Chapter 17
"Jo, maybe we should call him up before going over," Dawson began. "I mean, he may not even be home."
"He'll be there, now c'mon!" Joey said as she tugged on his hand. "Bessie, we're going to see Jack, we'll be home later!" Joey hollered over her shoulder.
"What's wrong?" Joey asked, sitting in the car as she noticing Dawson's expression. Dawson looked over at Joey and smiled.
"Nothing," he said. Joey gave him a look. "I just realized I haven't really seen anyone since Jen died," he explained.
"It's weird not having her here," Joey admitted.
"Yeah it is."
"I can only imagine what she'd say about all of this," Joey said. Dawson smiled before the car went silent.
"So Jack knows about the baby?" he asked.
Joey nodded. "Yup." She pulled into Jack's driveway. He had bought the house a few years ago, Joey remembered.
"I wonder if Grams is going to be home," Joey wondered aloud.
"I'd assume so," Dawson said. The two got out of the car.
"You know, It's funny thinking of Jack as your ex- boyfriend," Dawson said. Joey looked at him confused. "You know with him being gay," he explained. The two walked up to Jack's door in silence.
"Are there any of our friends you haven't dated?" Dawson asked, which earned him a glare from Joey as she knocked on the door.
"Hey!" Jack exclaimed, traces of baby food on his clothes.
"Hey you!" Joey said as the two of them hugged. "Come on in you guys," Jack said as he welcomed them in.
"Hey man," Jack said as he hugged Dawson. The three old friends stood there for a second, smiling at one another. "By the way, congratulations about the baby," Jack said to Dawson. "Joey and I were able to talk about the topic of the baby to death last tie she was in town." For the first time, Dawson finally realized the bit of baby food Jack was wearing.
"Did we uh, come at a bad time?" Dawson asked. It took Jack a few seconds to get what Dawson was talking about.
"Oh yeah, the baby food. No, I was just feedin' Aimee her lunch," he explained. "Seems she enjoys seeing it on me more than in her stomach."
Joey and Dawson laughed.
"Wanna see her?" he said as he led them into the kitchen where Grams was sitting, trying to feed Aimee her lunch.
Dawson just stood there, almost in shock; Joey on the other hand, walked right over to Grams and the smiling baby.
"Hey Mrs. Ryan, how are you doing?" Joey asked. Grams smiled.
"I'm doing alright, Josephine," she assured her as she stood up. "Jack told me the news, congratulations!"
Joey smiled. "Thank you."
"Just make sure I won't have to deliver this Potter baby," Grams said.
Joey laughed. "I'm very much planning on delivering my baby in the hospital," she told her, "with a lot of western medicine!" she added quickly, causing Grams to laugh.
"Hey there Aimee!" Joey cooed as she turned towards the baby. Jack was cleaning Aimee up while Joey and Grams talked.
"Well since she's obviously had her fill…" he trailed off laughing. He unbuckled Aimee and took her out of her chair.
"Here, can you take her for a second?" Jack asked.
"Sure," Joey said, holding her hands out. Jack smiled before disappearing out of the room.
"I must go finish my blanket I've been knitting," Grams said before exiting the kitchen as well.
"Dawson?" Joey said worriedly as she turned around with the baby and noticed Dawson's distant expression. She walked over to him holding Aimee.
"Dawson?" she repeated. He then shook out of it.
"Yeah? Sorry," he apologized. Joey could sense something was bothering him.
"Here we go," Jack said as he walked back into the kitchen. "Now that I'm all cleaned up."
"Hey honey," Jack said to Aimee, causing her to giggle. She instantly reached for Jack.
"Your so good with her," Joey said as she handed Aimee back to him.
Jack smiled. "You too will be the same way with your baby," he assured them as Dawson finally walked over to Joey. Joey smiled and put her arm around him.
"I hope so."
"So how have you guys been?" Jack asked as he sat Aimee down on the table and began to take off her messy clothes,
Joey looked over at Dawson and smiled; squeezing his hand. "We've been great."
"And how long are you guys staying in Capeside for?" he asked.
"Oh uh, we're leaving tomorrow morning," Joey said. "I've got work on Monday." Jack nodded.
"What about you? How's the show going?" Jack asked.
"I um.. Well, I'm kinda taking a break from the show. I've got Todd handling most of it back in L.A." Dawson explained as he sat down at the table beside Joey.
"Ohh.." Jack said.
"Yeah, so in the meantime I'm staying with Joey back in New York." Jack knew the two of them so well he could tell that they were stumbling upon a sore subject and decided to change directions.
"So have you guys thought about any names for the baby yet?" he asked.
"Not yet," Dawson said.
"I've got an appointment on Wednesday, just to see how everything's going in there," she said as she put a hand on her stomach and rubbed it.
Jack smiled. " It's kinda weird, us all having kids," he said as he finished dressing Aimee. "I mean, we've all known each other since High school and here we are, having kids of our own."
"I know. Thinking about it makes me feel-"
"Old?" Dawson finished for her. The three of them laughed.
"Hey, do you guys ever wish you could go back and be fifteen again?" Jack asked.
"No," both Dawson and Joey said at the same time.
"Oh c'mon, it wasn't that bad," Jack said.
"I just know that I'm glad I'm not fifteen anymore," Joey said as Aimee picked that time to begin to babble, reaching for Joey.
"Looks like she wants to go back to you," Jack said as he handed Aimee to Joey. Jack watched as Joey played with Aimee, who was standing on Joey's lap.
"What about you? You picturing what fatherhood is going to look like?" Jack asked Dawson.
Dawson smiled. "Something like that."
"The 2 am feedings… Oh it'll be fun," Joey said, smiling.
"But right now you've just gotta deal with all of Joey's mood swings," Jack said.
"I've had a lifetime to get used to them. I'm sure they won't be that much different from her usual mood swings." Joey shot him a look while trying to suppress a smile.
"Good luck with that," Jack said.
"Great, that's just great," Joey said, walking out of the bedroom as she fought with her pants zipper. The two of them had left Capeside a week ago.
"What's wrong?" Dawson asked, putting the remote down he had been playing with.
"My pants are a little…tight," she explained, now fighting with the button. Dawson smiled.
"Dare I say it's about time we think about purchasing some maternity clothes?" he asked, grinning.
"Let's just get the appointment out of the way first," Joey said. She then plopped down on the couch beside Dawson. Dawson smiled, rubbing her small belly.
"I see mommy's on the verge of a mood swing," he said.
"You would be two if you always had to go pee AND had weird food cravings, AND were getting fat," Joey said.
"Yeah what was with breakfast this morning?" Dawson asked. "Pickles dipped in Ranch dressing?"
"What wrong with that?" she asked.
"It's just…gross."
Joey smiled and stuck out her tongue. "But it tasted sooo good!"
Alright, that's it," Dawson said before shifting on the couch, and began tickling Joey.
"Dawson, Dawson stop!" Joey pleaded at the top of her lungs. "Dawson please!" she begged. Finally Dawson decided it was enough and stopped.
"I hate you," Joey said as she tried to catch her breath.
"No you don't," Dawson said.
"Your right; I don't," Joey said as she reached up and kissed Dawson. "Let's get going to that appointment," Joey said.
Dawson smiled and got up from the couch, Joey not moving an inch.
"Ya know Jo, in order for us to actually make it there, you gotta get up," Dawson said.
"But the couch is so comfy. I don't want to get up," Joey explained. Dawson sighed before bending down and lifting her off the couch.
"Dawson, what are you doing!?" she asked.
"Carrying you," he said simply. The two laughed all the way to the car.
"This room creeps me out," Dawson said finally, sitting in the examining room. Joey was laying on the bed, and Dawson was sitting beside her, waiting for the doctor to come back.
"Why does it creep you out?" Joey asked.
"I don't know, it just does." He paused. "Don't you usually have a sonogram on your second or third visit?" he asked.
"Um… I have no idea," Joey laughed just as the doctor walked in.
"Hey Joey," she said warmly. "Nice to see you again."
Joey smiled. "Hi Dr. Ross."
"I've got you down for an ultrasound today, am I right?" Dr. Ross asked as she checked Joey's file.
"Yup," Joey said. Dawson reached for her hand and Joey squeezed it.
"Is this Dawson?" Dr. Ross asked.
Joey nodded. "Yes."
"Hi Dawson, I'm Dr. Ross." She extended her hand and Dawson shook it.
"It's nice to meet you," Dawson said.
"so, are you guys ready to see the first images of your baby?" she asked before preparing the sonogram machine. She walked back over to Joey and lifted up her shirt.
"This may be a little cold," she warned, before squeezing the clear jell onto Joey's stomach. Suddenly the room was filled with a loud noise as the doctor rolled the thing over Joey's stomach.
"Wow, what is that?" Dawson asked curiously.
The doctor smiled. "That's your baby's heartbeat."
"Why is it so fast?" he asked worriedly.
"It's normal," she assured him.
"Wow, Joey, look, there he is!" Dawson said as the two of them looked at the screen, Joey holding back tears.
"Well, everything looks good in there. The fetus seems to be where it should be growth wise, and you seem to be putting on the required weight," the doctor said.
"Can you tell what it is yet?" Dawson asked.
"Not yet. All the major organs are still forming." Dawson nodded.
"Alright, we're going to take the first picture of your baby," the doctor said. Dawson looked over at Joey and smiled.
"I love you," he said as he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.
"I love you."
The two of them exchanged looks, grinning at each other the whole way home from the doctor's office, both as happy as they could be. The two were kissing by the time they got to the apartment door.
Dawson pulled away for a second to pull off his sweater as he kicked off his shoes. Joey laughed and kicked her own shoes off as well. The feel of his lips on hers were pure heaven and she had been deprived of that feeling for too long.
Joey was beginning to feel annoyed when Dawson broke off their kiss once more. "Are you ok to be doing this?" Dawson asked breathlessly.
"I'm definitely ok," she assured him, grinning. I love this guy! He's so adorable, Joey thought as he smiled and kissed Joey again before lifting her up and carrying her down the hallway.
Dawson lay on his side, his head in his hand as he watched Joey sleep beside him. He knew he should probably be waking her up; it was around dinnertime; but he just couldn't bring himself to doing it.
His gaze traveled up and down her body, her hair hugging her face. He had missed her, more than he thought before all of this; before she walked back into his life. He smiled at her before lightly reaching over and pushing a piece of hair away from her face. He thought back to their first night together, back in college., and remembered how he had woken her up. He smiled deciding he couldn't wait any longer for her to wake up, and began to trail kisses on her back and across her shoulder blades. A few minutes later, Joey began to stir from her sleep, a smile on her face.
"I was waiting for you to wake up," he explained. "But I just couldn't wait any longer."
Joey rolled over to face him. "How long have you been awake?"
"A little while," he said as Joey scotched over closer to him and rested her head on his chest.
"What time is it anyways?" she asked.
"Dawson looked behind her on the nightstand. "Seven thirty."
"Wow, no wonder why I'm hungry," Joey said. As if on cue, her stomach made a noise of hunger. Both Dawson and Joey laughed.
"I guess it's fair to say your not the only one who's hungry," Joey said.
"Hmmm. I guess I really must have worn you out," Dawson said. Joey began to blush.
"Is Joey Potter blushing?" Dawson teased. He had made that comment half because he wanted to see if he could make her blush- and he succeeded.
It's ok, I think it's cute when you blush," he said as he bent down and kissed her on the top of her nose.
"You do realize we're going to have to get up some day, don't you?" Joey said.
Dawson smiled as he say back, putting his hands under the back of his head. "No we don't."
Joey smiled at him. She then sat up and looked around the room.
"What are you doing?" Dawson asked.
"Trying to look for some clothes," she explained. They both laughed as they fell back onto the bed.