chapter six: the concept of soulmates

December 1976

Donna played with one of the loose curls Jackie had made in her hair for her parents' vow renewal. Her obvious discomfort with the topic of discussion had Jackie sighing and slinging her arm across her shoulders.

Leaning closer, she gently knocked her head against Donna's. "Have you talked to Eric about this?"

"No!" Donna groaned, dropping her face into her hands. "I didn't want to say something and make it weirder. I thought I was ready, like really ready, but now it's going to change everything."

Jackie chuckled softly and patted Donna's shoulder comfortingly. "First times are weird, especially when you're both virgins. Trust me. With me and Michael it was over as soon as it started. And at least Eric will call you tonight and see you tomorrow. Michael avoided me for a week."

Jackie had been so naive when she was fifteen. She knew something was wrong but she had shoved that feeling aside and bought Michael's lie. She had assumed when he had stupidly told her that his family's phones were being cleaned that he had misunderstood and that the Kelsos needed the phone company to check their line or something and that was why he didn't call. He covered for his disappearing act by claiming he was grounded which wasn't unbelievable. If it hadn't been spring break she could have confronted him at school.

Steven had been the one that finally told her the truth. It was out of anger and jealousy but the truth was finally revealed that a majority of Michael's gifts were tainted. A stuffed unicorn to make up for the week of absence, flowers for every infidelity, and stupid toys he had actually bought for himself but handed over to her when he felt guilty and scared of her wrath.

There were other gifts—mostly stuffed animals—that were given to show he cared and remembered one of their many anniversaries, at least she believed so. It was difficult to separate the good from the bad when there was so much bad.

The one really great gift he had given her during their relationship didn't make a reappearance in the new timeline because she had broken up with him before their one year anniversary. It wouldn't have mattered. It was a necklace she ended up pawning and using the money to buy herself new boots after they broke up.

"By the way," Donna frowned, "what was he trying to give you during the reception?"

It was Jackie's turn to groan and cover her face with her hands. She had truly been naive when she was still hung up on beautiful Michael being her Prince Charming. In her original timeline, Michael and her were attempting to be friends around this time and he had bought her a unicorn candy dish to prove that he remembered everything about her because he cared about her.

His motivation was to woo her so that she would eventually take him back and he had done the same thing yet again.

"It was a unicorn candy dish," Jackie grumbled. "I told him to take it back because he was only giving it to me because he wanted something from me."

"You turned down a gift?" Donna smiled slyly and poked Jackie in the shoulder. "You are really growing up, kid."

Jackie giggled and shook her head, shoving Donna away with her shoulder. It was a lesson she had learned when she had started dating Steven. He rarely gave her presents, but when he did it was because he just felt like it and wanted to make her happy, not because he wanted anything in return.

"I say you talk to Eric," Jackie suggested. "You need to be open about this so it can get better. Go wait for him in his room. The adults are still partying over at your place so you can get some privacy. I'll go tell him you need to talk to him. And then later this week we can have another spa day like we had for your mom's second bachelorette party." Jackie bounced up and down from her seat on the stoop, clapping her hands and making Donna snort. "That Dead Sea mud mask did wonders for your skin, Donna. But you have to continue the treatment, trust me."

Donna shook her head but smiled softly at Jackie. She stared at her for a brief moment before quickly wrapping her arms around her and letting her go.

"Thanks," she muttered, eyes downcast shyly as she headed inside the Formans' front door.

Jackie followed after her into the house and headed towards the kitchen. There was nowhere else she expected the boys to be but the basement.

As she climbed down the stairs, she heard Eric's jovial voice. She frowned at the topic of discussion and the things he was saying.

"God, you're disgusting!" She exclaimed causing all of the boys to jump in their seats. She didn't expect to see Michael because he had been talking to Laurie earlier. It was a good thing he wasn't, because she didn't want to deal with anymore of his stupidity.

"Jackie?" Buddy looked up from where he was playing poker with Fez for candy instead of money. Jackie ignored him and stormed her way over to Eric and pushed him off the top of the couch. He bounced off of the seat cushions and landed on the ground, bumping his knee against the table on the way down.

"You make love with your girlfriend for the first time and you're here bragging to your friends about it?"

She recalled when Fez had burst into the basement with his news and everyone cheered the loss of his virginity. It had been an event everyone thought wouldn't happen and he needed his friends' advice, but Jackie hadn't considered at the time how Nina would have felt knowing she was being discussed with the group. She hadn't cared about Nina, but Donna was her best friend and she was horrified.

Her breath hitched when she remembered about Steven knowing that Michael had planned on breaking up with her after their first time. She had been discussed the same way, just a trophy for the basement boys.

"What the hell, Jackie?" Eric shouted, rubbing his knee.

"I've already had to deal with my moron ex-boyfriend following me around and Donna's drunk uncle touching me so I'm not really in the mood to play nice with you, Eric Forman."

"Wait, who was touching you?" Steven interrupted her tirade. Jackie shot him a withering glare but his jaw remained tensed and his eyebrows drawn down into a frown.

"Not important right now. Eric—"

"I think it's kind of more important," Buddy cut her off, standing up and crossing his arms in front of his chest. "When the hell did that happen?"

"God, will you guys shut up?" Jackie stomped her foot and pushed past Steven to make her way to the front of the couch. She yanked Eric by his wrist until he was standing up and dragged him to the stairs. "Donna needs to talk to you and you better sit down quietly and listen to her or I'll make sure the only action you'll be getting for the rest of your life is from your hand."

Eric's eyes widened in horror and he looked above her head at the other guys. Something in their expressions must have told him that they believed she had the power to follow through with her threat because soon after he was rushing up the stairs to the kitchen, taking two steps at a time.

Once the kitchen door was closed behind him, Jackie turned to the others, arms crossed in front of her chest and disappointed.

"It wasn't at all like that, Jackie." Fez gave her sorrowful eyes and wrung his fingers. Out of all of the boys he was the only one that had looked guilty. "He was being romantic about it and even said they had become one being."

"Of course he was. Eric is sappy like that." Jackie jutted out her lower jaw, still eyeing them all. "But I'm pretty sure Donna wouldn't have wanted him talking about it. She didn't even want to talk about it."

"It's just what guys do, Jackie." Buddy chewed on his lower lip. Usually Jackie didn't lump him together with the rest of the boys whenever they did anything stupid, but this wasn't one of those occasions. "It's not like he was being graphic or saying anything bad."

"You are all Donna's friends." Jackie uncrossed one of her arms so that she could wag a finger at them all. "You know how she is and she likes her privacy. She wanted that moment to be just for her and Eric."

"You're one to talk."

"Excuse me?" She shouldn't have been surprised that Steven had snapped at her. Out of everyone in the room, he was the only one that didn't and would never kowtow to her when she was in one of her moods.

"You can never keep your big cheerleader mouth shut and you tell Donna everything. And you used to tell Kelso everything too and I'm sure Buddy is your new gossip pal."

"That's so not true." Jackie couldn't keep the hurt out of her voice. 1976 Steven and she weren't as close as her Steven and she were, but she thought in this changed timeline he knew her better than that. He had told her about meeting his stepdad and she had told him things about her family no one else knew. Those were secrets she had kept buried deep inside of her.

Why had he trusted her with his secret if he thought she was just going to run her mouth? Jackie glared at home for a moment, blinking back the moisture building up around her eyes. They stared each other down until it finally hit her.

Oh.

Steven hadn't trusted her. He just knew that no one would believe that he had told her of all people something so sensitive. Their growing closeness wasn't real and she was falling back into the same trap as before.

It was a good thing she had already decided against getting involved with him. It would have crushed her more to have made the revelation if she had been ready to hand her heart back to him.

"You weren't exactly shocked about Forman and Donna finally making the beast with two backs." Steven cocked his head in that predatory manner he had whenever he had the upper hand in a conversation. "Which means you already knew, which means you had talked about it, which means you're a hypocrite for getting on our case when you were discussing their sex life."

"It's not the same!" Jackie threw her hands up in frustration. "Look. Donna and I talked about it because—"

Jackie clamped her mouth shut and eyed Buddy and Fez who were looking back and forth between Steven and her curiously. Thinking quickly she grabbed Steven by the wrist and pulled him toward his room. He could have easily broken free of her old if he wanted to escape but he allowed her to drag him into the storage room and close the door behind them. She locked it for good measure, just in case Buddy or Fez decided to barge in.

"Care to explain why you locked us in here?"

"For privacy."

Jackie walked over to Steven's personal record player and set the needle on the record he had on the turntable. She grimaced at the noise of Blue Oyster Cult, but turned the volume up enough so that they wouldn't be heard from outside his bedroom.

Sighing to herself, Jackie took a seat on the old ottoman stored in Steven's room and looked around. In this timeline it was the first time she had ever stepped foot in his room. For Jackie, it had been about six months.

The room was dark and dreary, nothing like the way she had left it for him back in 1978. She had given him twinkle lights to brighten up the room and an armada of scented candles for some aromatherapy. His cot looked miserable without the plush duvet and pillows she had bought for the Steven of 1979.

Jackie didn't even know if 1979 Steven even kept her gifts after they had broken up. He may have even burned them.

"That lollipop was bragging about how perfect everything was and how great it was to finally not be a virgin," Jackie began her explanation, fingering the skirt of her deep purple dress. "Eric was bragging about finally having sex. That's completely different than what Donna was talking to me about. And you know that Donna wouldn't have discussed it with me unless she really felt the need to."

Back in the timeline she came from, Jackie had wanted to talk sex with Donna but Donna didn't want to get into the details. It hadn't really changed except now Jackie understood how to read lumberjack more than she did back then and had a handle on younger Donna's feelings.

"Okay, and?" Steven slumped back onto his cot, resting his back against his dresser. "Why are we," he pointed back and forth between her and him, "talking about it?"

Jackie ran her hands down her face, avoiding smudging her mascara. This was such a strange conversation to have with a Steven she wasn't fooling around with.

"I told Donna to talk to Eric about it so the problem might fix itself." According to the Donna of her original timeline, Eric wasn't strong but he communicated well enough with her to know exactly what to do with her body. Just remembering that made her want to throw up. "But you're experienced. You can help Eric out."

Steven's mouth opened a bit, slack from the shock of the suggestion.

"You're like his big brother," Jackie insisted. "It wouldn't be that weird if you gave him some advice, y'know."

Steven scratched the back of his neck in discomfort. He had acted the same way when Jackie had told him she knew just how experienced he was before they had done anything below the belt in the summer of 1977.

"Look," Jackie stood up and sat next to him on his cot, "everyone already knows how bad my first experience was." In her original timeline it had only been Steven that knew the true extent of how bad, but due to the big public blow up between her and Michael months back, all of their friends knew. "And how it barely got any better." He improved slightly with the experience he racked up due to cheating on her, but the only times she had gotten off with Michael was when she took charge, not because of his skill. "And well, I would rather Donna not have to suffer through that. Or Eric. She said it was awkward, Steven."

Steven sucked his lower lip into his mouth and looked at her thoughtfully. "He should be fine with practice and as long as he doesn't try anything from porn."

"Oh, God." Jackie turned away in disgust. She forgot that Eric had gotten the weird thing he kept trying in bed from porn. "What is it with guys and porn?"

Steven shrugged, smirking at her. She shoved his shoulder and tried to hold back from smiling back at him with no success.

"So are you going to tell me what was going on with Donna's uncle?"

"Nope." Jackie stood up to give herself some space. She didn't need Steven being his protective self. She already knew she was going to have to hear it from Buddy about it and also about being alone in Steven's room after her meltdown in his car the weekend before.

Buddy had taken her home and stayed with her until she fell asleep. He had gotten in trouble with his parents for coming home at dawn, but he told her they were mostly shocked that he had stayed out all night with a girl that they knew existed. Jackie had officially been cut off by her daddy as punishment for having a boy overnight—not that Jackie would feel the punishment considering she was only using the money she made from working at the Cheese Palace. It did suck that she couldn't borrow the Lincoln, but Buddy and Eric were her main modes of transportation.

Steven offered rides whenever he was free and knew she needed one. Jackie would have preferred to limit their time together, but she had no real reason to decline his offers unless she wanted to walk or bus everywhere.

"Jackie." Steven's jaw was set tightly, the muscle in his jaw tense.

"It's no big deal!" Jackie threw her hands up and let them fall, slapping her thighs. "I told Donna and she told her mom. It was taken care of." She turned back to him and smiled softly. "But thank you for looking out for me."

"Of course, Doll."

Doll. On instinct, the corners of Jackie's lips lifted upwards and her cheeks bloomed with heat. Her chest warmed at the sound of his cheeky voice calling her by the familiar nickname. Unlike "Grasshopper", which he used mostly when he was playing teacher, "Doll" was for any time he was feeling particularly soft towards her. The pet name's origin wasn't romantic. It was one he had used to first show her that he had her back, that he was there for her.

It had been a long while since he had called her that. Even before she was sent back to 1976. She hadn't been Steven's "Doll" in a long time.

Drumming his fingers against his cheek, Hyde tried to block out Jackie and Buddy's conversation with Fez on the other side of the basement.

"So, when the offensive player is in the key for five seconds it ends up being a turnover and the ball goes to the other team." Jackie tapped her notebook that she was using to show Fez the basketball court she had drawn.

"But why doesn't that happen when we play in the driveway?" Fez asked, pouting in confusion.

"Because, once again Fez," Buddy patted Fez's shoulder, "that's streetball. Completely different situation and there's no key painted on the driveway."

"Anyone else weirded out that Jackie is teaching Fez about basketball?" Forman stage whispered to Hyde and Donna.

Hyde wasn't that surprised, but he had that knowledge thanks to having dated her in the future. She didn't play with them mostly due to wearing the wrong outfit to pal around in, having just done her nails, or not wanting to play with people that towered over her. But sometimes she would shoot hoops just for the hell of it. Donna shrugged and shook her head, flipping a page of her magazine.

"Not really." Donna raised a brow at Forman's rueful look. "She's a cheerleader, Eric. She cheers at every varsity game and it's easier to pick up than football. It would be weirder if she watched all of those games without knowing the rules."

Buddy and Fez were going to the first home game for the Point Place Vikings, mostly because they were the only ones other than Jackie with enough school spirit to sit through a game, but also because they wanted to show Jackie some support.

Hyde had been blocking out Jackie's presence ever since she pranced into the room in her cheerleading uniform. Kitty had seen her in her outfit and started gushing about how cute she was in her little uniform and had sat her down so she could tie her hair up in pigtails decorated with green and white ribbons. She had gotten so excited because Jackie reminded her of her cheerleading days.

It reminded him too much of how Kitty had fixed her hair up the morning after the Formans discovered Jackie had been staying with him in the basement. Reminded him of when the both of them were something more than whatever the hell they were at the moment.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the game, Donna?" Buddy asked again. He and Fez had even painted their faces with some green and white paint. Buddy had drawn on the number for the starting shooting guard, a senior named Tommy Larkin, who both Donna and Jackie━and Fez oddly enough━had gushed about how dreamy he was. It seemed Buddy shared the same sentiment.

"You'll have to do all of your ogling without me," Donna teased. "Eric and I are going to the movies."

"Of course you are." Hyde clasped his hands behind his head and smiled slyly at the couple. "Too bad the drive-ins are closed for the season right?"

"Shut up," Donna muttered, averting her gaze.

"Well, we gotta get going." Jackie hopped up from the couch's arm and dusted off her skirt. "Kat will try to get on my case if I'm late and then Val will end up making a big deal about it."

"Is she still mad because we left her out of the conversation at my parents' dinner party?"

Jackie nodded and slipped on her white and blue chevron patterned jacket. "That and the guy she's interested in won't give her the time of day and I must have done something. I don't know, Leslie didn't know all of the details."

"You don't really seem to care," Donna offered her observation.

"I don't." Jackie slung her purse over her shoulder. "It's not my fault if the guy she likes, likes me instead. What am I supposed to do, Donna? Be less desirable?"

Jackie rolled her eyes and opened the basement door, ushering Buddy and Fez through it before stepping out into the cold.

"So what are your plans for the night, Hyde?" Donna asked, failing at being nonchalant.

"You're looking at it." Hyde nodded his head toward the television and lifted up a beer. "I didn't have a shift today, don't care about my History paper, and everyone's gone for the night. Just gonna burn out on my own."

Forman shrugged and scratched the side of his head. "Where's Kelso? Usually he's over here, especially with Casey having come back home."

"Cruisin' for chicks," Hyde answered, propping his feet on the spool table. "What else?"

Snow Prom was on Saturday and Kelso still needed to find a date. Pam Macy would have probably been his first choice after Jackie if it weren't for his issues pitching a tent from a month ago. Kelso's last attempt to change Jackie's mind had blown up in his face when Jackie wouldn't accept his candy dish gift. He had been so sure that it was going to work because Jackie loved weddings and it was a chance to prove that he still remembered the things she cared about.

"Why aren't you with him?" Donna asked, still failing at nonchalance as she flipped through her magazine. "Isn't cruising like your bread and butter or something?"

"Not in the mood." Hyde kept the tone of his voice nice and steady. He could play nonchalant a lot better than she could. "And you don't go cruisin' so close to a school dance. Next thing you know, the chick expects you to take her."

"Well, if you're not going out," Forman stood up and held his hand out for Donna, "you might want to hide from my mom. She's been hinting about you getting a haircut."

The first time Hyde had tried to cut his own hair after he had moved in with the Formans, it had come out disastrous. One of the few things his mother had done for him was help him trim his hair so that it didn't get long enough to fall over his eyes. It had properly grown back out by the time he entered his senior year and he was able to maintain it short after that, but recently he hadn't felt like doing anything with it. His curls were back to their long and loose state from the winter of his sophomore year, before his mother had taken her personal hair shears to his head.

"It's too cold for a haircut."

"Waiting for spring to shed your winter coat?" Donna teased him as she grabbed her black pea coat. "See ya later, Hyde."

And with that, Hyde was finally alone in the basement.

Ever since the hunting trip, Donna had been more interested in talking to him about his "Jackie Situation." If she caught him alone she always wanted to talk to him about his feelings and pepper in warnings he didn't need about how the group would be affected if he was just messing around.

Donna had also been worried about Kelso. She knew he would freak out, especially because he was still pursuing Jackie even though his advances were unwanted.

"I don't even get why he still wants her," Donna mused as she and Hyde shared a joint in her parents' den. "All he did while they were dating was complain and cheat. Do you think it's an ego trip or something?"

Hyde hadn't understood it before either. Without Jackie, Kelso was free to sleep with whoever he wanted and he didn't have anyone on his back about anything. He had even told Forman that he didn't think what he had with Jackie was real but still continued the relationship.

But then Hyde had the opportunity to actually know Jackie and to be loved by her and he could understand why someone would want to keep that for themselves. No one had ever looked at him the way Jackie looked at him. No one touched him the way Jackie did, like she was holding on to something priceless she didn't want to lose.

It was never supposed to get that far with Jackie. He was supposed to take what he could get and imprint the taste of her into his memory when she decided to cut him loose. But it just kept going on and on and Jackie poured out all of her love into him like he was a bottomless pit she was trying to miraculously fill.

And it terrified him to think that once he got comfortable and accustomed to having that, that it could easily be taken away. Because wasn't that what Jackie did? As soon as things didn't go her way, she pulled away, depriving him of her as punishment.

That was exactly what it felt like she was doing at the moment, punishing him.

He didn't know what his offense had been but Jackie of 1976 was acting odd with him. Some days she acted like everything was normal and that they were friends, but then there were days where she acted like he was part of the furniture. He had no clue where they stood and it was starting to piss him off.

The uncertainty was having him wish for the days when Jackie would just talk and talk until he had to pretend to fall asleep to get her to stop.

Hyde wasn't used to this kind of treatment from Jackie. Even when they disliked each other they had acknowledged each other's presence. He couldn't even compare the dirty feeling to how it felt when he was the dirty secret of other girls in Jackie's circle. It wasn't as if Jackie treated him badly or ignored him in public. It was the opposite.

Jackie was his friend and spoke with him when they were around others, but became sort of distant when it was just the two of them.

The punishment was getting old, especially when he had no clue what he could have done that was so wrong in 1976 Jackie's mind.

Jackie smiled broadly, fighting the urge to blink when the light flashed in her eyes. She was just glad that her hairspray had held and her hair hadn't frizzed up by the time they took the Snow King and Queen yearbook photos.

The Winter Formal, also known by the much cuter name of Snow Prom, was the only formal event that underclassmen had a shot at winning one of the titles. Just like in her original 1976, Jackie had campaigned for Snow Queen, but the results were different this time around.

Instead of runner up, Jackie won Snow Queen alongside Buddy who had actually attended Snow Prom this time around. The two of them attended the dance together and she wore a red gown to match Buddy's red dress shirt because it was his favorite color.

Jackie had run her campaign under the impression that she could be losing again. She hadn't thought she did anything different, but when she actually looked back on how she had spent the past four months it made more sense. Buddy had encouraged her to join different committees and Donna had her do a car care demonstration for one of her clubs━not that Jackie could recall which club, just that it was one of her girl only clubs. She was a lot more involved with her classmates outside of the jocks and not only during the campaign period.

It also helped that she was piggybacking off of Buddy who was truly loved by everyone. He hadn't even campaigned, which made Jackie wonder if Michael would have even won Snow King in her original timeline if Buddy hadn't dropped out of school in the winter of 1976. As handsome as Michael was, he had nothing on sweet and charming Buddy.

He also didn't have Jackie insisting that he campaign the weeks up to the dance.

"You look good in a crown," Jackie complimented Buddy, adjusting the plastic crown on his head so that it didn't muss up his hair.

"You're not going to make us call you Your Highness now, are you?" Donna teased them, smacking Jackie's leg with the floaty periwinkle material of her skirt. Jackie was glad Donna had taken her advice on what colors to stick to for her gown.

"Only until the end of the dance." Jackie placed her hands on her hips and turned her nose up. "So until eleven."

"My liege." Eric mock bowed to Buddy who grabbed the lapels of his suit jacket and posed, holding his head up high in mock regality.

"We should find Fez so he can take more photos for his letter home." Jackie linked her arm with Buddy's as they circled around the gym looking for their friend. They had left him with Steven when they were crowned, but the two of them had then disappeared.

If she remembered it right, Steven would be in Coach Ferguson's office. And then a tornado would hit. The joys of living in the Midwest. It was likely to come around again considering the abnormal heat they had to suffer through the past few days right after it had been unbearably cold.

"Let's check in here." Jackie knocked softly on the door in the pattern that everyone used on Steven's bedroom door so he knew it was one of them and not Kitty or Red. She waited a brief moment and the door creaked open enough just for Steven's face to be seen.

"Are you going to let us in or what?" Buddy asked cheekily.

"Depends," Steven answered, opening the door wider. "You got anything for me?"

"Damn. I thought my cute face would be enough." Buddy snapped his fingers in faux dejection.

"Unfortunately for you, you're not my type," Steven shrugged his shoulders but let them in regardless.

"I'm not even surprised you picked the lock." Immediately upon entering Jackie knew Fez wasn't in the office. The smell of his cologne would have given him away. Jackie turned to Steven with her hands on her hips. Leaving Fez alone at a school function was a horrible idea. "Where's Fezzie?"

"Relax. He's with Kelso." Steven slumped into Coach Ferguson's plush leather desk chair. "Probably trying to watch Kelso and his date from Sacred Heart makeout."

Buddy sighed and rolled his eyes. He wasn't a fan of Fez spending any time with Michael. "Well, I'm going to go look for him."

As soon as Buddy stepped out of the door, Coach Ferguson caught him leaving. They heard Buddy make up an excuse about looking for his friend and Steven sat down under Coach Ferguson's desk and pulled Jackie down between his legs so her back was pressed to his chest. A second later, the office lights were turned on and they heard Buddy continue to lie about how he had been the only one inside.

"See? Just me, looking for my friend."

"I should have known better than to assume you would be up to anything, Mr. Morgan." Steven snorted lowly, just loud enough that Jackie was only able to hear it because his mouth was right by her ear. "But you should be heading back into━"

"Coach Ferguson," Vice Principal Cole interrupted him. "There's been a tornado warning announced. Code Red. I'm assuming that it's dangerous. Gather any meandering students into the shelter of the gym."

"A t-tornado?" Was the last thing Jackie heard before Coach Ferguson closed the office door and locked it back up.

"How does the Vice Principal not know what the codes mean?" Jackie grumbled, the tension leaving her body caused her to lean further back into Steven's hold.

"Comfortable there, Princess?"

Jackie tensed up and scooted forward so that she could pick herself up from the ground. "I'm a queen today, actually," she shot back snottily, dusting off the back of her gown.

Her parents had insisted on paying for her new gown and Jackie had given in considering that her pay from the Cheese Palace wasn't enough for her to be able to afford the hit a nice dress would cost her. If it weren't for her experience with shopping sales and stretching out her dollars from when her father had gone to prison and her mother had abandoned her, Jackie would have been lost on how to make her paycheck last her. Fortunately, she didn't have to worry about bills and food.

"Well, tornado or no tornado," Steven pulled himself up and dusted off the seat of his pants, "I'm going to fumigate Coach Ferguson's office. You in?"

"Yeah," Jackie smiled softly at him and took a seat in one of the spare leather chairs.

Ten minutes later, Jackie was blowing rings of smoke up into the air while Steven rummaged through a box of confiscated items.

"Who brings a nudie calendar to school?" Jackie coughed out her laughter as she grabbed the only pink item from the box, a water pistol. "Who would be that depraved?"

They both stared at each other for a moment and then in a deadpan said at the same time, "Timmy Thompson."

"I think he took his pants off right before Vice Principal Cole announced Snow King and Queen. Why is he always doing that?"

"That explains why Coach Ferguson didn't catch me sneaking out of the gym." Steven pocketed his switchblade and put his airhorn to the side. "I think half the stuff in here belongs to me or Kelso."

"Why did you have an air horn in class?" It was a question Jackie never got to ask the last time they were in Coach Ferguson's office during Snow Prom 1976. She had been too upset about losing the title to focus on the random items Steven had confiscated by Coach Ferguson.

"I actually got this stuff taken away last year." Steven tossed the box back into the bottom drawer of the desk. "I used the air horn to scare Forman every time he tried to climb the rope in gym class."

"He can't even do a pull up, how was he supposed to climb the rope?" Jackie cackled much more exuberantly than normal with the marijuana coursing through her.

"Yeah." Steven grinned smugly. "They used the trauma of my air horn as an excuse to just pass him along."

"What do you think the others are doing right now?"

Steven exhaled and leaned forward in his seat in thought. "Forman and Donna are probably playing footsie somewhere. That is if Forman isn't freaking out about the tornado and doing that thing where his voice gets all squeaky."

"Highly likely."

"Kelso is probably in the middle of convincing the Sacred Heart girl that screwing would be a good way to wait out the tornado."

"He's probably telling her some line about it being their last chance to do it before they die." Jackie rolled her eyes and took a pull from the joint and blew out another set of smoke rings in Steven's face.

"How are you doing that?"

"I've done them with cigars before." Jackie grimaced. "Cigars make you look fancy, but they taste like crap."

"Are they worse than cigarettes?"

"Yeah." Jackie nodded, remembering how much Steven hated the cigars Michael had brought to celebrate Betsy's birth. "They are. Here. Let me show you. You just kind of suck in your cheeks like this with the smoke in your mouth and make an O shape with your mouth and then just kind of push the smoke out with your tongue. You don't inhale the smoke you're blowing rings with."

"That's kind of a waste." Steven frowned. "Don't be wastin' any of my stash. Inhale what I give you."

"Do you think Buddy found Fez?"

"Probably." Steven leaned back in his seat. "Fez is probably clinging to him and crying about how he is going to die a virgin." He gave her a mischievous grin. "Maybe Buddy will help him out."

"Oh, stop!" Jackie shoved his shoulder. "It's not funny. And I doubt that's how Fez pictured losing his virginity. At least not from that end."

"Oh." Steven's frown deepened and Jackie narrowed her eyes at him and grinned triumphantly at his discomfort.

"Yeah. Oh." Jackie snatched the joint back. "I know way too much about our friends. Buddy and Donna are kind of similar when they're drunk. They get so raunchy."

"Speaking of drunks," Steven cleared his throat, "is your ma finally back from her booze cruise?"

"Don't be so crass, Steven," she scolded him. She never liked it when Steven was so blunt about her parents' faults. "But yeah, she is. She helped me pick out this dress."

Steven gave her a once over and Jackie wished she had decided on wearing a shawl. The dress was almost an exact copy of the white one she wore for Snow Prom 1976 but in red. The formal dress showed off more skin than the dresses she wore in the past, but with her curves, though small, being more developed she had more options than the modest and innocent gowns she wore at fifteen.

"It's nicer than the dress she picked out for your Sweet Sixteen." Steven smirked at her in a way that always caused her cheeks and chest to heat up. "Much nicer."

"Yeah. I think she wanted to move things along with Buddy." Jackie kicked off her heels and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her feet on the edge of the seat. "The more I tell her we're just friends, the more she wants to push us together. It's driving me insane."

"She hasn't picked up the signs that she's barking up the wrong tree?"

"I don't think she would care."

With the way things were going in her parents' marriage, Jackie wouldn't be surprised if her mother expected her to believe that marriage wasn't for love. Wasn't that what she was proving by staying with her father and having affairs instead of just divorcing him if she was no longer satisfied being married to him?

Jackie wanted to believe that there was a time her parents could have been in love or so deeply infatuated with each other that they wanted to be with each other more than anything in the world. But now it was hard to look at them and not see the things that had caused it all to fall apart before Jack Burkhart was sent to prison.

"I think she'd just tell me to make sure my kids belong to my husband," Jackie whispered, watching as the joint started to canoe on her. Steven took it from her and wet the tips of his fingers with his tongue to fix it.

She wanted to believe her parents loved her. Her father didn't have time for her, but it was because he was always busy with work. Her mother abandoned her, but she had come back and she had tried. Pam was at least trying to support her more financially when she returned to Point Place.

But then there was Kitty Forman who baked her cookies when she was studying for a test. Red who taught her about cars and let her play her music while they fixed up the Toyota. And even Bob Pinciotti who had always made sure to buy her a bag of beef jerky when he knew she and Donna were synced up from living together and craving salty snacks.

There was Donna who, even back in 1979, helped her make flashcards and made her practice quizzes and snuck pamphlets for the community college into her purse when she found out about Jackie's struggle with deciding on what to do about college. She was the only one that knew Jackie's real SAT score and instead of nagging her about not acting in a way that reflected it, she stopped bagging on her about her tastes in literature that she read in her free time.

And then there was Steven. Just everything Steven. He was the first one to make her feel safe when her world was falling apart.

"You've got too much love in you to end up like that," he said before taking a long pull, averting his gaze. How was it that 1976 Steven knew her exact line of thought with just one comment? Was this another thing she had missed out on when she had first decided that he couldn't have her heart?

"It might be a problem," Steven had told her the night she moved back in with her mother, "how much love you got in you."

"Yeah, but that's why I give you so much of it." Jackie wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close, sharing his body heat. "Equilibrium, you know? You need more and I have too much so I'm going to fill you up until we're both evened out."

Steven had smiled softly at her and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Just be careful who you share it with, Doll."

"Sometimes I feel like I could disappear and they wouldn't even notice." Her Steven had understood that. Had noticed the non-curfews, the lack of phone calls to the Formans asking her home for dinner. And that had been back when the only communication they really had was when he was pounding her into the thin mattress on his cot.

Scooting closer using the wheels on Coach Ferguson's desk chair, Steven brushed a curl out of Jackie's face. "I'd notice if you disappeared." The somber look on his face melted into a sly grin. "You're too loud not to notice."

"Shut up!" Jackie giggled, rolling her eyes. On instinct she took his hand in hers, lightly skimming her fingers up and down in the grooves of his fingers.

"You know," Steven curled his fingers, trapping hers, "I didn't figure you for a red dress at a formal kind of girl."

"Oh yeah?" Jackie rolled her eyes, but the playful smile remained on her face. He wasn't wrong about that. She only wore red to Point Place High's Valentine's Day dance in 1977 and that wasn't a formal. "And what color did you figure I was?"

"Some sort of shade of purple." With his free hand, Steven propped his chin up as he leaned in, elbow on his knee. His face was blank as he continued to stare at her.

"Purple? Jackie murmured, her smile melting with her confusion.

She wasn't sure if he was referring to her lilac dress from the Spring Formal━their Underclass Prom━or to the deep plum of the dress shirt he was currently wearing. There was no way he could know she had planned on wearing something in the same shade of lilac to Steven's senior prom before the nurse incident had occurred. It was in a different style, but the same shade as the dress from their first dance together. She kept it in the back of her closet for her own senior prom.

It was supposed to be their do over. The one that wasn't going to happen.

"Why would you say━?"

The doorknob rattled and then there was a loud knock. Jackie squeezed Steven's fingers as she turned at the sudden loud noise.

"Jackie?" Buddy's muffled voice came through the office door.

"Buddy?" Jackie stood up and unlocked the office door. "Buddy are you okay?"

The whites of Buddy's eyes were red, but it was safe to assume from the trembling of his lower lip that it wasn't from any activity like the one Jackie and Hyde were doing.

"Yeah. The tornado just moved on to Illinois. Can we go home, now?"

"Yeah of course, Buddy." Jackie turned back to look at Steven. He was still sitting in his seat, forearms on his knees and rubbing his fingers together. The way he slid one hand's fingers into the grooves between the fingers of his other hand had Jackie's fingers tingling. She picked up her heels and gave him a small wave. "Bye Steven."

With a tight lipped expression, Steven gave her a careless wave. Jackie shut the door behind her and followed Buddy down the hall, jogging to catch up with the speed he was walking in.

She knew she had to ask him again what was going on but she could barely focus on Buddy's odd mood when her mind was still back in Coach Ferguson's office with Steven.

How could she let herself be alone with him again? What on earth made her talk about her parents? Why did she hold his hand? Why were all of those things just so easy to do with Steven?

Curling up in the passenger seat of Buddy's Firebird, Jackie leaned her head against the window, pulling her knees to her chest.

I'm so messed up.

There was a strange divide among his friends and Hyde didn't know what he was supposed to do about it. Currently he sat backwards on one of the church folding chairs, half listening to Kelso chirp on about Christmas specials and half listening to Donna complain to Forman about playing a Wise Man and not a Wise Woman. As if it mattered. None of the families watching the pageant were going to think she was a man.

All Hyde wanted to do was find one of the empty rooms and start a circle with the frankincense that Leo had brought him when he came to help out with building the set. Maybe then his friends would start to act normal again.

"Hey, Shepard." Forman waved his hand in front of Fez's face, who had been staring into space the whole time. "Why aren't you hanging out with the Richie Richies?" He hitched a thumb at Buddy and Jackie who were whispering to each other on stage. "You're usually joined at the hip with Buddy."

"Why would it be weird that I'm not hanging out with Buddy?" Fez asked quickly. He laughed nervously and tapped his foot in a quick tempo. "We don't do everything together. We can spend time apart without it being weird."

"No, it's just much more normal for you to stress everything you say," Hyde commented sarcastically, narrowing his eyes at Fez's behavior. "And speak slower. You know we can't understand you when you speak that fast."

"Yeah, if you're going to talk that fast at least bring Buddy over here to help interpret for us." Kelso shook his head as if his suggestion was the obvious solution. Waving his arms over his head he shouted across the room, "Hey, Buddy!"

"Kelso!" Fez yanked Kelso's arms down and waved nervously to Buddy and Jackie. Buddy looked at him impassively before turning his back on them and going back to his discussion with Jackie.

"Well, that was weird." Kelso guffawed as he rubbed his arm where Fez had slapped him.

"Nothing weird is going on!" Fez exclaimed. "Aiii…I should go. The Erdmans said I had to be home at exactly seven if I wanted to make a call to my parents."

"I'll give you a ride. If I leave now I can catch Rudolph." Kelso clapped his hand on Fez's shoulder. Before leaving he turned to Forman and asked him one more time why he couldn't be a Space Wise Man.

"Just go home, Kelso." Forman pointed at the door, fed up with all of the space comments. He slumped into his seat and stared up at the ceiling. "Do you think Santa will bring Kelso some common sense this year?"

"I don't think even Santa could perform that kind of miracle," Donna joked as she flipped through the script for the Christmas Pageant. "So, Hyde. How are things going with the wifey?"

Winter Break had started after Snow Prom and Donna was even more relentless about her questions. She had found out that he had waited out the tornado with Jackie, only Jackie, and had assumed something had happened.

She had assumed correctly and Hyde could only assume that Jackie had said something about it and now Donna was playing detective to gather information from both parties.

"Whatever it is," Forman wrinkled his nose in disgust, "just remember that you're Joseph and the Virgin Mary so leave any of your nonsense for after the Christmas Pageant."

"Eric." Donna smiled at him but her brows were drawn down in confusion. "Jackie already had—"

Forman cut her off with a tutting noise. "I would rather not get into the details about it 'cause it's Jackie." He shivered in disgust. "But with how Buddy goes about it, it's like it never counted and that is just a burn we should let simmer."

Buddy had been in a bad mood all week and his favorite punching bag was Kelso. Kelso had tried to make a comment about his and Jackie's sex life again when the guys were hanging out and Buddy just shut him down.

"You didn't fuck Jackie, Kelso," Buddy had sneered, his lips curling in distaste. "She fucked you." Everyone had looked at him weirdly until he finished with, "If you're the only one getting off, you don't get to lord it over a girl. Jackie finished you off. She fucked you. Not the other way around."

Kelso had sputtered some nonsense about Jackie's new boyfriend being a tool and not understanding how sex worked and Buddy had had enough.

"For the last time, I'm not dating Jackie. I'm fucking gay, you asshole!" Buddy had shouted in the basement. "You're the only one here too stupid to not have realized that."

They were all lucky that Red and Kitty hadn't been home during the big blow up. The Formans were pretty traditional so the gang was kind of wary about them finding out about Buddy's sexuality.

"Nothing's going on." Hyde just wanted everyone to leave him alone about whatever the hell was going on with Jackie. It wasn't this complicated before. It was like for every step he took in the right direction with Jackie, he ended up falling five steps back.

"Go make sure Leo is doing his job, Eric." Donna waved Eric away.

"But, I wanna━"

"Eric. Go."

Forman rolled his eyes and stood up. "Fine."

As soon as they were alone, Donna adjusted herself in her seat so that she was directly in front of Hyde.

"I'm not talking about it, Donna."

"We have to talk about it, Hyde." Donna gave him a reassuring smile. "If we don't talk about it, we can't figure out what you're doing wrong."

"Has it ever occurred to you that I'm not what Jackie Burkhart wants?" He was starting to accept that whatever had happened in his original timeline to have Jackie Burkhart look his way was a rare event that couldn't be replicated.

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe Jackie Burkhart doesn't think that she's what you want?"

"Yeah, right," Hyde scoffed. "The girl thinks everyone wants her."

"Yeah, the past few months have been oddly eye opening about why she would be so disgustingly conceited about that." Donna frowned and then shook her head. "But that's not important. Just remember that Jackie has only had one boyfriend because she doesn't like the concept of hooking up. She probably thinks that if she got involved with you that it wouldn't go much farther than that. And let's face it, you don't have the best track record."

Ouch.

It looked like no matter what timeline he was in Hyde couldn't escape the fact that Jackie was looking at years down the line and not at what was right in front of her. Even if he had finally settled with what he wished he had told her, the thought of everything she wanted still made his stomach churn.

"Then why are you even bothering with talking about us as a possibility?"

"Because I see how you two dinks look at each other and it's getting fucking ridiculous." Donna shook her head again and scooted her chair closer. "I've never seen you look at a girl the way you look at Jackie. It weirded me out at first."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Donna sighed and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I'm talking about the unpleasantness from last year."

"I thought you forgave me for that." Donna had never brought it up again in his original timeline, not even after she caught him making out with Jackie. It had been settled after Spring Formal their sophomore year that she was over it.

"Doesn't stop it from having been unpleasant, Hyde." Donna scowled at him. "But we're straying away from the subject."

"Well do carry on back to the subject," Hyde chirped sarcastically. It was already weird that Donna was trying to help him out. The whole role reversal was throwing him for a loop. Usually if he had to talk to anyone, Donna wasn't in the small circle of people he had heart to hearts with about his personal feelings.

"You never looked at me that way," Donna stated and waited for his response.

Hyde stared blankly at her, not playing along with her wanting a reaction from him. If she wanted to talk, she was going to just have to say it all at once.

Donna tucked strands of hair behind both her ears and licked her lips as she thought about how to explain her thoughts. Sighing, Hyde rubbed his forehead with his thumb and index finger, waiting for her to continue.

"Besides the fact that I love Eric," Donna spoke slowly, "I never took you seriously because you didn't seem serious. It was like you could take it or leave it and like it wasn't even about me for me."

Hyde perked up at that. It sounded exactly like something Jackie had said about Fez before and even Kelso after she and Hyde had reconciled. It was much different than a discussion Donna of his original timeline had with him.

"I didn't think Jackie was your type," she had accused him days after she had caught him kissing Jackie.

"And what exactly did you think my type was?" He had asked defensively. Donna wasn't like Forman who could accept that he thought Jackie was a hot chick and move on, no real explanation needed.

Donna had just raised a brow at him and gave him a look. She didn't need to voice her thought out loud for him to know where she was heading.

"That was three years ago," Hyde deadpanned. "And opinions of people change."

Despite years of friendship, Hyde didn't really think he and Donna were a good matchup. They were a pairing he knew could have fun together and when it was time to say their goodbyes when she wanted to explore the world there would be no hard feelings. She was someone he knew he could let go of.

And he did. With an ease that should have unsettled him. Especially when he thought about how much he and Jackie had clung to each other despite the backlash from their friends when they found out.

Letting go of Jackie wasn't even an option.

"Yeah." Donna laughed bitterly. Hyde had never expected her to side with cheating and abandoning Kelso, but there she was proving more loyal to someone she knew for years than the girl that was always there for her and took her side and leant her ear when she needed one. "Clearly, considering you're fooling around with Jackie."

Supportive Donna was something he still needed to get used to. The Donna of his original timeline had taken almost a year to accept their relationship, so a Donna that was trying to set him up with Jackie was like something out of a Twilight Zone rerun.

It made him wonder about their relationship in his original timeline. Did the Donna of this timeline care more about Jackie than the Donna of the other? And why would that be?

"But you don't act like that with Jackie." Donna looked past Hyde's shoulder to the stage. He didn't need to turn around to know that she was eyeing Jackie. "You're...softer."

"I'm not soft."

"Okay, whatever you say." Donna rolled her eyes. "But you are."

"Whatever."

"You can pretend all you want but you are," Donna insisted. "You're more...careful around her. Like you want her around but don't want to scare her off or something. You didn't really do that with me. Or care when it came to other girls. Which by the way, I know you haven't been hooking up with anyone and that's the biggest difference. There's no keeping your options open."

"How would you even know that?"

"You think guys are the only ones that talk in locker rooms?" Donna smirked at him and gave him a patronizing look like she thought he was adorably naive. "Remember Jackie's problems with Kat Peterson? Well someone has been trying to get to know someone else and apparently that someone else hasn't been giving her the time of day and she assumes Jackie is the problem. Which I think she assumes correctly. Although I think she's more pissed off that a sophomore has your attention over her, a senior and the most popular girl in our school." Donna snorted. "Cheerleaders. Kat kept talking like I wasn't even standing there!"

"Peterson's overrated." He had been subtly avoiding her whenever she tried to corner him when he was alone and—more importantly—when no one she deemed important was around.

Hyde had been there, done that and despite his bolster, hadn't known his own worth when he had fooled around with Kat.

Despite her claims and defenses about not being able to take him out in public, Jackie was the one that held his hand so openly and looked at him with imploring brown eyes. She interlocked her fingers with his in crowded school hallways and dared him to shake her off. When he had asked her if she was sure about what she was doing, she had scoffed and asked him if he still thought he was too cool for her, called him out for his weeks of fooling around with a "square."

If he hadn't been so caught up in her having been Kelso's first, he might have realized how proud she was to call him hers and how much she loved him a lot sooner.

And being Jackie's destination was worth more than secret rolls in the hay with some random girl that would use him as some roadside attraction to break the monotony of small town life.

"Yeah, she might have hinted," Donna made air quotes with her fingers, "to Jackie that you were only someone she should fool around with before Jackie considered looking at more serious options."

"Oh." And despite knowing Jackie didn't slum for fun, the idea of her doing so made his stomach feel hollow.

"And Jackie told Kat that if she didn't back off and mind her own business that she would be telling the whole school her splits look awkward 'cause she has a dick." Donna burst out into laughter loud enough to echo in the church auditorium. "That probably means something."

Jackie's heels clacked across the linoleum floor and she sat down on the table they had set in the middle of the room. "You guys sound like you're having fun."

"We were until you showed up." The words were out of his mouth before he had even processed them in his mind. He closed his eyes behind his shades and pressed his lips together tightly as he realized that he had lashed out defensively after letting Donna speak to him so candidly about something regarding him.

He opened his eyes to Donna's shell shocked face. Her mouth had dropped open and her eyes widened in horror at what he had just told Jackie. She was probably regretting their heart to heart about his love life.

"Whatever." Jackie shifted in her seat on the table so that she was facing Donna and not him. "Buddy and I are going to do some last minute shopping so we're going to head out. Wanna join us, Donna?"

"I gotta head home." Donna cringed and smiled weakly. "My parents want to spend some family time."

"Oh. If you guys make gingerbread cookies can you save me some?"

"I'll try and hide some from my dad."

Jackie slid off the table and walked back over to Buddy. The both of them waved goodbye to everyone on their way out and Donna waved back, flashing them a grin. As soon as they were out of the room she punched Hyde in the arm.

"What the hell, you dillhole?"

"I can honestly say that I wasn't even thinking." Hyde scowled as he rubbed his arm. Donna frogged him way harder than any of the guys could, but he deserved it at the moment.

"You really weren't." Donna pushed off from her chair and grabbed her coat from the back of it. "Stuff like that's not funny anymore."

"You really like Jackie, huh?"

"Well, yeah." Donna's cheeks flushed pink and she looked away as she buttoned up her coat. "She's spoiled and bratty and puts me down as much as I do her, but I've never had a girlfriend that cares about me like she does. Actually." Donna frowned and stuffed her hands in her coat pocket. "I don't think I've ever had a girlfriend before Jackie."

"Maybe you should date Jackie." Hyde waggled his eyebrows at her. "That would be fun."

"Shut up." Donna glared at him but after a beat it melted into a mischievous grin. "But keep talking to her like that and I'll have a better chance at making out with her than you."

"That doesn't sound that bad." Hyde nodded pensively. "I can make that sacrifice. Pretty sure Forman can too."

"You guys are sick." Donna scratched her cheek and cleared her throat. "So...did you get her a Christmas present?"

She really did suck at being nonchalant. The curse of being a redhead had her face flushing for almost every emotion and giving her away. Hyde just stared blankly at her eager expression, not giving anything away to her.

Donna rolled her eyes and clucked her tongue at him. "If you got her something it would up your chances at meeting her under the mistletoe. That's all I'm saying."

"Whatever."

"But try not to be an asshole." Donna sighed and took her beanie from her pocket and placed it on her head. "I don't want to spend Christmas with Jackie complaining about what a jerk you are."

Fortunately for Hyde, Donna had turned away from him to call out to Forman. He couldn't help but flinch at her words and remember that Jackie had done exactly that during Christmas of 1978.

"Hey, dudes!"

Hyde and Donna looked back towards the stage where Leo had finished setting up the barn for the pageant.

"Can't remember where you parked your car, Leo?" Hyde asked, knowing already what Leo was likely to ask.

"Whoa, man." Leo looked at him with wide, shocked eyes. "Do you have the gift?"

"No, you're just predictable," Hyde muttered. It wasn't actually true. Leo was an odd element of the new 1976 in the way that only about a third of the time he did things exactly as he did in Hyde's original timeline. "Let's look for your car, man."

Jackie had dealt with a broken heart before. She had even dealt with someone else's broken heart before.

Jackie was the type to cry and cry her eyes out in private and then pretend that nothing happened. Donna was the strong type that never cried. The first time Jackie saw Donna's eyes well up with tears, she had thought Donna was sick because usually when Donna was hurt she did the same thing Steven did and either acted unaffected or covered it up with anger. With the both of them she needed to badger them until they acknowledged how they felt about something.

She wasn't sure what to do with Buddy.

Buddy called what they were doing platonic cuddling. Jackie would have let him borrow one of her stuffed animals, but Buddy said he needed warmth and a heartbeat and he would rather have it in the safety of his bedroom than to do something reckless.

Never in her life did she think she would ever be spooning with someone that she wasn't dating. She had barely cuddled with Michael and that had been mostly her forcing it on him so she wouldn't feel so empty after sex. He preferred cuddling as a pre-sex activity in the hopes it got her affectionate enough to be in the mood.

With Steven, cuddling was a new experience for him but one he had welcomed with slight confusion. He had accepted his fate and decided he wasn't going to argue with a girl pressing herself naked against him. Eventually touching evolved into something they did all of the time. Little bits of tactile affection sprinkled into every moment ended up making their separation difficult. It wasn't until she had broken up with Steven that she realized just how much contact they were always in.

Touch was a language she and Steven spoke well. There was such an ease in it, such a natural rhythm and flow in the way they moved and it was scaring her how easy it was to fall back into the same pattern with 1976 Steven.

She was starting to forget that there was a time that they were never like that.

"Buddy?" Jackie poked at his fingers that were clasped together against her stomach. He hummed against her shoulder to let her know she had his attention. "What are your thoughts on time travel?"

"Like on Star Trek?" He mumbled, still drowsy from their two-man circle. "I like the idea of it. But do I think it's possible? Not in our lifetime. Maybe not even in your grandchild's lifetime."

She stroked his knuckles as they talked. Buddy's hands were smooth and soft. The hands of someone that never had to work. "If you were sent back in time, would you change anything about your life?"

"I would tell my past self not to bother with that ascot phase."

"What if you couldn't talk to your past self? Like you were your past self?"

"Oh." Buddy loosened his hold and turned so he was on his back. Jackie wiggled until she was no longer on top of his arm. "Still the ascot thing and I wouldn't bother with having sex with Shelly. Wouldn't need to do that again."

"Really? That's it?"

"I guess I would also not put the magnesium strip into the flame before Elliot Fischer finished reading the directions." Buddy closed his eyes and frowned to himself. "He looked so weird without eyebrows."

"Yeah, they didn't even grow back right."

Jackie stared up at Buddy's popcorn ceiling and breathed in and exhaled slowly. She had been back in the past for five months and this was the first time she had spoken about time travel out loud. She didn't even trust writing down her thoughts in her diary, just in case her mother got it in her tequila soaked brain that it was okay to go through Jackie's personal items.

"You wouldn't take back that kiss with Eric? Or telling Fez you liked him?"

While Jackie had been spilling her guts with the smoke she was exhaling at Snow Prom, Buddy had taken the plunge and told Fez that he liked him as more than a friend. The both of them had been holding hands as Fez was freaking out and Buddy felt the moment was right.

Unfortunately, Fez didn't feel the same and had told Buddy that he was only interested in girls.

"No." Buddy sighed and turned his head to smile softly at her. "It hurts to not be liked back, but in those moments I was me. Truly and openly me. Besides. It's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Just all of the cliches."

Jackie laughed softly, reaching her hand between them to grasp his. He squeezed her hand back and interlocked their fingers. She wasn't so sure about it at first, but Buddy was always seeking touch where he could get it. Hand holding and hugs were readily available to her if she wanted them, but they were a rarity for Buddy.

"So what about you?" Buddy asked, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. "Would you go back and never date Kelso?"

Jackie giggled at how close to home Buddy came to her situation. She had terminated the relationship sooner than in the time she had come from, but she wouldn't have completely gotten rid of her relationship with Michael.

"He was really sweet in the beginning." Jackie sighed and curled her body toward Buddy, resting her cheek against his shoulder. "And I was lucky, you know? I was barely fifteen and back in public school for the first time in years and the most beautiful boy in school wanted me. And for a time he was my best friend."

"You never shared the really important stuff with him though."

"No I didn't," she admitted. "But he helped me forget that my life wasn't perfect. He helped me with the illusion that I was living a charmed life and he was a great distraction. Michael was like one of those perfectly gift wrapped packages that just had to hold something wonderful inside. It just took me a while to realize that the gift tag didn't have my name on it. He wasn't meant for me."

Michael was all puppy love and he had a special place in her heart for being her first boyfriend and her first experiences. He was even special for having introduced her to the people that would eventually be her found family. So no, she wouldn't take Michael back or be with him ever again, but she wouldn't do him the disservice of thinking of him as a big mistake.

"So you're still looking for your own perfectly gift wrapped package?"

"Nope!" Jackie chirped. "Presents are always welcomed, but shiny stuff is meant for pretty necklaces or cars not for what I wanna feel. I wanna feel like I'm coming home."

When she was younger and had dated Michael she thought love was supposed to sparkle, that it was supposed to shine. She had carried that feeling with her because only the best would do.

But then she fell in love with Steven and it wasn't sparkly and shiny. Kissing Steven was like coming back indoors and warming her toes in front of the fireplace after escaping a snowy day. It was like freshly laundered linens after a hot bath.

There was no blinding glitter or artificial sparkle. It was real and warm—hot like the summer they first hooked up and enough to cut through the cold and melt her pretty, plastic life and reveal it for the junk heap it actually was.

"Makes sense." Buddy nodded. "I think I want that too."

"Sounds cozy, huh?"

"Yeah, it does. So why aren't you going for it?"

Jackie pulled away, frowning. "What are you talking about?"

"You're not even trying with Hyde!" Buddy chuckled and rolled his eyes. "You just cried about things you want for the future and ignored your own feelings."

"Hey!" Jackie sat up, annoyed with the turn of conversation. "Those things are important to me."

"So that's it?" Buddy sat up so he was on equal ground with her. "Jackie no one said your dreams aren't important, but you're not even taking the chance."

"Why should I? Why should I settle for less than guarantees?"

"Jackie do you even know who you're talking to?" Buddy scoffed and he turned sad, disappointed eyes on her. "I don't get guarantees."

Jackie bit her lip and averted her gaze to Buddy's desk and telescope.

"Everything's a risk. And marriage isn't even an option for me." There was a watery quality to Buddy's voice that Jackie didn't like. His sniffling after Snow Prom had already felt like needles being pushed into her ribs. Always smiling, cheerful Buddy wasn't supposed to get sad.

Jackie pulled her knees up and hugged them to her chest. Buddy had his own box in his closet, but instead of trinkets and memories of an ex-boyfriend he had magazines and articles following the Gay Rights movement.

"I'm not even allowed to play the game and you're benching yourself out of fear that you're going to lose." Buddy laughed bitterly, ruffling his hair. "I would give anything to eventually find someone that felt like home and you're running away from someone that has an open vacancy for you right now that I know you like."

"You just don't understand." Jackie bowed her head, tucking it into the cradle of her arms and knees.

"I really don't, Jackie." Buddy sighed and Jackie felt the bed dip as he moved so he was sitting right next to her. "You're looking at someday, maybe. But I can see you being happy right now. I do see you happy right now. Every single goddamn time Hyde smiles at you...you fucking radiate joy."

Jackie lifted her head up just enough to peek up at Buddy. His lips twisted into a crooked grin and he nudged her with his shoulder.

"You also get really fucking morose and a little wrinkle forms between your brows when you think of a future that might not happen with Hyde."

Jackie gasped and pinched his arm. "I don't wrinkle."

"Sure, whatever." Buddy raised his hands defensively and let out a watery chuckle. "I just think it's a real waste."

Jackie lifted her head up, straightening her body as old words rang in her head.

"But I think it's a real waste because I love you."

"Like, sure marriage would be sweet to have one day," Buddy continued, a dopey smile on his face. "Someone to come home to and be allowed to see you whenever you're stuck in the hospital. But honestly, it would just be nice to have someone that wants to call me theirs and hold my hand."

"And that will happen someday." Jackie laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his arm. "I should have known you would be a romantic when you told me your favorite song was Paul Anka's Put Your Head On My Shoulder."

"Oh, shut up!" Buddy burst into a peal of giggles and shoved Jackie off of him. She fell back on his bed laughing and started singing the song to him off-key as he repeatedly smacked her all over with one of his pillows.

"Mom," Forman groaned. "I think you have enough pictures."

Kitty laughed loudly and her camera flashed one last time before she stuffed it back into her purse. "You kids are just so cute."

"I don't see why I couldn't take photos, if Kitty was allowed to." Mrs. Morgan pouted and Buddy looked up to the ceiling and mouthed 'Kill me now.'

It was the first time Hyde had an up close look at Buddy's parents and it seemed like Buddy favored his mother more in looks, which may have done him some favors. She looked like an average housewife, plain but elegantly dressed. He had almost expected another Pam Burkhart—ridiculously hot and much younger than her husband.

Buddy's father on the other hand was exactly as he pictured. He was like Jack Burkhart and spoke with an air of superiority, but at least he showed up for his kid. He had grumbled something to Red about how he wished his son played sports and the both of them shared that same frustrated dad look.

"How else would we be able to prove that you were ever inside of a church?" Mr. Morgan teased his son.

"Jacqueline, darling." Mrs. Morgan gushed over Jackie and lightly fingered her Virgin Mary veil. "You are such a doll."

Jackie flashed a more honest looking smile than what Mrs. Morgan had given her, but it slipped from her face when Mrs. Morgan turned away to find one of her friends in the audience.

"You don't like Mary Ann Morgan?" Hyde asked her after their friends went to look for their parents and Fez went to find the Erdmans.

"I would like her more if I didn't hear her tell Patty Ryals what she really thought about me." Jackie rolled her eyes and yanked off her costume veil. "She had wanted to set up Buddy with Kat Peterson or Brenda Mott, but apparently I swooped in like my tart of a mother. That's a direct quote by the way."

"Don't mind her, doll." Hyde patted her on her back.

"Yeah, she's probably just jealous of my youth." Jackie tossed her hair over her shoulder and batted her lashes playfully. Hyde reached over and pinched her nose lightly and she slapped his hand away with a giggle. "You should get going. The Formans are probably looking for you."

Looking over to where Forman and his parents stood with the Pinciottis—Bob still wearing the Santa outfit—Hyde caught them looking right at him and Jackie. He wanted the earth to open up and swallow all of them when he saw Kitty pantomiming that he should invite her to the house. Donna was right behind her, silently laughing.

It wasn't a bad idea. Jackie was just going to be heading to an empty house. Her parents were the only ones that didn't attend the Christmas pageant because they were out of state for the holiday and Jackie wasn't able to go with them for some reason.

"How are you?" Hyde had asked the first Christmas Eve after Jack's arrest. "It must be weird not having your parents around to celebrate."

"I haven't celebrated with them since I was nine." Jackie smiled sadly and poked her hands inside the sleeves of his sweater. "On Christmas morning I would either have to be quiet while they nursed their hangovers or wait for them to call home and wish me a merry Christmas. Then my nanny and I would unbox my gifts and figure out how many thank you notes I would have to send that year."

Jackie sighed and using her hold on his elbows, she pulled him closer to her and laid her head on his chest. The both of them were supposed to be hanging out with everyone but they had escaped the noise for a moment alone. They had only put an official label on their relationship a month before and it was their first "mandatory"—Jackie's word not his—gift giving holiday as a couple.

Hyde had made copies of the photos Kitty had taken of them during Thanksgiving and had framed them for Jackie. She had been a lot more ecstatic about the gift than he thought she would be, but she reminded him that the only photo she had of them alone together was from the Underclassmen Prom and he looked unhappy to be there.

"And it was like that until I was twelve and my parents decided I didn't need a nanny anymore."

"Are you going to hang out with the Morgans?"

"They actually have to head home because they're driving to Ann Arbor to visit some relatives." Jackie leaned and whispered, "Buddy says he'll be bringing us all a big present wrapped in a brown paper bag."

Hyde chuckled and mumbled as he chanted, "Kids in Texas smoking grass, ten year sentence comes to pass. Misdemeanor in Ann Arbor, ask the judges why?"

"God, he was singing the same song when he told me." Jackie covered her mouth to try and stifle her giggles. "Donna actually invited me over to the Formans."

He looked back over to where the Formans and the Pinciottis were talking. Donna had disappeared while he was talking to Jackie, probably to change out of her costume. He was going to have to have a talk with her about much she had been messing with him as of late.

Hyde was the last to arrive back at the Formans residence. He would have dipped out early and escaped having to clean up the chairs at the pageant if it weren't for the fact he had to drive Leo home just to make sure he got back safe.

He also needed some space from everyone. Last Christmas of 1976, he had been living with Bud and had thrown a party after the pageant. It hadn't ended well when Kelso took a drunk Forman home and Forman ended up puking all over Red's shoes. Bud had decided to become a real dad and that hadn't lasted long.

It was a strange night for Jackie as well. He had heard from Donna that they had gone out to a bar where men old enough to be their fathers were flirting with them until one of them mentioned having dated Jackie's mother.

It was a fucked up situation but still kind of funny, but Hyde had also felt cheated. If all Jackie wanted to do was makeout with someone, he was right there and willing if she wanted. Things had been weird after Veterans Day of 1976 and he had to settle back into a life where Jackie didn't chase him around and pretend that it didn't bother him just a little that she had realized he wasn't what she was looking for at the moment.

At least this time, Jackie and Donna weren't going to be spending time with dillhole firemen that thought it was okay to flirt with girls that were clearly underage. Donna may have passed for a coed, but Jackie looked very much like a sixteen year old.

Shuffling up the driveway, Hyde found Red hanging out in the garage. He saw Hyde and gestured for him to come over. Sticking his hands in the pockets of his shearling lined coat, he joined Red as he dug through a box.

"Kitty was wondering when you would show up." He continued to dig through the box and Hyde raised a brow at Red's actions and leaned against the Toyota.

"Whatcha looking for, Red?"

"Nothing.' Red tossed the box aside. "Just hiding from Bob." He took a seat on his stool and cracked open a beer. "So what's going on with you and the loud one?"

Hyde chuckled lowly and slid down the Toyota in defeat. Everyone seemed so determined to get him to admit out loud that he liked Jackie. "Did Mrs. Forman tell you to ask me about that?"

"She's convinced that you two are dating and won't tell her."

Hyde knocked his head back against the side paneling of the Toyota, not caring about how the cold of the concrete seeped through his jeans. "We're just friends."

"You two are dumbasses." Red took a swig of his beer. "You'll probably be slower than Eric was about Donna."

"I really feel the love there, Red."

"Just get inside before Kitty forms a search party."

Picking himself up off the ground, Hyde looked from where Red was sitting and back to the ground to his right. Curious, he narrowed his eyes and turned his attention back to Red who was finishing up his beer.

"What do you mean by slower than Forman?"

"If we're counting back from Career Day...it's been eight months, son." Red raised his brows in amusement. "Still better than Eric's ten years."

Career Day? Hyde scowled. That was even further back than Kitty's comment from Veterans Day. He hadn't even spoken to Jackie that day. He just thought it was amusing that prissy and girly Jackie Burkhart was covered in grease and talking about U-joints.

Red gave him a knowing look and Hyde had to fight from grinning. It didn't matter if he was from the future, Red would always be a step ahead of him somehow. He couldn't say he liked Jackie Burkhart back then, but it had been the first moment she had intrigued him in some way, even if it had been minuscule.

He walked into the kitchen so he could greet Kitty before trudging down the steps to the basement. Everyone minus Buddy was already there and Fez had gone home first and dressed up as Santa.

"What took you so long, man?" Kelso asked, pulling out a twenty-four pack that was hidden in the dryer. "We're about to play Quarters."

"Really? 'Tis the season to get sloppy," Hyde joked, remembering how awful Forman had been at the game. He never improved at it too. Hyde sat down in his chair and noticed Jackie pull the stool with the rainbow cushion next to him. "Except for you."

"What?" Jackie looked affronted and gasped in insult when Donna and Forman laughed at her expense. "Why not?"

"Because you're a lightweight," he explained as he helped Kelso set up the cups with beer for everyone. Hyde had taught Jackie how to play the summer they had started hooking up and her tolerance was ridiculously low. "And your sloppiness could get us all caught."

"Yeah, Jackie," Kelso guffawed. "Besides, you've never played this game. It would be too hard for you."

Jackie pursed her lips, her cheeks flushing red in anger. Quickly, she set up a plastic cup in the center of the coffee table and grabbed one of the quarters. With a perfect bounce she landed her quarter into her cup. Donna and Forman's laughter ceased immediately.

"Drink, Michael," she ordered, smiling triumphantly.

Gaping at the center cup with the quarter, Kelso took his cup and chugged the serving of beer. Hyde grinned wickedly and filled his cup back up.

He looked at the rest of the group, finally settling his gaze on Jackie who had a smile to match his. "Well this night just got interesting."

"Chasing the moonlight," Eric slurred as he sang, laying his head on Donna's shoulder, playing with her hair, "my cinnamon girl!"

Jackie had known that out of all of the boys that Eric and Fez had the lowest tolerance, but that Eric had the poorest hand-eye coordination. After several rounds, he hadn't been able to score a single shot and had to drink not only when he missed but every time the other boys made their shots and ordered him to drink.

"He's going to end up puking," Jackie warned Donna, who was in the immediate potential splash zone.

She herself was a bit buzzed. Michael hadn't liked being singled out every time she made a shot and alternated his drinking commands between her and Eric. Her younger body was weak, not accustomed to partying the way she was in the future. Jackie never drank in excess, but her eighteen year old body that had drunk spirits stolen from her father's liquor cabinet with Steven could run circles around her sixteen year old body.

"How are you a better player than Kelso?" Donna asked, frowning at Kelso's passed out figure on the lawn chair. She had helped Jackie tag team against Michael in an attempt to slow down the boys from getting Eric wasted.

Putting a finger to her lips, Jackie spoke around the appendage. "It's a secret."

Steven had taught her to play. It was one of the activities they had done in between all of the fooling around they had done. It had been a blast playing as a team against the others. They always won everything.

"Aww," Jackie whined. She always got a little needier when she drank. "He fell asleep before I could give you guys your presents."

"What did you get Kelso?" Donna asked, grabbing the presents that were under the tree the kids had in the basement.

"A Super Ball to replace the one he lost." Michael was always easy to shop for, even when he wasn't her boyfriend. She grabbed a box with snowflakes on it and handed it to Fez. "Here, Fezzie."

Fez wasted no time in unwrapping his gift. He gasped and hugged the spa set and package of peppermint bark to his chest.

"Calgon bubble bath?" Donna gave Jackie a weird look.

"He seemed so stressed out the past week so I figured I would make him a destressing set." Jackie shrugged. "That and he didn't know what a bubble bath was so I had to explain it to him."

For her birthday, Fez had gifted her a pink stuffed llama toy. It was the perfect replacement for Mr. Fluffycakes, who she had destroyed in her panic attack on her second day back in 1976. Flufferton had helped her a lot on nights she couldn't sleep so she wanted to get Fez something nice. Especially because he had been taking Buddy's avoidance of him so badly.

Fez kept wanting to talk to Buddy and was trying too hard to let Buddy know that he still wanted to be friends, but all Buddy wanted was some space.

Donna held up the leather bound journal she had just pulled out of the box Jackie had handed to her and the gift Jackie had bought for the cat Eric had given her a few months back. "A new collar for Mr. Darcy and a journal with a lock? Huh. That's one way to keep Eric from reading my diary."

"Can you stop telling Jackie everything?" Eric groaned.

"I still can't believe you have a little yellow bird tattooed on your ass." Steven laughed, shaking his head before taking a drink from his beer.

"My tattoo is much cooler," Fez giggled, popping some peppermint bark into his mouth. "And I can make it dance."

"Oh, Donna!" Jackie hugged the fuzzy pastel tie-dye slippers Donna had gifted her to her chest. She had expected Donna to give her a book for Christmas. "I love these."

Donna shrugged her shoulders, but she looked pleased with herself. "I figured I couldn't go wrong if I got you something shiny, pink, or fuzzy."

Eric opened his box from Donna━who as his girlfriend had to get him a gift other than the cassette player everyone pinched in to buy him━and Jackie was glad that Donna already knew that Jackie had wanted new slippers and had been spending so much time in her room. Jackie had almost forgotten how ugly the dress shirts she bought Eric were.

"A shirt. Yay," Eric feigned enthusiasm and hugged Donna in thanks. Luckily for him, he was drunk and Donna was too buzzed to notice the lackluster response. Jackie would have called him out for it if it weren't for the fact she knew Eric would wear the orange paisley printed shirt multiple times in the next couple of years.

Hyde held up a ram's head belt buckle and nodded in approval. "Nice. Thanks, Donna."

"Having a job has really helped with getting gifts this year." Donna handed Fez a flat box. He unwrapped it warily but sighed in relief when he removed the tissue paper and revealed a stationary set.

"Oooh, pretty." Fez fingered the paper delicately.

"Yeah, I figured you could use some nice stationary for your letters home."

Jackie fidgeted with the box laying by her feet. The only gift left was the one she had to give to Steven and she wasn't sure how well it would be received considering his birthday had been the month before and he wasn't a fan of people spending a lot of money on him. He had been fine with the occasional shirt she bought him while they had been dating but this was 1976 Steven and she wasn't his girlfriend.

Sucking in a breath, Jackie lifted the box up and placed it in Steven's lap. "This one's for you."

Steven opened up the box and pulled out the black snap shirt Jackie had bought. Jackie had gotten lucky and found one in the exact style as the one she had bought him in 1978 for their double date with Michael and Brooke. There was a moment of silence where he just stared at the shirt and Jackie wondered what was wrong. She knew it was something Steven would have liked but his blank stare was unnerving.

"Cool," he finally reacted. "Thanks, Jackie."

Jackie almost rolled her eyes. He was doing his 'zen' thing and even though he hadn't taught her any of that this time around, she still knew he was trying to hide how he felt about his gift.

Fez handed out his gifts as well. He and the Erdmans had made fudge and he had also asked for his parents to ship him items from back home.

"Okay, what is that?" Donna pointed at the simple chain Jackie held up. It could have been a necklace but that didn't seem right. "Fez. That's not, like, some sort of ceremonial marriage item from your homeland that you're tricking Jackie into accepting, are you?"

"What? No!" Fez laughed but then pouted when they all stared at him, waiting for an explanation. "I wouldn't do that. It's a body chain. Women in my country wear it as an accessory. It goes around the waist."

"Oohh. Like they do in India or something?" Donna fingered the delicate chain and then poked at the beads.

"Oh, this would be so cute with my crop tops or bikinis." Jackie laid the chain across her stomach. In her old timeline, Fez had never gotten her something like this. But then again, he had also treated her like a prize and was upset after his attempts to woo her hadn't worked at Michael's uncle's ice shack. He hadn't truly been a friend to her until she came back to 1976. "Too bad it's winter."

"These are really cool, Fez. Thanks," Donna beamed at him, trying on her new woven bracelet.

"My sister makes and sells them. Or trades. Depends on which side of the island she's on."

"You have a sister?" Eric wrinkled his nose in confusion as Donna helped him put on his new leather bracelet he got from Fez.

"Yes," Fez nodded and then pointed at Michael's sleeping form nervously. "But don't let Kelso know. I don't want to end up like Eric and he nails my older sister."

Steven, Donna, and Jackie burst out laughing while Eric got up and pelted Fez with empty beer cans. Fez ended up batting them away with one of the empty gift boxes and smacking Michael in the face with a can.

"Duck and cover!" Michael woke up, flailing his arms around. He looked around at everyone's blank expressions and asked, "What did I miss?"

They were all silent for a minute before Eric shouted at him, "Fez has a sister!"

"You son of a bitch!" Fez cried out before tackling Eric.

Jackie wished she had brought a camera and took photos for Buddy. He was going to be able to hang out with them on New Year's Eve, but tonight he was stuck with his snobby cousins in Ann Arbor. He was likely to read Pride and Prejudice like he had promised Donna he would so he could figure out why she and Jackie liked Mr. Darcy so much. It was one of the only books Donna and Jackie could agree on which was the main reason for Buddy's interest.

"Hey." Donna moved closer to Jackie, ignoring the beer can fight the boys were having. "Sorry about Hyde's weird reaction to your gift. I thought it was his style when you showed it to me and that he'd like it."

"Oh, he liked it." It has been obvious to Jackie that he did.

Donna raised a brow at her in confusion before looking away and at the boys. They had started sticking ice and popsicles down each other's pants.

"Sometimes I can't believe we're friends with them."

"They would be lost without us, Donna," Jackie stated matter-of-factly. "We're the sparkle in their dull lives. Also, I'm pretty sure you're their impulse control and the only reason they survived this long."

"Oh?" Donna crossed her arms in front of her chest and grinned at her smugly. "And what great service do you provide?"

"Hello? They get to look at me, duh." Donna shoved Jackie on the shoulder playfully. Jackie laughed and shoved her right back. "Seriously? Without me, you probably would have killed Eric by now."

Donna pondered it for a moment, her face shifting expressions as she looked back on the past year and a half. "You know what? I think you're right."

"I'm always right," Jackie replied half serious and half jokingly. If only this Donna knew what they had ended up doing on Christmas Eve in the original 1976.

Her parents had attended some Christmas Eve benefit in Chicago and in 1976, Jackie had begun to get tired of hanging out with the "It" crowd outside of school. She had also been single and didn't have a boyfriend to act as a buffer to ward away the loneliness.

She had ended up spending the night with Donna and then going back to an empty house and pampering herself. The night had been pretty humiliating, but she had still enjoyed herself because she was with her friend.

"What are you gonna do now?" Donna asked her, picking up the discarded tissue paper from the floor. "Your parents aren't back until tomorrow afternoon, right?"

"I don't know." Jackie crossed her legs and propped her chin in the cradle of her hand. "A Calgon bath, a facial, and my Jean Nate. Maybe some tater tots."

"What is up with you and tater tots?" Donna laughed, her shoulders shaking from the force. "Why don't you just sleep over? Not like any of these bozos are sober enough to drive you home."

"God, I can't believe my dad took the keys to the Lincoln with him to Chicago."

"Well, what did you expect? You snuck out and stole your dad's car," Donna snorted.

"Ladies don't do that, Donna," Jackie scolded her. Donna leaned in and snorted in her face. "Ew!" Donna continued to snort in her face. "Donna back off or I'll pinch you! You smell like beer, you goon."

"So do you, princess." Donna reached over and tickled Jackie's ribs, yanking on her turtleneck sweater to make sure she couldn't get away.

Shrieking, Jackie attempted to curl inward to fight off Donna's hands. All she succeeded in doing was making herself compact enough to be easy to lift up and slammed onto the couch for easier access.

"Oh my God," Jackie heard Michael cry out. "It's a Christmas miracle! Quick, someone get the mistletoe and put it over them."

"For the last time, dillhole," Donna let go of Jackie and chucked an unopened beer can at Michael's head, "Jackie and I aren't making out for you guys."

"Stop being selfish, Donna!"

Donna gave Jackie a look and Jackie nodded back at her. The both of them picked up beer cans and kept flinging them at Michael until he ran out the basement door to get away from them. They waited five minutes and realized he wasn't coming back.

After that, they all cleaned up so that Kitty and Red wouldn't find the mess they made and know they had spent the holy holiday drinking away. At some point, Fez had started drinking more and ended up passed out on the couch. Eric had been surprisingly coherent enough to leave the Erdmans a message on their answering machine so they knew where Fez was when they returned home from midnight mass.

"Hey, Eric." Jackie looked up at the sound of Donna's voice. She was putting on her coat and talking to Eric. She raised her brow and looked questioningly at the way Donna leaned in to talk to him. "I'll help you with the trash."

"Uh…" Eric held up the single bag of trash. "Sure."

"If you're going to do what I think you're going to do," Jackie wrinkled her nose in disgust, "I don't wanna sleep over."

"I can give you a ride home," Steven offered with a shrug. "I'm not even buzzed."

"Are you sure?"

"I don't mind."

It was younger Steven and his hair was longer and his jaw not as strongly defined yet, but it was the same voice offering a ride in the same intonation as her last night in 1979.

"Okay."

Steven had told her to wait while he went to start the Camino and bring it up to the Formans' from where he parked it around the corner. Normally she wouldn't have minded walking with him and waiting in the cab while his truck warmed up, but Jackie wanted to talk to the only other geek she knew besides Buddy that also happened to be way too sensitive.

"That was fast," she commented as Eric came back into the basement from the stairs leading to the driveway.

"Bob was waiting up for Donna," he grumbled, taking a seat on the lawn chair. "Too good to wait out in the cold?"

"Of course." Jackie wrung her hands into the fabric of her coat. "That and I had a question—a completely random question—for you."

"Okay?" Eric narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Shoot."

"You like Star Trek and all of that Sci-Fi crap, right?" It was a rhetorical question. Jackie knew he liked it and was dreading his upcoming obsession with Star Wars.

"Jackie. You like that Sci-Fi crap. You probably like Logan's Run more than I do."

"Whatever." Jackie waved at him dismissively. Her interest in sci-fi in this timeline was mostly for research about her own situation with time travel. "I want to run a scenario by you for my creative writing assignment. Let's say, you and Donna had a really bad break up where you had to break up with her because she didn't know if she had a future with you at the moment. That she wanted to leave it all up to chance or whatever but what it really meant was that she could take it or leave it with your relationship."

Jackie watched as Eric's face melted into heartbroken confusion. For a moment she had forgotten that Eric and Donna had broken up for that reason in her past and their future.

"Not that it's going to happen!" She continued on. "It's just a scenario. So you break up and you miss her but one day you wake up in the past before you even dated. You try to avoid starting the relationship again because why go through all of that again just to have your heart broken again, right?"

"Right…" Eric squirmed in his seat. Jackie rolled her eyes at his discomfort with talking to her alone.

"But even though you're trying to avoid all of that and not even make dating an option, Donna still has an interest in you for some reason." Eric gave her a pointed glare that she ignored. "So even though you're not trying to be with her or make yourself seem available to her she still wants you. What do you do?"

Eric leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees so that he could rest his chin on his clasped fingers.

"Doesn't that mean that in this scenario, Donna was my soulmate?"

"Soulmate?"

"Well, yeah." Eric hiked his shoulders up to his ears and rolled his eyes in embarrassment. "If I'm trying to avoid Donna falling for me but she does so anyway, doesn't it mean that we were meant to be? So why fight it? I just wouldn't mess up like I'm sure I did in your scenario."

"How did you mess up?" Jackie felt slightly offended that he could find something wrong with wanting a future.

"You can't force someone to do things the way you want them to."

Well, that's ironic. Jackie was going to have to remember his exact words for later.

"Even though when the heartbreak is fresh I'm sure I would want to have never had Donna in the first place," Eric leaned back in his chair, "I'm even more sure that I would regret it more if I was never with her. Donna makes me a better person and I care about her. I don't think my life would be better if I went back in time and made it so that we never were in love if we broke up."

Jackie fell back so that her back hit the backrest of Steven's chair. Her and the scenario she invented for Eric was so different.

Steven had made her a better person and she was carrying those experiences and knowledge with her now. She didn't need to relearn everything about how she didn't need to rely on a man to support her and that she was unhappy dumbing herself down for a boy.

But she still cared about him. 1979 Steven or 1976 Steven, she still loved him and just talking to him made her happy and she wanted that forever.

If only she could get a sign or something that would make everything so much easier for her to decide what direction to go.

"So I think your characters in your creative writing project just need to do what they think will make them happy," Eric suggested. "That's what you want, right? A happy ending?"

"Yeah." Jackie bit the corner of her lower lip in thought. "Yeah, I do. Thanks for your help, Eric."

"I didn't get you a Christmas present so," Eric waved his hand as if brushing off the conversation, "just don't tell anyone I helped you with anything."

"Of course. And you don't tell anyone I needed your input on any aspect of my life." They shook hands and Jackie grabbed her purse. "Merry Christmas, Eric. I'm going to go meet up with Steven."

Eric's words didn't really solve Jackie's problem. She could interpret them as she pleased because they went either way. She knew she loved Steven and had believed they were soulmates, but she also wanted her happy ending and that was still up in the air. She had no clue if it was going to happen for her if she followed her heart's desire.

Pulling out her list from her purse she read over it as she walked down the street towards the idling Camino.

"My GPA will not dip below 3.5," she muttered to herself. "Jackie Burkhart will not dumb herself down for anyone. I will not give up my baton or pom-poms, Julie can suck it when I add more gymnastics to our choreography. Don't let anyone━not even mother━tell you what you can or can't do. Be a better friend to Donna. Try to be less selfish. Try and be friends with Fez. Listen more. Don't dye Donna's hair blonde, it makes her complexion look weird. Learn to cook. Try and be nicer to Bob Pinciotti. Don't let mother date Bob Pinciott—you can't be that nice to him. Don't let Eric make Donna cry. If Eric makes her cry, kick him in the nads not shin. Get a job and save money. Work with the LoPPs more. Love Buddy Morgan enough for both of his parents. Don't over tighten my curls."

She looked up when she reached the passenger side door of the Camino and folded and stuffed her list into her pocketbook.

Don't fall in love with Steven Hyde again.

The last item on her list was the most difficult to accomplish. She had already failed it as soon as she put the ink to paper. It was near impossible to separate 1979 Steven and 1976 Steven from each other. She loved them both and with the way things were going with her friendship with the Steven of the past, she would be in love with this Steven too.

"Hey," Jackie greeted Steven as she escaped the cold and entered the cab of his truck.

"Hey."

"Isn't Mr. Forman going to be mad at you for breaking curfew?" Even before 1979 Steven had gone to jail for her, Red Forman had been a hardass about curfew for the boys. It never stopped Steven from sneaking out, but she didn't want 1976 Steven to get in trouble.

"We just tell him we were making sure you got home safe whenever we break curfew."

"How often do you guys do that?" Steven smiled at her but didn't answer as he pulled away from the curb. "Oh, great. He's going to think I'm a degenerate like all of you. I'm supposed to be the favorite."

"I'm pretty sure he already thinks that considering you choose to be friends with us."

"You're not so bad." Steven gave her a weird look and she rolled her eyes and averted her gaze to the passenger window. "He likes you almost as much as he likes me."

They rode in silence listening to WFPP. The late night DJ before Donna got the job was playing a Christmas music block, but Steven left the radio on with the volume low.

It had been such a long day, with the Christmas pageant and then celebrating with her friends. Jackie just wanted to go home and sleep. Christmas of 1976 had gone so differently this time around and she was glad for it because repeating days from her past was exhausting when she knew what was supposed to happen.

"Are you sure you wanna stay here?" Steven asked, pulling into the gravel driveway and setting the Camino in park. "I'm sure Donna wouldn't care if you changed your mind."

Jackie looked out the window at her empty and dark house. "It's fine. I'm used to it."

"Just 'cause you're used to it, it doesn't mean you have to be okay with it."

Jackie turned away from the window and offered Steven a soft smile. He really was no different than his older self once she let him in and let him know about the reality of her life instead of oversharing the few positives. He was such a good friend to her.

She ignored the dull heaviness in her chest at the thought that he should only be her friend. She reminded herself of the broken promises and the callous way he spoke of them and how he told her she should have known he wasn't listening to her when she mentioned things that were important to her.

"I'll be fine," Jackie assured herself more than Steven.

1976 Steven obviously cared about her but it wasn't love. She wouldn't have to worry about this Steven breaking promises or getting tired of her and abandoning her. If she remained stuck in this one line she could go off to college and it wouldn't matter where, because she wouldn't be worried about how he would react to it and if he would leave her because she wasn't around.

"Hold on a sec." Steven stopped her from leaving when she cracked open the door. She let go of the handle and let the door fall back in place. "I got something for you. It's under the bench."

Reaching under her seat, Jackie pulled out a simple gift wrapped box.

"You got me a present?" Jackie couldn't help the elation that poured out of her when she spoke. She hadn't expected any of her friends other than Donna and Buddy to get her a gift and now Steven of all people got her something.

Jackie looked at the present and then back to her cold house. None of the lights were on and her parents wouldn't be home until much later. Not even the Christmas decorations stopped the mansion from looking so cold and oppressing. She let the pads of her fingers glide across the smooth wrapping paper, the movement only impeded when she ran into the ribbon used to wrap the box.

Looking up at Steven, his expression remained blank. If he knew she was procrastinating going inside, he didn't let it show. Prolonging actually leaving, Jackie pulled at the ribbon on the gift box until it came undone.

"Don't get too excited," Steven warned her as she opened the box. "It's not much."

Protected with mounds of tissue paper, Jackie pulled out a simple wooden accordion frame. Extending it so it revealed four photos, Jackie ran a finger along the glass shielding the images of her friends.

In one photo she and Donna were captured dancing together on Veterans Day. The photo following it was of her, Michael, Buddy, and Fez posing in their seats at the Pinciottis' second wedding. Right after was a photo of all of them except for Fez—who was taking the photo—and Michael sitting at a table at Snow Prom. The last photo was another candid photo from Veterans Day and the one that surprised her the most.

The photo was of her and Steven sitting on the lawn chairs in the Pinciottis' backyard. Neither one of them were looking at the camera and the photographer had caught them smiling in the middle of a discussion, their eyes only on each other.

That was worrisome. Was that how they looked to someone on the outside?

"You're smiling in this one," Jackie teased. "You're also wearing your sunglasses in both photos you're in, Steven. You're ridiculous."

"Mrs. Forman is pretty trigger happy with a camera and Fez is always taking photos to send back home." Hyde shrugged, trying to hide how pleased he was at how much she liked her present. "It was easy to make some copies at the Fotohut."

"Thank you, Steven," Jackie gushed. It was the sweetest gift she knew she would receive for Christmas and even though he didn't know it, her nightstand was looking kind of empty without her usual photo on it. "I love it."

Most of her photos were professionally taken and even the photos she had of Michael were headshots. The only candid photos she ever had were taken by Kitty at holidays or events. She secretly thought Kitty Forman's photos were better than the professional studio photos that her parents had them take every year.

There was something more beautiful in the photos taken by someone that loved the subjects. As pretty as the photos came out and as great as she was at making her smiles look real on the spot, the photos still looked stiff.

"It's us." Jackie gingerly repackaged the accordion frame. She didn't want anything bad to happen to it on her way up to her room. "It's all of us. I don't have photos of all of us."

"Didn't think you did." Steven scratched the back of his neck. "You sure you wanna stay here? I can wait until you pack an overnight bag and then take you back to Donna's."

Jackie laughed at his insistence, but the sound died in her throat when she saw the intensity of his stare. "Oh, wow. You're really worried about me, huh?"

"I'm not worried." Steven paused for a moment and sighed. "Your parents are just shitty for leaving you here alone on Christmas."

"You're a terrible liar. Just admit you're worried about me."

Steven stared at her long and hard. Not a single muscle in his face flinching. "Alright. Maybe I am."

Jackie's breath hitched. There were so many things she wanted to do in that moment and all of them stupid.

"I'll be fine. Really." Jackie smiled softly at him, reaching for his hand and gripping his fingers. "Merry Christmas, Steven."

Releasing his hand, Jackie slid out of the El Camino before she did something she regretted and ruined her friendship with Steven. She wanted a sign but that hadn't been it, couldn't be it. Steven was like that with all of his friends and she couldn't risk reading into things.

"'Night, Jackie." Steven waved at her as she shut the door, juggling her presents in her arms.

Jackie could feel him watching her as she set her gifts down to unlock the double set of doors of the main entrance to her family's mansion. She could hear the El Camino still idling outside as she locked the doors and turned on the light in the foyer. She moved further into the house, turning hallway lights on and the lights for the staircase, the Camino still rumbling as she moved further into her house.

She couldn't help but smile as she trudged up to her room, straining to hear Steven's truck. Her Steven used to do the same thing. When he knew her parents weren't home, he would wait until her bedroom light came on. She shouldn't have expected anything less. During their fling he kissed her sweetly when he said goodnight and waited, as if he were a good boyfriend after an innocent date and not just the guy that had her hand down his pants and his hand up her skirt. Why wouldn't he do the same now when he was her friend?

After dumping her gifts on her bed, Jackie rushed out into the hall and down to the window that faced the front. She pushed aside the curtain and waved at the Camino as Steven backed out of the driveway. Just like she thought he would, he got out of his truck and made sure her gate was properly closed and locked.

"God." Jackie shook her head and giggled to herself. "Some things really aren't that different."

She took a quick shower and went through her nightly routine, turning her bedroom television on to the channel playing It's a Wonderful Life for the hundredth playthrough of the holiday season just for some background noise. She shuffled around her room in her new slippers and put away her body chain from Fez with her jewelry and placed the fudge on her bookshelf with the tacky Christmas card from Donna, lining it up with the birthday and holiday cards she favored too much to stuff into a box.

Finally, she rearranged her nightstand to make room for her new accordian frame from Steven with the photos of their friends. Carefully removing the frame from the box, Jackie had accidentally lifted up an envelope she hadn't noticed before. It was plain white unlike the festive colors of the envelopes most of the Christmas wishes she received came in.

"Huh." Jackie placed the frame on her stand and untucked the envelope's flap and pulled out the simple sheet of paper. "Oh. Oh, my God."

Steven had always been amazing at coming up with haikus on the spot. He didn't need much time to create one and no matter how hard she tried Jackie could never do the same. He made it seem so easy to come up with perfectly structured poems that followed the 5-7-5 format but she always either fell short a syllable or went over. She preferred flowery words and iambic pentameter, something that had thrown Steven off because other than her magazines the only books anyone had seen her read were her Nancy Drew novels.

Really. How did they think she was getting all of her As and Bs? Her dad always gave her more money when she brought home good grades on her tests and papers. Just because she had interests outside of her studies, it didn't mean she was stupid.

She found it so hard to limit herself to the strict structure and left reciting and writing haikus to Steven who passed them to her whenever he ran into her between classes, sneaking a kiss as he slipped the scrap of paper into her hand.

"You and I speaking," Jackie traced the first line with her nail, "soft words meant only for us," she stressed the final syllable of the second line, "would be very cool."

If there was ever a sign from the universe, it was right there in her hand written in seventeen syllables.

Someone needed to tell Donna to slow down. Forman was unavailable as he was running around helping Kitty with whatever she needed for the party and picking up some last minute supplies.

"Donna," Hyde snatched the beer out of Donna's hand, "you're going to end up puking before Forman gets back and I'm not cleaning up after you. That's his job."

"They're just so embarrassing, Hyde." Donna covered her face with her hands. "I thought things were finally getting better after they decided to do the vow renewal but they've been fighting all week and it's worse than before. They didn't even care that Jackie was over. We were sitting in the den, reading, and next thing you know they walked in insulting each other and my dad was just in his robe and boxers!"

Ah. There it was. The honeymoon phase was over.

"Jackie was there?"

Hyde hadn't seen Jackie since he dropped her off at home. Donna and Buddy had mentioned that she was busy helping her mother plan a New Year's Eve party her parents were throwing. He couldn't remember Jackie's plans in 1976 because he had been drunk that night and had also not cared about what she was up to at all.

He had seriously fucked up by giving her a haiku. It had been six days and she hadn't come by the basement. He knew she was working during winter break but their shifts didn't match up in a way that allowed him to swing by and there was no freaking way he would if he was free anyway. He put the ball in her court and now it was up to Jackie to make her move.

"Yeah, she needed a break from the crap going on in her house right now." Donna opened up another beer. When Hyde tried to take it from her she slapped his hand away and pointed at him threateningly. "She needed to think about something but she couldn't do it at her place."

"Fuck." Hyde ran his hands down his face.

"Wow. You're emoting more than usual tonight." Donna raised a brow at him and narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What's going on with you?"

"This isn't what we do, Donna," Hyde deflected. "You talk to me about your parents or Forman and I give you advice or some words that bring you comfort. That's what we do."

"Usually, yes," Donna agreed. She frowned and then took a swig of her beer. "Which we will have to come back to at some point 'cause I'm now realizing how fucked up that is."

"I'm completely fine with that. We don't have to change things up." Hyde patted her on her shoulder. "Really. We don't have to talk about me."

"But I wanna talk about you and whatever is going on with you!" Donna exclaimed, spilling some beer as she flailed her arms around. "It's better than talking about how crazy my parents are. Come on, Hyde. Throw me a bone."

No fucking way I'm doing that.

He was saved from answering when Kelso stormed into the basement with Fez, holding a bundle of bottle rockets. Donna kept her eyes on him the entire time he interacted with the guys, but dropped the conversation.

He just wanted to drop the whole Jackie thing. He should have known better than to put himself out there. Now he was going to have to deal with whatever mess their relationship was going to be now that he went ahead and gave her a piece of him.

For the past five months he had been drifting by, waiting for his punishment to be over. Despite being seventeen again, nothing truly terrible was happening. High school still sucked, but it was just school. No one but the Formans expected him to excel and there was some freedom in just being a teenager with the only goal being to graduate.

It was strange being back in the past and realizing only Donna and Buddy had any idea about what they may want for the future. Donna had all of these dreams and none of them ended up happening. She was still stuck in Point Place in 1979 and it was obviously because her attachment to Forman was keeping her there.

Hyde didn't even know what Jackie of 1979 was going to do after graduation. He only knew about her desire to eventually be married. Did that mean she planned on being a pampered housewife? Because that wasn't happening if she wanted a future with him and he thought she knew that. Maybe she did and he fucked up and hadn't been listening when she told him what she wanted to do.

Ever since she was fifteen years old, Jackie had always talked everyone's ears off about the different things she wanted to be when she was older, but it had slowed down after she turned seventeen. There were no more fantasies about becoming a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader or a model. What had he missed when he stopped listening to her?

The Jackie of the new timeline was more focused on her studies and participated more in extracurriculars that weren't cheerleading. It took Buddy—fucking Buddy—to point out that what he and everyone else had been making fun of her for in his old timeline, could have been a key to college and that cheerleading counted as a sport so Jackie had to keep her grades up to even be allowed to participate. It wasn't like football or the other men's sports where the guys were passed along because the school faculty cared more about them than the girls' teams and their success.

Hyde hadn't even known that Jackie had taken French since she was in middle school. She knew Spanish and French and who knew if learning languages was something she needed for the future she wanted.

He was supposed to know Jackie better than anyone and it took his friendship with 1976 Jackie for him to realize that even he didn't know eighteen year old Jackie that well.

"What are you doing out here?"

Hyde looked up from his seat on one of the patio chairs at the sound of Buddy Morgan's voice and Jackie's heels clicking on the driveway. The both of them were dressed to the nines, much fancier than necessary for a Forman New Year's Eve party.

"Needed some air," he answered, tapping his index finger on his knee. Looking over the fringe and sequins of Jackie's ivory and silver dress and the ornate headband around her head and the fur wrap clipped with a rhinestone brooch, he had to ask, "what are you wearing?"

"Oh, I'm a flapper for the night. My parents threw a Great Gatsby themed party."

"That's ironic," Hyde muttered to himself.

"I thought it was Roaring Twenties themed?" Buddy asked, his brow wrinkling in confusion.

"Yeah, but believe me, Great Gatsby seems way more appropriate." Jackie rolled her eyes and shared a look with Hyde that had him sitting up straighter. What was that supposed to mean?

"So you two just ditched the party?" Hyde cracked his knuckles for something to do with his hands. "Got tired of the caviar and champagne and decided to trade down for cheese puffs and Schlitz's Old Milwaukee?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Buddy gave him his signature grin. "I just got so tired of the LoPPs. They were everywhere you looked. It was funny watching Kat and Brenda make fools of themselves for those women though."

"Why do rich girls give a shit about what middle aged women, that are so full of themselves they had to make their own social hierarchy outside of high school, have to say?"

When was Hyde going to get away from the LoPPs bullshit? It followed him everywhere ever since that stupid Christmas party. Was that supposed to be part of his punishment? How long was this stupid sentence supposed to last? He had almost lost it a few days ago when he opened Jackie's present and she had bought him the same shirt she had bought for him when they went out to dinner with Brooke and Kelso.

"The Ladies of Point Place pick one lucky Point Place High senior girl and give them a grant for college and with their connections, they can get amazing recommendation letters for their potential LoPPs." Buddy explained, the humor slipping off of his face.

Oh, fuck. Hyde's eyes widened behind his aviators. A grant and recommendation letters. Exactly what a former Point Place princess would need for college after her family went broke and the family's reputation went down the drain because her city councilman father was in prison.

And he was the asshole boyfriend that broke his promise and told her that playing with toys was a higher priority than going to the party she had originally asked him politely to attend.

"The future LoPPs vying for that support have a lot to live up to though. Brooke Rockwell really raised the bar which is why I keep insisting Jackie join another academic club." As an afterthought Buddy added awkwardly, "My mom's on the board."

Something heavy fell into the pit of Hyde's stomach. He really wasn't paying attention at all—not to Jackie or even Kitty Forman. What the fuck happened to him that he stopped paying attention to the people that were supposed to matter?

"I thought they just threw parties."

"They do." Jackie's gaze was on her feet. The glitter on her eyelids that matched her dress sparkled with the light shining from the kitchen. "But they also work on a lot of community projects like helping underprivileged kids," like the kids the toys had been for at the LoPP's Christmas party, "running the canned food drives, and raising funds for charities. Mostly those based in Wisconsin but they also support other charities in America and some in South America and Africa."

"We should get inside." Buddy placed his hand on Jackie's lower back and nudged her towards the sliding door. "It's too cold out for you in that dress and we have to give Mrs. Forman her bottle of champagne."

"You always have something for the Formans when you come over." It was a weird habit of Buddy's that Hyde had noticed. It made Mrs. Forman happy, but it sometimes irritated Red how many gifts they received.

"Yeah, it's something I picked up from my mom." Buddy slightly raised the bottle he was carrying as part of his explanation. "You don't just show up to someone's house empty handed when you're a guest. Which reminds me."

Buddy dug into the pocket of his suit jacket, pulled out a brown paper bag, and tossed it to Hyde.

"How about we have one last circle of 1976?"

Hyde stood up and patted Buddy on the shoulder. "You're not so bad, kid. Hurry up and meet us all downstairs. We've got like," Hyde checked his watch, "twenty minutes before midnight."

"Right. Come on, Jackie."

Jackie looked over her shoulder back at Hyde as Buddy ushered her into the kitchen. She looked like she wanted to say something but instead turned to face forward.

After the ball that Buddy had just dropped, if Jackie was prepared to reject him, Hyde felt he would have deserved it. It would have been the ultimate punishment the government could have given him in this stimulation.

Being sent back in time was nothing. Being told by Jackie that she didn't feel the same way he did and then having to repeat 1977 all over again the next day? Now that would be a kick in the nads that he so rightfully deserved.

Steven was right about Kitty Forman being trigger happy with a camera. She had gotten super excited about Jackie's flapper dress and wanted photographs. Buddy had chosen to make his escape to the basement while Jackie posed for her.

"You're just such a doll," Kitty gushed, laughing boisterously. Jackie was sure that she had one glass of wine too many.

"Yeah, Burkhart." Laurie nodded in approval, gesturing all over Jackie with her glass of champagne. "You're the only one of my brother's loser friends that knows how to dress or do anything with their hair."

"Now, Laurie," Kitty scolded her daughter, "you can't call your brother's friends losers."

Laurie shrugged and shook out her Farrah Fawcett hair do before heading over to the bar. It was the most she had said to Jackie in weeks and Jackie was unsettled by the lack of insult.

"Please remind the rest of the kids that they have to come up for the countdown." Kitty finally freed Jackie to meet up with her friends.

It had been six days since Jackie had stepped foot in the basement. The only reason why she had even snuck over from her parents' party was because Buddy had seen how miserable she was. She was all smiles for all of her parents' guests and only Buddy had figured out that she had been faking.

"It takes a faker to know a faker," he had told her, grabbing his coat, her purse, and stealing a bottle of champagne along the way. He led her past the piano and out the living room's door to the backyard. They had snuck around the whole of the mansion and ran down the street laughing, their breaths puffing out in white clouds, all the way to the Morgans' mansion to get his Trans Am.

He asked her where she would go if she could be anywhere and once upon a time she would have said Paris, but there was only one place she wanted to be.

"The Formans'? Really?" He had teased as if it hadn't been the first place he had thought to go as well.

"It's where home is," she had replied, wondering if Buddy understood that she had meant it in more than one way.

"Jackie!" Donna wrapped her arms around her and lifted her up and twirled her around.

"What is happening!?" Jackie shrieked. Donna had attacked her as soon as she stepped off the final step from the stairs from the kitchen.

"Oh, Donna's drunk." Eric laughed, slapping his thigh. "Really drunk."

"You're so shinyyyyy." Donna set Jackie down and grabbed her hand, spinning her in place. "Like a disco ball!"

"Oh, no." Jackie yanked her arm away and grabbed onto Donna to keep her from toppling over. "Who let her drink so much?"

"You try taking a beer away from Big D." Michael was sitting on the lawn chair, a plastic top hat on his head. "She kneed me in the nads."

"Jackie, I'm sad!" Donna wailed, wrapping her arms around her again and burying her face in Jackie's hair.

"Come on, Lumberjack." Jackie stroked Donna's hair. "You're going to squish me."

Jackie felt something wet hit her neck and knew Donna had to be crying. Jackie knew from experience that Donna went through every emotion possible when she was drunk. She would be happy one moment and a blink later she was sobbing.

There were some things that Jackie couldn't fix in the past and one of them was Donna's parents and all of their fighting. The fighting would only get worse and one day Donna was going to wake up with only a note and Midge would be gone.

"You guys need to go upstairs," Jackie ordered the boys with a nod of her head in the direction of the stairs. "The ball is going to drop soon. Steven? Help me get Donna back home."

"Why can't I help?" Eric whined at being overlooked as Steven took Donna's arm and wrapped it around his shoulders for support.

"Because you can barely do a pull-up, how are you supposed to help me get Donna to her room?" Jackie snapped. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to calm down. "You need to be upstairs with your parents at midnight and to tell Bob and Midge that Donna isn't feeling well so she went home. They're going to ask where you guys are and it would be really freakin' inappropriate for her boyfriend to be sneaking over to an empty house with her and they would rush over and find out that she's drunk."

"Yeah, Forman," Steven agreed with her. "Use your brain."

Jackie and Steven made their way up the outdoor steps, making sure no one was in the kitchen to catch them crossing the driveway with bumbling Donna. Jackie was grateful for Steven's help as he helped carry Donna while she kept reaching for Jackie's headband. The other boys would have either dropped her or in Michael's case, tried to cop a feel.

As Steven helped Donna remove her shoes, Jackie opened the door to Donna's en suite and made sure the light was on and Donna would have a clear path to the toilet.

"Can you get her a glass of water and some aspirin?" Jackie opened Donna's drawers and looked for her pajamas. "I'm going to help her into her night clothes. Knock before coming back in."

Donna kept trying to fight her off, but eventually Jackie was able to get Donna into her flannel pajamas and tucked into bed. Donna sniffed and held onto Jackie's hand not wanting to let go.

"Come in," Jackie called out when she heard Steven's heavy knock on the door. She felt the mattress dip as Steven sat next to her, but she didn't look away from Donna as she stroked her hair.

"She said things aren't going well with her parents again."

"Yeah and Eric doesn't know."

It was something that Jackie hadn't understood in the past. Donna opened to her and to Steven, but never to her own boyfriend. She knew Steven would understand more, but Eric would listen to her too. Eric loved her and wanted to be there for her.

But then, Jackie had done the same with Michael. She talked to him about everything and anything, except for her problems at home. He just wouldn't have understood.

"Super," Steven muttered sarcastically. "He's not going to like that we know and he doesn't."

"He just doesn't get it." Jackie gently pried her hand from Donna's grip and pulled the comforter up to her chin. "His biggest parental issues are that his mom loves him too much and his dad wishes he knew what a carburetor was. At least that's how Donna sees it."

"Speaking of parents." Jackie felt Steven brush her hair away from her face and over her shoulder. "How was your week party planning with Pam?"

"Too much," Jackie giggled softly. She turned to face Steven and reached for his hand that was resting on Donna's bed. "She's so over the top and I guess she felt bad about Christmas because she wouldn't leave me alone."

"That's good. Right?" He let her take his hand and he ran his thumb over her knuckles.

"Kind of." Jackie had tried to bring it up to Donna, but she didn't fully comprehend it. "I just don't want to get too attached to the idea that she'll be around."

Donna didn't truly understand, but Steven did. Edna had been horrible, always degrading him and smacking him around, but there were rare moments when she did something Steven liked━like buy him beer━but no mother should have done. Their mothers could be their friends one moment and then take off for weeks. Pam eventually came back home, but Edna never would and Jackie was glad for it. Edna didn't deserve Steven.

"Don't make out on my bed please," Donna mumbled. "I'm trying to sleep here."

"Oh, my God." Jackie covered her reddening face with her hands. "There's water and aspirin on your nightstand. Happy New Year, you goon."

"Sleep it off, Big Red." Steven laughed silently before exiting the room.

"I can't believe her!" Jackie hissed, her face still hot from the embarrassment. Leaving the Pinciotti household, the cold had barely any effect on the heat radiating from her face.

Donna of the future had caught Jackie and Steven making out enough times on her bed that she had kept a spray bottle full of water handy to use against them. But that was a Steven she had been dating! This Steven didn't even know what she wanted from him.

He still doesn't know. Jackie stopped in the middle of the driveway and watched Steven's back as he crossed the Formans' kitchen door. He hadn't been able to grab his coat before helping her with Donna so all he had on was his heather gray cable knit sweater.

"Steven!" She called out to him.

She could have waited until they were back inside where it was warm, but there was something symbolic to her about this driveway. It was where they had kissed and where they made up. It was where they met in the morning and where they parted at night. It was where she last saw her Steven in 1979 and she should have accepted the ride home that he had offered.

Steven turned back around and walked toward her, stuffing his hands into his jeans' front pockets. "Yeah?"

"I, uh," Jackie opened her purse and pulled out the piece of paper she had been carrying around with her for days, "I have been meaning to talk to you. About your poem."

"Oh." Steven stopped right in front of her, scratching the back of his neck. "The haiku."

"Bless you."

"What? No." Steven frowned. "It's a form of━"

"Japanese poetry. I know." Jackie smiled at him. "I was just messing with you."

"Oh."

"Well," Jackie unfolded the paper and smoothed out the creases, "I really, really liked it. But I think it works better as a tanka."

"What?" Steven cocked his head in confusion as Jackie handed his poem back.

"It needed fourteen more syllables. A haiku reads 5-7-5, but a tanka is in the 5-7-5-7-7 format." Jackie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "And is also what lovers would use when parting in the morning."

She could barely hear the sounds of the party goers shouting out the countdown as Steven read aloud the altered poem.

"You and I speaking, soft words meant only for us, would be very cool." Steven cleared his throat and continued on to Jackie's addition. "But kissing would be cooler, as a language for just us."

"What do you think?" Jackie asked softly, waiting for his response. He continued to stare at her blankly as he folded up the piece of paper. "Oh, God. You hated it. It was bad. Just forget━"

Jackie felt the paper press into her cheek when Steven cupped her face in his hands. His kiss started gently, chaste, but just like the first time they kissed in 1976, Jackie chased his mouth with her own open mouthed kisses and molded into Steven.

He tasted a bit like Old Milwaukee and pot, but he was warm, so warm. Jackie hummed in delight when he rolled his tongue into her mouth and she gripped the back of his shirt, wanting to stay as close as possible. Steven seemed to have the same idea as his hands slipped from her face and into her hair, clutching the back of her head as he rubbed his thumbs along her jawline.

She had missed Steven so much. Staying away from him hadn't changed how she felt and Buddy had been right: it was a real waste. Buddy had told Jackie once that who they loved wasn't a choice. The only choice they could make was what they did about it.

So Jackie made her choice and she chose to be happy right now. She had no idea how long she would be stuck in the past and she was running around trying to make things better for herself in the future, but love—love wasn't a waste. Steven was here, wanting her even though she wasn't chasing after him. That had to mean something and Eric was probably right.

Steven pulled away first, resting his forehead on hers and causing his sunglasses to slide down the bridge of his nose and hit her lightly in the face. Jackie giggled and pecked him lightly on the mouth.

"What now?" Steven asked, still rubbing circles with his thumb against her jaw.

"You could kiss me again," Jackie suggested hopefully, her voice breathy.

Steven exhaled a laugh through his nose and pressed a kiss to her mouth. He pulled her lower lip into his mouth and sucked on it. Jackie closed her eyes and felt him smiling against her mouth.

"Anything for you, Doll."

Day's Note: I altered the timeline again lol

I'm putting the warning in every chapter and it might get annoying but I just need to give a heads up about it lol

please read the notes at the end for explanations about things that I felt I needed to explain for this fic.

this is the longest chapter so far and I'm pretty sure that the following chapters shouldn't be this long or longer...but I really should stop saying this 'cause I don't even know. November and December kind of ran away from me. They didn't follow their outlines but I'm still happy with what I have here.

I also completely understand now why some actors prefer scenes with fewer characters because you don't have to worry about what they're all doing.

There might be some errors...I'll fix those later

this isn't the end lol so much more has to happen.

to those that are sad about Fez and Buddy...they get more of a focus in the chapters for January and February.

I got rid of the christmas eve dance and moved snow prom from January to December. they had so many dances that weren't spaced out well.

so in order for PPHS to have most of their events I decided to make Snow Prom the winter formal and do away with the Christmas Eve dance so that way we can ignore the fact that Jackie was a senior in high school for 2 Christmases

I also thought Jackie after having dated Hyde and growing as a person and now being best friends with Buddy who is well liked (Hyde stated he was liked by everyone), would have been much more likable around the time of Snow Prom 1976.

You're probably wondering why there's no Big Rhonda...this time around because of the adjustment of events it made more sense for her to appear later on in the year and because Donna is convinced Hyde likes Jackie and should try to date her, there's no party to set Hyde up so Big Rhonda won't make her appearance and Fez doesn't catch feelings for her.

I have different headcanons for when Hyde and Jackie first had sex but for this fic I'm using the language the both of them had used in the early episodes of s5 and just go with them having had sex before everyone had found out they were fooling around. like Hyde saying he was messing around with Jackie was too strong of a term if they were just making out, but not crass enough to give any details of what they were doing.

usually i like to place their first time right after the college visits when they became more official, but for this I also wanna build on the insecurity Jackie had about their exclusivity. Just a more angsty depiction of the events where Jackie may be stuck because "hey this boy already got what he wanted from me maybe that's it for us now"

You know what made no sense about the career day episode? Jackie sat on Kelso's lap in two different moments that when they edited the episode it came out as awkward cuz she wasn't on his lap for any of her speaking parts in that scene it just cut to random parts without showing that she moved to sit there and also because they were supposed to have been broken up if we go by the order the episodes were aired. Just so messy.

If you are wondering about the Buddy comment that Eric is referring to about Jackie and Kelso? I took that from a real life convo I've had with friends. My gay friend went off on a straight friend and I could see Buddy who doesn't like Kelso doing the same.

The ice shack episode makes more sense to have happened before Hyde's Christmas Rager because Kelso purposely made sure that Hyde didn't know about his plans cuz he saw him as a threat.

Due to DM being 22 when T7S started and looking more like the age he was playing in s1-2 than s4 and on...I use a combo of his appearance in Beethoven's Second and s1-2 to describe how he looks from age 16-17—especially cuz he was actually 16-17 in Beethoven's Second. Even if he looked older for his age when he was in middle school (which was hinted at being canon for when he was like 14—a comment about his sideburns) I'm gonna act like these kids were actual teens and growing up lol

So baby fat and less defined features will be a thing lol

I don't wanna be harsh on Kat Peterson but like she treated Hyde badly let's be real there. People would probably have seen how badly it really was if the genders were swapped. Hyde at the time didn't really care but like I truly believe that after having all of Jackie's love that he would know his worth more. Just the face she made when Hyde tried to talk to her in front of her friends like that was bitchy and just no.

I also needed more Donna and Jackie moments. God. I'm just really into future!Jackie being a better friend to past!Donna because she's more mature and will be a better listener and have real advice, especially now that she has the experience of dating Hyde.

I like building up more about Jackie's school life and how her character being in a sitcom suffered and didn't get to grow in better ways.

Also dropping hints of another character and another pairing lol

I hope you all have enjoyed this chapter lol things should get interesting..