Cheryl, Polaris, MissMe113, dazzling vampire, Alicia, pally, Miss Fenway, Fandemonium and Helen – thank you for the wonderful comments and reviews! They are appreciated! :-)

Trust

Chapter 14

Upon returning, Joe found his mother sitting in the office talking with Frank and Fenton. As Joe handed the file to Frank, Laura patted a spot on the couch next to her.

"Sit down and have some coffee, honey," she smiled at him. "I think you're all going to have a long night."

For the first time Joe noticed the coffee pot and assortment of mugs, spoons, cream and sugar laid out on the small table.

"Thanks, Mom," Joe replied settling in next to his mother as she prepared a cup of coffee for him.

"Your mother just gave us her version of what happened. She remembered it in a lot more detail than Callie did," Fenton explained to Joe, smiling at his wife.

"Although there's not much that can help you right now, I'm afraid. I'm sorry I couldn't get the license plate, or at least get a look at the car." Laura had a pained expression on her face. "At this point I'm sorry I even answered the door."

"Every detail is important, Mom, even if we don't know why right off the bat." Joe found himself trying to comfort his mother, upset that she thought she had done something wrong. "And why wouldn't you answer the door when someone knocks? None of this is your fault."

"I better get started on this," Frank said, quietly. Hastily, he got to his feet and walked down the hall to his own office. They all heard the soft click as he shut the door behind him.

"Should I go talk to him?" Joe asked, glancing at his parents. "I didn't mean it was his fault."

"No, leave him alone for now," Fenton advised. "He knows you don't blame him, Joe. But he feels guilty by association, since it was his wife who set off this whole chain of events. And he's having a hard time accepting that Callie didn't trust him enough to tell him about the pictures as soon as she got them. Let him get lost in his work. That's probably the best thing for him right now."

Just as Fenton finished speaking, the phone rang. "Excuse me," he said, going to answer it.

"Honey, I'm going to bed now," Laura said to Joe. "But I already told Frank and your father, if you need to ask me anything else – anything at all – promise you'll wake me."

"Okay, promise." Joe couldn't help but smile at his mother. "Is there something else?" Joe asked when Laura seemed to hesitate and didn't move from the couch.

Laura stared at Joe trying to decide if what she wanted to say would comfort Joe or upset him.

"Mom? What is it?" Joe asked, frowning in concern.

"The last thing the gunman said to me before he left was, "We really only want her to trade for the file. She won't be hurt." I know it sounds crazy, but he really seemed sincere," Laura replied. Seeing the look on Joe's face quickly change from concern to sorrow, she put an arm around him, hugging him tightly.

Closing his eyes, Joe recalled the short phone conversation he'd had with what he assumed was the same man.

"He said the same thing to me on the phone," Joe said, quietly. A moment later he opened his eyes and looked at his mother. "Do you think he meant it?" Joe asked her, searching for reassurance that Vanessa would be returned to him unharmed.

"Truthfully?"

Joe nodded.

"Yes. I do." Laura kissed Joe on the cheek, then stood up and left the office.

Seeing his father was finishing up his phone call, Joe walked over to the desk and took a seat in one of the chairs facing Fenton.

"Ok, thanks, Nick," Fenton said into the phone. "I really appreciate your help with this. We owe you. Right. Goodbye."

"Finally, some good news," Fenton sighed, meeting Joe's eyes. "Nick has already gotten Travers moved to a safe house. He'll be fine there until we get his new identity in place."

"Nick?" Joe asked, confused.

"Sorry. You had already left when Frank and I talked about it. Nick Rapposelli. He's a friend of mine who is going to make all the arrangements for Travers' new life. The fewer people involved in this, the better."

"That's for sure," Joe snorted. "If this gets out Frank and I won't even be able to get hired for security at K-Mart!"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Fenton couldn't help but laugh out loud at his son's remark, which in turn brought a chuckle from Joe.

"Well, it's the truth, Dad," Joe smiled, sheepishly.

"Luckily, I don't think you need to worry about that. Nick seems confident he can keep everything under wraps," Fenton replied, still grinning. "Besides, K-Mart would be lucky to have the two of you working security."

"Thanks," Joe replied, returning the grin. As he got up to pour himself a second cup of coffee, the door to Frank's office opened. Joe watched as his older brother returned, looking glum.

"Done already?" Joe asked. "That's impressive even for you!"

"I'm done my part. The computer has to do the rest. It'll be a while though. But thanks for the vote of confidence," Frank replied, sitting in the chair Joe had just vacated. "Now what?" Frank asked his father.

"Nick just called. Travers has been moved to a safe house already and Nick is confident he can arrange a new identity without having to involve anyone else."

"Thank God," Frank muttered, grateful for any good news.

"Yeah, now we won't have to go work at K-Mart," Joe said, winking at his father as he plopped into the seat next to Frank.

"K-Mart?" Frank looked at his brother, puzzled.

"Nothing," Fenton said, with a small chuckle, before getting back to the business at hand. "Honestly, the only thing we can do now is wait."

"Why?" Joe asked, the thought of doing nothing making him very uncomfortable. If he were doing nothing, he'd be alone with his thoughts, something he wanted to avoid at all costs. "Why can't we start talking about how we're going to make the exchange? And what happens afterwards. Don't you want to catch these guys after Vanessa is safe?" Joe looked from Fenton to Frank.

"You bet," Frank replied, relishing the thought of five minutes alone in a room with the man who blackmailed his wife.

"Of course we do, Joe. But planning for it…well, until they call with instructions, that's going to be a little tough," Fenton admitted. "We have no idea how, when or where the exchange will take place, although I'm assuming they'll want you to deliver the file. But we don't know if they'll want you to drop it somewhere and leave; transport you and the file to a second location; if they'll have Vanessa with them when you make the exchange or if they'll take the file and give you instructions on where to find her. There are just too many variables to plan anything yet."

"Not necessarily," Joe replied. "If they do want to meet with me, face to face, I can wear a wire, regardless of how the rest of it goes down. You and Frank would hear everything. If they don't bring Vanessa to the exchange and tell me where to find her instead, you two could get a head start."

"I don't know if I like that idea, Joe. What if they search you for weapons? They'll find the wire immediately and probably kill you," Fenton said, his tone indicating exactly what he thought of Joe's plan.

Joe shrugged. "Yeah, but they might not search me, take the file and kill me anyway."

Frank winced at his brother's blunt observation. "Still that's a big gamble, Joe. I'm not sure we should take that kind of risk with your life."

Turning to face Frank, Joe challenged his brother. "Are you telling me if Callie was the one being held hostage, you wouldn't do the same thing?"

"Okay, okay, you know I would. I just don't like it, that's all." Frank wrinkled his nose at his younger brother. "The thought of you getting killed doesn't sit too well with me, you know?"

"It's not exactly at the top of my list of favorite things either. But I don't want to wait one second longer than we have to, to find Vanessa." Joe threw a pleading look at his father. "Come on, humor me, Dad. Can't we come with Plan A, Plan B, Plan C…you know, cover all the bases? Please?"

Fenton looked at his watch and saw it was almost one o'clock in the morning. From years of experience, he knew Joe was stalling, not wanting to go home and face an empty apartment, let alone the nightmares that would haunt him should he actually be able to fall asleep for a few hours. Looking at Frank, Fenton raised his eyebrows in a silent request for Frank's opinion.

"Couldn't hurt. It'll be a while before the computer finishes the new encryptions. Might as well make good use of the time," Frank said, smiling at Joe when he heard an audible sigh of relief.

'Don't worry, little brother. I'll help you keep the monsters away tonight,' Frank thought, determined to do everything possible to help his brother get through the night without losing himself to his demons.

Three hours and two pots of coffee later, Frank, Joe and Fenton had established a plan for every possible scenario they could come up with for how the exchange would take place. Frank had excused himself more than once to check on the computer program and finally emerged with a new file that he was confident would hold up under the closest scrutiny.

"I think we really have done everything we can now," Fenton yawned. "The best thing we can do now is get a few hours sleep. Tomorrow…" he began, then stopped to correct himself. "…today is going to be a very long day."

Frank and Joe exchanged a look, each knowing the other did not want to return home, though they had vastly different reasons.

"Uh, Dad, would it be okay if Joe and I just crashed here?" Frank asked, a little apprehensive. It was obvious why Joe would not want to go home, but Frank did not want to have to explain to his father his own reasons.

Frank was still reeling from everything that had happened and was finding it extremely difficult to accept that Callie simply didn't trust him. He had a feeling Joe knew, instinctively, why he did not want to go home and face his wife. A heart to heart discussion on why Callie had betrayed his trust was the one thing he wasn't ready for, although he knew Callie wanted to get it out in the open as soon as possible.

Fenton looked at Frank, a little stunned. "Frank, this will always be your home. You and Joe. You never have to ask for permission to stay here," he replied, softly. "I'm sure your mother will be thrilled to wake up and find both of you here," he smiled.

"Thanks, Dad. We'll go up in a little bit," Joe said. Physically, he was exhausted and would love nothing better than to fall into bed for some much needed sleep. But he knew the monsters were waiting for him and he wasn't quite ready to face them yet. He also had a very strong feeling that Frank was avoiding some monsters of his own.