So involved was Jackie with the goings-on in her life and preparing for her new job that it came as quite a surprise when Donna tentatively brought up the subject of Hyde with her over lunch one afternoon, and she realized she hadn't really seen her ex-boyfriend in quite a while.
"So... When was the last time you saw Hyde?"
Jackie looked up from her plate and blinked. "Dunno. A week? Two? Why?"
Donna looked uncomfortable as she chased a piece of lettuce across her plate.
"Um. Okay well, I don't know how to tell you this so I'm just gonna say it, alright?" She took a deep breath and looked Jackie in the eye. "Sam's back."
"Say what?"
Donna shifted uncomfortably and gave her a sympathetic look. "She's back, Jackie. Hyde asked her to come back."
Donna reached across the table to take her hand. "Jackie," she said, stumbling over her words, "I'm so sorry. God, he's such an 'A'-hole. I could put my foot up his ass myself. I couldn't believe it. I'm so sorry," she repeated miserably.
"Huh. Okay. I see."
"I'm so sorry," Donna said again.
Jackie frowned. "Er, don't be. It's okay."
Donna looked at her admiringly. "You're so brave."
"Um. Thanks?" She fiddled with her fork for a moment, uncomfortable with Donna's eyes on her, then awkwardly popped a tomato wedge into her mouth.
She walked over to the Forman's later that evening, thinking it was best to face the situation instead of avoiding it forever like she had planned to.
Red was not happy. And because the stripper was back, Kitty was not happy either.
Jackie was thus waging a war with the basement door trying to will it open since she couldn't bring herself to physically open it. She heaved an inward sigh, and questioned herself on the reasons she was doing this.
She manfully shouldered the door open and glided into the basement with iron in her spine and her head held high. Her eyes swept the room, taking in Steven in his chair, Sam next to him, Donna on the couch with Randy behind her.
She walked over to Hyde and sat at the empty spot on the couch closest to him.
He ignored her.
She glanced at the blonde giraffe, noting that she looked good. Happy and content.
Hyde observed her from behind his shades. He knew he was a bastard for feeling so, but he relished the flash of what he thought was pain that he saw in her eyes. And because he couldn't fight it even if he tried, he slung an arm around Sam's waist, pulling her onto his lap and waited to see what Jackie would do next. Your move, doll.
Jackie didn't react for a few beats. Then she froze her face into an expressionless mask, calmly got up and walked away.
The moment she left the room, Hyde shoved Sam away from him and stalked back into his room at the back of the basement with a beer in hand.
She didn't know how or why, but she found herself staring at the door of Eric's old room with no logical explanation as to how she got there after leaving the basement. It wasn't a conscious decision on her part, and she supposed it was really an intrusion of privacy, but she found herself pushing the door open nonetheless.
The moment she entered the room though, Eric's presence enveloped her and a sense of peace and calm flooded her being. She looked around at his old room, noting that besides the sewing table sitting by the window, the other half of the room where his bed was looked more or less the same. She trailed a hand along the cupboard and walked over to the window where the sewing machine was. Her lips twitched as she noticed it had an unblocked view of the Pinciotti's living room.
Turning around she saw the row of G.I. Joes and Star Wars models lined neatly in rows above the head of his bed. She moved over and picked one up, imagining the patience and gentleness of his deft fingers as he meticulously pieced his models together. Images of those fingers skimming the lines of body rose to her mind, and her breath caught.
She shook off the memory and went to sit on his bed. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she pulled back Kitty's new paisley bedcovers to reveal the Spider-Man sheets underneath. And with that a deep sadness filled her soul as she mourned the loss of the boy that he had been.
She awoke groggily later. Looking around the room she tried to place her surroundings and realized that she must have fallen asleep on Eric's bed.
Jackie stared unseeingly at the ceiling with her head on Eric's pillow. Her mind drifted to Hyde. Steven was the same as he had been before they left and she was sick of the games that he was playing. Still.
The sun was setting and turned the walls of Eric's room orange. She curled up and turned on her side on his bed, rubbing her face into his pillow - reluctant to leave him just yet. She watched as the sky outside turned dark and the first stars appeared.
With a sigh she dragged herself up from his bed, careful to tuck the sheets back the way they were before. Before she left his room however, she walked over to his dresser, opening a couple of drawers before finding an old shirt of his. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, she read. Oh Eric. She brought it up to her face and breathed it in, then folded it and stashed it in her purse.
She gripped the edge of the doorjamb and took a deep breath. Her decision made, she steeled herself before she left Eric's room. This was going to be hard, but she wasn't the same girl she was before she left for Africa.
Jackie marched back down to the basement from Eric's room, armed and ready for battle.
Randy had left, but Donna was still seated on the couch, staring at the TV with a bored look on her face. She looked over when Jackie came down the stairs, and offered a small smile in greeting.
Jackie scanned the room and noted where Sam was seated on the ottoman in front of Hyde's chair, nestled between his legs. She walked briskly over and took a seat next to Donna on the couch. After a few tense and silent moments where she pretended to watch TV and waged an internal war inside, she took a deep breath and turned towards the couple. She forced her lips upwards.
"Hey, Sam."
It wasn't much, just a greeting, but it was a step in the right direction and she felt all the much better for it. Forgive and forget. Forgive and forget.
Donna raised her eyebrows in shock.
Hyde stared. What the hell was she playing at?
Sam was equally stunned. This was the first time that Jackie had ever voluntarily spoken two words to her.
"Hey, Jackie," she replied cautiously.
Another few tense moments passed. Crap. Now what?
"Um, how's it going?" Jackie offered lamely.
Sam nodded slowly and eyed her oddly. "Good. Thanks," she said.
"So… Uh…" Jackie bit the inside of her cheek. She nearly tasted blood. "You look good," she said, but it came out sounding a little strangled.
She glanced over quickly and noted that Sam seemed genuinely pleased at her comment.
Another quick glance at Steven showed that he was anything but. If anything, his expression was growing more thunderous by the second, and his foot started a wild dance on the floor.
Finally, he exploded. "What the hell do you think you're doin', Jackie?" He glared at her. "You," —he pointed a finger at her— "hate her," he said, shifting that same finger to Sam.
"You two hate each other." His finger started waggling between the two of them.
Jackie sighed. "I'm trying to be supportive, Steven." She crossed her arms and leaned back into the couch. "I just see no point in adding more conflict to the situation."
A couple of beats passed as everyone tried to take in her words.
"That's really mature of you, Jackie," Donna broke in quietly.
Jackie gave her a grateful smile. She had half been expecting some snide comment about how unlike herself she was being, and was contemplating throwing another shoe at that person.
Hyde just looked incredulous. "Why?" he asked abruptly.
Jackie looked at him in consternation. "Be-cause, Steven. I care about you," she said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
She had come back for him. She had left Eric and come back for him. She owed it to herself that she actually came back for a good reason. And she owed it to him and the love that they had shared to pull him from the path of self-destruction that he had set himself down on, and steer him back on the right path.
Sam seemed to catch on pretty quick. "Omigod! So you actually thought to become friends with me?! That's so sweet!" she squealed.
Jackie gave her stiff smile. Yes, she really did. She thought that by extending her hand in friendship to his wife, it would be offering an olive branch of sorts. See, Steven? You don't need to drink yourself to an early grave. I'm no longer making your marriage fiasco difficult for you.
It was gonna be hard. For she hated Sam. And old habits were hard to break.