Note from your author-
I appreciate all comments and reviews greatly. Unfortunately, my family is jn crisis and I am no longer hyperfixated on Jackie and Hyde so I have no motivation. Enjoy guys, and I'll see you in a few months.
1980
"How'd ya end up here, Mr Hyde?" Bert asked, finally. "If ya don't mind me askin'. Considerin', I get to spend the whole damn weekend with ya."
"Good God, I don't actually know."
By this point, the familiar feeling of withdrawl had set it, and his teeth were clattering together so hard that he didn't even know if his words made sense. He needed to get to a spin dry, and he knew it. But that wasn't Bert's fault.
"Listen, uh, I know that I only get one phone call... But I'm kind of a boozebag, and I'm starting to go through withdrawal-"
Bert got up, walked over, and handed him a quarter through the bars. "I'm feelin' generous today."
He dialed a familiar number.
"Barnett Records, how may I direct your call?"
"May I speak to Julianna Seggall please?" He fought off the shake in his voice.
"One moment."
"Hi this is Julianna Seggall, how may I-"
"Julie it's Steven." Silence. "H-Hello?"
"Where the hell have you been?"
"Funny story, actually-"
"Funny? Steven it's been three god damn weeks, we've been worried sick about you!" Her accent poked through the slightest bit, and he swallowed.
"Funny part is that I'm in Dallas." He coughed.
"So come back home." She grunted. But he could hear the smile.
"About that, actually..." He trailed off, scratching at the scruff on his face. "I kinda, um... I need a ride."
"And why is that?"
"I wrecked the Camino, broke into-"
"Steven, are you in goddamned jail right now?"
He grimaced. "Yeah."
"What the fuck, Cheddar?" He breathed a sigh of relief at the familiar nickname. "You're lucky you're my best fucking friend."
"You're coming? Like now?" He grimaced at the shake in his voice
"Yes, like now. It's a Saturday, ya moron, I don't actually have to be here, I-"
"Who are you talking to?" A familiar voice asked in the background. Julie's response was muffled by the fact that her hand was placed over the receiver.
"Stevie, when I get down there, I'm gonna whoop your ass!" His sister's voice rang loud in his ears. He winced.
"I'll see you both soon?"
"Yeah, by the end of the night." She spoke. "Why do you sound like that?"
"I've been on a bender." He answered, after a small beat. "I haven't had a drink and my body doesn't like that."
Silence. "Huh?"
"If I don't get hospital or booze, I snooze." He spoke, voice rattling. He was working for that sentence. Silence again. "As in potentially die."
"What's the address?"
"Address?" He asked Bert, who looked up at him over his glasses. "Please?" He emphasized.
"87 Gerard Way." The older man spoke, to which Steven repeated into the recieved.
"I'm on-" Click.
"Your collect call has ended. To make another-"
He hung up the receiver. Bert took a few steps over to him, and handed him a steaming mug of what looked like black coffee. He looked at the cup, then looked at the man, who furrowed his brows. "Are ya gonna take it son, or are ya gonna stare at it? My arm is gettin' tired." He wrapped both hands around the mug and took a sip, widening his eyes when he realized what the man did. A triple shot of Jack.
"Keep your mouth shut, boy. I don't need you dyin', and I don't need anyone knowin' that sometimes I have a drink when I'm stuck in here all weekend with fine folks like yourself... No offense."
Steven mustered up his best attempt at a glare, and was met with a laugh. "To be fair, you are a lot more enjoyable like this than you were yesterday." Steven chugged half his cup, before setting it aside for later when he needed it again.
He had really taken some personal inventory this last few hours, realizing the gravity of his alarming month-or-so downward spiral had spread far beyond what he'd ever planned on becoming reality. Sure, he never had high hopes for his future. However, he did expect to not be following in his parents's footsteps in being World's Biggest Booze Bag and Piece of Shit.
He couldn't go twelve hours without a drink before turning into what resembled a dope-sick fiend like Edna. What has he done to himself? How could he lose so much of his control.
He snapped out of his own musings, before speaking. "Thanks."
Bert simply raised his cup.
They sat in silence long enough, a few hours probably, before he finally spoke up, quietly. Almost so quiet the man didn't catch it.
"I'm turning into my folks."
"Pardon?"
"My folks. I lost so much damn control that I pulled an episode like they would have. I always swore I'd be sorta sensible, but here I am and I can't control my drinking at all." His tone was laced with shame, but lacked the weak and shaky tone it had picked up before he drank his secret drink. "Hell, if I didn't know I'd be here for a while, I would have drank that whole cup. But I need it to stay alive."
Bert pursed his lips. "You know, when I was in Korea-"
"You were in Korea?" He asked, dumbfounded.
"Why'd you ask like that?"
"My foster dad was in Korea, but you look like you could be in your thirties."
"I'm pushin' fifty. Anyways, when I was in Korea, I was with a boy like you."
"You were?" He asked, but it came out as a statement laced with sarcasm. He would never die for this country, let alone get on one of those rickety ass planes. He'd be halfway to Canada right now if they told him he had to go into the service.
"Yep. The guy was from Washington State, and believe it or not, he moved all the way to Wisconsin to be with his wife. He used to drink all day just like yourself."
"How'd he stop?"
Bert got a mischievous look in his eye, before he unlocked one of his desk drawers, and pulled out a small black and grey cylindrical container.
"Camera film?" He asked, dumbly, before he realized what this man had in his hand. "Film film." He finished, snickering. "Are all the Texas p-Cops so cool?" He asked.
"No, son, you just got lucky this weekend. I reckon the universe is givin' you a second chance." He spoke, lighting up his pre-rolled cigarette.
"I reckon you'd be correct."
Baby cries had made the house sound like absolute chaos for the last few months.
Tyler was a very colicky baby.
Jackie, Eric, and Laurie sat on the couch, in front of the bassinet they'd wheeled out for the screaming baby. Tyler was now approaching three months old, and she had not been making it easy on the Foreman household to get an ounce of shut eye.
She was asleep.
But it was also three in the morning and she had only been asleep for an hour.
Nights like these the last few months had not been uncommon, but the doctor had told Jackie that by three to four months old is when it should go away. Right now, it seemed like the baby would wait all the way until her four month birthday to stop these frequent nights of no sleeping.
"I don't wanna move because she'll start screaming again." Eric whispered. Laurie was passed out, head on his shoulder.
"You don't-" Jackie started before she was cut off by the yawn that crawled up her throat. "I appreciate you guys, but you can go to bed."
He gave her a pointed look.
Eric had stayed true to the promise he had made to Tyler the day she was born. He was doing his best to make sure it was as if Hyde had never gone anywhere. And, Jackie would be lying if she said it wasn't beginning to make her feel guilty.
"I told you-" He began louder and more aggressive than he meant, but still speaking quietly. He was just as exhausted as her, because he'd kept his word, and grown incredibly fond of Jackie.
He supposed they'd grown closer since him and Hyde lost complete contact with each other. It stung, and he was determined to lessen the sting of what Jackie was feeling, and to fill a void that he would leave in his daughter. He couldn't imagine how they felt. However, he understood him not talking to Jackie. Hyde was stubborn. However, what the hell did Eric do to him, of all people, aside from being his literal brother. Hyde was taken in by his parents when he was fourteen. They'd been best friends their whole lives. When Eric was sick with severe tuberculosis, he sponge bathed him at one of the weakest moments of his life. How could he not have in the very least, reached out and caught up.
"I know you did. You, however, aren't being held responsible. I hope you know that." She reassured.
"Ah." Tyler began to fuss, only a bit, moving her arms and clenching her fists.
The two held their breaths, Laurie was still silent and snoozing with her head now resting back onto the couch, and the kid seemingly stopped stirring. But as soon as Eric exhaled, she started back up again, this time in full force.
Laurie woke up, groaning. She would hang out with Jackie and help sometimes, as she had her own raging insomnia, unrelated to the baby and was a natural night owl. Although now, she was hardly getting any sleep at all because Tyler would only have these bouts of colic at night. It was an insane switch. And it was bad for her niece too, but the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with her. In fact, they even went on to say she was the healthiest two month old they'd ever seen, but that was before recommending she follow up in a month.
That follow up was yesterday. She was perfectly healthy. She did nap, too, and sleep for periods of time, but they felt it was extreme.
They turned every fan in the room on, creating a white noise and repeating the other steps they knew to take upon the advice of her pediatrician. Picked her up, rocked her in the chair, hummed songs to her. Everything the doctor told Jackie to do. She even started feeding her special formula. By now she had been scream-crying for ten minutes, and showed no sign of stopping.
"Why is nothing working?" Jackie started crying too. She hadn't cried in months. She felt so tiny, like a bad mother. "I was crazy to think I can do this by myself." It was the exhaustion talking too, for she was far more determined than it seemed at the moment.
Eric took Tyler out of Jackie's arms, held his niece in one arm, and wrapped his free one around Jackie, who was also in hysterics. He rubbed her back, and swayed as Tyler wailed louder. They all winced.
"I'm a bad Mom." She mumbled, her cries had now quelled, and she ran her hands upwards over her face and then back over her two-day-old braids.
"Jackie, honey, you are doing an impeccable job at being a Mom. Especially as a single one." Laurie spoke, voice laced with exhaustion. She reached behind her brother and squeezed her shoulder.
"You are not a bad mother." A low voice traveled from the stairs, making everyone jump. Red took Tyler into his arms, rocking her, and her cries quelled significantly, to small whimpers.
"How did you do that?" She asked, incredulously.
"I had practice with two of my own colicky kids." He told her quietly, before taking a little bottle out of his pocket, and handing it to her.
"What's this?"
"Magnesium with Lavender and Chamomile. Only a little on the soles of my feet puts me out like a light." He told her. They all looked at him in shock.
She just looked at him, dumbfounded to the point of being unable to respond. "How-"
"My wife is a nurse and I was a war vet. The VA gave me this trick the year after I got home. Helps with shell shock insomnia." He explained. "I asked one of the Doctors that works with Kitty in the PICU if it was ok for babies and she said not to try in large amounts, so only use it if it's necessary."
"How do we know if it's necessary?" She asked, looking at the bottle as if it was poison. It gave her immediate anxiety.
"Right now, Jackie, sweetheart." Kitty's tired voice contributed from the stairs in the dark room. "She has been the worst she has been since it started when she was a newborn. It's just one drop from the dropper split between her two feet. Massage it into their soles and in a minute, they'll calm down. In ten or so minutes, the baby will be asleep. Sometimes you need to work on managing their issues rather than treating things like this because there isn't much you can do in this case." She explained so gently, and so professionally. Her being a PICU nurse, she knew exactly what to do. She walked over to the small girl, and grasped her hands in her lap. "Don't ever tell yourself you are a bad mother. You are doing everything you can." She told her.
"I don't know what I would do without you guys." She spoke, leaning forward to hug the older woman, who embraced her. Red walked into Jackie's room, and placed Tyler down in the crib. She stirred for a moment, before closing her eyes and falling asleep.
"Who knew you were the baby whisperer." Eric whispered, shocked.
"Don't be a smart-ass." Red scolded, smirking nonetheless. He yawned, frowning. "It's bed time." He announced.
Jackie flew forth and hugged the man, who awkwardly hugged back, clearing his throat. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She repeated.
"Yeah, yeah. We all need some sleep, kid." He patted her head, and she pulled back, yawning.
"Get some sleep dear." Kitty told her, embracing her quickly, before following her husband up the stairs.
"Goodnight, guys." Laurie yawned.
They both expressed their tired goodbies, and Eric lingered a few moments longer.
"I don't know what I'd do without everyone." Jackie spoke, keeping her voice low as she watched Tyler sleep peacefully. Her voice also held an undertone of shame, although not super evident. "Especially you. I don't know how I would function if you and I hadn't put our petty differences aside." She looked at him, and in the low lighting you could barely make out the dark circles and bags under their eyes. "You make it like she has a father. I can only imagine what it'll be like when you and Donna have kids."
He flushed, at the thought. Him and Donna had been finally making some headway in the romance department. After every hang out he would report back to Jackie (if he even came home), and they would jump up and down like school girls. She'd always give him good advice about surprises and tell him about what she'd been into, and also would talk about Eric's recent interests and quirks. She loved meddling. And he hated that he could say he enjoyed her meddling and would never admit it to her as long as he lived.
At first, Donna was suspicious about the friendship that had brewed between them. Eric had always cared about Jackie deep down, even though he would not admit it before they parted ways. They were barely on speaking terms. Jackie also never mentioned it to Donna about their friendship. However, Donna quickly got over it, after being reassured by their platonic nature. They couldn't have a relationship like that after being like brother and sister. Especially after Jackie being with Hyde.
Regardless, they hadn't put a label on it, and they both still deny having slept with the other, so the comment was totally girlish, but he can't deny him thinking about it.
"Jackie," He began, whining her name like a child but still quiet. She grinned at him. "We're just testing the waters. We are still so far from those conversations." He huffed.
"But you still think about it." She finished for him and he sighed.
"Yeah I do and I'm such a girl about it." He joked. He looked up from his niece and met her eyes, and the two shared a friendly embrace.
"I will always be here for you though, regardless of children or girlfriends." He promised. She sighed, feeling guilty.
Hell, she even sometimes felt shame at the thought of her best friend being the one to show a father figure and having to explain to everyone that they were just friends. Or her having to explain it when she goes to the doctor. She felt judged. And she felt ashamed. Of being judged and being a single mother, and barely being able to handle it with help, let alone without it.
And now, she felt ashamed of being ashamed.
Eric wished the two good night, and didn't even make it upstairs, passing out on the couch in the living room.
She too, shut off her lights and crawled under her fluffy covers. The warm feeling of falling asleep soon washed over her, crashing into her abruptly as she passed out, sleeping soundly the moment her head hit the pillow.
Tyler didn't wake up again.
Jackie was up first that Sunday morning after Tyler's night of screaming. She'd been sleeping soundly since Red put that stuff on her feet, although Jackie still made sure she didn't accidentally poison her child.
She had more than enough money after Pam revealed she had no money to take Jackie to court and abided by the lawyer's eviction notice. She could handle the finances and she contributed to household expenses from the money she made selling the house. Her father had left her almost everything he had, advising her to sell it before people started taking them.
She liquidated the assets and cashed out on a solid almost million. 999,473 to be exact, that is not so significant now, but could be.
The first thing she did was buy a car. Her old Lincoln had finally stopped running. As soon as she got the check from Jeremy, who also helped her liquidate her assets. She felt so powerful calling them her assets. There were LLC's and licensed, and physical items like years of antiques, clothes, high end furniture, jewels, gold. All of it she sold with help.
A '58 Cadillac Caisis had caught her eye. It was flashy, and pink. She oogled over it before glancing at the price. This particular Caddy was not worth 7,000. There was nothing entirely too special about it besides the color and it was old.
She looked at cars for weeks, knowing she'd find one and fall in love with it.
Then she saw Midnight. The black paint had flecks in it that made it sparkle, and the sun shone on it, angled so perfectly that it looked like a spotlight, and imaginary angels flew down from heaven singing choir music. She rushed over to the '67 Chevelle, running her hands along the chrome accents and smiling giddily as Red laughed at her antics. She drove it off the lot.
The next day, she did some snooping. Well, not so much snooping as she did asking about mortgages with Red and Kitty. They told her who the best broker was. She marched down, demanding she pay a bill.
She paid off Red and Kitty's house. That hadn't gone over so well, but nonetheless the family appreciated it.
Then she didn't stop there. In fact, she gave Eric and Donna money to go to college and put respective lump sums in accounts for both Betsy and Tyler, for schooling in their later years. And by the time she was done, she was still left with almost 900,000 dollars.
She put some into Certified Deposits and kept the rest in a savings account, listening to Red about the importance of smart finances. She even decided she was going to go to school herself.
Tyler had finally stopped having these bouts of colic around September, which was convenient for Eric and Jackie, who had decided it was time to go back to school and work.
Speak of the devil, the youngest Foreman child entered the room, yawning, and pouring himself coffee. He mumbled something out that sounded like Good Morning, but she was particularly chipper.
"Good morning!" She chirped, munching on a piece of toast.
He sat down gruffly. It was around eight. The five hours he got that night were better than anything they'd gotten lately, but he had so much sleep to catch up on. The door to the driveway rolled open, and in walked Kelso and Fez, followed by a distraught-looking Brooke, and finally Betsy toddled in behind them all, running at Jackie.
"Aunt Jackie!" She squealed. Jackie picked her up, and placed a finger over her lips as she had been doing when Betsy was far too loud for sleeping babies.
"Tyler sleepin'?" She asked innocently. Jackie nodded. "I be quiet." She whispered, smiling. Jackie finally looked up and noticed everyone was silent, and finally she landed on Brooke, who looked as if she had been crying.
"Brooke, babe, are you okay?" She asked, and the woman started crying again, excusing herself to the living room. Jackie eyed Kelso suspiciously.
He pursed his lips in a thin line, and Jackie realized that Kelso was having a rare moment of seriousness. His eyes were dark, and he looked as if he may have been crying too.
"What happened?" Eric finally asked, breaking the silence.
"Gamma Charlie say Daddy no good." Betsy answered for them.
"Brooke's Ma disowned her." He finally spoke, explaining his daughter's short and simple answer. Jackie frowned, handing Betsy over to Eric. "Because of me, and she also disowned her grand daughter." His tone was laced with hurt and anger.
"Bets, honey, your Daddy does a fine job at whatever he puts his mind to. Especially at being your Daddy." Her words were really meant for Kelso, but she turned around, making her way into the living room. She sat down next to Brooke, who now looked a bit more put together than before, albeit still flushed and puffy-eyed. She gave Jackie a small smile.
"What happened?" Jackie asked, not skipping a beat. Her and Brooke's relationship was still new, and she figured if she didn't just jump to the point, it had the potential to get very awkward very fast.
"Oh, Jackie." She began, tears welling up all over again, and the smaller brunette rubbed her back soothingly. "I heard Michael-"
"I want to hear the details and I want to hear it from you." She pressed, before adding. "If you feel comfortable, of course."
"I took Betsy to see my mother the other night, and at dinner, in front of Betsy mind you, she just shit all over Michael. About how he's young and immature, and then she had a bullshit list of reasons." She took a deep breath. "She told me to move back to Chicago with her and I could even keep Betsy." She spat that part out like poison. "I told her not to say that and I told her no. No, I wouldn't keep Betsy from her father. Even if he needs to work on some stuff, he still loves her and is a good father. She needs him."
Jackie nodded, taking it in.
"Then she told me it's either her or my little fake family, and I told her that I'm not going to do that to Betsy, and well..." She trailed off. "You already know how that turned out.
She met Jackie's face expected to be met with pity, but instead she was met with empathy and a frown. "I'm so sorry Brooke. I know how you feel." She rested a hand in her knee, before hearing a crash in the kitchen. The two rushed in to see that Kelso had dropped a plate, and Jackie and Brooke laughed.
"Do you want coffee?" She asked the three adults, finally acknowledging Fez. "Fez, coffee?"
"Yes please." He told her.
The group ate breakfast together, and that day was a turning point in Brooke and Jackie's relationship as friends. It had always been a bit weird, considering how they had both been with Kelso, but now they both felt it was finally starting to dissipate, especially now that they were both mothers and simultaneously motherless.
"I so happy!" Betsy cooed. Everyone laughed.