Chapter 5
"Owww," Jackie whimpered. She opened her eyes and after a moment the white walls of the hospital room snapped into focus. Hospital? Jackie thought bewildered for a moment but when she felt a jabbing pain in her side; she quickly remembered. Donna was right, Casey Kelso is a dill-hole! Jackie silently seethed. She turned her head and looked at all the monitors she was hooked up too and swore that vengeance would be hers.
"Look, Red! She's awake!" Mrs Foreman squealed happily, suddenly appearing in Jackie's vision with a huge bouquet of flowers. "How do you feel, Honey are you in any pain?" Mrs. Foreman asked her loudly.
"Kitty, calm down and back away," Mr. Foreman commanded sternly as he gently pulled his wife out of smothering distance. "And for crying out loud, she didn't hurt her ears so don't yell at the poor girl." he added shaking his head. "How are you doing, kiddo?" he gently asked Jackie.
"Hungry," Jackie admitted softly. "Please tell me that I don't look as bad as I feel. I might have to jump off of the roof," she said in a hoarse voice. "Is Casey okay?" she asked with concern. If Casey was hurt too revenge would have to wait but if he was okay, she was going nuclear the first time she saw him. Mr and Mrs. Foreman exchanged a long and meaningful look before Mr. Foreman answered Jackie's question.
"He came through the crash with a few bumps and bruises. He didn't really get hurt," he said gently patting her leg. "In the crash," Mr. Foreman added in a voice so low Jackie almost didn't hear him. "Don't you worry about Casey," Mr Foreman said firmly. "Now, I'm going to go find that doctor of yours," he added brushing the hair off of Jackie's forehead.
"What did he mean Casey wasn't hurt in the crash? Is he hurt now?" Jackie asked looking Mrs. Foreman in the eye hard enough to make the older woman uncomfortable.
"Well, the boys...and Donna were just a tad upset with him, dear. But don't you worry about a thing, he's fine. He looks like a raccoon but he's fine," Mrs Foreman said forcing a smile. "You look a little rough, do you want me to get you some water?''
"Mrs. Foreman, please just give me a mirror; I want to check the damage," Jackie said taking a deep breath before convulsing in pain. "Owww," she whined as Mrs. Foreman fussed over her.
"Oh, yeah. You have a couple broken ribs, honey" Mrs Foreman said reluctantly handing her the mirror. Broken ribs or not the entire floor heard the scream of Jackie Burkhart when she saw her reflection.
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"Ohhh," Donna cooed as Hyde emerged from the bathroom with a sour look on his face. "He shaved his mustache," Donna explained as Eric approached. They both looked at Hyde and made kissing sounds before dissolving into laughter.
"Shut up," Hyde ordered stomping towards the front door. "Are we going to the hospital or what?" he demanded tersely. The past week that they'd spent waiting for Jackie to wake up had been pretty rough on everyone. They'd all found ways to keep busy though. Mrs. Foreman kept busy cooking and going to the hospital to make sure Jackie's room was packed full of fresh flowers. Mr. Foreman had spent time tinkering with everything in and out of the house. Eric had spent his time trying to get Donna to relax and Donna...well she'd been spending her time trying to be more girly since Jackie'd always complained about her being a lumberjack. She'd been going to the hospital to help apply Jackie's make-up and do her hair. Luckily, Fez was usually there to fix whatever damage Donna had done after she'd left for the night. Fez, said he thought that Jackie would appreciate the gesture but Hyde didn't think so. Even by Hyde's standards Donna had more often than not done a horrible job. Being a cosmetologist was not going to be in her future even if she'd wanted it to be, he thought with a chuckle.
"Hey, did Fez make it to the hospital to see Jackie last night?" Hyde said nonchalantly as they all headed to the car.
"Nah. He had car trouble. Why?" Donna asked with a shrug getting into the passenger seat while Hyde opened the back door.
"Oh, no reason," he said unable to wipe the grin off of his face. He only wished that he'd been there the first time Jackie saw what Donna had done to her. That would have been the burn of a lifetime.
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"Hey, Baby," Casey said poking his head into the room with a hesitant smile on his face. Jackie's eyes narrowed at him slightly as he slowly approached her hospital bed. She was only slightly mollified by the contrite look on his face and the black eyes with a matching busted lip. "I brought you some flowers," he said as if he just remembered the huge bouquet of wildflowers in his hands. "You're not talking," he observed as he sat down in the chair beside her bed. "Exactly how much trouble am I in?" he said with a wince.
"Tons," Jackie purred menacingly. "Look at what you did to me," she said through gritted teeth. "I'm a mess because of you and your drunk jealously!" she snapped.
"Actually, I can't take credit for the hair, Pinciotti did that," he protested gesturing helplessly at her frazzled appearance. "I get what you're saying though," he said with a sigh. "Let me guess, I'm dumped?" he asked finally meeting her eyes.
"Not a chance," she said with narrowed eyes, disliking the way Casey seemed to instantly perk up. "You have to make this up to me. You owe me and I intend to take it out of your hide," she threatened. "You are on probation buster. One false step, one teeny tiny mistake and I will rain doom down on your head! You will pray for a death that will never come, do you understand me?" she said through gritted teeth.
"Jackie! You're staying with this putz! He almost killed you!" Donna shouted suddenly appearing in the doorway of her room with Hyde in tow.
"Well, at least he didn't make me ugly!" Jackie shrieked before writhing in pain for a few moments. "Donna, look at me! How could you?" she added looking at Donna tearfully.
"I love this woman," Casey said slapping his leg with a laugh.
"Hey man," Hyde said entering the room with his hands in his pockets. "Let's take a walk," he added with a sneer. "Jackie needs her rest and I am sure she'll need time to come up with a proper punishment for you," he said looking at Casey in disgust. To his surprise and further annoyance, Casey actually seemed pleased by Hyde's statements. Are all Kelso's complete tools? Hyde wondered feeling both annoyed and amused. A thousand burns danced across his mind but they would have to wait. Jackie was giving him a look that said she wanted to talk to him.
"Come on, Casey. Lets leave them alone," Donna said catching the look that Jackie and Hyde were sharing. "The rest of the gang will be here any minute," she said to emphasize her point to Casey.
"I'll see you later, babe," Casey said despretate to leave before Jackie's friends could team up and beat him again. He was especially afraid of Hyde and the foregin guy. Fez had apparently learned how to fight from Jackie, he went for the shins, nipples and crotch in that order.
Once they were gone, Hyde closed the hospital door and sat beside Jackie. Each of them were quiet for a moment, unsure of how to begin. To his surprise, Jackie reached over and grabbed his hand with a small smile stretching across her face. "How do you feel?" Hyde asked figuring that was as good a place to start as any. He gave her hand a small squeeze but didn't let it go.
"Pretty bad," Jackie admitted. "I've got drugs to handle what the crash did to me but no amount of drugs can fix what Donna did,"she said raising her other hand to her hair in despair. "The worst part is that I can't fix it," she whimpered.
"Fez has been performing damage control. He's coming by later," Hyde said with a chuckle. Trust Jackie to be worried about her hair at a time like this. It was so vain he had to smile, despite every burn he'd ever given her he had always viewed her vainity as an endearing quirk rather than a character flaw.
"I remember you pulling me out of the car," Jackie said softly. "Thank you," she whispered squeezing his hand. "I'm sorry I ruined your date," she said trying her best not to wince when she thought about him and Pam Macy.
"I wouldn't exactly call that a date, Jacks," Hyde began shifting in his chair uncomfortably. "I mean Pam isn't exactly the dating type. She's more the..." he said allowing his voice to trail off.
"I know," Jackie said looking amused. "I thought date would be a nice euphemism for unconditional sex," she added with a smile and an eye roll. "I still owe you a thank you regardless," she said with a small sigh.
"No you don't," Hyde said looking down at their joined hands and struggling for words. "I was scared," he admitted quietly. "I thought you might not make it for a minute there," he added giving her hand a brief kiss, much to her surprise.
"Oh no. There was no danger of that," Jackie assured him with a weak grin. "If I wasn't around who would annoy you? See I've got far too much to live for," she teased him. "Someone's got to keep you on your toes," she added.
"Well, that's a relief," he said with a chuckle. "Do you realize that this is the first time in a long time that we've even talked?" he said taking a deep breath.
"Well, we're not exactly friends," she said softly. "We're far to busy burning each other or just being plain mean. I'd like to stop that though," Jackie said wishing that Hyde would remove his sunglasses. They were his armor and his shield she knew but she longed for the days he would have let her past those defenses.
"Yeah, me too," he whispered. "Well, the basement's going to be a lot less interesting without us fighting all the time," he said trying to lighten the tone.
"Nah, there's still the whole Donna and Eric thing. Its only a matter of time before one of them does something truly stupid and then there's Fez," Jackie said in a reassuring tone. "But on the bright side, think of all the free time we'll have," she joked.
Hyde watched as Casey helped Jackie gently lay down on his couch. Part of him couldn't believe that Jackie stayed with Casey after this. Jackie had forgiven Casey much to everyone's surprise, including Casey's. Everyone except Hyde's. This is what Jackie does, Hyde silently reminded himself; a guy treats her like crap and she forgives him. All the guy would have to do is say he was sorry and give her big and lost puppy dog eyes and in time all was usually forgiven. He'd even done that a couple times much to his self disgust.
While Jackie was in the hospital, Hyde had looked at himself and his actions over the past year and he didn't like what he saw. Jackie was definitely no angel but she hadn't deserved the hell he'd put her through, not by a long shot. The more that Hyde remembered, the more angry at himself he became. He still loved her and now it was too late. She was with yet another guy who treated her like crap and didn't deserve her. Another Kelso. Unfortunately, Hyde couldn't say that he'd treated her any better but at least he could acknowledge that he'd treated her badly in the first place. Casey never would and Hyde knew it. Jackie smiled up at Casey affectionately as he bent down to kiss her forehead.
"I gotta go to work," Casey said. "Help yourself to anything in the fridge. Are you gonna be okay here?" Casey asked cocking his head to the side.
"Yeah, Steven was sweet enough to offer to stay with me while you were gone," Jackie said giving Hyde a large smile. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Steven and I are friends now," Jackie quickly explained as Casey shot Hyde a suspicious look. "Have a good day at work," Jackie said settling into the couch comfortably.
"Hey, you need a soda or something?" Hyde said shoving his hands in his pockets and shifting around awkwardly as Casey left.
"Nah. Help yourself though," Jackie said grunting in pain as she tried to change position. "Its just my shoulder, its still sore," she explained quickly when she saw Hyde's worried expression.
"Do you need something for the pain?" he asked gesturing to the pill bottles on the coffee table. "I could give you a hand," he said hurrying over as she tried once again to get comfortable.
"I swear this couch was never this uncomfortable before," Jackie complained as Hyde helped her stand up so he could check underneath the cushions.
"You're telling me," came a muffled voice from under the couch. Her and Hyde exchanged knowing looks. "You may only way 95 pounds but you feel a lot heavier," Fez declared as Hyde pulled the cushions off of the couch. "Oww. That was my eye you-sonofabitch," Fez complained when Hyde frogged him with all his might.
"Micheal does it better," Jackie declared shaking her head at Fez in disappointment.
"Don't be too hard on him, Jacks,"Hyde said, subconsciously using his old nickname for her. "Maybe he just needs practice," he added with an evil grin before frogging Fez again.