A/N so I totally have an excuse for why I haven't updated for a while, and that is – I tried to work on another of my stories and stalled out on it for lack of inspiration, so now I'm back to this one which for some reason, flows easier? Anyhow, although it could change by the end of writing this the plan for this chapter is to cover several episodes with my own peculiar twist on them, as always, I'm open to suggestions for things to add, hope you all enjoy.
Also, I own nothing.
Finally, there was peace and quiet, and for that Hyde was very grateful because it had been a shit storm of late! But it was over now…kind of, he was at the hub with fez peacefully eating his fries after having to weather the storm of Forman and donna's fight about David Millbank.
Leave it to donna to get mad that she was wrong about something.
Jackie had called it the moment donna and David hung out the first time, she'd been at Hyde's house sitting on the couch sharing a bag of chips she'd brought with her – she knew by then his house didn't have food most of the time – and he'd mentioned Forman being upset about the whole thing. At that time, he'd taken what donna said at face value, and believed it wasn't a big deal, until Jackie set him straight, she snatched the chip bag out of his reach to ensure his attention.
"ok, Steven I need you to listen to me with your ears, so look at me and not the TV" she demanded calmly "they aren't friends" she stated bluntly "friendship is something that's formed over time, you of all people should be aware of that, but that's not my point"
"what is your point then?" he asked with a smirk, Jackie tended to go far off track from her original intent.
"this, we always know – when a boy is really into a girl, the girl knows, no maybes about it" she told him with a blunt edge to her words.
This wasn't information Hyde had been equipped to deal with, because if what she said was true that meant some unpleasant things.
"you can't 'always' know" he argued seriously, there had to be a lot of cases of girls being oblivious…. right?
"yeah ok, if it's like 'admiring from afar' no we won't be able to tell because we can't read minds like professor X! but if a boy is acting like David Millbank is acting – we freaking know they like us!" she shrieked to drive her point home, going so far as to smack him painlessly on the shoulder.
Hyde stared at her while he processed everything she said, several questions came to mind but first he went with – "if that's true then all that time before we were together….?" He couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence and admit the truth, but Jackie already knew what he was getting at.
With a cool expression shed said "yes, Donna knew you liked her before you said so Steven, but she liked the attention – just like now" she'd informed him flatly
"and you're sure about all this?" he asked, hoping against hope that she had doubts about her theory
"I'm always right Steven, the sooner you accept that the happier your life will be" she told him loftily, crossing her arms.
"I feel the need to remind you about your last boyfriend doll face" he said defensively, he'd known it was a bad idea to bring it up the moment the words passed his lips, but he was a dumbass and hadn't been able to stop it, but to his amazement (which hadn't worn off yet either) Jackie just smirked back at him after he invoked kelso.
"if we don't make mistakes we can't learn from them Steven, Kelso was a terrible choice and a terrible boyfriend, which made me make a better choice for my next boyfriend" she said with a sweet smile for him, which slipped into a wicked grin "and just think how great the next one will be?" she teased
"you are not at all funny" he growled, highly offended by her joke.
"settle down there handsome, you don't get to be pissed since you only started to remotely like me about 24 days and six hours ago," she giggled at his scowl
Hyde glared at his giggling girlfriend, her curls bouncing with her laughter, and reached out his hand to pull her gently into a kiss – a real kiss, usually she greeted him with a quick peck and it stopped there – he heard her sharp intake of breath being caught unaware, but she didn't pull away and after a few seconds he seriously wondered why they didn't spend more time this way?
Finally, Hyde pulled back and stared at her, she looked shocked but happy.
"your way off doll" he told her softly
"no, I'm not Steven, she knows he's interested ok?!" she snapped irritably, pissed he'd ruined such a nice moment.
"not about that, I accept that you know what you're talking about there, your wrong about the 24 days and six hours" he explained and steeled himself to do something he loathed – talk about feelings.
"I am not! I counted it out last night when I was having trouble sleeping and it's been that long since you told me you liked me for sure" she said adamantly
"the thing you need to remember doll, is that I don't like talking about what I feel so there's a pretty big gap between when I start to feel something, and when I say it out loud" he explained awkwardly
"how big of a gap?" Jackie asked barely above a whisper, her eyes huge.
He'd had to fight to keep the smirk off his face, he didn't get to surprise her often because she was annoyingly observant, he was going to enjoy the hell out of this.
"remember when we went to Kenosha?" he asked, his smirk breaking free at last.
Jackie's mouth fell open, she couldn't fathom what he was implying.
"at the disco? You started to like me at the disco?" she asked, shocked beyond belief that he could be telling the truth, although if he was lying she appreciated the effort.
"not exactly, but it's the first time I really noticed you" he admitted
"I looked damn good that night" Jackie nodded in agreement
"like that was something new? You usually looked damn good, if I cared about that I would have been after you the first time I saw you, nah man, I started to notice you when you were out there with fez dancing, it was…impressive" he wasn't sure that was the right word for what he'd witnessed?
"my dancing? That's what made you start to notice me? How? And how long after noticing me did you start to sort of like me?" she asked confused by what he was telling her.
"remember that Christmas party in the basement?" he asked uncomfortably, averting his eyes from her face.
"not really, I drank a lot of that punch whorey Laurie spiked and there's a lot of blank spots" she admitted her expression turning angry when she thought of Eric's evil sister.
"you uh, you tried to help me figure out a present that day and then…." He wasn't sure how to continue?
"helping you think up a gift for another girl made you like me?" she asked, taken aback.
"no man! Crap, this is why I don't talk about feelings!" he groaned, rubbing his face in hopes of warding off the headache he felt coming on.
"then get to the point Steven" Jackie ordered, she wasn't enjoying what he'd said so far.
"you kissed me that night, I'm assuming you don't remember because of all the punch you had, but you cornered me under the mistle toe and laid one on me, then told me you liked the way I smelled" he recounted with a tiny smile at the memory, truth be told he'd liked the way she had smelled too.
"I did, didn't I?" she said as it came back to her.
She'd seen him standing alone near the mistle toe and in her rum induced haze she couldn't help herself, she'd lied earlier when she'd told him her answer if he wanted to make out was probably no, he wasn't pretty like Kelso, he was handsome. So, handsome in fact that she'd made a bee line to him and kissed him full on the lips without any sort of warning, she remembered thinking he smelled really good and it felt nice holding onto him, she was now realizing that she seemed to have said it all out loud.
"so, you start to like any girl who drunkenly kisses you?" she asked curiously
"just you doll" he chuckled and kissed her slowly, when he pulled away Jackie looked dazed.
"wow" she said absently
"yeah, we need to start doing this a lot more often" he agreed with a similarly dazed tone.
Not that he wasn't happy with their current relationship, but they'd kept things innocent long enough in his humble opinion and he could get used to kissing her like that as often as humanly possible!
"damn straight" she agreed nodding blankly.
Hyde smirked at the memory of the rest of that afternoon as he popped a fry in his mouth and half listened to what fez was saying, when the door flew open and a skinny chick in black leather strode towards them asking if there was a motel around there?
Before he knew what was happening he was on the back of her Vespa showing her the way to the nearest motel. He was only slightly surprised when she propositioned him while they were talking, he was about to say something clever in response when a face popped into his mind – Jackie.
"I gotta go man, good luck in New York" he told her awkwardly
"what's up with you man?" Chrissy asked with a sneer
"hangin' outs one thing man, but I've got a girlfriend and I'm not down to make her cry ya know?" he told her seriously
"relationships are a lie the establishments fed us to keep us in line man! Love is just propaganda contrived to keep us from noticing how screwed up the world is!" she said firmly convinced of her view.
"usually I would agree with you, but seeing as how I'm 'in love' it doesn't really apply" Hyde pointed out
"then come with me to New York" Chrissy said challengingly
"what?" Hyde asked blankly
"you're not 'in love' with that girl friend of yours, so what's stopping you?"
"being in love aside, I still have a girlfriend that I like a lot and I can't just bail on her man" Hyde told her
"why not? It's not like you have a shot at lasting, it's a high school girlfriend man you've got a shelf life of a year tops" she told him seriously
Hyde didn't know how to respond to that? If he denied what she was saying it would require claiming that he and Jackie were in it for the long haul, and that was a thought that scared the ever-loving hell out of him.
"I'll think about it" he said seriously and left the room.
He felt like a dick but, he was tempted at the idea of leaving point place, he turned the idea over in his head while he walked aimlessly. There wasn't much keeping him there, his mom was gone now – not that anyone knew that yet, besides his friends and Jackie he couldn't think of one damn reason to stay there?
He wasn't too surprised when he looked up and saw that his subconscious had taken him to the Forman's house, but when he opened the sliding door he was surprised by what he saw in the kitchen – Jackie was there with Mrs. Forman, wearing an apron and a liberal amount of flour, the only word at his disposal for how she looked in that moment was 'adorable'.
She was laughing and smiling with kitty while they looked at the burnt disaster of a pie before them on the counter.
"now Jackie what went wrong with this one?" kitty asked her while wiping a tear from her eye from laughing so hard at Jackie's failed pie.
"I wasn't paying attention to the timer because I was telling you a story about Steven?" Jackie asked with feigned regret at her mistake.
"yes honey, now why did I forget to keep an eye on it?" kitty asked with another giggle
"because you kept pumping me for more detail?" Jackie asked, and both of them dissolved into laughter again, neither seemed to care they'd waisted the ingredients – more than once by the look of the trash can.
Hyde gathered his courage and approached Jackie, she smiled brightly when she saw him and kissed him hello carefully to avoid getting flour on him too.
"what's up Steven?" she asked cheerfully while she cleaned up the mess, Kitty left them alone to go fix herself a drink.
"uh, I need to talk to you doll" he said in a low voice and led her outside to talk without Kitty overhearing them.
"ok" Jackie agreed with a worried frown, she knew him well enough to know something was wrong and that whatever it was, she wasn't going to like it much.
She was right.
Hyde told her about meeting the punk chick, making sure to be clear that he hadn't touched her, and then he dropped the bomb – he was thinking about leaving with her to move to New York. When he finished talking he waited for Jackie to respond, but he wasn't sure what he was hoping she'd say? Good luck on your adventure? Or I hope you die in a hole in New York?
Either were viable options, but what she said when he couldn't take the silence anymore was "fine" and shrugged her shoulder with a blank look on her face.
"that's it?" he asked, surprised Jackie of all people had nothing else to say.
"that's it" she confirmed in the same cold blank voice.
"you don't have an opinion on the subject?" he knew he was poking the bear with this question, but he couldn't help it, she had to have some kind of feeling on the whole thing, didn't she?
"what exactly were you hoping for? Did you expect me to cry about you, maybe beg you not to leave me? Sorry to disappoint Steven" she said with tightly controlled anger.
"that's not what's going on here doll, I'm not leaving you for this chick ok? I need for you to understand that" he said seriously
"I understand Steven – you didn't touch the chick you just met, good for you! You're just thinking of leaving forever with her, but you didn't cheat on me so its ok" she said flatly
"no, dammit Jackie! My mom took off with a trucker, I've got no other family around, I'm already going to have to drop out to get a job but if I'm in New York instead of point place not only are there more options, but I won't have to deal with seeing people give me that look of pity! I can't deal with that look man, it seems like the best option since there's nothing here for me doll" he tried to explain how he felt.
"nothing…. I see" she said softly and turned on her heel and left.
It was a full minute and a half before he realized what he'd said.
"dammit!" he yelled angrily
He didn't want to hurt Jackie, it was the last thing he wanted to do, although he was wondering how he was stupid enough not to realize he was callously dumping her instead of asking what she thought about it like he thought he was?
"I am a dumbass" he growled angrily and headed to the basement to think.
His luck for the day held, everyone was there watching TV which didn't give him the solitude he was hoping for to work out what was going on. So instead he told them about possibly going to New York to hear what they thought?
It was heartwarming in a way to see them put their differences aside to tell him he was a moron.
"whatever! You don't get it" he snapped and stormed out of the basement back to his empty house.
After pacing around his living room angrily for about an hour, Hyde ended up dozing off on the couch in a fitful sleep, only to be woken up a while later by a loud angry banging on his door. Half asleep he stumbled over wondering who the hell would be at his door?
"hey Red" he greeted his friend's dad, confused to see him there.
"invite me in dumbass" Red growled by way of greeting
"uh, come on in?" Hyde obeyed nervously
"Steven, I've always tolerated you better than the other dumbasses infesting my house" he began angrily
"appreciated" Hyde said honestly
"but today you took the dumbass crown! Leaving to New York? Are you crazy or just stupid?" he demanded angrily
"whatever I am isn't your concern Red, I'm touched that you care but it's my business" Hyde said defiantly.
Red crossed his arms and gave Hyde a level look "if that's the way you want it to be fine Steven, 'you' aren't my concern" he said with deceptive calm "but Jackie is, and when some short-sighted dumbass dumps her for a reason as stupid as this, I have no choice but to pay said dumbass a visit!" Red shouted the last part in a tone that would make fully grown men cower.
"you talked to Jackie? Is she ok?" Hyde asked, dropping all pretense of cool.
"no, she's not Steven. I found her under the Toyota changing spark plugs through tears, it took me ten minutes to get her to tell me what was wrong, imagine my surprise when the answer was you! And because you were moving away no less! Now let me tell you what you're going to do right this minute" Red said commandingly, pointing one finger at Hyde's chest for emphasis.
"gather up your stuff and get your ass in the car, you're going to stay with us now that your moms gone" he ordered
"how did you know that?" Hyde was stunned at what he was hearing
"Jackie accidently told me when I got her to tell me what was wrong, she was more worried about you than your dumbass deserves! Now don't make me say it again" he snapped, sending Hyde running for his duffle bag and few belongings.
It was an awkward ride back to the Forman's house – which would now be his house too – because Red just glared out the windshield, while Hyde thought of ways to fix his latest screw up with Jackie, he wondered if he'd topped Kelso's record yet? It was a depressing thought.
Red slammed the car door and turned to Hyde.
"you have an hour and a half 'till curfew, if I were you id figure out what to say to her on the walk over" Red said bluntly, before going inside with Hyde's duffle bag in hand.
"right, cus there's words that will fix how fucking stupid I was" he muttered darkly, even while he set off to do as he'd been told.
Soon enough Hyde found himself at Jackie's door, praying Maureen didn't answer the door again – he was embarrassingly intimidated by the elderly Irishwoman with a bun. In his first stroke of luck since meeting Chrissy, Jackie opened the door and saved him from getting reamed by a scary maid.
"what do you want Steven?" she asked sounding tired
"I…. I decided to stay in town" he said uncomfortably
"I thought there was nothing here for you?" Jackie said unemotionally, which he found unnerving.
"I didn't mean it like that doll" he said sounding a lot more stricken than he was comfortable sounding, but he knew it wasn't a time for protecting his pride.
"yes, you did, I'm nothing you don't get to back track now" she said coldly
"Jackie, you're not nothing!" he argued agitatedly
"saying that isn't something you get to take back Steven! You were ready to leave town with some girl you just met, and you didn't care what that would do to me! I'm done" she said somberly and before he could stop her, closed and locked the door.
That was the last conversation he got to have with Jackie for the next two weeks, when he did manage to track her down and almost get a word with her to tell her what he needed to – Red sent him packing. As far as Hyde could tell, Jackie told Red the whole story and although she wouldn't give up working on the cars with Red to avoid Hyde, Red was more than comfortable playing bouncer to the garage and baring Hyde's entrance.
He was now spending most of his free time laying on his cot in the basement, staring at the ceiling and wishing he didn't miss Jackie so much. It was totally lame how badly he missed her, his life had gone back to basically what it'd been before he'd been with her and it fucking sucked! How the hell had he lived like this so long? It was boring and lonely and pathetic, and he missed nearly everything about her to the point where he got pissed off at being around anyone who wasn't her.
Forman found him sulking in his room and sat in the chair across from his oldest friend with the intent of trying to help him, but what came out was.
"what's your damn problem man?!" Forman cried angrily
"back off Forman" Hyde warned from where he lay,
"no man, not this time, I let a lot slide with you Hyde, all that crap you pulled with donna all the times you burn me for no reason, I let it slide because your still my best friend even when you're a dick, but you've surpassed 'bad mood' now and since you live here could you get over it or at least tell me what the hell is wrong?" he demanded
"Jackie and I split" Hyde said despondently
"what? Why man?" he'd had no idea
"cus of the New York thing" Hyde answered shortly
"tell me Hyde" Forman said seriously, "all this time you haven't explained how you ended up with her or if it was a scam or what, tell me" he asked earnestly
Hyde sat up and held his head in his hands "I'm not really up to you starting to hate me right now Forman" Hyde admitted part of his reluctance to level with his oldest friend.
"I won't be pissed at you man, I want to understand what's going on" Forman promised
And so, Hyde told him everything, the conversation at the ski cabin that led to their original agreement, the events and conversations that turned it into a different kind of relationship, the moment Hyde had realized how much he really liked Jackie…all of it. The portion where he had to admit what he'd done back then to try and get donna, was hard to say, but Forman didn't react to it. When Hyde finished talking he braced for Forman to scream at him and tell him to get out of the house for good.
"Hyde man, you've got to go talk to her" Forman said seriously
"that's it? You aren't going to kick me out and say were not friends anymore?" Hyde asked skeptically
Forman raised an eyebrow at the question "why would I do that? I want you to fix things with Jackie, because, shockingly she's my…friend now? That was weird to say, anyway, I want you to fix it but I'm not going to turn my back on you over it" Forman told him looking confused
"I meant because of what I tried with donna then" Hyde explained
"uh, Hyde buddy? You weren't as subtle back then as you thought you were, I knew what you were doing and even though it bugged me, it wasn't enough to make me hate you" Forman shocked him by saying.
"you knew?" Hyde asked stricken
"again buddy, you weren't subtle" Forman laughed
"I miss Jackie man" Hyde admitted softly, he hated to admit it but he had to because it was eating at him from the inside.
"figure out a way to get her to listen to you, and when she does – and this is important – tell her the truth!" Forman advised with a shout.
"this 'truth' concept you speak of, how does one go about it?" Hyde asked with a smirk, but he also needed some guidance too.
"well, when you open your mouth, say what you mean even if it makes you sound like a girl" Forman told him bluntly.
"got it" Hyde nodded comprehension, but still felt uneasy about the whole thing, it was just such a foreign concept.
He was about to give up on the whole thing when he saw the picture of he and Jackie at prom, and it hit him all over again how much of a gaping, soul crushing chasm of hell her absence had made. First opportunity he got he was going to level with her.
That opportunity came under unexpected circumstances.
Kitty had sent them to pick up Red at Charlies bar after his last day at the plant, but when they'd gotten there he'd refused to leave and instead they ended up drinking with him.
"hello, mother? This is your son Eric, I'm not feeling well"
"I'm on my way" Kitty said and hung up the phone
"what's going on?" Jackie asked sounding concerned
"I sent the boys to pick up red from Charlies bar, and now I need to go pick up all of them up" Kitty explained wearily
"do you want me to watch the chicken in the oven?" Jackie offered helpfully
"uh, no honey ill just…ill just…. have you pick them up, a ha ha ha" Kitty laughed nervously to avoid being rude about Jackie's track record during their cooking lessons, she was fine mixing the ingredients but always forgot to keep an eye on whatever was cooking.
"Mrs. Forman, I don't think I can deal with Steven – especially drunk Steven" Jackie admitted
"I understand Jackie, I really do, but I really need your help with this, I can't leave the chicken and we both know you'll forget to take it out on time, now normally that's ok but I don't have any back up dinner tonight, and I have to get them out of that bar. But, if you're really not up to doing it I understand" she said sincerely
"no Mrs. Forman, I can do it" Jackie said with a note of steal in her voice
"oh, thank you honey!" Kitty said, and gave her a hug before sending her on her way.
Jackie drove through town until she saw the familiar neon sign that read Charlie's bar, and pulled into the parking lot. She took a deep breath to ready herself for facing Steven while wrangling a group of drunk guys at the same time. best case scenario she'd have to resort to using her shrillest bossiest voice to get them all in the car so she could be done with the whole thing.
"hey Mr. Forman, I'm here to take all of you back to the house" she said softly
"hey Jackie! It's great to see you kiddo, sit down and have a beer" Red said happily, and began introducing her to the other drunks and the bar tender, when Hyde stumbled over.
"Jackie!" he cried happily "oh doll, I missed you so much! I'm so glad you're here" Hyde slurred and caught her up in a bear hug, nuzzling his face into her neck and breathing in her scent he'd missed almost as much as he'd missed her.
"you're drunk Steven" Jackie said softly, while trying to extricate herself from his embrace politely
"I know, but that's a good thing, you know why?" he asked seriously
"why Steven?" she asked playing along so he'd get in the car without a fuss
"cus now that I'm drunk it's not as scary to tell you how I feel, can I tell you how I feel doll?" he asked hopefully
"maybe later Steven" Jackie said evasively, she didn't want to talk to him almost as much as she didn't want to see him at all.
"oh, come on kiddo! He hasn't shut up about how much he likes you all damn night, let him talk to you for a minute and I promise if he upsets you I'll put my foot up his ass" Red said loudly
"ok Steven, you've got three minutes" Jackie said resignedly and followed him to the empty far corner of the bar so they could talk in privacy.
"I miss you" he began still sounding more drunk than anything else.
"ok" Jackie replied blankly
"do you miss me at all?" he checked nervously
"you only have two minutes left" Jackie evaded the question
"I miss you" he said again, sounding sadder than before
"you said that already, how drunk are you Steven?" she asked with a glimmer of concern for him.
"hardly at all" he replied seriously
"yeah ok, times up Steven, it's time to go home now" Jackie lied just wanting the whole thing to be over
"I still have over a minute left doll, there's a clock behind you and I told you already I'm not that drunk" Hyde said sounding disturbingly lucid
"fine, if you're not that drunk I don't have to be that nice, say your piece so I can get all of you home" she said dangerously
"I miss you so much doll, I never meant to hurt you and when I said there was nothing for me here I didn't mean you, because you're not nothing Jackie, you're so far from being nothing to me I don't want to think about it because it freaks me out. I don't know what to say to fix what I did, I know I fucked up, I want to be with you and I will do whatever it takes, please believe me doll, please" he was nearly begging at that point, but he was willing to downright grovel if it meant she'd curl up on the couch against him again while they watched tv.
"help me get them all home safely and I'll listen to you for more than three minutes" Jackie offered him a deal, and he jumped at the chance.
He hustled the guys out to the car with skill, and kept them under wraps during the drive back. After they'd deposited Red and Eric in the kitchen Jackie kept up her end of the bargain and followed Hyde down to his room so he could say his piece.
Hyde flipped on the radio to cover their conversation and stared at Jackie for a moment.
"say what you want to say Steven so I can go home" Jackie said in a tired voice, it had been a long day
"my mom split and I wanted to run away from this town, when I was talking about it to you I wasn't trying to say I wanted to leave you doll, I was just trying to explain how fucked up everything in my life was besides you, I'm not good with all this mushy romantic crap, and you already know I honest to god like you, but..." Hyde swallowed hard
"but what Steven?" she asked gently, when she thought about it she understood what he meant about wanting to run away from the place where his own mother bailed on him.
"I don't know what it is I'm feeling for sure, because I've never been the type of person to think too much about what I'm feeling, but if I had to guess what it is I feel about you then I'd have to say…" taking a deep breath, Hyde reached out and slowly pulled her into his arms "there's a very real chance I'm falling for you doll" he murmured into her ear.
"I don't understand?" Jackie whispered sounding scared
"I mean that, this is the closest to whatever 'love' is that I've ever felt Jackie, and it physically hurts that I'm not with you, did you know it makes your chest ache to miss someone?" he asked still surprised about this.
"yes Steven, I knew that" Jackie said softly, her fingers tightening on him thoughtlessly
"does it – does it hurt for you?" he asked terrified she would say 'no'
"all day long Steven" Jackie murmured fighting back tears
"can you give me another chance doll? I swear I wasn't trying to dump you and leave town" he promised fervently
"ok" Jackie mumbled into his lapel while tears ran down her face
"I swear Jackie, no more misunderstandings no more fuck ups, were going to get the hang of all this together and I promise I'll tell you what's on my mind if you can promise to cut me some slack for sucking at it all" he offered gently
"were going to mess up Steven, were too young to be good at this stuff, but I want you - I'm sure of that, so if you mean it that you'll try harder than I will too" she promised fervently
"I'll do anything doll, if it means were us again" Hyde told her honestly
"that's what I want too Steven" Jackie said laying her head against his chest while he swayed her back and forth soothingly, until on a whim he twirled her in time to the music playing over the radio, making Jackie smile, which soothed the ache he'd learned to live with while apart from her.
"why are we dancing?" she asked sweetly
"why not?" he shrugged with a smirk
"what song is this playing?" she asked curiously as they continued to dance slowly in the center of his tiny room.
Hyde listened closer to see if he recognized it, he'd only been paying attention to Jackie until then.
"uh, I think it's called 'try me'?" he guessed from the repeated lyric
"who's singing it?"
"James brown"
"can this be our song?" she asked expecting him to shut her mushy idea down, but she was in for a surprise
"that's fine with me doll, anything you want I'll do right now" he admitted without pride or ego, he just wanted her back.
"I want you to be happy enough with me that you don't want to run away anymore" she admitted sadly
"I don't want to run away from you Jackie, I never did, and I swear doll, if I decide I have to run I'm definitely taking you with me" he admitted the reality of it now.
"sounds good to me" she whispered with a tone that caught his attention and made him worry.
"aside from me being a dumbass, is everything ok doll?" he asked, pulling away just enough that he could see her face.
"not really, but I can handle it if I'm not crying over you" she said grinning up at him
"what's going on?" he was concerned now, being one of the few people who had any idea about what her family was really like.
"lots of fighting, lots of stupid, lots of the same thing as always" she said with an untroubled shrug, her parents were like they'd always been. She could handle them, she could handle anything except – it seemed – losing her scruffy partner in crime.
"what are you going to do?" Hyde asked
"shine it on until I can't anymore, and come up with a plan when I have to" she replied, still dancing slowly with him to the old song.
"think I'll be part of that plan?" he asked with total self-serving curiosity
"as of right now you are, the rest is up to you" she informed him seriously
"I made my choice" Hyde assured her softly pulling her closer
"me too" Jackie sighed happily.
A/N so that went on longer than I meant but I wanted to get from point a to point b, and now I have. I hope it's not too much at once, but I have a sort of time jump plan for what's next in this story so I needed to cover a lot of ground, also I wanted them cemented at last. Let me know what you think.
Also, I should mention I couldn't stand looking at the screen anymore and am posting this as soon as the spell check is done, so if I made a lot of mistakes – sorry and I'll try to go back and fix them later, so try to bear with me if there's parts that are hard to follow
