Disclaimer: I don't own.

Warning: Language, adult situations (not graphic)

Author's Note: For those of you reading this, and to those who've favorited or added an alert for it, thank you! And I'd like to especially thank a few people – Willofthewisp, Amlyn, Hyde's Bride, and Hydeluver for reviewing the last chapter. Reviews mean a lot to me, so thanks for taking the time. Now – I know this story is darker than Choice, particularly this first option for Hyde. And there is a reason for it – so please, please trust me. I think by the time the story is complete, you'll understand why I've done the things I've done. If not, then I've failed. I'm a little worried the story is failing already, but I'm going to keep going anyway. I think it'll turn out to be a true love story, just different from Jackie's side in Choice.

The Lesser of Two Evils

Choice 1- The Bad – Naperville, Illinois

Chicago, Illinois, about a year after Bud and Edna began divorce proceedings. Young Steven Hyde, just about to turn ten, is visiting his father.

"Huh?" Vetri said, glaring at Paul. "You said Bud never spends time with Hyde."

Paul smiled gently. "I said that Bud is in and out, mostly out, of Hyde's life."

Vetri rolled his eyes. "Details, man, details."

"Just watch."

The apartment was small and sparse. Hyde sat on an ugly brown and green couch with thin cushions and a arm about to fall off. He stared at a cartoon on the black and white television set in front of him, his face still and expressionless. Other than the voices on the show, the apartment was silent.

"Is he alone?" Vetri asked. Paul nodded, and Vetri frowned. Some parent this Bud guy was. He sighed and turned away from the opening in the fog. "Look, man, do I really need to see this? Because if that stuff you showed me before was good, I sure as hel...heck don't want to see the bad."

Paul raised an eyebrow. "You found nothing good about what you saw? Not your relationship with your mother, with Jackie?" He shook his head. "I'd have thought at least the partying would have impressed you."

Vetri shrugged and turned back to the window. He crossed his arm flaps. "Whatever. I mean, I guess that stuff was cool." He wasn't sure. He supposed it would be exciting to be on tour with a rock band. And to hook up with different chicks. And to have a decent relationship with his mother. Leon told him once that he'd never known his mother. Said it had sucked. Vetri figured he didn't want that. But there was something about the good that was disappointing. Of course, he didn't know what.

He felt Paul's hand on his back and grimaced.

"I know you're reluctant, Vetri, but you need to see all of what I'm showing you. And just remember, there's a lot that I can't show you, that I don't even know, both good and bad. I'm only giving you basic themes that run through this choice. There's so much more. And maybe the good outweighs the bad. Maybe when you experience it, you'll find the good a lot better than it appears."

Vetri shrugged again. "Fine. Whatever. I'll watch."

Hyde stood up and walked to the window. The window looked out on the front door of the apartment building, and when he saw his father approaching, he grinned. "Finally!" He grabbed a baseball hat off the back of the couch and ran out of the apartment. He barreled down the stairs and nearly collided with his father. "Dad! Finally! Can we go to the Cubs game now?" He'd never been to a Cubs game, and his father had promised him.

But his father wasn't alone, and Bud Hyde looked at the woman next to him, a cheap-looking blonde with too-tight clothes and too-heavy makeup. "Uh...Stevie. The game." He winced. "I forgot."

Hyde frowned, then looked down. He scuffed his foot on the floor. "Oh."

"Hey. Tell you what. There's a store down the block. Here's some money. Go get yourself some junk food and I'll let ya watch whatever you want on t.v." Bud chuckled and glanced at the woman. "All he really likes to do, anyway."

Vetri rolled what would become his eyes. "Whatever. That's what he's been doing all day. And he didn't look like he was enjoying it."

A few minutes later, Hyde was in the store, wandering around. His father was probably back at the apartment, locked in his bedroom and making weird, disgusting noises with that woman. He didn't want to go back. Didn't want to sit there and pretend that he didn't hear. He wanted to call his mom, but she was working. He knew that. He'd called earlier and she'd been too busy to talk.

He went to the cooler doors and started to grab a Coke, but then noticed the door at the end. Bottles of beer, cans of beer. Bud was fond of beer, always telling him how great it was. He'd even let him have a few sips here and there.

Hyde looked around. No one was paying attention to him. The lady at the counter was helping someone, and no one else was in the store. His stomach tight, he walked over to the door. He glanced over his shoulder. Still no one watching. He opened the door and took a couple bottles. Stuffed them into his jacket.

And on his way out, no one stopped him. He grinned all the way home. That was pretty cool.

Hours later, he was puking into the toilet, and Bud was yelling at his mom over the phone.

"Come and get him, Edna. You're his mother. I can't deal with this."

Vetri shook his head. "Can I kick that guy's ass?"

Paul said nothing, and Vetri looked at him. "You're not going to scold my language?"

Paul sighed. "I'm afraid Bud Hyde deserves that kind of language."

Vetri didn't answer.

"Edna comes and gets him."

Vetri still didn't answer.

"She loves him very much, Vetri."

But as a mother, Vetri thought. And for some reason, he thought of Jackie.

Unfortunately, most of the few times Bud Hyde deigns to spend with his son wind up that way. Now, lets go to 1980, back in Naperville. Hyde has just returned from an impromptu trip to Las Vegas, and he's returned with a wife.

"Wait a second," Vetri said loudly. "A wife?" He looked down and saw the Forman basement, saw Hyde sitting in a white chair with a chick who looked an awful lot like the woman he'd seen with Bud earlier perched on his lap. "That's his wife? That...blonde?" And then he saw Jackie sitting just a few feet away on the couch.

For a second, he couldn't seem to breathe.

Paul nodded and watched his charge. He smiled slightly. "Pretty, no?"

Vetri shook his head, looking at the wife, then at Jackie, then at the wife again. "Depends on how you define pretty." He glared at Paul. "And being that I still disagree with you on 'good'...And wait, I thought Hyde doesn't like blondes."

Paul chuckled. "He doesn't. Now, just watch."

"So, how did it go telling Edna?" Michael Kelso asked as he stretched his arm lazily across Jackie's shoulders. Jackie just glared at him. He grinned. "Did she kick your ass? 'Cause my money's on her kicking your ass, and I need that five dollars."

Hyde shrugged and opened his mouth to speak, but the blonde on his lap piped up.

"Oh, it didn't go very well." She pouted. "I'm never good with the mothers." Her eyes lit up. "I'm really good with the fathers, though." She looked confused and turned to Hyde. "Where is your father, Hyde?" She pouted again. "I hope he's not dead."

Jackie turned a hostile look to the newcomer. "You're good with fathers beause you sleep with them, you whore!" Then she stood up. "God, Michael, will you just stop touching me?"

Hyde cocked his head and grinned. "Whats wrong, Jackie? You finally realizing how many diseases you're gonna catch from him?" His smile faded; his expression darkend into something that neared hate. Neither Sam nor Kelso noticed. Kelso also didn't understand the implications of Hyde's taunt.

"Burn!" Kelso yelled, and Sam laughed.

Jackie and Hyde stared at one another.

Vetri looked at Paul. "What happened between them?" He looked back, and Jackie and Hyde still shared a locked gaze. And it seemed so heavy, full of something he couldn't quite figure out, even after Kelso and Sam started bantering about something stupid like dogs and pole dances.

"She chose Kelso," Paul answered.

Vetri shook his head. "Then why is she jealous? I mean, that's what it is, right? That remark about Sam sleeping with fathers...she's jealous." When Paul didn't answer, Vetri glared at him. "Well, whats the big deal? So they don't get along." He rolled his eyes. "The good stuff is almost worse than the bad so far."

Paul narrowed his eyes. "You don't think its bad that he and Jackie hate one another, and do for the rest of the time they know each other? After you saw what it was like between them before?"

Vetri shrugged and looked down again. "No big loss. I mean, he's got that Sam chick, and then later he gets all those women." Even as he spoke, he felt odd, off, wrong. And it bothered him. Pissed him off, actually. He turned from the window again. "I mean, she doesn't love him, right? She picked the king of the idiots over him."

Paul shook his head, and the sad look on his face only further enraged Vetri.

"She doesn't love him, okay?" He must have been yelling, because Paul looked startled.

Paul took a deep breath. "Come on, Vetri. More to see." He paused. "I'm going to ask that you don't interrupt this next part, Vetri. I know you'll want to, but just wait. Please."

Vetri gave a falsely nonchalant shrug and wished his gut or whatever would stop hurting. "Whatever."

It's a year later, 1981. We're still in Naperville, but Sam is long gone. Today is Jackie and Kelso's wedding day. Its a beautiful day.

Hyde looked uncomfortable, both because he wore a tuxedo and was in a church. He stood in front of a closed door and took a deep breath. He took his glasses off. Breathed. Put them back on. Coughed. And repeated. All the while, he thought of what his mother had told him. Tell her you want her, Steven. Tell her you don't want her to marry that idiot. Tell her you love her. And after a few too many beers last night, after thinking of her all night, Hyde had decided to do it. Just tell her.

On the way to the church, for the first time since Bud left, he'd prayed. He prayed that she'd listen and forget what he'd said the morning after she'd come to him.

One last breath, then he knocked on the door. She answered with a "Come in!" and so he went in.

Then he stopped as if his body had forgotten how to move. His efforts to breathe ceased - he'd forgotten how to do that as well.

Jackie stood there in her wedding dress,a white gown, with a crown or roses in her hair, a wispy-looking lace veil surrounding her face like an angel's embrace. Her skin glowed. Her eyes shone. Her smile was only for him, at least for the first few seconds when her defenses were down.

And Hyde just stood there.

"Steven," she said softly. The sweetness of her smile disappeared and she looked nervous. Her hands twisted together.

He swallowed, his heart pounding with a fury he'd never imagined his body could create. "You're beautiful," he answered.

That special smile was back, and she clutched her hands to her chest. "You like me in a wedding dress," she breathed.

He gave her a half-smile, took half a step, opened his lips half-way to say something he'd been thinking and feeling since their fling ended. "Jackie," he began. "Listen..."

But her smile disappeared and she stepped backwards, bumping into the full length mirror behind her. "I'm sorry," she blurted out. Her face suddenly paled. "I'm sorry about what happened. I...I put you in a horrible position, and it..." Her laugh was tinny. "You were right. It was just cold feet." The tears in her eyes, and the way she looked down, belied her words, but Hyde didn't notice.

Because the words froze him inside and out.

She laughed again and turned to look in the mirror. "I can't believe Michael and I are finally getting married. I've been dreaming about this day since I was five, and now its finally here. It's gonna be so perfect."

Vetri watched Jackie, not Hyde, and unlike the oblivious Hyde, saw how her chin trembled and how a tear slowly fell from her eye. He heard how her voice thinned and shook. He wondered if she was lying, both to Hyde and herself.

No. No. She was just being overdramatic. No way she actually loved Hyde. If she did, she'd never go through with this marriage. Vetri stiffened and glared at the chick who obviously made Hyde incredibly stupid.

"Vetri, watch Hyde."

Hyde didn't see it. His eyes closed, head lowered, shoulders slumped. His hands made tight fists, then unclenched. He released raspy breaths that were almost but not quite silent.

And Vetri wondered if Hyde felt the way he did. Completely beaten. Completely empty. Just...there, but a shell. A nothingness with a defined outline.

Paul touched his charge's outline. "Nothing to say?"

Vetri kept staring at the tormented couple. "You told me not to interrupt."

His voice sounded odd to him.

"And now I'm asking you to say something. What do you think?"

Vetri blinked. She was so beautiful... "She doesn't love him," he answered. Clearly Hyde believed so. Vetri watched as the future him turned and walked to the door. Heard himself wish her good luck over his shoulder, then leave, shut the door behind him. Watched Hyde pull a flask out of his tux coat and take a drink.

He figured that's what a broken heart looked like.

"That's really what you think?"

"Its what I see, man!" Vetri said loudly, turning to glare at Paul. "She chose Kelso over him again. Right there in black and white, or...color, whatever."

Paul persisted. "What do you feel, V?"

The use of his preferred name didn't do anything for him, and Vetri smiled sarcastically, he figured. "I don't feel anything, Paul."

And it wasn't a lie.

Just as Paul took hold of his arm flap, Vetri met his eyes. "Hold on. Is this..." He took a breath. "Is this why Hyde leaves Naperville?"

Paul smiled. "You'll see."

Lets skip forward a bit - about fourteen hours later. Jackie and Michael Kelso had an evening wedding. Hyde spent the majority of the reception drunk. At one point, he and Eric Forman drank together and complained about women. After that, Hyde drank more and watched Eric and Donna, recently reunited, fight over Eric's sudden belief that he was "cool" because a few of Jackie's cheerleader friends, still in high school, were flirting with him. That led to Donna dragging a barely coherent Hyde off, and the next morning...

Hyde looked extremely sick as he sat up in his bed. Pale, a little greenish in the gills, and with nearly bruise-like bags under his eyes. He groaned and reached up to rub his forehead. "Damn," he muttered. He closed his eyes. The daylight floating in through the blinds on his window hurt like hell.

Next to him, Donna sat, her face also pale, her features twisted into panic. She clutched the sheet to her chest. Her shoulders were bare and trembled. "Oh god," she said. "Oh. My. God."

Hyde couldn't look at her. Couldn't open his eyes. "Maybe we didn't..." He chuckled, even though it made his stomach and chest rebel. "Look, I was completely wasted. Maybe I couldn't..."

"No. We did." Donna closed her eyes. "Believe me, we did." She turned to her friend turned one night stand. "What do you remember?"

Hyde shook his head and lay back down. He put his hand over his eyes to try to block out the light. "Drinking, mainly. A ton. Oh, and being pissed at Forman for something," he said. Though try as he might, he couldn't remember exactly what.

Donna sighed. "He mentioned the fact that I once said making out with you would be like making out with my father, right down to the hair," she said.

Hyde pulled his hand off his face and glared at her. "What the hell, Donna?"

She lifted her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Hyde, but it would." Then her head fell back on her neck. "Oh my god, I think it actually was!"

Hyde snorted. "Gee, thanks."

She started to cry. "Oh,god, Hyde, what have I done? What about Eric? ERIC!" She shook her head. "I mean, yeah, I was pissed at him for flirting with those girls, but you know what? He was right. I do sometimes act like he's lucky to be with me. Like he'd never do any better. And now...oh my god..."

She got out of bed and started to search the floor with her clothes. Hyde turned his head in the opposite direction.

"What am I going to tell him, Hyde? How in the hell am I going to explain this? By the way, honey, remember our huge fight at Jackie's wedding? Well, I got drunk and wound up sleeping with your best friend. I'm so sorry. It'll never happen again."

She sat on the bed, her back to Hyde, and bent her head down into her hands.

Hyde sat up and looked at the back of her head. "Calm down, Donna," he said, his voice hoarse. "Look, he doesn't ever have to know about this."

Donna looked over her shoulder. "You won't say anything?"

"Why in the hell would I say anything? You think I want Forman or Jackie..." He cut himself off and tried to cover with a loud, pitiful moan. Donna just smirked and he rolled his eyes.

Then he closed his eyes and muttered a few choice words.

Vetri blinked. "He feels like he cheated on Jackie," he said. Oddly enough, so did Vetri.

Paul nodded. "He does."

It didn't make much sense, considering Jackie was married and had made it clear she didn't love Hyde.

"But he loves her, Vetri. That's why he feels that way."

Vetri shook his head. "Whatever," he grumbled. "He's an idiot for loving a chick who doesn't love him back." He returned his attention to the scene down there.

Hyde was sitting up now, and Donna stood in the doorway, now dressed but still pale and haggard looking. "Look, Hyde," she said, her voice soft and apologetic. "This...thing...I mean, it wasn't..."

Hyde grinned. "Don't worry, Donna. It was just a drunken mistake. I'm not suddenly in love with you." He raised an eyebrow. "Considering I can't really remember doing it with you."

Donna raised an eyebrow. "I know," she answered. Her lips curved upwards. "Because you kept calling me Jackie."

Hyde lay back down and turned his head on his pillow.

Vetri stared at Hyde's face. The guy looked broken. "So what happens? Does Forman find out?"

Paul sighed. "You'll find out later. There's one more thing you need to see here."

New York, 1986. Hyde is no longer with Aerosmith. Instead, he lives in a small aparment, reminiscent in many ways of his father's in Chicago.

The carpet was stained with booze and food he'd only half-heartedly tried to get out, but at the moment, Hyde didn't care. He sat on the floor, his back against the white and bare wall. He was sweating, groaning, shaking uncontrollably.

The door opened, and a guy walked in. "Got it, man," the guy said.

Hyde's eyes opened and he gave a weak smile. "Finally."

"Yeah." The guy pointed at Hyde. "You owe me, man. I'm only doing this cause you look like shit and I'm kind of worried you might die on me."

Hyde nodded. "Yeah, whatever. Just...can you do it already?"

He looked at his arms and winced.

Vetri gasped. "What the hell are those?" Hyde's arms were a mess; cuts and marks that made him cringe.

Paul answered quietly. "Track marks. From drugs. Heroin, to be precise."

Vetri looked down. Leon told him about drugs, said to stick to the minor stuff, pot or something, weed or whatever. Said the hard stuff could ruin everything, could kill. And his fate might be exactly that.

There was that emptiness again.

Vetri lifted and shook his head. "Look, man," he said, turning to face Paul. "You don't need to show me any more of this choice. I'm not gonna pick it. His life sucks."

"Are you so sure your other choice is going to be better?"

As Paul led him towards "The Ugly", Vetri couldn't help but think about that. Maybe nothing would be better. Maybe nothing would be truly good.

Maybe he just request to be rethought, or aborted, or whatever God did with souls given the choice between lives not worth living.