Las Vegas 1995
Steven Hyde's POV
"You know I married your mother here." I said as I looked over at Ellie who was cursing me in her head for bringing her here. I could see it in her face. This was supposed to be a fun trip. WB moved out here a few years back and he wanted to spend some time with his son and granddaughter. I looked back over at Ellie who was pinning her long curly blonde hair up.
"That is not helping any. The bitch dropped me on your doorstep because she didn't want me." She said as she looked at me. I could see the pain in her eyes. It makes me wonder I have done this for so long. I love her so much, but I am not too good with all the girl things. This is where I usually call Donna because her mother left her too. And well she had feelings toward her mother. I still hated my mother for how things went with us. I still hated Sam for how things went with us.
"Do you want me to call Aunt Donna?" I asked her.
"No." She said as she looked at me. "Can't we just go home?" She asked as she looked at me.
"I promised you grandfather we would visit him." I said as I looked at her.
"Yeah and when I was five you promised me a mother." She said as she folded her arms and sat down on the bed in her hotel room. I was in here trying to hurry her. We were supposed to meet WB in five minutes down in the lobby. But, my heart dropped to the floor when she said that.
"I guess I am a little late on that." I said as I sat down next to her. I don't see how Red made this look so easy all those years.
"Ten years." She muttered as she looked at me. "You could have caught her at the airport." She said as she looked at me. She was talking about Jackie. "She loved you."
"She was married. Why do always fail to remember that?" I asked her.
"Because you fail to remember that she wanted you. She wanted us, but you couldn't commit." She said as she got up. "She was the only one who ever wanted me." She said before she walked out of the room. I chased her all the way down to my father.
"Something going on?" He asked me.
"You know teenagers." I said with a laugh as I tried to smile.
"Can we look at the University of Nevada why we are out here?" Ellie asked her grandfather.
"Of course, Ellie. My grandbaby is going to college." He said with a smile.
"She still has three years." I said as I looked at him. I know it was weird, but I wasn't ready to let go of my little girl.
"My grades are really good I might be able to graduate earlier." She said as she smiled at me. Somehow I think she works so hard in school to make me look dumb.
"We still have time." I said as I looked at her. "Let's get through dinner first." I said with a laugh.
"Sounds good to me." She said as she took a hold of my father and me. We got through dinner okay and everything seemed okay for the rest of the night. I could hear her on the phone with Donna from my room, but I knew that if it wasn't for Donna I would have not survived this long.
Jackie Burkhart POV
It was strange sitting in this Las Vegas hotel room all alone. I hadn't been alone since Fez and I adopted the children. Sometimes I wonder if they hate me because things didn't work out between me and Fez. But, Maxi hardly remembers Fez. He left just months after the adoption was finalized. He ran off to Vegas with Laurie Forman. Leaving me with four adopted kids and one income. Times got pretty rough, but we made them work. It was hard for me to bring the kids out here to see their father and his new wife. And to make it worse she is having a baby. I tried so hard to have a baby with Fez and I couldn't. Laurie queen of the whores could. It made me want to throw her pregnant ass off the top of the Empire State Building. But, when Maxi called me from her father's house to ask me how I was doing I lied. "Everything is fine sweets." I said as I looked out my window.
"I can't wait to see you in the morning." She said on the other line. She sounded so sad.
"Hey don't get sad. We will spend all tomorrow together. We are going to go sight-seeing and everything." I said to her.
"I love you Momma." She said softly.
"I love you Maxi." I said. "Sleep tight my little beauty. Now let me talk to sissy." I said.
"What?" My oldest daughter Alex said as she took the phone from her sister.
"Someone sounds peachy." I said as I sat back down on the hotel bed. "I just thought you would want to talk to your mother." I said.
"Sorry, it's just that I want to go home. I am stuck here with my idiotic father and his bimbo wife when Ashley is having a mega party." She said hatefully.
"Hey you think I want to be here?" I asked her.
"Then why did we come?" She asked me.
"Because he wanted to see you and he is your father." I said to my sixteen year old daughter. She was eleven when I became her mother. She rebel against me for months before she saw me as her mother. I am so happy to have her see me that way. I am so happy that I get to have this little girl in my life. Even if she is a pain in my ass sometimes. Now I am starting to see why my mother didn't want to come back to me. Alex is just like me and some days leaving her behind seems so much easier, but I love her too much.
"That didn't mean shit to him when he left why should it mean anything to me?" She asked.
"First off language and I don't know. Just be the bigger person for a few more days." I said softly.
"Maybe I don't want to." She said hatefully.
"Just do it and when we get back to Chicago I will get you that dress you want for homecoming." I said. Great, I am bribing my child with a two hundred dollar prom dress.
"I thought you said it was too much?" She asked.
"I will make it work." I said weakly.
"I love you mom." She said in a new upbeat tone. "Hold on Jason wants to talk to you." She said before she handed the phone off.
"Mom, I want to go home. Dad is a freak." He said.
"When I told you about this trip you were happy what happened?" I asked him.
"He stole my M&Ms and keeps making us play Candyland." He said.
"He means well." I said as I looked at the picture I had put on the nightstand. It was of my children all four of them. They were so happy in the picture and they sounded miserable on the phone.
"Sure, but what about Miss. Whore face?" He asked. "She keeps calling Logan Andy." He said coldly.
"Is the language problem because of public high school or what?" I asked my fourteen year old son.
"Probably." He said. "I want to go home."
"Sorry sweetie, I love you. Let me talk to Logan." I said.
"He is asleep." Jason said. "Candyland is too boring for a eleven year old." He said with a laugh.
"I bet. Maxi is probably loving it." I said.
"She is bored to death too." He said.
"I will see you tomorrow." I said before he hung up. I didn't sleep hardly any because I was worried about them. So, I was early to breakfast the next morning. We were supposed to meet in the hotel restaurant. I sat there alone for fifteen minutes before I heard someone squeal.
"Jackie!" I heard as I looked up to see Steven Hyde and his little girl. Well, I guess she wasn't so little anymore. Ellie ran up to hug me. "I can't believe it's you." She said as she looked at me.
"Ellie you are such a beautiful young lady." I said as I looked at her before looking at Steven. "What brings you two to Vegas?" I asked him.
"We are visiting WB." He said as he looked at me. All it took was one look and I fell in love with him all over again. I wanted to be with him, but after Ellie came around he didn't seem interested anymore. "You?" He asked.
"Fez wanted to see the children." I said as I looked at him.
"You two aren't together anymore?" He asked as he sat down across from me.
"God no, we spilt up seven years ago." I said as I looked at him. "He took off and ended up out here with Laurie."
"Yeah I heard she was out here." He said as he looked at me. "Mrs. Forman only talks to her like once a year."
"You're still close with the Forman's?" I asked him.
"Of course. We moved into Bob's old place right after you left. There is no escaping nosey neighbors." He said with a laugh. "Plus, Ellie loves them like grandparents."
"Well, what do you expect when that's all you have?" Ellie said with a smile. Hyde started to say something, but my gang arrived.
"Momma!" Maxi said as she came running up to me. "Who are these people?" She asked as she hugged me tightly.
"Steven Hyde, well smack me silly." Fez said as he walked over to us.
"Fezzy man, how's it going?" Hyde asked as he looked up at him.
"Good. It's going good. I am about to be a dad again." He said as he patted Laurie's belly.
"So these are your children?" Hyde asked as he looked at the tan skin black hair bunch. He looked at them then me then Fez before saying "They look like you."
"You don't have to lie, they are adopted." I said with a laugh.
"Oh." He said as he smiled at us. "I guess we better get going." Hyde said as he got up.
"No, no me and Laurie were just leaving. Doctor's appointment. You can have our seats." Fez said as he looked at Hyde.
"Thanks dude." Hyde said. It was quite till Fez and Laurie were gone.
"Please don't make us go back with them." Alex said as she sat down next to me.
"Please excuse their behavior. Somewhere in their heart they love him." I said as I smiled at Hyde.
"Hey, I know what it is like being a single parent." He said as he smiled at me.
"Who are you?" Jason asked him.
"This is Steven and his daughter Ellie. I went to school with Steven." I said as I looked at my children. "And this is Maxi, Alex, Jason, and Logan." I said to Steven as I pointed to the children.
"Nice to meet you all." Steven said as he smiled at them. "So, what are you all up to today?" He asked.
"Sight-seeing. You?" I asked him.
"Pretty much the same." He said as he looked at Ellie. "This one wants to tour the University."
"Thinking about coming to school in Vegas?" I asked Ellie.
"I just want out of Point Place." She said with a smile.
"Leaving home isn't all that great trust me." I said as I looked at her.
"Lexi might like going to the University." Jason said as he looked at me.
"Please I have beauty, I don't need school." Alex said as she looked at her brother.
"Oh yes you do." I said as I looked at her. "Mind if we tag along?" I asked Steven.
"Not at all." He said as he smiled at me.
Ellie POV
Nothing could be better than this. She was here and single again. I had waited fifteen years for my father to finally make his move. Now I just have to kick his ass into gear. We have went far too long on our own. "I can't believe that you can afford to have a car drive you everywhere." Jackie said as she looked at my father.
"Well, I am Vice President of Grooves." He said as he smiled at her. "Not to mention some other investments." Some other investments, ha. My father owned half of Point Place. He was the one who helped build it back up. "What are you doing these days Ms. Hmm I don't know Fez's last name." He said with a laugh.
"He took mine when we got hitched. I would have went back anyways. I am a journalist." She said as she looked at him. "I work for the Sun, sports reporting at the moment."
"Cool." He said as he looked at him. "Red would be proud." He said with a smile.
"I never even thought about that." She said before she turned to me. "So, what do you want to be when you get older?" She asked Ellie.
"I want be an accountant. I will probably end up working for dad." I said as I smiled at him.
"What about your kids?" Dad asked. "Alex what do you want to be?" He asked the tan skin beauty with long black hair.
"A model." She answered with a smile.
"She is just like you." My dad said as he smiled at Jackie.
"I know." Jackie said with a smile. "Jason what about you?"
"A music teacher." The older boy answered.
"You like music?" Dad asked him. Jason just nodded. "Who is your favorite band?" He asked.
"That's easy Zeppelin. No one has been able to surpass them." He said with a smile. Perfect.
"You are my kind of kid." Dad said with a laugh. "What about you Logan?"
"I want to be an astronaut." He said with a smile. My dad chuckled at that.
"Kelso, right?" Jackie asked.
"You know me too well, Jacks." He said as he smiled. My father was smiling. Really smiling.
"That's okay because Maxi wants to be a princess." Jackie said as she smiled at him. It was later when we were at lunch that I finally talked to one of her kids.
"What is the deal with those two?" Jason asked me.
"They are soul mates." I answered as we sat down at a table. Everyone was split up talking at different tables. "They dated in high school and for like two years after. But, when he went to propose to her Kelso was naked. Then he married my mother thinking she was Jackie. By the time that whole mess blew over Jackie was trying to move on with Fez."
"How do you know all of this?" He asked me.
"Please that was my bed time story." I said with a laugh. "My father tells me everything." I said as I looked at him.
"Must be nice mine never talks to us. I would kill for a father like yours." He said as he looked at me.
"Yeah, well you have a mother." I said as I looked at him. "He was supposed to go to the airport and bring her back." I muttered.
"Your mother?" He asked.
"No yours. He promised me a mom and she fit so well in our little family." I said as I looked over at them. They were talking and laughing.
"I think it would be great if they got together too." He said as he looked at them. "You're right. Something just feels right." He said as he looked at me.
"I think we are going to get along." I said as I looked at him and smiled.
Jackie POV
"Today was great." I said as I looked at Steven after my kids were dropped off back at Fez's and Ellie was with WB. We were on our way back to the hotel.
"It was." He said as he looked at me. "You know that night you left I drove to the airport. I was planning on bringing you back with me, but you looked so happy." He said as he looked at me.
"I wasn't. I wanted to turn around and go back to your house." I said as I looked at him. "Steven, I never stopped loving you." I said as I looked at him.
Hyde POV
Her words stopped me right in my tracks. I waited the past fifteen years to hear those words. I started to say I love you too, but I ended up pulling her into a kiss. "I loved you since that night at the Forman's baroque." I said as I thought back to 1977. That first kiss one the hood of her car. That first date that was no worse than bowling.
"Steven." She said as she smiled at me. My thought process seemed to end as I kissed her again. I just went from kissing her to knowing I didn't want to lose her again.
"I was going to ask you to marry me that night at the hotel in Chicago." I said as I looked into her mismatched eyes.
"I would have said yes." She whispered as she looked at me.
"Then I was going to ask you again that night before you married Fez." I said as I thought back to the night in 1985 she came over at two in the morning because Ellie had I fever of one hundred and four and I was scared.
"I would have said yes then too." She said as she looked into my eyes.
"I am going to ask you now." I said as I looked at her. "I can't lose you again. Will you marry me?" I asked her.
"Steven, things are more complicated now." She said as she looked down. "What about my kids, my job?" She asked.
"You can move to Point Place. I make enough you would never have to work again and I know that those kids would be happier with a complete family." I said as I looked at her. "I promised a little girl ten years ago to bring her a mother. Please, I ask again Jacqueline Burkhart will you marry me." I asked again.
"Not without a ring." She said with a smile.
"Edward take us to the nearest jewelry store." I said as to the driver that my father hired for me when I was in town.
"We are doing this right." She said as she looked at me. "A big church wedding in Point Place. Neither of us got a real wedding the first time." She said with a smile.
"Anything as long as I get you." I said as I smiled at her.