Seeing the look on his face, Vanessa reached out and rested a hand on his cheek.

"I’m fine." She said softly. "They never touched me."

Joe closed his eyes, fighting back a fresh wave of tears. He felt Vanessa run her hands slowly over his chest and abdomen and begin tugging at the hem of his shirt. Slightly taken aback, he looked at his fiancée a little surprised.

"Uh, you might want to wait ‘til we get home, Babe. We’ll have a little more privacy there." Joe cracked.

Laughing, Vanessa felt the last of her fears melt away. "I’ll try and control myself." She said dryly. "I really just wanted to know what was digging into my ribs while you were holding me."

"Oh." Joe replied. "OH!" He flushed a deep red. "Uh-oh…"

"What?" Vanessa asked, puzzled at his strange reaction.

Shrugging his shoulders, Joe grinned sheepishly. Releasing Vanessa, Joe held his arms out as he had done for Frank earlier that evening.

Eyeing him suspiciously, Vanessa slowly began to lift his shirt. She suddenly stopped letting out a loud gasp.

"Is that a…" she began, looking at Joe, her eyes wide.

"A wire." Joe admitted.

Glancing towards the doorway, Vanessa saw Frank standing outside talking to Detective Con Riley.

"Who’s on the other end?" she demanded.

"Um…Dad." Joe replied, giving her his best little boy smile.

"Your father?!" Vanessa yelped, dropping his shirt and taking a few steps backwards. "It’s not still on, is it?"

"Well, I didn’t turn it off." Joe smiled, now finding the whole situation extremely amusing.

"So if your father didn’t turn it off either, then he heard…"

"Everything." Joe grinned, wickedly.

Vanessa’s cheeks turned a bright crimson. "You’re enjoying this entirely too much." She reprimanded him. "I’ll never be able to look your father in the eyes again." Vanessa moaned.

"Don’t worry, Babe. You’ll think it’s funny too…someday!" He laughed.

Another thought struck her and she groaned slightly. "Was anyone else listening?" She asked, fearing the answer.

"Just Dad…" Joe replied, watching Vanessa exhale in relief. "…when we started out. But we had a lot of back up. Who knows how many people are listening by now?" He teased.

Vanessa stared at him open-mouthed. "What are you waiting for?! Turn it off!!" She ordered.

"Excuse me." Frank said walking up to them. He stopped, slightly confused at the apparent ‘argument’ that seemed to be taking place between Joe and Vanessa. He relaxed when he saw the smile on his brother’s face.

"She just found the wire." Joe said, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief.

Frank grinned widely, realizing once more how much he missed seeing that look on his brother’s face.

"But your Dad probably turned it off a while ago, right, Frank?" Vanessa asked, almost begging for an affirmative response.

Joe winked at his older brother almost imperceptibly.

"I don’t know, Van. Dad’s pretty thorough. He probably won’t turn it off until he can see with his own eyes that you and Joe are safe." Frank said seriously.

"What?" she cried out, staring at Frank. "Would he really do that?"

Frank shrugged. "You know Dad." He said vaguely.

"But…but…" Vanessa sputtered before taking a good, close look at Joe, who was trying to contain his laughter, but starting to lose that battle.

"That is not funny!" Vanessa smacked Joe on the arm before bursting into laughter herself.

Reaching out, Joe pulled her into him. "Come on, Babe. You have to admit that was too good an opportunity to pass up."

Just then, Con approached the group, puzzled by their apparent mirth. "I take it you’re ok?" he said looking at Vanessa, who was still giggling.

He glanced from Frank to Joe who were both chuckling themselves and realized he was the outsider on an inside joke.

"Trust me, you don’t want to know." Frank told his friend.

"I’m sure I don’t." Con replied. "Listen, I hate to put a damper on your reunion, but there’s an ambulance here for…"

"NO!" Vanessa cried out. "No, I’m fine. I don’t need an ambulance."

"It probably wouldn’t hurt to get checked out, Vanessa. Just to be sure." Con said, encouragingly.

"Please," Vanessa begged turning to Joe. "I don’t want to go to the hospital. Please, Joe."

Joe saw the terror in her eyes and felt her start to tremble in his arms. He realized a trip to the hospital would do her more harm than good, most likely triggering a terrible flashback.

"She said they never touched her." Joe told Frank and Con. "I don’t see any reason to put her through that." He stared at them intently, hoping they would get the message without him having to say it out loud.

"Have you heard from Dad?" Frank asked Con, deftly changing the subject. "Was he able to catch any of them?" Looking at Joe, Frank explained what had happened while he was in the farmhouse. "When the guy mentioned there were directions to where they were holding Vanessa right there on the table, we decided to split up. He followed the two guys who left the farmhouse and I went with you."

When Frank and Joe turned back to Con they saw he was scratching his head and smiling wryly.

"What?" Joe asked.

"When I grow up, I want to be Fenton Hardy." Con joked. "He didn’t catch any of them, Frank, he caught ALL of them."

"All of them?" Frank repeated, slightly shocked. "Are you sure?"

"As soon as they got into their car he was following them. He managed to give us specific directions as to where he was going, tell us everything that you and Joe were saying AND give us directions to where they were holding Vanessa. I don’t know how he managed to drive, not get caught tailing them and keep all those directions straight."

"Way to go, Dad!" Joe said proudly. "So everyone who was involved in this has been arrested?"

"Yup." Con replied. "Which means you both need to come down to the station now and ID as many of them as you can." He said to Joe and Vanessa.

"Now?" Vanessa asked, suddenly realizing how exhausted she was, mentally, physically and emotionally. "Can’t it wait until tomorrow?"

"I’m sorry, Vanessa." Con said quickly before Joe could overrule him. "We really need you to do it as soon as possible. Official procedure."

"Ok." She replied tiredly, resting her head on Joe’s shoulder. "Let’s get it over with."

*******

Vanessa stared through the one-way mirror at Trevor as he stood in the line-up. She knew he couldn’t see her, yet she still felt as if he were looking right at her. She couldn’t help but think about the strange alliance they had formed and the way he had been so protective of her.

Trevor had tried to make her as comfortable as possible, making sure she had regular meals and periodically escorting her from the room she was being held in. He had sat and talked with her several times and watched over her, making sure no one else got near her. He had even let her speak to Joe…twice. Yet as grateful as she was to him for all of that, she couldn’t tell the police she was unsure if he had been her captor.

Frank, Fenton and Joe had already identified him. Laura and Callie would be doing the same thing the next day. Gazing at Trevor, Vanessa reminded herself that this was also the man who had blackmailed Callie, setting off this terrible chain of events. He had held a gun to Laura Hardy’s head and threatened to kill her. And he had put Joe through hell, letting him wonder exactly what had been happening to her while she was being held captive.

As kind as Trevor had been to her, he was still a criminal. Vanessa would tell them what he had done for her, how well he had treated her, but he would have to pay for what he had done.

"Number three." She said numbly, and abruptly turned away from the window.

Vanessa felt Joe’s arms encircle her, pulling her into a protective embrace. Slipping her arms around his waist, she closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest.

"Can we go home now?" She asked tiredly.

Joe held her close, kissing the top of her head. His gaze swept the room, resting briefly on every single person – his father, Frank, Ezra Collig, Con Riley and a few other detectives who had been involved in the arrests.

Official procedures required that Vanessa wait until her statement was typed up so she could read it over, verify there were no errors and sign it. Had additional questions come to light as her statement was being prepared, she would be expected to stay and answer them.

Joe knew all this. He’d been through it hundreds of times himself. But tonight, he didn’t give a damn about official procedures.

"Yes, we can go home." Joe said defiantly, his eyes shooting fire, daring anyone to challenge his decision to take Vanessa and leave.

Not a word was spoken as he led Vanessa out of the room.