Fight or Flight. Part one. Flight.
Both have consequences, both have the ability to both fix and or destroy. A look at what would have happened if Jackie had made different choices in Bohemian Rhapsody.
This is a two part one shot, one where Jackie chooses Flight, the other where she chooses Fight.
Please Review.
I advise you to go listen to With or Without You by U2 when the scene comes up. It reminds me so much of Jackie and Hyde that it's almost ridiculous.
I had to write this. It has nothing in common with Don't Stand So Close to Me.
In 1979, Steven Hyde had made the worst mistake of his life. Little did he know the consequences his actions would have had, not just on him, but on his friends as well. By staying with Sam and not going after Jackie, his life as he knew it fell apart. Jackie, without warning, had left Point Place. Without her boyfriend or her best friend, Donna slipped into depression, Kelso and Fez tried hard to keep what was remaining of the group together, but it didn't work. Eventually, they both gave up. Kelso left for Chicago and Fez decided to return to his native homeland.
And Hyde was left with a wife he didn't love.
They lasted for two years before it got to be too much for both of them. She left him in the middle of the night with nothing more than a note.
It made him laugh how everyone in his life wrote him notes when they left him. He had quite the collection.
When WB had offered him a store in New York, he jumped at the opportunity. There was nothing in Point Place for him anymore. Not since that fateful day in 1979 at least.
Fight or Flight her mind kept repeating itself like a broken record. She wanted nothing more than to start screaming at the skank who was coming to ruin her life. To pull her by her hair and throw her out the door and demand Steven talk to her.
But her feet wouldn't listen. They just picked her up and carried her out the door as fast as they could.
She ran to her apartment and pulled out a suitcase. She threw everything she had in it, clothes, make up, Fluffycakes. She tossed in her toiletries from the bathroom. She quickly wrote Fez a note, took one last look around and left Point Place forever.
When Fez returned to his empty apartment to find Jackie's stuff gone, he knew instantly who to blame. He found her note on the kitchen counter. It was short, her handwriting sprawled as though she was in a hurry. It was obvious she hadn't taken her time in writing it or in leaving.
He ran to the Forman's basement.
"GET UP!" He yelled at Hyde who was sitting in his usual chair.
"Uh, Fez, what's going on?"
"I said up you sick bastard!"
"Uh Fez, I don't know what's gotten into you, but you need to calm down."
"No! I will not calm down! Now get up so I can kick your ass!"
Donna finally broke in. "Fez, we all know you can't kick Hyde's ass."
"I don't care!" Fez screamed.
Hyde just shook his head. "Hey look man, I know Jackie's probably upset but what can I do?"
Fez looked incredulously at Hyde before exploding again. "She's gone you asshole!"
"I'm sure she isn't gone, she probably just went somewhere to think." Donna said, trying to placate him.
"Oh yeah? Then why is all of her stuff gone? Why did she write me this?" He shoved the letter into Donna's hands.
With hesitation, she slowly started to read the letter out loud.
"Fez,
I'm sorry I didn't stick around to say goodbye, but I have to leave. I don't know where I'm going, and I don't know if I'll ever see you again, but I can't stay here anymore.
Tell our friends that I love them and I'll miss them,
Jackie."
Donna briefly wondered why the paper was wet before she realized she was crying.
"I'm sure she'll come back." Hyde tried to convince himself as much as her.
Fez shook his head sadly. "She took Fluffycakes. She's really gone."
It was that piece of information alone that broke Hyde. He was grateful for his sunglasses as his eyes filled with tears. Jackie was gone and all he had left was a stupid stripper wife.
Eight years later.
Jackie tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the elevator to come. The company president just had to have the Christmas party in the building with the slowest elevators in New York. She looked around at the other people waiting for the elevators. An older gentlemen wearing a tuxedo was talking to a younger man, and a young couples dressed to the nines looking happy.
What the hell did they know about happiness?
She was grateful when the elevator finally opened its doors. She rushed inside along with the two men and the couple.
They were now kissing. She wanted to punch them.
Steven Hyde hated parties. He had an unspoken rule, no parties. But when his father requested, nay, ordered him to attend the Calvin Klein Christmas party, he knew he had no choice but to attend. Unfortunately, he didn't have a date so he ended up taking his sister, Angie.
He tugged on his bow tie. He never got used to wearing those things. He was Steven Hyde, record store owner, not Steven Hyde, corporate stooge.
"Would you stop that?" Angie asked him, pulling his hands away from his tie.
"You know how much I hate these things Ange."
"Oh come on, it's fun. Loosen up!"
"That's funny coming from you."
She glared in response. "Hey, I've loosened up a lot!"
He smiled at her. "I guess you have." He admitted, and it was true. Eight years could do a lot to a person.
Just then, WB came with his date, an attractive black woman named Rachel.
"Steven, Angie, I hope you two are having fun?" He asked them. Rachel pulled away and excused herself to get a drink.
"Oh yeah, I'm having the time of my life." Hyde told his father sarcastically.
She was having the time of her life. As soon as she had gotten off the elevator one of her co-workers had asked her to dance. Then, another, and another, she knew her feet were going to kill her later, but she was having too much fun to care. As she danced with some guy who worked in accounting, she felt a tap on her shoulder.
"May I have this dance?" he asked her.
She looked at the familiar face. "Oh my god!" She threw her hand to her mouth.
He smiled and held out his hand.
"WB! What are you doing here?"
"Calvin and I are good acquaintances Jackie." He told her as they started to dance.
"So, I hear you got a divorce." He told her.
"Where did you hear that? Have you been keeping track of me?"
He gave a short shrug. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Uh, okay." She paused and looked up at Steven's father. "Does he know?" she asked in a very small voice.
"No, Jackie. He doesn't know, but Jackie, there's something you should know." But before he could continue, she was being pulled away.
"I'll talk to you later!" She tried to shout over the crowd.
He gave her a small wave in return.
CUT
"And so I told him, I going to this party and I don't care if you care! And so, here I am." The girl in Hyde's arms wouldn't stop yapping about her boyfriend.
"He doesn't like these things. Says they're for losers." She continued.
"Well, he's right." Hyde responded.
She backed away. "You men are all the same." She said, stomping off.
Angie came up to him. "That's the third girl who has run away from you. What are you saying to them?"
"I'm not saying anything to them." He denied.
"Right."
He turned to look at his sister. "Look Angie, I know you're trying to help, but I don't want to dance with anyone."
"Anyone but Jackie you mean."
He glared at her. "I thought you promised to never say her name again."
"Whose name? Jackie's?" Seeing his anger, she continued. "Jackie, Jackie, Jackie." She teased.
"Stop it Angie."
"I know Dad knows where she is. I could ask him for her number."
Hyde blinked. Wait a minute, his dad knew where Jackie was and didn't tell him? "What the hell?"
He sighed. "Look, it doesn't matter, she's probably moved on with her life. I bet she's married to a guy with money."
"Actually, she works here." His father had walked up in the middle of their conversation.
"She works for Calvin Klein?" Hyde asked.
"Yeah. She's here too." He pointed to a girl dancing with some guy.
Time stopped. Everything froze and all he could see was her. She had grown into a gorgeous woman. He felt a familiar tug on his chest as the man she was dancing with pulled her closer. Jealousy had never been one of Hyde's biggest issues, especially when it concerned Jackie and apparently eight years had done nothing to lessen that. He was relieved when she backed away from him.
"Excuse me." WB said, making his way to the brunette on the dance floor.
The guy was starting to creep her out. There was a time and a place for everything, and that kind of dancing was not acceptable at a company Christmas party, especially when that company was Calvin Klein.
"Jackie!" Steven's father had found her again. "There's someone I want you to meet." He nodded to the creep and took Jackie's hand to lead her away.
"Thank you WB! That man was starting to get on my nerves."
"Come on Jackie, there's someone I think you should see."
She stopped dead in her tracks as she spotted Angie talking to a man. His back was turned but she knew instantly who it was. His hair was still in its familiar fro and she could see the back of his sunglasses tucked behind his ears.
Angie saw Jackie and smiled.
Jackie tried to smile back but was incapable.
He turned around after noticing Angie's smile.
Fight of Flight her head kept repeating.
Eight years ago, she chose flight. This time, in a room full of people, most of them co-workers, she knew her choice was once again obvious. Without any ado, she turned and ran out.
After all, a fight wouldn't be acceptable.
This time, Hyde knew the choice he had to make. Without even bothering to say goodbye to his dad or sister, he ran out after her.
She was tapping her foot, whispering to herself. He went to her and caught her arm.
"Jackie, please."
She turned around. "No Steven, I need to go…"
"Please Jackie!" He yelled as she jumped in the elevator. He ran in after her and as soon as the door was closed, he hit the stop button.
"You can't run away again Jackie."
"Push that button now Steven!" She yelled at him.
He blocked her path. "No Jackie, you're going to stay and listen to what I have to say."
"Fine."
He stared at the girl he had lost eight years ago.
"Well?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Great, now can I go?"
He shook his head. "Donna really misses you."
She sighed. "I miss her too; I'll have to call her sometime."
"Uh, yeah. And Fez and Kelso…"
"What about you Steven? What did you do when I left?" She interrupted.
He started to speak but she held up her hand and stopped him. "I know exactly what you did. You didn't try to find me; you didn't ask about me, you just stayed married to that skanky wife of yours. You probably threw a party when you found out I left." She sounded bitter.
He gulped. "No, Jackie. I didn't try to find you, but only because you didn't want to be found. And yes, I stayed with Sam, but what else was I supposed to do?"
"You were supposed to run after me!" She yelled at him, punching him in the chest with her tiny fists.
He grabbed them and held them tightly as he looked into her eyes.
"I died the day you left Jackie, so don't tell me what I did or didn't do! I lost you!" he yelled at her.
She wasn't going to give in. He couldn't just come back into her life after all this time and expect everything to be okay.
Nothing was okay, nor would it ever be.
The musak in the elevator changed to a more familiar tune. Unconsciously, she started to sing the words.
"See the stone set in your eyes, see the thorn twist in your side, I wait for you. Slight of hand and twist of fate, on a bed of nails she makes me wait. And I wait without you. With or with you."
"You know this song?" He asked.
"It's my favorite." She answered.
He let go of her hands. "Can we at least go somewhere and talk?" He asked.
She looked at the man who had once owned her heart. Okay, once was a lie. He still owned it. Even when she had married Kyle, Steven was all she thought about. It had been one of the reasons for their divorce.
"Okay."
The ended up at his apartment as she knew her now ex husband would probably there with his new mistress.
They sat on the couch as he told her about what happened when she left. Of how Donna broke down, how Fez never forgave him for Jackie's disappearance, Kelso moving to Chicago. He told her about what he had been doing, of his divorce.
In return, he listened intently as she told him how she ended up in New York, how alone she was, how she had taken a job as a waitress. She had put herself through college, eating boxed macaroni and ramen noodles for dinner. She told him how she got the job at Calvin Klein as a receptionist but had slowly made her way up to being an assistant designer. She then brought up Kyle.
"You're married?" He asked, unable to keep the disappointment of his voice.
"Not anymore. We're getting a divorce. I already signed the papers."
"Oh, what does he do?"
"He's a doctor."
"Well, that's what you wanted right?"
She laughed. "Yeah, I always wanted a womanizing surgeon for a husband. He's just like Michael, only smarter."
He had to laugh at that.
She looked at the clock. "I should get going; I need to get home to Stephanie."
"Who is Stephanie?" He asked as he led Jackie to the door.
She turned around and gave him a huge grin. "Why she's your daughter Steven."
He ran after her in the hallway.
"I have a daughter?" He choked out.
"Yes, and I should have told you, blah, blah, blah. I'm sorry. If you want, you can meet her tomorrow."
He gulped. "Yeah, I'd like that. Oh and Jacks?"
She nodded for him to continue.
"I know it's too soon to say this, and you're probably still extremely pissed at me, and lord knows you have every right to be, but I love you and I've never stopped loving you and I'm going to get you back if it's the last thing I do."
"I was hoping you'd say that." She said as the elevator door closed.
Two men sat on a balcony drinking scotch.
"Did it work?" One man asked the other.
"Yes."
"You owe me you know."
"Anything you need, Calvin."
With that, William Barnett smiled and gave a toast to true love.