Gratuitous shower scene ahead simply because it had to be done.
Twenty-One
By the time Frank finally made it home, it was approaching six in the morning. By that point, he was pretty much running on three things: fumes, adrenaline and anger—anger being the strongest. He was actually surprised that he made it home in once piece, his rage was so consuming. It was only lucky for him that there was very little traffic on the road; he was sure he would have killed himself or an innocent being.
He knew without a doubt he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he'd killed an innocent person.
After his outburst in Ella's hospital room, he thought it best that he leave the hospital. While he knew he owed the young woman an apology for his behavior, he didn't trust himself to blow up at her again. It wasn't as if it was her fault, and deep down, he knew that. And there was no denying she was feeling incredible guilt over what had happened to Nancy.
Frank was sure he would only add on to it and he didn't want to do that to her. She'd been through enough at the hands of Wesley. She deserved to rest and recuperate and recover from her ordeal. He would give her a day or so to cope with everything and then he would use her to try to pinpoint Wesley's location so he could get Nancy back.
That was his single thought. The only thing that was going to get him through this nightmare.
And killing Wesley Levine.
That was also on the top of his To Do list.
Frank couldn't remember a time in his life he'd wanted to kill another human being—like really kill someone. Sure, the thought had crossed his mind sometimes on some difficult cases, but during all those times, he knew he would never actually go through with it.
This was the first time he found himself wanting to feel another person's blood on his hands, watch the life go out of their eyes.
Was it healthy to be thinking these thoughts? Not at all.
Did he care? Not even a little.
Is it something he would regret later? Who knows—but he would deal with the consequences later. He would take anything that came his way as long as it meant he had Nancy home where she belonged.
Frank emptied his pockets of his keys and loose change before stepping into the bathroom. He only wanted to do two things at the moment: shower and try to get some sleep. He knew he couldn't continue without getting at least a couple of hours of sleep. He would be of no use to anyone, especially Nancy, if he tried to keep going on when he was beyond exhausted. He needed to try to keep a clear head and the only way he could do that was if he took care of himself.
Besides, Nancy would never forgive him if he did something stupid because he refused to take care of himself.
Shucking his clothing and removing the bandages from his torso, he stepped into the scalding hot shower, allowing the water to beat relentlessly against his aching muscles. His ribs instantly protested the movement before the pressure slowly eased up underneath the soothing water. Frank didn't make any effort to move as he stood under the steady pressure of the shower. Little by little, he could feel some of his anger ebb away, though it was still lingering just beneath the surface.
He didn't want it to go away completely. Anger was a strong emotion and when it was channeled and contained, it could be very useful.
Frank stayed in the shower until the water turned lukewarm. Turning the water off, he grabbed a towel and wrapped around his body before stepping out into the foggy bathroom. Rubbing his hand across the steam-covered window, he took in his reflection, not liking what he saw at all. Dark circle were prevalent underneath his brown eyes, almost giving him a haggard appearance. He could clearly see stress and worry lines marring his features and they only seemed to get worse the longer he stared at his reflection. A few cuts and bruises dotted his face where Wesley had punched him and the split in his bottom lip stood out like a beacon.
Unable to look at himself any longer, Frank walked out of the bathroom and into his bedroom. After drying off, he grabbed a pair of boxers out of his drawer and put them on before grabbing some bandages and wrapping his aching ribs. He was just about to crawl into his empty bed when his cell phone rang. Heaving a sigh, he plucked it off the dresser and saw that it was Joe.
"Hey, Joe. Did you make it?" Frank asked as he sank down onto his bed.
"Yeah, we got here about fifteen minutes ago," Joe answered. "Vanessa's in the hospital room with her mom."
"How's she doing?"
Joe heaved a long sigh on the other end. "As well as can be expected. The doctors have her stable, so that's a plus. She lost a lot of blood, not to mention her left leg and arm. They're most worried about the head injury though."
"Damn," Frank muttered, running a hand over his face. "Is she going to be okay?"
"The next twenty-four hours are going to determine that. Andrea hasn't woken up since she was brought in. We just have to wait and see."
"Sorry, man."
"Yeah." Joe let out another sigh and Frank heard a sound like a soda can dropping from a vending machine. A few seconds later, there was a hiss as the top was popped. "How's everything going over there?"
"Things have been interesting, to say the least."
"What do you mean?"
"Wesley paid me a visit about an hour after you left."
"What?" Frank had to pull the phone away from his ear at his brother's startled yell. "What the hell happened?"
It was Frank's turn to sigh. "We exchanged a few pleasantries, he said something that I didn't want to hear and we then proceeded to beat the shit out of each other."
"Son of a bitch! I knew I should have left."
"It's fine, Joe."
"No, it's not fine, Frank." He could clearly hear the anger and frustration in his little brother's voice. "Are you okay?"
"Define okay."
"Frank…"
"I'm good. I just have a couple of cracked ribs and my face looks like a punching bag. But you should—"
"If you tell me I should see the other guy, I swear to God, I will hop on the first plane back and kick your ass myself," Joe said. "Besides, that's supposed to be my line."
Frank couldn't help but chuckle. It was so good to hear his brother's voice and cheesy jokes after the night he'd had. The only thing that would make it even better was if Nancy was in bed beside him. That thought quickly sobered him.
"We found Ella Jacobs."
Joe was silent for a few moments. "Was she dead?"
"Close," Frank admitted. "If it had been a few minutes longer before I found her, then she probably wouldn't have made it. Wesley hand delivered her to me in the trunk of Nancy's car."
"Was Nancy—"
"She wasn't with him."
"Have you gotten a chance to talk with Ella?"
"Briefly, before I decided to redecorate her hospital room."
"Why? What did you do?"
"She told me something about Nancy." Frank hesitated as he stared at the picture of him and Nancy on the nightstand, but not really seeing it. They were wrapped in each other's arms, staring at each other as they remained oblivious to anything around them. It had been a candid shot that Vanessa had managed to take without them knowing. "It's not good, Joe."
He briefly wondered if he should even tell his brother about what happened to Nancy. Joe had always looked at Nancy as the sister he never had and Frank knew without a doubt that his little brother was fiercely protective of her. Not that he would ever let her know that, of course. But he'd always looked at Nancy as family.
"What happened, Frank?" It was almost as if Joe knew what Frank was going to tell him. Frank could hear it by the way he asked the question.
Frank choked on a sob, his emotions finally coming to the surface. His eyes instantly flooded with tears, but he pushed them back as he took a deep, ragged breath. There would be time to completely lose it later, but not right now. "He raped her, Joe."
"Shit!" Joe exclaimed on the other end before stringing together another expletive-laden sentence. Frank didn't know it was possible to say that many expletives in one sentence. "Are you okay?"
"I will be," Frank assured him. "I want him dead, Joe."
"You and me both."
"No, Joe. I mean, I really want him dead. I'm not saying it in passing or just because I'm furious. I actually want to see the asshole dead. And what's worse, I want to be the one to do it."
"No one could exactly blame you, Frank."
Frank let that one go. "You haven't even heard the best part of this entire night yet."
"It gets better?"
"Guess who finally decided to show up?" Frank didn't wait for his sibling to answer. "The FBI."
"Are you screwing with me?"
"Nope. They're here in all their bureaucratic and monkey suit glory."
"Did they happen to tell you why the hell they haven't shown up before now?"
"They didn't think the threat was credible, especially since they've had agents tailing Nancy this entire time."
"Shit!"
"Exactly."
"You're not working with them, are you?"
"Hell no. They can pretty much go screw themselves at this point," Frank said. "I'll continue working on it on my own. I'm actually back at the apartment, hoping to get a few hours of sleep before I head back to the hospital to talk with Ella again."
"Was she able to tell you where Wesley was holding her and Nancy?"
"No. He kept her either drugged or in the trunk both times she was out of the building. She thinks she might be able to point me in the right direction, so we'll see."
"Just be careful, Frank, and don't do something that can get you in trouble."
"Meaning don't do anything that you would normally do."
"Exactly." Joe said with a chuckle. "Look, if you need me to come back, just say the word. Vanessa will understand. She's just as concerned with Nancy as we all are."
"Don't worry about me, Joe. Vanessa needs you more right now."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, well, I'm going to let you go so you can get some sleep. Make sure you call me and keep me updated."
"I will." Hanging up the phone, Frank put it on the nightstand before gingerly lying back on the bed, trying not to aggravate his ribs. He was glad that Joe had called. It felt good to be able to talk with someone and he couldn't think of anyone better than his little brother.
It was at least an hour before Frank finally closed his eyes and allowed restless sleep to pull him under.
A shorter chapter this time around, but I wanted to give you guys one devoted to our favorite brothers.
Since I am writing this at work—well, before work—I won't be able to include comments with my thank you's but I still want to thank the ones who have reviewed the previous chapter: Michelle Gallichio, Caranath, Angelvie S, max2013, Alicia Hardy, beachgirlsrule, FreshKicks, Cupcake, SC15, Yelene-ryudream, MinecraftDanny, misslady92, and Lady Emily.
I love you guys!
I apologize for any mistakes and let me know what you think!
The next update may be a little late because my little sister was elected as a Senior Homecoming maid and the parade and game is next week and I have a lot of preparation to do for her!
