Chapter 11

"So you're my Mystery man?" Jackie said after they had placed their orders. "I didn't recognize your handwriting," she added tracing the rim of her wine glass thoughtfully.

"Because I had the florist write it," Hyde explained trying to gauge her reaction. "I didn't think you'd come if you knew that it was me," he admitted shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"Like I said before no woman would turn down a dinner like this. I just wouldn't have wasted so much time getting ready," Jackie said with a half grin. "I thought I was getting ready for a date; not a cease fire negotiation," she added taking a sip of her wine.

"Well, how about that cease fire? Donna's starting to scare me. I normally wouldn't care about being screamed at but I know for a fact that Donna hits hard," Hyde joked as he drummed his fingers on the table. Jackie couldn't help but nod her agreement. "Look, I know things haven't been great and its been pointed out to me that a lot of that is my fault. But we had some good times too," Hyde began. It was making him uncomfortable the way Jackie was just sitting there listening to what he was saying without a single emotion on her face. Even he had to rely on his glasses to hide his emotions from others. She'd obviously learned to out zen him. The student surpasses the teacher, he mused. "So what do you say we wipe the slate clean and just try to be friends. Especially since I have no idea how to go about trying to fix things; can't we just ignore the past. This thing is starting to rip the group apart," he said with a sigh.

Jackie cocked her head to the side and looked at him thoughtfully for a moment as she struggled to choose her words carefully. "I wish I could stay mad at you but I can't. Oh believe me, I've tried; I just can't do it. You're a lucky lucky man," she said taking a deep breath. "If we try to be friends, we already know how that's going to end. It backfires on us every time. So what I suggest is this: We ignore each other except when we have to. No more burns from either of us and we keep everything neat and simple. No more going out of each other's way to make the other one suffer. Agreed?" Jackie said calmly. "For the sake of the group," she added as Hyde stared at her open mouthed. "What?" she asked in confusion. "Isn't that what you've always wanted?" she joked.

"Jackie, we can never ignore each other we're under each other's skin too much…" Hyde began leaning towards her so he could keep his voice low.

"Yes we can. I've had plenty of time to figure how to manage my emotions. Its not as hard as you might think. The minute we start ticking each other off, we do our best to ignore the emotion itself, that'll make it a lot easier to ignore each other. I'm not saying snub each other entirely. Just keep our interactions on a by need basis. Like in the basement we'll try to interact as little as we can but away from the gang we don't interact at all because there wouldn't be a need to," she said apparently pleased with her suggestion. "It beats having sore shins," she giggled.

"You think we could do that," Hyde said slowly, not liking the way he was picturing the future. To him, it was like a starving man looking at a plate of food encased by glass. Look but don't touch. Smell but don't touch. It had the potential to be a new kind of hell for him.

"Yep. We'll have too. Otherwise the gang will get hurt in the process. As tempting as it would be to fight with you every day, I don't want to do that to them. Do you?" she questioned softly.

"No, I don't," he admitted with a sigh. "So what do we do now?" he asked trying to seem nonchalant.

"We enjoy our dinner," she said with a grin. "Especially since it's the last time we'll ever be alone together; we might as well make the most of it," she added more soberly. "I'll miss you," she said blinking back tears.

"I'll miss you too, Doll," he said clinking his glass against hers as the waiter brought their food.

"Shhh," Jackie giggled as her and Hyde stumbled towards her apartment. "My neighbor is still mad at me," she said trying to smother a laugh. "Steven, how many bottles of wine did we order?" she said trying to put her key in the lock. A feat much harder than it used to be, she mused drunkenly.

"One, two, four," Hyde said counting on his fingers and shrugging. "I have no idea. I'm glad the restaurant called us a cab because I'd total the El Camino," he said laughing loudly only to have Jackie put her hand on his mouth while smothering laughter of her own.

"We are so wasted," she said after finally opening the door and stumbling in with Hyde quickly following her. She threw her keys and wrap on the couch as she struggled to take off her shoes. "I have some more wine in the fridge. If we're gonna have hangovers anyway, we might as well go all the way," she reasoned. "Are you hot, I'm hot," she complained tripping over her own feet on her way to the kitchen. She opened up her fridge with a sigh and finally discovered the bottle of wine she was looking for after staring at it for a few moments.

"Do you have beer?" Hyde whispered coming up behind her and resting his chin on her shoulder. "I'm sick of wine, but that doesn't mean I won't drink it," he slurred taking the bottle from her hands and kissing her neck. "You smell good," he said blinking at her slowly. "You're right we're wasted," he said stumbling backwards against her counter.

"Let me get some glasses," Jackie said leaning against him so that she could open the cupboard door. "You're obviously not too drunk," Jackie said laughing loudly before she could stop herself. "I'm sorry, I should have pretended that I didn't notice," she said shaking her head.

"What do you expect? I gorgeous woman in a tight dress just pressed up against me. Of course my body's gonna react," he said feeling slightly embarrassed. "Forget the glasses, Jackie. We can drink from the bottle; we don't have cooties," he said openly looking down her dress. Their eyes met for a moment before the cupboard door banged shut and they fell to the floor.

Hyde groaned and searched around for his sunglasses without opening his eyes. The last time he felt like this he'd married a stripper he'd met in Vegas. He wiped a hand across his face trying to push hair out of his face. He finally opened his eyes to see Jackie's sleeping form curled around him. What the hell did I do this time? Hyde wondered in alarm. A glance at Jackie's left hand at least confirmed that he hadn't married her. An improvement over his Vegas trip. He looked around Jackie's bedroom which was still littered with half empty boxes from her recent move. Even though his head was pounding, he fought the urge to groan. He didn't want to wake Jackie, wondering if this were the last time he was ever going to get to hold her. Judging by her speech to him the night before, it probably was. His arm tightened around her slightly as he pushed her hair away from her face. She snuggled closer to him in peaceful slumber, with a small smile playing across her lips; as if she were having a nice dream. He gently bent over to give her forehead a soft kiss before ending their embrace. He needed to leave before Jackie could wake up. She'd probably accuse him of all sorts of things and he needed to clear his head before he talked to her again. Besides his head was throbbing and he didn't think he could handle her shrill voice yelling at him right now. He quietly got dressed and left the room only pausing to give her one last look from the doorway. She still remained curled up on the bed with her dark hair spilling over the sheets. He turned around and sighed, today was not going to be his day, he mused.

Jackie kept her eyes closed until she heard her front door shut. Then she opened her eyes and refused to let the tears that were burning her eyes fall. She was finished crying over Steven Hyde. He hadn't changed one bit. Last night and then this morning proved that to her. She wouldn't let Steven Hyde back into her life or her bed again. She must have been not only drunk but crazy to ever think otherwise.

"So have you talked to Jackie yet?" Donna said arching an eyebrow at Hyde as Eric came over to hand her a soda.

"Yeah," Hyde said crossing his arms and pretending to watch the basement television. He had a lot on his mind and he didn't feel like sharing with the group.

"Well ? How'd it go? Did you get everything squared away?" Eric said when it was clear that Hyde wasn't going to respond. Hyde gave a non-committal shrug as his response. "Come on, Hyde. What happened?" Eric questioned in frustration.

I banged her, Hyde thought to himself with a groan. "We talked, declared a truce. Not much more to say, Foreman," Hyde said with an exasperated sigh. Truth be told he was sitting on pins and needles. He was sure that Jackie was going to call or come stomping over there demanding explanations or declarations of love. He didn't know exactly how he was planning to react. By now, Jackie was sure to be awake and aware of his absence. He felt like a creep but at least he was a confused creep. He was almost sure that he wanted her back but didn't have the slightest clue what he was going to do about it. He couldn't ask Donna or Eric for help because he'd have to tell them what happened the night before and he wasn't up to the commentary. He was up the creek without a paddle. Almost as if the universe was working against him, the basement door opened and Jackie stepped in.

"Hi, guys," she said sitting next to Donna with a small sigh. "Please talk quietly, my head is killing me," she said. "What are we watching?"

"The three stooges," Eric said not understanding why Jackie suddenly looked like she was having to swallow laughter. "So how'd your date go?" Eric asked noticing Hyde tense.

"I wasted a dress," Jackie said with a sigh. "But really what can you expect from a guy who doesn't even sign his name," she added dismissively. "Anyhow, Hyde and I are okay now so you guys can relax," she added brightly. "How's that for good news?" she joked winking at Donna playfully.

"Jackie, that's great;" Donna said with relief. "Now things can go back to normal," she added giving Eric a kiss on his cheek. "If you're not busy, my dad wants to talk to you. I don't know what he wants to talk to you about but I hope he's not wanting to try out any more jokes out on you," Donna said getting up and leading Jackie out of the door.

"Yeah, me too," Jackie said wrinkling up her nose. "Bye, Eric," she said following Donna out the back door.

"You slept with her didn't you?" Eric said spinning around on Hyde the minute the girls had left.