Disclaimer - I own none of the characters or That 70's show. Happy reading, please R&R for more chapters! This chapter came together before I realized what was happening so I decided to roll with it. It's more focused on Hyde and his own feelings. Enjoy and please review for more!

The room was cold and musty and it smelt of mold and rotting food. There was clothing and trash strewn across the floor and the furniture was just as moth eaten and dirty as it was the day he had packed up his few belongings and Red Forman had yelled at him to get his ass in the car.

Hyde smiled at the memory of how Red had almost made him shit his pants. Good times.

He looked around the living room of his old house, unable to believe that he had once thought he would be able to live here on his own. He would be forever grateful to the Foreman's for taking him in, opening their house to him and raising him as their own son when Edna had abandoned him.

Just like that he had become an orphan. It's true his life had been crap; his mother didn't give a rats ass, and his father was a deadbeat, but the reality came crashing down on him that day when his mother called and told him that she wasn't coming back. Hyde remembered the week he had lived in the house by himself. His dirty laundry piled higher and higher in the corner, the beer had long since run out, and there was nothing left to eat except for crackers with ketchup for flavour. It was a real low point in his life until Forman had offered him somewhere to stay.

He had found a new family with the Forman's. Living with them there was never a dull moment. He had great friends, an amazingly hot girlfriend and also discovered his biological father W.B who was rich as hell and had given him a respectable job running his own record store.

Hyde walked toward the back of the house to his old room. He leaned against it struggling a bit to push it open. He managed to get it open enough for him to slip into the small cramped space he had once considered his bedroom. There wasn't any real furniture in his room, and looking at it now after so many years he could see how it resembled that of a prison jail cell, with a mattress in the corner and a ripped dirty blanket that offered no warmth. No wonder Jackie always called him poor. He surveyed the room for the thing that he had come back to this hell hole for, spotting it face down on the floor, partially stuck under the mattress. He knelt down and gently lifted the mattress praying to God that no rodents or insects would come crawling out.

He picked up the small frame turning it over and smiled glad to see that the glass was still intact. He took it with him back out into the living room, sitting on the couch in the middle of the room and thinking about the big step he was making in his life today.

Hyde wasn't the kind of guy to get sentimental, but today he had felt that it was important for him to come back to his old house just to retrieve this picture.

It was the beginning of a lifetime of challenges that he would face up until this point in his life. This single picture told a story of disgust, hate, sympathy, curiosity, jealousy, anger, frustration, confusion, confrontation, anxiety, and even a little bit of regret for mistakes that were made and hurtful words that were exchanged. Above all of that it symbolized a new chapter, the beginning of love and hopefully a lifetime of it for the future ahead.

Hyde could still recall the day he thought that they wouldn't make it, he screwed up, and his ego almost didn't allow him the satisfaction of giving into his feelings.

o000o

"I'm asking you for the last time Steven, and then I'm gone."

Hyde folded his arms staring at her torn between what he wanted to say and what he should say to Jackie. He hated that she had given him an ultimatum. She demanded answers from him that he wasn't ready to give her and their relationship had suffered because of it.

"Don't threaten me Jackie, this isn't a joke." Hyde crossed his arms frowning at the brunette standing in front of him. She looked hurt, but this wasn't their first disagreement and she was accustomed to how aloof he could be when it came to discussing their feelings for one another.

There was a million and one reasons why he was never going to be good enough. He was unworthy of everything that she was, everything that she stood for, and everything that he couldn't give her. Hyde ran his hand over his face trying trying to figure out when the hell he fell in love with Jackie Burkhart.

"Listen Steven, I've already told you this once before and you know how I don't like to repeat myself, but for you I'll make an exception,"Jackie stated matter of fact.

Hyde waited, he knew what she was going to say, he always knew, but that's what scared him.

"I love you Steven, but I need to know if you can see a future with me or not otherwise I'm going to take this job, move to Chicago and start my career in broadcasting." Jackie searched his face for some hint of emotion, but Hyde's expression remained stoic.

Hyde processed Jackie's words, his mind in chaos as he tried to decide whether or not give her the answer she wanted, or screw it up with his lack of sensitivity for the hundredth time.

Hyde was quiet. Talking about his feelings for Jackie was complicated, he had admitted to this small cheerleader that he loved her. Him Steven Hyde was capable of feeling love. He was a burnout, he smoked too much and couldn't remember where half the day had gotten to. He constantly numbed his mind to the pain he felt associated with abandonment, how could he even know what love was much less feel it?

Hyde who had never been shown the same courtesy in return except from this tiny porcelain doll.

"Jackie…" Hyde started looking for the right words to say to her. If one thing was certain Jackie and Hyde had built their relationship in as few words as possible. There was an understanding between them, they understood each other in a way that felt like they were speaking to their own experience.

Hyde leaned closer to her, pulled her toward him so that they were sitting knee to knee on the sofa. "I know what you want me to say, but I don't know if that's what you need to hear right now." Jackie's brow furrowed looking a little confused.

"What I mean is, right now you are doing something great for yourself, what with this new public access show, you're learning so much on your own...do you really want to hold yourself back?" Hyde absentmindedly tucked a tendril of her hair behind her ear holding her small face in the palm of his hand.

Jackie looked deep into his eyes, goddamn Steven's eyes were so freakin' blue, deep azure pools of emotion and she understood what he meant.

"You mean, that you don't want to hold me back." Jackie stated. Hyde knew she understood; together they had grown so much, and these few weeks apart had taught her how to navigate the world without a man by her side. It was empowering to see her tackle the world with a zeal only Jackie Burkhart could.

"Jackie I…"

"I know." she whispered.

Hyde grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her softly. He wanted to be with her, this girl had saved him, her persistence had brought out a side of him he didn't know existed, and worst of all he couldn't picture his world without her. He couldn't let Jackie go. Women like her came into your life with a purpose, and hers had been to help Steven Hyde discover love.

o000o

Hyde shook his head at the memory. He was a coward and he knew it, but he had been a coward in love. Not a moment passed between them where Hyde wasn't grateful that he had Jackie by his side.

Looking back on everything that happened between them, Hyde couldn't deny that there wasn't anything between them that wasn't worth fighting for. He had been too blind and stupid, irrational, careless heck he would probably go as far as admitting to himself that he was scared.

Hyde was scared because for the first time in his life there was something worth fighting for. He cared about someone and they returned those feelings with an understanding that he was definitely not worthy of.

He smiled down at the picture in his hands from the day he had taken her to prom. She had cried to him because Kelso didn't ask her, and had instead opted to take Pam Macy. He looked super bored in the photo completely disinterested in anything that had to do with that moment, but that wasn't the reason he had kept it all of these years.

His favourite part of the photo was the genuine happiness in the smile on Jackie's face. In that moment she was so happy to be there, and excited that Hyde had actually agreed to take her. He didn't know why he did it, but her smile was something precious to this world and that day he truly understood what it meant to see Jackie smile.

Coming back to get this photo was to serve as a reminder of the vow he was about to make for the rest of his life.

Did we enjoy that or was it too out of character for Hyde? I totally enjoyed writing it regardless let me know what you think in your review! -X-Breath of Fresh Air-X-