A/N Hey guys and gals :) I've wanted to write an AU for a while now, but never had a good story in mind. Well, now I do, and I'd really love to know what y'all think of it. All comments are welcome :) Enjoy! xo

ONE

The cold Chicago wind whistled in through the bathroom window as Jane sat slumped on the edge of her bath, her fourth pregnancy test in two days balancing on her fingertips. She had been throwing up every day for a just over a week and so decided that she should just buy a pregnancy test and get it over with. She had hoped with every ounce of her being that it would read negative, but four pregnancy tests later, it still told her that in a little less than nine months, she would have a baby; a baby that she really didn't want; a baby whose father was the latest of many rotten boyfriends that Jane had dated; and a baby that she couldn't afford to support.

The father's name was Casey and he had left Jane to join the army. He would no longer be there for her (not that she was really complaining about that), and he would not be able to help her raise this baby. They'd met at Jane's place of work; a small diner in the city that barely paid enough for Jane to support herself. He'd wandered in out of the rain one evening and had sweet-talked her into a date. It was a nice enough restaurant that he had taken her to, but she could see that he was trying too hard.

Three months later he was enlisted in the army and Jane was sitting on the cold edge of a bathtub crying. She really ought to ask her parents for help, but when she'd dropped out of college and moved to Chicago four years ago without so much as a goodbye, it was unlikely that they'd be anything less than disappointed. Sure, they'd help, but hesitantly. Her father would shake his head at her, and her mother would rant about how they were worried sick when they found out she was gone. Last she'd heard, her two younger brothers were not the screw-ups that she was; dating nice girls and working good jobs, even if the youngest, Tommy, sometimes slipped back into his old drinking habits.

Jane stood up and wiped the tears from her face and tossed the pregnancy test in the bin. She had to go to work, and her boss wouldn't be too impressed if she were late. Her skin was blue and covered in goose bumps from the cold and she could barely feel her numb feet as she walked across the hard wood flooring to her dresser. She pulled out a clean pair of panties and put them on, smiling at herself in the mirror.

Jane never felt pretty or attractive in anyway until she was wearing a nice pair of panties and a good supportive bra; not in the way that it made her feel or look sexy, because it did. She had a nice body and she knew that. She was fit and even though she had scars flicked over her skin like pale pink paint, she liked her body. She never liked it when a man was touching it, however, because he made her a 'what' rather than a 'who'. He'd run his finger along her skin the way he would a spoiler on a sports car; he'd pin her wrists against the bed as he kissed her neck the way he would grip a new baseball bat; and he'd inhale her scent like it was a fresh batch of cookies out of the oven. Now, these could be seen as good things, but Jane wanted her body to be appreciated as a body.

She wanted her freckles kissed, her scars touched so she could feel the warmth from her lover's fingers, and she wanted to be held not like a child holds their new toy, but the way someone does when they love someone so much, they never want to let them go. Looking into the mirror just wearing her underwear reminded Jane that maybe one day there might just be such a person that will love her for everything she is. Maybe it was a dream; a miracle that would never happen and it would just be her and her poor baby in this world, but there was that sense of hope, and on a day like this, that was what she needed most to keep her going.

She opened her closet door and pulled out her assigned outfit for work: plain black slacks and a brightly coloured button up shirt. Today's colour was blue; a nice kind of blue that reminded her of the ocean. She didn't always feel like 'bright colours', but if she saw something in that colour, such as the ocean for blue, or the leaves of fall for orange, then wearing it seemed like a good thing. Once she was dressed, she slipped on a clean pair of socks and her black sneakers and moved to the bathroom to tame her wild dark hair. She pulled it up and finger-brushed the lumps and bumps out of it and tied it firmly into a ponytail. She applied what little make-up she wore and moved back into the bedroom.

She picked up her bag and, glancing out the window to the gusty streets below, grabbed her coat. She sighed as she looked back around her apartment to see if all the windows were shut. She had gotten back into her routine so well that she forgot that she was pregnant. A look back into the bathroom at the bin brought her happiness level back down and she opened the door to leave. The hallway of her apartment building carried the wind from the street each time someone opened the main door, and someone must've just opened it because a huge gust spread through the building like flooding water and hit Jane front on. She screwed up her face as the frost it brought chilled her to her bones, and resisted the urge to jump back into her apartment and slide under the warm covers of her bed.

She locked her door behind her and headed to the staircase, passing the super on her way down. He paused his whistling to bid her a good morning, hoping that it might cheer her up. "Morning, Vince," she replied, although still in her own world.

"Say, are you working tomorrow?" he asked, stopping on the stairs to face her.

"I am, why?"

"Good, it's just there's a new tenant moving into the apartment across from you and it'll probably be noisy and I'd hate to ruin your day." She nodded her thanks to the kind man and continued down the stairs. One last deep breath in silence before she opened the door to the busy traffic filled streets outside. She almost ran into a kid on his bike on his way to school, but he swerved to miss her at the last minute. She needed to get out of her head and put her worries aside if she was going to make it through the day.

She walked down to the pedestrian crossing at the end of her block and briskly walked down the main road, passing many different walks of life on her way. From children to elder people, taxi drivers to lawyers; she always passed nearly every variety of people there could be in the few short minutes it took her to get to work. They all had their own lives with their own problems and their own friends and family, exactly like Jane, except she'd left all her friends and family back at home four years ago. She wondered if she'd ever find someone that would be there for her at every step of the way. Not even in a romantic sense, just someone that she could call on to talk to or to help her shop for baby supplies.

She pulled a face of pain as the thought hit her. She'd have to spend more of her precious money for her baby. She couldn't very well have it sleeping beside her every night, or maybe she could. She shook her head of the thought, telling herself to worry about that on a day when she didn't have to get to work. She strode on, jumping over manholes on the sidewalk and side-stepping dog owners bending over to pick up their dog's crap. She didn't even have a dog to keep her company; or a cat...or a fish. Just an empty bed and four pregnancy tests in the trash. She made it to her diner just before nine and hurriedly made her way inside where it was instantly warmer. She hung her coat up on the stand and moved behind the counter to place her bag out in the back. Her work colleague Susie was wiping tables when she came back out.

"Hi, Jane," the shorter woman said as she moved to the next table.

"Hi, Susie," she returned as she tied her little apron on around her waist, again remembering the baby that was inside her. "Hey, Sus; we're friends, right?"

"Yeah, Jane."

"Well, I suppose I should tell you I'm pregnant."

"Oh, my god, Jane! Really!?" she exclaimed as she put down her spray and cloth and stepped over to the tall brunette. "That's awesome," she said as she reached out to stroke Jane's arm.

"Yeah, I suppose it is," Jane mumbled through an incredibly fake smile. She knew that she and Susie were only friends because they worked together, but it was still nice to tell someone like it mattered.

"You're not happy about this, are you?"

"It was Casey, and now he's gone and I don't know how the hell I'm supposed to support this baby."

"Look, Jane; I know we aren't besties and that we never see each other outside of work, but if you need help, I'm here."

"Thanks." She knew she should be thankful, but it still felt so superficial somehow. Would she really ask Susie for help? Would Susie even be willing to help? And would she have time? She was putting herself through college anyway, so even if she did want to help, would she be in the middle of a lecture when Jane called, or would she be at her home with her textbook open studying for a major exam that was on the next day. Jane couldn't ruin Susie's chances in life just because she'd already ruined her own. "I'll keep that in mind," Jane finished. She let Susie go back to her cleaning, and Jane started opening the blinds and started the jukebox up with 'wake-up' music. It was a '50s themed diner, and if it wasn't like Arnold's from 'Happy Days', their business would fail.

She flipped over the 'closed' sign to 'open' and she immediately saw a few morning regulars making their way to the door. She slipped behind the counter and knocked on the door to the kitchen letting Sean, the boss and cook, know that people were arriving.

Around 10:30, everything slowed down as most people were at work, and it was that lazy time between breakfast and lunch. Jane went to the phone booth in the corner and pulled the phone book off of the shelf. She flicked it open to find herself an OB/GYN. She knew she'd be paying more money, but she also knew that she wanted to keep this baby. It just wasn't in her nature to kill the innocent, and so she phoned up the doctor that was closest to home and made an appointment for the end of the day. Her OB/GYN was a Doctor Hope Martin, so at least she felt better that it was a woman. She had nothing against men OB/GYNs, but she was kinda sick of the gender at the moment, and she'd feel more comfortable with a woman taking care of her and her baby. She got back to work, washing up plates and cups from the morning and hummed along with Elvis on the jukebox.

Lunch time rolled around pretty quickly and it was busy, just like every day. She wondered why Sean only had two waitresses working at a time when it got so busy, so she made a mental note to mention it to him later, around the time that she told him that she was pregnant. Perhaps she had snuck one too many pickles from the kitchen on her way in and out but after her eighth trip in, he stopped her. "You pregnant, Janie?"

"Y...yes."

"It's okay, just tell me when you need a break." She was a little shocked by his kindness and sincerity but then she remembered that he had kids of his own, so he'd gone through the whole thing before; not from the woman's point of view, of course, but he knew what kind of stress it caused.

"Thanks, boss." She remained in a state of shock until the lunch time rush had settled down and she'd gone back into the kitchen to talk to him. "Sean, I don't want to be a pain in the ass, but I can barely keep myself afloat as it is, and now with a baby coming..."

"Jane, calm down. I've been thinking of giving you and the rest of our waiters and waitresses a raise as the business has been doing really well lately, but if you ever need anything extra just to tie you over, or you need any help, just ask. My wife can easily babysit for you whenever you need her to."

"Thanks"; again confused. "Why are you wanting to help me? You've never been this nice before."

"I don't know if you realise this or not, Jane, but you're not the easiest person to help. You're very independent and I wasn't ever going to offer you help until you needed it. And, kid, right now you need it. I don't know your story, and I doubt you'd tell me if I asked, but I know that you feel alone in this world, but you're not. We're all here to help you, Jane." She almost felt the urge to fall to the floor and cry because all this friendship and kindness had been here all along, but she'd been to lost in her sorrows to ever notice.

"Thank you, Sean." She wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye and moved back into the diner to clear the used crockery.

Jane finished up just after 4pm and walked the dozen blocks to make her appointment, although she really just wanted to go home and climb into bed. Her busy and emotional day, combined with the miserable weather made her want to sleep for a year. She hopped over puddles and dodged dripping drainpipes on her way to the clinic, not wanting to get drenched before she arrived. Her phone rang just as she arrived at the steps to the clinic door, and she quickly answered it, not wanting to be late. "Hello?"

"Hi, Jane. It's Vince."

"Hi, Vince. What's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know that that girl who is moving in across from you arrived today instead of tomorrow; something about not being able to wait one more day to get away from her nagging parents, so there might still be some moving people here when you get home."

"Thanks, Vince. I've got to go; I've got a doctor's appointment."

"You're not sick are you?"

"No, I'm pregnant." Somehow telling people now didn't seem so much like a drag as it had earlier that day.

"Congrats, Jane! Well, good luck," he said.

"Okay; bye."

"Bye." She slipped her phone into her coat pocket and stepped into the clinic, grateful that there were other people in there that looked a hell of a lot worse than she did. She told the nurse at the counter who she was and who she was there to see and was told to take a seat while she waited and to fill out some forms. She handed in her forms, reluctantly, knowing that this was it. She was now officially a patient there and that they would be taking payments out of her bank account to pay for each appointment she had. "I've only known you for two days and already you're using my credit card," she whispered to her tummy.

Her appointment went smoothly; her doctor was very sweet and knowledgeable and made her feel very calm about the whole situation. Dr Martin was a well postured woman in her fifties with a sweet blonde haircut like Farrah Fawcett with big eyes and a very reassuring smile. Jane had a good feeling about this, humming to herself on her way home after being told for the hundredth time it seemed by the kind doctor that "everything will be fine". Yesterday, she would have seriously doubted that, but today, it actually seemed possible.