Thanks everyone for your wonderful reviews! I love them all! ^^ Here's chapter three – only one more to go!

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Dark, gray clouds rolling forth over a sullen blue sky. Being reflected into a equally sullen pair of blue eyes.

It was raining, but he didn't care. Seated on the hood of his car, he cared for nothing. It had happened again, and he'd stood there and let it. Had he had some backbone he would have spoken up, but he knew that wasn't the way it worked.

What did this make? Number three? Three people who were supposed to love you, who were supposed to care, and then, who just left. He knew she would still be there, physically, but she had told him everything he needed to know when she had called Kelso her boyfriend.

She had confirmed what he thought it would be from the start – a summer fling. What else was there to be expected from two teenagers spending their days together in boredom? Then, he had suddenly seen a glimpse of light, a chance that it would be more. And his head had told him to leave, to get out as quickly as possible, no strings attached. But he couldn't. For some unknown reason, he couldn't allow that to happen.

She was passionate about the things she loved, and he thought that perhaps he could fit in somewhere among those things? If it meant sharing place with shopping and unicorns, he would still think it worth it all. And it had been, for the short time they had been together it had been. But he knew it would end, he only didn't know how. Now he knew, and it hadn't ended on his terms.

Steven Hyde was not supposed to be happy, it seemed. He was supposed to wake up every day thinking 'if only's'. Somewhere fate had wrongly intervened and made him happy for a summer. But then it'd discovered its mistake, and corrected it. And Steven Hyde was once again miserable. As it was meant to be. As it would always be.

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The raindrops wouldn't stop falling. Neither, it seemed, would her tears. The puddle was growing, the water way past her ankles. Her shoes were ruined, but she didn't move. Perhaps she thought she deserved this, perhaps this was her way of punishing herself. She didn't know. She didn't know anything anymore.

She had been debating with herself. Perhaps this was her subconscious way of telling her she was still in love with Michael. Perhaps.. she had thought it over, but she couldn't grasp it. The thought of her future with Michael Kelso wasn't clear. It was faded, and when she tried to grab it, it shied away from her.

Her future with Steven she could see, and the thought of it scared her. She would be poor, sitting in an apartment somewhere, pregnant with her second child while her first one wasn't out of diapers yet. But she would be happy. And the small flat would be filled with love and caring and..

He was gentle with her. Even back when she was still dating Michael, he was surprisingly gentle. Always saying things to get her miffed, but when she needed comfort, a shoulder to cry on, he would be there. Always. It had been often, she realized. Several times a month, she would come to him, and he would complain, and she would cry. And somehow he always managed to cheer her up.

This was only the second time she'd cried since Michael left. It was unusual for her to go such a long time without getting upset. Maybe it was because Michael hadn't been there.. She wondered what would happen now, when she couldn't run to Steven anymore. What would she do? What possible future--

She blinked, quickly wiping the tears from her eyes. No. Suddenly she understood. She hadn't ruined their future together, she had made it possible. The black cloud haunting her was gone, and the eyes were fading. Closure. It was over, her and Michael, it was finished. For a second she felt feather light, and the rain seemed to lighten as well.

And not caring that her coat would be ruined, or that her hair would be soaked, she set out to find love and happiness. And she just hoped she'd reach him in time.

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