Joe paced the floor in front of the living room window of his parent’s house, blue eyes constantly scanning the road in front of the house.

"Is she late?" Frank asked, looking up from the newspaper at his obviously agitated brother.

"No." Joe mumbled, looking at his watch. "I just…worry…that’s all."

"Why don’t you call her?" Frank suggested, trying to think of something to calm his brother.

"I don’t want her to think I’m checking up on her." Joe scowled at him. "Geez, she’ll think I don’t trust her or something."

"Or something." Frank murmured.

"What? What’s that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe she’ll just think you love her." Frank smiled, encouragingly.

Joe stared at his brother a moment before a small smile played at his lips. "Maybe." He agreed, ruefully, reaching for his cell phone.

Just then, Joe saw Vanessa pull up in front of the house. Exiting her Jeep, she hurried to the front door where Joe was waiting for her. He noted she was just returning her cell phone to her purse. As she looked at him, Joe saw that her eyes were red; she had been crying.

"Dr. Jackson just called." Vanessa said breathlessly, throwing her arms around Joe’s neck. Pulling her into him, Joe could feel her shaking, hear her crying softly.

‘The blood test! The dream!! Oh God, she’s positive! She has HIV!’ Joe thought, stricken.

Watching the couple, Frank hoped against hope that Vanessa had been crying happy tears. Feeling the presence of someone next to him, he turned and saw his parents.

"Dr. Jackson called her." Frank said in a very low voice, responding to his father’s raised eyebrows.

"What?" Frank heard Joe say, apparently not understanding whatever Vanessa had told him.

Pulling away, Vanessa looked Joe in the eye and broke into a smile. "Negative." She repeated. "My blood test was negative."

Not bothering to try to hide his own tears, Joe scooped her up into his arms, holding her tightly. Frank stepped forward and kissed Vanessa on the cheek.

"Congratulations." He said, smiling at her. Patting Joe on the shoulder, Frank turned and followed his parents back towards the kitchen, giving Joe and Vanessa a few moments alone.

*****

An hour later, Laura Hardy glanced around the dinner table at her family, listening to the affectionate teasing between her sons and gave a silent prayer of thanks. Many times over the past few months she had achingly recalled similar family gatherings and had been afraid that was the only place they would occur – in her memory. Catching her husband doing the same thing, she smiled at him, getting a wink in return.

For the past week, Fenton had talked about nothing but taking Frank and Joe to the Yankees game tonight. She knew her husband had been having almost as difficult a time adjusting to the events of the past few months as Joe and Vanessa had. His worst nightmare, the one Fenton had thought was long dead and buried, had suddenly been re-ignited. He had doused the flames but they still smoldered whenever he saw the haunted look that still occasionally flickered in his youngest son’s eyes. Laura found she could not recall the last time the men in her family had spent any significant amount of time together outside of work. She secretly hoped tonight would be the first of many such outings.

Selfishly, Laura was glad they would be gone for the evening as she was looking forward to immersing herself in the details of Joe and Vanessa’s upcoming wedding. Having two sons, Laura had resigned herself to the fact that if and when they did get married she would most likely be relegated to planning the rehearsal dinner and nothing more. She had been terribly excited when Callie and her mother had included Laura in every aspect of planning Frank and Callie’s wedding. Knowing her youngest son, she was fairly sure Joe would not be as active in his wedding plans as Frank had been in his own nuptials, and assumed she, in turn, would be minimally involved. When Vanessa had asked for her help in every aspect of planning the wedding, she had been thrilled beyond words.

Laura, Vanessa and Andrea had just begun to discuss the wedding plans when Vanessa had been raped. In the weeks that followed, Andrea confided to Laura that she feared Vanessa had become so depressed and withdrawn that she might actually call off the wedding. It had been another tense month or so before Joe’s murder trial had concluded and Vanessa finally resumed talking about it.

Returning her attention to her family, Laura heard Frank teasingly interrogating Joe about the extent of his involvement in the wedding plans.

"So, little brother, what exactly have you done to help Vanessa with the wedding plans?" Frank teased.

"Hey, I’ve been involved right from the start!" Joe replied defensively, earning him raised eyebrows from one and all. "I bought the ring!" he said triumphantly, holding Vanessa’s left hand aloft.

Frank rolled his eyes. "And what have you done since then?" He challenged Joe. "Met with the caterer? The florist? Checked out a few possible sites for the reception?" Frank pressed his brother, throwing out just a few of the hundreds of details that would need to be attended to.

"Not exactly." Joe admitted.

"Oh. So, you’ve looked at the hundreds of different kinds of invitations? Table centerpieces? Favors? Registered for wedding gifts?" Frank grinned wickedly, rattling off a few more.

"Favors? I have to do favors for people who come to my wedding?" Joe said in shock.

"No, honey." Vanessa laughed. "They’re like party favors. You leave them on the table for the guests to take home. As a memento."

"Oh. So what kind of favors are we giving out?" Joe asked warily.

"Don’t worry." Vanessa patted his arm. "We haven’t even started looking at those yet."

"See!" Joe smiled at his brother, smugly. "I haven’t missed a thing!"

"Well, I did pick up sample menu’s from some caterers last week." Vanessa admitted.

"Caterers? What do we need a caterer for? Burgers and fries will be just fine."

"I think the meal at a wedding reception is supposed to be a little more haute cuisine." Fenton told his youngest son with a laugh. "And I believe you should have a minimum of two choices of entrée’s?" he questioned looking at Vanessa.

"That’s right." She replied.

"Ok." Joe acquiesced. "We’ll have burgers, fries and pizza!"

"Why do I get the feeling our wedding is going to be the one people will still be talking about years later?" Vanessa said shaking her head.

"Ah, don’t worry, Babe. People will be begging for an invite to our wedding. It’ll be the event of the year!" Joe told her with a wink.

Amidst the laughter, Joe leaned across the table towards Callie. "Uh, exactly how involved am I supposed to be in these wedding plans, anyway?"

"Don’t lose any sleep over it, Joe. The only thing the groom is really expected to do is show up and say his lines correctly." Callie reassured him.

"I do!" Joe exclaimed, looking at Vanessa. "See, I’ve been practicing." He smiled at her before leaning in for a kiss.

Joining in the laughter, Fenton Hardy looked at his watch. "We better get going." He said to Frank and Joe, pushing his chair back from the table.

As they all stood and moved away from the table, Joe enveloped Vanessa in a tight hug. "I love you, Babe." He whispered, kissing her neck. "See you in a few hours."

"Love you too." Vanessa replied, hugging him back tightly. "Have fun!" She pulled back smiling at him, then watched until Joe disappeared out the front door, all the while talking excitedly to Frank and his father about the evening ahead.

*****

Sitting with Laura and Vanessa poring over bridal magazines, Callie realized that for the first time, she hadn’t given one thought to the shocking pictures she had received over a week ago. With a guilty conscience and a heavy heart, she had left the file at the exact spot designated by the mysterious caller on Monday night. She had expected new demands from the blackmailers each day, but she had not heard from them again. Deciding they really only wanted that one file, and were satisfied it contained all the information they needed even if they couldn’t immediately understand it, she had finally started to relax for the first time in almost two weeks.

As the three women discussed the dizzying array of bridesmaid’s dresses, the doorbell rang.

"Keep looking." Laura said excusing herself from the table and heading for the front door. "I’ll be right back."

"I don’t know which one I like better." Vanessa said, furrowing her brow. "This one….or this one." She finished, flipping a few of the pages back and forth.

Callie leaned in to get a closer look when she heard Laura returning to the dining room. Suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she heard several sets of footsteps. Looking up she gasped and clutched Vanessa’s arm.

Laura had indeed returned to the dining room…accompanied by four men each armed with a gun.