Thank you so much for the love you gave the last chapter. I hope you enjoy this one just as much!
Dr Miller knew how important it was to keep on good terms with the parents of his clients. Not only did he occasionally need to turn to them to ensure the young person was getting a united front from the adults in their life but it also helped him make sure concerns were being brought to his attention.
Of course, he knew it was a fine line to tread. A lot of the young people he talked to were suspicious of adults. Many had been mistreated or neglected. Others had found all the adults in their life had let them down too many times. He didn't want any of his clients to think he was against them.
That was why he made sure catching Laura outside his office was done casually. He put on an act of needing to go to the toilet just as Joe's session came to an end so he could speak to the blonde woman as he collected her son. Thankfully, Joe got on rather well with his receptionist. With his mother and Dr Miller talking, Joe made a beeline for the front desk and spoke happily with the woman sitting there.
"How is he doing?" Laura asked.
"Remarkably well."
Miller couldn't help but notice the relief on Laura's face as he said it.
"He had a bad experience at school recently," Laura said. "Has he mentioned it?"
She paused, shaking her head. She told Miller she knew he wasn't allowed to tell her what Joe talked about.
"I'm just worried he is going to decide he doesn't like or need school. Marsden made it very clear he didn't need exams or qualifications to get where he was and Joe's attendance at school in New York was… Patchy."
Miller nodded, admitting he had read the transcripts. All it was to him was proof that Joe's adaptability needed to be commended.
"Joe mentioned Fenton isn't home again. He's gone back to New York," Miller said.
He watched as Laura's eyes flicked onto Joe. She shifted awkwardly, turning back to the therapist.
"He has good intentions. He's trying to ensure no criminals come after Joe. He wants him safe. That's what Fenton lives for." Laura said. "But… it comes at a cost. All these moments… He's missing. Joe and Frank are close and I can't help but worry that Joe is starting to see Frank as more of a male role model than Fenton."
The doctor nodded. He glanced toward Joe, asking if Laura would consider her and Fenton coming in for a session. He could talk them through some similar cases to Joe's, discuss strategies they could employ to help them handle their complicated, unique family.
"Advice would certainly be appreciated. If you have any for right now…"
Laura trailed off. Miller understood. One of her sons had been kidnapped, was learning to live a life with people who loved him. The other had made himself the protector of his younger brother, was shouldering all the responsibilities of that. And her husband kept taking off, rushing to another city to solve mysteries rather than being present for his boys.
All of them were under a lot of strain and Laura was battling to keep her head above the water without either of her boys realising how difficult it was.
"Joe has community service on Saturday, doesn't he? He's picking up litter on the beach?"
Laura nodded.
"Do you have plans for while he is away?" Miller said.
"Chores?" Laura shrugged.
Miller shook his head. He told her to leave the chores.
"Do something fun with Frank. Let him feel like a teenage boy again. Let yourself let your hair down. Your boys are never going to learn to let the adults in their lives be the adults if you don't show them they can be teenagers. And maybe they will feel that they have the freedom to discuss their concerns with you and Mr Hardy if they felt like it wasn't their job to handle these things."
Frank watched as Joe tugged on his high-vis jacket and began making his way across the beach toward the others going community service. He watched Joe's body language, checking his brother was not nervous slotting himself into the group. The supervisor immediately welcomed Joe in, passing him a litter picker and a bin liner.
Then Frank turned to his side. He was sitting beside his mother. She tapped anxiously on the steering wheel.
"He'll be okay," Frank said. "They know what they're doing."
"You shouldn't be the one reassuring me," Laura said. "You take after your father that way. Both of you do. You always have to be the one to fix things."
Frank went to speak but Laura shook her head.
"I am not upset about it and I know part of it is probably my fault. You wouldn't feel like you had to shoulder so much responsibility if we hadn't relied on you a little too much when you were younger and we were still grieving for Joe. But I just want to remind you that you're not Joe's father. You're his older brother and only older by eleven months. Fifteen years old might seem very adult now but to me and your father you were still a babe in arms a year ago."
"Well, fourteen always seemed very young to me," Frank said.
It was only half a joke. He couldn't stop his eyes from wandering over to where his fourteen-year-old brother was beginning to comb the beach, picking up discarded litter.
"We're going to do something fun. Me and you. Mother-son time," Laura told Frank, seeing where his eyes had gone. "What do you want to do?"
Frank liked museums. He had always liked museums. It was like a hub for fascinating things and he believed every detective, at their core, simply wanted to understand the world. They wanted to be fascinated.
And there was a museum a few towns over that Frank had always loved. The Museum of Crime and Detection. He could remember going there with his father so Fenton could give talks or see exhibitions. More than once his father had been honoured there with various awards. Some of Frank's happiest childhood memories had taken place in that museum.
There was even a gallery in his father's honour, full of exhibitions about private detectives. Frank thought it was perhaps a little big-headed to go there but he adored the place, adored hearing about all the heroes his father had told him about.
He and Laura spent the day there, going from room to room, marvelling over the cleverness of detectives and criminals alike.
They stopped for lunch in the museum's café. They ordered sandwiches, talking about the bits of the museum they liked the most. Laura had been transfixed by the art forgeries they had and the clever ways in which they had been detected.
"Joe hasn't been here yet," Frank observed, taking a bite out of his sandwich. "He'd love it."
Laura wanted to agree but she stopped herself.
"Today isn't about Joe. I wanted time for us. Since that blood sample was found, it feels like everything has been about Joe and I don't want you to ever feel like you aren't as worthy as him of love and attention."
"I know," Frank said. "I know I'm loved. And I know this is… A complicated time. We need Joe to feel like he has a home here and that means some sacrifices. Way I see it, Chet had to make sacrifices for Iola gradually over ten years. I now have to make them all at once for Joe."
"But there are lines. Like I said you aren't Joe's father," Laura told him. "It's one thing to keep an eye on him at school. It's another thing to go running off after him into woods when he abandons classes. You have your own education to think of."
Frank scowled at her, asking who else was meant to have gone after Joe.
"Watkins? I'd rather be arrested than let him have any time alone with Joe again. And Dad? You think Joe would react well to Dad chasing him down through a forest? If I didn't do all these things, Joe probably would have run away by now. It's not like Dad is even here. I know he's lying about why he goes to New York. I think I know what he's really going there for. But the best thing he could do for Joe or me is be here!"
Frank pushed his half-eaten sandwich away from him and hurried out of the café, leaving Laura staring after him.
It was not hard for Laura to find Frank. He was sitting in the Hardy Gallery, staring up at an information board about his father. Laura could remember Fenton's reaction when he had first seen the board. He had told her that it wasn't really him. It was information about his public achievements, about all the crimes he had solved. It didn't talk about the amazing son he was raising, didn't mention the son he had lost. It didn't talk about how his happiest moments were the ones he spent with his family.
It was the hero version of Fenton Hardy, it was him as a bogeyman to all criminals, warning them to stay on the straight and narrow. Laura had married Fenton knowing what she was getting into. Frank and Joe had been born into the life, Joe thrown into it a second time only recently.
Laura slid across the bench until she was sitting next to her son.
"Do you want me to have a word with your father?" Laura said. "I'll tell him there is nothing in New York more important than what he has here."
"He's doing something important. He is always doing something important," Frank told her. "I can't ask him to come back."
Laura paused. She pursed her lips. Then she smiled brightly at her son.
"Would you be okay with asking him to stay?" she said.
Frank raised an eyebrow, asking what she meant. Laura looped an arm around her son and pulled him in close.
"After he's done with whatever is going on in New York, when he comes home, ask him to stay. Say it's your turn to go off on some exciting adventure."
Frank turned to his mother.
"It's a plan. After everything is sorted, we'll have a go at being a normal family."
I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry it was so short but I felt like there needed to be a Frank centric chapter. Please consider leaving a review.