She never knew quite how it happened, but somewhere along the line, Jackie had become friends with a group of misfits. I mean, here she was, one of the prettiest girls in school, and she spent all her free time in a basement. But, as much as she ragged on the gang, she liked being a part of their group. She had more fun with them doing the absolute dumbest things than she did at the mall with her fellow cheerleaders. She was thinking over all this one day as she sat in the basement half-watching The Brady Bunch.

"You know what's weird?" Michael was chewing gum. "All the guys have brown hair, and all the girls have blonde hair. What are the odds of that?"

"Another question is, where are Mike and Carol's previous spouses, huh?" Fez crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, like he had just uncovered some sort of conspiracy. Jackie just rolled her eyes, but she had to smile. They might be idiots, but they were her idiots.

The three of them sat in the basement for a few hours, until Michael and Fez started to get bored.

"You sure you don't wanna come with us?" Michael asked Jackie as he shrugged his jacket on. "Throwing stuff in the quarry is really fun!"

"Yes, sometimes you can hear things hit the bottom!" Fez added helpfully.

"Oh no, you two go on," Jackie tried to stifle her giggles. "I've got some homework to do anyways." As much as she liked having a constant hold on Michael, sometimes she needed time away from him. Also, there was no way she was gonna stand out by the quarry and watch Michael and Fez toss stuff down.

"Alright, then" Michael shrugged, leaning down to kiss her goodbye. "See ya later, Jackie."

"Yes, goodbye!" Fez smiled, leaning down for his own good-bye kiss.

"Ew, Fez, no!" Jackie screeched. "Goodbye, Michael. Fez, get a grip." They left, and Jackie went back to disinterestedly watching Sanford and Son. She had started to get into the show, when the basement door slammed open and Hyde stormed in.

"Oh," he stopped short when he saw Jackie staring wide-eyed at him. "Sorry. I, uh, didn't know anyone would be here."

"Are you alright?" Jackie was naturally nosy, and she was dying to know what had Hyde all hot and bothered.

"Yeah, it's nothing," he muttered, grabbing a soda off the top of the deep-freeze. Jackie was surprised when he plopped down next to her on the couch. She pretended to be engrossed in the show, but she couldn't stop thinking about what could possibly cause Hyde to act so crazy. She steeled herself, knowing that Hyde would more than likely shut her down like that.

"Hyde, are you-

"My mom split." he suddenly burst out. Jackie's jaw dropped. I didn't see that one coming. She stared at Hyde, unable to come up with anything; for once, Jackie Burkhart was speechless. Hyde suddenly looked stricken, bringing a hand up to his forehead.

"Oh, Jesus," he groaned. "Forget I told you that. Don't tell anyone, you hear me?" Jackie nodded, still trying to absorb this news. Hyde's mom….left him? What's he gonna do? Where's he gonna live? What about food?

"And if you open your big, fat mouth, I'll tell the whole school you-you-" Hyde was struggling to think of a threat. "Well, I'll tell 'em something terrible, you can count on that!" he finished, taking an angry swig of his soda.

"I-I won't tell anyone, I swear," Jackie found her voice. "But….I mean, did your mom….really leave? She's gone?"

"That's what the note said," Hyde laughed bitterly. "A note. Can you believe that? Didn't even have the guts to tell me in person."

Jackie felt terrible; her parents were absent, but they were still there. Hyde was already missing a dad; now he was down a mother. He had no one. Jackie could feel a lump rising in her throat, tears in her eyes, but she furiously blinked them away. She wouldn't cry for him. Hyde would hate that, and she couldn't make him feel worse than he already did.

"Steven," she said softly, and Hyde, at the sound of his given name, turned quickly to face her. Jackie was surprised to hear herself call him that, too. Like everyone else, she had always called him Hyde, but it didn't feel right to call him that in this moment. "Steven, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Hyde nodded slowly, taking another sip from his soda. "Yeah, well….sorry don't mean much now, does it? I mean, what are you even apologizing for? You aren't the one that ran out on me."

"I know," Jackie bit her lip. "But I'm sorry, all the same." Almost instinctively, she reached out a hand, placing it on his knee. She didn't know why she did it, but it felt right. Hyde looked down at her hand, small and delicate as a china doll's. And, to Jackie's surprise, he put his own hand on top of hers, squeezing it carefully. They sat like that until Eric came home.