This chapter will have some religious themes in it. There is no intent to offend anyone. There is also some cursing.

CH.13 Tate & Dave

She ran as fast as she could, and then she made eye contact with the woman. The woman stared back at her, expressionless. Jackie felt her knees suddenly buckle as the blood drained from her face. There, not more than a few meters from her, vandalizing her mustang, was none other than-

"Donna?" Jackie gulped.

The woman instantly dropped her hanger, running away from the vehicle like a frightened rabbit. Jackie cocked her head to the side- dumbstruck.

Did Donna just run away from her?

At that moment, she turned to her vehicle and noticed how trashed it was. Before she could even blink, Kelso ran up to her, panting, "Why'd Donna trash yer car?!"

"I…I don't know."

Then Fez made it over to them, also panting, "Jackie! Why did Donna break into your vehicle?!"

"I-I don't know!"

Finally Laurie, a golf club in one hand, raced over to the three other people, asking Jackie, "Hey, why the hell did big, blond and broad shouldered fuck up yer Mustang?"

Frustrated by the line of questioning which she held very little answers, Jackie screamed at the three of them, "I DON'T KNOW!"

The three stared at her quietly before she ran a hand through her dark hair, saying to herself, "She ran away from me…"

Fez piped in, ever the optimist, "Maybe it wasn't Donna! We saw her from far away, and you…well, let us face it Jackie, you drank two beers and you went to pieces faster than Legos."

Jackie looked up at them blankly, saying softly, "She ran away."

Kelso shrugged, "So?"

Laurie narrowed her eyes, thinking, "Now why the hell would Donna run away?"

Kelso shrugged again, "Maybe she's hiding something."

Fez sucked in his breath, looking at Jackie sadly, "Oh no…"

The other three leaned forward, Jackie asking, "What, What?!"

Fez shook his head, "I cannot say…it is all bad news!"

Jackie yanked the golf club out of Laurie's hands, waving it at Fez, growling, "What?!"

Fez looked down, obviously troubled, "…I heard that Donna was seeing Hyde." He quickly looked up, "But I did not believe a word! Well, until now… after you said Donna ran away from you….probably because she knows you will be mad that she is dating your ex."

Jackie snapped, "That damn rumor again?! Who told you that?"

"….Fenton."

Both Kelso and Jackie groaned, "Figures."

Ignoring Fez, Jackie swung the golf club over her shoulder, kicked one of her own pink cozies that was just lying on the pavement, and climbed inside her car. She tried to start it, thinking that maybe there was a possibility that she could follow Donna in the car. That was until the car wouldn't start. Laurie noticed it and popped open the hood.

Jackie clambered out, asking the blond, "What's wrong?"

Laurie smirked, holding a few cables in her hand, "She cut off your alternator. This car aint going anywhere for days."

And that was the moment Jackie snapped. The whole day, in her opinion, was one long, slow guilt-trip down memory lane and she was finally tired of feeling guilty. She twirled the golf club between her fingers before throwing it on the ground with an angry force.

"I…." she breathed out dangerously slow, "have had it!" She then pointed to the direction she felt, in her heart of hearts and in the center of her gut where Donna had taken off to, "I'm going after her." She then picked up the gold club again, this time roughly, "I'm going to straighten things out and find out the truth." She then looked Laurie in the eye, "And then I'm taking my life back."

And before anyone could blink, Jackie took off like a rocket. Kelso, his chest swelling in excitement jumped, "Wait! Are you gonna beat up, Donna?! I wanna see!" He ran after her. Next was Fez, shrugging at his girlfriend/ex-wife, telling her, "A boy's gotta do what a boy's gotta do!" Finally was Laurie, throwing up her arms in defeat, "Son-offa-bitch! Hold up, guys!"

Anyone who happened to drive by would have seen an angry, red faced brunette swinging a golf club, followed by what looked like an overgrown teenager with his tongue sticking out, who was followed by a skipping foreigner, who in turn was followed by a panting blond who seemed to be shouting for them to slow down.

Jackie's wild eyes scanned the street for any sign of the woman who was supposed to be her friend but turned out to be a traitor. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a black converse shoe going into an alley. "Gotcha." She mumbled, speeding up, not caring if the rest were following or not. Luckily, they were, though Laurie looked like she'd seen better days.

The ex-cheerleader trampled down the alley in time to see a pair of converse shoes sticking up at the end of a fence. Without thinking, she followed them, climbing up the wooden fence and cursing when a couple of splinters pinched themselves in her skin. Behind her, she heard Fez scream, "Fences?! I am terrible at climbing those!" Then there was Kelso's voice, "I'm great at climbing those!" Then there was a tired, rasping voice she assumed belonged to Laurie, "We're jumping over fences now?! What the fuck?! Are we in the Olympics?!"

Jackie just made it over the fence when she saw a broad shouldered, blond woman jump on a family-sized trampoline and into the neighboring lot. Immediately Jackie did the same. Kelso was beyond excited as he made it over the fence, telling his friends behind him, "Jackie just jumped into the next lot via trampoline! Awesome!" Fez panted behind him, trying to make his way up the fence with Laurie pushing him up, "Tr-Tram-Trampoline?!" Laurie rolled her eyes, "Great! Now we're fucking ninjas!"

Meanwhile, in the neighboring lot, the blond woman dived head first into an elongated swimming pool that seemed to encompass the whole backyard of this home. Jackie did the same, diving in after her. The two swam toward the other end of the pool, the broad shouldered woman just out of Jackie's reach.

In the other yard, Kelso explained to his friends, "Now we just do like Donna and Jackie, and jump into the next lot!"

Laurie raised her eyebrow, unconvinced, "You want us to what now?"

Kelso explained yet again to which Laurie nodded sarcastically, "Oh yeah, I don't see myself cracking my neck or anything!" But before Laurie could convince them it was a bad idea, Fez had jumped onto the trampoline, screaming at the top of his lungs, "BANZAI!" Kelso ran after him, smiling like a madman, "That's the spirit!" Laurie rolled her eyes, chasing after Kelso, "I am so ending up in the hospital for this!" She then jumped on the trampoline, screaming, "BANZAI!"

As she was in the air, everything suddenly became super slow. With an unexplainable fright, she saw the fence above her head, and suddenly the world was upside down. Laurie then closed her eyes, screaming, convinced this was the end. And then she felt something around her, holding her tightly. She thought it was certain death until she opened her eyes and saw her boyfriend/ ex-husband holding her securely in his arms. He smiled down at her, his brown eyes twinkling, "You rang, baby?"

She couldn't help the smile on her face as she said joyfully, "Fez! You asshole!" And she couldn't help it when she planted a rough kiss on his lips. He told her, his tone light, "You know the drill, baby! You fall, I catch you. Now, if I fall, you might wanna move outta the way…I could squash you. But, you can help me recover while I'm on the mend!" Before she could respond with a smart ass remark, Kelso snapped at them, "Hey! Love-birds! They're already halfway down the street! Let's go!"

Laurie quickly kissed Fez again as he placed her back on the ground. Hand in hand, the couple ran, following Kelso, who seemed to be headed for the church.

Jackie sprinted up the steps of Point Place Presbyterian Church, before slamming the oak doable doors open, snarling, "Okay! Times up! Come out Donna, and face me like a woman!"

The candles in the front of the aisle flickered, everything eerily quiet. Jackie eyed the podium for a second before looking down the wooden pews. All seemed to be empty. She finally shouted, "I know you're in here!"

The statues of several biblical figures stared down at her judgingly from their respective places in the walls. It almost seemed as though she disturbed their sleep.

She lowered the golf club, her heart starting to slow as she saw the giant cross at the end of the altar, staring down at her with all its silent power. For a moment, all she did was stare at it, acknowledging that when she was younger, religion was such an active part of her life. She went to every Sunday service, helped out in every bake sale, and had a hand with every church play. At Christmas-time she and her fellow cheerleaders would try to help the less fortunate, and even though she claimed she only did it for school, a part of her felt fulfilled in helping others.

But that stopped.

When her father was arrested, and her mother left, she turned more to the church than ever. But when she felt her prayers and hopes fell upon deaf ears, she finally accepted that her then-boyfriend, Steven Hyde was right. Religion was just a waste of time.

"Jackie Burkhart? I have not seen you for quite the while!" A happy voice rang, echoing in the chambers of the empty church.

Jackie slowly turned around, seeing a man in white robes, his black hair neatly timed.

"Pasture Dave." She said hollowly. She liked Dave, and was surprisingly relieved to see him and not the ghost of Christmas Not-Yet-To-Come, but at the same time she felt a pang of guilt. She hadn't stepped foot in a church for years. She spent her Sundays lying in bed, getting high as she played her old ABBA records. And she used her pocket bible as a coaster for beer. She wasn't the good little girl he remembered her to be.

He was about to say something about how beautiful she blossomed to be when she dropped the golf club, tears spilling out of her eyes. He was immediately alarmed. Her one sentence was, "I need to see Donna."

"Well, she's not here my child."

"I-I saw her-", she blubbered out, trying to wipe away the tears as quickly as they formed.

He sighed, stepping closer to her and placing a warm arm around her shoulders, "Sometimes Jackie, people see what they want to see. They see what they need to see, to help them to the next step in their lives."

She looked up at him, "I wasn't imagining her!"

As he nodded, bright sun rays fell upon the inside of the church, illuminating it and letting it appear much friendlier. He then whispered, "I know."

At that moment, Donna stepped forward from the shadows at the front of the altar. But something was different about her, and Jackie couldn't place it. Then she sucked in her breath, creating this ghastly snorting noise until she reached in her sweater pocket and pulled out red, bottle-coke glasses.

Jackie's heart broke as she realized who she was really staring at. "Rhonda Tate…" she breathed, "Big Rhonda."

Dave gave Jackie a tight squeeze on her shoulder before saying, "I'll leave you two alone. I have a Christian rock band coming over, and I want to show them that I too can play the guitar and be cool!" As he trotted off, Jackie asked Rhonda, "How…you lost weight."

"Jane Fonda," was her simple reply.

"Why?"

Rhonda shrugged pathetically, leaning against the podium, "I…um, I realized something a few years back." Jackie waited patiently as Rhonda continued slowly, "I don't know what I'm doing in life." Tracing the edge of the podium, Rhonda looked almost close to tears as she explained that her parents bounced from state to state, and all people saw when they looked at her was a fat girl. The only person who didn't, and loved her for who she was, was Fez. Rhonda explained that she lost weight with the goal of coming back to Point Place and to confess her love to Fez, but when she did come back, she had realized Fez had moved on- with Laurie. Then she learned that he had been with Nina and Jackie. She had felt like a fool, coming all this way back for someone who didn't love her anymore. But she couldn't stop herself from following him, and sometimes Laurie.

And then it clicked for Jackie, "Little Jackie saw you at the Forman's breakfast this morning. She mistook you for Donna. And you were there because Fez and Laurie were there."

"They just…seemed so happy."

"Why did you ransack my car?"

Rhonda shrugged, embarrassed, "…send me the bill. I live in Green Bay now. I work at yoga studio called 'Bendz.' There's only one. You can find it in the phone book. But yeah, I messed up your car, it's just that…I wanted to see if you really were with Fez. Everyone was telling me you were, but there's so many rumors that fly around town, you just can't be sure. I had to be. So, I thought that maybe there was some evidence in your car…I don't know." She shook her head, also admitting, "And I guess…I was jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Of you." Rhonda softly said, "You have looks that melt men's hearts, and you grew up with money and look at you! You had that photographing gig and everyone in town is talking about it…you've accomplished so much and I haven't done a damn thing!"

Jackie shook her head, "No Rhonda, that's all wrong! I haven't-"

Rhonda waved her hand, stopping her. She then said, "Save it. I know you're just trying to make me feel better, but I don't deserve it. All I ask, is that you don't tell Fez. I mean, he's so happy with Eric's sister, and I wouldn't want to ruin that."

Jackie nodded.

At that moment, Kelso stumbled in, Fez and Laurie holding hands right behind him. Kelso looked up, his smile falling, "Where's Donna? Did you beat 'er up yet?"

Jackie turned back to the spot Rhonda was at, noticing it was now empty. She then looked at the gold club on the ground. She shrugged, "It doesn't matter."

She motioned for the gang to turn around and prepare to go back to Fez and Laurie's apartment where she was going to explain she was only hallucinating. But just as she almost went out the oak doors, she heard a voice, Rhonda's, ring out in the chapel, "I think you should check on that little girl who was tagging along with you."

Jackie spun around, the room appeared empty. She called out to it, "Why?"

There was nothing, and then Rhonda's voice said slowly, a bit of warning in it, "I think you should you know…I wasn't the only one following Fez."

Jackie's eyes widened.

"I caught another woman…stalking him. She went through his garbage, made a spare key for his apartment, and even stole some of his clothes."

Jackie's heart began to race.

"She held her breath a lot, until she turned purple. She seemed like a real nut case, so I kept my distance from her…but I saw her eyes when she saw the girl that was with you. It was like she recognized her or something."

And then Jackie remembered a vague memory of Colette admitting that some psychotic named Caroline became her 'big sister', after Jackie 'abandoned' her at the police station.

"Oh no…" Jackie whispered, realizing that she may have unintentionally put Colette in harm's way as Rhonda finished, "…I think she stopped stalking Fez, and started on someone else."

"No."

"…It may be the girl."

"No!" Jackie screamed, panicking as she yanked open the double doors of the church. She had to find Little Jackie before Caroline did something to her.