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CHAPTER TWO
Dawson brought the hire car to a halt outside his old home and took a moment to look at it, thinking of everything that had happened since he'd lived there. Then Joey nudged him. "I think we need to get out now,"she pointed out.
"Really? I didn't know that." Dawson gave her a smile and unclipped his seat belt before getting out of the car. He opened the rear doors and allowed Mitchell to leap out, while Joey undid Susie's restrainers and helped her out the other side.
Gail and Lily came out of the house and Lily regarded her niece and nephew with astonishment. "Wow, you're getting so big!"
"You can talk,"Dawson murmured. It was a bit of a shock to realise that his sister was now in her teens…but then he'd passed the big three oh a couple of years previous himself.
Gail gave Dawson a warm hug, before giving a slightly shorter hug to Joey. "It's good to see you both here,"she told them. "I'm sorry it had to be for this reason."
"It's good to see you again, Gail,"Joey confirmed. Even after five years of marriage, she still hadn't quite got used to calling her mother-in-law that.
"Are you heading straight to the hospital?"
"We'll get settled in first,"Dawson decided.
Lily nodded eagerly and took Susie's hand. "Come on, Susie, you're sharing my room!"
"Where am I going?"Mitchell asked.
"You're going to be in Aunt Lily's old room,"Gail explained, before turning to Dawson and Joey. "The guest room's okay for you?"
Joey gave Dawson a small smile. "We'll manage,"she declared.
"Do you want us to look after Mitchell and Susie while you're out?"
Dawson considered this. "We'll call Pacey and Jack first,"he decided at last. "If Amy and Stephanie are going to be around, can't see why they shouldn't be as well."
Dawson and Joey took their bags up to the spare room. They'd slept in it several times over the years of course, but they always remembered the first time: The lead-up to their wedding. Joey glanced across at Dawson, standing on the other side of the bed, and gave a bit of a smile. "Fond memories?"
Dawson smiled back. "You could say that, yes."
"Wonder how long we'll be staying."
Dawson's face fell slightly. "Guess it depends on…how long it takes."
Joey nodded, understanding. "I'd like to see Bessie and Alexander and Bodie while we've here."
"I'm sure we'll have time." Dawson came over to her and put his arms round her waist. Then he kissed her, gently at first but with increased intensity.
Joey pulled away with a smile. "Time for that later, when your mother, your sister and our children aren't about to walk in on us."
Dawson laughed slightly. "Let's put our things away."
It was a little over an hour later that they finally made their way into the hospital. Mitchell and Susie had ended up accompanying them after all and both soon gave a cry of delight on seeing Amy and Stephanie. Stephanie had inherited Pacey's colouring, in much the same way that Mitchell had inherited Joey's, but there was no mistaking that she had Andie's eyes, filled with innocent wonder. Amy reminded Dawson of Jen every time he saw her: Four years older than any of the others, she seemed to tolerate them with the air of an older cousin who was fond of them but considered herself above it all.
The two children were not alone, of course. Pacey, Andie, Jack and Doug were all there. Andie instantly gave first Joey and then Dawson hugs that would have been bone-crushing if not for her slight frame. "You two are both looking positively scrumptious."
"You're pretty edible too, Andie,"Dawson assured her. He held out his hand to his best friend. "Pacey."
"Dawson,"Pacey echoed with a smile. He hugged Joey while shooting a sidelong glance at Dawson. "It still okay to do this?"
"I'll let you know when you've gone too far."
Jack shook Dawson's hand as well. "Been a while since we've seen you two around here."
"Yeah, we had Thanksgiving at ours this year,"Joey explained, wondering if she should feel guilty. It had been years since the five of them had all been together.
Doug looked as uncomfortable as ever at being surrounded by his little brother and his contemporaries, especially when one of them was his boyfriend. "Grams is in there,"he explained, nodding to the nearest private room.
"Can we go in?"Dawson asked.
"You can,"Jack confirmed. "Although you might see someone else there that you recognised."
Dawson and Joey headed inside as directed. It didn't take Dawson long to see or to recognise the two people standing at Grams' bedside. Todd and Eve. Dawson was still somewhat surprised that Todd had rung the number Dawson had given him after the wedding. The fact that they had ended up getting on well probably shouldn't have been a surprise.
"Dawson!"Todd exclaimed in delight. "And his hot wife!"
"The name's Joey,"Joey replied testily.
"Is it?"Todd asked, in a tone of voice that suggested he didn't actually care.
"Evelyn here was just telling me about her recent trip to Ibiza,"Grams explained, her expression suggesting she was only just managing to fight the urge to comment on the conversation.
Eve herself grimaced slightly at the use of her full name but had long since learned to tolerate it. "You should try it some time. Have fun."
"We have fun,"Joey protested.
Eve shrugged. "Well, I guess Dawson had to use all that stuff I taught him somewhere."
Dawson sighed deeply and hung his head.
"Something up, Dawson?"Todd asked, while giving his girlfriend's backside a squeeze.
"Just continuing to marvel at how two wrongs managed to make a right."
Joey was dozing in a chair next to Grams' bed. Dawson had gone to check on the children and Joey had offered to sit with the older woman but was still exhausted after their long flight. She shook her head to clear it, looked up and saw the last person she'd expected standing on the other side of the bed. Jen.
"Good to see you're awake,"Jen told her.
Joey stared hard at her old friend. "I get the feeling I'm not."
Jen smiled awkwardly. "Fair point." She looked around the room. "I gave you a bit of a bad steer last time I was here, didn't I? Getting you to choose between Dawson and Pacey."
Joey shrugged. "I dunno, I think Pacey and I needed that last attempt. There'd always have been a lingering doubt otherwise, whether we should have got back together. I couldn't commit to Dawson until we'd made sure, just like he couldn't commit to Andie."
"Guess that's one way of looking at it,"Jen agreed. "So, you and Dawson. You finally made it. Wish I'd been there."
"I wish you had been too."
"He's a special guy, Joey, make sure you remember that. I do wish I'd been honest with him. I wish things had been different. Maybe somehow we could have raised her together."
Joey looked at her in confusion and mounting concern. "Jen, what are you saying?"
And then she woke up. Sat in the same chair, with Grams asleep in bed. No sign of Jen, of course. But the words and the suspicions remained.
Joey got up and went to the door, looking out into the corridor. She saw Amy and Susie playing together. Two little blonde girls, like peas in a pod.
Joey had always known that Amy looked like Jen. It hadn't dawned on her until that moment how much she also looked like Dawson.
