Disclaimer: I do not own That 70s Show.


It was snowing slightly as they left and Steven had insisted that Jackie wait in front of the building while he went to go find the car. Jackie had been too shocked by the offer to ask him what had gotten into him before he had walked off. Obviously, she didn't mind the special treatment. She had been telling everyone for years that she was well worth it. And it's not to say that Steven treated her with that guarded love of when they were kids. But for him to do it without at least a little prodding or the promise of a special ending, well that was a little weird.

He still hadn't said a word on their way out. Again, this was normal Steven behavior, but she could read his body language. His shoulders hadn't relaxed for a second since they had left and he didn't spare a glance at her.

And she had a very cute outfit on today!

This wouldn't be the first time Steven retreated back into this shell. It was unlikely that Steven would ever be so nonchalant and vocal about his feelings. He was a Red Forman mini-me.

Jackie's foot tapped, thinking about what could have brought this on. The news from the doctor hadn't been entirely bad. Yeah, the miscarriage thing had spooked her a bit, but then the doctor said it was a normal caution for any pregnancy. And like she did with everything else, Jackie Burkhardt would succeed at being pregnant.

That would make the most sense, however. Steven was probably caught up on the warning from the doctor. Or maybe it was barely sinking in that she really was pregnant?

Her heart stuttered at the thought and she switched feet, tapping more quickly. His first reaction had been like hers: shock replaced by a warm happiness. But what if he hadn't really believed it until today?

She wouldn't really blame him. For the past week or so since she had taken the test she had been in a haze. The test said pregnant, the nausea and hormones said pregnant, and her fatigue said pregnant. But she hadn't stopped to think about what it all meant.

It was easy to love the idea of a baby, cute and cuddly with chubby cheeks. A little him mixed with her.

But then sometimes when she laid in bed, sweating after heaving her dinner, she considered what the future held for them. This was a person. They would never again be just two.

If they broke up, it meant separating a family.

Or what about money?

She got a sense of déjà vu, these had been her thoughts when she was waiting to read the test in their bathroom. How had she let herself forget?

So if this was all that she was feeling what did it mean for Steven?

She definitely had to talk to him. She huffed, squaring her shoulders, ready.

The El Camino pulled up in front of her and she rushed forward to escape the cold. Inside the heater was blasting warm air. The radio was on playing Silent Night, which Jackie took as a good sign.

At the closing of her door, Steven took off toward their home. It was still early in the day and Jackie briefly wondered what else they could get done.

She glanced over at Steven. He was gripping the steering wheel with two hands, sunglasses on the dashboard in front of him. His hair had a bit of snow and she reached over to brush it off. His shoulders finally relaxed a little under her touch.

Jackie took a breath. "So that went pretty well."

Steven replied, "Yeah."

Okay so it was gonna be like that, Jackie thought.

"I liked the doctor. I was a little worried that the doctor would be a creep. I remember Michael saying Brooke had one be a little too hands-y."

"He was cool." He didn't look at her.

She pursed her lips, but then thought about wrinkles and relaxed her face, "I was thinking about what he said about telling people. Maybe we should hold off on telling the rest of the gang. I don't mind telling Mr. and Mrs. Forman, they're basically going to be this baby's grandparents."

"That's fine."

"Okay Steven, what's up?" she gave up trying the nonchalant route.

"Nothing, Jackie," he sighed, still refusing to even glance at her.

"Steven," she warned.

He gripped the steering wheel tighter, "Jackie," he mocked.

"At least look at me!"

"I'm driving, Jackie! I can't be looking at you and the road at the same time," he took one hand off the wheel for the first time to gesture to the road.

Jackie rolled her eyes, "I know that, Steven. But you can look away for a second."

"The roads are wet with snow, I'd rather not risk death because you want me to look at you," he said sarcastically.

She crossed her arms, looking away from him, eyes hard staring ahead as well.

The silence hung in the air, heavier somehow because of the music playing much too loudly in the absence of their words. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer fit awkwardly with their mood.

Sensing Jackie would not speak again, Steven finally glanced at her, but only briefly. Seeing her angry face, he grimaced.

"Jackie…"

"Oh, now you want to talk?"

"Jackie."

"What?" she was definitely irritated with him now.

He was quiet again and she turned to say something, but she shut her mouth when she saw he was working himself up to say something. He had that same pained look he always did when he was about to talk about feelings. She waited for it to shift into the one he got when he gave in…

It came along with him pulling over on the road. The car was stopped but he still held onto the steering wheel. He braced himself then began to speak.

"I'm scared, alright?" he rubbed his face with his hands. "I'm scared."

"Of what?" she said confused, but her heart pounding.

"Damn Jackie. What am I not scared of?" he chuckled without humor. "I'm scared something's going to happen to the baby. I mean what a worse time for you to be pregnant. It's the start of winter. You could slip and fall, it's dangerous to be out driving. You could catch a cold!"

She didn't know what to say, but it didn't matter because the floodgates had opened.

"I'm scared about fucking this kid up. If just the fact you being pregnant scares me, how can I handle fatherhood? I got no reference for this kind of thing. Look at how I handle anything with emotions," he threw his hands up, "What am I gonna do when this kid needs someone who can be more than an emotionally-stunted asshole?"

Steven turned to look at her, his blue eyes sad, "How can I be good enough for you? You talked about- about a big house with a back yard. Planning to have a kid or two. Now I'm the one who's knocked you up, definitely not in our plan, living in an apartment."

She had heard enough; her eyes were bright with tears.

Her voice cracked as she started speaking, "Steven, baby, you'll always be good enough. Too good." He stared at her, eager to take in her words.

"I'm scared too! You think I learned anything about being a good mom from Pamela Burkhardt? I have no idea what I'm doing either! The only baby I've ever seen is Betsy and I didn't hold her until she could sit up on her own because she freaked me out. And as for something happening to the baby. It's not."

"Jackie…"

"What?" she defended. "I won't let anything happen to the baby. And I'm not the only woman to ever be pregnant during the winter. It's not a death sentence! I'll just have to be more careful."

They stayed quiet, although this time it didn't weigh down on them as before.

Jackie spoke up, "I was worried you were scared about having a baby…Like maybe you regretted it."

"You know, I never wanted kids. Before you I had already planned to be the fun and aloof uncle. Then when you came along with your crazy fantasies, I thought maybe one day, very far in the future, I might have one kid. Because with you it might not be so bad. A lot of things with you aren't so bad."

"And now?"

He was fully slumped against the seat now and she scooted closer to him. "Now…I don't know. When you told me the other day, my first reaction was obviously to freak out. We didn't plan this. We just moved into this apartment and got our shit together. Sometimes I feel as young as I did living in that basement." He stared at his hands.

She smiled because she felt the same way.

"But then, it just. It clicked man. Why not? I love you." He looked at her, waiting for her to respond.

"Oh, Steven, you softie!" she laughed, happy with his answer, "I love you too!" She went to hug him and he happily opened his arms. She cuddled into him, feeling better than she had in a week.

"You're scared too huh?"

She nodded.

"So much for being a zen couple. We're worse than Forman and Donna."

She giggled.


Fez new he was destined for the spotlight. Coming to America had been the greatest decision of his life. This was only affirming that belief.

He had been calling all morning. He had written in for the past month. Ever since Jackie had revealed what she had heard at work. And it had all paid off.

This had been the call that got him through to a real person. After they had recorded his information, they let him know they would be sending along further information, the legal stuff.

It was all uphill from here, baby! He sat back in his chair, smiling. It was time to celebrate with some candy.


Steven pulled into their street, on the lookout for parking, with Jackie cuddled against him, eyes closed and humming.

"What the hell?"

Jackie sat up at Steven's words, frowning. "What?"

"Kelso's car is here." Steven said sounding as confused as her, he maneuvered the into a spot right behind Kelso. It wasn't entirely strange to find someone from the gang at their place. But lately that happened after work or on the weekend, and usually with a call beforehand. Full-time jobs and their own homes had phased out their constant hanging out.

"You're right," she said wondering what was up, "He didn't say anything to you?"

Steven turned off the car and put his shades on, "Nope, well let's just hope he isn't up to something stupid." Jackie nodded and they got out of the car.

They passed Kelso's car and looked into the windows but there was no sign of him in there. They could hear the car cooling down though so he had probably just gotten there.

Sure enough as they walked up the steps to their apartment, they ran into Kelso walking down.

"There you guys are! I had stopped by Grooves but they said you had the day off, man!" Kelso exclaimed. He turned and led them to their door, no long leaving.

"Oh, sorry, man. I forgot that I should let you know where I am at all times. What was I thinking!" Steven answered. They reached their door and Jackie pulled the keys out of her purse.

Kelso relaxed, smiling, "it's okay, I forgive you. I'm sure living with Jackie is driving you crazy."

Steven huffed a laugh at Kelso's obliviousness and Jackie turned over her shoulder to glare at him half-heartedly. She was tempted to lock him outside.

"What do you want, Michael?" she was in no mood to deal with him. She had planned to talk with Steven about how to tell the Forman's.

"Geez, Jackie, is that how you treat a guest," Kelso scolded, walking into the kitchen and taking a seat like he owned the place.

Jackie rolled her eyes, "I'm going to go change, I took care of him enough to last a lifetime, your turn." She turned and left to their room. Steven looked longingly after her, wishing he had an excuse to leave Kelso behind too.

He sighed, "Alright, man, what?"

"Oh, I'll take a coffee and a sandwich," Kelso said settling into the seat, hands folded.

Giving up on trying to get rid of Kelso quickly, Steven set off to make some coffee and some sandwiches. And a tea for Jackie. Crap, he couldn't make coffee.

"You'll have to settle for tea or a soda, man. No coffee."

Kelso replied, "What? Hyde man, you can't function without coffee in the morning! How do you guys not have any coffee? And since when do you drink tea?" he laughed.

"We're out," he said shortly, "So what do you want?"

Steven thanked the universe that Kelso was a simple man because he let it go, "Tea, I guess," he shrugged, then laughed, "I'm like a British queen or something."

"A real queen alright," Steven smirked setting the kettle on the stove to boil. He started in the sandwiches.

"So where were you guys?" Maybe he wasn't so simple.

Jackie took this one as she entered the room, "Curiosity killed the cat, Michael." She turned on the radio, and sat at the table with a magazine.

"You guys are getting a cat?" Michael perked up.

"It means butt out, you idiot," Steven replied.

Flipping the page, Jackie tried to get them back on track, "Why are you here, Michael? Brooke finally come to her senses?"

Kelso lost all his perkiness and slumped in the chair. Jackie glanced up from the page to see this and thought maybe this is actually a serious situation. She and Steven made eye contact, eyebrows raised.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do, guys," Michael moaned.

Steven came to the table with the plate of sandwiches, "Uh, what happened?" he turned and came back with three cups of chamomile tea.

Kelso grabbed a sandwich and took a large, sad bite, "I got fired from the club."

Jackie winced at the bad news, "What did Brooke say?" Maybe he really had been kicked out.

"I haven't told her."

Steven lifted the mug of tea to his lips, "Do you really think that will end well man?"

"Yeah, generally you tell your wife that first." Jackie tore the crusts off her sandwich.

Kelso polished off the sandwich, "I just got fired and I didn't know where else to go! I don't know how to even tell Brooke!"

Steven spoke around his sandwich, "'Brooke, I got fired' is probably a good place to start."

Kelso looked at him like he was stupid, "Uh, Hyde, I don't think she would be too happy to hear that!"

"Right, because I'm sure you'll think of a way to make that sound like good news," Steven scoffed.

"Michael," Jackie took on the familiar tone, "you're going to have to tell her eventually."

Kelso pouted, "She's gonna kill me."

"Why?" Steven was a little surprised that Kelso was so worried. Sure, it wasn't something to celebrate but Brooke would understand these things happened.

Kelso picked up the mug of tea and took a drink, he made a face, "You guys like this stuff?" but he continued, "We had a plan when we moved here. I was supposed to work at the club and work my way from bouncer so that I could make enough that Brooke could stop working and stay home. She wants to have another baby."

"Another baby?" Jackie was surprised Kelso said it so easily.

He nodded, "Yeah but now I've lost the job and the plan's gone to shit."

"Maybe it's for a reason. I mean do you really want another little Kelso running around?" Steven said.

"I know it sounds crazy but I don't know… Betsy turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me," Kelso said.

Steven stared for a second, "Yeah, man, I guess I get it."

Jackie hid a smile by take a sip of tea. "Michael, I'm sure Brooke will understand. Just be honest with her. She won't be happy if you try to hide this or trick her with a stupid lie."

Despite his earlier complaints, he drank more tea, thinking it over. Then he said, "Alright, fine. Well, I better go get this over with. If you don't see me at the Forman's this weekend, then just know she really did kill me."

And with that he got up and let himself out, taking a sandwich for the road.

Steven and Jackie sat at the table, enjoying the moment of quiet, and thinking over what they just heard.

He spoke first, "Who woulda thought we'd be here at 23, with an unplanned pregnancy while Michael Kelso is out there planning a future with his wife?"

As annoyed as Jackie should have been with that fact, it was all so ridiculous she just laughed. "I'd still rather be us than Michael Kelso."

Steven wrapped an arm around her, "Very true, doll."

"So, before Michael butted in, I wanted to talk to you about telling the Forman's. I think we should find some cute way of doing it!" she started to get excited.

"Anything having to do with cute means you're in charge. I meant what I said in the car, I agree we should tell them…At this point they're the only family I got."

"What if we surprise them with a gift. Oh I could document it with our camera!"

"When?"

"We would need to go shopping first," he could see in her eyes that she was already formulating a plan.

She squealed and jumped out of the seat to go get who-knows-what.

As always, it was never a dull moment with Jackie.