A/N: Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday and a great beginning of the year! One of my New Year's Resolutions is to get back in the writing chair again with more consistent updates. Here's to a successful, happy and healthy New Year for everyone and here's to hoping that we are all able to stick to those traditional New Year's Resolutions. :) Thanks a million to everyone who has stuck with me and continues to read and thanks to all who leave reviews. I really, sincerely appreciate them. :) Enjoy!

Quintessential Bliss

Chapter 22

"I'm not leaving him," Nancy said through her teeth.

"Nan, someone needs to make sure that help can find Frank," Joe replied reasonably. He motioned toward Charlie who sat slumped against a tree, "Look at him, he's in no shape to go."

Nancy looked over at Charlie before turning back to Joe, "Then you go."

Before she was even finished Joe was shaking his head, "No. I can't leave Frank."

"Neither can I!" Nancy said in frustration. "Joe, Frank is everything to me."

Joe was silent for a moment as he stared intently at Nancy, "Me too."

They were quiet now as they stood there, both unwilling to leave Frank. "Nancy," Joe said finally, trying again, "Frank needs medical attention and he needs it fast. The only way we can guarantee that happens is if someone goes and meets them and makes sure they find the right place, the first time."

"Joe," Nancy whispered and wrapped her arms around herself. Her eyes shifted to stare at Frank's still form, "I can't just leave him." Tears welled up in her eyes as she continued to stare at her fiancé.

"Nancy," Joe put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them reassuringly, "Frank is going to be okay." Joe hated seeing the scared and terrified look in Nancy's eyes, hated that Frank had asked him to do this, to make Nancy go away.

He didn't want to do it, but his brother had specifically asked him to and so he would do his best to make it happen. Frank knew that the worst was yet to come and didn't want Nancy around to witness it; Joe didn't want her to see it either.

"I know," Nancy whispered and turned back to Joe, "I'm not leaving him Joe." With that she turned and went to kneel beside Frank.

Joe closed his eyes and sighed. What was he supposed to do now?

Just as he was turning to try once more to get Nancy to leave Joe heard his father's voice off in the trees. "Dad!" Joe called, "Dad! We're over here!"

"Joe?" Fenton Hardy broke out of the trees and rushed to where his son stood, followed by a group of paramedics and Callie.

"Charlie," she said and rushed to his side.

"Here's Frank," Joe said to his father and led him to where Frank lay on the ground.

"Frank," Fenton knelt down next to Nancy and laid a hand on her back for support. "Frank, it's your father."

"Dad?" Frank whispered. "I hurt…"

"I know son," Fenton replied. "We're going to get you help. Help is here."

"Is Nancy gone?" Frank rasped.

"No, I'm right here," Nancy assured him and lightly touched his hand.

Frank grimaced at the sound of her voice and Nancy registered the look with confusion, it was almost as if he was disappointed she was there. "Joe," Frank said. "Joe, I thought I told you…"

"I know brother, I'm trying," Joe replied. Frank closed his eyes and sighed.

"It's too late," Frank whispered, so quietly they could barely hear him. "It's too late now Joe."

"Too late for what?" Nancy asked and looked at Joe's horror stricken face.

"Let's get him on the stretcher," Fenton said. "We had to leave the ambulance a little ways back, we couldn't get it in any further."

"Joe," Frank started coughing and sounded scared, "Joe!" The coughing became so violent his whole body was convulsing, sweat broke out on his forehead and he started shaking. Soon, an eerily white substance stained red was bubbling out of his mouth, his eyes rolled back in his head.

Nancy sat in the waiting room of the hospital and stared straight ahead, not seeing anything around her. Callie sat beside her, gripping her hand but Nancy didn't feel it. She saw nothing, heard nothing except the sound of Frank choking and the sight of that red tinged bile foaming around his mouth…his body jerking all over the hard ground.

She was so lost in her thoughts it took her awhile to realize that someone was shaking her, hard. "Nancy!" Callie cried and forced her to turn and look her in the eyes. "Nancy, drink some of this."

"No thanks," she replied hollowly.

"It wasn't a request," Callie said gently and forced the cup of water into her hands. "Drink," she ordered.

Nancy lifted the cup mechanically to her lips and barely felt the soothing cold water on her parched throat. "How long has he been in there?"

"Three hours," Callie replied and watched as a group of nurses hustled into the ER carrying boxes marked with the Biohazard symbol. She looked quickly at Nancy to see if she had noticed but Nancy continued to stare unseeing in front of her.

"Three hours," Nancy repeated. "Three hours only, it seems like so much longer."

Callie squeezed Nancy's hand, "I know it does."

"Where's Joe?" Nancy blinked a few times and looked around the room for the first time. "Where's Joe?" she repeated.

Vanessa was wondering the same thing. He had left the waiting room to use the bathroom after pacing back and forth for hours and he had been gone for a long time. She looked at Fenton who had his head resting in both hands and got up to search for Joe.

Following the signs for the bathroom Vanessa walked out into the hallway and to the left, soon coming up on the men's bathroom. Walking up to the door she knocked quickly. When no one answered she slowly pulled the door open and stuck her head inside, "Joe?" she called.

There was no response but she heard a noise coming from the far stall and then another noise, unmistakably the sound of someone getting sick. She rushed forward and pushed open the door of the last stall. Joe sat on the floor, his head hanging between his knees, his body shaking from trying to hold back his sobs.

"Oh Joe," Vanessa crouched and quickly pulled him into her arms. With that, Joe couldn't hold it in any longer and he started to sob into Vanessa's jacket.

"Frank," Joe finally managed. "It's really bad this time…I can't lose my brother. I can't lose my brother."

"I know," Vanessa ran a hand down his back soothingly. "I know, Joe. I'm right here." She didn't offer any false words of hope, because she had no idea if they would be outright lies or not.

"Mr. Hardy?"

Fenton's head snapped up at the sound of his name and he rose quickly to his feet. "How is my son?" Nancy slowly rose to her feet as well.

The doctor walked over to the small group just as Joe and Vanessa re-entered the room. "What's going on?" Joe asked.

"I was just about to tell your father," the doctor replied. He took a deep breath, "The toxin in your son's body is unlike anything either myself or my staff has ever seen. We thought we had it isolated in the liver, which is why we began operating but it's much bigger than that. We've taken multiple samples and sent them for testing but I'm afraid that until we know what we're dealing with there's nothing we can do for him except try and keep him comfortable. We have him in isolation now, we can't risk contact with other patients until we know what he's infected with."

Nancy made a small sound of distress as she sat back down, tears streaming down her face.

"Is he awake?" Fenton finally asked gruffly.

"Not yet," the doctor replied. "He's still out from the surgery, he'll be out for a few hours if you guys want to go and get some rest."

"I want to see him," Joe said and stepped forward.

The doctor shook his head, "I can't let you do that he's quarantined."

"I've already been exposed," Joe argued. "I have to see him."

"I'm sorry, it's hospital policy." Seeing the angry gleam in Joe's eye the doctor sighed, "I can let you see him through the observation window but I'm afraid I just can't permit you to go into his room until we have a better idea of how contagious this thing is."

"Fine," Joe said, "lead the way."

"I'm going with you," Fenton replied. He turned to Nancy and held out a hand, "She is too." He looked at the doctor, daring him to argue.

"Alright," the doctor nodded and led the way to Frank's room.

No one had any words as the three of them stood outside of Frank's room. Silence was thick and weighed heavily on the group as they watched the many tubes attached to Frank and the various machines beep. Frank lay motionless on the hospital bed, so pale that he almost matched the white hospital sheets.

Joe's hands gripped the sill of the window so hard his knuckles were white and Nancy covered her mouth with her hand. None of them had ever dealt with anything like this before.

Not saying a word Fenton put his arm around Nancy and pulled her close and lifted his other hand to rest on Joe's back.

Joe registered the weight of his father's hand but barely felt it. The rage was building up so high inside of him he could feel it in his pulse, the hair on his arms seemed to vibrate from it. He had vowed payback before, even revenge but he had never meant it as much as he did now.

The people responsible for this were going to suffer…and suffer badly.

"Fenton," Laura Hardy called from the other side of the waiting room and rushed over to her husband. "How is he?"

"Not good," Fenton shook his head. "It's really not good this time Laura."

"I need to see him," Laura replied. "Take me to him." Fenton nodded and together they moved to the doors of the ER.

Laura had not flown to California alone. Biff and Maggie walked into the waiting room together and headed straight to where Joe, Nancy, Vanessa, Callie and Charlie were sitting. "Joe," was all Biff could say before he shook his head, overcome.

"It's good to see you," Joe replied and stood to give his old friend a hard hug. "Thank you for coming."

"Of course we came," Maggie replied. "What's going on?"

Since neither Joe nor Nancy seemed able to respond Callie quickly filled Biff and Maggie in.

"So what happens next?" Biff asked.

"More waiting," Vanessa replied. "They should have some results back soon. We'll know more after that."

"They're talking about transferring him back to New York," Callie said. "Since 9/11 there has been an increase in the study of unknown diseases and biological warfare. There are a lot of doctors in New York with a lot of knowledge in the area of unknown toxins."

"They think he's okay to move?" Biff asked.

"They won't know until they get the results back. Even if they aren't, they might not have much choice," Vanessa replied. "This is a small hospital, they're not equipped to deal with things like this."

"Aren't there hospitals that are better equipped that are closer?" Biff asked.

"Yes," Joe sighed. "There's UCLA Medical and the UW Medical Center in Seattle, but Dad wants him home."

"Excuse me," Nancy said suddenly and quickly left the room.

"Should I go after her?" Maggie asked.

"No," Joe shook his head. "I'll go."

The group watched Joe leave and then Vanessa sighed, "They both love him so much. I think they're the only one's who can offer each other comfort right now."

"This is bad," Biff said, worry for his best friend clear in his voice. Maggie reached for his hand and he looked at her, grateful to have her in his life.

"Yes," Callie agreed.

"What can we do?" Charlie asked.

"It's not like old times," Biff replied, "Like in High School when we all used to get together and do research and take down the bad guy. We're dealing with an unknown assassin this time."

"True," Callie agreed and bit her bottom lip, "But that doesn't mean we can't still research. See if we can find anything."

"I'm not much of a researcher," Biff replied.

"No, but Phil is," Callie replied.

"I'll call him," Biff replied and pulled out his cell phone.

"Nancy," Joe called and ran after her down the hall and outside the doors of the ER.

"I'm fine Joe," Nancy replied once they were outside. She gripped her arms and turned to look at him. "You can go inside, I just needed some air."

"Me too," Joe replied and stepped toward her. "He's going to live." Joe said with conviction.

"For how long?" Nancy whispered.

Joe sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets, "When we were younger, I think I was about six, Frank and I were playing in the backyard and we dared each other to jump off the top of the monkey bars and see how far we could jump and land on our feet. The first few jumps went well and I jumped the farthest. Frank wanted to try and outdo me," Joe laughed quietly, remembering, "and he climbed back up there for the fourth time, making bold statements about how he was older and taller and so therefore could definitely jump higher and farther than I could."

Joe walked so he stood even with Nancy and looked down at her, "I of course, egged him on as only a younger brother can and when he got up there I told him there was no way he could beat me. Frank just grinned and took a flying leap. I couldn't believe that my levelheaded brother had risen to my taunts like that but there he was, arms flailing in the air. He seemed to fly for minutes before heading back to Earth. When he fell, he fell hard," Joe shook his head and smiled slightly. "I ran toward him, sure that he was dead or had two broken legs at least. When I got to him I rolled him over and he smiled up at me. He said, 'See Joey, I told you I could jump farther.' I was so mad at him. I told him I thought he was dead. Frank just sat up and laughed and said, "I'm the big brother here Joey, I'm the one who is going to live forever. I'm like Superman and Superman never dies'."

Joe smiled at Nancy, "And I believed him that day and I believe it still. Frank is strong and Frank is a fighter. He's stubborn and he's going to live a long time."

With that Nancy put her arms around Joe and each took comfort in the other's embrace.