A/N: I'm trying to make this so its not repetitive, but there's only so many ways to have these two make up so sorry if it gets boring at any point... you should tell me if you get bored and I'll stop... maybe ;-) So, here's Misfire, in which Kelso still leaves (and that sucks!) but at least Jackie and Hyde figure things out :-)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see Episode 1)

Episode 4: Misfire

"So, thank you for celebrating our twenty-fifth anniversary with us" Red said to the circle of people stood round the living room, semi-genuine smile on his face, "You know, nothing makes me appreciate my beautiful wife more then a room full of people that I don't like as much as her" he declared, his insult barely noticeable to most in the room, not just because they knew that was Red's way but because they were all too aware of what was coming next.

"Okay, my turn" Kelso said loudly, pushing his way to the centre of the room, "Mr. and Mrs. Forman, your long and happy marriage got me thinking about my future" he told them, as his friends looked on, "and when I think about my future there is always someone special in it... I mean, besides me" he explained, with a smile, "So, in front of all the people that I love..." he continued dropping to one knee in front of Jackie who looked less than surprised by the move, "Jacqueline Burkhart, will you marry me?" he asked, offering the balloon in his hand in place of a ring.

As Jackie opened her mouth to give her reply, she found her own 'no' was completely obliterated by a louder voice.

"Congratu...What the hell?" Fez said, looking stunned as he glanced between Jackie and Hyde.

"Steven?" she said as she looked past Kelso, who was still on his knees, to her ex boyfriend who had just spoken over her, apparently objecting to the proposal he was witnessing.

"Huh?" was Hyde's only response as he suddenly realised he'd made a fool of himself, and that the whole room was now staring at him.

"You said no" Jackie pointed out, in case he hadn't actually realised he'd done it, "You didn't wait to hear what I said, you just... you said no for me"

Hyde closed his eyes and expelled a breath. Jackie would have said no to Kelso all by herself, he'd been pretty sure of it, and still he hadn't wanted to take the chance she might accept. The thought of her married to another man damn near killed him inside and it was only when his friend had started in on this hair-brained scheme to make Jackie his wife, that Steven Hyde had come to realise how much damage he himself had done by marrying Sam.

"Jackie..." he began, opening his eyes to find she was right in front of him now.

"She said no?" Kelso checked and it seemed only Kitty had been really listening.

"Yes, sweetie" she confirmed in a low voice, "Now, why don't you get on up off the floor?" she encouraged him, letting out a softer version of her usual raucous laugh.

"I don't have to marry, Jackie?" he said happily as he got to his feet, "Yeah!" he yelled, punching the air, "Oh man! This is like my life is finally taking off! I'm moving to Chicago!" he said, running for the front door with the widest grin on his face, "I'm so happy, I'm gonna jump off the roof!" he said as he disappeared out the door, letting it slam shut behind him.

All eyes then returned to Jackie and Hyde who stood staring at each other, clearly struggling to know what to say. The crowd around them sure wasn't helping and it was Donna who noticed first.

"Y'know, if he does jump, he might need, y'know, medical help" she said getting up from her seat, "Mrs Forman, maybe we should..." she said, tipping her head towards the door and hoping Kitty understood which after a moment she seemed to.

"Oh, yes" she nodded, waving her arms in a crazy over-the-top gesture, "Come on everybody" she said, encouraging the party out of the door, "Let's all go see Michael hurt himself one last time" she said with an overly loud laugh as she ushered her husband, plus Bob, and the rest of the kids out of the door, leaving just Jackie and Hyde behind, looking to each other, and hoping they wouldn't have to speak first.

"You see now why you could never marry Kelso, right?" Hyde said after a while, for lack of knowing where else to begin.

"Steven, I was never going to marry Michael" Jackie assured him with a shake of her head, "I mean, I thought about it for like a minute but... we really couldn't ever make each other happy. We want different things" she said with a shrug of her shoulders as Hyde sat down on the couch and she followed suit a moment later.

"I guess there's more than one reason why we felt like a repeat run for you" he sighed, realising too many things had happened to make him come off like Kelso #2 in the dating-Jackie sense.

He cheated on her, he treated her badly, and one misunderstanding after another just ended up leading to heart-break and regret. They were too different, their future plans were at odds with each other, or so it seemed.

"We really aren't that different, Steven" Jackie reminded him, thinking of all the similarities that had brought them together, everything from loneliness and abandonment issues, to quick-wit and ability to burn, "We just wanted different things out of life" she said regretfully, wishing it wasn't true, but knowing now it must've been, at least she thought she knew, up until the moment when Michael proposed and Steven gave her answer for her.

"We weren't so far off, Jackie" he admitted, looking down at his own hands, fingers lacing and unlacing as he worked up the nerve to explain himself, "Y'know, man, this all got so screwed up. One minute I'm racing to Chicago with a ring in my pocket and the next... Well, Kelso isn't just the King of stupid, he's also the King at being the catalyst that screws up stuff between you and me" he smiled wryly.

"Hang on a second" Jackie said then, a frown on her face as she waved her hand around in a rewind type motion, "Go back to the part with... you had a ring?" she checked, wondering if her ears had made that part up of it she'd really heard it.

"Jackie, why do you think I chased you all the way to Chicago, man?" said Hyde as he got up from the couch and paced the living room, "You gave me an ultimatum" he reminded her, and pointing a finger, "Marriage or bust, remember?" he said, half way between angry and sad about the whole thing it seemed, "So I made a choice, and before I had a chance to tell you what it was, you ran away like a dumb kid"

"Hey, I didn't..." Jackie started, though his angry look silenced her when she realised he was right, she had done that.

She was entirely guilty of asking him a very serious question and then leaving before he had a chance to given an answer. It was wrong and childish, but she'd just been so afraid of a negative reply, it seemed safer to run and never know.

"I'm talking!" he snapped, in spite of the fact she was letting him go ahead anyway, "I followed you to Chicago because I made my decision, and man, I didn't know if it was going to work out, if we could really have this happy ever after fairytale crap that you wanted, but I was willing to give it a shot if it meant you staying here with me" he told her, much to the shock of Jackie Burkhart, who for perhaps the first time in her life was utterly speechless.

Of course, her silence didn't last long. She soon had questions and comments enough to say, but they all came into her head at once and in such a muddle, it took her a moment to know what to say first.

"Oh yeah?" she said pointlessly as she jumped to her feet and stood toe to toe with her ex, "Well... then why'd you go off and marry that stripper if you wanted to marry me?"

"Because you did it again, Jackie!" he declared, waving his arm in emphatic gestures, "Every time I wasn't sure how I felt or what the hell was happening between us, I found you with Kelso!"

"But nothing happened with me and Michael!" Jackie yelled back at him, "Because it was you I loved, and it always will be!" she shouted, not really aware of what she was saying til it was done.

Hyde didn't have an answer to that. It really wasn't what he'd expected to hear. After all that had happened, his marrying Sam and all, he just assumed Jackie couldn't possibly love him anymore. Surely this was the ultimate betrayal, and they could never go back from that, so he'd thought. Apparently he was wrong.

"Jackie..." he said, not sure after that where his sentence was going.

It didn't matter, neither of them had any words left right now, but there weren't needed as they let their hearts decide and went into each others arms, kissing like it was going out of style.

Somewhere in the background, a crash was heard, and then Michael Kelso yelling about the pain in his eye. To the kissing couple in the Formans living room it was just noise, barely anything to be concerned about. For Hyde the same applied to Sam, and though she was a decent enough girl, tomorrow he would have to tell her they were done. She'd been a big mistake, a stupid and drunken mistake, that truth be told he really didn't even remember what happened.

Jackie was his world, his future, and maybe even one day his wife, in a real and true sense. Right now he didn't want to talk about that, he just wanted to keep on kissing her, until the real world faded away around them.

- The End -