All The King's Horses
When money meets power, deadly things happen. Fenton Hardy is trying to work on saving the lives of two teens, Frank and Joe Grant, but with their father being the band leader of Flying Pigs, he's having a hard time doing it. After a stabbing incident in the Grant home, Fenton becomes more determened then ever to bring the boys to a safe haven – even if it costs him his own life. AU.
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MAJOR AUTHOR NOTE: Fenton and Laura Hardy are still married in this fic, but their sons are not Frank and Joe Hardy, their sons are Biff and Phil Hardy. Frank and Joe are still brothers. Iola was never born in this fic, but Chet is still around. Tony and Vanessa do exist in this fiction, but they will be slightly more minor characters. Joe doesn't speak for the first part of this fic, but he'll come around eventually.
FRANK – 16
PHIL – 16
JOE – 14
BIFF – 15
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"We need the EMTS in here, STAT!" The voice cried out over the system. "I need every avalible unit in here, pronto! We have a Type A with blood loss. Trauma, people, trauma, let's move it!"
"Vitals?"
"Not looking good, boss."
"Pulse?"
"Steady, still holding out—but getting weaker. I don't like it. We need the room cleared for surgery pronto, this guy can't wait!"
"What happened?"
"We don't know. Major blood loss, possible head trauma. Said something about a knife."
"Age?"
"Sixteen!"
"Name?"
"Joseph Grant!"
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"What happened, Frank?" Fenton asked, handing the young teen a cup of coffee. "You said you thought your dad did it. Why?"
"I said I know my dad did it," Frank barked, purpousley making his words harsh. "I watched him do it. I was tryin' to protect Joe and he backhanded me and stabbed him."
Fenton ran his hands through his hair. "I believe you, Frank," he reminded the yougn teen. "Biff and Phil, they were at your house today—"
"They're fine. They left before it happened." Frank paused. "You mean you believe me?"
Nodding, Fenton responded, "Frank, I had your hospital records pulled when Joe came to the house wearing that sling."
"You're allowed to do that?" Frank jumped up in surprise. "That's personal!"
"I'm trying to help, Frank," Fenton reminded him again. "Frank, I am doing everything I can to get you out of this damn system. It said you had a social worker at one point. What happened?"
Frank snorted. "What do you think happened? Dead. My dad murdered her in front of my eyes as a reminder for me not to tell anyone." He winced, as if realizing what he had just said. "That was about the time Joe stopped talking, too."
"So Joe doesn't talk around you, either?" Fenton questioned, now curious. "I know Phil and Biff said he was mute, but I was surprised—he seems normal to me."
"That's because he is normal," Frank retorted. "I think it was the murder that scared Joe into silence. I became a hard case, Joe stopped speaking. Dad didn't care because we didn't tell anyone about the abuse." He let out a breath and moved his gap hoodie to cover his cough. "Once Dad finds out, he'll be here, storming and tearing things up, demanding to see me and Joe. If you think you can help, you should probbably get started… now."
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Two hours later
"What happened, Frank?" Steven said, grabbing the young teen by his sweater and throwing him violently against the wall. "What did you do?"
"I din' do anything," Frank protested, but he knew better than to say, you did it.
"Where's Joe?"
"Keep your voice down, sir," a man barked. "This is a hospital, and our patients need their rest. I suggueset you keep your hands off that young boy or I will personally throw you out myself."
"Who are you?" Steven snapped, turning his wrath on the man and dropping Frank to the seat.
"I'm Mark Taylor, a medical doctor here. I don't care who you are, I'm in charge, and I need you to calm down before you get any of my clients in an uproar. Who are you?"
"My name is Steven Grant. I am the band leader of the Flying Pigs, and I demand to see my son."
"Name?"
"Joseph Grant."
"He's in recovery. You can't see him for another two hours." Fenton had asked him for that, and he had agreed to it. He knew that if Fenton had asked him, it had to be for a good reason. The stab wound on Joe's thigh had looked suspicous and he, too, susspected Steven. And the man's conduct – shoving his own son into a wall – confirmed it. "And I sugguest you stay away from your other son – Frank, right? – until you calm down."
"Exscuse me?" The look on Steven's face became murderous. "What did you just say? Are you trying to tell me how to raise my sons?"
"I'm just sugguesting that if you don't keep your hands off that boy, I can have you charged with child abuse," Mark said calmly as he stepped into the doctor's room.
"You're dead when we get home," Steven muttered to Frank as he sat down next to the worried teen.
And Frank believed it.
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"What do you mean, there's no evidence here? Do I have to spell it out for you? I want them out of that home now – my own son was hit by that man! Yes, he is abusive, Frank just saw his brother get stabbed today, I think that good and well prooves he is abusive. And, yes, I have filed with you guys before…"
"Calm down, sir," the social worker told him. "You said that there is a suspicious injury?"
"Yes, one of the boys today was stabbed and the other brother watched it happen – it was by the father."
"What I'm going to do is I'm going to pull them out for twenty days, give the father time to calm down after this incident," the woman replied. Her nametag read Tracey White and Fenton found himself wondering if that was the name. "You are approved for foster care, correct?"
"Yes."
"Then what I want you to do is take custody of the boys. I've got the paperwork here. I'm going to book Steven on suspicion for child abuse – does he know where you live?"
"No, but he can probbably find out."
She sighed. "I sugguest, then, keeping the boys with someone at all times. You said one's a mute?"
"He signs, but yeah."
"Then keep them under close guard at all times." She sighed. "We know. We had one social worker die under suspicious circomstances, and we fought, but we couldn't do anything about it. We had no proof and they moved pretty soon afterwords. The boys just fell off our ladder. I'm really regretting that now. Best wishes, Fenton. I hope you can stop this thing."
"Yeah," he admitted. "Yeah, I do too."
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So what do you think of the total AU-ness? Any questions, ask. Five reviews gets an update…