Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Author's Note: Hello all! Holy Moly! Not sure what that's more for, my tardiness or the word count on this chapter! I'll first start off with my tardiness. I am so sorry everyone, I really am but I have a really good excuse! I started school last week, not just school, but college. So the first week was alittle hectic as has this week been too but not so much which is good. I am so sorry for my lateness but I hope this LONG chapter makes up for it. Seriously almost 7,000 words? Wow! I did NOT mean for it too come out so long. Hope you guys don't fall asleep and that after the long chapter you won't forget to review! Quick notes. One, please remember I am not a doctor…though I did just buy season three of House M.D. on DVD, which I did not know had the Kurtwood Smith episode so that was pretty awesome. Two. Thank you so much for all of your reviews I am truly thankful for them all and I am so glad you all are enjoying and staying tuned in to the story. Three. I am soo sorry for beign a week and some days late! So so sorry! Four Sorry for the long chapter! Five. Slight Tissue warning, just incase I needed it but I'm a little sleep deprived right now…Thanks for reading again. Hope you like! And Enjoy!
"And that's how that happened." Kitty finished her latest answer.
Hyde nodded, but didn't say anything quite yet. She had answered his question a lot faster than he thought she would and now he was stuck trying to come up with another answer.
"Um…uh….um…" he struggled as he racked the inside of his brain.
"Um…uh…um…" a feminine voice repeated.
Hyde swung the camera over to the left side of the room to the swinging kitchen door. There he caught the shot Jackie making her way into the living room.
"Gee Steven what's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" She teased as she crossed her arms over her chest, "Did you forget all of the questions we came up with last night?"
"Well you were there and I tend to block things with you of my head, so yeah I forgot 'em." Hyde replied before moving the camera away from Jackie and back to Kitty.
Even though the camera wasn't on her, Jackie glared at her ex boyfriend and began to march her way over to him.
"You know what Steven…"
Kitty could sense another one of her adopted children's arguments were about to start up. They'd been so good at no fighting lately—at least in front of her—she thought the whole stripper thing was way behind the,.
"Now kids don't start your fighting." She ordered rather than suggested, turning her head back and forth from Hyde to Jackie, "I do not want fighting in my video."
"Yes, Mom." both young adults mumbled.
Their surrogate mother smiled and turned to Jackie, who managed to squeeze half of herself into the shot again, "Jackie, honey, where's Red?"
"He's in the garage. He said he'd be right in." she replied.
Hyde smirked from behind the camera, "You kill your car?"
"No!" Jackie almost shouted, and then got her whole self into the picture frame of the camera by sitting on the couch right beside Kitty, "My car died, Mom!"
She'd cried the words out loud before dropping her head onto Kitty's shoulder, hoping for some comfort. Of course that's what she got as Kitty softly patted the small girl's back, gently with her motherly hand.
"Oh sweetie…"Kitty said soothingly.
Suddenly Jackie's head popped off her adopted mother's shoulder as she looked straight at the camera and the man behind it.
"I didn't kill it, it died!" she argued already knowing the remark he was gonna make.
Hyde shrugged his shoulders, "Tomato, tomato." He said pronouncing the words the exact same way.
Jackie only rolled her eyes while she shook her head deciding to ignore the comment and talk to Kitty, "Red's been waiting almost ten years to tell me that I shouldn't have gotten my mustang."
"Oh honey," Kitty said bringing Jackie's head back to rest on her shoulder, "I'm sure he won't say anything like that…"
"He already did." She informed.
"Oh." Was all Kitty could say for several seconds, "Well I'm sure you could get him to go with you to shop for another car."
Jackie nodded her head abit, "I already did…actually he volunteered. I think he just wants to spend the day looking at cars though."
"Ok Jackie," Hyde interrupted before Jackie could say more, "now that you've had your little sob-fest, you wanna get out of the shot?"
"No." Jackie answered with a small pout while never moving her head away from Kitty's shoulder.
"Well too bad, because you have to. This is Mom's video and there's only supposed to be have Mom in it."
Jackie lifted her head back up. "Well it has your stupid voice."
"Yeah, well we don't need…"Hyde began to say only to be cut off.
"Steven!" Kitty scolded towards the camera for a few seconds, "Why don't you let Jackie come out on the video for a few minutes. After all I know you got a few shots of Red in there."
"Red's already got parts in the video?" Jackie questioned not bothering to wait for a response from wither parties, "I am so gonna be in this video. And the parts with me are so gonna be some of the best parts. And not just because it has me in it but because I worked on a TV talk show!"
Hyde's brow furrowed as he filmed the two women on the couch getting a bit too excited as they jabbered on about TV talk shows and when Jackie use to work with that Christine St. George lady. He soon realized he was loosing control of the movie.
"Hey, I'm in charge of this film remember?" he reminded, "And you didn't work on a TV talk show, you were an assistant to a TV talk show host.
"Yeah." Jackie agreed right away, "Which means I was this close to actually being the host!" she said lifting up her thumb and index finger pinched together, leaving very little room between them.
The Zen master shook his head and sighed slightly, "Whatever."
Not that it mattered what he said anyways; both Kitty and Jackie were back to their conversation. Hyde hoped this wasn't how it would be the whole time Jackie was here, he couldn't understand a word either one of them was saying.
"Ok this part of the film will be called 'A Half Hour with Jackie and Kitty.'" Jackie explained to the Camera.
Hyde's eyes bulged slightly before he frowned again, "A half hour?"
"Now Mom," Jackie said ignoring Hyde's question, "I'm gonna ask the questions and you use answer them"
Kitty nodded anxiously, "Oh this is so exciting, it'll be like I'm being interviewed by that Sally Jessy Raphael…Oo or by Barbara Walters!" she said giggling with excitement.
"I know!" Jackie agreed with a large grin, that faded after a few seconds, "Well except that I'm prettier and much younger than both of them."
Kitty continued to giggle while Hyde didn't say anything, he knew he'd only be wasting his breath.
The petite brunette clapped her hands once, "Ok so Mom you're the guest. I'm the host. And Steve you're the stinky guy behind the camera know one really cares about."
She gave a small smirk as she titled her head slightly towards Hyde; but he remained silent.
"Ok let's start with the first question." She announced happily.
She took a few seconds o think of a good question. And then those seconds turned into a few minutes and she was no longer looking for a good question but just any question.
"Uh…um…uh…"she struggled nervously.
Hyde smirked evil, not being able to resist, "Uh…um…uh…Gee Jackie, what's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" he asked mockingly.
Not two seconds later, one of the small yellow pillows from the sofa was flung towards him and hitting the lens of the camera.
0o0o0o
It was a few hours after the showdown in the living room, Red remained upstairs with his wife and hadn't come down to speak with anyone, just as the gang themselves had yet to go up and face him. But while Red probably hadn't come downstairs because he was visiting with Kitty, the main reason for the group not going to talk to Red was because they were either cowards or they were still wrapped up in the events that had taken place just before Red had gotten home.
Most of them were both.
A few minutes after Red had ascended up the staircase, Randy had left the house mumbling something about needing to clear his head. Hyde—his thoughts still on the words that had been said by him and to him—went down to his room in the basement, knowing it was best to give Red some alone time with Kitty. Donna huffed her way behind Hyde, not sure just what she should be more upset about.
Kelso and Brooke also made an exit to the basement. However the only reason they'd left to that room was to join their daughter and Fez in a marathon of Bug Bunny cartoons. And Eric and Jackie, they had gone back to the room where the whole thing had started. The kitchen.
The two were both seated at the round kitchen table, Jackie on the right and Eric on the left, drinking some of the cocoa Fez and Betsy had made. Kitty had always said it was bad luck to let hot cocoa go to waste. And they really didn't need any more of that.
"So I've finally come to a decision." Eric said breaking the comfortable silence after taking a long dramatic sip from his mug, "I'm going to join Kelso and Fez in hiding from Red in the washer and dryer."
Jackie had to laugh and shake her head as she heard the words, "Eric, you do realize how stupid that sounds right?"
"Yeah." Eric nodded and then paused for a few seconds, "There's no way two of us could fit in the washer or dryer…I'll get Fez to move into the deep freeze."
"Eric come on, you really need to stop worrying. You already saw your dad and he already saw you. The worst is over." Jackie reminded before taking a sip of her drink.
He titled his head slightly to the right and stared at Jackie with a look of fascination, "It's like you're new around here."
Jackie responded by smacking Eric's nicely toned arm, while fighting back a smile.
"Seriously Jackie, the worst isn't over. The worst hasn't even begun." Eric argued, "Yeah I saw Red and he saw me, but I haven't talked to him, he hasn't talked to me yet…he hasn't called me a dumbass or threaten to put his foot up my ass yet! And until the word 'ass' leaves his mouth it's like he hasn't officially seen me."
The tiny brunette shook her head, "Well saying the word or not, he's gonna see you soon enough."
"Yeah, I know. Our shift's gonna start soon." He said looking down at his watch for only a second before going on, "You know I'm glad Hyde did set us up to take the shift together."
Jackie nodded, "Yeah. Bet he's wishing he didn't now though." She mumbled to herself, but when she saw the puzzled frown indented on Eric face, she quickly shook her head breaking her free from those thoughts and back to what she had planned on talking about.
"Um Eric. Speaking of this whole shift thing with your mom…I think we should hold off and wait until tomorrow." She began to explain, in a gentle voice hoping he wouldn't be too upset or disappointed, "I just think that with your dad just getting here and all…"
"We should let him stay up there with Mom for the rest of the night." Eric finished for her.
Jackie's eyes brightened with surprise and excitement, "Yes!"
"Yes!" Eric almost shouted, in agreement, "I mean I'm not just saying that because you said 'yes' or because that would mean me not having to see Red just yet…though yeah, that last one is one of the main reasons. But really I think Dad should stay with Mom and just let the two of them have some alone time. I could really tell Mom had been missing him…and I guess we really don't know how much time they'll be able to have together like that…"
"That's exactly what I was gonna say!" Jackie said with a large smile. Though the topic really wasn't one to be smiling about, it excited her that Eric knew what she was going to say before she had even said it, "This is so exciting!"
Watching Jackie's enthusiasm as she almost bounced in her seat, Eric had to smile himself a smile. Nothing like this had ever happened to him either. Especially not with Donna. It was very rare that the two of them were on the same page let along the same chapter.
"Yeah." Eric nodded, "Yeah, I guess it is."
Jackie nodded as well, keeping her large smile in place. However, it was only a few seconds later that her happy carefree grin, faded away just abit.
"You know Eric," she began, "if I didn't have this feeling that we were about to get some company, I'd kiss you." She finished in a lower voice.
Eric gave a shy smirk, "Well I don't know why company is stopping you now. After all you did kiss me in the living room infront of every one." He reminded playfully before adding, "Which by the way was hot."
Hyde entered the kitchen from the basement to the scene of Jackie and Eric laughing together. It was a private moment and close one as well, Hyde noticed as he saw Jackie place her hand Eric's forearm. Seeing the two of them so happy, with each other, Hyde didn't know how to feel.
So he chose not feel anything and just stay Zen.
"Hey Forman, Jackie." he greeted as he walked closer to the couple.
Eric turned in his seat to see his adoptive brother, "Hey Hyde."
He'd decided to follow Hyde's way of acting as if nothing had happened; maybe it would keep things from getting worse. Jackie, however didn't take the same route as the guys.
Her smile had fallen the second she heard Hyde's voice and she right away turned her attention to her nails.
"Steven." She said coldly.
Hyde watched Jackie, slightly hoping she'd say more in the greeting, but when he saw her turn her attention to her other hand he knew it was a lost cause. He sighed and decided to just do what he'd come up here for in the first place.
"Listen it's almost seven, your shift's supposed to start soon and…"
"We're not going." The brunette who looked like she wasn't pay attention, interrupted.
Hyde frowned as he turned from Eric to Jackie, "What?"
"Uh, yeah Hyde. We kinda decided not to go." Eric started to explain, trying his best not to get nervous or at least keep it from showing in his voice, "We thought we should just start the shift thing with Mom tomorrow. This way Red can stay with her tonight, he's been away long enough."
Hyde blinked his eyes a few times behind his shades, surprised by what he was hearing and wondering if it had been Eric's idea. He sounded pretty confident that it made Hyde believe so.
"Yeah. No, that's a pretty good idea Forman. I was actually coming up here to say something kinda like that…" he admitted.
Jackie rolled here eyes not sure if she should believe him or not. Even if she didn't believe him, that wouldn't cause her to feel as upset as she was feeling now.
"Really Steven? You?" Jackie condescendingly questioned as she turned her chair to face her ex, "You were going to come up here and tell us to do something? Something that would affect mine and Eric's lives? Something that would control our lives? I don't believe it!"
"Jackie, I never said I wanted to control your lives." Hyde replied, sensing what she was getting at.
Jackie titled her head to the side, not yet finished, "Oh that's right you wanted to put a stop to things happening in our lives. That is just so much better."
While argument took place in front of him, Eric swung his head back and forth from one glaring person to the next. He wanted to say something, but was never given the chance with Hyde or Jackie quickly jumping as soon as the other was done or not done speaking. Poor Eric really felt out of place.
"If you would have just let me explain Jackie…" Hyde began only to be cut off.
"Explain what Steven?" the fuming brunette asked as she stood form her seat and stalked closer to him, getting angrier and angrier, "Explain how you were going to out a stop to me and Eric getting closer? Oh please do tell Steven."
Hyde was getting frustrated with the whole thing and Jackie constantly interrupting didn't help, "Jackie, that's not what I meant…"
That was the last thing Eric was able to make out before it just became a bunch of noise as Jackie and Hyde argued with each other. They didn't bother hearing what the other had to say and made it their only goal to get their point across.
Eric watched from his kitchen chair for a few more seconds before deciding to stand up and try to put a stop or even a slight pause to the argument. But he never got a word in, he didn't even get to stand up from his seat.
However even without Eric's help, the room did become silent. Both Hyde and Jackie stopped speaking—rather shouting—the second a new voice was heard in the room.
"Both of you, shut it. You can kill each other later." Red declared with his deep stern scowl in place, "Right now you've got three minutes to explain to me why my house is infected with the same dumbass teenagers that I had just gotten rid of not seven years ago."
Eric didn't know why he said it, but he just couldn't stop himself. It was like being in the kitchen with his upset father was so normal and his response was almost expected. Whatever the reason, Eric still opened his mouth and spoke before he could try to stop himself.
"Well technically we're not teenagers anymore, since our ages no longer contain the word 'teen' in it…"
Red didn't need to say anything, he just turned towards his son with an angry glare and Eric shrunk down into his seat. Instead of snickering as he would have done in a times like this, Hyde decided to fulfill his surrogate father's demand.
"Look Red, we started calling everyone right after we had taken Mom to the hospital and they told us what was going on. We even tried calling you but couldn't get a hold of you." He started to explain, before Jackie jumped in.
"We thought it would be nice for them to come see Mom again and it would make her happy to have everyone around her." Jackie added, hopping her role as Red's favorite would come in handy, "It has made her happy." She added just incase.
Hyde looked at Jackie, frowning from under his sunglasses. He looked back at Red and saw the older man's scowl in the same spot. He still didn't look too happy, but that was ok, Hyde knew just what to do.
"It was all Jackie's idea." He announced pointing his index finger at the petite woman standing beside him.
The pair of mismatched eyes widened and stared intensely at the man next to her. If Jackie wanted to kill Hyde before, she now wanted to kill him, bring him back to life only to kill him again. He was blaming her so she would get in more trouble, when the fact of the matter was it had the two of them together, who had decided to make the phone calls.
"I don't care whose idea it was. I just want…" Red stopped mid way through his request to get rid of the group in the basement, and replayed Jackie's words. He closed his eyes and sighed before looking at his adopted children, "It's really made her happy?"
In a frightened like manner, Hyde and Jackie both nodded their heads up and down.
"Fine. They can stay." Red gave in but kept his gruff tone and appearance, "At least you didn't call up any of Kitty's screwball relatives…did you?"
Remaining in the state as before Jackie and Hyde shook their heads 'no.'
"Good." He stated before walking over to the cabinet where they kept both his and Kitty's medications.
The kitchen became soundless as the three young adults watched the man who they each considered their father, open the cabinet door and go through the contents. They all watched with a nervous, uncertain feeling stirring in their stomachs.
"If you're going to say something, say it." Red declared, never moving away from the cabinet, but having felt the pairs of eyes burning the back of his head.
Taking a few seconds to recover—the trio had nearly jumped a few steps back after hearing Red speak—one of them at last managed to find their voice.
"Uh. Red, man. I'm still pretty confused." Hyde started to say walking closer to Red, "What're you doing here? I mean…I thought you said you were gonna call us so we could pick you up…"
Red turned away from the various plastic orange bottles, "I did call. Twice."
Seeing the confused expressions in the room, Red decided to go on and elaborate some more.
He heaved a deep sigh before beginning, "First I called earlier in the day, some time around noon I guess. I was calling to let you know I'd gotten another flight over here. But no one answered."
Suddenly a wave of guilt washed over Jackie as she heard Red's words. A phone call around noon, that hadn't been answered? Her mind had install gone to the phone ringing when she and Eric were arguing in the kitchen and she had faked the phone call with a co-worker. She had of course been curious about who had called but she never would have guessed it had been Red.
Feeling the blame on her part, Jackie looked down at her feet as Red continued to speak.
"Then I called when I got in and that time I got an answer. But all I got in was 'Hello' and then the person on the other end hung up." He went on, "I now realize that was probably either Ponch or Jughead."
Hyde shook his head, ready to find out who'd answered the call, why they hadn't told him about Red calling, and then kick their ass.
"So since I couldn't get a hold of either of you I had to get a cab." Red continued, "And the tab for that is being split by the two of you and paid back to me."
Jackie and Hyde only nodded, knowing it wasn't a suggestion. However they also knew Red didn't mean it and probably wouldn't take action to the order.
"Does Kitty know why I'm here?" he asked.
"Uh no." Hyde replied, "She uh…never asked so we never told."
Red nodded before turning back to the medicines, "Good."
Jackie watched the older man look through the different bottles of pills, keeping in his hands a few of them. She noticed both Eric and Hyde were doing the same and seemed they both also shared the feelings of worry and curiosity as they watched Red. Of course Jackie knew that both boys were chickens and she would have to be the one with the guts to come out and ask the question
"Um Red?" she called out getting his attention, "Is Mom feeling sick? I mean because you're getting her medicine…that's why I'm asking."
"No…no. Kitty's still asleep. But uh she was moaning awhile ago so I figured I better come down here and get her pills. Just in case." Red explained, somewhat quickly. He hated talking about anything dealing with his wife's sickness but he also would do anything he could to help her feel even a tad bit better.
He cleared his throat and recaptured his gruff form and pointed at the pair standing infront of him, "Now you can keep the dumbasses, but remember they're your responsibility."
"Yes, sir." They answered simultaneously.
Red nodded his head and then grabbed the rest of the pills he'd need for Kitty before heading to the swinging door. He was just about of the kitchen when he turned back around and set his eyes on one of the three.
"I knew you'd finally get your head out of your ass and get over here." He said to a startled looking Eric, "I'm glad you're home, son."
With that said Red turned back around and exited the kitchen, leaving poor Eric still shell-shocked.
He couldn't believe what his father had just said to him…well the second part of what he'd said. The first part yeah, but the second part? He was glad he was home? And he didn't yell once. That was a huge improvement. It looked like Jackie was right all along.
"Uh…me too." Eric said, despite the fact that Red was probably already at the staircase at this point.
Eric wasn't the only one surprised by the scene that had just taken place. The only female in the room had also found herself taken aback by the actions. Or better yet the actions that didn't happen.
"Steven, why didn't you say anything?" she asked looking at Hyde. It wasn't that she wanted to Hyde to tell Red the truth about how Eric had been at the beginning, but she had really been afraid—especially since the big showdown in the living room—that Hyde would spill the beans to Red.
Hyde remained Zen, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you didn't tell Red what had really happened." Jackie began, "You didn't tell him how you called Eric and he said he wouldn't come. Or how I was the one who got him to get over here. You didn't even tell Red about Eric running off…you didn't stop R from saying those things to Eric."
"Yeah, well." Hyde shrugged his shoulder, "Guess that just shows that you don't really know what I want to stop."
Having said that, Hyde swung himself back in the direction of the basement and left the room. Jackie continued to stand in her slightly surprised stated while Eric remained sitting in his seat but had actually stopped feeling so shocked by his father's words and instead felt welcomed by them.
"Wow. Hyde's really gotten a lot Zen-er." He said out loud, "I didn't think that was possible."
All Jackie could do was nod in agreement.
0o0o0o
Red came back to his and Kitty's room just in time.
Kitty was now fully awake and sitting up in bed, throwing up into the trashcan Red had moved closer to the bedside before going downstairs. Calmly Red walked to his wife and took a seat behind her, gently rubbing her back and never letting on to how worried he was really feeling on the inside.
It was several minutes before Kitty finally pushed away the bin, letting Red take the can and put it off to the side. He'd get to it later, there were other important things to take care. Without a word he handed her the pills and a glass of water, she took the medication never saying a thing.
It wasn't until all of the tablets had been swallowed and the glass had been placed back on the night stand that the silence was broken.
"Some welcome home, huh?" Kitty asked giving her husband a weak smile.
Red returned the small smile as he put his arm around her shoulders, "Yeah well, you have always been my favorite reason for coming home."
Letting out a soft giggle, Kitty leaned back against her husband and decided to relax in the embrace before the feeling of nausea or pain came over her once again. Red inclined his back against the headboard, so he could get comfortable.
"So how was The Big Apple?"
"Full of Big Dumbasses." Red replied, "There were dumbasses polluting the place. There were dumbass taxi drivers, dumbass people playing guitars on the streets, and there were so many dumbass foreigners our foreign kid would have fit right in."
Kitty smiled not so much at his complaint but rather him saying, 'our foreign kid.' She knew he loved each of those kids as much as she did. Of course wasn't about to bring what he'd said to his attention; he'd only deny it.
"I'm telling you Kitty, there's no way you could ever get me to go back there." He said, not wanting to tell her the truth about what he'd thought of the big city and how he'd wanted to take her—there was no reason to upset her.
"What are you doing home so soon?" she asked him, "I thought you still had another two days there."
Red was quiet for a few seconds, trying to remember all the details to his story so he wouldn't have to stop again. "Uh, I just said Kitty. The place was crawling with dumbasses. And don't get me started on the damn convention. That was place was…"
"Steven called you, didn't he?"
Surprised by his wife's words, Red looked down and saw his wife looking back up at him waiting for an answer. An answer she already knew.
"How did you know?" he asked with a frown.
"Oh Red," Kitty began with a slight grin, "I may be a sick woman but I still know everything that goes on in my house."
Red had to agree with that and he gave a chuckle to show it. He couldn't believe he and the dumbasses downstairs thought they could have gotten this past Kitty. She had eyes and ears through out the place. And as much as Red would say he was in charge of the house and those in it, it was Kitty who took control and got her way in the end—especially against Red.
He may have been The King but she was The Queen.
Kitty went on with what she had to say, bringing Red back to reality, "And Steven did look pretty nervous when I told him about Marty calling, so I figured it couldn't have been him who called Marty…"
"Wait a minute." Red interrupted with a confused scowl on his face, "Marty?"
"Yes, your brother. Remember?"
"I know who Marty is, Kitty." He replied still frowning, "Why was he calling here?"
"He was just calling to talk to me. He asked me how I was doing and if there was anything he could do." Kitty started to explain, still not clearing things up for Red, "He knew about everything that was going on…I guess he must have called right after you talked to him."
Red's frown deepened, "I didn't talk to Marty."
"You didn't?" Kitty questioned, now with her own confused expression.
"Why would I call my brother and tell him about what was going here?"
His wife shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know…moral support?"
"Kitty, if I called Marty for moral support, I'd end up being the one to give moral support to Martina." Red reminded in his gruff tone of voice.
Kitty had to giggle when she heard Red's chuckle as he laughed at his own joke. They both knew how true the statement really was. A few seconds later, the couple's laughter had died down. Kitty closed her eyes and relaxed whereas a question in Red's mind continued to bother him.
"Kitty?"
"Hmm?"
Red looked down at his peaceful looking wife as she rested her head on his shoulder. He knew she was tired and all this talking they had done already was more than what he thought they'd be able to do; still he had to ask her something. Something he'd been wondering about since Hyde had first called him in the hotel.
"Why didn't you tell me you were sick?" he questioned.
Kitty carefully opened her eyes but didn't look up at Red just yet. She knew the question was bound to come up eventually; she was actually surprised he hadn't asked her sooner.
She took a deep breath and let her eyes meet with his, "I didn't want you to rush home so soon. I wanted you to stay with your war buddies a little longer and have a good time before you had to come home and deal with all of this. And…"
"No, Kitty." Red interrupted, trying not to sound upset, "I mean before. Before New York. Why didn't you tell me or Steven or Jackie that you were starting to feel sick again?"
"I…Because…" Kitty struggled, already starting to feel a slight tightness in her throat. "Because I couldn't."
Red grabbed her right hand with his own and gave it a gentle squeeze, hoping to help her continue.
"Red, I couldn't tell you or the kids how I was feeling because I didn't wanna worry you all." Kitty started to explain, "I had been feeling better, and we all thought the cancer was almost completely gone."
"And then I started feeling sick again. At first I thought maybe it was just a little fluke and would pass in a few days. I didn't say anything because I didn't want you to worry and then have it turn out to be nothing." She went on, "A few days passed and nothing changed but I didn't say anything because I didn't want to put everyone through this whole cancer thing all over again. Especially when we thought it was all over…I had no idea that it would get this bad so soon, Red."
By this time Red was no longer looking at his wife and instead fixated his gaze on the wall infront of their bed.
"Oh Red, honey." Kitty said looking at him, her vision slightly blurred by the tears forming in her eyes, and giving the hand that continued to hold hers a weak squeeze, "Please don't be mad."
Red heaved a sigh, "Kitty, I'm feeling a lot of things right now…and mad is one of them." He then slowly turned his head to look at her, "But it's not at you."
Kitty smiled and closed her eyes, letting a tear or two roll down her cheek, as she felt her husband's lips press against her forehead.
"I love you, Kitty." He whispered to her.
"I love you too, Red Forman."
0o0o0o
Meanwhile back downstairs in the kitchen, Jackie and Eric still occupied the room. They had however traded in their mugs for some magazines, creating a silence as the both read different articles…well as Jackie read. Eric didn't seem very interested in anything but his watch, that he kept check almost every five minutes.
"You know it's getting kinda late." He announced breaking the quietness, "Maybe we should do something…"
Jackie looked up from her magazine and nodded, "Yeah I think you're right." she paused for a second or two, "I guess we could order in some pizza and whoever's turn it was to get dinner can pay when it gets here."
With a frown on his forehead, Eric watched Jackie stand up from her seat and walk over to the phone. That wasn't what he was talking about at all…although no that she mentioned it, he was a little hungry…but that's not what he was talking about!
"No, Jackie!" he practically shouted, stopping her from lifting up the receiver, "I meant about…this mess we kinda made here."
It was the brunette's turn to furrow her brow, "We?"
"Well yeah." Eric nodded, "I wasn't kissing myself in here awhile ago. And that kiss was how the whole thing started. Now we've got Hyde even more Zen, Donna's pissed and…"
"Eric, Eric." Jackie called out as she walked over to him, sensing he was about to go into his twitchy-panicky mode.
She gently placed her hands on his shoulders, "Eric, look at me." She instructed and he did so, "We did not cause anything ok? They were the ones who reacted the way they did. They didn't have to react that way. All we did was have a couple of hot kisses."
"You thought our kisses were hot?" he asked with a smirk playing on his lips.
"Very." Jackie said almost seductively before walking away, "I'm gonna order the pizza now."
Eric enjoyed the view as she walked back over to the telephone; it took almost all of his strength to break out of his daze and nodded his head.
"Yeah, ok." He answered before going back to what he had been thinking about before, "I think I'm still gonna try to talk to Randy though." He shared after a few seconds.
At the words, Jackie whipped herself around and made her way back to where Eric was sitting.
"You? Why?" she questioned, still thinking she hadn't heard right, "Eric, out of all of us here you're the one who knows Randy the least. Betsy knows the guy better than you do."
"Ok first of all, thanks for the support." Eric replied sarcastically, Jackie opened her mouth to speak but Eric went on, "Second, I just think I should talk to him cause it's kind of my fault that he left like that."
Jackie let out a small sigh as she closed her eyes. She thought it was pretty sweet of Eric to want to make things better between all of them again, but why did he keep blaming himself?
"Eric, listen. You are not the reason Randy left the way he did." She tried to assure him, "Randy left like that because he finally saw hoe feminist-y and lumberjack-y Donna really is."
"I guess, you're right." He agreed, still not sounding very convinced, "But I think I'm still gonna talk to Donna…if that's ok with you that is."
Jackie tried her best not to smile, "Eric, it doesn't matter if it's ok with me or not. I'm not your girlfriend, remember?"
"Right, right." Eric nodded understandingly, "Wait till the first date and see how things go from there." He repeated.
"Correct." Jackie replied with one nod of her head, "So until then, I'm not your girlfriend and you're not my boyfriend."
"Ok. And I'm still gonna talk to Donna, maybe see if I can get her to understand a little more." Eric informed before looking over at Jackie—who once again had found her way to the phone. "But while I'm doing that, I'll need someone to talk to Hyde."
Jackie turned around to face him, "Eric,"
"Yeah?" he asked in a hopeful tone, he really wished she would say she'd do it.
"Do you want hand tossed or deep dish?" she asked and his smile dropped to the floor.
"Jackie!"
"Ok, ok." Jackie said putting her hands up in defense, "Hand tossed it is."
Eric swiftly stood up from his seat and walked over to where Jackie was. He placed his hand on the button the hook of the phone, to keep Jackie from ordering the pizza.
"Jackie, come on." He said almost pleading, "You've got to talk to Hyde."
Jackie fought back the urge to slam the receiver on his index finger and instead responded to his statement with a question.
"Why should I?" she asked. "After what he said in there…I've got nothing left to say to Steven."
He could see he was fighting a loosing battle, so ever so slowly he removed his finger from the hook and shrugged his shoulders.
"Alright Jackie, I guess you're right. I mean I'm not your boyfriend who can tell you what to do. It's just…I didn't want things between me and Hyde to go back to the way they were when I first got here. It really wasn't good for anyone." Eric said, looking like a puppy that had just been kicked, "Especially for Mom."
"Ugh!" Jackie groaned and Eric quickly smiled, knowing he'd gotten her with his last trick.
"Fine, I'll do it!" she announced, "But only for Mom."
Eric nodded, trying not to show how happy he was feeling at the moment, "Right. For Mom."
The two nodded their heads at each other before Jackie made one more attempt to order in something to eat. And this time Eric was really going to let her, but then suddenly a thought entered his mind.
"Jackie, wait a minute." He said stopping her from putting in the third number. "Mom. Dad's staying with Mom tonight."
"Yeah, so?"
"So where am I gonna sleep?" Eric asked before elaborating, "I've pretty much been sleeping either in there with Mom or in your room when you or Hyde were with her. But this time Dad's gonna be with Mom, you'll be in your room, and Hyde is his…where does that leave me?"
It was a rare moment as Jackie stayed quiet. She hadn't given much thought to it before, but they did have a bit of a problem here. However she was on her way to finding a solution when Eric interrupted with his own thoughts.
"Guess, I'll have to go to a hotel." He said and then went on in a false tone of disappointment, "Oh and you'll have to give me all of my luggage back."
Jackie tilted her head slightly, "Nice try, Nerd Boy, but we're sticking with the deal."
Seeing Eric's grin fall, Jackie had to shake her head.
"I don't see why you even want your stuff back so bad anyways. You already have your necessities." She reminded, "You've got your toothbrush and extra change of clothes. What're you missing? Your Spiderman boxers?"
Eric's green eyes nearly pooped out of their sockets, "Those were a gift!"
"Who gives Spiderman underwear as a gift?" she asked with a smirk.
"I…I…" he struggled before suddenly realizing something, "Wait. What're you doing looking at my underwear?"
He then proceeded to give her a look with one of his eye brows raised higher than the other. Jackie crossed her arms over her chest and returned the look before deciding to speak.
"I had to look through your stuff to decide what crumb to give you." She quickly reminded, "And you can forget about getting your luggage back and staying at a hotel. You're staying here."
Eric looked at her as if she were crazy, "Jackie, almost every room in this house has someone sleeping in it. Where am I gonna sleep."
Jackie smiled a mischievous smile as she looked at Eric, "I have an idea."
Author's Note: There you go Chapter 28 of "Two Weeks" Hope you liked!
Who did call Uncle Marty? What will happen when Eric talks to Donna? What will happen when Jackie talks to Hyde? Will anyone talk to Randy? Where is Eric going to sleep in this full house? And just what was Jackie doing looking at Eric underwear? Confused? You won't be after the next chapter of "Two Weeks"
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, and have a nice day!