A/N: Hey everyone, I know it has been a while since I updated, and I am so sorry! I've been busy with work and school, so I haven't really had the time to do anything as far as updating. The song is 'Ten Years Gone' by Led Zeppelin, and I think this song is amazing! Anyways, please enjoy, review and have fun!

January 1st, 2006 13:42

Jackie sighed, before she turned to him, and said,

"So, what happened with you all these years? What have you been up to?" Hyde sighed as well; where would he start to explain what had happened? He gulped, before he started.

"Well, after you left, like I said, I started to look for you. I had no idea where you might have gone, but I had to do something. So, I went to the police, and then private investigators, and finally I did the unthinkable and called the FBI. None of it was any help obviously, as I didn't bring you home. The first thing that I did after I went to the police was I bought a house, because I thought you'd be back in a month tops. I looked at about 200 houses before I found the one that I wanted, because it had to be perfect. It was beautiful, Jackie, 2300 square feet, three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms. The kitchen was huge and it was the deal sealer, because the only thing that I could think about was how much fun I would have teaching you to cook." He smiled at the thought, as he doubted that Jackie might need his help cooking now. Then again, he thought to himself.

"I took one bedroom and bought a queen-size bed for it, along with all the matching furniture. I furnished the whole house in about a week, going shopping like a madman, with your voice in my head telling me what you liked and what you didn't. It kinda made me smile, the fact that even though you weren't there, you still were. The last room that I furnished was the nursery, and I covered it in everything that I could think of, from the changing table to the crib to the toys. I went totally crazy with that room, Donna and Eric thought that I was going to be in debt till I was 50. Red was a different story; he asked me once how much I spent on the nursery alone, because he saw all the stuff coming in, and I told him. He almost had another heart attack and I decided not to tell him anything else. I could not wait for the two of you to come home, I even had the nursery taped up with this huge ribbon and bow, and I didn't want to let anybody in to look at the result until you came home. Too bad that day never came, I think you would have really loved everything," he said, the ghosts of the past bringing tears behind his eyes. Damn it, Hyde, keep it together, he thought to himself. Jackie looked over at him, and smiled.

"Steven, I never knew you were so sentimental," she said, giggling. He looked over at her, the Zen totally in place, before he deadpanned,

"Didn't you know that? Hmm, and here I had you pegged as the one who knew me best." She started to laugh again, and he laughed with her.

Then as it was, then again it will be
An' though the course may change sometimes
Rivers always reach the sea

Hyde did a double take when he heard the first few words; Jackie had Led Zeppelin on here?! What the hell?! He looked over at her, and said,

"Jackie, is this 'Ten Years Gone'?" She smiled at him somewhat sheepishly, before she said,

"Yeah, this is one of my favorite songs. It always reminded me of you." He sat back in the seat, in complete shock. She still loved Zeppelin, even after all these years. She said that it reminded her of him, and when he thought about it, it reminded him of her too.

"Jackie, I haven't listened to Zeppelin in about 10 years." She looked over at him, shocked.

"Really? Why not?"

"I don't know, after Donna and Eric convinced me that I would never find you again, I kinda stopped listening to them. It was too painful to listen, it reminded me too much of you." Jackie smiled at him sadly, before she said,

"That was the only reason I kept listening to them. I know every album by heart." She looked out the window again, and he kept his eyes on the road. They drove for a few more miles in complete silence.

Blind stars of fortune, each have several rays
On the wings of maybe, down in birds of prey
Kind of makes me feel sometimes, didn't have to grow
But as the eagle leaves the nest, it's got so far to go

"So whatever happened with everything, Steven? I mean, do you still own Grooves?"

"Yeah, but not for much longer. I'm selling the whole company to a huge record company who bought us out." Jackie looked over at him, a slight frown creasing her forehead.

"Wait, didn't Angie own half the company? Did she agree to this?" Hyde shook his head slightly; his half-sister was a completely different story, which would take a lot of time to explain, so he decided to give the short and sweet version.

"Angie got married about a few years after you left. She decided to move to L.A. with her husband, where she lives now. She gave up pretty much all her interests in the company to me, except for the stock options, which she held on to. She was the one who suggested that we do the deal, and since W.B. has been in a nursing home since he had a stroke in '99, I just decided to go ahead with it."

"Wait, W.B. had a stroke? Is he ok?"

"Yeah, I guess so, the last time I saw him a few months back. He's partially paralyzed on the right side, but that's not the worst. He has senile dementia, so he's just getting worse and worse. Angie and I decided after his stroke that it would probably be best that he had full-time care, so we put him in the home." Hyde sighed; he didn't like thinking too much about his biological father. Hell, he didn't like thinking too much about anything other than a good time; it was too painful to dredge up the past and all of his sins.

"So, what else happened, Steven?" Jackie's simple question made him snap back to reality.

"Not too much else. About a year after you had left, I hired a few private investigators to try and find you, and of course they came back with the same answer that the police had. They had tried every possible name combination that I had given them for you, and I had no idea what you would have named the baby, so I only had you to go on. I didn't know your social security number, but I assumed that if you wanted to keep yourself out of the loop, you wouldn't even use it."

"You figured right. I knew that if I found a job that needed a social security number, I was totally screwed. So, I kept away from those jobs like they were the plague." Hyde chuckled a little, before resuming his story.

"Well, after about another 5 years I finally got fed up with the police and the private investigators. None of them had found anything anyway, so I decided to go to the FBI after some major persuasion by Red, Kitty, Donna and Eric. I told them all the details that I knew, and they said that the chances of finding you were slim to none, but I held on to the belief that slim meant at least some kind of a chance. Five years later, they came back empty-handed, and I decided to continue on my own, until Donna and Eric finally convinced me that it was totally pointless. That was the darkest day of my life." He still remembered when he had to open the door to the nursery, with its big yellow ribbon and bow still tied around it, and let both Donna and Eric into his sanctuary, the most private room in his house. He remembered that they had both been in shock at the beauty of the room, Donna breaking down into tears when she saw the amount of work that had gone into making a room like this. Eric brought in the toolbox, and went straight over to the crib, putting it down next to it. Hyde barely remembered the next four hours through the tears, and there were still nights that he had gone to that room, bare now of everything that had stood in it for so long, and broken down. He knew he cried for the dreams of the life that he would have had, and for the child that he never even knew. Now, he had found Jackie, and she was as broken as he was. He shook his head slightly; it seemed that life had it out for the two of them.

Changes fill my time, baby, that's alright with me
In the midst I think of you, and how it used to be

"Steven, why did you keep searching for me for so long?" she asked him, her head hung slightly. He glanced over at her quickly, before turning back to the road and saying,

"I don't know, Jackie, I guess I had to. I just couldn't accept the fact that I had fucked up so badly that you would never come back. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that you didn't come back." Jackie sighed, before she said,

"You are not the only one who fucked up, Steven. I did quite enough of my own fucking up. Look at what I've done with my life so far. I guess I'm no better than you, in fact, I may be a whole lot worse."

"Come on, Jackie, it can't be that bad. You have me now, don't you?" She laughed bitterly; it was so ironic that he said things like that.

"Yeah, I have you now. Yay for me! That totally obliterates all the problems I have ever had, because I have you now!"

"Come on, Jackie, don't be like that!"

"Oh, and what am I supposed to be like, Steven? Giddy and happy beyond belief that you found me now, when I am totally falling apart, literally? Yeah, Steven I feel fucking fantastic now!"

"Damn it, Jackie, that's not what I meant!"

"Really? So what the hell did you mean?" Jackie lashed at him, her anger flaring up once again. Steven banged a fist on the steering wheel, before sighing. How could he possibly explain to Jackie what he meant without making himself look weak? No, he thought to himself; tell her the truth, open up to her. He sighed again, before he said,

"All I meant, Jackie, was that I'm glad that I found you, even if it was 25 years too late, even if you are sick and dying. I meant that no matter what happens now, I will stay by your side. That I will do everything in my power to help you and to find Jaimee, so that her mother can see what a beautiful young woman she grew into, so that her mother can stop eating herself alive with guilt. To tell our beautiful little girl that I am sorry that I drove her mother away, that I was sorry that she felt like I had abandoned her in her time of greatest need. That is what I meant, Jackie."

Did you ever really need somebody, And really need 'em bad
Did you ever really want somebody, The best love you ever had
Do you ever remember me, baby, did it feel so good
'Cause it was just the first time, And you knew you would

Jackie looked at Hyde; stared is more like it. She couldn't believe what he had just said. Her mouth dropped open when she realized what he had fully said; he had said that he would stay by her side, no matter what happened. When, oh when, did she deserve to have him back in her life? She couldn't believe that, even after 25 years, he was still willing to take a chance with her.

Through the eyes an' I sparkle, Senses growing keen
Taste your love along the way, See your feathers preen
Kind of makes makes me feel sometimes, Didn't have to grow
We are eagles of one nest, The nest is in our soul

Hyde breathed in deeply; he and Jackie were indeed eagles of one nest. Their childhoods were similar, even though they had been raised on different sides of the track. Their personalities were similar; their tastes in many things were also very similar. Hell, when he thought about it, they were the flip side of the same coin. One side new and shiny, the other rusty and dirty, but both had the same internal flaw. He sighed, and he turned to Jackie, who was still in utter shock at the words that had issued from his mouth.

"Jackie, I meant what I said." She blinked a few times, before her face softened into a sad smile.

"I know, Steven. I know that you really meant what you said." He smiled at her, and turned back to the road. Jackie stretched out her legs a little, bringing her arms up over her head. Hyde saw this move out of the corner of his eye, and he felt something stir deep inside of him; to be more correct, something in the region of his loins. He looked Jackie over through the corner of his eye, noticing that she was still lean. He sighed, knowing that she still had the power to overwhelm him with her body. That small movement, innocently done, stirred something within Hyde that he had thought died years ago.

"What, Steven?" Jackie asked, caught in the pose. Hyde glanced over at her, before swallowing several times. He cleared his throat, and said, his voice gruff,

"Nothing, you just look… I mean, damn Jackie, are you doing that on purpose?" Jackie looked at him blankly for a second, before she blushed furiously. She immediately straightened up, her cheeks crimson, before she giggled uncomfortably.

"Sorry, Steven, I didn't mean to do that on purpose. I'm just cramping up from sitting for so long and-" She stopped, suddenly deeply uncomfortable. She self-consciously crossed her arms over her chest, and stared out the window. Damn it, Jackie, she thought to herself, can't you get rid of the slut for even one day?

Hyde looked over at her when she stopped talking and saw that she was uncomfortable. He sighed, before he said,

"Jackie, look I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's just… I haven't seen you in 25 years, and you're still as damned sexy as you were then. I know that you did that to stretch, but damn woman, don't you know what kind of hold you have on me?" Jackie looked over at him, slowly uncrossing her arms, before she said, in a soft voice,

"Really? Still?" He glanced at her again, a smile on his face, and he said,

"Hell yeah, woman." Jackie smiled back at him, and he noticed how her smile lit up her face, seeming to soften her features, bringing back the face of the woman that he fell in love with.

Vixen in my dreams, with great surprise to me
Never thought I'd see your face the way it used to be
Oh darlin', oh darlin'

Jackie looked over at Hyde, her heart pounding. The smile was still plastered all over her face, and she didn't mind. She didn't care that with that smile she was wearing her heart on her sleeve; hell, he had just done the same. She snaked her hand towards his, giddiness building up inside her when she saw that he opened his hand and took her small hand in his. She squeezed his hand lightly and he squeezed hers back, turning towards her at the same time, giving her a smile. She smiled back at him, and they both looked back to the road, their hands still intertwined.

I'm never gonna leave you. I never gonna leave
Holdin' on, ten years gone
Ten years gone, holdin' on, ten years gone