Hello all! This is my first story here on fanfiction so be nice hahaha. It's a J/H centered fic about what happened after season 7. In this version, Hyde did get married to Sam but he is miserable just like the rest of his friends but he won't admit it. No one has seen much of Jackie and Eric is still in Africa but hoping to come home soon to surprise Donna. What will the remaining gang do when they realize things aren't as good as they have been pretending them to be? What will Hyde do when he finds out the truth about Jackie and Kelso in the hotel room that night in Chicago? And how does Eric find himself in more than a compromising situation with the one he often refers to as the devil?

Prologue:
Eric Forman woke up with a pounding headache. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this hung-over. He had spent the last year in Africa and didn't do much drinking as he had back home with his friends.

Yesterday when he finally made it back to the States, the anxiety of seeing his ex-girlfriend started to eat away at him and the first thing he could think to do was get as drunk as possible. Unfortunately, he hadn't exactly thought the plan all the way through and couldn't remember how or when he had gotten home last night.

Groaning, he rolled over in bed and blinked his eyes open trying to get accustomed to the light. He looked at his surroundings and immediately felt a sense of concussion and worry because he didn't recognize where he was at all.

He sat up slowly and quickly lifted the blanket to see he was wearing clothes…but nothing that he recognized. And in fact…he was pretty damn sure it was girl's clothes.

"What the hell?" He said to himself, trying to piece everything together.

Just at that moment, the bedroom door opened and a familiar brunette poked her head in. "Oh good you're awake. I don't have anything for breakfast here so I'm going to run down to the store. Try not to make a mess while I'm gone." She said rolling her eyes as she shut the door again.

"Oh. My. God." Eric said clutching the blanket to his chest. "I slept with Jackie!"

One week earlier…

Jackie came back after a long day of work at the studio to her empty apartment just as she did every night. Fez had met and fallen in love with one of the women he worked with at the salon named Carla, which left her without a roommate. As lonely as she felt at times, it was also nice not to have to pretend to be happy in front of anyone.

She slipped off her shoes and her clothes and threw on a pair of sweat pants and slippers. She poured herself a glass of wine and walked over to the couch, she curled her legs up under her and took a deep breath.

And just as they did every night…the tears began to fall.

She was just about to drown her sorrows in her first glass of wine when the phone rang. She sniffled and wiped her tears away to make sure that whoever was on the other end didn't hear the emotion in her voice.

She cleared her throat quickly and picked up the receiver, "Hello?"

"Jackie?" A familiar voice asked on the other end.

She was silent for a moment before she fully recognized the voice. "Eric?"

"Oh good I got the right number…" Eric said with a sigh of relief.

"Eric aren't you in Africa?" Jackie asked feeling very confused.

"Of course I am. Where else would I be?" Eric asked not understanding her question.

"Wait…so they have phones in Africa?" Jackie asked in surprise. "Who knew!"

Eric rolled his eyes on the other end of the phone, "Yes Jackie. They do have phones in Africa…at least in some parts."

She shrugged and put her wine down on the table beside her, "I guess you really do learn something new everyday." She stretched her legs out to get more comfortable. "So why are you calling me anyway? Don't you kind of hate me?"

Eric was silent for a moment, "I don't hate you…I just don't necessarily enjoy your company all the time."

Jackie chuckled. "The feeling is mutual, trust me."

"Anyway…I'm calling because I'm heading home next week and I was kind of hoping to surprise Donna and everyone. I thought maybe you could help me set it all up." Eric said.

Jackie felt her heart begin to pound in her chest; she hadn't spent much time with their old gang of friends since Eric left. The idea of planning some surprise for the people that had hurt her most made her sick to her stomach.

"Oh…Eric I-" She started to say before he interrupted her.

"I know I haven't really talked to Donna since we broke up. My Mom mentioned she was sort of seeing someone for a while but that it didn't work out. I was hoping that maybe surprising her by coming home before I was supposed to would make her see how much I care about her." Eric said nervously.

Jackie sighed. "Look Eric I just-"

"I mean I know she is mad at me for leaving as it is…but I love Donna. And while I've been here I realized that we really are supposed to be together. I want to show her that I never stopped loving her…I just had to find myself before I could settle down." Eric said sadly.

Jackie could hear the emotion in his voice, she could relate to that feeling of being separated from the person she loved most. She wanted to hang up and say that she couldn't help him because she hated Donna and all their old friends. But deep down…she longed for the life she used to have.

So before she could rethink it, the words slipped out of her mouth. "I would love to help you Eric."

As soon as she agreed to help, Eric launched into his idea for the big surprise and her head immediately began pounding. She reached for her wine glass and prayed that this would be over soon enough for her to go back to being alone again.

That night at the Forman's, Hyde, Kelso, Donna and Fez were hanging out in the basement as per usual. Hyde had just finished eating dinner upstairs with Red and Kitty and quite honestly just wanted to be by himself. Unfortunately for him, the Foreman's basement was still the hangout everyone flocked too.

Lately he was feeling like his friends had been smothering him. In the past he loved hanging out in the basement with his friends. Now he just wanted everyone to start to go their own way, which made him feel confused. He knew the real reason behind these feelings probably had to do with the one person he wanted to see that never seemed to show her face in the basement anymore, and the one person he wanted nothing to do with that seemed to be around at all the wrong times.

Despite being annoyed with his friends tonight, he was glad that his wife Sam wasn't around. She had picked up an extra shift at the strip club which meant she would be gone until early tomorrow morning, right around when he would be getting up to get ready to open Grooves.

As much as he hated saying his wife was a stripper, he had to admit her profession was quite convenient. Their schedules were complete opposites, which meant he always had an excuse not to be with her. However, the downside was that on her days off, she seemed to need his undivided attention.

There was never much conversation between Hyde and Sam, and that was fine with him. Quite frankly they had nothing in common to really talk about. He never thought he would be sick of sex, but honestly it made his skin crawl every time Sam initiated it with him.

The only reason he ever went through with it was so that he didn't have to listen to her nagging. And at least when they were in bed, he could close his eyes and pretend she was someone else…

Hyde was not listening to a word his friends were saying as he sat in his usual chair in the corner. He had his signature shades on which was a good thing because he was staring at the basement door hopefully.

He would never admit to anyone but everyday he secretly hoped that the door would open and the tiny brunette that haunted his dreams would run in and force them all to pull their heads out of their asses with her bitchy but forceful attitude.

But she never did…

"Hey! Earth to Hyde!" Donna said throwing a magazine at him.

He snapped out of his daze and turned to her as the magazine slid to the ground off of his lap. "What the hell?"

Donna stared at him with a look of concern; "We've been calling your name for like two minutes now…"

Hyde took his feet of the coffee table and cleared his throat. "Oh really?"

Fez leaned toward his friend slowly, "My curly haired friend…are you feeling okay? You don't look so good."

Hyde stood up and rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah uh…sorry man…" He thought quickly and then shrugged, "I uh…I think I smoked a little too much today. Feeling a bit off…I'm sure a little sleep will fix it." He said as he started to walk to his room, he really needed to be alone.

"Wait." Kelso said, "We were thinking about heading to the Water Tower to throw stuff at all the kids who make out in the woods there." He said with a smirk.

Hyde shook his head, "Nah…I think I'll pass on that man."

"Oh come on…" Kelso said rolling his eyes. "You never do anything fun with us anymore."

Fez pouted, "Yes. Kelso is right…ever since you got married you became so boring. You have forgotten about us and it makes me sad…"

Hyde sighed again and rubbed a hand over his tired face, "I haven't forgotten about you guys…I'm just busy that's all."

Donna scoffed. "Whatever…"

Hyde turned to her, "Do you have something you would like to say to me Pinciotti?"

She waited a moment and then turned her body towards him, "Actually I do. Ever since you and Jackie broke up you've been a real jackass Hyde."

He tensed at the mention of her name. "What are you even talking about?"

"I'm serious! Why don't you just admit that you screwed up and miss Jackie? I think it would make our lives a little bit easier." She said crossing her arms and glaring at him.

Hyde laughed angrily, "Right…cuz you've been so pleasant since Foreman dumped your ass to go live in a hut half way across the world."

Donna's face burned red with embarrassment. "Eric didn't dump me…" She paused and looked away from him towards Kelso and Fez, "We just agreed that while he was away it was probably better that we took a break…"

Hyde rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm so over this conversation."

He started to walk back to his room when Fez jumped up angrily. "What is happening to us?" He wailed.

Kelso sighed and stood up to put a comforting hand on his friends arm. "It's okay little buddy…it's okay."

Fez shrugged his hand away. "No it isn't Kelso! Not even your beautiful face can make this all okay!"

Kelso sighed, "Great…look what you two did. You've gone and upset him…remember what happened last time you did that? He drowned his sorrows in so much porn he sprained his wrist!"

Hyde grimaced, "Please don't put the mental image of how that could possibly have happened in my head again…"

Donna wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Seriously…I was the one who found him if you remember correctly. I couldn't sleep for a week after that…"

Kelso glared at them both, "Then you both need to make it better."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment before Hyde and Donna both tried to speak up and say "Sorry Fez-"

"Don't!" Fez said throwing his hand up to stop them. "Your apologies will fix nothing. I am afraid that we are to far gone for that…"

"What are you saying little buddy?" Kelso asked quietly.

Fez sighed and sat down on the couch again, "Why are we even pretending we are all the same anymore?"

Donna shifted nervously. "Fez…things may be a little different but-"

"They are more than a little different." Fez said sadly, "Don't you miss the way it used to be? Don't you miss when we were all so close?"

"Fez we are together everyday." Hyde said rolling his eyes still wanting to escape this conversation.

"Yeah we are." Fez said looking back at him. "But it hasn't been the same since Eric and Jackie left…Hyde's always working or with Sam. Donna had that weird stint with Randy and now she's turned into a tall bitchy scary woman. Kelso is either working or off on dates when he doesn't have Betsy for the night. And I'm always with Carla…when we are together we just smoke or watch TV. We never talk anymore…"

"This isn't the fucking Brady Bunch Fez…" Hyde said angrily.

Donna sighed, "That's not what he's trying to say Hyde…"

"So you get it?" Fez asked as he turned towards her.

She smiled sadly at him. "We've all grown apart."

"Isn't that supposed to happen when you grow up?" Hyde asked.

"Not like this…" Donna said started to tear up. "We've all been going through so many changes…and not necessarily good ones but we are to afraid to talk about it." She wiped her tears away and sighed, "The truth is…I really miss Eric."

Kelso smiled at her, "I think we all do."

She shook her head, "I've been so miserable since he left but I haven't wanted to admit it. I hate that he left…I want him to come home but he seems to be having such a great time over there. How can I ask him to come back?"

Kelso sighed, "I hate going out on all these dates with random girls."

Fez gasped and turned to her, "Kelso what are you saying?"

Kelso hung his head and began to talk again, "I know…I know it sounds crazy. The truth is I really was hoping that things would work out with Brooke but she doesn't want to be with me. I guess I've just been with other girls because I hate being alone."

Fez began to tear up. "Oh that is so sad…"

Kelso sighed. "I know! I am Michael freaking Kelso! I'm supposed to sleep with every girl I can…not want to settle down."

Donna rolled her eyes, "Way to ruin a real human moment Kelso…"

"Huh?" He asked looking over at her with confusion written all over his face.

She shook her head and turned back towards Hyde. "What about you Hyde?"

Hyde felt his heart pounding in his chest but his Zen was pushing everything he wanted to say back down.

He shuffled his feet and shrugged, "What about me?"

She stared at her friend with a sense of sadness for him, "Can you honestly say you've been happy this past year?"

Hyde looked at his three friends who were staring at him, waiting for a truthful answer. He was sure they could see right through him but he had never been one to talk about how he really felt.

He didn't want to look weak. And he never liked to admit that he had made any kind of mistake.

"What's there not to be happy about?" He said with another shrug.

Donna sighed, "Come on Hyde…it's just us."

Fez sniffled again, "Yes…you can be honest with us Hyde. We all know you miss the beautiful Goddess that is Jackie just as much as we all do."

Hyde tensed. "I do NOT miss Jackie."

Kelso rolled his eyes and laughed, "Right…so when you stare at the basement door you aren't hoping for Jackie to walk in?"

Hyde glared at him. "What are you even talking about?"

"I never thought I'd say this but Kelso is right…you do stare at that door and we all know who you are thinking about." Donna said honestly.

Hyde shook his head. "Whatever. You losers can sit here and discuss your lame emotions if you really have too. I have nothing to complain about. I have a great life."

"And what's so great about it?" Donna asked curiously.

Hyde turned towards her, "Well for starters, I have a successful business." He said holding up one finger, "I still have Forman's Mom who does my laundry and cooks all my food. She even makes me fresh chocolate chip cookies every Monday which is pretty freaking awesome." He held up a second finger before continuing, "And lets not forget that I have a super hot stripper wife who can't keep her hands off of me which means I have more sex than all of you combined." He said holding up his third finger. "Pretty sure my life is freaking awesome."

Donna stood up and walked towards him. "Lets assess those three things shall we?" Hyde rolled his eyes and Kelso and Fez sat nervously on the couch waiting for the fight to continue. "Yes your business is successful…but you've become a slave to the man in a way haven't you? You're at work all day everyday…and do you honestly love what you are doing? Filing records and dealing with people asking you stupid questions about shitty artists that you hate?"

"Donna I don't think you should…" Kelso started but Donna didn't listen to him.

"Yes you do still have the Formans." She smirked. "You're a 20 year old adult living in a dingy old basement and sleeping on a disgusting old cot."

Fez grimaced, "Donna please just-"

"And yeah you do have a wife…" She said as she walked all the way up to him, ignoring the angry look on Hyde's face. "And yes she is a stripper…she makes her living by taking off her clothes and grinding on other dirty men that aren't you. She doesn't love you…and you don't love her. And with all the sex the two of you have…you're probably going to knock her up one of these days and then you'll have a baby to raise in the basement too. What a life you have…I am so incredibly jealous!" Donna yelled.

Hyde was silent for a moment, letting her words sink in before he lashed back at her. "Well at least I didn't get left at the alter and then left again by someone who moved half way across the country to get away from my annoying ass."

"Hyde!" Kelso yelled at him.

Donna's face burned red again and she ignored Kelso. "Well at least I'm not a old burn out who will never amount to anything and is to afraid of his damn emotions that he pushed the one person that ever loved him away."

"Donna don't…" Fez said feeling even more nervous about the situation.

"Love is for losers." Hyde said rolling his eyes.

Donna chuckled. "Whatever Hyde…you won't admit that you love Jackie because you don't want to take responsibility for the fact that you ruined her life."

"Jackie made her own choices." Hyde said shaking his head. "She chose to go to Chicago and she chose to sleep with Kelso…"

"Except we never actually slept together…" Kelso said holding his hand up slowly.

Everyone turned to look at Kelso finally. "What did you just say?" Hyde asked him.

Kelso shrank down in his seat and cleared his throat slowly. "I uh…I said Jackie and I never actually slept together that night."

There was a silence in the room as everyone waited to see how Hyde would react to this. Slowly, Hyde stomped away from Donna and over towards the couch and glared down at Kelso.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hyde asked.

Kelso grimaced when he heard the tension in his voice. "I tried to sleep with her but she turned me down…"

"Kelso! You were in a towel!" Hyde yelled leaning down towards him.

Kelso fell back further into the couch, bumping into Fez. "I told Jackie I was going to take a shower and when I came out I tried to seduce her with my sexy body but she wasn't going for it…she was to upset about the break up with you."

"That still doesn't explain what you said when you came back to the room with the ice bucket…" Hyde said feeling his temperature beginning to rise through his anger.

Kelso sighed again. "Well Jackie started to burst into tears when I said I wanted to have sex. So I felt bad and tried to comfort her but it only made her cry harder…"

"I still don't understand…" Hyde said becoming very impatient.

"She was starting to really break down so I thought a glass of water would help her calm down. So I went to get some ice…and then when I came back I thought I'd try and make her laugh which is why I said no one would see us from the parking lot if we had sex." He paused and grimaced, "But then you were there…and it all kind of went to hell."

Hyde clenched his fists and groaned. "Why the hell didn't you say anything before now?"

Kelso jumped nervously. "You never asked!"

"You are such a fucking moron!" Hyde said leaning forward to punch him in the arm.

"Ow! Damn Hyde!" Kelso said rubbing his arm gently. "Not so hard!"

Through his rage, Hyde grabbed the nearest object, which happened to the stupid helmet and chucked it across the basement where it smacked into the dryer.

"Jesus Hyde…" Donna said jumping at loud crash that it had caused.

"What the hell is going on down here?" Red yelled as he ran down the basement stairs with Kitty hot on his heels.

Hyde ignored Red's question and continued to glare at Kelso. "Don't you think that I would want to know something like this?"

Kelso threw his hands up in the air. "Jackie told you nothing happened but you didn't listen! I figured you would never believe me anyway, and besides by the time I saw you again you were already married to Sam."

"Fuck!" Hyde yelled reaching again for something to throw, this time it happened to be a random record, which whizzed by Donna's face and she jumped.

"Look Hyde I know you are upset but you need to calm down." She pleaded with him.

"Don't tell me what to do Donna." Hyde said glaring at her, his hands were still clenched at his sides.

"Steven sweetheart…" Kitty said walking towards him slowly. "What's wrong?"

Hyde sighed and glared over at Kelso. "He just told me never actually slept with Jackie which means that I really did screw this all up."

Donna smirked at him, "I thought you said you loved your life…"

"Donna don't…" Fez said to her, "That's enough…"

Donna rolled her eyes, "No. I don't think it is. You were right Fez…we've all been walking around like everything is so great but it's all been so screwed up lately. I admitted that I missed Eric…its time that Hyde pulls his head out of his ass and admit he actually has a heart and he misses Jackie."

"Well I think that's pretty obvious at this point don't you?" Red asked angrily, "He just put a damn dent in my dryer!"

Donna sighed, "I'm sorry Red but maybe it wouldn't kill Hyde to talk about how he actually feels for once."

Everyone turned to Hyde anxiously and he shook his head angrily. "Whatever. What does it even matter? I'm married now."

"So…you can get a divorce." Fez said. "If you really want to be with Jackie I bet you can fix this."

"Who said I want to be with Jackie?" Hyde said.

Kelso rolled his eyes, "You really can't deny it now man."

Hyde held a fist up towards Kelso again making him jump slightly, "You shut the hell up. You've done enough."

Kelso sighed and stood up, he made sure to keep a careful distance from Hyde incase he lunged at him again. "Look man I'm sorry okay? I guess I didn't realize how much you actually cared about Jackie. You've been saying how happy you are with Sam I guess I figured I did you a favor by having a reason to leave Jackie for good."

Hyde's foot was tapping because he was bursting with energy, Kitty walked up to him tentatively, "Sweet heart everything is going to be okay…"

Hyde looked over at her. "Is it?" Everyone was quiet again, "When was the last time any of you saw Jackie? When was the last time anyone even talked to her?"

The silence overtook them all again, "I suppose since I moved out of her apartment I haven't talked to her much at all…" Fez whispered sadly.

Donna looked down feeling ashamed, "I can't remember the last time I talked to her."

Kelso sighed. "Me either…"

Hyde nodded. "See?" He turned back to Fez. "You can't blame how much we've all changed just on me."

Red sighed. "Alright, I don't know what started all of this but that's enough screaming for one night. I think we can all agree that you've all been real jerks lately and I don't know how I haven't shoved my foot in any of your asses yet…"

"Red…" Kitty said with a shake of her head.

He looked at her and then back at the others in the room. "But standing here screaming at each other isn't going to fix anything. So why don't you all shut the hell up, go home and figure out how to fix it all in the morning."
Hyde shook his head, "Whatever. I'm outta here…" He quickly grabbed his coat and exited the basement without a second look at his friends.

Fez was the first to speak up, "You don't think he'll do anything stupid do you?"

"What's the worst he can do Fez? Marry a stripper?" Donna asked, "He already did that…"

Kitty sighed, "Now that I think about it…where has Jackie been? Do you think she's okay?"

Donna ignored the aching in her chest that had her worrying about her former best friend. "Jackie's tough Mrs. Forman…I'm sure she's just fine."

"Jackie's not as tough as she may look…" Kelso said nervously, "I realized that that night at the hotel…she was a mess over the break up with Hyde. I'd never seen her like that…"

"And that was before Sam showed up…" Fez whispered.

Red looked at them all and then turned to walk towards the basement stairs again. "I suggest tomorrow you all figure out a way to make it up to her for being such crappy friends. For now I'm going to bed…and if anyone else breaks anything in this house they will be replacing it!"

Kitty watched her husband go before turning to the three young adults she considered to be her other children. "I'm sure everything is going to be just fine…"

She laughed nervously and then followed her husband upstairs. That left the three friends sitting in silence once more all wondering how they had gone from another usual night in the basement to this breaking point in their group.

Meanwhile…at Jackie's apartment she was finally lying in bed trying to quiet the millions of thoughts running through her head. She felt like this plan to help Eric was a stupid idea and she didn't know why she wasn't able to say no to him. Out of everyone in their group, it wasn't like she was closest to Eric.

What was it that had made her say yes?

Did she want to see her old friends again? Did she want to believe in true love again? She grimaced and shook her head, no that couldn't be it. Her friends had abandoned her when she needed them most. And she knew now that there was no such thing as true love…

Even if Eric's plan worked, he and Donna would break up down the road. Love was fleeting…it wasn't real and long lasting. Nothing was…the only person you could ever count on was yourself and she knew that to be true now.

Her eyes were burning with tears but she squeezed them shut quickly before the tears could spill down her cheeks. She curled up into a ball and threw the pillow over her head to block out the rest of the world.

Because she couldn't hear anything, she didn't hear the person knocking on her apartment door as she began to drift off to sleep…

The knocking continued for a few minutes until the curly haired man on the other side finally gave up and walked down the hall with a sense of defeat…

So what did you think? Do you want me to continue? Let me know! But remember this is my first time writing any fanfiction so don't be to harsh hahaha.