*Oh my God* That was Frank's last thought as he braced himself to die, expecting the two-seater to slam into him any second, knowing that the pain would be great, but at the same time hoping it wouldn't last long. However as he flew into the air, surprisingly he didn't feel any pain, and momentarily, a rush of immense relief surged through his body.

Then the ground delivered a painful lesson on the laws of gravity, slamming into him with a stunning blow, knocking every breath out of him with a great big whoosh. Now THAT hurt, he thought dimly. A lot. In the distance, he imagined hearing the hum of engine getting fainter and fainter.

"Frank, are you alright?" Someone was frantically shaking him. Frank groaned. Hey, that's no way to treat someone who just-

"Joe?" His whole body ached. He opened his eyes and stared up at Joe's alarmed face.

"Are you alright?" Joe repeated, anxiously, running his hands over his brother's body, trying to see if there were any injuries. He himself was sporting a bruised forehead and skinned arm from cushioning his brother's fall but that was the least of his worries. He'd arrived home just in time to see the car speeding toward Frank at bullet speed and he just reacted.

"I'm not dead?" Frank sat up slowly, looking around. Instead of lying flattened like a pancake in the middle of the lawn, he was sprawled in the middle of the driveway, with Joe kneeling next to him. "What happened? I thought I was a goner."

"I thought so, too. At first. But then I realized if I didn't save you with my lightning reflexes and tackling skills, Coach Westcott would at once replace me with the Cody McKenna, who's been eyeing my position as quarterback since forever and of course, I couldn't let that happen. And if I didn't-"

"Alright, alright, I get it," Frank groaned, standing up carefully. At least nothing felt broken. "Thanks, buddy, I owe you one." Then Frank looked closely at his brother. "Hey, you're hurt!"

Joe covered his forehead. "Oh, it's nothing. Small price to pay." Frank smiled warmly, but Joe frowned. "That bloody car got away! Oh, what I wouldn't give for 5 minutes, just 5 minutes with-with whoever that idiot was."

"Me too," said Frank grimly. They immediately searched the whole area for clues. Except for the tire prints on the freshly-mowed lawn, nothing indicated that just a few minutes ago an attempted murder had occurred.

"Hey, I found something," Joe called out from the his side of the grass. In his hand he held a golf club. "I bet he was planning to sneak up behind you and whack you with this."

"That's mine. I took it from the basement to take the guy out," Frank answered dryly.

"Guess it didn't work, huh?" Frank shook his head, chuckling.

Then Frank told him everything that happened after Joe left. Joe was as dissatisfied as Frank at the lack of information on the Internet about Haydin, but it was too late in the night to do any more research. Frank helped disinfect Joe's cuts with iodine, thanking him once again as Joe squirmed in discomfort. He'd done this a thousand times before but it still stung. Joe hissed in pain as Frank dabbed at a particularly stinging cut on his forearm with a small ball of cotton drenched with disinfectant.

"Shesh, anyone would think I've never done anything for you before," Joe cut him off before Frank could say anything more. "Just make sure not to get me another pair of socks again for Christmas this year and I'll do it again."

Frank remembered to ask Joe how the rehearsal went but after he cleaned up the mess he made while playing doctor, he found Joe already sleeping soundly. Frank couldn't help but smile as he took off Joe's shoes from his feet which were dangling off the bed one by one, placing them carefully on the floor and all the while, Frank gazed at Joe's sleeping face. Joe looked so serene, so young when he slept. It was as if when he went off to sleep, he'd forgotten everything, left every problem behind, just to be in the comfort and luxury of dreams and peaceful slumber. I'll just ask him tomorrow, Frank decided. He hesitated, but then leaned down and kissed Joe's forehead gently. He could feel his cheeks burn. If Joe found out about this, I'm dead, he thought as he hurried out of Joe's room in the attempt to escape, just in case Joe woke up.

Sweet dreams, little brother, Frank thought, closing the door behind him slowly.

The next morning, Frank woke up to an empty house except for him and his brother. It seemed that their parents hadn't returned home last night. This worried Frank a little but before he listened to the message on the phone from his father, saying that they had stopped by Aunt Margaret's house last night and spent the night there, promising they would be back later in the afternoon.

"Hey, where's Mom? And Dad?" Joe asked as he bounded into the kitchen an hour later. Frank told him about the message and Joe moaned.

"I'm starving," he complained, wrapping his arms around his midsection.

"There's cereal.," Frank pointed out, his face buried in the business section of the daily paper.

"I don't want cereal," Joe pouted. "I had cereal yesterday."

"Then fix your own breakfast."

"I don't have the energy," Joe whined, laying his head on the table, trying to look pitiful. "Please, Frank, would you mind? I'm dying here...."

With an exasperated sigh, Frank got up, acquiescing. "You are SO pathetic, you know that?" He heated a pan on the stove and cracked two eggs into it. Fixing Joe some scrambled eggs was the least thing he could do after saving his life last night. He didn't think he could stand it when Joe had on that puppy-dog look either. Speaking of last night...

"Hey, Joe, how did the rehearsal go?" Frank asked, as enticing aroma of frying eggs assaulted his nostrils.

Joe, who was munching on Frank's toast, stopped chewing and stared blankly at him. "Huh?"

"Rehearsal? The one you went to yesterday until the most ungodly hour of the twilight zone? When you saved me from alien-brained idiot with a car?"

Joe continued staring at him in confusion. "The rehearsal," he repeated like a robot, still staring at Frank as if he had no idea what he was talking about.

"Yes, the rehearsal," Frank said in exasperation. "The Phantom of the Opera? How did it go?"

After a while, Joe answered in a monotonous voice. "The rehearsal yesterday at the school hall went well and Mr Weinhardt did a great job directing the play. He is a very dedicated man and very talented and we had much progress yesterday. We have almost finished going through the whole play." Joe blinked a few times and went back to munching his, or rather, Frank's toast.

"That's good," Frank said uneasily, finding it a bit strange the way Joe answered his question. Maybe he IS really hungry, he told himself. I'd better get this done fast, he thought as he scooped the eggs onto a plate, eyeing his rapidly disappearing toast.

Fifteen minutes later, the Hardys backed down the driveway in the black van they shared and headed for school.

By the time school ended, Joe was exhausted. He could barely concentrate in class and got nearly thrown out of the laboratory by Mr. Anderson for falling asleep in the middle of a Chemistry experiment. Blaming his lethargy on the lack of sleep, he stopped by the restroom to wash his face. As he stood in front of the mirror, he froze. What's this? Joe wondered, touching his neck. There was a red, purplish mark the size of a quarter at the base of his neck and it stood out starkly against his pale skin. It looked almost like a love bite but that was impossible since it wasn't there yesterday and the last time he saw Vanessa was during the practice at his house on Sunday. Must be some kind of rash, he thought, deciding to leave it at that. He wanted to make a stop by his locker first before heading home.

As Joe walked down the hall, he couldn't help feeling that something was terribly wrong. His mind felt jumbled and he couldn't seem to sort out his thoughts. He was also having some trouble remembering his lines and for the first time since Mr Weinhardt came to Bayport High, he felt uncomfortable in his class. He couldn't figure out why...The rehearsal last night went well. Biff was there, Vanessa was there too. So why did he feel like something was missing?

"Hi, Joe." Joe turned around and saw Vanessa standing behind him. Joe replied her greeting with a quick kiss. "Hey."

"I was worried about you," Vanessa said, circling an arm around her boyfriend's waist as they walked together. She had noticed how out of it Joe was acting in class today. Even during English class he wasn't as enthusiastic as he usually was.

"Worried? Why?" Joe frowned.

"Well, for one thing you nearly got your head chewed off by Mr Anderson for letting the Bunsen burner burn your piece of magnesium to cinders while you were off somewhere in Neverland. And when Mr Weinhardt called for the next scene you just stood there rooted like a statue. And the next thing is you've been very uncommunicative today which is not like you at all." Vanessa took a deep breath. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired," Joe said. To prove it, he cracked a big yawn. "And extremely sleepy."

"Humph, trust you to go out and have all the fun until the midnight hours while I got stuck at Charlene Madison's house last night finishing our Science project." Vanessa grimaced. "We've got to hand it in by tomorrow and we still had a lot to do before the prototype is complete. Since we're both in the play, it's been a really hectic week for us."

"When are you going to tell me what your project is all about?" Joe asked.

"I told you it's a secret," Vanessa said proudly. "Don't worry about it. I assure you it's coming along great and I'll tell you all about it when it's done. Look, it's nice talking to you but I've got to go. Charlene's meeting me at the computer lab for some last minute improvements."

"See ya," Joe said, giving her hand one last squeeze.

Vanessa stood up on tiptoes and kissed him. "Love you."

"Ditto." Joe watched Vanessa walk off with a smile. She is one hell of a woman, he thought admiringly. Too bad she's been at that Charlene's house every night ever since they got the assignment. Joe made a promise to himself to treat Vanessa to a nice dinner when all this was over.

As Joe neared the row of lockers, he stopped in his tracks. A strange looking girl was standing at his locker and she was trying to break in his locker in broad daylight!

Pain PG