My Only Wish This Year
Part 3 - Christmas 2004
by Karen H

While Joey sat with her back to her bed helping Lily wrap a Christmas present she had bought for Lily to give to Dawson she wondered where he had gotten to earlier that morning. It had become sort of a tradition for her to spend the night before Christmas Eve at the Leery’s and when she’d woke up that morning Dawson had been gone. His side of the bed empty except for the note he’d left saying he’d see her later at the party.

Mitch and Gale had some things to take care of with the restaurant and she’d offered to look after Lily, who now looked so big at 3 and a half years.

“Now what do you do when Dawson asks what you bought him.” Joey asked Lily as she placed a piece of tape on the seem of the paper.

“It’s a secret and a surprise.” Lily replied with a big smile.

“Good girl.”

“Alex says if I tell then Santa won’t leave me presents.” The little girl told Joey with a pout.

“Aw sweetie, don’t listen to Alex. Santa would still come; it’ll just ruin the surprise for Dawson.”

“K”. Lily nodded. “Will you help me write the card?”

Joey lightly pinched her cheek. “Sure I will and then we gotta let Princess Lily have her little nap, because you know what will happen if she doesn’t get her nap?”

Lily stood up and placed her hands on Joey’s shoulders to steady herself. “Lily will miss the party.”

Neither Lily or Joey saw or heard Dawson enter the room.

“We don’t want that to happen, do we?”

Lily shook her head in response before leaning in to kiss Joey on the cheek and then hug her.

“Aw sweetie, what’s this for?” Joey asked touched as Lily kissed her cheek again.

“Helping with Dawson’s gift.”

“You bought me a gift?” Dawson asked as he pretended to be trying to work out what the gift was.

“Dawson!” Lily called turning to see him before she ran towards him. “I’m not telling what it is.”

Dawson lifted his little sister up and she cuddled him. “What’d you buy me?” He whispered into her ear.

Lily quickly turned to look at Joey who was watching her curiously and then turned back to Dawson. “A surprise.”

Dawson lightly tickled Lily. “I could torture the information out of you.”

“Ah noooooo.” Lily called out. “Save me Joey, save me.” She giggled as Dawson continued to tickle her lightly, at least until Joey came to her rescue.

“Dawson should know better, shouldn’t he Lily?” Joey asked her as she eyed Dawson. Lily’s only response was a nod. “What would Santa leave for Dawson if he found out that he had tickle tortured the princess?”

“A big lump of coal.” Lily replied, over emphasizing the word ‘big’ using her hands.

Raising his arms in defeat, Dawson apologized. “I’m sorry your royal highness. I’m sorry.”

“What do you say to that Lily?” Joey asked with a grin.

“Off with his head?” She asked Joey in a whisper.

“Maybe we give him another chance to be good.”

Lily eyed Dawson who was putting on his best innocent face, pouting and mouthing ‘I’m sorry’.

“Just this once.” She nodded.

Dawson dropped down to one knee and took Lily’s hand in his, bowing his head. “Thank you Princess Lily, thank you.” Standing again he lightly pinched Lily’s cheek. “The Queen would like to see you.”

“Aw, but Princess Lily hasn’t even had her nap yet.” Joey pouted.

“It’s okay.” Lily assured her. “Mommy will give me that. You don’t have to be sad.” She lightly kissed Joey’s cheek.

“I won’t be sad as long as we party later.” Joey replied taking one of Lily’s hands and dancing her around the room making her laugh.

“Okay, where did you hide your shoes?” Dawson asked Lily after he’d looked around the room.

“Not telling.” Lily stuck out her tongue.

Joey laughed as she put Lily on the floor and Dawson quickly looked from Lily to Joey. “I wonder who taught her that.”

“Wasn’t me?” Joey shook her head, sticking her tongue out at Dawson.

“Sure.” He replied before addressing Lily. “Your royal highness, permission to tickle torture Joey.”

Lily looked from Dawson to Joey and back to Dawson again. “Hmmm, okay.”

“Lily!” Joey said shocked as she took a step backwards and Dawson closed in on her. “How could you?”

Lily just giggled as Dawson started his assault on Joey’s waist.

“Dawson!” Joey said his name sternly but started laughing as they tumbled onto her bed, Dawson on top.

“I was given permission to torture.” Dawson defended himself, all the while still tickling her as his face came closer to hers. “Would you like me to stop?” He asked with a smile.

“Yes.” She managed to blurt out through her laughing.

“I don’t know Joey; you’ve been a bad girl otherwise…”

“Hey I’ll have you know I’ve been a very good girl this year.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.” Joey replied leaning up to kiss him quickly. “I’ve been very…” She paused for a moment as she rocked her hips against his causing his eyes to go wide as he let out a groan. “Good.” Joey finished with a devious smile on her face as Dawson’s hands stilled.

“I have a feeling we really should stop this now.” He told her although he didn’t move and Joey bit her bottom lip in anticipation.

After what seemed like an eternity they looked away to see Lily standing at the foot of the bed, her hands over her eyes but she occasionally peeked out from between her fingers.

Both Dawson and Joey couldn’t help but laugh.

“How adorable is that?”

“The drawback of growing up as a Leery child.” Dawson informed Joey. “Constantly having to shield your eyes from watching your parents do stuff like this.”

“Like father like son?”

Dawson moved off of her. “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“You do that.”

“I guess I should get you home.”

Lily nodded her head. “Need to nap.”

Moving off of the bed, Joey crouched beside Lily. “Can I get a hug before you leave me all alone?”

Shaking her head from side to side Lily took a step backwards before throwing her arms around Joey’s neck and giggling. “Fooled you!”

Joey laughed. “You sure did. I see you found your shoes and your coat. Are you really gonna leave me?”

Rubbing her eyes Lily quietly nodded her head and reached for Dawson’s hand.

“I’ll see you later Princess.” Joey kissed the top of Lily’s head before taking her other hand to walk them to the door. “Where were you this morning, when I woke up?”

“Ahh, I had some last minute errands to run.”

“Dawson?”

“It’s a surprise.” Dawson offered quickly kissing Joey before helping Lily with her scarf and hat as Joey helped Lily put on her gloves. “You’ll find out in good time.”

“When’s good time?” She asked as she opened the door.

Dawson just flashed a smile at her and touched her nose twice before lifting Lily up to carry her to the car. Joey stood in the doorway watching them approach his car, Lily’s head resting on his shoulder.

As Dawson drove off he saw Joey close the door after waving and turned to the back seat to see Lily was asleep. She looked so adorable. In that one moment he knew he’d made the right decision all those years ago to move somewhat closer to home. If he’d have stayed in California he’s have missed so much and been miserable.

It was pretty hard for him to even begin to imagine not seeing Lily on a regular basis. Despite the obvious age different he felt they were close. Ever since he’d decided to live closer to Capeside he made sure he spoiled her, made sure she’d know who he was and that if she ever needed him then he’d be there.

Then there was Joey.

If he’d stayed in LA then he and Joey probably wouldn’t be together today. Long distance relationships were difficult at the best of times and Dawson was pretty sure that eventually it may get the better of them. There was too much history and too much emotionality for them to just see each other every other weekend and on holidays.

He could never have asked for things to have worked out any better. He and Joey hadn’t rushed anything, always taking it slowly…or well, was waiting two months to have sex really slowly? To some maybe, he just knew it’d been right for them. They’d already said they loved each other after all.

So things progressed naturally, or at least as naturally as would be permitted when both of them were in dorms, both having roommates.

After they’d told everyone they were moving in together he felt elated. Trying to find somewhere was a different story though, it wasn’t as easy as they’d hoped it would be. Grams had told them they could stay at her house until they did find something and although both Dawson and Joey had been a little wary of staying there they’d agreed.

It was nice of her to offer but they didn’t want to be a burden. Grams had insisted and Dawson and Joey had moved into the attic and looked for somewhere to live with gusto, Joey still adamant that she would not have sex under the same roof as Grams…or at least not while Grams was in the house.

Then after almost a month of searching they found somewhere almost midway between campuses and moved in as soon as possible. It was a small one bedroom apartment but they weren’t looking for anything grand. As long as there was room for them and their essential things then it was good enough.

The first weekend after they had gotten the keys Mitch had come up from Capeside to help them move along with everyone else, managing to give everything a fresh lick of paint over the weekend, with Dawson and Joey able to fully move in by late Sunday night.

And after that they didn’t waste anytime.

Dawson had barely closed the door behind his father that Sunday night when he turned to find Joey already stripping off as she walked backwards down the hall, slowly undoing the zipper on her jeans which were covered in paint spatters.

He’d simply raised an eyebrow as he watched her, amusement written all over his face.

“I need to take a shower…” She began, letting her jeans fall to the floor. “And I was thinking that maybe we could make a start on christening this place…” She reached behind her back and unclasped her bra, letting it fall to the floor and he finally started walking towards her.

He’d pulled his shirt over his head and by the time it had hit the floor she’d thrown her panties at him and ran into the bathroom.

By the time he’d entered the bathroom she was already under the stream of hot water, her hair no longer tied back but soaked around her face.

“That’s not fair.” Dawson had told her as he stepped out of his jeans. “You had a head start.”

She lightly shrugged her shoulders as she trailed a hand down to cup her naked breast. “I was impatient. One I needed to get this paint off of me and two...” she trailed off placing her hands on his shoulders as he stepped into the shower beside her. “I can have sex whenever I want now.” She purred in his ear.

“What if I don’t want it?”

Joey gently bit his ear as she trailed a hand down his chest before stroking his semi-erect penis. “That’s yet to happen.” She’s replied breathing against his ear before kissing him hard.

Dawson pushed her against the tiled wall, his hands roaming over her body as hers roamed over his.

“Lucky you.” He’d replied as he’d lifted her slightly and she’d hooked one of her legs around him as he entered her.

After they’d had shower sex they’d dried each other off which seemed to take a while as they kissed almost the entire time. The only other place they’d christened that night was their new bed, a gift from Dawson’s parents.

It wasn’t long however until they’d christened all the rooms in the apartment and after that Joey had joked that there were still some surfaces they hadn’t gotten to yet. He’d thought she’d been kidding but she hadn’t been.

The odd weekend they’d have Mitch bring Lily, or Bodie bring Alex to Boston to stay for the weekend so that they’d get some alone time while they got to spend time with Alex or Lily.

By the time Dawson pulled up outside the house he saw that his parents were back from the restaurant as the car was in the drive. He hoped he’d given them enough time to hide the bike they’d gotten Lily for Christmas, for some reason this year she’d gotten into the habit of looking for presents. Joey had told Dawson she wouldn’t be surprised if Alex had gotten her into that.

By the time Joey, Bessie, Alex and Bodie arrived at the Leery’s the party had been going on for almost an hour.

Jen let them in and joked that the party was almost over.

“Ha ha, Jen.” Joey said rolling her eyes. “We’d have been here sooner if someone hadn’t thrown a tantrum.”

“Bessie?” Jen questioned.

“Do I really look like the tantrum throwing type?” She’d asked Jen offended.

“I’m gonna take these through to Gale.” Bodie said indicating to the box full of food in his hands.

“Mom’s in the living room.” Dawson said exiting the living room, his face lighting up as he saw Joey. “I was starting to think I’d been stood up.”

“Not a chance.” She replied as she kissed him hello. “Someone refused to change out of there pajamas because they wanted Santa to come sooner and ended up throwing a tantrum.”

“You know better than to throw tantrums Joey.” Jen informed her. “You’ll end up with a lump of coal.”

Within a few seconds Alex’s bottom lip had started to quiver and he sniffled, a worried look on his face.

“But ya know, Santa’s always watching so even if you throw a tantrum on Christmas Eve, there’s still time to make up for it.” Jen said taking Alex’s hand.

“There is?”

Jen nodded her head and led him into the living room. “Let me tell you what you need to do.”

“Should I be worried?” Bessie asked as she watched Alex sit on the sofa beside Jen.

“Oh no.” Joey assured her. “Somehow, Jen is able to frighten kids into realizing they’ve made a mistake in such a subtle way and then she craftily tells you how to fix it.”

“Meaning?” Bessie asked taking off her coat.

“He’ll have apologized and cuddled and kissed you so many times within the next 10 minutes that you’ll tell him to scram.”

“Well, on that note I best take advantage of the next few minutes before my son kills me.”

Dawson and Joey both laugh and then just stand looking at one another for a moment before moving in to kiss one another, it’s soft and lingering.

“Hey.” Dawson says after a moment his hand on her waist.

“Hey to you too.” She replies simply as they moved away from the door towards the stairs. “Happy anniversary.”

“Happy three year anniversary.” He responded as Andie passes by.

“It’s a good job no one else tries to get someone under that mistletoe in this house; you do know that area is now known as your territory, right?” Andie asked as she stopped beside them. “I’m not moving too close, one or both of you might try to kiss me.”

“Very funny Andie.” Dawson replied letting go of Joey so the two girls could hug, which they do.

“I thought you weren’t gonna make it down?”

“So did I.” Andie said letting go of Joey. “I only got here about an hour ago…and I still made it here before you.”

“Yeah well, someone threw a tantrum.”

“Alex?” Andie asked and Joey just nodded her head. “I guess he’s at that age. I recall Jack throwing many a tantrum at that age.”

“I heard that Andie.”

“I hear he still throws the odd tantrum.” She whispered before walking away. “We’ll catch up later Joey, I think you’re busy.”

“Yeah, she is.” Dawson said as he wrapped his arms around her waist. “It can’t have been three years.”

“It seems like it’s been longer.”

“Yeah it does.” He replied before their lips met once more and as she wove her hands around his neck they heard Lily in the background.

“Mommy, daddy, they’re doing it again.”

They broke away from the kiss to look down at Lily who had started to tug on Joey’s dress and they couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hey precious. Don’t you look pretty?” Joey said crouching down to pick her up and Lily nodded.

“Not as pretty as you though.” She responded as she played with Joey’s necklace.

“You’re just saying that.” Joey responded, touched when Lily shook her head ‘no’. “Aw sweetie.”

“Did you ‘member to bring Dawson’s present?” Lily whispered in Joey’s ear. “I forgot to write the card.” She sniffled.

“I know, I brought it with me.” She replied touching Lily’s nose and after she’d seen Lily’s face light up she added, “And I brought my silver pen so you could write it.”

“Yay.” Lily clapped before she hugged Joey.

“So, shall I leave you with Dawson and go get them?”

Lily shook her head. “Come with you.”

“I guess you’re on your own Dawson.” Joey said walking away carrying Lily and as she did she whispered something in Lily’s ear. When they reached the living room door both turned towards Dawson and stuck out their tongue before giggling as they walked away.

Five minutes later Dawson tried to find Joey and was told she’d taken Lily upstairs to the bathroom.

As Dawson neared the top of the stairs he heard Joey asking Lily if she was okay and he heard her reply ‘yes’. Coming up behind her he wrapped his arms around her waist and she sunk back against his body.

“You have the cutest sister.” Joey told him. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised considering.”

“Considering what?”

“Considering who her big brother is.” She finished, lightly kissing his chin.

“It’s good that you think that? Maybe that’ll be the swaying factor for you.”

Confusion written all over her face, Joey asked, “In what?”

“Answering a smallish question.” Dawson began. “See, earlier this morning I had to drive to Boston to pick something up, it was actually supposed to be ready before we left but it wasn’t and I kinda started to panic. Anyways, I had this little question to ask you and I’m hoping you’ll say yes.”

Her facial expression began to soften as she started to realize what he meant.

“We’ve tried life apart and it sucked…didn’t last very long either.” He said as he took one of her hands in his. “And we’ve tried life together and I know from living with you for these last few years that I could never imagine life being any other way. I try to picture how things would have been if I’d stayed in LA and I can’t.” Dawson touched her cheek lightly. “No matter how I try to picture that I just can’t, all I see if you. All I want is you, if you’ll have me.” As he finished he kissed her hand before getting down on one knee and extracting the white gold and diamond ring from his pocket. “Will you marry me Joey?”

By the time he’d finished her eyes had begun to water and a single tear had slide down her cheek. Sniffling she gathered her dress above her knees and knelt in front of him. Touched his cheek with her free hand, traced his jaw line before finally saying, “Yes.”

They both laughed as he slid the ring on her finger before their lips met in a fiery kiss. She cupped his cheek and he cupped hers as they laced their fingers together.

Once the kiss was broken they hugged again. “Happy anniversary.” Dawson said before kissing her lightly again.

“Happy Christmas.” She grinned at him before remembering Lily was in the bathroom. Before she had the chance to stand up she saw Lily was standing in the doorway hiding behind her hands. “Poor Lily. Grown ups are always kissing huh?”

Lily nodded.

“It’s safe to look now.” Dawson assured her and she slowly took her hands away. “Come here Lily, Joey has something to show you.”

As she approached, Lily eyed Joey wondering what she would be showing her. Joey held out her hand to show off the ring.

“It’s sparkly and pretty.” Lily told her.

“You know how mommy and daddy are married because they love each other?” Dawson asked her and she nodded her head. “Well, I love Joey.”

Lily thought about that for a moment before asking, “Does Joey love you?”

“Very much.” Joey replied.

“Will you get married?” She asked looking at Joey.

“Yep, Dawson just gave me this ring and asked me.”

Lily contemplated that for a moment. “And you’ll be a princess, with a pretty dress?”

“Yep.”

“You’re rings pretty.” Lily said.

“Dawson stood up and scooped Lily up, putting his hand out to help Joey stand. Looking at Lily he asked her, “How would you like to tell everyone that Joey and I are getting married?”

Lily smiled as they began to walk down the stairs and as they approached the bottom she started to call out. “Dawson and Joey are getting married; Dawson and Joey are getting married!”

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, both Dawson and Joey stopped under the mistletoe for a quick kiss, back where is all started three years ago.

“Not again.” Lily said hiding her eyes causing Dawson and Joey and whoever had heard Lily calling to laugh.