Resurrecting Relationships by Emachinescat
A Hardy Boys Fan-Fiction
SUMMARY: Sequel to Finding You Again. The Hardy family is readjusting after 15 years to Joe's return. Someone is intent on spoiling their attempts at bringing old relationships to life, however. The Assassins Superior are gunning for revenge.
Resurrecting Relationships
Chapter One
"This is the last night you'll spend alone. Look me in the eyes so I know you know I'm everywhere you want me to be. The last night you'll spend alone, I'll wrap you in my arms and I won't let go; I'm everything you need me to be."
"Last Night" by Skillet (ForeFront Records) from Comatose
He stood at the window, the dim streetlight across from the house reflecting in his moist blue eyes. He felt so strange, being here, back home, knowing that life had moved on during his fifteen year absence. So much had changed since that day he had been kidnapped on his morning jog when he was twenty-one years old.
For fifteen years he had lived as the Assassin Superior, Eric, in the secret base of the terrorist group deep within the jungles of Romania. No one had searched for him during those years, because they all thought he was dead, thanks to a clever ruse by the Assassins Superior that made his detective father and brother believe that he had been killed in a bomb blast. He had been brainwashed and converted into an emotionless, deadly robot killer. Using torture, hypnotism, and other advanced brainwashing techniques, they had stolen his identity as Joe Hardy and turned him into Eric.
He was put through over a decade of grueling, agonizing training that turned him into the Assassin. He was forced to endure blazing heat and frigid cold and unbearable torture to gradually make him unstoppable, almost immortal. He had learned to strike a bullet into the heart of the enemy from nearly a mile away. He knew how to fashion a weapon from almost any material available. Luckily, he hadn't had time to take a life before he had escaped, but he still knew that he was the greatest killer in the world nonetheless. He could kill better than any other assassin if he tried, thanks to his experiences in captivity.
Thankfully, right before he was about to go through with his first assignment, the assassination of presidential candidate, Philip Walker, he had been approached by two kids—a blonde girl with blue eyes identical to his and a young man with dark hair and blue eyes. The girl claimed to be his daughter, and the boy, his nephew. They had convinced him to leave with them, to abandon his mission and flee from the Assassins Superior.
It had taken a while, but eventually his daughter, Joline, who had risked everything to find him again, had managed to penetrate the barrier that the Assassins Superior had deviously constructed around his mind. He had remembered that he wasn't Eric; he was Joe Hardy.
It was the happiest moment of his life when he was reunited with his older brother, Frank, who was his best friend. Frank had thought Joe had been dead for fifteen years, and, considering his brother was still alive, had taken the news rather well.
Joe sighed and watched as his breath clouded up the window as he gazed down Elm Street in Bayport, glistening from the frost of late November. That had been just yesterday. He had been reunited with his family: his father, Fenton Hardy, and mother, Laura Hardy, his brother, Frank, and his wife Callie, and their three kids, although he had only met the oldest before—Darren, the one who had accompanied Joline on her rescue mission. The other two, twelve-year-old Joey and four-year-old Jessi Marie, he had just now met. He had hugged his wife again for the first time since his prolonged abduction. All thanks to the daughter he hadn't even known existed, due to the fact that Vanessa was only one month pregnant and they didn't know about it when he "died".
After a brief family reunion at his parents' house, his wife had insisted that he come home and get to bed. But Joe had hesitated; he felt awkward, even around all his loved ones. Life had charged ahead full speed without him and now he was behind, struggling to catch up. He hadn't seen Vanessa or even known she existed for fifteen years. The thought of going home with her and sleeping in the same bed with her, no matter how appealing the thought, didn't feel right, normal. Was she even still his wife? She'd been a "widow" for over a decade, did being dead annul the marriage? He didn't think so, but it was almost as if they were meeting again, for the first time. He didn't feel right about it and he had looked to his older brother, his protector, for help.
Frank had quickly suggested that perhaps this was all too fast for Joe; he needed time to adjust. Why didn't he stay at Frank's house for a few months, until everything got back to normal? Joe had jumped on the idea, although he could still see Vanessa's hurt but understanding expression in his mind's eye. Frank had taken him on a quick tour of his beautiful, white, two-story dream house, then gotten him settled in the guest room. After giving him a crushing hug and exclaiming about how unbelievably incredible it was to have him back again, Frank had reluctantly left the room.
Joe smiled slightly against the cold glass of the window. He and his brother's relationship was different than most siblings; they had always been much closer than even identical twins tended to be. Best friends, they had also been partners in detective work. In fact, they had been on the brink of starting their own Hardy Brothers Detective firm when Joe had been "killed". Joe wondered with a start if that was still a possibility or if he'd have to hunt for another job in the near future.
Joe had tried to sleep, but his mind was on overload. He kept remembering tidbits that he hadn't before, pieces of scattered memories and lost dreams. He had finally, at around one in the morning, posted himself in front of the window, feeling so out of place and unsettled that he didn't know if he should even stay here—maybe he didn't belong in Bayport anymore.
He felt a gentle hand grip his broad shoulder and spun around. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts—the emotions were so strong, maybe due to the fact that as Eric, he had had no emotions—that he hadn't noticed Frank coming up behind him. Even in the dark, he could see the worried gleam in his brother's eyes and Joe felt ashamed that he felt a prick of moisture in his own eyes at the love in his brother's gaze.
"Joe...are you okay?"
The emotions that had evaded Joe for fifteen years came flooding back with astounding force and he felt his lower lip quiver like that of a small child. He wasn't able to hide the gut-wrenching sob that rose from somewhere so deep inside of him, he didn't even know where it came from. Instantly, Frank's strong, steady hands guided him to the bed and helped him sit down. Holding his "baby brother" close to him, Frank murmured words of comfort in his ear. Joe's shoulder's jerked up and down as he sobbed into his brother's shoulder.
Thirty-seven-year-old Frank Hardy held his brother tightly, rubbing his back and stroking his wavy blonde hair. "Joe..."
He knew that his brother had to be going through some major mental agony right now, considering all he had been through in the past fifteen years. He himself couldn't believe that Joe wasn't dead, that he was really here, holding his brother like he thought he would never be able to do again, being his protector and best friend...being Joe's brother. That was why he had come to check on Joe, actually. He had woken up and thought that the happenings yesterday were too good to be true. He had wanted to check, to make sure that Joe really was back and alive.
He tightened his grip on his brother as his muscular body was racked with sobs. "Joe..." he said again after his brother had grown quiet. Joe pulled away, wiping at his eyes, embarrassed, but Frank wouldn't have that. He quickly put an arm around Joe's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "Joe, do you want to talk about it?"
Joe shook his head, but said, "I'm so confused and lost, Frank. I don't know what to do, how I can possibly still belong here after all these years. I've missed so much, I just...I don't..."
Frank rubbed Joe's back. "I know, Baby Brother," he said softly. "But you do belong here. Despite what you've been told for the past fifteen years, you are not Eric. You are still Joe Hardy, and I, Frank Hardy swear that I will not rest until I have helped you re-establish your identity and become who you were always meant to be."
Joe looked imploringly at his brother. "You think that's possible? I mean, I don't even know my daughter or even my wife anymore. Everyone has changed and gone on without me." He paused, then cast a shy glance at his big brother. "Well, everyone except for you," he added.
"Joe, I've got some ideas for getting things back to normal," Frank said softly, and saw his brother look up in interest, "but I think that should wait until tomorrow. Why don't you get some sleep?"
"I...I can't," Joe admitted, humiliated.
Frank guided his brother onto the pillow and lay down on the queen-sized bed beside him. He wrapped his reassuring arms around Joe just like he had done many times when they were younger and Joe needed someone to comfort him.
When Callie Hardy went to the guest room the next morning to find out why her husband had never returned to bed, she smiled softly and quietly went downstairs at the sight of the brothers asleep, Joe snuggled in Frank's embrace, looking peaceful for the first time since he had returned.
Seventeen-year-old Darren Michael Hardy sat at the table later that Sunday morning, a loaded plate of bacon, eggs, sausage, and pancakes before him, thanks to his mother. As far as he knew, his dad was still upstairs discussing a plan of action with Joe, about how to best help him adjust to this new life. Darren's mom had run out to the store for a little while, in order to get the turkey for the big Thanksgiving dinner at Fenton and Laura's on Thursday. He heard an urgent knock on the front door and reluctantly left his breakfast to greet the visitor.
His cousin and best friend, Joline, jumped at him as soon as the door opened, tackling him in a huge hug. The fifteen-year-old's eyes were shining gleefully and when she spoke, her voice was filled with happiness and excitement.
"Whoa, JoJo," Darren laughed, hugging his excited cousin back, grinning in amusement. "What are you doing here so early? And how did you get here?"
"Mom dropped me off on her way to the store," Joline answered promptly, standing on her tippy toes and trying to see around Darren into the rest of the house. "Where's Daddy?"
Darren chuckled. He should have known that Jo's enthusiasm wasn't concentrated on seeing him; her excitement was on the prospect of seeing her father again; the father everyone else had presumed dead for fifteen years. He still couldn't believe what had transpired over the weekend; it was unreal. Joline elbowed him in the ribs.
"C'mon, Darren, where is he?" she insisted, nearly bouncing in her anticipation.
"He's in the middle of something, Jo. Mom told me this morning that he and Dad are pretty much going to be tied up all day, doing business stuff, making phone calls, and trying to get Joe settled into a routine."
Joline pouted. "He should be able to spend time with the rest of us. It isn't fair for Uncle Frank to hog him all day."
Darren crossed his arms and shook his head. "Jo, stop it. You're the one not being fair. I know you want to spend time with your dad, but you've got to think about what he is going through himself right now. For heaven's sake, JoJo, he's been, for all intensive purposes, dead for the past fifteen years! You don't expect him to be able to just instantly transition back into everyday life?"
Joline stared at her cousin, her eyes filled with tears. "No, I don't. But I just want to be there for him, too. I'm the one who found him. He needs me."
Darren felt a twinge of anger at her rash words. "I think you mean that we're the one who found him, Jo. And yeah, I'm sure he wants to see you, too," the older boy said in a more gentle tone, "but you have to let him come to terms with everything in his own time and his own way. He and my dad were extremely close when they were kids, and right now, I honestly think that my dad is your dad's lifeline right now. Joe's not going to ever be able to catch up and live fully again if we hamper his progress. I know it's hard, JoJo, but we've got to give Dad and Joe the time they need to help Joe return as smoothly as possible to his old life."
Joline glared at Darren, even while admitting to herself that he was right. She knew she was being selfish but she felt that her emotions should be justified. Finally she sighed and nodded. "I guess you're right. But do you think they'll have any time for us today?"
Darren nodded. "Mom said something about maybe inviting you and Aunt Vanessa over for dinner tonight if Joe's up to it. Until then, do you want to go find Joey and Jessi and take them to the park? That will give us something to do instead of hanging around the house."
Although what Joline really wanted to do was to spend time with her father, she nodded. "Sure."
Darren grinned. "Joey and Jessi Marie'll like that," he commented, referring to his younger siblings, Joey at twelve years old and Jessi Marie four. "Let me go okay it with Dad and then we'll head out."
Joline nodded as Darren raced up the stairs to make sure Frank was okay with them taking the kids to the park.
Frank was sitting on the bed in the guest room next to Joe, his mind still reeling that his baby brother was indeed alive and back with him. Joe had been very quiet all morning, declining breakfast and staying in the bedroom. Frank had instantly opted to stay with him; he didn't think his brother needed to be alone at a time like this, and frankly, he didn't want to be away from Joe, either. He was terrified that he would leave the room and Joe would somehow disappear into thin air. He was so afraid that he'd lose his brother again.
Frank had insisted that they try to devote the next few days entirely on getting Joe's affairs straightened out, re-connecting with his old friends and life, and doing everything possible to help get him back into the swing of things. Right now they were merely in the planning stage, going over all that needed to be done and trying to decide when the best time would be to do it. Frank knew that Joe had too much to worry about right now and that the more things that were done and out of the way, the better.
As they were about to start, there was a knock on the door. Frank sighed, having hoped for minimum interruptions during his time with Joe, but with three kids in the house and his wife at the store, he had known it was going to be a false hope. "Come in," he said, shooting an apologetic look at his brother. Joe shrugged and grinned slightly.
Darren poked his head in and smiled at his father and uncle. "Hey, sorry to bother you, but Vanessa just dropped Joline off and she's itching for something to do. Dad, do you mind if I take her and Jessi and Joey off your hands for a few hours and go to the park? We'll be back in time for lunch."
Frank smiled gratefully at his oldest son, and nodded enthusiastically. "That would be great. You guys have fun, and we'll touch bases later."
"Gotcha." And Darren sprinted out the door and down the stairs.
~Emachinescat ^..^