Joey stood in front of Pacey, Dawson and table full of strangers and tried to pull a smile on her face. Finding that smile was almost as hard as finding something to say. Finally something popped into her mind and not caring if it was witty or not, she let it fly.

"Mr. Wilder, I'm a fan of your work, it's a pleasure to meet you," Joey said coolly, plastering what she hoped was a smile on her face.

Dawson turned to Joey with a confused look on his face, "Jo, that's all you have to say after not seeing this guy for years? Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just surprised that's all, I don't really know what to say," Joey said, trying to get control of the emotions that were fighting for control of her body. Had she been alone she could have easily started crying, but in a roomful of people, one of which was Pacey, Joey had to force herself into "pr" mode. Warming up her smile she reached and hugged Pacey, "It is good to see you, however surprised I am."

Joey felt Pacey tense as her arms went around his neck but he hugged her back. The connection was short but full of electricity. Dawson turned to the table of people behind Pacey while Joey and Pacey watched each other in silence.

"Please excuse us, we'll let Pac -- I mean, Mr. Wilder, get back to you in a minute," Dawson turned back to his friends, "Pacey, why don't you join us for a drink after dinner, it looks like we have a lot to catch up on."

"That sounds like a good idea. Why don't we meet in the lounge at 9:00? What do you say, Joey, you want to catch up?"

Joey forced yet another smile on her face and nodded, "Sounds like a plan. Come on, Dawson, why don't we let them finish their dinner?"

Pacey smiled at Joey and Dawson as he turned back to his table. Dawson reached out and took Joey's arm and guided her back to their table. Joey sat down with a thud and gave Dawson a half-hearted smile, "Weird."

"You're telling me, I walked up to the table expecting to schmooze my way into setting up a meeting to discuss a possible screen adaptation to one of Andrew Wilder's books, the minute he turned around I knew my schmoozing wouldn't get me anywhere with Pacey Witter, the guy I punched in the face for revealing my embarrassing nickname."

Joey laughed and took a big swallow of the drink Dawson had gotten her at the bar, wishing she had asked for a shot of something dark and hard instead of the amaretto sour in her hand. "Hey, would you mind if we just met back here at nine, I should call and check my messages."

"I should call Andrea and tell her who I ran into, she'll love it, I have told her so many stories about the two of us growing up," Dawson laughed, throwing his head back, "This is great, don't you think, Jo?"

"Yeah, Dawson, it's great, just super."

"Don't sound so thrilled, I know you and Pacey weren't the best of friends but you two were pretty good friends around the time he left. That reminds me, maybe we can get him to tell us what happened there."

Joey looked over Dawson's should at Pacey's table, his back was to the room and even though she couldn't see his face, its image was permanently etched in her mind, as always but now she had an updated version. "Maybe, I'll see you back down here."

Joey picked up her drink and took it with her towards her room. The moment the door slammed closed she tossed the contents of the glass down her throat, hoping whatever alcohol was in the drink would hit her soon. She glanced at the clock and saw that she had close to an hour before she had to be back downstairs. Though she had only used it as an excuse she thought she would check her messages anyway, maybe she was needed back in Chicago and would have to leave immediately.

Four messages One and two were from Max informing her of a client meeting on Tuesday and a brainstorming session on Wednesday. Three was from Kevin apologizing again for missing the ski weekend but saying how great it was that Dawson was able to go. "Ugh, he can't even pretend to be jealous that I am here with another guy," Joey frowned. Four was Max again, saying she had just talked to Kevin and learned that he was in Chicago and Joey was in Michigan with the 'hottie from California, I mean, childhood friend.' Joey grinned - her assist's over-active mind slightly atoned for Kevin's lack of everything. Joey hit 'end' on her cell phone and found the speed-dial for her best friend, Christy.

Joey and Christy had been assigned each other as roommates freshman year of college. Joey had moved in and survived one hour trying to be distant and not talk about herself before Christy had broken through the barrier with her warmth and genuine interest in Joey's life – past, present and future. By the end of freshman orientation week they had told each other everything, Joey spilling the Pacey saga and Christy crying over her boyfriend, Freddie, who was the love of her life and halfway across the country going to school in Texas. Christy had gotten over Freddie and was now happily married to Sam. Joey had tried desperately to move past Pacey but had yet to master that maneuver.

"Hiya, it's me," Christy answered the phone, "How's Michigan and the D- man?"

"I hate that you have caller-id, how can I ever call without you knowing?"

"Use a payphone. What's up, shouldn't you be swooshing or something?"

"Chris, not until tomorrow, but that's beside the point. He's here, Christy, he is here."

"What do you mean," Christy said, pausing, "You don't mean, him, Pacey-him, do you? How could that be?"

"He lives here, not at the lodge, but in the town, in Michigan. I went to the bathroom and came back and Dawson was talking to him. And there he was and now I have to go back downstairs and have drinks with he and Dawson. What am I going to do? What am I going to say? Oh my word, this is so not funny it's funny."

"Jo, hon, hold up a minute. Pacey lives in Michigan in a ski town, okay. Let's look at the bright side." Christy was silent for a moment; Joey could tell she was trying hard to come up with something to make her laugh like she always did. "Hey, maybe he knows Andrew Wilder and could introduce you. You did say Wilder was from there right, that's why you were going up, right?"

Joey laughed sarcastically, "He's him. I mean, Pacey Witter is Andrew Wilder, my literary hero. Andrew is Pacey's middle name and Witter is pretty close to Wilder, don't you think."

"Whoa, I am completely lost now, Jo. Are you just pulling my leg, cause this is so unbelievable that it is either an outright lie, which is just mean, I might add. Or, it is a very sick truth."

"Sadly, option two is on the bottom. Can you believe my luck? The moment I get to shake hands with someone I have wanted to meet since I picked up his first book, is the same moment I come face to face with my long lost whatever you want to call it. Chris, you need to tell me what to do because right now I can't think and I really just want to drink a lot."

"Okay, drinking would be bad, you are a talkative drunk and we don't want you saying something you might regret later, like, 'Pacey, I've been in love with you for the past 10 years or so'. You need to think clearly and try and follow his lead. If he plays it cool, then you play it cool and if he is Mr. Long-lost friend, well then…"

"I am Mrs. Long-lost friend, gottcha. God, this sucks. No matter how many times I have been through this meeting in my head it never went like this."

"It never does, Jo, it never does. But I have faith in you, you CAN do it!" Joey could see Christy pumping her fist upward in encouragement. "One question."

"Yes, Chris, he looks good," Joey smiled, "So good."

"Well then you had better go freshen yourself up and go back downstairs and knock 'em out, Joey."

"Thanks. Tell Sam I say 'hi' and get a hug for me, I'll talk to you tomorrow and let you know how it goes. Bye."

"Bye, Jo."

Joey punched 'end' again and threw the phone down behind her on the bed. She pulled herself off the bed and went into the bathroom, flipping on the light with her elbow. The face in front of her looked a lot more put together than she was feeling on the inside. "Thank God for small favors." One fresh coat of lipstick and she was ready to go. Joey turned off the lights in the room and headed back downstairs, taking a deep breath or two on the way and repeating Christy's words in her head, 'knock 'em out, Joey, knock 'em out.'