Chapter Three: Telling someone you love them.

It had been six days since Jackie's heart went in to arrest and Hyde never left her side just in case she'd wake up and be all alone like last time. Jackie had been doing a lot better. Her heart grew stronger and all her vitals were good. Of course Hyde didn't understand any of the doctor's mumbo jumbo but what he did understand was that Jackie was going to be O.K. Jackie stirred in her sleep; Hyde saw an eye twitch and grabbed her hand. He caressed her hand in the hopes that she'd be able to feel it. He didn't want to alert the doctors just in case it was a false alarm but his hopes reached their highest peak when she squeezed his hand back.

"Jackie." He called. She didn't say anything but she opened her eyes and saw Hyde above her. She smiled and allowed her tongue to moisten her dry lips. She wanted to speak but her throat felt dry and instead tried to sit up. Hyde helped her and grabbed a bottle of water from the pull out table in front of him. Jackie took a long sip from the bottle and enjoyed the feeling of the cool liquid running down her throat. Ashe attempted to speak again.

"Hey..." She whispered.

Hyde smiled the widest smile he must have ever smiled and thought that he must have looked like a complete loser but he didn't care. All he cared about was that Jackie was gonna be fine and it looked like she was. Hyde leaned forward and pulled back her hair from her face.

Jackie revelled in the touch of Steven's hand and longed for him to touch her. Hyde pulled his hand back and held her hand.

"Jacks do you know what happened?" He asked her. He voiced so much concern for her that it made Jackie's heart want to melt.

"Yeah I think so.....um I remember cheerleading and then falling off of the pyramid. I then remember looking at you near the elevator and then the world went dark." Jackie responded. Hyde squeezed her hand harder.

"Look I just need to call Mrs Forman and tell everyone that you're awake everyone was worried about you." He said as he took his hand back from Jackie and headed for the door. He was about to leave when Jackie's voice stopped him.

"And you......did you worry about me?" Jackie asked.

Hyde smiled and said. "The most." And he left the room.

Hyde walked over to a pay phone and deposited a quarter. Hyde was filled with so many emotions that once Mrs Forman picked up the phone he wasn't sure he'd be able to speak. Hyde felt emotions he never even thought he had. He dialled the Forman's number and waited until they picked up. He heard a high-pitched hello and assumed it was Mrs Forman.

Hyde gulped. "She's awake and I think she's gonna be fine."

"We'll be right over!" And Mrs Forman hung up.

Hyde started to walk back towards Jackie's room when he heard a couple arguing. Both the voices sounded familiar and he turned around. What he saw shocked him. He saw Mr Burkhart arguing with a young girl that looked like Dawn from Jackie's cheerleading team. Hyde wouldn't have thought anything about it except Mr Burkhart was in the hospital where he daughter was and he hadn't even bothered to see her. What the respected people of Point Place was none of his business but when it was about Jackie it became his business.

"I need you right now!" Dawn cried. She grabbed Mr Burkhart's jacket and tried to make him stay her.

"My daughter needs me!" Mr Burkhart replied.

"But she's in a coma and I'm sure she will not miss you for a few minutes." She said suggestively.

"Well I'm sure that's true but only for a few minutes." He said while trailing his hand up her thigh.

"I promise." She pouted.

Hyde couldn't believe what he just saw. Mr Burkhart was cheating on Mrs Burkhart and on Jackie. The fact that Mr Burkhart would rather fuck with a cheap cheerleader than see his daughter made his blood run cold. Hyde clenched his hands into fists and was about walk over and say something but realised he had been gone a long time. He walked back to Jackie's room and opened the door.

Jackie just looked at him and saw the look on his face.

"What's wrong?" She asked while trying to search his face for what was wrong.

"Nothing, it's nothing. Mrs Forman said that she'd be right over. I think that meant that she'll bring everyone else too." He smiled.

"So how long did the doctors say I have to stay in here?" She asked.

It completely slipped his mind that he had to tell the doctors that Jackie was awake.

"Steven" Jackie yelled as much as her voice would let her. Hyde snapped out of his daze.

"What?" Hyde asked.

"How long to I have to stay here?" Jackie asked again.

"I don't know I should go check." Hyde said as he started to get up again.

Jackie's hand shot out from the covers and grabbed Hyde by the wrist. "Steven don't leave me here." Jackie pleaded. Hyde bent down and kissed Jackie's forehead.

"Don't worry I won't let anything happen to you."

He again walked out of her room and walked towards the nurse's station. He placed his hands on the desk in a bid to get the nurses attention.

"Yes." She said while looking at a various amount of charts.

"Jackie Burkhart is awake." Hyde said. The nurse bounded from behind the station and darted towards Jackie's room. She alerted a few others members of staff who followed her towards Jackie's room. Hyde began to follow but was shut out by the nurse. Instead he waited in the hall until Mrs Forman and the rest got there.

An hour had gone by and finally the four nurses had exited Jackie's room. Just as the head nurse was about to talk to Hyde Kitty ran over.

"Meredith!" Kitty Shouted as she walked towards Hyde.

"Kitty. You know Jackie Burkhart?" The nurse asked as she looked over a few of the details on Jackie's chart.

"Yes I do. She's like practically family." Kitty beamed.

"Well I guess we could talk about Jackie over here." She said as she guided Kitty into a grey room opposite Jackie's.

Donna, Eric, Kelso and Fez walked up behind him. Red had came to but he went into the grey room with Kitty.

Donna ran up to Hyde and gave him a hug. "So she's really O.K."

"Yeah she seems fine. I asked if she could remember what happened and she did." He said as he hugged Donna back.

"See Donna I told you she was gonna be fine." Eric said he Donna let go of Hyde and then latched on to Eric.

"Yeah in between sobs." Donna laughed. It was the first time she had done that I weeks and it felt good to Hyde that he had heard it.

"Yeah well at least I can admit it unlike Kelso."

"What I had something in my eye." Kelso defended himself. "I'm gonna tell Jackie you said that." Hyde laughed.

"No don't, tell Jackie I cried like a baby with worry. That way she'll wanna get back together when she gets better." Kelso begged.

"Yes Hyde tell Jackie that I too cried like a baby over Jackie and maybe she'll want to do it with me when she gets better." Fez said.

"Look I'm not telling Jackie anything she has enough to worry about with out you two losers hounding her." Hyde yelled.

"Hyde since when did you jump on the I love Jackie bad wagon!" Kelso said.

Hyde didn't say anything as Kitty, Red and that nurse came out of the grey room. Kitty had a huge grin on her face.

"Kids, Nurse Meredith has given the all clear and says that Jackie should be ready to go home in a few weeks. Oh and I spoke to Mr Burkhart and he thinks it's a great idea if Jackie stays with us because he can't give her all the attention she needs."

Yeah I can think of a few things he'll find distracting than looking after his daughter. Hyde thought.

Both Eric and Hyde nodded. Usually Eric would have had a smart-ass comment to back but instead he remained silent. Kitty continued.

"Now you can all see Jackie now but you need to keep it down as there are many more recovering patients." Kitty said.

Everybody was in Jackie's room all questions of whether or not Jackie was feeling better had gone and the six teenagers were laughing at some misinterpretation of American culture Fez had made. Mr and Mrs Forman were in the room but decided to leave the six friends on their own. Hyde sat next to Jackie on the bed while Eric and Donna took the other side. Fez and Kelso sat in the two armchairs that were in the room.

"So Jackie the doctors said that you should be your evil devil worshipping self in no time. Let see what animal you will sacrifice first." Eric smiled and both Donna and Hyde playfully hit him.

Jackie chuckled and was actually glad that Eric was cracking devil jokes as it made her feel better to know that everything was going to be O.K. Jackie loved attention but she didn't love the kind when your trapped in a hospital with people asking are you alright every five minutes.

"Well Eric your skinny enough to be an animal so I think I'll sacrifice you first." Jackie laughed.

"Ooooh Jackie after you come out of the hospital I was thinking we could you know get back together." Kelso said.

Jackie shifted in her bed. She knew he was going to ask her to go out with him again but her heart belonged to some one else. Jackie took a deep breath and prepared to shoot Michael down.

"Look Michael this whole thing has showed me that life is short and I should be with who I want to be with and I don't want to get back together with you Michael. I love you I really do but more as a friend. And you guys I really love you even you Steven." Jackie turned to see if there was a reaction on his face but as always his face was unreadable.

"I guess I could live with that. Jackie I'd rather have you in my life as a friend than not in at all." Kelso got up from his chair and gave a Jackie a hug. Fez then followed and also gave Jackie a huge hug. Then Eric and Donna joined in and finally Hyde did. Even though he was mostly hugging Eric and Donna it didn't matter. After a few moments later a tiny voice was heard from the middle of the hug.

"Guys that's sweet and all but do you want to kill me again, cos if you do you're doing a great job as I can't breathe." The last part came out almost as a screech. They all let go of Jackie and returned to their seats.

Another week had gone past and Jackie had settled nicely into Laurie's old room. Jackie was doing a lot better and was now walking around the house and acting more like her old self again. Complaining about who Donny Osmond was now dating and why she couldn't wear her hair down because of the heat. All was right in Point Place again.

Everybody was happy that Jackie was doing so well except for Hyde. Every time he had been alone with her he tried to tell her how he felt but something kept getting in the way. Having Jackie in the same house and not being able to touch her was driving Hyde nuts. He had his needs just like Fez but what he felt for Jackie went beyond anything he's ever felt before and he needed to let her know that. And Hyde also had a few other things on his mind concerning Jackie Burkhart. The fact that her father was having an affair with one of Jackie's friends was bad enough but he also knew that he abandoned his own daughter to get some action. Hyde knew what that was like as he had often found himself eating food from a can all alone in his shack because Edna was off getting some action with a trucker probably named Bubba and he didn't want Jackie to go through that.

Hyde got up from his bed and walked up to Jackie's room. She was reading a magazine as usual. Hyde knocked on the door.

"Come in." He heard her call from inside the room.

"Hey Steven. I never you were one to knock and then enter." Jackie said from underneath her lashes.

"Well usually I'm not but seeing as you were ill I thought I should knock." Hyde said while looking at the bed.

"So?" Jackie asked. She put down the magazine and placed her full attention on Hyde.

"Well I've wanted to talk to you for the past week and something always gets in the way so I thought I'd give it another shot." Hyde said quickly. Jackie got up off the bed and walked towards Hyde. He could smell the sweet scent of strawberries, as she got closer. Jackie then stopped mere inches away from his face and looked into his eyes. At that moment Hyde just wanted to pull her towards him and kiss her. The sensation of her lips was what he wanted most and he be damned if someone else was gonna come in and ruin it.

"What did you want to talk about?" She asked while her gaze drifted to his lips.

"I just wanted to tell you that ever since our......" Hyde didn't even get to finish his sentence when Jackie's lips attacked his. Hyde was shocked for a moment but then he kissed her back passionately crushing his lips with hers. Their tongues fought an internal battle and Jackie whimpered against Hyde's mouth. She pulled back for some much needed air but soon found her way back to Hyde's lips as they began to kiss again. Jackie wrapped her hands in Hyde's hair whereas Hyde caressed Jackie's sides. Hyde couldn't get enough of her and wanted more than anything to just stay like this. Jackie began to make her way down Hyde's neck and sucked at the hollow of his throat. She languidly licked up to his earlobe and slightly bit it, which caused Hyde to cease control. He managed to capture her mouth again and they kissed for what seemed like hours.

Finally Jackie pulled back and looked at Hyde. Her hair was all messed up and her lip-gloss was smeared and Hyde couldn't help but chuckle. Jackie looked at him.

"What exactly are you laughing at?" She asked incredulously.

"You." Hyde answered he was still in awe of that kiss and needed to regain himself.

"Why? Is there something on my face?" She asked while trying to escape to find a mirror but Hyde grabbed her.

"No you look beautiful!" Jackie grabbed the sides of Hyde's face in placed a sweet light kiss on his lips.

"You know what! So are you." She said while looking deep into his eyes. Jackie never really looked in his eyes before because they were always hidden away by the sunglasses but now that she was looking deep into his eyes she realised what a beautiful shade of blue they really were.

Hyde responded by placing a light kiss on her forehead and then he just held her. The closeness of her engulfed him. The moment was broken when they heard Mrs Forman call Jackie from the stairs.

"I should go down and see what that is all about." Jackie said as she let herself slide out of Hyde's grip.

"Yeah." Was all he could say. He followed Jackie as she descended the stairs. Mrs Forman stood at the bottom holding a huge bunch of roses.

"Are they for me?" Jackie excitedly asked.

"Well honey they're not for me." Kitty chuckled.

Jackie took the flowers from Kitty and showed them to Hyde. Jackie took in the smell of the roses and looked for a card.

"So Jackie who are they from?" Kitty asked.

Jackie looked at the card but didn't see a name.

"I don't know. There is no name here. But it does say: Till we meet again. I didn't even know we met a first time." Jackie said confused.

Kitty took the flowers and put them in a vase. "Well Jackie it looks like you have your self a secret admirer."

"Yeah I guess I do." She said while looking at Hyde.

Hyde felt a pang of jealously now that he and Jackie established they had feelings for one another he didn't want any other guys pawing all over her. And he really wanted to know who had sent those flowers.