Hi there! I've been on a 70s show nut as of late, and I absolutely fell in love with Jackie and Hyde. The fact that they didn't end up together will forever haunt my shipper heart. The later half of season 7 really screwed up the pairing, in my opinion, so this is my attempt at fixing it somewhat. I hope you enjoy it, and reviews are always appreciated!

...

Hyde's insides burned, his stomach doing flip flops as Kelso entered from the parking lot outside. The towel wrapped around his waist only served a bright, beaming reminder of what was going on. He snarled, hands curling into fists as he chased him into the car park. The tarmac was hard underneath his sneakers, smashing flat against his feet with every stride. It hurt, but he welcomed the pain – it took the edge off the emotions that were bubbling inside him. He reached the El Camino and collapsed against it, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. Kelso had disappeared into the night, but the thought of him being stuck in Chicago with no clothes made up for it – albeit not as much as pummelling him into the ground would have. The image of Jackie's guilt stricken face swam before his eyes and he slammed his fist down on the roof of the car.

Fucking bitch.

He fished around in the back of the car for a beer, cracking it open and downing a few mouthfuls. It burned his throat, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. God, he couldn't believe he'd been so stupid. Fucking Jackie, all that bloody crying about Kelso and then back to him she'd run again. Hyde cursed - he wanted to find Kelso and beat the shit out of him, if only to distract himself from addressing his feelings. He wasn't supposed to feel like this – he was meant to be detached, zen, anything other than the fucking emotional wreck he was being. Something hot burned behind his eyelids and he slammed his hand against the steering wheel. He'd thought – hell, he'd believed Jackie was different. The one fucking person he could count on not to run away. So much for that. He closed his eyes, but it did nothing to quell the images that kept flashing through his mind.

Jackie in her swimsuit – Jackie holding a plate of cookies up for him – Jackie in his shirt – Jackie's smile – Jackie pressed against Mrs Forman's fridge – Jackie crying – Jackie burning Eric – Jackie lying underneath him as he pressed kisses to her neck – Jackie – Jackie – Jackie –

He groaned and snapped his eyes open, but his vision blurred. This was just fucking brilliant. He almost laughed at the irony – he'd spent so long trying to keep her out and yet somehow she'd managed to crawl into what was left of his heart and sew it all back together with pink string. He loved her. He'd come to propose, goddammit! Surely that counted for something? Why couldn't she just let him be? She was always pushing, always wanting what he couldn't give, and the one damn time he'd been willing to give it to her she'd fucking gone and slept with Kelso behind his back.

Fuck.

...

Two hours and three beers later and he was starting to do some scarily Forman-like thinking. A little voice in his head kept whispering that maybe it had been a misunderstanding – crazy talk, of course – but every time he blocked it out it would reappear a few moments later, like some goddamn mosquito. Mosquitos. Jackie. How his befuddled mind could link the two was beyond him, but there it was. He took a breath in and slowly released it, trying to quiet the voice, but it wouldn't stop.

What if it was Eric who walked in on Donna? Would you let him give up without talking to her?

Hyde scoffed, as if Donna would cheat on Forman with Kelso. The situations were completely different – Donna actually loved Eric. He was beginning to doubt Jackie even knew what love was – or maybe he just had some twisted version of it. He'd had his heart stomped on so many times that it wouldn't exactly surprise him. That was the reason he had built walls around it in the first place. Stupid, impassive walls that Jackie had slipped through without even dirtying her skirt.

But if he did? If he walked in on Donna and Kelso in a compromising situation and came to you for help, what would you say to him?

The answer rose to the front of Hyde's mind before he could stop it and kept clattering about when he didn't acknowledge it. It was totally different, man! Kelso wasn't Donna's ex, Kelso hadn't repeatedly tried to break her and Eric up, Kelso didn't make a serious pass at her every freakin' day!

You'd tell him to man up and go talk to her about it, and you'd remind him that Kelso's a jerk who'll turn anything into an innuendo, and point out that it was entirely fucking plausible that he'd just come out of the shower.

Hyde groaned again and pounded his head on the steering wheel. This was all Jackie's fault, her and her stupid ultimatum. If only she hadn't forced it on him, he wouldn't have needed so long to think about it and she wouldn't have assumed he'd say no! Maybe that was the root of the problem, though, thought Hyde. She hadn't just assumed – she'd expected him to say no. God, when was the last time they'd talked? Actually sat down and discussed the things that mattered? He hated doing it, sure, but maybe that was the problem – maybe that was what they'd been missing this past year.

He downed the last of his beer and decided to do something stupid.