They were woken at around 4am by loud pounding on their front door, waking the two of them and causing Rebecca to start crying. As Joey rushed into the nursery Pacey quickly put on a pair of jeans and sweater and stumbled downstairs. Dawson was standing on their porch soaked to the skin from the torrential rain 'Dawson?'.

He nodded, his face full of despair before stepping inside, he glanced at the top of the stairs where Joey was standing clutching the baby to her chest while she whimpered. 'I'm sorry guys' Pacey caught Joey's gaze as she tried to quieten their daughter.

He placed a hand on his back 'It's ok man, what happened?'.

Dawson began to speak but began shivering uncontrollably from the cold and his wet clothes.

'Hey, let's get you some dry clothes and a drink and then you can talk, if you feel up to it'.

Dawson smiled gratefully 'Actually, I'm exhausted, do you mind if I just crashed here for the night?'

'Of course you can, let me just get some blankets and sheets for the spare room.' He could still hear Rebecca screaming upstairs and popped into the bedroom to check on them before gathering the bed linen. Joey was seated on the bed rocking her from side to side 'Is he ok?' she asked over her daughters screams.

He shook his head, sitting next to her on the bed and taking Rebecca from her arms 'I don't know, I don't think he wants to talk about it, I said that he could stay in the spare room'.

She nodded 'I'll get the bed ready.' She ran her hand through her daughter's curly dark hair. 'I'll get her a binky'.

She grabbed her robe and headed downstairs Dawson was seated on one of the armchairs, his head in his hands. He looked up at her entry into the room 'I'm sorry about this Jo'.

She shook her head 'Its ok Dawson'.

He nodded his head towards the stairs and her crying daughter 'You've probably already been up with her about 4 times already tonight and this couldn't have helped'.

She smiled 'She was due to wake up again anyway.' She sat on the arm of his chair, placing a hand on his shoulder 'Did something happen with Jen?'

He nodded remorsefully 'We had a fight, it's been brewing for a while.' he sighed deeply 'She accused me of pulling away from her since the miscarriage and I know - I know that I have but I didn't..' he shook his head 'I don't know how to deal with all of this, she's falling apart and I've been no help at all'.

'She knows you love her Dawson, it's hard' She smelled alcohol on his breath as he turned towards her.

'How would you know?' he glanced at her sharply and she pulled back her hand 'Seriously Jo? You and Pacey have this perfect life here, nothing ever goes wrong with your lives.' He stood, feeling the heavy night of drinking take hold of his brain 'You are both in this protected little bubble and you have no idea of how it is in the real world'.

She stood and turned to him 'How dare you? You have no idea about what Pacey and I go through every day of our lives because we keep it private.' She took a step away from him. 'I don't see why I should justify our lives to you'.

'That's fine, as long as you don't try to impart some of your worldly 'Joey knows all' crap on me'.

'Hey!' They both turned towards Pacey's voice, seeing him standing at the bottom of the stairs with Rebecca 'Jo, do you want to grab her binky?' he said softly to her, grabbing her hand briefly as she walked past him towards the kitchen. She rinsed the binky under the tap in the kitchen and returned to the living room, taking the baby from Pacey's arms and placing it in her mouth. She quieted immediately, gazing up at her mother with wide eyes. She carried her upstairs at Pacey's nod and settled her back in her bassinet.

Once she was out of sight Pacey reared on Dawson 'Get out!'.

'Look man, I'm sorry, I didn't mean..'

'You didn't mean what? You didn't mean to barge in here in the middle of the night waking my sick daughter or you didn't mean to lay into Joey?'.

'Both'.

'I know you and Jen are going through a horrible time right now and we both wish we could help but we can't. You and Jen have got to get through this on your own'.

Dawson sank back into the chair defeated 'I don't think we're going to be able to.' He looked sadly at Pacey 'I've shut her out too long and she hates me, that was only too apparent in the way she spoke to me tonight'.

'I'm sorry man'.

'I'd better go'.

'Go where?'.

'I don't know, I've been wandering around for the last 3 hours I'm sure I could wander around for another three until morning'.

Pacey heard Joey emerge from the spare bedroom upstairs 'Go upstairs and get some sleep, it may seem better in the morning'.

Pacey re-entered their bedroom ten minutes later after securing the house and sorting Dawson out with some dry nightclothes. Joey was already settled back in bed, drifting off and he got gently back into bed without waking her. She instinctively rolled over and settled herself against his chest, wrapping her arm around his middle, he smiled and kissed her forehead before falling asleep.