"I came as soon as you called," the grin died from Callie Shaw's lips as a weeping Vanessa greeted her. "Oh my God! Van, what's…"

"Callie," the younger girl sobbed as her friend stepped in and embraced her. "It's Joe. He…Laura told me he tried…he hurt himself, Cal…"

Callie jumped, horror racing her heart. No, not that, anything but that, not him too, the Hardy's couldn't possibly survive another death none of us could…

"He's not…"

"He's alive," Vanessa murmured, her face buried on Callie's shoulder, wetting her jacket. "But Laura said it was close. Really close." She stepped away and looked at the older girl. "No one's been able to reach him, Cal. He won't talk to me, won't even come to the phone."

"I know," Callie sighed. "I've tried a few times. So has Chet and Phil and Tony and Biff…" she trailed off, suddenly, fiercely missing her dead boyfriend.  

Damn it Frank! You should have written an instruction book on how to deal with your crazy younger brother! How did you get him to listen?

"We have to try again," Vanessa whispered, sinking down at her kitchen table. "I always knew he should have come to school with us…we should have made him come with us, instead of going off on his own…"

"We had to give him space," Callie murmured, pulling a chair beside her friend. "We all needed some."

Vanessa turned, suddenly feeling guilty; as hard as this was for her, she was lucky enough to have the boy she cared about so much still be living.

"I'm sorry to spring this on you, Cal. You barely even got in the door and I'm dumping my problems on you."

Callie smiled. "Don't worry about it. That's what friends are for, right? Just like the song. Besides," she sighed and looked away, "how many times did I call you after…Frank."

Vanessa swallowed and turned to look at the table.

You would be so disappointed in us, wouldn't you Frank? We abandoned Joe. Callie won't date, I won't date, Tony and Biff and Chet became distant once we all got to school. You would have rallied us, made us pull together and go on. And you certainly wouldn't have let your brother push himself to insanity.

"We need to do something," Callie said, as if she'd read her friend's thoughts. The girls looked at each other, knowing that somehow they had to try and set things right.

"What? He won't talk to us," Vanessa sighed.

            "Then we make him." Callie rose and went to her friend's phone.

            "He won't answer you."

            "I'm not calling him." She pressed the numbers she knew by heart. "I'm calling the guys. They're gonna help." She gave Vanessa a reassuring smile. "We'll make that thick-headed brat come to his senses."

            Vanessa forced a smile back, blinking the tears away. We have to. For Frank's sake.

            For all our sakes.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews!