Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the slightly changed plotline.

Warning: Implied child abuse

Note: Some of this will tell Edna's side of the story, and she leaves much earlier than in canon. This is going to show her in a more motherly light than most would consider her having

"You ready?" Kelso asked, he and Fez keeping their hands in the position of a slap game.

"Yes," Fez smiled, and Kelso speedily lifted his hand from under Fez's slapping the top of the foreigner's hands.

"Too slow."

"Oh," Fez said, a look of realization on his face, "I see how this game is done. Now my turn."

They repositioned their hands.

"Ready?"

Kelso nodded, and suddenly Fez used both his hands to slap his cheeks, making him flinch back a little.

"Too slow."

"No, Fez," Kelso held out his hands to draw Fez's attention to them, "That's not how the game works, you're supposed to hit my hands."

Fez slapped his hands, "Too slow." Eric snickered from his seat on the couch as Kelso threw his head back in exasperation.

Hearing the stomp of feet on the stairs, the kids turned their attention to Kitty as she came skipping down, a try of cookies in her hands.

"Who wants cookies?"

Everyone immediately reached out for one, and Hyde tried to ignore Jackie's presence behind him when she hopped off the dryer.

"They're carob; nature's chocolate."

The kids speedily placed the cookies back on the tray, exclaiming excuses about how they're allergic or already ate.

"Oh, now come on," Kitty pouted, "You wouldn't even have noticed if I hadn't told you. Oh, Eric," She gave him a big smile, "I picked out a really snazzy outfit for you to wear on career day."

"Oh, that's... um, goody."

"Well, fine, Mr. Grumpy. But, I can't wait to show off my little man at work."

"You know what, me neither." Kitty smiled, but when she turned her back to him to walk back up stairs, Eric immediately turned to his friends, mouthing 'Help me!'

Hyde shook his head, annoyed, "Why career day, man? It's so lame."

"That's just cuz your mom's the lunch lady," Kelso grinned, and Jackie, who stood behind him, gave him a smack on the back of the head, earning everyone's attention. Hyde gave her an odd look, and she glanced around nervously.

"What? It's just... working as a lunch lady is just..." She held up her hand, making a circle with her pointer finger and thumb, "It's cool. Yeah."

"You bet it's cool," Fez smiled, "That's why I'm spending the day with Hyde and his mom, right?"

Hyde shook his head, giving a small snicker.

Red popped his head in through the basement door.

"Eric, I need to see you in the garage.

"Okay," Eric nodded before looking at his friends, "Okay, look, I'll be right back."

"You can explain exactly what you did to this car."

"Okay, look, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Edna..." Hyde muttered as he and Fez walked into the school kitchen, Fez's arms filled with his notebooks.

"Steven," She greeted, glancing up from whatever she was stirring, cigarette in hand.

"Fez, uh..." Hyde gave a false smile, "This is my mom."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Gross Edna," Fez smiled, using the name he's heard around the school.

Edna gave him a blank look, "No, no, honey. It's Ms. Gross Edna. You see, Mr. Gross Edna ran off with Ms. Perfect Ass."

Hyde gave a fake laugh, "Oh, but she can laugh about it now."

Edna gave him an annoyed smile, "Yes she can," Her smile suddenly vanished, "Shut up."

"I am so excited to be a part of the food service industry," Fez suddenly gave Edna one of his odd, seductive looks, "May I cut the cheese?"

Hyde tilted his head back, eyes wide in annoyance and Edna stared at Fez for a minute, still stirring her dish, before glancing over at Hyde, "Is he kidding?"

"We can never tell," Hyde muttered.

"Fine, knock yourself out," Edna said, "But if you cut off a finger, you're outta here." She let go of her spoon, walking to one of the shelves to grab some plastic gloves, "Steven, you can start by cutting the pizza."

"Oh, no, no, no, I'm here as an observer, a fly on the wall," He glanced around the room in disgust, "One of many."

"Gee, what a surprise," Edna said when she stopped in front of him, gloves and a hair net in hand, "Lazy. Just like your father."

Hyde gave a strained, irked smile, "No, actually I'm lazy in a way that's entirely my own."

"You two are hilarious," Fez smiled, oblivious to the tension.

She pushed the gloves into his chest, making him grab them, "Here, put these on." She walked over to Fez, handing him his own gloves, as well as the hair net.

"I'm not wearing these."

"Hey, don't blame me," Edna said, beginning to stir her dish again, "It's tho-" She suddenly began coughing, most likely from breathing in too much smoke, right into the dish, and Hyde curled his lips, glad he didn't eat the school food.

"It's those health codes," She finished, and Fez held up his gloved hands, his hair net placed on his head, "May I keep these?"

"Sure, baby," Edna smiled, and Hyde couldn't help but feel a pang in his chest at the way she treated Fez.

Was it so hard to do that with her own son?

Jackie walked through the garage door, stopping at the sight of Red bent over the Cruiser, checking the engine.

"Hey, Mr. Forman, what're you doing home? Ohhh, that's right you're only working part time now... Mr. Forman, if it makes you feel any better, my dad feels really sorry for you."

Red sighed, lifting himself off the car to look at Jackie, "Aren't you supposed to be at career day?"

"No, I'm a sophomore. I'm surprised you didn't know that about me."

"Right," Red smiled fakely, "My mistake. Now listen, while you're here, why don't you hold this flashlight on that carburetor there?"

Jackie took the flashlight as Red walked around the car to reach his destination, holding it up to the engine, "Like this?"

Red looked up at her, his face awed, and she glanced around in confusion.

"My God," Red breathed, "One of you isn't useless."

"Question number three," Fez said, looking at his notebook, sitting on the counter, Hyde off to the side, "Was the food service industry your first career choice?"

"Oh, no, Fez," Edna said, "I always wanted to go into show biz. In fact, I was in the Tommy Barton Water Show at the Wisconsin Dells."

"Yes," Fez smiled perversely, "Women water skiing in bikinis? Very erotic."

"Anyway," Edna smiled, "I was the top girl on the pyramid. But they fires me for gettin' knocked up."

Hyde immediately walked over, standing beside Fez, leaning his hands on the counter, "Let me finish this one for ya, ma. See, Fez, this is the part where I ruin my mother's fabulous water skiing career."

"Yeah, well ya did. They said a pregnant woman on water skis would make the audience nervous."

"Not to mention you were probably hideously fat," Fez said.

Hyde snorted.

"Oh no, I looked great. I kept my weight down by smoking."

Hyde gave a fake smile, "See, that's that maternal instinct kicking in again."

"You're damn right I'm maternal. I raised you. Alone."

"Alone? Hardly, there was 'Uncle' Chet, and 'Uncle' Larry, and, oh yeah, 'Uncle' Hot Tub Johnny. Not to mention 'Uncle' Ian."

"Well, I guess I should've become a nun when your father walked out on, huh?"

"Hell, he must've been crazy to leave all this."

"Always a smart ass, Steven. Just like your father."

Hyde snapped, "Yeah, well ya know one thing he did do right? He left!"

"Oh, yeah, that's right, Steven!" Edna yelled after him as he stormed out of the kitchen, "Just walk! Just like everyone else!"

Hyde walked through the garage door, catching sight of Red cleaning out a tub.

"Hey, Red, is Forman around?" He asked, leaning against the car.

"No, he's at career day with his mom. Which is where you're supposed to be, what's the deal?"

"Man," Hyde sighed, sliding down the car squat down, "Edna's ridin' me again about bein' just like my dad, so I just... took off."

Red gave him a pointed look, "And your dad, didn't he, uh... take off?"

Hyde gave a small grin, "Irony. Far out."

"Look, you and your mom have a bad history," Red stared ahead, a dazed look on his face, "Neither of you can nurture the other's self-esteem because you've both been damaged by past criticism and shame."

Hyde stared at him oddly for a moment, completely confused, "Are you okay?"

"Well, I'm workin' half-days, so I... watch a lot of Donahue."

Jackie suddenly popped up, sliding on a board people lay on when working on the underside of cars. She was wearing goggles and completely covered in grease, holding up a tool, "Okay, I'm not sure, but I think I found the U-joint."

"God bless you, Jackie," Red grinned, and Jackie smiled at him before glancing at Hyde, giving him a hesitant, "Hi, Steven."

"Hey."

She gave a small smile before sliding back under the car, beginning her work on the U-joint.

"Ya know, Steven," Red said, "I finally understand why you like the loud one."

Hyde snickered, asking sarcastically, "Because she's handy?"

"No, because she knows her way around a carburetor. Keep up, son."

Hyde laughed, "Yeah, I guess that's pretty bad ass. Later, Mr. Forman."

Jackie paused in her work as she heard Steve's footsteps as he walked away. She was bad ass. Steven thought she was bad ass.

Grinning, she went back to work.

Edna and Fez danced around the kitchen, laughing as they listened to Neil Sedaka's "Bad Blood" playing on the radio. But, when he tried to dump his pan of food, she stopped him.

"Oh, honey, what're you doing?"

He smiled, "Throwing out the disgusting used meat."

"Oh, no, you hafta toss that in the chilly bucket."

"The chilly bucket?" Fez gave her a hesitant look, "I thought that was the garbage."

"Oh, no," Edna muttered as she glanced into the chilly, "Well did you throw a lot in there?"

"Some."

"Oh, well, those things just break down in there. It'll be fine."

Hyde walked into the kitchen, his sunglasses back in place, hands in his coat pockets.

"Steven, you came back," Edna wiped up the counter, "You don't know what that means to me."

"Yeah?"

She looked at him, "Yeah."

She grabbed his arm, pulling him further into the kitchen before going to grab her purse, "Honey, could you clean up those pizza trays? I'm gonna skip out early."

Fez grinned happily at Hyde, "Guess what I did in the chilly bucket. Go ahead. Guess."

"Steven, I'm sorry," Edna said when she stopped in front of the kitchen door, "I'm not bein' a very good mom, am I?"

Hyde looked at her blankly, "No."

"Oh, I got it, let's do something together," Edna smiled, "C'mon. I'll buy ya a beer."

"A beer?" Hyde muttered, his tone incredulous before he suddenly grinned, "Yeah, actually, that sounds nice."

"Okay. You got your fake ID?"

"You know it."

"That's my boy."

Edna laughed with Steven when he stumbled a little into the living room, helping him remove his coat as she led him to his bedroom. When she got him in the bed, she removed his sunglasses and covered him up with his only thin sheet. She stared at him with dull blue eyes when he instinctively curled up, the beer instantly putting him to sleep. She sighed when she smelled the hint of weed in his room, kneeling down next to him, running her fingers through his hair. Normally, he was such a light sleeper, the smallest of sounds waking him, but the beer dulled his senses.

Sometimes she wishes she never had him, the guilt of bringing an innocent child into her bloodstained world festering.

She remembers when he was a child, how he would do anything to make his parents proud, to see his ma smile at the end of the day. But, as time went on, there were no smiles.

She blames Bud for that. She blames his false words of love and his empty promises. She blames his anger; the anger that drained her and Steven of their happiness a little more each day, turning her baby into a cold young man that trusted no one, not even his own mother. It hadn't been that bad at first; first, it had only been her he hit, and only when he was drunk. But then, it became daily, without the excuse of alcohol, unable to take the stress of the unpaid bills, the crumbling house, the little reminder of how he could've been something if they hadn't of had a child right out of high school.

She remembers the first night Steven got involved; when she fell down and couldn't take the hits anymore, he made his way to Steven's room.

"Don't you touch him!" Edna could still feel her words from that night at the back of her throat, still hear her son's cries and pleads like a gunshot in an empty room.

But then, she had stopped caring, stopped standing up for him; the abuse had become their constant, and Steven became just a little quieter every day.

He had finally stopped talking to her completely by the time Bud left.

And when Bud left, she started drinking again, popping pills, taking shots, worse than she had before Steven was born. And it left her relationship with him in shambles. Her absences grew longer and more frequent, and she knew that it was just too much for her young boy to handle. His wall became thicker, his ability to trust even worse.

She did that to him.

She talked down to him, yelled at him, blamed him. She loved Steven, so much, but he looked too much like his father, Bud. Bud, the liar. Bud, the betrayer. Bud, the abandoner. It was so easy to lay the blame on him instead of on herself, letting him think it was his fault for even daring to exist.

And then there were the men; the bar hoppers she met after work. The men that she would bring home and subject her little boy to. She would say nothing when they thought Steven was just a little too mouthy and that he should be 'taught some manners,' or 'handled.' She wouldn't care when those men left, she'd just go out and find some new ones.

Like Ian.

She remembers the times she had left him alone with those men, and Edna sniffled, holding a hand up to her mouth. God, there was no telling what they did to him. How could she do that? How could she trust those men with her boy?

She had promised herself, the day Steven was born and she held him in her arms, that she would give him a good life, a family he could be proud of, a bright future. To raise him to be confidant and compassionate, to believe in himself.

She remembers when he was a young child, a first grader that felt the reading criteria was 'too childish,' how he was reading things that was too difficult for even the fourth graders. He was so ahead of everyone, but then Bud had started up, killing his confidence, making him act out in school out of frustration, mouthing off to teachers and completely ignoring the school work. He was such a smart boy, too, and a talented writer; he could actually be something.

She sniffed again, her eyes filling up. He deserved better; he needed better. He didn't need her in his life, bringing him down to her level. She wanted him to be happy, and he couldn't do that with her here.

She needed to leave him.

Just like Bud.

Edna pushed some curls off his forehead, her tears finally falling, her throat tight, her breath shaky. "I'm so sorry, Steven," She whispered, her words a bit incoherent through her tears, "I'm so sorry I let this happen to you. I let them hurt my baby, and I'm sorry. I'm gonna do what's best for you. This is what's best for you, baby. I'm gonna make it all right."

And she would make it all right for him. That's all that mattered now.

"I love you, Steven," She whimpered when what she was doing fully hit her. She was leaving him, just like Bud. She was leaving him in hopes that he would finally find a way to make his life better.

And when the bedroom door shut silently, Hyde opened his burning eyes, realization striking him in the most painful way. She had gotten him drunk so she could slip away unnoticed.

His mother left him.

For the first time, she had told him she loved him, and then she left him.

Super aaaaangst!

Don't worry, it gets happier next chapter :)