Chapter 8/9

His fist flew out and connected squarely with Dawson's jaw, the sheer force of it making Dawson reel backwards and hit the far wall of the living room, sliding to the floor. He sobered immediately and the statement on his face switched from one of anger to one of remorse. He stood shakily and reached a hand out towards Pacey, 'I'm so-'

Pacey's fist was throbbing and he clenched and unclenched it a few times.

'Save it.' He reached over and grabbed Dawson by the scruff of his shirt 'I suggest you go somewhere and sober up'. He marched him over to the front door and pushed him roughly outside, closing the door firmly behind him, watching through the shattered glass for a moment until Dawson staggered away.

Joey appeared behind him with Megan in her arms 'You okay?' .

He nodded, taking a shaky breath and smiled briefly at her 'I've never seen him like that before'.

She placed her free hand on his arm, 'Do you think he's been drinking since he left last night?' .

'Judging by the state of him I would say yes'.

She grabbed his hand and studied his bruised knuckles 'You should put some ice on this'. She cradled his hand against her cheek and gently kissed his palm.

'Are you okay?'

'I'm fine.' She looked down at Megan in her arms, her face still buried against Joey's chest 'I'm just going to have a look at her foot, I don't think it's too bad. Could you check on Rebecca for me, she's been pretty quiet in there'.

He nodded and watched as she headed upstairs, taking a moment to gather himself. He could still feel the anger and fear coursing through him and he sat on the sofa trying to calm himself down. He headed into the kitchen and peered into the playpen where Rebecca was playing happily, completely unaware of the drama that had just occurred. He picked her up and held her out in front of him, feeling some of the tenseness seep out of him at her presence. She stared up at him and smiled, he laughed softly and held her against his chest. Joey emerged back into the kitchen a moment later Megan still held in her arms.

'How's your foot Megs?' .

She pulled her thumb out of her mouth 'Mummy made it better.' She held it up for him to see the colourful bandage that adorned the bottom of her foot.

'Good' he reached out and took hold of her foot, running his thumb gently over the bandage. He glanced up at Joey, seeking the same reassurance.

She nodded imperceptivity. 'It's fine'.

He placed Rebecca back into the playpen, turning to face Joey, 'I'm going to see if I can find Dawson'.

'Do you think that's a good idea?'.

'He's wasted..." I'm worried about what might happen to him'.

She nodded 'Be careful.' She placed Megan on the kitchen stool and reached over to hug him softly.

'I'll be okay, it's Dawson I'm worried about'.

~**~ He found him in the park close to their house. He was seated on a park bench next to the lake, his head held in his hands. Pacey walked up cautiously and sat beside him, holding out the cup of black coffee that he had just purchased from a street vendor. 'Here, drink this'.

Dawson smiled warily at him through bloodshot eyes and a swollen lip 'Thanks'.

They were quiet for several moments, both sipping the steaming coffee.

'You can't keep doing this Dawson'.

He stared over the water thoughtfully 'I know'.

'Have you spoken to Jen since she left last night?'

'No, I went round to the house before I went to yours but she wasn't there'. p Pacey chuckled softly 'Maybe that was a good thing in hind-site'.

Dawson managed a half smile 'I know this is going to sound completely redundant Pace but I'm sorry'.

'It's not me who you need to apologize to'.

He sighed deeply 'It's hard. I don't even know how I feel about what happened. How can I even begin to understand how Jen feels?'.

'You don't need to know how she feels right now Dawson, just be there for her. I'm sure the one thing that she has missed most lately is you spending time with her.' He took another sip of his coffee 'There's nothing worse than having lots of alone time when the last thing you want to be doing is thinking'.

He nodded 'Tell me about it'.

'Do you want to come back to our house and get cleaned up before heading over there?'

'Are you sure that's ok?' .

Pacey stood, throwing both his and Dawson's empty coffee cups into the trash 'Provided there is no more glass smashing'.

'How's Megan?'.

'She's ok, it was just a small cut. I can't guarantee that she or Joey will be thrilled to see you'.

'God, I hate what I've become'.

'Well, don't you think that it's time that you did something about it'.

They returned to the house half an hour later, surprised to find Joey and Jen in deep conversation in the living room. Jen sighed when she saw Dawson's blooded and swollen face, 'Joey just told me what happened. I should've figured that drunk and disorderly would have been next on your list of achievements'.

Dawson headed towards her and placed a hand on her arm 'Please let me explain things Jen'.

She nodded 'You've got five minutes out front'.

As they left the house Joey and Pacey settled back onto the sofa, 'Do you think they'll be ok?' Joey peered up at Pacey.

He shook his head 'I don't know..." we both know that once Dawson gets a thought in his head he doesn't change his mind'.

He placed the bowl of popcorn from Joey's lap on the floor and stretched himself along the length of the sofa, pulling her into his arms. He moved quickly and she didn't have time to adjust herself to the new position before her stomach objected. She hissed and pulled herself up, sitting gingerly on the edge of the chair, her hand pressing against her stomach.

He sat up as well, concern on his features 'Jo?'

She closed her eyes, willing the pain to subside. When it didn't by a few moments later, she gingerly lifted her sweatshirt to look at the wound. It was more reddened than the night before and it was weeping in one corner.

'God Jo, why didn't you-' he moved to kneel in front of her, his gaze not leaving her stomach 'Right, we're going to the hospital, no arguments'. He held a hand up, cutting off any protestations.

She nodded and tried to stand, only sinking back in to the chair when it hurt too much 'Pace-'

He nodded 'Hold on a second, I'll get Jen back in here to keep an eye on the kids then I'll help you out to the car'. He disappeared out the front door and returned seconds later with Dawson and Jen behind him, briefly explaining to them what was going on 'Are you guys going to be ok with the kids?'

Dawson nodded quickly 'Of course man, go'.

Pacey stood in front of Joey, placing a hand behind her back, the other gripping her hand tightly as they manoeuvred her to a standing position. Once she was stood, Dawson grabbed her coat and wrapped it around her shoulders, standing back as they slowly made their way out of the house and to the car.

~~**~~

The doctor in the Emergency Room tutted loudly when she lifted her sweatshirt to show him her stomach 'How long ago was the Caesarean?'

'Just over one month'.

He nodded briskly, gently prodding the area of the wound, examining the skin more closely 'And how long has it been like this?' .

She glanced at Pacey before answering 'About a week'.

He closed his eyes as she said this and opened them to find her staring at him, apology written all over her face. He gripped her hand tighter as the doctor continued his examination.

'I think the best course of action would be to give it a thorough cleaning and cover it with gauze. This should help to dry it out'. He covered her stomach with the gown 'I'm also going to put you on a course of antibiotics to help clear it up'. She nodded, easing herself back against the bed. 'I want you to come back in three or four days if it has not improved, we can reassess it then. If I don't see enough of an improvement, I may have to reopen the wound and re-stitch it'.

Pacey looked alarmed, 'All because of an infection?' .

The doctor turned to face them on his way out of the room 'Yes..." because of the length and depth of a caesarean incision, any serious infection in this area could result in the bladder, kidneys or the ovaries becoming inflamed and surgery needed to remove them. We may be too late to catch it as it is, but I'm hoping that with strong enough antibiotics we'll stop it getting any worse'.

'When will we know?' .

'The antibiotics will take about a week to take effect. We wont know if any long term damage has been done until there are signs'.

'Signs?' .

'For example, if you notice any unusual lower back pain or if you have difficulty trying to conceive any more children in the future. As I said it's hopefully not going to come to that, we'll wait to see how the wound reacts to the antibiotics.'

They were both quiet as the doctor left the room, trying to take in what he had just told them. Pacey sat back on the side of the bed and wrapped his arm around Joey's shoulders 'It's going to be alright Jo'.

She nodded half-heartedly, not really listening to what he said. She cursed herself for letting it get this bad, she'd known for the past couple of weeks that the pain she was experiencing was not normal, but she'd been too scared to admit it. She was snapped out of her reverie by the arrival of a nurse into her room.

'Hi, I'm Joyce, I'm just going to clean up the wound and dress it and then you can get home'.

Pacey stood up and took a seat in the chair next to the bed, still keeping hold of Joey's hand. His mind whirling with images of Joey and their girls, wondering if they would ever have more children. They watched, for the most part, in silence as the nurse thoroughly washed the area and covered the whole thing in several layers of gauze. She handed them a supply of antiseptic and gauze with strict instructions to re-dress it once a day and left them with the prescription for the antibiotics to get from the pharmacy on the way out of the hospital.

A/N – thank for the reviews (MeggyEggy – you're a star! ) I'm glad you're enjoying it.  I'm afraid to say that there is only one more chapter after this one and then it is finished….I am intending to write a sequel at some point.