A/N The last chapter wasn't my favorite, but the whole birth certificate changes did happen somewhat to a family member to mine, though the his 'dad' wasn't like Bud and has stayed in his life. Having been born in the 70s I may use some of life experiences here. I am still trying to decide on a baby name. And I think of writing some of Donna with her mom, she might learn a lot more about her parents, maybe more than some would ever want to, but this is going to take from the cannon of the show. Still working it all out the details in my head.

Chapter 19

That night back in what was not considered Jackie's room, Jackie was sound asleep, they had a huge dinner this time all Eric's favorites. Michael and Fez came over along with WB and Angie. Michael talked about how he wanted to get his own place because Brook was talking about moving back to Point Place, she had decided that she didn't want to raise Betsey in the city. Fez seemed quiet on the issue and even Jackie said something when they were getting in bed. They figured he was upset about losing Michael, they seemed unnaturally attached. Despite how easy he fell asleep the night before holding Jackie tonight his brain could not shut off, he couldn't help but think how he had been lied to his whole life, he had been Hyde he had lived most of his life believing that was who he was. Almost as if carrying that name his destiny was written out for him. He thought of the conversation with Red on his 18th birthday, that was the destiny he figured he had before him. Or the scenario he gave Jackie after he got his SAT scores, he kept secret that he didn't fall asleep during the test and scored higher than he told everyone else, but he struggled on the math portion, yea he passed math unlike Eric, but still wasn't his best subject. And here he was running a record store, yea he needed Jackie in so many ways, he needed her by his side in the record store and just life in general. She hadn't said anything but he had a feeling she didn't want to go to his room in the basement, so them growing old in the basement together wasn't happening either. Had he known sooner he wasn't a Hyde what would his life had been like, what would he think of himself? He thought back over the years all the times Jackie had come to him for comfort, the Veterans' Day date when she told him he was worthy of love. Truth was being the son of Bud and Edna Hyde he never felt like he was anything, and Jackie could do so much better. Even after finding out he wasn't Bud's he still carried the scars from Bud around, scars that he kept picking at himself and reopening. Scars that he used to push Jackie away and doubt his love for her.

He figured he wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon so he got up and headed down stairs, he didn't want to wake anyone else in the house and knew there wasn't anything on tv, so he sat down in Red's chair in the living room to think. He would never find out why Edna never told him the truth those first 17 years of his life didn't make any sense to him. Why did he forgive Bud so easily and move in with him the last time he was here? Yea after the Christmas party he tried to be more of father, but he never was, he did the father role after the Christmas party for a day, it wasn't long after that he left with Edna that last time. He felt that maybe they got what they deserved that night, after the way they treated him. His mind was reeling and he wasn't sure what to do to stop it, a few weeks ago he would be lighting a joint and empting a bottle of Jack, but that wasn't what he needed after the effects where over he still would have the same problems, then he heard light footsteps coming down the steps, he looked up to see the woman he wished could have been his mom, the woman that treated him like a son since that first day he walked Eric home from school.

"Is Jackie OK?" He knew if something was wrong Kitty would come get him.

"No she seems to be fast asleep, I noticed you missing and thought I would check on you"

"I couldn't sleep, too many questions that can never get answered, too many what ifs going through my head, how things could have been different if I knew that Bud wasn't my real father years ago, and I have gone by Hyde all these years and the truth that wasn't my real name to begin with. Who am I really?"

"Steven you have known for over a year about WB, and Jackie any I and even Red have been trying to tell you for years you are more than what you think you are. I know you have questions that you will never get answered, you can't look backwards, it is time to move forward, you can't change your past you can only learn from it and move on. I remember Red when we first got married, he never would talk about what he saw in Korea, and in truth while he is proud of his service he still won't talk about it. He had awful nightmares, he finally told me he hated what he saw and wished he could forget, he let me in and let me help him. As you boys grew up and it seemed like Vietnam was never going to end he worried that you boys was going to have to be sent over there and he would never admit it to you boys but he never wanted you to experience what he had."

"You know Eric told me once right around the time we had to sign up for selective service he was surprised Red never pushed for him to follow his military service. I was wondered why he never suggested it to me"

"You boys have been lucky, maybe you will never have to be called up in a draft, Leo has even talked to Red about his service, and well that is probably why Leo is the way he is now, I am sure many wonder where their lives would be if they never had to serve, just like you wonder what your life would have been like to not have Bud in your life and maybe even have WB there from the beginning, we never can know what are lives could be like without the things that have happened to us, some of the things may scar us. But in reality all we have is the present and the future. You have a family, you have 3 parents that love you and want the world for you, you have a brother and a sister and you have Jackie and that baby. Try to think about what you have in your present and not what you had in your past, and let that lead to your bright and wonderful future." Kitty got up from her where she had been sitting on the couch and walked over to Steven who also stood up, before she was able to grab him in a hug he had grabbed her, "I love you Steven, you have always been a good boy, now be a good man, we are proud of you"

"I love you too, mom" He gave her a kiss on the cheek "I think I can go to sleep now"

The both walked upstairs, as he walked into Jackie's room and got back into the covers and pulled her close, he felt Jackie stir, "Where have you been?"

"Just downstairs thinking, didn't want to wake you"

"I woke up a little bit ago, the baby started to move and I noticed you wasn't here"

He reached down and rubbed her belly to feel his son kick and move around.

Jackie turned around to look at him, "Are you OK?"

"I am now, I realized I can't change my past but I have the present and the future right here" he pulled her to his chest where she wrapped her arm around him and laid with her head on his chest, he wrapped both his arms around here and took note, he was holding his future right there, Jackie and the baby, he had almost let it slip through his arms, but this time he was going to hold tight and not let who he thought he was in the past dictate his future anymore. He was going to try his best to see himself the way Jackie saw him. That night his dreams were filled of what could be in the future.

They woke the next morning in the same position they had fallen asleep "Morning Doll"

"Morning Puddin"

"Do you have any plans today?"

"No not really, what are you doing today?"

"Well I need to open the store, and talk to Randy about Donna, and then I am hoping he can run the store for the rest of the day, then I hoped you could come with WB and me to look at a few places"

Sitting up in bed Jackie looked at Steven, "what places?"

"Well I figure I am not going to be some burnout living in someone else's basement the rest of my life, WB said he would help me find a place. Plus I need to get to the DMV, I was going to talk to Fez last night, but he seemed to have other things on his mind, I need to get my drivers license fixed this week."

"Why don't I go over and talk to Fez and see what is going on with him while you go to the record store and then I'll meet you there around lunchtime?"

"Should you be driving? Maybe I could drop you off and then Fez or Michael could drive you Grooves?"

"Yea that could work, Fez usually goes in late on Tuesdays anyways, and if anything Eric could drive me around"

Jackie had called Fez before they left to make sure he was going to be home, and told her she wanted to hang out some while Steven was at work. So after breakfast Steven drove her over to Fez's, Michael had already left for work so it would be just the two of them. Steven walked her to the apartment, mainly to remind the pervert to behave while Jackie was there. He wanted to check on his friend too, that was so unusually quiet last night.

Fez met them at the door and let them both in, "Hey Hy-Steven, I thought you had to work?" calling him Steven instead of Hyde was going to take some work.

"I do but I wanted to make sure Jackie got here OK and to remind you to keep you perviness down." He winked at him to make sure he knew he was being light hearted with the last comment.

"I'll take care of her and return her to you at lunchtime before I go into work"

"I trust you, see you later" He gave Jackie a kiss before he walked out the door.

"Fezzy is something wrong? We couldn't help but notice how quiet you was yesterday?"

"Well with all the changes I was thinking about going back home, even if just for a visit, but I got a call last week that might have changed all that"

"You are not going back for good are you? After everything to become a citizen here?"

"No its not that, and I haven't told anyone and I need to talk to someone, but I have to trust you to not tell the Foremans, Red is just starting to like me and I don't want the news to give him another heart attack"

"Is this about Laurie?" the only thing she could think of that would cause Red to possibly have another heart attack.

Fez sat down in the chair beside the couch, "Yes, no one I think realizes that she left without signing the divorce papers. And I couldn't bring myself to do so without her, for one I was scared if I filed for divorce that they would take away my citizenship, and two I really did care for Laurie, the night we got married we had a lot of fun, even a few times after"

"Fez that girl went on your honeymoon without you, and God knows how many times she cheated on you." She couldn't believe anyone would ever have feelings for Laurie Foreman, she knew Michael only liked her because she was easy and even when he started to have feelings for her was when he found that she was cheating on him. "So is that it, you guys are still married and so you can't leave?"

"Well there is more, she is in a rehab place in Chicago, the hospital there called me, she almost overdosed last week, as her husband I'm listed as her next of kin. I went down there and she told me she was thankful she had me, she didn't want Red and Kitty to see her like she was. I am going to go down and visit once a week, she was so scared when she realized how close she came to death and she didn't want her life to be like it had been. She said she was raised to be better than what she was. I don't know if our marriage will really work, but right now she needs a friend"

"I guess now I can understand why you have been so quiet, especially around Red and Kitty, that is a big secret. I know they haven't really even talked about her in a long time. I think they are worried about what has happened to her."

"Well Laurie said she wants to make sure she is clean before she comes home, so she has 3 months in the rehab and then I'll bring her back. I know that Kitty said something about Laurie at Thanksgiving and I talked to Laurie last night on the phone, she is going to call home Christmas and let them know she is alive and hopes to see them soon. But now I can't go home when I need to be here for Laurie"

"Wow" That was all she could think of, and then she was thinking about Steven and the road of drinking and getting high that he had been on, what if he tried something else and overdosed, or had gotten behind the wheel and crashed like Bud and Edna? She shuttered to think. Then she remembered she needed to talk to Fez for Steven, "Do you know anyone still working at the DMV?"

"Nina is still working there, why?"

"Well really the only thing that Steven needs to get changed is his driver's license and probably the title of the El Camino to show Steven Barnett. He hates having to explain his situation with everyone and well if you could help with talking to Nina, or even maybe I could for him"

"Well if we leave now we could stop by and maybe she won't be busy and we could both talk to her"

At Grooves, Steven had a steady stream of customers, and tried to explain to Leo to call him Steven and not Hyde, that he found out that was never his name. He wasn't sure if it got through to him. When Randy showed up they went into the office, they both sat down and Steven told Randy about Donna from the little bully he had to protect Eric from when they first met, to his own crush on the red head and the relationship with Eric, the first break up, Casey Kelso to finally leaving with Michael to California the summer before their senior year.

"So let me get this straight, Eric wouldn't take her back right away so she runs away to California not alone with but with what should be her best friend's boyfriend?" Randy interrupted Steven.

"Yea pretty much" he couldn't help but smile, without Donna and Michael around Jackie and he was able to start something they both had pushing back.

"How could Jackie forgive her for that, wasn't she a cheerleader, I thought those girls were number one at holding grudges and ruining anyone that crossed them?"

Steven couldn't help but laugh, yea Jackie was a cheerleader and she tried to play the part, but that really wasn't her, she was loyal even to those that didn't deserve her loyalty. "Well it helped that while they were gone Jackie and I hooked up, and we didn't let anyone break us up when they came back, even when they tried"

"They tried to break you up, as in more than just Michael her ex? What business was it of anyone else?"

"Exactly, honestly that was just the start of Donna changing, even when she got back together with Eric" He told her of having to talk to Jackie in a non-demeaning way to get her to live with her. Of the changes that took place in her after the non-wedding. And how when he came back from Vegas and the stripper wife showed up, she didn't check on Jackie, she hadn't checked on Jackie even when she came back herself from Chicago, she in fact befriended the stripper over the girl that had her back for years.

"OK, now I am glad she took off, I thought she was a feminist? I've dated several in the past and some made it there place to protest outside of strip joints, did Sam still strip when she came here?"

"yea she kept it up, I couldn't care less what she did, and in the end it was a sham of a marriage, she was after money. Tried to serve me with divorce papers asking for alimony, I had already found out she was married to someone else. I had been conned and almost lost Jackie for good over a lie. She was more worried over Sam when Red kicked her out than she was over Jackie who was heartbroken and had been trying to tell me she was pregnant."

"That is why Red got so mad at her, I thought she was being a little cruel Saturday, but I didn't know Jackie that well"

"Understand this, Jackie has always been Red's favorite, the only reason he didn't kill me over what I did to Jackie was because he hoped I would come to my senses and be there for Jackie and the baby, and I had for the most part other than a misunderstanding. This weekend has been real eye opening for me, I found out I was never a Hyde, and that my mom had given me the last name of Barnett, but then lied to me for years. It's a twisted story, but back to Donna. Bob knew he needed to get her out, and away from everyone, he hopes her mother than help her. If she comes back remains to be seen. She should have at least contacted you, but then she never returned any of Eric's letters or answer his phone calls when he was in Africa, that and how she was acting is why he wrote and broke up with her."

"Sounds like I might have dodged a bullet there with her"

"yea I know I did years ago myself. I am going to be out the rest of the day if that is OK with you. Jackie and WB are going to be by and we have some things to do. I think Angie my sister will be here and will help out, but her knowledge of music is very limited, worse than Jackie's, but she can ring up customers and such. And she can close up tonight. Jackie and I will both be in tomorrow most of the day."

"No problem, not like I have a girl or anything to spend my time with outside of work now"

They walked and Randy went to help Leo at the register and Steven took a seat in the listening pit, his memories were flooded to the times that Jackie would help him close up, and then the time they would spend in the listening pit long after closing the doors. Still lost in memories, he didn't hear Jackie and Fez enter until he looked up and she was standing right in front of him. She had seen him as soon as they came through the door, he looked lost in thought and didn't move or look up as she walked up to him. "Steven are you alright?"

He looked up at the most gorgeous eyes and reached up and pulled her into his lap, "Sorry just remembering you helping close up at nights, just the two of us the record player going"

"Yea that is some good memories to get lost in" she smiled at him.

"Well would you like to help me close tomorrow, I guess we may need to keep a better eye on the clock if I am paying you" forgetting that the store was still opened they got lost in each other until they heard WB.

"Hey lets go see if we can find you guys somewhere a little more private for that."

Jackie jumped off Steven's lap and Steven stood up with her. "Sorry about that dad, forgot for a moment that where we were"

"Well I Angie is going to help out here, I have already got a few places lined up to look at today"

The trio walked out of Grooves, Steven wasn't even thinking of the houses they were going to look at, he was thinking of closing the store tomorrow with Jackie.