Title: Rolling With the Changes

Disclaimer: All characters belong to ABC.

Summary and notes: This is a slow, long make-up between Eddie and Janet. Infidelity takes a while to get past if that can ever happen. It will take them a while to get back to a good place so here is my take. It will be a long story (for me anyway) with some romance and angst. There will be a happy ending though so please stick with it.

Warnings: Lots and lots of angst.

A/N: Italics signify flashbacks.

Prologue: Everything Changes

It had been one month since the night that had irreparably changed Janet's life. She had let her insecurities get the most of her when she saw her boyfriend kissing his ex. She had been so devastated that she slept with her friend (now ex-friend) Rooster. She knew at the time it was happening that it was a bad idea, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. She was hurting and needed someone. Of course, it turned out that the kiss meant nothing to Eddie just like the night with Rooster meant nothing; Eddie, however, was unable to get past it and they broke up.

After he yelled at her and kicked her out of his hospital room, they had barely spoken three words to each other. He rarely came to the bar and if he did it was only when he knew that she or Rooster weren't working. And Rooster, well, Rooster had been a pain in the ass for the first week after they slept together. He kept thinking that they were going to be a couple and no matter how much she argued to the contrary, he wouldn't get it. Finally, one night, she, Hannah, and Pizza Girl were all hanging out at Sullys when Rooster came over and lewdly suggested that he and she go some place private. At that point she had lost it.

"Rooster, get it through your head, we are not together and never will be. What happened meant nothing! I'm sorry I used you, but I was angry and hurt. I regret what happened and I wish that I could change it. So please just leave me alone!"

Rooster's lecherous face quickly turned to rage. "Well, I guess what they've been saying about you is true. You really are nothing but a whore." Janet stood dumbfounded at that. She couldn't respond but really didn't need to. Seconds after the word 'whore' left Rooster's mouth, Hannah jumped up from her seat and punched Rooster in the mouth!

Rooster reeled back and without giving him time to recover, Hannah started in on him. "Listen here, you slimy bastard. Don't you ever call Janet a whore again. You are a sleaze who really needs to back off! Janet was hurt and angry, and she needed a friend. If you had been a real friend, you would have listened to her and stopped her from making a drunken mistake. And that's what you were Rooster; a mistake!"

Janet had faded into the background, Pizza Girl's arms around her shoulders, tears streaming down her face. "Do you even know how to be a good friend?" Hannah continued. "Because a true friend would have reassured Janet about everything and told her to talk to Eddie before doing anything rash. But no, you just kept playing on her doubts and insecurities telling her how much Eddie and Rory had been in love, how much there was no way they wouldn't still have feelings for each other. All the while hoping that it would lead right where it did. And instead of being a good guy and stopping it, you didn't because you knew that a drunk, hurt, and angry Janet would be the only Janet that would ever sleep with you! Well, its over, you bastard, so leave my friend alone!"

By this time, the bar had quieted down. Hannah's face was flush with anger and Rooster's lip was beginning to swell. The silence was broken by a small voice, "C'mon Hannah. Let's just go. I can't be here anymore." The girls then left and headed for Hannah's house.

Now, weeks later, Janet smiled every time she thought of that night. She loved Hannah and was so happy and proud that she had someone in her life who would stick up for her like that. After that night, Janet had stayed with Hannah and Ray for a couple of days and did a lot of thinking. After Eddie, it had been uncomfortable at the bar because his friends had been in and out. While they left her alone, they were hardly friendly. It was hard but she kept going because she loved her job. But then the thing with Rooster happened and she knew she couldn't stay there much longer. She talked to Sully and even though he tried to talk her out of it, she stood firm and handed in her two weeks. It gave her time to find a new job and Sully time to find a replacement. Both had happened and Janet had already been at her new job for a week.

There was a little bookstore on the outskirts of campus that Janet loved to visit. Coincidentally, around the time that she quit, they were hiring. She put in her application and they practically hired her on the spot. (She thought that her knowing a best-selling author may have helped.)

As Janet got ready for work, she looked in her full-length mirror and stopped at what she saw. For a month, every time she looked at herself, she saw and felt so many things. Sadness, guilt, anger, hurt. She saw a woman who had fallen down and apart and couldn't make things better. Now, however, in this moment, she saw a woman with color in her cheeks, a light in her eye and a smile on her lips. Janet decided then and there that it was time to roll with the changes.

TBC…