Fenton climbed out of the car and ran over to the van to peer inside.  He opened the side door as Joe walked over to the girl.

“Miss, are you all right?” he asked.

The girl looked at him for a moment, then started babbling.  “He’s in there, tied up.  He’s so scared.  And I came to get help.  You have to help.  You will won’t you?”

“Who’s in there tied up?” Joe asked. 

“A boy.  Dark haired, I think.  I was going to call the police.  You…you could help me.  There’s two men, I think.  I heard two voices.  I’m sure of it.  Please!”

Joe turned back to the girl.  “My name’s Joe.  Joe Hardy.  That’s my father Fenton and if I’m right, the guy you saw tied up is my brother, Frank.  He was kidnapped yesterday.  We traced that van here…”

Fenton stopped beside them.

“Can you tell us where to go?” he asked gently.  “I don’t want you to get hurt, Miss…”

“My name is Mary,” the girl said softly.  “I’ll show you the way.  It’s…it’s cavernous down there.  I have no idea what they were thinking when they built the new part of the church.  Come.”

** **

Frank’s heart took its time slowing down as he waited…and waited…and waited…for help to arrive.  The dark-haired young man was terrified that the girl would just leave him after all without getting help.  If she was scared enough she might just flee back home and forget all about him.  In some ways, Frank couldn’t blame her if she did.  In others, he hoped that she would send help.

He heard his two kidnappers talking nearby, one of them sounding gleeful at the prospect of a quick payout and the other grousing that he was getting even – that old man Hardy was going to regret ever hearing the name Calvin Stocker.  Calvin didn’t need to hurt someone to get his revenge – he was more than happy to hit them in the pocketbook and Hardy deserved to pay big for Calvin’s five years in the slammer! 

That gave Frank a start.  SO, this was revenge, was it?  Another foe his father locked away wanting Frank’s father to pay for a time in jail.

Frank shook his head.  Stupid idiots.

He gave a start a moment later when he heard movement from above, this time more than one set of feet.  He heard his captors curse violently and start running.

“Going somewhere?” Fenton asked mildly as he met two men running up the second set of stairs underneath the old church.  “Gentlemen?”

“Hardy!” Stocker cursed and he flung himself forward, tackling Fenton back onto the stairs!  Joe dove over Fenton and into Leonard Wiseman, knocking the bigger man back into the wall behind him.  One good punch laid Wiseman out flat.

Fenton rolled so that he and Stocker went off the stairs and onto the hard floor below – Stocker landing first.  Stocker lay winded, the fight gone out of him suddenly as Fenton picked him up by the collar.

“Where is my son?” Fenton demanded angrily.

“There,” Stocker gasped as he pointed down the hallway.  As he lay, trying to catch his breath, he cursed continuously in low tones as Joe ran down the hall to find Frank.

“FRANK!” he exclaimed when he found his brother trussed up on the floor of a nearby room.  Joe paused for a moment and considered.  “Geez, you look ready to be put into a pan and baked.  Is this your turkey gets stuffed look?”

Frank glared at him as Joe pulled out his pocketknife and made short work of the ropes.  “Very funny,” he rasped.  “Got anything to drink?”

“In the car,” Joe said.  “Let’s get you up and moving and see if we can work the kinks out.”

Joe hefted his brother to his feet and, with Frank leaning heavily on him, walked back to where Fenton was applying handcuffs to the kidnappers.  Mary stood at the top of the stairs, a hand over her mouth but she smiled, suddenly, when she saw Frank.

“You’re an angel,” Frank rasped.  “Thank you for getting help.”

Mary smiled.  “Wasn’t me, Frank.  Was the Lord who sent the help.  But you’re welcome.” 

** ** ** 

Frank sighed contentedly as he listened to the choir singing songs of the season and he looked over at her mother who seemed unable to take her eyes off of him.  Laura reached over and gently touched Frank’s arm, squeezing it lightly and Frank gingerly reached around her and hugged her to him.

As soon as she got home she doted on him, stuffing him with hot soup and applying warm compresses.  Frank spent nearly an hour in the jetted bathtub in the master bedroom suite, trying to work out the worst of the kinks from his nearly 24-hour ordeal.  He would have spent longer than that but nothing was going to cause him to miss going to the Christmas Eve service with his family.

Frank peered over at the cast who were performing the nativity and as he gazed at Mary he thought of the girl he’d met in Passaic, New Jersey.  Mary had shown true courage and he never doubted, at all, that she was an angel.  She could deny it forever, but there it was. 

Joe, sitting beside Frank, ruffled his brother’s hair and grinned mischievously.  Frank glared back and slapped his brother’s hand, wincing at the twinge that went through his biceps. 

“Race you to the hot cocoa,” Joe suggested when church let out and they were heading to the car.  “Dibs on the marshmallows.”

Frank shuddered.  “You can have them.  Yuck.  Whipped cream thank you.  We do have whipped cream, don’t we Mom?”

“We do,” Aunt Gertrude interrupted.  “And for you we’ll have hot chocolate with whipped cream.  Heaven knows you need it after what you went through.  My gracious, to think you can’t even go pick up a Christmas tree without something horrible happening.  I just know one of these days you’ll get killed and…”

Frank tuned her out at that point and Joe smirked at him for a moment before mellowing.

“It’s really great to see you home bro,” Joe said softly.  “It’s not Christmas without you.”

Frank smiled and looked at the nativity set up in front of his own church.

“It’s good to be home,” Frank agreed mildly, yawning.  “For a minute, I thought I’d spend Christmas as the turkey…”

“I did see a resemblance,” Joe laughed.  “But never fear, I pulled on my trust Bat-cape and hopped into my trusty Batmobile and made it just in the knick of time – as usual.”

Joe buffed his knuckles.  “All in a day’s work, my good man.”

Frank smiled and caught sight of the manger where lay the baby Jesus.  Pausing for a moment he stepped up to the scene and whispered.

“Thanks…” he paused, thinking.  “Just…thanks…Merry Christmas.”

And as he turned away he could have sworn he saw…

…the eyes of the baby Jesus twinkled for a brief moment…