"I’ll be blunt," he began as Frank closed his eyes and sent out one last desperate prayer for good news, "I had fully expected to be accompanied by a representative of the National Organ Donor program. But I’m very happy to say I didn’t have to make that call. Joe’s fever finally broke." Andress smiled and waited for the sighs and murmurs of relief to subside.

"He’s still unconscious but he’s responding to stimuli. His fever is still high – 105 at the last reading – but its finally coming down. It will take at least another twenty-four hours of intravenous antibiotics to make sure we’ve got the infection completely under control, but I’m very optimistic he’ll make a complete recovery."

"Very optimistic?" Vanessa repeated with a tinge of worry. "Does that mean you’re not sure?"

"It means once Joe regains consciousness we’ll need to run an EEG – a brain scan – and a few other tests to confirm there was no permanent damage. Personally, I think he’ll be fine." Andress assured her.

"Can we see him now?’ Laura asked hopefully.

"We’ll be moving him to a room within the hour. You can see him then. However, Joe probably won’t wake up until this afternoon at the earliest. I know you’ve all been here all night. It might be a good idea to see him for just a few minutes once we get him settled and then go and get some rest yourselves. I’m sure you’d much rather spend time with him when he’s awake."

With no further questions, Dr. Andress returned to his patient. Vanessa and Laura immediately grabbed each other tightly, crying a few tears of happiness and relief. Frank turned to Callie and they hugged each other.

"Whatever you said must’ve gotten through to him." Callie said her voice muffled against Frank’s shoulder.

Frank stiffened. "What did you say?"

Callie pulled away slightly and looked at him. "Joe must’ve heard you."

"B-but Dr. Andress specifically said I couldn’t go see him."

"And I know you didn’t let that stop you for one second." Callie replied, a twinkle in her eye.

*****

Slowly Joe began to awaken, wondering why Vanessa hadn’t roused him yet. Surely it had been at least four hours since he had eaten lunch, taken a bath and had the last dose of antibiotics. Hearing a voice in the hall as someone passed by the room, he vaguely wondered why he couldn’t place it. Why would there be someone in the safe house that he didn’t know?

Sensing someone else in the room, Joe smiled to himself knowing it was Vanessa, then frowned, puzzled as to why she wasn’t in her customary place on the bed next to him. He knew that even while he slept, she sat right next to him reading a book or a magazine or just watching him. Deciding it wasn’t important enough to think about, Joe lolled in that place of semi-wakefulness as it dawned on him that he actually felt a little better.

‘Those antibiotics must finally be kicking in.’ He thought. While still warm, he was much cooler than he had been in days. The bass drum that had been playing incessantly in his head was gone, replaced by a low throbbing and the intense stabbing pain he’d gotten in his side when he dared to do so much as breathe had decreased to a dull ache.

Lifting his arm a little to get more comfortable, Joe felt a slight pulling sensation and cracked an eye open to see if he could determine the cause. Glancing around his eyes shot open.

‘A hospital?! When did I go to the hospital?’ Joe wondered in surprise.

"Hey, you."

Joe immediately relaxed at hearing Vanessa’s soft greeting. "Hey." He replied, his voice hoarse and low.

"Water?" Vanessa offered, holding a plastic cup with a straw.

Joe nodded taking several large mouthfuls. He looked around again, more slowly, his eyes coming to rest on the plastic tubes he had in each arm. Raising his eyes, he saw Vanessa looking at him with obvious relief.

"That must’ve been one hell of a nap I took." He cracked as Vanessa’s eyes widened in surprise at the comment. "How did I get here? And when did I get here? Has Frank testified yet?" Joe asked, realizing he didn’t even know what day it was.

"You don’t remember?" Vanessa countered, finding comfort in the thought.

Ever since she had found Joe unconscious in the bedroom, she had tormented herself with the thought that he’d awakened, delirious and in pain, unable to move and calling out for help. She was convinced he’d been awake and aware of his deteriorating condition, desperate for help yet unable to summon anyone to assist him, as they were all too busy relaxing downstairs.

"Remember what? You made me take those stupid pills, we started talking about the wedding and I fell asleep." Joe frowned. "What’s there to remember?"

Vanessa started to laugh although it wasn’t the happy, infectious giggle Joe couldn’t seem to get enough of. This was closer to a hysterical laugh.

Wiping at her eyes, Vanessa leaned down and softly kissed Joe on the cheek. She then explained to him what had transpired in the last twenty-four hours, concluding with Dr. Andress insinuating he hadn’t expected Joe to pull through, shuddering at the memory.

Joe listened, a little shocked, then decided not remembering any of it wasn’t such a bad thing after all. "Gee, after hearing all that, I’m kinda glad I missed all the fun."

"I’m glad you did, too." Vanessa agreed with a smile.

"So where is everybody?" Joe asked looking around, wondering where his family was.

"Back at the safe house, sleeping. They all came in for a few minutes when you were first brought to the room, but Dr. Andress suggested everyone get some sleep and come back later when you were awake." Vanessa explained.

"So how come you didn’t go with them?" Joe looked at her critically. "Don’t tell me you weren’t tired, too." He knew she must have been beside herself with worry all night and hadn’t slept a wink.

"I slept here." She said jerking her head at the other bed in the room. "I didn’t want you to be alone when you woke up and Dr. Andress wasn’t exactly sure when that would be."

"Well, I’m glad you were here. It would have been more than a little disconcerting waking up in a hospital room – alone – since I had no idea what happened. Thanks, Babe." Joe tugged on her hand until she leaned down again, so he could kiss her.

Sitting back, Vanessa stared at Joe and smiled. "You know, I could really live quite happily without any more of your near death experiences. They’re getting kind of old."

Joe started to laugh, only to be stopped something trying to push its way up from his subconscious.

The voice in his head was distorted, almost as if the person was very far away from him when they were speaking and Joe couldn’t quite place it.

"Van, did anyone come in and sit with me in the ER? Mom…you…Frank…anyone?"

"No, we wanted to but Dr. Andress expressly forbid it. He said your condition was too unstable."

Joe concentrated a moment longer, then shrugged it off. "I must’ve had some pretty weird dreams!"

"A high fever will do that." Vanessa reassured him.

Joe grinned, tugging Vanessa’s hand once more. "So why don’t you make me forget them."

Vanessa leaned down to meet his lips with her own, happy to oblige.

"He’s obviously awake and feeling better." A familiar, deep voice echoed through the room.

Joe separated from Vanessa just enough to reply to his brother. "Much better. So go away. I’m busy." He said kissing Vanessa with all the enthusiasm he could muster just to annoy Frank.

Vanessa pulled away from him, giggling, and Joe thought it was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard. Looking up, Joe saw Frank, Callie, Fenton and Laura standing just inside the room. With tears in her eyes, Laura quickly moved to Joe’s bedside, kissing him on the cheek.

"Thanks for taking care of me, Mom." Joe whispered in her ear, hugging her as best he could.

"Always." She whispered back. Straightening up, she wiped her eyes and took a step back as Fenton approached.

"Good to have you back, son." He said emotionally, squeezing Joe’s shoulder. "Nice shiner." He added with a laugh.

"Hey, little brother," Frank said in mock anger, standing at the foot of the bed and staring at Joe, "the last time I saw you, you promised to start getting better if I promised to take down Jarrell and his goons. I held up my end of the bargain. What happened to you?"

"Thought you could use a little excitement in your life." Joe grinned.

"That kind of excitement we can do without." Callie replied.

"Funny, my staff said the same thing." Dr. Andress said as he entered the room. Approaching the bed, he held his hand out to Joe. "We haven’t been formally introduced yet, Joe. I’m Dr. Andress."

"Nice to meet you." Joe smiled and shook his hand. "And thanks for saving my life. I’ve grown kind of attached to being alive."

"Well, thank you but I think you deserve most of the credit. Apparently you’re just too stubborn to die."

"Gee, what a surprise." Frank said sardonically. "So is he going to make a complete recovery?"

"That’s my guess, but we still need to run a few tests for confirmation, mostly to keep the legal department happy." He replied amiably.

"You mean the brain scan?" Laura asked nervously.

"Don’t worry, Mom. Joe would actually need to have a brain in order to have brain damage." Frank joked, winking at his younger brother.

"You’re just jealous of my superior intelligence. I’m really smarter than you. Mom and Dad have kept it hidden all these years so as not to damage your fragile psyche." Joe told his brother haughtily, and then looked at Dr. Andress. "Can I have something to eat now? I’m hungry."

"I think that can be arranged." Andress chuckled.

"Good. And when can I get out of here?" Joe demanded. "No offense but I hate hospitals."

"Is he always like this?" The doctor asked Fenton and Laura, shaking his head.

"I’m afraid so." Fenton replied with a chuckle.

"You need to stay on the IV antibiotics for at least twenty-four more hours. And I’d like to see your temperature down to 100 before I release you." Dr. Andress replied, stifling a smile at the dejected look on Joe’s face. "If you follow all our instructions to the letter, maybe you can go home the day after tomorrow. I’ll go see about getting you something to eat." He finished as he left the room.

"Oh, sure, I get to go home. Didn’t get to play with any of the cool stuff they had at the safe house. And I’m sure they’re going to give me those stupid bed rest instructions when they release me so I’ll be bored to tears and driving Vanessa crazy…"

As Joe rambled on about the unexciting convalescence he had to look forward to, Frank pulled Fenton aside.