"You think Donna will ever forgive us?"
"Don't really care," came the distracted reply.
Jackie squinted, then sighed. "Eric."
He looked up, took in her disgruntled expression and held her chin gently between his thumb and forefinger.
"Babe, look. I've said it before and I'll say it again." He looked into her eyes, and slid his fingers up her cheek to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. "We have done nothing wrong. So whatever Donna or Hyde or whomever else thinks, it doesn't matter and doesn't affect us."
He looked back down and continued to lace up his skates, swearing under his breath as he fumbled with them.
Jackie blew out a breath and slid him a sideways glance, then flopped her head down between the palms of her hands and rested her elbows on her knees dejectedly.
A couple of minutes passed as she stared out at the other skaters on the skating rink in front of them before Eric gave a loud harrumph of triumph and stood up in his skates, wobbling dangerously before proudly proclaiming that "he still got it"; a superior grin snaking across his face.
She rolled her eyes and snorted, getting up elegantly and reaching for his hand.
She headed for the rink with him in tow, pushing the disturbing issue of Donna and Hyde to the back of her mind, a smile creeping over her face as she heard Eric sing-song, "Rainbowwwwwww!"
A few evenings later saw Donna lying in bed and staring at the ceiling when the faint sound of taps squeaking and a sudden stop of falling water indicated that Randy was done with his shower.
He stepped out of the bathroom a moment later, shivering with the sudden change of temperature and gave her a smile through chattering teeth as he stalked naked and dripping wet to the dresser across the room to get a fresh towel.
She eyed him disinterestedly. "You could've asked me to grab one for you, you know."
He shrugged under the towel, vigorously rubbing his head dry and then wrapping and knotting the towel around his waist.
The bare expanse of his smooth, unmarked back glared at her and images of Eric's as she had seen it that fateful day rose unbidden to her mind. It had been a grim mess. An unfamiliar grim mess. Her gut clenched and her eyes clouded, mind scrambling to fill in missing pieces. She ached to know what had happened to him.
She hated that she didn't.
Randy glanced over at her on the bed with a fond smile, oblivious to dark thoughts brewing in her mind.
"S'okay, I didn't want you to get up anyway. Not after that," he said, and waggled his eyebrows lasciviously, running eyes down her bare form under the sheets.
She rolled her eyes and turned to her side.
She felt him hesitate, then walk slowly over to her, the bed sinking slightly as his hand stroked back her hair a moment later. "Donna," he began haltingly, "uh, was it... was it okay? Was it too soon? I know we've just gotten back together but, uh, when y-you grabbed me and kissed me like that, I thought... I thought. Well..."
He broke off with an awkward chuckle, at a loss as to what he had done wrong, trying to see if he had misread her intentions or her earlier, almost wanton actions.
She sighed, and then rolled her eyes again into her pillow. Flipping back around she caught his hand mid-stroke in her hair and gave it a half-hearted squeeze. She attempted a smile, and then as an afterthought, gave his hand a kiss. "I wanted it, Randy." A long ago memory of her telling everyone that Eric could read her body like Braille came to her mind. She pushed it away.
"Okay," he replied, looking relieved. His eyes fell to her hair. "It's such a beautiful shade of red," he said wistfully.
This time her smile was a touch more genuine as she looked up into his eyes. "Thanks, Randy." There was a pause several seconds too long and she offered, almost like an afterthought, "I'll keep it like this if you'd like?"
He flashed her a toothy grin. "You will? For me?"
She nodded, and was almost gratified at the happy look on his face.
"I love you," he blurted out suddenly. There was a slight panic as he realized what he just said before he quashed it down and patted her hand awkwardly. "I, um, I should go... blow dry my hair now. You know how it frizzes if I don't get it when it's damp."
He shot up from the bed with a slight spasmodic jerk, and headed back to the bathroom. As the hollow whooshing sound of the hairdryer came through the open door, Donna belatedly wondered if perhaps she should've at least pretended to say it back.
It was dinnertime at the Forman household and Hyde was methodically chomping on his dinner and trying to pretend that Sam was somewhere far away - like in Timbuktu. Thinking of Timbuktu made him think of Africa, which in turn made him think about Eric, and then Eric and Jackie, and then Eric and Jackie together in Africa, and he felt Kitty's once succulent chicken stew turn into acid and then crumble into ashes in his mouth.
He reached for his soda and chugged down several mouthfuls, and then stabbed at a carrot viciously as the conversation turned yet again to the baby.
His baby.
With Sam.
He wanted to drive his fork through his eyeballs.
He didn't, of course. Instead he listened as Kitty told Sam to eat up and rest more, and suggest that she might want to take it easy on her work.
Hyde stiffened. He didn't want her home more than she already was. He glanced censoriously at Sam's waistline, noticing it's thickening and feeling his heart rate speed up at the thought that there was nothing he could do to prevent this baby from coming into his life. He reached for his soda again, wishing that it was ice-cold beer he was drinking instead. He heard his name mentioned and looked up.
"—could come by to the Baby Preparation class that I teach at the hospital," Kitty was telling Sam.
Sam was nodding her head.
Ah shit, thought Hyde.
"Michael came with Brooke, too, you know," Kitty told him, ladling more potatoes on his plate. "Did better than Brooke actually. You wouldn't think it, but that boy was a natural." The kitchen tinkled with her laughter.
Hyde scowled. Fuck Kelso. He chewed savagely. Fuck Forman too.
"That's a great idea," Sam said brightly. "We'll go, won't we, Hyde baby?" She placed her hand on his thigh. Her promise ring glinted purple on her finger.
His food started tasting like bile again. The kind that coagulated around your throat and threatened to choke you.
He swallowed hard and grunted.
