Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Warning: Language

Author's Note: I haven't abandoned Imagine or TSOK or DTE. This plot bunny has been hopping around my head for a week and I have to get it out of my system! It will be a short one, four or five chapters. I hope you enjoy! Please let me know! As always, this has a happy ending. :)

The Perfect Wedding

Chapter 1 – Just Another One

The big day was only a month away, and because of it, Steven Hyde's life had finally become nearly unbearable. The happy couple couldn't talk about anything except the perfect wedding, and the others didn't bother to stop them. Donna, in fact, was acting damned giddy, though Hyde supposed part of that could be the pregnancy hormones. Still, the situation sucked.

Weddings sucked.

Life was absolute hell. If only he had the energy to do something about it.

"Okay. Everyone shut up. Fez and I have an announcement to make. We know you've been waiting for this, but we just wanted to make you all sweat."

And his ex, Jackie, was the shrill, loud voice of his hell. He shifted on his chair and continued to stare at the television, though Jackie had turned the sound down and stood partially in front of it. He wasn't going to look at her. Didn't want to look at her. Even the part of her he could see, bare legs beneath some girly skirt, was too much, so he closed his eyes.

A beach in Florida, man. Girls in teeny bikinis. No, not ones made out of coconuts!

Much better.

"Michael, Fez would like you to be his best man."

Hyde grimaced at Kelso's unmasculine squeal of delight and the hug between two alleged men that he couldn't see but sensed. Even sensing it made him want to puke.

"Thanks, Fez! Man, this is gonna be awesome! We're gonna have the best bachelor's party. I'll get the hottest strippers..."

"NO STRIPPERS!"

Hyde's eyes opened automatically. She hadn't just yelled or screamed. That had been a shriek, one more fitting a horror movie than wedding planning. He looked at her. Her cheeks were reddish, her eyes darted violently between Kelso and Fez, and his stomach plummeted to God knows where. Her glare found him, and he noticed one perfectly plucked eyebrow raise, as if to say "because of you."

As if he needed to be reminded.

He looked at the floor. Fascinating thing, the floor.

"No strippers," she repeated softly.

Kelso was likely pouting. "Fine," he said. "Ruin Fez's life. Oh wait, you're marrying him, so you're already gonna do that. BURN!"

The others laughed, and even Jackie gave a giggle. Hyde rolled his eyes. Yeah. So funny. Hilarious. The whole thing was freaking hilarious.

Damn it, what is wrong with me?

"Moving on," Fez said. "Eric, will you please be my other groomsman? We can call you the second best man, if you'd like."

Hyde looked up, and Forman was nodding. "Sure, buddy," he said. Hyde studied him. If possible, he was skinnier than ever, paler than ever. He looked tired, and Hyde couldn't really blame him. His responsibilities had increased a thousand percent in the past few months.

Hyde shook his head and closed his eyes again. Since when did he give a crap about Forman's stress level?

He opened his eyes and looked at Jackie. Just as beautiful as ever.

Man, what the hell?

"And Donna, you're gonna be my maid of honor." Jackie smiled widely, then narrowed her eyes. "Even though you're gonna be huge and even though you haven't always been such a great best friend..."

"Okay, okay, Jackie, water under the bridge. Isn't that what you said?" Donna rose slowly from the couch, getting an assist from the still apathetic looking Forman, and she moved around the table. She brushed past Hyde's legs and he had to shift them to the right.

He grumbled a few cusses to himself. This whole damn thing was so damn stupid.

The two girls hugged, and though Donna had been complaining half-heartedly, Hyde knew the job meant a lot to her after the strain in their friendship. He supposed this meant Jackie had completely forgiven and forgotten, though the latter was unlikely. Jackie never forgot.

She still remembered that it was his fault, of course.

So did he. After Red, after that night and what she'd said, he knew it. Hell, he'd always known it.

"That just leaves Hyde. I say you make him the ring bearer."

Hyde stared at the chuckling Kelso, but then looked at Fez. "Unless it involves beer, you can forget whatever you've got me down for."

Fez smiled awkwardly, shifting his weight between his feet. "Uh, well, the thing is that Jackie needs to talk to you. So everyone needs to leave." He began shooing the others towards the door, then pointed at Hyde. "Keep your hands to yourself, you son of a bitch."

Hyde shook his head. "Whatever, Fez." Like that was ever going to be a problem again. Right. It was long over, long dead. By now, completely decomposed and only good for worm food. For both of them. She'd obviously forgotten.

He would too. Another few weeks of beer and random chicks, maybe the dreams would stop. And the thoughts.

He looked at Jackie. She stood still, staring at the floor, her teeth pressing down on her lower lip. The others left, making various comments and chuckles, and Hyde leaned back in his chair. He crossed his arms over his chest. As soon as the basement door closed, she looked up and gave him an unsteady smile. "So," he said. "What's this about?"

She sat down on his foot stool and looked straight at him. "I just...well, you know that my dad is still in pri...with the natives."

His lips twitched upwards. Jackie and her delusions. She was a little girl sometimes.

"Bob can't get time off work to come from Florida, so he won't be there."

The beginning pangs pangs of a headache stirred in both of his temples.

"And Mr. Forman can't be there, obviously." She looked down.

He swallowed. Yeah. Red. He wondered if she remembered that night. Her eyes met his, then she looked over at the couch. He did too.

He could see it, their shadows. Him, her, sitting there all night. He could hear it. The words that for the first time in a long time weren't biting or sarcastic, or aimed to kill. He could feel it. Her hair falling over his shoulder. Her hand cradling his. Her tiny body near his again after such a drought.

She looked back at him, and there was a sheen in her eyes. Yeah, she remembered it, too.

He cleared his throat. "So, what does this have to do with me?" He asked, though he knew. She'd just named all three of her father figures. Wedding, father figure meant only one thing.

Jackie met his eyes and leaned forward. "I was wondering if you'd give me away." And then a nervous smile crossed her lips. "I need someone to do it, and I just thought maybe you would. That way you don't have to stand up there in front of everyone for the whole ceremony." She laughed, and it was fake. "You can even sneak out and have a beer or something."

Something inside him, something mid-chest that had been hard since the night in Chicago vanished. Then in a rush it was back, though in a couple hundred thousand jagged pieces and falling into his gut. It left him struggling to think, to find words, to even catch a decent breath, and he thanked God he had his glasses on. He prayed to whomever God supposedly was that the rest of his face wasn't revealing the implosion.

Jesus, what the hell is wrong with me? So she wants me to give her away. So what?

"Uh, why don't you have Kelso do it?"

She lifted a shoulder. "I thought about it. I mean, how appropriate, right? My first love giving me away to my last..." She started to cough.

Right. Her last love. Her perfect love. He looked away, and his right hand clenched. Sure it was perfect. That's why Fez visited the strip club ever chance he could, kept a stash of porn in Hyde's room he collected whenever Jackie was out of town for her fancy new correspondent job. His eyes closed. Of course, he couldn't really judge. He'd married a stripper, hadn't he?

At least she was having trouble saying it. That was something. Sort of.

"I mean, it would have been perfect, but Fez really wanted Michael to be his best man. And plus, he looks great in a tux, and that might make up for Eric's scrawny shoulders. Maybe no one will notice."

He stood up, making sure his eyes avoided her. "So you thought of me." He walked to the stereo. Second choice again, to the guy she could never get out of her system. Why was he even the least bit surprised? He picked up an album and looked at it but saw nothing. Didn't know what album it was, didn't care.

Why had he had to start thinking about her again? That damn night...the last things Red said to him...the way she'd been there...

Ironically enough, the next day, she and Fez announced their engagement, exactly three weeks after they started dating. Five months later, the wedding was just about here.

Fast, those two.

"What about Forman?" he asked, his throat sore.

"Steven, Eric hates me." She sounded closer, right behind him. He could feel her eyes on his back. "You cared about me at one point."

He turned, and she smiled sadly, her gaze lowering to his chest.

"At least I think you did."

Her expression was odd; controlled but whispering something he couldn't quite make out. He figured it was just...no, he didn't figure it was anything. He had no idea. He couldn't read her anymore. Chicago and Sam had killed the connection, whatever the hell it had been.

She stepped forward and took his hands. His spine felt cold, then hot.

"Please, Steven. It would mean a lot."

He was too tired to fight it. He'd been too tired since Chicago, since before Chicago. Besides, there wasn't anything to fight. He straightened up, pushed his shoulders back. "You really want me to do this?"

He could do it. He could see her in a wedding dress, her eyes sparkling and cheeks flushed for Fez. Her voice shaking with nerves and excitement for Fez. Her hands, tiny and soft, damp and trembling for Fez.

Damn it, of course he could. What the hell did he care if she married Fez?

She smiled but it appeared strained. So did her voice. "I do, Steven."

For half a second, his heart stopped and he wondered if hers had too. It was as if she'd just promised herself to him, the way she once wanted to and would have, had he not done something stupid.

For half a second, he wanted to kiss her like nothing would come after. He wanted to tell her not to marry Fez. He wanted her and everything that came with her.

For half a second.

Hyde dropped her hands and backed up. He took a few shallow breaths, then shrugged. "Sure. Whatever."

She smiled, but only halfway. "Thank you, Steven."

When she closed her eyes and held the lids down for longer than a few seconds, he wondered if she really wanted him to do this.

And then the Jackie magic was back. Her smile widened, her eyes did as well. "I'll just go." Her voice was bright. "Thanks again, Steven. It's going to be a perfect wedding."

He nodded. "Of course." The grin he gave didn't feel great. "See ya later, then."

He turned and headed to the stairs. As he made his way up, he saw her still there by the door, watching him.

Ironic, really, that he'd agreed to give her away. He'd already done it once. Given her away in exchange for a slut. Another time wouldn't be so hard. At least this time he was giving her away not to nothing, but to someone else.

Yeah. That kind of made it worse.

At the top of the stairs, he stopped, held the doorknob and took a deep, slow breath. Giving her away, to Fez. Yet another reminder that it was all his fault. Because if he hadn't picked Sam, she'd never have turned to Fez.

She'd told him that the night Red died.

And ever since then, it had all been reminders. This was just another one.