Author Note: This is not a ghost story nor is it totally canon. This fiction is set mostly during and before the end of the show. I'm merely borrowing characters for a while to tell a different kind of tale. (I own nothing but the plot) If you figure out early, what is happening, please don't spoil it for the others who haven't figured this out. Thanks and enjoy!

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Chapter 01 – Must Remember This

September 1967

The six year old little brunette was dressed in her favorite black patent leather shoes and pink poufy skirt. Her mother curled her hair in ringlets which bounced around her face when she shook her head which made her laugh. This was her very first day of First Grade and Daddy was taking her to school in his car. It was extra special because Daddy would go to work late and promised that when she got out of school, they would go to The Hub and have root beer sodas.

Just the two of them.

Mommy kissed little Jackie and waved goodbye before closing the front door to the fancy Burkhart house. Daddy held his daughter's tiny hand as they walked to the Cadillac. Jack opened the car door and his princess climbed up onto the front seat. This was extra ordinary because Jackie always had to sit in the back!

As the Cadillac pulled up to the curb, little Jackie looked out the window and saw the most beautiful woman sitting on the bench waiting for the bus. The lady looked up and smiled the most perfect smile. Her coat was shiny and a pretty shade of blue that seemed to shimmer in the morning sunlight. Jackie waved her small hand and the lovely lady waved back at her. Jackie sighed just marveling at how pretty she was. Once Daddy opened the door and Jackie stepped onto the sidewalk, the lovely lady was gone! She disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Jackie shrugged her tiny shoulders and skipped along the way to Point Place Elementary.

Bye Bye Kindergarten! Jackie Burkhart was in big girl school!

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"Smile honey," Pam Burkhart said easily, "Smile for Mayor Crowe." Jackie turned her head away from the gift table and gave the camera a crooked smile. The flashbulbs momentarily blinding her little eyes. Pam Macy was waving at the camera so Jackie bounced the other first grader out of frame with a little bump of her hip.

"There's my pretty little girl!" Mrs. Burkhart exclaimed. There was a knock on the front door and Jackie looked up as her father went to answer it. Daddy's "Hello there!" was loud and welcoming as a red headed man, his wife with bouncy hair and another little boy walked into the living room. Jackie tapped her lip – she recognized him from somewhere.

"Eric honey….why don't you go play with the other children?" The Mother asked.

The boy was shy and held tightly to a gift wrapped box. Pam Burkhart strode over confidently, "Hello young man. We have games and cake in the backyard. Come say hello to the birthday girl."

The Mother walked towards Jackie and knelt down, "Well, are you the prettiest little girl? Ahahahaha….Red? Isn't she just the loveliest little birthday girl? We should have brought Laurie."

Red looked over at the brunette girl with the pointed birthday hat and passed off a grimace for a smile as he replied to his wife. "No. Laurie can visit her Uncle Marty until she loses that attitude of hers."

Jackie liked the tone and cadence of this Eric boy's mother's voice. She wasn't too sure about this Eric….he might have icky cooties like that dirty second grader named Steven! The little brown haired boy thrust the present towards her awkwardly.

"My mom says I'm supposed to say happy birthday. Happy birthday." He dropped the gift and ran for the open doors that lead to the backyard. Eric's father grumbled something and picked the present from off the floor and set it on the gift table. "Burkhart….what do you have for a thirsty neighbor?"

Jackie sighed and went back to looking at all the pretty presents. All of those kids outside weren't really her friends and mommy and daddy were busy talking to all the adults. Just another party where the adults got to drink the smelly water.

From the corner of her eye, a sudden shimmer and a flash caught Jackie's attention and had her running to the bottom of the stairs. In a stunning hat and the beautiful coat sat the pretty lady she saw on the bus stop from this morning.

Jackie suddenly felt shy. "Hi." She said to the stranger.

A soft voice answered back. "Well hello yourself. I brought you something."

Jackie's eyes got big. "You did? I don't even know you!"

A slim hand reached into a voluminous pocket from the shiny jacket and pulled out a small box with a big red bow on top. The hand with perfectly painted nails pressed the box onto the palm of Jackie's hand. She closed her eyes because the lady smelled so nice. The lady leaned forward and pressed a delicate kiss on Jackie's cheek. "Happy Birthday Jackie."

Jackie held her hand to her cheek as she stepped back and suddenly everything got dizzy. The lady stood up and her body seemed to become the same colors as the carpet on the stairs. Jackie looked up at her face and it wasn't there anymore. She had disappeared just like the bus bench earlier that morning.

All that was left was the gift in her hand.

Jackie sat on one of the stair steps and lifted the lid to the box. She gasped aloud because she had never seen anything as beautiful. Inside the box on a dark blue piece of velvet lay a tiny glass unicorn. With her little six year old fingers, she carefully pinched the glass body and took the unicorn into Daddy's den so she could look at it privately. The beautiful horse with a golden horn shimmered prisms of light underneath the desk lamp.

Someone was calling her name and Jackie stopped and held her breath. She couldn't let anyone see her beautiful secret present! Carefully, she put the glass object back into its box and hid it behind a big book on the bottom shelf of Daddy's bookcase.

Jackie shook her head and shrugged her shoulders as she decided to skip back to her birthday party before that Eric boy tried riding her Big Wheel. As she stood at the doorway she looked at all the other kids having a good time and didn't know why she wasn't enjoying her big girl party.

The most curious thing of all was how did that lady know it was her birthday?

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September 1971

Jackie Burkhart laid her head on soft pillows under the canopy of her four poster bed as she read from Tiger Beat magazine. David Cassidy was smiling at her from the cover of the glossy tome. She sighed happily and pressed the magazine to her chest. Wouldn't it be great to be famous? She could ask the whole Partridge Family over for Thanksgiving dinner and then…maybe when it got dark…David Cassidy would give almost ten year old Jackie Burkhart her first kiss.

"Jacqueline, darling!" Pam Burkhart called from downstairs. Jackie hated when her mother started calling her Jacqueline – it was so fake! She tossed the magazine on the floor and rolled off the bed to open the door. "I'm in my room mom."

"Jacqueline….your father and I are going to the country club for cocktails. Maria will be here until 8:00 and she should make you something to eat. Don't forget to do your homework and we'll see you at bedtime."

Jackie pulled the 'happy face' that Pam expected to see even though the pre-teen girl knew her parents would be coming home loud and drunk. "Okay mom. Have a good time."

"Thank you dear." Pamela Burkhart pressed a kiss to her fingertips and pretended to throw it to her daughter. Jackie mimed catching it and putting the kiss in her pocket. Under her breath she uttered, "Just go."

Pam looked over her shoulder, "Don't forget that tomorrow your father and I are taking you out to dinner for your birthday."

Jackie smiled. She actually did like going to grownup restaurants. The waiters were snooty but nice and the food was better. AND…..she was going to get more presents! "Okay, love you!" Jackie waited on the stairs until her mother's voice faded. Another birthday and maybe soon, she would get boobs and then her mom could take her shopping for a pretty training bra.

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Maria made a special dinner of browned chicken and rice pilaf served up with a slice of birthday cake. "Mija….I'm sorry I won't be here for your birthday…" Maria really did look remorseful. "…you are just like one of my own babies."

Jackie smiled and ate her yummy dinner. "Maria? Can I ask you a question?"

The family housekeeper wiped her hands on a kitchen towel and nodded as she sat down at the table. "What is your question?"

Jackie tilted her head and thought hard about how to ask but decided to just blurt it out, "When do I get my boobs?"

Marie laughed joyfully. "Oh my little princess! Not all girls get their ta-tas at the same time. You are so thin…you might have to wait until you get your menses."

Jackie frowned. What are menses? Was it like a bike? She had a Schwinn. In fact, she had everything she ever wanted. "I don't understand."

Maria's eyes widened. "You mama hasn't told you about menses yet?"

Jackie shook her head in the negative. "Is it…..is it bad?" she whispered?

Maria covered the small girl's hand with her own. "Mija….this is something you need to talk to your mama about. I can't explain it in good English." Maria stood up, walked about the table and kissed Jackie on the top of her brunette head. "Finish your dinner little one…I'll clean up and then go home.

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Jackie really didn't like the lonely hours between when Maria locked up the house and her parents came home. The house made noises and she knew that it was the furnace turning on or off. The scratching at the windows was only a branch against the glass panes. Nevertheless, she still pulled the bedcovers up to her chin and willed her eyes to stay open until mommy and daddy came home.

Sleep had just dusted her lids with drowsiness when Jackie heard a quiet tinkling similar to bells from far away. She batted her tired lashes just in time to see a form emanating in the corner of her room. Quickly, Jackie grabbed her Mr. Bear and threw it across the room and it went right through the growing specter. She scrambled to sit up taller in bed and quickly clicked on the light.

The image turned around in a swirling shiny cloak. It was the pretty lady! She saw that Jackie had turned on the lamp and she smiled. "Am I too late?"

Jackie opened her mouth but all that she could do was squeak. She actually dreamt she had seen this beautiful woman four years ago. The only thing that convinced her otherwise was the tiny unicorn in a box she kept hidden from her parents. The woman with dark hair walked towards the bed and sat on the mattress beside her. "Hello again darling. Am I too late?"

She finally found her voice and whispered, "Too late?"

The woman smiled, "For your tenth birthday silly!"

Jackie grinned, "Nope, you are early! My birthday is tomorrow and I get to go to Pierre's in Kenosha for dinner with mom and dad."

Nodding her head knowingly, the lady replied, "Wonderful. Can you promise me you won't eat the soup? You will not like it later. Anyways, I only have a few minutes so do you have any questions?"

Jackie tapped her bottom lip and studied the face that seemed so familiar. "Ummmm…..are you a ghost?"

"No sweetheart, I'm not a ghost." Was the reply.

Jackie bit her thumbnail. "How did you know it was my birthday tomorrow?"

There was a pause before the woman answered, "Well, I thought I missed it. Is this a leap year?"

"No. But next year is." Jackie was proud of herself for remembering.

The hood fell off the cloak and the woman's black hair spilled out over her shoulders. Jackie had never seen hair so dark or silky. The woman was more beautiful than Natalie Wood in West Side Story. The mysterious stranger reached into her cloak and pulled out a box that was larger than the one from Jackie's sixth birthday. "I have to remember to include Leap Year into my calculations next time or I might miss you entirely!" She exclaimed but set the gift on the bedspread.

Jackie loved the satin bow and looked at the face for permission to open the gift. "Please. Just don't make me sing Happy Birthday. My mother said I have the voice of an old grot. Don't ask me to explain that either."

Happy to have a present to open, Jackie carefully removed the bow followed by the box lid and she brushed aside this shiny aluminum confetti-like paper to reveal a snow globe. Carefully lifting the heavy glass orb from the box she gave it a gentle shake and was awestruck to see the globe was filled with brightly colored unicorns ridden by elegantly dressed princesses. A tiny castle with golden turrets rising above the curtain walls opened with a delicate wooden drawbridge which was surrounded by a painted moat. As particles of glitter rained down like snowflakes on the medieval setting, Jackie pressed her face to the glass wishing she could be in that small world because it was so beautiful.

"You got this for me? I have to show my mom!"

A warm hand covered the small one. "You can't share this."

Puzzled, Jackie asked, "Why not?"

A smile replaced the warning expression, "Because no one else will see it as you do. If someone else looked at this…all they would see is an empty globe."

"But how come? It's so beautiful in there. Why can't anyone see it?"

"Because it hasn't been created yet." The answer was perplexing but it was all she was given before the lady faded away into the darkness of the bedroom.

Jackie swung her legs off the bed and ran to the wall to thrown on the overhead light. Where did she go? All that was left was a box and the beautiful snow globe.

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