0000000
Two days had passed, and now the funeral plans were all made out. Jackie and the gang had met with Bob the one day prior, and the funeral was going to be held today.
Jackie woke up with Charlotte next to her. She jumped out of bed and started getting dressed in the black outfit she had set out the previous night. Once it was on, she went out into the hall.
First, she went into the guest room. She saw Kelso and Betsy sleeping. Normally, she wouldn't want to disturb the peace in the room, but everybody had to be up early today.
"Michael," she whispered, shaking him.
"Huh?" He rolled around sleepily. "Jackie, I told you to wait until we-" He opened his eyes. "Hey!"
Betsy woke up after hearing her father's voice. "Daddy, what's going on?"
"You two have to get up and start getting ready," Jackie said sternly. "Today we have to be there for Donna, and I won't have us all be late."
Betsy got out of bed. "Aunt Jackie, what time is it?"
"It's seven," Jackie said to her goddaughter, checking the clock.
"It's too early!" she whined.
Kelso sat in bed and picked her up, setting her on his lap. "Come on, Bets. Aunt Jackie got you that dress yesterday. Let's get ready."
Jackie then strode out of the room and into the living room. There were two couches, where Eric and Hyde each slept. They made Fez sleep on the air mattress.
"Guys, wake up!" Jackie called.
Fez appeared to be the only one who heard her, since he rolled over and groaned. "Oh, Jackie, you ruined the greatest dream ever!" he whined.
"I don't care, Fez," she snapped. "We have to get ready to go."
Upon being ordered, Fez jumped up. "Aye, aye, captain," he said, saluting, and ran into the closet where his nice clothes had been put.
Jackie sighed, looking at the couches where the two men slept. "Eric, Steven," she said, hopefully loud enough to wake them up.
Neither stirred.
"Eric, Steven!" she barked, this time much louder.
Both jolted awake.
"'Cause that's just the thing a guy likes to wake up to in the morning," Hyde muttered.
"Yeah, man. You couldn't have been nicer about it?" Eric added.
Jackie rolled her eyes. "I /tried/, but you two dumbasses wouldn't move. So move!"
They quickly jumped up and started moving around.
Lastly, Jackie went back into her own room, waking up Charlotte.
"Char," she said quietly, gently shaking Charlotte's shoulders, "you gotta get ready, okay?"
"Mmm." Charlotte turned on her side. "Okay." She slid out of bed and went in Jackie's walk-in closet, where her dress was.
000000
They were all now at the funeral. Everybody was standing around the casket as the pastor spoke.
The whole gang was crying now, along with Charlotte, Bob, and even Betsy, who didn't remember her Aunt Donna. She just didn't like to see everybody cry.
Everybody was starting to walk into the sanctuary until the door opened.
"Stop!" a voice called. "Wait!"
Everybody turned around and gasped.
Midge was standing in the doorway, in a white sundress and black sunglasses perched on her head.
"Midgie?" Bob cried, staring in disbelief.
"Oh, Bob!" Midge ran over to her ex-husband and hugged him, starting to cry. "I wish this never had to happen in our lifetime!"
"I know, Midgie, I know. It's so tough on all of us. Especially our granddaughter." Bob pointed to Charlotte.
"Donna had a daughter? Oh no! I've missed so much!" Midge started to cry even harder.
Jackie directed Charlotte towards Midge.
Bob noticed and pointed to her again. "Midge, this is Charlotte."
"Oh, sweetheart, I'm your Aunt Midge," Midge said, hugging her.
"Midgie, no, you're her grandma," Bob corrected.
"But that sounds so old!" Midge said.
"Uh, if you guys don't mind... the service is about to start, so..." Eric trailed off, gesturing to the sanctuary and that everybody around them was silent.
"Oh, yes!" Midge exclaimed, then looked at the casket and started crying again.
Everybody started going down the aisle, close family and friends going first. Then, they all chose a place to sit.
Once everybody was in, the service started.
000000
The service was over, and nobody made a plan to go anywhere after, so they all decided to go back to Jackie's house, even Bob and Midge.
When they got to Jackie's, they all stood in the front of the apartment building.
"So when did you guys get married?" Midge asked Eric once everybody joined their group.
"Um... we never did," Eric said, staring at his hands.
"Wait... so you had a child out of wedlock?" Midge asked.
"No, Midge... Charlotte isn't my daughter," Eric explained, not looking up.
"So who's her husband?" Midge asked, curious.
"Uh, Midgie, if you didn't notice," Bob said, "Throughout the service they continually said 'Donna Pinciotti.' She never married."
"Really? That's so sad." Midge shivered. "This stupid sundress! It was the only white thing I owned that was remotely fancy. I see none of you people followed proper funeral etiquette."
"You wear black to funerals, Midge," Jackie explained. "That's why we're all-"
"Oh, really? I feel so dumb now!" Midge exclaimed, causing everybody to exchange looks.
It was quiet for a minute, and nobody spoke.
Jackie broke the silence. "So that was a pretty sad funeral."
"Definitely," everybody agreed.
"I guess that's always the case, though, when it's somebody close to you," Jackie finished quietly.
"Yeah," came everybody's response.
00000
A half hour later, Bob and Midge left. The gang still stood in the front of the building. Betsy had gotten Charlotte to play with her, so they were running around and playing hide and seek.
"Damn, I just can't believe Donna's gone," Hyde remarked. "I mean, you sit and watch the casket, but you just can't get yourself to believe it's your friend inside."
"I wish we'd gotten here before," Eric said quietly. "More than anything."
Jackie studied Eric, who kept looking at the pavement on the ground. She could tell that the loss of Donna was taking a toll on him, and it was just killing him that they just missed her.
She was about to say something to make him feel better, until she saw a familiar vehicle pulling up to her building.
"That's Cary's car!" she exclaimed, getting up and running to it.
She watched him get out of the car and shut the door, smiling slightly at her. He looked very handsome, with his short brown hair spiked slightly in the front, and he was wearing nicer clothes.
"Cary," Jackie said breathlessly, "what are you doing here?"
She was hoping that, in the movie in her mind, he was going to tell her that he quit his job and was coming with her to Point Place. That he was doing it for her love. But she kind of knew he wasn't going to do that.
"I... I went to the funeral," he said.
Jackie gasped. "Really? I never saw you. Why didn't you-"
He interrupted her. "You were pretty upset. I didn't want to distract you, especially when you were with your old friends. Is that them?" He gestured over to the four guys sitting on the concrete steps.
Jackie nodded.
"All guys, huh?" He frowned slightly, looking back at the men, then back to Jackie. "Anyway, I came here to say goodbye. Y'know, send you off?" He shrugged. "Whatever. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love you. And that I hope everything goes good for you, and Charlotte, too."
Jackie gave a small smile. "Yeah, we all leave tomorrow." She sighed. "I'm just gonna miss you so much." Then she threw her arms around his neck. "Promise me I'll still see you, sometimes."
He laughed. "Of course." He looked at her for a minute, then kissed her.
Jackie was very aware that her four friends on the steps were probably now looking, but she didn't care. She loved Cary, and she was going to miss him.
When they broke apart, she kept holding him close.
Finally, he whispered in her ear, "I love you, Jackie." Then, he pulled away.
"I love you, too," she said. "I can't wait until I see you next." She smiled at him as he smiled back, before walking away. He then waved as he got into the car and drove away.
Jackie felt as though that belonged in a movie, and she had tears in her eyes. Then, she went back to the steps.
"What the hell, man, I thought you guys broke up?" Hyde asked.
"Because we had to," Jackie said defensively. "We're still leaving tomorrow, though. We have to. And we're all staying in Point Place, then?"
"Duh," Fez said. "In the Formans house."
Eric gave Fez a weird look. "My parents can't fit us all in the house! We're gonna have to buy a... oh God. We need to buy a house."
"Well," Kelso thought out loud, "if we pool our money together, then maybe we can do it."
Fez nudged Kelso. "Hey, you just said 'do it' without meaning 'doing /it/'." He giggled and Kelso laughed along.
"I did!" He kept on grinning.
"Come on, guys, this is serious," Eric said.
"Yeah, this is for Donna, guys," Hyde agreed. "We'll pool our money together and we'll buy a house, I guess. So then it'll all work out."
"Okay," everybody agreed.
"Okay, let's go inside; I'm freezing," Jackie said, calling the kids over to get in the building.
Everybody got up and went in, walking up the stairs to Jackie's soon-to-be former home.