Frank hit the ground hard and felt something heavy fall on top of him. He heard people yelling and a fire crackling. Feeling the weight taken off his back, he lifted his head. He turned slightly and saw Matt and Melissa were helping Rachel to her feet.

Callie hurried toward him. "Are you hurt?"

"Fire trucks need to be called." Frank ignored her question. He tried to lift himself off the ground, but stopped when he felt pain shoot through his body.

"The calls have been made," Callie said. "Help is coming." She kneeled beside him. "What happened?"

"Rachel can answer that." He looked at her and saw she was staring at the building.

"What did you do?" Melissa asked. Rachel remained quiet.

Frank heard sirens in the distance and knew the truth would come out soon enough.

Fire trucks pulled up with police cars and a couple ambulances. Frank looked at Callie as the firefighters got to work. "Where’s Joe?"

"He’s with Vanessa. He’s still out."

"Joe should go to the hospital."

"Joe’s not the only one." Frank knew Callie was right.

*****

Three hours later, Frank exited the exam room at the hospital. He had been lucky. His cracked ribs were now broken, and luckily, none of his organs had been injured.

As he walked into the waiting room, he saw his parents sitting there. They looked up as he came in and hurried to his side. Laura hugged him gently. Frank said, "I’m going to be all right."

"What happened?" Fenton asked. "We only know what Callie and Vanessa told us."

They moved to the couches and sat down. Frank asked, "Where’s Callie?"

"She and Vanessa went to get some drinks," Fenton replied. "Could you explain?"

Frank took a breath and filled his parents in about the incidents that occurred to the students all the way to the explosion at the carrousel museum believing Rachel was responsible for all of it.

As he finished, Callie and Vanessa returned to the waiting room. Callie sat beside Frank and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Are you all right?"

"I’m going to be fine."

"You scared me," she said softly.

Frank gently wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "I never meant to."

"Is there any word on Joe?" Vanessa asked.

"Nothing yet," Fenton replied.

"I can’t understand what happened to Joe," Laura said.

"Rachel hit him when he tried to stop her. She turned on him," Vanessa said.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hardy?" a voice asked from the doorway. They all looked and saw it was Dr. Wilson. He motioned for them to follow him into the hall. Once there, the doctor turned to face them.

"How is Joe doing?" Fenton asked.

"He’s going to be all right," Dr. Wilson said. "Joseph has a slight concussion. We’re going to keep him overnight for observation."

"Is Joe awake?" Frank asked.

"He was awake a little while ago."

"Will he be really okay?" Laura asked.

"He will be." Dr. Wilson looked at his watch. "Joseph should be in a room by now. You can go see him."

"Thank you," Fenton said.

"You’re welcome. I’ll be up to see Joseph a little later." Dr. Wilson headed down the hall.

Fenton looked at everyone. "We should go see Joe."

As they entered the room third floor, Laura quickly moved up beside the bed. Joe had a blanket up to his chest and a bandage around his pale head. Fenton moved to the other side as Frank, Callie and Vanessa stood at the foot of the bed.

Laura leaned down and brushed a kiss on Joe’s cheek. His eyes fluttered and a moment later opened. He looked around, then asked softly, "When did you all get here?"

Laura pulled out a pad and wrote the response.

"Will I be okay?" Laura nodded. Joe looked at the foot of the bed. "Was Rachel stopped?"

Frank nodded.

At that moment a nurse came in and said, "The patient needs to rest."

"We’ll be back," Laura wrote and Joe nodded his head.

They left the room and stopped in the hall. Laura said, "I’m glad Joe is going to be all right."

"It is good news," Fenton said.

"It sure is," Frank said.

*****

Late the next afternoon, Joe was released from the hospital. Fenton had picked him up. Joe was glad to be heading home. He hated being in the hospital. He felt he had been there too much lately.

Returning home, Fenton and Joe made their way inside.

Clapping and hollering greeted Joe and he covered his ears with his hands trying to mute the noise. He had never heard anything so loud. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned to his father.

Fenton asked, "Are you all right?"

"I heard you," Joe said slowly lowering his hands.

"Are you sure?" Fenton asked.

"I can hear." He looked around at the people gathered: his friends and family. "I can hear."