Title: Aftershock (2/?)

Notes: Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to continue this story.  I won't be able to fix everything right away, but I do know how it's going to end.  (Might need to up the rating eventually…. )

For those who wanted to know; spoilers came from forums4fans.

~*~

She listened as the sound of his footsteps faded away.  She had to give him some credit, he stayed a lot longer than she expected.  Using the backs of her hands she wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks and hopped off of the bathroom counter top.  There was a soft knock at the door and her heart started to race at the thought of Steven coming back.

"You OK?"

Jackie sighed at the sound of Donnas voice.  "Is he gone?" she wanted to sound as angry as possible, but didn't think she was quite pulling it off.

"Watched him walk out the door myself."  Donna paused. "for what it's worth, he looked pretty upset."

"Good.  As long as he's doing it somewhere else." She muttered to herself. "Serves him right." 

"Uhh, Jackie?"

"Yesss?"

"Are you gonna come out of the bathroom any time soon?"

Jackie looked around as if taking in her surroundings for the first time.  How long had she been in here?  With a short laugh she flicked the latch and opened the door just enough to stick her head out and get a good look of the hallway. 

Donna was confused. "What are you doing?"

"Just making sure."

"Whatever." Donna smiled and shook her head in amusement.  "Are you Ok?" she asked.

Jackie looked away. "Sure, for getting my heart ripped out and stomped on.  Again."  She looked back at Donna and gave her a bright smile that didn't reach her eyes. "But I did give myself a manicure.  It would have worked better if you had this seasons colors.  You know you really should look at a fashion magazine every once in a while Donna."  She wiggled ten newly painted fingers for emphasis.

They stared at each other for a few awkward moments.

"If you leave the doorway, I'll make you something to eat."  Donna said, noticing that Jackie wasn't going to move from her hideaway without some prodding.

Jackie gave her an 'ewww' look, "You know that your cooking is not a good incentive, right?"

Donna grabbed her arm and pulled her from the doorway. "I'll make you a sandwich then, Ok?"

"Fine, but just remember that food poisoning will put a damper on an already crappy day."  Jackie said as she followed Donna down the hallway.

~*~ 

Jackie watched from her place at the kitchen table as Donna rummaged through the fridge, trying to put together an edible dinner.  Several minutes later Donna placed a plate with a peanut butter sandwich, pickle and something that might have been potato salad in front of Jackie.  "Voila."  She said with a flourish.

 Jackie stared at the plate as a wave of nausea washed over her.  "Thanks Donna."  She smiled weakly as she forced herself to take a bite of the sandwich.  After carefully chewing and swallowing she pushed the plate away from her, indicating she was done.

"Jackie, when was the last time you ate?"  Donna asked

"I don't know…yesterday or the day before, maybe."  She lied, knowing exactly when.  It was Before. A quick supper at the burger place before she went to the hotel to look for Steven.  "It doesn't want to stay down, so why bother?"

She looked up and saw the shock and concern in her friends' eyes. "Some tea would be nice though."  She finished lamely.

"Donna?"  Jackie asked, absentmindedly stirring her tea. "Has he done this before?"  Her eyes never leaving the swirling liquid.

"Jackie…" Donna said, reaching over the kitchen table to still her hand.

"But you'd know, right?  I mean, he'd tell Eric and then Eric would tell you.  I'm not asking for names and places..." she trailed off.

"Jackie, I don't think there are any names or places to tell."

"Really?" Jackie looked up at Donna, her eyes hopeful.

"Really."

"You must think I'm such a moron." Off of Donnas confused look she continued. "To let this happen again.  I should have known better, read the signs." She paused. "What do you think it is about me that only attracts looser guys?"

Donna stuck her hand up, "One looser guy and one unconfirmed looser."

"Funny Donna."

"You've had a long day, why don't you go lie down for a bit.  I'm sure everything will be clearer in the morning."

Jackie didn't think it would be any better, but it defiantly couldn't get any worse, so she grudgingly let Donna lead her to the guest room.  

~*~

"Jackie, I said lie down for a bit, not hole up in bed for the next two days!"  Donna was shocked at the state of the room.  The blinds were drawn, blocking the afternoon sun and only a single bedside lamp gave light to the room.  Jackie was sitting up in bed, still in pyjamas and making an attempt to stop crying.

"I don't think it's fair Donna, he can go and screw around with who ever he wants and I'm left broken hearted and alone."

"I think you're losing a little perspective here, Jackie."

She looked at the pile of crumpled tissues that surrounded her. "huh?" she mumbled.

"Jackie…I think you're starting to blow this out of proportion.  I know that Hyde hurt you and you have every right to be angry and upset with him.  But you have to remember that it was a one-time thing.  You seem to have gotten it into your head that for ten months he's done nothing but run around and cheat on you."  Donna said as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"Donna, are you defending him?"  Jackie asked in disbelief.

"I'm not defending what he did, but I don't want to see you throw this away either."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Jackie put up her hand for emphasis.  "You always said we were icky and unnatural, when did you change your mind?"

Donna smiled. "As much as I don't want to admit it, you guys are good together.  You…balance each other out."  Jackie pondered the thought for a while.  "So what should I do now, oh great one?"

"Honestly?"

Jackie shook her head in affirmative.

"I think you need to take some time for yourself and think about if you want to get back into a relationship right away.  Because, I don't know if you realize this, you two have some trust issues that will need to be straightened out."

"Wait a minute, trust issues?"

"Yes trust issues.  Jackie, the whole reason this started was because Hyde thought you would run back to Kelso.  I don't think he ever really believed you were over him.  And can you honestly tell me that if you were with Hyde right now, you wouldn't be wondering if he was seeing someone else?"

Jackie couldn't deny it.  The thought of him with other girls had been eating away at her for days.  She had thought back to all of the times they were apart and wondered if he had some girl waiting for him, laughing the whole time at what a fool she was.  Hell, seconds before Donna walked through the door she had concocted an elaborate fantasy of Steven and his mystery nurse.

"When did you get so smart?"

Donna reached over and gave her a quick hug.  "You'll give it some time?  Maybe start getting out of your room, work your way up to leaving the house for a few minutes?"

Jackie laughed and wiped a stray tear from her eye. "I'll try, but baby steps, you know?"

"Baby steps it is then."  Donna ruffled her hair, got up off the bed and started for the door.

"Donna?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"No problem." Donna said as she closed the door behind her.

~*~

Baby steps it was.  Not quite ready to face the world, Jackie spent the next days puttering around the house, pleased that she had made it out of bed.  By the end of the week she was sitting at the kitchen table with Eric and Donna, laughing at the stories Eric was telling.  She had told Donna she couldn't face the rest of the gang, not yet.  She didn't know if she could handle the look of pity that she was sure she was going to get.  And the thought of stepping foot into the Foreman's home was enough to give her a panic attack.

After two more weeks she was confident that catching sight of a random curly haired man was not going to throw her into a tailspin.  Unlike that time at the pizza parlour, when she turned away and ran out, convinced she had seen Steven.  She wasn't ready to see him, and she sure as hell didn't want to see who he was spending his free time with.  Only twenty minutes and the combined efforts of Eric and Donna persuaded her that it just some guy trying to enjoy his dinner.

"Are you sure you don't want to come to the Hub with us?  It'll just be me and Eric, I promise."  Donna asked as she shrugged into her jacket.

"No thanks."  Jackie said from her spot on the couch, she was dressed in a well-worn sweatshirt and pants, clunky socks and hair pulled into a messy ponytail.  "I had a good day today.  I think alone might not be so bad tonight."  She looked up from her magazine and smiled.  "Really, I'll be fine.  Go, have fun.  And say hi to Eric for me."

After Donna left, Jackie listened to the sound of the empty house, realizing this was the first time in two weeks that she was by herself.  She congratulated herself on this small step and returned to her magazine, bypassing the bolded '10 signs that he's the one' article.  Where was that a month ago?  Instead, she settled on finding out if the day in the life of a supermodel was as glamorous as she thought.

She was almost finished the second in her stack of magazines when the phone started to ring.  She eyed it warily, torn between not wanting to talk to anyone and a responsibility to Donna and her Dad for taking her in.  Deciding that if someone was calling on a Saturday night it wasn't that important, she ignored the phone.

After the tenth ring she accepted whoever was on the other end was not going to hang up.  With a little apprehension she picked up the receiver, "Hello?"

"Finally! I didn't think you were ever going to pick up."  Donna's voice could be heard over the din of the hub.  "We're done eating and thought a movie would be fun, do you want to come along?"

"Oh…I don't think so Donna." Jackie said, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling that had started to creep into her stomach.

" Come on Jackie, just to get out of the house.  We'll come by and pick you up, and as soon as the movies over we'll drop you off."

The thought of being in a room full of people, even in the dark was enough to cause her breathing to accelerate and her palms to get sweaty. "Nah, I'll pass thanks."

"How about if we let you pick the movie?"

Jackie rolled her eyes. "God you can be pushy."

"Then you'll go?"

"No Donna, I won't."

"But –" Jackie laughed and cut her off. "Goodbye Donna!"

Seconds later the phone started ringing again,  "Donna, I mean it, I'm not going to the movies with you."  She smiled into the phone.

"Jackie?"

Her eyes grew wide as she recognized the voice on the other end of the line.

"…Steven?"