Laura Hardy looked around her dining room table and smiled. Frank, Callie, Joe and Vanessa had joined Laura and Fenton for dinner. She chose to ignore, for the moment, the reason for the family gathering – it was the only chance Frank, Fenton and Joe had to get together that day and discuss Joe’s defense. Instead, she focused on having her family together. It seemed that ever since Frank and Joe had moved out on their own, family dinners were a thing of the past, reserved for birthdays and holidays.

Laura smiled as she listened to Vanessa excitedly telling the group about the different wedding dresses she was considering. She hadn’t seen Vanessa this animated since before the rape and realized everyone else was thinking the same thing. Vanessa was the center of attention and for the first time in weeks, seemed to be genuinely happy.

"What do you think, Joe? Should I go with the empire waist or something more modern?" Vanessa asked, turning to her fiancé.

Joe looked at her stunned, as if she had just asked him ‘What is the meaning of life?’ Joe leaned across the table to his married, older brother.

"Frank! What’s an empire waist?" Joe whispered loudly, making sure everyone could hear. "And does it have anything to do with Darth Vader?"

"Joe, I’m serious!" Vanessa said, blushing, as everyone laughed.

"So am I!" Joe retorted. "I don’t know an empire waist from the Empire Strikes Back!"

"Come on, Van," Frank said, still chuckling. "You really don’t expect him to know what you’re talking about. There’s only so much room in that little brain of his and it’s mostly taken up with useless sports trivia."

"Hey, I resent that!" Joe protested. "Sports trivia is never useless!"

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Maybe I should just wear a white football jersey and be done with it."

"Would you?" Joe grinned at her devilishly. Laughing, he leaned over and kissed Vanessa on the cheek. "Don’t worry, Babe. You’ll be absolutely gorgeous no matter what you wear."

Frank smiled, as he watched Joe and Vanessa, wishing he could stop time right there. It was the first time in he couldn’t remember how long that he had seen Joe laughing. The sparkle was back in his blue eyes and he looked relaxed and happy. Unfortunately, Frank knew all that would change when dinner was over and he, Joe and their father retreated to the office to compare notes as to what happened that day. Noticing the look on his father’s face, Frank realized he was thinking the same thing and, in fact, seemed to be putting off the inevitable. Dessert had been devoured a while ago, and Fenton was on his third cup of coffee, seemingly in no rush to leave the table.

Thirty minutes later, Frank, Fenton and Joe were gathered in the office. Frank found he was nervous, as he had been purposely vague when telling his father what he had planned to do that day. It dawned on him that whenever he and Joe used ‘unorthodox’ methods during an investigation, he always let Joe tell their father about it, if they felt he needed to know at all. Somehow, coming from Joe, Fenton never seemed to get quite as upset as Frank thought he would. Tonight, however, Frank was on his own.

"So, Frank, why don’t you go first?" Fenton said, leaning back in his chair.

Panicking when he realized he didn’t have Joe’s knack for ‘creative explanations,’ Frank tried to rush over the part he knew his father would be unhappy with.

"Phil and I checked Taylor’s apartment today," he said quickly. "We didn’t really expect to find -"

"Whoa!" Fenton exclaimed, holding up a hand. "Yesterday you said you couldn’t get a search warrant. How did you get the judge to change his mind?"

"Well…uh…" Frank stammered, hoping to be struck with inspiration as so often seemed to happen to Joe.

Joe, for his part, was trying to stifle a laugh, knowing instinctively there had been no search warrant. He sat back smiling, as he watched his older brother squirm under their father’s gaze, grateful that for once, it was someone else getting the third degree from Fenton.

"Yeah, Frank. How did you get the judge to change his mind? Must’ve been one convincing argument." Joe said, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Well, he didn’t exactly change his mind." Frank replied, glaring at his brother.

"What did he do…exactly?" Fenton asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Um..nothing, really."

"Nothing?" Fenton repeated, confused. "Then how did you get permission to search the apartment?"

"Yeah, big brother, how did you get permission to search the apartment?" Joe echoed his father, thoroughly enjoying Frank’s predicament.

"We didn’t exactly get permission." Frank replied, ignoring Joe.

"I’m not going to like this, am I?" Fenton asked gazing steadily at Frank.

"I doubt it. We sort of broke in." Frank said wincing, as he waited for the explosion he knew would follow.

"You sort of broke in?!" Fenton said, shocked.

"Is that like being sort of pregnant?" Joe asked with a straight face.

"You’re not helping, Joe!" Frank yelled in exasperation.

"You broke in?" Fenton said again. "Didn’t it occur to you that anything you found would be inadmissible in court?"

"I know that, Dad." Frank replied, rolling his eyes. "We weren’t planning to take anything we found."

"Then what exactly were you planning to do?" he asked, now curious.

"Yeah, what exactly…" Joe began before being cut off by Frank.

"Enough, Joe!" Frank exclaimed in frustration. "I get that you are enjoying this, ok?"

"Immensely." Joe said, sitting back with a smile on his face.

"Frank," Fenton said shaking his head. "What were you thinking?"

"Dad, just let me explain. I really did have a plan you know. After all, I’m not Joe." Frank wrinkled his nose at his brother who just smirked.

Joe leaned closer to his father. "Don’t worry, Dad." He said in mock seriousness. "He had a plan."

"JOE!!" Frank yelled.

Fenton sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. "All right, Frank. Let’s hear your plan."

"Ok, I figured we could break in and search the apartment for anything that might help Joe. I didn’t expect to find evidence lying around, but I hoped we would find something that would lead us to the evidence that we need. If we did find something, we were going to leave it there and tell you about it. If you thought it was important enough, then I thought you could call in some favors and get a search warrant so we could get it legally."

Fenton knew Frank was trying everything possible to help his brother, but he was still slightly taken aback at Frank’s explanation. He was used to hearing this kind of story from Joe, but he was used to Frank doing everything by the book.

Fenton shook his head, chuckling. "So, did you find anything?" he finally asked.

"Nothing concrete." He said vaguely, knowing he did have a lead, but couldn’t tell Joe he had gotten that lead at the state penitentiary. "I think we need to track down Taylor’s mother. She probably knows him better than anyone and would know where he might keep papers and things that were extremely important to him."

"I think you’re on the right track." Fenton nodded. "But no one seems to know where she is. She doesn’t even know her son is dead yet."

"I know, but I got a lead on the last few places she lived." He said, hoping Joe wouldn’t ask for details. "Phil is going to help me use the Internet to try and find out where she’s living now."

"Just make sure anything you find will stand up in court." Fenton reminded his son.

"I will, Dad." Frank said, firmly.

"Ok. Andrew came up with…" Fenton barely got started, before being interrupted by Joe.

"Wait a minute. I have a question for Frank." Joe said, seriously.

Frank held his breath, hoping Joe wouldn’t ask where he got the leads on Chris Taylor’s mother. Both he and Fenton turned to Joe, who was looking at his older brother seriously.

"Exactly how long did it take you to pick the lock?" Joe deadpanned.

Frank slumped back in the chair. "I know you were switched at birth with my real brother. I just know it." Frank muttered as Fenton laughed out loud.

Fenton knew Frank didn’t care one bit that Joe was having a good laugh at his expense. It had been much too long since any of them had seen Joe laughing. Fenton waited as long as he could before steering the discussion to Joe’s defense. He knew Joe’s lighthearted mood would vanish instantly and that’s exactly what happened.

"Andrew came up with a few different strategies to use."

"None of which includes temporary insanity I hope." Frank said pointedly, gazing at his brother.

"No, that’s not being considered now." Fenton replied, then looked at Joe. "Is it?"

"Not right now." Joe said. "Vanessa really hated the idea even if it would keep me out of prison."

"Good for her! I’m glad somebody was able to talk some sense into you." Frank exclaimed. He was still a little unnerved that Joe had even considered such a thing.

"Vanessa also inadvertently came up with a key point Andrew can use." Fenton continued.

"Really?" Frank was surprised. He knew Vanessa still had a lot of her own issues to deal with and didn’t think she’d be able to focus on the details of Joe’s defense, other than offering unconditional love and support.

"She made the point that Joe had the opportunity to kill the man responsible for Iola’s death. Instead of trying to kill him, Joe tried to save his life." Fenton watched for Frank’s reaction as he continued. "She asked why he would kill someone over a rape when he didn’t kill someone to avenge a murder. It doesn’t make any sense."

Frank digested that information, then cringed.

"Go ahead, say it." Fenton smiled. "Andrew and I did."

"Why didn’t I think of that." Frank said, sheepishly.

"I’m just glad Vanessa did. That will have to bring up a reasonable doubt in the minds of at least some of the jurors."

"Yeah, but we need all of them to have a reasonable doubt." Joe finally spoke up, fear and uncertainty clouding his face once again.

"We’ll get them all, Joe. One way or another." Frank tried to reassure him.

"He’s right." Fenton concurred, searching for anything to keep Joe’s spirits up. "You’ll get a few jurors with that strategy; a few more with a different strategy; a few more with another. Eventually they’ll all believe you are innocent. Or at least have enough doubt to vote not guilty."

Joe sat back, running a hand through his hair. He looked at his father, doubt clearly evident in his eyes. "What if we run out of strategies before we run out of jurors?"

Joe knew his constant negative attitude had to be getting to his father and brother but he couldn’t help it. They wouldn’t be the ones going to prison if there was even one juror who believed he murdered Chris Taylor.

"All it takes is for one person not to believe me. Just one."

"That’s why I’m going to find the evidence that proves you are innocent." Frank spoke up. "Then they’ll have to believe it. All of them."

"But what if you can’t -" Joe began, but stopped when Frank held up his hand.

"I will find it, Joe." Frank said fiercely. He knew he was taking a chance guaranteeing he would find the evidence. But seeing the skepticism in Joe’s eyes he felt he had no choice. "Have I ever let you down before?"

"No." Joe admitted.

"And I won’t let you down now." Frank said confidently. "Just have a little faith in me, ok?"

Joe smiled sadly. "I have more faith in you than I do in the jury."

"And that’s all you need." Frank declared.

Fenton watched his sons with pride, thankful they were so close. His gut reaction to Frank’s proclamation was pessimistic. They needed to keep Joe’s hopes up, but he also wanted Joe to be prepared should the unthinkable occur and he was found guilty. However, Frank’s entire demeanor changed his mind. Frank wasn’t just attempting to get Joe thinking positively. Frank firmly believed he would find enough evidence to prove Joe was innocent. He had no intention of failing.

Somewhere deep in his soul, Fenton Hardy knew there was a first time for everything. Someday, without meaning to or wanting to, Frank would be forced to break a promise to his brother. Someday circumstances beyond his control would result in Frank’s being unable to keep his word; eventually it would happen – he would let Joe down. Tonight, however, Fenton chose to have faith in his oldest son. He chose to believe that first disappointment was still very far in the future.

After bidding their parents goodnight, Frank and Joe walked out to their cars, staying a few steps behind Callie and Vanessa. As they approached Joe’s car, he stopped, putting a hand on Frank’s arm to hold him back.

"What is it?" Frank asked, slightly concerned.

Joe was thankful for the darkness so Frank couldn’t see the emotions he knew were clearly visible on his face.

"I just wanted to say…thanks." Joe said, quietly. "I know breaking and entering isn’t your favorite thing to do." Joe knew that, in fact, Frank hated it.

"I’m going to find whatever we need to prove you’re innocent." Frank said with conviction. "And I’m certainly not going to let some trivial little detail, like lack of a search warrant, stop me."

"Thanks, big brother." Joe smiled. "Just don’t get arrested, ok? Both of us being on trial would really put a damper on Dad’s reputation." He joked.

"Don’t worry, little brother. I have everything under control." Frank replied, throwing an arm around Joe’s shoulders.

"I know you do, big brother." Joe said. "I have faith, remember?" Frank heard the smile in Joe’s voice.

They continued walking to their cars, unaware of their father, watching them from the office window, very proud of the men they had become.