A/N: Sorry for not updating :/ Life is getting busy with final exams coming up soon. I'll hopefully be posting at least once every two weeks. It's not the best chapter, sorry. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: As far as I'm concerned, I do in fact not own the Hardy Boys.


"Hey Frank!" Faith called, quickly grabbing her sports bag and rushing downstairs, nearly crashing into Joe in the process. Before she hurt herself or anyone else, Joe grabbed her shoulders to stop her.

"Woah, calm down kiddo," he murmured as she tried to pry away from his grasp. She was already late for soccer and it was evident by the panicked look on her face, she was worried. Joe couldn't help but let out a laugh. She was utterly dense, just like their oldest brother. Joe thought. Faith did not take too kindly at being laughed at. She punched her blonde haired brother hard in the arm.

"Where's Frank? He promised to take me to soccer and pick me up," Faith told him, tying her hair up in a quick high ponytail. Joe paled slightly. Crap, he thought. They'd forgotten that their mom had asked the both of them to take care of their sister today, as she was at a work related conference and wasn't home for the weekend. Faith noticed her brother's look and immediately knew they'd forgotten about her. She clamped her mouth shut, trying to bite back a retort of anger. Ah, the beauty of being a Hardy, she thought rather harshly while she waited for Joe's poor excuse of an apology to come flying out of his mouth.

"Uh, we're actually going to Port Highland today and we won't be home until around six," Joe replied, rubbing his hand across the back of his head awkwardly. He hated whenever he forgot things like that, especially at times like this. Faith didn't say anything for a moment, but she shouldered her bag.

"Have fun then, I'll see you tonight," she muttered and ran out the door before Joe could say a word.


The soccer grounds were about a ten minute drive from the Hardy household, or a twenty minute run if Faith was fast. Her mouth had been set into a tight, grim line as she jogged through the town, doing her best not to run into any oncoming users of the sidewalk. If she had been thinking straight, she probably would've asked Alicia and Mrs Prito to come and pick her up, but it was too late for that. She was feeling incredibly annoyed at the moment, to say the least. What she found quite sad was the fact that she wasn't the least surprised that Frank had forgotten about her. Faith knew although her oldest brother was fiercely loyal, he had the tendency to forget things when he was on a case. Faith had no clue where her brothers were even going, but she had a sickening feeling that it meant that she was going to have to stay home on her own until they came back. She felt her stomach tighten at the mere thought, but she tried to ignore the feeling. Faith had never liked staying home on her own, even before the kidnapping. Now, she just couldn't. Maybe she could spend some time with Alicia, she thought as she turned another corner. While on her run, Faith's mind drifted off. She thought about her conversation with her brothers and father earlier on in the week. The sleeping pills. The prescription paper was now lying at the bottom of her rubbish bin, torn into half, before being scrunched up. Although Faith had promised both Dr. Bates and Alicia that she would go and get them, she couldn't bring herself to actually go and get them. Like Joe, the youngest Hardy didn't enjoy swallowing pills of any kind and certainly did not entertain the thought she could be dependent on pills to sleep. Some people called it stubborn, but there was no way that she was going to take them.

Before she knew it, Faith had reached the soccer grounds. She saw that her team was only starting to warm up and breathed a sigh of relief while trying to gain her breath. Alicia had caught sight of her best friend and jogged over to her.

"Hey Faith, you're a bit late. Everything okay?" Alicia asked once she reached her dark haired friend. If Alicia was being honest, she was constantly concerned about the youngest Hardy. Even before the kidnapping. Even though Faith had never actually said anything about all the pressure that she had, Alicia knew it was there. It was pretty obivous. Alicia knew how she felt, having a pretty over-achieving brother like Tony also meant that people had expectations for her that she was never going to reach. She could barely imagine how Faith could live with all the demands of having not one, but two, extremely high achieving elder brothers that also happened to be amazing amateur detectives as well.

"Yeah, I'm fine Al, don't worry," Faith replied lamely, shrugging her sports bag off her shoulder and rubbing it tenderly. She could feel a small bruise forming where the strap had been. Alicia glanced at her best friend with a look of disbelief. Part of her wanted to argue with the dark haired girl, but she knew that it would be pointless.

"Right," she said instead, the tone of her voice suggesting that in fact, she did not believe Faith Hardy one bit.


The sound of the van door slamming as hard as possible had surprised Frank a little bit. He had been patiently waiting for his younger brother to climb into the van, so they could be on their way to Port Highland before the clock hit nine. The plans had altered a little bit to what he had thought through a few days before. He had discussed with Callie the night after the talk with Fenton and Joe, telling her about the new case. Of course, he hadn't mentioned the fact that both girls had a striking similarity to her. Even though he had tried to shrug it off as some bizarre coincidence, but he had been in the business to know that there was no such thing as a coincidence. Especially not one like this. After talking a little bit, Callie had quite blatantly suggested that both Frank and Joe take their girls along with them.

"Callie, we're on a case, not out to relax," Frank had started rather warily, knowing what this conversation was going to lead to. The eldest Hardy had made it very clear that he didn't like it whenever either Callie or Vanessa tagged along during a case. He had claimed that it was much too dangerous for the pair. Callie, on the other end of the scale, had totally disagreed. She always claimed that she was a big girl now, and that Frank didn't need to always look out for her. Sure, it was a nice and chivalrous gesture and all, but Callie loved the thrill of being able to help out her boyfriend. They had always had the same argument every time Frank and Joe had been called for a new case, and to be perfectly honest, Frank Hardy was getting tired of it. All he wanted to do was protect the people he loved, and he didn't know how he could if they weren't letting him. A stab of guilt rushed through him as he thought about what had happened to his sister, although he was desperately trying to push all thoughts away. The argument had ended about an hour later, with Frank finally giving into his girlfriend. Now here he was, waiting for Joe so he could go pick up Callie and Vanessa from Callie's house.

"Hey Joe, you ready?" Frank asked he started the engine. Joe huffed something incoherent, crossing his arms over his chest. Joe hated forgetting his obligations, but it tended to happen often, especially when they were on a new case. The blonde haired teen was yelling at himself inwardly. He knew that Faith was barely coping, and he knew that he wasn't helping. He tried, oh did he try, but every action seemed to fall short. He let out a long, exasperated sigh. Frank raised his eyebrow as he turned a corner, wondering what on earth had gotten his brother in such a huff. "What happened bro?" He asked. Joe didn't say anything, debating whether he should tell his brother what had happened. A few seconds later, Joe started to babble about his morning encounter with their younger sister. Once he had finished, Frank didn't utter a word. He was too busy raging at himself. He couldn't believe how irresponsible he was being. It was so uncharacteristic for the elder Hardy to forget his obligations, especially when they involved his family so he wondered why he forgot this time. Especially at a time like this, with Faith so fragile. A faint blush appeared on his face when he finally thought of a reason. Callie. Ever since Frank had thought about the similarities between the two missing girls and his girlfriend, the cases was all he could think about. He couldn't risk losing Callie; she meant the world to him. What if that meant that he was losing his sister in the process?

The rest of the ride was silent, with both Hardy boys still deep in their thoughts. When they arrived to Callie's house, they were in a bit of a foul mood. You really couldn't blame them.
"Go and get them," Frank murmured to his younger brother, giving Joe a sideways glance. He hadn't seen much of Callie since the beginning of the case, and he really didn't know how he was going to react when he did see her. Although he was an awfully reserved teenager, particularly when it came to the expression of feelings, Callie was always the exception. Frank didn't care about how vulnerable he would show himself to his long time girlfriend, unless it had something to do with her. Whenever he even thought of her during the past two days, the faces of the missing girls would always appear in his mind. And then came the all too familiar feeling of fear. Fear that he was going to have to feel absolutely dreadful if that ever happened to his girlfriend. Dreadful couldn't even begin to describe how he would feel. He suddenly wondered whether it would feel the same as when they had thought they had lost Faith. What if it felt worse? The elder Hardy tried to push the thought away.

"Why can't you?" Joe replied, trying his best to not sound whiny. Although he and Callie were civil to each other, the younger Hardy still had a feeling that Callie blamed him for Iola's death. Joe managed to shrug the thought of Iola off as he heard Frank sigh and open up his door. Muttering something about annoying little brothers, he stepped out of the van and jogged over to the front door of the Shaw's household. He gave the wooden frame a quick tap. The door opened almost immediately and Callie was standing there, smiling. She was dressed simply, in blue knee length denim shorts and a pastel green t-shirt with her hair tied into a ponytail. She gave Frank a quick peck on the cheek before calling out to Vanessa. Within minutes, all four of the teenagers were in the car.

"Are we all ready to go?" Frank asked everyone, adjusting the rearview mirror ever so slightly. The choruses of yes put a small smile of his face as he backed out of the Shaw's driveway.

"So what's the case about Joe?" Vanessa asked her boyfriend, pushing a piece of stray ash blonde hair away from her grey-blue eyes. She was seated at the back, sitting next to her best friend, similarly dressed in jean shorts and a pink and black t-shirt. Joe shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He was never very keen to get Vanessa too involved in any cases, but the girl was stubborn and always managed to get the information out of him one way or another. Knowing that he was going to start fighting a losing battle, he immediately gave in, as he wasn't in the mood to argue with his girlfriend. The blonde haired boy began to explain to Vanessa what the case was all about, when he stopped abruptly.

"Er, Frank, you missed the turnoff," he shot a glance at his older brother, whose face was expressionless. Joe was slightly puzzled. He had seen Frank look through the map on Google last night and knew for a fact that his brother knew exactly where he was going. It was very unlike Frank to forget where to go. Yet, he had missed the only turnoff that would take them to Port Highland. Frank's eyes never left the grey tarmac in front of him as he replied.

"I know." The monotone tone of his voice gave Joe no clue what his brother was thinking. Joe raised an eyebrow, wondering what on earth his brother was up to. The younger Hardy could say with all honesty that his brother lived off schedules and was always very reluctant to stray away from one, especially a schedule of his own. Shaking his head, Joe turned around to face Callie, who was seated in the back behind Frank. He wondered if the small blonde girl knew what her boyfriend was doing, but she merely shrugged her shoulders, silently saying 'I have as much clue as you do.' It was a rarity that Joe was uncomfortable breaking silences with his brother, and this moment just happened to be one of them. He started to get even more puzzled when Frank had pulled into the street that lead to the main town centre of Bayport. He opened his mouth to question his brother's route, but Callie got there first.

"Frank, where are we going?" she asked, staring at the back of the brunette's head as if he had grown three extra heads. She knew almost better than anyone that Frank liked to stick to schedules. Over the phone last night, he had explained to her exactly where they were going, what route they were going to take and the approximate time it would take to get there. Frank had decided that they were going to leave at around nine am and be at Port Highland just before ten. Callie glanced down at her watch, noting that Frank was already fifteen minutes late, according to his schedule. The eldest boy had said nothing, but merely pulled into a parking space just in front of the pharmacy. While the two girls had glanced at each other, both equally confused. Joe, on the other hand, felt like a light bulb had just gone off his mind as he thought back to a conversation he had with Frank the night after their talk with Fenton and Faith.


"I can't believe she never told us about the sleeping pills," Frank muttered angrily, kicking off his shoes and throwing them against the wall. It was always a very unusual occasion to see the eldest Hardy in such a state of anger and annoyance, but the younger Hardy couldn't help but feel the same. After Fenton had left his office, Faith had bolted out of the room before her brothers could question her any further. She hadn't wanted to tell them about the medicine because she knew that they were going to make her take them. And there was no way that she was going to ever swallow any pills for any reason if she had it her way. Especially after the kidnapping. A chill ran through her spine whenever she even thought of what had happened, so she tried not to think about it as much as she could. There was that theory if you asked someone to not think of the colour blue, that is exactly what they would think about. The theory of reverse psychology. However hard Faith tried to convince herself not think about the kidnapping or anything related with the matter, that was exactly what she thought of. Now, whenever she thought of pills, she thought of the many different coloured tablets she had been forced to swallow on numerous occasions by the masked man. She had to take a least one pill each day, none of them were ever the same, all diverse shapes, sizes and colors. The masked man had told her that none of the pills had any long term side effects, but most of them lasted about two or three days, the worst lasting a week. Some made her vomit, others made her feverish. While some caused her to cough up blood, or go completely weak, the worst ones were the type that caused her to hallucinate. Faith hated those ones, she absolutely despised them. She had taken about five that had made her see things that weren't there, feel things that didn't exist, hear sounds that nobody else could hear. She was always completely terrified during and after those experiences, curled up into a ball while the masked man would chuckle at her. That was the main reason she had sworn to herself that she was never going to swallow a pill again, but it wasn't like she was about to tell her brothers that. She was scared of what they would say, of how they would react. Would they comfort her? Or maybe they'd send her to the doctor? She had always feared that they were going to look at her differently if she attempted to open up to them, so she came to the conclusion to tell them nothing. Joe, on the other hand, was feeling rather helpless. He sat on the edge of his brother's bed, with his head in his hands, his blonde locks entwined with his long, slender fingers in frustration.

"It doesn't matter Frank. What matters is what we're going to do to help her," Joe replied, his voice muffled. Frank glanced down at his brother, noting the unspoken defeat that the younger Hardy had felt. To be perfectly honest, Frank Hardy felt rather defeated himself. Whenever he felt like they were improving with Faith's current situation, something would always bring them five steps back.

"I don't know what we can do Joe," Frank said, running a callused hand through his dark hair. He glanced down at his other hand, clenching and unclenching his fist. Oh, how he wanted to punch the person who caused his sister all this turmoil. It was a fury deep inside of the teenager, something that was so uncharacteristic that it surprised him. Frank wasn't usually the type of person to seek revenge, but after seeing how broken his sister was, he wanted to break the person who did it to her. After breaking every bone in their body, he wanted to fix them, just so he could break them again. Joe couldn't read his elder brother's thoughts, but he looked up, he saw a gleam in Frank's eye that he had never seen in all of his seventeen years. A gleam of seeking revenge.

"Frank," Joe said softly, placing a hand on his brother's hand gently. At the touch, Frank was jolted back into reality.

"What?" he asked, his tone was rather harsh, but Joe ignored it. He knew his brother better than anybody, and he knew that he needed to tell his brother what he needed to hear. It wasn't always what Frank wanted to hear, but he trusted that Joe would always put him back in line. He was grateful that he had the guts to.

"There would be no point getting back at the Firm. Let's just focus on helping Faith," he said with a soft tone of voice that he hardly ever used. Frank glanced at his brother, sighing defeated-ly. He said nothing, but Joe knew that he had heard him. And for now, that was enough.


The sound of the car door opening pulled Joe back to reality. He reached out and grabbed the hem of Frank's blue shirt sleeve.

"Please tell you're not doing what I think you're doing," he said, tugging on the sleeve. Frank turned his head to face his younger brother. There was a look of determination that gleamed in the elder Hardy's obsidian eyes and Joe immediately knew that he was not going to win this argument.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Frank replied in a non-committal tone as he slipped out of the van. Joe sighed, rubbing his finger against his temple. It was going to be a long day.


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