A/N: I decided to redo this chapter upon cookingmamapro82'sreview. I completely agree with her that some of the characters were definitely OOC, and I think I was just overly excited that I had an idea, so I posted without reading it over to make sure it was up to normal standards. However, I only updated the ending a lot, with a little in the kitchen scene, because there's a reason why Kitty was a little OOC.
Point Place, Wisconsin
November 28th, 1986
11:16 AM
Location: Eric Forman's Bedroom
I guess I should be used to it by now, what with having two kids and everything (it's still freaky to say that, by the way). But, I mean, come on! It's bad enough being in the heat of the moment and Donna has to stop me, but when a six and a seven year old have to do it… then it's just creepy.
One second we're making out and the next…
"Hey… guys," I slowly say, breaking away from Donna. I smile at Betsy and Charlotte who stand in the doorway.
Betsy rolled her eyes and I started wondering how many times she'd walked in on her parents. "Aunt Jackie says she needs your help."
Donna looked at me with a long stare.
"Well, tell Aunt Jackie that she should ask Uncle Steven for help," I told them.
"But Daddy," Charlotte started. "Aunt Jackie needs you."
I looked back at Donna, but she offered no support. I sighed and turned back to Betsy and Charlotte with their hopeful eyes. "Come on, guys," I ushered them out of the room. "Go back to the basement and watch the parade."
"But!" they both screamed. I shut the door on them before they could say anything else.
I turned to Donna with a smirk. "Now, where were we?"
~~~ . . . ~~~
12: 46 AM
Youcandothis,Jackie,I told myself. It'sprobablyjustnothing.
Yeah, right. These pains were definitely not nothing.On a scale of being backstabbed by my cheerleading friends to breaking up with Steven, pregnancy pains were definitely closer to being cheated on by Michael. Even worse, no one was around to help. Kelso and Brooke had gone last-minute grocery shopping for Mrs. Forman. Fez and that girl (why do I have trouble saying she's his wife?), June, weren't coming around until dinner time. Besides, they lived… okay; no one knows exactlywhere they live. Obviously, Eric and Donna were probably going to be no help, considering I'd sent the girls up there more than an hour before and none of the four had returned.
And Steven? My only guess was that when he disappeared 45 minutes before he'd gone back home next door and taken a nap. Boys! I was pregnant with his children and he had the freaking nerve to leave me to take a freaking nap!
"Ugh!" I screamed, unsuccessfully trying to roll over. As you can see, my "pregnant glow" had long since deteriorated into pregnant rage.
"Jackie, sweetie!" Mrs. Forman shouted from downstairs. "I need your help up here!"
I groaned. Why would she want me anyway? Hadn't she learned a long time ago that my hands were meant for shopping, not for baking pies? But whatever, I got up anyway. Even though I was pregnant (and possibly going into labor), sitting around doing nothing but eating chips and watching TV was not how I wanted to be remembered.
I eased my way up the stairs, pausing before I descended up each one. Honestly, how could I have let myself get this way? Oh, yeah, I know how: I fell in love with Steven.
As I reached the top of the staircase, a sharp pain ricocheted through my body, but couldn't find the strength to yell out. I managed to walk the few steps it took to get into the kitchen and stumbled forward, grabbing onto the wall as I did so.
Mrs. Forman addressed me, but didn't look my way. Her focus was attached to a steaming pot of something on the stove which made my stomach churn (as if it wasn't enough already). "Finally, you're here,"
Okay, I think I knew the symptoms of pregnancy well enough by then, and memory loss wasn't one of them. I was definitely not as slow getting to the kitchen as she made it sound.
"Mrs. Forman, I have-"
Mrs. Forman turned around and managed a smile. "Where'd Steven go?"
I shrugged. "I was hoping he was up here."
With a huff, she turned toward the kitchen cabinets, taking stuff out and setting them on the counter. "You're not going to go find him just standing there."
I crossed my arms and scowled at her, even though she wouldn't see me. "I need help."
"There's no time for whatever you need!" Mrs. Forman's calm voice was overtaken with anger. "I have to serve Thanksgiving dinner in four hours for thirteen people and I'm not going to get anything done if no one helps me." She turned around to face me once more and waved a piece of paper in my face. "Look at everything I still have to do!"
"But I-"
"No buts!" she yelled. "Go get him!"
Though these past months I've learned you should never mess with a pregnant woman (but teasing Donna both times was hilarious), I've known my whole life that when Kitty Forman gives you an order, you obey it. I shuffled toward the sliding door and out into the chilling air, my intentions full on marching home and dragging Steven out of his sleeping glory and into his living nightmare.
Another pain hit me as I walked (by now it was more like waddling) into the garage. It was becoming routine by then, but apparently not to Red because he jumped at the sight of me.
"You okay?" he asked. Red walked towards me, a rag in his hand from cleaning the Corvette we'd all chipped in for as a New Year's gift in 1980.
I looked up, the stare of death in my eyes. "Does it look like I'm okay?"
"Fine," Red crossed his arms over his chest. "Here's a better question, why aren't you okay?"
"Forget it, I just need to get Steven," I said.
"Soot yourself."
Ever since Steven and I bought Donna's old house, and I'd started walking over to the Forman's each day, I've started thinking about Eric and Donna a lot. I know it's weird, but I can remember Donna always saying how she and Eric lived twenty steps away from each other. And, if they are big enough, I can make it from the Forman's back porch to ours in exactly 24 steps. Lately, I've been wondering if my relationship with Steven would have been different if we'd known each other our entire lives and lived next door to each like Eric and Donna did.
Whatifthetwinshadmetsomeonelikethat?I thought. It was a possibility, a women two houses over was also pregnant. But what about Eric and Donna's son Luke? Wouldn't it be adorable if we watched our children fall in love?...
I found the door to our house empty, which wasn't a surprise because I don't think it'd ever been locked, not even when it was the Pinciotti. I walked right in, calling out Steven's name.
"Steven!" I yelled. "Steven, come on!"
I waited for an answer, but nothing came. But whatever, I'd just have to get him myself if I wanted to give birth anywhere but the bathroom floor.
I climbed the stairs to the top floor and headed down the hall, walking past the nurseries as I did so. This was another thing that had become routine for me. The second I discovered I was having twins (one boy and one girl, by the way), I went into decoration mode, ordering Steven, Michael, and Fez to paint the walls in the two rooms I'd decided to use as nurseries. I picked out the perfect cribs, re-did the carpeting, went on a shopping spree for clothes, blankets, and a rocketing chair. The result was a bright pink nursery for our daughter, the walls decorated with crowns, castles, and unicorns, a closet full of clothes, a white oak crib containing a Winnie the Pooh teddy bear, and a bright blue room with animals everywhere in sight for our son. I'd considered putting their names up on the wall, but changing my mind everywhere I went wasn't helping it at all.
I found the main bedroom empty, which wasn't a completely shock, but I still had no idea where Steven was, or what was too come.
~~~ . . . ~~~
I walked into the garage once more that day and leaned against one of the racks, trying to figure out exactly what was going on, what I was going to do. "I… I think I'm going into labor."
Red's head poked up from behind the side of Corvette he was polishing, his eyes widening. However, he still kept his cool. "Well, uh aren't you going to get Steven?"
I looked past the door in the garage and past the hedges in the yard. Even if Steven was there, I wouldn't have been able to make it again to the house to get him. They, the pains, were becoming more frequent and more unbearable. I fixed my gaze back toward Red with a sigh. "He wasn't there… would you take me?"
Red raised an eyebrow. "Take you where?"
I sighed once more, feeling what felt like the millionth pain coming on, but with more fierceness this time. "The hospital… I think it's time."