A/N: I apologize greatly to all of the fantastic people who have continued to read this story and stick by me even though updates have been pretty scarce recently. I won't go into details but my life has taken multiple twists and turns recently that have left me little time (and little motivation) to do anything but sleep and make it through the day one step at a time. I want to reassure everyone that I have not and do not have plans to abandon this story. I know where I want to go with it; I just have to find the time to write it all down! I sincerely (and I mean it, SINCERELY) want to thank all of you for your patience. I promise to work harder at getting out timely updates in the future. Please, enjoy!

Quintessential Bliss

Chapter 26

Nancy stood in the doorway of Frank's room, afraid to walk across the threshold. Frank's head was turned away from her toward the window.

Taking a deep breath she forced herself forward, "Hey," she said quietly and smiled when Frank turned his head to look at her.

Frank smiled painfully back, "Good morning."

"Good morning," Nancy sat awkwardly on the chair next to Frank's bed and looked anywhere but at his face.

Even though it cost him great pain and effort Frank lifted his hand to lay it on top of hers, "Hey," he whispered and waited for Nancy to look at him. "I dreamed about you last night."

"You did?" Nancy asked, not daring to hope.

"Yeah," he winced as he shifted himself in the bed.

"Are you uncomfortable?" Nancy stood up quickly. "Do you want me to adjust your pillows or something? I can call the nurse, let me call the nurse." She reached for the button but Frank's hand on hers stopped her.

"Nancy, everything is uncomfortable," he smiled at her, "It's okay, just sit down."

"Are you sure?" Nancy looked concerned.

"I'm sure," Frank replied. When she had lowered herself back down in the seat he sighed, "Frantic Nancy, I don't think I've ever seen you like this."

"I'm not frantic," Nancy suddenly realized that her hand was still under Frank's and she quickly pulled it out. "Sorry," she murmured.

"For what?" Frank asked.

"I know that hurts you," Nancy replied.

Frank sighed, "Well, do you want to hear about my dream or not?"

"Sure," Nancy nodded and bit her lip. She wasn't sure she would be able to handle this.

"I was at my parent's house and Joe and my father and I were putting the Christmas lights up on the house. It wasn't clear, it was gray and fuzzy like there was a screen over everything but I heard Joe saying something funny about the amount of wattage we had and how it was going to blow the grid for the entire town of Bayport,"

Frank smiled and continued. "When we were finished with the lights we went inside and I saw you, standing there with my family's Christmas decorations in your hands. When you turned and smiled at me, my love for you hit me so hard it was like a sucker punch. You were so beautiful and strong and you fit so perfectly with my family. I was in awe of you and the fact that I knew you loved me in return. I just kept thinking how lucky I was."

Frank paused for a minute and saw the tears welling up in Nancy's eyes. "Was that a memory or just a dream?" he finally whispered.

"A memory," was all she could manage to get out.

Frank sighed deeply, "Thank God." He closed his eyes and smiled. When he opened his eyes again he looked at Nancy, "I don't know what I would have done if that had been just a dream."

"Do you…do you remember anything else?" Nancy asked tentatively.

Frank shook his head, "No, just that one memory."

"You'll remember more," Nancy reassured him and hung on to that hope like a lifeline.

Laura Hardy watched her son and the woman who loved him from out in the hallway. Nancy was smiling slightly and Laura decided to take that as a good sign. They weren't touching, but the looks they were giving each other spoke volumes.

"Laura," Fenton's voice behind her had her looking away from the touching scene. "It's time to move him."

"Are they sure it's safe?" Laura asked again.

"Yes," Fenton replied and squeezed his wife's hand. When he saw doubt in her eyes he lowered his voice, "Laura, The Network is a hundred times more capable of dealing with a chemical attack of this magnitude than even a hospital with this kind of reputation is. Our son's best chance for survival is getting moved to this hospital."

Laura nodded, "I know that, it's just that moving him causes him so much pain." She turned to look back at Frank and Nancy, who were talking quietly to each other. Fenton wrapped his arms around her and watched his son.

"I know," Fenton murmured and knowing that he was going to cause his son immeasurable amounts of pain by moving him caused his heart to break in two.

The pain was excruciating. Frank had never believed that this type of pain was possible. He had been shot before, broken dozens of bones and suffered a multitude of injuries but nothing, nothing compared to this pain.

He wondered if this kind of pain was what Joe had experienced in the warehouse. Joe had always tried to explain that it was a kind of pain you can't imagine and now Frank knew what he meant.

Thinking of his brother brought on a wave of white hot guilt. Frank knew that Joe was still on that shaky line between keeping it together and completely losing it. He had seen it in his brother's eyes for weeks but hadn't been sure what to do about it. Now, he looked back at it and cursed himself for not pushing the issue.

During the ambulance ride to the Network's secure hospital, Frank felt every tiny jolt and bump. He pressed his lips together tightly to keep from screaming and clenched his eyes shut. He didn't want to see his mother's or Nancy's worried faces.

Nancy. Her name raced through his head as he kept his eyes closed but couldn't suppress a groan as the ambulance went over a speed bump. His dream from the night before had left him reeling and had left him with an odd mixture of sadness, regret and euphoria. Nancy loved him. That single fact alone gave him the strength he needed not to succumb to the pain and the darkness that gently taunted him.

Knowing that he didn't remember a single thing aside from that one memory about their relationship frustrated him: he knew his memory loss was not easy on anyone, but especially not on Nancy. How many little moments had he forgotten? How many big ones? How long had they been together? Did they live together? Where? Frank had wanted to ask Nancy all of those questions but hadn't had time before they had started to move him.

"Honey?" Laura's voice broke into his thoughts and he slowly opened his eyes to look at her worried face.

"Yeah," he croaked.

"Are you…okay?" she asked tentatively. She seemed to know that the word 'okay' didn't really apply to this situation but didn't know what other word to use.

Frank mustered up what he felt would be a believable smile, "Yes, I'm okay," he replied and added, "I'm thinking of decorating for Christmas."\

"What?" Laura smiled vaguely, not sure what her son meant but when she saw the look pass between Frank and Nancy she knew that it was something private shared between them. A few seconds later she watched as Frank closed his eyes again and seemed to drift off to sleep.

"He's so pale," Nancy whispered a moment later. "Is he getting paler?"

Laura nodded, "I think so."

"How much longer?" Nancy demanded from the attendant who was busy checking Frank's vitals.

"Ten minutes," he replied and continued monitoring Frank's heart rate.

Joe felt guilty.

He felt guilty down to his very bones and the guilt weighed him down to the point where he felt like an 80 year old man with aches and pains in every joint and every muscle.

Vanessa had woken him up an hour earlier telling him that they were moving Frank and he hadn't been there. How in the world had anyone talked him into going home? How could he have left his brother's side while he was teetering on such a slippery ledge?

Joe's hands shook as he reached for the pot of coffee and blamed it on a dodgy night of sleep and residual tension from the night before. Pouring a cup he rubbed a hand absentmindedly over the stubble on his chin and told himself that he hadn't shaved because he needed a new razor…not because he had been afraid to.

Vanessa watched from the doorway and her concern grew. She knew that she had promised Joe she wouldn't say anything about the letters until Frank was feeling better but she could see Joe unraveling. All of the hard work and progress he had made over the past few months seemed to be melting away as she watched. She couldn't stand it.

Turning quickly she walked out onto the back deck and made a phone call while inside, Joe made a phone call of his own.

"Where is he?" Joe asked his father an hour later as he and Vanessa arrived at the hospital and had gone through all the security screening.

"This way," Fenton replied. Joe was so preoccupied that he missed the look shared between Fenton and Vanessa. When they stopped outside a room Fenton put a restraining hand on his son's shoulder before he could go in. "When you're done, I'd like to talk to you." Joe nodded quickly and entered the room.

Frank was alone in the room, which was something Joe hadn't expected; he was also asleep which Joe thought was probably good considering what he had come to say. "Hey big bro," Joe sat down next to the bed and looked at his brother's face which even in sleep was tensed up in pain. "I just wanted to say…I'm not going to be around for a couple of days. I don't want you to think that I'm just…not coming by or something. I'm going after Beatrice. She's the only one who knows what you're infected with."

Joe was quiet for a minute. "I'm not going to sit around here and waste time while The Network tries to find a cure for you. Beatrice knows what it is and she knows how to fix you."

Joe stood up and looked down at his brother, "I will fix you Frank."

He turned to leave but his brother's voice stopped him, "Joe?"

Turning around Joe fixed a smile on his face, "Hey big bro."

"Where are you going?" Frank asked.

"I was going to grab some coffee," Joe lied. "Do you want any?" he smiled to show Frank he was teasing.

"No thanks," Frank's laugh quickly turned into a wracking cough. "Are you going to come back?"

"Yes," Joe replied "I'll come back."

"Will you tell Nancy I'd like to see her?" Frank asked.

"Sure," Joe replied.

When Joe ducked out of the room he looked around quickly for Nancy, wanting to honor his brother's request and then get out of there before his father could stop him. He saw his father talking to a doctor to the left so he turned right and found Nancy standing zombie like in front of a vending machine. "Nancy," he said when he was beside her.

She turned, "Joe. Good morning."

"Nancy," Joe cut right to the chase, knowing he didn't have much time before his father turned around and saw that he was done in Frank's room, "I have a favor to ask you and I don't want you to ask any questions."

"What do you mean?" Nancy turned to look at Joe with concern in her eyes, "Joe, what's going on?"

"Nothing," Joe shrugged and looked away before looking back at Nancy, "Will you let Vanessa stay with you tonight?"

"Joe, what's going on," Nancy demanded.

"Please Nancy," Joe's eyes were pleading. "Please say that Vanessa can stay with you for awhile."

"Of course she can," Nancy shook her head, "but Joe you have to tell me what's going on."

Joe started to back away, "Make sure Vanessa stays with you."

"Joe!" Nancy started to follow him but he pointed to Frank's room. "Frank asked for you."

Torn between the two Hardy brothers Nancy looked over her shoulder at Frank's room. By the time she turned to face Joe again she could see him disappearing down the staircase at the end of the hall.

Nancy turned and headed back toward Frank's room, "Hey." She smiled at Frank as she entered.

"Nan, something is going on with Joe," Frank said without preamble. He spoke quickly, "He was in here talking about Beatrice. I think he's going after her."

Nancy shook her head, "That's why he was acting so weird." She told Frank quickly about her conversation with Joe in the hallway.

"Go after him Nan!" Frank said urgently, "He can't go after her himself. I don't want him to end up like me!"

"Okay," Nancy turned quickly and dashed out of the room.

Once outside the hospital Joe pulled out his cell phone, "Phil, did you find anything?" he asked when his friend picked up.

"I did," Phil replied, "a list of Aliases and known contacts. I ran a search on her name and Aliases she is known to use and I got a hit. A Bea Turner bought a train ticket from California to Washington and through to Vancouver, Canada. As of right now, that's where the trail ends."

"Great, thanks Phil, you're the best," Joe wrote the train information down quickly before pulling out his car keys. "Phil, I hate to do this to you but I'm going to need to ask for another favor."

Nancy ran out of the hospital and searched desperately for Joe or his car. She ran to the parking garage and searched up and down all of the aisles for him. When she looked toward the main exit of the hospital and saw Joe's taillights she cursed in frustration.

Joe was gone and she had no idea where he was going.