Disclaimer: I don't own That 70's show or it's characters.

A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews. It's so cool that see that writers I admire are reading my story. This is a labor of love for me, and it means a lot that others are reading it. Needless to say, I didn't look up the name of Sam's husband. I've taken some of the things from season 8 to use, but I'm not using their timeline. There is one autrocity from season 8 that will never be in this story though, or any others I might write in the future and that is Hyde's mustache. That thing was just gross.

This chapter is long, but it needed to be. Happy reading

It was a quarter till three when Donna asked Eric if he wanted her in the basement when the package for Hyde and Sam came.

"It'll probably be better if no one is there except them, but I have to be there to keep Hyde from going ballistic. I'll tell you everything though."

He gave his fiancé another kiss and left her bedroom.

Donna dropped back on the bed and smiled.

"Come on Forman, just tell us what the surprise is already!" Hyde glared at his best friend.

Eric shook his head. "You'll see soon enough."

"You know how I feel about surprises."

"Oh I love surprises!" Sam told them.

Eric looked at her. "You're especially going to love this one Sammy."

"So is it arriving exactly at four or is it going to arrive around four?" Hyde asked. "Cause I can think of other things we could be doing besides waiting man."

"I'm not sure. But I do know that you'll want to be sober for this." Eric replied. Then he changed his mind and said, "Actually, feel free to smoke away my friend."

Hyde looked at Sam. "Could you be a good wife and go get my stash out of my room?" Sam smiled at her husband and went to look for the stash.

Eric smiled to himself. Little did Hyde know, but he had snuck in and had taken the stash so Sam wouldn't be able to find it.

There was a knock at the basement door. "Come in!" Eric shouted.

A man walked into the basement.

"Uh, I'm looking for Samantha."

Hyde stood up. "Who are you?"

The man looked at Hyde. "I'm Paul Barrett, and I'm Samantha's husband."

"Hyde, baby, I can't find your stash anywhere." Sam said as she came out. She turned around and saw her other husband.

Hyde looked on. "This man claims to be your husband Sam."

Sam looked surprised. "We're separated!"

Hyde stared at her. "Just separated?"

She nodded.

"So we're not really married?"

"Well, I guess, not technically! But I really like you. I'll leave him if you want!"

Hyde felt he was at a crossroads. One was a smooth path filled with bear and Sam in dirty lingerie, doing her strip tease while all his friends drooled; the other was rigged, with pot holes and steam coming out of the concrete. Visions of Jackie appeared, some of them were crying, some were laughing, some were complaining, yapping their cheerleader mouths, one was doing cheers for him, and the last one, was just her, smiling at him again the way she used to.

He shook his head. "Sam, go pack your things and get out."

"But..." She started to say.

"Go Sam."

She walked to their room to pack her things.

Hyde looked at Eric. "I'm guessing this was the surprise."

"You mad?" Eric asked.

Hyde thought about it. Part of him was mad, but not at Eric, or even at Sam. He was mad at himself for being so stupid.

"No man, I'll be okay." He looked at Eric again. "And uh, thanks."

Sam came out of her room with two suit cases in her hands. Paul took them and walked out the door.

"Are you sure about this?" She asked Hyde.

"Yes." He told her.

"Come on Samantha." Her real husband held out his hand to her.

She leaned up to give him another kiss. He turned his head so she got his cheek instead. "Bye Hyde." She turned around and walked out the basement and out of his life forever.

Hyde sat back down in his chair and Eric sat back down on the couch. Eric pulled Hyde's stash out his pocket and handed it to him. "Here you go man."

Hyde took the baggie and put it in his pocket.

Eric looked nervously at Hyde. "So I have to tell you man, before everyone else hears it, Donna proposed to me this morning."

Hyde turned his head to Eric. "You're kidding man, she proposed to you?"

Eric grinned. "Yep, said she can't live without me!"

Hyde smiled. "Good for you. Now, this time, make sure you show up to the wedding okay?"

Eric kept on grinning. "Don't worry, I will."

The two went back to watching tv.

"We're here to discuss the next phase of Operation Millennium Falcon!" Eric said dramatically.

The co conspirators in the plan to get Steven J. Hyde and Jackie B. Burkhart back together were sitting in Brooke and Kelso's living room eating cake. Kelso was holding his daughter Betsy, Donna was sitting next to Eric who was standing up trying to look authoritative. Fez was sitting on the floor with chocolate on his face laughing at Eric.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm pretty proud that our plan to get Sam out of the way worked!" Eric told them all.

"Me too," Kelso replied. "I mean, she's hot and all, but Jackie is my friend, and I don't like seeing her so unhappy."

"Yes, mopey Jackie just isn't as sexy." Fez said sadly.

"You're telling me." Donna said to him. "She hasn't even insulted my hair since I dyed it back to red!"

Eric looked at his fiancé fondly. "I love your hair." He told her.

"So what do we do?" Fez asked mouth full of cake.

"I think that we need to make them see what their missing." Donna said.

Brooke nodded her head in agreement. "I agree with Donna. Giving Hyde the letters is a good step, but he's a bit stubborn, we're going to have to practically coerce him into doing something."

"I got it!" Kelso shouted.

"Michael sweetie, don't shout at our daughter." Brooke took Betsy away from him and put her in her baby saucer.

"Sorry." Kelso said sheepishly. " But I got a really good idea!"

The other's looked at each other with worried glances.

"Kelso, for the last time, Brooke and Donna are not going to walk around topless for you." Eric told him as though he was talking to a small child.

"No Eric, we need to make Hyde jealous. We'll find some guy to go out with Jackie, and Hyde will see it and become really jealous!"

"I liked the one with the girls going topless better." Fez told him.

"Actually, it could work." Donna told them, nodding thoughtfully.

"Yeah, it'll be great." Kelso started to say. "Jackie and the guy will walk into the hub. Hyde will see them and will start to lean in his chair, the sunglasses will come off and he'll start giving the guy really dirty looks. Then, when the guy puts his arms around Jackie, he'll get up and yell GET OFF MY GIRLFRIEND before charging over the guy and beating him up! Jackie will be so impressed she'll jump into Hyde's arms!"

Eric stood up completely exasperated. "Oh come on, we've got to be able to think of a better idea than that!" He looked around the room. "Anyone? Please?"

They all shook their heads.

Donna looked at Kelso and Fez, "Well, you two were able to get them back together before. How did you do it?"

Fez looked at Kelso before shrugging his shoulders and turning back to Donna. "Well, we sort of just tricked them."

Kelso laughed. "Yeah, they're so gullible."

"So, we'll just trick them."

"That's a great idea, Donna." Eric told her sarcastically. "Exactly how are we going to trick them?"

Donna looked back at Kelso and Fez.

"Don't look at me." Kelso told her. "I had an idea and it was voted down."

Fez also shook his head. "My plan only worked because they wanted to get back together, I just gave them a push."

"Why don't we just talk to them?" Brooke asked the group. "Make them see what they're missing."

Slowly, they all started to nod their heads. "You know, Brooke that might just work." Eric told her.

"I still think we need to make Hyde jealous." Kelso said.

"Well, who are you going to get to be the bait?" Fez asked him.

They all turned to Fez, who started to shake his head. "Oh no." he said.

CUT

Everyone including Brooke was in the basement. Donna was playing with Betsy; Jackie was on the couch next to Fez. Fez was playing with Jackie's hair while Hyde glared at him. Fez was doing his best to pretend he didn't notice. Kelso was smirking.

"So how does it feel to be not married?" Kelso asked.

"It feels remarkably like it did when I was single."

"I bet you already miss the sex though right?" Kelso winked at Hyde.

Hyde just shook his head. "Actually, it wasn't that good. You'd think she'd know some things being a stripper, but no."

"Well, of course not." Jackie said to him. "Your room doesn't have a pole in it. She probably can't do anything without one."

"BURN!" Kelso shouted.

"You're being awfully good about this, why aren't you gloating?" Hyde asked Jackie.

"Because Steven, I'm better than that."

He scoffed at her. "No you're not."

She smirked "You're right, I'm not, but it doesn't do me any good to gloat at your misfortune, even if it was the most fabulous burn ever." She laughed.

"Oh so I talked to my grandma today." Jackie said wanting to change the subject.

"How was it?" Brooke asked.

Jackie smiled. "It was really nice. She sounded just like I remembered. She talked my ears off though! I could barely get a word in edgewise! And she was kind of loud too."

The rest of them grinned at each other. "Well, now we know where you get it from!" Donna said.

"Anyway," Jackie continued, "She invited me to stay with her for a month so she can get to know me again, but I don't know if I really want to be in a house full of cats for a month you know?"

"I'll have you know that George the Baptist is a wonderful kitty cat." Eric told Jackie adamantly. "And David, and Hannah and Paul, Peter, Mary…"

Hyde turned to them. "I'm sensing a theme here."

"Oh you have no idea, Jackie told him. "She's nutty about Jesus."

"Well, aren't we all?" Eric quipped.

They all laughed.

The guys were sitting in the basement. Hyde went to sit next to Fez on the couch. He turned to him

"So Fez, I thought you and Jackie decided not to date."

Fez started to get nervous. "We're not. She just uh… lets me play with her hair."

Eric grinned. "Hyde, just admit that you were wrong and that you miss Jackie."

Kelso nodded. "Yeah, look at you man. You're jealous of Fez for touching Jackie's hair. That's what Fez does!"

Hyde shook his head at his friends. They just didn't get it. "I don't miss her. I don't love her, I don't even like her."

This time, Fez laughed. "Oh yes you do. Then did you why try to ruin my chances with her?"

"I was doing you a favor man." Hyde told him. "I didn't want you to waste two years like I did." He then walked into his room.

The three guys shook their heads at each other. This was going to take longer than they thought.

Hyde sat in his bedroom staring at the ceiling. He wasn't married. The whole thing had been a sham. He didn't know if there was a god, but he bet if there was, he was laughing at him.

"You wouldn't be feeling like this if you just listened to me." The voice in his head told him.

"Shut up."

"There you go again, saying shut up when you know I'm right. Maybe you do deserve to be lonely."

Hyde turned onto his side. Maybe he did deserve to be lonely. Eric deserved Donna, Kelso deserved Brooke, Fez deserved someone who could fulfill his many needs, and Jackie, she deserved to be happy again. Hyde hated admitting he was wrong, but perhaps this time his conscious had been right.

He got up and opened his dresser to find a picture of him and Jackie. Mrs. Forman had taken it the day of the Valentines Dance. Maybe if he had just told her he loved her back, none of this would have happened. No, he still would have found a way to fuck it up. That's what he did. He fucked things up. Forman had nothing on him.

"Yes you do, but you can change that." The voice told him.

For the first time in his life, Hyde listened.

Brooke walked into Donna's bedroom with a bottle of wine and three glasses. "Let's celebrate!" She said excitedly.

Brooke started to poor the wine. She turned to Jackie. "So what do you think of Hyde not being married?"

Jackie frowned. "I don't know. Part of me is really happy, because that slut is gone. But the other part is a little sad for him, a really, really small part."

The girls laughed before Jackie said seriously, "I don't know what I want anymore."

Donna looked at her best friend. "Well, you could make another list." She said jokingly.

"I did!" Jackie said eagerly.

"Please tell me you're joking." Donna told her.

"What did it say?" Brooke asked Jackie.

"That he should trust me, be open with me, be willing to go the extra mile for me considerate, basically everything Steven is not." She shook her head. "but I tore it up."

Donna looked wide eyed. "Really? Why?"

"Do you remember that dream I had about Fez? The one were he was my prince charming?"

Both Brooke and Donna nodded their heads.

"Well, I had another one like it, but this time, it was Hyde, and I realized that I had my prince all along, I was just stupid and didn't realize it until it was too late. But, I don't know if I can be with him again. The nurse was one thing, but he married someone else!" She was started to get mad again. She was nearly shouting. "He married someone he didn't even know! I tried so hard to be good enough for him. And it wasn't that he did it to hurt me that made it so bad, it was that he was doing it because he thought it would be better for me if he was no longer in my life. He does trust me because he doesn't trust himself!"

The girls all sat in silence, contemplating Jackie's words. She was right, Hyde didn't trust himself, and therefore couldn't trust Jackie. Years of being abandoned and kicked around did that to a person.

"So, you asked Eric to marry you?" Jackie asked her best friend, still reeling but wanting to get the focus off of her.

Donna nodded. "Yes, it was really surreal, one minute we were in bed, and he was holding my hand and I looked down and I imagined it with wrinkles and liver spots and I realized that was what I wanted. So I asked him."

Jackie hugged Donna. "I'm so happy for you two. Now that I know Eric isn't just some scrawny loser, although, I still think you're trading down."

Donna looked back at Jackie. "Actually, I've been wondering about that. Why did you start writing to Eric?"

"Well, I needed to talk to someone about what was going on. And after the slumber party and well… I needed someone who was on my side." She shrugged.

"Jackie, I'm so sorry about how I've been acting these last few months."

The two girls started crying and hugging. Donna reached over and pulled Brooke into the hug as well.

"Oh god, you girls cry more than Bob." They looked to see the guys standing in the doorway.

"Hey man, why'd you say something? Everyone knows when girls cry it leads to kissing!" Fez hit Kelso, who had made the earlier comment.

Donna got up to go hug Eric. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "That was for being you." Jackie too got up and gave Eric a kiss on his other cheek. "And that was for being there for me." Brooke too gave Eric a kiss.

Eric blushed and put his arms around his new fiancé and Jackie, Donna had her arm around Brooke.

"Stop hogging the chicks Eric!" Kelso yelled.

Eric turned his head to Kelso. "Let this be a lesson to you boys." He then looked at Donna and Jackie. "Come on girls, I'll let you buy me a burger at The Hub." They turned and walked out leaving Kelso, Hyde and Fez behind.

"Bastard" Fez muttered as they followed Eric and the girls.

NEXT TIME: Hyde has more conversations with people, Jackie gets fired for real, and Donna and Eric do something really stupid. Kelso continues to wonder what Brooke sees in him, and Fez just wants a girlfriend. It will be up sometime this weekend or sooner. Think of it as a Christmas present.

Please review!