The Morning After… what?
Chapter 10 – Live From New York.
A/N: You all are amazing! I can't get over the brilliant reviews for the last chapter, so thank you, thank you, thank you! There are many questions I know you all need answered. Like, why is Jackie so mean to Hyde if he convinced her to go to rehab? Why is 1989 Hyde such a drunken mess when he appeared to be doing well when he was with Jackie in that last flashback? I'll do my best to answer.
Just to remind you all, there is a Best of Zen fanfic contest going on over at fanforum dot com and we could really use your help in making this contest worthwhile. What better way to show writers' your appreciation by adding their stories to your list of favourite all-time (well, since 9/04) JH stories? Besides reviews of course, but if you have already done that, then just PM luvcali76 with your list.
Thanks.
Disclaimer: Own nothing.
Warning: Language.
Previously…
Jackie held his hands against her cheek, knowing that she had to let him go if she ever wanted to feel this again. "You have to leave."
Hyde patted her butt. "Good girl." Jackie laughed, her breath catching. She let her eyes fall closed as he caressed her face one last time, traced his thumb delicately over her lips, and nuzzled his nose in lovingly her hair.
When she opened her eyes, he was gone.
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MADISON
FORMAN HOUSE
"Ow!" Hyde moaned. He smoothed his hair down from the mess his pregnant ex-friend had just caused. "I thought pregnant women were supposed to take it easily?" he exclaimed angrily.
Donna stuck her hands on her hips defiantly and stared him down with her ¾ inch height advantage. She took a menacing step towards him. "Listen here, Hyde." Hyde sank down on the couch in an infantile manner with his arms tightly crossed and a scowl etched on his face. If Donna wasn't so pissed, she might think he looked adorable. "There is not a chance in hell I am letting you go anywhere near Jackie all by yourself. You're liable to just make things worse than they already are!"
Hyde scoffed. "Yeah, right. Because things are so rosy for us at the moment." Hyde caught Donna's hand this time around and held it millimetres away from his head while she fixed him with a fuming glare. Donna yanked her arm back. Hyde eyes her for a moment longer and when he felt it was safe to let down his guard, he moved off his seat and ran his fingers through his hair tiredly. "Listen Donna, I have to see her and figure all of this out."
"I know," Donna replied matter-of-factly. Hyde stared at her, bewildered. Noticing his baffled expression, she rolled her eyes amusedly. "Like I said. You're not going anywhere near Jackie by yourself." She folded her arms smugly. "Which is why, I called reinforcements."
Hyde's lips turned up into a nervous smile while his mind drifted to what she could be keeping from him. "Who?"
They both jumped when the living room door blew open with a clumsy thud.
"I just saw a cat and a mouse doin' it on the porch and the mouse exploded!" Kelso yelled, gesturing manically.
Donna turned her attention back to Hyde and grinned. "The King."
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Hyde shot off his seat.
"Kelso?" he exclaimed. "You called Kelso to help? The guy who once wrote a term paper on whether it's Macaroni and Cheese, or Cheese and Macaroni?"
"Heyyy," Kelso drawled defensively. "That baby got me a D+!"
"Yeah, for 'Doofus Maximus'," Hyde sniggered. But Kelso was too busy chasing the back of his coat to pay any attention to Hyde's timeless burn. By being lifelong friends with Kelso, Hyde and Donna had developed a sixth sense as to when disaster was about to strike and this proved useful by avoiding injury when Kelso tripped over his shoelace, cracked his shoulder off the coffee table and rolled out of sight over the chair and onto the carpet with an earth-shattering thud. Hyde and Donna waited anxiously for signs of life.
A lanky hand shot up with a pained, but muffled voice. "I'm OK!"
Hyde turned to Donna with a strained smile. "Road trip with Kelso." Hyde nodded with pursed lips. "I was right. This is a nightmare."
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Donna chuckled to herself and applied more pressure to the ice pack on Kelso's neck. "Why does it feel like all I do in this little production is clean up after you guys?" Kelso grinned.
"You have to admit, that was pretty funny back there." Hyde laughed, enjoying the lightness Kelso brought to this situation. "What with the arms flailing, and me cracking my head off the floor." Kelso laughed again. "It was like mine and Jackie's first time all over again."
"Kelso…" Hyde seethed, standing from the chair slightly.
Kelso looked obliviously at Hyde and his eyes widened. "Hey! Your sunglasses are gone! And so is your moustache!"
"It was already gone in Madison, you moron," he reminded him angrily.
Kelso's face took on a distant, baboon-like expression as he thought back. "I just you dyed it or something."
Hyde stared blankly at him. "Why would I dye my moustache?"
"I think the question is, why wouldn't you dye your moustache, Hyde?"
Hyde seethed at Kelso for a moment longer before pressing his thumbs into the corners of his eyes. Donna, seeing this, began to have second thoughts as to whether a 'Kelso and Hyde double-team' was really such a good idea after all. It had only been 5 minutes and Kelso had already talked about after-sex exploding mice, dying moustaches, and why Eskimo's can solve the problem of global warming.
"Speaking of which," Hyde began, "What the hell is global warming?"
A slow smile spread across Donna's face as she turned to face Kelso. "Boy, are you going to have a fun trip."
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KELSO'S VAN
"I knew it!" Hyde boomed at the top of his voice. "I knew the power plants were the state's way of increasing air pollution and destroying the O-Zone-" Hyde looked at Kelso for affirmation. "O-Zone, right?" Kelso nodded. "Right, destroying the O-Zone layer so that the ice caps would melt and they could submerge our homes in water." Hyde wrung his hands furiously on the dashboard. "It's all just their plan to keep the rest of the world from finding out the truth."
Kelso never took his eyes of the road or even flinched for fear of making Hyde's distressed state even worse. For, Hyde had just been informed of what he must have by now deemed as the most horrific and destructive governmental plan in the history of Western Society. And if they didn't already have a mission at hand, Kelso would have been more than happy to listen to the infamous rants he had missed so much.
"… and of course they would blame it on he power plants. Shifts the blame onto the Russians." Hyde's theorising was spinning out of control and Kelso had to put an end to it before it put Hyde in some catatonic state. "But we all know that it was really-"
"HYDE!" Two clumsy hands found their way onto Hyde's face and they snapped it around to face their owner. "Start focusing on Jackie," Kelso ordered.
Hyde pulled himself from Kelso's hold, huffing.
"Whatever."
Kelso beamed. "Aw, Hyde! You just whatever'd me! Aw, man, it has been too long!" Hyde turned his head slightly, glaring.
"Jackie, Kelso," Hyde reminded. Hyde slouched back in the seat and stuck his right foot up onto the dashboard, his hands folded over his kneecap. A question, which had been in the back of his mind since Kelso first arrived, was now begging to be answered. "Hey, Kelso?" Kelso grunted, too focused on reading the licence plate ahead of him which had a drawing of a boob on it. "Kelso!" Hyde barked. Kelso jumped.
"Jeez, Hyde. Relax!"
Hyde frogged him. "Then pay attention!" Kelso pouted. "Anyway… why did Donna call you for help?" Kelso laughed, forgetting they had been pissed at each other only a few moments earlier.
"Are you kiddin'? Man, gettin' Jackie back is what I do best!"
Hyde sighed. "Yeah, but I'm not going there to get her back. I'm going to find out what's wrong with her. That's all."
"Please…" Kelso drawled disbelievingly.
"No, Kelso!" Hyde shifted angrily in his seat. "Jackie and I clearly didn't work out even when we got married so what's the point in reliving that shit?"
Hyde's startling outburst left Kelso with only one other avenue of conversation to pursue.
"So, you really don't remember anything?" Hyde barely acknowledged him, which Kelso mistakenly took as a sign to keep rambling. "Cos that's gotta really suck, especially if you can't remember your wedding night! I guess it wasn't all that memorable, huh, buddy?"
Kelso was grinning like a madman but Hyde remained stoic. "Or my bachelor party! You gotta remember the strippers, Hyde! Right?" Hyde's eyes drifted closed. Kelso searched his mind frantically. "Uh, oh! That night we ran over a couple of male strippers and me and you had to go on for them at their show. And we had to wear the firemen costumes! You can't have forgotten that, Hyde."
Hyde sighed and shifted his weight onto his left side, and turned to look Kelso straight in the eye. "No, Kelso." Hyde leaned in another inch. "I don't remember any of it." Hyde moved back in his seat, his gaze never dropping. A sense of unnerving realisation began to settle in Kelso's mind.
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MANHATTAN
OUTSIDE JACKIE'S APARTMENT BUILDING
"Well," Kelso announced, waking the sleeping beast, "this is your stop."
The recently awakened passenger pushed himself up off his seat in a frazzled daze. "Already?" he croaked, and Hyde felt a dull pain at the base of his neck caused from the door handle he had been resting on. Kelso smiled and ruffled Hyde's messy hair, causing Hyde to fight back and smack Kelso in the face with his own hand. "Ow! My eye!"
Hyde yawned and nearly succumbed again to sleep when what sounded like a foghorn went off in his ear. "What the fu- AH!" Hyde clumsily covered his ears when Kelso beeped the device again. Kelso grinned.
"I said we're here, Hyde. God," Kelso huffed, "I'm surrounded by idiocy!"
Hyde smirked. "It's definitely all over you."
"Thank you!" Kelso gawked.
Hyde laughed whole-heartedly and it was only when he climbed out of the car that he noticed it was pitch black and the street was near-deserted. Hyde looked down at his watch. His eyes bulged. "Kelso!"
Hyde flinched when he heard a bang against the car door.
"Ow! My head!" He smirked and stormed over to where Kelso was hanging from the door with one hand and holding his temples with the other. "I think I bruised my brain."
Hyde nodded manically. "I'll say." He shoved his watch as far into Kelso's face as humanly possible. "Tell me what time it says," Hyde commanded. Kelso's eyes grew with what looked like hope.
"You can't tell time either?"
1, 2, 3
"Ow! My nose!"
Hyde stretched out his left hand while Kelso used his to hold his bloody nose. "Damn, Hyde. What did you do that for?" Hyde kneeled down and leaned in frighteningly close to Kelso.
"Because, you moron. It's almost midnight!" Hyde stood up and began walking around in small circles, occasionally pinching his nose, only to be reminded that he was shade-less, hungry and way behind schedule. The frustration was building in Hyde's gut and it started seeping out when he let out a growl and punched a lamppost. He didn't even care about how much his hand was hurting. Especially when he had just wasted a day travelling cross-country with his idiot best friend. "How did a 7 hour road trip take over 12 hours, Kelso?" Kelso shrugged innocently.
"No idea. I followed the map exactly. We took Route 94 to Milwaukee and then the 284 to Chicago; stopped for 4 hours to go to the 'Drive-Thru and Become a Scientologist' window and then we were back on the straight road to New York. But there was some traffic on the last road."
Hyde's teeth were clenched so hard that he thought he would be in dentures before he found out the identity of an icebreaker.
"Kelso…" Hyde started, keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead of him, "stay here."
Hyde reached into the car, pulling out his jacket, and he broke into a jog up the steps of the apartment building until he reached the door, which he quickly found wasn't co-operating with him the way it should. He pulled at it a few more times but it was locked tight.
"You have to be buzzed in!" Kelso called from across the street.
"What?" Hyde called back.
"I said!" Kelso was fully-yelling now. "You have to be buzzed in by somebody that lives here! I'll go around back to see if there's an open door!"
"Well, how do I get somebody to let me in?" Hyde yelled, but Kelso was already out of sight and Hyde was growing aggravated at this ridiculous situation of two grown men yelling questions across a Manhattan road. Hyde ignored draught of warm air which brushed against his body but after seeing what had caused it, he probably shouldn't have ignored it.
"Well, yelling appears to be doing the trick," she teased.
Hyde's eyes immediately lit up and his face broke out into a huge grin.
"Jackie."
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STAIRWELL
"Because I don't like elevators," Hyde barked in response to her question for what must have been the 42nd time since they opted to take the stairs as opposed to the much faster mode of transportation up the 14 floors to Jackie's apartment. Or rather, since he had insisted they take the stairs. He was still reeling from his first experience with elevators during his visit to Grooves Headquarters.
Jackie sighed breathlessly when she saw that they still had another 6 floors to go.
"Whatever. Just as long as you make this visit worthwhile."
Hyde smirked and pulled her flush against him, startling them both. He pressed himself into her back and whispered lowly in her ear. "I can think of a few ways." Hyde could see her smirking, despite the better part of her face being obscured by long, wavy locks. Jackie laced her fingers with his and ducked beneath his arm so that she could remain a few tantalising steps in front of him. Jackie grinned and before Hyde knew what was happening, she turned and bolted up the stairs, giggling out of control. So much for being breathless. Hyde smirked and immediately set after her, using his size to his advantage as he closed in on her within another 2 flights of stairs and latched onto her waist as they tripped and landed on the top of the staircase, Jackie shrieking and Hyde laughing into her shoulder. And the laughter quickly proved contagious
"What the hell are we doing, Steven?" Jackie questioned loftily between breaths. Hyde raised his head to answer when she cut him off. "Better yet, don't tell me." She craned her neck to face him. "It's a dangerous question," she told him with a wicked underlay to her voice.
Hyde let go of the comfortable feeling of being close to Jackie again, and he lifted himself off her body, offering a hand to help her up off the stairs, which she gladly took.
"Thanks," she muttered, suddenly feeling embarrassed at their juvenile behaviour. Hyde nodded silently, sharing in her embarrassment. Jackie waited to see if he would say anything, but she was met with the awkward quiet she had come to expect from this man in recent times. So she turned and jogged up the stairs, this time to put some distance between them, and not to provoke any more dangerous flirting.
Hyde knew he would lose her so he didn't try to rush. Instead, he simply fell back and moved at his own pace.
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JACKIE'S APARTMENT
Jackie had left the door open for Hyde and he took the invitation to enter without knocking or waiting for her permission. He saw her sitting cross-legged on the couch and focused intently on a television special about supermodels. Some things never change, Hyde thought with a smile. She shifted over slightly, giving him just enough room to sit beside her but giving him not enough proximity so that they could 'mistakenly' touch.
"You're not talking," Hyde pointed out.
"Neither are you," she countered.
"And this is news?" Hyde volleyed back. Jackie smiled into the remote control, causing Hyde to smile as well. She turned her head and faced him, her smile apparently dissolved into the concerned expression she was wearing. He waited for her to speak, but to no avail, so Hyde bowed his head, uncomfortable with the way she was just staring at him without saying a word. "I said 'talk' not 'stare until you start creeping me out'." Jackie smiled tightly.
"I'm worried about you, Steven."
Her voice was so overwhelmed with emotion. Hyde shook his head. "Later. Right now we're gonna talk about you." Jackie's eyebrows arched.
"Did I hear correctly?" Jackie sat on her knees. "Does Steven Hyde actually want to hear me talk about myself? Just how much of your memory have you really lost? Because you should know better than to think I won't take an open invitation to highlight my flawless beauty." Hyde laughed sardonically. He knew she wouldn't make this easy on him. Not even amnesic-stricken ex-husbands were worthy of enough of Jackie's total mercy. And now he was going to try and figure out why that is.
"Jackie-"
He was cut off by the doorbell. Jackie held a finger up to Hyde. "Hold that thought." She lurched off her seat and went to open the door without thinking. Hyde's voice stilled her movements.
"Jackie, wait!"
He was a fast mover because she already felt his presence behind her. He grabbed hold of her shoulders and he flipped her around to face him where she saw his slightly angered eyes. "Don't tell me you, a single young woman living by herself in New York, answers the door late at night without checking to see who it is first?"
"No…?" Jackie tried.
"Jackie…"
She held her hands up defensively. "OK, Ok, you're right. I should probably be more careful." She turned back around and cleared her throat. "Who is it?" she bellowed.
"Someone who is freezing his little men off out here."
"Fez," they both agreed. Hyde nodded his approval and Jackie opened the door to see Fez shivering in an Eskimo hat, woolly gloves, red sequined pants, and a pink and purple raincoat.
"Presenting the artist formerly known as Fez," Hyde gestured. Jackie pushed him playfully but her concern remained with Fez. She reached out to pull him into the apartment.
"Honey, come on in." She shut the door behind him and led him over to the couch while Hyde stood in front of the door, staring at the infamous pair. He should be angry about what he found out. That Fez and Jackie had once been an item. But seeing them now, gossiping on the couch, Hyde accepted that he was already over something that had never truly bothered him to begin with. He had almost gone after Donna for exactly the same reasons Jackie went after Fez. She was what he was supposed to go for, but mostly she was safe and trusting. But just as it had once been for him and Donna, Fez and Jackie would never be more than good friends. And the longer Hyde stayed in this apartment with Jackie, the less he found himself believing what he told Kelso; that he and Jackie would never go back to the way they used to be. Especially if she kept exposing her neck like that every time she let out a hearty laugh and if Fez didn't shut up about who had won a contest to go on a date with her. Hyde didn't have time for this.
"Hey, Fez?" he asked, not caring that he had interrupted a conversation. Fez stared up at him expectantly. "Why don't you go to the store on the corner and get us some bread?"
Fez and Jackie looked between each other, neither catching on.
"Bread?" Fez asked, bewildered. Hyde looked to Jackie for assistance but it took several more glances in her direction before she got the hint.
"Oh, bread!" She laid a hand on Fez's. "We really need some bread, Fez. Would you be a sweetie and go get me some?" she pleaded. Hyde smiled. She was pouting. She was 10 years older, but she was pouting.
Fez scratched the back of his hand nervously. "But, ai, it is so late and dark out. Can Hyde not be the one to go? He is much more daring and well formed than I."
"True enough," Hyde piped modestly. Jackie glared at her ex-husband before turning back to toy with Fez.
"But Fezzie, Steven doesn't know his way around. He could get lost or get hit in the shins if he's not careful." Jackie threw a quick smirk in his direction. He smirked back.
Fez huffed. "I suppose." He seethed at Jackie. "But you owe me big time, missy. At the next sleepover, I am to see some girl-on-girl boobie touching or there will be hell to pay!" Fez stood up, throwing a scarf over his neck dramatically. He stormed across the apartment. "Now, Good night!"
"Good night, Fez,"
"Night, Fez."
Fez stopped just as he was about to turn the doorknob, and he frowned disappointedly. "It just doesn't have the same kick to it at night time, does it?" Fez asked sadly. He shrugged his shoulders. "But all good things must end sometime, I suppose."
"I guess so."
Hyde frowned and turned to see that Jackie was staring intently at him, her eyes brimming with sadness. And when the spell was at long-last broken, they each noticed that Fez had left the apartment without their knowing. Hyde walked back over near to Jackie and perched himself on the coffee table.
"Will Fez be alright out there by himself?"
Jackie nodded confidently. "Yeah, this is a pretty safe neighbourhood."
Hyde let out a shaky breath and wiped his sweaty palms on his t-shirt, angry at himself for showing such open signs of lost composure. "Listen Jackie, about before Fez got here." Jackie clicked her fingers, remembering.
"Right, you were about to say something important."
"Yeah," Hyde breathed. "Look, I-"
They were cut off again by a loud bang against Jackie's balcony window. "What the hell?" she screamed fearfully, letting Hyde 'volunteer' himself to go and inspect her balcony and see what had caused the thud. Within in moments, he had brought in the evidence. Hyde shook his head, dumbfounded as he dumped him onto the floor at Jackie's feet.
"I should have known," Hyde gritted.
Kelso tried to stand and nearly lost his balance when Hyde caught him.
"Michael! What were you doing flying into my window?"
"Trying to fly, Jackie! Duh!" Kelso rolled his eyes. "Man, rehab must have made you dumber or something."
Hyde smacked Kelso upside the head; his protective nature rearing its unwelcome head. "Yeah, and it must have made you its official sponsor."
Jackie began pacing around her living room with her arms folded, muttering quickly to herself. "I just don't believe this. It's like I'm being visited by the Ghosts of Boyfriends Past…"
"Uh," Hyde interrupted, drawing her attention onto him, "husband, OK?" he stated with a proud smile. Hyde turned back to Kelso. "So, what are you doing trying to fly? I thought you were gonna go find a door?"
Kelso puffed. "I tried! But everywhere was locked!"
Hyde nodded. "So the next logical step for you was to fly."
Kelso grabbed hold of Hyde's head in his left arm. "You have always gotten me before everybody else, Hyde," he proclaimed.
Hyde played along for a brief moment before the contact became too uncomfortable for him to handle. "That's enough, Kelso. Ke-K-Kelso, I said… KELSO!" Hyde broke out of the hold and he fumed at Kelso. "I said, that's enough."
The three now found themselves with nothing to say and nothing to do except wait patiently for Fez to return with the-
"Oh my God, Fez!" Jackie exclaimed. She threw open the door and the frozen body of a foreigner fell into the apartment and landed on the floor with a great thud. She kneeled down beside him. "Oh Fez, I'm sorry!" She looked tiredly at Hyde. "We were so distracted with Michael that we forgot to leave the door open or listen for Fez."
Hyde scratched at the nape of his neck. "Come on, Kelso. Help me undress him." Kelso's eyes bulged.
"WHAT? Nuh, uh. Not happening, Hyde! I promised you a ride and a pan, a comb, and maybe a cat." Kelso shook his hands. "But I'm not looking to switch teams with Fez." Hyde looked to Jackie for support and she nodded. "Damn, Jackie! Why are you always hitting me?"
"We need to get Fez out of these wet clothes!" Hyde barked.
Kelso looked to be thinking – hence the beads of sweat on his forehead. And then he laughed the laugh.
"Oh yeah. Alright, let's get goin'."
Jackie laughed and Hyde and Kelso carried Fez into Jackie's bedroom, where Hyde surprisingly emerged moments later, having left Kelso to deal with the cleanup because, "I thought we could talk." Jackie smiled sweetly and took him by the hand, leading him over to sit on the couch, no longer fearful of 'mistakenly' touching. He wasn't quite ready to look her in the eye but he still felt as nervous as a 13 year old about to kiss a girl for the first time. His lips dry, his blood racing. Thank God, Jackie had the incentive to go ahead and start first.
"So, you have some questions, right?" Hyde paused for a moment, and then gave a slight downward motion with his head. Jackie sighed. He wasn't going to make this easy for her. "Well, where do you want to begin? What do you remember?" Hyde shook his head.
"No…"
"No? You don't want to talk about that?"
She was pressuring him. She knew that. But he needed her too. She was what kept him from giving up and just letting it be.
"Why don't I just let you ask the questions?" she suggested after the longest silence.
He was so clearly troubled and she wanted nothing more than to help him, the way she hadn't helped him when he needed her back then. Jackie could never stop herself from wondering what would have become of them as a couple if she had taken the time to help him back before all their troubles started. Would they still be here on this couch together? But would they be snuggled up watching Saturday night TV? Her hypothesising came to an abrupt end when Hyde began.
"Donna, uh…" Hyde cleared his throat. "She filled me in on some stuff before I left. And I read your letters to her." Jackie's eyes drooped, not wanting to hear what his opinion of her now was. "I think you were really brave, Jackie." Jackie laughed. "Seriously. You had a problem and you got the help you needed to beat it. I'm…" Hyde lowered his gaze and toyed with his fingers, "I'm proud of you, Jackie."
Jackie bit down hard on her lip, an excruciatingly painful cry forbidden from being released. "Thank you," she whispered. She wiped her eyes. "Do you know what happened after you made me go to rehab?" Hyde shook his head. She smiled sadly. "I turned on you." His hand dropped from hers, though only from shock and not from any sense of betrayal. "You…" Jackie sniffed, "saw me at my worst. And most people would probably be grateful to have that person seeing them at such a bad point and still wanting to be a part of their lives." Jackie hugged her knees. "Bu I'm not most people, and I did not want any reminders of who I used to be. So, I wouldn't let you visit me." She let her head fall into her knees. "I wouldn't let you near me because I was so angry with myself and you reminded me why. And when I pushed you away, I only thought of myself. I never thought of how it might hurt you, Steven."
Hyde nodded. "But I thought you said we broke up because we stopped communicating?"
Jackie blinked. "What?" And then she caught on. "Oh no, Steven! Me going to rehab happened after we had split up. But we were both doing OK on our own-"
"OK?" Hyde teased. "You were Pamela Burkhart: The Next Generation and I was ogling pre-teens." Jackie smirked.
"I said, 'OK', not great."
She cleared her throat again. "Anyhow, I pushed you away and you got angry. Rightfully so, I might add," she chirped in, attempting to appease any possible Hyde-ish responses. And it must have worked because all she was met with was understanding. "And by the time I got out, it was too late. You were drinking and pulling away from everybody…"
"… and that's why Forman was so mad at me." The truth was setting in for Hyde. "He thought I had abandoned you," he admitted somewhat shamefully.
Jackie shrugged. "I can't speak for Eric. But I do know that it was me who abandoned you in the end."
"Why?" Hyde asked, just asking. Needing to know. She shrugged again.
"I was too afraid of being with you again. Of being reminded of my past and where it got me." She leant on her palm. "I never claimed to be the smartest girl, Steven. Only the most beautiful."
Hyde cracked a tiny smile. And as if compelled by a bigger force, Hyde swallowed and began probing into where exactly forgetting her past had gotten Jackie.
"Donna told me," he informed her. Her eyes bugged out. "that I had to talk to you." He smiled when he saw her let out a sigh of relief. "You really need to let me finish a sentence from time to time."
"Sorry," She sighed. "I just, I-"
His hand finally connected with hers again. He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped an arm around her back and using his other to rub soothingly along her leg. "Tell me," he whispered.
She shook her head quickly, tears becoming more and more of a threat.
"I can't,"
He continued rubbing her leg.
"Why can't you?"
She ran a hand along the base of his neck, unconsciously playing with his hair the way he loved.
"Because that will make it real." She closed her eyes, searching for peace. "And terrifying," she admitted.
Hyde lay back on the couch and closed his eyes, still rubbing her leg, and
momentarily releasing her from his forceful gaze.
"Just tell me what it is, baby."
She blew out a breath.
"It's a re-run, that's what it is."
His eyes snapped open in confusion and focused on her, still sitting on his lap, still playing with his hair the way he loved, and still not looking at him. She was looking at the TV instead. A 12 inch, black and white portable TV resting atop a worn old wooden cabinet and surrounded by a decade's old rug, a battered couch, a lawn chair, a freezer, a shower curtain and a torn, white-leather chair which he and Jackie sat on, still in the Forman basement and still together, alone, snuggled up and watching TV together.
"I'll never understand why they re-air old episodes of this show when they know everybody only watches for the sketches. Idiots. Aren't they, Steven?" Jackie heard no reply and looked down at her boyfriend who was enjoying some serious eye contact with the wall. "Ste-ven," she said in a sing-song voice. "Steven!" she barked, this time in all her Burkhart glory.
Hyde blinked, focusing on her. "Uh, yeah?"
"You drifted off there." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Were you thinking about sex?" Hyde cleared his throat, shifting her weight a little of his lap.
"Uh, no. Just had a strange dream." Her eyes sparkled hopefully.
"Ooh. Was I in it?"
"Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!"
To be continued…
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A/N: ducks from being hit by the crowds. I am sure many of you think this is silly and that there is no way this could have all been a dream. Well, it was. And I had this planned from the very start as one of two possible scenarios and it ended up being the winner. I actually did have a dream once where I kept thinking it was all made-up and then I woke up and it was. Now, even if you hated this twist, please let me know so I can try and make it up to you in forthcoming chapters. Believe me, there is a huge point to this dream and it will affect the rest of the story but you will just have to wait and find out how so. Trust me, this has all been done for a very important reason. So, if you liked this, review. If you didn't like it, still review! I have put so much hard work into this story and all of your feedback means the world to me. And don't forget to PM luvcali76 with your 10 favourite Jackie/Hyde stories. Thank you.
Stay safe.