Disclaimer: I don't own.
Warning: Language, adult situations (mild)
Author's Note: Thanks so very much for the reviews! I know there wasn't a heck of a lot to the Intro. So here we go, into the story! Please keep in mind that Edna in this chapter is not canon Edna. :) I hope you enjoy Vetri's side of the story and his choices. (Wow, I'm a day early this week. Hee hee!)
The Lesser of Two Evils
Choice 1 – The Good – Naperville, Illinois
Naperville, an upper-middle class suburb of Chicago. You're the son of Bud and Edna Hyde. Bud works as...he claims to be a stockbroker, but no one is sure if that's true or not. Somehow, he manages to afford the modest house on Redstart Road. Edna is a housewife, until ....
Paul suddenly stops talking and the opening in the fog in front of me abruptly closes just as I was starting to see a house. Decent looking. I glance at Paul. "What the hel...heck?"
He frowns at me. "I have to explain something to you before we continue."
"Why?"
He rolls his eyes. "I'm trying to stave off a few of your interruptions." He looks away. "Not that it will do me much good."
My turn to roll my eyes, or whatever you call what will eventually be my eyes. "Whatever."
"About each choice, I'm going to show you three themes – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
What I show you will leave significant time gaps. Now, I'll be able to give you a little more detail about certain aspects, but not much. I need you to just trust that what I'm showing you is what you need to know."
I shrug. "Fine." Whatever. This whole thing is stupid. Besides, he told me I'm choosing between two women. I figure I'll just see who's hotter and go with that one.
"Good." He smiles. "Now...."
Until you started school. She was bored, so she took a job waiting tables at a fancy restaurant. You live comfortably, no real money worries, at least not at first...
"Whoo! Yeah, man, you smashed that one!"
"Yeah, Hyde! Whoo hoo!"
A little boy, about nine years old, circled third base on the ballfield, pumping his fists in the air and grinning. When he reached home plate, he jumped a good two feet in the air above it and landed on the base with a joyous yelp. He ran over to his friends and nodded. "You guys see that?"
His friends, one tall, the other skinny, both slapped him on the back. He shook his head and glared at one of them, the skinny one. "Man, Forman, you hit like a girl."
Forman rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, you hit like...Well, not like a girl, but not like a guy, either!"
A girl with red hair who was taller than all three of them gave Forman a little push. "Shut up, Eric." She smiled, a huge toothy one. "I'm up! And I'm gonna hit one farther than yours, Hyde!"
The three boys watched her skip over to the home plate.
Forman frowned. "Why is Donna even on this team? Baseball is for guys! Shouldn't she be playing dollies or something?"
Steven Hyde shrugged. "She's on the team to make up for you, Forman."
The other kid, Michael Kelso, grinned. "Burn!" He looked towards the bleachers. "Hey, Hyde, where's your dad? You said he was coming. All I see is your mom." He waved. "Hi, Mrs. Hyde!"
Hyde turned and scanned the crowd. He gave a limp wave to his mother, who waved and smiled back. His own face remained unreadable, but he swallowed noticibly. His father had promised he'd be there, but he wasn't.
Vetri frowned. "So this is the good part of this choice? His father not showing up for a baseball game?"
Paul shook his head. "Patience, Vetri. Just keep watching."
Hyde noticed someone else and turned back to Michael Kelso with a smirk. "You know who I see? I see that Jackie girl that follows you around all the time." He elbowed Forman. "You know, the one who we heard singing that song about him? Oh, Michael, you're so dreamy. Oh, Michael, I wanna kiss you like they do in the movies."
He and Forman burst into laughter while Michael Kelso glared at the both of them. Then his face lit up. "You know, Hyde, your mom is really hot."
Hyde's laughter immediately stopped and he punched his friend in the shoulder. "Shut up, Kelso, or I'm gonna hit a homer with your face, next!"
A few minutes later, the kids were heading out to the field to play defense. Hyde looked towards the stands and smiled at his mother. Then he looked at the little dark-haired girl with pretty skin and eyes he could never figure out who stared at his friend Kelso. With a sigh, Hyde turned back and headed to his position at shortstop.
Vetri crossed his arm flaps or whatever they were called. "I think my idea of good and your idea of good aren't the same, Paul. How is any of this stuff good?" He shrugged. "I mean, yeah, he's cool and he hit a home run. And he's obviously smarter than either of those two he hangs out with, but still."
Paul sighed. "Just keep watching."
Later that night, Hyde stood in the doorway of his home's kitchen, eating a popsicle and staring towards the front door. The hallway between the kitchen and front door is long, decorated in gentle colors and neat, and at the end of it, Hyde's mother leaned against the wall.
"So you're leaving."
The man in front of her, Bud Hyde, grimaced. "Its for the best, Edna."
Hyde turned and went back into the kitchen. He sat down at the table and stared at his half-eaten popsicle.
"Again, this is good? His father's leaving them?" Vetri snapped.
"Watch." Paul sounded a little strained, and Vetri sighed.
"Oh, Steven, honey, you'll spoil your dinner."
Hyde looked up. "Its just sugar water, Mom."
Edna smiled and took the seat next to her son. She looked tired and teary, her smile was too wide. "What do you say we go out to dinner tonight? Wherever you want to go. And then maybe a movie."
He stared at the table. "Are you and Dad getting a divorce?"
For a long moment, Edna didn't answer. Her eyes filled with tears, and she reached for her son's hand. She held it. "I don't know, Steven, but I think we might be," she answered finally, her voice shaking. "Honey, it has nothing to do with you. We both love you so much." She chocked back a sob. "I love you so much, Steven."
Hyde continued to stare at the table, but he squeezed his mother's hand and didn't let go. "Can we have pizza tonight?"
Edna smiled. "Sure, honey. We'll stay in and watch whatever you want to on t.v."
He smiled, one that was forced and thin. "I'll call the pizza place." He stood up. "You want pepperoni?"
Vetri looked away for a moment. "Poor kid," he mumbled.
Paul nodded. "Divorce is the most difficult for children."
"At least his mom is pretty cool," Vetri commented. He looked at Paul and found the guide smiling at him. "What?"
Paul shrugged. "Oh, nothing. Come on. Keep watching."
A few hours later, Steven Hyde lay on the couch in his mother's living room, fast asleep. His mother sat next to him, his feet in her lap. On the telvision in front of them, The Twilight Zone was ending. Edna looked at her sleeping child. Her eyes again welled. "Oh, Steven," she whispered. "What are we going to do?" Gently, she slid his feet off her lap and stood up. She looked down at her son and wished he wasn't so big now. Wished she could pick him up in her arms and carry him to his bed.
Instead, she crossed the room and grabbed the blanket resting neatly on the back of Bud's lazy boy chair.
As she put the blanket over her son, she cried softly. Her marriage was over, and she knew Bud. He wasn't only leaving her. He was leaving Steven as well, all for the love of some tart secretary who wouldn't last longer than a few months.
Taking a deep breath, she smiled and touched Steven's cheek. "Its just you and me now, Steven," she whispered. "And I promise you, it'll always be you and me."
Paul watched Vetri. Vetri was staring at the scene and standing still. "You see the good now, Vetri?"
Vetri shrugged. "I guess, but when am I going to meet the woman?"
"The woman?"
"You said I have to pick between two women." And then he realized. "Oh, wait. So one of the women I have to pick between is my mother?"
Paul smiled but didn't say anything.
Vetri frowned. His plan of choosing the hottest woman was kind of shot to hell.
"Vetri, please. Your language is just atrocious."
Vetri couldn't help but chuckle. "I keep telling you, man, don't read my mind and you won't have to deal with it."
Paul rolled his eyes. "Come on. More to see."
Several years later. Hyde is now seventeen. His father has been in and out of his life, mostly out, and Edna has had to work two jobs in order to support them. However, she always manages to be around when she needs her, even at moments when he wishes she wasn't.
It was the middle of the afternoon, but Hyde was in bed. He wasn't alone. A beautiful girl with raven hair was in it with him, and her head rested on his bare chest. The sheet around her had slipped, leaving her back bare.
Vetri grinned and nodded. "Now this is good," he said.
Hyde ran his hand through her hair. "You okay, Jackie?"
She sat up.
Vetri stared at her. She was beautiful. He was suddenly having a hard time breathing and felt...tingly all over. He heard Paul chuckle and grimaced, but didn't take his eyes of the gorgeous girl. "Shut up," he muttered.
"I'm okay," she said with a shy smile. She leaned on Hyde and touched his cheek with her fingertips. "Was I...I mean, did I do it right?" She then pressed her lips together, buried her head in the crook of his neck. "Never mind!"
Hyde chuckled and ran his hand down her back. Up and down, slowly and tenderly. "Jackie, it was awesome," he said. He shrugged his shoulder and she popped up, her cheeks flushed and eyes darting. "You were fantastic." He reached up and kissed her. "Amazing."
She smiled, one of those smiles that light up the room, the sky, everything. "It felt so good, Steven," she whispered. She rolled so she was comletely on top of him, and now her expression turned seductive. She lowered her lips to his. "Wanna make me feel good again?"
Hyde smirked. "Anything for you, doll." They started to kiss.
Just then, there was a knock on Hyde's closed bedroom door. "Steven? I'm home. Are you still in bed? For pete's sake, kiddo, get up."
Jackie sat up as did Hyde, but Jackie looked panicked. "Steven!" she whispered. "Oh my god..." Her eyes widened. "Will she kill us if she finds out I'm here?"
Hyde grinned and patted her back. "Just calm down, Jackie." He got out of bed and pulled his jeans on. "I'll go see what she wants. Don't worry, okay?" He pulled a shirt on.
She pouted. "Fine." Then she pointed at him. "But if she kills us, I'm blaming you, Steven. You and your dirty urges."
He grinned and kissed her head on the way to the door. "Whatever."
He left and closed the door quickly when he saw his mom standing just a dozen feet down the hall. He smiled his sweetest smile. "Hey, Mom. Thought you were at work."
Edna stood with one hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. "You have a girl in there, don't you, Steven?" As her son began to deny it, she held up her other hand. "Don't even try, my boy." She sighed and wished she could scold him, but he was seventeen, and she herself had given her parents fits with her romantic relationships as a teenager. Hypocrisy was never her thing. "Is it Jackie?"
Hyde nodded.
She sighed again. "I hope you're being safe, Steven. You'd better be."
"I am, Mom. Trust me."
The mother and son looked at one another for a long moment.
Hyde raised his eyebrow, looking almost identical to his mother. "Aren't you going to yell at me?"
Edna sighed and took a few steps towards him. "I suppose I'd rather know where you are and who you're with than not." She'd often had nightmares about him doing strange things with even stranger girls in yet stranger places. She liked Jackie, and he was home. That was something, at least. And Edna was realistic enough to not expect her teenaged son to be celibate. "Tell Jackie she's staying for dinner." She shook her head. "I'm just going to go to the store. Is an hour going to be enough time for you?"
Hyde smirked. "Make it an hour and a half."
Vetri nodded, his smile wide. "Now that's what I call an awesome mom," he said. "Wouldn't most mothers have a total fit?"
Paul nodded. "Likely. Although with sons it seems a bit different, but you're definitely right. Edna is a bit more...open minded, I suppose."
"And Jackie," Vetri continued, feeling a little odd and far away. "I've seen her before, haven't I?" He remembered the little girl at the baseball game. "Wait, she was that girl who was staring at Kelso at the game."
Paul sighed. "Yes."
Vetri smirked. "So I got her and Kelso didn't. Cool."
Paul said nothing, and Vetri looked at him. "Right?"
Paul gave a slight shake of his head. "Come on, Vetri. More to see."
Later that night, Hyde returned home and sat on the couch with his mom. Edna smiled wearily at him, not lifting her head from the back of the couch. "Jackie get home okay?"
"Yeah." He glanced at his mother. "She loved dinner."
Edna continued looking at her son even as he turned and began watching the television. "So," she said. "Are you and Jackie getting serious?"
Hyde made a face. "Nah. Come on, Mom. Its just a fling. Really. I mean, of course its just a fling. I don't...I mean, I don't do serious relationships. Those are for Forman, man."
But Edna suspected otherwise. Her son rarely spoke so hesitantly. "I see." She turned and watched a bit of the show. "You should take her out to dinner, Steven. There's a new restaurant out on Odgen, by the movie theater. I've heard its good."
Hyde didn't answer for a few minutes. "Don't have any money for that, Mom. Besides, even if she wanted...I mean, yeah, I guess she'd like it...."
Edna smiled tenderly and reached over to pat his hand. "Don't worry about the money. I'll loan you some." He looked at her questioningly. "I saw the way you looked at her at dinner, Steven. Its no fling." She squeezed his hand. "Don't worry. I'll think of something macho you can do around here to pay me back."
Hyde rolled his eyes, but a few minute later, leaned over and kissed Edna's cheek. "Thanks, Mom."
And to Edna, there was no dollar amount too high a price to pay for t hat.
Paul smiled. "She's a good woman."
Vetri nodded. "Yeah." He grinned. "Any mother who doesn't mind her son having sex with his girlfriend in her house pretty much rocks." He elbowed Paul. "By the way, can we go back and see some of that stuff with Jackie?"
Paul chuckled and shook his head. "Its not something you should watch, Vetri. Trust me. Its more fun to experience it."
Hyde scowled. "Yeah, I know that, but I'm gonna have to wait awhile before I get the chance. Can't you just throw me a bone, here?"
"Come on." Paul took hold of Vetri and pulled. "A little bit more to see."
It's now 1984. Hyde is in New York, and he's a roadie with a rock band called Aerosmith. He helps set the stage for the group on their tours, takes care of mics and instruments, food and drink, whatever the band needs. In return, he gets to party with them, and of course, gets his share of women, booze, and drugs. In short, he's living his idea of the high life – the rock and roll life.
Hyde stands at the pay phone, a beautiful, dark haired, olive-skinned woman next to him. He grinned at her and patted her rear end. "Just give me a few minutes and then I'll take you back stage." The girl nodded and stepped back to the other side of the hallway. She gave Hyde her best come hither look, and as Hyde turned back to the phone, he found himself hoping that his mother wouldn't be home.
Vetri grabbed Paul's arm. "Wait a damn second. What happened to Jackie?"
Paul looked at Vetri rather sadly. "It didn't last."
"Why not?"
Paul pressed his lips together, then answered quietly. "Remember how she had a crush on Michael Kelso?"
Vetri nodded.
"Lets just say that crush never really ended."
Vetri looked down. "So, what? He stole her from Hyde?" He felt odd, like something was gone. Like something had broken.
Paul swallowed. "Essentially, yes."
Vetri scuffed his foot thing along the fog. "Figures."
"Keep watching, Vetri. Maybe you'll like what you see."
But she was, and he had to make conversation with her, all the while trying to ignore the chick who was now wrapped around him from behind and kissing his neck.
"Uh, Mom," he said rather shakily due to the hand now running over his groin. "I gotta go."
"Wait, Steven. I just wanted to tell you something."
He closed his eyes. The girl...he couldn't remember her name...was doing things to him that no girl should ever STOP doing to him. "Can't it wait till next time, Mom?"
His mother sounded irritated. "Steven, I just wanted to tell you that I miss you, but I'm glad you're doing something you love. Is that okay with you, or should I just make you feel guitly for leaving your mother in Chicago all alone?"
Hyde caught the girl's hand and stopped her movement. He closed his eyes. "No. Okay, look, Mom, I just...." He rolled his eyes. "Thanks."
Vetri shook his head. "Somehow I don't think Edna knows just all that Hyde is doing. She's cool, but I'm sure she wouldn't like her son sleeping with random chicks and partying every night."
Paul nodded. "No. I suspect you're right."
Another night, another city, another chick. Hyde had her on his lap, this one also dark haired although her skin wasn't as tanned as the last. On the couch just six feet away, Steven Tyler pointed at Hyde. "Nice of you to join us, Hyde," he said after taking a long draft of his booze. He looked at the girl he had on his own lap. "See, Hyde has to call his mommy every week, you know, so she doesn't worry the big bad band is completely corrupting him."
Everyone, there were nearly three dozen people in the hotel suite, laughed, and Hyde did too. But he pointed at the lead singer. "Hey, at least it ain't a wife I gotta call and explain things to."
The room erupted in drunken laughter and catcalls.
The girl on his lap smiled down at him. "You know, I think you ARE a momma's boy."
He smirked. "You do, huh?" He rubbed her ass. "You into corrupting a momma's boy?"
She nodded and moved so she straddled him. "Oh, defintiely, Hyde. Definitely."
The next week in Los Angeles, Hyde was in the front of the stadium, rocking out to the band and hunting the crowd for a chick to pick up. Blonde after blonde after blonde. A few redheads here and there. He grimaced. Bleached blondes just weren't his thing. Neither were redheads. And since they'd been in California, that's all he'd seen.
And then he saw a brunette. With a smirk, he made his way over to her. "Hey," he said.
She smiled at him. "Hey yourself."
"I can get you backstage."
Her eyes, brown, lit up. "Really?" Her smile turned sexy and she moved closer to him. "And do I have to do anything for you in return?"
Hyde grinned and took a strand of her hair, long, not quite black, in his fingers. "Nothing you don't want to, baby."
Vetri made a face. "Huh. So he doesn't like blondes, eh?"
Paul nodded. "No, he doesn't." He raised an eyebrow. " Think there's a reason?"
Vetri turned away from the opening in the fog and ignored Paul's question. "Is that all you have to show me?"
"Yes. What do you think?"
Vetri shrugged. "I guess it would be pretty awesome to be on tour with a band." He turned back and grinned. Nodded fast. "Yeah, it would. I mean, what could be better than having a different chick every night?"
So what if he didn't feel that weird feeling he had when he'd seen Jackie. So what if he still felt that missing something feeling. So what? He had a cool mom, and ended up having a cool job that wasn't so much a job as an endless party. That had to be a hell of a lot better than whatever being with Jackie would have been.
He walked back to Paul. "Okay, man. I'm ready to see whatever else you've got to show me."
Paul looked sad, but nodded. "Okay. Then its off to the bad."