A.N. Trying to think of a good author's note but… eh, I've got nothing. Except please review!

Chapter 14

12th December 1980, Point Place

Here we go again, Jackie thought as she woke up spooned against Hyde. The thought encompassed more than her sleeping position; there was losing her job, being ousted by a blonde bimbo, not to mention using sex as a distraction from the big issues. Jackie indulged herself in one last sad sigh dedicated to the depressing merry-go-round that was her life, but then she felt a hard kick against her spine. It was almost like the little passenger inside her was saying Snap out of it, Mom! This is no time for sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself. Jackie's jaw tightened to its familiar stubborn tilt. So what if she could not depend on keeping her job or – she looked behind her at Hyde – keeping her man? There was still one precious soul that was depending on her, and she would not let him down.

Jackie carefully slid from underneath Hyde's encircling arm so as not to wake him and made her way over to the bureau into which Kitty had unpacked her clothes. In a previous life, there was no way her wardrobe would have fit into three bureau drawers but as she had only brought with her Brooke's maternity clothes that she had altered to her size, that was not a problem. What was a problem was that she only had three blouses, one dress and a pair of expandable jeans to last her over the next four months. Jackie pulled out a slender bank passbook from its hiding place under the drawer's lining, the cover of which read W.F.A. Fund. A quick review of the balance of her savings told her that a shopping spree was out of the question. She looked over at Hyde, who was making little grunting noises in his sleep while his arm searched for her body. As she slipped a pillow into the gap she had left, she knew she could not bring herself to ask for money from him, any more than she had been able to ask for any form of help from him these last few months. To do so would be a kind of failure in Jackie's mind, as though she had come no further than the needy little girl who always needed a big strong man to bail her out. Well, this girl knew what came of relying on other people, even if they do say all the right things (Jackie, you are everything to me). Pretty words and good intentions were one thing, but a healthy bank balance and confidence in your ability to handle any crisis trumped them every time.

What I need is a way to stretch out the life of my maternity clothes, Jackie thought, maybe only wear them when I need to go out. But what would she wear around the house? Then her foot stepped on Hyde's discarded Led Zeppelin tee-shirt from last night. Steven was a good few sizes bigger than her and tee-shirts were pretty stretchy to start with. Maybe…

It was just your typical morning in the Foreman house; Red and Eric sat around the breakfast table snarking at each other as Kitty bustled around the kitchen, happily preparing a nourishing repast for her family. Then Jackie walked through the door and normalcy skidded to a halt.

Nothing was said for a full 10 seconds as Jackie sat down at the table and started spooning eggs onto her plate. Then Eric finally squeaked, "Jackie, what the hell are you wearing?"

"They're called clothes, Eric," Jackie replied, apparently unconcerned that she was wearing a worn Rolling Stones tee-shirt over her jeans. "It's this new craze sweeping the civilized world."

"But… but it's a tee-shirt! Hyde's tee-shirt! And it's used!" Eric spluttered.

"Shut it, dumbass," Red squashed his son.

"How are you feeling this morning, Jackie?" Kitty asked tentatively, as though fearing some psychotic break in her new house-guest. "And where is Steven?"

"Steven is still in bed." Jackie shot a wicked smirk Eric-wards. "I kind of wore him out last night." Eric shuddered not only at the image but the Hyde-ness of the remark. "And aside from having my kidneys stepped on every other minute, I'm fine," Jackie said, biting into her toast.

Red looked Jackie over with approval. "You see, this is what I like about you. When Eric gets depressed, he holes up in his bedroom for the summer. Whereas you put in one day and then you're back on your feet again."

"It's like you always say, Red. Life sucks and disappointment is just par for the course. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can get on with your business."

Eric regarded Jackie with an increasingly freaked-out expression. "You're not making a big deal about yourself, you're wearing Hyde's clothes and you're talking all nihilistic! Alright, what the hell happened last night? Did you perform some satanic ritual on Hyde and switch souls or something?" Eric grasped her hand and stared searchingly into her eyes. "Hyde? Are you in there, buddy?"

"Eric, don't be so silly," Kitty admonished. "Jackie, I know what will make you feel better – shopping! How about you and I hit the stores for some Christmas shopping! Only two more weeks to go, or, as Eric would say, just 12 more sleeps till Santa comes."

"Christmas shopping?" Jackie thought quickly; she could not even afford to dress herself, how was she going to buy presents for everybody? There was only one way out. "You know, Christmas has become so commercial these days. It used to be a holy day, now it's all about getting sucked into this huge conspiracy run by profiteering retailers. Well, this year I'm not buying into their scam! I'm not giving Christmas presents and I don't want anyone giving me any presents."

"You don't want any presents?" Eric gaped at the dark haired stranger sitting across from him. A present-hating Jackie was too bizarre a concept to wrap his head around.

"Sweetie, maybe you are spending too much time with Steven," Kitty ventured. "You're starting to sound just like him. Why, if I close my eyes I would think that was him talking."

"Morning, Mrs Foreman. Any eggs left?"

"Oh my! That was uncanny!" Kitty cried as she re-opened her eyes.

"Kitty, the boy is right here." Red rolled his eyes.

Hyde took his seat next to Jackie, taking in her new look with an upraised eyebrow. She looked back with a hint of challenge in her multi-coloured eyes, and he wisely chose not to comment. They had more important things to discuss, anyhow. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hey," she replied.

"What happened to you?" he asked her in quiet tones. "I woke up this morning and you were gone."

Jackie shrugged. "You wanted me to eat. I'm just following orders."

"Listen, about last night," Hyde began. "After all that's happened, you probably want to talk about our relationship…"

"Not really," Jackie replied, scraping up the last forkful of eggs. Hyde blinked.

"You don't?"

"Nope."

"But you always want to talk about our relationship and feelings and that kind of crap."

"Hey," Red barked. "Nobody talks about their feelings while I'm eating!"

Jackie gifted Hyde with a blinding smile. "Baby, stop trying to analyse everything. All that matters is the here and now, which, judging from last night, is pretty awesome."

"Oh. Alright. So… we're good, then?"

"Sure, why not?" Jackie answered casually, rising from the table to take her empty plate to the sink. "Say Red, have you finished with the paper? I just need the employment section."

"What? Hold on there, woman," Hyde objected, crossing the room to her side. "What do you need a job for? You know the doctor told you to take it easy until the baby is born."

"Relax, Steven. I'm just going to see if there is something out there which doesn't involve any physical activity – something I can do from home, maybe bookkeeping for a small business; I was always good at anything to do with money." Jackie then received the employment section from Red, thanked Mrs Foreman for breakfast and walked out of the kitchen, dealing out a surreptitious slap to Hyde's ass on the way out. He gazed after her in utter bafflement.

"My God, I can't believe how much she's changed," Eric marvelled.

"I know," Kitty agreed. "She not only cleared her own plate, she thanked me for breakfast! She now has better manners than my own family."

Guilty pause, then "Thanks for breakfast Mom/Kitty/Mrs Foreman."

"Well, that just makes the last twenty-five years worthwhile," Kitty muttered.

…………………………………………………………………..

12th January 1981

Over the next few weeks the strange change that had come over Jackie became increasingly obvious to everybody. Her around-the-house uniform had become Hyde's T-shirts and her maternity jeans, and seeing as how she had given up shopping and was following her doctor's advice about staying off her feet, she was around the house a lot. She could usually be found down in the basement either watching TV with the gang or settled in Hyde's chair, making notations in a ledger. In spite of Hyde's forceful objections, she had canvassed the local small businesses and was successful in convincing five of them that they required the services of a part-time bookkeeper like herself. The only time she regularly left the house was once a week when she would visit her customers and swap this week's receipts, invoices and ledger books with last week's and collect her payment. Every time she deposited her earnings into her W.F.A. Fund, she felt a little easier both for herself and her baby – the balance was nearing its target.

The day Hyde found her passbook marked their first major fight since their wedding – unless you include the fight during the wedding, in which case it would be the second.

"What the hell is this?" he yelled, throwing her passbook onto the coffee table. Jackie put down her ledger.

"How did you find this? Have you been going through my things?" she accused.

Hyde had actually been looking for Jackie's diary; she kept her thoughts so much to herself these days that he was desperate for some insight into what she was thinking – or planning. It was an unsettling side-effect that the less Jackie talked about what she was feeling, the more insecure it made him. It used to be that when they were in the grip of passion, Jackie would be the one babbling about how much she loved him; Hyde used to be able to play her body like a Stradivarius to elicit the exact words he wanted to hear, although he would never admit to wanting them and rarely returned them. Now when they made love the only words Jackie would say were instructional – what she wanted Hyde to do to her and what she wanted to do to him. As though to fill some void she had made, he suddenly found himself unable to hold back those same words of love Jackie used to pour into his ears, a thing so incredibly anti-zen that he would curse himself for it afterwards. And now he was snooping through her drawers, searching for some inside knowledge to manipulate her with. What the hell is happening to me? He thought.

Hyde returned to the attack, ignoring Jackie's question. "Why the hell does your bank account have $4,500 in it yet you hyperventilate if I pay an extra 50 cents for toothpaste?"

"The generic brand is just as good as the commercial ones, Steven," Jackie retorted. "Why do we have to pay for their advertising budget?"

"That's not the point! You have $4,500 in the bank but you didn't even buy anyone Christmas presents," Hyde ranted.

"I made them little Christmas cakes," Jackie protested.

"Yeah, well maybe if you had given everyone hockey sticks to go with them they might have been able to get some use from them." Hyde shook his head in disbelief. "What the hell has happened to you, Jackie? You never used to be so cheap."

Jackie jumped to her feet, her temper fully ignited. "You'd be cheap too if your father was in prison and you actually had to make your own way in the world! But I guess it's easy to pass judgment on others when you've got a rich daddy to swoop in and give you everything you want."

"No, I pass judgment because you work your butt off pinching pennies when you've got a small fortune in the bank. Why the hell don't you go out and buy some new clothes instead of walking around like your fashion consultant is the Salvation Army clothing bin? You could use that gift certificate I gave you for Christmas."

Jackie curled her lip. "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you? I'm sick of you trying to dress me, change me into something more presentable. Well, I've got news for you, baby, this is who I am – I'm scruffy, I don't waste my money and I never wanted any of your Christmas presents! I hate presents!"

"No, you don't," Hyde shouted. "You love presents! You love clothes! You love spending money like it rains down from the sky!"

"Not any more." Jackie plopped back into Hyde's chair and crossed her arms, clutching her precious passbook to her chest.

"Could you tell me one thing?" Hyde wearily sank down onto the coffee table, facing his beautiful, stubborn wife. "What does W.F.A. stand for?"

"You really want to know, Steven?" Jackie asked, her eyes blue and green steel. "It stands for World Falls Apart."

"What?" Hyde felt a little sick as he sensed what was coming.

"I first started it when Sam came along and I found myself with no job, no boyfriend and no real friends. Money seemed to be the only thing I had any control over that could give me some kind of security. It used to be called just the J.B. Burkhart Savings Account but then when every few weeks some fresh disaster would come along to shatter what little progress I'd been able to make – well, I felt my passbook deserved a new name."

"Come on, Jackie, you're exaggerating. It wasn't that bad."

"Not that bad? Well, let's review, shall we?" Jackie ticked off each point on her fingers. "One – there was the whole Sam debacle, we've covered that. Two would be when the only employment offered to me in this town was sweeping hair, and I was so broke I had to settle for it. Three would be the time when Donna chose Sam over me as her new best friend. Four would be when Fez, the guy I counted as my last real friend, kicked me out onto the streets because I had accidentally flooded our bathroom. Then there was Christine St George – if I thought sweeping hair was bad, working for that demented bitch redefined the word! Even so, at least I was really good at that job, so good that she felt threatened and fired me. Then there was both my hook-up-slash-break-up with Fez, both of which you gave me so much grief over I couldn't bear to hang around you, which meant I couldn't come to the basement even though it was the only place that ever felt like a home to me."

"Jackie – "

"What are we up to? Six? Seven? I've lost count. Next one would be that whole going-away bash you threw for me which wound up with me waking up the next morning in your bed. Then there was finding out I was pregnant – now there's something a girl just starting a promising career in television wants to hear!"

"Jackie!"

"After that there was suddenly finding myself married to the same man who had smashed my heart like an egg dropped from the Chrysler Building. Finally, last but not least and drumroll please, getting bumped from the job I had poured my heart and soul into so a bottle-blonde bimbo could step into my shoes." Jackie stared hard at Hyde, her eyes wide so the tears standing in them would not fall. "I may have left some things out. It gets hard to keep track after a while."

"Jacks, I know it's been a bad couple of years for you, but that's all changed now." Hyde took both her hands in his. "We're married, you and I. Everything I have is yours – isn't that what you always used to tell me? You don't need to stockpile money like a squirrel stacking acorns for winter. The bad times are over."

"For how long?" Hyde felt chilled by the bleakness in her voice.

"How long what?"

"Marriages don't last forever, Steven. My parents didn't, the Pinciotti's didn't – even your last one didn't."

"That wasn't a real marriage," Hyde denied.

"You thought it was. You acted like it was. If Sam's husband hadn't shown up, you'd be with her now."

"No, I wouldn't. We didn't split just because her husband showed up, Jackie. I could have stayed with Sam after that – she offered to get a divorce if I let her stay. But I couldn't carry on with her anymore. I thought if I worked at it hard enough I could use her to make me get over you but when after four months I was still hearing your voice in my head, still catching myself turning to tell you some stupid thing that had happened to me that day and still not able to even get off with Sam without closing my eyes and pretending it was you – "

"Ewww," Jackie recoiled.

" – I knew I couldn't pretend anymore with Sam. It wasn't her bigamy that made our marriage a fake. It was you. You may think she took away what was yours, but she never really did. I guess you could count that as your revenge on both of us." The young couple paused for a space, drawing breath, calming heart rates, searching for words that would mend the tattered cord that held them together – or to make the final cut.

"Jackie, I want our marriage to last."

"I want that too, Steven," Jackie said sadly.

"Then what's the problem?" Hyde was mystified.

"I just… don't believe it will." Her voice was low, a single tear raced down her cheek. Hyde reached out towards it but she brushed it away herself. She sniffed and then said resolutely, "I just need another five hundred."

"What?"

"My fund. I have to bring it up to five thousand. That's the amount that can support me and my baby for at least three months if… anything goes wrong. Once I make that target, I'll stop working, I promise."

Hyde cleared his throat, which had suddenly become choked with something. "I'll give you the five hundred."

Jackie shook her head. "No, I can't take your money, Steven. This is something I have to do for myself." She squeezed his hand. "Please understand."

And as Hyde thought back to his childhood, growing up in a broken home, never knowing if he'd come home to a hot dinner or if his mother had drunk all their grocery money away, he did understand. He knew what she was feeling. And he would have given ten years of his life if she could have never known that feeling.