Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Author's Note: Hello everyone! How are you this Sunday? (Or Monday or whatever day your reading this on lol) Hope you're doing well. I want to apologize for not posting a new chapter last Sunday. I really do feel terrible about it but I kinda feel behind with school work and then had to deal with some real life stuff that was more frustrating than fun but all that seems to have sorted out and I'm able to post a new chapter this Sunday! Yay! Before the chapter begins I just want to say a great big thank you to you all! I am so glad that you all enjoyed the last chapter and each and every one of your reviews really did make me smile, they mean so much! Thank you! *hugs* As always please remember I am not a doctor nor am I training to be one in fact I'm thinking of going into a different career that I think is farther away from being a doctor than my previous choice…still am watching House MD though! Nonstop, practically lol. Don't have much else to say (surprise I know, enjoy it while you can lol) except thank you once again! Your support and eagerness to read this story is what pushes me to continue it! THANK YOU! Okay now before I really start to ramble here's the new chapter! Hope you like it and will review if you have the chance! Thanks in advance and Enjoy!
Patiently Hyde sat behind the video camera filming his adopted mother as she answered the question he'd asked less than a minute ago. The scene in front of him was the same as it had been for the past hour or so, Kitty sitting in her seat at the kitchen table, smiling as she rambled on—though one difference was that the petite brunette that had previously been sitting next her, trying to get on camera too, was nowhere to be found.
"A full house is a house full of love." Kitty said a saying she was known to say time and time again, "And not, as Red says, a house full of dumbasses." She whispered the last word. "And a house full of love makes a happy home."
Hyde smirked, happy to not only have caught on film one of her mottos of life but also her saying the word 'dumbass.' Future generations were gonna love this and if not, he knew he would.
"And this house has always been a very happy home, not just for me, Red, and Eric, and Laurie but I think…at least I hope for you kids too." She continued to speak, "I like to think, whether it's true or not, but that you kids saw this house as a place where you were always felt welcomed and most of all safe."
Still smirking, Hyde nodded, wondering if she knew how true her words really were, "We did. We still do."
Kitty grinned proudly, "I thought so." She giggled lightly before going on, "With all the time you all spent here. Even today, you and Jackie are living here and Fez, Michael and his family come by every time a holiday is close by…although I think that may have something to do with the holiday cookies I make." She giggled, "And Donna and Randy too. Bob may be living over in Florida but every time they go to visit him they try to make a quick stop over here for a day or so and that's always nice."
"What about Forman and Laurie?" Hyde asked sounding almost bitter.
"Well Eric lives so far out there in Seattle, it's understandable that he can't make a trip over here very often." She answered quickly, as if she'd reminded herself of the 'reason' before. "And Laurie…" she paused, pressing her lips together, trying to think of an excuse for her absent daughter, "She never really was a homebody."
Hearing her weak laugh made Hyde feel guilty for asking a question that reminded her of how ungrateful her children were. Swiftly he decided to steer the conversation in a different direction.
"You mentioned before that you never got tired of us always hanging out here but you…you never even got tired of having to pick up after us or making us all those brownies and stuff?"
She shook her head, "Nope. As long as you kids were having fun I never minded picking up and as far as the baking goes I've always found so much joy in baking. And personally I think if it weren't for you kids being here to give those brownies and treats to, Red would have been diabetic by the time he turned forty."
Laughing again, Hyde couldn't help but smile.
"And I loved how you all felt so comfortable to walk in and out of here as you please and helping yourself to whatever we had." She added, her smile in place.
Hyde chuckled lightly, "Yeah, I bet Red was never a big fan of that though."
"Maybe not a fan, but I don't think it bothered him all that much."
"Come on, Mom." He began, "You already convinced me that Laurie and Forman got a long when they were little, I don't think you're gonna get me to believe that Red was actually happy about us hanging out here."
"Well he wasn't 'Mr. Rogers Happy' but I do think that he was happy with the fact that you kids were here in our basement, getting into normal teenage kind of trouble, instead of being out there and getting into the kind of trouble that would have police calling and interrupting his reading of the paper." Kitty explained to him, "Having you kids here may not have led to many quiet and peaceful kind of moments but there were never and dull ones either."
0o0o0o
"And and and I wanted to bring Amy but Mama said only bring three." Lucy rambled on to her grandparents as the three of them rested on the bed.
Apparently Lucy was just shy around strangers and once she got comfortable around those near her she was quite the chatterbox. She was currently telling her grandparents about the doll she had left behind at home in 'Milkwakee' after having introduced and informed them all about the three dolls she did bring and were currently scattered around her as she sat in the space between both Red and Kitty's legs, facing both of them.
"Sos I left Amy at home but it's ok cuz Kat is there. I didn't want to bring her cuz she gets car sick." She explained and Kitty smiled and nodded along while Red frowned slightly, trying to keep up with the story, "And, and, they're keeping each other company at home cuz they're best friends. Just like Holly and Paige and Emma are best friends."
The little girl then scooped up the three dolls—Emma, a baby doll with blonde hair and blue eyes, Paige, another baby doll with brown hair and green eyes, and Holly, a Barbie dolls dressed in a dark blue evening gown—into her arms and grinned brightly at her audience.
"But they're all still friends." She assured them.
"Well that is very nice to hear." Kitty said smiling bright, "Do your dolls like making new friends?"
Lucy's brown eyes lit up with excitement—she knew new friends for her dolls meant new dolls for her! "They love it!"
Her grandmother let out a little funny sounding giggle at her giddiness before saying, "Then I think your Grandpa Red should take you to visit the toy story we have here in Point Place to look for a new friend for your dolls."
"Kitty…" Red groaned lightly. It wasn't that he didn't like the thought of taking his granddaughter shopping and getting to spend some time with her, he just wasn't a fan of anything that would lead him away from his wife's beside and take away what little time he had left with her.
Never even glancing at Red, Kitty continued her conversation their granddaughter, "Now, it may not be today but before you leave back home I'll make sure he takes you to the store and lets you pick out any doll you want."
"Any doll? Really?" the small girl asked enthusiastically.
"Mm hmm."
The grin on Lucy's face doubled in size as she imagined walking into a toy aisle full of pretty dollies just waiting to come home with her and become friends with her other dolls. Suddenly that same smile diminished some as she remembered that her grandma had said that Grandpa Red would take her to the toy store. With nervously eyes, Lucy stared at the balding man lying in the bed. She was still a bit frightened of him after she saw him yell at her mommy—she had never seen anyone yell at her mommy—but he didn't seem too mean where she was afraid he would hurt her. Still he didn't seem as friendly or goofy as Uncle Marty.
"And you come too?" Lucy asked as she swung her head form one grandparent to the other.
The hopeful tone she used, nearly broke Kitty's heart, "Oh honey, I wish I could but…"
"Listen Lucy," Red said hoping to take over and save Kitty the heartbreak of having to tell the little girl what was going on. However after those two words he drifted off not knowing how to explain all this cancer stuff to a four year old. Breaking the news to their adult kids years before had been hard enough.
"Mama said your sick." Lucy spoke up in a quiet voice that was muffled slightly by the way she was looking down and playing with Holly's hair.
Red and Kitty exchanged looks before turning back to Lucy.
Kitty nodded her head, "You're Mommy's right, I am sick. And you know what? If I wasn't sick I would take you to that toy store myself right now." two tiny smiles appeared at those words, and she went on, "But I'll tell you what, which ever doll you decide to get—whenever you decide to get it—it'll still be a gift from your Grandpa Red and me. Okay?"
Lucy looked up with uncertain eyes at first but then her joyful smile reappeared, "Okay!"
"Good." Kitty stated, returning the smile.
In the next instant Lucy remembered her manners and threw her arms around the fragile older woman, of course Kitty didn't mind and only pulled the child into an even tighter hug, "Thank you Granma!" she said happily before letting go of Kitty and turning to Red before wrapping her little arms around his neck; it caught him a bit off guard at first but it didn't take long for him to begin hugging her back, "Thank you Granpa!"
"I'm gonna make you a get well card, Granma!" she informed gleefully after she pulled out of the embrace with her grandfather.
Misty eyed, Kitty nodded, "Okay, sweetie."
The couple watched as the blonde haired little girl bounced off their bed and scurried over to the arm chair where their daughter had placed a travel bag earlier, and pulled out a box of crayons and several sheets of paper. They continued to watch, their grins growing—one more than the other—as Lucy settled herself into the 'workshop' on the carpeted floor.
"Soo," Kitty began to say as she looked at her husband; the corners of her mouth close to touching her ears, "How does it feel to be called 'Granpa?'" she giggled.
"Like I should be wearing a hearing aid and shaking a cane up in the air while yelling at some dumbass kids to get off my lawn." He grumbled though couldn't help the small smirk that broken out on his lips by the end of his statement.
His wife laughed again, "Well it sounds like if you take out the hearing aid and cane, it feels exactly the same."
Red shook his head as her jab before asking, "What about you? You okay with being called 'Granma?'"
"Of course I do." She replied her smile stretching even farther on her face, "It makes me feel so wonderful…it almost give me enough strength to get out of this bed and go bake some homemade chocolate chip cookies."
The pair looked at each other and a silent conversation, only understood by the two of them as they looked in the other's eyes, was had.
'Do you wanna give it a try?' his worried green eyes asked.
Her blue—in both ways—eyes answered back, 'I can't.'
And just like that they both turned away, breaking eye contact and watched Lucy on the ground.
"She has a lot of Laurie in her doesn't she?" Kitty asked smiling lightly.
"Yeah." He agreed in a soft voice, "Thank God."
"Red."
Noting the disappointed tone in his wife's voice, Red went on to explain, "What? It's not that I don't want her having any trace of Tonto in her…" he paused and tried to contain his smirk, "Alright that's not the main reason."
Kitty shook her head, fighting back her own smile as she listened to Red's explanation.
"I'm just saying if Lucy does take after Laurie, then Laurie will have an easier time raising her." He shared and before Kitty could make a comment, he added, "At least until she becomes a teenager and Laurie'll get a taste of her own medicine and understand all the worrying we did over her."
She let out a small laugh and couldn't help but wonder what the little girl who was happily drawing on the floor would grow up to be like. However just as she began to wonder about her granddaughter's future another thought entered her mind—one concerning Lucy's near future. She turned her attention away from Lucy and over to Red.
"How do you think it's going down there?" Kitty questioned, sounding a bit worried.
A heavy exhale was released by Red before he spoke, "I don't know, Kitty. I don't know. But in case we need it, I've got my hunting rifle in the closet, loaded and ready to go."
"Red Forman!" she scolded, not liking the idea of a loaded gun being so close to their young granddaughter.
"Fine." He grumbled back, "It's not loaded. But it's still in there."
Another light giggle managed to escape from Kitty's lips as she heard the seriousness in Red's voice and at the way he pointed towards the door of their shared closet. She thought it was cute that he was so protective of their daughter but still she wished he could see that Laurie needed and wanted to do this on her own. Laurie herself had told them this earlier, and though Kitty had remembered she wondered if Red had. Either way it wouldn't hurt to remind him.
Scooting closer to close up the small gap between them Kitty wrapped her bony arms around his strong right one and began to run her hands over it in a comforting manner.
"Honey, we need to let Laurie do this on her own." She started to say, "She's an adult now. They're all adults now."
Not sure if he heard correctly, Red swung his head to look at his wife, staring at her with both his eyebrows raised up with surprise. It didn't take long for Kitty to notice the look of shock she was receiving and soon a small frown had made its way to her forehead.
"And what is that look for?" she asked curiously.
"You. And everything you just said." He answered before deciding to refresh her memory, "You just said that we need to let Laurie handle this thing with Alibaba on her own and how all of the kids are all adults now."
Kitty moved her head up and the down, "Right."
"Then what was all that fake sleeping and giving Steven that 'little push he needs' about?" he questioned, his surprised look now having been replaced with a deep scowl.
"Oh Red, that's completely different."
"How?"
"Because Laurie knows that she has to do this. Steven doesn't…at least not yet. And that's why we have to give him the little push." She tired to clarify as best she could, "It's like when we were teaching the kids how to walk. At first we had to hold their hands and guide them but then before we knew it they were off. Walking their own paths to becoming the mature adults they are now." she finished her statement with a tight smile before resting her head on her husband's shoulder.
0o0o0o
Meanwhile down in the basement were three of those same 'mature adults.' One still out cold on the floor while another sat kneeled on the floor beside him and the third 'mature adult' stood above them both looking on at the scene with an eager-like expression on his face.
"Come on!"
"No!"
"Please Laurie."
"I said no, Kelso." The blonde answered in a clearly annoyed tone.
But Kelso wasn't giving up just yet.
"But it'll be fun!" he declared.
Laurie rolled her eyes, "How will you stuffing things down Fez's pants be fun?"
"Cuz I'll be putting things that you're not supposed to put in pants!" he replied with a dopey, 'isn't it obvious?' grin, "Like…Oo! Pudding! Or I think I might have some old firecrackers hidden somewhere in here…"
"No!" Laurie shouted stopping Kelso's scanning of the old hang out.
"Man! That's not fair! First you won't let me kick him in the pants and now you won't let me stuff things down there!" he declared in a disappointed child like tone before dropping himself onto the beat up couch, "I never get to have any fun!"
Wearing a scowl, very similar to her father's, Laurie watched the man-child whine on the sofa, "How can you think of doing something 'fun' when your best friend could be hurt?"
"Cuz I'm me! God Laurie, we've know each other for years—one of those years we spent doing 'it'—you should know me by now." he reasoned but she only rolled her eyes, not that he noticed since he gave his own disregard wave of his hand, "Besides Fez is fine!"
The room suddenly became quiet and Michael Kelso did not like quiet. He didn't even like the word 'quiet,' he always got confused on how to spell it and would sometimes end up writing 'quite' instead. Slowly he turned to the pair on the basement floor and his face softened with concern. Fez had actually been out for awhile now.
"He…he is fine right?" he asked nervously.
"I don't know!" Laurie cried in a frightened tone that Kelso was not use to hearing her speak in, "I mean he still hasn't woken up. He should have woken up by now, right?"
"I…" was all Kelso, who had now kneeled beside his best friend, managed to say before Laurie continued.
"And the floor here is pretty hard he cold have hurt his head." She stated and Kelso nodded but still couldn't get a word in, "He's breathing but…I think he's breathing too slowly. Isn't he? Or is that normal? Is he breathing too fast?"
Kelso leaped up onto his feet in, feeling panicked and scared—and sounding like it too. "I don't know! I'm not a doctor or nurse or dentist or anything like that!"
Her ears perked up at the last part of Kelso's nervous breakdown, "That's it! A nurse! Go get the one that's upstairs!"
"Huh?" came Kelso's puzzled response.
"The lady upstairs. I think she's gotta be my mom's nurse, " Laurie explained before ordering him once again, "Go get her!"
A hurt expression, pout included, appeared on Kelso face, "Angela's here? Why didn't she say 'hello?"'
"I don't know Kelso but here's an idea, you can ask her when you go get her!" Laurie said through gritted teeth, her tone going from sweet and innocent to evil and scary in flash, "She's sitting in the kitchen with Hyde."
"Aww that's so cute." Kelso gushed while grinning like a buffoon once more, "They're probably on their first date."
Laurie looked up from Fez and snarled, "A date? You mean the orphan really does have some sort of Florence Nightingale complex?"
The usually man-pretty face scrunched up with confusion when he heard Laurie's words and tried to remember who Florence Nightingale was. Then he remembered and he shook his head back and forth.
"Nah, I don't think Hyde's all that into the mom from The Brady Bunch." He shared, mixing up the two Florence's, "I think he's just got a thing for nurses."
Instead of rolling her eyes and scoffing as she would have normally done, the blonde stood up from the floor and smiled an evil looking smile.
"You know, I thought I saw something there when I noticed them on the way down here."
He nodded, "Yeah they're a pretty cute couple."
She shrugged her shoulders and gave an 'Eh' as her reply and Kelso couldn't help but find himself agreeing.
"Yeah, I feel the same." He confessed, "She's too pretty for Hyde. She should be with some like….well like me but I'm….."
"You're married, yeah I get it Taternuts." Laurie interjected in a more than irritated tone; she was already tired of hearing about Michael Kelso's 'perfect life' and she really wanted to get more details on what was going on with her mothers nurse and the stray that lived in her parent's basement, "So have they done anything worth mentioning?"
Kelso thought over the question for a few seconds before ultimately shaking his head, "Nope, don't think so. But I'm guessing Hyde wouldn't mind getting a physical from or with her. Get it?" he asked goofily grinning.
This time Laurie did roll her eyes, "Yeah, Kelso I get it."
"Yeah, I bet Angela looks pretty hot in those nurse uniforms. Those things can make anyone look smokin'." He commented, grin still in place.
Laurie snarled with disgust, "My mother was a nurse."
"I know." Kelso replied and Laurie could have sworn she saw that stupid smile of his grow.
With squinted eyes, Laurie reached over and smacked him hard on the arm—whipping his grin right from his face—and instructed once again, "Go get her!"
"Ow! Okay!" Kelso cried back clutching his wounded arm as he headed up the basement steps. He's was on the fourth step from the bottom when he turned back around, "Wait….get who? Your mom or Angela?"
"Angela!" Laurie exclaimed scaring Kelso up the remaining stairs and in to the kitchen.
"So then while I was in the hospital, Mom got a hold of my birth certificate and…" Hyde said to Angela, sharing with her the water tower story that had lead to him finding out about his biological father. At least he'd started to share the story before he was interrupted by a running Kelso entering the kitchen.
"Angela, Hyde!" he called out, "But mostly Angela. We need your help!"
Concerned, the young nurse looked over and asked calmly, "What's wrong Michael?"
"It probably nothing, Angie." Hyde tried to assure; he wasn't trying to be mean or cold by dismissing whatever Kelso was so worried about, it was just…well he knew his friends a lot better than Angela did. And he knew that while they were known to pull a few dangerous stunts they were know a lot better for doing some really stupid ones too, "Look, Kelso, what ever you got Fez stuck in this time you have to get him out."
"But he's not stuck anywhere, he fainted!" Kelso explained, his voice sounding urgent.
"What?" the duo seated at the round table asked together.
Kelso nodded, "Yeah, and he still hasn't woken up."
"He's down in the basement?" Angela asked.
As soon as she saw Kelso nod Angela stood up from her chair, being sure to keep her composed self, and rushed down to the basement to help the poor foreign man and Hyde soon followed suit. He and Kelso were right behind Angela as she walked through the doorway leading to the underground room.
"Hey Hyde." Kelso suddenly said, once Angela was out of their sight.
Hyde stopped in his steps and turned to Kelso his curious frown deepening when he was met with the big grin on the police officer's face.
"Have you done the turn and cough test yet?" he asked still smiling and let out a laugh, "Ha ha, get it?"
"Yeah man, I get it." Hyde replied, keeping his Zen, "Do you get this?"
In the next instant Hyde reached over and frogged his childhood friend on the same arm Laurie had hit minutes before.
"Ow! Why does everyone keeping doing that?" he questioned in a painful cry before following Hyde down the basements staircase.
When Hyde entered the basement and saw Fez passed out on the floor with Laurie sitting next to him and Angela already kneeling beside them both, he felt just a little surprised but mostly disappointed.
"Man, you already told him?" Hyde asked the blonde as he stepped down the last few steps, "I wanted to be here for that."
Laurie looked up with a sneer, "Maybe you would have been if you weren't busy making kissy faces with 'Hotlips Houlihan' over here."
"Did Laurie just call another girl, 'hot?"" asked a wide eyed Kelso.
However Hyde didn't hear the question and was busy trying to keep his Zen while hoping that Angela was too preoccupied with Fez to have heard the town whore's words. Actually if he was hoping for things he hoped, he had only imagined Laurie saying what she'd said.
"She was my favorite MASH character, well right after Hawkeye of course." Angela said, dashing both of Hyde's hopes as she spoke to Laurie, "But my name's Angela."
"Right. Sorry." Laurie muttered with a nod and then introduced herself, "I'm Laurie. Red and Kitty's daughter."
Angela looked up at this, trying to hide her shock of finally meeting the Forman's 'long lost' daughter who she'd heard several different things about, some good some not so good. Though despite the not so good things, she was glad to see she had returned home to see her mother.
She smiled politely, "It's nice to meet you."
The smile was returned in a much smaller form, after all Laurie wasn't exactly in the mood to make new friends at the minute.
"Yeah it might be nice to meet her but it's not so nice when she starts to stick around." Hyde shot out with a smirk.
He was glad to see Angela wasn't upset or embarrassed by Laurie's comment and instead took it in stride, but that didn't mean he was any less mad at Laurie who at that time was snarling evilly at him.
"Burn!" Kelso shouted—it was abit surprising that that didn't wake Fez up.
At that same moment the side door to the basement swung open and a tall blonde stepped into the room, holding a brown paper bag that looked more like a brown paper bag from a convenience store rather than the brown paper bags that were usually brought into the hangout.
"Hey you guys'll never guess who I saw at the Gas-N-Go…" Donna said ready to tell her story until she saw the scene before her. "What the hell is going on in here?" she asked sounding upset and determined for an answer…wait was that… "Laurie?"
Laurie looked over at her former neighbor, "Yeah, hey Donna."
"Um…hi." Donna stammered still shocked to see the woman, but she was even more puzzled with why Fez was laying down on the floor with everyone surrounding him, "What's going?"
"Fez fainted when Laurie told him he had a kid." Kelso explained and then recalled what Donna had come in saying, "So who'd you see?"
Baffled by the statement Donna shook her head in disbelief, "Wait. So Fez fainted when he found out he has a kid. With Laurie?"
"Yeah, wouldn't you?" a smirking Hyde replied.
"Shut up, Annie!" Laurie shrieked out as she glared daggers at the curly haired man infront of her.
Astonishingly there was no outburst of 'Burn!' after either of the insults, instead Kelso—having not gotten his answer from Donna—settled in on the floor, his concern for his best friend showing once again. He was really taking a long time to wake up.
"He's gonna okay, right?" he asked, looking over at Angela with a look that resembled a lost child's.
"I'm sure he's going to be fine Michael." She reassured with a smile as she raised Fez's legs up a bit, "Do you all having any smelling salts?"
Kelso wrinkled his forehead, "Salt smells? Huh I never noticed." He shrugged, "I don't know if we have any, the kitchen's pretty empty…"
Not wanting to confuse the poor thing even more, Angela interrupted, "Well it doesn't necessarily have to be smelling salts. Maybe something that just has a familiar scent."
While the rest of room's occupants looked around the basement in search of an item to help revive their friend, Donna was suddenly struck with an idea. She reached into the paper bag she held in her hands pulling out one of the various items she had purchased.
"Here take this." She said outstretching her hand that held a Milky Way candy bar.
The worried child-like expression on Kelso's face quickly vanished as he saw the candy, "Awesome! Thanks Donna!"
Hurriedly he reached over and grabbed the chocolate bar, tearing off the wrapper and was just about to take an eager bite when the others in the room shouted his name just before Hyde snatched the treat from the taller man's hands.
"Not for you, moron." He growled, "For Fez!"
"But he's asleep!"
Ignoring Kelso's cry, Hyde handed the open candy to Angela, "Here."
"A candy bar?" she asked suspiciously.
"Trust us on this." He insisted holding out the chocolate bar until Angela took hold of it.
Though she still wasn't convinced that this would help very much, Angela decided to trust Steven and his friends and slowly began to wave the Milky Way over the knocked out foreigner's nose. It was while she was doing this that Donna noticed her presence in the room—her passed out friend on the floor and her ex-fiancé's absent sister were abit of attention grabbers.
"Angela, I didn't know you were coming today. How's Mrs. Forman?" her question being asked in an uneasy tone.
The nurse opened her mouth to give her reply but before a sound could be made the other blonde woman in the room began to speak.
"She doesn't know." Laurie informed as she stood up but remained close to where Fez lay, "Since Heidi here decided to whisk her off on a romantic date to the kitchen table."
Not liking the mocking tone that she spoke in Hyde argued back, "It wasn't a date. We were just talking while we were waiting for Mom and Red to wake up."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, scowling and crossing her arms over her chest, "They're awake."
"No they're not."
Laurie gave a 'duh' like expression as she said, "Uh yeah, they are. I was just talking with them when I dropped Lucy off with them."
Confusion crossed Hyde's face. He and Angela had been up there not too long ago, Red and Kitty could have already woken up…could they? He wanted to ask more but Kelso stepped into the conversation with his own question.
"Who's Lucy?" he asked, looking up at Laurie missing the fact that Fez was slowly starting to come out of his trance.
"My daughter." Laurie explained—not seeing Fez either—"Well mine and Fez's daughter."
And just like that, the second he heard those words, Fez's revival was cut short and eyes rolled back in his head once more before his head fell back on the ground as he passed out for the second time that day.
With alarmed looks on their faces everyone turned their attention to the unconscious foreigner. Having their focus on Fez meant they weren't pay much attention to anything else not even the little girl who had entered the basement and already bounded down the first half of the wooden staircase. She was practically invisible until she looked up at the ceiling and began to speak.
"They're down here, Mommy!" she informed quite loudly—getting the members in the room to turn to look at her.
Kelso's grin reappeared and he held out his open arms for his little girl, "Hey there Baby Girl!"
"Daddy!" Betsy squealed gleefully before running into her father's arms.
Watching as Kelso scooped his daughter into his arms and then stood up, still carrying her like she was his most prized procession, Laurie couldn't help but smile. The smiles exchanged between father and daughter clearly showed their love for one another. That was what she wanted Fez and Lucy to have. But after seeing Fez's reaction to the news of Lucy, she knew that her daughter having the type of relationship with her father similar to one that Kelso and his daughter had was a long shot.
"Laurie, this is my daughter Betsy." Kelso introduced, pulling Laurie out of her thoughts, "Betsy, this is your Uncle Eric's sister, Laurie."
Betsy gave a Kelso grin as she waved, "Hi!"
"Hi Betsy." Laurie replied smiling as she remembered Fez showing her the little girl's baby photos back in '81, she really had grown a lot, "She's a cutie, Kelso."
Scoffing Kelso said in a not so modest way, "Yeah she is, look at who her daddy is! And you should see her mommy."
"Michael?" the voice belonging to the woman Kelso had just been talking about, called as she started to make her way down to the basement, "Michael did you…" her train of thought was lost as she caught the sight of Fez on the floor; she gasped lightly, "What happened in here?"
"Hey babe!" Kelso greeted with a wave and as he shifted Betsy on his hip he began to explain the situation, "Fez fainted. It was pretty cool too. He's already done it twice so there's a chance he could do it again."
"Yay!" Betsy cheered excitedly.
Nodding his head in approval of his daughter's enthusiasm, Kelso cheered along with her until he quickly remembered he wasn't done giving introductions, "Oh Brooke, this Laurie. Laurie, this is my wife, Brooke."
Still not a fan of having these introductions done now, Laurie gave a quick "Hi."
"Hi." Brooke smiled a small smile, her mind still trying to comprehend what was going on, "So um Fez fainted when you told him about the two of you having a daughter?"
Laurie's brows knitted closely together as she stared at the woman she had literally just met, "How did you know about that?"
"Yeah, how did you know about that?" her husband questioned, wanting an answer himself, "I just found out right now!"
"I knew too, Daddy!" Betsy was happy to inform.
Kelso's eyes became wide as his jaw dropped open, "Ah!"
"How did you find out?" Laurie asked, also surprised but sounding more angry than stunned, "Was it my scrawny soon to be dead brother or…"
"Hey Brooke, if Eric's down there tell him he…" a new but familiar voice started to say as they too joined the group in basement; however when they saw their dear friend on the ground they nearly jumped back a step or two, "Oh my God! What happened to Fez?"
"He fainted when Laurie broke the news about Lucy to him." Hyde informed in a Zen manner, from his place beside Fez and Angie.
Jackie's face showed her relief before her regret, "Aww, I wanted to be here for that."
"I was here!" Kelso blissfully shared with room as he raised his free arm high in the air.
Donna's concentration seemed to mostly be on Fez—except for that moment when she had asked about Mrs. Forman but after the response she got, she decided to hold any questions about Kitty until later—but when she heard Jackie's statement she found herself interested in something other than her foreign friend's health.
"Jackie," the former redhead started to say, "you don't know where Eric is? I thought you guys were attached at the lips."
Resisting the want to roll her mismatched eyes, Jackie opened her mouth to speak but never got that chance to get say a thing.
Unexpectedly the passed out man on the floor fluttered his eyes brown eyes open and this time they didn't retreat to the back of his head seconds later. Instead he swiftly pulled himself onto his feet, a mad look in his eyes as he began to yell out a series of words that nobody understood. The group was taken aback, as they stood back and watched the young man's flare-up not knowing what to do.
"Guys, I think Fez is possessed." Kelso said in a frightened voice as he held his little girl close to him and stepped farther away from the body of his best friend.
Though she was abit scared too, Donna tried to keep a straight head, "I think he's speaking his native language."
"I don't care." Kelso whined back, "It's still scaring me. Turn him off!"
Quickly shaking herself out of her shell chocked state, Angela got back into nurse mode and realized this much commotion that Fez was doing to himself would not do him any good. She cautiously stepped towards him.
"Fez, it's Angela." She said softly, "You need to calm down. Take a few deep breaths okay?"
While Angela began to do the exercise of taking in and releasing some deep, slow, breaths, she was completely ignored by Fez. Hyde then decided to step up and try to give his own form of help.
He placed his right palm on his shoulder, "Fez, man, you need to relax."
"Yeah Fez, please calm down." Laurie said keep her voice gentle, "So we can talk."
At those words the mad look in Fez's eyes became even madder as the volume of his voice became louder and his native language came flowing out of his mouth in a much faster rate. Nobody had any clue to what he was saying but they had a pretty good feeling that it was 'Sure thing! I can't wait to talk about the daughter I didn't know I had.'
Laurie's eyes widened with fright and she too stepped back from the rambling, shouting Fez, "Yeah I'm with Kelso. Shut him off, restart him…do whatever you need to do to get him back to the way he was before." She said waving her hand frantically.
Jackie asked, "You mean passed out on the floor?"
"Yeah, sure whatever." Laurie replied still feeling helpless.
"Hey where is everybody?" Eric's voice floated through the air from the kitchen and into the basement.
A minute or two later he and another recognizable face walked down the steps of the basement , freezing on the middle step when they saw the events taking place in the room along with the many occupants in there.
"Woah, full house huh?" Randy said smiling a bit.
At the sound of the two men's voice, two of the women standing in the basement turned their heads to the stairway. One of them smiled and the other had n expression on her face that wasn't as easy to read.
"Randy?" Donna asked in disbelief.
He waved, "Hey Donna."
That was the last clear exchange between Randy and Donna that Eric was able to hear before it got lost in the rest of the noise that was overflowing in the basement. It wasn't just Randy and Donna who were talking there was Fez's extreme Ricky Ricardo rant going on while Hyde, Laurie, and Angela spoke over each other trying to calm Fez down (with Hyde and Laurie occasionally going at it about him and Angela being on their 'date' but not a date) and over on the sidelines stood Kelso and Brooke with Kelso badgering her for an explanation of how she knew about Fez's daughter before him and why she hadn't told him. The fuss was so much Eric could hardly hear himself think.
But through the whole uproar there was one person who was surprisingly quiet as she stood in her spot smiling at Eric. And when he caught her smile he grinned right back at her. It took a few moments but soon enough they were able to meet up infront of the washer and dryer, standing beside each other, arms crossed, watching the chaos unfold.
"So I'm guessing your talk with Randy went well?" Jackie half asked half stated,
"Yup." He nodded, "Got him to come home and everything. How was grocery shopping?"
It was her turn to nod, "Pretty good. I think we got everything. At the least we got stuff to hold us over for a few days and then if we need to you and I can make the shopping trip together."
Eric's smile grew at the suggestion, he liked the sound of that. For a good few seconds the couple just stood there watching the racket get louder and crazier until finally they couldn't take it any longer.
"We need to do something, don't' we?" he asked.
She nodded and gave a simple "Yeah."
The petite brunette then brought her hand to her mouth, placing two fingers near her mouth before blowing out an ear piercing whistle that immediately shut up everyone in the room. A mix of confused and angry eyes turned to stare at both Eric and Jackie.
"Okay, they're all yours." Jackie said with a smile as she patted Eric on the arm,
"Wha…what?" a dumbfounded Eric asked, "I said 'we.'"
"I know." She nodded once more, "I did the whistling and now you do the talking."
And after that quick explanation Jackie gave him a gentle shove, encouraging him to add in his part. Eric's eyes scanned the room and when he saw the crowd staring at him he abruptly became nervous but then he remembered these people were his friends, his family and he wanted to help them.
He cleared his throat and uncrossed his arms, hoping he would sound somewhat like his father in his next statement, "Okay guys, I don't think this is working. You all need to solve your problems but separately not over each other. Donna, Randy why don't you guys go to the living room and you can discuss…whatever you need to discuss."
Randy looked at Donna, "Sure we'll go, right Donna?"
"Right." Donna nodded before heading towards the steps still feeling a bit reluctant.
Eric and Randy exchanged a nod before the couple exited the room and Eric turned back to the group.
"Hyde, Angela." He began, "Why don't you guys go check in on Mom?"
"Alright." Hyde nodded, interested to see for himself if his adopted parents really were awake already. He started to follow Angela but stopped when he got close to Eric, "Forman you…" he stopped himself from asking if he wanted him to take over when he saw that his friend really did have this under control and instead settled for a pat on the shoulder before disappearing with Angela to the top level of the house.
The grade school teacher moved his attention to the next couple, "Laurie, why don't you and Fez go talk in Hyde's room. I'm sure he won't mind."
Not saying a word, in English or any other language, Fez marched himself into the back room. Meanwhile Laurie stayed behind looking up at her younger brother with big doe eyes.
"You mean you're sending me in there by myself?" she asked in a small voice, "You're not gonna help me, baby brother?"
He folded his arms over his chest, "Did you help me with the goat you locked me up with at the county fair, big sister?"
"Ugh, fine." Laurie groaned as she turned on her heel.
"Hey Laurie," Eric called, getting his sister to turn back around, "You can do this."
Though the response he got from his sister was an annoyed expression he could still detect the small twitch at the corner of her mouth before she left into Hyde's little room.
"What about us?" Kelso asked, as he noticed he and his family seemed to have been forgotten.
Knowing that Kelso and Brooke's argument really wasn't too big and from the looks of it Kelso had already forgotten about it, Eric shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. You guys could stay in here incase Laurie needs help with Fez…and you know a new Tom and Jerry episode is starting."
"Alright!"
"Yay!"
Brooke smiled as she watched her excited family hop onto the couch by jumping over the back—something she wouldn't have let go at their home but with how long this old couch had lasted she figured one more jump on it wasn't going to break it. She was about to walk over to the stairs so she could help with the groceries when suddenly Betsy began to call out for her.
"Mommy, you too!"
Kelso nodded in agreement as he grinned largely, "Yeah, Mommy! You too."
She never could deny those two adorable faces, and it was even harder when they were both asking for the same thing. And so Brooke looked at Jackie with an apologetics face before settling onto the couch beside her family; however she went around the couch properly and didn't jump over it as her husband had.
Eric and Jackie watched the small family, wearing matching smiled before Jackie decided to break the comfortable silence.
"So it looks like you assigned everyone somewhere to go expect for the two of us." She commented.
Eric grinned, "That is because I was thinking of something else for the two of us."
"Oh?" she asked and he nodded, "Well I actually have something special in mind for you too."
He gulped nervously as he felt the warmth of her small hand on his chest; he tried to keep his voice normal and not high pitched. "Oh yeah?"
"Uh-huh. I want you to come with me upstairs into the kitchen." She started to say in a seductive tone as a wicked smile crept onto her lips, "And help me unpack the groceries."
A chuckle escaped Eric's lips and he raised a finger in the air to point at Jackie, "That's so funny because that's exactly what I was thinking!"
The twosome shared a laugh before they headed up the basement steps to the kitchen so they could put away the newly purchased grocery items together.
Author's Note: There you have it! Chapter 44 of "Two Weeks" Hope you liked!
Will Donna and Randy make up? Will Fez ever start speaking English again? Will Hyde find out the truth about Red and Kitty's fake sleeping? How is Kitty really doing? When will Red take Lucy to buy her new doll? And who did Donna see at the Gas-N-Go? Confused? You won't be after the next chapter of "Two Weeks"
Quick question! Which conversation would you guys rather see Laurie and Fez's or Donna and Randy's? Or both? I can do both too but if more of you want to see a certain couple more than the other then maybe I'll do a longer scene with them and a shorter, quicker version with the other. You tell me!
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review an dlemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, and have a nice day!