Disclaimer: Don't own!

Warning: Mild language

AN: Thanks to everyone reading, and reviewing!Those make me smile. :)I had today off, so I wrote. I also have tomorrow off, so I bet I have another chapter up tomorrow for you. :) Hope you enjoy!

Convincing

Chapter 2 - She's FINE!

Two weeks later

"So where's Jackie today, Hyde?" Donna asked, sitting on the basement couch in between Eric and Fez and playing idly with an Etch-a-Sketch. "You two have been joined at the hip lately…I hardly recognize you without her." She grinned at him.

Hyde returned it with a sarcastic smirk. "She's shopping. No way in hell was I going to go shopping with her." He sat in his usual chair with his arms crossed across his chest. The truth was slightly different. He wouldn't have gone with her if she'd asked, well, probably not, but she hadn't even asked. In fact, she'd said that she wanted to be alone. And that was just weird. Jackie never liked being alone.

Fez grinned as he sucked on a lollypop. "I hope she buys another sexy purple bra." Everyone looked at him, and he cringed slightly under the weight of Hyde's extremely nasty gaze. "What? Is it my fault that Jackie likes to walk around in her underwear? No, it's not. I just let it happen and enjoy the view." Everyone continued to stare at him in complete disbelief. "She does!" No one's eyes moved. "Okay, maybe only in my fantasies she does." They still stared, and Fez noticed that Hyde's right hand was balling into a fist. "Fine! I peeked in her underwear drawer!"

Hyde shifted angrily in his chair. Most of the time, Fez's obsession with Jackie didn't really bother him, at least not much. It was Fez. Harmless. Today, though, it was grating on his nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard grated on his ears. "Okay, Fez? You better stop doing that," he warned in a hard voice.

Donna shook her head and looked at Hyde. She leaned forward. "You know, I'm kind of worried about her. She's acting…strange lately." She looked at Eric. "She's so…quiet. And even when she talks, have you noticed that sometimes she seems to have a hard time getting words out?" Donna frowned. It was just so odd.

Eric nodded. "Yeah, and the other day she complimented my outfit." He glanced at Donna incredulously. "I was wearing a sweater vest. A sweater vest! Jackie hates those."

Hyde's back stiffened, but he did his best to appear relaxed and unconcerned. Zen at its finest. "Nothing is wrong with Jackie," he said dully. He stared at the television set. Of course nothing was wrong. Everything was fine. She was fine. She had to be fine.

Kelso sat in the lawn chair playing with some Lincoln Logs. "I don't know about that, Hyde," he said. "I mean, the other day at the Hub, I tried to look down her shirt and she didn't even slap me. She just pushed me. And I could tell she didn't mean it."

Hyde took a deep breath, trying not to react, but today it was just too much. He leaned forward, took his glasses off and gave Kelso a withering glare that he hoped left nothing to Kelso's feeble imagination. "Kelso, I swear to God, if you go near Jackie's shirt again, my fist? It's gonna replace your nose."

Kelso pointed at Hyde. "Okay, just calm down, Hyde! God! It's not like I felt her up or something!" He glanced at Fez with a sly grin and spoke quietly. "Although I could if I wanted to!" Fez grinned, impressed.

Donna watched Hyde flop back in his chair and put his sunglasses back on. He seemed tense, and like he was trying to hide it. "You're worried about her, too, aren't you?"

Hyde shook his head and looked at Donna. "Look, there's nothing to be worried about. Jackie is fine. She's just…I mean, come on, man. She's still recovering from the accident. And that's all. She's FINE." He crossed his arms again and glared grumpily at the television. He wished everyone would just shut up about Jackie.

She was fine.

Donna and Eric exchanged glances, both of them thinking the same thing. Jackie wasn't fine. Something was wrong.

Twenty minutes later, the Forman kitchen

"Mrs. Forman, can I talk to you about something?"

Kitty stood at the stove, making tea, and she smiled at the girl sitting at her kitchen table. "Of course you can, Jackie," she said. "Would you like some tea?"

Jackie nodded, and stared down at the table while Kitty poured steaming water in two mugs. She was petrified, and didn't know who else to turn to. She thought about going to Donna, but Donna had such a big mouth and would tell Eric. Lumberjacks were always gossipy; it was how they coped with being…well…lumberjacks. Michael was out; he wouldn't even understand what she was talking about. Fez? No. He'd just blabber on about candy or something perverted.

And Steven….no. She couldn't talk to Steven about it. Of course, he should already know something was wrong. He SHOULD be doing everything he could to figure out what was going on with her without her having to say a thing.

Besides, things were going so well between them and she didn't want to screw it up by making any demands on him. Steven didn't like serious, heavy stuff. And with her luck, it would just freak him out and he'd up and leave.

"So, is it serious?" Kitty asked as she placed a mug of tea in front of Jackie and then took a seat. Jackie nodded, and Kitty giggled. "Ooo, I love serious." Her smile faded when she noticed the fear on the younger woman's face. She reached out and patted Jackie's hand. "What's wrong, Jackie?"

Jackie shrugged. She didn't even know where to start. "I just…I mean, you're a nurse, so you know…medical stuff, right?"

Kitty chuckled. "Oh definitely. More than the doctors!" She shook her head. "We have some of the dumbest doctors….I'm sorry. Go on."

Jackie cupped the mug of tea with both hands and stared at it. "I…I think there's something…" She took a deep breath. "I think there's something wrong with my head."

"Sweetie, we've all thought that for years," Kitty replied, laughing until Jackie looked at her with stricken and suddenly tear-filled eyes. And in that moment, Kitty knew this wasn't just serious, it was SERIOUS. She reached out and took Jackie's hand. "Oh, Jackie, I was just teasing. Now, what makes you think that there's something wrong with your head?"

Jackie's body shuddered slightly. "Well, I just…since the accident, I've been having these headaches. Which I expected, since I had a concussion. But now it hurts behind my eye, too. And other things…like I'm turning into a klutz." She shook her head. "I keep tripping…and I've always had the grace of an angel. It's just…I don't know what my problem is."

Kitty stared at Jackie. She had noticed some definite changes in the poor girl's behavior since the accident. She'd been quiet, and lethargic. Often when Kitty went down the basement, the kids were sitting around as usual, but Jackie was sleeping, usually in Steven's lap, or curled up to him on the couch. And too, she'd started to stutter occasionally.

"And I keep seeing double. Like the other night Steven and I were about to…" Jackie's eyes widened. She probably shouldn't share THAT information with Mrs. Forman. "To play cards, and there was two of him in front of me." She shook her head and sighed. "So do you have any idea of what could be wrong with me?"

Kitty suspected a possibility, but she didn't want to say anything. She could be wrong, although she probably wasn't since she never was. But still. This could be more serious than Jackie was even afraid it was. "Jackie, honey, I think you need to talk to a doctor," she replied gently. "I know what I just said about them, but really, not all of them are dumb."

Jackie's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "I know," she said quietly. "I've got an appointment tomorrow; I was just hoping you could give me some idea of what it might be." She looked up. "I just…I really don't want to go alone, Mrs. Forman. Do you think you could…do you think you could go with me?"

Kitty frowned. "Tomorrow? Oh, honey, I'm sorry. Red and I have to go to Milwaukee…" Her heart ached when Jackie's face crumpled and she looked down at the table. Poor girl, with no parents there for her when she needed them the most. "Why don't you just ask Steven to go with you?"

"Steven?" Jackie screeched, looking up with her eyes wide. "No, I can't ask him. He'll just…he just doesn't like this kind of stuff."

"I'm sure he won't mind, Jackie."

"No. He would." She looked tearfully at Mrs. Forman. "Mrs. Forman, please don't mention this to Steven." Her pride reared up. "I mean, for his sake. I don't want him to get so distracted by worry that he ruins his record store or something."

Kitty sighed and looked sympathetically at the obviously scared and lonely girl. "Jackie, don't worry. We'll figure something out." She moved her chair closer to Jackie and put an arm around her shoulders. Jackie began to cry, and her body shook. "Come on, sweetie. It'll be okay." Kitty closed her eyes.

Maybe it would be. Maybe this was nothing and Jackie was fine. Maybe.

The Forman basement

Hyde glanced at his watch and stood up. "Well, I'm out of here. Gotta go pick up Jackie."

Donna looked at him. "I thought she was shopping."

He nodded. "Yeah, well, we're going to a movie." He looked at Fez and Kelso and smirked. "The drive-in. Where, unlike anyone ELSE in this basement, I can feel her up all I want to without getting slapped or my ass kicked."

Fez and Kelso both pouted at the taunt as Hyde went upstairs. And then Kelso got an idea. He turned to Fez in excitement. "Hey, let's go hide in the back of Hyde's car. Then when he starts to make a move on her, we can knock on the window and scare him!"

Fez's face brightened, and they both leapt to their feet and rushed out the back basement door.

Donna shook her head in slightly exasperated amusement.

Eric pulled his girlfriend closer to him and smiled sexily at her. "Ahhhh, alone at last," he said smoothly. "Whatever shall we do?" Donna smiled, but her expression was strained, and Eric knew she was distracted. He sighed. "What's wrong?"

Donna shrugged. "I just…" She looked at her boyfriend. "Do you think there's something wrong with Jackie?"

Eric nodded. "Of course there is, Donna. She's the devil." He shook his head playfully. "I think we've well established this fact."

She glared and swatted him. "Seriously, Eric."

Eric sighed again and his expression turned thoughtful. "Well, considering how she's acting lately, yes, I do."

"Do you think it's what Hyde said, she's just recovering from the accident?"

He rubbed Donna's shoulder, suddenly sad for some reason. He had a gut feeling that it wasn't just that. "I don't know, Donna."

Donna leaned into him and put her head on his shoulder. "Well, I think Hyde needs to take this more seriously than he is."

"I think maybe he's taking it more seriously than he acts."

She lifted her head and thought about how Hyde had reacted to Fez and Kelso's comments about Jackie, and about how he'd reacted to her own comments about Jackie. "Yeah, he was pretty defensive. It's like…it's like he doesn't want to believe something is wrong." Her eyes began to sting. Jackie was her best friend. She put her head back on Eric's shoulder. "I don't want to believe it, Eric."

Eric rested his head on his girlfriend's. "I don't either, Donna." He closed his eyes. "I don't either."