A/N: This chapter is not as big as the first one, mostly because the first one was basically a introduction to the story, I highly doubt that I'll be able to write another chapter that long.
This story is mainly focused on Jackie and Hyde, I'm having trouble to write some Eric/Donna scenes mostly because I just think they're kind of boring sometimes (sorry!), but don't worry, Eric and Donna are endgame.
I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and I hope you like reading it!
PS: I do not own That 70s Show


Chapter two

Six months later

ERIC

I just couldn't wait anymore, I have to see Donna. Breaking up with her was probably the biggest mistake I've ever made, and man, she's probably pissed off because my parents won't even mention her to me anymore! Everytime I tried to ask about her, my mother laughed uncomfortably and changed the subject, I assumed that Donna asked her not to talk about her with me. It makes sense, as I said, I should've never broken up with her, especially with a letter, that was just plain stupid of my part. So last week I decided I'm heading back home, if everything works out, I will be able to spend the new years with my girl and my family.

God, I missed them. I missed my mother's food, the food from Africa was close to inedible, and I miss her hugs and all the smothering. I miss being called a dumbass by my dad, and I miss my friends. I miss Hyde and his crazy conspiracies, I miss Kelso and his stupidity, I miss Fez and his inappropriate comments, hell, I even miss Jackie.

So that's why I'm on a plane heading to Wisconsin right now. I never told anyone I was coming home today, I thought that if Donna knew I was coming she would probably never show up. The plane is almost landing and I keep trying to figure out what I'm going to say to her, how I'm going to apologize and beg for her forgiveness.

By the time the plane lands, I still have nothing. Absolutely nothing could explain my stupidity regarding her in the last 6 months, so I just figure I'm going to beg and apologize a lot, like I usually do, and hopefully, she will forgive me. Because I can't imagine my life without her.

I called a cab and asked him to take me to Point Place, and my heart was pounding in my chest, I never felt so nervous in my life.

When the cab pulls out in front of my house, I pay the driver and I can't help but smile when I see the cruiser in the driveway, I head to the sliding door and I see my mother in the kitchen, preparing food and drinking a glass of wine. I open the door and she hasn't noticed me yet.

"So, what do I need to say to get a hug here?" I say, with a big smile on my face. My mom turns around and sees me, she hugged me so tightly that it was hard to breathe.

"MY BABY IS HOME! MY BABY IS HOME!" My mother was screaming with joy, so my father went to the kitchen to see what the hell was going on, and when he saw me, he couldn't hide the grin on his face "RED! ERIC'S BACK!" Mom took my father's arm and dragged him to the hug too.

"Mom, it's getting kind of hard to breathe here"

"Oh I'm sorry" My mother pulled away from the hug, but she kept her hands on my shoulders "I'm just so happy that you're home, I missed you so much" And now she's crying.

"Okay, time for some of your emergency wine, Kitty" My dad says, then he looks back at me "I'm glad you're back son"

"So am I dad" I smile

"Oh, oh! The countdown is starting any minute now! Come, all the boys are in the living room, oh, they will be so happy to see you again!" She squealed with delight and headed to the living room with my dad. I followed them, and the first one I see is Hyde, who smiled and pulled me into a hug.

"Forman! Man, what are you doing here?"

"Africa was boring, and they also had really, really big bugs" I grin, and when he pulls away I couldn't help but notice the abomination above his lip "What the hell is that?!" I ask, pointing to the pornstache

"It's a mustache" he answered me in a tone that meant don't ask more questions and I shrugged

"It looks awful, seriously, that thing just screams 'I've given up on life'" He glares at me and heads to the fridge, probably to get another beer. Man, losing Jackie must've affected him more than I thought. By the way, where is Jackie?

I spotted Fez and Kelso in the stairs, and I headed to them. Fez is the first one to notice me, and he pokes Kelso.

"Oh, my dear friend is back from the African lands" Fez says while he hugs me "I missed you so much, now hopefully everything is going to go back to normal again" He mutters in a sad tone, still hugging me.

"Stop hogging him Fez! It's my turn!" I hear Kelso saying and he pulls Fez out of me and hugs me instead.

"What does he mean with everything going to go back to normal again?" I asked Kelso, and suddenly I noticed that Donna isn't here, neither is Jackie. Where the hell are they? Hyde approached us, giving me a can of beer as Kelso sat back on the stairs.

"Oh, it looks like you're going to receive a lot of news today Eric" Kelso grins, and I start to hear my mom and Bob starting the countdown, Bob looks a little depressed.

TEN!

"What do you mean with that?" I ask Kelso

NINE!

"It's just… a lot changed since you left" Fez answered my question, directing his gaze to the floor

EIGHT!

"Like what?" I ask, and nobody answers me

SEVEN!

"Hyde?" I look at my best friend, hoping he would answer me.

SIX!

"Haven't you noticed that there's two people missing in the room?" He looks at me, and surprisingly, I think I saw a hint of sadness in his shaded eyes.

FIVE!

"Donna and Jackie?" I ask, and I could feel my hands sweating already.

FOUR!

Hyde nods, and takes another sip of his beer.

THREE!

"Where are they?" I ask, and I already knew I wouldn't like the answer.

TWO!

"They moved away after Donna received your letter and Hyde showed up with the stripper" Fez answers

ONE!

"Where?" I ask, my throat suddenly dry.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"Fucking Chicago" Hyde says and finishes his beer, heading back to the basement.


"Chicago? What the hell? Why?" I ask, passing the joint to Fez

"Jackie wanted to get away from Hyde, and Donna wanted to get away from everything that reminded her of you" Fez answers me and eats a potato chip

"Yeah, they got really pissed, Donna even punched Hyde! It was awesome!" Kelso says, grinning and taking the joint from Fez "Man, I'm so glad I'm not you right now!"

"That stash from Africa is good, Forman" Hyde says "And Donna is seriously strong, my face was bruised for over a week" He frowns, then he smiles "Man, I'm going to have to give some of these to Leo" He laughs "That's good stuff, man"

"Shut up Hyde! We're talking about my stupidity! And yours too, by the way" I sneer, inhaling the smoke

"Hey! Leave the man alone! His spirit is already crushed because he was stupid enough to lose the woman he loves!" Fez said, slapping the table to give emphasis to his statement

"The stripper?" I ask smugly, I know it's not the stripper. But hey, Hyde needs to stop hiding behind booze and pot and admit that he screwed up badly.

"No, you idiot!" Kelso laughs "Even I know he's talking about Jackie!"

"Okay, the circle is sacred! And you're ruining it by talking about girls!" Hyde says, looking pissed "If I hear the words Jackie, Donna or Chicago in the circle again, I'm going to kick some ass!" He takes a deep hit of the joint and mutters "I fucking hate Chicago"

"Oh you're no fun! If we can't talk about our misery then what are we going to talk about?" I retort

"Don't you dare start talking about the government, Hyde!" Kelso says "Or I swear to God I will leave a butt print in your car!"

"Hey! The government is full of shit, they hide the car that runs on water because they want us to spend all of our money on gas, how fucked up is that?!" Hyde says angrily, ignoring Kelso's complaints

"Oh, poor Hyde, trying to hide his pain by talking crazy again" Fez says, opening a candy bar and starting to eat it.

"Okay, that's it, I'm going to kick some ass!" Hyde yells and gets up, heading to Fez's.

"I didn't even say their names!" Fez tries to defend himself and is tackled to the floor by Hyde "Ai!"

"At least the circle is still the same" I mutter to myself


We are all sitting in the basement now, the high is long gone and we are all staring at the TV. I can't hear the noises from upstairs anymore so I assume my dad kicked everyone out, ending the party. Hyde is in his chair, Kelso in the lawn chair, and Fez is on the couch. I'm sitting in the arm of the couch, and I'm still very confused.

"Okay, but why Chicago?" I ask

"Jackie got her job back after Hyde broke her precious little heart. In fact, she's now a reporter, she even talks about serious stuff" Fez answered

"Yeah, and Donna got into University of Chicago, so they moved in together" Kelso completed.

I couldn't help but notice how quiet Hyde was, and how everytime I mention Chicago he tenses up.

"But Donna wanted to go to UW!" I say

"No Eric" Fez explained "Donna wanted to go to UW because you wanted to go to UW, so when you told her you were leaving to Africa she applied at Chicago and got in"

"She was going to wait and go to UW with you, but then you broke up with her so she and Jackie just took off" Kelso says sadly "They didn't even say goodbye to us, only to Fez! Then he cried for a week!"

"That's true, I did" Fez nods

I'm now staring at Hyde, his jaw is clenched and I know he's bothered by the subject, but if the girls left that's partially his fault too, so I decided to poke the bear. It's not like I've got something to lose at this point.

"And how did you feel about that, Hyde?" I ask, not hiding the smug look in my face. Hyde looks at me like he wants to kill me, but I don't flinch.

"Didn't care then, don't care now" He answered me, but before I had the chance to call him out on his bullshit, Kelso already did the job for me.

"Oh, he's lying, he disappeared the day the girls left, he came back in the middle of the night, so drunk he couldn't even walk a straight line"

"Really?"

"Yeah, he was very sad" Fez completed "The poor orphan boy lost the love of his life and was forced to live with a stupid version of Laurie" He grinned, and I could tell that Hyde was almost losing his temper.

"So, tell me Fez, how stupid was she?" I ask, and glance again at Hyde.

"She was just as stupid as Kelso" he said "No offense amigo"

"Non taken" Kelso says, shrugging

"So, Hyde" I start "Where is the stupid version of Laurie right now? Working late?" I already knew the answer to that question, my mom told me on the phone about the stripper's real husband, but I couldn't help it, staying married to that stripper was probably the dumbest decision he ever made, and I am going to make sure that he knows it, even if he kills me in the process.

"She took off with her real husband" Hyde answers and grabs another beer for himself.

"What do you mean her real husband, Hyde?" I ask, playing dumb.

"She was already married when she married me" He tries his best to look indifferent, and opens his can of beer, he's hiding behind his zen mask and I'm going to take that stupid mask off tonight.

"He threw away his entire relationship with Jackie because of a marriage that wasn't even real" Kelso mocks him and laughs, not noticing the daggers Hyde is shooting at him with his eyes.

"Because you were going to sleep with her, moron!" Hyde is almost at the edge, he stood up and stared at Kelso, and I realized that we are getting through him, finally.

"I already told you a million times that we weren't going to do it!" Kelso looked at him and he also stood up, and for the first time ever he wasn't afraid of standing up to Hyde, they were both glaring at each other now "Believe me, I tried! But she kept crying and saying that she lost you forever, I was just trying to make her feel better! She even spilled soda at me so I would stop coming onto her, that's why I was in that stupid towel!"

"What about the whole 'nobody can see us doing it from the parking lot' thing, huh?"

"I WAS TRYING TO MAKE HER LAUGH!" Kelso yelled "I was trying to fix what you've broken in the first place!"

"By hitting on her?!" Hyde yelled back

"That's what I do! And that was stupid, I shouldn't have done that, but if you saw her you would understand! I've never seen her crying so much in my life! You didn't even listen to her, you didn't give her a chance to explain! You just ran away to Vegas and married the first hot chick you saw out of spite!"

Hyde just sighed and sat at his chair again, he took off his glasses and held his head in his hands.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me all this before?" He asks in a defeated voice.

"Because you never gave me a chance, man. You just punched me and pretended that nothing happened after, whenever I tried to explain you just told me to shut up" Kelso answered him, sitting back in the lawn chair. Fez was looking at the scene in front of him with awe, even I was impressed. I could swear that Hyde would end up hurting Kelso in the end, but he just admitted defeat, now that's a good sign .

After a few seconds, I decided it was safe to speak again, so I looked back at Hyde, who was just staring at the floor, tapping his foot.

"Have you tried to speak to Jackie after everything? Did you at least apologize to her?" I asked

"I asked Mrs. Forman for their number a few months ago, I tried to talk to Jackie but Donna picked up and told me to get bent" He answered

"So you just gave up?"

"What else am I supposed to do, man? I fucking married someone else! She will never forgive me for that!" He says, and I've never seen Hyde looking more defeated in my life

"You never know, Hyde, not if you don't try" I say, but Hyde didn't answered me, he just returned his gaze back to the floor, so I asked what's on my mind for a while now "Fez, Kelso, have you seen them after they moved to Chicago?"

"I live in Chicago, Eric, I see them all the time" Kelso answered

"That's not true" Fez interrupted him "They didn't want to see him at first because he kind of ruined Jackie and Hyde's relationship"

"Yeah but now they see me! Jackie is Betsy's godmother, and she visits Brooke all the time to play with Betsy, so, a couple months ago, I was going to pick up Betsy and I ran into Jackie at Brooke's" He explains "Jackie was pretty angry at first, but in the end she talked to me and we're okay now. I go to their place every Sunday with Betsy, and we eat lunch and play with her. She really likes Donna and Jackie"

"What about you, Fez?"

"Well, before they left Jackie actually went to my apartment to say goodbye to me. We talked for a few hours, my poor goddess was crying so much that it broke my heart" He glared angrily at Hyde "She said that she couldn't stay here anymore and she hugged me and said that she was going to miss me the most because I'm the only one with a decent fashion sense. And then she said that as soon as she and Donna found a place, she was going to call me. She called me a week later and asked me to go visit them, so I did. I go there at least once a month, Jackie needs a shopping partner" he says and I nod.

"Wait," Hyde says, confused "So, all those weekends you went away, you were with them? There's no Shampoo Boy convention?" I look at Hyde in disbelief, there's no way he actually believed that Fez was actually in a shampoo boy convention, since those probably aren't real. He must be drinking a lot to buy this.

"No"

"So…" I start "Must've been hard, Fez. When Kelso moved away, it was only you, Hyde and his 'wife' left" I comment. I've been wondering for a while why Fez kept coming to the basement after the girls and Kelso left, I know for a fact that Fez was blaming Hyde for the girls absence, so why was he still hanging out with him during those last 6 months?

"It was" Fez answered "Hyde is not a talker"

"Dude, don't get me wrong, it was nice having the company and all, but…" Hyde pauses, and I'm pretty sure he's about to ask Fez the same thing I have in my mind right now "Jackie and Donna… they left because of me" he sounded bleak and looked at the floor "I wouldn't have blamed you if you stopped hanging around here"

"I was pretty mad at you, in the beginning" Fez started "And after Kelso left I thought about not coming back, but then I remembered something Jackie told me the day before she left"

We all look at him expectantly, especially Hyde, and Fez sighed and looked at Hyde "She asked me not to leave you"

I look at Hyde, and just by his body language I can tell that he is feeling like shit. He married someone else, rubbed the stripper in her face, and talked shit about her, yet, she still cared enough to ask Fez not to leave him. She knew Hyde, she knew that he was abandoned before, and even after all the crap he pulled on her, she still asked Fez not to leave him, because she knew that he would need him. Jackie truly loved Hyde.

I decided to change the subject "So…" I start "Has Donna asked about me?"

"No, Eric and Hyde are forbidden topics at the Pinciotti/Burkhart household" Kelso answers

"Yeah, I guess I can understand why" I was starting to get depressed, so, that's it? Donna and I were really over? No, I'm not going to give up on her again, so I ask Kelso "Can you give me their address?"

The three other occupants of the basement looked at me like I'm crazy, but I'm not giving up on Donna, I need to see her and tell her how sorry I am, even if she doesn't want to see me.

"Actually…" Fez started, and looked at me apprehensively "Kelso and I are going to drive there tomorrow, we are going to spend the afternoon with them"

"Fez! If we bring them they will kill us!" Kelso yells and points at us

"Them?" Hyde looks at us in disbelief "Who the hell is them?"

"Oh, if I'm going you are going too, Hyde!" I say, looking at him, silently daring him to contradict me.

"Forman, I gotta say, going to Africa actually gave you balls" He stands up and grabs another beer "But I'm not going. My case is hopeless"

"Would you please get your head out of your ass and do the right thing for once in your life?!" I yell, and Hyde just raises an eyebrow and stares at me "You know, you were happy when you were with Jackie, you were not 'less pissed off', you were happy! And then you screwed everything up with your commitment issues and your inability to tell her you love her, and THEN, you married a stripper! You know I think Jackie is the devil, but she didn't deserve all the crap you pulled on her, and you know it! But you love her, and I'm pretty sure she still loves you, so you are going to Chicago with me and you are going to grovel like you never groveled before, mister!" Hyde was about to protest when I cut him off "So, you cut the zen crap and go tell her what you need to tell her, and you shave that awful thing off because you look like a pornstar and you know how much Jackie hates facial hair!" I finish, then I look at Kelso and ask calmly "What time are we leaving tomorrow?"

Kelso looks completely dumbstruck by my outburst, so does Fez and Hyde, but I don't care, I want Donna back, and I'll be damned if I don't try everything I could to accomplish that. I also want Hyde to be happy for once.

"We're leaving at 10. You take the cruiser because my car only has two seats and I'm taking little Fez here" Kelso says, pointing at Fez

"Fine" I agree, and I start planning in my head what I'm going to say to Donna when we arrive in Chicago. I notice Hyde's facial expression and apparently he's just as nervous as I am, I smile, and congratulate myself on finally breaking his zen. I just hope that Jackie agrees on talking to him, but he messed up big time, knowing Jackie, she probably won't even listen to him, I meant it when I say he's going to need to grovel, I just hope he doesn't give up so easily like last time. They may be creepy and unnatural, but somehow they were good to each other, I know Hyde since I was a kid, and I can say he was genuinely happy when he was with Jackie. And Donna, well, I just can't imagine my life without her, I just hope she feels the same way.

"Well" I start "I'm going to bed, I need to practice what I'm going to say to Donna tomorrow" I stand up "I really missed you guys" I look at them and smile, and then I head upstairs.


DONNA

It's literally been an hour since the 80s started, and I'm already tired. We've been in this stupid fancy party at one of Jackie's co-worker's house, and I'm feeling like crap. Technically, I'm still on my winter break, but that didn't stop me from staying up all night yesterday finishing a paper. I am determined to graduate with honors, so when I'm not spending the day with Jackie, I'm usually studying. And now I'm tired, I'm tipsy, and I want my bed. Jackie is at the bar talking to a random girl that probably works with her, and I go to her.

"Jackie, let's go home" I say.

And then Jackie turns to look at me and laughs, and just by looking at her face, I know the girl is hammered, crap.

"Yayy! Donna's here!" Jackie says, visibly drunk, then she turns back to talk to the other girl "Hey, Annie! This is my best friend Donna, and I love her" She hugs me and I couldn't help but laugh. It's rare, seeing Jackie showing affection for anyone other than Hyde and Mr. Forman, so I'm amused.

"Love you too midget" I turned to her friend Annie, and asked "How many drinks did she have tonight?"

The blonde looks at me with a very snobbish expression, and I cringe on the inside, she reminded me a lot of Jackie's old cheerleader "friends".

"A few glasses of champagne" she shrugs and I help Jackie up, putting my arms around her shoulders to give her more stability.

"Bye Annie!" I hear Jackie saying goodbye to her friend as I walk her to the apartment door, we only live two blocks away so there's no need to call for a cab. I walk with Jackie to our place, she's stumbling a little, but I need to get our keys out of my purse, so I remove my hands from her shoulders for a while. Not a second later I hear a loud thump and Jackie's now laughing her ass off at the sidewalk.

"Shit, Jackie are you okay?" I ask, noticing that a little blood was coming from her knee. Jackie's still laughing, she's probably too drunk to feel pain anyways.

"Yeah I'm fine" She's still giggling, but she manages to stand up by herself, then she looks at her knee, and looks surprised "Oh my God I think I scratched my knee" and then she's back to laughing. And I laugh along with her, I'm a little tipsy myself. I managed to find my keys and we headed to the stairs. We only live on the second floor and Jackie weighs barely nothing, so I carry her to our place, opening the door and placing her on the couch.

I decided to grab the first-aid kit, her knee was barely bleeding anymore but I thought it wouldn't hurt to check.

"You know Donna" Jackie starts rambling as I made her lie down on the couch, grabbing a piece of cotton and soaking it up with alcohol to clean up her knee "Sometimes I love that my best friend is a lumberjack, because then I can get shit faced and you'll always be able to carry me home because I'm tiny" I giggle at her statement, drunk Jackie has a dirty mouth, sober Jackie never swears, so I enjoy it while I can.

"Don't get used to it, midget. And I'm pretty sure that tomorrow you will never want to touch a drink again" I place the cotton soaked in alcohol at her knee, warily, and she takes a deep breath, because it's probably stinging a little. "So, why the sudden need to drink today, Jackie?" I ask, because as I said, Jackie almost never drinks. And she's been pretty down since we moved to Chicago. I thought she was getting better but apparently I'm wrong.

"I don't know… I just felt like celebrating the new decade Pam Burkhart style!" She jokes, but I know that's not why she drank today. I just look at her, and she continues "I guess I just kind of miss home today" She lowers her voice and stares at the floor.

"I do too" I confess to her

"It's just… it's odd, not spending the new Year at the Formans. We also stayed home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it's a weird feeling"

"Yeah, I get that. I miss Point Place too"

"And I know we see Michael every week" She continues "and Fez always comes to see us at least once a month, but I miss the Formans and…" I look at her and I see sadness all over her face, and I understand why.

"You miss Hyde" I state, and she nods in confirmation.

"God, I'm so stupid!" She hugs one of our pillows and I place a bandaid on her knee "I have an amazing job that pays well and I live in an amazing city with my best friend! Why can't I get him out of my mind? He married a fucking stripper, Donna, I should hate his guts right now!"

I take a deep breath and say what I'm avoiding to say out loud since we moved here.

"I miss Eric" Then I sat next to her on the couch, and she took my hand in hers.

"Do you think we made the right decision?" She asks, her eyes filling with unshed tears.

"Honestly? I do. We can't stop our lives because of boys, no matter how much we love them. We can't be the only ones making sacrifices to save our relationships"

"You know what? You're right, they are selfish and stupid. Stupid Steven probably don't even miss me. Ass" She mutters, and I felt like I needed to tell her something I've been holding on for a while.

"Actually... Hyde called asking for you a couple of months ago"

"WHAT?"

"I told him that he's not allowed to talk to you, are you mad?" I ask bashfully, afraid that she'll be pissed at me.

"I am fucking pissed off, but not at you! How dare him call, after everything he's done to me? The two days we spent in Point Place after the whore showed up were living hell. He was rubbing the stripper in my face, like she was better than me, and he talked shit about me, like we haven't spent TWO FUCKING YEARS together. And then he calls? Only a month ago? Honestly, after what he did, I deserve at least a visit, and diamonds, and flowers" She says, crossing her arms and pouting

"Are you telling me that if he shows up with jewelry and flowers you would actually forgive him?" I ask her, in disbelief

"Probably not, after everything he did to me, not even diamonds would cut it, and if, I mean a REALLY BIG IF, I ever consider forgiving him, he would have to grovel, a lot" She put on a brave face, and I smiled, the tiny midget really impresses me sometimes.

"I really admire you Jackie" I confess "And I'm only saying this because you're drunk and you won't remember this tomorrow, but despite all that bitchy attitude, you have a really big heart. If Eric did to me what Hyde did to you, I would NEVER forgive his sorry ass, in fact, I would hate him with all my guts"

"I wish I could hate Steven, it would make my life so much easier" Jackie sighed, looking at the floor "No matter how much I try, I can't hate him, in fact, I'm still very much in love with him, and that really sucks" She cried, and I squeezed her hand, supporting my best friend

"I know. I'm still in love with Eric, I guess" I confess, suddenly noticing how interesting our carpet is.

"Is that why you broke up with Randy?"

"Yes, you know, when I first started seeing Randy, I felt like I was cheating on Eric. And I've read his stupid letter every single day, because I needed to remind myself that he broke up with me, that I wasn't doing anything wrong, but I couldn't get rid of this feeling, so I ended things with him" Jackie squeezed my hand a little tighter, and smiled softly at me.

"Eric is an asshole. You were always too good for him, I've always said that"

"I know. I stayed in Point Place for him after Red had his heart attack, I forgave him for ditching me on our wedding day, and he just took off to Africa, he didn't even ask me what I thought!" I feel my voice tremble a little bit, and I know I'm about to cry, then Jackie pulls me in for a hug and I couldn't hold it anymore. I started crying, hard. And so did she. So we just held each other, until the sobs stopped.

"So, what now?" Jackie asks, sniffing

"Now, you are going to sleep and prepare for your big hangover tomorrow" Jackie grimaced at my words "And don't forget that Kelso is bringing Fez and Betsy, we are going out for lunch" I got up the couch and offered my hand to Jackie, who was struggling a little "Next time you take it easy on the champagne, midget"

"Noted" Jackie smirked and took off her heels, heading to her room "Donna" she called "You are the best, thank you for always being here. I love you"

"Love you too" I smile as Jackie closes the door to her room, and as I'm heading to my own room, I take a bottle of aspirin and leave it at the kitchen counter for Jackie tomorrow.