Work had been stressful to the extreme. Helena had arranged a local politician as a guest, and they'd had to clean everything possible so he wouldn't think they were unprofessional, and everyone had to pitch in, no matter if they worked the camera - Matt - or sound and light or post-production. Then, when Mr Big And Important had arrived – surprisingly a very friendly, nice man who probably wouldn't have minded a bit of dust – they'd had to be on their toes and read his every wish from his eyes.

Jackie wasn't sure who'd been more uncomfortable – him for being waited on so excessively, or her, for being reduced to coffee-and-cookies-girl.

Either way, the interview had gone very well, they'd managed to prevent any bloopers and only had one giggle-incident that had been quickly resolved, and they'd been sent home early for being such good workers. Helena's words.

The whole train-ride, she'd been twitchy with nerves. While at the channel she'd not been able to think of Steven, now on the way back she'd done nothing but. Was he still there? Had he been bored? Had he maybe accidentally burnt the place down? Gotten into a fight with Aaron? Had he snooped – and there she'd spent ten minutes going through all the things in her bedroom that might be compromising but luckily hadn't found anything she'd be too ashamed for Steven to find – or had he been out and maybe gotten arrested? Or been mugged! Chicago wasn't Point Place, and being from the wrong side of Point Place didn't mean people were prepared to enter the bad neighbourhoods in Chicago!

Seeing his car in its place from yesterday, she lost some of her nervousness but there were still options enough to get her pulse up.

At her door, she pressed her ear against the wood, trying to hear anything. No loud voices, nothing really.

Hm.

Nothing but facing the truth now, was there? With straightened shoulders, she opened the door and was greeted by a smell that had her stomach gurgling loudly in reaction.

Wow, food! Real food!

"Hello?" she called, hoping it wasn't just Amy and Aaron in the apartment. "Is there food left? I'm starving!"

"You sneaky girl," Amy called from the kitchen, "you never told me your little boyfriend can cook!"

"What?" Jackie stepped into the room, where Amy and Aaron sat with Steven around the tiny table. It didn't look like there was space left, and the big casserole-dish was already half-empty. Something potato-y was in it, and it smelled like heaven. "Because I didn't know he can."

Steven stood up and kissed her, shoving her slightly out of the door against the corridor's wall. Growling, he waved a hand behind his back to the two people in the kitchen. "Get lost," he muttered, "you had your food, fuck off."

"But Mr Manners, he ain't," Amy snarked. "C'm on, Aaron – we know when we're not wanted in our own kitchen!" Normally, Jacky would snipe back but she didn't give a damn about anything but Steven's lips on hers and his body pressed against her.

Distantly she noticed her roommate leaving, and she could have happily spent the night against this wall. Her stomach, though, had different ideas, and when it complained loudly about its empty status, Steven laughed into her mouth. It was weird and strangely exciting, and tasted a little bit like onion. It made her belly growl once more. "Didn't you eat anything all day?" he whispered. "Sounds like either that or you swallowed a grizzly."

Jackie felt herself blush, and she hit his shoulder with the flat of her hand. "Shut up. I had a sandwich at lunch." She couldn't remember if she finished it, though. It had been a crazy day. "Is there any left?"

Reluctantly, Steven let her go, then smiled at her this sweet, boyish smile she'd never seen him use on anyone else and her knees got week and wobbly. "Sure is, doll. I'll heat it up, the two lumps you're allowing to live here only ate their share."

"But you ate already," she pouted. "It's weird to eat alone with someone watching."

"It's not. But if it makes you feel better – I haven't eaten yet. Was waiting for you." He smiled, then it turned into a grin. "But it was a real close one – thought you'd be back much sooner."

"Ugh, we actually got out early. You have no idea the crap-day this has been. Let me tell you, Helena was going nuts over that stupid politician! Well – he wasn't stupid, he was actually very nice and good-looking, but she went all out…" She continued to rant about Helena and all the work they'd done for her while taking off her shoes, sliding into her comfortable slippers, walking into her room and taking off her work-clothes to change into comfortable things like a sweater and comfy pants. When she came back into the kitchen, the casserole was in the oven and Steven had put clean plates on the table as well as glasses. She stopped, realizing he probably hadn't heard half of her complaints, but since he was being domestic and nice, she let it slide. "Wow. Did the Army beat you out of being a caveman?" It had just slipped out, and just as quickly as it was spoken, she wanted to take it back. Maybe Steven didn't want her to joke about that?

But Steven only grinned, showing his teeth. "No, actually, that would've been Mrs Forman. In the Army, you only learn how to take your tray away yourself and eat without complaining. Seriously – that stuff was barely above edible."

"Well – this is really nice. Thank you." She smiled, then frowned. "We have wine, didn't you find it? Or did Amy drink it all up by herself again!" Typical!

"Oh, uh, yeah. I didn't know what you wanted. So – wine? Red?" Jackie nodded and sat down, salivating already from the delicious smells. It wasn't just that – it was the sheer surprise that Steven Hyde had cooked for her. He hadn't ever cooked for her before – but then again, they'd mostly eaten at the Formans or in the Hub or somewhere out, and they'd never truly been to her house and if, never used the kitchen. "What did you make? It smells amazing."

"Potato casserole. It's easy to make and everyone likes it, so I thought it was perfect for getting on the good side of your room-mate." He smirked "and yours, of course."

"Well, you can stay on my good side alright if you cook for me every day," she smiled at him, giving him the full experience of her gorgeous eyes, blinking innocently. "Feeding me with good food is a good way to keep me happy, Steven, and happy Jackie is a very, very" she lowered her voice "very appreciative girlfriend."

Steven's eyes went unfocused and he licked his lips, then lowered his gaze to her lips, then lower… "Aren't you hungry?" she whispered, then turned around and grabbed her fork, perkily clinking it to the plate. "So, serve me dinner, house-boy!"

It took a while for him to get himself back together, Jackie could see, but eventually he went to the oven – a little stiffly – and pulled out the dish. Oh yeah… she still got it

And if she moaned a little over-enthusiastically over the food – which was truly delicious – well, Steven sure wasn't complaining. He might have forced more attention than necessary on his root-beer, but complain, he didn't.

"Why're you drinking root-beer?" she asked, then thought back and couldn't remember an incident since he'd come back where he'd drunk beer or wine or anything alcoholic, really. Was he…? "Are you … did you stop drinking?"

He scowled and tensed, closing himself off from her and the conversation. It still pissed her off, even though she'd come to realize that he did that whenever conversation started to get personal and involved his feelings and she thought she understood that he did it to protect himself from …something. She didn't know from what – certainly not from her, right? But Jackie was sure by now that that's what he was doing.

It insulted her that he would hide himself away when she was open, mostly because he did that exactly when she was being open. She felt like watching a dam brace against the oncoming tide, and she didn't want to be something dangerous, or sweep him away or break him. But the alternative was to stop telling him how she felt, and that just wasn't her. She might be able to learn, but honestly – she didn't want to. It was her, and Steven had for some reason decided he wanted her and that included her feelings and her exuberance and her energy. There must be something in her that he liked – loved, she knew he did, even if he rarely said it in words – because otherwise, this whole 'one day you get this ring'-thing of his didn't make any sense.

"Yeah," he finally said after breathing out slowly. "I… It's not… I don't… Alcohol and me are not a good mix." It wasn't exactly a great declaration of everlasting sobriety, but Jackie would take it. It made her happy, because in all honesty – alcohol and Steven really didn't mix well. Mrs Forman got giddy and happy, her mother got horny and slutty, and Steven got paranoid, angry and scowl-y.

And apparently married skanks in Nevada.

She thought vaguely that she should celebrate his no-drinking-resolve with something, but the thought about Vegas had destroyed her mood. Still, he was trying – and she could at least acknowledge that. "That's great!" Then she remembered that she was drinking wine. Oh. "Do you… should I drink something else?" A pity to pour it away, it was one of Amy's better choices, but she would. She could be supportive!

"No, it's okay," Steven smiled. "I don't mind. It's… it's strange, you know? I have no problem with drinking juice or coke or root-beer when I have company. Only when I'm alone… yeah."

Huh. Yes, drinking alone would certainly be a problem. Jackie hadn't even known he drank – used to drink – when he was alone. Then again – it did make a sick sort of sense. It also gave her a stab in the heart to imagine Steven in the Formans' basement in the dim light, drinking beer after beer with no company but the grainy TV and his records.

It was quite sad and very… well, say it as it is: trashy.

"Oh. Yes, I… well, if you don't mind, I really like this wine. It goes really well with this. Where did you get the recipe? Is it one from Mrs Forman?" She put some giddiness in her voice when she changed the subject, and inside cursed herself a little for making it easy for him again. But even though she wanted to push him into telling her stuff, she also remembered that pushing him – even if it was for his own good – usually led to him feeling forced or threatened.

She didn't want to threaten him. God, why was he so complicated! With Michael, she'd never had those kinds of problems. Well… except maybe she had, considering he'd told her that she'd made him feel bad about himself.

"No, it's mine. I learned it when I was working for Roy, remember? One day they didn't have anything but potato, cheese and a few vegetables, so I fixed this together and…" He blushed, as if he were embarrassed for actually learning to cook at his job as a cook. God, he was unbelievable sometimes.

Steven's many hangups notwithstanding, Jackie enjoyed the evening together, even if he made her dry the dishes. She told him about her work, what she was doing – scheduling, mostly, and sometimes, for a few minutes on screen telling people about interesting – or not – events in the city to go to – and he listened. He didn't talk much about himself, but she didn't mind that. He'd cooked for her, gone shopping, hadn't done anything typically 'Hyde' like smoking or drinking – oh, right, he wasn't doing that anymore. Weird! – and he got along with Amy and Aaron.

The last was pretty important. Jackie realized – sometime around ten with all of them sitting in front of the TV and eating popcorn, watching a 'Mary Tyler Moore'-marathon – that she wanted Steven to like her room-mates, but also for them to like him. And while he and Amy bickered a lot, she had a feeling that it wasn't out of dislike. Aaron at least seemed amused, and he would know if the shit Steven threw at Amy really bothered her.

"So, how thin are your walls?" Steven whispered in her ear when Amy was preoccupied with Aaron.

"Huh?"

"Do you think anyone would hear us if we went into your room right now?" He stroked her thigh, caressing closer and closer to her crotch. She felt the erotic tickle of his light touches through her pants, and her heartbeat sped up.

"Uhm. I usually have to up the volume on the TV if those two get it going in her room," she whispered back, but she wished she could have told him it was completely soundproof.

"Hmmm," Steven murmured. "I guess we have to keep you real quiet then, huh?"

Abruptly, Jackie jumped up and pulled him with her, shouting "Excuse us, long day, tired, see you later," while nearly making him fall over the table in her haste. Amy laughed out loud and Aaron told them to have fun, and Steven might have given them the finger but who cared, she was getting sex, and whenever Steven said she'd have to be quiet, he'd do incredible things to her just to make her lose it and cry out anyway.

It mostly involved tongue and fingers and lots of creativity.

Her mouth went dry and she pulled him down on her bed with a force that must have surprised him, since he actually fell down. Steven laughed, though, so Jackie didn't wait around and pushed at his clothes and his belt, which made him laugh more and got her more and more frustrated.

"Stop, Jackie, wait. Let me get the buckle, and you get your bra, so we're even."

They got even a lot of times that night.

The time from Wednesday to Monday flew by much quicker than Jackie had ever believed possible. After the first two days of Steven exploring the city during her work alone and waiting for her when she came back, she'd told him to pick her up on Friday so she could introduce him to her work-friends. She'd been nervous as hell about it, wishing he'd make as good an impression on them as he'd done with Amy and Aaron. Then again, she shouldn't have worried – first-time meetings with Steven usually went very well, he could charm a fly from a carcass if he made an effort. He usually made an effort if she asked him nicely.

No, the true Hyde came out of hiding once he felt comfortable around people, so that would be the time she could really judge how her friends got along with him. Still – she'd have hated if his friends hadn't approved of him, and, even though she felt awful for admitting it, she wanted his approval of her friends.

It was dumb, probably, and not empowering or anything, but she couldn't help herself. It was important to Jackie Burkhart that people around her liked, or at the very least tolerated each other.

Luckily, Steven got along with everyone he met quite well. Only Eggy was weary, trying to tell her subtly that he didn't approve that she spent so much time to make sure Steven liked her life, probably thinking it as Steven's fault for demanding that, or keeping her under his thumb. Egmont wouldn't understand where this was coming from, and that it didn't really have anything to do with Steven but more with her upbringing and her need for tidy little boxes she could order her life into. So far, everything was nicely packed away, only her boyfriend was usually sticking out wherever she put him, like that one stray sock that never quite wanted to stay in the allotted drawer.

Before she knew it, it was Sunday, and they'd spent the weekend exploring some of the interesting parts of the city. Jackie had managed to get Steven to take her up the John Hancock skyscraper to see the view – breath-taking, and Jackie wished that one day she could afford an apartment there – and they spent the whole Sunday in the Great America amusement park, with funnel-cakes and a three-armed Ferris-wheel and rollercoasters that made Jackie an unbecoming shade of yellow. She'd endured the rides, though, because it had been pure fun and made her feel young and silly and she forgot work and adult-stuff like taxes and boyfriend-troubles.

Now, she was standing outside in the cold, her jacket tugged tightly around herself, trying to decide what she was feeling while Steven put his bag into the Camino.

Yes, she had loved the time with him. Did she wish he would stay? Funnily enough – not really. Shouldn't she want him to stay forever and ever with her? If this was true love, shouldn't it hurt that he was leaving tonight and wouldn't be back until next Friday at the earliest?

Well, it did hurt thinking about waking up alone in her bed. She'd gotten used to having his warm body next to her, his never-to-be-mentioned tendency to cuddle and boy, would she miss the sex. He sometimes cooked – if they hadn't eaten out, or if Amy hadn't been quicker – and he never tried to get out of washing dishes or setting the table, but it felt weird, like he was trying to impress her.

Maybe that was unfair, but she'd never seen him do that before. Steven had been a lazy teenager and a lazy nineteen-year-old when she'd first left Point Place, and then he'd bailed and so she didn't quite know if this was a new thing he now did everywhere and forever, or if he was walking on eggshells right now and would fall back into his male laziness in a few months.

She wouldn't complain about it, definitely not, since she hated dishwashing. It made her hands all wrinkly and dry!

So, shouldn't she beg him to stay with her?

The only thing Jackie knew about her feelings right now was that she would not beg. She could wash dishes and she could cook – or well, pick up a phone and order food. She was capable of doing everything domestic on her own – she didn't need Steven for that.

The downside of him being there had been her reduced alone-time. Back in Point Place, she'd been scared to be alone, always fearing to be forgotten one day or left behind, but here, in Chicago, she craved her moments alone.

It was time for doing her nails, for preparing for work the next day. Time for reading magazines as long as she wanted, for watching TV-programs she liked and making popcorn as often as she wished. Time for just lying on the bed and listening to her records, and if she wanted to be entertained, she only had to say the word and Amy and Aaron or one of her friends from work would usually be happy to take her out for a night or she could go visit Brooke and Michael and her goddaughter.

Mostly, she just sat in her incredibly comfortable apartment, on the unbelievably ugly couch, munching on ice-cream or salted-caramel-chocolate and feeling… free.

She wouldn't want Steven out of her life, though. She still loved him, she was sure, but the clenching fear she'd felt the first time he'd left her – much less orderly than now, of course – wasn't coming, not even close. Seeing him pack his stuff a few hours before hadn't left her worried, only content and playful as she'd carefully un-packed one item whenever he turned his back. It had led to him pinning her on the bed and tickling her, which then had led to some more hot love-making, which had led to all his stuff being out of the bag again when it had fallen off her bed.

She hadn't minded prolonging the farewell.

"So," he said, turning to her with that boyish smile that she loved to see. He looked happier than she'd seen him in a long time. Freer. Relaxed, even.

Jackie was still waiting for that other shoe to drop, because this was Steven, and not Michael. There would come a moment in the future when something ugly would raise its head, but for now, she'd take the content man in front of her and roll with it.

"So," she replied. "Will you be back next weekend?" Jackie bit her lip gently, just enough to make him look so he'd remember her. "I need to see this exhibition for work, and I'd really love you to come with me and make fun of the pictures and the clothes of the people."

Steven laughed. "How can I say no to this enticing adventure? Sure, I'll be here. Just can't make it before Friday, this time. WB'll have my head if I close the store for so long again." He took a step closer and bent over, kissing her cheek, then her forehead, then, finally, her lips. Just little pecks, not the searing, passionate kisses she got lost in so easily.

These were even better, made her feel save and loved.

"That's okay, 'Curly'," she teased. "I can survive the week without you."

"Glad to hear that, grasshopper. Wouldn't want you to waste away pining for me."

She giggled. Not too long ago, she'd have been doing exactly that. Knowing it wasn't the case made her happy. "Call me when you get home. I don't wanna worry that you missed an exit and ended up in Oregon. Or Canada, this time," she teased and he barked out a laugh. Jackie loved that he could laugh about it, even if she wished he'd felt more ashamed for what his leaving had done to her.

She kissed him once more, forcefully and with as much of her feelings as she could get into it, then tugged her jacket even tighter. "I need to get inside. Drive carefully and give my love to the Formans. If you don't call me at least once, I'll find you and stomp you to death with my heels!"

~ End ~

Okay, readers, that's it.
I'm still working on the next (and last) part of this series, it's gonna be a BIT longer still until it's done. Sorry in advance. But this here is a good place to stop again, so ... hope you had fun, would like to hear from you. If I made any terrible errors, please correct me on them.
All the best
Marlowe