"Frank, call 911!" Fenton ordered. "Tell them to have an ambulance waiting for us at the docks. Longpoint Marina," he repeated the name he’d seen on the sign as they pulled into the parking lot.

Frank pulled out his cell phone and made the call, his eyes never leaving Joe and Vanessa. He explained to the operator what had happened and answered all her questions, hanging up only after she assured him an ambulance would meet them at the dock.

As he ended the call and returned the cell phone to his pocket, Frank heard a loud coughing, gagging sound. "Joe!" he shouted happily. Lunging forward, he helped Vanessa roll Joe onto his side.

As Joe began spitting out large mouthfuls of filthy water, Frank wrinkled his nose. "Ugh…that’s gross!" He backed off a few steps, quickly deciding to let Vanessa handle things.

"See if you can find some blankets," Fenton laughed at Frank’s assessment, thinking it was the most wonderful sound he’d ever heard. It was almost a full minute later, before the coughing subsided, leaving Joe breathing heavily and visibly shivering.

Vanessa murmured softly to Joe as Frank searched for the blankets, eventually finding a stockpile beneath one of the seats. He handed three of them to Vanessa and wrapped one around his father’s shoulders. Returning to Vanessa’s side, Frank helped her envelope Joe in a protective layer of blankets. Sitting as close to Joe as possible, Vanessa rubbed his arms and back, continuing to speak to him in a low, soothing voice.

"Joe? You okay, bro?" Frank asked, concerned. Joe couldn’t stop shivering and his lips were an interesting shade of blue against his pale, clammy skin.

"Joe?" Frank repeated, leaning closer to his brother when Joe remained silent. ‘Oh, God, maybe he does have brain damage!’ Frank thought wildly. "Come on, Joe, say something!!"

"Wh-what t-t-took you s-s-so l-l-long?!?" Joe stuttered, glaring at Frank. Involuntarily he coughed again, spitting out a final mouthful of dirty water, which landed unceremoniously on Frank’s sneaker-clad feet.

While Fenton wisely stifled his amusement, Vanessa laughed out loud at the look of annoyance on Frank’s face. "Thanks a lot," he muttered in disgust.

"S-s-sorry," Joe stuttered with a shrug, although the grin on his face belied the apology.

Scrounging around for a towel, Frank bent over and began wiping his feet. "So what happened?" he asked. "How’d you end up being shark bait?"

Joe made several attempts to explain how Justin had managed to pull off his sneak attack, each time being stopped by uncontrollable stuttering.

Fenton looked back and smiled sympathetically at his shivering son. "Why don’t you wait until we get to the hospital and you get warmed up before you try and give us the gory details," he advised.

At the word hospital, Joe became highly agitated. "N-no way! N-no hospital! I’m f-f-fine!" he insisted.

"Oh, no. You’re not talking your way out of this one," Fenton replied just as insistently. "Your mother would kill me if she knew I didn’t take you to the hospital to be checked out. So you’re going. End of discussion."

"B-but D-dad," Joe whined.

"No," Fenton cut him off, shaking his head adamantly. "This is self-preservation – mine! And while you’re at the hospital, Frank and I will go pay a little visit to Justin."

"N-not without me!" Joe said heatedly. "I w-want a p-piece of th-that guy!"

"Joe," Frank said patiently. "We just fished you out of the bay. You weren’t breathing, you swallowed God knows how much of that filthy water and you’ve probably got hypothermia to boot. Let us handle Justin, okay?"

"N-no w-way," Joe said angrily through chattering teeth, "That t-twit tried to make f-fish food outta m-me! I wanna see his f-face when I return from the d-dead!"

"Well, at least go to the hospital first and get warmed up before you confront him," Frank suggested, trying not to laugh.

"W-w-why?" Joe stuttered, narrowing his eyes at his brother.

"Because chattering teeth don’t do a whole lot to enhance your tough guy image," Frank grinned.

Glaring at Frank, Joe attempted to free an arm from his cocoon of blankets without much success. Swearing under his breath at his inability to move, he felt Vanessa lean behind him and heard a yelp from Frank.

"Hey!! What was that for?" Frank cried out.

"For making fun of my tough guy fiancé," Vanessa replied as she resumed rubbing Joe’s back and arms.

"Th-thanks B-babe," Joe said, sticking his tongue out at Frank before accepting a kiss from Vanessa.

"What are you laughing at?" Frank asked his father, as he rubbed the back of his head where Vanessa had just swatted him.

"Who me?" Fenton called back innocently. "Not a thing."

"Hey, d-did you say I w-wasn’t breathing?" Joe asked, his brow furrowed in worried concentration.

"Yeah, why?" Frank replied.

Joe looked first at Frank and then Vanessa. "Uh, exactly w-which one of you …you know…brought me b-back around?" he asked guardedly.

As they exchanged confused glances, the meaning of Joe’s question suddenly dawned on Frank and Vanessa. Frank chuckled softly but Vanessa burst into laughter.

"Joe, you’re my brother. I love you and I’d do anything for you. But since Vanessa was here and knew what to do..." Frank trailed off with a shrug of his shoulders.

"G-good," Joe stuttered, wrinkling his nose distastefully. "I’d rather n-not have you p-put a l-l-lip lock on me in f-front of my f-f-fiancée!"

"Ewwww!" Vanessa exclaimed. "I just got a visual on that!" Her laughter turned into hysterical giggling and Frank laughed out loud, as Joe’s eyes widened in horror.

Fenton Hardy, however, was laughing so hard he was almost in tears as Joe glared at her, not at all amused by the comment.

"Talk about brotherly love!" Fenton hooted.

"Dad…" Joe said, catching his father’s attention.

"Yes?" Fenton replied wiping at his eyes, as his laughter finally began to die down.

"Sh-shut up and steer the b-boat," Joe muttered. Slouching down into the blankets, he pulled them up over his head.