Disclaimer: Don't own!

AN: This one is a bit short, but I decided I wanted to split it from the chapter that will come after this one. Thanks for reading, thanks for the reviews! I hope you're enjoying it. Hyde will get with it one of these days, I swear. :)

Reawakening

Chapter 7 – For Once in Your Life

Jackie heard the door open, but kept her eyes closed. It was probably just another doctor or nurse checking up on her. She hoped that whoever it was would just leave her alone; she wanted to sleep. She didn't understand why she was so worn out, considering she'd been sleeping for hours upon hours.

Her visitor walked around her bed, and she rolled her head in the opposite direction. Hopefully that would be enough of a clue. Unfortunately, she was now resting her bruised cheek on the pillow, and it hurt. She squeezed her eyes closed tighter and told herself to just bear it. But when her hand was lifted, and a strong, larger one wrapped around it, her eyes popped open. She knew that touch. She knew his touch. His index finger began to gently caress her knuckles, and shivers raced up and down her spine.

"Jackie?"

Tears filled her eyes. His voice was low and soft, as gentle as Steven ever sounded.

"You awake?"

Her heart jumped. When she'd spent the nights with him after her father went to pri…Nativeland, that is, he used to whisper that to wake her up. It reminded her of how he used to kiss her goodnight, then hold her close all night long. Before she could stop herself, she rolled her head back to her right and opened her eyes. She couldn't open her left eye completely because of how sore it was, and so when she looked up, Steven looked rather blurry.

Hyde tried to smile. "Hey," he said. Her eyes looked glassy, and with daylight flooding the room her bruising and cuts looked even worse. But even so, she was beautiful. She stared at him with an expression he couldn't read, and he shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "Uh…how…how you doing?"

Well, the thing is, I never loved you. I never loved you. I NEVER LOVED YOU.

Jackie frowned. Why was he saying that again? As if once wasn't enough for her to hear it? Or was he actually saying it? Was he saying something else? Her head felt so foggy and heavy, and that pain in her temple was getting worse; she wasn't sure of what was going on, of what he was saying, or even why he was here. "No," she mumbled. A tear rolled out of her eye and she winced. Gone were the memories of those nights together, and in their place, that last conversation. With him telling her that he never loved her. That those nights, and everything else they'd shared, meant nothing at all.

The pain in her head was suddenly nothing compared to the hurt smothering her heart.

Hyde pressed his hand into hers when he noticed her tears. "Jackie…"

She opened her eyes, still a bit dazed, and did her best to glare at him. "Get out."

He swallowed hard. "Look, Jackie, I just…"

"Get out!" She summoned all the energy she could, which wasn't much, and pulled her hand away from his. Her eyes began to shed tears, and she shook her head. "Just get out." She closed her eyes and turned her head away from him.

I never loved you. I never loved you.

Hyde stared at the back of her head. He should have known better. Hell, he HAD known better! And he'd come in here anyway. Stupid. He was always doing stupid things because of her. Because she made him stupid. Anger burned in his belly, and he shook his head. "Whatever," he muttered.

Yet he hesitated to leave. Part of him wanted her to turn around so he could say the right thing, so this entire mess could be over. Part of him prayed for her to turn around.

But he wasn't that guy, the one who said the right thing at the right time, and she wasn't turning around.

He tensed his jaw and walked out of the room. He found Donna and Eric sitting on the bench across from Jackie's room. They looked expectantly at him, and he shrugged. "She uh…doesn't want to see me."

Donna stood up. "Let me talk to her."

Hyde shook his head. "Don't bother." He turned and began to stalk off.

Donna rolled her eyes. "So you're just going to walk away? Because she didn't fall all over you? Can you BLAME her?"

Hyde turned and glared at her. "Shut the hell up, okay? I didn't ask for your advice!"

Eric stood up and took Donna's arm. "Donna, maybe you should just…"

She shook him off, still staring at Hyde. "No, no, I'm going to talk." She pointed a finger at Hyde. "God, for once in your life don't just shrug and say 'whatever' like you always do when things go wrong with Jackie. Why don't you FIGHT for her for once? Maybe that's what she's needed from you all along. Maybe then she wouldn't doubt that you care about her." She smirked. "Or maybe you're just too much of a coward."

Hyde didn't move, and his eyes remained fixated on the flushed Donna. His gut was screaming at him to get the hell out of Dodge, to leave all of this crap far behind him. Fight for Jackie? Why bother? It would only end up going wrong. It always did. And even if he didn't screw it up, she'd go wacky and give him ultimatums…

"You know, she really loved you. Even after that skanky nurse, she loved you. Even after you told her you didn't know if you had a future with her, she loved you. Even after…"

"Damn it, Donna, stop it!" he interrupted angrily. "I know all that!"

She arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms across her chest. "So what are you going to do about it? Nothing?" She waited a moment, then chuckled. "That's what I thought. You're a coward. Scared of a 95 pound girl in a hospital bed."

Hyde closed his eyes. Scared? Of Jackie

Yes.

Of course he was scared of Jackie. He was petrified of Jackie. She got to him. She REALLY got to him. He had absolutely no idea of how she did it, the cheerleader, unicorn adoring, Donny Osmond and ABBA loving, shopaholic girl she was. But she had. He'd done something he'd never wanted to do; he'd fallen in love.

And truth be told, he still loved her now, today, here.

"Fine," he spat, and stomped over to the bench and sat down. He crossed his arms over his chest and avoided Donna's smug smile.

"Good," she said, pleased with herself. "I'll go talk to her."

Hyde rolled his eyes, but the tension in his stomach relieved into something that felt suspiciously like hope. "You do that."

Of course, just because Donna was going to talk to Jackie didn't mean Jackie would listen.

He closed his eyes, hoping that Forman would just sit quietly next to him and not talk. And for once, Eric did exactly what he wanted.