Disclaimer: I do not own That 70s Show.

*Takes place after the events of episode 2.*

As soon as Jackie pushed the door to the Hub open she regretted her decision. The Hub was always insanely packed right after school, and since she'd driven to Donna's school to pick her up, by the time they actually got to the hangout spot nearly all the tables were taken.

But coming to the Hub wasn't her only bad idea.

Jackie had no idea why she had thought that, less than a week after finding out, Donna would have lightened up a little more to the thought of her and Steven together. She hadn't been expecting for her to embrace it, but this was a little much, even for Donna.

"I'm serious, Jackie," she rambled, her voice rising to be heard over all the loud voices.

"I know, Donna. You've only said it like a million times."

"And you've ignored me every single time!"

"And yet, you still haven't gotten the hint. Oh, look, there's a spot over there."

Donna shut up for about as long as it took to get to the table in the corner of the room. She resumed the moment they sat down. "So you're not gonna tell him then."

Jackie sighed and looked her friend straight in the eyes. "I don't know, Donna. We haven't talked about it."

That much was true. Anytime Jackie brought up Michael, Steven's only response was to tell her to calm down and that he won't find out. Which was extremely optimistic considering Donna, Eric, and Fez all knew now.

"Weren't you supposed to end it, anyway? Isn't that what you said you were going to do?'

Jackie shrugged. "We changed our minds."

This time Donna sighed and shook her head. "I just don't get it."

"No. You don't. So shut up about it. Do you want fries?"

"Sure."

"Be right back."

Jackie gladly took the excuse to get up from the table and give herself a second to breathe. Donna was trying to act like the conscience she thought Jackie didn't have. But she didn't realize that Jackie's conscience was fully functional, ringing loud enough in her brain. Add Donna's voice to it and she felt like her head might split open.

She walked up to the counter and ordered a large plate of fries, moving to stand to the side while she waited. Her mind, of course, went immediately to Steven. She was trying to give him space and time to come to the realization on his own that he might like her enough to want to take the next step. It was just taking way longer than expected. She'd even stopped sleeping with him to see if that would push him towards coming to an answer faster. But still: nothing.

The good sign was that he wasn't giving her any indication that he wanted to end it all. The bad sign was that he wasn't giving her any indication that he was ready to risk it all. It was making her crazy.

"Jackie! Hey."

Jackie looked up and found James Sullivan leaning against the counter, smiling a big bright smile at her. James was a junior, too, and he had light brown hair and super smooth skin, perfectly straight teeth, tons of money, and no facial hair. Jackie had used him to make Michael jealous tons of times.

She smiled back. "Hey, James."

"How's it going?"

Jackie bit back a groan. She wasn't in the mood for this right now. "Just waiting for my fries." Take the hint, she prayed, wishing him away.

It didn't work. "Cool. Listen, Jackie, I know Kelso's been going around telling everyone he's really done with you now and-"

"He's what?"

"Well...uh, yeah. Are you not broken up? Because-"

"Oh no we are!" Jackie insisted in a shrill voice. "My decision, not his! I am the one done with him."

"Oookay," drawled James. "Well, whoever it was - since you two are, y'know, officially over, I was wondering if you'd wanna go out sometime."

Jackie's shock was visible. James was nice and cute and rich and would probably do whatever she said. He was practically everything she ever wanted in a guy. "Um..." But he wasn't the guy she wanted.

Screw Steven Hyde. He'd turned her life totally upside down.

She cleared her throat.

She was Jackie Burkhart. It was time to start acting like it.

She reached forward and patted James' hand placatingly. She should have expected that she would attract hot guys now that she was presumably single (though not for long if she got her way). "Thanks for the offer, but I'm gonna have to pass."

His face fell. He was pretty when he was sad. When Steven got sad, he got angry to hide the fact that he was sad. She'd caught him in the act several times. His face then was like a warning - not to get too close or he might explode. Jackie wondered how close he would let her get.

"Oh, uh...okay. Well...you'll let me know if you change your mind?"

His voice yanked Jackie back into the present and away from Steven. She had to stop doing that.

"Sure," she smiled.

James walked away just as her order of fries was brought up. She grabbed it and skipped back over to Donna in a far better mood than she was in when she walked away.

"Donna, guess what? James Sullivan just asked me out!"

Donna frowned. "What'd you say?"

"I said no, of course," Jackie replied, smoothing her skirt over her lap after sitting down. "But it feels good to be wanted, you know? Which reminds me!" Jackie gasped. "Did you know Michael's going around telling school that he is done with me?"

Rolling her eyes, Donna reached for a fry and said, "Yeah, he's trying to get you jealous so that you'll realize you really do wanna be with him?"

"What?"

"Yeah. He's been talking about you and him nonstop all week. He's convinced you're just playing hard-to-get."

"So his response is to play harder-to-get?"

"Pretty much."

"Idiot."

"Well, he's Kelso."

"You should tell him to drop it."

"Don't you think I have? I've covered for you all week! He just won't listen."

Jackie swallowed dryly. "He doesn't care about me, Donna," she said seriously. "Not really."

"What, and Hyde does?" Jackie glared at her friend. She didn't offer a response. "Look, all I'm saying, Jackie, is that if you and Hyde insist on carrying on with this creepy, wrong, sorry excuse for a fling, you either have to end it soon or tell Kelso about it. Cause he's gonna be crushed."

Guilt and worry filled her stomach, ridding her of any appetite she might have had. "Oh, shut up, Donna," she snapped, folding her arms.

But her heart was racing. As annoying as Donna was, she was right. Their relationship couldn't stay secret for much longer.

"Man, that's a travel!"

"No it's not, you idiot!"

"Yes it is!"

"No it's not!"

"You're just saying that cause you're losing!"

"I'm not losing!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm - Kelso, did you get dumber over the summer?"

"That's not possible, Hyde."

"Okay, okay!" Fez's loud, slightly hurt voice interrupted their back-and-forth. "You two are giving me a headache."

Both Kelso and Hyde shut up, and Kelso added with a defeating sigh, "Sorry, Fez. I know you're sensitive."

Forman rolled his eyes and grabbed the ball from the ground. "How 'bout we just call it a game?" he suggested.

"Whatever," muttered Hyde, ignoring the judgmental look in Forman's eyes. Forman seemed to be under the impression that since Hyde wouldn't tell Kelso about what was going on with him and Jackie, that he would at least be nicer to him and kiss his ass. He was wrong about that.

As far as Hyde was concerned, what was going on between him and Jackie was nobody else's damn business. And the more anyone told him he had to tell Kelso, the less he wanted to do it.

Especially when he started blabbering like he was doing now. "Scored a date with that redhead cheerleader from junior year - Gina or whatever." He rolled out his shoulders. "Yeah. Jackie never liked her. The second she sees us together she's gonna drop her whole 'I don't wanna be with you act' and come running back to me. It's genius."

Forman was glaring pointedly at Hyde, who was seriously considering taking the ball from him just to throw it at his face.

"And if that doesn't work?" Hyde asked, feigning nonchalance. What if it did work? Jackie got jealous so easily, and she loved attention. Right now maybe she was having fun with Kelso chasing her around. But if Kelso stopped chasing her...would she really be okay with that?

"Oh, it will. Trust me. I know Jackie better than anybody."

Hyde bit his tongue. Kelso was so full of it.

"Man, I thought you were glad to get rid of her. Why do you want her back so bad?"

Kelso looked at a loss for words at that one. Of course. He had no real reason to want Jackie back other than to be able to say he scored her. Half the school had been waiting for them to break up so they could have their turn with her. Kelso loved being the only person yet to be able to flaunt her around. Like she was some damn grand prize.

"Well…" he began, stuttering out a response. "I did a lot of reflecting in California. And I realized that I really love her."

Hyde couldn't hold back the sound that came from him then; luckily, neither could Forman or Fez.

"Kelso," Forman said, "When I got there you were trying to convince some blonde swimsuit model that you were a virgin."

Kelso smiled wistfully. "Oh yeah. Annette. We really had something special."

Hyde rolled his eyes. He didn't see Forman jumping at the idea that Kelso should tell Jackie he was with another chick.

"But this is different. You know, maybe the third time's the charm. This time it'll really work with Jackie. I know it can. I can tell she's still into me."

"You can?" Hyde knew he shouldn't be asking this - he wouldn't if he didn't give a crap about her. But he did. Forman sent him another warning glance. Again, Hyde pretended not to notice. "How?"

But he didn't offer any information worth knowing. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I can just tell."

Hyde wanted to tell him - in very explicit words - what he thought about that. But Forman cleared his throat and veered the topic away from Jackie, and he let it slide. Kelso didn't know what he was talking about. There was no way Jackie was still into him.

Hyde's zen was really being put to work tonight. He hadn't realized how hard it could be to resist simple urges, like the one he had to stretch his hand out and just rest it on Jackie's knee.

He was sick of himself. This was sick. This effect she had on him was sick.

He forced himself to zone into the game, zeroing in his brain on what was happening before him. He'd lost his cards a while ago, but Jackie and Fez were still in the game, eyeing each other warily.

"Ten," Fez was saying, placing a card face down on the table.

Jackie narrowed her eyes. "Bullshit."

Fez gave a small gasp, and his eyes bounced between his deck, the one on the table, and the card he just placed down. "Oh, screw it, I give up. You win again." You threw his deck down with embellishment and sent cards scattering all over the floor.

"Great," Forman noted. "You can pick all of those up Fez."

Scowling, Fez asked, "Why? Because I am a foreigner I must do all the chores around here?"

Forman blinked. "No. Because you're the one who threw them down in the first place."

"Oh. Makes sense."

The others laughed. Hyde rolled his eyes. It was a typical night in the basement. The entire gang was together, they'd been playing different games all night, and passing around beers as if they didn't have homework to get done.

Jackie, gloating loudly, stood up and flounced over to the deep freeze, grabbing a popsicle from inside. On her way back to the couch she brushed by him deliberately, leaving the hair on his skin standing straight. It was almost a typical night, then. It would have been were it not for the small but constant passes he and Jackie were making at each other.

Earlier, Jackie had made a scornful face at him and told him the material of his shirt just looked cheap, then proceeded to run her hands over the sleeves to prove her fact that, yeah, he bought cheap clothes. (Forman muttered what he thought about that loud enough just for Hyde to hear.)

When he'd been making fun of her for spending hours to get dressed just to go to school, he ruffled his hand through her hair to piss her off, leaving it messy, as well as tracing his fingers lightly on the back of her neck. (Donna cleared her throat loudly to indicate how uncomfortable it made her.)

And when Kelso started pestering her about what she did over the summer, she had responded by telling him she had more fun than she ever had with him. (To which Donna and Forman both looked physically sick.) (Hyde was considering telling both of them to stick their attitudes where the sun don't shine.)

All in all, it had been a good night, with minimal mood killers.

Their ultimate mood killer was walking down the stairs just as the thought crossed Hyde's mind.

"What are you all doing here? It's a damn school night for God's sakes."

Six versions of "Goodnight, Mr. Forman" rang through the air.

"Go home! Go do your homework. Have dinner. Throw a party, for all I care. Just get out of my house!"

Red turned and walked straight back up the stairs, as huffy as when he came down 'em. Jackie furrowed her brows together. "Do you think he forgot why he came down here when he saw us, or did he come down here just to yell?"

"Just to yell probably."

"Yeah, he likes to yell."

Jackie shook her head. "Well, who's taking me home?"

"I gotta take all of ya home," Hyde grumbled, sounding completely unenthused. "Red took away the Cruiser thanks to Forman's genius move going to California."

"Hey, you bought the ticket," reminded Forman.

"Yeah," he replied grudgingly. "To give myself a break from hearing your cries as I fall asleep."

Donna turned to Forman. "Aw, Eric, you cried for me? I don't know if I should be touched or a little disturbed."

"Disturbed," Jackie answered uninvitingly.

"So are you taking us home, Hyde?" Kelso asked, bending down to help Fez collect cards.

"Yeah, I guess. Wanted to take the Camino out for a spin anyway."

"I call shotgun!"

"No, no, no," Jackie corrected. "I call shotgun."

"Nuh-uh! I did it first!"

"Well my one counts more."

"What? Why?"

"Because... I'm better than you in every possible way, so what I say is just more important."

Kelso screwed up his face. "That's not how it works."

"Yes it is, Michael."

"Alright, alright, fine. You can have shotgun."

Jackie smiled her bitchiest smile, then grabbed her bag and dramatically made her way out the door. As soon as it shut Kelso faced the others with a dopey grin on his face, chuckling. "Did ya see that? She totally wants me."

There was a collective groan as Hyde reeled his arm back and frogged Kelso's shoulder, hard. "Shut up, man," he told him. "Just get your crap and let's go."

"Hyde, you missed the turn."

"No I didn't."

"Uh, yes you did," Fez piped up, agreeing with Kelso. "Jackie lives that way."

Jackie, pressed up against the passenger side door, as far away from Hyde as she could be, turned her head to look at him, a single eyebrow raised.

"Crap," he said, not sounding at all disappointed to her ears. "I'll just drop you off first then spin back around."

Fez shrugged and Michael sank back into his seat. They were so oblivious, the both of them. Thankfully so. Jackie hid a smile behind her hand.

Ten minutes later, they were pulling up to the curb in front of Michael's house, having just dropped off Fez, and bidding him goodnight.

He couldn't get out of the car fast enough.

The moment they were off his street and his house was out of sight, Jackie undid her seatbelt and slid across the seat.

"Today lasted forever," she cried, resting her head on Steven's shoulder.

"Tell me about it," he agreed, placing his hand gently on her knee. Jackie wound her arm through his and placed her palm on top of his one. His hand was so big.

"Did you have a good day?" she whispered, not knowing what else she could say. What she wanted to say was: "aren't you tired of sneaking around?" But she chickened out. How on earth was she supposed to tell him that she wanted to tell Michael, to get this over with, to be more than the chick he's having fun with.

"Nah, not really," he answered, applying pressure to her knee lightly. "Did you?"

She shook her head. "Not really."

"Miss me?" His voice was slightly teasing.

"Not as much as you missed me."

He smirked, and that alone made Jackie's heart feel like it tripled in size.

Being this near him again, after the longest day of her life, felt like breathing fresh air for the first time after being trapped inside for weeks. She closed her eyes and just enjoyed the feeling and pretended like it was no big deal the way she felt about him.

Her eyes still closed, she felt him turn up his palm and lace their fingers together. Her heart skipped several beats.

When the car stopped and Steven's hand left hers to put it in park, she still had her eyes closed, and spoke softly, "I don't want to get out."

Steven took a long breath. "You can sleep in here if you want but I'm not stayin' with ya."

Jackie giggled and lifted her head from his shoulder, finally opening her eyes. An onslaught of things she wanted to say to him attacked her mind. She leaned forward and kissed him. His hand pressed the back of her head, holding her close, and his lips were soft (unlike the beard that scratched at her face) and his breath was warm and he was all she wanted.

"Steven."

"Jackie."

She looked up at him and swallowed all the nerves and tension built up in her. He was looking at her with the same curious hunger. "We need to talk."

His face remained the same - stoic and almost expressionless. But in dim lighting of his car she saw his jaw tense. "About?"

"You know. Donna and Eric. Michael."

Sighing, he said, "Jackie, I told you, we'll deal with that when the time comes."

"That's stupid and you know it."

He secured his grip on the steering wheel and stared straight ahead. Even in the dark the El Camino looked out of place - noisy and small and cheap-looking in comparison to all the grand, brightly lit 'mansions' that stood here.

"I didn't mean now," Jackie added nervously. "I just...look, forget it. We'll just deal with it when the time comes like you said." He didn't look super pleased with that either. "Or not…Steven!"

"What?"

"What's going on in your head?"

"What do you mean?"

"What are you thinking?!"

"Right now?"

"Yes!"

"I'm thinkin' that I liked it better when we were kissing."

Jackie slapped his arm. "Look," she said, pulling on his arm so that he would give her his full attention. "Tomorrow night my mom and dad are going to this fancy dinner gala thing. Why don't you come over? We can talk or not talk or whatever you want."

He turned his head back in her direction. "What time?"

"After 7."

He nodded slowly. "Cool."

"So you'll come?"

"Sure, why not?"

Jackie grinned. "Okay."

"Man," Steven shook his head and ducked his head down to kiss her again, quickly this time. He looked like he was gonna say something, then opted out. "I'll see ya tomorrow, Jackie."

Jackie gave him another smile and kissed him on the cheek before climbing out of the car. "See you tomorrow, Puddin.'"