19 March 1980
 60 miles north of Madison, Wisconsin
 Oxford Federal Correctional Institution (FCI Oxford)

.

Jackie sat in the windowless room and pulled idly at the zipper on her jacket. Across from her sat her father, Jack Burkhart, in his dark grey jumpsuit with his carefully managed salt and pepper hair.

Both were silent, save the sound of them breathing. They had been holding an awkward staring match for the past five minutes. Neither knew what to say to the other. Jackie had expected more conversation—not that she wanted any—but Jack appeared just as reluctant. After a while, she found herself somewhat claustrophobic in the small visiting cell, as if she was being incarcerated herself.

A few more minutes of silence passed, and Jack eventually spoke. He asked Jackie about her health and if her memories were starting to return. It was a desultory conversation. He seemed upset yet relieved when she bluntly told him she was fine but that her memories were still very much gone.

The look of guilt that washed over Jack's face was evident when Jackie stepped into the room with him. Perhaps he had felt like he had abandoned her as a father. She had no way of knowing for sure. No one had filled her in on the finer details of her relationship with her parents, just that her father was in jail for embezzling money from the city and that her mother was often away on trips to the tropics. Whatever the case, Jackie had a feeling she wasn't being told the entire truth about her family.

A sudden knock at the door startled her, followed by the jingling of keys in the lock. The heavy metal door opened. Jackie glanced over to see a prison guard standing stock still in the threshold with his thick arms crossed over his barrelled chest.

"Visiting hours are over for the day."

"We haven't even had fifteen minutes," Jack complained.

"Should've come earlier." The guard shrugged indifferently. "Warden is calling for an early lockdown. Your girl can visit again on Monday."

"Sorry, sweetheart." Jack reached out and took Jackie's hands in his. "See you then?"

Jackie lifted a curious eyebrow as she studied her father's face, searching for any signs of insincerity. Finding nothing glaringly evident, she offered Jack a warm smile before dropping her hands and his gaze, shifting her feet nervously beneath the table.

But was he really sorry, she wondered, or did he want to get rid of her as much as she wanted to be rid of him?

⋆ 𖤓 ⋆

Hyde sat in his chair in front of the television. His mind was on anything other than the current program. The events of last Saturday were replaying in his head as they had been throughout the week.

The meeting with Jackie at the record store had been awkward, not because he had wanted to avoid her (though that was part of it) but because she had been so different: calm and aloof. She still looked, sounded and smelled like Jackie, but everything about her seemed to shift somehow. It was her eyes, her stance and the way she carried herself. She was different yet the same.

He hadn't spoken to her since then, except in passing. She had spent most of her first week holed up in Laurie's old room or dragged off to doctors' and lawyers' appointments by Mrs Forman or Eric, her newly appointed chauffeur by order of Red.

Hyde still wasn't sure what to think of this new Jackie, who mainly kept to herself and took long solitary walks. He liked being alone as much as the next person, if not more, but it was cold as hell outside. Yet Jackie seemed to find comfort in the chilly Wisconsin air.

While Hyde had originally intended to have as little to do with Jackie as possible, he had ironically found himself drawn to her now that she had distanced herself from him. This new Jackie, who barely spoke unless spoken to, seemed to have mastered the art of Zen. She had become an enigma, a riddle he was almost tempted to puzzle out. He couldn't say for sure whether he liked this change or not. It was nice not to hear her prattle on about useless topics but, at the same time, it was an almost discomforting feeling not to listen to her talk.

"Were we ever friends?"

The question and Jackie's voice came out of nowhere, and Hyde almost toppled out of his chair in surprise. He hadn't even heard her coming down the stairs into the basement. He had either been that absorbed in his thoughts or Jackie had become a ninja. He wouldn't be entirely surprised if she were the latter.

"Uh, what?"

Jackie plopped down on the sofa, taking the seat nearest to him. The image of her sitting in her pea coat with her hands stuffed in the spaces between the cushions while he asked her what she was doing there flashed through his mind, but he just as quickly dismissed it with a wince.

"I've just been thinking." Her voice was low and casual, not a trace of subtext. "You never came to visit me at the hospital, yet you're friends with everyone else. I was just wondering if we were friends too."

Hyde's jaw locked. He had been waiting for this moment since Jackie had first arrived here. In fact, he had expected the question to come a lot sooner, but then neither of them had made themselves available for conversation. And now here they were, having that conversation.

Should he tell her the truth? His gut instinct had always been to be honest with Jackie. After Chicago, Hyde might have circumvented a few truths; however, if Jackie had just flat-out asked him a yes or no question, he would have answered her honestly. But after Sam came along, Jackie didn't care to ask questions. She stopped caring altogether, which made pretending that Jackie was no longer a significant part of his life that much easier.

But none of that mattered now. This wasn't the Jackie he had broken the heart of or had his heart broken by; this was a traumatised young woman. Although she might not have shown her vulnerable side yet, Hyde knew it was there underneath the healing bruises and mending bones. And since he was told that bringing up anything traumatic could hinder her recovery, he opted for half-truths.

"Uh, no." He cleared his throat. "We met through Kelso. You and Donna became friends and I was friends with Kelso and Donna, so..."

"So we just knew each other through friends, then?"

"Yeah."

He had never been so thankful for his sunglasses, but the shades couldn't mask his tone. He had never been able to lie well to Jackie. Make fun of her, sure, but boldly lie to her face? No, he hated that, which was why he so often chose to go Zen and remain silent.

"I see." Her eyes had left his long ago and she placed her hands on her knees before standing. "Well, that's too bad."

Hyde blinked in surprise for the second time that morning. "What?"

"Us not being friends." She pointed back and forth between them. "It's too bad." She walked over to the deep freeze and fished out a cherry popsicle before turning around to face him. "I mean, it's obvious that I'm all sorts of awesome and super fun to be around."

Hyde's mouth dropped open for a second before he snapped it shut. Was Jackie Burkhart actually making fun of herself? Since when did self-deprecating humour become part of her repertoire? And was she suggesting that they become friends?

"Uh, yeah," he managed to grunt, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're about as fun as a barrel full of monkeys."

"I wouldn't go that far." Her rear bumped against the freezer. "I'm not the slinging-my-own-pooh sort of fun. You've gotta build to that."

Hyde chuckled softly despite himself. "If you ever get to be that fun, lemme know. I'll sell tickets."

She laughed, a low throaty chortle, and stuck the popsicle in her mouth. The room went silent again, save the background noise of The Price Is Right droning on the television.

Hyde grimaced. Of course it had to be that show playing right now with Jackie standing only a few feet away from him. It would have been even more fitting if they were both sitting on the sofa and he still had his beard.

Ah, the Zen beard. How he missed it. He looked good with one, or at least he assumed so since it seemed to attract all the women (especially the college chicks) like honey. Or maybe the girls were drawn to the fact that he had been taken by a certain five-foot-nothing ex-cheerleader with a bitchy attitude and a pirate smile.

Whatever the case, the beard had served him well. The solitary soup-catcher, on the other hand, was cramping his style. Why hadn't he shaved it off already?

"So, do you hate me or something?"

His heart momentarily froze in his chest and he shrugged uncomfortably. "Nah, I don't exactly hate you..." He paused, deciding to offer her one of his shit-eating grins. "But if you were on fire and I had a glass of water, I might consider drinking the water."

She slapped him hard against his chest and laughed. "Asshole!"

He winced, rubbing tenderly below the collarbone. Man, Jackie could hit hard for a tiny girl.

"I said I might," he defended, then lowered his hand before turning away so he couldn't meet her eyes—they always had a way of putting a stranglehold on him. "And, no, I don't hate you."

I tried, though. I really tried.

"Well, that's promising."

"What, me not hating you or me deciding I might throw a cup of water on you if you ever caught on fire?"

"The you not hating me, dickhead!"

He silently mouthed the word. This new Jackie had quite a colourful vocabulary. It was amusing as it was disconcerting.

"Maybe we could try being friends?" she suggested.

"Well, when you phrase it like that—" Hyde turned to look up at her and shrugged "—yeah, maybe."

She smiled for a split-second—one of those brighter-than-the-sun sort of smiles—then blanked her expression just as quickly.

"But only once you lose that porn 'stache." She pushed herself off the deep freeze and held up a slender index finger. "I will not be friends with a guy who looks like he just stepped out of a porno shoot."

Hyde's eyebrows rose above his aviators. "And how would you know what a porn 'stache is or a porno?"

"I found a huge collection of nudie magazines that Fez had hidden in my closet while I was gone and, well, I peeked." She pulled a disgusted face. "I was deeply disturbed on many levels."

He nodded grimly. Fez's pornographic obsession rivalled Forman's—yet their foreign friend didn't seem to understand pacing oneself or discretion.

"I don't blame ya. Want me to kick his ass?"

She waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, I appreciate the offer, but I handled it."

Hyde's eyebrows rose even higher, as if to ask how she handled it.

"I put the magazines in a box, set it on his bed and then lit it on fire in front of him." A devilish grin surfaced on her lips. "He cried like a baby."

"Damn, Jackie! That's so badass." He shifted in his seat to face her. "I'm impressed."

She inclined her head slightly. "Why, thank you."

Hyde let the ghost of a smile touch his lips. It almost felt like old times.

He was about to say something else when their playful exchange was interrupted by Mrs Forman calling from the top of the stairs, "Jackie, could I speak to you for a minute upstairs?"

"I'll be right up, Mrs Forman!" Jackie shouted and then curtly waved to Hyde. "See ya later."

He nodded in reply, covertly watching her bound up the stairs with the cherry popsicle in her mouth. Once she was out of sight, he turned his attention back to the television, but the damage was already done. Jackie wanted to be friends and, what was even more disconcerting, was that he was seriously considering the offer.

Damn, Hyde thought. I'm doomed.

⋆ 𖤓 ⋆

The Saturday lunch rush was booming at The Hub.

The gang had managed to snag a booth with Fez and Kelso joining late. Kelso had to drop Betsy off at his mother's as Brooke still didn't trust him with Betsy's food choices or being alone with the toddler for an extended period of time. He was a good father, loving and playful, but he was also forgetful and, well, stupid. Brooke would probably feel safer when Betsy could walk and communicate at a higher level than her father, which would likely happen in the next few years.

"So, how was Jackie's meeting with her dad?" Donna asked as she took a sip of her drink.

"Dunno," said Eric, stealing a French fry off her plate and dipping it in some ketchup. "She hasn't talked about it. She doesn't really talk much at all anymore."

"I tried to get her to come out dancing last night, but she declined." Fez sighed despondently. "Apparently a book was more entertaining than watching me shake my money-maker."

Kelso nodded emphatically and pointed at his foreign friend. "And you're a good dancer too! Not as good as me, but close."

"Not as good as you?" Fez snorted derisively, then gestured grandly to himself. "I am like poetry in motion. You look like a duck having a seizure!"

Eric snorted. "Yeah, remember the time Jackie got you a spoon to bite down on?"

"Hey! I'm a fabulous dancer!" Kelso shrieked, pointing at Eric and Fez accusingly. "You're both just jealous of my gorgeous dancer's legs."

Hyde's shoulders shook with repressed laughter before he took another bite of his burger. It almost felt like old times back in high school. The only person missing was Jackie.

"So, Mr Chauffeur—" Donna elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs "—when are you picking up Jackie from her appointment? I want to go shopping with her this afternoon."

"You want to go shopping with Jackie?" Hyde asked with a mouthful of burger.

"Yeah, why not?" She shrugged. "She always picks out the most flattering sweaters."

"Oh yes, the kind that shows off your boo—" Donna shot Eric an icy glare, and he opted to glance down at his watch instead of finishing his previous sentence. "Uh, so I have to pick her up in twenty-five minutes."

"What doctor is she meeting with now?" asked Fez.

"I think her psychiatrist," said Eric. "Mom said something about taking her to a specialist in Chicago next week or the week after."

"A specialist for what?" asked Donna.

"Didn't say." Eric shrugged. "Must be for her amnesia."

Everyone nodded quietly and went back to their meal. Jackie was inevitably the hot topic whenever they all got together, especially since she hadn't regained her memories yet. It had been over a month and still no progress. They were beginning to wonder if she'd ever get them back.

"You know what?" Donna waved a French fry in the air like a conducting wand. "This might sound bad, but I think this whole tabula rasa state is good for Jackie."

"Tab-u-la-what-ah?"

"Tabula rasa. It means blank slate."

"Blank slate?" Kelso scoffed. "Donna, why do you have to use your big school words? Just use normal people words like the rest of us!"

She rolled her eyes at Kelso and bit into her fry. "Blank slate is a 'normal people' word, moron! It means Jackie gets to start over again. She can forget the nightmare her life has been for the past six months—"

"Hey!" Fez cried while Hyde silently sulked.

"And start fresh," finished Donna, sparing Fez an apologetic look before glaring reproachfully at Hyde. "And now that she's rich again, she can do pretty much whatever she wants. She can go to college or travel or whatever."

"Or go to the Caribbean like Pam!" Kelso added excitedly. "And take me with her!"

"Yeah, I don't think Jackie's gonna be travelling much—least of all with you, Kelso," said Hyde, idly dipping his fries in ketchup while Donna's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"She's afraid of flying," he said, as if this was common knowledge. "And I don't think she'll want to be behind the wheel any time soon."

"I didn't know she was afraid of flying." Donna frowned while Eric shrugged indifferently and stuffed fries into his mouth.

"Neither did I," added Fez. "Did you, Kelso?"

"I know she doesn't like flies."

"Hyde," Donna began slowly, "how did you know this?"

"What?" He shrugged uncomfortably, cursing the belated fact that he had opened his mouth. "She talked a lot when we dated; sometimes I listened."

Eric snorted. "I guess some of it would seep in after a while, like osmosis."

Hyde's fist suddenly snapped out, frogging Eric in the arm, and the scrawny man doubled over.

"Oww! Hyde, what the hell?"

His best friend only offered him a shrug and tight-lipped grin in response.

"It makes sense that she wouldn't want to drive anywhere on her own," Donna conceded. "But still, she can do pretty much whatever she wants now—no restrictions."

"Are you sure you're not excited about this blank-slate Jackie because she doesn't remember you ditching her to become best friends with Sam?" Hyde snarked.

"No!" she protested loudly, but when she caught Fez's unapproving gaze, her shoulders slumped forwards in defeat. "Well, maybe a small part. But you should be happy about this, too, Hyde. Jackie doesn't remember what a heartless bastard you are."

"Nope." He crossed his arms over his chest. "She'll find that out all on her own."

"Really?" Eric lifted an eyebrow in jest. "Cause you're the only one Jackie seems to talk to around the house, and you're not exactly being heartless, Tin Man."

"Right." Donna nodded, grinning like the cat that had just eaten the canary. "I heard you've been bantering with Jackie lately."

"Forman—"

"What? I only relay what I see and hear." He motioned to his girlfriend. "And Donna strong-arms me into filling her on all the comings and goings around here in her absence."

Hyde rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like it takes much."

"Hyde," Fez's voice cut in with a warning undertone, "are you being mean to Jackie?"

"What? No!" he snapped, feeling everyone's eyes on him. "I'm not being mean to her, man. We just talked. Am I not allowed to banter with Jackie now that she's Miss Amnesia Chick?"

"No one's saying that," said Donna rather uncomfortably. "It's just—well, you're not exactly gentle when it comes to bantering."

"Yeah," Kelso agreed. "It's not so much bantering as it is a one-sided burning match." He gripped the corners of the table and shook it. "BURN!"

"Hey!" Hyde defended. "I can be gentle. I can banter!"

Eric snorted and stole a fry off Hyde's plate. "Yeah, and I'm sure Darth Vader was making small talk when he choked Admiral Motti with the Force."

"Shut up!" He frogged Eric in the arm again, making him cry out and drop the fry. "I'm not going to hurt her, man."

"You better not, you sonuvabitch!" Fez spat. "Jackie has endured enough abuse from you."

Hyde shifted slightly in his seat to face Fez, causing the foreigner to recoil slightly, but he stood his ground (or at least remained somewhat stationary in his seat).

"Look, we don't think you intentionally want to hurt her," said Eric, playing the peacemaker. "But you do have this habit of being cruel to Jackie when you're not with her—and sometimes when you are."

"Yeah, well—" he shrugged lazily "—I had my reasons at the time."

"That's bullshit!" Donna snapped, looking ready to pummel.

"But none of that matters now," said Hyde, staring hard at the blonde. "She's not Jackie anymore, right? There's no need for me to burn her."

"Well, that's big of you." Donna folded her arms beneath her breasts in a pout before quietly muttering, " Dumbass ."

After that, everything calmed down a little and everyone returned to their meals in relative silence. Fez and Kelso left The Hub first, heading back to Kelso's parents' to retrieve Betsy, while Eric went to pick up Jackie from the doctor's. Donna, meanwhile, left with Hyde in the El Camino.

The drive back to the Formans' was icily quiet. Once in the driveway, Hyde turned off the car and the two friends sat in eerie silence.

"So, what's going on between you and Jackie?"

"What?" He sharply turned his head in Donna's direction. "Nothing!"

Why did everyone have to assume something was going on between them just because they were living together under the same roof?

She just stared at him unblinkingly. "Nothing?"

"Yeah—nu-thing," he repeated, enunciating the syllables.

"Look, Hyde, I know you—" she began to gesture animatedly with her hands "—and I know what you're like when you're around Jackie."

You don't know anything, he thought to himself. "I said I'm not gonna be mean to her anymore."

He hated having to repeat himself. Everyone was so afraid that he'd hurt Jackie again, but did they all forget that she hurt him, too? Kelso, the ultimatum, Chicago, Kelso again. Plus, he knew this Jackie wasn't the same girl he both loved and hated. She had the same body and the same face, but she was someone and something altogether different. Not better or worse, just different.

"Well, that's all fine and dandy for now," said Donna, unconvinced. "But what are you gonna do when she regains her memories?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

She rolled her eyes. "So, what are you going to do in the meantime—flirt and banter with her?"

"I'm not flirting!"

"Right, sure you're not." She patted his knee in a patronising manner. "And you two are just gonna be friends."

Hyde's brow creased in a deep V. He was seriously pissed off and had to remind himself that he never hit girls. "Are you saying I can't be friends with Jackie?"

"Do you want to be friends with her?" He shrugged slowly in response, but Donna angrily shook her head and waved a finger at him. "Uh-uh, Hyde. A shrug doesn't cut it as an answer. Do you want to be friends with Jackie?"

"I dunno." He shrugged again, and she shot metaphorical daggers at him with her eyes. "She's Jackie, y'know."

He said this as if it was answer enough and, oddly enough, it was.

Donna sucked in a deep breath and let her arms fall limply to her sides. "Yeah, but she's not really Jackie—not the one we used to know. She isn't the same girl you went out with. She doesn't remember anything. She doesn't remember the nurse or the ultimatum or Chicago or Sam.

"And while I don't want to see you hurt her again—and I will wipe the floor with your face if you take advantage of her in any way—I think this would be a good opportunity for you to start over fresh with Jackie as friends."

Hyde said nothing as he gripped the steering wheel tightly, letting Donna's words sink in. Of course she'd think he'd hurt Jackie again. There was no point in disappointing her.

"Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence," he said wryly, "but Jackie and I were never friends."

"Yeah, well maybe you can try to be a friend for her."

He felt his lungs deflate and he pulled the keys out of the ignition. "Whatever."

"Don't whatever me," she threatened. "Either try to be Jackie's friend or remove yourself from her life."

Hyde stopped and turned to look at Donna directly. "Are you giving me an ultimatum? Cause we both know how well those go over with me."

"I'm telling you how it's going to be," she stated evenly. "You're her friend or you're nothing. Do you understand?"

He grunted.

"I know you, Hyde," she warned. "I know the both of you, and I've seen the looks you've been giving her lately and I know you're the only person Jackie's shown any interest in since she woke up from the coma. Though I can't see why ."

Hyde grimaced. "Again, thanks." However, he also didn't know why Jackie was so interested in him, especially since she couldn't remember him. Maybe it was all for the best.

"Just don't be an asshole, Hyde," Donna warned.

"Don't be a bitch, Donna." He opened his door. "I'll deal with Jackie when I know how to deal with her."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means mind your own damn business." He slammed the door shut, only to hear Donna yell from inside the car.

"What are you so afraid of, Hyde?"

He ignored the question and entered the house. He was afraid of everything—of himself, of Jackie, of that damn stranglehold she had on him. He was scared to be friends with the only person who had ever held his heart.

He was afraid of being hurt again.

⋆ 𖤓 ⋆