Okay, guys, last chapter. I still don't own any of the Hardy's or their friends and family. R and R. Hope you all enjoyed.

Chapter 21

Chet and Tony went over to Phil and saw that a second set of paramedics came in and was rushing him out the door to a waiting ambulance. They went out side to watch. Biff stayed with Joe by Frank's side.

"He's going to be okay, Joe."

"He's got to be. I can't live without him, Biff." Joe whispered, tears threatening to spill over.

Biff slipped an arm around Joe, but he barely noticed. Distraught with worry, he never noticed the affection with which Biff looked at him. Biff wanted so badly to comfort him in his own way, but knew Joe wasn't like that. So Biff was determined to love him as much as Joe would allow.

Soon the paramedics had wheeled Frank out to another waiting ambulance and it was on it's way to the hospital with Joe riding along. Frank hadn't woken up the entire trip. Joe held his hand the whole time.

When they got to the hospital, Joe went to see his mother in ICU. As he stood there holding her hand, and talking to her, he knew by his instincts that she wasn't going to make it. He prayed his instincts were wrong, just this once, but he knew deep inside they weren't. He'd gotten these feelings before, and, as time went by, his guts instincts were always right. He didn't always like them, but he had gotten used to living his life around them. Even now, he got a feeling of foreboding that something bad was going to happen in the near future. As he stood there watching her breath, the respirator being her only means of support, his mind wandered back to his dad. He had a hate so intense for him because he destroyed his family. Being killed wasn't good enough because there was no justice. No suffering. Or was there? His thoughts kept going back to Kimberly. He heard her keep saying, forgive. That if he didn't, he would never have any peace for the rest of his life. Unforgiveness would eat away at him like a sore and slowly leave him suffering forever. He was so torn on what to do. He wanted to forgive his father so bad, because what if he was sick and out of his mind, like Phil suggested? But then again, he thought about Frank and all his father had done to him, and what if his mother died? How could he forgive that?

Something wet fell on his hand and he was surprised to see tears sliding down his cheeks. He wiped them off with the back of his hand as he wearily sat down in the chair by the bed. He needed to talk to Kim to make some sense of this, but knew he would have to wait till morning. It was late and he still needed to check on his brother and Phil.

He got up and headed out to find Frank. He went to admitting and found Biff, Tony and Chet in the lobby.

"Hi, guys."

"So what's the diagnosis on everyone?" asked Chet.

"I just left mom. There's no change. I came down to find out what's going on with Frank and Phil." Joe answered. "You don't happen to know anything do you?"

"No." Tony shook his head, disgustedly. "No one will tell us anything cause we're not related."

"I'm going to find out now." Joe stated, as he walked over to the person behind the admitting desk.

"I need to know where my brother, Frank Hardy, is. He was brought in about a half hour ago."

"Just a minute." the lady at the desk said, checking her computer. "He's still here in one of the triage rooms. You can go back to see him." she said, as she pushed a button to open the ER doors.

Once inside, Joe walked around a corner and down the hall, looking in each door until he came to one he saw his brother in, laying on a triage bed. He slowly walked up to him and quietly laid a hand on Frank's arm.

"Frank?" Joe said, softly.

Frank tiredly opened his eyes and smiled at his brother.

"Hey."

"How's your head?"

"Still hurts alittle, but they said it will be okay. I just overdid it some." he said, sheepishly.

"You think?" Joe said, sarcastically. "You were not suppose to leave the hospital to begin with. You almost got yourself killed." Joe's eye's began to brighten, threatening to spill over. "I can not handle that."

Frank looked at Joe incredulously.

"Then you know why I went."

Joe reluctantly nodded his head. He knew. He would have done the same thing if it was the other way around. But it didn't make it feel any better.

"Have you seen mom or Phil?" Frank asked, expectantly.

"I haven't seen Phil. But mom's still in ICU. There hasn't been any change."

"Please just find out about Phil for me. They won't tell me anything."

Joe nodded. He gave his brother's arm a squeeze and turned to leave, passing a nurse on her way in.

Once again he was at the admitting desk and asked about Phil.

"Let's see, Phil Coehn did you say?"

"Yes."

"I think I'll let a doctor talk to you. Are you family?"

"Please, me and my friends just want to know how he is. My brother, who is in there, is his best friend. Please." Joe pleaded.

The woman sighed. "I can tell you he's in surgery. But I don't know anything other than that."

"Thank you. Do you know how much longer he'll be?"

"I don't know the extent of his injuries, so no, I don't. Sorry."

"That's okay. Thank you." Joe said, and headed back to the waiting room.

"Well?" asked Chet.

"Frank's going to be fine. He'll probably be here for a couple of days. And Phil's in surgery. She couldn't tell me anything more than that."

Seeing how down cast his friends were on the news about Phil, he wished he had something better to tell them.

"Why don't you guys go on home and I'll give you a call when I hear something. We don't all have to be here and I need to get a hold of Phil's dad anyway." said Joe. He was exhausted, but he was not going to leave his brother and mom. His friends didn't know about the extent of their mom's injuries or how bad she really was, and he was just too tired to go into any lengthy explanation. He knew his friends meant well, but he just wanted to be left alone.

"Call us the minute you hear anything." Tony said. "Please? Especially Phil."

Joe looked at the concern in their eyes. The same concern was there on Biff's and Chet's, too.

"You know I will." his said. Hitting their fists together in a display of confirmation, the three friends turned around to leave. Biff said something to the others and came back to Joe for support and stood in front of Joe.

"Are you sure you don't need me to stay?"

Joe smiled. He knew Biff was just concerned and felt at ease.

"I'll be fine, Biff. But if you want to wait around, that'd be cool."

"Thanks. I really don't have anything else to do anyway."

The boys sat and waited in the ER waiting room for a couple of hours. Joe had long since gotten a hold of Phil's dad and he was on his way. Biff gently shook Joe awake when he seen Frank's doctor coming in the waiting room. Doctor Azure came out to tell Joe that his brother had been moved to a room on the second floor.

"He'll be fine in a day or two. Just make sure he stays down and gets plenty of rest. He should be able to go home in a couple of days."

"Thank you, doctor. I'll make sure he gets plenty of rest." Joe said.

The tension seeping from his body was making him very relaxed and exhaustion soon set in.

"Let's go see Frank and then maybe you should get some rest." Biff suggested. "Con came in a little while ago to get his arm stitched up."

When Joe looked confused, he quickly explained, When you were dozing off in your chair."

Understanding flickered across his face, and he smiled. When they got to Frank's room, he was sound asleep. Joe was glad. He needed the rest. Joe informed Biff that he was going to stay, what was left of the night in Frank's room.

"I'll give you a call later." Joe said, "I just want to spend some time alone with him."

"Okay, you get some rest yourself." Biff stated, and headed out the door, when Joe called out softly to him.

"And, Biff?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for being here." he said quietly.

A small smile tugged at the corner of Biff's mouth.

"I'd do anything for you."

"I know."

Biff and Joe locked eyes. They didn't need words to say what they were thinking. Biff wanting more than Joe could give, Joe knowing he couldn't give his friend anymore than he had.

"Yeah, well…." Biff gazed down to the floor and walked out, pulling the door shut behind him.

HBHBHBHBHBHBHBHB

Joe was faintly aware of the sound of rustling sheets. It pulled at the outer edges of his consciousness till it became reality. He opened his eyes to see Frank looking back at him as he laid on the extra bed in the room.

"Hey you." he said, "About time you woke up."

"What happened?" asked Frank, confused.

"What do you mean? You were awake in the triage room. Don't you remember?" Joe asked, a little panicky, as he got off the bed and came over to Frank and sat down on his bed. He looked his brother over with a critical eye.

"Not really."

"What was the last thing you do remember?"

Frank sat up in the bed and shut his eyes, trying to remember the last thing he knew. "I remember being at Con's house and you and the guys were there and…." Frank sucked in his breath. "Phil!"

"It's okay. He's still alive. He's in surgery. I think."

"Oh, God, if anything happens to him.."

Joe put a comforting arm around his brother. He decided to go a different route so Frank wouldn't be so upset.

"What were you thinking? You could have gotten sicker, or worse yet, killed!"

"I knew dad was around." Frank said, tiredly as he laid his head back against his pillow. "I just wanted to know that you were safe."

Joe touched his brother's arm and a small smile slowly crept on his face.

"I'm glad we have each other. You're the best."

"How'd I get so lucky to have you?"

"Just lucky, I guess." Joe teased, and barely missed getting a playful swat on the arm.

Then Frank's face changed to a frown.

"How's mom?"

"Still the same." Joe sighed deeply. "I stayed with her for awhile, but there was no change. I'm not going to lie to you, Frank. I don't think she's going to make it. I hope to God I'm wrong, but I don't think so."

Tears sprung up in Frank's eyes, and Joe reached over and gently pulled him in for a hug. He felt Frank's body tense up for a second, then slowly let himself be held. Joe wondered how long it would take for his brother to trust his touch again. Only time would tell. Then suddenly Frank pulled back.

"What about Phil?" Frank asked. Joe could see the anguish for his friend in his eyes.

Now it was Joe's turn to frown. Something was definitely going on. He just told him about Phil. He'd have to ask Dr. Azure about it. But for now he'd have to humor him.

"I don't know yet. But I can go check. Phil was in surgery last I knew. His dad should be here by now. I called him a while ago. Good thing he had his cell phone on him or I wouldn't know how to get a hold of him." Joe said as he stood up from the bed and was heading for the door. "I'll be back in a little while."

Frank just nodded his head, as Joe turned around and stepped out the door. He sat there going over the events of the last few hours. He thought as long as his brother and friend would be okay, then he knew he could get passed what his father had done and go on with his life with some sort of normalcy. He didn't think he could ever forgive his dad, even though he was insane. His dad could have gotten help, but instead chose not to. How could he do that to his own family? But one thing he was grateful for, he still had Joe. His precious baby brother, and best friend. If anything had ever happened to him, he knew without a shadow of a doubt, he'd never be okay again. As the thoughts kept tumbling around in his mind he didn't see the door slowly open from the bathroom.

"Hello, son." a menacing voice reverberated through the room.

A startled yell came from Frank's lips. How the…..?

"We didn't get to finish what we started." the man, who was walking towards him with blood all over himself, laughed evilly.

Just then, Joe came bouncing in with news of Phil, but came to an abrupt halt when he seen who was there.

"Dad!"

The last thing he felt was the sting of a bullet that exploded in his head and his brother crying out his name, just as he fell to the floor. He heard his father cursing and running off and Frank jumping out of bed. He knew his brother had ahold of his hand cause he could see him, but he just couldn't feel it. The rushing noise of feet and voices diminished into nothingness. He wanted to tell his brother he loved him but he couldn't get the words to come out. Then he faded into blackness where he didn't hurt anymore. "God, please look after my brother."

"Joe!" Frank cried, bending over his brother. But hands swiftly took ahold of him and gently pushed him out of the way, and in a heartbeat, his brother was suddenly taken from him, out of the room. All Frank knew at that moment was that his life was never going to be the same again.

The End

Coming soon…. Part 2 In The Grip of His Grace