A/N: heyy! Thank you all so much for the comments on the last chapter, especially the detailed ones! i love reading them and it means a lot, not to mention its helpful to hear feedback. also ive gotten some people saying this sounds like Life as We Know It, so I had to watch it and I stg I havent seen that movie until this week but its so similar its scary lmao. And shout out to Writerperson100 for agreeing to beta this story :)

The next few hours are a surreal blur as the group begins the grieving process, comforting each other as only they can. Fez is the most hysterical, sobbing uncontrollably as his heart aches for the best friend he'll never see again. Jackie, her numbness having subsided enough for tears to fall, cries with him. She does her best to console him, but no words or gestures can fill the holes in their hearts. Eric remains in a daze, a blank look on his face as he tries to process the still-fresh-news. Donna still clings to him for comfort, her arms wrapped around the rigid boy as she cries into his shoulder. Unsure of how to handle his emotions, Hyde keeps switching between sitting still and getting up and moving, between staying silent and cursing loudly. Jackie watches as he goes back and forth, making eye contact with him at one point and seeing her own hurt reflecting back in his eyes.

Kitty and Red had shown up a while ago and are doing their best to console the heartbroken friends, while also trying to contain their own emotions. Red doesn't say anything, just stays nearby hoping his presence does something for comfort. Kitty busies herself between comforting the "kids" and getting updates on Betsy from the doctors.

Now the group has collected themselves to the point that most of their tears have dried and a sad silence has fallen over the room, save for a few sniffles from Fez now and then. They're all mentally exhausted from the emotional turmoil.

After checking in with Betsy's nurses and doctors for the tenth time Kitty makes her way over to the grieving group. "Good news, Betsy has made a lot of progress and is awake right now. The doctors said we're allowed to visit her," she informs them, giving them a small ray of sunshine on this hopelessly stormy day.

"Oh thank God," Donna says, eager to relish in any positivity, "can we go see her now?"

"Yes, it'll be good for her to see some familiar faces- poor girl is probably terrified. But only a few at a time, we don't want to overwhelm her. As her godparents, I think Steven and Jackie should go first," Kitty suggests.

At this, Hyde and Jackie glance at each other. In that one look, the two have an unspoken conversation, like they used to have when they were together.

Truce? They ask.

Truce. They agree.

They can set aside their differences and their hard feelings for right now. This is bigger than the two of them, bigger than whatever feud they have between them.

"Yeah, let's go," Jackie says to Kitty before allowing her to lead Hyde and her to Betsy's room.

Just outside of Betsy's room, Kitty informs the pair, "Now remember, Betsy has been heavily medicated because of her injuries, so she'll be very sleepy. Try to avoid talking about what happened. We'll explain it to her later, when she's more mentally ready."

Jackie takes a deep breath before entering the ICU room of her newly deceased friend's daughter. How can she look a child in the eye and act like everything's going to be alright when she doesn't even believe that herself?

Upon entering the room, the sight of the injured little girl laying in a big hospital bed breaks Jackie's heart. Betsy's little body is covered in bruises and her head is bandaged. Her left arm is broken and in a cast.

"Shit," she hears Hyde say under his breath.

"Betsy," Kitty's comforting voice breaks through the silence, "Aunt Jackie and Uncle Steven are here to see you."

She nods her head towards the girl in a gesture for Jackie and Hyde to make their way out of the doorway and over to the girls side.

They paint on their most convincing smile and cautiously approach the bedside.

"Hey, kiddo," Hyde greets, bending down to kiss her forehead.

"Unca 'Teve," the two year old responds, giving him a sleepy smile.

Jackie takes a seat on the bed, taking one of the girl's tiny hands in her own. "How are you feeling, Betsy?"

"Tired," she says, "I wanna go home."

"Oh, I know Sweetheart," Jackie soothes, "but you have to stay here for now so the doctors can make you feel better."

"Yeah, we're gonna take real good care of you and get you back into tip top shape," Hyde adds, and Jackie knows he's saying what he wishes he could've been able to say to Kelso.

"Tip top?" the little girl asks, confused by what he means.

"Yep, back to your old self. You're gonna be running around here annoying the crap out of us again in no time," he jokes.

Jackie laughs lightly, giving Betsy's hand a small squeeze. The girl smiles back weakly, but it only lasts a moment before she frowns while looking around the room as if searching for someone.

"I want Mommy and Daddy," Betsy whines.

The simple request has Jackie's throat tightening up and her heart dropping to her stomach. At a loss for words, she looks up to Hyde only to see that he's shut his eyes, as if to block out the pain Betsy's words have inflamed.

Luckily, Kitty jumps in. "Oh, honey. Why don't you just try to rest, okay?"

"But I want Mommy and Daddy!" the girl insists, louder this time, "Where are they? I need them!"

"Shh, honey-"

"NO! I want Mommy and Daddy!"

Hyde can't listen to the little girl's cries anymore and rushes out of the room as Kitty tries to calm her down.

Fresh tears fall down Jackie's cheeks as she watches Kitty continue to struggle with Betsy before pressing the Call button to summon the nurse.

A moment later a nurse rushes into the room to administer another sedative.

Jackie wipes the tears from her face and exits the room as Kitty helps the nurse situate Betsy. She finds Hyde right outside the room, playing with his lighter. Silently, she makes her way to stand next to him.

"How is she?" he asks.

"They gave her another sedative. She'll be okay," she assures.

Eyes still on the lighter, Hyde nods.

"I just couldn't take it, you know? Listening to her," he swallows, " ask for them? She deserves better than that. Than this . She shouldn't have to-"

To grow up without parents.

Without a father.

Jackie knows exactly what Hyde is thinking. He's thinking about his own upbringing, his own experience. He's thinking about how this is even worse.

"I know," she answers, not needing him to finish the sentence.

Hyde finally looks up to meet her eyes. He's always appreciated how much she understands him, how he doesn't need to say much. It seems that he's forgotten that lately, as well as how much he missed it.

The rare moment is interrupted when Kitty emerges from Betsy's room. "I'm sorry about that. We didn't think she'd get hysterical. She'll be alright though, she's got us to take care of her," Kitty says. She attempts to give them a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, about that, Mrs. Forman. What's gonna happen to Betsy? Where are her grandparents?" Hyde questions, frowning.

"Michael's parents are out of town with the twins, but they've been notified and I'm sure they'll be up in a couple days."

In time for the funeral.

"And Brooke's mother?"

Kitty sighs. "She's currently out of the country and unable to be reached. We've been trying to get a hold of her."

"Okay, well who are Betsy's legal guardians now?" Hyde sounds both concerned and annoyed now.

"Well," she answers, "you two are her godparents. The whole idea of godparents is a pair of people chosen to take over a child's upbringing if anything should happen to the parents."

Oh no.

"Yeah, but that's just a symbolic thing, right? It doesn't really mean anything. We have no rights to custody since we're not related," Hyde clarifies.

"If there's a will you do."

"Yeah but there is no will."

"Well-"

"Right?"

Kitty wrings her hands nervously and waits a minute before answering. "There is."

"WHAT?" Jackie and Hyde exclaim at the same time.

"Yeah."

"Mrs. Forman. Why is there a will leaving Betsy to me and Jackie?" Hyde asks, trying to remain calm but the tension is evident in his voice. "And why do you know about it?"

"Remember that time Michael accidentally shot himself in the foot on his first week in the Point Place PD?" she asks.

"Yes," they answer, both confused as to what that has to do with the current situation.

In classic Kelso fashion, he was overdramatic about the injury and spent the following three weeks talking about how he had "almost died", along with a dramatic retelling of the story that got more ridiculous each time he told it.

"Well that incident caused him to realize how dangerous his job was and he came to me concerned about who would be Betsy's father if he died," Kitty continues, "He thought that Hyde would automatically become her father if he died, and Jackie would become her mother if Brooke died." She shakes her head at his logic. "So I had to explain that godparents don't mean anything unless it was made legal in writing that he wanted you two to have custody over Betsy. And he said he did want that. And-and I sort of helped him draw up the paperwork." She laughed nervously.

"You didn't," Hyde warned.

"I did," Kitty laughed nervously again before abruptly stopping at the look on his face.

"Ohh no," he protests, "Mrs. Forman I can't raise a kid. I don't even like taking care of myself, I can't take care of a two year old. It's not happening," he insists, clearly worked up at the very idea of being Betsy's- or anyone's- legal guardian.

If this was a year ago. Jackie would have completely agreed with Hyde. In fact, she would have been resisting even more than he was, screeching out a protest at even the thought of taking care of a stupid, messy child. But now things are different, Jackie is having different thoughts. She's had everything that was supposed to make her happy, but she still isn't. A new boyfriend didn't fill the "void" as Hyde called it, a modeling career didn't fill it, and having (some) money again didn't either. Maybe, just maybe, a child is what she's been missing. Maybe taking care of someone else is what she needs. By focusing on giving someone else a great life she can forget about how miserable hers is.

Ugh. She can't believe she's about to say this.

"Steven, if this is what Michael wanted-"

"Jackie. No ," Hyde says, stopping her before she can go any further. "He didn't know what he wanted. He didn't know this situation would actually happen. Besides, we're not even together anymore. The whole reason Kelso chose us to be Betsy's godparents instead of Eric and Donna is that he thought we'd last longer than they would. But we didn't."

"No. We didn't." Jackie doesn't know where the bitter words come from- well, okay she does- but she doesn't know why they come out of her mouth right now. She's always surprised by just how much she isn't over Steven. She'll think she's fine and getting over him and then in moments like this her love for him comes spilling out of the cracks in her heart she so desperately tried to mend. She's embarrassed, really, that she let it slip out in a moment like this.

They both stare at each other with narrowed eyes. You'd think that they could only make the same remarks so many times, but they somehow always end up here.

"Well," Kitty butts in, reminding Jackie and Hyde of her presence, "you two should at least talk it over-"

"No!" Hyde snaps, "There's nothing to talk about. I can't be a father. Not now, not ever. I didn't have a father growing up. Hell, I rarely had a sober mother."

Kitty opens her mouth to say something again but he continues, "And even if that wasn't the case, I'm sure as hell not raising a kid with her ," pointing an insulting finger at Jackie.

The word her drips with slimey disgust, and Jackie's eyes narrow further. How dare he use her as an excuse not to consider raising Betsy while they're in the middle of such a tragic time as this.

"You're a coward," Jackie spits.

"No Jackie, I'm just being realistic. I don't know the first thing about being a parent and neither do you. That's one of the only things we have in common, which is just another reason why this," he gestures between them, "would never work."

As Jackie watches Hyde storm out of the room, she wonders if there's any truth to his words.