SURRENDER TO NO ONE

BY

XOXOJackieXOXO

CHAPTER 1: The Vulnerable Ones

He'd never seen it before, but within her smile, big and brilliant, her hair flipping up and around her shoulders in curls, her eyes, coal-lined, immense and shining, he saw a small flicker of what could be.

It left almost as soon as it flashed inside of his head. He saw her close, felt her breath on his chin. It was sweet and chocolaty, like her entire being. He felt her petite figure in his arms; felt her against his chest, his body. He felt her name in his throat, tasted it on his tongue, and it wasn't bitter like the taste usually left in his mouth after saying her name. Then he heard her speak; her voice was whispery and breathy, "I love you………"

And then, as Kelso took her by the hand and led her out the door of the Forman's basement, she was gone and everything he had felt, tasted, smelled, seen or heard, vanished behind dark sunglasses and green eyes.

"Hyde? Are you even listening to me?" Eric asked finally. Hyde didn't make any sudden moves, he continued looking at the place that Jackie had just been so he wouldn't look guilty, like he really had been staring at her.

"I stopped listening a long time ago, man," Hyde confessed unsympathetically. He was relieved that he was wearing his sunglasses then because Eric and Fez couldn't have seen him looking at Jackie. Hyde broke down his thoughts of Jackie as a momentary lapse of judgment, or at least temporary insanity. There was no way that he wanted Jackie. She was hot, this he would admit, (never aloud, unless absolutely necessary,) but she was self-centered, indulgent, arrogant and especially high maintenance.

Hyde flicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and glanced over his shoulder at Fez, but not for long. He let out a long, drawn out sigh. It was another night, 9:30 pm, and here he was: Bored, and in the Forman's basement………again.

"Alright, I know I'm bored when the only thing to keep me busy is to fantasize about Jackie." He said it to make it sound sarcastic, so no one would catch on, but Eric gave Hyde a lightly longer glance than usual. Fez just giggled.

"You don't have to be bored to fantasize about Jackie. She's a chocolate dream…like me." Fez smiled, staring into space. Hyde just scoffed.

"I was joking. I'm just saying that we gotta do something before I do something I'll regret………like taking up trombone."

"Well, what should we do?" Eric asked in Hyde's direction. Hyde rolled his eyes, but forgot about the sunglasses that shielded it.

"My best idea was taking up trombone! What are you asking me for?"

"Well, learn a song for me, wontcha? Donna and I have plans to meet up at her house in a few minutes. Her mom and dad are going out to dinner tonight and you know what that means…" Eric suggested, nodding and rubbing his hands together.

"Doggie bags!" Fez expressed excitedly. "Leftovers are God's gift to the everyday consumer." He stared into space again.

"No, Donna and I are going to do it." Eric smiled slyly at Hyde.

"Forman, Fez is the only idiot box in this room that didn't catch that innuendo." Hyde said gravely. Kelso reemerged from the yard and sat on the couch with a bounce next to Eric. "Never mind, Fez isn't the only idiot box in this room now."

"Someone's grumpy today." Fez said, lowering his eyebrows.

"Yeah, what is with you?" Eric questioned his friend. "First you're making weird comments about Jackie, now you're being a bigger ass than usual. What's up?" Eric smirked and set his hand on Hyde's shoulder, "is it that time of the month?" Hyde rolled his eyes one last time and got up, his knees popped from sitting so long.

"I don't need this today. I'm goin' back to bed." He said gruffly as he retired to his cot. Eric and Fez watched Hyde leave; they were only slightly caught off guard. They were used to their moody friend.

Then what his friends had just said computed inside of Kelso's head.

"Wait, Hyde was talking about Jackie? What'd he say about Jackie?" Kelso asked standing up and folding his sleeves up. Eric had a deer in the headlights look and Fez reciprocated.

"Nu-nothing. He didn't say anything………." Eric stood.

"Uh-huh, you must be hearing things again." Fez said nodding and standing up too.

"Yeah," Eric pointed his thumb in Fez's direction, "Remember when you thought you heard voices telling you that you were going to be a fireman?" Kelso stared into space and smiled his trademark smile and nodded.

"Oh yeah! That was AWESOME. Too bad it was just indigestion."

"Michael!" It was shrill, it was demanding, it was Jackie. She slammed the door behind her, her eyes on fire. "Did you think I wasn't going to find out?!" she squealed. Eric's deer in the headlights look returned.

"That's my que!" Eric said dashing to the door. Fez sat down and smiled.

"Don't mind me. Pretend like I'm not even here." He suggested winking at Jackie. She shot him a 'death to you' look and pointed to the door.

"That would be even easier if you weren't here. Get out Fez; I have to talk to Michael." Fez's face went grim.

"Fine. But I might add that I was here first. GOOD DAY." Fez stomped to the door and slammed it behind him. Kelso laughed nervously.

"H-hey Jackie. What's going on?"

Hyde could hear everything from his cot. He sat up and looked at his door that was slightly ajar. He wanted to find a way to escape before he had to listen to Jackie go off half cocked, but something made him stay, something he couldn't explain. He just sat there listening to the voices from outside his room.

"Don't ask me what's going on! I should ask you the same thing! What is going on, Michael?"

"Not a lot. You?" Kelso tried.

"I'll tell you what's going on. You are supposed to be my boyfriend, THAT'S what's going on!"

"I thought I was your boyfriend?" Jackie folded her arms.

"Do boyfriends cheat on their girlfriend, Michael? Do they?" Silence. Silence was worse than Kelso saying anything at all. "Are you going to answer me?"

"H-how did you-"

"How did I know? It's simple. Stacy told Abigail about the Hoffman party last week when you were supposedly on a camping trip with Casey, and Abigail told Mitchell's cousin who told Samantha not to tell anyone that you slept with Connie, but Connie finally came out and told me just a few minutes ago at the Hub. Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

Kelso was lost, but as lost as he was listening to Jackie's story of how it all came out into the open, he was aware of one thing: he had been caught. Still, he couldn't bring himself to say anything.

Say something, you idiot. You're screwed either way, at least this way you can at try to bullshit your way out of it…Hyde thought inside of his room. He felt like a teenage girl, on the edge of his cot listening to what would be the end of Jackie and Kelso.

"Aren't you even going to try to deny it?" Jackie asked.

"No, I mean, yeah, well………I don't know what to say! I cheated on you, okay? It's not because I don't love you, because you know that I do, it's just something I can't help."

Oh, you were better off sayin' nothing…

"Fine, it's something you can't help. Well I can't help it either, obviously. It's over Michael." Another brief silence.

"Wait, what?" Kelso said in injured tones. It was obvious from Jackie's voice that she was near tears as well.

"I told you after the whole Laurie thing that if you ever cheated on me again it was going to be over. You had so many chances with me, Michael. I can't do it anymore." She didn't sound mad anymore, but she sounded strong, like she was serious about it this time. Hyde hadn't heard Jackie take this tone before.

"I uh- I………I have to go." Kelso finally said. It was obvious that Jackie was hurting, because as soon as the door shut behind Kelso, Hyde counted down 3…2…1…And Jackie began to sob.

Crap.

Now Hyde was at a crossroads. Did he pretend to sleep and drown her out, or did he do what he knew would be best and comfort her. Comforting wasn't exactly his strong suit now, was it? He finally agreed with himself that he needed to sneak out. He got off of his cot quietly and crept out of his room. Jackie was on the couch, face in her hands. He tiptoed out, but stopped to look at her. He watched her shoulders shake with every sob, her hair bouncing with it. A floorboard creaked.

Crap.

Hyde found himself paralyzed by her lovesick stare. Her eyes penetrated into him, filled to the brim in tears, her cheeks stained and scarlet red, her bottom lip out in a pout. She sniffed and tried to wipe her eyes and cheeks with her sleeves, but it was useless because the tears were still falling. Hyde could just stare at her, his mouth slightly agape. He had never seen her so beautiful. He looked at the stairs, the stairs that could elevate him to safety; safety from Jackie's awkward beauty and enticing tears.

The stairs, however, lost Hyde's internal battle, because in spite of himself, he walked over and set his hand on her shoulder. She glanced up and smiled, but only for a brief second. She set her hand on his, and he took that as an invite and sat beside her. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I heard the whole thing." Hyde said quietly. He didn't think he had ever been this close to Jackie before. He'd never smelt her shampoo this close. She pulled away and looked up at him.

"You were listening?"

"I couldn't exactly leave while you and Kelso were in the middle of that. Either way…" he said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks, I guess." She sniffled. "Why are you being so nice to me? I thought you hated me." Hyde shrugged.

"I'm bored?" he tried. She gave a small smile, but again it diminished. "In all honesty, I've never truly hated you. You're not that bad." Hyde admitted painfully.

"Really?" Jackie asked, lighting up a little. Hyde caught himself and laughed.

"No. You know I hate you." He tried, but she shot him a small, knowing glance and it melted him down until he cracked. "Okay. I really don't hate you. But if you tell anyone that, you're dead. I've got a reputation to keep up. I don't need your big mouth running that all over town." He scooted a few inches away from her, and made sure his voice was hard again, unlike how it was when he saw her.

I DON'T LIKE JACKIE! Get it together, Hyde! She's not for you at all! No one is! Surrender to no one. No one has that kind of power over you. Girls equal sex, that's what they are to you. Not anything more. Especially not whiney, whimpery, controlling JACKIES!

Jackie and Hyde spent the next three hours talking, which was strange because on a normal day, that would be the last thing that Hyde would ever want to do. For some reason, this wasn't a normal day. Hyde's soft side for Jackie fell into his lap out of nowhere, and he, by no means, knew how to handle it. He was so confused by it all. Why was he talking to Jackie? Worse! Why did he like it? She wasn't talking about herself for the first time? Nope. She was doing that all right. Maybe it was because for the first time in his 19 years of life, Steven Hyde was needed. Jackie needed him, not the other way around, and that meant the world to him.

"So then I asked Abigail if it was true and she denied whole thing. I just don't understand it. Who could cheat on me?!" Jackie asked in her high-pitched tone.

"Uh, apparently Kelso can." He said, laughing a little, handing her another beer. They were lucky that no one was home. They'd almost cleaned out Red's refrigerator. She opened it clumsily. She'd only had two beers, but it was getting to her quickly. Hyde was on his fifth, but he'd build up a tolerance so it wasn't even touching him. He got a kick out of watching Jackie slip further and further. In his mind, Hyde was helping her. She needed to let loose for a while.

"Oh. I miss Michael. Should I have been so hard on him?" she asked, leaning back. Hyde sat up quickly, pulling off his sunglasses.

"Hell yeah!" Hyde said fast and slurred together. Jackie sat back up setting her elbows on her knees and getting closer to Hyde.

"You really think?" She asked quietly. Hyde nodded, but realized that again he was getting out of character. Why did he care so much? Jackie was wondering the same thing.

"Jackie, the guy cheated on you over and over and over again. C'mon. You can do better than that." He said. Jackie leaned in even closer.

"You really think?" she asked. Her eyes were glazed as she stared into Hyde's eyes. The silence and the long stare down between them made him uncomfortable. He put his glasses back on and leaned back in his chair.

"Yeah. I do." He put his hands behind his head and took in a deep breath.

Jackie lay down on the couch and stared at the blank TV screen. She closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind, but all that kept flashing through it was Hyde and her, and all that could be. She'd always fantasized about the guys. Usually her and Kelso, but also Fez two or three times. She'd only thought about Eric once…but she stopped when she thought she was going to be sick. But she'd never thought about her and Hyde. It just never came to mind. Hyde wouldn't do the romantic things that the other guys could. He wouldn't want candlelit picnics and a big pretty wedding. That kind of stuff just wasn't important to Hyde, but it had always interested Jackie.

She then pictured something she'd never realized before. Hyde was the bad boy. The guy that her parents would hate, the guy she could run away with. Now that Kelso was out of her life and fantasies alike, and she'd bored herself with the other fantasies of beaches and pretty hearts and flowers, she liked this new fantasy she'd concocted of her and Hyde together, living on the edge. It was much more interesting than………roses……….and…….

Hyde watched Jackie sleep. She looked angelic, and she had a peaceful smile on her face. Hyde decided that simple thoughts about Jackie weren't entirely insane. He wasn't into her, he didn't like her like that, but she was hot and that was enough for him to figure out something to visualize.

She might be cold.

He felt his soft side speak up again, and he acted on it. He got a blanket out from the closet and covered her up. She adjusted herself until she was comfortable and became still again. Hyde couldn't help himself, his hand reached for a small strand of hair that was clumsily across her face and he moved it away.

I DON'T like Jackie………

It was around 12:30 am and he was tired. Hyde went back to bed.

Maybe sex wasn't the only thing that girls meant to Hyde. Especially whiney, whimpery, controlling Jackies………

XOXOJackieXOXO

More to come….ONLY if you read and review, haha.