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Author's Note: Hi everyone! How are you? Hope you're doing well! Today I have for you a new chapter of "If You Ever Did Believe" and I really hope you like it! Thank you so, so much for the wonderful and so incredible support you have given this story. All the alerts and favorites and reviews have really meant so much and do a lot to keep me motivated in writing things story, especially when I need it, thank you! *hug* Thank you for stopping to read, I hope you like it and if you have the chance, please do leave a review, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Even if you'd never reviewed before, don't be shy! Thank you again to all of you wonderful readers and reviewers who took the time to read and review the last chapter sorry I sent the sneakpeeks so late, first week back at work and so I've been a little busier than usual. Hope you all like this chapter there's lots of Jackie and interaction with her and two of the stories main characters :D Thank you for reading, please review if you can, thanks for all the amazing support, hope you like, and as always, please, Enjoy!
"Might not be able to keep the lot of you out of my house but at least I can keep my driveway from becoming a damn parking lot," Red commented as he and Jackie strolled out toward the driveway where the lone orange Toyota was parked.
Red had known what he was doing when he got home from the shop and parked his car in the middle of the driveway.
With the car right smack in the center, it meant no other cars could try to squeeze in next to him or worse, behind him. When Eric and Donna had first arrived, Eric had parked the Vista Cruiser behind the foreign vehicle but mere minutes into their visit Red had ordered Eric to park the car elsewhere; he'd been aware of the incoming company Kitty had invited for the gather and didn't want to be trapped without some kind of emergency exit.
As she walked with him towards the driver's side of the car, Jackie could tell by his voice that Mr. Forman was proud of himself but she wasn't quite sure why. She hadn't really heard what he was saying and instead was trying to figure out the best way to bring up the situation she needed his help with.
Did she start with some small talk or just come right out with it? Would she even be able to explain and say the words out loud? Maybe she should have brought a pad and paper with her…
Clink!
Breaking from her thoughts, Jackie noticed that Red had dropped his keys onto the cement driveway but the odd thing was that he made no motion to retrieve them—even though he appeared to be looking right at them.
Jackie watched his seemingly unmoving state with a frown. Maybe he was getting older than she thought and couldn't see where his keys had gone. Deciding she should do him a favor before she asked him for one, Jackie bent down and grabbed his car keys from the spot where they'd fallen by his feet.
"Thanks," his mutter was barely audible as he reached his right hand for the keys; however, one quick clearing of his throat and Red's voice was back to its strong gruff tenor. "So, what's your problem that you needed to talk to me about?"
"Well, it's not really a problem with me…it's more like a problem with my apartment," she started to say, realizing that it had to be her apartment's fault for letting the little tenant into her place. Jackie pressed on, hoping the older man would understand her dilemma without her having to actually say the M-word. "You see I have something there that I don't want in there and I'm having trouble getting it out of my home."
"Join the club," muttered Red.
Quickly the brunette shook her head, "But Mr. Forman, my problem isn't a group of people like yours is. It's more like…an infestation!"
Red looked up from the car door her was unlocking to give Jackie a look, eyebrows raised up seeming to asked, 'What do you think I've been dealing with all these years?'
A heavy sigh left Jackie's lips when she saw his expression. Was he really going to make her say it? And what's worse, was he comparing her and her friends to a couple of mice? Jackie Burkhart was no mouse!
"It's a pest!" her voice was loud and un-mousy.
Pulling open the car door, Red frowned at Jackie. "If it's the foreign kid you can forget it," he declared, a shaking raised palm lifted in front of him. "I'm not helping you keep him out of your place because the more he's over at your home the less he's here at mine."
"It's not Fez, Mr. Forman," she sounded sadder; she was gonna have to say it out loud. "It's…it's…"
"It's a mouse," the older man finished for her.
Jackie's apprehension suddenly turned into amazement, "How'd you know?"
Though she'd asked the question, Jackie really wasn't too concerned with finding out the answer. She was just relieved that he had figured it out without her having to say the words of the actual problem. It was like Mr. Forman had read her mind, they were so in tune with each other. This had to be why she was his favorite.
"Steven told me," Red replied, nixing the telepathic theory Jackie had begun thinking.
With her hands down at her sides, Jackie clenched her fists so tightly she could feel her freshly painted nails digging into her palms, "Steven told you?"
"Yeah," nodded Red, his eyes averted downwards and his right hand joined his left in the opposite pocket of his jacket before he looked back at Jackie, a new frown on his face. "And he was supposed to pass on this message to you but since you're here, I'll tell you myself."
The young woman stared back expectantly; trying to keep her anger in tact until she saw the man who deserved to face it.
"I'll stop by your apartment Saturday to check it out," he caught his slip up the moment it happened. "Crap, I mean Sunday. I'll be there Sunday."
Relief filled Jackie once again and she threw her arms around Red, not surprised—or at all bothered—when he didn't make any effort to hug her back.
"Oh thank you, Mr. Forman!" She gushed and when felt a stirring push from the hands Red had trapped in his pockets, Jackie knew it was her signal to end her hug. "And you really think you can…help me with my problem?"
"Got rid of those damn squirrels that kept coming up in our yard, didn't I?" Red's smug smirk answered his own question.
A smile grew even further on Jackie's lips, "Thank you, Mr. Forman for helping me with this…little problem. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take care of a rat problem."
Just as Jackie marched her way back into the Forman kitchen, Kitty was walking outside to the driveway with a single sheet of yellow paper. The older woman gave a small smile to the passing girl but Jackie walked right past it. Her mind was set on her mission and there was no stopping her.
Luckily, Kitty didn't seem to mind being unnoticed since she too had her own task to worry about.
"Okay Red, here's the list. It's just a few little things we need," she explained, approaching her husband and handing him the paper; however, when Red made no move to take the list her stomach twisted. "Are you sure you feel up to going?"
"Kitty, I feel fine," Red argued but even his gruff delivery did little to ease Kitty's mind.
She pulled her thin sweater tighter around her. "You know, maybe I should go with you."
Red scowled when he heard the suggestion. "Kitty, we can't leave these dumbasses alone in our home, they'd burn the place down."
"But…"
"It's just a quick trip to the market, Kitty," he reminded in a tone of voice that was firm and yet still soft—he knew he couldn't blame her too much for how she felt. "You don't have to worry about me so much."
"Well it's not just you that I worry about," Kitty argued though meekly. "The roads are icy and they're calling for more snow and you aren't the only one out there on the road, you know. There's other drivers…and animals. You could hit a deer or be hit by a deer! I mean you just…you never know…"
His wife's overactive imagination made Red chuckle lightly, "Kitty, I'll be fine. I'm going to the store not off to war."
Finally, Red made his move to grab the list Kitty had written out for him. He took the sheet of paper out of her grasp and that's when she saw it.
"Red…"
Furrowing his brow, Red scanned over the listed items. "It's fine, Kitty."
Kitty shook her head; she was not arguing over this. "I'm going with you."
"I don't need a damn babysitter!" Red growled, his eyes off the paper and now boring back into his wife.
At first Kitty was startled, so much so all she could do was stare at him with wide eyes. It had been sometime since he'd raised her voice at him and the last time had been for a similar reason. And that's when Kitty realized Red was right. He didn't need a babysitter and it was important to allow him to remain independent while he still could be.
"Okay," her head nodded slowly. "Just…just promise you'll be careful?"
Red gazed into Kitty's pleading eyes looking back up at him. He was glad he'd finally gotten his message across to her but did feel more than a little guilty for raising his voice at her the way he had. "If you promise to stop worrying so much."
She pushed on a tight smile, "I'll try."
"That's my girl," Red grinned back at her.
It took everything Kitty had to keep her smile in place when Red placed his hands on her shoulders then stooped down to press his lips to her forehead before he climbed into the driver's seat of the Toyota.
0o0o0o
Down in the basement on the old TV set played another old rerun of Three's Company while Hyde sat in the plastic chair with his arms crossed over his chest, Eric and Donna cuddled on the sofa, and Brooke sat nearby as she flipped through an old forgotten magazine. Kelso and Betsy were behind the old couch, searching for a board game to play—Fez had been helping them until he found some old candy he'd somehow left behind and was currently consuming the lost treasure.
It felt just like old times!
Even the angry footsteps bounding down the wooden staircase rang just as familiar as the catchy Three's Company theme song. However back in seventies the stomps were louder, heavier even…these sounded lighter and had more of a click-clack sound to them.
"Steven," a feminine voice shouted instead of Red's usual booming one, causing everyone to turn their heads and see Jackie standing, hands on hips, at the bottom of the stairway. "How could you tell everyone that I have a mouse in my apartment?!"
When his eyebrows lifted in surprise under his shades, she responded by arching one of her own. Acting surprised was not going to help him, she wanted answers now. Jackie's fiery eyes were zoned in on Hyde, she never saw the eyes widen and jaws drop around her but she certainly heard some of the shock filled exclamations.
"What?!"
Eric had on the biggest grin, "You have a mouse?"
"No way!"
"Lucky!" Kelso's shout held more envy than shock.
Jackie's own eyes began to grow big as she gradually looked around the room at the waiting eyes on her. She couldn't speak, she was too startled, humiliated, and most of all terrified. Had she just made her biggest fear come true herself?
"I didn't," Hyde spoke with a smirk that was much too happy, dancing on his lips. "But you just did."
"Ugh!" Jackie cried in distraught, her hands came flying off her hips and up to cover her face as she dropped herself onto the old duct taped arm of the sofa.
"Jackie," Donna felt bad for her friend but at the same time couldn't help but feel curious too. "Do you really have a mouse in your apartment?"
Slowly the raven haired beauty peeked out a sad left eye, "No…" her hand muffled behind her palms.
"Yes, she does," confirmed Fez, throwing Jackie's claim out of the water. "His name is Mighty."
"Fez!" hissed Jackie, ripping her hands off her face.
The foreigner did not see his mistake, "What? You would not give him a name, so I gave him one."
With his brow furrowed, Kelso and Betsy joined the others at the sofa. "So his name is Mighty the Mouse?"
"No," Fez sounded a little too serious in his reply. "He has no middle name."
Hyde turned his head to look at Jackie again and despite—or was it because of—the embarrassed state she remained in, he looked over at Fez; an amused little smirk growing on his lips. "Huh, just Mighty Mouse?"
"Yes, Mighty Mouse. Mighty Mouse…" it was until he said the name a second time that it dawned on the foreigner, why the name had sounded so familiar. "Oohh Mighty Mouse!"
"Man that's awesome!" Kelso was grinning with wonder from where he was perched on the back of the old sofa.
However, not everyone had joined in on the conversation of Jackie's new little friend. One person in particular was having an enormously difficult time adding something to the topic…better yet, an enormously difficult time deciding what to add to the topic.
"Too…many…burns…" Eric strained, both his hand holding the sides of his head like had a headache. "They're all coming in at once…I can't pick one but…Must burn…Jackie…"
Eric's 'struggle' was found to be quite amusing to the guys who laughed and bobbed their heads in agreement, but the girls in the room didn't share their sense of humor.
Sharp daggers were glared from Jackie's brown eyes and straight to the former twig of a man, she could just smack him! And then, as if she'd read her best friend's mind, Donna angrily shoved Eric shoulder. While thankful, Jackie also wondered why the redhead hadn't used her lumberjack strength to shove Eric even harder. That thought soon turned into the idea of seeing if Donna would kick Steven's butt for her.
"Is it…is it just the one mouse?" Brooke asked cautiously.
Jackie's glare diminished. Maybe she could say that they thought a mouse had been seen but nothing was official yet? It was risky since Hyde and Fez had been there when the furball made his appearance, but it was worth a try. She smiled and opened her mouth to start her explanation.
"Yes," Fez was once again acting like her publicist and answering all questions directed at her. Nostril's flared a bit as she thought up her plan on how to "thank" Fez for being so generously helpful.
"But he is an evil mastermind…not like the real Mighty Mouse," continued Fez. "He has the strength of many…like the real Mighty Mouse though. He is fast and has dark evil eyes with sharp teeth…" Fez animatedly gave more feature of the creature until he suddenly stopped, having gone too into depth and scaring himself. "Aye, no…"
"Dibs!" Kelso's arm shot up in the air.
Brooke whipped her head to stare at him, "Michael, why are you calling dibs?"
"Oh, cuz that's what you say when you want something," Kelso explained, genuinely thinking his girlfriend didn't know the meaning of 'dibs,' She was an only child who didn't have to share or fight over anything; she probably got everything she wanted.
Shaking her head, Brooke was not smiling. "I know what 'dibs' means Michael. Why are you calling dibs on a mouse?"
"Cuz I want Jackie's mouse," Ignoring Jackie groan Kelso scoffed at the others in a 'Can you believe this?' kind of way; he looked back at Brooke, "Are you sure you know what 'dibs' means?"
"Honey, why do you want the mouse?"
"For a pet for me. And Betsy," he tacked on the last two words, making his little girl smile brightly.
"Michael, a mouse isn't the right pet for Betsy. Or for you." Brooke was once again moving her head from side to side and with every twist of her neck Kelso's grin drooped a little lower. "A better bet would be something like…like a dog or…"
"A dog?" Kelso suddenly got a second wind. "We can get a dog?!"
The outfaced palm went unnoticed, "I didn't say…"
"Baby, you're the greatest!" he smacked a kiss on Brooke's cheek before swooping his gleeful daughter in his arms. "Betsy, we're getting a puppy!"
While father and daughter cheered and happily high-fived each other, Brooke silently watched the celebration while her mind revved with thoughts that tried to trace back the exact moment she'd lost control of the conversation and agreed to get a dog.
"Well Steven, I hope you're happy," Jackie suddenly spoke up, her arms crossed over her chest. "Now everyone knows about my situation and Brooke is gonna be stuck picking up dog poop, all thanks to you."
There was just a slight indent on Hyde's forehead, "Me? You're the one who told 'em."
"Only because I thought you had," reminded Jackie with a pointed index finger.
"Look," Eric spoke up with he started to feel the unwanted tension between the former lovers. "You're making this into a bigger deal than it really is, Princess Cinderella."
When the use of the Disney character's name didn't cause the uproar of laughter he was expecting, Eric looked around the room to make sure they had heard him. The expressions on everyone's faces seemed to show that they had heard his words but didn't quite understand or approve of them.
"You know…" he started to explain, smiling in hopes that they'd mirror him. "Cuz of the mice!"
No one appeared very impressed.
"Already used that one, man," Hyde was quite pleased to inform.
"Oh come on!" Eric exclaimed, disappointed in himself for picking out—from all the others he'd come up with—a burn that had been done before.
Ignoring her boyfriend outburst, Donna turned to her best friend. "Eric's right, Jackie. Having a mouse at your place isn't that big of a deal."
"Maybe not for you, Donna. You actually like gross little things, I mean look at who you're dating!" Jackie gestured at Eric who was not happy about being burned by the person he'd just previously failed to burn. "But for me, this is a very big deal."
"Ironic, since you know, the thing is actually really small," Eric's quip only got crickets, upsetting the young man all over again. "Oh come on, this is funny stuff people!"
Jackie wasn't paying any attention to Eric or his attempts to burn her, she just glared at her ex-boyfriend. He could try to blame this on her all he wanted, and in truth maybe she shared a small sliver of fault, but none of this chaos in the basement would have happened if it weren't for him.
"I told you not to tell anyone," she reminded, teeth gritted.
She may have been fuming but Hyde kept his cool. "I didn't tell anyone."
"You told Mr. Forman," Jackie declared, shooting out her seat as she did so. "And even though he falls under the category of old people, he's still people!"
Hyde shifted in his seat, arms defensively remaining folded over his chest; he didn't feel like he owed Jackie any explanation but knew she wouldn't shut her trap until he gave her one. "Look man, the only reason I told Red and Mrs. Forman…"
"Mrs. Forman knows?!"
Based off the brunette's tone, Hyde figured she hadn't learned that details just yet. "She was there when I told Red," he explained though he didn't get why Jackie was so surprised or upset, The Formans were pretty much one person. If Kitty hadn't been there when he told Red, she would've learned about Mighty Mouse sooner or later.
"But listen," he continued, his voice becoming serious and perhaps even sincere. "The only reason I went and told Red was cuz I know your stupid vanity and pride would keep you from telling him or anyone else about the rodent. Then you'd end up getting me to help you take care of it." He grumbled, keeping to himself the worst case scenario where she took matters into her own hands and ended up putting herself in harm's way with an apartment full of toxic fumes and rat poison.
"Well that just shows how well you know me, because the only reason I know that you told Mr. Forman is because he told me after I told him about it." It was like Jackie's chin rose more and more with each word she spoke.
He'd be lying if Hyde said the statement hadn't shocked him; of course, that didn't mean he had to show his shock. "Guess I misjudged you."
"Yeah," Jackie agreed before muttering, "And it wouldn't be the first time."
"What's you say?" he asked, frowning and looking right at Jackie.
She pretended like she was surprised and hiding a secret, "Nothing."
"Fine," said Hyde. If she wanted to play these dumb games she could play them by herself, he wanted no part of them and so her reverted to what he did whenever he didn't want to be part of something, "Whatever."
His Zen reply made Jackie's eyes grow bigger; how dare he try to Zen her out! "Oh no, no, no, no. No, Steven, you don't get to be the 'whatever' me in this situation. I get to 'whatever' you!" Then she realized how un-zen she was acting and toned it down as she sat herself on the lawn chair across from Hyde; copying his stance with both arms crossed over the chest and gaze fixed on the TV set.
"Whatever," Hyde replied like he hadn't been watching her.
The gang's eyes volleyed from Hyde to Jackie, staying on her waiting for her next move, but remembered her Zen teaching and ignored them too.
All she said was, "Whatever."
Author's Note: So what did you think? Yay? Nay? A little of both? Lemme know in a review!
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, told you things were gonna start picking up a little faster—and this is just the start of it. In the next chapter we will see how Hyde and Jackie are doing with their Zen showdown. We'll also see how Red's trip to the store is going, if there really was cause for so much worry from Kitty. And will Kitty take the time to tell the kids what's going on with Red while he's out of the house?
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, and have a nice day!
