"Jo... why don’t we give it a break and..." Pacey turned around and tugged on the book Joey was holding.

"Nope..." Joey shook her head and grinned, looking down at Pacey who sat on the floor, leaning his back against the couch.

"Please?" Not ready to give up yet, Pacey heaved himself up and lay his head down on Joey’s shoulder.

"Nice try, Pace... but you’re not gonna get a peek at the right answer." Joey furled the soft booklet, effectively screening its content from his prying eyes.

"I didn’t want to peek... I just wanted to be... closer to you," he said as serious as possible although his eyes were telling her something else.

"Uh-huh... tell that your grandmother. Now behave, sit up and let’s go over the last questions." Joey carefully, but with determination, jogged Pacey into a more or less upright position, shielding the answers by raising her knees.

Pacey grimaced and sighed. "Why are you so persistent about this? I know how to drive."

"Yes you do, but tomorrow they’re testing your knowledge of the highway code... you know, the rules you’re always flouting."

"I’m not always flout..." Pacey started to protest but the glance Joey shot in his direction silenced him immediately.

"Okay... maybe I did disregard one or the other... sometimes... now and then... seldom... from time to time... occasionally..." Pacey grinned as Joey rolled her eyes.

"Fine, now that we’ve established your word power... can we concentrate on the right of way again?"

"Okay..." Pacey sighed and started to answer.

~*~

Bessie and Joey moved as soundlessly as possible through the kitchen, trying to avoid any noise that usually came along with preparing a big family breakfast.

Joey yawned while folding some napkins and arranging things on the table.

"I can’t believe they don’t even care about his birthday!" Bessie mumbled, shaking her head while chopping the fruits into small pieces.

"True, but from what Pacey told me... he is kinda relieved that he doesn’t have to spend his birthday there. He seems to believe in some sort of birthday curse or something." Joey giggled quietly and craned her head to glimpse at Pacey who was still soundly asleep.

"Birthday curse?" Bessie raised one eyebrow questioningly.

"Yeah, like how he puked over some girl on his twelfth birthday and everybody called him Pacey Pukey after that. Or how a dog mauled him on his fourteenth birthday, from which he kept the small scar on his cheek. His Dad, well... if it wasn’t for Doug who helped him fight off the dog and who brought him to the hospital...." Joey sighed. She didn’t even want to go there.

Bessie smiled with a touch of sadness and hugged her sister briefly. "I’m sure that after today, he won’t believe in curses anymore." Her eyes wandered over the table. There was a huge breakfast, a birthday cake, adorned with sixteen candles, fresh flowers, which brought some color to this winter morning, neatly folded napkins and toast, sporting a red jelly heart, was waiting on his plate.

"I guess not." Bessie nudged her sister softly in the side and pointed at the kitchen clock. "Birthday or not, your birthday boy has to get up now!"

Joey grinned and walked over to the couch. Pacey had buried his head in the pillow and the blanket was pulled up to his ears.

Carefully gliding next to him, Joey scooted up and bent forward, softly kissing the top his head and then his earlobe before she quietly started to sing, "Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."

Pacey opened one eye lazily but grinned and untangled his arm from under the covers and reached for Joey, pulling her against him.

He had been awake for a few minutes and had heard them plying around with dishes and what he assumed to be their breakfast.

Although he still hated this day, more out of habit than anything else, a small feeling deep inside of him started to grow bolder. Maybe today wouldn’t be as bad as he had thought a few hours before.

"Mhmmm...", rolling over and bringing her on top of him, Pacey smirked, "... a little off, but not the worst way to be woken."

"Duh... see where this gets you!" Joey slapped his chest playfully.

"Hmmm, I would say that will get me a big happy birthday kiss," Pacey announced confidently.

"I wouldn’t be so...."

"Oh yes, I am sure," he finished the sentence for her and winked at her.

"Oh fine..." Letting the tip of her tongue peek out through her teeth, Joey gave in and brushed her lips gently over his, deepening the kiss within seconds.

The low rumbling of Bodie clearing his throat stopped Pacey’s hands effectively from roaming over Joey’s body and both sat up slowly.

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart!" Joey kissed him again and dragged him over to the kitchen.

~*~

"Why are you so... I don’t know, strained? You keep an eye on the door as if you’re expecting the seventh world wonder to come through it any minute," Jen teased and took another bite of her apple, ignoring the main course of their lunch completely.

"Uh-huh." Joey absent mindedly raked around her plate, her eyes fixed to the entrance of the cafeteria.

Jen narrowed her eyes on Joey and crossed her arms in front of her chest. There they were alone for lunch, which was a rare case since usually Pacey and Joey were locked together on various body parts all the time, and normally Jack would sit with them, too. And now, when they had the fleeting chance for nice girl talk, her friend was in some far away la-la-land.

"You know, did I tell you that I plan on shaving my head? Seems like the old Sinead O’Connor style is the latest trend again. Capeside is a little behind on that, so I guess it’s my job to once again open the sleepy eyes of our fellow townies. What do you think about that?"

"Nice, really. Go for it," Joey replied, still staring at the door.

"Oh, really?" Jen rolled her eyes. "And Grams said she’ll dye her hair, something wild... maybe pink with blue dots."

"Yeah..." finally Jen’s voice got through to Joey’s preoccupied mind and she suddenly turned around, raising her eyebrow. "Huh? What did you just say?"

"Ohhhh... you do realize that I’m talking to you? Great, we’re making some progress here." Jen smirked.

"What?" Joey frowned, still not quite sure what they were talking about anyway.

"What’s up with you today, huh? You’re not listening to a single word I’m saying... your eyes are fixed on the door..." Jen explained calmly. At least Joey seemed to listen to her now.

"I’m sorry. Umm... you know, Pacey is taking his driver’s license exam right now... the written test and he should finish any time now," Joey apologized, blushing a little.

"Awww, you’re really his better half, huh?" Jen giggled.

"Right, and where is Jack today?" Joey retorted, smiling widely.

"Gotcha... I’m not really sure, to be honest. And Andie isn’t at school either," Jen sighed. Jack wasn’t like any other guy she had gone out with, not that they actually had gone out so far, but... well, maybe if one counted the Christmas party at the Leery’s, but that was more or less a coincidence.

"Hmm..." Joey was about to reply, when Dawson sauntered into the cafeteria. Their eyes met briefly as he stopped right in his tracks before turning around and dashing over to a table on the other side of the room.

Joey shook her head sadly and studied her food.

"What was that again?" Jen asked concerned. "Ever since Christmas break, there seems to be something very off between you guys. I mean, I thought you were past that. And now it feels worse than being back to square one... without a change over the last three weeks."

"Yeah, I know," Joey sighed and looked at her friend. They hadn’t talked about what happened New Year’s Day, or New Year’s Eve, although Jen had tried to get some information out of her more than once.

"Sooo?" Jen leaned forward, stressing the monosyllabic word as much as possible.

"Curious much?" Joey smirked lopsidedly and put her fork down. She hadn’t really eaten anything, but she was way too nervous for that anyway and she wasn’t hungry either.

Jen supported her head with her left hand and impatiently tapped on the table with her right hand, rolling her eyes. Spending more time with Joey had led to adopting this very intriguing feature.

"You know, I’m immune against the eyes..." Joey giggled.

"Aarghh... don’t make me throttle you! You know, you kept me waiting for weeks now... and I start thinking, no wrong, I’m sure you did something very nasty, didn’t you? And since Jack could very well be the male version of the old, a little uptight Joey Potter, no offense there..." Jen stuck her tongue out and continued, "... and anyway... this old Joey seems to vanish more and more every day...and..."

"Okay, okay, okay... I give in. I might be immune against the eyes, but not against... this!" Joey shook her head and gesticulated towards Jen.

"I knew it... and honey, you don’t want to mess with a bored and curious Lindley." Jen smiled and leaned back contently. "Now spill it already!"

"Okay, umm... see..." Joey looked down and lowered her voice to a hushed whisper. "On New Year’s Eve we, I mean Pacey and I, we did...umm, we did more than before." Joey crossed her arms in front of her, not able to meet Jen’s inquiring gaze.

"You did, huh?" Jen smiled knowingly, scooting closer to Joey, since her voice was just barely a whisper.

Watching her friend beating around the bush while blushing furiously was too cute for words. Jen tried to remember if she had ever felt like that. Maybe not. She waited a while, but Joey obviously had difficulties with telling more. "And? What did you two do?" she prodded gently.

"Jen!" Joey’s eyes widened.

"Joey!" Jen mimicked while winking at her. "Come on, don’t give me that... you know you wanna tell me!"

Joey threw her hands up, attempting to hide behind them. She couldn’t help but laugh.

"Alright, I guess we have to work on voicing your newfound activities... and don’t ‘Jen’ me again!" Jen raised her brow as she effectively silenced Joey’s budding objection, which she could clearly see forming in her eyes.

"Let’s see... you’ve obviously left the kissing-only stage behind you. As well as having your hands, at least somewhat decently, all over each other. So, where are we now? Smooching? Necking, petting... fondling, with clothes, without clothes..."

Joey cleared her throat and shifted uncomfortably on her chair. Why did Jen have to be so blunt about things?

"Without clothes then," Jen repeated as she observed her friend’s reaction to the last suggestion she had made.

"Umm..." blushing even more Joey tried her best to find a loophole that would save her from Jen’s inquisition. Remembering her initial question, she smiled and adverted, "Didn’t you want to know about Dawson and why the situation between us worsened again?"

"Yes, I did." Jen shook her head, knowing all to well what Joey was trying to do. Maybe she would let it slide for the time being. "Although the current topic isn’t without a certain appeal either."

Joey stuck her tongue out and continued unimpressed, "Well, whatever. On New Year’s Day Dawson came over... unannounced I might add... and very early at that. Pacey and I were still asleep, more or less... and when I opened the door... I was just wearing Pacey’s sweatshirt."

"Ohhh.... are you sure we can’t go back to what you two were doing befo..." Jen licked her lips provokingly.

"Stop it, Jen!" Joey interrupted her sharply. "He didn’t seem to get a clue that we wanted to be alone, or he didn’t want to accept that. He just stood in our doorframe. If Pacey hadn’t stepped up behind me, just in his boxers... and I guess that gave Dawson the impression that we had... well, you know?"

"Uh-huh, okay... I guess that wasn’t the start of the new year as Dawson had pictured it in his mind," Jen stated slowly.

"No, probably not." Joey shrugged and sighed. "You know, we haven’t talked since then and frankly... I didn’t want to either. Just the way he looked at me.." shaking her head again she blinked, forcing herself not to cry.

"Aww, Joey. Don’t. He was... possibly still is, hurt. Don’t let him persuade you that you’re doing something wrong, because you’re not, okay?" Jen advised while touching her arm consolingly.

"I know that. I do. It’s just that... whenever we encounter Dawson... whatever we’re doing or not doing for that matter, he reminds me of the personified upholder of moral standards who is ready to give me a sermon. And I emphasize the me here, because he simply ignores Pacey. Really, it’s like he doesn’t exist for Dawson anymore, while I’m on the receiving end of extremely sad glances mixed with looks of reproach. That makes me feel like... a five year old caught red handed swiping sweets from the cookie jar." Joey explained partly exasperated and partly desperate.

For the fraction of a second her gaze met Dawson’s before both looked down. It was obvious that they had reached a crossroad in their friendship. The only question was if it would turn out to be a dead-end.

~*~

Pacey nervously eyed the police officer who moved around the class room, handing back the written driver’s license test to the students. She had seated them according to their last names and so he had to wait quite a while to get his results.

"Good job... well done... not one mistake...." the officer commented each paper as she came closer and closer.

Pacey closed his eyes and sighed inaudibly. It would just fit in with his usual birthday saga to have failed... especially since the day started so unbelievingly promising.

"And finally... Mr. Witter.." the officer stopped in front of Pacey’s desk and looked at the paper in her hand. "That was surprising, really. After all I’ve heard about you from your father, I certainly didn’t expect this result," she paused for effect before continuing, "Two mistakes, but... a decent result nevertheless. Too bad, we really needed another another juvenile delinquent on the road." She handed him his test and smiled despite her harsh remark.

Pacey lowered his head, staring at the grain of the table top, the second the officer had mentioned his father. It took a few moments until the information registered in his mind. He had passed, he had actually passed.

"Yeah, well... wouldn’t want to put Capeside’s best out of work."

"How considerate of you. I’m sure we can have a monthly party out of your future fines for violating each of the Driving Rules."

"Ah, Lady...." Pacey stood up and followed the officer, still staring at the precious paper in his hands, "...again I’d love to be of service there. I know you don’t have a lot of fun at the department. At least one Witter should help to entertain you in your boring work routine."

"Watch your mouth, Witter Junior!" she chuckled and pushed some folders into her briefcase. "Good luck on the practical part... wouldn’t want to be without those promised parties then!"

The officer glanced at Pacey one last time before leaving the class room. Maybe their chief had a completely wrong idea of his youngest kid.

Grinning, Pacey made his way to the cafeteria. Finally his life had taken the right turn at one of the many crossroads. At least he hoped so.

~*~

"Does Pacey have the slightest idea of what you’ve planned for this afternoon?" Jen asked, happy that they could turn away from the unnerving topic of Dawson’s latest - and belated at that - defiant phase.

"No... well, at least I don’t think so. You know, he actually forbid me to give him any presents and he explicitly told me that he doesn’t want a party whatsoever." Joey sighed and muttered, "And all of that because he thinks his birthday is cursed."

"Huh? What was that? Why doesn’t he want a party with gifts?" Jen frowned and leaned closer, unable to hear Joey’s hushed addendum.

"Nothing. Umm, you’ll be there, right? Around 4:30, okay?" Joey propped her head on her elbow, turning towards Jen and again, avoiding Dawson’s stare.

"Yes, sure." Jen smiled and played with her curls, even blushing a little as she cleared her throat. "So... did Jack and Andie give their RSVP’s?"

"Yes they did... although that was before they vanished without a trace. Jack said they would come over for dinner, so that would be at six."

"Great!" Jen smiled, not even trying to hide her excitement. It was a totally new feeling for her. Strange but exciting nevertheless.

"Did you know that Pacey and Dawson were planning to go on a road trip to Maine on Pacey’s sixteenth birthday?" Joey stated suddenly.

"No. That was in another lifetime, huh?"

"Feels like it. Pacey hasn’t said anything, but I’m sure he’s thinking about it." Again Joey pushed the food tiredly over her plate. "They wanted to do that for years and they... we’ve been the three Musketeers for as long as I can remember... and now?" pressing her lips together she fought against the tears once more.

"Have you talked about that? You and Pacey, I mean about the Dawson situation?" Jen inquired.

"Yeah, we did... a little. It’s not our favorite subject. But I guess Pacey is more concerned..."

"I’m concerned? About what?" Pacey interrupted and slid into the chair next to Joey.

"Hey!" Joey perked up immediately and turned her head towards him, flashing a big smile.

"Hey." Pacey smiled, placed his palm against her cheek and kissed her softly. Drawing back again, his whole face resembled a gigantic grin. "Pacey done good!" he announced.

"You passed!" Joey nodded knowingly and wrapped her arms around his neck, brushing her nose against his. "I knew it!"

"Yes! I passed!" Pacey bragged happily and waved the test up and down in front of Joey’s face.

"Can you hold that still for a second, I’m getting dizzy here," Joey complained and eventually grabbed the paper from his hands. It was too cute how he was pleased with his accomplishments, just like a little boy.

"That’s fantastic, sweetie," scooting closer to Pacey, Joey cradled his face in her hands and kissed him proudly.

"Thank you, I’ve been a good student, huh?"

"You did it all by yourself, yes." Joey let her hand slide down to Pacey’s leg, resting it on his upper thigh.

"Not without you, baby." Pacey wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer and kissing her temple affectionately.

Jen watched their physical and verbal exchanges and sighed contently.

"So, what am I concerned about?" Pacey asked and stole a cold French fry from Joey’s plate.

"I swear, he doesn’t forget anything... ever." Joey shook her head and smiled lopsidedly. This special trait was equally a curse and a blessing.

"Nope, never. So?" he confirmed, pilfering another fry. "What happened to your food? Not hungry?"

"Not really, no." Joey sighed and lowered her gaze as Dawson’s eyes shot daggers in their direction again.

Pacey noticed the proverbial dark cloud over her head and looked up, meeting the angry scowl on his former best friend.

Somehow he had hoped that he would stop playing the betrayed, poor boy and get over to wish him a happy birthday. He had really thought they were past this, but they weren’t. It became clearer every day, that the friendship they had held up so long and valued so much was nothing but a lie. A lie that was part of Dawson’s script of life and now that they broke out of their roles, he was literally suing them for breach of contract.

"If he’s watching us like a hawk all the time, he should just come over and say what he wanted to dump on us since New Year’s Day." Pacey squeezed Joey’s shoulder, knowing that Dawson’s mordant behavior was giving her a hard time.

He was actually still having a hard time himself, realizing that Joey was dealing with the silent treatment without blaming him for it in any way, and more importantly without thinking about ending things.

"What do you say about skipping school with me?" he suggested and winked at her.

"Umm..." Joey tilted her head, licking her lips quickly as she seemed to consider this option in earnest, "... no?"

"You were thinking about it, weren’t you?" Jen’s eyes widened as she giggled.

"Not even on my birthday?" Pacey pouted slightly, but he knew she would refuse his offer even before he had spoken it aloud.

"Nope." Joey stuck her tongue out, knowing that he didn’t really expect her to follow through with idea, but that he was a little disappointed nevertheless.

"Oh fine." Pacey sighed, chewing again on a cold fry.

Shaking her head, Joey placed both hands on his cheeks, gently forcing him to look at her. "You know, we don’t have to skip school to do.... this." Smiling at his confusion, Joey kissed him, while moving to straddle him.

After the initial shock had waned off, Pacey tightened his arms around her waist and deepened their kiss.

"Guys, please... hellooo?" Jen tried to be acknowledged but failed miserably, the world around them had ceased to exist.

Sighing she let her eyes wander over to Dawson, who still stared at them. He had risen from his chair, and even from this distance, she could see that his knuckles had turned white, so strong was his hold onto his lunch tray.

In a way she felt sorry for him.

~*~

"Did Doug call yet?" Joey asked nervously, checking the time on her watch again.

"No, he didn’t and you asked me that just two minutes ago. Would you calm down already?" Bessie rolled her eyes and turned back to setting the table.

"But it is almost 4:15 and Jen will be here in about fifteen minutes and Bodie and Pacey will be back then, too and if..."

"Now really. If you keep up with that, you’ll be hyperventilating."

Joey sighed and hopped on the counter. "It’s just, Pacey didn’t want to have a party and he didn’t want to get any gifts and now? What if he doesn’t like it? The party, his..."

"Jo, calm down! Breathe slowly." Bessie placed her hands on Joey’s shoulders and looked deeply into her sister’s eyes. "I’m very sure that Pacey will like the party and I know that he will love his present. Don’t get yourself worked up so much. Or he will have to spend the rest of his birthday in the hospital, because you collapsed."

"Fine. I’m totally calm and relaxed now. Calm as I’ve never been before." Joey took a deep breath and forced herself to smile.

"Fine." Bessie went back to her work only to be interrupted by the shrill ringing of the phone.

"Doug!" Joey exclaimed and jumped off the counter, sprinting towards the phone that was actually much closer to Bessie.

"Breathe, inhale and exhale. Repeat that." Bessie laughed, hoping that it wasn’t just a random call from the telephone company.

"Potter?" Joey answered the phone anxiously.

"Hi, Joey. I just wanted to let you know that I’m on my way," Doug explained.

"You should be, no, better yet, you should’ve been here long ago! Bodie and Pacey can’t be fake-shopping for Bessie for ever!" Joey complained hurriedly.

"Miss Potter, opposed to some people’s opinion, Capeside’s police force does have to work. I’m lucky that I can get off so early anyway. Especially since..." Doug’s voice faltered slightly and he had to clear his throat, "...especially since my father decided on having a roll call."

"Oh, okay, I’m sorry." Joey frowned, she wondered how the Witter kids came to be the people they were with a father like that. On the other hand, was her father that much better?

"Yeah, okay. I’ll be there in about five minutes."

"Great. See ya." Joey hung up. "Doug will be here soon."

"Told you so, sis. Don’t fret so much." Bessie patted Joey’s back and placed the last plate on the table.

Five minutes later the honk of a car announced Doug’s arrival. Both Potter sisters headed outside and glanced curiously around the corner, behind the house where he parked.

"Hey ladies, what do you say to this beauty?" Doug got out of the car and gesticulated with his arms, mimicking the run-of-the-mill touting behavior of a used car sales person.

Joey and Bessie exchanged meaningful glances and moved closer.

"Well... the umm... outside isn’t that bad...." Joey muttered carefully.

"Yeah... some patches of rust, though." Bessie added and pointed to a prominent spot next to the right front turn signal that marred the old dove-blue coating.

"Ladies, ladies..." Doug rolled his eyes. "This is a minor problem and besides that, it’s a project car. It’s part of the whole fun to get this baby fixed up again."

"And we can’t expect a perfect car with our limited pecuniary resources." Joey reminded her sister as she opened the door to the passenger seat to take a peek inside.

"Oh well, the interior does need a lot of work, too," she sighed. "Are you sure that my present will work in this car?"

"It will, don’t worry. And as I said, the way is the goal." Doug chuckled. "What do you think, hadn’t we better get inside now? If I recall correctly, you were worried that our dear birthday boy would be home soon."

"Right. We just have to attach the bow," Joey turned around and made a beeline for the house and appeared seconds later with a giant blue-white bow.

"You don’t really want to do that, do you? You can’t be serious." Doug grimaced painfully.

"Yep, I am. Don’t pull a face now. It’s a present and it has to look like it," Joey insisted stubbornly.

~*~

"Why can’t we go and have a peek at the car? I’m so curious," Jen pouted and reached for the chips, which earned her a smack on the hand from Joey.

"Because we’re waiting for Pacey and the rest of the guests to get here and don’t want to ruin the surprise. The same goes for the snacks and dinner."

"My, aren’t you bossy tonight."

"Whom are you telling that?" Doug smirked. "A wonder that she’ll let us to have a drink."

"Careful there, you might give her ideas." Bessie nudged his side playfully while balancing Alexander on one arm.

"Would you stop picking on me? I’m just trying to...." Joey started to defend herself.

"Yes, we know. Remember the breathing process?" Bessie interrupted.

"Fine," Joey huffed and smoothed invisible wrinkles out of her tight red v-neck sweatshirt. She had bought it with Pacey and today seemed to be a good opportunity to wear it. "Where did you send them anyway? It’s almost five o’clock now."

"I simply told Bodie to take as much time as possible. I thought that was what you wanted?" Bessie sat down on the couch, thankfully handing the baby to Doug. In a twisted way those Witter brothers seemed to have a magical touch when it came to deal with kids.

"Yeah, but soooo long?"

"Joey, patience is a virtue," Mrs. Ryan pointed out, nursing a cup of tea.

"And absence makes the hear grow fonder," Jen chimed in.

"And you should know all about that, Jen, shouldn’t you? Since certain people haven’t been around too much lately, right?" Joey narrowed her eyes on her friend and used her sweetest as possible voice.

"Gotcha," Jen muttered, ducking her head. She had almost forgotten how it felt to be on the receiving end of some Potter-daggers.

Satisfied with her retort, Joey peeked out of the window, wishing she they would finally come home. It was getting darker and darker outside. What if they couldn’t see the car anymore, well... not properly at least.

"There... they’re pulling up! They’re here!" Almost jumping up and down, Joey stepped away from the window and let the curtain fall back again.

"Thank god! It wouldn’t have been pretty to witness Joey’s antsy temper for much longer." Bessie grinned and got up to turn out the light.

"Funny, Bessie, really funny," Joey groused.

"Hush, sis. Wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, remember?"

"You know, I kinda start to wonder why we had to get all these... things today of all days." Pacey shook his head and nodded towards the heavy bags he was carrying. "There’s nothing in there that would be needed any time soon."

He really didn’t want to complain, he just didn’t get it why they had to go shopping the second Joey and himself had returned.

"You should never ask about sense and purpose when a woman wants to shop or orders you to do it. Generations of men have gone mad, trying to find any meaning in this. You just have to go with the flow, kiddo. It’s a lot easier to get along with the fair and gentle sex." Bodie chuckled. Although he knew about the sense and purpose in this special case, it wouldn’t hurt to teach the boy some age old wisdom.

"Hey, could you open the door please? I’m feeling a little handicapped here." Bodie shifted the two bags he was holding.

"Yeah, sure." Pacey frowned a little, since he was lugging the same load, but managed to free one hand to open the door.

Surprisingly, the house was dark and silent.

"Apparently everyone has flown out..." Pacey muttered disappointedly, but as he stepped inside, five big sparklers were lit up and their holders shouted on top of their lungs, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!"

Pacey’s eyes widened as he took in the sight before him. Bodie switched the light back on and took the bags Pacey was still clutching, placing them on the floor against the kitchen counter.

Joey walked over to Pacey, wrapping her arms around his neck and placed a sweet kiss on his lips. Nuzzling his neck she whispered, "Forgive me? I know you didn’t want a party or anything..."

"No, but thank you! I.... I don’t know what to say." Pacey pulled her closer, circling her waist with his arms. As much as he despised birthday parties, well... parties for his birthday, but this was... nice, really nice.

"Alright, you’re so not supposed to get this, and I hope that Doug will turn two blind eyes on this, but since I know he wasn’t any different on his sixteenth birthday..." Bessie presented a tray with seven champagne flutes, filled with bubbling sparkling wine.

"Hmm, since I’m off duty and nobody is going to drive..." Doug winked at Joey, "... I think one small glass won’t do any harm."

"Ahhh, how liberal, Dougie." Pacey quipped and took two flutes off the tray, handing one to Joey.

"I have my moments, little brother, I have my moments."

Pacey nodded slowly. As strange as it was, he felt much more comfortable with his brother. Even their little intermezzos were much more affectionate lately.

Once everyone was provided with a glass, they toasted to Pacey, again wishing him all the best.

"Jack and Andie will come over for dinner in a while," Joey explained, checking her watch again and contemplating if they should wait for them to give Pacey his present, or if they should use the small amount of daylight that was left.

"Really? I think I have to revise my attitude towards birthdays." Pacey dragged Joey over to the couch and sat down, pulling her on his lap.

"Yeah? Why is that?" Joey grinned and relaxed a little.

"I don’t know, I think my girlfriend has something to do with that."

"Hmmm, is that a good thing?" Joey tried to get more comfortable, but knew that she was way too hyped to be content.

"Definitely a good thing. Stop wriggling around, sweetie... we have guests." Pacey smirked, but placed his hands on her hips, stilling her movement.

"You have guests, but okay..." Joey blushed, knowing by now what effects she had on him.

"Why are you so... I don’t know...erratic, maybe?" Pacey furrowed his brows.

Joey blushed. Why was it that he could read her like an open book? Of course, she did act nervously. "Umm, okay, well... you know, the party is only a part of your surprise."

"Part?" The furrowed brow changed into a raised brow.

"Yeah." Joey stood up and turned towards Doug. "Umm, guys?" raising her voice she asked for everybody’s attention. "I know that we’re still expecting Andie and Jack and that we planned on waiting for them to present Pacey the rest of his surprise, but since it isn’t getting any brighter outside and we have to go outside.... I think we should do just that now."

"Yay, finally!" Jen jumped up and almost danced towards the door.

"Jennifer, child... it’s not your birthday," Mrs. Ryan reminded her granddaughter gently.

"Duh, I know that, Grams. But I’m allowed to be happy and excited nevertheless, ain’t I?"

"Does she know more than I do?" Pacey asked curiously.

"Maybe..." Joey let her tongue peek out between her teeth and chuckled.

"I hate to tell you that, brother..." Doug placed his hand heavily on Pacey’s shoulder and continued in a solemn voice, "... everybody knows more than you do."

"Nice," Pacey muttered and followed Joey out the door.

"Maybe we should blindfold him?" Bessie suggested with a devilish sparkle in her eye.

"Noo, not that!" Pacey exclaimed in a panic. There was a lot he could endure, but not being blindfolded.

"Okay, just close your eyes, trust me, honey." Joey reached up and covered his eyes with her hand.

"Uh-huh," sighing deeply, Pacey gave in to his fate and let her guide him.

They walked a few steps to what had to be the left side of the house and then they stopped.

"What about spinning him around a little?" Jen suggested playfully.

"In your dreams, Lindley," Pacey grumbled and grabbed Joey’s wrist lightly. "Don’t you dare!"

"I won’t. Okay, count to ten and then open your eyes." Leaving a kiss on his cheek, Joey stepped back and removed her hand from his eyes.

"Eight... nine... ten... opening my eyes now!" Pacey announced while lifting his eyes.

Again everything was silent around him as everybody waited for his reaction. Although the sun had set, he could still see enough.

Right there before him stood a car. An old car. Topped with a big bow. A Plymouth Satellite, probably from its last year of production, 1974. Exactly one of those cars that he loved. One he had admired in old police shows. It couldn’t be true, could it?

Pacey’s mouth fell open in blank astonishment as he turned around, the big question marks in his eyes almost tangible.

Big smiles greeted him and he was rendered speechless. "Umm... what... I mean, huh?"

"Just to witness you surprised and speechless is wonderful," Doug said and walked over to his brother.

"What did you do?" Pacey’s eyes were circular and unbelieving.

"Well, it’s your sixteenth birthday today and it’s a Witter tradition to get one’s first car on that day. I got mine from Pop, umm....and since that’s , umm... obviously that’s not going to happen, for whatever reason... and therefore...." Doug explained.

"But... that’s too expensive, Doug... I can’t accept that." Pacey shook his head, as much as he would like that car, it was way too much.

"Maybe you should take a closer look, Pace." Doug grinned. "It’s a project car, little brother. It does run, but it needs a hell of a lot of work. Enough for several months and you’ll have to invest some of your hard earned money, too. So don’t worry about it. We got it almost for nothing."

"We?" Pacey’s voice sounded strangely weak, even to his own ears.

"Yes, we." Joey miraculously produced a package from behind her back. "Although we didn’t exactly chip in for the car itself, we have something to contribute to this project. Happy Birthday, Pace."

Pacey took the package from her and ripped the wrappers apart. "A CD player? For the car? Jo.... thank you!" Pacey hugged her tightly. He felt so overwhelmed with everything. "I mean, thank you and all of you..."

"You haven’t seen what we got for you, yet.... since we left it inside," Jen remarked dryly.

"Doesn’t matter. This is already unbeatable. It can’t possibly get any better. So, thank you for celebrating my birthday with me, for throwing me a party.... this is, yes.... I think this is the best birthday I ever had, so... thank you." Pacey finished his little impromptu speech and exhaled. He was sure it couldn’t get better than this.

His brother had given him a car, a car for Christ’s sake. This was definitely not the way he had expected this day to be. Not by any means. For the second time on this day he felt that he had reached a crossroad. His parents weren’t there, nor was the person he had seen as a blood brother for many years, but it pointed in the new and best direction he could have ever imagined.

"Whoa, already time for monumental speeches? And there I thought I would be here earlier than I planned." Jack had walked up to them, unnoticed and suddenly cleared his throat.

"Jack, hi!" Jen couldn’t help but greet him a little too enthusiastically.

"Hey, Jackers, no... you’re not too late. And how the day is going... I’m sure there will be a lot more monumental speeches in tow.

Jack smiled, but quickly turned serious again. "Yeah, well, about that... look, umm..." he sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Thank you very much for the invitation today, but I’m afraid I only came here, to tell you that Andie and I can’t join you. She’s... she’s not feeling very well. Actually, we had to go to her doctor today, so that’s why we weren’t at school."

Jack lowered his head, obviously feeling very uncomfortable with talking about it. Jen searched his expression, trying to find a way to help him. She was disappointed that he wouldn’t stay, but she was more sad to see him so helpless and hurt.

"No problem at all, Jack. Thank you for coming here. You could have just called..." Pacey tried to put him at ease, sensing that there had to be a bigger problem.

"Nah, I couldn’t do that over the phone." Jack smiled lightly and pulled an envelope out of his pocket. "Happy Birthday, Pacey... and I, ... we hope this can help you with your project."

"Thank you, man." Pacey accepted the envelope and nodded. A quick glance inside revealed a voucher, to be redeemed at Capeside’s car shop. "That’s... thank you very much... and tell Andie to get well soon again."

"I will, thank you and have a great night all of you."

"See you tomorrow at school?" Jen asked lightly, but concern was etched deeply on her face.

"I hope so." Jack glanced at her, smiling just a little to let her know that he appreciated her efforts. He wished he could talk with her about it, be he couldn’t. Later, maybe. "Bye, guys." Nodding a final time as everyone said their goodbyes as well, Jack turned around. Even if it was too soon to tell, he was sure that moving to Capeside was the right decision. From all the roads they could have taken, this was the one that might have been the best choice in a very long time.

"Let’s get back inside, you have to look at your other gifts, and dinner just waiting," Bessie ushered everyone back to the house.

While the others followed her lead, Jen remained where she was, staring after Jack. She felt as if she had reached another crossroad in her life. For the first time it mattered to her to find the right way.

~*~

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