Joe awoke slowly, in no rush to greet the depression he’d become so familiar with over the past year.  Sometimes it was gone in a few days but other times it hung on for weeks…or longer.  As he fully awakened, Joe waited for memories of the nightmares to begin…and waited…and waited.  Concentrating, Joe wondered, what exactly did I dream about?  A slow smile spread across his face. 

‘Vanessa…the wedding…the honeymoon – oh, yeah!’

Happily ensconced in the vivid memory, Joe’s grin widened and he didn’t hear the bathroom door open.

“What are you so happy about this early in the morning?” Frank asked teasingly.

Joe cracked one eye open and saw his brother standing there, a towel draped around his waist, as he rubbed another over his wet and tousled brown hair.

“Can’t tell ya,” Joe smiled wickedly.  “It would warp your little PG-rated mind.”  Joe began to stretch languidly, when Frank walked past the bed snapping a towel in his direction.  “Hey!” Joe yelped, tumbling out of bed.

“Ah, just like old times,” Frank murmured with a self-satisfied smile, ignoring the killer look Joe was throwing at him.  He settled down on his own bed, and looked at Joe.  “So you slept okay?”

“You mean before or after you woke me up three times to make sure I wasn’t dead?” Joe rolled his eyes, slowly getting to his feet, grimacing as the numerous bruises he’d accumulated the previous day protested even the slightest movement.  ‘Ow, ow, ow…oooooh, everything hurts!’

“Hey, not my fault.  I was just following doctor’s orders,” Frank defended himself.

“Yeah, well, I think you enjoyed it a little too much,” Joe retorted, as he stopped in the doorway of the bathroom and turned towards his brother. 

Frank winced at the bruises on Joe’s torso. “You’re looking awfully colorful there,” he commented, a hint of concern in his voice.

“Yeah, good thing Mom won’t see ‘em.  She was freaked enough about the stitches.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Frank murmured distractedly and then grinned.  “And just how do you plan on hiding them from Vanessa?”

Joe narrowed his eyes and stared daggers at Frank.  “You’re a real smart-ass this morning, ya know that?”

“I do my best,” Frank smiled, ducking the wet washcloth Joe flung at him as he closed the bathroom door.  “And hurry up! I want to get some breakfast before we have to pick Mom up at the airport!”

*****

Laura Hardy walked quickly through the airport terminal.  Even though she had spoken with Frank, Joe and Fenton the night before, she still needed to see them for herself before she’d believe they were all okay.  They all had a penchant for downplaying their injuries, and she was never sure to what degree they were trying to mollify her until she could look in their eyes.

As she approached the end of the terminal, she began scanning the crowd.  “Mom!  Over here!”  She recognized Joe’s voice instantly, and veered to the left breaking into a relieved smile when she caught sight of her sons.  Frank was leaning against the wall, away from the crowd, while Joe had maneuvered his way right to the front and was now waving at her.

Picking up the pace, she let go of her carry-on bag as Joe grabbed her in a hug that lifted her off the floor an inch or two.  Hugging him tightly in return, she glanced over his shoulder and saw Frank walking towards them, arriving just as Joe released her.

“Hey, Mom, how was the flight?” Frank asked leaning down to kiss her cheek.

“It was quite interesting,” she replied.  “I was seated next to a young man who is going to NYU and majoring in criminology.  Apparently you boys and your father are quite the celebrities in his little circle at school,” she continued. “It seems one of the professors there holds the three of you up as the pinnacle of success when it comes to private investigation.  I spent the entire flight being grilled about what it’s like to be wife and mother to three of the most well-known detectives in all law enforcement.”  Her eyes twinkled with amusement – and pride – as Frank flushed in embarrassment and Joe rolled his eyes.

“Man, if we’re the highlight of his day, that poor guy needs to get a life,” he mumbled.

“Well, I happen to agree with him,” Laura stated firmly, yet the sparkle in her eyes turned to sadness.  Reaching out, she touched Joe’s cheek where a vivid purple bruise had developed.  She’d never get used to seeing her children hurt. 

“Now where are those stitches?” she said, resting her hand on Joe’s chin and gently turning his head to the side.

“Aw, Mom, I’m fine,” Joe blushed.

Laura gave him a stern look as she pushed aside the lock of hair Joe had so carefully arranged to hide the small bandage covering his stitches.  She frowned, but brushed it gently back into place.  “You should have spent the night in the hospital,” she admonished him, not missing the ‘I told you so look’ Frank was triumphantly throwing in Joe’s direction.  “You can’t take chances with your health anymore, Joe, you know that.”

Joe looked appropriately contrite, but only for a moment.  He glanced at Frank as his eyes lit up with inspiration.  ‘Uh-oh…’ Laura thought, biting back a smile.

“But, Mom,” Joe protested, adopting his most innocent choir boy expression, “Frank said it was okay for me to leave the hospital!  He said he’d take care of me and watch out for me and make sure I didn’t die or something!”

Frank’s mouth gaped open and his eyes grew so huge they looked as if they might pop out of his head.  “You…he…I…” he sputtered incoherently, pointing an accusing finger at his younger brother.  “Mom!” he wailed.  “I did NOT-”

“Don’t worry, honey, I know you didn’t,” she quickly assured Frank, looking pointedly at Joe.  “I’m sure whatever you said, your brother embellished it – a lot.”  Laura stared at her sons for a moment, then threw her arms around them, hugging them tightly.  “I missed you boys so much!” 

Releasing them, she linked an arm through each of theirs.  “Now, take me to see your father.”

“If you didn’t have stitches in your head I’d smack you,” Frank muttered to Joe over their mother’s head. 

“Mom, Frank threatened to hit me,” Joe said petulantly.

“Brat,” Frank hissed.

‘Music to my ears,’ Laura Hardy thought, smiling.

*****

After stopping at the hotel so Laura could check in and freshen up, the threesome headed for the hospital, arriving shortly after noon.  After seeing Joe, moving a little gingerly but for the most part acting like his old self, Laura felt much of her anxiety slipping away.  Fenton had sounded in good spirits when they spoke the night before, and the boys assured her he was doing well and couldn’t wait to see her.  Eager to see her husband, Laura was caught unawares when she stepped off the elevator and found herself staring into the face of her sister.

Shocked, as this was the last place she expected to see Carole and Jeff, Laura automatically stepped back a few paces, cocooning herself between Frank and Joe.  Immediately, Joe put his arm around her protectively.  A long and very awkward silence followed as no one spoke; no one moved. 

Carole was standing next to her husband, looking just as shocked, although she looked infinitely more pleased about the chance meeting than Laura did.  Finally Jeff spoke, breaking the tension, somewhat.

“Is Fenton all right?”

“I-I haven’t seen him yet,” Laura stammered in response, though her eyes were still glued to her older sister. “I-I was just on my way there now.  The boys just picked me up at the airport; I just arrived this morning…” Her voice was shaking and she was rambling nervously.

Joe looked at Frank to take the lead, as he himself was still a little unnerved at the sudden appearance of his aunt and uncle. “They removed the bullet from his leg last night,” Frank answered.  “He’ll be fine in a few days.”  His voice was calm and neutral; what Joe jokingly referred to as his ‘just-the-facts’ voice.

Joe, taking his cue from Frank, gave Laura a gentle nudge. “In fact, he can’t wait to see you, Mom. Come on, I’ll take you to his room.”

Laura seemed glued to the spot, until Frank prodded her.  “Go on, Mom,” he said, gently pushing her forward.  “I’ll be right there.”

Wrapping an arm around Joe’s waist, Laura nodded and let Joe hustle her down the hall.  Frank didn’t move, watching and waiting to see if Carole might try to go after Laura, intending to run interference if she did.  Frank had no idea if his mother had given any thought to seeing her sister while she was in Arizona, but he didn’t want the decision to be forced on her by Carole.  If Laura did want to see her sister, it was going to be on her own terms. 

However Carole made no move to follow, simply watching with a heartbreaking sadness on her face, until Laura and Joe disappeared around the corner.  She stared at the empty spot where they’d been, for almost a full minute before she turned and looked at Frank, her eyes brimming with tears.  Reaching out, she squeezed his hand.

“Thank you for finding Kevin,” she choked out, then turned and walked away.

While a little surprised at Carole’s reaction, he’d fully expected her to try and go after Laura, Frank didn’t waste the opportunity.  He gave Jeff a sidelong glance and brushed past him, walking quickly to Fenton’s room.

Pushing the door open, he smiled – Joe, Fenton and Laura were having quite the happy reunion. 

“So how’s the leg today, Dad?” Frank asked, sliding into one of the empty chairs.  Joe took the other, while Laura stood by the side of the bed, fluffing pillows and generally fussing over her husband.

“Still sore, but it feels a whole lot better than it did yesterday,” he smiled, turning his gaze on Joe. “I want to know how you’re doing.”

“Actually,” Joe began slowly, “I feel pretty good.”

“No headaches?”

“A little one when I woke up,” Joe shrugged, “but a couple of Tylenol took care of it.”

“So Dad…what exactly happened?  How did you find Kevin?” Frank asked.  Fenton had been a little too groggy the night before to tell them much, and Frank had been itching to hear all the details.

Fenton chuckled.  “I’d like to say it was brilliant investigative work on my part, but the fact is I was running into dead ends everywhere when Vince Ellison pretty much confessed to his part in the whole thing and personally escorted me to Kevin.”  He frowned disgustedly.  “Maybe if I’d lived up to my reputation, I would’ve realized we were being followed, and last night’s fiasco could have been avoided completely.”

“Hey, it’s nice to know you’re human and make mistakes like the rest of us,” Joe teased, stretching his long legs out in front of him. “But what did happen?  That letter Ellison had delivered to us didn’t give a whole lot of background.”

As Fenton related the story Vincent Ellison had told him, he couldn’t help but realize, once again, how blessed he and Laura had been.  While their two sons had probably been exposed to more crime, violence and danger in their first twenty or so years of life than most people would see in one hundred years, they had never once been tempted to take the ‘easy’ route.  They’d never been enticed by drugs, alcohol, gambling or any one of thousands of other vices.  And even with Joe’s inherent wild streak and sometimes reckless nature, Fenton never had to worry that either of his sons were getting involved with the wrong crowd or running afoul of the law.  Guiltily, he realized, that he’d grown used to the compliments he’d gotten on his sons, often neglecting to pass on the words of praise from sometimes total strangers, and tell his sons, yet again, how proud he was of them.

“So even though Kevin trusted Ellison up to a point, he still held back on giving him that CD,” Joe mused, somewhat admiringly. 

“Mm-hmm,” Fenton nodded.  “Ellison is the one who went back and searched Kevin’s house looking for it.  And it’s a good thing he did.  That’s what tipped Jeff off.  He didn’t get everything quite back where it had been.  If he hadn’t done that, even I might not have believed this was anything other than a young man who wanted a fresh start.”  Fenton turned and looked out the window.  “Kevin’s a good kid,” he murmured. 

Frank nudged Joe and looked at him with raised eyebrows.  Had their father taken a liking to Kevin during their short time in captivity?

“He got a raw deal in life.  I hope things go better for him from here on out.  He deserves it.”

“Too bad you can’t say the same thing for his sister,” Joe muttered under his breath.

Fenton looked at Joe quizzically but at Frank’s slight headshake let his unspoken questions drop and changed the subject.  “You boys did a wonderful job.  Both Kevin and I owe you our lives.” He stopped, making sure he had his sons’ full attention.  “I’m very proud of both of you.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Joe sat up, beaming at the praise. 

Frank flushed slightly and added his own thanks, always uncomfortable at being singled out by anyone, yet still thrilled at the compliment.  He was happy when the door opened and an orderly came in carrying a tray.

“Time for the mystery meal that is lunch,” he announced, placing the tray on the table next to the bed with a flourish.

“I don’t know if you should thank him or not, Dad,” Joe joked, eyeing the small, unidentifiable piles of food on the tray.  “That looks like Jello, but the rest is anybody’s guess.”

“Maybe I can smuggle you in some real food,” Frank suggested, standing up. 

Fenton picked up the plastic fork and poked at what he assumed was some kind of meat, wrinkling his nose in distaste.  Pushing the tray aside he looked at Frank imploringly.  “I’d be eternally grateful for whatever you can scrounge up.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” the orderly smiled as he left the room.

“Mom, why don’t you come with me?” Frank asked.  “I know you won’t leave Dad’s side ‘til they throw you out tonight.”

Laura looked from Frank to Fenton and back again.  Frank gave a slight jerk of his head towards the door and Laura got the message – at some point, Fenton had asked Frank to make sure he had some time alone with Joe.

“Sure, honey.  I’d never turn down the opportunity to spend time with one of my sons.” She kissed Fenton and Joe on the cheek and followed Frank out the door.

“Gee, that was smooth,” Joe joked, eyeing his father.  “You arrange that ahead of time?”

“When I called you boys this morning you happened to be in the shower.  I just took advantage of an opportunity that presented itself,” Fenton replied without a trace of regret.  “I understand you had a run-in with Jeff last night,” Fenton continued, concerned.

Joe raised an eyebrow, but when he spoke there was amusement in his voice.  “Does Frank report back to you on how many times a day I breathe, too?”

Fenton grinned a little sheepishly but held his ground.  “I asked him to keep an eye on you and he did.  I think given the nature of this case it was…understandable?” he asked, hoping Joe would agree.

“Yeah, I guess I can see that.”

“So…” Fenton prodded, when Joe fell silent.  Frank had told him Joe seemed to be quickly slipping into a state of depression, something Fenton had wanted to avoid at all costs.

Joe sighed heavily and appeared to be thinking carefully about what he wanted to say before he actually spoke.  “It was…weird.  He said something about Vanessa and I kinda lost it, but before that…man, he just kept apologizing and apologizing like he was personally responsible for every single bad thing that ever happened to me in my whole life.  So many people, these days, don’t want to take responsibility for anything they do, always trying to blame someone else, but it was like he went off the deep end in the other direction. 

“I mean, yeah, the guy wasn’t watching me as well as he should have been, but when you get right down to it, isn’t that really the only mistake he made? Taking his eyes off me long enough for Tilghmen’s guys to grab me? Seems to me like Tilghman – and Taylor – should get pretty much all the blame for everything that happened after that, right?” Joe sighed again and shook his head sadly.  “I actually ended up kinda feeling bad for the guy.  I’d hate to think he spent the last eighteen years obsessing about me, when I was fine….” Joe looked up at Fenton, who was struck by the pity in his son’s eyes.  “The whole thing just kinda creeped me out.  Maybe now that he saw with his own eyes that I’m okay, he can actually get on with his life.”

Fenton watched Joe carefully, and while he appeared tired, he didn’t have that hopeless look in his eyes that normally accompanied the bouts of depression.  And the wisecracks and sarcastic comments seemed to be coming at a rapid clip this morning, indicating Joe was in a good mood - something that was starting to become the norm again.

“Of course if he was obsessed with me for the past eighteen years, that would explain the way his whacko daughter turned out,” Joe continued, rolling his eyes.  “Man, after meeting her and seeing what I could’ve potentially ended up with for a sibling I decided I’d never complain about Frank’s annoying habits ever again.”

“And did you share that thought with him?” Fenton asked, amused.

Joe smiled, laughter dancing in his eyes.  “Actually I told him he was a pretty lucky guy to have ended up with me for a brother.”

Fenton laughed as they fell into a comfortable silence. He was reluctant to break it, and potentially ruin Joe’s good mood, but he had to know if Joe was as unaffected by the last few days as he seemed to be or if he was just getting to be such a good actor that even his own family couldn’t see his true feelings anymore.  “Frank told me you seemed to be depressed the last couple of days,” he said, leaving the inquiry open-ended, waiting to see how Joe responded.

Rather than the fidgeting and evasiveness Joe normally exhibited when this subject was broached, he stared at Fenton, obviously thinking hard about how he wanted to respond.

“Yeah, he’s right.  I was.  I’ve been doing okay with accepting that it happened and I couldn’t change it, that I had to learn how to deal with it, but there was one thing I just couldn’t get past….Why?  I needed a reason for what happened… especially for what happened to Vanessa.”  Joe shook his head.  “’Bad things happen to good people’ just wasn’t cutting it, ya know?  It was killing me, Dad.  Eating me up inside.  I had to find a reason – a good reason – why it all happened.  I had to know – why us?  I wanted to find something good I could get out of it before it drove me crazy, but I kept coming up empty.  Nothing I could think of made it even remotely acceptable.”

Fenton listened, his heart breaking, yet knowing exactly how his son felt.  He’d been asking himself that same question off and on for the past eighteen years – why Joe?  “Judging from your mood this morning, you seem to have hit on something….What was it, if you don’t mind my asking?” he inquired, hoping whatever it was that let Joe learn to live with it all might help him, too.

Joe started to respond and then stopped, apparently changing his mind and posing a question first.  “Yesterday morning at breakfast Sam told us something.  He said before I was kidnapped you were doing okay as a P.I., but it was only after I was kidnapped and you found me, breaking up Tilghman’s ring in the process, that your career really took off.”  Joe cocked his head to the side.  “Is that true?”

Fenton took a deep breath, exhaling loudly.  It was gospel truth and Fenton hated it.  He’d never adjusted to the fact that the biggest break of his career came at his own son’s expense. “Yes, I suppose it is,” he replied, staring at Joe intently.  “But I would have been happy spending the rest of my life investigating nothing more exciting than insurance fraud and the occasional cheating husband if it meant you never had to go through that.”  His eyes widened slightly and a knot formed in his stomach.  “That’s not what…you’re not saying you can live with it because of what it did for my career?”

“Well, no, not exactly, but hey, if it had to happen, that was a nice side benefit,” Joe assured him.  “But it was something else Sam said that started me thinking.  He said only God knew how many kids were saved from being sold into sexual slavery because of you.  And Frank said something similar last night about how many more kids would have been molested and sold to pedophiles if you hadn’t broken up Tilghman’s operation.  That kinda started me thinking about how things would have been different if it had never happened.”  Joe sat up and looked at his father intensely.

“What if I hadn’t been kidnapped?  What if it had been some kid from the orphanage?  Sure, there would have been an initial investigation like there was with all the other kids who disappeared…and then it would have died out, just like it did every other time.  And Tilghman would have gotten away with it again.”  Joe leaned forward slightly, his eyes burning with questions.  “How long would it have gone on before he was caught?  Months? Years?  Would his son have joined him in the family business?  It could still be in operation today.  But it isn’t.  Why?  Because they grabbed me by mistake and that allowed you to bring down a huge child porn ring.”

Fenton felt a chill run through him as he listened to Joe’s rationalization.

“How many kids did that save?  How many kids did you save?  Hundreds – maybe thousands.  I went through that so you could break up that ring and save who knows how many innocent kids from…from something even worse than what I experienced.”

“That’s what worked for you?” Fenton asked, a little incredulous.  It made a certain amount of sense even to him, but seemed so easy, so…obvious.  Why had it taken so long to realize it?

“Well, it worked last night,” Joe sat back again, seeming relaxed and content with the conclusion he’d come to.  “I don’t know.  Maybe it’s just a lame excuse, but at least it let me sleep last night – well, in between the zillion times Frank woke me up to make sure I wasn’t dead,” he added, smiling.  “Check back with me in a month or so and I’ll let you know for sure.”

“I will,” Fenton murmured, fully intending to do so.  He was still trying to absorb everything Joe had said, when Laura and Frank returned with several bags of food that smelled infinitely more appealing than the hospital food that had long since grown cold.  As Laura distributed lunch to everyone, Fenton sat back, happy to have his wife by his side and his sons relatively unscathed by the events of the past few days.  Content to listen to the boys exchange insults and wisecracks, Fenton found he was disappointed when Frank looked at his watch and announced he and Joe needed to leave for the airport.

“Do you have enough Tylenol left?” Frank asked his younger brother as they stood and stretched.  “I doubt they’ll have any on the plane if you run out.  We can stop and buy some in the terminal before we get on the plane,” Frank continued thinking out loud.

Joe huffed and rolled his eyes.  “Frank, I’m fine.  I have a few left and I don’t need any right now.  Geez, you’d think-”

Fenton cleared his throat – loudly.  When the boys turned to look at him, he gazed at Joe steadily, one eyebrow raised.  He smothered a laugh as Joe sighed dramatically and turned to Frank.

“Thank you, Frank,” he began solemnly.  “Your concern touches me deeply and I’m so grateful to have a brother who cares so much about my health and welfare.  It’s times like these I realize how truly lucky I am…”

“You’re laying it on a little thick there, Joe,” Fenton grinned.

“Okay, what’s going on,” Frank asked, warily. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Joe. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”

“Maybe I’ll explain on the way to the airport,” Joe said, winking at Fenton.  With a final round of hugs and kisses for their parents, the boys were gone, their voices echoing down the hall and finally fading away.

Reaching out Fenton took Laura’s hand and kissed it gently.  “We are two very lucky people.”  He pulled her onto the bed and she snuggled up next to him.

“That we are,” she agreed, laying her head on his shoulder.  “That we are."