October 20th, 1983

1:06 pm

Jackie and Hyde's apartment

Jackie called his name as soon as she opened the door. He had assured her that there was nothing wrong with him besides the headache that the inventory was giving him, that he only needed to talk to her. She was wondering what was so urgent that it couldn't wait until he was back in Madison. He was supposed to be back home that night. That had only made her more preoccupied. His voice had sounded weird, Zen but coarse. And she knew that he wouldn't say anything else over the phone.

The apartment was dark, with all the curtains drawn shut. A grunt from the black leather chair told her that he'd fallen asleep. She came closer to him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He opened his eyes sluggishly and blinked a couple of times to focus on her face. He pulled her to him, hugging her and burying his face on her hair. She sat on his lap and stroked the back of his head softly.

"What's going on, Steven?" asked her on a soft, soothing voice.

"I can't stop thinking about it…" sighed him.

/-/-/-/

3:18 pm

Hyde and Jackie's apartment

He explained everything to her, from the little boy sleeping in the waiting room, the awful circumstances of the boy's parents deaths, his endless nightmares, to the conversation he'd had with Kitty and the idea that had been stuck on his head since the previous night.

After that, he'd left her alone to think, while he went to get some take-out, since neither of them had eaten lunch.

She had paced the whole apartment, from the living room, to the kitchen, to their bedroom, to the spare room… and repeat. She understood his motivations perfectly, he saw himself in that little kid, and he knew – almost better than anyone – what foster care could do to a person. He'd been very close to end up in the system himself – he knew he'd been lucky not to, but half of his cousins and neighbours hadn't. And at least he had been 16 at the time… it wouldn't have been too long for him. But this little kid had 15 years of foster care to (not) look forward to.

She stopped in the middle of the bedroom, looking at her reflection in the big mirror that he'd installed when she'd moved in years ago. Without thinking her hand went to rest on her lower abdomen and the face on the mirror looked at her surprised.

After her impulsive and slightly stupid trip to the west coast she'd been to her gynaecologist for a check-up. Still feeling guilty about the miscarriage and worried that she would not be able to get pregnant again after, she had had a lengthy conversation with her doctor.

"I understand your fear, Jackie" begun the doctor, frowning slightly. "But the miscarriage… you know it wasn't your fault, it was bound to happen"

"It… it… bound to…" gaped Jackie, shocked. "WHAT?" asked Jackie, feeling close to a nervous breakdown. Next to her, Steven was similarly taken aback, but managed to take Jackie's hand on his.

"Oh, my goodness, they didn't tell you?" Dr Peters was turning pale, but Steven wasn't sure if it was anger or disbelief.

"Tell us what?" asked Steven after a few seconds, realizing that Jackie could not articulate a sound.

"Yours was an ectopic pregnancy" explained Dr Peters, looking at Jackie. "It means that the foetus was growing outside the womb…"

A heavy silence followed the doctor's short explanation, though a thousand thoughts flashed back and forth through Jackie's mind, trying to make sense of it. Steven was looking at the poster behind the doctors' desk, with a drawing of the female reproductive organs, trying to picture a tiny embryo outside of the pink balloon-looking thing labelled "uterus".

The meeting with Doctor Peters had been long. She had answered all their questions, explained that it was perfectly safe for Jackie to get pregnant again, since ectopic pregnancies were extremely rare, and it was very unlikely that it would happen again. Somewhat relieved, she'd gone back on the pill as soon as she got her next period. At the time she could not even think about getting pregnant again so soon. The loss was still too fresh and too painful. Though she didn't dismiss the idea of having a child in the future.

Now, looking at her reflection she still wasn't sure she wanted to get pregnant yet. It had been almost a year, and she had come to terms with her… their loss. But that didn't mean she was ready yet.

/-/-/-/

4:23 pm

"Can we meet him?" asked Jackie placing her pop on the spool table.

"I think he might still be at the hospital" replied Steven, thoughtful. They were both sitting on the couch, an empty pizza box on the spool table. She took his glass, put it on the table next to hers and took his hands.

"I know how important this is for you… but I need to meet him first" explained her.

He called Kitty to find out where Thomas was. In the morning, she'd told him that the grandmother would arrive around midday to oversee all the funeral arrangements and other paperwork. Since it was still an open case, the police would also need to talk to her, as well as the prosecutor. And there were also the social workers. "Poor old lady… so much to take care of" Kitty had sighed.

Now Kitty told her that Thomas was spending the afternoon with her. Everybody had agreed that it was better for him to get out of the hospital. He needed some place warm, a good bath, a change of clothes and a nice meal. "And dessert!" she added over the phone.

5:11 pm

Forman's kitchen

Even though Hyde didn't live with the Forman's anymore, he always parked the El Camino up in the driveway, so they always entered through the kitchen, where they found Kitty, taking a tray of cookies from the oven. She looked at them surprised. She wasn't expecting them, especially not Jackie, who she thought was in Madison.

"Jackie! When did you get here?" asked Kitty in her usual high pitch. "Steven, dear, I thought you were going back to Madison today"

"I'm sorry Mrs. Forman" apologised Steven, taking his shades off. "I was just telling Jackie about Thomas and she wanted to meet him" explained him.

"Oh, how sweet!" said Kitty, smiling widely. "He's in the living room… Red's keeping an eye on him"

Jackie walked through the swinging door to find Red sitting on his pea-coloured chair watching TV, and a little boy with dark blond hair and striking light brown eyes playing with a couple of Eric's old GI Joe dolls. He was so focused on the toys that he didn't notice her walking slowly towards him and sitting on the other side of the couch, looking at him.

"Aren't you supposed to be in Madison?" asked Red in a low voice, also peering at the boy.

"Steven asked me to…" she didn't finish the sentence, because in that moment Kitty opened the door energetically and said in a cheerful sing-song voice "Who wants a cookie?"

Thomas jumped from his seat, dropping the dolls on the coffee table. He froze for a second seeing Hyde walking in behind Kitty, but there was a flash of recognition on his eyes and he smiled shyly.

"Hey, kid" greeted Hyde "remember me?"

The boy nodded silently, and Kitty placed the tray with the cookies and a glass of milk in front of him, drawing all his attention. Steven walked behind the couch and stood there, leaning against the staircase. Jackie and Kitty were both sitting on either side of the little boy, each eating a cookie and helping him with his glass of milk.

Sensing him behind her, Jackie turned around to look at Steven. "He's so cute" whispered Jackie with a small smile.

/-/-/-/

10:18 pm

Hyde and Jackie's apartment

"Ok, let's do it" said Jackie, sitting on the bed to take her boots off. Steven whirled around to look at her, forgetting the buttons of his cardigan.

He looked at her half incredulous and half excited. He knew that becoming that little boy's foster parents was a huge responsibility. That morning Kitty had told him that the boy was still shocked about what had happened, and the on-call psychiatrist had said that he might have PTSD. Luckily, he hadn't seen his parent's bloody bodies since he'd been playing in his room when the narcs had come and had hidden under his bed upon hearing the racket outside, but he had heard everything. The police had found him shaking with fear under the bed in his room after they'd received a call from one of the neighbours warning them about "loud noises that sounded like a fight gone wrong."

"Are you sure about it?" asked him cautiously. "Are you sure it's not too soon?"

After the social worker and the grandmother had gone by to pick him up, Steven had looked very serious and asked Kitty about the foster care system. Kitty, on the verge of tears, had explained to them that the system was a bureaucratic trap, with many steps and many complications. They would have to be interviewed by a social worker and a shrink, their house would be inspected and even if they passed all of that, there was still a chance that the system wouldn't let them keep Thomas.

She nodded, silently. Her face was serios but there was some eagerness in her eyes, a subdued excitement.

"Are you sure?" asked him again, sitting next to her and taking her hands on his. He had to ask again, he needed her to be absolutely certain that it was the right thing to do, for Thomas, for her, for them, and for the memory of the baby they'd lost.

"Yes, Steven" replied Jackie seriously. "I know it's a long shot, but even if it's just for a little while, I think we should help him"

I want to thank every reviewer for commenting almost every one of the latest chapters .. It's very encouraging to know you're liking where the story is going - it helps keep the creative juices flowing haha .. Gracias por las buenas vibras y los saludos c:

So .. I guess it's pretty obvious where this is headed - I hope I'm not making awful mistakes with protocols and procedures and stuff like that in the chapters to come .. if I do, then I'll put that into "creative licence" and not worry about it haha