Hyde pushed himself off Sam and pulled off the used condom to throw it into the trash. He reached for his half-smoked joint and inhaled deeply. A spiral of blue smoke floated upwards, making a halo around his head. Behind him on the cot, Sam raked her fingernails lazily across his back. He stiffened.

"Cut it out."

She pulled her hand back. He wondered if he hurt her feelings, then decided that he didn't give a crap. Nevertheless he flicked a cursory glance at her. Her blonde hair fanned out across his pillow and her eyes were half-closed. She didn't look offended. Then again, hardly anything he did ever bothered her. That was why he kept her around despite everything he supposed — because she rolled with it.

His thoughts turned as usual to another girl with hair the color of the night sky. He was losing her, he could feel it. A cold fist seized his heart. He finished his joint and he lit up another one, pulling on it until he felt the tension leave him.

Something was different about her. Jackie. He didn't know what. But she wasn't the same woman that he had known from before. He felt an even greater pull, an even greater attraction to the woman she was now. He detested it. It was one of the reasons he had gotten back together with Sam. And therein creating another problem for himself, for now that Sam was back he wasn't sure how to get rid of her again.


The next few weeks saw Jackie in a whirlwind of activity, for her new job was everything that she had always wanted and more. She had decided to defer her studies which was why she got the job with the network in the first place, for she had applied to work at several news agencies in order to pay for her first semester. She had been hired on to work in the Entertainment and Lifestyle department, which was really just another way of saying 'Hollywood Gossip', but she filled the expectations of the role seamlessly, and the viewers loved her. The only downside was that it was in Milwaukee, and the commute to and from her old house in Point Place to work every morning and evening was killer.

She left the house early in the mornings and came back late at night, usually exhausted to the point that she would fall straight into bed after a hastily prepared dinner or a takeaway sandwich that she would get from the deli near her office before she hopped on the bus home.

It had been weeks since she had dropped by the Forman household or seen any of her friends save for Donna, who would call twice a week at least, to ask her to lunch. Donna's relationship with Randy seemed to be progressing steadily, and they seemed to be adapting to living together just fine. Donna was happy at her job, and was considering furthering her studies, but no concrete plans had been formed yet and Randy was invaluable to Hyde. For Hyde was hardly ever at the record store and Randy kept it from running itself into the ground.

She had not seen Hyde since the day she moved in, and she wondered how he and was doing with Sam. She found herself picking up the phone occasionally, tempted to ring him and see how he was doing, but would eventually put down the receiver, telling herself that no good would come out of it.

She felt like she owed him something, ever since he had revealed to her the truth about that fateful night in Chicago. But she didn't know what and she didn't know what she was expected to do about it. Sometimes she wished that things between her and Hyde had ended neatly — like it did with her and Kelso. But it hadn't and it was a loose thread, a situation that didn't seem to be working itself out; instead it just seemed to be getting more complicated as the days rolled by.

She sighed. She hated complicated.

One morning Jackie stepped out her front door to notice that there was a sharper nip in the air and the colors of summer were starting to take on the reddish hues of fall.

Most people would think that she was a summer person — bright and cheery and full of life: a veritable optimist. But there was something about fall that she loved. The shedding of old leaves; the prelude to winter. She thought it was the most romantic of seasons but this year it seemed to blow in with none of its usual magic and was to her a symbol of nothing but the inexorable passage of time.

She turned to lock the heavy double doors of the Burkhart Mansion and caught the bus to work.


"Sam's pregnant."

Jackie choked and water went spurting in every direction. "Say what?" she gasped as she coughed wildly, sucking in huge gulps of air.

Donna started thumping her hard on the back. She paused and faltered a bit before setting her jaw and repeating herself, "Sam. She's pregnant. Hyde's gonna be a dad."

They were on a water break at the self-defense classes that Donna took. She had noticed Jackie had been looking rather down a lot lately and had convinced her to come along with her for a lesson. She also figured that it would be a good place to break the news to Jackie, seeing that it was the best place for Jackie to punch something if she needed to.

Cough cough cough.

Thump thump thump.

"So she's pregnant," Jackie wheezed, and sat back down on her haunches. "Wow." She shook her head in disbelief, and tried to sort her feelings out. "Wow. Just wow." She was quiet for a long while.

"How far along is she?" she finally asked.

Donna sighed. "Early stages. About six weeks or so, according to Hyde."

"That was quick," Jackie said with a tight smile. She pushed her hair out of her face and closed her eyes, leaning back against the wall. "How's he taking it?"

Donna let out a mirthless laugh and joined her on the floor. "Not well." She looked at Jackie who still had her eyes closed.

"He was seriously pissed, Jackie, you should've seen him."

Jackie made no reply.

"He asked her if she was sure he was the father. Can you believe him?!"

Jackie definitely could.

Anyway, the gist of it was that Hyde had shouted and yelled and stormed and thundered for two days. Then progressed to get well and truly sloshed and remained that way for the rest of the week until Red had had enough and stomped down to the basement and told him to 'shove it' and 'man up'. To which he had responded with a loud burp and proceeded to throw up over Red's shoes. It had apparently taken all of Fez and Donna's strength, and all of Kitty's maneuvering, to keep Hyde's ass from sailing to the moon.

"You okay?" Donna asked her tentatively, with a hand on her arm.

Jackie finally opened her eyes. They were calm and devoid of the hysterics and heartbreak that Donna had expected to see in them.

She nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, yeah I am." She ventured a brave smile at Donna. She got up, dusted the seat of her gym shorts, and adjusted her hair. Then headed straight for the sparring mat in the middle of the room.

"Now let's go kick some butt."


Jackie had seen neither Steven nor Sam since Donna broke the news of Sam's pregnancy to her, and she still met Donna at least once a week. Though she hadn't had the time to drop by to see the Formans, she made it a point to call several times a week, and if she didn't, Kitty would be sure to call her to check on her.

They had grown close, and Kitty had shown a genuine interest in her life and her job and how she spent her days. Jackie was grateful for it, for Kitty was the closest thing to a maternal figure that she had. She had heard nothing but silence from Eric, and during every conversation that she had with Kitty, she would ask casually for news about Eric; but Kitty's answers would always be vague and she got the impression that Kitty didn't know as much as she would have liked about her only son either.

One afternoon, she came back from work early, and found herself alighting several stops before the Burkhart Mansion, on Marie Drive instead. She gave the front door a miss, walking around instead to the drive way and letting herself in through the slider to the kitchen.

Kitty was humming happily and baking something. The scent of cinnamon and spice clung to the air. She turned around when Jackie walked in, and a big smile stretched across her face.

"Hi, Mrs. Forman," Jackie said with a smile of her own.

"Hello, sweetie! It's so lovely to see you! You haven't been around as often as you used to," she gently admonished. "Come sit down, have some crumble."

She directed Jackie to the kitchen table with her oven mitts still on, and swept around to pull the pan out of the oven. She scooped up a piping hot ladle-full of apples and crumbly crust onto a plate.

"Fresh cream or vanilla sauce?" she asked as she settled it in front of Jackie.

"Vanilla sauce, please," Jackie said gratefully, as her tummy let out a rumble.

Kitty looked at the clock and stared at her disapprovingly. "Oh, honey. Did you have any lunch?"

Jackie shook her head at her with a mouthful of crumble. Kitty 'tsked' as she brought over the pot of vanilla sauce sitting on the stove to spoon some over Jackie's plate.

"Busy day at work, Mrs. Forman. I hadn't realized I was hungry until now."

"Well. You can't have crumble for lunch. I'll whip you up a sandwich."

Jackie started to protest, but realized that she really was hungry, and it's been too long since someone fussed over her like Mrs. Forman was doing, so she kept quiet and beamed at Kitty instead.

"How was your day, Jackie?" she asked as she pulled out lettuce and a tomato from the fridge.

"Oh it was great. Crazy as usual, but I love it."

She talked animatedly about her day, telling Kitty about her colleagues, her responsibilities and how much she was coming into her role at the network. She paused for a while and sank into deep thought, debating whether or not to share this with Kitty.

"Though…," she began hesitantly, afraid that Kitty would laugh at her. "There's actually a vacancy coming up soon. Global Desk. The anchor covering the Real Life segment will be stepping down, and there's been a mad rush of people clamoring to step into it."

She looked at Kitty and scrambled to add, "I mean, I know that they're looking for qualified journalists and I'm new and young and I know people think that I'm just a pretty face, but I just really think that I would be a great fit for the role."

Jackie really did think that. It came as a revelation to her when she realized that she was no longer all that interested in celebrity gossip and fashion and that she wanted to report on bigger issues, issues that touched on the life of the common people and the problems that they faced everyday.

She couldn't get the idea out of her head ever since she had gotten wind of the news over at Global Desk. She had been filled with the idea that she could do more, that she was more. And hot on the heels of that thought came a yearning that she could perhaps contribute more too, and that role was perfect.

"What do you think?" she asked Kitty nervously.

Kitty smiled down at her, feeling a surge of pride. She had always known that Jackie was made up of more than fluff. "Oh honey, I think that's wonderful."

A lovely smile spread across her features and her brown eyes lit up. "You do?"

"Yes, dear, I really do."

Jackie beamed. "Thank you," she said softly.

Time flew, and at six o'clock, Jackie declined Kitty's invitation to stay for dinner and gathered her things, getting ready to leave for home.

"Oh honey, before you leave…" Kitty wiped her hands on her apron and hurried out of the room before returning a couple of minutes later with a blue envelope in her hands. She fingered the envelope for a few seconds, before handing it over to Jackie.

"This, here, just came in the mail. It's for you."

Jackie stared at the blue envelope and felt her heart stop. She couldn't move for a long moment. Finally, she reached out to take the envelope from Kitty's outstretched hand. Her fingers were trembling. Her eyes flew to meet Kitty's, and she saw a gentle smile on her lined face.

Her throat felt tight, and she managed a wobbly smile and a short nod before she tucked the envelope carefully into her purse and pulled the slider shut.

Kitty watched her leave. "Oh sweetie, if you only knew how much he misses you."


The phone rang at the Forman household that night, as it always did, exactly at eight on the dot.

Kitty was in the kitchen and picked it up on the first ring. There was a loud crackle of static on the other end, but it faded as a deep voice spoke.

"Hey, Mom."

Kitty smiled. "Hi, sweetie."

They spoke shortly before he centered the conversation around the real reason he called so often.

"How was she today?"

"You're in for a treat today," she with a light laugh, "she came over this afternoon."

Eric's grip on the phone tightened slightly. "She did? How did she look? Tired? Happy?"

And as she had done ever since Jackie had returned from Africa, Kitty told him what he wanted to know.

"Eric, your letter to her arrived this afternoon," she said later when he was about to hang up.

He was quiet over the line, and waited for her to continue.

"Honey," Kitty ventured hesitantly, "I think her feelings for Steven have changed. I don't believe that someone who's supposed to be deeply in love with someone else reacts that way when she receives a letter from someone who is just a friend."

She waited for some form of a response from her son but all she got was continued silence.

She sighed. She longed for the days when she could read him like a book. Her heart was heavy as she acknowledged that those days might be long gone. As only a mother could, she knew that something drastic had happened to him, and she resented Africa and the teaching program that had sent her son there in the first place.

"Come home, Eric," she said pleadingly into the phone.

She heard him exhale through his nose, and in that sound, she discerned a wealth of frustration and conflict. Her heart ached for her boy, and she tucked her chin into her chest, and decided to drop the subject. "Forget I said that, honey."

"It's okay, Mom," Eric said, "I'll come home to visit, just not yet, okay?"

Kitty's heart broke a little at his words. Just to visit? she wanted to say, but bit the words back before she could utter them. She mustered a bright and chirpy tone instead in reply, " Okay, honey. Whenever you're ready."


Jackie stared at the blue envelope on her desk. She had been staring at it for the past fifteen minutes. She didn't know what it contained, and was afraid that it would contain bad news. Bad news? she scoffed internally. Like what? A break-up letter? You weren't even together, Jackie!

She reached out and snatched the letter, tearing it open before she could stop herself.

A single photograph fell out. It was a picture of a lush valley, with wide banks and framed on both sides with grassy hillocks. She reached for it with trembling fingers. The edges were worn, as if Eric had handled it often. A wide river snaked through, right through, the middle of the picture.

She stared it, feeling a rush of emotion flood her. She knew where it was taken, she knew what it was about, and she understood.

She turned the picture around.

Thinking of you.

His familiar scrawl brought back so many memories. And those three words went straight to her heart. Her eyes filled, and a great warmth filled her.

Thinking of you.

Three little words. But she hugged them tightly and never wanted to let them go.