Hyde stared up at the entrance to the high school, he was about to start his junior year and he didn't give a damn. His hand involuntarily reached to his pocket and felt the folded paper in it.

'dear Steven, I can't believe we aren't starting school together this year. I miss you so much, you have no idea! This city is HUGE! And I'm already small and it makes it worse, I feel like a flee on a really big dog, that's what it should be called here, big apple my perfect ass! I hate it, I hate our new place, it's an apartment not a house which means that there are people all around me all the time and its always so loud, which doesn't matter because I don't have anyone to talk to anyway.

Daddies new job has him busy all the time, and mom is always out with her new friends trying to 'secure a place in the best social circles' and I can't make any friends here because here, I'm the 'poor' kid as far as all these stuck up bitches are concerned, which reminds me, I want you to go tell anyone and I mean anyone who I ever made feel like they're making me feel and tell them I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I ever acted like that. I miss you Steven, I miss you more than I miss my room and even though it failed spectacularly it was really sweet of you to try and talk my dad into letting me stay.

Please write me back Steven, I'm so lonely and I miss you and I miss home and I hate it here! I wish you could come get me, I wish I could drive then I'd steal the car and run away! Sorry about all that, I shouldn't dump on you, be up on Thursday at midnight your time I'm going to try my damndest to call your house, as you're aware I'm not allowed to call you after your beautiful display of loyalty on the front lawn, but they're going to be at a gala and won't know what I'm doing, so you better be up to answer my call! You're my best friend Steven and I hate not being there with you, be up on Thursday.

Love forever your Jackie

He'd read it so many times it was starting to seem a little sad even to him, but it was all he had of her now that she'd been taken away from him. His other friends had forgotten Jackie as soon as she'd left, and he felt his heart crack a little more every time someone seemed relieved she was gone, and even worse when they so quickly forgot someone he couldn't go two seconds without thinking of! His whole world was shit and then he'd found Jackie, she acted like he was the greatest thing she'd ever seen and it made him start to think that he could maybe become the person she believed him to be.

Hyde was never a happy guy, there was just too much experience with how bad things could and did get for him to function like other kids did, he knew, he knew what it was like to be out of money before your paycheck was even cashed, he knew what it was like to train yourself to not feel hungry because you knew that it didn't matter what you felt. He had friends sure, but it wasn't the same, it wasn't Jackie, and he missed her so bad he didn't know how to handle it so he was just pissed all the time.

Not a lot of people noticed though, he'd never been exactly sunny in his disposition so when he became…difficult, it flew under the radar. Only Forman noticed anything at all, and he was too twitchy to confront him about the change in him, but it was there. Whereas before people had been nervous of Hyde and given him a wide berth, there was active fear of him now, part of this was that ever since a certain Lincoln had driven away from point place, Hyde would fight at the least provocation, his temper was always so close to the surface that the entire student body avoided him and he spent a lot of time sitting at the police station, waiting for Edna to pick him up.

His original friends stuck with him, but all that really meant was that they hung out with him in the basement and traded burns and smoked weed, Forman made a few attempts to get Hyde to open up and tell him why he was just pissed off all the damn time!

'dear Jackie, I know I just talked to you for a whole two minutes but, I still miss you. I don't know why man, but I'm so fucking pissed all the time and I don't know what to do? I wish you were here, and I wish I wasn't so mad, I wish a lot of things, I just miss you. Hope you can call again soon'

Your friend Steven

But she never got to call him again, her mom noticed the one long distance charge and had a very stern talk with her about leaving the past behind and not caring about people who don't matter. Jackie ignored everything her mom said except for the calling part, no paper trail. She kept on writing him letters, and her heart jumped every time she received a letter from Gladys that had Hyde's within it. She hadn't been exaggerating when she told him she hated New York, Jackie despised it but she was honest enough with herself to admit she only hated most of it because she wanted her friend back.

She came so close once too

'hey, jacks you're never going to believe this! I met this chick Chrissy and she wants me to leave point place with her, to New York! Once I'm there there's not a damn thing your dad can do to keep me away, I'm packing as soon as I mail this, you and me jacks, soon.'

Jackie read the words with such happiness it almost drowned out the peculiar pang she felt when she read that he'd met a girl, was he replacing her without realizing it? She shook her head to banish the thought, no – he wouldn't write her sounding exited to be reunited if he had replaced her, that didn't make any sense.

She waited on tenterhooks for word of his arrival, she had spent so much time scouting things they could do together that her parents thought she was finally embracing the city. And then it came – another letter from Steven.

'hey jacks, I thought I'd be there with you by now but the Forman's found out I was going to leave, I'm pretty sure donna made Forman rat me out, anyway, kitty cried and red gave me some speech that made me see that as much as I want to be there with you, I wouldn't have a job or a place to stay and let's face it, your parents still hate me so they probably wouldn't let you hang out with me any way. It was a nice dream while it lasted though, someday I'll see you again.

Steven'

Jackie couldn't stop crying, she knew it was selfish to do so but, she was so lost without him. She'd been so unbelievably happy to think he'd be there in the damn gigantic city with her, and now it wasn't going to happen. The loneliness hit her all over again, without Steven she had been having a tough time, she had no one to confide in, no one to tell her silly fears and worries to, no one she could trust to have her back. It had made a noticeable change in her, well – Steven would have noticed it but her parents didn't.

She fell asleep that night crying and clutching a picture of her and Steven at the carnival back in point place, she'd been smiling like a fool while he tried to look annoyed that after several failed attempts to win her the stuffed bear she'd wanted, Jackie had taken matters into her own hands and had plucked the ball out of his hands and hurled it at the milk bottles with pin point accuracy until the bear was hers at last! He'd tried his best to look annoyed and aloof but the amused grin had broken free for the picture and every time Jackie looked at it she remembered why she missed him so much – he'd do things he thought were stupid to make her happy, he'd protect her from anything even things that should have given him pause (like her parents) he didn't treat her like she was a dumb kid, he treated her like she was important, at least important to him and she would have traded everything she owned to have her friends back.

She vowed then that the moment she was done with high school she would go back to point place and Steven, she didn't care what her parents said about how Vassar was the only possible choice of school for her, she was dead set to go to UW where she could see her friends again. But until then, at least she had her letters, until she didn't.

Half way through senior year Jackie hadn't gotten a letter in months, she'd sent so many she'd lost count but Hyde wasn't responding? She was worried sick that something was wrong, or something bad had happened to him? And then it was all ok because she got a letter from Gladys!

'Jackie, just stop writing me, there's no point anymore. You don't know anything about me anymore and I don't know you, were not friends anymore, just pen pals man. See ya round or something. Hyde'

"no" Jackie whispered brokenly, how could he say that?

She waited and waited for him to write again and take back what he'd said, but it never came, she threw herself into school work because if she was studying she could forget Steven for a little while. Eventually the pain grew into anger, he had abandoned her like she had never been anything to him! All their words of friendship and devotion had been a lie on his part and she couldn't think of him without fuming. How dare he?! how dare he act like everyone else did to her?! If he could go on without her so easily, well she could too! There are some wounds that just don't heal.

Eric Forman sat in the basement, surreptitiously watching his best friend through the corner of his eye, Hyde was scowling at the tv while it innocently played a re-run of bewitched, it didn't take a genius to see that Hyde was pissed off, but it would take a world class detective to figure out why? Because he was always pissed off, it didn't take much to push him past his normal point of anger into the realm of violent outburst, then of course there was the drinking and the weed, catching Hyde sober these days was as rare as sightings of bigfoot and just as mythical.

"you ok Hyde?" Forman asked carefully

"I'm fine" Hyde growled shortly and crossed his arms without looking away from the tv, but Forman would have bet his savings that Hyde wasn't seeing a damn thing in front of him, he was lost in his head again and Forman knew that was bad – Hyde's head was more terrifying than a haunted house.

"you look mad" Forman stated neutrally, he wasn't prying simply stating facts in evidence.

"I'm always mad" Hyde responded like he always did, it had the benefit of being the truth. He was never happy anymore, the only time he smiled was when he burned someone or pulled a prank, and then it wasn't a happy smile so much as a frightening grin that made your blood run cold.

Donna looked up at her boyfriend with a raised eyebrow "what's with you Eric? He's like he always is, get nervous when he looks happy, that's when we know something weird and unnatural happened" donna laughed.

"it's just…" Forman began awkwardly "I was trying to think of the last time I saw you in a good mood and I swear the only time I could think of was like sophomore year when you got home from the carnival?" he said with a frown on his face from trying to remember back that far.

"I remember that day!" donna said brightly "we rode the Ferris wheel for the first time since you claimed that you weren't afraid of heights anymore, but you held my hand so tight I had little finger bruises the rest of the week" she teased her boyfriend fondly

"yeah well….it was a lot higher than it seemed from the ground" Eric admitted with a shrug, then scrunched his eyebrows together in thought "and you were there with that loud bratty kid you used to hang out with sometimes?" he said trying to grasp onto a more solid memory

"oh yeah! I totally forgot about that girl" donna laughed, shaking her head at what they all considered Hyde's time of temporary insanity "what was her name anyway, Jodie Birken?" she said curiously looking to Hyde, totally missing the grimace of physical pain the conversations turn had caused for him.

"no that wasn't it" Forman said shaking his head "it was Jenny Barkhat" he said with certainty

"no that's not right either" donna argued,

"why are we still talking about this?" Hyde growled dangerously "it was years ago" it was only the fact that they were his friends that was saving them from his temper lashing out.

"what else are we going to talk about?" Eric said mildly

"yeah Hyde, there's nothing wrong with a little reminiscing now that high schools over and were all about to start collage. What happened to Julie anyway? I heard she moved away to like Detroit or something" donna said, firmly hitching her wagon to the nostalgia train.

"no, no it wasn't Detroit, it was the east coast somewhere, Boston I think?" Forman said unsurely

"this conversation is over" Hyde declared barely able to contain his anger.

"oh I'm sorry, I missed the memo about you making the rules" Donna sniped at him "anyway, wherever she went I heard from pam Macey a few days ago that she got engaged to some up and coming stock broker" donna told Forman the tidbit of gossip like it was a mildly interesting anecdote about a past classmate, certainly not something should make Hyde stand up so furiously that his chair fell to the floor, and neither Eric nor donna had expected him to storm out of the basement, letting the door slam behind him.

Once he was outside alone, Hyde stopped and leaned his head against the cool concrete wall of the stairwell.

"Jackie, her name was Jackie" he whispered desolately the answer to their question. The painful pressure he woke up with in his chest everyday had grown to an unbearable level, most days it was just a dull pervading ache that kept him in a perpetual bad mood, but now it had grown to the point he had to get away, so he got in his car and gunned the powerful engine, letting the El Camino share in his feelings, before he peeled out of the driveway and sped towards the highway.

He didn't know where he was going, but he knew it was going to be somewhere that would let him forget, because he knew if he couldn't forget once and for all it would kill him, he knew this because remembering had been slowly killing him since the summer before junior year. Over two years later and it was like he had a gaping wound in his chest at all times, like his heart had been ripped out of his chest and gone to parts unknown, leaving him alone to cope with the almost debilitating pain.

"that was weird" donna noted with a raised eyebrow, she wasn't accustomed to Hyde reacting like that – she wasn't used to Hyde reacting at all to be honest.

"maybe it just wierded him out to talk about that girl he knew, after so long?" Forman theorized without conviction, he knew Hyde better than the others did and just because he lived there, Hyde was his best friend and Eric truly cared about him. He had noticed even if he never said anything, that Hyde had become worse and worse over the years, but try though he might – Forman had no idea why?

Nothing he could think of explained his friend's steady descent into the abyss, but something about the way he'd stormed out caught at Forman's brain, why had he reacted so strongly to their innocuous conversation?

What was it about Jenny Barkhat that made Hyde that mad?

"well whatever, he'll be back later and I'm sure he'll be the same as he always is, pissed off drunk and Zen" donna said disinterestedly, Hyde was Hyde, he wasn't going to change she was sure.

"I hope so" Forman said less confident than his girlfriend seemed to be about it.

Forman became less hopeful after days of Hyde's absence turned into weeks. He'd disappeared without a word or a trace, Fez and Kelso were worried as he was, only donna continued to stubbornly maintain it was just more of Hyde's bullshit.

Then, like nothing had ever happened, Hyde walked into the basement as he had a thousand times. His friends gawked at him as he took his chair like he'd only been in the kitchen to get a snack? But if he noticed their reactions he didn't let on.

"uh, hey man, wherever you been?" Forman asked in a carefully casual voice

"Vegas" Hyde answered simply, refusing to turn and meet his foster brother's eyes.

"nice!" shouted Kelso and gave Fez a high five

"Las Vegas? Uh, cool…what – what'd you do out there? Or actually no, why did you go out there in the first place?" Forman asked a little more firmly

"I was bored" Hyde said in a perfect imitation of his own Zen, but Forman spotted a difference, he couldn't place what it was, but he knew Hyde was full of it.

He was about to call him on it when the opportunity was taken from him in the form of his mother flying into the room and going crazy at the sight of her adopted son who she'd been worried half to death about. Forman wasn't going to give up this time though, he knew Hyde needed help this time – he'd needed help for a while, but this time he wasn't going to be intimidated into letting Hyde wallow in whatever misery it was that made him act the way he did now, he was going to corner him and make him talk.

Admittedly, easier said than done.

He was just about to call Hyde out in the living room a couple days later, when just before he could get Hyde to answer his question about why he'd run out of the basement only to go to Las Vegas of all places?! When the front door opened and a skinny blonde in hot pants and a halter top flounced into the room, Forman was revolted to see recognition on Hyde's face!

He'd never exactly shot for the stars with his choices in women, but he'd always avoided the slutty typhoid Mary's of the world, until now it seemed?

"Sam, what are you doing here?" Hyde asked curiously

"well I'm here because I'm your wife" the bimbo explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"come again?" Hyde asked blankly

"were married Hyde" the blonde told him brightly

Forman, Fez and Kelso stood waiting for their friend to send the crazy woman packing, even Kelso knew whatever this was, was not a good scene, and if Kelso could tell than surely Hyde knew?

"oh" Hyde said absently "ok" he told Sam with a shrug and offered no resistance when she wrapped her arms around him, but he didn't look happy either?

If Forman had thought that Hyde had been in a downward spiral before, it was nothing compared to now that Sam had arrived. He was never without a beer in his hand, and that was just daytime drinking, as soon as it got dark he switched to whiskey – and not the good stuff either, the cheapest rot gut available. The way he spoke to his new 'wife' was deplorable but she didn't seem to mind at all, and then of course there was the hideous mustache he'd let grow, it screamed 'I've given up on life' louder than facial hair should be able to do.

In a sickening twist of events, Donna befriended Sam and the two would chat about the sort of shallow topics Donna had found so worthy of ridicule before, like cars and shoes and how to get your way no matter what when it came to men, it was cheerleader talk and for all the disdain donna had shown for it all through school, suddenly she didn't have a problem with it?

Forman was worried about her but nowhere near as worried as he was about Hyde.

"man! I never thought I'd want a live-in stripper to go away?" Kelso said one afternoon when it was only he Fez and Forman in the basement for once.

"I know what you mean Kelso, always Fez had dreamed of having such a thing present in day to day life, I never knew how bad the reality would be" Fez agreed solemnly, learning that being around a stripper day in and day out was not the Hugh Heffner like dream he'd expected had been difficult for the young man. Also for as much as Fez and Kelso appreciated casual boobs, to their shared surprise it wasn't much fun when they belonged to someone who was supposed to be married to one of your best friends – even they had some morals.

"I'm worried about Hyde guys" Forman voiced his own fear at last.

Kelso looked at him with a more lucid expression than he usually had, and Fez stared back seriously as well.

"yeah man, us too" Kelso admitted quietly

"he no longer seems like the guy who saved me from the locker, now he seems like the sort of guy who would put me in one" Fez imparted sadly

"it's all gone wrong since Sam showed up" Kelso sighed

"I don't think she's the cause, I think she's a side effect" Forman told them thoughtfully

"he wasn't doing well for a long time, remember senior year, when he got in so many fights he was almost expelled? He started most of those fights, not like before when he'd fight to stand up for someone like me or Fez, the tiniest thing would set him off and he'd totally over react. I think…. I think something major happened and we all must have missed it?" he told them, feeling guilty that what he said sounded so very true.

"what could it have been though? After his mother left he was the same as usual, he was mad for a while but he got through it and acted like himself again, he turned into this person out of nowhere it seems?" Fez said in the same soft worried voice they'd all been using while they discussed it.

"we should investigate!" Kelso said enthusiastically

"what are you talking about Kelso?" Forman asked, without outright dismissing him

"we go and look through his room for evidence of what made him act like this, because I don't know about you but I'm getting a little tired of getting frogged for no reason, or burned for saying 'hi' when I get here! It's like Hyde is only the mean parts of him now and I miss the other parts" Kelso tried to put into words the way he felt, which wasn't easy for him.

"what could we even find in his room?" Forman asked hopelessly

"well, if we are lucky he keeps a journal that he doesn't lie in, or maybe we find something bad like drugs…hard drugs or or…. I don't know but we have to try!" Fez cried dramatically

"you both know right, that if he catches us in his room looking through his stuff, he'll do worse than frog us?" Forman pointed out seriously

"Eric, sometimes you have to risk everything for a friend" Kelso told him adamantly

"yes, that is what Kelsos fortune told him yesterday and it is already coming true!" Fez said excitedly

"fine! We're going in!" Forman cried, standing on the back of the couch and pointing at Hyde's bedroom door like an explorer of old.

They approached Hyde's room carefully, a little too carefully actually because they looked ridiculous acting so sneaky.

They each took a side of his room and began searching for anything that might give them a clue on how to help their friend. As Kelso meticulously checked every single tube sock Steven Hyde owned, Fez flipped through all his books hoping for one to be a diary in disguise, Forman stood thinking about what he knew of Hyde and what clues that gave him about where he would Hyde something personal?

He crouched down and felt under Hyde's bed until he felt the edge of the cigar box Hyde used for his stash, stealing himself for their being hard scary drugs inside – he opened the lid, inside there was…nothing? Well, there was his stash and rolling papers like you'd expect, but that was all, Forman sighed dejectedly and looked across the tiny cramped room hopelessly, they weren't going to find a magic explanation for why their friend had fallen off the tracks.

He was just about to get up and leave, when his eyes fell on the crate of records next to Hyde's arm chair, a dim long past memory of Hyde teaching him to hide the stolen playboy pages in record sleeves came to his mind and he stood up to see if old habits die hard.

He checked album after album and came up with nothing, Fez and Kelso had struck out as well and came to sit on Hyde's cot while they watched Forman search.

"isn't that your copy of Led Zeppelin 3?" Kelso asked curiously when the next album Forman had pulled out revealed the one in question.

"it was but I let Hyde keep it" he replied absently

"how come?" Fez asked curiously

"it was his…. favorite" Forman said looking up with dawning realization, in a flash he grabbed the record that had once been his until he'd seen how much Hyde loved it, and opened it with baited breath.

Inside the sleeve folded carefully next to the vinyl record, was a stack of letters on lilac stationary that smelled like the sort of perfume a young girl would wear?

"that doesn't look like something Hyde would have" Kelso noted softly

"I agree" Fez whispered, scared to death now that they'd actually found something

Forman didn't respond, instead he gathered his courage and began reading.

As he went further and further through the one-sided conversation it became painfully clear to Forman that there was a lot about their best friend they'd never noticed, the most prevalent being that he apparently had a very dear, very close friend without them realizing it. The tone of the letters changed to desperate worry around the first semester of senior year, they became pleas for an answer to the letters, some sign that Hyde was alive and well until they abruptly ended?

"do either of you remember a Jackie Burkhart?" he asked them when he finished the last letter and began putting them back exactly as he'd found them.

"no" Fez answered quickly

"big girl, bowel cut, wins all the hot dog eating contests in town?" Kelso asked frowning

"kelso, that's Rhonda" Fez points out with a roll of his eyes

"hand me that year book" Forman says pointing to the one on Hyde's shelf, Kelso obeyed and passed over their Freshmen yearbook.

Flipping through it he came to a stop finally on the page before his own picture, scanning the names on the side he finally found 'Jackie Burkhart' and stared down at the corresponding picture, it hit him like a brick wall with a vendetta – it was the loud bratty kid Hyde had hung out with at school because they had a lot of the same classes, except Forman now knew that hadn't been the case, they had been a hell of a lot closer than he'd known, and judging by the dates on the letters he'd just read, they corresponded perfectly with Hyde's change of attitude, and now that he thought of it – it was that same girl he and donna had been talking about when he'd disappeared to Vegas?!

Who was this girl to him? How could they all have missed someone being that important to their friend?

"oh yeah! I remember her, she was cute" Kelso said while leaning over to look at the yearbook over Forman's shoulder

"she was the one who wrote all those letters he had hidden" Forman informed them softly, still trying to work it all out in his head.

"they were friends, right? Remember he brought her here once and donna was really rude to her and later Hyde beat me up for hitting on her? He didn't hold back either so he must have cared about her" Kelso mused with accidental insight.

"oh my god" Forman let out a breath as it all sunk in, Hyde had lost something so important that it changed him, and none of them had noticed.

"we've got to find her" he told his friends, then glanced around where they were sitting "but first we should get out of here before he catches us and kills us" he said seriously

Nods of agreement met this suggestion, and the three scurried out of the room and out of the basement entirely, if they were going to contact this 'Jackie' person, they needed to do it somewhere where Hyde wouldn't find them – Fez's place.

Ten minutes on directory assistance and Forman had a number scribbled on a candy wrapper, with a visible gulp he dialed the number provided by the cranky operator.

"hello?" a very high feminine voice answered after three rings

"uh…hi, I'm looking for Jackie Burkhart" Forman spoke nervously

"are you selling something?" the voice asked suspiciously

"no! no, my name is Eric Forman, I live in point place Wisconsin where Jackie used to live, we went to school together" he began babbling

"I know where I went to school thank you, why are you calling me Eric?" she asked with a noticeable chill in her voice

"uh, see the thing is….um" he wasn't sure how to start?

"it's too early for our high school reunion so what do you want?" she demanded

"Hyde, I need your help with Hyde" he blurted out desperately

"help how?" she asked flatly, she did not sound happy

"he's gotten bad Jackie, he's not himself anymore, he's just mad and drunk all the time" Forman tried to put into words what had happened to their friend who had always been such a solid guy.

"I'm sorry to hear that Eric, but he made it very clear that he's not my business which means it's not my problem" she snapped

"please Jackie! Don't hang up, ok I know you guys lost touch for some reason, but I'm begging you to help us!" he cried with obvious desperation that caught Jackie's attention at last.

"tell me what's going on Forman, but I'm not promising anything" she said at last

"he's different now, mad, pissed off, cruel, somehow he's just…given up" Forman tried to explain

"details Eric! Details!" Jackie snapped forcefully

So, Eric told her everything since the last time he could clearly recall Hyde being the guy he'd always known, when he gets to the part about Hyde disappearing to Las Vegas and a stripper showing up a few days later claiming to be his wife who he married on a bender, Jackie interrupted with a shriek of 'he what?!'

"he just got up and left when we were talking about the sophomore year carnival, he didn't come back for almost a month and when he did Sam showed up a few days later with a crazy story and a marriage license" he extrapolated.

"I'll think about it" Jackie spoke so softly he hardly heard her

"you will?! Oh, thank you Jackie! You're our last hope" he told her gratefully

"whatever" she said and hung up the phone, reeling from what she'd just heard.

She had a lot of thinking to do.

The next day Forman and Kelso and Fez did their best to act normal while they all hung out in the basement like they always did, it wasn't easy.

Donna was sitting on the end of the couch so she could talk to Sam who was perched on Hyde's lap, Hyde seemed totally unaware his wife was there as he stared with blank eyes at the tv like he always did, the only sign of life in him was when he raised his beer van or his joint to his lips.

"so, did you hear back about the thing?" Kelso asked Forman in a low – but none the less carrying whisper

"what thing?" Donna asked suspiciously

"off campus housing! I'm waiting to hear if we got approved" he said in a panic and shot Kelso a warning look.

Fez leaned over when no one was looking and punched Kelso in the shoulder for talking about their plan in the present company.

"so, Hyde, how's the store doing?" Forman asked in yet another attempt to get Hyde to show any kind of reaction to anything.

"its fine" Hyde answered gruffly and with a total lack of interest like always.

"that's great to hear buddy" Forman said sarcastically, he was tired of always being the one to try and honestly, he wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to call Hyde a friend if things kept on like this.

"what's your problem Eric?" Donna asked sternly, she was fine with the status quo in the basement and couldn't really understand why Eric always seemed so upset by it?

"him! He's my problem!" Forman yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Hyde

"you got something you want to say to me Forman?" Hyde asked threateningly

"uh…." Forman gulped nervously, now that he'd gone this far he didn't know how to proceed?

He was saved by the basement door slamming open and a tiny brunette in a purple sweater and tall black boots stepped in with flashing eyes pointed straight at Hyde.

"there's something I want to say to you" she snapped dangerously, putting her hands on her hips.

"who the hell are you?" Sam asked snidely

"zip it bitch!" the new comer snapped commandingly, then turned her glare back to Hyde who was staring with open shock at her.

"you know, when they called me and told me what you'd become, but here you are drinking a beer at one in the afternoon with some skank using you like a burka lounger" she said scathingly, "where the hell do you get off living your life this way?! You are better than this Steven, you are better than 'them'! "she accused, emphasizing the word them as if she was talking about someone else not in the room?

"seriously who are you?" Donna demanded at the intruder

The flashing furious eyes turned to donna coldly "I'm not talking to you right now, I'm talking to Steven at the moment, but rest assured the – what the hell kind of friends lets this happen portion of the afternoon is coming!" Jackie hissed before taking a breath and turning back to the still stunned Hyde.

None of them had ever seen Hyde not fight back, but all he was doing was staring with wide eyed amazement at the tiny dark-haired woman, Forman almost recalled from school?

He knew it was the woman Jackie he'd called the day before, but he hadn't expected her to show up the next day and start laying into Hyde.

"I cannot believe you would let yourself become THIS! You have a fucking porn mustache! What are you thinking?! Sitting here with some stranger in a tube top wasting your life away, we might not be anything now Steven, but you are better than this!" she cried furiously, Eric saw with some relief that instead of his usual defiant expression there was one of contrite shame.

Sam got up and approached Jackie trying to look intimidating, which earned her a smirk from Jackie who wasn't anywhere near done talking.

"listen little girl, I don't know who you are or what you're doing here? But you have no right to come here uninvited and start yelling at my husband" Sam humphed at her.

"don't you dare speak to me" Jackie spoke so coldly those not involved felt scared "this has nothing to do to you, I don't even know who the hell you are and I don't give a damn either! This is between Steven and I so butt out!"

"I'm his wife so anything involving Hyde IS my business!" Sam said haughtily

"you just called your 'husband' by his last name, which unfortunately excludes you from the proceedings so why don't you sit down and just look slutty? Or better yet you could leave, which mark my words you will be doing soon enough" Jackie vowed dangerously, giving Sam a look that made her do as she'd been told and sat down, which gave Jackie an opportunity to turn her attention back to Hyde who seemed to be doing his best impression of a statue since Jackie blew into the room.

"we might not be friends anymore, and you might hate me now for moving but I still care about you and as of now – you are going to stop whatever white trash extravaganza you have planned and get your life back on track!" she ordered with an imperious tone not a lot of people could pull off.

"say it again" Hyde murmured in a tight voice, there was a look in his eyes none of his friends had ever seen before, and it was unnerving.

"you are going to fix this crap-fest of a life you've made if it's the last thing I do!" she repeated after a fashion.

"no not that part, the part about how you still care about me" he said sounding desperate?

"I still care about you Steven, and I'm not going to let yo -oomph!"

Jackie didn't get to finish her speech, because like a shot Hyde flew out of his chair and hugged her to his chest with all the strength he had, burying his face in her hair. A split second later Jackie's slender arms wrapped around him and she held him tight while she felt his chest shake with silent tears.

"I missed you so, so much jacks" he breathed into her now damp curls

"you told me we weren't friends anymore Steven" she reminded him of the reason he missed her so much

"you, being gone was killing me Jackie, every day I died more and more, I thought…I thought if I cut you off id be able to forget about you and it wouldn't hurt anymore, but it didn't work…just look at me!" he groaned sickened by his own existence.

"you're the best thing I've seen in a long time Steven, I've missed you so much I could barely stand it" Jackie wept and laughed at the same time, all the while clutching him tighter and breathing in his scent that hadn't changed in the years since she last smelled it, then she pulled away to look sternly at him

"what the hell were you thinking marrying a stripper you didn't even know?!" she demanded furiously

"like you can talk! You got engaged to a stock broker!" Hyde finally found his voice to argue with her a tiny bit.

Jackie gave him a blankly confused look "I've never been engaged and I don't even know any stock brokers" Jackie informed him totally mystified at his claim.

Hyde sneakily wiped his eyes before turning an accusing glare at donna "you told me she got engaged to a stock broker?!" he yelled, forgetting for a moment that none of his friends had any idea what Jackie was to him.

"I don't even know who this chick is!" donna cried throwing her hands into the air in defeat.

"she's Jackie Burkhart Hyde's secret important friend and pen pal" Fez supplied thoughtlessly, then realized he'd said to much and turned a nervous glance on Hyde.

"how did you find my letters?" he asked them in a deceptively soft tone that made them all cringe "and while we're on the subject, she said someone called her and asked for her help, who called her?"

Kelso made a sound like a baby chicken while Fez just opened and closed his mouth in terror, leaving Forman to explain.

"it was all of us ok! We couldn't take watching you live like this anymore so we went in your room looking for clues to why you'd grown so cold and angry, I found the letters in the led zeppelin 3 album I gave you and figured out about Jackie!" he declared defiantly

"tangerine" Jackie murmured, staring off as a memory came to her of when she declared tangerine the only good zeppelin song and made Steven play it over and over on a record he kept pointing out wasn't his and had to be returned soon.

"you really didn't forget me" she said with a watery smile

Hyde looked at her bashfully "never jacks" he told her softly, and just managed to catch her as she threw herself into his arms again.

Forman was staring quizzically at his friend and the new arrival as a question formed in his mind

"led zeppelin 3 is your favorite because of Jackie, exactly how much stuff about you that we don't understand is about Jackie?" he asked shrewdly

"all of it Forman, all of it" Hyde admitted gently, staring down at his best friend he hadn't thought he'd ever see again.

"so, I'm going to go" Sam said softly after having watched Hyde and the dainty beautiful woman's reunion, she knew when it was time to cut her losses and the soft loving tone she'd heard in her badass husband's voice was enough to tell her it was time to go back to Vegas

"no Sam, come on this is your home and your marriage!" Donna told her firmly

Sam gave donna a pitying look "thanks donna, but even if we were legally married I'm not up for fighting against that" she said gesturing to where Hyde was still holding Jackie against his chest like if he let go she'd disappear.

"I don't know what that is Sam" donna said giving the two a slightly disgusted look "but you're important to Hyde and you can't just give up on your marriage" donna counseled her seriously, as if she hadn't seen the last half hour unfold?

"donna that's nice of you, really naive, but nice. I'm fine really, tell Hyde I'll write him to explain everything, something tells me its better if I go before he comes to" she said and gave a parting wave before walking out the door for good, leaving them all with only the sight of Hyde holding Jackie like a life line.

"I can't watch you leave again" Hyde told her in a stricken voice "anything Jackie, I'll do anything you ask if you just stay" he pleaded in a very un-Hyde like manner

"I'm here to help you Steven, so let's see what I can do about what you've let slide so long and then we'll talk about me" she told him seriously, but with a warmth he'd sorely missed.

"I'm a total mess Jackie, it's going to take a long time" he told her honestly and a little ashamed of how far he'd fallen.

"then I'll be here for a long time Steven, listen to me and hear me – you are my priority right now, everything else is just details" she said sternly and kissed his cheek.

"that was a good call Forman" Kelso whispered to his friend

"I'll say" Forman agreed still a bit stunned.

A/N don't worry it's not over yet