Chapter 17.

7:00pm.
Saturday, September 30th.
The Forman's living room.

"Oh Jackie, you look beautiful!" Hyde could hear Mrs. Forman cooing from behind him. "Red, doesn't she look beautiful?" she questioned as the shutter went off on her camera for the hundredth time that night.

Hyde was sitting on the couch in the living room next to Eric, pretending to watch the TV in front of him when he was really eavesdropping on the conversation happening behind him.

Jackie was standing on the stairs, dolled up in a dark blue spaghetti-strap form-fitting dress with a very risqué neckline (if you asked him), the fabric dipped low down her chest and exposed her cleavage.

It was undeniable that she looked incredible, and he was sure she had chosen that dress just to drive him mad.

When she strolled out of her room earlier, he'd made a comment to Red about whether he was gonna let her go out looking like that, but the old man was getting soft and had only ordered her to bring a jacket in case she got cold.

Cold? Hyde couldn't see how she'd get cold with the burn of a million eyes staring at her chest all night.

The door-bell rang, snapping Hyde back to reality and signalling the arrival of his least favorite person.

"That's Troye!" Jackie called, and he heard her heels clacking on the carpeted stairs as she trotted down towards the front door.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he heard the door opening. He kept his eyes trained on the TV in front of him, pretending not to care about what was going on behind his back when really he was itching to look.

He shouldn't be in this room right now, he should be downstairs in the basement where he wouldn't have to witness some other guy taking his girl on a date, but he was petty and stubborn and just couldn't help himself.

He didn't even know if she was still his girl, they hadn't spoken to each-other in days, not since their fight. She'd been ignoring him every chance she got, and he refused to be the one to apologize first.

She'd started this whole thing, he was just a causality in her games.

"Hyde, look," Eric whispered to him from his right side, he was openly staring at the conversation happening by the door and nudging Hyde's arm with his elbow. "Red's turning all red, looks like steams about to come out his ears… You gotta look."

Hyde sighed and turned. Jackie and Troye were standing together by the door, his suit matched her blue dress and he'd brought her a corsage that was now positioned on her wrist, they looked like the perfect couple and Hyde felt his stomach drop.

Red and Mrs. Forman were standing in front of them, Mrs. Forman was happily snapping photos of the couple while Red was staring at Troye like he'd come to rob the joint.

"Maybe we should get a family photo before you leave?" Mrs. Forman suddenly announced, looking over at Hyde and Eric on the couch. "Steven did you want to come and get a photo with Jackie?" she asked him and they locked eyes.

Hyde froze awkwardly as the room waited for a response from him.

Taking a photo with her all dressed up to go to the dance with someone else, was the last thing he wanted to do right now but for whatever reason, no words were coming out of his mouth.

Lucky for him, Jackie wasn't finding it as hard to talk as he was. "It's okay Mrs. Forman, I think we've got enough photos," she said, and he looked over at her to notice she was staring right back at him.

His breath caught in his throat, making it hard for him to swallow or breathe as the realization hit him. This was the first time in days that they had made any kind of eye contact.

She really did look beautiful. She'd be the best-looking chick in that streamer filled gym hands-down and he could have been the lucky guy, who had gotten to take her.

Could have, but instead she was going with Troye the pretty-boy-football-star and it was all his fault.

His insecurities had ruined that possibility for him and potentially ruined their relationship all together.

"We should get going if we want to be there on time…" Troye commented as he looked down at the expensive gold watch on his wrist.

When Jackie looked away from Hyde and moved towards her date, he turned back to the TV and tried hard to drain out the goodbyes he could hear from behind him.

"Have fun!" Mrs. Forman shouted as the front door closed shut. "Well he seemed like a nice boy," she added while her and Red walked over to Hyde and Eric on the couch.

"He seemed like an idiot," Red grumbled in response.

"Oh don't be silly Red, he was nothing but polite-"

Hyde couldn't take it anymore. He stood up from the couch abruptly, startling Mrs. Forman and cutting her off mid-sentence. Without a word he left the living room and entered into the kitchen, heading straight for the fridge.

His mind was running 100 miles per hour and he needed something to take the edge off. As he reached for a beer, he heard the door to the kitchen open and close behind him.

Closing the fridge, he turned to notice Mrs. Forman staring at him with a concerned expression on her face.

He cracked the beer open and took a sip.

"I was thirsty…" He cleared his throat and told her a moment later.

Mrs. Forman sighed and walked around him to the cupboards. He watched as she grabbed herself a clean glass and returned to where he was standing in the middle of the kitchen. She took the can of beer from him and poured half of it into her glass.

Handing him back the can, she clinked her glass to his and then took a sip.

"You're a terrible liar, Steven," she finally said to him and he frowned. He shouldn't be surprised, she could read him like a book at this stage but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"I know you're worried about losing Jackie."

Hyde shifted his gaze to the door that separated them from Red and Eric before landing back on the older woman in front of him.

"Mrs. Forman, I don't care about-"

She shushed him, and he stopped talking. "You have nothing to be worried about… She doesn't like that boy, she likes you. I can sense these things."

He wished he was as confident in that statement as she was but after their fight earlier that week, he didn't know what he believed anymore.

"It doesn't matter… She chose him," he pointed out, taking another swig of his beer but no matter how much he drank, he knew it wouldn't be enough to make him forget her.

Drowning his sorrows wouldn't work this time around.

"It's never too late for a grand romantic gesture," Mrs. Forman winked at him before turning and leaving him in the kitchen alone.

7:45pm.
Point Place high school gym.
The Homecoming Dance.

Jackie and Troye had arrived at the school gym 10 minutes ago. Their entrance had caused a stir in the crowd and all eyes had been on the two of them as they crossed the threshold.

She didn't blame them, she looked damn good in her dress and her and Troye did make a good-looking couple, despite the fact that he was more interested in men than women.

Normally there was nothing better than the feeling of people staring at you in awe of your beauty but tonight the attention had no effect on her. She felt nothing.

She had thought that this was what she wanted but now that she was at the dance, with Troye by her side, she realized that it hadn't been worth the drama.

The gym was cold and dirty, the decorations were limited and tacky and the band looked about 100 years old, it was nothing like the school dances had been at her private school in New-York, that was for sure.

"At least pretend you're happy to be here," Troye commented for beside her, giving her a nudge as he flashed his famous smile to the masses and began leading her towards the drinks table.

As they walked through the crowd, she tried her hardest to emulate that same kind of happiness but was finding it hard.

She missed Steven. They hadn't spoken in days and he'd barely even looked at her tonight…

Maybe coming here with Troye was a huge mistake, she thought to herself gloomily.

"Look out, Julie in coming…" Troye warned her in a whisper and nodded his head in the direction of the head cheerleader.

Julie was strolling towards them with her date in tow. She had brought an older man who worked for her dad's company, Jackie only knew so much because she had been bragging about him to anyone who would listen, all week long.

And credit where credit was due, he was cute, but Julie seemed less than interested in him now as she approached them.

"Well don't you two make the cutest couple," she smiled widely at the both Jackie and Troye, her eyes lingering a second too long, on the arm Jackie had looped through Troyes.

"The whole school's talking about you two," she added with a fake smile. She was pretending to be friendly, but Jackie could tell she hated the fact that it was her and Troye who were the main focus of attention at the dance, instead of her and her own (much older) date.

"I'm sure they'll get bored soon and start gossiping about Cindy Lewis's questionable fashion taste," Jackie pointed out, her eyes drifting to where Cindy stood by the drinks table.

That bright green frilly dress wasn't one she would forget any time soon and she honestly believed it should be burnt in sacrifice to the style God's as soon as possible.

"What a disaster," Julie agreed quickly, sneering over at Cindy while her date nodded wordlessly from his position beside her. "I've got to say Jackie, we were worried you wouldn't show."

Jackie nodded with a fake smile on her face. "Well to be honest I only came to see your outfit… So, I'd know what not to wear."

Troye and Julie's date froze as the two girls stared each-other down.

She knew it was a risky move but if Julie wanted to play this game, then Jackie had no other choice but to retaliate. Bitchy comments were her bread and butter, and Julie had to learn that Jackie wasn't just going to roll over and take it, like all the other girls at this school.

After a moments pause, Julie began to laugh and Jackie joined in. "You're so funny," she told her, but the look in her eye proved that she had found Jackie's little comment less than amusing. "Don't forget to vote for me as your homecoming queen!" She pointed a serious finger at both Jackie and Troye before turning and leaving with her date.

Troye let out an audible sigh. "You almost gave me a heart attack, I thought I was going to be in the middle of a cat fight for a second… And I spent way too much time on my hair just to see it ruined by two 90-pound cheerleaders."

"Sorry, I just wasn't in the mood to deal with her," she admitted as they crossed to the drinks table.

Justin Roberts was currently spiking the punch bowl to her left, so she went for the water cooler instead.

"Is this about Hyde?" Troye questioned her quietly as he filled up his own cup.

Jackie bit her lip and looked around them, making sure that no-one was listening in to their conversation before she responded.

"He's really mad at me, we haven't spoken in days… He thinks this is a real date," she whispered, using her free hand to grab hold of his wrist and pull him to a quieter, less crowded corner of the gym.

"Did you tell him we're just going as friends?" Troye asked with a confused look on his face.

"He didn't believe me… He thinks you're in-love with me or something," it might have been an embellishment, but she'd always been a little melodramatic.

Troye laughed out loud and Jackie frowned, folding her arms across her chest. Sure, he wasn't interested in women, but he didn't need to be so rude about it?

"I'm sorry but come on… I mean, you're gorgeous and all but even you couldn't turn me straight," he whispered, his eyes nervously darting around the room at their fellow classmates.

"But he doesn't know that, and the whole things caused this huge fight… I think he's done with me," she breathed out, her voice shaky as she slowly came to terms with the fact that she could have ruined the best thing she'd ever had.

Troye looked at her with sympathetic eyes as he reached out to grab hold of her hand in his. "You want to tell him," he stated suddenly.

Jackie bit her lip. "No… Well yes but I couldn't do that to you," she told him, and it was the truth, no matter how badly she wanted to tell Steven the real reason why there was no need to be jealous over Troye, she'd never break her friends trust like that.

"Do you trust him?" Troye wondered.

Jackie didn't even need to think about the question, she knew the answer in her heart straight away.

"Yes."

"Then so do I."

9:30pm.
The Forman's basement.

Hyde sat on his usual chair in the basement, Kelso was seated in the lawn chair across from him, while Fez, Eric and Donna occupied the couch. They had just finished up a circle about an hour ago and had recently turned on the TV, although no one was really watching it.

It seemed like any other night, except for one huge difference.

Jackie's absence from the basement was felt and he couldn't stop thinking about what an idiot he'd been all week. She was probably slow dancing with that other guy right now, probably forgetting all about him and he had no-one to blame but himself.

Mrs. Forman's earlier words had been playing through his head all night. She had said that it wasn't too late for a grand romantic gesture and maybe she was on to something there.

A Forman-y act could be the answer to all of his problems, after all it had worked on numerous occasions whenever Forman fucked up with Donna and needed to earn her forgiveness.

If only Hyde weren't so stubborn.

There was a large part of him that was telling him to get off his ass and do something before it was too late, but his pride had been wounded when Jackie chose Troye over him and that wasn't an easy thing to get over.

"Did you guys see Jackie's date to the dance?" Eric's voice pulled Hyde out of his thoughts and back to reality. "Hubba Hubba," he added.

"Uh… Yeah we saw them walking to his car earlier," Donna informed Eric, eyeing him strangely. She was probably a little concerned about her fiancé's over-enthusiastic remarks about the football player.

"Oh yes, he has a gorgeous face… Almost as good looking as Kelso," Fez joined in and Hyde thought he'd rather burst into flames right now then engage in a conversation about how hot Jackie's date is.

Kelso scoffed. "He wishes, see this perfect symmetry-" he waved a hand in front of his own face. "It'll be a cold day in hell when someone comes along better looking than me."

"Don't be so jealous," Fez responded. "I said he was almost as good looking as you… You know you've got it all baby."

Kelso smiled. "Thanks little buddy… I guess Jackie wanted to take someone to the dance who was good looking but not as good looking as her, which would explain why she didn't ask me to be her date."

Hyde rolled his eyes. Even though Kelso had been hung up on that Brooke chick lately, inappropriate comments about Jackie still regularly came out of his mouth and made Hyde want to frog him hard over both arms.

"That makes sense," Fez agreed, bobbing his head up and down. "It must also be why Jackie said no when I asked to take her…"

"Uh, yeah… Sure man." Kelso replied, flashing Hyde a funny look from across the room.

"Well, either way her date is a very lucky man," Fez said.

Kelso nodded. "Oh yeah, she looked hot-"

"Are you serious?!" Donna groaned loudly, startling Hyde as well as the other three guys in the room.

He turned to look at her and noticed she was staring back at him, a wild-angry look in her eye.

"You're really just going to sit there all night and pretend like you don't care?" She continued to scold him in front of the rest of their friends, who were now looking back and forth from the two of them with confused looks on their faces as they tried to work out what the hell was going on.

Hyde wasn't really surprised she had blown up the way she just did. He had confirmed her suspicions about Jackie and him almost a week ago now, it was impressive that she even lasted this long.

"You off your meds Big D?" He questioned her, flashing her a pointed look that let her know, he wasn't going to discuss this right now in front of the rest of their group.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He added lazily.

Donna paused and looked at him with a disappointed expression, which was almost worse than the yelling had been.

"Fine, keep pretending… But I've sat back and watched all week without saying anything and I can't do it anymore. You need to get over yourself and do something before it's too late."

Hyde looked over at Eric, Fez and Kelso who were all staring with confused looks on their faces. They had no clue what was going on but sooner or later they'd work it out, he just didn't care anymore.

"And what if I don't?" He questioned Donna.

"Then you're going to lose her," she said a second later in a matter-of-fact tone.

He froze and took in her words. Multiple seconds went past where no one in the room dared to speak. He was staring back at Donna, but his mind was elsewhere.

'It's not too late for a grand romantic gesture.'

'you need to do something before it's too late.'

'you're going to lose her.'

Was his pride and ego really worth losing Jackie over?

"Can someone please explain what's happening here?" Eric was the first to break the silence.

"Damn it," Hyde cursed as he stood from his chair, his mind made up.

"Where's he going?" Kelso questioned as Hyde wordlessly walked towards the back door, picking his car keys up off the stereo on the way out.

"I knew you were a big softy Hyde!" Donna called out to him as he opened the door.

"Get bent!" He yelled back as he exited the basement and closed the door behind him.

10:00pm.
Point Place high school gym.
The Homecoming Dance.

What the hell am I doing here? Hyde thought when he stepped through the double doors that lead into the gym where the Point Place High's homecoming dance was being held.

When he was a student here, he'd managed to successfully avoid attending any of these dumb dances, it wasn't until he'd graduated and was therefore done with this school for good, that he found himself finally attending one of them. The irony wasn't lost on him.

Now that he was finally here and could see for himself what all the hype was about, he realized that he hadn't missed much all this time. The few decorations there were, were lame and corny and the band sucked.

Despite those things, the gym was crowded with over-dressed high-school kids, making him very aware of his current state of dress.

He'd forgotten to change and had left the Forman's in his plaid button up, dirty jeans and boots, in comparison to all the other men here he looked as poor as he felt. Jackie would probably get mad at him for not putting any effort into his appearance but at least he'd shown up.

Hopefully she'd be happy to see him and not embarrassed by him, but he never knew when it came to her.

As he walked further into the gym, searching for Jackie, he began to notice his presence hadn't gone unnoticed like he had hoped. People were turning to look at him as if they knew who he was, guys were giving him dirty looks while the chicks gazed at him flirtatiously and whispers began to fill the large room.

They must be wondering what the hell he was doing here, and he didn't blame them.

They could keep staring and whispering if they wanted, he wasn't going to let it get to him tonight.

He stopped in the middle of the gym, his eyes trailing over to the crowd in front of the stage where the band was performing. 'Rocket-man' by Elton John was playing, Hyde wasn't a fan of the guy but even he had to admit the band wasn't doing him any justice, still if he knew Jackie like he thought he did, he knew she'd be dancing to that song somewhere in the crowd.

As he scanned the space in front of him, a figure crept up to his side unannounced.

"Look who it is," a female voice interrupted his search and he looked to his left to spot the head cheerleader, Julie, all dolled up in a floral dress and a plastic crown placed on the top of her head.

He groaned. "Where do you keep coming from man? It's like you're fucking following me," he pointed out, frowning down at her. It was like this chick had sensors that told her whenever he was in the vicinity, so she could make his life a living hell.

Whether she was actually interested in him for more than just causing trouble, was a mystery to him but either way he was sick of her and wasn't in the mood tonight.

"Don't flatter yourself. I could argue that you're the one following me," she placed her hands on her hips, eyeing him pointedly.

"You've got problems man," he turned his head away from her and back to the crowd of dancing teenagers, hoping to find Jackie sooner rather than later so that he could get the hell out of here.

"Maybe, but so do you," Julie kept talking. "I know why you're here… I thought it was very interesting when Jackie showed up to the dance with Troye instead of you. They've been very close all night, looks like you're too late."

Hyde turned his gaze back to her and could see the evil look in her eye that proved she'd say anything to rile him up, but he wasn't going to play her games tonight.

"You must be really jealous of her… To waste this much time trying to fuck up someone's life cause your threatened by them, that's pretty pathetic," he told her.

"You need help," he added before turning to leave.

He got a few steps forward before her voice rang out through the area around them, loud and clear.

"You're the pathetic one!" She shouted, and he turned back to look at her.

People around them were staring again but Julie didn't seem to care or even notice, her eyes were trained on his, wild and angry.

"She's never going to choose you, no matter how hard you try. You're a dirty burnout with no future and she's a popular cheerleader. You don't belong here, and everyone knows it!" she kept yelling and the whispers around them picked up again.

He stepped closer to her and noticed a look of fear spread across her face.

"Fuck off Julie," he spat back at her before turning and walking off into the crowd, leaving her behind for good.

There were a million things he would have liked to say to her, but he had more important things to do then fight with some stupid cheerleader. He'd already given her more time then she deserved, and he'd be happy if he never saw her face again.

But she had already gotten what she wanted, her yelling had caused a scene and the whispers were following him as he walked further into the make-shift dance floor. He got into the thick of the crowd as 'Rocket-man' was coming to an end and had to resort to elbowing his way through the thick mass of people.

His eyes were darting in every direction and as he reached the center of the dance floor. A few seconds later and he finally spotted Jackie.

She was a few feet away from him, dancing and smiling happily with her date, oblivious to the stares and whispers that still followed him.

He stopped to watch her. She looked beautiful and happy as she danced with Troye. So happy that he worried his appearance would only ruin her night.

Maybe she wouldn't be as happy as he thought, to see him here?

While he took his time to contemplate his next move, Troye had spotted him from a few feet away. Making his decision for him.

The footballer stared back at him, and to Hyde's surprised, flashed him a smile before turning towards Jackie. He watched as the other guy whispered into Jackie's ear and she turned around to spot him in the crowd.

His breath caught in his throat as a smile spread across her face.

His body relaxed, and he began moving towards her as the band began transitioning into another song, causing a brief silence to spread across the gym.

His eyes were trained on hers, so oblivious to anything else happening around him, he didn't notice the attention their reunion had attracted throughout the crowd surrounding them.

"Hey," he breathed out as he finally reached her.

"Hi," she smiled brightly back at him. "I can't believe you came," she added.

Hyde nodded, he couldn't believe it himself, yet here he was.

"Shoulda' came with you to begin with," he admitted quietly, the hairs standing up on the back of his neck as he became aware of all the eyes on him.

He turned to look at Troye, who was watching them with a small smile on his face.

"You mind if I cut in?" He asked him.

Troye shook his head quickly. "She's all yours man," he told him before turning around and disappearing into the crowd.

'All of my love' by Led Zeppelin started playing and he stepped closer to Jackie, holding his hand out for her to take.

She wrapped her arms around his neck instead and pulled him in closer to her. He relaxed into the embrace and wrapped his arms around her waist, swaying to the music slowly.

"Steven, I'm so sorry," she whispered to him after a moment of silence and they locked eyes. "I was acting like a spoiled brat."

Hyde shook his head. "We both acted like idiots… I should have trusted you when you said you and Troye were just friends."

"I shouldn't have come with him to begin with, I knew you'd be jealous, but I did it anyway because I was mad you wouldn't take me, and I didn't want to go alone. This was all my fault." Jackie responded quickly. "Please say you forgive me."

"Wouldn't be here if I didn't doll… We both fucked up this week and I'm done pretending I don't give a shit," he said to her and the two stopped dancing, he took a deep breath in as he prepared to say the words that were about to come out his mouth.

"What are you saying?" She wondered, her hands slipping to his shoulders as she looked up at him with those beautiful mis-matched eyes of hers.

"Jackie, I'm saying that I don't want to hide this anymore. I know how I feel about you and I don't care about what anyone else thinks... I wanna be with you. For real this time."

Hyde wasn't normally the kind of guy who got nervous over chicks, but right now the nerves were flowing through his body, his heart pounded hard against his chest - quick and loud.

So loud that his ears were beginning to ring, blocking out the sound of the band and others around them.

Everything else faded away until all there was, was her.

She paused to take in his words and he froze, worried she suddenly didn't feel the same. But after a moment of silence, which felt like the longest few seconds of his life, she smiled.

"Steven, I want to be with you too," she told him, before taking a step towards him and closing the gap between the two. She leaned up and he met her half way, his lips crashing down onto hers in a passionate embrace.

He wrapped his arms tighter around her waist, pulling her body into his own in one quick motion, causing her to giggle into their kiss happily.

This girl could irritate him like no other could, she drove him mad every other day and caused him to do crazy things he'd never thought he'd do before.

But she also looked like an angel, kissed like a freaking goddess and drove him crazy with desire.

Since she came into his life a few months ago, he'd been convinced that she would be the end of him and maybe he was right, but at least he'd go down happier then he'd ever been before.

As Jackie pulled away from him, he became aware of their surroundings again.

Turning his head to look around them, he noticed everyone was still openly staring at them.

They had probably been watching them during their whole kiss and by now the news of the cheerleader hooking up with Point Place's resident bad-boy would be traveling through the gym.

His and Jackie's relationship was officially public, and he couldn't care less.

"They're all staring," Jackie stated, pointing out the obvious. He looked back at her and noticed the red in her cheeks.

"yeah, that's kinda my fault… I've had eyes following me since I showed up in this joint," he let her know.

"No, they're looking at me. I came here with the school's football star and now I'm kissing the towns resident bad-boy… They probably think I'm a huge skank," she blushed, her gaze traveling to the floor.

"Hey, you're not a skank man… Look, let's just get out of here if you want." He'd been dealing with the looks and whispers since he'd arrived at the dance and even though he couldn't care less what they thought or said about him, he knew it would be a different story for Jackie.

"No, I don't want to run away. Let them stare, at-least this way everyone will know who I'm really with…" she looked back up at him and flashed him a small smile.

He grinned back at her, glad she was living up to her words and didn't care about being seen with him.

"Let's give em' something to stare at then," he leaned down and meet her lips with his once again, totally unfazed by the gasps of shock and whispers that followed.

11:45pm.
The Forman's kitchen.

They'd lasted an hour at the dance together before the staring got old and they'd left to be alone. It was in the car on the way home that Jackie had told Hyde the truth about Troye and sworn him to secrecy. He hadn't cared about the revelation, but it felt good to know that her friendship with the footballer would no longer cause problems between her and her man.

Since he'd shown up at the dance earlier that night, she'd felt like she was on cloud nine. She knew the high would have to wear off soon, but she was savoring every minute she got until they had to deal with the real world again.

The scene they caused at the dance would surely follow her to school on Monday morning, people would be talking about it for weeks, but she didn't care.

Things with her and Steven were better than ever, and she was glad things were all out in the open. Anyway, it was only a matter of time before another rumor or scandal happened and everyone at school would move on.

Now they were stumbling into the kitchen, heading towards the stairs that lead to the basement. Too wrapped up in each-other to notice the older woman standing by the living room door, mouth gaping open in shock.

Her back was pushed up against the kitchen counter top, her hands were roaming up his chest and over his shoulders, while his were groping at her waist, pulling her closer.

She was smiling happily into their kiss when the noise of someone clearing their throat loudly, echoed through the kitchen.

Hyde pulled away from her quickly and they both turned their head towards the noise.

Jackie gasped quietly as she spotted Mrs. Forman staring at them from across the room, arms folded across her chest with a pointed look on her face.

"What is going on in my kitchen?" Mrs. Forman questioned, breaking the awkward silence.

Jackie shared a quick panicked look with Hyde. She nudged him in the stomach with her hand, as Mrs. Forman waited for a response.

He cleared his throat and scratched nervously at his beard before he began talking.

"Uh well… Jackie and I are kinda' seeing each other now," he told the older woman and Jackie bit her lip as she waited for her response.

It took a moment, but finally Mrs. Forman's emotionless expression changed to that of pure joy. She smiled and laughed, clapping her hands together excitedly as she ran across the kitchen towards them.

"Oh, that is just the greatest news!" She told them before wrapping her arms around the both of them, pulling them into a tight hug

"I have to go and tell Red, he'll be so thrilled!" Mrs. Forman continued after releasing the couple from her embrace. Jackie doubted Mr. Forman would be as thrilled as Mrs. Forman believed but she smiled and nodded anyway.

Before the small woman left the room, she turned back to face the teenagers and pointed a finger at the both of them. "No funny business in the kitchen, we eat here."

Hyde and Jackie both nodded. "Yes Mrs. Forman," they said in unison and watched as she left the room with a skip in her step.

Jackie laughed and turned back to Hyde. "Guess we won't have to worry about telling everyone tomorrow then."

"Yeah," Hyde nodded his head in agreement. "Mrs. Forman's probably waking up Red and Forman right now."

Then Eric would tell Donna, Donna would tell Kelso and Kelso would tell Fez, and they'd all probably be annoyed to have been kept in the dark for so long, but they'd deal with the aftermath tomorrow.

In the meantime, the night was still young, and she desperately wanted to get back to their earlier activity before Mrs. Forman had interrupted them.

"Basement?" She questioned simply, smiling up at him.

Hyde grinned. "You read my mind doll," he grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her through the kitchen, towards the basement stairs.

Tomorrow they'd have a lot of explaining to do, but they would deal with that when they got to it. Tonight, was about them, making up for the past week of fighting and finally enjoying each-others company without the pressure of keeping secrets and hiding feelings.

Thank you for reading!

This chapter took me extra long to edit because I wanted it to be perfect, so I'm sorry about the long wait!

Next chapter the basement gang find out about Jackie and Hyde, and Red lays down some new rules...