A/N I am so, so, so, sorry everyone. I've been swamped with school and homework, and debate. (I went to STATE! YAY!) roflmao. Anyway, I am on spring break now and I shall try to give you an update every day this week. K? Forgive me, for the wait. This chapter is brought to you by the spare time I have as I wait for my Dad to pick me up.

Thanks to all reviewers!

Disclaimer: I own nada!

Laura Hardy was a shadow of the woman she had once been. Her hair which she had once kept well maintained was now streaked with gray. Dark shadows permanently decorated her face, and wrinkles were beginning to make themselves known.

Her sons had been her entire life. Laura had doted upon them, allowed them to do as they pleased, trusting that they would be fine. She had faith in their seemingly endless stores of good luck and never for one moment thought that one of them could die.

She had been a vibrant woman once upon a time…bright, full of life; not anymore. Not now that her family was in shambles. Her husband was hardly ever home any longer, her sister-in-law had fallen ill and appeared to be steadily weakening, her youngest son had run away and her eldest was…gone. She still couldn't bring herself to even think the word dead in relation to Frank. Even though she knew that he was.

Laura Hardy's family had fallen apart right in front of her eyes and she hadn't seen it coming; hadn't saved them. And now it was too late, too late for them, and far too late for her. With one last sigh she dragged herself out of the chair she had been sitting in and headed for the staircase. She walked down the upstairs hallway determinedly ignoring the closed doors of her sons' rooms. She finally came to a halt outside the third door in the hallway. Laura opened the door softly so as not to disturb the sole occupant of the room.

The woman on the bed was sleeping; fitfully, but at least she was getting some rest. The older woman had aged heavily in the last year, and Laura was beginning to grow worried for the other woman's health. She had been acting as a form of nurse for her sister-in-law in the recent months. It had kept her mind off her grief and made her feel somewhat useful. Gertrude had fallen sick with pneumonia a month and a half ago and was still not recovered. A dry cough remained as a constant reminder of the ill-health that plagued her.

Laura quietly padded out of the room shutting the door gently behind her. The blonde woman paused for a moment outside the door to collect her thoughts before striding purposefully down the hall determined not to stop in her sons' rooms. So far, she hadn't entered either room since the morning Frank died to tell him that breakfast was ready. She had been in too much pain since then to give any consideration to entering their rooms.

She knew Fenton hadn't been in their rooms either as he seemed determined to pretend as though their sons had never existed. She knew that he still thought about them, however. She would seem him freeze occasionally when something reminded him of one of their sons. He let himself remember for only the briefest of moments but it was long enough to allow Laura to see the raw anguish and pain that crossed his face.

She wondered once more why Joe had run away. Fenton had claimed ignorance on the topic but she had seen a strange mix of emotions cross his face when she asked. Chief among them had been guilt, but why would Fenton feel guilty about Joe leaving?

Laura sighed once more and stared at the plain wooden door will herself to walk away from it. She had never entered their rooms, not even to pack up their stuff. She was terrified to do so, thinking that it would be the first step toward forgetting her children. She knew that could never really happen but it didn't stop the fear that consumed her. And, deep down she still held out hope that Frank was alive and that Joe would come home. She imagined countless times the two of them coming through the front door side by side. Unharmed, talking about how Frank had been kidnapped…again. What she wouldn't give for him to be kidnapped. At least he would be alive then. Swallowing hard Laura gathered her courage and grasped the bronze doorknob with damp palms, the door swung open with a slight squeak due to disuse.

Frank's room looked much as it always had, his bed was pristinely made, his books piled neatly on his desk, and a basked of folded clothes lay on the floor near his dresser; he hadn't had time to put them away, before he…left.

Laura lightly ran her fingertips over various knick-knacks which lined the shelves of his room. Among these were pictures of him with his friends and his brother. She chocked back a sob as her eyes took in a picture of her two sons. It was one of her favorites. She had taken it shortly after they solved their first case, they were both grinning broadly, Joe had on the reckless smile that had always meant he was planning something that would doubtless get him into trouble; in contrast Frank was sailing cautiously, clearly watching his brother in his peripheral vision. He had been right to worry about what his brother was doing considering that moments later Joe had procured a water balloon from behind his back and popped it directly over his brother's head. Frank had scowled heavily and promised he would get revenge.

Laura sank heavily onto her son's bed, her legs could no longer support her weight, as tears welled up in her eyes she couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her family. What had they done wrong that warranted this punishment? Laura glanced around the room one final time before getting up and exiting the room. She paused for a few moments in the hallway and decided that she couldn't handle entering Joe's room at the moment. She promised herself that she would gather up her courage and enter his room soon, but she knew she couldn't do it now.

On quiet afternoons like this Laura really missed her children…

A/N Review, please. I will update tomorrow as I am on spring break.

And to all my Christian readers, Happy Easter.