Author Note: Okay – I was a little indulgent with the innuendos!

Chapter 18 – So Tell Me What Happened

The cab dropped them off at the apartment and everyone was laughing. Brooke apologized for some of Candie's behavior but since everyone was drunk it was still funny. Kelso unlocked Jackie's apartment and reminded everyone about breakfast. Fez had an arm around Rhonda's waist and declared, "If we are too tired from making sweet love all night long then we will be late."

"Oh Fezzie you are so romantic!" Rhonda kissed Fez's cheek and pulled him along to his apartment. Eric said his good nights to Kelso and then the door locked behind them. At the moment, all Eric wanted to do was take a shower and get rid of Candie's stench. Ack! He checked his answering machine and there were no messages so he kicked off his shoes and went to shampoo out the mousse. What a surreal night this was!

Freshly showered and ready for bed, Eric realized that he was absolutely, truly alone. All of his friends had someone – a person to talk with – a person to hold – he was a divorced man on the back end of the worst first date of his life. The fact that he actually took a condom with him was laughable!

He laid down on his bed with the television on, the volume low so it would seem like the room wasn't so empty. The telephone rang and Eric figured it was Fez, "What's going on Fez."

"Fez! Do I look sound a foreigner?"

"Jackie!" he said excitedly.

"Hey, I'm not calling too late am I – or am I interrupting anything?" she teased.

He smiled into the phone. "No you're not and even if you were, I'd rather be talking to you."

"Oh Eric you know all the sweet words a girl likes to hear. How was karaoke?" she asked.

Eric didn't know if she knew this was his first date – did Brooke say anything? "I sang and I got applauded. It went well."

"I'm proud of you! You did it all on your own. I knew you had it in you!" Eric could hear the smile in her voice. He really missed talking to her.

"Hey Jackie – I've had a lot of beer and I'm not thinking real clear, but could you just talk to me for a while? Tell me about your day?"

Eric dozed off while listening to wedding recitals formalities and special marriages by hot air balloons and wearing scuba gear off the North Shore of Hawaii while getting married under water.

*

Jackie had spent the all of Sunday flying and getting settled in her New York Hotel. The next morning she attended the Jeweler's Show and managed to buy a ticket to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats on Broadway. This was one of her when-I grow-up-dreams come true! She visited the Empire State building and had a wonderful dinner at the hotel restaurant and just collapsed in a delighted heap.

First things first, she wanted to talk to Brooke about what really happened on Saturday. Eric was too drunk and too vague and Jackie could count on Brooke for the real scoop. She called her favorite Chicago household.

"How did I know you were going to call me just now?" Brooke answered with a smile in her voice.

"You are either doing laundry or cooking dinner because I have this ESP thing that interrupts your housework."

"You bet. I'm washing sheets and making pot roast. So what is so important that you have to call little old me from the great city of New York?" Brooke teased.

"Tell me about karaoke night."

Brooke started laughing. "Oh my God Jackie you should have been there. I set up Eric on a blind date with this girl from the library."

Jackie gasped. "You did?" This was news! "What happened?"

"Oh, he whined about it a little but I wouldn't tell him anything about her – hey it would ruin the date right?"

Jackie giggled. "So did he sing?" She could hear Brooke whispering something to Betsy. "Oh, yes and he was good! He sang Open Arms, that Journey song and I swear he was singing it to you because he sure wasn't singing to Candie!"

"I love that song!"

"He got a standing ovation. Actually he handled the date pretty well until she started grabbing his ass and shoving her tongue down his throat. Oh my god, it got ugly then."

Jackie started laughing, "Was he freaked out?"

Brooke was chuckling, "Only when she stuck her hand down his pants! But he was very polite and quickly ended the party."

Jackie tried to smother a laugh. "Poor Eric, I called him last night and he didn't mention the blind date at all."

"Jackie, he was probably too traumatized - although, he made a great recovery at breakfast. Don't worry honey; we're taking good care of him. Now go have fun and bring me back some jewelry!"

"I love you Brooke, you just made my day! I'll see you soon!"

*

Keeping his promise to Jackie, he went to a diner on Wednesday night after work and sat at an open table. When the diner started to fill up, he sent a drink to a pretty Latino woman who looked exhausted and hungry.

"Thank you sir, I am so tired. I just worked two shifts down at the Royal Suite hotel. My boss is an asshole."

Eric motioned for her to sit down and she gratefully did so. "Do you work for George Lamons?"

She gasped. "Yes, how did you know?" Eric smirked. "I have a friend who doesn't care for him very much."

"My name is Annie. I work in Housekeeping." Eric shook her hand. "Nice to meet you Annie, I'm Eric Forman. May I buy you dinner?"

Eric found that over the course of the small diner meal, Jackie's method of picking-up-the-ladies was far superior to the way Fez wanted to do it. He actually had a nice time with no real intent on seeing Annie on another date, but this was pleasant.

"Eric, I'd like to thank you so much for the dinner. I'm on such a budget these days that a free meal is a luxury."

"Annie, if you are ever interested in ditching your boss, I work at the Happy Day's Hotel as the day manager." Eric fished a business card out of his pocket and handed it too her. "I'm looking for a Housekeeping manager if you know anyone that is looking for a well paying job."

Annie pressed a hand to her cheek. "Are you for real? This is a real job offer? I would quit the Suites in a heartbeat!"

Eric smiled as she sat back down. "Yes, it's a job offer. My regular manager got married last week and moved to Iowa. I have a temp employee on loan from another hotel. Look, if you are seriously interested, come down tomorrow and when you get to the front desk ask for Ashley, just give her my business card."

Annie was touched. "Eric Forman. It must have been fate that brought me to this diner today." She leaned down and kissed his cheek. "I will see you tomorrow."

Eric happily paid the bill and left a nice tip. Jackie would have been proud!

*

It was finally Kelso Barbecue weekend. Eric and Fez were dismayed that Jackie hadn't returned from her trip. "So do you want to hitch a ride in the old Vista Cruiser?" Eric offered his car as transportation.

Fez looked at Eric with a brow lifted. "Are you seriously asking me to put my Rhonda in the backseat of that love-mobile? Do you know how many people have done it in your backseat? Let's see… Pam Macy…Kelso…Pam Macy…Hyde… Donna…You….Me…"

Eric was laughing. "Stop, I get the message. I just don't think we need to take two cars to Chicago."

Rhonda replied, "We can take Fezzie's Fiat – he gets good gas mileage and he's fast."

"And I never got a ticket. I learned things when I worked at the DMV!" Fez declared proudly.

Eric grinned. "Well, your backseat is pretty small so I'm sure you've never done it back there!" Rhonda coughed uncomfortably. "No way." Eric scoffed.

Fez grinned, "You can't blame a sexy foreigner like me for trying!"

Eric ran to the car, "I call shotgun!"

*

They got to Kelso's in a little over and hour and immediately recognized Jackie's Mustang in the driveway. Fez squealed in delight, "Jackie's back and brought me candy!" Eric was just glad to see her car in the driveway. It felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted from his shoulders.

Brooke met them at the door. "Guys, we need to keep it down. She caught a red-eye flight and is jet-lagged. I don't expect her to wake up for a couple of hours."

Rhonda asked, "Why is she here?"

Kelso came in from the kitchen with a huge bowl of wieners. "She parked her car at O'Hare and was too tired to drive home. She crashed here this morning."

"We're barbecuing wieners?" Fez asked in disgust. "I could do that at home!" Kelso grinned, "Not if you're using a rake!"

Eric looked at his friend, "A rake? Like a garden rake?"

Kelso smiled. "Yeah, I bought a new rake, washed it and we're going to put wieners on all the little spikes and ta-da - perfectly cooked hot dogs. Then I don't have to clean the grill! I need to tell Red about this idea!"

Eric shook his head in disbelief. Only a Kelso could come up with a scheme like that. Brooke looked at her friends, "There's also plenty of potato salad and baked beans. Come inside, I've got chips and dips."

Brooke took Eric aside, "Jackie's sleeping in my room – maybe you can get her to wake up and eat something." Eric wasn't sure if that was what he wanted to do – a bitchy Jackie was not pleasant. Brooke gave him a gentle push towards the bedroom door.

*

She looked like Sleeping Beauty with a little bit of drool. Eric smiled and walked over to the bed – he was actually in a Kelso bedroom – this was first! He hadn't seen his friend in over two weeks … two long weeks. He sat on the edge of the bed and gently brushed her hair from her face. "Hey sleepy head." He whispered.

She mumbled something in her sleep and rolled toward him. "Jackie – Kelso's cooking wieners." She wrinkled her nose. "Michael is a wiener." She opened one eye and looked at him. Eric grinned, "Were you already awake?"

She closed her eyes, "I heard Fez's car drive up. He has to fix that muffler! Yeah, I was trying to sleep. I got in at 4:00 this morning." She reached out for his hand. "Lay down with me for a minute."

Eric wasn't too keen on that. "This is Kelso's bed." Jackie chuckled softly, "And Brooke washes the bedspread. Now if you sit on Fez's bed…." Eric laughed and eased onto the edge of the mattress. She scooted over towards the warmth of his chest. "I missed you." She said softly. "There was no one to talk to."

Eric replied, "I missed you too. Fez just doesn't understand my humor sometimes and I got lonely."

"Me too." She said into his chest. Eric wrapped his arms around her and relished the feeling of her in his arms again. He missed this and she missed him. It was almost enough to make his heart sing. Jackie felt so comfortable – lying with Eric was so sweet. Those big comfortable hotel beds didn't compare to this moment right now. She sighed; did he know how adorable he was?

*

Fez was getting so hungry, "Well Eric's been in there so long are they doing it or what?"

Kelso grinned. Doing it. Wait, in my bedroom? "Hey, get them out of there!" he looked at Brooke. She rolled her eyes and knocked on the door.

"Hey guys - quit doing it and come out so we can get this barbeque started." She looked back at Michael. "Are you happy now?"

Jackie and Eric had heard their friends' innuendos and inside jokes and decided to defuse the conversation before they got crazy. "You ready to go out there?" Jackie struggled to a sitting position. "Do I still have drool on my mouth?"

"Nope – you look perfect."

"Save it Forman." She laughed. "You haven't seen anything yet!"

*

Kelso's hotdogs were accompanied with a play by play of Eric's date with Candie. Jackie was laughing at Fez's description of Candie on the dance floor and how Eric was trying to stave off her octopus hands.

Rhonda piped up, "She even told me how to get free cheese!" Eric was embarrassed but looking back at the disastrous date through his friends eyes it was really an entertaining story. Kelso laughed, "She was so easy that Eric could have done it in the booth if he wanted!"

Eric groaned and Brooke punched Michael in the shoulder. "That's not nice. Candie is a sweet girl and she would never take advantage of Eric like that…at least not on the first date!"

"Okay – okay you all are having a good laugh, but I did have a second date!"

Jackie sat up – this was news – Eric went on a date that no one knew about? She nudged him with her shoulder. "Share Romeo – tell us about it."

Eric gave a brief description of the meeting and how he used Jackie's pick up method and the dinner ended with Annie becoming a Happy Days Hotel employee.

"Eric, that was an interview not a date." Jackie scolded.

"Well, she kissed me so that should count for something." He argued.

Rhonda added, "Maybe we can call that a half-date. So Eric has to go on another and get to second base this time!" The group ruled that was what Eric was expected to do. He looked at Jackie to see if she agreed. Her eyes were twinkling with laughter. "It's only fair. If you hadn't told us you hired her we would have just let it go but now you have to finish the mission."

Eric groaned and Jackie laughed. "Hey, it's one more date – look at all the progress you're making!"

Brooke added, "You are also singing very well! Everybody…because Eric went out into the land of fresh divorced dating I rented a special movie in his honor. So quit picking on him."

Jackie smiled and leaned back against the sofa and the dramatic music of a John Williams score signaled the beginning of Star Wars. Simultaneously, all the guys leaned forward and said, "Cool…."

*