That 70s Show fanfic: Homecoming (7)

[jennickels]

Homecoming
by jennickels (aka Jen Connelly)
That 70s Show
Jackie/Hyde
23,369 words
rating: PG-13

Twenty years ago Hyde left Point Place without so much as a look back. What happens when he suddenly finds himself back in town and trying to restart his life?  Will his friends take him back? 

don't own... wish I did, but I don't. No infringement intended.

Chapter 7: Group Hug

At around 6pm, Hyde found himself parked down the street from Jackie's duplex in the Oak Woods Housing development. He felt seedy, just sitting in his car, staring at her front door, waiting for her to come out. Steve has said she was home. Or at least that she had said she was staying home, but Hyde hadn't seen any lights on so he just sat in the car and waited for a sign. He had been here for about an hour. Steve had actually encouraged him to come. The two had sat in the basement and talked for two hours until Donna discovered them. She got all teary-eyed and told Hyde how happy she was for both of them.

Hyde seemed to have a lot more questions then Steve did. Steve only wanted to know one thing really-

"Did you know about me?" he had asked with this sad look on his face. Hyde understood what Steve wanted to know. He had felt the same way when Bud had left, rejected.

Hyde shook his head. "No, I didn't. I never would have left if I had known about you, Steve. I swear." That seemed to make him feel a little better; he relaxed and sipped his beer.

It was Hyde's turn to ask a question. "What did she tell you about me?" Steve chewed on his bottom lip, thinking.

"She never really talked about you much. She would just tell me she didn't know where my dad was and that I shouldn't worry about things like that." Hyde changed the subject after that. He had asked Steve what he was doing, if he had a job or was he going to school. Steve was doing neither. They talked about that for awhile-what Steve was interested in and Hyde told him he might have a job for him at the store he ran.

Hyde was still running over the details of the conversation when he was blinded by headlights coming down the street. He sunk low in the driver's side, realizing that he looked like some perve on the street corner. The car pulled up in front of Jackie's house and Hyde's heart raced and he felt like he couldn't breath. Jackie got out and waved as the car headed down the street. It was now or never, Hyde thought. He quietly got out of the car and walked as fast as he could. He got to the end of the driveway as she got to the door.

"Jackie?" he called. She froze, hand still on the knob. He could see her start shaking and was sure she was crying.

Jackie spun around as he was coming up the drive. He stopped. She wasn't crying. She looked furious.

"How did you know where I lived?" she spat. Hyde hadn't been expecting this. He swallowed hard, reminding himself that he deserved it.

"I was the one that drove Steve home the other day."

At the mention of her son's name her whole demeanor changed. Her body relaxed and the anger in her eyes was replaced by dull sadness that Hyde recognized all too well. "You met Steve?" she asked. Hyde took a step closer.

"We had a long talk earlier. He's pretty worried about you."

Jackie stood up straighter and fixed her purse strap. "He doesn't need to worry. I'm fine."

"Jackie, we-" Hyde started but Jackie interrupted him.

"I have to go in now. I have to get dinner started." She opened the door, but Hyde was waiting for that. He dashed up the few steps to the door and grabbed her arm.

"Jackie, wait."

"Why should I, Hyde. You didn't wait for my explanation. Why the hell should I wait for yours?" Hyde let go of her arm and let her go in. She slammed the door to make her point. Oh boy, Hyde thought, this is going to be harder then I thought.

"She's not really mad, Hyde, she's just upset and scared. She has spent the last twenty years trying to hate you-" Donna was saying.

"Without much success," Kelso interrupted.

"-And now you are back and she doesn't know which feelings to trust anymore."

Hyde was sitting around the kitchen table with Donna, Eric and Kelso. Fez had taken Skylar home after getting into another spat with Kelso. The kids were all down in the basement making a huge ruckus. Hyde leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair.

"How come you never told me?" he asked Donna.

"Why do you think? Jackie told me not to."

"You could have told me anyway. I would have come back, you know that right?" He looked at his friends. He didn't want them to think he was cold hearted, like he had abandoned his only son. It didn't matter that he already felt that way, but he didn't want his friends thinking it too.

"That was why Jackie didn't want you to know. She didn't want you coming back just because of the baby. She wanted you to come back when you were ready."

"Just, no one thought it would take twenty years," Eric added. "You are one stubborn son of a bitch, Hyde." The guys all laughed but Donna was quiet.

"You could have called, you know. Or wrote; or just sent a postcard so we knew you were alright," she said with tears in her eyes. This was it, Hyde thought. They had all spent the last few days pretending nothing had happened but now it was time to face up to what he had done to them. Donna stood up and turned away from the guys, not wanting them to see her cry. Eric tried to put his arm around her but she ran into the living room. Hyde looked at each of his friends. Kelso just stared at his beer, Eric glared at him, telling Hyde it was all his fault with just that one look. Hyde followed Donna.

He put his arms on her shoulders and gently turned her around. He was surprised by how easily she let him do it. She just leaned into his arms and he held her, crying. "I'm sorry, Donna." He couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I don't think that is going to be good enough. Twenty years, Hyde," she yelled between sobs. "And we didn't even know if you were alive for almost two years. If it hadn't been for Kelso finding you…Do you know how that feels?" Hyde kind of did. He still hadn't heard from his mom and it had been almost 25 years but he didn't care about her half as much as Donna cared about him.

"I don't know what you want me to say?" She pushed him away a little so she could see his face.

"I want you to say that you are a jerk, an ass, a selfish, heartless bastard," she shouted.

"I thought that went without saying," he said, fighting back tears. He hated to see Donna like this, knowing he caused her this pain.

"Well it doesn't." She started crying harder now and Hyde was aware that Eric and Kelso were standing in the door watching. He pulled Donna tighter and let her soak his shirt with her tears. He had no idea how to explain what he was feeling right now. The closest word he could think of was agony.

"Not a day went by that I didn't think of you guys," he murmured.

"Then why didn't you come back?" It was Eric that had asked. Him and Kelso stood looking just as heart-broken as Donna did. Hyde stared over his shoulder at the two.

"I was scared."

"Of what?" Eric asked a bit of anger still in his voice.

"Of this. Having to go through this." He looked down at Donna's hair and her trembling shoulders. He patted her back as she cried, relieving herself of twenty years of pent up fears and anger. "I don't deserve friends like you. I never did," he said quietly. Kelso was the first to move. He walked over and put his arm around Hyde; Eric followed.

"Funny," Eric started, "I always wondered what I did to deserve a friend like you, Hyde." Hyde grabbed Eric's shoulder and pulled him closer in. Kelso got a big stupid smile on his face and wrapped his other arm around Donna and grabbed Eric's other arm. Hyde felt a tear trickle down his cheek but didn't care. Nobody cared because they were all crying a little now. The four of them had been friends since as long as Hyde could remember. They had been through everything together. This just seemed to fit to Hyde, the four of them standing in the home they spent most of their childhoods sharing a group hug that was long over do. Maybe it would even start a healing process and Donna could forgive him. He really needed her to because he wasn't sure Jackie ever would.

Chapter 8