It was one of the longest nights Joe could ever remember. The silence was eerie, neither him nor Tony had spoken since finishing the forms. Joe had skipped the last section on purpose, refusing to fill them out until they heard more.

Sometime during that hour Riley had arrived, sitting down next to them. "How's Nancy?" Tony asked softly when he did.

"Exhausted," Riley had replied. "She was in shock, has a minor concussion, bruising, but they said she should be able to go home by tomorrow afternoon. Any word on Frank?"

Joe shook his head, "Nothing, nothing at all."

As if on cue, the next they knew the nurse was greeting them again. "Mr. Hardy is out of surgery now, he's resting, but I don't see why you can't visit him. He's pretty drugged, so he more than likely won't understand much."

Riley nodded, "Injuries? We need to take them down; this is still an open crime investigation."

The nurse nodded, "I'll get you the report, but just a quick overview; Concussion, gunshot wounds to the abdomen and right arm, bruising of the rib cage and collar bone, mainly on the left side, a couple cracked ribs, some internal bruising, stitching to the cheekbone; he turned his ankle pretty good, we thought it was broken by the way it looked, but all bones look intact, we'll know better when the swelling goes down…other than that just various bruising and lacerations. It's going to take a while for him to recover; he's going to be pretty sore for some time. That's only physically though."

Riley nodded, sucking in a deep breath. As long as the pair could pull through physically, he had confidence that emotionally and mentally they would be okay. At least that's what he had convinced himself.

The young nurse smiled, indicating to the door. As the three stood and made their way towards the room, a strange feeling came over Riley. Suddenly he didn't want to go in that room. He wanted to see Frank, make sure the young man was okay, but he wasn't able to even make a move towards the open door.

"Um, you go on ahead, I've got to get back to the lab and help George," he told Joe and Tony quickly. "If anything happens, you know how to reach me."

He left shortly after, giving the two little time to react. Riley had waited all night as they had, and now he was leaving, just like that. Tony patted Joe on the shoulder.

"Come on man; let's go see how he's doing."

Joe nodded, following him inside. The doctor was finishing a few things, but nodded to them as they walked by. Both of them had taken in account what the nurse had said, had prepared for the worse, but seeing Frank there, in his condition, was still unnerving.

Frank had his eyes open, though barely, watching them. He managed to smile some, but it was clear he was in pain. The medication hadn't started to work quite yet, and the drugs left over from surgery were starting to wear off.

"So," Joe finally broke the silence, taking a seat next to the bed. "What's all this about being late? I missed my game you know." He told him, trying to lighten the mood.

Frank laughed some, wincing as he did so, "Doesn't matter," he whispered, "your team sucks anyways."

Joe laughed too, starting to deny it, but decided to let it go. "You gave us quite a scare," he told him instead.

"Yeah?" Frank asked, "gave myself quite a scare too…Nancy?"

"She's doing okay," Tony told him, smiling sadly. "They say she can be out by tomorrow."

"What about me? When do I…get to break out of this joint?"

"Not for a while," Joe answered, watching as Frank closed his eyes, nodding in response.

"You get some rest," Tony intervened, "We'll come see you when you feel better."

Frank barely nodded as they stood. They had waited all night to see him, and had spent less than a minute talking with him. Joe was still worried, despite what the doctors had said. On their way out, they stopped by to check in on Nancy; she too was asleep.

She looked far better than Frank did, but it was still hard for the two to see her like that. She had an IV hooked up to her, in the same fashion as Frank; the two had been slightly dehydrated after being brought in.

Tony fumbled for his pager as it went off, showing it to Joe as well. Visiting time was over; they needed to get back to the lab.

***

As said, Nancy was released the next day from the hospital. Not wanting to be alone, she stayed with George until she felt well enough to return to her own place. Strict doctor's orders kept her from work for a week, in that time she spent most of it visiting Frank.

They had kept him in the hospital for two weeks, before relinquishing him. Frank had been glad to get out, but like Nancy, had been banned from the station for at least a week. He was still on strong medication for the pain as he slowly healed from all the bruising he had received.

Still, the two showed up at the station often, spending most of the time in the break room, talking quietly. Whenever anyone else came in the room, they stopped their conversation, smiling softly, waiting until the other person had left. No one knew quite what they talked about, but it wasn't hard to guess.

George, Joe and Tony continued to work on the investigation searching for the two suspects that had taken them hostage, and were outraged when they were unable to find any leads. The two, they assumed had fled on foot, were found no where, until it was finally concluded that they perished in the mountains somewhere. They sent a recovery team to search the area for weeks afterwards, but finally, due to budget costs, had to call it off.

Con Riley took charge of the crime scene itself, slowly piecing together the story that happened. He had been able to follow the blood trail that Frank had left behind, shaking his head in wonder at what he had done. The cliff Frank had fallen down was nearly fifty feet high; how anyone in Frank's condition could have survived that was beyond him. What was even more incredible was that after he had fallen, the young man had picked himself up, and staggered near ten miles to the old gas station. Sometimes luck ran with you, he thought, for the old building was scheduled to be torn down in only a few months. After that, the next sign of any town was over thirty miles away…a distance that Riley was sure that Frank wouldn't have been able to make.

At any rate, there had been a noticeable change in both Nancy and Frank, something that wasn't uncommon for what they had gone through. Still neither one would talk about what had happened, and would pretend that nothing was wrong.

When the pair came back to work, Riley had confined them to the lab; not wanting them back out in field, still worried about their emotional state. They worked with little complaint, at first anyways, but it was clear that their tempers were rising after only a few weeks. It was a short time after this that Riley called them into his office.

"I talked to your doctors," he told them, studying their expressions as he talked. "They recommended therapeutic help."

"We're not crazy," Frank told him, resting his head against his hand.

"I didn't say you were," Riley cut him off, "Neither did they. Therapy is not uncommon in your state. You'll probably hate me more for saying this, but I think it will help, for both of you. After what you went through, to experience no emotional or mental effects is quite rare."

Nancy hadn't said anything, just sat in the chair, her arms folded; she wasn't even looking at him.

"They recommended a real good doctor, if you two go see him, you would be able to get out in the field sooner."

"Okay," Nancy finally piped up. "We'll go see him."

Frank turned to her, incredulous, "What? Don't I get a say in this too?"

"No," Nancy said flatly, "We'll go," she glanced at him, a silent look passing between them, something Riley didn't understand. He had heard rumors that the pair had been spending more time together, but wasn't sure if it was true.

"Fine, we'll go then. When?"

"As soon as you want," Riley handed him the number. Riley watched the pair as they left the office. He shook his head to himself, wondering if the Nancy and Frank he knew would ever come back.

"They will," he told himself, "They made it this far, they'll make it all the way."

The End

A/N: Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews! I appreciated them all! See y'all in the sequel!

-SI