A/N : It's so great to have support for this fic. I was just so nervous about trying to write in a new genre and I really don't right a lot of comedy anyway, the Buffyverse lends itself much more to drama. Anywho, here's hoping this chapter will create a positive reaction too. Apologies that it's so short.
(For disclaimer, etc.- see chapter 1)

Chapter 2

"Oh, Lord, I did it again" Kitty exclaimed, her trademark high-pitched laugh following her declaration, "I'm so used to Steven being here, I'm still fixing too much food for breakfast"

"Oh actually, Mom, I think Hyde might've stayed in the basement last night" Eric said from his place at the table with his sister and father, "I'll go look" he smiled, taking a half piece of toast with him as he headed out of the room and down the stairs. He was only moderately surprised to find his friend was not in fact in his old room, after all it wasn't so shocking to think Hyde had gone home late. What caused Eric to frown was the sight of an envelope propped up on the table, as if it had been put there on purpose to be seen.

Holding his toast in his mouth, he picked up the envelope, opened it up and pulled out a short letter from inside, the scruffy hand-writing immediately recognisable as Hyde's own.

"Oh my God" he gasped, his breakfast falling from his mouth to the floor unnoticed.

"Eric! Steven!" Kitty called from the stop of the stairs, "Hurry up, boys, your eggs are getting cold"

"Mom, Hyde's not down here" her son called back as he hurried up the stairs once again, handing her the letter when he reached the top.

"Well, what is this...?" she asked absently as they went back into the kitchen, her eyes skimming the words as she went, "'To Forman, or whoever finds this first, I'm leaving Point Place...' Oh my goodness, Red!" Kitty suddenly yelled as she hurried to her husbands side, her hand over her mouth in shock as she handed the letter to him.

Red proceeded to read the contents of the letter aloud;

"'I'm leaving Point Place and I don't know when or even if I'll be back. I'm not proud of being like my Dad and running out on people, but this time I didn't have a choice. I'm sorry for anybody I hurt by leaving, I know you'll be disappointed in me, Mrs Forman, but you wouldn't understand what's going on with me right now, nobody would, hell, I don't even think I get it. To the guys, keep fighting the system any way you can, and make me proud. To the girls, I'll miss you, stay strong. To Mr and Mrs Forman, you guys are the best, maybe if I'd been a real member of your family I'd've turned out different, but I guess we'll never know. Goodbye Wisconsin. Steven Hyde'"

"Oh my God!" Laurie gasped, catching everyone's attention, "He didn't even mention me? Stupid orphan idiot"

"Can it, Laurie!" Kitty snapped, looking visibly upset, "Oh, Red, why would Steven just up and leave like that?"

"Why?" Red echoed, looking at his wife as if she were stupid, "Because he's a dumbass is why!" he said firmly, "If that boy's mother had kicked his ass into gear when he was younger, maybe he'd have turned out okay, but there was no way a kid of Edna and Bud was going to turn out as anything but a carbon copy of one or the other"

"Something wasn't right last night" Eric shook his head, "Hyde was acting weird. I called him on it but he didn't want to talk" he sighed as he sat back down at the table, "Man, this sucks. He's just gone"

"Well, he seemed perfectly fine when I talked to him yesterday" Kitty said thoughtfully, "We got talking about the little rich girl, Jackie. Y'know I was so sure they liked each other..."

"No way, Mom, Hyde hates Jackie" Eric told her, "It was so weird that he even agreed to go on a date with her"

"Well, this is thrilling, but I have better things to do than sit around worrying about the kid that's not even a real part of this family" Laurie smiled brightly as she got up from her seat.

"Yeah, well, I wish he was a real part of this family, instead of you!" Eric snapped, storming away from the table and down to the basement.

"Daddy!" Laurie squealed, "Eric's being mean again!"

Red barely seemed to hear her as he sat back down at the table re-reading the parting words from Hyde, until eventually Laurie just went off in a snit to her room.

"Son of a bitch!" her father suddenly exclaimed, slamming the letter in his hand down onto the table, "I tell you, Kitty, I am mad about this" he fumed, "We took that boy in, fed him, clothed him, understood when he wanted to go live with his father, and how does he repay us? He ups and leaves, and causes a whole family crisis, when he's not even a part of this damn family!"

"Now, Red, come on" Kitty calmed him down, "Steven is as much a part of this family as any of us, there's no way he'd have left like this without a really good reason" she explained, "You know how touchy he gets about being compared to his father"
"If he doesn't want people to think he's a lazy ass that runs out when the going gets tough, then he shouldn't act like one" Red snapped, "Oh my God!" he gasped in sudden realisation, "I'll bet he's got some girl in trouble!"

"Oh no, no, no no" Kitty shook her head, "Not our Steven, no, he's not so irrisponsible"

"He's a seventeen year old boy, Kitty" her hand reminded her, "None of them have any control, they're all irresponsible dumbasses! "

"Hey, Mr and Mrs Forman" Donna smiled as she let herself into the kitchen from the driveway, Jackie right behind her, "Is Eric almost ready for school?" she checked.

"Oh, Donna" Kitty said sadly, "Eric is a little upset right now" she explained, looking a little teary herself, "Steven is..."

"Steven is...?" Jackie prompted, "Oh my God, what happened to Steven, is he okay?" she gasped.

"Read it and weep" Red offered the letter to her as he got up to leave the room, "Just, let me get out of the house first" he urged her as he hurried to pick up his jacket and leave for work, kissing Kitty on the cheek as he went.

"Oh my God!" Jackie gasped, sitting down fast as she read the note from Hyde, "Oh Donna, oh my God, Steven left town!"

"Hyde left town?" the red-head frowned, "Why would he do that?" she asked aiming her question more at Mrs Forman than anywhere else, after all she was the grown-up here and she must've heard this news before either Donna or Jackie.

"Well, honey, I don't know" she shook her head, "Eric said he wasn't really himself last night when he was talking to him in the basement, and then this morning he found this note down there" she sniffed, "Oh, I'm just so worried about that poor boy" she almost cried as her hand come up to cover her mouth.

Jackie sat at the table fighting with her own emotions and Donna felt very torn, wondering who was more worthy of comfort or a hug right now. She could hardly take the news in herself. After all, she'd known Hyde since they were little kids, they were great friends, she couldn't imagine what life would be like without him being around.

"Hey" Eric greeted his girlfriend as he came back into the kitchen, passing his mother who hurried through to the living room, muttering something about having things to do. She obviously didn't want everyone to know how upset she was.

"Hey, what's going on with Hyde?" Donna asked him and Eric shook his head.

"I don't know" he told her, "Although it could be that maybe the hysterical cheerleader constantly throwing herself at him might have drove him away" he shot a little nastily at Jackie who looked to be just a few seconds away from crying her eyes out.

"Oh no way are you going to blame me for this, Eric Forman!" the little brunette yelled, waving Hyde's letter around, "There is obviously something wrong with Steven, so wrong he's afraid to share it with any of us, so he's been forced to run away to protect our feelings! Oh my God, maybe he's dying!"

"Jackie, breathe" Donna told her sternly, "Hyde is not dying, he probably just, I dunno, went to go find his Mom or something"

"I don't know" Eric told her, "From his letter it's like something happened, something he can't deal with, and I guess hiding in the basement isn't going to cut it this time. He needed real time away"

"Well, right now we really have to get to school" Donna said as she checked the time on her boyfriends wrist-watch, "Maybe after we can get the gang back here, try to think where Hyde might've gone"

"Sounds like a plan" Eric nodded in agreement as he grabbed his books and jacket. Jackie was still sitting at the table staring at the piece of paper in her hand as if it held the answer to everything, even as Eric went outside to open up the garage and get out the car.

"You coming, Jackie?" Donna asked her, "Hey, Jackie!" she called, shaking her shoulder slightly and finally getting her attention, "Are you coming?" she asked again and the shorter girl nodded as she got to her feet.

"Donna" she said, looking so serious it was almost scary, "What if I'm the reason Steven ran away? What if I did push too hard and scare him?"
"Jackie, Hyde doesn't get scared" Donna assured her, "I really don't think he'd run away just because of you"

Though the younger girl nodded her head, she didn't look entirely convinced.

To Be Continued...