A/N – Hello everyone. I realised after looking at the feedback on the last chapter that I didn't write the end bit well at all. I should have given a bit more detail about the contents of the box, and I might go back and fix it later, but just to clarify – most of the stuff in the box related to actual events that happened on the show – the rubber chicken from Kelso, the Veteran's day date with Hyde and Fez singing to her (although I later remembered that 'Besame Mucho' is likely an Italian song not Spanish, so I messed up there as well) - but Eric's green tie was AU – it was from the party that he came to at Jackie's house as her date for that evening – the evening where they danced to the ABBA song, ring a bell ? It's in chapter 5 of the prequel to this story and you can find it in the profile page of my old id, I will try and link the story into my new ID profile page later today and sorry for assuming that everyone would remember : - ) …..and the reason Jackie acts like she can't remember that evening is , it was at the end of that evening , that she invites him up to her room and he , well to put it bluntly, he gently turns her down. So, I'm sure you agree that it's still a little embarrassing for her to refer to even 8 years later. Clearly I didn't write that scene too well; hope I do a better job with this chapter!

Just need to say that this chapter is not meant to be derogatory or offensive to any of the characters or real life people that they resemble. I adore the entire cast of T7S and any references I make here to the personal lives of the actors are meant to be taken as gentle humouronly.

Chapter 6

Jackie was starting to lose hope that she could get Eric to sit down and talk about his emotions. She had a feeling that he would react with anger if she suggested therapy or counselling.

A week had passed since that day he had come with her to her old house to help clear her old room. She had gone back there alone to finish up her room and he hadn't offered to come along. And though it had seemed like he was starting to open up a little to her that day, it had been an aberration that he didn't repeat, the few times she had tried talking to him later , he had clammed up again.

She could see why Kitty was so worried though.

He seemed perfectly okay with just carrying on this way forever. He was in his mid-twenties and content to keep living at home with his parents and showing absolutely no interest in resuming or reviving a career. He left the room when Kitty dropped gentle hints that it was time he started dating again. He barely even kept in touch with the other guys anymore, all he did was sit around and brood and mope and refuse to acknowledge that he needed help and that he couldn't carry on forever like this.

She was even starting to get a little pissed off at his attitude. Did he not realise how worried his parents were about him and his future? Everyone had their own tragedies and heartbreak in life, but people just didn't give up on life altogether, you still had to keep going, didn't you?

She wanted to see him get over this and move on with his life before the summer was over. She wanted Kitty to not have to worry about her son so much anymore. Even if that meant Eric did move on to some other woman. She could live with that, she just couldn't stand to see him sad like this.

She picked up the phone, she couldn't do this on her own, and his parents had already tried everything they could. It was time to call Eric's best friend.

It was almost midday in Wisconsin but Steven sounded sleepy when he answered. Vegas was only a couple of hours behind, so it wasn't too early to be calling him, she decided.

'Steven, it's me….'

'Jackie, man, why do you always call when I'm fast asleep….'

'Why are you still in bed at 10 am on a weekday ….'

'I'm doing the late shift this week at the casino…..'

'Oh, then I'm sorry I woke you, but it's really important. How is Sam doing?'

She knew he was dating a stripper called Samantha. He had hooked up with the blonde right after moving to Vegas.

'She's good, she's at work right now ….'

Who the hell went to see strippers dancing and taking their clothes off early in the morning?

'Really? Is she still …..does she ….'

'No, she got bored of stripping, so she went to Harvard and became a corporate lawyer…'

His voice literally dripped sarcasm. God, what was his problem, at least Eric had a huge tragedy in his life to justify his current attitude problem.

She had already had this argument with him when he had first started dating a stripper and she wasn't a staunch feminist or anything but she couldn't help diving in yet again.

'Steven, why do you say that like it's a crazy idea? What's impossible about the idea of her giving the finger to her current sleazy employers and going back to school or something?'

'Not that it's any of your business, Jackie. But she couldn't do that even if she wanted to. She has a lot of money that she owes to people here from drinking and other nice habits that people in her family have. She wasn't born with a sliver spoon and a pony and a whole lot of options like some other princesses we know. She's doing the best she can….'

Princess ? Wow, that was harsh, considering how hard she had worked these past couple of years to make it past the intern position that had been her entry into the world of fashion design …

She felt annoyed enough to continue this debate even though she couldn't care less right now if Sam continued stripping for a profession for the rest of her life.

'Yeah, of course, and it's not like people with regular jobs , like cashiers and typists and librarians have loans and financial commitments that they work hard to pay off. It's not like she has any other options, of course…..I'm sure the only way to raise money is for to take her clothes off in public'

'Okay, you're right. She continues doing it because she likes it; she actually enjoys her chosen career…' He was smirking into the phone now , she could feel it through the phone lines.

He went on, when she kept silent for a few seconds, in truth, her mind was reeling at the idea of a woman in her twenties actually choosing to keep stripping because it was her career of choice. Ewwww….

'What are you even complaining about? You refused all those times that I asked you out during senior year of High School. You turned me down, Jackie, so you have no right now to come along and criticise the girl I'm with now.'

She sighed.

'Look, I didn't call up to talk about Sam. I called because, well I'm here at Point Place, at the Forman's and I'm really worried about Eric. Mrs. Forman is right, he can't go on like this forever, he's still missing Donna and hasn't moved on with his life at all ….we have to do something ….and I've tried everything I can….'

'And by that I assume you mean you took him shopping at all the best designer malls in Kenosha. Damn, you're telling me that didn't work?'

'Steven, come on, stop being a jerk , okay? I'm trying to have a serious conversation here.'

She heard him exhale and there was a few seconds of silence.

'Jackie, what do you want me to do? He has a right to stay depressed if that's what he wants to do.'

She had given this some thought already ever since Eric had spoken to her at her house last week.

'I don't think talking to him is going to help. I think he needs you guys to take him out, for ….a few beers, oh, maybe to a strip club or someplace like that …'

'This from the woman who was against anyone stripping just a minute ago …..'

'Well isn't that what some guys do to recover from break ups and all that? So maybe it will help pull Eric out of his depression?'

'We've already tried all that stuff. Last year, we took him to a joint in Chicago; some of the most gorgeous looking women I've ever seen were in there, just like Fez said. Eric spent the evening drinking but he didn't even lift his eyes up from his drink to check out the women….'

'Not even when they were stripping?' She had to know …..

'One of them even came over to give him a lap dance and asked him why he was looking so down and he had her depressed as well with the whole sad story that he wouldn't shut up about then ….'

'Okay, well that was last year. So, you should come here this weekend, maybe, and take him there again. Maybe he's ready now to enjoy it a bit more…..'

'What gave you that idea?'

'It's just something he said last week …I can't really explain it ….'

She could hear the wheels turning in his mind now. He was going to burn her now, she just knew it.

'Jackie, an easy way to find out would be for you to try stripping in front of him and see if you can get a response out of him ….' He gave an evil chuckle.

'What a delightful idea, Steven, and I'm sure Sam would be kind enough to give me some help with ideas on how I could strip for Eric …..' She was gritting her teeth; she might as well hang up if he was going to make a joke of her phone call.

'Stop being so uptight. It was a suggestion and a good one, I think. It might even work. ….'

'Steven, I'm going to hang up now, it's getting obvious that you're hung over or on something, but please think about making a visit here soon, okay? I really want to see him get better before I leave at the end of the summer.

He promised to think about it and that was good enough for her for now. She was dialling the next number on her list as soon as she disconnected the call. She would have to insist on paying for these long distance calls, especially if the other two rambled as much as Steven had…..

'Sunn systems. Michael Kelso speaking.'

It was still morning in California. But Michael sounded like he had been at his desk at work for hours already. She was impressed, maybe this new grown up Michael could be depended on to help solve problems …

'Michael, it's me Jackie…'

He sounded excited to hear from her, his tone changing instantly from business mode to warm and goofy. They hadn't spoken in months, both determined to stay friends but growing apart as their careers had taken over their lives.

Kelso had moved to Silicon Valley years ago, proposing to bank in on all the cutting edge ideas he had for bringing the power and speed of a Mainframe computer to all homes in America through the development of personal computers. There was a technology revolution happening right then and he was determined to be one of the new breed of millionaires who would go down in history for changing the way the world processed information forever.

'I haven't even told my parents yet but we've just a buyout offer from Applee computers. We could walk away with a cool couple of million each or keep the stock and take management positions on their new team. I'm so awesome, Jackie …..'

She smiled, 'so you were right about not even needing college then….'

He scoffed again at the idea of spending four more years in a classroom.

'Most of the really successful guys here are college dropouts. Besides, I'm a business leader, I come up with the vision and the ideas, and then I hire computer engineers to do all the rest, I don't need a formal education for just knowing what will sell, Jackie…'

He went on,' and you know what the best part is, I finally have someone I really care about to share this success with…'

Jackie was so excited that she almost forgot why she had called.

'Michael, that's awesome, is it someone who works in your company?...'

'No, she's from LA, I met her when I was there on a business trip….'

'I'm so happy for you …..'

'Yeah, I was bummed for a while about you turning me down right before you left America. But then I cheered up when I started dating hot California girls …..'

She bet he had cheered up. Real quickly too …..

'…But then I got tired after a while, I didn't really feel anything for any of them. And then I met HER. She is so amazing, Jackie …..She's like the perfect woman…'

'Wow, Michael, it sounds really serious …'

'Oh, it is serious. We've been dating for months. And she wanted to take it slow at first cos she thought her being like 15 years older than me meant it wouldn't work out, but I proved to her that she was wrong. '

He was still talking but her mind was reeling already. 15 years older? Kelso was 26, was he saying that he was dating a woman in her forties?'

'… And I was going to ask her if we could move in together soon, but I'll probably have to move in with her because she lives with her daughters. She has, like, two teenage daughters, so she can't leave them and move in with me …..'

Huh?

She had a million things she felt like saying right then. How was this ever going to work? He was being crazy, and this was going to end with him either getting his heart broken or breaking that woman's heart …She opened her mouth to give him a lecture and then closed it again. She had already been called a spoilt princess who didn't understand reality by one person that morning.

She started weakly, 'Michael, that sounds …awesome. Does your mother know about all this?'

'Nah, I'm not going to tell my mom until it gets really serious , like if we decided to get married or something. So, don't tell Mrs Forman right now either, okay?'

'Right, okay.' She was still biting her tongue to stop herself from saying anything that she didn't want to right now. 'Look, I called because I've been trying to help Mrs Forman ever since I got here to get Eric feeling better and I thought maybe if you came here for a visit , you could help get him moving, hey, maybe you could talk to him about that computer stuff and see if-'

'Jackie, I've called him out here a couple of times already and tried talking to him about , I can't get through to him. Hyde's better at this stuff than I am, you should call him ….'

'I just did, and he didn't have any useful ideas. Well, except for this one brilliant idea that I strip and hope that it gets Eric back to life again ….' The deep sarcasm in her voice was completely lost in translation.

'Oh man, that is a brilliant idea. That would so work. Jackie Burkhart dancing to sexy music and stripping her clothes off is enough to get even a robot to feel something. ' His voice drifted off as he imagined robots getting lap dances and loving it.

'Michael, we should be talking about some sensible ideas that could possibly work ….maybe he just needs counselling for a-'

'No, you're right. It wouldn't work. You're too much of a prude to ever do something like that. You couldn't even carry it off …'

Who was he calling a prude? She so could carry it off if she ever really wanted to do something that ridiculous!

But he was still talking.

'You know, the only girl in Point Place who could pull something like that off with class and style would be Laurie Forman. Oh, You should get Laurie to do it!' He was grinning like a moron.

'Michael, you idiot, even if I could find Laurie and no one knows where she is right now, we still couldn't do that. She's Eric's sister, moron…..'

'Oh yeah, that's too bad.'

'Okay this conversation has been useless. Look, just try and come by sometime soon okay? I think it will help if Eric saw all his friends this summer…And you probably need to be there in person anyway, when you give your mom the updated details of your exciting new relationship ….'

'Yeah sure. And I don't think this call was useless. I'm so going to ask my to-be-roomie if she would strip for me sometime, I can't believe we've been dating months and she hasn't done that for me yet…'

She gave a relieved sigh after hanging up and picked up the phone again with less hope in her heart than before. The only person in the gang who might have given her some sensible advice was lost to her forever.

Fez sounded breathless when he answered her call. They had spoken just the week before she reached Point Place.

'Jackie, can I call you back in the evening, I need to be somewhere right now and I'm late already.'

'Of course, Fez, is everything okay though ?'

'Yes, yes, everything is fine …remember that girl I told you I had just started dating …..she had a 'breakdown' and she's in rehab now ….her parents have okayed it at the hospital for me to visit her and visiting hour will be over soon so that's why I am in a hurry right now …..'

Her parents have Okayed it? How old was she? And rehab?

'Fez, how old is she? Why do her parents need to okay it?'

'She's 19, goddess. But the rehab centre requires parent supervision for anyone below 21. …'

19? He was 25, why on earth would he want to date a teenager …..

Again she remembered Hyde saying she lived in her own little castle.

She asked tentatively, 'you're sure she's not too young, Fez?'

'Oh no, she is really very mature and grown up. I might even propose to her once she gets out of rehab.'

Her head was aching a little, she wondered if Eric was really the one who needed help right now.

'Right okay, Fez. Just call me later okay. And see if you can come and visit while I'm here this summer!'

'Wait, why did u call anyway?'

'I 'm just trying to figure out how to get Eric's life back on track again …..'

'Well, I've tried already, but you should ask Kelso …he is a magnificent evil genius …sometimes I can't believe that anyone with that pretty a face can have such an intelligent brain too ….'

After she hung up, she pondered over the fruitless morning. An hour of long distance calls and the most discussed topic had been stripping. Ugh. But suddenly there was an image filling her head. She was unbuttoning her shirt slowly while Eric watched. She cut off that line of thought as her body started responding immediately and urgently to the idea….No way !

Author Note – Hope you enjoyed this chapter. And I just want to say I made up all the silicon valley, sun(n) systems and Apple( e ) computers stuff , well I made up Kelso being part of it anyway…..and I know I didn't portray Sam very well in this chapter but she makes an actual appearance in the next chapter so we'll see if she can redeem herself then : -) …