A/N Hello, everyone, sorry for the lateness of this update, I haven't been in much of an updating mood. :P
Thanks to all Reviewers!
Dedication: To Cheryl for her lovely review. :)
Disclaimer: I own nada. ;)
No one could bleed that much and survive, Joe thought as he looked at his brother's pale face, which appeared to be competing with the bed-sheets in their quest to achieve the greatest pallor. He held his brother's hand tightly, (the only part of him that didn't seem to be injured), and wondered what he would do if Frank didn't survive this.
His heart had stopped twice on the operating table, and the doctors had professed amazement that he had made it through the surgery.
Frank had made it through only to be placed in the intensive care unit subject to frequent monitoring and severe restrictions. He was only allowed to have one visitor at a time; Joe had been allowed to go first without protest.
And, now that he found himself seated in the uncomfortable wooden chair staring at his ominously still brother, Joe almost preferred not to have gone first. Almost. Not really though, Joe knew that he would be insane with worry if he had not gotten to see Frank as soon as possible.
He wondered if there was truth to the adage that unconscious people could sometimes hear their family members if they spoke to them. Joe decided it was worth looking silly if it would help his brother.
"Hey, Frank." He cleared his throat as he began. "I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I'll keep talking anyway, for that matter, when have you ever known me to be quiet anyway?" Joe paused here expecting his brother to laugh or make a sarcastic remark as he would have if he were awake…if he weren't battling death. "You can't die, Frank, you saw what a mess I am, I can honestly say that without you our entire family pretty much caves in. I've already lost you once, I can't lose you again." Joe whispered into the silent room. "Not again."
-Story Break-
"Hello, son." Fenton Hardy began gruffly. "I want you to know that I'm sorry, sorry I thought you were dead, sorry for how I treated your brother."
He inhaled shakily.
"It's been hard without you, our family can't go on without all its members, so don't go leaving us now, Frank, I won't stand for it." He continued sternly. "Don't die on us."
Unnoticed a single tear slid down his face.
"I called your mother, she's on her way here, she should be here in a few hours." He added. "Your aunt has been sick recently…you didn't need to know that, I'm not that good at this, am I?" He mumbled under his breath. "You can't check out of this life, Frank, I know that you can fight this, I know that you can come back to us, you can be just as stubborn as the rest of us when you want to be, so prove it now and live."
-Story Break-
"Hi, Frank." Callie greeted the silent figure with a watery smile. As she took in his battered form a sob broke forth and she swiped fiercely at the tears that slid down her face. "You don't need to be the hero all the time you know." She said angrily.
"I can't be the reason you die." She whispered quietly visibly deflating. "Don't ask me to be, I can't handle it, Frank." She closed her eyes tightly. "I can't do it." She repeated.
He remained silent, eerily still; she would have thought him to be dead if not for the steady beep of the monitors attached to him.
"I still love you, Frank Hardy." She murmured. "I fucking love you, and you are not allowed to check out, so wake up, be okay." She pleaded.
If Frank had been awake he would have laughed, laughed at how stubborn and determined she was, how certain that she could cure him on sheer will power. He had always secretly loved that about her.
"Come back to me."
-Story Break-
"It's been awhile," Tony noted as he gazed at the silent form of his friend. "I could never quite bring myself to believe it when they told me you were dead, I thought 'no way could Frank Hardy let himself be killed like that, no way in hell.' You couldn't die then, and you can't do it now either, Frank." The Italian continued earnestly.
"Don't make me wrong," Tony requested. "I know that you can fight this, a stab wound should be nothing for you; you can come back from this, come back from this and return home, I know you can. You just have to want to. Do it for us, for your friends and your family, we can't be without you, Frank. When one of us is gone, the rest of us go with them."
"Fight this, Frank."
-Story Break-
"I've never been good at this," Vanessa noted. "I've never really known what to say in a situation like this, what do you say?" She asked the silent figure.
"Do I tell you to come back to us? Do I tell you that without you our lives are a hell of a lot less full?" She continued. "Because, all of those things are true, every single one, but I know that you have to want to come back to us, Frank, you have to fight for it, and I hope you will."
"You have to choose to live."
-Story Break-
"I know what it's like to lose a sibling," Chet stated into the silent room. "It's not fun, Frank, it feels like you've been socked in the gut, like your world has been turned upside down, because suddenly the person who has been there your entire life is suddenly gone, the person you knew as well if not better than yourself is no longer there to listen. Joe lost you once; don't make him lose you again." He continued.
"I would give anything to have a second chance with Iola. Anything. You have a chance to come back, Frank, take it." Chet exclaimed. "And, besides that, you have always been like a brother to me, and I don't want to lose you either."
"Don't let us lose you."
-Story Break-
Biff preferred leaning against the wall to sitting in the rickety looking wooden chair. He stared down at his friend from his vantage point. "I remember how we used to joke all the time about the number of scrapes you and Joe got into, how no matter what you seemed to get out alive. We always said that you guys seemed to have the devil's own luck." Biff recalled.
"And yet here we are," He mused. "I never thought I would see this day, Frank, and I never wanted to. I've known you for most of our lives, and I know that you can get out of this, I know you can." Biff said firmly.
"Just roll the dice one more time, I know you'll win."
-Story Break-
"You were my first friend when my family moved to Bayport." Phil informed the silent figure. "When we came here I thought I would never meet anyone who would want to be my friend, I was so sure of it, but then you came along and suddenly I had a whole set of new friends."
Phil paused as though expecting Frank to answer him. He didn't. "I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I'll keep talking anyway. We need you, Frank, and you need to live, you don't want to die like this; I know you don't. So don't die like this. Like most things, living is a decision."
"Decide to live."
A/N Review! Update next Tuesday!