AN: if you like, please review.
…
Jackie sat at a table feeling very small in a big room. She was clutching a cup of warm tea in her hands. She hadn't drunk any of it but the heat felt nice against her palms. A blanket was draped haphazardly around her shoulders but she still felt chilled down to her bones.
Her knee had gotten pretty scraped up in the alley but it was cleaned and dressed now curtsey of Kitty Foreman.
The police had bundled them into the back of their car and driven them to the station. They had asked who their parents were and Jackie had hesitated.
Hyde had answered for the pair of them. "Call Kitty and Red Foreman. They'll do for both of us."
"You two siblings then?"
Hyde had snorted. "Nope!"
The cop flicked his confused eyes to look in the mirror but Hyde was already staring out the window unwilling to offer more information and Jackie hadn't found her voice yet.
Kitty had come running in like her skirt was on fire. Hyde was closest and she seized him into a crushing embrace. Red was not far behind, "what did you two dumbasses do?"
To Jackie's chagrin but not her surprise, Red was tailed by Bob and the rest of the gang. Her annoyance at being the centre of attention softened when Bob grabbed her into a tight hug. He looked like he might have been crying a bit.
"I was so worried," he mumbled into her shoulder. Kitty shooed him out of the way so she could have her turn practically strangling Jackie with a hug. There was a few minutes of chaos where Red continued to demand what they'd done and Kitty screeched for a first aid kit like one of them had been shot.
Hyde had been hustled off to a room with a cop she recognised. He had been Kelso's mentor when he'd been a cadet with the police.
Once Kitty was done with Jackie's knee, she had been whisked off too. The cop was female and had kind eyes. She'd seen how Jackie was shaking and gotten her the tea and the blanket.
"You should drink the tea," Officer Simpson prompted.
"I don't like tea," Jackie confessed.
Simpson smiled, not at all phased. "I loaded it up with sugar. It'll help with the shock."
Jackie narrowed her eyes at the woman. What did she know? "I'm not in shock."
"Course not," Simpson agreed amicably. Jackie tried to maintain the indignant glare but Simpson continued to smile pleasantly at her. Jackie took a tiny sip and wrinkled her nose. It didn't taste very good but Simpson was right; there was a lot of sugar in there. The tremor in her hands eased slightly.
"Is Steven… is Hyde alright?" She managed to correct herself and Simpson didn't understand the significance of her slip. Jackie recalled him roughly shoving her out of the way, getting between her and danger. In all the commotion she hadn't really gotten a good sense of what state her ex-boyfriend was in. She took another mouthful of tea. God how she wished it was spiked.
"He's fine."
Simpson appeared satisfied with her mental state. She pulled out a big book and dropped it on the table.
"I need you to tell me everything that happened and then have a look through a few mug shots to see if you can ID the guys in the alley."
Jackie nodded, sitting up straighter in her chair. She wanted this done so she could go home, have a shower and get into bed. It had been a stupidly long night and far more drama than even she could stand.
…
"You wanna take off the glasses?"
"Nope."
"How about some water?"
"Nope."
"You gonna say anything besides 'nope'?"
"Hmm… nope."
Hyde kept his arms crossed and slouched in the chair. He had his hackles way, way up.
Officer Kennedy sighed at the young man's belligerent attitude. "You know you're not in trouble right?"
Hyde grunted. "That's what they all say, then they nail you, man."
Kennedy tried not to roll his eyes and Hyde tried not to be offended.
"Shouldn't I have a lawyer?"
"Only if you're in trouble! Which you're not!" Kennedy exclaimed exasperated. "Should have taken the girl," he mumbled under his breath but Hyde still heard.
The mention of Jackie made him lean forward. "She's ok right? She seemed a bit spacey before."
Kennedy lifted his eyebrows. "She's fine. By all accounts you kept her alive."
Hyde could see through what he was doing. He was trying to play on what he suspected was Hyde's affections for Jackie. Good luck there; that ship had long sailed.
"Whatever, man. Wouldn't have been in trouble if she had kept her fat mouth shut. But, no. She just had to scream."
"She did see someone get shot," Kennedy pointed out slowly, putting a book on the table and pushing it towards Hyde. "Perhaps one of these guys pulled the trigger?"
"Oh believe me, she's loud at the best of times." Hyde tugged the book closer, letting his anger warm him up. He started flipping through the pages violently, eyes skimming the pages from behind his shades.
"So black car pulls up, they pull a man out of the trunk of the car, and they execute him?"
"That's about the size of it." Hyde paused on one of the pages, the mugshot in the top right hand corner.
"You see someone you recognise?" Kennedy asked leaning forward. This was probably the most exciting thing that had happened in Point Place in his entire career.
"That's the guy in the suit," Hyde decided, tapping the picture with his index finger. He rotated it so Kennedy could see the picture the right way up.
Hyde knew it wasn't reassuring when Kennedy blanched. The cop let out a low whistle.
"That's Victor Ivanov. He is a Chicago mobster. He's a bad man."
"If he's so bad why is he walking around, ruining my evening?" Hyde was beginning to feel really tired but kept his face free from emotion. He'd be damned before he'd show a moment of vulnerability in front of the Fuzz.
"Because we can never link him to any crimes," Kennedy explained animatedly.
"Why not?"
"There have never been any conclusive evidence. Never any… witnesses." He looked up at Hyde who was beginning to get an unsettled feeling in his belly. He knew this wasn't going to end all tidy with a witness statement.
"Did he see your faces?" Kennedy asked even more urgently.
Hyde met the cop's eyes dead on. "Ah crap."
…
The chief's office was too tiny for the amount of people who had squeezed in there. The chief tried to maintain an air of dignity but it had all become slightly too absurd.
Jackie was seated directly across from the chief, flanked by Kitty, Red and Bob. Donna, Eric, Fez and Kelso has somehow managed to negotiate their way into the room and they lined the back wall; unusually quiet and serious.
Hyde had settled in the corner of the room as far away from the man in uniform as he could manage. His arms were folded as per usual and his gaze kept going to the door as if he was contemplating a dramatic escape.
For the first time in a long time, Jackie was on the same page as Steven Hyde. She was entirely done with the day. Was it even still Friday evening or had they gone across into early Saturday? She sleepily rubbed her face and her movement attracted Hyde's stare.
She couldn't see his eyes and his mouth stayed in a flat line so Jackie couldn't begin to guess what he was thinking. But the back of her neck prickled under his gaze.
"You want to do what?" Red demanded of the chief. Red's patience, never that enduring at the best of times, was severely fraying.
"I want them to testify at a trial charging Mr Ivanov. Chicago PD called to say they picked him up half an hour ago. But he has enough money and a great lawyer so he'll probably get bail. And as he likely got a look at both Jackie and Steven, they'll have to go into witness protection. Possibly for a few months."
"Why do people keep taking my sons away?" Kitty cried in anguish.
"Are you sure this is necessary?" Bob asked.
The chief nodded sombrely. "Unfortunately yes. You don't want to know what happened to the last witnesses we got to testify."
Jackie's heart jumped into her throat. She was in actual, real danger. It was all too surreal to process.
"It's up to the kids of course. But with their help, we could put a very dangerous man away."
Jackie couldn't even be offended at being called a kid despite being nineteen years old. She felt like a kid herself. She wanted Red and Kitty to fix this up so she could go home and forget it had ever happened.
But she couldn't let a man who shot people get away with murder.
Besides, he knew what she looked like. How long before he decided to get rid of her as a precaution? How long before it was Steven on his knees in that alley?
"I'll do it," Jackie said quietly. She hoped her voice didn't waver too much.
"Why not?" Hyde added with a shrug. "Just send me somewhere fume friendly and far away. I hear Amsterdam is cool. You can go somewhere nice like Utah, Jackie."
The chief rubbed the back of his neck. "Unfortunately, we can't send you to Amsterdam, Mr Hyde and I'm going to pretend I don't know what you mean by fumes."
"Square," Hyde coughed.
"And I hate to break this to you but Chicago PD might have decent resources but not an endless budget. We'll be sending you both to the same place."
Hyde pushed off from the wall, suddenly showing more interest in tonight's proceedings than he had done. Jackie's lipped curled up in annoyance. Of course she was so unbearable that Hyde was going to make a scene.
"Like same state, same place? Or same town, same place? How much sameness are we talking about?"
"More like same house, same place, Mr Hyde."
"Aw crap!" Jackie sighed.
…
Hyde got a police escort home. They hadn't let him pick up his El Camino, instead one of the cops were going to drive it round the Foreman's.
Hyde tried to supress a shiver at the thought of a cop sitting in his baby but he knew putting up a fight would have meant even longer before he could collapse into his bed and get some sleep.
Who knew how long it would be before he got to spend the night in the basement that was the only real home he'd ever known? He had a headache brewing behind the back of his eyeballs and now that everyone had stopped trying to talk to him, there was a persistent ringing in his ears.
The police had given him one night to say goodbye and to gather some things. 'Pack light,' they had instructed. The strangled squawk of protest that escaped Jackie's throat almost made up for it.
Almost.
He was about to be spending a lot more time with her. Probably this thudding headache too.
Hyde pushed himself out of the car and shut the door carefully behind him. He was actually too exhausted at this point to channel his anger into physical action. Hell, he could slam the door tomorrow. He trailed Red and Kitty wordlessly and pretended not to notice that Kitty kept shooting him concerned looks over her shoulder every other footstep.
He was glad only Eric was at his back. Donna had tactfully offered to drive Jackie back to her apartment and Fez and Kelso had both gone with her.
Hyde needed some time and quiet to get his damn head straight. He was almost through the glass sliding door when shouting erupted further down the drive.
In an instant his fatigue evaporated into searing alertness.
"Let me through! My son is down there!"
W.B. He forgot he'd asked Red to call his father while Hyde got interrogated.
Hyde's held breath hissed out slowly. For a brief moment he'd actually thought that shitty, half-ass gangster had shown up to kill him. Well, that settled it. If he'd had any doubts about whether testifying was the right thing to do, they were gone. Otherwise he was going to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder and jumping at shadows.
"Oh for god's sake," Red grunted, walking back out the door and looking mad as hell. "Let him through," he snapped at the bewildered uniforms blocking W.B's path. They hurried to get out of the way, sensibly realising that Red wasn't in the mood for disobedience.
W.B. grabbed Hyde's shoulders frantically. "You ok?" His father looked dishevelled. Kind of like he'd got the call, thrown on whatever was closest and ran out the door. Hyde had never seen his dad look anything less than immaculate.
He'd also never seen him so unravelled. His concern for Hyde's wellbeing was blatant and Hyde's skin felt hot. Man, he must really be out of it if he was starting to get sappy because some guy in a silk shirt cared whether he lived or died.
"Dad, I'm fine!" Hyde informed W.B. gruffly, hoping his assurances would be enough to make the older man release him. If he didn't let go, Hyde was worried something weird might happen. Like a hug.
Luckily Kitty was there with some well-timed soothing words. "Steven's not hurt, W.B. You come on inside and we'll get you all caught up. Come on now."
Kitty was always at her best when she was mothering someone and W.B. was powerless to resist her innate maternal nature. He allowed himself to be pulled inside.
Eric moved to stand next to him. "This is a strange night, it's not just me right?"
"Nah man – it's whacked," Hyde agreed blearily.
"Good to know," Eric said, clapping him on the shoulder and stepping into the house.
…
Jackie was back at the police station bright and early the next morning, closeted away in the chief's office. Her eyelids move like sandpaper across her eyes. Her throat was raspy with the lack of sleep. She'd packed and repacked about four hundred times. She didn't know where they would be going yet so she didn't know what she needed. In the end, she grabbed an armful of clothes and dumped them in a bag.
Looking good just seemed like the least of her problems right now. She'd called her mum quickly to say that she wouldn't be in touch for a little while and not to worry. Pam had paused on the other end of the phone and after a stretched silence she asked if Jackie needed her to come home.
That one little question almost broke down the wall she'd put up around her tears. It wasn't so long ago that Pam wouldn't have even thought to ask if Jackie needed her.
"No, mom. Stay. I'm just going to be so busy, there are heaps of parties coming up." She tried to force herself to sound preppy. If Pam noticed her voice was thicker than normal, she didn't say anything. Jackie didn't want her mother to become a potential target. She wasn't just leaving to keep herself safe, she had to protect everyone she loved.
Those loved ones had just left. The police wouldn't reveal their destination to anyone except her and Hyde. So with a few bone crushing embraces and some not so discrete sniffling they'd bid her farewell. Jackie wasn't sure if Kitty or Fez had wept more. Probably Fez.
Jackie had avoided looking at Hyde too much so far. He wasn't exactly the first person she wanted to be stuck in hiding with. He had withdrawn more than usual, restrained rather than spitting the typical barrage of insults. If he was worried then he wasn't showing it. But Jackie knew better. Over the years they'd spent together, she had systematically categorised his silences. This situation had disconcerted him.
Jackie considered offering some words of comfort. He'd probably laugh in her face but the quiet in the room was beginning to get suffocating.
She opened her mouth not knowing what she'd say but never getting the chance. The door swung open and the chief walked in with a tall woman just behind. Her hair was pulled up in a no-nonsense ponytail, she looked in her mid-30s and not the type of person who dealt with foolishness. Jackie absently observed some blush would significantly enhance the bone structure of her face.
Hyde tensed up behind her, no longer leaning against the wall. Jackie hoped he would keep his temper. He was a confrontational type, her ex-lover was, and things were already awful enough without a trademark Hyde tantrum.
"Mr Hyde, Ms Burkhart, my name is Agent Annette Godfrey. I'm with the FBI witness protection unit and I'll be running your protective custody operation."
The introduction was brisk and didn't do much in the way of pleasantries, Jackie wasn't sure how to respond.
"Nice to meet you?"
Agent Godfrey had sharp blue eyes that were trained on Jackie, sizing her up, like she was an insect under a microscope. As if a switch flipped, the eyes softened.
"They told me you were young."
"I'm nineteen," Jackie retorted and winced. That was the kind of thing a child said. She could practically hear Hyde rolling his eyes behind her. He still hadn't said a word but Annette was focused exclusively on Jackie right now.
"I don't mean it as an insult. What you're doing is really brave."
Was it brave though? If the choices were life or death, was it really a difficult decision?
Agent Godfrey nodded as if she had heard Jackie's inner most thoughts. She leaned back and sat on the on the desk.
"You can both call me Annette, since we're going to be spending a bit of time together."
"How much time exactly?" Hyde queried.
"Trial is set to start in six month. Could be longer."
"Way to soften the blow, man," Hyde grumbled.
"You don't strike me as the type who would prefer white lies over honesty?"
That effectively silenced Hyde and Jackie shifted in her seat. The packed bag at her feet suddenly didn't seem big enough. She had grabbed clothes for every conceivable climate but it still didn't feel like she was prepared.
"We should get down to the practicalities of it all," Annette said neutrally, reaching for a large envelope. "We've had to rush so we've only got the bare bones of your personas but after we relocate you, we'll take a few days to get you orientated and comfortable with your backstories."
Hyde took a cautious step towards the envelope. "Why not just put us in the middle of nowhere, with no people? Like in a cabin in the woods."
Annette twisted the paper lightly in her fingers. "Best place to hide a tree is in the forest." The envelope opened and Jackie sucked in a sharp breath and held it.
The agent handed her one small laminated square and passed Hyde the other one. Jackie seized what looked to be a new driver's license. Her own smiling face stared back at her. At least they'd chosen a flattering photo. It was the only thing Jackie recognised. They had aged her 3 years, not dramatic, just enough to be believable.
Jackie traced her index finger along her new name. Melissa Thompson. Nothing inherently wrong with that. Nothing particularly interesting either. That was probably the point.
"Gregory? What kind of dork is named Gregory?"
"You for starters," Jackie pointed out, her patience warn thin by Hyde's constant bitching. "It's no better than mine but you don't hear me complaining."
Hyde shot her a look that Jackie just knew was withering even from behind the sunglasses. As if he didn't believe her, he reached over and plucked the license from her fingers, ignoring her protests.
"Her last name is Thompson. That's mine too. We supposed to be siblings or something?"
Annette's smile was slightly too innocent to be believable. "No."
