Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the slightly changed plotline.
Warning: Implied child and spouse abuse
Jackie stared at the small white stick in her hands, her expression surprisingly blank.
How could this happen?
Sighing shakily, Jackie chucked it into her trash bin, quickly grabbing her coat and making her way to her door. She couldn't tell Steven, but she had to talk to somebody. With that in mind, she quickly excited her house, making her way to the Formans.
When she got there, she quietly opened the basement door, stopping in her tracks when she saw Eric doing some weird dance. Giving him an odd look, she slowly slipped her coat off and set it next to the music player before crossing her arms and leaning against the wall, watching him blankly.
Eric did a little spin, faltering at the sight of her, "Jackie! Door! Knock!"
Jackie shook her head, walking toward him, "Sorry, I didn't know you'd be doing anything so embarrassing. Um... is Donna here?"
"No," Eric said as he leaned over to turn the TV off, Jackie settling into the couch as he did.
"Look, I need to talk to someone," She looked up at him hopefully, "I could really use a friend right now."
"Okay, then, well, good luck with that," Eric said quickly, making his way toward the stairs.
"Eric!" Jackie exclaimed, making Eric stop and turn to face her, "Can I talk to you? Look, I've always been able to trust you. And you're such a nice guy."
"No, I'm not," Eric said quickly, laughing nervously as he made his way toward her.
"Yes, you are," Jackie mumbled, facing forward on the couch. Eric looked at her for a moment before hesitantly taking a seat next to her.
"Okay... okay," He said, putting a hand on her upper back, "What happened? Did Hyde refuse to go to a Girl Scout dinner with you or something?"
"...I'm pregnant..."
Eric choked on his own breath.
"And, in a dream, two of the three Stooges were brig grapes," Fez grinned, "While I played them a beautiful song on my accordion... in the nude."
Everyone was at the Hub later that day, taking up two small tables. Hyde sat next to Jackie, holding onto a glass coke bottle, an arm loosely wrapped around her shoulders, too focused on Fez's dream to notice her and Eric's odd expressions. Kelso sat next to Jackie, Eric next to him. Fez sat next to Eric at the second table, grinning happily at his odd dream.
Hyde narrowed his eyes, giving Fez an odd look, "Somehow the accordion part bothers me more than the nude part."
Jackie slapped Kelso's hand when he reached over to grab a fry, "Kelso stop it!"
"What I do?" Kelso whined, holding onto his hand.
Jackie glanced around nervously, "Look, I just need all the food I can get right now."
"Jackie, what?" Hyde asked, giving her a strange look.
Eric suddenly burst out into an odd, high-pitched sounding laughter, drawing everyone's attention away from Jackie. Behind him, Donna walked into the Hub, stopping at their table.
"Hi," She greeted before looking at Jackie, "Uh... I have to go to the bathroom... Jackie?"
Jackie immediately stood, stepping in front of her and smiling in excitement, "Oh my God! Donna, you have never asked me to go to the bathroom with you before!"
"Yeah, it's a big day," Donna muttered, grabbing Jackie's arm and dragging her to the bathroom.
"Man, she's been actin' weird lately," Hyde said when the bathroom door swung shut, "And every time I try to ask 'er what's wrong, she gets all peppy and blows me off."
"Well, ya know what, Hyde," Eric suddenly snipped, "Maybe if you made yourself easier to talk to, you'd have gotten a little further with that, huh?"
The guys gave him odd looks, and he glanced around nervously before quickly snatching a fry and stuffing it into his mouth.
"So..." Donna asked hesitantly, "Is it true?"
"Yes, Donna, it is true," Jackie answered, "I am carrying Steven Hyde's child."
"Jackie, you're a sophomore. How could you be so stupid?"
Jackie pouted at her, "I'm a sophomore..."
Donna shook her head, "Well, why didn't you like, ya know... use something?"
"We do use stuff," Jackie defended, "But condoms aren't always a hundred percent, Donna. Oh my God, Donna, having this child's gonna ruin my whole life!"
"Well, yeah!"
"I'll hafta wear flats, I'll gain weight, I'll be too fat to cheer!"
Donna rolled her eyes, "Not to mention the fact you'll have a baby to take care of."
Jackie looked at her with watery eyes, hugging her, "Donna, what am I gonna do? I'm in so much trouble."
"Jackie, it's all right, we'll get through this. What does Hyde hafta say about all this?"
Jackie quickly pulled away, shaking her head, "No, no, I cannot tell Steven, it's way too embarrassing."
"Jackie!" Donna shook her head in exasperation, "You had sex with 'em!"
"I know I did, but we didn't talk!"
"You have to tell Hyde! If you don't, I will."
Jackie suddenly smiled at her, "Thank you Donna! Thank you!"
"Jackie! I don't wanna tell 'em!"
Suddenly a shout was heard, along with a crash, and Donna and Jackie immediately ran out of the bathroom to see what happened.
"Forman," Hyde started, his tone dangerous, making Eric give him a nervous look, "You know what's wrong with Jackie, don't you?"
Eric laughed nervously, "What? Noooo."
"Forman."
"Okay, you know what? I can't keep this a secret! It's way too big! Hyde... Jackie's pregnant!"
"What!?" Hyde immediately stood, his chair falling back and hitting the floor loudly with the movement. Donna and Jackie charged back into the room, Kelso and Fez staring at them in shock, and Jackie turned to Donna, "I think he knows."
"Oh no," Fez whimpered when he saw that Hyde was completely frozen, "The joy of fatherhood has made him catatonic!"
Hyde ignored him, his eyes stuck on Jackie's worried face. This was such a grown-up problem, too real, so out of place in their going nowhere lives. And suddenly all the memories of Edna screaming at him for ruining her life came rising to the surface; of Bud shouting at him, backhanding him, telling him he was worthless.
Would that be Jackie ten years from now? Bitter and cold, hating everyone and everything around her, even her own child? And what about him? Would he end up like Bud, hurting her, breaking her, and then leaving her? How long would it be before he split? Like Bud. Like every guy after him.
He could hear his mother's voice, "Just like your father, Steven!"
No, Hyde decided as Jackie made her way hesitantly toward him, There was no way he doing that to her. He was not Bud, and he never will be. No matter how hard it gets. He knows what that life is like, and he wouldn't wish it on any kid, especially his own.
Ignoring their staring friends, Hyde grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the Hub.
Their walk was silent, Hyde not paying attention to where they were going, but they somehow ended up on the stone steps that led to the Forman basement. Hyde sat down, taking Jackie with him, and suddenly, she burst into tears.
"Steven," She said in a voice that wavered like a little girl's.
He wrapped his arms around her, "Hey, Jackie, don't cry. It'll be alright, I promise." He meant those words; he would never give her empty promises, and then snatch them away when she was happy like his father did to Edna. Never.
"Oh, Steven! It'll never be alright again!" She threw her arms around his neck, laid her head on his chest, and kept sobbing.
"Jackie, I'll make it alright, okay?"
She looked up at him. Her crazy blue and green eyes were swollen, her makeup running, her nose blotchy, and she looked so pitiful. And so very, very young.
Shit.
"What're we gonna do?"
"Whatever we have to, I guess," He wouldn't tell her about Edna and Bud, wouldn't weigh her down with worries she shouldn't have. He'd make sure it didn't happen. Not to her.
"I don't know how to tell my parents; I can't face them, Steven! Daddy will be disappointed, and he'll probably pay someone to throw you in juvie or something!"
"So don't tell them. At least not until we know what we're gonna do."
Jackie stared at him, her mismatched eyes probing, "Do you know what we're gonna do?"
"I'm gonna take care of you, Jackie," He answered, and her face suddenly lost a little of its heaviness, "We're gonna get through this together, alright?"
She lied her head on his shoulder, "I've always wanted kids, but not yet, not like this."
Again, Hyde thought of Edna; of her dreams that soured, of the bills that went past due, of the house that crumbled around them. All the bruises Bud left on her, and on him, of the light that slowly left her eyes. And then the men she brought home, the ones that treated her even worse than Bud. And then the looks; always, always, the looks, and the words, too, that said it was his fault. For being born. For daring to exist.
Hyde wanted better for Jackie, for their baby; she deserved better. And he would make sure she got it, even if he had to work himself dry for the rest of his life.
But all he said to her was, "C'mon, Jackie. I'll walk you home."
"Will you stay over?"
"Yeah. Of course."
"So what're you gonna do?" Eric asked the next day, sitting around with the guys on his front porch.
Hyde gave him a stupid look, "Take care of 'er, ya moron. What else would I do?"
"Hey, I could be an uncle," Kelso smiled, "I love kids. I still have some of my Legos. It'll be great."
"Hey, and on the plus side," Hyde shrugged, "I walk into a liquor store carryin' a baby, they'll sell me beer. Ma says Bud used to do it all the time when I was first born."
"Yes," Fez grinned, "Not to mention, her mockatons will be huge."
Everyone stared at him, and Eric shifted a little.
"Fez," He said, "For those of who speak English, what exactly is a mockaton?"
"Her feet. They will be long, as well as white," Fez sighed, "Very gratifying."
"You foreign freak," Hyde said.
"This is scary, though," Kelso muttered, "It makes me not wanna have sex."
"Yeah," Eric snickered, "Good one."
"No, I'm serious. Just you wait, Eric, it could happen to any of us. Even you."
"No..." Eric trailed off sarcastically, "I probably need to have sex first, so..."
"I feel for ya, man," Kelso said to Hyde, "It's not fair.
"You're tellin' me, I wanna have sex," Eric mumbled.
Jackie smiled ecstatically as she ran to the Formans in search of Steven. She had retaken her pregnancy test about three times, and she had great news for him.
She caught sight of Donna leaving through the sliding door.
"Donna! Donna, guess what?"
"You're having twins...?"
"No, I'm not pregnant!"
"Oh my God," Donna exclaimed, pulling Jackie into a hug, "Jackie, that's great!"
"I know!" Jackie smiled as they pulled apart, "Now I can just put this whole ugly thing behind me, and never hafta think about it ever again-"
"Jackie, I am not gonna let you forget about this! Look, you got really lucky and as your friend, I am not gonna let you be stupid about this."
Jackie stared at her before giving a small smile, "We're friends?"
"Shut up," Donna laughed quietly before giving a small pause, "Jackie, I went on the pill."
"Oh my God," Jackie laughed, "Donna, you are gonna be so popular!"
Donna shook her head in exasperation, "Jackie, I didn't do it to be popular. I did it because I am not gonna get stuck in this dinky little town."
"Okay, you know they're building a K-Mart on Frank, right?"
"Jackie, when this era passes, I'm gonna get to do whatever I want. And so will you if you don't screw it up now."
Jackie looked at her for a moment, her face blank, "Donna, tell me about the pill. Does it do anything weird to your hair?"
Donna paused, "Just above your lip."
Jackie followed behind Donna as they walked toward the Hub, thinking about what she said. She had dreams far away from this stupid town, and she was determined to achieve them.
Jackie had dreams, too, and she would like to follow them.
And what about Steven? Steven dreams, despite what his friends may think. He likes writing, and he's so good at it. Not to be biased, but his stories were much more sophisticated than Donna's, with big plots, great dialog, wonderful mysteries, and some of them even had some romance. He wanted to be able to publish one day, and he should get to. He shouldn't have to worry about raising a kid before he even gets out of high school. He should graduate, go to a school about writing and publishing, get his name in book ads.
He shouldn't have to worry about taking care of her.
Jackie released a shaky breath as she followed Donna into the Hub.
"I'll be right back," Donna said, "I'm need to use the restroom."
Jackie nodded as Donna walked into the bathroom, making her way to stand in front of Steven's table, gaining his attention, along his Eric, Kelso, and Fez's.
She gave a fake smile, hoping no one could see passed it, but knew that Steven would, "Steven. I'm not pregnant."
Hyde immediately stood, "Jackie, that's great!"
"So you feel tons better, right?"
"Well... yeah, Jackie, don't you?"
"Of course. And it's good that you feel better, Steven," She paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath, "Because I'm breaking up with you."
Hyde's smile immediately vanished, his expression both hurt and confused behind his sunglasses, "What?"
Jackie gave a shaky grin, trembling. Her face was hot, her eyes were burning, and her nose felt heavy. She sniffled, "Steven, I don't want you to be stuck here in this town. We both have dreams. And my dreams don't involve becoming a pregnant sophomore, so..."
She took in a deep breath, swallowing, "Good bye, Steven." She jogged out of the Hub, her tears finally falling, a single quiet sob escaping her.
Hyde slowly sank back down into his seat, his face blank, "She broke up with me..."
Eric gave him a sympathetic look, placing a hesitant comforting hand on his shoulder.
Kelso suddenly giggled, "Man... you just got dumped!"
Eric glared at him as Donna walked out of the bathroom, looking at Hyde's stricken face in confusion, and gave him a surprisingly hard frog on the arm.
"Ow! Damn, Eric, what'd I do?"
"Um, Eric..." Donna said, looking around at the guys in confusion, "Can I talk to you? Alone?"
"Sure, Donna," Eric said, standing and grabbing his coat, but stopped moving when Fez spoke.
"Oh, Hyde..." Fez sighed, "I am so sad for you."
A small pause.
"May I please have her phone number?"
Pause.
"Ay! There is no need for hitting, Eric!"
Hyde sat in stunned silence, unable to believe what just happened. He had been relieved when she told him she wasn't pregnant, all his worry for her melting away. But he couldn't have imagined what came next.
She dumped him. She dumped him, telling him something about their dreams before running off, probably to cry. No, he knew she was crying, and it only upset him even more, knowing that she wouldn't go to him anymore when she was sad.
He was silent for the rest of the night, and it wasn't until later, when he was home, alone in his room, another night of Ian's fists and his mother's drunken curses behind him, that Hyde realized, despite his hurt and loneliness, that he was a little impressed with her.
She had proven herself smarter and tougher than he'd given her credit for. She was never going to be another Edna.
And there's The Pill! Don't worry, they'll be back together soon :)