Author's Note: So, I'm back after a horrible stint with writer's block. Hopefully, it's gone for good and I feel like I'm getting some of my creativity back (hallelujah). I'd like to recommended watching Episode 501, "Going to California" as well as the last episode of Season 7. They're both on Youtube! So watch it and review the chapter (that took nearly a month to write).
xoxo Natalie, who-is-sorry-this-took-for-EVER-to-write!
Deja Vu
--
Hyde smirked to himself, taking off his sunglasses as he walked in to Betsey's room, drawing out a long breath.
"Hey, Bets," Hyde said, plopping down on to her purple chair. "You doing okay?"
The toddler nodded and smiled up at him from her position on the rug, crayons in hand, "Mommy back?" she asked hopefully.
Hyde shook his head, "Sorry, Betsey. They should be back soon, though," Hyde said, "Need some help?"
Betsey smiled and stood up, walking to where Hyde sat. "Mommy does hair," Betsey said, pulling on a strand of her wavy brown hair.
Hyde laughed, "I don't think so, Bets. You should ask your Aunt Jackie about that one."
"But pleaaase?" Betsey asked, pouting. "Uncle Hyde?" She looked up at him with her big, brown eyes and then looked down sadly. "Mommy always does," Betsey insisted, casting another sad look towards him.
Hyde sighed, "Fine. You girls, always crying about something," he muttered.
--
Jackie opened her overnight bag and looked for something to wear, casually discarding each item. Frustrated, she plopped on the mattress and sighed.
Why are you making such a big deal out of this? It's just Steven! And just a talk. A 'talk'. Jackie reprimanded herself. But...still it was Steven and somehow things never turned out as expected with him. Like last night. And Chicago. And...I could go on all day, Jackie reflected bitterly. Resolved, she stood up and grabbed her sweats and a plain long-sleeved shirt.
"You are such a tramp!" Jackie muttered to herself, staring at her reflection. She pulled down her the sleeves of her shirt so they rested at her fingertips. She messed up her hair and opted not to wear any lipgloss."You're going to talk," Jackie reminded herself. "Nothing else. Just talk."
--
Hyde found Betsey's hairbrush, with her brightly colored elastics wrapped around the handle. "So...uh, let's see," Hyde pulled Betsey on to his lap and began to brush the knots out of her hair.
"Ouch!" Betsey said as Hyde pulled on one of tangled strands of hair.
"Sorry, Bets," Hyde said, giving her a small kiss on her head. "So...uh, what color do you want?" he asked, holding out a few elastics for her to choose.
"Blue," she prompted. "And purple."
Jackie's favorite color, Hyde thought instantly, momentarily distracted.
"Uncle Hyde?" Betsey asked in a sing-song voice. Looking up, puzzled, at her godfather who had secured a tangled strand of her hair in to an uncomfortable rubber band.
Hyde heard a laugh at the door. "Steven," Jackie asked exasperatedly. "What are you doing to my beautiful goddaughter?" Jackie teased.
"Our," he corrected. She shot him a, Don't-Go-There-look. "Come here, Betsey, I'll fix you up," Jackie said enthusiastically, grabbing her off from Hyde's lap and taking seat in the chair on the opposite side of the room.
--
Hyde watched Jackie brush Betsey's hair, taking care to smooth out every knot and tangled strand. Jackie began to hum softly, carefully separating her brown locks and braiding them easily.
"The Beatles?" Hyde asked, smiling at her, listening intently to the tune she was singing.
"Oh, yea. My mom used to sing it to me when she did this," Jackie said distractedly. "But...well, you've heard me sing," Jackie laughed, casting a stray look his way. Their eyes met briefly and Jackie quickly set to the task of securing Betsey's two braids. "Well, there you go, Betsey. What do you think?" Jackie asked, depositing the toddler on her feet and picking up a handheld mirror. "Good?"
Betsey nodded happily, "Thanks, Aunt Jackie! T.V. time?" Betsey asked.
"Sure, only for a little bit, though," Hyde consented before Jackie could make some excuse for Betsey to stay.
--
"So...talk," Jackie said, nodding at Hyde, staring at him from across the room.
"You changed," Hyde said cryptically. She raised an eyebrow. "Your clothes," he answered vaguely. "You never wear sweat pants." He stood up and Jackie crossed her arms over her chest unconsciously. "And a long-sleeve shirt," he continued, mulling over this information. Hyde smiled as his epiphany occurred. "You think it could happen again, don't you? Us, you know, having sex?" Hyde probed. "That's why you're dressed like that. See, if you really wanted to make me suffer, you'd go around, prancing around here in something tiny and...and--" He cleared his throat, his eyes scanning down her thin frame. "Uhm...never mind."
"Don't be so full of yourself. It's January, I don't want to be freezing my ass off in here," Jackie retorted. "I did not think we'd be having sex again. So, rest assured," she sniped back, giving Hyde a pat on the shoulder.
Hyde grabbed Jackie around the waist. "Come on, Jacks. You said we'd talk."
"About what? How much I'm secretly dying to have sex with you?" She pulled away from his uncomfortably close grasp.
He sighed, "Just talk, that's all I want. Unless..." he continued. "You wanna do that first, because that would work, too," Hyde said smirking, speaking quickly and trying to evade Jackie's hand.
Jackie slapped him in the arm. "I'll be in the kitchen," Jackie huffed.
--
"What do you think, Jackie?" Hyde asked, holding up the tiny Play-Doh 'animal' that Betsey had created.
"Aw, Bets," Jackie said, ignoring Hyde's question, "It's very nice."
"Thanks," Betsey answered happily, "Here." She handed her godmother the Play-Doh creation.
Hyde sighed, "Still ignoring me, huh?" He was almost amused at Jackie's determination to not speak to him—a retaliation against the gutter-minded comments he had spoken earlier. She was always cute when she was mad, at least, most of the time.
"Betsey, c'mere," Jackie said, grabbing the toddler's hand. "Tell your Uncle Hyde that I'm still mad," Jackie whispered in to her goddaughter's ear, smiling saccharinely at Hyde. Betsey walked up to Hyde, tugging gently on his shirt.
"Auntie's mad," Betsey whispered loudly.
Hyde nodded, looking over at his ex-girlfriend. She was going to drive him crazy.
--
"You know you're not making this any easier for yourself," Jackie said vaguely, scooping out a spoonful of ice cream that they were eating from the carton. "If you're so set on us getting back together, this isn't really the way to go," Jackie clarified.
After an afternoon of distracting themselves with Betsey, the two were finally getting their chance to talk.
"And how would I make this easier?" Hyde asked, raising an eyebrow, his eyes sunglass-free.
"Well, not being such an asshole, for one," Jackie started.
Hyde smiled sarcastically at her, taking a bite of ice cream, "Well, I'd think you'd be used to that by now, doll."
Jackie rolled her eyes and hopped off the stool in Brooke's kitchen. "That's exactly what I mean. You say you want to talk, but when we do, you always try to evade it somehow--you make some little remark..."
Hyde sighed and Jackie could tell she needed to make her point before he decided to stop listening or get angry. (Again.)
"Now, Steven, listen. I know you think we should get back together. But, think about it...before this weekend, we hardly spoke to each other. I mean, we can't just go from hardly being friends to...to whatever we are now."
"Isn't that what happened before? If you think back to a certain summer," Hyde said, putting the ice cream container back in to the icebox. He opened the refrigerator door, looking (and praying) that Kelso had left some beer in the fridge. Negative. Hyde grimaced and stood back up, facing Jackie. He leaned against the open refrigerator door.
"That was different," Jackie excused. "Will you shut that thing? It's already freezing," Jackie complained, putting her hand on the refrigerator door, looking up at him.
"This feeling...familiar at all?" he asked, smirking at her.
"Steven, what are you talking about?" Jackie asked irritably. Then she realized.
They were standing in a strangely familiar position, one they had adopted during the first summer they were together. It was the same position that Mrs. Foreman had caught them in, making out during the hottest month of summer, in front of the refrigerator.
He didn't say anything, but raised his eyebrows.
"Don't..." Jackie warned, noticing Hyde stepping closer to her. "Steven," Jackie sighed softly in to his lips. "I'm just trying to close the door," she whispered before his lips gently brushed hers.
The kiss was almost the same. It was a little unsure, a little wrong, but this time for different reasons. Back then, she was with Michael. Now, she was with Fez. They shouldn't be doing this, but they were--after all these years, they were back in the same place.
"Aunt Jacks? Uncle Hyde?" Betsey asked, looking strangely at her godparents, who were, until recently, heavily making out. Jackie quickly shut the refrigerator door, shooting an embarrassed and angry look at Hyde.
"Bets, why are you up? We put you to bed an hour ago," Hyde asked, picking up his tiny goddaughter. "You need something?"
"Water," Betsey said, nodding. Jackie made her a cup of water and handed it to her.
"You sure you're okay?" Jackie asked, brushing some stray brown hair out of her goddaughter's eyes. Betsey nodded.
"Thanks," Betsey smiled sleepily. "Bed now."
"I'll put her back to sleep," Hyde said, looking over at Jackie. With a small shrug at her, he walked back to Betsey's room.
--
Jackie peeked in to Betsey's room. Her goddaughter was now, thankfully, asleep. Hyde was showering and Jackie felt exhausted. The phone rang from Brooke's room and she hurried inside to answer it.
Jackie knew she had a decision to make about Steven; they couldn't keep crossing the line between friends and enemies and lovers anymore, the line was continually growing blurier. It had to end somehow and, as Jackie hung up the phone, she knew what her resolution would be.
--
Jackie sat on Brooke's bed, resting her head on the wall, closing her eyes, mulling over the conclusion she had just come to.
"Hey," Steven said, knocking softly on the door.
She opened her eyes and smiled. "Hey," she returned. "You coming in?"
Steven entered the room, sitting on the edge of the bed. "So...I guess now would be a good time to finally talk, huh?"
"Actually...I was thinking maybe we should go to sleep. We can talk about this later," Jackie shrugged.
Hyde regarded her curiously. "Who's the one avoiding the subject now?" Hyde asked rhetorically, a slightly teasing tone escaping his words.
"Just get in," Jackie instructed, slipping under the covers. "Unless you want to sleep on the couch...?" Jackie suggested.
"No, this is good," Hyde said. "I guess you can't be too mad at me--"
"Steven," Jackie said tiredly. "It's been a long day and I think we've talked enough for now."
"Right," Hyde agreed, slipping in next to her. They were both silent for awhile, both awake: "So...does this mean you want to have to sex now?" Hyde joked.
"You pig!" Jackie said, slapping him again on the arm.
"Oh, come on, Jacks. It was only last night that we had sex, so don't act like that's so unreasonable."
"I know, I just think we shouldn't be back-tracking. We're supposed to making progress, remember?" Jackie reminded him.
He rolled back on to his back and stared up at the ceiling.
"Well, lately, backwards seems to be working for us. Especially considering what happened when we 'progressed'."
Ultimatums, Chicago, proposals, towel-clad ex-boyfriends, stripper ex-wives.
Progress. They had made progress, right? And they weren't completely back to where they had left off. Or at least, Hyde hoped so.
--
A Year Ago - January 29, 1979
Foreman's Living Room
"So you haven't decided yet?" Eric asked, looking at his friend on the couch.
"Oh, no I've decided," Hyde answered back with certainty.
"Steven, Jackie stopped by and asked me to give you this note," Mrs. Foreman said, handing him a letter.
--
Hyde woke up to noise. And that noise sounded a lot like Kelso. Irritably, he got out of bed, nearly tripping over a suitcase, and wandered in to the kitchen, where he could smell breakfast.
"Hey, man," Kelso said, smiling at his friend from the counter. "You want some breakfast?"
"Man, what are you doing here?" Hyde asked, still groggy from waking up.
"Jackie didn't tell you?" Brooke asked, who was standing at the stove. "I called her last night to tell her we were coming back. We ran in to one of Michael's police academy buddies who lived in the area and he showed us how to get out of town using the back roads, so we didn't have to deal with all the fuss and traffic while they cleared the main roads..."
"Wait, you called Jackie?" Hyde asked, looking around to realize she wasn't in the kitchen.
"Yeah, last night. She said she'd tell you," Kelso shrugged, stabbing some eggs with his fork.
"Michael, those are for Betsey. You're allergic to eggs," Brooke reminded Kelso patiently.
"Oh yea," Michael laughed. "Hey, Hyde, remember that time..."
"Not now, Kelso," Hyde snapped. "Where's Jackie?"
"Steven?" Brooke asked. "You didn't know? She left this morning. She told me to give this to you." Brooke wiped her hands on her apron, grabbing an envelope off the countertop. "She said she had to go and to make sure you got this..." Brooke trailed off as Hyde grabbed the envelope out of her hands. "What does it say?"
Steven--
I'm sorry. I just can't do this. I know I said we'd talk, but we both know this can't work. Not now at least.
I know you want to get back together and I think we did make mistakes, but if we haven't changed, then nothing ever will. We're back to the beginning again, Steven--and I loved you back then and I still do, but we can't keep repeating our mistakes.
I was offered a job in Chicago and I'm going to take it. I'm not trying to an extort a marriage proposal or anything out of you, I just want you to know that I'm so sorry for leaving this way. I just knew if I stayed, then I don't think I'd have been able to leave. We can't keep doing this anymore, Steven.
Love, Jackie
He stared at it blankly, his mind flashing back to the letter she had let a year ago. The same small heart over the "I" in her name, the girly flourish in her handwriting.
"It says she took the job in Chicago and she left this morning."
Author's Note: Ok, that may be a little evil cliffhanger, but I'll get another chapter up soon! I'm just having some fun with you guys since I've been dreadfully blocked. I figured out how it's going to end...but you'll just have to wait and see ;) REVIEW! xoxo