Joey lay on her back and stared at nothing in particular. It started to get light and if she turned her head she’d have been able to check the time, but she didn’t care. The night hadn’t been easy for neither of them.

After leaving Dawson’s dock they drove to the B&B and retreated into Joey’s old room. Sleeping wasn’t a possibility though, despite their exhaustion they couldn’t fall asleep but turned the current situation and its problems over and over in their heads.

Simply holding each other and resting with closed eyes gave them at least some much needed comfort. Around two a.m. Pacey finally dozed off, but he was restless, shifting around until Joey wrapped her arm around his waist and put her head on his chest. Although not awake, Pacey calmed down and pulled her closer against him, letting his arm linger around her shoulders.

They stayed like that for the rest of the night and Joey couldn’t remember when nature won the battle and made her eyelids close themselves. She didn’t dare to move because she didn’t want to wake Pacey and she knew that his slumber was only light.

Tracing random but soothing patterns on Pacey’s chest she listened to his steady heartbeat. She had no idea of what to do yet, or of how to help him and Dawson, but she knew that they would do it together.

Suddenly the need to stretch her tired limbs became overwhelming and Joey carefully, so that she wouldn’t wake him, extracted herself from Pacey’s embrace.

Raising her arms above her head she yawned and arched her back before scooting up the bed again. Joey rolled over to her side and propped her elbow against the pillow, resting her head in her hand and gazed down at Pacey. Although he was still sleeping a frown had appeared on his forehead and his now empty left arm was splayed across his chest.

She couldn’t remember when it started, but she found herself watching him sleep whenever she had the chance and she loved it. He usually looked so peaceful and just like the little boy that was still somewhere inside of him. Exactly that mixture of the adult and boyish Pacey was what she loved so much, despite everything else.

The concept of letting him sleep as long as possible started to vanish into thin air the longer she gazed at him. Maybe she could simply place a soft kiss on his forehead to make the frown go away. Or she could kiss his chin...or his cheeks... and...

Joey sighed. If she were to do that – any kissing that is – she wouldn’t be able to stop and thus she would wake him.

She was still debating if she should risk waking him up or not, as Pacey cracked one eye open and glanced at her indecisive expression.

He had been awake for a little while, but he didn’t let it show when he felt her eyes on him. Through hooded eyes, only opened to a minimal slit, he watched her and couldn’t help the flutter in his stomach when he realized that she was watching him sleep. Little gestures like that, or maybe not gestures but actions, sprinkled throughout their relationship showed that this was it, that they were real this time.

You know you love someone when you spend the entire night, just sitting by the fire, watching him sleep.

Gram’s wise words echoed in his mind as if she’d spoken them just the other night and not already three years ago.

Back then it had only been him who watched her sleep, but now Joey was obviously watching him, too. It was a good feeling to know that, especially right then.

"Are you doing it or not?" he asked finally, almost shocking Joey who stared at his lips.

"What?" Joey straightened and frowned, blushing slightly because she had been caught ogling him.

Pacey’s eyes sparkled as he opened them both, wide awake now. "Kissing me."

"And what makes you think I want to kiss you?" Joey raised her brow but had difficulty keeping a serious expression.

"Well, I know that gaze. You can’t fool me," Pacey grinned cockily.

"You’re so full of it. Maybe I was just checking if you, sleepyhead, were finally awake," Joey mocked, lowering her eyes.

Pacey rolled his eyes in return, completely seeing through her thin and useless disguise. "I’m waiting..."

"Oh well, keep waiting then, because..." Joey rolled over to her left side as if ready to step out of bed and yawned just for emphasis, "That’s not gonna happen."

"Uh-uh..." Pacey growled and lunged for her, grabbing her around her waist and pulling her back on the bed, while moving himself partly above her. Having effectively trapped her, he took his time to study her slightly red face.

"Now, where are your manners, Miss Josephine? It’s not nice to not say ‘good morning’."

"Whatever," Joey grumbled, still hating to be called by her first name, and smirked at the same time. "At least I got you awake now."

"Yeah..." Pacey nodded almost defeated. Maybe she really didn’t want to kiss him.

Joey saw shadows washing over his eyes and sensed that he was about to move away from her. In the matter of a second her teasing had turned sour somehow and she needed to put a stop to it.

There was this old saying that you should never go to bed being mad at each other. And she wasn’t, a little hurt still, but not mad at all.

"Hey..." snaking her arms around his neck, she raised her head and kissed his lips softly, before mumbling against them, "Good morning, Pace."

Not letting go of him, she sank back against the pillow and simply brought him down with her. The moment she felt him relax against her and kissing her back, she was ready to face the new day. Regardless what it might have to offer.

~*~

"You know, staying at the B&B instead of Dougie’s apartment has one perk after another," Pacey announced, spitting some toothpaste into the sink.

"What was that?" Joey peeked out behind the shower curtain, smoothing back her wet hair.

"I said that..." Pacey straightened and turned around, not really expecting to be confronted with a wet and naked Joey.

Although most of her was hidden behind the multi-color curtain, seeing her head, hair and left arm caused Pacey to swallow visibly.

Clearing his throat he waved slightly back and forth between them. "Perks... I said, staying here offers one perk after another."

"Ah. Does it now." Joey grinned knowingly and reached for the faucet to turn it off.

Stepping out of the tub, completely unabashed, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body. "I dunno... of course, my old bed beats your brother’s couch, but being rushed out of bed to the bathroom by my dear sister, just so that we don’t disturb the paying customers, and forced to share the precious hot water..."

"Which is exactly what I’m talking about." Pacey held his razor in his left hand, ready to shave, but too distracted by the exciting view Joey was offering to handle a sharp object like that without the danger of hurting himself.

"Need some help?" Joey looked pointedly at the razor and cocked her head to the side. She loved the effects she had on him. Sometimes she would still blush because of it, but when it came down to it she felt immensely flattered.

"Sure..." Pacey swiftly turned the razor and offered it to her, but couldn’t resist the opportunity to tease her, "But remember that Bessie’s idea was to hurry us to get ready."

"I’ve had some practice. It’s not like I wouldn’t know what to do."

"That’s what I’m afraid of... you knowing what you’re doing to me." Pacey winked at her.

Rolling her eyes, Joey sprayed some shaving gel into her palm and rubbed her hands together, turning the thick liquid into a nice and fluffy white mass. "Right now you’d better shut up and not move. You know the drill."

"Yes, ma’am." He almost saluted, but Joey’s raised brow and the sudden splash of foamy gel for sensitive skin, right over his mouth stopped him from every witty come-back he might have been able to come up with.

Pacey put his hand lightly on Joey’s waist and directed her back to the tub while she continued lathering his face.

They moved synchronously until he could sit down on the brink. Joey stepped in between his legs and bent over to turn the faucet on so that she could rinse the blade before using it.

Before leaning back again to start shaving, she kissed the top of his head and used her index finger to raise his head a little. "Let this be the beginning of our next winning streak," she whispered.

Pacey exhaled and gazed deeply into her eyes, silently agreeing.

~*~

"So..." Joey started slowly as she leaned back, her weight resting almost entirely on her elbows.

"So..." Pacey repeated and squinted against the bright sunlight. As nice as the day had begun for them, he knew that the hard things had to be discussed. Knowing that didn’t stop him from stalling though and his idea to move their breakfast out to the Potter dock and turning it into a little picnic could have been considered as a part of this endeavor.

"Pace..." Joey sighed and nudged his leg gently with hers.

"Jo..." Pacey attempted a little smile and returned the light touch. Stalling was good, very good.

"You know that playing ostrich and burying your head in the proverbial sand doesn’t help you, me or anybody for that matter, right?" Joey sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. "And besides that, not even ostriches do that in order to avoid dealing with reality or whatever else is weighing them down. They are just..."

"Eating. I know. See, our invested extra time in biology was good for something. And speaking of eating... would you like another cup of coffee?" Pacey asked, ready to get up and make a beeline back to the house.

"No! And stop stalling already. That’s pathetic, Pace." Joey’s voice rose a bit in proportion to her rising frustration.

Pacey lowered his head and rubbed his eyes. Pathetic indeed. He was a wretched and sorry specimen of the human species.

Joey watched his expression change and could almost see what was going on behind his eyes. In awfully bright neon-colors to be exact. She licked her lips before worrying the lower one with her teeth.

"Pace, look at me... please?" she asked pleadingly and put her hand lightly against his neck. She didn’t want to force him to look at her, but she needed the physical contact to show him just what she meant.

It took a few seconds but he finally managed to tilt his head and look at her.

"You are not pathetic... your way of avoiding difficult things and situations is. And..." Joey wasn’t quite sure if she wasn’t making everything worse with her attempt at explaining herself, but she had started this little speech and now she had to finish it. "It’s okay to be scared and insecure every now and then but you have to work on that. Things don’t go away by ignoring them, sweetie."

"Yeah." Pacey kissed Joey’s wrist softly and let his cheek linger against her palm. "You’re really done with running, aren’t you?"

"Yep, completely." Joey bit her lower lip and regarded him carefully. "You’d better be through with that bad habit, too."

"Me? I’ve never been..." Pacey started to object but Joey’s dangerously high arched eyebrow told him to shut up quickly. "Yeah... okay, maybe I did."

Both fell quiet for a few moments and watched the soft movement of the water. It was almost motionless, especially in comparison with the ocean waves. Somehow it didn’t seem appropriate to be that calm when everything else in their lives was in so much turmoil. On the other hand, extremes met all the time and maybe that was exactly what kept the world in motion.

"I don’t know what to do, Jo. I just don’t know," Pacey finally broke the silence, but kept staring blankly at the water. "And perhaps that’s a sign, right? We both know that I’m, well...I’m kinda famous for my notorious ability to ruin everything that I started. Be it personal or on business. If you think about it, whatever you’ve been plotting in that pretty head of yours – and don’t start denying it, because you have, I’m sure you have – we’d all be better off if I just didn’t do anything. Literally, I might be destined to live my life lying on the couch, indulge into stupid TV shows, maybe cook lunch or dinner once in a while..."

Joey’s lips couldn’t help themselves but morph into an amused grin. "You’re a moron and if I didn’t know better I’d almost throw you a big pity party."

She knew that, although spoken with a hint of black humor Pacey really did believe in being a lost cause.

Pacey sighed, "So I’m not even getting that?"

"No, you might get a party once we’ve sorted everything out and..."

"You do have a plan, don’t you?" Pacey cocked his head to the side and waited expectantly.

"Maybe a sketch of a plan, yeah... and it will..." Joey started to explain but was interrupted by the bright voice that was wafting over from the house.

~*~

"Hey, good morning!" Audrey yelled and waved as she walked towards Joey and Pacey.

"What timing..." Pacey muttered and scooted closer to Joey to make room for the blonde.

"Shush," Joey whispered, not wanting Audrey to feel like she was intruding. She was, but that was beside the point and she wondered what had brought her over that early.

"Hey," Audrey greeted them again and plopped down on the warm wood. "Wow, that’s... hot and hard." She frowned and shifted around to get comfortable.

"You did not just say that..." Joey snorted and shook her head.

"Huh? What? What did I say?" Audrey’s frown deepened and she glanced from Joey to Pacey and back again, obviously absolutely clueless.

"It’s okay, Aud... don’t worry." Pacey tried to assure her, but was grinning, too. Usually she was well aware of each and every innuendo and normally she’d use them quite well. It was highly amusing to see her that innocent.

"No... you’re laughing and I wanna know why?" Audrey wailed but her attention was quickly drawn to Joey’s coffee.

"Nevermind..." Joey took a deep breath and pushed her mug towards her. "Not quite awake yet, huh?"

"Not at all... or rather not yet, since I couldn’t sleep last night." Audrey grabbed the mug and inhaled the rich aroma.

The brown, nearly black liquid immediately revived her spirits and even more so since it was almost cold. Despite the early hour it was already warm, too warm and walking over from Dawson’s house got her uncomfortably hot as well. Sun went with sandy beaches and sweet idleness. It didn’t mix well with walking exercise at times where you should roll over in bed and dream one more dream before facing the world.

"That bad?" Joey asked softly.

Audrey nodded and put the mug down, playing with it to distract herself. "Yeah, we didn’t really talk after you two went home. Actually, Dawson didn’t even come down and instead of him spending the night on the couch, I stayed there. By the way, late night shows are highly overrated."

Pacey sighed and resumed staring at the water. So much for that.

"I’m sorry," Joey mumbled and touched Audrey’s arm comfortingly.

"You should stop apologizing for things that have nothing to do with you." Audrey blew out some air and took another big sip of coffee.

Joey removed her hand and blushed, unsure of what to do or say. Deep down she knew that Audrey was right. She wasn’t responsible for what Dawson did or didn’t do. She never had been and it was time to let that go, too.

"Anyway, I thought I could be the wiser one and make the first step, so I went up to him and..." Audrey shook her head and sighed. "He was taking down all his movie posters and his mother and I came just in time to stop him from demolishing that big Capeside model."

"Not again..." Joey muttered and glanced at Pacey.

"It happened before?" Audrey asked surprised.

"Umm, sort of, yes. Or rather twice. The first time he packed his camcorder and every filming device away after he lost against the daughter of our old high school principal. And then, over the summer when Pacey and I were sailing, he picked up photography and removed everything from his life that remotely reminded him on us." Joey rubbed her temple in hopes to ease the headache she felt was coming up.

"Such a drama queen," Audrey snickered. "And right, I forgot to mention that..." she visibly ducked before continuing, "He mumbled something like never wanting to see any of you again and that his whole script was nothing but bogus, because there was no such thing as friendship."

Pacey chuckled miserably. Of course, Dawson had to pull that card again. He had expected it more or less, but somehow he had hoped he had grown up a little.

Joey chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip. After all his behavior simply confirmed the idea she already had before Audrey showed up.

"Well, I think we have to show him how wrong he is," she declared firmly.

"By doing what?" Pacey stared at her with furrowed brows.

"Calling the troops," Joey smiled and stood up, taking him with her.

~*~

"Why are we doing this?" Audrey sighed and put the receiver down for the first time in nearly two hours.

Joey stopped scribbling on her notepad and glanced up. "Huh?"

"Seriously. Why. Are. We. Doing. This?" Audrey pronounced every single word with emphasis and gesticulated wildly. "I mean, he insults and hurts all of us, blames everyone but himself and is nothing but a spoiled brat. Yes, a damned spoiled brat and I know what I’m talking about, being a tad overspoiled myself."

"I don’t think that’s a real word, sweetie." Joey let her pencil roll to the side and stretched tiredly.

"Who cares?" Audrey huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "So why are we doing this?"

Joey tilted her head and finally rested her head in her open palm. "Because, deep down we know that he is hurt himself, even if it’s wrong to act like he does, we can’t stop caring because we are friends. All of us would do the same for anyone of us. We might fight with a passion that’s bordering on killing wishes, but we love each other just as fiercely. Once you’re in this circle, you’re in it for life, despite some silent treatments thrown in once in a while."

"Wow, I didn’t expect such a detailed explanation. You thought about that before, haven’t you?"

"Yeah, more often than I’d have liked to," Joey sighed.

"This isn’t just an incestuous little group, this is like your average mafia family," Audrey tried to joke. "No way out and punishments are an inside job, too."

"Now that’s a little too crass, Liddel," Pacey waltzed back into the kitchen, having overheard the last part of their conversation.

"You’re biased and brainwashed," Audrey retorted and grinned.

"How much coffee did you have?" Pacey asked solemnly and raised his brow ominously.

"Lots of, why?"

Lowering his voice to a mysterious whisper, Pacey put his hands on Audrey’s shoulder, "It’s in the water, baby."

Audrey gasped and stared at Joey who nodded confirming, "The creek, the water... busted."

"Now that we have that cleared up... did you two do anything besides chitchatting while I was gone?" Pacey pulled the chair next to Joey back and sat down.

"Look who’s back to his usual annoying self," Joey complained. "I don’t know, I think I liked your guilty, itself up-beating – self better." Of course she didn’t, she was thrilled that Pacey slowly but surely, found his way to being himself again.

She gazed at him for a few seconds and revised her last thought. He wasn’t just back to being himself again, he was back to an improved version of himself. In the past he would have taken for granted that he was a failure, something that was still haunting him from time to time. The latest setback serving as a reminder to that and for a couple of days she had feared he would give in. Maybe he had, but now, seeing him so active, especially after their talk in the morning, she knew that he was ready and willing to fight.

"What?" Pacey licked his lips nervously, not feeling so good under Joey’s intense scrutiny.

Joey smiled and scooted closer to him, cradling his cheek in her hand. There wasn’t much she could say at this moment. "I love you."

Pacey grinned widely. If she kept telling him that she loved him, she could stare at him as long as she wanted. Always. "Love you, too."

Joey touched her forehead against his and planted a soft kiss on his lips, completely forgetting that they weren’t alone and busy with a whole different thing.

"Oh please!" Audrey groaned and rolled her eyes as the lovebirds’ gaze finally met hers. "Can we go back to the task at hand? And, newsflash: If I’m not getting some... you aren’t either."

"See, there’s the melodramatic touch already," Pacey teased and continued nuzzling Joey’s neck.

"It’s getting worse and worse," Joey chuckled but took mercy on their friend when Audrey sighed and worried her lip. "Okay, you’re right. Mission Impossible is waiting."

"Uhh... first rule: No movie references. Second rule: No references to freaky, delusional, small men. I take personal offense to that – besides, I’m much better than that and as long as I’m onboard here," Pacey declared determinedly.

Joey snickered and let her tongue peek out behind her teeth. Personally she agreed wholeheartedly with Pacey. Tom Cruise did nothing for her, never had and never would. It was probably true after all what people said about smallish men and their delusions of grandeur. Even a quick look at the world’s history proved that. She couldn’t understand how women could feel attracted to men like that. Money?

Shaking her head she tried to focus again, but couldn’t help herself but take another last jab, this time towards a not that small guy, "Mission Oompa-Loompa, then?"

Pacey nearly doubled over with laughter. They could get older and older, grow-up even, but this nickname would stay forever. "You got it, Mission OL – we need to keep it under cover."

"Right," Joey laughed and held her already aching sides.

"You know that you’re crazy, right?" Audrey glared at them, drumming her fingertips impatiently against the wooden table.

"You ain’t seen nothing yet, baby," Joey smiled sweetly. Suddenly everything felt so good to her. Despite the inhospitable circumstances responsible for what they were doing, she started to enjoy every second of it.

"We’re not crazy, we’re gifted," Pacey acceded calmly but his eyes were sparkling.

"Uh-huh, sure. Especially you, right? What’s your gifted talent? Cockiness?" Audrey crossed her arms and continued to stare at them with mild disdain. She failed to recognize any positive or amusing point to their situation.

"Tsk, tsk..." Pacey shook his head, "look at this and be amazed." He fished a brand-new notebook out of his pocket and opened it.

"While you two had a nice time over here, I checked some things, visited a few people..."

"Cut to the chase!" Audrey bellowed in a hushed voice, which diminished the desired effect immensely.

"As you might know, we’ve already one summer’s worth of filming under our belt and we didn’t actually have a budget back then either. So I pulled strings, worked my charms and got us equipment for free, well... almost free."

"Would you get to the point already?" Audrey wasn’t up for any guessing games. Although she was awake now, her earlier grumpiness hadn’t totally vanished yet.

"Advertisement. Promise people they get mentioned in the credits of a local indie film or maybe even a little cameo and they’ll do almost anything," Pacey’s grin widened even more. It was true, selling things to other people, no matter what, seemed to be his calling.

~*~

The scene was like a faded memory souped-up with the latest Technicolor and a few minor changes in the props, garnished with new and just tiny wrinkles here and there, even a single grayish hair that hadn’t been there in the original.

And the background wasn’t identical either. No white, too big house in the background and no creature from the creek trying to pull an unsuspecting girl down into the depths of its cold home.

Joey smiled and squinted against the sunlight, waving at Jen as she climbed out of the yellow cab, that was most likely the very same that brought her to Capeside all those years ago. As always some things changed while others stayed the same.

Jen pushed a meddlesome strand of her short hair back behind her ear and waved back at her friend before helping Grams out of the car while Jack was busy retrieving their luggage from the trunk.

Joey sat the teapot down on the picnic table they had once again turned into a small banquet table and when she turned back at them, Jen nearly jumped at her, hugging and almost suffocating her in the process.

"Whoa, you missed me, huh?" Joey finally breathed.

Jen sighed, stepping back and Joey realized that she looked incredibly tired and pale. "You have no idea."

"Hey," Joey touched Jen’s arm softly. She knew that the last days, weeks almost, had been hard on her. Taking care of Grams certainly took its toll and C.J.’s sudden plans of moving to New York to finish his studies there weren’t helping at all.

Jen shrugged and glanced at the creek. It was strange, but somehow this little, quaint town had become her home. "It’s good to be back...home," she whispered and let out a breath of relief.

"Who would have thought, huh?" Joey smiled, understanding her feelings all too well. "How is she?"

Jen cocked her head to the side and watched Grams taking in the so very familiar scenery as well. She wondered if it had been wrong to accept her giving up her house to move to Boston with her, just because she was too scared to do it without her.

"Not too bad, actually. It’s her week off the therapy and she was so excited to spend these days in Capeside."

"Do I smell Bodie’s blueberry pancakes here?" Jack asked happily, already licking his lips in anticipation as he intruded Joey and Jen’s bonding moment rather abruptly, slumping his arms on their shoulders to gather both girls in a bear hug.

Jen and Joey looked at each other, rolled their eyes and finally erupted in laughter.

"Home sweet home," Joey sing-songed, freeing herself from Jack’s grip on her shoulder to hug Grams, who joined them for a second breakfast.

"Where’s the rest of the gang?" Jack muttered barely understandable due to a big bite of pancake.

"You mustn’t talk with your mouth full, dear," Grams chided softly, but her eyes smiled and sported a certain sparkle that hadn’t been so prominent lately.

The radiotherapy was exhausting and she had never been as tired as during the weekly cycles. She was in good hands though, her doctor was wonderful and she didn’t feel left out or ignored in her own treatment. Having spent hours online for research, she and Jen had read so often that patients felt helpless, didn’t understand their therapy because doctors failed to explain it or were simply not interested in regarding ailing people as being on par with themselves.

No, she wasn’t complaining. The ways of the lord were unfathomable and she wouldn’t let an illness, no matter how severe, get her down. Sometimes she had silently questioned if she’d be able to see and experience Capeside again and there she was.

Taking a deep breath she enjoyed that she felt... nothing, no pain and no difficulties with breathing at all. Of course, that was mostly due to the fact that she was on her off week, but still she loved to think that it had something to do with being home.

~*~

"Dawson?" Audrey kicked the front door close and plopped the various files she got from Joey down on the sideboard in the foyer.

The house was cool and quiet... way too quiet for her liking. Silence was something she could do without and after spending most of the day at the B&B, discussing, joking and out in the sun, she felt the difference multiplied.

"Dawson? Helloooo?" she tried again but was met with more deafening stillness. "Right... what was I thinking," sighing she sauntered to the kitchen and retrieved an icy coke from the fridge.

Sipping and humming nervously Audrey climbed the stairs. Although she wasn’t graced with any response at all, she was pretty sure that Dawson was home and brooding in his room.

Pushing his ajar door wider open she found him exactly where she had suspected him to be: lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling and surrounded by several cardboard boxes.

"Exhausted from... I don’t know... performing extreme tabula rasa on your room?" Audrey took in the vastly change the room had suffered while she was gone.

Dawson sighed deeply but didn’t even look at her and kept his eyes fixed on the blank ceiling.

"Cat got your tongue on top of that?" Audrey asked pointedly, growing more and more tired with Dawson’s diva-esque attitude. Leaning back against the doorframe she was glad that she had at least the can to play with.

"I need to think. My whole life just went down the drain... again and there’s nothing I can do about that. Have you ever felt that way?" Dawson muttered frustrated. "I guess not."

"No, of course not... staring at the bottom of each and every bottle in a 200 mile radius is a joyride. Worshipping the god of porcelain is my preferred religion and snubbing your friends with your drunken rants is the latest idea of fun. Yeah, I don’t know nothing about lives going down the drain," Audrey replied sarcastically.

"I really don’t appreciate you mocking me – now at all times." Dawson finally turned his head and stared at Audrey with a hurt expression.

"Excuse me? You can’t be serious," Audrey exclaimed and shook her head. "And just for your information: the role of the eligible resident drama queen has already been cast – and you simply don’t meet demands with your little demonstration here."

"Right, what did I expect, huh? Where did I get the idea from, that a girlfriend should support her boyfriend? Actually... that has to be a dead wrong rumor, ‘cause history already taught me that I can never rely on any so called friends, especially not on female ones who are drawn to..." Dawson sat up and crossed his arms defiantly in front of his chest.

"You’d better stop right there or you’ll live to regret the past seconds... believe me!" Audrey yelled and put her coke forcefully down on the box closest to her, not caring that the spilled fluid immediately seeped inside.

"Whatever." Dawson shrugged and turned his eyes away from her. "Where have you been anyway? When I woke up you weren’t here. You could’ve helped me... clean the room from all those... phantasmagorical remnants of years of daydreaming..."

"As tempting as that would have been... tending to your wallowing, drowning-in-self-pity-self... I think I did something much more productive, sweetie," Audrey forced herself to calm down and moved over to the bed.

Opening his mouth to protest, Dawson was promptly silenced by Audrey who hushed him with a single glance.

"Despite your distorted perception of your friends and your life, your enormous brattiness and obliviousness to the things that really matter..."

"I’m not oblivious or bratty... don’t you ..." Dawson dissented vehemently, scooting away from her.

"Interrupt me one more time, darling, and you finally will have a reason to yammer!" Narrowing her eyes, Audrey rebuked him for the umpteenth time within the past twenty-four hours. Another thing she got rapidly tired of and something that added to the developing headache that bothered her since she set foot in the house earlier.

"Your friends are not and won’t give up that easily. If you’re ready to take in and throw away anything that ever meant something to you, your friends are not. And boy what friends you have there."

"So you’ve been with them? All day long?" Dawson jumped up and paced the floor, not believing that yet another of his girlfriends was betraying him like that. "You went to them?"

"Yes I did, I went to our friends, as in my and especially your friends, who, – for reasons that are beyond me, given your current display of idiocy – spent their free time to come up with a plan to help you!"

"Oh I think I’ll pass on that one. Don’t you think they have helped enough already? I don’t need them to help increasing the damage that’s already been done," Dawson stopped pacing and almost stomped his foot like an irate five year old.

"No, I don’t think so and therefore we’re going out... now." Audrey stood up as well and set her arms akimbo, showing clearly that she wouldn’t tolerate any objections.

"I don’t think so," Dawson mimicked her posture and glared at her.

"Too bad, because we are going," stepping forward she grabbed his hand and pulled, making good use of the moment of surprise and marched towards the stairs.

"Stop fussing around. Your mom awaits us at the restaurant," Audrey demanded and silently added that Ms. Leery wasn’t the only one waiting for them.

"I do not want to go."

"But you are, even if I’ll have to kick you there." Maybe he was a spoiled kid, but she would show him what real stubbornness looked like.

~*~

"I don’t know what to say, really. You’ve put so much effort in his project even though he’s been less than cooperative. Although he’s my son, I do know that he can be quite difficult to deal with," Gale smiled warmly and distributed drinks to the group.

"Umm... well, that’s what friends do. And you know that it’s sorta my fault," Pacey cleared his throat and cast a quick glance at Gale. On the one hand he knew that those things happened every day and that it was just the way the stock trade was. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, but more often there were losses. On the other hand he was the one who decided in which stocks Dawson’s money went into.

"Pacey, I know that you’re beating yourself up about that, but it most certainly isn’t your fault. You invested Dawson’s money with the best of intentions. I have no doubt about that. After all it was Dawson’s decision to raise money as quick as possible and to take those risks. Don’t forget that, honey."

Gale flipped the now empty tray under her right arm and let her left hand linger on Pacey’s shoulder. Despite being Dawson’s mother and feeling very sorry for his loss, she couldn’t stand witnessing Pacey’s turmoil. After all she had been a mother to all three of them. More or less at least.

"Thank you," Pacey mouthed not able to help his instant blushing. Gale wasn’t the first to tell him this, but besides Joey, her statement was among those that meant the most to him.

Joey had overheard the little exchange and shared a smile with Gale before she tilted her head to kiss Pacey’s cheek. "See, maybe you’ll finally start believing what we’re all telling you."

Sighing, Pacey wrapped his arm around Joey and kissed her temple. If only it was that easy to believe and accept it, if only.

"Shouldn’t they have been here by now?" Jack asked impatiently, ogling the menu and checking his watch.

"You can’t seriously be hungry again? You’ve been eating all day!" Jen rolled her eyes and snatched the object of Jack’s affection right out of his hand.

"Hey, I’m still growing," Jack protested, attempting to get the leaflet back.

"In your dreams, buddy... in your dreams," Jen giggled and pushed the menu towards Joey and out of Jack’s reach.

"Somehow I think Capeside reverts us back into Kindergarten-age," Pacey mused, but he was more than happy that Jen was laughing and joking again. A rarity lately.

Apparently CJ’s move to New York didn’t only mean a separation of space, but also the end of his and Jen’s relationship. Joey had already expected this, but Pacey was completely surprised when Jen gave them a short update of what had happened in Boston since their departure.

"Oh how great! Why am I not surprised?" Dawson muttered and stopped dead in his tracks as he caught sight of the little group sitting a few feet away from them.

"Maybe you’ve got visionary powers, or maybe it’s a déjà vu... whatever, keep moving, sweetie," Audrey pushed him forward, ignoring his protests.

Knowing that it was futile to try and resist the force of nature that was christened ‘Audrey Liddel’, he let her shove him right up to the round corner table. His defenses were up nevertheless and one glance at his angry expression left no doubt about his mood.

"Now what do we have here?" he muttered, not sure what to think of this little arranged impromptu meaning.

He didn’t know how he felt about it and that alone raised many uncomfortable questions, too. If he wasn’t angry, not hurt, not happy... but confused, what did that mean then? Was he ready to forgive and forget? Had he acted unreasonably? All those thoughts were running in his head, dancing and changing directions all the time, although he hadn’t been in the restaurant for more than a minute. Defense was the best thing that came to his mind and he was used to being harsh by now. Old habits, no matter how old exactly, died hard.

Pacey sighed and looked up, stealing himself for the inevitable confrontation, which wouldn’t be nice at all. The surprise was on his side as he noticed the flitting thoughts and emotions in Dawson’s eyes. Sure, his question was as repelling as he had expected his reaction to be, but his features showed confusion. Maybe things wouldn’t be half as bad as anticipated.

"Umm... I think your mom calls it Grilled Mixed Seafood with..."

"Witty, Witter," Dawson interrupted him, unable to keep the corners of his mouth to morph into a slight but persistent smile.

"Wow, that was civilly... wasn’t it?" Jen quipped and stood up to hug Audrey. "Good work, missy."

"Oh well, one of my easier moves really," Audrey grinned and patted her shoulder.

"Oh I see, that was all a big ploy, huh?" Dawson asked rhetorically, gazing at each of them.

"Nah, that’s dinner, honey," Gale explained seriously as she touched her son’s arm tenderly. "Can I fix you something? Fresh seafood? Or maybe some pasta? You didn’t have anything for lunch, did you?"

Pushing him on the seat next to Jack, Gale didn’t tolerate any objections and retreated as quickly as she had appeared.

"You didn’t think you’d get away easy, did you?" Joey asked softly, hoping that the Dawson they grew up with was still somewhere beneath the cold surface.

"Actually..." Dawson cleared his throat but was cut short of his reply by Audrey.

"Maybe not easy, but he was up and ready to be on the lam," she sighed dramatically and flipped her hair back. "All packed up and grumpy, hating each and everyone plus the whole, big, bad world."

"Now that’s ... I mean, let’s not exaggerate here. I didn’t..." Dawson protested hastily.

"Oh please... maybe we should have filmed your irrational acts, like a ‘behind the scenes’ feature to your movie, or rather our movie. You’re degraded to being," Audrey paused and licked her lips, thinking deeply – or maybe just pretending, for effect only, of course. "Yeah, being the cameraman or something."

"Ha...ha...ha," Dawson grumbled not very amused, but a tiny bit of the glimmer that was always present in his eyes when he was working or simply thinking about his movies, was back.

"But seriously, how... why... I mean, ... I don’t know what I mean, but... you know?"

"You used to be much more eloquent, didn’t you?" Joey grinned, sticking her tongue out. Even if the whole conversation up to now consisted merely of attempts at pleasantries and flat jokes, it was better than nothing and better than what they had exchanged lately.

"Ahhh, those were the good ole’ times where I was able to afford a ghostwriter, remember?" Dawson leaned back and put his most serious face on.

The common sigh that erupted reverberated loudly through the subsequent silence until Dawson sheepishly cleared his throat.

"That bombed, huh?" he sighed and ran a hand through his hair for the lack of having anything other to do to break the ugly moment.

Pacey nodded slowly, feeling all too familiar with the foot in mouth disease which was causing such cringe-worthy situations like that.

"Yeah, not quite Oscar material. We’ll work on those witty parentheses... it takes years of practice though," he grinned placatory and clanked his glass against Dawson’s drink that the waitress put down in front of him.

Dawson hesitated for a split-second before he returned the gesture. "Good thing we’re still young then."

"Rebels with a cause," Jack threw in while stealing a fry from Jen’s plate.

"Watch it, or there’ll be a repeat performance of Seven," Jen narrowed her eyes, staring pointedly at his hand, then at his already empty plate and back again to her own, still laden plate.

"Uhhh, not getting the insider here," Audrey waved her hand before Jen’s eyes to get her attention and frowned.

"Aud, have you seen the movie?" Pacey shook his head and laughed, never doubting that the Lindley girl would eventually implement all those threats she was dishing out.

"Brad Pitt, yeah, I saw that. So?" Audrey furrowed her brows even more, not liking it at all that she apparently was the incarnation of each blondie.

"Well, besides staring at Brad, do you remember the story at all?" Joey hinted subtly without much success. Watching Audrey’s blank expression grow, she propped her chin on Pacey’s shoulder and continued. "Seven as in the seven deadly sins? And since Jack seems to be fond of at least a few of them, like greed, gluttony and perhaps sloth – all in reference to food, of course, Jen probably thought that the prospect of suffering a similar fate as those sinners in the movie could stop him from stealing her food."

"Not working," Jen complained and pushed Jack’s inquiring hand away, "Purgatory is waiting for you, Jackers."

"Aww, you don’t mean that," Jack grinned at her lovingly, snatching yet another fry.

"No, I don’t. Go and bother somebody else."

"But where would the fun be in that? And your fries are honestly the best there are." Jack licked his lips, a permanent smile fixed on his face.

Jen huffed and turned her back on him, shielding her plate as well as she could and mumbling profanities.

"Are you sure you’re gay?" Audrey cocked her head to the side, regarding Jack critically. "Because I could swear you two are an old, married couple, talking the talk and walking the walk, if you know what I mean."

"As gay as you’re blonde, honey," Jack winked and rubbed Jen’s back.

"And pray tell, what makes you think I’m legally blonde?" Audrey raised her brows provokingly, eliciting a gasp from Jack.

"Busted," Pacey howled with laughter, wiping small tears from his eyes. Boy had he missed those gatherings.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, and not so comfortable blushing attacks on Jack’s side, Dawson put his fork down. The sheer possibility of realizing his film against all odds, was completely consuming him, all the thoughts he had banned from his mind came rushing back, building up one question after the other.

"So, what were you thinking? I mean, I still don’t have any money left and actors... what about actors?"

"All covered and accounted for," Joey tucked her hair back, feeling elated with everything they had accomplished so far.

"And I get to portray the infamous Miss Jacobs!" Audrey exclaimed, batting her lashes at Dawson.

"And...Sam and Petey? And Dunston?"

"Aww, isn’t he too cute? He’s actually using my pet name for him," Audrey sighed and wrapped her arms around Dawson’s shoulder.

"Dunston? Pet name? And you’re trying to tell me you’re not blonde?" Jack shook his head, rolling his eyes for added effect.

"Hush," Jen shushed him by feeding him a bite of her steak.

"There, married!" Audrey retorted.

"So?" As usual, Dawson drifted into his own world, blinding out the amiable quips that surrounded him.

"Patience is a virtue, Dawson. You’ll see tomorrow, don’t worry," Joey affirmed him.

"Hmm..." Dawson considered that information, but wasn’t satisfied yet. "Well, then... but... I can’t...I’m working. I need the..."

"No, sorry, sweetie, but you’re fired," Gale nodded sadly, yet happy that the plan they had all been working on seemed to work just fine.

"But..." Dawson opened his mouth for another inquiry as Joey’s cell phone started to beep.

Shrugging apologetically she reached for it, "Joey Potter... oh, yes. Thank you for getting back at me. Just one second please."

Joey stood up, covering the phone with her hand. "Be right back... bad reception here," she added but avoided Pacey’s questioning glance.

~* ~

"Do you really think they learned their lines at all?" Pacey asked and yawned. He had never expected the early train from Boston to be that early.

"Huh?" Joey raised her head from his shoulder, not having caught what he had said.

"Earth to Joey? You know, it wasn’t my idea to book tickets for the early train, that was your doing," Pacey chuckled, "But where were you right now? I said: Do you think they learned their lines?"

"Oh, yeah... I know. They’d better know them by heart or Harley will have to live with being grounded until she’s forty-something," Joey shook her head. Dealing with two major projects at the same time was nothing but strenuous.

"You blackmailed them?" It was Pacey’s turn to shake his head. "Moving to the dark side, baby?"

"Uh, blackmail is such a nasty word. I’d say I convinced them. These kids nowadays... they need some well-meaning guidance, don’t you think?"

"In dire need, definitely. What did Harley do to deserve such loving attention?" Pacey had immense difficulty with keeping a straight face. At least he didn’t feel as tired as a few moments ago.

"Well, I found Patrick in Harley’s closet... and he wasn’t wearing much... and Hetson was under the impression that Harley was spending her afternoons in the church’s choir rehearsals. Seriously, what teenager does that?"

"What? Hiding naked in their girlfriend’s closet... or singing in a choir. Although, maybe that’s just a new euphemism for the first?"

Joey gasped, "Pig!"

"We established that, all men are pigs. In Patrick’s case though, he’s more like a shoat."

Joey cocked her head to the side and grinned, "Nah, he’s not even that. Maybe he is trying to be like that, all macho, chauvinist... whatever, but he’s just an insecure boy who doesn’t really know yet what he wants or how to get it." She paused and gazed out of the window. "Y’know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I know. Believe me, I do," Pacey sighed and more or less unknowingly tightened his arm around her shoulder. "See, I guess that’s just the other side of the secret. Men act like chauvinist pigs, but we only do that, well... because we just have absolutely no idea or clue of how to get what we want otherwise. Or of how to appear like we know what we’re doing all the time."

"And... does that change... at all? At some time? I mean, are you still... doubting yourself? And I’m not talking about the fallout with Rich, because you’ve no reason to fret about that, even if you didn’t act very professional at that moment, it was him who overreacted."

"Whoa, Jo... breathe, will ya?" Pacey chuckled but a hint of uneasiness was in his voice as well. He had no idea of how their joking turned into a kind of psychoanalysis and he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to know it, much less than continuing the discussion with this direction at all.

Joey was silent, clearly expecting an answer from him and knew from experience that she wasn’t about to let the topic slip. Another thing he chalked up to her mule-like stubbornness and one of the reasons he loved her, of course not so much when this special character trait was aimed at him.

"Umm, doesn’t everybody do that? Regardless of the sex? I think self-doubt is very human, no?"

"It is," Joey consented slowly as if she didn’t want to scare him away. "It’s not like I wouldn’t doubt myself now and then, but... there’s a difference between that and... obsessing, thinking that you’re just not good enough in every respect."

"You are obsessing about your grades, though." No, he really wasn’t fond of this conversation.

"Yeah, I do, don’t I?" Joey smiled lopsidedly and guiltily tucked her hair behind her ear. "Hey, I’ve improved though. I’m not constantly fearing that the sky’s gonna fall on my head if I don’t get an A for a paper."

"Who’d have thought you’d fall for my little Asterix collection... where has the world come to? Joey Potter, literary genius, is quoting from a comic!" Pacey laughed, momentarily forgetting the current topic.

"It’s an educational comic series... everything you know about European culture and history, sweetheart, you learnt from that comic and don’t deny that. You had some difficulty with realizing the exaggerations and elements of caricature in them, though," Joey countered and let her tongue peek out behind her teeth. "I’m way more surprised that you even bothered to read it..."

"Hey, it was a gift... the first one at least and it is a comic, Jo... talking pictures... what difference does it make if it’s Donald Duck comics or Batman or... Superman?"

"Good point, but I doubt that Donald gets translated into Latin..."

"Olea iacta est..." Pacey sputtered happily."

"Ohhh, I’m impressed, Pace... but it’s alea iacta est, not olea. One letter can make all the difference in Latin, change the whole meaning, tense."

"Oh boy, you’re probably the only one who regards comics as seriously as you do," Pacey groaned.

"No I’m not, actually a lot of researchers and scientists are interested in them. Just take the hieroglyphs for example, you could consider them being related to our comics nowadays. Anyway, you didn’t get that quote from a Donald Duck comic," Joey teased. "Do you know what it means after all?"

"As a matter of fact, I do actually: the die is cast. There, see... I know what I’m talking about and didn’t Dagobert used to say that?" Pacey raised his brows, broaching the subject again.

"Oh my, are we really discussing comics now?" Joey rolled her eyes but laughed.

"You started that, besides..."

"Besides, that’s totally not the point here. You’re just trying to start a hare here. We’re talking about self-doubt, remember?"

"You really don’t forget anything, do you?" Pacey sighed.

"Nope, I remember everything."

A genuine smile lighted Pacey’s face before it slowly vanished again. "I truly don’t know the answer to that, Jo. It’s not like the past days did anything to stop me from doubting myself." He swallowed and turned his eyes away from her. Maybe that was a little macho, but he couldn’t stand to see any pity in her eyes.

"Every time I think something’s going well for me I get stones thrown right into my way. Without wanting to rehash all the times and situations... those obstacles are not bound to a specific part of my life, not to my education, my job, my person, my friends... my heart... it’s just everywhere."

Joey closed her eyes. The bitterness in his voice wasn’t to be missed and she knew that she had contributed to it herself. No matter how much had happened since then, regardless of what she would do to change things in the future, there was no way to alter the past. What’s done is done and can’t be revoked. Time might soften some of the blows life gave you, but the scars, visible and invisible would remain. Some more prominent than others for sure, but they would be there.

"So I’m sorry, but yeah, I doubt myself. Not as much as I used to do and it would be easy to say that I have to thank you for that, but it wouldn’t be true," Pacey tilted his head, glancing at Joey. He wasn’t surprised to find her with an expression of guilt and sadness.

Quietly he continued as he reached for her hand, entwining her fingers to show her that he wasn’t blaming her, "When I left... after prom, I left to sort myself out. I needed to take care of myself for once and for nobody else. Maybe that wasn’t the best way to deal with my problems, but in a way it worked, you know? And now, it means so much to me that you’re standing behind me, next to me, whatever I’m doing, no matter what happens, I know that you’re there. That we are there and that’s my tower. In my opinion you can only trust yourself if you trust yourself. That’s not something anybody else can do for you. Sure, other people can tell you that it’s not your fault if things are getting sour. Sure, it helps when your loved-ones support you, but in the end you’ll only be able to accept that and go on if you believe in yourself. And... I’m on my way, Jo. Every day a little more. See, I’m not running away, am I?"

Pacey paused and quipped, "Well, okay, I might have run a few days ago... but I didn’t run away. I’ll admit that I was falling after what happened with Rich, after I lost that money, but... this time I’m determined not to drown in those self-doubts. I’m fighting and I’m here. I’m not perfect, I never will be. In short," he took a deep breath and put his finger under Joey’s chin, lifting it gently, "I’m not your Stepford-kind-of-guy, but I’m not a loser either. I’m... me... and I think I like me..."

"I love you," Joey whispered, pressing her cheek against Pacey’s open palm.

Smiling brightly Pacey bent forward and brushed his lips against hers. Another chapter of their story just proved itself to be not as bad as expected.

~*~

"Was it really necessary to haul us down here on a Friday?" Harley moaned and stared morosely out of the window. "Where is here anyway? Some godforsaken whistle-stop in the Massachusetts pampa?"

"No slagging of our good ole’ Capeside... or you’ll find yourself on a really godforsaken place, sunshine," Pacey eyed her meaningfully through the rearview mirror.

"As if there was any more boring place..." Harley huffed, hitting Patrick’s arm. "You could say something, too, you know?"

"What? It’s not that bad..." Patrick shrugged. He really didn’t see any problem in spending a full week with Harley, unsupervised from any parental force, on the Cape.

"Oh please! You shouldn’t be talking at all, seeing that it was your fault that we’ve gotten into this!"

"Right, because you wouldn’t have anything to with that particular situation!" Patrick yelled frustrated. "You invited me over, you darkened the lights and you put the damn ballads on replay."

"And you had to turn up the volume so that we couldn’t hear anybody entering the house and oh, yeah, it was your brilliant idea to hide in that damn closet!"

Joey rolled her eyes, tempted to put her hands over her poor ears. "What place did you have in mind, Pace?"

"Don’t you think a night on Witch’s Island would cure them?" Pacey suggested with a smirk although the memory wasn’t one he appreciated much.

"Could be...," Joey nodded, inwardly shaking as she recalled the events from a few years ago.

"Witch’s Island? See, Harlequin that sounds interesting, doesn’t it?" Patrick suggested cheerfully.

"Uh-huh, like your everyday urban legend, only... oops... this isn’t an urban area at all," Harley gesticulated wildly before abruptly stopping. "And don’t call me Harlequin ever again! You know that I hate that!"

"Nah, you love it. Everybody loves pet names... and what’s so wrong with a clown? Everybody loves clowns," Patrick stated nonchalantly. He really didn’t see any problems with his choice of endearment and he really thought it was more than fitting. It resembled her name, she made him laugh, she was fun to be with and ever since his fourth birthday he connected clowns with the best time he had.

"Have you ever seen It?" Harley crossed her arms and scooted to the far corner of the backseat.

"It?" Patrick frowned, having absolutely no clue what she was talking about. "A clown? Sure, lots of..."

"Not clowns... doofus, the movie. Steven King... It the oh so nice and lovely clown who kills little kids, dragging them down the darkest sewer tunnels?" Harley seemed really anxious, something that didn’t fit with her otherwise ‘cool chick’ image.

"That’s what they invented the label PG-R for," Joey turned around in her chair and looked sympathetically at her prof’s daughter. For once she finally was the teenager she had every right to be, but what she ceased to be on the surface ever since her mother left her and her dad alone.

Maybe Hetson’s idea of asking her to tutor his daughter wasn’t just a ploy to supervise her a little, but rather an attempt to provide her with some sort of female influence, a role model, or simply a person she could turn to with questions she probably wasn’t comfortable discussing with her father.

"And Patrick," Joey directed her glance at the boy who visibly slumped down in his seat at her reprimanding tone. "A pet name should be something both of you like and you have to respect Harley. Find another nickname, be creative... and who says there can only be one?"

Tilting her head back to Harley, she suggested grinning, "If he doesn’t listen just pay him back equally. That usually works wonders."

Harley considered this for a moment and suddenly her face lit up like a Christmas tree. "So whenever you call me by that name... I’ll call you Patty-from-the-block," she grinned extremely satisfied with the dismal expression on Patrick’s face.

~*~

"So, here we go," Pacey parked his car just off Main Street, behind the video store.

"Oh joy," Harley mocked but her whole demeanor had changed significantly. Much to her own surprise she loved the Potter’s B&B and the creek right in front of it. The soft breeze from the water provided a nice cooling, something she could only dream about in their Bostonian suburb. Truth to be told, she was even more looking forward to filming.

Joey sighed and squinted against the bright sunlight. After all the organizing and scheduling she was afraid that the actual thing would somehow go wrong in the last moment. They didn’t have time for extensive rehearsal sessions but had to jump right in, hoping to get it right in a minimum of time.

Pacey caught her fleeting expression of worry and slung his arm around her shoulder, pulling her against him. "Stop fretting, sweetie. You and Audrey went through your master plan hundreds of times. Everything will be fine."

"Yeah, but... there are so many...unforeseeable complications that could arise...so many things that could go wrong and..." Joey wrapped her own arm around Pacey’s waist, wishing she could somehow hide herself in him and only peeking out every now and then.

"Hush, knock on wood ... do whatever those theater people do before their performance, but I know that nothing will go wrong. Relax and think about how lucky we are that we’re on the other side of the camera this time. It’s our turn to shoo them around," Pacey chuckled and stepped back to move her into their well-practiced and beloved knot.

Patrick was strangely silent and studied the seemingly easy way Joey and Pacey fell into step with each other, regardless what they were doing and he envied them. Taking a deep breath he suddenly reached for Harley’s hand, awkwardly holding it in his own.

His out-of-the-blue PDA startled Harley for a second, but then she laced her hand with his and smiled at him.

"There you are!" Audrey exclaimed extremely flustered. "You’re late. How can you leave me alone for so long, Joey? I’m supposed to act, to check the set-up, answer questions of our supes ... I need help!"

"Calm down, Aud. I’m here now and we’re not that late, are we?" Joey glanced at her watch, ducking instinctively as she realized that they were almost thirty minutes late. "Okay, we’re late. I’m sorry."

"You’d better be! And you-know-who hasn’t shown up either."

"Gale is meeting him at the airport..." Joey explained as she took the big red folder from Audrey’s hand. "Maybe you should take that bathrobe off, it’s way to hot out here in the sun," she couldn’t help but stare at Audrey’s outfit.

"Oh really? Tell that to my maybe-boyfriend, who in his sexist male mind made me wear some nearly non-existent, see-through version of a dress! I cannot take this fucking robe off, not right in the middle of Capeside!" Audrey huffed and narrowed her eyes on Joey just for suggesting it in the first place.

"See-through?" Patrick peered up, cocking his head to the side and giving Audrey the typical once-over while momentarily forgetting that his own girlfriend was standing right beside him.

The reminder followed tout de suite in the form of a not so light hit upside down his head and a sing-songed humming of ‘Patty of the block’.

"Well," Pacey chuckled, not quite sure which of the current conversations was the funniest, and stepped away from Joey before muttering, "it’s Miss Jacobs after all... and she did wear such a dress when we met first at the store."

"Did she now, huh?" Joey rebuked him good naturedly, but Pacey knew that if he had been standing closer, he would have suffered the same fate as Patrick.

Sending his most famous, mega-watt smile innocently towards Joey, he succeeded in rounding Audrey without any bodily harm and walked up behind Patrick, who rubbed his head. "It’s all about the jinks, buddy... you have to know how far you can go... and then... how fast to get out of their reach."

"Jailbait, consider wisely if it’s such a good idea to ill-advise young, impressionable kids like that... you might find yourself right where you wanted to send them not so long ago," Joey announced sweetly.

"Umm... I’m not doing anything, my dear ice-queen."

"Right, or... you might see your way to the couch tonight. You know... jinks and all..."

Pacey’s eyes widened. Somehow everything was just a question of perspective, because at that moment a night on Witch’s Island seemed much less horrible than a night where he was denied to have Joey in his bed, lying next to him.

"Umm, right, then... you didn’t hear anything, right, buddy?" Pacey patted Patrick’s shoulder and hurried back to Joey, kissing her cheek.

~*~

It was way past noon and Joey felt like crying. The saying about needing the dress rehearsal to resemble the ultimate worst-case-scenario in order to make the premiere a glowing success whirled around in her head and after her day she was more than convinced that it was true.

George, their Dunston impersonator, effectively ruined Audrey’s dress and still he was under the false impression that he, as a proud member of Mr. Gold’s current film class, knew more than everybody else. Actually that qualified him in the first place for the role of Dawson’s alter ego, but he was worse than Dawson could ever have been.

They needed much more time in the video store, which made the owner go berserk. Something that only Jen’s charm and the prospect of having lunch with her was able to calm him down.

They were running out of time and they were already way behind on their very first day of shooting, exactly not what they needed. Dawson freaked out hours ago, was cured by something Audrey did to him and what Joey never wanted to be informed about. Although his mood was vastly improved after that ‘thing’ she did, it didn’t last long enough to be productive for the movie.

In short they were still at square one, right were they had started without any progress minus a few props and minus six to eight hours of time.

Easing himself behind Joey’s slumped form, Pacey carefully set the two cups of coffee down on the pavement before his arms went around her waist and nuzzled her neck, "What did I miss?"

Joey sighed and snuggled herself further into his chest. It was amazing that although she hadn’t heard him come closer, she wasn’t startled, just as if she or her body was able to sense it was him.

"You didn’t miss anything, except maybe an ugly headache... or two... or three."

"That bad, huh? No progress at all?" Pacey whispered as he moved his left hand away from her middle to lightly massage her temple.

"Only reverse progress... mhmmm that feels sooo good," she moaned almost catlike.

"You should take a break, baby."

"A break from what? From doing next to nothing?" Joey couldn’t help but giggle.

"Yeah, it can be pretty grueling, doing nothing... lazing around," he smiled as he felt her relax. "And to help you even more with that, I came bearing your favorite goodies..."

"Cappuccino and chocolate-chip-cookie-dough ice-cream?" she asked with an excited hopefulness.

"Uh... partly, I have cappuccino and chocolate-chip-cookies. The ice-cream would have died on me on the way over here. Good enough?" Pacey chuckled as Joey sighed and slowly tilted her head to check on the treats he brought her.

"Yeah, for now, that’s perfect. Thank you." Turning her head upwards she kissed him, expressing her appreciation way better than she could have vocalized.

"My pleasure," he managed to mutter before he took advantage of her parted lips to deepen their kiss.

"Joey... god, do you two have to do that here?" Dawson cried annoyed. "We have work to do and it was you who started this."

Sighing Joey blinked a few times in the general direction from which his voice wafted over to them, interrupting her blissful break from nothing.

"If we were working..."

"That’s so not my fault!" Dawson grumbled, running his hand nervously through his hair. Somehow it felt as if he had lost that magic touch of filmmaking or maybe he never had it in him.

As if on cue, that is, to stop anyone from saying anything that would offend somebody else in whatever way, because on days like these it was only a question of time until frustration unloaded itself to the next best victim, a very happy sounding voice, colored by its unmistakable British accent, wafted over to them.

"Hello, hello, hello, hello. Why are we not filming here, Leery?" Todd strode into the scene, closely followed by Gale who seemed a tad exhausted, probably overwhelmed buy his British charm.

Being the professional he was, a quick glance was enough for Todd to assess the scenery. "The light is perfect, although not for long anymore. The leading lady," he paused, wrapping his arm around Audrey while tugging at her robe, "is perfect. Time is money... oh, I forgot – we don’t have any, my bad."

"What the hell are you doing here, Carr?" Dawson finally asked, slowly, since he had momentarily lost the ability to form the simplest word.

"Well, for reasons unknown to me, you’re blessed with this sexy mom of yours, plus hot, leggy brunettes," he blinked at Joey, "and this intoxicating blonde siren, who made an offer I couldn’t refuse."

Gale laughed, downplaying her role in their little ploy with a wave of her hand, "All I did was email him the script and pick him up at the airport."

"It took me two days to bloody download that thing. But when I did, I said this is brilliant. Well, you might like to look into your issue with using too many too big words though, Leery. Anyway, I said this is just the sort of project that Todd needs to be involved with. So I’m here, fully on board, ready to work in whatever menial capacity you may require me," Todd bowed slightly, waiting for Dawson to show some sort of reaction.

"I... umm... well," Dawson chuckled, rubbing his hands together, still at a loss of words. "I don’t know what to say. This means so much to me..."

"Duh, Leery... stop buttering me up. You know how I hate that brouhaha," Todd shook his head in mock disgust.

"Right, uh... well, I could really use a D.P."

"Done," Todd nodded, shrugging off his light jacket and draping it over Audrey’s arm.

"And... a camera operator... an authentic camera operator."

"Done again. Just get me a triple espresso and I’m good to go," Todd snapped his fingers, looking expectantly at Dawson.

"You know, umm... Todd, I’m the director now," Dawson frowned, a little irritated with Todd’s usual attitude.

"Right you are... and a damn good one, too." Todd cleared his throat while pointedly looking around at the unanimous inactivity.

"We’re on a break, nothing but a breather," Dawson tried to defend himself.

"Yeah, yeah... so about the espresso?"

"I’ll go... no problem," Joey sighed. All the things they did for saving their friend’s dream. Once they were finished he would owe them big time.

"Joey...?" Audrey waved Todd’s jacket up and down, not quite believing that she was taken for a coat-tree.

"Don’t... don’t even think about it," Joey advised, shaking her head.

"But..," Audrey dropped the offending piece of clothing to the bench Joey and Pacey had been sitting on, threw a victorious glance at Todd and followed her friend. In order to survive their brilliant idea, she needed much more coffee, being brewed with creek water be damned.

"All right, listen up people." Todd clapped his hands together, demanding unrestricted attention. "This man has a movie to shoot, and we’re gonna make it for him or die trying."

Dawson threw his hands up in defeat. Even if Todd accepted the role of the camera man, he would still act like the director. Casting his eyes in a near plea for help at Pacey, he was met by a humorous shrug.

"They told you, you’d be the cameraman, right?"

~*~

"I swear, if I never see a camera or Todd for that matter again it’s still too soon," Jen sighed and slumped down on the old wicker chair.

"You don’t say," Joey laughed. "No more broccolini instead of plain broccoli. But all his peculiarities aside – Todd is the best thing that could have happened to us, don’t you think? I’m not sure if Dawson could have swung it without him."

"Yeah, true", Jen paused and stared off towards the creek. "And on that note, I’m not so sure that filming, in the big style that is, is the right thing for Dawson. I mean, he has all these ideas and all, but when on his own, he seems to lose himself in the work and he can’t focus. Not like Todd does."

"Practice makes perfect? But you’re right. He never did work good under pressure and yet he always was. Remember when we shot his very first movie back in high school? Our time schedule was so behind everything..."

"Which could have something to do with the fact that you, my dear Joey, weren’t too thrilled with the idea of kissing Pacey."

"Deep in denial, what can I say?" Joey licked her lips, holding her sides as the laughter wouldn’t want to die down.

"Yeah, blind to what was right before your eyes, but who knows... I’m a firm believer in the fact that everything happens for a reason," Jen leaned forward to catch a better glimpse at Grams who stood stoically on the Leery’s front lawn.

"Where did that come from? Jen Lindley finally turned into a believer?"

"Uh... a believer doesn’t necessarily have to depend on a certain religion, do they? Anyway, maybe the years have softened me, made me more perceptible to those things between heaven and earth for which we don’t have a purely logic and scientific explanation?"

"Hear, hear," Joey smiled softly, following the direction of her gaze. "How’s Grams doing?"

"Quite good actually. It’s her week off, but still... she’s doing much better than she usually does in Boston. If I should guess, I’d say it’s because she’s back in Capeside. I don’t know... but since yesterday she’s constantly staring at her old house. She’s up to something, I just know it."

"You always need something that keeps you going. You know, no matter what it is, but just an incentive to realize that..."

"That there’s a sense to it all and that life’s worth living?" Jen finished for her.

"Yeah, something like that," Joey nodded approvingly.

Both fell silent for a while, indulging into their respective memories and thinking about what the future might bring. They had a few or rather a lot of those life altering moments, reflections on their lives lately and now that they were close to finishing averting some of them to celluloid, it felt a little bit like closure.

"How’s your Mr. Burkholder – a.k.a. Big Boss – project going?" Jen picked their conversation up again, although comfortable with the stillness, she couldn’t fight her curiosity any longer.

"Oh, that..." Joey grinned happily, letting her tongue peek out and was nearly beaming. "That goes very, very well. I just have to tell Pacey about it, which ... might not go too smoothly. You know, accepting help for something that he blames himself for?"

"Kinda contradicts the knight in shining armor mythology, I know," Jen clinked her glass of ice-tea with Joey’s.

~*~

"Hey stranger, we missed you at the wrapping party at Leery’s," Joey nudged Pacey’s shoulder softly as she sat down next to him.

It was past ten p.m., but the tepid summer night was still illuminated by the fading twilight, sprinkled with the glitter of stars that were reflected by the gentle waves of the creek.

"Uh...yeah, well, I don’t think that we missed me as much as you did maybe," Pacey muttered, flitting another stone over the water’s surface.

"Pace, don’t do that," Joey sighed and entwined her hand with Pacey’s. "You have been there all week long, you did so much to acquire sponsors, you helped out with the lighting, with everything and you had to see that Dawson... he doesn’t hate you. He never really did. He was hurt, sad and wrecked that he lost the money he needed for his movie, but we did it. We did it again, sweetheart."

"I was good for that, I’ll give you that, but... he still lost that money because of me and I... I still lost my job because of me," Pacey dismissed her attempts to cheer him up. Over the past week he was so busy that he didn’t have much time to dwell on what happened much. Now that he didn’t have anything to do anymore, everything came back to him full force.

"Where did the Pacey go that told me he liked himself?" Joey asked quietly. She had expected him to brood over what he did and how he handled Rich provocations.

"Oh, that Pacey did a reality check and had to acknowledge that he’s unemployed as of late," Pacey stretched, feeling a little stiff after having spent a good two hours in the same position on the dock.

Playing with Joey’s hand he struggled a little to find the words to verbalize the thoughts that were tormenting him. "I have no idea what to do now, Jo. This past week, I had a task, I had something to do, something that I could do: Talking and selling Dawson’s idea to people with money and now... It’s not like I have an education or a degree to show. And I highly doubt that Rich will give me a recommending confidential report after, well you know after what. Who’s going to employ a guy who starts a fight with his boss and gives him a nice shiner?"

"You didn’t go to college, right, but you did receive on the job training. You passed the stock broker’s exam and excellently I might add. You’re intelligent and you have emotional intelligence as well, which is often so much more important than being able to show off a BA or MA certificate," Joey pointed out, accentuating her enumeration with determined pokes against Pacey’s leg.

Pacey cleared his throat, blushing slightly, " Errr, well... thank you, but still..."

"Nothing, Pace. I’m sure you’re not the only one who tangled with Rich for the one reason or another. Okay, you might want to work on your occasional temperamental outbursts, Mr. Hotshot, to forgo unnecessary complications, but... tell me one thing: Do you want to be a stockbroker? Do you like it? Does it give you satisfaction – and don’t you dare to turn that into a something sexual now," Joey raised her brow warningly as Pacey smirked ambiguously at her last question.

"Satisfaction... through a job, don’t know about that..." Pacey couldn’t help it and earned himself a slap from Joey. "Okay, okay... honestly? As much as I loved working in the restaurant, I never had as much fun as I had as a stockbroker."

"Then why would you want to give that up, Pace?"

"Because I have no other choice, Jo. That I lost that money was bad enough, but probably something the dust would have settled over after a while. Panhandling money from Rich, humiliating myself like that and topping it off with beating him up while destroying expensive office furniture? I really don’t think I’m the one to choose here."

Pacey squeezed Joey’s hand and stood up, unable to sit still while discussing his professional options or the lack thereof. Sulking about it on his own was fine in his book, but showing himself so vulnerable in front of her was out of the question. It wasn’t the first time, but it sure didn’t make it easier for him. At least he wasn’t hiding for a change.

"You do know that there are other brokers, right? You wouldn’t have to stay in the same firm," Joey suggested, following him with her eyes.

"I know, but... at least I can show off the meager successes I had there."

"So you would go back if you could?" Joey pressed again.

"Well, I... I don’t know. Maybe... no idea. I mean, Rich wouldn’t take me back anyway and...", Pacey rambled, running his hand through his hair and turning around suddenly.

"What’s up with this interrogation? We broached this subject before, so why are you so eager about it now?" his eyes narrowed on hers, trying to read what the chocolate orbs were trying to tell him.

"Uhmm, well... promise not to flip out?" Joey worried her bottom lip, now that she had to reveal her other project she wasn’t so sure anymore.

"Jo..." Pacey frowned, having absolutely no idea what her behavior was implying.

"Promise?"

Sighing he raised his hands and shrugged, "Okay, I promise... just tell me what’s going on."

"Okay, I was, well, I... called Mr. Burkholder." There, she had said it.

Pacey stared at her, opening his mouth and closing it again. Stepping closer to her, his arms flapped helplessly through the air. If he understood her correctly, she had called his boss, that is the big boss, asking him to take him back? He was at a loss for words and emotion, or rather there were way too many emotions running through him to settle on just one. Confusion, embarrassment, wonder, surprise, insecurity, bewilderment and all those synonyms that could express the very same sentiments but were made for an intellectual wise guy. He could maybe pinpoint his frame of mind by deciding on a single sensation, but to do that, he would actually have to think, which wasn’t possible due to that chaos in his head.

So the best he could muster was a monosyllabic, "Huh?"

Joey lowered her head, biting down hard on her lower lip. This wasn’t going too good, not that she had expected anything else. In fact, if she were walking in Pacey’s shoes at this moment, she’d probably shove herself in the creek or kill herself of embarrassment, which ever was easier to do... or maybe she would do both.

"Umm, well... you do remember Mr. Burkholder, don’t you?" Yes, she was digging her own grave at a breakneck speed.

Pacey closed his eyes, trying to remember the basic 101 of breathing and finally sat down again. Facing Joey who stared off into space, he asked very slowly, "What did you do, Joey?"

Joey. He didn’t use Jo, or even Josephine, but Joey. Cringing at his strained tone she suddenly wished she hadn’t done anything to begin with. It was too late for such resentments though.

"I...ahem..." clearing her throat was a pitiful attempt at buying a little time for an explanation that had sounded very convincing in theory, but had evaporated into thin air the second she had started to speak.

"I called Becky the other day. Well, you just disappeared and everybody was worried about you... not showing up for work and... the rumors about Rich and yours brawl. So I thought, you know... I’d call to say that you were a little...indisposed currently, since technically you’re not fired, right? I mean, I know that Rich said that, but does he even have the authority to decide that?"

"Mr. Burkholder...Joey?" Pacey insisted, thinking that he would go stark raving mad any second now.

"Yes, right. So, I called Becky and the first thing she said to me was that Mr. Burkholder wanted to talk to you. He had actually tried to get you on the phone before and left a message with Becky. She gave me the number of his office in New York, I guess that’s where your firm’s headquarter is, right?"

Pacey nodded tiredly and just shy of shaking Joey so that she could get to the point at last.

"Right, so I called him... because you, well... you weren’t up to that, I guess, but he wasn’t there. I don’t know, he was on a business trip or whatever, so I left my number with his secretary and then... remember the call I got the night when we were planning the shooting at Leery’s?" Joey waited a beat to see Pacey nod yet again.

"Keep going," Pacey encouraged a touch friendlier than before.

He was still totally and utterly confused but if he kept quiet for the time being, maybe, just maybe Joey could shed some light on what was happening and obviously had been happening behind his back.

Keep going.

Joey involuntarily smiled at the choice of his words as she remembered a very similar conversation from two years ago. She hoped she’d be allowed to hear a variation of his You got me. , too.

"So, that was him then and he still wants to talk to you. Of course he heard about what happened and he was surprised that you missed work without any explanation. And I... I told him that some... family crisis forced you to... go home for a week..." she paused, wringing her hands, "and that you forgot to give notice to the office."

"Family crisis?" Pacey’s lips morphed into a tiny, but still amused smile. Maybe Joey’s intervention wasn’t as bad or embarrassing as he had feared.

"Yeah, what was I to say? That you mimicked an ostrich?" Joey giggled nervously.

"And what kind of family crisis did you make up for me, Jo?"

"Well, I hope you won’t be offended, but sadly... your father suffered a setback and since he wasn’t insightful enough to listen to the doctor’s orders, you had to make sure that he complies."

"That wasn’t very nice, you know? You don’t joke about other people’s health," Pacey chided her.

"I know that, Pacey... but I thought about what to tell him ever since Becky informed me that he wants to talk to you. And... well, it seemed to be the best and most plausible alibi, especially since they already knew about your father’s actual illness," Joey paled. In the heat of the moment, she hadn’t considered the implications. She wasn’t really superstitious, but she could kick herself that she ignored Pacey’s feelings for his father.

"Jo, don’t worry, it’s okay... my daddy dearest will survive your little white lie," Pacey chuckled and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close to him. "You know, for a moment I thought you had..."

"Begged him to let my boyfriend keep his job?" Joey joined his laughter and shook her head dismissively. "Nah, I wouldn’t do that to you, sweetie. Although it’s pretty much it, since I kinda saved you your job by covering your unexcused absence."

"And I guess I should thank you for that... if there’s really still a job waiting for me," Pacey inhaled deeply. The chaos started to sort itself out, but he was still lost with all the new possibilities.

"That’s exactly what you’ll have to find out when you go and talk with Mr. Burkholder, sweetie."

"I’m meeting him?" Pacey frowned. It was like every second there was new information or a twist to the situation at hand and if he blinked just once, he would miss the connection.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot that. He’ll be in Boston on Monday and wants to meet you for dinner. I said that we would definitely be back by Monday afternoon."

"Monday? This Monday?" Pacey’s eyes widened in shock. "That’s in two days, Jo"

"Yep, I know."

"And you wanted to inform me... when?"

"I just did, didn’t I?" Joey raised her brows, smirking innocently.

"And you couldn’t have told me like... when he called you last Sunday?" Pacey ran his hand through his hair, feeling a headache developing. Maybe it would have been better if he had attended the party, then he could at least blame too much alcohol for it.

"No, you weren’t ready then, sweetheart," Joey curled into Pacey’s side, happy that he wasn’t set to kill her anymore.

"Probably right," Pacey kissed her temple and turned his eyes back to the darkening creek.

Sitting in silence for a few minutes he recapitulated their conversation, already thinking about what his big boss could probably want from him when a big smile adorned his face, "What was that again? I have emotional intelligence? I thought you said I was emotionally retarded?"

Joey straightened and sat up to move herself on Pacey’s lap. "Yes, see... hope dies last."

~*~

"Do I look good?" Pacey asked uncertain, turning in front of the mirror and plucking an invisible mote from his dark blue business suit.

Joey sat cross-legged in the center of their bed and rolled her eyes. "You know, you’re making me wonder which of the Witter brother’s is the closet case here."

"Huh?" Pacey turned around to face her, tugging at his cuffs to get them to peek out of his jacket at exactly the right amount.

"You’ve been literally twirling in front of that mirror for twenty minutes, sweetie. Trying on numerous ties, going back to the first one and now you’re acting like your average girl. Do the math, Sherlock."

"Oh fine, I’m happy that you’re having fun. Do I have to remind you, that we just came home and that I’ve known about this meeting for not even forty-eight hours and that this meeting could be very, very important for me?" Pacey scowled slightly irritated.

"Yes, I know all that," Joey sighed and re-arranged her legs that felt a little stiff after having been locked in the same position for a while. "Stop worrying so much, Pace." Pushing herself up from the bed she walked over to him and adjusted his tie before smoothing her hands over his chest.

"You look very good, very respectable and very sexy... so it’s really good that your boss won’t take notice of that aspect," she chuckled, smiling even wider as he relaxed and turned the corners of his mouth upwards.

"Sexy, huh? I knew you had a thing for me in a suit."

"I have a thing for you, no matter what you’re wearing, or not wearing..." Joey whispered into his ear and softly nibbled at his earlobe.

Letting his eyes slip shut, Pacey allowed himself to revel in the sensation she was creating deep within him. "Jo, baby... we don’t have time to..."

"I know, I couldn’t resist... you’re not only looking quite dashing, you’re smelling irresistible, too."

"Uh... hold that thought for two hours or so?" Pacey mumbled already feeling more than affected.

"’Kay, will do that. Now go and impress that boss of yours." Joey rose to her tiptoes and pressed a big kiss on his lips.

Tightening his arms around her for a second, Pacey inhaled her scent deeply, gathering his strength just from her presence. "And keep your fingers crossed, too, yeah?"

~*~

Pacey sat at their reserved table, waiting for his boss and nursing a glass of formerly ice-cold water. The ice-cubes had long since melted through his body heat seeping from his hands, which were tightly holding on to the glass.

When confirming the appointment with Mr. Burkholder, Joey had arranged that they would meet in their little restaurant. It was fancy enough to impress and meanwhile intimate enough to provide Pacey with the security of a familiar surrounding.

He had arrived earlier, just in case and now he was checking the door every time he heard the melodic chime of its bells.

Over the past few days he hadn’t been able to stop mulling over why Mr. Burkholder wanted to see him after what happened. Why he would even consider keeping him in the firm, if he was at all. Joey had assured him close to the hundredth time that she really didn’t know what his boss was up to, that she could only point out possibilities and this persisting uncertainty was getting on his nerves to say the least.

Besides all that, he couldn’t gainsay that the simple fact that Joey had been working on helping him at the same time as she was helping Dawson was captivating and electrifying all at once.

It wasn’t like he had felt inferior when helping Dawson to shoot his movie, especially not since it was at least partly his fault that he lost the means to produce it, but knowing that Joey didn’t put Dawson before him, that she did everything she could to help him as well showed him that this time was definitely their time.

"Pacey, good evening. I’m glad we were able to get together tonight," a voice suddenly interrupted Pacey’s musings and when he looked up, he recognized his boss as the owner of it.

"Mr. Burkholder," rising from his chair, Pacey offered his hand. "It’s my pleasure. Thank you for meeting me."

"That’s quite a nice restaurant here... your...girlfriend suggested." Mr. Burkholder shook Pacey’s hand, giving it a squeeze and sat down in the chair opposite to him.

"Yeah, Joey loves it." Pacey took a deep breath and sank back on his own chair. It was time to face the music – he just wasn’t sure if he’d like the genre.

"I hope your father is out of the woods by now? I was very sorry to hear about his condition. Sadly that’s more common among us older men that one would like to acknowledge."

"Yes, he’s feeling much better now," Pacey affirmed and he wasn’t even lying. "He’s sometimes simply too stubborn for his own good and doesn’t like to submit to somebody else, even if it is a doctor." Again that was no lie at all.

The next couple of minutes were filled with incidental chitchat, your typical small talk, covering everything from the weather to the scenic merits of the Cape, even touching the topic of sailing, something they discovered to have in common.

Shortly after they ordered their choice of dinner and the waitress delivered their drinks, Mr. Burkholder nodded more to himself than to Pacey, leaned back in the chair and folded his hands on the table.

Recognizing this behavioral patterns as the sign that their conversation was about to drift into serious topics, Pacey took a deep breath, mentally steeling himself for what was to come. To say that he was nervous would have been the understatement of the year.

"Well, Pacey, I have to say that we were a little concerned when you disappeared from our radar without so much as a notice." Mr. Burkholder raised his hand, silencing Pacey who immediately wanted to respond. "Now, I know about your family situation, which is very understandable, but if it weren’t for your girlfriend, your unexplained absence wouldn’t look very good for you."

"I know and I’m very sorry..." Pacey straightened, trying to apologize for what he saw as the minor point of his recent misdemeanors.

"Good. Our job, our profession is all about trust, Pacey. We expect our customers to give us their hard earned dollars so that we can invest them in the best way we think is possible. That’s simply not achievable without trust. I’m even inclined to think in terms of faith here, which starts in the smallest unit of our firm. So, in order for our customers to trust in us, we have to put the same confidence in our members, our employees and that starts with being punctual, loyal and accessible, that is... available to work with us and for us," he paused, studying the expression on Pacey’s face. Although he didn’t have that much direct contact with he young man, he instantly took a liking to him when they first met.

In a way he reminded him of himself. Times had changed since he started out as a young stockbroker. Back then there was no need for everybody to have attended college and university, to have a degree, that was in his opinion nothing but a paper, something that attested to someone’s theoretical abilities and didn’t say anything about personality. He never went to college, learned the ropes on the job. He had fond memories himself of getting the hang of the business from his elders after he had spent several years employed in a bank.

Pacey lowered his eyes contritely. He had no idea what to say or if he was expected to reply at all. He felt like he was being scolded, but in a loving way, close to how a father would do.

The arrival of their dinner plates interrupted the discussion momentarily, as exchanged comments only praised the tasty food. The invention of business lunches or dinners was worth being nominated to rank at the top of each and every manmade creation – at least in Pacey’s mind. First those meetings fulfilled the necessary supply of nutrition, second it enabled both parties to take a breather in between the courses and third a good meal was bound to satisfy and consequently make one happy and content. In short everything was easier with a little help of food.

"So, now that we have that out of the way, Pacey, I’m sure you know that we have to discuss something else."

"Yeah, I’m aware of that," Pacey licked his lips. Cue the music.

"Well, let’s not beat around the bush here. That, how shall we put it, quarrel between Rich and you, that got a little out of hand the other day, well, as you can imagine, that is public knowledge in the office by now. I’ve never given much credit to rumors as they tend to get bigger with every person that’s adds to them. I heard Rich’s story and now I want to hear yours."

"Yeah," Pacey nodded and put his fork down. "It was... I guess the whole day was a disaster. Stepatech flopped big time and I... maybe I was still too fresh in the business and I made the mistake of investing money for a... childhood friend. Needless to say I lost that, too. I’ll spare you the details, but I was asking Rich to help me out so that I could at least give my friend his active capital back," Pacey paused, biting the insides of his cheeks.

Mr. Burkholder hadn’t said anything, he didn’t even let show what he was thinking. He simply sat there, listening attentively and continued eating as if completely unfazed. Nevertheless he made eye-contact when Pacey stopped talking and nodded almost imperceptible, indicating him to go on.

"That was more than unprofessional, I know that. I even knew it while I was asking for a credit. One word lead to another, some vulgarities were exchanged and then my temper got the best of me. I’m very sorry for that and I’d like to apologize for acting so unrespectable. I’ll bear the consequences, of course, and if I might say this, I was really surprised that you still wanted to talk to me. As far as I understand, I literally got the boot," Pacey exhaled, casting his eyes downwards, not able to face his boss directly at that moment.

"Well," Mr. Burkholder nodded again and Pacey had to blink a few times to get the image of one of those bobble-head dogs out of his mind. Dabbing the corners of his mouth with the napkin, he smiled and continued, "I know that Rich threatened you were pink-slipped, but he isn’t quite authorized to decide that."

Pacey frowned, having difficulty digesting that piece of information.

"After listening to your point of view to this incident, I have to say that you, Mr. Witter, seem to be much more professional than Mr. Rinaldi," Mr. Burkholder shook his head pensively. "You didn’t badmouth on your superior, or on any of your colleagues, which is the biggest no-no for me."

Pacey swallowed thickly as his mind was reeling with the turn their conversation had just taken. "Oh."

"You were right nevertheless with the evaluation that your behavior wasn’t very professional. All of us make mistakes, though, and we’re learning from them," Mr. Burkholder smiled warmly. "I was talking about personality before and Pacey, when I mentioned the importance of trust, you should know that personality is the key to create trust within our customers. If they like you, if they feel good about you, you win them. If not, they might take the chances once, but not a second time. While you were absent one of your newer clients refused to close a deal with any of our other brokers. Customer loyalty, Pacey. You see, I can’t very well forgo you and your input to our firm. You are a greenhorn in the business, there’s no question about that, but you’re a greenhorn with potential."

"I.. I don’t know quite what to say here," Pacey stuttered, taken aback by surprise and a hint of pride.

"You could start with saying ‘thank you’ and end with ‘I’ll be at my desk tomorrow," Mr. Burkholder suggested with a smirk.

The semblance of a smile on Pacey’s face faltered when he hesitated for a moment. "As much as I’d love to say just that, I’m not sure what... ummm, Rich’s reaction would be."

"Although this shouldn’t be a reason of hindrance for you at all, I don’t think you’d have to be apprehensive about working with Mr. Rinaldi, since you won’t come across him in the office."

"No? I sure hope he ..." Pacey frowned as he absent mindedly dried his sweating palms with the napkin.

"No, no... don’t worry. We’re expanding and we decided to establish an assessment center in New York. Rich may have his peculiarities, but he is the perfect man to recruit new and promising candidates for our firm. Working with customers is not what I would call his forte. Sorting the wheat from the chaff on the other hand is what he was born for."

"Rich is in New York?" Pacey asked but actually only tried to convince himself.

"Yes. See, we help our employees as much as we can. We support them, we care about them and we promote their abilities," Mr. Burkholder stated before tilting his head to the side, glancing at Pacey. "I’ll be in Boston for another day, so, what will it be Pacey? See you at work tomorrow?" offering his hand, since he believed in sealing an agreement with a handshake, he waited expectantly.

~*~

Joey sat huddled on the couch, carefully trying not to rumple her dress too much and checking the clock every other minute. It had been over two hours since Pacey left for the dinner meeting and even considering the time he would need to travel back and forth she thought it was time for him to get home.

She wasn’t worried about the outcome of the parley with Mr. Burkholder, but she was anxious to see Pacey completely happy again and she wanted to celebrate with him. Right after he had left the apartment she had hurriedly wolfed a sandwich so that she wouldn’t starve while dressing up and setting the mood. She had been ready for over an hour and still he wasn’t back. Listlessly zapping through the channels she couldn’t find something that at least temporarily roused her interest.

Switching the TV off, she grabbed the phone and walked over to the windows. Hell’s Kitchen was busy as usual and people were still crowding the sidewalks but there was no sign of Pacey at all.

Joey leaned against the windowsill and dialed, barely waiting until the receiver was picked up on the other end.

"I hate waiting," she stated animatedly and continued to stare at the street.

"Uh-huh."

"You’re not helping. I said that I hate waiting," Joey repeated disgruntled with the less then enthusiastic response she was receiving.

"Yeah, I heard that. Don’t we all?"

"Jen..." Joey whined.

"Joey..." Jen mimicked her friend.

"He’s not home yet and I’m bored."

"Oh I think I got that," Jen giggled. "When was that dinner again? At seven?"

"Yeah."

"It’s only a quarter past nine. What did you expect? Don’t worry, he’ll be back soon," Jen assured her calmly.

"What are you doing?" Joey asked not even taking her eyes away from her vantage point.

"Third Watch," Jen replied dryly. She hated to be interrupted in her weekly routine.

"But... that’s a repeat," Joey rolled her eyes. "And it’s a crime show... you already know what’s going to happen."

"So what... guys in tight uniforms and glimpses at my lovely hometown. Can’t you read a book or something?" Jen grumbled.

"No, tried that ages ago. I can’t concentrate."

"Surf the internet," Jen narrowed her eyes, using every polite and understanding fiber in her to not hang up on Joey.

"I’d have to go upstairs and then I can’t see when Pacey’s coming back," Joey sighed, pressing her forehead against the cool windowpane.

"You know that you’re being asinine right now, don’t you?"

"I know..." Joey paused, checking the clock once again. "I’m sorry but since Jack isn’t here for me to bother, what can I do?"

"Right, because you’d be so happy if he was there and not visiting Andie in Italy, huh? Please. You’re ecstatic about the fact that you two will have the apartment all to yourself for the next three weeks. For which I demand each and every naughty update by the way."

"I guess I owe you one or two," Joey giggled.

"One or two?" Jen cried appalled at Joey’s offer. "Don’t you understand me? I’m talking about every dirty little secret here. You interrupted my show, I’m single again... you simply owe it to me!"

"Uh..."Joey frowned and then a big smile tilted her lips upwards. "Oh..., Jen, I have to go. He’s here!"

Before Jen could utter a single syllable she only heard the click of Joey’s phone and sighed, "Back to you, Coby Bell."

~*~

Pacey opened the door, ready to call out for Joey when he noticed that the apartment was only dimly lit. The light under the wall cabinets in the kitchen was on, but only a few candles illuminated the living room area.

He didn’t miss the two champagne glasses and the cooler sitting on the kitchen island and it certainly didn’t escape his notice that Joey was leaning against the back of the couch, wearing a sexy nothing of a spaghetti strap summer dress.

"Hey," he mumbled huskily.

"Hey," Joey smiled, pushing herself away from the couch. "How did it go?"

"It seems you already know that," Pacey chuckled and looked around pointedly.

"Was there any doubt?"

"Since when are you all the optimistic type?" Pacey dropped his jacket on one of the bar chairs and walked towards her, meeting her halfway.

"There’s a difference between being optimistic per se and being confident about a sure thing. You’re great at what you’re doing. You always are, whenever you’re passionate about something it’s just a given." Joey wrapped her arms around his neck. "And your boss had to be blind to not realize it."

"Have I told you lately that I love you?" Pacey asked against her lips, brushing them softly with his own.

"Mhmmm... maybe, but I never get tired of hearing you say it," Joey mumbled, capturing his lower lip and teasing it gently.

"I love you," Pacey said before sliding his tongue against hers.

"Love you, too," Joey returned his kiss but drew back when he attempted to deepen it. "What do you say, let’s open the champagne? I mean, since everything turned out fine?"

"Fine, yeah... as in I’ll have to be in the office by nine a.m. tomorrow morning," Pacey sighed a little disappointed at the loss of contact. "And we agreed on declaring the past week as unpaid vacation time, he still believes in your white lie, but I didn’t give notice so that’s okay."

Pacey filled their glasses and when they said cheers it finally dawned on him that despite all the things that went wrong they had made it through, not only through, but everything they wanted was realized. They were together, they shared an apartment, Joey was attending Worthington, he still had a job that he actually loved, Dawson finished is film on a nearly non-existent budget but in time and edited by a pro and they parted ways on amiable terms.

Joey placed her glass back on the counter and reached for the remote for their cd player, pressing the play key before turning back to Pacey who was nursing his champagne.

"You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you something all night..." she whispered as the first sounds of a slow rock song washed over them.

Pacey’s eyes flew to Joey’s, recognizing those meaningful words in a heartbeat. "Yeah?"

"Would you like to dance with me?" Her eyes shimmered in the candlelight and he was barely able to voice his agreement. "I’d love, too."

Pacey put his own glass carelessly down, opened his arms and drew her body close to his. Forgotten were the days where a certain Ms. Pretty had to remind them of touching ribcages or of not casting down ones eyes to stare at their feet.

They swayed together easily, only guided by the rhythm of the music and their hearts. The way people danced with each other could tell a lot about them. Narrating to what kind of music they were dancing, what their body language was revealing to those who knew how to decipher the signs and creating a story of life. Sometimes it was about love, sometimes about goodbyes but it was never simple, it just appeared to be that way.

Each step, each turn, every move could change the story, but never the essence.

We could lose the plot
Or we could lose our way
But I ain't going to lose
These ain't good games we're playing
Let me make you an offer too good to refuse
No, you can't lose at love

Their movements slowed down as Pacey tightened his right arm around her waist while his left hand tangled in her hair, tilting her head slightly, giving him the perfect access to place small kisses along her jaw-line, trailing up to the corner of her mouth where his tongue sought entrance.

For a while it seemed as if their path had led them away from each other because they neglected to listen to their built-in compass, or maybe those detours were necessary to realize the old proverb that all ways lead to Rome was right.

No, you can't lose at love
You can't lose at love
You can't lose at love
Chose anything you can dream of
But you can't lose at love

Joey moaned into their kiss, needing and wanting to be even closer to him. Her fingers wandered from the nape of his neck down to the front, blindly fumbling with his notorious tie, smiling victoriously as the fabric gave way.

Dropping it to the floor she made quick work of the tiny buttons on his shirt, impatient to feel him skin to skin and avid to show him how much she loved him.

Now we just might roll a seven, these ain't loaded dice
We'll never get to heaven from this driveway tonight
You've heard a million promises that's never come through
Baby, I'm telling you we're due

Sometimes it amazed both of them that they had finally reached what they wanted. Maybe it was only the beginning of their road, but they weren’t afraid anymore that obstacles of whichever kind could lead them astray again.

Pacey softly bit her bottom lip, soothing it immediately by licking the worried flesh and suddenly turned her around in his arms. His hands found the zipper of her dress, pulling it down as he lavished open-mouth kisses on her shoulder and neck.

You can't lose at love
You can't lose at love
Chose anything you can dream of
But baby, you can't lose at love

Standing naked in front of each other they finally felt good and comfortable in their own skin. They had seen each other at their lowest lows as well as at their highest highs and at every shade in between.

Life would never be just black or white, not even just shades of gray. It was an assorted collection of colors and you had to keep trying which combinations created the best and the most interesting fusion.

Errors of judgment had to be expected, strokes of luck were desired but any result would be welcomed as part of who they were and as those factors that created their lives.

They were ready to face every card life would deal out at them, because they knew they would never lose their love.

("You Can’t Lose At Love" – Bon Jovi)