Before I Say I Do

Chapter Two: Who Can It Be Now?

"Thank you so much for coming along, Mrs. Forman," Jackie smiled towards the elder woman.

"Oh, I'm happy to do it, Jackie," Kitty confirmed and let out a single laugh, "I'm just, just so happy that you asked me for my help with all of this."

Jackie, Donna, Brooke, Kitty and little Betsy left the house and got into the bride-to-be's car. The woman were all going out to start looking for anything and everything needed for the wedding. During the day, both the guys and the girls would do this, then the engaged couple would take the time alone and go over all they'd found and make a decision. But for during the day, Jackie decided that she would get all the help she possibly could- even including the help she could get from her lumberjack best friend. Then of course, she could always trust the opinion of her perfect little goddaughter, Betsy- if she was a Kelso… though, half of her DNA was from Brooke, so that would outweigh the Kelso blood and DNA strength.

"Well, of course, Mrs. Forman," Jackie smiled, "You've always had décor in your home that wasn't completely disastrous."

Kitty gave an unsure look, but still smiled weakly. "Well, thank you," she giggled confusedly, "I think."

"I think that was a compliment, Mrs. Forman," Donna whispered to the elder woman a bit unsurely, "At least, in her head it was."

Jackie scowled at her friend for a moment. "It was a compliment, Donna."

Kitty smiled at the scowling driver. "Then, thank you, Jackie."

Jackie's scowl quickly changed back into a smile. "You're welcome, Mrs. Forman. Oh, Donna," she said in sudden realization, "Maybe if we have time, we can look for some new clothes for you!"

"Great," Donna said with a fake smile and fake excitement.

Brooke nudged the redhead. "I'm shocked that she hasn't criticized my clothes yet," she whispered.

Donna pat the mother's arm comfortingly. "Don't worry, it's still early," she pointed out.

-/-/-

"I still can't believe I got stuck with you dumbasses," Red grumbled as he looked around at the four younger men in the car.

Eric was driving his old Vista Cruiser to the store. To keep Red somewhat calm, he'd had his three friends sitting in the back seat of the old car. Of course Red was still annoyed by the three morons that were in the back seat of his former car- due to both his increasing age and his natural annoyance rate- so it didn't do much. But it was clear that Red was having an easier time ignoring and blocking out the words and odd sounds that might come from the three since they were separated from him.

"Oh, come on, Dad. It's not that bad," Eric tried, "It's like when me and the guys were all teenagers again."

Red ignored his son's comment. "At least Bob's down in Florida," he grumbled.

"Actually, Mr. Red," Fez began from the backseat- making the elder man roll his eyes, "Bob is coming up from Florida to see Jackie and Hyde get married."

"How do you know that, Fez?" Kelso asked his friend curiously.

Fez looked at his man-pretty friend. "I talked with Bob on the phone the other day and he told me so himself."

The other four in the car had looks of slight disturbance on their faces. "Fez," Eric tried, "You talk to Bob on the phone?"

Fez nodded innocently. "Yes, don't you? He is your father-in-law."

Before Eric could say anything, Red let out an annoyed grunt. "Of course Bob has to come," he muttered, "I know it was too good to be true."

"W. B. is coming in a couple a' days too, Red," Hyde commented, "He's actually meeting us at the tuxedo place in a couple days."

Red thought for a moment. "Well, I don't mind W. B. too much. He's not as bad as Bob."

"Leo's coming too at some point." A small smirk formed on Hyde's face at the irony.

Red rolled his eyes again. "The dirty hippie?"

Kelso's face lit up. "Leo's coming too?" he asked happily, "Man, I haven't seen him in years!"

It was obvious to Hyde that Red was annoyed by two of the three newly mentioned guests that would be joining in the near future. It was known to most people that Red Forman was annoyed just thinking about Bob Pinciotti and Leo- not so much W. B., though, but that was beside the point. Hyde knew that the elder man didn't particularly like having the two other men around, but they had to come. Jackie had lived with Bob for a period of time, and Leo was like a crazy uncle to him- a burnt out, out of sorts, crazy uncle. And W. B. was his biological father. The three had to come or they might feel insulted… well, at least W. B. and Bob would probably feel insulted. Leo would probably be hurt at first, then probably forget or get confused five minutes later.

"Red, don't worry," Hyde tried to reason, "Bob's staying with Forman and Donna, and W. B.'s already living here, and wherever Leo goes, he won't be staying at your house."

This did comfort Red a lot. He couldn't deal with Bob Pinciotti staying in his house for long- hell, he didn't like having Bob in his house at all. He didn't particularly mind if W. B. was around, but he didn't like having anyone stay in his house for a long period of time. And Leo- he just didn't like that dirty hippie even being within a hundred feet of him. So the fact that his adopted son had already thought about who'd be staying where a comfort, and a large weight was lifted off of his shoulders.

"Alright," Red muttered, "I guess that's alright. But I'm still not happy that I'll have to be around Bob and that dirty hippie."

"What about W. B.?" Eric asked curiously.

Red shrugged lightly. "I don't mind him. But if it were Bud, then we'd have a problem."

"Trust me, Bud doesn't even know that I finished high school. He won't be there," Hyde said sternly and finally, obviously not wanting to talk about the man he had once believed was his father.

The group all chatted and laughed with each other the rest of the drive- well, at least the four friends did. Once all five had arrived at the store, they all got out of the car and approached the store. They looked around at the other people that were walking in and out of the store; it was either a group of women, a family, or a couple. Those three kinds of groups that were walking in and out of the store all looked at the group of five grown men a bit strangely, but did their best to ignore it and go on with their business. This made four of the five men feel a bit awkward and annoyed- the other one didn't seem to mind much.

They all jumped when they heard a familiar voice from behind them greet, "Hey there! Hi there! Ho there!"

Red rolled his eyes and groaned loudly. "Oh, crap," he growled.

-/-/-

The four women and the little girl with them all got out of the car. They walked together as a group toward the entrance of the home goods store they were headed to. As they walked, they noted that the groups of people walking in and out of the store were other groups of women, families and couples. The woman all felt a bit of excitement run through them as they approached the entrance- one feeling more anxious and excited to be getting things ready for her wedding.

The woman all jumped when they heard a familiar voice cheerfully greet, "Hi everyone!"

Jackie turned around and looked at the woman with wide eyes. "Mom?!" she exclaimed.

Yay chapter two of "Before I Say I Do"! if I'm right, it's been three weeks since I published and updated the story, so I'm in the range I said I would be. Chapter three should be up in a time period of two to four weeks from now.

I really am excited to be getting into this story. I'm gonna be bringing back a lot of people and things from the show, even people that may not have been seen since earlier seasons. Maybe even Laurie will pop up- but who knows, since no one ever knows where the heck she is.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Watch out for the next in the next two to four weeks! Peace from all the hippies of the world. =^-^=