Chapter Four

Jack stayed in Tru's room awhile longer, maybe even longer than he should have. He didn't have to turn around to feel Jeff's wary eyes watching his every move. But he had to make sure the girls were okay. Both of them.

Britta moved slightly as something disturbed her in sleep and she moaned softly.

"Britta," Jack whispered as he left Tru's bedside and moved closer to the chair Britta was sleeping on. He gently took her hand in his. "It's gonna be okay, Britta."

"I'm sorry," she said, still struggling in her sleep. "Jeff, I'm sorry I haven't told you about the baby."

Jack sighed as he let go of Britta's hand and carefully brushed away excess strands of blonde hair from her face.

Then, without looking back at Tru or Britta, he left Tru's hospital room only to bump into none other than Jeff Winger.

"Jack, we need to talk."

"Good to see you, too, Jeff," Jack replied good-naturedly. "You need something?"

"What I need is for you to leave this hospital before I get a restraining order."

"You just don't give up, do you?" Jack countered. "You know, you should really listen-…"

"No, you listen! I need you to leave and I mean it. I'm having people in the FBI do a background check on you, Jack. And if I get the right evidence-…"

"Whoa, easy. A background check? On me? Look, Jeff, I know you don't trust me. I completely understand that, even if a part of me can't understand your screwed up reasoning behind it. I get it. But stop a minute and look at the bigger picture. You're not listening. Britta's really hurting right now and she really needs your support through all this. Whatever you think of me, I really don't care, but you need to get your head out of your ass and you need to start listening to your wife."

Jeff raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Anything else or do I have to have someone escort you from the premises?"

"Actually there is one more thing," Jack said, pulling a small black box from the back pocket of his jeans and opening it, revealing a ring inside. "The night that Tru was kidnapped I was going to propose to her. I love her and I wanted to marry her. I still want to marry her. I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with her, but I never got the chance to tell her that."

Jeff looked at the sparkling ring inside the box. It was an absolutely gorgeous arrangement of small diamonds and amethysts in a heart shaped pattern. With one deft movement, Jack closed the box.

"You're lucky I'm a strong believer in second chances."

And with that, Jack turned and walked away, leaving Jeff's all-knowing gaze fixated on his disappearing form.

Blank white walls and the pungent smell of disinfectant were the first things Tru noticed upon opening her eyes. She blinked once, twice, adjusting herself to her new surroundings. Then she glanced to her right to find Britta sitting beside her, a thick novel in her hands and a pen and a small legal pad in her lap.

She moaned slightly in discomfort and disorientation. Britta glanced over at her.

"Hey, you're awake. Welcome back." Britta whispered, smiling gently.

"What… what happened?" Tru asked, her tongue felt thick and rough in the back of her mouth and she struggled to form the words through a drugged haze.

"Jeff and I brought you to the hospital. You're in a recovery room." Britta put down the book beside her. "Would you like some water?"

Tru nodded as Britta filled a small paper cup with cool water from a water pitcher on Tru's makeshift nightstand. When Britta handed her the cup, she drank the water quickly and thirstily.

"More?" Britta asked her.

"No, thanks. I'm good," Tru replied, looking into the eyes of her trustworthy best friend from years past. "So you and Jeff brought me to the hospital. Then what?"

"You don't remember anything else?"

"I remember being scared. I didn't want to let go of Jeff because I didn't know where they were gonna take me. I didn't know if… I didn't know if I was gonna see you or Jeff again. And I think, knowing that, it freaked me out."

"Yeah," Britta replied. "They gave you a sedative to help keep you calm and check your injuries. You've been sleeping comfortably all day. My friend Annie is a nurse here. Her and the other nurse on call, Sonya, have been taking good care of you. I know you're scared, Tru, but you're in good hands here. I promise."

"I trust you, Britta, and I know that you want to help me. I just wish it didn't have to be under these circumstances."

Britta looked down, away from her friend, and didn't reply.

"What is it?" Tru asked softly, moving closer to the edge of the bed, leaning over the rail and reaching out to take Britta's hand in her own. "What's wrong now?"

"Nothing… it's… nothing's wrong," Britta replied, still not making eye contact with her friend. "Just thinking about high school and stuff… you know… how things used to be."

"So much has changed since then," Tru commented quietly. "I've changed… you've changed…"

Britta finally looked up, gazing into Tru's eyes. She then looked down at her friend's hand that was still clasping her own hand tightly. Her eyes travelled up Tru's arm as she noticed a rather large bandage on the major vein in the crook of her elbow.

"Tru, do you know what that is from?" she indicated the bandage. "I didn't notice it back when you were at the house."

"I… I think it's from when I was kidnapped. You know, I don't remember much still. It's all very fuzzy, but I remember waking up at some point… being tied down to a bed… and there was an IV in my arm. And then when I finally managed to escape, I…"

The words caught in her throat as tears started streaming down Tru's face. "Britta, I…"

"It's okay… just tell me when you're ready."

Tru nodded slowly, taking a deep breath.

"I pulled it from my own arm. There was blood… and I knew I had to make it stop, so I used a loose piece of my blouse to stop the flow of blood and then I got out… I still don't know how, but I… I knew I had to escape."

By this time, Tru withdrew her hand from her friend's grasp and watched as Britta jotted down a few notes on her legal pad.

"Do you remember anything else?" Britta asked gently.

Tru shook her head vigorously in denial.

"No… it's… it's too fuzzy… I just… I can't…"

"It's okay. You don't have to right now."

Britta then looked up and across the room, noticing Jeff standing in the doorway.

"Sorry," Jeff apologized quickly. "Didn't mean to disrupt your girl bonding."

"It's fine," Britta replied. "What's up?"

Jeff walked towards Britta, leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead.

"I was just coming in to see if you were hungry. I know it's late, but I think the hospital cafeteria stays open late tonight. You want me to get you anything?"

"Blueberry yogurt with rainbow candy Skittles and Goldfish crackers mixed in. And maybe a cup of tea?"

Jeff's brow furrowed. "Well, that's an odd request, but sure. What about you, Tru? How are you feeling? You want something from the cafeteria?"

"No, it's okay. I'm not really hungry right now."

"I'll be back in a bit then. Are you sure you guys don't want anything else?"

"I think we're fine, Jeff," Britta replied.

"Hey, just doing my manly duty to make sure you two get your proper nourishment. Important for any time of day or night." His eyes met Britta's. "I love you."

Britta smiled. "I love you, too."

As Jeff started to leave the room, he felt his cell phone vibrate. Waiting until he was down the hall and on his way to the cafeteria, Jeff picked it up after it had buzzed at least four times.

"Abed," he said, speaking clearly into the phone. "You and Troy got something for me?"

"Actually we do," Abed told him. "This guy you're looking for… Jack Harper? Troy and I were able to trace his records to the Shankman Center."

"The mental institution?"

"It would appear that way. But that's not all. We looked into his file. It would appear that the guy checked himself in years ago, only to check himself out."

"Any reason why?" Jeff questioned.

"His diagnosis isn't exactly clear, but according to the doctor he was seeing at the time, he was considered unstable. He claimed he was reliving days."

"Well, there's a twist," Jeff remarked. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, there's one visitor on the sign-in sheet that came to visit him and it wasn't a relative."

"Okay, but how does that help us with this case?"

"Because that visitor was Britta."

Silence. Jeff couldn't even bring himself to think or speak. He just stopped in his tracks.

Britta? Well, that would explain a few things…

"Jeff, are you still there?" Abed asked, bringing Jeff out of his reverie.

"Yeah, Abed, I'm still here. But listen, I'm gonna need to call you back, okay? Keep me posted on what else you find out about Jack, though."

"Cool, cool, cool. We're on it."

Jeff slammed his phone shut as he made his way to the cafeteria.

Britta and Jack? I really don't like where this is going.

The conversation between Tru and Britta changed after Jeff had left Tru's hospital room. Seeing as Tru's memories of her kidnapping were still hazy, Britta changed the subject. She licked her lips before speaking up again.

"Tru, there's something I need to tell you. It's about me and… I don't know, I just…"

"I'm listening," Tru chimed in, squeezing her friend's hand again. "Tell me. I don't wanna just end up talking about me all night."

"Well, I'm… I'm pregnant."

"Oh, my God, really? Congratulations!" Tru's face brightened with excitement. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Britta confirmed. "And thank you. But I haven't told Jeff yet, so just… just don't tell him, okay? I want to tell him when I feel like I'm ready to."

"You should tell him. He'll want to know."

"I know, but it never feels like the right time. And I have to focus on you right now and figuring out your case. In all that's happened these past few days, I haven't even really had time to think about how I feel about all of this. Then I get morning sickness and food cravings and I start remembering again. I remember I have another life growing inside me, a little someone that is my responsibility. I just don't think I'm ready to tell Jeff just yet. It's too much… too much."

Now it was Britta's turn to get emotional as tears streaked down her face. Tru sat up a bit and tugged on Britta's arm, pulling her into a hug.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I do think he deserves to know. He loves you, Britta, and this baby is going to be loved by its mother and father."

"I think I'm having a girl," Britta whispered. "I've seen her in my dreams."

"Then this baby girl is going to be loved by her mother and father. But take it from someone like me who lost their Mom at a very young age, you should tell him before it's too late. In my line of work, I've learned that we never get as many chances as we think we have… as many chances to tell someone we love them or celebrate with them… I've been lucky, though. In my line of work, I sometimes get to give those people the second chances they deserve, but it doesn't always work out that way. If he really loves you, he'll come to understand your point of view, even if it takes him awhile to warm up to the idea."

"Thanks, Tru. You always were the logical, responsible one in high school. Always the one to hold things together, even when we thought our lives were disasters."

"See, that's just it. I don't think our lives were disasters. I just think we had different means of expressing ourselves back then."

"I guess. But you were never a fan of Kim Kelly. You thought she was a bad influence on me. But you know something? I might've been just a tad bit jealous of you. I mean, you had it all in high school. The beauty and the brains. I barely passed Chemistry!"

"That's because you barely showed up to class," Tru pointed out. "You're lucky you had me as a lab partner."

"I showed up to class!" Britta objected.

"Yeah, but your clothes smelled like pot when you did and you traded one of my favorite issues of J-14 magazine in for God knows how much weed and then smoked way more than one joint in the bathroom with Kim Kelly."

"So I wasn't perfect in high school. I didn't get straight A's and I never got asked to go to prom…"

"Um, you dropped out of high school before you could go to prom," Tru reminded her. "I don't think you gave yourself a fair chance. Plus, if you weren't already a high school senior you at least had to be asked by one."

"Says the girl who was probably asked!" Britta exclaimed.

"I was asked actually. But the guy was a total nerd, so I turned him down and went with some girlfriends instead."

"Really?" Britta quirked an eyebrow at her friend.

"Really," Tru confirmed. "I ended up just going with Casey and Lindsay and having a great time. And I remember wishing you were there."

"Casey? You mean, Casey Klein?" Britta asked.

"Yeah, Casey Klein. Why? Have you heard from her?"

"She catered my wedding when Jeff and I got married. She also catered our anniversary party. Her and her friends at Party Down Catering came all the way from Los Angeles to cater our events."

"Wow, that's amazing," Tru said. "I'm sorry I couldn't be at your wedding. Med school and working the graveyard shift at the city morgue has taken up a lot of my time recently."

"Trust me, I understand," Britta told her. "But Casey told me to tell you that she says 'hi' in case I ever saw you again before she did. She got a co-starring role in a new Diablo Cody film after she catered my anniversary party. That's the last I heard about her. Haven't heard from her directly since the anniversary party."

"I miss her," Tru whispered quietly. "She actually looks a lot like my med school friend Avery. But Avery's never mentioned having a twin sister."

Britta laughed softly. "So you do think about high school. About us."

"I do," Tru admitted. "But this is the first time I've really thought about my life, about how things were back then…"

"You're late, Ms. Perry," Mr. Pena noted with a disapproving look as seventeen year old Britta Perry walked into Chemistry class fifteen minutes late.

Shit. So much for sneaking in.

"Please find your lab partner and take your seat," he continued.

Britta found her friend, seventeen year old Tru Davies, sitting in one of the middle rows.

"Hey," Britta whispered. "Sorry I'm late."

"Hey yourself," Tru replied. "Ugh, what's that smell?" Tru punched Britta lightly in the arm, then sucked in a quick breath, failing to hold it for long.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that too, but it'll wear off," Britta answered, not seeming to care.

"What has gotten into you?" Tru whispered harshly. "You smell like pot! Have you been smoking pot… again? Weren't you already given a warning by the principal about this? Didn't he threaten you with suspension?"

"That's not gonna happen," Britta said. "And why do you think you can keep saving me? Telling me that smoking pot is bad… blah, blah, blah. You can't be a good Samaritan to everyone, Tru. You can't save all of your friends or else you'd be doing the impossible."

Just then, Mr. Pena interrupted them. "Ms. Davies, Ms. Perry, please keep your voices down and work on your lab assignment. It's due at the end of class."

"Sorry," Tru apologized, nudging Britta who mouthed 'sorry' before shooting an annoyed glance at her friend.

"But I can still help you," Tru whispered again as she wrote down a few chemical equations from the blackboard. "Just let me help you. I know that there's a reason we're friends, Britta, but you need to let people like me and Casey into your life. Kim Kelly and those anarchist friends of yours? They're not gonna do anything for you. You see how messed up Kim Kelly is and now that she has a son, things are gonna be even tougher for her. But you're different than her. You're better than that."

"I'm sorry, I just…" And then Britta was quiet for a moment before speaking up again. "I do feel bad for Kim's kid. Then again, I did sleep with Kim's boyfriend, Daniel, and I recently sold your Beverly Hills, 90210 issue of J-14 magazine to one of Kim's cronies for a fresh bag of weed."

"You did what?" Tru whispered loudly, her mouth wide open in shock.

"Why do you look so surprised? I ripped out a Jason Priestley picture for you because I know you have a huge crush on him. You can hang it up on your wall."

"You know I'm not talking about the magazine," Tru said evenly, her tone suddenly very serious. "You slept with Kim's boyfriend?"

"The whole world doesn't have to know, Tru," Britta whispered back sourly. "Besides, I'm not feeling so great. Coming down from being high sucks."

"Listen, Britta, I'm just worried about you, okay? You, Lindsay and Casey Klein are my best friends. I hate when we fight like this. I just wanna be your friend and I wanna help you. So please, just let me help you. Please."

Britta looked into the large, brown trustworthy eyes of her friend. She knew she had it good. There was no other friend in the world like Tru. No other friend – girlfriend, at least – who could see her for who she really was and could call her on her own bullshit. But Tru had a knack for doing just that.

Britta sighed, taking a cylinder and filling it with water before spilling two pink drops into the clear liquid. She then looked over at Tru again who had busied herself with the chemistry lab assignment. Suddenly, as if to feel Britta's eyes watching her, she looked into the eyes of her friend and lab partner sitting beside her.

And they both smiled.

"Sonya, I presume?" Jensen asked, his athletic well-built frame blocking half of the doorway to Sonya's small, cluttered nurse's station cubicle.

Sonya looked up from her paperwork. "Can I help you with something?"

"I'm Jensen Ritchie. And I think you know why I'm here," Jensen replied cryptically.

Sonya stood up, eying him carefully. "Oh, my God… you… you…"

She had to lean against her desk to keep from losing her balance, her vision clouded slightly and she started getting dizzy.

"Shit!" she cursed in Arabic as a series of flashbacks assaulted her memory.

…his piercing eyes watched as Tru and Jack walked through their favorite park together, wind in her hair as Jack kissed it, hands entwined…

…his right hand as it slapped Tru hard across the face and she cried, begging for him to stop…

… Tru lying on an unfamiliar bed somewhere, tossing and turning in an uneasy and seemingly drugged sleep…

Sonya came out of her reverie, disconnecting with the visions Jensen had chosen to show her. She was breathing rather heavily.

"You hurt her, you bastard!" Sonya screamed, her hand instantly covering her mouth as she realized the intensity of her outburst.

"Do you always let your emotions take priority over your work?" Jensen questioned. "Seems kinda problematic for a nurse if you ask me. Oh, wait… didn't you take special interest in Jack Harper's case when you worked at the Shankman Center years ago?"

"You don't belong here," Sonya said evenly. "The manner in which I interact with my patients – both past and present – is not your concern. I think you should leave now."

Jensen didn't respond and there was a moment of uneasy silence before Sonya felt a warm presence and Tru appeared in front of her. It was her spirit. Something was definitely wrong.

Tru looked at Jensen, then at Sonya.

"Help me," she said, her voice quivering.

Just then, the phone on Sonya's desk beeped. Without hesitation, she pushed the button that put the phone in speaker mode.

"Sonya here," she answered.

"Sonya, we have a Code Blue in Room 412. The room of patient Tru Davies. I've just been notified that's she's gone into cardiac arrest." Annie's voice came in loud and clear over the phone line.

"I'll be right there, Annie," Sonya replied.

Jensen still stood in the doorway smiling all-knowingly while Tru still looked scared.

"You're responsible for this, aren't you?" Sonya asked, glaring at the man opposite her as he disappeared.

"Help…" Tru whispered, softer this time.

"Tru," Sonya said as calmly as she could muster, "you need to go back into your body. Your spiritual self is not safe out here. Not like this. Come with me back to your room, okay? We have to hurry!"

She didn't know where Jensen had disappeared to, but now was not the time to worry about him as she rushed down the hallway to Room 412.

Annie was already there and the room had erupted into a scene of chaos.

"Look, can we just focus on Tru right now? Her heart monitor just went all wonky. She could be dying!" Britta yelled.

"When were you gonna tell me, Britta? When were you gonna tell me that this Jackass who claims to be Tru's boyfriend was your fuck buddy?" Jeff yelled back, enormous amounts of rage coloring his tone.

"It wasn't like that, okay? It was a long time ago! And I think we have more important things to worry about right now!"

"Guys!" Annie interrupted them. "Jeez, can you two stop fighting and focus? Your friend's life is at stake. Can you just let Sonya and I do our jobs and stop thinking about yourselves for once?"

Britta and Jeff instantly shut up and stepped back, letting Annie and Sonya get to work on resuscitating Tru.

Tru's spirit now dangled precariously right above her own body. She still looked apprehensive, but Sonya gave her a quick, reassuring nod as she went back inside.

Annie was the one performing CPR. She was having trouble getting Tru's pulse.

Jeff and Britta looked at each other, their fight forgotten… for now. Britta had tears in her eyes.

"Come on, Tru," she whispered. "Please…"

1… 2… 3…

"Come on, Tru," Sonya whispered. "You can fight this. You can fight him. Please come back to us."

To be continued…

Author's Note: Another chapter has come to an end! Special thanks once again to Jessie and Sonya whose ideas and insight keep motivated to write this fic. I'm hoping to post a few more chapters of this story this summer now that I am not in school. Many twists and turns still lie ahead, my friends! Also, this story has two more crossovers from two different shows, one being Freaks and Geeks and featuring the Kim Kelly character and the other being Party Down, which will later feature more of the main cast, but specifically Casey Klein for now. Lizzy Caplan portrays both Casey and Avery. So stay tuned, please review and thanks for reading!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SONYA! I KNOW IT'S A BIT EARLY FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY AND A GIFT, BUT I HOPE THIS FIC FINDS YOU WELL AND YOU HAVE AN AMAZING BIRTHDAY!