That Girl

CHAPTER 1

Author's Note: So, I'm doing something slightly different with this entry in the "Story Behind That" series. This one focuses on a comment made by Eddie Janko instead of by a Reagan family member. But Eddie is almost family now, right? :) Thanks to Lawslave for suggesting this one a few years ago!

Some dialogue in this chapter adapted from the Season 4 episode, Bogeyman.

Jamie Reagan took a quick look at his watch. Five minutes. They'd been waiting outside this convenience store for five minutes already. What took girls so long to use the facilities?

That impatient action did not go unnoticed by his partner. "I guess she really did have to pee, you know?" Eddie commented. But even she was starting to wonder just what her young charge… Well not so much her charge. Her mentee? Maybe that's what Morgan was. She could be a mentor to Morgan; help her get back on a good path, just like a couple of cops had done for her a few years ago… She had to wonder what Morgan was doing in that restroom.

"Yeah. Probably too scared to go in the jail," Jamie agreed. Although, now that he thought about it, Morgan didn't seem like the type that was afraid of anything… "Want to go in and check on her?"

Guys just didn't understand. Eddie knew what she'd want if she'd spend the night in jail: a few minutes alone in a safe, private place to take care of business and freshen up. Touch up the hair and makeup so she'd looked as good as possible for the reunion with the folks. "In a sec," she told Jamie. "You know it's a good thing; what we're doing here."

Jamie watched Morgan Whatever-her-last-name-was stealthily peek around the corner of the building again. Clearly, she'd snuck out a back door and was looking for someone. Maybe those kids in the red Camaro that was pulling into the parking lot. "Yeah, it is. You want to go check on her?" Jamie hinted again.

"Like what we sign up for. You know? Making a difference," Eddie continued, as if Jamie hadn't said anything. "If I can help one person get back on the right path, then... I'm doing my job. You know what I mean?"

"Mm-hmm." Jamie watched as Morgan sprinted over to the car and dove into the back seat behind the driver. "Yeah. I do, and I... I hope you get to experience that someday, I really do." It just wasn't going to happen today with Morgan, obviously.

Eddie sighed. "You're not even listening. Seeing this through with young Morgan in there? It's... it's giving me that good feeling."

Jamie worked at keeping a neutral expression. Eddie really was sincere in her desire to help Morgan; his laughing about this turn of events would just make it sting worse. "Yeah, well, the thing is? Young Morgan? Just took off with two dudes in a red Camaro. She must have texted them."

"Get out!" Eddie twisted around to look out Jamie's window. "Where?"

"She went that way." Jamie gestured over his shoulder.

"Yeah, well, let's go after her."

Jamie glanced at his partner. "On what charge? Punking you?"

"Ooooh!" Eddie dropped back into her seat with an exasperated sigh. "Come on."

"Does she still remind you of you?" Jamie asked a minute later.

Actually, yes, Eddie thought to herself. Running like that was just the kind of thing she would have done. "Hey. I'm gonna need you to try... try not to enjoy this too much."

"I'll try," Jamie teased his partner one last time.

Eddie let out another annoyed huff. "I just wish she'd let me help her," she muttered.

Jamie backed the car up and began the long drive back to Manhattan. He took a quick look over at his despondent partner. "You want to tell me about it?"

"About what?" Eddie huffed. "You know how she played me. You just saw it."

"No, about how you used to be her, and about those cops that turned things around for you," Jamie explained.

"No, you don't want to hear about that," Eddie demurred. "It was just a bad time all around."

"Come on. It's going to be a long drive back to Manhattan, even longer if you're sitting over there sulking about Morgan."

"I'm not sulking." Eddie crossed her arms across her chest and sat back farther in her seat.

"Are too. How did it happen?"

"It wasn't anything. Just a couple of cops gave me a break when they could've made things worse." Eddie replied as she decided to give into Jamie's request. "Listen. Nothing I tell you goes outside of the car, okay?"

"I swear. Not a word."

"It was a few weeks into my freshman year of college, only months after the whole mess with my father hit the newspaper. I was headed back to my dorm room after dinner…"

==BB==BB==

"I can't believe your room actually has a view, Edie," Hailey told her new friend, Edie Ivanovic, as they walked down the hall toward the room. "I mean, I move here from Pittsburgh, and Melissa come up from Baltimore…"

"Ellicott City," Melissa interrupted.

"… and you're from here, and you're the only one whose room has a view of something besides another window," Hailey finished. "Remind me why we're studying in my room instead of yours?"

Eddie turned to her new friends. "It's not that special a view," she told them. "And we're using your room because you have a better TV, and my roomie Natalie likes her 'peace and…" Eddie's voice trailed off as she turned the corner toward her door and saw the picture taped to it. She stopped so abruptly that Hailey walked into her, and then Melissa into both of them, a chain reaction that in any other circumstances would have been hilariously funny.

"Brake lights, Edie," Hailey teased before she noticed the picture. "What's that about?"

Eddie couldn't breathe. It was that picture. The one that newspaper photographer had taken of her and her mother entering the building housing the SEC's office in lower Manhattan. She'd spotted the one journalist and his photographer and had tried to hide; had pulled the hood of her coat tighter around her face while hunching over to sneak a sideways glance at the photographer, just so she'd know where he was, but her mother had ignored the journalists and marched straight into the building, carrying herself like the Serbian aristocrat she was descended from, almost daring them to take her picture. And that damn photographer had snapped a shot, and that photo had run in every paper in New York and around the country, with the caption Karina Ivanovic Janko and daughter Edith face questioning at the SEC New York office. That damn photo. Her mother had scolded her for slouching and cowering, as if that was the important point when their life was being shredded. That photo marked the beginning of the end of her old life; once people saw the story of Armin Janko's misdeeds in print accompanied by that photo, even the friends who had not been directly affected financially started turning against the whole Janko family until they were social outcasts.

And now that same damn photo was going to destroy the life she was trying to rebuild, as New York University student Edie 'that's pronounced E-dee, and no, it's not short for anything' Ivanovic. Her mother had filed for divorce from Armin Janko and gone back to using her maiden name, and was slowly creating a fresh start away from the Janko legacy. And that's all Eddie had wanted for herself – a new start where no one knew whose daughter she was. But clearly, someone had figured it out; found that photo and recognized 'Edith Janko' as their fellow student Edie Ivanovic, and then taped that picture to her dorm room door, her face circled in red and 'daughter of that SOB' written across in it large letters. She wondered if her roommate, Natalie Karolin, had seen it yet.

At that moment, Natalie yanked the door open. "Well. Look who's here." She slammed an open hand against the photo. "Edith Ivanovic Janko," she sneered. "A liar, just like her father."

Eddie finally sucked in a small bit of air, just enough to keep from passing out. Her new life had lasted for all of three weeks, and now everyone was going to know the whole sordid story. She should have asked for a new roommate as soon as she learned Natalie was also of Serbian heritage and from nearby southwest Connecticut. She should have realized there was too much of a risk that Natalie or someone in her extended family had been affected by the scandal; the Serbian community in the greater NYC area wasn't that large. But it was too late to change that now. She had to do something; say something before her new friends deserted her. Maybe humor would help; her father always said a good joke could disarm any situation. Eddie tried to smile. "Edith Janko? I'm not old enough for a grannie name like that."

Natalie turned away from her to tape a printout of newspaper article to the door. Janko Arrested for Securities Fraud, the headline read. "So this reporter got it right and it's really Edit? How old country of your mother," Natalie sneered.

"You leave my Mom out of this," Eddie seethed at her roommate. "Edit was my grandmother's name."

"Edith. Edit. Big effing difference, Edit Liar-ovic Janko."

"It's not a lie," Eddie argued. "My mother's name is Ivanovic." She tried to move around her roommate to get into their shared room, with the intent of grabbing her bookbag and getting out of Natalie's sight for a while, until she'd cooled down.

Natalie wrapped one arm around the back of the door and grabbed on to the doorframe with the other, effectively blocking Eddie's entry into the room. "Your name doesn't matter, 'Eee-dee'. What matters is your father's name is Armin Janko. That thief who bankrupted my uncle and his family. Or are you going to lie about that also?"

While Eddie was trying to think of how to respond, Hailey jumped in to try and calm the situation. "Hey, Natalie, cool it. Whatever happened wasn't Edie's fault."

Eddie swallowed hard. Hailey would try to defend her. She was from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; too far away to hear or see the news coverage of the Janko family downfall, or to be affected by Armin Janko's financial scheming. And Melissa was from away also – from Ellicott City, some small town outside of Baltimore, Maryland. "No, he's my father," she finally said quietly. "Any my name's Edit Janko, and if you'll let me get my books, I'd like to go study in the library for a while."

While Hailey and Melissa stared at her in shock, Natalie's response was much more physical. She shoved Eddie so hard Eddie stumbled into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. "So that's how you afford the tuition here, and this room, and that fancy car. With the money you stole from my cousin," Natalie almost screamed right in Eddie's face. "You know she's having to live at home and go to community college part time? All because of your father."

"That's not true," Eddie started to argue, then raised an arm to protect herself as she saw Natalie raising a hand to slap her.

"Hey, stop!" Melissa rushed forward to yank Natalie away from Eddie while Hailey moved between the two. "What is wrong with you?"

Natalie struggled against Melissa's grip. "That little bitch's father ruined everything. Karla and I were supposed to be roomies here at NYU. We'd planned it forever!" Natalie snapped. She turned around, ran into their dorm room and slammed the door behind her.

"Hey! Natalie, come on. Let me in," Eddie twisted the locked doorknob to her room.

Natalie opened the door seconds later and threw an armful of Eddie's clothes at her. "Leave."

Eddie was still standing there, staring at the closed door and the scattered clothing in shock, when the floor resident assistant showed up.

"Is there a problem, ladies?" the RA had asked.

"My roommate…" Eddie tried to pull her thoughts together. "She's mad at me."

Natalie yanked open the door. "Do you know who she is? She's that girl!" Natalie pointed to the photograph and article on the door. "That crook Armin Janko's daughter."

"So?" the RA asked.

"You know what he did! He stole from my cousin's family. Took all their money and lost it in some big scheme. And because of her, my cousin couldn't come to college here with me."

"Natalie, you can't blame Edie for her father's actions," the RA tried to counsel.

"Says you. I think I can, and I'm not rooming with her. Not after what she did to my cousin."

"I didn't do anything to your cousin, so quit accusing me of that," Eddie snapped at the girl she'd worked for weeks to develop a friendship with; the girl who had now turned on her with shocking suddenness.

"Your father did. Destroyed Karla's life."

"Well, it's not like he didn't make a mess of my life also!" Eddie yelled back.

"Says the little bitch with the fancy car and the college fund," Natalie sneered. She turned to the RA. "I won't live with her. I can't. It's impossible."

"If you two can't straighten this out, we'll have to find you new roommates tomorrow. Natalie, do you have a friend you could stay with tonight?" the RA asked.

Natalie crossed her arms across her chest. "And why do I have to leave?"

"Because you're the one making the problem," the RA explained.

"I know a girl upstairs," Natalie admitted. "But she's not staying here with my stuff. I don't trust her not to steal it."

"Eddie can stay with us tonight, if she wants to." Hailey volunteered.

"Who wants you stupid junk, anyway?" Eddie muttered at the same time, just loud enough for Natalie to hear.

Natalie lashed out at her again, barely missing striking Eddie again thanks to the RA pulling Natalie back.

"Time out! Ladies! You keep that up, someone's going to stay in the city jail tonight," she snapped. "Listen. Obviously, you can't live together anymore. Both of you give me your keys. I'll escort you into the room, you'll each get what you need for tonight and tomorrow morning and then you'll go to your friend's rooms. We'll meet with the Housing Office to get things rearranged tomorrow, okay?"

"Fine," Eddie agreed.

==BB==BB==

"Wow, Natalie sounds like a real piece of work," Jamie commented.

"Or something."

"So, did someone call the cops on her? They should've."

"No, that was later on. We both left our room, and I went to Hailey's. But I couldn't stay…"

==BB==BB==

And they quickly put the RA's plan into motion. Eddie grabbed a shirt and some clean undies from her dresser, her toiletries basket, and the one book she needed for her 9:00 AM class, while Natalie did the same on her side of the room. Then they both handed their keys over to the RA, and Eddie silently walked between Hailey and Melissa back to their room. She knew her friends were going to want to talk about the whole damn story, but she couldn't do it. She was just so damn freakin' angry right now – not at Hailey or Melissa, but that's how it was going to come out. As they passed the staircase, Eddie came to a decision. "Guys, thanks for taking me in, but I think I'm just going to head out to my Mom's for tonight," she said with a gesture toward the stairs.

"E, we don't mind you staying with us," Hailey argued. "Melissa has that bean-bag chair you could use. It's actually comfortable."

"No. I need to talk to Mom." That was an outright lie; she and her mother hardly talked anymore. Sometimes, Eddie felt like she was getting in the way of her mother's 'fresh start'; her name, her face, her presence a constant reminder of everything that had gone wrong before. But she couldn't stay with her friends tonight; couldn't tell them the whole story and have them feeling sorry for her after what her father had done; couldn't risk that they too would turn on her like Natalie had. "And Silver needs some exercise, right?" Eddie joked in reference to the sparkling new Porsche her father had gifted her for graduation.

"If you're sure, Eddie," Hailey agreed. "But call when you get there, okay?"

"Sure," Eddie said. She'd call Hailey, but where she'd be calling from, she didn't really know. She accepted Hailey's quick hug, then jogged down the stairs and over to the parking level where Silver was parked. In some ways, that car was a big, flashy reminder of her father's misdeeds. He must have known his schemes were about to collapse, because last September, he'd put enough funds to purchase the car in an irrevocable trust in her name, with specific instructions to the trustee to use the money to purchase the car – titled to Edit Janko - upon her graduation from high school. Why would he have done all of that to protect that money and the car itself from seizure, if he hadn't suspected the SEC was on to him? Some days, Eddie just wanted to put the damn thing in neutral and shove it off the roof of the parking garage. Did her father think that his trickery (or 'careful planning' as he had called it) made up for all the wrong he'd done? But every time she had that thought, she reconsidered. Silver was such a nice car – sleek lines, powerful engine, and a convertible to boot! How could she destroy it?

==BB==BB==

"Ed, promise me, if you ever think about pushing that car off a roof again, call me first, okay?" Jamie asked.

"And you'll come talk me down?"

"No, I'll come buy the car from you. That's too nice a piece of machinery to…. Ow!" Jamie yelped with a snicker as Eddie's fist connected with the side of his arm.

"It's not for sale," Eddie joked. "And, anyway, I've moved past that now. And, if you don't stop interrupting, you're never going to hear about what happened."

"Okay, okay. So, you were at your car, considering car-icide. Wait, is that when you ran into the cops?"

"No, and 'car-icide' isn't a crime. It isn't even a word. It was a little later that night…"

Tomorrow: Just what did Eddie do to get in trouble with the cops?