Disclaimer: I own nothing! Especially not the Tom Petty and The Heartbreaker song that is used in this chapter.

Author's Note: Hello all! How are you all this week? Hope you're doing well! Today I have for you a new update for this story! I know I haven't updated it in awhile but I do have my reasons, got busy writing other stories, was waiting to to see if the FL fans I knew from before were going to read, and of course the passing of Lisa Robin Kelly. It's very sad and for awhile I did think about discontinuing the story but thank to some wonderful writers on here who supported me so much during that time told me it would be better to continue the story is Lisa Robin Kelly's memory and so I'm going to do just that! I hope you all don't mind. I would also like to thank all of you wonderful readers and reviewers for your fabulous support! It really means so much that you're enjoying the story so much! Some special thank yous to JB (MidniteRaine) who supported me so much with this story in the beginning stages of this story, I even used one of his lines in this chapter and also a big thank you to Mystery Girl 911 who helped me out with the song stuff. This chapter is mostly flashback, I hope that's okay. Thought some FL interaction would be nice and it takes place during season 5's Celebration Day. Thanks so much once again to everyone! I hope you all like this chapter, please review if you have the chance, sorry for the lateness, and as always, Enjoy!

Chapter 3- Into The Great Wide Open

1978- Night Before Graduation

"Aye. Donna really likes the hard stuff." Fez said to himself as he rubbed his upper left arm that had become injured after he walked in on a naked Donna who soon began throwing things at him—one of those things being a very hard rock, "Poor Eric."

Fez continued to walk along the path around the lake with slight disappointment on his face and in his heart. He had come to the area closer to the lake in search of Laurie and her topless swinging but had not been able to find her. Instead he found a naked Donna which he did not mind seeing until she started throwing things at him and besides if there was a naked Donna that meant there was a naked Eric around here too and Fez did not want to see that.

He figured the best thing would be to give up on looking for Laurie and head back to camp at least there there would be the chocolatey goodness of s'mores! Knowing that chocolate was waiting for him made Fez a little less sad about having a boob free night, he went walking on, past some large bushes and tall grass when he suddenly saw a flash of something gold and majestic. His attention was instantly grabbed and his eyes stayed glued to the sunshine colored item and he hoped it was what he thought it was.

Crouching down, Fez carefully stepped closer towards the bush that was the only barrier between him and his new found treasure. Once he was close enough he peeked through the branches and saw that his wishing and hoping had worked! The golden surprise was a sister golden hair surprise and not just anyone's sister's, it was Eric Forman's sister!

As soon as he spotted the profile side of Laurie's face Fez could barely contain his smile; however, he did manage to keep himself from bursting through and hurrying over to her.

'Okay Fez, old boy. There's Laurie and this time we know it is her, now we must be smooth. Very smooth. Smooth like a baby's butt! Now do you remember what you are going to say?' his inside voice asked himself and he soon nodded his head, 'Hello Laurie, are you happy to see me or are you just naked?' his voice sounded sexy until he realized he mixed things up and his seductive face collapsed into a frown 'No, no that is not it.'

While Fez tried to get his lines in order Laurie heard a faint shuffling sound coming from the bushes not too far away from her and she swung her head towards them. She didn't see anything but still felt as if she were being watched, she scowled at the plant.

"Did you seriously come back here?" she asked sounding more annoyed than angry, "Even Oedipus had enough sense to gouge out his eyes."

Fez froze as he heard this and he even looked a bit frightened too, "Aye, it sounds like Laurie like the rough stuff too. The really rough stuff. Perhaps I should use another line…oh I know!" his inner voice became suavey once again as he practiced his new pick up line, "Why Laurie, it is a good thing that I have my library card with me because you are naked."

He thought that was a good new opening line and decided to add an extra touch of some waggling eyebrows. The two patches of dark hair began to move around but Fez wasn't sure if he was moving them in the right way, he didn't have a mirror but that didn't stop him from trying to see what his eyebrows looked like. He moved his eyes to look upwards but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see anything—this included the bush he crashed right into.

The sound of Fez falling into the bush startled Laurie and she took a few steps back.

"Eric?" she sounded a tiny bit cautious.

Hearing not his name but the name of his friend and Laure's brother be called out instead made Fez's head pop up with a puzzled expression on his face and he only became more confused when he saw Laurie staring back at him—fully clothed.

"Why are you not naked?" he asked right away, still lying on the ground. Luckily he realized on his own that that was not best opening line so he tried again this time with more of his suavey tone of voice, "I mean, no I am not Eric, but for you I could be…."his sexy voice faded, "Even though that is weird and creepy, but I always knew you were a kinky one."

Laurie just stared back at him, "It's about time you showed up, Fez."

Fez carefully rose to his feet, his confused frown still steady on his face and if anything it had deepened when he heard the blonde's statement.

"You were waiting for me?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah." Laurie nodded "I told you I was coming out here."

He thought back to when Laurie made her announcement of going for a walk by the lake he was sure there were others around then. Jackie for sure and maybe Donna and Eric a few feet away…

As if she had been reading his thoughts Laurie spoke up with a quick reminder, "I touched your knee when I said it."

"I thought you were just being nice." Fez thought out loud, "Like when you sat next to me on the way over here and when we were sitting at the campfire. And you told me that the Loch Ness Monster was not here but in Africa. And when you let me play with your hair and then made me a double layer s'more…"a sudden realization hit Fez as he heard himself explain all of Laurie's actions, "You were flirting with me!"

With a smirk on her lips Laurie sat herself on the large bolder between the water and the plants Fez had come from, "Subtly. I didn't wanna scare you off."

Fez grinned a very large grin. Laurie Forman had been flirting with him! Fez! It was a miracle! Suddenly the smile on Fez's face dropped and he looked at Laurie, hoping that his eyes were not giving away his worries.

"This…" he played with his fingers nervously, "this is not a Burn Fez Before He Leaves America burn…is it?"

"No." Laurie rolled her eyes, why did people have such a hard time believing that she was doing something nice and didn't have an alternative motive? "I was just trying to say thank you I guess."

Still confused Fez asked, "To me? Fez?"

Laurie nodded then went on to explain, "You were the one to convince my dork of a brother to let me come along. If it wasn't for you I'd be stuck at home watching Daddy try to get back his wife from all those hormones and little yellow pills. It's actually more sad than it is funny."

Taking a seat beside her on the large rock, Fez nodded in an understanding way, "You could have just said thank you." he informed her and as Laurie's looked away in an almost ashamed way Fez's grin broke out onto his face, "But I am glad you did it this way."

His words and tone sounded quite honest and it made Laurie flash him a ditzy smile. Fez smiled back but soon another question entered his mind and he furrowed his brows slightly.

"But if you were waiting for me, why did you ask for Eric?"

She rolled her eyes, not so much at Fez's question but rather the previous antics of her brother, "Because when I was getting ready to break my topless rides on the rope swing the little perv walked in and saw me."

"That lucky sonofabitch." Fez muttered causing Laurie to scowl at what he'd just said, "Oh I mean…no, no I do mean he is a lucky sonofabitch."

This time Laurie's eye roll was because of Fez, however it was also accompanied by a faint smile playing at her lips.

"Is that why you are not naked?" He asked out loud.

Instead of frowning or being offended by what the foreigner had said, Laurie merely nodded her head and began her explanation, "Yeah, I didn't wanna take the chance of the freak coming back for a second peak." She told Fez, her face suddenly showing disappointment, "It's too bad too, I bet I could've broken my record."

"I think so too." Fez confirmed, "And I think you should do it. You will not have to worry about anyone seeing you either because I am here now and I will stand guard."

Laurie's eyebrow rose up a tad, "You'd do that?"

"Yes. I will stay here and protect you and your glorious nakedness from all the freaks and perverts who try to watch you." Fez assured and as Laurie pushed herself off of the rock, his determined facial expression faded and he realized he may have made a horrible mistake, "Except me. Right?"

Fez's question was answered by Laurie's yellow tank top flying into his face. As Fez pulled the shirt away he heard her say something along the lines of 'Except you, Fez.' He wasn't very focused on what he heard but was paying plenty of attention to what he saw in front of him, Laurie hurrying off to the big tree, where the rope swing hung above the lake water, in nothing but light green panties.

As soon as she was close enough Laurie grabbed the rope and hung on as swung herself over the water, counting out loud to make sure she beat her personal record. Fez barely heard her counting and instead remained focused on Laurie. Her glorious bosom swinging back and forth in the chilly night air with the moonlight beaming down. However, Laurie's chest area wasn't the only area that Fez was looking at, he was taking in all of her, every detail about her but mostly the smile on her face.

Of course Fez had seen her smile before, when she was flirting wit Kelso, when she was being mean to Eric, and when she was pretending to be innocent in front of Red but he had never seen her smile such a happy smile like this. It was beautiful; he wished that she wore it more often.

There was an unexpected splash heard that instantly pulled Fez from his thoughts just in time to see Laurie's head pop out from under the water—her happy smile now doubled in size.

"I did it! I broke my record!" she shouted to him.

"Yes, you did! And a good jump at the end! A perfect ten!" Fez called back at her, "And because there were two, twenty!"

Laurie's happy smile slowly began to witch to a more sultry one, "Are you coming in?"

Fez heard the question but didn't answer right away—he couldn't believe she was actually asking him. He looked to his left and then to his right, looking for anyone else that Laurie could have possibly been talking too. Even after not finding anyone, he still wasn't convinced. He looked back at Laurie and with a questioning look on his face, pointed at himself.

"Yes you, Fez." she tried to sound annoyed but his nervous actions were funny and even kind of cute.

Afraid that if he waited too long he would break this spell he was lucky enough to stumble in, Fez sat back on the rock and began to take of his shoes and socks as fast as he could. "Yes, yes I am coming," He said as he undid his pants and took them off but left on his underwear, "And I am also going to beat your record, missy!"

"You're gonna break my record of topless rides on the rope swing?" Laurie asked, floating in the water still.

"Oh right!" he quickly remembered and then pulled off his t-shirt leaving him in only his underwear too.

Giving his best Tarzan yell Fez took off running the same path Laurie had taken to the rope swing and jumped onto the rope, holding on tightly. However unlike Laurie, Fez didn't count any of his swings and his eyes filled with fear as soon as he looked down at the water he was swinging above.

"Aye no!" he cried out in despair.

Laurie swam towards him to offer some support, "Come on, you big baby, jump in."

"No…no… no thank you. I am fine right here." Fez answered back, his grip tightening on the moving rope.

"Just let go."

Fez tucked his head closer to the rope and whined, "No."

"You'll be fine." Laurie assured though not without rolling her eyes first.

"But what if there are sea monsters in there? Or if the water is too cold?" he expressed only a few of his worries as the rope slowly rocked him back and forth.

"The water isn't cold." She told him, "And it's a lake there aren't any sea monsters. I promise."

For several seconds Fez just stared at Laurie wondering if he could trust her or not. He had seen the things she had done to Eric but she had been wanting to change herself and her ways.

He took a deep breath and nodded before at last letting go of the rope and shouting out, "Geronimo!"

There was a big splash as Fez fell into the water only to emerge seconds later with wide firey eyes glaring at a grinning Laurie Forman, "You daughterofabitch! The water is cold! You lied to me!"

"What are you gonna do about it?" Laurie asked floating in the water, flashing him a sexy smile as if she were trying to challenge him.

"Oh I am going to get you." Fez replied, slowly moving towards her in a stalking like manner, "And I am going to get you good."

Fez was getting closer and closer but Laure never moved; she stayed in her spot, her smile remaining in place. She had never seen this determined and almost aggressive side of the foreigner and she had to admit, she didn't hate it. She didn't know what Fez was going to do to her but she had in no way seen the splash of water being sent her way.

Laurie frowned, confused by Fez's actions and the proud smile he wore; she wanted to wipe it off his face and so she tried to do just that. She pushed water in his direction, hitting him right in the face.

Before either of them knew it they had begun a splash war. The sounds of the water being splatter around were mixed in with sounds of the giggle coming from the both of them as they chased after each other in the water, creating a fun and carefree atmosphere that they each really needed right now.

They were having so much fun they didn't want it to end but suddenly it did and neither remembered who gave the last splash or who had won the battle. By the time their splashing had stopped they were less than a foot away from each other, staring into each other eyes.

"So Fez, you ever done it in the water?" Laurie questioned, making the space between them even smaller as she wrapped her arm around the back of his neck.

"No, no." He replied, his voice sounding quite nervous, "It is because I am so hot that when I get in the water I make it warm. It is not because I…"

"I meant sex." Laurie interrupted in a deadpan tone before he could say something she really didn't want to hear.

Fez leaned threw his head back, "Ooohh!" he then moved his head back to look at Laurie with his face serious again, "No. I have not done that. Or the other thing. In the water."

"Well do you wanna try it?" she asked, moving her right arm to join her left one behind Fez's neck.

He shook his head, "No."

"What?!"

"I mean I do, I do." Fez quickly assured, putting his hands on her arms to keep her from moving away from him before he could explain, "But did do not think it is a good idea to do it here. We could anger The Lady of the Lake."

Laurie nodded, "Good point." She gave it a quick thought then said, "We could go back to camp and do it in the tent."

"But everyone is there." he reminded her, "Laurie, if we are going to do it I want it to special with only the two of us and our sexiness."

Getting frustrated with Fez and the way he was acting like such a girl, Laurie rolled her eyes again as she untangled her arms from around him but stayed nearby, "Fine, you pick a place."

Fez gave it more thought than Laurie had and so it took him a little longer to come up with a suggestion, "There is Kelso's van."

She looked back at him with an unimpressed look on her face, "You want me to have sex with you in a stupid van that used to belong to my stupid ex-boyfriend? What kind of girl do you think I am?"

"That kind of girl." Came Fez's hopeful reply.

A second or two passed before Laurie shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, okay."

With that said, Laurie took Fez's hand in her own and began to head for the shore.

0o0o0o

Minutes later the pair had managed to sneak to Kelso's without being spotted by any of their fellow campers, who had been sitting around the campfire. As soon as Fez spotted the keys in the ignition, he knew that his friend's vehicle was unlocked and opened the back door for Laurie. She climbed inside and he soon joined her.

Not more than a few seconds past after Fez sat down when Laurie straddled his lap. Her blue eyes held his brown ones; she had a sultry look on her face while he looked at her with a sense of wonderment. Suddenly he reached up to her face but instead of pulling her towards him for a kiss, he gently pushed a strand of her blonde locks behind her ear.

"You are beautiful, Laurie." he spoke softly, a smile on his lips.

By now Laurie's look of desire had softened. She wasn't used to hearing things like this, especially not during a moment like this. The other guys she'd been with usually said that kind of stuff just to get her to where she and Fez were now, and once they were there they weren't exactly in the mood for talking much less pay her a compliment. Not wanting Fez to see this side of her, plus she was still a little weirded out by his words, she climbed off him.

"Turn on the radio." She ordered, hoping that the background music would keep him from talking and saying something else that would catch her off guard.

"Yes, ma'am!"

Fez swung his upper body over the front seats and reach out to turn on the car and it's radio. It took him a moment or two before he found a station but soon he did and the music of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' American Girl filled the inside of the van.

"After all it was a great big world

with lots of places to run to…"

He pushed away from the radio and joined Laurie back in the makeshift bed of pillows and a few blanket. Laurie was laying down, appearing to be lost in her thoughts until Fez broke her from them by speaking up.

"Is that better my American girl?" he asked playfully.

Laurie looked up at him and answered his question by grabbing the collar of his t-shirt, pulling him down to her and into a steamy passion filled kiss.

"Oh yeah, all right.

Take it easy baby.

Make it last all night

She was an American girl."

0o0o0o

"Well it was kinda cold that night

She stood alone on the balcony

Yeah, she could hear…"

The song was suddenly cut off by Hyde switching over from the cassette player to the actual radio. The lack of Tom Petty music instantly caught Fez's attention and he took his eyes off the road he was driving them on to glare at his friend sitting over on the passenger seat.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

Hyde's eyes remained on the radio, trying to pick up a station, "Fez man, you've heard the song three times in a row. It's time for a change."

"But that is our song." Fez protested, his voice sounding of a mix between hurt and angry.

"See man," the curly haired man looked at his friend, "you having 'a song' with your best guy friend is the first strike for why you're having trouble getting a girl."

A frown indented its way onto Fez's head as he moved his head from Hyde to the road then back again, "That song is not Kelso and mine's song."

"Yeah." Kelso, who was seated in the middle seat in the front—he didn't want to get lonely in the back—"Our song is You're My Best Friend by Queen."

Now it was Hyde's turn to frown as he watched the two men exchange small smiles with the other. He was ready to make a comment about what he'd just witnessed when he suddenly realized there was a mystery at hand.

"So if the song's not yours and Barney Fife over here, who's song is it?'

"Um…Tom Petty's." Fez replied nervously, avoiding Hyde's stare by keeping his eyes on the road.

Hyde wasn't fooled and shook his head, "You said it was 'our' song. Who's 'our?'"

Fez looked uneasy at these questions; he did not want to tell his friends who they were looking for until they were in California. His reason behind this was that they would be too far away from home to go back and not help him. Because Fez wanted to stick to this plan he was forced to come up with an answer that would satisfy Hyde's curiosity for another day or two.

"Um our is…is me and…" he struggled for what to say next, "and myself….and I. That is our."

This was not the answer that would settle Hyde's curiosity.

"Who's song is it?"

"Uh mine and Tom Petty's?" he tried again, hoping this reply would work better—he even made a quick back story, "It feels like he is really singing to me."

Nodding his head once it looked like Hyde was convinced until he spoke, "Which part Fez, 'American' or 'girl?'"

"Ha American girl." The peanut section in the middle laughed, "Hey Fez, isn't that what you used to call Laurie?"

"Laurie?" Hyde repeated with a slight scowl, the guilty look on Fez's face only making that frown grown, "As in Laurie Forman?"

When Hyde didn't get any kind of response he realized not only had he gotten his answer but he figured out what this trip was all about.

"Crap. We're out here to look for Laurie, aren't we?" he asked, his frown now replaced with a Zen like expression.

Fez grinned as he at last glance back over at Hyde, "I knew you were a smart cookie!"

"We're looking for Laurie?" Kelso asked appearing to be much more excited than Fez's other travel companion, "Awesome! I bet she's still hot."

While Fez happily nodded his head in agreement, Hyde was still trying to wrap his mind around this whole idea. Looking for Laurie Forman? They'd have better luck finding the City of Atlantis.

"If you two think we can actually find Laurie on our own, you're bigger dumbasses than Red gives you credit for." Hyde told the two, "We'd need Colombo, Kojak, and McCloud just to figure out where she's at."

Kelso's arm shot up into the air, hitting the rooftop of the car but not caring, "I call McCloud! Cuz I totally rock that cowboy hat look and watch this," he cleared his throat to get ready for his impersonation of the TV character while delivering the catchphrase, "There ya go!"

Neither of the other two men in the vehicle paid Kelso any attention.

"We do not need any of them, we already know where she is at." Fez wore a proud smile on his face as if he had cracked this case, "She is in California."

Hyde wasn't so sure, "How do you know that?"

Keeping his gaze straight ahead, Fez wordlessly reached into his shirt pocket and retrieved the folded up postcard and handed it over to Hyde. Kelso tried to see what it was but Hyde took hold of it before the kettlehead could get too good of a look.

He unfolded the paper and saw the cartoon picture of the sunny state of California. Swiftly he turned it over and found the message written in the back, he didn't read through it but the handwriting did look vaguely familiar and even similar that belonged to the girl he'd had burn wars with through out his childhood and teenage years. Of course what really caught his attention were the words at the beginning and end of the postcard's message. 'Laurie' at the bottom and up on top 'Daddy.'

"Red know you stole this?" Hyde questioned, lifting up the card a tad.

"I did not steal it." came Fez's reply, both his hands gripping the steering wheel, "Miss. Kitty says that postcards are a given and anyone can read them."

With a small smirk on his lips, Hyde shook his head already able to hear his surrogate mother say such a thing.

"And no. He does not know I took it." added Fez at the last second.

Hyde took one more look at the swirly signature of the name Laurie. He hadn't seen her in over a year, he didn't even know she had started keeping in touch with her parents. While he was glad she was, he wondered if she knew how much not hearing from her months at a time had worried them both. He didn't understand why Fez was so determined to find her and figured the only way he'd find out was if he asked.

"Fez, man, why do you wanna find her so much?" he questioned, "You remember who Laurie is right?"

The foreigner ignored the second question and concentrated on the first one, "I want to find Laurie because I love her and she loves me."

"Might wanna add an 'n' at the end there." Hyde commented.

Kelso's face scrunched with confusion, "N? She loves me n….me n…." then it clicked, "Oh! She loves men!" he laughed and another light turned on, "Burn!"

In that next instant Fez slammed down on the brakes and all three of the grown men jerked forward by the very unexpected stop. Kelso appeared frightened while Hyde frowned over at Fez only to be met with an even angrier frown worn by the driver of the vehicle.

"Out!" he shouted.

"What?"

"Out!" Fez repeated his voice full of fury, "If you two do not want to help me find Laurie, then get out now."

With wide eyes, Kelso shook his head, "Hey it wasn't me, I was all for looking for Laurie. I said she's probably still hot, remember?"

Fez did not reply to Kelso's statement and instead focused on his other friend, "Hyde?"

"Look man, it's not that I don't wanna look for her it's just…" he drifted off wondering how he could explain to his friend how difficult this could all really be, actually contacting Laurie, maybe seeing if she would come home…the guy thought not only that he was in love with her but that she had some feelings for him too. This trip was looking to be a set up for only heartbreak for the poor naïve guy, "Even if we know where she is…it's gonna be hard, you know?"

"I know." Fez nodded, and his tone of voice almost made it seem like he had gone over those same obstacles that Hyde had been thinking of, "That is why I was so happy when you and Kelso decided to come. I thought it would mean I would have your help." He paused for effect, "Along with the help of all the road trip candy and beer."

Hyde stared at Fez, "You buying all that stuff?"

"Yes."

He knew he should have opened up the Vista Cruiser's door and gotten out of the car and the overall trip; he was being given the choice to do so. They weren't too far from home, he could catch a bus and be back in Point Place by dinner time and any worries about Fez, Kelso, or Laurie would be out of his mind. He should have gotten out of the car but instead he pushed the button on the radio switching back over to the cassette.

As American Girl started playing once again Fez grinned over at his rebel friend who merely nodded back; smile still in place Fez took his foot off the brake and pressed it back onto the gas pedal, getting them back on the road.

"Oh yeah, all right

Take it easy baby

Make it last all night

She was an American girl"

Author's Note: There you have it! Chapter 3 of "Runnin' Down a Dream" Again I am so very sorry for the wait!

So what did you think? Good? Bad? Somewhere in between? Also are you all okay with me continuing the story? Lemme know in a review!

Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, and have a nice day!