AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Now I pretty much love this story and the Hyde romance is kind of…well expect him to be Hyde-like so it's push and pull.

ENJOY!!

****

At first Hyde thought it had been a good idea to just give in to Molly when she had initiated the sex but now her lip was quivering as she laid next to him and held the sheet around her body. It wasn't that she hadn't had sex with Hyde before, because she had, but this sex had been simply to make herself feel better and now she felt worse. Meaningless sex might have been Steven Hyde's forte, but it certainly wasn't hers and now all she wanted to do was take it back.

"Are you going to cry?" Hyde asked her.

Molly bit her lip and shook her head. "No…I'm fine."

"No you're not—you're simpering." Hyde replied.

"For once in your life, Steven: shut-up." Molly told him firmly and he nodded and they laid there looking up at the ceiling.

Hyde took a deep breath and then nodded slowly, wondering what his conflicted feelings were all about. On the one hand it was Molly and they were supposed to be able to banter and argue and still kind of be friends, but at the same time he had just had sex with a girl who was now crying. Part of him was feeling pretty bruised, ego-wise—pretty bruised indeed.

"Was it bad for you?" Hyde asked her.

Molly shook her head. "No—it was actually really good."

"Well you certainly sound like it was." Hyde replied sarcastically.

"Okay if you're not going to shut-up just lying here," Molly told him, sitting up and then leaning over him, "then maybe we just have to go again."

Hyde shook his head. "Oh, no! Not so you can cry again!"

"Steven!" Molly chastised, and Hyde let her kiss him.

The truth was that they both thought the other one was more than physically qualified to satisfy the other, but emotionally this was just to mask pain for Molly, and to mask boredom for Hyde. Neither of them really wanted to talk to each other about it, so they just continued through the motions and then for the second time in his life, Hyde let a girl cuddle up against him and he cuddled her back. She needed the stability and when she asked if she could stay with him, though he hesitated, he nodded.

"Thank you." She whispered, kissing his damp peck softly. "Thank you."

Hyde shrugged a little. "It's nothing."

Molly just nodded at that and then she fell asleep, Hyde surprising himself when he held her protectively, both of them getting up without talking to each other the next morning and putting their sleep wear back on. Then Molly hurried up to what was supposed to be her new room, and got dressed in day clothes, heading back down to the kitchen and wondering where Kitty was.

"That's odd." Molly said, looking around. "I just snuck past her like five minutes ago."

Eric laughed. "Oh yeah? Why'd you have to do that?"

"No reason." Molly replied and then smiled when Kitty came in holding a spice jar.

"Just needed more flavoring for the pancakes." Kitty told them and then smiled when Molly offered to help her with breakfast. "I could get used to having you around, Molly."

Molly smiled at the compliment and then she blushed a little when she saw Hyde come up the stairs, both of them ignoring the other, but trying to make it look rather normal. Unfortunately for them, Eric noticed the way Hyde swallowed when he glanced at Molly and then sat at the kitchen table and stared at the table cloth, and it made Eric look at his cousin. She was trying a little too hard not to look in Hyde's direction and though Kitty was oblivious of it, it suddenly dawned on Eric—Molly and Hyde had slept together!

"Hyde, can I talk to you?" Eric asked him, heading towards the basement. "Let's chat on our way to go find my missing sock near the dryer."

Kitty turned to him. "Oh, honey, are you missing a sock?"

"It's okay, Mom—you and Molly keep cooking, I can find it with Hyde's help." Eric told her and Hyde reluctantly followed Eric down the stairs, sighing when Eric smacked his arm. "What is wrong with you?! She's grieving!"

"She told you?!" Hyde asked, honestly upset.

Eric pointed at Hyde. "Ha! Of course she didn't tell me! You two need to get better at your 'I'm not looking over there' faces!"

"For your information we've been good at it for years—her game is just off right now." Hyde retorted and then he sighed when Eric's face suddenly changed.

"Can you do me a favor and stay away from Molly?" Eric asked, and Hyde knew from the tone in his voice that it was more of an order than a request.

He was going to protest that he and Molly could do whatever they wanted, but then he'd make Eric think he was interested in pursuing something with Molly. Right now Hyde needed to shake off what had happened between them, and go to school and move on with someone else. In fact Molly was feeling the need to get through breakfast too, and then get some unpacking out of the way so she'd be ready for school on Monday.

"Are you all right, Molly? You suddenly seem rather quiet." Kitty told her, kissing Red when he came into the kitchen.

Molly smiled at them. "I'm great, Aunt Kitty. Thanks for asking."

"That's my girl." Red told her, kissing the top of her head and resting his hand on her shoulder. "So what are your plans today?"

"I was thinking about just hanging out with Eric." Molly replied with a shrug.

Red nodded as Eric came up the stairs and then they all sat down to some breakfast and Molly spent the rest of the day with Eric, who was happy to have her around and also itching to ask her about Hyde. He just couldn't let it go that Hyde and Molly had slept with each other before and as much as Eric loved Hyde, he loved Molly more. Molly was his favorite person in the world practically, and he was not going to let her get hurt by Hyde and Hyde's womanizing ways.

"So…you and Hyde." Eric said as he and Molly were walking down the sidewalk.

Molly turned to him. "He told you?! Oh my God! Did he brag?!"

"No, no—neither. You two were just really obvious in the kitchen today. You wanna tell me about it? This isn't the first time." Eric explained.

"Well he had to have told you something for you to know that." Molly said, and then sighed and continued walking. "If you must know…Hyde and I kind of lost our virginity to each other."

Eric's eyes widened. "What?! I thought he lost it to Tara Gray!"

"No…I kind of ruined that for him. She's a slut so she just spread around the rumor that she slept with him and he agreed with it." Molly said and then shrugged a little. "He was angry, I was angry, he was horny, I was kinda horny—voila, angry sex."

Eric nodded and sighed. "Well I think we should find you a boy that actually cares about your well-being."

Molly smiled at him and leaned into him momentarily. "Thanks for looking out for me, Twiggy, but I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself."

Eric smiled at the childhood nickname and nodded, both of them heading to the house and then watching a movie. Kitty and Red were pretty happy that Eric and Molly were getting along like they were siblings, and when the two went to bed early and then got up on time for school, Red was kind of impressed. All it seemed to take was Molly being there to get Eric slightly out of his 'Donna-funk', and just having Eric around was making Molly a lot less depressed about her parents.

"So what are you three doing after school?" Red asked over breakfast.

Molly looked at him. "I'm thinking about trying out for something."

"Well if you get onto a sports team, that'll make one person in this family." Red told her.

Molly smiled at him as Hyde laughed and Eric sighed, and then after packing their own lunches with Kitty's help, they headed off to school. In her first period, Molly met Angela Lilly Davidson, and so instead of sitting with Eric and the gang, Molly sat with Angela and her friends, Heath Michaels, Clara Burnett, and Lisa Prim. She smiled at them as they talked about their history class, and then she realized that Angela went by 'Lilly', so she knew not to make that mistake with her.

"So your last name is Forman." Heath told her, glancing over at Eric. "That mean you're related to Eric?"

Angela's eyes lit up. "Are you like his cousin or something?!"

"Yeah—Eric's my cousin. We were actually born a week apart." Molly said with a smile and looked over at Eric's table too, her eyes resting on Hyde.

"Lilly here is obsessed with Eric." Clara told Molly with a laugh. "Lisa's got a thing for Steven."

Molly looked at Clara. "Wait…Steven Hyde?"

"Yeah—he's dreamy." Lisa told her and looked over at him. "So…is he like your friend?"

"Will you guys let the girl breathe please?" Angela asked them looking at Molly and smiling. "I'm sorry about them—after school you wanna grab a bite with us at 'The Hub'?"

Molly smiled. "Yeah…that sounds like fun."

Note: And there is chapter three! Feedback is always appreciated!