Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just trying to spread some holiday cheer!
Author's Note: Hello everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas and got everything you wanted. Sorry for not updating these past two days, I was busy playing with my Christmas presents, a new laptop woohoo! LOL that should help make updates come more often for my stories. Including this one that I am trying my best to finish on New Years Eve. Oo and you guys gave me one of the greatest presents ever! 50 reviews by Christmas, thanks! i love it! Now you've waited long enough, here you are, my longest chapter yet! Enjoy!
A few minutes and many Christmas carols later, the attic was finally quiet.
The group of friends and Laurie had discovered a cardboard box that was full of nothing but old photographs. Everyone was looking through a pile of pictures that they held in their hands, except for two people. Kelso and Fez.
Kelso was a few feet away from the group and was looking out of the small window. And Fez, poor Fez. He had finally stopped his singing, not because he chose to but because he was forced to.
Fez was sitting on the floor next to Hyde and a few feet away from Eric. A deep frown was on his face as his mouth was covered with an old brown wool scarf. His hands were also tied up behind him; the others had used some old rope they had found to do that. There were also some old loose wires that had been used to tie around Fez's torso.
"Hey guys, look at this photo of The Formans." Donna called out to the group.
She then lifted up an old black and white photograph of a young Red and Kitty sitting in some Italian restaurant having dinner. The members of the group either smiled or 'awed' except for Fez who just sent a murderous glare at each of them.
No one noticed him until he started kicking his tied up feet on the floor. Slowly they looked over to the direction where Fez was.
"Can we help you?" Laurie asked her ex-husband.
"Mmhm Mmmph hmp!" came Fez's muffled response.
Jackie looked over at Hyde who stayed concentrated on the pictures in his hand.
"Steven, I think Fez has suffered enough."
"Nah." He shook his head as he looked at the angry foreign man, "I don't think so."
This caused Fez to stomp and yell more muffled words into the scarf. While Donna, Eric, and Laurie laughed, Jackie sighed and then stood up, walking over to Fez. She carefully untied the knot on the scarf, only to quickly yank it off.
"You sonsofbitches!" Were the first words out of Fez's mouth when the scarf was off. "Why did you tie me up?!"
"We warned you, Fez." Hyde reminded as he looked back at the photos, "We told you, 'if you keep singing, we're gonna tie you up.' You kept singing."
Fez glared at the Hyde, "Why did you tie my feet?"
Hyde didn't say a word, instead he looked over at Eric. Eric just smiled sleepishly and shrugged his shoulders.
"It looked like fun."
"Ha ha." Kelso laughed from his seat by the window, "It was."
Fez turned his frown from Eric to Kelso and then over to Hyde.
"Why did you not tie up Kelso?" he demanded to know, "He was singing too!"
"Kelso promised not to sing anymore." Donna informed and everyone nodded.
Kelso himself nodded as well, until he saw the glaring eyes of his best friend looking his way. He quickly lifted his hands up as if to defend himself.
"Sorry, Fez." He began, "But I gotta keep my eyes open for the Ninja Raccoon. He's still out there!"
There were several eye rolls and groans that came as a response. Two of the individuals didn't do either, though. Fez nodded understandingly at Kelso. Meanwhile Laurie looked confused as she looked over at the redhead for some help.
Donna shook her head, "You don't wanna know."
"If I promise not to sing anymore, will you untie me?" Fez asked with a hopeful tone of voice.
"I don't know Fez." Jackie said as she thought over the words.
"Yeah, Fez." Eric nodded, "I don't think you're gonna be able to keep that promise."
Fez frowned, showing how hurt he was with the little faith his friends had in him.
"I will to!" he argued.
"Fez, come on." Hyde began, "Just one word dealing with Christmas can cause you to start singing five different Christmas songs."
"Well excuse me for having some Christmas spirit!" Fez huffed, "In case you haven't noticed it is Christmas time! Oo!"
Suddenly the words he himself had said, reminded him of one of his favorite Christmas songs. A classic Christmas song.
"Christmas, Christmas time is near, time for toys and time for cheer!" he sang in a high pitched voice, trying to imitate the three chipmunks who made the song famous.
"We've been good but we can't last, hurry Christmas hurry fast!"
The group groaned and buried their heads in their hands as their friend sang. Hyde didn't do either; he simply reached over and grabbed the scarf away from Jackie.
"Me I want a hula…no no I promise I'll stop!" Fez cried when he saw Hyde get ready to tie the material back on him. "No more classic Christmas songs! I promise!"
Hyde frowned at the pleading Fez. He hated when people pleaded, especially men. He sighed a small sigh and looked Fez in the eye.
"You promise no singing, no humming, no whistling, no saying, classic Christmas songs?"
Fez nodded, "You got it!"
"Fine." Hyde muttered before going behind Fez and untying the ropes and wires.
Once Fez felt the tightness of the binds, loosen he grinned a mischievous smile and began to talk to himself, "I will make my own."
"What did you say?" Hyde asked with the rope still in his hands, ready to retie anything that needed to be.
"Uh…" Fez struggled for quite a few seconds for an answer, "Aye my bones."
Fez then began to rub his wrists, pretending to be in pain. Hyde looked on with a suspicious frown before going back to his seat beside Jackie.
When Fez noticed the coast was clear he stopped rubbing and made himself comfortable in his seat next to Hyde. The order of the semi circle was now from left to right Jackie, Hyde, Fez, an open space for Kelso, Eric, Donna, and finally Laurie.
"Ugh these pictures are so boring." Laurie complained as she scanned through the photos she had, flipping over the picture of her parents standing at a backyard party with another couple.
"They're all of Mom and Dad or Mom and Dad and some people who are probably dead already. Where're the cute pictures of me as a baby?"
"There are none." Eric said as he looked at his older sister, "Because you know, you weren't cute."
"Burn!" Kelso exclaimed as he sat himself down in his spot.
The group laughed at the joke before going back to looking at the pictures. Laurie however never looked back at the photos and instead scowled at Eric with that evil scowl of hers.
"Oh yeah?" Laurie asked with a tilt of her head, "Well you were some creature Mom found at the hospital and felt sorry for."
Kelso laughed and pointed his finger at Eric, "Burn!"
"And you…" Eric began with his comeback only to be interrupted by Donna.
"Eric" she said, "could you hold that thought, until I get to some where safer?"
"Oh yeah." Eric nodded, "Sure."
Eric remained quiet as Donna stood up and looked for somewhere safer to sit. At last she decided on the small space between Jackie and Hyde. Once Donna was comfortably seated, Eric smiled a quick loving smile at her only to turn back to his older sister and give her a look full of hate.
The two Forman children began to squabble like they were five and six years old. They raised their voices and called each other names; names that they had made up, and had done it so quickly Kelso never got the chance to yell 'Burn!'
Donna smiled slightly, glad she had gotten out of there just in time.
"Hey Donna," Jackie said to her best friend, "isn't this just terrible of the Formans? I mean they have a bunch of old pictures taking up space in their attic. They're not being used and they probably never will be. Isn't that terrible?"
Donna frowned at her friend, "Um I guess…"
"No." Hyde interrupted, "What would be really terrible of the Formans would be if they returned the pictures to the photographer. Right Donna?"
"Uh sure." Donna said with uncertainty.
"No it wouldn't." Jackie argued, "It's the photographer's fault for taking such ugly pictures. The Forman's have every right to return the pictures."
Hyde frowned, "That's like a slap in the face to the photographer."
"So?" Jackie shrugged, "Maybe it'll teach him to take better pictures!"
Now Donna was really confused. Her head turned from Jackie to Hyde each time they spoke. This was not going to go well. Without a word, she got up from her seat and began to look around for somewhere else in the semicircle to sit.
After debating whether she's want to sit next to Fez and take the risk of hearing Christmas carols. Or sitting between Kelso and Fez which would be worse than sitting between Laurie and Eric or even between Jackie and Hyde. Donna finally decided to sit between Kelso and Eric, because at least if Kelso got too annoying she would be next to Eric.
She took a seat next to the two men. Eric was too busy fighting with Laurie and Kelso was deep in the cardboard box, leaving only his lower half of his body out—so neither for them noticed her. Donna did notice something. She noticed that she had gotten out of her last spot just in time. Hyde and Jackie were arguing worse than Laurie and Eric.
"Hey guys!" Kelso called out and he climbed out of the box with his hand full of photos, "Check it out! There's some photos of us in here at the bottom."
The arguing on both sides of the room stopped. Everyone turned to Kelso to try and see the photos. Actually doing something sensible, Kelso began to divide the pile between the seven of them.
Silence filled the room as the group looked at the photos that no longer just contained Red or Kitty.
"Oh my God, Laurie, I use to play dress up with my moms clothes too." Jackie called out to the eldest Forman as she looked down at the picture of a young child in women's clothes and shoes, "Except you know, my mom had prettier stuff."
Hyde leaned over to get a lock at the picture and a small frown soon appeared on his forehead.
"Hey Laurie, aren't you a natural blonde."
"Yeah."
Three different voices answered; Laurie, Kelso, and Fez.
Hyde ignored the two other and continued with is point, "This kid has dark hair."
"What? Lemme see." Laurie said standing up and walking over to Jackie and Hyde so she could see the picture. After examining the photo for a few seconds she came to a conclusion.
"That's not me. That's Eric."
Five different heads turned from Laurie and over to Eric who sat with his eyes wide open. He didn't know what to say. His friends however knew what to do; they laughed.
"No!" Eric screeched out in a high pitched voice, "That not me! She's lying!"
"Oh right, I'm sorry." Laurie said trying to sound sincere, only to change it back to her usual one of voice, "It's Erica."
"Who's Erica?" Donna asked trying to stifle her laugh.
Laurie sat back down in her seat before answering, "Up until he was like five or six, Eric used to pretend he hand a twin sister. Erica."
Eric's friends burst into laughter as they looked at the photograph again. Now that they knew it was Eric, they could see him. Little Eric Forman wearing his Mommy's dress, high heeled shoes, jewelry, hat, matching purse, oh and of course the cherry on top, her make up.
"At least Erica was a lot nicer than you." Eric said to his sister.
Laurie frowned at him, "She was you, you idiot!"
"Hey I had to have an imaginary sister!" Eric tried to defend himself, "Look at who my real sister is! Whorey Laurie!"
The laughter was slowly dieing down. And Eric's words were heard by a few of his friends. Fez, being one of them.
"Oh Whorey Laurie. That rhymes!" he happily smiled, "I shall put it in my Christmas song. Now let see. Jingle bells, jingle bells…."
Hyde frowned at Fez and stuck his hand out towards Jackie, "That's it, give me the scarf."
"No! No!" Fez exclaimed jumping away from Hyde and over to Donna and Kelso. "No more singing! I promise!"
Hyde didn't say anything and since Jackie didn't hand him the scarf, probably because she was still mad at him, he decided to give Fez one more chance.
"Hey Donna look." Eric nudged his girlfriend.
Donna looked over Eric's shoulder and to the photo he held in his hands. It was a photo of two young kids sitting on a brand new Vista Cruiser. A skinny little boy and a redhead little girl.
"Oh my God." Donna smiled, "That's us."
"Yeah." Eric nodded and then stretched his arm across his shoulder, "Man, we were even cute back then."
As their friends rolled their eyes in annoyance, Donna smiled and nodded in agreement and kept her eyes on the photo. After a few seconds though, her smile faded and a frown soon took its place.
"Are you looking at my chest?"
"What? No!" Eric was quick to answer, "I'm looking at the picture."
"Not now, in the picture you dillhole."
Eric leaned in closer to the photo to get a closer look. A few seconds later he raised his head back up with a slightly embarrassed smile on his face.
"Oops." Was all he could say before laughing nervously.
Donna glared at him, "You were such a pervert!"
"Hey, at least I'm not anymore." Eric tried to make it better.
"Yeah you are!"
"Ok in my defense," Eric started to say, searching for something that could defend him, "There was nothing there."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Donna asked getting defensive as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"I…um…you…" Eric struggled, "Somebody find another picture!"
His friends nor his sister were any help. They were enjoying the show and weren't quite ready for it to end. However, as Kelso searched through the box some more, he thought he had found an interesting photo that he should share with the others.
"Hey you guys gotta see this one!" he called out to them, "It's super cool."
Taking Kelso's word, the six others moved over to where he was sitting to get a glimpse of the photo. When they saw the picture, they each frowned at the smiling man who had found it.
"Michael, how is this cool?" Jackie asked sounding annoyed.
The picture was of nothing interesting. You couldn't even tell what the picture was of. All that could be seen was a big tree and someone's thumb that had been covering the lens.
"Cause it is, Jackie." Came Kelso's response, "Think about it. Whose thumb is that?"
With a few eye rolls and several shakes of the head, the group walked away from the kettle head and back to where they were sitting. That had all forgotten the golden rule.
'Never Listen to Kelso.'
A few seconds past before another photo worth discussing was found. This time it came from Hyde's stack.
"Hey guys," he called, "check this out."
Again the group moved from their seat, only this time it was to where Hyde was. As soon as everyone was surrounding him, Hyde moved the photo so that everyone could get a good look at the photo.
This photo was in color, it had obviously been taken in the summer, and it had six young children in it. They were all seated or standing in the Forman backyard by a blowup kiddy pool, in their swimsuits.
"Aw man, I remember that thing." Kelso shared with his friends, "I loved that pool. I bet I could still fit in it."
"I doubt it." Donna laughed as she looked at the picture of their much younger selves. "Hyde look at you, you're still wearing a t-shirt."
Hyde smirked, "I was too cool to go without one."
"Whatever." Jackie said with a roll of her eyes, before her smile reappeared, "I was so the cutest one there. Just like today."
"Hey yeah," Kelso said leaning in closer to the picture, "I forgot you were there."
"Gee thanks, Michael." Jackie answered sarcastically.
How could he not remember she, Jackie Burkhart was there. She was hugging him in the picture for God's sake!
"Man, this picture has us all in it." Eric stated the obvious, "Even you Laurie."
"Terrific." Laurie said in anything but an excited tone.
Meanwhile in the back of the group, Fez was frowning at each of his friends hoping that one of them would notice. So far no one did. They still thought that they were all in the picture!"
"We should frame it." Donna suggested, "And hang it in the basement or something."
"Oh my God, Donna that's a great idea!" Jackie squealed.
"Yeah," Hyde shrugged, "I guess it would be pretty cool having a picture of all us when we were younger."
Fez watched as the others nodded in agreement and then began talking about where in the basement they should put it. Finally, he couldn't take it any longer.
"Not everyone is in the picture!" he shouted.
"Fez, man." Hyde began, "What are you talking about?"
"Count again." Fez ordered through gritted teeth.
Eric frowned at the fuming foreign man and then looked down at the old photograph.
"Um ok lets see." He started, "There's Little Whorey Laurie. Me. My beautiful girlfriend. Kid who's too cool to not wear a shirt. Kid who tried to do a cannonball in the kiddy pool. Annoying rich girl. And…Fez you're not there."
"Well thank you, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" Fez responded, still sounding upset. "I am in none of these old photos!
"Um, Fez," Kelso said to his friend, "can we still hang the picture?"
Fez glared down at his man pretty friend. He began to breathe deep breaths. In and out. In and out.
"Yes, you may." He finally answered, "But first I am going to take a picture of myself and glue them on there. I am going to do that to all the pictures up here!"
"Hey, Fez can you paste yourself over Laurie in this one?" Eric asked lifting up the swimming pool photo.
"Why?" Laurie asked innocently, "So the number of boys and girls will stay even?"
Kelso laughed and looked over at Eric, "Ok first of all, burn!" he then turned to Fez, "Second. Fez, if you can't do all that, can we still frame it?"
Author's Note: There you go, Chapter 17 of "Stuck with You" Hope you liked!
Today's son was picked because, Fez sand it and because this story that was supposed to be finished by Christmas is late. Oops. By the way this song goes under a lot of names, but you guys know which one I'm talking about right? The one Alvin and the Chipmunks sing! For years my sisters and I called it the hula hoop song. LOL.
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, take care, have a nice cay and remember only 643 days left till Christmas! LOL