Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Author's Note: Hello everyone! How are you? Hope you're doing well! I'm very sorry about the slight delay in getting this next chapter up, I got busy and side tracked with starting work again. The good news is today I have for you the new chapter! I hope you all enjoy it! It may seem like a filler chapter and it kinda is but I'd much rather call it a set up chapter, maybe? Thank you all for the incredible support and encouragement you've given this story it really does mean so much, your reviews and kind words always bring such a smile to my face, thank you! I really am so glad that you're enjoying the story! Thank you so much for stopping by to read, if you have the chance to review please do, even if you haven't reviewed any of the other chapters. It's okay! I'd love to hear from you! Thank you to all of you who have also added the story to your alerts or favorites and a very big thank you to you readers who have added them and also reviewed too. Thank you! Hope you like, thanks for reading, hope you like, please review, thanks for all the support, and as always, please, Enjoy!

The basement had fallen into silence. It wasn't the warm, no words needed kind of silence either, it was the kind that was tense, uncomfortable, the kind where people wanted to talk but didn't know what to say; and it was all because of the Zen-Off going on between the two people who currently sat on opposite ends of the room.

Hyde in his plastic seat, Jackie on the lawn chair, and everyone else stuck literally in the middle squeezed together onto the beat up old sofa.

At first they had tried to end this little showdown by trying to engage Jackie or Hyde in conversation but that had not gone well. If anything it gave the two a different category to try out-Zen the other in. Each gave responses that were one word or less. Donna had even tried so much as talking to Jackie about shoes but all she got in response was an aloof, 'Cool.'

When it became obvious that neither Hyde nor Jackie were interested in talking, the remaining group had tried to carry on without them but that was easier said than done.

Sitting silently without either of the two saying anything too other, the pair were hard to ignore. It could be in a middle of a conversation or game and someone would look over their shoulder to check on the silent two, making sure neither one of them had disintegrated into a pile of angry dust…but they were probably too stubborn to even do that.

Jackie was sure that Hyde was just waiting for her to crack and Hyde knew Jackie was waiting for him to cave; however, neither was ready to give the other the satisfaction. Both were positive they could out-Zen the other. Hyde had mastered the art of Zen long ago but Jackie had been taught Zen by the master himself and had seen a lot of it firsthand when they were dating. She was planning on putting all of what she'd seen, all that had annoyed and even sometimes even hurt her, into very good use now.

About an hour into the Zen showdown, the others found themselves all seated together on the old couch and pretended to watch some of the mystery dramas playing in primetime. None were as riveting as the show happening before them. Perhaps because at the end of the dramedy program things would work out just fine and dandy for the main characters but when this Zen faceoff between Jackie and Hyde ended—if it ever ended—there was no guarantee of any kind of happy ending.

Currently the TV set played the local news but the focus remained on Hyde and Jackie. The only person who seemed bored with the whole ordeal was young Betsy who had fallen asleep in her mother's arms several minutes ago.

Hyde and Jackie just sat there ignoring the others and more importantly each other. On the outside they looked cool and collected but inside, their friends worried that the pair had been simmering too long and would both be reaching their boiling points causing them explode all over the place.

"Aye! Do something already!" shouted Fez, no longer able to take the suspense.

The Zen pair remained unfazed, starring ahead at the screen on the television.

"You know," Donna felt less and less anxious and much more agitated with the behavior of these two. "I never thought I'd say this but I think I liked it better when you two were fighting."

Eric nodded beside her, "Things definitely made more sense before the start of your creepy and unnatural relationship."

"I liked it better when they were kissing," Fez spoke up, his smile earning him a few odd looks. "Their kisses were not only filled with great passion but also great love. When they kissed it was more than just a kiss. It was like they were breathing each other in, needing the other in order to survive."

All eyes and crumpled brows were focused on the foreigner, including Jackie and Hyde's.

He shrugged, not embarrassed by his observations, "It made them very sexy."

Most of the furrowed brows sunk and scrunched up with even more with disgust, some at the idea of Hyde and Jackie kissing being sexy and some at the thought of Fez having watched them kiss and thinking it was sexy. Hyde even considered putting a pause on his Zen so he could frog the guy on the arm, but their policeman friend spoke up and saved Fez from the hit.

"Yeah, well, I'm with Eric. I liked it better when they were fighting, back before they even got together in the first place." Kelso relaxed against the back of the sofa, recalling the memories with a grin. "Cuz, that meant me and Jackie were the ones makin' out."

Brooke kept her temper in check only because of the little girl nestled in her arms, "Excuse me?"

"What? It was…like way before I met you," he tried to justify. "And Jackie's a good kisser…but you are too! Guys, help me out here."

"Oh yes, Jackie is a very good kisser," Fez was eager to agree, happy to remind them that he had kissed Jackie before.

Kelso looked over at Jackie's other ex-boyfriend, "Hyde?"

When Jackie heard Michael call to Steven she shyly peeked at him from the corner of her eye, curious to see what kind of response he'd give. Only Hyde didn't give much of any kind of reply. He was still left with the uneasy feeling from the memory of Jackie and Fez briefly being a couple; all he could manage was a grunt.

"Eric?"

"Sorry man, afraid I can't help you with that one," Eric didn't sound too sincere in his apology. "Since I've never had to endure a kiss from the devil herself."

Eric laughed at his words but was only one who found them funny. Jackie was sending up a clearly very annoyed look but it was the way Donna had lifted a questioning eyebrow and folded her arms over her chest that made Eric's chuckle fade off.

"What's that supposed to mean?" his girlfriend wanted to know.

His eyes shifted around the room; now he was the one looking for aid. "It means I've never kissed Jackie."

Donna rolled her eyes, "I'm not talking about what you said, I'm talking about how you said it."

"Uh," Eric still wasn't getting it. "In English?"

"Your tone, you dillhole!"

Now Eric was really confused. He thought Donna had been upset that he'd referred to her best friend as the devil or maybe she'd even thought that she was lying about him never kissing Jackie; but she was upset about his tone? Was that even a thing? It certainly wasn't a thing Donna would normally be so upset about.

"I'm sorry, my…my tone?"

Those were the last clear words that were heard before the silent basement suddenly filled with a great chaos of noise. A majority of that noise was coming from arguments happening between couples.

Donna and Eric were fighting over his tone of voice and whether or not it meant anything that was worth fighting over. Brooke and Kelso argued about him talking about kissing other girls and how they were good kissers in front of their daughter—who Kelso promptly pointed out was asleep. Even Jackie and Hyde were still participating in their own quarrel, theirs wasn't as loud as the other pairs' but it was just as angry. Fez was the odd man out but tried to join in by playing a very bad referee wherever he could.

With the basement and its occupants now consumed by flared tempers and buzzing arguments no one noticed the entrance of the person descending the stairs.

"Eric, honey," Kitty eyed the room.

But Kitty's voice was nearly lost in the raised voices of the others in the room. Hyde had been the only one to hear her, mostly due to the fact that she was standing closer to where he was when she called for Eric.

Hyde looked up at Mrs. Forman and was ready to make a comment about Eric being busy getting his man-card revoked but he quickly decided against it when he saw her. She was nervous about something, Hyde could tell. Her hands were wringing together; her eyes were darting around the room but it was like she hadn't even noticed the battle scene taking place in her basement. And the most telling sign was her missing smile.

"Hey," Hyde rose his voice trying to get his friend's attention. "Forman, man."

"What?" Frowning Eric turned his head till he saw his mother. "Oh, hey mom."

Kitty still wasn't making eye contact. "Eric, has your father been down here?"

Eric could also sense something was off and he stole a quick look at his adopted brother before turning back at their mom. "Uh…no, Mom. I haven't seen him since he took off for the store."

By this time the room had quieted down and Eric glanced at the others to see if they'd spotted or heard Red but only received some shaking heads.

"Oh. Okay," Kitty nodded and smiled but it didn't look like the answer had brought her any comfort at all. "Well, you kids go back to your fighting."

When they saw her start to step away from the group the couples slowly went back to their heated discussions but kept their voices at a softer volume than before. However, Jackie watched as Hyde kept his gaze on Mrs. Forman watching her carefully then standing up to follow her.

"Mrs. Forman, everything okay?"

"Huh?" Kitty shook her head from wherever her mind had wandered to and realized Steven was asking her a question that could have only been brought on because of her overreacting. Swiftly, she pressed on a fresh smile. "Oh, yes. Yes, everything is just…just fine!"

Her voice leaked with false cheeriness and if that wasn't bad enough it was soon followed by a very forced, very fake laugh. Kitty really didn't want her kids to worry but the look that her adopted son was giving her told Kitty that she couldn't keep this to herself much longer and if she did it might cause more trouble.

Kitty's shoulders drooped and her smile disappeared. "I'm," pausing she took a breath, "I'm just worried about Red," she admitted, the room around her growing still again. "It's been almost two and a half hours and he still hasn't come back home."

"No offense, Mrs. Forman, but with all of us here, don't think Red was any rush to get back here," Hyde commented; he could tell the woman was worried so he made a lame try to make her smile—the way she did with him.

Based off the faint, but genuine, laugh Kitty gave it seemed like the attempt had worked a tiny bit.

"Yeah, maybe he stopped at a bar or over at my dad's apartment," Donna offered but a frown formed on her forehead before she even saw the other scowls being sent in her direction. "I heard it."

Since Donna attempt hadn't gone too well, Brooke spoke up with her own suggestion of Red's whereabouts. "Maybe he went back to his muffler shop?"

"Maybe," Kitty started to agree but shook her head before she could give the muffler shop another thought; Red wouldn't be there. "No, no. Red would've come home," she insisted. "He should've been home by now. And, and now it's getting darker and there's more snow and the roads are all icy…"

"Mom, mom," Eric was on his feet, walking towards his rambling mother until he could place a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you want us to go out there and look for Dad?"

Instantly Kitty looked up at her son. Her eyes had gone wide and for the briefest of moments Eric was sure that the worry in his mother's eyes had disappeared.

"No, no," she shook her head and smiled weakly. "Honey, it's a very sweet offer but the last thing I need is all of you out there on those slippery roads." Again Kitty's head shook, of course she was worried about her husband but she wasn't about to send her children out on those dangerous roads; she needed to calm down, she could tell she was making the rest of them nervous and maybe even a little suspicious. "I'm sure I'm just being overly paranoid."

Hyde and Eric watched their mother flash them an assuring smile before they simultaneously turned to each other and nodded.

"Let's go."

Kitty was so shocked she was stuck standing in place while the boys grabbed their coats. She finally managed to find her voice at the same time that she recovered the use of her legs and used them to march over to the back of the sofa.

"No, no, no. I said no," she sternly told the two of them.

"Mom, we wanna do this," Eric said in a soft sincere voice. Sure he hadn't wanted to go to the store earlier but his mom was a lot more worried about finding his dad than she had been about getting pork chops from the store. "I'm sure Dad's fine. We'll find him, tell him to get back home, and then you can stop worrying."

Her face softened into another nervous expression. "You'll be careful won't you?"

"Extra careful," answered Hyde while Eric nodded beside him.

"Okay," Kitty drew in a shaky breath. She smiled at her boys hoping the tears she felt sting her eyes weren't yet visible. "Thank you."

"I'm going too," announced Donna, getting up to grab her own nearby coat then putting it on in record time. Before anyone could try to stop her, she made it clear she wasn't planning on sticking around here by asking for information on where to begin the search. "Where did Mr. Forman say he was gonna pick up the pork-chops and stuff?"

The faint smile on Kitty's lips fell as the realization hit her. "He didn't say."

"Well," the word was drawn out by Eric as he looked at Hyde for a plan. "That's not good."

"Wait!" an urgent voice shouted out loud. "There are only two places that sell pork chops. The Piggly Wiggly and Jim's Meat Market."

Everyone had a frown or scowl wrinkled on their foreheads when they heard the statement. It wasn't that the information wasn't good or helpful, because it really was; the surprising, slightly confusing part was the source of where the information had come from.

Jackie glared back at the frowns. "What? I can't know where you buy pork chops?"

"Actually, I'm surprised you even know what a pork chop is," Eric pipped up making Jackie snarl in return.

"Okay, then we'll split up," Donna took charge in a very Fred Jones like fashion. "Eric and I will check one place and Hyde you drive over to the other."

"Oh, oh and the backroads!" added in Kitty, her voice sounded like a cross between urgency and anxiousness.

With Point Place being such a small town there were plenty of backroads that would get a person to where they needed to go without having to deal with too many traffic lights or traffic in general. Less cars on them didn't exactly make the backroads any less dangerous than the bigger roads. They were narrow, dark, often uneven and not well maintained, they were probably more dangerous than the main roads. But for Red Forman less people often weighed out more dangerous.

"Oh, right…"

Donna looked disappointed that her plan didn't look like it was going to work. They now had three places to search and even though the search party was made up of three people, they only had two cars.

As Eric tried to ease his mother's worries by rubbing her upper arm and giving her a small smile, Donna was trying to figure out a solution to their problem but Hyde already had a Plan B in mind—and he was more than ready to start putting it into action.

"Alright, Forman, you and Donna go to The Pig. Kelso can check out the road on the way to the meat market," he barked out orders without even clearing them with the seated Kettlehead. "And I'll check out the backroads."

Like his mom and Hyde, and the rest of the town, Eric knew the dangers of driving the backroads at night. He didn't want Hyde taking them, especially if he was alone; Donna was going with him so Eric thought it would be better if they checked those roads. Besides, this was his dad they were looking for.

"Hyde, man, maybe me and Donna should take the backroads," Eric wasn't stubborn enough to make the words sound like anything but a suggestion.

Hyde on the other hand could be just as stubborn as the man they were looking for. "Forman, man," he started, his tone already saying that he wasn't switching. "Whose wheels do you think can handle those roads better at this time of night? The Cruiser or my Camino?"

"Hey! The Vista Cruiser is…" Eric was prepared to defend his beloved Batmoblie but his speech was swiftly cut off.

"We'll check The Piggly Wiggly," declared Donna, already grabbing her boyfriend's arm and lightly yanking him towards the side door. "Eric, come on."

Eric looked from the persistent expression on his girlfriend's face to the worried one that his mother wore, they both reminded of what was really important at this time. And it had nothing to do with whose car was better.

"Fine," he relented allowing Donna to pull him closer towards the exit but not before he shot out his index finger at Hyde. "But just for the record, the Vista Cruiser could totally kick the ass of your car…truck…no one even knows what that things is!"

A smirk formed on Hyde's lips and it grew when his redheaded friend made one hard yank on Eric's arm causing him to nearly stumble backwards and out the basement door.

With one team already out the door, Hyde worked on getting the rest of them out there; after all, the sooner they went out and found Red, the sooner Mrs. Forman could stop worrying. He patted Kelso's shoulder as he past him while walking behind the sofa.

"Come on, Kelso, man. Let's go."

But Kelso remained seated between his girlfriend and his buddy Fez, never budging an inch. Fez and Kelso both sat with their arms crossed, staring intensely at the TV screen in front of them. One might have thought they were trying to have their own Zen off with the set, because of how much their statures looked like the ones Jackie and Hyde had been in during their stare off; but the reality was they were just pretending not to have heard anything.

"Honey," Brooke lightly elbowed his arm that was closest to her. "I think you should get going."

Like a toddler who'd been told it was time to go to bed, Kelso dropped his head back and practically threw his hands onto his lap. "But I don't wanna look for Red."

"Michael, that's not a very nice thing to say," Jackie scolded her ex-boyfriend the moment she caught the hurt look on Mrs. Forman's face.

"Well Red's not very nice either," fired back Kelso.

"It's true," Fez unsurprisingly agreed with his man-pretty friend. "He was even grumpier than usual."

Kelso never even glanced over at Kitty, he was just happy to have someone who saw things his way. "Yeah! And he blamed me for him almost falling!"

It took a great amount of willpower for Hyde not to reach out and punch the moron. "You pushed him, man."

"I barely touched him!" Kelso insisted once more.

"I'd really appreciate it, boys."

Hearing these words come from Kitty, Kelso and Fez looked over in the woman's direction and saw the sad little smile she was giving them. Mrs. Forman had always been there when they needed her, with advice or yummy baked goods. The two saw her as a second mother to them both…well, maybe not mother but more like a hot older aunt who had married their grumpy bald uncle. And even though they didn't want to go look for their 'uncle' they knew they had to for Mrs. Forman.

"Okay, fine."

"Only for you Miss. Kitty."

Kitty smile grew watching the boys rise from their seats. "Thank you, boys."

"Maybe we'll get a prize if we find Red," Kelso tried to look for a silver lining, exciting Fez in the process.

The idea amused Hyde, "The two of you end up finding Red 'll probably win you a foot in the ass from the man himself."

Fez's hopeful grin became heavy with disappointment. "That does not sound like a very good prize, Hyde."

A smirk and a shrug was the only response Hyde gave. However, the not so promising prize didn't make Fez or Kelso change their minds and they continued their way out of the basement.

"We'll stay here with Mrs. Forman," Brooke called out to Kelso.

It wasn't so much because she didn't want to wake their daughter but more because she really felt that someone should stay here with Kitty to keep her from worrying too much.

Kelso nodded, "Okay."

"Be careful," Brooke reminded after receiving a quick peck on the lips.

With Kelso and Fez climbing up the basement's staircase, that left Jackie and Hyde as the only remaining original members of the basement group. They looked at each other, the moment they realized it was only the two of them left, before they looked away after maintaining eye contact for all of a split second.

Jackie had planned on offering to stay and keep Mrs. Forman company but with Brooke already doing that, it seemed pointless and sort of selfish to offer it now when she could be out helping look for Red. She didn't have any problem with going out to look for Mr. Forman, she was sure someone would find him, but she knew that a problem could easily arise. Keeping this in mind Jackie tried to think of a plan before Mrs. Forman started pairing her and Steven up like they were boarding Noah's Ark.

"Well, I've got my car," Jackie casually slipped in as she got up from her seat. "So I can go check the muffler shop just in case."

"No, oh no, Jackie don't be silly. I don't want you driving out there this late on your own." Kitty's said, she'd already let Red go out on his own and regretted it, she wasn't letting it happen again. "Besides, Red wouldn't go back to the shop, not-not after today."

"Oh," a look of disappointment appeared on Jackie's face but it wasn't for the reason Kitty thought.

Hyde should have made his exit while the conversation was going on. If he'd left, Mrs. Forman couldn't tell him to take Jackie with him. He was mere inches away from the back exit, he should have left; but he didn't. Instead his steps stopped when his attention was pulled back into the room by something Mrs. Forman had said and especially the way she's said it.

Frowning, Hyde prepared to ask her about it but was soon cut off.

"I know! Why don't you go with Steven?" Kitty came up with that suggestion suspiciously quick.

He really should have left when he had the chance.

Wide eyed both Hyde and Jackie looked at each other, this time keeping eye contact—if only to see which one of them could get them out of this mess.

"Uh…"

"Actually…"

"I don't see any reason why not," Kitty ignored how stumped the two appeared to be and Brooke was biting her lip to keep from smiling. "Can you?"

The older woman's words and the expression on her face made seem like she was challenging the pair and that shook Hyde and Jackie even more.

"Well…"

"Good," Kitty bright smile had somehow found its way back to her lips. "Now neither one of you will have to drive alone. Didn't that work out nicely?"

Unlike Mrs. Forman who seemed to very proud of herself, Jackie nor Hyde looked at all happy.

Jackie held in the urge to roll her eyes, "Yeah, real nice."

Hyde's mind had traveled back to the conversation he'd had in the kitchen earlier with Red and Mrs. Forman. The one where she and Red tried to get him to go back to Jackie's apartment and tell her Red's response to her mouse problem. The one where they, especially Mrs. Forman, insisted that he'd been happy with Jackie and gone on about wanting to see him happy again…

She wouldn't…she hadn't…would she?

"Pretty convenient too," Hyde stated, eyeing his smiling surrogate mother.

Author's Note: So what did you think? Yay? Nay? A little bit of both? Be sure to let me know in a review!

Hope you all liked the chapter and didn't think it was too much of a filler. Don't really have too much to say about this chapter, I'm just hoping that you guys didn't dislike it too much.

Next chapter we'll see Hyde and Jackie out looking for Red, some memories and emotions from the past will be rediscovered, and we'll find out what's taken Red so long to get back home.

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!