Hyde disappeared back into the basement after breakfast and Jackie was helping Kitty wipe down the kitchen table with Sam when she heard the sliding door open as Eric walked out with the trash. She mumbled an excuse and followed him through the door. It was cold out, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she hurried after him.
"You weren't very polite to her," she said when she caught up with him, trying to sound neutral.
"Yeah I didn't feel so inclined."
"So," Jackie tried again. "What did you think?"
Eric halted briefly to look at her. "About what."
She laughed, but it sounded fake even to her own ears. "Samantha," she said lightly.
He lifted his shoulders and continued walking to the end of the driveway. "She's what she is."
Dissatisfied, Jackie picked up her pace and stepped right in front of him to look him full in the face.
"You didn't think she was ho—"
"Nope."
"Not even a littl—"
"Nope."
She looked so disbelieving it was almost comical. He dropped the bag to put his hands on her upper arms and lost himself in her beautiful eyes for a moment.
"Jackie, she's a walking STD. I've more self-respect than that," he finally said. He flashed a charming grin at her as he went on, "Besides, my standards are much higher. I like you. My type is you. I'm screwed for life. Who else comes close to a Jackie Burkhart?"
She bloomed like a flower right before him.
"I don't deserve you," she said when she could find the words.
He gave a self-deprecating laugh at that. "No angel-face. I'm the one who doesn't deserve you." He picked up the trash bag and tossed it towards the bin. The bin wobbled slightly as the bag fell in.
"Come on," he said, "let's get back in. You're freezing."
He dusted his hands and regarded her as a thought crossed his mind.
"Earlier at breakfast," he began, "with Sam. You were upset because of me weren't you?" Not Hyde.
A slight flush worked its way up Jackie's neck.
He noticed. "You were jealous," he stated, sounding a little amazed at the revelation.
Jackie's eyes flashed fire. "She shoved her boobs up in your face." Her expression darkened. "Skank."
He tried to hide the grin that made its way across his face. He shook his head, still trying to get his head around the notion. The day suddenly looked a whole lot brighter.
Maybe he hadn't come back for nothing after all.
Samantha Maiden-Last-Name-Unknown Hyde was very intrigued by Red and Kitty Forman's son, Eric. He was by all counts a completely different man from the one that she had been used to hearing about in the time he was away.
She had heard that he was skinny.
Nope!
He was wimpish.
Definitely not.
Geeky.
Maybe… Maybe?
Soft.
Really?!
Twitchy.
Huh.
A smartass.
Most definitely.
She had not heard him described as handsome.
Oh yes.
Hot, she would say. Darn pregnancy hormones.
Or reserved.
Everyone agreed: Eric was a talker.
Or magnetic.
An enigma.
Intriguingly so.
And she was intrigued.
The object of her musings walked back into the room, closely followed by her baby daddy's ex, and she squinted, almost certain that Jackie was wearing the exact same outfit she had worn to the party last night.
Considering that this was Jackie... A slight frown marred her pretty features.
Strange. Very strange indeed.
"Don't you have a store to be at?"
Hyde looked up from the television as Eric came down the stairs from the kitchen later that day. "Uh yeah. But Leo's takin' care of it for me so… Yeah."
Eric swung a leg from over the back of the couch and plonked himself down on the cushions. He spread open a newspaper over the coffee table in front of him.
Hyde looked over in curiosity. "Watcha doin'."
Eric pulled the cap of a marker open with his teeth. "Apartment listings. I'm looking for a place to rent for a bit."
Hyde's eyebrows flew to his hairline. "Woah. Your folks know about this?"
Drawing a circle over an ad that had potential, Eric shrugged.
"Red's been on my ass to get the hell out for years. This shouldn't come as a shock to him." He looked up at Hyde. "And well, I haven't been around for two years. I think my mom should be okay with this."
"Why don't you just stay here. Save on rent and all that."
"Nah, I've been on my own for too long. Got set in my ways, I guess."
Hyde could understand that and they sat in companionable silence, broken only by the sound of the TV or Eric's marker squeaking against paper as he made his way down the columns. A smile started at the corner of Hyde's lips. Eyes glued to the television he said, "I missed this."
Eric looked up and he looked around, nodding slowly in agreement. Putting the pen down, he relaxed into the cushions and propped a foot up over his knee. "Yeah. I guess I do too." He smiled slightly. "What're we watching?"
"Magnum P.I." Hyde glanced over at him. "Aired after you left for Africa. Good stuff."
They watched in silence as Tom Selleck ran around Hawaii in tiny shorts.
"Huh," said Eric, "Is that where you got the idea to grow a hairball above your lip?"
Hyde leaned over and slugged him in the arm. Eric grinned. Some things never change.
"Sam thinks it's sexy. So whatever." He frowned a little as he flexed his fingers and looked back up at Eric in befuddlement. "What the hell did you do in Africa, man?"
Eric gave him a passive look just as the basement door swung open with a forceful bang.
Fez barreled into the room and dove lengthwise across the couch to smother Eric in a huge hug.
"Ow! Fez!"
"Eric, you sonavabitch, you could've called to say you were back in town." He pulled back and released Eric, only to shoot him a foul look. "Why am I the last to know? Fez is always the last to know."
"Fezzie, Donna and Randy still don't know. They'll be the last." Jackie said in a trying tone as she entered the basement after him and shut the door to keep out the cold.
She took off a wine-colored beret and hung up a similarly colored jacket by the door. Turning around, she threw an exasperated look at Eric. "I've been telling him that the entire walk here. Donna and Randy, Fezzie."
"You walked? You could've called. I would have gone to get you."
"That's fine. I've been walking from my house to yours for years. Besides Fez dropped by so we walked here together."
Eric had sent her home in the Vista Cruiser that morning after breakfast and she didn't want to raise suspicion if he had driven by again now.
Eric nodded and noticed Fez and Hyde staring at him with identical expressions of bafflement. He raised his brows slightly then decided to ignore them both.
Jackie walked over to the couch and slapped Fez's legs out of the way, grabbing the clicker and absently settling herself comfortably down beside Eric.
Hyde and Fez's mouths dropped open.
"Hey, it's Tom Selleck," she said to Eric, "I think he's kinda sexy." She stopped, still staring at the TV and tilted her head to the side. "But I could do without the fuzz." She wrinkled her nose.
Eric chuckled softly and leaned back against the couch, extending his arm along the back of it.
"Dear God!" Hyde burst out, unable to keep quiet any longer. "You two are actually friends!" His voice rose in octave with each word that he uttered.
Fez nodded furiously. He had his arms folded and he couldn't quite contain himself. "This is unbelievable!"
"Unnatural, that's what!" said Hyde.
"More unnatural than Hyde and Yackie!" cried Fez.
Jackie jumped at the last statement but collected herself at the feel of Eric's hand on her neck. Her hair was loose and long and none of their friends seem to have noticed his hand under it.
"We've been friends for years, guys," Eric said calmly, eyes still fixed on the TV.
"No no no. Not like that you haven't. You guys actually like each other now — don't deny it! Fez can see it!"
"Yeah, Forman. You just about put up with her before. Hellfire! You said she was made of hellfire!"
Jackie turned to glare at Eric, affronted. "Eric Forman, you did not!"
He turned to look at her sheepishly. "Yeah, I actually did. Once."
She tossed her hair and sniffed, turning back to the TV. His fingers squeezed the back of her neck reassuringly. She ignored him.
His lips twitched.
Hyde started rubbing and tapping at his mouth with his fingers. He looked from Eric's impassive profile to Jackie's delicate one to Fez's changing expression. Finally he decided that it was simply too much effort to ponder about life's open mysteries and settled back in his chair to watch TV.
After all, stranger things have happened.
"So that was a good trip," Donna told Randy as they pulled their weekend bags out from the trunk of his car.
He dropped his bag to pull her in for a long kiss. "Yeah, I'm glad we decided on it. It's been a while since I've seen you smile like that."
"I know, and I'm sorry." She sighed. "It's just, things have been weird in my head lately."
He laughed at her description, glad that he was feeling some of the 'old' her back again. "Okay, well, just let me know when things start to get weird in your head again, and we'll take another trip, okay?"
She nodded and leaned into his body.
She had stopped wearing those rings around her neck, and Randy had noticed. He couldn't begin to describe the relief he felt, and not for the first time, was incredibly thankful that his girlfriend's ex-fiancé was safely away in the far, far off land of Africa.