Oh you guys! Thanks so much for all the reviews! You guys are so sweet! Hey, just as a total random thing, I got to open an early present today and it was the first season of Three's Company on DVD!! I already watched all the episodes, tee hee. :)

Anyway, this chapter is shorter, but that's because we have some stuff to get to that will make a longer chapter and this stuff in this chapter needed to be mentioned so...yeah. I guess this is kind of like an important break between two chapters--stuff that didn't fit in either chapter. Anyway...here it is! :)

Meeeery Christmas! ^_^

Legal: I do not own the rights to Three's Company or its characters, thanks.

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Chapter 12: Suspicions Rise

"What happened?" Terri asked, bringing a hand to her face.

"We've been robbed! Oh, my parents told me about this kind of stuff." Chrissy sniffed.

"I'm gonna check my apartment and I'll call the police while I'm there," Larry said as he left.

Jerry walked around the apartment while the girls shakily sat down. Jack was still holding Janet. After a little while Jerry returned. "Far as I can tell nothing's been stolen."

"So someone was looking for something?" Chrissy queered.

"You're absolutely right, Christmas." He nodded.

"But what could they possibly have been looking for?" Terri crossed her arms over her chest.

Jerry thought for a moment and then shook his head. "I don't know."

In a few minutes a police car was parked outside of the apartment building. A few of the neighboring tenants decided to take a peek out of their windows at what was going on. Larry returned to the apartment to say that his apartment was fine. The police questioned everyone and were just turning to leave when Mr. Furley popped in. "What's all the--hey, you three should clean this place up. It's a pigsty!" He exclaimed, looking around.

"Who are you?" Asked one of the officers.

"Oh, I'm Ralph Furley. I run this apartment." Mr. Furley sniffed and straightened up importantly.

The man nodded. "Did you notice anything suspicious around here this evening?"

Mr. Furley scratched his head in thought. After a while his eyes grew wide. "Oh yeah! While the kids were gone a man came to me and asked me if I had a key to Jack Tripper's apartment, number 201. He said he was related to Jack. So I gave him a key."

The officer nodded. "That would explain why no windows or locks are broken. It was easy for the thief to enter with a key. Tell me: what did he look like?"

Mr. Furley's eyes narrowed as he concentrated on remembering the criminal. "Well, he wore glasses. He was skinny and I think he was old. The creepiest thing about him was that his eyes were two different colors. That's all I remember." He shrugged.

Terri, Chrissy, Larry and Jerry exchanged glances. Each one knew what the other one was thinking.

*Elias.*

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The next morning Janet awoke feeling more refreshed than she had in days. She yawned and got out of bed. She left hers and Terri's room to find everyone gathered in the living room. She looked around in confusion. "What's going on?"

Before anyone could answer Jack ran over and hugged her. Chrissy joined in. "Oh, Janet. We're so glad you're okay."

Janet nodded and repeated her question. "What's going on? Why is everyone here?"

They explained about the break-in. Janet slumped into the chair, depression sinking into her bones once again. So Elias wanted something from her or Jack and he wasn't going to rest until he got it.

"We're assuming that he came here to find whatever he was looking for. When he didn't find it he figured that you had it. Somehow he knew we were at the Reagle Beagle, came there and confronted you, like we all saw," Jerry ran over what they knew.

"How did he know where we'd be?" Terri inquired.

"My money's on Furley," Larry suggested.

Terri nodded. "I bet you're right, Larry. When Elias didn't find what he was looking for he asked Furley where we were. We never told him, but the first place he would suggest would be the Reagle Beagle."

"That explains that, but it doesn't explain what Elias was looking for," Jerry reminded them.

They were quiet for awhile as they all contemplated the situation. Janet couldn't think of what Elias wanted from her. As far as she knew she wasn't carrying anything interesting or valuable with her last night. What was he after? At what lengths would he go to to get it?

Suddenly the phone rang, startling them. Jerry was standing beside it so he picked it up. "Hello? Oh, yes. He's here." He looked over at Jack. "It's Jennifer."

Jack swallowed and walked over to the phone. Jerry covered the part you speak into and gave Jack some quick rules about talking on the phone before handing it to him. Jack cleared his throat. "Jenny?" He moved the phone from his ear when she spoke and stared at it for a minute. He brought it back. "Hello? You can hear me? Wow!" He sang a few lines from a Beetles song. "Did you hear that?"

Terri came over and snatched the phone from him. "Yes, Jack, she heard that. And if you want her to keep listening to you then talk like a normal person!" She returned the phone to him.

"Sorry," he said.

They left him to talk to Jenny, but Janet was pondering something as he talked to her. *Jack didn't give Jenny his phone number. How does she know it? And why does her voice sound familiar? And why does she still want to date Jack even after how strange he's been acting? There's something about her...* "How does Jenny have Jack's phone number?"

"Oh, he gave it to her last night. What's for breakfast?" Jerry responded.

Everyone talked about possible ideas for breakfast, except for Janet. She didn't like Jerry's blunt response and change of the subject.

Once again she had that sneaky feeling that Jerry was hiding something very important from them.

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Over the next few days Larry, Jerry and Jack took turns guarding the girls' apartment for safety reasons. Jack and Janet weren't allowed to go anywhere without someone else. Everyone was paranoid and everywhere they went their eyes were darting to and fro, expecting to see Elias at anytime. Terri continued going to work, but Larry took a few days off to help Jack get ready for his first real date. Jenny had invited him to dinner and a movie. With Larry's help Jack had persuaded her to double date with Larry and his date, Donna.

One day Janet and Chrissy sat on the couch with coffee and watched Larry tell Jack about making out. Janet shook her head. "Larry, does Jack really have to know this?"

"Sure he does. Hey, he can try it out on you, Janet." Larry grinned mischievously.

Janet turned three shades of red and took a sip of her coffee. "That's a great idea, Larry!" Chrissy exclaimed.

Janet shook her head. "No it isn't."

Chrissy shrugged. "Well, he can try it on me if he likes. He just needs to know that he can't make out with me anytime he wants to! This is just for his date with Jenny," she said resolutely.

Larry turned to Jack. "How about it, Jack? Wanna try my superior knowledge on Chrissy?"

Jack shrugged. "I guess."

As Jack and Chrissy started kissing Janet got up and went into the kitchen, furious with herself. "You're such an idiot, Janet!" She exclaimed when she'd shut the swinging door behind her. "You could be making out with Jack right now and you had to go and mess it up...now he's making out with Chrissy. You'll probably never get a chance to make out with him again." She sighed and plopped down in one of the chairs.

"That's good to know."

Janet leaped off of the chair and looked around. "Jerry? Where are you?"

The pantry door opened and Jerry stepped out, dusting himself off. Janet raised an eyebrow. "What were you doing in there?"

"Eavesdropping on you, of course. Janet, why is it such a big deal that Jack is making out with Chrissy and not with you?" Jerry questioned.

Janet wasn't sure about confiding in Jerry anymore. There's no way he was in there to eavesdrop on her. She was in the living room all day until just then. It just didn't make any sense. He was in there before she came in, doing something...but what?

"Janet? Is something pressing you?"

Janet shook her head and plastered on a smile. "No, no, Jerry. I'm just fine."

Jerry nodded. "Right." But there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Janet sighed and sat back down. The apartment seemed to be getting crazier and crazier and she really wished things would just get back to normal and soon!

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A couple of hours later Janet was back in the living room, telling Jack what girls *really* like. He had asked her for advice and she had definitely pondered giving him bad advice, but looking into his beautiful blue eyes she just couldn't.

The doorbell rang. Jack jumped off of the couch. "Can I get it?"

Janet nodded. *He's probably hoping it's Jenny,* she thought enviously.

Jack opened the door and was immediately enveloped in a hug by Mrs. Roper! Janet nearly tripped getting off of the couch quickly. She hurried over to the door. Jack looked confused. Mrs. Roper let go of him and patted his cheek lovingly. "There, there. Everything will turn out okay, Jack. Janet knows what she's doing. Oh, Janet." She approached Janet and gave her a hug as well.

"Helen! Get your bag, Helen!" Stanley Roper's voice came from outside.

Mrs. Roper let go of Janet and rolled her eyes. "I'll be right back."

She went outside and came back with a suitcase and Mr. Roper, who also had a suitcase.

"W-what are you doing here?" Janet asked, putting on as polite a demeanor as she could.

Mr. Roper looked disgruntled. "I don't know. Ask Ms. Poor-Jack-We-Should-Go-Help over here." He motioned to his wife.

Mrs. Roper put her hands on her hips. "Stanley, it's for a good cause. Jack is our friend. We can't just sit back and watch his life go to ruin."

"Why not?"

"Stanley!"

"Okay," Janet interrupted their argument, "so you're here to help Jack?"

Helen smiled. "That's right."

Janet rubbed her forehead. "Well, if everyone isn't here to help Jack. Larry and Chrissy are helping and we also have a hired butler..."

"Chrissy's here?" Helen's face lit up. "Oh, I haven't seen Chrissy in so long! Where is she?"

"I think she's in the shower. Listen, Mr. and Mrs. Roper, we don't have room for you in here. You see, Jack has his room, Terri and I have our room and Chrissy has the couch. Plus, Larry and Jerry have been over frequently to help keep watch over the apartment." She explained about the break-in.

"That's it. We're leaving, Helen. This place isn't safe." Mr. Roper turned to leave.

Mrs. Roper grabbed the back of his collar. "Oh no we aren't, Stanley. The girls need all the help they can get and you can help guard, too."

Mr. Roper looked crestfallen. "But Helen...you heard Janet, they have no room."

Mrs. Roper waved him off. "Of course they have room. Jack's bed is bigger than you girls', right?"

Janet nodded very slightly, wondering where she was taking this. "Well, then Stanley and Jack could sleep there and I could take the floor in your room," Mrs. Roper suggested.

Stanley looked panicked. "What? No, Helen and I could sleep in Jack's bed and he could take the floor in your room."

Janet shook her head. "Oh, I don't know, Mr. Roper--"

"Come on...what's he gonna do to you? It's me I'm worried about." Mr. Roper shuddered.

Janet didn't feel like arguing the case any further. "Oh, fine. You two get the bed. Chrissy can stay in mine and Terri's room and Jack can have the couch." She settled it.

So the Ropers came in.

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That night when Terri was back the Ropers met her. She was glad to finally meet them, having heard so much about them. Jerry brought all the dining room chairs into the living room so there would be room for everyone to sit down and they all sat around talking. At one point Mrs. Roper asked Terri if anything interesting had happened at work (she liked the fact that Terri was a take-charge nurse). Terri shrugged. "Actually, it was a pretty normal day. Oh, but one of my doctor friends was talking to me about Jack and he thought it was very interesting that he couldn't remember what his life was like before the accident. He said there's a chemical that wipes peoples' memories like that if it gets put into their blood stream."

"Is there a cure?" Janet asked, hopeful.

Terri shook her head. "I don't think so."

Tears filled Janet's eyes and disappointment filled her heart.

But Jerry was still interested. "It makes the person forget everything?"

Terri nodded. "Mm-hm. It's a rare chemical. It's only produced when three certain gasses emerge...I don't know all the details. I'm not a science major." She chuckled.

"What's the name of it?" Jerry asked, holding his breath.

Terri's eyes clouded with thought. "Ah...olvidon? Something like that."

Jerry leaped off of the couch. "I'll be back!" He shouted as he ran out the door.

"Wow. For an older gentleman he can run," Mrs. Roper said with interest.

"Jerry told me he used to work for the government when he was younger," Chrissy nodded.

"What did he do?" Janet queered.

Chrissy thought for a moment. "Something like...law enforger."

"Law enforcer?" Janet asked.

Chrissy jumped up and down in her seat. "Yeah! Yeah, that's it!"

Larry suddenly burst into laughter. "Oh come on! Jerry? A cop? Chrissy, he was just putting you on. Probably trying to impress you or something."

Chrissy glared at him. "Larry, I can tell with people and I can tell Jerry was a law...person, okay? And guess what else? I can tell you're a used car salesman, so there!" She stuck out her tongue.

"But Chrissy," Mrs. Roper spoke, "didn't you already know that Larry is a used car salesman?"

Chrissy sighed irritably. "Of course I did. I said so didn't I?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment as they tried to figure out what she was talking about. Everyone except for Janet. She was pondering why the mention of that chemical made Jerry run out of the apartment. And was he really a law enforcer? For once she thought Larry was in the right. Perhaps he was just putting Chrissy on. Perhaps he was putting them all on.

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So what do you think? Is Jerry the bad guy? Or is he a good guy? Or is he just plain weird? Hmmm...or maybe seeing things from Janet's point of view just makes him look suspicious, hehe. Anyway, Jack will go out with Jenny in the next chapter so Janet will have more important things on her mind than Jerry. ;-)