Hyde walked out of the bedroom, and was surprised to be face to face with Jackie.

"Oh, Steven," She said, caught off gaurd; she had planned to run out before he saw her.

"Jackie? Were you listening in the whole time?" Hyde said nervously.

"Yes-I mean, no, just the end!" She lied quickly. "It's very sweet of you to take her to Grooves."

"Yeah...well, whatever." Hyde shrugged.

"It's also very unlike you." She said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, whatever." He repeated. He was glad she couldn't see his eyes past his aviators, or she might realize he had other intentions.

"Ugh, Steven, you are so unsociable!" Jackie sighed. "I swear, going out with me was the best decision you ever made, because it gave you at least a taste of what it was like to have a normal conversation."

"If you say so." Hyde laughed, heading down the stairs.

"Hey!" Jackie giggled, hitting him.

"Jackie, what are you doing?" Hyde said seriously.

"What do you mean?"

"You left, okay? Without a trace, for twelve years. And God, I'm pretty sure I had something to do with it. You don't think I thought about you, worried about you, every day for twelve damn years? And now you come back, giggling with me as if nothing has happened between us. Don't, Jackie, please. It's too hard." He said seriously.

"You think I was coming on to you? Fat chance!" Jackie scoffed.

"Whatever, man. I'm not gonna argue about it. Just...let's keep our distance, okay? Because when this is all over, you're gonna leave again. So don't try to make it feel harder than it will be." Hyde said bluntly, walking away.

"You're the one making this harder by being difficult!" Jackie screamed, following him down the stairs.

"Yeah? Well maybe being difficult will make it easier when you leave this time around." Hyde said.

Jackie was quiet for a moment. "Steven..."

"I gotta go. It's guys' night, remember? I should have never bothered you. I'm off to Fez's for some pizza." He said, and with a curt nod, he left.

There was a second of silence, where Jackie waited to him to come back and apologize...but for what? Just for today? Just for now? Or for her whole life?

Somebody entered the living room, but it wasn't Hyde. It was simply Donna.

"What the hell happened?" She yelled.

"Steven. What more did you expect?"

"Within two minutes of him being here he's made your daughter cry, and within two minutes of contact with him, you both exploded with rage!" She exclaimed.

"Well, don't blame me for it!" She screamed. Jackie Burkhart did not enjoy being accused.

"Hey, I heard your shrill voice in the mix too, sweetie." Donna snapped.

"Donna!" Jackie gasped.

"Look, I love you, and I've missed you so much, but Hyde's my friend too, okay? You can't put all the blame on him. It's not all his fault, and I'm sure he feels bad enough."

"Donna, what happened after I left?" Jackie said quietly, sitting down.

"Well, nothing initially. Eric and Kelso had a bet on how long you'd be gone. Kelso said five weeks. Eric said five days. Me, it didn't hit me at first. Secretly I always thought you'd come back. But over time, I realized I had no one to discuss girl stuff with. No one to whisper about Eric with, to giggle about boy problems, etc. I also didn't have a Maid of Honor, anymore. It ended up being my cousin, if you were wondering. It's fun being one of the guys, but I never knew how important girlfriends were until you left." Donna sighed.

Jackie was touched. And the same for her. She didn't realize how important her lumberjack tomboyish friend was to her. "And, Steven? How did he take it?"

"Hyde was...different. The days following your absence, he and Sam got in a huge fight. When Sam found out he pushed back their date later to see his ex-girlfriend, she was livid. Once they made up, he began to cling to her. Years later, he admitted to me he did that because:

"I don't know, man...part of me always thought...maybe, me and Jackie were meant to be together. If that's true, we'd always come back to each other, once we would get over our hateful feelings and broken hearts. So when she left, I could never have Jackie. So now, I had to devote my time to what I had, Sam. And, God, I wanted to make it work. I wanted to give her everything I didn't give to Jackie, not because I loved her more, hell, I don't think I loved her at all, but because I never wanted to see someone walk out again, because of me. I didn't want to hurt people anymore."

Donna quoted, and tears welled in Jackie's eyes. "Well, that didn't quite work out. Sam left, turned out she was already married, that slut, and Hyde was alone."

"And?" Jackie whispered.

"He was different, ya know? Always in the basement, beer in hand, waiting. One eye on the TV, one on the door, waiting for someone to enter. The one year anniversary of your leaving, we were in the circle, and the guys were joking around, wondering what had become of you. Kelso suggested maybe you were a prostitute, and Hyde gave him a black eye, leaving without another word. To be honest, we all thought you'd come back. We didn't think you could make it one your own. But not Hyde. He knew you could do it. He simply believed if you'd come back, it'd be because you wanted to." She said with narrowed eyes. "And you never did."

"But I did! I just couldn't. I had to leave, Donna, I told you I'd never come back!" Jackie cried.

"Yes, but we've all made promises we couldn't keep? You and Hyde sure made plenty of them. And he kind of hope this would be one of those broken promises. After two years, he kind of lost hope, and started bringing home different women every night. Until one day, Eric said:

"You need to stop, Hyde. Look, I know why you're like this. You can deny it all you want, but we know it's because of Jackie. You need to stop. No matter how many girls you bring home, Jackie won't be jealous. Because she's not here anymore. Clearly, Jackie's moved on, and so should you."

"And from then on, he cleaned his act." Donna explained. "His emotions were harder to read. He always had those damn aviators on, and with that stupid Zen attitude, you can never tell what he's really feeling."

"If he feels at all." Jackie sneered.

"Oh, trust me. He feels. If he didn't care about you, why would he now be trying to push you away?" Donna said skeptically.