A/N - Hello everyone, hope you enjoy this new chapter. Thanks to everyone who read my other JE oneshot, it had almost 250 visitors this past week ! I have used two songs in this chapter and I don't own either one- the second one , you might think is a 90s song, but it actually came out a few years before it was used in the movie 'Pretty woman'.

Chapter 5

Jackie found herself up at dawn the next morning. A combination of jetlag and residual excitement over being back at her hometown after years of being away.

It was drizzling outside, a sharp contrast to the weather when she had landed the previous day.

She continued lying in bed, in what used to be Laurie's room, many years ago.

Her mind went over snippets of memories of her teenage years, and the time spent giggling, laughing, crying and yelling in that big dusty room at the depths of this house.

Eventually she found herself drifting back into another even more restful sleep. When she woke again, the rain had stopped but it was still misty outside.

She showered and dressed before going downstairs. It was an hour past the usual breakfast time but Kitty and Red were still in the kitchen, at the breakfast table. Kitty had expected Jackie would sleep in that morning and had served the others their morning meal later than usual.

Kitty greeted her guest warmly and was rewarded with a dazzling smile that was rare these days in their house.

'Honey, help yourself to whatever you feel like having…..'

Jackie smiled and looked at all the steaming food on the table. Fried eggs, bacon, pancakes. Delicious ….and also overwhelmingly greasy and fatty.

She took a piece of dry toast and started nibbling on it.

'Jackie, I got some of that muesli stuff from the store this week, I remembered you saying you liked having it in the mornings with yogurt'.

Red raised his eyebrows at that and Jackie explained, 'It's a lot like granola, . Except that it's even healthier and low in fat because it's not toasted in honey or anything. Europeans love it…'

Red was looking disgusted at the thought of dried oat and yogurt for breakfast.

'I bet they love having it along with their weak tea. Pansy ass losers. They would have lost the war too if it hadn't been for us.'

'Now, Red' Kitty pitched in with a warning tone, 'Don't bully the girl, you already have Eric to bully as much as you want.'

'Where's Eric?' Jackie wanted to know.

Red and Kitty looked at each other. Kitty answered with a sigh.

'He's over at the Pinciotti house. He goes there every morning.'

Every single morning?

Her surprise must have been evident.

Kitty went on, 'Bob can't get much done most mornings. Eric hangs around their for a couple of hours, sometime in the kitchen, sometimes in their backyard….sometimes in Donna's room.'

Red chipped in, 'Bob wanted to sell the house and move to Florida last year. My son, the dumbass, begged him not to. So now I still have to pretend I'm friends with Bob.'

He walked off into the living room.

A few minutes later, Jackie walked across the driveway into the lawns of the house next door. It was still misty and grey with no sign of the sun.

She was surprised to hear the faint strains of a familiar melody in the air as she walked across. It got louder just when she was almost exactly halfway between the two houses.

Can you hear the drums, Fernando? I remember long ago another starry night like this …..

They were closer now, Fernando…..Every hour, every minute seemed to last eternally …

She couldn't help looking around, wondering where the music was coming from. There was no one around….

I was so afraid Fernando….we were young and full of life and none of us prepared to die…

And I'm not ashamed to say the roar of guns and cannons almost made me cry…

The music got fainter as she neared Donna's family house.

There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando…..

They were shining there for you and me, for liberty, Fernando …

She knew the music was probably just drifting over from a car parked outside on the street or one of the neighbouring houses. The grey morning suddenly felt chilly and she wrapped her arms around herself as she reached the front door.

Though we never thought that we could lose, there's no regret…..

If I had to do the same again, I would my friend, Fernando …..

She found Eric sitting by himself in the kitchen. Bob had gone out for groceries, he explained. She went upstairs on her own, on impulse, to have a look at Donna's old room. But then realised it wasn't Donna's old room. It still was very much Donna's room even now. Everything in the room looked exactly as if Donna had left to college just the previous day …

A WEEK LATER …..

She had settled into a peaceful routine at her temporary home. Her home for the summer.

She found an old writing desk that no one using and set it up for herself in Laurie's room. She started working on ideas for new designs that she could use when she was back at work. She spent a lot of time with Kitty. The two of them enjoyed quiet afternoons in the kitchen, working on recipes that Jackie had shown interest in learning, they hung out together a few evenings at various LOPP's charity fundraiser events.

She even found herself liking the evenings at home where she watched TV with Red and Kitty, and Red would smile when Kitty and she giggled over something funny on the show that they watched every day at dusk.

But she was no closer to helping with what Kitty had wanted her to. She hadn't really spent any time with Eric and she had no idea what she could do to pull him out of this lethargic depression that seemed to have consumed his life.

She woke up one morning to bright sunshine and decided that she had put off visiting her childhood home long enough. When her parents had found out that she was going to be in Point Place for the summer, they had wasted no time in enlisting her help. The huge house was up for sale and the place still had too much of the Burkhart possessions lying around. Various rooms needed to be checked and things either boxed up for storage or thrown away. Jackie had promised to help work towards getting the house ready for potential buyers to view.

But what she didn't anticipate that morning was Kitty pushing Eric into coming along with her to the Burkhart mansion.

'I'm sure he won't mind driving you over there and he can help you with packing stuff up as well' Kitty pushed aside Jackie's feeble objections that she was sure she could manage on her own.

A few hours later, the duo were busy clearing up Jackie's old room. Jackie sorted through piles of stuff and decided which ones she wanted to keep, throwing them into empty boxes. Eric helped with taping, labelling and moving the boxes to the room in the house that were going to be sealed off before the house was let.

The domestic help who came in once a week to clean the place had kept the kitchen in a useable condition and Jackie was able to make them coffee for their midmorning break.

She sat by the big French windows overlooking the garden and sipped her coffee and smiled at Eric as he came over and stood nearby , looking out into the sunny garden.

'So, you're back in the US for good?'

'Yeah. My boss says they have an opening at the New York office that starts this fall so the East coast is probably my new home'

'No boyfriend waiting for you back in London?'

She raised an eyebrow; she hadn't thought he was interested in asking about any of his friend's lives anymore, he seemed immersed in his own sorrows most of the time.

'Nope. No boyfriend….'

He was still looking out the window and not at her.

'No serious relationships when you were at college?'

She couldn't believe he was asking. When had they really ever talked about this stuff? Memories of a long ago summer when they had briefly turned to each for comfort drifted into her mind and she firmly pushed it aside.

' Well, I went out sometimes with this guy during senior year and I dated this other guy for a few months the year I started working in London, but I'm not sure either of those relationships were anywhere near 'serious'….'

'Well, if you slept with the guy, then that could be an indication that it was somewhat serious'

What the hell? Was he actually asking for an update on her sex life?

Her cheeks were warm but she kept her voice cool.

'Well, I never had sex with the guy at work, though we dated for a few months. I wanted to take things slow but then we ended up breaking up before things got any further.

And …the guy at college….we were really just friends, but …there was this one night….' She was looking down at her coffee mug, she neither wanted to go on or stop and walk away. 'I guess I was pretty drunk and feeling sad…about something….and he comforted me ….we ended up spending the night together.'

Why was she so uncomfortable talking about this, she wondered, for God's sake she was almost 25 years old!

'Jackie, I'm not sure why you look embarrassed but not all relationships have to be about eternal promises and stuff like that ….nothing wrong in being with someone you trust and like ,even if it was just a short term thing…..'

He went on, 'Sometimes I wish so badly I could forget everything, for just one night and be with someone that way …..And feel alive again, if only for a few hours …..'

And she had thought she was blushing a few minutes ago. Her cheeks were flaming red now. Was he confessing to her that he missed sex? What was she expected to say?

She forget that this was what she had been waiting for , Eric to open up a little so she could get him talking about how he needed to move on with his life, at least for his parents' sake.

But she couldn't deal with a conversation about his sexual needs right now, when they were alone in this big house and he was looking so handsome even when he wasn't trying at all.

She got up clearing their cups away and he wandered back over to finish what they had been working on.

They had only an hour more to finish what they could for that day; Kitty wanted them back home by lunchtime. She played music on a small radio she found in her room as the two of them continued sorting stuff.

She thought she was almost done with emptying her old closet when she spotted a small box tucked away on the floor of the cupboard.

A recent hit song started playing on the radio; it was one of her personal favourites.

It must have been love, but it's over now …..

Lay a whisper on my pillow; leave the winter on the ground,

She pulled the box out and knelt down on the carpeted floor, prising it open. She only had a vague memory of what it might have held more than 8 years ago.

I wake up lonely, there's an air of silence, in the bedroom and all around…

Touch me now, I close my eyes and dream away …..

'Oh' She gave a small sound of delight as she pulled out a straggly looking rubber chicken.

Eric turned from where he was taping up a box on the other side of the room.

It must have been love, but it's over now….It must have been good, but I lost it somehow….

'Michael gave this to me when we were dating for my birthday or maybe it was Valentine's day, I don't remember' she was grinning and holding it up for him to see.

'Your Michael box, huh? What else is in there, firecrackers and water balloons?'

She pulled out an empty MacDonald's bag and looked confused for a moment before reading something that was written on it.

'Steven bought me some fries and a soda on our way home after we went out on Veteran's day one year'

She didn't say out loud that it was the only ever time that she and the boy who had hid behind his shades had kissed. But her smile said a lot when she gently kept the bag back into the box.

It must have been love, but it's over now …from the moment we touched till the time had ran out

'So, basically, the box has momentoes of guys who had a crush on you during High School …Jackie, I would have expected that you would need a huge crater for that….'

He came over and sat on the bed nearby as she got absorbed in the contents of the box.

She pulled out another item with an even bigger grin.

'Look, Fez sang a Spanish serenade to me once when Michael and I were broken up. The song was so beautiful I asked him to write it down for me'

'You know, I think whichever country he's from, they probably have awesome music….'

But Eric wasn't listening to her anymore. His attention seemed caught by something in a corner of the box. He reached in and her breath caught as she saw his long fingers pull out a green silk tie.

Make believing we're together, that I'm sheltered by your heart,

But in and outside I've turned to water, like a teardrop in your palm

There were a few seconds of silence before she said, 'I can't remember what that is. Not sure why it's in the box.'

He dropped it back in and went over to move the boxes that he had just labelled out to the other room.

She picked up the tie and smoothed her fingers over it. The green was fading a little but she felt like it was just yesterday she had tied his neck. His eyes had matched the tie so perfectly. She could almost hear the party noises and smell the scents of the flowers her mother had decorated the place with that long ago evening.

When they left a short while later, in time to be back for Kitty's lunch, she hoped he didn't notice that she had managed to stuff that box into her tote bag and was carrying it close to her as they walked to the car.

A/N – Hope you liked this short chapter. It is a bit of a filler in some ways and I know that the sequel has been somewhat sad so far , but I promise you lots of fun in the coming chapters. How could it not be, Jackie is back in Point place now ! : - )