DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything Dawson's Creek related, except for the original storyline and Grace, she's mine :-)

AUTHOR'S NOTES: It's a post P/Jo breakup story. It starts during season 6 part 1, so it's approx. 2003. All in all the story takes the original storyline as the given past, with a few exceptions. So Joey was Pacey's first girlfriend (no Miss Jacobs, no Andie), the whole Dawson-related problematic took place, right until their summer on True Love. But the most important difference is, that Pacey didn't came back for graduation, he just took off from his fishing trip with Doug. More information will come as the story goes on.

Hi again guy's,

this has been quicker than anticipated. This is the story that hunted me down for quite some time now. I don't know yet the twists and changes. I just hope you'll like it.

Please, please review, you know by now I need your feedback, so please take a minute of your time and leave me a comment.

Yana

Incomplete

- Prequel -

Joey, Jack and Jen had celebrated Joey's twentieths birthday in Hell's Kitchen. And even though it had been nice to sit with her friends, she seemed a little distracted. Every now and than, when she thought no one paid attention, she would look over her shoulder towards the entrance.

'I guess, we'll be going now - you're coming Jo?' Jack asked as it grew later, but Joey just shook her head.

Jen patted her shoulder as she went by. 'It's kind of cute, Joey, but he'll not come anymore.'

Joey wagged her head and Jen kissed her hair.

'You're sure you'll come home alone? I could just sit here with you and wait, so you don't have to walk the nightly streets all alone.' Jen offered.

Joey nodded and smiled a sad smile. 'I'll be okay, Jen. If I'll feel all insecure, I'll just call a cap.' She gave her friend a reassuring nod. 'See you later.'

'Later than.' She squeezed Joey's shoulder friendly and linked her arm with Jacks, while they left Hell's Kitchen.

Joey remained. And the sadness grew with every passing minute. She nibbed on her drink, but her eyes would find their way towards the entrance again and again. Until finally Eddie stood beside her.

'He won't come tonight, Jo.' Joey nodded, as Eddie began to clean up the table.

'He promised, Eddie.' She shrugged.

'I know he did, but really, he won't come. Wouldn't be the first time.'

Joey nodded. 'Yeah, you're probably right.' She grabbed her pocket but he just held his hand up.

'It's on me.' He smiled at her warmly. 'Happy birthday, Joey.'

'Thanks, Eddie.' She returned the smile as good as she could manage. 'I'm off then. See you tomorrow.'

She left Hell's Kitchen and stepped onto the street. As she was halfway across it, a cap stopped in front of the bar and Dawson got out of it. He leaned over the car, his arms crossed on it's roof.

He called out to her. 'Joey!' She turned and her whole face lits up as she saw him. She waved and stopped in her movement. As suddenly she realized the horror on his face. Like in slow motion she saw him open his mouth. She heard him shout out her name again, but his voice reached her kind of blurred and as she was about to figure out what it meant, she suddenly felt something hit into her body, she felt herself falling and then everything went black.

about five month

It was a warm autumn evening, as Pacey ambled through Boston's streets, his arm casually around a beautiful blond woman's waist. And even though it seemed, as he charmed her, every now and than making a compliment, burying his nose in her hair, closing his eyes while sucking in her familiar scent, making a witty comment on what she told him, his thoughts were far off.

Pacey worked as stockbroker in her step-brothers firm and had been promoted to co-partner a little while back. And even though Pacey wasn't sure he wanted to work there for he rest of his life, he signed the contract. He had a huge income and was very successful in the market himself, with many shares of a very promising bio-tech stock.

'You aren't even listening, honey-bunny.' Audrey turned to look at Pacey with disappointment in her eyes. He smiled at her and wagged his head.

'I have been listening, babe.' And kissed her hair again.

'So.' She stopped, the look on her face hardened, she placed her hands in her hips and looked at him expectantly. 'If you've been, what is your position?'

'Is this really relevant now?' Pacey deadpanned and once more he wondered, why it was that he still was with her. He looked around and suddenly saw, that they'd reached their goal. Pacey smiled relieved, as he held open the door to the bat for her. 'Won't we just go in there and have a nice night, love?'

She clicked her tongue but finally she beamed at him. 'Well yes, we will.' With this she passed him by, with tip tapped steps in her four inch high heels. And as sexy as Pacey had found it in the past, at times he just got tiered of it. He'd met Audrey almost two years ago, during his cruise in the summer of 2001 and she almost instantly introduced him to her step-brother Rich Rinaldi. He employed Pacey in the blink of an eye and it works out, he was pretty good at stock marketing, even though he wanted to find himself a job in some restaurant. And now he was business partner. Oh, but it wasn't what he wanted for his life, even though his life had become so much easier in many ways. He owned a really expensive maisonette flat, he drove expensive cars and hadn't bothered about money in a very, very long time. But he also knew, that at some point he got to marry Audrey and quite honestly - it was the last thing he wanted.

As she now passed him by, he let out a small sigh of relief and looked around the streets, as if to find something there, but at length he entered Hell's Kitchen, too.

Audrey had wanted to attend the gig of the Hells Belled, a girl band and as Pacey had never been able to deny her any wish he'd agreed. They hadn't been there before, but as Pacey entered the bar was stuffed with people, he got the feeling that he could easily fall in love with this place. He felt immediately at home there and kind of remembered the guy he once used to be. It was in fact the first time, he felt like letting go of this businessman he'd become over the years. And suddenly he got the notion, that this evening promised to be a lot more fun, than all the evenings in the last six month had been. The music was hard, but he found himself smiling. Oh, he felt like finally breathing again, even if he hadn't noticed he had been feeling constricted.

He enjoyed not wearing a suit, but a shirt and jeans with sneakers, rather than his uncomfortable black business shoes. He danced his way to the bar, ordered drinks and was instantly back with Audrey. They sang along the band, they drank and danced and it was for the first time in a long time, Pacey saw the girl he'd became attracted to shining through all the layers of make-up and fancy mode. She laughed at him beautifully free and so he kissed her, maybe the first spontaneous, wholehearted kiss in a very, very long time.

While the band made a break, Audrey excused herself for the resting room and Pacey leaned against a pillar, watching some people still dancing to the music, some leaving, smiling to himself 'cause in that particular moment life felt right. As suddenly someone tapped on his shoulder.

'Pacey? Is this really you man?' A strangely familiar voice spoke up to him and the smile fell from his face. There stood Jack, his one time best friend. They hadn't seen each other since Pacey had left that summer. And even though, Pacey had often thought about driving down to good old Capeside, he always found an excuse. He was a busy businessman after all. He saw his parents for Christmas and Doug and Gretchen every now and than.

It was not, that he didn't knew his old group of friends reigned in Boston and one particular girl did also, but he also knew she belonged to another now. His parents had told him so and Doug did also, only Gretchen said otherwise, but she had always been the one seeing things differently.

Pacey had always taken care to not accidentally walking into one of them, and so standing in front of Jack now just turned his world upside down.

Jack looked at him, Pacey's now fully bearded face took the other man a moment to sort it out but than his eyes widened. 'Wow man, it really is you!'

'Jackers!' Pacey tried his business smile, one that always worked and patted Jack on the shoulder. As suddenly Audrey reappeared he smiled in her direction, seemingly nervous. And he just didn't know what to say or do and so he just placed his arm around her waist. 'This is Audrey, she's my girlfriend. Audrey, please meet Jack, I grew up with him. We have been really close friends.''

Audrey raised her brow and nodded curtly. 'Pleasure meeting you Jack. If you'll excuse us now. The band is about to start again and we wanna listen to them.' With this she turned and Pacey shrugged excusatory.

'Sorry Jack.'

Jack gave him an unbelieving look and then nodded himself. 'Well, I didn't want to interrupt.' With this he was off and Pace just couldn't get rid of the strange feeling inside his guts as he turned to listen and dance, but the lightheartedness was gone.

As the gig was over, the crowd slowly disappeared.

'Okay now babe, I just grab our coats and then we're off. Called a cap already.' Pacey kissed Audrey's forehead and returned only minutes later with their coats. As the wholehearted gentleman that he he was, he helped Audrey put her jacket on, as suddenly Jack reappeared, with a blond girl by his side, obviously Jen, and Pacey closed his eyes for a second.

'Hey Pace.' Jen greeted him, her big blue eyes on him and he knew he wouldn't get out of this lightly. Oh, but he wished they'd just left two minutes earlier.

'Hey Jen.' He shifted from one foot to the other, seemingly uncomfortable. He sensed Audrey's impatience and so he took her hand. 'We were just about to leave.'

'Yeah I can see that.' Jen eyed Audrey allover and Pacey could tell from the look in Audrey's face she didn't liked how the other woman measured her and the look in Jen's eyes told quite openly, that she didn't liked what she saw either.

Jen swallowed hard and looked at Jack for support. 'Pacey, really, we have something very important to tell you.' Jack stated and Jen added: 'We looked for you everywhere.' Her voice had become low.

'Are you coming, honey-bunny? The cap's waiting.' Audrey pulled on his hand but he looked at Jack and Jen.

'It's really, really important and it quite honestly is most urgent. More than you can possibly imagine.' Jen looked into his eyes and pleaded with him. 'Can't promise you, that it will be over soon, but would you at least give us half an hour of your precious time so we can tell you?'

'I guess, I…' Pacey started, but in this moment Audrey stepped between him and Jen, placed her hands in her hips, much like she'd done earlier, and looked at Jen challenging.

'He said, he is about to leave with me, slut.' Audrey said in the sweetest voice. 'And it's not as if anyone is going to to die, now is it?' She smiled her sweetest smile at Jen and pulled on Pacey's hand, that was still joined with hers. But Jen just still had her eyes steadily on Pacey and not so much as flinched at the name Audrey called her and it made Pacey wonder, because Jen had never been one to hold back.

She just looked straight into Pacey's eyes and he saw a deep and serious sadness in her eyes, many unshed tears and his insides knotted all up.

'As the matter may be, there unfortunately is.' Jen said and Pacey could tell she fought the tears and suddenly he felt all dizzy. Jen swallowed again and licked her dry lips, never letting his eyes go. 'See, Pacey, if you're not interested it's fine by me. We managed to go on without you so far pretty good.' She pointed casually to the door. 'So go on, live your happy life Pacey and just don't care. Oh, and please Pacey, do me the favor and don't waste another thought about what we wanted to tell you, because obviously there are more important matters in your life!' With this she turned to Jack, whose arms were around her in an instant, as he led her away from them and Pacey watched them walk away. Audrey shot Pacey a sultry look and then kissed him on the cheek.

'So, now that this is all worked out, come on honey-bunny, the cap's waiting. I promise you the night of your life.' She waggled her brows and Pacey just nodded. He couldn't help the sick feeling in his stomach. But he led her outside nonetheless. He held open the cap's door for her and kissed her. 'Would you mind if I'd go back inside to listen to what my friends have to say?' Pacey asked her in a low voice, knowing that this would guarantee him her wrath, even if he'd come with her now.

'Your... friends?' She raised a brow and laughed a little sarcastic laugh. 'They can't be your friends, I don't know any of them and I'm with you for quite some time now.'

'But they once were and I...' He hesitated at the look she shot him. Pacey took a deep breath and wondered when he had become so controlled by her. 'I just have the feeling they wanted to tell me something really important.'

'Sure. Go ahead!' She stated and he let out a breath of relieve. But just as he was about to kiss her for thank you, her face turned to stone. 'But don't make the effort to call me tomorrow.' She got into the cap without another word and Pacey stood there, watching the car disappearing into the night. Looking down the street, even though he couldn't see it anymore, his cold hands deep in his pockets. After a long while he took a deep breath and turned to the entrance. There stood Jack. He had a terrible look in his face. 'I'm glad, you've decided to stay Pacey, I promise you won't regret it.'

'Sure thing, Jack.' Pacey nodded, but he just couldn't get rid of the feeling that maybe he would regret it sooner or later. Nonetheless he reentered with Jack the now almost empty room.

Five minutes later Jack, Jen and Pacey sat around a table. Eddie, the barkeeper, served them each something to drink and Pacey just couldn't get rid of the feeling, that he'd looked at him with a strange look in his eyes, as if he'd blame him for something he didn't knowingly do.

'Thanks Eddie.' Jen smiled at him and the guy kissed her on the cheek, then patted Jacks shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze.

'Take all the time you need. I'll close afterwards.' Eddie said and than disappeared to clean up the bar.

There was a long, heavy silence. Jen and Jack exchanged long looks and finally Pacey's impatience became almost unbearable. 'So, what's this all about?' Pacey asked, leaning forward and looked from Jack to Jen and back to Jack. 'I just got myself in some serious trouble out there, so would one of you please tell me...'

'Oh come on, shut it up, Pacey!' Jack said with an expression of disgust and it almost made Pacey jump. Firstly because he just wasn't used to be one of the same anymore, but more so because gentle Jack had almost shouted at him. 'If that bitch is so very important, then why did you come back?' Jack's voice was low now, but the disappointment clearly to be heard.

'Well, I guess I...' Pacey swallowed and sensed the tenseness rising and he looked at Jen now. 'You weren't kidding before, Jen, were you?' Pacey suddenly felt all sick again.

'No Pacey!' She shook her head. 'No. Regretfully I wasn't.' Jen's got the most serious look on her face and Pacey thought he saw some tears in her eyes, she managed to blink away and he got the sudden notion, that there were more than a few unshed tears inside both his former friends.. 'Though I wish I had been. God!' Her voice became shaky and for a quick moment she covered her face with both hands and Jack laid his arm around her, but she remained silent. Pacey drank the scene in and just couldn't get rid of that feeling deep inside him. 'So, would someone please just tell me what the hell is going on here?'

'Joey, she… She's had a terrible accident...' Jen swallowed hard as Pacey starred at her. His head began to spin, there suddenly was no up and no down anymore, he felt like drowning. 'It has been right in front this bar… The driver flew… She lost lots and lots of blood...' She tried to remain calm, but as she met Paceys terrified eyes she just broke down. 'God, Jack I can't...' She stood and walked through the room towards the restrooms.

Pacey blinked several times. This couldn't be true, why hadn't anyone contacted him. But than again, nobody knew were he had been. His whole body seemed to scream for her, his first and only love. The one girl he'd always had with him. The one and only girl he'd wanted to come back to. The girl, which wasn't his anymore, because he'd pushed her so far off, she fled into some other guy's arms.

'Tell me, Jackers.' He felt his hands shaking and grabbed the table plate so hard his knuckles turned out white.

'Well, as she wouldn't stop bleeding, they did emergency surgery on her. There had been a severe damage to her main artery in her leg. Head damage also and most likely she'll never be walking again.' He swallowed. 'We had been sitting here only an hour before and celebrated her birthday. Jen was tired and so we left. Joey stayed alone, because she was waiting for Dawson to come.'

Pacey shook his head, held his hand up to stop Jack from saying anymore. He got up. 'Please, Jack, I don't wanna hear anything about Joey's and Dawson's happy life okay.'

Jack placed his hand on Paceys and tried to calm him down. 'Please Pacey, sit down again. There is no such thing as a happy life for her. Really. Her life has been the furthest away from happy as anyones ever since you'd left. But that is a story for another time.' Jack took a deep breath and Pacey's head began to spin once more, he didn't understand anything anymore. 'She waited for him, because he promised to at least see her for her birthday. He flew in straight from his Hollywood film-project. As it turned out, Dawson wanted to tell her, that he'd finally asked his girl to become his wife and he wanted her to be the first to know.'

Pacey's eyes widened and he wasn't entirely sure, if he should believe Jack's words. Because what he said was the absolute opposite of what his family had told him ever since he'd left that summer. He swallowed, getting the bad feeling that maybe his parents had deceived him on purpose, because they never wanted her with him. 'Go on.' Pacey's voice was throaty by that time but he sat down again.

'Obviously she waited for quite some time. She had a little chat with Eddie around 2 a.m. and then she left. As she crossed the street that black Audi crushed into her, leaving her lying there on the ground. Dawson called an ambulance and hadn't it been for him, she'd most likely died there and than.' He swallowed and Pacey could hear him struggle for words. Even though he seemed a lot more sorted than Jen. 'Jen blames herself, for not staying with her, or urging her to leave with us. Eddie blames himself, for convincing her, that he wouldn't come. Dawson blames himself for not being here earlier. Well, everybody blames themselves.' He took a deep breath. 'They put Joey in an artificial coma, for her blood to rebuilt and her wounds to heal. But as they tried to get her out of it…. Well, she just stayed asleep. She'd fallen into real coma by that time and nobody know if and when she'll wake up. There is no medical expatiation for her state… She should have woken weeks ago.'

'What?' Pacey starred at Jack, he couldn't believe it. This couldn't be happening.

'She's about to die, Pacey.' He looked down at his hands. 'Mostly because no one of us can afford the intensive medical care anymore. It's been five month now.' Pacey just shook his head, he couldn't believe what he heard.

'And it isn't even the worst part here Pacey.' Jen said from behind Jack, obviously more collected by now.

'It isn't?' Pacey stared at her.

'No.' Jack shook his head and took a deep breath.

'Then tell me what is.'

'Grace is...' Jen whispered, her eyes red from the tears, she looked terrible.

'And who the fuck is Grace?' Pacey practically yelled at her. He was just so angry.

'She's your daughter Pacey.' Jen whispered and the words just literally hit Pacey in the guts. He'd known that Joey had a kid, but everyone except of Gretchen had told him, it was Dawson's child. He slumped back onto his seat and starred at his friends, his eyes wide, his hands in his hair, totally shocked, as Jen's words slowly sunk in.

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