"Steven! Wake up, Steven!"

I was vaguely aware of an annoyingly high voice buzzing around my ear, and, in an attempt to make it stop, I flung my hand upwards towards the source of the noise. As my hand collided with something, I groaned cautiously. Crap.

"Steven! That hurt you idiot! Oh, wake up!"

As soon as a felt a slap on my right shoulder, I groggily opened my eyes to see a very demanding looking Jackie towering over me. Her hands were placed on her hips and her usually smiling lips were pressed together in a very mother-like thin line, and I was vaguely remembered of Red during one of his "my foot will be up your ass in seconds" moods. "Jacks, c'mon. I'm tired. Can't we just like, go later?"

"No, Steven. I let you sleep as late as I could possibly stand – we only have a few minutes. Everyone else is ready." Shaking her head as she turned her back to me, I heard her snort and mutter, "I suppose that's what being poor does to you". That was Jackie, all right. As she sat down on the small couch that was located in a corner of the room, she glared at me, pointing a demanding finger towards the bathroom. The clothes that Jackie had laid out for me hung from the pegs on the bathroom door, and I shook my head in amusement. That was just like Jackie – to pick out my clothes for me. Defeated, I slipped into the bathroom.

I opened the door a little upon hearing an odd chocking noise from Jackie, pulling on my jeans as I did so. As soon as I saw her, I knew the way she'd been acting recently was all a difficult charade for her – she looked so… fragile. She had a hand pressed against her chest, her eyes squeezed tightly shut; I saw a small tear race down her left cheek. The hand that wasn't pressed against her chest was balled into a small fist, and her legs were desperately pressing against the couch in an attempt to make all the pain she held to go away. I couldn't watch her like this.

Opening the door after I threw on my t-shirt, I walked over to Jackie quietly; she couldn't see me because her eyes were closed. As soon as I kneeled down in front of her, however, her eyes snapped open.

"Steven! I thought you were changing!"

I nodded slowly, avoiding the comment. "I was. But I'm changed now." Surveying her with a small shake of my head, I sighed. "Jackie, are you going to be able to come today?"

Nodding her head vigorously, she immediately attempted to banish any sign of pain from her face. "Of course, Steven! I just… haven't taken my medication this morning. That's why you… uhm… saw me the way you did. I'm fine, okay? Don't worry." She stood, easily walking around me and towards the bureau, where her bottle of pills was located. Shaking one of the oval shaped pills out, she walked into the bathroom to fill a paper cup with water. I watched her tip her head backwards, place the pill in the back of her mouth and quickly swallow the water, her eyes squeezed shut - she was always afraid she'd choke on pills.

Exhaling slowly, she turned back towards me, plastering the trademark Jackie Burkhart smile on her face. "Okay… we can go now. I'm sure Fez'll be jumping up and down outside our door, about ready to pound it down." As she walked over to examine herself in the mirror, I walked towards the door, my hand reaching for the knob. Much to my amusement and to Jackie's surprise, a bouncing up and down Fez stood outside the door.

"Come on, you two lovebirds! We're all ready to gooo!"

The childish and impatient air to his voice as he thrust a tootsie roll into his mouth made me want to hit him upside the head, but I managed to restrain myself. After all, someone had to give Jackie those coveted piggy-back rides that I hated. Turning back to Jackie, I rolled my eyes. "Jackie, you don't know anyone here. The ride managers aren't going to care if your earrings accent your shoes."

"Steven!" she gasped, her doe-brown eyes widening as she quickly latched the diamond studs onto her ears. "How can you say that!" Shaking her head in pure disbelief, she began walking towards me, shoving my shoulder with a sigh. "Okay, let's go. I want to get there really quick before Steven decides he doesn't want to wear the Mickey Mouse ears," she explained to Fez, her voice dropping to just above a whisper as she grabbed my arm and started pulling me away towards the stairs before I could protest.

"Jackie… I never wanted—"

"Yes, you did."

"No I— ow!" Scowling down at her as she reached up a hand to deal out one of the infamous Jackie Burkhart pinches, I rolled my eyes. She certainly was my small, 95 pound of temper.

"Will you two stop this stupid little fight? It's just Mouse ears – and we all know that deep down, Hyde desperately wants to take a picture with those Mouse ears. SO," Fez continued, raising his voice to drown out my protest, earning him irritated glares from some women who were passing, "let's get a move on, people! Kelso, Donna and Eric are waiting outside. See? See? Right there!" With that, the foreigner ran off, eagerly dashing towards an equally excited Kelso, both talking in anxious twittering.

I watched Jackie closely as she grabbed my hand, staring silently at the back of Eric's head. I could easily tell that she was debating whether or not to tell the scrawny kid; obviously, my words hadn't gone in one ear and out the other as they normally did. I watched as she bit her lip for a few fleeting moments, and I gently gave her hand a squeeze before I began to speed up. I wasn't one to lag behind the rest of the group. Of course, I instantly regretted doing so, because it meant that now I had to put up with listening to Kelso and Fez whispering about which Disney Princesses they wanted to feel up (Fez had placed dibs on Snow White and Kelso had called Cinderella).

"Oh look, Steven! They have a fountain!" Jackie exclaimed, tugging on my arm as we exited the hotel, beginning to walk towards the park.

I raised an eyebrow in a 'Yeah, stupid' attitude, wrinkling my nose in surprise. "Jackie, that fountain was there when we checked in."

Considering this for a moment, she swung her head around to stick her tongue out at me momentarily, with a soft 'Hmph'. "I know that. I just… didn't say anything until now."

"Suuuure."

"Ahhh!" Fez exclaimed, clapping his hands in delight as we made our way off of the hotel property. "I think I see the tip-top of Cinderella's castle!"

"Dude, I'll bet there's like… fifty beds in that castle. That gives me fifty opportunities to do it with the princess… and Jackie!"

Walking closer to Kelso, I swung my foot out to firmly kick him in the shins, glaring at him angrily. "Shut up, Kelso." Glancing over at the unusually silent Donna, I watched in irritation as she stared at Jackie with a mingled look of pity and disbelief. I shot Donna a look before placing a protective arm around Jackie's shoulder and steering her towards the front of the group, my eyes glued on the highest tier of Cinderella's castle.

Seven minutes and twenty-five tootsie rolls later, we all stood in front of the castle; Jackie staring up at it in wonder, Donna looked rather disinterested, Eric staring at random passerby, Kelso messing with his hair, Fez continuing to eat the rather large bag of candy he'd insisted in bringing along… and then there was me. I found the whole cutesy-princess thing overrated, and therefore began to tug Jackie away from the entrance, not wishing to enter the castle and meet Cinderella herself. However, I was overruled as Jackie, Kelso and Fez began to pull me towards the entrance (Jackie was desperate to figure out how she achieved that hairstyle, Kelso wanted to see if it was harder to seduce Disney princesses as opposed to regular women, and Fez was hoping for a chance to look down her dress or up her skirt), followed by Donna and Eric, both of whom were on the verge of excitement and utter boredom.

I had been hoping to simply walk in, watch those three idiots (well… two idiots. Jackie isn't an idiot – she's simply incredibly self-absorbed) chatter away with the fake-Cinderella and leave. I ended up waiting in line behind a bunch of stupid little kids holding Jackie's hand – which, in reality, shouldn't be that bad, but she went on and on about how ugly Cinderella's dress was… which just made me want to tape her mouth shut with the strongest duct tape they sold.

I quickly realized as we reached the throne and began to tune out Jackie's reprimanding of the blond who was impersonating Cinderella that this was NOT going to be as much fun as Fez made it out to be. Happiest place on earth my ass.