When my alarm went off at 5:00 am Monday morning, both Joey and I tried to reach over and shut the damn thing off, neither of us succeeding because we got into each other's way.

When I gave up and let him do it, I felt the satisfaction he got from knocking it off the table, but then I had to reach down and drag it over to me by the cord to finally flip the alarm switch off.

Joey had experienced two hysterical fits during the night, and neither of us had gotten much sleep because of it.

When I sat up and tried to shake the cobwebs from my mind, Joey's arm hooked itself around my chest and pulled me back down.

"We're not going to school today," he simply stated. "Go back to sleep."

"But," I started but was hushed by Joey's finger over my lips.

"Shhh. I'm sleeping," he muttered.

I looked over at him and watched his relaxed face as he breathed. It was nice to see him like that. Over the past week, his expression was always anything but relaxed, and it made me wonder if it was the right thing to be rushing him into this while he still didn't have all his memories back.

For some reason, Joey couldn't recall anything about what we did in the cell before he was brainwashed. Joey kept saying that he felt like he had lived two separate lives that were completely separate. With a little help, he could recall anything in his life up until the weekend Penny and Steven lured Suzi out to that old abandoned building and used her as bait to capture me. Everything from that point up to and including our time spent in the cell together was completely shut out by some kind of defense mechanism. He remembered everything after that clearly. In fact those memories popped into his mind at random intervals all day long.

So from Joey's point of view, he just seemed to have woken up one day a new person without any warning. I didn't understand why he blocked it out, but I wasn't about to force those memories to come back when he was dealing more than he could handle already.

"You know, you worry too much," Joey suddenly said.

Without opening his eyes, he moved closer to me and snuggled up to my side, placing a kiss on my shoulder before resting his head on it. Seeing he was at peace with himself for the moment, I sighed and let myself fall back asleep.

The twins didn't bother us that morning, and even though my mom and dad knew we had planned on getting up early, they didn't try to wake us up either. It was well after ten o'clock before I awoke again, and the first thing I saw was Joey's sleeping face within ten inches of mine.

I studied his face, noticing how different he looked from back in Jr. High. I counted seven whiskers on his lip, thirteen on his neck and chin, and noticed for the first time he had a scar on his forehead from a long deceased zit. His face was widening and hardening, but still had that soft boyish look to it yet. I felt so calm and happy just being able to study him like that, not knowing when the next time I would be able to do so would be.

Something moved in the space between us, and it took me a moment to figure out what it was. I watched Joey's dick finish hardening while hearing his breathing change in pattern, then felt my own morning hardon arrive.

I was watching our dicks rise and fall, wondering if they would touch as they hardened and softened with our breathing. I wasn't thinking about doing anything, it was just a innocent wandering thought.

I was surprised when Joey moved his hips forward so our cocks rubbed against each other, and I looked up to see what his intentions were. His eyes didn't leave our dicks' rubbing against each other, and when I felt his hand on my tool, I had to look down to see what else he was going to do.

He let go of my dick a moment and rolled over, then guided my hand to his own hard cock before taking my dick between his legs.

"Joey?" I said with a tremor in my voice. "I'm not sure we should do this.."

He sighed, then released my softening dick and rolled onto his back.

"Where's the twins when you need them," he joked with a forced smile.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Don't worry. I just thought you'd like to relive some memories," he said without looking in my eyes.

"I don't want to do anything that you don't want to do, so don't do something like that again unless you feel like doing it, 'kay?"

"Yeah... Then uhm... Uh... Never mind."

"What?"

"Shit. I want to do something horny. I thought maybe the twins would like to.. you know..."

"What, blow you?"

"Not exactly.."

"You mean fuck?"

"Well, yeah, that's what I was thinking. But now I don't really know now what I want. Actually I do know, but I can't do that."

"I want to go see Suzi too," I said, recognizing the emotion he was emitting. "I guess we should see her before we leave."

"Yeah? Cool. Let's get up and get ready then."

We were surprised to find that my mom and dad hadn't called down for breakfast yet, so once we had eaten, we went to check on our parents. I went with Joey to his parents' room, and we were greeted at the door by Joey's grandmother.

"Mornin', Grandma. How's mom and dad?" Joey asked trying to peek in the cracked door.

"I'm afraid they're a mess, honey. We had to separate them yesterday when your mom got terrified of Tommy. He's in the next room with your grandfather, and right now your mom is sleeping. I wish her parents were still alive. I just don't know her well enough to do anything more than hold her and talk about you."

"At least Uncle Paul will get here today. Maybe he'll be able to help," Joey stated. He wasn't telling us anything we didn't already know. It just seemed to be the appropriate thing to say.

"Have you seen my mom?" I asked her.

"Not since she left around three this morning. She had to help me calm Margaret down, and stayed to talk a little while... I'm sorry. What's your name again?"

"Tim," I answered.

"Tim, your mother worries a lot about you. And about you too, Joey. Try not to worry her any more than you have to, alright boys?"

"Yeah, alright, Grandma," Joey said giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Shit, Tim. Worrying must run in your family, you know?" Joey joked.

"Well, I'm going to go find her so she can stop worrying about me leaving without saying goodbye," I said as I backed away.

I was only ten paces away before Joey caught up with me.

"You're not going to see them?" I asked surprised.

"Grandma said she didn't think they were ready for that yet. Shit. Now I'm wondering if maybe we should just wait until January. I want to be here for my mom and dad when they're ready for me, you know? I really wanted them when I was coming out of it."

"But everything is set.. Maybe we can just wait till.. Hey, I know. You come to school with me today, go to your classes tomorrow and maybe Wednesday, then come back here Wednesday night. I'll tell all your teachers you had a family emergency, and then you can come back to school when things are all right with your folks. You heard Fred. They don't even start looking for new recruits until the second or third week. You just need to show up for classes so we know if there are any Gamma Alpha Etas in them and stuff."

"I don't want to leave you there alone though. Couldn't you just come back with me?"

"Nah. I'll be alright. Shit, Joey. This is nothing compared to what we just went through. I can handle anything that might come up."

"Let me think about it," he said with a worried frown.

"Heh. I guess my mom and I aren't the only ones who worry."

We reached my dad's master bedroom, and pushed the large oak doors open to go in. I was surprised to find my dad carefully listening to my mom's tummy with his eyes closed.

"What are you listening for?" I asked.

"He's not listening for anything dear," my mom said softly and happily. "He's probing your little brother or sister."

Both Joey and I must have dropped our jaws at the same time because it made my mom laugh, breaking my dad's concentration.

"I think it was just my imagination. There's only one embryo. Not two," my dad said before noticing us. "Morning boys. Wanna have a feel?"

My dad guided both Joey's and my mind to the barely detectable mass within my mothers womb. It couldn't have been week old yet since it hadn't attached itself to the lining of her insides. Actually, it could have been anything, and I wouldn't have believed the small mass was an embryo if my mom and dad hadn't sworn they had witnessed it falling from her fallopian tube earlier this morning.

"Have you named it yet?" Joey asked softly as I continued to probe it for something more distinctively human like.

"Richard Davis Grodmen if it's a boy," my mom started,

"Same as my father," my dad inserted.

"or Wendy Alicia Grodmen if it's a girl," my mom finished.

"Same as my mother," my dad added.

"Not entirely. Your mother's last name is still Harris."

"I know, but I can't help it if pop never married her, now can I?"

"Uhm, I'm not objecting or anything, but why are you naming it after dad's parents? I mean, I know my middle name is your dad's first name, but Timothy isn't his middle name."

"Actually, Timothy is your great uncle's name. When I was little, he used to spend a lot of time playing with me. I always said I'd name my first son after him, so I did. I wish he could have seen you.."

"But why aren't you going to use another name from your side along with one from dad's side? I would think that would be more fair."

"Well, since we're on the subject of names..." my dad said looking at my mom.

"Oh, all right," my mom said with a fake sound of impatience. Then she smiled at him before looking at me and saying, "Tim, your father and I wanted to know if you were going to change your name."

"Change my name? Oh.. You mean from Brandton to Grodmen. Well, to tell you the truth, I have thought about it a little, but I'm kind of used to be a Brandton, you know? I guess I can change it if you want me to though.."

"Timothy," my dad said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You're my son, and you'll always be my son, even if you don't have the same last name as I do. I don't want you to change who you are because you think it's your duty to. But because of that, your mother suggested our second child be named after my parents. We thought you would want to keep the name Brandton since you're used to it, but little brother or sister will be a Grodmen. I thought that would sound fair to you."

"Yeah.. It does, I guess," I said imagining what it would be like to have a little sister.

The image of a younger version of my mom running naked down the hall with me and the twins was interrupted by a strong feeling of disappointment from my dad. I saw he wanted a little more assurance than just my words, so after a slight hesitation, I gave him a big hug.

"I love you, son," he said returning the hug. "If you hadn't come into my life, I would have never understood what that means. But you and your mother gave me what I needed to figure it out."

I looked up at him with a mischievous grin and said, "You're welcome, pop. Just make sure my little sister knows it too before she gets old enough to turn every cute guy into her man-servant."

"Little sister?" Joey queried. "What makes you so sure it's a girl?"

"I just have a feeling, that's all," I said winking at my mom.

After discussing how Joey wished to be around for when his parents wanted him, we ate a late lunch with Joey's grandparents to get their input, and finally Joey agreed to go with my idea on the condition that I came back with him.

So after we finished working out the final details, I had someone bring the mustang around front so we could load our stuff in it.

Joey acted rather odd when he saw his car for the first time since our kidnapping. He hesitated before touching it, looking like he wasn't sure if it was real.

"Can't we take your car?" Joey said a few moments later.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I don't know.. I keep remembering a girl... Something about this girl wanting to get out of the car but I.. wouldn't... Oh Christ! I think... I think I raped... Oh God... I raped her in this car. I.. NO! Don't want to remember!" he said, clutching his head.

I kneeled beside him after his legs went out beneath him, struggling to keep his emotions from overwhelming my own as I tried to comfort him. Joey was trembling all over, gasping for breath, and I couldn't seem to get him to respond to me. So out of desperation, I probed his mind, finding it replaying the memory of him raping a fourteen year old girl after school last April.

Last April. After Steven's first attempt to capture me, but before Joey and I were his prisoners. Joey's mind was trying to reject the memory of forcing the girl into his car, driving her to a deserted lot, then forcing himself onto her, eventually raping each of her holes, then making her forget it ever happened.

But it didn't feel quite right to me. Something about the way the car looked, the way the girl looked, the way Joey remembered feeling. It just didn't seem like it could be real..

"JOEY! IT NEVER HAPPENED! DO YOU HEAR ME? STEVEN PLANTED IT IN YOUR MIND WITH HIS TELEPATHY! THAT'S WHY IT DIDN'T GET WIPED!"

Joey's eyes locked on mine, and as I repeated it, the agony slowly faded from his eyes. It took a few minutes for Joey to recover, and while I explained my reasons to him, I couldn't help wonder how many other memories Steven had planted in that area of his mind he was still blocking out. But at least he had punctured a hole in that otherwise blank area. It was only a matter of time.

When Joey finally announced he wanted to go, I said, "Maybe we should go in my car. But if you still want to go and say bye to Suzi, maybe we should take a limo, just in case she reminds you of another... uh, false memory. Simon can have someone load my car up while we're gone."

Even though it meant we would have to come back instead of leaving straight from the high school, Joey saw the logic of it and simply nodded.

The ride to school was extremely quiet, and I considered giving him his present then instead of later, but I new that after we said goodbye to Suzi, we both would need something to cheer us up. And I was right.

"But why are you two doing this? Why can't your mom or dad go with you or something?" Suzi said painfully after we told her our plan.

"Because my mom and dad would stick out like a sore thumb. Besides, I don't mean to brag, but they are just not as strong as Joey and I are together. And the twins will be visiting us once we're in the fraternity just to make sure we're okay.."

"The twins? What could they do if you got into trouble? Offer to trade for you with a blow job? They could get hurt or.."

"They can't get hurt. They're immune to this stuff, remember? And as far as anyone physically trying to harm them, nobody can shield themselves from their empathic punch. They know how to knock people out with it. I still haven't figured that one out."

"Alright, but you two are not immune. What if they get to you before you can get to Sarah?"

"That's what the twins are for. Even if we are wiped clean of all our memories, the twins can get us back to my dad, and he made, er, backups of us. Look, the worst thing that could happen is they kill one or all of us. But they won't do that. They would want us for our abilities."

"I don't like this... When is this supposed to take place?"

"We start tomorrow," Joey said, speaking for the first time since we broke the news to her.

"Tomorrow?!" Suzi just looked back and forth between our faces, with a pleading look.

"Suz, we have to try this. Sarah may still have her memories. I can't let her go if there is still something left of her. And only Tim and I can do this. Or I should say, will do this."

"You know why the Inquisitor wouldn't help us. He's responsible for the safety of all Cabal members. If one of them is involved and he told us, he would then have to stop us from doing anything that might harm that member. It's better this way."

"Yeah, I know. It just amazes me how he doesn't trust the others, but he's still loyal to them." "Do I have any say in this?" Suzi said.

"No, not really. Tim and I talked about it, and if you are willing, we'd like to, er, give you amnesia about us until we get back. Just so you're not miserable."

"Fine. Do it now. Otherwise I am going kill you both mysel...."

Suzi passed out, falling into Joey's arms.

"Shit. I hope we are doing the right thing Tim."

"I hope so too. I sorta wanted a goodbye kiss before you did that..." I said before kissing Suzi on the lips.

"Yeah, I did too," Joey said before doing the same.

"Well, boys, I hope you know what you're getting yourself into," Higgs said as he helped Joey sit Suzi up in her chair. "Now get out of here so Suzi can get to her last class before the bell rings. And.. Good luck." "Thanks, Mr. Higgs," I said, giving him a surprise hug, "I'll have my mom keep you posted once we find something."

"Don't get yourself hurt now," he said softly. "I want you both back in one piece."

We left his office, and went straight out to the limo.

It was a cool day for August, the sky cloudless, and the air wasn't muggy like it usually was that time of the year. The beautiful weather was unfitting for a day such as this. It should have been pouring rain as we climbed in and sat in silence, wondering if we would ever see her again.

Once we had pulled out of sight of the school, Joey got a soda out, but never opened it. He just sat there with a distant look in his eyes, clutching the cold can in his limp hands.

"Hey, Joey.. I got a present for you," I said finally, taking out a small gold box, just like the one my father gave me when I first met him.

"Shit, Tim. You are already putting your life on the line for me. That better not be what I think it is."

I didn't say anything as I traded the box for the soda.

"Shit, it is," Joey said, taking the coin out of the box. "I'm not taking your coin, Tim. It's too much. I just..."

"What? You think I'd give you my coin?" I said with the biggest grin I ever had. Then I opened my hand and flipped my coin in the air.

"What the... You mean?" Joey said, looking at his coin closely.

"Yep. One for you, and one for me. Actually, you can thank John for it. He's always been a coin freak, and he studied mine for days. Before we, er, got caught, John recognized yours while he was at a coin shop, and called me straight from the counter. I was going to give it to you for a special occasion.. I figured this was special enough."

"Are they the same?"

"Yeah," I said handing mine over so he could compare. "Except mine's a little more worn. I'm gonna have to figure out a better way to keep it on me someday. It's even gone through the laundry a few times."

"Wow, Tim... Thanks... Thanks a lot! Wow, my own coin.... How come you didn't give it to your mom or dad?"

"I figured you needed it more than they did. Especially while we're away from home. I ran across it yesterday while I was packing, I figured this would be the best time to give it to you."

"Hey! I just cloaked my coin! Holy shit. And I did it to yours too!"

"How did you... Oh.. Hey... Try letting the coins run the cloak.. Yeah.. Cool.. They can shield themselves without us doing it for them."

"Well, I guess that takes care of that problem... At least we don't have to leave them in the car now... I wish your mom or dad was here so we could mind wrestle. I'm still nervous about that."

"Yeah, I know. But we spent a whole week doing that. But when even with my mom and dad together couldn't break through, you know we wouldn't be any readier unless we had someone else to wrestle with. I wish we could wrestle each other."

"That would be cool. How about you and me doing some physical wrestling?"

"Nah, I'm not in the mood."

Joey got off his seat and pushed the button that turned the seats on his side of the limo into a mattress. Then he laid down and said, "Come here."

I crawled up to him on the bed, and he looked in my eyes and said, "Thanks. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Same here."

We hugged, then just laid on our backs talking about what we would do when we came back with Sarah.

Seeing Joey's dad and granddad sitting on the front steps surprised us to say the least. Joey didn't even wait for the limo to stop before he dashed out and ran up the steps yelling, "What's wrong? Where's mom?"

As it turned out, nothing was wrong. In fact, Joey's dad was acting like his old self, and was insisting he go with us. Since we were living in the dorms and hadn't been able to obtain a parking place, the plan had been for someone to go with us to take the car back home. Tom kept arguing that it was a father's responsibility to do that, and within minutes the three Connors were resorting to extremely foul language that even I don't use.

I was pleasantly shocked when my dad came out and said if Tom wanted to go, he would have to agree to let him do the driving on the way back.

"You're going to?" I asked with an awful grin on my face.

"I'm your father, and it's a father's responsibility to take their child to college their first time, right Tom?"

"Right. But I get to fuckin' drive them there if you're driving the way back."

"Echm..." I said, clearing my throat. "I believe it's my car? I'll be the one driving it there."

"And since I paid for it..." my father said, rising up on his toes to make himself taller than Tom.

"Fuck. Alright. Shit. I hope you're happy, Dad."

"I'm not. Does that make you feel any fucking better?" Grandpa Conner said with a smirk.

"Yeah.. It does.." Tom smirked back.

"Shit," Joey said. "Can we go now? I'm already car sick."

The road trip was uneventful except for finding out Tom thought Joey and I were really going to College for an education. He didn't really have a very good grasp on reality yet. With all the memories struggling to emerge, he simply had excepted the fact we were going to college and just ignored anything that conflicted with that.

Joey almost broke down in tears when his dad kept saying he could have sworn he had done this before. I felt Joey actively scan his dad's mind, finding no trace of Sarah anywhere in his thoughts. The realization that he didn't remember Sarah yet caused both Joey and I a lot of concern about him coming along. In effect, we had a time bomb sitting in our car, and nobody knew how long we had before the clock reached zero.

It was a good four and a half hour drive to the university, and by the time we sorted out where the hell our dorm was, it was well past seven o'clock. We went to grab something to eat before unloading our stuff, and while we were climbing the two sets of stairs to our room, that bomb went off.

Tom was talking about his own college days, when he said, "And I'll never forget the look on Sarah's face when she saw her dorm room for the..."

My dad, Joey and I froze, then when we heard Joey's suitcase start tumbling down the stairs, we had to drop what we were carrying too in order to grab Tom before he followed Joey's underwear.

"Sarah.. She's dead, Joey.. My little Sarah's dead," he said as we helped him sit down.

"I know, dad," Joey said, wiping away his dad's tears while his own ran down his face just as quickly. "I know."

"Joey.." I said, not understanding why he wasn't telling him.

"Let him think she's dead," he thought to me. "Trust me. It's easier to believe she's dead than someone's toy. He'll be okay after the shock is over."

My dad and I ended up retrieving all the junk we brought, and on the last load, my dad said, "I'm tired. How about we use the elevator?"

"What eleva.."

<ding..>

"Oh.."

When we got to the room, Joey and his dad were there talking softly. One glance from Joey and I knew he was torn between staying with me and going back with our dads.

So I just put on a stern face, looked him in the eyes and said, "I'm staying, and you're going back with them."

When he opened his mouth to argue, I put one hand on my hip and pointed the other one's index finger at him saying, "No arguments, no buts. Understand?"

His single nod felt like a death sentence. I hadn't realized how dependant I had become thinking he would be with me in enemy territory, backing me up while I backed him up. But I didn't let him see how much I was dreading them leaving, and even kind of rushed them out just to get it over with. I knew I was doing the right thing. And Joey left saying he knew I could take care of myself. Pity I didn't believe that myself.