A/N: The reviews have been so great, and I'm glad that so many people like this story, and Ash. I hope that I can continue to live up to your expectations!

Disclaimer: I don't own 70S SHOW nor rock references I make. Nor 'Alien'.

At 7:30 Hyde walked up the porch steps, and gathered his strength. He knocked on the door, and removed his sunglasses. He'd scoured his fridge for some form of food that would pass as a dessert, and found nothing. So he went with the jello instant pudding that was in the pantry. He wasn't completely satisfied with it, but he figured that he made an effort and that said a lot.

The door opened, and instead of Ash it was Jackie, in a red blouse and black skirt. Except for maybe looking more mature, she had barely changed. Hyde hadn't noticed it until now. Jackie Burkhart had aged quite well, feelings he had kept under lock and key for a long time were not just a drunken after effect. She sort of smiled at him, and he nodded.

"Hello, Steven," she said. "Come on in." He walked in, and couldn't look at her, in case he let his guard down. So instead of focusing on his ex he simply said

"I brought pudding." He handed her the bowl, and she accepted it.

"Oh. Thanks," she said, and smiled genuinely. "Heh. Pudding. Like pudding pop?"

"What?" he asked, stammering a little bit. "No! Not like-."

"It was a joke, Steven," she said, and rolled her eyes a little bit. "Come on out to the deck, we're grilling burgers and veggies."

"You grill?" he asked, following her.

"I do a lot of things I didn't do back in Wisconsin," she said. "I even clean my own house!"

"Now THAT'S insanity," he said, and walked out to the deck with Jackie. "Where's Ash?"

"She was getting ready last I checked," Jackie said. "She's been getting ready for about an hour."

"Well she gets that from you, doesn't she?" he asked. "You used to take so long just to go to the movies, who knows what would happen if you were having dinner with your estranged father?"

"I would probably take a day," Jackie stated. "So I'm curious. I know she yelled at you but I never asked what she said. I hate to think what it was, when she bottles things up they just kind of leap out of her unbridled…"

"She called me 'white trash' and told me to 'get fucked'."

"Oh my GOD, ASH," Jackie said to herself, and Hyde chuckled a little bit.

"It wasn't really an unfair assessment; I did hook up with a stripper and expected commitment."

Claudius the orange cat trotted onto the deck, and Jackie tossed him some burger. Hyde bent down to pet him, and then stood up slowly.

"Does your cat only have one eye?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, Claudius is a rescue cat," Jackie said. "Ash got him a couple years ago at the humane society. He had been neglected by his first owner and lost his eye to a neighborhood dog. But he's ours now and Ash just adores him. I kind of like the little weirdo too." Claudius jumped up on the table, and Jackie nudged him off.

"Though not when he gets cheeky. Ash, your cat is on the table again!" she called.

Ash bounded through the deck door, smiling a little bit.

"Hey," she said, picking up Claudius and putting him back in the house.

"Hey," Hyde stated. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," she said.

"Well that's great," Hyde said. "… I brought pudding."

"Vanilla?" Ash asked.

"Yeah."

"SWEET!" she exclaimed.

They all sat around the dinner table, not really saying much. Jackie and Hyde didn't really know why Ash thought this was such a good idea, but she seemed fairly content while she ate her burger. At least her opinion of him in her life had done a complete 180.

"So wasn't yesterday your last day of your workshop?" Hyde asked.

"It was," Ash stated. "We had to read our stories to the class."

"Did the class like your story?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah," Ash stated. "It got laughter and tears. Well, not tears, but laughter."

"What was it about?" Hyde asked.

"Vampires."

"….. Vampires?" Jackie asked.

"Yep," Ash said, taking the last bite of burger. "Vampires. Some zombies too."

"What did the zombies and vampires do?" Hyde asked.

"The vampires fight the zombies in a battle to the death. And the vampires win. AND a couple of them fall in love."

"Why are vampires fighting zombies?" Hyde asked. "Aren't they on the same side in the battle of good and evil?"

"Not always," Ash said. And left it at that. Hyde and Jackie exchanged glances, and he smirked a little bit.

"So are you into the whole zombie movie genre then?" he asked, and Ash nodded.

"Yeah, where do you think I get my nickname from?" she asked. Jackie began to rub her temples, as if she'd heard this story many times and didn't necessarily like how it went.

"… No," Hyde said, and chuckled. "Not 'The Evil Dead'." Ash nodded, and he turned to Jackie. "Was this your doing?" Jackie looked at him, jaw clenched.

"NO," she stated, and Ash giggled. "This was Uncle Paul's doing. I tried so hard to get her to respond to Ashleigh as a toddler, but Ash was what he called her and she just LOVED it. So I had to call her it too."

"Paul took me to 'Army of Darkness' too," Ash said.

"Yes, yes he did," Jackie stated. "Okay, that's enough about names and why we call each other what we do."

"She hates the origins of my nickname," Ash pretended to whisper, and Jackie rolled her eyes and pointed a pepper ridden fork at her daughter.

"You're just lucky I didn't name you what I wanted to name you," Jackie said.

"Mom, don't," Ash protested.

"What's that?" Hyde asked.

"Mom, come on, you don't have to-," Ash began, but Jackie knew she had the daughter right where she wanted her.

"I wanted to name her Beryl," Jackie said, and Ash rolled her eyes intensely. When she did so, her resemblance to Jackie was almost scary. "But Paul said that she'd never live it down at school."

"And I WOULDN'T have," Ash stated.

"Beryl, what is the origin of it?" Hyde asked, as Ash seethed that they were still on the subject.

"It's English, it's a kind of precious stone," Jackie said, smirking at her daughter. "She apparently hates it, but I think if she had it as a name she'd like it."

"…. I think you should thank Paul for helping you dodge that bullet," Hyde said to Ash, and she nodded. Jackie sighed, and began clearing plates.

"How about I get out that pudding Steven brought?" she asked.

"I do like pudding!" Ash said, coolly. "I'll get it, Mom." She took the plates from Jackie, and strolled into the kitchen with them. Jackie turned to Hyde, who was just watching with amused eyes. She sort of threw her arms out, defeated, and sat back down at the table.

"I can't tell if she sees me as her Dad or just another dinner guest," Hyde said, and Jackie smiled a little.

"She's just guarding herself," Jackie said. "But you can see how she's trying to hold back her expectations. So what do you think?"

"…. I rarely say this kind of thing and you can't repeat it, but I adore her." Jackie smiled. "You did good."

"Hey hey hey, WE did good," she said. "And the Hodges helped too."

"I didn't do anything."

"Well clearly you did SOMETHING," she said, and Hyde smirked again.

Ash trotted out with the pudding and bowls. She set bowls in front of her parents, and began to serve the pudding. She was then distracted by the doorbell.

"I'll get it!" she exclaimed, and rushed for the front door.

"Who the heck could that be?" Jackie asked herself.

Ash opened the door, and Paul was there.

"Paul, hi," she said, looking over her shoulder. "Um, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was in the neighborhood, and I told your Mother I would drop off that book I borrowed," he said, looking over her shoulder as well.

"In the neighborhood my ass, you live in Saint Paul!"

"It's only across the river you know!"

"Fess up Paul, how did you know Hyde was stopping by tonight?" Ash asked, suspiciously.

"Well your mother called asking for a recipe for burgers on the grill, and she told me why," Paul admitted. "So can I come in and meet the guy who ditched your Mom?"

"OHkay, I think you need to just give me the book, turn around, and come back tomorrow," Ash said.

"If I promise to be cordial can I come in?" he asked. She crossed her arms, and looked at her surrogate uncle skeptically.

"I am holding you to that," Ash said, poking him in the chest. "It's my decision if Hyde's in my life and you have to respect it."

"Fair enough," he said, and she opened the door for him.

"Mom! Paul is here, returning a book!" Ash said, making a face at him.

"My ass he's returning a book," Jackie muttered, and stood to greet him. "Hi, Paul."

"Hello, Jackie," he said, kissing her cheek. Hyde stood, and shoved his hands in his pockets. "So this must be Steven. I'm Paul." They shook hands, and Ash looked at her mother, who looked steamed that Paul had dropped in.

"Hey, you can call me Hyde," Hyde said.

"Okay, Hyde," Paul said. "Well Jackie, here's your book."

"Yeah, thanks," she said, snatching it from him. "Paul, I would normally ask you to stay, but it's kind of a private dinner, so if you don't mind-."

"Well he can stay for pudding," Hyde said, trying to be polite to the man who acted as Jackie's big brother figure. "If you want to." Get in his good graces. Jackie and Ash both shot him a look, and he realized that he had TWO of those looks to contend with now.

"Sure!" Paul said, and smiled that charming smile of his. Gotta get this right, Hyde thought. He looks like Agent Cooper on Twin Peaks, who knows what he could do?

Paul and Hyde seemed to get along pretty well. Ash and Jackie didn't interject much in the conversation, they just sat and seethed to themselves that Paul was being the overprotective friend he always had been.

"So Jackie," Paul said, telling one of his favorite funny stories about her as they sat in the living room, "says 'what happened to the cake?' And I say 'I don't know, Jackie, what did you do with it?'. And then we go into the kitchen and my parents old dog Spartacus has eaten the entire thing. So Jackie flips out and chases this GIANT Irish wolfhound around the yard as the eight year old birthday girl and I just watch her. It looked absolutely hilarious!"

"God, it must have been HUGE compared to her!" Hyde exclaimed, laughing at the image in his head.

"It totally was, and when she jumped on him he just kept running," Paul said, and Jackie stood up, sick of this story about Ash's eight year old birthday party.

"Paul, it's getting late," she said. Paul looked at his watch.

"It's eight thirty," he said.

"Well then be useful and help me clean up the kitchen," Jackie said, wanting Ash and Hyde to have a little time to themselves. For some reason, she was really aching for Ash to get to know her Dad. Paul caught the look on her face, and stood up.

"Fine, I invited myself in, I may as well help you clean up, right?" he asked.

"Now you're catching on," Jackie said. So he stood and followed Jackie, leaving father and daughter alone. An awkward silence fell over the room. Ash decided to clear her throat, and uncrossed her arms.

"So how was dinner?" she asked.

"It was good," he said, nodding. "…. And the pudding?"

"I love pudding."

"Well good….."

"…… This is dumb. We were able to carry on a conversation before I knew you were my Dad, and now we can't talk about anything but pudding?" she asked. "Stupid."

"Well it's a really weird situation," he said.

"… We could watch TV," she said.

"Sure." So she turned it on, and began flipping.

"Hold it there!" he said, and she stopped. "Hey man, have you ever seen this?"

"What, 'Alien'? Are you serious?" she asked. "I mean, who hasn't seen it? It's just a classic."

"Well can we watch this?" he asked.

"Uh, YES," she said. "This movie is terrifying! Who wouldn't want to watch it?"

"You mean besides-?"

"Mom," she finished. "She doesn't like movies like this, my love for them is all Paul's doing. And Sam's doing."

"… Sam?" he asked.

"My friend Sam across the street," she said, hugging her knees to her chest. "Not… You know…. HER."

"Yeah, I didn't think so," he stated. "Well cool, let's watch it then."

Jackie and Paul were cleaning dishes in the kitchen.

"So that's the guy," Paul said.

"Yeah, that's him," Jackie stated. "Now let me make it perfectly clear, Paul. When we are done with these dishes you are going to say that you have to leave because you have a busy day tomorrow, okay? I can't believe you just dropped in like that!"

"Hey, I was worried about you two," he said. "Can you really blame me?"

"Ugh, you are such a big brother!"

"Isn't that kind of the point?" he asked. She tossed him a sponge, and he smirked at her. "Well, as long as Ash and he can build a relationship, what's the harm? He does seem like a decent guy, after all."

"Yep…." She continued drying the wine glasses, and he cocked his eyebrows at her.

"Jacqueline," he said, firmly. "What are you thinking right now?"

"Huh?" she asked, and set the towel down. "Psh. Nothing. Just how I'm glad they're getting along. You've been a great uncle to Ash but she seems to like having her father in her life after fifteen years. I mean, yesterday she was calling him names, and-"

"And what about you?" he asked. "What are you thinking now that Steven Hyde is back in yours?" She shook her head, and didn't know how to answer him. So she went with

"It's fine." He nodded, and scrubbed the other plates. "I mean yes, a week ago there was barely a glimmer of thought of him in my mind and now he's going to be here as much as Ash wants him to be, so it's weird. But I'm fine with it."

"Okay," he said, and they continued with the dishes.

"But I do have to say that he's grown up a lot," she said. "He certainly isn't twenty one anymore."

"And you aren't twenty."

"Obviously," she said.

"Hey, you've aged gracefully, you've barely changed," Paul said.

"Thanks…. He just…. It's a 'wow' thing, you know?" she asked.

"Oh great, are you going to fall back into this old habit again?" Paul asked. "If I remember correctly you did that a lot when you were young."

"How would you know?"

"You've told me!"

"…. Well this isn't about me! It's about them!" she snapped. "Okay, we're done with the dishes, I'll walk you out."

"Well now you're mad at me!"

"I'm not mad at you."

"Sure you are," he said, kind of sulking. She smiled a little to herself, and rubbed his back. Even though they were basically siblings, he couldn't stand it when she was mad at him.

"I'll walk you out," she repeated.

They walked into the living room and saw Ash and Hyde sitting sort of next to each other on the couch while watching 'Alien'.

"See? SEE!?" Ash exclaimed. "Why on EARTH would you split up in a situation like that?! I mean, sure, it was little, but they know nothing of growth rates or anything! Why would you assume that it's going to stay that little that long?!"

"Well what could it possibly eat to get big?" he asked.

"Uh, it TOTALLY ate the inside of John Hurt!" Ash stated. "Ugh, it's NASTY."

"My question is why on Earth they didn't just squish it when it jumped out of his chest cavity…" Hyde said, ponderously.

"Because they're wusses," Ash said. "Hell, I would have smacked it with my spoon."

"Ash, Paul is leaving," Jackie said. Ash turned, and waved at him over the couch. He walked to her, and planted a quick kiss on her head.

"Have a good night, Ash," he said.

"You too, Paul," she said, and he nodded at Hyde.

"Nice to meet you," he said.

"You too." With that, Paul and Jackie left the house so she could walk him to his car.

"Do you like slasher movies?" she asked.

"Like which ones?"

"Liiiike….. 'Friday the 13th' and 'Nightmare on Elm Street'. And 'Halloween', though that's not really horror until the bastards decided to make a franchise of it…"

"Yeah, they're good I suppose," he said.

"You know, is it bad that I felt more fear about the cat getting eaten than Harry Dean Stanton?" she asked.

"No, everyone on the ship but Ripley are idiots."

"But he's just an engineer! It's not his fault the rest of the crew is stupid!"

Jackie walked back into the house, and watched them watch their movie. She leaned against the doorframe, and smiled.

"Mom, we know you're there," Ash said, not turning.

"I'm just going to finish cleaning up," she said, caught.

"Why don't you just watch the rest of the movie with us?" Ash asked.

"…. I don't know…"

"It's edited for TV, Jackie, you won't see anything too awful," Hyde said. She sighed, and sat on the other side of Ash. Hrm, family movie, she thought, and scolded herself for jumping to such crazy conclusions.

"WHOA!!!!!" Hyde and Ash both yelled as the Alien grabbed Tom Skerrit. Jackie stood up and left the room quickly. Despite the editing it was still too intense.

After the movie was done, Ash decided to call it a night.

"So I think I'm going to go to bed," she said. Hyde nodded.

"Okay," he said.

"But we should do something again soon," she said.

"Yeah." So they stood, and didn't really know how to say their goodbyes. He wanted to hug her, but it would seem weird for both of them. So they stood in the den, and wished that the other would do something.

"Well, goodnight," Ash said, and shook his hand earnestly. He nodded, shaking it back.

"I should say goodnight to your Mom…" he said, and Ash nodded.

"Mom!" Ash called. "Hyde's leaving!"

"Is the movie over?" the voice called from the upstairs.

"Yes!" With that the footsteps commenced, and Jackie rushed down the steps, faster than she had anticipated.

"I'll walk you out," she said. Hyde nodded, and waved quickly at Ash, who waved back. He followed Jackie outside, and they carried on in tense silence as she walked him to his car. Once they got to it, they stopped. Ash peeked out the window through the curtain, curious at the interaction between the two.

"Well, thanks for dinner," Hyde said. "You have a nice house, and you've learned how to cook." She wrinkled her nose and hit him on the shoulder.

"I could always cook, you creep," she said. "I just honed my skills over the years."

"Jackie, you couldn't even make ramen noodles when we knew each other."

"…. I guess not…. Well, thanks for coming. I hope we'll be seeing more of you."

"Yeah, I'll be around," he said. Now it was THEIR turn for the awkward goodbye. "Well, thanks again."

"Of course," she said, and sort of went to put her arms around him, which he took for a friendly peck on the cheek… Which he missed as she turned her head for a hug and went straight for her chin instead. She laughed awkwardly, and he snorted.

"That was meant for the cheek," he said, embarrassed.

"It's okay."

"So much for making this less… odd," he said, and she nodded.

"Yeah…Well, night," she said, and turned to walk back to the house. He stared after his petite ex, and got into his car. You IDIOT, he thought.

Jackie walked into the house, and Ash was sitting on the steps.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Jackie asked. Ash nodded. "Good. So did I."

"So when can we invite him over again?" Ash asked.

"You're eager. Yesterday you didn't even think you wanted to get to know him much less invite him over again."

"Well how about next weekend?" Ash asked, ignoring that last comment. Jackie nodded and climbed the stairs. "Only that time we can go out somewhere or something."

"You're really excited about this, aren't you?" Jackie asked, and Ash followed her.

"Well yeah!" Ash said. "So what about the Zoo or something?"

"You can ask but last I heard your Dad wasn't really a zoo person."

"Well maybe a picnic?"

"He isn't a picnic person either…"

"Well what is he into?"

"I don't know…. It's been sixteen years…"

While Ash was sleeping quite contently that night, Jackie was tossing and turning. It was so hard to see him again, even if it had been very nice at the same time. He'd hurt her so badly, and she'd never had to stop and think about those emotions. Now memories were assaulting her and not letting her sleep. She held her pillow over her face, and wished that her train of thought would just stop.

After she had held Ash for the first time, everything changed. The thought of being pregnant was just a concept to her, it wasn't real even when she was at the doctors appointments, or when Ash was kicking her. Even when she was in labor it wasn't real, she wasn't going to be a MOM. But once she held her, she knew that she was indeed a Mother, and this squirming thing in her arms was her daughter. She'd been holding her for two hours, just staring at her.

Paul knocked on the door, and walked in the room.

"Hey," he said, sitting next to her and the baby. "So this is her, huh?"

"Yeah, this is her," Jackie said, still staring.

"Well isn't she just beautiful?"

"She's perfect."

"Does she have a name yet?" Paul asked. She nodded. "Well let me hear it."

"….. Ashleigh."

"Thank GOD you didn't go with Beryl." She chuckled, and he smiled down at his 'niece'. "Huh. She has really pale blue eyes, doesn't she? I mean she's a baby, so they may change, but right now they're like ice." Jackie nodded, slowly. These eyes weren't going to change. And that was when the next realization made it's debut. Ashleigh would never know her father, and the man she was still hung up on would never know he had a little girl. As her baby looked up at her, curiously, Jackie began to weep. Paul looked at Jackie, and then wrapped his arms around her. She cried on his shoulder, clutching Ashleigh to her chest too.

She sat up, and ran a hand through her hair. She rubbed her eyes, and looked out the window. Part of her wished that the kiss on her chin had been on her lips.

"Dammit Jackie," she muttered. "You're supposed to be over him, remember?"

Hyde was having trouble sleeping too. He was thinking about the life he could have had with Jackie and Ash had he not been such a jerk. He could have been in Ash's life and helped raise her, and maybe his life wouldn't have felt so empty had Jackie and Ash been there. He was tossing and turning when the phone rang. He looked at the clock, and muttered a few swear words to himself. He grabbed the phone.

"Hello?"

"STEVEN HYDE!"

"….. Kitty?" he asked, but it couldn't be. It was almost one in the morning. Kitty was rarely up past ten.

"Yes it is Kitty, and I just want to know where you get OFF!" Kitty snapped. It began to fall into place. Hyde had told Eric. And Eric had probably told his mother, who had been resisting the urge to chew him out until it nagged at her too much. Which of course HAD to be at nearly one in the morning. "You have a daughter with Jackie Burkhart?!"

"Yeah, I guess I do."

"Well I'm calling her next, but right now you are explaining some things to me!"

"Hey, don't call Jackie, it's almost one in the morning."

"Oh I'm well aware of what time it is, and-Hey! Red! Let go! I-!"

"Steven, this is Red," Red Foreman said gruffly. "How could you get that poor Burkhart girl in trouble and just let her leave?"

"Hey, hang on Red, I didn't know she was-."

"Shut your trap," Red commanded. "Here is what is going to happen. Next weekend, Kitty, Eric, Donna and the Grandkids and I are going to drive out there to meet this girl."

"She's our other grandbaby!" Kitty yelled.

"So now that this is decided, I am going to go to bed, and we will make more decisions this week. Okay?"

"….. Okay," Hyde said, defeated. "Sure. Now, I'm going to go to bed, I'll call Jackie tomorrow-."

"I can assure you that Kitty is going to call her after we've hung up here."

"Look, let Jackie and Ash sleep."

"Ash? What kind of name is that?"

"Goodnight, Red." Hyde hung up, and rubbed his eyes. Great, he thought.

Across town, the phone at the Burkhart household rang. Ash slept through it, but Jackie hadn't fallen asleep yet and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?"

"Jackie Burkhart, how could you leave without saying goodbye?!" the hysterical voice exclaimed.

"….. Kitty?"