Disclaimer: That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979. It debuted on the Fox television network, first airing on August 1998, running for eight consecutive seasons, and concluding with the 200th episode on May 18, 2006. Plus, if I did own T7S I would have had Hyde/Jackie together and if not them, then Eric/Jackie.

Setting: The fictionalized town of Point Place, Wisconsin.

Spoilers: S1-S8.

Summary: At Betsy's wedding, she and her father dance. Took liberties with the song.

June 8th, 2006

The wedding had been beautiful and yet so heart-breaking for one Michael Christopher Kelso. His little Betsy-pie looked so radiant and he would be lying if he said he was completely happy.

Then again, no true father would ever like the thought of his daughter getting married. It felt like time just flew by for her and spending time with her. Teaching her to walk, her first word being 'daddy', her first fever, her first crap in her little diaper, when her poop was no longer odorless and started to smell like poop, when she first pee'd on Hyde. Her first dance, play, and so many other things he had come to adore and treasured when it came to her.

How could I let her go so easily, he sadly thought, I mean I'm her dad. She doesn't need him. She's got me.

He must have said his last thought out loud for Brooke, who had been his wife for the many years after he moved to Chicago, replied, "But sweetie, he's a great guy. He would never hurt her. You know that." Brooke smiled up at him, with sadness in her brown eyes, "And we both know we won't be around forever."

Looking around the reception hall, he saw his son, Michael Jr., talking to his sister and both Kelso and Brooke smiled happily at Mikey and Betsy. Despite the age gape between the siblings, they had always doted upon one another. When Mikey was born, Betsy had wanted her brother all to herself and didn't like sharing him.

Kelso and Brooke smiled as the 'brother/sister' dance ended with Mikey and Betsy smiling. Mikey returned to his girlfriend Annabella Katherine Forman, Eric and Donna's daughter. Annabella had Eric's compassionate and loyal personality and to her mothers' ire seemed to be against the feminist movement.

He spied the seven Formans. Eric and Donna were talking, while Reggie, Al, Kenny, and Rob were laughing over a joke with Hyde and Jackie's two sons: James and Brian. He saw Mikey and Anna head over to the table where their siblings were. Soon after, he spied Hyde and Jackie's daughter, the youngest of the Hyde-Barnett family, make her way over to the table as well. Evelynn was the spitting image of Jackie, but her skintone, eye and hair color was all Hyde. Angie Barnett smacked her brother on the shoulder as they laughed.

Kelso was truly happy for Hyde. He finally got the family he deserved for a long time, but he knew they'd always be brothers.

His attention was diverted once again when Fez and Rhonda were merrily singing 'Disco Lady.' He laughed as Eric smacked the foreigner across the head to shut him up.

As the DJ began to speak, everyone got quiet, "And now, it's time for a special dance. The father of the bride, please come up here because your little girl is waiting to dance with her father."

He walked slow painful steps towards his daughter. She looked so radiant. Her brown eyes were shining brightly with happiness and pain, unshed tears gathering in her beautiful eyes that Kelso had come to adore. She knew her daddy was in pain.

Kelso wrapped his arms around his daughter as she weaved her arms around his neck and laid her head against her dad's chest. Kelso laughed as he heard the song she picked. Country wasn't really both of their thing, but this song they made the exception to.

Clattering from where his family and friends were sitting sounded. He didn't have to look to know they all got up from the table to film this dance.

Everything she sees
she says she wants.

A six year old Betsy with plaits and two of her front teeth missing ran down the toy aisle before her daddy and mommy could pursue her. She could hear her daddy's footsteps running after her as he left her mommy behind in the frozen foods aisle with the shopping cart.

Finally, she spotted the doll she had been wanting for a long time, but her mommy said that they couldn't get it. Truth was the Kelso household had been tight on the budget lately, but Betsy was only six and didn't understand that.

Kelso snuck up behind her and snatched her up playfully, relishing in his daughters' mirthful, innocent giggles and spun her around in the air. He cuddled her to his chest as he told his little Betsy, who started to cry when she realized her daddy couldn't buy her the doll that she had been aching for. "Betsy! Betsy! Come on, my little Betsy-boo, don't act like that. When daddy and mommy have enough money, we'll buy you a better one than that crummy-looking doll." But, Betsy continued to cry.

Everything she wants
I see she gets.

Kelso's attention was diverted as he saw a stock worker walking down the aisle, looking at his daughter tearful face, he sighed, "How much for that crummy-looking doll?" The pimply acned filled girl looked at him and replied in a monotone voice, "Twenty dollars."

"I'll take it," he told the girl, who brought the doll package down from its high perch on the shelf and handed it to him. He nodded his thanks to her.

Betsy squealed loudly right into his ear and he soon found himself being slobbered with 'bisses', Betsy+kisses=bisses was the mathematical formula Betsy used when she had explained to him and Brooke. They found Brooke in the meat and cheese section of the store.

Brooke bit back a smile as she softly told him what she already knew, "You caved, didn't you Michael?"

"What can I say?" Kelso replied softly as he looked down upon his daughter, "I can't resist her or deny her anything." His brown eyes softened as Betsy tucked her head in the crook of his neck as she whispered, "I love you, Daddy."

That's my daughter in the water
everything she owns I bought her
Everything she owns.

Kelso smiled as he saw his eight year daughter learning how to swim with the floaties he bought her.

"Daddy! Look, I can swim, Daddy! Aren't you proud of me?"

"I sure am, Bets."

He laughed as she splashed wildly in the water, trying to gain her confidence in the water. Kelso was right behind her for when she needed him. She always did and he knew that would never changed.

He was shocked when Betsy jumped up and lung onto his neck and asked so sweetly, "Biss, daddy?"

"Why do I get a biss, baby?"

"Cause you are helping me learn how to swim and cause I love you cause you're my daddy." She said as if it were nothing, but it meant a great deal to him.

"Sure, I would love a biss from my little girl."

He laughed as she raspberries his cheek and smacked a kiss on it. Then she jumped off to continue playing in the water.

That's my daughter in the water,
everything she knows I taught her.
Everything she knows.

Kelso and a seven-year old Betsy stood at a corner of the sidewalk. Kelso held her hand as he asked her, "So what do we do if we want to walk across the street, Bets?"

He looked down at her, only to see her biting her lip, pondering what would she have to do to cross the street safely. Her eyes scrunched up in concentration. "Oh, I know. Follow my lead Daddy."

Kelso chuckled at her. She was a precocious child. Had always been. "Yes, ma'am." She giggled in response.

"Daddy, you're a goof."

"And proud of it. Now what do we do?"

"We look left," they turned their heads to the left to see no cars driving down the lane. "We look right," turning their heads to the right they saw the same thing. And we safely cross." They were crossing the street as Betsy reminded him, "And remember Daddy, we can't go into strangers car."

"That's right, Bets. Because..."

"Cause they could be bad people."

"Look we crossed the street, baby!"

Betsy beamed up at her daddy as she joyously shouted, "I did it, Daddy! I remembered. I passed, right?"

"Yes, you do. I'm so proud of you."

Everything I say
she takes to heart.

A sixteen year old Betsy Kelso slammed her bedroom door open, tears running down her face due to her humiliation, she yelled at a livid Michael Kelso, who did not resemble anything of his normal friendly disposition, "Why did you do that, Daddy? He liked me for me."

Kelso wasn't having it. It was rare when he had to get serious and completely drop his sunny disposition, "Cut the crap, Bethany Victoria!" Betsy's eyes widened and felt tears well up when she saw her mother not helping her, if anything she looked so disappointed at her daughter and she was going to let the patriarch handle this. "That Dylan boy didn't like you for you."

"Yes, he-"

He had enough, "Betsy, shut up and let me finish. In fact, you be quiet and you listen to me. The fact you would even try to let him take your virginity just because you have this fucked up notion that he would like you or even fall in love with you and stay with you for the rest of your life is bullshit. Your mother and I didn't raise to be like this. You want to know why I know this personally?"

Betsy was scared. She knew that her dad had been a big time womanizer and that he and her Aunt Jackie had dated for three years before she got fed up with his womanizing ways and broke up with him. Soon after, she started dating Uncle Stevie.

Seeing Betsy hadn't responded, he told her quite frankly, "Because I did that to your Aunt Jackie. Despite her having crappy, shitty parents...somehow she still held onto the notion of true love and living together forever. I cared for her, but I was a teen boy. As soon as we did it, I started fooling around on her with other woman." He gulped. He didn't want to see his daughter end up in Jackie's position. "And I don't want you getting hurt."

"But daddy-"

"I SAID NO! AND THAT IS FINAL!"

Then his little Betsy uttered words no father wanted to hear from their daughter, "I HATE YOU!" He held back the hurt and pain he was feeling, he looked at her tear-stained face, "I love you too, Bets. You'll thank me in the end, I promise." And with that, he kissed her forehead and walked out to head into his room.

Everything she takes
she takes apart.

"Michael, Betsy broke the clicker. We'll be needing a new one." Brooke told her husband as she peeled the potatoes.

"How did she break the clicker?" Kelso was curious. He and Brooke usually kept the clicker on top of the bookshelf in the living room. How did Betsy get it and break it?

Brooke looked sheepish, which made Kelso raise his eyebrows, it was very rare Brooke became sheepish, "Alriggghhhttt...What happened?" Brooke blushed, "I forgot to put the clicker on the shelf and she was playing with her dolls. Apparently when she became bored with that, she plucked up the clicker and threw it at the wall because she wanted me to play with her, but I couldn't at the moment. Take a look."

Taking a deep sigh, Kelso prepared himself as he walked into his living room. He groaned and rolled his eyes upward as if to say 'help me.' There was Betsy surrounded by chunks of the clicker as she pretended the buttons were cars and made 'vroom, vroom' noises as what used to be button number seven and button number one chase each other.

Spotting her daddy, she grinned. It didn't take long for Kelso to play with her, telling Brooke, "I don't why you were worrying. Our daughters brilliant."

That's my daughter in the water
every time she fell I caught her.
Every time she fell.
That's my daughter in the water,

Kelso came out of his bedroom, only to see Betsy about to fall forward on the staircase. He rushed to her and caught her depleting the chance of Betsy suffering a busted head.

He carried her into his and Brooke's bedroom, loudly calling for Brooke, "BROOKE! BROOKE! COME UPSTAIRS!" He could hear Brooke running up the stairs and as soon as she reached their bedroom and spotted her pale daughter, she felt as if she were in despair.

She jogged to the bed, plopped onto their bed, frantically yelling, "Betsy? Betsy-pie! Wake up!" It seemed Brooke was what Betsy needed for she came around to the land of the living as soon as she heard Brooke call out for her.

"What happened, Mom?" Betsy asked her worried mother, who was currently holding her against her bosom. Kelso watched her with an eye of a hawk.

He ran his fingers over Betsy's baby bangs, "You almost fell forward on the stairs and then fainted."

"I haven't been eating for three days because of exams going on," Betsy blurted out, her eyes looked so frightened when she discovered what happened. Mikey had been telling her to eat; that she couldn't study on an empty stomach. She should have listened to Mikey. He knew her too well. And she knew her Uncle Eric and Uncle Stevie noticed something had been amiss because of her gaunt complexion.

Kelso and Brooke had a silent conversation as they debated what to do. When they reached their decision, they turned to her. Brooke cleared her throat, "First, you're going to eat, take a nap, and then we're going to have a family meeting." She kissed her daughter and left to cook something up for Betsy.

Kelso hugged Betsy, "Don't you ever do that again. I know you didn't do that on purpose, but nothing is ever going to be as important as your health, understand, Bets?"

Betsy nodded as she fell asleep against her dad, vaguely hearing her dad tell Mikey what happened and her brothers concern.

I lost every time I fought her.

Yea, I lost every time.

"Dad, lemme do the dishes. You just got off of work, you've been doing too much," Betsy tried to persuade her father, who was being stubborn about doing the dishes.

"No, Bets, you have an essay to finish up and your brother will do it," Kelso retorted, the silent command in his voice was rather obvious.

"If you don't let me..." Betsy knew she had to bring out the big guns, she grinned evilly, "I'll tell Mom that you're not relaxing like she wants you to be since she's been worried how you've been feeling pain lately."

Just then Mikey came downstairs and having heard the conversation and the part where his dad looked as if he were in pain, he cut in and helped his sister, "We've done it before, Dad. We'll do it again."

"AH! Fine!"

Every time she blinks
she strikes somebody blind.

He spotted Betsy on the couch with her college statistics work spread out around her.

Shaking her awake, Betsy blinked her doe eyes at him and Kelso couldn't help but think that he helped in creating her.

Her eyes had always seemed to strike him blind with happiness as she had inherited his eyes, the structure surrounding them was all Brooke.

He laughed as she looked around as if wondering how in the hell did she get there. She noticed the mess she made with her college work spread out and grinned sheepishly as she scratched her head in embarrassment.

Everything she thinks

blows her tiny mind.

A ten year old Betsy ran up to Kelso and Brooke, "Guess what?" Her parents smiled as their little girl couldn't contain her excitement.

"What?" They asked simultaneously.

"I know how to do division. I wanna show you."

Betsy looked shocked, trying to figure how she was so smart to understand division. Betsy dragged them to her teacher, who doted on her. Mrs. Jones called her 'bright' and let the little girl show her parents that she could do division.

"Aren't you a smart duck?"

Brooke nodded, "How about we go for ice cream?"

As one, Kelso and Betsy yelled, "I scream for ice cream."

That's my daughter in the water,
who'd have ever thought her?
Who'd have ever thought?

Kelso was brought to the present as memories of him and Betsy came and went through his mind.

He was thankful that his friends pestered his ass to be involved in Brooke's pregnancy. He couldn't imagine his life without his little girl. If he hadn't listened to them, his life would have been filled with no wife, no daughter, no son, and so many 'what-ifs.'

That's my daughter in the water,
I lost every time I fought her
Yea, I lost every time.

As the song came to an end. He had realized that since the dance had started he had been seeing a newborn Betsy. Parting away from her, the newborn that he had once held in his hands to protect her from the bad, evil world morphed into the beautiful lady that he helped create and raise with Brooke before his very own eyes.

Crying hysterically as she hugged her daddy with all her might, she shakily asked her daddy, "Daddy, can I give you a biss?" It was that question that made Kelso realized he wasn't the only one who was caught up in memories. She gave her daddy a raspberry on the cheek and followed it with a kiss.

He heaved a sigh, "I'm no longer you're protector. You have Ben now."

Betsy laughed, "Don't you realize Daddy, I'll always be you're little girl. You're always going to be my protector and the best daddy in the world." A tear made its' way down Kelso's cheek.

They parted and as Betsy walked away, still upset she had to leave her dad.

Kelso noticed his makeshift 'family' had been behind throughout the whole exchange at the end and didn't mock him. He proudly proclaimed, "That's my daughter."

I hope you guys liked.

This has been on my mind for the past several weeks. I'll admit it is not my best work. But, they're so little Kelso/Betsy fics. I thought I would contribute.

I took liberties with the song. The song 'Daughter' by Loudon Wainwright III was released in 2007. This takes place in 2006.

Read and review!

~Nim