A/N: Hello, everyone. Thank you to the people that took time to leave me a comment, it's nice to find those in hard days. This past week was a nightmare, so I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and leave a comment about it.

This chapter contains tons of sexual material. Like… the three big scenes are during sexual situations, so if you aren't a fan of it, I recommend to better not read this chapter and wait the next one.

November 28, 1983

Steven was everywhere on her body. From her sweat to the tension in her muscles and the moans out of her mouth.

He kissed her through every torn part of the wedding dress until it was off her body and on the floor where it belonged. It felt freeing to be in his arms, wearing only his kisses and smell. This was where she belonged and the only place she wanted to be for the rest of her life.

Jackie moaned softly. Her fingers marked his back red, and she followed their movement until she lost herself in his skin and the sound of his heavy breath against her neck. "Steven—oh, Steven. I … I—"

No words could leave her mouth, and she smiled in Steven's kiss. Maybe he could hear her thoughts right now, echoing his own. It made the white noise inside her head seem insignificant. The small crack in her heart felt like nothing.

"Wait, wait, wait…" he said and moved off her. Her hips had created more friction against his, and his underwear must've been killing him with the pressure. "You keep doing that, it's gonna rain before the fireworks."

She snorted, biting her bottom lip when his eyes playfully judged her, and she waited while he took off the last piece of his clothes.

"Jackie…" he said, drowning the rest of his words in a deep groan when her hand found his cock and started to stroke softly then stronger, as she'd learned with his guidance. "Holy shhhh…"

She wanted to ask him if it was okay, if he liked what she was doing, but one thing she could never learn was to talk clearly while making love or using her words to turn him on. It always made him laugh, and today she wasn't looking for that.

Instead, she concentrated on the way he moaned against her jaw and cheek, how his hips moved so slowly, as if he were trying to keep them in place, and the fact that he'd closed his eyes and started to kiss her neck. He brought his mouth to her ear and licked at it, gently touching her skin with his teeth.

His own pleasure made her part her legs and want him more. Her mind was a hot mess between praying for more and wanting to give him everything. He got the hint, and when he was finally inside her, she gasped loudly and scratched his back, taking his kiss when his lips found hers.

"I love you," he murmured and she smiled, "I love you so much…" he kept saying, and her eyes opened, noticing his lips were against hers.

Until We Get There

VI – Where It's Quiet

Steven's nose caressed hers. His lips were over hers, and his eyes were closed. Their closeness allowed her to drink in his pleasure and warmth. A wide smile sparked in her when he spoke again. "I'm so in love with you it's insane."

It was odd for him to talk while making love, especially this clearly and long and honest. Jackie swallowed, kissing him when his lips crashed with hers, and his hips moved stronger and faster against hers.

They were still kissing and moaning in each other's mouth when she heard him again. "I love you so much, doll. I love you so much, I lov—," but his lips were on hers, and her eyes were wide open in that instant, as if an imaginary switch had been pushed on and now—now—

He groaned, changing the angle a little and putting his forehead over hers, opening his eyes and looking at her while her entire body shuddered at the—was it? Was it really?

"What's wrong?" he said.

She opened her mouth. Words didn't make it in time when tears started to roll down her cheeks, and he stopped moving. She rounded him with her arms, hands on his back and legs around his hips, inviting him to keep going the best she could when she still couldn't speak.

"Crap, Jackie—" He tried to get away. His mind told her he was afraid he might have hurt her or that something deeper was going on that he wasn't aware of. She nodded like crazy, trying to make him understand that she was—she was— "Jackie, hey…"

"No!" Her words finally found their way out when he tried to leave her body. He stopped moving and looked at her under him with a frown. "Just…" She smiled, still crying and still feeling hot. "Keep going. Please."

"But—"

"I love you." She moved her hips for him, moaning at the movement and the way he said her name inside her head. "Steven, please…"

She didn't have to say anything else. Maybe he was hearing her inside his own head after all. He kept moving with her until she pushed his shoulders softly, moving him away from her to sit with him on the mattress, she over his lap with her legs around his hips.

This was a position they didn't use much, but it served her well to look into his eyes and guide them to their climax at her own wish. He smiled at her, almost against her lips, when she started to move faster over him. His hands were at her sides, moving up and down her back, slowly and tender then harder when she increased the speed, and he started to move with her.

His mind was heavy. She remembered him cold and uneasy when they were kids, and to feel him now was just—so different. She found his internal voice faster than she ever had as he confessed his love and praised her desire constantly.

It was warm and all him, inside her and around her, like never before.

"Oh, God…" She moaned, getting her fingers in Steven's hair, crashing their lips together in a messy kiss, and her orgasm boiled in the bottom of her belly. "Steven … Steven … !"

The orgasms reached her first, embracing him inside her as pleasure ran through her body, boiling her blood and numbing every corner until her mind went blank.

"Almost there, doll…" his mind said inside her as they kissed, and he kept the rhythm a few strokes more until her name was the only word in his mind and on his tongue. Finally, he was there with her and her kisses, his mind numbed in pleasure and his body too tired to stand.

He let himself rest on the bed, keeping her over his chest, not yet leaving her body. She heard the fast movement of his heart against his chest, his heartbeat lulling her into oblivion and sleepiness, but then his mind spoke again.

"She's perfect. Man, what did I do to deserve her? Fuck…"

He asked that a lot about other things when he was a kid but never in the tone his mind was using now, between laughter and shock. She'd heard him like this outside his head, just a few times in all their years together. Usually, it was attached to her, and it made her smile against his skin

The way his chest went up and down with every breath and his heart beat under her, how his thoughts were running all over her head, concentrating on her own weight and soft hair, his fingers caressing lazily with neither of them talking—all of it, it was all she wanted for the rest of her life.

Inevitably she started to laugh, Steven stopped his movements and waited for her to say something. When words didn't come out of her mouth again, he sat down with her in his arms.

"What's up with you?" he murmured, fingers touching her cheek and shoulder. "Hey…"

"I can hear you…"

Her eyes were closed again, and she couldn't open them, not yet. He kept caressing the skin of her shoulder. His mind was quiet again, but this time she swore there was some kind of connection between them, something telling her she could hear him next time his heart rose to the heavens.

"What?" he said.

"I can hear you, Steven." She opened her eyes, slowly moving to face him. She rounded his neck with her arms and hugged him tightly. "I can hear you."

"Uh…" his mind said for him. His arms rounded her as strongly as hers did him, and he hid his face in the space between her neck and shoulder. "All right."

"I can hear you…" she kept saying, mostly so she would convince herself of it. Of the fact that, after so many years, she was able to hear him again; and all she needed was this, to be free of her old self, now lying in white pieces at their feet. "I love you, Steven."

He smiled at her, kissing the tip of her nose. "You're gonna hear that a lot," he said. "I love you, doll. I do."

Her heart filled with bliss, she felt it all over her body and down her center, happily asking for him once more. So she kissed him, tongue going playful, asking for a second time and more of him.

Sex with Steven was not just passion and lust. It was meaning and love all over them, in and out, all around. And with their minds this connected, she suspected it was about to become an even bigger thing for both of them.

"Aren't you filthy?" He smirked against her lips, and she bit her bottom lip. "Round two?"

She nodded. "Happy birthday, baby." She smiled at him, getting away from his body and standing a few feet from the bed. "Now sit and relax. Time to respect our birthday tradition."

~0~

Jackie's birthday tradition was insane. She always drove him crazy when she did it, no matter how often, fast or slow, long or short. It always ended the same way: him moaning heavily, one hand in her hair, his eyes closed, and a burning desire to be inside her.

She'd been bad at it when she first did it to him. it was her first time giving a blowjob, and she needed his entire guidance on it, and while it was far from perfect, that small fact of being the first—and only—was enough to put him on edge. It was ridiculous, but even she had liked the idea, so he didn't have time to feel bad about it.

Then, two years into their relationship, she came up with this idea: birthday blowjobs. In exchange, he got to eat her out on her birthday, too. There was … nothing special about it, it was just an excuse to do it. But, man, he was not going to reject it, especially now that she knew what she was doing and exactly how he liked it.

Her mouth almost covered him whole. She bobbed her head up and down a few times before she stopped to suck at the tip, looking up at him from time to time, going down on him again and repeating the technique, stealing his breath away and making him moan in attempt at asking for more.

She could probably hear him doing so in his head. She could probably hear the litany of nonsense his head made of his desire and feelings for her. In another time, the idea would've freaked him out. He'd have feared her having access to his emotions and the way she could use them, but she had cried at realizing her ability had come back.

She'd nervously laughed, kissed him sweetly and happily, said nothing but seemed genuinely contented at the situation.

"Baby, baby…" He tugged on her hair softly. He felt the orgasm coming, and she looked up at him, nodding before going up and down a few times more.

He couldn't help but lover her a little bit more. She'd been able to hear him in times nobody knew about from when he was a kid. And yet she never mentioned anything unless prompted by him. She kept all he never talked about to herself, and if in all these years she never said anything, maybe the rest of him was safe with her, too.

She stood up, her hand squeezing the base of his cock, just strong enough not to let him come. She smiled at him, gesturing at the box of condoms at his side. He wasn't going to last long, but she didn't seem to care. She was more focused on making him feel good—and, man, he'd hit the jackpot with this woman.

Jackie could be the most selfless girl when it came to love. He wasn't sure if it was ironic or not, but he was sure he enjoyed it all the time. She loved and loved and never asked for anything back. Even the times he didn't have an answer, she stayed and waited and kept loving him until he could say differently.

Sex was where she showed this physically. She gave herself to it, didn't lose her mind to pleasure, and left him to do all. It was clear she enjoyed it better while she was sure he was getting off with her. Not for her or because of her. With her.

Like right now and the way she was looking at him, riding him while he searched for her clit, moaning when he found it and tried to reach the end together.

The sun caressed her shoulders and back, making her skin shine in sweat and warmth. She shone golden with her hair sticking to her face and neck, moving with them and sparkling in the afternoon delight.

He kissed her before coming, and when he felt the way her insides pressed at him, he moaned deep into her mouth. She called for him, her mind sending prizes to his, asking him never to leave.

"God, it is different," she thought. Was she listening to him? Had she heard him call her love and his everything? If she had, she kept it to herself, and he smiled. All those words were for her only anyway. "That was amazing."

"Damn, it was," he said, lying on the bed with her at his side. She pulled him out of her. He removed the used condom and tossed it into the garbage can they'd put near them.

She insisted on not being pregnant, that her nervousness had taken away her period, and her moody state was only result of the stress. He wasn't sure about her "not feeling pregnant," but he wasn't risking getting her pregnant for sure in case she was right about stress.

Chicks' bodies were amazing. To respect them and trust the way Jackie knew hers was his best and only option.

"Still with your mind on that, huh?" she said. This new dynamic of answering each other's thoughts wasn't so weird. It wasn't as if she was always able to read him. Now it was quite literal. "I told you I'm not pregnant. You'll see."

He couldn't help but smile, going back to bed at her side. He looked down at her, her hand caressed his cheek with the sun crossing their bodies in a line from their shoulders to their hip.

"All right, and what happens if you are pregnant? Aside from not getting hitched big and slow." She slapped his chest and he chuckled. The normality of this actually serious talk made him smile as she licked her lips.

"Well … from what I've seen at work, I can keep working until I consider it's time for maternity leave. And you know I'm Jon's favorite, so there's no problem."

She smiled mentioning her boss, but Jon was in fact someone to trust. She always helped Jackie and had become a mentor to her. In case his chick was expecting, she would understand and help with what she could. Joan Stinson was awesome.

"I think … I can leave work in the six or seventh month," Jackie continued. "It all depends on my feet. My mom told me her feet got big while pregnant. Since I don't want them to get even bigger, I should stay home and rest."

"Um, all right." He swallowed. "Don't you think our apartment is … small?"

"It is!" she said and sighed next. She wasn't looking at him, but her fingers were caressing one of his sideburns while talking. "We'll have to sacrifice your office, baby. It'll be the nursery." She looked at him with an apologetic smile. "After all this … I don't think we can move to a better place at the moment, so…"

She frowned. "Also, I know doctor's bill and all that is expensive. The delivery can be covered by my work's insurance, but other check-ups aren't. I guess I can talk to Jon, but I doubt she can do anything about it."

"Doesn't matter. Don't think about that." He sighed and smiled at her. Her eyes weren't scared. She was sure about her situation, but he suspected that even if a part of her thought she might be pregnant, she was actually fine with it. "You have thought about it."

"Yeah…" She sighed again. "I have to." And then she smiled. "Believe me, all girls have thought of a contingency plan for situations like this." She moved on the bed, making him lie back on the mattress, and she caressed his chest before going on top of him. "But like I said, I'm not pregnant. I feel better already. I think that Eggo Donna gave me yesterday just messed with my tummy."

He arched an eyebrow. "What about the mood, your period, everything else?"

"Did you just say I'm moody?" She frowned, and he shook his head, but the smirk on his face gave him away. "Ass!" She slapped his chest again, and this time he laughed. "Oh, now I hope I'm pregnant. Just so you'll learn what moody is!"

He kept laughing. One of his hands landed on her back, and she finally laughed with him, going directly for a kiss when he opened his eyes. They kissed for a while before her statement made sense inside his head, and he swallowed once more.

With her head resting on his chest, she seemed calm at the situation, and it made him think about the possibilities once more.

Before her, he never thought of becoming a father. In fact, he never did until Kelso chose them to be Betsy's godparents. They never talked about it. She just assumed they would become parents at some point. And he never told her anything, not a yes or a no. Just—nothing.

The possibility had never been there. Getting hitched was different. It was something she always wanted and was vocal about. When they first got together, he knew the theme would come up at some point, and when it did, he had his answer ready.

As time passed, things changed, and his feelings for her got stronger. She'd given up on most of her old self, now lying on the floor in the most accurate representation of her dusty childhood dreams. It was only natural for him to give her this.

If she could accept not being rich and fancy, live in a small apartment in not the best part of Kenosha, and clean her own house, then he could get married and share taxes with her.

But be parents? That was a different matter. A big deal. And like many times before, she was ahead of him. She was ready, even if the time wasn't ideal. He was the one she was scared for, as if she were afraid being pregnant would only hurt what they have.

"You know…" he started, not even sure of what he was going to say next. She moved to look at him, waiting for his words, and he swallowed. "If you aren't pregnant, I won't mind having a couple of kids with you. Later."

Her eyebrows moved in tenderness, her lips curving in a small smile with her fingers moving to his hair, then the back of his neck. She pulled him for a kiss, and he enjoyed the softness of it before seeing her wide smile.

"Later." She nodded. "I'm not pregnant!" she said again. "You'll see I'm not pregnant!"

He smiled at her and let her cover him with kisses for the rest of the day.

~0~

December 31, 1981

Hyde was in love with Jackie.

Not because he could hear her thoughts or because she was the most stunning girl in the world, but because her light had reached him in a moment he didn't even realized he needed it the most. She came to his world to make a damn mess, and it pissed him off to no end, but he loved the challenge, and he loved the spicy yet sweet flavor of her mind.

He was in love with her because of the way she made him feel, encouraged him to be okay, to try to be better because she deserved only the best and someone in her league. She was everything, and she gave him more than he ever thought he could get, and he only wanted her to be happy.

If she achieved that so-deserved state of mind in which her heart and dreams were satisfied with him, then he'd die a happy man and would search for her in the next life and all the ones to follow.

"You're looking at me that way again…" She smiled.

Her cheeks were red, from the cold and alcohol, but she was high in the moment, and that was all he wanted. He smiled at her and pecked at her lips, slowly moving his hand down her back until he squeezed her ass sightly. She giggled, looking at her side, as if to make sure no one was looking.

But Mrs. Forman was too into being happy about having Forman for the holidays. Fez, meanwhile, ran behind Kelso, who was holding Betsy. Brooke tried to enjoy her wine with a too talkative Donna who was getting into her nerves.

"How else do you want me to look at you, huh?" Hyde said. His voice sounded so soft, even to him. He wondered in which moment he'd become such a softie, as Mrs. Forman liked to say.

But Jackie smiled and went red again, kissing him tenderly. Her hand touched his cheek, and the cold of her ring raised goosebumps all over his body.

"Are you okay?" he said.

She smiled. It brightened his mood even more, and he swallowed, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles where her engagement ring rested. "Yes!" she said.

"Steven, I'm so, so happy". She hugged him, and no words came from her mouth. Her mind was speaking to him, and his heart reacted to that voice.

It sounded different than her usual tone. This was the voice she heard inside her own head, and it wasn't like the one he and everyone else heard from her mouth. It was difficult to put into words, but he loved both tones, and it was good he could identify one from the other.

That, and the fact that she said so many curses inside her mind.

"This is what I've been waiting for. You. You, you, you…" She sighed into his chest, and he looked up to find Red staring at them.

Red smiled and lifted his beer at Hyde. Hyde smiled back, thankful for Red's silence about him and Jackie being all sappy tonight.

He'd just proposed. He figured she'd probably be a ball of cuteness for the rest of the year. Right now, her mind was too happy to care that no one was paying attention to her and her kickass ring anymore. Her arms wanted only to be around him, and he couldn't wait to—

"We need to get home," her mind said. "I hope stupid Michael doesn't start with his stupid fireworks." Hyde kissed her head, and she sighed. "God, I want him so bad."

"Hey," He took her gently by the shoulder. His cock had started to react to her mind, and—wow, not the best place for that. "You know where we haven't been in a while?" She blinked a couple of times and he smirked. "My old room in the basement. Mrs. Forman still has my cot and other stuff down there."

She smiled at him, knowing what he meant, and like many times before, they disappeared hand-in-hand to the basement's small and improvised room.

It hadn't changed in years. The smell was stronger now that there weren't scented candles or incense to kill it, and Jackie seemed uncomfortable at that. But her need was stronger, and so was his. They undressed faster than he could remember, and when he was finally inside her, he had to control himself and not come first thing.

Her mind was yelling at his heart, asking to be filled and loved in the ways she had thought him. it always got him going to listen to her moans and the strong vibrations in her body, manifesting in her words and thoughts. It was a sensation of closeness impossible to describe, but he considered himself lucky to have it.

Even if he had hated the Gift growing up, she'd taught him to appreciate it almost as much as she had appreciated hers. And she taught him so well that another million things had changed.

They kissed, mostly so he could calm down a little and slowly get them to a rhythm that would please them both.

"Oh, Steven…" She moaned, throwing back her head with closed eyes and mouth wide open, moaning his name that soon became only a pleased sound.

She was being especially vocal tonight, and he couldn't help but smile at that. Didn't matter if people upstairs could hear her. Man, the entire world could hear them, and he wouldn't mind. All he wanted was to be with her and follow her thoughts to her orgasm.

"Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!" her mind shouted, and he looked down at her face and the way her eyes were looking for his. She tried to smile at him, but she frowned in pleasure, nails digging into his skin as her moans got caught in her throat, even when her mouth was wide open.

The intensity of it got to him. She was squeezing him inside, and her mind was yelling all that her voice couldn't get out. He groaned, moving in and out a few times more until there was nothing but her name on the tip of his tongue and her lips on his, heartbeat reaching a new level of intense.

If she'd been able to hear his thoughts, she would've learned how often and how easily he screamed love confessions inside his head. That never happened when they were younger, but it started slowly; and one day, it was normal enough for him not to worry about it.

"I love you," he murmured against the skin of her neck. Because she couldn't hear him. And the reality of how easily he could lose her taught him to speak up. That damn Chicago trip almost made them lose their chance. He wasn't going to let that happen again.

She hugged him strongly and giggled, happily enjoying being sweaty and nasty in a room that smelled worse than her first job at the Cheese Palace. When he looked up, she welcomed him with a kiss, and his tongue searched for hers as he left her insides and rested at her side.

They cuddled like they used to before they moved in together, fitting into even the smallest of beds, and she sighed on his chest.

"I love you, puddin'," she said. He had heard it a lot tonight, but it never felt any less shocking—in a good way. "I love you so much…"

She was falling asleep. He caressed her hair to soothe her for a few minutes before midnight. He looked at his watch and nodded. They had a good thirty minutes.

Jackie's sleeping form was one of his favorite images in the world. She looked calm and whole, sleeping with a smile because of him. That always brought him to a place he couldn't recognize at first. Then, almost reluctantly and still surprising to this day, he put a name to it. He was a goddamn happy man. Just to have her here in his arms was enough.

It told his old beliefs and thoughts about his future to fuck themselves, and his heart felt big in this moment as she slept.

Because he'd done this for himself. Because he loved her and—he really had reached that point—wanted to marry her. No conditions or exchanges, but his own wishes. He had proposed tonight out of want and happiness, his addiction to what they were together.

He kissed her head, hugging her to his chest and closing his eyes.

They were finally there.

Next Chapter: As they prepare to go home, Jackie asks an important question.