Author Note: Mostly dialog and Jackie's crisis continues

Chapter 32 – The Evil Trinity

Eric tried knocking on the door again but the Air Supply album was still playing. Eric figured he'd wait until Fez came home or this song ended and bang on the door before the next song began. The song was winding down and Eric started knocking on the door. "Jackie! I need to talk to you!" he hollered through the door. There was a movement of her curtains and the next song started playing. Damn now he had to wait through another heart wrenching love song.

Approximately, 3 minutes and 33 seconds later, the song was ending. He started rapping on the door and alternated with the window. Finally he heard the bolt unlocking. Her eyes were red and swollen and her nose was stuffed up. "What do you want?" Jackie asked through the crack in the door.

"Let me come in." he said gently as he pushed open the door.

"No." She crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Go home. You wouldn't understand." Eric stood in the threshold preventing her from closing the door. "No, I probably wouldn't, but can't you talk to me anyways? I thought I was your friend."

A big tear slid down her cheek. "You were." She wiped her face, "Please go." Eric didn't understand, "I am your friend and I'm not going to let you cry all alone."

She closed her eyes, "Eric you're a nice guy okay? This is something I have to deal with and I have to do this alone. "She opened her eyes and looked at his emerald green, "You don't need to get involved."

Eric grabbed her roughly and pressed his lips to hers. He tasted her salty tears for a moment before she pushed him away, backing up to put distance between them. "Eric…do not get caught up in this. There's nothing you can do."

Eric moved from where he was standing and went to sit on her couch. He was not going to let her push him out of her life because she was upset. "Come here." She looked at him, why couldn't he get a clue? She didn't like to cry in front of other people – it was humiliating! He kicked off his shoes and got comfortable. "What are you doing?"

He leaned back against the couch cushions, "I'm waiting for you to sit with me and tell me what's wrong." Jackie glared at him and slammed the door shut. How dare he get comfy in her apartment without an invitation? She clenched her hands into fists and started to walk into the kitchen but turned around and growled. "You know, I'm not perfect like you are! We all can't be Eric Forman." She said furiously.

Eric knew she wasn't really mad at him, but he let her vent. "So how is Eric Forman perfect?" Jackie picked up a pillow from her chair and threw it at the wall. "You have the perfect parents, the perfect life and all of your friends love you. You succeed at everything you do and people like being around you."

Eric never thought that about himself like that before. Jackie continued. "Everybody freaking likes you okay? You don't have to fight for everything like I do." She swiped a tear from her cheek and went to stand in front of him. "Do you ever wonder what it feels like to have everyone hate you? And you hate yourself for being weak?"

She moved to the other end of the sofa and sat down pulling her legs up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around her bent knees and said softly, "I hate myself for being weak." Eric looked at her and couldn't remember ever seeing her as vulnerable as right now.

"Why do you feel weak? Jackie, you are the strongest person I know." He said gently. She closed her eyes and couldn't stop the tears that rolled down her cheeks. "I can't do this weekend." There, she said it. "I'm going to let Brooke and Michael down but I can't do this."

Eric moved a little closer on the couch until he could almost touch her and not scare her away. "Jackie, it's already done. Like you said all we have to do is get on the plane."

She looked up at him. "I can't do that. I can't be on that plane – I don't want to be there when…never mind."

This girl could be maddening! "Jackie, just tell me." Eric urged. "Why don't you want to be on the plane?"

She swallowed and wiped her eyes and looked at him – if he didn't hear it from her, then he would surely hear it later. "Think back a few years." She said her voice thick. "They called it Jackie's Trophy Case."

Eric frowned. He hadn't heard it before. "Sweetie, I don't know what that is." She pressed a hand against her forehead. "It was a stupid joke that I had slept with everyone the basement except Fez. You were chasing Donna so it didn't apply to you. Now it seems as if you are just another head in the trophy case aren't you?"

"Jackie, we were kids back then. Who told you this crap? Was it Hyde?" Eric figured most likely Kelso wasn't smart enough to create a burn like that – it had to be Hyde. Jackie nodded her head, "It hurts because it's true."

"Jackie, there is no trophy case. You came to the basement as Kelso's girlfriend. He dumped you and went to California." With Donna… how convenient was that? "You and Hyde hooked up, I was there, I saw it and there were no big elephant guns and no trophy cases involved."

That earned him a small smile. "Me? I didn't find you for until almost three years later – I found you sweetie, you didn't go looking for me did you?" He used a falsetto voice and quipped, "Say, I'm Jackie Burkhart and Eric's free and single so I'm going to have lots and lots of sex with him." He continued in his regular voice. "You didn't say that right?"

Jackie chuckled. "No I didn't say that."

Eric grinned, "Well, you could have thought it and it wouldn't have hurt my feelings knowing that you want to have the sex and everything." Jackie reached out and swatted his shoulder. "Stop trying to make me laugh."

"So tell me the real reason you don't want to get on the plane." He asked playing with the strap of her sandal. She exhaled slowly. "Steven. Samantha. Donna."

Eric nodded his head, "Ah…the Evil Trinity - the three-headed snake. Yeah, I don't blame you for not wanting to be on the same plane and Hyde and the bride of Jekyll. They treated you like shit and you deserve better."

"I Know!" She nearly shouted. Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. "I thought I had put all this behind me, but the wedding kept reminding me how many times I asked Steven if we had a future and he marries a stripper. Isn't that a kick in the head? Then he marries her again?"

Eric grabbed her legs and pulled them towards him so she was sitting closer. "Can I tell you that if you had married him, then I never would have got to meet the beautiful grown up Jackie, the snarky business woman that makes men cry and everybody loves…except for the Evil Trinity? They are jealous of you."

"They are?" she asked unconvinced.

"Oh yeah," Eric says confidently. "You have power in your little hands. You know people who know people that get things done. Suppose we are on the plane and Samantha says something you don't like, well the Jackie Burkhart I know would just walk up to the pilot, tell him to make a big dip to the left, have the stewardess open the door and then Sam would be freefalling to earth." He grabbed her hand. "You have the power to do this, my Mistress of Mean."

Jackie grinned, "Yeah, I could do something like that. I mean, technically I wouldn't but I could make her very uncomfortable."

"You are good at that, I know from personal experience." He teased. "Then my snarky business woman could arrange for a suite to have some disgusting smell that makes it impossible to sleep at night and they are forced to sleep in the same room with Fez and Rhonda, who would be doing it all night long.….I think Jackie Burkhart could organize something like that."

"She could!" Jackie answered smiling. If Hyde and Donna wanted to make attending the Kelso wedding party difficult, Jackie could make it unpleasant. Eric scooted himself closer until they were almost side by side. "And Jackie, this is Kelso's request. He's the one that wants to see everyone; you don't have to visit with them if you don't want to. You were kind enough to make it happen; I don't think Brooke is going to be too upset if you don't want to hang with the group."

Her eyes still glittered but Eric could see some twinkle coming back. "So if I just stay in the background and make the magic happen, I can avoid the Evil Trinity?"

"Well, what I think will happen is that everyone will realize that you are the person they really want to hang around with and then Jekyll and Hyde will just have to amuse themselves. You said that Eric Forman was perfect? I wish I was as perfect as you are my lady. It's you that succeed at everything, and all of your friends love you and people like being around you. I'm just lucky that I get to be included in your life."

She reached out and squeezed his hand. "So Dr. Forman, I have one last fear. Donna Pinciotti." Eric tucked a curl behind her ear and let his hand linger on her cheek. "Why are you afraid of Donna?"

The hand on her cheek was distracting, "What if she wants you back?"

Eric frowned, "This fine karaoke singing fool? This buff hotel manager – you think she wants a piece of this?" He teased. "She doesn't stand a chance. Eric Forman's heart has been captivated by the Mistress of Mean. Donna had her chance and walked away." Eric pulled Jackie onto his lap, "Like I told you earlier, Kelso's the one that wants to see her, not me. I've lived with her, hell I was married to her…trust me, you are infinitely more interesting and much more pleasurable to be around."

"Are you trying to score points again?" she joked. Eric tousled her hair, "Always, what is my score anyways?"

Jackie pretended to think about it. "Eh, you're still in the low 30's."

"What?" Eric pretended to be offended. "I should be in the high 50's by now!" He pinched the soft skin of her ribs and tickled her. "Okay, mid 50's – stop tickling me!" she squealed. She struggled to sit up but Eric wasn't having any of that. "Now, what else aren't you telling me?" Jackie lay back in his arms, "I've told you everything. Now that you've seen me cry, I'm fully humiliated. Are you happy?"

Eric smiled. "I'm happy when you're happy. Remember if you need help making our out of state guests miserable, I'm at your service."

Jackie laughed, "I may take you up on your offer kind sir. I believe you have to go to work in the morning?" Eric looked at his watch and found it was late. "You are right, quit holding me down on the couch woman, move." He teased. Jackie rolled off onto the floor and walked with him to the door.

"Thank you for coming up and making me talk to you. I was tired of carrying all that in my head and now I feel better so let's say good night." She held the door open and Eric stopped at the doorway, and said, in a very low voice, "How would you like me to say goodnight?" The stubble on his chin was lightly grazing her cheek. She swallowed as she felt his hot breath huff against her ear. She shivered.

"Shut up and kiss me." She replied with a smile in her heart.

*