Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Author's Note: Hello everyone! A very long long long time no see huh? AT least for this story. I wanted to start off by saying that I am so so so very very sorry for the exteremly long wait. I just got so busy with school and then writing other stories but this one was never forgotten. Just was going through some other stuff to that didn't make writing for this story very pleasant. I wanted to write happier things you know but now I am very much ready to get this story back on track! I've already got the next chapters planned out and though yes I did just start classes up again (yes I know big Red flag there) I will be making time to work on this story even if it means me drinking even more cups of coffee to keep me going! (really don't mind this of course, I love my coffee) Okay I don't wanna keep you all waiting any longer than I already have, I truly do feel terrible about that. But I hope you all are still reading and are as excited for these new chapters as I am. Want to also thank all of you all who hve read and reviewed and added to your alerts and favorites. It means so very much. Even bigger thanks to those of you who have stayed with this story since I first started posting it…two years ago! Holy cow! I this year will be better for updates :D Anyoo thank you once again and I really hope this chapter will make you all happy, next one will be up soon. As always remember I still am not a doctor. Still watching House MD but mostly reruns (I miss Cuddy!). Thank you thank you for all of your support. I am so so very very sorry. I hope you all can forgive me and are still reading and looking forward to more. Without further ado, Enjoy!
"Are you even trying to think of a question or are you just pretending to be trying?" Jackie asked in an aggravated tone of voice while looking at her ex-boyfriend with a look that matched her tone.
"Yes, I'm trying." Hyde argued from behind the camera, "Just give me a second."
Jackie nodded, "Okay…One. Alright there's your one second and you still don't have a question which means it's my turn!"
A frown, showing how upset and confused he was feeling as he heard the petite brunette ramble on in front of him, appeared on Hyde's forehead. She was talking at an even faster pace than usual he could barely make out what she was saying and when he finally did figure out what it was she was saying he had no idea how she'd been able to jump to that conclusion.
He opened his mouth to interject but before he could get a word in, Jackie asked Kitty her question.
"What's your favorite store to shop at, Mom?"
"What kind of question is that?" Hyde asked in a louder voice that grabbed the attention of both the women he was filming, causing them to turn their heads and look his way.
Jackie looked straight into the camera, "A good question."
"Seriously?" he scoffed in response, "You think that's a good question?"
"Well compared to your latest questions…you know the one that you've taken five minutes to think of and still haven't come up with and your previous one of 'What's your favorite color?' I think it's a great question."
"At least with the color question we learned some stuff about Mom, what are we gonna learn through this question?" Hyde asked after making a very important point.
The way Jackie grinned and straightened herself up in her seat told Hyde that she'd already thought about detail, "We're going to learn what store is Mom's favorite store to shop at. And then the kids who are watching this in the future will know too, so when they go into whatever store Mom says they'll know that that store was their Grandma Kitty's favorite place to shop at."
Hyde just stared back at Jackie. He really didn't have the strength to argue against her at that moment. And when he thought about it, this question was better than the kindergarten ones he had been thinking of moments ago—questions like what's your favorite animal?—though then again, not a whole lot better.
"Fine." He muttered.
"Yay!" Jackie exclaimed happily before getting back into interviewer mode—swinging her head from Hyde and the camera to Kitty and repeating her question, "So Mom, what's your favorite store to shop at?"
Kitty looked up from the magazine she had grabbed and started skimming through during the time of Hyde and Jackie's squabble, "Oh are we still doing my video? I thought we had switched to doing a collection video of Steven versus Jackie arguments."
Guilty expressions wasted no time in appearing on Jackie and Steven's faces. They did feel bad. They had been fighting a lot lately, on and off camera. Sometimes it was over bigger things other times it was little stuff like the toilet seat being left up. Either way, listening to their arguments was the last thing Kitty needed to be doing.
Shaking her head lightly, Kitty went on, "I'm sorry. I just…I wish you two wouldn't fight so much. Though I guess…you fighting, even if it is over the tiniest of things, is better than having you not talk to each other at all." She smiled, "What was the question again?"
"What's your favorite store to shop at?" the question was repeated for third time.
"Oohh." Kitty said and then pressed her lips together, "That's a hard one."
"Really?" Hyde asked in disbelief ignoring the triumph smile Jackie was giving.
Their surrogate mother nodded her head, "And I'm a girl so I've already got the genetic code to love shopping." She released a small giggle, "To choose a favorite store…especially when there are so many different kinds of shopping…"
Hearing that last bit gave Hyde an idea, "So then what's your favorite type of shopping?"
"Hey!" Jackie shouted when she heard her question being reworded and changed almost completely.
"Well let's see." Kitty said as she started to think, "I've always enjoyed going grocery shopping. But it's better if you go with someone and to never go on an empty stomach."
Hyde smirked as he recorded Kitty laughing but noticed that as her laughter died down her smile remained in place and she seemed to have a far off look on her face.
"Mom?" he called out, after exchanging looks with Jackie, "What are you thinking about?"
"I was thinking back to when Red and I first moved into this house and I had gone grocery shopping by myself." explained Kitty, her grin untouched, "Which normally wasn't a problem but at that time I was six months pregnant with Laurie and was at the stage during the pregnancy where your cravings get even weirder than before. I came home with two bags full of sour cream, cream cheese, chocolate chips, and pickles and nothing else." She giggled again, "And ever since that day Red has never had me go grocery shopping alone."
The room filled with laughter at the story behind why it was the couple usually did their grocery shopping together—Hyde was a bit surprised by it. Not so much by the story but with the fact that they had learned some more things about Kitty through Jackie's question. Well Jackie's question that had been tweaked around by him.
"But that's not your favorite type of shopping to do, right?" Jackie questioned after a few seconds, "What about shopping for clothes?"
Kitty smiled "Oh shopping for clothes is always fun. Trying on all the different things and there are so many mirrors in the dressing rooms, it makes you feel like a model." She joked and then let out another one of her famous laughs, "And shopping for clothes can be good for you too, and not just because it makes you feel like a model. Sometimes you find that very pretty but very expensive dress that looks just perfect on you, only you can't afford it get right then and there, so you leave the store but don't forget about the dress. Instead it becomes of kind of motivation and you start working harder and saving up some more until finally you have enough to buy the dress. Then when you do go back to buy it, knowing how much work you put into getting it and finally being able to own it… it's a wonderful feeling that should make you feel good about yourself."
Tilting her head slightly, Jackie voiced her thought, "Yeah, but couldn't you get that same wonderful feeling if you just bought the dress without doing a lot of work or any saving and just used a credit card or paid it off in payments?"
"I...I guess you could do that too." Kitty said though the uncertainty in her voice told Hyde how she wasn't completely on board with Jackie's logic; still she continued, "Gift shopping is another good one. It's a little harder than the rest because you're shopping for other people but it's so much fun going out to look for gifts that show how much you love and appreciate the person you're shopping for."
"Don't forget shoe shopping." Jackie piped up.
"Oh, of course shoe shopping." The older woman nodded and then looked into the camera once more, "Girls, no matter what the men in your life tell you, you can never have too many shoes."
While Jackie firmly nodded her head beside her, Kitty tired to think of a response that would wrap up this question.
"Then there's the type of shopping that you do with other people, it could be a friend, family member, a husband or wife, the point is your not alone when you're shopping for whatever your shopping for. You have someone there with you and you're talking and laughing and doing a little gossiping maybe you even get a quick lunch together…you're just having a good time. That's my favorite type of shopping."
"And then right after that it's shoe shopping." She added with a smile.
0o0o0o
"So will you go with me?" Jackie asked the woman sitting next to her at the round kitchen table. She had just spent the past ten minutes explaining to her as much as she could without giving away all the details, about how she and Eric had to change their plans of going grocery shopping and how she was now searching for a new shopping partner.
"Um yeah, sure." Brooke agreed with a nod, thinking it would be nice to get out of the house and actually go to a store where she wouldn't have to be constantly watching all three of her children to make sure the didn't knock anything over, break anything, or get into any other kind of trouble. Still as nice as it sounded, one thought remained her head, "But Jackie…it's just grocery shopping, couldn't you go by yourself?"
"Yeah, but I'd probably come back with all the wrong stuff. It would just be safer if you came too." Jackie admitted freely, "Plus there's this guy that works there that creeps me out. Everyone calls him The Jolly Green Giant."
Brooke had to hold in a laugh, "The Jolly Green Giant? Like the guy that's on the cans of corn? Is he in charge of stacking those cans or something?"
"No." the petite brunette shook her head and then began to explain, "He's just this guy who wears one of those green aprons and he has this really scary smile. He's also really, really tall. I mean he makes Donna look normal sized!" she just about shouted, "And I'm tiny. He could squish me!"
"Okay, okay." Brooke said between laughs, "I'll go and protect you."
A grin quickly appeared on Jackie's face, "Thanks. Hey, maybe after we're done shopping we can stop for lunch somewhere. We can eat there, get a break from everything, maybe do some gossiping and then we'll bring back some food for everyone else over here."
"Sure. That sounds great." The young mother smiled, "What time do you wanna leave at?"
Wrinkling her forehead ever so lightly, Jackie tried to figure out what would be the best time to leave at, "I don't know….in about an hour, and hour and half?"
"Good." Brooke said as she stood up from her seat, "By that time they're showing the real cartoons and not the educational ones. Michael and Fez won't even notice that we'll be gone."
Together the two women shared a laugh—both knew just how true the statement was. As they were giggling Eric entered the kitchen from the basement; their laughter puzzled him and looked back and forth between the two of them trying to figure out what it was they found funny. However after swinging his head back and forth a multiple number of times, he still had no clue.
"What are you guys laughing at?" he decided to just come out and ask.
Brooke and Jackie brought an end to their laughter but continued to smile as they turned to see Eric standing by the old brown refrigerator.
"Nothing." Brooke tried to assure with her hand raised up slightly.
But Eric was convinced. If it was nothing then why were they still smiling? Sure they were girls and girls tended to smile more than boys…most girls anways….but had Brooke tried to reassure him that it was nothing…why hadn't Jackie? Did Brooke feel guilty about laughing at whatever it was they were laughing at? But what could you laugh at but also feel guilty about? It had to be something embarrassing…something she didn't know before…
Suddenly a realization dawned on Eric and with large eyes he turned to Jackie.
"Did you tell her about my Spiderman underwear?" he questioned, trying his hardest not to let his voice go up into it's high pitched tone—but didn't succeed very well.
The burst of laughter that erupted into the room—particularly the laugh coming from the librarian—made Eric realize he had been wrong.
His face feel into a blank expression as he gave a stammered response of "I…I guess not."
This time Brooke really did feel guilty about laughing—at least part of her did, the other part still found it simply too funny to not laugh at. She tired her best to stifle her laughter but couldn't hold it in as well as she would have liked to. Though she soon figured out a solution; she could contain her giggles just as long as she didn't look at Eric.
"Jackie," she said looking straight at the young woman, "I'm gonna go tell Michael our plans and then go ahead and start getting ready."
Eric saw Jackie nod her head 'Okay' and then watched as Brooke turned around—looking down at the floor as if to avoid looking him in the eye—and hurried over to the basement door, her lips pressed tightly together to seal in her laughter. Her lips proved to be a good zipper until she was deep into the basement and the sound of her laughter floated up the stairs. Eric was about to make a comment on it when another question entered his mind.
"When are you guys leaving to the groceries?" he questioned curiously
"In about an hour or an hour and a half." Jackie repeated the answer she'd given to Brooke moments ago.
A frown formed on Eric's forehead, "And Brooke's getting ready now? You're just going grocery shopping."
"Well you may not remember this," Jackie started to say in an informative tone, "but it actually takes more than a few minutes to get ready when you have more than one other shirt and only two pairs of jeans."
"And a pair socks plus a toothbrush." Eric happily pointed out with a grin as he took the seat next to Jackie.
Jackie couldn't help her own growing smile as Eric sat himself closer to her. She liked how he wasn't afraid to move closer to her. If he wanted to be near her, he wasted no time in moving himself. With Steven she was the one who usually made the move to be closer to him—sitting on his lap, cuddling against him on the cot—and then of course he'd follow with moving closer to her or bringing her closer to him. And with Michael it was almost the same thing only with him the only time he moved himself closer to her was because he wanted to do 'it.'
She continued to smile, "Right. And besides we're not just going grocery shopping. We're also gonna stop for lunch afterwards."
"What? You didn't say anything about going to lunch when I was going with you." He pointed out, sounding a bit hurt but mostly shocked.
"I didn't think about it when you were going with me." Jackie truthfully answered before shrugging her shoulders, "Besides, going to get something to eat after shopping together is something girls do. It's in the handbook." She finished with a smile.
Hearing this made Eric smirk and release a dreamy sigh, "Ah, to be a girl."
"Yeah." Jackie nodded still smiling—though this smile having just a hint of evil in it, "Especially when it's that time of the month when you start bleeding from your…"
"Okay! Okay!" Eric shouted throwing his hands up in the air, wanting Jackie stop immediately, "I get it. I get it. No joy in womanhood."
When he saw Jackie give a big, satisfied smile an idea he hadn't thought of before turned on the light bulb in his head.
"Hey I just realized if we went to the store early…like if we left in the next ten, fifteen minutes…we could spend that time together. We'd do the grocery shopping and get some lunch and I'd probably still be able to make it with Randy." Eric shared his idea, sounding excited and hopeful.
"Nah."
Eric's eyes widened as her heard Jackie's reply before they returned to normal size when he furrowed his brows together, showing a very large exaggeration of the hurt her was feeling, "I see…I've been replaced. Okay. I get it." He said in a high pitched voice that sounded like he was about to start to cry—fake cry that was, "Just…just promise me one thing. Promise me that the two of you won't make any trips to the second to last aisle. That's our aisle."
"Aw." Jackie replied, playing along and using voice filled with fake disappointment; throwing in a pout and a tilt of her head to make it look good, "That's where me and Brooke planned on spending most of our time."
At first the green eyes staring and Jackie showed surprise, as did the rest of Eric's face. However, the more he thought about Jackie and Brooke together in the second to last aisle—the most secluded aisle of the grocery store—the more he became okay with it. A grin of approval even made it's way to his mouth.
The grin obviously disgusted Jackie and she wasted no time in letting him know, "Ew! Stop being a prev like Fez."
"What? I'm not a prev and I'm not like Fez!" he declared in an outrage, "I am actually hurt that you would say something like that…in fact all I have to say to you now is…Good day."
Jackie let out a tiny laugh; she knew where this was going, "But Eric…"
And in true Fez fashion, Eric lifted up his open palm and turned his head to the side in order to avoid eye contact—he even spoke in a thick phony accent, "I say good day!"
"You're sure in a good mood." Jackie commented after their laughter had died down, "Why?
Eric smirked as he replied, "You."
That simple one worded explanation that Eric gave made Jackie smile one of her brightest smiles, however before she could say anything the kitchen door swung open and the two turned their heads to see their visitor. It had been a distressed looking Hyde who'd entered the kitchen but he seemed to be lost in his own world of thoughts. If Eric hadn't called out to him he wouldn't have even realized Eric and Jackie were in the room.
"Hey Hyde, man." Eric greeted, right away deciding to find out how his mother was doing, "How Mom doing?"
The question about Kitty appeared to really snap Hyde out of whatever trance he was in; he nodded his head slightly before replying, "She's uh…she's doing okay, man. Gave her the medicine and it helped some…she's asleep right now and Red's there with her."
Nodding his own head, Eric started to wonder if maybe he should go up there and sit with his dad. Jackie, meanwhile, looked over at Hyde, who was still standing in the kitchen and had made no attempt to leave, and smiled. She may have still been upset with him and had been doing her best to ignore him or give him the shortest possible response when he asked her a question, but any time she saw an opportunity to tease him a little she was going to take it—whether she was mad at him or not.
"Did you come down here to get dolled up for Angie's visit?" she asked teasingly.
"No. Red kicked me out." Hyde answered, making sure his voice was as serious as possible; glancing over at the two seated at the table Hyde noticed the expression on his adopted brother's face and so he added, "Don't go up there, man."
Moving his head upwards and then turning it to look over at Hyde, Eric saw the stern expression on his face. And when he put together that look and the tone of voce that Hyde had just spoke in, Eric realized those words weren't an order, they were a warning. A warning Hyde probably made to help protect him from Red. Not knowing what else to say, Eric gave another nod.
Jackie frowned a confused frown at the interaction between the two men but decided to ignore it and change the topic of conversation. It was familiar subject and one she was sure would have the same answer, still she hoped—especially today—that it would be even a tad bit different.
"So Steven," she began, trying to keep her voice light and not filled with the anger she still had towards him, "What are you doing today?"
Hyde scowled a deep scowl, she couldn't be serious could she? Knowing Jackie though, she probably was, so he decided to give a more than cynical reply,
"Actually I have a long list of things to do today." He said, his words already dripping with sarcasm, "I'm gonna stop by Grooves for a couple of hours see if I can sell any records. Probably catch a movie for lunch and swing by the arcade after that. Finish all of that off with a trip to the ice cream shop and then come back here and I don't know…take care of our sick mother." Hyde finished the last line in a loud tone of voice that seemed to ask 'What the hell do you think I'm doing today?'
Obviously not impressed by the sarcasm, Jackie wrinkled her nose with repulsion, "Well I hope you're planning on squeezing in a shower somewhere in there."
"Why?" he questioned after using as much strength as he could to not roll his eyes.
"Because you stink." Jackie replied, her voice and face still showing her disgust.
Hyde was not amused. "You know what I mean, Jackie. Why are you asking what I'm doing today? You know what I'm doing today, the same thing I've been doing these past few days."
"I was just wondering, Steven." She answered, her anger slowly starting to seep through, "And stop making it sound like you're the only one who's been taking care of Mom these past few days. We all have."
Sensing an argument about to erupt, Eric jumped in hoping to he could save the conversation. "We were both wondering Hyde." He started to explain, letting out a slight chuckle, ignoring the frown Jackie was looking at him with, "Yeah, we were sitting here and talking about the things we were doing today and then we started wondering what everyone else was gonna do…and well you were the first of everyone else that we saw so we asked you…first."
Despite the fact that it was a bit of a jumbled explanation, Hyde believed it. Unfortunately that wasn't as good of a thing as one would expect it to be.
"You two were talking about what you're doing today?" Hyde repeated the words in question form then turned to his ex-girlfriend, "What are you doing today, Jackie?"
Shrugging her shoulders as she stood up from her seat, Jackie gave her reply, "Nothing special. Just going grocery shopping with Brooke in a little bit."
"Grocery shopping?" he asked
Jackie nodded, "Yeah, you know the kind of shopping people do when they don't have any food in their house. I don't know if you've noticed this Steven but all we have in the fridge is a few bottles of beer."
"So? I don't see a problem with that." came Hyde's response, though when he saw the annoyed look Jackie was sending him he went back to being serious, "You'll be back for when Angie's here, right?"
"Maybe." Jackie answered back.
Of course she was going to try her best to be done shopping and be back home by the time that Angela made her visit to check up on Kitty. She was just giving him a hard time…well at least that was part of reason behind her response. The other part was because she didn't understand why Steven made sure just about everyone would be here when Angela came.
Having everyone in the room would just make things crowded and frustrating. Besides it wasn't like if she missed it, she couldn't find out what had happened or what new information she needed to know was—he or Red or even Eric could catch her up on everything. And these hospice visits weren't the most pleasant things in the world. It wasn't Angie; she has always been a very nice woman who Jackie got along with, it was her visits that bothered Jackie. Every time Angie came to check on Kitty it was reminder of the current situation, a reminder that Kitty was sick, a reminder that the woman who had been like a mother to her was dying.
Really who wanted that?
As she snapped out of her thoughts Jackie turned back around to Hyde and smiled, "But Eric will be here. Right Eric?"
"Yeah, sure." Eric nodded, looking at Jackie who now had her eyes on him, then switching back to his brother, "Well yeah, maybe. I mean I'm gonna try my best to be back in time for that…"
"Wait." Hyde suddenly interjected, "'Back?' Where're you going?"
Eric stared back at Hyde like a deer in headlights, he didn't know which way to go or what to say except, "Um…uh…"
"Out." Jackie said for him, her voice firm as if to avoid further questions.
"Out where?" Hyde asked, his eyes on Eric to make sure the answer came from him this time.
"Um just, just out." Eric answered bring his hands up and the quickly back down, "Just out of the house. And well technically out of the neighborhood too but…"
Hyde shook his head, "Are you going out with Jackie, man?"
"No, no." the school teacher shook his head, though inside it he was wishing he could say 'yes.' He was about to share his plans of talking to Randy but then thought it may not be the best of ideas, "I'm going out with a friend."
"You have friends besides us?" Hyde asked in disbelief.
"Yes, he does. I'm sorry to have to inform you this Steven, but you are not as irreplaceably unique as you think you are." Jackie fired back for Eric, "Besides it's not such a big shock, after all Eric had plenty of other friends when we were in school."
"Like who? The people he'd say 'Hi' to in the hallways? They don't count." Hyde scoffed while crossing his arms over his chest, "Those guys were just classmates and classmates are the same thing as inmates. Just people you make small talk with to try to speed up the time you have left in the unbearable place."
As he nodded his head Eric stood up and walked over to where the two ex-lovers were standing, "Yeah, I'm actually with Hyde on that one, Jackie."
Happy to have his adopted brother back on his side of things Hyde smirked a victorious smirk, though Jackie never saw the smirk since she was busy sending her own sideways look over to Eric. She said nothing else but only because her look said everything she needed it to.
"Hey, just thought you guys should know we're all out of soda's in the deep freeze." A new voice announced as they entered the kitchen.
Jackie knitted her brows closer together as she stared at the tall blonde woman in front of her, "I thought there still a few more bottles left."
"Yeah there were." Donna replied, "And then Kelso and Fez declared it Soda War III. They started shaking all the bottles and then opening them to spray at each other. Most of the time though they just ended up spraying themselves."
While small smiles managed to make their way onto both Hyde and Eric's faces—both probably having a piece of them wishing they had been part of the battle—there was no trace of any kind of grin on Jackie's face. Her mind immediately went to the mess that the basement must be covered with and then the thought of Red going in there and seeing it…She just about sprinted down the basement steps when Donna continued speaking, stopping her in her tracks.
"Brooke already put them to work with picking everything up." She shared.
"Oh okay." Jackie nodded, nearly letting out a large sigh of relief, "Well we'll just add sodas onto the list."
"What list?" Donna asked with a confused frown that only became more confused as she noticed that everyone was standing close together instead of sitting down or at least being scattered some, "What's going on?"
"Nothing." was Jackie's nonchalant answer as she retrieved the shopping list from the counter to write down the new item, "Brooke and I are just going to the store in a while to pick up a few things."
Donna wasn't exactly sure of how to react to that. It wasn't like she enjoyed going shopping with Jackie or shopping at all; but the fact that Jackie was going shopping with Brooke and not even asking Donna before she asked Brooke, bothered the heck out of Donna.
She thought she and Jackie were best friends…but then again maybe they really weren't. This visit was the first time they'd seen each other in months and did a best friend kiss and practically steal your first love, the way Jackie did with Eric? No! You never saw Donna and Kelso playing tonsil hockey…mostly because that would just be sick and completely gross then again that was exactly what seeing Jackie and Eric kiss was too! The two of them getting together was just making a huge mess out of things, one of the main parts of that mess being Randy walking out.
Thinking about it Donna began to regret even coming back here. However almost as soon as she began these thoughts she felt a pang of guilt when the thought of Mrs. Forman up in her bedroom, dying entered her mind. So she didn't completely regret coming back to Point Place but maybe she was going to do some rethinking on who to have as her Maid of Honor…if her wedding was even still on.
"Yeah and Forman's going out with a 'friend.'" Hyde added in, breaking Donna away from her thoughts.
The former redhead frowned, "A friend who's not one of us?"
"That's what they claim." Hyde answered before Eric or Jackie could open their mouths.
"Wait." Donna said cautiously, still unconvinced, "We can see this friend right?"
"Yeah, it's not some movie character either, right?" asked Hyde, his arms still folded over his chest.
"Yes, we can see him Donna and no he's not a movie character, Steven." Jackie answered, resisting the urge to just tell them the friend was Randy; Eric, who had shut his mouth when Jackie started speaking opened it once more but before even a noise could escape, Jackie went on, "And I think you two aren't even all that surprised about Eric having a friend outside of our group, I think you're just jealous. Because Eric has a life and friends away from the basement, away from you. Just like you were jealous when I would go hangout with my cheerleader friends or other people from school that you guys didn't know."
"Jackie," Hyde said, remaining Zen, "That wasn't jealousy you saw then, that was relief."
The brunette sneered, "Call it what you want it what you want Steven, but I know what I saw was jealousy. Just like I'm seeing now."
Hyde looked over his ex-girlfriend with a suspicious eye until it finally dawned on him, "You know." He said, "You know who Forman's going to see and you know where. You know. Don't you?"
"Of course she knows." Donna answered for the twosome, in almost a bitter sounding tone, "He tells her everything since now she's his girlfriend."
Once again Eric got ready to speak by opening his mouth but today he was either taking way too long to get his words out or Jackie was just on a roll and couldn't be stopped.
"Yeah, I know." Jackie said casually, "But even if I didn't I wouldn't be interrogating him the way you two are because it's none of my business. Just like it's none of your business and it's none of your business." she stated while pointing at each of them, "It's Eric's business. And I think both of you should stop being so nosy. I mean you're already jealous, and nosy and jealousy don't go well together. Just like Donna and anything that's purple."
Donna rolled her eyes at the comment, "You know what? I just came up to tell you about the soda." She said her voice letting on to how upset she was as she made her exit back to the basement.
Though Jackie was glad that she had gotten Donna to drop the subject and even leave the room she knew she couldn't celebrate yet. She still had one obstacle left but she knew what to do. Crossing her arms over her own chest Jackie stared directly at Hyde waiting for him to back down.
And after a very long staring contest he finally did, dropping his arms at his sides as he did so.
"Look man, I don't care anymore." He said looking over at Eric, "Just…just be back for when Angie's here, alright? For Mom."
Eric nodded, and waited a few seconds to make sure Jackie didn't have to say anything, and added, "Yeah man, I will."
"Good." Hyde gave his own nod, "I'm going to my room to change and try and take a quick nap."
"Don't forget, Angie doesn't like people that smell." Jackie threw over her shoulder as she walked to the kitchen table to sit back down.
Hyde scowled in return and Eric smirked a bit before deciding to give his own piece of advice to the Zen master.
"And hey! Loose the shades." He said pointing his finger at the curly haired man, "It'll bring out the blue in your eyes."
The scowl on Hyde's face deepened, "Forman, man, what the hell are you doing noticing my eyes are blue?"
"Well I…um…" Eric struggled for an answer before suddenly smiling a playful smile, "They're just too dreamy to not notice."
As he turned around to head down to the basement, Hyde shook his head to try and hide the faint smile that had cracked onto his lips. The attempt wasn't very successful as Eric knew his adopted brother well enough to figure out he was really smiling—he'd even caught a quick glimpse of it. The fact that he had made Hyde smile even in tiniest of smiles made Eric's own grin grow in inches as he sat down next to Jackie at the kitchen table.
"Hey um thanks for defending me…for like the millionth time. You know I was actually gonna try and step in but seeing you standing up for me and getting mad at Hyde and Donna…was pretty hot." Eric confessed and Jackie let out a small question which made Eric do the same before pointing his index finger and speaking again, "Quick thing though. You didn't correct Donna when she called you my girlfriend…does that…I mean…is…are you my girlfriend?"
"I don't know." Jackie replied in a shy tone, Eric was almost sure he'd never heard her speak in, "Do you think I'm your girlfriend?"
Eric kept his eyes on hers, "I don't know. Am I your boyfriend?"
"I don't know. Am I your girlfriend?" she asked, the playful teasing tone Eric was used to hearing now back in use.
"I don't know. But…Do you think…" he gulped, gathering his courage, "maybe later on you would want to be my girlfriend? And in turn want me to be your boyfriend?"
Jackie's eyes were bright with excitement, "I would."
"Me too." Eric breathed.
0o0o0o
Hours later Jackie found herself alone in the kitchen as she buttoned up her coat, getting ready to go out in the snow, when a voice from behind called out to her.
"Hey, are you leaving already?" they asked.
A grin formed on her lips as she recognized the voice and turned around to find a pair of green eyes staring at her, "Yeah, we figured we better go now in case there were a lot of people at the store. What about you?"
"Nah." Eric replied with shake of his head as he took a few steps deeper into the kitchen and closer to Jackie, " I'll probably take off in an hour. But I was in the basement when Brooke came in to talk to Fez and Kelso about the rules they needed to follow while she was gone, I'm guessing none of that could have been direct at me so I thought I'd go up and check on Mom and see if Red needed anything.
Nodding Jackie smiled at his words. It was amazing how he was wanting more and more to help his parents out during this trying time, especially since only a week or so ago Hyde couldn't even get him to come back to Wisconsin. So much had happened over these past few days it was really shocking that it had only been days and not months. There were returns of loved ones (and then Laurie). Some relationships had been patched up, some were put on the rocks, and a new romantic one had even formed—that last one was probably her favorite thing that had happened over this course of time.
As she thought over the various moments she and Eric had shared together since the day he arrived back home her grin grew but then another—less happy—thought entered her mind and concern displayed on her face as she quickly had her eyes meet with Eric's.
"Where's Steven?"
Eric smirked at the thought of what his friend was doing now, "He's crashed out in his room. I don't know what you were complaining about with my snoring, Hyde's snoring sounds like motorboat. I could hear it through the door and everything! And you were with the guy for over two years."
"Steven only snores when he's really tired unlike you who lets out the freight train during a cat nap." She teased with a smile that stretched at the 'wounded' look Eric gave her, "How long has he been out?"
"I don't know, forty five minutes maybe." Eric replied with a shrug.
Jackie moved her head up and down again; even though she and Hyde weren't on the best of terms she knew he needed to get some rest, she also knew he got mad when he rested too much. Back when Kitty had gotten really sick that first time he would mad at her for letting him sleep in when he could have been helping Kitty out.
She moved her purse onto her shoulder as she said, "You better wake him up in about fifteen minutes."
"Yeah, okay."
"But be careful!" she suddenly warned, pointing her index finger at him, "He's a hitter."
Despite the fact that he knew Hyde would have been sleeping if he had actually struck Jackie and it would have been a complete accident, he almost instantly became protective, "Has he hit you before?"
"Nope. I'm small and can jump out of the way really fast." She answered casually.
"Throw in white and fluffy and you could say you're a bunny." He added in a playful manner.
Her instincts told her to make a remark about his comment or deliver her own shot at him when she swiftly remembered bunnies were cute. So she let the comment slide and decided to change the subject of conversation.
"So is Donna down there too?" she questioned referring to the basement.
"Yeah. But she's only said like two words to me." Eric informed and when he saw the shocked on Jackie's face he continued, "And they weren't even said in the same sentence. I really hope this talk with Randy does some kind of good."
The former cheerleader nodded in agreement, "Me too. I really don't want our cancelled grocery shopping date to be for nothing."
Eric shared a smile with Jackie. The words had been said in a joking manner but he knew there was some truth behind them too, after all he felt the same way.
At that same moment Brooke stepped into the room from the basement with her six year old daughter bouncing behind her—both already bundled up in their winter jackets with matching smiles on their faces and clearly ready to go. The couple, however didn't even notice the Kelso family members until one of them spoke up.
"Hi Eric." Brooke greeted before turning to Jackie, "We're ready when you are."
Jackie smiled at her friend, "I'm ready. Let's go."
Watching the three merrily make their way to the sliding glass door a puzzled frown made its way to the top of Eric's forehead. It increased and deepened until he finally decided to find out if what he was thinking was correct, before they left and he was left wondering al day—or at least until he forgot which would probably end up being a few hours from now.
"Wait I thought it was just the two of you going…Betsy's going too?" he asked directing his question at Jackie but the other two also turned around—all three of them still grinning, though biggest one belonged to the smallest. "Brooke's taking a guest. Can't you take a guest too?"
It tickled Jackie at how much Eric still wanted to go out with her—even if it was just to the grocery store—but she knew what she had to tell him.
"Yes, I can but that guest wouldn't be you." She stated and then went on to explain, "This is a girls outing."
Brooke nodded and playfully added, "That's right, girls only."
"Yeah!" Betsy exclaimed happily backing up her mother and godmother.
Eric couldn't help but chuckle at the group, "Okay, okay. You girls go and have fun. Because I've heard that that's all you really want."
Never missing a beat Little Betsy connected her Uncle Eric's words to one of her favorite songs. Putting on a big grin—that was the mirror picture of her father's usual smile—she began to belt out the lyrics.
"Oh girls just wanna fun! They just wanna, they just wanna! Oh girls, girls just wanna have fun!" she sang as she danced out to the driveway.
Smiling at her daughter's actions Brooke gave a quick wave of her hand to Eric before making her own exit, leaving the duo alone once again if only for a few seconds.
"Well I guess I'll see you in a few hours then." Jackie said and Eric nodded his head but instantly stopped when he felt a pair of soft lips on his, "Good luck."
While butterflies continued to flutter around in his stomach, from that quick peck, Eric leaned over and placed his own lips over hers.
"Good luck to you too." He said when he pulled away from small kiss.
Jackie was puzzled, "Why are you wishing me luck? You're the one going to talk to your ex-fiancée's fiancé."
"Yeah but you're taking a six year old, who's part Kelso, to a grocery store. I think you need more luck than I do." He joked before turning serious, "Plus I just really wanted to kiss you again."
Author's Note: And that would be Chapter 41 of "Two Weeks" (FINALLY) Hope it was worth the wait!
How will shopping with Jackie and Brooke and Betsy go? Will Eric be back in time for Angela's visit? When will Laurie come out and tell Fez about their daughter? Will Eric's talk with Randy change anything? If it does will it change for the good? And will there be a Soda War IV while Brooke is out? 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, see you next time, take care, and have a nice day!