A/N: Ah, it's finally up- my first (finished/published) TC fanfic! And it's a JackEt one, too! And for those of you who don't know what I'm referring to when I say "JackEt", I am talking about the Jack/Janet ship/pairing, whatever you like to call it. So anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope you like my story! ^.^ Also, I feel somewhat obligated to say this, so, CAUTION, SAD FIRST CHAPTER! THERE WILL BE TEARSHED AMONG THE CHARACTERS! THE EXTREMELY EMOTIONAL MIGHT WANT TO TURN AWAY, OR ELSE GET A POCKET HANKEY READY!...yeah… ;) that is all. Ok, enjoy!

-side note- By the way, when I use the little * mark around a certain area of story in this chapter, it means I am going into the past and revealing what happened prior to the story's beginning. When you see the second *, you know that the flashback-esq part has ended and we are now back to the regular time the story was set in. Ok! That's it!

Ch. 1

"If you love someone, let them know. Don't do something stupid like let them go." -Anonymous

"How can you be so insensitive?" By now she was furious, her eyes teary and her lips pursed angrily. If she could've stared right through the tall, red-headed nurse in front of her, she would have.

Backing away a little, the nurse replied, "Ma'am, I understand your concern. But there is really nothing we can do at this point. I'm really very so-"

"I don't want your apologies! I want you to do something!" Janet spat back, feeling anger growing inside her. It was on her voice. It was in every breath she took. And it was definitely on her face. But she reserved the right to be angry, didn't she? After all, how dare they just give up like this! How dare they be so cruel and insensitive? Janet could think of countless unpleasant words to spit out at the nurse and the doctors, but she wouldn't do that. She had to remain as composed as possible, for his sake.

Taking another step back, the nurse cleared her throat and tried again. "I'm very sorry, Miss Wood, but I don't know what else I can do for you. It's just-"

"No, don't do something for me- do something for him!" Janet cut her off angrily, pointing over in the corner of the room.

"Ma'am, I don't think you understand-"

"No," Janet took a slight step towards the nurse. "I don't think you understand." There were tears welling up in Janet's eyes, and although she was clearly quite angry, a hint of helplessness was also visible on her face.

Feeling as though there was really nothing else she could say or do, the nurse just backed over to the door and, sighing, said, "A doctor will be with you again shortly. I wish you the best." Then she swiftly stepped out of the room, shutting the door and leaving a defeated looking Janet behind.

Janet sighed and turned around. She saw him lying there, so helpless and weak. So lifeless compared to his usual glowing way. She almost had to turn away, but she wouldn't allow herself to. She briefly closed her eyes and told herself to be strong.

It's alright, Janet. She told herself. You can handle it.

Once she had willed herself to, she slowly began walking over to him. She was keeping her thoughts as far away as possible; for she knew if she let her imagination run free she would most likely make the situation worse than it actually was right now. She had to stay positive, and for her sake, as emotionally detached as she could manage for now. She stopped by the bed where Terri was also standing; a sad, distant look in her eyes. She had a clipboard tucked under her left arm, but she wasn't using it.

"How's he doing, Terri?" Janet asked, her voice almost a whisper as she looked down sorrowfully at the seemingly exanimate figure before her.

"I don't really know, Janet." Terri sighed. "One of the doctors told me that he wasn't really clear yet on his condition. He said it was still too early to tell at this point."

"Oh." Janet looked down and tried to stop a few forming tears from falling. It wasn't exactly bad news, but it wasn't particularly good news either. This got her pretty much emotionally nowhere. The fact that there was a possibility that something was seriously wrong with him outweighed the possibility that everything could be okay in her mind, thus making her see the glass as half empty instead of half full. This kind of thing played with her somewhat quick-to-jump-to-the-worst nature, and that certainly wasn't helping.

Terri was quiet for a moment, and then she looked up at Janet, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Janet?" Terri's voice was gentle and soft.

"Yes, Terri?" Janet looked up at Terri; her emotions now tamed and under control, for the most part… for now.

"I'm going to go out into the hall and talk to some of the doctors for a minute. Will you be alright in here?" Her eyes quickly flashed over to the hospital bed and then back to Janet. She knew that Janet was having a rough time with this; they both were. But she knew that if anyone was having a truly horrible time with this, it was Janet. All those years…

Janet nodded her head solemnly. "Yes, I'll be fine."

Terri quickly shot Janet a sympathetic look, as if to say, "Be brave" before she walked out of the room, leaving Janet behind to try and sort everything out by herself. Janet knew that once Terri was gone and she was left alone with him, her emotions would come back out to play, and she was sure that this time they would get the better of her. There would be no holding back tears this time. She knew better than to even try.

Looking down and taking him in, in this state of lifelessness, Janet felt the fear and sorrow rising in her. She began hearing a voice that she had previously not heard that shouted deviously, "It's no use! Silly Janet, he's gone! Gone, gone, gone! And there is nothing that you can do for him. You might as well give up hope, while you still have your sanity." The voice was too convincing; she was already feeling so hopeless. A single tear begin to roll down her cheek.

Oh, Jack. How did this happen? Janet's thoughts were brought back to earlier this morning, before the chaos that was this moment in time had erupted. She remembered it clearly.

*"Terri! Janet!" Jack's voice came from in the kitchen, prompting Terri and Janet, who were both busily going back and forth from their room and the bathroom- getting ready for the day- to rush a bit faster and finish up the last bit of their morning routines. This meant one thing-

"Breakfast! Come n' get it! It's hot and ready, like me!" Jack's joking tone filled the apartment with a sense of ease and happiness, one that he often created in the mornings making the sleepy, groggy feeling of waking up and getting ready feel a bit less hectic and stressful. And to top it all off, the food that he was making sent a wonderful aroma wafting throughout the apartment.

Both girls laughed to themselves and rolled their eyes at the joke Jack had made as they hurriedly finished applying makeup and fixing their hair.

"Be there in a minute, Jack!" Janet yelled back as she finished putting on her eyeliner. It wasn't long before Terri had walked into the bathroom to put on her lipstick, pursing her lips into the mirror and then smacking them with a smile.

"You almost ready, Janet?" Terri asked as they looked at themselves in the mirror, side by side; touching up their makeup and hair here and there. You can never look too good.

"Yep!" Janet smiled and put the cap back on her eyeliner pencil. "Let's go see what Jack has made for breakfast."

So, satisfied with the way they looked, the two headed into the kitchen, much to a waiting, hungry Jack's contentment. As they pushed open the swinging door they found themselves among the company of fresh blueberry crepes and coffee. Both roommates' eyed closed with feelings of bliss as they took in the smells of warm blueberries and maple syrup. They sat down happily at the table, mouths watering, while Jack served them, saying "Bon appétit!"

So, all had been well. They'd sat down, had their crepes and coffee. Talked, read a bit of the paper. Everything was perfectly normal. Nobody could have seen it coming. Nobody could have known what was to come.

-
Janet arrived home from the flower shop around 11:30 A.M. She had gotten off early today because business had been relatively slow. As she walked into the apartment she began to head to her and Terri's room, ready to get comfortable and curl up on the couch with a good book and her reading glasses. But, she had to turn around- the phone began to ring. Sighing, Janet made her way to the phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Is this a Miss Wood or Miss Alden?" It was a man's voice; someone looking for either she or Terri. But why, Janet didn't have the faintest idea.

"Yes, this is Miss Wood." Janet answered, hoping this wasn't some telemarketer again. They had had a few bothersome calls from people trying to sell them things that really nobody will ever need in the course of their lifetime already during the week.

"Hello, Miss Wood. I am sorry to inform you, but it seems that Jack Tripper, your roommate, has been in some sort of accident."

Janet's heart dropped at the man's words. Fear began to grab at her heart and it was threatening to choke her. Her voice slightly shaking now, she clutched the phone cord tightly and responded, "W-what? Accident? Jack? W-what happened?"

"I'm not completely sure. All I know is that he was found blacked out on his way out of the kitchen earlier today before his restaurant opened. Mr. Gomez said that he found him there when he came out of the kitchen, and he was completely out of it. He said that he was unable to wake Mr. Tripper up."

Janet felt fear quickly spread from her heart to her mind and back, making her feel both emotionally and mentally afraid, and making her stomach do uncomfortable turns. Frantically, she asked, "W-where is he? Is he going to be alright?"

"They took him to the hospital. He is here in our care now. I'm sorry, but I really don't know his condition. I can try to find-"

"I'm going down there right now! Thank you." Janet quickly hung up the phone and grabbed her purse. Heading out the door, she ran into Mr. Furley, who asked where she was going in such a hurry.

"Mr. Furley I don't have time to stop and chat right now, I've got to get down to the hospital." Janet pushed past him and continued down the stairs and began briskly walking down the street, hoping to catch the next bus downtown.

"Well, okay, we'll talk later!" Mr. Furley yelled after her. Even though he had been confused, he said nothing further, because Janet definitely wasn't stopping now. They'd fill him in later, he was sure of it. After all, he was always kept in the loop. Right?

As soon as it came Janet hopped on the next bus to downtown and waited patiently to get off at the hospital- the same one where Terri worked, in fact. She knew she could probably find Terri there and maybe she, being a nurse would know what was going on with Jack.

Upon entering the hospital, Janet ran quickly to the front desk where she, slightly out of breath, asked for Nurse Terri Alden. And sure enough, she was directed to Terri who had taken her to a room where a motionless Jack lay, nurses shuffling about around him, checking things and talking to a doctor who was in the room. The doctors had told Janet to wait outside but she had protested, saying she had to be in there- now. Feeling no point in arguing, the doctors had let her in, making Janet's job of finding out exactly how Jack was a bit easier.

Except, once she had gotten inside and tried to get information from the doctors and nurses about Jack's condition, all they could offer her were "we're not completely sure"'s, and "I don't know what else we can do". It had infuriated her to no end, seeing as how these were people who were supposed to be helping Jack and all they seemed to be doing was standing around and taking statistics. What good did that do? They needed to be doing everything in their power to wake Jack up and make him okay again. And Janet was going to see to that.*

But now, here she was, standing over a still dead-to-the-world Jack all by herself. And there was no one around to see her pain, see her sorrow, see how much she wanted, no, needed Jack to wake up and be okay again. She wanted everything back to normal. Now.

But it wasn't any good to imagine it, and she knew that. However, she felt like there might somehow be a better chance of things being alright if she tried to think pleasant thoughts about Jack and push the dark, depressing ones from her mind. So she did. She thought about the time she first met Jack, and how charming and alluring he had been, even wearing Eleanor's old pink fuzzy robe... The very thought of it made her slightly giggle to herself.
She thought about the time that Jack had hidden from the F.B.I. and pretended to be Chrissy. Oh, had that been a wild chase! The F.B.I. agents hadn't known what had hit them! And when he had lost his hat and they just stared at him...
She thought about the time that Jack had saved her from being further deceived by her sleazy dance teacher Michael. And how afterward, when she had broken down in tears and felt terrible for not believing Jack, he had simply comforted her; asking her for a dance, and had just held her there and danced with her. A moment that she had clung to- never wanting it to end.

Standing there in her silence, relishing in happy memories that she and Jack had shared, she came to a realization. There were some things she needed to say, weather Jack was conscious or not. She would never be able to forgive herself if she didn't say these things now. So cautiously, Janet looked behind her to see if anyone was coming into the room. She didn't see anyone around the door, so she turned back to Jack and she grew very somber.

Janet reached down and placed her hand on Jack's, holding the back of his hand firmly but gently. A tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek. It wasn't long before the tears were coming in a steady flow; she just couldn't hold it in anymore. It felt like eons of emotion had been welled up and were suddenly flowing forth; Janet didn't like to cry, it wasn't something she did all that often. But now, in this moment, holding back tears was utterly impossible. So she let them flow.
When she found the strength to speak, Janet cleared her throat and looked directly at Jack, and, slowly at first, her words began to flow.

"You're my best friend, Jack. Why is this happening? Oh, I wish I could wake you up and make everything okay again, but I can't…. You know, you mean a lot to me, and Terri, and Larry, and, you know Mr. Furley loves you too, Jack. Even if he doesn't always show it… Well, what I'm trying to say, is… you- you just can't leave us, Jack. I mean, I don't know what we'd do without you. You're always there for me when I need you, and I'm sure everyone else feels the same. You see, I've never had a friend quite like you, Jack. You're reliable, and sweet. Caring, funny, charming…" A smile formed on Janet's face as she trailed off. "You can always make me laugh. And when I've had a bad day, you always know how to cheer me up. And you always loved to cook, in more ways than one, I might add. Janet giggled a little to herself as she remembered countless advances towards the girls that Jack brought home. He was always looking for trouble. She sighed, "But anyway, what I'm trying to say is, I can't imagine my life without you, Jack. I don't know what I would do if you weren't there every day making me laugh and making the apartment smell wonderful with your cooking every night. …I need you to be okay. You've got to wake up, Jack. Please. …I- I love you."

The last few words she said were almost whispered, and she choked up. She took her hand off of Jack's as tears relentlessly began flowing, and she couldn't stop herself from leaning down and resting her head on Jack's chest. She felt his slow, yet steady breaths as she just laid there and cried, her tears soaking his chest and making her mouth taste salty. It was all she could do to calm herself down to lie there for a while until she stopped crying and was able to take a few deep breaths. Slowly, she pulled herself up and wiped half-dried tears from her face. Lying there with him for a while had made her feel a little better. After all, things couldn't get any worse, right?

That wasn't exactly the case. It wasn't too long after Janet had recovered that the head doctor and a few of the nurses (Terri included) had come back in and stood somberly before her. Terri walked over and took her place beside Janet. She linked her arm with Janet's in a supportive, hopeful way as the doctor shared the conclusive news with them. It was in fact, the news that no one wanted to hear; he had said that there was nothing they could do for Jack, as they could not for the life of them find out the underlying causes of what was wrong with him. His condition had managed to stump all of the doctors in the building. And also, that in his coma-like sate, he probably wouldn't make it past another six hours, and it was about six now, meaning that he would likely not live past midnight tonight. Janet couldn't believe what she was hearing and had almost gone into a frantic fit at hearing the news. She had begun protesting that this couldn't be right, and pleading uselessly for the doctors to do something- anything to bring Jack back to her. Instead, though, she had been taken out of the room by two nurses and set down in a chair to calm down.

"Deep breaths," One of the nurses instructed, placing a hand on Janet's shoulder.

"But you don't understand, I have to-" Janet began to stand up, but the nurse pushed her back down into her chair.

"Please, take some deep breaths." The nurse insisted once again, refusing to let Janet back into the room until she had calmed down. So Janet obediently obeyed, breathing in and out, in and out, until she felt calm enough to control herself and stand up without shaking. The nurse let her go back into Jack's room with Terri, whom, once Janet was by Jack's bed alongside her, suggested that she and Janet spend Jack's last moments with him, whether he was awake or not. Janet agreed and added that it was the only place she wanted to be.

Several minutes to midnight and everyone was still there waiting- Janet and Terri, and of course, Jack. Nothing drastic had happened yet, and Janet was still holding on to the small shred of hope that maybe the doctors had been wrong and that Jack would be just fine when she woke up in the morning (assuming she even fell asleep that night) and that everything would go back to the way it was. She was afraid of having hope, and afraid of not having it. Nothing really felt right.

Janet and Terri had both taken up seats at the far back of the room, near Jack's left side. Terri was fighting sleep, leaning up against the wall in her chair and watching Jack intently for any signs of something good happening. Janet was in a seat next to Terri, sprawled out in a sort of laying position across two chairs, forcing herself to stay awake, and she, too, had her eyes locked intently on Jack.

Just when Janet's eyes started to close and she began to force them back open, she saw something. Or had she? Had it been her imagination? She had sworn that in that instant of opening her eyes she had seen Jack's head move slightly. Expectantly, she tested it out, closing her eyes and opening them quickly. Nothing happened. She sighed and rested her head on the wall behind her once again. Now I'm so tired my thoughts are getting the better of me. She knew it had been too good to be true…

But just seconds later, she saw it again- and this time she was certain. Janet quickly jumped up from her chair and ran over to Jack's side. Sure enough, his eyelids were fluttering and he seemed to be waking up.

"Jack? Jack?" Janet excitedly called as she watched him bat his eyelashes rapidly several times before he finally opened his eyes.

"Jack?! Oh, Terri, get over here!" Janet was practically jumping up and down by now, making a half-awake-half-asleep-still-sort-of-groggy Terri rise out of her chair and yawn.

"Janet, what is it?" Terri stretched and walked over to stand next to Janet; her eyes widening when she saw what Janet saw.

"Oh, Janet, he's awake!" Terri shouted happily, her and Janet now embracing and jumping up and down excitedly. Soon they had calmed down and Janet was able to regain some seriousness again through her excitement.

"Jack? Can you hear me? It's me, Janet."

It took him a few moments, but he quietly and weakly responded, "Hey, Janet." A small smile crept onto his face. Janet, too, began smiling as she looked at his warm smile and his kind, blue eyes- ones that she'd feared she'd never see again.

"I'm here too!" Terri said excitedly, giving Jack a small wave.

"Hi, Terri." Jack slowly turned his head to her and smiled, making Terri smile back. The three of them stayed there locked in silence for a while before Janet spoke.

"How are you feeling, Jack?"

"Not the greatest. I just don't have any energy." Jack trailed off and thought for a second before he cautiously asked, "They said I probably won't make it past tonight, didn't they?"

Neither Janet nor Terri wanted to answer this, but knew that they had to. So, softly, Janet answered,

"Yes...How did you know that?"

"It was weird, but I could kind of hear- off and on- throughout the whole thing. I picked up on more and more as time went on."

"Oh." As his last words hit her, Janet suddenly had a thought, one that she needed to ask. She had to know. It was now or never.

"Jack," she began somewhat cautiously. "Did you hear when I..."

"Said all those wonderful things? Yes, Janet, I did. Thank you." A warm, kind smile became his face and his eyes twinkled with happiness, making Janet's eyes tear up once more.

"There's something I want you to know too, Janet." Jack shakily reached up to grab Janet's hand but she quickly met him halfway, taking his hand herself to save him the strain.

"Yes, Jack?" Tears began filling her eyes, knowing that he likely didn't have much time left. This might be it.

"All those things you said- right back at ya. You mean so much to me. You have been my wonderful best friend for longer than anyone else. You changed my life so much when you walked into it, and for the better. I want you to know that, Janet. ...I love you."

Jack smiled and then closed his eyes, and his breathing slowly seemed to die down to nothing. His grip on Janet's hand released. Janet, however, was still holding tightly to Jack's hand and looking him in the eyes, had they been open. She felt a tear roll down her cheek, and her lips began to tremble, followed by a full-fledged flow of tears that she had no intentions of holding in. Slowly, she closed her eyes and she heard his last words echo in her head.

"Janet. …I love you."

A/N: Ahaha, played with your emotions there a little bit, didn't I? I know, I'm such a bad person- I played Janet's emotions like a fiddle. Poor Janet… :'( I feel so bad for her. But it had to be done. The story has to start somewhere… :)so yeah, I'm sorry, I know it was just a very sad, gloomy, depressing chapter overall, but I promise it will get better from here! Really, I swear! Also, it would be pretty cool if you maybe wanted to, oh, I don't know...leave a review? Always appreciate them :) Ok, on to chapter two!