33 - The Rain Song

You are the sunlight in my growing
So little warmth I've felt before
It isn't hard to feel me glowing
I watched the fire that grew so low, oh

When they emerged from the tunnel of light in Point Place, four people were standing by the Vista Cruiser. The six of them walked over and the four noticed them.

"Where the hell did you guys just come from?" Angie asked.

"Seriously. Were you hiding in the woods like freaks?" Laurie asked.

"Damn, am I glad I volunteered to hang out by the car," Rhonda said. "I woulda missed you guys walking out of a tree."

"Michael!" Brooke exclaimed, running over to Kelso. "Where the fuck were you? I thought you were dead! I thought you left Betsy without a father!"

"I'll tell you all about it soon," Kelso said. "But first…" Kelso hugged Brooke tightly. She hugged him back immediately, burying her face in his shoulder.

"Angie, why are you here?" Hyde asked.

"Mrs. Forman called us. Dad's with Mr. Forman and the search team that's all over Point Place and the neighboring towns," Angie said. "We've all been worried sick about you!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Hyde said.

"That doesn't explain why Laurie's here," Eric said. "Why are you here? What's your ulterior motive?"

"I was worried about my baby brother," Laurie said. "Besides, it was either hang out here or hang out with Bob. He hasn't stopped crying for two weeks. Daddy won't let him in the house until he stops."

"Rhonda, why are you here?" Fez asked.

"Well, I heard you were missing and decided to help out with the search. I was the one who found the Cruiser, actually," Rhonda said. "Besides, it's been a while since I last saw you."

"And I am terribly sorry for what happened the last time we were together," Fez said. "I regret it very much."

"Don't worry about it. We're cool." Rhonda punched him on the shoulder. Fez winced a little, but grinned.

"Well, we promised to get you guys to the Formans' as soon as we found you," Angie said. "You can take the Cruiser. I'll drive everyone else."

The ten of them entered the front door of the Formans', Angie in the lead. "We found them!" she announced.

Inside, Mrs. Forman, Bob, Mrs. Kelso and Mrs. Burkhart were sitting together. Mrs. Forman jumped up and bolted over to Hyde and Forman.

"Oh my God, you're finally back!" She wrapped her arms around them both tightly. "Don't you ever go missing again! I thought I'd lost my sons!"

"Won't happen again," Hyde said.

"Definitely not," Forman agreed.

Mrs. Forman didn't let go of them, though. After a minute, Forman said, "Mom, can you let us go now?"

Mrs. Forman reluctantly broke the hug. "Oh, all right. I deserve more than that, though. You were missing for two whole weeks! Where were you?"

"We'll tell you about it later," Hyde said.

"Oh! I have to call Red! And W.B.!" She rushed over to the kitchen phone. Hyde took the opportunity to look around the room for a moment.

Donna was getting crushed to death by Bob, who was sobbing into her shoulder. She patted his back awkwardly. "Dad, you can stop crying now. Besides, I thought you weren't allowed to be here if you were crying."

"Red's not here. Kitty let me in," Bob said through his tears. Donna nodded and continued patting his back.

Kelso was hugging his mom. "I can't believe you noticed I was missing!" he said happily.

"I didn't notice until about a week in, but then I got really worried," Mrs. Kelso said.

Kelso's smile fell a little. "Eh, good enough."

Hyde walked over to where Jackie was standing by her mom. "Oh honey, I was worried sick about you!"

"I thought you were in Mexico," Jackie said.

"I was, but then Kitty called me and said you were missing, so I caught the first flight back," Mrs. Burkhart said.

"Not that I don't appreciate you being here, but why couldn't you have come back like a month ago when I asked you to?" Jackie asked.

Mrs. Burkhart frowned. "I am so sorry, dear. How can I make it up to you?"

"Stop leaving," Jackie said. "I need you here, not in Mexico."

Mrs. Burkhart nodded. "All right."

Jackie hugged her. She looked taken aback at first, then wrapped her arms around Jackie. When they parted, Jackie grinned and reached out to Hyde. He took her hand and let her draw him closer.

"Who are you again?" Mrs. Burkhart asked.

Jackie gave her a look. Hyde spoke before she got the chance to. "Steven Hyde. I'm Jackie's fiance."

"Fiance?" She turned to Jackie. "Where's your ring?"

Jackie showed her the eyeball ring and Mrs. Burkhart grimaced before forcing a smile. "That's… lovely!"

"It's just a placeholder," Hyde said. Mrs. Burkhart visibly relaxed.

Forman rushed over to Hyde and hid behind him. "What the hell are you doing?" Hyde asked.

"Red's here and I'm not ready to die," Forman said.

Hyde sighed and let go of Jackie's hand. He turned and grabbed Forman's arm, then walked over to where Red and W.B. were standing.

"You two have a hell of a lot of explaining to do," Red said. He was angry. Hyde could tell by the way his whole head was pink.

"I'm just glad you're all right, son," W.B. said. "Will you be mad if I hug you?"

"Nah," Hyde said. W.B. hugged Hyde for a moment. Hyde appreciated the briefness.

"So?" Red asked. "Where were you?"

"Well…" Forman looked around. "It's easier if we tell you all together."

"So, let me get this straight," Mrs. Forman said. "Jackie was missing, and you didn't tell us? You just went off to find her?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Hyde said.

"Don't you ever do that again!" Mrs. Forman exclaimed.

"For the record, I said I should have told you where we were going," Forman said.

Hyde rolled his eyes. "A little late for that, isn't it?"

Forman shrugged. "Anyway, the point is, we're all okay now."

"Yes," Red said. "And everyone's still in my house. If you don't live here, get out."

Jackie kissed Hyde quickly before leaving with her mom. He didn't like her leaving again, but he'd have to deal with it. The rest of them filed out after her, Donna with Bob, Kelso with his mom, Brooke, Fez and Rhonda, and Angie with W.B.

"Now, what do you two want for dinner? I already made three different pasta dishes, manwiches, two different kinds of chicken and pork chops!" Mrs. Forman said.

"I won the bet," Forman said.

"There was no bet," Hyde said.

"That's what you think," Forman said, walking into the kitchen. Hyde shook his head and followed him.

Kelso unlocked the door to his and Fez's apartment, Brooke close behind. They'd dropped Fez and Rhonda off at the Hub since both of them had been hungry and wanted to catch up.

Kelso sat on the couch as soon as he could. His wounds still hurt a bit. Not as bad as before, but enough to make him more tired than usual.

"So, what happened to you while you were looking for Jackie? You've been wincing all day," Brooke said, sitting next to him.

"Do you wanna hear the whole story?" Kelso asked. "It's kind of unbelievable."

"Sure," Brooke said tentatively.

Kelso told her the whole story, leaving out nothing. He told her about the dragons, the prophecies, his death and resurrection, Hyde killing Edna, all of it. When he finished, Brooke looked stunned.

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"Actually, I do. Partly because I feel like you're not creative enough to invent all that, but mostly because you told the story so passionately," Brooke said. "And… I can't explain it, but I felt you die. I kind of can't believe you're here."

Kelso lifted his head and traced his finger along his slightly raised scar. "Feel my scar."

Brooke touched it lightly. "Wow."

Kelso stopped lifting his head to look at her properly. "While I was dead, I realized something. I want to be there for Betsy more, first of all. Second, I never stopped liking you and I'd like to be with you again. Unless you're, like, dating someone or don't like me anymore."

"Honestly, I don't think I ever stopped liking you either. But I do think we should take a little bit of time to adjust to you being more present in Betsy's life. Maybe even adjust to being a family, of sorts."

"That would be great," Kelso said.

"For what it's worth, I'm really glad you're going to try and be a better father to Betsy. It means a lot to me," Brooke said.

"It means a lot to me, too."

Fez sat with Rhonda at one of the tables in the Hub. A plate of cheese fries sat between them, mostly eaten. Fez had told Rhonda the full story while they ate. She already knew about his homeland, so she seemed to believe the story.

"Oh man, I kinda wish I was there," Rhonda said. "Those Dream Wizard gals sound sexy."

Fez cocked his head at her. "Are you saying that…"

"Oh, right! We haven't seen each other in so long. I'm bisexual," Rhonda said.

"I think that I am too. I had to sleep with the hangman, as I said. And that, uh… was not great. I still haven't quite figured myself out, but… I am pretty sure I like men," Fez said.

"If you ever want to hang out with other gay and bisexual people, there's a gay club-type thing I go to in Madison. We talk about our experiences and we usually have cookies."

"Free cookies?"

"Free cookies."

"I'm in. When do they meet?"

"Wednesdays. I'll take you to the next one."

Fez smiled at Rhonda. He was glad he got to reconnect with her, as friends. He felt like this new friendship would be a fresh start.

Jackie sat in her bedroom. She was glad to be back to some kind of familiarity, but she wished Steven were with her. Her mother was in her bedroom, probably asleep.

She startled when her phone rang. She picked it up and said, "Hello?"

Steven's voice crackled through the phone, "Hey. You make it home all right?"

"Yeah. You know, you don't have to worry about me so much anymore. I'm not gonna get kidnapped again."

"Doesn't hurt to make sure. How are you holding up?"

"I'm good. Tired. Wish you were here with me."

"Yeah. Wish I was with you, too."

A third voice came through the receiver, "Aww!"

Steven said, "Forman, get off the line!"

"I didn't mean to be on the line! I went to call Donna and you were on and I didn't want to interrupt," Eric explained.

"I don't care. Get off the line. Go talk to Donna next door."

"Fine!" The line clicked, and Jackie was alone with Steven.

"I really do wish I was with you. It's hard to be apart after being apart for two weeks," he said.

"Feels like longer," Jackie said.

"It does, doesn't it?" Steven was quiet for a moment. "Mrs. Forman has us on kind of a house arrest for a couple days. When that's over, what would you say to a surprise date?"

"I always say yes to surprise dates with you. You always seem to know exactly what I like to do with you."

"What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't know what you liked to do for dates?"

"Hey, it's not 'boyfriend' anymore. You've been upgraded to fiance." Jackie spun the eyeball ring around her thumb. It made her think of just a couple nights ago, when he gave it to her.

Now she really wanted Steven with her.

"You still there, Starlight?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah! Just… thinking."

"About what?"

"The night you proposed."

She could hear the smile in Steven's voice when he responded, "Yeah? What about it?"

"All of it. Definitely one of my top five favorite days."

"One of them? Not your favorite? Did my proposal suck that bad?"

"Mmm… Just a little," Jackie teased. She laughed. "It was perfect, Steven."

"Whatever you say. The next one will be better."

"I'll hold you to that."

Hyde sat with his arm around Jackie on a picnic blanket at one of their favorite parts of Mount Hump. The sun was setting.

Hyde checked his pocket to make sure the ring was still there. He was proposing for real this time; an actual planned proposal rather than a random question after sex.

"I'm really glad we're watching the sunset again. For a while, it seemed like we never would again," Jackie said.

"I know what you mean," Hyde said. "And hopefully we'll get to watch more sunsets together in the future."

"Speaking of the future… When are you proposing again?"

"Did you learn how to read minds when you were stuck in your head?" he asked, mostly teasing.

Jackie grinned. "No. But I do know that you keep checking your pocket and I'm assuming it's because you have a ring."

"Well, you assume correctly." Hyde extricated himself from Jackie and got on one knee. He took the opal ring out of his pocket. "Jackie, I love you. You're the only person I've ever said that to in a romantic way, and you'll be the only one. Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Jackie took the eyeball ring off her thumb and extended her hand. Hyde slipped the ring onto her ring finger. It fit perfectly, somehow. The ring was made for her. "This ring is beautiful. Where did you get it?"

"The Dream Wizards gave it to me before we left. They said the stone came from the Cavern of Lost Dreams. If you hate that, I can get you a different one."

"No, I love it. It gives me a good memory of that place instead of the bad ones. Speaking of which…" Jackie grabbed an eight-track from the picnic basket. "I had an idea."

"What is it?"

"When we were in your mind, you bailed on a memory after just hearing a song. I thought we should create a new memory for that song to help you move on from that day. Obviously, I won't force you to do anything you don't want to if you think it'll be too painful-"

"No, let's… Let's try it. If I hate it, I'll let you know."

Hyde hated that he let Edna have so much control over him, even in death. He'd stopped listening to a song all because of her. He didn't want to give her that power.

Jackie grinned and pecked him on the lips, then stood up and went to put the eight-track in his car. Hyde stood up. She probably wanted to dance to the song.

He reflexively tensed as the song started, playing out of his car speakers. Jackie took his hands and squeezed them gently. "Just focus on me."

Jackie started singing along to the song. "Cracklin' Rosie, get on board… We're gonna ride till there ain't no more to go… Taking it slow..."

Hyde began to relax as she led their dance, singing along the whole time.

"Ready? Spin me!" Jackie said. Hyde put his arm above her head and guided her in a turn. By the time she returned to him, he was smiling. She grinned brightly at him. "I love you, Raindrop."

"I love you too, Starlight." Hyde kissed her quickly, then guided her in another spin. They danced through the rest of the song. Hyde didn't think about Bud or Edna the whole time.

When the song finished, Led Zeppelin's Fool In The Rain started. "I figured you'd want a song you enjoy after that," Jackie said.

"Great choice."

"Well there's a light in your eye that keeps shining… Like a star that can't wait for night…"