Ah, chapter two of this story! Many thanks to all those who reviewed.

Enjoy this chapter!

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2:00 pm

Joe watched as his girlfriend danced in front of him, her brilliant blonde hair falling over her alluring eyes. A grin took over the 21-year-old's face as she ceased her dancing to come sit on his lap, her lips inches from his. The best part about coming home from college in summers was seeing his girlfriend almost every day.

"Why are you not dancing?" Came her playful voice, a hand coming up to tangle itself in his hair.

"I wouldn't be able to watch you." His voice was entrancing to Vanessa, and she swatted him lightly on the arm, trying not to blush.

"You're such a flirt," she told him, sliding off his lap and pulling him by the hand onto the restaurants small dance floor. Joe grinned, twirling Vanessa as she laughed, her dress billowing beautifully around her.

'How did I ever get so lucky?' He thought to himself, staring unashamedly at his girlfriend once again. She was way out of his league, but somehow, she had been by his side in his hardest times, always when he needed her.

The music pounded once more, and Joe swung Vanessa around gracefully, ending up inches from her face. He pressed his forehead against hers, letting his eyes slowly close and his lips move forward.

Of course, their lips never met, for at what seemed like the absolute worst time, someone slammed into Joe, their drink spilling onto his clothes. Joe and Vanessa broke apart, and Joe's eyes flew up to whoever bumped into him.

"I'm so, so sorry!" Came a voice, and Joe saw a young waitress looking at him guiltily. Joe sighed and flicked some of the water from his shirt.

"It's fine, no one was hurt." His voice and annoyed expression portrayed otherwise, and the waitress scampered off to get him a towel, another apology coming from her lips as she did.

Vanessa's tinkling laugh met his ears but a moment later. He turned to her, a bemused expression on his face.

"Are you laughing at me?"

Another laugh escaped her before she replied, "You're cute when you're flustered." Joe immediately smiled, his frustration vanishing. He could never stay mad when Vanessa was around him.

As they left the restaurant, which, to Joe's surprise had given him a discount for their meals, and walked to Joe's car, he snaked an arm around her, pulling her close to him. In the car, they played music loudly, singing along as they drove along.

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4:00 pm

Somehow, they ended up in a nearby park. Vanessa ran through the trees, her dress flowing behind her. A laugh escaped her as she felt familiar arms wrap around her.

"Got you!" Came Joe's voice, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. Vanessa wriggled out of his arms, and retorted, all the while smiling,

"I think we're a little too old to be playing hide and seek."

Vanessa watched as Joe gave her his signature grin, and proceeded to capture her in his arms once again.

"Who says? I think whoever said that to you has forgotten what real fun is."

Vanessa laughed, about to respond that Frank had actually said that to her once, but stopped short when Joe suddenly tensed and released her from his arms.

"Joe, what is it?" Her voice rang out through the new silence, and her wary eyes traveled to Joe's now alert ones. Vanessa saw his mouth open to answer, his virgil eyes never stopping their search, when a gunshot sounded. It reverberated through the forest in a terrifying manner, Vanessa's ears still ringing as Joe grabbed her hand and shouted,

"Run, Van!" He dragged her along towards where their car was, to what Joe thought would be safety and escape from whoever was around them. Oh, how wrong he was.

Joe had just grabbed the door handle when Vanessa's hand was wrenched out of his. A cry of surprise came from her as she was yanked back, and Joe immediately spun around, ready to fight anyone who had the nerve to touch his girlfriend. The fight within him died as he saw the gun pressed to her head, and a face that Joe had never wanted to see in real life before him. Words fell from his lips in an astonished whisper.

"Egorov."

Fear crashed down on Joe like a wave, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. A cruel smile took its place on the man holding Vanessa. 'It's like some sort of demented cheshire cat.' Joe noted to himself, not moving a muscle in fear of Vanessa getting hurt.

"Ah, you know me." His voice was thick with a russian accent. "Then you know I do not joke when I say that if you do not do what I tell you, I will blow your lady's pretty little head off." Vanessa gave a little gasp as he tightened his grip on her, the gun pressing dangerously against her head. When Joe made no moves forward, Egorov spoke again.

"Now, the fun can begin."

Joe's vision erupted in black as he was struck from behind, collapsing to the ground.

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6:00 pm

Frank shot up from the chair he had been sitting in as soon as he heard the words. The twenty-two-year-old's mind swirled with thoughts and ideas of what Collig could be talking about, his heart already pumping with anxiety.

"An accident? What...what happened?" The words felt as if they were ripped from his mouth, his brain screaming to not know, for Collig to tell him he had the wrong number. Alas, fate was not that kind.

"We just found your brother's car by a park." Frank's eyebrows furrowed. That in itself was nothing new. It was quite a regular occurrence for Joe and Vanessa to travel around, stopping at seemingly random places. There was a pause on the other side of the line. Frank could almost feel Collig thinking, trying to find words to say next. Frank prayed that that was it, that the police had just found his brother's car, and Collig would laugh into the phone as he saw Joe and Vanessa and realized his mistake. He wanted anything, anything other than the next sentence he heard.

"Frank, the tires were shot out, and we searched the area for Joe. No one could locate him, and there were trace amounts of blood around the car." A heavy sigh filled the air, Collig's voice seeming strained and tired. "Could you tell your father and meet us down here? We're at 43rd and Parker Street."

Frank didn't answer. Couldn't answer. He felt as if his jaw had stopped working, and no amount of force would pry it open. His mouth had gone inexplicably dry, and his hand clenched around the phone as if it were a lifeline. Collig's voice pulled him from his stupor.

"Frank? Frank, are you there?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll tell my dad." His voice came out a whisper, barely audible to Collig. "But Chief, it wasn't just Joe. He was on a date with Vanessa."

A sharp intake a breath was all that proved Collig was shaken in any way. "Alright, thank you, Frank. I'll alert her parents."

Frank hung up with a flick of his wrist, darting up the stairs in record time, bursting into his father's study, awakening him from his slumber. His father immediately stood up, sensing something was wrong from his usually stoic son.

"What's wrong, Frank?" Came his worried voice, and Frank didn't know if he wanted to answer. How he wished it wasn't real.

"Joe and Van went missing. Their car was found in a park, and the tires were shot out." Frank's voice was flat, but the unmistakable shake of fear proved how worried he was. "Chief Collig said to come down there as soon as we could."

He could visibly see his father processing the information, eyebrows furrowed and mouth pursed in both concentration and pain. He proceeded to nod, grabbing his phone from off his desk, and started to walk towards the door. His voice was strained as he spoke to Frank.

"You drive. I'm going to call your mother."

Frank's heart skipped a beat as he thought of his mother. She was out of town for a business trip, and had no idea anything was happening. She would be devastated. Joe was her baby. 'Why does this always happen to us?' Frank thought as he got in the front seat of the car, starting to drive to the address Collig had given him. As he drove, his father pulled out his phone and dialed what Frank knew to be his mother's number. This was not going to be a pretty conversation.

Fenton closed his eyes as he heard his wife's voice.

"Fenton! Hi, I just got done with a business meeting." Fenton's voice threatened to fail him as he spoke, already dreading the conversation.

"Laura, honey, there's been an accident. Well...sort of an accident." He rambled on, not wanting to get to the point, when Laura interrupted him, her voice scared and hard.

"Fenton. What happened?" Drawing a deep breath, he said the words that he didn't want to be true.

"Joe and Vanessa went missing. Nobody knows where they are." There was a pause on the other side of the line.

"I'm coming home." Fenton shook his head, forgetting she couldn't see him.

"You don't need to do that, I'll keep you informed if and when we find anything at all. Frank and I are driving to the scene right now, we don't even know the full extent of what happened." Knowing that his wife could be in danger if she came home, Fenton immediately wanted to keep her where she would be safe. A huff on the other side of the line made Fenton realize that convincing his wife of this might not be so simple.

"Fenton, if you think for one second that I'm going to be away while my child is kidnapped, think again. Not only that, but you and Frank are going to need someone to take care of you. God knows how you throw yourselves at projects and forget to take care of yourselves."

A small smile formed on his face at his wife's stubbornness. 'I know where Joe gets it.' Knowing his wife was right, he relented immediately.

"Okay, but when you get here, call me so I know you made it alright." Fenton didn't know what he would do if anything ever happened to Laura. She was his constant, his only love.

"Of course honey, I'll call you first thing." Fenton heard his wife sigh. "Bring my boy home, Fenton. I love you."

Fenton's reply of his love ended the phone call, and he rested his head back on the head rest, knowing his wife was absolutely right. He needed her in every way. 'Be safe, my love.'

Frank pulled up to the park fifteen minutes later, stealing occasional glances at his father who seemed to be lost in thought. As soon as he stopped the car though, Fenton seemed to snap out of his mind, and got out of the car almost as fast as Frank did. Frank stepped beside Chief Collig straight away, his voice laden with worry as he asked,

"What did you find so far?" Fenton was beside him the next moment, listening carefully to Collig's words.

"Unfortunately, not much. We dusted their car for fingerprints, but didn't find any good ones, except for one of Joe's, and besides a few neighbours saying they might have heard a few shouts and some gunshot, there are no witnesses."

Frank felt himself pale. 'Gunshots?' Trying to calm himself with the memory of Collig saying that only the tires had been shot out of Joe's car, he questioned, "Was there any blood?" Collig's eyes flickered to Frank for a moment, as if considering what to say.

"Yes," seeing Frank's eyes widen, he quickly clarified, "But it wasn't enough blood for us to consider it being from someone who was shot." Relaxing ever so slightly, Frank heard his father speak.

"Collig, who do you think did it?" Eyebrows creasing at his father's question, Frank turned his gaze towards his father. It only took him a few seconds to see what he was getting at.

"Dad, you don't think…" Frank trailed off, not wanting to complete the sentence. Fenton ran a hand through his brown hair that matched Frank's and sighed.

"It makes sense, doesn't it? He just got rid of the last person he kidnapped, and now someone else is gone."

Collig raised his eyebrows at the exchange, until Fenton's last sentence. It dawned on him all at once. "You think this was Egorov."

Frank's chest tightened at the name, and at the way his father nodded solemnly. This wasn't right. He was supposed to protect Joe, and yet he was standing at another place that Joe had been harmed. Frank ran a hand through his hair, just as his father had, knowing that that wasn't particularly true. His brother was a grown man, 'even though at times he acts like a six-year-old.' Frank could never constantly keep watch over his overactive brother, even when they were young, and now that he was a 21-year-old, it was even harder. He had Vanessa and college to worry about, just as Frank had Callie.

'Still,' he mused, gazing to where he knew Joe and Vanessa must have been hours before, 'He's my baby brother.'

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Till next time,

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