The 3rd installment of House of Cards Trilogy. If some things don't make sense you might want to read the first two stories, House of Cards and In the Grip of Grace. I own nothing of the Hardy world and the characters therein. All other characters are solely mine.

Chapter 1

Frank Hardy was waiting for a phone call from their family physician, Dr. Bates. His younger brother, Joe, by a year, was laying down sleeping and Frank was watching him breath. He had been in bad situations before, but it hadn't bothered him near as much as the bullet his father put in his head at the hospital over two months before. Because of it, the results had left his Aunt Gertrude thinking there was no choice but to put Joe in a clinic that dealt with mentally handicapped patients. Thinking she did the right thing in keeping himself from knowing his brother was even alive, she had performed an illegal act of misplacing a human being. Those were the words that had came from Officer Con Riley when he called back a few minutes ago to let Frank know what he had found out about his aunt's case. Because his aunt had not been aware that she was doing anything illegal, the charges had been dropped down to a misdemeanor. The most she would have to do is a community service for the next year and a fine. He didn't think she would mind very much since the brunt of her social life was doing community services anyway. He was grateful that she wouldn't have to spend any time in jail. He didn't think she could handle that. What with just finding out her brother, his dad, had been killed with poison in prison, and knowing he and Joe and their friends were moving to Montana to be with the rest of their friends, wouldn't hold up very long in jail. He was relieved that Con had said Chief Collig had went to bat for her and that she was very lucky things went the way they did when the judge looked over her case.

When he found Joe up in the lower part of Michigan at the Stratford Clinic, he found that Joe's condition was a lot more serious than he thought. At least he wasn't dead as he was led to believe. But he found a wonderful nurse aide that took very good care of Joe and had created a bond with her right away. He always would be in touch with her. It was his intention to introduce Joe to her one day. He credited her with his sanity.

Earlier, they had sat at the desk with Phil's laptop. Since they had no internet service, they had gone over what they had found at Phil's house, with Phil hacking into everything he could get his hands on to find out about this medallion they found in Joe's bedroom night stand drawer. They had found out that it originated from ancestors from the Hardy family way back in the 1700's. Only back then the family name started out as Bishop and had changed through history into Joseph Hardy in the 1800's. It had been a crest of wealth and integrity. Now, as Frank and Phil sat on his bed, looking at the medallion, he had no idea that his family had a crest let alone one of wealth and integrity. They weren't really high society wealthy, but for a long time their dad had always. instilled truthfulness.

Frank snorted. "Integrity my ass."

"Well, back then that was what it was. But a lot has happened since then." Phil countered.

"Ya think?" Frank said, bitterly. " I wonder how it all got so screwed up?"

"Maybe your grandpa had an enemy." Phil suggested, as he scratched the bridge of his nose.

"If he did, how would we know who it was? Grandpa died."

"Maybe your grandma knows something. And if not, maybe she'll let us go through some of his things. We might find something through his stuff."

"If she didn't get rid of everything. She was pretty depressed when he died. We were all thinking it wouldn't be long before she went to be with him. Then she slowly came out of her depression and decided to get rid of alot of his things."

"Yeah, but she seems stable enough. Let's talk to her."

"I suppose its all we got right now. Let's go." Frank headed out the bedroom door.

"What about Dr. Bates?"

Frank stopped suddenly at the door to his bedroom. Guilty about having almost forgetting his brother.

"Oh God," he quietly berated himself. "How could I forget?"

"Because there is too much going on, Frank." Phil put his hand on Frank's shoulder for comfort.

Frank sighed loudly and ran a hand through his dark hair. Just then the phone rang. Frank dashed to the hall phone and snatched up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Frank, this is Dr. Bates."

"Yes? What did you find out?" Frank's heart was hammering in his chest. Adrenaline flowing through out his body.

"I need you to come down so we can talk. Can you do that anytime soon? I have to be involved with another patient of mine in another hour or so. "

"Sure, I'll be down right now. Thanks for calling."

After he had explained the call from Dr. Bates, Frank left Joe in Tony's hands and he and Phil went down to the hospital. They didn't have long to wait as Dr. Bates was just inside the triage. The doctor had the boys follow him back to his office for the consultation.

"Now, before I tell you of the results, I would like to know how Joe has been doing."

"I think he's been improving a lot since I first seen him in that clinic." Frank replied, with a smile.

Dr. Bates nodded his head. "Well, from the tests I have done, it makes sense that he would be improving. I want to show you something."

He had a manila envelope in his hands and began to pull a negative out from inside. He went over to a small white box on the wall and flipped a switch where a fluorescent light lit up. He stuck the negative up in the rollers at the top so the plastic would stick and he began pointing at something on the negative.

"This here is where the bullet went into his skull." he explained. Frank involuntarily winced at the thought of his father pulling the trigger. "The bullet is still there as you can see."

Frank nodded his head as he knew that since he had no surgery and there was no exit wound, that the bullet would still be in his head. He just never wanted to think about it, until now.

"I'm gonna suggest a surgeon to take the bullet out. The way things look, it doesn't seem like it would be difficult. And… it may be that it is pressing on a part of his brain that makes it seem like he's brain damaged."

Frank locked on the words, 'seem like', and searched the doctor's face for any doubts.

"You mean he might be okay after this surgery?" Frank asked hopefully.

"I'm saying, we will know one way or another because of the surgery."

Phil smiled at Frank. This was a breakthrough they never expected. Frank knew that he shouldn't let this get his hopes up too much, but he wanted his brother back so bad he could taste it. He smiled right back at Phil.

"When can the surgery be done?"

"Then you give permission for the operation?" Dr. Bates asked, smiling himself.

"Of course I do!" Frank projected enthusiastically. Then his face fell.

"What's wrong?"

"What if something goes wrong?"

"There is always a chance of that with any surgery, Frank." Dr. Bates put a hand on Frank's shoulder and gently squeezed. "But I think you owe it to Joe to give him this chance. Don't you?"

"Yes, I do." Frank said, with a little less enthusiasm. "But if something happens, will he be worse?"

"I can't give you that information. I don't know. I hope not. We all hope for the best. But prayer is a wonderful thing in cases such as this." The doctor looked at his watch. "I'm going to have to go see another patient now, Frank. I'll get a hold of this other surgeon and let you know when to bring Joe down."

"Thank you for everything, doc." Frank exchanged handshakes with his doctor.

"Your welcome and good luck."

"Wow, Frank!" Phil said in awe. "You think that whatever is wrong with Joe could be fixed as easily as surgery?"

"Wouldn't that be a miracle?" He grinned. But is grin faded as he said thoughtfully, " But I'm not getting my hopes up. This is brain surgery, Phil. If he doesn't get better, he might even…" Frank couldn't bring himself to say the words. He couldn't and would not be able to go on without his brother. Joe meant everything to him. He couldn't stand it if Joe didn't survive the surgery.

"Don't think about it, my friend." as Phil put an arm around Frank's shoulder and slightly hugged him, pulling him toward the electrical sliding glass doors leading outside. "He's going to be fine. One way or the other. All you have to do is believe."

Frank looked at Phil's determined face and once again remembered the life changing words that Estelle had given him back at the clinic and felt the fear slowly ebbing away. He took a deep breath and said," Then we'd better get over to my grandma's house. We have some work to do."

As they both walked out of the building, Phil thought, 'Now that's the Frank I know.' and smiled to himself.