Joe was released from the hospital early the next afternoon; of course his release did not make much of a difference since he merely relocated himself across the hall in his brother's room. Frank still had not spoken a word aloud to anyone since he arrived at the hospital, and a quiet voice in the back of Joe's head that he tried to push away suggested that his brother might not ever speak again.
Joe had always been fairly perceptive when it came to people's emotions, but he was never more attuned to anyone than his older brother.
Even so the younger Hardy still found himself at a loss for words as he sat next to his brother's hospital bed.
They had been kidnapped many times in their lifetime, but never had either of them experienced anything like what his brother just went through.
Concussions, stabbings, and even a few gunshot wounds paled in comparison to what happened to Frank.
Joe was alone with his brother right now, as his parents had gone to grab coffee in the cafeteria, though Joe knew that they were actually trying to give the brothers a chance to talk to each other, in the hopes that Frank would open up to Joe when he refused to talk to either of his parents, his doctor, a slew of nurses, and the psychologist who had stopped in early that morning.
Joe ran a hand over his face and wracked his brain for something to say.
And, finally, he said something…
"So, uh, how about those Mets?"
His older brother blinked incredulously at him, and Joe could have sworn he saw a flicker of amusement flash through his eyes before it disappeared so fast that it could have been merely a trick of the light.
Frank shrugged uncertainly.
"Yeah, actually, I have no idea either," Joe admitted with a strangled laugh.
Frank's eyes, which had developed a bait of roving the room as though searching for an escape, had moved off of Joe's face and were now staring off into the distance somewhere over his left shoulder.
Joe wondered if Frank knew that Joe had witnessed the rape. He knew the mirror was one-sided, and since S.W.A.T. arrived before Joe had a chance to charge in it was possible that Frank had no idea.
Which added yet another problem to the growing list Joe found himself faced with, he was torn between saying something to his brother, though he wasn't sure what he could possibly say to make things better, and remaining silent and hoping Frank never found out.
But, if Frank did find out, and Joe wasn't the one to tell him, what would his brother think?
Joe wanted him to know that he didn't think any less of him, but somehow he didn't think Frank was ready to have his younger brother talk about what happened.
He also desperately wanted to tell his older brother about Vanessa's pregnancy, but he knew that it would be wrong to burden his brother, that didn't stop Joe from wishing that he could though.