Steven Hyde is sitting the basement, as always. The only difference is that for the first time he is alone. Surprisingly no one else from the gang was there that day. Eric had gone over to Donna's, Fez was hiding in someone's closet, and Kelso was with Jackie somewhere. He kind of likes the solitude, it gives him time to think about everything, better yet of nothing. No use worrying about the future just yet.

He liked how things were going. Donna and Forman were together. Fez was his usual perverted way and Kelso and Jackie...well he didn't exactly like how this was going. He recalled Veteran's Day and his date with Jackie. And the pop he shared with Jackie. The kiss he shared with Jackie. Huh. Ok, I didn't feel anything. He remembered the disappointment that flowed through his body when she said this. Here was a girl he was supposed to hate, his best friend's ex-chick and he just had the best kiss with her, but she felt nothing. He should have expected it, I mean he was him and she was she. No way were the two of them going to be together. There was a bigger chance Laurie would stop being such a slut than there was of them getting together. A burn out and a cheerleader. What a joke.

Hyde was shaken from his daze as he heard the basement door open and in comes Jackie Burkhart, running towards him with tears flowing from her eyes. She finally reaches the couch and buries her face in his lap. Whoa, this is a compromising position he thinks. "Jackie." No response just more sobbing. "Jackie." Nothing. Hyde gently reaches over and leads her to sit up. Her mascara running, her eyes red and her nose running. If she knew what she looked like she would probably kill herself. Point Place's princess was looking slightly less than perfect, but to him, perfect nonetheless.

Hyde stands up, goes towards his room and returns a few moments later with a pack of tissues. He takes one from the pack and begins wiping her face clean, but her continuous crying was not helping. "Jackie, stop crying. What's wrong?" "Mi-Mi-Michaeeel!" she says before bursting out in tears again and burying her face in his laps once again. Getting a bit aggravated he again sits her up. "Jackie, no. No more crying. Tell me what's wrong."

"I sa-sa-saw Michael w-w-w-with Pam Ma-Ma-Macey and they we-we-were making ouuuut!" More tears. Fucking Kelso thinks Hyde. Hyde decides that it's best to let her finish crying before talking to her, otherwise it'll just be more crying and he will grow impatient. He lets her cry against his shoulder and runs his hands through her hair, inhaling her sweet scent. He can't help but close his eyes and remember the many times he wished she was his girl.

After what seemed like hours, the crying finally seized and was replaced by silent sniffling. Seeing her body shake, Hyde puts his arm around her as she nuzzles her head against his neck. "You ready to talk?" he asks. She pushes her body away from him, much to his displeasure, so that she can look into his eyes, which unfortunately are masked by his sunglasses. "He cheated on me Steven. Again. Why am I not good enough?" she asks while a frown forms on her face. You're more than good enough for me. "Kelso's an idiot Jackie. He'll probably come back here begging you to take him back." And as always you'll take him back.

"I can't take him back Steven. He keeps hurting me and I can't take it anymore." Though he wanted to believe her for the sake of retaining all hope to have a chance with her, he knew this wasn't true. "Jackie, Kelso's like your boomerang. You let him go, but he always comes back to you, and you always take him back." "But you throw a boomerang back Steven." "Yeah, but only to have it come back again. And take it again." A sad smile forms on her face. "You don't think I can let go of Michael?"

"I never said that." "So what do you mean?"

"I mean that it'll be hard for you to let him go."

"What do I have to do then?" She asks looking intently into his eyes, focusing hard enough that she is able to make out his eyes.

"I don't know Jackie. Kelso's my friend and I'm not going to give his chick advice on how to get over him. Go ask Donna or something."

"Steven, please! I really need to get over Michael or I'm just going to keep getting hurt and I don't know how much more of that I can take." Tears were once again threatening to escape her eyes, and noticing this, Hyde reacted suddenly. "Fine, but no more crying. You're going to ruin my shirt." This earned him a small but sad smile from her.

"Jackie, if you want to get over Kelso just date some other idiot. I'm sure the jocks at school are waiting on line to date Jackie Burkhart, princess of Point Place." He noticed the hurt look on her face and was confused as to what he said wrong. "What's wrong?"

"What if I don't want to be the princess of Point Place anymore? What if I'm tired of having to please people all the time?"

Shocked that these words were coming from her mouth, he says "do whatever you want Jackie no one's stopping you."

Less than ten seconds after he said this, her lips crashed into his. Taken aback, Hyde contemplated kissing her back but remembered the hurt state she was in and refused to be the rebound guy, no matter how much he wanted her. "Jackie, what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm doing whatever I want Steven, just like you said."

"Well I didn't mean kiss me!" "Why not, that's what I want to do."

"You don't know what you want, you're just confused."

Jackie at this point stands up forcefully from the couch and turns her whole body so she's directly in front of him, looking at him. "I'M SO SICK AND TIRED OF HEARING THAT! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN! EVERYONE TELLING ME I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT, I DO KNOW STEVEN. I'M NOT A LITTLE GIRL AND I WISH EVERYONE WOULD STOP TREATING ME LIKE I AM OR LIKE I CAN'T DO ANYTHING FOR MYSELF."

Making her way towards the door, Jackie turns to look at him again and says "I thought you of all people would understand." Turning back around, she didn't see Hyde racing from the couch to try to stop her. Beating her to the door, he stands in front of it, takes off his glasses, and stares at her. "I do understand Jackie, but I'm not going to be your rebound guy. Not again. We did this dance before on Veteran's Day and you went back to Kelso. Not this time."

"This isn't the same Steven okay?"

"Yeah? How is it different this time?"

Looking into his blue eyes, Jackie sighs, turns back towards the direction of the couch and begins to walk towards it. This causes Hyde to move away from the door and trail towards her. "Do you remember the kiss?" she asks. Turning back to face him, she takes his nod as a yes and continues. "You remember when I said I didn't feel anything?" "You lied?"

"No, I didn't lie then."

"Oh. Why are you telling me this then?"

"Did you lie when you said you didn't feel anything either?"

"No"

Keeping eye contact, Jackie raises an eyebrow and tilts her head slightly. "Oh?"

"I might have lied a little."

Silence.

"Fine, I felt something" He said.

"What did you feel exactly?"

"Jackie, I'm not answering that. You're lucky I even answered the first one."

Smiling a little, Jackie begins walking towards him. A few steps later she was close enough to feel his breath against her skin, and smell the scent of his soap and the lingering smell resulting from a circle session

"Did you feel like your stomach flipping around inside?" She asks while placing a quick kiss on his lips. When she retreated, she smiled when she saw he had closed his eyes. With his eyes still shut, he answers "mhm."

"Did you feel disoriented?" Again she kissed him, holding this one a bit longer than the first one. This time he just nodded and opened his eyes ever so slightly. "Did you feel aroused?" and she repeated the kissing routine again and became excited when he tried to slip his tongue into her mouth. "I'll take that as a yes then" she said with a smirk which he happily returned.

She began to walk away from him, but was unable to due to him reaching out to grab her by the wrist and pull her body towards his. Wrapping his left arm around hand, letting his hand rest on the top of her butt, he used his right hand to lift up her chin and lead her lips towards him. She happily complied, and as she closed her eyes, she began to lean in. However, she opened them again as he moved his head towards her ears and whispered "just like I'm feeling right now." She smiled and once again closed her eyes as he leaned in and kissed her.