First off, again, my apologies for the LOOOONG break between updates, but as I mentioned earlier, health and other concerns kept me from writing. I'm going to try to be better about updating. I've also rewritten the earlier chapters—cleaned up a lot of errors and added quite a bit of stuff, so you might want to go back and read them again. Thanks again for your patience and I hope this was worth the wait.
THAT 70S GATE CHAPTER THREE
"Go away, Kelso." Red growled as he jerked his thumb back. Turning to his guest, Red smiled. "I'll show you to your room, Major. Eric?" Red then commanded, "Do something useful for a change. Get the Major's bags and follow us."
Sighing inwardly at Red's normally harsh treatment towards the lanky teenager, Jackie smiled, "Thanks...Eric."
A wave of nostalgia again hit Jackie as she entered the Forman living room with its comfortable sofa, Kitty's coffee table, and Red's favorite chair positioned so that he always had the best view of the television screen. "Nice place." Jackie said, a note of soft sincerity in her voice. "It looks very homey..."
"Thanks." A pleased Kitty responded as the group began the climb up the stairs to Laurie's room. "It's not fancy or anything, but we love it...right, Red?"
"Right, Kitty." Red agreed. "So, Major...where's home for you?"
"You know how it goes." Jackie chuckled, "Home's wherever Uncle Sam sends me."
Laughing, Red nodded his head, "Yeah...I remember those days."
"Didn't you say that you were going to Colorado, Major," Kitty interjected.
"Yeah." Jackie affirmed, "Cheyenne Mountain."
On hearing that, Eric spoke up, "NORAD?"
"Yep." Jackie replied, her voice inflection and head gesture momentarily catching Donna by surprise. Seeing the questioning expression on Eric's face, Donna quickly shook her head.
"So...can you tell us what you do?"
"Deep space something or other..." Kitty interjected with a slight chuckle as the major nodded her head once.
"Radar telemetry. Whatever that is." Donna interjected as Jackie barely suppressed a chuckle.
"Wow!" Eric gasped, the Star Wars fan inside him coming out. "Is that some sort of alien thing..."
"I'm sorry..." Jackie responded with a friendly grin, "But I really can't talk about it any further."
"Then that's the end of discussion." Red declared authoritatively, shooting Kitty, Donna, and Eric a stern gaze. "I am curious though..." The WW 2 vet remarked, "...about that silver star and those purple hearts you have. Can you talk about those?"
"I'm sorry." Jackie sighed as she spoke in a soft voice. "That's another one of those things I can't talk about."
As he gazed into the young major's suddenly haunted eyes, Red, remembering similar expressions on the faces of young soldiers, sailors, and Marines as well as his own reflection in the mirror, responded in an almost uncharacteristically gentle and soft voice, "I think I understand."
"Thank you." Jackie whispered back as the tiny group entered Laurie's long-vacated bedroom.
"Well...here we are." Kitty exclaimed, deliberately injecting a cheerful note into her voice. "Eric, honey? Why don't you put the major's things by the bed."
"Sure thing, Mom." The lanky teenager replied as he placed the suitcases where his mother indicated. "If it's ok with you, Mom and Dad, I'm going to go back out."
"Thanks, hon!" Kitty replied as she gave her son a quick peck on his cheek. Turning her attention to the major, Mrs. Forman said, "We better get moving if we want to catch your cousin at the cheese shop. Besides, I need to pick up some cheddar for tonight's fondue."
"Fondue?" Red exclaimed, his facial expression a mixture of irritation and dread.
"Don't tell me you forgot, Red." An exasperated Kitty responded. "Bob and Joanne are coming over for fondue." Turning to Jackie, she added, "You're invited too, Major. "
"Oh boy..." Jackie muttered in a soft voice as she followed Kitty and Eric out of the house, while Red, deliberately hung back in a successful effort to avoid attracting attention, his attentive gaze fully on the major as the women walked away.
"There's something familiar about her..." The Forman patriarch muttered under his breath, "Something very familiar. I can't place it, but I will..."
Jackie smiled warmly as she walked down the mall flanked on either side by Donna and Kitty. The major felt yet another wave of nostalgia as her senses took in long-forgotten sights, sounds, and smells. The aroma of freshly made pretzels wafted from a pretzel shop that had closed its doors in 1992. She heard the sound of cheers and laughter along with the unmistakable boobooobooobooop sound as someone's voice drowned out the sound of the Pac Man machine coming from the arcade that had closed in '93. Smiling, Jackie saw Mitch waving his arms and cursing as he stormed away from the machine in disgust. Then, she saw it—the old cheese shop where she had once worked. In her time, that space would be occupied by a cell phone kiosk, but now, there it stood.
And there she stood. Her younger self, wearing her Swiss Miss cheese girl outfit, tray of samplers in hand as she went from customer to customer.
"Jackie?" Kitty's voice broke the older Jackie's reverie at the same time that it gained her younger self's attention. "Jackie? Come over here, Dear. There's someone I want you to meet."
Major Burckhardt flashed a warm, yet sad smile as the younger, more carefree and self-centered version of herself strode confidently forward. "Yes, Mrs. Forman?" The cheese-girl replied with a wide grin.
"Your cousin from the Air Force just got into town, Jackie." Kitty announced with a happy chuckle, "And guess what—her name's Jackie too!"
A look of doubt and suspicion immediately appeared on the younger Jackie's face, "I don't recall having any cousins in the Air Force Mrs. Forman."
"We're distant cousins." The older Jackie interrupted. "From your mother's side of the family. You wouldn't recognize me—we've never met." Then, her lips turning up into a warm grin, the older Jackie added as she somewhat nervously extended her hand, "I'm glad to finally meet you."
As the younger version of Jackie tentatively took the Air Force officer's hand, she suddenly began to feel lightheaded. Strange, bizarre images and shapes flashed in and out of her mind so fast that she couldn't quite grasp them. Feeling sick to her stomach, she began to feel faint.
"Where am I?" The younger Jackie screamed as pitch black surrounded her. Pushing up with her hands, she felt something solid and hard. Something that would not budge no matter how hard she pushed.
"Let me out of here!" She screamed in terror as the solid barrier slid open. Covering her eyes from the sudden light, Jackie heard a voice—a deep voice filled with arrogance and menace.
"Good...bring her to me."
"Yes, Queen Eris." A male voice answered in response.
Rough hands pulled her out of the box and dragged her before a wizened older woman with glowing eyes. "Kneel before you goddess!" The woman commanded with the deep voice that Jackie had heard earlier. Rough hands stripped her of the gown she was wearing as they pushed her to her knees. The old woman then proceeded to walk around the kneeling Jackie, carefully inspecting. "Yes..." The old woman declared, "She will make a most excellent host."
"Jackie?"
The woozy teenager woke up to find a concerned Donna looking down at her. "Ooooohhh...what happened?" Major Burckhardt moaned as she came to consciousness.
"It's ok, Dear." Kitty replied as she helped the major back up to her feet. "You just had a dizzy spell." The older woman remarked, her eyebrows raised, "You and your cousin both fainted at the same time—right when the two of you touched. I've never seen anything like it."
"Neither have I." Donna said to Mrs. Forman as she helped the younger Jackie to her feet. "You fainted, Jackie. So did the major." Donna said as she gestured with her head to where Kitty was kneeling next to the dark haired officer. "It was the weirdest thing."
Shaking her head, the teenage Jackie looked at her older self who was currently being helped up by Kitty. "I don't believe it. She looks so much like me."
"Tell me about it." Donna whispered back. "It's spooky."
"Are you two feeling better?" Kitty inquired as major picked her cap up from the floor.
"I'm all right, Mrs. Forman." The younger Jackie replied with a shaky grin.
"Same here." The older Jackie affirmed. "I guess it's just the jet lag catching up with me. But...I think I'd like to cut our shopping trip short today, if that's ok by you."
"Of course, Dearie." Kitty responded with a maternal look on her face. "A short nap'll probably do you good." Turning towards the young teenager who had also fainted, Kitty asked, "And how are you feeling dear. You want to go home with us?"
"Naah..." Young Jackie replied in a shaky voice, "I've still got to finish my shift."
"She can come home with me, if that's all right with you, Mrs. Forman?" Donna offered. "I can give Eric a call to pick us up."
"Well..." Kitty drawled as she considered Donna's offer, "If that's what you want." Turning her attention back towards Jackie, Mrs. Forman said, "Your cousin's staying in Laurie's old room while she's visiting you, Jackie, so you can see her anytime you'd like."
"Thank you, Mrs. Forman." Young Jackie politely responded, the expression on her face and eyes indicating her reluctance to take Kitty up on her offer.
Older Jackie flashed a friendly grin, "I understand—you've got a lot to do. I'll be around for a few days if you want to look me up—maybe we can go shopping or something—I need to get some new clothes and perhaps you'd like to help me."
Rising to the bait of a shopping trip, the younger Jackie smiled back, "Maybe." Looking back at the cheese shop where her manager stood watching curiously, she sighed, "I've got to get back to work now..."
"It was the weirdest thing..." Young Jackie said much later as she took her place in the Circle next to Kelso. "We both fainted and it felt like my head was about to explode from all the strange stuff."
"What sort of stuff?" Hyde asked, his lips curling up in a derisive smirk.
Barely repressing a shudder, Jackie responded, her voice almost a whisper, "Bad stuff. Some of it real bad. I can't..." she choked as images of people with glowing eyes and snake-like creatures flashed through her mind, "...I can't talk about it. It's just too..." Shaking her head, she staggered to her feet, "I gotta go. I need some air."
"Damn!" An utterly clueless Kelso exclaimed, "Hyde...where did you get this stuff."
A look of genuine concern briefly crossing the burnout's face, he punched his oblivious friend in the shoulder as he replied in an almost inaudible tone, "I don't think it's the stuff man. Something really spooked her."
"For real?" A suddenly concerned Kelso replied as he rubbed his sore shoulder.
"Maybe I ought to go check on her." A bleary-eyed Donna suggested as she slowly rose to her feet. "I'll be back in a bit."
"Hey!" Donna called out, the effects of Hyde's "magic cure-all" diminishing rapidly as she spotted the younger Jackie sitting on the front steps of her house, head hanging down. "You ok."
"Yeah..." Jackie responded with a shaky grin as she looked up to see the tall redhead who had become one of her closest friends, "No..." she then confessed as she shook her head. "I don't know..."
"Wanna talk about it?" Donna asked as she sat down next to her friend.
Shaking her head, Jackie whimpered, "I want to...but I don't know where to begin. It's all so weird."
"What do you mean weird?" Donna inquired, "Weird as in Fez's needs weird or weird as in Hyde's paranoia weird?"
"Neither." Jackie replied with a half-hearted chuckle. Her laughter quickly dying, the tormented young girl looked up into the eyes of her friend as tears streamed down, "Weird as in I think I'm going crazy weird."
Seeing the fear in her friend's eyes, Donna impulsively hugged her close as she cooed gently, "It'll be all right. Now...just tell me all about it."
It was as if a dam burst as Jackie poured everything out while Donna sat quietly and listened. Minutes later, the tall redhead exclaimed as she regarded her still sobbing friend, "People wearing Egyptian and Greek clothes and glowing eyes? This is the sort of thing I'd expect to hear from Kelso, but you're not making this up...are you?"
Sighing as her friend shook her head, Donna inquired, "So...this all hit you when you touched your cousin?"
"Yeah." Jackie affirmed with a nod of her head. "I also felt something else...a...connection of some sort. Like we're tied together. That if something were to happen to one of us, the other one would...I can't explain it, Donna, but it's there and it's real."
"Weird." Donna remarked as almost hysterical laughter escaped from her friend.
"I told you." Jackie gasped as she both laughed and cried.
Glancing back at the Forman home, Donna caught a glimpse of the newcomer looking at them through the bedroom window. Cocking her head slightly, the tall redhead placed a comforting arm around her friend's shoulders, "C'mon. We better get back to the others."
Watching the redheaded teenager console her younger self from the window in Laurie's room, older Jackie sighed mournfully as she whispered softly, "I'm so sorry..."
"Sorry about what?"
Turning about rapidly, Jackie immediately recognized Mrs. Forman as she entered the room. "Mrs. Forman...Kitty!"
"I hope I didn't come at a bad time..." Kitty apologized, "I just wanted to let you know that the fondue's ready and that Bob and Joanne will be here soon. Is everything ok?"
"Yeah." Jackie responded. "I just needed to get out of that uniform and take a quick nap."
"I see." Kitty replied, "It was so strange...both of you fainting like that just as you touched...I've never seen anything like that."
"Funny, isn't it?" Jackie chuckled as she slipped on a pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt. "She must have been tired too."
"Yeah." Kitty responded, her face masking her doubt, "I'm sure it was just a fluke. Well, Dearie..." Kitty smiled as she rose to her feet, "Bob and Joanne are already here. Just come on down whenever you're ready."
"I'll be down in a moment, Kitty." Jackie answered back, relieved that the usually persistent Kitty had decided to drop the matter—for now, at least. "I just want to freshen up a bit first."
"So..." A curious Joanna ventured, "You're a pilot? I didn't know they allowed women to be pilots."
"Yeah. There aren't a lot of us women pilots now..." Jackie replied with a half-truth as she forked a piece of cheese and then dipped it into the fondue, "...but they're beginning to let in more. They keep us females mostly restricted to choppers flying non-combat, but...I've clocked some hours on jets." And an F-302 space fighter.
"Must be fun...just you up in the clouds..." Kitty remarked wistfully.
"It is." Jackie responded, her lips curled up in a warm smile as she remembered her moments in the cockpit of F-16s and F-302s, "There's nothing like it...the blue sky...the curving horizon...the green and brown...wispy clouds..."
"Wow!" Bob gasped, his mouth agape. "Wish I could do that."
"Don't feel bad, Bob." Red sniped, "Think about all those toilets you got to scrub while you were in the National Guard."
Giving Bob a sympathetic look, Jackie opened her mouth to intervene only to have Kitty beat her to the punch, "Sounds like you've got a great job."
"Yeah." Jackie agreed, "I do. It gets a bit hairy sometimes...but..." she remarked proudly, "We're doing good stuff...important stuff. I don't think I'd want to do anything else."
"Damn right!" Red agreed with a grunt as he drained the last of his beer.
"How 'bout another beer, Red?" Joanne asked as she finished her glass.
"We're all out in the fridge, but there should be some more in the basement." Kitty remarked, "Red? You wanna get it?"
"Yeah...I guess." Red groused only to have his guest come to his rescue.
"Let me get it." Jackie volunteered, "It'll give me a chance to stretch my legs a bit."
"Be my guest." Red smiled back, "And if you see the kids with any open beers, feel free to kick their asses."
"Don't worry, it'll be my pleasure." Jackie smiled back as Red laughed.
"So, is Jackie?" Fez asked as the outside door to the basement opened, revealing Donna.
"Shaken up." The tall redhead replied as she took her usual seat on the couch. Donna fibbed, "She's just had a lot of stuff happen recently and it's all caught up with her." Glaring at Kelso, she added, "And you could do more to help!"
"Hey!" Kelso opened his mouth to protest, only to be interrupted by a voice coming from the top of the stairs.
"I'm sorry if my coming down here's causing any problems." The older Jackie, overhearing Donna's words, interjected as she walked down the stairs. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop—just came down to make a beer run."
"No problems, Major." Donna quickly replied, cutting off Hyde's sarcastic remark. "Ummm..." the tall redhead began tentatively, "I was wondering if I could speak to you...in private."
"Sure." Major Burckhardt replied as she grabbed a sixpack from the refrigerator. "Let me make my excuses upstairs and I'll meet you outside by the garage...ok by you?"
"That'll be fine." Donna responded, letting out a breath. "I'll see you in a few."
"What are you gonna talk to her about?" Eric asked as Donna made her way to the basement door.
Shrugging her shoulders, the redhead replied, "I don't know. Maybe get some answers...I hope."