Chapter Two

As Eric and Jackie stepped outside, the pair suddenly found themselves alone and with no one to act as a buffer. "So," Eric began, "That was an interesting way to ring in the new year."

As they leaned against the hood of Eric's Mustang, Jackie smiled. "Saw my moment and I took it. I always wondered what it would be like."

As they looked up at the night sky, Eric asked, "So, aside from work, how's everything else going?" Jackie eyed Eric sharply. Despite his travelling for when he researched for his novels, Eric had managed to maintain his connecions with most of his family and friends. Jackie had done the same, but the one person that neither of them had really spent too much time with since the end of the Seventies had been Hyde.

Eric had stopped talking to Hyde not long after he had become a teacher. Despite belonging to a wealthy family and having a father that actully loved him for who he truly was, Stephen Hyde had never really left those days behind or moved on from them. Eric and Hyde's relationship had become strained when he'd shown up at the high school one day looking for his friend. Thinking that he needed some help with something, Eric had nearly had a stroke when Hyde had pulled massive bag of pot out of his jacket and had started trying to roll a joint in his classroom.

Immediately kicking Hyde out of the school, Eric had told his adopted brother to never show his face there again and to make sure that when he was ready to apologise, he did so completely sober. That hadn't gone down well with Hyde at all, who had decided to take off to first Kenosha and then Chicago, going all out on a destructive three week bender. W.B.'s concern for his son had eventually reached the point where he'd had to send people to Chicago and retrieve Hyde and deposit him a in first-class rehabilitation facility. One of the first of several, in fact. After that, Eric had started spending at little time as possible around Hyde.

For Jackie, it was even worse. While Eric had only ever dealt with the saner side of Stephen Hyde's personality, Jackie had unfortunately experienced a whole other side to the man; and not for the better, either. After thier relationship had ended on a sour note shortly before 1980 had come along, Hyde had taken off to Las Vegas for a bender to get over it as only he could: with alcohol, drugs and girls.

He'd later returned to Point Place followed closely behind by Samantha, who everyone had thought was his wife, but which was later revealed to be a sham. When the 1980s finally did arrive, Stephen had not adjusted well. It was only after his first stint in rehab that he had decided that the only way to fix his life was to start by bringing back into his life the things that had made him feel good. One of those things, unfortunately, had included Jackie.

At first, Jackie had found it humorous and endearing, but of late it had become creepy and even frightening. So much so that, after the last time Hyde had attempted to win her back had included him breaking into her apartment and leaving a shrine there for her, with some help from Brooke Kelso and W.B., Jackie had managed to secure a restraining order against Hyde. After the restraining order had been granted by the judge, W.B. had then had Stephen admitted to a mental health facility for treatment for an undetermined period.

That had been two years ago. The restraining order still remained in place and W.B. kept Red and Kitty updated with a periodic report of how Stephen was going. The last report that had been passed along had had Hyde finally clean of all the drugs and alcohol that he had polluted his body with over the years. His obsession with Jackie, however, was something that unfortunately was going to take a lot longer to fix.

Realising that he wasn't talking about Hyde, Jackie replied, "Actually, I just moved into this really great studio apartment not far from the office, so I don't have to drive as often as I was before, plus the exercise has been great for my figure."

"And what a figure it is," Eric said with a grin, thinking about the kiss they had shared only a short time ago. Jackie grinned and looked back at the house. So many memories had been created in the Forman home. Many of them were good ones, a few not so much, but all in all, it was one of the few places that she knew that she could call home whenever she wanted.

"I spoke to Donna the other day." Jackie was surprised. She often spoke to Donna and she hadn't mentioned Eric at all in any of her conversations. She knew that while the parting between those two had been bad, it hadn't been anywhere near the level of what her experience with Hyde had been like.

"Wow. That must've been something," Jackie said,wondering why Donna hadn't mentioned it to her before.

"It was, although I must admit that it didn't go as badly as I thought it would." Donna and Eric hadn't spoke since Bob Pinciotti's funeral three years ago. The time before that had been when they'd broken up in 1983 and that had been a disaster cranked all the way up to 11.

"So, what did Donna want?" Jackie was genuinely curious.

"To interview me, funnily enough." Jackie's eyes widened in surprise. "Yeah, that was my reaction as well. Turns out her editor remembered that she was from Point Place and asked her if she knew me. Caught her in a rare moment of weakness and said that we'd grown up together but had lost touch since high school. Next thing Donna knew, she was assigned to interview me as part of a series on authors that the newspaper she's working for is putting together."

"Ouch, that has to sting somewhat!" Jackie laughed. As much as she loved Donna, she was also glad that a little something called karma was finally biting the lumberjack on the ass for the way that she'd treated Eric over the years. Jackie was almost certain that eating some crow would do Donna Pearson the world of good.

Eric chuckled as well, then went quiet. "To be honest, though, it would be be nice to catch up and see how's she going. My resolution for the new year was to forgive and forget and move forward. This seems like a great way to start."

"When do you see her?" Jackie asked.

"Next week," Eric answered. "I'm making a small detour on my road trip to do the interview."

Smiling, Jackie told him, "I hope it goes well, Eric."

"Same here." Eric wrapped his arms around Jackie and smiled. "Been a while since we had some time to catch up. Any plans for the rest of this week?"

Wrapping her arms around his waist, Jackie was more than a little distracted by the muscle that she could feel on him. So much so that she missed the question that he had asked her with her head nestled against his chest. Looking up and realising that he was waiting for an answer to the question she had obviously missed, she said, "Sorry, what was that again?"

Eric grinned. "Did you have any plans for the rest of this week?"

Jackie shook her head." No, not really. I don't go back to work till Monday, so it gives me some time to get the rest of the apartment set up. Why?"

"Want some company?" Jackie's eyes widened in shock.

"What, are you serious?"

Eric grinned again. "Yeah, I am. As much I love my mom and dad and Point Place, I don't feel like spending all my time in the basement like I did as a teenager or getting called a dumbass by Red everytime I say or do the wrong thing. I'd like to start the new year and new decade fresh if I possibly can."

"And you want to spend it with me?" Surprised by this, Jackie stared at the face of the man she had known as a boy and realised that more than a few things had changed over the years.

"Let's just say I'm glad I came back home to see everyone," Eric told her, thinking of the midnight kiss that they had shared.

Also thinking about the kiss again, Jackie smiled and said, "Then I accept your gracious offer." The pair spent several more minutes just standing there embracing one another when Kitty came looking for her son.

"Eric? Honey? I need you and Jackie to come in and help me save your father. Fez and Michael just finished off his good bottle of scotch and he's ready to plant his foot in someone's ass."

The pair looked at each and laughed before heading inside.