2 months earlier

"How are you feeling?" Frank asked gently, in his hand a tray filled with a bowl of steaming broth and a glass of water.

"I've been better," Joe answered, smiling wanly. Frank set the tray down carefully and sat down on the edge of the bed, returning Joe's smile. The last few days had been hard on both of them. Joe'd been released from the hospital just the day before and Frank had no intention of seeing him go back.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Joe asked hoarsely. Frank shrugged. "No reason."

After a beat, Frank reached down and helped his brother sit up. "I hope you're hungry. Callie made this especially for you."

Joe's face registered surprise. "Callie? She was here?"

"Yeah. She wanted to come up and see you but I told her you were resting." Frank let Joe feed himself, knowing perfectly well how Joe hated people helping him eat.

"Why?" Joe spooned the broth carefully and slurped the steaming fluid. Mmm, delicious, he thought, satisfied, as the hot, refreshing liquid warmed his throat down to his stomach.

"Because I wanted to talk to you," Frank answered simply. Joe gave him a sharp look. He had a feeling what Frank wanted to talk to him about. And it was the LAST thing he even wanted to think about.

"Joe, about your attacker-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Joe cut him off tensely, his fingers automatically tightening around the bowl in a white-knuckled grip.

"Joe, we have to talk about it," Frank tried again. " You don't want to talk to the police, you don't even want to talk to Mom and Dad. If we don't do it now, we never will." Through 17 years of hanging out with Joe, Frank still could never manage to get Joe to do what he didn't want to do.

"I'm not ready yet," Joe said softly, his voice quivering. If only he weren't feeling so weak... Joe couldn't take anymore of this conversation.

"Joe, you have to talk to somebody sooner or later. Now I'm ready to listen," Frank pressed, moving to other side of the bed when Joe turned his face away.

"Please don't make me do this, Frank," Joe pleaded, tears glistening in his haunted blue eyes. Images flashed through his mind, assaulting his mind mercilessly. Images of hands roughly tearing off his clothes...hitting him mercilessly...kissing every part of his body furiously...Images he wanted to bury deep into his soul, images he never wanted to see again.

"Why not? Don't you trust me, Joe? I'm your brother. Would I ever hurt you?"

"You're hurting me now," Joe whispered.

Frank was silenced. Part of him wanted to hold Joe and tell him he's sorry and that everything was going to be alright. But part of him knew it wasn't.

"I'm your brother. I want to help you." Frank was begging now. " Please, let me help you."

I want to help you I want to help you. The words kept repeating themselves in Joe's head. He choked back a sob. " That's what he-said- "

"Who said? Who, Joe? Tell me!" Frank grabbed his brother's shoulders and shook him roughly.

The bowl of broth splashed onto the floor, staining the pristine white carpet a dark, nauseating brown. But Joe cared nothing for it. All he wanted was for Frank to stop.

"No!! Don't-touch me!!!" Joe screamed at the top of his lungs, struggling to break free. He continued to fight and thrash about hysterically even after Frank had released him, tears flowing furiously down his cheeks. "No! Let go of me! Frank! Help me!"

Horrified, Frank tried to calm his brother down but Joe's harsh, heart-wrenching sobs continued, incoherent pleas and cries muted by his struggles for air. "Frank!! I can't-breathe-he's-suffocating me.."

"Calm down, Joe! I'm here, I'm here with you! Breathe slowly," Frank soothed, rubbing Joe's chest gently. "That's it. Slowly." His brown eyes were shadowed with pain and sympathy at what his brother had gone through, wishing he could somehow take Joe's pain away. Hell, it's his job. Joe's his brother. Frank felt a lump in his throat, unable to shake the feeling that he had failed his brother at the time when Joe needed him the most.

"Please don't let-him touch me," Joe wheezed, his hand gripping Frank's so hard Frank winced.

"I won't, Joe, I promise." Frank replied.

Pain PG