Hi again...I am sorry for the lack of update once again but I am completely hectic at work at the moment...plus my computer's playing up....plus I'm going on holiday next week......and the list goes on and on. Thanks again for all the great reviews, especially my little e-mail buddy who keep me motivated to write updates!
Let it Snow...
The car slowly pulled up outside the all too familiar house, ladder still in place and dock still jetting out to the water. Apart from the scattering of snow laying gently on everything, it was like it had never changed. Dawson glanced over at Joey who was trying to wipe a tear away from her face without him noticing.
'Good to be home then?' Dawson teased her.
'I'm hormonal. Bite me,' Joey retorted, pulling her scarf on.
'You say the nicest things.' Dawson muttered as he climbed out of the car and rushed around to the other side to open Joey's door. He reached inside and pulled her out. She was now so big it was hard for her to move easily, let alone climb in and out of cars.
'You're Mom's gonna think I'm having a litter of babies at this rate,' Joey said, as she tried to help Dawson by grabbing the side of the car.
'Two is hardly a litter is it?' Dawson said finally pulled Joey into his arms.
'I would advise not you not make smart comments like that in the delivery room,' Joey said, resting her head on Dawson's chest. The act of getting out of a car was too much.
'There will be plenty of time for that later!' a voice shouted from the porch.
The couple turned around and saw a smiling Jack hanging out the front door, Amy grabbing onto his leg.
'Jack!' Joey called 'Merry Christmas!'
Jack made his way across the yard as Doug grabbed an over excited Amy from following.
'Wow, what the hell happened to you Potter?' Jack exclaimed when he caught sight of Joey's over extended belly.
'The joy of pregnancy,' she said, trying to change the subject hastily. She lunged towards him for a hug, her arms unable to reach al the way around him like they used to. 'Lets get inside before I freeze!'
She slowly tottered off into the house, leaving Dawson and Jack to un load the car.
'So how are things? She looks......huge,' Jack said, lifting a bag of presents out of the car.
'Huge and hormonal. Remind me never to get her pregnant again?' Dawson chuckled.
'Seriously D, is she okay? When Jen was pregnant she was never that big,' Jack' face softened at the memory of Jen, her small belly and glowing face during her pregnancy.
Dawson thought about telling him but held back, knowing how hurt Bessie and his Mom would be if they didn't know first.
'Yeah she's fine. We actually went to the doctor last week and we are on schedule.' Dawson locked the car and hoisted another bag other his already overloaded shoulder. 'Let's get in,'
The two friends made their way up the family frontage of the Leery house, the porch alight with dozens of fairy lights. Dawson looked over the creek and saw the snow had settled on the water in places where it has iced over. It was a time of year in Capeside he had never enjoyed as a child, as his and Joey's life revolved around playing on the creek in the sun. When winter hit it had almost always stopped. The creek was never iced over enough for ice skating and the weather was too changeable to play outside in the snow. It was in winter that his love of movies had erupted, being stuck inside for weeks with nothing better to do. The memory of his and Joey's old life made him smile. He watched through the window as his mother greeted Joey, obviously shocked by her size. He then saw Lily and Bessie also hug her. His family had changed so much in 10 years but he was happy. Of course, he wanted Mitch to have been here to see his first grandchildren. But he knew he was there, watching over them and keeping them safe.
He walked into the front door and was greeted by many hugs and kisses. His Mom, Bessie, Gail and Amy all wanted to say hello, with Doug, John and Jack making a fuss over Joey and helping her to a chair.
'Hi Honey. Are you okay?' Gail asked as she kissed him on the cheek.
'I'm fine Mom. Tired but fine,' Dawson finally lowered the heavy bags to the ground and pulled of his jacket.
'How's work?' Gail directed him to the sofa next to Joey.
'It's okay. Steven has been great; he's helping me to put all the pieces together. But he understands that Joey is my main priority at the moment and we've put the project on hiatus until next year. Just until we get used to being parents.'
'And how is my grandchild to be?' Gail asked the question they had been dreading.
'Very demanding and tiring! Is there any chance I can grab a couple minutes shut eye?' Joey interrupted. She had planed to make the announcement the next day over Christmas dinner.
'Sure honey, we've made up Dawson's room so go and have a nap. I remember how tired I was with Lily,' Gail helped Joey to her feet.
'Thanks Gail. See everyone in a little while,'
Dawson watched Joey slowly climbing the stairs to his childhood bedroom. She was so much slower these days, but then she was carrying around a large amount of excess weight.
He stayed downstairs for a while, having a drink and catching up, before he went upstairs to check on Joey. He opened the door to find her standing in front of the window, her hands on the top of the stomach, tears slowly rolling down her face.
'Honey, what's wrong?' Dawson rushed to her side.
'It's just.......so beautiful!' she sobbed.
Dawson couldn't help but smile at her. The hormones had messed her up so much she was crying at the slightest thing. When she dropped the toothpaste lid on the bathroom floor yesterday she was near hysterical.
'Oh honey,' he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her, his hands resting on top of hers on the babies. She leaned back and closed her eyes. He looked over the creek and it was beautiful.
'I think you need a nap, you had a long car journey and you are tired.'
'I think you are right. But only if you join me.' She said grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the bed. The irony was because of her size they hadn't done anything remotely sexual for weeks. They would just lay there and watch each other fall asleep.
Which is what they did, one after the other, they slowly drifted off.
'This is one of the dumbest ideas you have ever had,'
'No it's not, its genius! That way they all know at once, no sneaking about and no dramas every five seconds,'
'Or it will just erupt into one big fight involving everyone we love and...' Andie's voice tumbled into an incoherent jumble. Pacey tried not to smile but he couldn't help it. Andie noticed and stopped to hit him in the chest.
'Oww!'
'This isn't funny Pacey! I'm trying to reason with you why Christmas is not the best time to share our news!' Andie took another sip of her drink. They were sitting in a small coffee shop in Boston, having only just arrived back in the USA from their holiday.
'Look just try to relax, it's Christmas!' Pacey was wearing a Santa hat and looked terminally silly. Andie couldn't help but giggle.
'I know it is, with all the cheesy holiday music, Santa on every corner and the almost stampede of people shopping, I had kinda guessed.' She took another sip of her drink and tried to calm her racing nerves.
Pacey's hand reached across the table and stroked hers.
'Our family and friends love us and they will understand. So, what's say we got to that very expensive hotel suite we have for this evening and get some....sleep?' Pacey winked at her, causing her to giggle into her coffee.
'I think sleeping could be good,'
Christmas morning was manic in the Leery household. Gail had decided that everyone should spend Christmas with her. So they had 3 children and 8 adults crammed into their family room. Presents had been hastily exchanged and ripped open by the children. Joey and Dawson received more baby items then they could have possibly needed and Amy got given her first tricycle from her Dads, which she proudly rode around the ground floor all day.
Joey ended up going straight to bed before dinner that day, the exhaustion sweeping over her like a dark veil. Dawson, however, could not sleep. His mother had set him to work setting the table and making sure that all her house guests were happy. He was serving drinks and keeping Amy entertained while Doug and Jack went home to call some of their families.
When they had got home they had a garbled voice message from Andie saying she was on the way to see them with a surprise.
'Now what on earth could that mean? I think she has surprised us enough recently,' Jack muttered. Andie had gone on holiday to Australia with Pacey and had promptly quit her job to spend more time over there. Jack knew his sister could be erratic sometimes, but he also knew how much she loved her job.
'Pacey's phone is switched off, I'll try again later,' Doug's voice broke through Jack thoughts. Pacey was supposed to still be in Australia, having said he wasn't coming home for the holidays. Doug shrugged it off and collected the deserts he had prepared for Gail.
Because they couldn't get contact her, they left a little note of their door informing her about the meal at the Leery's and raced back to the house in time for dinner.
When they got back Joey had woken up and looked stunning. She was wearing a black velvet ankle length dress and her hair had been left to curl down her shoulders. Her massive bump still looked slightly comical but she was glowing.
'My my Miss Potter, for one with child you are almost delectable!' Jack said, looking up her up and down.
'Why thank you Mr MacPhee. One does try.' She smiled her best smile and tottered off into the kitchen to help Gail.
'I don't know how she does it! Walked around with that much strapped to her stomach. Her back ache must be chronic.' Jack pondered, wondering over to Dawson who had finally had a chance to sit down.
'That's the least of it. Her feet are the size of watermelons and she had terrible heartburn almost constantly! I'm glad when this is over and we can all start being a family.' Dawson took a long gulp of his eggnog.
'You wait D, you'll be looking back nostalgically at these days when the baby is screaming at four in the morning,' Jack patted him on the shoulder.
'I know. Can't wait,' Dawson smiled and looked over at his Mom who had just brought in the turkey.
'Okay everyone, dinner is served. Dawson, can you help Joey with some napkins?' Gail asked, lowering the turkey onto the table.
'Sure,' Dawson rose to his feet and made his way to the kitchen as everyone else took their seat.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
'I'll get it, it's probably Andie,' Jack said racing to the door. On the other side stood Andie, wrapped up in winter clothing but with a glorious tan.
'Hey Jackers!' She cried as she threw her arms around him.
'How are you? How was your trip! Are you okay?' Jack fired a hundred questions at her as he pulled her into the room. Everyone waived and smiled at her, eager to get dinner started.
'Umm actually I am amazing. Better than fine.' Andie stuttered, knowing that if she didn't tell them all now she never would.
'So, what's this big surprise little sis?' Doug walked over and hugged Andie tightly.
'Well.....You see being in Australia made a few things very clear to me about life and how I was missing out on it. Jack and Doug have Amy and Dawson and Joey are having a baby and everyone else has their own little family and well...I realised I was missing out on the love of my life and I wasn't going to let it slip by, so to cut an incredibly long and winding story short...........I got married.'
The words hung in the air and Joey rushed into the room from the kitchen.
'You did what? Joey voiced filled the room and Andie instantly looked panicked. She didn't realise that Joey and Dawson were here. Last time she spoke to Joey she had said she was too huge to make it home.
'Joey! I didn't realise you were home. Man, you got big!' Andie said.
'Yeah and you got married! To who?' Joey walked towards Andie slowly and upon reaching, she hugged her close.
Andie gulped and the colour drained from her face.
'Come on in honey,' she called to her new husband standing in the porch.
'Hi guys.' Pacey smiling face fell when he walked in and the first face he saw was Joey's. He was lost for all words, as was everyone else in the room. He cleared his throat. 'Merry Christmas?'