‘He’s so hot.’ Vanessa thought, absently reaching out to touch his cheek as if to confirm it. ‘Why did I leave him alone for so long? Why did I leave him at all? I’m sorry, Joe. I never should have left you alone.’

Vanessa had been tormenting herself with these thoughts ever since she had returned to the bedroom to find Joe unconscious and unresponsive. Out of the corner of her eye, Vanessa had seen Fenton turning to look at Joe every few minutes. A few times she could feel him looking at her but was unable to meet his gaze, fearing she would see blame in his eyes. Vanessa knew that if she had stayed with Joe, as she’d done since he arrived at the safe house, instead of letting herself be talked into going downstairs with the others, she would have seen it immediately when his condition had started to deteriorate. Before she could fall any further into self-blame, the vehicle started to slow.

Vanessa looked up as Callie made a right turn into the hospital parking lot. She pulled up to the doors of the emergency room and Fenton jumped out while the car was still moving, racing through the doors. By the time Callie had stopped, gotten out and opened the hatch, Fenton had returned with the hospital personnel and a stretcher.

Joe was quickly removed from the SUV and transferred to the stretcher. Laura, Fenton and Vanessa were virtually on the heels of the nurse and two orderlies who wheeled Joe through the main doors. As they approached the doors leading into the examination areas, a receptionist seemed to appear out of nowhere, clipboard in hand, blocking their entrance.

"I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait in the waiting area." She pointed to a room just across the corridor with the hard chairs and uncomfortable couches that seemed to be standard issue for every emergency room in the world. "If you could complete these forms while you’re waiting, someone will be out to speak with you shortly." She finished offering the clipboard containing blank forms and a pen.

Fenton nodded and took the clipboard. Frowning at the closed doors, he turned and walked to the waiting room with Laura and Vanessa. A few moments later, Sam and Callie came in and joined them. Callie sat down next to Vanessa as Sam pulled a chair up next to Fenton.

"Frank called me." Sam said. "The judge revoked bail for Jarrell and all his men. They’re in jail."

"Thank God." Laura murmured.

"I told him about Joe. He should be here in an hour or so."

Fenton completed the paperwork, taking it back to the receptionist, answering a few questions about Joe’s injuries and then returning to the waiting room. Silently taking his wife’s hand, he stared blankly at the wall as the doubts and second-guessing began. What would have happened had they taken Joe to a hospital immediately as Laura had insisted? Would Joe really have been in that much danger? Would Jarrell even have been able to find him before morning when he had to be in court?

"Mr. and Mrs. Hardy?"

Fenton looked up to see a man in his late thirties with curly reddish-blonde hair and green eyes. He glanced at the nametag clipped to his lab coat that read, "Neil Andress, M.D., Emergency Medicine".

"How’s Joe?" Laura asked leaning forward anxiously.

"As you had suspected, he has a pretty severe concussion. One of his ribs does have a hairline fracture. Three others are just very badly bruised. Those injuries will heal completely given a little time. I’m much more concerned about the fever and infection." He said gravely.

"He has a systemic infection, brought on by the infection in his wrists. Normally we don’t see an infection of this magnitude until several days after the wound site has become infected. Since Joe has a compromised immune system, his body wasn’t able to fight it off the local infection in his wrists. It was carried to the rest of his body through the bloodstream. Unfortunately, it had already gotten to the point where oral antibiotics only temporarily slowed the spread of it.

"We’ve started him on a rather large dose of intravenous antibiotics in the hopes that will start to turn things around. As far as that is concerned, we won’t know anything for several hours. His temperature was taken about fifteen minutes ago and it was 108. I’m afraid that is dangerously high. We’re keeping him wrapped in cooling ‘blankets’ and administering intravenous fluids to combat dehydration. We’ll be monitoring his temperature every fifteen minutes. If it doesn’t start to come down soon, or continues to rise, there could be severe complications."

"What kind of complications?" Fenton asked his voice shaky.

"Seizures, brain damage, coma…death." Dr. Andress replied somberly. "We’re going to keep him here in the E.R. for the time being, until his conditions stabilizes. I’ll be out periodically to keep you informed of his progress. If you have any questions, just ask the receptionist to page me."

"Thank you, Doctor." Fenton replied. Turning, he looked at his wife. "I’m so sorry, Laura." He said, awash in guilt.

Laura felt the anger that she had repressed at Fenton and Frank’s refusal to even consider her request that Joe be taken to a hospital immediately come bubbling back up. Knowing she was just as angry with herself for not standing her ground, and mindful of a promise she had once made to herself never to speak in the heat of anger, she simply nodded. "I know you are." She said quietly.

Hearing the exchange Vanessa, her eyes wide in shock, turned to face Callie and saw a similar expression on Callie’s face. Momentarily forgetting her own anguish, Vanessa wondered what the repercussions would be on the Hardy’s picture perfect marriage if Joe did not make a complete recovery.

Speeding west on the Interstate, Frank was surrounded by memories of his younger brother. With only a year’s difference in their ages, Frank couldn’t remember Joe ever not being a part of his life. Thinking back on their childhood brought an automatic smile to his face. Frank wondered what would happen if their parents ever found out they didn’t know half the of the crazy things Joe did or the trouble he got into while growing up because Frank bailed him out or covered for him before it ever got back to Laura and Fenton.

Joe’s exuberance and fun loving enthusiasm for living life to its fullest had influenced Frank in the most positive ways, something Frank realized he’d never shared with his brother or thanked him for. People always assumed it was Frank who’d been a positive influence on Joe and Frank knew that he had, but few seemed to understand it went both ways. Joe’s passion for life affected him every day, something Frank did not want to be forced into learning how to live without.

Driving in silence, Frank heard a soft clink and glanced down, seeing the ID bracelet Joe had given him for his birthday gently brushing against the steering wheel. He thought about that night and knew no matter what age he lived to be, that would be the best birthday of his life. It was the night Joe had given him the one gift he wanted more than anything in the world but didn’t dare hope for – his brother’s trust. In fact it was the only birthday he could recall where every single one of his wishes came true. Staring out the windshield into the night, Frank noticed one star in the sky that seemed to be burning more brightly than the rest.