A/N so the last chapter may have seemed pointless if you happen to not care at all about any of my original characters and only want to see Jackie and the rest, if that is the case – sorry? For those of you that agree with my opinion that after the things said in the chapter before it needed explaining – cool! And for everyone, sorry it's a lot of run on information all at once, my only explanation is that I wanted to get the ground covered and move on. So now that it's covered, I get to move on to some fun stuff. Also, I just read what posted and sorry for the typos.

Meanwhile, across town at the Forman residence. (a/n sorry I had to)

Eric and Hyde were sitting at the round kitchen table eating the breakfast kitty sat in front of them gratefully, they'd had a long night and sustenance was appreciated. Red ignored them both while he read his newspaper and drank his coffee because, as he put it – it was too damn early to hear their dumbass crap. This was a respected rule in the Forman home. So when there was an unaccustomed interruption, the three men at the table looked up as one to stare at kitty Forman, who was talking happily into the phone? It hadn't rung, they were collectively sure of that, which meant that kitty had done the unthinkable and called out during breakfast!

Hyde and Eric looked at each other than to Red, sure he was about to blow his top! But he only shrugged disinterestedly and went back to his paper. Leaving the two boys in shock and confusion, who would their mother (Hyde considered this as well) break the sacred silence to call?

"Oh, that's perfect Jackie! I can't wait to see you all! A ha ha ha!" kitty finished with her signature laugh before hanging up with Jackie.

"Why were you talking to the loud one?" Red asked curiously from behind the sports section.

"Well I haven't seen Jackie around in a long time so I called to see if she was doing ok, she told me that she's been spending most of her time with some new friends – and Eric"

Eric froze when his mother's accusing look fell on him, his fork hovered in front of his open mouth while he waited for the inevitable….

"Why hadn't you told us you'd been going to Jackie's house or that she had new friends?!" his mother cried in her guilt inducing tone.

And there it was, "uh….i thought you knew?" Eric tried saying, but his answer lacked confidence and neither of his parents bought it for a second.

"Why wouldn't he tell us red?" kitty asked sadly acting as if neither of her boys were in the room to hear her.

"Because he's a dumbass honey" red consoled her gruffly, giving his son an unimpressed glare.

"Look, I didn't think you'd care!" Eric admitted throwing his arms in the air in defeat.

"Well honey that's just silly, I've always loved Jackie, she's a little loud but I could always tell her heart was in the right place, unlike do- other ladies her age! A ha ha ha ha!" kitty laughed to cover her slip up, which didn't fool anyone but they all chose to let it pass.

"So what did the loud one say kitty? Is she going to stop by?" red asked trying valiantly to hide his interest in the answer. Again neither Eric nor Hyde were fooled but said nothing, Eric looked slightly confused as to why his dad – who could most warmly be described as a hard ass, cared at all if one of the damn kids he complained about was going to visit? Hyde on the other hand had a better idea of how much Red cared about Jackie, he respected her honesty and energy, and was the only one who bothered to look past her carefully constructed shallow façade, while doing so Red had also fostered Jackie's knack with engines. Hyde had often surrendered his girlfriend to help red with a tune up or oil change, and he'd always been privately proud that HIS girlfriend had the Red Forman seal of approval unlike do- other girls her age.

'Good god I've been spending too much time around Mrs. Forman!' Hyde thought suddenly and shook his head to get back on track and hear what she told red about her conversation with Jackie.

"Well I invited them to dinner tonight! Jackie didn't want to ask her friends but one of them was there already and told her they'd be glad to come" kitty gushed happily, she would have one of her babies back for a night and if history held, maybe adopt some new ones?

"How many people is that going to be?" asked red with a frown, he wasn't a fan of too many people sharing his dinner.

"Well, there are you, me and the boys, that's four, then Jackie and her four friends will make nine" she said absently, already planning her menu in her head.

"Uh, mom? Aren't you forgetting the usual ever present guests?" Eric reminded her tactfully.

"oh dear" kitty murmured when she realized Eric had a point, no matter what she or Red said, a certain two always seemed to be there even when it was clearly a family occasion.

Seeing her distress Hyde came to his adopted mom's aid, it meant kind of throwing Jackie under the bus, but he knew she wouldn't be mad once he explained it was for Mrs. Forman, Jackie loved the older lady too.

"Actually Mrs.F, I shouldn't tell you but Jackie got a scholarship to Stanford university and is moving to California in two months, I bet tonight would be a great opportunity for a surprise congratulations/going away party" Hyde suggested casually.

Eric's eyes bugged out "dude! Aren't you trying to get Jackie back someday? She's going to kill you for telling her news without her here" Eric hissed too low for his parents to hear.

"trust me Forman, I have a plan" Hyde assured his friend confidently "the only thing is Mrs. Forman, I'm pretty sure Jackie would want it as small as possible so maybe just for tonight we keep it just her 'friends' and lock the door you know?" he said giving her a strange look that she seemed to understand, but which her husband and son did not.

They didn't understand it, because neither of them knew that kitty had spoken to Hyde privately before Sam left and had let loose some much needed truths on her foster son.

Two months previously, before Jackie met king –

Hyde sat alone in the basement scowling at the re-run on the TV with his shades on and his arms crossed over his chest, kitty found him this way and it was just what she had expected which made her chest ache with sadness for her son. People often mistook kitty's upbeat personality for stupidity or at least naivety, but she was neither and understood most of what went on in her home and she was there for one specific reason.

"Steven honey, are you going to sit alone down here forever?" she began gently

"If I'm lucky" Hyde had replied blankly

Kitty had sighed sadly and sat on the couch across from him, just looking at him and thinking what she could have don't differently to save him from getting so lost? It killed her to see him the way he was – dying slowly from the loss of any purpose he'd had.

"I want better for you Steven, I want to see you happy again like you were with Jackie" she said slowly

"I was miserable with Jackie!" Hyde growled refusing to look at the concern he knew would be on kitty's face.

"No honey, you weren't." she said simply, but immovably, she spoke the truth and wasn't going to allow him to argue fact to sooth his ego.

"So what? It doesn't matter now" he'd grumbled angrily

"It matters honey, it will always matter. How you feel about things matters Steven, having feelings doesn't make you week or less of a man, but hiding from the truth – from life does." She told him sternly, she had already lost her daughter to self-indulgent refusal to face reality, she would be damned if she lost her son too!

"Whatever" Hyde mumbled, uncomfortable with the topic.

"Steven you listen to me right this moment! You are my son and I love you, I will always love you, but watching how you're letting your life go is breaking my heart. You're not living your life Steven, your letting it live you, you've made some bad choices honey but it's not too late to fix them" she assured him gravely

"look, I know you all think letting Sam stay over working it out with Jackie was a mistake, but it's too late to fix it" he told her getting agitated,

"no Steven your wrong, I wasn't talking about your choice with Samantha – although I do think it was the wrong choice, I'm talking about the choices you've made with your friends" kitty explained with a serious expression that brought Hyde up short, kitty Forman loved everyone….didn't she?

"what mistakes did I make?" he wasn't arguing, he was really asking her, if she said something had been a wrong choice he would believe her, his real mother didn't lie to him.

Kitty patted his knee and gave him a wan smile "oh sweetie, which one haven't you made?" she joked with a strain of truth in her words. "for starters, the rest of them might not be aware of it but I happen to know Jackie is your true best friend, when you got shingles in junior year before you two were dating she was the one who brought you your homework and spent her afternoons helping you keep on track with it. While the rest of your friends that claimed to be your 'best friends' said you looked I believe the terms were 'gross' and 'scary'. But Jackie who they all called a princess didn't bat an eye at you." She reminded him bluntly of that time to show him how he had warped the past to make her the enemy "and that's not all either Steven, I've watched you both most of your lives, the two of you always had a bond the other children didn't share. So there was your first bad choice – you chose Michaels friendship to have more worth than the one you had with Jackie, and it simply isn't true. Michael can be a nice boy – I bit stupid, but nice enough, but he's a buddy, a pal, a chum. Not a friend, a friend is someone who is there for you whether you ask them to be or not, like Jackie was for you and the way you are for Eric and him for you" she explained softly

"and like donna" Hyde added to show he was listening to what she said, but Hyde's eyes widened when he saw his mother's mouth go into a hard line at the mention of the neighbor girl? "Are you mad at Donna?" he asked; ready to have words with the bottle blonde if she'd been rude to his mom…again.

"Not mad honey, just worn out" she said shaking her head sadly "like I said already, I've watched you all most of your lives, I know you better than most of your parents ever could, and I know things about all of you that you don't realize about yourself,"

"Like what?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Like donna is not a good friend, especially to Jackie" she told him regretfully, Hyde could tell that she wished what she said wasn't true but had eventually been forced to accept that it was.

"She's one of my oldest friends though" he'd tried to defend Donna and make Mrs. Forman reconsider, but she again just shook her head.

"Oh honey I'm sorry" she told him and squeezed his hand "but she's not, you think about it – really look at it without prejudice, and you'll see what I'm talking about" she told him, then kissed his forehead and told him not to stay up too late.

Present day again –

Hyde and Eric left their parents to plan what was now going to be a celebratory dinner party, Eric went outside to go hang out with kick and max and warn them about Red, while Steven retreated to the basement to mentally prepare to face Jackie after everything he had told her the night before and fulfill his promise to shave off the mustache before she arrived and waged war on his shins. When he got to the bottom of the stairs he stopped short, sitting on the ratty old couch without a care in the world was Donna.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as politely as he could manage considering his wealth of rage where she was concerned. Being sober had unfortunately brought a lot of things into focus that he'd been actively ignoring to keep his life easy, and a major one he had suppressed was how he felt about the now blonde sitting before him.

"I wanted to talk to you" she said with her 'I've come to tell you how stupid you are' tone, but he gritted his teeth and kept his tone civil.

"Yeah? What about?" Hyde asked without much interest while he went to the sink to shave while she threw at him whatever it was she felt entitled to throw.

"you've been ditching me and Kelso to sit alone and sulk ever since Sam left, and I thinks it's pretty crappy to shut out the two friends that have always been there for you and had your back just because you regret not fighting for her to stay" she began with her grating righteous tone.

Hyde schooled his features into the familiar mask of indifference he'd perfected over the years and simply said "really?" as evenly as possible

"Yeah 'really' Hyde! I mean come on, if you'd just come to me I would have helped you work it out with Sam, she came all the way here from Vegas for you she must have had to give up a lot to do that and that means something you know?" she said loudly but not yet shouting.

"Does it?" he asked with a blaze attitude

"Yes! And you haven't spoken to Kelso in a week! After all he's forgiven you for to keep your friendship intact don't you think you owe it to him to say two words to him in a week?!" she demanded even more loudly.

"As it happens I have more than two words for Kelso" Hyde told her flatly

"Good! We've all been friends for ever Hyde, that's not something you give up on because you were too big of a coward to tell Sam how you felt" she told him condescendingly.

"Are you done?" he asked blankly

"No you dill hole! I want to know where the hell you've been that was more important than your friends?!" Donna was shouting now, her temper a victim of his Zen, he almost wanted to laugh but was too damn pissed off to.

"I've been with my friends!" he snapped, emphasizing the words to make Donna pay attention.

"No you haven't that's what I've just been saying!" she yelled indignantly, missing the point completely as usual.

"I've been listening donna, you're the one who isn't" he replied coldly "what I'm telling you is that I've been with Eric and Jackie, you know – my friends?" he asked pointedly, all the many things both she and Kelso had done over the years were rising to the surface and he had to clench his fists at his side to control his temper.

"Jackie?!" Donna shrieked with shock "how high are you Hyde? It must be pretty strong shit if you're calling Jackie your friend over me and Kelso" she laughed snidely. "Did you forget all the selfish shit she did you? How she almost ruined you and Kelso being friends! She was shallow and petty and immature and you're choosing her over us?!" she cried in dismay

"Uh, yeah man" he said with a shrug to show how easy of a decision it had been. And turned to ignore her while he disposed of the last remnant of 'drunken bastard Hyde' the porn mustache.

"what the hell Hyde?!" she screamed furiously, a small part of him had hoped that she would be self-aware enough to see what he meant and leave gracefully, this wasn't looking like what was going to happen, so with a sigh Hyde turned and faced donna to start on 'option two'.

"Donna man, you don't want to get into this with me" he warned her seriously, his freshly shaven lip felt cold but made him oddly alert?

"What are you talking about?" Donna asked obliviously

"You really don't get it do you?" Hyde asked with a hint of sadness,

"Get what? What the hell are you talking about? You sound like you're losing it again, like you did when you quit smoking that time" she told him, her eyes devoid of realization.

Hyde sighed "that's as good a place as any to start" he shrugged and grabbed a soda; he'd need to wet his throat if he ended up talking as much as he thought he'd end up having to. "you talk about how great of friends we are but when I tried to get sober after a bad trip you were right there dragging me back into the life" he started what he knew could very easily turn into a war, donna was not known for her understanding or ability to see both sides of a situation.

"You were acting crazy" she defended her actions

"yeah, but for someone who claims to be so damn smart you'd think you could have come up with a better plan than getting me to fall off the wagon, I mean – look how well I've done since then" he said bitterly.

"You're blaming me for your mistakes now?!" Donna snapped

"No man, those are on me, I know it and I'm working on making amends where it's needed. But there is a hell of a lot I do blame you for Pinciotti, fuck there's so much I don't even know where to start!" Hyde barked the edges of his control fraying in the face of her uncaring expression.

"Blame me? What exactly do you blame me for?" she sneered at him.

"oh gee let me think" he snarled crossing his arms and tilting his head at her "how about when you strung my brother along and made him jump through hoops for you and then took off to California when he didn't want to comfort you after your douche bag boyfriend dumped you? He shouldn't have been your second choice but you and I know damn well that's what he was to you then, you treat him like crap for years, make him kiss your ass constantly and the one time he stands up for himself you run off and make everyone worry that you were hurt or dead. And while we're on the subject of your little trip, how about the part where you were supposed to be Jackie's best friend, but when you find out that her boyfriend and her got engaged and he's too big of a coward to tell her he isn't ready for that and is running away, instead of telling him she deserved an explanation to her face you hitch a ride away from your own fuck ups with him! And you have the fucking Gaul to ever call her selfish?!" he seethed at her and he was just getting started, he didn't see much of a point in letting her say anything yet.

"And that's just the tip of the iceberg of how shitty you treated Jackie, you acted above her from day one, always flaunting how much the other guys hit on you, always insulting her for cheerleading while you went by hot Donna, always acting smarter than her. Well miss 'I got 1230 on the SAT's' that doesn't mean shit! Or did you forget that Kelso of all fucking people got 1000? Hell I got over 900 hundred and I fell asleep half way through the damn test! Oh, but since you think it's such a big accomplishment maybe you'd be curious to know that Jackie – who no one bothered to ask when she took the same damn test – got 1250, which I'm sure you know is higher than 1230!" he almost screamed,

But Donna rolled her eyes and laughed derisively "knowing Jackie she probably flirted with the instructor to get a better score" she sneered coldly, still unwilling to give credence to anything Hyde was saying.

"See there you go again man, I used to think that you had a reason for how you treated Jackie, I thought you were my friend and that if you had a problem with shit she was doing it was for a good fucking reason. But it never was! And I finally figured it out, your jealous of her" he said with calm certainty

"I am not jealous of Jackie!" Donna laughed bitterly

"Oh really? You didn't try to sabotage her every chance you got? You helped Kelso get her back when she was testing him; you fucking fed him the answers man! After all he did to her and you were actively trying to help him do it all over again! He never stopped cheating on her and you knew he wouldn't, we all knew, just like we all knew he was screwing Laurie! She had to get a fucking blood test after that Donna! Now I know that we were all guilty of not telling her about it, but were not the ones who prattle on and fucking on about feminism and sisterhood then turn around and try to get her back with a guy who treats her like shit! And when she ended up with him again and he did the same damn thing we all knew he would – again! – and you fucking helped him run out on her, when you both decided to grace us with your presence again you had the fucking audacity to judge us for being together!" he was so mad now with the memories flooding back that he had to take deep breaths to keep any sort of composure.

"She was always making bitchy comments to me! She called me a fucking lumber jack or did you forget?!" Donna yelled at him her face getting red.

"So the fuck what man?! You liked being the chick that could hang with the guys, you fucking got off on that shit man, then the minute she teases you about that very thing she deserves to get the clap from Kelso?! Admit it donna, you thought you were so great for so fucking long with all of us as your only friends, it let you feel superior cus we were a bunch of stupid teenage guys, but then Jackie comes along and her grades are better than yours, she understands people better than you and she's so fucking gorgeous that people openly stare on the street! You hated her because she made you see just how run of the mill small town you were! You can blame Forman for you not going to collage all you damn please, but don't ever forget that I know the fucking truth, I was there when you get stoned and admitted that you were scared to be a small fish in a big pond, and you used Eric as an excuse for your own fear of failure! Well Eric is done with your bullshit and it's about damn time, and Jackie is done with your bullshit too! She's going to Stanford – a school that didn't give you enough notice to send a form rejection letter, and she's going to do something amazing with her life because she's smart and brave and hard working – everything you try to make people think you are but aren't" he knew he was taunting her with that last bit, but he wasn't quite done.

"Stanford accepted Jackie?" Donna asked in a softer less sure voice

"Not only did they accept her, they offered her a full ride man. She's getting away from you and Kelso for fucking good and that starts right fucking now. I should have said this when you were trying to make me apologize to fucking Kelso of all people, for finally being with the only woman for me, but better late than never right? Neither you – nor Kelso will bother Jackie again before she goes! That chick is more important to me than you or Kelso have ever been and I did a shit job of showing it for a long time, but I don't care what you guys say anymore! I don't care if you burn me for loving Jackie, asking if I'm going to cry about her when she leaves, god! You never had the slightest bit of respect for our relationship did you?!" Hyde demanded, fully aware this was off what he had planned to tell her before he and later Jackie left town.

"What was there to respect Hyde? You were nailing your friend's leftovers for a burn. You two were never going to last! It was plain as day from the start that you had nothing in common, hell you two barely knew each other!" Donna accused scathingly.

"Nah man, that's where you're wrong, jacks and I have always been close. When I moved back in after bud it was Jackie who bothered to ask me about it and make sure I was ok, yeah she did some dumb immature stuff too but she was really young and it was nothing compared to how many times she was there for me when the rest of you laughed and teased me" he told donna with a kind of finality she didn't know how to react to.

"So what's your point with all this Hyde?" she asked rolling her eyes.

"donna, you're the kind of person who humiliates a friend has nowhere to go that's safe by putting her on the spot and acting like it's an imposition to give her a safe place to sleep, you're the kind of friend that would blame the person who was wronged for bringing it on themselves, you're the type of person who would do that and then befriend the girl her friend was wronged with. And don't bother saying you were trying to be my friend by doing that, because I never asked you to and I sure as hell would have understood you standing by Jackie through all that, just like I stood by Forman when you brought Kasey Kelso here, it's what you do when people are your friends and not just people you use to feel better about yourself. And that's my point, you're the kind of person that can't be someone's friend because you only care about yourself" he laid it out with cold detachment, trying to make her see for once where she had been the shallow selfish friend, not Jackie.

"You're calling me shallow and selfish in the same sentence where Jackie's involved? Are you fucking kidding me?!" Donna demanded furiously offended.

"yeah that's exactly what I'm doing, see donna what it comes down to is I've made a choice about where I want my life to go, and Jackie is someone I want to keep in my life, so are fez and Forman. You and Kelso just didn't make the cut" he smirked coldly.

"Well fuck you to Hyde!" she screamed and fled from the basement slamming the door behind her.

"I should have brought some popcorn for that" Eric's voice told Hyde from the top of the stairs.

Hyde laughed silently "how long have you been listening?" he asked without anger

"oh I came back to find my keys and heard the start of it, I must say my friend I'm both touched at your loyalty to me and the devil as well as being impressed with your mastery of telling someone off" Eric told him with a grin, then offered a round of applause for what he'd heard.

"It needed saying" Hyde shrugged

"That it did, I can't wait to tell Jackie about it, I even took notes so I wouldn't leave anything out" Eric said happily, and held up Mrs. Forman's message pad from the kitchen.

"Please don't tell Jackie" Hyde asked to Eric's surprise

"Why not? Don't you want her to know you finally stood up for her?" Eric asked frowning.

"Yeah, I mean no, I mean…just don't tell her when I'm around ok? I don't want her to think I did it just to make her happy, I did it because I've been fed up with Donna's bullshit for a long time and finally had the balls to tell her" Hyde explained.

"Whatever you want brother" Eric said pretending to get choked up at the word Hyde had used to describe him to Donna.

"Forman, you are my brother, but I will not hesitate to kick your ass" Hyde told him with a level gaze

"and with that I'm going to go and explain to Kick why he might want to wear a hat to dinner, I'm not sure Red will react well to blue hair" Eric said with a laugh then waved goodbye to Hyde, who took a drink of his soda and headed for the shower.

A/N I hope you all enjoyed that and that it was cathartic for those that hate donna as I do, I tried to keep it from just being a list of all the messed up things she did, but also im not quite done with her yet, wait and see in the next chapter which ill try to finish and post tomorrow, so until then!