Before I Say I Do

Chapter Seven: "Without You".

Kitty Forman's heart ripped in two and fell on the floor and was then stomped on with every word the two young people said. How could they say that they wanted to do things by themselves? Without the help of their friends? Without the help of the woman who loved and took care of them in their teenage years, and still took care of them?! Without the help of herself?! It was her God given right to help the two with their upcoming wedding planning as the woman who was a major part of and influence in their lives! She had every right to be there through the whole process of their wedding planning, right up to the point where both the bride and groom said 'I do'!

Kitty Forman had every right to be mad at the young engaged couple.

"Mrs. Forman," Jackie tried desperately from the opposite end of the phone, "Please don't be angry."

"Angry?" Kitty repeated, "You think I'm angry?"

"No offense, Mrs. Forman," Hyde cut in, "But you do sound kinda angry."

"No, no, no, no, no. I'm not angry, Steven. Why should I be angry? I mean, you two just decide to, to not have me help you two plan your wedding, that's all. After all these years, and you two just don't want any help planning your wedding. Why should I be angry?!"

Just then, the head of the Forman house- Red Forman, himself- came into the kitchen from the living room. Kitty looked up at him briefly, still holding the phone against her ear and head. He could see the anger and sadness written all over her face and in her eyes. Seeing that made him both nervous, and himself angry. He didn't like to see his wife upset in any way, shape or form. He wondered who she was talking to on the opposite end of the phone, who was making his wife so angry that it reminded him of when she still had menopause.

"Uh, Kitty?" Red tread lightly, "Who you talking to on the phone there?"

"Steven and Jackie," Kitty spat, then handed him the phone, "Maybe you can talk some sense into those two dumbasses." And with that, she stormed out of the room.

Red's eyes widened for a moment before he cleared his throat and held the phone to his ear. "Uh… hello?"

"Hey, Red," came back in Hyde's voice.

"Steven, why the hell did Kitty just yell from the kitchen, hand me the phone and storm out of the room?"

"Look, all we said was that we wanted to go out by ourselves today instead of with everyone else."

"Why would you go and do something as stupid as that? It's Eric's job to do stupid things like that, not yours."

"I heard that!" Eric called from the living room, but Red just rolled his eyes in response before yelling, "Shut it!" in an annoyed tone.

"Mr. Forman," Jackie's voice came through the other end, "We just wanted some time along while we planned the wedding. We didn't want to hurt Mrs. Forman's feelings, I swear."

"You two know she's sensitive when it comes to things like that, especially when it involves you kids. For some reason, she likes having you all always around."

Hyde's laugh could be heard from the other end. "Yeah, cause we all know you hate to have us around, Red," he teased, the smirk on his face obvious in his tone.

"Shut it, wiseass," Red snapped.

Sure, everyone knew that Red really did like having them all around. And he knew that all the kids knew that, too. But he would never verbally admit to liking having all those damn kids around his house all the time. And based off what the kids all knew, this was not a surprising response for the younger man.

What really bothered Red at the present moment was how upset Kitty had gotten over the whole situation. He always hated seeing his wife so angry or upset- or both- about things. There were a lot of things he couldn't do anything about in his life, and when those were the things that would make Kitty upset, he despised being in that kind of situation. He didn't like to see his wife so unhappy, and he always wished he could do something about it.

Well, this one was close to him. And damnit, if he could do something or arrange something with the two engaged idiots to make both them and his wife happy- then he'd do it.

"Look, Steven," Red began, clearing his throat again, "You can't not let Kitty go and help you two out with all this wedding crap."

"It's not that we don't want her help," Jackie tried, "It's that we wanna get everything done by the time we get married."

"Neither of us got anything done yesterday, Red," Hyde added.

"Well, that was cause Tanto, Kelso and Bob kept stopping for every little thing we passed by in that damn store."

"Well, for us, it was my mom showing up," Jackie said, "But I just want everything don before the date we chose to get married, that's all. I don't think that's too much to ask."

Red nodded to himself. "And I get that. But is there any way to have Kitty help you still? You know how much she loves this stuff and how good she is at it."

"Maybe you should come too then, Red."

"Why me?" Red asked the younger man, not hiding his annoyance at the request.

"You've done all this before."

"Uh, well… so have Eric and Donna."

"The six of us can all go and plan everything," Jackie suggested.

Hyde was heard in the background asking his fiancé, "What about Fez, Kelso, Bob, and Brooke? And W. B. and Leo are supposed to come at some point."

"We'll figure those two out when they get here," Red dismissed, "And I guess we could all go with the two of you. But yeah, what about those other three?"

"I guess we don't gotta tell 'em," Hyde answered a bit strangely.

"Fine with me."

"Will you tell Mrs. Forman?" Jackie asked, "She'll probably listen to you more right now than the two of us."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Thanks, Red. We'll see you tomorrow."

-/-/-

Jackie and Hyde hung up the call and leaned against their kitchen wall. They looked at each other, both with looks of skepticism on their faces. He held out his arm sideways, quietly signaling for her to move there. She shuffled over to him and nestled herself against the left side of his torso. He lowered his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, holding her close to him as he began to run his hand up and down her arm soothingly.

"Do you think Mrs. Forman will forgive us?" Jackie asked a bit nervously, "Cause I really do still want her help."

"I think she'll come around," Hyde answered honestly, "After she has a drink or two, though." His voice was teasing.

"Steven!"

"And after Red talks to her."

"You could've just said that one."

"That probably wouldn't have been as accurate."

-/-/-

Red walked back into the living room in search of his wife. When he saw the blender out on the bar and heard a sound from the next room, he rushed into the dining room. Kitty sat at the table, a drink next to her on the table, and photos sprawled out all over the table. She was hunched over the surface of the table, going through and inspecting the photos all over the table, letting out a chuckle and showing a smile every so often. He sat down next to her and she looked up and smiled at him.

"So," Kitty began, a slight edge in her voice, as she crossed her arms and hands on top of the table, "Did they rip your heart out, too?"

"Kitty, I don't have a heart," Red claimed then shook his head as he sat down, "How do you feel about the two of us going wedding planning with Jackie, Steven, Eric and Donna tomorrow?"

"I thought they wanted to do it alone."

"No, they don't. They just don't want the other morons around to hold them back."

She thought for a moment as she took a sip from her drink. "Ok, I guess that makes sense." She then let out one of her famous laughs.

He smiled at her. "So are we going with them?"

She tried to look unexcited and unphased by the suggestion, but wasn't all that convincing. "I guess so."

Red couldn't help but give her an amused smile, and Kitty smiled back gently at him.

Hey party people. What'd you think of this chapter? I hope you liked it.

Anyway. I probably won't be able to update like do. I'll probably only be able to update once a month- but I have good reason. I am just finishing up high school as I type this, and am graduating this weekend out of state. Then this August, I start as a freshman in college, so yay. Plus this summer I plan on getting a summer job (just waiting for responses about my resume). Also, I am writing a few books and stories that I would like to finish this year and approach a publisher and see if my works can get published. So wish me luck.

Anyway, next update will be sometime in June. I don't know when, but just know June. That goes for this story, and my other current story "Layla". Hope you liked the chapter. Peace from all the hippies of the world. =^-^=