Pacey barely slept a wink in the uncomfortable chair. He was wide awake by 5:30am and decided to leave the airport, to get some fresh air. While outside, he saw a Greyhound bus pass by him and an idea grew in his head. Taking a bus didn't seem so bad. From Baltimore, it was about seven or eight hours by car to Boston, which left him plenty of time to get home that night.

He hailed a cab that took him to the nearest bus station downtown. He waited about fifteen minutes for it to open and rushed in immediately at 6:00am.

"Where to?" The woman asked nasally. "Uh, I need a ticket to Boston." Pacey said reaching for his wallet. "I'm sorry, we don't have any openings on any buses to Boston." "Oh, you can't be serious! Listen lady, I just spent a night in a cramped, cold, inflexible metal chair in the airport after my flight was cancelled, so do you think you can look again!?" Pacey half-yelled. "Travel has been heavy, It's Christmas Eve, I don't know what to tell you." the woman explained. Pacey calmed down, "Okay, are there any openings to any places close to Boston?" He leaned on the counter as he watched the woman type something on the computer.

"Oh, we still have a few openings on a bus to Bridgeport, Connecticut." Pacey sighed, "Do you how far away that is from Boston?" "It's roughly 160 miles." she answered.

After a quick debate with himself, Pacey decided to take the ticket. The bus was scheduled to leave at 6:45am and Pacey prayed that there wouldn't be any delays.

The bus left on time and only an hour or two into the trip, snow started to fall. Pacey tried to sleep, but the man next to him was moaning very loud in his sleep and was drooling so much that it was streaming down the window.

The bus was originally scheduled to arrive in Connecticut at 1:35pm, but due to the heavy snow, it did not get to Bridgeport until 2:45pm. Pacey stumbled off of the bus, grabbed his suitcase and walked inside what was an old, rundown building that looked more like a run-down shelter than a bus station.

Pacey ambled inside and the sight made him even more miserable. The room was dirty and small. The waiting room only had about ten chairs, each of which was damaged in some way. A little boy was sitting in the corner playing with toys. After standing in the doorway for a while, he walked forward to the ticket window. He tried one last time to get home. "Do you have anything to Boston?" He asked barely whispering. The woman smiled and turned to a faded computer screen. Her smile soon faded, along with Pacey's. "I'm sorry, all of the buses to Boston have been sold out."

Pacey stared at her and slowly closed his eyes. All that could have gone wrong, went wrong. It was Christmas Eve and he was stuck in the middle of nowhere.

He sauntered over to a chair and took out his cell phone. He had no idea how he would explain to Joey that he probably wasn't going to make it home for Christmas Eve. He sighed as he dialed his number.

"Hello?" "Hi Joey." "Pacey?" "Wha-where are you? What happened?" she asked, he could sense her concern. "Well, last night, my flight was cancelled and I fell asleep in the gate area. I tried to get a bus to Boston, but there weren't any openings, so I had to go to Bridgeport Connecticut, which is where I am now. I'm sorry I didn't call you, but I've just been so tired." He said in a monotonous tone. "Stuck there, what do you mean stuck there, can't you take a train?" Joey asked. "Jo, I'm surprised there was even a bus station here, this place is deserted." He answered. "But um, I don't think I'm going to be able to make it home by tonight, I'll probably have to leave sometime tomorrow…" "Hello? Pacey are you still there? Can you hear me?" …I'm so sorry." He finished. "Hello?" "Jo?"

Pacey pulled the phone from his ear and noticed the flashing, "low battery" sign, before the phone shut off.

"That's just great!" Pacey yelled, getting the attention of the little boy in the corner. Leaving, his things, he stormed out of the station and almost slipped on the newly fallen wet snow. He ran down the street and threw his arms up in the air.

"Why me!?" he yelled as the snow stung his face. "What did I do to deserve this!?" "God!"

"Hey!" Pacey turned around to see a man curled up on a bench, under a glowing streetlight. "Could you keep it down, Some people are trying to sleep!"

"Keep it down, I'll keep it down!" He muttered. "Listen, how about you just shut your mouth and go back to sleep buddy." "You don't know what it's like to be me right now."

The man grew silent and Pacey turned to go back inside.

"You don't know how good you have it!" Pacey stopped and turned back around to see the man sitting up, with his arms crossed across his chest.

"And how would you know what my life is like?" Pacey asked sarcastically.

"Come over here and sit down, and I'll tell ya." The man replied. Pacey sighed and walked over to the bench, which was farther away than it seemed.

The man moved over and Pacey sat next to him. "So, what seems to be your problem?" he asked. Pacey looked to the ground, "Well, it's a long story."

The man looked around and leaned against the back of the bench. "Does, it look like I'm going anywhere?" He said.

Pacey smiled slightly and nodded his head, knowing that he would have to vent his frustrations sometime. "Well, I was asked to go on this business trip, last minute, so I left on Monday and was supposed to have flown out of Baltimore yesterday, but my flight was cancelled." "Where were you heading?" the man asked. "Uh, Boston." Pacey answered. "But it doesn't end there, I decided to take a bus back, but all of the trips to Boston were sold out, so I took one here to see if I could take another one to Boston, but it turns out there aren't any openings. So now I'm stuck." The was a long silence and both of the men took in the circumstances.

"The worst part of it is, I told my girlfriend that I would be home by tonight. She was already upset about me leaving so close to Christmas. I just tried to call her to tell her that I probably wouldn't be able to make it home by tonight, but my cell phone died, and I didn't get to tell her." Pacey paused and rubbed his eyes, "So now I don't know what I'm gonna do." He looked down and kicked the snow with his shoe.

"Well, perhaps I can help you." The man said.

"Yeah, how's that?" Pacey asked.

"I could give you a ride back to Boston." The man said.

Pacey shook his head, "No, I appreciate it, but I don't think I could ask you to do that."

"I'm not telling you to, I'm offering. Besides, It's on the way." He said.

"On the way? To where?" Pacey questioned.

"Anywhere." The man responded with a smile. "Come on. Get your stuff, we can get there in about three hours."

"Yeah, but it wouldn't feel right, I can't accept your offer." Pacey said slowly.

The man sighed and sat back down next to Pacey, closer than before. "Let me ask you something uh,"

"Pacey, Pacey Witter."

"Pacey, this girl, she important to you?"

Pacey smiled at the thought of Joey and paused before answering, "She's the reason I get up in the morning, every time she smiles, I fall in love with her all over again. She's my entire life, and before things were screwed up, I thought I had it all planned out. But everything just came crumbling down."

"What's her name?" the man asked.

"Josephine, we call her Joey for short." Pacey answered.

"Joey, that's, different." "I like it." "Oh, speaking of names, I guess I haven't told you mine yet have I?" He stuck out his hand, "I'm Sam Shadlick," Pacey shook his hand, "and I will be driving you to Boston tonight so that you can spend Christmas with your girlfriend. And don't you say anything." "I'm not gonna let you screw this up kid." Sam paused, "You ever heard of that song, 'I'll Be Home for Christmas?"

"Yeah." Pacey said with no emotion.

"Y'know what that's about?" "You." Pacey looked at him. "You and hundreds of other people who are in your exact position." "Why do you think the song was written?" "Someone thought they could get home for Christmas." Sam paused before continuing "Now, are you one of those people who is gonna sit back and not do anything to get home? Or are you the guy who is gonna take a ride from a crazy old stranger back home so you can see your girlfriend and spend Christmas Eve with the woman you love." "'cause if you ask me, that's one hell of an offer, kid, and I won't let you sit here and turn me down." "Because, love is the greatest thing you can get for Christmas," he paused. "you remember that."

It was a while before Pacey spoke again, "Sam?"

"Yeah kid?"

Pacey stood up, "What are you doing just sitting around?" "I need a ride back to Boston."

Sam stood up with joy, "Well, what're we waiting for!"