A/N: I should be spanked for not updating in so long, I know… But your reviews are awesome, and thank you. Seriously. The fact that you guys have given this story a chance means so much to me, and I just want to give every one that's reviewed a big hug w/ a side of peanut M&Ms. You guys rock, seriously.

And on that note…did everyone go read "Six Years Gone" & all of MistyMountainHop's stories? And did you read Misty's comics? She's doing "Black Dog" now, ya know. You should come join us on FanForum, where we all dish about how much we hate Season 8 and how we'd all like our personal Steven Hydes…

Just sayin.

Also – here's a warning – I personally think this chapter sucks. But DON'T tell me. LOL…

Disclaimer: Do you really think that I would allow the gorgeousness of Daniel Masterson's face to be DEFACED w/ a horrible pornstache? EXACTLY!

Chapter 7: Proving a Point

It had been awhile since Jackie had treated herself to a bit of decadence, other than the maintenance rituals that had become habitual and routine throughout the years. The deep conditioning treatments, the hair curling, the manicures and pedicures – all of this was really old hat to the girl. Beauty such as hers needed to be maintained always – she owed it to the world to always have her hair shiny, nails and toes painted in coordinating or matching hues. She was a beautiful girl, yes, but such beauty needed to be maintained.

It was her duty as a beautiful girl, after all.

But with the depletion of her family's once abundant coffers, maintenance level beauty rituals was all that Jackie was able to afford. Granted, she was able to pay for NYU through a trust fund that her grandparents had left for her, but she was also very careful and mindful of the money she spent. She was once a girl that thought that having money had given her the right to spend all of it, not realizing that money did not grow on trees, and never would. The comfort that money offered, once a substitute for her parents love, had become a comfort in the past year. She couldn't control Donna's treatment of her. She couldn't control Hyde's obvious disgust for her.

But she could control what went in and out of her bank account.

It was really the only thing she had left.

So it was a surprise, and not a little bit of glee, to find herself with Melissa in one of the New York's best beauty spas. Melissa had come to her with the idea yesterday for a day of beauty and pampering, she had been flattered…and anxious. While the Jackie Burkhart of 1977 would've thought nothing of spending a small fortune on pampering herself, the Jackie of 1980 was wary of spending so much money on things that she could probably do herself.

And better than most professionals.

She might have been pinching her pennies…but no one knows what looks good on Jackie Burkhart better than the girl herself.

So she played it off – telling Melissa that she might have had to go to work the next day, until Melissa - who knew a thing or two about pride herself – told her that it was going to be her treat. And while Jackie was about to retort with a bitchy comment on how she didn't need to be anyone's charity case, Melissa came out with a response that Jackie could appreciate, and accept.

"I hate to be rude, but I just respect you too much to be dishonest. Your hair and skin are to die for, and I'm basically bribing you into coming with me tomorrow so you can tell those idiots at the spa how to really do it. Think of anything you get as like, payment for your services."

Melissa knew that Jackie wasn't going to accept the invitation unless she made it sound like Jackie would be doing her a favor. While never having to worry about pinching pennies herself, Melissa understood that Jackie wouldn't take kindly to being treated for something that she couldn't afford. It was a trait that Melissa knew very well, as her father was one of the proudest men she knew, and would never accept anything that he felt he didn't earn or deserve.

And going around that pride was something that Barbara Taylor did well, and it was a skill that she had passed on to both her children.

But Melissa did have an ulterior motive for inviting Jackie out to a beauty day (other than the craters on her face that some people would call pores). Nathan had told her next to nothing about their date, and Jackie didn't trust Melissa enough to divulge in her thoughts and feelings regarding same. And while it may have scraped Melissa's pride that she still hadn't earned Jackie's trust, she also was perceptive enough to know that there had to be a reason as to why Jackie always kept the people she met in New York at arm's distance. A beautiful girl such as Jackie was always in demand, especially in a city like New York. But, regardless of all of that, Jackie maintained a wall between her and others. It was a deliberate disconnect – a way from her getting emotionally involved with anyone. Jackie had learned the hard way what happens when you put your trust in someone.

They leave you.

Then they break you.

While Melissa was no psych major, she had a keen sense of observation. And what she observed was that Jackie had been fucked over, truly fucked over, and regardless of the fact that she hadn't known Jackie for that long, it was beyond comprehension as to how someone could make a girl so obviously vibrant so despairingly dull.

She'd kick some righteous ass if only she knew who had done it.

Jackie, though, wasn't completely oblivious to what Melissa was doing, and was quite touched that she was trying so hard to gain her trust. It had been such a long time since anyone had really given a shit about what she wanted, or gave any serious thought to her emotional wellbeing. And while Jackie was so incredibly awestruck at the kindness that Melissa had been showing to her since the moment they met, it would undoubtedly be followed by feelings of complete misery – as here was Melissa, an intelligent woman who didn't make Jackie feel like shit for liking silly things like disco and clothes, and Donna, who had known Jackie for years and almost made it her mission to make Jackie feel as unworthy as possible.

It was strange, and yet somehow fitting, that in a city of millions, Jackie Burkhart was seen as worthwhile without even trying. While in a small nowhere town somewhere in Wisconsin, she was seen as worthless as yesterday's trash.

It was this thought that had given Jackie pause, as Melissa told her of the time that her and Nathan had been caught trying to sneak out of their penthouse apartment two years ago when they were trying to get into Studio 54. She had been laughing, caught up in Melissa's hilarious story, when the feelings of mediocrity and insecurity came rushing backing in. The smile that had been on Jackie's face since she walked into the spa was gone.

"Hey, Jackie, " Melissa asked. "What's wrong?"

Jackie looked over to her, seeing the concern on her face. And immediately became infuriated that this girl, who knew almost nothing of her life, could be so great and wonderful, while the two people that she had almost loved to distraction couldn't give two shits on where she was and whether or not she was okay.

Jackie sighed.

"Everything's fine," she answered. "Just thinking of all the work I have to do this week…"

Melissa wasn't convinced. But she let it go for now – for there was something that she had been dying to know.

"So, Jackie…" she started, and Jackie tensed, knowing what was coming. "How'd your date with Nate go?"

"Uhh, it was nice." Jackie looked down at her toes, suddenly fascinated with her choice of pedicure hue.

"C'mon, Jackie, give me something. Neither of you want to talk about it, and…I'm getting worried, alright? If Nate did something that upset you or anything…"

"No, no, no! He was a perfect gentleman…" Jackie said.

"Then why won't you talk about it? I don't mean to pry, honey, but you or Nate haven't said anything, and I'm starting to get worried…."

"There's no reason for you to worry," Jackie sighed. "Ugh! This is so embarrassing!"

"What is?"

Jackie looked over to Melissa. Could she really trust her? Could she really tell her what happened that night? That the memories of her simple dates with Hyde had clamored in her head, making her almost choke with sadness and despair? How Nate's obvious thoughtfulness had almost driven her crazy, with a part of her that almost ached for those moments when it was just her and Hyde in his Camino, laying on the flatbed looking up at the stars? How infuriating it was to finally have a guy do and say all the romantic things she wanted, and yet still ache with longing for a man that so effortlessly destroyed her.

And worse – what still scraped her pride and self-esteem – when Jackie had asked Nate if he wanted to go inside, he had said no.

She had balked – how dare he reject her, Jackie Burkhart! – but…she was secretly glad. She was all for proving a point – but that's exactly what it would have been. She had invited Nate inside to prove to herself, to fate, to Steven, that she, too could move on. She could sleep with someone else, have someone else inside her, and not feel like she was cheating. Not feel as if she was choking on her pain, not feel as if Steven Hyde's chokehold on her very heart and soul wasn't still very much alive and evident.

She could shut off her emotions. Be zen. Finally prove to the outside world that she just wasn't some broken little girl that still believed in unicorns, and fairy tales, and true love. That still believed in the promises of a Wisconsin burnout that were whispered in her ear after hours of passionate lovemaking.

She could do that.

Really.

But – if she did that…she wouldn't be the same. She wouldn't be Jackie Burkhart. She had lost so much of herself in the past year. So much of herself had been lost – her pride, her dignity, her sense of self. She just couldn't allow herself to become so cold and unfeeling that she would turn into the very person that had made her that way.

Which would mean that Steven would win.

He had won so many of their relationship battles – so much of it was Jackie always forgiving and forgetting…she had had enough. It was that sleepless night after her date with Nathan, as she watched the rain that showed up so unexpectedly over Manhattan's populace, that she had refused to give anymore. They were done, over, dead. While a part of her heart refused to believe that all hope was lost for them, she silenced it's plea with images of Hyde and his wife, making out on his chair, hearing Sam scream his name in passion while they had been fucking as Jackie sat in the basement couch watching tv, his complete and utter disregard and seeming disgust to all things Jackie-related.

That shut it up real quick.

Steven had killed a part of her, stolen from her her vivacity and tenaciousness and joy. And while she had given these parts of herself to him with a dance in her step and music in her heart, he had thrown it away like it was trash and unworthy. And because so much of Jackie lay in those she loved, in throwing her love away, Hyde had essentially thrown her away too.

She deserved better than that.

And she refused – refused – to be held back by his memory any longer.

There was a time that Jackie felt that she couldn't breathe without him by her side.

She was still breathing. And he hadn't been by her side, fuck, even on her side, for far too long.

So Jackie made a decision that night. Maybe the old Jackie was gone, but that didn't mean that her memory would've been for naught. She had come to New York to start over, make a new life.

A life that Steven James Hyde had no part of.

And never would.

Jackie smiled at Melissa. "You know what? Your brother's a great guy. I think I'd say yes if he were to ask me out again."

Melissa squealed. She couldn't wait to tell Nate.