Jackie remains in shock as Hyde stands there. Ever since she walked out of his apartment she has been searching for a way to contact him and figure out how to form a friendship with him after all they have been through. However, she was certainly not ready to do that while Jason was standing just a few feet away from her. She quickly glances over to the kitchen where Jason is standing pouring himself another glass of wine and she can immediately tell his is uncomfortable with the situation. Frankly, so is she and is dreading what might happen with both men there.

"Steven, it's not a good time right now. I'm in the middle of something" she says. After just having told Jason that he will always come before Hyde, she needs to make him see that she was being honest and the only way to do that in this situation is to have Hyde leave.

"Jackie" starts Hyde. He notices Jason in the background and quickly lowers his voice so only Jackie can hear. He isn't sure who this man is, but something in him makes him become guarded. He was expecting to have a smooth conversation with Jackie in which he can explain and apologize for the kiss. However, now he has to deal with whoever this guy was also. "I really need to talk to you" he finishes.

"Steven, why don't you just call me a little later and we can figure out a time to meet and talk about whatever it is you want" responds Jackie, desperately hoping to show Jason that she intends to keep her word.

"I can't wait, I'm sorry but this is important" Hyde says firmly. He would be damned if he came all this way to have some random guy get the upper hand. Granted he has no idea who he is, but he keeps convincing himself that he is not as important as the history he shares with Jackie.

At this point, Jason is annoyed by Hyde's persistence and decides to step in. "Listen man, we're busy right now so how about you call her at another time and let us finish. I'm sure she can pencil you into her schedule."

Hyde's brows rise and he directs his gaze at the stranger a mere feet away. It intrigues him how different California is from Point Place thus far. In Wisconsin, no one would ever dare step to him or speak to him the way this man just did. They all knew better than to challenge Steven J. Hyde. Frankly, he is taken aback at the unexpected response but refuses to let the guy get to him.

"Listen man" he says mockingly, "I don't know who you are, but this is between me and Jackie so it's best if you stay out of it."

Jason places his glass down on the kitchen counter and walks towards where Jackie is standing. She is still by the door, looking at him unsure of what his next move will be. In an attempt to show Hyde how important he is to Jackie, Jason wraps his arm around her shoulders and smiles at her. She shoots him a small smile. "It if concerns Jackie, it concerns me" he says to Hyde.

"I hadn't realized Jackie had a keeper. I thought she was a grown woman. Excuse the hell out of me for the misunderstanding" replies Hyde sarcastically.

Jackie furrows her brow at the insult. She knows why Jason is acting the way he is and she appreciates that he cares enough about her to be protective. It also saddens her a bit that there was once a point in her life where Hyde was her "keeper" and took pride in being the one who protected her. Now, here he is, mocking Jason for doing the exact same thing.

"Jackie is fully capable of taking care of herself. I'm just making sure you don't manage to snake your way back into her life" says Jason bitterly.

Jackie looks at Jason in disbelief. She knows he is not Hyde's biggest fan, but she did not expect him to go there. Throughout her time in California, she has told Jason everything about Hyde and he is the reason she has been able to move on from that life and become happy. In the time she has known him, he has never been someone to take a low blow like the one he just took.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" asks Hyde. His teeth and hands are clenching and his breathing becomes shallow. "You don't know a damn thing about me so I suggest you learn your fucking place."

Jason smirks at the obvious shift in power. He has Hyde exactly where he wanted to, he now has the upper hand and he is going to make sure to win this "war."

"Trust me, I know you Hyde. I know what you're capable of and I won't let you hurt Jackie."

Hyde looks over at Jackie and she can see he is reaching his boiling point. His eyes portray a fierceness she has not seen in years and she knows he is just as mad at her for telling Jason about him as he is about Jason's insolence. She quickly tries to stop Jason from going any further but he ignores her and continues spewing insults towards Hyde. "You didn't think that after everything you put her through you could come back in her life? Trust me buddy, it's not going to happen."

"Jason, please stop" urges Jackie again.

"Yeah, Jason. If I were you, I would listen to her" responds Hyde coolly. He wonders just how much Jackie has told this Jason character about their relationship and the mistakes he has made. He probably guesses she has told him everything which pisses him off but again, he must remain zen. Aloof.

"Or what?" replies Jason. His desire to protect Jackie has escalated to a new level, one that including hurting Hyde in any way he could. He knows he's pushing it and is putting Jackie in an uncomfortable position but what he wants more than anything is to show her that he, and he alone, can protect. He wants to show her that Hyde can not do that for her, that he can not measure up to him.

At this point, Hyde has stepped into the apartment and is only a few centimeters from Jason. He has to remind himself to not kick this guy's ass if only to show Jackie that he is a different person that the one he was back in Point Place. As much as he wants to just punch Jason's face in, his priority is her. "You're not worth it so if I were you I would stop ahead of time."

"Again, or what?" Jason steps closer to Hyde and is almost face to face with him when Jackie steps between them. "Enough," she says, "I need both of you to stop." she walks over to the couch and takes a seat leaving both men looking after her.

"Jackie, what do you want me to do about him?" asks Jason.

"I don't know Jason...I just wish you would both stop and stop putting me in this position."

"All I want to do is talk to you" says Hyde. "I didn't come here to argue with this dude, I came to talk to you."

"And she doesn't want to talk to you, get the damn hint. You've hurt her enough already with your stripper wide and alcohol binging. You don't understand that you're trash and don't deserve her?" Jason is now as close to Hyde as physically possible.

"Jason" yells Jackie completely incredulous. Everything she has told him about Steven was for him to help her cope with her past life and help her start a new one. She certainly had not told him so he could use it against Hyde. It infuriates her that Jason crossed that line so easily. No matter how protective he feels about her, he knows how sensitive that subject is for her and should have known better. Not only did he disrespect Hyde, he completely disregarded her feelings. However, before she could say anything else, Hyde already punched Jason square in the jaw. Both men are on the floor with Jason being pinned down and Hyde continuously bashing his face in.

Jackie rushes from the couch to where they are and tries to pull Hyde off Jason. She struggles with his weight and nearly falls backwards. "Steven stop it!" she yells. As she continues to struggle pulling Hyde away, she notices blood gushing from Jason's face and begins to freak out. "God damn it Steven get the fuck off him."

After laying a few more punches, Hyde gets off Jason. His knuckles are bleeding and he notices a small pool of blood under Jason. His shirt is soaked and all he can focus on is Jackie rushing towards Jason to make sure he is okay. Hyde knows how much he screwed up and doubts Jackie will ever forgive him now. "Jackie, I...I'm sorry. I didn't, I mean I..." he stammers. What can he possibly say to make this okay. All his zen practice throughout the years have failed him. He let one asshole get to him in a matter of minutes and now his chances with Jackie are zilch.

Hyde turns his back towards the horrific scene and paces back and forth in disbelief. He curses himself under his breath and before he knows it, is knocked down. Jason picks him up by the collar of his t-shirt and lays a bunch across his cheek. Both men rumble around as Jackie tries to step in the middle of the fight. She is crying and cursing at both to stop.

After several minutes, she manages to break them apart. Both men are a bloody mess and Jackie can't stop sobbing. How did it come to this? How could the two men she has cared most about hurt her like this?

Jason walks over to the kitchen and grabs a handful of napkins, runs cold water through them and starts cleaning the blood off his face. Hyde stands by the door wiping his chin with the back of her hand and Jackie is sitting on the sofa, her head in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. Hyde walks over to her, kneels down and touches her arm. "I'm sorry" he whispers. "Jackie, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to do this."

"Get away from her" he hears Jason say from the kitchen. "Don't you dare fucking touch her after doing this. You are a bigger bastard than I thought you were."

"Me?" asks Hyde getting back on his feet. "You're not exactly prince Charming are you now buddy."

"I was defending her honor. You threw the first punch like the coward you are. Just get out, she's not going to choose you over me so just stop trying."

"You're so sure she'll choose you but from where I'm standing, you're not much different from me."

"Let's be clear here, I am nothing like you. That's why she'll choose me, because I'm better than you. I'm better for her."

Hyde can't help but laugh. The amount of times he has heard about how something or someone is better for Jackie than he are more than he can count. Kelso, Fez, Chicago. All things that were supposed to be better for her and yet none of them had worked out. That fact alone made them equal to him. The only difference is he isn't giving up. Unlike Kelso and Fez, he loves her and will continue to fight for her. Unlike Chicago, he is a sure thing—has grown to be a sure thing. Now this guy claims to be better for her? Hyde doubts that.

"Don't believe me? Let's just ask her." Jason walks over to Jackie who is still in distress and asks her who she chooses. Unable to reply, she just breathes deeply and asks him to stop. "Jackie, who do you choose?" he presses on.

Jackie shakes her head. How can he be asking her to choose right now? After everything that just happened, he should know that she's not okay and that should be his main concern, not whether she chooses him or not.

Getting irritated at the lack of an answer, Jason grabs Jackie by the elbows, forces her to stand up and asks her once again to choose. "I can't" she replies softly.

"You can't decide who you choose?" he asks firmly.

"Leave her alone, can't you see she's freaked out?" says Hyde walking towards where they are standing and grabbing Jackie from Jason's arms. She instinctively wraps her arms around his neck and begins to cry harder than before. He runs his fingers through her hair and whispers words of comfort.

"DAMN IT JACKIE JUST CHOOSE" yells Jason who is enraged by what the former lovers are doing.

Hyde shoots him a cold look and continues to calm Jackie down. Jason, not willing to lose, walks over to them, yanks Jackie's arm and makes her look into his eyes. "You need to choose right now Jackie. Right now. It's either him or me."

Once again, Jackie shakes her head. This isn't the Jason she knows. This isn't the person who has stood by her through her ups and downs. This person standing in front of her, asking her to make this decision is someone she doesn't know, someone she doesn't like. "I can't" she responds.

Disgusted, Jason lets go of her and starts heading towards the door. "You just made your choice. I hope you're happy." He opens the door and slams it shut on his way out.

Jackie collapses onto the floor and starts crying again. Hyde rushes to her and cradles her in his lap. She nuzzles her head in his neck and revels in the familiarity, the intimacy. However, she hates that he also creates this fiasco. Had he just listened to her and left when she asked him too, all of this could have been avoided. Now, yet again, he has cost her someone important to her and it was unforgivable.

She raises her head and pushes her body off him. She crawls a few feet away and brings her knees to her chest as she sits on the floor. He looks at her, sad that she has broken their closeness.

"Why do you keep doing this to me?" she asks in between sobs.

He looks at her quizzically, unsure of what she is talking about.

"Why do you insist on ruining my life?" she says.

Hyde looks on shocked that she thinks this is his intention. After all the effort he has done to get her back in his life (even if he has managed to mess it up), not once did he think he was ruining her life. "That's not what I want to do. That's not why I came to California to do Jackie. I'm so sorry if that's what you think of me." He tries to move closer to is stopped when she shakes her head and raises her hand up.

"Then why are you here Steven? What did you come all this way for if it wasn't for that?" she asks firmly.

"I came..." he exhales deeply and looks around. The mess he has managed to cause in such a short period of time really disgust him. How can she not think his intention is to mess up her life if that's all he's done so far? "I guess it doesn't matter why anymore. It's probably a good idea for me to go back to Wisconsin anyway" he says while getting up from the floor.

"No" she says and also gets up. "You owe me that much. Why did you come here?"

"Jackie, I don't think either of us is in the right state of mind to have this conversation."

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU HERE!?" she yells.

Her reaction frightens him. The only times she has yelled at him have been when he really fucked up and if he didn't already know he fucked up, now he did. He sees the rage in her eyes, something he has never seen in all his years of knowing her.

"I came because I want you. I want you back in my life and I thought that by coming here I could have another shot at happiness. I came hoping that you could forgive me and we could both have a shot at happiness" he replies honestly. As soon as those words left his mouth, a huge weight was taken off his shoulders.

"You want me?" she asks.

Hyde nods nervously because that look is still there. His nerves, however, are replaced by confusion as she begins to unbutton her blouse. One by one the buttons came off the hole until she was finally standing in her bra.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

"You said you want me. Well, here I am."

Tears continue to stream down her face as she unhooks her bra and proceeds to unzip her skirt. Standing a few feet away, Hyde becomes uncomfortable. As beautiful as she is standing half naked in front of him and as badly as he wants to go over and have his way with her, this is not what he wants. He stares at this woman, standing there nearly broken and his heart breaks for her. This Jackie, which he has seen so many times as a result of his constant fuck ups throughout their relationship, is not the one he wanted to see ever again. This woman is a constant reminded of how badly he treated her and how his only constant in his life has been breaking her spirit. He had come to California to find his constant and what he truly wants now is to do away with it. He wants a new constant, one which includes Jackie being happy and fulfilled.

He rushes over to her, picks her blouse from the floor and grabs her hands to stop her from further revealing herself. "Stop" he whispers.

"Why?" she asks sobbing, "isn't this what you want? Am I not good enough now?"

Hyde takes her arms and pulls them through the sleeves of the blouse and gently buttons it back on. She looks down at his hands, slowly undoing what she did and she feels all the energy drain from her body. The weight of her body collapses on him and she can't seem to cry anymore. Hyde lifts her up and sits her down on the couch. There, he does the last few buttons on her blouse and cups her face in his hand.

"I want to be your friend" he says while looking into her eyes. She sees straight into his blue eyes and can feel the honesty and his love for her. Surprisingly, she musters a laugh which causes him to smile a bit.

"You want to be friends?" she asks. The thought of being friends with Steven Hyde was so unbelievable to her, it was comical.

"I do."

"Why?" she asks curiously.

"Well, I figure we've never actually been friends and maybe that's why things don't work out between us. Maybe if we do it like normal people, then it might work out this time" he says with a smile.

"How do you know I want it to work out?" she asks, returning his smile.

His face suddenly falls and he becomes serious. "I don't. I can only hope that somewhere down the road you can forgive me and want to give me another chance."

"And you're willing to wait that long?" she asks.

"As long as it takes" is his simple response.

Jackie simply nods her head. It amazes her how she can fall under his charm every time. The thing is, however, that this time felt different. She knows that's probably the hopeless romantic in her speaking but she senses that both are now different people and this friendship idea may actually be beneficial to them. Even if a relationship doesn't come into fruition from this plan, they can still develop some sort of civil relationship and can get some closure from their messy past.

She extends her hand in front of her and holds it out for him. He laughs and accepts her handshake.

"I guess I'm starting at the very beginning" he says mischievously.

She nods and smirks, "I wouldn't have it any other way, friend."