Chapter 1

Stepping off the plane, Pacey took a moment to take his surroundings. Although some things had changed, a lot had stayed the same. The airport, or airstrip really, had a one runway lane that let the passengers off on the strip and they had to climb down the portable stairs and walk out to the hangar, which served as the airport. He hadn't realized how much he missed this place until this moment, hell he'd never thought that he would miss this place at all. But this was home and he figured that what everyone said was true, there really wasn't any place like home. A lot had happened in this tiny town, a lot of important milestones for him and when he'd left, he thought he'd left it all behind. Maybe living in D.C. had given him a better appreciation for quieter times. Shit, he really was getting old. Pacey had opted to rent a car while he was in town because he knew that Doug and Jack would be too busy to chauffer him around. He headed over to the small desk set up for rental cars, information, customer service, and every other service that was available. He hadn't bother making a reservation because he'd assumed that there couldn't be that many people coming to town, so naturally there would be one available. Before he could pull out his license from his wallet, he heard his name being called out from behind him

"Pacey? Pacey Witter?" The voice was slightly high pitched and vaguely familiar. He turned towards the direction it seemed to be coming from.

"OMG, it is you" The woman rushing towards him also looked vaguely familiar. She threw her arms around his neck and laughed "Duh, I should have known you'd be back with Dough and Jack's wedding, but I didn't think you would come this early" she stepped back and kept going "well, I didn't think you would come back at all considering how fast you skipped out of here, I'm pretty sure there's a pool somewhere with folks betting on you."

Pacey was still recovering from the whirlwind of the petit redhead in front of him. She was still talking but he'd stopped listening to her words and kept looking at her.

"Carrie!" he exclaimed, when he finally realized who she was, interrupting her continued speech. "Carrie Matthews"

"Yeah, duh Pacey, don't tell me you forgot me?" The look on her face was so crestfallen that he hugged her again

"Of course I didn't forget you carebear" he smiled jokingly

"Pacey!, no one's called me that since you left" she pouted

"Well, I'm back now" Carrie was the younger sister of two of his friends growing up. David and Danny Matthews, they were twins who were the polar opposites of each other, yet they had both befriended him and they had remained pretty close throughout high school. All though D&D, the nickname he'd given them, had not been a part of his core group of friends, they had always had his back. He used to hang out at their house sometimes and their little sister would always follow them around, even though she was six years younger than they were. She use to have this teddy bear that she would take everywhere with her and Pacey had started calling her carebear when she was 6. His sister Gretchen use to babysit her when she was younger and Carrie grew really attached to her. After Gretchen left for college, Carrie had sort of latched on the Pacey. He really didn't mind, because she was such a sweet kid and being the youngest in his family, he didn't have a younger sibling. So he kind of took her under his wing and looked out for her when her brothers weren't around.

"Look at you kid, you're all grown up" he shook his head and realized that time really had flown by.

"Yep, I just graduated from college and I'm trying to make some money while I'm looking for a job, so I'm working here"

Walking the rest of the way to the desk with her, they chatted about the past and caught each other up on their lives.

"So, how long are you here for?" Carrie asked him sitting down. Pacey Witter had been her first crush. Even when she was six years old, she'd thought he was so cool because he used to pick her up and carry her around the room like he was flying an airplane. When she had turned 9, she'd thought she was in love with him, even though she'd had no idea what it actual meant to be in love. Everywhere him and her brothers had gone, she had tried to follow. He'd always treated her like a kid sister and she'd hated it. When he'd started dating Andie, Carrie use to wish that Andie would just go away, and when she had, Carrie had felt kind of bad, then when he'd started dating Joey, she'd wished that she would go away too. Looking back now, she had to laugh at herself and her thoughts.

"I'm planning to be here for two weeks, hang around a little after the wedding to catch up with old friends"

"Well Witter, you're in luck, you get the last car we have"

"What! No, no no" Joey Potter cried out from behind them. Josephine Potter was time conscious and usually very organized. She set goals for herself and accomplished them. She would normally had reserved a car, but things had gotten hectic leading up to her trip and it had kept getting pushed to the bottom of her list until it had fallen off completely. When she had walked into the hangar, her purpose was to get a car and get to her sister Betsy's place by a certain time. So seeing Pacey Witter standing at the desk talking to the attendant was not a part of her plan. She had frozen in place and had to gather herself before moving forward. She hadn't seen him in 10 years, she knew what had been going on in his life because of Dawson and their other friends, but she hadn't seen or spoken to him in that time. Ever since the night he'd left her standing on the docks after breaking her heart and sailing away on his boat, she'd felt like something was missing. She had moved on from Pacey, had dated and fallen in love again, but there was something that always held her back from fully committing and she'd always suspected that it was because they'd never gotten closure to their relationship. She had just been about to speak and alert them to her presence when she'd heard the attendant tell Pacey that he'd gotten the last car.

"Please don't say that" Joey pleaded ignoring the look of utter surprise that was coming from Pacey. "You have to have something else"

"Sorry, Joey" Carrie smiled sympathetically "that was the last one. You know this is the busy season and with the wedding, we've had a lot more people coming through than normal. But you and Pacey are going the same way, I'm sure he wouldn't mind giving you a ride"

Joey turned to finally look at Pacey.

"Hi" she smiled tentatively "I really didn't mean to be rude, I saw you and was coming to say hi when I heard about the car, and kinda freaked"

She still played with the strands of her hair when she was nervous. That was the first thing that he noticed. At the moment, she was twirling the tips of her chestnut hair so hard he thought she would strip the color off.

"Come on, I have to be hallucinating, Josephine Potter would never leave home without making sure every detail is taken care off" he smiled and teased her to try and put her at ease

"Shut up" she lightly punched him in the arm. "I will have you know that I had everything under control, and then… well, then I didn't. Not everyone has the Pacey Witter luck"

"What can I say, it's just natural" he smiled again "Seriously though Joey, I can give you a ride"

"Are you sure? I don't want to put you out of your way"

"I will give you a ride" he said looking at her pointedly

"Ok, thanks".

Pacey said bye to Carrie and turned to help Joey with her bags as they walked out.