A/N: A Hyde/Jackie oneshot based on the last episode. I hope you guys enjoy it!

"Five Minute's to Midnight"

He plopped down on the yellow and beige looking sofa only half-wasted. He looked around at the sea of people in front of him and for once in a long time he felt like he was completely alone. The smile wore off towards the end of the New Year's night even though it wasn't over yet. He couldn't try and pretend that he was happy when the thoughts of being alone forever crowded his mind every minute. So after forcing one last smile and laugh, he sat down. He looked at the clock and realized that it was almost midnight. Here he was alone again and drowning in his sorrows. It didn't matter that there was beer at the moment because even beer couldn't let him escape his nagging thoughts. He was trapped. He was trapped for good.

11:55

He couldn't understand why bad things happened to him. He didn't know why his parents left him, why he couldn't stop making sarcastic jokes (even though he loved doing that), and why he couldn't just not mess one thing up. He lost the one girl he's ever loved, chosen not to go to college, and is now sitting here with a beer in his hand while reality was hitting him cold in the face. He didn't like reality; he wanted to drink it all away. He just wanted to forget everything that he went through, and everything he didn't have. And it was working for a while until someone he knew for a very long time stepped into the light.

Jackie. Jaclyn Beulah Burkhart was her name and he would never forget it. He remembered the first time he actually talked to her:

Flashback

Steven Hyde walked into his seventh grade class with a smirk on his face. 'This is going to be a fun year.' He thought. 'Now who should I start with?'

He scanned the classroom and saw nobody good that he could use. So instead he waited until lunch and maybe there would be somebody there in the big crowd of kids. He saw a little boy who was worthy of scaring, so he walked over to him and started a conversation.

"Hey kid." He said.

"Hi." He replied.

"How's school goin' for ya?" He asked.

"Very well!" The little boy exclaimed happily.

"Well it's about to get very bad." Hyde replied and was about the lay a hand on the little boy who was now frightened when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

'What the?' he thought. He whipped around and saw a curly beautiful dark-haired girl standing before him. He knew who she was, for he had seen her around the basement from time to time. She wouldn't stay long, because she always claimed that she had better, more popular people to hang out with.

"Jackie…" Hyde warned.

"Steven!" She exclaimed angrily.

He winced. He hated when she called him Steven. He wasn't sure if she did it just to make him mad or just because she enjoyed calling him that. Either way, he just hated it more.

"It's Hyde." He said through clenched teeth.

"Steven Hyde!" She exclaimed again. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I was just having a little conversation here with this kid. Problem?" He asked now just more annoyed them anything.

"Big one." She replied and then grabbed him by the leather jacket collar and let him into a corner.

Hyde was now mortified. He was not only pulled away by a girl, but the girl was Jackie Burkhart. He was furious and all he wanted to do was just yell at her and run away not caring whether it hurt her feelings. And that's what he planned on doing.

She let go of his coat and looked into his icy blue eyes.

"Steven…" She said calmly. "I know what you were planning on doing to that boy…"

"And so you wanted to save him and make sure that he was okay so you could be the hero?" He said cutting her off.

"No Steven I…"

"It's Hyde!" He yelled. "Not Steven, Hyde!"

She flinched slightly, not ever experiencing such anger before. But Jackie Burkhart had anger, sure she couldn't express it physically that much, but she sure could express it emotionally.

"Okay Hyde," she began. "What I was trying to say before you very rudely interrupted me was that I didn't want to save the little puny kid I wanted to save you from getting into trouble! But before I could say that you just went on and on and on. So you, Steven Hyde are a rude boy!" She said and stomped off, her hair swinging back and forth as she took each step. And he couldn't remember a time when his head was ever torn off. Sure Donna had always threatened him, but she never really blew up on him.

And when he saw her walking away, he felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth because he knew that she wasn't who people thought she was.

End of Flashback

That day he learned that Jackie Burkhart was not a weakling. And he never forgot it. Even when he was torturing her, saying that she was just a little girl and a drama queen, he knew inside of him that she truly was tough.

11:56

When she saw interest in him, he saw just an annoying girl. But as she gradually spent more time in the basement and away from Kelso, he saw so much more then that. He saw a beautiful, young, tough, girl. He didn't know why, but every time he saw her there was something new that he never noticed before. One time he looked at her and saw that one eye was green and the other was blue, then he saw that she had a darker colored hair instead of the auburn kind. The little things that he would notice would just go through his mind for the rest of the day.

And when they started dating, that's all that went on in his head. Thoughts of her and what she was doing at the moment, or just thoughts of what they would do tomorrow or when he would see her again. That was probably why he wasn't always in good moods when he saw her because it irritated and most of all scared him how much he thought of her in one day. He never thought he could feel and he certainly never thought she would be that made him.

He remembered the time when he walked out of his room and saw her watching a show on the T.V. and remembered thinking 'What am I doing with her?' and he never really knew. He wanted her because she was beautiful and talented and just amazing. But she wasn't his type and he sometimes wondered that their bliss would go away either soon or in the future. He wasn't sure of the future and she was, she was so sure that they would be together. But it wasn't that easy for him, it really wasn't. He was learning, he was learning so much in the times that they spent together. He had never been through anything like he had with her and he knew that he never would again. He had never loved anyone like he loved her. He had never even said that he loved anyone besides her and maybe Mrs. Forman.

When he said it, he shocked his own self. He hadn't planned on saying that. He had planned on saying something that would sweep her off her feet and make her come back to him because he missed her dearly. But 'love' was never an option. It was never going to leave his mouth until the very last second when it slipped out. But he meant it, and that's what frightened him the most. And when she said that she didn't love him back, he knew what a broken heart felt like too. He hated it, that's for sure and that's why he fought for her. He knew that she was the only one that could cure it and when she chose herself over him he was hurt again.

So, naturally, being the bad boy he was, he dated again. He claimed that he didn't want to wait around all summer but that was a lie. He needed a distraction. She was going to be in the town and he didn't want her to see him a mess. He remembered when he walked by the pool and saw her tanning.

Flashback

Hyde walked along the gate that separated him from the rippling pool that was full of people. He was on his way to go and try to meet a new girl, one that could take his mind off Jackie, and the pain away. He looked through the gate and saw a petite but beautiful girl and realized that it was the same girl that he had just lost. She looked relaxed and calm laying on the beach chair tanning. She looked peaceful and the least bit worried or stressed. He knew that he hurt her when he cheated and he knew that now she probably wasn't even thinking about him.

He saw Donna walk towards her and give her more sun tan lotion. Donna caught Hyde's eye and without having Jackie notice, she walked over to him. He didn't even know it until Donna snapped him out of his thoughts.

"You fell hard didn't you?" She asked.

Hyde was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"Come on Hyde, you out of all the people staring at Jackie Burkhart through a gate? I mean it's a miracle that you're even near the pool. That's gotta mean something."

Hyde thought about it and realized that she was right. Since when did he come to the pool? He never even went to check out the girls. He then realized how scary he must have looked to just be peaking inside.

"Yeah, I guess it does." There was no use hiding his feelings now. He just prayed that Donna didn't tell Jackie about it.

"Well I'm impressed." She said. "I never thought I'd see the day that Hyde was in love."

"Yeah and I bet you didn't think you'd see the day when I was actually in love with Jackie right?" He froze. He actually admitted that he loved Jackie. He was IN love with her and Donna knew. He cursed to himself and wondered if Donna caught it or if she was just going to ignore it.

Donna must have seen Hyde's face because she said, "Don't worry Hyde I'm not going to tell her."

"Tell her what?" He said quickly trying to deny what he had said just moments ago.

"That you loooove her!" Donna said while doing movements with her hand.

"Ah get bent." Hyde said and began walking away. He heard Donna laugh and then he stopped and came back.

"But really don't mention this to her or even that I was here otherwise I'll…I'll…I'll beat up Eric!" He exclaimed and stormed off.

Donna stood there laughing out of the shock until she heard a shrill demanding voice.

"Donna!" Jackie exclaimed.

Donna sighed. "Coming…"

End of Flashback

He smiled at the memory because Donna had never told. He was sure that if Donna told, Jackie would come running back to him faster then he could say 'no shopping'. He wasn't sure why he didn't want Donna to keep it a secret, but then again there was so many 'why's' and 'not sure's' in his life that he was just used to it by now.

11:57

And as he saw Donna talking to people in the corner he knew that she wasn't happy either. He saw the way that she made sure she smiled whenever somebody made a joke, or that she made sure she went out and did things so it didn't look like she was wallowing. Then there's also denial, that always came in handy since it's what he's been doing this whole year. He knew he and Sam would never work out. Truth was, he never wanted it too. He didn't love her and he didn't even like the sex. It wasn't worth it and he knew that the only thing that was, was fighting for Jackie.

He figured that she and him were long gone and that it didn't even matter anymore but it did. It mattered so much because all this time there was this one little voice that kept saying 'Go to her.' or 'What are you waiting for?'. And he couldn't answer them. He remembered the night before Sam left. Sam didn't leave because she had another husband, I mean that was partly it but she called him and they staged the whole performance.

Flashback

Sam walked into Hyde's room in the basement and saw him sitting on the bed looking like he was in a daze. She knew that he didn't love her and she didn't love him either. It was relationship going nowhere. And she knew that when he asked her to come in the basement because they needed to talk, she was going to find out that he felt the same way too.

"Hyde." She whispered softly. "You said we needed to talk."

Hyde snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the girl standing before him.

"Right." He said and cleared his throat. "I don't think this is working."

She nodded. "I feel it too."

"I mean it's not because you're not a great girl because you are, it's just…"

She cut him off. "It's okay Hyde. I see who you look at and I know who you dream about at night. It's her and it's always been her. I could bitch her out any time I want but I know that will never give me you."

She hit the nail right on the head. He did dream about her and he did want to be with her, he just didn't know how.

He nodded not really knowing what to say to that.

"I guess I should come clean about some things too." She said.

Hyde perked up, wanting to hear what she had kept from him.

"I have a husband." She said bluntly.

Hyde stood up. "Really?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to get away for awhile, you know?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't. Not even if I was married." He replied and it was the truth. He could never picture himself leaving a family or even just a wife because he 'wanted to get away for a while.' He would never abandon someone because he knew what it felt like and to this day he's still hurt by it.

"I'm sure you would." She said with a bit of anger in her voice. She didn't expect him to disagree with her.

"No, I wouldn't." He said firmly. "I wouldn't leave someone because I know how much that hurts."

"But I didn't leave him. I just had to go somewhere for a while." She replied innocently.

Hyde was now angry. "Didn't leave him? How did you not leave him when you also got married to me?"

"Oops. I forgot to tell you. Our marriage was never real. I mean I found that out a little while after I moved in with you."

Hyde was fuming. What happened to being nice and realizing that they just weren't in love and accepting it?

"It was never real?" He asked calmly. "How could you do that to me?"

He was now hurt. Hurt because he could have had another chance with Jackie and hurt because he was played again. Why did these things happen to him? Why did he have to mess up the one that he was sure would stay?

"I wanted to be with you. You were cute and I liked you." She replied.

"That's it? That's all you're going to say? Just because I was cute and you liked me? That doesn't solve anything and that sure as hell isn't an excuse!" He said raising his voice.

She stepped back a little, getting a little afraid at the tone of his voice.

"Look I'm sorry, okay? But I just wanted to get away and this was the perfect opportunity. I didn't know that you were still in love or anything."

"But you figured it out after we were together right? And you still didn't say anything!"

"I didn't want to because I didn't think we were actually going to be together forever. I just thought we would do it a couple of times and maybe play house. That's it."

Hyde suddenly felt a huge calm wash over him. It didn't matter anymore what she did to him because now it was all over. He didn't care what had happened in the past because Sam wasn't going to be in his future.

"That's fine Sam. But you, you are calling you're husband and he's coming to get you tomorrow." He said.

"Well I was thinking maybe we could wait a little while longer…"

"He's coming tomorrow Sam." He said and that ended it. She knew not to say anything to anyone and he knew that he would have to put an act on through the whole thing.

And for once out of the whole entire time he was without Jackie, he felt happy knowing that maybe there was still a chance for them.

End of Flashback

'Stupid.' He thought to himself. After he thought there was a chance for them he saw Jackie parading around with Fez. That hurt him so much, and it ran so deep.

11:58

He didn't know what to do now. He thought that he had lost her for sure and that scared him even more. Now he didn't have Jackie or Sam. He figured that he was meant to be alone like he thought before he met Jackie. But she made him re-think that and realize that maybe he wasn't.

And that thought was now running through his head at about 100 miles an hour. He loved her, he knew that for sure but did she love him? He looked over at her and saw her smile with him but it wasn't the genuine smile that she would give him, it was the one she would give the world. The world didn't know her but he did and he knew that she maybe could love him again. Or maybe she never stopped.

This wasn't a Hyde-like thing to do and he knew that. So mustering up that much courage was going to threaten his reputation but at this point, he didn't care. He wanted to make it work because he was ready to make it work.

11:59

So he took one last look around the room and saw that this is when it was all going to change. It was now or never and he wouldn't take never as an answer. So he saw all the faces in the crowd and saw some smiling, some drinking, and some laughing. But his eyes wandered to the girl who was still fresh in his heart.

He missed her hair, he missed her touch, he missed her love, and most of all he missed her. So he stood up and kept his eyes fixed on her. And when the person she was talking to walked away, he took a deep breath and walked over to her.

She whipped her head around and saw him standing there right in front of her. She was shocked, but in a good way. She smiled wide at him.

"Jackie…" He began.

Midnight

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Okay, so there it was! I hope you guys liked it because I loved writing it. Please drop a review to tell me what you thought!