Disclaimer: That '70s Show copyright The Carsey-Werner Company, LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC.

Author's Note: This story was written for the 2022 Zenmasters Anthology on tumblr.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
EMERGENCY SIGNAL

Friday evening in the Formans' basement was like the previous four evenings. Steven sat in his chair with Jackie on his lap. His arms hugged her waist. Sometimes, though, his hands rested on her knees. Neither of them hid their affection from their friends. She'd asserted that policy in Milwaukee this past weekend, and he cosigned.

Which led Eric to enter the Freak-Out Zone, as Steven called it. Five days now, including this one, he paced the basement, tugging on his hair and jabbering, "We're all screwed tomorrow when Kelso gets home. This abomination of yours is gonna rip us apart!"

Fez and Rhonda were cuddling together on the sofa. That left little space for anyone else, so Donna fled to the empty lawn chair. She shared Eric's point of view but calmly.

Steven whispered, "Nutcases," in Jackie's ear. She giggled, but their friends' anxiety was beginning to get to her.

"I am happy for you," Fez said to them, "but I'm sad for Kelso because he is going to be sad."

Rhonda slung her arm over Fez's shoulders. "Of course he'll be sad. But if he really loves Jackie, he'll do the right thing." She gave Fez a sideways hug, and his face fell against her chest. "If had I to move to my family's dirt farm in Mississippi, I'd break up with you so you could find happiness with someone else."

Fez cried into Rhonda's chest and spoke, but his words were muffled. Gently - for her - she helped him sit up straight. "I never want to lose you," he said.

"Aw, I never want to lose you either."

She kissed him on the lips; he grabbed her around the back, and they were making out. Rhonda clutched her glasses in her fist. Her leg hit the wooden spool table, sending an unlilt candle to the floor. Nausea rose in Jackie's throat as Rhonda and Fez exchanged passionate exclamations in the rare moments they breathed.

"Do you have to do that here?" Jackie said.

Donna sneered and pointed at her. "You and Hyde have Frenched in the basement, like, every second since you got home from Milwaukee."

"But we're not gross."

"Oh, yes you are," Eric said and stopped pacing near Donna. "At least Fez and Rhonda make sense."

Steven squeezed Jackie's knee softly. "Watch it, Forman."

"What are you going to tell Kelso, huh?" Eric waved at him and Jackie like they were a fire he was trying to put out. "That while you were keeping his place 'warm' you took his place, too?"

"He already knows how Jackie feels about me," Steven said, and Jackie gaped at him. This was new information—to everyone apparently. All of them at once, and in their own words, told him to explain. "The dinner date Donna helped me set up for you and him," he said to her with an edge to his voice, "so you guys could reconnect ..."

He exhaled through his nose and paused, as if remembering that night. The date was a strange one. She and Michael had become colors that no longer complimented each other but clashed. When they were alone, it was a strain. Her five senses sent messages of agony, but she'd intellectually minimized them and explained them away. Only Steven's presence at the dinner table alleviated the torment.

She'd finally understood why that was so in Milwaukee, clinging to Steven on the hotel carpet. The fullness of her love belonged to him before that dinner. Fighting to return it to Michael had been a futile battle, one her whole body rebelled against.

"Kelso was the one who spotted the truth," Steven went on. "Confessed it in Donna's backyard."

"After you brought out the pork chops," Jackie said, "and Michael ran."

"Was he … okay with it?" Donna said.

Steven nodded at Jackie then addressed Donna. "Jackie's feelings, yeah. But he thinks I don't have any for her and said I should let her down easy."

"All right, we're at DEFCON FIVE, people!" Eric was standing in front of the TV, and his shout was enough to draw Fez and Rhonda's attention. "We need a plan to keep Kelso from going crazed super villain. You remember Prank Day?"

"That's nothin' in comparison to what he could do," Steven said. "He was out of control 'cause Jackie caught him cheating and refused to take him back."

Eric stared at Steven dumbly. He probably had no idea what Steven was referencing, but Jackie understood why. Michael promised to make sure she knew every day how much he loved her, but he'd lied to her for months. Slept with other girls. She couldn't just forget how he'd hurt her. So a few weeks into their breakup, he made sure she knew every day how furious he was. She wouldn't be his girlfriend again, so she deserved to suffer. Michael's vengeance was emotionally brutal, but Steven helped her survive it, not Eric

"And it's DEFCON ONE," Fez said. "FIVE means everything is fine."

"You sure about that, buddy?" Eric said.

Rhonda stood from the sofa. "He said, 'DEFCON ONE!'"

"Fine Whatever." Eric backed off behind Donna and the lawn chair. He clasped her shoulders, obviously using her as a shield. "So our plan is … ?"

"Michael will let me go if he truly loves me," Jackie said. "That's 'our' plan."

Steven patted the side of her leg. "Kelso doesn't let go fast. He'll put up a fight."

"He's changed. We all have—well, you, me, and Michael." She circled her finger in the air, indicating Fez, Rhonda, Donna, and Eric. "I can't speak for the rest of you."

Donna clutched the lawn chair's armrests and glanced up at Eric. "This situation sucks."

"Blame Kelso," Steven said. "It started 'cause he asked me to be Jackie's boyfriend last summer."

"You didn't have to accept," Donna said.

Jackie grunted quietly. "Yes, he did."

Donna released the armrests from her white-knuckled grip. "Why?"

"Out of loyalty to Michael, the kind you and Eric keep going on about." Jackie placed her hand on her heart. "Plus, his love for me. He pretended to be my boyfriend, when I asked him to, so I could have a future with another man."

"Wow." Donna's posture relaxed. "That might be the sweetest thing I've ever heard."

Eric stepped in front of her. "No, it isn't!"

Donna pushed him aside and looked at Jackie and Steven. "I'm so sorry. I totally misjudged you two."

"No, you didn't!" Eric said, and Donna got off the chair.

"Don't speak for me." She crossed the basement to Jackie. "I guess I got hotheaded because I was thinking how I'd feel. Like if you and Eric dated when I was in California."

"Never." Jackie grasped Steven's hands at her hips. "Never, never, never, never, never—"

"Okay, we get it. You find me repulsive," Eric said. "The feeling's mutual. So how do we all stay friends once Kelso learns of your—" he gestured at her and Steven—"unholy union?"

"I doubt it'll be a problem," Rhonda said.

Fez removed a Snickers bar from his pants pocket. "Why not, mashed potato?" He broke the Snickers in half and passed one part to her. A crumb fell between the sofa's cushions, but he found it and ate it.

"'Cause Kelso isn't here that much, and he won't be." Rhonda bit into the Snickers bar and spoke while she chewed. "He's got a gig in Japan soon. He'll be there at least a month."

Jackie's pulse tightened. "How do you know that?" she said, and she wasn't the only one. Steven, Fez, Donna, and Eric asked the same question.

Rhonda leaned back on the sofa, arm stretched along the top of it. "Me and him hung out before he left for Chicago." Her fingers played with Fez's hair. "We got drunk … okay, he got drunk." She chewed another bite of Snickers. "I can hold my beer as long as it's not downing a keg in ten minutes."

"I will never forget that night." Fez gazed at her reverently and devoured his half of the Snickers bar. "You vomited three times."

"Can we please move on from puke?" Eric said, voice cracking, "Or I'm gonna upchuck dinner."

Steven's nose nuzzled Jackie's hair. "Huh. Actual vomit is the one thing that sickens Forman more than we do."

She laughed, and joy sparked between apprehension and anxiety over Michael's return. A romantic relationship was no longer her driving force. Neither was money. Her world comprised far more than she'd ever dreamed, and she wouldn't allow it to be bankrupted.

"So he spilled a bunch of stuff," Rhonda continued about Michael, "including his fourth beer and that he thinks Burkhart's in love with Hyde." Her full attention shifted to Jackie. "He got upset at himself for blowing it with you. Then he said he's going to Japan. His modeling career is really taking off, and if quit, he'd have zilch."

Jackie stomach churned. Michael had sacrificed a lot for their love, and he must've been heartbroken. Their relationship died because of how they'd fought to keep it

"What else did he tell ya?" Steven said.

"He passed out on the couch afterward. I stuck around in case he threw up."

Steven hiked his thumb toward his room. "I sleep right there. How come I didn't hear any of this?"

"He came to my house. This basement isn't the only place to hang out." Rhonda adjusted her glasses on her nose and shook her head. "You shouldn't make assumptions."

Fez crossed his arms over his chest. "What was Kelso doing at your house?"

"He wanted an impartial third party to talk to."

"Are you—" Fez's chin quivered— "attracted to him? I understand. I'll let you go."

Rhonda's big hands cradled his face. "Fezzy, knock it off." She pulled him to her, and Jackie buried her head in Steven chest. Rhonda was probably giving Fez a slobbery kiss, all tongue and ew.

"I will never doubt you again," Fez said breathlessly.

Jackie's eyes shut harder against Steven's beating heart. The churning in her stomach actually hurt. Michael had done nothing wrong. He'd gotten a job like she asked to help support her financially. So she could buy pretty dresses and expensive makeup brands. So he could buy himself toys and not rely on her paycheck. Then his new career stole him from her.

That wasn't the whole story, though. She opened her eyes and focused on the basement's high ceiling. Michael had suggested they temporarily break up so he could sleep with models in Europe. That was the true beginning of their end. He made a different choice after she dumped him, and she took him back, but it was too late.

She grasped Steven's palm tightly. He'd put her needs ahead of his own without hesitation. Recognized Michael as a changed man and remained loyal to both him and her. Steven could be stubborn, but his mind always stayed open. He saw the real her and helped her see it, too.

And the real her loved the real him.

"You okay?" he whispered.

"Very. I have no regrets." Her stomach had stopped hurting, and she pecked his lips. Certain parts of life were predictable. Love wasn't one of them.