Before I Say I Do

Chapter 1: It Takes Two

"Oh, wasn't what Jackie said to you just so sweet, Red?" Kitty asked her husband as she slid next to him in their bed.

"What?" Red asked suddenly, looking up from his book. He cleared his throat, "Oh yeah, uh… real sweet."

She glared at her husband for a moment. "Oh, Red. C'mon, you know that what she said meant something to you."

That was true. What Jackie had said to Red in the kitchen of the Forman house that day had really touched him. The fact that, after all those years, she had- and still did- think of him in a fatherly way and position. While he knew that the teenagers that used to hang around his house were annoying- and downright dumbasses- at times, he'd always try to treat those kids like any father should. So even though they got on his nerves at times- most of the time- it still felt good knowing that he'd made an impression on them and had made a positive impact on them in a fatherly way.

Of course, he'd never say this out loud to anyone- especially now to those adult dumbasses that he, for some reason, couldn't really live without.

But Red knew that Kitty could read him like an open book. He knew that she could tell what his thoughts were, no matter what those thoughts really were. They'd been married too long and had dealt with those kids for too long, so she was practically an expert on him and how he felt about them. He knew that his wife most likely knew that he didn't really hate those kids who'd been hanging around their house for years. That didn't mean that she didn't know that he did get annoyed and frustrated with them a lot- but that's just how he was with children, no matter what their age. You can get annoyed by them, but you still can't help but love them.

"Eh," Red shrugged nonchalantly, in response to her statement.

Kitty lightly slapped the back of her hand against his forearm. "Red Forman," she criticized, "Stop acting like it didn't mean anything to you. I know it did."

"Well, it's not like I was her first choice, Kitty. You heard her mention her dad and W. B."

"It's not that you weren't her first choice, Red. It's the fact that she still chose you."

Red tried to look unphased. "Sure, ok."

Kitty let out a slight sigh, then looked back up at her husband. "At least Bob wasn't an option," she tried to point out.

Red looked at his wife and began to laugh, and she did the same. "He'd probably be a blubbering mess down that aisle," he managed to get out between laughs.

-/-/-

"I still say that he only said yes cause you're his favorite," Hyde commented to his fiancé.

Jackie shrugged lightly as she stood in front of the mirror, brushing her hair. "I don't completely doubt that," she agreed, "But it also could've been for the fact that he doesn't know when Laurie might be actually getting married."

"Or if she already is. Or if she has a kid already- which she might."

Even hours after asking the eldest Forman about the wedding, Jackie was still overjoyed the Red had agreed to walk her down the aisle. When she'd asked him, she'd been one hundred percent genuine that she put him in a fatherly position. She really did think of him that way, and for a number of reasons. One: he'd always been there for her- as well as the rest of the group- even when he didn't want to be. Two: he'd taken her into his home when her father had been arrested and her mother was out of the country. Three: he'd been the one to teach her how to fix a car. There were hundreds of other reasons why she thought of him as a father to her, but these were just some of the major reasons.

And Hyde really did believe part of the reason Red agreed to walk Jackie down the aisle was because she was his favorite. He also knew that the older man did really care about them all, going off of what he'd seen over the years of living in the Forman house. He knew that the eldest Forman genuinely cared about the lives and well-being of them all, no matter how often he tried to deny it. He knew that it wasn't just Kitty who cared about the six of them- well, eight, including Brooke and Betsy- cause if it wasn't just her who loved them, how come they all ended up staying around the Forman house so much without having a foot in each of their asses.

Although, there was a theory that Red still didn't particularly like Fez, since he'd married Laurie and gave him a heart attack.

Jackie slid into the bed they shared together ever since a month after they got engaged. Hyde raised the blanket up a bit as he slid toward the edge of the bed an inch or two, giving room for her to get in. Once she was in, he let the blanket fall over her smaller figure and she snuggled up against his right side. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him as she wrapped her arms around his torso. The two shifted in bed until they were both completely comfortable in their positions.

"We still have a lot to do before the wedding," Jackie commented.

"Yeah," Hyde breathed out, "Cant' wait."

Jackie looked up at him excitedly. "Really?"

He let out a light chuckle at her excitement. "Sure, doll."

Her face fell a bit, noting his tone. "You're just saying that to make me happy, aren't you?"

"Depends. Did it make you happy?"

"Well, yeah…"

"Then it worked," Hyde said with a visible smirk, then leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

-/-/-

The next morning, the Forman house was alive with people. Kitty was running around, making breakfast for all of her kids that were all in the house at the present time. Jackie sat with Donna and Brooke at the kitchen counter, going over a schedule for the day. Hyde, Eric, Kelso and Fez all sat at the kitchen table- Fez daringly sitting in Red's chair- just talking and goofing off, just like they always had. Little Betsy Kelso was going back and forth between her mother, her father, godmother, godfather and her "grandma" Kitty. At the present time, she was by Kitty- who was still making food for breakfast- helping the eldest female of the house in any way she could and her mother allowed.

"Are you being careful, Betsy?" Brooke questioned, looking up from what she was doing to check on his daughter.

Both Betsy and Kitty looked up at the mother. "Yes, Mommy," Betsy answered in her gentle, high pitched tone of voice.

"Oh, don't worry, Brooke," Kitty consoled, then covered the little girl's ear for a moment- which caused her to giggle, "I'm only letting her help me prepare the plates once everything's prepared and the stove is off." Kitty took her hands off the giggling girl's ears as Brooke gave a smile in appreciation, then went back to what she was doing with Jackie and Donna.

Red entered the kitchen, then let out a groan of annoyance as his eyes scanned over the occupants of his kitchen. All those present in the room looked up at him in confusion and with questioning looks on their faces.

"Why're you all here?" Red asked, not hiding his annoyance, "You're all adults, so why're you all still in my house?"

"Red, honey, you need to go out to do some errands with the boys today," Kitty answered, still looking at her cooking, ignoring his original question.

"Why?"

"The same reason I'm going with Jackie, Brooke and Donna."

"And me!" Betsy made sure to mention with an eager smile.

Kitty looked down at the little girl and nodded. "Yes, and you too, Betsy."

"Which is?" Red asked, not focusing on the little girl too much at the moment.

She walked over to Red and whispered, "You're partly going to make sure Michael and Fez behave themselves today. And cause you're a part of the wedding, so you have to go."

"Fine…"

Kitty let out one of her signature laughs. "Alright everyone, we'll all have breakfast then we'll get going and start planning this wedding!"

The word "great" was heard from those in the room- but the tone in which the word was said varied from person to person.

Here's the official first chapter of "Before I Say I Do". Each chapter will be named after a song, but the words of the actual song will not have to do with the chapter at all- mostly, just the actual title of the song. If the lyrics to the song work for it, that works for me.

To be honest, I'm not very happy with this chapter, but I am with the other ones I already wrote, so I think it'll get better from here. Hopefully though, you liked it- with that, next update will be in two to four weeks, no more no less. I only updated earlier for this first one cause for some reason, I had time. Peace from all the hippies of the world. =^-^=