As Joe sat watching his older brother sleep, he was thankful that Frank would make a complete recovery, physically. Frank had been lapsing in and out of consciousness for the previous twenty-four hours, but due to uncanny bad timing, Joe hadn’t been present the few times Frank had awakened and still hadn’t been able to speak to his brother. As a result, Joe was still concerned about Frank’s mental and emotional recovery.

As he waited for Frank to wake up, Joe sighed recalling the "confrontation" he’d had with his mother the previous day, shortly after arriving at the hospital. After Joe had explained to Laura how he had spent the majority of his day and what happened to his car, she had read him the riot act, hugged him fiercely, told him how much she loved him and then put him on what Joe referred to as a "very short leash". Laying out exactly when Joe could visit Frank, when he could help his father, when he could spend time with Vanessa and his friends and when he was to remain at home, Laura made sure she knew where her strong-willed, free-spirited son was at all times. Joe, now sufficiently chastised, knew better than to argue with her.

Hearing the door to Frank’s room open, Joe turned to see Vanessa.

"Hey, Babe." He smiled happily, opening his arms invitingly.

"Hi." Vanessa accepted the invitation, allowing Joe to pull her onto his lap as she melted into his welcoming kiss. "Mmm." She pulled away a moment later. "That’s nice."

"So why stop?" Joe said huskily, pulling her close to him and indulging in a much longer kiss.

Joe and Vanessa jumped apart at the sound, turning in the direction of the loud rapping noise. Immediately Vanessa burst into laughter, as Joe blushed furiously, despite his relief that Frank was finally awake. Not being permitted to talk yet, Frank was holding up a wipe off board showing three words written in large block letters:

"Well if you didn’t spend so much time sleeping, I wouldn’t have to find other ways to amuse myself!" Joe responded with a smile. "Nice to have you back, big brother."

Frank smiled at both Joe and Vanessa, nodding in agreement, before writing a few quick words on the board.

"Most of the day, since I wasn’t here much yesterday." Joe replied.

Frank frowned, quickly erasing his previous message and writing a new one.

"We went back to Cape May, the Pine Barrens to be exact."

As soon as the words were out of Joe’s mouth, he realized he’d made a mistake. Frank was supposed to be recovering, yet he had bolted upright in the bed and his dark brown eyes were bulging with disbelief to the point that Joe thought they might just pop out of his head. A moment later, Frank seemed to recover somewhat and began scribbling furiously on the board.

"Me and Vanessa." Joe clarified.

"Well, yeah…" Joe responded lamely.

At Frank’s response, Vanessa burst into a fit of giggles as Joe shot daggers in her direction. Seeing his displeasure at her apparent mirth, she stifled her laughter but couldn’t stop the occasional snicker.

"It wasn’t his fault, Frank." Vanessa said, trying to stick up for Joe. "I wasn’t about to let him out of my sight for a second. There was no way he was going without me."

Frank held the board up so Vanessa could read it, before wiping it clean and writing again.

Holding the board up just long enough for Joe to see the single word, Frank then dropped it back in his lap, and flopped back against the pillows making a circling motion with his finger, signaling Joe to continue with the story.

"I wanted to see if I could find any clues, anything to tell us where Nash might be." Joe continued cautiously. "Something the police might have overlooked."

Once again, Frank became agitated, feverishly writing something else.

"That’s what you’re always telling me." Joe grinned, quickly wiping the smile from his face when Frank glared at him.

Joe looked at Vanessa nervously, suddenly becoming very quiet.

"Um, maybe you should leave, Babe." Joe told Vanessa under his breath. "I think this is about to get ugly."

One look at the scowl on Frank’s face told Vanessa that Joe was right. Quickly walking to the bed, Vanessa gave Frank a peck on the cheek, and then whispered in his ear. "Please don’t kill him." Turning she stopped and looked at Joe sympathetically. "I’ll wait in the hall in case you need back up."

"Thanks." Joe said, thinking he might actually have to take her up on the offer. Looking over his shoulder, he watched as she walked out the door, wondering how he always seemed to get himself into these kinds of situations, when a sharp rapping sound got his attention. Turning back, he read the single word Frank had written.

"Oh, boy. Okay. Listen, bro, just remember Mom and Dad are pretty fond of me so they might get a little upset if you should decide to…you know…kill me or something." Joe winced as Frank attacked the board once more.

Deciding to get it all over with in one fell swoop, Joe took a deep breath and began talking, quite rapidly. Watching his brother closely, Joe was getting more nervous by the minute at Frank’s rapid-fire changes in expression. Astonishment, disbelief, shock, horror, rage, anger… By the time Joe had gotten to the part about Vanessa retrieving the rope to restrain Nash until the police arrived, he wasn’t exactly sure what the expression on his brother’s face meant. Slack-jawed, with his mouth hanging open, Frank stared at Joe in complete and utter astonishment. The silence dragged on as Frank tried to process everything Joe had said. Just as Joe began to worry, thinking maybe he shouldn’t have been quite so honest with his brother, a slight movement of Frank’s hand caught his attention and Joe suddenly realized he should be more worried about himself.

Luckily for Joe, Frank’s reflexes were a little slow and he was able to dodge the black marker that came flying at his head. Frank was making some kind of sputtering noise, trying to yell at his impulsive younger brother, getting even more angry when his vocal chords refused to cooperate. To compensate Frank began waving his arms and gesticulating wildly, hoping Joe would understand just a fraction of the anger he was feeling.

"Hey, Frank, calm down, man. You’re gonna hurt yourself." Joe advised, not used to seeing his normally levelheaded brother so wound up.

‘Ooops! Wrong thing to say!’ Joe thought ducking as the wipe off board came sailing through the air narrowly missing his shoulder. A plastic cup and water pitcher quickly followed it.

Backpedaling towards the door, Joe also evaded a box of tissues, a book, a magazine and two pillows that had been lobbed in his general direction, before fleeing into the safety of the hall.

"So how’d he take it?" Vanessa asked, trying not to laugh at the distraught look on Joe’s face.

"Um, actually, I think he took it pretty well." Joe replied, putting his arm around Vanessa and guiding her towards the elevator. "Frank kinda tired himself out though, so why don’t we let him rest? We can grab something to eat and come back later…when Mom and Dad are here." Joe suggested with a fearful look back over his shoulder, fully expecting to see his older brother in the hall with a new arsenal of ammunition to heave in his direction.

"You mean when there are witnesses present?" Vanessa joked.

"Yeah, something like that." Joe replied, throwing one last glance down the hall as they stepped into the security of the elevator.

*****

Shortly after Joe escaped the barrage of missiles Frank had thrown at him, Laura returned to visit with Frank, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw the array of items littering the floor of Frank’s room.

"Care to tell me what happened?" Laura asked as she set about putting the room back in order.

Frank wrote two words on the board.

"Ah, he told you about his day yesterday?" Laura said now fully understanding how the room had come to look as if a tornado had torn through it. "You didn’t hurt him, did you?"

"Well, if it’s any consolation, I read him the riot act yesterday as did your father. He is now on a very tight schedule. Believe me he knows if he even thinks about trying anything in the immediate future, well, let’s just say I would reconsider your father’s suggestion that we lock him in his room and ground him for life." Laura smiled.

As Laura laughed at Frank’s response, the door opened and Fenton walked in. "What’s so funny?" He asked, realizing just how much he had missed the sound of laughter recently.

"Frank seems to think grounding Joe for the rest of his life wouldn’t be a bad thing."

"I tried, Frank, but your mother put her foot down. Besides, he’d be driving us crazy in less than a day or two." Fenton chuckled.

"Really, now? Seems to me he was just taking after his older brother." Fenton replied, arching an eyebrow. "Who might also deserve to be grounded for life…if he still lived at home."

Frank slunk down in the bed, blushing slightly from embarrassment. He’d never in his life done anything so reckless as going after Nash on his own and he seriously regretted it. Despite how badly he wanted to get Nash for what he had done to Joe and Callie, Frank realized trying to capture him single handedly was one of the most foolish things he’d ever done in his life. Taking in his mother’s still slightly swollen eyes and his father, who looked like he hadn’t slept in days, Frank deeply regretted the anguish he had caused them. Writing more slowly on the board, he held it up to his parents and shrugged sheepishly.

"Considering you’ve never done anything like that before in your life, and you were under tremendous emotional stress… I can almost understand why you did it." Fenton told him. "I don’t condone it, mind you, but I think I know how you felt about wanting to get him behind bars."

Frank wrote, smiling at his father.

"He, Jenkins and Pete Davis are all behind bars now, so hopefully this nightmare is finally over." Fenton sighed as he settled into a chair next to Laura, and taking her hand in his.

Frank’s eyes were alight with curiosity as he settled back to hear all the details of what had happened while he’d been incapacitated. As the events of Pete Davis’ arrest unfolded, Frank listened intently to his father’s story, taking in every detail, periodically using the wipe off board to pose a question. As Fenton concluded the narrative, the door opened a few inches, causing he, Laura and Frank to turn towards the sound. A few seconds later a hand appeared through the opening, waving a small white flag.

"Is it safe?" Joe’s voice floated into the room.

"Yes." Laura replied laughing. "We’ve moved everything out of his reach."

"Does he still have that board?" Joe asked, concerned. "That thing could be declared a lethal weapon."

"Don’t worry. He’s using it only for its intended purpose." Laura told him, while gazing steadily at Frank.

Somewhat reassured, Joe pushed the door open, holding it while Vanessa preceded him into the room. Keeping one arm securely around her waist, Joe made sure Vanessa was directly in front of him at all times. Seeing Frank grab the board, Joe froze, ducking his head behind Vanessa, hoping to make himself as small a target as possible.

"Don’t worry, I’ll protect you." Vanessa patted his hand reassuringly as Laura and Fenton snickered at Frank’s message for his brother.

Joe peeked out from behind Vanessa’s shoulder to read note.

"I wouldn’t have to if you hadn’t started turning mundane objects into trajectory missiles!" Joe retorted.

Frank stared at his brother for a long moment before penning a new message.

"Yeah, well, it’s part of my charm." Joe smiled.

Rolling his eyes, Frank wrote again.

Joe looked at his father expectantly, not sure how much he had already told Frank.

"I told him about Davis. The rest of the story is yours."

"Okay, but no homemade weapons this time." Joe replied, as he led Vanessa to the empty bed on the other side of Frank, where they perched on the edge.

Frank nodded and made the sign of an "X" over his heart.

"I knew Sam and Dad had a lead on Davis and it was just a matter of time before he’d be caught, so the only one still on the loose was Nash. He had to be stopped and we had no idea where to find him."

Frank stared at his brother, shaking his head, a disapproving look on his face.

"I didn’t set out to go after Nash on my own!" Joe snapped, knowing exactly what Frank was thinking. "Even I’m not that crazy! I was just hoping to find some clue as to where he might be, so when Dad and Sam nabbed Davis, we could go after Nash together." Joe said emphasizing the word ‘together’.

Frank held up the board, a smug, questioning look on his face.

"Gee, thanks for pointing that out big brother." Joe rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Vanessa came by the house just as I was leaving and turned on the water works so I’d let her come along." Joe turned to his girlfriend with a mild glare.

"And it worked, too." Vanessa chimed in, kissing Joe on the cheek.

From that point on Joe and Vanessa took turns relating the events of the previous afternoon. While Fenton and Laura had already heard the story in great detail, they sill shuddered at how close they had come to losing Joe - again.

"Thank you, Vanessa." Laura said sincerely, when they were through. "You probably saved Joe’s life yesterday."

"I had an ulterior motive." Vanessa replied blushing slightly. "I like having him around."

Putting an arm around Vanessa, Joe pulled her close. Holding her tightly he silently thanked God for keeping her safe and promised to make good on the vow he’d made to himself. Glancing at his older brother, he could only hope that Frank and Callie would eventually end up with the same happy ending.

"Ooh, I have to go." Vanessa exclaimed looking at her watch. "Promised Mom I’d be home early tonight." She turned to Joe and leaned in for a lingering goodbye kiss. "Call me when you get home tonight."

"Promise." Joe smiled.

After she said her goodbyes to Frank, Laura and Fenton, Joe looked at his mother and father. "Um, can I talk to Frank alone for a few minutes?"

"Sure, honey." Laura replied. "We’ll go down to the cafeteria and get some coffee." She kissed and hugged both boys tightly, before following her husband out of the room.

Frank sat and looked expectantly at his younger brother, who was still sitting on the edge of the bed, swinging his legs back and forth, apparently contemplating the floor. After several moments of silence, Frank rapped on the message board lightly to get Joe’s attention and held his hands out, shrugging his shoulders in a gesture that said, "Well, what did you want to talk about?"

Joe sighed, hoping he could say what he had to say without getting too ‘mushy’. "Listen, Frank, we both made some stupid mistakes on this case. Sometimes it felt like we were working against each other instead of together. When you deliberately went after Nash by yourself, man, I can’t even begin to tell you how scared I was. After what he did to me…I was afraid for you, Frank. Really terrified." Joe said, his voice dropping. "We just got everything straightened out between us - well, pretty much - and then there I was thinking I was going to lose you again - permanently." Pushing himself up, Joe took the few steps to stand right next to Frank’s bed.

"I know you’re going through the hardest time in your life right now and I’ll be there for you. I will. But I still need you to be there for me too. We have to promise, from here on out, we always work together - ALWAYS - no matter what the circumstances." Joe pleaded with his brother. "Promise?"

Frank studied his younger brother closely and saw the same dark circles and pale, drawn face his father had had. Neither one of them had slept much in days and Frank knew it was because of him. Frank had gone after Nash to avenge Joe and Callie. To protect his brother and the woman he loved. Yet he knew now, while his intentions may have been good, he went about it all wrong. Picking up the wipe off board he wrote a single word.

Joe smiled slowly, nodding in agreement, as he returned to his seat on the vacant bed. "Can I talk to you about something else?’ Joe asked hesitantly.

"Sure." Frank mouthed.

"I want to ask Vanessa to marry me." Joe said almost reverently. "I really love her, Frank. I know she’s the one. And after what happened with Nash…well, life is too short to wait."

Frank wrote two words on the board, and held it up accompanied by a huge grin.

"Yeah, well, there’s only one little problem." Joe said ruefully. "I don’t have a ring. And it looks like I won’t have one for a long time. I have to get a new car, there’s tuition, then student loans when we graduate… Man, how can I propose without a ring?" Joe moaned, thinking back to the night Frank had asked Callie to marry him.

Frank wrote, quickly erasing it and writing again.

"But she should have a ring! How embarrassing would that be for her to tell people her boyfriend proposed but the jerk didn’t even give her a ring? I don’t know. Maybe I should wait until I can at least get her a small diamond." Joe mused sadly, not wanting to put it off.

Frank wrote, pointing at the last line making sure Joe got the point.

"I know I want her." Joe smiled. He knew Frank was right. Vanessa wasn’t the type of girl who needed a ring from Joe to prove how much he loved her. "I guess you’re right. Still, I’ll feel like a world-class heel proposing without a ring. But I don’t want to lose her."

"I will." Joe smiled, knowing in his heart it was the right thing to do - ring or no ring. "I will."

Later that evening as Frank was drifting off to sleep, he couldn’t help but think of the irony. Joe wanted desperately to propose to Vanessa and felt horrible that he had no ring to show how much he loved her. Frank had proposed to Callie and given her a ring that any woman would envy; yet it was totally useless to them now, representing only pain and heartache. Frank could only pray that Callie would take him back and give him a second chance. If that miracle actually happened he vowed they would start fresh, and if their future included marriage, it would be with a brand new ring that represented nothing but happiness.