Sadly, I do not own the rights to this show. I am just playing with the characters. But I am convinced that even as a middle schooler I would have written a way better series final.

Oh, I did want to clarify that this is all taking place in my version of season 8. I probably shouldn't tell you this, but oh well, I will. After watching the first episode of this trash season, and I saw Sam, I didn't finish it. Everything I know about the season is from my fellow authors stories, or things that I googled. In my version: Eric never left, Donna did still befriend Sam and blew off Jackie, Kelso has not yet gone to Chicago, Fez is…Fez. And Jackie, is finally sticking up for herself. I am not sure why a girl like Jackie would stick around people who treated her like the gang did that final season (again from what other authors have written and what I read online is how I know these things). So, MY Jackie, has decided to do what I wished she would have in the show!

Okay. Sorry about the soap box. Had to get it off my chest. And please forgive me if I bring it up again. Cannot promise I won't revisit this rant later lol.

Let us begin. Hope you enjoy. And as always, let me know your thoughts in the reviews!

Chapter three:

Hyde was drunk.

Oh yeah. Very drunk.

After storming away from Jackie and Red at the shop, he went to the nearest store and grabbed himself a six pack. And then he grabbed another before he even left the isle. He figured he was gonna need it; he didn't think this was a six beer problem.

Then he came back to the Forman's. A place he had called home for years. Sat down at the kitchen table and began to drink.

And drink.

And drink.

Then, after he drank his twelve beers, Hyde moved on to Red's stash in the refrigerator.

Red was gonna be pissed.

Hyde didn't care.

Who the hell did he think he was, anyway? Hiding Jackie behind his back. Working with her at the muffler shop and no telling him. What the hell, man? For weeks now, Hyde had listened as he told stories of his new "employee". Someone who really knew cars and what "they" were doing. Someone he thought was funny. Red thought "they" were fucking hilarious with the way "they" would burn customers.

It had been Jackie this whole time. And Red chose not to tell him.

He took another swig of beer. Maybe it was because it was Mr. Forman's, maybe it was because he was getting off on knowing that the older man was gonna be angry, but there was just something about this beer. It was refreshing. It tasted better than the first twelve that he drank.

Maybe if he wasn't so busy glugging the rest of the can, he would have heard the front door slam open. Maybe if he wasn't already so drunk, he would have saw the angry figure step through the swinging door.

Or maybe he just didn't care.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Hyde burped and looked at the older man with red eyes, "What's it look like?"

Red stared at him; judgment written all over his features. "That better not be my beer, dumbass."

"Or what," Hyde said, the alcohol making him brave. Or stupid.

"I swear, if you dipped into my stash, with Kitty still going through…the change, I will break my foot off in your ass and leave it there." He crossed over to the fridge and began to count the number of cans he could see.

Hyde hiccupped. "Good one, man. Heard it before though."

The younger man saw Eric, who had just come in the sliding glass door, stop as he took in the scene and let Hyde's words sink in. "Dude, do you have a death wish?" Forman gulped with wide eyes.

"I was thinking the same thing," Red muttered, glaring at Hyde as he raised the beer can to his lips again.

"Guess what, man?" Forman didn't say anything. Must have been too scared to speak. Hyde smirked, but it wasn't a nice one. He knew if he saw the look on his face, it would be full of malice. "Jackie is working with Red at Forman and Son."

"Oh, you know." The skinny man said next to him in a sarcastic voice.

Hyde whipped his head around, "You knew?

Forman shuffled his feet at the look Hyde was giving him. He shrugged, "Well, I helped train her. Turns out," he said waving a pointer finger around. "Jackie actually knew more about cars than I did. So," again, he shrugged, "It was more like me just standing there while she taught me a thing or two about mufflers."

Hyde stayed silent. He just looked at his best friend. Again, for what had to have been the hundredth time today, he was shocked.

So, Forman knew. And never told him. His best friend. His brother. Never told him that his chick was working just a couple miles down the road. Never told him in all the times he had asked about her, that she was putting in hours at a shop that was just a couple-minute car ride from him.

"What are you explaining things to him for?" Red asked angerly. "Its none of the moron's business who I hire at my shop."

"Jackie is my business!" Hyde roared at the older man. He stood up from the kitchen table and he wobbled a little bit. The older man looked at him unimpressed while the younger Forman cringed back away from him.

"You think so? Cause I recall you coming back after being gone for two months with a stripper wife and every intention of throwing her in the Loud Ones face whenever you had the chance. Too bad your plans were ruined when she didn't play your little game."

Hyde was confused. What game?

"Oh you don't know?" The sarcastic tone barely registered with Hyde as he watched the older man cross his arms. "The game where you cut her down and make her feel worthless, over and over, until you finally feel better about yourself."

"That's— that is not what I was doing."

"Oh really? Cause it was a game Bud and Edna played all the time. If I remember correctly, they were really good at it."

"Dad," Forman cried as he lunged for the older man.

Hyde didn't remember moving. But all of a sudden, he was taking a swing at Red. How dare he compare Hyde to his parents? Hyde knew better than anyone the games Bud and Edna played, not just with themselves but also with him. More like on him.

Red casually dodged the punch. And as Hyde went to throw another, Red jammed his fist into Hyde's ribs with a surprising amount force that made Hyde lose his breath and his knees give in.

"Oh, hell," Hyde barely gasped out while clutching his stomach.

That hurt like a bitch. It had been a long time since Hyde had been hit like that. He shouldn't have been surprised this man still knew how to punch and where. He was a veteran. One of the best to ever serve this country. Red had some of the best precision too. He remembered from when he shot Kelso in the ass with a Beebe gun.

In his drunken stupor, Hyde must have forgotten.

"Alright," Red said, rubbing his shoulder while he was still bent over wheezing. "Settle down and you won't get hurt again."

Hyde rolled his eyes but didn't object to being moved back to the chair he was just sitting in. "Give me a minute and I'll be ready," he said half joking.

Red rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. Hyde knew there was nothing to say. He was just taken down by a man twice his age.

It was the beer. He was clearly drunk and couldn't function properly. His movements were sluggish and uncoordinated.

Hyde perked himself up. "If I was sober…"

"I would have knocked your head in," Red finished. "Why are you standing there gaping at us like a fish?"

"You guys…I saw him…and then you," Forman couldn't put a full thought together.

"Its just men, working things out." Red said as if it was obvious. And to Hyde, it was obvious. This was how they worked things out. But then he remembered who they were sharing the room with. It seemed, Red did as well.

"Real men, Eric."

The skinny kid nodded exaggeratedly. "Right,"

Hyde shook his head. Forman didn't get it.

All three of the men were quiet for some time. They sat there in silence for so fucking long, he no longer felt drunk. Must have been the spike in adrenaline when he went after Red. Or maybe it was the blood that rushed to his head in anger when he heard that truth fall from Red's lips. More than likely, it was being punched in the gut by a veteran.

"Why didn't anyone tell me," Hyde finally spoke to the room when his thoughts were a little clearer.

The younger Forman looked at him, "I didn't think you cared, man."

"What gave you that stupid idea?"

He rolled his eyes, "Oh I don't know, how about…" Forman trialed off and rubbed his chin in fake thought, "YOU MARRIED A STRIPPER!"

Hyde looked at his best friend like he was crazy, "So?"

Eric gapped at him and looked to his father.

Red sighed as he grabbed a beer and sat in his usual chair in the kitchen. "The Loud One asked me not to tell anyone. And with the way everyone had been treating her, I thought 'good'. She doesn't need yours or anyone else's shit shoveled on her, Steven. That girl has barely survived the hole her parents dug her into. The hole she dug herself into when she gave up that job and moved back here to be with your dumbass. That girl, she's really turned her life around. And I don't think she would have been able to if she remained here."

"With me," Hyde clarified.

"No man, with all of us." Forman took the seat next to him and drummed his fingers on the table.

"Knock it off," Red said in exasperation.

"Sorry," his best friend twitched and then turned to face him. "I've been to the store a couple times. Not to 'check in' on her or anything but…" Hyde watched him struggle for words.

"To check in on her," He clarified again.

"Yeah," Eric's shoulders sagged and he leaned into the chair. "She's doing really well. She's going to college. Got herself some new friends. Hyde, man, she's smiling."

"Damn, Forman. You sound like you care. Where did all this come from? As far as I remember, you've never liked her. Always complaining about her and calling her the devil."

"Oh, she still is the devil. But it's different." Again, he watched his friend shrug. "I was there, the night Jackie decided to move out of Donna's house. She had overheard something Donna said about not knowing why she was really friends with Jackie to Sam one night. I've only ever felt sympathy for the Devil once before, but this time. Man, I could barely get her to stop crying. YOU KNOW HOW I AM WITH TEARS!"

"Jesus, keep it down will you. My ears are ringing." Red rolled his eyes and covered one of his ears.

Hyde stared at the table. So Jackie moved away because of Donna? It wasn't him that she was trying to get away from. It was Donna.

"Don't get too excited, moron." Red said looking him in the eye. "Donna may have been the reason she moved away, but you're the reason she stopped coming here." Mr. Forman glared at him, "Because of you, I had no one here to help me with my carburetor. And my wife was worried sick about her. You know how she is when one of you idiots don't come around after a few days to be fed or looked after. Stray cats, the five of you."

"Hey," Forman said in indignation. "I'm your son. I live here. If anything, I'm a house cat."

Both Hyde and Red rolled their eyes and looked away.

Clearing his throat, Hyde looked at Red. "What do I do?"

Red looked at him. Really looked at him. It was like he was reading the younger man and assessing him. With a sign, Red shook his head, "I don't know, Steven. There may be nothing you can do. You screwed up, bigger than with that nurse. Bigger than when you let her walk away and move to Chicago."

Hyde's face scrunched up, "You know about that?"

"The Loud One never shuts up. Sadly, I can't tune her out as well as I can you other imbeciles."

Forman leaned closer to him and stage whispered, "Its cause she's his favorite."

Hyde nodded. The whole gang knew that Jackie was his favorite. Ever since that day he saw her helping Red with the car all those years ago. She had been his favorite ever since.

"Listen, Red. I have to try."

Again, Mr. Forman just looked at him. "Its not me you have to convince."

"Okay."

"Hey, man, why don't you start by being something you never were to her." Hyde looked at Forman with a frown. "A friend."

"I don't want to be her friend."

Maybe Red was right. Eric was a dumbass if this was the bullshit advice he had to give to him. What the hell did he mean 'be something you never were to her'? He took her to prom! That was before he even TOLERATED her. And there was always something about her tears. They're like Kryptonite, man. Not even Superman could look into her big, mismatched eyes as she cried and refuse to take her to prom because he had hero shit to do. No, Superman would put that crap on hold and take her to the dance. Just like he had.

And he thought her Zen. He had never taught anyone else Zen before. Hyde smiled as he remembered how excited she was when she used it properly for the first time with Donna. Or when he got to watch her beat up Laurie. That was nice. The tiny brunette really kicked her ass.

He took the wrap for her when the police tried to arrest her. Shit, he didn't even think that was something he'd do for Forman, and he was like a brother to him. Even then, the petite girl had him in knots and outta his mind. It's the only reasonable explanation he could think of, at the time, as to why he would go to jail for her.

Forman placed his hand on his shoulder, "It might be the only thing Darth Vader is willing to give."

"No man, Darth Vader wants everyone to join him in the Dark side. Be bad and shit. Jackie always wanted me to be better. If anything she's like Obi Wan." Hyde nodded as he thought more of it, ignoring Forman's gasp of terror. "Yeah man, she gives good advice and always tries to make things better in her own way. She has to be Obi Wan, or Luke!" Maybe he was still drunk if he was willing to speak geek with his best friend.

Forman shot out of his chair so quick it toppled over behind him. "I can't…you just…bu—," Without saying anything else, he marched out of the kitchen into the living room.

Red looked at the fallen chair and back at Hyde with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not picking that up." Hyde nodded any bent down to straighten the chair.

"If anyone is Luke, its me!" Forman said coming back into the kitchen through the singing door.

"Would you two idiots knock it off, I'm trying to enjoy my beer."

"Sorry," They both said.

….

….

…..

Not stalking.

Nope.

No stalking here.

Hyde watched Jackie as she practically danced behind the bar. She was dodging and weaving and stepped around that other chick like a pro. Taking steps forwards and backwards; side to side. He couldn't describe it any other way other than she was dancing. And she was amazing at it. Hyde knew that she was the favorite bartender, hell, everyone who worked here knew she was the favorite. Jealous bitches just didn't like to admit it, but Jackie was always asked for. He had heard people asking about her schedule. Or waiting out this other bartender just so they could get served by Jackie.

If he was being honest, he didn't know why he was here. It wasn't like she would talk to him. It wasn't like she was even gonna acknowledge him.

Hyde tried already once. And again at Forman and Son.

Tonight, he had attempted to stay away from this damn bar. Sitting in his chair in the basement, trying to watch tv or talk to his friends— anything that would distract him for getting up and driving all the way out to Kenosha. He couldn't. The longer he sat there in his chair, the more his leg began to bounce, the stronger the erg to stand became and he physically had to stop himself from grabbing his keys in his pocket.

When he finally couldn't take it any longer, he began to pace. Back and forth. Back and forth.

"Hyde, just go." Forman said.

He looked at his friends. They all knew where he wanted to go. "Tell her I said 'hi'," Donna smiled sadly at him.

"Oh, ask her if she still has my bag of candy!" Fez said as he bounced in his chair. "I haven't seen her in two months and she better not have eaten it!"

"Was you bag blue with a white string?" Kelso asked nervously.

"Yeeessss," Fez said eyeing his friend.

Kelso rubbed his legs, "Little buddy, I'm sorry to say, but I think I ate them."

"You son of a bitch!" Fez cried.

Hyde didn't stick around to hear the rest of the argument. He marched to the door. Not looking back at any of them as he took the steps two at a time. She was gonna beat him there tonight. He didn't know how to play this. The past week he had been getting there before her and just…observing.

There was no way he could just slip into the bar without her noticing him. Everyone time someone entered, Jackie or that other bartender would look over at the door.

It was okay, he thought while driving. He had about forty minutes to think of something.

When he arrived, he tried to convince himself he wasn't nervous. He had nothing to be nervous about. This was his chick. Or used to be his chick. And he knew her better than anyone. He will try the "friend" thing that Forman mentioned, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do.

As he entered the bar, he saw her. She was behind the bar pouring a drink.

Like a magnet, Hyde walked up to the bar and tapped on the countertop. She looked at him and barely blinked. "What can I get you?"

Sucking in as much air as he could, "Beer."

Silence.

With two quick feet, she placed that glass down in front of a woman with red hair and then moved to the cooler under the bar. She grabbed a beer and set it in front of him. "Paying now, or starting a tab?"

This was good. The last time he came up to the bar, she had hightailed it out of here as fast as she could. Even though she was acting as if she didn't know him, he still was happy she was talking to him.

He had missed her voice.

"I'll start a tab."

Jackie nodded and turned away from him.

Hyde made himself comfortable and watched her from the bar stool.

He had missed being able to watch her this close in person. Hyde used to watch her from behind his glasses, or when they were alone in the basement. She was just…gorgeous. Her facial expressions were always easy for him to read. He knew when she was annoyed or when she was happy, sad, proud, heartbroken. Jackie never tried to hide her emotions. Always wore her heart on her damn sleeve. Hyde used to make fun of her for that.

Now he wished for just a glimpse of an emotion. Not this bartender Jackie who smiled at ever (but him) and joked around with all the customers (but him) and laughed when people tried to hit on her.

Her Zen was too strong, and he had no idea when she learned to harness it so well. It was like one day, she flipped the switch and decided to give him…nothing.

Maybe Red was right. Maybe he had screwed up worse than he ever had before. There may not be away for Jackie to forgive him this time. He fucked up so badly that his chick just…left. Without even saying goodbye. This cold and aloof Jackie could be all he ever got from her again.

There would be no more smiles.

No more giggles.

No more of her straightening out his clothes.

No more little kisses.

No more of…her.

How did he get here? How had he messed up his life so royally that the woman he loved could hardly look at him?

But he knew how. Of course, he did.

Hyde had promised himself he was not going to think about it.

But has he gazed at Jackie from his place at the bar and watched as she handed an older guy with a huge beer belly and a bald head a drink, it was all he could think about.

Hyde had watched with suppressed glee as her mismatched eyes looked at him when he had finally returned home almost four months ago. How they changed right in front of him. The instant he introduced Sam as his wife, the tiny brunette recoiled as if she had been hit.

"Wife?" She had asked, looking at him.

In that moment, Hyde had relished the feeling he had. She was hurt. Just as he had been when he saw Kelso enter her hotel room with nothing on but a towel. She was confused, just like he had been when he showed up with a ring in his pocket and her acting sketchy. The vindictive part of him, the part of him that must hurt everyone just as badly as they had hurt him, was thrilled. For three whole seconds, he saw the hurt and the betrayal in her eyes.

And then there was nothing.

He was shocked shitless when she straightened her spine, looked at Sam and said, "Welcome to Point Place, Mrs. Hyde."

Sam had been surprised but happy. The stripper didn't know that this tiny little girl in front of him was the reason he went on a two-month bender that landed him in front of her stripper pole drinking his feelings and trying to forget about brunettes with a perfect slim body. Forget hair that smelled like fruit and the softest skin he had ever ran his hands over. Hyde went looking for blondes with big tits. The complete opposite of the girl who trashed his life.

Hyde watched in silence as the girl looked at the stripper next to him and smiled and laughed. Hell, she even introduced herself as his ex.

"I'm Jackie, this guy and I," she pointed at him in an overly dramatic way, as if she was letting Sam in on the joke, "Used to date not too long ago."

"Oh," Sam said looking at Hyde. He knew what she was thinking. It was almost funny how she knew Jackie's name. But right now, Hyde couldn't focus on Sam. Just the little slip of a girl standing in front of him, joking with his stripper wife.

What the fuck?

How was she so unaffected? How was she just standing here, asking Sam if the pay was good stripping. What the hell? Was Jackie thinking of becoming a stripper? Yeah, he didn't think so.

And then, just like that, the conversation was over. "Well, I don't want to take up any more of your time. You must still be in the honeymoon stage," she gushed with dead eyes. The pint-sized girls eyes never flickered with life. Instead, they remained dull and even though she was talking and pretend gushing with his stripper wife, Hyde knew there was something wrong. She was acting so uncharacteristically.

When it hit him. He felt like a damn idiot.

She was using Zen.

On him!

He taught her Zen! And before today she had never been able to properly use it. Now all of a sudden, she was a damn master. He couldn't read anything on her.

Hyde didn't know if he was pissed or proud.

Right now, he was leaning towards pissed.

"You have a great night," she has said as she began to take steps backwards towards the kitchen.

In a moment of childish rage, Hyde wrapped an arm around Sam and smiled nastily at the smaller girl. "Oh, we will."

There.

That was what he had been waiting for. A flicker in her eyes. Hyde was so triumphant that he never noticed what that flicker really was. At the time he thought it was jealous anger. He smirked as she clenched her jaw and nodded at him.

"Goodbye, Steven," the brunette said. Without looking back, Jackie turned and walked into the kitchen. He assumed that she must be using the back door to go over to Donna's house where she was currently living.

He dropped his arm instantly from Sam and sidestepped around her. "You want a beer," he asked while heading into the kitchen. With any hope, the dark-haired girl would be in the kitchen still. He could rub Sam in her face a little longer.

But she hadn't been there. And the next day, Jackie never showed up in the basement. He had watched the door, ready to grab Sam or pounce with a vicious comment. The petite girl never came.

For two whole weeks he watched the door. Every time it opened, he would get this rush. Or a clenching in his gut. For two weeks he watched as Donna came into the basement with Forman. He watched Kelso with a clenched jaw, talking about his weekly lays. Hyde watched as Fez came in and wished that a girl would do it with him. Hell, there was even one time when the gang was all already there and the door to the basement opened, and Hyde knew. He just knew it was Jackie.

But it hadn't been. It was Red, coming into the basement to surprise them. Ever since Forman and Laurie had an all-out bitch fit towards each other that ended with Laurie ratting on them about how often they smoked, Red had been trying to catch them in the act.

Jackie had to come to the basement sometime, it wasn't like he was gone often enough for her to come around when he wasn't there. Shit, he stopped working full time at the record store some time ago. It wasn't because he wanted to be here to finally see her face to face. Hyde would never be so needy. No man, he was just gone for two months without working. He needed to build himself up to working again. That was all.

So, Hyde watched that door. Until one day it hit him. She wasn't coming back to the basement.

That was when the country music began to be played. And anyone who dared change it was frogged so hard he knew that a bruise would be there for at least a week.

The drinking began to speed up too. He couldn't sleep without it these days. The couch was damn uncomfortable, and it only reminded him of…her.

Shit was mind blowing. It was like there was a higher power laughing at him, getting off on his damn torture.

And it was still torture. Watching her smile at men and serve them beer. Watching her fake laugh and bat her eyes at patrons so she could get a higher tip. And damnit he knew it worked for her. She probably had the best tips out of all the girls working here. There was just something about her, with her brown hair, mismatched eyes, naturally tan skin. Hyde wouldn't be surprised to learn that she walks out of here every night with hundreds of bucks.

Things would change soon though.

He would make sure of it.

But for now, Hyde would just watch her. Be here. Remind her that he wasn't going anywhere.

WOW! Look at that! Another week and another chapter. Look. At. Me! Lol! In all honesty though, I do want to take a moment and say thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed/favorited/followed my story. Your feed back in heartwarming and hearing that you're liking this is just amazing. I have not felt this much of an urge to write in so long that finally writing is making me a little…unsure. The past few years I have had to force myself to put out a new chapter or continue with a story. But right now, with this story? It's basically writing itself. Sorry, let me stop being a drama queen!

Here is to hopefully more!

Please continue review and let me know your thoughts!