Pacey poured himself a cup of coffee from the machine on Jen's counter. After she'd left, he helped himself to her couch to catch up on the sleep he'd missed the night before. Now, he was awake and nervously pacing the confines of her house, waiting for Jen to return so he could hear what had occured while they were shopping.

He caught his reflection in the mirror hanging over the fireplace. He looked like crap, he hadn't shaved in a while and he had patchy two day growth over his chin. His hair was dingy and sticking up in weird places, it almost resembled crop circles. He shook his head, and turned away from the mirror, how had he ever let himself get this involved. He'd sworn to himself that he'd never let himself care this much about her again. Of course, that was when he'd been miles away with a wife and baby girl. It had seemed so easy to forget her then...before it all fell apart.

Before he'd been asked to be Dawson's best man. Before he discovered how unhappy she really was. Before Dawson had let it slip that he'd been cheating on Joey for years. Before he found out that Joey hadn't slept with Dawson in high school. He sighed and took a long gulp of his coffee.

Jen pulled her new blue Infinity into her driveway and cut off the engine. She lowered her head to the steering wheel and waited for the engine to die down. She let out a muffled sigh as it stopped and sat up straight staring at her house. The house she was afraid to go into right now. She just needed time to sort things out, Joey had literally ambushed her at lunch with all this new found information on Pacey. She sighed and turned the rear view mirror checking her reflection, making sure her eyes were still not red rimmed with all the crying she had done after dropping Joey off. She frowned and reached for her purse pulling out a lipstick tube, uncapping it and applying it smoothly over her lips. She blotted them together. Once. Twice. She forced a smile and her hand grabbed for the brides maid dress in the back seat as she climbed out of the car. Each step to the front door felt longer than the last and it was killing her.

Pacey heard her call pull up to the house and anxciously he crossed to the front door and opened it. He stepped out onto the porch and froze mid-step. He hadn't known what to expect when he saw her, but it certainly wasn't this. She looked... wounded.

She pushed past him wordlessly unsure of how to react to his prescence. She was kind of hoping he had left already. She walked over to the living room and draped the bag holding her dress over her armchair before walking over to her closet. She sighed and pulled off her jacket hanging it up and removed her shoes. Then she walked back over to the kitchen and served herself a cup of coffee. She brought the warm mug to the table and sat down. She moved silently, her mind trying to steady her thoughts. Her hands only trembled slightly as she placed the mug down.

Wordlessly, Pacey followed behind her and causiously sat across from her at the table. "I take it things didn't go well?" He asked carefully.

Jen wrapped both her hands around the warm mug and raised it to her lips blowing lightly over the rim. "Oh, I wouldn't say that. I found the experiance rather enlightening."

"Enlightening?" His confusion grew.

Jen nodded and took a small sip of her coffee. "Yes, enlightening."

"What happened?"

Jen paused and set her mug down. "Anything you want to tell me?" she countered quickly.

"Tell you? About what?" He replied, "I already told you where I was and what I was doing last night."

"I meant in general, Pacey. Anything you care to share? Anything you want to say to me?"

Pacey shook his head slowy, "No..." he replied guardedly, his brow furrowed. Jen was acting awfully peculiar. "Nothing I can think of."

Jen had to fight the urge to laugh incredulously. "Really? Nothing about prior marriages? A child? Nothing at all?" It was hard to hide the slight bitterness that crept into her voice.

His face paled under her piercing gaze. "I- uh... " He couldn't seem to think of anything to say.

"You, uh, what, Pacey?" Jen mocked with derision. "Forgot to mention it? It slipped your mind?"

"No," he replied shortly, "I, just..." He shrugged helplessy and avoided her gaze. "I don't know what to say, Jen. It's too late to apologize, you're to angry to listen to my excuses, which frankly, are just that, excuses." He hung his head.

Jen inhaled sharply her anger fading at his reaction. "I'm not angry...I guess, I'm just disappointed. Disappointed that you didn't tell me."

"I'm sorry that you had to find out from Joey," he said quietly. "I should have been the one to tell you."

Jen ran a hand through her hair tiredly. "Yes, you should have."

"Is there, um, anything that you, uh, want to know?" He asked, his voice strained. He hated to talk about Miranda and Chelsea.

She sighed and sat back down in her chair. "Why don't you just start at the beginning?"

He nodded and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Alright." He took a deep breath, "I guess, it started when I met Miranda. She worked the bar at the strip club I worked for..."

Joey sailed through the door of the B&B happily. She vowed to not let Jen's words from earlier disturb her. Her wedding dress hung over her arm and she headed to her bedroom to put it away. After that was done she went into the kitchen for a soda, wondering if she should call Jen and make sure everything was okay.

"Where've you been?" Dawson asked the moment she stepped into the kitchen. His arms were crossed severly over his chest, and something very similar to a scowl distorted his features.

Joey turned away from the fridge and smiled. "I went dress shopping with Jen." She resumed her search for soda.

"And Pacey," he sneered.

Joey grabbed a can of Coke and closed the door of the refrigerator before turning to face Dawson. "It was just Jen and I."

"Don't lie to me, Joey. You went to see him!"

Joey frowned. "Dawson, I didn't see Pacey. You're acting paranoid."

"Then where were you?!" He demanded.

"I just told you where I was Dawson. I was out buying a wedding dress with Jen."

"And for how long?"

Joey shrugged and popped her can open, taking a small sip. "I don't know, maybe an hour or two."

"And then where did you go? Pacey's!" He answered his own question.

Joey set her can down. "No. We went out to lunch. I came home. The end."

"Yeah, right. What did he say to you? Did he make up some lame alternative story to what happened last night. Did he deny that he's been cheating on Jen? Tell me, Joey. Did he feed you lies about me?"

Joey shook her head quickly. "No, Dawson. I didn't even see Pacey."

"Whatever." He glared at her as he stalked passed and grabbed his keys from the counter.

Joey felt the familiar feel of tears beginning to well in her eyes whenever Dawson behaved so irrationally. "Where are you going?"

"Out, if you wont tell me what he said, I'll find someone who will."

"He didn't tell me anything, Dawson. I didn't even see him today. I swear," she pleaded with him to believe her.

"Right...you were too busy fucking him to look at him! I always knew you were a slut. If you weren't putting out for me, you had to be for someone!" He growled.

Joey's eyes watered at his accusations. "How can you say that? You know I would never do that to you."

"Bull shit! It's written all over your face! You've always wanted him, now finally, you were given a chance and you took it!"

Joey's eyes narrowed angrily feeling some semblance of the girl she use to be. "Yeah, Dawson that's what I was doing. I wasn't buying a wedding dress, oh no, I was getting my brains fucked out by Pacey," she spat.

"See, you even admit it! Fucking whore. I bet you're still wet with him aren't you? Wonder what Jen would think of this?" He sneered. "But she was probably with you enjoying her part of the threesome."

Joey's lower lip quivered a bit. "I can't believe you'd actually believe that, let alone think it."

"Believe it?! Of course I believe it! You haven't denied it yet!" He screamed at her, his face glowing a bright red.

"I have denied it! You just don't want to believe it!"

"You were with him!"

"I was not with him! I was with Jen and if you want you can call her and she'll tell you."

He glared at her, "You can't possibly think I'm that stupid! You've already told her to lie for you!"

Joey crossed her arms in front of her chest haughtily. "I did not see Pacey. I did not speak to Pacey. Believe what you want."

"No problem. I don't believe you."

Joey turned away from him unable to face him anymore and ignoring the sharp pang in her chest because of how much this hurt. "Fine."

Dawson gave her one final hard look before storming out the front door. As far as he was concerned, Joey wasn't going to be the only one getting some today.

Joey winced as the door slammed behind her and collapsed into a full onset of tears. She wiped at her eyes furiously. She hated it when he got like this. She reached for the phone wanting to talk to someone and Bessie was out for the day. She dialed the familiar number through tear strained eyes.

Pacey sat with his elbows resting on Jen's kitchen table, his hands cradling his head as memories of Chelsea ran circles through his mind. After he had told Jen about his wife and child, she'd taken off for a walk, claiming to need fresh air. That was just a few minutes ago. The ringing of her telephone brought Pacey out of his haze. He rose slowly, feeling emotionally drained, and answered the phone. "Hello?"

Joey sniffled and rubbed her eyes. "Hello?" she winced at how hoarse her voice sounded and cleared her throat. "Hello Jen?"

"Uh, no. It's Pacey." He answered, his voice tinted with confusion. "Joey?"

She whimpered quietly and wiped at her cheeks. She forced herself to act cheerful but only ended up failing miserably. "Um, hey Pacey. Jen around?"

"No, she just went for a walk," he paused, "Are you okay?"

Joey nodded. "Um, yeah I'm okay." She glanced around the kitchen helplessly. "Um, can you tell her to call me when she gets in?"

"Jo, what happened?" He asked, sensing her discomfort.

She emitted a soft cry and covered her mouth to stifle it. "It's Dawson. We got into an argument. He got angry and he left." She began to cry again as she thought about it. "H-he was really angry and," she hiccuped quietly. "And he accused me of lying about going dress shopping with Jen." She wiped at her eyes some more. "That's why I was calling her. I need her to talk to him and tell him."

"If he doesn't believe you, why would he believe her?" He asked, running a hand through his mussed hair.

"Because he has to."

"Right..." He sighed. "Actually, Jo. If you don't mind, I think we should talk."

Joey's crying died down a bit. "About what?" she asked curiously.

"I, uh, had a talk with Dawson last night. And he revealed some things that we really need to discuss."

Her face fell. "Oh."

"You can tell me what Dawson did too."

Joey nodded mutely against the phone. "Okay...I guess."

Pacey's fist clenched, he hated this, it felt so awkward. "Is now a good time?"

She looked around as if something better was about to come up. She shrugged. "I guess now is okay."

"Do you want to meet somewhere, or-"

"Can you just come over here?" she asked softly. "I don't feel like going out anywhere."

"Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Okay...bye."

"Bye Potter." He hung up the phone and looked out the window, he didn't see Jen anywhere in sight. He searched the table for paper and pen and jotted her a quick note. He grabbed his keys and climbed into his car, running through his speech in his mind. He didn't have the slightest clue where to start. Dawson's cheating? Her lies back in high school? The wedding? He figured by the time he arrived there he'd know what to say.

Please...let us know what you think. It only takes a few minutes, and it gives us such a warm and fuzzy feeling. [email protected] and [email protected]