Jackie wakes up to the sound of Steven snoring softly, his arms wrapped around her, fingers intertwined with hers.

She is tucked into his side and for a second it's like they are back in the basement.

Then she opens her eyes and sees the room and she realizes where she's at and who she's with.

And that's when the panic sets in.

After their kiss, she had pulled away and had told him to take her home.

They drive in silence and just before he turned onto the street that would take him to her apartment she to him that she meant his home.

He had given her a long look and she had nodded and with that, he had driven them to his apartment.

Once they got his apartment, she had led him into his room and they had simply curled up under the blankets.

There was still so much they had to talk about and so much they had to still had to say but all Jackie wanted to do was sleep in his arms.

But she's awake now and all the pain he had caused her is rushing back.

She doesn't want to go through this again.

She slips out of bed and slid into her jeans.

Jackie closes the door and rushes down the stairs but then she pauses, as she realizes has no ride home.

She decides to walk it and hurries back down but then freezes when she comes face to face with Ashley.

She eyes her and then gestures to her apartment.

"Hungry? I'm making breakfast."

Jackie hesitates.

"I'll drive you home afterward."

Jackie wants to say no but she curious about who this girl is. She had seen them laughing at the diner and then again in his apartment and after the conversation, she had with Ashley about Donna, she is curious to hear what else the older girl will have to say.

The two girls sit on opposite sides of Ashley's kitchen table.

Ashley makes omelets and bacon and Jackie nibbles on a piece as she looks at Ashley.

The girl is pretty and Jackie wonders if Steven had slept with her.

He said she hadn't but Ashley is really pretty.

"You know we haven't slept together."

Jackie's face heats up and wonders if she really is that transparent.

"Steven mentioned that."

"But you don't believe him."

Jackie taps her finger on the table.

"I want to..."

"But he hurt you pretty badly."

"He told you?"

Ashley nods, hands curling around her mug.

"He seemed lonely and I offered him the apartment. I figured he could use a friend, I know I do. He talks a lot about you."

Jackie cups her mug and sighs.

"He brought me a ring but he couldn't see a future with me."

She laughs bitterly.

Ashley is quiet, thinking before she speaks.

"All his life he has dealt with things being taken away from him, people leaving him without a word. "

"I'm not his mother, I would never leave him like that!"

Ashley raises an eyebrow and Jackie flushes realizing that she had left his bed that morning without even leaving a note.

"I'm not here to tell you to take him back, that's your decision. But I'm here to tell you that if you want to take him back, you have to work hard too. He's made mistakes but so have you."

Jackie takes a sip of her coffee and sighs.

"I'm scared. I love him but he hurt me. He was the one person who I never thought would hurt me but he did."

Ashley is quiet, playing with the ring on her necklace, thinking.

"I was in love with a boy once. He drove me up the wall but wow did I love him. I wanted to marry him but he didn't believe in marriage. So we broke up. I went to college and met this guy, he was nice. He brought me flowers and brought me dinner at the fancy restaurants and when he asked me to marry him I said yes. But I always thought I would be more excited to get married you know. I'm trying on my wedding dress and it's my dream dress but it doesn't feel right. I buy it anyway. I go home to find my fiance angry but Ben left me a message about how he needed to talk to me that he was on his way and that he loved me. Me and Adam, we had a huge fight, to be fair, we fight a lot, but this was the worse one. Adam leaves and I'm so mad I call Ben back and tell him to leave me alone. I get drunk and a few days later I find out that Adam slept with my sister. I canceled my wedding and my parents revolted, Adam's from a good family-money and everything. I pack up his things up and kick him out and that same day I get a call from the cops. Ben was in a car accident, a drunk driver hit him as he was on his way to see me and he died on the way to the hospital. They gave me a box of letters he wrote to me."

Ashley's crying and Jackie looks at her wide-eyed and Ashley closes her hand over the ring.

"There was a ring in the box. He hit a low point after our break up and then he heard I was dating again and decided to get back up and do better. He wanted to apologize to me and then he died. He loved me but he didn't think he deserved me, not after everything he put me through. Later I find out that everything he ever owned was mine, he didn't have a family, his parents died, so all his money, his car, it's all mine. So I came because my grandfather is the only person I whole world understood why I wouldn't marry Adam. I love Ben, I loved him more than I loved Adam. Ben changed to be a man worthy of me and I had changed into a better person because of him. If he was alive, I would have given him another chance in a heartbeat."

Ashey stands up and picks up her plate and places it in the sink. She turns to look at Jackie, a sad smile her face, as her fingers creep up to her necklace again.

"I'm not telling you to love him or to take him back, or to marry him. I'm just staying you have another chance. The way he talks about you, I know the look on the face. Take that chance or not, it's up to you. But the Steven Hyde I talk to, he's a good man. He's not perfect, the perfect man doesn't exist."

Ashley drives her home in silence and Jackie can't help but think about her relationship with Steven.

He had helped her change for the better, the idea of him dying cut her right to the bone. She couldn't imagine going through what Ashle had gone through.

But while she loved Steven, should she give him a second chance?

Can she risk her heart again?

She stands in her room and looks at herself in the mirror in Steven's shirt.

Suddenly its too much, it feels like the walls are closing in on her and she needs to leave.

Now.

Fez is at work so she grabs the phone and calls a friend from class asking her to explain to the professor that she has a family emergency and will be gone for a week.

Then she calls her brother up in Michigan and tells him that she's coming.

She packs a bag, leaves a note and gets behind the wheel of her car and hesitates.

She can't leave without telling the Formans so she calls Red's shop and tells him where she's going.

She hangs up but her hand stays on the phone, debating.

Then she calls Groove's.

Eric picks up and she's not sure whether to be thankful or not.

"Eric. Can you put Steven on?"

"Jackie are you alright?"

"Eric, please."

She hears some muffled sounds and then it's his voice that she hears.

"Jackie?"

"Steven, I..."

"You took off."

He sounds sad and her heart squeezes.

"I'm going to see my brother."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry, I-I'll talk to you when I come back."

He clutches the phone aware that Eric is staring at him.

"Take all the time you need."

He waited months for her, he can wait a little more.

It hurts but Jackie Burkhart is a girl worth waiting for.

"I love you."

She hangs up.

Hi!

I got really inspired so this flowed out of me.

Let me know what you think of this!

We got a few more chapters to go.

Also, I usually answer reviews privately but in the interest of time, I have decided to answer most of them here.

Reviews:

Rachel (Guest): I love that you love this so much that you check for updates. This is Hyde's and Jackie's story so it's only right for this to be mostly from their pov. And I agree, the people you love have the ability to hurt you the most and it's not easy letting them go/forgiving them. Enjoy this new chapter! Hopefully, it won't be too long between updates.

judithneary: Glad you loved the story and found it worth the wait. Hopefully, you have the patience to put up with my lack of updating schedule.

sweetlyevil2386: They finally talked! Please don't hate me too much for separating them so soon.

awesomecreature: Thanks for leaving a review! Glad you loved this story so much!

HisSecretLover18: I'm glad they talked some things out. I hope you liked this one

hokkman04: Thanks for leaving a review! Glad that you found this story cute.

ijnfleetadmiral: Hyde can be sweet when he wants to be. Donna and Jackie will have words soon.

Sprout76: Glad that you liked the chapter. They really needed to talk and talking about the past was hard but important.