Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Author's Note: Hello everyone! No, no this is not an April Fools prank this really is a new chapter of 'Two Weeks' Yay!...Right? Long time no see huh? I am so so terribly sorry about that. I just got busy with school and real life wasn't being so kind to me and then I started working on another story that was supposed to be a oneshot but took on a life of its own lol. But I truly a so very very sorry for taking so long to update. I feel terrible, really and I hope you all can forgive me and are still interested in this story. I know I've already said this before but school is getting ready to wrap up so hopefully THIS time I can get ahead on chapter and have more frequent *crosses fingers on each hand!* U I know you all are probably wanting to go on to the reading but I just wanted to say a few things really fast. First off thank you, thank you to all you readers and reviewers. Especially those who have been here since the beginning and especially those who are here now still reading and wanting more of this story. Thank you! It's you all who make me want to continue this story whenever I feel like giving up. Thank you! *Hug!* Secondly sorry if Randy is OC—I've said this before but I'm not exactly use to writing him plus I don't watch season 8 all that much and when I do I usually fast-forward to the RK bits. And finally please forgive any medical errors I may have, remember as always I am not a doctor nor am I training to be one. Still watching House and am so sad that its ending :( Thank you once more to all of you! You're all so very awesome! Hope you all like the chapter and please review if you can—it would really mean so much and helps push me to work on the next chapter :D Oh and WARNING Tissues….lots and lots of tissues are needed….okay now see, that was an April Fools joke :P Sorry couldn't resist. Please don't be mad and make it cost e a review. No tissues are needed for this chapter but I hope you all will still like it. Thank again for everything! Enjoy!
"So how'd you tell Red that you were gonna have Laurie and Forman?"
Kitty frowned slightly at her adopted son's new question, "Well really neither time that I told Red I was pregnant was anything big or extravagant. When I told him about Laurie I just sort of blurted out that I was pregnant. That same day that I got the call from the doctor. I was just so excited I couldn't wait to share it with him and so I did."
"And Red wasn't too happy about it, right?" Hyde asked with a smirk, still amused by the fact Red had not been excited when told the news that he and Kitty were going to have Laurie.
Swinging her head from Kitty then to Hyde, Jackie became more and more confused; and when she looked back at Kitty and saw the warning look on she was sending over to Hyde the brunette's curiosity grew. She had never heard anything about this!
"Wait," she interrupted before the other two could speak, "Red wasn't happy when he found out you were pregnant with Laurie?"
Hyde's amusement grew as she caught on film his ex-girlfriend's eyes grow wide with surprise, "Sorry Jacks, already went over that earlier in the video."
"What no! I wasn't even talking to you, Steven. I was talking to Mom." Jackie shot out and then turned back to the elder woman in the room, "What did Red do?"
Looking at Jackie, Kitty was tempted to tell the story all over again but at the same time she understood why it wouldn't be the greatest idea to say it again, it was the probably the same reason Steven didn't want her retelling it—or at least she hoped it was. Retelling the story would just be well retelling and repeating a story she'd already said, something that wouldn't make video all that interesting and would most likely take up space on the tape they were recording this video on.
"Sorry dear, but Steven's right. You'll just have to watch the video later to find out." Kitty said to Jackie, patting her hand as she did feel a bit bad about not giving her the answer then and there.
Jackie said nothing and instead simply pouted and crossed her arms over her chest before slumping back against the back of kitchen chair.
Hyde ignored her actions and instead went back to the questions he had for his mother, "How'd you break the new to Red about Eric?"
"Actually when I was pregnant with Eric I didn't tell Red anything." Kitty shared which earned her two puzzled looks from the duo in the room.
"You hid your pregnancy from Red?" Hyde asked with confusion.
Jackie was just as lost, "Like they do on TV shows?"
"No, no." Kitty said holding back a giggle as she shook her head, "I meant I didn't tell Red that I was pregnant with Eric. He figured it out all on his own."
"Really?"
Kitty nodded, "That's right. Now I don't exactly know how he did it. Maybe he noticed that I was happier or maybe he saw that pregnancy glow on me whatever it was he saw it. Then he asked me if I was and all I did was confirm it."
"And how did he react?" Jackie questioned, "Or was that already shared too?"
This time Kitty let out her laugh while she shook her head and then continued with her answer, "Red reacted just about the same way he did when I told him about Laurie. He said 'Oh crap' and then marched out of the house."
"So Red wasn't excited for either of them?" Hyde asked a bit disappointedly.
Though not so much disappointment in his surrogate father but rather the lack of irony; he had been hoping since he learned about Red not being happy when Kitty told him she was pregnant with Laurie that he would have ironically been over the moon when she had told him they were going to have Eric.
"It's not that he wasn't excited about having the kids." Kitty began to defend her husband, "It's just…Well, you have to remember when we found out we were going to have Laurie we had just moved into this house. We knew were going to be paying a mortgage now and not rent, and almost all of our bills were going to higher, and then to top all of that off we were going to have a baby."
She paused a small pause before going on, "Then when we found out I was pregnant with Eric, Laurie was just about a year old. So we were going to have two babies to take care of." Kitty looked into the camera, "You see while the first thing I felt when I found out I was pregnant both times was excitement and the urge to knit some baby booties, the first thing Red felt was worry. He wanted to make sure he would be able to provide for us."
"And that's why his first reactions were his first reactions. Of course it didn't take him that long—minutes with Laurie and an hour or two with Eric—to stop his worrying long enough to just think about the fact that we were expanding our little family and he would come back to me happier than a clam." She explained and then once again let her smile grow as she thought back to the days of her pregnancies, "I remember when I was pregnant with Eric, Red wishing and hoping that we would have another girl. And as I got closer and closer to my due date, he and just about everyone else we knew were so sure it was going to be a girl."
Jackie smirked, "Well you guys did end up with Eric, so I guess they were pretty close."
"Yeah, I'm guessing Red regrets all that wishing and hoping now." Hyde joked from behind the camera, capturing the warning glare Kitty was casting towards both him and Jackie.
0o0o0o
Stepping into Point Place's Fasto Burger felt like stepping back into the seventies. Eric was really surprise at how much the restaurant still looked the same way it had when years ago when he had applied for his first job there. Same hard and sticky table tops and chairs, same seventies styled bright orange and yellow uniforms, Eric shuddered at the thought of some of the frozen meet in the back being another thing that was here since the beginning of the seventies.
"Eric!" a voice suddenly shouted out loud, instantly grabbing Eric away from his thoughts.
The school teacher turned his head and soon found the person who had called his name, it was the same person who he was expecting to meet at the fast food stop. Randy. He was sitting towards the back of the eatery but at a table right infront of the big glass window, waving his hand in Eric's direction. Eric returned the wave before hurrying over to the table.
"Randy, hey." He greeted with a friendly smile as he slid into the seat across from where Randy was seated.
Randy gave a quick nod before speaking his thoughts, "Wow, I didn't think you were actually gonna come." Eric opened his mouth but Randy quickly realized his words hadn't been worded in the most correct way, "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just…I guess I'm still getting use to the idea of an ex-boyfriend trying to help his ex-girlfriend's life better by helping her patch things up with her fiancé."
"Yeah." Eric agreed with a nod, he too could understand where Randy was coming from, "Not many ex-boyfriends would do something like this. There are some but very few…we're a rare species. But we do have our own secret handshake and that's kinda all that matters." He joked weakly.
A quick light laugh was shared between the two young men but after that the table became silent. At first it was a comfortable silence, then a silence that was between comfortable and not so comfortable and then finally into the dreaded awkward silence.
Eric looked down at his hands in his lap, wondering if maybe he should move them up on the table or would that be weird? Was it weird that they weren't on the table? While Eric was busy debating on where the proper placement of his hands was, Randy was staring at his pack of fries as if some sort of icebreaking conversation topics were written on each of them and he was trying to decide which of them to pick. Finally Eric made his decision and felt confident that it was the right one. A smile formed on his lips when he placed his clasped hands on the tabletop, however that smile faded when he realized him now having decided the spot for his hands meant he now had to think of the next thing to say to the man sitting across from him.
"So uh…how are you?" he asked trying to keep his voice from sounding as awkward as he felt.
His eyes remaining on his fries Randy shrugged as he answered, "Been better."
There was another nod from Eric and then another moment of silence. Luckily it didn't last as long as the last one and lucky for Eric this time it had been Randy who'd interrupted.
"How's she's doing?"
'She' was referring to Donna, Eric had no doubt. After all Donna was the one that Randy was with. Donna was the one they had come to talk about. Donna was the one Randy had to be feeling curious, maybe even worried, about. 'She' had to be Donna.
"She um…she misses you, Randy." Eric began to say, "And I've known her pretty much my whole life. I know her as well as I know my own sister…actually probably better than I know my owns sister since you know my sister's the devil so I've always done my best to stay as far away from her as I could." He smirked and the realized he'd gotten off track, "But um anyways. She, she really misses you."
Frowning slightly, Randy stared at Eric, "Um…yeah. I actually meant your mom, Mrs. Forman. How's she doing?"
Eric's face fell and he felt embarrassed and guilty for thinking this guy had only come to talk about Donna.
"Oh yeah, yeah I was talking about her too. She misses you too." Eric fibbed, though he was sure his mother would probably be missing randy if she knew he was gone, "And um she's doing okay. She's taking her medicines and her nurse should actually be coming over to the house pretty soon to check up on her. She's' sleeping a lot more and even though my dad's been the one who been at her bedside sine he got home, we're all still taking the time to go visit with her."
Randy nodded glad to hear that Mrs. Forman was doing okay and that her family was spending as much time as they could with her. He was also glad that he and Eric were having this bit of small talk before jumping straight into the whole Donna situation.
"I'm glad your dad made it back in time. And don't worry too much about the sleeping, that's normal." He started to share the memories of when he had gone through a similar situation years ago, "I remember when my grandma was on her deathbed she slept almost non stop until finally she slipped into a coma and then when she slipped into the coma that was pretty much it. They said it was made things less painful for her but I never got to say goodbye to her and that killed me. I remember for almost a while year I couldn't…" abruptly Randy stopped midway through his story, an apologetic look on his face, "Sorry. You probably don't wanna be hearing this kind of stuff right now."
But Randy's guess was way off. Though of course Eric agreed it wasn't the most pleasant of topics, he did appreciate Randy talking to him about what he'd gone through when he lost his grandmother. It made me him feel…less alone. Yes, he knew he had his friends and his family but they were all going through this together. None of them had ever experienced a loss like the one they knew was coming and so they were drawing from each others strengths to help them through the situation. But Randy, he'd already gone through this all. It may have been with his grandmother and not his mother but from the stories he told it was close enough.
Maybe when they were done talking about Donna Eric could talk to Randy about some of the things he had been feeling, some of the things he had been worrying about, surely randy would have some sort of advice or wise words to share.
"Yeah… I mean no." Eric said before he scowled while thinking of a way to tell Randy he wasn't offended and wouldn't mind talking about this stuff, "Maybe we can talk about it some other time."
"Sure." He agreed.
Silence.
Cautiously Randy looked over at Eric, he was nervous not so much because of the question but rather the answer that could possibly follow, "So she uh she really misses me? Donna, I mean."
"Yeah, of course she does, Randy." Eric quickly replied and then continued with the details, "And like I said I've known her almost my whole life. I've seen her at her ups and her downs. Through all kinds of emotions like when she was at her happiest like when he story got published in our school paper and at her saddest like when I accidentally ran over her cat…"
"You ran over her cat?" Randy asked in shock.
Eric ignored the question and went on with his words, "I can tell when she's feeling a certain way and right now she's feeling miserable. At least when you were e there she would stay and talk with us, now she pretty much sitting by the phone twenty-four seven. She misses you."
Randy scowled, confused by what he'd just heard, "You seriously ran over her cat? Why haven't I heard that story?"
"Okay, Randy, buddy." Eric started to say after clearing his throat and scooting closer to the edge of his seat—he'd even unclasped his hands and raised his right one midway in the air, "I think you're missing the point…"
"No, I get it. Donna's miserable and misses me." Randy interjected once more with the quick recap, "I miss her too. I love her. I'm just…I'm not sure she loves me the same way I do her."
"What? Of course she loves you, man. And in the same way that you love her…She agreed to spend the rest of her life with you right? That's telling you something right there." Eric reminded with a grin.
"Right." Randy agreed, "But she did the same with you."
Instantly Eric's grin faded away as he heard Randy's point. It was a very valid one. And then he realized it. This wasn't just about Randy thinking Donna didn't love him the same way that he did it was about Randy thinking that Donna was still in love with him. Part of him felt guilty about that thought even being put in the guys head and the other part wanted to laugh and wonder how the heck that crazy idea had even gotten into Randy's head.
He shook his head—hiding a slight smirk—as he got ready to try to fix this mess.
"Yeah, but that was like seven years ago. I mean if we were dogs it would be forty-nine years, and that's like ancient history." Eric said hoping his argument was a convincing one, "It's been years since Donna and I felt the way you think we feel about each other. Not since…probably that New Years that I came home from Africa and we kissed out in my parents' driveway."
A light smirk slowly crawled onto Eric's lips as he thought back to that night. He had been nervous about coming back home.
He had been nervous about seeing his friends, from what he'd heard they'd all changed and gone through some crazy stuff. He had been nervous about seeing his mom; he may have told her that he would be coming home for New Years but he didn't say he was staying, he had to leave the next week and he knew that piece of information would break her heart. He had been nervous about seeing his father, after all he did miss his first plane over and knew Red would be the one to pick him up from the airport. He had been nervous about the whole start of the new decade starting and the old one ending.
But when he'd seen Donna sitting there on the hood of the Vista Cruiser and when they shared that kiss…even if that's all it was a kiss that didn't turn into anything more…it eased all of his nerves and made him feel like he was home.
"Wait a minute." Randy spoke up, shaking Eric from the memory. "Was that New Years 1980?"
"Yeah, why?"
Though Randy was shaking giving a silent 'nothing' the way his gaze move down to his food told Eric there was something.
"We had just broken up like a week or two before that. She never said anything to me about that. I was there that night too." Randy decided to share on his own.
Eric was mentally kicking himself. Why? Why hadn't he just said that he and Donna hadn't felt like that since Africa and just left it at that?
"Uh okay, how about we back track a little?" Eric suggested, hoping they could forget the previous conversation and start over, "Donna misses you, Randy."
Again Randy shook his head back and forth, "Eric, I appreciate you coming to talk to me and trying to help me and Donna but after what you just told me and the way she reacted when we found out about you and Jackie…how can I don't still believe that she's still in love with you? I mean you might be right and she might love me too. But it's like you're the one who still has her heart. And I don't wanna be her second choice."
Right away Eric's mind flashed back to just before Donna had run off with Kelso to California after she'd broken up with Casey Kelso and he'd said those exact word to her. He remembered how painful those words had been to just say out loud and he firmly believed that Randy must currently be feeling the same way he had back then.
Who knew that he and Randy would have so much in common?
"Randy, man, you have no idea how much I can understand that." Eric stated trying to stress his words as much as he could, "But you've got to believe me, I am not Donna's number one choice. I don't even think I'm on the top five. You're her number one choice, you're the guy who's captured most of her heart. And I say most only because you know what? You right, there's probably a little piece of Donna's heart that could still be in love with me just like there's a little piece of my heart that will always belong to her."
"But those pieces are tiny pieces." He held up his index finger and thumb squished together with not much space between them, to help justify his words. "And the only reason they're there is because Donna and I were each others firsts. First kiss, first dance, first date, first boyfriend and girl friend, first….fiancés." he added, quickly changing that last one or else he would have been sharing the events that occurred the day Bob and Midge renewed their wedding vows.
Eric went on, "You never really get over your first love. But that doesn't mean you'll never fall in love again with someone else or that you won't love them more than you loved your first love. It's like…Okay, imagine that your first love came through that door right now." he instructed, pointing to the entrance doors of the restaurant, "You'd feel that stir of old feelings seeing her here wouldn't you? But that doesn't mean you don't love Donna, right?"
"No. I mean I would still love Donna but I wouldn't feel any old feelings stirring up." Randy answered and then went on to explain, "If anything I'd be kinda scared and pretty freaked out. My first love died almost five years ago in a car accident."
Eric rapidly blinked his eyes, not sure of how to respond to that, "Okay then, let's…let's try a different approach, huh?"
Not waiting for a reply, Eric took a deep breath before starting again, "When you guys found out about me and Jackie and Donna got upset and started acting sort of jealous, that wasn't the Donna you know and love it wasn't the Donna that loves and wants to marry you. That was the teenage redheaded tomboy Donna who shared her first kiss with me on the hood of my old car, it wasn't the mature blonde career woman Donna who wants to spend the rest of her life with you."
All of a sudden Eric paused as a frown indented on his forehead, "Okay I just made Donna sound like some psycho with two personalities, lemme try again…"
"No." Randy said as he shook his head slightly, "I understand what you're saying."
"Really?"
"Yeah and you've got a point." He said with a nod.
"Seriously?" Eric asked still not quite believing his ears.
Again Randy nodded his head, "Yeah, but you know one thing that still gets me is, why didn't Donna call me? I gave her the number and everything."
"Because she's Donna." Eric said flat out with the tiniest of shrugs, "And even though she's all for women's rights and independence…she's a pretty big feminist but she still pretty old fashion and thinks it should be the guy who makes the first move in asking for forgiveness and not the other way around."
"That's true. You know," he began to say, "When we first got the call about your mom, Donna was pretty shaken up and at first I wasn't even gonna come. I thought this should be time that your Mom spent with you guys, the people she loves and well had known longer, but Donna wanted me to come. She knew I'd been through this with my grandparents and she wanted me to help her and you guys through this. I guess I really should start working on that."
A puzzled look made it's way to Eric face as he asked "So does that mean you're gonna call Donna and talk to her?"
"No."
Eric opened his mouth, ready to argue but Randy spoke up before Eric could say a word.
"I was thinking I could go back to your parents' house with you and talk to her in person." He informed with a smirk.
"Great!" Eric said grinning happily, "That's, that's a great idea."
"Yeah. But there is one thing you've gotta do for me before I can go with you."
"Um…okay." replied Eric in a nervous tone; he was already fearing the worse.
Randy eyed the man infront of him for several seconds before finally speaking, "You've gotta tell me the story of how you ran over Donna's cat."
A large sigh of relief escaped Eric's lips and he relaxed in his seat. He could handle that!
"Okay. But before I say anything else, I want to clarify this was an accident." He said stressing the last word and pointing his index finger in the air before beginning his tale, "So Donna and I had been dating for like a year and she had this cat, Mr. Bonkers who…"
0o0o0o
"No."
"Yeah."
"You didn't."
"I did. I mean it wasn't just me, the guys helped out too but…yeah, I did." Hyde admitted with a smirk.
He and Angela were sitting at the kitchen table with their reheated by microwave, McDonald's coffee and chatting away about various topics—neither one of them noticing that they'd been sitting and talking for almost a complete hour. The current subject of conversation was about the different things they'd done when they were teenagers and it look like Angela was still surprised by the adventure Hyde had just shared with her.
"Wow. I must pass by that thing everyday." Angela shared as she shook her head, "I…I can't believe that you and your friends are the artists behind the hand giving the finger…I mean the pot leaf, that's painted on the water tower."
Hyde's smirk grew a smile as he heard the teasing tone she had used when mentioning the part about the hand giving the finger, "Yeah, well when you grow up in a town like Point Place you gotta make your own fun." He explained, "For us it was either vandalize the water tower or set something on fire. The fire one probably would've landed us some jail time so we went with the water tower one."
"I think you made the right choice." She commented with a smile.
"What about you?" he questioned, "You ever vandalize anything?"
Angela shook her head, "Oh no. I could never get away with it. You were lucky, you had your siblings. I was an only child and constantly under my parents microscope. Although…I was known to sneak out of my room at least once a month and go to the theater where they would play some of those old double features."
"Wow." Hyde said in a playful, sarcastic tone, "You were a big troublemaker, huh?"
"I couldn't be a troublemaker like you apparently were." She fought back, still wearing her smile, "My parents were very strict. In fact I'm a bit shocked that you were able get away with so much mischief with your parents."
Looking down at his coffee, Hyde gave a shrug, "Yeah, well I was never really at the top of their priority list."
As soon as Hyde heard his words he knew he had said the wrong thing. Well it was right in the sense that it was true, he never was at the top of Bud and Edna's list of priorities—he doubted they ever even had one—but as far as Angela knew there was no Bud and Edna Hyde, Red and Kitty Forman were his parents. He didn't know how he'd let that slip up happen, he'd been so good at remembering that Red and Kitty were supposed to be his parents, mostly because he already saw them as his parents long before any of this cancer mess. Even when Angela had mentioned him having siblings he didn't object or correct her.
Maybe he hadn't actually said the words out loud, maybe he'd said them in his head or maybe she didn't hear him. He really did hope that Angela hadn't heard him and they could go back to enjoying their takeout coffee and light conversation but when he looked over at her and saw the puzzled expression on her face he knew he had some explaining to do.
"I mean…" he struggled to come up with a believable justification for his previous statement. Several seconds passed and Hyde still hadn't a clue of what to say…perhaps it was time to tell her the truth. "I…I've gotta come clean with you, Angie."
Angela watched carefully as Hyde exhaled abit loudly before he started speaking again.
"Red and Kitty aren't my real parents. At least not biologically. My biologically parents are Edna Hyde and William Barrnet. He's a pretty cool guy; I met him a few years back with the help of The Formans. Edna though, she ran out on me when I was seventeen. and that's when The Forman's took me in." he informed the young woman sitting next to him yet didn't look up at her, "I've known them since I was about six or seven years old when I met Eric. And I've considered them all family for years."
Hyde lifted his head now, ready to explain how and why this 'lie' had started, "Jackie and me only started calling Mom, 'Mom' after her cancer started and she got admitted to the hospital. We were worried about he whole 'immediate family only' deal so she asked us to start calling her Mom. So we did." He gave a short pause, "And I don't know about Jackie but the first time I called her 'Mom,' it felt like the most natural thing."
A smile spread across Angie's face as she said, "Of course it did. She is your mom."
Still surprised by the grin that Angela was wearing Hyde opened his mouth to protest but didn't even get word in as Angela continued.
"Steven, many of my patients are visited by their children but only a handful of them have the type of relationship that you have with Mrs. Forman. Most of them, they come in and exchange hellos then they stay and visit for an hour maybe an hour and a half but then they leave and don't come back till the next day or the day after that. When Mrs. Forman was in the hospital you refused to leave her room." She reminded but still wasn't through making her point.
"I've seen how you take care of her. I've seen how you try to help her out as much as you can. I've also seen how protective you are of her—just like Mr. Forman. It actually is sort of surprising that you aren't his biological son." She commented and they shared a small laugh, "I can tell how much Mrs. Forman means to you. They are your parents. Maybe not biologically but in every other way."
Hearing this Hyde wanted to eagerly move his head up and down and tell Angie that that really was exactly how he felt—just about word for word. He even had the urge to ask her how she understood so well. Instead though, his Zen took over and all he could do was nonchalantly nod his head.
"Yeah." He said coolly before he scowled just slightly as he stared back at Angie, "You know, you don't seem all that surprised by my confession."
Angela shrugged her shoulders, "Well I guess it's not much of a confession if it's already something that's known."
"You knew?"
"I figured it out awhile back." The young nurse explained.
Hyde's smirk gradually began to reappear, "Oh yea? What, you looked up my file at the hospital and found my birth certificate?"
"I suppose I could have done that but no." she started to say, "I actually figured it out during one of the times that Mrs. Forman was in the hospital and she was calling you out on something and she used your full name. Steven James Hyde. And then I realized, Hyde is not the same as Forman."
The Sherlock Holmes-like tone she used in the last part of her story made Hyde chuckle.
"Sounds like you do a little detective work on the side." He said jokingly.
As she titled her head to the side, Angela thought over his words before speaking, "Well I did read a lot of Nancy Drew books when I was younger."
"Sneaking out to go to old movies and reading Nancy Drew books." Hyde summed up the information that Angie had shared about her younger self, "You were a real handful weren't you?"
"Oh stop it." She said as she lightly and in a playful manner smacked his arm causing his smirk to grow, "Tell me more about the water tower and the other adventures you had there."
Hyde was silent as he gathered together all the various memories that took place up on that rickety old tower. There were plenty of them. Some of them Hyde felt like he could share with Angela and some that should probably be kept as a secret of the gang's. As he thought back to the time that Eric had fallen off the water tower—debating over whether it was a story to share or not—Hyde realized there hadn't been a Water Tower Memory in almost four years and even that memory hadn't included the whole gang and was just him and Jackie and six pack of beer. Maybe it was time to make a new memory and pay the water tower a long over due visit…maybe.
He shook his head as if trying to dissolve those thoughts of going to the water tower. He instantly felt bad for even considering leaving over there when things here with Kitty were going from bad to worse. He needed to be here. Maybe they could visit the water tower some other time or maybe the water tower was done making memories. Not wanting to think more about it, Hyde focused on some of the happier memories that had been made on the water tower and found one he wanted to share with Angela.
"Okay, you know that 'Michael plus Fez' thing that's written up there?"
"Yes." She nodded frowning slightly; that piece of graffiti had always confused her she'd never heard the name Fez until she saw it on the tower and when she met…then it hit her and both her smile and her eyes grew in size, "Your friends Michael and Fez are the Michael and Fez?"
"Yup."
Angela was still surprised and a little confused, "Wait. I thought Michael was married."
"Yeah, he is." He confirmed and then went on, "But we're all pretty sure she's just his beard."
Angie couldn't help but let out a laugh at that and soon Hyde was laughing right along with her.
"It sounds like you all have a lot of great memories up there on that water tower." She said once their laughter had died down.
Nodding his head again Hyde's smirk grew as he thought back to some of the other moments, "Yeah. Well, most of us do."
"What do you mean?"
Hyde took in a deep breath before explaining, "Well see, just about every time we went up there Kelso fell off the thing. So I'm not really sure what he remembers."
"Oh my." Angie gasped with concern, "Is he alright?"
"I don't know." Hyde replied with another shrug, "You're a nurse and you've met him. You tell me."
Again Angela found herself laughing aloud and it wasn't long before Hyde joined in as well.
The twosome were so caught up in their laughter and conversation that neither one of them noticed the figure lurking in the background between the dining room and the entrance door to the basement. The figure however, did notice them.
Laurie Forman scowled as she watched her adopted brother sitting and laughing with some woman that she could only assume was her mother's nurse. They had said she would be coming today but that didn't clear up any of the confusion she felt when she'd gone to drop Lucy off in her parents room and they told her not to bother Hyde. Why couldn't she bother him? Just because he was talking to Florence Nightingale? There must be something going on between the two of them, something that maybe they hadn't yet realized but her parents, most probably her mother, already had.
Following her parents warning allowed Laurie to walk through the kitchen unseen, something she was quite thankful for. She knew if either one of the two saw her and called her or tried to make any type of conversation with her she'd get distracted and most likely loose her nerve for what she was about to do.
Cautiously she pushed the door open and stepped the biggest baby steps she'd ever walked. Immediately she was welcomed with the familiar, but faint, smell of really bad incense and some really good… 'oregano;' she could also hear the faint music coming from the TV, it wasn't the type of music that could be found on the radio but instead sounded more cartoon-ish which meant whoever was in the basement could only be watching on thing. Tom and Jerry. Some things never did change.
"You know, before I used to root for Jerry." A thick accented voice said from below.
Her heart nearly skipped a beat at the sound of his voice. He was there. She was finally, really going to tell him.
"But now I can see that Jerry is a real sonofabitch!" Fez continued to talk, then changing his tone to a more sympathetic one, "Poor Tom."
"Yeah, me too." Another familiar male voice agreed, "You really see things differently when you're a mature adult…Oh man! Did you see that thing with the mouse trap? We gotta try that!"
The blonde rolled her eyes at Michael Kelso's excitement and figured now was as good a time as any. She took in a deep breath and began to descend down the staircase being sure to walk that hipping swinging step she had always used when walking up and down those old stairs.
As soon as she had stepped onto the fourth step from the top, Laurie saw that her guesses were correct. It was Fez and Kelso sitting in the basement and they were watching the talk-less cartoon. With their eyes glued onto the animated cat and mouse running around on TV they weren't aware Laurie had entered the room until she spoke up.
"Jeeze, doesn't anything in this house ever change?" she asked aloud, making her entrance.
At the sound of the voice from the past, a wide eyed Fez turned to see the woman who had saved him from being sent back to his homeland, meanwhile Kelso literally jumped out of his seat looking just as shocked—if not more—as his foreign friend.
"La…Laurie." He stammered, "Wha…what are you doing here?"
Laurie looked over at Kelso with a clearly annoyed expression as she answered in a tone leaking with sarcasm "Selling Girl Scout cookies."
"Oh! I'll take fifteen boxes of whatever has chocolate in them!" Fez exclaimed already on his feet and digging into his pockets for any cash he had on him.
"Hold on a second, buddy." Kelso stopped his best friend's actions by holding an outstretched arm infront of him, he then suspiciously eyed Laurie up and down, "I don't think she's really here selling Girl Scout Cookies. I don't see any boxes of cookies."
"Guess I was wrong. It looks like you finally got to ask The Wizard for a brain." Laurie commented, ending with an evil smirk.
"Yeah…" Kelso answered with a proud grin that quickly dropped when he suddenly felt very puzzled, "Wait…what wizard?"
Laurie gave another roll of her eyes before deciding to clear things ups, "I came to see my mom." She informed and the two goofballs, knowing how serious the subject was, became very uncharacteristically somber—it just about scared Laurie, "And I need to take care of some things." she paused, "I need to talk to you."
"Oh no!" Kelso interrupted with a laugh and raised open palms, "Sorry Laurie, but this beefcake is off the menu! I'm a married man. We're going on five years now and we've got a kid and…"
"Yeah, yeah that's great." Laurie said clearly not interested in anything Kelso was saying, "I wasn't talking to you anyways. I was talking to Fez."
"Fez?" both Kelso and Fez asked together, one tone sounding surprised and the other frightened.
She nodded, feeling her nerves acting up but trying not to let it show, "Yes."
"Aye." Fez replied—his nervousness obviously showing.
"Haha!" Kelso teased while pointing his finger in Fez's direction, "You're in trouble!"
"Get out, Taternuts." Laurie ordered.
The mention of his embarrassing high school nickname lead to Kelso dropping open his jaw and letting out a loud, "Ah!"
"No, no. I would like him to stay. Whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of Taternuts." A still worried looking Fez declared.
"Hey!" Kelso's shout went unheard
Fez continued, "Plus I would like to have a witness incase you decide to kill me to steal my soul."
Looking back and forth from one young man to the other Laurie wasn't quite sure what to do. Though she'd always known telling Fez that he was the father of her daughter would not be done in the most ideal way, it didn't mean she wanted Kettlehead Kelso to be there when she finally got to tell him the news. Maybe now wasn't the best time to do this…
"Ugh!" she let out in a frustrated manner as she dropped herself onto the aging sofa, "Forget it. It can wait." She said while in her head she bitterly thought 'Like when Daddy's in the room.'
An awkward silence—with the exception of the crashing sounds coming from the TV whenever Tom crashed into the various items Jerry had led him into—fell over the basement. While Kelso had quickly settled back into the couch and gone back to watching the cartoon show, Laurie's gaze was down on her hands and Fez's gaze was on her. He noticed that in that moment she wasn't the same fiery vixen that he'd married all those years ago, she looked disappointed, sad even and it filled Fez with guilt. Whatever she had to talk to him about must have been important.
Hoping to make things better, Fez stood from his seat and headed over to the deep freeze with the idea of getting a frozen treat for the solemn looking blonde but then remembered there was nothing in there except the ice on the side of the freezer…perhaps he could turn it into a snow cone.
"Homemade snow cone?" he offered.
Laurie tired to hold back her smile as she shook her head, "No thanks."
"So Laurie, what've you been up to?" Kelso asked as Tom and Jerry cut to commercial, one he'd seen a hundred times before.
"Not much. I live in Milwaukee now and I finished beauty school a few years back so I'm working full time at a salon there and…" she suddenly paused; this may not have been the best time but really would there ever be? "But most of my time is spent taking care of my daughter."
Instantly Laurie turned to Fez wanting to catch his reaction but all he did was smile politely. The guy didn't have a clue. Just as Laurie opened her mouth to go on into detail a Kelso outburst halted her words.
"I didn't do it!" he shouted once again jumping up and off the couch, "And this time I really mean it!"
"Of course you didn't do it, Taternuts." Laurie said in that fake innocent tone she was known for using as she looked at Kelso then turned her head to look at Fez and smiled, "Because Fez did."
The young foreign man simply stood there smiling and nodding his head, Laurie wondered if he had even heard her. She soon received her answer when she saw his smile drop to floor before his whole body followed.
Laurie leapt onto her feet and she and Kelso looked down at the unconscious man, alarm written on each of their faces.
"Oh man…" Kelso said his voice full of concern until a goofy grin broke out onto his face, "Did you see the way his eyes rolled back into his head? That was so cool! Let's wake him up so you can make him do it again!"
Author's Note: And that would be Chapter 43 of "Two Weeks" Hope you liked!
Will the water tower receive another visit from the basement gang? How will Randy's talk with Donna go? Will their talk lead to a conversation with Eric and Donna? What will Fez have to say when he wakes up? Will he wake up or will he just end up 'doing it again?' Are Jackie, Brooke, and Betsy almost home? And what was that thing with that Tom and Jerry did with the mouse trap that Kelso wants to try? Confused? You won't be after the next chapter of "Two Weeks"
Just a few quick things before you go, meant to mention it before but though you all would rather read the chapter first.
Okay, number one. As voted by you readers it looks like Sunday will be the day that I update this story. Now I'm not saying it will; be every Sunday, it could be every other Sunday too—at least for a little while longer. If you all think another day would work better let me know and I'll see what I can do. Number two I have a new poll up on y profile page about my next oneshot, if you all could drop by and cast your vote it would be very much appreciated and thank you so much in advance. Okay that's it :D
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, and have a nice day!