Hyde was sitting on the couch in the Forman basement watching a Charlie's Angel rerun when Jackie came in. She dropped onto the couch next to him, leaving no space between them. Her head fell against his arm. Without a word Hyde shifted and lifted his arm to put it around her. Jackie scooted closer to him so that their sides were completely pressed together.

The two sat in silence together, watching TV undisturbed for a shockingly long period of time, almost the entire episode of the show, before they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Jackie shifted to the other side of the couch just as Mrs. Forman appeared on the landing with a laundry basket in hand.

"Oh, Steven, Jackie. You two are down here again? If I didn't know any better I'd say you were dating," Kitty told them before letting out her unique laugh.

Jackie didn't reply and Hyde just grunted. Jackie's silence made him curious though. Usually she would have been chatting his ear off the entire afternoon. Today though, she hadn't said a word.

Kitty began to ramble on about how sad Eric was with Donna in California. She asked them to try and get him out of the room the next day, or at least out of his room for a couple hours. Both shrugged in response, already knowing where Eric would be the next day and it wouldn't be with them. Kitty took as a positive response though.

"Oh good! I knew I could count on the two of you. I'll just leave you alone now so you can decide what kind of trouble you get into tomorrow. Oh, just don't do anything that will make Red want to put a foot in your A-S-S."

Hyde grunted again as Kitty set off up the stairs.

Immediately Jackie scooted back over to him. She placed her hand on his stomach, her fingers running down the center of his stomach then back up.

"Steven, do you ever think about leaving? About going somewhere else and never looking back?" Jackie asked after a moment.

"Whatever," he shrugged, waiting for her to get to her point.

"I'm serious Steven. Do you ever think about that?"

Hyde could tell she wanted an answer so he shrugged.

"When I was younger I did. I still do sometimes I guess. It's just not as much as I did when I was really little, before Edna left." She was silent still so Hyde asked "Why?"

Jackie took a deep breath like she was going to explain but then she just let it out in a huff.

"I don't know."

Hyde would have to be dense to miss the fact that something was bothering her.

"What's up Jackie?" he asked, softer than before.

He waited but only heard her sniffle after a moment and inwardly groaned, wondering what he had done to piss her off. He rubbed her back slowly, waiting for her to talk to him. That was usually best with her he'd found.

"Sometimes," she began, "I hate it here. I just want to leave this crappy town."

Hyde's hand stopped moving for a second. So he hadn't done anything to piss off the petite brunette? This wasn't about him? Thank god. His hand continued to move as she cried into his chest.

"It's just that there's nothing here for us anymore and I just want to leave."

Hyde stiffened. So that was what this was all about. He was nothing to her. His hand fell off her back and he shifted away from her.

"Listen Jackie," he growled, completely freeing himself from her. "Kelso'll be back in a few weeks. He doesn't need to know about any of this."

Jackie's head snapped up and she searched his eyes. Her eyes welled up even more before she covered her face and sobbed into her hands.

"Oh my god! You don't want me!" she cried.

"Yeah, well you don't want me!" Hyde argued. His Zen had finally broken.

But he wasn't sure why she was mad at him. He wasn't the one sobbing over someone else. No. That was all her and he wasn't going to be her rebound.

"Yes I do!" she yelled, jumping to he feet.

"Yeah and that's why I'm 'nothing' to you right?" he spit.

He had spent enough time being nothing to people in his life and he was done with it.

"What are you talking about?" Jackie cried out throwing her arms in the air.

"You just said that you have 'nothing' to keep you here."

He wasn't even finished when Jackie started shaking her head.

"No. I said we, as in you and me, have nothing keeping us, as in you and me, here."

"Whatever Jackie," he said, dropping into his chair.

"No Steven, not whatever. It matters."

"No it doesn't. Kelso'll come back in a few weeks and then you'll just be right back to him."

"I don't want Kelso!" she argued.

Hyde pretended not to notice she had said Kelso instead of Michael but he did notice.

"I just want you. God. Why is that so hard for you to understand?"

"Well, if that's the case then what was up with the whole 'I have nothing here'?" he challenged.

"WE have nothing Steven! Either of us. I was going to ask you to run away somewhere, anywhere, with me but apparently you don't want to," she said, her anger turning into sadness as tears slid down her cheeks.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Without another word Jackie stood up and left the basement, the door shutting quietly behind her. He almost wished she'd slammed it so at least then he could be pissed. Now he just felt bad.