Author Note: TThank you to all my wonderful reviewers including you new ones! Your reviews and PM's are very much appreciated! There will be flashbacks...just keep track of the year...

T7S

Chapter 02 – I Have Some Suspicions

T7S

November 1983

"I'm sorry I you had to come all the way out here to talk but I didn't want to share this with anyone else and ironically Jackie, you're the only one I trust these days."

Jackie smiled and pushed a cup of hot cocoa across the table towards Eric. "Aw….that's so sweet of you. Besides, you know how much I love Denny's….NOT."

Eric appreciated that she was not mocking him as she used to do. Since that fateful night of the bar rescue, Jackie had become his new best friend. Sure Steven apologized that his buddy had to go rescue his girlfriend but where Hyde went that evening was never fully explained to Eric.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Jackie asked with a twinkle in her eye.

Eric didn't know how to start the conversation. Did he just come out and air his suspicious? Did he tiptoe around it until Jackie figured it out? "So…how's your business?" Whew! Dodged a bullet!

She laughed, "Wonderful! I found a company that can dye the sheepskin seat covers in pastel colors and all the ladies at the car wash love it! I also found a manufacturer that can take those awful pine tree deodorizers and put some colored ornaments on them. It's festive and makes your car smell good too!"

"Dad won't say, but mom says you guys are making a ton of money in your business."

Jackie chided him softly, "That's not why you wanted me to meet you Eric. Talk to me." Eric took a deep breath and looked at her pretty face. She wasn't judging him and he felt secure in confiding with her. "I think Donna's cheating on me."

Jackie covered Eric's hand with her own and whispered, "Oh no! How did you find out?" Eric looked around to make sure no one he knew was listening. "I found a shirt in the laundry that wasn't mine."

Jackie looked aghast. "A shirt?"

"I wear a men's large and this was an XL."

"What did Donna say?" Jackie squeezed Eric's fingers. "Oh Eric….I'm sorry."

Eric bowed his head. "She said she bought it for me weeks ago and I never wore it….Jackie…I buy my own clothes." He looked up, "Donna never buys anything for me."

"But surely, you're not basing this on a shirt you found in the laundry…." Jackie couldn't believe that Donna would cheat on Eric. Eric shrugged, "We haven't had….we didn't…..urgh! How can I say this…."

"Sex?" Jackie offered.

"Yes… Please! It's been months!" Eric covered his face with his hands. "She said she was tired of me always bringing up having kids or she isn't in the mood and then when she goes out she's putting on makeup."

"Donna's wearing makeup?" That was shocking!

"She comes home late….not all the time, but it staggers…sometimes its a couple nights a week or every two weeks. It's never the same but she's happier when I'm not around."

Jackie could emphasize. She was going through the same thing with Steven. Wait, Steven….Donna….could it be….no! That was highly improbable! "Eric, I'm telling you this in the strictest of confidences."

He leaned forward. "What."

"I've found lipstick on the collar myself." She confessed. "I was going to wait until Steven confessed but….I think he's still cheating on me too. I don't know who it is or when, but he acts different around me."

Eric looked at Jackie's sad face. "Mood swings?"

She seemed shocked that he knew. "Yes! He's either kind and loving or blaming me for something stupid. I never know what's going to set him off. I thought that after….after the bar thing, that we were getting along…..but it's still the same." She whispered,"I know exactly what you're going through."

Eric sighed, "Why? I mean we're good people. Even evil little cheerleaders."

"Or dorks." She laughed sadly. "I don't want to break up with him because we've been together forever and this was what I wanted…."

"No Jackie. You wanted the ring, the house and kids….you wanted the whole package."

She sighed, "Okay, you're right. But what about you? You wanted to marry Donna and have a family….are we wrong for wanting the good part of getting older?"

Eric washed his face with his hand. "God, I thought I knew her but the bitchiness and the bickering has me dreading just going home at night."

"He resents my success. 4-Hearts is doing good and I'm often on the road….oh my god, you don't think he's doing it in my bed….do you?" Jackie was ready to go shred linen.

Eric hadn't thought of that. "Donna could be having sex with a stranger in my bed? Oh god, I'm so sleeping on the couch."

The two looked at each other as the implications hit them. Suspecting was one thing but knowing in your gut was another and Eric could only recall the times Donna started dressing sexy and it wasn't for him. The nights she stayed at the station late for meetings….she would come home all giggles and flushed. He felt sick.

Jackie couldn't bear the thought of some whore sleeping on her 300 count sheets and leaving her smell on Steven…how long had this been going on before Jackie Burkhart finally got wise? The hang up calls….Jackie thought they were wrong numbers but no….they were from her - the mysterious woman that Steven was seeing on the side. Jackie felt nauseous - even if they changed the locks on the condo that didn't help if Steven gave her a key.

"Eric. What are we going to do?"

He looked at his friend. "Somebody has to move out."

She nodded her head. "I decorated that place and he only sleeps there."

"I cook meals and do my own laundry….she can move back with her dad."

Jackie shook her head. "But we won't do it. We love them too much."

Eric sighed. "Is it possible to fall out of love?"

Jackie looked at him tenderly, knowing just how much his heart was aching. "Yes. You can love someone and not be in love anymore. I think that's were I'm heading."

Eric looked across the table. "Well, jump on the pity train because I'm heading downhill faster than you."

March 1984

Jackie held her breath and looked again. There it was – the proof positive that she was pregnant. Part of her was elated! Part of her felt guilty for not saying anything for the weeks she suspected...but this was her secret. Steven rattled the bathroom door, "Doll face, hurry up would you? Angie's gonna have my ass if I'm late again."

Jackie gasped and quickly put the pregnancy test back in the box. She tucked the box at the bottom of the clothes hamper and flushed the toilet, ran the tap and opened the door. "I only took a minute." Still she couldn't help the little smile that played around her lips. "Just hurry up because I still have to do my hair."

"Whatever!" Hyde muttered shutting the door behind him. Jackie touched her tummy amazed that she was actually pregnant! She was finally going to have a baby. A warm soft bundle of joy AND her business…if she couldn't have it all, at least she could have this."

She carefully picked up the telephone and dialed the familiar phone number. "It's me. I need to talk to you. Meet me for lunch?"

Quietly, she hung up the phone and went about the regular morning routine of getting ready for work and just kept her smile inside where a little butterfly of happiness kept her tingling.

Steven waited in the bathroom until he heard Jackie say goodbye then he opened the door and went to the window making sure she drove off. He got on the phone and dialed WB. "Yeah man, I'm gonna be late again. Sorry, but it's important."

Now all he had to do was wait for her to get here.

T7S

A/N: Oh, I know you're all hating me already, but please keep reading until you know the whole story! Thank you.