Chapter Seven – Final Exam

When David was finally allowed in to see Joey, she was laying in a crisp white hospital bed looking just as pale as the sheets she was wrapped in. Her eyes were closed but he could tell she was dreaming; her eyelids twitched every so often and her breathing would sharpen. Even in her sleep, her hands were resting on her tiny bump as if she could protect it from harm even while she was dreaming. David sighed and walked over to her, sitting in the small plastic chair at the side of her bed and placed his hand over hers. She shifted at his touch and her eyes flickered open, revealing how red and sore they were from her crying and sleep. She smiled weakly and rubbed his forefinger with her own; he grinned a little and leaned forward to kiss her arm before resting his head against her stomach and caressing their unborn child.

"Is everything okay?" she croaked, reaching for a glass of water. David sat up and nodded.

"Yeah, there was something wrong with the placenta. Something about the baby not getting enough oxygen but they shifted it around while you were out and it's fine now," said David, Joey sighed with relief and felt tears spring to her eyes. "The doctor also said there is a danger of premature birth but we should cross that bridge when we come to it,"

"Premature? Why? Did he say why or how or anything?"

"Not really. He just said it was normal with this sort of complication; the baby was in distress so it naturally wants out a lot quicker than normal. We should be okay though," he said, kissing her arm and her hand.

"Can we go now? I really want to get out of here," said Joey, sitting up suddenly. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, her bare feet twitching at the cold ceramic floor. David grabbed her clothes and handed them to her before leaving the room to find a doctor to discharge Joey before they left for Boston.

Joey was so pleased to see the familiar living room of David's house; it felt more like home than ever now. She sat down on the brown sofa and curled herself into a ball, David walked across the room and kneeled down before her, he stroked her hair and kissed her forehead before disappearing into the kitchen. She lay there for a while before she finally broke down, tears were free flowing at the mere thought that she could have lost her baby so late on in her pregnancy. She lay on the sofa, racked with sobs and feeling the wetness of her tears down her cheeks and onto her neck and chest as they ran down her body. David walked back into the room carrying a cup of coffee; he placed it on the table and crouched down by Joey. She sat up and threw her arms around David haphazardly, she needed to be held, she needed him.

"God, David. I can't even think about what could have happened," she sobbed into his shoulder.

"It's all over now, there's no need to worry about it anymore," he soothed, stroking her hair and wishing away all her upset. Joey sniffed once more and drew away from him; she leaned over and kissed him softly on the mouth. He put his arms around her neck and held her close, kissing her back.

"I should call Dawson, he'd want to know, right?" sighed Joey, David nodded and wandered back into the kitchen. He knew how much Joey hated it when she made a phone-call and he stood over her, he was never listening but she felt weird about it. Joey smiled after him and picked up the telephone, dialling in Dawson's number from memory. It rang twice before he picked up.

"Hey stranger… yeah, I'm fine, I just wanted to talk… no, everything's fine but I had to go to hospital today… no, the baby's fine but it was really scary," Joey started to cry again, Dawson was so worried that it touched her. "You can if you want, I'm home… yeah, David's here… okay, it doesn't matter… no, it's all okay now, I was just a bit freaked out… yeah, I will do, see you later,"

Joey out the phone down and sighed, she was glad that she had finally spoken to him but it was weird talking to him when she was so happy with her life. He always seemed to be angry with her for moving on and leaving him behind but now it was different, he wanted to be involved and he was obviously worried about her.

"Everything okay?" shouted David from the kitchen.

"Yeah, everything's good," shouted Joey and smiled, she really believed it. Everything was good and it would stay good, she called Audrey and told her what had happened. She didn't want the sympathy but she just needed her closest friends to know, she knew that Dawson would inform Jen and Jack and Grams while Audrey would tell Pacey. Mission accomplished.

"For luck," smiled David, holding out a small blue gem, Joey accepted it and smiled. It was beautiful even if the shine had gone; she looked up at David and frowned. "It was my good luck charm during my exams; I always kept it in my pocket for luck,"

"Thank you," she said, slipping it into the pocket of her jeans. She picked up her bag and swung it over her shoulder. "I'm meeting Audrey for a coffee before we go in so I'm off," David leaned over and kissed her. "I don't know when I'll be back; Audrey'll probably want a real drink after the exam,"

"Don't you go getting our child drunk now," he grinned, pointing a finger at Joey's abdomen. She grinned and threw her arms around him, kissing his neck before running out of the front door and towards her final examinations. She wasn't nervous but she was slightly concerned, it was thoughts of the baby that were filling her head rather than thoughts of Dickens and Conrad. She met up with Audrey at their favourite café in Boston, the same café where so many dramas had happened – David attempting to leave her but not quite going through with it, Joey and Audrey discussing her illicit affair with her college professor. They sat and chatted absent-mindedly about the exams, Pacey, David and what they were going to eat that afternoon until the time came for them to walk into the huge building, into the huge hall and sit the last exams of their college careers.

"Now would probably be a good time to go into labour," joked Audrey as she and Joey hung their coats up in the foyer to the hall.

"It's not even funny, could you imagine the mess?" laughed Joey.

"What's even funnier is that you'd just carry on writing even once your waters had broken," smiled Audrey, Joey slapped her on the arm and laughed along with her friend. They joined up with a few other people from their classes and finally entered the exam hall.

"Just think," whispered Joey as they took their seats in the hall. "After this, we are done with Worthington forever. We get to go home to our boyfriends and live the rest of our lives. We get to have jobs and kids and grow up, how weird is that?"

"Shut up, Joey! Don't freak me out even more!"