Since the next couple chapters of My Soul to Keep are Eric centric, I thought I'd give you something nearly one hundred percent Jackie and Hyde! So review and you'll get a nice shiny present in the form of quicker updates!
Songs: Every Other Time by LFO, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic by the Police, Anything, Anything by Dramarama.
Chapter three: Don't Do Me Like That
Hyde always considered himself to be a fairly intelligent guy. He was the brains of the group, the one who came up with the plan. However even he had to admit he had no idea what to do about the problem he faced today.
How was he supposed to convince Jackie that she wasn't Marie St. James: bad ass spy/assassin and was just Jackie Burkhart: love of his life? He had been spending all this time pretending for her sake, but as he listened to her tell him about her life, or rather, what she thought was her life, he felt his heart break piece by piece.
"I usually don't do this." Jackie said as she swirled her bacon around in the maple syrup that had collected on her plate.
"Do what?" Hyde asked with a slight sigh.
"Get all chatty with clients like this."
Hyde raised an eyebrow, "Is that what you call the people you…"
Jackie interrupted him with a hiss, "Yes, and would you keep your voice down? People are going to hear you and think I'm a hooker or something."
Hyde kept his laughter in check. "Well, you were pretty clear about your rates." He said loudly enough for the other diner patrons to hear him.
Jackie glared at him and blushed. She looked over at some customers who were staring at her, "He's joking." She told them before glaring back at Hyde, "Tell them that you're joking."
Hyde shrugged, "I don't know what the big deal is, it's nothing to be ashamed of." He said condescendingly.
Jackie's glare wiped off her face and was replaced by a small but confident smile, "You're right, I don't have anything to be ashamed of. Look at me, I'm gorgeous, I bet I could make loads of money if I were a hooker, you however, well come on."
"Come on?" Hyde scoffed.
"Tell me," Jackie said as she pushed her plate aside and leaned over the table, "What does it say about you? Can't get with a woman so you have to hire a hooker to satisfy your appetite?"
Hyde crossed his arms, inside he was grinning like a loon. This was his girl, full of witty banter and great burns. Outwardly he remained Zen. "I have no problem getting laid."
"Really?" Jackie asked as she sat back in the booth, "When's the last time you had sex?"
"August tenth, nineteen seventy eight." Hyde didn't even have to think about it. It had been the day before Jackie had disappeared.
"That was over a year ago!" Jackie said, clearly surprised. "You haven't had sex in a two years?"
Hyde knew they had both left all pretenses of her being a hooker at the door. "I haven't wanted to."
"Because you're still trying to find your girlfriend." Jackie said sympathetically.
"Right." Hyde nodded.
"I can't believe you've been looking for her for over two years, that's really…"
"Pathetic?" Hyde asked bitterly.
"Romantic." Jackie supplied. "If it were me you were looking for, I'd think it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me."
Hyde wanted to scream at her, "Then why don't you?" but instead just gave her a small smile and stood up, "Come on, let's go."
Jackie stood up and followed him, "Where are we going?" she asked as the exited the diner.
"To rescue that diamond guy." He answered, "But first you're going to take me to your boss and he and I are going to make a deal."
"He doesn't make deals with clients." Jackie informed him.
Hyde gave Jackie a look, "Oh, he'll make a deal with me."
An hour later, Hyde was sitting in the most uncomfortable chair of his life across from Jackie's boss, Pete. The guy looked like he would be more at home in a science lab or a doctor's office than in the spy business. Instead they were sitting in the back office of what looked to be a chop shop, the smell of gasoline, oil and stale pizza infused the air, and it was nearly impossible to hear anything over the sound of electric drills and fans. Hyde took the time to look over Pete. He was about as tall as Kelso with a receding hairline and wire framed glasses that kept sliding down the bridge of his nose. As Hyde explained to him that he would help 'Marie' out with finding Mr. Carnalli and taking out the mob guy and his bomb loving henchman, he made sure to keep eye contact with Pete, as to not appear weak. He needed to remember to thank Red for all those years of training him to stand up to authority figures, especially ones that could have him killed with a simple press of button on his phone.
"So you're telling me that you'll help Marie out with finding Mr. Carnalli for what exactly?" Pete was shocked to say the least that a witness was making demands on him. The kid had balls, he had to give him that.
"My life." Hyde responded, "But that goes without saying."
"So what else do you want?" Pete asked dryly.
"I want Marie."
"She's not for the taking." Pete stated.
"And yet, that's exactly what you did a year ago." Hyde said casually, "You took her from a driveway, bound and gagged her. I bet you had bruises on your shins from where she kicked you, and then, god I don't want to even think about what you did to her, cause I know. You made her think she was your niece, that Mark or whatever his real name is was her brother and you trained her to kill your enemies. You took an innocent girl and you made her into a killer."
Pete laughed, "You've got some imagination on you kid."
"I've got more of than an imagination." Hyde replied, "I've got proof, witnesses who will swear on The Bible that Marie St. James is really Jackie Burkhart."
Pete shook his head, "Let's say all of this is true, what makes you think she'll believe you?"
"It really doesn't matter what she believes." Hyde said, "The only thing that matters is that she's mine."
Pete looked at Hyde with curiosity, "What makes you think we need your help? Marie is quite capable of finding this guy on her own."
"She's been looking for this guy who blows up elevators for a year now," Hyde reminded Pete, "And need I remind you that he could have blown up that elevator today? Her elevator?"
Pete looked Hyde over, trying to read him and Hyde continued, "I get that she's a strong fighter, but she's not a super hero."
Pete laughed, "That's what you think."
"What?" Hyde asked, confused.
Pete shrugged but said nothing as he stood up and walked to the door. He opened it and gestured for Hyde to leave. Hyde nodded and began to walk out the door. Pete followed him to Jackie, who was leaning on the hood of a '69 Chevelle.
"What have I told you about leaning against the babes?" Pete asked, clearly exasperated. Hyde didn't blame him; the car was an absolute beauty.
Jackie quickly stood up and rushed to the guys, "Well?"
Hyde felt a strong hand clasp on his back and squeeze. "Marie, meet your new partner."
Hyde sighed with relief as Jackie shook her head, "Oh no, no, I work alone!"
Pete ignored Jackie's protests and looked Hyde straight in the eye, "Take care of her."
"I don't need taking care of!" Jackie yelled in indignation.
"Yes you do." Both men answered.
Jackie pouted, "Men."
Hyde took Jackie by her arm and started to lead her out of the building, "C'mon 'Marie', we've got work to do."
"So do you know the guy's name?" Hyde asked as they sat her in apartment eating take out Chinese and looked at every scrap of information Jackie had collected the past year about her elevator buddy.
Jackie frowned and picked up some papers with photocopies of picture ids. She read the names one by one as she dropped them to the floor. "He's got a bunch of different aliases, Keith Dylan, Robert Tyler, Eric Buckingham,"
"Wait," Hyde said holding out his hands, "Those are names of famous rock musicians with their names switched. Keith Richards, Bob Dylan, Robert Plant, Steven Tyler, Eric Clapton, Lindsey Buckingham."
"Okay." Jackie replied, "But what does that mean?"
"It means, doll, that our guy likes music."
Jackie laughed, "That's it? Our guy likes music? He's blown up seven apartment buildings in the last five months alone and all you can say is he likes music?"
Hyde leaned back on the couch, "If this guy is so dangerous, and I'm not saying he isn't, why aren't the cops or the FBI looking for him?"
"What makes you think they aren't?" Jackie countered, "Besides I didn't think you were the kind of guy who trusted the man."
"I don't." Hyde shrugged, "I don't trust anybody."
"But clearly you trust me." Hyde didn't reply.
"Hyde?" She asked softly, "What is it?"
Hyde shook his head, "I was just thinking about the time Jackie asked me the same question."
"What did you say?"
Hyde looked down, "I told her I don't trust anyone, and then I preceded to prove it to her."
"What happened?" Jackie asked curiously.
"Let's just say I hurt her."
"Oh." Jackie replied, "Did you regret it?"
Hyde looked her in the eyes, hoping for a sense of recognition and said, "Everyday."
Jackie nodded and patted Hyde on the hand, "Well, there you go."
Hyde needed to move on to less dangerous conversation so he picked up some more of the papers on the coffee table, "C'mon, let's find out who this guy is so we can catch him and bring Mr. C' back."
Jackie nodded and gave a small but understanding smile. "Okay." A few minutes later though she looked at the clock on her wall and turned on her television.
"What're you doing?" Hyde asked, surprised.
"Charlie's Angels are coming on." Jackie informed him.
Hyde stood up and walked into her kitchen to gain some self control. How the hell was he supposed to treat her like she was someone else when everything she did was one hundred percent Jackie? She had the same personality, the same likes, the same dislikes, she even wore the same shade of pink nail polish on her toenails for Christ sake and now she was taking a break from looking for a killer to watch Charlie's Angels? It was too much.
"You okay?" Jackie yelled from the living room.
Hyde let out a deep breath and walked out of the kitchen, "I'm going to make a phone call in your bed room."
"Uh.." Jackie sounded unsure.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone about the bartender, don't you trust me?"
Jackie looked up at Hyde, "I don't trust anybody."
Hyde just gave her a nod and went into her bedroom.
He resisted the urge to look through her things and instead sat on the bed and picked up the phone on the small table next to it. Carefully he dialed Eric Forman's number.
"Forman residence."
Hyde closed his eyes at Donna's voice. He remembered how in the first few months that he had left to look for Jackie, every time she would answer the phone she sounded excited as those she expected that it would be either him telling her that he found Jackie or Jackie herself on the other end of the line, but somehow Donna had lost hope that Jackie would ever be found and now just sounded tired. He knew then that Eric hadn't told her yet. He had to give Forman credit for keeping his mouth shut for so long.
"Hey, Donna." Hyde replied.
"Oh, Hyde." Donna breathed into the phone, "Where are you?"
"Atlanta."
"Hot Lanta huh?" Donna tried to joke but Hyde knew her heart wasn't in it. "Any news?"
"I got a good lead." Hyde answered honestly.
"Well, that's good, I guess." Donna responded, "How are you doing?"
"The same," Hyde answered, "I uh, grew my beard back."
"Cool." Donna said, "I guess you want to talk to Eric?" it was clear that she wanted to get off the phone. Since he didn't want to make her uncomfortable and he did want to talk to Eric, he said sure.
A moment later, Eric was on the other end, "What's happening, oh drifter brother of mine?"
"I'm not a drifter." Hyde laughed.
"Eh, close enough." Eric stated, "So how's it going?"
"Is Donna still there?" Hyde asked instead of answering Eric's question.
"She just left, she'll be gone for awhile." Eric replied knowingly.
Quickly Hyde filled in Eric everything that had transpired since their last conversation.
"Oh god, man." Eric said after Hyde was finished. "You gotta do something, tell Dad."
"I don't want to drag anyone, including Red into this."
Eric sighed, "Yeah, I get that, but man, what are you going to do?"
Hyde honestly didn't know, "I guess I just have to get her to remember."
"It sounds like they did a complete mind meld on her." Eric stated, "I don't know if you're gonna be able to reverse that."
"That's the thing," Hyde whispered, "I keep talking about us, about you guys, I even mentioned Kelso and I get nothing, but dude, she wears pink nail polish."
"Uh, lots of girls wear pink nail polish."
"No, Forman, she wears Jackie's shade of pink nail polish, and she likes ABBA and won't drink beer and right now she's glued to the TV watching Charlie's Angels."
"Does she still talk a lot?"
"More!" Hyde exclaimed. "She never shuts up."
Eric laughed, "Bet you missed that."
"Fuck yeah." Hyde sighed. "Actually, that gives me an idea, do you have Kelso's number?"
"Uh, yeah," Hyde could hear the sound of a bunch of papers being moved and he knew that Eric was looking for Kelso's number in Chicago. "Got it right here."
Hyde quickly found a pen and a scrap of paper and wrote the number down. "Thanks."
"No problem." Eric said, "He's still pretty mad at you though."
"Yeah, I know, but I'm running out of options."
"Donna's back." Eric said quickly, "good luck."
Hyde hung up the phone, took a deep breath and then picked it back up again.
It was Kelso's girlfriend Brooke who answered the phone. He could hear their daughter crying in the background.
"Uh, is Kelso there?" Hyde asked unsurely.
"One moment." Brooke said.
"This is Michael Kelso." God, even Kelso sounded more mature. But that's what having a family did you, Hyde guessed.
"Hey, man." Hyde said softly.
"I'm hanging…"
"No, don't hang up." Hyde said quickly, "I found her."
"What do you mean, you found her?" Kelso sounded suspicious. "Is this like the last time you found her but it turned out to just be some chick with brown hair you thought was Jackie because you were too drunk to tell the difference?"
"No, I mean I'm in her freaking apartment right now and it's her."
"I'm listening." Kelso said crossly.
"Look, I know you think what happened was my fault, but I didn't see you search the country looking for her."
"I had a daughter to look after." Kelso reminded him.
"Whatever," Hyde shook his head, "I'm in Atlanta with her."
"Let me talk to her then."
"Uh, well, there's a slight problem with that."
"God, Hyde, stop messing with me!"
"She has amnesia." Hyde said.
"Amwhat?" Kelso asked, confused. "That's where people forget who they are, right?"
"Right," Hyde replied, "She had no idea who I am, or who she is. She thinks her name is Marie."
"So how do you know it's really Jackie?"
"I think I know when it's my own girlfriend." Hyde said, rolling his eyes.
"Really, so what's her favorite pizza topping?" Kelso asked.
"Mushroom." Hyde replied with a roll of his eyes, even though they were hidden by his shades and he knew Kelso couldn't see them.
"That proves nothing, lots of girls like mushrooms." Kelso stated.
"What do you want me to do then?" Hyde asked, frustrated with his friend.
"I want to hear her voice!" Kelso yelled spastically. "I want you to put her on the phone so I can hear her voice. Please."
Hyde sighed and searched his head for a way to fulfill Kelso's request. "Okay, give me a second."
He put the phone down on the bed and walked to the door. Carefully he opened it and looked out. Jackie was sitting with her back to him, her gaze on the TV.
"Uh, hey, can you help me out real quick?" Hyde asked her.
She turned around, "With what?"
"Well see, I'm talking to my friend, just to let him know where I am and how the search for Jackie is going, and he doesn't believe me when I tell him that I'm staying at this really hot girls apartment, so if you could just say hi to him…"
"A really hot girl huh?" Jackie asked with a smile.
"Mmhmm." Hyde flirted, "For my honor?"
Jackie stood up and walked towards him. "I didn't know you had any honor."
She picked up the phone on the bed and spoke into it, "Hello?"
"Uh, uh, uh."
Jackie looked over at Hyde and mouthed, "What's his problem?" before speaking into the phone again. "Hyde told me you don't believe he's staying at a hot chicks house."
"Um, I guess I was wrong?" Kelso asked worriedly.
"Well, I guess you owe Hyde some money now right?" She smiled, "I'll let you talk to him."
"Sure." Kelso answered, still in shock.
Hyde took the phone and Jackie gave him a smile and walked out of the room.
"That was Jackie!" Hyde had to pull the phone from his ear for a minute as Kelso kept yelling in excitement.
"Told ya." Hyde couldn't help but smile as well.
"And apart from the not remembering who she is, she's okay?" Hyde could hear the worry in Kelso's voice.
"She's good. Not a scratch on her."
"Make sure it stays that way, so when are you coming back?"
"I don't know." Hyde said honestly, "There are some loose ends that need tying up here, and I gotta figure out how to make her remember everything, but hopefully soon."
"Cool, uh, Hyde?"
"Yeah, Kelso?"
"Take care of our girl."
Hyde closed his eyes and sighed, "That's cool." he knew Kelso would understand his true meaning.
He and Kelso said their goodbyes and Hyde promised to call Kelso if anything came up before hanging up the phone. He stuffed Kelso's number into his wallet and walked back out into Jackie's living room.
"So I guess I'm still sleeping on the couch?" Hyde asked after Jackie turned off the T.V
"You okay with that?" Jackie asked.
"I've had worse, just promise me that I won't wake up tomorrow morning with a gun in my face."
Jackie grinned, "I don't make promises I can't keep."
She had promised him that she'd never leave him. "I know that."
Jackie tossed him a pillow out of the linen closet. "That should help; I saw you had a crick in your neck all day."
"Thanks." Hyde replied as he caught the pillow and put it on one end of the couch, "So tomorrow we look for this guy?" He gestured towards the papers.
Jackie nodded. "First thing after you make me breakfast." As he watched her close the door to her room, he wanted to tell her that he loved her, wanted to hold her, kiss her, and beg her to remember. Instead he punched the pillow with his fists a couple times and then lay down.
He knew that even though Pete hadn't promised him Jackie and wasn't going to let him go without a fight, but he hadn't spent two years to find her just to let her go again. He had made a promise that he was going to keep.
He was going to take care of his girl.
I hope you liked it! Let me know!