Author's Note: To the anon named Cass who was wondering: each chapter has already been written and I am posting one chapter every Saturday as is the suggestion of the ZMA.

Author's Note: Inspired by the episodes "Ski Cabin (1.13) and "The Pill" (1.17).

5 years later…

They were stuck in the back of the line of the cafeteria. Again. Because Michael had forgotten his lunch money in his locker. Again.

Today though, Eric and Donna stood with them in the back of the line, because according to Donna, their 5th period teacher had let them out late for lunch.

"Well why didn't you just hold Kelso's place in line?" Donna asked Jackie as they got closer to the food.

Jackie sighed. "Because the last time I did that everyone in line around us complained and we were forced to the back of the line. So instead of being embarrassed by a teacher, now we just do it ourselves."

Donna nodded sympathetically, ending the conversation. Michael was busy trying, with absolutely no success, Jackie might add, to balance a quarter on top of his nose. So she let herself zone out, the raucous chatter of the cafeteria fading to background noise.

It wasn't until they were all the way in front of the food line that Jackie came back to reality.

"Awesome! They've got tater tots today," Jackie heard Eric say.

"Oh, no. I didn't bring enough money for tater tots," Donna said, disappointed.

Eric grabbed two off the counter. "Don't worry m'lady," he said, laying the chivalry on thick. "I'll buy them for you."

What a good soulmate, Jackie thought.

"Michael, will you buy me tater tots?" Jackie asked. She wanted Michael to be romantic for her too.

Michael whined. "But Jackie, I only have enough money to buy me tater tots, and there's not enough to share."

Jackie was floored. She could not believe how quickly he had shot her down. "I can't believe you," she said, tears welling in her eyes.

"Oh, come on, Jackie. They're just tater tots."

"No, Michael." Jackie shook her head. "No. If you can't take care of me now and buy me tater tots, how will you ever be smart enough to take care of me when we're older?"

Now it was Michael's turn to look shocked. Only he looked hurt too. Jackie knew her comment was harsh, but she just wanted Michael to be the best soulmate he could be.

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, Michael," she taunted. "They're just tater tots, remember?"

"No, forget it," Michael said, handing his money to the lunch lady. Then he started walking off. "Me and my tater tots are going to eat in the gym. Don't follow me."

Jackie had never broken up with Michael before. The thought had never really crossed her mind. They were soulmates, and they had found each other. It didn't get any easier than that.

But then Michael had made out with Pam Macy. He had made out with her like a dirty dog behind the gym. And Jackie had broken up with him. No, Michael. We're through. The words that had slipped so easily out of her mouth less than twenty-four hours ago echoed through her mind as she sat in the dark of the back seat of Eric's Vista Cruiser as they made their way into the woods to her family's ski cabin.

But the reason it had been so easy for Jackie to break up with him was because she knew that they were soulmates, and no matter what, they would end up together in the end. This 'break-up' was her way of punishing Michael for what he did so that he wouldn't do it again.

Yet, a nagging idea kept tugging at the back of her mind. What if Michael was getting tired of Jackie? What if he decided to forget about this whole soulmate thing and just be with whoever he wanted, whenever he wanted?

Jackie needed to let go of these stupid thoughts. She was just being paranoid. So she began talking out loud. About Michael.

"Do you know what the best part of this whole trip is?" Jackie had thrown the question at the whole group, but since Hyde was sitting next to her in the back seat she turned to look at him. "That Michael is not here." She tossed her hands, cocooned in her favorite red mittens, in the air dismissively. "He'd just be sitting here telling me how cute I look in my fur trim coat. I know I look cute; I don't need him here for that."

Great. Now she just missed Michael even more.

Hyde let out a long sigh. Jackie waited eagerly for what he had to say about this, but instead he just changed the subject. He picked up the bag of cat litter from the box between their feet.

"Forman man, what's all this crap that Red gave you?"

"I don't know, he's obsessed with kitty litter. I think he might be going insane," Eric said.

And then, not a moment later, the car hit a patch of ice. Eric swerved the wheel to the left in attempt to keep the car on the road, which caused everything in the car to shift to the right. Jackie felt her small frame get slammed into the door, but at the same moment a hand reached behind to her right shoulder, dampening the hit that her body took.

When Jackie turned she saw Hyde. It was his arm that had covered her shoulder. His other arm was braced against the front seat which had prevented him from crashing into her. His eyes flashed with brief concern for her, which caused Jackie more confusion than her situation with Michael did. But she nodded assuredly. Hyde used the arm around her shoulder to help her sit up straight, and before she knew it he had scooted back to the other side of the bench seat to look out his own window.

"Far out," he said.

Jackie was so disoriented that it took her a moment to realize that the car was listing to the right. She peered out the window and saw that they were indeed no longer on the road, but instead stuck in a snow drift.

Jackie waited with Donna, Fez, and Hyde in the car as Eric did what he needed to do to get the car out of the snow. But after ten minutes with no success, she started to feel anxiety about being stuck on the side of the road seep into her body the same way that the chill was seeping into her through her layers of warm clothes.

"This is awful. We are all going to die," she whined. She knew she was exaggerating, but she couldn't help it. Like she couldn't help the next words that flew from her lips. "And I love Michael."

"Shut up," Hyde, Donna, and Fez shouted at Jackie in unison.

Jackie was momentarily stung. What made them think it was okay to treat her like this? After all, she was bringing them to her family's ski cabin. Jackie bit her tongue, but a moment later felt the need to speak up.

"You guys better be nice to me." Jackie sat up straight and used the most confident voice she could muster. "I didn't need to invite you guys this weekend. And I most certainly could have cancelled the entire trip when Michael did…what he did." She stumbled for words.

The whole car was silent except for the muted sound of Eric's whimpers out in the cold.

"So excuse me for being a little upset that my freaking soulmate cheated on me." Jackie's voice was getting louder. She could tell she was getting worked up and if she didn't be careful she'd end up in tears.

Donna mumbled an apology and Fez nodded sincerely.

Hyde just averted his gaze.

"I just can't believe that Michael would break the sanctity that is soulmates." Jackie hugged a pillow to her chest.

She eyed Hyde from behind. He was leaning over the fire place, arranging logs to start a fire. If he'd heard her he was completely ignoring her.

"Would you do that?" Jackie probed.

Hyde was still ignoring her, but this time she saw his chest rise and fall with a sigh. So he was listening at least.

"Come on, Hyde," Jackie whined. "Please just tell me. Would you ever cheat on your soulmate?"

Just then a bright orange glow exploded into the fire place. Immediately Jackie felt the assuring warmth. The light the fire brought to the room made her feel better too.

Hyde rose to his feet. He refused to look at Jackie, and now she knew that he was purposefully avoiding her gaze. Infuriated, Jackie stuck out her leg right as he was about to pass, cutting into his shins. She shoved the pillow into the couch cushion and sat up straight.

"Answer me, Steven Hyde."

Immediately he side-stepped her leg. She dropped it. "Please?" she whispered.

"No, Jackie. I wouldn't," he said, his back to her as he made his way to the kitchen alcove to grab a beer. Then he plopped onto the armchair, once again turning his back to her.

That was what Jackie was hoping Hyde would say, yet somehow his answer made Jackie feel worse. The tears that she had been working so hard to keep from spilling were suddenly welling up in her eyes, causing everything in the room to blur into nothing more than an array of colors and shadows.

She still had enough resolve to hold back the sob that was caught in her throat. Instead, she did her best to keep the tears and sniffling to a minimum, to no avail. And although Hyde was still expertly ignoring her, soon enough she had grabbed Donna's and Eric's attention from the bedroom. Donna joined her on the couch, which made Jackie feel a little better, but yet she still craved something else.

It wasn't until Hyde had scooted in next to her that she realized that it was his reassurances she needed. She tossed her arms around his shoulders and finally that sob she had been holding back escaped through her lips.

Jackie didn't know what it was that made her need Hyde's support. She supposed it could have something to do with the way he had buffered her in their small accident in the car; the way he'd looked at her with such concern until he knew she was okay.

It was something that made her want Hyde to be on her side when it came to her relationship with Michael.

"Now, listen all right?" Hyde gently pulled her off of him, but not breaking their embrace. Jackie listened, riveted. "If it's any consolation…Pam Macy would give it up to anybody."

Immediately, Jackie felt her sobs deepen. Hyde probably had been trying to make her feel better; she knew he must be sick and tired of her sobbing, but Jackie was acutely aware that he might be right.

She tore away from him and rushed to the now empty bedroom, falling onto the bed and filling the pillow with her sobs. Did Michael cheat on her because she wouldn't have sex with him? Was he punishing her for not having sex with him just like she was punishing him now?

That left only one way for Jackie to save her relationship.

"Michael, I can't believe that you risked your life hitch-hiking so that you could come all the way out here to see me," Jackie gushed. She stroked her hand across his face.

"Yeah." Michael smiled.

In the privacy of the dark ski cabin's bedroom, Jackie mustered up the courage to say the next five words. "I want to make love," she whispered.

"Wait, really?" Jackie could barely make out his eyes widening in the dim moonlight.

"Yes." Jackie's voice emanated confidence.

"Sweet." Michael propped himself up, removing his hand from underneath her shirt and started working at the button of Jackie's jeans.

"No, not tonight Michael," Jackie carefully pulled his hand away from her pants. "Not with our friends right on the other side of that door," she said using that excuse rather than admitting that she wasn't entirely one hundred percent ready quite yet.

"Tease," Michael whined, but he let her remove his hand and didn't push any further.

"Soon," Jackie reassured him.

Or we might not make it. The thought echoed loudly in her head.

For the first few days after Jackie's soulmate clock had went off, the blood continued to well up underneath her pulse every time she rubbed it. And she did. A lot. She still had trouble believing that her clock had finally run out of time, especially when so many people her age around her were still waiting. So she rubbed her wrist almost as excessively as she did while watching the final minutes, then seconds run out. It reminded her that this was real.

But then it was gone.

One day, the blood no longer blossomed right underneath her skin. And the numbers were just…gone.

Jackie had freaked out. She didn't want to tell her parents that she had met her soulmate. They'd ask questions. But she had casually brought it up at dinner one night, asking her parents what happened to the soulmate clock after a person met their soulmate.

"Why the sudden interest?" her father had responded to Jackie's question with a question. He had a habit of doing that and it drove her nuts.

Jackie shrugged.

"It disappears," Jackie's mother said dispassionately. A moment later though, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why? Is something wrong with your clock?"

One of the many mysteries of the clock was that it was only visible to its owner. They thought it had something to do with the quality of the blood that made up the clock. Something about emitting frequencies of light waves that were sensitive to only the owner's eyes.

"No," Jackie shook her head casually. She lifted her fork, shoving green beans in her mouth so as to avoid more scrutiny from her mother.

"Jackie, do you think you might have become over-infatuated with the idea of our soulmate clocks?"

That was her father again. God, she hated questions.

It took Jackie a while to figure it out, but her father was right. She had made her life revolve around that clock, even once it had hit zero. And then, once it was gone for good, she had dedicated her life to what the clock had given her: Michael Kelso.

It hadn't taken long for Jackie to confront Michael about their soulmate status. In fact, it had been the day after her clock disappeared. After school, while she was waiting in a single file line with her class for the buses to come, she had taken off when Mrs. Andrews's back was turned.

She had spotted Michael, who was still just Kelso at the time, just moments before making the split decision to run for it. It was his headgear. She could spot it a mile away.

When she reached him, he was doubled over laughing at something one of his friends had probably said. She recognized the red-headed girl named Donna laughing next to him and two other boys that she didn't recognize. One was skinny and tall with light brown hair. The other wore sunglasses and had frizzy hair.

She tapped Kelso on the shoulder and he turned to face her. He was still smiling. Recognition lit his features.

"Hey, you're Jackie right?" His smile was friendly.

"Uh-huh." She was nervous with his friends around. She tugged his sleeve and took a few steps back. He followed. "I guess I should know your name if we're soulmates."

There was a flash of confusion on his face, but just as quickly it was gone. It made Jackie wonder if she had seen anything at all. Michael's smile changed, widening into a full on grin.

"Yeah, I'm Michael Kelso," he said.

"Jackie Burkhart," she said in kind. She could feel her cheeks flush.

"So soulmates, huh?" Michael began rocking back and forth on his feet. "Maybe we should hang out sometime?"

"That would be super fun," came Jackie's immediate response.

And they had hung out. For a few years it was just as friends, but the kind of friends that knew they'd end up dating when they got older. Mostly they hung out at his house because Jackie didn't want to explain to her parents why she was friends with an older boy. Sometimes they hung out in Eric, who Jackie had discovered was the skinny boy's, basement. She had discovered that this was where he hung out with his friends the most. And although Jackie was glad that Michael wanted to share his friends with her, his friends were, well, far from friendly to her. Especially the frizzy haired boy who she'd come to know as Hyde. She assumed this was his last name, but she had yet to hear anyone call him anything otherwise.

Then came Jackie's eighth grade year, Michael's ninth grade year, which meant he and his friends had moved up to the high school. Jackie didn't mind not seeing Michael's friends in the halls of Point Place Elementary, but she missed him a lot. So much, in fact, that when the next year rolled around and Jackie joined Michael at the high school, she decided that it was maybe the time they start dating each other for real.

And the last year and a half had been wonderful. Until Michael cheated on Jackie with Pam Macy. Until Jackie decided that she needed to have sex with Michael to save their relationship. Until Jackie got pregnant.

"I just hope to God this boy ends up being your soulmate." Jackie's mother's voice was ice as she drove her daughter to the doctor's office for a legitimate pregnancy test. Michael was supposed to drive her, but he hadn't been able to stand on two feet since Jackie, or rather, Eric had broken the news to him.

"He is my soulmate," Jackie mumbled under her breath, afraid to look her mother in the eye.

Her mother spared her a quick glance in the rearview mirror. "What was that?"

Jackie took a deep breath. "Michael is my soulmate."

"Since when?" Jackie wasn't sure if it was possible for her mother's voice to get any icier.

Jackie turned her head to look out the window. She could see the office at the end of the road. "Since…a while," she admitted.

Her mother didn't dignify that with a response.

Jackie was too young to have an OB/GYN, so her mother took her to her OB/GYN. The test came back negative, much to Jackie's relief, but her mother showed no signs of joy.

Jackie couldn't wait to tell Michael. She had something else to tell him too.

He was at The Hub with Fez, Hyde and Eric. As soon as Donna took off with Eric, Jackie shared her news with a moping Michael, trying to keep her nervous energy at bay.

"Michael," she said. "I'm not pregnant."

Jackie watched him come to life. One second he was splayed face down on the table, the next he was standing tall, his lanky arms spread wide in victory as he shouted "Yes!" to the high heavens.

"So you feel tons better right?" Jackie prompted.

"Ohhh yeah!" Michael said, his arms still held high.

"Oh God that's so great." Jackie couldn't hold back her smile any longer. But that's because she knew that was she was about to do was for the right reasons this time. "Because you know what? I'm breaking up with you," Jackie said in one breath.

"What?" Michael's arms fell.

"What?" came his echo, also known as Hyde and Fez.

"Look, Michael. This whole experience has opened my eyes. And nothing will stand in the way of my dream of becoming a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader."

Then, without waiting to hear Michael's or his echo's response, Jackie sauntered out the door to The Hub, feeling immensely proud of herself.

This wasn't the end, Jackie knew. Michael was her soulmate and she was okay with that. But, ever since she was old enough to understand the concept of her soulmate clock, she had done nothing other than revolve her life around it, and now Michael. She had never seen anything wrong with that before. But now she realized that she had lost herself in the process.

Jackie didn't know what she really wanted in life. Other than Michael, of course.

But she had him. He was her soulmate.

So, whereas she had broken up with Michael those few weeks ago to teach him a lesson, this time her reasons were entirely different. She broke up with him so that she could discover what else life had to offer her, what else she could do.

Could she be a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader? Or a globe-trotting fashion designer? What about hosting her own talk show? Who knew what waited for Jackie?

But at least now she could try.