Author realizes it might be a bit early but the muse struck - had to go with it. A short, angst-y little oneshot- interpret as you like. Way after Season 8 non-canon and AU

No More Any Mores

It was raining again. Not your ordinary winter rain that would turn to sleet and later eventually snow. No, this was a bone chilling never-ending drip that made your muscles ache and froze your fingers.

She let the curtains fall and wiped a tear from her eye. Another fight. Another drive off with angry tire marks in the apartment parking lot. There's been a lot of "anothers" lately. Tucking a tendril of loose hair behind her ear, Jackie reached down for a pink chevron patterned pillow on the arm of her chair and hugged it. She could still smell his scent in the fabric and tossed the pillow across the room. Didn't he know how much she was hurting?

The evening began with such promise. A candlelit dinner. Soft pop music on the radio. Her softest dress and best perfume. God, she had spent hours cleaning the house and making everything perfect. Yet in his glazed eyes, it was another wasted night.

Someday, Jackie Burkhart wasn't going to be here anymore. Jackie wasn't going to be just a stopover between fixes. There weren't going to more anymore trips to the doctor for checks for the latest STD.

There just wasn't going to be anymore any mores.

Wiping her nose with the back of her hand, Jackie stepped over to the bright green telephone and dialed a familiar number. "Hi, it's me." She sniffed into the phone.

"Same old same old?" came the calming question over the telephone line.

She nodded at the phone and replied, "Can you come over?"

"Give me ten." Was the reply.

"Thank you." She squeaked into the receiver. Her beautiful eyes stung with unshed tears. How much longer was she going to allow herself to be walked on? All of her adult life she had been the proverbial rug he came in and walked on and she willingly let him.

Two knocks later and the door was flung open as Jackie threw herself into a pair of warm arms that hugged her slim frame. Words weren't necessary since they both understood the what, the why and how. All that was left to ask was when would this stop?

He smoothed the hair from her face and looked at her tenderly. "Words?"

She nodded. "Ugly ones." She didn't want to recall the nastiness of it all.

"But you know it wasn't him."

"I know, but that doesn't make it hurt less." She hugged him back and closed the door. "It was worse this time." She confessed.

He went towards the window and pulled aside the same curtain Jackie had dropped a short while ago. "Well, at least this time he only made a donut and not a fuck you rubber streak like last time"

She chuckled lightly despite the seriousness of the moment. "You aren't funny."

He turned back. "Yes I am or you wouldn't have called me." Falling into an occasional chair he asked, "Are you still giving him money?"

Jackie's eyes widened in surprise and she fumbled with an answer, "Uh….would you like some tea or soda?"

He shook his head sadly. "No. You just answered my question." He sighed, "Do you know how much you are enabling him? He's just going to keep coming back over and over again and why shouldn't he?"

Jackie didn't want to hear this. These were words she had gone over and over again in her own mind. The last eleven years were just a replay of the same Christmas's before. Yes! She gave him money – it made him smile and yes she gave him a place to stay when he wanted to crash and yes, she was enabling him and confusing as it was…..there was some kind of love there.

She looked over at her best friend. That one guy she could call and he would be there in an instant. She didn't deserve him but he was exactly what she needed and in some convoluted way, he was enabling her!

"Jackie….I think…maybe it's a good idea that I don't always come over like this…you know?"

"What?!" Her heart stopped in her chest. She was losing her best friend too? Slightly staggered, she grasped the kitchen door jamb. The rest came out as a whisper. "But it's Christmas Eve."

He stood up and walked towards the kitchen wrapping his warms hands around her upper arms. He kissed the soft skin of her cheek. "I know and I'm sorry but Jackie, I can't do another ten years of saving you from yourself. If you really want help….I'll stand by you but I need to start living my own life. I will still always be your friend."

Her stomach curled into a hard knot. How could he abandon her like this? She looked at him with her heart in her throat, "Wait..….I don't want….I can't….lose you too."

He smiled softly and dropped their intertwined hands to his side. "You'll never lose me Jackie….I just can't do this anymore. Merry Christmas."

He closed the door softly but it didn't stifle the sob he heard the other side. Eric leaned heavily against the door frame and scrubbed his face.

No. He just couldn't do another ten years of being Jackie Burkhart's best friend. Her go-to-guy.

He couldn't stand by and watch from the sidelines as she looked for love with all the wrong guys - - all the ones that took advantage of her beauty and good nature and generous charity.

What a shitty Christmas Eve this turned out to be.

He couldn't – no- he wouldn't do this any more.

He couldn't do it because he loved her.

Using his foot, Eric kicked away from the apartment door and headed for the stairs. He shivered slightly and put his hands in his pocket and then felt it. The actual reason he stopped by when Jackie called.

Three measured steps later, he was back and knocking on the door. .It was opened immediately by a tear stained but smiling face.

He handed over a silver box with a big green bow. "Merry Christmas Jackie."

She wrapped her arms around his waist and murmured against his chest. "I love you too." That was when Eric realized that he would do this for another ten years if he had to.

Jackie Burkhart would always be his forever more.

¸.•*´ `*•.¸

A/N: ... The unnamed "Him/he" is not a specific That 70"s Show character - this is just set in the future - nothing is implied.