Disclaimer: I do not own Dawson's Creek. I do not even own all of the seasons because I am a penniless writer who is doing what they love for free.

Joey had no idea how much went into planning a wedding. She was the first of her friends to get married so she had no one to go to for advice. Gail had offered her all of the wedding magazines that she had kept from her wedding the previous year but Joey had politely declined. She felt like she would be taking advantage of Gail's generosity because Gail had always hoped that Dawson would be the one to marry Joey.

Bessie had come up with the idea of Joey staying in Capeside. It would be easier for her to plan the wedding since she and Pacey had decided that the wedding should take place there instead of New York.

They both agreed that they wanted a small wedding, only their families and a few select friends. They also decided that they weren't going to have a wedding party, which upset Bessie.

"I have wanted to be your maid of honor since you were sixteen. You cannot deny me that Josephine Potter," she said pointedly, her arms folded over her chest.

"If I let you be my maid of honor than Pacey will have to find someone to be his best man. He isn't going to want to do that,"

"So you can find someone for him. I'm sure Doug will do it if you or Pacey just asked him."

"I'll think about it."

"How do you plan to put the wedding together with Pacey in New York?"

"He's going to come down whenever I need him, plus he trusts me," she said dismissively.

"I have an idea, how about I help you plan the wedding? It would be good practice for when I plan mine."

Joey smiled sentimentally before nodding. She had been hoping that Bessie would offer to help her. It would be the incentive that she and Bodie needed to finally tie the knot. She had always imagined that Bessie would help her plan her wedding and now that it was becoming a reality she couldn't help but feel sentimental.

"You know what the first thing you need to do is?" Bessie broached.

"Find a wedding dress?" Joey guessed.

"That's taken care of, I meant after that."

"What do you mean my dress is taken care of?"

"You don't remember the last promise we made to mom?"

Joey thought back to the worst five months of her life. What had she promised her mother? Bessie waited patiently for the few minutes it took for Joey to remember.

"We promised that whoever got married first would wear her wedding dress," Joey whispered.

"I'll go and get the dress while you think about a wedding date," Bessie said as she walked towards the back of the house.

Joey flopped down onto the couch letting out a whoosh of air. How could she have forgotten her last promise to her mother? She thought back to all of the pictures that she had seen of her parents wedding day. Her mother had been two months pregnant with Bessie when they got married so the dress would need to be taken in more than likely but that didn't matter. The dress was simple and suited Joey perfectly.

Bessie came back into the room with a grey garment bag. She draped it over the back of the couch, unzipping it carefully. She gently lifted the eggshell colored lace dress out of the bag. She held it up to inspect it. The silk underlining was in good shape but there were a few places where the lace would need to be patched.

"I can fix the lace. No one will ever know the difference," Bessie promised.

"It's even more beautiful than I remembered."

"Try it on," she said, holding it out to her.

Joey took it and headed to her bedroom. She shed her clothes then held the dress to her, admiring it. It would be a little big, but she had inherited her dad's long legs, the dress only came to her knees. She carefully slid the dress over her head, letting it fall the rest of the way down her body. She smoothed it out before finally looking in the mirror.

"Bess?" she called.

"Is something wrong with it?" she asked from the hall cautiously.

"No, it's perfect," she said with a breathless laugh.

Bessie came to stand behind her taking in her reflection. She smiled sadly as she placed her hands on Joey's bare shoulders. The lace and pearl bodice hugged Joey's upper body like a glove. The skirt did come to her knees like she had thought that it would, but it also showed off her legs.

"Would you want to wear the jacket with it?" Bessie asked smoothing down the back of the dress.

"What do you think?"

"It depends on when you want to get married."

"I was thinking of April."

"If you want to get married in early April I say wear the jacket, if it's closer to May I think that you can get by without it."

"I was thinking April tenth."

"You want to get married on mom and dad's anniversary. Does Pacey know that?"

"No, but I'm sure that he won't have a problem with it."

"I'll go get the jacket," Bessie said before hurrying out of the room.

She came back and Joey slipped it on. The arms were a little short and the fabric was pulled taught against her breast but she wasn't worried.

"I can add more fabric to the sleeves and let it out some in the back. You look beautiful," Bessie said as she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

Joey changed out of the dress before texting Pacey the information about the wedding. He texted back that April tenth was fine and that he would be down that weekend so that they could start looking for a church. There were so many things to do and only a month and a half to do them in. She had faith that with Bessie's help that it would all be taken care of.

XXXX

Jack sat in the lobby of some lawyer that he had never heard of before wondering why Moses Lawborne had contacted him. Helen sat across from him not able to meet his gaze. Apparently she knew something that he didn't. A door next to him opened before he could question her. A short man with grey peach fuzz hair and a portly belly came to stand in the lobby.

"Miss Ryan, Mr. McPhee? Would you please come in?"

Jack let Helen go in first and took a seat across from Moses silently. He had a folder open on his desk and he situated a pair of reading glasses on his head before picking up a sheet of paper.

"I have called the two of you here to read the last will and testament of Miss Evelyn Ryan."

"I didn't realize that she had one," Jack said perplexed.

"She made one not long after my dad died," Helen answered.

"She's revised it a few times in the ten years since," Moses said with a kind smile.

Jack listened carefully as he read from the list in front of him. Helen was named landlord of the house that she had lived in that Evelyn had rented out since moving to Massachusetts. Grams also left her jewelry and the china that her mother had given her on her wedding day. Everything had been appraised and was valued at close to seventy thousand dollars. It wasn't a lot, but it was all that she'd had.

"She has also opened a trust in your name at a bank in Massachusetts Miss Ryan, here is the name of the bank and all of the information that you need," he said handing her handful of documents.

"I didn't realize that my mother had any money saved," Helen said in concern.

"Mr. McPhee, I understand that you've recently become legal guardian for Miss Ryan's granddaughter, Amy Lindley?"

"Her mother died almost six months ago."

"It appears that Misses Ryan a sizable amount of money to Amy and has named you executioner. There is roughly one hundred thousand dollars," Mr. Lawborne said as he looked down at the document.

"Is it in a trust, or would I need to do that?"

"You would need to do that Mr. McPhee, but that would be the smart thing to do. That way Amy will have money for college if she feels led to go." he said looking down at the document once more.

Jack nodded in agreement as Mr. Lawborne closed the folder then stood. He extended his hand to Helen first and she shook it limply. Jack shook his hand firmly knowing exactly why Evelyn had put Helen's money in a trust. Helen was not good with money. She had lived an extravagant life for as long as Jack had known her. The money that Jen's father gave her every month in alimony paid her bills and kept her in the lifestyle that she preferred. Evelyn wanted to make sure that money lasted.

At home he was greeted at the door with a kiss from Doug. Doug had finally moved his things in after Amy's party. They were still working things out but so far there hadn't been any problems.

"Is Amy asleep already?"

"Yep, she was ready to go to bed before I finished giving her a bath."

"That usually works," Jack said with a light laugh.

"So what did the lawyer have to say?"

"Misses Ryan left Amy some money and I've been named executioner until she's eighteen."

"How much money did she leave her?"

"A hundred thousand dollars; I'm going to put it in a trust for her. I plan on adding a little every year so that she'll have something from me as well."

"That's a good idea, but we should do that together," Doug remarked.

"That's sounds better," Jack said with a nod.

Doug led him into the kitchen where he heated up his dinner. They were silent as they ate and once they were done they settled down in the living room. They lived a quiet life but it was a life that they treasured.

XXXX

He didn't know what had possessed him to come here. He had to be at NBC studios at five a.m. for an interview on the Today show. Then he had meetings from noon to six before getting on a plane to fly back to California by nine. That didn't leave him much time to do what he planned to do. If Gretchen knew what he was planning to do, she would castrate him. They had wanted to do this together. She hadn't been able to get away from work so he was just going to have to deal with her wrath when he got home.

He knocked on the door, gathering all the courage he had. He waited a minute before knocking again when he didn't hear anything. He pounded on the door the third time before finally hearing noise on the other side. Pacey had sheet crease lines on face as he stared at Dawson through bleary eyes.

"I didn't think that you would be sleeping, but it's really important that I talk to you," Dawson said desperately.

"What time is it?" Pacey asked as he opened the door for him.

"It's a little after one."

"Have a seat, I'm gonna put on a pot of coffee," he said gesturing to the couch as he walked to the kitchen.

The smell of coffee wafted through the apartment and he realized that he would need some himself if he was going to make it through the next sixteen hours. Pacey came out carrying two cups of coffee, Dawson took one of the tall cups giving him a thankful smile.

"So, what's going on? You must have a valid reason for traveling across the country to wake me up in the middle of the night," Pacey said, his voice still thick with sleep.

"I actually I am in town doing press work for the show. I got in two hours ago and I realized that I wasn't going to get any sleep until I talked to you," he said with a nervous laugh.

"What's going on?" Pacey asked in concern.

"You know that I would never purposely set out to step out on your toes don't you?"

"Yeah," he said slowly.

"You also know that I would never lie to you and that even though we don't have the bond that used to I would never keep something from you, right?"

"You're dating my sister again, aren't you?" Pacey asked with a sigh.

"I didn't plan on it, it just happened. We started talking a couple of months ago and one thing led to another…" Dawson stopped talking when Pacey held up a hand to stop him.

"I don't need to know everything. Gretchen is thirty now, she's a big girl who can make her own decisions. I'm perfectly fine with it man," Pacey said with a gentle laugh.

"Thank God, I thought that you were going to give me flack like you did when we were kids," Dawson said with a throaty laugh.

"That's just the thing, we aren't kids anymore. You, Gretchen, Jo, and I don't have to answer to anyone but ourselves."

"How are you and Jo doing?"

"Great. We set a date for the wedding a few days ago and I'm going up tomorrow so that we can start looking for a church."

"That's good. I'm really happy for you guys."

"I never thought that I would hear you say that," Pacey said cautiously.

"What can I say? I've grown up a lot in the five years since I moved to California."

"Growth is good. Isn't it crazy that we all had to leave Capeside to finally leave our childhoods behind?"

"It is. There was so much there holding you and Joey back but I only left because everyone else did."

"I'm glad that you came by. We need to talk more often," Pacey said thumping Dawson's shoulder lightly.

"You're the one who leaves the room whenever Joey and I talk to each other," Dawson reminded him.

"I'll work on that."

Dawson nodded before sitting his cup down. He stood and Pacey walked him to the door. He headed straight towards his hotel fully intending to sleep until he had to meet his driver downstairs at quarter to five.

Pacey carried their mugs into the kitchen deciding to leave them in the sink until the morning. He made his way back to the bedroom climbing back into bed falling asleep almost instantly. He was glad that Dawson had been honest with him. It had taken a lot of courage for him to do that especially since he had shown up in the middle of the night. Things were falling into place so quickly that he was having a hard time keeping up with it all. He would change any of it for the world.