Disclaimer: I don't own.

Author's Note:I've been frustrated by the fact that I can't seem to write anything but heavy angst. So I'm trying a two parter with little to no angst. More to prove it to myself than anything else. I hope you enjoy it, and I'll have the second part up on Tuesday! Please review. :)

In all fairness, today should be her wedding day. After all, it was a perfect May late afternoon, with warm, cascading sunlight fading into dusk. The air teased noses with the scent of mingling blossoms. The church was decked to the hilt with gorgeous flowers, candles and ribbons. A table in the front of the church nearly toppled under the weight of wedding gifts. Everything was just as a wedding day – her wedding day – should be. And she'd had two marriage proposals in the space of six months. Two.

Yet as Jackie Burkhart studied herself in the mirror – one that she brought to the church and set up in the small room, since the bride forgot - instead of the stunning, breathtaking, vision of herself in a wedding gown, the one she'd dreamed of for years, she gazed critically at herself in a bridesmaid's dress. Maid of honor, of course, and a deeper shade of purple than the other few girls standing up for Donna Pinciotti, soon to be Donna Pinciotti-Forman. At least she had that going for her. It certainly was a more flattering color than that weird lavender-bluish color of the other dresses.

She sighed and smoothed her hand over the bodice of the surprisingly tasteful and elegant dress. A deep mauveish-purple satin, off the shoulder with a sweetheart neckline, and an ankle-length straight skirt, and a modest slit in the back. It was lovely. And truth be told, she felt lovely in it.

Even though it wasn't her wedding day.

Even though she had no reason to believe her own wedding day would take place any time in the near future. She had no boyfriend, not even a prospect.

She glared at her reflection for a few short seconds, then a sly smile replaced it. Fate had hardly been kind to her as of late, but she had a plan. A good plan. One that would force fate's hand, of course, in her favor.

The door opened, and she rolled her eyes. "Donna, I told you I'd be out in a minute."

"Hate to disappoint you, but it's not Donna."

Jackie looked up and smiled. "Hi, Steven." Her eyes, against her will, really, rushed up and down his form. He looked incredibly handsome in a tuxedo. He wasn't wearing those infuriating glasses, and even his curly mop of hair was tame.

"Hey." Hyde arched his eyebrows. "I was hoping you'd still be naked."

She rolled her eyes, but felt her cheeks warming with pleasure. "Too bad for you, huh?" She turned back to the mirror and again rubbed the dress down. There was one little fold that an iron and her hands couldn't seem to get to flatten. And it was bugging the living daylights out of her.

"So." Hyde took a few steps towards his ex-girlfriend. Funny, it had been over a year and a half, they'd become friends, and yet, to him, she was still his ex-girlfriend. Not his friend. And she looked beautiful. The dress she wore hugged her tiny, but sweetly curved body, and his heart jumped a bit in his chest. "Where were you last night? I was hanging out at the water tower." He shrugged and looked away. "Thought you'd be there."

Jackie turned and smiled at him. "Awww, did you miss me, Steven?" Weird. They'd been hanging out a lot more since Fez called off the engagement. Ever since that first night, they'd met up, without planning it, at the water tower, usually pretty late at night, and just talked. Or sometimes just sat together, drinking beer, smoking a joint.

Funniest thing was that they'd become friends in the process. Friends with a complicated history, sure. Friends with a lot of unspoken, unresolved feelings, of course. But friends nevertheless.

He grimaced. "Hell, no. In fact, I'm glad you weren't. All that beer I brought up…more for me."

She giggled and put her hand to her heart. "You brought beer for me?"

He glared at her. "Whatever. Look, Donna wanted me to tell you that you better be ready in two minutes. Oh, and she wanted me to remind you that this is her day, and everyone is going to be staring at her, they won't even notice you." He pursed his lips. "That's a direct quote." It had kind of pissed him off, truthfully. And, he thought as he looked at Jackie, Donna would be lucky as hell if even Eric looked only at her.

She looked down for a moment, trying to smother the sting of hurt in the center of her chest. Some best friend. But in her usual style, she plastered on a smile and shook her head, pretending to brush the burn off. "Stupid lumberjack. I don't know why she insists on rubbing it my face."

Hyde grinned and stepped towards his ex. "Probably because you'd do the same thing."

The teasing in his voice relaxed her stomach, and she beamed at him. Lately he'd been so good at that, making her feel better with just a few words. Actually, he always had. "Of course I would, Steven," she said smoothly. "That's who I am. But really, this should have been my day. I mean, two proposals in one year and no wedding?" She turned back to the mirror and stared at herself. She was beautiful…wasn't she? She was a major catch…wasn't she? "There's something really messed up, here."

Her voice broke, and he noticed. He stood behind her, resisting the intense urge to put his hands on her bare shoulders. In the months they'd been hanging out, they'd avoided that one thing, touching in any way. Well, that and talking about their break up. "You turned the first proposal down, Jackie. And the second…come on, man. You were relieved when Fez told you he couldn't marry you." He grinned, remembering the reason. The stupid and slightly disturbing reason. "Because he was afraid it would interfere with his relationship with Kelso."

Jackie rolled her eyes and shot her elbow back, making light contact with the his middle. "I was not relieved, Steven." She lied. "I was just…"

"You were ecstatic, Jackie. You told me so. Remember? That night at the water tower?" He remembered. He'd never been so relieved in his entire life to hear that Jackie and Fez had broken up. Not that he'd ever tell her that, or anyone else for that matter. And not that it really mattered. He didn't want her back or anything. No.

She took a step backwards to him, letting her back come into light contact with his chest. She met his eyes in the mirror and smirked slightly, daring him to touch her. He didn't, but she felt a breath catch in his chest. "I was drunk. People say stupid things when they're drunk."

She hadn't told him the whole truth about her break up with Fez. No one else, save Fez, knew the whole truth; that after he'd proposed, Fez found her in the bathroom sobbing her eyes out. That she'd confessed that she didn't think she loved him but wanted to marry him anyway. That he'd started laughing and told her he felt the same way, that he'd proposed because he thought he had to, because he'd felt he'd trapped himself and didn't want to hurt her.

She wasn't sure if she'd ever tell Steven that.

Hyde stared at Jackie, her mismatched eyes, and a noose tightened itself in the area he supposed his heart was. Every time he looked in her eyes, he remembered how she'd looked the day Sam showed up. She'd done her best to hide it, but he knew he'd hurt her. Badly. What she didn't know was the he reminded himself of it every day, so as not to let it happen again. A choking regret forced his words out, strained and quiet. "Yeah, well, people do stupid things when they're drunk, too."

None, however, more stupid than what he'd done.

Weird, all this regret had rushed to him after Fez and Jackie's engagement. And now he couldn't seem to get a handle on it. He supposed it had always been there, but the prospect of there never being another chance for him and Jackie…

He cleared his throat. No. No. No.

She stared at her ex boyfriend, his beautiful blue eyes that today seemed so cloudy and misty. Almost…regret. And it made her stomach roll over, her heart flip-flop. He was sorry. She could see it. All those tears…all that hurt…he was sorry. "I…" She took a breath and turned around. Seemed fair to tell him a little bit of the truth. "Okay, maybe I was a little…relieved." She smiled. "Fez was just…I don't know. I thought I could be happy with him, but I just didn't…it was just…" She instinctively reached up and began fiddling with Steven's tie, focusing her eyes there instead of on his face as her face began to flush. "You know what I mean."

He watched her cheeks turn pink and smiled slightly. She tugged on his tie, and he let her. "Yeah. I do." And he did. He'd been down that same road, though he was pretty sure she didn't know that. Maybe someday he'd tell her. Maybe someday he'd be able to admit to her. He'd finally admitted it to himself.

Abruptly, as if burned by his words, his voice, she backed away from him. "It doesn't matter anymore, though. I've got a plan. I'm going to force fate to make sure that I'm the next one to get married."

He smirked and watched her flitter around the room, gathering her bouquet of lilies and roses, and making a last minute check of her appearance. He wanted to tell her she looked beautiful. Instead, he questioned her plan. "Oh yeah? How are you gonna do that, Jackie?"

She smiled brightly at him, her eyes taking on the glow they always did when she had an idea hatching in her head. She swept over to him and linked her arm through his, and instinctively his bent to accommodate her. "I'm going to catch the bouquet when Donna throws it. Because the girl who catches the bouquet is the next one to get married."

Hyde nodded and began leading Jackie to the door. This was one of the things he'd forgotten about her – forced himself to – during the hell that encompassed him after Chicago. How cute she was. How determined she was. How naïve and romantic and open and warm….Damn it, Hyde, just stop it! He cleared his throat. "Does Donna know about this?"

Jackie nodded. "She better. I've been leaving her notes everywhere. Including in her shoes." She giggled. "And pinned to her dress." She looked up at Steven, and felt an odd sort of half-peace. Things were so good between them, for the first time in a long time. She liked that. And yet when she looked at him, when he looked at her, when it was just the two of them at the water tower, she always felt a longing. "So…are you enjoying your duties as best man?"

Hyde shrugged. "I guess so. Except I have to give a toast and I hate that. I think I'll just tell everyone to down their champagne and leave it at that." He gave her a sly look. "There is one thing I'm looking forward to, though. You know what the perk is of being the best man?"

She had a good idea, and gave him a flirtatious smile. "What, Steven?"

"I get to nail the hottest bridesmaid." He looked her over. "Looks like you're the lucky girl."

She elbowed him, but laughed. "You mean you don't wanna nail Tina?" Donna's sister, Tina, had returned, looking less like Donna or Midge and more like Bob, much to all the guys' disappointment. She also returned with a bad attitude, especially when Donna had passed her over for maid of honor.

"There you are! Come on, get in line…we're about to start!"

Hyde nodded at Kitty Forman, who was acting almost like the mother of the bride instead of the mother of the groom. Then again, in this case, maybe she was. He and Jackie took their spots behind Tina and Kelso. He looked over Tina. Yeah right. He snickered, and Jackie giggled beside him.

Tina turned and gave Jackie a rather nasty smile. "I kind of thought you wouldn't show up, Jackie. I guess this must be hard for you, what with your recent humiliation." She widened her eyes. "I mean, your fiancée left you, and this being a wedding and all…"

"Okay, we're almost ready. Tina and Michael, get ready to head down the aisle!"

Jackie only smiled. "Oh, no, I'm fine. I just hope it's not too hard on you, Tina. I mean, everyone is going to be laughing at you when they see the big stain on your dress." She made a face. "God, it's really gross."

"What? Where? Oh god, where?"

Hyde and Jackie laughed as she squirmed, trying to find the stain on her dress until Donna's cousin and wedding coordinator, pushed her and Kelso towards the aisle.

He grinned at Jackie. "Nice burn."

She nodded, her eyes still glowing. "Yeah, I know."

They headed to the aisle, and he noticed her smile and the glow fade as she stared into the lushly decorated chapel. "Hey." He elbowed her softly. And as he stared at her, her raven hair swept up in curls, her skin olive and perfect, her lips full, plush and pink, so many things that he'd forgotten – forced himself to – overcame the wall he'd built inside of him with the force of a tsunami.

Jackie looked up at Steven, and her heart stopped beating. There he was…the guy she'd loved so much…before all the crap. Before all the hurt. It was almost as if time was turning backwards, so quickly she was dizzy. But a good dizzy. A – dare she think it? – promising dizzy. "Yeah, Steven?"

They looked into one another's eyes.

"You're beautiful."

Tears filled her eyes. "Oh, Steven…"

From behind them, Donna whispered harshly. "Guys! It's your turn! Go!"

They started walking, both of them rolling their eyes a little bit at the bride's demand. Both of them lost in thoughts.

"Steven?" she whispered, smiling and enjoying the eyes on her, the smiles on the faces of the wedding guests, though not as much as she was enjoying the feel of his hand covering hers on his arm. Or the echo of his words.

"Yeah, Jackie?" He grinned up at the alter, where Fez and Kelso were fidgeting and Forman was looking paler and paler by the second.

"Just a little advice. If you really wanna nail the hottest bridesmaid tonight, you better keep saying stuff like that."

He smiled. God, he loved her.

Wait. No. No. NO! He couldn't. He just couldn't. He didn't love people.

Except her.

A few minutes later, while Pastor Dave was droning on and on about the joys and holiness of matrimony, Jackie pursed her lips, trying hard to keep her tears inside where they belonged. She was happy for Donna, she really was.

But it should have been her day. Now she feared her day would never come, that she'd never find anyone.

Just then, Steven's eyes caught hers, and he winked. She smiled, the burning behind her eyes abating abruptly.

"You're beautiful," he mouthed at her.

She stared at him, her hands trembling, her heart pounding. The past few months…and now he was being sweet and flirty and the Steven she'd known before the mess…

And she wondered.

Is it even possible that he has feelings for me again? Is it even possible that I have feelings for him again?

She noticed Donna's bouquet, and smiled to herself.

Anything was possible.