Three weeks later saw Hyde, Donna and Fez in the exact same positions they were in the day they found out that Jackie and Eric were together in Africa.
"Can't fuckin' believe this," Hyde growled from his chair.
He was slurring and Donna could smell the alcohol off his breath from where she was sitting on the couch. Lost in her own thoughts, she looked over at him and noticed his slovenly appearance for the first time.
"Jeez, Hyde. When was the last time you took a shower?" She wrinkled her nose.
He ignored her and slugged from the can in his hand. "Been almost two frickin' months. They've hardly got elect…electricity. Why the hell'd she even go to the goddamn place."
He swiped at his mouth with his sleeve. "Stupid bitch," he said nastily.
Donna was taken aback, and even Fez frowned disapprovingly.
"Hyde, look. I don't like that she's with Eric either, but you've got to lay off the venom." She took a breath and decided to take the plunge. "It could be one of the reasons why she left in the first place," she said evenly.
"Oooh," Fez sucked in a breath through his teeth.
He leaned towards Donna while keeping his eyes fixed on Hyde. "You should not have said that!" he hissed at her, then added as an afterthought, "Although it is kinda true." His eyes flicked nervously to Hyde.
Hyde let out a mirthless laugh and his expression grew murderous. He and Donna tended to side together on most things and they hardly ever disagreed. He therefore took her statement as a personal affront.
"You," he extended a finger from the four that were wrapped around his beer and pointed it at Donna, "get off your high horse. You didn't give a crap 'bout her when Sam was around either."
Donna uncrossed her arms jerkily and sat forward. "I did that for you! I was trying to be supportive!"
Hyde snorted. "Whatever, man."
She flung her hands up and rose to her feet. "You know what, Hyde? Forget it," she steamed. "Go ahead, ignore the real problem here. Drink yourself to the grave. That's all you do anyway."
"Yes, that and toke up," said Fez under his breath.
Hyde shifted his shaded glare to Fez.
"What? It's true," Fez said flatly. "You chased her away, the both of you."
He moved his gaze to include Donna. "Now she's gone you can't stand it. And I for one, am done with this whole pity-fest. If she decides that Eric is a better friend than you both, then good for her, I say."
He stood up and dusted his hands on his pants. Without another backward glance, he turned on his heel and left, slamming the basement door behind him.
Donna stared at the door he departed through, her anger from before having gone with him. Her shoulders fell and she sank back down on the couch. She looked torn and insecure, her foot beating a wild tempo on the floor.
Hyde opened another can with a crack, and the fizzing of his beer filled the silence between them.
"Hyde?" Donna turned to face him. Her voice was low as she asked, "What if… What if something happens between them?"
Hyde chugged down half the can. At this rate, he'll hopefully be passed out before noon and not have to face the rest of the day. He belched loudly.
"What? Jackie and Forman?" he said and cackled hysterically. "Donna, It's Forman. He's been in love with you since before you even grew boobs."
He stopped suddenly and frowned, his eyes going glassy for a moment. Then they refocused and he said drunkenly, "It's Jackie. She and Forman? No way."
He shook his head hard. Pointedly. Vehemently.
"No way in hell," he repeated.
A loud rumble of thunder woke Jackie up in the deep of the night. She lay wide-eyed in bed as lightning flashed, illuminating the inside of the hut and casting shadows everywhere. In its light she saw that Eric's bed looked barely slept in and was empty.
Again.
She had a niggling sense that something wasn't right, and instinctively knew it was something to do with the horrifying nightmare she had witnessed those weeks ago. And deep secrets that Eric guarded that went along with it.
Another clap of thunder sounded and she jumped. Then the skies opened and rain began to pour down in sheets.
"Eric," she whispered.
She threw off the sheets and headed for the door, grabbing a raincoat off the hook and shoving her arms through the sleeves.
The wind sent the door banging violently open as she turned the handle and she struggled to pull it back shut as she left the warmth of the hut. She called his name and looked around her, hoping to see his familiar figure trudging towards her.
It was one of the first things that Eric had been sure to warn her about. To stay indoors during a storm like this one, for those that struck these parts were largely electrical, and lightning was a massive threat. She ignored that warning now, and strained to see him through the rain, but couldn't find him anywhere among the many huts of the slumbering village. Taking a deep breath, she pulled up her hood, tucked her chin into her chest, and stepped out into the lashing rain. Any area uncovered by the raincoat was immediately wet to the bone.
She didn't know where to go, or where he would be, she just knew that she desperately needed to find him and that wherever he was, he needed her. Jackie headed off blindly, but it seemed as if even if she wasn't consciously aware of it, her heart seemed to know where Eric was, and by sheer instinct her feet seemed to be leading her to the schoolyard.
Thunder roared, deep and menacing, and she picked up her pace. Rain slanted down, buffeted at an angle by the bluster of the wind. Trickles of water ran down her face and into the neck of the coat and Jackie shivered as lightning lit up the sky.
She heard the unmistakeable sound of someone splitting logs as she neared the schoolyard, and when she saw him, a mixture of relief and then a chilling fear swept swiftly through her body, nearly paralyzing her.
She was still a distance away, and he was standing in the middle of the large open yard with his back to her. He was soaked through, the material of his t-shirt transparent and plastered to the skin on his back.
She could make out the long ax in his hands, the same one he used to bring down the huge tree; the tip of the wide metal blade glinting silver in the moonlight as he swung it up with a hoarse cry and brought it down in a violent crash, splitting the log on a tree stump before him. He kicked savagely at it and the log flew off the stump and landed on the ground.
There was a pile of logs next to him that showed that he had been at it a while. Alarm flooded her as bolts of lightning streaked through the night sky, splitting it into several pieces and bathing the land below in brilliant light. Horror galvanized her into action.
"Eric!" she screamed, and broke into a run. "Put the ax down! It'll kill you!"
He didn't hear her. The rain continued to hammer down, drowning out the sound of her cries.
The usual sandy, hard ground beneath her feet had turned into a slushy mud and she slipped as her boots lost their grip on the dirt. She saw Eric bend down to pick up another log and swing the ax forcefully up once more. The dark sky flickered white, and the metal of his blade flashed a reply.
Jackie screamed again.
Miraculously, he heard her. He stopped mid-swing and with effort, lowered the ax to the ground.
He stood with his back to her and hung his head as he looked down; his shoulders heaving slightly. She hurtled into him and wrenched the heavy ax from his grip, flinging it as far away as she could. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and buried her face in his back, sobbing his name.
"What were you thinking?" she cried over the roar of the rain. "An ax in the middle of a lightning storm! You could have gotten electrocuted."
She pulled at him urgently, sobbing still. "Please Eric, let's go indoors. We shouldn't be outside."
Her hood had long since fallen back, and her hair was as wet as his.
The rain streamed down both their heads and down their faces and she could feel the rigid tension in his body. He didn't move and she wouldn't leave him. So they stood there in the middle of the open yard as curtains of water pelted down over them.
Thunder rolled deafeningly overhead. A couple of seconds later, several bolts of lightning tore through the black of the sky.
"Eric," she cried his name again.
He didn't appear to hear her, lost in thoughts of his own.
She released her hold on his waist and moved her body around his. He was staring off in the distance and the darkness held images he alone could see. She reached up to take his face in both her hands and was shocked at the deadness in his expression. His beautiful green eyes when she saw them were cold and empty.
Icy fingers of dread gripped her spine and a fresh bout of tears filled her eyes. She stroked the sides of his face with her thumbs and her voice was filled with anguish as she called for him to come back to her.
A huffing wind rose and Jackie started to shake. Eric's skin was cold and clammy, and she knew that it was not because of the chill or the storm.
"Eric," she pleaded, "it's me, Jackie. Let me help, please."
Her eyes spilled over and tears ran down her face, mingling with the ceaseless fall of the rain.
She brushed droplets of rainwater from his eyes and pushed his wet hair off his forehead, willing some spark of life back into his vacant eyes, some show of emotion from his blank face, but he didn't, or couldn't, hear her.
She ran her fingers over his lips, and her heart broke for him. A desperation surged through her, an unquenchable need to absorb his pain into her own body, to share it with him.
A tide of emotion swept her and she gave up. She stopped fighting herself, she stopped fighting the pull between them, and she stopped fighting the intense need she felt for him. She closed her eyes and pulled his head down to meet her lips in a feverish kiss in an attempt to join her soul with his. She kissed him with all that she had, all that she felt for him and all that she wanted from him.
Just when she was starting to despair, she felt him stir and his arms came up around her and crushed her to him with bruising strength. His lips melded and slanted over hers as he thrust his tongue into her mouth to taste its honeyed depths.
"Jackie…" he whispered hoarsely. "Jackie."
She tightened her arms around his neck and opened her mouth wider to give him better access, moaning slightly as his tongue stroked hers and the rain poured steadily down on them.
They sank down to the wet ground together, and he broke the kiss, breathing heavily. He leaned back on his haunches then stretched out and lay on the muddy ground, closing his eyes.
Jackie stared at him for a moment, chest heaving and lips swollen. She looked up at the sky then threw caution to the wind and did the same and stretched out on the ground next to him.
Thunder reverberated above, and they felt an echoing vibration in the ground beneath them. Jackie kept quiet, and concentrated on the feel of raindrops on her upturned face and closed eyes.
Eric's body was warm against hers and their hands found their way to each other. They lay in silence for a long time, and the heavy fall of the rain eventually abated to a light drizzle.
"I see them," Eric said, his voice low and hoarse, staring unblinkingly up at the night sky.
She turned her head to look at him and saw that his eyes were bright with tears that he would not shed.
"Who?" she asked quietly.
He told her.
He told her everything.
Through it all, she kept silent. The only sounds of the night was the soft pattering of the rain falling on the ground and the bass of his voice as he took her into his memories and the throes of hell. She never looked away from him and she never made a sound.
"I wasn't strong enough… I wasn't fast enough… The water was so fucking dark. Couldn't do a damn thing," his voice finally hitched and he gritted his teeth at the telltale weakness.
He sat up suddenly, planting his feet on the ground and bowed his head between his knees.
She got up slowly too, and tentatively reached out to lay a hand on his back. It was warm despite the wet of his t-shirt. He stiffened at her touch, as if he couldn't bear it, and flinched away from her.
She scrambled to her knees then, and got around in front of him, pushing herself between his legs.
His eyes were closed and he wore such a look of self-loathing that she couldn't bear it. For this was Eric.
Her savior.
Her friend.
Her missing half.
Her everything.
She leaned her forehead against his and her long hair fell forward to frame both their faces. She planted soft kisses on his eyelids and another gentle one on his mouth.
She felt him shudder and when he opened his eyes they were filled with anguish.
"How can you stand to look at me," he asked harshly.
She smiled brokenly at him. "How can I not? You're…," she struggled for an image that he would understand. "You're my white knight."
He barked out a laugh in stunned disbelief.
Jackie cradled his face in both her hands and forced him to look in her eyes. "No, you don't. It's true." Her gaze fell over his face, and she took in the permanent shadows under his eyes and the more frightening ones lurking inside them.
She brushed her lips against his one more time and whispered against them, "I want to know your secrets and I want to fight your demons. We'll get through this together, Eric."
She could see that he didn't believe her, but she resolutely ignored it. It would take him time to heal and she was determined to be there for him, so that he was no longer alone.
It continued to drizzle all night, stopping only just before dawn. Together they watched as the sun rose that morning to a brand new day, painting the dawn sky in varying shades of orange.
And with it came a magnificent rainbow.
It was a beautiful thing. Gleaming seven different colors across the vastness of the horizon further than the eye can see.
Jackie turned to Eric. "You know," she said and managed a wobbly, but nonetheless cheeky grin, "I kinda miss Rainbow."
It took him a split second, then he chuckled. A deep, full-bellied one that warmed her all over.
He was quiet for so long she thought he wouldn't answer. When he did, she nearly missed it.
"I miss him too," he said sadly.
A/N: Please do NOT lie on the ground in an open field where there is lightning. The author does not encourage this, it will only get you killed. Heck, just head indoors or run for shelter when you see lightning. And NOT under a tree either. A tree does not count as shelter.