One whole month.
One whole month of no friends.
One whole month of only seeing Donn, Jason, Kelso, and Fez when they went to school.
About halfway through getting grounded, Jackie ended up finding a job at the Cheese Palace at the mall, and to say that Steven loved her uniform was an understatement.
The two had no wiggle room to get down and dirty with each other, simply stealing chaste kisses when nobody was looking, and sneaking downstairs in the middle of the night.
Small talks in the kitchen guided by fridge light, and hands brushing against the OJ pitcher.
Red seemed to be standing around every corner.
Nobody had a circle in the longest time because there was no chance.
So when Red sent Steven to come get her in the Camino after work one day, they took the opportunity to stop by Mount Hump really quick.
The feeling she had been getting flipping around in her stomach had been scaring her. So of course, cuddled against each other, her frumpled Cheese Palace uniform making her shiver in the still-chilly spring air of April, she opened her mouth.
"Did you mean it?"
"Mean what, doll?"
"When you were on the phone, when you went hunting?" She mumbled into his neck, and he stiffened. He was silent for a few minutes, her stomach getting those ugly butterflies. Then he softened.
"Yeah, I did." He kissed her forehead. "I didn't freak ya out?"
"No." She told him after a thought. "Well you did, but," She pulled away to look him in the eyes. "I feel the same way for you." A smile tugged at his lips, and she rested her lips against his, before he sighed. "We should go home before Red blows a gasket."
Eric's numerous attempts to break Red's stride of catching him sneaking out was getting out of hand.
Kitty was growing increasingly frustrated with her husband, and Laurie still refused to talk to her father, who still refused to apologize.
Eric had manifested his hurt into competing with his father in a battle of wits.
Fights broke out every second.
"I don't understand why I can't go next door to see Donna." He told him. "Or even to the driveway to wave at her. She's my girlfriend."
"Dumbasses don't need girlfriends." He had told him, and Kitty dropped a cup on the floor.
"Enough! Red, let him go see his girlfriend for Christ's sake, he hasn't had time to see her in a month, because Price Mart and school and you are making his life a fucking train wreck!" She cursed, making everyone widen their eyes at the fact that she had cursed.
"Kitty-"
"I don't know who you've become, Red, but you aren't my husband." She told him.
"Kitty-"
She rested her ring on the counter. The first time the ring has come off of her finger in years besides to be cleaned. "When you find yourself again, I'll be waiting."
"Katherine-"
"I'll make the couch up for you."
"See what you kids did?"
"No, Red." She told him, a watery smile on her face, and sniffling. "This has been a long time coming. This house isn't happy. It's fucking Alcatraz, and I hate it. And I don't know who this person is, but it certainly is not my husband." She stormed off, leaving the three kids to scatter downstairs.
Eric being there had dampened their spirits, but Jackie didn't exactly mind, and it got better when Laurie came downstairs.
The fight had put a damper on the house.
But maybe it was what they needed, because Red had given keys back the next morning, and begrudgingly told Jackie the next day that the other kids could come over.
He never did apologize to Laurie, or Eric, or Jackie.
But Steven had found him late one night in the garage, and apologized.
He was meant with a grunt.
But he still promised to do better, before gingerly leaving his paycheck on the workbench.
"What's that?"
"I know money's tight. I kept what I needed to keep the Camino runnin', and such." He nodded, before slipping out.
He didn't see the smile on his face.