TraSan – I always enjoy reading your insights into each chapter! Thank you!

Lina – I know the feeling. I'm several chapters behind on more than a few of my favorite stories myself! Thanks for finding time to read and review! :-)

Cheryl - Buddy, you always make me smile! :D

Pally – Hope you continue to enjoy it.

Polaris – Yeah, Joe's holding on, for now anyway. ;-)

Alicia – Yep, there's a sequel. Or more accurately the second part to this story. And thank you for that enthusiastic review! It made me grin from ear to ear! :-)

Guilty

Chapter 21

Andrea Bender walked out to the kitchen and stopped when she saw Joe. He was white as a sheet, staring at a piece of paper he held in his shaking hands. Andrea approached him cautiously.

"Joe, is something wrong?" she asked touching his arm.

Startled, Joe gasped and jumped back, dropping the paper on the floor. As Andrea reached down to pick it up, Joe snatched it out of her reach before she could look at it. Now it was Andrea who was startled.

"Joe, what is it? What's wrong?" she asked again, growing increasingly concerned.

"Nothing," Joe replied, lying and doing it very badly. "How's Van?"

"She's asleep. I'm more worried about you right now. You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Andrea, can you stay for a while? I need to go see my father."

Seeing how upset Joe was and knowing he would never open up to her, she readily agreed.

"I think that's a very good idea."

"Thank you," Joe replied, relieved. "I won't be long."

"Take as much time as you need," Andrea said as he rushed towards the door. "Drive carefully!" she called out after him.

oooOOOooo

Arriving at his parent's house five minutes later, Joe realized he must have broken every speed record in existence. Running into the house past his very surprised mother, he burst into his father's office.

"Dad! Look at this!" he cried frantically, shoving the paper at his father. Joe was so upset he was oblivious to the fact that the look on his father's face almost matched his own.

Seeing how agitated his son was, Fenton stood up and came around from behind his desk, putting an arm around Joe's shoulders.

"Calm down, Joe," he said soothingly, looking at the paper Joe was thrusting into his hands.

Reading the message, his heart caught in his throat. 'Taylor! You son of a -'

"Dad!" Joe cried out again. "He was after Vanessa all along! Who is this guy? Who sent it?!"

"I…I don't know, son," Fenton lied, trying to lead Joe to the couch. Joe was extremely upset and getting worse by the second. Fenton was afraid he would explode into another uncontrollable rage as he had done the night Vanessa was raped.

Pulling away from his father, Joe began quickly pacing the room.

"Why? Why would someone single her out? She never hurt anybody!" Joe said in anguish. "What are they talking about? Was Vanessa raped because of me? Because of something I did? Whose family did I destroy? Dad, what's going on?" He turned and leaned on the desk, head down.

'No,' Fenton prayed, holding his breath. 'Don't look at it.'

The letter he had just opened was lying in plain sight on his desk. He hoped Joe was too upset to notice it as he had no idea how he would explain it. He slowly exhaled as Joe began to turn around…and then stopped. Reaching out, Joe turned the letter around so he could read it as Fenton's heart stopped. With a murderous look, Joe turned on his father.

"What are you and Frank keeping from me?" he growled, barely able to restrain himself. "Do you know who raped Vanessa?"

Before Fenton could respond, the door to his office burst open once again and Frank came rushing in followed closely by Phil Cohen.

'Doesn't anybody knock anymore?' Fenton thought absently.

"Dad! We found - " Frank pulled up short and stopped when he saw his brother standing there, looking like he was ready to kill someone. "Joe! What are you doing here?"

Joe stared at the two of them momentarily stunned. Frank's excitement at working with Phil and making so much progress on the case the day before came rushing back to Joe full force, as did the feeling of being pushed aside by his brother.

"Well, if it isn't the Dynamic Duo," he said bitterly. "Gee, Frank I thought I still worked here! Unless I've been officially replaced." He glared at Phil.

Frank stood silently looking at his brother, wishing he could tell him everything and erase the unbearable hurt in his eyes.

"I thought you were taking Vanessa to the doctor today. I didn't expect to see you here."

"Joe, no one could replace you. You know that," Fenton said trying to diffuse the potentially explosive situation. "You've had to stay with Vanessa. We all want to find this guy and Phil has been extremely helpful. We should be grateful to him."

"You haven't answered my question," Joe said with controlled anger. He grabbed the mysterious letters he and Fenton had received shoving them at Frank. "Here, Frank, take a look at these. They just came today. Maybe you can explain them. Dad seems to be at loss for words."

Reading the two letters, Frank blanched. Avoiding Joe's eyes completely, he looked at his father, the two of them exchanging a worried look. Apparently sensing things could get very ugly, very fast, Phil cleared his throat.

"I don't think you need me here right now. Call me if you need anything." He looked at Joe who looked right past him. "Please tell Vanessa I said hello," Phil said as he left.

Joe looked at his father and brother with a piercing stare. "Well?" he said expectantly.

"Joe, listen to me," his father began in a soothing voice.

"DON'T talk to me like that! Like I'm some kid who needs to be pacified!" Joe yelled shaking with anger. "I want to know what the two of you have been keeping from me and I want to know now!" The frantic looks being passed between Frank and Fenton were doing nothing but increasing Joe's already agitated state. "NOW!" Joe screamed, knowing he was on the verge of losing all control.

"Joe, you're right. We haven't been completely up front with you about everything. But it's not because we didn't want you to know what was going on. And it certainly isn't because we think Phil can do a better job than you can. It's just that up until this morning all we had were a few leads that didn't make any sense."

"Up until this morning?!" Joe yelled, incredulous. "How many leads have you had that you never bothered to tell me about?!" He'd always thought the expression being so mad you couldn't see straight was just a figure of speech until now. He could barely see through his white-hot anger.

"Your brother and I would never keep anything from you if we didn't think it was in your best interest," Fenton tried to soothe him. "You do know that, don't you?"

"No! I don't know that! In fact it seems like I don't know much of anything anymore!" Joe yelled at his father.

"Listen," Frank tried, nervously. "We all know waiting around and doing nothing is not your strong suit. We just thought it would be best if we waited until we had some concrete information to give you. We figured anything else would just drive you crazy."

Joe turned on Frank and slowly walked towards him until he was just inches away from Franks face.

"I'll tell you what's driving me crazy, big brother," Joe said. The term of affection he often used to address Frank was now dripping with sarcasm. "The fact that you and your new partner are so busy tracking down leads and hacking into computers you can't be bothered telling me anything."

"Joe, that's not true," Frank pleaded with him. He'd seen that look of hatred in Joe's eyes many times before, but never directed squarely at him.

"Really?" Joe crossed his arms over his chest. "Then start talking. When you came in with Phil you said you found something. What did you find," he challenged.

"We still don't have any solid information," Fenton cut in.

"What-did-you-find," Joe repeated through gritted teeth, ignoring his father.

"Just a name. That's all," Frank said, glancing at his father.

"And?"

"And what? That's it."

"I am not an idiot!" Joe finally exploded, grabbing Frank by the shirt. "What is his name?!"

"We have a name but we aren't positive he's the rapist," Fenton jumped in trying to separate his sons.

"I want his name!" Joe repeated, refusing to let go of Frank.

"Taylor. Chris Taylor," Fenton answered, still trying to pull Joe off of Frank. "Joe, let him go. Right now!"

Joe released Frank with a little shove, causing him to fall back against the desk.

"Joseph!" Fenton looked at him in shock and then at Frank who was obviously taken aback at his brother's aggression.

"What else do you have on him?" Joe's eyes bored straight into Franks, who once again exchanged a look with his father. This only served to infuriate Joe even more. He walked towards Frank getting as close as his father would allow. "I'll ask you one more time." His voice was low and threatening. "What else do you have on him? A phone number? An address? A town? What?"

"Nothing, Joe," Frank lied to him. "Nothing but a name," he said softly.

Feeling defeated Joe walked to the window and looked out, silently. Frank looked at his father and raised his eyebrows as if to say 'Maybe he's satisfied now.' That hope was short lived as the sound of Joe punching the wall caused Frank to jump.

Stalking back to his father and Frank, Joe now looked at them with tears in his eyes. "Why are you lying to me? It was my fiancée who was raped. I can't leave the apartment for more than an hour at a time; it's not like I can go after him myself. Why are you doing this to me?" he pleaded his voice breaking.

"Joe, can't you just trust us on this? We love you and if we are keeping anything from you at all it's only to protect you," Fenton said quietly, his heart breaking at the look of betrayal in his youngest son's eyes.

"So you're not going to tell me anything, are you?"

"The timing isn't right. Please, trust that we know what we're doing."

Joe squared his shoulders and swallowed hard. "Go to hell."

With that he turned his back on them and walked out.

oooOOOooo

The days that followed were tense and frustrating for the Hardys. Joe had stopped calling his father and Frank. If they happened to call him, he gave them monotone, one word answers. Frank, now consumed with guilt, had become obsessed with finding Chris Taylor. In the back of his mind there was also the constant, nagging worry that Callie was in danger of being assaulted too. Whenever they were apart, he called her so often to check in that he was starting to drive her crazy.

He knew his father was feeling the same frustrations – it appeared Chris Taylor had dropped off the face of the earth. There had been no new rapes or attempted rapes fitting his pattern. Neither Joe nor Fenton had received any more threatening letters. Frank had once again enlisted Phil's help to try to find out where the letters had been written, hoping that might lead them to Taylor. However the only place it had led was another frustrating dead end. The paper and typeface were utterly common and could have easily been typed on a computer at any public library. By Thursday afternoon Frank and Fenton felt as though they had run up against a brick wall.

"I feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop," Frank said running a hand through his hair.

"Essentially, we are," Fenton replied smiling to himself as he watched his oldest son. Frank's looks, temperament and mannerisms were so similar to his own he sometimes felt as if he were looking in a mirror. "He said Vanessa was just the first."

"That means Mom or Callie will be next."

"Or you or I," Fenton reminded him. "Frank, I don't want you getting so fixated on Taylor going after Callie or your mother that you don't look out for yourself. You don't have Joe watching your back right now. Please remember that."

"But it makes more sense that he would go after one of them."

"Not necessarily. Think about it. He wants to cause Joe as much emotional pain as possible. He is starting to accomplish that by what he did to Vanessa. After Vanessa, who is the one person Joe is closest to and loves more than anyone else?"

"Me," Frank sighed. "At least I still hope it's me."

"It's you, Frank. I'm certain of that. The bond you two have is much too strong for someone like Taylor to destroy it. It may be bending somewhat under the strain but it will never break."

"Thanks, Dad," Frank smiled.

"You're welcome. But I'm not saying that just to ease your conscience. You have to be careful, Frank. I understand how angry Joe is right now – with both of us - but after what happened to Vanessa, if anything should happen to you, well…that would kill Joe. He'd never get over it."

There was a knock on the door and Laura popped her head in.

"Remember, dinner is early tonight," she told her husband. "I'm teaching that CPR and First Aid class at the high school."

"I didn't forget," Fenton smiled at his wife.

"Would you like to stay for dinner, honey?" Laura asked Frank.

"Actually, I'd love to. Callie is going to the gym after work and then stopping by to see Joe. So I'd probably be eating alone tonight."

"Good!" Laura exclaimed enthusiastically, and then reddened slightly. "I'm embarrassed to admit I still haven't completely gotten used to not having you and Joe at the dinner table every night."

Frank stood up and hugged his mother. "We're not getting anything accomplished here. Why don't I help you get dinner ready?"

"Just like old times," she beamed at him as the left the office together.

oooOOOooo

As Callie pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex, she saw Joe sitting all alone on the basketball court, leaning back against the fence. Getting out of the car she walked over to him.

"Mind if I join you?"

Joe looked up startled, then smiled.

"Hi, Cal. Have a seat." He patted the ground next to him. "So what brings you here?"

"I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by."

Joe smiled at her gratefully. "You're a lousy liar."

"Okay, how about I just wanted to see your handsome face?"

"Try again."

She put her arm around his shoulders and gave him a gentle hug. "How about I just thought you could use a friend?"

Wordlessly, Joe dropped the basketball he was holding and wrapped his arms around Callie, enjoying the fact that someone was willing to be there for him with no hidden agenda. Things between Frank and Joe had gone from bad to worse. Callie had promised herself if Frank could not be there for his brother, she would do her best to fill his shoes.

Moments later Joe sat back.

"Thanks," he said, leaning against the fence. He removed his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

Watching him, she thought, 'He looks so drained and exhausted.' There were dark circles under his eyes and he seemed almost pale compared to the way he usually looked. What truly broke her heart was the look in his eyes. The permanent smile that always shone there was gone. Depending on whatever conflicting emotion he was focusing on at the moment, she saw pain, hatred, fear, anger, bitterness or rage. She began to fear that, should Joe be the one to catch Vanessa's rapist, he would do something in a blind rage that would alter his life forever.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked cautiously. She and Joe had become much friendlier over the years and grown closer still in the past week, but she wasn't sure how much he would open up to her.

"Sure," he replied. "Why is Frank lying to me?"

He saw a look flicker in her eyes. It was a look that he was sure had been in his own eyes many times recently. It was the look that said 'Oops, I shouldn't have said that.' Joe knew Frank and Callie talked about everything; she had to know the reason for all the dishonesty and half-truths. But at the moment he did not want to lose the one family member who came by to see him just because they cared and wanted to help.

"Never mind," he patted her knee. "You don't have to answer that. I have enough people lying to me as it is. I don't need any more."

She glanced at the basketball Joe was absently tossing from hand to hand.

"So you wanna play a little one on one?" she asked.

Joe's eyes grew wide and then he laughed out loud. Callie smiled thinking about how long it had been since she had heard him laugh. Joe pushed himself up and reached out a hand to pull Callie to her feet.

"Okay, woman, you're on. That is if you think you can take me!" he said grinning.

"Ah, now there's the macho, ego-driven Joe Hardy that we all know and love!" she replied following him on to the basketball court.

Over an hour later Callie sank to the ground and leaned against the fence.

"Aw, come on. Don't tell me you're tired! We haven't been playing that long!" Joe teased her, continuing to dribble the ball around and through his legs.

"Tired? No, of course not. Comatose? YES! What are you trying to do – kill me?"

"Wait here. I'll be right back." He shot the ball in her direction and walked to his car.

Callie watched him as he rummaged through the trunk of his beloved Mustang. Her eyes wandered up to the balcony directly above his car where she saw Vanessa standing at the sliding glass door looking at her. Callie smiled and waved at her best friend. Realizing Callie had seen her, Vanessa quickly stepped back out of sight. 'Vanessa, why won't you let me help you?'

Callie hadn't seen Vanessa since that first day in the hospital. She had been released the following day and refused to see anyone other than her mother. Still, Callie had hoped each day that Vanessa would agree to see her. That never happened but something she never expected did. She ended up spending a lot of time with Joe – watching television, playing cards or just talking, offering him support, advice and encouragement. She watched him struggle with conflicting emotions that seemed to change by the minute. She also began to see a side of him she never knew existed. She had grown so used to his macho, even sexist image that she had no idea he could be so patient and gentle. Vanessa had often told Callie there was a side of Joe no one ever saw but her. Callie always assumed she was just trying to make Joe look better in Callie's eyes. Now she realized how wrong she had been in her assumptions about him.

"Here you go," Joe reappeared, thrusting a water bottle filled with cold water at her.

"My hero," she joked, taking several large gulps and then passing it back to him. "So tell me, did I really beat you that one time or did you let me win?"

"I would never throw a game! You won fair and square," Joe winked at her. Glancing up at the balcony, he saw Vanessa standing by the door once again. "I better get back upstairs," he said standing up.

He walked Callie back to her car and waited as she unlocked the door.

"Callie," he said, quietly.

As she turned to face him, he pulled her into a hug and held her tightly. "Thanks. You have no idea how much this meant to me."

"Anytime, Joe. I'm glad I could help someone." She pulled away and looked him in the eyes. "Remember if you need anything – anything at all – just call."

"I will," he nodded and stepped back so she could get in the car. "Bye." He handed her the water bottle and then watched her drive away. Slowly he turned and made his way back to the apartment.

oooOOOooo

Laura Hardy had just finished teaching the first of the CPR and Advanced First Aid courses and was quickly walking to her car unaware someone was watching her every move. Hidden in the shadows, a man sat low in the driver's seat of his car waiting for just the right moment. As Laura got close to her car, she extended her arm forward using the remote to unlock the door. Fumbling with the keys, she dropped them on the ground. Seeing his chance, the man reached for the handle to open the door.

"Mrs. Hardy!" a voice suddenly called out.

Remaining in his car, the man turned to see a young girl hurrying across the parking lot towards Laura.

"Yes, Shauna?" Laura said, recognizing the girl from class.

The man watched and waited. Unable to hear the conversation taking place, he rolled down the window just a crack.

"Okay, Shauna. I'll see you next week," Laura said. "Are you sure I can't give you a ride home?"

"No thank you, Mrs. Hardy. My Dad will be here any minute."

The man cursed silently as Laura got into her car and drove away. He had learned with Vanessa that the women involved with the Hardys would not be naïve enough to open their car doors or windows to a helpful stranger. Temporarily abandoning his plans for Laura, he eyed the young girl now standing alone on the steps of the school. 'A little more practice couldn't hurt.' Keeping his headlights off, he slowly drove out of the shadows and pulled up to the steps.