A/N: So very sorry for the delay in updating. I struggled through this chapter...never quite happy with it, unsure whether to scrap it altogether. But I have finally decided to just post it so that I can move on. One thing to know - there is a point to it which I'll tell you about at the end.

Thanks to my fabulous reviewers...I can never say it enough - you really do spur on my writing and I sincerely apologise to you for the late update. x

Frequent trips to the bathroom were becoming the thing Jackie despised more than anything about pregnancy. Weight gain sucked. As did heartburn. But those side-effects weren't forcing her to get out of bed early on freezing winter mornings. The over-whelming urge to empty her bladder was.

Propping herself up she scanned the topped of the bed looking for something she could throw on to make her bathroom dash. When all she saw was the crumpled duvet and discarded pillows she cursed herself for going to sleep naked and not being pre-prepared for her morning bathroom run. Tumbling around naked with Hyde beneath the sheets was one thing - scampering unclothed in all her pregnancy glory in the cold light of day was another matter entirely.

Before Jackie had a chance to check the floor for something she could use as a toga, a large, warm hand crept around her stomach, effectively stopping her search.

"Morning," Hyde mumbled sleepily.

Jackie rolled over to look at him. His eyes were still closed, his hair was a tangled mess of curls, but a satisfied smile lurked heavily on his face. "Good morning, Steven," she said as he snuggled into her side. "Hey, don't go getting too comfortable, I have to go to the bathroom. This kid of yours will be the death of me if it keeps jumping on my bladder every five minutes."

Hyde chuckled, his hand easily finding the area their baby was kicking the crap out of. "Kung-fu fighter or football player, I just know it."

"Oh, you don't know anything. I'm telling you it's a girl and no girl of mine is doing either of those things." Jackie sat up and peered over the side of the bed, immediately spotting Hyde's sweatshirt. When she reached for it she was careful not to let him see her breasts or the two ugly stretch marks that had appeared on her stomach. They were disgusting. She felt disgusting. No other girl on the cheer squad had stretch marks. Bitches.

"Jackie, stop being so self-conscious." Hyde tugged at the blankets covering her body. "I saw everything last night remember...three times I might add." He winked, Jackie frowned.

"It was dark last night, so you didn't see everything-"

"I felt everything then, and it felt really good so why don't you hurry up n go to the bathroom n get back here so we can carry on doin' what we were doin' last night?"

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Not happening, buddy," she said, jumping off the bed before he could stop her. "It's almost 8 and I want to take a shower n get cleaned up here before we pick Rosa up from the airport. I suggest you start making a move outta there too."

Hyde groaned. "Have you heard the weather report? Has the snow even cleared?"

"I dunno," Jackie shrugged. "I hope so." Consumed with excitement at the prospect of Rosa coming back she almost missed the frown on Hyde's face. What did he have to frown about? Didn't he like Rosa? Didn't he want to know Jackie was being looked after. "Hey -" she tugged on the duvet to get his attention, " - what's wrong with you? Aren't you happy Rosa's back today? You get to go home to Eric and your tin...I know you've been missing them."

Hyde pulled the floral duvet up under his chin, burrowing his head into the soft pillow. "Jackie, why would I wanna go back there? Have you seen my room? As much as it kills me to admit it I'm gettin' kinda used to all of this."

Jackie followed his gaze around the immaculately designed guest bedroom. It was a nice room, even by her high standards. Textured wallpaper, plush carpeting, a love seat perched beneath a bay window, and a large four poster bed... it was a five star hotel room compared to where Hyde slept.

"You could still come n stay sometimes," Jackie offered. "I mean, I'm sure Rosa wouldn't care and with the baby coming n all I'll probably need you around."

Hyde chuckled. "After the note we left Red last night I think it's safe to say I won't be stayin' anywhere anytime soon," he reminded her. "By the time he's done with me I'll be co-author of Eric's book 'Things My Father Threatened to Put in my Ass'. It's not gonna be pretty."

Jackie had forgotten all about the note. After successfully bedding Hyde the night before she'd begged him to take her back to her house. He'd tried to tell her that they were pushing it with Red; that the old man had been reluctant to let Hyde stay for two nights, so three would surely be pushing it. But a few warm kisses and strokes in the right places had convinced her scruffy orphan boy that going back to the Burkhart house was better than staying at the Forman's. Jackie sighed as she recalled the lame note Hyde had scribbled in their eagerness to leave. She was pretty sure that 'Staying at Jackie's' written on the back of an old supermarket receipt, left on the kitchen table would not have cut it with Red. Thinking back on it now Jackie was counting herself lucky Red hadn't marched over in the middle of the night and put a foot in both their asses.

She chewed on her lip and looked down at him with her best puppy dog eyes, sorry that she'd gotten him into trouble with Red again. "Oh yeah...that probably wasn't our best move," she admitted. "God, I hope you're not in too much trouble when you get home."

"Don't worry 'bout me," Hyde assured her, burrowing further into the blankets. "I'm sure the grounding will be lifted by the time the kid's born."

"I hope so, but I doubt it," Jackie smiled before finally making her bathrrom dash.

...

An hour later Jackie pulled the curling iron out of her last bang and turned it off. She'd made a real effort with her appearance today, partly because of Rosa's return and partly because she was sick of looking like a fat, pathetic slob. Glossy curls, subtle but effective eye-make, and just the right amount of blush had her looking picture perfect - well, until she stood up and caught the reflection of her rounded belly in the mirror. Groaning, she turned from side to side, just in case there was a more flattering angle she hadn't yet discovered. There wasn't.

Thank god for elastic, she thought, pulling at the thick waistband of her skirt sitting just under her stomach. While elasticated waistbands weren't exactly high fashion, Jackie was fairly confident that she was pulling them off okay. Teaming her little plaid mini-skirts with stockings and boots seemed to be working, so much so that she'd actually seen a couple of cheerleader bitches wearing similar ensembles at school recently. Jackie appreciated their imitation but wished they'd extend it to getting pregnant, at least then she wouldn't be the only pregnant teenager in town.

The only fat, pregnant, orphan teenager in town...god, even if another seventeen year old did get pregnant the likelihood of that teen's father getting arrested was slim to none. Jackie was destined to hold the loser crown forever.

As she pulled on her boots, the sound of Led Zeppelin and the smell of bacon wafted upstairs, making her tummy rumble and her jaw clench. Why couldn't Hyde listen to happy music in the mornings? Just because he liked to shroud himself in angst it didn't mean she should be subjected to his misery. Really, the more she thought about it, the more Jackie decided that it wasn't the absence of friends, a waistline and her parents stifling her mood; she was feeling low because of all the recent exposure to Led Zeppelin and their dreary wallowings she'd been forced to listen to. It was all Steven's fault. He was making her miserable.

Except that he wasn't.

Especially not last night.

Last night he was exactly what she'd needed.

"God, Steven," Jackie moaned pushing the kitchen swinging door open and thoughts of Steven in her arms out of her head, "why do we have to listen to this depressing music in the mornings? It's not very uplifting, geez even your hyperactive child has fallen asleep out of boredom."

Hyde looked up from the stove and raised an eyebrow. "Jackie, I've told you time n time again that you don't know shit about music so shut your pie hole."

"Charming way to speak to your baby's mother," she growled as she sidled up next to him, more concerned with the bacon sizzling in the pan than the music. "Is it nearly done? I'm starving."

"Should'a let me buy you that burger last night, huh? Then maybe you wouldn't be salivating all over this here pan."

Jackie frowned and discretely licked her lips. "How could I have eaten a burger last night? You couldn't stop shoving your tongue down my throat, no food was getting past your mouth."

"Oh, really?" Hyde raised an eyebrow, a smirk crossing his face. "See I kinda remember it differently. The way I recall it is you-"

"Oh shut up, Steven," Jackie said, slapping his shoulder, embarrassed that his recollection would be closer to the truth. "Just gimme my breakfast before I pass out."

She sat down at the kitchen counter, ignoring Hyde's knowing smile. When he placed a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast in front of her she immediately dug in. Skipping dinner for sex certainly did have it's downside.

"So-" Hyde sat down next to her with his own plate, "-about last night...you think, ah...maybe we needa talk about it?"

Jackie chewed her food slowly. No, she didn't want to talk about their night together. Talking to Steven about their previous hook ups had never boded well before and right now she couldn't deal with any more arguments or turmoil in her life. Today was meant to be a good day. Rosa was coming home. Jackie was not risking a fight with Hyde and ruining it all. Last night was what it was...a hook up between friends. One that didn't need to be dissected over breakfast.

"Ummmm, no," she said before sipping her juice. "I don't think we need to talk about it."

Hyde looked at her surprised then cleared his throat. "Oh...yeah, nothin' to talk about right? Just thought, y'know, that you might wanna talk about it-"

"I'm good," Jackie smiled, poking her eggs with her fork. "I mean, we're friends right?"

"Yeah, course we're friends."

"And we're both okay with what happened and it's not gonna change anything between us is it?" Jackie's gaze rose, catching Hyde's. His eyes were unshielded and radiated a warmth she wasn't sure she'd seen before. Her heart sped up a little before she told herself to calm down. His look didn't mean anything. Last night didn't mean anything. They were just friends and she wanted it to stay that way, especially for the baby.

"Well, if you wanted things to change I could be open-"

The piercing ring of the phone interrupted Hyde's sentence and Jackie jumped off her seat to answer it, a little relieved their awkward conversation was now over. Things were already too messy in her life and an 'are we, aren't we' relationship with Hyde would just lead to absolute chaos. As far as she knew the guy had never had a girlfriend before and she wasn't going to be his practise run - especially not when she was 6 months pregnant and an orphan.

When she hung up the phone Hyde was already halfway through the washing up. ""Who was it?" he asked as Jackie sat back down to finish her breakfast.

"Rosa. Her plane gets in at 11.35! I can't wait! I wonder if she's bringing me a present? She usually does..."

Hyde turned to her, frowning. "11.35? I start work at 10, I told you that. Why didn't you tell her to get a later flight, man?"

"I can drive to get her, it's no problem," Jackie shrugged.

"Ah, yeah it is," Hyde said, leaning over the counter. "Roads are icy as hell, I don't want you driving all that way by yourself."

"I'm a good driver, Steven-"

"Tell that to Kelso's van." Hyde winced when Jackie's sharp nails dug into his forearm before saying, "Look, why don't you get Donna to drive to Kenosha with you? Least then you'll have some company n an extra set of eyes."

"No, I don't need an extra set of eyes and if Donna comes she'll keep changing the radio station," Jackie scoffed. "Besides, I read in her diary yesterday that Bob and Joanne are going to Joanne's mom's 70th in Milwaukee so Donna and Eric are planning on doing gross stuff to each other all day-" she shuddered, her fork falling onto her plate, "- ew just the thought makes me wanna hurl."

Hyde rolled his eyes but agreed. "Yeah, it's pretty gross, which is why you should put a spanner in their works n call Donna to go with you."

"Nah, if it'll make you feel any better I'll call Fez n see if he wants to come."

"That doesn't make me feel any better. His drivin' is just as bad, if not worse than yo-"

Jackie's nails hovered precariously over Hyde's still red forearm. "Say it, Steven, I dare you..."

"Just call Donna," Hyde sighed. He picked up her empty plate and put it in the sink. "Not Fez, definitely not Kelso, just Donna."

"Fine," Jackie said in resignation. "But if she puts her sausage fingers anywhere near that radio dial I'm kicking her out onto the highway. My car, my rules."

...

12.05

The Same Day

Hyde pulled the Camino into a park outside the hotel and rubbed his temples. He'd never been one for headaches but ever since Jackie had told him she was pregnant he seemed to be getting them more and more. Some people would probably tell him it was because he was under stress, or some other lame excuse like that. But he was Steven Hyde; he didn't get stressed, ever. Sometimes he was troubled, maybe at a stretch things bothered him, but he didn't get stressed.

Not even when his damn history tutorial made him 5 minutes late for his shift.

"Sorry I'm late," he called out, hanging his jacket on the hook by the kitchen door. "Traffic was a bitch."

"Steven-" the female voice prompted Hyde to peer around the corner and his forehead wrinkled when he saw Mrs. Forman standing next to Roy at the preparation bench.

"Mrs. Forman? What're you doin' here?"

Her hands were clasped together while her thumbs did little circles around each other. Her foot tapped nervously on the tiled floor. She was worried about something and Hyde's first thought was Red.

"Hyde, where've you been, man?" Hyde hadn't even noticed Eric standing by the restaurant door looking just as worried as his mom. Hyde's stomach dropped to the floor. It had to be Red.

"What's going on?" he asked, his eyes darting between Kitty, Roy and Eric. "What's happened?"

Kitty took a step forward. "Steven, we've been looking everywhere for you. Where were you? Jackie told us your shift started at 10 but Roy here tells us you weren't due in 'til 12."

Hyde shrugged. "Had some stuff to do." He looked at Eric. "Is someone gonna tell me what the hell's goin' on? Cause if you're not then you may as well chuck a hairnet on n start peeling these carrots."

The corner of Kitty's mouth drooped and she reached out and put a hand on Hyde's shoulder. "It's Jackie, honey...she's been in an accident..."

"She's what?"

The whole thing was a blur. As Hyde was ushered to the Vista Cruiser Kitty said something about Jackie swerving to avoid a child's ball and hitting a tree. She was okay, his foster mother assured him, just some minor scrapes and bruises, but they were worried about the baby as her stomach had hit the steering wheel pretty hard in the accident. They'd been trying to find him for well over an hour and Kelso and Fez were still looking.

Pity no one thought to check the library.

"So where were you?" Eric asked as he pulled the car out of the hotel carpark. "I swear to god we looked everywhere in this town for you. The Hub, the water tower, your room, basement, every back alley-"

"I was at the library," Hyde stated, his fingers pulling at his bottom lip. He couldn't be fucked talking right now, he just wanted to get to the freaking hospital.

"The library? I didn't know we even had one of those. Where is it?"

Kitty sat forward so her head poked over the back seat. "Oh, Eric, we used to go there all the time when you were a little boy...don't you remember? It's just across from the town hall, behind th-"

Hyde had had enough. "Look, can everyone just be quiet? I just wanna know that Jackie n the kid are alright-" he looked out of the window and noticed Eric was driving in the opposite direction of the hospital, "-where the hell are you goin', man?! Hospital's the other way!"

Again Kitty's hand was on Hyde's shoulder. "Steven, Jackie's been taken to Madison General-"

"What? Why?"

"Well, like I said the doctors were a little concerned about the baby and Madison has better technology there to monitor your little one," Kitty explained, all the while gently patting Hyde's tense shoulders.

Okay, maybe he did get stressed after all.

"What kinda technology? What the hell do they think is wrong with the baby?" His heart was thumping in his chest and the palms of his hands were sweating profusely. Yip, he was feeling the stress alright.

"The machine they want to use on Jackie is called an ultrasound machine, honey," Kitty continued. "What it does is actually very amazing. It can see through Jackie's skin, and through the placenta and look right at the baby! Isn't that something?"

"Yeah, whatever." Hyde really didn't feel that now was the time to marvel at the wonders of modern technology. "So what's it gonna tell us?"

Kitty smiled. "It's going to tell you that your baby is fine, I just know it. The machine will be able to check that there's no organ damage, or damage to baby's brain then Jackie will be free to go home. I'm sure the doctors were just being overly cautious and as the machine is only a short drive away they figured they might as well use it." She patted Hyde's shoulder one more time before sitting back in her seat. "Everything will be a-ok, sweetie."

Hyde involuntarily snorted at her comment. Jackie was in the hospital and the doctors had been concerned enough to send her to a bigger, more equipt hospital. How the hell did anyone in the car know she was gonna be "a-ok"? As they drove down the snowy streets Hyde's mind travelled back to that morning. Back to waking up next to Jackie. Back to feeling their baby turning sommersalts. Back to making her breakfast.

Back to telling her to call Donna.

"Forman?" he said as Eric turned onto the highway.

"Yeah?"

"Was Donna in the car? Is she okay?"

Eric glanced at Hyde, his expression a little bewildered. "No, she wasn't in there. Why would she have been?"

Hyde's fist clenched on his thigh. If he found out Jackie had asked Donna to go with her to Kenosha and been turned down he wasn't sure he'd ever forgive the redhead. "Ah, 'cause I told Jackie to call her n ask her to go with her this morning."

Eric raised a shoulder and shook his head. "Well she never called."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah I'm sure. I was with Donna all morning n the phone never rang. First time it did was when mom called telling us to get to the hospital."

Kitty poked her head back over the seat. "Jackie never mentioned Donna to me, Steven, only when she wanted someone to go in the ambulance with her to Madison. Lucky Donna was there to go with her...poor thing, she was so frightened."

A sharp pain shot through Hyde's chest and he kicked the door. Fucking tutoring...fucking grades. He should've cancelled. He should've driven her to the damn airport.

"Woah, buddy!" Eric swung a hand over, resting it on Hyde's arm. "I know the Cruiser's not much but it's all I got n I need every bit of it. Including the door."

"Sorry, man," Hyde mumbled, his head falling back on the seat. "I just should'a been there. I should'a taken her to the airport then none of this would'a happened."

"Now, Steven," Kitty began, "you can't go blaming yourself. Accidents happen and it's not your fault. Jackie needs you to be strong when we get there so you need to stop punishing yourself and Eric's car and make sure you can be there for her when we get there.

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts," Kitty firmly stated. "Jackie and the baby need you, so no kicking things, punching things, or breaking things...got it?"

"Got it."

After what seemed like hours Eric was finally pulling into Madison General. The second he'd pulled the car into a spot, Hyde bolted, hoping that Kitty's hunch that Jackie would be in the maternity department was right. When he saw a certain redhead flicking through a magazine in the waiting room he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Donna," he said, a little short of breath. "Where is she?"

Donna looked up and as soon as she saw Hyde she tossed the magazine onto the chair next to her and stood up. She actually looked happy to see him. Grabbing his hand she told him to go with her.

"Have you heard anything yet?" Hyde asked as he followed Donna down a long hallway.

She shook her head. "No. They took the machine in there about 5 minutes ago so hopefully you haven't missed anything."

When they reached the door that Donna said was to Jackie's room Hyde suddenly felt apprehensive. "You sure I can go in there?"

"Yeah, you're the dad."

"Yeah but we're not married," Hyde reminded her.

"Who cares?" Donna shrugged. "Jackie told me to send you in there the minute you arrived-"

"She did?" An odd feeling of smugness came over Hyde at Donna's revelation. It felt good to know that Jackie wanted him there, especially because there was nowhere else he'd rather be...no matter the outcome.

"Yeah she did," Donna put her hand on the door, "so get in there."

When Hyde stepped into the room 10 sets of eyes all turned to stare at him. "Ah, hey," he said nervously, unsure whether he should turn and walk back out. A small voice calling "Steven!" stopped him and when a wall of white coats opened he saw Jackie lying on a bed. He quickly made his way over to her. "What's with all the coats?" he asked nobody in particular.

"You must be Mr. Hyde," one of the doctors asked, offering his hand to Hyde who shook it. "I'm Dr. Young and I'll be performing the ultrasound on Jackie today. These here-" he gestured to the other men and women surrounding the bed, "- are some of our other senior and junior doctors and are with us today to see how this machine works. We've only had it a few weeks and haven't had the chance to use it much so Jackie kindly agreed to have an audience while we check on your baby."

"Oh I bet she did," Hyde joked before sitting down in the seat next to Jackie's bed. When the doctors began talking amongst themselves Hyde took the opportunity to properly look at Jackie. A split lip, swollen eyebrow, fairly big but not threatening abrasion on her forehead...she didn't look too bad for someone who'd been in a car accident. He bet she begged to differ however.

"Damn, Jackie," he whispered, taking her hand. "Why did you go on your own, man? You should've taken Donna-"

Jackie sighed and squeezed Hyde's hand. She looked so tired, so beat up, he knew he shouldn't have begun lecturing her. "Steven, even if I'd had Donna with me we still would've been in the accident. Whether she was there or not the kid still would've kicked the ball onto the road and I still would've tried to avoid it. It's just one of those things."

He leaned closer to the bed, propped his arms up on the edge. "Yeah, you're probably right. How you feelin' anyway?"

"Sore," she said, rubbing her other hand over her stomach. She looked at him, her eyes wet with tears. "God I hope everything's okay with the baby...I'll never forgive myself if anything's wrong with it."

Hyde couldn't believe she was blaming herself for this. If it was anyone's fault it was his. He knew she'd been to hell and back over the last week and he knew she was all kinds of distracted. She shouldn't have been driving; he should've.

"Jackie, this isn't your fault," he assured her, brushing some hair behind her ear. "None of it's your fault. And anyway, the baby will be fine, I just know it."

Jackie shifted a little and stared up at the ceiling. "I hope you're right," she whispered.

Just then Dr. Young pulled down the hospital blanket and lifted the pale green hospital gown, revealing Jackie's bump.

"Okay, Jackie," the doctor said, shaking a bottle of liquid. "Now I'm going to squirt some of this gel onto your stomach and it's a little cold so be warned."

Jackie nodded and squeezed Hyde's hand again. She didn't move an inch when the slimy gel hit her body, and barely took her eyes off the ceiling when the doctor started probing her stomach. Hyde, on the other hand, couldn't take his eyes off of the screen that seemed to hold all of the answers.

"Now this," Dr. Young said, stopping his probing on Jackie's left side, "is the heart. As you see can it's beating nice and quickly which is what we'd expect."

The other doctors 'oohhed and aahhed' at the image but in all honestly Hyde could barely make out anything on the fuzzy screen. The doctors words, however, were reassuring so he nudged Jackie. "Heart's beatin'," he whispered. "That's gotta be a good thing."

Jackie looked over at him with a small, slightly relieved smile on her face, but she didn't say a word.

To Hyde's surprise she didn't say a word for the remainder of the scan. Each time the doctor checked a vital - or not so vital- organ and comment that it looked fine and healthy, she would merely squeeze Hyde's hand. By the time the 25 minute scan was over Hyde wondered whether he should get the doc to scan his hand and make sure nothing was broken; it'd never been squeezed so much.

"So there you go, Jackie," Dr. Young said with a smile. "Your baby is perfectly fine."

Jackie's eyes quickly landed on the doctor. "Are you sure? Like sure sure? One hundred percent sure?"

The doctor nodded. "I'm as sure as I can be. Like I said, these machines are very new but they do allow us a good view of the baby and from what I can see all the vital organs are fine and there was no damage done to your placenta upon impact. Your baby has a nice place to keep on growing for the next 14 weeks."

"Oh my god what a relief." Jackie sighed a huge sigh of relief that made Hyde smile. He'd never known her to be so quiet so holding that breath in had clearly rendered her unable to speak throughout the scan.

"As a matter of fact," Dr. Young said as he wiped the gel off of her stomach. "I could see so much of your baby that, if you'd like, I could tell you whether it's a boy or a girl."

Jackie's eyes widened, a delicious smile creeping over her lips. Even if Hyde told her to wait, told her to leave the sex as a surprise, she wouldn't listen. She was like a kid being given her Christmas present in October...she was finding out.

"Oh yes, we want to know!" she squealed. "Don't we, Steven?"

Hyde raised his eyebrows but couldn't help grinning at her enthusiasm. "Do we, Jackie?"

She nodded.

And won.

"What is it, Dr.?" she asked, sitting herself up on the bed.

"Congratulations, you're having a little girl," the doctor announced to Jackie's delight.

Hyde was tempted to block his ears right then, knowing that the high pitched squeal of a teenage girl getting exactly what she wanted was about to fill the room. But he didn't. Instead he folded his arms and let himself smile. Smile because he was getting a daughter. Smile because Jackie was getting what she wanted.

But mostly smile because both his daughter and Jackie were okay.

AN2: Okay, that's enough of that chapter! So the reason I wrote this was because quite early on in the story someone asked if we'd be finding out the sex of the baby. After some googling I discovered that scans weren't routine for pregnant women in the '70s and were mostly used in larger hospitals. I figured there wouldn't have been much need for Jackie to have a scan unless something untoward happened...so for once my drama wasn't for the angst-factor lol!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed...drop a review n let me know. Next chapter shouldn't be too far away - then you'll find out whether poor old Rosa is stuck at the airport waiting for Jackie and just what Hyde is thinking about their latest hook-up. Til then...see ya!