A/N: Thank you guys so much for your incredible reviews! I'm so glad you guys like this story so much. Without further ado...

It was four in the morning, and Hyde was awake. He'd been trying to fall back asleep for half an hour, to no avail. At night, the hospital seemed otherworldly, full of quiet beeping and soft, ambient light. Somewhere down the hall, a girl was crying.

He grabbed the card. The front cover was yellow with a picture of a grasshopper - how she managed to find a card with that on it, he'd never know. "I'm hopping you feel better soon!" It read. Hyde smiled and shook his head. Inside, Jackie had doodled hearts all over the left half. On the right half, she'd written a message in cursive:

Dear Steven,

Don't you ever scare me like that again. I mean it. I love you way too much to do this again. Of course, if you get sick or something (ew, let's hope not), I'll be there, but no more dangerous motorcycles. Maybe no more water tower? Steven, I hate to tell you this, but I think you might be becoming accident prone. (Here she had drawn a surprised face.) I love you to bits, but I want you in one piece, okay? I'm sorry you're hurt, and I hope you feel better ASAP. I'll take care of you until you are. (And here she had drawn a smiley face).

Love, Jackie

He was glad no one was around to see how much it made him smile. He'd thank Jackie tomorrow. For now, it was time to count sheep (or maybe to count grasshoppers).

Red had prepared an entire speech for this visit. He'd started thinking of it two nights ago, the night of the accident and surgery, when he'd had to listen to his wife cry (a fact he intended to bring up in the speech). Then when he'd arrived at the hospital this morning, he'd been told he was there too early, that Steven was sleeping, and he'd have to wait - something he was also willing to complain about in the speech. He was ready to lecture the hell out of the kid, and yet...when he saw how pathetic Steven looked, he couldn't bring himself to rant right away. Was he becoming soft?

"Steven."

"Hey, Red," Steven greeted him. "Alright, I'm ready." He made a sweeping gesture. "Proceed."

"With what?"

"Your lecture. Aren't you going to lecture me or something?"

Damn. For a dumbass, the boy was too smart. Well, if he was expecting a lecture, Red was in no position to let him down. "You bet your ass I am. First of all-"

"What the hell was I thinking?"

Too damn smart. "Hey. I ask the questions, pal."

"My bad."

"Right then." Red cleared his throat. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I wasn't. It was dumb," he replied, sounding like an actor very confident in his lines.

It was going to be hard for Red to deliver his speech when Steven was doing half of the work for him. "But really, I want to know. What possessed you to do something so stupid." Unsaid: you're supposed to be one of the smart ones.

"Red, I know you didn't get to see the bike, but it was kickass. Would you have turned it down if you were me?"

"This isn't about me, Steven." This anger-driven, eye-opening speech was proving harder than Red had anticipated. "This is about you, and how you made a decision so stupid it almost cost you your life, and how I had to listen to my wife cry about it." He knew that would get to the boy.

Steven sighed. "I made her cry?"

Red knew he shouldn't take pride in the effect he knew that statement made, he knew it was wrong, and yet, he couldn't help being satisfied that Steven was actually paying attention now. "That's right."

"Aw, man..." Steven trailed off and looked to the side, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to think of how to respond. "I don't-" he cut himself off.

Red urged him to finish his thought. "You don't...?" But Steven just mimed zipping his lips shut. "No, no, none of that. What?"

"I know what you're going to say. So I'm not gonna say it."

"You don't know everything I'm going to say before I say it."

"Fine. I was going to say 'I don't get why everyone's so freaked,' and then you would say..."

"Because you almost got yourself killed, damn it!"

"No, I didn't." He sounded frustrated. "Look, this stuff sucks, but none of it was life threatening."

Red looked at him incredulously. Were they really arguing this point? Red wondered if he should have Kitty come in here and talk medicine with him, to tell him how dangerous it all was. "You're a dumbass, you know that?"

"Fine." He sounded resigned.

"You're lucky something worse didn't happen."

"You know, I've heard that a couple times now."

"Good. Let that sink in."

"If motorcycles are so dangerous, why'd you ever ride one?" Ah, he was challenging Red. Not a wise move.

"You fight in a war, and then come talk to me about danger." After serving in the army, Red's idea of danger was redefined. Besides, he's earned the right to make his own decisions. "You're just a kid, Steven."

"I'm not a kid anymore, man. Not legally. I'm done with school, I manage a store-"

Red sighed. Kitty was supposed to be the one who had a hard time admitting the kids were growing up. "Okay, you're not a kid. But if you want to be a man-"

"-Act like one, yeah, I got it. I'll put 'make better decisions' on my to-do list."

Red tilted his head. "How do you do that?"

"It's not my first Red Forman lecture."

"It won't be your last, either."

"I know." He smirked. "Are we done for now?"

"For now. Until next time you do something stupid."

"Think I'm gonna wait 'til I'm done paying for this one."

"Atta boy." Red looked at his watch. "I've got to go open the muffler shop. I told Eric to do it, but I don't trust him not to burn to place down. Stay out of trouble, will you?"

Steven gave him a thumbs up. "I'll do my best. Thanks, Red."

Red wasn't sure what exactly he was being thanked for, but he nodded. "You're welcome."

Donna and Jackie had come to bring Hyde lunch, but also so Jackie could do some digging. She'd told Donna about Hyde hesitating after something Kitty said yesterday. Donna was pretty sure Jackie was making a big deal out of nothing, but she wasn't surprised. Jackie had a tendency to read too much into things.

"I made the sandwich myself!" Jackie proudly proclaimed as she emptied the bag she'd packed food in.

Hyde looked in mock horror at Donna, mouthing the word help. Donna laughed.

Jackie pouted. "Oh, knock it off. I can make a sandwich. They're way easier than baking."

"Here's hoping." He took a bite, and made a disgusted face as he chewed, then suddenly stopped pretending. "Nah, it's fine." He smirked, pleased with himself for riling Jackie up.

"So Steven..." Donna could tell by Jackie's tone that she was preparing to investigate. "Yesterday when Mrs. Forman was talking, she said 'one day this will all be behind us,' and you said 'yeah.'"

Hyde said, "I know, I was there."

"But you hesitated."

"No, I didn't"

"Yes, you did."

"Don't think so."

"Admit that you did or I'll pinch you."

Donna rolled her eyes. The two sounded like kids.

"You're not going to pinch me," he said skeptically.

"Watch me," Jackie replied. Donna knew as well as Hyde that she was bluffing. At least she hoped her best friend wouldn't sink so low as to pinch a guy laying in a hospital bed.

"Jackie," Donna said, "if he did hesitate, maybe he was just, like distracted or something. I hear head injuries mess you up for a while." She looked at Hyde for confirmation.

"I'm all kinds of messed up," he agreed.

Jackie narrowed her eyes. "Okay...I'm going to go to the bathroom to fix my makeup. And the lighting in there in really bad, so it's going to take a while." She stared at them both as she walked out of the room.

"She's crazy," Donna said.

"Oh yeah." He craned his neck as much as the brace would allow to look down the hall. "Is she gone?"

"Yup."

"Cool." He looked at Donna. "I was totally hesitating."

"So Jackie's not crazy?"

"She's definitely nuts. But she's not wrong."

"Okay, so what was it about?"

Hyde took a deep breath. "I'll tell you, but don't go blabbing to Jackie about it."

"Ooh, now this is getting interesting!"

"I mean it, Pinciotti."

"Fine, I swear. Now tell me."

Hyde looked out the door, double checking that Jackie wasn't lurking. "Alright. The doctor came in before the rest of them to talk about medication, and recovery, and all that crap. And he said I'll probably limp for a while after I get the cast off. Maybe like a long while."

"Like, permanently?"

"I don't know. He said it's too early to tell. Anyways. Mrs. Forman was being all positive and 'oh, one day this will be behind us,' or whatever, and-" He looked out the door again.

"Hyde, just tell me."

He sighed, sounding like he was being interrogated. "And this image popped into my head of me walking down the aisle with a limp."

"Down the aisle like...at a wedding? With Jackie?"

"Yup." He sounded defeated. "I don't know if it's my head, or the drugs they're giving me, but something's wrong with me. This ain't normal thinking."

Donna burst into a grin. "Oh my god. You want to marry her."

"No, I don't," he said warningly.

"Jackie and Hyde, sitting in a tree," she sang happily, "M-A-R-R-I-E-D!"

"Shut your pie hole."

"This is great."

"No, it's weird and terrible, and it doesn't leave this room."

As juicy as this tidbit of information was, Donna kept her promises. "Your secret's safe with me."

"Good. I don't need Jackie bugging me about it." Hyde scoffed. "I feel like I need a shower."

"You weren't lying when you said you were all kinds of messed up."

"She gets in your head, man - burrows in like a worm and makes you crazy."

"Can I at least tell her you compared her to a worm?" Donna joked.

"No." He shoved the sandwich into his mouth to avoid continuing the conversation.

Hyde's doctor knocked, even though the door was open. "Hi, Steven. Didn't mean to interrupt your lunch hour." The doctor noticed Donna as soon as he entered the room. "You look familiar. Do you do commercials?"

"No, um, I do radio." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "I'm on a billboard. I guess you've seen it."

"Yeah, I recognize your voice now. You're Hot Donna."

"Yeah! That's me." Donna nodded. She was still getting used to being recognized by fans, and as long as they weren't creepy, she really enjoyed the attention.

"My older kids are big fans. They listen all the time."

"No way!"

"They're going to be psyched when I tell them I met you." The doctor's eyes landed on Hyde, and suddenly he remembered why he was there. "Sorry, didn't mean to get off track there. I just came to take that pesky neckbrace off your hands. Or off your neck, I guess." He smiled awkwardly at his own joke.

"Right on," Hyde said in approval.

The doctor undid the velcro and removed the brace. "Let someone know if it hurts too much without that, but it's not good to wear them for too long."

"I'm not complaining." He had just gotten out of a neckbrace pretty recently after his last water tower fall. Donna figured that if he never had to wear one again, it would be too soon.

"You look better already," she said, "much less dorky."

"Sweet." He rubbed his neck. "One down, two to go."

"That reminds me, I still need to sign your cast!"

Donna found a marker on the side table, and next to Eric's message she signed her name...as Hot Donna, of course.

The doctor asked "could I possibly get an autograph for my kids?"

"Totally!"

A mere hour later, Jackie was dragging Donna down the hall with her under the guise of going to the bathroom together. "Spill," the brunette said.

"Spill what?"

"The beans! Spill the beans, Donna, I'm dying to know. What did Steven say when you two were alone?"

"Nothing!" She was slightly tempted to tell, sure, but not nearly enough to break her friend's trust. Jackie was glaring at her, though. She tried to come up with a cover story. "He talked about how he'd rather be at the record store than stuck here." That was surely true, even if it wasn't what they'd talked about.

Jackie put a hand over her heart. "Aww. He misses work. That's so business man-ly of him. He is going to be so successful one day, I just know it. You should take notes for Eric, Donna. Steven's a diamond in the rough, sure, but he's shaping up to be great marriage material." She gasped. "Speaking of diamonds-"

Donna rolled her eyes. "Don't get all heart-eyed, Jackie."

"You're no fun. No wonder Eric didn't marry you."

"Hey!"

A/N: There we have it! So at the moment, I'm thinking next chapter will skip forward a couple days, include Angie, Kelso, Fez, and Eric visiting, and will be the last (or at least the last full) hospital chapter. One after that, we're breaking out. Or being discharged. You know, whichever. Thanks so much for reading you guys! It's a pleasure writing for you all.