Author Note: ….sorry about ending the last chapter on such a cliffhanger….. no, I'm not really sorry….had to do that to start with this….
T7S
Chapter 22 – Tried and Failed
T7S
Eric came to with his Dad's strong arms trying to pull him off the tarp. Kelso was talking to Kitty. "Were they struck by lightning?" Eric fought off his dad in an effort to hang on to Jackie. Both young people were soaking wet and the Forman fence was still smoldering in the pouring rain.
"Jackie!" Eric gently shook her. Jackie's welfare was his first concern.
Slowly her eyes fluttered open. "We're okay?"
Eric smoothed a hand over her face, 'I don't know. I mean we're not physically hurt…" Kitty nodded to Kelso who grabbed Eric's legs and drug him in the house while Red got his arms. Fez was holding several warm towels. Eric looked back to see his mom helping Jackie to her feet.
Jackie
Can you still hear me?
Eric
I love you
Jackie
Oh god, I love you too!
Eric
We didn't lose it
Jackie
I would have given it all up!
Eric
I know. It just didn't happen. This time.
Red was vigorously rubbing his son's wet head muttering "dumbasses in the rain" comments and "if they got pneumonia….." Eric could only smile. Kitty was wrapping Jackie up in a blanket of towels. Jackie couldn't stop smiling at Eric who in turn only had eyes for her. They tried and failed but in the failure there was a bigger success.
Love. This was it. The real deal. You could never know a person more intimately or completely than they did. Two people with the same dreams of romance and making life easier for those they cared about. Jackie shrugged out of the towels and nearly ran across the living room floor to where Eric stood.
He smiled as she stumbled around the coffee table and held out his arms. She didn't need to say anything; she just threw her arms around his neck and held on for dear life. Red and Kitty looked on concerned – why weren't either of them speaking?
Little did anyone know that an entire conversation was going on inside the pair's head! It was private and intimate and didn't need to be explained. Jackie smiled as she placed a hand on Eric's cheek and leaned in for a kiss. "I didn't want to lose this," she whispered, "I didn't want to wake up and discover I didn't have this connection with you anymore."
Eric smiled against her lips, "I wasn't prepared to lose you no matter what." There was an uncomfortable cough coming from behind them and Red asked the all important question, 'What the hell is going on?"
Eric smiled at his dad. "I'm going to ask Jackie to marry me."
Jackie smiled at Eric and then at Red, "I'm going to say yes."
Kelso looked shocked, "But you guys haven't even done it yet!" Red glared at the kettlehead. "If they want to get married then they're old enough to know what they want." Red glanced at Kitty, "She's not pregnant is she?"
Jackie looked at Kitty's clasped hands and laughed, "No, I'm not pregnant. Like Michael said, we haven't even done it yet." Eric wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered, "But we are going to…right?"
Jackie
Yes. A lot
Eric
Score!
Jackie
I have my own apartment now that you haven't even seen
Eric
Can I see the bedroom first?
Jackie
You're so bad!
Kitty realized that Eric and Jackie were actually serious. She was gaining a daughter-in-law and she genuinely liked Jackie Burkhart. A mother's intuition told her that these two were actually in love with each other and one of them was not Donna Pinciotti! Bob would be disappointed but Donna would find someone some day.
"Hey you two, I want a hug. We're going to be a family!" Kitty let the tears fall and Jackie sent a message to Michael to go find Brooke and make his family complete. Red looked at the group hug and said, "Jeez, all this emotional crap is gonna give me another heart attack."
Jackie laughed as he wrapped his arms around the small group. "Welcome to the family."
T7S
Pastor David Benjamin Rogers and his wife Laurie Rogers presided over the twin marriage ceremonies of Forman and Kelso.
The Burkhart bride was given away by her "adopted" dad, Bob Pinciotti, who smiled through the whole ceremony.
Kitty Forman pushed Betsy, the flower girl, in her decorated wagon down the aisle.
LeoChingkwake, a decorated Vet and close friend of the boys, was the best man. Since the engagement announcements, Leo and Eric had seen Star Wars numerous times. Leo decided he would make a great Yoda.
For Donna and Hyde the weddings were bittersweet. Eric was officially off the batter-up roster, but Donna had started dating her Teacher's Assistant and her dad approved.
Steven Hyde was still wondering how and when those two fell in love with each other. He didn't begrudge his adopted brother a well deserved happiness, he just didn't understand how all of the romance happened under his nose and he never saw it! Jackie did make a beautiful bride and he knew he lost whatever chance he may have had when she looked at Eric and said, "I do."
The reception was beautiful and catered by Jackie's boss, Candace Rocco, who supplied only the best foods and music available. This partnership between a Price Mart manager and her Silver Strands jewelry store was a retail marriage made in heaven.
Eric and Jackie agreed to put their persuasion aside and let the ceremony and after party unfold naturally and let whatever come what may – well…come what may!
That left the mother of the groom to find Fez sticking his face in the chocolate fountain; Kelso skewering his eye with a shish kabob, and Bob crying happy tears on the shoulder of any single female that would listen. It was the best wedding ceremony Point Place Wisconsin had ever seen.
Jackie and Eric had a special gift – they had each other.
The End
A/N: The author would like to thank all of her faithful readers for the encouraging reviews and support. This story could probably go on and on but the author decided to end it on a happy note.
I wonder…if two telepaths have children….do the gifts run in the family.
Hmmmmmm…