A/N: No excuses for the very late update but just know I am very, very sorry. I feel so bad so am posting this chapter even though I'm not entirely happy with it. Hope you enjoy it anyway. Thanks so much for the reviews!

Hyde winced at the sound of the ceramic cup being placed on the benchtop. He wanted coffee, no - needed coffee - but the process of actually making a coffee was just too much for his swelled, dehydrated brain. Where's a plastic spoon when you need one?, he wondered as he stirred the milk into the black liquid, mindful not to clank the teaspoon against the cup.

Sitting down at the kitchen table he was thankful he was alone. If Red was there he'd chastise Hyde for being a hungover mess, and if Kitty was there she'd be trying to fix him something to eat and there was no way Hyde's stomach was tolerating anything other than coffee for the next few hours. But while the thought of being yelled at or fed was intolerable, nothing would be worse than seeing Eric, Donna or Fez. They'd all witnessed him taking Jackie into his room the night before. And they could probably all guess what had happened in that room.

Damn it to hell!

Sober Hyde hadn't meant for that to happen. Sober Hyde didn't want or need any more confusion in his fucked up excuse of a life. Sober Hyde didn't want the drama. But drunk Hyde - the one that had consumed 12 beers, 6 shots of Jack Daniels, and 2 stealthily obtained Kahlua and milks - had wanted Jackie more than anything. Drunk Hyde had wanted her the minute Fez had turned up complaining about the events that had taken place at the Christmas Eve dance. Drunk Hyde had wanted to see her so much he'd even suggested Donna call her and invite her over.

At the memory of the previous night, hungover Hyde sipped at his coffee, deciding drunk Hyde was such a moron. Sure Jackie was beautiful, and yes her carrying his child made her even more desirable, but there were still too many reasons why they shouldn't be together; Kelso, their friends, their obvious class difference, her love of everything he hated...those things just couldn't be ignored.

As much as drunk Hyde wanted them to be.

The 'thump' of a hand pushing the kitchen door open caused Hyde's eyes to close to pain. Why is everyone in this house so damn noisy, he asked himself.

"Well if it isn't everyone's favourite father-to-be," Eric exclaimed, heading straight for the pot of coffee. "Where's your little girlfriend this morning? I see your lap's empty..."

"Can it, Forman." Hyde rubbed his temples with his fingertips, willing his best friend to go back to wherever he came from. "I'm not in the mood."

"You were in the mood last night," said Eric, leaning back against the kitchen counter, a sly grin on his face. "For a lot of things I might add."

"I was drunk."

Eric chuckled, ignoring the scowl Hyde was directing at him. "The old 'I was drunk' excuse, huh? Not gonna cut it this time, Hyde. Not with us, and definitely not with Jackie. You can't sleep with a pregnant chick then fob her off with a lame excuse like that."

Eric wasn't saying anything Hyde didn't already know. He'd tossed and turned for hours that morning dreading his and Jackie's impending fallout. He knew she'd take their hook-up as a sign they were now boyfriend/girlfriend or something equally as lame, and she wasn't gonna like it when he broke the news to her that it was a mistake. He didn't do relationships. Especially not with unicorn loving cheerleaders.

"Don't ya think I know that already?" he sniped.

Eric's browed creased. "So you're not gonna fob her off?" he asked. "Does that mean you n her are -" Eric's eyes widened as he swallowed dramatically,"- in a relationship?"

"No," Hyde growled. "I don't do relationships, I'm not, nor will I ever be, a pussy-whipped sucker like others I know." As Hyde spoke the words he so desperately wanted to believe, he couldn't shake the memories of the night before that were floating through his head. Memories of Jackie curled up in his arms, her bare skin pressed against his own, her soft lips against his. It'd felt right at the time, her being in his bed, they were having a kid together after all. But in the cold light of day reality had set in. They wouldn't work. No matter how much he wanted them to.

Sipping at his coffee, Eric smirked. "I may be a 'pussy-whipped sucker', as you so eloquently put it, but pretty soon you're gonna find yourself in a similar situation. Only you won't have the sex, the one thing that makes being whipped bearable. No, you'll just be runnin' round after Jackie and the kid, doing all the boring crap that Red said comes with fatherhood, without any of the benefits. So, yeah, whatever...carry on not doing relationships my friend."

Hyde pondered his friends words, pulling at his beard as he did so. Eric was right; from here on in Hyde would always be at Jackie's beck and call, whether or not he was her boyfriend. But that was what being a father was all about. It was about taking care of your kid and the kid's mother and in Hyde's mind sex didn't even enter into the equation. Although it had last night...

"Forman, you have what, like five armpit hairs now, right?" Hyde said, standing to pour himself another coffee.

The smirk disappeared from Eric's face. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"What that means-" Hyde slapped Eric on the back, wincing again as the sudden movement reverberated through his hungover body, "- Is that you should leave the big boy stuff, like fatherhood and all that it entails, to us men, okay? You just worry about growin' bodily hair n sneakin' into the Pinciotti's on a school night."

"Ugh! Please don't talk about Eric and Donna doing it so early in the morning, it'll make me barf." Hyde and Eric turned around to see a rugged up, rosy cheeked Jackie pushing the sliding door closed. The disgusted look on her pink little face made Hyde smile.

"Morning, Jackie," he said without thinking.

Jackie's eyes, glassy from the cold outside, lit up as they met Hyde's. "Good morning, Steven. Sleep well?" She winked as she unravelled her scarf from around her neck.

Eric made a gagging sound and placed his cup in the sink. "Gross! Now I wanna barf. I'm leaving this unholy union behind, I heard enough last night," he exclaimed, making his way to the hallway.

"Oh, shut up, Eric," Jackie called after him. "Go play with your dolls downstairs and dream about having muscles as big as your GI Joe's."

"They're not dolls, they're acti-"

"They're dolls, Forman," Hyde yelled down the staircase at his friend. "They're made of plastic n wear tiny clothes - they're dolls, man." Hyde slammed the basement door closed, holding the handle for a moment longer than he needed to. What was he gonna say to her? How was he gonna get through the morning without looking like an asshole?

Stepping back into the kitchen, the sight of Jackie in a pale pink, figure hugging pant suit caused Hyde to have a momentary change of heart. She was beautiful. No, she was more than beautiful. Stunning. If Hyde had to pick one word to describe Jackie sitting at the Forman's kitchen table on the morning after Christmas Day he would have to pick stunning. She was stunning and she was having his baby.

And she wanted him.

Jackie Burkhart, with her perfect hair, perfect clothes, and perfect grades, wanted him. She could've had any guy in Point Place before she'd gotten pregnant. Hell, Hyde was fairly sure she still could get any guy she wanted. But last night she'd given herself to him.

And he'd loved every minute of it.

"What are you staring at?" Jackie smiled, glancing up from the Ladies Journal she was flicking through.

Despite his brain telling him not to, Hyde smiled back. "Nothin'," he said, walking over to the table and sitting down next to Jackie.

"Could'a fooled me," Jackie teased as she twirled strands of chocolate coloured hair around her finger.

She was too close, Hyde thought. She was too tempting. Sitting in such close proximity to her made remembering all the reasons why he shouldn't be with her too difficult. Only two days earlier he'd easily denied her advances and regurgitated all the excuses he'd memorized to soften the blow. But something changed when he saw her with Kelso at the school dance. A sense of possessiveness Hyde never knew he had in him took over and he couldn't shake it.

Folding his arms across his chest, he shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, you never woke me when you left last night, I'm assuming you got home alright?"

Jackie flicked a page of the magazine and looked up. "Yeah I got home alright, even managed to sneak in without disturbing my parents."

"You should've woken me," Hyde said, not liking the thought of Jackie driving home in the snow. "I would've driven you."

Jackie raised her eyebrows and grinned. "In your state? I don't think so buddy. I think I was safer braving the snow on my own." She closed the magazine and pushed it to the side of the table. "And besides, how could I have woken you up...you looked too darn cute to disturb."

Before Hyde had a chance to run out of the room, or ramble off the list of reasons why they wouldn't work, Jackie leaned over and planted her lips on his. As she deepened the kiss Hyde told himself that he couldn't push her off, she was pregnant and he couldn't risk her falling in her condition. So instead he placed his hands either side of her waist and kissed her back.

Yeah, pushing pregnant chicks just wasn't his thing.

The touch of Jackie's hands on his chest increased Hyde's temperature instantly and he bit down softly on her lower lip. God, she drove him crazy. The desire he had for was infuriating and his lack of willpower was making him want to kick his own ass. As he moved his right hand up her waist to find her newly enlarged breasts a 'thump' stopped him in his tracks.

"What the fuck?!" he exclaimed, quickly pulling his hands away from Jackie's body.

Jackie didn't move an inch, only her eyes tilted up to gaze into Hyde's. "It's your spawn saying good morning," she said, just a hint of annoyance in her voice. Hyde guessed Jackie didn't much like being kicked from the inside, especially as she was used to being the deliverer of kicks.

"That felt fuckin' gross," Hyde said, keeping his hands firmly on his knees. "It didn't used to feel like that when it moved. You think it's alright in there?"

"Yes, Steven, it's fine. The baby's getting bigger now so the kicks are harder - God help me. Before they were just flutterings but now it's the real deal." Jackie wrapped her arms around Hyde's neck and tried to close the gap between them but Hyde wouldn't budge. "Steven," Jackie moaned, her eyes trying to meet his. "Give me another kiss..."

Hyde shook his head and put a hand on each of Jackie's arms, attempting to pull them from around his neck. "No way," he said, not at all surprised at the vice-like grip Jackie had on him, preventing him from escaping her clutches. "The kid kicked me, man. Clearly it doesn't want us together. It's like it knows I'm out here n knows what I was gonna do to you." Suddenly a wave of disgust shook Hyde's body and he slapped himself hard on the forehead. "Oh my god...the kid was in there last night...when we did it...fuck!"

Much to Hyde's relief Jackie let go of him, allowing him to stand up and begin pacing the kitchen in a fatherly fashion. However, much to his annoyance, she sat at the table giggling. Didn't she get that they'd probably fucked their child up before it was even born?

"What's so funny, Jackie?" Hyde asked in a clipped tone.

"You," she replied through giggles.

Hyde stopped pacing and looked down at the brunette. "And why am I so funny? Coz I just realised what we freakin' did last night?" Holding his stomach the disgust he felt in himself threatened to reveal itself. "God, I feel sick."

When he rushed to the kitchen sink and began dry heaving Jackie stood up and walked over to him. Rubbing his back she said, "Steven, do you honestly think pregnant women abstain from sex throughout their whole pregnancy?"

"I don't think about pregnant chicks n sex," he replied between heaves.

"I guess that's a good thing," Jackie mused, nodding her head. "But anyway, pregnant women have sex all the time so what we did last night is normal. It won't hurt the bab-"

Hyde stood up, his hands holding either side of the sink. "But you said it can hear everything goin' on out here...it would've heard that." The thought made him shudder and the feeling of Jackie's bump pressed up next to him made him shudder even more.

"Steven, I'm telling you, the baby is fine and if you'd read the books I'd given you you'd know that. Pregnant women have sex. My mom would've, your mom would've, God, even Mrs. Forman would've..."

"Mrs. Forman would've what?" At the sound of Kitty's voice Hyde and Jackie quickly froze. "I would've what?" Kitty asked again. She was standing in the doorway dressed in a winter coat and hat, her hands covered in bright pink mittens.

"You would've, aahhh," Hyde stuttered.

Jackie turned to the older woman. "You would've gone to parenting classes," she said matter-of-factly. "Y'know, when you were pregnant with Laurie and it was all new n all."

Kitty's look of confusion quickly changed to one of happiness. If there was one thing Hyde knew Kitty loved to talk about it was her pregnancies and her babies. "Why yes, Jackie, I did indeed. They were fabulous, taught me everything I needed to know. How to change nappies, how to bathe babies, how to test the temperature of the milk. I hope you two are planning on going?"

To Hyde's dismay Jackie looped an arm around his, a move Kitty clearly noticed and liked by the look of the smile that crept over her face.

"Yes of course we're going," Jackie stated. "I was just explaining to Steven here why it's so important we go and learn all those really interesting things you just talked about." The sarcasm in Jackie's voice didn't go unnoticed by Hyde, but it did by Kitty who was still staring at Jackie's arm and it's possessive hold on Hyde.

"Well good," she said, nodding her head. Tilting her head to look at the teenagers in her kitchen she quickly added, "Now, you two, you have to come out to the garage. Red and I have a surprise for you."

Jackie clapped her hands together and shot to the door. "Eekkk! I love surprises!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, while Hyde trailed behind her.

Once they were at the garage door Kitty told the teenagers to cover their eyes.

"This is stupid," Hyde mumbled, one hand over his eyes, the other holding Jackie's hand as Kitty led them into cold garage that smelled overwhelmingly like fresh paint.

"No, this is fun!" Jackie said, squeezing his hand.

"Right you two, stop right there," Kitty ordered. Hyde could almost see Kitty bouncing up and down in anticipation and he hoped like hell Jackie wouldn't ruin whatever surprise his foster parents had organised by being her usual ungrateful self. Her reaction to the album he'd given her for Christmas gave him some hope that she'd become a bit less materialist though. He'd half expected to wake up that morning and find it lying on his bedroom floor, but it wasn't. Maybe she was growing up and beginning to appreciate the sentimentality of gifts rather than their monetary value?

"Okay..." Kitty proceeded to do her best interpretation of a drumroll. "Open them!"

After inhaling a large breath Hyde opened his eyes and was met with a gruff looking Red Forman. The old man's arms were folded in his usual manner and he was standing behind a freshly painted baby's crib and what Hyde could only assume was a change table.

"Surprise!" Kitty said, jumping and clapping in her spot next to Hyde. "It's Eric's old crib and change table! Red got them down and painted them up for you. Don't they look beautiful? All ready to put your wee one in."

Hyde didn't move but examined the furniture from his standing position in the garage. The pieces were amazing. The white paint shone like snow and he could already picture his baby snuggled up in the tiny crib being rocked to sleep. He was pretty sure he wouldn't have had anything as nice to sleep in when he was a baby; Edna probably rocked him to sleep in a beer crate.

Through the lump forming in his throat, Hyde said, "Gee, thanks, Red. They look great."

Red shrugged. "Well what else did I have to do today but paint up old furniture for two dumbass teenagers who think they can be parents? It's not like I have a paper to read or TV to watch on my day off."

Kitty pat her husbands arm and giggled. "Oh, Red, don't be so silly." Turning to Hyde she added, "It was his idea you know, to paint them up nice for you."

"Yeah well Eric had bitten the crap out of them, they needed a good sanding and God forbid Steven here would have to do that...that's too much like hard work," Red grumbled, making eye contact with no one.

Hyde smiled, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Thanks, Red," he said sincerely. "They're awesome. I bet the kid will love 'em." Looking at Kitty he added, "And you too, Mrs. Forman, thanks. I know Eric n Laurie's old stuff means a lot to you so I promise we'll take real good care them."

Kitty rushed over and put her hands on Hyde's cheeks. "Oh I know you will. You're such a good boy!"

"Knock it off, Kitty," Red said, picking up a can of paint and putting it on the shelf. "Good boys don't get teenage girls pregnant. Good boys go to school then get decent paying jobs and leave home."

"Still planning on doin' all of that, Red," Hyde assured the older man.

"He sure is." Kitty grinned. "Our Steven is going to be a wonderful father and provider. Now, Jackie, you've been awfully quiet, what do you think of your surprise?" she asked, looking at Jackie.

The expression on Jackie's face spoke volumes but Hyde hoped against hope that she'd plaster a smile on her face and thank his foster parents for their kind gesture. Holding his breath he waited for her to speak.

"You really shouldn't have," she finally said.

Kitty smiled. "Oh but we wanted to. As we all know, Red and I have no use for these things anymore," she said, her smile fading. "We want you kids to use them. Better than them collecting dust in the basement."

Jackie's gaze shifted from the little crib to Kitty. "No, I mean you really shouldn't have. We don't need these things, my mom's taking me shopping this week to buy everything we need. Save them for Eric or Laurie."

When tears sprang into Kitty's eyes, Hyde's heart plummeted to the floor. How could Jackie be so rude? How could she not take the gesture for what it was?

"Jackie," he said, turning to look at her. "We'll use these things, you can tell your mom she don't need to go n buy a crib and a change table."

Jackie looked up at Hyde, her brow furrowed. "But I want new things, Steven. These things are old and used. Our baby deserves everything new."

Although the words were spoken by Jackie, Hyde still felt shamed at hearing them and his brain worked overtime trying to figure out a way to salvage the moment.

"Well I'll have them in my room for when the baby stays here," he shrugged.

"But I want the baby to have new things here as well," Jackie argued.

A loud bang silenced the teenagers and Hyde looked over to see Red putting the cans of paint away on a shelf.

"If they're not good enough for you kids I'll put 'em back where they came from," the old man said gruffly. "Part time jobs, still in school, but still expect everything brand new...far cry from when I was a kid."

Before Red could pick up the crib Hyde grabbed it. "No, Red. I want it," he stammered, shocked when Kitty pulled the wooden object from his grip.

The older woman's face was red as tears streamed down her cheeks. Hyde couldn't have felt worse if he tried.

"If it's not good enough for Princess Jackie then I'm keeping it," Kitty said, holding the crib as Red put an arm around her.

"C'mon, Kitty," he said to his wife in a hushed tone. "Let's put these away for now and make you a cup of tea."

Kitty sniffled as she was led out of the garage, not once looking up at Hyde when he tried to stop her. "A cup of tea would be nice," she agreed, before the door closed leaving an irate Hyde alone with Jackie.

Still watching his foster parents from the garage door window Hyde pressed his fingers hard on the bridge of his nose. If he turned around he risked losing it with Jackie so his only option was leaving and leaving now. His heart was racing from a mixture of embarrassment and anger and he needed to calm the hell down before he had it out with the small brunette.

As he moved to open the door Jackie grabbed his hand.

"Not now, Jackie," he said through gritted teeth.

Squeezing herself between Hyde and the door, Jackie placed her hand on his chest. "Well that was awkward," she said with a small smile.

"Awkward?" Hyde took a deep breath then slowly exhaled, avoiding looking into Jackie's doe eyes. "That was way more than awkward."

"I'll say," Jackie agreed but probably not for the same reason as Hyde. "As if I'd want old stuff for my baby! My parents are rich, I don't need hand-me-down furniture. Gosh, I may be a teenage mom but it doesn't mean I'm desperate."

Removing Jackie's hand from his chest Hyde took a step back. "Oh no, you're not desperate," he spat at her. "But you are an ungrateful bitch." He knew as soon as the words escaped his lips that he'd gone too far but he wasn't gonna take them back. Well not right now anyway. She'd hurt two of the kindest, most generous people he knew and he wasn't sure he would ever forgive her for that.

Jackie gasped. "Steven! How could you call me that!"

Hyde shrugged and focused on the spindly branches he could see through the window over Jackie's shoulder. He couldn't, and wouldn't, look at her trembling bottom lip. "'Coz that's what you are."

"But...I wasn't trying to be mean. I was being honest, Steven. I'm sorry that it hurt them. But I don't want thei-"

"Maybe you didn't want 'em but I did!" Hyde said, his voice rising in anger. "That meant a lot to me, Jackie; them giving me their stuff. I'm not even their kid - this baby isn't even technically related to them - but they were willing to give us stuff that meant somethin' to them. And you ruined it!"

Dammit. Now she was crying. Really crying. Her tears stung him a little but he was far more concerned about the woman crying inside than the spoiled girl crying in front of him. When he pushed past her and opened the door, Jackie grabbed his arm.

"Steven, I'm sorry!" she cried. "Where are you going?"

Not stopping, Hyde called back, "Away from you."