Disclaimer: I own none of it.

Chapter 1

1990

Jackie walked into her quaint office in Chelsea. She threw her coat on her drawing boards, and looked at her appointment book. Her studio was small in comparison, but her business was good enough that she could afford to rent that AND her apartment that was a subway ride away in Greenwich Village. She had a meeting with a new client, and they would pay GOOD MONEY for her to decorate their new apartment on the Upper East Side. A lot of people knew that if you wanted a good interior design for a reasonable price, you went to Burkhardt and Grant's in Chelsea, New York City. She had graduated from NYU six years before, and she was already very successful as an interior decorator. And she loved her lifestyle in New York. She barely even thought about her roots in Wisconsin, and had planned to keep it that way.

Until that December day. She looked at her phone, and noticed she had a message on her answering machine. She was about to hit it, when a tall man in a stylish wool coat walked in.

"Hello, loves," he said. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm fine, Barry, how about you?" she asked. He shrugged, and took off his scarf.

"It's that wonderful time of the year when I have to go back to Schenectady and see the folks," he said. "Christmas is but two weeks away. Are you going to your parents?"

"Not if I can help it," she said. "I think I'm just going to watch 'It's A Wonderful Life' on TV, treat myself to some hot chocolate, and then work on designs while listening to Christmas music."

"You could come with me, my parents love you," he said, sitting at his desk.

"It's because they think we're dating."

"No, I told them that we broke up five years ago!" Barry Grant was Jackie's best friend and business partner. They had met at NYU as freshmen, and hit it off quite well at first sight. He had also taken a year off, though instead of sulking around at home he had traveled Europe. He was in Jackie's psychology 101 class, and commented on how much he loved her blue jumper and vintage go-go boots. They were perfect for each other in all ways, except they never dated for one specific reason. He was gay.

"You should really come out to them soon, I'm sick of being your beard," she teased, drinking her coffee.

"We've talked about this, Jackie, I'll come out to them just as soon as YOU get an active social life," he said, and began sorting through his mail. She laughed, and shrugged.

"This may surprise you, but I was little miss popularity back in high school," she said.

"Back in Podunk, Wisconsin?" he asked.

"Hey, I was the head cheerleader at Podunk High," she said. He rolled his eyes, and began looking at some sketches. "But I gave that life up long ago when I decided that parties and popularity aren't all to life."

"This is true," he said. "Sex is a big part of it too." She smiled, and remembered that she had a message on her answering machine. She hit the button, and leaned back in her chair.

"But I will get you out one of these days, to tap into the old Jackie that I never knew but for a semester," he said, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Burkhardt and Grant Interior Designs is closed at the moment, as Jackie and Barry are not at work. Please leave a message after the beep." BEEP.

"Hi, um… I hope I have the right number, this is for Jackie Burkhardt," the somewhat familiar voice said. "This is Kitty Foreman." She almost dropped her coffee mug. Kitty Foreman? "Jackie, your mother gave me this number. I called because I thought that you should know that, well, Bob Pinciotti died this morning. He had a heart attack." Jackie put her hand to her mouth. This was too surreal. "And I thought that you would like to know about that. I'll leave Red's and my number." Jackie copied the number down frantically. "I hope that we hear from you, sweetie." BEEP.

Barry saw the ashen look on Jackie's face as she stared at the machine. He gave her a quizzical look.

"Who is Bob Pinciotti?" he asked, and Jackie looked at him as if from a trance.

"He's… He's the guy I stayed with when my Dad was in jail and my Mom was in Mexico," she said. "He is, well, I guess was, Donna's dad."

"Remind me, who's Donna?"

"You know who she is! You met her once! She was my best friend in high school," Jackie said. "Oh my God. Bob's dead." Barry stood, and walked to his friend. He put his arms around the front of her, and she hugged them. "He did so much for me. He treated me like another daughter while I stayed there."

"Oh loves," he said, squeezing her. "I'm sorry."

"I should call Kitty," she said, grabbing the phone.

"Who is this Kitty?" he asked.

"Oh, she is the Mom of my friend Eric," Jackie said. "You know, the one who went to Africa."

"Oh." She dialed the number that Kitty left, and waited for her to answer. Her heart was beating frantically, she had left this place behind and now it was attacking her at all sides. Barry went back to his board, but watched his friend as she waited for someone to answer.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Foreman?"

"Yes?"

"… It's Jackie Burkhart."

"…. Oh my GOD, JACKIE!" the woman exclaimed, sounding happy and extremely surprised. "Jackie, you got my message!"

"Yeah, I did, just now," Jackie said. "Bob's dead?"

"Yes, honey, he is," Kitty said. The familiarity in using the word 'honey' was both comforting and unsettling. "He had a heart attack yesterday morning."

"Gosh. Is Donna taking it okay?" Jackie asked.

"She and Eric came in from Madison last night," Kitty said. "She seems to be handling it, but at the same time she's obviously heartbroken."

"I can imagine."

"I just called because I thought you should know," Kitty said. "I know that he cared about you like his own daughter." Jackie closed her eyes, and felt a headache coming on.

"Thank you, I appreciate you saying that," Jackie said.

"I also wanted to tell you that the funeral is on Friday," Kitty said. "Oh, it's such a tragedy, he died during the holiday season!" And with that, Kitty dissolved into her trademark sobs. Jackie had no idea what to do. She had never been very good at comforting people, and Kitty needed comfort at the moment.

"Kitty…" Jackie said, and then blurted out what she never thought she would say. "Kitty, I'll come in on the next flight I can."

"You will?" Kitty asked, and Jackie heard her choke a little on her sobs. "Oh, Donna will be so happy to hear that!" Barry was looking at Jackie, eyes wide and mouth dropped. She shrugged at him, and went back to the phone call.

"Yes, I will. I will see you tonight, Kitty," Jackie said. "Are you still at-?"

"Oh, Red and I haven't moved," Kitty said. "I mean, we did, but the Florida heat got to him, and for some reason no one wanted our house… Yes, I'm sure you remember how to get here." I certainly hope so, Jackie thought.

"Okay, I will be in tonight, Kitty, but I have to go and pack and all that," Jackie said. "Goodbye, Kitty."

"Goodbye!" Jackie hung up, and then felt sick. Barry stood, and crossed his arms.

"Okay, loves, tell me that you did NOT just tell a hysterical old woman that you were going to be on the next flight to Wisconsin for a funeral," he said, and she stood and grabbed her coat. "Jackie, we have stuff we need to take care of."

"You're right, I have to cancel my appointments through Saturday," Jackie said. "But they won't mind, I'm going to a funeral for God's sake…"

"No, Jackie, that isn't what I meant," Barry said, grabbing her arm. "Are you sure that you want to go back to this town you said you hated so much?" She nodded, and Barry huffed. "Why?"

"Barry," she said, "Bob took care of me when I needed help, and Kitty sounded like she really wanted me to be there."

"Jackie, when was the last time you were in Point Place?" he asked, as she began going through her date book. She ignored him, and he growled. "Have you even been back?" She thought for a second. As a matter of fact, she hadn't. She had barely kept in touch with any of that part of her life. After her father was released, he and her mother reconciled and moved to Chicago, she didn't have a need to go back. She didn't even go to Donna's and Eric's wedding, but instead sent a present in the mail. Donna and she had kept in touch for awhile, but the letters became fewer and fewer, and the phone calls became less frequent. She knew that they had moved to Madison, and that Erik was a teacher at a local high school while Donna was a bookstore owner. The last she heard, Donna was pregnant, and that was two years prior. So she assumed that Donna and Eric were now parents, and that she'd meet the kid. And everyone else just disappeared into history.

"I haven't," she admitted. "But that is why I need to go back now. Because I skipped out on them, and wrote them out of my life. So I have to go back and make peace with that." She began writing down the client names, and Barry sighed.

"Okay," he said.

"And you're going to come with me," she continued.

"What!"

"Barry, I really need some support when I go back, and I would really appreciate it if you would be the one to do that," she said.

"Why should I? I have client appointments too, you know."

"Because I've been your beard all these years and I think that this is more than fair, since this is only once and I've done it for you for the past nine years," she said. He knew that she had him, and groaned. He began going through his date book.

"Thank you, Barry," she said, and he held up a hand.

"Oh you just figure out who needs to get their appointments moved!" he snapped, though she knew he wasn't really that mad at her. He never was.