"I know I’ve said this before, Joe, but I can’t stress it enough. No matter what the prosecution says or implies, no matter what any of the witnesses say, it is imperative that you stay calm at all times. You cannot lose your temper or you will be playing right into their hands." Andrew told him. "The district attorney may be an old friend of your father’s but he still has a job to do. He's not going to pull any punches. Just remember that I get to cross-examine every witness he calls. They may say something that upsets you when he is questioning them, but I will get a chance to essentially undermine everything he says or does."

"I understand, Mr. Worth." Joe promised. "I won't lose my temper."

Andrew looked at Joe dubiously. 'He has no idea what he's in for.' Andrew thought sadly, and hoped Joe would, indeed, be able to remain in control.

"Good. You're only going to get one chance to make a good first impression with the jury."

Joe nodded his understanding. He suddenly felt very alone and wished he could hold Vanessa one more time before he had to go into the courtroom. He'd been leaning on her more and more for support as the trial drew closer, especially on the days Frank was out of town, and she hadn't let him down. The unbidden thought that they might only have a certain number of days left together pushed it's way into his mind and Joe quickly pushed it back out. He jumped as a knock on the door told him the proceedings were about to begin. Standing, he followed Andrew out the door and into the courtroom.

Joe watched as Judge O'Donnell entered the courtroom and took his seat behind the bench. After everyone in the courtroom took their seats again, the specifics of the case were read. Joe listened as his name, the charges, and the case number were announced and suddenly his trial was officially underway. The reality of it hit him all at once and took his breath away.

Dennis Seevers had already begun his opening statement. Joe tried to focus on every word he was saying but only a few filtered through. And one stayed with him. Rape. How many times would that word be spoken throughout the trial? Hundreds? His eyes started to burn as he realized each time it was spoken, Vanessa would relive that horrible night in some way. Each time it was spoken how many people would turn to look at her? How many times could she hear the word and feel the stares before she couldn’t take anymore? She had been so strong for him recently; he had almost forgotten she was still in the very early stages of recovery.

"Murder."

The word reached out and grabbed Joe's attention, forcing him back to the present.

"Blind rage. Uncontrolled anger. Revenge."

Joe looked at the jury wondering if they already believed what Dennis was saying.

"Slashed tires. A chance meeting. An offer of help. The beginning of the perfect love story. High school sweethearts."

Dennis was weaving a love story for the jury; Joe and Vanessa’s love story. And he was doing it very well.

"Bayport University. Their first apartment together. Central Park at Christmas time. A carriage ride. A marriage proposal. Soul mates planning a life together."

Joe quickly understood what Dennis was trying to do. He wanted the jury to see Joe and Vanessa as the perfect couple, hopelessly in love, utterly devoted to each other, planning a future together.

'Why wouldn't they? It's true.' He thought.

If Dennis could get the jury to believe that, and in fact sympathize with them, it wouldn't be much of a stretch for them to believe Joe would commit murder to avenge such a horrible crime against his fiancée. Glancing at the jury box, he could already see a look of sympathy on a few of the jurors. Would that work for him or against him?

Joe suddenly felt trapped and overwhelmed. 'How did this happen? How did I end up here? How am I going to survive this trial with my sanity in tact?'

Sitting in the first row of seats directly behind Joe, Vanessa found herself wondering the same thing. She had watched Joe grow more anxious each day as the trial approached. She heard him wake up in the night screaming, after dreaming about prison, or abused children, or some bizarre combination of both. Her gentle words and comforting embrace were no longer enough to help him past the nightmares.

As each day passed without any new evidence being found, Joe lost a little more hope. Joe trusted his brother more than the criminal justice system, but it was getting harder and harder for him to believe Frank would find anything in time to help him. In the past two days, Joe had made some vague remarks about having a limited amount of time left. Vanessa had assumed he meant a limited amount of time until the trial started. Now remembering Joe's reaction to the frighteningly real dream he had about being killed in prison, she realized he meant a limited amount of time before that dream became a reality.

"Van, are you all right?" a voice whispered in her ear. She jumped in surprise, and then turned to look at Frank, who was seated next to her.

"I'm fine." She replied, quietly.

"Are you sure?" he asked, dubiously. "Because my fingers are turning blue." He smiled and held up his hand, which she was clutching tightly.

"Sorry." She smiled, weakly. "Just nervous." She loosened her grip, but did not let go.

"As long as that's all it is."

Vanessa nodded and returned her attention to the front of the courtroom, where Andrew was now speaking. She'd been so worried about Joe she had missed the beginning of Andrew's opening statement. Vanessa saw Joe turn and smile at her as Andrew's words registered. He was talking about the day Joe had tried to save Iola Morton's killer instead of murdering him, even though he had the perfect opportunity to do so. She returned Joe's smile, happy that she had been able to help in his defense in some small way.

As Andrew's opening statement drew to a close, Vanessa grew anxious. The list of witnesses the prosecution planned to call that day consisted almost entirely of Joe and Vanessa's close friends. While Andrew couldn’t be absolutely sure what Dennis had in mind, he had a pretty good idea. He was fairly certain Joe's friends would be called to the stand, one by one, and asked the same question - in the days following the rape, had they heard Joe say explicitly, or in any way make reference to wanting to kill Chris Taylor. Unfortunately, in those emotional days immediately after Vanessa had been raped, Joe had lost his temper quite easily and as a result lost count of the number of times he had threatened to kill Taylor. With Joe's close friends forced to confirm those threats, the jury would have a hard time believing he never intended to follow through on them.

As Joe's friends were called to the witness stand, he ironically found himself wishing he didn't make friends quite so easily. As the day progressed Tony, Phil, Chet, Biff, Liz and others were questioned about their conversations with Joe and forced to recount any threats he had made against Chris Taylor.

Andrew then cross-examined each one and, as Dennis had done, asked them each one simple question. Had they ever been so angry with someone, or lost their temper to such a degree, that they uttered the words virtually everyone has at one point in their lives - "I’ll kill him." They all answered with an emphatic "Yes!" which Andrew hoped would prompt at least some of the jurors to recall a time when they too had uttered those very same words in the heat of anger. Although Joe took some comfort in that, and the fact that each of his friends was labeled a 'hostile' witness, by day's end he felt somehow betrayed and alone.

As Dennis called his last witness of the day, Joe was more depressed than he could ever remember being. Lost in self-pity, Joe was shocked back to reality when he heard the name of the last witness - Callie Hardy! There were murmurs throughout the courtroom as Joe frantically tried to remember the conversations he and Callie had in the last few weeks. Prior to he and Frank talking things out, Joe had turned to Callie frequently and confided in her more than he ever had before. As she walked past the defense table, Callie smiled at Joe and winked, giving him the impression things were about to take a turn in his favor.

After Callie had been sworn in and the preliminary questions about her name and relationship to Joe had been asked, Dennis got straight to the point as he had with everyone before her.

"Mrs. Hardy, in conversations with your brother-in-law over the last five weeks, did you at any time, hear him threaten to kill Chris Taylor?"

Leaning forward towards the microphone, Callie looked Joe directly in the eyes and replied, "No."

Dennis Seevers turned to Callie, surprise written all over his face.

"Excuse me?" He said in amazement. This was obviously not the answer he had expected to hear.

"No." Callie repeated. "I never heard Joe threaten Chris Taylor in any way. I never even heard him mention Taylor's name."

"Mrs. Hardy, you are under oath and sworn to tell the truth. Perjury is a crime and one that is taken very seriously. Are you sure you never heard Joe Hardy make any kind of threat against Chris Taylor?" Dennis repeated, slightly unnerved.

"Yes, I am sure and I do not like what you are implying." Callie said defiantly, her eyes blazing with anger.

Joe turned slightly and glanced over his shoulder at Frank, who was trying hard to stifle a laugh. Frank shrugged his shoulders, indicating to Joe he had no idea that was going to happen.

"My apologies." Dennis said quickly. "No further questions." He returned to the prosecution table, and began an angrily whispered conversation with his assistant.

As Joe turned back to the front, he noticed Andrew exchanging a glance with Callie and not quite holding back a Cheshire cat grin. Even if no one else had expected this turn of events, Andrew did.

After Andrew declined to question Callie, and she returned to her seat, Judge O'Donnell declared the proceedings finished for the day and left the courtroom.

"Can I go see Vanessa?" Joe asked Andrew anxiously.

"Sure, go ahead. I just need to speak with you for a few minutes before you leave." Andrew smiled.

Joe raced towards the gate separating the front of the courtroom from the seating area, but Vanessa had beat him to it and jumped into his arms. Joe held her tightly, grateful the day was finally over.

Frank watched Joe and Vanessa for a moment before turning to Callie.

"Well, that was quite a surprise." Frank smiled at her. "How come I didn't know about it?"

"I asked her not to say anything to anyone." Andrew jumped in. "As soon as I got the witness list for today, I called everyone on it. I realized the one thing they all had in common was they had heard Joe threaten Taylor. Everyone except Callie, that is. Eventually I realized she had just gotten onto the list by mistake. One of the ADA's put the witness list together and apparently just got careless and put her name on the wrong day. Or just assumed she had heard Joe's threats at some point. We were fortunate Dennis never found out about it. And it was pure luck that she was scheduled as the last witness to be called. Her emphatic no and indignation at Dennis' implication that she might be lying will linger a long time in the minds of the jurors."

"See, I can keep a secret, too." She smiled slyly at Frank.

Frank was just about to lean down and kiss her when she was grabbed and pulled into an enthusiastic hug by Joe. Callie returned the hug, but began struggling to escape after a few seconds.

"Easy, Joe." She gasped. "I can't breathe!"

"Sorry." Joe said, releasing her, then kissed her impulsively. "Thanks, Cal."

"That goes double for me." Vanessa said, also hugging her friend.

Thinking back on all the conversations he and Callie had recently, Joe looked at her questioningly.

"I really never said anything about…" Joe began.

"No, you never did." Callie replied. "So don't start now." She joked, wagging a finger at him.

"Joe," Andrew interrupted the impromptu celebration. "I just need a minute or two, then you can go home."

Hugging Vanessa tightly once more, Joe released her and joined Andrew for a quick rundown on what to expect the next day. As Joe rejoined his family, Laura announced dinner was already being prepared and she expected her family to be together that evening. Turning, to lead the group out of the courtroom, Joe saw Tony, Phil, Chet and Biff standing off to the side, looking very uncomfortable. His arm wrapped securely around Vanessa, Joe approached his friends.

Biff opened his mouth to speak but Joe stopped him before he could get a word out.

"All you guys did was tell the truth. If I hadn't gotten angry and shot off my mouth, there wouldn't have been anything to tell. If anyone should feel bad it's me for putting my friends in that position to begin with. I'm really sorry, guys." Joe said sincerely.

There were a few seconds of uncomfortable silence before Chet finally spoke up. "If you didn’t get angry and shoot your mouth off, we wouldn't recognize you."