Hyde woke up, rubbing his eyes in the basement. Man, that must've been some New Year's Party... was it? He made a face; he had cotton mouth something fierce, and he was sweating. Sweating? In January?

He walked up the back stairs and around the front of the house and saw Jackie, on the porch, kind of weepy.

His mouth pulled into a frown. "Fez upset her already? I'll kick his ass!" he thought to himself. Then, "Wait, no... not my problem anymore... Is it?"

Jackie hopped up, wiping her cheeks off, and threw her arms around Hyde's neck. Taken aback, his mind still fogged, he just wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tightly.

"Oh, Steven, I'm so sorry..."

"You're... sorry?" he asked her, confused.

"Yeah... I shouldn't have pressured you for a commitment like that yesterday. I'm sorry. I was wrong. I know you love me... and that's what matters."

"Yesterday?"

And, suddenly, everything that had happened, all the horrible events of the past year and a half, fell completely away, and he realized they were just his horrible, terrible, stoned out nightmare of his life with out his Jacks...

Hyde grabbed her head, and began raining kisses all over her face and mouth with a frantic desperation as if he really hadn't been with her in a year and a half.

"God... I didn't screw up... I didn't loose you forever..." he mumbled gratefully into her neck.

"God, she smells the same- well, of course, idiot, it was yesterday- just, so good..."

"No... you didn't loose me..." Jackie smiled, eyes welling up. "Oh, you really do love me!"

Hyde pulled back, looking into her face seriously now. "Jackie... I've never loved anyone else. Not my whole life. And, if I lost you... I never would again. And, not just my world would go to hell, but everyone else's, too. Please... I want to go to Chicago with you?"

Jackie's eyes popped. "You... do? But, Steven, what about the store?"

"I'll ask W.B. if maybe he'd like to put one in Chicago, branch out." he dismissed. "If not, I can find a job doing just about anything. I'm a great mechanic, and don't give me hassle, because I'm giving into you in two ways, and swallowing the manhood thing by following your career instead of mine. You're likely never to get this from me ever again in our whole lives together."

Jackie nodded seriously. "Well... I'm figuring that I'm gonna try to parley my talk show into Soap Acting... so that could lead to New York..."

"Hey, we'll be going to my favorite place..."

"Anywhere but here?" Jackie smiled.

"And, anywhere that you are." Hyde said seriously, pulling her tight against him.

"Steven, are you still stoned?" she asked, then shook her head. "Eh, I don't care, I'm getting the romantic moment of a lifetime. Pick me up like a princess and carry me to your room?"

Hyde bent down and gathered her into his arms. She was so light... and fit so perfectly into his arms. And, he wondered if a part of him wouldn't always wonder if it really was some stoner's nightmare, or if he got his "Wonderful LIfe" moment and had a chance... one that he would never waste again...

((((((The REAL End...)))))))