Tragedy can either bring families closer... or tear them apart...

Chapter One

The crash woke Joey out of her much needed sleep. She opened her eyes and sighed heavily, wearily beginning to sit up.

"I got it." A groggy voice said beside her. Joey gave her husband a thankful, sleepy smile and fell back against the pillows. He padded out of the room. She closed her eyes and was falling back to sleep when she heard Pacey yelling.

"I'm giving you to the count of three to come out and clean this mess up! One! . . . Two! . . ."

Apparently, the little monsters showed themselves, because once again there was silence. But Joey was already awake. She sighed and glanced at the clock. Nine-thirty.

Just one Saturday, she would like to sleep until noon.

Resignedly, Joey threw back the covers and went to the bathroom. She took her time in brushing her teeth, washing her face, and combing her hair before seeing what new destruction the kids caused their room. She leaned against the doorway and watched Casey and Joseph clean up their assortment of toys while Pacey stood in the middle of the room overseeing them. Aliya was still sleeping peacefully in her little bed. The three-year-old was sick, and the medicine she had been on for the past two days had her sleeping like a rock.

Apparently, four-year-old Casey had convinced Joseph, who was a year older, into playing Tornado. Tornado was an original game, which consisted of them piling all of their blocks into the plastic milk crate that held their shoes, climbing on to the dresser, and dumping them all over the floor.

"Did you two have fun?" Joey asked, walking into the room. The kids looked up at her in surprise. Guilt was written all over their little faces.

"It was L.J." Casey spoke up.

Little Joey looked outraged. "No it wasn't!" He shouted at his little sister, his serious light gray eyes flashing with indignation. He turned to his mother and shook his head vehemently. "It wasn't me, Mommy! It was Casey!"

Biting back a smile, Joey reached out and stroked his dirty blond hair. "Calm down, Joe." She said soothingly.

Pacey stared hard at his daughter. "Casey . . . what did I say about telling stories?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest.

Casey's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, Daddy." She whispered, perfectly contrite. Pacey struggled to keep his face stern. Casey looked like a miniature version of Joey. The long, wavy dark brown hair, the expressive face, the full lips, the cute nose, and the downward tilting shape of her eyes mirrored her mother's when she was that age.

The only differences were that her personality mimicked Pacey's, and her eyes were yellow. A bright golden yellow outlined with a circle of dark green, swimming with green and blue flecks that sparkled in the sunlight. Casey was born with blue eyes, and they began to change color when she was two. Curiousity had spurred Joey to dig up pictures of her family, and she'd found out that her mom's grandmother had eyes the same color.

Seeing Pacey begin to crumble, Joey spoke up. "You both are in trouble. Since you obviously don't know how to respect your toys, we're taking them away for a week."

L.J., who was the spitting image of Pacey at five-years-old, right down to the wavy dirty blond hair that would eventually grow darker, looked as if he was going to argue. "No," Joey said before her son could speak up. "It doesn't matter whose idea it was. You were both in here, and you both did it, or didn't do anything to stop it. And that's that."

Casey pouted and L.J. glared at her. "Finish cleaning up, Casey, and come down to breakfast." Joey said, heading to the kitchen to prepare it.

"Him too!" Casey said, pointing to L.J.

"Make sure you help her, L.J." Joey called over her shoulder. Pacey went to the bathroom and washed up before going down to the kitchen. Joey was leaning against the counter, perusing the Weekend In New York section of the NY Daily News. She looked up when he came in and rolled her eyes at him, straightening up.

"That girl has you wrapped around her little finger," Joey said, referring to their daughter, putting the newspaper aside. Pacey smiled sheepishly and walked over to her. He slid his arms around her waist.

"That's just because she happens to look like someone I'm madly in love with." He said smoothly, kissing her sweetly. When she wrapped her arms around his neck and hungrily returned it, Pacey tightened his arms around her and deepened the kiss. As their desire quickly intensified, Pacey reluctantly broke away before he gave in to temptation and propped her up on the counter and took her right there. Breathing heavily, he gazed at her face, the longing in her eyes mirroring his own. It was their unquenchable passion for each other that made them parents of three children when they were only twenty-five. Casey and Aliya were barely ten months apart.

"You know what I think?" Pacey mused. "I think the kids miss their Aunt Bessie. I think they need to visit her again."

Trying to hide her smile, Joey pressed her lips together and nodded. "You know, I think you're right." She agreed.

He moved his hands to her hips and pulled her closer against his growing arousal. "Can we send them tonight?" He asked, lowering his mouth to hers and kissing it gently.

"I'll call her after breakfast." Joey said, kissing him one last time and moving away from his arms. She turned her attention to the stove, where bacon was sizzling, water was in a kettle boiling, and a pancake was on its way to being burnt.

Joey quickly flipped the pancake, turned the bacon, and tossed Pacey a Look over her shoulder. "What?" He asked innocently.

"You almost made me burn breakfast." She said accusingly.

"Hey, you know you can't resist me." He replied, reaching around her and moving the kettle off of the stove.

"You want to put your money where your mouth is, Witter?" She challenged, raising her eyebrow.

"What? You want to see who could do without the nookie longer?" He asked. When Joey rolled her eyes and then nodded, he shook his head. "Hell no, not me. What's the point of sending the kids to Bessie's then? I want one full torrid night of making love to you, without having to keep as quiet as possible so the kids won't wake up."

Joey smiled and removed the pancake from the pan. "Yeah," she teased. "I miss the way you would scream my name."

Pacey raised his eyebrows. "The way I would scream your name? Um, as I can recall the events of two nights ago, weren't you the one who couldn't—"

Casey burst into the kitchen, followed by L.J., who was chasing after her. Pacey and Joey glanced at each other in surprise. They hadn't heard them storm down the steps. "Hey, hey, stop it!" Pacey said loudly. He caught L.J. by scooping him up with his left arm. Casey hid behind Joey's legs.

"What's the problem?" Pacey asked L.J, sitting him on the counter Joey had been leaning against. Joey took Casey's wrist and pulled her up from behind her.

"Can you watch the food? I'm going to go check on the baby." She told Pacey, handing Casey over to him. Pacey nodded and picked Casey up and sat the island counter in the middle of the kitchen. He pulled a stool away from the island and positioned it between the two kids. Crossing his arms, he perched upon it. "What happened?"

As Casey and L.J. both began talking at once, Joey climbed the stairs to the kids' room. Aliya was lying on her back in the middle of her small bed, her hazel eyes half-closed with slumber. When she saw Joey, a smile slowly spread across her face. The child was absolutely angelic. Her huge round eyes dominated her chubby little face, and her lips were full and pouty. Her little button nose was slightly red with cold, and her hair was silky, wavy, and almost black. Aliya unsteadily sat up and reached out her little arms for her mother. As Aliya had taken to falling out of bed while she was sleeping, there were chairs surrounding her bed; and Joey moved them aside before she lifted her up and hugged her.

"Poor baby," Joey crooned. "Feel better, sweetie? Do you feel better?"

Feeling Aliya's forehead, Joey found that the fever had gone down. She reached under the collar of Aliya's pink, footed sleeper and felt her skin. It was no longer hot. "Good," she said, satisfied. "Mommy was getting worried."

"Wah-wad?" Aliya asked sleepily.

"Yes, worried."

"Dada wah-wad?" She asked.

Carrying her out of the room, Joey nodded. "Yes, Daddy was worried too. We didn't want our sweet little baby girl to be sick."

Casey and L.J. were sitting quietly at the table when she reached the kitchen, eating their breakfast of bacon and pancakes. Pacey was scrambling eggs, which neither he nor the kids liked, but he knew Joey liked them, and for some reason, he knew how to make them really good.

"There's my baby girl." Pacey said, when he saw Aliya. He set aside the spatula he was holding and took her from Joey. He kissed the child's forehead. "How's my cute little princess? Is my cutie feeling better?"

Joey glanced at Casey. She was often jealous of any attention Pacey showered on Aliya, but she was too caught up her misery to care. Pacey probably extended the length of their toy-free punishment.

"Her temperature is down." Joey said, getting down a mug and fixing a cup of instant coffee. Pacey nodded and switched Aliya to his right arm, leaving his left arm free to finish the eggs. Aliya rested her head on Pacey's shoulder and stuck her thumb into her mouth.

"Liya's gonna get stomach dadiyadis 'cause her thumb's in her mouth, Daddy." Casey spoke up. Stomach dadiyadis was a disease Pacey had invented to keep Casey from sucking her thumb. It worked on her, but it wasn't working for Aliya. Pacey pulled the thumb out of her mouth, and told her to stop it.

The phone rang. Joey answered it. It was Bessie.

"Hey, Bess," Joey said. Pacey looked up when he heard the name and Joey winked at him. "I was just about to call you."

"Good. Look, I know this is short notice and all, but were you guys planning on doing anything with the kids this weekend?" Bessie asked. Joey glanced at the newspaper she had been reading. She was looking for an activity for them to do, but hadn't come across anything.

"Nope. Why, what do you have in mind?"

Bessie sighed. She sounded a bit preoccupied. "You know my friend Mercedes, right? Well, she decided this morning that she wanted to throw a huge birthday party for her son Marco tomorrow, so she needs party games, supplies, food, and guests."

"What are you doing?"

"This minute? Trying to make invitations that she's going to give out to all his little friends in the neighborhood, and then she's going to make calls to see if any of her friends will come. Then we're going to go to the party supply store. Later, we're cooking here, then taking the stuff to her house."

"Why don't you just cook at her place?"

"Because it's a surprise party and Marco is there with his father."

"Why is she doing this now?"

"So short notice? 'Cause she's a moron," Bessie said bluntly. "So can I have the kids to help me out? They've played with the kids in the neighborhood before, and I have a bunch of other things to do today. Bodie's taking Alex on a guys-day-out tomorrow, so they won't be around then. I figure they can help me, spend the night and go to the party tomorrow. It starts at ten and is over at two, and we'll come back to my house after."

Joey was getting ready to say no, because the kids were acting up lately and didn't deserve to go to a party, but then she realized that it would be perfect. "Sure, they can go. But Aliya's a little sick, I don't know if I want her out of the house." Joey said reluctantly. Pacey caught her eye and nodded vigorously, looking at her pleadingly. An evening alone with her would be amazing.

"Relax, Jo." Bessie said easily. "Alex can watch her today. He's staying home and working on some term paper that's due on June 16th, which is Monday," she stressed, "which he had all month to do. You know how good he is with kids."

Joey nodded. "Okay. I'll bring them over . . . when?"

"A.S.A.P."

"As soon as possible, got it."

They hung up and Joey grinned at Pacey. He grinned back. A weekend alone with the man she adored would be wonderful. They quickly ate breakfast, and Pacey washed the dishes while Joey got herself and the kids ready.

L.J. knocked on the door while Pacey was in at the sink, gargling mouthwash after brushing his teeth, his hair wet from his shower, his towel wrapped around his waist. Pacey opened the door and L.J. entered, smiling at him. "What's up, kiddo?" Pacey asked, grinning at him. L.J. shrugged, put down the toilet lid, and sat on it, staring up at him.

"Can I shave with you?" L.J. asked. "Mommy's doing Casey and Aliya's hair."

"Of course," Pacey said. "You know we dashing Witter men have to keep our handsome faces clean and smooth for the ladies."

L.J. giggled, and Pacey told him to go get a plastic spoon from the kitchen. He ran to do it, and when he returned, Pacey propped him up on the bathroom counter and spread shaving cream on the lower half of his face. He put some on his own and picked up the razor. "Watch me." Pacey said.

Enthralled, L.J. watched what Pacey was doing, before copying his movements. It was a tender, sloppy experience, and when Joey came in and saw the two of them, she decided not to be annoyed that L.J. had gotten water all over his shirt.

When Pacey was ready and L.J. was changed, they all piled into the car and drove to Bessie's house. Seeing how much chaos Mercedes was causing to make sure everything was perfect for Marco's tenth birthday party, Joey and Pacey decided to stay and help out. They stayed until late that afternoon, whereupon Joey and Pacey left, anxious to be alone.