Forman's Kitchen

January 1st 1990

11:30 am

"Where'd Michael go?" Jackie's voice catches the attention of the Forman family including Steven and Donna. "I figured his kids would be running around screaming by now."

"Well good morning sunshine, you two take a seat I'll get you some food. Michael and Brooke went to say goodbye to Fez before they head back to Chicago. You just missed them but we figured after your drive you needed sleep more."

Jackie takes a seat with little Coda on her lap. The little one picks up her silverware and start tapping on the table. The noise annoys Red and drives him the room muttering angrily.

"Hey Jackie, I'm sorry about what I said last night. I think I'm just a little jealous."

"Sure Donna." Jackie wasn't about to say it was okay because it really wasn't. Donna's friendship with her these last ten years has been incredibly strained and it was going to take a hell of a lot more than a few small apologies for crude comments to get Jackie to reconsider her friendship.

"So Coda, a Led Zeppelin album." Eric muttered trying to diffuse the tension.

"Yeah Coda. Her father's favorite band. And Katherine after my favorite mother."

Kitty squeals shaking her fist. "Aw sweetie."

"I hope Coda will spend plenty of time here now that we are moving."

Steven's eyes shoot up from his plate. "Wait you're moving here."

"Um yeah, I've been wanting to open my own boutique here for awhile and now it's finally happening. I got a shop in town and I'm moving back."

Steven couldn't believe what he was hearing. "A shop? Where?"

"It's funny actually, it's the shop next door to Grooves."

Next door to Grooves, seriously. Hyde couldn't help but think that maybe this was a cruel joke from god or something. He got his wish that's for sure, but how would he manage to screw it up. She would be back in his life for good now so it was only a matter of time before he did something of the dumbass sort.

"That's cool."

"Yeah, I hope it's okay that I stay here Mrs. Forman, while I find an apartment."

"Oh of course Jackie. Anything for this little cutie… and you."

"Great. Coda and I are headed to the store to set up today, Steven could you give us a ride?"

"What? Why?"

"My car was making strange noises last night. I'll get to working on it tonight but I really need to sort my inventory today."

He couldn't deny her help especially since he was heading to Grooves in a few minutes anyway. "Yeah sure, I'm leaving in five minutes."

"Thanks."

"Sure, Doll."

Grooves

1:25pm

There was a usual crowd in the record store as Hyde sat alone in his office, his sales associate, Dylan, was running the register so Hyde felt comfortable holding himself up alone. Images of Jackie were running over in his mind on a loop that was as obnoxious as she used to be. He couldn't get her out of his head. He lights a joint and cracks the window by his desk. Each inhale calms the nervousness and anxieties rumbling around in his mind.

It was the phone ringing on his wall that drew him out of his sweet numbness. He unwantingly answered the call knowing that it most likely belonged to WB. "Grooves."

"Steven?"

"Jackie?"

"Hey I need help?"

"Jackie I'm working."

"Please, I just need to borrow a Led Zeppelin IV album."

"I don't have any of those in stock anymore, it's like nineteen years old."

"Oh great."

"Well I might have a record in my private collection. Do you have a record player?"

"No."

"I'll bring mine."

"Thanks Steven."

"Whatever."

Poise

1:30pm

Jackie's little boutique was stacked full of boxes, the walls were bare with the exception of the hooks and rack and the abundance of mirrors. The style of the shop was the same as his but with a bit more elegance. Considering they were in the same building it made sense they'd look similar.

Jackie stood by the register rocking a wailing Coda in her car seat. The baby's face was bright red with unsettledness. "Oh thank god. She hasn't napped all day and I can't get her to go down."

"And I'm supposed to help how?"

Jackie takes the record player and album from his hands and sets them up quickly. His favorite sounds of the beginning of The Battle of Evermore starts playing and almost instantaneously the little one quiets down and her eyes start to flutter shut.

"It's her favorite album too. I remember being pregnant and she'd keep me up all night kicking and she's strong too by the way, anyways the doctor recommended that I put headphones on my belly to calm her. I tried every album I owned and this is the only one that worked."

He watches Jackie's lips move as she tells him this story, her eyes fixated on her little girl. "You've got a smart girl there."

Jackie turns and smiles at him before collapsing onto the white sofa in the center of the room. "Yeah I do. You can sit if you want," she pauses, "I know there's no way you've changed so much that you're actually eager to get back to work."

"Yeah I haven't changed that much." He sits down beside her, taking in the the surroundings. "How'd you get this place anyhow?"

"Don't get mad but I actually called WB. When he bought this place for Grooves he actually bought the entire building. He said he'd rent to me and wait to charge rent until I'm up on my feet again."

"Oh, well that was kind of him." It was quiet for awhile and they just listened to the songs play. They reminded Steven much of his youth.

"I like this." Jackie leans her head on his shoulder.

"Like what?" Her touch burns through his band shirt warming his skin with an uncomfortable familiarity.

"Us, this almost friendship."

"We were never friends Jackie." His voice grew cold.

"We were always something." Her voice was soft. "I'd like to keep it that way."

"Yeah I agree. Why'd you have to take off?"

"I was alone in Marquette, Steven. I had to figure things out."

"We would've been there for you."

"I'm okay though. Coda is a happy healthy eighteen month old, and now I'll never be alone."

"Her father?"

"Steven."

"Come on Jackie."

"Fine. He's a guy that I let get the best of me, I never told him about her." She sank deeper into him and he let his arm drape over shoulder.

"Why not?"

"I never really knew what he wanted from me. One minute everything would be crystal clear and the next I'd be lost in the fog, you know. Besides he seems to have the worst case of crippling commitment phobia I've ever seen."

"Huh, sounds like myself."

"Well I do have a type, I guess." She lets out soft laughter that he had really missed hearing.

"I wish I could resolve those issues for you." He didn't like hearing these things, knowing that he left Jackie alone in their relationship. He really screwed up.

"Well you could, I've always wondered a couple of things, but I've never asked because well you're a bit emotionally immature."

"Well okay then. You realize I'm thirty now right."

She laughs loudly looking up at his aviators that have been protecting his soul for almost twenty years, "yeah what does that matter?" He shakes his head at her. "Then answer these three questions I've been wondering for like a decade now."

"Ask away, princess."

"First, why would you let me cry on your shoulder, or take me to prom, or try to help me figure out about Michael's cheating if you hated me? You always act tough but you were always there for me."

"Easy, I didn't hate you as much as I pretended to." He replies with his trademark zen. He'd answer her questions but he wasn't about to ditch his composure he worked so hard on.

"Alright, well why'd you take me out on a date on Veteran's Day?"

"What do you mean? You were begging me for weeks to take you on a date."

"Yeah but you never did. So what changed your mind?"

Steven inhales deeply, remembering his conversation with Mrs. Forman in the kitchen on that pivotal day.

"Oh Steven, I saw what happened. Is your girlfriend okay?"

"My girlfriend?" He turns to Kitty with annoyance and confusion written all over his face.

"Yeah, the bossy, little, mean one you're always hanging around with. Oh, uh, Jackie."

"She's not my girlfriend."

Kitty questions her adopted son with the perfect tone of a parent. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I don't like her. She's shallow and rich and mean and bossy. She's everything that I hate." He explains although it sounds more like he's trying to convince himself of that rather than her.

She certainly wasn't buying the words out of his mouth. "But, Steven you hate everything."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, it means that maybe you like her, cause I kind of think you do."

"No." He says sternly desperately trying to get the words through her head. "How could I like her? Because I don't like her. Because I can't like her. Mrs. Forman, if I like her, shoot me."

Mrs. Forman surprised him as she looked up from the food she was preparing to point her finger gun at his chest. "POW!"

He takes a deep breath, his brow was furrowed. He left out the kitchen door without another word to the elder woman standing in front of him.

"Mrs. Forman convinced me that maybe I was lying to myself. Apparently I hate everything so saying I hate you really didn't mean anything at all." He answers her question.

"See I always thought that it was like a pity date. I thought I'd get burned for it later."

"Really?"

"Yeah." He didn't blame her for thinking that way. "Hey you don't have to answer the third one, I'm not sure I even want to know, but hey what the hell. Why did you have to marry Sam?"

"Jackie, I really don't remember marrying her at all in the first place. I stayed married to her because I thought it was for the best. I couldn't ruin your life anymore. And I thought it be best to live up to my commitment."

"Huh."

"I'll can tell you though, I hated every minute of it. I hated myself for it, biggest mistake ever."

"Well I thank you for your honesty." Jackie pats his thigh before standing up to check on Coda, picking her and returning to her seat. He was happy that she sat back down and he starts to watch as Coda's eyelids flutter probably with her dreams.

"Hey Jackie can I ask you three questions too?"

Coda takes Jackie's thumb in her little fist. "That seems fair."

"Did you lie on Veteran's Day?"

"Lie about what?"

"The kiss, man?"

"Yeah I guess I did. I felt everything in that kiss Steven, if not I wouldn't have dated you to begin with. Like I said I thought it was a pity date so I wasn't going to give you a reason to burn me. You felt nothing anyways so it's fine."

"Well if it's any consolation I lied too. Okay number two, did you and Kelso ever do anything while we were together or broken up before we got back together?"

"Steven you really need to get over this. Michael is dumb, immature, womanizing jackass, and he's just a friend. I never betrayed your trust, I never cheated on you."

"I believe you."

"About damn time." She double taps her and on his cheek.

"Third, if I had made Sam leave right away, would our relationship had lasted?"

"I like to think so. But more so I like to imagine where we would all be now. Donna and I would still be good friends that would be nice. I'd never have to know what Fez's kisses are like, that'd be wonderful." Hyde shudders and Jackie laughs at him. "Don't worry that's as far as we ever got."

"Thank god. I guess one good thing did come from us breaking up though." He runs his finger across Coda's cheek and Jackie just smiles. "Alright I've gotta get back."

"Okay thanks again."

"Anything for you, Doll."

Hyde's House

7:30 am

'The day breaks,' a funny phrase that is if you really think about it. The day breaks what? His wonderful sleep cycle, his soul, any last will he has to get out of bed. Well as the day breaks, and Steven's sweet night and nice dreams cower beneath the horizon at day's sheer brightness, he lies in bed contemplating the consequences he'd face if he were to just hide in the cozy warm cocoon that was his bed. Sadly they seem to outweigh the good and with an obnoxiously loud, unnecessary groan, he rolls out of bed and hits the floor with a thump.

How was he supposed to be with or around Jackie without being with her. He wanted to tell her to be with him, that he was ready to marry her and have a family with her but he couldn't. She deserved better than what he could give her or at least better than what he has given her. He couldn't express himself though at least not without prior reciprocation. He was wounded, he sat in the dark for so many years waiting to find the light again. Jackie was that light but would he mistakenly or accidentally blow out the flame.

A/N: Well there's chapter 2. I hope everyone is liking it so far! Please Review too I love hearing from my reader!