October 19th, 1983

7:08 pm

Point Place hospital

Steven had offered to pick up Kitty after her shift at the hospital since the Toyota was in the shop. He had left Grooves a little before closing time and was now waiting for Kitty outside the hospital, near the entrance of the ER, but she was nowhere in sight.

After ten more minutes he decided to go inside and look for her. Maybe she was so busy with work that she hadn't seen the time.

As soon as Hyde walked through the doors, he saw her. She was saying something to a police officer, and he was taking notes. Hyde thought he recognized the guy; he might have seen him before at Kelso's house. Kitty was frowning and looked incredibly tired, her usual laughter gone behind sad, tearful eyes.

"They have a child?" asked Kitty to the police officer turning around to look at the little kid that the officer was pointing at. The officer just nodded. "Oh my god!"

Kitty begun to cry then, and Hyde rushed to her. Seeing him she just hugged him and cried on his shoulder. Hyde questioned the officer with a look. The cop looked briefly at the little kid, maybe two or three years, wrapped in a blanket, sleeping with his head on a young nurse's lap. He just shook his head and went to talk to another nurse.

"Dad was stabbed… didn't make it" explained Kitty, when she calmed down. "The mom is just out of surgery but is still critical"

"What happened?"

"For what we could gather, someone broke into their house. One of the officers said it might have been a band of narcs" said Kitty after another brief silence, with a small shrug.

"What's going to happen to the kid?" asked him, looking at the small boy.

"Social services should be here in the morning" explained her. "A nurse will stay with him tonight"

She asked him to wait a moment while she went to talk to the other cop and the boy's mother's doctor. Hyde looked back at the kid and saw that he was awake. He had the most striking golden-brown eyes, like dark honey, though Hyde could only see one, because the little boy was rubbing the side of his face where he'd been leaning on the nurse's lap.

"Hey, little guy" said Hyde, kneeling in front of the small boy. "Sleep well?"

The little kid gave him a little smile, shyly, and nodded. They looked at each other for a few seconds. Next to the boy, the nurse was looking at Hyde curiously. Suddenly, the boy reached forward and took Hyde's sunglasses, giggling.

"Don't you go breaking those" said Hyde, smiling warmly and poked him with his index finger, in the cheek, in the forehead and the side, making him giggle even more.

Hyde saw Kitty on his peripheral vision and put his hand up in front of the boy, expecting him to return the shades. The little kid looked at him puzzled for a second and then realizing what was expected, put the sunglasses on Hyde's hand.

Hyde smiled again, and before standing up, asked him "What's your name, kid?"

"Thomas" whispered the boy, almost inaudibly.

/-/-/-/-/

10:21 pm

Jackie and Hyde's apartment

Hyde's mind was racing. He was sitting on his big black leather chair with the curtains drawn shut and the lights out. The story had hit him. He couldn't help but feel a certain kinship to the kid. Of course, there were plenty of differences. The kid's parents hadn't abandoned him – but if both of them died he'd get stuck in the foster system and then there was nothing much to hope for him.

He'd been back home for about an hour, but his mind would not calm down, so sleep was not an option. He'd thought about a solo circle, but dismissed it quickly knowing it would only make is headache worse.

There were too many thoughts going through his mind at the same time. The many times that Betsy had stayed over with him and Jackie, and the occasional comment when Brooke and Kelso had picked up the little human. Or the conversation about last names he had had with his father the previous year. Then there was the day that Kelso had told them he wanted him and Jackie to be Betsy's godparents. The day of Forman's welcome party after his year in Africa, when Betsy had wobbled to him at first sight.

And that day in Groove's when he'd gotten Kitty's call to find out that he'd lost something that he didn't even know he had… or how much he'd wanted it.

And there was something about the kid's face that stayed with him, like he knew him from somewhere. Point Place was a small enough town to recognize people in the streets, but he and Jackie had moved to Madison almost two years ago, so he wasn't sure he'd see someone often enough, much less a small kid.

/-/-/-/

October 20th, 1983

9:47 am

Groove's

He was too distracted to work. He still had to finish the inventory, but he could not concentrate.

He had finally fallen asleep a little after midnight, but it hadn't been a restful sleep. He'd dreamed about Bud and Edna leaving, about his cousin who almost died of an overdose, about the gunshots he would usually hear around his old neighborhood on weekends, about the crackhead from the next block that had gotten himself in the middle of a mexicana and had ended up in the ER with a knife sticking out of his thigh, barely missing his femoral artery.

He had woken up out of breath and sweaty about an hour before the sunrise and could not, would not go back to sleep.

"Can we do this later?" asked Hyde putting the pen down. Ryan looked at him questioningly. "I can't concentrate right now" explained him, rubbing his palm to his face, exhausted.

"Is it about that guy that got stabbed?" asked Ryan after a moment's hesitation. Hyde looked at him surprised and nodded. "Bobby said he saw you at the hospital last night" he explained. Bobby was the cop from last night that Hyde recognized from Kelso's house who was also Ryan's best friend.

"Yeah… they lived just a couple of blocks from my old house" said Hyde, thinking about the crappy house he'd shared with his mother many years ago.

"They came in once or twice a month" said Ryan suddenly. "It was like he wanted to listen to all the albums in the store, no matter the genre"

Hyde saw the little kid's eyes in his mind again. Yes, he'd seen him a couple of times in the store, wobbling between the tables and climbing on the couch. He'd even given him one of Betsy's toys that had been left behind when she'd stayed with him and Jackie the year before. Sighing deeply, he went to the office and picked up the phone. It rang four times before someone picked up on the other side. On each ring he felt his spirit growing darker and heavier.

"I need to speak with Nurse Forman, please" he said to the person on the other side of the line. He only had to wait for a little while. "Hi… I was wondering what happened to that kid from yesterday?"

"The mother didn't make it" said Kitty's voice breaking. He felt a pang of sadness in the pit of his guts. "And social services just checked… No aunts or uncles; only one grandmother" a small relief, at least. "But she can't take him… she's too old, lives in a nursing home and could never take a toddler" Kitty added, saddened.

"So… what's gonna happen to him?" asked Hyde, imagining the boy playing with a couple of Forman's old GI Joe's that Kitty said she'd bring for him.

"Foster care" said Kitty, simply, with a teary voice.

They talked a couple more minutes and as soon as he hung up, he dialled a new number.

"Are you busy today?" asked him tiredly as soon as he heard Jackie's voice

"I just have to finish a couple of designs for Mrs. Preston" said Jackie, referring to a new client. He didn't reply straightaway. "Are you all right, Steven?" asked her, sensing his dark mood.

"Would you come over?" asked him in the same tone as before.

"To Point Place? Is everything ok?" she was beginning to get worried.

"Yeah, I'm just tired with all the paperwork" replied him quickly, trying to sound fine… but failing. "I just… please come? I'll be home"

Here's the beginning of a new storyline ... hope you like it