Chapter 10

"That was an excellent meal, thank you." Joey smiled at Mary and John from across the table.

Mary smiled, "Thank you, and you're welcome." She stood, and started to gather the used plated from around the table. Waving Joey back into her seat as she got up to help, she said lightly. "Stay there, Joey. You're a guest."

"I'd rather help, Mrs. Witter."

"Well, you could help dish up the Ice Cream that goes with dessert, I guess."

"Ice Cream!" Brian squealed gleefully.

Joey smiled and stood, looking at Pacey sternly when he refused to free her hand from the confines of his. Tugging her hand, she said, "I'd be happy to." Turning to Pacey, she pasted on a sweet smile. "Pacey?"

"Yes, Josephine?"

"Let go of my hand."

He looked down at their entwined digits, seemingly surprised. "Oh, was that you're hand that I was holding? I'm very sorry." He let go, and smiled innocently.

"I'm sure that you are." Turning to their audience, she said sardonically "Well, nobody can say that he didn't find his calling in acting, now, can they?"

Twenty minutes later, after the group had devoured almost every piece of pie, cake, or cookies with ice cream, Doug stood up, and cleared his throat, after everybody at the table had stopped talking, he smiled at all of them, "Thank you all for coming at such a late notice. I asked you all to this barbeque because Debbie, and I have an announcement to make." He took his wife's hand in his own, and looked down at her tenderly. "As some of you know, Debbie and I have wanted children since the beginning of out marriage, we discovered that she was pregnant almost a year and a half ago, but in her second month...we lost the baby."

Doug took a deep breath, obviously struggling with the emotions that talking about the horrible event awoke within him. Exhaling, he looked into the supporting eyes of his wife, and smiled, "So, today, I'm happy to tell you all that once again, Debbie is pregnant. Now, just so you know, she's three and a half months along, so the threat of another miscarriage is greatly reduced." He smiled again, and pulled his wife into his arms as she smiled broadly, tears freely flowing down her cheeks.

Pacey grinned, and stood up, hugging his brother and sister-in-law enthusiastically as the rest of the family rushed to do the same.

Joey sat in her chair, joy for the happy couple and slight envy within her heart. She smiled as she swirled the last bit of wine in her glass, and took a sip. Standing up, she gathered the plates that she could reach, and brought them into the kitchen. Scraping the last traces of cake, cookies, pie and ice cream into the trash, she sighed. It wasn't as if she wasn't genuinely happy for the Witter's, but she couldn't help but feel a bit envious when she saw the bond between the whole family. It was times like this, or times when she saw a family picnic in the park that she missed her family the most. She had Bessie, Bodie, Alex, and Anna, and now another little one on the way, but it wasn't the same, they were all the way across the country. Losing her mother and father, either to death, or to the State, when she was young, she had grown up with the support of her sister, the only family that she had left, and since Bessie was now in California, busy with her own family, Joey missed the closeness that they had when geography wasn't a problem.

She was so caught up in the thoughts of her family, she didn't hear Pacey, who had seen her silently slip away, come into the kitchen. She wasn't aware of his presence until he gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay?"

Turning around quickly, Joey gasped, and put a hand to her chest. "Well, I was." She took the slight sting out of her words by giving him her half smile.

"Sorry. You just came in here without saying anything, why didn't you stay?"

She shrugged nervously, and tucked some loose hair behind her ears. "I didn't want to intrude. It was a family moment."

Pacey frowned, "You weren't intruding. I asked you to be here."

Joey shrugged again, and turned away, "I think Doug wanted this to be a family announcement. I don't believe that he wanted his little brothers date as a hanger-on."

Sighing, Pacey took her shoulders in his hands, and gently turned her around. He leaned in, and lightly brushed her mouth with his, resting his forehead against her own, he looked deeply into her troubled green eyes, "Jo, I talked to Doug about bringing you before I asked. He was more than happy to invite you, too."

He could see her frown in her eyes as she responded, "But, why?"

"Why did he want you to come, too?" Without waiting for her reply, Pacey continued, "Probably because you're the first girl that I've actually asked to come home with me."

Smiling at her soft 'Oh' he took one of her hands in his, "Now, come-on, lets join the happy couple, and say goodbye to Kerry, Gretchen, and their brood, so they can go home and put the squirts to bed."

Joey smiled as she digested what Pacey had just said, and nodded as he led her back into the dining room.

"Oh, you two must stay the night. It's much too late to start the drive all the way to New York." Mary said later that evening.

"I couldn't dream of –" Joey was cut of by a hand that was placed over her mouth.

"If you end that sentence with 'imposing', Jo, I will have to take drastic measures." Pacey warned her, he turned to his mother cheerfully, "Thanks mom. I'm assuming that the first floor guest room still has two beds?"

Mary smiled at her youngest son, "Yes, it does. Joey, please, make yourself at home, help yourself to anything. John and I are going to bed, we have to be up early tomorrow so we can go over to Kerry's and take are of the kids while they go to Boston to see Jon's Grandmother who was put in the hospital a few days ago. She fell and fractured her hip." She explained to Joey.

"If you insist. And give my best wishes to Jon and Kerry, please."

"I do insist, and I will." Mary smiled, and kissed her son, and then turned to Joey and warmly hugged her. "It was great to meet you. I hope to see you again soon. You're welcome here any time."

Joey smiled as she looked at Pacey's mother, "It was nice meeting you, too. And thank you."

"You're welcome. I'll let Pacey show you to the room that you two will be staying in now. Goodnight."

As Mary disappeared behind a corner, Joey turned to Pacey, "You have a really amazing family."

"I know."

"This was a good day."

Pacey looked over at the other bed, and at the woman who was silhouetted by the soft moonlight filtering through the window, "Yes, it was." He paused, "Although, it was a bit odd as a first date."

Joey smiled, and turned to face him. "I guess it was. But you can never say that we are typical, anyway. And, I guess this could be classed as our third date. Just the first one that you actually termed a 'date' when you asked."

He regarded her thoughtfully for a moment, and then raised his eyebrows suggestively, "Isn't the third date the date wher—" Pacey was muffled by the pillow that Joey launched at his head. Shaking the aforementioned appendage, he looked at the now giggling woman on the other bed, "This means war." With cat-like grace, he rolled off of his bed, and on to his feet, grabbing both his pillow and hers in the process.

Joeys eyes widened as she realized what he was doing, still laughing softly, she sat up, and scooted away from in on the bed, seeing his feral grin as her back met the unyielding force of the wall. She shook her head, and brought her chin up a notch, "You wouldn't dare." She hardly finished the sentence before her pillow hit her full in the face.

With narrowed eyes, Pacey took in Joeys reaction. The shocked look on her face was almost comical. Wide eyes, gaping mouth, to him, she almost resembled a fish, a fish with purple hair.

"You...the...augh!" She watched him as he came closer, and grabbed the pillow that had just been launched at her, she rolled slightly, so she was on her knees, and not her backside.

Looking at her offensive posture, Pacey let out a rough chuckle as he attacked her with the pillow in his arms. Joey let out a quiet shriek as the weight that he put on the bed shifted her so she ended up flat on her back with Pacey hovering over her, pummeling her with the pillow.

Joey reached beside her with one hand, and above her head with the other. With both hands now clasping either a full-sized pillow, or a throw pillow, she defended herself against her laughing attacker.

Seeing that he was outmaneuvered, Pacey tossed his pillow aside, and decided to play dirty.

"No! No, no, no, no, no!!" Joey shook her head as she saw what Pacey's intent was. She started squirming, but was thwarted by Pacey straddling her legs. "Please, please, please, please, pleasepleaseplease, no!" She kept moving under him as he wiggled his fingers, almost touching her sensitive stomach.

As his relentless fingers lightly toughed her midriff, Joey shrieked softly, her voice muffled by Pacey's soft lips descending on hers. Giving herself to the kiss, Joey let go of the pillows that had been clutched in her hands, and brought them around Pacey's neck, bringing him closer. The hands that were only moments ago deliciously torturing her, were now splayed on her abdomen, just under the hem of the tank that she had worn to bed.

Opening her lips under his, Joey invited him into the warm recess of her mouth, sighing as his tongue brushed hers in a lazy exploration. She groaned as she pulled back from him, gasping for breath. Taking full advantage the new angle of her head presented him, Pacey started nibbling on her neck, working his way up slowly to her jaw. Another moan, this one agonized, was torn from Joeys throat at the sensation of Pacey nibbling and kissing almost every inch of her face, except the place that she craved the most. Needing more contact with him, she brought her hands to his back, running them over, and then under the thin fabric of his wife-beater, feeling the sinewy muscles under her fingertips just increased the yearning that she had for him.

"Pacey..." She gasped his name as he brought up one hand to cup her breast, toying with the pebbled tip. Bringing one hand to his face, she crushed his mouth to hers, her tongue delving deeply, tasting the ambrosia that lay within.

"God, Jo..." He said on a ragged breath when he pulled back.

Taking in a few deep breaths, Joey slowly calmed her racing heart. "We can't do this...not right now, anyway."

Pacey, still in a fog, responded with a soft, "Why?"

She laughed slightly at the look in his eyes, a cross between a kicked puppy, and purring cat. She shook her head, knowing that mixing her metaphors was a sure sign that she still wasn't fully rational. "Because, Pacey," Joey explained slowly, though for Pacey's benefit or her own, she wasn't quite sure, "We're in your mothers' home. And I don't want our first time together to feel like we're two teenagers sneaking around in the middle of the night."

Pacey closed his eyes, the hilarity of the situation striking him for the first time. He chuckled. "You're right, I'm sorry."

Joey shook her head, smiling softly. "There's nothing to apologize for. We just got a little...carried away." He nodded slowly, and made a move to get up. "No, stay with me. We'll sleep."

Nodding his agreement, Pacey shifted so he was behind her. She leaned down and scooped up the forgotten pillows, she turned to him, and placed one beneath his head, and one under her own.

Bring his arms around her, he shifted once more, so he was on his back, and Joey was laying half on top of him, his chest her pillow. She smiled as she felt how well they fit together. Lifting her head, she brought her lips to his in a soft, sweet kiss.

"Goodnight, Pacey." She whispered as she pulled away, and placed her head back on his chest.

"G'night, Jo."

Hey, thanks for reading and I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while, life got in the way.

I have to warn you now that in chapter 12 the rating will be changed to R for explicit sexual content. So, please be prepared for that. If you are underage, and you still wish to read, I'll have a note at the beginning of each new chapter saying if/when there is a sex scene, and where in the chapter it is, so you can skip over it.

Again, thanks for reading and I hope that you'll drop me a small note telling me what you think.

Jayde