Author Note: Plans are being made and Jackie's having a crisis

Chapter 31 – Scheduling a Trip

August was proving to be the hottest and stickiest month on record in Kenosha. Eric was finding that many people booked the hotel just for the use of the cool air conditioning and then the luxury of lounging in the pool.

Kelso was busy with families wanting to visit the zoo before school started. He managed to teach a favorite monkey some tricks and just loved working at his job.

Kitty was helping Jackie and Brooke design and shop for wedding gowns. Red was enjoying the peace and quiet of the house with no wife or kids hanging around.

Life was good.

*

"Bob – it's so good to talk to you! You were always like my second dad." Jackie gushed. Bob Pinciotti finally returned Jackie's call after several left messages. "Hey Jackie, what's the emergency?"

Jackie explained about the pre-wedding get-together and how everyone was willing to go to Florida so Donna would attend. Could Bob get Donna to commit to a date?

"Well Jackie, she's starting her last semester of college. Let me ask her what weekend she would be available. Oh, while you're waiting, I have a new joke for you…did you hear about the new pirate movie?"

"What?" she asked and then heard a muffled noise and some background conversation. "Yeah, okay. So did you hear about the new pirate movie?"

"No. Bob." Jackie said near exasperation.

"It's rated ARRRRRGH! Wasn't that funny? Jeez, I'm still laughing. Yeah, Donna says that the weekend after Labor Day would be fine. She would prefer meeting everyone on Saturday."

"Thanks Bob. We'll be staying at a timeshare and I'll call you later with the address so we can get the details confirmed. Pirate move – rated R – Bob you still have a great sense of humor!" Jackie hung up; now that she had a date she could finish all the details!

*

Pancake Breakfast morning and all the group was tired from the heat. The month was nearly over and it seemed as if the weather had worn everyone down. Jackie smiled at her friends, Brooke was getting married in three months, Eric was finally moving into an actual one bedroom apartment on the first floor, Fez was co-owner of the hair salon and Jackie was 90% confirmed on the party details.

"Wake up guys, I have important information." She sipped some ice water as five bleary sets of hung over eyes glared at her. Fez groused, "Why are you so happy? We drank too much last night. You should be miserable – can I call a girl a sonofabitch? No? Well damn it!"

Jackie smiled sweetly, "I love you too Fez. But that's beside the point. We have a party date confirmed!"

Brooke's head came off the table and everyone was now paying attention. "Hyde and Sam will be flying into a private airfield at 10:00 and after we all board the jet, we should arrive in Orlando in a little over two hours. Two limos were requisitioned for us to take us from the Executive Airport to the timeshare and I've been told that we have the limo and a driver for the whole four days."

Kelso held up his hand, "Can I drive one?"

Jackie shook her hand and chuckled. "No, you are the groom to be so all you have to do is have a good time. If you are at the park and want to leave, there is a shuttle that leaves every two hours. Donna will meet with us at a restaurant on Saturday night and may possibly come back to Brooke and Michael's suite but then she's leaving."

Fez put up his hand, "Will Bob be coming too?"

"No, he said this was a kid's only affair. Back to the flight – I was concerned because the plane is only equipped for nine people but the Steele Company told me that we'd only need one stewardess so we can fit all ten of us."

Jackie drank some more water and waited while the commotion died down. "Okay, what I need from of each you is to rearrange your schedules so you can leave on Friday September 10 and return on Monday September 13. Does anyone have a problem with this?"

Everyone looked at each other – there didn't seem to be any problems. Jackie was relieved. "Now, listen up, this is a time share – not a hotel. So if you want anything, snacks, beer or whatever you have to bring it with you or buy it when we get there. It's like having your own little apartment and you have to take care of it okay? Are we clear?"

There was silence and everyone started talking about what they planned to do after the plane landed and what rides they planned to go on – it was an organized melee. Jackie was glad her hard work was paying off. Now she only had to wait three weeks and it would be over.

*

"Okay, you have to close your eyes because I want you to be surprised." Eric put the key in the door and unlocked it. "Ready?"

She smiled, "I've seen your apartment before. What is the surprise?" Eric took her hand and led her through the threshold. "Ready? Open your eyes!"

Jackie opened her eyes and found that Eric had bought a living room set. Not only was it nice but it matched! "Hey, this is great." She said honestly. Eric took her hand. "Wait, I got a bedroom set too. No more twin bed for this guy!"

Jackie looked at his queen size bed with the big wooden headboard. There was a small side table and lamp. 'I'm proud of you, now you are a legitimate bachelor with a nice apartment." She noted that he also bought a soft comforter similar to the one in her place. She stepped back in the living room and sat on the sofa. "Comfy."

Eric sat next to her smiling, "Well, in case my folks ever come by, I needed someplace for them to sit. You know how my mom gets." Jackie nodded. "Then you should invite them over for dinner some time."

She noticed a photograph sitting on an end table. It was the picture Eric had taken of Jackie and the girls the night they went to the strip club. They all looked so fabulous and she smiled. Eric plucked the photo from her fingers, "That was the night I got my first hickey, so this is a special picture." His eyes were teasing.

"Really now – tell me why would a guy want a picture that reminds him of a hickey?"

Eric grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him. She could smell his cologne and feel the heat coming off his body. "Because the hickey came from you and you are gorgeous in this picture." He tilted her chin and looked in her blue/green eyes. "Should there be more?"

Sometimes he really knocked her world off balance. "Maybe…."

He set the picture down and pulled her in for a hug. "What if I'm happy with what I have?" She smiled up at him. "I guess that's okay too."

"Watch some TV with me?" he asked. "It's lady wrestling." She looked at him like he was loopy. "I am NOT watching lady wrestling."

"C'mon Jackie, you might like it." Jackie pushed Eric back on the sofa, "I'll go get Fez and you boys can watch it together. Ack!" She smiled and went to his front door. "Jackie…wait." She paused and turned around, "What?"

Eric jumped off the couch and strode over the few feet to where she stood. "Hold out your hand."

She lifted her brow, "You're not going to try and give me chewed gum like Fez does, are you?"

Eric laughed, "No." And he put a house key in the palm of her hand. "You've been teaching me how to trust and I want you – I mean I trust you to have a key to my house." And my heart – but he couldn't say it. She closed her fingers over the metallic object, "Thank you Eric – trust is a big thing and I'm glad you were paying attention."

Jackie had been keeping him at arms length for the past couple of weeks and he didn't know why, but hopefully she would feel comfortable enough to come downstairs and talk with him soon. He tugged on a lock of her hair, "Hey, if you want to talk…"

She looked back up and he would have sworn she had tears in her eyes, "I'm good really. I just have some last minute trip plans to work on. Don't forget we leave in four days!" She closed the door behind her and ran up the stairs.

*

"Hey, if you want to talk…" Jackie fell on her sofa. How could she tell Eric that she was scared to death of spending the weekend with Donna, Steven and Samantha? Steven wouldn't even speak to her; she had to take care of all the air travel arrangements through W.B or Mrs. Forman. Samantha was just a horrible person – maybe not generally, but she was to Jackie.

Then here comes Donna, the immovable mountain that Michael wants to see so badly, yet she can barely make time for an old friend? All Donna arrangements have to be made through Bob Pinciotti. Was Jackie Burkhart that difficult to deal with? Now in three weeks she was supposed to play the nice hostess for everyone so that Michael and Brooke would have a great party. Maybe she could get lost in Disney World but slip back and hide out at the timeshare. Of course, then there would be the trophy comments again how Jackie Burkhart has slept with almost all of the basement gang. She felt sick to her stomach.

She had thought she put all this old shit out of her mind and moved on from it but it comes back to haunt her. All of them in an airplane together, riding in the limo together, sharing the same building together – she wanted to scream and it hadn't even happened yet! She could always bring some work with her and keep busy while the other's went off and had fun and she could suffer through the dinner and if she tried really hard, she could just make to the plane ride back to Kenosha.

Maybe she could save Eric the embarrassment and share a suite with Rhonda and let Fez stay with Eric. They were the ones that Michael really wanted to hang with. Jackie came into the group late and Rhonda and Brooke would be left alone. She could do that. Take the other two girls under her wing and let the gang be together.

But then maybe Eric really wanted to see Donna again. That just old adage just occurred to her….absence makes the heart grow fonder…. She didn't know where Eric's heart was – granted he liked her a lot and she liked him more than she should but if he wanted Donna back was it her place to stop him? In Steven Hyde's case it was out of sight, out of mind and she liked it that way!

Jackie closed her eyes; she felt a pity party coming and couldn't stop it. There was no person she could share this with – so what the hell, she put on her favorite Air Supply album and cranked up the volume. Nothing better to cry with than Air Supply!

*

After Jackie left, Eric had a feeling that something was off with her. She didn't say or do anything specific but that twinkle in her eye had dimmed. Was she worried about this trip? Eric remembered after the cowboy party, she had to take a two week working vacation just to recharge – was this party doing the same to her?

When he thought about it, the logistics of putting this whole party together was immense – trying to get everybody in the same place at the same time, on a private jet with free passes to a huge amusement park and then putting everyone in a place to sleep…he had problems just trying to read the city bus schedule. Had anybody thanked Jackie for everything she had done so far and done for free?

Eric dialed her number but the phone went to the answering machine. He looked out his window and could see her car parked outside so she definitely was home. Curious. He jogged upstairs and was about to knock on her door when he heard Air Supply blasting behind the wood. He knocked on the door but the music was too loud. He tried the doorknob but it was locked and Fez wasn't home with her extra key. Maybe Brooke knew what was going on.

*

"No, sorry I haven't talked to her since Saturday. What did you say she was doing?" Brooke asked. Eric explained how she seemed kind of out of sorts and was blasting Air Supply. "Oh no." Brooke said. "She's crying. She only plays Air Supply when she's sad about something. What did you do Eric?"

"Hey, I didn't do anything. I'm trying to help. Why would she be crying? She seemed excited about leaving this Friday but now she's blasting sad love songs? I don't understand women!"

Brooke sighed, "I think we've been neglecting our little princess – she's been doing so much trying to organize my wedding and this trip and that retirement party last week."

"Wait, she had a party last week too?"

"Yeah, I think it was at the Lady of the Lakes hotel – she doesn't give details unless she hires one of us. You could check with Fez to see if he did hair for the party. But maybe she's overdoing it with work and everything. See if you can get her to open her door and at least let her cry on your shoulder. She won't feel better until she gets it all out."

"Thanks Brooke, I'll see if Fez is at Rhonda's and get the spare key."