They were lying in bed together by the low light of the lamp. He had his head on her chest, and she was running her fingers through the short hair at the back of his neck.
"Why did they do it?" she asked quietly.
Jackie's fingers in his hair were gentle and soothing. He closed his eyes, lulled by the movement. She rested her cheek on his head, and he took his time with his answer.
"They believe they had no choice," he said finally, hearing Morathi's calm voice in his head.
"The, um…," he started to say, but had to stop to clear his throat. When he continued, his voice was stronger and devoid of emotion. "The babies… They were Mingi… Considered impure. Born with a physical deformity."
"Deformity?"
She felt him nod, the top of his head brushing her cheek. "One had a cleft lip… The other, a bum leg."
Jackie drew in a shaky breath, and waited for him to continue.
"They were believed to be evil. Bringers of death and destruction. One such child would be terrible enough for them... But two. Two, were considered disastrous. And born within minutes of each other. The village elders went nuts. Hell, the entire village went nuts.
"They had to be sacrificed, and so they were. I tried to save them. I failed."
Jackie was filled with sorrow, her heart breaking for the unfortunate infants, for Eric, for the injustice of it all. She lifted his chin suddenly and ran a thumb along the jagged edge of the long scar hidden by the stubble under his chin. "You got this fighting for their lives, didn't you?"
He lowered his head in answer.
She brushed a kiss against his forehead and held him tight, forcing back tears. Her brave, brave man.
She kissed him again, inhaling wood and spice and earth. Her voice was soft when she spoke.
"Eric… At least… At least they had that. Someone, even if he was a stranger. Who wanted to give them a chance. Who fought for them. It means something."
She felt his chest rise as he took in a deep breath. But he made no reply and they lay together in silence. The light of the lamp slowly burned out, and they fell asleep in the comfort of each others' arms.
"Hyde. Hyde! Come on, buddy. Get up."
Donna gritted her teeth in frustration and looked at Fez. She had both hands under Hyde's left arm and Fez had both of his under Hyde's right.
A very drunk and very passed out Hyde. Whom they found sprawled on the ground before the sliding doors with his keys under one of the chairs, and correctly concluded that he must have dropped them and passed out while looking for them.
A puddle of last night's partially digested dinner lay next to his prone form and the both of them were trying their damned best to ignore it.
"Hydeee. Come on, man. Red's gonna have your ass," Fez tried again. He pulled hard. Hyde didn't move an inch. Fed up, he glared at Donna. "Put some muscle into it, woman!"
Donna glared back and dropped Hyde's arm. It landed on the floor with a dull thump.
Hyde turned around and gave a mighty snore.
"I vote we leave him here," she said in disgust.
Hyde's other arm fell to the ground with another heavy thud as Fez planted his hands on his hips. "Ai," he said resignedly, looking at the figure on the ground. He looked up and asked, "What if Red kicks him out?"
Donna swallowed a cry of frustration. Her temper getting more and more frayed by the second, she nudged Hyde with a foot.
"Hyde."
No answer.
She kicked him. Hard. "Hyde!"
He groaned and muttered a foul word.
Donna's eyes bugged out. "Did he just swear at me?"
She looked at Fez's grinning face and looked back down at Hyde. She kicked him again. "Asshole!"
They whirled around as the slider opened. "Kids? This is early even for—. Oh my. Steven?"
"Uh, Miss Kitty, Donna saw him lying here when she got the paper this morning and called me over to help."
Kitty crouched down to put a hand over Hyde's forehead. It was slightly warm and she frowned, worried. "He must've been freezing out here last night. The poor dear. Come on, help me get him into the house before Red sees."
Between the three of them they managed to drag Hyde's sorry form into the living room and placed him on the couch.
"That'll have to do," said Kitty, "he can make it down the basement stairs himself when he's awake."
She looked over to Donna and Fez. "You kids can leave now," she said with a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
Looks of instant relief flashed on their faces.
"You sure, Mrs. Forman? I'll be by later to check on him," Donna said with a glance at the couch.
"Okay, honey. You do that."
Fez was already heading towards the door. "Bye, Miss Kitty!"
When they left, Kitty stood staring over Hyde's snoring figure on her living room couch. Her eyes were troubled and filled with concern.
"Oh, Steven," she sighed.
"This is getting out of hand, Kitty. Half the time he's drunk off his ass, the other half he's sleeping off a hangover. The only time he leaves the house is to get more beer. Heck, I don't even know if he goes to work anymore!"
"Red, the boy's in a phase. It'll pass, I'm sure."
"What phase? Steven's always in a phase."
Kitty busied herself scrubbing the grime off the stove.
"Kitty, he's a grown man. Men have responsibilities." Red shook his head and went back to polishing the shoe that he had in his hand. "Shame the Burkhart girl doesn't come around anymore. She wasn't completely useless." He shook his head again in disgust. "Dumbass," he muttered.
Kitty didn't reply, scrubbing furiously. Her thoughts on the boy who had come to mean as much to her as her own son.