Been a long time. I'm sure no one is even reading this anymore. I've had this chapter sitting on my hard drive for a couple of years. I was never happy with it. Still don't like it but I've gotten a few pm's asking if there was anymore to the story. So here you go...

March 29th, 1981

Forman's Basement 12:45 pm, 6Hrs AND 15Mins before the rehearsal dinner

Hyde's fingers beat a steady rhythm against his arm, aggravation coursing through his veins. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes were narrowed and locked menacingly on Kelso. His lips were locked together, suppressing the obscenities and vicious burns that were begging to be hurled at the moron like grenades. But he refrained, knowing that the idiot would only use anything he said against him.

Of course, he could always break the intelligence-challenged man's jaw…

"I know you don't remember but I've always thought you were hot." Kelso stated with a lecherous waggle of his eyebrows, taking her hand in his. He was not deterred when she wrenched it free of his grasp and shoved it in the pocket of her jeans. "And as you can see, I'm hot. Two hot people should be together. No better time to be hot together than our friends getting hitched."

The urge to throw up was strong. Burn his gut and throat strong. Somehow he managed to stay in his smoldering silence and not wretch as he waited for the reaction of his former girlfriend to the king of all idiots out of the blue suggestion of them rekindling their relationship. He should have seen this coming. Wouldn't be the first time Kelso implored it. But somehow, he had forgotten that the idiot wouldn't let a little thing like amnesia keep him from hitting on Jackie.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one caught off guard by Kelso deciding to do this now. Everyone was staring at the tall lanky dolt in a mixture of surprise and horror. It seems they figured that he'd back off. That he would not go the same old played out battle until she was better. But they were all wrong because the Idiot King was determined to make sure that his ex-girlfriend never got near Hyde again, memory or no memory.

Jackie eyes were wide with disbelief, darting around the room. It was obvious that she was searching for someone or something to save her from this awkward proposition. But no help was forthcoming. Her lips parted but closed again quickly as she either changed her mind about what she was going to say or didn't have a response.

Hyde's lips quirked slightly as those mismatched eyes slid to him and he saw the panic in them dim slightly. It was replaced by some unreadable emotion but it seemed to give her strength. He watched as she took a deep breath and broke their gaze, turning her attention back to Don Juan El Tardo.

"Kelso," She started slowly, faux sweetness infused in his name, "I think you're offer is very sweet. Really, it is. But I…"

Realizing that she was about to turn him down, the tall doofus tried one last desperate ploy to get the amnesiac girl to accept his offer. "Just think of how much fun we could have doing it in the coat room!"

"KELSO!" Donna was seething, her face flushed angrily.

"Sexy." Fez gave a perverted little grin and popped a Butterfinger into his mouth, obviously enjoying the show.

"I'm going to get the stupid helmet. Something tells me that there's going to be a head injury involved in this situation soon." Eric rolled his eyes, leaving his usual spot on the couch to retrieve the infamous helmet. "Now you can proceed."

"Thanks man, you're a good friend." The declaration was sincere as Kelso took the helmet and put it on, a bright smile of stupidity twisting his lips. "Ok, so where was I? Oh yeah. It would be so awesome to do it in the coat room."

"Sorry, Kelso, but I'm…" Jackie faltered for a second, reeling in a deep breath as her eyes once again locked on him. "I-I already have a date for the wedding."

"You do?" Four voices echoed in unnerving unison, shock dripping from them.

Hyde remained silent but that steely gaze narrowed further. He leaned forward in his chair slightly. The hand that had been tapping now curled into a white-knuckled fist in anticipation of hearing the name of the poor bastard who would have to have a conversation with him. Because there was no way in hell he was going to allow some creep to take advantage of the fact that she had no memory.

"How? I mean…" Kelso trailed off helplessly. "They can't be as hot as I am. No way."

Donna pushed the idiot out of the way so she could pin a speculative, probing gaze on the petite brunette. "Did you get back together with Randy?"

"God no." A visible look of nausea shone on the amnesiac's face at the notion of being linked with her former fling again. "Haven't talked to him since his tearful plea not to dump him. Seriously, what kind of man cries because you told him you don't have the same admiration for his hair that he does?"

The two former best friends stared at each other for a long moment before the question wobbled anxiously from the blonde's mouth, "Who?"

"Hyde." Jackie's voice was strong as she turned her attention to him, her eyes pleading with him to be her white knight and save her from this awkward situation.

Déjà vu was laughing at his back. The memory of him taking her to the prom smacking him in the face. That night, she had used him to save herself from being humiliated and to make Kelso jealous. Here they were all these years later and she was asking him for permission to use him again. But this time it wasn't to make the moron jealous, it was to keep him away from her.

Kelso gave a indignant cry, folding his arms over his chest. "Hyde? You've got to be kidding. He's nothing but a jerk!"

"Oh, this isn't going to go well." Eric murmured, taking several steps to place himself inconspicuously between Kelso and Hyde.

Fez whimpered and grabbed the bag of candy he had been munching on, backing out of the way of the impending fracas.

"You're going to the wedding with Hyde?" Donna questioned slowly. Her face reflecting her confusion at the statement. "Like you're the maid of honor and he's the best man going together?"

"No," the huffed retort was vintage Jackie, "We talked about it and decided we'd hang out there, you know, together."

Another deafening cry of outrage burst from Kelso. "When did that happen?"

"This morning." Hyde broke his silence for the first time since this debacle had started, rescuing her from anymore scrutiny. His patented bad ass body language basically daring someone to take issue with it. He got to his feet and took his sunglasses off, hitching them onto the front of his t-shirt. Cold blue eyes landed on the angry brown glare of Kelso, unwavering and stared hard into them. "That a problem?"

"Yeah, it is."

Forman sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Do we really have to do this again?"

"Ai, it's like watching a car accident happen. You know the outcome but you just can't look away." Fez intoned in an overly loud whisper. "Donna will not be happy with the black eyes and bloody scabs in her pictures."

"There won't be any black eyes or bloody scabs!" The tall girl passionately informed everyone, positioning herself between the glaring guys. "Because if someone tries to throw a punch, I'm going to punch them!"

"Why would there be a fight about this?" Jackie questioned, confusion painted on her face and heavy in her tone. "Who I go to the wedding with is my choice. So why would Kelso have a problem with me going to the wedding with Hyde?"

Hyde raised an eyebrow as he studied his former friend. The doofus looked conflicted. But then their eyes met and that confusion disappear. It was replaced by a cold, calculated look of steely determination. He knew in that instant what was about to happen. Kelso was going to spill the story. Sparing no cruel, twisted detail to ensure maximum damage would be done.

His breath hissed in over his lips and his eyes flew to the puzzled girl that would always be between them. Reaching out, he wrapped his hand around her upper arm and stepped in front of her. Trying to shield her from the vicious bombshell that was about to be lobbed at them. It wouldn't help. The impact would blow them both away but it was all he could do to protect her.

Donna could apparently sense the same thing. "Kelso, not now."

"Why not?" His question was coy, "Aren't weddings all about reminiscing? Nothing like a stroll down memory highway to make this occasion all the more special."

"It's memory lane you doofus." Hyde snarled, his temper dangerously flaring. "And you should be careful taking that stroll. Especially since your road isn't pot-hole free either."

A look of guilt quickly passed across Kelso's face but he shook it off, "So what?"

"So you should think long and hard about whether or not you want to get nostalgic right now." He tossed out as casually as he could, with a pointed look toward Jackie.

"I think this is the perfect time to get nostalgic." Kelso spat vehemently. The expression changed to uncertainty as he turned to Eric. "What does nostalgic mean?"

"It means that if you don't know what it means that you shouldn't do it." Forman answered with a shrug, obviously hoping that he could confuse Kelso off this path of destruction.

"The only thing that anyone is doing for the next two days is celebrating our happy occasion!" Donna informed Kelso heatedly, putting her hand on his shoulder and squeezing warningly. "As I already told Hyde, I will not have another wedding ruined."

"Ow," He freed himself of the hold, rubbing the sore spot, "But,"

"No buts." There was no room for argument in the former red-head's tone. "We're going to be happy damn it because weddings are a happy time! Now shut the hell up, go home, shower, change your clothes and make sure you're on time for the rehearsal! You better be smiling too! Because if anyone is late or decides not to show up, heads will roll!"

Everyone stared at the sudden change from rational, practical Donna to bride-to-be from hell. Wondering if the stress of their current circumstances or the memories of the ill fated first attempt at a wedding had finally made her snap.

Tapping her foot, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Did I stutter? Go!"

Kelso huffed but heeded her advice, stalking out of the room. Fez followed after him, practically running to be as far away from the angry amazon as he could be.

"I swear, if he messes up this wedding…"

Eric wrapped an arm around his fiancée, leading her up the stairs. "I don't think he will. You were pretty scary. Darth Vader level scary really."

Hyde felt the tension leave his body and shook his head with a bitter chuckle. He owed Donna, big time. While he was sure that some of what she said about the wedding was probably true, he knew that her reason for going against Kelso had to do with their previous conversation. She was trusting him to make good on his word and tell Jackie everything after the wedding. If he broke that trust, she would make him pay for it.

He turned to his unusually silent ex and gave her a tight smile. "Never a dull day around here."

"What was that all about?" Her inquiry was loaded, turbulent emotions swirling in those multi-colored orbs.

He could lie. Tell her he had no clue. But he didn't want to. This was one instance where he could give her a little truth. "Things have been strained between Kelso and I for years."

"Why?"

A rueful smile broke across his lips, "I stole his girlfriend."

Jackie blinked in surprise, apparently not expecting that answer. Her head tilted to the side as she studied him, long locks of raven hair falling over her shoulder. "You don't sound sorry about that."

"I'm not." A one-shouldered shrug followed that. "They didn't have a good relationship. He cheated on her constantly. But when it happened, he had taken off and went to California for the summer without telling her."

"Oh." Her voice was dismissive, not appalled by his admission. "Well, I don't see why he got mad. Even if they didn't really end things, he gave up the right to be angry if she moved on when he left town. I'm sure he wasn't turning down any beach bunny he encountered."

"Yeah, well, he didn't see it that way." Blue eyes rolled as his mind recalled some of Kelso's nastier attempts to break them up. "Went out of his way to make sure that her and I wouldn't last."

She brows knitted together, those all too observant eyes locked on his face, "So since I haven't seen a girlfriend around, I take it he succeeded."

Hyde took a deep breath and looked at her, regret painted on his face. "If you asked me this a year and a half ago, I would have said yes. But now I can admit the truth."

"What's the truth?"

"I didn't think I could give her what she wanted or what she deserved. Tried pushing her away but she was stubborn. Reeled me back in just for us to end up in the same place a few months later." He heaved a heavy, pained sigh. "So I did what I do best. Looked for an excuse to run and found one. Then I found a way to fuck it up beyond all repair."

Jackie swallowed thickly, pushing fallen strands of hair out of her face. "What did you do?"

"Went to Vegas. Binge drank for a month. Came back here to find out she wanted to work things out-"

"Then you couldn't have messed it up too badly." She interrupted with a roll of her eyes.

"Thought that too." He couldn't look at her anymore, suddenly fixing his ashamed gaze on the cement floor. "Until the doorbell rang and it was the stripper I had married in a drunken stupor in Vegas on the other side of it."

Her eyes widened and mouth hung open in shock.

"Oh but it gets even worse."

"I can't imagine how." She informed him honestly, looking completely blown away.

"See, my girl would have taken me back even after that. She loved me that much and was willing to fight for us. But I chose to stay with the stripper because it was easier. A couple of months later, the strippers real husband shows up looking for her."

"Oh my god."

"Yeah, I let my insecurities win and threw it all away for what essentially boils down to a few months of crappy stripper sex."

"Hyde, I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He hissed, the guilt making him feel like he was drowning.

"Well, I am." She said comfortingly. "You made mistakes but I'm sure you didn't mean to hurt her."

"I did."

"You say that…"

"Because it's the truth. I took all the anger I had and turned it on my ex. Making her life as much of a living hell as I could. I succeeded, she's miserable." He pinned a hard, self-hating gaze on her and felt that familiar knife slicing through his gut sensation. "Guess you can see why Kelso and I no longer pretend to be friends and why he doesn't want me anywhere near you."