September 5, 2000

"Connor, please get off of me," Joe repeated for the fourth time as he pushed at his brother's roommate who lay sprawled across his chest. "I mean, I know you've always had an eye for me, but, really, I didn't think it went to this ex..."

Whatever else he'd been about to say was cut off when something knocked the wind out of him and he looked up, half expecting to see the ekg machine or something else from the cart on top of Connor's back. What he found, instead, was the face of his rather tall, muscular friend, gleaming down at him with an almost maniacal expression, one hand balled up into a fist. Connor's red hair was raised to sharp points over his head and he glared at the others with a look that might just prove to be dangerous.

"Seriously," Connor commented with a most dour expression. "Grow up, Joe."

Joe grinned with relief, then pushed at Connor again.

"Then get off of me, ya big lug!" Joe ordered again. "I'd like to use my legs again this lifetime."

"Are you boys all right?" a soft voice near them asked and Joe, Connor and Chet all looked up to see one of the hospital volunteers, a girl with long blonde hair and a nametag that read 'Becca' on it. "I'm really sorry, I was trying to get this into that room down there and I lost control of it. Are you all right?"

"No problem, no problem at all," Joe grinned at her. "Er, you all right over there, Chet? Connor? Tell the pretty lady we're all right."

"Some of us are more all right than others," Connor said as he finally stood up and reached down to haul Joe to his feet. "No problem. Maybe we can..."

"Sometime today, boys," the doctor reappeared and nodded to the room behind him.

All three of them waved at Becca before they ducked into the room.

  ***** 

An hour later, all three boys had been given a clear bill-of-health, except for a couple of obvious bruises Joe had from Connor's expert tackle. They went back to the waiting room to wait for Frank's prognosis, much to the relief of Fenton and Laura.

The wait after that was short; finally the doctor reappeared, but looked no happier than before.

"We've determined that the substance that was used on your son was some sort of poison," the doctor explained to them in the tone of voice that Joe recognized as a build-up to not so good news. "Unfortunately, we haven't been able to determine just what kind of poison it is or exactly what it does. Frank has not had any cases of respiratory arrest for the last hour, but he has also not regained consciousness. The last pickle of it is we can't determine if we've managed to clean his system of the drug yet. He received the biggest dose; I think he may have ingested some of it when it blew into his face.

"We don't have any easy answers," he finished with a moment later. "However, you can see him, two at a time, if you wish."

Laura sagged momentarily back against her husband who held her tightly in one arm. Joe and Mandy hugged each other, then pulled Connor and Sam and Chet into the embrace, each of them looking for support from the rest, before Fenton cleared his voice.

"Laura, you and Joe go in first," Fenton told his wife. "Joe's going to wear a hole in the carpeting if he doesn't see his brother right now. Go on."

 *****

Somehow, Joe thought as he came into Frank's room, hospital rooms make even the largest men look smaller, like they're really only children instead of fully grown.

He walked into Frank's room, a feeling of trepidation washing through him as he saw his brother's pale face. Frank looked like a ghost of himself. They had done a procedure that Joe knew to be intubation - mainly, they stuck a tube down his throat and attached it to a respirator. That device was helping Frank to breathe.

"Frank," Laura Hardy took Frank's left hand in both of her own and kissed it. "Frank, it's Mom. Can you hear me? Frank?"

There was no movement, no acknowledgement of their mother's words. Joe held his breath for a moment as he continued to look at Frank and he said a quick prayer, a prayer for the deliverance of his brother. Joe was going to find out why his brother had been attacked and who was behind it. Someone was going to pay for this.

"You're coming back to us," Joe told his brother in a fierce tone. "Do you hear me, Frank? You're coming back to us, so get up and do it already. You have classes to get to. Doctor Torrence isn't going to give you any slack, you know. So get up!"

He knew his mother was looking at him with an open-mouthed expression and he shrugged to her, as if saying 'you speak to him your way, I'll speak to him my way.' He held onto Frank's other hand, across the bed from his mother.

"Come on, Frank, I know you're in there. I know you can hear me," Joe whispered to his brother. "Just listen to me, Frank. Listen to me."

Joe's mother smiled a very weak smile at him, not totally encouraging but at least understanding. Joe wasn't going to allow his brother to just fade away on him. It wasn't going to happen.

Mother and son continued to hold expression for several moments, until Joe felt the hand he held in his own flex and he looked down to see Frank move a little, his eyes opened.

"Frank?" Laura said as a tear dripped down her cheek. "Frank, are you awake? Squeeze my hand."

Joe felt a squeeze from the hand he held. Laura already looked hopeful, her face radiant with relief. Joe squeezed his brother's hand. Frank's eyes blinked several times and then he grunted, not able to speak because of the tube down his throat and he pulled his hand loose of Joe's. Frank pulled the hand up to his eyes and rubbed at them, then seemed to look past Joe.

"One of these days you two are going to be the absolute death of me," she informed them. "Between you and your father, I'm surprised I have any hair that isn't gray by now. How do you manage to get into trouble on your first day of school?"

"We haven't quite figured that one out, yet, Mom," Joe told his mother. "But we'll be working on it."

Laura shook her head, worry entering her eyes again as she studied both of her sons. She studied Frank's expression for a moment, as Frank continued to rub against his eyes.

"Frank?" she said. "Honey, you shouldn't rub at your eyes like that. Do you want me to send in a doctor?"

Frank nodded and pounded his arm on the bed in exasperation. Something was seriously bothering him. Joe sprinted out into the hallway and yelled for a doctor, then sprinted back into the room to stand beside his brother. Something else was wrong, Joe felt that in the pit of his stomach. Frank was still rubbing at his eyes and, Joe noticed with a wrenching feeling that replaced the sense of worry, Frank was not looking directly at Laura or Joe. He was looking in their direction but his gaze didn't focus on either of them.

The doctor and a nurse raced into the room then, the doctor came up beside Laura and began to check Frank over.

"He keeps... he keeps rubbing at his eyes," Laura told the doctor in a quavering voice. "He's trying to say something but he can't."

Joe stepped out of the way when asked by the nurse, but he thought he was just going to go throw-up. He wanted to, badly. He knew what the doctor was going to say; the doctor didn't have to say a single word.

The doctor did a cursory examination by flicking a light at Frank's eyes. He ran his finger in front of Frank's eyes and then peered closely into them with the light scope before he stepped back and gazed over at Laura.

"He's blind," Joe whispered to his mother before the doctor said anything. "The powder blinded him."

The doctor nodded in reluctant agreement with Joe's words. Joe gripped his brother's hand suddenly and said in a low voice for his brother's ears only,

"Someone's going to pay for this."

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. I've only borrowed them to play with for a while but I promise to return them whenever I've finished with them.  (I make no promises as to condition, that's entirely up to them).  I promise, I'm only writing for fun and I'm not making a single dime off of this (unless you count personal fulfillment).