Janet finally got the chance to think, really think about what she was doing and all the doubt crept in. This was crazy, running away, hiding. Pretending none of it was happening. This was happening, all of it and she couldn't stop it, she couldn't change it. All she could do was let it happen, let the waves crash over her and hope she could stay on her feet. Eddie face was in her head, the look in his eyes right before he kissed her forehead and said goodbye. It was burned in her brain, quite possibly the last time she would ever look upon him and that is what she would remember. Janet and Jessie cuddled up in the bed, pizza box on their laps. Janet had forgotten that New York pizza is pretty much the best thing on Earth, and for the first time in a while Janet felt herself relax. Far from the Ridge, far from Eddie, far from Rooster. Some how in a few short hours Jessie was able to make everything ok, one decision already made. Janet was going to keep the baby. Up until she told her sister what was going in she wasn't sure. Jessie could always do that, make the bad things go away. She had been doing it for years. Jessie was happy to have her sister so close, the last few months she had been lonely and she was feeling a little lost in the big city. Work had kept her super busy, but it didn't fulfill her the way it once did and her last relationship crashed and burned like the ones that preceded it. Her friends were all moving forward in their lives getting married, having babies and she just felt stuck. So far thirty had not been her year, like her horoscope promised. She wondered what came next. The house phone rang, startling them both. Jessie leaned over Janet and picked up the phone.

"Hello."

"Well well, How are you doing Jessie McMullen?" His voice was so slick, so him. Jessie had forgotten what a jerk he could be, but juts the sound of his voice and it all came back to her. Her skin actually crawled.

"Ray Cataldo, I had a feeling I would be hearing from you." Janet cringed when she heard Ray's name, the ridge reaching her all the way to new York.

"Did ya now?"

"Yes I did, I heard you and Hannah Jane are getting hitched..." She knew they were pretty much broken up but she just couldn't resist the dig.

"That remains to be seen Jess." She could hear the sadness in his voice and it shocked her. Was Ray Cataldo actually capable of an actually human emotion.

"If I didn't know you any better I would say you sounded heartbroken."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far. I would say sad and disappointed but the game ain't over yet."

"Oh is that what Hannah is a game to win?"

"You know I play to win, I don't care who I have to beat."

"Speaking of beating I heard you had Janet's boyfriend beat up."

"I can neither confirm nor deny those allegations." Ray chuckled.

"Ray, seriously. That's what you are stooping to now."

"Hey, look I knew it was happening and I didn't lift a finger to stop it. but I didn't order a hit, I am not Don Corelone. Jesus... Anyway I called to give you a heads up. Hannah called me wanting some intel on you and Janet who I assume is with you."

"I can neither confirm for deny..." Ray laughed and shook his head.

"Touché, Jess. So I told her I have not see you in years, a lie I know but a lie for a good cause I think." Jessie exhaled relieved. She didn't want Hannah to know where she was until she got Janet's head back on straight.

"Thanks Ray I really appreciate that."

"I figured you would. Tell Janet I said hey..."

"Later Ray." Jessie hung up the phone and cringed, throwing it to the foot of the bed. Ray had changed over the years, a coldness grew in him, a meanness at his core and she wasn't sure what was the cause of it.

"You were right kiddo, Hannah called Ray." Janet nodded, wishing Hannah would just let it go, but knowing she wouldn't.

"I figured she would."

"He didn't tell her anything though. I wonder if you are right about Grams and Gramps."

"Yeah, I am right." Janet said sadly. "I know Eddie better then he knows himself.

"I am sorry Mr. Latekka. Mr. and Mrs. Meadows are refusing to see you. There is not much else I can do." The girl at the reception desk felt bad for turning them away but her hands were tied.

"What about me? Will they just see me." Hannah chimed in, seeing Eddie starting to lose his cool.

"Hold on let me see." She picked up the phone. "What is your name?"

"Hannah Jane Daniels." Eddie and Hannah looked on as she whispered into the phone. They could tell by the look on her face the answer was no.

"I am sorry guys but no."

Gran and Gramps felt awful turning them away but they were just respecting Janet's wishes. She had told them everything that happened, well almost everything and even though they didn't agree with what she was doing they were going to support her in anyway they could.

Eddie stormed out of the nursing home, his body tense unable to contain his anger. Hannah trailed behind him trying to keep up.

"Eddie come on calm down!"

"CALM DOWN Hannah! You calm down. This is such bullshit. She is out there, thinking that she is having Roosters baby. What if she has an abortion."

"She wont have an abortion Eddie, that's not who Janet is. Look we are not done yet we can still try and find her. I sent her an email this morning telling her everything. Maybe she will read it and come home."

"Or maybe she wont." Eddie got into his truck slamming his door behind him so hard that Hannah actually jumped. She dreaded the ride back to the ridge. Eddie drove in complete silence, his head so full. The longer Janet was away the more his anger grew towards her. To just leave, to pick up and run away. To tell her grandparents not to see him or Hannah. It felt so calculated, and he worried that Janet never really intended to come home. That she never intended to tell him about the baby. But that was not the Janet he knew, she had been replaced by this erratic, thoughtless, liar.

"Eddie, slow down you are doing ninety. We are going to get pulled over." Eddie glanced down at the speedometer, stunned that he was going as fast as he was, easing his foot off the gas.

"How could she do this Hannah? How could she?"

"I did the same thing Eddie, so I get where she is at. She is scared and reacting, going into survival mode. When I found out i was pregnant I slept with Gavin and You, I lied to everyone I knew and loved. I have been lying for years. You just think you are doing what's best for you, for the baby, for the father. You think that the truth will only make things worse. That you fucked up so much the only thing you can do is run and hide. She really believes Rooster is the father. I mean you have yet to knock anyone up, in all the years..."

"It was different with Janet...we...were different."

"I hear ya Eddie, trust me I do... but Rooster freaked her out big time. You saw how he was at the fling. I mean it was borderline stalker. And you were so awful to her when she told you the truth the last time. I mean she was a mess. I think she is a little afraid of you now." Shock spread across his face.

"You don't really think that do you?"

"I do Eddie, I do... the week after your break up she was in really bad shape. Just because you guys worked it out does not negate all of that emotion." Eddie thought about that, Janet being afraid of him. The idea that she was scared to talk to him, to be honest with him, made Eddie sick. But he knew that Hannah was right, he used all her insecurity and turned it against her. He had used her weakness and the fact she had opened up to him, and threw it right back in her face in the worst possible away. He began to understand how they got to this place, with so many miles between them.

"What if she doesn't come back?" He finally said, his voice tight.

"You mean like Nick?"

"Yeah...like Nick"

"She will come back Eddie, Nick left running towards something. Janet left running from something. When you run away from something you always look back. She will be back because she loves you."

"Does she Hannah, I am beginning to think that she hates me."

"Eddie, that's not even possible. Trust me."

"Nick loves you Hannah, he always did."

"Yeah, but not enough. I mean now he does maybe, but then not so much. And when I tell him the truth about Sam."

"The truth about Sam?"

"Come on Eddie, you know that Nick is Sam's real father. Everyone knows for crying out loud. The only person who believed the lie was me."

A week past and Janet made a home on Jessie's sofa, perched there watching daytime TV and eating cheese puffs until she was sick. She ached for Eddie, wondered how he was doing. She wondered if he cared that she was gone or if he was moving on with his life like she told him to. All Janet had was time on her hands, hour after empty hour. The entirety of her relation ship with Eddie playing over and over in her head. Even the years before they got together, the simple times when they were just acquaintances sharing shots and stories after a long day. The moment he asked her out, how confused she was, how excited. The look of shock on his face that he even asked. How stupid she felt after her speech at Hugo's only to find out that Veal was on the menu. The Allison Rowan BBQ, the fight afterwards, the do-over, the kiss at homecoming, everything flooding her brain over and over until she was going crazy. Rory, Rooster, making up finally, the baby, leaving him. Janet was sick of it all, sick of the memories, sick of the tears. She was beginning to wish that Eddie never asked her out at all, that she could go back to that simple time where things made sense. Sure she was lonely, and pathetic and sad but at least she knew where she stood. Now she was lonely, pathetic, sad, heartbroken and pregnant.

"Ok Janet, it is Saturday night, you have been here a week. You haven't moved from that sofa. ENOUGH! We are headed out." Jessie went to her closet and started pulling out things for Janet to wear.

"Jess, I really don't want to, I cant drink..."

"So we don't need to drink to have a good time... I will stay sober in solidarity. We will just eat at some over priced swanky place and then go dancing... When was the last time YOU danced?"

"its been a while..."

"Too long I am sure, come on put this on." Jessie threw her a black dress and boots. "Spit spot... come on..." Janet gave her a lopsided smile, and finally gave in.

Eddie was going through the motions of his life, work, Sully's. Trying to pretend everything was ok, trying to be Hail Eddie again. A week and not a single word from her, not a word. He was angry, so angry. At her at himself, at Rooster, at Rory. Drinking became his favorite past time, long nights sitting at Sully's drinking shots, missing Janet. Missing her laugh as she ran around the bar, missing her smile as she would pass him his beers, he missed kissing her between the lulls, taking her home at the end of the night, waking up with her in the morning. This was crazy, sitting around waiting for her to call, waiting for her to send an email, it could be weeks before that happened.

"Earth to Eddie." Owen sat next to him, trying to figure out how drunk he was, trying to see what mood he would be in.

"What Owen, what?"

"I just wanted to see if you wanted a lift, I am headed out."

"Nope, I am good." Eddie wasn't near drunk enough to go home.

"Come on buddy, its late. You have been here all night."

"And what business of that is yours?"

"Its none of my business Eddie, none at all." Owen turned and walked away, knowing that Eddie wouldn't take any help, knowing he was dealing with this the best way he could.

"Sully, pour me another would ya?"

"Its not going to help Eddie, not one bit."

"What are you a shrink now Sul, just pour the damn shot and keep your opinions to yourself."

Eddie woke up the next morning in a booth in the back of Sully's. He head pounding, his jaw throbbing and his knuckles broken and bloody. Did he get in a fight, he racked his memory but couldn't remember a thing, His entire body felt like it was made of lead, he could barely lift himself up. He found a bottle of water and aspirin on the table, an undeserved gift from Sully. He took the pills and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, wondering what time it was. There one a single message from a private number. His heart lept hoping it was Janet.

"Uh, hello. This is Jessie, we spoke once a while ago. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that Janet is with me and she is OK. I mean she is safe, she's not OK, she is freaking mess. I am sure you are too. I am trying to get her back together and back to you as quickly as possible, but things are more complicated then you can possibly imagine. But she misses you Eddie and she loves you. Just give her some time. Try not to hate her. She is worried about you, but she is to stubborn to call Hannah, so just don't give her anything to worry about. I will try calling you again. Bye."

Eddie listened to the message over and over, maybe if he wasn't so drunk he would have answered it and actually spoken to Jessie. Janet could be on her way back to him now. He was kicking himself for being so stupid, so childish. The message was a comfort, Janet was safe, she loved him and Jessie was trying to bring her home. Eddie had hope again.