"Ew get off of me you freak!" Jackie shouted behind her as she ran down the stairs into the basement. "Donna can we go please, some of these old people are starting to get touchy!" She shook her head and turned to see that she was alone in the basement with her second to least favorite person at the moment. "Oh, it's you."

"Yepp," Hyde didn't have the energy to insult her like he usually did, and surprisingly, he found himself not really wanting to.

Jackie walked over and sat in the lawn chair. Hyde was sitting on the couch, in the seat closest to 'his' chair, but the TV wasn't on. She didn't know what to say. She and Hyde hadn't been alone together since, well since before she left for Chicago. She shuddered at the memory. They sat there in silence for a while before Jackie finally spoke up.

"So, do you know where you're gonna go yet?"

"Nah. I've been looking at apartments, but I haven't found anything yet. What about you?"

"I don't really know yet. I was offered an amazing job on 'What's Up Wisconsin?', but I'm not really sure if I wanna stay here."

"Why wouldn't you?"

She looked at him, pointedly.

"Right. So I take it your still mad?"

"Not so much. I've come to expect this sort of behavior from you lately. It must have something to do with the stripper leaving."

"Nah, not really"

"Oh, was married life everything you'd been so scared that it would be?"

"Surprisingly, no."

They were silent for a moment.

"Do you miss her?"

He thought for a moment, unsure of how truthful he wanted to be here.

"I miss parts of her"

She gave him a look.

"Steven, I'm being serious here." Silence. Then finally,

"No"

"Well, that's not surprising"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just that it's hard to miss someone you never loved"

"What makes you so sure?"

"You don't love people" She said, mocking him. He was quiet for a minute.

"I loved you." He said, so quietly she wasn't quite sure if he'd even said it. But the look in his eyes told her he had. She was taken aback at his honesty. He'd hardly even told her that when they were together. She recovered quickly though, unwilling to show him signs of weakness.

"Yeah, well that was different. You can't expect to have what we had with anyone else. I'm the most amazing woman you'll ever meet."

He nodded and didn't say anything. He was amazed at the tone of their conversation. He hadn't actually had a conversation with Jackie where they hadn't argued since before they'd broken up. He found himself unwilling to ruin that.

They sat there together, TV off, just thinking, remembering. After a while, Jackie spoke up again.

"I've been thinking. I don't blame you for your behavior these past months."

Hyde looked up from the spot he'd been staring at.

"And why's that?" He questioned, regretting it almost instantly.

"Well, because. When you were with that stripper, she fulfilled your sexual needs. BUT she didn't fulfill your emotional needs. Unlike your relationship with me. And now that we're not together, you've been trying to pretend like you never needed me. So for the past eight months, you've been insulting me, and picking fights with me. All because you wanted to erase the memory of what we had. And while I can't say that that doesn't hurt, I do understand where you're coming from."

He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off.

"And don't try to deny it, because I know it's true. And nothing you say is going to change that, so don't bother. I just have one question."

He raised his eyebrows.

"Why were you so adamant about messing up my chances with Fez? Not that that whole thing wasn't just a big mistake. But still, why?"

He looked at her, seriously. "You know why, Jackie"

She folded her arms "Enlighten me"

"Part of me just knew that it was a stupid idea. And the other part…" He trailed off.

"What?"

He cleared his throat. "The other part of me didn't want you to move on."

She looked down. She was pleasantly surprised with Hyde's honesty during their conversation. He really was maturing.

"Steven…"

"Look Jackie," They both started at the same time.

"You go first" She offered. He gave her a look. "I'm not going to interrupt, I promise" She insisted. It was the least she could do after he was so honest with her.

He cleared his throat and took off his sunglasses. "Jackie, I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"For which part?"

"For everything. The past eight months. I mean, I know we've never talked about my marrying Sam, and I just wanted you to know that I really am sorry about the way things ended between us. And I'm sorry about the way I've acted towards you lately. This whole year has just been so screwed up…"

"It's ok. I probably shouldn't have acted the way I did, either." They were silent for a while.

"So, you think we'll ever be friends?"

"No" She said, almost too quickly.

He raised his eyebrows "Why not? You and Kelso were friends."

"Oh come on, Steven. You and I were never friends to begin with."

"Neither were you and Kelso"

She looked at him for a minute "I never loved Kelso the way that I love you"

To be continued…

A/N Soooo? Any thoughts you're willing to put on record? Please please tell me, because I'm not gonna waste my time finishing this if no one actually likes it