Warped

by JJOAS

A 30 year old get's reincarnated into the body of one ten year old Jackie Burckhart and because of this cosmic hiccup this That 70's Show dimension get's a little warped. Slice of life.

7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: 1978

The morning light gave the TV a slight glare while I sat on our couch and munched on some waffles. I was watching Sunday afternoon cartoons today with breakfast for lunch. Breakfast really should've been available all day. I really missed IHop; they didn't have one open here.

Rerun tumbled over in a heap with Snoopy sitting on top of him and I sighed, "Oh, Rerun's not smart." Snoopy wasn't going to willingly leave Charlie Brown, Rerun should've known that.

Steven, Eric, and Michael all made grunts of agreement from their respective seats.

Fez settled into my recliner with a bowl of cereal on his lap, "What's Happening?"

Steven chuckled and took a bite of his breakfast burrito, "I'll tell you what's happening. Hilarity."

I laughed and popped in another waffle bit into my mouth, "Yeah, no kidding.

We continued watching the Peanuts and Michael chortled almost snorting his milk out of his nose, "That's just funny, man!"

Eric rolled his eyes at us and chewed his toast loudly, "Hey, hey, can you guys keep it down a bit, please?" He glanced at Steven's chin and raised his eyebrow, "Hyde, there's lipstick on your chin."

Steven gave Eric a smug grin, "Yup." I laughed into my waffles quietly. I had forgotten to wipe it off when we were making out earlier. Oh well.

Eric made a disgusted face stuffing the rest of his toast into his mouth, "You and Lin are so gross sometimes."

I snorted and swallowed the last of my waffles, "That's the pot calling the kettle black."

Fez looked up at us slightly distressed, "Is that racist?"

Steven let out a bewildered laugh, "No, Fez. It's just a saying."

Eric snorted out a laugh and shook his head while he headed out my door. I rolled my eyes at him and he gave me a cheerful wave while he tried to swallow the toast in his mouth.

Annette popped her head in through my kitchen door, "Hey, Michael we're all set for our big dinner party!" Why was she always popping into my house? Steven snorted and finished off his burrito pulling me into his side. I raised my eyebrow at him before giving him a light peck on the lips.

"You want some soda?" I tilted my head slightly and Steven grinned swallowing what was left in his mouth, "Please."

I got up while Michael scrambled towards Annette. He gave Annette a sheepish grin, "Oh, yea.
The big dinner party…"

I gently placed my utensils and plate into the sink soon grabbing a root beer soda from the fridge.

Annette gave me a big grin that stretched far too far on her face. She handed me an invitation that reminded me of those fancy wedding cards, "Here you go Lin. You and a guest are cordially invited for an evening of cocktails, dinner and TV. The attire is semiformal casual."

I nodded and held the invitation in my free hand turning it over, "Umm… thanks Annette." Why was she doing this again? I made it back to my seat and Steven swiped the invitation looking it over. This just spelt disaster.

Fez gobbled up the rest of his cereal and placed his empty bowl onto my coffee table. He gave Annette a grateful smile, "Ah, finally I can wear my tuxedo T-shirt."

Annette gave Fez a sheepish look, "Uh, sorry, Fez. I forgot to invite you."

Michael shook his head, "Don't worry, Fez. I'm sure you can come."

Annette grimaced narrowing her eyes at Michael, "No, Michael, he can't."

Michael hummed while they started walking out of my house, "Okay, I get it. He can't come. Come with me that is."

Annette shrieked, "No!"

I shook my head at them and let out a deep sigh. Why were we getting sucked into their drama all the time?

Steven gave me a tired smile, "Okay, I'll give you a hundred bucks if you don't make me go to this party."

I raised my eyebrow. If I was going to have to suffer then so should he, "Show me the hundred."

Steven scowled and buried his head into my shoulder, "Damn it!"

Fez grinned at us and popped up out of his chair, "Well, the party's tomorrow night so I better go home and start putting on cologne now. Okay, bye!" He dashed out of my house as quick as a bunny. I guessed that he was really excited about the prospect of seeing Annette's house? I really didn't know. Didn't he see how she really didn't want him to come?

I leaned my head against Steven's and snorted, "So, that was fun."

Steven let out a dry laugh, "Nah, Fun Land's fun. That was pretty bad."

I lolled my head up towards my ceiling and hissed a breath out my teeth, "Yeah. Yeah it was."

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We all sat around her kitchen while I emptied the pastries we had gotten from the bakery onto a couple plates. Donna gently slid the cake onto a cake stand. I don't know how she did it but Annette had managed to drag me and Donna with her again. I was really starting to wonder why I let myself get roped into these things. It was probably because we stopped by the bakery/café first. I kept forgetting that place's name.

Annette sat down on a nearby chair and huffed, "Donna. Lin. I'm gonna have dinner parties all the time when I'm Mrs. Michael Kelso, Esquire so of course I'll need help. Just think about it."

I rolled my eyes and set down several cream puffs into a bowl, "I'm pretty sure Michael isn't an Esquire, Annette."

Donna sighed and sliced the cake she was prepping, "Do I have to?"

Annette waved off our comments and dreamily said, "Oh, shh. It'll go like this. They sprinkled moon dust in my hair, and golden starlight in my eyes of blue –"

I snorted and put the macaroons on a large plate, "Your eyes are brown, Annette."

Annette let out a frustrated huff, "I know! Now shhh. I will go, 'I'd nary a notion of your songbird ways having thought you merely a captain of industry and a king among men.'"

Donna finished with the cake and sarcastically stated, "My word, Annie. Really?"

Annette gave us a flat stare, "Ugh. Guys, let me finish my story."

I rolled my eyes and snorted out a laugh, "Well alright."

She beamed and continued on, "He'll go, 'Cease your fawning and let us discuss the fox hunt. But first, I crave a French pastry. Where's the help? Apologies, good sire. I was in the stables brushing the horses secretly entertaining notions of a sensual tryst with the lady. And that's how it'll always be."

Donna looked at her curiously, "Annie that didn't make sense."

I patted her shoulder gently, "Not an ounce. Sorry."

Annette puffed up her cheeks, "It didn't have to make sense since I was happy in my story."

I shrugged, "Well at least we're done with all the food prep. Are you sure we're going to need all this food, Annette?"

Annette nodded at me with wide solemn eyes, "Boys eat far too much."

Donna let out a genuine laugh, "That's so true."

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We finished setting up Annette's party and all lounged around near the entrance way. Annette was pacing in front of the door shooting us apologetic looks now and again.

Steven sighed and gave me a hug from behind, "You know what might make this party a little more fun?"

I raised my brow at him and deadpanned, "Sweet death." Even food wouldn't make this party get any better. By now it had all gotten cold since Michael and Fez were over an hour late. We had only stuck around because of how sad Annette looked every time we mentioned it.

He chuckled into my ear, "You get me, Lin. You get me."

We heard a knock on the door and Annette yanked open the door. She tittered, "Fez? Michael! Oh, good."

She turned back to us and let out a relieved sigh, "It's Fez and Michael."

Donna snorted muttering, "Finally."

I looked over at her and nodded silently. I was getting hangry, so very hangry. Steven grunted in agreement while Eric sighed. We hadn't had a single thing to eat while we were here upon Annette's insistence.

A blonde teen walked in along with several other teens that I didn't know. A black haired gangly teen waved at us and grinned, "Hello, fellas and lady. What's to eat?" That was a brilliant question.

My stomach grumbled and I groaned. Steven sighed and rubbed my shoulder gently. All the comfort in the world wouldn't do much if I didn't get some food soon.

A girl with huge glasses glanced our way and picked up a melon ball with her fingers, "Ahh. Are these melon balls for anyone?" I wanted to punch her face. I had spent hours balling those God damn melons and she got to eat it first. Steven held me back shaking his head. God damn it.

Annette glanced at the people that kept walking into her house. She whipped her heat back at Michael and hissed, "Why are they here?!"

Michael blinked at her with wide eyes, "I invited them because you're always discussing manners and I wanted to be mannerly." Was that his pathetic reason? I glowered at him from where I stood.

A burly ginger nodded and stuffed a piece of cake into his mouth, "He's mannerly." Shut up burly man! Eating the God damn mother fucking cake… Steven held me closer to his chest preventing my hangry rampage.

Michael beamed at him, "Hey, Chuck." Chuck walked away back towards the pastry table not bothering to acknowledge Michael. He was too busy stuffing his face with what we had laid out earlier.

Annette let out an agonized squeak, "Oh, no. Chuck's here." She glared at Michael trying to convey the hurt and betrayal that she was probably feeling in one look. Annette's eyes were glassy when she muttered, "Why, Michael? Why would you invite all these people? Why would you do this?"

Michael, ever oblivious to how Annette felt, shrugged, "Well, I was thinking that if a party of 10 people was fun that a party of 30 people would be twice as much fun."

Steven sighed and I glanced at all the people that had filtered into Annette's house. I was right; this party already looked like a disaster. People hadn't quite bothered with plates, some of the people had gotten into, what was probably her father's liquor, and there were some people that were just being total slobs. I made a disgusted face and Steven shook his head. I guess he was right. Again. We probably should've just gone on a date tonight that this. We would certainly be eating by now if we had.

Annette shot Michael with a deeply irritated look, "Michael, I didn't want twice as much fun. I wanted a small, classy party."

Michael's cheery disposition melted and he frowned at her whining ever so slightly, "Just 'cause there's a couple more people doesn't mean it can't still be classy."

One of the teens near the bar happily yelled out, "Hey, everybody! I'm takin' off my pants!"

I glared at one of the teens that ate right out of the serving bowl, "Hey! Hey! Would it kill you to use a plate? Huh?" Damn ass hats. My stomach growled again and I gently rubbed it. Soon. Soon I would get to eat. Damn Annette and my need to be polite.

Said teen gave me an offended look before getting a plate while they moved towards the kitchen.

Eric came out of the throng of people looking more irritated than usual, "Bunch of wild hooligans." I hadn't even noticed him leaving in the first place.

Donna rolled her eyes and gave Eric an irritated look, "Oh, sorry, Red. Eric, look, this is not your house. You're not gonna get in trouble for any of this, so loosen up." I could get that Eric was uptight sometimes, but this party was really bad. Everyone wasn't originally invited was acting like a jackass. If anything, Eric needed to bring out his inner Red to help kick these bozos out. I think Donna was just hangry too. We both got really pissy when we didn't get food.

Eric frowned at Donna slightly before slowly nodding, "Yeah, I guess I could do that."

An extremely thin looking blonde exclaimed, "Oh, my God. It's like I'm seeing colors I've never seen before."

I let out a disgusted snort while Steven let his head fall onto my shoulder. He turned his head and kissed my neck murmuring, "You should've just bailed on her invitation, Lin."

I turned my head and pouted, "I didn't want to be rude." Even my excuse sounded flimsy to me at this point. The gnawing hunger pains in my stomach continued.

He rolled his eyes and his lips twitched up slightly, "It amazes me the things that you do so you don't appear to be rude." He rubbed my aching belly as if to emphasize my ongoing hunger.

I puffed out my cheeks and let out an irritated breath, "I don't wanna be rude."

Steven let out a dry chuckle, licking my ear, "Mhmm."

I turned to face him and pouted, "Puddin' pop. Not here. We'll get to eat eventually…I think."

He shrugged and pulled me into a closer embrace, "At this point, this party is already dead, Lin. We could still head to Blannigan's. Don't you want some lamb kabobs?"

A yearning sigh escaped my lips while I looked around at the ongoing party turned 'house trashing' and let my head fall back onto his chest, "Point taken."

I turned back to Annette, but before I could tell her that Steven and I were going to head out she started whimpering. Damn it. I hated it when people cried. It always made my chest hurt and my gut twist. I gently untangled Steven's arms from my waist and kissed him lightly. He gave me a questioning look and I mouthed, 'Annette's going to cry.' Steven nodded, an understanding look flashed onto his face. We both didn't really like it when people cried, for our own respective reasons.

Annette's eyes were wide when she yanked Michael away from his buddies. She hissed, "Michael, are they drinking out of my parents' wedding crystal?"

Michael glanced at the folks that were currently sipping out of said crystal, "Yeah, Annie. They were trying to drink straight from the bottle, and I said, "No, no! Use the crystal, 'cause it's classy."" He smugly smiled at her proud at his quick thinking. Michael's heart was in the right place most of the time…It's was just his execution of things that made everything worse.

Annette had a couple tears slip out of her eyes and she roughly wiped her eyes. Her voice wavered when she stated, "Michael, I'm gonna go upstairs and feel sorry for myself. And you- you are gonna fix this."

At that point Annette shook her head and ran up the stairs, probably to her room. I looked up to where she had ran off to and the disaster and chaos that was currently happening around me. Oh the choices.

Michael called after her, "Fi- Fix it? Annie, you're having the party of the year here. Damn! I do not get women!"

I passed Michael pulling Donna along with me. I shot him a dirty look, "Yes, neither does Fez, but you don't see him being a total ass hat."

He let out an offended huff and I continued dragging Donna behind me. She let out a sigh and I shook my head. We could deal with Donna's problems later. Right now, Annette actually needed us. And even if I didn't really like her, no one deserved this.

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I gently opened the door peeking into a glaringly girly room, "Annette?"

Donna sighed and called out, "You okay?"

Annette was lying face down on her bed burying her head into one of her gaudy pillows, "Donna. Lin. Please, please, just- I really don't wanna talk about Michael."

I walked into her room ignoring the fact that we weren't quite invited in, "Okay, we don't have to talk about Michael." I sat on the edge of her bed and patted her shoulder slightly. She sniffled into her pillow. I wondered if she was ugly crying. I didn't know how to deal with people when they did that since even in my last life people only did that in private.

Donna came over and glanced down at her, "What's wrong, Annie?"

She looked up at us; her mascara was smeared across her face. She was ugly crying, "Okay, so what are your honest opinions about Michael?"

I awkwardly patted her shoulder wincing on the inside while Donna gave her a curious look, "Um, by honest, you mean-"

Annette snapped at Donna rubbing her mascara ringed eyes, "Donna! Please learn to listen."

Donna's eye twitched and ground her teeth. I patted Donna's hand and she shook her head. Wasn't she supposed to be better friends with Annette than me?

I let out a deep sigh, "You're sending us mixed signals, Annette."

She sniffled and pouted, "Okay, fine. What do you guys think of him?"

I tilted my head, "Honestly?"

Annette murmured quietly, "Mm-hmm."

Donna gave her a patient look, "You have certain expectations of Kelso that may not be entirely realistic."

I searched Annette's face and gently stated, "You want him to be sophisticated and smart but in actuality he's neither of those things, Annette. He's kind of a jerk sometimes even if, deep down, he has a good heart."

Annette yanked herself away from us and let out an affronted sound, "God, how dare you guys say that about me and Michael?"

Donna deadpanned, "You wanted our honest opinion, Annie."

I narrowed my eyes at her and snapped, "Don't go biting off our heads, for something you asked for Annette." She was being really unreasonable right now.

She gave me a wide eyed looked and whined, "But I wanted your honest opinions about how great we are great together. Not the bad stuff."

I rolled my eyes and waved my hand carelessly, "Look, you are wrong about Michael. This idealized version in your head isn't how it is in reality."

Donna nodded and firmly stated, "He really is a dillhole, Annie." Alright, he was being a dillhole now and lately, but that didn't mean that was all he was.

Annette shook her head furiously, "No, Lin. No, Donna. He knows he made a mistake, and he's gonna make it up to me. You guys wait and see."

Fez came up looking panicked, "Uh, Annie? Where is the fire extinguisher?"

I looked up at him and pinched the bridge of my nose. I really should have just agreed with Steven instead of being polite.

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We had run down the stairs towards where the kitchen fire was. Before we could get to said kitchen we spotted Eric dancing like a dork on Annette's dining table. He glanced our way and beamed drunkenly waving, "Hey, hey, Donna I wanna sing to you- Hey, hey, hey, Donna- No one else will ever do- I've waited so long- For school to be through- Donna…Donna, I love you- Hey, hey, Donna!"

I glared at him, one of the few times that I ever did, and shouted, "Eric, get down off there right now."

He tilted his head at me and sent me a confused frown pouting slightly, "What's the problem?"

Timmy Cuttle, the kid I used to tutor, whined, "Yeah, what's the problem?" Obviously these people didn't know that the kitchen oven was on fire.

I growled at him and shook my fist, "Timmy, go get your pants on, or I'll beat the crap out of you!"

He pouted and scrambled away from my shaking fists. I was hangry and tired of all this bullshit. All I wanted to do was sit down at Blannigan's and eat my God damn lamb kabobs. After this night I thought I deserved them.

Donna gave Eric a pointed look, "Eric, remember when I told you to loosen up?"

Eric wiggled and smirked down at her, "Oh, yeah, baby."

She forcefully pulled him off of the table and simpered, "Well, tighten up, baby."

When he had his feet firmly on the ground I jabbed his stomach, "When the house is on fire, the party's over. Literally, sober up Eric."

Eric blearily looked at me extending his pouting lip, "Hey, this was Donna's idea, Lin. Not. My. Fault." I don't think he actually registered that there was real danger right now and we were all talking still. I glanced at the kitchen worriedly. At the same time, I couldn't really bare to leave Eric in his totally smashed state. I was hangry, not a monster.

Donna gently took his shoulder and shook him lightly, "Eric, I told you to loosen up, not act like a dink."

Eric glared at her, "Well, I'm new at this, so sue me. Sue-oo-oo me - Sue me, Donna –"

Steven popped out of the crowd looking utterly pissed off while he walked over to us, "Eric!"

Eric happily turned to Steven, "Yes, Hyde?"

I cast a worried glance at Steve, "Steven?"

Steven bent down kissing me possessively before yanking Eric away, "Everything'll be fine, doll. Don't worry. I'll take Mr. Drunk-a-lot out back and hose him down."

I gave him a bewildered look touching my lips with my fingertips, "Thank you, puddin' pop."

He grinned at me lopsidedly, "Anything for you, doll." Steven turned to Eric pushing out the back door, "Come on, Forman. Frog march." Eric luckily did as he was told muttering all the way.

Donna helped Fez put out the fire. The duo soon cleaned up the kitchen with Michael finally showing up from wherever he had disappeared off to.

I glared at the people still partying and picked up a broom. Soon enough I had managed to chase them out. During the chase some of them sounded offended, but after the threat of calling the cops most of the hooligans had complied. I was really glad I didn't go to school with these people.

After I had chased out the last party crasher I leaned against a wall and sighed. Never again. Never again.

My stomach growled at me plaintively and I tilted my head from side to side making sure I wasn't getting faint. If my hanger didn't get me food the next stage was dizziness. I didn't quite like either stage.

Steven came back holding a thoroughly soaked Eric by his collar. Eric sighed giving me a sheepish grin while Steven gave him an unamused look.

Steven raised his eyebrow at me holding out his hand, "Blannigan's?"

I moved away from the wall and let out a relieved sigh, "Abso-fucking-loutely." I enveloped his hand with mine and smiled.

Steven helped Eric sit down with his other hand while he winked at me, "That's my girl."

I laughed and glanced back at Annette's remnants of her messed up party. I shook my head and leaned into Steven, "I'm starving." Screw being polite. I needed food. If Annette was pissed that we bailed then that was her problem.

He nodded while we made our way to our car, "Me too." I should've certainly listened to Steven on this one. I was just glad he wasn't saying I told you so.

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The girls were hanging out with me at my place while the boys did whatever they did on Thursday nights. I frosted our finalized cupcakes only listening to the conversation with half an ear.

Annette was bitching again. She sighed and slowly nibbled on her cupcake, "God, men are stupid. How can they not know what we want? They should know what we want. You know? It's so simple."

I rolled my eyes at that comment while my back was turned. It really wasn't that simple for either gender. I turned around moving a plate of freshly frosted cupcakes in front of both girls. I slid them towards Donna before I propped my arms onto my kitchen island, "What do you guys think was the most horrifying moment of the party?"

Donna happily bit into a cupcake smearing her face with frosting slightly, "The most horrifying moment for me?"

I peeled off the cupcake wrapper and shrugged, "Sure." I bit in my red velvet cupcake with relish. I would've enjoyed this more with an edible wrapper. I guessed that I should just make one and patent it ahead of time.

Donna snorted swallowing what was in her mouth, "Eric singing to me. Eric was such a dink last night, and I mean it."

Annette tilted her head and tore off another piece of her cupcake popping it into her mouth, "I think it was Michael completely ruining my party."

I finished off my cupcake, sucking off the cream cheese icing that had accidentally smeared on my fingers, "Personally, I believe it was when your house actually caught fire."

Annette shook her head and sighed, "Oh, yeah. That too." I was certainly never going to another party she hosted.

Annette gave us a tired sigh, "So after my father somehow found about my disastrous party…He- He mentioned actually moving our place to Texas with my aunt. He said it would make us more money if we sold off our share of the slaughter house over to my uncle, Pam's dad."

I gave her a pitying look, "Damn." Sometimes I forgot how bad times were with the other families in Point Place. We weren't exactly the most prosperous town in all of Wisconsin.

Donna patted her shoulder gently, "Sorry."

Annette shook her head pasting a strained smile on her face, "Everything'll be fine 'cause I still have Michael, so I'll just fight for our love."

I shook my head at that point. Her notion of what her relationship with Michael was always baffled me.

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Steven and I sat on our usual chair while we avidly watched Fez. He had said he was going to do something we might find interesting, but so far all we had seen was him setting up twister. I certainly didn't want to participate with Fez. No offense to him, but I worried that he might get grabby in the process of that game. Besides that, I didn't really like twister all that much to begin with.

Fez spun the dial, "Okay, here we go. Right hand, blue."

I tilted my head shifting my legs on Steven's lap, "Fez, you really can't play Twister by yourself. It's a game meant for a group of people."

Fez shook his head and planted down his hand, "That's where you're wrong, little goddess."

He spun the dial again, "Right leg, green. Oh, that's gonna be tough." Somehow he had managed to pull off the move much to our astonishment.

Steven raised his eyebrow at Fez and snorted, "Hey, Fez, man, the circus called. They said they'll pay you 50 bucks a week if you can kiss your own ass."

Fez grinned at us, "Take a message." I wondered if that was a compliment in his home country. God knows he wasn't very forthcoming about where he came from.

Donna burst through the basement door grinning, "I have the greatest news in the world."

Eric stared at Fez turning his head slightly, "How the hell are you doing that?"

Fez simply said, "I'm double-jointed."

Michael let out a whistle, "Damn."

Donna plopped down beside Eric and grumped, "Um, guys…hello? My parents are renewing their wedding vows."

Eric turned to Donna and gave her a questioning look, "Wait. So double-dating degenerates and skeezy bar hags just lost its appeal?"

Donna grinned, "Yuuup. Finally the insanity is over. I'm really happy about this, Eric, and you should be too. My parents have been driving me nuts, and I've probably been a little moody lately."

I snorted out a laugh and sarcastically asked, "No, really?"

Steven gave Donna a pointed look, "You sure have, Big Red."

Eric gave her a pacifying look, "God, you haven't been moody at all."

Michael ignored Donna's last comment and let out an irritated huff, "Oh, this is great. Annie's gonna get wedding fever. Man, all I'm gonna hear is "Michael, at our wedding do not shove cake in my face" and "You better know how to dance" and "There will not be a trampoline." A wedding without a trampoline. That's crazy talk."

Steven gave him a look that clearly asked 'are you stupid?', "Yeah, it'd be like a funeral without a dunk tank."

I gave him a patient smile, "Are you sure, you aren't confusing what you want with a birthday party, Michael?"

Michael ignored us and kept ranting, "Yup, you know, she even knows what kind of china pattern she wants pink and purple with unicorns. Who wants to see a unicorn when they're eatin' pie?"

Fez continued on with his game of twister dismissing our new line of conversation, "Left leg, yellow. Would someone please help me get my pants off?" It was really creepy seeing him all twisted up like that.

I shook my head furiously, "No. This is just really weird now."

Michael glanced at Fez and grimaced, "Quit it, Fez."

Steven rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand, "Fez, you're getting gross, man."

Fez ignored us and tried to continue on with his restrictive pants. I don't know how he was going to pull this off at this rate. I buried my head against Steven's shoulder before turning back to Eric and Donna.

Eric raised an eyebrow at Donna, "Are you sure you have to help your parents with their wedding vows?"

Donna nodded, "Yeppp."

He gave her a saucy look, "I got a vow. I vow to kiss you so hard your pretty little red head pops off. Now I could make that happen."

Donna laughed and pinned him down on the rest of the couch, "Shut up, Eric."

He looked up at her, "Donna, I'm sorry, but pinning me only makes it sexier." I rolled my eyes at the two of them. And they said we were gross. Blegh.

Kitty started walking down the basement stairs with a laundry basket cradled in her arms, "Hey, kids."

Eric hissed, "Hey, Donna! Get off of me!" She complied smirking all the way and a slight giggle escaped my mouth. They might've been gross, but the last bit was certainly entertaining.

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I looked up at the sky and shaded my eyes with my hand before I crossed the street after I locked up my beetle. It was a cloudy sunny day today. The perfect day to finally explore more of our town in my books; ever since we had gone to that bakery I had this idea. I didn't want to just stay in one place any more. I was curious about all the buildings that had popped up over time. Besides, since the guys were at school I really needed to get out more especially with Annette and Donna coming to me about their respective problems. A little bit of space away from them helped clear my head.

Sure, I was their friend; Annette's reluctant friend anyways, and I always liked helping them out, but man could they bitch on and on. With Donna, I could get why she was bitching about her parents because they didn't make sense to me either. With Annette, it was repetitive drama that could just be solved if they talked about their failing relationship. I think at this point, Annette just didn't want to be alone.

I sighed and shook my head. It wouldn't help to fixate about those two. I crossed the street and waved to Sally Summers. She cheerfully waved back at me carting her family with her to the park. Huh. I guess it was her day off.

I stopped at the bakery and admired its rounded scalloped edged awning. If I owned the store I wouldn't have it been that bright red though. I would want it to be a cheerful yellow. I shook off that thought and went in feeling the air conditioned air hit my face. I smiled slightly and waved at Mrs. Johnson. She grinned at me while she dealt with the customers at the till.

I went to the fridge displays and looked at all the cakes and pastries before I picked up some raisin bread and made my way towards the now empty till. Mrs. Johnson peered at my tiny selection and laughed, "Not going for the full shebang today, Lin?"

I let out a sheepish grin, "Actually, I'd like my regular order along with this raisin loaf, please."

She beamed at me and handed me two big boxes of macaroons, cream puffs, egg tarts, chocolate chunk cookies, and some crème brulee. She put in the numbers and said, "That'll only be $10, love."

I frowned, "That's more than fifty percent off, Mrs. Johnson. What's going on?" I had been frequenting this bakery for a couple weeks now and my order always came to about $38 give or take. With the raisin loaf it really should've been $40.

She gave me a sad smile, "I'm going out of business. This place isn't getting enough customers for some reason. We had more people when K-Mart wasn't around, but our customers are dwindling now. My husband said it'd be better if we just focused our energy on our farms. We make much more money with them than with this little slice of heaven. As my favorite regular, I'm giving you the family discount." I wondered if this was because I always tipped her when I came here.

She gave me an impish grin, "Your tips help me keep this baby open for longer than it would have, but hubby dear can tell that it'll just be a drain on our finances this summer."

I paid her what I owed her making sure to tip her as I always did, and held my boxes close to my chest, "Is there anything I can do to help, Mrs. Johnson?"

She tilted my head at me, her sad smile returned to her face, "Well, honey, short of buying up the place yourself there's nothing much you can do."

I tried figuring out if I could afford this purchase; I was glad I minored in finance back in college. When I had gotten into this universe I had started with $6,228,435.01. Every month it collected with both interest and the extra $500 I got every month from daddy dearest along with any funds I procured from mother dearest which usually rounded up to $300 a month. That started when I was ten and continued on till now so when I did the numbers in my head that meant that I made $57,600 just in extra cash from mummy and daddy dearest in the six years I was here.

I didn't bother counting the extra cash I earned here and there from my baby sitting gigs. I had managed to get a 6% interest rate on my bank account because of the sheer amount that I kept at the Point Place Community bank. I guess it also helped that it was the same bank that everyone, minus the very wealthy, used within a 20 mile radius. It was a pretty big bank now that I thought about it.

With the interest I accrued from the bank, which was about $373,706.10 annually, meant that over the last six years I had acquired $ 2,321,436.60 on top of what I had originally. I shot Mrs. Johnson a sheepish smile while my brain buzzed. I had to work this out faster.

If I took away all of my extra expenses that daddy dearest never covered in the past six years, like really big purchases, then that would leave me with…umm…about $8,503,071.61.

I gave Mrs. Johnson a kindly smile and placed my purchases on the counter while I fished out my cheque book from my purse. I also managed to find one of my pens hiding in my purse pocket.

She let out a bewildered sound, "Lin?" Her face looked encouraging and I was hoping that she wasn't joking about what she had said before.

I looked up, resting my cheque book on the counter with my pen at the ready, "How much?"

Mrs. Johnson's grey eyes sparkled, "Really?" She smiled widely dimpling her cheeks.

I let out a sheepish chuckle, "Really, really." I hoped that Steven wouldn't be too miffed with what I was about to do. He always believed that I didn't act with enough thought about our finances. If he only knew how much we had though. Oh well. I'd just tell him later.

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I walked away with the deed to the bakery, a box full of free doughnuts along with my prior purchases, and $30,000 lighter. She had the contract and all the files in the back in her office and I packed everything she gave me away onto my back seats. After I had put everything away I checked my keys and fingered the new bakery key that now hung on my key chain. I slipped into the driver seat and glanced out my window gazing at the business I now owned. Mrs. Johnson cheerily waved at me from the door and I beamed back at her.

The implications of what I had just done gnawed on me. I really needed to talk to the bank. With that thought in mind I sped away towards my original destination.

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I sat fidgeting now and again while I spread out the contract, the bakery files, and its deed on Mr. Gaffney's desk. I glanced around the room while he took the many documents that I handed to him. His grey handlebar mustache twitched while he read through the entire thing.

His overly bushy grey eyebrows turned to me and he slowly stated, "Miss. Burkhart, although $30,000 is a mere drop in your inheritance, buying a business is a great responsibility and expense. Did you read through her sales report from this past year? Mrs. Johnson had also written in that she had to lay off her prior six employees because of the decline in customers."

I nodded and gave Mr. Gaffney a strained smile, "Yes, sir. I know that she was down about $300 a month out of their $1000 sales goal, but I'm sure that I can drum up some business. How much is advertising any ways?"

He flipped through some files and murmured, "About $3.50 for a newspaper slot, $5 for a billboard, $7.50 for the radio, and $10 for a spot on TV. That's all on a month by month basis."

I leaned closer peering at all the information in front of me, "Did…Did they do any advertising?" My gut clenched. If they had already tried to drum up business and failed, it didn't mean anything good for me.

Mr. Gaffney shook his head, "They state in their business notes that beyond newspaper and by mouth advertising, it was too expensive. You can't forget about the cost of employees, the utilities that the building uses, the cost of making your products and how much to sell them for, and so many other things."

I hummed quietly taking in all the information that he was giving me. I'd post the job positions as $2 an hour along with making use of better advertisement. I knew that I could drum up business with the outskirts of the bigger towns and small cities in the vicinity. Hell, even the other small towns nearby might appreciate some artesian pastries. I absently noted that I should get the patent for edible cupcake wrappers. I bet that would sell fabulously.

He straightened the papers and gently slid them towards me. "My advice as your financial advisor would be to try it out for a month, but if it doesn't yield profits then sell it off to K-Mart like the other stores have done."

I nodded, "It wouldn't bankrupt me though would it?"

He shook his head, "No, but there's no reason to let money siphon off into a dying business. Now can I give you some advice as a friend and local?"

I looked up at his bushy eyebrows and nodded smiling nervously, "Sure."

A smile slowly spread across his face and his bushy eyebrows rose. His beady blue eyes twinkled, "I love getting bread from our bakery instead of that mass produced junk from K-mart. It's nice that we got to keep most of our small businesses. Those things and the people here are what make Point Place great. All them big city multi-corporate businesses don't care about that. I say try to save it."

I searched his eyes, marveling that he actually had them, while a smile twitched on the edge of my lips, "Thank you, Mr. Gaffney. Oh. What is the regular minimum wage for the bakery in comparison to the others by the way?" I always wondered why Rosita was paid $3 an hour when in comparison the minimum wage now was $1.60. It still baffled me as much as it did when I found out when I was 13.

He tilted his head back combing back his grey hair, "About $1.80 so it wasn't much of a difference between what the minimum wage is now." I supposed that I would have to raise the minimum wage at my store to ensure employees. I wondered how Mr. Forman did it.

I nodded and clutched the files against my chest while I got up to leave, "Thank you for the advice and information, Mr. Gaffney. Have a good rest of the day."

He nodded; his bushy brows covered his eyes again while he smiled at me, "Always good to see you, Miss. Burkhart."

I gave him another small smile before I left his office hurrying out of the bank. A couple people said hello and I sent them slight smiles returning their greetings to the best of my ability. I had a lot of things to think about. I would just have to have Mrs. Johnson watch the bakery for a while; I'd pay her of course, but I needed to sort all of this out first before I restarted up the bakery. I'd definitely have to change its name. It wasn't catchy enough to remember.

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We were all hiding out in the Forman's basement while everyone got ready for Midge and Bob's rehersal dinner. I was just glad no one had volunteered our house for their shindig.

Steven pulled at his black tie, "Why do we have to get all dressed up for this stupid rehearsal dinner?" He looked dashing in his dress shirt and dress pants…not that he didn't look great usually.

Eric buttoned up his wrist cuffs muttering, "Because my mom said so."

Steven snorted and stopped tugging his tie, "And we don't argue with Mommy." He winked at me and I grinned at him. Inside though, I was worrying about my bakery purchase. I had been putting it off for about three days, but I knew that I couldn't it in for too long.

I sat on his lap making sure that my new dress didn't hike up past my knees, "Plus it'll make Mrs. Forman happy." I was currently wearing a flowy pink dress to make her happy.

Steven smirked at me and whispered, "I wouldn't mind it if Mrs. Forman dressed you more."

I rolled my eyes at him and gently patted his face, "In your dreams, puddin' pop."

Michael leaned against the dryer pulling at his collar. He sighed, "Okay, so Annie hasn't made me read a single bride's magazine. I'm tellin' you, man. Ever since I set her house on fire she's been actin' really weird."

Eric puffed out an irritated glare, "Hey, you know, when I'm tryin' to get in good with Donna, you know what works for me? I don't set her house on fire!"

Michael rolled his eyes and waved at Eric dismissively, "Yeah. Oh, sure. Hindsight's 20/20."

I snorted out a laugh while Steven shook his head. What was Michael doing here so early anyway?

Laurie came down the stairs wearing a too tight bright pink dress, "Here, loser. Mom wants you to put this on." How she ever got away with wearing that to the rehearsal dinner was beyond me.

Eric gingerly took his blazer out of her hands and nodded in silent thanks. Even with the restrictions placed on her, Laurie was still bitchy. I was glad that she had the back room and not the entire basement as her room. To be fair their back room was actually quite big once we had sold off all their excess stuff.

Michael slicked back his hair and suavely smiled at her, "Hey, Laurie."

She turned to him and sneered, "Where have you been, you idiot?"

Michael looked taken aback and held his hands up in surrender. He sheepishly said, "Oh, well, Annie-"

Laurie pushed her finger against his lips and hissed, "I told you never to say that name to me. We have a relationship. Not you and her."

Michael talked against her lips intent on finishing his sentence, "See, that's true, so –"

Laurie got up closer to his face and actually growled, "Shut up."

Steven raised his eye brow at me and I shrugged. I don't think Laurie was adjusting as well as she wanted people to believe.

Soon enough we were forced out of hour hiding place. Kitty herded us to the backyard giving everyone that strained smile of hers.

The tables and chairs that we had set up in the Forman's backyard seated a bunch of people I was unfamiliar with and I was glad that Kitty had managed to convince Midge to let all of us sit together. I took a sip of my ice water and looked around at all the new faces. I knew that most of them were out of towners or city folk with the way that they made faces at the size of things here. It was either that or they were snobs. I couldn't quite figure them out at this distance.

Red let out a frustrated sigh and cleared his throat loudly, Excuse me. Hello? Listen up, you bastards!" The chatter died down quickly and we all stared at him. He gave us a strained smile, "I'm sorry about the, uh the "bastards" thing. Anyway, ahem, I'd like to make a special toast to two very special people Bob and Midge."

A bunch of gaudy ladies murmured, "Aw!"

Red cleared his throat again and held his glass in the air, "Bob and Midge. Bobby and Midgie. Here's to Bob and Midge. Yea! Mmm." He promptly sat back down into his seat.

The same ladies all said, "Aw!" I idly pushed my potatoes around before taking a bite out of my fried chicken. They seemed kind of robotic to me. I wondered where they came from.

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Saturday came a knockin' and we were all set to have their vow renewal in their backyard. They had gotten us to set up all of the fold out chairs along with everything else with the promise of our favorite foods respectively. I doubted they actually meant that, but I was just helping just because.

We leaned against the side of Donna's house watching the people wander in through their backyard gate. Steven caught sight of a hippie looking guy wandering our way. He honestly looked like he was stoned out of his mind. What was this guy doing here?

Steven pulled Fez closer to us and mumbled, "Oh, hey, Fez. Uh, if anybody asks, this is a glass eye."

He shrugged and nodded while I raised my eyebrow at him mouthing, 'What?' Fez spotted something past my peripheral vision and happily walked away towards whatever he had spotted.

Steven gave me a sheepish grin, "He's my boss." I raised an eyebrow at him while his boss stood in front of us grinning like a dope.

Steven bumped his fist with his boss wryly smiling, "Hey, Leo, man. You all set?" I took in this Leo man and couldn't fathom how he was Steven's boss. It really didn't add up at all in my head.

He gave me a friendly wave before nodding, "Totally, man. I got everything."

Steven visually searched Leo's person, "Great. Where's the camera?"

Leo nodded, "I got everything but the camera. Or the film. Or the flashcubes. I got nothin', man." He let out a sheepish chuckling bonelessly shrugging.

Steven scowled and his hand twitched slightly, "Leo, man, the Fotohut is loaded with that stuff." I took hold of his hand and gently squeezed it. He stilled for a moment before his scowl deepened.

Leo nodded and wandered off towards Holly; Midge's maid of Honor, "I know. It's ironic, isn't it?"

Steven scratched the back of his neck letting out an irritated breath, "And yet not surprising."

I tilted my head slightly and gently prodded his side. Steven gave me a tired grin, "Yes, doll?"

"What was that?" I motioned towards where Leo had gone with my head crossing my arms in front of my chest.

He slid up his sunglasses and clicked his tongue slightly, "Kitty got me to agree to take pictures, but I didn't really want to so I shoved the task to Leo. He has more experience taking photos any ways, but as per usual Leo bailed on me."

He scowled at Leo's turned back and tightened his grip on my hand. I shot Leo a dirty look before pulling Steven towards our house, "Come on. I have a camera and some film at home. We're certainly not wasting our instant film on this fiasco though." I liked vow renewals just as much as the next person, but it doesn't help that the two people doing said vow renewal acted a lot like Annette and Michael. I felt that in my gut that, although it was horrible, Bob and Midge probably weren't going to last forever more.

Steven's expression softened and his shoulders sagged. He chuckled before kissing my forehead, "I love you, Lin."

I gave him a bewildered smile, laughing slightly, "I love you too, Steven. Let's go get that camera so Kitty doesn't get sad."

He snorted and murmured, "Yes, dear." If it was anyone, but Kitty and Red, we probably wouldn't have tried to fix this situation at all. I'm not quite sure if that made us bad people, but at the same time I didn't quite care at the moment.

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Bob and Midge were standing under a gaudy trellis with Kitty and Red standing on either side of them. I shook my head slightly at all this song and dance when they couldn't even verbalize how they were important to one another.

Bob dabbed his eyes with a hanky, "First of all, Midge and I would like to thank everyone for coming. It really means a lot to us. The vows we're exchanging were written by our daughter, Donna whom we love very much." Bob looked over at Donna with adoration clearly reflected in his eyes.

He turned back to Midge and held her hands in his, "Midgie, I consider it a privilege to be your husband."

"Bob, I'm proud and very grateful to be your wife."

"We've known each other since we were practically kids."

"So we know all the good stuff."

"And all the not-so-good stuff about each other."

"I can't imagine feeling about anyone else the way I feel about you."

"Because I love you."

"And I want to make you a promise."

"No matter what happens."

"Good or bad."

"I will always love you."

I awed when they finished and kissed gently squeezing Steven's hand in mine. Donna really loved Eric if I was reading between the lines correctly since neither Bob nor Midge wrote this. We all clapped while the couple proceeded to run down their makeshift isle.

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I spotted Donna's sex dazed look and yanked her away from Red's questioning gaze, "Oh, my God. We need to talk right now!" I proceeded to drag her towards my backyard sparing Steven an apologetic glance.

Donna tilted her head, "What?"

I smirked at her, "Tell me everything."

Donna had a dopy grin on her face, "Eric and I finally did it."

I put my hands on her shoulders and grinned, "That's great. So, did it hurt?"

Donna squirmed away from me making a face, "Lin!"

I shrugged crossing my arms in front of my chest, "Okay. We'll come back to that one. So, really though…how was it?"

Donna flushed and plonked herself down onto one of my patio chairs, "Lin, I don't really want to talk about that."

I took a seat across from her and winced slightly, "Oh. That bad, huh?" My first time with Steven was a little awkward too, but I thought that, unlike in my last life, it was bounds and leaps better than what it could've been.

Donna shook her head and muttered, "No. No. No, it was great. It just wasn't what I expected. I don't think we did it right."

I gave her a sad smile, "Damn. I'm sorry Donna."

Donna helplessly shrugged, "Nah…It was more like- like neither of us was good."

I tilted my head and patted her knee gently, "Donna, it was both your first time, but it shouldn't have been lousy. Especially since it wasn't just some one night stand."

Donna sighed and leaned back on her chair, "I don't know, Lin. I mean, I love Eric, but when the moment came it was just, like, awkward and weird and I don't know. I just felt so far away, you know?"

I gave her a slightly confused look, "Okaaaay?"

Donna let her chair fall back onto all of its legs with a thump, "I mean, during it, I just remember thinking you know, "This is it?" And "This is what everyone-""

An expectant look crossed my face, "Everyone what?"

A sheepish laugh burbled out of Donna, "That's as far as I got."

I made a slight face shaking my head all the while, "Oh. Shit. You gonna be okay?"

Donna let out a deep long breath through her mouth as she stood up, "Yeah, I'll be okay. Thanks Lin."

I got up with her and we made our way back to the wedding renewal festivities, "Anytime, Red. Anytime."

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The light streamed form my lamp shade as I sat up in bed slowly taking in the Princess Bride novel I had recently purchased. It was just as hilarious as it had been in the future. I giggled to myself barely feeling Steven slide into bed. He had to develop the photos that he took of Bob and Midges wedding before he could leave.

He pulled my book down and I frowned at him. Steven gave me a lopsided grin, "So Eric and Donna had sex?"

I gave him a curious look before placing a bookmark into chapter seven. I placed my novel onto my bedside table before I scooted over slightly giving him some room, "Yeah, and Eric wasn't good at it."

Steven propped himself up with a pillow dragging the blanket up past his naked belly, "Wow. That's a hard blow to the ego."

I nodded and let out nervous laugh. It was now or never at this point. I snuggled into his chest and looking up at him with wide eyes, "Also, I bought a bakery the other day. The one Mrs. Johnson usually runs."

Steven looked down at me giving me a bewildered look, "What?"

I stuck out my lower lip and nuzzled his chest, "They were going out of business and her husband didn't want it any more…I love that bakery. A lot of people love that bakery."

Steven let out a tired sigh, "You mean; you love what they make at that bakery."

I shrugged grinning sheepishly, "Yes and no. It has an atmosphere about it that I really liked. Plus this way I can do I job that I love."

Steven kissed the top of my head while he gently rubbed my hip, "Oh. Lin, I know that you love baking, but remember what we talked about?"

I frowned and sighed, "Impulse buys are bad?" I didn't think this impulse buy was bad though.

His brow furrowed and a worried grimace spread across his face, "Yup. We're not in the red now are we?"

I patted his naked chest gently "Nah. I should really show you our bank profile though. It might ease your mind about everything."

Steven's face eased and he relaxed against our pillows, "Eh. As long as you're keeping tabs on it, I'm good."

I curiously searched his face, "Does it freak you out that we already have a joint bank account?"

Steven closed his eyes propping his head with his other arm, "Nope. So did Donna really say Eric was bad? 'Cause Eric said it was amazing."

I traced shapes onto his chest idly, "Donna certainly didn't agree, but they were both virgin's so I can understand why it wouldn't have been awe inspiring. On a different note, do you have any ideas about my bakery's new name?"

He paused before a mischievous grin broke out onto his face, "How about The Rolling Scones?"

I made a face laughing slightly, "I don't know that many scone recipes." I guessed I could always just make my favorite ones from the future; apple caramel and apple cinnamon scones. I didn't really know if people liked scones around here though.

He shrugged, "It could just be one of your specialty items. I think it's a great name."

I nodded a smile settling onto my face, "The Rolling Scones it is."

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The clocked ticked on by and my morning slowly trudged along. All the guys were at school today and I had decided to try and do something about my new business venture. I kicked the light wooden floor under my seat now and again. I had been waffling on what to do for about an hour now. A sigh escaped my mouth while I leaned on my elbows.

I sat at one of the bistro tables at the bakery and looked around at my bare shelves, fridges, and warming racks. The story was empty and I had a hand full of papers, files, and note books that I kept scribbling in. We'd only been closed for two days and I had explained to a lot of the people that sometimes dropped by that we were going through a renovation and a change in management.

I sighed and contemplated what I wanted to do with this bakery/café. Sure I had worked as a Starbucks barista for some time back in my old life, but I didn't actually run the place. I doubt knowing how to make microfoam for latte art would help me that much right now.

The Rolling Scones bakery and café seemed like the perfect name, but I couldn't quite figure out what our logo would be. I sketched out a cartoon squirrel rolling on its back holding a scone and decided that it would have to do for now. If I came up with anything better, I could just do that.

Taking a look at the clock I decided sitting here wouldn't do me much good. I locked up the bakery making a note to myself to change the red curved scalloped awning to a cheery yellow. I got into my beetle and sped towards Point Place mall. I'd also have to go to the florist nearby since I really didn't like how the front of the store only had dirt as its décor.

Along the way I had a light bulb go off in my head. I really needed to get better appliances for my bakery considering that some of the kitchen appliances that I had seen back there seemed ancient even for this era. Bob would probably appreciate the business. He wasn't doing that well in comparison to Price Mart.

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I parked in front of our local florist's blue building quickly making my way to what I needed. They had plastic planters that looked like stone ones here and lavender bushes! Inwardly, I cheered. When I entered the store there wasn't a cashier available, but I did manage to find a bunch of hollyhock plants. I grinned and dragged two pots of hollyhocks towards the cashier's counter.

A crayon red, red head came out from the back of the store wiping her hands onto her grey apron. She looked up at me adjusting her glasses slightly making the light reflect against her fancy wedding ring and gave me a dimpled smile, "Hey there. Aren't you one of Red's kid's?"

I let out a slight chuckle, "Sort of. Can I get these two hollyhock pots, those two lavender bushes, and the plastic stone planter thingies?"

She let out a loud laugh nodding, "Sure, sure. I'm Heather Upshaw, by the way." Heather heaved the hollyhock pots up onto the counter soon going to get the other things I had asked for. It didn't take her too long to come back without breaking into sweat at all. I stared at her in slight amazement. She was willowy, but quite strong; it threw me for a second.

I smiled at her while she rung up my purchases, "I'm Lin. It's nice to meet you."

Heather gave me a soft smile, "It's nice to meet such a polite young lady. So your total is $5."

I handed her a five dollar bill and while she took my money and processed my receipt I cleared my throat lightly, "How come all the other prices are so low in comparison to the bakery?"

Heather snorted derisively, "Mrs. Johnson is a sweetheart, but her husband wouldn't know how to price things if his life depended on it. Everything was quadruple the price it should've been even if their sweets were amazing. Do you want me to help you load this into your car?"

I looked through their big glass windows at my beetle and gave her a sheepish smile, "Do you think you could deliver it?"

She looked out towards my car and chuckled lightly, "Sure. Where do you need it?"

I let out a sheepish laugh, "I bought the bakery and thought that it needed some sprucing up, so if you could send it there that would be great."

Heather gave me a bewildered grin, "Are you better priced?"

"Yes ma'am," I nodded resolutely. I wouldn't fall into the same pit falls that the Johnsons had gone through with their bakery.

"As long as I can finally afford some macaroons, the delivery will be on the house," She winked at me, "Save me a box when you open up."

I beamed at her and nodded walking out of her shop, "Thank you Mrs. Upshaw! I certainly will."

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Soon enough I had made my way to Bargain Bob's shop and I saw that they had a big clearance sign plastered across his store windows. Was his store going to close soon?

I walked in and smelled the familiar aroma of clean lemon floors before I wandered over to the kitchen appliances. A couple people wandered in and out muttering about the big price differences between Price Mart and Bargain Bob's. I rolled my eyes at them while I opened up a big Frigidaire fridge. I flipped over its tag and let out a low whistle. Damn. $704 for a Frigidaire fridge.

Bob came around the corner pasting on a bright smile when he saw me, "Oh hey there Lin. Shopping for your kitchen?"

I grinned at him, "Actually, I bought the bakery down by the pet shop near all the other eatterys and I decided it could use some new appliances."

Bob's eyes glimmered in hope, "And you decided to visit old Bob's shop instead of Price Mart?"

My smile softened and I nodded glancing at the new dish washers. Everything in here was kind of pricy, but I did kind of feel bad for him, "Yup. I need that Frigidaire fridge, this dishwasher, five KitchenAid mixers, an expresso machine, and a really good coffee machine."

Bob's brown eyes sparkled and I swear he looked like he was going to start dancing, "Lin, you are the greatest."

"O-Okay? Thank you? I just need it for my bakery," I stuttered, his sincere gratitude for my patronage really freaked me out. I fidgeted and wrung my hands a little, "Do you think you could have it delivered? I'm willing to pay a little extra."

He guided me towards his till merrily humming now and again, "Sure thing, Lin." Under his breath he muttered, "Take that Price Mart."

While he rung me up I shook my head sheepishly smiling. I certainly didn't expect this. Bob finished ringing me up and gave me a nervous smile, "That'll be $1174 along with an extra $10 for delivery."

I smiled at Bob patiently while I wrote him out a cheque, "Is a cheque okay?"

"Absolutely. You're delivery will be there by tomorrow morning," Bob grinned. I think he was a little wary that I didn't have that much cash to pay for everything. He didn't quite know me as well as the Formans or my friends did. Actually the only one that really knew the exact amount I had was me and my financial advisor. Steven still worked under the policy that it was better not to know.

I slid over the cheque to him and he happily put the cheque away handing over my receipt.

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I went back to the bakery and checked my watch. I pouted slightly; I had only burned an hour and a half of time. I grabbed a bistro chair and plopped myself down. I glanced at all the papers that were still in front of me and pulled out a couple sheets of blank paper. I need an action plan for this place. I couldn't just make it pretty and hope for the best.

I started doing some math and I cut down all my bakery prices to about all under $2. Well everything excluding wedding cakes. Those were pricy in this era too. I would be undercutting K-Mart's baked goods without losing any profit at the same time since my expenses per month wouldn't be that bad even in bulk.

I started writing down all the figures. My expenses would be all my ingredients, paying my employees, and the upkeep of this place. I definitely wanted to add more advertising for my bakery every month like an advert out of the newspaper, a billboard, a radio ad, and a short commercial on TV. That would come up to about $26 a month, which didn't seem too bad at all.

Ideally I wanted three workers; one baker, one at the store front or stacking, and one barista to start with. This was because I wanted to give my employees better pay than K-Mart, which would ensure that I would get some employees sooner rather than later. It'd only be 20 cents more than K-Mart, but that was still something; in total my expenses for labor was about $960. I let out a low whistle. That was kind of pricy.

I bit my lower lip and thought about how much everything would cost ingredient wise. I would certainly need ten five pound bags of flour, sugar, five gallons of milk, a shit ton of eggs and a bunch of other stuff. This would all probably only cost me under $70 when I took in the price differences now and in the future.

So in total my monthly expenses came out to $1047.64. I re-checked my math and it came out to the same numbers every time. Damn. Well this meant that I had to drum up enough business to make at least $2047. I bemoaned that number and looked back at the clock. I had least spent 30 minutes on this. My morning seemed to be taking forever.

I looked at my empty shelves and decided that I would make a plan for what I would sell. Mrs. Johnson left me her giant bakery book in thanks for buying their business at its full price. If they had been bought out they, apparently, would've gotten a crummy deal.

I tapped my pencil against my lips and thought about what my menu would look like. I glanced back at the empty wall behind my till. It was only covered by a very large black chalkboard. Those chalk boards reminded me of my days as a Starbucks barista.

Mrs. Johnson only really sold bottled water and hot chocolate here. I would give the people more of a variety especially since I knew how. I would definitely include soda, since almost everyone loved soda. Ohhh… I definitely had to add different blends of tea. Hot chocolate would also be a must along with various types of coffee. Speaking of coffee, I could make frappacinos and lattes! I would probably have to patent them and that led to the stray thought about whether or not this was morally wrong to do. Then again, it wasn't like I was stealing Google.

I stretched my arms out and let out a groan. Sighing I pushed my seat back and forth on its back legs. I flopped down on my chairs hind legs. I could sell chocolate chunk cookies, different kinds of bread and scones, cake pops, quiche pies; and other pies, cakes, crepes, macaroons, cream puffs, cupcakes, crème brulee, egg tarts; and other tarts, cinnamon buns, and so much more baked goods and pastries. The ideas swirled in my head and I grinned.

I jumped out of my chair. Just planning things and sitting here didn't do me any good. I made sure to lock up my bakery and decided to get everything I needed so I would have some stock to sell when I did open. This would work out. Hopefully.

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I decided to continue working on my bakery even after the guys had finished school. They had offered to give me a helping hand. I think they just liked the thought of free doughnuts.

I heard Eric groan about how he ended up killing Donna's cat while they painted one of my walls a bright turquoise color. Fez was outside putting up my new yellow trellis while I continued to bake up a storm. So far I had managed to make a bunch of macaroons, doughnuts, various tarts, cinnamon buns, pizza rolls, brownies, cake pops, a bunch of other baked goods and a shit ton of coffee. Inwardly I reminded myself that I desperately needed to make myself a frappuccino. It was another hot day today.

We already had a couple people come in throughout the day. They had bought a bunch of my stock along with raving about how wonderful frappacinos were. They were city folk mostly, but I was glad that my ads were working in the way that I wanted to. I had a couple locals come in too, and they were happily surprised at the change of prices. So far so good.

The bell above my dark green door rang out and I hurried towards my till. Annette stood in front of me curiously looking around, "Oh. I didn't know you ran this bakery now, Lin."

I wiped my hands and flour covered face with my apron nodding slightly, "Yup. Mrs. Johnson sold it to me. We're currently undergoing renovations right now, as you can see."

Annette gave me a slight smile, "I really like the flowers out in front, and the coffee machine looks neat. Is Michael around?" She looked around for him. Neither Michael nor Donna was here for some reason or another. I think Donna was being forced to do something with her dad this afternoon.

I shrugged, "Nope, the others are, but not Michael. I don't know where he fucked off to. What'd you need Annette?"

Annette sighed sadly and kicked her foot slightly muttering quietly, "Daddy made up his mind so now we're moving to Texas at the end of the next month."

I let out a hissed breath shaking my head, "That's not a lot of time."

She gave me a strained smile, "Yeah."

I rubbed the back of my neck and gave her a patient look, "I'm sorry, Annette, but, really, why are you here?"

Her face brightened a little, "Oh. I felt bad so I wanted to get one of Mrs. Johnson's macaroons."

I looked at the frown lines that were marring her face now and a surge of pity filled me. I picked up a prefilled box of macaroons and slid it towards her, "You know what? I can give you a box on the house."

Annette took the box gratefully, "Really? She always charged me $5 for that."

"Yeah, everything was kind of overpriced here before. I'm totally redoing this place, and just keeping its bones," I let out a loud laugh. "Do you wanna try a frappacinos with whipped cream and chocolate sauce? It's only a dollar for a large cup," I motioned to our drink board with a wave of my hand.

Annette's eyes widened and she rapidly nodded, "I don't know what that is, but it sounds delicious. Thanks Lin."

I nodded smiling slightly, "You're welcome, Annette." I started whipping up her frappuccino at a steady pace. I hadn't realized it, but I had missed being a part of something like Starbucks. Sure it wasn't as vast and I didn't really have employees yet, but it was as close as I could get right now in Point Place; I was content was that.

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We were enjoying a Forman dinner and I melted happily in my seat. I stirred my pineapple chicken and rice together and spooned it into my mouth. I had missed this. Steven grinned behind his glass as he gulped down some soda.

I arched my eyebrow at Eric pushing around my food to and fro, "So you killed Mr. Bonkers?" I had heard him bemoaning the fact that he had run over that poor old cat. I wasn't a cat person myself, but damn.

Eric slumped into his seat letting his utensils clatter onto his plate, "Yeah, I'm goin' to hell." I gave him a consoling look; from what his tone indicated it must've been an accident. I wondered whether I would get the full story out of him later on.

Steven snorted popping a generously sized pineapple chicken bit into his mouth, "Did you tell Donna yet?"

Eric shook his head mournfully putting his half eaten plate away from him, "I felt so guilty. I just I couldn't."

Laurie sneered at him sipping her water delicately, "Is it because you're kinda glad it's dead?" Laurie was still on her crazy diet. I personally thought it would just make her sick at the end of the day. Did she have an eating disorder?

Eric gave Laurie a cross look before curtly stating, "No." He gave us all a hopeful look, "Hey, maybe I don't have to tell her. Maybe she'll just think Mr. Bonkers ran away."

Kitty gave him a strained smile while she sipped on her tea, "That works. That's what we told you when, uh-"

Red let out a harsh at Kitty, "Shh!" He raised his eyebrow at Kitty and she clicked her mouth shut. She shook her head and let out a deep sigh. Ahhh. Eric still didn't know that Red had accidentally squished Eric's pet when we were 13. I certainly wasn't going to go rat Red out.

Eric gave us all a confused look, glancing at each of us momentarily, "What?"

Kitty gently patted Eric's hand; that same strained smile spread across her face, "Eric, honey, eat your pizza rolls." She promptly shoved the pizza rolls towards Eric. Eric politely nodded at his mother and took a single proffered pizza roll. I think the guilt he was feeling was affecting his usually large appetite.

Red rolled his eyes at Eric, "Oh, come on, how hard can this be? You go over there and you say, "Hey, I'm a cat killer. I mur-" "I murdered your cat.""

Kitty chastised Red, "But you try to say it with a straight face." None of us were smiling besides Red. Sure that cat was a little annoying, but it didn't deserve death.

Red hissed out an irritated breath through his teeth while he looked around the table, "What? Am I the only one that sees the humor in this?"

We all quietly nodded. Kitty sent Red a patient look, consolingly saying, "I think you might be, Red."

Red rolled his eyes again and popped some more food into his mouth, "Oh, come on. That thing was always messing in my yard, going through our garbage."

Laurie finished off her water and sneered at Steven, "Now we have Hyde for that."

Steven gazed at Laurie with a disdainful look, "Oh, yeah, Laurie, and what exactly do you do? Oh, that's right, the Packers."

Eric sighed, "Excuse me, dilemma here."

I shook my head slightly, swallowing the last of my dinner. I tilted my head towards Eric, "Eric, this is not a dilemma. You have to tell Donna. Just be gentle and-and maybe take her a nice little gift. I can give you a box of macaroons, on the house, or you could get her a kitten. There's a pet shop right by the bakery."

Eric nodded nibbling on his pizza roll slightly, "I guess I could do that…"

Red let out a guffaw taking a sip of his ice water, "Yeah, like a kitty-sized headstone."

Eric gave his parents a disappointed look, "You know what? I should have known you were lying. Sure, Flipper was fast, but turtles don't just run away."

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Fez tilted his head and stared at the TV screen with a dopey grin, "Hyde, which one's your favorite Charlie's Angel? I kinda like the blonde with the huge rack."

Steven kissed my neck slowly suckling now and again. He glanced at Fez absently muttering, "Yes."

I stifled a laugh and pinched Steven's side. He chortled against my neck and I shook my head. I could feel a smile forming onto his lips. I rolled my eyes and adjusted where I sat to hide his hardened length.

Fez, unaware of Steven's current activities, continued to be glued to the TV screen, "And she distracts the criminals with her huge rack. Plus she's got that huge rack."

I choked out a laugh nodding while Steven continued sucking on my neck now and again, "Yeah." I shook my head, but Steven ignored me for the most part and continued doing what he wanted.

Fez glanced down at his stomach and the cheesy puff bag he was holding. He narrowed his eyes at both, "Ow, my stomach. My cheesy puffy friends have become my enemy." He curled up the bag and threw it at the TV.

Michael walked in threading his hand through his hair. He gave us a morose look, "Man, you guys, I gotta break up with Laurie."

Steven stopped for a moment and rolled his eyes at Michael, "Kelso, remember how you said you were gonna juggle 'em both till it blew up in your face?"

Michael plopped down into his regular lawn chair, "Yeah?" He raised his eyebrows and expectantly looked at Steven.

Steven adjusted me slightly and let out a disgruntled grunt, "Well, kablooie." He waved his hands in an exploding motion and I let my head fall onto his shoulder. I was glad that he had stopped what he was doing. It didn't seem appropriate to do that in the basement while everyone was coming on in around this time. Who knows, who would've seen us.

Michael let out a huff, childishly crossing his arms, "Okay, I know I tried before, right? But this time, Laurie'll see how much I love Annie and that my motives are good and pure, and then she'll just let me go."

I raised my eyebrow shaking my head all the while, "Then you and all the leprechauns can ride unicorns to a wonderful celebration in fairyland."

Michael nodded happily oblivious to my sarcasm, "Look, the Angels are running in slow motion."

Fez grinned happily at the TV along with Michael, "Damn. That's just good TV."

Steven snorted muttering under his breath, "Dumbass."

I nodded and sighed, "Sometimes…."

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Annette marched into the basement tears streaking down her face. Her shoulders and hands shook like miniature earthquakes and her voice wavered, "Eric, I just saw Michael kissing your older sister. He's been cheating on me with that hoe." She shook her head and clenched her eyes before glancing at us.

Eric looked up at her pulling at his shirt collar slightly, "What? Well, surely there must be some kind of mistake." He gazed at us; a panicked look flashed across his face, "Right, guys? Come on." Why was he trying to protect Michael?

I shot Eric a disappointed look and he wilted slightly before giving Annette a nervous smile.

Steven sighed and shook his head at Eric silently. Eric let out a nervous laugh, "Well, it sure is a mindblower."

Annette ignored our lack of reaction, and plopped herself down beside Eric. She sniffled and dabbed her eyes with a hanky, "So, that's it. Michael and I are over."

Fez sat up in his seat, much like how a dog sat up for a treat, "Really? Now, by "over" you mean?" His eyes sparkled and I held back a chortle.

Annette nodded mournfully, "I mean, over and done." She crossed her arms making a failing buzzer sound with her mouth, before hiccupping sadly, "Forever."

Fez nodded speedily scooting closer to the couch, "Uh-huh. Now, by "forever" you mean?"

Steven let out an irritated breath and I patted the hand that was currently lying flat on my stomach, "I know, puddin' pop. I know." Fez really shouldn't entice Annette into a rant. As much as I liked her, well partially any ways, I didn't enjoy her bitching rants. Neither did Steven.

Annette's eyes burned with indignation and she jumped out of her seat heading towards the basement door. She hissed, "Forever and ever. After everything I put up with I mean, God, him taking Pam fucking Macy; my asshole cousin, to the prom, setting my house on fire, AND lying about that hoe bag Laurie! God!" She stomped out of the basement slamming the door behind her. The door shook with the force that she imposed on it and we all let out a sigh. An Annette bitch fest at its finest.

Fez stood up with gusto. He held his hands to his hips much like Superman usually did and announced, "This is incredible. My time has come. Today I will make Annie mine!" He slumped over slightly and cried out, "Aaaayy!" He held onto his side and slowly began to pale.

I slid off of Steven's lap and cast a concerned glance at Fez, holding out my hands slightly, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Eric glanced at Fez standing up along with me. Steven let out a put out sigh and gathered around Fez as well.

He gave us a sheepish smile, sweating profusely, "I don't know. I think my guts are bursting with love."

At this moment we decided Kitty needed to intervene. We dragged Fez off to Kitty and soon we were whisked away to the hospital. She said it was the symptoms of appendicitis, and suddenly I paled. Just the word 'appendicitis' shot a deep pit of dread into my stomach. I hoped that this would go better than my operation.

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Fez sat back in his hospital bed, hooked up with an IV, dressed out in his hospital gown, and doped out of his mind. The T3's certainly did the trick and numbed him of any pain. I waved at him gently and he grinned at me bobbing his head slightly.

I gave him a sheepish smile, "So, Fez, Mrs. Forman says your appendix has to come out. That means you have to go into surgery when there's a free surgeon around." Fez nodded happily swaying now and again.

I sighed and patted his foot slightly. Steven came up behind me encircling me into a loose hug. He winced at Fez, "Man, you must be in tons of pain."

Fez shook his head slowly beaming like a toddler on a bucket full of sugar, "Whee! Cheese puffs out, pain pills in. Fez loves his pills." Fez glanced at his empty pill cup and sighed happily. Yep. Those T3's were effective.

Michael sulked in his chair, "Boy, I wish there was a pill I could take to get rid of my pain. A forget-about-Annie pill. Hell, if they made that pill, I'd take it."

A sneer made its way onto my face and I narrowed my eyes at Michael, "Michael, this is what you get for being a total pig."

Michael sighed quietly completely ignoring me. My left eye twitched slightly and I had the urge to punch his face. Dumbass.

Fez piped in whispering comically, "Want to know a secret? I'm not wearing anything under my dress. Look." He pulled up his gown slightly urging us to look.

Steven held up a hand while his other hand covered my eyes, "Whoa, put that away, man. We don't need to see that." I pried his hand off of my face and gave Steven an irritated look. Steven in turn pecked my lips lightly. I huffed and muttered under my breath, "Kisses won't stop me from being irritated."

Eric let out a tired smile and chipped in, "Fez, we've already seen it once. That alone was enough."

Fez shrugged and happily pulled his blanket over himself. We all sat alone in silence for a while keeping Fez company during until visiting hours were over. He was much too doped up on his pain pills to really break our silence with his brand of comedy.

We all got up and said our various farewells to Fez. Fez held out his hand and called out to us while we exited his room, "By the way, Eric, if your Mom ever says, "Ready for your catheter?" The answer is no."

Eric chuckled and nodded, "Good luck with your surgery, man."

Michael trudged along with us, not bothering to say goodbye to Fez, "I miss Annie."

I hissed at him, my brow furrowing my forehead, "We know!" I flashed Fez a smile, "We'll see you later Fez."

Steven looped his arm around my hips, grazing my bum now and again, "Bye, Fez, man." The door closed and we started making our way back to the hospital carpark.

While we searched for the Cruiser, Michael muttered under his breath, "I miss Annie."

Steven glowered at Michael holding out his fist, "God damn it Kelso, shut the hell up." Michael shook his head slumping while he walked.

Eric gave Michael a pitying look, "I know how you feel man. It just sucks when you try to do the right thing and then she yells at you for killing her cat." I rolled my eyes at his back. What right thing was Michael doing exactly? Making out with other women behind Annette's back? I think not.

Michael looked at him glumly, "Eric, you don't know how lucky you are. I would give anything to be able to tell Annie I killed her cat."

We finally found the Cruiser amongst the sea of cars and Steven snorted, "Nothing's sadder than when two people break up. Except this time when it's funny."

I nodded and shot Michael a curt glare, "And well deserved."

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The evening light waned and I flicked on my back porch lights. I handed each girl a brownie and some warm milk. Annette pouted but thanked me glumly while Donna happily took what I proffered. These giant brownies with caramel and chocolate chunks sold fairly well at the bakery. I took a seat beside Donna happily savoring my own brownie.

Annette took a big bite out of her brownie, swallowing slowly, "Guys, we're supposed to be friends. Would it have killed you guys to say, "I know you love him, but Michael's a jerk"?" She gave us an irritated glance sipping her milk delicately.

I sipped my warm milk feeling it help melt the rest of the brownie in my mouth. I shot Annette a reproaching gaze, "Annette, we did warn you earlier. A couple times I believe, but you brushed us off each time we did that."

Annette pouted sticking out her lower lip further than necessary, "Still though, guys…"

Donna gulped the last of her milk and chewed the last of her brownie. She gave Annette a bewildered look, "Annie, I think my exact words were, "I know you love him, but Michael's a jerk." So, have you seen Kelso since-"

Annette rapidly shook her head, "No. No, he's a liar and a cheater. Maybe that's how all guys are."

I snorted slightly into my milk, careful not to let it go through my nose, "No, Annette. That's just Michael."

Annette nibbled on her brownie reluctantly and stared off into the dark sky, "I guess…"

Donna cast Annette a pitying look, "I know how you feel. Like, it's bad enough what Eric did to Mr. Bonkers then he lied to me."

I rolled my eyes at Donna, taking a huge bite out of my brownie again, "Donna, Eric put off telling you something because he didn't want to hurt you."

Annette whipped her head back at Donna, glowering, "Whoo! That is so much worse than cheating on you with another woman. Oh, wait. No, it's not!"

Donna recoiled slightly, "Oh, well, I guess Eric was just trying to be nice. Maybe I'm overreacting."

"Look, let me tell you something, Donna. Until goody-goody Eric cheats on you with your stupid dead cat I suggest you shut up," Annette's voice had wavered, but the venom rang out in her words.

I sighed and patted Donna's knee. We were certainly in for another Annette bitch fest.

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I was took out another batch of macaroons out of my fridge and placed them with the other cooling pastries on my kitchen island. I really had to get employees soon. Making everything at my house before I got to work tomorrow was taking a toll out on me. Sure I could get Kitty, Donna, and the guys to help, but it would be nice to work at work and relax at home.

Donna sullenly frosted a giant chocolate caramel cupcake, "And then Eric says, "You can come if you want."" She gently set her piping bag onto my kitchen island smearing bright yellow icing onto the counter slightly.

I shook my head wincing slightly while I carefully paced the macaroons into their box, ""If you want?" Ouch." I finished making five extra-large boxes for the macaroons and started manually plastic wrapping the brownies.

She placed the cupcake she was working on in the container that held the others that were finished, "Right? I don't know. I think he's sorta taking me for granted. Maybe I'm just overreacting." She wiped her brow getting a bit of frosting on her forehead.

I snickered inwardly and softly smiled at her, "No, Donna. You're underreacting. I've known you for a long time, and you never usually doubt yourself like this. If you believe he's taking you for granted, then do something about it."

I stacked the finished brownies and checked on the tarts I had baking away in the oven. The egg time ticked away. It said it would be done in another five minutes. I could get the rest this packed up in time with Donna's help. I bet I could even get the tarts all done before the end of today at this rate. I grinned slightly while I continued on packaging my baked goods.

She closed the container and started piling the cinnamon buns into their respective boxes, "I don't know. I'm just worried. I mean, if he's acting like this now imagine what he'll be like if we get, like married or something. Oh, my God, Lin. What am I gonna do?" She turned to me and let out a despairing sigh.

I grabbed a nearby paper towel and shrugged helplessly, "I don't know, Donna. You could just talk to him. Communication usually helps. Also you have a bit of frosting on your forehead."

She looked up trying to see what I was talking about before taking the paper towel, "Thanks. Yeah….Yeah, okay. I'll just do that. Thanks again, Lin." Donna wiped away her forehead and finished packaging the last of our cinnamon buns.

I gently handled the batch of cannolis and slipped them into a basket, "No problem, Red. It's the least I could do with all this help that you're giving me."

Donna cheekily grinned at me boxing up the muffins, "Yeah, you're lucky I love you."

I burst out laughing while I placed a bunch of double chip chocolate cookies into cute yellow paper bags, "Indeed I am."

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I sat in the back office that was available to me in the bakery. It had a very large espresso colored desk and plush white chairs. Mrs. Johnson certainly had good taste in furniture. I crossed my legs and did my best to smile as welcomingly as I could. Some people had finally answered my want ads for employees, and I did notwant to seem like an impossible boss.

I looked down at the brunette woman's resume and hummed. I flipped over her page and read over her references, hours available, and the rate of pay that she was looking for. She even had a reference letter from the principle. Brooke Rockwell…where had I heard that name before? I inwardly shrugged. I'd figure it out later.

I cleared my throat and looked up. She had a bewildered befuddled look glued onto her face as she openly gaped at me. I frowned, "Miss Rockwell? Is everything alright?"

Brooke shook off her confusion and nervously smiled at me, "You look so young."

I let out a snorting laugh letting my head fall back slightly. I managed to gain my composure after laughing for a little while. I grinned at her; she looked like a deer caught in headlights, "I am not offended. I am quite young, but I do own this bakery as a whole I plan to reinvigorate this business. Even if I am young; I am very capable and very much qualified, rest assured. Now Miss Rockwell, it says here that you graduated as the valedictorian with honors two years ago from Point Place High. Why do you want to work here?"

She looked uncomfortable for a moment, wringing her hands now and again. For a moment or so she ducked her head, and an embarrassed smile pulled at her lips, "Well…actually…I sent my job application around everywhere that was hiring in Point Place. You were one of the businesses that were hiring people besides the library, K-Mart, and Price Mart."

I tilted my head, "That's quite an honest answer." I found it a little amusing at how embarrassed she seemed to be. I wondered if this was her first job interview.

Brooke let out a little squeak rapidly waving her hands in front of her, "Not that this place isn't great. I saw all the new prices and new stuff you were selling. It's so great. Plus I heard this was the place where those delicious frappacinos, everyone was drinking, came from..." She trailed off looking at me with a pained smile.

I hummed thoughtfully giving her an approving look, "I see. Well you have wonderful references from what I can tell, a darling reference letter, and it seems like you could really do well here. How are you under pressure?"

She gave me a nervous smile, "I'm pretty great at it actually."

I nodded and noted that down on a blank sheet of paper, "Alright. So you're available five days a week, right? Can you work from 10 am till 6 pm? Those are our new store hours."

She nodded clicking her mouth shut. I think I was making her nervous by writing all this down. I sweat dropped internally.

I cleared my throat and gave her a welcoming smile, "Don't be so nervous Miss Rockwell. You're doing wonderfully. Would you like a job as a cashier here? Our only other openings at The Rolling Scones would be for the barista or a baker."

Brooke cleared her throat and nodded slowly, "Yes please. I don't know what a barista is and I'm shit at baking."

I let out a guffaw scribbling that note onto the piece of paper I was writing on. She was certainly being honest. I liked that in a person. I looked up from what I was writing and cheerily asked, "What would your expected salary be, Miss Rockwell?"

Brooke cracked a small smile, "Well more than what you'd get at FatzoBurger, hopefully. No one would really tell us what they made during the career fair. I do know that the minimum wage right now is $1.80 though, but I don't think that's what they give at that place." She scrunched up her face and let out an irritated huff.

I chortled quietly, "That's what I heard too. Well the pay starts at $2 an hour with the weekends off alternating with me. There a chance for it to increase in case we do really well for a while, otherwise it'll just stay at $2 an hour."

Her eyes widened, "There's a chance for it to increase? Are there any other benefits that come with the job?"

I hummed lightly and made sure to staple her resume onto the file I was making for her, "If The Rolling Scones does as well as I hope it will, I'm hoping to increase everyone's salary to about a dollar more. As for benefits, during your shift you're free to eat and drink whatever as long as you don't give any of it to the customers for free. Now, we do give things on the house to some people should they give us reason to, but you'd have to ask me about that first. Besides that, it all really depends on whether we do well or not. If we do well further along, I'm planning on giving everyone dental, medical, and optical."

Brooke sat stock still and gaped at me. I raised my eyebrow at her and cleared my throat, "Miss Rockwell, are you unwell?"

She clicked her mouth closed and the dazed look in her eyes cleared, "N-No. I'm fine."

I nodded and finished up her file while I took out a couple bank sheets out of my desk and slipped them towards her, "Well then. You're hired. Please take these to your bank so you can get your pay cheque directly deposited into your account. Do you have a bank account?"

Brooke beamed at me; her eyes twinkled with glee, "Yes, uhhh-um…What do I call you exactly?"

I tilted my head slightly while she hastily took the papers from me. Ma'am would be kind of weird since all of my employees were older than me. Then again, I was her boss. Hum. What to do? What to do? I sighed and decided to screw it. I smiled genially at her shrugging slightly, "Ma'am will do; I don't really know what else you could call me."

She nodded and we made our way to the front of the store. I found that there was a lanky Asian standing near the counter with a wildly curly pixie like blonde behind him. They were both holding folders and I nodded to myself. I guess these were the other two that replied to add.

I gave them a short wave, "I'll be right with you two." I was sincerely glad I had closed the store for the time that I was doing these interviews. A couple people brightened up when they saw me letting Brooke out the door.

A little girl approached me staring up at me with her wide green eyes, "Miss?"

I nodded and crouched down to her level, minding the door all the while, "Yes, sweetheart?"

She grinned showing her one missing front tooth, "When will the store open? Mommy said I could get two entire cookies today." She showed me the two pennies that she had clenched in her sweaty little palm.

My lips pulled up making the sides of my eyes crinkle slightly, "How about I give you two cookies on the house today?"

She stared at me with an astonished look, "Really?!"

I gently took her hand while I got up from my position, "Sure. You are adorable, and probably deserve a treat, right?"

Her brown curls bobbed while she nodded rapidly as she skipped along into my shop, she gripped my hand lightly, "Yes, miss. I got a gold star on my cursive!"

I took her to our cookie display and showed off the many cookies that were available at the moment. She fogged up the glass as she smoshed her face closer to the cookies.

I quietly and carefully went around my potential applicants; who were curiously looking at me, towards the cookie display, "Which ones would you like, sweetheart?" Today was looking up so far.

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Annette pushed Michael away from her and shrieked, "Michael, I don't wanna talk to you!" I rolled my eyes at their drama and sighed internally. This was what I was doing on my day off?

Steven gently patted my back and I nuzzled against him. Well at least I could just sort of relax even with Annette and Michael bickering near us. At least they weren't pulling us into this fight.

Michael nodded forlornly and got onto his knees in front of Annette, "No, you're right."

She stared down at him quizzically the suspicious easily reflecting in her face, "Okay?"

Michael slid on a guitar and smirked at her, "Because words don't do it, that's why I wrote this song."

I palmed my face and groaned, "Oh, good God, no." Steven winced while Eric looked on thoroughly amused. Donna flipped through her magazine and did her best to tune Michael out.

Michael belted out his off key tune, "Annie, please take me…Back-ee- I'll get…The knack, see-"

Annette stumbled away from him crying out, "Okay, Michael, stop!"

I gave him a greatly irritated glare, "Michael, please stop." I didn't sign up for ear bleeding music today.

Donna shot Michael a thoroughly put out glance, "Yes, please, Kelso, stop."

Fez got up and shoved Michael away, "I cannot take this anymore. This is how you serenade a woman. Besame… Besame mucho… Como si fuera esta noche. La ltima vez…." Fez had made a quick recovery from his appendectomy and was back hanging out with us a week later. I was very glad he didn't die on the table like I did. He was a bit braver after the aforementioned surgery for some reason though. I couldn't quite figure out why.

Michael stood up to his full height, towering over Fez slightly, "What are you doing?" Fez gulped and glanced at Annette. We all snickered and watched the drama unfold.

Annette peered around Michael and gently asked, "Yeah. What are you doing?"

Fez took a step back and smiled nervously, "Um, this is my school song from back home."

Annette raised her eyebrow at Fez, "Right, Fez." She turned to Michael and glowered, "I don't love you." Sashaying to the basement door she looked over her shoulder, giving us a parting glance, "I have to go home. Bye guys. Michael." With the slight wave she disappeared out of the back door. I shook my head. She was so irritated that she didn't even wait for our reply. Jeeze man.

Steven shrugged and cleared his throat lightly, "Hey, guys…I can't hang out with you guys tomorrow. I'm helping Lin at The Rolling Scones."

Fez shuffled over to us, away from a clearly morose Michael. He grinned at me, "Oh! I'd like to help there as well. There are always hot women that come in for sweets and coffee, now that everything is affordable."

I let out a sheepish laugh at his enthusiasm, "Sure. I'd love some extra help. My new employees are great, but we're getting such an influx of customers lately."

Fez nodded and sagely stated, "It's because of those divine frappuccino things, little goddess."

I tilted my head slightly furrowing my brows, "Huh?" They were already that popular? Damn. I may have underestimated some of my products. This might become a problem later on.

Steven kissed my shoulder and quietly muttered, "Mhmm. It's one of the many things, I don't hate, doll."

I looked over at him and lovingly rubbed his knee. "Damn, puddin' pop. Coming from you, that's a really big compliment," I quietly mumbled nuzzling the side of Steven's head.

He grunted slightly, trying to hide the lopsided smile that tugged at his face. I pecked his lips causing a full blown smile to spread across his face.

Michael paused before he sat down into his lawn chair. He beamed at all of us, "Hey, you guys. Guess what part of my body I nicknamed Pink Floyd."

Eric groaned tugging Donna closer into his side, "Shut up." She complied while she continued reading her magazine.

Michael slumped into his seat and pouted, "Annie would've thought it was cute."

I turned and rolled my eyes at him, "Well, Annette's not here anymore nor does she like you."

Fez looked over at Michael and cleared his throat, "So, Kelso, now that you and Annie are no longer an item…um- I can ask her out, right?"

Michael whipped his head towards Fez. A disconcerted and panicked look engulfed Michael's face, "What? No. Since when do you like Annie?"

Donna let out a loud snort, flipping through her magazine once more, "When hasn't he?"

I shook my head at Michael and gave Fez a patient smile, "Fez, I don't think that's a good idea." Did no one recall that she was moving? Long distance relationships were really hard to maintain in this era, right? I don't think either of them deserved that sort of hardship.

Donna nodded and sighed, "Yeah, Fez, that's a bad idea. Annie's on the rebound right now. Why don't you just give her a break?"

Eric looked taken aback and leaned away from Donna slightly, "What? Since when did you like Annie? All right, does everybody here like Annie now?"

Donna shot Eric an irritated look; one that I mirrored, while Fez sighed dreamily and Michael petulantly pouted.

Steven bonelessly shrugged and stated, "I still don't."

Eric nodded and contently smiled, "Thank you, Hyde." Donna rolled her eyes at Eric and nudged him with her shoulder. He in turn just pecked Donna on the cheek.

I shook my head and let out a calming breath, "Fez, Donna's just saying that Annie's really vulnerable right now."

Fez nodded happily, "Yes. So I must move fast before she gets her self-esteem back."

I raised my eyebrow at him and frowned, "Yeah. No. That's not what I meant at all, Fez."

Michael smugly grinned, puffing his chest out like a peacock, "Can't blame her for being down. After all, I did dump her."

Steven snorted and traced the bit of skin that showed between my drainpipes and shirt, "Actually, she dumped you." I tried to gently swat his hand away to no avail. He chuckled into my neck and continued tracing around my exposed skin.

Michael grimaced looking quite put out, "Hey, I don't like to get into specifics."

Fez jumped up to his feet grabbing a nearby broom, "Oh, go tell it on the mountain. Nothing will stop me from asking Annie on a date. Not even ninjas." He pointed his broom at Michael threateningly.

Michael in turn grabbed a nearby mop, "Stand back! I want Annie, and no one will stop me."

Fez and Michael started to sword fight and I avidly watched with the others. I should've brought some of our caramel popcorn from the store had I known this would happen.

Fez happily declared, "You cannot have Annie. I will disable you with my catlike swiftness."

The boys exchanged blows now and again. Michael let out an angry, "Oh yeah?"

Fez bounced around Michael while they swung their pseudo-swords. The broom and mop clashed now and again as they went back and forth in their 'battle'. Michael stumbled which led to Fez standing above him, the broom poked Michael's chest gently.

Michael groaned pushing away the broom handle at his chest, "Go ahead, Fez. Ask Annie out. She won't go 'cause you're foreign, but go ahead and ask."

Fez beamed down at him, "You're darn right I will, but not right now. I will though, and then she will be mine."

I raised my eyebrow and chortled under my breath. That was certainly more amusing than what was on today.

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I spooned some eggs Benedict into my mouth after carefully piling on hollandaise sauce on. I glanced between Kitty and Laurie silently enjoying their ongoing argument.

Steven wolfed down his maple syrup soaked pancakes one by one while he kept an eye on the goings on at the table. Eric snorted into his orange juice now and again, while Red shook his head at the pointless spat.

Kitty slammed down her utensils and glowered at Laurie, "No, Laurie, I am not giving you $15 for new hot rollers! Straight hair is not the end of the world."

She was constantly hitting Kitty up for money since her job hunting had gone sour. I think it was just because she really did have a bad reputation as the town whore. Not a lot of owners, or their wives, wanted that kind of reputation skulking around their business. She'd probably have better luck outside of point place, or at the shadier places.

Eric slowly swallowed the bacon that he had been chewing and chipped in, "Actually, Mom, Laurie's world is a lot smaller and much more shallow than the average person's."

Laurie sneered at Eric before pleading with Kitty, "Come on, Mom! Curls are important for my self-esteem!"

Steven snorted, "Oh, you know what else might be good for your self-esteem? Not being the town whore."

Before Laurie could reply, Red cleared his throat, "Kitty, remember that little French restaurant downtown?"

Kitty perked up and grinned at Red hopefully, "The Vineyard?"

Red smirked, finishing off the rest of his breakfast, "The one and only. I made reservations for tonight Forman, party of two."

An indulgent loving look softened Kitty's face, "Well, now, this is so spontaneous of you, Red. You haven't been reading my Cosmo, have you?"

Red shook his head and sipped his coffee, smiling slightly, "Nope. We'll get all dressed up. You can even wear my mother's necklace."

Kitty's previously happy looked melted off her face. A strained smile pulled at her lips, and she nervously stated, "Oh. The necklace." Red nodded gulping down the rest of his coffee after glanced at his watch.

Steven pecked my cheek before he nudged Eric, "Come on, Eric. We're gonna be late for school." I was glad I had hired Mabel, Leo, and Brooke. They were good competent workers, which meant I could trust them to look after the store now and again when I wanted to fuck off. And I certainly wanted to fuck off today. The last couple days at The Rolling Scones were terribly busy. I think the ads had worked a little too well. Oh well. This meant that everyone would get a raise and all those benefits sooner than I had expected.

Steven winked at me before happily smiling, "Bye, doll. Bye Mrs. Forman, Red. Laurie."

I inwardly rolled my eyes at her, while I beamed at the boys, "Bye, puddin' pop. Bye Eric."

Eric mussed up my hair while they walked around the table towards the door, "Bye, Lin. Bye, Mom. Bye Dad. Laurie."

Kitty smiled lightly and waved, "Bye, you two."

Laurie sneered at the two of them pushing around her uneaten breakfast. She really needed to eat more. At this rate she was going to be all sticks and skin. I didn't feel like it was my place in any case, especially since I wasn't fond of her to begin with.

Red nodded at the boys, "Bye boys." Red hurriedly glanced at his watch again before letting out a tired sigh, "I gotta head to the shop now too. Can't have the boss come after his employees, right? Bye honey. Bye girls."

Once all the men had left the table, Kitty let out a morose groan, "Oh, this is awful." She let her head fall into her hands while she leaned her elbows against the table.

Laurie rolled her eyes at her mother, "Come on, Mom. French food's not that bad. Just order pommes frites. They're French fries, you know?"

Kitty let out a patient breath before lowering her hands, "No, honey, the necklace."

I tilted my head and finished off the rest of my breakfast. I took a long sip of orange juice, "What happened to the necklace, Mrs. Forman?"

She gave me a nervous smile, "Ohh…I don't have it anymore." She wrung her napkin in her hands and stared off into space.

My eyebrows almost rose up to my hairline; a slight gasp escaped my mouth, "Really?"

Laurie's eyes glimmered with mischief as she leaned in towards Kitty, "What'd you do with it?"

Kitty snapped back to reality giving Laurie a hard look, "Nothing. I said nothing."

Laurie gleefully asked, "Mom, did you gamble the necklace away?" What, was she going to blackmail her mother? I shot Laurie a disgusted look, which she brushed off. I seriously wondered about the mental state of that one, sometimes.

Kitty ground her teeth and hissed, "Okay, stop it, Laurie. Or I'll tell your father that you haven't really being looking for a job."

"Bye!" Laurie eyes were wide when she bolted out of the door.

"Mrs. Forman?" I tentatively placed my hand against Kitty's shoulder. I recalled a time when I had to pawn some of my family jewelry to get some groceries, pay the bills or pay rent. It felt terrible, beyond that actually. It was as if, after the deed was done, I got punched repeatedly in the stomach. It was like I couldn't breathe because I was drowning in guilt. The jewelry itself was worth a lot monetarily, of course, but it was priceless when it came to sentimentality.

Kitty picked up on my thoughts and gently smiled my way, "Oh Lin, sweetie, don't look so guilty. This was before you were helping us…We didn't have enough money to pay the mortgage or for groceries and I hadn't yet gotten my job back. It was horrible. I may have not liked that old bat, bless her soul, but it was gift. This is my entire fault." Gifts really meant a lot more than what was presented to the individual in this family. It was one of the many reasons why I enjoyed being a part of their unit.

I gently squeezed her shoulder, cautiously asking, "Did you pawn it, Mrs. Forman?" I certainly didn't want to offend her by insinuating that she may have done what I had to do in my past life.

She let out a choked dry sob, "Yes, but it was so long ago, and I couldn't possibly afford to get it back. She might've been a cantankerous coot, but she had great taste in jewelry."

I nodded and got up from my chair. Stretching out slightly I offered my input, "We could always check, right? Not a lot of people buy the really expensive stuff at shady Jim's pawn shop."

"Do you think it'll still be there?" Hope shined brightly in Kitty's eyes while she asked this, and I didn't have the heart to tell her no.

I nervously smiled and shrugged, "It wouldn't hurt to look."

A determined fire sparked in Kitty while she dragged me towards her Toyota, the dirty dishes on the table completely forgotten, "Alright, Lin. You and me are going on another one of our adventures." This was certainly going to be an interesting adventure.

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We drove in her Toyota and parked beside a dirty brown bricked building with a short black sign saying 'Jim's Pawn Emporium'. His store really should have said Shady Jim's Pawn Hut. It was rumored that you could buy an AK-47 here without any sort of documentation. If that didn't say shady, I didn't know what did.

I hopped out of the car and Kitty held my hand gripping it slightly. I think this place just made her jittery. We opened the door and walked into a junk filled store piled high in dangerous looking stacks. The only thing that really looked clean were the glass cases and the black laminate floor.

Jim looked at us up and down from his seat by the register, before lazily asking, "Welcome to Jim's Pawn Emporium, how may I help you?" He turned back to his comic flipping a page now and again. The shadows in the store obscured his face slightly.

I cleared my throat, "Do you still have the diamond tennis necklace that Mrs. Forman pawned a while back?" My hands shook at my sides and while Jim stood at his full height; a whopping 6'6", I thought I might just pee myself. He always intimidated everyone in town, and I was experiencing firsthand experience why.

Kitty pulled me closer to her as she gave Jim a warning look, "Mr. Vansen."

Jim nodded and shuffled over to a securely locked glass case near the cash register, "Mrs. Forman." He turned the knobs and pulled out a glimmering tennis necklace, "It never sold to the folks that frequent my establishment; still as you pawned it, just a bit dusty."

Kitty traced the necklace with her eyes, letting out a sigh of relief, "How much is it?" She gently gripped my hand in hers. I looked up and tried to decipher the expression on Jim's face, but his face was still partially obscured.

He turned over the necklace slightly unfurling a price tag, "Still $500; the same that I gave to you when you pawned it." I internally winced for Kitty. $500 during this era was like $2000 in the future. This was one of the main reasons why I never complained when daddy dearest sent his monthly stipend; it was certainly much more than enough, although I knew that would stop sooner than later. That looming thought, was one of the many reasons as to why I took up the bakery/café.

Kitty bit her lower lip and glanced at the price tag. I tilted my head and peeked at Kitty, "Mrs. Forman?"

She turned her heat towards me sighing all the while. A strained smile tugged at her face, again, "Yes, dear?"

I was very grateful that we had been doing so God damn well since we opened up. I silently thanked God repeatedly for all the customers and their newfound love of frappacinos and lattes, "I can get it for you, if it'll help."

A guilty look gleamed in her eyes and she paused before she could protest. Kitty let out a shuddering breath, her voice wobbled slightly, "If you could, but I-I really can't ask you to do that. You've done more than enough for us."

I nodded and slipped out my cheque book, "It's alright, Mrs. Forman. I like helping." She let out a tearful laugh while Jim let out an entirely too deep chuckle. A shiver raced up my spine as Kitty clung to me. Besides, if we could get out of here faster, I would pay for two of these necklaces if I had to.

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We all sat around the DIY fire pit in my backyard. Steven pulled me onto his lap causing me to let out a quiet laughing shriek. He grinned and passed me a speared marshmallow. I kissed him in thanks before I settled in to his lap.

Fez walked into my backyard looking thoroughly disappointed. Michael rushed out of his seat, quickly getting into Fez's face, "So what happened? Did you kiss her? Cause I'll kill you if you kissed her." He shook his fist as menacingly as he could.

Fez pushed past Michael sitting on the stump seat, we had recently procured, "Oh, no, I didn't want to kiss her. I wanted to give her a napkin. There was not a moment when she did not have a face full of food. I was disgusted."

I passed Fez a speared marshmallow, "Oh Fez. She's just upset." Fez took the speared marshmallow gratefully.

Michael beamed returning back to his seat, "Really? Hey. All's forgiven, buddy." The stars twinkled brightly against the early evening sky. We roasted marshmallows in relative peace and quiet before Eric stomped into my backyard looking like someone had pissed in his Oreos.

Eric threw himself onto a nearby seat, shaking his head when I offered him a speared marshmallow, "Okay, what did Laurie say about me?"

Steven carefully made his smore deftly avoiding scalding my bare skin. He rolled his eyes at Eric before shoving some of his warm treat into his mouth, "I'm telling you, man. She didn't say anything." I passed Steven the glass of water I was balancing between my legs; he took it gratefully. I nibbled on my golden marshmallow happily.

Eric grunted and leaned back in his seat, "Uh-huh. Right. Because, I mean, that's what Laurie's known for, not saying bitchy things."

Fez snorted into his marshmallow hissing slightly. I think it may have burned his tongue. I blindly reached into the cooler beside me and managed to grab something. I threw the mystery soda towards Fez, "Catch!"

Fez turned to me instinctively catching the projectile, "Thanks, little goddess."

I nodded smiling slightly while I got back to my marshmallow. I nibbled onto its warm crunchy exterior, savoring the hot marshmallow goo that came out. I tilted my head back towards Steven, "Hey, Steven. What did Laurie say about Eric?"

Steven smirked finishing up the rest of his smore, and muttered, I'll tell you at home, doll. It's so bad. Funny, but bad." Huh. I wondered if this happened while I was hanging out with Kitty.

Michael bounced in his seat, carefully avoiding burning his marshmallow, "Oh! I want to know too."

Steven rolled his eyes at Michael and dismissively waved a hand at him, "Okay. I'll tell you too Kelso, just not right now."

Eric gave Steven a shark eyed stare before deadpanning, "You got nothing."

Steven let out a distracted laugh, "Huh? Yeah, I got nothing."

Eric threw up his hands and tightened his jaw, "Okay, fine. I don't care. She told you about summer camp, right?"

I winced and shook my head before letting out a slight warning tone, "Uhhh…Eric." As far as I had known, no one but Kitty, Red, me, Laurie, and Eric knew about that. It was one of the few things that Laurie never really brought up. In turn, we never really questioned her reasons as to why she didn't.

Eric shook his head at me before heatedly staring at Steven, "No, Lin. See Hyde, it's fine. They called me Dr. Pee-Pee. I couldn't sleep on the top bunk, and I was 10. So you know, who cares? I'm Dr. Pee-Pee."

I finished off my marshmallow, burning my tongue slightly. I stole the glass of water back from Steven. I took a gulp of ice water, but my tongue still felt sore. I let out an exhausted sigh, "Oh Eric no."

Eric let his head flop onto the back of his seat, "Lin, the damage has already been done. Damn Laurie." He shook his fisted hand up at the sky, as if his fury would travel to wherever she was right now.

Michael let out a childish laugh, "Dr. Pee-Pee! You are so Dr. Pee-Pee!"

Fez snickered and muttered under his breath, "Dr. Pee-Pee."

Eric growled at Michael when it didn't seem as though he would ever quit, "Oh, really Big Chief Brown Bottom?"

Michael promptly clicked his mouth shut before mumbling, "I'm sorry. Sorry, man. Sorry."

Eric rolled his eyes and covered his face with one arm, "Just shut up."

I shook my head while Steven brushed his face beside my ear, "That wasn't what Laurie told me."

A choked laugh escaped my mouth and I tried to cover it up with a slight cough. Luckily it seemed as though no one had noticed. I leaned back against Steven's chest and giggled quietly. The secret was out, but it was definitely more Eric's fault than Laurie's this time.

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We were all watching morning cartoons in the Forman's living room peacefully for once. That is, until Eric came stomping in; still in his pajamas. His nostrils flared while he glared at Laurie, " Okay, Laurie. I know what you told Hyde."

Laurie yawned stretching in her skimpy nightgown, "What are you talking about, loser?" Michael appreciated the slight bit of skin that showed up while she stretched. Fez resolutely kept his eyes on the TV, only stealing glances at Laurie's scantily clad form now and again.

Eric stood toe to toe with her, growling, "The camp story, Dr. Pee-Pee. You're dead."

"What's going on?" I let out a big yawn letting my head flop down onto Steven's shoulder. He clicked off the TV and Fez whined.

Steven smirked at us and shook his head motioning to Eric and Laurie, "Shh. Pretend it's TV." I shrugged and nodded, nuzzling my face into his shoulder. Why were we here so early again?

Fez nodded and intently looked at the drama that was unfolding in front of us, "Okay."

Eric hissed at her, "I know some pretty horrible things about you too, harpy." He turned to us with a snake oil salesman smile, "Fellas and lady, Laurie here waxes her lips, legs, eyebrows, toes and shoulder blades."

My eyes widened slightly, "Shoulder blades?" She grew hair there? That's weird.

Laurie snapped into focus at what was going on, shaking off her sleep addled face. She sneered at Eric before smugly stating, "In the fifth grade, Eric sent away for the Charles Atlas kit 'cause a girl kicked sand in his face."

Eric venomously stated, "You stuffed in high school."

Laurie haughtily quipped, "So did you."

Eric rolled his eyes before snorting, "Last year, Laurie used all of her birthday money to buy a back massager which isn't fooling anyone, by the way."

Laurie placed her hands onto her hips, "Well, that's not as bad as when I walked in on you in bed with your Dorothy Hamill poster, and you were all –"

"Laurie was born with a tail!" Eric blurted out, cutting off whatever Laurie was going to say.

I almost choked onto my spit; I coughed out, "What?"

Steven pounded on my back lightly; making sure I wasn't choking to death. He raised his eyebrow at Eric, "Seriously?"

Michael paled and quietly muttered, "Damn."

Fez covered his hand with his mouth, his eyebrows were half way up his forehead, "Oh my."

Eric triumphantly grinned, "Yeah! Laurie was born with a tail!"

"I hate you!" Laurie cried out, as she ran off towards her room downstairs. I gazed at the spot that she had previously occupied and let out a deep sigh. Why couldn't mornings here ever be peaceful?

Eric took a seat beside me and Steven smugly stating, "It's true."

Michael gave Eric a frightened look, "So what you're saying is…is- I slept with the devil?"

Eric rolled his eyes at Michael, "Exactly, I told you so before. And you thought I was joking."

Michael listlessly muttered, "She told me it was a birthmark."

Steven snorted, "It is a birthmark. A birthmark from where they cut off her devil tail." I shook my head while Fez looked out into space. I idly wondered if this meant that she was some sort of omen in his culture.

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We were hanging out at Annette's house for once, which made me feel an odd sense of relief and sadness. I knew I was relieved that they didn't ask to have whatever girl talk they wanted at where I worked or in my sanctuary, but at the same time…I don't know. It was a churning feeling. I think it might have been that new hot dog from the HUB.

Annette's bed was covered in empty wrappers, pie tins, and various food packaging. We brushed some aside before we started all talking about whatever it was that they wanted to talk about. I didn't usually initiate these girl talks if I didn't have to.

Annette spooned another pie chunk into her mouth, "Then after I finished putting all my pictures of Michael in my special Michael box I realized that I'm so totally over him. I'll get a clean slate when I go to Texas."

I raised my eyebrow at her, scrunching my nose slightly, "You liar. Look at yourself. You'll flatten Texas when you get there."

Annette huffed, choosing to ignore my remark while she stuffed more pie into her gaping maw. Pie piece after pie piece disappeared into Annette and I couldn't help, but feel slightly disgusted. I liked eating as well, but this felt like she was punishing herself with food.

Donna cleared her throat and patiently stated, "Annie if you keep stuffing your face like this, you're gonna get-"

Annette hissed at Donna, waving her spoon threateningly in the air, "Don't you dare say it, you bitch."

Donna looked affronted before yelling at Annette, "Fat! You're gonna get FAT."

I yanked away the blueberry pie that she was currently trying to engulf. Annette reached for the pie, but I promptly shoved it away from her. I really hoped that it didn't stain her bedroom carpet. Annette tried to dig her spoon into the pie, "No. No. No. I've almost finished my fifth pie and I'm still completely over Michael."

I sighed and let my guard down for a moment, "No. Stop it Annette. I'm glad you love my pies, but seriously, quit it."

She took that moment to swipe another bite of pie, "Mmm. Blueberry! Hmm. I'm feeling kind of weird. Oh, no! What's happening to me?" Annette then promptly vomited into her nearby waste bin. I was eternally glad for that waste bin. That would've been one mess; I really didn't want to clean.

Donna cried out, "Oh, my God!" Annette wiped her chapped lips with her sweatshirt, and Donna gently lifted Annette away from where she just hurled.

I chucked the rest of her pie into her vomit ridden waste bin, "No more pie for you."

Annette protested weakly, "Oh, no –"

I helped Donna guide Annette out of her room and down to her yard, "Okay, let's go, Annette."

Annette pouted slightly digging her heels into the floor, "No."

I shot her an irritated look as we yanked her along with us, "Yes! Suck it up, Annie." She really needed to stop struggling.

She let out a strangled groan, "My, God, Donna. Lin. I'm scared. I have to control myself." Soon enough she revealed that she had hidden a piece of jerky in her bra.

We paused by her kitchen and I held out my hand, "Then let's start by you handing me the jerky. You just vomited. You don't need any more food right now."

Annette stumbled out of our hold and held the jerky to her chest, "Back off, you midget! Look, I just need more time."

My eyebrow twitched as I ground my teeth, "Okay, you slapping my hand when I tried to take your jerky is something a fat girl would do." Damn woman called me a midget. A midget…If she wasn't already moving, I'd find a way to get my vengeance on her.

Donna walked over and shook Annette slightly, "Calm down, Annie. And give us the God damn jerky."

Annette let out a dry sob and I tried to gently pry the jerky away from her. In the most maternal voice I could muster, I patiently asked, "Look, I'll get you some chicken soup and we'll take care of you a little okay?"

Annette looked at me with wide eyes, "Really?"

Donna nodded resolutely gently yanking at the jerky, "Yeah, just give us the jerky."

Annette conceded and released the jerky, "Okay." At least we were getting somewhere.

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The following day flashed by and soon I was crunching numbers for the bakery. With the profit that we earned this month, I could easily hire more people along with pushing up the salary of my employees. By selling the frappacinos/lattes at a $1 each I was making about $12,000 and that was with all my expenses taken out. I looked up now and again listening to Donna's voyeur story.

I winced when she got to the part where the cops spotted them, "So the cops caught you doing it? Oh, my God. I would die from the embarrassment." I shook my head. Steven and I didn't really participate in that kind of stuff, to be fair though; we didn't have to.

Donna slouched in her seat across from me and rested her head on my dining table. Forlornly looking at me, she groaned, "Lin, I have a big problem. How am I gonna tell my parents?"

I nodded scribbling down the numbers that would equate to my worker's raised wages. I paused briefly, "Okay. Your first mistake was wearing pants for car sex. When you do it in the car, skirts are your best friend. Zip, zip, bim, bam. You're done, you're dressed, and you're back to wherever you were before. Easy. How you tell your parents….umm…That one's a bit of a pickle."

Donna grumbled covering her head with her hands, "Lin, I'm so screwed. If I tell my parents, only one of two things could happen. They'll either be furious, or they'll ask me how it was."

I scribbled down a couple more numbers tabulating the rising expenses we would need to keep our consumers happy. I tilted my head slightly and chuckled, "The latter doesn't seem so bad."

"What?!" Donna's head popped up and she looked at me with a clearly bewildered and offended expression. Her fingers gently scraped across my table.

I rolled my eyes at her finishing up my calculations, "Would you rather them be furious instead of curious?"

Donna's ire slowly melted off her face, "Well…no…That would still be embarrassing though." A slight flush cover her cheeks as she gazed off into space.

I put down my pen and gave her an encouraging smile, "It's better than being grounded till you're an old crone, right?" Her parents were certainly more lax in comparison to Kitty and Red.

"I guess…." Donna nodded with a slightly glazed look in her eyes before she let her head thunk down onto my dining table again.

I got up with my papers in hand and patted her shoulder consolingly, "Things will work out." These little dramas about whether or not you had sex when you were younger didn't remain as dramas when people got older. Lots of things felt like they were bigger and more important than they really were when people are young. I felt that I was lucky to know that even if it meant that I had to give up something in return.

Donna looked up at me and muttered, "How do you know?"

I shrugged, unwilling to tell her how I knew, "I don't. I just have faith that it will."

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I hesitantly knocked onto Kitty and Red's bedroom door. My fresh scones wafted a comforting scent up to my nostrils, and I managed to maintain some sense of calm. After not getting a response I cautiously creaked open her door, "As soon as I heard you were down, Mrs. Forman I had to come and see you because I know the blues. I brought you some caramel scones."

Peeking into their room, I saw Kitty bundled up in her comforter in the middle of her bed. Upon closer inspection, there were tear tracks on her cheeks, her complexion was unusually pale, and now and again she'd sniffle morosely.

"Awe…Lin thank you, sweetie," Kitty wiped away a couple tears that escaped down her cheeks. She gently took the box of scones from me while I took a seat down beside her.

Red quietly entered after me, "So, Kitty think maybe, uh, it's time to get up?"

Kitty took out a scone biting into it happily. She shot Red a peevish look, "No."

Red looked taken aback, before he suddenly drew himself up, "Okay. You know what? Kitty, you gotta shape up. I can't believe that you're all surprised that your 17-year-old is doing what 17-year-olds do. Big deal! Now get the hell outta bed and buck up!"

Kitty put down her scone and suddenly burst into tears. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder while she continued to sob.

Red came closer holding his hands up in front of him slightly. His voice softened, as did his eyes, "Oh no. Oh, geez, honey. I'm sorry."

Kitty looked up at him and wailed, "Get out Red Forman!" Red promptly did as his wife asked and bolted out of the room.

Kitty kept sobbing for a good long while and I stayed by her side giving her the little comfort I could. I nervously smiled at her and quietly asked, "Mrs. Forman?"

"Yes, sweetheart?" Kitty loudly blew her nose into a tissue before chucking it into a nearby trash bin. She picked up her scone again and picked at it sadly.

I tilted my head and cleared my throat slightly, "Do you want juice or water with your scones?"

Kitty nodded taking a small bite out of the scone, "Yes, dear." She gave me a tight side hug, muttering, "At least I have you, honey."

I gently disengaged from her hug, "Uhh. I'll get you some water." I really didn't know what to do when they acted like this. I mean, yes. It's normal to get upset, but this seemed a little much. As quickly as I could, I high tailed it out of the room down towards the kitchen.

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I popped into the kitchen and grabbed the nearest clean glass that I could. Hurrying along I noted that Eric and Red were here griping about their current situation. I carefully took out the ice cold water pitcher from the fridge and slowly poured some water into my glass.

Red paced in the middle of the kitchen and shot Eric a dirty look, "Boy, oh, boy. I tell ya, Eric. You take the cake."

Eric perked up from his seat at the kitchen table, "Oh, man, there's cake?" I rolled my eyes. There was cake at my place.

"There's no cake," The unheard dumbass was clearly indicated in Red's tone. I snickered inwardly at that phrase. The cake is a lie. I finished filling up the glass and idled; I wanted to know where this would go exactly.

Red cast him a gimlet glare, "We're all starving to death, and it's all your fault. You broke your mother's heart. She's up there crying about how you're all grown up and you don't need her anymore, but that that's not true."

"Oh, I know that," Eric let out a frustrated groan, pulling at his hair now and again.

"You're a helpless idiot," Red gave Eric an irritated and slightly disappointed look.

Eric nodded and the gears in his head ground away, "Okay. I could pretend to be sick."

Red raised his eyebrow, "No, that- Wait a minute. That might work. She mothered the heck out of you when you broke your leg that time."

Eric beamed as a light bulb lit up in his head, "Right. I could say I have a fever." I shook my head. Did he forget that Kitty was a nurse? She could probably tell if he faked a fever.

"Or, better yet, we could go out to the garage I hit you in the elbow with a baseball bat," A calculating gleam entered Red's eyes while he glanced at the garage from their back kitchen door.

Eric rapidly shook his head grabbing a nearby dishcloth as he made his way to the sink, "I'm gonna stick with the fever." He ruffled my hair when he passed me and I scowled at him slightly.

Red took a seat at the kitchen table, finally pausing in his pacing, "You wanna go through life doing everything half-assed, that's your decision, Son."

Eric soaked his dishcloth in hot water, making sure to ring it thoroughly before placing it onto his forehead, "Okay."

I glanced at Red and cleared my throat carefully, "Mr. Forman, I could always whip you guys something up after I give Mrs. Forman some water?"

"Could you, sweetheart?" A hopeful look crossed Red's face and I could hear their stomachs grumbling slightly. I guess I was going to have lunch at the Forman's today. Brooke and the others would have to get on by without me today.

"Sure, Mr. Forman," I nodded while Eric and I started heading out and up to where Kitty was hiding out.

Red called out, "Thank you, Lin." I threw a smile over my shoulder him as we continued onwards.

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I placed Kitty's glass of ice water on her bed side table while Eric shuffled over to his mother. He looked up at her with wide eyes and flushed cheeks before pulling out his lower lip, "I'm really sick Mommy. And I don't have anyone to take care of me."

I took to leaning against one of the nearby walls and shook my head slightly. This was starting out pretty hilariously especially with that 'are you fucking stupid look' Kitty was giving Eric. I doubt Eric noticed it though, since he still kept his charade going.

Eric stood there expectantly and Kitty shrugged. She slid out of bed dusting off the scone crumbs as she went. She felt Eric's forehead and stated, "Well, you do feel a little warm."

"Right, 'cause I'm sick," Eric coughed pitifully into his hand and threw in a slight whine.

Kitty smacked his shoulder, "Or you stuck a hot towel on your head, Eric."

Eric genuinely frowned and sighed, "Fine, I'm not sick. I just I didn't want you to be mad anymore, Mom."

Kitty gave me a thankful nod while she took a gulp of ice water. Her shoulders sagged and her expression crumpled slightly when she addressed Eric, "Oh, honey, I'm not mad. I'm just horribly, horribly depressed."

Eric gave his mom a hug gently stating, "Look, Mom I'm not all grown up, and I do still need you for stuff."

Kitty shook her head against his chest, "Oh, you do not."

Eric stepped back and gave her a solemn look, "Sure, I do."

"Really? For what? List it," A disbelieving look colored her face while she crossed her arms across her chest.

Eric ticked off his fingers, "I need you to love me. I don't know how to cook or really take care of myself yet. But, most importantly, I need you to I really need you to get out of bed because Dad's been making my life extra miserable.

Kitty sat back down onto her bed and let out a deep breath, "Well, okay. That one I buy."

"So, are we okay now?" Hope spurred through Eric's face while he stared down at his mom.

Kitty looked up at him shaking her head mournfully, "Oh, honey. Not at all, right now. Maybe later on… I still need to process all of this. I just I don't like you growing up and I don't like it. But I-I guess it's just something I'm gonna have to get used to."

Eric pouted pleading with his mom, "You know what, Mom? I'm always gonna need you because chances are Dad's gonna be riding my ass for the rest of my life."

Kitty nodded and slipped back under her covers, "Yeah. You really do rub him the wrong way, honey. I'm still not cooking tonight." She shoved a scone into her mouth and shook her head at Eric's dismayed face.

I chipped in, "It's okay Mrs. Forman. I can do that tonight." Eric and Red really needed to know how to cook. What if Mrs. Forman got sick or if Steven and I weren't in town? Who would feed them then?

Eric beamed at me while Kitty gave me a grateful smile, "Awe Lin. Thank you."

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Kitty came into the kitchen while we were all munching on the waffles I had made this morning. I had wondered where Kitty was when Eric barged into my home at 6 am begging for food. Steven was still shooting him a death glare, now and again.

Kitty saw our curious looks and gave us a strained smile, "There's an emergency at the hospital, and they're really short-staffed. I'm sorry. I'm not gonna make it to church today."

Laurie cheered taking a sip of her pineapple smoothie, "Alright! No church."

Red put down his newspaper, a twinkle in his eyes, "Hey, we can all watch the Brewers game."

Steven nodded tracing heart patterns onto my bare thigh, "Sounds great." I shook my head and traced a heart onto Steven's knee. There would be time for that later on today. After church. And work.

Eric grinned stuffing his waffles into his mouth, "Cool!"

"Lin'll cook us up a couple of hot dogs," Red threw me a hopeful look. He was much better when it came to grilling though.

I shrugged bonelessly, "Sure." I didn't really mind, but it wouldn't be as great in comparison to grilled hot dogs.

Kitty shook her forefinger at us, "No Brewers, no hot dogs, and no nice day. You're gonna make sure these kids get to church. No buts, no whining, just go. We can all head out together. So hop to it."

We all got up, grumbling different things under our breaths respectively, while we walked out of the door together. I wondered if the others were going to manage to escape going to church. I knew that Steven was going to take my Sunday shift at the bakery since I usually didn't miss church, and he didn't mind. Between the two of us, I was more religious; just not that vocal about it. That was something that I was brought up with and carried into this life; religion was a personal choice and not something to be pushed onto others.

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I entered into the HUB diner after church, and made my way towards the pinball machine at the back. I raised my eyebrow at Eric and crossed my arms, "So, Eric, why'd you ditch me at church?"

He looked up flashing me a sheepish smile, while he continued playing pinball with Michael, "Uh, cause it's not my thing? Lin. You like going to church, but I do not." He scored a point causing Michael to whine.

I rolled my eyes at him and pouted, "I like the singing, okay. And besides, I don't like crowds and I still go. So why'd you ditch?"

Eric shrugged scoring yet another point, "Now that I'm not a virgin anymore there's really nothing left to pray for?"

"That's a poor excuse. Your mom's going to catch you eventually," I shook my head and nudged his shoulder.

Eric tilted his head and pursed his lips, "Yup, but not right now. That's future Eric's problem."

Michael leaned away from the pinball machine and griped, "Hey. My life sucks. Ever since Annie left, I'm no good at pinball."

I rolled my eyes at Michael and deadpanned, "You were never good at pinball."

Eric leaned against the pinball machine and ticked off his fingers, "Let's look at the bright side of not having Annie. First, no Annie. Second, now you can do all the things that you could never do when you were with her, man, which was, at last count, everything."

Michael perked up and beamed at Eric, "Oh, man. You're right. You know, Annie never ever wanted me to, like, cheat on her or-or grow a beard. And I always wanted to, and now I can let this grow out."

I raised my eyebrow at Michael, "Michael, cheating and beards have no correlation."

Michael looked at me blankly, "I don't know what that means."

I threw up my hands, "Oh whatever."

Fez, who had been quietly watching our exchange, stroked his bare chin, "May I grow one too?" Was that not allowed in his country? We would have to get that out of him one day.

Michael shot him an uncomfortable look, "I don't know, Fez. The two of us growing beards together- Isn't that kind of girlie?"

Fez shrugged, "Well, I just figure the more, the hairier."

I let out a breath through my teeth and muttered, "Oh, I'm surrounded by idiots."

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A week quickly passed on by with Eric, Red and Laurie skipping church. I had to undergo worried and questioning grandmothers about where they were every Sunday. It certainly soured my usually happy church days. It was Friday afternoon, which only meant that I might have to deal with all that hubbub again this weekend. For once, I wasn't looking forward to church.

It was almost 6 pm which meant that business had died down somewhat, now that people knew that was when we closed; no exceptions.

The bell that was attached to my store door jangled when Michael and Fez entered. He sauntered up to the till while I handed a customer their change, "Come back again!" The young lady smiled and waved at me slightly while she left with her frappuccino and cinnamon bun.

He beamed at us, "So, guys? Huh? What do you think of the beard? Yeah, it's not bad after one week, huh?"

Brooke looked up from clearing and cleaning one of the bistro tables, "I think it's stupid. You look like a hobo."

He glanced at Brooke, flushing slightly, before declaring, "Well, you're crazy."

Leo Young, our resident baker, popped his head through the door wiping his hands against his flour covered apron, "You look like a hobo."

Mabel Quinn, our resident barista, tip toed glancing at over the coffee machine at him, before letting out a trilling laugh, "A really dirty hobo, Kelso." Her bouncy bushy blond hair shook while she laughed.

Steven swept up around the store and caught a glance of Michael's beard, "Kelso, man, that doesn't look right."

Michael huffed and crossed his arms, "Yeah, well, I like it. I think it looks rugged."

I got a better look at Michael's beard, before I deadpanned, "Michael it looks stupid. It's not growing in right. It's all patchy." I made my way to the door and flipped our sign and turned off our glowing open light.

Brooke cleaned up the other tables, smirking at Michael, "Poor Patchy."

"All right, I don't have to take this," Michael then proceeded to huffily make his way towards the exit.

Steven came over to where I was standing and wrapped his arm around my waist. He mockingly called out to Michael, "Aw. Now we made Patchy upset."

Leo snickered, boxing up the couple pastries that we had left over from today, "Bye, Patchy."

Mabel wiggled her fingers at Michael while she made us some frappuccinos, "So long, Patchy." At the end of every work day we all took home a frappuccino each along with whatever pastries were left over.

I emptied the register with Steven's help and found that Fez was looking at his reflection against our window, "Oh wow, Fez, that's a nice beard."

Fez turned and glanced at me beaming, "It will be once it really comes in."

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I was treating Annette and Donna to a girl's day out because The Rolling Scones was doing so well, and it was Annette's last day here. Annette decided that she wanted to eat at the HUB for some reason. I couldn't fathom why. I was more expecting her to pick The Vineyard or something else that was sort of fancy.

Annette sighed as Michael walked towards the HUB, "Here comes Michael. Isn't he gorgeous?" So this was why she wanted to have a table by the doors. I rolled my eyes and slid the fries to Donna. She smiled at me and munched on a couple fries.

Donna rolled her eyes at Annette, offering her a French fry at the same time, "Annie, no. He's a horrible two timing, two faced dillhole." Annette distractedly took the French fry into her hand absently nibbling on it now and again.

"Annette, sweetie, he's a deplorable human being that lied and cheated on you, remember? That's not a person you want to take back. He needs to grow up. You can't spend your last day here pining over an ass hat," I sipped on my root beer float and gave her a patient smile.

Annette nodded eating the rest of her French fry, "Good, good... You guys keep saying stuff like that so that I don't throw myself at him."

I rolled my eyes and dipped a French fry into my root beer float before popping it into my mouth, "Gee, I'll try."

Donna had a shark like grin spread across her face, "Okay. That sounds fun." I shook my head at her. Whatever, we said to Michael, really didn't affect him enough to make him change. Something big would have to happen in order for him to really grow at this point.

Michael entered the HUB and paused for a moment at our table, sheepishly smiling, "Oh. Umm…Hey, Annie. Donna. Lin."

Annette fluttered her eye lashes, "Hey, Michael."

Donna pipped in happily, "You submental, two-timing dog."

I sighed and nodded at Michael, "Hey, Michael." Michael still had that horrendously patchy beard on his face.

"So where are you off to?" Annette widened her eyes and nervously smiled at Michael.

Donna added, "You lying, cheating, dirt bag jerk."

Michael warily looked at Donna's gleeful face while he gave Annette a hesitant smile, "Well, I'm just gonna go over to the Hub, grow my beard, you know."

A strained smile tugged at Annette's face, "Well, that's neat."

Donna raised her eyebrow at Michael, "So they allow scum-wads in there who lie to their girlfriends and cheat on them and break their hearts?"

"Uh I guess so, yeah," Michael then shuffled away nervously from our table. Annette's eyes were glued onto his figure and Donna happily dug into the fries again. I shook my head in dismay at Annette's pining. I really hoped the rest of this day didn't involve stalking Michael.

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I waited by the door in my Sunday best happily smiling. Kitty had told me earlier that she was going to drag the rest of the Formans kicking and screaming to church today. I was glad. I didn't know what changed her mind, but I was still very happy about it. I don't know how much more I could take when it came to those questioning old ladies.

Kitty yanked Eric and Laurie towards the door. Eric whined tugging his tie away from his throat, "Mom! Wait a second. Wait!"

Laurie squirmed, dressed in one of the few wholesome dresses she owned, "Hey! I thought you said it was our choice."

Kitty got them to stand near the door. She glared at them and growled, "Well, when you choose to go, it'll be your choice. You need church! Period. No ands, ifs, or buts."

Eric pouted, continually tugging at his tie, "Mom, why are you doing this?"

Kitty dusted off her dress, straightening her cardigan, "I do not have to have a reason. It's the right thing to do and I am your mother. So move it. Now."

Laurie wilted and complained glumly, "But it's not fair."

Eric glanced back at Red, who was lounging on the cough, "Why do we have to go to church? I mean, Dad doesn't go."

"Aha! Aha, aha, aha, aha! Come on, everybody. The Formans are going to church," Kitty gave Red a hard glare and shuffled everyone out of the house.

While we made our way towards the Toyota Red sent Eric a gimlet glare, "You had to throw me under the bus with you, didn't ya? Well, nice goin', Eric."

Laurie scowled at Eric, "Yeah, nice going. Now I have to wear this stupid bra."

Eric sighed and sent me a pathetic look, "God hates me."

I shrugged and smugly smiled, "I told you, that she'd catch you guys."

Eric leaned on me slightly while we went towards Kitty's car. I thought church was going to be great this Sunday.

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AN: This chapter turned out to be much more than just 50 pages when all was said and done, which explains why it took me so long. The map is slow going since I didn't quite think about how hard it would be to trace everything in paint.

If ya'll have any questions about the characters or the story don't hesitate to ask. I'm only happy to answer in the next chapter after. I really do like explaining their world ever since I've expanded on it. This piece has certainly refueled my love for writing.

These reviews are amazing and they really helped me mold my story so far.

As a reviewer thank you, not including the omake, I have made some pictures to go along with the story.

: / / jjoas. deviantart art dot com / Lin-sscrapbook- 539881479? ga_submit_new = 10%253A1434400438 is the link.

Just make sure that there aren't any spaces. Otherwise just look me up on deviant art dot com with my same user name and it should be there.

Ya'll are great and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Successful crochet scarves for all! c:

AmethystSiri: Thank you for this amazing review. I have taken out those forced reminders in the previous chapter, and I hope that the story reads more smoothly now. I wanted to show that she worries about those silly things, like you said. When I thought about it further, I realized that she already worries enough about other things that aren't her looks.

I am very grateful that you love this story. I am very fond of it as well.

I will actually be including a couple scenes in this chapter with Lin getting some alone time away from the main characters.

She doesn't do charity work besides donating money or getting roped into bake sales by Kitty. She doesn't quite like the big crowds of people, much like Steven, whenever they do have a charity.

She did indeed get a degree in business, and you'll see what she does with it in this chapter.

TwilightEclps: Thank you very much for your review. There will be an omake in the next chapter about how Steven fell in love with Lin, and it'll be in Steven's point of view.

Fool'sTutor: Thank you for your awesome review! You are very welcome; we have about 15 more chapters to go including the omake so there are definitely more chapters in the future.