Disclaimer: I own nothing, just trying to spread some Christmas cheer…even though it already passed. lol
Author's Note: Hello everyone! Happy New Year!!! 2010 Baby! Wow, seems like just yesterday we were in 2009 lol. Sorry for not updating in a week. I kinda started working on another fic and kept putting of writing this one. Also I was waiting to see if anyone else would review, sadly no. But's ok. I still thank those of you who did. Thanks Marla! Anywoo hope you'll still read this story even though Christmas is over, I think there's only one or two chapters left. So if you wanna read those soon keep this equation I mind: More reviews=less time to wait for a new chapter, less reviews=more time to wait for new chapter. Though I probably won't wait too long lol Just please review guys I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading and Enjoy!
After a while, looking through the old photos got boring.
There weren't as many photos of them as they thought there'd be. Jackie had guessed that they were probably down in the photo albums in Red's den.
They had been through the other boxes that were infront of them. Those consisted of mostly old clothes or old photos. At first, finding items like that was exciting. But after being locked up in there for what felt like two weeks, they needed to find something more interesting.
Kelso was the first to volunteer to go look for another box. Eric had decided to go along, figuring it was not wise to let Kelso roam around with some many old and breakable things around him. This left the rest of the group to remain in their spots looking through the last of the once interesting boxes.
These boxes were filled with old baby things. Lots of old baby things. Donna was surprised by how much baby stuff there was. There were the three boxes they were looking through and she was sure there were plenty more hidden through out the attic. Plus there were the two cribs and bassinets against one of the walls.
"Wow. Mr. and Mrs. Forman sure saved a bunch of yours and Eric's baby things." Donna said to Laurie, who just smiled and shrugged, "Look at this stuff. Rattles, toys, blankets, bottles, bibs…I think my dad still has my old crib, but that about it."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Hyde nodded as he dropped an old blue rattle back in the box, "I think the only thing Bud and Edna saved from when I was born was me. And even that they got rid of."
"I have a tiara." Jackie informed with a dreamy-eyed smile on her face.
Laurie, Donna, Fez, and Hyde all looked at her as if she belonged in a looney bin. She had said her words so randomly. Her friends had to wonder if maybe the attic was beginning to get to be too much for her.
"What?"
Jackie nodded at Laurie's question before explaining, "When I was born, my dad bought me this little baby tiara. It was real silver and had little diamonds. It's in all my baby pictures."
Hyde, Donna, and Laurie, continued to frown at the smiling brunette. Fez, however, was now smiling having forgotten about the baby bib he had tied around his neck—over the women's clothes he was still wearing.
"Oh goddess, when we get out of this hell attic, may I try it on?"
Jackie smiled at her friend's hopeful tone of voice. She tilted her head to the side and got ready to answer him but Hyde was much quicker.
"I wouldn't hold your breath, Fez." He said to the foreign man, "She probably returned it, when she was a day old, and got a real crown."
Jackie glared at her ex-boyfriend. Why was he still giving her a hard time about returning things? It's not like she returned every little thing…it was just most of it. But she would never return something like that tiara, not even for two crowns. Maybe a really big crown, but it would have to be really, really big.
"I would never return that gift." She firmly told him, "It was my first gift, and a gift from my dad."
"So?" Hyde asked Zenly with a shrug if his shoulders, "You return everything else."
"At least my room isn't filled with piles of unused junk, Mr. Fred Sanford."
Hyde shook his head slightly, "Like you don't have that tiara just lying around somewhere. I bet you haven't used it in years."
"I have too!" she argued "It makes me look like a princess."
Hyde opened his mouth and was ready to continue their argument when Fez interrupted with the same happy random-like fashion that Jackie used earlier.
"My parents saved the tree I was born under."
The four others watched Fez wondering if he'd continue, though they really hoped he wouldn't.
Laurie's frown deepened, "What country are you from again?"
"Oh I'm from…."
"Hey guys, check out we found!"
The five heads turned around to where Kelso's voice was coming from. There they saw Eric and Kelso walking their way, each of them holding a side of an old blue trunk.
They hurriedly placed the trunk in the middle of the group. Kelso was actually careful when putting it down; while Eric dropped it so hard it was a surprise that it didn't make a hole in the floor. Kelso sat in the middle of the group as Eric took his seat between his girlfriend and his sister.
"What is it?" Jackie asked as the whole gang gathered closer to the chest.
Eric watched as Kelso opened up the latch. He had already seen what was in there, but didn't want to give it away until the trunk was open.
"It's some of Red's stuff from the war."
Several 'whoa's and a few 'wow's filled the air as seven pairs of eyes scanned over the items inside the chest.
No one touched anything, they didn't dare to. What if Red had step up some kind of trap in there? Instead they just looked at the various items from a distance. They intrigued them but they also frightened them.
At last someone finally gather enough courage and stuck their hands inside the trunk.
No traps or alarms went off. The person's hand had come out just fine as it clung onto an old Navy cap. He placed the hat on his head and grinned largely.
"Check it out, guys." Kelso said happily, "I'm an army guy."
Hyde raised an eyebrow as the others snicker, "'An army guy,' Kelso?"
Kelso frowned, not seeing what he had done wrong. After taking a few more seconds to think about it he realized what he it was.
"Oh yeah, sorry." He said before sitting straight up, "I'm a Lieutenant army solider."
"Daddy was in the Navy." Laurie reminded with an eye roll as she whipped the hat off of Kelso and put it back in the box.
Eric was the next one to retrieve something from the box. He chose a wooden box, that was a lot heavier than it looked. He placed the box on his lap and opened it up to reveal several different metals.
"Wow." Eric breathed as he looked down at the box.
The metals were obviously his fathers. They had been taken care of and looked like they should be on display by the way they were clipped onto a piece of black material.
"I never knew Daddy had that many metals." Laurie stated as she looked over her brother's shoulder.
Eric shook his head, "Me neither. It's pretty cool."
"Yeah." Laurie agreed.
The two Forman children froze. They had just agreed on something. Almost at the same time, Eric and Laurie looked at the other and actually smiled. Small smiles, but smiles nonetheless. They were each feeling a strong sense of pride in being a Forman.
"Hey, look at this." Hyde called out as he reached into the trunk, "Maps. Here Fez show us Where your home country is."
"Okay!" Fez was quick to answer as he snatched the antique maps out of Hyde's hand.
"This must have been Red's wallet while he was over there." Donna guessed as she pulled out a wallet that had seen better days.
"Dibs on whatever's inside!" Kelso exclaimed as he stretched his arm out into the air.
With a shake of their heads and maybe a small smirk on their lips, Eric, Laurie, Hyde, and Jackie went back to looking in the chest. Fez was too busy looking on the map for his homeland. Donna decided to take a peek into the old wallet.
"Sorry Kelso." Donna began to say with a small laugh, "Looks like the only place this money is good is somewhere overseas."
"Mine!" Kelso shouted even louder than before, "I called it!"
"Michael, what are you gonna do with that money?" Jackie asked curiously as Kelso grabbed the wallet from Donna, "It's too ugly to keep."
Hyde turned his head to look at Jackie, "He could always return it right?"
"Nah, I think I'll spend it instead Hyde." Kelso said before another argument could start up.
Eric frowned at his friend, "Kelso where are you gonna spend that money if it's only good overseas?"
"Overseas, duh!"
"When are you going overseas?" Donna asked. Out of all of them there, Michael Kelso was the last one Donna thought would ever leave the country.
Kelso shrugged as he stared at the strange money, "I don't know. Soon. I've got money to spend now!"
"Kelso, may I go with you when you go?" Fez asked, sounding a bit upset, as he looked up from the map.
"Sure, buddy." Kelso smiled.
"Thank you." Fez smiled before turning his expression into a more serious one, "When we go we are going to find my home country so we can mark it on this map. The sonofabitch who took the picture forgot to take a picture of it!"
"You got it Fez." Kelso reassured with a pat on the back. And then he got an idea, "Oh hey I know! Instead of going on a plane or a boat we should go in a car! It'll be like a road trip!"
Fez was quick to join his friend's excitement. "Yeah!"
Meanwhile their friends looked on with small frown or didn't look at all.
"Hey morons." Hyde called, "Overseas means, over seas. You know water."
"Oh." The two men said simultaneously, each in their own sad tone.
"I got it!" Kelso jumped up, "We could invent a car that runs on water!"
Fez frowned, "I think I've heard that before."
"Me too." The others in the room nodded in agreement, their own confused expressions were on their faces. After a few seconds though, they blew it off and went back to searching through the box of Red's old things.
"Man, this sucks." Hyde grumbled, "I thought Red would've kept at least one gun from the war."
"Seriously Hyde?" Eric asked as he looked over at his brother and frowned slightly, "You really thought Red would still have one of those big guns that shoots like twenty bullets per second?"
"He does." Kelso said casually as he kept his eyes on the wallet in his hands, "I've seen it."
Fez turned to his best friend, "Me too!" he excitedly shared, "He use to chase me around with it when Laurie and I were married."
"Yeah." Kelso nodded with a big grin, "Red did the same to me when I was dating Laurie."
Laurie rolled her eyes, at their comments. It went unseen by everyone else though. Eric, Donna, and Jackie were frowning at the two men, while trying not to laugh. Hyde was still trying to figure out where that gun could be.
Fez and Kelso, still feeling excited at the fact that they had something else that bonded them, grinned and high fived the other. They'd forgotten about the items they had previously been looking at. In fact a few pieces of paper fell out of Red's wallet.
"Kelso, watch it." Eric said as bent down to grab the fallen items, "I don't want Red….whoa."
Eric's words suddenly stopped when he picked up an old photograph that had fallen to the floor. He grinned like a madman causing his friends to stare at him with uncertainty.
"Check out this babe." Eric said to the group.
The three girls shook their heads and rolled their eyes in disgust. Hyde meanwhile, decided to continue looking through the chest. It Kelso and Fez who were quick to rush to Eric so they could see the picture. When their eyes landed on the photo their smiles mirrored Eric's.
The photograph was a small wallet sized one. It was black and white but that didn't seem to take away any of the beauty. In the photograph was smiling young woman with dark hair, wrapped in a fur coat. But she wasn't completely covered; there were parts of her skin showed. Both her shoulders were naked and the opening of the coat allowed a very nice view of her upper legs.
"That is one sexy lady." Fez commented and Kelso and Eric nodded.
"Man, that's a much better use for the fur, than those naked baby ones. Those are pretty gross." Kelso shared, "Except for mine, cause was a cute baby."
"Yeah." Eric nodded, deciding to ignore the last of Kelso's words, "Bet Red didn't want Mom to find out about her."
"She does look pretty sexy in that coat." Eric continued as he stared at the photograph still in his hands "I mean she's got a nice smile, an even nicer body…."
Hyde frowned a bit as he heard Eric's words. He scooted over to the other men and took a peek at the photo. But his frown never faded away, if anything it grew. Hyde soon turned his head away from the picture in the photo and over to the back. An evil smirk then took the place of the scowl.
"I think even if she wasn't in that fur coat, it would still be a good picture." Eric rambled on, "No wait, it would be great picture."
"Forman." Hyde called out calmly, "That's your mom."
Eric frowned at Hyde before looking back down at the photo, when he did he soon regretted it. His eyes became large as he finally saw that the picture was in fact a photo of Kitty Forman.
"Ew!" he exclaimed as he dropped the picture onto the ground.
"Mine!" Both Fez and Kelso exclaimed as they dropped themselves to the floor, hoping to be the first one to grab the picture.
Eric dropped his head into his hands, trying to erase what had just happened, most importantly the entire photo. Hyde grinned with satisfaction as the girls giggled at Eric's expense. Fez and Kelso were still on the ground fighting over the photo. Settling the fight, Jackie reached over and grabbed the photo.
She examined the picture for a few minutes before frowning,
"See now where is this coat?" she asked, holding up the photo, as if one of them had the answer, "This coat is real, but instead I got stuck wearing this phony cheap one."
Hyde shook his head as he watched Jackie fuss over the old coat she was wearing.
"There you go again." He muttered just loud enough for her to hear, "Only now, you're returning things that aren't even yours."
"I'm putting them to use." Jackie stated, "I'm keeping them from sitting around and gathering gross dust. Like you."
Hyde scowled at her, "You know…"
"Ugh enough!" Laurie groaned in annoyance, "Stuck-up Cheerleader returns thing and Orphan Boy never uses anything. We get it. But nobody cares. Now shut up, I'm trying to read."
Eric looked at his older sister and frowned, "Wait, when did you learn how to read?"
Laurie shot her brother a 'Shut up' look and then went back to reading the aged paper in her hand. Donna became curious as she saw the paper and the similar others that rested in Laurie's lap.
"What are you reading?"
"Some old love letters." She said looking up, "I found them in the trunk. They're the ones Mom and Dad wrote to each other."
"Really?" Donna asked with a smile before walking over to join Laurie.
Being a hopeless romantic herself, Jackie decided to join the two girls and walked over to where they were.
"Let me see."
"Oh look." Laurie began as she pointed at a section of the letter with her index finger, "You have to read this."
Silence filled the attic as the three women read over the old paper. Meanwhile three of the boys frowned at them while one continued to hang his head in his hands. After a few seconds a sound escaped from the girls lips.
"Awww!"
"That is so sweet!"" Jackie gushed
Laurie nodded "I know. Who knew Daddy could be so romantic?"
"Eric and Red are total opposites." Donna shared with a shake of her head, "Eric could never write me a poem like that."
Hearing Donna's words, Eric's head shot up.
"What?" he screeched out, "I could so write you a poem!" he cleared his throat before starting, "My sweet beautiful Donna…."
He drifted off as he tried to think of the next line. His mind was drawing a blank. Donna frowned a deep frown at him as their friends laughed around them.
"You know it's your fault I don't write you poems." Eric argued, "Nothing good rhythms with Donna."
Donna's glare deepened as she snatched the letter out of Laurie's hand and place it in her boyfriend's lap.
"It doesn't have to rhythm, you dillhole."
Eric was confused and so he lifted up the letter his father had written to his mother several years ago, and began to read. Hyde, Kelso and Fez soon joined in. Once again the attic became silent.
"Awww!" two of the four men gushed out.
It had been Fez and Kelso, of course. The other two just smiled tiny smiles at the paper.
"That is just the sweetest thing!" Fez said, sounding close to tears.
Kelso nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Too bad I'm engaged. If I wasn't I would've started writing stuff like this."
"It is a pretty good poem." Hyde stated in a Zen tone and Eric nodded.
"Yeah. Man to think about all those times Red always said I was a big wuss…" Eric drifted off as a smile creped its way onto his face, "I am totally rubbing this in his face when we get out of here!"
"Great idea, man." Hyde praised as he patted his friends back, "Can I have your room after Red kills you for doing that?"
Author's Note: There you go chapter 18 of "Stuck with You" Hope you liked!
Today's song was picked because it was the song that played the most while I was writing the chapter. Yes, I still listen to Christmas music, but just while I write this story it helps put me in the Christmas mood. lol
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care have a nice day and remember only 357 days till Christmas! Not to far right?