"Why is it that every trip home is synonymous with hard, unpaid bodily work?" Pacey complained and mopped his sweating forehead with the napkin Joey was offering him.
"I don't know, maybe that's because our home is not really in Capeside anymore and they think our sole purpose in coming down is to help them out?" Joey suggested almost wistfully and passed him on one of the plastic cups filled with Grams' homemade lemonade that Jen was distributing from the opposite end of the long picnic table.
"Nah, Pacey's just out of shape. You know, being a paper tiger these days does nothing for your biceps or your condition," Jack muttered while stuffing the second turkey sandwich in his mouth.
"Hitting the gym more often than your lecture room doesn't really help you with your studies either, Jackers," Pacey grumbled narrowing his eyes on Jack's almost obscenely tight shirt and the muscles he had spent hours to develop.
Compared to him he was definitely not that brawny and he didn't have time to work on his summer tan either, and the flash of a hue he did catch was long since gone again, but he certainly was no wimp.
"Play nice, kids," Audrey grinned and slapped Jack playfully on his arm.
"God, I missed this. These few days with all of you will provide me with tons of lines for the next script!" Dawson leaned back, smiled widely and put his arm around Audrey.
"Are you saying I'm not inspiring you enough?" Audrey huffed moving away from him.
"Well, no... not in the PG sense at least," Dawson mollified quickly but Audrey didn't seem to be too appeased.
"And this does? Please! Jack is compensating the lack of sex with lifting weights and attacking our resident love birds with his frustration, while Jen serves as multipurpose buffer and moving those damned boxes cost me a fingernail. Nobody wants to see anything of that on screen - be it for kids or not." Audrey crossed her arms in front of her chest and studied her broken fingernail that she willy-nilly had to rasp to a blunt tip.
"Audrey, darling, I suppose you have a strange affinity for spilling too much information at dining tables?" Grams asked with a smile on her face that softened the sweet reprimand but didn't miss a beat with the blushing recipient.
"Could I play my only child - slash - spoiled brat - card and blame my parents for my lacking socialization?" she asked remorsefully.
"Nice try, Aud, but that's nothing to write Grams home about," Jen giggled and exchanged an amused glance with her grandmother, remembering all too well the absence of her own parents - which was nothing to shout about in Grams' opinion either.
"And people would die to see something like this on Friends" Joey piped in, earning herself a shooting-daggers-stare from Audrey.
"Bunny... do you have to encourage him to add insult to injury here?"
"Dramatic much?" Raising her brow Joey leaned forward, grabbing a few chips and returned her glare mockingly.
"See, that's exactly why it won't fit on Friends, because this..." Dawson gesticulated wildly, pointing and including everyone. "This is drama or sometimes maybe dramedy and Friends is pure comedy."
"No, it's not. It's definitely dramedy. I mean, considering all the ups and downs, the will they, won't they odyssey... on second thought," Jen paused and let her eyes wander around the table. "Did you ever notice that Friends is about six people, three girls, three boys and that we are shockingly alike? Dramedy and odysseys included and accounted for?"
"I still can't believe that Grams is moving back into her old house... and that it looks as if she'd never been away - at least since those awful curtains have gone," Joey remarked as they placed plates, cups and glasses into the well-known cupboards.
The couple who had lived in the house over the past two years thankfully didn't change much, except the horrible bright paint on the walls, something the boys had corrected in less than a day.
"I'm even more surprised, no... amazed... happy that she's feeling so good and that she can continue her after-treatment at Capeside Memorial." Jen pushed a strand of her growing hair out of her face. "I swear the prospect of going home helped her heal more than any medication could. Just the few days back in June, when we were shooting the movie for Dawson improved her health so much."
"Maybe there really is something in the water here," Joey suggested with a smile. It felt good to be able to joke like that again.
"Who knows, must be." Jen climbed back up the ladder and motioned for Joey to hand over the next stack of preserving jars. "As much fun as it was living in the posh house in Boston and having Grams with me there, I don't know... it might be a little farfetched, considering that I have slight doubts concerning our dear roommates in that respect, but I really feel like moving in the apartment was the final push into growing up mode for me."
"It's not farfetched, not at all." Joey licked her lips, considering what Jen had said. "When we started college and when I moved in the dorm, I guess I thought that's it. I'm all grown up now, living on my own with strangers all around me, doing what I always dreamed about. Truth is... it wasn't the big it I thought it to be. If anything, it was just the start of a long road and frankly? Living with Pacey and of course with you and Jack, that's the most grown up thing I've done so far. Sharing a dorm room with someone you don't know from way back when is exciting and interesting, whatever... but living with people you know and love, fully aware of all their little antics and quirks and still finding a way to be with them more or less twenty-four hours each day - that's the real thing."
None of the jars had found their way into the cupboard yet and Jen was leaning against the grip bar of the step ladder, staring down at Joey with wide eyes as if she'd just experienced her personal enlightenment - or at least a close equivalent.
"For you two, yes, I mean.... it's like you're already married without having written evidence or the big party to celebrate your matrimony. So that's definitely very grown up. Where Jack and me are concerned I wouldn't consider us being grown up at all. Pacey is back to being our stockbroker par excellence, you're shining in your seminars and - cross my heart - you're working as Hetson's assistant!" Jen sighed and propped her chin into her hands. "If you look at us, we're fading into ... white noise in comparison. I've still no real clue what to do with my life or what subject I should major in or at least the semblance of a boyfriend? And Jack... he's more or less the same."
"Did I hear my name leaving your mouth in a not so favorable way, Jen?" Jack asked in mock hurt. Rounding the corner from the kitchen he had caught the last sentence and confronted her with crossed arms and a scowl on his face.
Pacey followed hot on his heals, quickly gleaning the situation they had walked in on and stepping behind Joey, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Having a nice little girl time while we're working our asses off?"
"As if..." Joey snorted, snuggling against Pacey's chest and folding her hands over his.
"Careful there, Potter... remember who exactly painted all these walls here?"
"Right... that was yesterday though. Today all three of you are doing nothing but chatting the day away, leaving all those boxes to us."
"Josephine, Josephine... I thought you'd know the rules by now: women belong into the house, in the kitchen..."
"Barefoot and pregnant, too, huh?" Jen interrupted him, raising her brow warningly.
"That's the spirit, Lindley, that's the spirit," Pacey nodded affirmative and instinctively tightening his arms so that Joey couldn't even try to move away from him.
To his surprise she didn't squirm at all but simply held her left hand up, waving a little so he could catch a glimpse.
"Do you see a ring on my finger? No? Right. No ring means not even considering a pregnancy ... barefoot might be up for discussion and kitchen? You don't really want me to cook, do you?"
"Uhhh, on second thought... not so much, no," Pacey chuckled and nuzzled her neck. "You do know that babies don't pay much attention to rings, right?"
"I do, but I said not considering a pregnancy. Accidentally is a whole different thing... and..."
Joey couldn't finish her elaboration since Pacey suddenly whirled her around and silenced her with a passionate kiss. All the talking and joking about the subject made him envision the possibility and that in turn was enough to feel the urge to kiss her senseless.
"Not in Grams kitchen! God!" Jen exclaimed alarmed, reverting back into the fifteen year old girl who was lectured by her grandmother that pre-marital sex was an absolute no-no and especially not tolerated under her roof.
"Am I forgiven?" Dawson asked slowly, determined to tread carefully around Audrey for the rest of the day... or the weekend. Over the last months he had developed something like a twelve-step program of what to do when she was pissed off because of something he had done or not done, whatever the case may have been.
"Forgiven?" Audrey's tone held a little confusion as she was engrossed with unpacking and arranging what little toiletries Grams called her own. The contents of the medicine cabinet still outdid them, even if she didn't need as much anymore.
"Yeah," Dawson cleared his throat, leaning against the doorframe, completely taken with the view in front of him. Audrey stretched to place a bottle on the shower shelf which caused her shirt to ride up just enough to show some skin. "For earlier, at lunch, you know."
"Oh, I already forgot about that," Audrey turned around and giggled, shaking her head. "You really have to loosen up one day, sweetie. If you take every word too seriously you'll get into trouble in good old tinsel town."
"I'm only taking everything you say seriously."
"Stop groveling and sweet talking me... at least when all our friends are around in a house garnished with religious paraphernalia."
"Well, as far as I can see," Dawson licked his lips and scanned the room, winking at her. "No items that could conjure a deep, guilty blush on your face and we're all alone." Accentuating his point he gave the door a well measured push, moving towards Audrey as it softly clicked home.
"Getting fresh with me, Leery?" Audrey clicked her tongue against her teeth, her eyes sparkling mischievously.
"Didn't you just want me to loosen up?" Dawson pulled her close, moving in for a kiss but Audrey wriggled against him and tilted her head to the side.
"Well, not too loose I hope?" she looked pointedly at his crotch, earning herself an indignant huff.
"I'll show you," Dawson tightened their embrace, pressing himself intimately against her.
Audrey grinned, already won over and being the vivacious girl that she was, a risky experience like a quickie in Grams bathroom certainly held an undeniable thrill.
Before their little adventure could actually begin a sudden thud against the door caused both to hold their breath. Audrey's eyes widened at the mere thought of Grams walking in on them and she whispered almost anxiously, "You did lock the door, right?"
Dawson's bravado flew out of the window, faster than E.T. could mutter phone home. "Actually... no."
Audrey dropped her head on Dawson's shoulder and sighed. Startled, they watched the door fly open and witnessed two bodies stumbling in, wrangling together in a heap of legs and arms.
Dawson's eyes slipped shut in a vain attempt to pretend that if he didn't see them, they wouldn't see him and Audrey either.
It took another few painfully long seconds until Pacey realized that the bathroom wasn't exactly empty, along with an additional ten seconds to stop Joey from sucking and nibbling on his bottom lip. Of course it was just his luck that he had backed her into the room and she was as oblivious to their company as anyone could be.
"Oops," Joey offered finally, unable to stop herself from smirking half guiltily and half amused.
"Oops?" Audrey asked incredulously. "That's it? Just... oops? You're not mortified and you don't ossify into a pillar of salt? What happened to my prude roommate?"
"Did you snoop around Grams collection of bibles and biblical stories?" Joey teased, not even trying to remove herself from Pacey. "Told you long ago that I'm much less prim beneath my prudish outer appearance."
"You've corrupted her," Audrey stated with a nod towards Pacey.
"I'd say it's a combined effort," he admitted cheekily.
"A little give and take," Joey added much to Dawson's horror.
"Am I the only one who experiences this meeting as being awkward?" he muttered almost accusingly, staring at three smirking faces.
"Now it's time for loosening up again," Audrey hinted while patting his back comfortingly.
"Maybe we're just... acting up a bit?" Joey offered, still playing Siamese twin with Pacey and loving it.
"Since you're just directing, you're allowed to lack in that department," Pacey concluded, eager to encourage Dawson's horizon in this respective department.
"You know, since we're all so relaxed and cool about the quasi impromptu orgy... why not?" Audrey ruffed, licking her lips once again. Always being up for a challenge she longed to test the boundaries once more. "Threesomes are so yesteryear and since we've all seen each other naked before, why not have some fun with a foursome?" She paused before adding as an afterthought, "Did you notice that that rhymes? Some fun with a four some... Don't they say that everything that rhymes has to be good?"
Dawson was seriously tempted to feel her temperature at that point whereas Pacey and Joey slowly lost their countenance as well. Audrey had beat them again, proving that she was still the wild girl she used to be, even if she showed signs of being tamed once and again.
Any kind of response to her wanton suggestion was thankfully spared by a rather sharp shrilled, "What the fuck?"
"Oh, too bad... saved by the Jenny bell," Audrey snickered, smoothing her hair back unimpressed with the repeated interruption.
"What is wrong with you? First the kitchen now the bathroom? Am I surrounded by horndogs?"
"Envious because you're not getting some?" Audrey asked a little too pesky for the others' taste.
"No, but I'm starting to believe that Grams is right after all. Thinking about it I just might call the vice squad, because I doubt that cold water would do you any good." Jen crossed her arms in front of her chest, tapping her foot, actually annoyed. Maybe she was a tad envious, but this lewd display was too much for her after being removed from the New York party scene for so long.
"Anything the matter, children? Or what is this commotion all about?" unnoticed by the crowd in the suddenly too small bathroom, Grams had climbed the stairs and peeked her head in.
"So much for the vice squad," Audrey mouthed in Joey's direction, who blushed fiercely and hid her face in the crook of Pacey's neck.
Grams glanced around her suddenly quiet kitchen. Just a few minutes ago more or less the whole bunch had been busy with preparing the big dinner, setting the table outside and getting the campfire started.
St. Peter must have been really satisfied with all their hard work, because he rewarded them with wonderful weather and unusual high temperatures for late November.
She smiled, thinking about how smooth everything went from the early stages of planning right to the accomplishment of their task. This year she had so many things to be thankful for. Her regained strength and health, the gift of getting her home back and the help of all these people gathered in her garden, who she considered family, not just friends. Without them her move back to Capeside would have been nearly impossible.
Consequently there hadn't been a better fitting time than the long Thanksgiving weekend for their project.
For her it was like a small miracle that the house looked and smelled just like it did two years ago - only it was even better. Maybe the concept of separation for a certain length of time did have its advantages after all and not only in human relationships.
The flatware was in the very same drawer it had always been, but now she appreciated this knowledge with a new found fondness. She wouldn't go as far as to think that the time in Boston was a mistake, because it wasn't. Capeside was her home and she had spent nearly all of her life there, but city life opened her up to new experiences. Never say you can't teach an old dog new tricks - she had definitely learned a lot.
"Grams? Where are you?" Jen walked through the backdoor, turning her head to catch sight of her gone astray grandmother.
Grams inhaled deeply, still smiling and dropped the dish cloth in the sink. "I'm here, child."
"Hey," Jen stepped closer and returned the happy smile that was etched on Grams face. "We're all done and just waiting for you. It gets more and more difficult to stop the guys from heisting the buffet."
"They must be hungry. No wonder, though. Would you've believed that we would be finished so soon?"
"Well, soon? It took the whole weekend and we had a lot of help," Jen leaned against the counter, plucking a seedless grape from the bowl in front of her.
"Sure, Jennifer, but it is still amazing to have everything back where it belongs and all is well known but still new. The whole house looks so pretty," Grams adjusted her skirt and smoothed some invisible creases away. She almost felt as overwhelmed as she did the very first time she set foot into her new home as a married woman all those years ago.
"Yeah, see... I could have told you long ago that a renovation every twenty years or so isn't that wrong at all," Jen chuckled, remembering her many futile attempts of convincing Grams to try some beautification or at least a new wallpaper.
"There's a time for everything in life and I wasn't ready for changes like that," Grams dismissed easily and shooed her granddaughter out of the door with a wink of her hand.
After dinner, which was actually an early one so they could make the most of the daylight and the comfortable temperature, Jack patted his full belly and stretched.
"I don't know about you guys, but I definitely need a little digestion walk."
"No kidding!" Audrey sighed and yawned sleepily at the same time. Too much work and way too good food had worn her out and even though walking meant she'd have to move her tired limbs, she was itching to join him.
"Why don't we all go?" Bessie suggested despite being seriously doubtful that she was able to move at all.
"Agreed then," Pacey declared, standing up and helping Joey in the process.
Simply by habit they found themselves a little while later on Dawson's dock, leaning against the old wooden railing, each of them reminiscing all those times they had been there before and would probably be there in the future, despite of where their current home was.
"Why is it that we always end up here or for the sake of variety at the docks?" Joey tucked at her read sweater, wishing momentarily that she had taken her coat with her before she felt Pacey's arm move from her waist up to her shoulders, drawing her closer to himself.
"Habit, I guess," Dawson shrugged. For him the cool wind moving in from the creek was a welcome refreshment. Although he would never admit it so easily, he was missing the change of seasons in California. The weather in L.A. seemed more or less the same to him all the time. They wouldn't get any snow there, just rain. It was never really cold, at least measuring in New England standards. In spite of loving every second of being there, working and living his dream with Audrey right at his side, he just knew that at some point he wouldn't hesitate to move back.
"Lack of other options," Jen stated dryly before the corners of her mouth morphed into a knowing grin, similar to those she found mirrored on her friends' faces.
"All of you are drawn to places like this. Be it in Boston, where we spent god knows how many hours near the marina, be it in L.A. - seriously, he's dragging me down to Malibu Beach every weekend!" Audrey poked Dawson in the side and giggled. "Maybe the water connects all of you with each other, like a bond that's always there."
"Like the Northern Star?" Jack suggested, running his hand through his hair, considering the deep meaning in Audrey's remark.
"Or like the moon. You look up there, knowing that it's always there, no matter where you are and that those who are not with you can see it, too - just like you," Pacey added quietly, pulling Joey even closer and brushing his lips against her temple.
There had been several, if not uncountable nights when he had stared into the dark sky, naming star constellations as they used to do on those achingly warm and sultry summer nights on True Love. More than once he might have sent a silent wish to the man in the moon and he couldn't help but think that he had finally listened to him in the most unlikely places of all: an artificial night sky with haphazardly placed twinkling lights that represented stars on the ceiling of a Kmart in a Bostonian suburb. Who would have ever thought that?
The group fell silent, indulging in memories that suddenly all started to make sense and it was as simply and as clear as a single drop of water. The essence of life was the same as their friendship.
"Awww, doesn't this just cry for a picture?" Bessie's voice drifted over to them, her and Grams sauntering towards the dock at a much slower speed.
"What doesn't in your opinion?" Joey rolled her eyes in mock annoyance. By hindsight she knew that her sister was usually right. Later she probably wouldn't want to miss a picture of them on this day, just like she wouldn't want to lose any of the others that were safely tucked away in her scrapbooks. Most were even collected in several different albums.
"Shut up, sis. I know you love them," Bessie snickered.
"Yes, that would be nice," Grams agreed wholeheartedly and pulled a camera out of her handbag.
"You're carrying a camera around with you?" Jen was surprised, not knowing that she even had one.
"Well, now that I'm here in Capeside and you children are spread all over the country, at least on both coasts, I thought it would be nice to have you all together in a picture. I almost forgot about it with all the things we had to do and there wasn't a good opportunity offering itself either..."
"Okay, okay... let's take a picture then," Jen conceded not without an eye-roll of her own.
Bessie smiled and ordered them into a nice arrangement, but Grams wasn't having any of that sterile looking, staged scenarios. While Jack, Jen, Dawson, Joey, Pacey and Audrey linked arms and stepped forward to line up against the backdrop of the creek, she raised the camera to her eyes and took the perfect snapshot. A photograph full of life, happiness, movement and reality. A technique she had learned so long ago from the love of her life and she was sure he was winking at her from somewhere up above, nodding and mumbling, "That's it Evie, that's the golden shot."
"What are you doing?" Joey yawned and sleepily opened one eye to look at Pacey who was already up and dressed.
"I've got to make a quick run to the office..." Pacey explained as he struggled with his tie, something he was mysteriously unable to master, despite his otherwise very handy abilities.
Joey's eyes widened in confusion and then narrowed back in on his face. "It's Christmas, Pace."
"Uh... technically that's tomorrow morning, or this night... besides the stock closes at one p.m. today, not tomorrow." Pacey muttered some expletives under his breath before letting his arms fall helplessly to his sides.
"There must be something wrong with this tie... it's un-bindable."
"Or... you're just un-talented," Joey teased and patted the mattress next to her.
"I happen to think that my fingers are very skilled, thank you very much," Pacey grumbled but moved over to her and sat down, bracing his arms on both sides of her.
"You can hardly compare that skill with the fine art of arranging a silken tie."
"Are you sure about that?" Licking his lips he dared her to disagree, just so that he could prove her wrong, momentarily forgetting that he was on his way out.
"I just thought we could go and...I don't know. It's just that this is the first time we won't spend Christmas in Capeside, you know?" Joey averted her eyes from his as she easily fixed his tie. The seasonally induced melancholy must have affected her more than she'd thought.
"And I thought we decided to stay in Boston exactly for that reason, to have the holidays for ourselves, having the apartment to ourselves...indulging in a big city New Year's celebration and then heading down to the Cape for a nice winter vacation in January when everybody else is working?" Pacey's voice dropped to a soothing murmur.
"Yeah, I know... and it's great that Hetson gave me the week off..." Joey sighed and rolled her eyes. "Ignore me, I'm just emotional and only half awake."
"You're sure? We could still beat Santa to the cookies and be there this evening." Stroking her cheek gently with his thumb he searched her eyes. One word from her and they would be in Capeside as fast as his car could make it.
"Nah, I'm sure. We have our own little tree here, and... I'm really looking forward to that, creating more history for us. Really." Joey laced her hand with Pacey's, flipping it so that she could kiss the back of his.
"Okay, then... well, I guess Santa already knows that we're here, since he already left a present for us," Pacey pointed to their nightstand.
"Seems like it." Joey smiled and glanced at the newly framed picture sitting under the lamp. "That was so nice of Grams to send us the Thanksgiving picture for Christmas."
"That it was. Another Christmas tradition of ours, huh? People love to give us pictures." Pacey chuckled and nodded at the other picture they received from Dawson three years ago.
"A very nice tradition," Joey smiled before a mischievous glimmer turned into a full smirk. "I kinda got used to your beard... what a surprise."
Pacey grinned and rubbed his fully grown back beard thoughtfully. The first traces of it were captured in the photograph, although it resembled more a shadow than anything else at Thanksgiving.
"After I convinced you of its many advantages and... talents... I wouldn't call that a surprise!" he finally declared with an accompanying wiggle of his eyebrow.
"Perv," Joey scolded with her tongue peeking out behind her teeth.
"Prude." Some things would definitely never change, no matter how obsolete the taunting banter was by then. "Go back to sleep, sweetie. I promise I'll be home no later than two p.m., bearing your beloved Gingerbread Muffin."
"That sounds like a deal," Joey agreed and sat up, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Oh, and don't think I don't know that you just go in to swipe the leftovers of those insanely unnecessary gifts your firm has been sending to your poor customers."
"Shut up, Miss Grinch," Pacey kissed the tip of her nose, of course she was right - in a way at least. Some of those free gadgets would find their way into the apartment, no doubt about that.
Joey still chuckled after Pacey had already left the room, secretly very happy that she could snuggle back into their warm, cozy bed. Before her eyes slipped shut again, she gazed again at the photograph. At some time of the previous evening, Pacey had snatched it away and adorned the glass with a note that made her tingle all over. The message was simple and at the same time the essence of everything that meant anything in her world.
"PS: You make my heart happy..."
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