Frank had tried to revive Joe on his own, hoping it would be like the countless other times Joe had been knocked out, when he would come to within a few seconds. But it hadn’t been like all the other times, and he hadn’t been able to stop the bleeding. Frank had called 911 and hovered closely as the EMT’s also tried to revive Joe with no success.

Frank didn’t need a medical degree to know it was serious. How would he tell his parents? Vanessa? He was the older brother. He was supposed to protect Joe, not hurt him!

"Frank! What happened? Is Joe alright?" Laura Hardy came rushing into the waiting room with Vanessa on her heels and Fenton Hardy two steps behind her.

Startled, Frank looked up. Seeing the utter devastation on his face and the grief in his deep brown eyes, Vanessa automatically assumed the worst.

"Oh, God…Oh, no…" She choked out, her right hand flew up to her mouth as if to stifle a scream. "Is he…" Tears sprang from her eyes, and she began sobbing, unable to finish the sentence.

Laura and Fenton Hardy stood open-mouthed, staring at their oldest son, grief stricken.

"No!" Frank said, suddenly realizing they thought Joe was dead. "Oh, God, you thought…No! No, he’s not…dead!"

Fenton Hardy visibly exhaled and led his still trembling wife to a seat. Frank put an arm around Vanessa and guided her to the hard plastic chairs along the wall. Once they were all seated, Vanessa fixed her blue-grey eyes on Frank.

"What happened, Frank? He was fine when he left to see you. I mean he was upset that you were upset but other than that…" her voice trailed off.

Frank looked from Vanessa, to his father, to his mother – and gasped inwardly, struck by the fear in his mother’s eyes. They looked just like Joe’s did when Frank had mentioned the kiss that Joe couldn’t remember.

"Frank." His father prodded him. "What happened to Joe? Is he seriously hurt?" Fenton asked with concern.

"He…he fell." Frank replied, suddenly finding great interest in something on the floor, unable to look his parents in the eyes. They had always counted on Frank – depended on him – to look out for Joe. How could he find the words to tell them that he was the reason Joe had been hurt?

"Fell? How? What was he doing?" Laura asked. "He knows he’s not supposed to be doing anything strenuous yet! He’s still recovering!" Laura cried out, fresh tears springing to her eyes. "I knew it was too soon for him to move back to the dorms!"

"Frank. How did he fall?" Fenton asked calmly, all his senses on high alert. His instincts told him Joe hadn’t simply fallen. Frank’s reaction, his inability to look anyone in the eye, made Fenton realize Frank somehow had played a direct part in Joe’s being injured.

"He…I…we" Frank continued staring at the floor, tripping over ever word. "We argued…and…" Frank finally looked up at his father, his eyes begging for forgiveness. "God, Dad, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean any of it!"

Fenton swallowed hard, hating that he had been right. "I’m sure whatever happened was unintentional, Frank. An accident. You would never knowingly hurt Joe." He said, hoping and praying he was right.

He had never mentioned it, but Fenton Hardy had been acutely aware of Frank’s change in attitude towards his younger brother ever since they had returned from Cape May last summer. More than once he had wanted to intervene on Joe’s behalf, seeing how coldly Frank sometimes treated him for no apparent reason, but he stopped himself. He told himself that whatever was going on between the two of them would have to be worked out privately. He now realized he had been very, very wrong.

"But…I did. The things I said…horrible, awful things. Just to hurt him." Frank replied, his voice filled with guilt. "He…he tried to leave. To run out of the apartment, but I wouldn’t let him. I grabbed his arm. I realized what I had said. Dad, I was just trying to apologize to him, but he wouldn’t listen! He pulled away just as I let go and…fell." Frank stopped and inhaled sharply, the sound of Joe’s head hitting the table and then the floor echoed like a gunshot in his mind. "He hit his head." Frank said softly.

"No." Frank heard his mother’s whispering voice. "No, not again."

"I’m sorry, Mom." Frank said, tears running down his face. "I’m…so…sorry."

"It’s not your fault, Baby." Laura said, pulling Frank into her arms, hoping to comfort at least one of her children. "You’d never purposely hurt him."

‘God if they only knew! If they only knew how much I hurt him. How much I wanted to hurt him. How much I’ve been hurting him…’ Frank thought, holding tightly to his mother.

"Excuse me…Mr. and Mrs. Hardy?"

Frank pulled away, wiping his eyes as Laura and Fenton looked up. A distinguished looking gentleman, about ten years older than Fenton, extended his hand to Fenton.

"I’m Dr. Stanley Garmon. Head of Emergency Services. I’ve been treating your son, Joe." Fenton stood, shaking the man’s hand, his other arm supporting his wife.

"How is he?" Laura asked fearfully.

"Well, all the tests show nothing more than a concussion. There is no evidence of skull fracture and his EEG is normal. He has a small laceration on the back of his head that required a few stitches. However, he still hasn’t regained consciousness." The doctor replied, a note of concern evident in his voice. "I had honestly expected him to be awake by now.

"Frank told me about the injuries Joe sustained earlier this summer which included a very severe concussion." The doctor looked for confirmation from Frank, who nodded in return. "Effects of concussion are cumulative. They build on one another. For now, based on the severity of his earlier head injury, I’m going to assume that is the reason he hasn’t regained consciousness yet. We honestly can’t find any other reason. I would like to admit him for observation. Hopefully, he’ll wake up in the next few hours. If not I’d like to call in a specialist and find out why."

"Of course." Fenton readily agreed.

"Can we see him now?" Laura asked, her eyes pleading with the doctor to say yes.

Dr. Garmon hesitated a moment. "He’s still in the E.R. right now, while we are arranging to have him admitted. You can go see him if you like," he nodded at Laura and Fenton. "But I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until he’s in a room." He told Frank and Vanessa. "It shouldn’t be too long."

"Thank you." Vanessa said in a small voice. She watched as Fenton and Laura followed Dr. Garmon out of the waiting room. She slowly walked over to the window and gazed out but saw nothing…haunted by visions of Joe lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by machines, covered in bandages, with tubes, wires and IV’s everywhere.

"Vanessa?" She heard Frank’s voice, felt him standing behind her. "I’m so sor-" Vanessa whirled around, slapping Frank across the face so hard he reeled back a few steps.

Even though she knew she had lashed out in anger, Vanessa wasn’t the least bit sorry. "I should have done that a long time ago." She hissed at him.

Frank stared at her, only slightly taken aback. He deserved it and almost felt relief at the pain, as if he needed to be paid back for hurting his brother so badly.

"How DARE you!" Vanessa said angrily, attempting to keep her voice down. "Joe loves you. He worships you, though God knows WHY after the way you’ve been treating him!"

"I know." Frank whispered, miserably.

"Shut up!" Vanessa glared at him. "I’m not done yet!" Frank stared at her silently, knowing he deserved whatever was coming and more.

"My God, Frank he came to see you tonight because he was worried about you! Concerned about you! He wanted to help you! He didn’t care that you’ve been treating him like dirt ever since we got back from Cape May. He just wanted his big brother back.

"What is wrong with you?!" Vanessa continued, trembling slightly from the anger she had kept bottled up inside for so long and was just now getting a chance to release. "He never did anything that could possibly justify your behavior! He is the sweetest, most kind-hearted person I have ever known. Do you know he was ready to apologize to you? To beg you to forgive him and he didn’t even know why!! It didn’t matter to him, Frank! He loves you so much and wanted you back in his life so badly he was ready to do anything to make that happen! What did he do that was so horrible that you could turn on him like that?"

Frank looked at her wondering how in the world he could even begin to tell her.

"Don’t think you’re getting out of here without telling me. This has gone on far too long. You are not leaving until you tell me exactly what Joe did that warrants this kind of treatment." Vanessa was no longer ranting, however her voice held a note of …hatred…that Frank had never thought she was capable of.

"He…he…" Frank felt sick to his stomach. He had never said it out loud until tonight when he had hurled the accusations at both Joe and Callie.

"He what?" Vanessa demanded impatiently.

"He slept with Callie." Frank said hoarsely, bile rising in his throat.

"He…WHAT?!" Vanessa stared at him, incredulous.

"He…they…they’ve been sleeping together." There. It was out. Now Vanessa knew about it too. Or had she known all along and simply chose to ignore it? He’d heard of women doing that, wanting to remain blissfully ignorant when their boyfriends or husbands were cheating on them.

"Oh, now I KNOW you have lost your mind. Joe and Callie??? Sleeping together?!" Vanessa stared at him, open-mouthed. "Honey, you need to be admitted to the psychiatric floor for evaluation."

"This is not funny, Vanessa!" Frank yelled.

"You’re damn right it’s not. And it is NOT true! Whatever possessed you to think this could have happened…even once?"

"The…video…" Frank tried to explain.

"Was a fake." Vanessa said matter-of-factly.

"No." Frank told her, despairingly. "It wasn’t."

"And you would know this how?" Vanessa challenged him.

"I watched it." He admitted, shame-faced.

"You WHAT?! After you promised them – you swore – you would throw it out the second you got it? You’re unbelievable!" Vanessa said, unable to hide the contempt in her voice. "So you watched the video and saw what? You saw their faces? Clearly saw their faces?"

Listening to Vanessa, whose faith in Joe was rock solid no matter what, Frank felt very small.

"Well…no, but - "

"But nothing, Frank. You have no absolute beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt-proof it was them in that video, do you? It was simply two people with blonde hair whose faces were never really seen, wasn’t it?" Vanessa shook her head in disbelief. "What else? What other ‘evidence’ do you have that this alleged affair ever took place?"

"They’ve kissed. More than once." He replied, suddenly realizing how lame it sounded.

"You’ve gotta be kidding me." Vanessa rolled her eyes in disgust.

"I saw them, Van! A couple of times. Just last night in fact! I got home early. You weren’t back yet. Joe was holding her in his arms. He kissed her." Frank said, despondent.

"He kissed her. Deeply? Passionately? On the lips? The way he kisses me?" Vanessa arched an eyebrow. "Or did he kiss her on the cheek? Or the forehead? Like he’s done a zillion times before."

"On the forehead." Frank whispered, his stomach feeling queasy. He realized the case he had built against Joe and Callie was suddenly clouded with doubt.

"And he was holding her in his arms like he couldn’t possibly get close enough to her? Or was he giving her a hug? A brotherly hug?"

Frank stared at Vanessa, too ashamed to even speak.

"So he hugged her and kissed her forehead. Say, like – oh, I don’t know – like you held me and kissed me when Joe was in the hospital and I was falling apart? Something like that?" Vanessa crossed her arms over her chest, gazing at him steadily.

"Yeah." Frank whispered. "Something like that."

"Ok, what else is there? So far, your evidence is all circumstantial. The kind that would never hold up in court. You do realize your case is falling apart before your eyes, don’t you?" Vanessa said, deliberately speaking in a way Frank could easily relate to.

"I heard them talking. Overheard things."

"You mean you were eavesdropping on them, hearing bits and pieces of conversation, taken out of context and immediately leaping to the wrong conclusions."

Frank squeezed his eyes shut on the verge of tears.

"Frank." Vanessa began, gently this time. "Callie and Joe did not sleep together. Ever. There was no affair. Nash planted a seed and you watered it until it grew so tall you couldn’t control it anymore."

Frank hung his head in despair. "Oh, God, Van. I’ve completely destroyed the two most precious relationships in my life. I deliberately hurt the two people who I love more than anything in the world."

Vanessa gazed at Frank with sympathy and compassion, her anger quickly forgotten. He spent his whole life protecting Joe. He’d loved Callie almost from the moment they met. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how devastated he must be feeling. Reaching out, she put her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"You know there was one glaringly obvious reason why you should have known Joe wasn’t sleeping with Callie." She told him.

Pulling back, he looked at her, deep sadness filling his eyes. "What’s that?"

"I’m all the woman Joe will ever need. Believe me, I know how to keep him happy!" She said mischievously.

In spite of everything, Frank laughed. "I bet you do."

Frank felt both overwhelming relief and absolute shame. He knew the truth now; he had known it all along. Joe and Callie had never betrayed him and never would. Still, something about the whole situation troubled Frank, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

"You know, I don’t understand why Joe didn’t just tell me nothing happened." He said to Vanessa, frowning.

"You asked him? Point blank?"

"Well, no. I mean I never said ‘By the way Joe are you sleeping with Callie?’ But he knew what I was getting at. I mean whenever I asked him if he had told me everything, he would start talking in circles. He never gave me a straight answer. He was always so evasive – like he was hiding something."

Vanessa’s eyes went wide as she recalled the conversation she and Joe had on the drive home from Frank’s party and everything suddenly clicked.

"Oh, Frank! You’re right! He IS hiding something." She cried out, her heart breaking for Joe. "It all makes sense now! Oh, my God…Frank, I don’t think he ever got his memory back!"

"Yes, he did. The doctors said he would. He’s talked about what happened. He must have remembered."

"No, he hasn’t! He hasn’t talked about it. Ever. He HAS repeated, word for word, things we’ve told him." She grabbed Frank’s hand, as tears spilled down her cheeks. "Frank… he still can’t remember - anything!"

Frank stared at her, speechless. That couldn’t be! The doctors assured them Joe would make a full recovery. They said his memory would return in a month. Joe would have said something if it hadn’t…wouldn’t he?

"Excuse me, Frank Hardy?" a female voice asked.

Frank looked up to see the receptionist who had given him papers to fill out when Joe was brought in.

"Do you know a Callie Shaw?"

"Yes. She’s my fiancée." Frank replied, assuming Callie had somehow found out Joe was in the hospital and came to see what had happened.

"And you are listed as her emergency contact, correct?"

Frank nodded, suddenly chilled to the bone.

"Wait right here please. One of the residents will be right out to speak with you."

Frank felt the color drain from his face. He was vaguely aware of Vanessa squeezing his hand tightly.

‘Callie? Oh, God not Callie too.’ Frank prayed. He didn’t know how things could possibly get any worse, but the knot in his stomach told him his nightmare had just begun