A/N: This song, Against The Wind by Bob Seger, has always summed up post-S8 Hyde for me. It's about an older Hyde with regrets, exploring the spaces between past indifferences, his once all-consuming love of Jackie and his fear of abandonment that forced him to push her away. Just listen to it, man.

⋆ 𖤓 ⋆

15 May 1980
I-90 W
30 miles outside of Bozeman, Montana

.

Hyde cruised along the I-90 W, doing somewhere between fifty and sixty miles an hour. The sun was climbing high in the sky and the black El Camino glittered in the light, its chrome winking at passers-by.

His window was cranked all the way down and the speakers were blaring Rush's The Spirit of Radio. He scratched at his sparse beard before tapping out a beat on the wheel, content that he had finally managed to find a station in the whole damn state that wasn't all country. Although truth be told, he was partial to certain country singers like Johnny Cash, BJ Thomas and Hank Williams Jr. But it'd be a cold day in Hell before he'd ever let that information slip.

Speaking of cold, the state of Montana was clearly not. It was an unseasonably warm day, nice but a little too hot for his liking. A dust storm had begun to roll down the highway, so he rolled up his window. He could navigate through it easily enough, but the west wind was fierce. He was amazed by how much sand had already accumulated on the road and on his windshield in such a short span of time. It was as if the sand and wind were intent on burying the El Camino on the interstate.

He glanced down at the fuel gauge and saw that the needle was just shy of empty. He was still a ways away from the Bozeman turn-off, but he could have sworn he had seen a sign for a gas station not some fifteen miles back. He hunched over the wheel and squinted through the sandy windshield. After a minute, the wind finally let up and he could see the sign for the Texaco Station up ahead.

He turned right onto the tarmac and parked the truck beside the only available pump. Though the sign said full-service, the attendant was already busy with two other customers. Impatient, Hyde got out and shut the door, stretching his legs.

He had been driving non-stop for hours. He'd have to find a place to eat and a motel soon, or at least find a rest-stop where he could take a leak without the worry of the wind blowing his own piss right back into his face.

The attendant waved to him and Hyde gave a curt wave back, hollering that he could pump his own gas. The pump jockey seemed laid-back enough and left Hyde to it.

He twisted off the fuel cap and removed the handle from the pump, sticking the nozzle inside the tank. As the gallons slowly ticked away, his gaze wandered south towards the small attendant station. Outside, there was a long bench littered with tools. Propane tanks were propped against the wall and stands held tyres and other miscellaneous road-ware paraphernalia.

Slapped against the pane glass was a sticker that read CHICAGO WHITE SOX. Next to that was a white sticker with the word SUCKS scrawled across it in red paint.

Chicago.

That place only held dark memories.

Hyde's chest tightened at the memory of Jackie standing in the motel room, looking shocked and doe-eyed, tugging down on that flimsy nightgown to cover her thighs but inadvertently showing off her cleavage. It would have been a fond memory if it hadn't been for Kelso showing up in nothing but a towel.

The whole encounter had blind-sided him, worse than when he'd caught the two in Donna's living room and Kelso had only been resting his head on Jackie's shoulder. It had been painful then, but the motel in Chicago—that had been mind-numbing, heart-stopping pain.

His grip tightened on the pump handle, and he shook his head as if this action alone could rid his mind of the memory. A bubble of gas sloshed out and spilt onto his hand. He let go of the handle, cursing silently. Shaking off the excess, he wiped his wet hand on his jeans and placed the handle back on the pump. He fished a ten out of his pocket and handed it to the attendant, who had already washed off his grimy windshield.

Hyde got back into the El Camino and started it up, gripping the steering wheel with both hands. He breathed deeply, in and out. He thought he was done with all this Jackie and Kelso bullshit. Running off to Vegas to drink and whore away his feelings hadn't helped. Punching Kelso in the Formans's living room hadn't helped. Letting Sam stay certainly hadn't helped. Jackie slamming into a tree and losing her memories sure as hell hadn't helped a damn thing.

No, try as he might to forget, those moments were forever seared onto Hyde's brain like a cattle brand. The pain had become a tattoo on his heart, and he had become as committed to the memories as they were to him.

Deciding to ignore the pain altogether, Hyde turned back onto the highway. He fished out his lighter and lit a cigarette, rolling down the window to let in some fresh air. As he inhaled, feeling the smoke pool inside his lungs, his body began to relax.

It was time to go Zen.

A few more puffs and he clicked on the radio, hoping to lose his thoughts in a song. Bob Seger's voice filled the speakers, and he grimaced.

And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh-so-tight
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

Hyde scrubbed his burgeoning beard with a sigh.

Christ, it just figured a song like this would come on now. It was like the cosmos was against him or something. It didn't want him to forget. But he had to stop dwelling on the past. Chicago, Jackie and Kelso—none of that shit really mattered anymore. What pride did he need to safeguard now that Jackie didn't even remember him? Who was he really trying to protect?

As easy as it was for him to see his own pain, he had yet to redirect any of that sympathy to Jackie—this new Jackie who hadn't done a thing to him. She had no clue about their shared past.

Of course, convincing himself to do the right thing by her was easier said than done, which was ironic because before Chicago, before the nurse, Hyde had always done the right thing when it came to Jackie. He didn't even need to think about it; it was just instinctual.

Now? He didn't even know who the fuck he was anymore.

However, that old Hyde wasn't quite dead just yet, even if he sometimes wanted to bury him in the past. For better or for worse, Jackie had always brought out Hyde's vulnerable side, and a big part of him wanted to make things right with her. She didn't deserve the brunt end of his temper.

She never had.

Exhaling deeply, Hyde finally felt himself in control again. He didn't know how, but he would make things right with Jackie. He'd pick her up from the resort and act as though nothing bad had ever happened between them—no messy break-up, no Kelso in a towel, no fake marriage to a stripper. They'd start new. Fresh. Hell, maybe they could even try being friends.

Stranger things had happened.

Against the wind
I'm still runnin' against the wind
I'm older now but still runnin'
Against the wind

"Fuck you, Bob Seger."

Hyde snapped off the radio with a scowl. He took one last long drag of his cigarette, flicking the butt out the window, before turning his focus back to the road.

Forget the pain of the past and move on to new beginnings. Yeah, sure, why not? It wouldn't be easy, but he'd try.

For once in his life, he'd at least friggin' well try.

⋆ 𖤓 ⋆

Jackie weaved her fingers through the gauzy column of steam rising from her teacup, breaking it apart and swirling it into separate coils. A National Geographic lay open in her lap, dog-eared at the last page she had read.

Lately, she found that she was easily distracted, jumping from one activity to the next or staring off into space when she should have been focusing elsewhere. The voice was still persisting, but most of the time she couldn't make any sense of it. It was like garbled background noise, and she was thankful for that.

Luckily, she had found a way to mute it by reading. Getting lost in the world of books, fictional or otherwise, had provided Jackie with a semblance of sanity. The only other available distraction was drinking the voice away, but it was too early for that and her mind was too restless.

Today was the day she was going back to Point Place.

She had expected Eric to arrive almost two hours ago and was already becoming increasingly impatient. Yesterday, when she went to the hospital in Salem for a check-up, Mrs Forman called the resort to update her on Eric's progress on the road. When Jackie finally got back, Penny informed her that her friend would be at Breitenbush before eight the next day.

It was now a quarter to ten and there was still no geek in sight.

The Kid must have got lost.

"Excuse me, is Jackie Burkhart here?"

Jackie instantly perked up in her seat at the mention of her name. She set the magazine down on the table and cocked her head to the side, straining to listen to whoever was in the next room. It was definitely a masculine voice speaking, but it didn't sound like Eric—his voice was much higher pitched, while this voice was low and gruff.

"You mean Ruby?"

"Ruby? No, Jackie—Jackie Burkhart."

Jackie pushed up from her chair and exited the library, making her way towards the reception area. Standing at the desk was Steven Hyde. He wore dark denim jeans and a Black Sabbath t-shirt that seemed painted on.

The bastard.

His curly honey-brown hair was tousled and he looked to be growing a matching beard, which suited him a lot better than the porn 'stache. His trademark amber shades were clipped into the collar of his t-shirt, exposing his beautiful morning blue eyes for all the world to see.

Again, the bastard.

Hyde turned around then and, like magnets, the two were instinctively drawn to each other. Their eyes met, and Hyde tapped his fist on the receptionist's desk.

"Never mind, I found her."

He sauntered over and the two met in the middle of the floor. Not so subtly, they looked each other over. Appraising.

Jackie spoke first, "Where's Eric?"

"Hopefully not stocking my store with his crappy bands and making out with Donna in my office." When she gave him a blank look, he hooked his thumbs into his belt and shrugged, looking away. "He had an appointment he couldn't miss. School stuff."

Jackie folded her arms beneath her breasts. Her stance wasn't closed off, but it wasn't exactly inviting either. "So you came to pick me up instead?"

"Yeah, I drew the short straw."

"Hmm, well, that makes me feel loads special."

He opened his mouth and quickly closed it, twisting uncomfortably before sheepishly glancing down at his boots. "Sorry."

Jackie blinked and lowered her arms to her sides. Admittedly, the apology caught her off guard, but she wasn't about to show it. Instead, she quickly waved it off and walked past him.

"It's cool," she said. "You can make it up to me by carrying my luggage to the car."

A few minutes later, she had led him into her cabin. She had arrived at the resort with only one duffel bag of luggage and now she was leaving with three. Memory loss or not, Jackie still loved to shop. She had also bought gifts for the Formans, though she wasn't sure Red would like his. It was an antique sterling silver 1918 USCE Taylor Compass she had found cheap at a flea market. He could use it as a paper-weight if he didn't like it.

As Hyde loaded her stuff into the back of the El Camino, Penny and Chloe came outside to see her off. Mandy and Tiffany had left for Portland the day before, but it wasn't like Jackie would miss them. Penny and Chloe, on the other hand, she had come to like.

Penny insisted on hugging Jackie, who reluctantly permitted it. Then she waved goodbye to the two girls and slid into the passenger side of the El Camino with a sigh. She hated driving and being stuck in confined places.

"Bye, Ruby!" hollered Chloe with an exuberant wave.

Jackie waved back, a faint smile pressed to her lips.

Hyde got in the truck and closed the door behind him. He glanced at her, then at the girls and then back at Jackie again, his expression puzzled yet faintly amused.

"What's with everyone calling you Ruby?" She shrugged indifferently, and he slipped on his shades with a scoff. "You ain't callin' yourself Ruby Tuesday, are you?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Nothing." He turned over the ignition. "Just FYI—" he slung an arm over the back of her seat and backed the El Camino around so he could drive out the long driveway "—I ain't calling you Ruby."

"That's good to know." She shifted in her seat. "Why do you even care, anyway? And another thing—doesn't that make you a bit of a hypocrite? You make people call you Hyde when your name is Steven."

"Yeah, but Hyde is actually part of my name, not something I made up or stole from a Rolling Stones song."

Jackie harrumphed loudly, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're just jealous that you don't have a surname like Tuesday."

"Green with envy right now, doll. You have no idea."

Hyde turned down the winding road, and Jackie frowned slightly. Typically, terms of endearment coming from men skeeved her out or rubbed her the wrong way, but coming from Hyde, they seemed natural. Now, she felt uncomfortable for a totally different reason.

Taking one last look at Breitenbush, Jackie reached into her purse and took out her own set of aviators. Hers were silver and reflective. She had nicked them from a Navy pilot who had hit on her at a club in Portland a few weeks back. She wasn't sure why she liked them so much at first, but after seeing the aviators resting on Hyde's face, she wondered if she took them because they reminded her of him.

Jackie's frown deepened. No, she didn't want to think about it. Instead, she turned towards the window and watched the scenery coast by.

The ride out of Breitenbush was relatively quiet, and neither said a word to the other for a while. The radio was playing low, all good songs, and she was slowly lulled to sleep. She woke up almost two hours later in Portland. Hyde had bought her a burger, fries and a bottle of root beer. He quietly slipped back into the truck, trying not to wake her, but she was already wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"Sorry, I would have asked you what you wanted," he said by way of apology, "but you were dead to the world."

"S'okay," she slurred, stifling a yawn.

He threw a napkin on her lap before handing her the meal, which she took with thanks. She was starving and the food smelled great. Setting the burger and fries on the napkin, she took a sip of her soda first and smiled. He had already conveniently opened the bottle for her and placed a straw inside.

"Mmm, root beer. My favourite!" She happily dug into her burger next. He had got her mustard, no ketchup and extra dill pickles—just how she liked it. "Thanks."

He nodded, smiling a slightly dimpled smile, and then dug into his own burger.

The two ate in relative silence until Hyde turned the radio back on. Queen was playing Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

As Jackie happily chewed away, she started to think and then began to frown. How did he know exactly what she liked? Furthermore, how had she fallen asleep in the car with him? She had never fallen asleep whenever Penny drove her to Salem. She was always on high alert when in a vehicle with anyone.

Was she that comfortable with Hyde?

After using the washroom and stretching their legs, the two got back on the highway heading north-west. The scenery was lovely; Jackie could spot Mount St Helens in the distance. When they neared the Washington state border, Hyde asked her if she wanted to visit, but she declined, saying she could see it another time. For now, she'd just watch it from the road.

An hour of silence passed between them, and she felt a migraine swell at the back of her head. She popped a couple of Percocets and leaned back in her seat, twisting around until comfortable. The pills took at least ten minutes to work and, by then, her annoyance level had already peaked. She wasn't quite sure why she was annoyed. All she knew was that the source of her irritation was Hyde.

"You lied," she said quietly, turning her head towards the window. "There was no meeting that kept Eric from coming."

At first, she didn't think he had heard her or wouldn't reply, but then he rolled his shoulders forwards and grunted a sigh.

"Am I that obvious?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm just that good. Plus, you're a bad liar. You have tells—you fidget and you can't look me in the eye."

"I have tells, huh?" He gave her an impish grin before focusing back on the road. "And how would you know them so well, Ruby?"

"Because you've lied to me before."

His brow knitted in a frown. "When?"

"Before I left for Oregon," she said. "When I asked if we were friends, you said our only connection was through Kelso and Donna."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh." She tapped at the window distractedly. "We might not have been friends, but we obviously dated."

He froze up instantly, his shoulders tensed and his jaw locked. He tightly gripped the steering wheel and, after a long moment, his body finally relaxed.

He spoke softly, "Who told you?"

"You did, just now." Hyde snapped his head around so quickly that he must have given himself whiplash, but Jackie carefully concealed her smirk before shrugging. "I figured it out before I left."

"You're turning out to be quite the Detective Columbo," he said with a shake of his head. His grin dropped from his lips as he paused, turning to look at her. "Wait, you didn't find a Steven Box, did you?"

"Steven Box?" Her brow creased in confusion. "What the hell is that?"

"It's uh, a box where you, uh—you put crap in it that reminds you of things you did with your boyfriend." He floundered a bit with his hands before quickly adding, "You had one for Kelso."

She wrinkled her nose with distaste. "That sounds mildly retarded. And, no, there was no Steven Box that I saw."

"Ah, good... good." He kept nodding his head as if he was trying to convince himself. "So how did you figure it out?"

"Well, when I was first shown my room at Fez's, it was all pink and there were all these cutesy stuffed animals and girly clothing of the latest fashion and then this—"

She lowered the zipper on her hooded jacket to reveal a black Led Zeppelin t-shirt. Hyde did a double-take and swerved slightly towards the shoulder before cursing to himself and regaining control of the El Camino.

"My former self didn't seem like the hard-rock band type," she said dryly. "What with posters of Donnie Osmond and the Gibb brothers and the like on the walls. And the shirt's not exactly my size. Plus, you're the only one out of the group I've seen consistently sporting band tees, so..."

"Deductive reasoning at its finest," said Hyde with a little smile, and Jackie couldn't help but smile with him. "Was that all it took?"

"No, there were little things, like how you acted around me. You were the only one who went out of your way to avoid me without actually avoiding me, if you know what I mean." He hummed in agreement, and she looked at him closely. "So I'm assuming the break-up was bad?"

He was silent for a moment, his eyes on the road, and he finally gave her a curt nod in reply.

"Who was at fault?"

"Me."

"Really? Huh. Got sick of me, then?"

"No." He shook his head resolutely. "Nah, it's complicated and—"

"A long and complex story, I'm sure." She cut him off with a dismissive wave. "Say no more. I don't need to know the details. They won't mean anything to me anyway."

Hyde's lips twisted into a frown.

"I'm sure I was partly to blame as well," she said, turning back to the window. "It usually takes two to screw up a relationship, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," he muttered, rolling his shoulders. "So, are you okay with this? With me here and us being, I dunno—" he shrugged again "—friends or whatever?"

"Are you okay with it?" she countered with a raised eyebrow before offering her own shrug. "Yeah, sure, I'm fine with it. I don't remember anything, so you don't have to worry about me flinging the past in your face or whatever."

"That's good to know."

She pointed a finger at him. "Just don't go psycho stalker ex-boyfriend on me."

"I'll try my best."

Jackie settled back in her seat and smiled genuinely for the first time all day. The annoyance she felt earlier had finally lifted, along with the migraine.

"So, friend," she drawled, "when and where are we stopping for dinner? Because I'm still starving."

⋆ 𖤓 ⋆

There were a great and many interesting and highly educational ways to reserve a spot in prison, but getting pulled over for speeding with pot in your possession probably wasn't one of the most original, or the brightest.

Hyde stared into the rear-view mirror, trying to catch a glimpse of the cop inside the cruiser. Undoubtedly, the burnout was nervous, but he had reason to be. They had just left Spokane, and Jackie had lit up a joint in the El Camino like it was no big thing.

He had been too dumbstruck to say anything at first or even ask where she got it because he certainly hadn't given her his stash. Instead, he just stared at her like he was witnessing an alien abduction—something too crazy to be true. What was odder still was the fact that she didn't even appear to be stoned.

In the past, Jackie had rarely participated in the circle. When she did, she was usually giggly as hell, which was admittedly adorable. But this new Jackie took slow, deliberate drags with no coughing like a seasoned pothead. No giggles, no paranoia. She just stared vacantly out the window as the scenery passed them by. Fortunately, she had already thrown away the roach and spritzed the inside of the truck with some fruity perfume before he even realised a cop car was behind them.

The cruiser was still a ways back, not on his ass or anything, but Hyde couldn't help but wonder what was up. He figured he might have been speeding—maybe his foot had become a little leaden as he watched Jackie toke on a reefer. Or worse, maybe the cop had noticed the smoke. Whatever the case, the cruiser had tailed them for a good minute before turning on its lights.

By now, both vehicles were parked on the shoulder of the road. The blue flashers on the cruiser's roof were silent. Hyde felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. It wasn't surprising that they had been pulled over, but how irritatingly calm Jackie was right now was surprising.

Was he that calm when he was stoned? He doubted it.

"Want me to look for the registration?" asked Jackie, casually stuffing the bag of weed down the back of her seat.

"What?"

He was looking in his outside mirror. Above the words CAUTION OBJECTS MAY BE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR, he saw the dusty white driver's door of the cruiser swing open. A blue khaki leg swung out. It was prodigious, as was the man it belonged to, who was now placing a Smokey Bear sort of hat on his head. He was obviously too tall to wear it inside the vehicle.

"The registration—want me to get it out?" Jackie repeated, and Hyde nodded distractedly.

"Yeah, sure."

He turned back to the mirror. Christ, the cop looked the size of a linebacker.

As Jackie rummaged through the glove compartment, the approaching giant of an officer slowly made his way over. On his hip was a gun almost as big as the rest of him, but his hands were empty—no clipboard, no citation book. Hyde didn't like that. He didn't know what it meant, but he didn't like it. Not once had he ever been pulled over by an empty-handed cop.

His heartbeat, already faster than normal, sped up a little more. His heart wasn't pounding, at least not yet, but he sensed it could pound. That it could pound very quickly and he could very well end up becoming as jittery and cotton-mouthed as Forman. He didn't want that.

Nobody wanted that.

Just as the officer stopped beside his window, the buckle of his belt level with Hyde's eyes, Jackie had found the pink slip, along with a pack of gum. Hyde lifted his shades onto his head while the cop raised one fist (to Hyde, it looked the size of a canned ham) and made a cranking gesture.

Hyde immediately complied and rolled the window all the way down. The cop then did a slow, smooth, deep knee-bend and brought his huge face into Hyde's field of vision. A band of shadow cast by the stiff brim of his trooper-style hat lay across his brow. His eyes were big and grey, direct but without emotion. None that Hyde could read anyway.

He gave Hyde a brief glance before looking over Jackie, then checking out the luggage in the cab and even the tiny floor space behind the seats. There wasn't much road-litter yet; they had only left Oregon earlier that morning.

The officer's eyes moved back up front and narrowed on the pulled-out ashtray, looking for roaches. He sniffed the air for the lingering aroma of pot or hash but said nothing. Hyde hoped to hell that Jackie's perfume (and smoking with the window down) had done the trick in masking the odour.

"Had the hammer down a bit, did you, son?" the cop asked, his voice deep but surprisingly pleasant.

"Yes, sir," Hyde replied politely, remembering how he dealt with Red. "Sorry about that, officer."

The cop just nodded. "Could I see your driver's licence and registration, please?"

"Sure." He took his wallet out of his back pocket. After a second of searching, Hyde pulled out his licence and handed it over, along with the pink registration slip he got from Jackie.

The officer stared intently at Hyde's licence. "So you're both from Wisconsin?" he asked, glancing up, and they nodded. His grey eyes then focused on Jackie. "Could I see some identification, Miss?"

She nodded, cool as a cucumber, and reached behind her seat for her purse. She pulled out her licence and passed it to Hyde, who handed it to the officer. He took it and stared at it just as intently as he had with Hyde's, looking back and forth between them for what seemed like an eternity.

"May I ask what you two are doing in Washington State?"

"We're just heading back from Portland," answered Hyde. "My friend Jackie, here, was staying at a resort. She's afraid of flying, so I came all the way from Wisconsin to pick her up."

He was babbling and he knew it, but he wasn't sure he could stop. It was weird how cops could get you running off at the mouth like this, as if you had a dismembered body or a kidnapped kid in the trunk.

Generally, in a situation like this, Hyde would go Zen and give clipped one-word responses. But this wasn't his hometown let alone his home state. Jackie's cavalier attitude after smoking a joint in his car not fifteen minutes earlier was still seriously damaging his calm. It was like waking up to the frigging Twilight Zone.

The cop said nothing at first, his face still an emotionless mask. "Could you turn on your lights, please?"

Hyde obeyed, and the officer walked towards the front of the El Camino, moving very deliberately. He still had the registration and Hyde and Jackie's licences in his hand. When the officer reached the hood, he glanced down at the front of the vehicle and frowned. After a moment, he walked back to the driver's side of the truck and handed Hyde back his registration and licence, along with Jackie's.

"Sir, I pulled you over because your left tail light is broken. Your front lights seem to be working fine, but you should get the rear one fixed as soon as possible."

"Ah, shit! I didn't know." Hyde's irritation and dismay were real enough, but so was the relief beneath his words. "I'll pull into the nearest garage and get it fixed, officer."

The cop merely nodded. He wasn't looking at Hyde, though. His grey eyes were fixed on Jackie. "You two drive safely now and enjoy Washington State."

"We already are, officer," said Jackie with a beaming smile, and the big trooper tipped his hat, giving the first and only semblance of emotion Hyde had seen since this back and forth began.

The burly officer returned to his cruiser while Hyde cranked up the window. Once the officer settled back into his vehicle, Hyde started up the El Camino and turned it back onto the road. His heart had finally settled in its cage and he calmly slid his shades back into place.

They cruised along the highway at the recommended speed limit. Even with the cop car travelling in the opposite direction, Hyde didn't want to take any chances. He kept both hands at ten and two on the wheel while periodically checking the rear-view mirror.

Jackie, however, seemed far less apprehensive. Leaning back in her seat, she brought both feet up on the dash until Hyde gave her a scowl that suggested he didn't want her boots scuffing up the interior of the El Camino.

And where the hell did she get sexy boots like that?

"I'm surprised he didn't give you a ticket," Jackie said after a while, and Hyde finally let his shoulders relax.

"I'm surprised he was convinced you were with me voluntarily."

She chortled softly at this, and he couldn't help but grin. It was nice to hear her laugh again, even if it was short-lived. She was so different now—not better or worse, just different—and he wasn't sure what to make of it.

He used to know her voice, her inflexions and the tone she used when she was excited, upset, annoyed or afraid. But this wasn't the Jackie who used to follow him around like a lost puppy or the girl he had fallen in love with, or rather told himself he had begrudgingly fallen in love with. He couldn't treat her like the Jackie he used to know, but he couldn't treat her like a stranger either.

"So, I know we're not supposed to talk about your memories or anything," he said by way of conversation, "but is there anything you do remember?"

Jackie, who had been examining her nails, shook her head. "Not really. I guess it's more like certain things have remained inherent, like my fear of flying, my impeccable fashion sense or that, no matter where I go, I have to make sure my hair is perfect."

"Looks like you haven't been maintaining the latter," he said, motioning to her hair, and she shot him a scathing look.

"You lie!" She subconsciously touched her curls. "I know it's perfect."

Before he could retort, the El Camino began to sputter and stalled a few seconds later. Coasting it back over to the shoulder, Hyde pulled the truck into park with a grimace.

"Dammit!" He angrily thumped the wheel with the heel of his palm. "Great, just friggin' great!"

He glanced ahead for traffic and then again in the rear-view mirror. No one. Figured. This was just his luck.

"So what do we do now?" asked Jackie, and Hyde exhaled sharply before turning his head in her direction.

"Wanna take a look at it?"

"Me?"

"Sure, why not?" He opened his door and stepped outside onto the road, bending down so they were at eye-level. "C'mon, let's see if any of your other skills are inherent."

He walked to the front of the truck, and she quickly stepped outside, slamming the passenger door shut. The gravel crunched beneath her boots as she joined him at the hood.

"Wait, are you saying I used to fix cars?"

"You knew how to make the El Camino purr," he said with a grunt, releasing the latch and pulling up the hood before locking it into place.

Steam rose from the engine, coiling around his face and fogging up his shades. He slipped them up onto his head and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. Though it was still a few hours before dusk, the sun's heat was beating down on his neck. He pulled a bandana out of his back pocket, mopping the sweat off his neck first before fiddling with the engine cap.

Man, May was a hot fucking month. Yet just last week it had been freezing in Wisconsin. Stupid, messed up weather didn't know whether it was winter, spring or summer.

"I'm not convinced." Jackie folded her arms beneath her breasts. "Are you sure I didn't just sabotage the El Camino in order to fix it and look cool?"

"I wouldn't put it past you," he said, offering her a shit-eating grin. "You were deviously brilliant like that."

"Why, thank you."

"You're welcome." He pointed under the hood. "Now, let's see if you can still work your magic on the old girl."

She gave him a decidedly sceptical look before taking off her jacket and handing it to him. Exhaling sharply, she bent over the engine and began her inspection under the hood. After about ten minutes of ordering Hyde around to get her the proper tools, she stood up and began cleaning her dirty face with a rag.

"Look, I've got nothing," she said, "other than you need to change your oil and get a new radiator cap." She held up the small black cap. "This one's cracked and you've got a lot of sand in here. What did you do, drive through the Sahara?"

He simply shrugged in answer, and she carefully screwed the radiator cap back on.

"Other than what I've pointed out, there's no structural reason why it isn't running," she said. "I think your engine's just overheated."

"Well, I have been driving nearly non-stop for four days."

"Plus, it's an old car... Truck? Is this a truck or a car?"

"Both, I think, although it's technically a truck."

Jackie finished wiping her hands and threw the rag into Hyde's toolbox. "Well, whatever it is, it won't start again until it's cooled down. Speaking of cooling down, I'm hot and dirty and it's gonna be dark soon."

Hyde glanced up at the lowering sun and grimaced. Dusk would reach them in an hour or two, maybe less. As much as he hated leaving his baby out on the side of the road, he had to get Jackie off the highway. There was no way in hell he was going to wait for a trucker or some pervert or, worse yet, some psycho to pull over and offer them a ride. He'd more than likely have to introduce his fists to their faces. But if worse came to worst, he had a knife on him and he wasn't afraid to use it.

He'd protect Jackie if he had to.

"What now, boss?" she asked, shaking him from his thoughts.

"We walk." He pointed ahead. "I saw a sign for rest-stop a few miles back before we got stopped by the cop. It's bound to have a gas station and, if we're lucky, a garage. If not, then there'll at least be a phone."

"Smart."

He tapped his temple. "Street smarts, doll."

"You know—" she rolled her eyes "—whenever someone says something like 'I'm not book smart, I'm street smart', all I hear is 'I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart'."

Hyde abruptly turned towards her, his mouth reluctantly twisting into a grin. Dammit, but she could still burn like a pro. He'd have to use that one on Forman someday.

"Seems that smartass mouth of yours is inherent, too," he drawled.

Undaunted by his remark, Jackie flipped her hair off her shoulder with a grin. "You know you love it."

"No comment."

He grabbed his duffel bag from the El Camino and checked his back pocket to ensure he had his wallet on him. After locking both doors, he grabbed two of Jackie's bags from the back, leaving the lighter one for her to carry.

"Let's go."

⋆ 𖤓 ⋆