Note: This chapter is a little bit early- only four more chapters to go!. Thank you very much to this following and to those of you who left kind reviews: Penlew, max 2013, Guest, EvergreenDreamweaver, and Caranath.
Consequences
Chapter 29
Joe paced the waiting room nervously, his gaze darting between the entrance to the emergency room and the hospital's main entrance. He and Vanessa had already given their statements to the police and Vanessa was now being checked out by the emergency room physician at Joe's insistence. At first she had refused, saying she was fine, but seeing how responsible Joe felt for what had happened and the worry reflected in his eyes, she had decided having a doctor assure Joe she was fine would be well worth the inconvenience.
Despite the fact that Fenton was enormously relieved that Nash was now in custody and Joe and Vanessa were unhurt, Joe knew his father would still be angry with him. With a sigh, Joe finally admitted he shouldn't have gone off without back up, even if it was just to look for clues. And he most definitely shouldn't have allowed Vanessa to accompany him. Trying for the millionth time to come up with something to diffuse his father's anger, Joe realized his time had run out when he heard his name reverberate through the tiny waiting room.
"Joseph Hardy!"
Wincing, Joe turned to face the fury of Fenton Hardy. "Hi, Dad." Joe smiled weakly. To his complete surprise, Fenton raced to his side, enveloping Joe in a hug so tight Joe's ribs started to hurt. Now fully understanding how distraught his father must have been when he got Joe's phone call, Joe returned the embrace until it became truly painful for him.
"Ow…Dad, my ribs are killing me," Joe said, attempting to pull away.
"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry," Fenton replied, immediately releasing Joe and quickly wiping at his eyes. "How's Vanessa?"
"She says she's fine. I just wanted to be sure so…" Joe waved in the direction of the emergency room doors. "They're just taking some precautionary x-rays and she'll be done. The force of the blast threw her around a little."
Fenton nodded, looking a little more relieved. "Good, that's a good idea." Fenton said somewhat distractedly. "What about you? Have you been checked out yet?"
"Um, I really wasn't close enough to the blast for it to affect me," Joe lied.
Fenton nodded, satisfied. Just as Joe was saying a silent prayer of thanks that his father wasn't going to insist he be checked out also, he saw his father's expression start to change as immense relief and unbridled anger began warring for supremacy in his eyes. When Fenton grabbed Joe's arm and roughly pulled him to a corner of the waiting room, Joe realized which emotion had won out.
"If you ever, I mean EVER, do something like that again you won't have to worry about the bad guys killing you because I'll do it myself!" Fenton hissed, shaking with anger he was barely able to control. Joe opened his mouth to offer some kind of defense, but quickly realized it was better to let Fenton get it all out without interruption.
"Damnit, Joe, do you have any idea what it felt like for me to get that phone call?! You almost died last summer - DIED - because of Nash. Your brother is still unconscious because of him. So far it looks like he'll live, but we have no idea of what the quality of his life will be! God, for one horrible second I thought I was going to have to bury both my sons!" Fenton cried out, his voice breaking slightly.
"Dad, I'm sorry," Joe said softly.
"That's not enough this time, Joe. You not only put yourself in danger, but Vanessa, too. What if she had died in that explosion? How were you going to explain that to Andrea? And would you be able to live with yourself afterwards?" Fenton asked the questions that had been whirling through Joe's mind all afternoon.
"You're right, Dad. Absolutely right. And even though I really wasn't gunning for Nash, the fact that I purposely didn't tell you what I was doing today should have been enough for me to realize it was wrong. I'm so sorry I put you through that, Dad," Joe told his father sincerely, knowing it was going to take a very long time before this was forgotten, if ever.
Fenton stared at his son for a moment, reaching out to wipe a smudge of dirt off his cheek. "Don't ever put me through that again, Joe. Ever," Fenton said softly, and then gently pulled Joe close to him for a hug.
"Never again," Joe whispered, hugging his father tightly. "Promise."
"I don't envy you having to explain this to your mother," Fenton chuckled with a final squeeze, before releasing Joe.
"You mean you didn't tell her?!" Joe cried out, aghast.
"No, I didn't tell her!" Fenton replied with a smile. "I'm not suicidal."
"But, Dad…you can't expect ME to tell her!" Joe squealed.
"Why not?" Fenton laughed, now thoroughly amused.
"She'll kill me!" Joe exclaimed in horror. "Come on, Dad. I'm just a kid. I'm your baby, remember? It's your responsibility to protect me from bodily harm!"
"Are you kidding? I don't even want to be in the same state when she finds out about this."
"Do I have to tell her?" Joe whined. "Van and I are fine. I mean I don't want to get Mom all upset over nothing. There's really no reason she needs to know about this, right?" Joe turned up the charm full force.
"And how are you going to explain the sudden disappearance of your car?" Fenton asked, wryly.
"Oh…yeah…" Joe responded dejectedly.
"Your mother is a pretty perceptive woman. Somehow I think she'd notice that," Fenton grinned.
As Joe muttered about his imminent demise at the hands of his own mother, Fenton moved to a quiet corner to answer his ringing cell phone. He continued watching Joe a moment longer as Vanessa entered the room, appearing none the worse for wear.
Upon seeing Vanessa, Joe was by her side in seconds, taking her in his arms for a hug and a kiss before asking for the doctor's prognosis.
"I'm fine," Vanessa told him, still touched by his concern. "Just a couple bumps and bruises, that's all."
"Well, even that's too much, as far as I'm concerned," Joe frowned. "I'm so sorry, Van. If I had insisted you stay home none of this would have happened."
"Yes, it would have, Joe. Except my worst nightmare might have turned into reality," she replied, laying her head on his shoulder.
Joe needed no further explanation as to what she meant. During the police questioning, Joe learned that Vanessa had seen his confrontation with Nash and thrown a rock in their direction, hoping to distract Nash long enough for Joe to seize control of the situation. Had she not been there, more than likely, Nash still would have gleefully shot out the gas tank of Joe's car, the only difference being Joe would have been the one to disappear in the blazing inferno. Understanding that Vanessa very well may have saved his life, Joe held her a little tighter, knowing he had to do something to make their relationship permanent.
"Vanessa, how are you feeling?" Fenton's voice interrupted them.
"I'm fine." Vanessa smiled, pulling away from Joe slightly.
"Good. I'm very glad to hear that," Fenton replied, turning his attention to Joe. "That was Sam. Apparently he found the key to Davis's Pandora's Box! He's got so much concrete evidence of all the dirty dealings he's been involved with, Davis will never be able to talk his way out of it. He took some members of the Cape May Police Department he knew could be trusted to Davis's house, where they found him trying to pack up and leave town. He practically handed them all the evidence they needed on a silver platter. He's now safely in the county jail."
"That's great!" Joe enthused. "What are we waiting for? Let's get over there! I have a few things I'd like to say to the guy!"
"Not so fast, young man. You and Vanessa are going back to the hospital so you can explain to your mother exactly what happened this afternoon," Fenton told him. "Sam and I will take care of the paperwork on Davis. I want to make sure we've dotted all the "i's" and crossed all the "t's" so he can't get out on a technicality. Everything strictly by the book."
"But, Dad…" Joe began in earnest.
"No, I will not tell your mother for you and you are not talking your way out of this," Fenton said firmly. "It was your choice to run off to Cape May, so it's your responsibility to explain it to her." Fenton couldn't help but laugh at the forlorn expression on Joe's face. Turning to Vanessa, he winked at her. "Just don't let Laura kill him, alright?"
"I'll do my best," Vanessa replied, giving Joe a peck on the cheek.
As the threesome left the hospital, Joe mumbled something about being led to the gallows.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A few hours later, Fenton sat in the Bayport Police station, once again shaking his head as he spoke with Sam.
"Unbelievable, isn't it?" Sam questioned with a small smile. "Fenton, it's been one hell of a time for you, hasn't it?"
"You've no idea," Fenton replied with a sigh. "I still can't believe how ludicrous this whole situation became. The answer was RIGHT HERE- in front of us-the whole time. How, Sam? How does it happen that a criminal can become a police officer, and I couldn't have seen it? Isn't that my job?"
"Well, Davis was slick," Sam added consolingly. "He fooled the entire Cape May Police Department. He got past Con-and you know as well as I do that no one gets past him."
"Someone did this time, though," Fenton said evenly. "And we need to make sure that it never happens again." Slowly, he rubbed his eyes, tired beyond belief at the day's events.
"How are the boys?" Sam asked gently.
Fenton looked up, sadly. "Joe, thank God, will be okay. I still can't believe he went after Nash alone." His voice trailed off.
"Well, that's Joe for you," Sam added with a wry smile. "He's always been a spontaneous one, ever since he was a baby. Trouble always found him."
"Not this time," Fenton replied. "He found trouble. You ever have one of those moments where you want to both hold your kid so tightly and strangle him at the same time?"
Sam laughed. "Too often." Then he added, "He'll learn from this, Fenton. I know Joe. He's a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them. You told me before that he gave you his word, and I know that he'll keep it."
"I certainly hope so," Fenton answered sadly. "I came so close-to losing my family." Suddenly, he had to stop. Although Sam was a close friend, getting emotional around non-family members was something he wasn't in the practice of doing. The events of the past few weeks, the tremendous emotional strain of having almost lost his two sons, was still a wound that was too new to speak of.
"Vanessa's okay?" Sam asked awkwardly, seeing the turmoil Fenton was going through.
"Yeah," Fenton nodded.
"And Frank?"
Shaking his head, Fenton slowly got up and looked through the window. The daylight was fading, and he was almost grateful that one more day in agony was almost at an end. The rain had been heavy, almost serving to parallel his own feelings of despair. Turning to his friend, Fenton could only say, "I pray to God, Sam. I pray to God."
Suddenly, there was a ringing of the phone. Sam excused himself to answer it while Fenton allowed himself a few moments to collect his thoughts.
Close to twenty minutes later, Sam emerged from the back room, a huge grin on his face.
"Win the lottery?" Fenton asked, dryly.
"Better. You're not going to believe this."
Fenton raised his eyebrows. "Sam, there's little I WON'T believe at this point," he responded.
"That was Davis' attorney on the phone. Since he knew his cousin was a dangerous man, he wanted to cop a plea claiming that he was being coerced by Jenkins and he feared for his life."
Fenton felt his face pale a bit. "No one would be stupid enough to entertain that, I presume."
"No, we went ahead with it."
"What?" Fenton declared, outraged.
Sam laughed. "Listen, Fenton. Jenkins was already in prison. He was awaiting sentencing for a multitude of charges, everything from racketeering to murder. Of course, he never bothered to inform Nash of his intentions that he was still going after Callie and using Davis to do it. Which is why Nash must have been so surprised to see first Frank, then Joe. He was minding his own, dirty business. Naturally, we have them both now, and these charges - because of what they did to Frank-" He paused a moment, then went on. "They'll be enough to get life in prison, without the possibility of parole."
"But you said Davis might strike a deal."
"He did," Sam said with a smile. "Since he feared for his life so much, we made sure that we'd send him to a maximum security prison where he'd have to spend some time in solitary confinement-namely, 23 of 24 hours a day through sentencing. After all, we have to protect our finest," he added seriously.
Instantly, Fenton felt tears spring to his eyes, and he turned away from Sam, who left him for a few moments. Walking outside, Fenton leaned against the cold, brick building, knowing that in a few hours he'd be back at the hospital, waiting to see if Frank would be okay.
Looking up at the clearing sky above, he swallowed the lump that had begun to form in his throat and allowed himself to reflect upon the worst months of his life. But….
Joe had faced Nash twice, and survived.
Vanessa was okay, and solidly, he knew, she would be with his son for a long, long time.
Callie had made it through a miscarriage and an almost fatal poisoning and, even if she wasn't still engaged to Frank, Fenton was confidant that she still loved him deeply.
Nash, Jenkins, and Pete Davis were behind bars.
"I need one more miracle, God," Fenton whispered to no one in particular. "One more."
At that very moment, as the rain ceased, Fenton saw the smallest of rainbows form through the mist before disappearing into the haze.
And he smiled.
