I won't say much here, because this chapter is really where it all "comes down", but I do want to say that I hope you all enjoy it. ^_^

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

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Chapter 19: It Ain't Over Til It's Over

Janet took her case to the court, but she didn't win. She was against Dr. Elias once again and he made sure that she couldn't win. Even her lawyer couldn't find a way out this time. She came back to the apartment feeling defeated and hopeless.

Since everything seemed to be done the Ropers and Chrissy packed to leave. There was still no sign of Jerry, but Janet really didn't care anymore. She bid her friends a sad goodbye. Things began to get back to normal...except that there was no Jack. Terri went to work and Janet got her job back at the flower shop, but there was no Jack to cook for them or make them laugh. They hadn't yet discussed the living arangement and when they would get a new roommate. Terri must have assumed that Janet would not be comfortable with talking about it, for she hadn't brought it up.

Janet talked to the authorities about visiting Jack in the asylum on the hill, but they wouldn't permit her there. They said he had gone "even more insane since the ball". Janet thought she would go insane, too, if she was locked up in that place when she didn't deserve to be. She came home that day and cried. Even when carolers came to the door and caroled she still didn't move. In fact, they reminded her of Jack and she just cried more.

There was a knock on the bedroom door. It was Terri, but Janet didn't feel like talking to anyone so she didn't say anything. She heard the door open. "Janet?" It was Larry's voice.

Janet didn't know why, but she responded. "Yes?"

"Janet, I think you need to go talk to that mayor or something. How can you just sit around while Jack--an innocent man--is locked away? Don't accept defeat! That's not at all like the Janet I know. The Janet I know would say, 'It ain't over 'til it's over!'" He said.

Janet sat up and mustered a small smile, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "No I wouldn't, Larry. I would say, 'It's *not* over 'til it's over.'"

Larry grinned.

So Larry, Terri and Janet (with help from Mr. Furley) spent the next couple of days trying their hardest to get Jack freed. It would be Christmas in a week and nothing had changed. It appeared very much as though it *was* over. Finally Janet gave up. Terri and Larry tried to convince her that there was more they could do, but Janet knew in her heart that it was all over and she told them so.

"We tried. And I thank you both so much for being such great friends and helping me through this, but they are not going to let Jack out. I'll be okay. I just have to get over it, that's all," she tried to tell them.

But she knew that she would never get over it.

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One night Janet found herself at the apartment alone. Terri was working the late shift. Janet was cleaning...she had to find ways to distract herself or she knew her thoughts would go to Jack. Unfortunately, even while cleaning all she *could* think about was him. Even when all the tears had left her eyes and she could not cry anymore, her heart still cried constantly for him.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. She turned off the vacuum cleaner and answered the door. Immediately her mouth popped open. Three young women stood in front of her in black catsuits. "Jenny? Helga? Ms. Dunham?" She gaped. Jack's once-girlfriend, their once-maid, and Janet's lawyer were standing in front of her.

"Can we come in?" Ms. Dunham asked politely.

Janet stepped aside so they could come in, still quite curious. The girls definitely were the ones she was thinking of. Ms. Dunham didn't have her glasses on, though. And Helga's hair came about to her mid-neck and it wasn't in a bun. And Jenny's hair was much shorter, too--just below her ears.

"Janet, I'm not really a lawyer," Ms. Dunham said right away. "And she isn't a maid. My name is Sam, she"--she motioned to Helga--"is Clover and this"--Jenny--"is Alex. We're spies for a secret organization."

"If we told you we'd have to kill you." Clover winked.

"But--" Janet started, but she was interrupted.

"Jerry is our boss," Alex informed. "He was working on this case undercover from the beginning and we just helped, I guess." She scratched her chin in thought.

"Listen, Janet," Sam took the floor again, "we have a situation on our hands. A week ago Jerry disappeared. We think he was kidnapped because he knew something. He had called us and told us that we needed to meet him somewhere private so he could tell us something very important, but he never showed up at our meeting place. We saw that he never came back to your apartment either.

"That's not all, though. Listen, I'm sure Jerry told you, but your friend Jack was not in an accident. Someone purposely did all of this to him. Our thoughts are that it was Dr. Elias."

"He used to be a scientist, but he got in trouble for doing illegal genetic experiments," Clover added.

Sam nodded. "Exactly. That would explain how he was able to do this to Jack."

"But--" Janet started again.

"Elias just went down to the asylum to see Jack," Sam continued.

"He was given permission?!" Janet gasped, upset.

Alex nodded and Sam kept going. "Janet, Jack might be in danger and we might need your help. If we're going to crack this case and get Jack out of there we need someone that he'll listen to. We thought he might listen to Alex, but we *know* he'll listen to you. Will you come with us?"

Janet blinked, bewildered. A few minutes ago she was cleaning, completely sure that she would never even see Jack again. Now there were three spies in her living room trying to get her to go with them so they could free Jack. She couldn't understand why she was hesitating.

"Let's go!" She exclaimed, grabbing her jacket.

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Very soon Janet found herself trying to sneak into the asylum with the spies. "So you dated Jack because you were working undercover?" Janet asked Alex as they waited for Sam to scale the building and drop a rope for them.

Alex nodded. Janet chuckled. "Oh my...I was so worried that you liked him a lot and that he would fall in love with you and...you were working so I had no reason to worry."

Alex smiled. "Yep. I did like Jack. He was really sweet and he is kind of cute, but you know...he's your guy." Her smile got wider so that she was squinting.

Janet laughed again. She was feeling better than she had in days.

Suddenly a rope dropped out of the sky. "You go first," Clover said to Janet.

She grabbed the rope and was somehow able to climb up the building. When Clover and Alex were up Sam motioned for them to follow her and they did. Janet was still trying to get used to the situation as they went along the roof and found a way inside. So Chrissy was right all along! Jerry was a goodguy and he *was* kidnapped! And those girls Janet was with must have been who Jerry kept talking to in the kitchen... It was nice to know the facts and not assumptions.

Sam figured the easiest way to get to Jack unseen would be to use the ducts. Janet was pretty thrilled when they started crawling through them. After all, she always saw the heroes go through ducts in the movies. It struck her that if this worked she would be Jack's hero. She chuckled inwardly at the thought.

Traveling by duct turned out to be less glamorous than she first thought. They were incredibly dusty, full of spiders and after the first minute your back hurt from being so hunched over. Not to mention it was dark and the walls were close to you. It was near to impossible to turn around. Janet was more than ready to get out of the ducts, but they went on for, what seemed like hours.

Finally Sam stopped ahead of her and kicked open the vent. Janet squeezed up next to her and found herself looking into a big room--apparently the basement. There was an odd sort of cylindar in the center of the room that Elias was trying to force Jack into. There were, what were probably "henchmen" stationed around the room with guns. Jerry was tied up and gagged in the corner.

"What are we going to do?" Said Alex, who was peeking over their shoulders at the room.

Sam was biting her nails. Janet didn't think they could do anything. It looked as though it would be impossible to get Jack out of there.

"You'll get in there now!" Elias suddenly yelled, causing Janet's heart to stop briefly. "If you don't..."

One of the henchmen hit Jerry hard in the head with the barrell of his gun.

"Do you want to see Mr. Spy over here killed sooner than he needs to be?" Elias said.

Jack looked awful, Janet suddenly realized. He was wearing the jail garb, a gray jumpsuit, but it was torn up in several places, as though he had ripped it in anguish. His hair was messy and his eyes were wild. He was sitting like a dog once more and staring at Elias as though he could kill him with his gaze. In a moment, though, he stood and began walking toward the cylinder.

Elias grinned. "Very good. Now we can wipe every memory of the past couple of months from your mind. It'll be nice to bring you back to the animal you were in October, won't it?"

Janet gasped. Unfortunately sound carried well in the large room. A henchman pointed up to them. "Dr. Elias!" He exclaimed.

Elias looked in their direction and for a moment his eyes showed shocked fear. "Get them down here!" He spewed.

"Go!" Sam shouted behind her.

"I can't!" Clover squeaked.

"What do you mean? They're climbing up right now!" Janet exclaimed in a panicky voice.

"I can't turn around!" Clover said.

Within seconds the henchmen had gotten them down and were each holding one of the girls at gunpoint.

"Janet!" Jack cried, running from the cylinder toward Janet.

Elias himself grabbed a gun and came up to Janet, pointing it at her head. Jack stopped in his tracks, a look of fear on his face. "Come another step closer and I'll pull this trigger," Elias breathed. "Now *get in the machine!*"

"Jack, no!" Janet shouted, tears choking her voice.

But Jack turned around and walked resolutely toward the cylinder again. "Good doggie," Elias laughed.

Janet wanted to hurt him. She wanted to pull out all of his hair. She wanted to kick him hard in the shins or in the groin. Her insides burned with anger. "Why are you doing this to him?" She finally exclaimed, unable to contain herself.

Elias opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by a female voice.

"Because I'm paying him to."

A woman had just come in the door. Janet's eyes might have popped out then they got so wide. As the woman stepped into the light Janet saw distinctly who she was. "Lana!" She said in a choked voice.

Lana Shields...once a neighbor of the trio when Chrissy was still living with them. She had always had a big thing for Jack. Apparently it was bigger than any of them had realized.

"But why?" Janet asked in a whisper.

"Janet, you know that I only have eyes for Jack," Lana said, looking longingly at Jack, who was caged inside the cylinder. "But you know who he has eyes for. You...or Chrissy...or your new roommates...or one of those other young girls he's always going out with." Her eyes flashed angrily. "He never took any notice of a curvaceous, mature woman like me. But I'm going to change all of that." She looked at Elias. "Activate the machine."

He nodded and went over to the controls. "No!" Janet yelled through her tears.

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Commercial break! How did y'all like that chapter? Just kidding. I wouldn't end the chapter right there. It's too exciting right now. Hope you're enjoying it. :)

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Janet's thoughts raced. There had to be something she could do. Her eyes darted about. Perhaps there was something in the room she had missed...something that was helpful... Her eyes met with Jerry's. One of his was mostly shut, though, as it was black and bruised. He nodded to Jack. She didn't understand. He nodded to him more vigorously, but Janet still didn't understand. She looked at Jack, hoping to catch what Jerry wanted her to do, but she couldn't see it. Despair sank into her bones. She could hear the steady beeping sound the machine made as it warmed up and prepared to turn Jack into the animal he once was... Perhaps she could buy him some time. Perhaps if she kept talking.

"So that night in October you did this to Jack? Why did you let him go if this was what you wanted?" She asked Lana.

Lana's eyes darkened. "I didn't let him go. He broke free...escaped. He was still holding onto a part of himself and went immediately to his restaurant. I sent Elias after him, but he didn't get there fast enough." She shot a venomous glance at the scientist. "The police took him. So when you made your appeal I sent Elias in as the opposing lawyer, but he lost the case." She shot him another poisonous glance. "I sent him around after that to keep an eye on things and to try to bring Jack back to me. He failed at the latter, but he was able to tell me things about Jack's progress... This proved to me that I could make Jack an animal and then train him to be civilized again. I was especially glad to learn that he fell in love with you, because that meant that he could fall in love with his trainer again..." She looked at Jack for a moment and then snapped at Elias. "Hurry up!"

"It's almost done warming up, Ms. Shields," Elias said grudgingly.

Janet glared at him. "And what was it, Elias? What was the price that you put on Jack's life?"

A gleam came into his eyes. "Oh, it was quite the large sum, Ms. Wood, don't you worry. Your Jack's life is pretty expensive." He sniggered.

Janet didn't know what else to say. She looked back at Jerry. He had managed to get his gag off partially. "Jack," he muttered.

"What about him?" Janet asked quietly.

"Talk...tell him to escape," Jerry hissed.

"What?" Janet's eyebrow rose.

Jerry looked frustrated. "He did it once, he can do it again," he said in a hushed voice.

"It's ready, Ms. Shields," Elias said.

"Then use it, you idiot," Lana said, rolling her eyes.

Janet gasped. "Jack!" She exclaimed, turning to look at him. He, in return was looking at her. "Jack, you have to fight it. You have to break out of there! I know you can do it. I know that you're actually going to be the hero, Jack. Please try, Jack! I know I told you to always be on your best behavior and to never attack people, but Jack...Jack, I want you to attack Elias," she said shakily.

Rays of light were passing over Jack from the machine, but he barely seemed to notice. He nodded decidedly and began banging on the glass cylinder.

"He can't break out," Lana said surely.

But Lana forgot that Elias' machine made Jack a lot stronger than he was and with the machine on, trying to turn him into an animal again, it was giving him more strength. He lunged at the glass with a bit of a roar and broke clean through. He leaped on Elias, who began screaming for help. The henchmen all bolted, obviously afraid of Jack. The spies immediately got into action. In seconds they had each used karate moves to knock three henchmen to their feet and had taken their guns. They each aimed a gun at a fleeing Lana and said in unison, "Freeze!"

Janet was busy untying Jerry and Jack was keeping Elias busy. Lana did freeze and turned slowly to face them. Suddenly the doors opened and men in suits with sunglasses came flooding in. Some of them had apprehended henchmen that had tried to escape. One of them handcuffed Lana and one handcuffed Elias. They gathered up the knocked out henchmen as well, and one gave Jerry a blanket and an ice pack for his black eye.

"Well done, girls," Jerry said, coming up to the spies. "I had hoped you would come through."

"So that important thing you had to tell us that got you kidnapped...what was it?" Alex queered.

"Oh, that. I discovered that Elias was taking orders from a Lana Shields. I asked Chrissy if she knew someone by that name and she told me enough about Lana that I couldn't doubt that she would do something like this. While I was looking up files on her I was hit from behind and I woke up in this ruddy place," he looked around with disguist.

Each of the spies congratulated Jerry, Jack and Janet before saying that they had to study for college tests. Janet thanked them deeply and turned to Jerry. "Jerry...can you ever forgive me for thinking you were the badguy?" She said sheepishly, eyeing his bruises with shame.

He smiled. "Of course. I do look the type, don't I?"

But Janet had to disagree. She hugged him.

"Janet..." said a small voice nearby.

She turned to see Jack. He had apparently tried to smooth his hair and he was fiddling with a string that was hanging off of his sleeve. "Janet, I'm sorry I don't look presentable."

Janet just broke into hysterical laughter and flung her arms around him. "Oh, Jack," she said through her laughter and tears, "I don't care how you look! I'm just glad you're okay."

She felt his arms pull her close, as though he never wanted to let her go again. She sighed. She could stay like that forever.

"Janet?" Jerry's voice came out of nowhere and Jack let her go.

She looked at Jerry with frustration. "Yes, Jerry?"

He was holding a small vial that had a red substance in it. "The antidote," he said, handing it to her.

He left. There were still agents running around, gathering evidence, but they were oblivious to Janet. All she knew was she and Jack. He was looking at her curiously. She held the vial tightly. She loved Jack *so much*. She could just drop the antidote and keep him in love with her forever. But Janet had always had a pure, good heart. Swallowing the sobs that threatened to come from her she hugged Jack and kissed him *really good* once more. Then, hand shaking, she handed him the vial. "Jack...this is the cure," she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

He took the vial and eyed it suspiciously. Then he asked, "Should I drink it then?"

*Say no! Say no!* A voice screamed inside Janet's head. She swallowed once more and looked away. "Yes, Jack. Drink it all."

He smiled. "Well then...I guess you'll see the real Jack pretty soon."

"I guess I will," Janet murmured.

Jack drank the antidote.

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Okay, that was the real end of the chapter. ;) I hope you guys enjoyed it! But the story isn't over yet! There's still more to wrap up. :)