Janet DuBois

*"I can't be a Hedison. I hate the Hedisons!" - Janet DuBois*

**Janet DuBois** is a native of Ashford Falls, the daughter of Fletcher and Louise DuBois. She is also a descendant of Nicholas Adams, a prominent first citizen of Ashford Falls

Born in Ashford Falls, New York in 1960, Janet was born the same day as local girl Rachel Hedison with whom she had a rivalry with later in her life. Janet's mother, Louise DuBois, had a long history of mental depression and feared she would not live long enough to raise Janet. She convinced her close friend, Lisa Caldwell, a nurse at Ashford Falls Community General Hospital, to swap the infant Rachel with Janet so that no matter what happened to her, she knew that Janet would receive a decent upbringing. However, Monica Hedison eventually became aware of the switch and befriended Patricia to swap their daughters back, placing enough money in a bank account that Janet would get an up-bringing and schooling equal to Rachel. When Louise passed in 1975, Monica attended her funeral.

After Louise passed, she became heavily doted on by her father and encouraged to become a doctor or scientist. She attended Ashford Falls High School alongside Rachel, Blake Hedison, Len Snedeker and Lisa Caldwell's daughter, Helen Caldwell. Rachel's brother, Ty Hedison pursued her romantically, but she rebuffed his advances after hearing about the local reputation of the Hedisons from Helen.

Attending Ashford Falls Christian Normal, Janet gained her degree in biology and traveled to the Sudan to study ants and get her doctorate in entomology. She was mentored by Manoo, a local biologist who became her mentor. Although consumed by her studies, she was briefly romanced by Randall Ewing, a poacher posing as a environmentalist. After her father died, she traveled back to Ashford Falls to settle his estate, but in doing so she also ended up supporting Nathan Featherstone for mayor on behalf of her father. Although Nathan lost the election, Janet was helped by Nathan to get in contact with Manhattan magnate Jack Gates to surreptitiously sell her father's medical patents to him out from under the Hedisons. Hoping to slip into town without being noticed, they planned by phone for Janet to meet Gates under the name "Jack Gable" at the hospital with the help of Dr. Elizabeth Freeling.

Unfortunately, Janet ended up confusing Gates with a New York City TV writer named Jack Gable who the Hedisons likewise believed to be Gates. Through Dr. Paul Kirkwood, they learned about a weight-loss drug which Fletcher had called the Meta-Pill whose success would make them a fortune if they owned it. However, when Janet first met Gable posing as Gates, she was nonplussed by his rantings about being the writer of a television series, but she became more apologetic toward him after he had a bad horseback riding experience. She soon started seeing beyond his false "Jack Gates" facade as he tried to impersonate the billionaire to romantically pursue Rachel Hedison and became romantically interested in him. Running interference between Janet and the Hedisons, Gable also started to feel attracted to Janet. Unfortunately, in an effort to ruin Rachel's reputation and subsequent wedding plans with Kirkwood, Helen Caldwell tried to re-awaken the alleged baby-swapping her mother had attempted years earlier. The ruse almost worked with Janet starting to believe the fiction, but she was accidentally shot by Blake trying to kill Rachel for her attempted murder of him. Kirkwood saved her life, trying to redeem himself and break free of Rachel's control over him.

Gable disappeared from Ashford Falls afterward, and though Janet tried to find him again, she was unsuccessful. She made enough money from the sale of her father's patents to start the Fletcher Dubois Foundation to help students interested in science get college scholarships. A year after getting her doctorate in insect studies, Blake Hedison sought Janet out to make restitution on her and improve his family's reputation. After Carter Hedison was indicted for murder, Rachel had seized controlling interest of Hedison Pharmaceuticals, and Blake asked Janet and Paul to help him get the company back by scheming to trick her into selling her controlling shares where Blake could seize them and oust her from the company.

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