A/N: Thanks to the reviews of the last chapter! This one was originally supposed to be chapter 6 but I wanted to put something in there with Fez cuz he hasn't been mentioned at all in this story yet...so i bumped this story and I made it a little longer since the last chapter was a little shorter. R&R&Enjoy!


Jackie sighed as she poured pretzels into a bowl. It had been a month since the visit from Fez, and with only ten left days before Christmas, she wanted to be at work before she had to stop going in at all. They'd gotten past the unpleasantness of her accusation that Hyde didn't care about Jackie's well being; she had simply thought that since Jackie couldn't work as much, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra hand around the house and Fez was always eager to help Jackie out. Once this had been clarified, Hyde made sure that he kept his hours reasonable and even started going by the salon every day Jackie was in the shop.

Now things were back to the usual routine and Kitty was insisting on throwing her a baby shower. Normally she'd be thrilled at having a party, but this was on Saturday, her busiest day of the week and she was actually missing the sound of her antique cash register ringing up sales. Still Kitty had been kind enough to offer her house for the bash and she knew it would be incredibly rude of her to turn her down since the woman was, for all practical purposes, her mother-in-law.

"Mrs Foreman, you don't have to do this, I know it's your only day off this week."

"Oh, it's no trouble Jackie, I love throwing get-togethers like this. Besides, you need a baby shower, with you and Steven both working you've barely had time to go shopping for things."

"But we don't know if it a boy or girl yet."

"Right, but you have two showers, Jackie. One now, to get all the standard stuff like diaper genies and breast pumps and everything that's universal. Then after the baby comes, you have one for the gender specific things." Kitty bent over to take the pizza rolls out of the oven then looked at Jackie. She was still very slender, the bulge of her stomach looking like a smuggled watermelon under her sweater. "Jackie, has your doctor said anything about your weight gain?"

"Not really, why?"

"It's just…there doesn't appear to be a lot, you know? Women naturally put on weight when they're carrying a child, and you're just over six months, and honey you look like a cheerleader hiding a beach ball."

Jackie nibbled a pretzel but said nothing. Kitty wasn't the first person to point it out to her. Doctor Morgan had commented on it as well, and so had Hyde. It worried Jackie a little as well – she never thought she'd see the day where she considered staying slim a bad thing – because she knew that according to the book, she should be about ten pounds heavier. Still, she was going to see her doctor in two days and she'd have him run the full gamut of tests to see what exactly the deal was with this not-gaining weight business.

She grabbed the bowl of pretzels and dip and went through the swinging door into the living room and stopped short when she saw the people there. They were her girlfriends, her staff from the store, and of course Donna and Brooke were there. Each one had come for her, not because of her looks or her money, but because of the little person she was creating inside of her. They brought gifts they thought she would need or use, or just simply because they thought she'd like them. Jackie felt the tears well up in her eyes, didn't bother trying to fight them. Already her baby was taken care of, and it wasn't' even born yet; how could she not love this tiny little one when already he or she was bringing her so much joy?

"Speech, speech," Donna said, clinking a spoon against her punch glass.

"Donna it's not a wedding."

"Don't care, you made me talk at my shower for Pat."

Jackie placed her hands on her knees to help give leverage to stand up. Then suddenly everything seemed to go grey around the edges of her vision; she took to tumbling steps to the right. Jackie tried to steady herself but the world seemed to swim away in black and white. The last thing she heard was Donna yelling for Kitty to call an ambulance.

----

Hyde burst into the emergency room, face bright red from the December wind. He looked around wildly before he saw Donna waiting for him; he raced over and grabbed her in a tight hug before they marched double-time down the hall to the elevators.

"What happened?"

"She fainted at the baby shower, and we brought her to the hospital. She came around once in the ambulance and asked for you."

Hyde felt his throat swell shut with emotion as they stepped onto the elevator. "The baby?" was all he could manage.

"The baby's fine, she didn't fall, I grabbed her in time," Donna reassured him, and thank God she'd been sitting beside her friend, otherwise that would have been a whole different conversation they'd have been having. She saw this news wash over Hyde in a tsunami wave of relief and nearly cried herself when she saw him press the heels of his hands to his eyes, his shoulders giving one big heave before the elevator dinged open.

They stepped off on Jackie's floor and walked down the hall to her room. Donna stopped Hyde outside her door. Thankfully, before Hyde could storm in on the white horse he denied he'd ever ridden in on Kitty stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

"Oh, Steven, thank goodness." Kitty embraced him tightly before giving him the lowdown on his wife's condition. "The baby's fine, there was no disruption, but they are concerned about Jackie's size because she's so tiny. They've got her sedated so she can get some rest and her doctor hooked her up to an IV to get some fluids in her."

"Okay, okay," Hyde said, dragging his hands through his hair. "Can I see her?"

"Of course honey."

Hyde gently shoved open the door, but nothing could have prepared him for the sight of his wife hooked up to tubes, wearing an oxygen tube around her nose. Her usually glowing caramel coloured skin was pale as chalk, her baby bump poking up like a basketball under the blankets. He went to the side of her bed, pulled up and chair and took her hand as he sat down as she murmured something unintelligible. Hyde had heard her like this before; she wasn't really awake, she was muttering at the noises around her. For all her talking and jawing, Jackie Burkhart had one excellent set of ears.

"Hey Jackie," he said gruffly, hoping he didn't make too much noise.

"Steven," she mumbled sleepily.

"I'm here, baby, right here."

"So sorry."

"It's okay, you're going to be fine. The baby's fine." Hyde kissed her forehead, not liking how clammy she felt.

Doctor Morgan stepped into the room then, a solemn look on his face that had ice forming in Hyde's gut.

"Hey doc, so what's the deal?" Hyde asked nervously.

"Well the baby's in no danger, heartbeat is good and strong, but I'm concerned about Jackie's health. She hasn't gained a proper amount of weight for someone her size that is about to give birth. I am going to recommend a month of bed rest so that she can limit her exertions to the absolute minimum."

"So what does that mean, exactly?"

"The only times she should be out of bed are going to the bathroom, and the appointment I'm scheduling for her in two weeks from Monday. I'll give you a moment alone, but I just wanted to make sure that I gave you this information so you can discuss it with your wife when she wakes up."

"Okay, well, if you need anything I'll be right here." Hyde gripped Jackie's hand tightly. "I'm not going anywhere."