If there was one thing Jackie Burkhart thought she could never get sick of it was shopping. Once upon a time, not very long ago in fact, she had spent a whole day at the mall and hadn't grown tired or bored. Now, however, with the ever growing extra weight she was carrying around her middle and on her shoulders, she wanted nothing more than to go home and soak in a warm bubble bath. Much to her dismay it had become apparent that she could no longer shop like she used to.

"Moooooom," she moaned, trailing at least five steps behind the ever energized Pam Burkhart. "Are we nearly done? We've been here for hours."

Swinging her head around Pam smiled at her daughter. "I know, isn't it wonderful? After five days cooped up in that dreary ski cabin isn't it nice to finally be able to shop again? I'm not sure if it was the below zero temperatures making me tremble or shopping withdrawals!"

Jackie rolled her eyes and quickened her pace so that she was side by side with her mother. "Yeah, I missed the mall too, mom. But aren't we done now? My feet hurt and I just wanna go home. Surely we have everything we need for the baby?"

"Your daddy told us to buy whatever we wanted so that's what we're doing, Jackie," Pam said authoritatively. "I'm leaving for Brazil tomorrow remember? We won't be able to come again so we have to get it all done now." Stopping at an empty bench seat Pam dumped the shopping bags she was holding and pulled open her handbag. Jackie followed suit, dropping her bags next to Pam's, not wasting an opportunity to rest her tired feet.

When Pam pulled out the list of baby things they needed, Jackie sighed. "Please tell me there isn't much more on that thing?" she groaned, her head falling back on the seat. "I don't care if you're leaving tomorrow...if we've forgotten anything we'll just get it when you get back."

Pam looked over the notepad and down at her daughter, frowning. "What has gotten into you, darling?" she asked. "You've been in a grouch all week. You're not still upset about the Formans and their hand-me-downs are you? You need to forget about that and move on. It's not our fault poor people treasure their junk. We are Burkharts and Burkharts don't put their babies in second hand cribs."

Jackie sighed and looked away from her mother, deciding a woman clad in designer clothes topped off with a chinchilla fur coat had absolutely no idea what she was going through. Her actions at the Forman's over a week ago were tormenting her, fuelled by Hyde's refusal to even speak to her. Of course Jackie felt bad and wished she could take her hurtful words back but she couldn't help what came out of her mouth that day. She'd grown up believing she deserved the best and according to Pam the best equalled the most expensive. It was going to take more than a few months hanging around Hyde to change what she'd believed her whole life.

"Yes, mom, I am still upset about what I said to the Formans. Steven won't even speak to me."

Pam put the notepad back in her purse and pulled out a lipstick, carefully applying the pale pink shade to her full lips. "You talked to him last night didn't you?"

"Only to tell him what time our parenting classes start next week and the only reason he took the phone from Donna was because it was about the baby. He's dodged every other phonecall I've made since we've been away."

When Jackie's father had insisted they go on a family vacation to the cabin for New Years Jackie had whole heartedly agreed. Jack had told his precious daughter that she'd be missing four days of school and that had suited her just fine. She wasn't ready to immerse herself back into the catty world of high school just yet so a family vacation was just the excuse she needed to avoid her peers. She hadn't counted on Hyde doing some avoiding of his own though; namely every call she made bar the one last night just after they'd returned from the cabin.

"Did you tell him you were sorry?" Pam asked.

Jackie glared at her mother. "Of course I did! But as soon as I'd told him what time to meet me at the hospital next week he hung up. What more can I do?"

"I'll tell you what can do," Pam said, fluffing out her long mane before picking up a handful of shopping bags. "You can come with me to pick out a pram and you'll forget about that boy. Let him do the grovelling. Let him miss you. No man can resist a Burkhart for too long."

Reluctantly picking up her bags Jackie stood to follow her mother. "I hope you're right, mom," she mumbled, slowly putting one tired foot in front of the other. "But you don't know Steven like I do. The man would rather die than grovel, especially to a girl and especially when that girl was in the wrong to start with. I'm not holding my breath for him to come to me."

"Maybe you should try," Pam said softly, nudging Jackie in the side. "Because he's right over there and it looks like he's about to head over."

Jackie suddenly stopped walking and looked over to the entrance of the cinema. Sure enough, standing there dressed in a black sweatshirt and worn out jeans, was Steven Hyde. He nodded his head as if to say hello before casually strolling over to Jackie and Pam. Jackie's hands started to sweat in anticipation causing the bags to nearly slide to the ground. Composing herself, she smiled sweetly.

"Hi, Steven," she greeted him.

"Hey, Jackie," he said back before looking up at Pam. "Hi, Mrs. Burkhart."

Pam offered a bag cladded hand to him which he gently shook. "Call me Pam," she smiled.

In the bustling shopping complex the three stood in an awkward silence until Pam left under the guise of needing a new nail varnish and scampered away, leaving Hyde and Jackie alone. Jackie was grateful to her mother at first, before realising that even without her mother there Hyde still didn't seem to want to talk.

"So..." she started nervously, "how's school?"

"School's school," Hyde replied flatly, tucking his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans. "How was your trip?"

"Oh, it was nice. I couldn't ski though which was lame. I'm a great skier, I don't know why mom and daddy thought that I'd fall and hurt the baby. I haven't fallen off skis since I was six."

Hyde nodded his head, staring at her as she talked. "Probably for the best though, right?" he stated more so than asked.

"Yeah, I guess." Remembering the bags in her hands and the reason she was at the mall on a Friday afternoon, Jackie prepared herself. Talking about baby things should be something she and Hyde enjoyed together but after the fiasco at the Formans she wasn't sure how it would go down.

"Hey, so, mom and I spent the day shopping for the baby," Jackie informed him, holding up the shopping bags. "I think we have everything except the pram. We got babygrows, and cardigans, and sheets, and socks, and diapers, an-"

"Sounds cool," Hyde said mid sentence, clearly not interested in hearing a full item list, but smiling all the same.

Jackie smiled back at him. "What are you doing later? If you want you could come over and help me set up the nursery? Or you could come tomorrow if you already have plans today." When Hyde's cheeks flushed pink and he cleared his throat, Jackie nervously bit down on her bottom lip. She should've known he wouldn't want to hang out with her just yet. She should've known he had absolutely no interest in setting up their baby's bedroom with her; especially if the Forman's crib wasn't being put in there.

"Um, yeah, okay, sounds good." Hyde mouth crept into a half-smile before he turned around and glanced at the movie theatre. "So tomorrow then? Late morning?"

Jackie's shoulder's relaxed for the first time in a week and she was fairly sure she exhaled far too loudly, but she didn't care. Tomorrow would be spent with Hyde and she'd make sure he knew how sorry she was for upsetting Mrs. Forman.

"Yes, come over anytime," she said brightly. "I'll make us lun-"

Before Jackie could finish her sentence a female that could only be referred to as blonde skank appeared at Hyde's side holding two movie tickets. "Got'em," the skank said, waving the tickets in Hyde's face. "We better go, it's starting now and I still wanna get some popcorn."

Jackie swallowed hard as her shoulders tensed again and her vision became blurry. Through the swelling tears in her eyes she saw Hyde glance quickly at the skank and then back at Jackie. His mouth was open but no words were coming out. He's lost for words...he doesn't know how to get himself out of this one, Jackie thought as the adrenaline pumped through her little body. It was a matter of fight or flight and this time she was choosing flight. She wasn't hanging around so half of Point Place could watch her watch the father of her baby go to a cosy film session with a slutty blonde. She was a Burkhart and she was walking out of this complex with her head held high.

Turning quickly on her Mary Janes, Jackie ignored Hyde's feeble attempt at calling her back.

He could go to hell. Him and his date.

The Next Day

Hyde inhaled the last of his roach before throwing it on the ground and stomping it out with his boot. Semi-hidden between the huge concrete fence that kept the riff-raff off the Burkhart grounds and a tree, he was aware he looked shady as hell. Lucky for him no one in this part of town dared talk to him so no one had come close enough to smell the class c drug he'd just consumed in their fancy neighbourhood. They'd merely looked at him sideways as they drove by in their Rolls Royces and Lincolns, probably making a mental note to call the cops about the scruffy boy loitering around smoking something suspicious outside the Burkharts.

Upon remembering that rich bastards liked to call cops, Hyde decided to man up and go and see the girl that'd brought him to this side of town. After squeezing through the wrought iron gates he made his way up the long driveway, careful not to slip on the icy gravel.

Although...Hyde thought as he neared the grand porch, if he slipped he could get lucky a break a bone. A broken arm or leg would mean a trip to the hospital with the tremendous bonus of not having to deal with Jackie today. There were two reasons fractured bones were more appealing than seeing his baby momma; the obvious one being he was still pissed as hell at her for being so rude to the Formans. It'd been over a week and he wasn't over it, probably because Kitty was still crying every time she walked into the basement and saw the furniture in the spot Red had placed it. Hyde silently cursed Jackie every single time his foster mother's eyes welled up and he wasn't sure he would ever forget the hurt she'd caused.

The second reason he liked the idea of hospital had to do with the awkward moment outside the cinema the previous night. It was obvious Raquel's sudden appearance hurt Jackie and while in his head he wasn't technically on a date he knew it would've looked like he was. Part of him wanted Jackie to hurt, maybe feel some of the pain Mrs. Forman was feeling. It could, after all knock her down a peg or two. But deep down Hyde knew it wasn't right. Deep down he knew he couldn't willingly hurt the person carrying his child, even though she deserved it. He had to tell her the truth. As embarrassing as it was.

Just as he went to ring the doorbell the door flew open, revealing a fur coat wearing, sun hat adorned Pamela Burkhart. Biting down on his tongue Hyde managed to stifle the laugh that so desperately wanted to escape his mouth. She looked a picture; dressed for winter and summer at the same damn time.

"Hi, Mrs. Burkhart," he grinned before noticing the luggage she was struggling to push out the door.

Pam didn't look up as she used her heel clad foot to kick a brown leather case onto the porch. "I told you to call me Pam," she said. "And hello."

Hyde reached past her and picked up the last two bags. "Goin' somewhere?" he asked as if it weren't freaking obvious.

"I'm off to Fortaleza," Pam answered, standing up the bags she'd pushed and kicked and assembling them in a neat row. "That's in Brazil you know. The beaches are to die for."

Hyde nodded. "Explains the hat then."

"Couldn't have it getting squashed in my bag. It's a Henry Pollak...very expensive, very rare."

"Very floppy," Hyde smirked. "So, how long you gone for?" It surprised Hyde that Pam was leaving so far into Jackie's pregnancy, not that he could really talk; Edna hadn't even bothered sticking around to see him through high school. He'd just assumed though that mothers would want to be around when their daughters had babies. But then again Pam wasn't someone he'd quickly label maternal. She was no Kitty Forman.

Pam checked her watch and impatiently tapped her foot, checking the driveway every few seconds. "A few weeks, maybe a month," she shrugged. "I hate winter, it dries out my skin completely. I need to be somewhere hot, where I can swim and sunbathe and drink cocktails by the pool. Wisconsin just can't give me that at this time of year. But Beira Mar Ave can."

"Guess so," Hyde agreed not knowing what the hell she was talking about. "So I'll see you in a month then, provided the snows melted of course."

Pam's face lit up as a cab stopped at the gates. "Yes, yes you will," she mumbled, tossing her handbag over her shoulder. When Hyde bid a casual goodbye and stepped inside Pam abruptly stopped him. "Steven, wait," she ordered.

"What's up?"

"Look, I know some people think I shouldn't be going away right now, and by some people I mean my husband. But me and winter just aren't a good fit-"

"So you said."

"Yes...now I will be back before the baby's born but I just want to know that in the mean time you'll take care of my daughter for me? Things may not be great between you two right now but I need to know you'll care for her, she is beautiful after all."

Hyde chuckled, forcing himself not to roll his eyes. "Yeah, I'll watch out for her," he assured Pam. "But not coz she's beautiful, I'll do it coz she's havin' my kid."

"Thank you." Pam smiled and rubbed Hyde's shoulder. Turning to look at the cab driver who was still fumbling around trying to open the gates, she added, "God, some people are hopeless! How hard is it to open a damn gate?"

"Not very hard for me," Hyde grinned.

Pam raised an eyebrow. "So I remember." Upon seeing her cab finally make it's way up the driveway she picked up a suitcase and flashed the biggest smile Hyde had ever seen. That woman wanted outta here. "Well I'm off," she said walking down the steps. "Look after my girl and I'll see you when I'm nice and tanned. Tchau!"

Hyde chuckled to himself. "Uh, bye?" he said before walking inside and closing the door.

The house was quiet at first. No lame Jackie music, no shriek as she ran for him holding a frying pan. There was just silence and Hyde found that silence disconcerting. What if she was in her room crying about her mother leaving, or even worse, crying over him. The half a joint he smoked ten minutes ago wasn't gonna see him through an afternoon of comforting Jackie. All he could deal with today was a five minute screaming match about the movies followed by two hours max setting up the nursery. That was it.

When a childish, girly laugh wafted down the staircase Hyde relaxed. Laughs meant happiness and that suited his current buzz just fine. He walked up the stairs toward the laughter feeling a little lighter. Jackie couldn't be mad about Raquel, not if she was as happy as she sounded. Bypassing her bedroom toward the room he knew the Burkharts had set aside as a nursery, Hyde was stopped by the sound of another childish laugh. A laugh he knew well.

A laugh he fucking hated right now.

Bracing himself, he turned into the room.

"What's up, Kelso?" Hyde said, leaning against the doorframe, his clenched fists concealed in his jacket pockets.

"Hyde, my man, how's it going?"

Hyde stared down at Kelso - who was sitting on his knees with thin pieces of wood scattered around him- fairly certain that if looks could kill his oldest friend would've died right then.

"It's goin'," he mumbled. Looking up he saw Jackie standing next to a white chest of drawers. She was pulling baby clothes out of plastic bags, using her teeth to break the little plastic tie that connected the price tag to the garment. "What are you two up to?"

Kelso grinned, holding up a booklet. "We're getting the nursery ready. Can you believe how big this instruction manual is for a thing that a tiny baby's gonna sleep in? It shouldn't be that hard, dude. It shouldn't need all these instructions."

Hyde raised his eyebrows and looked at Jackie. "I thought we were gonna do this?"

"We were, but then I figured you'd probably have sluts to hang out with so Michael offered to help me," Jackie answered coldly. She had barely looked at Hyde, her focus firmly on the clothes in front of her.

"I told you I'd come n I came. Kelso can go now."

"Uh-uh," Kelso shook his head. "I started this n I'm gonna finish it. I love building stuff."

Hyde's fist clenched tighter in his pocket. Of all the people that had to be there helping Jackie it had to be Kelso. Donna or Fez Hyde could've understood. Despite Fez's recent indiscretion Hyde knew Jackie still valued his opinion on girly matters like clothes and decorating bedrooms and crap. And Donna, well even though she wasn't a girly-girl like Jackie she was still a girl and Hyde knew girls like doing crap together so it would've made sense for her to be there.

But Kelso? There was only one reason that moron was there and that was to cause trouble. A month ago he wasn't even talking to Jackie but now, here he was helping her do something that Hyde should be helping her with. Baby stuff was Hyde's domain, not fucking Kelso's, and by the smirk on the pretty boy's face he knew that as well as Hyde did.

"Yeah, Michael loves building stuff so he's staying." Jackie picked up another pile of clothes, placing them on top of the dresser.

Walking further into the room, Hyde snatched the instruction manual from Kelso's hand. "Kelso can't build anything. The guy's nailed his own finger to a table before. I'm not trusting him to build anything that my kid's gonna sit on, sleep in, or be around."

Kelso held up a finger and examined it. "He's right, I did nail my finger to a table once, still got the scar see." When he showed Jackie his finger she scoffed.

"Lucky he won't be hammering anything then. Everything's done with screws and a screwdriver."

This time Hyde scoffed, slapping Kelso on the head with the manual, wishing the paper was brick "And we all know how much Kelso likes screwing."

"Right again, my friend." Kelso grinned goofily. "I do like doing that. But right now my aim is to get all this baby stuff set up. Ain't that right, Jackie?"

"That's right, Michael. So, Steven, you can just leave," she said, ripping open a plastic bag containing baby singlets. "We don't need or want you here. So go."

Hyde narrowed his eyes as the feeling of rejection he'd been hoping to avoid settled deep in his mind. He shouldn't care that Jackie didn't want him there. Hell, he didn't really even want to be there.

But he was.

He was there, at Jackie's house, watching Michael fucking Kelso put together furniture for his kid. He knew this moment would come eventually; the moment when Jackie pushed him aside and let Kelso creep back into her life. He just didn't think it'd be like this or hurt so bad.

Clearing his throat and taking a deep breath he said, "Jackie, can we just talk? In your room?"

"I'm busy," she replied haughtily.

"Please?"

Picking up a laundry hamper filled with baby clothes Jackie walked toward him, stopping between him and Kelso. "I've been trying to talk to you for a week, Steven, and you wouldn't hear me out. Why should I bother listening to what you have to say now? You're only gonna make up some reason why it's my fault you went on a date with the skank. You'll blame me like you always do and I don't wanna hear it." She pushed past him, the plastic edge of the hamper digging into Hyde's side. "Excuse me," she mumbled quietly, heading out of the room.

Hyde followed quickly behind her, ignoring the sniggers coming from the moron on the floor. "Jackie wait." The little brunette was walking so quickly down the hallway Hyde had to jog to keep up. "Jackie, can't we just talk about this?" he asked before she reached the stairs. "Bringing Kelso here just to fuck me off is really immature."

Jackie stopped, placing the laundry basket down at the top of the staircase. "Oh, so I'm immature?"

Hyde swallowed hard as Jackie's blue and green mismatched eyes pierced right into him. They were so prominent today, probably, Hyde concluded, because her hair was all swept up in a loose bun leaving no chocolate coloured curls to stare at, only big angry eyes. Deciding to focus only on her nose Hyde went to speak but before he could tell Jackie that she was, indeed, immature, she was flapping her trap again. "No, no, no, Steven," she protested waving her index finger in his face. "Immature is refusing to speak to someone for days on end. Immature is being unwilling to let them explain themselv-"

"Umm, hate to interrupt your speech there, Jackie, but your point has so many holes in it we could chuck it on a hoop and call a basketball net."

Jackie huffed loudly and put her hands on her hips. "God, you're so arrogant!" she exclaimed. "My point is that you wouldn't talk to me for days but here you are expecting me to hear you out! Steven, I slept with you Christmas night and the very next day you call me a bitch and stopped speaking to me. Then, when I finally do see you, you're on a freakin' date with a girl who looks like she's the property of a biker named Road Kill!"

"It wasn't a date." Hyde rolled his eyes. "And you know why I was mad with you, you upset the Formans, man!"

"I said I was sorry," Jackie said, looking remarkably remorseful for someone who was usually so callous. "But I didn't mean to hurt them. It wasn't intentional."

"Intentional or not, what you said was fucking rude."

The tone of Hyde's voice must've irked Jackie because all of a sudden her apologetic face was gone and she was back to being wild. "No, what you did was rude, sleeping with me then going on a date with someone else. You're the bad guy here so stop trying to pin it on me!" Picking up the laundry Jackie stomped down the stairs. "Just leave!" she yelled back at Hyde who was taking his time going down.

When Jackie was safely at the bottom, Hyde tried again. "Jackie, I wasn't technically on a date-"

"Were you at the movies?" she asked heading to the laundry room.

"Yeah."

"Were you with a girl who wasn't related to you and who wasn't the girlfriend of a close friend of yours?"

"Yeah."

"Did you pay for her ticket?"

Hyde sighed. He was screwed. "Yip."

Tossing the hamper next to the washing machine and turning around, Jackie said, "Then you were on a date, Steven."

"Let me expl-"

A small hand in front of Hyde's face silenced him. "I don't want to hear it right now. Steven, I'm sorry...really sorry, for what I said to Mr. and Mrs. Forman but you know what? I'm not as sorry about that as I am about sleeping with you again." Jackie's eyes glistened and Hyde knew she was close to tears. He watched as she moved the hand in his face to rest on her belly. He'd missed touching that belly but he wasn't gonna risk a shin kicking by touching it now. "At the end of summer, when you told me we had to end our fling, I was hurt, Steven. I kinda thought you liked me but then I realised you were probably just using me-"

"Jackie," Hyde said quietly, "I wasn't using you-"

"Ssshh, let me finish. I put you out of my head, told myself I was better off with Michael, convinced myself that the idea of you and me together was a stupid one. But then this happened -" She gazed down at her rounded stomach, gently rubbing her hand around it. " - and sure, at first I was devastated thinking there was no way you I could be friends, let alone co-parent a child together. But then your nice guy side came out again...the one I saw last year when I found out about Michael n Laurie, the one that went to jail for me, the one I saw everyday over summer -"

Hyde shifted on his feet and folded his arms across his chest, preparing himself for what was coming.

" - When you came on to me last week I thought that was it. I thought you'd finally realised we could work but then you go and date a tramp. I'm having your baby, Steven...do you know how much it hurt seeing you with someone else?"

"About as much as it hurts watchin' your ex-boyfriend put my kid's furniture together."

"He's my friend."

"Whatever." Hyde shrugged. He felt like crap so he had to do what he did best, act like he didn't give a crap. "There'll always be somethin' between you two. I'm just pleased I didn't get too involved with you to care."

Jackie's eyes widened before narrowing again. "Oh really?"

"Really." Hyde nodded.

"Well if you don't care," Jackie started, as she walked to the front door. "You won't mind leaving then."

Hyde opened the door, careful not to pull it too hard and hit Jackie's stomach. "Fine." There was no point trying to explain anything to her today, she was too upset to even try and listen. He'd give her some time to cool off and he'd give himself some time to cool off too while he was at it. Then maybe they could talk.

"Guess I'll see ya at parenting class on Wednesday?" he asked, stepping out into the cold.

"Guess so."

Walking down the driveway Hyde waited for the inevitable slam of the door and was surprised when he didn't hear it. He felt awkward knowing Jackie was watching him so he kept his head down and his hands in his pockets, anxious to get the hell home.

"Steven," Jackie called out, prompting him to turn around. "I never thought it would turn out like this y'know? These last few months I thought we'd grown closer...now we're not even friends."

He wanted to say something but what was there to say? We would be close if you didn't act like such a child? We could be close if you grew up a little? Or maybe he could admit that if he wasn't such a paranoid jerk they'd possibly stand a chance. Hyde wasn't ready to say any of those things so he shrugged instead and carried on toward home.

A/N: Huge thanks to my un-official beta 107derwent for her help on this chapter. She's a star! And thank you to those of you who have reviewed, I really do appreciate it and love to hear your thoughts.