To The Shore

by EveryDayArtist

Chapter Four

"Huh-whazzit!" Joe jerked in his seat and sat upright, blinking dazedly as Frank looked at him with a grin from the driver's seat.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." The older man chuckled. "I had a feeling you weren't really awake when we left. You didn't touch your breakfast."

"Oh, coffee!" Sipping the drink, Joe rooted through the brown paper bag on the dash and yawned. "Mm, blueberry. Thanks. So what's up?"

Frank sighed. "We'll be there in about ten minutes."

"M'kay." Joe looked up from his phone, talking through a full mouth. "Nancy texted me while I was asleep. She's coming out tonight, got a new lead she wants to run by us and to check out Jack's place."

"Good." Frank looked grim. "Maybe we'll finally get a break in this case."

"You and Jack are pretty close, huh?"

"I was having trouble with the car a couple years ago and Jack and I started hanging out a lot. Turns out we have a lot in common. We watched games together and I even helped him soup up a nice Harley he had sitting in his garage."

"Tha's good…" Joe yawned again, pausing with a piece of muffin still in his hand. "I'm inclined to agree with you, by the way. This all doesn't seem like the work of a repairman turned car thief, more like a professional job than anything else. Hopefully we'll be able t-" He broke off with a yawn again.

Frowning, Frank turned his eyes back on his brother for a second. "You were up kind of late last night, what were you doing?"

"I have an irregular sleep pattern. I'll be fine." Finishing off the pastry, Joe crumpled the bag and continued sipping his coffee.

"If you say so."

Joe looked at his brother sharply; Frank's tone was anything but trusting and the younger Hardy realized, not for the first time, that building back Frank's trust was going to be a long, hard climb. On one hand, it would be good to get that out of the way as soon as possible. On the other, the last thing they needed was to be distracted from the case when there was a man missing. But if Frank was going to pretend that everything was fine, then Joe'd have to take the first step and he didn't have clearance or courage for that. Well, hell with it, if Frank could act chill, then so could Joe.

"I would kill for a Mountain Dew."

Frank looked at him askance. "You've got a perfectly good cup of coffee in front of you and it's not even noon."

Joe shrugged and grinned.

Callie Hardy was at her wits end. She stared at the mess of paint and glitter covering her table and had to resist the urge to pull on her hair. "How on earth?"

Matthew looked at his mother sheepishly and continued his attempt at scrubbing the table. "It was Emily's fault?"

The toddler laughed in delight and slammed her hands in the paint as her brother tried to get the stains off of the work table. Sweeping the little bundle of mischievousness up, Laura Hardy grinned ruefully. "It was grandma's fault; I should have been keeping a closer eye on them."

"No… No, Laura, it's fine." With a sigh, Callie took the rag from her son and pushed him away gently. "Go watch TV, Matti. We've got this."

"When's Dad coming home?"

"Soon, sweetie, soon."

Laura gave her a knowing glance. "We'll have to get more food if we're going to feed the lot of them."

"I still don't know how you managed to see Joe and not kill him. I mean after all this time…"

"I'm just glad he's alive." Finishing with the rag, the older woman looked over the table critically and nodded. "If there's one thing I've learned from being married to a PI, it's to not ask questions and just thank God when they come home."

"I still don't think…"

"Callie, wait until you see him to pass judgment alright? Besides, if I know Frank, he's going to be guilting Joe enough for all of us." Laura sighed and rubbed at her back. "I'll go for groceries; find something for supper… We can make do with sandwich fixings for lunch."

Callie laughed. "You can't fix everything with food."

"You're an only child sweetie, you didn't grow up with brothers and raise two boys. Food helps."

Callie smiled warmly. Laura had been the perfect grandmother and a good friend for many years. The younger woman swept up her daughter and peeked into the living room. "Come on sweetie, we're going shopping with Gramma."

"And then we can see Dad?"

"And then we can see Dad."

Fenton looked up at a knocking at his door and braced himself. As he made his way to the entryway heard the door open. "Hello? Dad?"

"Here, Frank-"

He was cut off by a yelp and smiled as he caught sight of his youngest son being bear hugged by his sister. Gertrude Hardy was ranting into Joe's shoulder and father and son locked eyes over her shoulder as Joe smiled weakly.

Frank was shrugging off his coat and tossed his keys onto the hallway table. "Where's Mom?"

"Over at your place. I think they're getting food."

Gertrude had moved Joe into the living room and was fussing over him as the young man laughed. Her eyes turned to Frank. "You too! Whatever happened to you both? You're all scraped up…"

"We, ah, had a little incident with a truck."

Fenton raised an eyebrow. "You two got back into the swing of things fast."

Frank and Joe traded a look and Fenton had to admit it was good to the see the non-verbal communication that his sons were so fluent in. Coughing, Frank shrugged. "Yeah, well, you know how it is."

Gertrude snorted. "Of course, we've just got you back and now you're both irritating the wrong people. Fantastic…" She was caught off guard as Joe flung his arms around her neck and hugged her tightly.

"I've missed you, Auntie." Joe smiled into her hair. "No one scolds quite like you."

The woman sniffed slightly and stroked his neck fondly. "You need a good scolding every now and again."

As the woman bustled off, muttering something about coffee, Fenton sat down across from his sons. Frank and Joe were seated on the couch, a considerable space between them. And that… that said a lot about their relationship at the moment. Fenton knew the minute that Joe showed up again that there would be conflict; trust was a thing easily broken but hard to rebuild. He listened intently as both boys explained their progress, only interrupting to smile at the news of Nancy's promotion.

"I've missed that girl." Fenton laughed. "She was quite the spitfire."

"That's an understatement." Frank smiled half-heartedly. "She's coming over tonight to compare notes."

The door opened again and the sound of chatter from the entry way drifted into the living room. Joe paled a little but Frank grinned and stood up. "Hey, in here!"

"Dad! Mom and I found th-" Matthew froze in the doorway and stared at Joe before inching his way over to his father. Frank hugged him before nodding to his brother and nudging the ten year old forward.

"Matti, this is my little brother Joe. He's your uncle but he's been out of the country for a few years."

"Hey, Matt." Joe leaned forward, smiling kindly at the kid. "It's nice to finally meet you. Frank's said a lot of good things." He noticed the young boy hugging a bag and nodded at it. "Whatcha got there?"

Matt seemed to think over something for a minute before pulling a box out of the bag and handing it over. "Mom bought me a new movie because I helped clean the garage."

Fenton chuckled. "I see you two aren't above bribery."

"Hey, if it works then I-"

"When did they start making new Trek films?!"

Frank and Fenton stared at Joe, who was staring open-mouthed at the cover. "Is that the guy from Shaun of the Dead? Holy crap, this looks sick!"

"Joe…" Frank looked amused as Fenton hid a smile in the cup of coffee that his sister handed him while rolling her eyes. "The first one came out in '09. How have you not seen it?"

"I've been… Out of touch with pop-culture for a little while." Joe flipped the dvd over, shooting Frank a look and a shrug. "Hard to go to a theater when y- No way, that's that Cumberbatch guy! Who else is in this thing?!"

Gertrude raised an eyebrow. "And yet even you know who he is…"

"My… roommate was British and a massive BBC nut. Wasn't my fault he only had, like, five dvds." Joe grinned and handed the box back to the kid. "You have excellent taste."

Matt stared solemnly at the young man before smiling shyly. "You can watch them with me. I have lots of movies."

"Gee, thanks." Joe beamed at him. "How about we watch at my place? Well, when I get a place. We can have a housewarming party and watch stuff and eat pizza."

It was evident to every adult in the room that Joe had a brand new number one fan.

Callie finally spoke up from the doorway. "Matti, go help gramma with the groceries."

The boy ran off and Joe stood up slowly, looking nervous again. Brother and sister-in-law stared off as Frank found himself crossing his fingers behind his back. Finally Joe took a step forward and smiled nervously. "Hey, Cal."

All present flinched at the painful sound that rang through the room as Callie slapped the younger man hard across the face. Before Joe could say anything she had flung herself on him and hugged around his neck tightly. "You idiot, you stupid idiot. Never do anything like that again."

"Callie…."

"Stupid idiot."

The younger Hardy smiled slightly and hugged her back.

Frank leaned against the kitchen counter as his father began putting their left over lunch away. The older man smiled knowingly as his son played absentmindedly with a bowl and sighed as he placed the container of potato-salad into the refrigerator. "Something bothering you, son?"

"I guess this whole case is driving me crazy." Frank admitted. "I'm worried about Jack and thinking of trying to strangle Joe if he dodges one more question…"

Fenton chuckled and put an arm around his oldest son's shoulders. "It'll pass. I have faith that you'll figure out what's going on. Jack'll be fine."

"He's gone missing!"

"And you'll find him." Fenton's voice was firm as he patted him on the back. "Relax."

Frank blew out a breath, grabbed a water bottle and headed for the living room. The sight that greeted him went a long way toward making him feel better; Joe was sprawled on the couch, Emily curled up on his chest and blinking blearily at the TV where Lion King was playing. Matt was seated on the floor in front of them and scribbling in a notebook but as his father watched, he looked up and whispered something to Joe that made the man smile. Joe's eyes caught sight of him and a little grin twitched on his face as he slowly deposited the sleeping girl onto the sofa and ruffled her older brother's curly hair as he stepped over to join Frank. "Hey, heard from Nancy yet?"

"Not yet." Joe blew out a sigh and leaned against the doorframe. "I did get three reminders from 'The Agent from the Black Lagoon' that I need to keep my nose out of the whole thing. Nance better watch herself…"

Frank cocked an eyebrow. "I take it you're referring to that woman, Mc-something?"

"Gregor-McGregor. Spawn of hell, she-witch, bane of my existence, face like a car wreck McGregor."

Frank blinked then grinned. "What the hell did she ever do to you?"

"I don't even remember anymore." Joe grinned back wolfishly. "We've been at it since training. Can't stand her for some reason."

Frank shot a look over his shoulder at his wife and hid another smile. "You do tend to irritate certain people. Mystifies me why you bother to stay around people like that."

He was close, very damn close, to loosing it at the way Frank was acting. It was one thing to call him out but to consistently do this passive aggressive dance around the subject… It had been an ongoing thing during lunch, little looks and verbal nudges that had caused the younger Hardy to put his guard up higher and higher only to be hauled down by the two children whom had totally stolen his heart. Joe pasted a fake smile on. "Honestly, I don't remember what made me agree either."

As Frank rolled his eyes and moved to pick up a fussy Emily the younger man's smile slid off his face...

Joe stared at the mirror in front of him and resisted the urge to slam his head against it. This sucked. Sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked. The offer from Gray just wouldn't leave his head. It was stupid; he hated Grey with a burning passion and the Network was ruthless when it came down to it and wasn't something he wanted to be associated with. He already had plans to build an agency with Frank. Every atom of his being was screaming at him to not take the offer… but still he thought about it.

There was a knock at the door. "Joe? Are you done yet? I gotta get in there!"

The younger Hardy Boy sighed and let his brother in. Frank grabbed his toothbrush and frowned. "You okay?"

"'m fine…" Joe shrugged and picked up his own brush.

"You sure?" Frank leaned against the sink and stared at his brother. "I…know this is going to be a change…"

Joe rolled his eyes. "Frank, I'm not a little kid. I don't need you around all the time, it'll be fine. You're the one I'm worried about. What're you going to do without me to get you to do fun reckless stuff?" Joe shook his head mournfully. "You'll lock yourself in your room and study all the time…"

As he listened to Frank chuckle, Joe stared at himself in the mirror. What was HE going to do, with Frank gone? Sure, there was football, school, hanging out with friends… The idea of doing detective work on his own was not so appealing; they'd been a team all his life, he wasn't sure he could do it without backup. But all that other stuff felt… Useless. What real impact would come from him playing football? What would he do when his friends were busy? What was he going to do with his life while he was on his own?

He wanted to make a difference but he didn't know how. And now Frank was leaving for school soon and he was taking a path that was leading towards the academic and Joe knew he had no intention of becoming a detective anymore and he wanted to hate him for it. But he couldn't, just couldn't.

So he just lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling and thought…

"Joe!"

The young man started and blinked at his brother. "Sorry, what?"

"I said, should we head over to Jack's and meet Nancy there? Geez, where's your head at right now?"

The blond shook his head slightly and smiled. "Sorry, million miles away."

"I noticed." Frank pushed off from the doorway and nodded at his kids. "Let's go. They'll be occupied for a while. Come on."

"To Jack's place?"

"To Jack's place."

Joe pushed off from the doorframe. "Lead on then."

Filler chapter but fleshing out the family dynamic a little bit.