A/N: Standard disclaimer: this chapter does use 4 lines from season 1, episode 14 "Stolen Car" in the last scene.
As much as Kitty had had a nice weekend alone with her husband, after he'd apologized for the whole Lynn Taylor debacle again, of course, she was excited that the kids would be home in a few moments. Especially considering the awful weather. It had already been snowing, when the kids had left for the Burkharts' ski cabin. She really hoped, they hadn't gotten stuck in all that snow. Sure, according to Red the children had everything they needed to get out, if they did, as long as Eric wasn't a dumbass – Red's words not hers. But Kitty wasn't too sure, at the very least she would be happy, when the kids made it home.
Moments later, Kitty heard the sound of the Vista Cruiser rolling into the driveway, and she couldn't help but smile to herself. It was good to know, they'd made it home safe, despite all that snow. Kitty continued putting the groceries away, as she watched the children out of the corner of her eye. Normally, she wouldn't have gone to the Piggly Wiggly so late, but she had been quite busy with the house all day, after Red had taken her out the previous night. She noticed Eric carrying Donna's bags, and smiled to herself, he was such a sweet boy. Donna clearly appreciate the gesture too, if her smile in Eric's direction was anything to by.
"Hey mom," Eric greeted her, as the children made their way into the kitchen, no doubt headed for the basement. He didn't pause to give her a hug, but he did flash her a quick smile, as he made it past her. Kitty would settle for that.
"Hi sweetheart, I'm glad you made it back," Kitty replied with a beaming smile. Eric and Donna were followed closely by Michael and the foreign kid Fez enthralled in a conversation, a Steven with a sour face, and at the end, trailing a little behind them, the Burkhart girl, Jackie. She was the only one of the children, who didn't immediately head for the basement. Kitty had half expected Michael and Jackie to be all sweet on each other, but it didn't seem to be the case at all.
"Mrs Forman-" Jackie said, drawing Kitty's attention to her even more, than Jackie not being arm in arm with Michael Kelso did. "Can I use your landline? I need to call my parents and get Maria to come pick me up, if daddy will let her borrow the Lincoln."
Kitty had no idea who this Maria person was, but knowing how wealthy the Burkharts were, she made a guess, it was their maid. Pamela Burkhart certainly didn't seem the type to do work around the house. When there were parent teacher conferences at the school, Pamela Burkhart usually just showed up in a pantsuit and with sunglasses that covered most of her face. "Won't Michael take you home in time for dinner?" Kitty asked, rather than answering Jackie's question.
"No," Jackie said, her voice clearly watery. Kitty might not exactly like or know the Burkharts particularly well, but she did feel sorry for the girl just from the expression on her face. Especially knowing that Michael had left for the ski cabin to try and make amends with her. Or at least Kitty was fairly certain, that was why he had gone. It was sometimes a bit hard to tell with Michael Kelso.
"Oh dear," Kitty replied with a nervous laugh. Jackie's expression was blank, but she was clearly upset just from the tone of her voice. She was clearly trying to hide, how she felt and not doing too good of a job. "Are you alright?"
"No," Jackie repeated and slumped down on one of the bar stools by the counter, now with a frowny pout on her face. Jackie let out a deep sigh, before she continued. "Michael and I broke up, because he made out with that slutty bitch!"
"Oh-" Kitty started, biting down the protest of the foul language. It was unlikely Jackie would have listened anyhow with parents like hers. And maybe deep down, Kitty was sympathetic to Jackie's assessment of the girl, mostly because of Lynn Taylor. She reminded herself that Red had apologized, repeatedly, before letting the anger boil up to the surface again. "Oh- that is- He left for the ski cabin to see you, didn't he?"
"He didn't do anything to prove his love for me," Jackie said with a melodramatic wave of her arms. It was very dramatic, even if Kitty did understand, where she was coming from. "He didn't even apologize, Mrs. Forman!"
Kitty briefly considered marching down the stairs, and demand Michael Kelso apologize, like she would have done when the kids were small, and Laurie used to steal Eric's toys. But the kids weren't 6 anymore. Instead, Kitty put a hand on Jackie's arm, which had once again settled on the counter, and gave it a small squeeze. Jackie didn't protest but gave Kitty a small smile. "Well, sometimes these things take time, Jackie," Kitty said.
Red had been too stubborn to apologize to begin with, back when it happened, Kitty remembered. It had taken him a week, and by then Kitty had been far too upset to speak to him. They hadn't spoken at all for almost two months following that, Red continuing to try to apologize. Kitty still loved him dearly of course, but she had needed time, before she could consider forgiving him for it. When she'd had that time, she had agreed to let him make it up to her.
"You think so?" Jackie said hopefully, almost like the words were spilling out of her mouth without her wanting to. She looked like she was surprised, she said it. She looked down on her hands for a moment and looked to swallow hard, and once again Kitty found herself feeling bad for the girl. She wasn't sure, if Michael would apologize to Jackie properly, she hoped he would, if the two teenagers really liked each other.
"Red can drive you home in time for dinner, if you like," Kitty suggested mostly to say something. Her husband would protest, but Kitty knew how to be convincing, if she had to.
"No offense, Mrs Forman but your car would look weird in my neighbourhood. People would think, he was there to steal something," Jackie fired back, and Kitty rolled her eyes where Jackie couldn't see it. Even though, she did notice the way the girl visibly steeled her expression, as she said it.
"Well, you can use the phone then," Kitty retorted, not wanting to sound upset at the girl's refusal to let them help. Or her implication that they weren't good enough for the Burkharts for that matter. "If that up to your standards, dear."
"Thanks, Mrs. Forman," Jackie replied with a smile, that didn't quite reach her eyes and clearly ignoring the sarcasm in the last part of Kitty's statement, as she slid down from the stool and headed for the phone.
For the record, Jackie would have liked it to be noted, that she didn't exactly miss that dingy basement. She had standards, she would like to uphold and frankly she had only tolerated it for Michael's sake, and thankfully she didn't have to do that anymore. It was gross, and it always smelled sort of weird. Of course, Jackie was a nice girl, so she wouldn't know from experience, but she was fairly sure the smell was pot.
But she hadn't realized how big a part of her life spending time in the basement with Michael, Donna, Eric, Steven and Fez was, until she wasn't doing it anymore. The Monday after they got back from the ski trip, Jackie went to school, sat with the cheerleaders as usual for lunch, and then just went home. She mainly saw the other girls at and around practice, and that was only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
She had seen the girls more before, back when she originally got on the team. Before Michael and his friends took up so much of her time. Not that she necessarily minded, that Michael had taken up a lot of her time. He was her boyfriend, and she cared a lot about him. Besides, Donna could be nice to be around on a good day. But Jackie obviously wasn't going to go back to the basement.
Of course, Tuesday had then been busier, and Jackie had barely thought of Michael, because she'd been too busy concentrating on the routine. The girls had given her looks though, pitiful looks like they felt sorry for Jackie, which did annoy her. She knew them well enough to know, that they were probably just as proud of themselves for having boyfriends, who didn't slut around with Pam Macy. But she'd pushed that thought out of her head, as quickly as she could and gone back to concentrating on the routine instead.
Now it was Wednesday, and Jackie was faced with Monday's problem all over again. She'd been trying not to think about, what she could actually do besides homework, when she got home, all morning. She had even barely paid attention, when Leslie had started talking about the boy, who she liked on the football team, or to the Maths questions in her first class that day.
"Jackie!" Jackie stopped in her tracks next to Lisa, who made a confused face at Jackie. Jackie however, recognized the voice. It was the foreigner, Fez. She turned around, her arms crossed to glare at him. He was just beaming at her. Sure, Jackie didn't mind Fez too much on a normal day, he said a lot of nice things to her, but the way she saw it there could only be two reasons, Fez had found her now. Either Michael wanted to talk, or Fez missed his Goddess. Neither of which, was something Jackie wanted.
"What do you want?" Jackie asked, trying to look as stern and bitchy as possible. Which wasn't particularly hard. Lisa just looked between the two of them, before rolling her eyes and heading further down the hallway, like Jackie was a lost cause or something. Jackie swallowed hard. Fez just kept staring at her, and Jackie resisted the urge to kick him. "What do you want, Fez?" she repeated.
"Right, sorry. I wanted to ask you to come hang out in the basement with us again," Fez said, and something inside Jackie's chest tightened. As much as Eric's basement had been seriously improved, just by her being there, Jackie didn't seriously believe that anyone, but Donna and Michael would actually want her to come back. Michael, who she really didn't want to talk to right now.
"Forget it," Jackie said and turned on her heel, hoping she would somehow manage to find Lisa, and she hadn't gotten too far away. Jackie really didn't want to have this conversation at all. Even if she had nothing to do on days with no practice.
"Jackie-" Fez started again.
"No Fez, forget it," Jackie shot back, practically as soon as he opened his mouth to say something.
"Goddess come on. We're your friends!" Fez protested, and Jackie did a double take. Donna was her friend. But Hyde was a poor asshole who probably smoked weed, and Eric was a scrawny moron who was way too dork. And Michael was her cheating, lying ex-boyfriend. Not to mention, Hyde didn't like her, Eric regularly called her the devil, and if Michael wanted her back in the basement, it would only be to ask her to take him back. But she wasn't sure, where to even begin to explain any of that to Fez.
"No. No, you're not," Jackie said, keeping a straight face. Not that she minded that no one in the basement was her friend, that definitely wasn't it. Not it at all. "You would be seriously classed up by my presence, but you're not really my friends, Fez."
"Well, Donna is your friend, right?" Fez argued, a hand on her arm, which she quickly wrestled free off. She hated that he was actually kind of right. Jackie looked down at her shoes, instead of meeting Fez' eyes.
"Alright," Jackie said with a defeated sigh, before glaring at Fez. His smile had gotten even wider, if that was even humanly possible. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes or kick him. "If you can promise me one thing – this has nothing to do with Michael."
"What?" Fez squeaked. He seemed to straighten his face, before he continued. "Of course, it doesn't Goddess. You're just right, we could do with some classing up."
Jackie didn't believe him, not really in her heart of hearts. But maybe there was a tiny part of her in the back of her head, that she didn't want to really own up to, that wanted it to be Michael's idea. If Michael wanted her to hang out in the basement, maybe he would properly apologize. He was still a lying, cheating dillhole, but Jackie also still cared about him. She pushed the feeling down, reminding herself that she didn't want Michael to try and win her back. That wasn't what she wanted.
"Is this weird?" Donna asked, as Jackie sat down in the couch. Jackie smoothened her skirt. Donna had promised her, that Eric would be cool with Jackie being back in the basement. Or that Donna had at least done her very best to make sure, Eric wouldn't complain. Considering how much of a crush scrawny Eric had on Donna, Jackie was pretty sure, she believed her. Donna sat down on the other side of the couch, resting her feet on the table.
"Little bit," Jackie replied to Donna's question, realizing she hadn't actually answered. She crossed her arms and uncrossed them again. Jackie shifted a little bit more in her seat, she wasn't entirely sure, she wanted to stay in the basement yet. Even if she did have nothing else to do today, as sad as that sounded. "I'm almost a little bit worried, Michael is going to burst through the door."
"That's fair," Donna said with a small smile. She turned her head to look at her. "Do you want him to burst through the door?"
"No," Jackie said with a shake of her head. Donna gave her a slightly sceptical look, and Jackie wished she could erase the conversation, they'd had completely from the giant's memory. Preferably from her own too. Jackie hated crying, had always been told by her mother that crying is pointless, unless you can something out of it. Not necessarily, her mother's finest moment to say that to an eight year old, but Jackie would rather not dwell on it. "At least, I'm pretty sure I don't," Jackie clarified.
"Good for you," Donna said with a genuine smile and patted Jackie's arm. Donna and Jackie might be okay friends usually, but Donna was being really nice about this whole thing with Michael. A lot nicer than Jackie had expected her to be, if she was completely honest in her heart of hearts. "Kelso and I are friends, but that doesn't mean he's not a dillhole. Nobody deserves to be treated like that."
She was used to the other girls gossiping behind each other's backs, whenever something like this happened to one of the cheerleaders, and she and Donna weren't that good friends, at least Donna sometimes acted annoyed by things, friends shouldn't be annoyed by. So, it was unexpected that she had actually gotten the support. Maybe her ditching Michael to take her other friends with her to the cabin had won her extra points, Jackie wasn't too sure, but she hoped it wasn't just that.
"Donna, I-" she started, but then the door to the basement opened, and Jackie's mouth slammed shut, before opening again. "Hi!" she said nervously, as Fez, Eric and Hyde entered the basement, thankfully sans Michael.
"Okay- What were you guys doing?" Eric asked, looking between Donna and Jackie where they were sitting on the old dirty, beat up couch. Jackie was mostly surprised he didn't say anything about, what she was doing there. Maybe Donna had straightened him up properly. Jackie didn't get what she saw in scrawny, nerdy Eric, but if that was one of the benefits to their relationship, Jackie would happily take it.
"They were talking about sex!" Fez said, before either of them even got a chance to say anything. Jackie opened her mouth about to protest, but she didn't get a chance to do it.
"Come on Fez, chicks don't talk about sex, man. It's dirty," Hyde said, practically smirking at them. She wasn't sure, if the look was directed at one of them specifically. But if Jackie had to make a guess, it was Donna. Donna definitely looked in the other direction straight away.
"Yes, we do!" Jackie protested, Hyde raised an eyebrow, this time definitely looking at her. She could tell even behind his stupid sunglasses. Jackie moved slightly in her seat, and averted her eyes, fixing her expression. She could see his smirk get wider at that, and she was more than slightly tempted to kick him.
"But we weren't," Donna quickly clarified, before either Hyde or Jackie could say anything else. Donna shared a look with Eric, and now Jackie was more tempted to roll her eyes at that. She'd thought that even with her and Michael's fight, Eric and Donna would have at least sorted their thing out. Apparently, Jackie had been sorely mistaken about that. "Just to- you know, clarify."
"You buying this, Fez?" Hyde asked in Fez's direction.
"No," Fez said with a grin, and if Jackie could have physically managed to, she would have kicked both of their shins. Luckily, Donna helped her out by punching Fez in the shoulder, making him let out a whine in protest. Fez proceeded to rub his arm and sent a disappointed look in Donna's direction.
"Fez doesn't count, he thinks everything is about his needs!" Jackie protested. She shot a glare in Hyde's direction.
"Ah yes," Eric said from where he was sitting on the back of the couch. He let out an overly dramatic sigh and Jackie rolled her eyes, which Eric couldn't see from where he was sitting. Not that Jackie cared that much, if he could. She definitely wasn't worried about him deciding she couldn't go to the basement or something. "There is the Jackie we know and- know."
"Eric be nice," Donna said, looking up at scrawny Eric. "Besides, I'm- glad Jackie is here. You losers get boring to hang around after a while."