Author's Note: See Part 1 for synopsis. Please be kind and send me feedback (I would send it to you!) [email protected] Thanks for taking time to read this.

"Did you like all your presents?" Joey asks Taylor. She was sitting up in her bed, and he was sitting next to her.

He nods. "Uncle Pacey said we can go sledding after dinner if we're good. He said he and Daddy would take me and Tim."

"Taylor, I have something special for you, just from me." Joey tells him and takes a large box out from under the bed. She hands it to Taylor. He opens the box. Inside is a large photo album. "This is a special photo album, it's full of pictures of just you and me." She tells him. He turns to pages to reveal pictures of himself as a baby with Joey, various holidays, birthdays and vacations. The last picture was one taken a week or so ago, it was of Taylor drinking chocolate milk, and it was all over the place, on his shirt, face, even in his hair. He had a huge grin on his face, it was an adorable shot. Next to the picture, on the back cover of the photo album was a narrow pocket with something in it. Joey took a spoon out from the pocket. "This is a special spoon." Joey tells him. "Whenever you want some chocolate milk," Joey tells him, knowing that he would only drink chocolate milk she made, "you tell Daddy or Aunt Andie or Uncle Pacey or Grandma or Grandpa to use this spoon to make it, and it will put my kisses in it." She tells him. "That's what makes the chocolate milk I make you special, it has my kisses in it."

Taylor wraps his arms around Joey's neck. "Mommy, this was the best Christmas."

"I'm so glad." She tells him.

"Thank you so much for everything, Andie." Mrs. Leery tells her, as Mr. Leery loads their bags into the car. "Dawson, sweetie, I?m sorry we couldn't stay longer, but we can't leave the restaurant for very long around the holidays." She tells him. "We'll be back up in a week or so when things slow down."

Dawson nods. "Thanks, mom." He says giving her a big hug.

"Joey, sweetheart, we love you. We'll see you in a few weeks." Mrs. Leery tells her.

"Gail, we're gonna miss the flight!" Mr. Leery calls from the driveway. It was 8:30 pm and their flight was at 10 pm, and the airport was almost an hour a way.

"We'll call you tomorrow!" Mrs. Leery tells him walking out the door.

Andie closes the door, it was freezing out and snowing heavily. Joey was shivering. Jack had left about an hour ago, and the boys were running all over the house, very hyper.

"I better get them to bed before they kill themselves or destroy the house." Andie laughs.

"I'll help." Joey tells her, and they head upstairs to try to catch the boys.

"You can't stay for New Year's?"

"No, I want to get her back home. She's getting too sick, and Taylor has to go back to school soon." Dawson tells Pacey.

"When do you want to leave?"

Dawson thinks for a minute. "Not tomorrow, the day after."

"Do you think you could come back up? Maybe in late February or early March?" Pacey asks him sitting down on a bar stool at the kitchen counter.

Dawson sits down next to him. "Pacey...March? By March she'll be so sick, she won't be able to leave the hospital. She might even be gone by then."

Pacey mouth drops. "By March?"

"We found out just before Halloween that the chemo and radiation treatments didn't work, and the doctor said six months maximum."

Pacey looks stunned. "But...but I hear about it on the news all the time, doctors tell that to their patients, and they wind up living for three more years or another decade, or..." Pacey trails off.

Dawson shakes his head. "You saw her today, Pacey. Does she really look like she could live another year? She doesn't even look like she could live another few months. And she doesn?t want to. She's accepted what's been told to her, she made plans for me and for Taylor. And she's okay with it now, and the pain is getting to be to much. She's just ready to bow out gracefully."

"Was this a good Christmas?" Andie asks Tim while putting his pajamas on.

"Yes! I got so many presents." Tim laughs.

"You got too many presents!" Andie smiles. She and Pacey had really gone all out that year. After what happened to Joey, Andie and Pacey realized just how lucky they were.

"Taylor got too many presents." Joey says rolling her eyes. It was true, everyone had spoiled Taylor with far too many gifts that year. Mr. And Mrs. Leery alone gave Taylor about ten gifts, Joey and Dawson twenty or more, Pacey and Andie about five, same as Bessie and Bodie, plus others still at home from various other friends, co-workers, and relatives. "I don?t know how we're going to get them all home."

"Fit what you can in the car, and we'll ship the rest down to you." Andie tells her. "Okay, guys." She says scooping up Tim. "Bedtime!"

"Ohhh!" Taylor and Tim whine.

"Hey, it's nine thirty, way, way too late!" Joey tells them. It was really only nine o'clock, but they were four years old and couldn?t tell time so it didn't matter. Joey was tired too, and worn out. "Come on Taylor, get in bed." Joey tells him and Andie tucks Tim in.

"No!" Taylor screams. "I won't go. You have to carry me! I'm not moving!!"

Joey sighs. She was too tired to put up with this. "I can?t lift you anymore." Joey tells him. "Come on."

"Aunt Andie can lift Tim, why can't you pick me up?!" He demands.

"Because Aunt Andie is stronger than me." She tells him.

Taylor stares at her in defiance and crosses him arms. "I won't go!" he tells her.

Andie cringes. Joey didn't deserve to put up with this. "Taylor, remember all those presents you got?" Andie asks him. He nods. "Well, if you don't listen to your mom, you won't get as many presents next year. You might even get coal instead of presents." Andie tells him.

"You're not my mom!!" Taylor yells at her.

Now Joey was mad. She bends down and grabs Taylor's arm. "Taylor Michael Leery, you apologize to your aunt and get in bed right now." She yells at him.

"No!" He screams and smacks Joey's face.

Joey looks shocked. It didn't hurt, but it was the principle of the action, not the ramification. "That's it!" Joey says and stands up. She walks to the doorway. "Dawson!!!" She calls down stairs.

Dawson runs up the stairs. "Are you okay?"

"Ask Taylor!" Joey says as they walk back into the room. "He refuses to go to bed and he slapped my face. And he yelled at Andie." Joey tells him.

Dawson bends down. "Taylor, what is going on? Why won't you go to bed?" Taylor just stares at Dawson with a mad expression on his face. He bursts into tears. "Why don't we go talk in my room." Dawson tells his son and takes his hand. They leave the room.

"I don't know what got into him, Andie. I'm so sorry." Joey tells her.

Andie shakes her head. "Don't worry about, Joey. He's a little boy and he's scared." They walk out of the room and Andie hits the light switch and closes the door on the way out.

"So is Dawson." Joey tells her. "For once he's out of control, this is taking over and he can't do anything about it. And he can't cope." Joey tells her as they walk into Pacey and Andie's room. Andie and Pacey had a huge room, that consisted of a sitting room, walk in closets and a luxurious bathroom. It had double door that opened into the sitting room and French doors to the bedroom. Andie sits on a love seat and Joey sits on a fainting lounge. "Andie, I know you promised that you'll take care of Taylor for me, but don't forget about Dawson either, please. Make sure he gets help, I know he'll need therapy or something. And he hates going to the doctor for check-ups, remind him to go at least once a year. I feel like I'm asking a lot here, Andie. Thank you so being so helpful."

"Joey, Dawson and you and Taylor are my family, too. This isn't a favor, this is being a good friend. And I promise I always will." Andie tells her.

They sit quietly in the sitting room for a minute. Through the windows Joey gazes at the star filled sky. So many stars, it was a beautiful night. It had stopped snowing and the night looked beautiful. "Andie, I um, well...there's just, just one more thing." Joey tells her.

"Anything."

Joey sighs. "I'm being buried next to my mom." Joey says and tears fill her eyes. She wasn't sad, she was happy that soon she's be able to see the mother she longed for again, but she could see the sorrow in Andie?s. "And with Dawson moving up here, I'm scared that?that no one will visit me. Andie, I don't want to be all alone, Capeside is a long drive from here and I know that Dawson will take Taylor to visit my sister, but he won't be able to go very often, just make sure that um...that you don?t forget I'm there, and make sure that you and Pacey and Tim come too, not just Dawson and Taylor."

"Joey, we could never could forget about you. I see you when I look in Taylor's eyes and when I look at this." Andie says taping a large painting behind her. When Pacey and Andie had bought the house Joey had given her several beautiful paintings she'd made for them as a house warming gift. The one in the sitting room was Andie's favorite, she thought it summed up Joey in oil paints. The emotion behind the brush strokes, the scene of the lilies floating on the water. Joey often incorporated lilies into her paintings; they represented her mom. Her mom had given her the talent to paint, and now she was brining her mom back into it. She was including her.

Joey looks up at the painting and blinks as big tears fall down her face. Andie gets up and hugs Joey, wanting to never let go of her friend, the sister she didn't have, the mother who deserved the chance to watch her son grow up, to watch her son's children grow, to live a happy old woman with her husband. "You're my hero, Joey. You are the bravest person I have ever met in my life. And I admire you more than anyone else." Andie tells her emotionally.

Joey smiles crookedly, and Andie smiles seeing some of the old Joey coming back. Joey squeezes Andie's hand. "I better go to bed." She tells her, still smiling. "Thank you for the best Christmas I've ever had."

"Thank you for giving me the best Christmas I've ever had." Andie tells her and helps Joey to her feet. Joey grimaces in pain as she stands.

"Good night, Andie, I love you."

"I love you, too." Andie tells Joey hoarsely as she leaves the room.

Slowly Joey makes it to her bedroom. It was getting harder and harder to walk, and she was exhausted. Joey sat down on a chair in their room and opened the book that Andie had been keeping for Taylor, his special memories for when he asked about the mother he wouldn't remember. Joey read it, and didn't cry, she basked in the memories they had, those wonderful times down the shore, the birthdays and Christmases. Joey stands and walks up to the window behind her. At the thousands of stars, stars that had been burning in the sky for millions of years. Stars that didn't were there before she was born, and would be there after died.

The night was calm and peaceful, and Joey wondered if dying and God were all they were cracked up to be. Would she really be at peace? Would she be able to protect her family like she promised them? Would she be able to watch from above as Taylor grew up? She didn't care about herself, just as long she knew Dawson and Taylor would be okay. Joey sighs. "God, just let me know they'll be okay." Joey whispers. She looks out the window and sees something she'd never seen before in her life: a single shooting star.

Part 16 to come.