Later That Night
Jackie yawned and stretched out on Hyde's small cot. It was nearly midnight and midnight in the Forman residence meant curfew, something Jackie hoped Hyde would respect. She didn't need him being grounded right now. She didn't want to spend her days watching him do endless chores. She wanted him home on time ready to listen to her pour her heart out to him.
Thumbing the worn spine of Hyde's well read copy of 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', Jackie anxiously waited. Donna and Pauline had left over an hour earlier, both demanding an early morning phone call from the brunette loaded with juicy details. Jackie had agreed to call her friends but had also reminded them that there may not be any details to spill- this was Hyde after all - the king of non-communication and vague answers dressed up as Zen. A few months ago Jackie had been fairly sure of his feelings for her but years with Kelso had taught her that teenage boys' feelings were fickle, susceptible to change when a new skirt blew through the door at the Hub. Who knew whether some 'cool' biker chick had roared into town and caught Hyde's eye without Jackie noticing?
Jackie returned Hyde's book to the shelf and checked the time again. Three minutes had passed since she'd last checked. Hyde and Eric had three minutes to get home before Red's foot would be finding a home in their asses. As she stood up off the cot Jackie's stomach flipped.
Stupid boys! she thought, making her way into the main room of the basement. She had been nervous for hours about talking to Hyde and now his lateness was making her even more nervous. Red was going to kill him. And that would really piss Jackie off.
Approaching footsteps thumped down the outside stairs clambering to a halt at the bottom step. Jackie dashed to the door and opened it, her hopes of an honest discussion with Hyde dashed when she saw his arms slung over Kelso and Eric's shoulders. His head hung low and his shirt bore the evidence of his inability to hold a drink in his hand and get it into his mouth.
Ushering them quickly into the basement, Jackie's ire was firmly directed at Eric. "What the hell have you done to him?" she asked.
"Um, I poured 14 beers and 8 shots down his throat, Jackie," Eric answered as he and Kelso dragged Hyde into his bedroom. "Oh, and forced him to smoke nearly a whole baggie on his own."
The boys dropped their inebriated friend on his cot and Kelso shook his head. "Yeah, man, I'm still pissed about his lone circles," he moaned, looking down at Hyde. "He could'a shared. I wanna be on his level."
"His level?" Jackie scowled. "His level is comatose you moron. If he doesn't die by choking on his own vomit Red is gonna kill him for sure for this. Why would you let him get so drunk?"
"Duh, Jackie," Kelso answered, rolling his eyes as though it was obvious, "we wanted to get him into a dress. That's all Fez wanted for his birthday."
Hyde shuffled on the cot causing his friends to quickly turn to him. "But you fools still couldn't do it," he drunkenly murmured. "Coz you're all idiots."
"Oh, Steven!" Jackie perched herself on the edge of the cot and ran her hand over his clammy forehead. "What did they do to you?"
"What did we do to him?" Eric cut in, folding his arms across his chest. "Let me remind you, Jackie. Hyde's a big boy and can take care of himself...or should be able to take care of himself. You can't blame us because he can't handle his liquor."
Jackie's eyes darted in Eric's direction and narrowed. "And let me remind you, Eric...Steven is a new father who goes to work and school and barely gets any sleep. God, he probably didn't even have time to have a proper dinner before he went out tonight. Steven's a real man who doesn't need to wait for his girlfriend's father to go out of town so he can play house with her - he's already taking care of a real family, so excuse him if he goes a little crazy on his first night out in ages and drinks a little too much!"
Kelso's eyebrow rose questioningly. "A little too much?" he asked. "I'd say he drank a whole lot too much!"
"Oh, shut up, Michael! No one cares what you have to say." Jackie picked up Steven's hand and looked at his face for more signs of consciousness. Her anger at having to postpone their talk had been quelled by a deep need to know he was okay and even the overwhelming stench of beer couldn't drive her away from taking care of him.
Eric stepped closer to the cot and he rubbed his bloodshot eyes. "Look, Jackie. We honestly didn't do this to Hyde on purpose-"
"Speak for yourself!" Kelso chimed in before Eric shot him a dirty look.
"-anyway, as I was saying," Eric continued, "we were just chilling out like we always do and I guess we all - and by all I mean Hyde - drank a bit too much. I didn't want to bring him home like this but I figured it was better than being late for curfew."
Curfew! So consumed with worry about her baby daddy dying of alcohol poisoning, Jackie had forgotten about curfew...and Red. Rising quickly, she pushed Eric and Kelso out of the bedroom.
"Oh my god, Eric," she said, still pushing him toward the stairs. "You have to get up there before Red comes down here looking for you morons. If he sees Steven like this he'll kill him and I'm not ready to be a single mom yet."
"But what about Hyde?" Eric asked. "I should get him water or a bucket or something..."
"Don't worry about Steven," Jackie whispered, gesturing for Eric to walk up the stairs. "Leave him to me."
...
Six Hours Later
Through heavy eyelids Jackie looked down at the baby nestled in her arms. Tyler was suckling her breast contentedly, only pausing every few moments to catch her breath. The little one's enthusiasm for the drink reminded Jackie of someone, and she smiled.
"You are so much like your daddy, Tyler," she whispered, mindful of the other four people in the house lucky enough to be asleep. "But let's hope you get my fashion sense. No daughter of mine will be caught dead wearing ratty old t-shirts and jeans. You got that?"
Upon hearing her mother's words Tyler stopped feeding and stared up at Jackie. When the corners of her mouth turned upwards into a smile Jackie squealed. She'd been waiting for this moment for weeks. Her baby's first smile!
"Oh my god! You're finally smiling," Jackie exclaimed, tucking her hands under Tyler's arms and lifting her up in front of her. The baby's smile fell, but soon reappeared at the sight of her mother's own smile. "You're smiling the one time I don't have a damn camera handy! That is so typical. God, you are sooooo like your father!"
Despite being exhausted, Jackie scooped Tyler into her arms and searched the basement for the new, black camera she'd begged Hyde to buy a few weeks ago. Since acquiring it, it'd never been far from Jackie's side, much to Hyde's chargrin. He hated the thing. Or rather, he hated that every time he tried to steal a few moments with his daughter it was usually pointed in his direction. 'Photos are lame', he'd claimed on more than one occasion, but Jackie didn't care. She was capturing every moment of her child's life. Especially the milestones. And especially the smiles. Because she for one knew that good times could be all too fleeting.
Unable to find the camera in the mess that was the basement, Jackie headed to Hyde's room. "I bet he's hidden it in there, the happiness killer," she whispered to Tyler. When she opened the door the smell of fermented hops hit her nostrils and she paused for a moment to listen. When a loud snore filled the room, Jackie relaxed. He was still alive. He still stunk of alcohol, and snored like a sailor - like he had every other time she'd checked on him through the night - but at least he was alive.
"God, I hope you don't inherit your dad's love of booze," Jackie said to Tyler as she stepped into the small room and pulled on the light cord. "Although with my parent's genes mixed up with Edna and Bud's, you don't stand much of a chance. We might have to book you into AA before you even start school." As Jackie talked to her baby about addiction and genetics the little girl smiled again. Jackie's eyes widened and she moved quickly to Hyde's dresser. "I have to find that camera before you start crying or sleeping!"
Holding Tyler in one arm, Jackie skillfully rummaged through Hyde's top drawer. All she found though was a bunch of tossed up tees. She should've known - the top drawer was no place to hide anything - it was always the first place someone would look. Using that theory, Jackie skipped the second drawer and went straight to the third; the winter jumper drawer. She pushed aside a couple of woolen knits and dug deeper down toward the bottom. As her hand brushed over the 'Steven' jumper Kitty had knitted Hyde for his 18th birthday, Jackie felt something different. Something that wasn't wool. Something that felt like an envelope. Unable to quell her curiosity, she slowly pulled the envelope out from it's hiding place, checking over her shoulder to make sure Hyde was still asleep as she did so. He was lying on his stomach, his face squashed into the pillow, his arm dangling over the side of the cot. Jackie rolled her eyes at the state of him. She'd be lucky to see him conscious at all that day, let alone have any kind of deep and meaningful with him.
With the mystery envelope retrieved, Jackie took a seat on the armchair in the corner of the room and turned it over. Her brow furrowed when she read the sender details.
"Madison University?" she mumbled to herself before looking down at Tyler. "Why the hell is Madison University writing to your daddy, Tyler? He better not have signed up for some crazy experimental research. You don't need a father who's half blind and mostly deaf!"
With her interest well and truly piqued, Jackie flipped the envelope and pulled out the letter, fully expecting to read that Hyde had signed up for some 'tobacco and it's links to cancer' research. Lately she'd heard loads of burnouts in the Hub talk about how they were getting paid what they thought was good money to sit around smoking up all day and it would not have surprised her in the least if Hyde had figured it was an easy way to make some cash. Lucky for him and his health he had a certain petite brunette to put a stop to it. What burnouts thought was good money, really wasn't good money, and Jackie wasn't risking Hyde's health for peanuts.
But the letter in Jackie's hand wasn't an invitation to cancer. In fact, the words she read were just about the last words she ever expected to read, and as she read them she was sure she could hear the sound of her own heart beating...or maybe breaking? Through the tears in her eyes and her shaking hand, Jackie couldn't tell just what her heart was doing. All she knew was that her worst fear was coming true.
Hyde was leaving them.
A/N: Well it's been a while, and for that I sincerely apologise. I have had computer problem after computer problem which has made writing and reading super difficult. Hopefully things are sorted soon but I thought posting this (half of a) chapter while I had the chance was a good way to let you know I haven't abandoned the story and will be back! Cheers!