A/N: Finally! I got this chapter up. I wrote the majority of this today, but I have just been so busy the past few days. Forgive me all. I hope you all really enjoy this chapter. I do accept anonymous reviews so all of you reading, please leave one! I love hearing from each and every one of you. Even if you haven't reviewed the story yet but you have been reading it since I started, review! I want to know what everyone is thinking out there.

Quick sum: This is a pretty Hyde centric chapter for obvious reasons. There is a little Jackie internal stuff but this is mostly focused on Hyde. There is going to be quite a few chapters after this one but I haven't decided yet how many. Just know I'm not going away anytime soon.

Enjoy!

Thursday, noon.

Hyde sat in the red booth at the new restaurant in Point Place. He wore black slacks, a white shirt, a black blazer and a black tie. He sipped on his soda while he waited for his father to show up for their lunch meeting. He felt oddly calm about the day. It wasn't like there was something to be excited about. No one looks forward to a funeral. But one would assume you would feel some kind of emotion about going to a rare event, being with others. But that just isn't the case. Hyde remembered the first funeral he had ever been to. No one had liked Eric's grandmother too much, but it seemed like all the nice things anyone could ever come up with people got up and said them. No one had really liked Edna either, but he had a feeling this funeral was going to be different. Eric's grandmother actually had people who loved her, a family.

He knew that Edna's funeral was going to be short and simple. As far as he knew the only people going were Jackie, the Formans, him, and possibly Bud. Who would get up and say something about Edna? He knew he wouldn't, and he didn't expect anybody else to either.

WB waltzed into the restaurant and cocked an eyebrow when he saw Hyde wearing formal clothing. He grinned as he took the seat across from Hyde in the booth.

"So Steven, why are you so dressed up today?" Just then the waitress came over and took WB's order. Hyde waited for her to leave to respond.

"I'm going to a funeral."

WB starred back at his son. "Whose?"

"Edna's… you know my mom."

WB sat still for a moment in his seat. "Oh, well um… that's very unexpected."

"Yeah, I thought so to."

WB studied his son for a moment. He seemed very calm and zen about the situation, much like he always was about everything.

"Well, I'm sorry Steven. I know you and your mother weren't very close and all but…"

"It's okay WB. I'm fine." Hyde waived an aloof hand, showing he didn't need any comforting.

"Well, okay son." They were both silent and didn't say anything until the waitress came back with their food.

"So, how did your business meeting go?" Hyde said while taking a bite of his burger.

"Oh, good good." WB sat up straight and beamed down at his son. "I actually came here to discuss that with you. I was in Madison the past few days looking at this new place I was considering buying. And well… I did!"

"That's great WB. But I don't understand why you needed to talk to me about this."

"Well, I want you to run the store in Madison, Steven. It's going to be much bigger than the one here in Point Place, and I figured you would probably rather live in Madison than here anyways, you know since it's a bigger city and everything. This one will still be yours, but you just need to find another manager, if you choose to run the one in Madison."

Hyde sat slightly perplexed in his seat. Another store? In Madison?

"You don't have to make the decision right now. I know that you must be going through some stuff what with you mom passing away." WB showed true concern in his eyes as he looked at his son.

"Yeah, uh, yeah, I'll think about it WB." Hyde shifted in his seat still surprised at the offer his father just made him.

"So, how did she die Steven?" WB's voice got lower and softer and he tried to make eye contact with Hyde as he waited for the answer.

"Bud said it was some kind of bone cancer."

"Bud? As in the guy you thought was your dad?" WB questioned.

"Yeah him. That's really all he told me other than the funeral is today." Hyde shook his head and went back to his burger.

WB sat back in the booth and didn't say anything for a while. Hyde grew nervous. He watched as his father's face turned sad as if he were thinking of something, or maybe remembering. He watched as WB looked back at him and stared for quite sometime. Hyde shifted again, trying to forget about why it felt so hot in the room all of a sudden. He didn't like talking about this. He hated talking about this! Why did everyone seem so damn interested?

"Steven," Hyde looked up again as his father leaned in on the table to begin talking. "Would you mind if I went with you today? You know, to the funeral."

Hyde knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. "Um, sure WB, but why do you want to go?"

"If you don't remember, I did at one time know her too Steven." He gave a slight chuckle and inhaled his breath as if the memories of her were nice. "It'd be nice to see her one last time I guess, even though these are a different kind of circumstances. Plus, I want to be there for you son."

WB's last sentence caused a warm feeling to bubble up in Hyde's chest. He only felt that feeling with the Formans before: whenever Kitty would fuss over him, or whenever he and Red would have a nice conversation about anything and everything. Ever since he met his dad, their relationship had been mostly of the friendly or business nature. But now his dad wanted to be there for him in a way that didn't deal with the store or hanging out for their monthly lunches.

"Sure Dad." He smiled. "That sounds nice."

Thursday, 2:00 pm

Hyde entered the funeral home with Jackie to his right and his father to his left. He saw the Formans already seated towards the front and Bud sitting on the very front row. The preacher was standing behind a podium next to a black casket. Hyde's feet felt like ten ton bricks were attached and he could barely allow himself to move forward. He couldn't see Edna yet where the opening of the casket was, but he knew she was in there, and he wasn't sure if he could look. He felt a familiar arm loop into his and lightly pull him to walk. He followed Jackie's tug without much reluctance, but he knew the only reason why he moved was because she was urging him to. As they got closer to the casket he noticed Edna's flaming red hair encircling her pale creamy face. He didn't remember her being so pale.

Hyde, Jackie and WB seated themselves in the front row right in front of the casket. Hyde couldn't tear his eyes away from his dead mother in front of him. She really is dead, she really is gone.

Hyde heard a deep voice begin to talk but he mostly tuned it all out. He didn't really care to hear about how to cope when a loved one dies from a man who never knew who Edna Hyde really was. All the words in the world couldn't describe how he felt and all the comforting wouldn't ease away his emotions.

He looked over to Bud who sat there hanging on to the words the preacher said. Hyde noticed tiny streams of tears running down his face. It felt odd seeing this man cry, a man who he always thought to be heartless and who didn't give a damn about him or Edna. But, they did run away together 3 years ago. Who knows what kind of things they went through?

He then looked to Kitty and Red Forman. Kitty had a slight, teary smile on her face as she nodded along to the preacher's words. Apparently it must really have been something. Red wasn't as obvious as his wife, but he too seemed to be pleased with what the preacher had to say. Maybe he could relate in a way since his mother died too.

Hyde then looked to his father. WB wasn't looking at the preacher and didn't seem to be listening at all. He was only staring at Edna with a faraway look in his eyes. He wasn't crying but he did seem a little upset, but mostly Hyde saw a slight twinkle in his eyes as he looked down at the woman. He never asked WB about him and Edna. He never thought to care before. Maybe one day he would.

And lastly, he looked to Jackie. He couldn't help but noticed how beautiful she looked today. He always liked it when Jackie wore darker clothing. It seemed to bring more of the edgy, almost sophisticated look to her out. He noticed the slight pursing of her lips and down-turning of her brow as she absorbed the speech. She seemed to either not like what the reverend had to say or wasn't exactly following him. Hyde figured it was a little bit of both. Even though everyone knew that what Edna did to him was wrong, no one really seemed to understand as well as Jackie. Jackie did go through a similar experience, did she not?

Hyde then looked up to the reverend in front of them, still talking away about a woman he had probably never met in his life and would not think about tomorrow. It was nothing new for him to see. He had probably done a hundred of these. "Edna Hyde was a wife and a mother, and she will dearly be missed."

Hyde couldn't help but slightly scoff at the last words.

Once everyone had their own little visit at the casket, Jackie and Hyde both approached it. An icy chill surged through Hyde's body as he got closer and closer to Edna. He felt Jackie squeeze his hand to reassure him that she was still there. They both stopped and silently studied the corpse. Hyde suddenly had the realization that this was the first time Jackie had ever met his mother.

"So, Edna, this is Jackie. Jackie, this is Edna." He gave a slight nervous chuckle at his twisted joke and let out a huge sigh.

"I never had formally met your mother. Well, other than the one time I actually went to the cafeteria freshman year." She too gave a slight laugh.

Hyde studied his mother's body. She seemed much thinner than the last time he had seen her. Most likely from the cancer she had suffered. Her face seemed more gaunt and older, much like Bud's had changed in all the years of absence. She almost didn't look real as she lay in front of them, in the black sleek casket, with plush white lining cradling her. Her body was unnaturally stiff but her face looked very much alive. She had pounds of makeup on and she was pale as a ghost, but it was almost as if she was sleeping and at any moment she would pop her eyes open.

Hyde felt Jackie squeeze his hand again and he tore his eyes away from his mother. She looked up at him sympathetically as she spoke, "Do you want me to leave you alone for a second."

"Yeah," he managed to get out. "I'll be out in a minute."

She smiled slightly. "Okay, I'll wait for you." She gave his hand another squeeze and walked away from him and out of the funeral home.

Once he was sure everyone was gone, Hyde turned back to his mother, still stationed exactly as she was before. It was now or never.

"Well Edna," He began slowly. "Looks like we finally meet again." He laughed a little and moved closer to the casket. He paused a second trying to think of what to say. What did he really want to say?

"You know all those things the preacher said wasn't true. You won't be missed. Well, maybe Bud will miss you, but I surely won't." He stopped and watched the corpse. It still didn't move. He felt a little more confident.

"I know it might seem cold hearted, but you were cold hearted." Hyde felt the heat boiling in his core. "You know, whenever I was younger, and you and Bud would fight all night long, I always felt bad for you. I always hated him because he made you cry. But you know what's funny… you never once came to check and see if I was okay... to see how your screaming affected me."

"You never really were a good mother. Not like Mrs. Forman is. She at least tries to make sure her kids are doing okay. You never gave a fuck. It got to the point that you just couldn't stick around."

"You know, I used to think that was my fault too. That, I must have not have been a good son or some shit like that. But now, now that I really think about it, and really see how actual families work… it didn't matter what I did. You should have cared about me no matter what. I'm not sure what I did early on to make you the way you were, or if it was me at all, but just to let you know… you suck because of that."

Hyde took in another deep breath. Now it just seemed as if the words wouldn't stop. "You knew how upset it made me when Bud left. Hell, you were upset about it too. But, you left anyways. You didn't care about me at all. You didn't care that I was left all alone in a house that the rent and the bills needed to be paid. You didn't care what happened to me while you were off fucking some trucker. You didn't care what all of that did to me. You didn't care that I am now a cold person who can't let one person get close to me. I don't trust anybody or anything because of you. I even drove away the only person in this world who loved me and I loved her …because of you …. And sometimes, I hate you for that"

"But you know what's funny about this whole experience. I actually felt bad when I heard you died. Even after all these years of hating your guts, hearing you were dead still affected me. I'm not sure why, and I still have no idea why I feel bad about this… I guess I just have more of a heart than you ever did."

"I do know one thing though… I'm done with you. I forgive you for everything. You probably had some purpose to it all. But I can't keep living this way, blaming you, blaming Bud, hating you, hating myself. I forgive you Edna…. Goodbye."

Hyde took one last look at his mother and he left.

As the casket was lowered into the ground, light snow started to fall. It was as if some higher power that Hyde liked to acknowledge only some of the time was trying to bury Edna faster. A prayer was said as the grave diggers shoveled the dirt on top of the box. She was gone. There was no turning back now, no more dwelling in the past, only looking forward to the future.
Jackie sat in the driver's seat of the El Camino as she waited for Hyde to come back. All of her female instincts were kicking into overdrive. The torn look on Hyde's face when he left the funeral home made her want to hold him and kiss all his worries away. But she knew that would be a bad thing to do. She watched as Hyde walked back to the car with his head hung low not looking at the car in front of him. She wondered what was going through his mind right now. He didn't say much on the way to the cemetery. She wasn't sure if that was a bad sign or not.

Hyde opened the door and scooted into the passenger seat of the El Camino. It felt weird not to be driving but he didn't want to concentrate on anything at all. Jackie gave him a stunned, inquisitive look when he told her that he thought she should drive. He never let her drive the El Camino before, unless it was absolutely necessary. He knew Jackie was probably thinking he was upset and depressed beyond belief.

"So…where to now?" Jackie hesitantly asked as she started the engine. She looked over to her ex boyfriend as he thought of where he wanted to go. The next words out of his mouth were even more of a surprise than when he told her she could drive. "Your place."

The inside of Jackie's apartment was very dark for it only being 4 in the afternoon. The snow storm that was slowly building outside darkened the sky and the moods of everyone in Point Place. It felt right though for such a day like this to both Jackie and Hyde. They both stripped away their coats and settled down on the couch next to each other, one trying to contemplate his new outlook on life and the other trying to calm her whirling hormones.

Jackie stared at Hyde as he sat on the couch with his elbow propped on the arm and his head resting against his fingers. He seemed to be deep in thought and like he didn't want to be disturbed. Jackie had to say something though… anything to stop her confusing feelings brewing inside.

"So… " He peered over at her and for the first time Jackie noticed he didn't have his sunglasses on. His eyes seemed different… as if there was more going on with him than she knew. "Do you feel better now… you know… after going to the funeral?" It was a dumb question, she knew that, but she really didn't know of any other way to ask.

Hyde shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, at first I thought it was going to be horrible, and for the most part is was, but after I said goodbye to Edna I felt a lot better about things."

The uncharacteristic openness he was displaying only tempted Jackie to poke further. "So what did you say to her?"

Hyde gazed at the tiny brunette that sat next to him, sitting on her hands and holding her lips tightly together as she awaited his answer. He almost forgot this part of her, the needy Jackie who always wanted him to speak about his feelings. She was always pushing things out of him and trying to get him to admit that he actually gave a damn about people and emotions. Everyone else just accepted Hyde for who he was, but not Jackie. For a long time in their relationship he always resented that about her. He hated that she pushed him into uncomfortable places, trying to break his walls and get inside his head. Now he realized that she never meant harm by it. As Jackie sat there beside him, nervously anticipating his answer, Hyde realized that all she wanted was him completely, just like she gave herself completely.

"Just all the things I've ever wanted to say to her… you know… like you said." He smiled at her and she smiled back. "I forgave her."

Jackie's eyebrows raised and her eyes softened. "You did?"

"Yeah, I figured… I can't, you know, be angry about what she did anymore. It only makes me worse of a person." Hyde watched as Jackie held back a smile at his admission. Why couldn't he just have been this open with her all along?

"So everything's in the past now, huh?" Jackie asked. Her words immediately sent off warning bells inside Hyde's head. Why does that seem so familiar? He then realized where he had heard it before. That's what he always said to reassure himself about his and Jackie's relationship. It was all in the past.

Yet she was sitting there, trying her hardest to be there for him. The girl whose heart he ripped to pieces once he decided to stay with Sam was sitting there, next to him, not hating him or burning him. She was helping him with his problems, accompanied him to the funeral, held his hand, and stood by his side despite all that had happened between them. Maybe this was what unconditional love was… maybe he should have trusted her all along.

"Jackie…" Jackie looked into his eyes and thought she saw all of him in them. He furrowed his brow and took a deep breath trying to collect his words. She felt him scoot closer to her and look her in the eyes again. He looked genuinely sad as his baby blues slightly shook as he spoke, "About everything that happened last year, I'm so sorry…"

But he couldn't finish his sentence. Jackie's lips were on his and her arms were around his neck. He kissed her back with all the passion that the year had put between them, the anger, the sorrow, and the pain of missing each other.

A/N 2: The next chapter will be a little bit of Jackie/Hyde angst. You didn't think it was going to be that easy did you? There's no way he's going to get off with being a complete jerk. I think an update will be here in a few days so get ready...