Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Author's Note: Hello all! Long time no see huh? I am so so so so so so a million more so's, very very very very a billion more very's sorry for the extreme long wait but different things just kept happening. First there was school and finals and then there was some family emergency stuff and then my usb went psycho and I really lost a lot of motivation of the story. But it's come back and I am ready to start writing it again as long as you all are still interest and excited to read it. Which brings me to my next point, like I said my motivation for this story was lost and even though it's back it not back in full gear and I've even been debating about closing up this fic/discontinuing it. I really don't want to because I really love this story but if I don't have readers why write it? So if you would like me to continue writing it, really hope you do, or just wanna let me know that you're still reading please let me know in a review or even message. It would mean so very much. And I know I took forever to update—though I have taken longer just ask my MtH readers lol—I am terribly sorry and hope you all will forgive me and are still reading.

A few more little things before the chapter gets started, please remember I am not a doctor or nurse or anything of the sorts, am I still watching House M.D.? You betcha. Also I want to thank all of the support that you all have given me through out this story, and if you've stuck with me since the beginning (not when it was first put up but from chapter !) high five and a great big hug to you! Really hope you all enjoy this chapter, it's kinda filler but then again kinda not. After all even though this story is about Eric and Jackie and they are two of the main characters they aren't the only characters and one of the main parts of this story is family. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon—anything is sooner that the last wait thought huh? Anywoo I've rambled enough and to wrap you I'd like to saw I am so so sorry for the wait again and hope you all can forgive me and are still reading. Please review and lemme know if you think I should continue or just stop, thanks for all your support, Enjoy!

"I don't believe it."

"It's true."

"Really?"

"Really."

From behind the camera Hyde studied the look on his surrogate mother's face as the two of them sat in the kitchen—they'd moved into that room when Hyde had made his statement about being hungry and Kitty had fixed him a plate of a few cookies and a nice cold glass of milk—but he shook his head still not being able to wrap his head around the statement Kitty was making.

"Yeah, I'm still not buying it." He stated.

"Well whether you buy it or not, it is true." Kitty said as she smiled just lightly while trying to keep on a serious face, however as she thought back to her statement her smile grew and she repeated it again, "There was a time when Laurie and Eric got along. It may have been when they were younger, much much younger, and it was a short time but there was still a time."

With her grin still in place she continued, "Oh when they were little they would play together for hours. And Laurie was such a great big sister, she was always helping and trying to teach Eric new things."

Kitty giggled at the old memories of her now grown children, Hyde found himself smirking abit himself but mostly because of Kitty's laugh, he still couldn't grasp the idea of the siblings, who he also considered his own sibling, ever getting along for more than five…ten minutes at the most.

"Wait a minute." Hyde said halting Kitty from adding any more to her story, "Laurie, your daughter, was such a great big sister and would help and try to teach Eric, your son, new things?" he repeated the sentence she had said, mixing and adding in a few words along with changing the form into a sentence.

"That's right." Kitty replied.

Hyde shook his head, thinking maybe he'd been hearing wrong all along. "Sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Laurie, my daughter, was such a great big sister and would help and try to teach Eric, my son, new things." She said smiling while trying to hold back a smile; the non-believing look on her adopted son was worth a few laughs.

Staring back at the woman infront of him, Hyde tired his best to even consider the idea. But it was hopeless and he shook his head again.

"I'm trying…but I still don't believe it."

Kitty furrowed her brow slightly, "Steven I don't understand why it is so hard fro you to believe something that I'm telling you."

"No Mom, it's not that I don't believe what you're saying." Hyde tried to explain, not wanting to upset or hurt Kitty in any way, "It's just the thing you're saying now…it's like finding out that Tom and Jerry actually got along."

Her frown now long gone, Kitty laughed and shook her head as she looked at her son behind the camcorder. Suddenly an idea sprung into Hyde's mind and he had to ask.

"Wait… we are talking about Laurie and Eric Forman, right?"

0o0o0o

"Then something happened." These words, said in an animated tone of voice that must have come from his sister, were the words that Eric heard just as he got ready to enter the bedroom across the hall from his parents' room.

These words also stopped him from just barging into the room. He wondered what Laurie was telling her daughter and why she was using a voice that was so engaging, almost as if she were telling a story. Letting his curiosity take over, Eric carefully grabbed hold of the gold colored doorknob and turned into before warily pushing the door open with a soft hand. Once he had the door cracked to at least an inch and a half he peeked in and was slightly surprised by the sight that he saw.

Sitting on the purple comforter of perfectly made bed while leaning back against the pillows and headboard was his sister with Lucy sitting comfortably in her lap, both of them smiling as their gazes remained fixed on the thin book with the teal colored hardcover that Laurie was reading from.

"The Snort put that baby bird right back in the tree. The baby bird was home!" Laurie continued in her happy and almost comforting voice.

As he noticed that both of the two were distracted and hadn't noticed him yet, Eric decided to push the door open a little more so he could get a better view and hear the story a little better. He didn't know what it was but he felt like he had heard it before.

Laurie turned the page of the children's book and went on, "Just then mother bird cam back to the tree. "Do you know who I am?" she said to her baby."

Then it hit Eric…he knew what story it was that Laurie was reading to Lucy. It had a baby bird and its' mother and a snort. He let a grin break out onto his face as he closed his eyes and could just about picture the pictures inside the book. It was one his favorite childhood books. It was a classic. It was 'Are You My Mother?' A story his mother would read to him time after time. At that bittersweet thought his smile shrunk but he continued to listen.

"Yes, I know who you are," said the baby bird." Laurie read using a sweet and innocent voice for the baby bird's voice, "You are not a kitten. You are not a hen…"

Eric's smile grew as he heard his sister read the list of things that the baby bird had run into during his journey to find his mother. And as she neared the end of the list and the end of the book, he couldn't help but join her in reading the last line.

"You are a bird, and you are my mother."

Certainly startled by the new and unexpected voice, Laurie looked up from the book and towards the bedroom door to see her smiling younger brother. He gave a small wave but she didn't wave back nor did she return the smile as her daughter did. She just stared back at him with nervously.

Eric could see the uneasy look in his sister's eyes along with what looked something like fear. Those were two emotions he had never seen on or in his sister—well excluding last night. But last night those feelings were caused by her returning home and having to face everyone—mostly their parents; what were the cause of them this time?

Suddenly Eric couldn't help but feel guilty at the thought that the almost frightened look in Laurie's eyes had been place there by him. Maybe he should have just stayed outside in the hallway and not walked in while she and her daughter having a bonding moment…and he probably shouldn't have joined in with the reading either.

"I'm sorry about that Laurie…I shouldn't have…"

"It's fine." The blonde interrupted in a firm tone before turning it gently again and looking down at her daughter, "Lucy, sweetie why don't you go play with your toys while I talk to Uncle Eric?"

The little girl nodded at her mother's suggestion, "Okay, Mommy."

Lucy then scooted off her mother's lap and off the bed before walking over the pile of toys, consisting of Barbie dolls, stuffed animals, and baby dolls, that Eric could only assume were brought from their home in Milwaukee.

While the youngest of the Forman family happily played with one of her baby dolls—pretending to give her her bottle—the two siblings watched each other waiting for the other to make the first move.

Eric was getting more and more anxious as he watched his sister. She wasn't doing anything and he wanted her do something. He wanted her to shout at him, snarl at him, burn him…something. Anything but just stare back at him with her own anxious eyes. Seeing his older sister nervous only made him even more nervous.

"You can come in you know." She stated finally breaking the silence but keeping her voice soft.

Nodding his head, Eric cautiously stepped into the purple room, "Thanks…"

"Shut the door!" she snapped at him in a voice that reminded him that she was still the same Laurie he'd grown up with.

"Right, right. Sorry." He quickly apologized as he reached for the doorknob and pulled the door close, "I was just thinking that this is…weird." He shared but when he saw Laurie's confused expression he realized he needed to explain, "I mean, I'm actually in this room, past the doorway, with you sitting right there and you're not trying to get me out of here by throwing things at me or yelling to Dad about how I'm in your room."

He chuckled slightly and Laurie gave a tiny smile as well.

"Yeah, well." She shrugged her shoulders, "It's not my room anymore."

Right away Eric began to feel bad for his sister. He knew what it was like to no longer be able to call your room 'your room,' after all there had been that short amount of time that his bedroom had been turned into a sewing room for his mother. Of course it had been immediately been changed back at Kitty's request when he said he would be returning home from Africa. All the posters were in their places, his Spider-Man sheets on the bed, and every G.I. Joe was accounted for, but he had only stayed in the room a short period of time before moving to Seattle and disappointing his mother again.

And sure Laurie had been away from home for awhile. A long while. A long, long while. But Eric had always though that if only one of their room was to become shrine to their former owners it would have been Laurie's. And he was almost positive that she thought the same thing.

"Sure it is." He started to say as he walked in more and sat himself on the bed next to her, "Yeah, Jackie's staying here now but she doesn't have a million memories that were made in this room, you do though…and that by the way does not mean I want here any of yours…especially anything after…I don't know fourteen?" Laurie snarled at him and Eric could only smile as he went on, "She didn't grow up in this room. You did. This will always be your room."

Laurie smiled in response but it still wasn't a genuine or completely happy smile; and her eyes seemed to be shinning with tears, "Yeah. Just like it'll always be Mom and Dad's room."

Eric felt his heart drop at those words.

They were true. Completely true. No matter what happened, that room they had been in minutes ago would always be seen as his parents' room. Even if someone else moved into it, someone from the family or complete strangers that Red would sell the house to, in their eyes it would remain their parents room. It couldn't be turned into a sewing room or any other kind of room either. And even if Red kept the house and never changed the room into something else, instead keeping it as his bedroom Eric doubted he would ever be able to call it his Dad's room.

"Yeah." Eric agreed while nodding sadly and keeping his eyes on the floor.

"What um…" Laurie started to ask in a small voice while moving her eyes down to her hands and then up at Eric and then back again—she didn't know where to look as she asked the question she wasn't even sure about asking, "What's going on in there?"

By the mere gesture his sister made towards the bedroom Eric was able to figure out what it was she was referring to; however he couldn't figure out the best way to explain it, especially since he wasn't exactly sure what was going on in his parents' room now. All he knew was that Hyde and their father were trying to help their mother in all the possible ways they could, with their words, pills, and the morphine. But it didn't really matter what they or anyone did, they wouldn't be able to put a stop to Kitty's pain that had been cause by the cancer that was killing her.

Eric swallowed nervously as he tired to gather up some words to use in his answer to Laurie's question but she spoke up before he could open his mouth.

"I mean…Mom…she'd gonna be okay, right?"

As soon as Eric heard Laurie's new question he wished she had stayed with the first one. This one was may have been a little easier because he knew the answer, but because he knew the answer it made it hard for him to say it out loud.

Not wanting to see the somber expression that appeared on her younger brother's face after she'd asked her question, Laurie looked at her lap while waving her hands slightly, regretting ever opening her mouth and asking both of the questions.

"You, you don't have to answer that." She said just as Eric was about to utter a word.

Eric wanted to let out a sigh of relief, he nearly did too, but when he saw the sadden look on Laurie's face and the way she kept avoiding his eyes he realized relief was the last thing he should be sighing with.

"I know she's not okay…I know she's not gonna be okay." Laurie continued to speak, her voice quivering just slightly, "It's one of the reasons why I'm here…and one of the reasons why I stayed away for so long." she paused and took a deep breath, trying to compose herself, but never even glancing up at Eric, "I didn't think I'd be able to handle seeing her…like that. And I was right, I can't…even if Lucy wasn't in the room with all of us, I still would've left it."

Once again Eric began to feel sympathetic feeling towards his sister—it was still a weird thing to feel but Eric was slowly getting use to it. And besides this time he found himself able to relate and understand where it was she was coming from. He ever so slowly placed a comforting hand on her shoulder—the old Laurie was still somewhere in there and Eric did not want to awaken her, he liked the new Laurie a lot better.

"It's okay Laurie…" he started to say.

The blonde scoffed, "Yeah, easy for you to say. You and Hyde have been the two 'Golden Children' through this whole thing. Helping Mom and Dad out and doing whatever they needed, and me? I was in Milwaukee, raising their granddaughter. Their granddaughter they didn't even know they had, because I didn't tell them."

Laurie dropped her head into her hands and Eric began to feel more than sympathetic feelings towards sister. He wanted to help her, make her feel better…but he didn't know how.

After taking a few seconds to think it over, he remembered something that had always made his sister smile. Back when they were kids and when they were teenagers, and even though they were now adults Eric was still pretty sure it would at least get a smirk from her. That something? Knowing she was The Favorite.

Of course a new favorite had been made only minutes ago, and all the things that Hyde and Jackie had been doing for Red and Kitty definitely earned them some top spots on the list. But when it was just between him and Laurie, she could very possibly be number one. And so he began to think of the things he could share with Laurie that would make her see she was still their parents' number one biological child and most importantly help boost her confidence that she seemed to have misplaced.

As he started to make up a list of things Eric suddenly remembered what Jackie had recently told him about not putting himself down—and sharing with his sister all the mistakes and things he'd done wrong lately would absolutely count as putting himself down. It made him smile when he thought about how Jackie cared about him and just when he thought about Jackie in general.

Bringing his thoughts back to Laurie, he knew this would be one of the best way to give her a moment of happiness and right now he knew she could use as many as she could get. And the same went for himself but he was getting help with that from a certain brunette pixie.

Eric lifted his index finger and pointed it at Laurie, "Yeah, but see you live in Milwaukee. I live in Seattle. That's miles and miles and well, miles away from here. You live much closer to Mom and Dad."

"That's true." She nodded, lifting her head up, but before Eric could take any pride at making his sister feel better she went on, "But they knew you were in Seattle. I never told them I was living in Milwaukee. I was living not four hours from them and I never called them, never wrote, never even visited. I just…I just hid."

This was going to be a lot harder than he thought. But Eric did still have a few points he knew he could make and Laurie's last words had reminded him of something else that he could share with her and possibly help her feel better about herself. And even if not, he figured it should be something she as his sister showed know about.

Breathing in a deep breath Eric began, "You weren't the only one who hid."

Despite the fact that Eric had spoken the words in a soft voice Laurie still heard them and they caught her attention. She looked over at him, finally making eye contact with her brother—her way of telling him to go on.

"I was living in Seattle for awhile already when Mom first got diagnosed." He started to explain, "I came home for her first two or three surgeries…and believe me you didn't miss out on anything. Those surgeries…all of them…there was nothing any of us could do except sit in that small waiting room and read old magazines, pray our hearts out, or just watch the clock. Those few hours waiting were some of the longest of my life…"

Eric slowly started to drift back to those moments when his mother's cancer was still in its beginning stages, back when he thought those hours of waiting would be the hardest things he'd ever have to deal with. However, before he could fall too far into his thoughts he brought himself back to the subject he was speaking of and started talking again.

"They were pretty much….emotional roller coasters. After those first few I…I stopped coming. I would just wait for either Hyde or Dad to call and let me know how things went. And even then I usually let my answering machine pick up, just incase it was bad news." Eric confessed, feeling guilty about the fact that he hadn't been there for all of his mother's surgeries—and of course this wasn't the first time.

"I mean I still came to visit her and see how she was doing and just spend some time with her; I had this…system, where I would only come home during the times between surgeries. It worked out really good for a while…until…until this one time I came to visit her."

As Eric sat mutely, staring down at his clasped palms, Laurie just sat quietly beside him. She wanted her brother to continue with his tale but by the looks of it, it was getting hard for him to go on. And seeing how difficult this was for Eric to talk about caused Laurie to second guess her thoughts about doing anything to urge him on. She wasn't so sure she wanted to know anymore.

"She hadn't had any type of surgery but she must have been going through some of the treatments." Eric went on, keeping his voice soft and low, "When I saw her she…she looked so tired and feeble, her hair was falling out and even though she was still smiling she didn't have that sparkle in her eyes you know? She…she just…she just didn't look like Mom, Laurie."

Laurie pressed her lips together tightly as she blinked back her tears that had formed because of her brother's words and the tears that had started to form in his own eyes.

But Eric still wasn't done.

"And just like you, I couldn't handle seeing her that way either." He explained now looking over at his sister, "After that my trips back here happened less and less. Sure I still called every so often but… I missed a lot of holidays and a few birthdays, and even when Mom would call me and tell me just to come over for a weekend…if I knew she was sick I wouldn't come."

This was where Eric had intended to end his story but as he finished his statement he found himself feeling slightly surprised. He had managed to say all the things he'd wanted to say—that alone was a pretty big surprise—but Laurie had never interrupted him. Never added in an insult or a jab or any kind of comment. She just sat there and listened.

It was safe to say that Eric was feeling a close connection to his sister for the first time in…well almost ever; and so he decided to share with her another piece of his story.

"Don't go telling Dad…he still doesn't know about this." He state nervously, this connection with Laurie felt nice but the old Laurie, the one who tattletale on him to Daddy, was still something that frightened him. He took another deep breath, "I almost didn't come this time."

Silently Eric sat and waited for either a mocking remark or victory comment to come out of Laurie's mouth, but to his surprise she seemed to be just as quiet as he was. And when she finally did speak up her voice was just barely audible.

"But you did." She reminded as she shifted in her seat, "And you got here days before I did."

Laurie's words made Eric realize that the task of trying to make her feel better was going to be a harder task than he thought it would be. He still knew that the best way to make her feel good about herself would be to have her at least think she was the favorite child again, and that meant sharing even more of the details of the things he had and hadn't done for their parents through this whole cancer thing. Coming up with more things to share wouldn't be too hard—he was Eric Forman—and those first few days home were so disastrous if it hadn't been for Jackie he probably would've left back to Seattle long ago.

"Yea and the first day I saw Mom couldn't have gotten any worse." Eric began to share another story, "I had to sneak past Hyde to go see her and she looked sick but not like she does now…we were able to talk for a little bit. But then she started with his pain, a pain that was nothing compared to what we saw a few minutes ago." He made sure to point out, "And I didn't know what to do…so I ran."

Knitting her brows together Laurie stared at her baby brother.

"I didn't try to help her. I didn't get any help for her. I didn't say anything to her. I just…ran."

Eric fixed his gaze down at his hands again, feeling ashamed of his action from that day all over again. Even though it had been almost a week since it had happened and he'd been doing so much better since then, he'd even apologized to his mother for that and all his other actions, he still couldn't help but feel as big as an ant when he thought about the way he'd acted that day.

"You know," Laurie started to say her voice not as soft or gentle as before, "I always thought Daddy was joking all these years, but jeeze Eric…you really are a dumbass."

A light chuckle escaped Eric's lips and he nodded, "Yeah. I'm fifty percent sure if we looked at my birth certificate it would say 'Eric 'Dumbass' Forman.'"

Laurie laughed at the joke before adding in her two cents, "I'd say sixty."

"Yeah." Eric agreed still smiling, glad that to see some of the old Laurie again.

"Mom and Dad really hit the jackpot with the two of us, huh?" Laurie asked putting a small damper on the light mood that had just started to fill the room.

"No. No they didn't." came Eric's reply. He heard the ironic tone in her voice but he didn't think the way both he and Laurie had behaved over the years was even worth joking about, "But the came pretty close with Hyde and Jackie."

It took a lot for Laurie not to roll her blue eyes but she couldn't help the annoyed tone her words came out in, "Yeah, that's true."

This time it was Eric's turn to move his eyebrows closer together showing his confusion and curiousness. It didn't too long for Laurie to catch this look on her sibling's face and when she saw it she heaved a sigh before starting to explain herself.

"Look I'm grateful and everything for the stuff that they've done to help Mom and Daddy out." Laurie began to say in a slightly irritated voice but a more familiar one, "And I know it's our own faults that we weren't here but…it still bugs me that they were the ones doing those things when it should have been us doing them." She paused for a few seconds, "We should have been the ones taking care of Mom this whole time. We should've been the ones helping Daddy get through this. Not Orphan Boy and Chatty Cathy."

He didn't exactly agree on the names Laurie had given Hyde and Jackie but he still found himself nodding along to the other words she said, because he understood exactly where she was coming from. He was glad that Hyde and Jackie had been around to help his parents out—who knew what things would be like if they hadn't been there—but part of him wished he had been strong enough to be there for his parents without needing Jackie or Hyde's help.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." He agreed with another nod, when suddenly light bulb in his head clicked on with an idea that he quickly began to share with his sister, "Hey! We could still do it. Take care of Mom and help dad out, we could do that. Together. Just like we should have done in the beginning."

After hearing that statement Laurie didn't bother holding back her eye roll this time and the same went for her scoff, "Oh yeah, that sounds like a great idea. With you running and me hiding."

Eric heard the sarcasm dripping Laurie's words but decided to pretend like he hadn't.

"See you're already thinking!" he said with a smile and his index finger pointing in her direction, it only caused Laurie to look even more aggravated, "And while that does sound like a great idea. You know what would be an even greater one?" he paused for effect and let his grin grow, "If we didn't run and we didn't hide and…now I'm just spitting balling here, but instead of doing those things we stay there and help each other out just as much as we help Mom and Dad."

Laurie thought over her brother's words…they sounded good, surprisingly, and even made a good plan that could actually work. The fact that the plan sounded good and like it could actually be a successful one wasn't something that surprised Laurie too much. She knew that between the two of them Eric had the brains—she'd never admit it, but she knew it—and that was okay because she got the looks.

Still, as good as the plan sounded Laurie wasn't completely convinced; the look on her face was easily giving her away.

"I don't know, Eric." She started to protest, her voice becoming small all over again, "I don't know what to do in there….and I'd probably only be in the way…"

Having heard these words before when he, himself, had said them, Eric was quick to jump in and argue against the statement his sister had begun to make.

"No, no you wouldn't. I've helped take care of Mom a couple of times already…there's not a lot that we can do." He explained and then paused as he realized how somber those last few words really were. After a few seconds he cleared his throat and continued, "But we can sit there with Mom and talk with her. Help keep her mind off the cancer and the pain."

Uncertain blue eyes looked into Eric's green ones and he placed a reassuring hand on Laurie's shoulder.

"It'll be okay." He assured, "You can do this. We can do this. What do you say, Laurie?"

Eric smiled as he waited for an answer, hoping to get even the tiniest smirk from his sister; but it never made an appearance. And when she finally spoke up with her answer, he knew why.

"No." she answered.

"No?" Eric repeated in a questioning tone.

Laurie nodded, "No."

"Wait a minute, you're saying 'No' but you're nodding. Does that mean…"

"No." Laurie interrupted before he could ask his full question, "It means, no."

"Oh…um okay. Okay." Eric said as he nodded along trying to sound understanding, but in reality was nowhere near giving up.

As soon as she gave her answer Laurie felt bad and thought she should give her brother at least some sort of explanation, "Eric, I don't… "

"No Laurie." Eric cut in with a raised palm, "It's okay. I understand. You're afraid."

Instantly a scowl appeared on Laurie's face, "I'm not afraid."

"Right, sorry. You're scared."

"I'm not scared either." She protested.

"Then you're…that's actually as far as I can go." He said smirking just abit, "I mean I know more words that describe 'scared' but they'd probably only confuse you."

That time Eric struck a nerve and more of Old Laurie started shining through.

"Listen loser, I am not afraid. And I am not scared." She declared scowling an angry and evil scowl in her brother's direction, "And I am not any other word even closely related to 'afraid.' I never said I was."

"Not in so many words." came Eric's reply that was accompanied by a shrug of his shoulders.

Laurie's frown deepened, "No not in any words. I never said anything about being afraid or scared because I am not afraid or scared."

"Well see now, if that were true then when I said that I dare you to say 'yes' to the whole helping Mom and Dad out you'd say…?" Eric said waiting for her response and hoping she would say the one he wanted to hear this time.

While looking at him in disbelief, Laurie still managed to give a snarl at the same time, "Are you serious?"

"Not exactly what I was looking for but…"

"You're seriously daring me to help you take care of our…sick mother?" Laurie asked sounding more and more upset.

Eric hung his head almost shamefully as Laurie asked her question. "You're right Laurie, I don't know what I was thinking." He said still looking down; he stayed with his gaze on his lap for several seconds before he slowly lifted his head up to look at his older sister and smirk mischievously at her. "I triple dog-dare you."

Laurie's eyes went wide with surprise before finally recovering, seconds later and giving one of her own trouble making smirks, "Oh you are so on, twerp."

The mischievous smirk turned into a much happier one as soon as Eric heard Laurie's reply. He knew the whole dare thing was pretty risky but when he tried to think of another plan after Laurie said no the first time, the memory of two of them daring each other to do all kinds of crazy things—mostly things that would get the person who did them in trouble—on rainy days when no one could come over popped into his mind. And so he'd just gone with it and hoped history repeated itself.

"Hey," Laurie called out, grabbing Eric's attention and getting him to look over at her, she gave a small smile, "Thanks."

With his own smirk still being held in place, Eric gave a mere nod in response.

"So, 'Are You My Mother?'" Eric said changing the subject of conversation and gesturing towards the discarded book on the bed, "How many time do you think Mom read that one to us?"

Laurie gave a light snort as she picked up the book, "About a billion."

"Yeah I don't know…" he said displaying a thinking frown on his forehead, "I think it was more like a billion and one."

A smile crept on to Laurie's face as she continued to look at the old book in her hand, "Yeah. Jackie brought it up to me so I could read it to Lucy last night." she shared out loud, " She said it was the only kids book that was down in Daddy's den."

"Really?" Eric asked with his eyebrows slightly raised, "Wonder why they kept that one…and in Dad's den…" he drifted off as he started to think up a reasonable explanation.

But it looked like Laurie had already thought of one.

The young blonde shrugged her shoulder, "I don't know, maybe they kept it where they knew they'd be able to find it. Maybe Mom wanted to read it to her grand…" her smile grew, "children."

Laurie's smile became even larger before she looked away from the book and over at her little girl who was happily playing by herself but after a few seconds felt someone's eyes on her and turned around to see her smiling mother—this of course made Lucy beam and wave her way. Catching this scene had Eric give his own slight grin. He knew that his sister was thinking up an idea and he was pretty sure it was one that involved Kitty, Lucy, and the old worn book Jackie had brought up.

All of a sudden the quick thought of Jackie made Eric remember that besides checking up on Laurie, he was in the room because of something Jackie had told Hyde.

"Hey Laurie, did Jackie say anything about leaving something up here for me?" he asked hopefully.

Frowning a bit Laurie asked, "Something like what?"

"Um…uh…like…" Eric struggled, he didn't know if Jackie had said anything to anyone else about the whole hostage luggage situation and he wasn't so sure filling Laurie in on the situation was the best idea; he quickly tried to make a cover, "Like something."

"Something like something like something?" Laurie repeated in an unconvinced tone.

Eric nodded, "Yup."

"Oh yeah." Laurie replied while sending an annoyed glance her brother's way, "Jackie totally said something about leaving something like something for you."

The sarcasm was lost on Eric and all he heard were the words that Laurie had said and couldn't help but feel a jolt of excitement about them.

"She did? Where is it?"

Laurie smirked evilly, "Somewhere."

After hearing his sister's reply Eric's face fell and he was jus about kicking himself for falling for the whole thing. But he was still determined to find the item that Jackie had left behind for him.

"Where, Laurie?" he asked

"Somewhere." She repeated still smirking.

Eric took in a deep breath and tried his best to sound as much like their father as he could when asking his next question, "Somewhere like…?"

Laurie had to bite her inside of her cheek to keep from bursting out into a fit of giggles as she watched her brother try to act as tough as their father. She quickly settled her self and replied to his question—keeping in mind the way he had replied to her moments ago.

"Somewhere like somewhere."

The same deep breath Eric had taken in seemed to have been loudly exhaled as Eric's frustration with his sister grew.

"Come on Laurie." He said clearly irritated, "Just tell me where it's at."

The blonde locks of hair swished back and forth as Laurie shook her head, "Not until you tell me what it is."

Yeah, this was more like the Laurie he'd grown up with Eric realized and then began to regret ever trying to bring out the old Laurie again. He missed the new Laurie or was she now the old Laurie? Whichever one she was she was still Laurie, his sister and was currently being a few things that were listed in the sibling manual—annoying, mean, and nosy.

He knew there really wasn't really a point in fighting it, especially if he wanted to find his new piece of luggage. He gave another but smaller sigh.

"It's…uh, well um it's…" Eric couldn't exactly bring himself to say it, or even how to say it. This was something between him and Jackie, it had nothing to do with his sister, it was none of her business. Suddenly he figured out the near perfect explanation to give Laurie, "It's something that's none of your business!"

"God Eric, don't get your panties in a bunch." Laurie retorted making it clear that she didn't care for the tone he'd used, "This is just because it's something that Jackie left for you, isn't it?"

Eric stayed silent not wanting to answer his sisters question, but his silence was give her a thousand word reply. A reply that whipped Laurie's taunting smile off her face—she had only been joking and didn't think her words were anywhere near the truth—and replaced it with a curious smirk.

"Oh my God." She said eyes set on her brother who was looking off to the side, "There is something going on between you and The Chatterbox. And it looks to be something serious too, right?"

Right away Eric could feel himself turning back into his twitchy and nervous side but he tried to stay in control of things—especially the things he said—for just a little longer. Still the question Laurie had asked him wasn't exactly what he would call easy.

Was there something going on between him and Jackie? Sure! He wasn't quite sure what to call what their relationship was or turning into but it was definitely something. And the good kind of something. They'd been hanging out a lot more and enjoying each other company while doing so, they'd had a first date already, heck they'd even had more than a handful of very, very good kisses.

Maybe this question wasn't so hard, he thought to himself before smiling and giving his answer, "Yeah."

However as soon as the word was said Eric recognized that maybe that hadn't been the best answer. After all him and Jackie being something and having something going on between the two of them was how he saw things. He had no idea what Jackie thought…he hoped she thought the same way he did. And no matter what she thought was it even a good idea to tell Laurie about him and Jackie and the closeness they now had with each other when it had already caused enough damage between them and their friends?

"I mean no." Eric redid his answer.

But saying 'No' to that question was almost like denying the thoughts of Jackie that had lately been filling his mind…it was like forgetting, erasing all the moments they'd shared over the past week. He could never do that because he didn't want to do that. Yet, 'yes' dint' seem like the most valid answer either.

Eric went back and forth between the two possible answers for what felt like hours before he finally came up with a solution.

"It's…" he paused and made a sudden detour, "It's a piece of clothing!"

Laurie furrowed her brow, "A piece of clothing?"

"Yeah. That's, that's the some thing Jackie left for me." Eric explained, hoping his idea worked and his sister's mind would drift away from her previous question.

A few seconds past as Laurie continued to look confused but she soon started to piece the puzzle pieces together and try to form the main picture, "Oh! You guys are doing the old follow the trail of clothes to the naked lady." She concluded—she obviously had pieced together two parts that didn't fit—and shrugged again, "It's pretty cliché and boring…but not as boring as you so…"

"No!" Eric just about shouted over Laurie, "It's not Jackie's clothing it's mine."

Disgust filled Laurie and it showed in her face, "Yours?"

"Yeah."

"And she's giving it to you?" She questioned, now even more confused than before.

Again Eric nodded, "Yes…"

"You guys are doing it completely wrong." The blonde commented which caused Eric told roll his eyes before shutting them and hoping to keep his growing migraine from getting any bigger.

And the only way he saw that happening was if once again he changed the subject.

"Laurie." He said with a sigh, "Will you just tell me where it's at?"

Laurie frowned, "How the heck should I know where it's at?" she asked and again Eric stared at her with a look of shocked disbelief, "I only said somewhere to annoy you and get you to tell me what it was that Jackie left for you." Her grin grew into proud one, "It worked out great."

"Have I told you lately how lucky I am to have you as my sister?" Eric asked in a more than sarcastic tone.

Deciding that she didn't want to waist her time with a comeback towards her loser brother Laurie sent a cynical smile his way before turning to watch her daughter play on the floor—ignoring her brother. Eric was actually thankful for the disregard from Laurie; it meant that he could start looking for the item himself without being asked anymore of Laurie's pestering questions.

He dropped to his hands and knees and began his search at the nearest piece of furniture, the bed. Eric crawled around the ground near the bed while at the same time looking underneath it but found nothing. Once he'd made a complete trip around the bed frame he popped back on his feet and began to look under the pillows on the bed. He pushed each of them aside and when he again found nothing he didn't bother fixing them again.

Moving onto the side of the bed, Eric began to scan his eyes over the items resting on Jackie's nightstand. There was nothing interesting there either, the same stuff he'd seen before. However just as he was about to move onto the dresser some thing hidden behind both the lamp on the nightstand and the digital alarm clock beside the lamp, caught his eye; it was something that looked to be made of some sort of white material. Holding his breath, Eric carefully reached over and grabbed the article.

"I found it!" he yelled out gleefully while raising up both his arms in victory—one hand remained holding his 'new' piece of clothing, "I found it! Wait no, not it…I found them. Two for one! Two for one, baby!"

Knitting her brows closely together, Laurie turned her head to see what her bother was making a big commotion about. When she saw the clothing in his hands it cleared up nothing.

"They're socks, you loser." She stated with a snarl.

"I know!" Eric replied smile in place as he sat down on the bed and began to remove his shoes so he could change socks. "Socks not sock! Isn't it great?"

Laurie still didn't understand, "Um…okay?" She said in a questioning almost concerned tone, but then switched it to one that sounded more like her, "Geeze you must go hysterical when you get a pair of underwear."

As he heard his sister's words Eric finished putting his new sock on his left foot and couldn't help letting his grin grow even larger. Though Laurie had probably only said the words to tease him some more, she may not have been off by very much. Eric was getting excited for any piece of clothing that Jackie gave back to him no matter what it was and it would be safe to say he would be just as happy if she gave him back his underwear. He may even be a bit happier especially if they were his Spider Man underwear, the underwear they had already planned on including in their third date. Yeah, if Jackie gave Eric back his underwear it was possible that he'd do a few cartwheels around the room.

"So where exactly did we land on the whole something between you and Jackie?" Laurie asked bringing Eric out of his thoughts, "Yes or no?"

Eric lifted up his right leg and rested his ankle on his left thigh before starting to peel off his old, dirty sock, "Somewhere between the two."

"Like what? Maybe?"

"No. Not maybe. It's leaning more towards the 'yes' but not completely there yet…" he started to explain, receiving his socks had apparently changed his attitude abit, at least towards Laurie's questions, "It's…it's complicated and a really long story."

"So?" she asked with a shrug and a smile, "Tell me it. Maybe I can help."

Eric turned his head to look at his sister in surprise, "Seriously?"

Laurie's blue eyes rolled once again at the shocked tone Eric spoke in, "Yeah, seriously. Look we're gonna be helping each other when we're taking care of Mom right?" she paused and saw him nod, "I figured we better start getting use to it."

Frowning just slightly Eric replayed Laurie's words in his head and gradually started to nod his head. It sounded like a pretty good plan and even though Old Laurie was nice to see every so often he liked the new, nice Laurie too.

"Plus you know," Laurie went on her voice sounding a little less sincere, "I'm stuck up here for good while and there's no TV so I won't be able to watch my soaps. But your story sounds dramatic enough to take their place." She ended with a bright, ditzy smile.

"Can't argue with that." Eric muttered mostly to himself before beginning the debate of sharing the story with Laurie in his head.

He let out a small sigh, "Well I guess you're gonna hear it sooner or later." He concluded after a not so long debate and then got ready to share the story from the very beginning, "It pretty much all started when…"

"Wait a minute." Laurie interrupted suddenly while raising up her hand to get Eric to stop talking.

Shutting his mouth Eric frowned at his sister's actions and the indention in his forehead only became deeper as he saw her get up from the bed and walk over to where Lucy was sitting with her toys and next to their suitcase. Laurie un-zippered one of the side pockets that she used to keep snacks for her daughter and pulled out two Ziploc bags that contained what looked like animal crackers.

After giving one to Lucy and making sure she was set, Laurie walked back to the bed and settled herself onto a few pillows before opening the plastic bag.

Eric watched in disbelief but shook his head, erasing any comments he had plans of making about his sister's actions, "Are you comfortable?"

"Eh." Came Laurie's reply, "I usually have popcorn when watching my stories…but this'll do. You can go on now." she instructed with a wave of her hand.

Exhaling once more, Eric again began his story, "Alright well like I was saying, it pretty much all started when Mom got sick this last time and the doctor gave them the news about Mom…Hyde and Jackie were calling everyone up and telling us what was going on and how we should come see her. Hyde called me first and I…I told him I couldn't make it and then we got into a kind of fight then he hung up."

"I really thought that that was that." He added, "Then a few minutes after Hyde called my phone rang again but it was Jackie this time. She told me I needed to come home and then pretty much ordered me to do it and before I knew it I had my bags packed and a plane ticket back here."

"Wow." Laurie cut in with a teasing smile, "Who knew Little Brother was into S&M."

Eric's eyes went wide before his frown reappeared on his forehead and he began to speak though it sounding more like screeching, "What? No! No, no, no. No! That's, that's not what happened…I …" he heaved a sigh, "Can I continue?"

Titling her head Laurie continued with her fun, "Don't you mean May I continue, Mistress?"

"I'm continuing!" Eric shouted and Laurie giggled but was ignored as Eric went on, "The first night back here was…awkward. With a capitol…well pretty much every letter."

"I hadn't been home in almost a year. Fez and Kelso were already here but I hadn't kept in touch with either of them…same went with Donna. And Hyde was still pissed at…" He suddenly stopped talking as a animal shaped cookie hit him in the middle of his forehead.

"Okay…ow." He said with his eyes fixated on his sister who had obviously been the one to through the food, "What was that for?"

Laurie frowned angrily, "You said the 'p-word' in front of my daughter." She hissed while gesturing towards the child who seemed to have not heard any of the sibling's conversation.

"Yeah so? You said S&M infront of her!" Eric pointed out.

"She doesn't know what that means." The young mother declared, "For all she knows it's Sugar and Macaroni."

Eric scowled for just a little longer before he face softened and he began to nod, "Well she is yours and Fez's kid…so yeah I believe that."

After hearing that comment Laurie shot a murderous look towards her brother and it scared Eric more than any other angry or threatening expression Laurie had ever sent his way.

He cleared his throat, "So back to the story..."

It took almost a full fifteen minutes for Eric to tell the whole story of what had gone on during the past few days and he'd only talked about the things that had happened with him and Jackie.

He told Laurie about how Jackie had helped him out with Hyde, how she had been there to talk to when no one else really was. He shared the whole story of the hostage luggage and how Jackie had gotten him to stay a few more days. The way Jackie had helped sneak him past Hyde so he could see Kitty and when she talked to him about running out. He talked about how Jackie played a big role in getting him and Hyde to make up and in getting him the second chance to see their mother.

Not all the details were shared but Eric did still tell his sister about the way they had kissed in the kitchen after taking care of Kitty at night. He summed up some of the awkwardness that followed before getting to the climatic part when Hyde and Donna walked in on them sharing a kiss in the kitchen. The same kiss that had made a big mess of things; splitting Randy and Donna up and putting Hyde and Jackie on non-speaking terms.

Eric also told the story of their first date and everything between then and what happened this morning in the kitchen. The dilemma he was having about wanting to go with Jackie grocery shopping but knowing he had to talk to Randy being the last installment.

"Woah." Laurie managed to say once the tale was wrapped up—she was still sitting on the bed but sometime during Eric's monolog Lucy had joined her on the bed and was currently sitting beside her finishing up the last of the cookies, "All of this happened just during this past week?"

Nodding Eric replied, "Yeah."

The disbelief look on Laurie's face didn't fade as she shook her head, "I knew I should have gotten here sooner."

"Yeah," he chuckled, "you missed out on one heck of a show."

"So what are you gonna do now?"

"I don't know." Eric replied honestly with a tired sigh, "I mean I wanna go with Jackie to the grocery store…I really do but I know Donna and she's waiting for Randy to call her and apologize and Randy doesn't seem like the type of guy to give in and crawl back to her on his hands and knees asking for forgiveness."

"Like you did." Laurie reminded

"Yeah." Eric answered but quickly pushed his thought away from the days when he was with Donna and how he was then, "I just feel like me and Jackie kissing the night was what split the two of them up and I think I owe it to them to at least try and fix things between them."

Laurie frowned, "Ok first of all Eric, you don't owe either one of them anything. And if you want my advice…"

"I don't want your advice." Eric said, not in a mean way at all.

"Well I didn't want a brother either but Mom and Dad still brought you home from the hospital." Laurie remarked as she stroked her daughter's hair, "So too bad."

She paused waiting for some sort of objection from her brother but it never came so she continued, "I think you should go talk to Randy. Jackie will understand and besides it's only grocery shopping."

'But it's grocery shopping with Jackie!' Eric thought to himself and was going to say the words out loud until he realized how childish they sounded; so instead decided to share another concern he had, "But what if Jackie thinks that I'm doing this nice gesture for Donna because I still love her and want to get back together with her. I don't want that. Jackie thinking that or getting back together with Donna."

"Eric, she's not gonna think that." Laurie stated.

"How do you know that?"

Laurie scoffed slightly, "Because she's not a dumbass like you." She explained before going on into detail, "Jackie is not going to think that you're getting Donna back together with her fiancé because you want to get back together with Donna. And if you two ever plan on taking this beyond a few kisses and date to the toy store you need to be able to trust each other."

Never having though of it that way, Eric now saw how obscured the idea was. "I guess that's true."

"And who knows," Laurie continued, "maybe you talking to randy could set off a whole chain of events…good events for a change."

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously.

"Well like…you talk to Randy and help his understand Donna a little better and then he'll go talk to her and they make up. Maybe then Donna will feel thankful and come talk to you, that's when you get to have that talk with her that you told Jackie you'd have. And Jackie and the orphan will see you and Donna talking and realized that if you guys can do it so can they. And then they'll talk and everything will be worked out and no more fights or tension."

Eyeing his sister suspiciously Eric spoke up, "Huh…this is new. You've got a plan to actually keep people together…"

Laurie rolled her eyes, "Look Eric, even though when we were in school I was the more popular and the smarter one…"she began to say, ignoring Eric's laugh that came after her last few words, "But you were the lucky one."

"You had this group of friends who stuck with each other through every school year. I got a new group of friends every school year." She shared, "And if you asked me to name five of them, I couldn't. And I guess…I don't know…I've always been a little jealous at how you've always had that same group of friends that you know and that know you so well."

A beaming smile appeared on Eric's face and this made his sister roll her eyes again.

"I said 'a little.'" She reminded with a frown, "Anyways. I don't wanna see you loose those friends. And I don't think you wanna loose them either."

"I don't." Eric agreed becoming serious again and in staying in his serious mode he looked up and over at his sister and niece, "Hey Laurie, why are you…why are you suddenly going all… 'Big Sister' on me?"

The blonde shrugged, "Cuz I'm your Big Sister."

"Yeah, my big sister who I'm about ninety five percent sure was abducted by aliens." Eric stated, "And was either brainwashed or kidnapped and you're really just one of those surrogate decoys."

Laurie snarled but before she could say a word Eric started up again.

"Thanks for the advice though. I really appreciate it."

"Yeah well…just don't waste it." She warned.

Eric smiled a bit, "I won't."

"Good." Laurie responded with a smile and then grabbed one of the pillows from behind her and tossed it at Eric. It hit his head and he immediately scowled and looked over at her, "You said you weren't gonna waste it. Go!"

"Now?" he asked still very much confused.

Instead of receiving a verbal answer he got another pillow thrown in his face this time by a much younger pitcher. He niece who was busy smiling away.

"Um…okay." Eric said cautiously as he slowly stood up from his seat on the bed; he wasn't sure if Laurie really wanted him to go talk with Jackie or just wanted him out of the room. Either way he was making his way towards the room's exit.

Just as Eric became less than a foot away from the door another pillow hit his back and he swung himself around to face the twosome on the bed.

"I'm going! I'm going!" he declared.

"Good." Laurie smiled, "You better get out before I call Daddy and tell him you're in my room."

Eric smiled a reminiscing smile at the deja vu moment his sister had set up, Laurie smiled back in return. And Eric wore that smile all the way to the door and even when he stepped out of the room and into the hallway, that was the same time that he turned back around to deliver one more line.

"See, now I'm eight-five percent sure." He informed with a pointed index finger.

Not two seconds after his remark another pillow came hurdling towards him but he quickly shielded himself by shutting the door closed.

Laurie shook her head, disappointed that she'd missed her shot but wasn't giving up that easily. She was not going to let him walk away with the last jab, especially not when she had found out a few things about him from Jackie the night before. Pulling her daughter onto her lap, Laurie began to speak in her motherly tone that she made just loud enough to be heard in the hallway.

"You know Luc, your Uncle Eric has always been afraid of pillows." She started, "I think it started when I use to hold one over his head while he was sleeping in his crib…"

"I knew it!" Eric exclaimed bursting into the room and pointing an accusing finger at his grinning sister.

Author's Note: There you go! Chapter 39 of "Two Weeks" Finally!

Will Eric really take Laurie's advice? Will Eric return the favor and give Laurie some advice? If Eric talks to Randy will it help put everything back together again? When is Laurie going to tell Fez about Lucy? Will Eric ever get back his Spider Man underwear? And was Laurie really abducted by aliens? Confused? You won't be after the next chapter of "Two Weeks"!

Once again hope you guys liked the chapter and that it wasn't too long for you all. Promise Jackie will be back in the next one! :D

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