Author's Note: Well, I admit, fully, that this was a pain to get out. I was a little at war with myself over the way the last bit had gone, and not sure I liked how I'd resolved it (and still mentally kicking myself for letting Joe get shot.)

Still, I think it was the only way to go in the end. The very convoluted end that was not supposed to be like this. *sigh*

Tunnels and Possibilities

"I think I found something."

Joe's words startled Bess and George, maybe even waking them. He wasn't sure if they'd drifted off over in those chairs or not. He'd lost track of time himself, aware vaguely that Phil had left, that some of the other guys had come and gone in the meantime as well, and even his parents and aunt. He'd spoken to them, some, but it was mostly a blur. He could blame that on the drugs he'd gotten, since he was still on a very nice dose of morphine. He knew it didn't help that he had the blueprints. He couldn't take his eyes off of them.

He had to find something, anything, that would tell him where Frank was. He knew he couldn't really rest yet, not before he knew what happened to Frank, and that meant that he would go over these blueprints until he had them memorized. He wouldn't be allowed to leave the hospital for at least another day, and even if he was, he could barely move now, so he had to wait.

He'd search through that rubble piece by piece with his bare hands if he had to. He would find Frank. Joe knew he would, and he'd do it alone if he had to.

"Found something?" George asked, sitting up and rubbing at her back. Bess sat there, blinking like she needed another minute to fully wake. "What are you talking about?"

"The blueprints," Joe reminded her, and she grimaced as she nodded and moved closer to the bed. "I have been looking at them all, and I think I finally have something."

"Phil should never have given them to you," Bess said, shaking her head. "Letting you obsess over them like this..."

"I needed them. Don't think that you wouldn't have done the same thing if you had something to do. You... I'm not sure why you're not already on a plane if you've given up like you seem to have done," Joe told her, shaking his head as he did.

"That's uncalled for," George told him. "Just because we're not doing something crazy like searching the rubble with our bare hands doesn't mean we gave up. We didn't give up on you, for one thing. That's why we're here. Besides which—the site is still off limits and unstable, and while your father is trying to get someone who can do surveys in to—"

"What?"

Bess ran her fingers through her hair. "I guess you didn't really pay any attention when he was here last, did you? Your father wanted to get some kind of expert in. He wanted to see about photographing the site and having some kind of analysis done of it. You can ask him for the technical details later."

"I think he wanted to try and get a search done with technology since the actual site itself is still off-limits," George said. She ran her hands over her arms. "He said he knew you weren't ready to stop looking, but this might be all we can manage for now."

Joe looked down at the tablet. "Dad said Frank was dead and he couldn't lose me, too. I thought... I thought he'd accepted it. That... that he was convinced that Frank and Nancy were dead."

Bess sighed. "I don't know. It's hard to believe that anyone could have survived that."

"Maybe, but it's Zollner. He had to have some way out. We know he got himself caught on purpose before. He was planning on it. He had to have some kind of way out—and the explosions—that's not something any of us did. He did that. Which means that he had to have had a way out."

"Did he?" George asked, shivering again. "For all we know, he did it just to spite us. He wouldn't let Frank or Nancy go free. He took them with him, one last act of defiance. He committed suicide and made sure they died with him."

Joe shook his head. "No. I don't think so. Vallin shot me and took Nancy with him. I don't think he would have left me if this was just about a last act of defiance. He would have killed us all. He meant to escape. I'm sure of that."

"Joe—"

"Look at this," Joe said, holding up the tablet. "This area, here. I know there's something wrong about it. I've been going over and over the plans since I got them, and I don't know what this means, not for sure. I just think it has to be a part of Zollner's way out. I know he had one, George. Bess, I know he had an escape plan, and I think this part of the building has something to do with it. This is where we have to search. I know it."

"Did you really manage to get someone with access to a satellite to do an aerial surveillance? Do you have that kind of reach?" Bess asked, looking at Fenton. She'd never worked all that closely with Joe's father, so she wasn't sure what all to expect. She knew that the boys got their skills from their father, following in his footsteps, and that he had a reputation as a detective, one that was solid enough to make it possible for him to create his own agency, but just how good was he and how many people did he know? Or was it someone that Joe knew that made this possible? They had worked for some secret government agency, hadn't they?

"There are people who have a vested interest in making sure that Zollner and his brothers were stopped for good that have nothing to do with us," Fenton said, and Bess frowned. She supposed that was as much of an answer as she should expect, since no one was going to admit to using classified sources or equipment in front of her. She still didn't even know which agency Joe worked for, but he did have a badge. She knew that much.

"And they found something under all this? Like Joe suspected?"

Fenton nodded, giving a look back at his son. Joe would be up and pacing now if he was capable of it, even despite their agreement that he would stay still until some of the rubble was clear. He must be feeling bad again—or just feeling his drugs again.

"It looks like there may be a tunnel system underneath the building. We don't know for certain just yet, nor do we know where it might lead. It's difficult to be sure. It's not close to the door where Vallin confronted Joe and took Nancy," Fenton said, and George looked over at him, not having missed his meaning.

"So... even if there are tunnels underneath, there may not be any reason to think that Frank or Nancy would have been in there before the explosion," George said. She shook her head. "I know that Joe is convinced that Frank and Nancy are alive, but I'm not sure that's something he should be hoping for at this point."

Fenton nodded. "I don't want to discourage him, but I admit, I have more doubts than hope. After as long as Frank was missing, after what happened here and seeing Vallin shoot Joe... I don't know that I can believe either of them is alive. Still, I know none of us can go on in the limbo of never knowing."

Bess bit her lip. "There is still a chance, isn't there?"

"They haven't found any bodies yet," George reminded her. "That is some hope."

Bess turned back to the building. She wanted to hope, but she wasn't sure she could. She would just have to wait and see what they uncovered.

Joe knew they thought he was crazy. Stubborn and stupid, but he had to do it. He had to go down into the tunnels. He had to be in the front of the group. If Frank was down here, Joe had to be the one to find his brother. He knew that.

He didn't know how long he would be able to keep moving, keep himself on his feet, but he didn't care. He had to be there when they knew—when they found Frank. Even if it was a body—no, Joe refused to believe it would be a body; Frank was alive—Joe would be there.

"You are pushing yourself too much," his father said, coming over to Joe's side. "At least stop walking on your own. I think you need to rest."

"Dad, please. If Frank is down here—"

"Then he can wait a few minutes more for you to catch your breath," Fenton insisted. "You are not the only one who wants to find Frank. Or Nancy. Still, you have to acknowledge some limits to what you can do. I know you don't want to, but you shouldn't even be out of the hospital, so at least indulge me just a little and rest."

"What if Frank doesn't have five minutes?"

Fenton sighed. "If he doesn't, he's already lost to us."

Joe shook his head. He didn't believe that. He couldn't. They had been so close when he'd run into Nancy, and if he hadn't been so stupid about it, maybe he could have found his brother then. They could have been reunited already. Maybe Joe wouldn't have gotten shot. Nancy wouldn't have been taken. They'd be free. Zollner might be rotting in jail again, with Vallin, as they all deserved.

Though... if Zollner died in the explosion, Joe wouldn't have objected to it. Death might even be better, though Joe would have preferred it if those bastards suffered a lot more before they went. They'd gotten off easy after all they had done to Frank and to their friends.

"Here. Come along with me. We'll just go a bit further and then rest again. Don't argue. We are not risking you any more than that. Your aunt would kill me if she knew I'd allowed you down here. I know you're an adult now, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't stop you. You've been through so much, and we don't know how stable this tunnel is or what we're going to find."

"We need to know," Joe reminded his father. "The worst part of having Frank disappear was wondering what was happening to him, how badly he was hurt, if he might be dead..."

Fenton nodded. "Yes, but you can't expect to explore an entire tunnel system in one day. Not in your condition."

Joe grunted. He was sick of hearing about his condition. He wasn't that weak. He was tired and sore, and the drugs were starting to wear off, so he didn't know that he could keep going for all that much longer. He had to find Frank while he was still able to move. To stand.

"Maybe if we called out to him... If he's alive, he would hear us, wouldn't he?"

Fenton gave him a slight smile. "Maybe. Save your strength, though. You're still going to have to make the trip back the way we came. Maybe the others had better luck down their paths. We may have picked the wrong one."

"I looked at the map, at the plans," Joe said. "I must have memorized them. I am sure this is the one that goes toward that door, the one where I found Nancy and ended up shot. I think that I picked the only tunnel that could get there, and we know that if Nancy, at the very least, was in the tunnels, she'd have to be near that door. There wasn't time for much else. Zollner wanted us to believe that she and Frank and everyone died in that explosion because it happened right after I got shot."

"Yes, but—"

"I think I heard something," Joe said, pushing away from his father and ignoring the pain as he ran toward the source of it. He didn't care how much it hurt. He had to know what that was, and he had to find his brother.

He turned a corner and stopped, leaning against the wall, needing it for support. "Frank."