A/N Hello, everyone! Huge apologies for the lateness of this update but things have been crazy and I have been slightly stuck. I am back now though. :)

Thanks to all Reviewers!

Dedication: To Cheryl for her lovely review.

Disclaimer: I own nada. ;)

I bear a little more than I can bear. ~Elinor Hoyt Wylie

"Where is he?" Laura Hardy demanded upon strolling through the E.R. doors accompanied by Gertrude Hardy. Both women looked rather the worse for wear between Gertrude having been sick and both having been frantic with worry over Frank and Joe.

"I didn't think you were going to come with, Gertrude." Fenton said in an attempt to delicately express his concern for his sister's health.

"I'm not on my deathbed yet, Fenton." Gertrude replied some of her old bite returning to her voice and demeanor for the first time in the past year. Fenton found himself actually pleased by the return of his sister's unyielding attitude, something he never thought he would actually miss were it to disappear.

"I wasn't implying that you were." Fenton hastened to assure his older sister. "I was only-"

"Where is Frank?" Laura repeated interrupting her husband's attempts to explain himself to his sister in favor of seeing her son as soon as possible.

"Right, sorry." Fenton said hastening to explain Frank's location to his wife. Laura nodded in response and disappeared in the direction of the ICU to find her son.

Laura hovered outside the door to Frank's room preparing herself for what she might see inside. She pushed lightly on the door which was already partially opened.

Her eyes focused on the two figures in the room, the blond asleep in a chair, the brunet was still, so still that he would have appeared dead if not for the slight rise and fall of his chest. She felt as if she were in a dream, as though if she reached out to touch them they would disappear, completely and irrevocably gone from her life.

A mother should never have to outlive her children.

She quietly made her way into the room, closing the door gently behind her. Neither figure stirred. Laura approached the chair first, and rested her hand lightly on her youngest son's cheek. His disappearance so soon after his brother's apparent death had almost been more than she could bear.

Joe shifted slightly in his sleep but didn't wake up. Laura made her way over to the bed and reached down to grip Frank's hand tightly in her own. "I always worried about you two off trying to save the world, but I never thought for a moment that you would actually die. I never tried to stop you from going off to fight the bad guys, but sometimes I wonder if I should have. I never did, because I thought doing so would take away a fundamental part of who you are, who Joe is. I can't lose you though, Frank, I just got you back, and I'm not willing to give you up again. I know that in some part of you can hear me, and I want you to know that when you are ready to wake up I will be here waiting for you, we all will."

Frank's hand tightened ever so slightly around his mother's. Laura would have thought it to be wishful thinking if the monitor showing his heart rate had not increased it's beeping as he did so. Her eyes focused intensely on his face willing him to open his eyes and come back to her. His eyes remained closed, his face still. It seemed that he was not ready to rejoin their company yet.

But Joe was.

"Mom?" Joe called uncertainly getting up out of the chair.

"Joe," Laura breathed, crossing the few feet that separated them and pulling her youngest child into a hug. "I've missed you, sweetie." She murmured hugging him tightly.

"I've missed you, too." Joe's breath caught in his chest and a strangled sound that might have been a sob tore from his throat.

"Shh," Laura whispered. "We will be okay, your brother will be okay, everything will be fine." She promised firmly.

She found that consoling Joe was the first real comfort she had experienced in the past year.

"I can't lose him." Joe whispered to his mother. "He's my best friend."

"You won't." Laura swore, something inside her told her that her son would survive this, she knew her children, knew ever stubborn bone in their bodies, and she knew that Frank would not give up so easily.

"Thanks, mom." Joe said quietly pulling back.

"Anytime." Laura replied warmly. "I've missed having children to take care of." She admitted.

"I'm sorry." Joe muttered looking away.

"Don't be." His mother replied with a frown. "None of this was your fault, so don't go thinking it was."

"I didn't stop Frank from going onto the cliff, he was upset and I knew better. And after that I ran away. It is my fault." Joe insisted.

"Look at me," Laura ordered softly. Joe's blue eyes locked with his mother's almost identical ones. "You didn't do anything wrong, Joe, you were grieving we all were, and you had to deal with that in your own way even if it meant leaving. I didn't like it, but I understood, Joe, I understood. And, as for your brother getting hurt the only person responsible for that is the man who decided to arrange the entire thing. When someone chooses to harm another person they are responsible for their own actions. You bear no responsibility for that." She continued firmly. "Do not blame yourself."

"It's hard not to." Joe said quietly.

"You're too hard on yourself," Laura replied. "You may not see that now, but eventually you will see that this was all beyond your control, beyond your ability to fix. No one blames you, Joe. It's time you stopped blaming yourself." She concluded. "I need to go speak with your father; I will leave you to keep your brother company."

Laura disappeared through the door, shutting it quietly behind her.

"Thanks, mom." Joe whispered to the silent room as he sunk into the chair next to his brother's bed and resumed his vigil.

A/N Review! Update shall be next Tuesday. Frank may even wake up, you never know. ;)