"The tumor. Were you able to get the tumor?" Janet asked Dr. Weber.

"Every piece of them."

"Them?" Laura asked.

"Your son had multiple tumors that morphed into one giant tumor but I got it all and there aren't any bits or pieces left in his brain."

"So when he wakes up he will be pain free?" Jack asked.

"That is correct."

"Will the tumors return?" Janet inquired. She had been through this before. The tumors are removed but they return worse than they were before.

"I can't guarantee that they won't but Eddie is going to get a medication everyday to inhibit tumor growth. My other patients that have had this surgery and medication, it's been five years and no tumors have returned." Janet nodded. It wasn't the answer that she really wanted. The answer that she wanted was a guarantee that his tumors would not come back but since she couldn't get the answer she wanted this one would have to do.

"When can we see him?"

"He is ready for visitors any time. I would recommend talking to him. Studies show that comatose patients can hear you."

"Thank you Dr. Weber." Laura and Jack returned to Eddie's room while Janet went outside to make phone calls to update everyone on Eddie's condition and she just needed a few minutes alone to digest everything Dr. Weber told her.

She was thankful that Eddie wasn't dead. As confident as she acted around Eddie prior to the surgery she was actually terrified that he wasn't going to make it through but he did and that is a good thing. Sure, he is in a coma but he wasn't dead and that what was something she could work with because she knew without a doubt that he would wake up. He would wake up for their boys and for her. He would fight his way out of the darkness because he loved and promised he would and Eddie Latekka had never broken a promise to her.

Jack and Laura left soon after Janet returned to Eddie's room. Once she was alone with her husband she gently ran her hand over his peaceful face. She leaned over and kissed him softly, hoping for a reaction. In her mind she was thinking of Snow White. She had hoped that when she kissed him her kiss would bring him back like the Prince's kiss brought Sleeping Beauty back but Eddie remained motionless beneath her. Sighing, Janet pulled a chair next to his bed and grabbed his hand.

"Eddie, I know that these past few months have been hard on you. I realize that that you need time to recuperate so I'm not going to fight you on this coma. Take the time that you need to rest and get better so you can return to our family tumor free and healthy. That's what is important. Just make it quick okay?" Janet laughed. "I told you in one breath to take the time you need and in the second breath I told you to make it quick. Just get better as soon as you can. Don't take any time that you don't need." Janet lifted his hand to her mouth and kissed it softly. "As much as I want to stay next to your bed every minute that you are in this coma, I can't. The boys need me to be home with them and I need to work since apparently you are taking an unscheduled vacation. I promise that the boys and I will be here every day to see you and when you wake up, if I am not here I will be as soon as I can."

"Eddie, you promised me that you would come back to me and the boys and I am holding you to that promise. You have never broken a promise to me before so don't you dare start now. Jackson, Jacob and Josh love you so very much Eddie as do I. Focus on that love and come back to us." Janet leaned over and kissed him again, her tears landing on his cheeks. "I love you and I will see you tomorrow." She truly did not want to leave him, alone but the way she saw it she didn't have a choice. What good would she do here? She had three boys at home that needed their mother and right now that trumped sitting next to Eddie's bed, waiting for who knows how long for him to wake up.

"Mommy." Three boys yelled as they ran to her.

"Hey guys." Janet hugged and kissed each of her precious angels.

"Where is daddy?" Josh asked.

"Is he in the car?" That came from Jackson.

"Did the doctor fix daddy's head?" Jacob asked the last question. On her drive home, Janet thought long and hard about how to explain Eddie's situation to her three five year old boys.

"The doctor did fix daddy's head but he is still in the hospital."

"Why?" Came the soft little voice of Joshua.

"Well daddy is sleeping right now."

"Will he come home in the morning when he wakes up?"

"No Jax. Daddy won't be home in the morning. Listen guys come and sit down with me in the living room." The boys followed their mother into the living room. Jacob and Jackson sat on either side of their mother while Josh crawled onto her lap. "Daddy is having a hard time waking up so he is going to be sleeping for awhile. I don't know for how long he will be sleeping. He could wake up tomorrow or on your next birthday."

"Why?" Jacob wondered.

"I don't know sweetheart."

"Is he going to sleep forever?" Jax asked his mother.

"No honey. He won't. Daddy promised me that he was going to wake up and daddy always keeps his promises doesn't he?" The three boys nodded.

"Okay, let's get you ready for your bath. Go on up stairs and I'll be there in a few minutes." The three boys ran upstairs and Janet smiled softly after them.

After thanking Katie and Ikey for watching the boys for the day Janet put on her happiest face and followed the boys upstairs to bathe them. Bathing three boys is never an easy or quick task but it always went faster when Eddie was there helping her but Eddie wasn't there to help her and she had no idea when he would return and as she fought with the boys to quit splashing she couldn't help but think this was going to be her life for an unknown period of time.

Once the boys were cleaned and in fresh pajamas Janet splurged and gave the boys some ice cream as a bedtime snack. Normally she gave them yogurt or cheese and crackers but tonight she felt that they deserved some comfort food and it just so happened that ice cream was their father's favorite food. After they finished their ice cream Janet got them into bed and read them Jackson's story choice.

"Good night my little princes. Mommy and daddy love you very much." Janet told them after she tucked them in and kissed them goodnight.

"I wanna sleep with you mama." Josh spoke up from his bed.

"Me too." Jackson and Jacob piped up. Of course, what one does the others will follow.

"You guys have your bed and I have my bed."

"But you will be lonely without daddy." Jacob informed her.

"You won't be lonely with us." Jackson added.

"Please mommy. Pretty please." All three boys were sitting up in their beds, looking at her with big puppy dog eyes and she couldn't say no.

"Come on." The boys jumped from their beds and scrambled across the hall into their parents' bed with their mother following behind them. "All right guys. I need to get a shower. While I'm in the shower I need you to lay in here and go to sleep. No talking. No wrestling and keep your hands to yourselves. If I come out of the shower and you guys aren't following the rules then you will go back to your own bed. Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am." Janet watched as the boys made themselves comfortable. Jax and Jake on Eddie's side of the bed and Josh took the spot in the middle. "Night mommy." The three of them told her.

"Goodnight boys." Janet grabbed some pajamas and went to shower in the bathroom connected to her bedroom.

Standing under the hot water Janet's resolve finally broke. She had been holding her emotions together for the sake of her children but now that she was alone in the shower she was overwhelmed with her thoughts and fear about Eddie and she was overwhelmed with the sudden change in her parenting status. She was now a single parent of three boys and that absolutely terrified her. Jacob, Joshua and Jackson needed their father. They needed him in a way that she could never fulfill and her heart broke over the fact that their father wouldn't be there for them or for her. She slid to the floor of the shower, pulled her knees up to her chest, her hand over her mouth and sobbed. She cried for Eddie, herself and her children.

When she was done with her shower she dressed and then called the hospital from the bathroom to check on Eddie only to learn there had been no change in his condition. Wiping away the few stray tears Janet climbed into bed next to Josh. In his sleep Joshua rolled over and took his mother's hand in his small one and Janet smiled. With her boys by her side she knew they would be fine until Eddie returned to them.

Although she knew it was a long shot Janet hoped that Eddie would wake from his coma the following day but he didn't nor did he wake the following day or even the day after that and eventually the days that Eddie was not with his family turned into weeks and as it must, life moved on.

Janet came up with a monotonous daily schedule that allowed Janet to work and spend time with the boys and Eddie. During the week every morning Janet got her and the boys up and ready and then she took them to work with her at Best Friend Windows. Thankfully, Nick let Janet bring the boys with her to work because he knew that Eddie would do the same for him. Janet made sure to bring toys, books and movies to keep the boys occupies in the back room while she worked. After work Janet took the boys home, fed them dinner and then they four of them drove to Boston to spend an hour with Eddie.

At first the boys were a little freaked out at seeing their father lying motionless on the bed but Janet assured them that he wasn't in any pain and he could hear them when they talked to him so every night they climbed up on the bed with him and told him about their day which usually only lasted about fifteen minutes before they got bored at which point Janet would turn cartoons on for them while she would talk to Eddie and exercise his legs.

Well that plan worked for about a week and a half before the boys got bored playing in the back room of their father's office and then it became a battle to get them up and to the office in the mornings and once they were there they complained and Janet knew she had to come up with a different plan and that's when Sharon, her mother showed up.

When Sharon learned that Eddie was in a coma she made a decision that she had been considering for quite some time. Sharon and Michael had been talking about moving to the Ridge. Sharon wanted to be closer to Janet and the boys. When Janet called and told her that Eddie was in a coma Michael and Sharon's decision was made instantly. Her daughter needed her. She practically abandoned her after she graduated from high school and she wasn't going to do it again. Janet and her grandson's needed her. She put notice in at her job used all of her vacation days and showed up at Janet's house two weeks after Eddie went into his coma while Michael stayed behind to sell their home. When Janet opened her front door and saw her mother standing there, she fell into her mother's arms and cried.

Once Sharon arrived she came over every morning to stay with the boys while Janet went to work. Like she did prior to Sharon coming Janet took the boys to the hospital after dinner to see Eddie. She was not going to give that up. She needed the visits and so did her sons.

"Oh God." Janet groaned over the toilet.

"Mommy what's wrong?" Jackson asked, walking into the bathroom.

"I'm sorry baby. Did I wake you up?" It has been a month since Eddie fell into his coma and the triplets had spent every night in bed with their mother. Janet knew that she should send them back to their own bed but if she was honest with herself, she liked having them close to her. She liked not being alone at night because it was at night, when the boys were sleeping and she had yet to fall asleep that was when she would think about what her life had become without Eddie and how bad she wanted him back.

"Yeah. Are you sick again?" The past few days Janet woke up nauseated and stayed nauseated all day but she didn't throw up, although she thought she was going to. Again this morning she woke up nauseated but this time she threw up.

"A little. I will be fine. Are your brothers awake yet?"

"Not yet." Before Janet could respond she was throwing up again.

"Mommy?"

"I'm fine honey. Just a little tummy ache. Why don't you go downstairs and watch some television and I'll be down soon."

"Okay."

"Love you buddy."

"Love you too mommy."

"Shut the door behind you." She didn't want t wake the other two boys.

Twenty minutes later, Janet finally stopped throwing up and managed to make her way downstairs where she found all three boys wide awake waiting for their breakfast. "Good morning mommy." Joshua yelled as soon as he saw her.

"Morning honey. Are you guys hungry?"

"Yes."

"Come on to the table and I'll get you some cereal." Jackson ran up and grabbed her hand.

"Do you feel better mommy?" He whispered loudly.

"Yeah baby. I do." And she did. She was still slightly nauseated but she didn't have the urge to throw up.

The boys took their seats at the table and Janet quickly got them their cereal. Just as she finished pouring the last glass of juice her mother's voice rang through the house. "In the kitchen." Janet called.

"Good morning." Sharon said to her daughter and grandsons as she kissed the boys' heads.

"You're early." Janet commented

"No. You are just running late." Janet finally looked at the clock in the kitchen and saw that her mother was right.

"Oh crap." She gasped.

"Awww. Mommy said a bad word." Jacob informed everyone and the boys laughed.

"Are you okay sweetheart?" Sharon asked.

"Mommy is sick." Jackson ratted her out.

"Jackson…"Janet warned but he missed the warning.

"She was throwing up."

"Sweetheart?"

"I'm fine mom. I must have eaten something that didn't agree with me. I need to go get ready for work." Janet pushed passed her mom to go upstairs but Sharon followed her.

"Janet honey, maybe you should take the day off and get some rest." Sharon suggested. "You look so tired."

"Of course I'm tired. I am raising three kids on my own." Janet snapped and then she sighed. "I'm sorry mom. I just can't afford to take any time off of work. I just ate some bad food. I am fine."

"Maybe it's not bad food." Janet gave her mother a confused look.

"Okay then. It's the stomach flu."

"I don't think it's the stomach flu."

"What are you saying?"

"Maybe you are pregnant." Janet snorted. "You have been sick to your stomach every morning which makes me think morning sickness and you're tired, a common occurrence in the first trimester.

"I can't get pregnant. Remember? The only reason that I have the boys is because they were made in a Petri dish."

"Janet you have ovaries, fallopian tubes and a uterus. You still ovulate once a month so technically you can get pregnant."

"I am not pregnant." Janet stated empathically. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to get ready for work." Janet turned and went upstairs.

As she got ready for work her mother's words wouldn't leave her be. Could she be pregnant? She and Eddie have been making love for over five years without any protection and she has never once thought that she was pregnant. Every month for sixty four months she got a period; every month except for this month. She hadn't had a period since before their trip to Disney World and she didn't realize it until just now. Could she be pregnant? Janet stripped and stood in front of the mirror so she could examine her body. Her breasts did look a little bit bigger and when she thought about it, her bras seemed to be a little tight.

She placed her hand on her belly but of course she couldn't feel anything. Could she be pregnant? Shaking her head, she put on her work clothes. She did not want to be pregnant. She was too old to be pregnant again. After her previous pregnancy from hell, she had absolutely no desire to go through another pregnancy. She did not want to have another baby without Eddie. She shook her head again. "No. I am not pregnant." She said out loud to her empty bedroom.

"Congratulations Janet. You are pregnant." Dr. Howard, her OB/GYN told her the next day.

"How?" Janet whispered in shock.

The day before after her mother's suggestion Janet stopped and bought a twin pack of pregnancy tests and took both of them in the bathroom at Best Friend Windows and they both came up positive. Those four pink lines left no room for doubt but she still doubted it. She called and made an appointment with her OB/GYN to confirm.

"Amazing things can happen when you least expect them." Janet rolled her eyes. She wasn't in the mood.

"Eddie and I tried for over a year to get pregnant and then I only got pregnant with IVF and we haven't used protection in years. Everyone told me that my endometriosis was too bad to ever get pregnant so how in the hell did I end up pregnant?"

"It's a simple answer. A sperm managed to make its way through your endometriosis to meet with your egg. You aren't the first woman to become pregnant with endometriosis and you won't be the last." Tears began to fall from Janet's eyes. "Janet is this pregnancy not a good thing?"

"No it's not. My husband had a stroke and is in a coma."

"Janet, I didn't know. Are you going to terminate the pregnancy?"

"No." She cried. "I can't do that. Eddie would kill me when he wakes up. It's a part of Eddie and I could never terminate it."

"I'm glad to hear that. Now because of your age and previous pregnancy complications I am considering this pregnancy to be high risk. You need to start on prenatal vitamins and I want you in here every two weeks so I can monitor you."

The remainder of the appointment was spent with Dr. Howard telling her everything she already knew about pregnancy. Gave her the lists of dos and don'ts and he determined her due date. The only thing she could think of was the fact that she was pregnant and Eddie wasn't with her.

After she finished with her appointment she drove directly to the hospital to see Eddie. After two weeks of driving to Boston every day Janet made a request of Dr. Weber. She asked/begged him to transfer Eddie home to The Ridge. It was too much driving back and forth every day. Since The Ridge Hospital had everything that Eddie needed, nurses, MRI machines, Dr. Weber agreed. He had another neurosurgeon monitor Eddie and he came to town once a week to cheek on his patient.

"Good afternoon Janet. You're early." Maggie, one of Eddie's regular nurses said as Janet passed by the nurses' station. "Where are those handsome boys of yours?" The triplets were always a huge hit on the sixth floor of the hospital.

"They are at home with my mom. I needed some alone time with my husband." Janet smiled and continued walking to the end of the hall. The door to his room was opened so Janet walked right in and shut the door behind her.

"All right Eddie. Enough is enough. Wake up. We have to talk." Janet demanded sitting next to him. "Dammit Eddie, I am not joking wake up." She wished, she prayed that her harsh tone would rouse him from his slumber but it didn't. "Eddie, please baby. Wake up. I need you now, more than ever."Janet took his hand.

"I hope Dr. Weber is right. I hope you can hear me because you need to hear this. I'm pregnant Eddie." She watched him closely but there was no response and she found that infuriated her. "Did you hear me Eddie? I am pregnant so wake your ass up and so this baby can know who you are." Again when she got no response, she pushed her chair back and walked to the window and stared out at the town below her as she fought back her tears and thought about the day this baby was conceived. It was six weeks ago during their trip to Disney World.

"Finally. Alone at last." Eddie mumbled as they entered their hotel room. Thanks to their parents they had a few hours of uninterrupted time. "I love our boys and I have loved this vacation but they have been underfoot for days. I can't even pee without one of the boys following me into the bathroom. I need, we need some time alone." Eddie crawled into bed and closed his eyes. "Yeah. This is nice." He patted the spot next to him. "Come on over here and join me."

"Do you want a pill baby?"

"No sweetheart. I don't want a pill. I want you on this bed with me, preferably naked."

"You have a headache. Maybe you should take this kid-free opportunity to take a pill and a nap and maybe your head will feel better." Eddie sat up and removed his shirt.

"Nah. I would rather take this kid free opportunity to make love to my wife. It's been too long."

"But your head…"

"What about it?" Eddie was wiggling out of his pants and boxers.

"You have a headache. A bad one. You need your rest."

"Making love to you will help my headache. So what do you say? How about helping my head feel better?" The smile he gave her was so tender and full of love that she could not resist. She stripped out of her clothes and joined Eddie on the bed, straddling his hips.

"Are you sure about this?" He reached up and cupped her breasts, drawing a small moan from her.

"Oh yeah. I am sure."

With a sigh, Janet sank down on Eddie's erection and he groaned. She pumped herself over his shaft alternating with rotating her hips, putting Eddie in heaven. Since Eddie's head was hurting he wasn't really doing too much work. He was leaving that to Janet and she didn't mind because that left his hands and arms free to touch her, everywhere. She couldn't take her eyes off of his face. He was lying on his back with his eye closed with a small smile playing on his lips. Janet knew he was enjoying this as much as she was. She moved fast and she moved slowly until they were both crying out in pleasure.

"That was amazing babe. Just what I needed." Eddie told her when she settled into his arms beneath the blankets. "Was it as good for you as it was for me?"

"It was."

"Look honey, I'm sorry that I haven't been the best…me lately."

"You're always the best you."

"No. It's just that my head has been hurting and all I want to do is sleep until the pain goes away but I know that you need me. I know that the boys need me so I suck the pain up and deal with it but when I do that, you and the boys get the shitty end of the stick and for that I'm sorry babe."

"You're doing the best you can and we'll get through it. We always do."

"Right now, my best isn't good enough.

"Your best is exactly what we need." Janet leaned forward and kissed her husband and that's how they spent the remainder of their time together; lying next to each other kissing softly

"Do you ever listen Eddie?" Janet snapped returning to his bed from the window. "Did you hear me when I said that I didn't want another baby? Apparently you didn't because you went and knocked me up. How could you? How could you get me pregnant and then go into a coma? How dare you Eddie. How dare you." Tears streamed from her eyes as she collapsed into the chair next to his bed. She took his hand in hers. "I'm sorry babe. I didn't mean to snap. I just…Eddie I need you. I'm scared Eddie. I am so damn scared. You were my rock when I was pregnant with the boys. I don't think that I can get through this without you so please babe, please wake up." She laid her head on his abdomen and cried softly.