The next afternoon, Jackie found herself alone in the park, lying on her back in the cool green grass. Above her head, clouds danced across the bright blue sky. She had decided to devote some serious time to thinking about her situation with Eric after last night's conversation. Everything felt so fast to her now, like it was all happening far too quickly. It scared her just how right it all felt, despite the unnatural element to their relationship.

"Hey, Jackie," she heard a voice call.

Closing her eyes and then opening them again, she forced herself to sit up. "Hey, Donna."

"What was going on with you last night? You had me really worried."

"I told you, I just really needed to take that call."

"Was it a guy? Are you seeing someone?"

"Yes, it was a guy, and no, I'm not seeing him," Jackie admitted, slightly crushed at the last thought. "I've just needed someone to talk to lately, and he's been there. With Steven marrying the stripper and Michael leaving, I've just been lost. He helped me find myself again."

"Who are you talking to? Why are you being so secretive?"

"No reason," Jackie lied knowingly, quite aware that the repercussions of her secret conversations with Eric could impact their tight group.

"Fine, well, I have to go meet Randy at the Hub. Wanna come?"

Jackie shook her head. "No, but I will catch up with you later," she promised with a quick wave.

Thousands of miles away, on an unusually cool evening, Eric was lying on his back outside his hut. He watched the clouds pass by overhead, trying to make shapes out of the white masses that so easily strolled through the purple sky.

"Foreman, telephone!" one of his fellow instructors called.

Eric was ecstatic as he scrambled to his feet. Expecting it to be Jackie on the other end of the line, he was disappointed when he heard his mother's voice. "Hey, sweetheart."

"Oh, hi, Mom. What's up?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to tell you that I mailed you a package this morning. Lots of goodies from home," she told her son. "You sound sad, Eric. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Tell your mother what's wrong."

Eric squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. "Nothing, really, I promise."

"Sweetheart, something has been different about you lately. Did you meet someone?"

"Sorta," he stated bluntly.

"Oh, who?" she squealed excitedly.

"You have to swear to secrecy," he insisted. Once she had, he told her what he had been hiding from the rest of the world. "Jackie."

"Jackie? But I thought you two hated each other."

"We did, but when she called me to tell me about Hyde, I don't know, something clicked," he explained. "We've been talking almost every day lately, and there's something there. It's happened so fast that it scares me. It feels like it all came at once."

"That's how it was when I met your father," she remembered aloud.

"Yeah, well, with Hyde and Donna, it's a touchy situation at best. Beside, I don't even know how she feels about me. Or how I feel about her."

"Well, with you in Africa, it doesn't really matter much. It's too far."

"Yeah, maybe," he muttered while his mother began to babble about the other things going on, including Red's latest pursuit to put his foot in someone's ass. Eric barely listened until she finally told him that she had to go make dinner. With a quick goodbye, he placed the phone back in its place and headed back outside.

On two opposite ends of the world, a boy and a girl were falling in love with each other, with only the same night sky to hold them together.