Chapter Twelve



Eric's POV



I drove after Donna, driving completely on instinct. And my instincts told me that Donna wouldn't go back to the hotel. I drove up to the Water Tower and I found Donna's car parked up there. I sighed with relief and got out of my own car. I walked over to Donna's car and I saw her crumped in a little ball in the driver's seat. I felt sympathy and love slice through me and I placed my hand on the doorknob. Luckily it wasn't locked. I crawled inside the car and Donna looked up at me.

"Eric, why did you follow me?" she asked in a teary voice. I could see all the pain and hurt from five years pouring out of her eyes and I felt my own eyes blurring. My throat was so choked up with emotion that I couldn't speak. I pulled her into my arms and held her. I stroked her hair soothingly. I hoped she didn't notice my own tears that now streamed freely down my cheeks This was the woman I should be married to. I didn't care if she couldn't make children. She was more important than anything else and I didn't know how to show her that. Especially now that I promised Jackie I wouldn't chase after Donna anymore. It was a promise I intended to keep.



Hyde's POV



I felt two hands shaking me awake the next morning and I stretched and let out a groan. I looked up and saw Fez and Kelso standing over me.

"It's time to get up. We have to get back on track with our plan." Fez urged me and I sat up.

"Where's Donna?" I asked sleepily.

"Donna isn't back yet." Kelso said, "But we don't need her to get the next part of the plan ready."

"What is it?" I inquired.

"I thought it up while I was making out with Leandra." Kelso said proudly, "What you need to do is spend time with Jackie and Tory alone. Jackie will see how well you and Tory get along and she'll see that Tory needs to grow up with her real parents together."

I shook my head and stared at Kelso in amazement, "Damn Kelso, what happened? Did you get a brain transplant or something?"

"There really aren't many explanations for his sudden increase in intelligence." Fez teased.

Kelso looked offended, "Come on, I wasn't that dumb before." Fez and I just looked at him and he backed down, "Okay, so I wasn't the brightest light in the world. But I grew up. I've probably always been smarter than I look."

"And thank god for that." I mumbled and Kelso smacked me on the shoulder.

"So, you want me to call Jackie up and arrange a date for her, Tory and I?" I double-checked.

"Exactly." Fez confirmed, pushing the phone into my hand. I smiled a little as I dialed the numbers. I loved spending time with Tory and Jackie. Besides, I could actually see this having a very positive effect.

"Hey, Jackie, it's Hyde." I said once I heard her pick up the phone. It was quite early in the morning, but I was pretty sure she would already be up.

"Oh it's you." she sounded like a little bit anxious, like she had been expecting someone else to call, "What is it, Steven?" she said immediately after and I winced when I heard the formal tone in her voice. It was like I was her boss or something and I hated it.

"I was wondering if you wanted to do something today." before she could respond I pushed ahead, "I was thinking that you, Tory and I could spend the day at the park. We could all go over there in about half and hour and then have a picnic." I heard Fez and Kelso covering up snickers at the idea of me going on a picnic with Jackie and my four year old daughter. It wasn't something you would see the old Steven doing, but I was a father now. I didn't care what they thought.

She was silent for a moment, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Jacks." I answered simply, "I think it's only fair that Tory gets some time with both her mother and father after all this time."

"You're right." Jackie agreed, "I'll meet you at the park in around forty-five minutes. I'll pick up Tory and don't worry about the food, I'll take care of everything."

I raised my eyebrows slightly. I hadn't expected this to be so easy. But I was glad it was, "Thanks. I'll see you soon." I hung up and turned to the impish grins of my two friends.

"Little Steven is going to go have a little tea party with Jackie and Tory." Fez said in mocking, high pitched voice. I glowered him and he shut up.

"I figured Tory would like the park." I said defensively, "My aunt came to visit my mom once and she took me there." I remembered it so well, how she had pushed me on the swing and pushed me around the merry-go-round. She felt more like me to a mother than my real mom ever did. But I brushed my thoughts of my aunt away and thought about Donna. I wondered where she was right now.



Hyde arrived at the park five minutes to ten. He saw Jackie and Tory were already making their way over to the playground in the center of the park. He hurried over to them and placed a hand on Jackie's shoulder. She whirled around to face me and flashed him a tense smile. Tory also saw Hyde by this time and her face lit up into a much more genuine smile.

"Uncle Steven." she exclaimed, throwing her arms around me. He hugged her tightly, finding it hard to believe this affectionate, bubbly child was his, "Mommy told me that we're going to stay at the park and then we're going to have a picnic. I love the park, my daddy took me a few days ago and he let me go on the big slide."

Hyde felt a twinge of sadness when he imagined his daughter flying down the large, steep slide, into Eric's arms at the bottom. She looked especially cute that morning, in pink overalls and a yellow t-shirt. Her unruly curls were pulled back with a pink ribbon and she wore pink sneakers with yellow socks. Jackie was wearing light blue jeans and a pale green sweater and she looked gorgeous as usual.

"That's right." Hyde told the little girl, "You want to go up the big slide again, Tory?"

Her eyes widened with excitement, "Yeah! Can you go with me, Uncle Steven?"

"All right. I'll race you to the slide." he told her and he started off for the slide. He slowed down to a jog and smiled as he watched her pull away, running as fast as her little legs would carry her, shrieking with delight.

Once they had both climbed the ladder to the top of the slide, Tory positioned herself on Hyde's lap and the two of them went down the slide together. Jackie was waiting at the bottom for them.

"That was so much fun, Mommy," Tory's cheeks were flushed with happiness, "Can you go with on the slide now?"

As Jackie took her turn climbing up the slide, Hyde noticed an old man smiling sadly at him from a park bench nearby. He waved in greeting and the man looked up at Jackie and Tory and shook his head.

"Treasure the moments you have with them." he advised Hyde, "My children have already grown up and my wife passed away several months ago. If I could back in time, I would have done so much more with all of them."

Hyde opened his mouth to tell the old man that Jackie was not his wife but then he closed it. If anyone saw Tory, Jackie and Hyde together, there was no way they could deny the fact that Tory was their child. And he was sure the old man did not want to hear the sad story that explained why he was not married to Jackie.

After they got off the slide, Tory raced from the slide, to the monkey bars, to the see-saw, to the swing and finally to the merry-go-round. She was bursting with energy and Hyde would find himself just staring at her in awe. He felt so much regret about missing the first four years of her life. He vowed not to miss another second of her life.

"Here, both of you get on." Hyde instructed Jackie and Tory. Jackie giggled like she was sixteen again as she climbed onto the round object. She had really warmed up to Hyde after the first ten minutes of the outing. Hyde pushed them around the merry-go-round, like his aunt had done with him so long ago. Tory laughed happily, clutching Jackie's hand.

Finally, Jackie and Hyde spread out the picnic blanket and got out the food. Tory dove into her peanut butter and banana sandwich. She proudly told Steven it was her favourite kind of sandwich in the whole world. Jackie had made tuna sandwiches for herself and Hyde. She and Hyde listened as Tory told them a story about Melanie and her stuffed koala bear, whose name turned out to be Michael.

"And then they got married and moved into a big mansion and had little baby koala bears." Tory spooned a little bit of chocolate pudding out of her container. She stared at it for a moment before licking it off the spoon. Suddenly her eyes lit up even more as she looked at something behind Hyde. He turned around to see a young woman walking a little puppy that looked like it was a golden retriever.

"Mommy, can I go pet the puppy?" she asked excitedly.

"Ask the lady first." Jackie said sternly, "And then you can pet the puppy."

The girl raced off and Hyde stared after her.

"This was a good idea, Steven." Jackie told him, squeezing his hand gently in her own. He smiled back at her but said nothing. She didn't let go of his hand and they watched in silence as Tory leaned down to pet the little dog. A few minutes she came back, a gleeful smile on her face.

"The puppy licked my hand." she told them, "It's name was Goldilocks, just like in the story." she took a little breath before continuing. She was a lot like Jackie that way, she could talk in a manner that seemed almost endless, "Can I go collect the leaves now? I love how they turn rainbow colors."

"It's all right with me, if you stay where we can see you." Jackie said and the little girl bounded off once more. Hyde couldn't take his eyes off her as she picked up the brightly coloured leaves and placed some of them in the front pocket of her overalls. He hadn't known her for that long, but he had already fallen in love with his little girl.



Eric awoke to find sunlight streaming through the windows the car. It took him a moment to remember what had happened the night before. Then he saw Donna asleep in his arms and everything came crashing back down on him. He realized Jackie must be worried and knew he should go home and explain.

He awoke Donna and she sat up. She looked over at him and then down at her watch.

"It's eleven fifty-seven." she told me, "What happened? We didn't do it again did we?"

"No, of course not," Eric assured her, "I guess we both just fell asleep. You were a mess last night. I'll take you back to my house."

Donna seemed to worn out to argue. So Eric started the car and began driving her home. He would pick up my car some other time. Right now, Donna needed him.



Jackie's POV



Steven and I dropped Tory off at Kitty and Red's home and started off for my house. I had so much fun with Hyde, I invited to come over for some coffee. It was just an excuse to spend more time with him and we both knew it. But there was no reason we couldn't just be friends. And besides, Eric hadn't come home last night and I was worried. But my intuition told me nothing awful had happened to him and that he was off with Donna somewhere. And if he was, I knew I wouldn't be able to stop myself from flipping out.

Hyde and I went inside and into the living room. I stopped what I was saying when I saw the figure on the couch. I couldn't see the person's face but only one person I knew had hair that red. Donna was slouched on the couch almost lifelessly with Eric sitting beside her. He looked up to see Hyde and I and his concerned expression turned to one of horror and anger.