A/N: Thank you all for being patient with me. It's been a busy week at school, and I'm having some issues with my ankles so I've been in and out of the doctor, so I'm sorry it's been over a week since I last updated. I'm going to do my best to update regularly, but if it takes a little longer for a chapter to come out, please forgive me; I've been very busy.

That being said, I want to thank MCR-1993 and CHRISTEN girl for their amazing reviews! Thanks you guys, you are the best! Here's chapter four! :) Please review and let me know what you think!

Resurrecting Relationships

Chapter Four

"The evil fell from your pretty mouth wrapped in your classic voice. Angelic in your syntax, demonic in your motive. Your pretty eyes don't know."

"Swept Away" by Flyleaf (A&M/Octone Records) from Momento Mori

Life was slowly turning into a routine again. Not the same routine it had been before the kidnapping, too much had changed because of it. But a new routine was being set in place for both Joe and his friends and family. Spring was getting closer and it was mid-April before the family knew it.

During Joe's absence, Frank had been working as a sort of free-lance private investigator, not working for any company but allowing the clients to come to him at their will. Now, however, he had approached Joe with the idea of starting their own detective agency. Joe had eagerly accepted. As he was starting to get a feel for normalcy in this life in Bayport now, he was truly ready to get back to what he and his brother had been doing before his kidnapping—solving mysteries, kicking butt, and taking names.

They hoped to launch their business over the summer. Right now it was merely in the planning stage, and they decided it would be best to wait until summer because Darren would be graduating from high school in May and that would take up much of Frank's time. Callie and Vanessa were all for the idea as well, glad that their childhood dream was going to become a reality after all these years.

In the meantime, Joe had gotten a temporary job as a security guard at the local Bayport Museum and was enrolled in night classes at Bayport University. Even though he was more than qualified to be a private investigator (especially after his stint as an unstoppable assassin-to-be), he needed a degree to prove he was qualified. He had already taken nearly three years of classes at the University before his "death". Luckily, after a visit to the Registrar's Office and a few calls from the upper levels of government—President Philip Walker was more than happy to set the school straight—the school agreed to dig up his old transcripts and allow him to finish classes—with a full scholarship, covering his books, tuition, and anything extra he needed. Saving the current President's life eighteen years ago did have its advantages. He should have his degree by the time Darren graduated from high school.

Joe and Vanessa were still not back living together, and Vanessa was starting to get discouraged. They had made amazing progress in the past five months, and they didn't even go to marriage counseling anymore! They were still married for Pete's sake! But Joe seemed content the way their relationship was…Joe living at his brother's house, Vanessa and Joline still living at home. Although they saw each other every day, Joe still insisted on staying at Frank's.

If only she knew the truth…

Joe stood at the jeweler's front desk, closely inspecting the diamond ring he had spent every dime of his paychecks from the last five months on. Thankfully, Frank had insisted on Joe not chipping in on groceries or anything while he was staying. Normally Joe would have insisted on helping pay for his stay, but he needed every cent for this.

The ring was a clean-cut diamond with a tint of light blue stemming from somewhere deep within the stone. It wasn't huge, but it was beautiful, and it would match Vanessa's eyes perfectly.

The truth was, Joe wanted to make things official before he moved back in. If he could hold on one more month…he was going to propose to her after Darren's graduation party. Not during, because he didn't want to spoil his nephew's moment. But afterward, he was going to insist that he and Van take a walk on their own, since they were having the party at the park…they would stand by the lake…and he would ask her to marry him…and they would make it official…Vanessa's fairy tale would come true. Then he would go home and they would be a family. He and Vanessa and Joline.

Everything changed when the jeweler eyed him critically and said, "Before you buy that and leave, I've got something for you. Someone came in here and asked if I could hand you this note. Normally, I don't do stuff like this, but she was so nice about it…"

Joe tore open the envelope and saw a message written in a curly handwriting:

I know who you are. You're not the great hero everyone thinks you are. You're a cold-blooded killer. You killed my father, my mother, my brothers and sisters. Everyone else may think you're some great person back from the dead, but I know your secrets—all of them. I know stuff about you that YOU don't even know. And I'm watching you. I WILL get revenge for the death of my loved ones.
Signed,
Your Worst Nightmare

Joe froze and swallowed. "Who gave this to you?"

The jeweler shrugged. "Didn't tell me her name."

"What did she look like?" He had a sneaking suspicion who this girl was and if he was right, God help them all.

"Beautiful girl. Black hair, green eyes. British accent. Real fancy-dressed."

Joe felt relieved and desperately confused at the same time. So the note-bearer wasn't Anya, the head Assassin Superior's second in command. He knew that the girl had escaped when the Network had raided and he was afraid that she might come for revenge. But it obviously was not her.

"What's wrong? She your ex or something?"

"Something," Joe lied as he quickly paid for the engagement ring and numbly asked the man to lock it away until he came for it in a month or so. He sat in his car, wondering who on earth had given him that note and why. He looked at it again.

"You killed my father, my mother, my brothers, and sisters." The truth hit him like a fist in the gut.

"Oh, no…no, no, no…I can't believe it…no…" Tears filled his vision. How could he have forgotten such a thing? Rage burning in his chest, Joe fumbled for the keys and backed jerkily out of the parking space. He didn't know where he was going to drive…he just knew he had to get away…away from himself and his past…

He felt like throwing up. He remembered the assassinations clearly now. He had shot a man, a woman, and two other people in cold blood a few months after he completed his training. He had gone the past few months believing that while he was an assassin in training, he had taken no lives. But now, he could remember every stark detail. He remembered that beautiful girl as she escaped, tears running down her face.

"You killed them! You killed them!" the raven-haired beauty, Tatiana, daughter of one of Britain's most prominent figures, shrieked, as she fell to her knees all four dead members of her family. "Mama, mama, please say something!" she sobbed as she took her mother's lifeless, bloody hand in her own.

Eric glared down at her, unfazed by her emotional pain. He pointed the gun at her. "Get up," he ordered harshly. "Now."

The girl fell over the body of her father and wailed. "If you don't get up, I'll shoot you where you are," Eric warned.

"I don't care…I want you to kill me!" the girl had choked out. "I don't have anything to live for—anything! You killed my parents, and my siblings! You are worse than the slime that the snails leave in their wake! You are a monster!"

Before he could stop her, however, the girl jumped up and started to run from the room. Eric tried to shoot her as she fled, terrified, from the scene, but his gun jammed and by the time he had fixed it, she was gone.

He had gotten severely punished by Atol and Anya after he let that one escape. It had been the last time he had killed anyone for the Assassins Superior. They deemed him unworthy and put him through the training all over again.

Joe's eyes were so blurred from tears that he couldn't see the road. His stomach convulsed as he whispered, "Tatiana, I'm so sorry…I'm so sorry." He threw up as he was driving and the car swerved badly. He almost had control over it when a dark purple, heavy-weight sports car rammed into his brother's car he had been borrowing and shoved him off the road. The car broke through the guard rail and tumbled down a rough hill a ways.

When the car finally came to a stop at the base of the hill, Joe Hardy lay inside, slumped over the steering wheel, unmoving, a single drop of blood seeping from a gash in his head and staining the carpeted floorboard.

From somewhere behind him, on the back seat, perhaps, a cell phone played. Being unconscious, Joe couldn't answer it, but his voicemail dutifully picked up the missed call.

"Yo, it's Joe. I'm not here so leave a message at the beep. Later!"

If Joe had been conscious and coherent when the message sounded, he would have been chilled to the bone by the frantic tone, "Joe, it's Frank! Where are you? Something terrible has happened and you need to get home right away! Darren and Jessi Marie are missing and Joey's in critical condition at Bayport General! Joline's okay but really shaken up. You've GOT to get here as soon as possible. Vanessa and Callie are staying at the hospital with Joey, but we HAVE to start looking for the other two kids! Call me back AS SOON as you get this message, there's no time to lose!" And almost as an afterthought, "But be careful, bro. We don't want YOU getting in an accident or going missing too! Love you." Click.

Slumped over the steering wheel of Frank's car, Joe Hardy was oblivious to it all.

A/N: Want more? Chapter five will be here soon, but PLEASE review; I really want to know what you think! :)

~Emachinescat ^..^