"I'm glad you could make it up after all, Pace," Dawson said happily, ushering him ahead out of the restaurant where they'd met for lunch. "Andie will be excited to see you."

"Me too, man," Pacey replied as they walked toward Joey's apartment. "I didn't think I would, but Liam, one of my best chefs, has really stepped up to the plate. I thought I'd give him the chance to run the kitchen today."

"It all worked out, then. The girls got to hang out last night and we got to catch up today."

Pacey stilled. "The girls?"

"Yeah, Joey hosted Andie and Kristi last night for a girls' night."

Pacey winced. His current girlfriend, ex-girlfriend, and ex-fiancé in the same room with alcohol worried him.

The two men walked companionably to Joey's apartment. Pacey used his key to let them in, but yelled first just in case anyone was indecent.

When they got no answer they found the three women sound asleep in the living room amongst takeout containers and empty liquor bottles.

Pacey went over to Joey and shook her gently on the shoulder. "Joey," he whispered, "wake up."

Joey opened her eyes and squinted at the light streaming through the curtains as she sat up on her elbows. "Pace? What are you doing here? What time is it?"

"I came to surprise you. Dawson's with me. He's waking up Andie. It's after noon."

"Crap," Joey muttered. Then, "Damn. My head hurts."

Pacey smiled. "Still can't hold your liquor, can you Potter."

"Bite me," was all Joey could manage before falling back down to the pillow.

Pacey turned his attention to Kristi, who was cuddled up in Joey's giant armchair. He walked over, kneeled down, and tapped her on the arm. "Sleepyhead, it's time to get up," he whispered playfully.

She stirred. "Pace? Is that you?"

"Yeah."

"Ugh. I feel terrible."

"That's what you get for being a lush," he teased.

She swatted him on the arm. "Takes one to know one."

While the women dragged their butts out of their makeshift beds to get ready for the day, Pacey went to work mixing his magic hangover elixir he learned about at Civilization. When he was done, he sat the conconctions on the kitchen table and went to work cleaning up their mess along with Dawson's help.

"Hey, Pace…" He heard Dawson say to get his attention.

"Huh?"

"I think you should see this."

Pacey walked over to Dawson, who was trying hard not to laugh, and grabbed the paper out of his hand.

He read the top: Dear Ms. Jacobs,

What in the world was this? As his eyes scanned the document, which appeared to be a thank you note for her tutoring skills, he felt himself blushing at the contents.

Just as Dawson burst out laughing uncontrollably, the three women came out. When they saw him holding the paper, they stopped in their tracks, horrified looks on their faces.

"Must have been a hell of a night," was all Pacey said before dropping the note and getting back to his cleaning.

After everyone had left, Joey went rest on her bed. Her head was throbbing and she felt like she'd been run over by a bus. Pacey's drink, as disgusting as it was, helped, but it wasn't magic.

Pacey seemed to be taking the Ms. Jacobs note thing in stride, but Joey knew he'd been embarrassed. Not about the contents. But rather because the three of them were comparing notes. While he talked a good sex game, he liked to keep the actual details private.

"So, you wanna tell me what you three were up to last night?" Pacey asked casually as he appeared in the doorway.

Joey shook her head, wincing at the pain it caused. "What happens during girls night stays in girls night."

He held up the note and smirked, mirth in his eyes. "Come on, Jo, I think you can make an exception for the subject of the conversation."

"Nope. Not gonna happen, Witter."

He made his way over to the bed, reading the document aloud. As he went through all the very specific things the three of them had written down that they were especially grateful for when it came to Pacey's lovemaking, Joey blushed - partly out of embarrassment for doing such a stupid thing while drunk and partly out of heat.

When he got to her, he kneeled down next to her. "I guess I should be grateful that you all praised my skills rather than tearing them apart."

She reached out her hand. "I would never do that, Pace."

He took it in his. "I know."

"If you must know, with the exception of our biggest pet peeve, everything else we talked about was really positive. It ended up being more of a game of 'shoulda, coulda, woulda' than anything. They both regret letting you go."

He shrugged, clearly uncomfortable. "There's a lot that I'd have done differently, too. But I can't change it and it's all lead me right here, so there's no point in looking back."

"You know Kristi is still in love with you?" Joey wasn't going to say anything, but couldn't help herself.

"I know," he confirmed sadly. Then, "We never fell out of love. We just grew up enough to realize that sometimes being in love isn't enough, no matter how badly you wish otherwise."

"How can you work together knowing that?"

"I don't know. We just do. Kristi and I work so well together because we are best friends, Joey. We weren't willing to lose that. So, we just push the other stuff to the side and focus on what matters the most."

Joey sat up and pulled her knees to her chest. "That worries me, Pace. Aside from not being thrilled at the prospect of sharing your heart, that tension is like a ticking time bomb that could blow everything we've been working for apart."

He sat on the bed by her feet. "I can't cut her out of my life any more than you could have cut Dawson out of yours last time. Aside from being my best friend, she is my business partner. The restaurant has been doing so well so fast largely because of Kristi's efforts."

He then moved to sit next to her by the headboard and grabbed her to pull her into him. "What I can promise is that you own my heart. You have since we were teenagers. And I don't see that changing. Ever. You can trust me, Joey."

"I do trust you, Pace." Joey whispered as she leaned into him. I just don't trust her.