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Back to the 70s	By : Wicked_Chocolate Category: S through Z > That 70's Show Views: 5728 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own That '70s Show, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Back to the 70s
Pairings: Jackie Burkhart/Steven Hyde (main), Donna Pinciotti/Erik Forman, Fez/Nina Bartell, Michael Kelso/Brooke Rockwell
Rating: M / X / NC-17 for future chapters for swearing, violence, blood and sexual content.
Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘That ‘70s Show’ or any of its characters. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED!
A/N: Hey there! This is my first FanFiction for ‘That ‘70s Show’ and I hope you’ll like it. This will practically rewrite the show because I hated Season 8 but I have to admit that many problems already started in earlier Seasons. In later chapters I will use quotations from episodes since I am rewriting them but there is none of that in this chapter. Look out for an old friend from the ‘It’s a wonderful world’ episode though.
Please leave a comment; even if it is criticism, I’m striving to get better after all. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Donna’s Birthday
Madison, Wisconsin
February 13, 1980
10:47 p.m.
Location:
Eric and Donna’s apartment
Jackie laughed as she watched Donna and Hyde fight over the last piece of cake. The lumberjack would win of course, she always did and hey – it was her 20th birthday after all. They were all here in Eric and Donna’s apartment in Madison where they started College this year, to celebrate.
Even Michael came from Chicago, bringing Brooke and Betsy with him. It was amusing to see Michael making funny faces at his daughter to keep her from fussing while Brooke changed her diaper. She was so glad that Brooke gave Michael another chance and they tried to be a real family. They weren’t living together yet but Michael stayed with them as often as his work would allow and fatherhood seemed to be good for him. He wasn’t chasing after every skirt anymore and slowly but gradually he was maturing, even though part of him would always be the same old Michael – a doofus, but a lovable one.
On the other side of the room she saw Fez and Nina dancing. That had been quite the surprise and then again ... was it really? After all the problems they had to even make their first kiss special it always seemed so weird to act like a couple. They were living together but all the other things … the kissing, the cuddling, making out … it was so forced. They couldn’t even bring themselves to take the next step and have sex and for Fez that certainly said something.
Over the course of January they had to realize that they loved each other, but they weren’t in love. She was his goddess and he was her Fezzy but they were only friends. It was hard to come to terms with that, after all Fez had chased and lusted after her for all those years and she had made that list for the perfect man and he fit it perfectly.
Of course hat list wasn’t very accurate. It contained all the things she wanted in a man because she wanted to be spoiled like a princess like she was used to and after all the pain in the last year she thought she deserved it.
The truth was that she listed what she wanted, but not what she needed in a man. She knew what kind of man she needed, one that challenged her and made her want to be a better person, made her stand up for herself but still protected and cared for her.
Right now this man was fighting over a piece of cake.
She knew she still loved Steven, she never stopped loving him no matter how angry she was with him or how much he hurt her. It was different than with Michael or Fez.
Michael had been her first boyfriend and she thought she loved him but it was just a teenage crush, an infuriation with him and she liked the picture of them together. Of course they weren’t right for each other but with Michael she had always known what to expect and she was in control, something that had slipped out of her fingers more and more over time, so she had always fallen back on him because even with all the cheating and the ups and downs it was still the safe option because it was the known option.
It had shaken her to the core what Steven’s kiss made her feel on Veterans Day. It was just too much and she wasn’t used to this. If Michael had been able to hurt her so bad when she didn’t even feel half as much when he kissed her, then Steven would be able to devastate her if she let him in and that’s why she lied to him and said she felt nothing. Now she knew that Steven was the only man she ever truly loved, but you always know better in hindsight.
Of course Steven said the same that day but then again what did she expect? That was Steven Hyde she was talking about. Why would he admit he felt something if a girl told him she felt nothing? That would hurt his pride, he was cool and aloof, he was Zen. He had already risked that reputation by going out with her in the first place.
He had hesitated, she remembered that and looking back it hurt her that she destroyed that chance.
Later she had gone back to Michael, back to what was safe and known and she had clung to him to distract herself from Steven. It hadn’t been fair to anyone. Knowing what she knew now she would do so many things different, she wouldn’t risk losing Steven again but it was too late now, that much was clear. Too much had happened between them to ever try going out with him again. There was just too much baggage on both sides.
Besides they were finally becoming friends again after all that happened, it was still a little uncertain but they were on a good way. For the first time in forever they were on the same page about something and she wasn’t about to disrupt that shaky truce.
Deep down both of them had wanted the same things … but never at the same time! One was always chasing the other or pushing them away, it was a vicious circle that they couldn’t break out of. It got him acting like his good for nothing white trash parents for a while and her sweeping hair in a salon as a going nowhere career.
At that moment Donna pushed Hyde away and ran into the kitchen to eat her cake before he could interrupt her again. He laughed looking after her and turned around to see Jackie watching him. She smiled lightly and he nodded to her before grabbing himself a beer and going after Donna to annoy her a little more.
Most people wouldn’t think much of it but this kind of peaceful acknowledgment was an improvement from all the arguing and fighting before.
Shaking her head Jackie forced herself not to dwell on Steven anymore and looked back to Fez and Nina. They looked really cute together just as they did years before, but back then Fez hadn’t been ready to give Nina the space in the relationship she needed, after all she was his first real girlfriend, they even had their first time together.
Nina couldn’t take all that pressure at the time, Fez trying to get closer and closer, being around her at work and in her free time, while her parents resented the fact that she went out with a foreigner. She was in over her head with the whole situation and it put too much strain on their relationship for it to last at the time.
Jackie herself had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that she had been wrong again about a guy and had forced Fez to give this relationship a chance, when they both could feel that it was going nowhere. They both knew it but they didn’t want to admit it, so they didn’t talk about their problems and ignored them instead, growing more and more apart with each day until one day at the end of January, Fez went to a party, got drunk and slept with his old girlfriend that he met there for the first time in forever.
He confessed it to Jackie the very next day and apologized sincerely because he never wanted to hurt her. That moment was the final clue to Jackie that they never really were a couple. Yes she was hurt, but she was hurting because they didn’t end the relationship before, because they had fooled themselves, she wasn’t really mad at Fez for cheating. Though she wasn’t really happy about it either of course, here was another boyfriend who couldn’t stay truthful to her… with Michael it was while they were serious, with Steven it was when he thought he had been cheated on and they were over and with Fez it happened because he knew it was over, even if they didn’t acknowledge it.
They had talked about it and finally confessed that this dream of a relationship that they had built together was just that, a dream. In reality they were just friends, very good friends and roommates, but nothing more.
Jackie even talked to Nina because the other girl felt terrible about being the ‘other woman’ and explained to her that Fez and her relationship had been over before it had even begun and that she would be really happy for them if Nina decided to give their relationship a second try, because she knew that Fez had loved her back than and had missed her very much.

So for the last two weeks the two of them had been dating, taking it slow this time to prevent previous mistakes, but Jackie couldn’t help but think that in a few months she might had to find a new roommate, because they would decide they wanted to live together before long and she would be happy for them.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Eric sat next down to her and handed her a new drink. She smiled grateful as she took it.
“So what is going on inside of that devilish head of yours?” Eric asked jokingly.
He and Jackie had become pen pals when he was in Africa and she never sugar-coated anything that had happened back in Point Place. Sometimes it hurt but he preferred the truth to the happy stories his mother tried to invent for him. When he came back he had a lot to sort out, his relationship with Donna, with his parents, even with his friends and then there was College and getting a part-time job and an apartment, it all got mixed up together last month, but through it all he was happy to notice that his friendship with Jackie continued where it began in their letters.
They still teased each other of course, it’s just who they were. She was still the devil and he was the scrawny useless neighbor boy.
“Oh … you know me and my men, my lack of a career and the mess that my once perfect life has become”, she said with a wry smile, “the usual, Erica.”
“Yeah … look if Kelso and Fez can get their act together than so can you. Hell even Donna and I are finally doing something right. Maybe you should try this TV thing again; I mean Chicago isn’t the only city with a television network, and maybe you and Hy—“
“No!” Jackie interrupted him, “Eric please … we had so many chances and we always screwed it up. We should have started very differently to make it work and it’s too late for that now. I’m just happy we don’t hate each other anymore and are trying to be friends. Please … please don’t bring that up again, okay?” She whispered so nobody would hear what they were talking about. She grasped Eric’s hand: “Promise me you won’t!”
Eric looked from their hands up to Jackie’s face. Her features were carefully constructed to appear calm but he could see the pain in her eyes and sighed. “Okay … I promise.”
“Thank you Eric.” She smiled and hugged him, really thankful that he respected her wishes.
“Man Jackie, are you trying to get Eric too? Hey Donna, I would watch your boyfriend if I were you!” Kelso laughed pointing at the two of them on the Couch. It wasn’t exactly his best joke but it could have been worse.
Still Brooke admonished: “Michael!” and slapped his arm.
Jackie rolled her eyes and let go of Eric. “Shut up Michael, as if I would be interested in a scrawny guy like Eric.” She said winking at said guy.
Eric shook his head and laughed: “Yeah I’m proud to be the only one untainted by the devil Kelso.”
Donna came out of the kitchen and hit Kelso on the head, officially ending that topic, before going over to Eric and giving him a kiss. She sat down next to Jackie and said: “Yes this stick boy is mine and mine alone.”
“Hey.” Eric exclaimed but Jackie who sat between them just laughed, glad that there wasn’t any tension in the air. Michael was sucking up to Brooke, holding Betsy between them like a peace offering, Fez – after making sure that everything was alright with Jackie and Donna – just threw them a smile and started dancing with Nina again, who enjoyed herself very much. Even Steven just stood in the kitchen entrance and watched them with a smirk on his face.
“Well as fun as this all was, I think I will hit the road. It will be nearly 2 a.m. before I’m home and unlike Fez I don’t have the day off tomorrow.” Jackie said, placing the rest of her drink on the table. It was the truth, it would take about two and a half hours until she was back in Point Place, but she also didn’t want to be here at midnight.
“I had to get the day off! I want to spend every minute of Valentines Day with my lovely Nina.” The foreigner said, kissing his girlfriend on the nose who giggled: “Oh, Fez.”
Yes. That was exactly the reason why she didn’t want to be here at midnight. It would officially be Valentines Day, a day she once described as the holiest of days but that now only left a bitter taste of loneliness in her mouth.
Fez would be fawning over Nina even before they returned home, Eric would do something disgustingly sweet for Donna and Michael would take Brooke to their hotel room while Steven agreed to babysit his goddaughter Betsy for them since he had his free day tomorrow and would be sleeping on Donna’s and Erik’s Couch.
She would have helped with Betsy, since she was her goddaughter too, but she wasn’t too hung up about the fact that work gave her an excuse for not spending Valentines Day night with her ex-boyfriend.
“Oh Jackie are you sure? You could stay here too, you know? I still have a sleeping bag in our closet and I really don’t like the thought of you driving to Point Place all by yourself at night.” Donna worried and hugged her little brunette friend.
“No, I would just have to get up real early to get back home in time for work and I don’t have any clothes here either. No way will I look all rumpled at work. It’s no problem I’ll be careful.” Jackie promised, hugging her friend back, giving Eric a clap on the knee and finally got up to get her things.
Pulling on her jacket she waved at everyone in the room and smiled. “Hey, have a nice evening guys. Happy Birthday again Donna! Bye!” she quickly left the apartment hearing her friends calling their good-byes to her before she closed the door.
Taking a deep breath she left the building and got into her car to drive home. She put on the radio and hummed to ‘Mamma Mia’ while she drove along the dark streets.
An hour into the drive the streets were practically deserted except for her. Great as if she needed to feel even more alone…
‘Stairway to Heaven’ came on and she couldn’t help but hum along with it. There was a time when she wouldn’t have recognized a Led Zeppelin song if her life depended on it but now she knew them all … she even began to like musicians like Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, KISS, AC/DC, Pink Floyd and many others. Quite an accomplishment on Steven’s side, she never got him to like ABBA after all.
She sighed as she felt tears welling up in her eyes as she listened to the music that reminded her of secret nights on Steven’s little cot in Eric’s basement, cuddled up to her boyfriend and listening to his music to fall asleep because he wouldn’t let her play her own.
No! No! No! No! No! She promised herself she wouldn’t think about it anymore! They were finally becoming friends again and with Eric, Donna, Michael and Brooke in other cities and Fez and Nina becoming an item again, she sure as hell could need a friend in Point Place.
If she really wanted to get rid of that remaining strain in their conversations, she couldn’t allow herself to think of them as a couple anymore! It’s what she told Erik and she meant it.
She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn’t see the lights that were coming her way really fast, in time. When she did she cursed, what that idiot was doing, driving on the wrong side of the road, she didn’t know. He must have been drunk or something and either didn’t notice he was coming right at her or didn’t care because he didn’t slow down or stop.
She had no other choice than to jerk the steering wheel around to drive around him.
It worked and she didn’t crash into the other car but she lost control of her own and drove right into a big tree. She screamed and everything went black.
She didn’t know how long she was out, but when she woke up her head was lying on her bloody Airbag and her whole face hurt. She must have hit her nose because she could hardly breathe through it and it would explain the blood she could see through her blurry vision. Thoughts and feelings came back slowly and they brought a lot of pain with them.
Her head felt terrible and her safety belt dug uncomfortable in her body, she definitely hurt her rips in some way. Her legs were trembling and her knees hurt like hell.
When she finally could see a little bit better she lifted her head and had to moan. God her neck! It felt like someone had hit her with a metal rod or something. The windshield was in broken pieces before her and the way the metal of her hood was piled up against the tree didn’t look any better. There was smoke coming out of it … she had to get out of this car.
She loosened her seat belt with shaking hands and grabbed the door handle. It took a few moments that felt like an eternity but she finally got the door open, only to lose strength and fall back on her Airbag, while the door fell close again.
“Ah! Damn … that hurt…” she could barely recognize her own voice, it sounded like she swallowed an ashtray and it felt like that too. She could taste something metallic … her own blood.
After a few deep breaths she straitened up again and pushed against the door with as much strength as she could muster. Seconds later she stumbled out of the car, barely able to keep herself upright. Still she had to get away from the car and get help. Maybe another car would drive by, she definitely wasn’t strong enough to walk to the next phone, instead took one slow step after another in the direction of the road.
God every step felt like she was weighed down with stones in her pants or something. The air was cold and her whole body was wrecked with shivers. She was slowing down and as she looked desperately down at her own feet she noticed a big sharp piece of glass that was sticking out of her belly. It must have been from the broken windshield … but how didn’t she notice it before? Shock … she was in shock but as soon as she saw it the pain seemed to finally register in her mind again, she could even feel her own blood running down her legs. ‘Gross’ was all she could think and her legs finally collapsed. She fell to the cold ground and had just enough strength left to turn on her back before she couldn’t do more than suck in shaky breaths.
Tears gathered in her eyes as she stared into the night sky. She couldn’t believe it would end like this, on a cold dirty street, all alone, just because this stupid idiot drove on the wrong side. He should be laying here not her! God she was just 18 years old! She was too young and too beautiful to die. A sob escaped her dry lips and she could practically feel the life draining out of her.
Why didn’t she listen to Donna? She could be with her friends right now safe and sound, just because she didn’t want to spent the night babysitting with Steven … right now she would kill to be with him again. Oh … there was so much left unsaid between them.
At least with Michael and Fez she had some kind of closure and she was getting closer to Donna and Eric again. Hell she even got along famously with Brooke and Nina and before she had left Point Place she had had lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Forman and had gotten a call from Bob in Florida… well at least her last day had been a nice day …
Steven … she should have fought for him when she still had the chance, there were so many situations when her own mistakes, her pride, her upbringing and her fears stopped her from acting on her feelings or at least like she should have. They both made so many mistakes but she still loved him more than anything else in the world and their last good-bye had been a nod and a slight wave.
If she could, she would do everything differently, preventing the mistakes that took their relationship downhill, even if it meant putting her own needs aside more, she had been selfish far too often. God she would even take that stupid hurtful Haiku Steven once told her again, if she could get another chance out of it.
“Well I guess you deserve one.” She heard the man in the bright white suit who stood next to her say in a considering voice. – Wait, what?!
She slowly looked up into his face and he smiled slightly. “Help.” She croaked out, who the hell cared where he came from, she needed help.
His smile vanished and he sighed. “I actually come from the opposite direction”, he said while pointing up at the sky, “and you are beyond help my dear.”
“I’m … dying.” She choked out between sobs. She already knew it but having it confirmed like this …
“I’m afraid so. Listen we don’t have much time, well actually you don’t have much time left but fact is I’m an angel okay? And before you start doubting me like you’re scrawny little friend that was whining all the time – here! I can float on air and I have a nice halo around me, see?”
Jackie watched as his body began to fly above her, surrounded by blinding light. “Eric?” she whispered confused. Why would this angel know Eric? He never had a near death experience.
“Yeah the one who is head over heels for the redhead – oh sorry she is a blond now, isn’t she? Well I came to him when they broke up and showed him how life would have been for you all if he and Donna would never have kissed. It wasn’t pretty, believe me.”
She could actually believe that. Back than Eric and Donna were the center of the group, kind of like the glue that held them all together. She could still remember the tension at the beginning because Steven liked Donna and much worse, later when Donna and Eric had broken up.
“Right, I mean I should have been there to give the rest of you a few ‘What if’ scenarios but I got kind of caught up with a few other angels … but really … I’m not there for two years and you all screw up so badly, what’s wrong with you kids?” he exclaimed loudly.
“I mean the others are slowly returning back on track where they should have been long ago but you and that guy with the Aviators … seriously! How can six people make such a mess for everyone else? You and your stupid ex-boyfriend bouncing back to each other again and again, endangering your relationship with the Afro-guy, him sleeping with nurses and getting married to a Stripper?! You comforted yourself with the foreign kid and before that, he married that Laurie girl. They gave her father a heart attack that he shouldn’t have had! The whiny one had to go find himself on another continent and your mother using that Bob guy … and that Donna girl getting all bitchy and dating the older Kelso and that idiot with the hair. Your stupid Michael screwing around with Angie instead of staying with Brooke. All those things weren’t exactly planned for you guys.” He stopped his rant to look down at her, probably seeing how she shed even more tears now that she knew that all those horrible things weren’t meant to happen but still did.
“Hey kid, come on. Stop crying please.” He knelt beside her and softly brushed her tears away. “Look, for most of you it’s starting to work out again. I know it sucks that it didn’t for you and that you’re dying but that’s why I’m here. Everything got screwed up and I’m not only referring to the last month, all this chaos had been a long time in the making. And since it’s kind of our fault up there that it even got this far, it’s important that you listen to me now okay?”
Jackie couldn’t get anything out, this whole situation was so surreal, and she was probably hallucinating from the blood loss, even though part of her couldn’t help but cling to the hope that he was right and that all those shitty things that happened weren’t actually planned like that.
“You’ll get your wish; with all the messes you kids created you could probably need someone in the group who knows what happened to stop certain events. You deserve this chance but don’t be selfish. Look out for yourself but try to think of the others too. There are so many things that could have been prevented with a little encouragement and a little talking, even the first break up of your little friends. Guide them all as best as you can. I don’t expect you to do wonders; if you kids knew what you were doing you wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. Also remember that you can’t help everyone, some people are mature adults and have to pay for their crimes and live with their own decisions. Just help where you can give advice and try to be happy. This is your last chance girl.” He said seriously.
It was too much to take in and she still didn’t know if she believed he was real but she nodded anyway. It sounded good after all, even if it turned out to be a hallucination or coma dream or something. Why shouldn’t she feel a little hope before she died? She felt so tired…
“I must say you wished for an interesting starting point but I can see the merit in it, just don’t screw it up this time and keep in mind that everything you do can change the things you remember.” He touched her forehead and his hand started to glow. “It’s okay, just let go now. It will be over soon and you’ll get your chance. Use it wisely.”
Jackie couldn’t help but close her eyes against the light before her face and all the pain seem to vanish. She was warm and even though she couldn’t explain why or how, she knew it was midnight, the start of a new day and she felt something she hadn’t in a long time.
Peace.
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Back to the 70s