A/N Hello, peoples. I'm sorry I didn't get an update for you on Sunday but my computer broke down, my uncle came over to fix it late Sunday night but then he had to reset everything so Word got erased. then he came over Monday night to do it but the time he got it fixed I had already gone to bed. And then on tuesday I spent all day studying for finals. I had AP World History, Health, and HNRS Geometry today and I am nervously waiting for my teachers to post my grades online. So, in the meanwhile I will post this chapter.

Thanks for all the reviews!!!

Disclaimer: An-Jelly-Ca owns nothing.

"Wh…" Joe paused and hiccupped. "What happened to you that night on the cliff?" He asked. Frank closed his eyes briefly and seemed to be thinking, when he opened his eyes again Joe could see that they were darker and filled with pain.

"I had been looking down at the ground toward you, and I was certain that those moments would be the last of my life when someone came up behind me and hacked through the ropes with a knife, I was pulled upward and…"

Flashback

A pair of strong arms pulled Frank roughly into a standing position and yanked him past the brush that had been directly behind him. "We only have a few seconds." The man murmured more to himself then Frank. Frank saw that behind the brush a pathway was carved into the mountain path. They made it maybe twenty feet down the path when the cliff face exploded into flames. Frank and his captor were thrown to the ground from the force of the explosion, a rock collided with his head and the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was the sound of agonized screams coming from the other side of the cliff. Joe. He knew it was Joe, and with that last thought his world went black.

End Flashback

"When I finally came to I was in some kind of compound, these people are terrorists Joe, more specifically they're the Assassins, for the last year they've held me captive. I've been forced to work for them, they're running a major scam, it's international and from what I can tell they're planning a major attack in the next few months. And…and…" Frank could feel his calm exterior beginning to crack. "I thought you were dead, I thought you'd been killed in the explosion that the cliff had collapsed or something and you had died, and every night I hear the sounds of you screaming…" And with that Frank broke down. Joe rubbed soothing circles on his older brother's back.

"I guess we're even then." The blond joked, and Frank managed a small smile.

"It sure seems that way. So, uh, how is everyone?" The brunette asked. Joe looked away quickly but not before Frank saw a myriad of emotions cross his face there was pain, and anger, and something else it looked like shame…but what did Joe have to be ashamed of?

"I don't really know." Joe finally admitted in a quiet voice. "You see I left."

"Left?" Frank questioned.

"Yeah, I picked up and left, it was the reception after your funeral and I got in a fight with Dad…"

Flashback

Joe walked into his Father's office without pausing to knock he needed to get away from everyone and his own room was to painful, he was constantly expecting Frank to walk in to it from the door connecting their rooms together via the bathroom. And besides that he hadn't seen his father since the funeral had ended and they'd barely spoken two words to each other since his Father had come to the hospital to pick him up. Joe's two words being, Frank's dead, and Fenton's response being, I know. His mother had told him to find his dad and try to get him to come downstairs. "Don't you know you should knock when entering my office?" Fenton asked in a gruff voice.

"Well…yeah…but…" Joe found himself unable to formulate a clear response to his father's question.

"But, what? You didn't think about it did you?"

"It's not like you were doing anything…" Joe said in a puzzled tone.

"It's not about your lack of manners, Joseph." Fenton snapped. Joe heaved a sigh at this; he was far too tired and far too depressed to deal with this right now.

"Then what's it about?" Joe asked drawing himself up to his full height.

"It's about you getting your brother fucking killed. You never think do you? And now because you acted without thinking yet again your brother is dead! If you hadn't been so careless Frank would be alive right now." Fenton answered pushing himself up from his desk chair and glaring down his nose at his youngest…no only son…

"It wasn't MY fault." Joe replied indignantly even as a small voice of doubt spoke up in the back of his head. Was it his fault? Could he have gotten Frank killed?

"Like hell it isn't! I told you not to go after these people, I told you not to, and you did it anyways and now Frank is dead, DEAD."

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Joe screamed and before Fenton realized what he was doing he had slapped his son across the face. He looked down at his own hand in horror. Joe felt tears stinging at the corners of his eyes and he turned and fled out of the office and down the hall to his bedroom where he grabbed the duffle-bag that was stuffed with essentials in case he had to leave on a case quickly. He also threw in a few mementos including a scrapbook of Frank and him throughout the years and fled down the stairs past his father's open study door. The blond hurriedly brushed past the guests that packed their house and out the door.

End Flashback

"And so I left."

"I'm sorry Joey." Frank said sadly. Joe smiled softly at the childhood nickname.

"It's not your fault, Frank."

"And it wasn't yours when I…disappeared." Frank replied stubbornly. Joe opened his mouth to protest but Frank silenced him with a glare. The two brothers lapsed into silence content to sit with their backs against the wall and revel in the fact that the other was in fact alive and well…okay maybe not exactly well per se…but unharmed for the most part.

A/N Review. Next chapter tommorow if my computer doesn't decided to explode or anything.