"What?" he asked.

"Nothing. Just wondering if you’d still have that smile plastered on your face even after you fell asleep." She teased him.

"Tease me all you want. I don’t care." Frank replied, kissing the top of her head, before he turned back to stare at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Something changed tonight, Cal. Something happened. I know Joe and I have been talking a lot more lately. Ever since…Chicago." His voice dropped on the last word.

Callie felt him shiver slightly at the memory, and snuggled a little closer.

"But tonight was different. We didn’t just talk." Frank stopped a moment, afraid he might wake up and find out he had only dreamt it all. "He trusted me. I mean he really opened up, and trusted me." Frank continued to stare at the ceiling, unblinking, as the smile returned to his face. "Who knows, maybe birthday wishes really do come true."

"You know, you’re going to make a great father." Callie said softly.

"You mean because I’ve had so much practice with Joe?" Frank chuckled.

Callie shook her head, laughing along with him. "Well, I’m sure having Joe for a younger brother helped refine your skills, but you’d make a great father anyway. You’re a natural."

"Thanks. I’m looking forward to finding out if you’re right." Frank replied. Suddenly he turned to his wife, a look of uncertainty on his face. "Uh…you’re not trying to tell me something…are you?"

"Tell you something?" Callie repeated puzzled. A second later it dawned on her what Frank meant. "No!" She cried out. "Oh, no. I’m not pregnant. No babies yet." She clarified.

"Whew." Frank said, somewhat relieved. "I mean I know we’ve talked about it and all but…hey, I’m selfish. Right now, I don’t want to share you with anyone. I want you all to myself for a few more years."

"Well, we’re in agreement on that. I’d like to wait a little longer myself." She concurred. "But, when we do have kids," she said slyly. "What do you want first – a boy or a girl?"

"Isn’t that up to Mother Nature?" Frank chuckled.

"But if it wasn’t. If you could choose. What would you want first?" Callie persisted.

"Hmm…A boy I think."

"Why?"

"Every kid needs an older brother." He announced.

"I never had one. And neither did you." Callie pointed out.

"True. But a lot of times I felt like Dad was more of a brother than a father, you know. He never talked down to me. When I asked him a question, he’d talk to me like I was an adult, an equal – even when I was a kid." Frank said, obviously recalling some fond childhood memories.

"You’ve always been an ‘old soul’. Ok, so we have a boy first, who looks just like his Daddy. What next?"

"You pick this time." Frank offered.

"Another boy." She said, adding quietly. "Maybe a year younger. Not much more."

Frank looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "By any chance, does this second boy have blonde hair, blue eyes and think he’s invincible?"

Callie squirmed a little in his embrace, refusing to answer.

"You mean I have to raise Joe twice?" He laughed. Remembering the first few years he and Callie had been together and how she and Joe would fight like cats and dogs, he realized, at that moment, just how much Callie had come to love Joe.

"Your turn to pick." Callie said, deftly avoiding the question.

"A girl." Frank replied wistfully, staring at the ceiling.

Noting the change in Frank’s voice, Callie pushed herself up slightly, taking in the faraway look on his face.

"Daddy’s girl." She whispered, then settled back into Frank’s warm embrace and fell asleep dreaming of her new family.

*****

The following afternoon, Frank was putting the finishing touches on his report when Joe walked into his office.

"Dad’s just about ready to wrap it up. You almost done?" Joe asked, leaning over Frank’s shoulder to look at the monitor.

"Done." Frank announced, saving and printing the document. Joe backed up allowing Frank to push his chair back and stand up. "Can I ask you something?" Frank requested.

"Sure. Go ahead." Joe replied amiably.

"Did you mention anything to Dad about Gloria Sansom yesterday?" Frank asked the question that had come to him out of the blue a short time earlier. "Maybe he saw something too."

"No, I didn’t." Joe said a little uncomfortably. "I assumed if he’d seen it he would have said something."

"You saw it and you didn’t say anything." Frank pointed out.

"Yeah, well, I think Dad has a pretty healthy level of self-confidence. He would have said something."

"Why don’t we mention it anyway. See what his take on it is." Frank suggested, watching as Joe shifted uneasily. "Joe, he’ll believe you, just like I did." Frank said encouragingly.

Joe thought about it a moment, then sighed. "Okay, if you want to. But what difference does it make now? George Sansom has already been arraigned."

"I’d just like to hear his thoughts on it, that’s all." Frank replied.

Walking back into Fenton’s office, Frank dropped his report on the desk. Afraid Joe would change his mind, Frank began telling his father what Joe had seen as he took a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. Fenton listened intently, then turned his eyes on Joe.

"Is there some reason why didn’t you mention this yesterday?" Fenton asked, recalling how subdued Joe had been.

"I don’t know." Joe replied evasively. "I guess once Sansom was arrested it didn’t seem all that important."

"Was there anything else you saw that you didn’t mention?" Fenton pressed, getting the feeling Joe hadn’t revealed a lot of the things he noticed the day before.

Joe hesitated a beat before answering, the feelings of self-doubt creeping up on him again. "No, nothing I saw."

Fenton looked at Frank with raised eyebrows, with Frank returning an almost identical look. Was Joe about to reveal something he hadn’t mentioned in their marathon talk the previous evening?

"Something you thought? Something you felt?" Fenton continued, trying to get Joe to open up. "Your instincts are usually pretty good." He said encouragingly.

"Well, when we were all standing out in the hall, after Sansom’s attorney stopped the questioning, Gloria Sansom told Frank he reminded her of her son." Joe replied, noting this had continued to bother him even now.

"From what I read about him in the paper and heard on the news, it sounds like he and Frank had a lot in common." Fenton commented.

"Yeah, but…up until that moment, Gloria Sansom had never met Frank before. How would she know what he had in common with her son?" Joe pointed out.

Fenton sat back in his chair, quickly replaying the scene in the corridor in his mind. "You’re right, she did say that." He murmured. "Maybe she meant he physically reminded her of her son."

"I don’t look a thing like her son." Frank finally spoke, beginning to feel slightly uneasy. "And I don’t recall meeting her before that moment. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but she kept mentioning how smart her son was, and how I was so much like him in that respect."

"Joe," Fenton turned his attention back to his youngest son. "I know you were feeling…out of sorts yesterday. Is there anything else you didn’t mention? Anything that, in hindsight, might be worth discussing?"

"I’m not sure, really." Joe sat up a little, boosted by his father’s confidence in his opinion. "It’s not anything new…I guess I was looking at things differently than everyone else was."

"What things?" Fenton urged him to continue.

"Gloria Sansom didn’t have an alibi for the night Frank was almost kidnapped. Or the nights of the other assaults. She was renovating her house – alone. She had access to the car, same as George Sansom did. Frank said she told him her husband had given her a set of keys and permission to use it anytime." Now thoroughly engrossed in his recital, Joe held up a hand and began to tick off the items on his fingers. "She’s also a registered nurse. She has worked in the ER and the operating room. So, she has the same medical knowledge and skill as her husband – maybe more. She had means and opportunity, just like he did. No motive that we know of, but that holds true for her husband too. So why wasn’t she ever even considered as a suspect?" Joe finished looking from his father to Frank and seeing matching stunned expressions.

Seeing all the evidence presented from that perspective, Frank now understood completely why Joe had said yesterday that he was still in danger.

"I don’t think I have a good answer for that, Joe." Fenton finally admitted. "It never occurred to me to look at it from that point of view but…you’re right. When you present all the facts in that light, and put them together with her comments about Frank and what you saw when she first approached the house…there’s no logical reason why her husband would be considered a suspect but she wouldn’t." Looking at his watch, Fenton noted it was just about dinner time. "I’ll call Sam tonight and run all this by him. See if he wants to take a closer look at Gloria Sansom."

"What if he doesn’t?" Frank asked.

"We don’t need his permission to investigate her." Fenton shrugged. "If Joe feels this strongly about her, we’ll check into it. I’ll let you know what he says tomorrow and we’ll go from there. And Frank…" He stopped, making sure he had Frank’s full attention.

"It would be prudent for you to be a little more cautious until we get this settled." Fenton advised him.

"I intend to." Frank replied.

Bidding their father goodnight, Frank and Joe stopped in the house to see Laura before leaving.

"So what are you doing tonight?" Frank asked as he and Joe walked to their cars. "It’s ‘Girls Night Out’ you know."

"Yeah, I remember." Joe laughed. "You know I don’t think I ever thanked Callie for coming up with that."

Prior to Joe’s trip to Chicago, Vanessa had just begun to feel secure enough to venture out of the house alone. Up to that point, other than going to work, she didn’t like being out in public without Joe close by. Ever since they had returned from Chicago, Joe had noticed she would no longer leave the apartment without him. Many times during his home confinement, family and friends had come to visit Joe, giving Vanessa the chance to leave for a few hours, which she steadfastly refused. It didn’t take long for Joe to realize it wasn’t because she didn’t trust anyone else to stay with him, as much as she had taken a few steps back in her own recovery.

When Joe mentioned his concerns to Callie during one of her visits, she quickly instituted "Girls Night Out". At least once every two weeks, Callie would organize some kind of outing for ‘girls only’, going on the assumption if Vanessa got comfortable enough going out with a group of friends – without Joe – the next logical step would be venturing out on her own. Unaware of the ulterior motive, Vanessa agreed to try it once after some prodding from Joe, and found she loved it. Now if too much time went by between outings, Vanessa would be on the phone with Callie begging her friend to "get the girls together."

"Why don’t we take their lead? What would you say to Boys Night Out?" Frank suggested.

"Alright!" Joe exclaimed. "I’ll call Biff and Tony…" He said reaching for his cell phone.

"Wait." Frank reached out, placing a restraining hand on Joe’s arm. "I was thinking more along the lines of just you and me. Maybe I’d like to treat my kid brother to a night out."

"Even better." Joe grinned. "So where are we going?"

Frank thought for a moment, his face breaking into a smile. "How about that new virtual reality place that opened up down by the waterfront? They even have a restaurant so we can have dinner first."

"Really?" Joe asked, eyes wide. "I heard it’s kind of expensive."

"That’s ok. I think you’re worth it." Frank replied, nudging Joe towards his car. "Come on, the sooner we get there the more time I have to beat you."

"In your dreams!" Joe called out as he got into his car, anticipating a night of fun and excitement with his older brother.

*****

Driving home that night, Frank knew something that had been lost so many months ago had finally been found. He felt a sense of peace that had been missing for far too long. Tonight had been like going back in time. Joe had been happy – really happy – not the "show" he’d been putting on all these months. Tonight, the smiles were genuine, and the laugh was contagious. There wasn’t a trace of sadness in Joe’s blue eyes and the haunted look that had always lingered there was gone, leaving only the mischievous sparkle that hinted of things to come.

Joe had been in rare form this evening with the jokes, wisecracks and one-liners coming fast and furious. A few times Frank’s stomach hurt from laughing so much he had begged Joe to stop – but only for a moment. Thinking back, Frank was glad he decided to be selfish tonight and vetoed Joe’s suggestion that they call some of their friends and make a real party out of the evening. After their talk at the park the night before, Frank had sensed a change in Joe, a change for the better. As selfish as it was, Frank didn’t want to share that with anyone else, not yet.

Catching a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror, Frank realized he hadn’t stopped smiling since he and Joe had separated to make their way home. And he knew the reason wasn’t because tonight had taken them back in time to happier days, but because they had turned a corner into the future. Something had "died" inside Joe a long time ago as a result of the hell he had been through. At times Frank had feared the change would be permanent although he never gave up hope, and tonight that hope was rewarded when the "something" had come back to life.

The fiery passion Joe always had for living every moment to it’s fullest had been re-ignited. Although Frank had seen sparks of it here and there – during their weekend in New York City, at the Yankees game that had led to a night of disaster – something had always occurred to quickly extinguish the spark. This time Frank knew the change was permanent.

Recalling his promise to both Joe and his father, Frank drove past his house once, carefully checking the area where he thought the darts had come from two nights earlier. Seeing nothing unusual, he still drove around the block just to be sure before finally pulling into his driveway. As he parked his car in the garage, Frank noted the house was enveloped in darkness indicating Callie had not yet returned home from her night out with the girls. Getting out of the car, he locked it and walked to the front of the garage, peering out the small windows at the same spot he’d just scrutinized. Satisfied he was safe, he exited the garage via the side door.

While the back door of the house was closer to him, it was also dark and isolated. Deciding it was better to be cautious than save a few seconds, Frank decided to use the front door, which was visible from the street. Walking up to the front porch, Frank stopped to collect the mail before inserting his key in the deadbolt lock on the door.

Having focused all his surveillance on the spot across the street and it’s surrounding area, Frank never saw the lone figure crouched behind the bushes by the porch. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his neck. Dropping the mail to the ground, Frank’s hand flew to his neck and he felt something sticking out of it. His vision began to blur and he became unsteady on his feet. Leaning against the door for support, he fell to his knees. Seconds later he was enveloped in darkness, as his assailant moved out of hiding, now standing over Frank’s unconscious form. "I’m sorry, Frank. I really liked you."

The arduous task of getting Frank into the car parked in the shadows next to the house without arousing the neighbors’ suspicions took some doing, but was finally accomplished. The car was started, put into gear and slowly maneuvered down to the street. Turning left, the driver glanced in the rearview mirror and smiled at Frank’s prone body sprawled across the backseat.