Chapter 5

Frank Harper smiled gently at the sight greeting his eyes. The nurse on duty had given him the good news as he had passed her station on the way to McCormick's room. Mostly he was relieved for Hardcastle, but he'd been a tiny bit surprised to discover just how truly worried he had been about McCormick in the last few days. He hadn't fully realized that the young man had actually managed to work his way into his heart, too.

Still, he was gratified that Hardcastle wasn't going to lose his young friend. Unexpectedly, the curly headed, always grinning, wise mouth ex-con had turned out to be a very good thing for the judge, and Harper wanted him to stay around a long, long time.

The detective moved quietly to sit in the empty chair, but Hardcastle still wasn't sleeping deeply, and he sat up immediately. "Frank," Hardcastle welcomed with a grin, "did you hear?"

"Yeah," Harper returned the grin. "They told me. It's great news, Milt, really. Lots of people are going to be very relieved."

Hardcastle nodded. "The kid never really thinks that, you know. Sees his past a lot." A shadow of guilt flickered across the tired features. "I'm sure I don't help that much sometimes."

Harper scoffed at the comment. "He would've been stuck with his past if not for you, Milt. You gave him a future."

"Nah. Just gave him a chance. He's doing all the work."

"That's a chance he wouldn't have gotten from too many people, you know." Harper paused. "And the kid knows it, too. I've already told you he won't blame you for any of this."

"No, he probably won't," Hardcastle admitted wearily. "But that doesn't make it any less my fault."

Harper shook his head; he obviously was never going to win this argument. He tried another. "You know what? Now that Mark's been awake, why don't you go on home for a while? I'll be glad to stay here with him until you get back."

But Hardcastle wasn't budging on that topic, either. "Not yet, Frank, but I appreciate the offer. Maybe I'll take you up on it tomorrow."

"Milt, he's been awake. The nurse said it looks like he'll be fine eventually. Go home and get yourself some rest."

"You didn't see him, Frank," Hardcastle said quietly. "He was so scared. Oh, he was trying to put on a good show—he does that a lot, you know—but he was scared. He doesn't really know what's going on. The doctors tried talking to him a little bit, but he wasn't making a lot of sense. He kept talking about marshmallows. Anyway, he was only awake for about ten minutes, then drifted off again. The doctors say it's a more natural sleep this time, whatever that means, but I want to be here when he wakes up for real. I'm not even sure he knows he's in a hospital, much less if he has any idea why he's here."

"Just promise me that after he does wake up for real you'll go home right away and get some sleep," Harper bargained. "And for right now, why don't you close your eyes again and try to nap. I'll be right here if anything changes."

Hardcastle smiled gratefully. "It's a deal. I guess I am a little beat." He cast a quick glance over at McCormick to make sure the young man was still sleeping peacefully, then leaned his head against the chair back and drifted immediately to sleep.

As Harper looked at the two sleeping men, Hardcastle's hand shamelessly covering McCormick's, the detective said a silent prayer for life, for friendship, and for second chances all around.