AN: I don't particularly like how this one turned out but c'est la vie.
E: Empathy
The moment he realized that she had also been abandoned something changed. There was that one thing they had always had in common—shitty parents. She had come to him after a week of her mother not returning calls. She had understood what he failed to. They were in the same situation—except Jackie couldn't turn to the Forman's—so she'd turned to him.
There was a time when he thought that empathizing with a little cheerleader was impossible, but when he looked at the facts their upbringings were so very similar. It was his turn to help her because of all their friends he was the only one who knew what it meant to be truly abandoned.
She wished that they couldn't empathize with each other because empathy requires understanding and understanding requires experience. Their respective childhoods' sucked, but she knows that just as surely that her children will have two parents.
Jackie and Hyde both know that the empathy that originally drove them together will help them stay together—forever. Because curly-haired, blue-eyed, conspiracy spewing babies deserve both parents.
AN: If you are following "Broken Bird", that is next on my list for an update. If not, you can always check it out. Also, I have a wicked migraine (the reason I was able to post this is the free time given by said head malady) so any and all reviews are highly welcome. :)