Vanessa pushed open the door to Joe’s room and stepped inside. Instantly she was assaulted by the nightmarish memories she had buried deep inside, as the terror she had felt in Cape May threatened to take control. Leaning against the door, she took a few deep breaths, pushing the awful images away and walked to Joe’s side. Pulling a chair up close to the bed, she sat down and reached through the bars, taking his hand in hers.

"You know this is getting really old, Baby." She said with a shaky laugh. Swiping at an errant tear that had disobeyed her commands to stay put, she vowed to be strong, in spite of the fact that she was close to breaking down.

‘He’s not going to die.’ She told herself. ‘This isn’t like the last time. He’s going to wake up soon. The doctor said so.’

"Please listen to him, Joe, and wake up." She begged, gently brushing a hand across his cheek. "If you don’t, they’re going to do all kinds of tests on you. You know how you hate that."

Staring at Joe’s pale face, Vanessa desperately wanted him to open his eyes, look at her, talk to her. At the same time, she almost hoped he wouldn’t. Frank hadn’t gone into great detail, but she fully understood he had said some horrible, hateful things to Joe. Accused him of…Vanessa still couldn’t believe it. And she knew when Joe woke up and remembered everything Frank had said, he would be absolutely devastated.

"Frank, why didn’t you just ask someone?" She shook her head sadly, reliving the fight they’d had in the waiting room just a few hours earlier. Vanessa now regretted abiding by Joe’s wishes to keep her animosity towards Frank hidden. She should have confronted him long ago. "Maybe all this could have been avoided."

Reaching up with her free hand, Vanessa gently ran her fingers through Joe’s hair. "I know you really don’t want to wake up, Baby. I know you don’t want to face what’s happened. But I’ll help you through it, I promise. Frank knows the truth now. He understands how wrong he was."

Resting her forehead on the rail of the bed, Vanessa closed her eyes. ‘I wish we had never even heard of Cape May.’ She thought bitterly, recalling how excited Joe had been about their vacation, thrilled that he would get to spend time with his brother.

Going to separate colleges had been a difficult adjustment for Joe, even though Frank and Callie’s school was only an hour away. Joe hid it well, but it had taken him a very long time to get used to the fact that Frank was starting to embark on his own life – one that didn’t necessarily include Joe in every facet. The chance to spend two weeks with his brother, uninterrupted by mysteries or classes, had Joe practically bouncing off the walls.

Raising her head slightly and resting her chin on the rail, Vanessa gazed at Joe and wished she could wave a magic wand and go back in time, making that disastrous vacation everything Joe had wanted it to be. Frank and Callie would be happy, planning a wedding and the birth of a child. Joe wouldn’t have spent the summer first, fighting for his life, and then fighting to recover.

As she always did in a bad situation, Vanessa tried to find something good in it. Smiling at Joe, she knew exactly what that something good was. It was when Joe had been hovering in that place doctors hated – the place where they could never tell the family whether the person they loved was going to live or die. It was that night she realized with stunning clarity that Joe was the one – the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. The months that followed were some of the hardest of her life, watching Joe struggle to do the simplest things, but she knew no matter what, no matter how hard it got, she would be by his side forever.

Although neither one of them had really come out and said it – more often than not they talked around the subject – she knew Joe felt exactly the same way. They hadn’t said it in so many words, but it was understood that one day they would be following Frank and Callie to the altar.

Vanessa sat up as a chilling thought occurred to her – after all this was over, would Frank and Callie still be heading in that direction? Would Callie be able to forgive him? She knew Joe would – eventually – as long as Frank was honest with him. But Callie… she had lost the baby as a result of trying to escape Frank’s stinging accusations. Despite the way Frank had been treating her, Callie had been overjoyed at the thought of having a baby with him. The relationship she and Joe had always looked to for inspiration, as a role model, was precariously unstable.

The hours passed as Vanessa sat with Joe. She talked to him off and on, hoping he would recognize her voice. But for the most part she remained silent, emotionally exhausted. Laura had come in for a while, then Fenton, but she knew they were deeply concerned about Frank and needed to be with him. She assured them she would let them know the second Joe woke up, leaving them free to focus on their oldest son, who appeared to be headed for a complete breakdown.

Vanessa had fallen into a light, restless sleep when she felt Joe begin to stir. Sitting up, she looked at him closely, wondering if she had just imagined it.

"Joe?" She murmured his name looking intently for any kind of response. Just as she was about to give up, thinking she had dreamt it, Joe moved his head slightly.

"Joe." She repeated, louder this time. "Come on, Baby. Wake up and talk to me."

Standing up, she hovered over the bed, squeezing his hand. "I know how much you love to sleep, but this is getting ridiculous."

Joe moaned, shifting in the bed, turning his head towards the sound of her voice. "I’m right here, Joe. Just open your eyes and look at me." Vanessa said, resting a hand on his cheek.

After a few more moments of tossing restlessly in the bed, Joe finally cracked an eye open. Inhaling sharply, he squeezed it shut again.

"Ow." Joe said, rather pathetically, although to Vanessa it was the sweetest sound she’d ever heard.

Reaching up, Vanessa turned off the lights closest to the bed. "I turned off some of the lights, Baby. Come on and try again."

"Nooo." Joe moaned. "It hurts." He protested.

"Hey, I’ve been sitting here for hours watching you sleep. Now I want to see those baby blues, so open your eyes." Vanessa ordered.

Groaning once more, Joe finally forced his eyes open, blinking a few times to focus. Looking at Vanessa, he squinted. "There’s two of you." He announced.

"You should be so lucky." She said, reaching for the remote control and pressing the call button.

"Keep it down." He winced. "You don’t have to yell."

"I wasn’t yelling." She smiled, lowering her voice considerably. "You just have a killer headache. I’m sure they can give you something for the pain."

"No." Joe replied, unwisely shaking his head. "Owwwww." He moaned pitifully, just as the door opened and a nurse came in.

"So you decided to wake up, I see." The sandy haired woman smiled down at Joe.

"I’d rather still be unconscious if it’s all the same to you." Joe grimaced.

"Well, I’d rather you weren’t. And I’m sure your girlfriend feels the same way." She said winking at Vanessa. "She hasn’t left your side, you know. If you decide to lapse back into unconsciousness, she may be swept off her feet by one of our handsome, young residents."

Joe glanced at Vanessa before looking at the woman balefully. "Can I at least be awake with my eyes closed?" Joe asked, peering at the woman’s nametag, trying to read it and finally giving up in frustration.

"Not until we check a few things." She replied, seeing his attempts to read her nametag. "And my name is Christa."

Joe watched through half closed eyelids as Christa pulled a small penlight out of her pocket.

"You weren’t planning to shine that thing in my eyes, were you?" Joe guessed, trying to increase the distance between himself and the nurse.

"As a matter of fact, I was."

"Don’t bother, they work fine." Joe huffed.

"Really?" Vanessa commented. "I thought you just said you were seeing two of me."

"Come on, be a big boy." Christa laughed as Joe threw Vanessa a dirty look. "I’ll be gentle, I promise."

Reaching down, she shined the light first in Joe’s right eye and then his left, quickly completing a few standard tests to ensure his pupils were reacting normally. "See? That wasn’t so bad."

"Easy for you to say." Joe grumbled.

"Follow my finger with your eyes." Christa ordered, holding one finger in front of Joe’s face. "Uh-uh. Don’t turn your head. Just use your eyes." She scolded him when he immediately moved his head in time with her finger. "Try again."

After a few more tests and a little more complaining from Joe, Christa left the room, telling Joe and Vanessa she would let Fenton and Laura know Joe was awake.

Taking a seat in the chair once again, Vanessa held tightly to Joe’s hand. With Christa gone, Joe no longer felt the need to hide what he was really feeling. He slowly turned his head, meeting Vanessa’s gaze, his eyes reflecting pain, anguish and unbearable heartache.

"I’m sorry, Baby." Vanessa said softly, wishing she could do something to take away his misery.

"He said…he thinks I…" Joe stopped, unable to even verbalize his brother’s cruel accusations.

"I had a long talk with him." Vanessa said, holding both of Joe’s hands in hers. "I know it can’t possibly make up for the things he said, but he knows the truth now. He knows how wrong he was."

"But I don’t understand. How could he even think I would do something like that?" Joe asked, his voice shaking. "God, I love him, Van. He’s my big brother. I’ve looked up to him my whole life. Wanted to be like him. Wanted him to be proud of me…" Joe’s voice trailed off and he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stop the tears from coming. "I’d never hurt him like that." He said, barely a whisper.

Knowing there were no words that could even begin to help, Vanessa simply sat, listening to Joe try and make sense of his world that had suddenly been turned upside down. Rubbing his shoulder gently, she was torn between hating Frank for what he did to Joe, and feeling sorry for him. She was almost certain Joe could forgive his brother, given a little time…almost. She dared not even think about what their lives would be like if Joe couldn’t find it in his heart to do that.

‘But you will.’ She thought watching Joe, as he verbalized his deepest thoughts and biggest fears.