Four - The Morning After

Hyde woke up with the second worst hangover of his life. The first was only a month ago, when he went to the beer warehouse with the guys. Before his life had gone to hell. Or, more like, as his life was going to hell.

As Hyde woke up a little more, he became more aware of his surroundings. He was only wearing boxers, and a warm body was pressed against him. He opened his eyes. Jackie was sleeping peacefully in his arms.

Memories from last night came flooding back to him. Getting drunk at the club, apologies, kissing… And, more hazily, a wedding and making love to Jackie.

Jackie stirred in his arms. She rubbed her right eye as she woke up. "Good morning," she mumbled sleepily.

"Good morning." He kissed her forehead gently. "So… How much do you remember from last night?"

Jackie rubbed her eyes some more. "I remember getting drunk. And I remember kissing you. After that, it gets hazy and weird. Oh, but I remember making love."

"Mm-hmm… What about this?" Hyde gently took her left hand and ran his thumb over her ring. She looked down at it and her eyes widened.

"Oh my God." She took his left hand and looked at the ring he had on. "Oh my God." She looked at his face. "Oh. My. God."

"Could you say something other than 'Oh my God'? It's making me nervous," Hyde said.

"Sorry. I'm just- Oh my God. Sorry, that was the last one." Jackie stared at their rings. "I can't believe you agreed to this."

"I was the one who came up with the idea." Hyde raised her left hand to his lips and kissed her ring finger.

"Really?"

"Yep. I've wanted to get hitched to you for a month now, so drunk me acted on that."

"And… is sober you still cool with it?" Jackie asked.

"Sober me is definitely cool with it." Hyde smiled at her. "I'll be even more cool with it after I take an aspirin."

"Yeah, me too."

Hyde got up and got two cups of water and some aspirin from the bathroom. He handed one of the cups and half the aspirin to Jackie. Once they'd both taken the aspirin, he put the cups on the bedside table and sat next to Jackie on the bed.

"We're married," Jackie said.

"Yeah. You're my wife." He traced his thumb over her ring.

Jackie cupped his cheek and made him face her. "That is the sexiest thing you've ever said." She kissed him deeply and swung her leg over so that she was straddling his lap. He placed one hand on the small of her back and threaded the other through her hair.

Hyde trailed kisses down Jackie's neck to her bare chest. She ran her fingers over his shoulders and back. "Oh, Steven…"

She tugged him back up to kiss him again. He lost himself in the sensation of her lips and tongue and the feeling of her bare skin on his.

"Oh my God! Jackie- Hyde?" Donna's voice broke through their make out.

"Oh my God!" Jackie shrieked. She scrambled off his lap and pulled the sheets over her chest.

"I'm so sorry!" Donna said. Her hands covered her eyes tightly. "I'm so sorry, I didn't want to see that!"

"Get what you need and get out!" Jackie said.

"But I have so many questions!" Donna said. She shielded her face from them as she walked over to their bed and fumbled for her suitcase.

"Donna, you can open your eyes," Hyde said.

Donna dropped her hand from her eyes, but avoided looking at them. "Jackie, when you said you were gonna 'take back your love life' this is not what I thought you meant."

"We can talk later! Please leave!" Jackie said frantically.

"I'm leaving!" Donna said, carrying a backpack. She closed the door behind her. Jackie slumped back on the bed and ran her hands through her hair, dropping the sheet from her body.

"Good thing she didn't look at us long enough to see our rings," Hyde said.

Jackie's head whipped toward him. "What?"

"Jackie, we can't tell anyone we got married last night. Bob and Joanne are getting married tonight."

"Oh, yeah, right." Jackie's fingers dropped onto his stomach and began tracing patterns into his skin. "I thought you were ashamed of our marriage for a second."

"No way. I can't wait to tell everyone when we get back to Point Place. It'll be a great story to tell," Hyde said. He took her hand in his own. "And I'll give you the engagement ring I got ya."

"You really got me an engagement ring?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah. My options were to marry you or lose you forever, so… Went out and got the best ring I could afford."

"Aw, Puddin'..." She pressed a kiss to his cheek. She trailed kisses over his jaw and sideburns. "How much time do we have?"

"Not enough for what you wanna do," Hyde said. He glanced at his watch on the bedside table. "We have an hour before we have to meet everyone for breakfast."

"Damn."

Hyde chuckled. He kissed her softly and got out of bed. He started gathering his clothes from the ground. "I'll send Donna back over when I get back to my room."

Jackie stood up from the bed and walked over to him. "But I wanted a relaxing morning with my new husband."

"I'd like that too, but we woke up late. We both gotta shower and get dressed."

A sexy, suggestive smile rose on Jackie's lips. "You know, Donna's not here… and she probably won't be back for a while."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Wanna join me for a shower?"

Jackie dried her hair in the bathroom with the hotel's poor quality blow-dryer. Steven was outside, getting dressed. She shook her hair out. It was as good as it was gonna get. She unplugged the blow-dryer and left the bathroom.

Steven was dressed, with his vest laying on the bed next to him. He had several pieces of paper in his hands and he was looking at them with an unidentifiable expression on his face.

"What's that?" Jackie asked.

"Our wedding photos. Found 'em in my vest with the certificate." He indicated a larger, white piece of paper.

Jackie gasped and rushed over to sit next to him. He handed her the pictures. The first showed them standing at the altar, next to a flower archway. They were holding hands and Jackie was wearing a veil. Steven was smiling, a truly happy smile.

The next one showed them kissing, finalizing the marriage. Steven was dipping her slightly and she had her fingers in his hair.

The last one was Steven carrying her bridal style, still up near the altar. They were both smiling.

"We have to take more pictures during this trip so I have enough to fill an album," Jackie said.

"I don't have a camera," Steven said.

"Get one from Mrs. Forman. Or Fez. I'm sure they have extras." Jackie took the marriage certificate. "Do you want these, or should I keep them with me for now?"

"You can keep them." He kissed her forehead and stood up, grabbing his vest as he did so. "I'll see you at breakfast?"

"See you at breakfast." He pecked her on the lips before leaving the room.

She looked over the photos again. It was a bit sad that her wedding had been a drunk, quickie wedding, but she found that she really didn't care that much. For a month, she'd thought her and Steven would never be together again. Now, they were married. They had taken the vows of man and wife, vows that were unbreakable. With luck and good effort from both of them, they would never be apart again.

Besides, they could always do a vow renewal, one where they weren't drunk and Jackie got to have her dream wedding. But for now, she was truly happy just to be married to the man she'd loved for two years, the man she would love for many years to come.

Hyde knocked on the door to his hotel room. Forman opened it. "You have to tell me everything that happened between you and Jackie."

"Can you let me in first?" Hyde asked.

Forman got out of the way and Hyde entered the room. Donna looked up at him from where she was seated on Forman's bed. "Hyde, I'm sorry again for walking in on- What the hell is that on your finger?"

Forman looked down at Hyde's hand and his eyes widened. "Hyde, what the hell is that?"

Hyde looked down. Shit. He'd forgotten to take off his ring before leaving. "Crap. It's, um… It's a ring."

"Yeah, I can see that," Forman said. "Why?"

"Uh…" Only a few hours into his marriage to Jackie and Hyde was already screwing things up.

"Wait…" Donna said, standing up from the bed. "Did you and Jackie get married last night?"

Hyde licked his lips and glanced between the two of them. Forman looked like he was about to go into cardiac arrest and Donna looked excited. "Don't tell anyone."

"Oh my God!" Donna said.

"Hyde! How the hell did Jackie convince you to do this?" Forman asked.

"I was the one who came up with the idea, so…"

"WHAT?" Forman shrieked.

"Yeah… Look, you can't say anything to anyone, okay? Jackie and I agreed to keep it secret because Bob and Joanne are getting married tonight. So don't tell anyone. No matter how much you might want to. I know how bad you both are at keeping secrets."

"I'm great at keeping secrets," Donna said. "I promise I won't tell anyone. I am going to tell Jackie that Eric and I know, so she's caught up."

"Yeah, good idea. Tell her I'm sorry for letting the secret slip," Hyde said. Donna nodded and left their hotel room. Hyde walked over to his suitcase and started getting out his clothes for the day.

"I can't believe you married Jackie. And I wasn't there," Forman said.

Hyde hummed, but didn't give Forman any other kind of response. He took his clothes to the bathroom and got dressed, putting his ring in the pocket of his jeans. He'd have to find some chains so he and Jackie could wear the rings around their necks.

Back in the room, Forman was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "If you wanted to get married, why didn't you give Jackie an answer right away?"

"Took some time to realize it," Hyde said with a shrug. He looked at his watch. "We should get going."

"Fine. We've lived together for years and you won't even tell me anything about your wedding…"

"Tough luck, man." Hyde patted him on the shoulder and they left the room.