Author's Note: So I just went to an event called "77 Kids" for American Eagle. I went with my best friend who is an actress, although I won't name her. Lemme just say, wow. The Jonas Brothers played, and although I am not a fan, they sounded the same as they do recorded! And they really are cute. Anyways, it was pretty fun. I'm warning you, this chapter is REALLY short compared to the last ones. There's a reason why. These chapters act as a sort of prologue for how the story is going to happen. So after this chapter, the story is going to jump ahead. And I will start putting dates, times, locations, and years. Just so you know, these first few chapters may seem strange time-wise but I will date them here.

Everything in these past few chapters

has occurred on December 24th, 1980.

Let It Loose

Forman Basement. 9:36 PM. December 24th, 1980.

Jackie was woken up first, by Forman's attempts at waking up Hyde.

"Hyde, man, wake up! We're opening presents." So the peaceful slumber wouldn't last as long as they thought it would. Jackie opened one eye and saw Forman's face of contempt.

"Hmph. I didn't think Hyde would ever get back with the devil." Jackie narrowed her eyes at Forman and moved herself out of Hyde's arms, putting the pillows in his grasp to placate them.

"We're not… he just…" Jackie trailed off. "I'm gonna go upstairs, you can wake him up." She was worried about what would have been said by the other if they had woken up in each other's arms. Jackie scurried out of his room, her heels clicking their way up the stairs.

"Hyde. Wakey-wakey Mr. I Love To Bakey!" Eric chuckled at his own joke and Hyde groaned.

"Forman, I'm sick of you stealing your mom's jokes." He opened his eyes and noticed that Jackie was nowhere in the room. What time was it? Had they slept until the morning? "Where's Jackie?"

"Who, you mean the devil? Oh she had to go punish some bad boys. No, we're all upstairs opening presents. My mom wants you up there so she can take pictures of us in our elves hats." Forman and Hyde shared a knowing look. She did this every year.

"Okay man, I'll be up in a minute." Eric left with one glance back towards him. Hyde sat up on his bed and rubbed his hands up his face. Fuck. What was he getting himself into? He should have just let Jackie stay out on the couch. Now, not only would it be awkward, but she would have some glimmer of hope as to them.

He couldn't let this start again. He couldn't let her claw her manicured pink nails back into his life, into his heart. Every time they hooked up it started out recklessly, and it ended up disastrous. He couldn't let her believe there was a chance they could rekindle what they'd had before.

He didn't want that. Who was he kidding? He did want that. He fixed his shirt and made sure he hadn't pitched a tent. At least it had gone down by now. Hyde made his way out of his room and up the stairs to find everyone waiting anxiously in their obnoxious little elf hats. Mrs. Forman was pacing, camera in hand.

"Steven! You made it. Here's your hat, now join the group!" Hyde warily grabbed his hat and placed it as far back as it would go on his head, moving to the edge of the group so he would be least noticeable in the picture. He placed his arm on Bob's shoulder, who was grinning at him like a fool.

"Everybody say… Christmas tree!" Fez and Bob were the only ones who said it. Red frowned. Hyde smirked. Eric and Donna laughed. Kelso grinned goofily. WB smiled. Leo stared off into space. And Jackie's lips tugged up at the corner, but that was as far as they would go. None further.

After the pictures had been taken, everyone gathered around the Christmas tree that was heavily adorned, almost packed, with colorful bulbs, lights, and cheesy pictures of the family.

"Okay, we draw a paper out of a bag and that person picks the first gift to be given under the tree!" Jackie eyed the massive amount of presents. She hadn't received any yet this year, and she'd already given hers out. Damn her impatience. She only had a few for the adults under there.

"The first name is… Fez!" Everyone's eyes flipped towards Fez as he gave a cheery clap.

"Okay, the name I got is Red!" Of course. Fez had always had some weird fascination with Red. He reached under the tree, fishing around for a present that had Red's name on it.

"Here is one from Bob!" Fez handed the present to Red, who made an obvious show of rolling his eyes before taking the present. He unwrapped the paper to find a black box, taking the lid off in no hurry. Inside was the exact same shirt Bob was wearing. It was zebra striped, each stripe adorned with small rhinestones.

"Now we can match when we go to the Packers games!" Bob was smiling at Red, waiting. Kitty nudged her husband and he tensed up.

"Umm… yeah. Sure Bob. Thanks."

And so the night continued like this. Presents were handed out. Hugs were given. Everyone received something that they obviously had no use of, but they also received something they were sure to enjoy.

Jackie had received tons of makeup, unicorn plushies, and clothes. She was pretty easy to get gifts for. Except for when she found the clothes ugly, which was most of the time.

Kelso was given toys meant for kids and a book from Red. He tossed the book aside and headed straight for the toys. And this obviously appeased him. He had an idea that all of his friends would be playing with these alongside him down in the basement once they were done.

Eric received a Star Wars shirt, GI Joe action figure set, and a raincoat.

Donna was given a couple records, tickets to concerts, jewelry from Eric, and makeup from none other than Jackie.

WB was hard to give gifts to because no one knew him super well, so he mostly received sensible clothes and tickets to events. He was fairly easy to please, seeing as he was already self-proclaimed rich.

Bob was presented with cheesy clothes, all bought from Bob's favorite store: Mr. Jimmy's Funkalicious Clothing Store. Typical Bob.

Fez got candy and nudie magazines, but those were opened secretly so the adults wouldn't see.

Leo was given all sorts of random stuff. Pictures, records, clothes, sunglasses. Everyone knew that Leo would forget their gifts after they had been given, so it didn't matter much what they gave him.

Kitty received a lot of alcohol and baking utensils. It appeased her. All she wanted was her Schnapps.

Hyde was given mostly records and a lot of brown paper bags. Four to be exact. He would open them later. They were more of a gift to the whole gang, but everyone knew he did it on his own too.

Red received mostly shoes. Everyone figured he needed so many since he was always putting his foot up people's asses. Must have ruined them.

When the gift giving was done, the adults moved onto the couch and the kids headed down into the basement. It was time once again for a circle, this time for all of them included.

When Hyde moved by Jackie, she felt his arm brush against her chest. She looked up into his eyes and smiled, but he never once looked towards her or returned the gesture. Instead, he was first to shuffle his feet down the stairs into the basement.

He picked up a beer for himself, concealed by the dingy shower curtain, and sat down in his chair. His movements were stiff, but Jackie found herself the only one noticing. Even when Donna flipped on the TV to Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer and Kelso screeched in joy. Her eyes were only on Steven.

But again, he didn't look her way.

In the bar you're getting drunk,

I ain't in love, I ain't in luck.

Jackie reached her hand out and placed it lightly on Hyde's knee, capturing his attention. His blue eyes were colder than the waters of Wisconsin during winter. His gaze caught her off guard and she stumbled over her words.

"Ste-Hyde are… uh… are you, I mean are you okay?" She could tell that his Zen had returned. Even after them falling asleep together, even after she had showed him the gut-wrenching emotions she felt draining her body every day.

"I'd be a lot better if you took your hands off of me." Her hand cringed back in defeat. She closed her eyes and breathed in all the air her tight lungs could consume.

I can stay here and take it. Or I can leave and never look back.

Hide the switch and shut the light,

Let it all come down tonight.

After waiting around for him for years, Jackie chose the latter. Of course she'd left before, but all the while she had thrown glances over her shoulder to see if he would be following her anytime soon. This time, she could forget it all. Forget him. Forget their memories. Forget the past. And leave.

Willing herself with new determination, Jackie picked herself up with all her strength, hoping her high heeled boots could keep herself steady. Her head was spinning, not only from the hangover of her previous intoxication, and from the rejection of him. She had faced rejection before. But from him? Over and over again. Repeatedly. And she was sick of it.

Maybe your friends think I'm just a stranger.

Some face you'll never see no more.

"I'll see you guys later." Jackie looked back once more over her shoulder and saw that Hyde was now looking at her. And it weakened her armor. But she continued on.

She grasped the door knob with her hand and twisted the metal, clinging to it as though it were her only lifetime. How many times she had hesitated to touch it, never knowing what Steven could be doing down there, and with whom.

Jackie thrust her body out into the cold air and shut the door behind her as quickly as she could.

No turning back. No turning back. No turning back.

Of course she would say goodbye to those of the gang who deserved it. Or maybe not. It seemed like none of them would notice. She was hardly spared a glance lately, except on rare occasions.

But not him. He definitely wouldn't get a goodbye. The more she would see him, the more rejection she would feel. She could imagine how it would happen:

"Goodbye, Steven." And her eyes would be pleading with him, begging him to tell her to stay. To whisk her off her feet. To tell her how he felt. But of course that was impossible.

"Yeah, whatever." And his sunglasses would be on. His shoulders would shrug. He'd turn away from her and let her go on.

It had happened. More than once. And she wasn't willing to go through the betrayal and hurt of his indecisiveness again. Every goodbye he said, every "I don't know" just weakened her belief in his love for her. Finally she was grasping for threads, and history had judged that Hyde would do the same thing. Her rational mind took over, and she couldn't deny that she no longer held a place here. In their lives. In his heart.

She counted to ten. She willed herself to count ten more seconds. And one last time.

Until she realized, no one was coming for her.

No one really knew what she was saying.

Maybe he did, but he didn't care.

What had happened between them earlier in the basement was a fluke, just a way to spill out some emotions. He would go back to being the same careless, Zen person he always was. Hiding behind his sunglasses. Shrugging. Saying, "Whatever."

And so her heart shattered into pieces, cracking like the ice over the frozen lakes of Wisconsin did when pressured to the point of crumbling beneath the one unlucky person's boots.

Jackie took several quick steps up the basement steps until she was in the cool outside air. Although the night went by in a blur, she would recall in the future that she ended up in a cab going on no road to nowhere.

All she could remember was that she didn't look back to Point Place until fate decided to step into her life, weaving its web around her like a spider trapping its unsuspecting fly.

Let it all come down tonight.

Keep those tears hid out of sight,

Let it loose, let it all come down.

XxxxxxX

Author's Note: So yes, you see how short it was. Anyways, the next chapter should be longer and possibly up tonight or tomorrow. I am going to write it now. It will jump awhile a head, and these first four chapters tell the story of how the characters came to be where they are. Anyways, expect some bad behavior from a lot of the characters. I like to see pain in the characters! What can I say, I'm sadistic. No I'm kidding. But there will be angst, and tons of it. I hope you guys like my writing! The story will be drama-filled but I definitely throw in comedy because I don't want this to be completely angsty. It has to have some light-heartedness! I wonder if anyone noticed the "going on no road to nowhere" allusion to The Tao of Pooh, a book about Taoism. Anyways, thanks for reading!

FYI: I hold no grudges against characters (For those of you Fez and Donna haters who include anger towards those characters in your FanFics!) , especially since I barely watched the 8th season.