A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Let me know if there's anything you really want to see in the upcoming chapters!
Hyde awoke with a start, and immediatly noticed that Jackie was no longer besides him. In his dream, he'd been riding the motorcycle on an ultra-wavy road, which was ebbing and flowing almost like ocean waves. But they were too steep, and flowing too fast. The road toppled and collapsed, leaving him drowning an asphalt. It freaked him out, although he wasn't sure why; it was a pretty mundane dream in his book, and he couldn't remember the actual crash, so it wasn't like he could dream about the memory. He wasn't sure how to explain it, and didn't plan to give it any attention now that he was awake. There was no way he could tell Jackie, who would make a big deal out of it, but it would've been better if she was still besides him. Hadn't she said she would be there?
"Morning." Forman looked up from the comic book he was reading.
Hyde squinted against the lights in the room. You'd think somebody would have the decency to dim them while a guy slept. "Is it morning already?" It had been early afternoon when he fell asleep. If he'd slept through the whole day, he might have to admit some concern.
Forman looked at a clock on the wall. "It's ten till three. You were out for two hours, tops."
"Where's Jackie?"
"She went for some food. We didn't think you were waking up anytime soon. Man, you missed what was possibly the most awkward moment of my life. Definite top ten, at least."
"You messed up the magic tricks, yeah. Jackie's coming back, right?"
Forman gave him a look he couldn't quite place. "Yes and yes. How'd you know I messed up the magic trick?"
"You pulled that trick out of your ass, man, no way you could replicate it."
"It was cool, though, right? I mean, that sort of made it cooler. I had no idea what I was doing. You and I know that. But here this nurse thinks I'm an actual magician."
"Nothing says cool like magicians," Hyde said sarcastically.
"Okay, yeah. But hear me out. There are fifty two cards. I just happened to pick the right one. That's kind of like magic."
"Yeah, and fairies and mermaids are real. Get to the part where you make an ass of yourself."
"You can't rush a story teller," Forman said. "So Margaret-"
"Who's Margaret?"
"The nurse. I found out her name from my mom. Anyways, she tells Jeanette and Carey how amazing and talented I am." Forman popped his collar smugly, and all Hyde could think was how much of a gossip girl he sounded like, spouting off the names of his new best friends, the nurses. "And Jeanette tells me that Peter told her that Dewey the clown from pediatrics quit." Yep, definitely a gossip girl. He could picture Forman telling this story while Fez did his hair at the salon. "You can see where this is going, right?"
"What?" Hyde was lost in his mental image.
"They needed someone to fill in for the clown in pediatrics, and told me I should do it, and brought me down there. Like, there wasn't even an audition. They just put me right in front of the kids and guess what? I blew it. After the fourth card, a kid booed me."
"I can't do this 'cause of the sling, but just imagine me clapping slowly."
"Excuse me." Both boys turned as the doctor entered the room. "I just wanted to see how you're feeling and go over a couple of things."
"Uh oh," Forman said, "don't ask him how he's feeling; he might punch you."
"Get lost, Forman." He had meant it as an instruction and not a comeback, but Forman didn't seem to get that, so he said "would you kindly vacate the premises?"
"Oh! Yeah. Sorry, I'll just - don't mind me." Forman headed out, and Hyde gave his full attention to the doctor.
"So...what's up?"
When Jackie returned from her late lunch, she found Eric talking to Mrs. Forman at the nurses station. Confused, she looked at Steven's room.
"Dr. Andrews is talking to him," Kitty said, noticing the girl.
"Why? Did something happen?"
"No, no," Kitty assured, "he probably just wants to see how he's doing."
Several minutes later, the doctor left, and Jackie, Eric, and Kitty went into the room.
"What did he say, honey?" Kitty wasted no time.
"He wants to keep me here for a week," Steven said, supremely annoyed. Jackie made a mental note to direct at least one of her friends to come every day. "And then six weeks for the rib and shoulder, and three months for that." He pointed at his leg in accusation.
"Bet you don't want to ride that motorcycle every again, huh?" Jackie asked.
Kitty looked between the members of the couple. "You still want to ride the motorcycle?"
Hyde responded, without a drop of zen, "I'm riding the motorcycle!" Then he took a deep breath. Jackie wondered if at this point, his desire to ride it wasn't out of spite for his current state. She was certain, though, that he couldn't do anything about the issue for several months at least.
"I don't know why it has to be week. I'm fine."
"You're fine, really?" Jackie smiled at him, then sang, "if you're fine and you know it clap your hands!"
There was a pause, and it certainly wasn't filled with clapping. "...Touche."
"Well, you know," Kitty interjected, "I think we should all look on the bright side. A week really isn't that long, and I'll be here most days so you won't get lonely, and one day this will all be behind us."
"Yeah." Steven hesitated before speaking, which Jackie vowed to investigate later.
Suddenly a thought hit her. "Are you going to let people sign your cast? Because as your girlfriend, I get first dibs."
"Sure. As long as Kelso doesn't get to draw anything, I don't care what you guys do with it."
"Great!"
Kitty found a felt tip pen before returning to work, and Jackie started braistorming. Right on the knee she drew a giant heart, and wrote "J + H"in the center, then handed the pen to Eric, who simply wrote "Eric was here."
"I'm surprised to see your girlfriend isn't here keeping you company."
The sound of his voice got Steven to notice WB. "She was. She'll be back, I think. Went to take Forman home, 'cause Mrs. Forman has to stay 'til late tonight..." he trailed off. "How are you?"
"I think I'm the one who should be asking you that."
"Yeah, everyone seems to think that." He scratched his head. "It's whatever. You know. I'm actually glad you're here, man. I, uh, wanted to talk to you about yesterday."
This took WB off guard. "Of course."
"Wanted to tell you I'm sorry."
This entirely shocked the man. "For what?"
Steven looked confused. "That I cost you all that money."
"Steven, I'm rich." On second thought, that might have come across more boastful than he intended. "I don't care about the money. I could get you another motorcycle."
He thought he could see a fleeting trace of a smile on the boy's face. "You don't have to do that, man."
"I might get you something else, or some lessons first-"
"No, it's cool. You don't have to buy me stuff. Unless you need something smashed." He said it with a smirk, but WB wasn't sure if it was a casual remark, or a forced joke.
"I'm not mad. You don't have to be sorry."
"Yeah, I do. I messed up."
WB sighed. "It's really okay."
"Okay." Steven averted his eyes.
"It's been a long time since I had a kid in the hospital. The last time, Angie was nine. She was pretending to be a dancer and knocked a vase off of a shelf. She cut her hands trying to pick up the pieces and had to get three stitches."
"Three, wow. That's pretty intense." He was being sarcastic, but he was smiling as he spoke.
"You probably have her beat."
"Yeah, I think so," the kid said. "I was thinking: last time I was here was how Mrs. Forman found out you were my dad."
"Right. Do you kids really fall of the water tower that often?"
"It's practically tradition."
The older man shook his head. "I'm sure none of you are ever drunk when that happens," he joked lightly.
"Wouldn't dream of it. Tell you what, though, I could totally go for a beer right now."
"I bet you could." He could, too. He wanted to say you scared the hell out of me yesterday, but decided against giving Steven another thing to apologize for. He looked around the room for anything else to comment on, and his eyes landed on a tray of food on the side table. "I know I haven't really been a father to you, but the dad in me feels like I should say something about eating your vegetables."
"A, you're in the top two, so congrats. B, I'm not hungry, but even if I was, I don't think those count as vegetables. My compliments to the chef - takes a lot of talent to make everything taste like sand." He poked the food with a fork. "If I didn't already feel like puking, I think this stuff would do the job."
WB raised his eyebrows. "You're still throwing up?"
"Nah, not since last night. Still feel like it, though. These drugs aren't all they're cracked up to be, man. You know, you hear about people who wreck motorcycles, or cars getting their legs ripped off, or their skulls busted in, but no one ever tells you about the puking." He put the fork down. "We gotta change the subject, or I'm gonna puke again."
WB frowned, but quickly abandoned his look of pity at the kid before it could be noticed. "Did Jackie buy you that?" He gestured to the teddy bear.
Steven said, "yeah, she's got this thing about stuffed animals. I don't get it, but whatever makes her happy." WB knew the girl had been worried sick yesterday, moreso than any of the other young adults.
"I think you too are good together."
"I don't know why the hell it works, but it does. I do know you don't mess with a good thing."
"You balance each other out."
Steven gave a one shouldered shrug. The older man figured he was probably embarassing the younger, but hey - that's what dads were for. Their relationship would never be like his and Angie's, nor Steven and Red's, but maybe one day it would be close enough that the label would feel deserved.
"Angie said to tell you she missed you at work today." He was glad his two kids were developing a relationship with each other, and had found it sweet when his daughter told him this.
Steven looked zoned out. "I wonder what the hell made me crash."
"You didn't have any experience."
He was still staring off into space. "Was there something in the road?"
"I couldn't tell you. I was pretty preoccupied."
He blinked a few times, and WB wished he could read his mind. He tilted his head like something occured to him, but when he looked at WB all he said was "how's Angie liking the new car?"
A/N: Gonna cut it off there. Next chapter will have Jackie's card finally read, some Red, Jackie learning why Hyde hesitated, and the readers learning what Hyde was thinking in that last line. Maybe Kelso and another pal for some laughs. Btw, don't worry, not every day of the week in the hospital is going to take multiple or even a full chapter, and there will be chapters pretty soon that take place after the hospital. So in short? There will be some slight time skips. Anyways, I think I've said enough, so I will end by saying thank you so much for reading, and I hope you all have a lovely day!