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Date Night, Interrupted
“Jackie, we’re not going to the Opera, I don’t think you need to stress about your hair so much,” Hyde said to Jackie as she fixed her hair in the mirror. He was already dressed, in a nice pair of jeans (no rips), and a button-up shirt. Jackie looked like she was ready to attend a symphony in a beautiful black dress, her hair in a neat pile on top of her head.
“I know, Steven, but this is our night. We haven’t had a night alone in so long, not since Katherine almost broke Red’s TV. She’s still banned from sleepovers there, despite Kitty’s efforts. Every time she goes into their living room, I swear I still see Red flinch.” Jackie put the final pin in her hair and turned to Hyde, who was sitting on their bed.
She walked toward him, and stood between his legs, “Don’t you like me all dolled up?” she batted her eyelashes at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and looked up at her, “Of course I do, I just don’t want you to make us late, we have reservations, and then I have my own plans with you.” He smirked at her, and she rolled her eyes, pulling away.
“Well, I’m ready, I’m just gonna go check on Kit,” Jackie said. Hyde watched her as she walked out of their room.
“Are you all packed, Kit Kat?” Jackie asked, walking into Kit’s room.
Kit had just finished zipping up her suitcase, and hopped up to give her mom a hug, “I’m ready!” She was excited, Jackie noted, but that didn’t mean Jackie wasn’t worried.
There’d been a reason, after all, that it had taken them this long to allow her to stay over at Betsy’s house. Usually, they’d take Betsy for the night if the girls wanted a sleepover. But tonight, Kelso had finally convinced them that they deserved a night off, that he could handle both girls, that she’d been fine and no one would be set on fire.
Kit titled her suitcase up on its wheels, “Are we leaving?”
“In a few minutes,” Jackie said, doing a visual sweep of the room to make sure Kit hadn’t forgotten anything crucial.
“You look really pretty, mommy,” Kit said.
“Thanks baby,” she kissed the top of Kit’s head, and noticed that Kit had left her stuffed unicorn, Mr. Sparkle Face, laying on his spot on the bed. “Don’t you want to bring Mr. Sparkle with you?” Jackie asked Kit.
“No, stuffed animals are for babies,” Kit said, making a face.
Jackie crossed her arms, “Who told you that?”
“Jesse,” Kit replied. Jesse was Betsy’s cousin, he was older than Kit, and younger than Betsy. He and his dad, Casey, lived in the same massive house as Kelso and Betsy. “I’m not a baby, I don’t need Mr. Sparkle Face. This is my first big girl sleepover at Betsy’s house, so he stays.”
“Are you sure?” Jackie asked Kit, “You always sleep with him, remember when we accidentally left him at Grammy Kitty’s? We had to go get him in the middle of the night.”
“Mommy, that was a long time ago, I’m seven now.” Kit said. In reality, it had just been a year ago, but Jackie wasn’t in the mood to argue with her.
“Okay, just remember that you chose to leave him here.” Jackie said, “Okay?”
“Yes, can we go now?” Kit asked, rolling her suitcase toward the door.
“Yes,” Jackie said, following her out of her room.
“Daddy! Let’s go!” Kit called to Hyde.
Later that night
Riiiiiiiiing
“Hello?” Jackie said absentmindedly into the phone, the lift in her voice from the wine she’d been drinking was obvious. Hyde was pulling her toward him, she smiled and leaned back against him. Dinner had been amazing, they'd taken their time enjoying their alone time. It’d been so long since it’d been just them.
“Mommy?” Jackie heard her voice, just above a whisper, come through the line. She immediately sat up, her mom mode activating in less than a second.
“Kit Kat, baby, are you okay?” She asked, trying to sound more sober, not that Kit could probably tell anyway, especially over the phone. But Jackie remembered back to when she was little, hearing her mother drunk, whether in person or on the phone, was never a pleasant experience. She didn’t want that for her daughter.
As soon as Hyde heard Jackie say Kit’s name, he put down his beer he’d just poured into a glass. He hadn’t had a sip yet, he’d let Jackie drink her wine at dinner, but he’d stuck to soda. Someone needed to make sure they got home safe, and Jackie deserved her fancy wine at her fancy dinner. He leaned forward, trying to hear the phone conversation.
Kit didn’t say anything, but the line wasn’t dead, so Jackie asked, “Kit, are you there?”
“Yes,” Kit was so quiet on the other end, her usual vibrancy and volume dimmed by what Jackie assumed was the dark and an unfamiliar place.
“Jackie, is she okay?” Hyde asked near Jackie’s ear.
Jackie pulled the mouthpiece down by her neck and covered it with her hand. “I don’t know, she’s not saying anything.” She said to Hyde.
“Let me talk to her,” Hyde held his hand out for the phone. Jackie handed it to him, he’d always had a special bond with Kit. If there was something wrong, he’d be able to get it out of her.
She leaned in toward Hyde, straining to hear the conversation as he’d done to her.
“Kit, are you hurt?” He asked seriously.
He heard Kit sniff once, and let out a breath, “No.” She said, slightly louder than when she’d been on the phone with Jackie. Hyde was relieved to hear that she wasn’t hurt, that had been his main fear, sending his daughter off to stay with Kelso. He knew that Betsy was still in one piece, but he was almost positive that the Kelso genes had some sort of injury resistance, considering how many times Kelso had fallen off the water tower. Still, there had to be a reason why Kit was calling so late at night, she should be asleep by now.
“Do you want to come home?” he asked, he’d call it a night with Jackie, if he had to, to make sure Kit was okay. No matter how much he wanted his child free alone time.
There was a pause in the line, “No,” came her firm answer.
“What’s the matter, then?”
“I left Mr. Sparkle Face at home,” Kit said.
“Do you want me to bring him to you?” He asked, and Jackie hit him lightly on the arm.
“Steven, no, she chose not to bring him.” Jackie said. She knew he was talking about the stuffed unicorn currently sitting on the bed. She knew it had been a bad idea to let Kit leave it behind, but she’s been trying to show Kit that there were consequences for things she did.
“No, just say goodnight to him so he’s not scared. Goodnight, daddy,” Hyde knew Kit had heard Jackie through the phone, and that was the reason she'd said no.
“Goodnight, Kit Kat, we love you, and we’ll see you tomorrow.” Hyde said.
He hung up the phone and turned to Jackie, “I’m gonna bring her stuffed unicorn to her, I think she’s homesick.”
“Steven, she specifically told me earlier that she was too old to bring her ‘baby toy’ to her first big girl sleepover,” Jackie said. “I asked her if she was sure. She said she was.”
“Jackie, she’s only seven, she probably didn’t think it through,” Hyde said.
“But Steven,” Jackie whined, “Don’t you think she’ll be fine? It’s just one night, and she’s not hurt, and she doesn’t want to come home. Let’s go back to what we were about to do.” She raised an eyebrow suggestively.
“As much I would love to do that,” Hyde said with a sigh, “I will feel a lot better knowing Kit’s asleep,” he kissed Jackie’s lips, “and then we can go right back to where we left off.” He kissed her again, deeper, running his hands down her arms.
When he pulled away, Jackie said, “Fine. You know, you baby her.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Hyde smiled, “Come on, let’s go bring our girl her stuffed unicorn.”
Jackie shook her head, but grabbed her coat to get in the car, finishing off her wine before leaving and putting Hyde’s beer back in the fridge.
“Okay, I got the unicorn, let’s go,” Hyde said, holding up the white and purple unicorn covered in embedded sparkles.
They hopped in the car and made the short drive over to the Kelso’s. Jackie was playing with the radio and singing along badly to the music.
“Wow, no more wine for you,” Hyde joked. He pulled into the driveway, putting the car in park.
“Am I really that bad?” Jackie asked.
“No, you’re cute,” Hyde replied and leaned over to kiss her.
“Maybe I should stay in the car, I don’t want her to see me tipsy,” Jackie said as Hyde started to open his door.
“You’re just worried if you see her, you’re going to want to bring her home,” Hyde teased Jackie.
Jackie smiled, “Yeah, okay, that too. Just be quick!”
“I’ll be right back, and then I’m going to bring you to our spot, like old times.” Hyde closed his car door and walked up to the large house, holding the unicorn.
He rang the doorbell, and it took a couple of seconds before Kelso opened the door.
“Hey, man, what are you doing here?” Kelso asked, “And what’s with the unicorn?”
“Kelso, you idiot, you didn’t notice Kit come downstairs and use the phone?” Hyde had at least expected Kelso to have facilitated the phone call after trying to calm Kit down, apparently that hadn’t been the case. Apparently, his daughter was more self-sufficient than he’d thought.
“Uhhhhh, no,” Kelso said.
“Just let me in, Jackie’s waiting in the car,” Hyde said.
Kelso moved out of the way and watched as Hyde climbed the stairs toward Betsy’s room.
Hyde quietly opened the bedroom door, he didn’t want to wake the girls up if they were asleep.
As soon as he opened the door and stepped in quietly, Kit sat up in her sleeping bag. “Daddy, you brought him!” She whisper shouted. Hyde looked over at Betsy, she was fast asleep.
He made his way over to Kit carefully and squatted down next to her. “I said goodnight like you said, but he couldn’t fall asleep without his Kit Kat hugs, so I just had to bring him over,” he lied. He didn’t want to make her feel bad for wanting her comfort item, she was still a little kid.
“Thank you.” She said, taking the stuffed unicorn from him, squeezing it tight.
“No problem, now he’ll be okay, right?” Hyde asked, though he was really asking about Kit.
Kit seemed to understand and nodded and gave him a hug.
“Goodnight, see you tomorrow,” Hyde whispered, giving her a kiss on the head.
She waved to him as he left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
“Everything okay?” Kelso asked as Hyde descended the stairs.
“All good, can you keep Kit until the afternoon? Our night was interrupted, so Jackie and I might take our time getting here in the morning.” Hyde asked, making his way to the door.
“Sure,” Kelso replied.
“Bye,” Hyde put a hand up as he left through the door.
He got back in the car, and Jackie was nodding off against her hand, elbow propped up on the door.
She startled awake when Hyde closed his door. “She okay?” Jackie asked.
“Yeah, she’s good, are you?” Hyde smiled.
“Yeah, yeah, you said you were gonna take us to our spot?” She yawned.
“Let’s go home and go to bed,” Hyde started the car, and started driving back to their apartment.
“This was supposed to be our night,” Jackie pouted. “Why am I so tired after just a couple of glasses of wine?”
“It still was, doll, and as for the wine, we’re just not 18 anymore,” he laughed.
“Are we old?” Jackie’s eyes went wide.
“No, 26 is not old,” Hyde replied.
Jackie breathed a sigh of relief, “Oh good, I don’t think I could handle being old.”
“Let’s go to sleep, and we don’t have to pick Kit up until a little later, so we can spend the morning finishing off our night.” Hyde put his hand on Jackie’s thigh.
Jackie smiled, “Deal.”
“Are you mad that I wanted to bring Kit her stuffed animal?” Hyde asked.
“No,” Jackie replied.
“Even though she said she didn’t want it earlier?”
“Well, what were you supposed to do? Leave one of your girls in distress?” Jackie said, “That doesn’t sound like you, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor.”
“Okay, okay, that’s enough. Let’s go to bed.” Hyde shook his head as Jackie just smiled at him.