Disclaimer: I own nothing. I do not own That '70s Show or any of it's characters. I do not own the song that the story is named after nor any of the songs that the chapters are named after, those belong to Tom Petty. I do not own the song that helped inspire the story. I own nothing.

Author's Note: Hello everyone! How are you all? Hope you're doing well! Today I have for your the first chapter of my new multichapter story, Runnin' Down a Dream. Now some of you may have heard about it some of you maybe not. This isn't a very common storyline even though it may seem like it. This time the main characters are different, it's Fez and Laurie along with Kelso and Hyde who have the starring roles but don't worry others will appear every so often. I' hoping to make this story around 10 chapters give or take so it'll be long but not as long as my others. Also this story was inspired by the song 'El Cerrito Place' there are two versions of the song, I feel in love with Kenny Chesney's. You don't have to listen to the song to understand the story but feel free to. I'm kinda nervous about this story but at the same time I'm really excite to so I hope you all will enjoy this chapter and will want to read more. Please do leave a review if you have the chance, I always love hearing my readers' thoughts and with my nerves still shaking with this story it would really mean a lot. Thanks for stopping by to read, I hope you like it, please review if you can, and as always, Enjoy!

Special Thanks: Thanks to all of you who knew about the story and supported the idea. Thanks to all of you who read my FL story 'Escape' your like of that story made me want to do a bigger FL story. And a big big big big BIG THANK YOU to MidniteRain who had just been the greatest help with so many things but especially this story. If fanfics could have co-producers he would definitely be one! Thank You So Much JB!

Runnin' Down a Dream

Chapter 1- You Don't Know How It Feels

"What the hell?" Fez asked the moment he stepped into the Forman basement.

The young foreign man had come to the basement today ready to spend a fun filled day, laughing and playing around with his close friends but the scene he walked in on told him that there had been a change of plans. His friends were sitting together in pairs, talking in pairs, smiling in pairs. Fez felt like he'd stepped back into one of his high school classes where he knew no one and the teacher told every to partner up and Fez was left by himself and forced to pair up with the fat, sweaty teacher. Well not this time!

With a determined look on his face, Fez marched into the sitting area and over to the first couple who crossed his path.

"Okay, Hackie." He called while kicking the leg of the old kitchen chair causing the couple to break out of their lip lock, "I put you two back together I can break you apart."

Fez had been over exaggerating in his statement. At least in the second half of it, the first half was very true. He had been the one to help get Hyde and Jackie back together only a few weeks after New Years—this was of course long after he and Jackie had ended their 'relationship.' He'd figured out that Jackie was still in love with Hyde and Hyde still loved her; he knew that they belonged with each other. He'd never try to break them up but he had no problem interrupting their make out sessions.

He marched over to the recently renewed redhead. She sat alone on the sofa but wore a large grin on her face as she held the receiver of the telephone next to her ear.

"And you, who are you talking to?" Fez wanted to know, a frown indented on his forehead.

Donna looked up at him, "It's Eric calling from Africa."

New Years Day Eric and Donna had made up and decided to try the long distance thing again but just for the few months Eric still had left in Africa. He returned back over there by the end of the first week of the year. It had been a bittersweet goodbye for the couple, but this time they were doing it right, more letters, more phone calls, more of anything that would help the remaining five months of Eric's trip go by faster.

Hearing that it was his old friend, Fez's face lit up, "Oo! Can I talk to him?"

"Fine." She agreed fighting back a smile at his excitement, she handed him the phone but not before adding, "But don't take long!"

Fez nodded and then placed the phone up to his ear, "Hello Eric, how is Africa?" there was a pause as Fez listened to Eric go on about what he was doing in the far away land. Fez continued to smile but slowly it started to fade until finally he'd hadn't enough, "Okay, do not forget to bring me candy from Africa. Now good day!"

The receiver slammed down on the hook with an audible slam that made Donna's eyes go wide.

"Fez!" she scolded.

"I say good day!" he replied with a raised palm and then continued his trip behind the couch to the next couple sitting on the left side of the sofa; he placed his hands on his hips as he looked at them, "Do you two not have a baby to take care of?"

Brooke nodded before explaining their daughter's whereabouts, "She's upstairs with Mrs. Forman."

"Yeah, this is our only baby-free time in like…forever!" Kelso exaggerated just a bit too much, it'd only been two days but to Kelso it felt much longer. He loved his daughter with all his heart but that same heart loved his daughter's mother who he'd just recently begun a real romantic relationship with.

"Yes, I know." Fez nodded "And that is why it is a perfect time for a Fun Feztivity! Yay!"

Five groans followed Fez's lone cheer. The group loved their friend they just didn't exactly love is 'Fun Feztivities' especially not that last ones that included blowing bubbles and laying outside watching clouds go by while finding different shapes and images in them. These festivities would have been fun if they were young kids not so fun when they were finishing up their teen years. However, Fez—and his child heart—ignored their groans and carried on.

"We are going to have a race to see who can get to the center of Tootsie Pop first!" Fez declared and then pulled a bag of candy out of his back pocket, "I have brought one for each of you. And extras for me."

As he watched Fez pass out a lollipop to Donna, Jackie, and then himself, Hyde tried to figure out a way to back out of this Feztivity or at least prolong it from happening for a few more hours. But it had to be in a way that wouldn't wound the poor guy too badly.

"Fez, man, I know this is a one in a life time opportunity with you sharing your candy and all." he said, twirling the candy between his thumb and index finger, "But you think we can do this later? Jackie and me have plans for right now."

The other man scowled and shook his head, "No."

"Fez, we can do your Feztivity later." Jackie tried to reason. She didn't want to hurt their friend either but she also wanted to make up for lost time with her boyfriend by making out with him.

"No."

Donna stepped in, hoping that more people backing out would lead to a rescheduling of events, "Yeah and Eric and I were in the middle of a phone date when you hung up on him, so he should be calling back soon."

Joining the bandwagon, Kelso nodded his head up and down, "And we're gonna do it."

"Michael!" Brooke hissed as she smacked his arm.

"Ow!" he exclaimed in pain "What we are!"

"Doesn't look like you're gonna be doing it anytime soon, man." Hyde commented, not being able to hold back the smirk that formed when he caught the death glare Brooke was looking at Kelso with.

Fez's brown eyes lit up at this and he grinned at his man-pretty friend, "Yay, then you both can be in the race!"

With his smile staying in place, Fez sat himself on the sofa and squeezed himself between Donna and Brooke. Once he was comfortable he reached into his candy bag and retrieved two lollipops and handed them to the couple—the red one going to Kelso and the orange to Brooke.

"Fez, since we're all busy right now why don't you go have Tootsie Pop race with some of your other friends?" Donna suggested, being the only one brave enough to say something that would get Fez out of their hair for a little while, "And we can have another race tomorrow or something."

The redhead's words made Fez's happiness disappear instantly. He knew she was not trying to be mean but her words had still hurt him.

"But I have no other friends." He admitted with sad eyes and in a very sad tone, looking at his candy. Candy had always been there for him but he didn't think it would count as a friend. Fez looked up and at the others, "Without all of you, I am all by myself." he ended his statement with words that sounded almost musical.

Realizing that the last three words and the tune they'd been said in matched with the Eric Carmen song, Hyde alerted the others.

"Oh man, he's gonna start singing."

"Someone stop him!" Jackie declared; Fez's singing wasn't too bad and usually his song choices were ones Jackie enjoyed but lately he'd been picking sad and depressing songs that he only managed to sing half way through before he started breaking down into tears. She did not want to go through that again.

Despite being Fez's best buddy, Kelso shook his head, "Not me!"

"Fez, honey, you're not all by yourself." Brooke stepped up to the plate and placed a comforting hand on the young man's shoulder, "You have us. You'll always have us. We all love you very, very much."

"Really?" Fez asked with a growing smile.

While Brooke nodded along, Donna couldn't help but become alarmed by the very large grin on Fez's face. Donna knew Brooke was only trying to help but she really did need to watch what she said to Fez. She was still new to the group though, so it was excused but Donna knew someone had to clear things up before Fez took the words too seriously—and it looked like that someone was going to have to be her.

"Yeah Fez, we all love you very, very much." Donna nodded but being to make sure he didn't get any…Fez ideas, she added, "As a friend. We love you very much as a friend."

His smile shrunk with disappointment, "Oh."

Feeling guilty for being the reason behind Fez's sudden loss of joy, Donna continued on, "But there are probably lots of girls who would love you as more than a friend."

This good news filled Fez with hope and his smile reappeared.

"Yeah, but they'll probably a bunch of uggos." Kelso commented from the peanut gallery.

And just like that the dark skinned man's smile was gone once again.

"Fez, don't listen to Michael." Jackie said in a sincere tone to her friend while at the same time sending a death glare to her first boyfriend, "They won't all be uggos. They'll be some pretty girls too. I mean you and I dated for a week and half, that proves anything is possible!"

Fez nodded his head in agreement, "That is true."

"I know there's a girl out there who's gonna love you just as much as you love her." the raven haired young woman continued, she knew the problem with Fez and his other relationships was that he was always the one who loved too much, "You'll make each other so happy and she'll even be pretty. But not as pretty as me. Sorry."

Again Fez nodded in an understanding manner but his smile had still not returned as he asked the question he needed to know the answer to, "But where is she, Jackie?"

Jackie's brown eyes gazed sympathetically at her roommate, "I don't know, Fez." she said honestly but gave a small smile as she added, "But you'll find her."

"Aye! That is too hard!" Fez whined his frustration and loneliness showing again.

"I'm with Fez." came Kelso's unsurprising agreement, "Finding a girl who'll just take care of his needs would be a lot easier."

"Fez, man, if you're gonna do that, think I might be able to get you phone numbers of some of Edna's old friends." Hyde remarked in a joking manner.

"Steven, eww!" Jackie scrunched her nose in disgust as she scowled at her boyfriend, "Your sense of humor is gross."

Hyde smirked, "You know you love it."

"No I don't." she argued, "Shut up."

"You know the best way to do that." He said with a mischievous smirk in place.

By now Jackie couldn't hold in her smile even if she tried to. Not giving it a second thought she leaned her head down until she was close enough to capture Hyde's lips with her own.

As Jackie and Hyde went back to playing tonsil hockey, the phone rang and Donna picked up the receiver after the first ring hoping it was the person she thought it would be. It was. And she and Eric picked up their phone date right where they'd left off. Meanwhile the remaining couple left in the room had once again gotten wrapped up in a conversation made for two.

Once again Fez felt like the odd man out as he sat in middle of Noah's Ark—formerly known as the Forman basement—watching the happy couples be happy and in love with each other while all he had was a bag of candy. Usually a pretty good deal, but not today.

Fez slowly and sadly rose to his feet then began to sing another familiar tune, "Alone again, naturally."

While humming the rest of the words to the song by Gilbert O'Sullivan he began to exit the room by climbing up the wooden staircase that would lead up to the next level of the house.

Upon entering the kitchen, Fez was greeted by the sight of Kitty Forman standing near the round kitchen table holding little Betsy Kelso on her hip. Betsy was busy with the snicker doodle cookie in her hand but Kitty didn't mind as her own focus was on the small rectangular piece of paper she was holding in her right hand. The scene still made Fez smile and since he didn't want to interrupt he continued his humming and went over to refrigerator for a snack.

When Kitty suddenly heard a faint sound that sounded almost like music, her eyes widened with panic before she whipped her head in the direction that the noise was coming from; finding Fez standing with a can of Tab in his hands, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh Fez, honey, it's just you." she said sounding very thankful.

"Yes, it is just me and nobody else." Fez replied in a somber tone, "Because I am all alone."

Kitty frowned at hearing this, "Well that is just not true. You're not alone, honey. I'm here. Little Betsy is here." She shifted the smiling 18 month old for her Uncle Fez to see, but when his smile barely twitched Kitty remembered another something that was sure to get the young man grinning, "And some freshly baked snicker doodles are here too."

Fez's eyes widen and sure enough his face broke out into a large smile when Kitty picked up a yellow plate of cookies and held it up to him.

"Oo yummy!" he declared putting down his soda and grabbing the dish from Kitty.

As she retrieved another cookie for Betsy, Kitty smiled feeling happy to see Fez happy but soon remembered the paper she held in her hand and how she needed to make sure Fez knew nothing about it…or at least knew nothing about her having gotten a hold of it. There was a chance he hadn't even noticed the paper before but she couldn't take that chance right now.

"And don't you worry." She said after releasing a nervous giggle, "I wasn't doing anything. And I was not reading anything either."

Fez nodded and then watched as the mother figure placed the small rectangular paper on the table. Now he knew she had been reading something and because Kitty was one of his best gossip buddies he also knew that this would be juicy information—and it wouldn't take long for her to spill the beans.

"Okay." He agreed before practically skipping closer to her with the plate of cookies still in his hands and his grin remaining stretched on his face, "What were you not reading?"

Kitty looked and Fez and titled her head slightly as if weighing her options, "Well I guess it would be okay if I told you. But you cannot tell anyone else."

"My lips are sealed!" the foreigner proudly stated and mimed zipping up his lips into a smile; however this smile faded when he brought a cookie up to his mouth, he unzipped his lips and gave a shy smile, "Except for cookie eating."

While Fez started on his third cookie, Kitty started her explanation.

"I was just reading some mail that was addressed to Red. Which is perfectly fine because we're married. Which means what's mine is his and most importantly what's his is mine." Kitty stated before Fez could interrupt, "And anyways it was only a postcard and everyone knows those are a given, anyone can read those. So really I have done nothing wrong here." She said sounding more like she was trying to convince herself than convince him.

With Betsy still in her arms, Kitty walked over to the fridge to get some milk to go with the cinnamon and sugar cookies. Seeing that Kitty's back was turned, Fez took the opportunity to glance at the postcard that had conveniently been left with the written part facing upwards. Though he didn't look close enough to read the actual words he did pay enough attention to the kind of handwriting that was printed on the back of the postcard.

"It is swirly and girly!" he exclaimed with a gasp, however he was quick to shake his shock and placed a comforting hand on Kitty's shoulder once she and Betsy were back near the table, "Do not worry, Miss. Kitty you do not need Mr. Red. You can run away with me and we can be alone together."

Kitty looked at Fez with a confused expression on her face before releasing a nervous giggle, "Okay well….thank you, Fez, honey, that is very…sweet of you. But that postcard is just from Laurie."

Fez turned on his full attention as soon as he heard the name of one of the goddesses that he had not only worshiped from afar but the one who had helped him stay in this country—his new home country—with all of his friends.

"Laurie? You have heard from Laurie?"

"She's been sending postcards since the beginning of January. Says it's part of her New Year's resolution of keeping in touch with us and telling us how she's doing and what she's been up to." the blonde woman explained, "And by us she means Red since the postcards have all be addressed to him, because apparently carrying her inside of me for nine months and then going through twelve hours of a very painful labor before giving her the irreplaceable gift of life is not enough to get sent a darn postcard!"

Realizing she may have vented a bit too much—though it did make her feel a little better—Kitty let out a laugh hoping to get rid of any awkwardness she may have caused, "But you know, I don't mind all that much that Laurie hasn't written me a postcard. After all I read most of them anyways and Red will tell me about the ones that I miss. And really I'm just happy to hear from her. Knowing that she's safe, alive, and not in jail or part of some free love commune is good enough for me!"

Though Fez had been too busy reading over the small message that Laurie had written to her father to hear anything Kitty had said, he did still move his head in a nodding motion. After reading the message a third time, each time he could hear her voice in the words, he flipped the postcard over to see the other side.

Bright colors of yellow and blue made up the background of the front of the card. There was a large drawing of the large state found on the west coast and inside the state were several little hand drawn pictures of various items and sights with the names of the cities where they could be found printed underneath each of the images. And printed at the very top in big orange letters were the words 'Greetings from California!'

Fez's head snapped up at Kitty, "She has been in California all this time?" That is not where she told me she was going.

"Well that's where she is now." Kitty replied and grinned when she noticed he had been looking at the image on the card, "Isn't that a pretty postcard? Oh! And you should see some of the other ones that she's sent, they've come from all over the country like Florida, Washington, Las Vegas, Colorado…Of course none of those places are as far away as Africa is." Suddenly Kitty's face crumbled into pained expression, "Why do my babies insist on breaking my heart by being so far away from me?"

Kitty managed to pull herself together before she broke down into tears and holding the little girl in her arms also helped a great deal.

"You'll never break your mommy's heart like that will you, Betsy?" she asked the baby whose carefree smile made Kitty's smile reappear, "Of course you won't. You're too much of a sweet little angel to do that. Yes, you are…"

While Kitty continued to coo at his best friend's daughter Fez stared at the front of Laurie's postcard with an idea already forming inside his head.

0o0o0o

When Fez reentered the basement he found that the place was just as he had left it; however this time he was not at all bothered by what he saw and just continued to smile as he descended down the stairs stopping at the fifth step from the bottom.

"Ahem!" he cleared his throat and then lifted his cupped hand to his mouth to make it look like he was talking into a walkie talkie, "Attention passengers of The Love Boat, this is your captain speaking."

Those seated in the basement turned their heads to look behind them though it was mostly out of curiously or confusion; Fez not knowing this kept his grin looking very large.

"I am kidding, it is just me Fez." he cleared up and the frowns on his friends' faces stayed in place. "But I do have an announcement to make." He paused for effect, "I am changing my tune and will not be singing anymore sad and alone songs, instead I will sing songs that are happy and bright just like California is."

Noticing the scowls on the faces of his audience Fez had not problem in sharing more of his details.

"Why California? Because I, Fez, am going to California!" Fez declared happily before breaking out into song, "California here I come, right back where I started from…"

Now his friends were really confused. Fez was going to California? Why? How? And wasn't that the song that came out in I Love Lucy? With all these questions running through their minds all they could do was sit in their seats exchanging puzzled looks as Fez continued to merrily make his way back upstairs.

Author's Note: So what did you think? Yay? Nay? Should I continue? Or should I delete and pretend it never happened? Lemme know in a review!

Thanks again for stopping by to read, like I said I'm a bit nervous about the story so if you took the time to read it it really mean does mean a lot. Thanks!

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!