessarily targeting everyone who was born in Lenox Hill on that day." Frank surmised, feeling oddly relieved.

"Right. But those three obviously have some kind of connection that made them targets. If we can figure out what that is, we might be able to figure out who’s next." Fenton said.

"But that still doesn’t tell us who’s doing it?" Frank frowned as he looked over the list of names. Looking back to the top of the list, he gasped out loud.

"What?" Joe asked, concerned.

"Blake Sansom." Frank murmured in surprise. "Blake Sansom was the first baby born on that day."

"But he has nothing to do with this case." Joe reminded him. "He was attacked over six months ago. Totally different m.o. and method of assault."

"Yeah, I know." Frank said absently, unable to shake the feeling that it wasn’t a mere coincidence that Blake Sansom had so much in common with the victims. He finally shook his head, ridding himself of the thought and turned to look at his father. "This is more than we had yesterday but it still doesn’t tell us why these three were chosen. And why others were skipped."

Fenton looked over the list of names, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "We’ve been focusing on those three trying to figure out what they all have in common and run into a brick wall. Maybe if we look at the people who were skipped…"

"And figure out why they were skipped, that might tell us why the others were chosen!" Frank said excitedly, quickly picking up on his father’s train of thought.

"Exactly. Let’s divide these names up and see if we can find out anything about them. Where they live. Are they married. What they do for a living. Anything at all. Between the three of us, it shouldn’t take too long."

Fenton divvied up the names, and Frank and Joe retreated to their own offices to make their phone calls. Two hours later, the three sat around the conference table once again.

"I got ahold of two of mine." Frank announced. "One is an office administrator and the other is a mechanic."

"One of mine was a stay at home Mom and the other was dead." Fenton shared what he had found, before looking at Joe expectantly.

"The first guy is in prison for larceny and the other one flips burgers at McDonald’s." Joe said.

"Another dead end." Frank complained. "They’re all utterly ordinary."

"Maybe that’s why they were skipped." Joe said, feeling the butterflies in his stomach take flight. "All of them were totally ordinary! That could be it!" He continued excitedly.

"What do you mean they were skipped because they were ordinary?" Frank asked, perplexed.

"None of the people who were attacked could even remotely be considered ordinary! Maybe they were all chosen because they’re ‘gifted’ in some way." Joe explained, impatiently. "Each of their ‘gifts’ was taken away when they were attacked. The people who were skipped were pretty…average. Nothing very special about any of them."

Joe became increasingly uncomfortable as his father and brother stared at him for a few moments. "Yeah, ok, so it’s a little bizarre, but can you come up with anything better?" Joe said, sounding defensive. Even he had to admit it sounded a little far-fetched, but right now they had nothing to go on.

"Actually, Joe, I was just thinking you’re probably right." Fenton chuckled.

"Me too." Frank concurred. "I honestly can’t see anything else that connects these three and excludes everyone else."

"That we know of so far." Fenton amended. "We’ve only contacted the people who weren’t attacked, who were born in between the three victims. There are still four other names on the list, all born after Jason Linges. Three of whom we know nothing about." He looked at Frank meaningfully.

"Yeah, well at least we can cross me off the list of possible targets. We know I’m safe since I don’t have any special talents." Frank joked.

A sudden silence engulfed them as Joe and Fenton stared at Frank.

"What? Why are you staring at me?" He asked nervously.

"But you do have a gift." Joe said quietly.

"What gift? What are you talking about?" Frank responded, a little agitated. "I’m as normal as the next guy."

"No, you’re not, Frank." Joe said, deadly serious. "Your IQ is close to genius level, higher than any ‘normal’ person; you got perfect scores on your SAT’s; anyone who is even just barely acquainted with you knows you have above average intelligence. That’s a gift." Joe reminded him. "Heck, you only got three B’s in your entire sixteen years of school."

"Two." Frank automatically corrected him, quickly blushing with embarrassment.

"I stand corrected." Joe grinned. "Further proof you’re not just a normal guy."

"Oh, please, Joe. No one is going to come after me because of…" Frank started to disagree with his younger brother.

"He has a point." Fenton said, bringing Frank’s argument to a halt.

Frank looked at his father, incredulous. "Come on, Dad! You can’t possibly think someone would want to do away with me because I’m smart. That’s ridiculous!"

"Is it?" Fenton countered. "I’m sorry, Frank, but you have too many things in common with the other victims. And whether you like to admit it or not, you are gifted when it comes to your intellect."

Frank looked from his father, to Joe and back again, dumbfounded.

"At least consider the possibility." Fenton requested. Frank was about to respond when there was a knock on the door and Laura popped her head in.

"I have an appointment but I made lunch for you. You’ve been locked up in here all morning. I want you to come out and eat it now." She said with mock-sternness.

"Thanks, Mom." Joe replied, jumping up from his seat. "I’m starved." He announced, giving her a peck on the cheek as he passed her on his way into the house.

"You’re welcome." She called out after him, laughing. "I’ll see you tonight, honey." She said to Fenton. "Bye, Frank." With a wave she disappeared out the door.

Joining Joe in the kitchen, Frank tuned the radio to a local all news channel. As the three sat down to eat, the lead story of the day was announced.

"Bradford Aarons, who has brought home Gold Medals in the sharp shooting competition in the last three Olympic Games was attacked last night. The gifted young man, who has never lost a sharp shooting competition in his entire career, was blinded and tragically will never see or compete again. The police have released very little information on the assault but an inside source close to the investigation tells us that Aarons was shot with a tranquilizer dart, late last night as he approached his home. The retina and optic nerve in both eyes was severed with surgical precision. He was found on the steps of his home, early this morning. As with the two previous attacks, the incisions had been sutured and bandaged.

This is the fourth such attack in the past ten days leaving police completely baffled. In other news…"

Frank, Joe and Fenton sat in stunned silence, finally broken by Joe. "He was on the list." He said in a strangled voice. "He was born on July 14, 1977 in Lenox Hill Hospital. And he was gifted."

Joe stared at his older brother for a moment. "You’ve just acquired a full time body guard." He announced forcefully.

Frank was about to protest, when Fenton seconded Joe’s announcement. "I think that’s wise." He looked pointedly at Frank. "Until we catch this guy, I do not want you anywhere alone. Especially at night. Don’t go anywhere without Joe."