A/N: As promised, it's Wednesday and here we are. Thank you so much for the reviews last time, they're extra nice, when you're new to a fandom. This time, we'll get a little more into it. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Point Place, Wisconsin

August 10th, 1989, 9:30 PM

The Point Place Water Tower

"You know, this really seems like the kind of thing, we should have gotten over by now," Donna said, when they'd all reached the top of the water tower. Jackie nodded in agreement. Hyde passed around the beer cans, and Jackie took one. She might have preferred the kind of drinks, that guys liked to complain about being too manly to order, but she didn't mind drinking beer either.

"Well, if grown adults can go and drink punch in their high school gym for a night, we can sit at the water tower and drink beer," Eric argued, which Jackie had to admit, was a decent counterpoint. Her high school reunion last night had really cemented that point. The cheerleaders weren't her friends anymore. The group currently sitting at the water tower, were the people that were her friends. These guys, as much as she told herself, they were idiots, had been the people, she had looked forward to seeing.

All of them paused for a moment, Hyde next to her. He'd been the one to climb the ladder to the tower just before her. She hadn't been up here, in so long. It felt weird to be back here. She had thought her life was going to be so different, when she'd graduated high school. Be a TV star, have a husband, probably have kids, and definitely have a nice house. Instead, she was a producer on a morning show, had a small apartment in LA, the closest she had gotten to getting married, was John who she'd run out on, and the only close family she had currently on the continent, was in prison for bribery and embezzlement. She adored her job, much more than her stint as a host, she had good friends, and she didn't feel the need for a boyfriend. It was just different, than she had expected it to be. "I don't think, we've all been together since New Year's two years ago."

"God, I think you're actually right," Eric said, and took another sip of beer. Michael and Brooke usually threw a New Year's Eve party. Other than that, they mostly got together for birthdays, and a Christmas party at the Formans. But it wasn't always, that everyone could make it to those things, so Jackie could see what they meant. Eric and Donna had been out of the country last year, when Brooke had given birth. Jackie had been stuck working on a Christmas Day show in Los Angeles, that was being broadcast live last Christmas. "Fez couldn't even get off work for The Super Bowl. We had to watch the 49'ers win, without him there to rub in our faces."

"A business doesn't run itself, Eric," Fez retorted, but there was also a smug smile on his face. Fez still didn't know all that much about football, as far as Jackie knew, with the exception of the fact that the 49'ers were from San Francisco. "But we do, do everything better in San Francisco. When was the last time, the Packers won the Super Bowl?"

"Fez, don't let my dad hear you say that, or you might end up dead and dumped into a dumpster," Eric said. "In fact, I think it's a solid 99% risk. He just needs to find a dumpster."

"Well, now that we're all together, we should toast to Charlie, right?" Kelso said. Everyone else leaning against the water tower nodded. Jackie briefly remembered Charlie. The boys had hung out with him, around the time, she'd been about to go to Chicago. The next thing, she knew, Charlie had fallen off the water tower, and unlike the rest of the boys, he hadn't gotten up again. It was weird, considering how Michael claimed, he had fallen off the water tower every year through school, and the worst that happened to him was a broken arm. Maybe Michael's skull was just a lot thicker.

"To Charlie," Fez said, raising his beer. Everyone else echoed him. There was a moment of a silence, where nobody said anything. "I still can't believe that magnificent bastard, actually died falling off the water tower."

"Fez, isn't that a little grim to talk about?" Michael asked. "I mean, the guy died here, man."

"Well, we can talk about what we've done for the last year and a half," Jackie said. It was lame, Jackie even kind of thought so. But a part of her was genuinely curious about it. Also, she really wanted to change the subject away from Charlie, considering the fact that they were currently standing on the water tower. Sure, Donna had filled her in, on how she and Eric were doing. But she hadn't seen either Fez nor Michael for a good while, and she genuinely had no idea what Hyde was doing these days, besides the going to dinner at the Formans thing. Both Eric and Fez made a face at her suggestion.

"No no, I think it's kind of cool," Donna interjected. She paused for a moment and looked down at her own feet for a beat. Jackie wondered what she was thinking. She might have to ask her at some point. Jackie took a sip of her beer. "I mean- we don't see each other a whole lot anymore and a lot of things can happen, so what the hell?"

"I can go first, if no one else wants to," Jackie suggested, looking around at her friends.

"Of course, you'd say that," Hyde retorted under his breath, and Jackie glared at him. Had this been 7 or 8 years ago and anywhere else, she might have hit his arm, but she didn't actually want him to fall down the water tower, and she also didn't care enough anymore.

"Maybe, I just take pride in what I do, Hyde," she retorted. Hyde didn't say anything else, and nobody protested. "I work as a producer on a morning show that films in LA, I was a host for a while, but honestly hosts are just kind of talking heads. If you're on screen, you're on screen, but producers get to decide more. And um- I was engaged for a while to a lawyer named John, and he was going to inherit a really nice house from his parents."

"Dreamboat," Eric shot in, and Jackie considered if she could punch him. John had been a perfectly nice guy for the most part, he was good looking, his job as a lawyer and the future house, which had been his parents' vacation house was just a bonus. None of that had been the problem, she just happened to realize her heart wasn't in it. But it wasn't like any of them was going to get that, anyhow.

"Anyway, I called the wedding off," Jackie said, and avoided whatever looks the rest of them were sending her. "Just realized, it wasn't what I wanted."

"Well, that is a first, Goddess," Fez said. Jackie didn't reply, there wasn't really a point. Donna made a face at Fez, which was fair enough. But it was just a joke, Fez had called her goddess as a joke, since both of them got over their breakup. Jackie didn't really mind. "But unlike you, I'm getting married to my very gorgeous fiancée Kelly next spring, and it's going to be magical, my friends. And I still have the salon of course. That was where I met her."

"'This another Danielle situation, where you're just that great at shampooing a chick's hair?" Hyde asked. Jackie glared at him. Kelly was nice, dumb as hell, but she was nice. Jackie had been in San Francisco a couple of months ago, and had dinner with the two of them. She wasn't sure, whether Hyde took the hint or not.

"Hey, I wish I could pull that trick off," Michael interjected defensively. He shuffled his hands a little awkwardly. "Anyway, as you guys know it's Will's birthday in a couple of weeks. And Betsy is about to start middle school, she's one of the best kids in her class. And I'm gonna ask Brooke to marry me."

"Kelso, you said you were going to propose to Brooke two years ago," Donna pointed out, and Jackie nodded. It was no secret, that Michael couldn't figure out how to propose to Brooke. No matter what brilliant plan he'd laid, at least by Michael's standards, he always ended up backing off at the last minute.

"She's got a point, man. I think I need to see it to believe it," Eric agreed. Michael made a face at both of them. He'd announced it at least 5 times, that he was going to propose to Brooke, but every single time, he backed out, because of some small detail or another. Fez nodded in agreement.

"Kelso, you two have been together for nine years. You got two kids. Sure, the first one was an accident, but the second one wasn't," Hyde said, pretty much laying out exactly the reasons why, Jackie thought Michael was being ridiculous. "I think, she stopped giving a shit a while ago, if you have never read a book without pictures, or whether her mom hates your guts."

"Well, I am going to propose to her this time, man," Michael fired back.

"Need to see it to believe it, man," Eric said with an amused smile. "But I guess, I can go next. Donna and I just got home from Mexico, surprisingly no sight of Jackie's mom." Jackie couldn't even find it in herself to be mad at him for that, but she did glare at him for good measure. "And we travel a lot, and I pick up hours at the school, when we're home to afford going places."

"And I write for the Wisconsin State Journal and Isthmus whenever we're home," Donna continued. "As cool, as the radio was, I get to say a lot more important stuff this way."

"And I'm not telling you shit," Hyde interjected. Jackie rolled her eyes, of course he would say that.

"Come on!" Fez protested. "I must know, if the stripper is coming to my wedding."

"Moron, you know Sam divorced both me and Larry, when she met that other guy," Hyde fired back. She'd known Hyde wasn't dating the stripper anyway, she hadn't had any uncomfortable confrontations with her at Eric and Donna's wedding after all, but she'd figured he was still stuck being illegally married to her. Hyde sighed heavily, clearly realizing that Fez had baited him into saying more than he meant to. "Fine. WB made me 'regional manager' a couple of years ago. Basically, means I get to drive around to the different stores, listen to music, and make sure they carry Zeppelin. But mostly, I just run the store in Kenosha."

"Look, Hyde has moved up the corporate ladder to middle management," Eric interjected, making all of them snort with laughter. If looks could kill, Eric would be dead, after the look Hyde gave him.

"Can it, Forman," Hyde bit back. "I still don't work very hard."

It might have been August, but after a couple of hours on top of the water tower, it was getting pretty cold. This was Wisconsin after all, not Los Angeles. Jackie shivered through her jacket, and hugged it a little tighter around her. She glanced down on her watch, it was getting pretty late too. Jackie took another sip of her fourth beer that night. Sure, her mom wouldn't exactly be up waiting, but they should still get back home, fairly soon. Donna was leaning heavily on Eric, her head resting on his shoulder. Fez seemed really fascinated by the text on the can, holding it up to his face and staring on it. Jackie shuffled a bit from foot to foot.

"Well, I think we should get back down," Jackie said, as she made one step towards the stairs. It only took a moment for her to realize, she'd made a mistake, and that four beers were at least one too many, when her foot slipped and her stomach fell. She knew all the guys had fallen off this thing, and she really hadn't planned to be next. Jackie only managed to let out a scream, that sounded more like a squeak, when someone grabbed her arm, and kept her steady, pulling her back up onto the platform. Her heart was beating at a thousand miles per hour in her chest, and Jackie took a deep breath.

"Careful, Jacks, can't have you fall down," Hyde said, because of course Hyde was the one, who had caught her. Jackie made a face at him, which was met with a blank expression. Indifference obviously, they weren't really speaking anymore. "You'll fall too hard."

"Yeah, Jackie you're almost thirty. That's like old, old," Michael chimed in, making her roll her eyes. Jackie was about to snap a shut up, Michael or something to that effect, when Eric of all people, came to her rescue. Granted, he'd stopped calling her the devil to her face years ago, but it was still kind of caught Jackie off guard.

"Kelso, aren't you two years older than her?" Eric asked. Everyone else seemed to have turned their attention to whatever argument, she and Michael were sort of having. Which, considering the fact, that they'd once had a pool on, when they were going to start fighting and break up, shouldn't be that surprising to Jackie. It was still annoying though.

"He's right, you should be careful, Michael. You might start balding soon," Jackie bit back, making Michael let out an insulted shriek, Donna laughed, and if her eyes weren't deceiving her, Hyde almost smiled out of the corner of her eye. Not that she particularly cared what Hyde did. Donna padded Michael on the shoulder with faux sympathy, as Fez started to climb down the ladder to the ground.