Hello hello! Sorry again for the delay. This is a very crazy time in my life and I have to get too many things done with little time made even smaller by the pandemic.

I hope you're liking this new story line.

Cheers!

January 26th, 1983

9:01 pm

Foreman's kitchen

"I just don't understand" muttered Hyde, staring at his empty can of beer. The postcard next to it showed a foggy pine forest with a majestic mountain in the back. It read "Mount Rainier" in one corner. He hadn't shaved in days; his hair was a mess and his red eyes had dark circles under them.

Jackie had called Donna the night she'd left to leave a succinct message for him. "I'm ok, don't call the police". And this morning he had gotten that damn postcard on the mail, with an even shorter message: I am fine.

"I think she just needs to grieve" said Kitty, taking the can from his hand.

"What about me?" asked him, harshly. She looked at him questioningly. "It didn't just happen to her"

A small tear rolled down his cheek and he was thankful that it was just him and Kitty in the kitchen. He didn't have the energy to show a strong façade anymore, but he wasn't about to cry in front of Forman or Red.

Ever since the week they had spent with Betsy last spring, he had been imagining what it would be like to have their own little human around. They hadn't talked about kids since that conversation in Laurie's old room almost two years ago, but he had been thinking about how to reach the subject for a while… before all of this happened.

And from what Donna and Brooke had said, Jackie had also been thinking around the same lines… until all of this happened.

/-/-/-/

January 28th, 1983

4:33pm

Groove's

He was sitting on his desk staring at the latest postcard from Jackie. It was the third one. After the one from Seattle he'd gotten one from Portland. This one was from San Francisco. In the back it read: "I'm sorry"

He felt like punching the wall... or drinking a whole warehouse of beer.

Done that! He thought sarcastically. And she left me... again, he added, pissed at himself.

He took a deep breath and run his hands through his hair. He didn't know what to make of Jackie leaving and he was feeling both sad and angry, which was never a good combination.

Leaving the postcard in his desk, he walked out into the store where a couple of customers were browsing the crates, and another was setting a small vinyl – a single – on the turntable. As soon as it started, he recognized the song from a BBC show from 1969. "Dammit" he muttered and walked out of the store, while Plant's voice declared "The girl I love, yeah, she got long black wavy hair"

/-/-/-/

January 30th, 1983

Eric and Donna's apartment

9:19 pm

"Have you heard anything else from her?" asked Donna, folding a shirt and putting it on a drawer.

After that first phone call to Donna and the postcards for Hyde, Jackie had not contacted anybody in almost two weeks. Donna and Eric, the Formans, WB, Angie and Layla were all worried about Jackie, but nobody could understand how he was feeling.

"Just the postcards" he replied from his spot on the floor, leaning back against the side of her bed, not looking up from the spot right in front of him, just below the window. They remained in silence while Donna folded and put away her laundry and Hyde looked into infinity, lost in thought.

Maybe this is how she felt when I went away to Las Vegas, he thought, bitterly, closing his eyes and taking a deep shaky breath. The main difference was that at least she was keeping contact - barely, but contact. And that, he thought, meant that she was coming back.

"Did she know?" asked Donna after a while, sitting on the floor next to him.

"No…" he murmured, sadness creeping up his face again. "It was too soon anyway" he said lightly, shrugging unconvincingly.

/-/-/-/

February 2nd, 1983

8:11 pm

Jackie and Hyde's house

He was exhausted.

He had buried himself in work ever since Jackie had taken off, in hopes of distracting himself from the fact that his fiancée had abandoned him without a word right after losing their unborn child.

He rubbed his sore eyes before opening the door and sighed heavily, stumbling inside. As a habit, he left his keys, wallet, and shades in the small table by the door and collapsed face down on the couch.

It was only after a few minutes that he felt a faint smell that hadn't been there for a while, that made him jump to his feet and look around.

Jackie was standing at the foot of the stairs, her hair up in a bun, wearing one of his Zeppelin shirts and a pair of baggy old sweatpants. Her face was pink and her eyes slightly swollen.

They stared at each other for what felt like ages. Jackie opened her mouth to speak several times, but no sound came from her. Steven was immensely relieved that she was back. He was also very angry.

"What the fuck, Jackie?" asked him after a while. His voice sounded loud, sharp and icy. "How could you…?" his voice broke before he could finish the sentence.

He swung around on his heels and grabbed a glass ashtray from the coffee table and threw it to the opposite wall, where it shattered loudly. Steven grabbed his head with both hands then and sat on his big black couch, staring at the floor between his feet. "Fuuuuck!" he yelled at no one in particular.

Jackie stepped hesitantly closer to him and kneeled next to him. "I am so sorry" she whispered. "I didn't know what to do" she said after a small silence "I didn't know how… It was too much…"

"Oh, yeah… and it was so easy for me, right?" retorted him, looking at her, irony and anger coating his words.

They remained silent for a while, not knowing what to do or say.

"Damn it, Jackie!" exclaimed him after a while, standing up and starting to pace back and forth in front of her. "I just…"

He stopped and turned to look at her, wrath turning into to subdued anger, and just a bit of tenderness

"I love you… so, so much" he said, with a pained voice and tears threatening to overflow his eyes "But right now… I also hate you"

And he stormed out of the house, slamming the door.

I don't think I'd ever et anyone treat me like Hyde just did, but bear with me .. I had to keep them in character and I promise he makes up for this outburst in the next chapter. I also understand him because what the fuck, Jackie? but I also understand her needing to get away. Again, more of that in the next chapter - which will be up soon.