Disclaimer: Daria and related characters are the property of Glenn Eichler and MTV/Viacom

Author's note: In this fanfic, Daria never starts a relationship with Tom after the kiss. It does happen but for the sake of their friendship Daria decides that being with Tom isn't convenient.

"Jane, open the door, please" Daria begged.

She was standing in front of Jane's bedroom. Trent was standing behind her. He was the one who had called her not long ago, asking her to come over to help him, because Jane had locked herself in her room, said Trent, and he was worried something bad had happened to her.

It had all started when Jane was still at the art colony. After she had refused to sleep with Alison things were a little tense for a while. The thing with Alison had made her rethink some of her life experiences and points of view and, for some reason, this scared her. She started to mix up more in the parties the artists organized, to keep her mind away from that, and had started drinking, first only at the parties, and then by herself, drinking entire bottles of wine while painting or drawing, which made her pass out before finishing some of her projects. By what she called a minor incident she discovered how alcohol, thing she had never been interested in, could numb her from life and from the pain and worries she hid under a mask of sarcasm.

She knew that Daria praised her confidence and even she convinced herself that there was nothing wrong about herself, deep inside, where Daria or Trent would never look, she kept things for herself. She did have a little of hatred for her parents because of being absent her whole life and she wasn't as confident as she made herself look like. Pretending to be strong was, actually, what gave her strength.

Daria knocked the door one more time and called her best friend's name again.

Now, highly worried and desperate, Daria asked Trent for a key, a hammer, anything she could use to open the door. She had seen her best friend in bad situations due alcohol and she knew it was getting out of control. Jane told her not to worry but, how couldn't she worry if Jane was now locked in her room, not saying a single word when she was called?

Trent brought a hammer. When Daria tried to take it he moved it so she wouldn't and told her: "be careful".

She nodded and took the hammer. With as much calm as she could, which wasn't much, she hit the door knob until it broke and fell. She pushed the door and it opened, releasing a strong smell of alcohol. The room had cans and bottles or beer, wine and different types of alcohol all over the floor, staining some of Jane's artwork.

And then there she was, Jane Lane, lying on her bed, with a half-empty bottle next to her. She looked pale. Both Daria and Trent got scared by the scene, because Jane looked really bad. Daria ran towards her. Jane was breathing, but barely.

"Shit" Daria gasped ". Trent, call 911. I think the alcohol poisoned her".

Trent took a deep breath, trying to calm down, and ran downstairs. He grabbed the phone, called 911 and minutes after that an ambulance arrived Casa Lane and took Jane to the hospital.

"I'm going with Janey, Daria, are you coming?" he asked.

"Uh, no, go, Trent. I need a moment alone. I'll be there soon".

Daria stayed in Jane's house. After closing the door and waiting behind the window until she couldn't hear the sound of the ambulance anymore, she went to look for a big plastic bag and when she found it, in the kitchen, Daria went to Jane's room and removed all the bottles, putting them in the plastic bag and then in the trash. It took her a while to get rid of all the bottles. She cleaned Jane's room a little, trying to make the place look and smell better for when her friend went back home. This was her way to show her concern about Jane.

When she finished cleaning up Jane's room she knew she had no other excuse to avoid the unavoidable. She didn't want to go to the hospital and see her friend with glassy eyes and pale skin. But she cared and that was why she had to.

She walked all the way to her own house and took her parent's car to drive to the hospital. When she got there she found Trent in the waiting room, with the glassy eyes she expected to see in Jane, not her brother, staring at one of the white walls.

"Hey" Daria greeted.

It took Trent a minute to realize that Daria said something or even realize that she was there. He was thinking about Jane, about when they were little and they had to take care of each other without anyone else being there for them. He thought about the time they accidentally started a fire in Jane's room, when trying to make a bonfire inside the house, since outside it was raining heavily, and how he had to carry her outside the house and tell her to stay out while he went back in to call 911. Jane was just a kid back then, now she was a teenager and he once again had to call the emergency number, this time, because his sister had almost died.

"Oh, hey, Daria" he finally replied.

"I'm sorry I took so long" she apologized.

"It's fine".

"How is she doing?" Daria inquired.

"They haven't said much yet, but I think she's okay. She had too much alcohol in her system but she will get better" he said the last part more for himself than for Daria.

She sat in the chair next to Trent's. Maybe it was because she was tired, worried or because she had been locked inside Jane's room breathing the alcoholized air mixed with the fumes of paint spilled on the floor, but she let her head lie on Trent's shoulder, something she would've never even thought about doing before, but that seemed natural when it happened. Trent seemed a little impressed by this, knowing that Daria wasn't the kind of person that would normally do something like that, but it didn't bother him. The physical contact of a loved one, Daria, was something he found soothing.

After about 5 minutes without saying anything at all, Daria asked:

"What's going to happen when she goes back home?".

"She won't, for a while. By now, she has to stay in the hospital and then I will make her go to rehab. First she made me stay out of this but... it's getting out of control" he turned his head, making his and Daria's be closer than they had ever been ". I need your help, Daria. I don't know where my parents are right now, neither Penny and I doubt Wind or Summer can be helpful. I don't think I can do this alone".

"Don't worry. I'm here. I want to help Jane as much as you do and I don't want to leave you alone with all this responsibility. She needs us".

"Thanks" he smiled at Daria. He then took Daria's hand, which caught her out of guard. She made a girly squeak and blushed but Trent ignored that, maybe not even realizing he was holding Daria's hand.