This story takes place about 6 months or so after the series finale. Joey is hard at work in her office at the publishing house, editing away…
Joey looked out her window at the falling snow, it made the tall, dark buildings of the city seem so beautiful. "The first snowfall of the season", she thought to herself. It reminded her of Dawson, when they were younger they always made a wish when the first snowfall came. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and made a wish.
The loud ring of her phone snapped her back to reality. She looked at the caller ID, it was Pacey. She picked up the phone. "Hey Pace", she said in her pretending-not-to-be-stressed voice. "Hey Jo, when you coming home? We have dinner reservations in an hour" Pacey asked. She looked at the mountain of work piled upon her desk. "I'm stuck at the office, I'm not going to be able to make it. Sorry Pacey, can I take a rain check?" she sighed, knowing that he wouldn't let this go easily. "Joey, you've been at the office until all hours of the night every night this week. I miss you. You keep canceling our plans and putting work first before everything else. You owe me a thousand rain checks now." he sighed deeply, disappointment in his voice. "Pacey, you know that I'd love to be out with you, but I have so much work to do, I'm sorry…I really am. I'll make it up to you as soon as this book comes through I promise." she listened to his deep breathing on the line. "I'll see you later Joey" he said quickly. 'Click', he was gone. Joey put her head in her hands and took a deep breath. Lately work was not going well, this book needed to be published by the end of the month and she still had a lot of editing to do. She got up, made herself some coffee and got back to work. It was going to be a long night.
Pacey sat at home flipping through TV channels, periodically looking in the direction of the door and listening for Joey's key in the lock. "This was supposed to be the night, our night" he kept thinking to himself, running his fingers over the small box in his hands. He slowly opened the box, it was a small silver, diamond engagement ring. He had searched for the perfect ring for months, he knew it had to be perfect for Joey, simple and classy, but dazzling. "You did good Pacey." he said to himself. He had planned a perfect night for them, dinner at the Starlight Room then home to where he planned to have rose petals covering the floor and candles everywhere, he would get down on one knee and ask her to marry him. She cancelled though, dashing his hopes of a perfect night. He was completely disappointed and slightly angry. This had been going on for awhile now, it seemed like work always came first to Joey and he was sick of it.
For hours he sat there sulking in his ruined night, waiting for her to come home, until finally around midnight he heard the graceful click of her heels in the hallway and the gentle 'click' of her key in the lock. She came in looking completely exhausted. "Hi Pace" Joey said. No answer from Pacey. "Pace?" she looked at him and he ignored her. "Pacey I know you're upset about tonight, but we can always have dinner another time, I don't understand why it's such a big deal." she said and sat next to him, taking his hand in hers. He pulled away and stood up. "Do you know why I'm so upset Joey? Do you really want to know why?" he shouted at her. "I was going to propose tonight Joey, yes that's right PROPOSE. We were going to have dinner at the Starlight Room and then I was going to bring you home and have the floor covered in rose petals and candles all over the place and I was going to do the classic down on one knee and ask you to marry me. Again your work came first Joey, AGAIN. I'm so sick of being second place Joey, because you have always been first to me now I'm second to your work and before I was second to…" he stopped. Joey had a look of complete shock on her face. "Just say it Pacey, before you were second to DAWSON. This is what it ALWAYS comes back to. I picked YOU Pacey! Why don't you get that?" she yelled. Pacey stormed off into the bedroom. Joey sat on the couch with her head in her hands and began to cry. "He was going to propose Joey, you blew it again…but why does he always have to bring Dawson into this? I picked Pacey, I've always loved him." she thought to herself, she was so confused. She didn't see this coming…marriage? Was she ready for that? Did she want to marry Pacey? She lied down on the couch, resting her head on a large pillow and collecting the many thoughts bouncing around in her head. She lay there for a long time and finally she got up and went into the bedroom, Pacey was dead asleep. She got her small suitcase and packed some clothes and things as quietly as she could. She went back out to the living room lugging her suitcase and called the Airlines to see when the next flight was out of New York and then left a note for Pacey.
Dear Pacey,
I love you more than words can say, but I need some time to myself to think. I'm taking the rest of my work with me, I have somewhere I need to go. Don't worry about me sweetheart, I'll come home to you. Love, Joey