Chapter 8

September 25, 1981

The big day had finally arrived and although Hyde would never admit it out loud he was extremely anxious about how the weekend was going to turn out. He had all but assured Jackie that everything would be fine but in reality he had no idea how everyone would react to seeing her for the first time in almost two years. He hoped that things weren't too overwhelming but most of all he hoped that these three days weren't too much of a disruption to stable but still yet fragile friendship he and Jackie were building. Things were going well now but he couldn't afford any more mess ups and the gang had a flare for screwing things up in big ways.

After she had agreed to the weekend, both Jackie and Hyde decided it would be best for everyone to find out about her once they arrived. They figured if the gang knew in advance, they would be badgering Hyde non-stop about Jackie until the time they arrived. At least with everyone finding out at the same time they could try to field all questions at once or so they hoped.

Hyde had spent all morning making sure everything was in order for the arrival of the Point Place gang. WB had arranged for a cleaning service to come in the night before to make sure the place was spotless. It was previously agreed upon that everyone would be staying with him. Donna and Eric would take one of the guest rooms while Hyde decided to put Fez and Kelso together in the other room since Brooke was unable to attend the weekend activities. Hyde decided to take the pull out couch in office and give Red and Kitty the master bedroom. Red preferred not to stay in a house full of 'dumbasses' and tried to book a hotel like WB but Kitty put her foot down saying that she wanted to spend as much time as she could with her precious 'baby boy' Steven.

Hyde had just finished talking to the store's assistant manager Greg on the phone going over last minute details for the next day's opening when the intercom from the lobby security buzzed thru advising him of the gang's arrival. He decided to go meet them in lobby to assist them with their bags. As he got off the elevator he could already hear a commotion underway. He smiled.

"Well geez, how was I supposed to know headrests are flammable?" asked the one and only Michael Kelso.

"Ai you sonuvabitch, you singed my glorious hair!" screamed Fez.

"Well I guess that's what you call a buuuuuurn." shouted Kelso.

"If you kettleheads don't pipe down I'm gonna put a foot in your ass. Kitty are you sure we can't go get a room? I never gonna survive three days with these idiots." said Red.

"Oh Red Forman, you'll be just fine. If you survived all these years, you can make it through the weekend. We're here to support…Oh my God look it's Steven!" Kitty exclaimed as she ran over to Hyde and grabbed him up in a hug.

"Hey Mrs. Forman, Red." Hyde hugged her back and then gave Red a handshake.

"It's good to see you son. Now please hurry up and get us upstairs before these jackasses destroy the whole lobby." said Red.

Hyde laughed and as the rest of the bunch hurried over to greet him. "Hey guys." Kelso, Fez and Eric grabbed him into a group hug. "Okay ladies that's enough of that." he said as squirmed out of their embrace. "Hey Big D."

"Hey Hyde. You look great" Donna leaned in and gave him a hug.

"Thanks. Alright let's get you guys upstairs before Red pops a blood vessel. "

The Point Place crew finally made there way upstairs and into the apartment. Once they were inside they all stood there in awe. "You live here?" asked Fez.

"This place is freakin' awesome and huge!" Donna said as she dropped her bags and started to look around.

"It's totally better than that tiny apartment of yours" said Kelso tactlessly as he pointed at Donna and Eric.

"Yeah…well..oh who am I kidding? I can fit our apartment in here like ten times." Eric assessed as he took a look around.

"Steven this is simply wonderful. I'm so proud of you." cried Kitty as she wiped her eyes and hugged Hyde once again.

"Thanks Mrs. Forman." said Hyde.

Hyde gave them a quick tour of the place and showed them each to their respective rooms for the weekend. They all freshened up from the road and then had lunch that Hyde prepared for them before arriving. Red and Kitty had retired to the master bedroom while they gang sat in the living room talking among themselves. Hyde decided it was time to make an announcement. "Hey guys can you listen up for a moment?" The gang quickly settled down and focused on him. "I have a surprise for you guys and it should be here any minute. Once it gets here you have to promise me you won't freak out too much or you'll ruin it." he told them in hopes that they wouldn't be too caught off guard but he knew it was probably unavoidable.

"A surprise? Did you bring us some whores for the weekend?" Fez asked.

"Fez!" yelled Donna as she slapped his arm.

"What? With a place like this I'm sure Hyde is bringing them home by the dozens." he said in his Fez like way.

"No Fez sorry to disappoint you but there will be no whores here this weekend. Well except for Kelso."

"Burn! Oh wait that was on me…eh it still a good burn." Kelso said as he and the gang laughed.

Jackie made her way to the lobby with Julian in her arms. Nervous was not even the word to describe how she was feeling at the moment. She had to talk herself into not turning around and going back home at least three times on the way there. She knew this needed to be done but she was still apprehensive about seeing everyone, however she figured now was a good time. After an extremely long run of doom and gloom in her life things seem to be turning around. She had finally found a job she loved. She just finished her last shift at the dinner and Monday she would start her new job at the television station. Plus things were also going well between her and Steven. They had finally found a way to coexist without tearing one another apart and he was super supportive of her and Julian.

The security guard had called to the apartment to let Hyde know Jackie had arrived. He turned to the gang. "Hey guys. The surprise is here. I'll be right back." He said as he headed out the door.

Jackie met Hyde as she got off the elevator. "Hey Steven. Is everyone here?" she asked.

"Yeah they're all inside. I just told them I had a surprise for them. They don't know what or who it is though." he told her.

She nodded understandingly "Can you hold Julian for me in case I get bombarded?"

Hyde took Julian from Jackie's arms. He gave her a brief smile. "You can do this."

"I guess it's now or never." She took a deep breath and opened the door. "Hi everyone." she said shyly.

At that moment it was like time stood still. The room grew extremely quiet as they all stared at her like she was a ghost until Kelso decided to be the one to break the silence. "Jackie!" he screamed as ran over to her and lifted her in the air in a hug.

"Hi Michael." she said laughing into his chest.

"Ai my beautiful goddess. It's you. It's really you!" Fez was next to join the reunion running over as well.

"It's really me Fezzie." She said as they gave each other a hug.

Eric, who was still in a state of shock, walked over to join the others. "Hey there devil." he said as he called her by his endearing nickname for her then gave her a huge grin and a hug as well.

"Hey dweeb." She returned both the hug and the endearment before finally turning to the last person in the room that she had yet to greet, Donna. "Hi Donna."

"Jackie. Oh my God…I can't believe you really here." said Donna as she choked up with emotion. She finally made her way over to Jackie and embraced her. "I missed you so so much." The tears had begun to make their way down her face.

By this time Jackie was also crying, "I missed you too." And she really meant it. Even though Donna had been a crappy friend before she left, she still missed the only true female friend she ever had even before she left Point Place.

Red and Kitty, after hearing all the noise coming from downstairs, had decided to come see what was going on. Kitty took one look at Jackie and immediately ran over to Jackie broke down into tears as she held her. "Oh sweetie. I'm so happy to see you. We missed you so much."

"I'm happy to see you too Mrs. Forman. So happy." Jackie knew Mrs. Forman's hugs were the closest she ever felt to being in a loving mother's embrace.

"Don't you ever run away from us again." scolded Kitty in a loving way.

"Kitty let the girl breathe." said Red as he made his way over to Jackie. "Hey there loud one."

"Oh Mr. Forman it's so good to see you." she grabbed Red into a hug and even though he pretended to be slightly annoyed she knew he missed her.

In the hallway, Hyde was rocking Julian back and forth while the reunion was taking place inside his apartment. He figured it was best to wait out the commotion so as not to scare the small child with all the noise he knew was sure to come from seeing Jackie. Once he heard things start to settle down, he made his way into the apartment with Julian.

Eric was the first one to take notice of his return back into the apartment. "Hey Hyde why are you holding a baby? Who's kid is that?"

Everyone turned and looked at Hyde as finally Jackie spoke up. "He's mine."

"What? You have a kid?" asked a surprised Donna.

Jackie walked over and took her child from Hyde. "Yes..I do. Everyone this is my son, Julian."

"Woah he's not mine right? Cause I know my swimmers are probably like super powerful but I haven't touched you in like a long, long, long ,long time." said Kelso in his usual idiot fashion.

"You really still are the king. Of course he's not yours Michael. His father…let's just say he's is not in the picture." Jackie told them not wanting to go into full details at the moment.

Everyone was stunned to silence once again before Kitty decided to speak. "Honey he's absolutely beautiful. Oh Red look a precious baby" she said as fawned over the child.

"Yes Kitty I see." Red cleared his throat before speaking again. "So is that uh why you left town kiddo?" he said asking the million-dollar question of the moment.

"Yeah that and a few other reasons but that was the main one. I was ashamed and with the way things were going at the time I just really couldn't take much more so I left." she told them.

Guilt and shame spread across the group as each of them knew they had let her down in some way. Kelso felt ashamed because he was the first one to disappoint her during their relationship and then once she and Hyde broke up for good after Sam, he went to Chicago and never really checked on her to see how she was doing. He knew if the roles were reversed Jackie would've at least called him every now and then to see how he was doing because after everything she was still his friend. Eric felt guilty for entirely different reasons. He was in Africa when everything went down but once he came back he saw the mess that it all was. He had heard about how Donna neglected her best friend and decided to mind his business because maybe a little 'devil-free' time was a good thing for him and Donna both. He failed to realize how cruel Donna and Hyde had become once he left and once he did it was already too late. Fez was feeling bad because even though he had been somewhat of a shoulder for Jackie during the chaos, he knew she wasn't really over Hyde but he wanted to try a relationship with her anyway. He had always been enamored with her but it was more of the way a fan worships their favorite movie star not like a potential suitor and in the end him dating her caused more harm than good. He knew she felt bad after their break-up and he should have let her off the hook because he was just as aware that it wasn't going to work. Instead he chose to play the victim and it damaged their friendship. Then, there was Donna. Other than Hyde, she was the biggest offender. She had failed to try to find the slightest bit of empathy for her friend. Jackie acted as if she was okay but Donna certainly knew better especially after living with her. She had seen how devastated Jackie was after her and Hyde's other break-ups and this was the worst of them all. He had brought home a wife and instead of comfort for her best friend she offered friendship and sisterhood to the other woman. She laughed at all the burns and jokes at Jackie's expense and even threw in a few herself. She had become so weak and vulnerable when Eric left and she hated herself for it because it was everything she once preached against. So instead of allowing herself to feel weakness she became cruel and bitter and her best friend got caught in the crossfire.

Once Jackie left Point Place and they realized she was never coming back, they each had a time to reflect on just how badly they had treated her. There were quite a few heated arguments between them all as blame got passed around and it seemed as if the group might be done forever. They were barely speaking to each other but then once Hyde's drinking problem was discovered, they took notice of the severity of the situation. During his treatment and recovery they realized just how much they needed one another. They were truly family and together they were all they had. The group made a vow to each other to stick with each other no matter what and now that Jackie had been thrown back into the mix they each knew they would do whatever it took to make it up to her.

Sensing the atmosphere had become a bit uncomfortable Jackie decided to break the tension. "Look guys I'm not saying that to make you feel bad about anything. It's just the way things were. I'll admit I was really angry and bitter for a long time but I don't want to live like that anymore. It's not healthy and it's time to put everything behind us."

"Oh that's just wonderful. All my babies are all together again." Kitty beamed.

"So have you been here since you left?" asked Eric.

"Yes I live about fifteen minutes from here." replied Jackie.

"What have you been up to all this time? Are you doing okay?" Red asked concerned. He might be a hard ass but everyone knew he had a soft spot for Jackie.

"As you guys can see I've got my hands full with this little guy. He keeps me pretty busy. I had a bit of a rough patch but I'm doing well now. I actually just got at a new job at the local TV station thanks to Steven."

Suddenly Donna grew a bit angry. She wondered how long Hyde had known where Jackie was. "Wait a minute. Hyde you knew where she was all this time and never bothered to tell us?' questioned Donna.

'Donna please don't be mad at him. It's not his fault. I asked him not to tell anyone where I was just yet. Steven and I literally ran into each other on the street about two months ago. We decided to try to build a friendship since then. He was just trying to be a good friend by doing me a favor. " answered Jackie.

Donna nodded and sighed. She could understand how Jackie would want to wait before dealing with them especially if she was trying to sort things out with Hyde. She was certain that had been a task in itself with the history between them. Since she was determined to be a better friend she would back any decisions Jackie made on how she wanted to handle any reconciliation between them. Deciding to change the subject she said "Alright so you're like.. a mom! How does that feel?"

"Yeah she's one hot mama. I have to say you are looking migh-tee fine. If I wasn't with Brooke I probably would…" was all Kelso could get out before Hyde frogged him in the arm. "Geez Hyde, I'm just sayin" he said as he rubbed his arm.

"Well don't." said Hyde. He saw the suspicious look that Fez, Eric and Donna were giving him about his protectiveness over Jackie so he tried to play it off "She's someone's mom. Show some respect."

Jackie smiled at the all too familiar scene before answering Donna. "Being a mom has been great. It's challenging but so rewarding and he's such an amazing child. I'm not just saying that because he's mine but I mean hey he's mine." she laughed. "Oh and that reminds me, his first birthday is Monday and since you guys are in town I thought it would be nice to have a party on Sunday before you guys leave. Steven said we could have it here. Mrs. Forman do you think you could make his cake? I so miss your all the treats from your kitchen."

"Oh of course I can make this little angel a cake As a matter of fact, I'll do all the cooking. We need to go shopping tomorrow….yay!" said Kitty jumping up and down and clapping.

"Thanks Mrs. Forman. We can go tomorrow after the grand opening." Jackie replied.

Later that evening they left Steven's apartment and all gathered for dinner at the Chartmore Hotel. WB had reserved the Rainbow Room for the occasion. By this time of the evening, they had finished dinner and were chatting casually with one another. WB stood up and cleared his throat. "Can I have your attention everyone? I just wanted to say thank you all for coming tonight and for being here this weekend. Tomorrow marks a new era for Grooves. This new store represents more than just a place to buy the latest and coolest tunes or the hottest new gadgets. It represents second chances. It represents rebirth and most of all it represents family and that's why it was important for you all to be here this weekend. Steven, son, you've shown so much growth over the last year not only in business but as a man. You got knocked down but you didn't let it stop you. You've owned up to both your mistakes as well as your responsibilities. You were the main reason I decided to open this store. I have already built my legacy and I want to help you build yours. I'm proud of you son." He lifted up a glass of wine to toast. "To new beginnings." he said as everyone lifted their glasses in return and repeated the mantra.

Dinner was wrapping up and everyone was standing around the room holding conversations in smaller groups. WB walked up to Jackie and gave her a hug. "Jackie it's great seeing you again. So I hear you're going to be working for a friend of mine, Jeff. He's a great guy. I'm sure you're going to do well there."

"Mr. Hunter has been wonderful so far and thank you for setting up the opportunity. I really appreciate it." said Jackie. She knew that his connections had gotten her the interview even though Steven had been the one to initiate it.

"No problem at all. You're a natural. Listen I wanted to let you know that if you need anything at all you let me know. I always liked you when you and Steven were together. You pushed him to do better. I know I shouldn't be asking you this but please keep an eye out on him for me. I trust my son and he has come a long way but I know that he has a hard time asking for help if he needs and I don't want to see him get too overwhelmed." he told her.

"Well Steven is a big boy. He's been doing just fine so far. I don't want him to think that I'm keeping tabs on him or anything." Jackie didn't want to betray his trust in anyway.

"No I don't want you to be his keeper or anything like that. You weren't around when he hit bottom. I thought I was gonna lose my son but he fought through it. I know he's strong but if for any reason you feel that something is wrong I just want you to know I'm only a phone call away. That goes for both of you." he said trying to get her to understand that he was in her corner as well.

"Okay I can do that." She said.

At that time Hyde walked over to her with a slightly cranky Julian in his arms. "Hey Jacks I think this little guy is getting sleepy. I think maybe I better take you home now."

"Alright. Let me go grab my stuff and say goodbye to everyone." She grabbed Julian and headed over to the rest of the gang leaving WB and Hyde alone.

"So Steven, it looks like things are going well between you and Jackie again," said WB.

"Yeah but we're just friends." Hyde replied.

"That's great son. I see you really are trying to be there for her and right your wrongs were she's concerned. Everything I said earlier about second chances and new beginnings wasn't just about Grooves. You've been given the gift of another chance. Don't waste it."

And with that WB walked off leaving Hyde there to think about everything he just said. He knew he couldn't deny the fact that if he was given another opportunity to be with Jackie he would grab it tight and never let it go but he wasn't sure that was in the cards. He owed it to her to play whatever role she needed him to play and right now he was pretty certain that role was a friend.

He made his way over to Jackie and the rest of the bunch. "Are you ready to go?" he asked her.

"Yes we're ready. Bye guys I'll see you all tomorrow."

"I'll meet you guys back at the apartment. Red has the key." Hyde said as he turned to leave.

They arrived at Jackie's place quickly. She opened the door as Hyde carried the sleeping infant into the apartment. "Can you go put him in his crib? I'll change him into his pajamas in a little bit." she said as she headed towards the bathroom.

Hyde walked in to Julian's room and laid him down in his crib. He found himself staring at the small child. He looked so innocent just lying there; untarnished by the worries of life. He was a clean slate, a blank canvas so to speak thought Hyde. He wondered how could anyone who had a kid not do any and everything they could to keep them safe from all the bad things going on in the world. Even as much of an idiot Kelso was, he was always so careful and loving with Betsy. It seemed like it should be so natural but he supposed maybe it just wasn't for some people, like his parents. He found himself hoping that Julian never experienced anything like he did in his childhood. Jackie was an excellent mom that wasn't even a question. She was doing a great job on her own but people could be cruel and Jackie was so small. All of sudden he felt the overwhelming need to protect them both. He was deep in thought when Jackie walked in to the room.

"Hey what'cha doing?" asked Jackie.

"Oh uh hey. I was just watching him sleep." he replied.

"I used to do that for hours when I first brought him home. I still watch him sleep especially when I have trouble sleeping." she told him.

"I bet. He just looks so…peaceful ya know."

"Yeah I do. Sometimes I wonder if my parents ever watched me sleep. If they ever found peace in my existence at some point in my life."

"I know what you mean. Sometimes used to wonder if Bud and Edna felt anything at all for me at least once in my life but I realized that I couldn't let those thoughts bother me anymore. Whatever went wrong, it was them who had the problem not me. They just weren't capable of being who they were supposed to be in my life." said Hyde.

"Wow you're right. I guess I never thought about it that way."

"I didn't either until I finally came to grips with it in therapy." Hyde had done a lot of reflecting during his treatment.

"Good for you." Jackie nodded and smiled. "Do you want something to drink?" she asked as they started to head back towards the front of the house.

"No thanks. I better get back home before Kelso and Fez destroy it." He shuddered at the thought of what damage they may have already done.

"Well you better should hurry then." she laughed. "Hey Steven before you go I just want to say thank you. I didn't realize how much I missed those guys. I feel so much better having seen them. I'm so glad you encouraged me to do it." She said as she pulled him into a hug.

"I'm glad too. Today felt really good." He said as he returned the hug.

"It really did. Well goodnight." She kissed him on the cheek and released him.

"Goodnight Jacks." He said as her turned to leave. As he headed back to his car he became aware that he was smiling and for the first time in a long time. He thought that maybe he might actually be happy and not just less pissed off.

I just wanted to say thank you again to everyone for the reviews and follows. I thought I could write the whole weekend in one chapter but there was too much that needed to be touched upon with the gang so the next chapter will continue with the gang's visit and them trying to repair their relationship with Jackie. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!