The eve of Christmas saw all of them, minus Kelso and his family, at the Formans' living room, which had been decked out to the nines with Kitty's biggest tree yet, and fairy lights and holly all over the room.
Kitty was nearly floating with happiness, having her only son back after spending two years away was bliss to her. She had overcooked, as usual, but no one was complaining, and even Red seemed indulgent with her contagiously cheery mood.
She had set up a long table in the middle of the room and had set up a strict seating plan: putting Donna and Randy next to each other at the far end, and seated Hyde and Sam opposite the pair of them. Fez took the seat between Randy and Jackie and then came Eric who was seated right next to Red at the head of the table. Kitty sat on his left, and Joanne and Bob rounded up the circle. Kitty had wanted both Hyde and Donna as far away from Eric and Jackie as possible.
Jackie noticed this, and was incredibly grateful. She was nervous about her Christmas present to Eric as it already was, and as always, the pressure to constantly watch herself around Eric because of Hyde and Donna had her wound as tight as a drum.
She listened to Kitty as Kitty tearfully made a toast welcoming her son back and thanking everyone for the wonderful company that evening and cheered with the rest of them as they downed their champagne. She was unaware that her left knee was bouncing spasmodically until she felt Eric's warm hand on it halfway through their first course. She nearly jumped out of her chair, and received an odd look from Fez on her right.
"You okay?" Eric asked her in concern.
She gave him an overly bright smile and downed her glass of champagne. It was her second in fifteen minutes, and already she could feel it going to her head.
"Yup! Just fine," she said in a pitch higher than her usual tone.
He eyed her but didn't say anything more. She felt him squeeze her knee again before his hand went back up to the table to pick up the knife he had set down on his plate.
Jackie had inhaled five flutes of champagne in total by the end of the evening and was feeling very happily buzzed.
"You're my best friend in the whole wide world, lumberjack!" she crowed and flung her arm around Donna's waist in a big side hug.
Everyone was milling about the living room and settling themselves on the couch or whatever other seats they could find and the mood was lively and upbeat.
Donna smiled down amusedly at her dark head. "You too, midget," she replied.
Jackie grinned toothily and pointed at Randy. "And you, you have magnificent hair. Why," she said and touched her own raven locks, "I might even let you do mine! Just how do you get so much body in it?" She squinted at him enviously trying to figure out the secret of his perfect blow-dry when Hyde materialized at her side. He had an indecipherable smile on his face as he observed her.
"You're cute when you're drunk," he finally said to her in his usual short, gravelly way.
She frowned, trying to figure out if he was being sarcastic or not. It was giving her a headache, so she decided to ignore the statement and ignore him. She spun around and spotted Eric coming in from the kitchen and her expression brightened.
She was about to shout out an effusive greeting and say something unforgivable like she missed him in the five minutes that he had been gone, when she tripped over her own feet and saved herself from certain doom.
Hyde deftly caught her as she nearly hit the ground with her face.
"Whoa," he said, as he hauled her up with an arm around her waist. "Careful, doll." His other hand slid around her side as he tried to steady her.
Jackie shook her hair out of her eyes and leaned heavily on him for balance as the world righted itself on its axis.
Eric happened to see them at that exact moment and a truly ugly emotion reared in his gut. He never realized how much he hated seeing anyone's hands on his girl before, and how much more he hated seeing that those hands belonged to Hyde. They rested on Jackie familiarly and he wanted to pound his friend into pulp.
Jealousy roared, and Eric thought to hell with easing everyone into their secret. His jaw clenched and his fist tightened, but before he could make another move, Red stepped into his path.
"Not what it looks like, son," he said quietly.
Eric stared at his father coolly, though the line of his shoulders was tense. He forced himself to relax.
"The girl tripped," Red explained. He handed Eric his drink. "Here, have some of mine."
Eric took it but didn't drink.
Red looked at him, and wondered how to start. "Kitty and Jackie," he began awkwardly, "they care about Steven and Donna. I'm not saying you don't, but they've got a couple of big hearts and that's why we love 'em." He looked around Eric and his eyes rested fondly on his wife. "It's hard for them to hurt people they care about and this thing that the two of you've got" -he gestured with two fingers between Eric and Jackie's far-off figure at the other side of the room- "is going to hurt both Steven and Donna something bad."
He looked sympathetically at his son. "Give it time, things have a way of working themselves out."
Eric grimaced. He stared down at the swirling amber liquid in the glass then tilted his head back and downed it in a gulp. "Thanks, Dad," he muttered.
Fez was plastered so Kitty made up the basement couch for him and told him to sleep it off there. Jackie had sobered up sufficiently by then, but was still in no position to drive, so the responsibility naturally fell to Eric to take her home - of which he had no complaints about.
They got into the Vista Cruiser, happy to be alone again after the boisterous evening with their friends and his family.
She leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes when they stopped at a light. Her cheeks were flushed from the alcohol and she looked beautiful. Eric couldn't resist leaning over and kissing her lightly on the lips.
She opened her lovely eyes and smiled at him. "I haven't given you my Christmas present," she said softly.
He smiled back at her. "What, you mean that framed limited edition comic book was just for show then?" he asked, referring to the exchanging of presents earlier that evening.
She nodded. "Yep."
She looked nervous and Eric wondered why. Before he had a chance to think upon it, the lights turned green and he stepped onto the accelerator.
She was quiet all through the drive back to her house though their hands had remained linked liked they had since they got into the car. She turned around as she unlocked her front door and whispered, "Stay?"
"Yeah," he said.
He followed her up to her bedroom and made himself comfortable on her large bed as he always did.
"Give me a minute, I'll just go get it for you," she told him with another nervous smile over her shoulder. She disappeared into the walk-in closet and he heard her rummaging around and the sound of paper crinkling. She emerged several minutes later and he had a hard time breathing.
She looked like every man's wet dream. Or in particular, his wet dream in a vision of silk and lace. It was cut dangerously low in the front and cupped her breasts delightfully and his fingers itched to reveal what the silk barely covered. From there it billowed out and skimmed her hips, and as she twirled around for him slowly, he saw that she was wearing a matching thong in the same shade as the top.
"Merry Christmas," she said shyly.
He nearly scorched her with the fire in his eyes. Getting up with great difficulty, he walked over to where she was. Her hair was up in a messy knot and he pulled it out as the gleaming mass fell around her shoulders and down her back. He wrapped his fingers around her neck and ran them up the back of her head. She could feel the heat of him through his pants and boldly stepped forward to press her hips against his. He sucked in a breath and hardened even further.
Her hand went to the waistband of his pants but he stopped her, leaning his forehead against hers regretfully.
Whatever reaction she had been expecting from him, this was not it.
He pulled her back towards the bed and sat down, reaching out to pull her into his lap. "Come here."
She went to him easily and nestled into his broad frame as his chin went to its usual spot on the top of her head. After several moments, she heard him sigh.
"Jackie, I don't need you to do this."
Her lower lip trembled, "I want to, Eric." But even to her ears, she heard the lack of conviction in her voice.
He shook his head firmly. "No, you don't. At least, not yet."
Her voice dropped so low he had to strain to hear her. "I know men have needs, and I know that you've not been with anyone since me in Africa, and me too," she rushed to assure him, "it's just been you for me since we started this."
"I know, Jackie," she heard him say. "I didn't stay in touch with you but I knew all about you - my mom," he said by way of explanation.
"Okay. Yes, so the thing is, I know you've been without it for seven months, almost eight now, and I'm just... God I feel like a tease!" she whispered.
"Jackie..." he said and he kissed her forehead as she lifted her face to look at him. "There's no way you're a tease, you're not that kind of girl," he said matter-of-factly. "And I really think I've got more self-control than that. I'm not the kind of guy that will lose his head if he's been without a woman for a few months," he said dryly.
He took a second to think about what he said and then amended, "Well, maybe now I've got more self-control."
She burst out into giggles, remembering how she used to call him 'horny nerd boy', and he let out a low chuckle too.
Their laughter subsided after some time and they sat in companionable silence for a while until she felt his fingers stray to the the delicate straps of her camisole. She sucked in a breath as he pulled the strap down her shoulder and palmed the warm flesh of her breast with a devilish grin.
"Doesn't mean we can't go to second-base though," he said as his mouth swooped down and covered hers in a searing kiss.