Janet pulls her shirt over her head and starts brushing her hair, staring at her reflection in the mirror as Eddie comes out of the bathroom, towel around his waist, still wet from the shower.

"Stop right there mister."

"What? Jeez, I wiped up the floor when I got out." He rolls his eyes, annoyed.

He's learning, she thinks as she grins at him. "No, I just want to check you out with just a towel on hot stuff. "

"Janet, I'm warning you, do not tease a deprived man."

"Eddie, I hardly think you qualify."

"Really? So when exactly" he comes over to Janet, standing behind her. He leans in to whisper in her ear. "was the last time we had sex?"

Janet looks into the mirror, meeting his eyes. Since the night she'd opened her door and found Hannah a week ago, Janet's house had been jam packed. Hannah couldn't face going back to her house, so she and Sam had pretty much moved in. Janet's house, which always seemed cozy, now just felt crowded with shoes, clothes, people. Sam was sleeping on the couch, and at her own insistance, Hannah was bunking on the floor in Maddie's room, waking up many times during the night to check on her, make sure she was comfortable in her crib. Maddie had taken to the cast well, and was motoring around as if there wasn't an awkward sheath of fiberglass protecting her healing limb. Janet was thankful that Maddie was no longer crawling. Somehow she realized an upright Maddie was better for all concerned.

She turns to face Eddie, and whispers back, eyes widening as they always did when she was about to make a point. "I know dude, trust me. We never got to finish what we started that night."

"I gotta have some sex Janet."

She giggles, "Well, you can, uhm, go get back in the shower and you know, take care of yourself big boy."

"Been there," he sighs. "Done that. Like every damn morning this week. It's getting real old, I need you." He kisses her neck.

"Yeah, I need you too..." And I feel you, she thinks as he presses into her body. "But, isn't it a mood killer for you knowing Sam and Hannah are right out there?" She jerks her thumb towards the living room.

"No. There aren't many things that are a mood killer for me, you know that. Come on..." Eddie pleads, guiding Janet to the bed. As he sits on the edge, he pulls her onto his lap.

"Eddie..."

"I promise I'll be quiet..." He grins as his hands creep up the back of her top.

She smiles at him, knowing full well Eddie wasn't usually the silent type in bed. "I promise I will more than make up for this celibacy when they are gone." She kisses his lips.

"What if they never leave?" He groans, flopping back on the bed, his erection more apparent against her crotch.

"They will. Besides, Nick's coming over in a few minutes, so get dressed."

"What's Nicky coming over for?"

"Hannah needs to go to the house and get some things, Nick didn't want her to go alone."

"I could have taken her."

Janet leans forward, her hands and knees on either side of him. "I know Batman, but I think Nick's trying to be there for her and Sam. Get back into good graces or something."

"Guess he's not still playing that idiotic longball game..."

"Longball?"

"Longball...some shit Owen and Ronnie convinced Nick he should try where Hannah was concerned. You know, keep his distance until the thing with Ray tanked."

"And you all think women play games?" She pokes him in his ribs.

Eddie wraps his arms around Janet's waist, pulling her down onto him. He runs his fingers through her hair, a sure fire way to drag her into his lair. Maybe she could have sex with him, quickly...

"Janet!?" Sam yells through the door.

"One sec Sam." She yells back, smiling at Eddie. "I'm just getting dressed in here."

"They're never leaving." Eddie sighs.

"Can we go get pancakes Janet?" Sam yells through the door.

"Yeah Sam, one sec." She looks at Eddie, shrugging. "Pancakes?" She gets up off the bed.

"Great. Pancakes." But Eddie gets up and roots through the dresser drawer for his boxers. "What time do you have to work?"

"Two, but I have the short shift this week. I'll be home for dinner."

"Janet, Eddie...hurry!"

"You heard the man, hurry." But she sat and watched Eddie as he slowly got dressed, the only thing she liked better than watching him get undressed.

After an uneventful shift at the bar, Janet opens the door to her house. The only light in the room is from the television, which is tuned to some old black and white movie. Hannah's stretched out on the couch, her head resting on a pillow in Nick's lap and her feet are in Eddie's lap, all three are fast asleep. Janet's not sure why, but the current configuration on the couch makes her blood boil. She shuts the door quietly, as to not wake the threesome. To anyone else, the scene would seem so sweet, two old friends comforting another in need. Janet imagines there had been many lazy afternoons, years ago, in which the three of them had ended up in the same position. Only Eddie wasn't her boyfriend and Hannah wasn't her best friend then. She realizes Eddie shares a bond with Hannah that stretches back long and far, she just wonders how long and how far.

Janet goes into the nusery, still irritated. Maddie's asleep, a sure sign that Eddie had skipped her afternoon nap, since it was only seven, an hour before she usually went to bed. She kisses the baby on her head and retreats into the kitchen, avoiding the living room. She starts to pour a glass of wine, but realizes she'd rather get out of the house. She grabs the leash from the hook in the kitchen and whispers for the dog.

"Saff, come here girl, wanna go for a walk?" The dog jumps up wiggling, her tags jingling. "Shhhh." Janet opens the front door again, letting the dog go first. She allows the front door to shut loudly behind her as she sets out for the park, plugging her earphones in, turning the volume up to drown out the thoughts in her head.

After three turns around the path at the park and a stop at Holly's for a cup of coffee, Janet heads for home. She feels a blister forming on her heel from her boots and wishes she had bothered to change into her walking shoes. When she walks up the path to her house, Eddie's out on the porch, leaning back in a chair, feet up on the railing.

"Hey." He stretches, yawning.

"Hello." She says, coldly. "Have a good nap?"

Eddie was about to say yes, until he realized Janet was using the tone she'd always used when she was angry with him for something. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Janet bends to unleash the dog, who naturally goes over to sit by Eddie. She doesn't bother to meet his gaze.

"Come on now, I know that tone."

"I guess I don't like coming home and seeing my best friend in your lap."

"My lap? She was hardly in my lap Janet. It was a rough afternoon."

"I bet."

"Janet. Do you honestly think I knew her feet were in my lap? I was asleep. She must have stretched out."

Janet wants to relent, to go over to Eddie and kiss him. He looks sexy- fresh from his nap, eyes still sleepy. But the other part of her wants to walk into her house, stamp her feet and scream at Hannah for putting her feet on Eddie. She does neither. She simply leans on the porch railing and crosses her arms.

"Look Janet, when Nick and Hannah went over to her house, the place was trashed. Ray broke a lot of her things, dishes, crap that's been in her family for a long time. Then she found the papers."

"Papers?"

"Divorce papers. Ray filed. Abandonment of marriage or some shit like that. Hannah's been a wreck ever since. Won't eat, won't talk, just cried all afternoon. We finally got her to lie down, and I guess we all fell asleep."

"Cozy."

"Hey, don't get all creased about this."

"Why not Eddie? My boyfriend and my best friend..."

"Hey, I've been friends with Hannah Jane a lot longer than you have. We go way back."

Janet looks at him hurt. "I know that Eddie."

"Who do you think she came to when Nick left?"

"I assume you."

"Yeah, she was a hot mess and so was I. Deep down, we both knew Nick wasn't going to come back. We kind of got each other through it."

"Did you now?"

"Fuck Janet. What are you implying?"

"That maybe you had a thing for Hannah, wanted what your best friend had?"

Eddie looks at her, his eyes narrowing. "You know what? Maybe I did. I always envied Nick and Hannah, they were, you know, it. I thought I had that too with Rory, thought the four of us were going to be happy, get married, have kids. Nick and I would open our shop, and we'd all live these great lives. But Nick left, then Rory dumped me, and Hannah and I leaned on each other."

"Say it Eddie."

"Say what Janet?"

"You fell in love with her."

He shakes his head, sadly. "No. It wasn't love. It was revenge, every time. "

Janet realizes what Eddie's trying to tell her. "You slept with Hannah? she says in a whisper.

"Yup. There it is. Happy now? We fucked, had sex, banged, whatever you want to call it. And you know what? It was the worst thing in the world. We were clinging to something we could never get back.

"Eddie..."

"What?"

"You told me that there wasn't anyone else that I would be surprised by."

"Well you know what? I fucking lied Janet. But there it is. I. Fucked. Hannah. In the grand scheme of this shit hole I call my life, it meant absolutely nothing."

Janet kneels down in front of Eddie and she takes his hands in hers. "Your life isn't a shit hole Eddie."

"No it's not, not any more. But it was. Man, I was lost for a long time Janet, but you knew that. I thought that when I loved someone, that made them leave. Hell, my dad left, then my mom, Rory, and Nick, that killed me the most...That's probably why I fucked around with all those girls." Eddie points to his chest. "I got to be the one to leave, I got to break their hearts. But you were always different Janet. I loved all those nights at Sully's, talking to you, drinking with you, becoming your friend. I told you everything, well almost everything, and you didn't run. You saved my fucked up heart. You took all those broken pieces and put it back together. Don't you get it? When I met you, all that other shit became pointless. You were the only person who saw through that jackass armor I was wearing."

"You saved me too Eddie. I never, ever, ever thought someone like you could love someone like me."

"I hate that you think like that. Someone like you? "

"Eddie, for the first time in my life, you made me feel beautiful. You go through life listening to the things that people say about you, and you start to believe them. Sure it made me stronger, sure it made me kinder, but never did I believe that I was beautiful until you."

He grins at her, but the grin fades fast. "I never told you about Hannah for two reasons Janet. One, because I assumed she had may have already told you, and I was too embarassed to bring it up; and two, because she always begged me to keep it a secret. Trust me when I tell you that I wasn't the only one that summer."

"I know, Gavin Goddard."

"Yeah and Phyz."

"Phil?"

"Yeah, but that was after we really knew we'd lost Nick. She and I were fueled by assumption and lots of liquor. I was never sober when I was with her. That's why I remember half of what actually happened."

"Wow."

"Yeah, and I know, that makes me an ass, a hypocrite for getting so creased with you over Rooster. But, lying in that hospital room, I was scared. I finally realized that I loved you and I thought I was going to lose you too. That I could not bear."

Janet sighs and rests her head on Eddie's lap.

"So my beautiful, sweet Janet. That's it. I swear to you there's nothing else in my fucked up past that I am leaving out."

Janet lifts her head. "Eddie. You know what this means right?"

"What?"

"Sam. I know he's not Gavin's, Hannah already told me that, but what if he's yours?'