Coming to a stop at the nurse’s station, Frank introduced himself, Vanessa and Callie. The nurse told him she would page Dr. Simonds and let him know Frank was here. She reminded them that only one person was allowed in the room at a time, although the others could remain in the tiny waiting area outside the room as the window would allow them to see inside. Thanking her, the group made their way to Joe’s room, stopping just outside it, peering through the window that allowed the nurses to keep a constant watch on the ICU patients without having to actually remain in the room.

As Frank stared at his younger brother hooked up to a respirator, a heart monitor, IV’s and a few other machines he wasn’t quite sure of, he suddenly felt lightheaded.

"You go first, Van." He said, his voice strained.

"Are you sure?" Vanessa asked hesitantly.

Frank gave her a tight little smile and nodded, watching as she rushed through the door to Joe’s side, almost as if she were afraid Frank would change his mind. Quickly, Frank spun away from the window. He had been desperate to see Joe, but now that he was here, Frank couldn’t bring himself to enter the room. Seeing his brother so pale, so still, so devoid of any signs of life had suddenly left him completely unnerved.

Seeing his obvious distress, Callie wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. Frank grabbed her and held on, needing her strength.

"God, Callie, he looks so broken, so…dead." Frank whispered, choking back a sob.

"I know it looks bad, but remember what Dr. Simonds said. If Joe made it through the night, he would upgrade his condition." Pulling back, she looked at Frank, who was so distraught and attempted a smile. "And he made it."

Out of the blue, Frank was assaulted with memories of the day he and Joe had gone to the jewelers to pick up Callie’s engagement ring.

Before Frank knew what had happened, the tears were upon him. Joe had always been openly affectionate and demonstrative with the people he loved.

Joe had spoken those words from the heart and with ease. Frank was ashamed that it had taken him several minutes to say those same words back to his younger brother, but was so thankful that he finally did. Frank now realized there was a chance he would never get another opportunity to tell Joe just how much he loved him.

Holding Frank tightly, Callie cried along with him, feeling completely responsible for the situation Joe was currently in. If only she had waited for Frank to wake up that morning, instead of letting Joe talk her into investigating without him. If only she hadn’t told Joe about her fears and suspicions. If only she hadn’t taken the pictures to begin with…

"Ahem."

Startled by the sound of someone clearing their throat, Callie and Frank jumped apart and found themselves face to face with Dr. Simonds.

"Hello, Frank. Callie." Dr. Simonds greeted them.

"How’s he doing?" Frank asked, not bothering to dispense with pleasantries.

"His condition hasn’t worsened." Dr. Simonds replied, vaguely.

The reply did nothing to ease Frank’s mind and in fact only served to feed his unpleasant mood.

"Will you take him off the respirator today?" Frank tried, hoping to pry something useful out of the man.

"I’ll feel more comfortable leaving it in place for now."

Frank could almost feel his blood pressure rising at the total lack of information. He knew he should be grateful to Dr. Simonds; he had, after all, saved Joe’s life. However, Frank couldn’t help but feel contempt. Why couldn’t doctors ever give a straight answer? Frank decided there must be a required course in medical school entitled "How To Answer The Distraught Family’s Questions Without Revealing Any Information Whatsoever" and came to the conclusion that Dr. Simonds had aced that class. Completely frustrated, Frank glared at the doctor.

"Is my brother going to live or die?" he growled.

Callie gasped, taken aback at Frank’s tone. It suddenly hit her how hard the events of the past few days were for Frank. Everyone thought of Frank as being able to maintain complete and total control of himself and his emotions at all times. It was as if he were unraveling right before her eyes. Unsure of what to do, she squeezed his hand tightly in a small gesture of support. To her surprise, Dr. Simonds seemed to soften considerably at Frank’s harsh remark.

"I’m sorry, Frank. I think sometimes doctors have a bad habit of switching to autopilot and spouting clichés when we are unable to give you the answers you want to hear. We walk a fine line between being as honest as possible yet still leaving room for hope. Perhaps we can start over?" he asked sincerely.

"I apologize." Frank said, dejectedly. He was not used to being controlled by his emotions and found it was a feeling he did not like at all. "I just want to know how he’s doing….honestly. Whether it’s good or bad."

Dr. Simonds motioned for Frank and Callie to take a seat on the small couch in the waiting area and he pulled up a chair to sit facing them.

"When I said his condition hadn't worsened, I wasn't trying to be vague. I honestly did not expect him to live through the night." The doctor began.

Frank blanched. "You didn’t tell us that last night!"

"I know and I apologize. I was walking that fine line. But the fact that he did make it through the night and didn't get any worse, really is a good sign. The reason I'm not taking him off the respirator today is not because he can't breathe on his own. It's just that I don't expect him to regain consciousness today and with the injuries to his lungs, it is going to take a lot of effort for him to breathe without the help of a respirator. As long as he's unconscious we might as well make it as easy as possible for him and let the respirator do most of the work."

Frank nodded in agreement now that he understood the details. "So you think he's out of the woods now? He'll make a full recovery?"

Dr. Simonds hesitation was not lost on Frank.

"I can't promise you it'll be smooth sailing from here on out. Given the number, extent and severity of his injuries there will, more than likely, be some complications and a few setbacks along the way. Unfortunately he is going to have a long and painful recovery, at least in the beginning."

"Is there anything we can do to make it easier for him?" Callie asked.

"Visit him as much as possible while he's here. Once he wakes up we'll move him out of the ICU and then he'll be able to have more than one visitor at a time." Dr. Simonds hesitated again. "He's going to be in a lot of pain. The painkillers can only do so much, and the stronger ones, which he will need at least initially, are highly addictive. So we are going to be very stringent in how much and how often he can have them."

"How is visiting him going to help with pain?" Frank asked, not following the doctor and getting more distressed by the second. He assumed Joe would be in a certain amount of pain, at least in the beginning, but the doctor was making it sound much worse than he had anticipated.

"It'll serve as a distraction. Help keep his mind off how much it hurts. Studies have found it really does help."

"Ok." Frank nodded. "What about the paralysis? Or partial paralysis? Have you repeated the test yet?"

"We'll be doing that later today. I'll let you know as soon as we do. Any other questions I can answer for you?" Dr. Simonds asked patiently.

"What about the fever? And the concussion?" Callie asked. Seeing how upset Frank was, she wasn't sure he'd remember to ask about those.

"Fever is down slightly. We won't be able to tell much about the effects of the concussion until he wakes up. It was pretty severe though so I would expect a certain amount of memory loss, severe headaches for a while, difficulty processing information and responding to questions - that sort of thing. Usually those symptoms will clear up within a month or two."

Frank nodded trying to grasp all this new information and trying to figure out how to relate it all to his parents without throwing them into a tailspin.

"Thank you for your time." He said quietly.

Dr. Simonds stood up. "If you think of anything else, just have one of the nurses page me. I'll be here all day." He patted Frank on the shoulder and disappeared down the hall.

As the doctors words tumbled around in his head, Frank found he was suddenly a torrent of quickly changing emotions. The lack of sleep combined with anger at the people who had caused this and his ever increasing worry about Joe finally took it’s toll on Frank. Dropping his head into his hands, he willed everything to go away.

‘Please.’ He prayed. ‘Let me wake up and have it all be just a bad dream. Joe will be all right. Callie and I will be happy again. Please, God...’

"Frank?" he heard Callie’s concerned voice. "Honey, are you ok?"

"Yeah. I’m ok." He lied.

‘Don’t have much choice but to be ok. Everyone expects me to be ok. I’m always ok. I’m not allowed to be anything but ok.’ Frank thought bitterly. Lifting his head, he found himself staring at Joe through the window and felt the pent up anger give way to overwhelming guilt.

‘Stop whining! Joe’s been through hell…and he has to go through a lot more before this is over. And you’re sitting here feeling sorry for yourself?’ Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Frank stood up and once again became the Frank Hardy everyone expected and depended on. Vaguely he wondered when he would get a chance to break down. Why did he always have to be the strong one?

"Would you ask Vanessa to come out here so I can bring her up to speed on Joe’s condition?" Frank asked.

The monotone flatness of his voice worried Callie. "Uh, sure. Do you want me to help you?"

"No. I can handle it." Frank said with no inflection whatsoever. "Sit with Joe. Talk to him. Maybe he’ll hear you and know he’s not alone."

"Are you…"

"Yes, I’m sure." Frank said a little more harshly than he intended. Taking her hand he squeezed it gently and gave her a sad smile. "Really, I’m fine."

Nodding, Callie went into the room and told Vanessa that Frank wanted to speak to her. She watched as Vanessa kissed Joe lightly on the cheek and told him how much she loved him, then went out into the hall. Callie absent-mindedly rested a hand on Joe’s left arm all the while watching the scene that was unfolding in the hall. She could almost tell which parts of Dr. Simonds updates Frank was relating by the ever-changing looks on Vanessa’s face. When Vanessa collapsed in Frank’s arms and he guided her to a seat on the couch, Callie finally looked away, tears in her eyes.

Looking at Joe through blurred vision, Callie wished she could turn back the clock and take back the choices she had made over the past several days.