A/N: Hello again! Quick note. Hopefully it's apparent in the text, but this one takes place several weeks after the last chapter. I hope you enjoy!

It was a lovely, serene morning in the Forman house. It was a weekend, which held a different meaning back when the kids were in school; Saturday and Sunday were the two days of the week everyone (dumbasses especially) was likely to be in the house all day. Luckily, it was just the family right now, but Red wasn't going to hold his breath. Soon, his house would be invaded, so Red was looking through the paper for some event he and Kitty could go to. His wife, as usual, had made breakfast, and was just adding brown sugar to her oatmeal. Meanwhile, Eric was doodling some kind of cartoon on his napkin while he chewed bacon, so even he was quiet. It was shaping up to be a pleasant family breakfast.

"Guess what day it is," Kitty sang happily as she placed her breakfast on the table.

"Saturday?" Red asked.

She shook her head, grinning from ear to ear. "Guess again!"

This time it was Eric who answered. "No, Mom, I'm pretty sure it's Saturday."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, but what else?" She looked expectantly at her husband and son, who looked at each other and shrugged. "Today is the day...?"

"Uh," Eric looked to his father for help, "today is the day that...I get out of raking the leaves?"

"Nice try," Red said from behind the newspaper he was reading.

Kitty sighed. "You two are impossible. No! Today is the day Steven moves back in!"

Eric's face lit up. "Oh, yeah!"

"Oh, yeah," Red mumbled, less enthusiastically. It wasn't that he didn't care, he just didn't get as excited over things like this as Kitty did. Steven was admittedly pretty enjoyable as far as the dumbasses went, but they'd lived plenty of years without him in the house, and they'd had plenty more pretty soon. What difference did a few weeks make? The boy was practically an adult, he could decide to move in with his real dad for a while. Red had mixed feelings about William Barnett, but not enough that he'd beg Steven to stay. He agreed with all of Steven's reasoning for moving out, and it was nice not to worry about the kid faceplanting under his roof again. Red hated to see him so laid up (and he was sure Steven felt the same way), but whenever he caught himself starting to feel too bad for Steven, he remembered how this all started, and pity became masked by anger. "Hey, I've got a great idea," he said to Eric. "Since Steven is getting his cast off today, he could help you rake those leaves."

His son laughed half-heartedly at his joke, but his wife didn't acknowledge his humor. "He will do no such thing, Red Forman!"

"It was a joke, Kitty." He paused, and smiled at Eric before he continued, "he can do all of the sit-down chores."

Kitty sighed. "Red."

He gave up. "Alright, that's the last time I make a joke."

"And the first," Eric said.

The kid always did have a mouth on him. "Watch it," he warned his son.

Eric frowned. "Guess no one is allowed to make jokes at the breakfast table."

Jackie, Donna, Fez, and Eric were all sitting around the Forman's kitchen table, while Michael was looking in the fridge. Mrs. Forman was on a house-wide cleaning frenzy today in preparation of Steven's homecoming, and Mr. Forman was upstairs avoiding them. Normally, Red wouldn't have to, because they'd all be in the basement, but they were all waiting for Steven's impending arrival so they could greet him and help him move back into the basement. Jackie was eagerly awaiting her boyfriend's arrival, and was getting Fez's feedback on her nail polish as she applied it. She had to look pretty, but wet nails also got her out of carrying in suitcases (which a girlfriend shouldn't have to do anyways, but she knew her friends would make her pitch in).

Suddenly, Michael pulled his head out of the fridge, exclaiming "Fez!"

"What?" Fez said through a mouthful of doughnut, matching Michael's level of urgency. "Did you find more doughnuts?" He crossed his fingers, hoping there were sweet treats still to be eaten in the house.

"No." Michael shook his head, and Fez deflated in defeat. "I just remembered something I was gonna tell you before I got distracted by the doughnuts."

"Stop saying doughnuts," Fez said, "you only remind me of what I can't have."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Fez, you still have half a doughnut."

"And my heart is half empty," he said back to her. "Kelso, what did you remember?"

"So, when my other cop buddies and me went out for our lunch break yesterday, I saw an old friend of yours." He had one of those dumb, excitable, mischievous smiles he often wore when he was about to cause trouble.

"What old friend?"

Eric said, "was it Jennifer Carlisle, that weird lady from the Piggly Wiggly you liked? She was like sixty."

"She was fifty four and fabulous," Fez corrected him. "At least that's what she always used to say."

"No," said Michael, "an old girlfriend friend."

Donna started guessing. "Big Rhonda?" Michael shook his head. "That girl from the DMV? Nina?" He shook his head again. "Wait...Crazy Caroline?" This time, Michael nodded enthusiastically.

"Aye, no."

Jackie was on Fez's side. Caroline had her nickname for a reason. That girl was unbearable. Fez had dated some weirdos, but Caroline took the cake. At least she was pretty, unlike that giant, Big Rhonda. "Big Rhonda, Crazy Caroline...Maybe don't date girls with awful adjectives attached to their names, Fez."

Donna asked Michael, "did she see you?"

"Yeah, and then she started ranting about Fez, so we ditched her real quick. She said she wants to see you again, buddy."

Fez slumped in his seat. "Aye, no." He drew out the last word. "She probably wants to poison me."

"If she does," Michael said, "I'll make sure she goes to jail for a long, long time."

"Thank you, Kelso," Fez said, not entirely relieved.

"No problem, man. It's my police duty, after all. Yup, it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it." He always sounded self-congratulatory when he talked about his job. Jackie wondered if he really thought he was a gift to the police department, or if he was overcompensating.

She finished painting her last nail and screwed the brush back into the bottle. Now that she was done with that, she had nothing else to keep her preoccupied while she waited. "Ugh, when is Steven going to come?" As she spoke, the sliding door opened, and she shot up from her seat. He was here!

"Speak of the devil?" Steven said in reply to his girlfriend, who rushed to kiss him before he could even step inside. "Hey, doll. Guys, check it out." He gestured to his leg, which for the first time in months was covered by full length jeans instead of a cast. Jackie couldn't stop looking; she had gotten used to looking at the heart she'd drawn on his knee. However, this was a celebratory occasion. His friends cheered, some of them clapping even, until he walked into the room. Or rather, until he badly limped into the room. Then, their cheers turned into sympathetic winces.

"Ouch."

"Oh, man."

Steven, however, didn't seem surprised, nor bothered. He even laughed a bit at them all. Smirking, he put an end to the peanut gallery with a somewhat amused "shut up", and kept walking. WB came in a moment later, suitcase in hand. Donna and Michael, considering themselves the strongest members of the gang, followed WB to his car to get the rest of Steven's bags. Jackie could hear Michael outside yelling about how fancy the car was from the kitchen.

"I am very happy for you, Hyde," Fez said.

"Thanks, man. Me too. Speaking of which, Jackie, I know you're a sucker for manners and appearances and all that junk, so I'm going to warn you now so you won't be disappointed in me later that I am getting hammered tonight."

Eric high-fived him. "Alright, party!"

"I figure after I move all my crap down to the basement, we'll grab lunch, and then I'll head to the liquor store."

Jackie crossed her arms. "So soon?" There was no need to buy alcohol in the early afternoon, unless they were planning to start an early bender, which she certainly would not allow.

"You kidding? Jackie, man, I haven't driven in three months. The Camaro's calling my name."

Donna, WB, and Michael returned with the bags, and Eric excused himself to tell his parents that Steven was back. Kitty practically ran into the room. Red briefly came in to say a mandatory hello to Steven, and was trying to make a quick exit, but got intercepted by Bob Pinciotti. Bob had heard a lot of noise coming from the house, so of course he decided he should come over and join in the fun. It was practically a party. Steven, like Red, was quick to slip away unnoticed, sneaking down to the basement as soon as Kitty was sufficiently distracted. Jackie was having a riveting conversation about seasonal color palettes with Donna, who really needed the education, but decided they should also relocate to the basement. Soon, all of the kids were in their usual seats. It was the first time in weeks they had all been down there together.

"Ah, this is just like old times," Fez commented.

Steven said, "no need to get sentimental, man."

"So, like," Eric said, "this is it, right? Like, your limp will get better, and you're done with hospitals and stuff?"

Steven shrugged. "I don't know about that. I'm getting dragged back there to work on walking better, which is fine, I guess. Starting today I can basically do whatever I want, 'cept climb ladders."

"So I'll cross our names off that ladder climbing competition," Forman quipped.

"Yeah, you do that," said Steven. "It pretty much doesn't matter other than climbing the water tower-"

Jackie cut him off, saying, "Which I'm totally okay with, after what's already happened to you."

He sighed. "Yeah, me too. End of an era, though."

Fez raised an eyebrow. "Now who's getting sentimental?"

Sitting in the driver's seat of the Camaro again, Hyde was the happiest he'd felt in weeks. He couldn't remember the last car ride he'd taken by himself, so he'd decided to take the scenic route to the liquor store. There was plenty of time to get there and back, and plenty of lost time to make up for. He was greatly enjoying the drive so far - it was the little things in life. Without consciously deciding to, he found himself driving towards his store, and then past it to the road where he wrecked the motorcycle. He didn't even realize what he was doing until he went past the landmark red house. The last time he'd driven at all was driving the motorcycle on this exact course. He found himself thinking about the way the bike handled, how different it was to driving the Camaro. He had no idea what he was doing when tried to drive the motorcycle. It had been so easy to lose control...

Trees rushed past him as he thought about the way the motorcycle slipped out from under him. Houses went by in a blur, but Hyde paid them no notice. All he saw was the road.

Suddenly, a siren sounded behind him, and he was snapped back into reality. Flashes of red and blue filled his rearview mirror, and it occured to him that he had been speeding. "Crap," he muttered to himself, pulling over. He pulled out his liscence and registration, wondering how he hadn't noticed his error before a cop did.

He rolled down the window, and steeled himself.

A/N: Next chapter will pick up directly after this one, so you won't be left hanging too long. We'll see some familiar faces, both from the story and the show, AND that party the boys were talking about.

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter, and if you're enjoying the story, please leave a review and let me know what you thought of this one!