Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Author's Note: Hello everyone! Sorry, sorry. I know I'm a day late. I really tired to get it done yesterday but I kinda forgot I had this meeting for college to go to today at like seven in the morning and so I had to go to sleep early, which was pretty hard to do with the thunder storm taking place. And then I went to the meeting was came home and about an hour later I crashed out on the couch and didn't wake up until about one. That explains why it's posted later in the day. Sorry! Hopefully next week! Couple of notes, as always I am not a doctor nor am I studying to be one. I have been watching House a lot lately though. Also this is a shorter chapter than usual, sorry but it is pretty important. Thanks for the reviews you guys, they really make my day! Hope you like and Enjoy!

"And then there's my mother who…"

"Kitty." Red called from the kitchen, interrupting Kitty as she talked about her side of the family.

Both Kitty and Hyde, with the camera, looked over at the swinging door just as Red pushed through it and walked over to Kitty.

"I have to go meet up with The Loud One."

"Where is she?" Kitty asked, concern etched on her face.

Red saw the worry on his wife's face and knew he had to do something about it.

"She's fine Kitty. She's down at the garage." Red explained, "She said her car was making noise and she knew she wouldn't make it over here so she went over to the shop. I told her not to buy that damn thing."

Kitty nodded and Red went on.

"Might stay there awhile to check out the car, I'll call you and let you know."

"Ok." Kitty replied with a nod, before stretching her neck to let her lips meet Red's in a quick but loving kiss.

Red turned towards the camera, "You can edit that out right?" he asked gruffly.

"Yeah sure thing, man." Hyde lied. The truth was he could barely figure out how to stop this thing, which was mostly why he kept the film running.

"Good." He replied and then headed back into the kitchen.

"Bye honey, be careful." Kitty called after him and then waited a few seconds before turning back to the camera with a smile, "You know, Steven. I think you were right about Jackie being Red's favorite."

"Yeah I know…" Hyde began to agree before he remembered something, "Hey you never did give a straight answer to who your favorite was."

Kitty just laughed and shook her head.

0o0o0o

It was two forty-five in the morning and both Jackie and Eric were still lying in Kitty's bed—with her—absorbed in the photo album.

"Oh look how adorable I look in that one." Jackie said pointing to an old photo in the book.

Eric looked down at the photo she was talking about. It was a picture of him and Hyde when they were about eleven; they were in the driveway their arms around the other's shoulder. Eric was smiling happily as Hyde just smirked that smirk of his while holding a basketball under his left arm.

"Um Jackie, you're not in this one." He said looking back at the tiny brunette.

"Yes I am." Jackie argued, "Right there. In the back."

Eric leaned his head down to the picture, to get a better look. He looked past himself and Hyde and squinted his eyes abit. And sure enough saw a tiny little girl sitting on one of the patio chairs smiling away.

"You're in the very back." He said turning to Jackie again.

"I'm still there."

Eric shook his head and snorted in disbelief in Jackie's direction. He couldn't believe she could point out herself in a picture that she was barely visible in. Maybe she'd seen the photo so many times, it was just one of those things she noticed after a while. Or maybe she knew all the time some one had taken a photo of her like some kind of…superpower or super sense thing.

"Mom, do you believe…"Eric bean to ask his mother but lost his train of thought when he turned his head to look at her.

Kitty was lying on her side of the bed, with her eyes closed as she slept a deep, much need sleep. Eric stared down at his mother, noticing that her breathing was slightly slower than he though it should be. Of course he was new to this whole thing and didn't know if that was normal. What also could his attention was how she looked so peaceful and exhausted at the same time.

"I think she's asleep." Eric whispered to Jackie, who'd been watching him.

The young woman titled her head to the right, "Really?"

"Yeah." Eric replied with a nod.

Fighting back the urge to laugh, Jackie threw the blanket off her legs and swung them off the bed. She looked back at Eric once she was off the mattress and on her feet.

"Come on." She urged.

"What about Mom?"

"She'll be fine." She assured, but Eric still didn't look very sure, "I promise."

Eric stared at Jackie. She promised huh? Well she had been helping him this whole time he'd been home and had been pretty nice to him in general too. If this was going to turn into a burn, after all of her kindness before, it would be one wicked burn. Still after the time they'd spent together in these past four days, he realized he could and should trust her.

Not even after all those years down in the basement, before all of this, could he have been able to do that.

He looked back at his mom and carefully pulled the blanket up to cover her up some more, causing Jackie to smile as she looked on from where she was standing. Eric then carefully climbed out of the bed, and went over to where Jackie was waiting.

Together they walked towards the bedroom door. Once they were there, Eric reached over and opened the door for Jackie. She looked up at him, her smile remaining on her lips.

"You know Forman, you really surprised me tonight."

Eric's eyes brows moved inwards just a bit, he wondered if this was going to be good or bad "How so?"

"Well," she began to explain as she started out of Kitty's bedroom, "There's the blankets and the trash can. I really didn't expect you to clean up those things without being asked. I…" she suddenly stopped talking and walking as her eyes fell on a small pile out in the hallway.

"Oh, right." Eric said from behind her, in a tone that tried to show that he had just remembered, "About that…"

"No. It's fine." Jackie said, lifting up her hands up slightly to keep him from speaking.

Now Eric was really worried that she was upset with him.

"Jackie." he called after her as she walked up ahead through the hallways.

"I said it was fine, Eric." She said still walking to the staircase.

"Jackie I wanted to do something about them, honestly." Eric called out, trying not to raise his voice too much. "I just I didn't' know what exactly to do with them How to clean them or anything like that. If I'd known what to do, I would have done it."

Jackie stopped walking and turned herself around to face Eric, "I know."

"You…you know?" he asked confused.

"Yeah. That's why I said it was fine." Jackie explained, "Besides it's better that you didn't try to do anything else. The sheets have to be washed and well you know Steven's down in the basement with the washer and dryer."

"So when you said it was fine you meant it was…really fine?"

"Yeah." Jackie replied with a smile, "Now come on."

Eric followed Jackie to the end of the hallway and to the beginning of the stairway, but he was still puzzled about what had just happened.

He never knew that the word 'fine' could actually mean fine. Back when he and Donna were still together, she'd say things were fine but didn't mean it at all. Of course Eric knew plenty of other women did this, but with Donna, it would take her forever to finally tell him what was wrong. That is if he was lucky enough to get her to tell him.

Jackie said fine and meant fine. It was weird. But nice.

When they reached the bottom step, Eric noticed that Jackie chose the route to the kitchen that went through Red's den and the dinning room. Eric wondered if she'd done that because of him or because she didn't want to disturb the snoozing couple.

They entered the kitchen that was filled with a faint smell of coffee. Jackie immediately twirled herself on her heel to look at Eric.

"You already made coffee?" she asked, he was full of surprise tonight.

"Uh yeah." Eric nodded, "I kinda thought I should, since I was staying with Mom and I didn't wanna fall asleep." He explained, "Oh and I didn't want the risk of having to drink that thing of yours that you call instant coffee."

Jackie snarled "Shut up and sit down Mr. Coffee." She ordered in the same playful tone he'd used with her.

With a slight grin on his face, Eric walked over to the round table and took a seat in his once regular seat. Meanwhile behind him, Jackie was getting the mugs from the cabinets.

The room was quiet, but a comfortable quite. A quiet Eric really liked, but wasn't at all disappointed when Jackie broke it as she and two yellow mugs made their way to him.

"Ok here you go." She said handing him one of the mugs. "The sugar's right there, but we're out of cream."

"It's fine." Eric assured before putting just a spoonful of sugar in his beverage. "So um why'd we come down here?"

"It's what Steven and I do." Jackie explained as she took a seat in the chair to his left, "We come here and rink coffee and…"

"I don't believe it." Eric said shaking his head, not blinking his eyes for several seconds.

Jackie frowned at his actions. They were much more exaggerated than they needed to be.

"What?" she asked sharply, "Because we use to date but broke up, we can't sit down and have coffee together? We've been broken up for almost nine years, we've lived together for two of them. Steven and I are exes but were also pretty close…unlike some people."

Eric nodded his head slightly, he knew who those some people were. And the truth was seeing Hyde and Jackie while he was here, they were pretty close; playing cards, talking about things only they knew about. It almost made him jealous. He doubted he and Donna could ever get into the same zone those two were in.

"I…um…" Eric cleared his throat, "I actually meant I couldn't believe it because there's no way you two could rink your coffee so many times and still be alive."

"Oh." Was all Jackie could say as a wave of guilt washed over her from that slight burn she'd given him, "Sorry."

Eric just lifted up his left hand to stop Jackie from talking and letting her know, he was ok.

"If you must know though," she began to speak again looking down at her cup for a few seconds, "Steven made the coffee."

The corners of Eric's mouth twitched and then a smirk played on his lips for a few seconds, before that turned into a large grin as he pointed bat Jackie happily.

"I knew it!" he cried causing Jackie to laugh out loud.

The duo slowly slipped into another relaxed silence, as they sipped their coffee and enjoyed the other's company—as surprising as that was.

"So you and Hyde always do this after you help take of Mom?" Eric questioned, breaking the quietness.

"Um yeah, at night most of the time." Jackie shared as she nodded her head up and down, "It's kind of stressful … you get a little tense I mean, and a little nerve-racking when we have to help Mom through a situation like the one tonight…and unfortunately tonight's was pretty tame."

Eric frowned, he had thought tonight had been bad. It was like nothing he'd ever had to go through before. It was nice to hear that Jackie and even Hyde would get those same uneasy feelings he got, even after everything had calmed down.

"We come down here to relax a bit, after everything's under control." The brunette went on, "We sit here and talk a little and drink coffee."

"Oh ok I get it." Eric said as something clicked in the inside of his head, "You guys have 'coffee.' Like a 'coffee' circle."

Jackie shook her head, "No, Eric. Not like a 'coffee' circle. Not like any kind of circle."

"Seriously?" he asked disbelief clear in his voice and on his face.

"Steven gave up 'circles' when your mom was first diagnosed."

Eric's face fell, the shock being too heavy to show on his face. He didn't know Hyde had stopped…having circles. Sure the gang had split up, but he had never thought is old friend would ever give up circles. But apparently he had. And for his mom.

"Whoa." He breathed, still digesting the idea of Hyde being one of the 'straight folks.' "So he's been clean since then?"

"Well no. I mean he didn't just quit cold turkey." Jackie explained, "But I think he's been clean for about two and a half years."

Eric nodded his head, not know what else to say. And also not wanting to say anything more. He really didn't want to talk about Hyde and the things that had been given up since Kitty got sick. The next thing he'd find out was that his dad had given up steak.

"What do you guys talk about while you're down here, drinking your coffee?" he asked changing the subject.

Jackie raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Well I kinda wanna know how things go, so I can do them too. With you know, taking care of Mom and relaxing after too." Eric said, "So what do you guys talk about?"

Jackie eyed the man she once thought resembled a twig, now that twig was at least a really big and strong branch. Taking a few minutes to think over his words, Jackie decided he had a point and she should share some more details on Steven and her's little ritual.

"Different things." She replied, "You know how talkative Steven can be." She said, deep in sarcasm.

Eric chuckled, "Yeah."

"We talk about Mom a lot. Mostly sharing memories we had with her, back when she was still healthy." Jackie shared in a soft voice as a smile began to make it's way over her lips.

"Like I remember the time she tried to teach me how to make a bunt cake for a school project." She laughed at the memory, "That was bad. I must have ruined five cakes. Your mom ended up giving me money to go buy a cake from the store."

Eric laughed along with Jackie, "I remember that. That was the day the kitchen caught fire right?"

"There was no fire." Jackie scowled, her mismatched eyes right on Eric's, "The smoke detectors just went off."

Her argument just made Eric laugh some more. She gave him a small hit on his shoulder, in hopes of getting him to quiet down, "What about you? You've gotta have plenty of fond memories with your mom. Mama's Boy."

"Well yeah…" Eric began to agree, ignoring the name she'd called him.

"Then come on share." She ordered, "It's your turn."

"Um ok…" Eric said before drifting off and digging into his brain. Sure he had plenty of memories of his mom, but that also made it difficult to pick just one to share with Jackie.

After a few more seconds of pondering, Eric spoke again. "Oh ok, well there's was a career day by when we were juniors in high school…"

"I remember." Jackie nodded, "And I was sophomore."

"Right." Eric nodded quickly not really thinking that was such an important detail, of course he knew she was a sophomore, "Anyways, I followed Mom around the hospital that time and it was just…like an eye-opener."

"I had never known that she did all those things, that she could do all those things." He went on, "We were practically running around the hospital. Mom was visiting with patients that hadn't had any visitors, she was helping deliver babies. She knew a lot more than those doctors there. She was ven touching dead bodies. Dead bodies!"

Jackie giggled as his high tight voice mad another quick appearance.

"But it was really that ride home that really sticks with me." Eric continued, "I could tell that the day at the hospital was a long one and one of the patients she was close with died, but she didn't seem bothered by it. I'm sure she was, but it was like she left whatever happened at work, at work and went home with a better attitude for us."

"I remember that day whenever I have a bad day. I mean sure, there's no one that I really have to have a happy attitude for at my apartment. Still though, I try to keep what happened at work, at work; like Mom."

Jackie smiled, "That's a really sweet story, Eric. You should share that with her."

"Yeah." Eric nodded and slowly began to grin as he looked at Jackie, "I think I will."

"You did really good today, Eric." Jackie said out loud, "You went to see your mom, and apologized—even though you didn't have to. You even got Steven to let you stay with her tonight. And you did stay with her up in her room this whole time."

Eric smiled almost hopefully, "So does that mean I'll get two crumbs of my luggage tomorrow?"

"We'll see." Jackie replied, coolly.

"It's not a no." he said out loud and Jackie's smile grew some more before she went on.

"And when she got sick, you didn't freak out as much as I thought you would. You actually helped out. I really apperceived that." She told him "And the photo album was a nice touch."

"Oh well you know…"Eric struggled with his words a bit, "I the photo album really wasn't my idea. I got it from what you said about keeping Mom's mind of her being sick. I didn't…"

Jackie shook her head, "No, you did. You came up with the idea of the photo album. I never even mentioned anything about photos. That was all you Eric." She paused to take a sip of her coffee and then looked back up at him, "And you really need to stop doing that."

"Doing what?" he asked confused.

"Putting yourself down like that, and feeling sorry for yourself. You're a really good guy Eric and a lot luckier than you think." She explained and then placed her right hand over his left one, "You did good today. I'm proud of you and you should be proud of you."

Eric couldn't help but smile, "Thanks, Jackie."

Jackie smiled back and Eric was once again hypnotized by her smile and her bright, happy eyes. They sat in their seats, the peaceful silence falling over them. Their eyes stayed on each other, and Jackie's had never moved from Eric's.

Ever so slowly, Eric's grin began to fade away as he watched the young woman next to him. She wasn't the same girl from the basement years ago. She was kind and very beautiful. If she was this beautiful back then and he hadn't noticed, Red was completely right about him being a dumbass.

And she'd been so helpful to him since he'd gotten here. With everything. He was very grateful for that.

Suddenly Eric felt himself moving in closer to where Jackie sat, his eyes still fixed on her. Jackie saw his movements as he moved closer and closer to her, but didn't put a stop to them.

Before either one of them knew it, Eric's mouth was covering Jackie's and they were both getting lost in the best kiss either of them had had in years. It was passionate and yet so tender. It was almost too much.

Jackie pulled away and out of the kiss. She stared back at Eric with surprise in her eyes.

"Steven and I," she said almost breathlessly, "don't do that."

"Good." Eric answered before moving his hand behind her head to cup the bottom of it.

Once again, he leaned in closer but this time Jackie surprised him by meeting him in the middle.

This second kiss was almost as passionate as the first, if not more so. Jackie wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her hungry lips, just as Eric softly used the hand on her head to urge her towards him. Neither one of them could believe they were kissing the other, they'd never even dreamed of doing anything like it. But the kiss felt so right, it was almost as if it were a dream.

But it wasn't a dream and they both knew it. This was real life.

Again Jackie broke the kiss and pulled herself away from Eric. She carefully stood up from her chair, her eyes on Eric's worried ones the whole time.

"I'm sorry…I can't." she whispered as she carefully walked backwards to the swinging door, "I'm sorry, Eric…I….Goodnight."

And then she was gone.

Author's Note: There it is Chapter 21 of "Two Weeks" Hope you liked!

Will Hyde find out that Kitty got sick? What did those kisses mean? Why did Jackie leave? Will things between Jackie and Eric change now? Will the rest of the gang find out? Confused? You won't be after the next chapter of "Two Weeks"

Until then, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, and have a nice day!