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Chapter Twelve: A New Hope

"I'm telling you guys, breaking up with him was the best thing I ever did." Tina gave Jackie a disbelieving once over, swiveling back and forth in the Pinciotti's swivel chairs absentmindedly.

Almost every single night, Donna and Jackie had their girl talks either on the Forman porch or right here in this room. Usually Tina didn't come to them - well, because she didn't feel the need. It wasn't like she was going to be waving a flag with Hyde's face on it any time soon.

"I thought you said that getting a pedicure was the best thing you ever did," Donna grumbled, swirling the cola around in her glass.

"There was also that outfit that you bought last week," Tina pointed out, setting her platforms on the chair in front of her. "You said that was the best thing you ever did too."

"That was last week," Jackie said, rolling her eyes and Tina shrugged, taking a gulp of her cola.

"Well… I don't know." Blue eyes flicked over to stare at the redhead as she picked absently at her nails. "Listen, I'm sorry, Tina but I really don't know what to do about Eric."

The one fault that Tina could find was that Donna was very sensitive to the female plight. She took every little prick at her pride as an insult to her gender. Tina knew full well that her brother was so infatuated with the girl that it didn't come down to gender anymore. He was stupid and rash and sometimes - most of the time - his mouth got away from him.

"I think you're being a little hard on him," Tina edged around the topic, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Come on, Tina. You saw him! He's acting like this possessive macho jerk."

Tina thinned her lips against the words that were threatening to seep out. Her twin brother was a softy. No one would argue that point and normally it led to him getting pushed around. Maybe a little possessiveness was a good reward for having to deal with reality that he was a giant nerd and that he was kind of a push over. And apparently Jackie's too.

"Oh, I am so happy for you, Donna." Tina hid a smile by taking another sip of her coke.

"No!" Donna shook her head. "I'm with him because I thought he wasn't like that."

"You were under the impression that he wasn't going to be possessive at all?" Tina pressed, unable to help the ridiculous question from slipping from her lips.

Donna's eyes flashed. "Yeah."

"So basically like you guys were just friends with benefits," Tina stated bluntly.

Across the table, Jackie had an expression on her face like she was holding back open criticism. And Donna was staring at Tina like she had taken out a banjo and started to sing. Silence hung heavily upon the girls.

Fortunately, at that moment, Midge walked through the door.

"Mrs. Pinciotti, will you please tell Donna that it's cool when men act like they own you?"

Briefly, Tina's mind drifted back to Hyde on the basement stairs. Her body felt like a volcano that was bubbling over. Unwanted, her eyes wandered to the door. Was he still with her brother?

"Oh yes!" Midge exclaimed right away, her eyes lighting up and Tina snorted.

"Mom, what about all those feminist classes you took?" How someone like Donna Pinciotti had come from Midge was beyond Tina. Although lovable in a poor puppy kind of way, Midge was as dumb as a rock. The only thing that got her married and out of her parent's hair was her good looks and the oblivious nature of Bob.

"Oh right," Midge whispered like it had finally dawned on her that she was female and that she was trying desperately to be a feminist. "No."

With that she walked away, humming softly to herself as she went to fix herself something to eat.

"I don't understand you, Tina," Donna suddenly said and the auburn haired girl's eyes flashed a warning at the critical nature of the redhead's voice. "You act like a strong, independent female but you're agreeing with Jackie and my mom."

Tina's patience snapped, her lips thinning as she took her shoes off of the chair and leaned forward to stare at the redhead.

"So you're telling me that when Eric came in and kissed you like there was no tomorrow in front of Hyde and Kelso and Michael and Fez and Jackie and me and God himself - You're telling me that you didn't get the least bit excited?" It was a trap question. If she said no than everyone would know that she was lying and if she said yes than her argument would be wasted.

"That's different-" Donna tried desperately but Tina shook her head, getting up to throw her empty coke away.

"It's really not, Donna," Tina said with a sympathetic smile. "You can't pick and choose when Eric's going to get jealous. That's called being a controlling bitch."

Donna gasped, reeling back. "I am not-"

"Tina has a point. Maybe we could call it being a woman who wants to be in charge. You've always wanted to be that," Jackie said with a shrug.

"Independent! Not bitchy!"

"My brother's not a big mans-man and he's not going to go out and cut some wood to build you a house. But you might want to back off a little bit and give him some slack. You're asking him to not be human at all."

Donna's lips tipped down, her brows furrowing as she stared at the dark liquid swirling around in her glass.

"I didn't do anything wrong," she finally whispered and Tina softened.

"Just give him some time. It's not like we have a load of guys coming in and out of the group."

"Especially hot ones like David Milbank," Jackie threw in, nodding.

"You promise he'll stop trying to be a macho douche?" Donna questioned and Tina resisted the urge to shrug.

"Give him some time," she forced out, turning away to rummage around in the cabinets for some cookies.

"I mean, it's Eric," Jackie emphasized. "How long could it last?"

Tina resisted the urge to say anything, choosing instead to settle into the safe task of eating cookies. She knew her brother. They were twins and if she could say anything about him, she would point out the fact that he had stolen a beer tap from their own father, punched out two of the school jocks, and once called the principle the stupidest person alive right to his face when he had tried to publicly humiliate Tina. Say what you wanted to but under extreme circumstance, her brother was a goddamn hero.

And there was no doubt in her mind that he would keep a grudge against Milbank.

"TINA!"

Tina sighed, closing the magazine that she was reading with a frown as Eric came crashing down the stairs like a herd of buffalo. Tina knew when her brother was worried. She could hear it in his voice and see it in the tilt of his lips. Maybe it was because they were twins. Or maybe it was the simple fact that Eric's problems were so blatantly obvious to her. Especially since it had only been a few days since her little talk with Donna.

Sweat was rolling down her brothers face, his adam's apple bobbing as he gulped and lifted her feet to sit down heavily on the couch.

"Why are you wearing all white?" He looked like he was trying to make a statement. What statement exactly, Tina had no clue but it was honestly hurting her eyes.

"Not our problem right now," he breathed, peeling off his white jean jacket and ruffling a hand through his sweaty hair. "Right now, we need to think about dad and Donna."

"We," Tine emphasized, pushing his shoulder with her foot. "Don't have any problems because we aren't conjoined twins. Just regular twins, Eric. Don't throw me into some weird sibling lump."

Eric's met Tina's and the panic and fear there chilled her to the bone. Her brows furrowed, quickly sitting up.

"Dad's not going to have a job," Eric whispered. "The Milbanks are just here to dine and ditch on the plant."

Tina's mouth went as dry as cotton. Her dad was depending on this job. It wasn't an offhand, extra work kind of job. Sure, Kitty made well-enough money for the household - if you didn't factor in the fact that all three children were back at home, out of their infancy and one was going to college. Five people to feed. More if you put in all the rest of the gang.

"Did you tell mom and daddy?" Tina whispered, the words scraping out as her twin brother's mouth thinned. Tiredly, he shook his head.

"How was I supposed to tell them, Tina?" His fingers pressed into his eyes as he leaned forward. "How do you even bring that up? When they were just talking about how it was saving the house?"

"Okay." Tina ran a shaky hand over her neck, wiping away the sweat that had sprouted there. The house that she had lived in since she was a child suddenly felt as shaky as a house of cards. It was an anxiety that was completely and utterly foreign to Tina. "Okay. Maybe we can help - We can get jobs and -"

"Dad's not gonna let you get a job," Eric scoffed and Tina scowled.

"A secret job, doofus," Tina snapped, slapping the back of his head. "Frank offered me a job at the Hub. I could work there for a bit so that I could just sneak the money daddy gives me to go out back to mom."

Tina nodded definitively, giving her brother a thumbs up as he eyed her dubiously. "You know he only offered you that job because he heard that you were a skank who liked older guys from Freddy Jennis."

"Ugh. What a tool," Tina sneered, huffing back into the couch with a cold glare to the wall.

Eric turned a cool eye to his twin sister. "I mean, you're the one who went out with him-"

The sentence cut off into a squeak as Tina punched him in the arm, turning an arctic glare on him. For a moment, both of the twins were silent, their eyes calculating as one of them crossed her legs and the other nursed his arm.

"Your plan's better than no plan at all," Eric finally concluded, nodding as he stood with a stretch. "I'll look for a job. God knows, Laurie won't."

"What a bitch," Tina steamed and Eric gave a hum of agreement, heading back upstairs. "You going to sleep?"

"Yeah." The brown haired boy stared down at the swelling taking over his knuckles and then glanced back at the back of his twin sister's head where she still sat on the couch. She had already flipped open her magazine again and was staring at a picture of a half-nude girl. "Ew. Why are you looking at that?"

Tina's eyes flicked back to meet his and she snorted at the appalled look on his face. "Like you don't have a stack of them under your covers... And I was curious. I mean you guys look at them so intently - like you're trying to solve every question on your math homework. Come to find out it's just what I see every morning in the mirror-"

Eric gagged. "Oh my god. Why would you say that? Take it back."

"Plus-" She tossed the magazine on the table in front of her with a sigh before turning around to lounge across the back of the couch as she stared at her brother. "Plus, that's all you guys have down here. Found it under the cushions."

Eric resisted the urge to ask her what else she had found under the cushions but decided the safer option was to just shake his head and turn to go up the stairs once more. He needed to get some ice on his hand before Donna saw it and chewed him out. Maybe it would just go away in the night…

"It won't go away in the night." Tina gave him a mischievous smile as he turned an appalled stare on her. Sometime's it was like she could read her mind. Her baby blues rolled as if she could even hear that and his shoulders went up suspiciously. Could she -? "You winced when my foot brushed your hands. Why did you punch David?"

It was like asking why the Earth was round. David Milbank was the biggest dillweed that Eric had ever come across and he was glad that he beat him up on the playground when they were little. He had been hitting on Donna. He had known about the plant and then insulted Eric's dad. And - Eric's eyes darted to the left and his nose twitched slightly. Tina knew that look. Her eyes narrowed, her nails curling into the sofa cushions. Milbank had said something about her. Eric only did that weird nose-twitch stuff when someone was being mean to her. And Tina could only guess that it had to do with her lack of willingness to give out since Donna was also a main topic of the night.

"Lots of stuff," Eric muttered, staring up the stairs. Tina's heart softened, her shoulders relaxing.

"I'll talk to Donna," Tina whispered to her twin brother's obvious surprise. She pushed her tangle of auburn hair out of her face. "That's what you want right? For me to smooth things over?"

"Yeah - Tina - That would be great." Genuine gratitude filled the pale blue of Eric's eyes as he stared at his twin sister and she merely nodded, looking away to her toes as they wiggled into the orange material of the couch. "You really are-"

"Stop." A single finger shot into the air as Tina kept her focus on her toes. "You may have punched David Milbank for the honor of your family-"

"It was a glorious victory. I wish you had been there."

"However!" Tina proclaimed, jabbing her finger into the air definitively. "I will not tolerate your gushy feelings. They make me uncomfortable."

Eric nodded. "Unspoken. I understand. We don't need words-"

A pillow went flying at his head and he scuttled up a couple of steps. "OUT OF MY BASEMENT!"

"Mom said it wasn't anyone's!" Eric screamed at the top of the steps.

"Well, I'm the obvious favorite so I win." The brunette stuck her tongue out to no one in particular as she heard the door open.

"LIES AND SLANDER! MOM!" And then the door was closing.

Tina breathed out, closing her eyes and letting her head roll back to rest on the arm of the couch. Everything seemed to be falling apart as it came together. It was disorienting and it left the brunette breathless. She didn't know what to think. She could barely think at all. Maybe everything would be better if she just pushed it away for a little bit.

Rolling onto her side, she stared blurrily at the small, TV in front of her, it's screen black. For a moment, her mind ran circles around itself. Like a dog on a leash, it swooped around and around the same tree until it couldn't move anymore. Tina's eyes fluttered shut.

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