"Eric, I think we made a mistake."

The words hit him over and over again. They had made a mistake? He had just laid his entire life on the line for Jackie, and she was telling him that it had been the wrong choice. He'd alienated his best friend and the potential mother of his child because he had believed that she was in love with him. He couldn't believe that she was only now telling him that this was all in vain. "Jackie, are you kidding?" he asked carefully. "Please don't tell me you don't mean that."

"No, no, no," she insisted hurriedly, reaching up to wrap her arms around Eric's neck. Their bodies came crashing together as she pulled him toward her. "I mean, I think we made a mistake about keeping this a secret for so long. I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you before. We should have done this sooner."

Resting his chin on the top of her head, he enjoyed the feeling of her relaxed in his embrace. "What we should have done doesn't matter anymore," he murmured. "The only thing that really matters is you and me together, right here and now."

Jackie ran her leg up the pant of Eric's leg, trailing her toes along his skin. "Right here and now?" she purred. Her fingertips played coyly with the soft hairs at the nape of his neck as she danced them backward until her back rested against the kitchen counter. Biting her bottom lip seductively, she looked up at him. "I think we're all alone."

Eric could read the signals loud and clear. Lifting her by her tiny waist, he sat her on the counter and moved between her parted thighs. He leaned forward anxiously to devour her mouth, her toned legs wrapping around his torso. "Your lips take like honey," he whispered before kissing her again. Jackie moaned against his mouth as her fingers trailed up and down his arms. His hands framing her beautiful face, he could feel her heart beating against his chest.

"You're not alone, Dumbass," Red barked as he came into the kitchen from the living room. He didn't say anything as he pulled a cold beer from the fridge, discarding the cap on the counter. "This isn't your bedroom, and last time I checked, that wasn't your girlfriend. Get off the counter."

"Actually, Mr. Foreman, Eric and I are together now," she told him, her voice small and innocent. While everyone else had always been afraid of the man on some level, she had always been able to deal with him head on. He was a like a father to the group, and after her parents had disappeared, Red and Kitty had almost adopted her as one of their own. Red liked to pretend that he didn't like the loud, vicarious brunette cheerleader, but he had always held a soft spot for the girl. "I hope that you can be supportive of us."

Red rolled his eyes and grunted. "Say, Jackie, can you help Kitty in the living room? She was saying something about mixing butter yellow with burnt orange?"

"Oh, no," Jackie shook her head, sprinting toward the other room. Eric could hear her chiding his mother for a poor taste in décor.

When father and son were together alone, Red considered Eric carefully. "Eric, last time I checked, you were involved with a certain redhead next door," he began. "Now, I find you making out in my kitchen with your best friend's girlfriend. Normally, I wouldn't care what you do, but we both know this is different."

"Dad, I know what I'm doing," he replied. "Hyde and Donna both know what we're doing, too. It may have been going on for awhile, but we've told them everything. Jackie and I are going to be together."

"That girl in there has been through a lot," Red warned. "I have watched her parents go about their lives without any regard to her. I may not have been the most supportive father, but at least I stuck around. That's more than she ever had. And then your dumbass friend, Kelso, cheated on her with everyone you know, including your sister. Hyde has been the one constant in her life over the past few years, and Donna has been her best friend. Are you going to be enough to make up for what she has given up? Can you be the man she is going to need you to be? You're all Jackie has now, Eric. Do you realize that?"

Jackie's voice drifted into the room as she explained the finer points of matching linens to Kitty. Red was right. Jackie had given up a lot to be with him. She had given up the only sense of family she had known. "I love her, Dad," Eric confessed. "That's all I have. I wish I could have this grand way of explaining how I feel about her, but it really just comes down to that. I didn't expect it or ask for it, but it happened anyway. I am willing to be anything she needs me to be. I want to be her best friend and her family and her lover and her soulmate all wrapped up in one."

"Oh, Eric," Red sighed grumpily. "I don't want to hear all the emotional mumbo jumbo. I just want to know that I'm not going to see her cry again. She deserves a little happiness. Make sure you give that to her."

Eric nodded silently before his father stalked out of the room. A minute later, Kitty came into the room with a confused look on her face. "Where's Dad going?" Eric asked.

"He wants to talk to Jackie," she answered. "Eric, why does your father want to talk to that girl? What is going on? What are you not telling me?"

"I'm with Jackie now, Mom," he smiled. "We're in love."

In the living room, Red sat nervously in his favorite chair and motioned for Jackie to take a seat opposite him. "I just talked to Eric in there," he said. "I'm not the kind of man who is going to give his blessing, but I will tell you this. I know what you have been through, and I know what you are giving up to be with my son. Kitty loves Eric's friends like her own children, including you. No matter what happens with Eric, you should know that she will always be there for you."

"Thanks, Red," she said quietly, easily reading between the lines. She appreciated Red's understated way of telling her that he would be there, too. "I promise you that I truly love your son. I won't let you down."

"Um, well," Red muttered. "I'm going to go out to the garage." With a final look over his shoulder, he headed for the swinging door that would lead him through the kitchen. However, Jackie leapt up and wrapped her arms around him from behind, pressing her small face into shoulder. After a second, she could feel his body relax. Finally, clearing his throat, he pried her off him. "Jackie."

"It's okay, Mr. Foreman," she smiled. "I won't tell anyone."

"Tell anyone what?" Eric asked as he came into the room, Kitty at his heels.

"Nothing, nothing," Jackie brushed him off. As soon as he was in the room, she couldn't take her eyes off him. Just the mere sight of him made Jackie want to be with him, kiss him. "Come on, let's go for a walk or something. It's a beautiful day, and it's a waste to spend it inside."

Eric looked at his girlfriend wearily. "Alright," he replied. "I guess I'll see you guys later."

"Don't be too late," Kitty replied as she moved next to her husband. Red automatically wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her near in such a comforting way that you could tell he did it without thinking. Three decades of living together and being in love had given way to this routine. As his eyes shifted back to Jackie, he hoped that they would be as happy and familiar in thirty years.

"Hold on," he whispered to Jackie. Eric reached out and pulled his mother into a hug. Between hearing his father talk about Jackie's lack of family and seeing the obvious love between his parents, he knew that he had a lot to be thankful for. "Thank you, Mom, for everything. You have taught me more than you could ever know. Everything that I am, it's all because of you."

Kitty giggled nervously, taken aback from her son's sudden display of affection. "Thank you, Eric," she murmured, patting his hand affectionately. Red mumbled something uncomfortably while his wife moved over to the hutch behind the dining room table. She pulled out a bottle of wine from between stacks of wedding china and headed to the kitchen.

"Way to go, Eric. You drove your mother to drink," Red sneered before heading back to the kitchen.

"Yeah, like that takes a lot," he called after his father with a notable chuckle. Then, taking Jackie's hand, he pulled her out of the house and down the street. Once they were out of sight from both his parents' and Donna's houses, Eric finally started to talk. "Well, that was weird."

"It's been a weird day," Jackie agreed. "I even hugged your father. I don't think he liked it too much, but he didn't scream at me. I think that's a step in the right direction. Besides, he's going to have to get used to me because I plan on staying around for a long time."

"Good," Eric grinned, kissing her cheek sweetly. "My mom took it pretty well. She said that you would be quite a challenge for me. Little does she know, I've already won you over. I think she knows just how much I love you."

"Everyone knows now," she realized aloud. "There is nothing standing between us being together anymore."

"Nothing except a baby that isn't yours," he said, stating the obvious. "I don't know how I am supposed to feel about it, J. I mean, I've always wanted to have kids, and for a long time, that picture included Donna. Now that it doesn't, I can't help but wish that you were the one that I was going through this with."

"If Donna is pregnant, you're going to be a father," she retorted. "I know that it would be easier if this baby was mine, but it's not. We'll deal with this, whatever the outcome ends up being. I would never ask you to not be happy about a child. A baby is a blessing. You are going to be an amazing father."

Eric stopped and grabbed her wrist, wrapping her into his chest. Looking down at her, he pressed his forehead to hers and smiled against her lips. "I can't wait to have babies with you," he whispered. "I can't wait to wake up every morning with you beside me or go to bed with you in my arms. I can't wait until you are mine and I am yours forever."

"You don't have to wait for that," she replied. She had never been like this with anyone. Eric had certainly never opened his heart like that to another girl. "You're kinda stuck with me always. No matter what happens from here on out, it's you and me, kid."