They made love every night after that. She couldn't get enough of him and it was the same way for Eric. The only difference between them was that Eric was absolutely clear about his feelings for Jackie and harbored no guilt or reservations about them towards her.

For Jackie, things were a little murkier.

After that very first night together out under the stars, and she was the happiest that she had been, it was as if fate or the universe or something was determined to make things difficult for her. For the very next night that they came together again she had gotten up after Eric had fallen asleep and gone for a glass of water. Feeling suddenly cold, she had rummaged around her clothes in her suitcase and in the dark of the night hadn't realized that it was Steven's old Zeppelin shirt that her fingers had found first.

A chill had struck her then, and a douse of cold reality washed over her. She had stashed the shirt back at the very bottom of her suitcase with trembling fingers, and crawled back into bed with Eric, but even the warmth of his long body wasn't enough to stop the chill in her heart.

It didn't stop her from continuing to have sex with him since, for she could not deny him any more than she could herself, but each time after Eric brought her to the same heights of bliss, a little feeling that she shouldn't be feeling so happy, so good about sharing such an intimacy with Hyde's best friend when she had once vowed that she would love Hyde himself forever. And there in lay another problem. Eric wasn't just any friend. He was Hyde's best friend - almost brother.

Eric though, didn't see it that way when Jackie brought it up to him at bedtime one night.

"He had his chance, he blew it, he treated you like crap when you needed him most," was his grim answer. His arm tightened around Jackie's naked shoulders protectively. "You don't deserve that, no woman does."

Jackie pressed a kiss to his chest. "Steven's... Different," was her reply. Even now, she defended him.

"Not so different that he can marry someone else when he claims to love another."

She tucked her head towards her chin. It still hurt when she was reminded of Sam.

Eric noticed and nearly kicked himself. "I'm sorry," he told her softly, "that was thoughtless of me." It was, but he hadn't been thinking, and any mention of Hyde inadvertently roused his protective feelings. That, and no small measure of jealousy too.

Her fingers were cool against his chest as she rubbed it soothingly. "Don't be sorry. It led me here. And I'm happy here with you."

His heart soared and he cradled her to him. It was the first time she had ever said anything of that nature before. He leaned down and kissed her lingeringly, and feathered his thumb over her smooth cheek. Then he made love to her again, slowly and tenderly, letting her know all he wanted her to know without saying a word.

"Hey Mom."

"Eric! Oh sweetie, it's so good to hear from you, it's been so long since your last call."

"Yeah, and I'm sorry about that, Mom."

"Oh shush. I'm just happy to hear from you that's all. How're you? We all miss you back home. Did you get the things I sent over? How's Jackie?" Kitty asked, then she laughed breathlessly. "Oh excuse me, dear, I haven't let you get a single word in edgewise."

Eric smiled in affection. "Uh, everything's good. Yeah, I got the stuff, thanks. The brownies especially were a huge hit with the kids."

He glanced at Jackie who was cozied up under his left arm, her legs thrown comfortably over his lap. "Um, Jackie's good. She's right here actually. Wanna talk to her?"

Jackie held out her hand for the phone. Eric spoke a bit more into it then handed it to her.

"Hi, Mrs. Forman," she said and nestled her head into Eric's neck. He tightened his arms around her and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"Yeah, we're doing fine." She listened and then let out a tinkling laugh. "I do? I guess. Uh-huh. Yeah, I am happier."

Kitty said something and Jackie sent a quick glance up at Eric. "Still together? Oh, that's great to hear, I'm glad for her. She's my best friend." She kept quiet for a while listening to Kitty. A crease appeared between her brows and then she jerked upright, ignoring Eric's yelp of protest as her head hit his chin.

"Bar fight?" she asked incredulously, and then she exclaimed, "Jail!"

Kitty sighed on the other end of the line. This was difficult to tell Jackie, but Steven had been on a steady downward decline and the final straw had come just a few days earlier when the Point Place Police Department had finally had enough and thrown him into jail after his third bar fight of the month. And this was after the two acts of vandalism on the water tower.

The first was when he had blacked out Kelso's name and added his own in its place so the words read "Steven + Jackie" instead.

The second was when he realized what he had done on one of the rare occasions that he was semi-sober and had driven past the tower and seen what he had done. Outraged, he downed half a bottle of Jack Daniels, smoked through half a bag of pot, and proceeded to clamber up there to 'correct' what he did.

The next morning a rude caricature of Jackie had appeared next to the drawing of the pot leaf, and the 'Steven' in the "Steven + Jackie" had been furiously sprayed over with what must be at least two cans of paint.

The man himself had passed out at the base of the tower, only to be discovered the following morning by Donna and Randy, who had been despatched by Kitty to look for him when she realized that he hadn't been home that night. They couldn't wake him, and in a panic had driven straight to the hospital in fear that he may have overdosed.

They found out that he had a concussion and a huge egg-sized bump on his head, which he had probably obtained when he passed out on top of the water tower and accidentally rolled off the edge in his sleep. He was hospitalized for a day and recovered well enough, though it was a wonder that he hadn't broken his own neck.

Whenever he was at home though, he was, as usual, drunk off his ass, which didn't bother Red so much if he was quiet and stayed out of his way, but he wasn't, and when really drunk, Hyde was loud. Loud and howling Jackie's name.

In the middle of the night.

Most of the time it would be in anger, indignation or resentment. But there was once when Kitty had gone downstairs to settle him instead of Red, and amidst the empty cans and halo of smoke (plant origin unknown) around him in the basement, she found him crying over a picture of Jackie, and recognized it as the one that Jackie had given him when she had redecorated his room for him. She left him alone, but her heart ached for him. The poor boy who had been abandoned at such a young age, and who would rather destroy what he loved best rather than face the pain of losing it.

"Honey," she said to Jackie gently, "I think it's time for you to come home. Steven… Steven's not doing well. And Red and I think that with you gone…" She sighed. "He's not doing well, honey," she said again by way of explanation.

Jackie felt her heart sink. "You think I need to come home."

Kitty nodded, then realizing that Jackie couldn't see her, cleared her throat and said, "Yes, sweetie."

Eric went still when he heard Jackie's words. He had more or less guessed what Kitty was saying from the play of emotions on her face, but he took the phone from her shaking fingers and spoke to his mom again just to be sure.

He was quiet when he hung up and glanced at her. "Hey," he said.

Jackie flashed him a strained smile and shook his arm gently off her shoulders, swinging her legs off his lap.

He looked away and allowed her to do so, feeling a sudden chill where he was warm before.

The next couple of days passed by in relative silence, but things between Eric and Jackie had changed. Gone was the air of content, the easy affection, the bliss that existed between lovers. They still shared a bed at night, but instead of in each other's arms, they found sleep alone on either side of the mattress.

A large black cloud also known as Steven Hyde had taken residence above their heads. They didn't refer to it, but they both knew that it was there.

Jackie was quiet and withdrawn, and Eric went through his daily motions detached and methodical, throwing himself into work, and refusing to let himself think or feel.

It came to a head on the third evening, when he woke up for the first time to discover that Jackie wasn't in bed with him. He ambled out to look for her and found her sitting just outside their hut, on the little bench where they had sat on to watch the rain fall that one evening long ago.

He leaned silently by the doorjamb and took a moment to just gaze at her. She looked beautiful in the light of the moon and stars, her hair so inky dark just like the night sky. He loved its color, and wondered fleetingly how he could ever have liked any other color before. Her hands were twisted up in her lap and he could feel conflict rolling off her in waves. He hated seeing her like this. He hated to know that she was in any sort of pain.

Somehow he supposed he had always known that it wouldn't last forever. That the day would come when it would come down to this. Hyde or him. And though he longed that she would choose him, he knew it would always be Hyde for Jackie.

He pushed off from the doorjamb and took a step towards her. "Go to him," he said, and he lost another piece of his soul as he uttered those words.

Stunned, her eyes grew wide as she turned to look at him. He saw a thousand and one emotions flit through them, along with a barrage of questions to which he had no answer. Jackie stared at him, trying to understand the meaning behind his words.

"Eric, it's not—" she started, then stopped as she changed her mind and looked down at the fingers she still had clenched in her lap. She clenched them even tighter, causing her knuckles to turn white.

"So it ends here," she stated tonelessly.

He didn't make a reply, and when she looked up, it was to find his eyes fixed on her.

She let out a brittle laugh that hitched into a sob.

"Jackie…" Eric said and made a move towards her. She held up her hand and he stopped.

"Will you come back with me?" she asked him quietly.

He didn't look away from her but he didn't reply either. They stared at each other for a long time.

She felt something wash over her. With a great sense of unease, she ventured, "You're not… You're not coming back are you?"

Eric looked away. A brief wind ruffled the short strands of his dark hair as his eyes took on a pensive cast. When they finally turned back to her, she read a finality in them that scared her far more than she thought possible.

"No. My place is here."

Her breath lodged in her throat. She turned her face away, fighting back a rising tide of emotions and denial.

"Does your mom know?" she finally asked him in a low voice.

He shook his head. "I don't think I've ever really realized that until now," he said. "My place is here," he repeated. "I love it here. This is home to me now."

She took in his words and blinked back tears. A deep sense of loss assailed her and she didn't know why. After all, what did she expect? What did they expect?

A relationship or anything at all between them would never have been able to work out of Africa. There were too many people that would get hurt, too many factors to consider, and now that she knew that Eric didn't intend on returning to Point Place, there was a whole ocean standing in the way as well.

And Steven needed her.

She drew in air. "At least… Maybe Christmas?" she asked bleakly.

He wasn't sure. Point Place was part of his past, and he wasn't the person that he was anymore. To go back and try to wear those shoes again... His jaw tightened.

But he saw the hopeful look in her eyes. "Yeah, maybe," he said instead.

"What are you going to do?" It wasn't much as a question, but as always, he knew what she meant.

"Honestly? I don't know. I only know that things are different now. You being here has helped me so much. But there's still a long way for me to go."

"Does it have to be here?"

He looked out in the direction of the crop fields. "Yeah," he said slowly, "yeah it does. There's no place for me in Point Place anymore." His heart was heavy. "Look at me," he said softly, spreading out his arms, "you know that."

A tear slipped down her face and he reached over and wiped it off her cheek.

She shook her head. "He needs me," she said woodenly.

Eric nodded. Her words ripped his insides to shreds.

"He does," he agreed just as expressionlessly. I need you.

A sob rose in her throat as she realized the finality of what he was saying and desperation prompted her to surge to her feet.

"Ask me to stay."

He smiled sadly. "I would, Jackie. I'd beg you to stay." He touched her face with the backs of his fingers. "But only you can make that decision. It wouldn't be true if I did it for you."

She looked into his eyes and then looked away. She knew deep down inside that she could never stay no matter how much she wanted to. Not when Steven needed her.

He knew he had lost her when she had looked away. Such a simple action. But the blow of it was staggering.

"I can't lose you as a... as a... friend," she told him, still not looking at him. "It would kill me."

Friend. His gut wrenched at her use of the word.

She spoke again. "When we started what we started, I was most afraid that it would end with the death of our... friendship. What happened here between us… It was very real for me. You were very real for me." She finally turned to meet his eyes. Hers looked almost golden in the moonlight and he felt like he was drowning in them.

"Jackie, it meant the world to me."

She drew in a shuddering breath. "I wish it didn't have to end."

It doesn't have to, he wanted to tell her. Stay with me.

But he knew she wouldn't. Not for him.

She blinked rapidly, trying to hold back tears. She failed and several leaked out from the corners of her eyes.

"Hey, come here," he murmured.

She sobbed out his name and hurtled into his open arms, burying her face in his chest.

"Thank you," she said brokenly, "for everything." She lifted her head. "For being there… For everything here. And for being my... my friend." She clutched at his arm, desperate for his assurance. "Please, Eric, don't ever stop being my friend."

A shadow flit across his features and his jaw tightened. She saw it and she panicked. Her hand came up and she laid it against his jaw, feeling the slight prickle of stubble under her palm. "Promise me, Eric. I can't… I can't lose you." Her breath hitched, "Not you."

He met her eyes fleetingly and he gave her a tight smile. He noticed the distress in her eyes and sighed inwardly, finding, as always, an unquenchable need to play her white knight and quell it.

He rubbed his jaw into her palm and reached out to stroke her cheek with his finger. He brought it to her lips and tugged at the fullness of the bottom one. He blew out a breath then, giving her a short nod, and found it within himself to say the words he knew she wanted to hear.

"Yeah, Jackie. Always."

She smiled in relief and lightly nipped at his finger still resting on her bottom lip. She moved forward to twine her arms tightly around his lean waist, and her head found its way to its usual spot between his shoulder and neck. He rested his chin on the top of her head and she felt the steady beat of his heart between them.

She breathed in his intriguing mix of wood and spice and earth, and wondered why it was that she felt as if her heart was slowly being torn into two.

And why it was that the light that had so briefly returned to her life seemed to be going out again.

The drive to the airport was a quiet one, and they were both silent for different reasons. Their hands had found one another's and Jackie had had a death grip on his fingers.

Their last night together had been wild and tempestuous. Jackie had woken up hot and flushed, her hands gripping the sheets and her body rippling with the most delightful sensations.

"Eric," she gasped and saw him flash her a dark grin from between her legs.

Sidling slowly up her body he had seized her mouth in an intense kiss that left her feeling branded and aching for more. She had responded in a flurry of emotion, clinging on to his lips and licking and nipping and she was certain that she had drawn blood at one point.

When he had finally settled himself between her thighs, he wound her hair tightly around his wrist and cupped the back of her head forcing her to look up at him. His green eyes bored into hers with such emotion she felt her breath catch. She had whispered his name and she saw something in them give. She arched her back towards him and whispered his name again. Looking deep into her eyes he drove into her with such force she cried out in a mix of pain and pleasure, wrapping her legs tightly around his hips, deathly afraid of letting him go.

It had been like nothing she had ever experienced before — fierce and primitive and she never wanted the night to end. Her eyes had flown shut when he had plunged into her and he leaned down to press kisses on her eyelids and nip at her jaw.

"Jackie," he commanded, "look at me."

She opened her eyes and complied. It was only then that he moved, never once allowing her to look away from him; taking her to dizzying heights and they came together, lost in the tumult of sensations and fell asleep in each other's arms, with Eric still buried deep within her.

When they had finally reached the airport, Jackie had been struggling not to fall to pieces. Eric had made sure that she had gotten past immigrations before he had turned round to walk back out towards his car. He didn't look back. He made the two hour drive back in half the time, and he was lucky he didn't wrap his car around a tree, the way he was driving.

The next week or so he spent filling up the hole her absence had left him with with too many cigarettes and too little sleep. He didn't touch a drop of alcohol. Not for this — alcohol incapacitated, and he hated being out of control.

More importantly though, he wanted to remember.

He wanted every waking moment of his to be filled with a memory of Jackie when she had been there, together with him, in Africa.

A/N: I wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU to all of you who have loved this story and have taken the time to read it and to let me know that you loved it. It's been so much fun taking you together with Jackie and Eric to magically magical Africa, and I'm glad you enjoyed reading (thus far) about it as much as I did writing it.

This story was never meant to end in Africa, and everything will come full circle in Part 3 which will bring everyone together again in Point Place. I'll be posting the first few chapters within the week, and thanks so much again! ( It means more than you can possibly know :))