A/N: Thanks to everyone for the lovely feedback, I'm glad people are enjoying this.

Chapter Two - Shame

I'm still driving away
And I'm sorry every day
I won't always love these selfish things
I won't always live...
Not stopping...

Jackie looked up at the source of the commotion and saw that everyone was gathering around the newly arrived Hyde. He looked good in his suit, but who was she kidding he had always looked good to her in whatever he wore, not that she would ever admit that to him. But he was missing his trademark shades, his baby blues as bright as ever and the thought of looking into them right now scared her. Fez got up from his chair and asked if she was coming, she told him she'd be there in a minute and he went to join the crowd. She got up intending to go to the bathroom but ended up out back on the balcony over looking the Chinese garden. She lit up, a dirty habit she'd picked up over the years and just stared at the koi swimming around their little pond. She was up to her third cigarette when she heard his boots slap along the wood of the balcony.

"Those things will kill you" he said as he lit up one of his own.

"Hey Steven"

"Hey Jackie"

He stood next to her, and stared out into the night.

"So Donna and Eric, finally getting married" he said breaking the silence.

"Yeah about time, if someone had told me that they wouldn't end up here eventually I would have said that they were crazy" she said with a little giggle.

"Yeah crazy, but crazier than Donna getting married before you?" he said instantly regretting it.

She sighed almost inaudibly and turned her head to look at him.

"Well sometimes things happen that you don't expect"

Jackie had had a really long day at work and all she wanted to do was curl up on the couch and not move for a couple of hours. She heard Fez's key in the lock and he came in with a huge bouquet of flowers. They were beautiful and she went to go put them in a vase when Fez stopped her. He sat her back on the couch, got down on one knee and slipped a ring on her finger. She just stared at the ring not quite believing what had just happened. He asked her if she was happy and all she could do was hug him in response. He jumped up and ran to the phone saying he wanted all their friends to know the good news. She desperately needed some air and told him she'd go out and pick up some dinner.

She'd been in The Hub for 10 minutes waiting for her order when she thought she saw a familiar car pull up out front. Thankfully her food was ready and she bolted for the door not wanting to find out if she was right. But of course she smacked right into him and after a particularly awkward exchange sped off in her car. She spent the rest of the night on autopilot and when Fez questioned her quietness she told him that she was just really tired and should probably go to bed. She lay on her back staring at the ceiling, Fez's arm draped over her. This was what she wanted wasn't it? Marrying a man that would look after her and treat her right. So why couldn't she stop thinking about her encounter with Steven. He hadn't been particularly mean and had even congratulated her. But there was just something in his tone that bugged her and she didn't quite know what it was. Not that it mattered anymore anyway, he had made his distain for her quite evident in the past year so that was that. She was marrying Fez and they would be happy. She was still trying to convince herself hours later when she finally drifted off to sleep.

The next morning she heard Fez getting ready for work but stayed in bed pretending to still be asleep until he left. In the bathroom mirror she saw the dark circles under her eyes and thought she better not look like that on her wedding day. Her wedding day, she'd been dreaming about it forever and for the longest time it almost hadn't mattered who the groom was as long as he looked good and could take care of her in the style that she was accustomed. That was until Steven. He had made her think, question her values and her idea of the perfect life. Now the thought of marrying someone else was making her sick to her stomach and she felt like she'd stopped breathing. She collapsed on the floor in hysterical sobs cursing Steven for ruining her for anyone else. Now she had caught Fez up in her misery too. Convincing him and herself that they were meant to be when really it had been her way of coping with her loss. Obsessing over something that subconsciously she thought she couldn't have because it wouldn't lead anywhere and she wouldn't get hurt. But this time her plan had backfired because now when she finally got what she thought she wanted, it turned out it never had been.

She really hated herself for doing this to Fez, but if she didn't get out now the pain would only be greater down the track. She had to leave Point Place now before anyone could realize what she was doing. Packing all her belongs into her car, she left her apartment key, the ring and a note on the coffee table and sped out of Point Place as fast as her car could take her. She drove all day only stopping once for gas and food until she could drive no more. She pulled into a motel and was so tired she didn't even care that the wallpaper was peeling and the carpet was stained. So that's how she spent the next couple of months, driving around aimlessly, staying in random motels. She had made it to Washington when she decided it was time to stop running and get a real job. She quickly found a job as a receptionist at a local TV news station and actively took an interest on what was happening there. The station manager took a liking to her and under his guidance was now, 2 years later, a junior reporter. It had been a hard and lonely journey, being alone in a new city with no safety net but she had survived. Back in high school no one would have believed this was where she would end up, hell she barely believed it some days but sometimes things happen that you don't expect.

"Sorry to interrupt, but they're just about to serve dinner" Kitty said tentatively, sensing she had indeed interrupted something.

"We'll be right in Mrs. Forman" Hyde replied.

Jackie stubbed out her cigarette.

"So I guess we better go back in"

"I guess we better, uh Jackie?"

"Yes"

"Welcome home"

"You too Steven"