Disclaimer: I don't own That 70's Show or Friends, or any of their characters. It would be fun, though, if I did. But I don't.

"So, apparently Jackie and Rachel are taking us out tonight," said Hyde, a while after their serious talk.

Ross nodded. "Yep. Rachel says that they've picked out everything for us, including our clothes, the car, the restaurant, what we're doing-"

"What we're saying, what we're thinking," added Hyde, grinning.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," said Ross. "She says we have no excuse not to be there, seeing as how all we have to do is show up."

"Yeah, and act romantic and all of that stuff Jackie is always going on about," said Hyde. He rolled his eyes. "It's like she never shuts up."

"Yeah, Rachel's like that too," said Ross. "To get back together after the whole 'on a break' thing, I had to read, like, a hundred pages, front and back. At like three in the morning." He shook his head. "And she got mad because I fell asleep."

"Ha," said Hyde. "That sounds exactly like Jackie. She's always going on about marriage and things like that." He lowered his voice. "She's dying to get married."

"Well," said Ross. "Do you want to get married?"

"No, yeah. Maybe?"

Ross nodded. "Do you love her?"

Hyde sighed. If it had been anybody else, at any other time, he would've told them no. But seeing the man sitting next to him, knowing that he knew how it felt to have a Jackie in his life, he was able to tell the truth. "Yeah." He hung his head.

Ross check his phone, and saw he had a text message from Rachel. He checked it, and nodded to himself, then put his phone away, continuing the conversation. "Then why don't you want to get married?" Ross asked. It was an innocent enough question.

Hyde thought about it. The institution of marriage, the one he'd grown up with, had not turned out well. His parents' marriage had just about fallen apart. Donna and Eric's engagement had fallen apart. His and Sam's marriage had fallen apart. To him, marriage meant falling apart.

"It just never seems to work," he says. "And when it doesn't work, it's like leaving forever."

Ross shook his head. "That's not true." He paused. "You know I've been married four times?"

Hyde looked up at him disbelievingly, saying the one word that came to his mind: "Why?"

"Because I loved them. Or thought I did."

"Well, I've been married once before, and it was a complete wreck, just trying to get over Jackie."

"My first wife," said Ross, "I loved, but that really didn't work out." No need to go into further detail about that particular marriage. "The second was too fast, and too wrong."

Hyde smiled bitterly. That sounded like Sam, even though he was sure Ross' second wife was probably not anything like Sam.

"My third wife, I married in Vegas, and I really did love her. But we got divorced. And then, guess what? I got to marry her again later," he said, showing Hyde his wedding ring.

"Wait, so you've married Rachel twice now?" Hyde said.

"Yep."

"But why? Why would you divorce her, and then get back together with her?" Hyde asked.

"She wasn't much for marriage. Her parents' marriage didn't work out very well. She didn't like it very much. And she'd almost gotten married once before, and it turns out that situation wouldn't have been very nice either," Ross explained. "But I've always loved her. Since high school. Even through the rest of it, I loved her."

That. That made sense to Hyde. Loving someone for that long, without reason, hoping that it would all work out in the end. That made the most sense of all.

They heard shouts from Kelso, and Joey, screaming about food and dinner, their main sources of entertainment, other than girls.

"What's for dinner?" they heard Joey ask.

"Turkey!" Monica and Donna replied in unison.

"Oh, awesome!" Kelso shouted.

"Speaking of turkey," said Ross, turning towards Hyde. "Did you know Joey once got a turkey stuck on his head?"

Hyde laughed. "Oh, that's good. You know what? I'm gonna try that on Kelso one day. I think he'll fall for it."

Here are some recommendations that you HAVE to look at: kezztip's The Little Drummer Girl, jam21's I Want To Hold Your Hand, sevenfoldgate's Untouched, sexyzenfox's Grade School Loves, DreamsShapetheWorld's Picnic Gone Wrong, rebeldivaluv's Filling the Gaps, and jackiehyde4eva's I'll Protect You. That's a lot, but these ones are AMAZING, and you totally have to check them out!