‘Damn you, Joe!’ Frank cursed silently as he felt his resolve starting to weaken. All their lives Joe had been able to talk Frank into anything and he knew deep inside this would be no exception.

"Frank, please. It would be different if I knew she was going to be okay. And if you tell me right now that the doctor said she will wake up and she will be fine, I’ll believe you and never mention this again." Joe said quietly.

Frank stared straight ahead, reliving the conversation he’d had with Andrea Bender that morning. She told him the doctor’s biggest concern was that Vanessa might never regain consciousness. While they were hopeful, it was still too early to tell whether Vanessa would simply wake up or slip into a coma.

Sensing Frank was close to breaking, Joe didn’t feel the least bit guilty about giving him the final push he needed to crack. "I’m sorry Frank, but I can’t abide by this restraining order, knowing there’s a chance I may never see her alive again. I need to see her. I need to tell her…" Joe stopped and took a deep breath to calm himself. "I’ll do it by myself if I have to but I’d feel better if I knew you were watching my back."

Frank glanced at his younger brother, the last bit of determination flying out the window when faced with Joe’s pleading blue eyes. ‘Damn you!’

"Fine!" He exhaled in exasperation, the breath of air so forceful he blew a lock of hair off his forehead.

"Thanks, bro." Joe finally cracked a tiny smile.

"Yeah, well don’t thank me until we’ve gotten you in and out without getting caught." Frank snapped, angry that after all these years he still hadn’t learned how to keep Joe safe from his worst enemy – himself. "I don’t want to have to explain to Dad how you ended up in prison, and how I helped put you there!"

Still ticked off at both Joe and himself, Frank came to an intersection, yanking the wheel hard to the left, throwing Joe against the door as he completed the turn.

"Uh, could you at least wait until after I’ve seen Vanessa to kill me?" Joe said, while hanging on to the door handle tightly.

Frank simply grunted in reply, taking another sharp turn.

Glancing out the window, Joe saw they were heading away from their parents house. "Where exactly are we going?" Joe asked.

"My house." Frank replied curtly, trying to temper the antagonism in his voice. ‘I hate it when he does this! Why does he always expect me to be happy to help him get into trouble? And why can’t I EVER say no!’

"Okay." Joe said simply, knowing Frank was angry with him even if he did agree to help.

"You’ll need a disguise. You can’t just go waltzing into the hospital like that. You might as well wear a sign saying ‘Send me to prison!’" Frank barked.

"Frank, I’m sorry. I know you don’t want to do this." Joe said sincerely, knowing his brother only had his best interests at heart. "I know you’re trying to protect me, but if it were Callie lying in the hospital, and no one could tell you if she’d ever wake up again, would you let some judge say you couldn’t go see her? What would you do?"

"That’s not fair." Frank replied through clenched teeth. ‘Callie… No one would stop me from seeing her. They’d die trying.’

"Maybe not but would you really just sit back and let some piece of paper keep you from seeing her?" Joe pressed. He hated when Frank was angry with him, even if it was warranted.

"No." Frank mumbled, letting out another breath of frustration. "Okay, this is what we’re going to do…and you will do it my way or not at all. Got it?" He looked at Joe, his dark eyes warning Joe he’d better agree.

"Got it." Joe agreed. "So, what’s the plan?"

"We’ll stop by my house and fix up a disguise. By the time we’re done even Mom wouldn’t recognize you. We’ll go to the hospital and I’ll get Andrea out of Vanessa’s room. It’s going to take some doing and she won’t want to stay away long so you may only have a few minutes."

"I’ll take anything I can get." Joe said, the sadness in his voice piercing a hole in Frank’s heart.

As Frank pulled into his driveway and cut the motor, he turned to stare at Joe. "I mean it, Joe. I don’t care if you’ve only been with Van for thirty seconds. When I give you the signal to get out, you GO!"

"Promise." Joe replied smothering a grin, as he made an ‘x’ over his heart with one finger. "Cross my heart and hope to…"

"DON’T say it!" Frank exclaimed. Now thoroughly irritated, he stared at his younger brother a moment longer before getting out of the car, mumbling about the unknown joys of being an only child.

Deciding to give his brother a little time to accept that he had essentially agreed to help Joe break the law, Joe waited a few minutes before following Frank into the house. Walking into the living room he saw Frank talking with Callie, who was holding a pair of green hospital scrubs in her hand. They turned to look at Joe when he entered, then Callie silently handed the clothes to Frank. She walked over to Joe and hugged him tightly for a moment before stepping back.

"I didn’t get to do that at the courthouse." She smiled at him. "And for what it’s worth, I know you didn’t do it. You could never hurt Vanessa."

"Thanks, Cal." Joe replied gratefully.

"So I hear you need a little help with a disguise." Callie arched an eyebrow questioningly. "Planning to break the rules…again?"

"I prefer to think of it as testing them for elasticity. You know, seeing how far I can stretch them before they actually break." Joe philosophized.

"Oh, please." Frank muttered, rolling his eyes as he trudged up the stairs.

"So where’d you get the scrubs?" Joe asked Callie as they followed Frank.

"Remember that case you worked on a few months ago when Frank got stabbed?" Callie prodded him.

"Uh-huh. Looked a whole lot worse than it was." Joe recalled.

"Since his clothes were all bloody, the ER staff gave him the scrubs to wear home."

They had reached the top of the stairs and turned down the hall towards the office where they met Frank coming out the door with a black leather bag in his hand.

"Follow me." He ordered walking into the master bedroom, still not happy with Joe’s plan.

"You’re gonna have to work really hard to make this up to him." Callie muttered to Joe under her breath. "He is not a happy camper."

Joe shrugged and smiled at her, giving Callie his best puppy dog look.

"Save it, Joe. He’s the one you need to beg forgiveness from, not me." She reminded him, following Frank into the bedroom with Joe on her heels.

"Change into these." Frank ordered, tossing the green scrubs at Joe, who caught them and went into the bathroom, wisely biting back the sarcastic comment that had been on the tip of his tongue. While Frank had the patience of a saint, especially when it came to his ‘act-first-think-later’ younger sibling, even Frank had his limits and Joe knew he was treading dangerously close to those limits.

Quickly changing clothes, Joe re-emerged from the bathroom to see an array of colorful wigs laid out on the bed.

"Ooh, can I be a brunette this time?" Joe asked sounding for all the world like a kid who was playing dress up.

"Redhead – with green eyes." Frank said tersely, handing Joe a wig and a small contact lens case. Obediently, Joe went back into the bathroom, donned the new accessories and came back out.

"What?" Joe asked beginning to squirm under Frank and Callie’s scrutiny.

"Something’s missing." Frank murmured, his brow creased in thought.

"I know!" Callie blurted out. Grabbing Joe’s hand she dragged him back into the bathroom. "Sit." She ordered, pointing to the stool in front of her vanity. Plying through her makeup drawer, she came up with a long, thin pencil.

Turning back to Joe, she put one hand under his chin and gently tilted his head up. "Now, don’t move." She advised as she set to work.

"You don’t have to do this, Cal. You’re aiding and abetting a criminal, you know." Joe cracked, trying to remain still as Callie used the eye pencil to give him a smattering of freckles.

A few moments later Callie stepped back, and smiled admiring her handiwork. Satisfied, she held up her left hand, wiggling her ring finger as she winked at Joe. "We’re family now. Aiding and abetting is the least I can do."

Joe turned to look in the mirror almost gasping in astonishment. With the bright red wig, green contact lenses and freckles over his nose and cheeks, he barely recognized himself.

"Wow!" Frank exclaimed as he walked into the bathroom. "Do I know you?"

"You’re right." Joe smiled broadly. "Even Mom wouldn’t know it was me."

"Well, just don’t say anything. Your voice is a dead giveaway." Frank advised. "Come on. I need to take a picture for your hospital ID."

Once again, Joe followed Frank down the hall and into the office where Frank used his digital camera to take several pictures of Joe until he got one he was satisfied with. Using an old ID badge he had from a case where he’d been asked to work undercover in the hospital morgue, Frank superimposed the picture of Joe over his own, producing a valid hospital ID bearing Joe’s picture and the name ‘Harold Skimpski’.

"Harold Skimpski?!" Joe exclaimed looking at his older brother in disgust. "You couldn’t come up with anything better than Harold Skimpski?"

Frank smiled smugly. "Take it or leave it…Harold."

Joe glared at the ID, and then gave his brother a smoldering look. "Fine. Can we go now?"