Chapter 25

Dawson had just finished putting together the crib and was admiring his work from the doorway of the nursery when the phone rang. Happy that he finally got the crib together, Dawson headed towards the phone with a smile on his face.

"Hello?" he answered. His smile quickly faded when a worried co-worker of Joey's explained what had happened.

"What? Where are they taking her?" he asked quickly, the woman quickly explained where the ambulance was headed.

"I'm on my way," Dawson said before hanging up. He quickly grabbed his keys and was out the door, his heart beating a mile a minute, his thoughts for the worst.

Joey woke up to the smell of disinfectants. She began to stir, slowly remembering what had happened. The last thing she remembered was a sudden darkness. She had come into it a little in the ambulance, but she drifted off once more before they had reached the hospital. She moved her hand a little and felt something. Someone was holding her hand. Finally, Joey's eye's fluttered opened.

"Dawson," she whispered. Dawson had been sitting right beside the bed, watching her as he held her hand, waiting for her to wake up.

"I'm right here," he assured her, inching closer to the bedside. "How do you feel?"

"A little drained, but.." she trailed off. Then it hit her.

"Dawson, is the baby.." she trailed off, not able to continue. Had she lost the baby? Or perhaps the baby had been born and she was so out of it, she wouldn't have known?

Dawson smiled faintly, taking his other hand and rubbing her stomach slowly and softly. "The baby's okay," he assured her. Joey sighed a sigh of relief, unable to think of what she would have done if something had happened to the baby,

"Joey, what happened?" he asked.

"I-I was rushing around, trying to do a good job and get everything done before my leave," she explained. Before she could continue, there was a knock on the door and Joey's doctor entered the room.

"Hey you. You gave us all a scare," she said, walking over to the bedside. Joey smiled, sitting up a little more. She realized she must look like crap, but she didn't care. She looked over at Dawson, who still had one of her hands in his.

"I know you were scheduled for another check up to start your weekly appointments, but don't you think you could have waited a few more days until the appointment?" she joked.

Joey smiled again, putting her hand on her stomach. "I know."

"So, what exactly happened, anyway?" Dawson asked.

"Well, looks to me like Joey's been pushing herself too hard," she began. Your fainting spell was probably caused by exhaustion; stress, played a good part in it, which you know isn't good for your baby," she told Joey.

"I just wanted to do good in the office, you know? Before my leave," she explained.

"Didn't you have another week to go before your leave?" her doctor asked. Joey nodded. "Well, now you don't," she said. "I want you to take your leave now."

"But-" Joey began.

"No buts. You need to take some time Joey to rest up, make up for this past week," she said. "Also, it looks here like your iron level is a little low."

"Well she's been eating a lot of sweets lately," Dawson said.

"It's not my fault I'm craving sweets," Joey said.

The doctor laughed. "Joey, it's fine. Why don't you try to incorporate some iron into your diet though, okay?" she suggested. "Try to get her to eat things like, cereal, fish, lima beans, spinach, peas, whole wheat bread," she explained to Dawson, who nodded. Joey knew she was going to get this kind of lecture from him once they were home. Now he was going to be shoving stuff like that down her throat.

"Do either of you eat tofu?" she asked.

"I do, not a lot though," Dawson said.

"Well that's also a good thing to eat that contains a lot of fiber," she said. "Joey, as one of my favorite patients, I don't want to see you in here unless it's scheduled, okay?" she said with a smile on her face, standing up.

Joey laughed. "Alright."

"Okay? So in the meantime, I want you to get some rest. I'm also going to fill out a prescription for you for some Iron pills," she explained, writing something on a piece of paper. "Since your iron level isn't dangerously low, I'm going to have you take like, three pills a week instead of the usual 'one pill a day,' okay?" she asked.

Joey nodded. "Got it."

"Now Dawson, you going to keep an eye on her for me at home?" she asked.

"Oh yes," he assured her.

"Are you kidding me, after this? He's going to be following me around everywhere," Joey said. They laughed.

"That's a good thing then; sounds to me like you've got a caring man in your life." Joey looked over at Dawson and smiled.

"That I do." Dr. Ross smiled at the couple.

"Alright, well I think that about raps it up here, I won't keep the two of you waiting," Dr. Ross said as she headed towards the door.

"Bye guys," she said.

"Thank you," they both said.

Dawson turned towards Joey once the doctor left, closing the door behind her. "Well," he began.

"Don't even say it," Joey said as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed; Dawson stood, his hands on his hips watching her.

"Jo, I'm not going to lecture you," he assured her.

"No, your just going to bug me to death at home, making sure I get enough rest and eat the right foods, and take those… pills," she said.

Dawson smiled. "Your right, I will." He helped her off the bed and she gathered her things. "But for right now, I'm concentrated on getting you home," he explained, "the bugging comes later," he teased as they left the hospital room and headed home.

A few days later…

It had been three days since Joey had been brought home from the hospital, and as expected, Dawson had waited on her hand and foot; barely letting her out of bed.

Joey sat up from the bed and yawned before making her way into the baby room. She had just woken up from her nap when she heard Dawson in the nursery. She stopped when she noticed the baby's crib had been put together. Dawson looked up from putting the bedding in.

"Hey there. What are you doing up?" he asked as she walked over to the crib, softly tracing it with her finger.

"I heard you working in here, and I wanted to see what you've done so far," she explained as her eyes wandered around the room; it was slowly coming together. The wall was painted, the boarder they had picked out a while ago Dawson had put up the day before, the baby accessories were being put up. She smiled.

"You like it?" he asked as he walked over to her, putting his arm around her.

"Dawson, it's beautiful," Joey said, near tears. Dawson noticed the tears and smiled.

"She's crying on me again," he teased. Joey wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I can't help it," she said as she walked over and sat in the rocker. Dawson stood there, leaning on the baby crib for a second, spacing off.

"Hey Jo?"

"Yeah?" she sniffled, wiping the tears.

"Bessie called while you were napping," he began.

"Oh, what'd she want?" she asked curiously, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Actually, she called to talk," he admitted. "But her and I ended up talking and.." he trailed off. Joey looked at him curiously.

"Dawson?"

"Joey, I had no idea you haven't told your father about the baby yet," he said finally. Joey sat there for a moment, surprised.

"I-I guess I just forgot," she admitted. It was the truth; her father hadn't been in her life for a while now, phone calls here and there didn't make up for it. She must have just forgotten with the events of the past few months.

"Joey, he's your father. I know you two don't have the best relationship, but I think you owe it to the guy to tell him he's going to be a grandfather," Dawson said.

"Dawson, I forgot; okay? Calm down," Joey said as she got up from the rocking chair and headed into the living room; Dawson following.

"Jo, I don't mean to jump on you about this but the baby's going to be here in another two months. Maybe you should give him a call, let him know what's been going on?" he suggested as Joey plopped down on the couch.

"I will, okay. When I'm ready I will call my father up and tell him that I'm pregnant," she promised.

"That's all I ask," he said simply, kissing her on the forehead. Joey blinked, surprised at how smooth that went. Dawson picked up on her expression and laughed. "What? You thought we were going to get into a fight?" he asked, swatting down in front of her.

"Sorta," she admitted.

"Nope, cause you see; your supposed to be resting miss busy body," he said. "Work and stress free."

"Yeah, yeah," Joey said, smiling. Dawson's smile matched hers.

"Which reminds me; are you hungry?" he asked, realizing it was past noon. Joey paused for a second.

"I could go for a grilled cheese," she admitted.

Dawson smiled. "One grilled cheese coming right up," he said, standing up and headed for the kitchen.

"And Dawson?" she said quickly, thinking of something else. He quickly stopped his route to the living room and turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Could you go out and get my some fish chips? Like the ones we had at the Icehouse?" she asked. "I've had a craving for them lately.

"Uh… The grilled cheese I can do, I'm not so sure about the fish chips though," he said. Joey extended her bottom lip.

"Why not?" she asked. "It's New Your City, I'm sure there are thousands of seafood places," she said.

"Right, but something like that is usually found in a costal town like Capeside," Dawson explained. "-and I'm not driving there to get them," he said quickly as he began to get the thing together to make her her sandwich.

"Aww, but Dawson, my back hurts, and I'm hungry," she said, "and what would make me feel all better is some fish chip." Dawson looked up at the ceiling, wondering what he had done to deserve having to look all over town to find some stupid fish chips. Joey smiled, knowing he would go out and get some for her.

"Alright, alright; fiiine," he said, giving in. Joey continued to look at him expectantly. "What, you mean now?" he asked. She nodded her head.

Dawson groaned then chuckled as he put the bread and cheese back in the fridge, then walked into the living room.

"You know, your lucky I love you," he said as he pulled his shoes on.

"I love you!" she said happily, putting her feet up on the coffee table, getting comfortable on the couch.

"Love you too," he muttered as he headed out the door.

A little while later, Joey looked down at her watch and groaned, She flipped the channel, trying to find something to occupy herself as she waited for her food.

"Ugh, where could he be?" she asked. "Jeez, if I knew it'd take this long, I would have had him make me the sandwich first," she said, looking over at the kitchen. Her stomach growled, and she smiled, putting her hand on her stomach and rubbing it.

"I hear ya; believe me I do," she said to her stomach. "Hey, it's not my fault, it's your Daddy's fault for taking so long." She paused, catching herself talking to the baby; referring to Dawson as 'daddy.' A smile crept on to her lips as she thought of how good of a father Dawson was going to be, suddenly feeling a little bad for making him run out to get stuff all the time for her. Her thoughts then traveled to her own father, wondering if he ever went out to get her mom stuff she was craving when she was carrying

Joey. Smiling at the thoughts of the past, Joey realized Dawson was right; she had to tell her father. She looked over at the phone, sitting on the kitchen counter and debated whether or not to get up from her comfy position. After a few seconds, she decided to get up. She walked into the bedroom, over to her dresser; opening the top drawer and pulling out a piece of paper with her fathers phone number scribbled down on it. She looked down at the number as she walked back onto the living room, one hand on her back -which had begun to bother her.

"Let's see here," she said as she turned the phone on and began dialing the number. Her father was somewhere in Massachusetts now- or so Bessie had told her. "He's probably not even there," she mumbled as the phone began to ring. The phone was on it's second ring when suddenly there was a knock on the door. Joey paused for a second, wondering who it could be, but smiled when she realized it could be Dawson back with her food and maybe he had forgotten his keys.

"Dawson, did you forget your.." Joey said as she opened the door. She stopped in mid sentence and almost dropped the phone when she realized her father was standing on the other side of the door.

"Dad," she said shocked, lowering the phone from her ear and turning it off.

"Hello Joey," Mike said, his gaze traveling to her swollen belly. The look on his face… Joey began to feel bad for not telling him about her pregnancy earlier.

"I-I was just about to call you," she said, holding up the phone. "Um… Come in," Joey said, motioning him into the apartment. He smiled, walking into the apartment. Once inside he stopped and looked around; Joey realizing he'd never seen where she had been living for the past year or so.

"Dawson's just out getting some food, but would you like something to eat, or drink?" she asked, feeling his eyes on her back as she began towards the kitchen. "I can make you a pot of coffee?" she offered, knowing Dawson had some around the kitchen somewhere. After finding out she was pregnant, Joey swore off coffee, and had since then.

"Sure," Mike said as he remained in place while Joey got the coffee machine ready. She looked over and noticed him looking around the living room.

"So…" Joey began, "how have you been?" she asked, walking back into the living room. Her father looked up at her and smiled.

"I've been good," he assured her. Joey nodded. "I hope you don't mind me just dropping by like this," Mike said. "Bessie told me about the baby, and gave me the address to where you were living," he explained. "I just wanted to come by and see how you were doing. I hope that was okay?" he asked again.

"Bessie told you?" Joey repeated. "When?" she asked.

"About a month ago. I had asked about you and she explained that you were doing good and that… you were pregnant." Joey closed her eyes, different emotions hitting her. She was angry at Bessie for telling her father, yet at the same time she was relieved. She also felt bad about not telling him about it herself; completely forgetting the man.

"Dad, I'm sorry I-" she began.

"It's alright Joey. I didn't come here for that," Mike told her. "I just wanted to see you is all. Se how much you've grown." he paused, looking at her with nothing but love in his eyes. "You're my baby girl, and here you are… having your own baby." Joey felt the tears coming as she gave him a small smile.

"I just wish your mother was here to see you," he said. Joey looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

"Me too," she admitted. A few minutes later, the two were sitting together on the couch; Mike taking a drink of his coffee every so often as Joey showed him a few of the sonogram pictures.

"So, when is the baby due?" he asked curiously, looking down at the black and white pictures. "The doctors are saying anytime during the first week of April," she said, rubbing her stomach.

"Wow, only two more months," Mike noted, handing the pictures back to Joey.

"Yeah, we got most of the nursery finished," Joey said. "Wanna see?" she asked, motioning to the hallway.

"I'd love to," Mike said. Joey smiled as she got up from the couch and headed for the baby's room. Joey flipped the light switch on, lighting up the nicely decorated room.

"Joey, this is beautiful," Mike said as they walked into the room, his eyes scanning all around the newly painted room.

"Thank you. Dawson's almost done putting all the baby stuff together," she explained. Remembering, she looked down at her watch and realized Dawson should be home by now.

"Well he's done a fantastic job; both of you have," he told her. She smiled and thanked him once more.

You know, I was more than happy when your sister told me that you and Dawson had gotten back together and that he was the father of your baby," Mitch explained after a few minutes. Surprised by her father's confession, Joey turned her attention to him.

"You were?" she asked.

"Of coarse. I've always liked Dawson," he said. "I was even a little disappointed when I heard the two of you had broken up; the first time I mean," he clarified. Both of them laughed.

Na, but I've always thought of him as the perfect guy for you; I was just waiting for you to realize that."

"Yeah, it did take me a while to realize that, huh?" Joey laughed. "We're engaged now," she told him.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah, see," she said, extending her hand to show him her engagement ring. She loved showing it off to friends and family.

"Wow Joey, that… beautiful," he said, smiling. Just then, Joey heard the front door click open.

"Speak of the devil," she said, both hearing the door open, knowing this time it had to be Dawson.

"Honey, I'm home!" Dawson announced. "Jo, you would not believe how many places I looked for these things, but finally I found a place that made them," he continued, unaware Mike was there. Joey smiled as she stood there, Mike beside her, waiting for Dawson to notice but too busy unloading the few things he had picked up in town in the kitchen.

"Hey Dawson?" Joey said.

"Yeah?" he asked, finally turning around. His expression turned to totally surprise when he realized who was there. "Oh, hey Mike," Dawson said, surprised and happy to see him.

"Jo when I suggested you call him, I didn't mean.." he trailed off, smiling. "But this is good too," he said quickly, walking over to Mike and shaking his hand.

"Hello Mr. Potter, how are you?" he asked, shaking his hand as Joey walked over to him and put her arm around his side.

"Good. And please, call me Mike," he said quickly. "Were practically family anyways," he added.

"So, how long are you here in New York?" Dawson asked.

"Oh, just for the day," he said. "I just came by to see the two of you and find out more about my newest grandchild on the way," he said proudly.

Dawson smiled. "Well, how would you like to stay for dinner?" he asked, hoping Joey wouldn't mind. He hazard a glance over at her, noticing she didn't look angry.

"I'd be honored," Mike said. Dawson smiled, looking over at Joey who gave a small smile. He knew things between her and her father wasn't the best, but he wanted to change that. They had already lost so many people in the past year, he wanted to start adding people, not subtracting them.