I know it's a shock to everybody, but I don't own That 70's Show. Glad we cleared that up.

.

Chapter 1

.

Jackie shuffles her feet as she walks the stretch of road between her apartment and the Forman residence. Quite a bit of snow fell a few days earlier, so it's tightly packed by now in lots of places and somewhat treacherous. She crunches along like a good little soldier, backpack perched on her shoulders with her fancy shoes tied to the straps.

.

The walk doesn't bother Jackie though. A year ago she would have stuck her nose up at trudging a few miles in the snow, but nowadays she can see the beauty in doing something like this. Walking is peaceful and helps her sort out her thoughts without the distraction of other people.

.

Being alone used to be a recurrent nightmare for her, but now it's what she craves the most. Having crappy people around you will do that. Jackie learned the hard way that it's actually better to be alone than with people who try to bring you down.

.

Since she stopped coming by the basement about a year ago, she's felt lighter. All of the things she thought were important to her really didn't seem that big once she got some distance from them. This freed her up from a lot of other bullshit. Once she didn't have anybody around to judge her, she also had nobody around to impress. All of her artifice melted, and she stopped caring so much about her appearance, preferring to let her great natural beauty show through. That's not to say she didn't stop grooming or anything, she just shifted her focus from her outer layer to her inner one. Amazing the kind of clarity you can get when you're left alone.

.

Starting over was scary as hell though, but she pulled up her bootstraps and marched on.

.

Nowadays, she spends most of her time doing solitary pursuits. She jogs, writes in her journal, designs and makes clothes, works and basically keeps herself to herself. She doesn't have too many friends and she doesn't want them.

.

Christmas is a different matter though. It's always been a hard holiday for her, and she vowed to never spend it alone. Since Kitty and Red are just about the only people left on earth who care about her, she has no choice but to go there and subject herself to the onslaught of accusations and questions from her former friends that she'll inevitably have to weather.

.

"What the hell am I doing?" she screams in her head. WHY?

.

As Jackie turns the corner of the street the Formans live on she stops short and bears the brunt of a small panic attack. Though she was fine on the walk, Jackie suddenly feels the chill of Winter echo through her bones. Her face feels whipped by the wind and her ears start to ring. She wonders if she feels well enough to attend this party after all.

.

"You're fine" she tells herself as she pushes herself forward. She made a promise to Kitty and Red and she's not about to break it, so she'll put on her party face and make nice with the others. It might be easier this time, she muses. She's been such a recluse lately that people really have no idea what she's been up to. She's an enigma to them, so she can basically tell them anything she wants. It makes her chuckle, because the absolute last person they'd expect to be enigma is Jackie. Tonight, however, she's going to be The fucking Riddler.

.

The petite brunette takes a deep breath and raps her knuckles lightly on the sliding glass door near the kitchen. Kitty, who is pulling a tray of mince pies from the oven, notices her immediately and excitedly runs to the door employing her characteristic wiggle.

.

"Jackie!" she shouts in her face as she envelopes the girl in her arms. "Oh my lord, you're a popsicle" she cries. "Can I get you some hot cider to warm you up?"

.

"Thank you" she smiles warmly as she takes in the room. Nothing has changed, barely even a magnet has moved on the fridge. There is something comforting about this to her, since she's never had stasis in her own life.

.

Jackie plops down on a kitchen chair and removes her boots in favor of her 3" Mary Janes. She places the wet boots on the mat and makes her way over to Kitty who is ladling some cider for her from the pot on the range. Jackie melodramatically warms her hands up on the stove, sending Kitty into a giggle fit.

.

Kitty slips her arm around Jackie's tiny waist and pulls her close. "We really missed you, honey" she says sweetly. "Things just haven't been the same since you stopped coming by".

.

"I just couldn't do it anymore, you know?" Jackie whispers, aware that the house is filled with people.

.

Kitty gives her a melancholy nod and hands her the warm mug.

.

"Thanks" she smiles and takes a sip, slightly burning the top of her mouth. "Ohmygod hot!"

.

"Ooh I forgot to warn you it's hot though it is called hot cider. Go figure!" she winces.

.

"Ya don't say" Jackie cracks, laughing at her own misery. "Well, you were right about this making me warmer, so that's good, right?"

.

Red walks through the living room door into the kitchen and freezes. "You're a sight for sore eyes," he grins.

.

Jackie leaves her mug on the counter and runs into Red's waiting arms. Usually he braces when she hugs him, but this time she can feel him giving it back to her in full force.

.

"It's been lonely at the garage since you've been gone" he says. "None of these dunderheads are any good with a wrench," he complains.

.

"I'll stop by this week" she offers.

.

"Yeah?" Red's grin grows bigger.

.

Jackie nods.

.

"I'd like that," he says. "You on your way downstairs now?"

.

She looks down at her feet and shrugs.

.

"Nervous huh?"he asks.

.

She gives him a tight smile.

.

"Come on, I'll walk you down" he says as he wraps an arm around her shoulders.

.

Red practically pushes a reluctant Jackie down the stairs to the basement.

.

"Attention idiots! You have a guest. Kitty really wants her to stay, so don't scare her off, okay?" he announces as he quickly retreats upstairs, leaving a shell-shocked Jackie on her own to face a stunned crowd.

.

She looks around the basement as sees a sea of faces she knows very well and yet at the same time not at all.

.

Kelso, as usual, is the first to break the silence. "Well, looks like I owe Fez 20 bucks. I said you probably got uggo or fat, which is why you've been avoiding us, but he disagreed. Fez was right. You still look hot, so now I'm out $20. Thanks Jackie," he jokes as he climbs the stairs to give her a hug.

.

Even after they broke up, Kelso always remained Jackie's biggest champion and admirer. Maybe it's because of their history or perhaps it's because he chose a puppy as his spirit animal, but Michael doesn't seem to have one mean or vindictive bone in his whole body.

.

As Jackie lets Kelso's hug sink in, she realizes that physical contact is one of the things she regrets giving up this year. Just as their lengthy hug is about to end, she hears him whisper "I've got your back" into her ear as he pulls away. She smiles with only her eyes in his direction.

.

Kelso pulls her down the rest of the stairs by her hand. He stops at the bottom, leans in and lays a quick kiss on Jackie's lips. She looks up at him puzzled until he points to the the mistletoe hanging from ceiling. "It's the law. Christmas law."

.

"Ah. Now I know why you volunteered to bring me downstairs," she smirks.

.

Kelso shrugs. "I get it where I can," he says with glee.

.

Donna approaches Jackie tentatively, not sure if they should hug or what. "Hey Jackie" she says to the girl who was once like a sister to her.

.

"Hey" Jackie responds with a cool friendliness.

.

"We, um, we missed seeing you around," she offers in an unsure tone before backing away.

.

"Thanks" she smiles before she moves to the couch and takes her usual seat. Fez comes up to her, kneels at her feet, and grabs her hands.

.

"I know we left things weird," he says, pain and regret radiating from his eyes. "I don't care about all of that anymore. I just miss my princess. I want you back in my life," he confides.

.

The first genuine smile of the day overtakes Jackie's face. "Me too" she says, and amazingly, she finds that she means it. She throws her arms around Fez's neck and squeezes tightly. "You know, until I saw you tonight, I forgot how much I love dancing. I haven't been to a club since the last time you took me."

.

"Give me your number and I'll take you again," he promises.

.

Eric clears his throat loudly from across the room.

.

Jackie looks up at him.

.

"Welcome home" he says, trying not to betray his happiness at her homecoming. "It felt kinda weird here without you. Too quiet."

.

She nods towards him in acknowledgment, not wanting to make him feel more uncomfortable "Thanks Eric".

.

"Do you want a beer?" Donna asks.

.

"Do you have anything else?" Jackie responds.

.

"Umm...Kitty's emergency wine. I don't think she'd mind, seeing as it's Christmas and all," she says, digging in the cabinet above the deep freeze. "Anybody else?" she asks.

.

Fez raises his hand. "I'll drink with her."

.

"Ooh la di da. Fez is fancy," Donna mocks while pouring an open bottle of wine into two red solo cups.

.

An uncomfortable silence fills the room suddenly, leaving Jackie to wonder what just happened.

.

Noticing the expression on Kelso's face, she turns around to find that Steven has entered the basement.

.

They lock eyes for a moment, before he walks to the shower and grabs himself a beer.

.

"Hey" he says without looking at her as he sits in his chair.

.

"Hey yourself" she responds, truly amused at his overdoing of the zen. He hasn't seen her in a year, there's no way he's this casual. Even him.

.

Hyde seems irked by her subtle calling out. "Something funny?"

.

"Nope" she responds, trying harder to stifle her nervous laughter. "No" she tries harder to be serious.

.

Hyde rolls his eyes without looking at her. In fact, he hasn't looked at her directly once since descending the stairs into the basement. It's funny how she never noticed it before, how Steven is at his weakest when he avoids eye contact. She had always thought it was the opposite, that he was at his most vulnerable when he allowed her to look into his eyes. She was wrong. Watching him react to her like a woodland creature scurrying away from a floodlight really drives that point home. How did she not notice this before?

.

"Can we put music on?" Jackie asks, dying to fill up the room with background noise.

.

"Good idea" Eric says as he practically trips over his feet running to his stereo. He puts on the Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" 8-track. "Sadly, we don't have lasers here, though I can get my lightsaber from upstairs if anybody is interested".

.

"Nobody is interested honey" Donna touches her boyfriend's chest.

.

Jackie shares a knowing look with Fez. This is going to be a long fucking night.

.

"Do you guys still do circle time?" she asks, looking for an escape from this awkward hell.

A/N- What do you think so far? Please submit a review and let me know!