Thanks to all those who have read and even more thanks to those who have reviewed. Keep in mind that this chapter references the two past cases in the Casefiles series where Joe believed Iola to be alive but she, in fact, was not. Enjoy!
Make a Wish
Chapter 21
As all four boys stared at Iola, Vanessa was suddenly aware of the how deafeningly loud silence could be. The silence, however, did not last very long. Iola dropped whatever it was that she had been holding in her hand, and, covering her mouth with a trembling hand, she managed to quiver, "Hi, guys. Long time no see." She started to smile, but quickly began to cry as all of the emotions that she had, for so long, been holding at bay, came flooding through.
Joe was the first to speak. "I... Iola?!" he choked, his own voice strained with emotion. "Is… is it you?! I can't... believe it." Joe began to breathe for the first time since they had opened the door.
Iola, still crying, managed to nod.
"Sis?!" Chet exclaimed, not fully over his shock, but needing to prove to himself that what was happening was real.
Again, Iola could only nod.
Finally, Frank broke the tension in the room as he said softly, "Biff, I think you and I should wait outside and give Chet and Joe a few minutes here."
Turning to Iola, Frank smiled tightly and said, "Iola. I can't believe it. I really can't."
Joe, upon hearing these words, had to hold himself back from getting angry. He saw right through the double meaning in Frank's words, and he didn't like it. Still, he knew Frank was right. As desperately as he wanted to believe that this was Iola standing in front of him, he knew that he had to be sure. And, to do that, he'd have to speak with her. Now.
Chet, totally stunned by everything, walked over to Iola and hugged her tightly. Even he could not get over her appearance. What had she been through to look so thin? Chet shuddered as he held back thoughts that he did not even want to fathom.
"Iola," he said softly, tears in his own eyes, "I don't even know what to say to you right now. I... I can't even believe this is happening. I promise I'll get you out of here. There's so much I want to say! But..." he glanced at Joe, "I'll let you talk to Joe first. Then," he smiled before continuing, "You're all mine."
With that, the two siblings hugged again, and Chet followed Frank and Biff right outside.
Frank noticed, as soon as he walked out, that Vanessa was already waiting there. She looked traumatized, but, Frank realized, she was holding things together extremely well. She's pretending to be all right with this for Joe, Frank thought. He was amazed at her grace under fire. Frank gently reached over to hold her hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze. Despite his worry for Vanessa, however, Frank could not help but to think to himself, "Please let this be the real Iola, because Joe won't be able to deal with it if it's not." With a sigh, Frank wished with all his might for that to come true.
Alone in the room, Joe and Iola stared at each other for a moment. Joe ached to hold her, to stop her from crying, to tell her that he was sorry and that he missed her, that he hoped she was all right, and, above all, that he loved her still. Every gut instinct and emotion that Joe had told him that this was the right thing to do. In the back of his mind, though, was Frank's tiny voice in the distance, the voice of logic and reason, the practical voice that was saying, "You've been here twice before Joe. Be careful."
Damn him! Joe winced to himself. How Callie had managed to put up with Frank's cool logic over sweeping emotion was beyond him. Still, he knew what he had to do. There was no way he'd be able to deal with getting involved again if this wasn't Iola.
As he was about to talk, he noticed that Iola made the first move. Walking over to him, she threw her arms around him and held onto him tightly. Despite his logic telling him not to, Joe just held her. Oh! Joe closed his eyes in disbelief and tried to fight his own tears. She was so small and delicate, so fragile, and so beautiful, despite her apparent fatigue and injuries. Joe took a slow, deep breath and breathed in her essence, and he couldn't help but to feel as if somehow she belonged there, right in his arms. Still, he couldn't speak--he didn't have to.
Iola pulled back from Joe for a moment and did the talking for him. "God, Joe. It's so amazing to see you." Joe noticed that she was smiling and crying at the same time. "I've missed you so much. I... I never thought this day would come. I had to believe, Joe. And when I ran out of beliefs, I had only hope. And when I ran out of hope, I had only wishes. And all my wishes have just come true."
Joe stammered, "Oh, Iola..."
"Listen, Joe. It's me. I know you want to believe that. It really is true. I know what you've been through before, and I know because they've used ME to get to YOU. I DID talk to you the last time you were here, even though you thought it was a clone of me. The 'clone' came later, Joe. There's no way you could not have known, deep down… so..." she continued bravely, "Ask me anything. It's okay. I understand. I'm yours now. There's nothing I won't tell you. Ask me details I couldn't have put in my diary. I can tell you about so many things! I remember them all. We had so many firsts together, didn't we? Our first day of school, our first kiss, our first..." she blushed. "Well, a lot. So go ahead! I'm ready."
Joe looked at the lovely girl in front of him and he reached over to hug her again before speaking. "I know it's you. I KNOW it is. But... let's talk, okay? I hate to put you through any more pain. It hurts me more than you to think to know thatI was responsible for so much pain in your life, and I just caused more. Thank you for allowing me to do this."
For the next half - hour, as Frank, Vanessa, Biff, and Chet waited outside, Joe and Iola spoke of every topic about which they could think. Joe made sure to ask Iola the most private of things they had been through, recalling some of the smallest details he could think of before she had started to record in her diary. By the end of their time together, a lot of tears had been shed by both. Joe then leaned over, pulled Iola close to him, and kissed her. It was during that kiss that he knew. This WAS the real Iola.
As the two were about to leave the lab, the lights suddenly started blinking on and off rapidly. Joe heard Frank and the others yelling outside, and he smelled, quite clearly, the rotting smell of sulfur in the air. It was then that Iola and Joe looked at each other in shock, as smoke began billowing from the air vents. The mansion was on fire.
Joe and Iola covered their mouths as they ran for the door. Waiting outside for them were Frank and the others. "What happened?!" Joe exclaimed, still clinging tightly to Iola's hand.
Frank coughed. "Joe, I don't know. You probably couldn't hear it in the lab, but there were these really short, quick, siren -like sounds. Then, the smoke started coming."
"We've got to get out of here!" Biff bellowed. This was quickly becoming the worst day of his life.
All the friends began running, led by Iola's instructions. As the lights grew dimmer, they began to lose track of one another as the smell of smoke and sharp noises throughout the air seemed to follow their every move. Finally, minutes later, Joe found himself, Iola, Chet and Biff outside, on one of the sides of the fortress. They each gasped for breath. Iola slowly sunk to the ground. The exertion was getting to be too much for her.
Closing his eyes for a second, Joe quickly opened them again to ask his brother a question. It was then that it dawned on him-- Frank wasn't there.
In panic, Joe stood up and looked around in desperation for any sign of his brother. There was none. Looking at Iola, Chet and Biff, he told them quickly, "Stay here," as he coughed again. "I'll be right back. Do NOT move."
With that, he jogged as quickly as he could possibly muster around to another side of the fortress. As all of this was happening, he couldn't help getting a very bad feeling about this whole situation. First, where was Callie? Second, where was Frank? Third, where was Vanessa? Joe felt his heart stop with THAT question. Vanessa. Oh, Lord! His words "you're the only girl for me" which he had muttered to Vanessa not an hour ago came ringing back at him now. Shaking that off, Joe knew something else was bothering him. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something wasn't right about this whole situation. What WAS it?! Joe sighed in exasperation. It was times like this he could really use Frank.
Looking around, Joe finally caught some type of movement from the corner of his eye. Heading in that direction, he noticed a figure--Was it a girl? Far off in the distance, Joe headed that way, determined to find out. Finally, he caught up with Vanessa. She was sitting on the ground, hunched over, face covered with soot or ash. From this vantage point, Joe could see that at least one side of the mansion was quite clearly on fire. Smoke and fire came out through the windows, and an intense rush of heat was close by.
Kneeling down beside Vanessa, he put an arm around her and asked, "Are you okay? What happened?" Vanessa looked at Joe. The concern and love were clearly in his eyes, although Vanessa knew that they might not be for much longer. "Yeah. I'm okay. I got lost. I called for help, but you were- well, you were with Iola," she finished, sadly.
Joe didn't know what to say. Finally, he whispered, "I'm so sorry, Vanessa." Then, as if he had suddenly remembered something, he asked her quickly, "Van, have you seen Frank? Did he follow you out?"
"Oh!" Vanessa gasped.
"What?!" asked Joe quickly, surprised by Vanessa's reaction to the question.
"Oh, God Joe. Yes, I DID see him. We were all running, trying to find somewhere to get out, and Frank stopped. I told him to hurry up, but he said he couldn't. He had to try to find something in the lab to help Callie. I told him not to do it, but he didn't listen. Oh, Joe. Frank's trapped in the building!"
Joe looked in horror as a portion of the roof collapsed. There was no way anyone could get out of that side of the building. With a start, Joe realized that was where the lab had been. Joe's face blanched.
Frank was gone.