In the Forman's living room:
Fez was sitting on the couch watching reruns of Laverne and Shirley when all of a sudden his wife, Laurie, comes strolling in through the front door. She seemed shocked for a moment to see her husband but then continued her way to the kitchen without so much as a hello. Fez, feeling disrespected followed her through the swinging doors and braced himself for the argument that was sure to follow.
"Laurie, I have been calling the house since yesterday."
"Well, I obviously couldn't answer it since I'm here and not in Kenosha."
"I thought you had to work and couldn't come down here. That is why you did not come with me."
"Yeah well, my friend Carlos called and I was able to take a few days off. Told them it was a family emergency."
"Oh your "friend" huh?"
"Yes, friend."
"Oh cut the crap Jezebel, we both know you're whoring around on me."
"Fez, I'm shocked you would accuse me of something like that" said Laurie in her sweet, sarcastic voice.
"Yeah, yeah I'm sure you are."
"Look Fez, I'm just having a little fun for the first time in a while. All you ever do now is work, come home and sleep."
"Oh well I can just not work and then we could get kicked out of the apartment unless we whore you around which I'm sure you wouldn't mind doing anyways."
"Oh really, well...well...you're stupid!"
"Ooh good comeback, who are you Eric?"
Fez sighed as his wife stood speechless at his insult. True he had taken it a bit far but this was Laurie and right now their marriage was less than perfect..Hell it was down right awful.
"Look Laurie, I just want to be honest with you. I..I think we should get a divorce."
"What!" Laurie asked stunned. "Fezzie, we can work this out."
"No...I met someone else."
"You've been cheating on me?"
"Oh come on. Don't act all innocent. We both know exactly what you're doing down here."
"Okay fine, but do we really have to get a divorce? We can have an open marriage and still have the perks" said Laurie with a suggestive smirk.
"Oh Laurie..no."
"It was worth a shot...Fez...It was fun while it lasted right?
Fez thought about his marriage to Laurie and though it hadn't lasted very long, they did have a few good memories together.
"It was" he answered. Giving Laurie one last hug, Fez let go of his old life and was more than ready to start a new one with someone he was sure would make him happy.
Flashback:
"Hey Kelso man, what's up?" asked Hyde
It was just another day in the basement in the middle of July. Frankly it was way too hot to be out doing anything. Hyde had been sitting in his usual seat by the mini fridge whiile Eric and Donna cuddled up in the couch, much to his disgust. The whole idea of being tied down to a single person downright confused him. What was so great about monogomy anyways? Everyone was always preaching about love. Love one another, love thy neighbor...well damn it, let everyone love each other without making a big deal out of being with more than one person.
"Nothing, just trying to hide from Jackie. She's really mad at me man."
Kelso had been dating Jackie for just over a year and every week they had some sort of argument. After their first five months together, Kelso had gone out and cheated on her with his lab partner and had made it a constant habit to sleep with other girls ever since.
Hyde was sure Jackie knew about it. She had to know. In a small town like Point Place, everyone knew everything about everybody and it wasn't likely that the most popular girl in school, who was also a member of one of the richest families, did not know that her boyfriend was sleeping around.What Hyde didn't understand was why, if she knew, she chose to stay with Kelso.
There was always the rational (according to Hyde) conclusion that love made people stupid and that is why he swore to never fall in love.
"What did you do now?" asked Donna.
Love in general seemed like a terrible idea to Hyde. You had to put so much effort to make someone else happy and could never be entirely sure that the same amount of effort could be returned. Love made people give away all of their power and makes them want to sacrifice everything for one person..out of millions of people in the world. The chances of finding love, especially in a shithole town like Point Place, were slimmer than the chances of there actually being a God.
The only relationship Hyde had seen where love actually exists is the Forman's. After years together, they seemed happy. Eric and Donna seemed well on their way there, but they were too young, in Hyde's opinion, to claim to know what that meant. The Formans were the exeption, and there can't be two exeptions, and if there was, Hyde figured it would be Eric and Donna. A third exception would just discredit any logic, and Hyde was one for logic.
Snapping out of his thoughts, he realized he had missed Kelso's explanation as to why Jackie was mad this time...not that he actually cared.
-End of flashback-
Point Place Hospital
Steven Hyde was awoken by the blinding light that came from the hospital windows which were no longer covered by the ugly green curtains. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he looked up at the clock mounted on the wall opposite his bed- 8:52am. Hyde was not someone who woke up before noon and couldn't even remember the last time he saw the hour hand on anything before 11.
"Good morning Steven."
Hyde saw a very cheery Kitty Forman in her nurse's uniform and what he hoped were more drugs because he had a aplitting headache.
"Time to get up sleepy head. It's a beautiful day and just because you're here doesn't mean you can't enjoy it."
Hyde was never able to understand how she could be so happy, especially so early in the morning. He appreciated it though seeing as how the only way his mother was cheery was after drinking a bottle of booze and sleeping with "uncle" whoever.
"Mrs. Forman, how much longer do I have to stay here?" he asked.
"Oh, hopefully not much longer. The doctors just need to see that you're stable and then they'll let you leave."
He sighed in response. He couldn't believe he was actually missing the dirty little room in the basement. Guess he must have hit his head or something in the accident.
"Oh don't worry sweetie, I'll make sure all the girls here treat you extra nice so you'll enjoy it a little more."
"I doubt that will help, but thanks anyways Mrs. Forman."
Kitty frowned a bit. For most of Steven Hyde's life she had considered him one of her own, even when his mother was around, which wasn't often. Now, he was in a hospital and she couldn't help but feel bad for him. He had already been through so much throughout his life and the poor boy couldn't seem to catch a break.
"Steven, can I ask you a question?" she began.
Hyde looked up, curious to know what she woul ask him. Kitty Forman rarely ashed if she could ask a question, she would always just ask. He nodded.
"What happened the day of the accident?"
"Mrs Forman, I told you I got distracted for a few seconds and drove into the other car."
"No, Steven I know that I mean why did you leave the house so upset?"
"It was nothing Mrs. Forman, it wasn't important."
"Oh Steven, you've turned into this guy who's proved so many people wrong and yet you're still hiding."
"Hiding? What does that mean?"
"Sweetie, you still have this wall up and it's preventing you from being happy. I was hoping you'd realize that by now."
She was beginning to sound like someone else he knew.
"Mrs. Forman, I don't have a wall up, this is just the way I am."
"Okay, I just hope who you are can look back on his life one day and be proud of the decisions you've made."
"Mrs. Forman, where's this coming from?"
"I see you as my son and I am proud of the many things you've accomplished. You've really turned into an extraordinary young man, but I look at some of the choices you've made and can't help but think that you're not very happy,"
God, he hated talking about feelings but especially when it was with Mrs. Forman because she was so emotional, and sure enough there were a few tears being blinked back and it just made the situation much more uncomfortable.
"I'm not unhappy Mrs. Forman/"
The woman he considered his mother stood at the end of his hospital bed shaking her head sadly.
"If that's good enough for you Steven, then there's nothing more I can say, but you should not settle because you deserve more than what you have."
With those final words, she walked out of the room (taking the medicine with her).
Hyde fell back on the uncomfortable hospital bed and did something he hated doing, overthinking the conversation he'd just have.
In California-
Jackie was on her way to meet Jason for lunch. She had spent the last few hours trying, and failing, to get some work done. Her mind just kept drifting back to her ex boyfriend who was in some hospital bed hundreds of miles away. There was something about Steven Hyde that made Jackie both mad and happy at the same time and she couldn't explain it, though it probably had to do with the fact that he was responsible for the happiest and worst parts of her life.
He single-handedly made her feel on top of the world and the brought her back down to a world full of abandonment and disappointment without so much as a warning.
It used to surprise her that he was able to surpass any of her expectations in the first place. When they had first gotten together, all her friends warned her of his womanizing way, a different girl every day and meaningless sex followed by nights of drinking and smoking. His characteristics far off from her idea of what prince charming was supposed to be like.
Though perhaps that was what attracted her to him. It was the age old story of girl going after the rebel bad boy in hopes of being the one to tame him. It seemed to be working for a while, but somewhere between moron ex boyfriends and raunchy blonde strippers, she failed to succeed. Had it not been for these, she was sure she would have been able to tame the lion, Hyde comma Steven.
Finally arriving at the little café, she parked her car and headed inside to meet Jason.
Inside, she heard a song she had grown to know all too well: Zeppelin's "All of My Love" played on the small jukebox in a corner of the room barely loud enough to he heard. Jackie, however, couldn't ignore the lyrics and melody filling the room.
Yours is the cloth, mine is the hand that sews time
his is the force that lies within
Ours is the fire, all the warmth we can find
He is a feather in the wind
All of my love,
all of my love,
all of my love to you now
Deciding to try and push any memories that arose of her old life, she quickly scanned the room and spotted Jason sitting on a chair stool by the counter dressed in what he liked to call "casual prep." It didn't take very long for him to spot her and wave almost maniacally. She couldn't help but laugh and made her way towards him.
"Hi love, how are you?" he asked while gently kissing her cheek.
His cologne filled Jackie's nostrils as they embraced and it made her forget all about the song that was coming to an end in the background. For a split second, her two world's coexisted this tiny space.
"I'm really good, happy to see you. It's been a while."
They continued to chat as they took their seats and for the next half hour or so, Jackie forgot about ex-boyfriends and Led Zeppelin songs and just enjoyed the company of a friend, something she truly had grown to miss.
Point Place- The Forman's Kitche:
"You're getting divorced? It hasn't even been a year" said Eric sounding surprised.
"Did you really expect it to last longer?"
"Well..no but...yeah you're right. I'm not sure why I'm shocked."
"Exactly.'
"Hyde was right man, nothing's the same anymore."
"Did you realize that now? No wonder you did so bad in the S."
"Fez man that was years ago, and I did better on the second one."
"Yeah, yeah. You idiot."
Fez then left the kitchen leaving Eric alone. There he started thinking about how he had failed to realize just how different things had actually become. Everyone hardly came around anymore, they were all scattered across the country and hardly spoke to one another. It was as though they were strangers to each other, as though they were existing in six different realms of time.
He thought to when the thought of losing one person was actually not even a thought. At one point in time, the basement gang was indestructable and all they needed was each other...but even Superman had a weakness so they shouldn't have been too shocked..right?
Flashback-
Eric: Hey. So I went to see Jake Bradley.
Hyde: You mean Jake Bradley!
Eric: Yes. See if he wanted to hang out, and you know what Mr. Cool Guy was doin'? He was hangin' out in his basement with his friends. And they were watching … the Six Million Dollar Man. It was eerie.
Hyde: Was there a skinny guy datin' this really hot chick who's way out of his league?
Eric: You know, there was.
Kelso: Wait. Does this mean we're not gettin' a fat kid to play with?
Eric: No, man, we don't need anyone else. You know what? We've only got two months until graduation. We can't waste a second of that.
-End of Flashback-
"Hey Eric, Mr. Forman said that he needed help painting the- are you okay?" asked Donna who entered through the sliding door to find her fiance looking slightly upset.
"Hey Donna, when did life go to hell?"
"Excuse me?" she asked thinking this had something to do with their relationship.
"I mean, what happened to all of us? How did we manage to grow apart the way we did?"
"I...don't know Eric. I wish I did."
"Do you miss it?"
"Do I miss it? You mean do I miss laughing with the five people I care most for? Do I miss having a second family I can tell anything to? Do I miss being as happy as before? Do you miss it?" she asked having answered her own question.
Eric simply nodded and both sat down by the counter trying to figure out when it was that they had all lost their happy.