Title: Not Enough Time to Say Good-Bye Summary: Doug is married to Joey. When he is told he is dying, they learn the true meaning of friendship. And of love. Rating: PG, probably

Chapter 3

"I'm calling Pacey," Joey said softly, as she tossed her jacket onto the couch. She reached for the phone but he caught her arm. Squeezing it tightly, he pulled her away from the phone.

"You aren't calling him."

She turned and looked him straight in the eyes, knowing that the pain she saw in them was mirrored in her own and wishing there was something, anything, that she could do to take that pain away, knowing that there was nothing she could do to make it better. "Doug, he needs to know. He deserves to know. Not only are you his brother, you're one of his best friends. And I know that you feel the same way about him. Doug, he can help you deal with this. Hell, he can help me deal with this."

"No, Jo. I'm not ready for him to know."

She stared at him. Shaking her head slowly she said, "No, this isn't about you not being ready for him to know. This is about you not being ready for this to be real. But you know what, Doug? It is real. And you and I both have to deal with that." His grip on her arm tightened, and continued to tighten until Joey cried out in pain.

"You're hurting me, Doug." She tried to wrench her arm away, but only succeeded in hurting herself more. She met Doug's eyes again and fought back tears. "You're hurting me, Doug," she said again, her voice softer this time.

Abruptly, a strange look came over his face and he released her. Watching her rub her arm gingerly, he tried to speak. "Jo, I-" Then he stopped speaking and turned and practically ran from the house. A moment later she heard the engine to the Explorer start and saw the truck drive off down the street.

Collapsing to the couch and letting her tears flow freely, she picked up the phone and dialed Pacey's number.

A woman answered. "Hello?"

"Alex? It's, uh, it's Joey. Is, um, is Pacey there?" she stammered.

"Yes, I'll get him. Joey, are you all right?"

"No, not really, no. Listen, I'm sorry, but I really, really need to talk to Pacey." Joey felt bad for being rude to Pacey's wife, but she was too stressed and scared to really care at this point.

"Don't apologize, Joey. It's okay." Placing her hand over the mouthpiece Alex called, "Pacey? Joey's on the phone."

He emerged from the bedroom. "Joey?"

"Yeah. She sounds really upset, Pace. I think she's been crying, and she'll only talk to you. She won't say a word to me."

"Joey? Crying? Are you kidding?"

"Sadly, no."

Pacey took the phone from her hand and retreated back to the bedroom. "Jo? What's up?"

"Pacey, can you get here?"

"What?"

"To Capeside? Can you get here? I really need you."

He frowned and stared at his reflection in the mirror. Joey's voice was shaky and he could tell that Alex was right - she'd definitely been crying. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen or heard her like this. "Jo, what's going on? Where's Doug?"

"I-I don't know. He left."

Left? "What do you mean he left?"

"We argued. He didn't want me to call you. Pacey, please, can you come? Just you, not Alex Matt."

Pacey wanted to push her for more information but knew he'd never get anywhere. Joey was the most stubborn person he'd ever met. It was one of the qualities that made him love her most of the time. But other times he hated it. This was one of the times he hated it. "All right, Jo. I'll be there as soon as I can. You're at your place?"

"Yes." A pause. "Thank you, Pacey."

"Hey, what are brothers-in-law for?"

"See you soon." She pressed the button to switch the phone off, then curled up in a ball on the couch and let the tears go.

***

It was in this position that Pacey found her hours later after letting himself into the house with his key. He could see the tracks left by the tears that had run down her cheeks. But what disturbed him more were the bruises on her lower left arm. Kneeling beside her he brushed her hair back off her face and watched as she began to stir. "Well, good morning sleepyhead."

"Is it morning?" she mumbled.

"No. But you were just waking up, so."

She smiled. "That always was your definition of morning."

"Yup." As she drew herself up into a sitting position he sat down beside her on the couch and put an arm around her. "Now, you gonna tell me what happened to you? Where'd the bruises come from?"

"Bruises? What?" She glanced down at her arm. "Oh. It's nothing, Pace," she said softly, covering them with her hand.

"Jo, you just had me drive over three hours to get to Capeside from New York, on a Friday night, with no notice at all. Whatever is going on here is obviously not nothing. So tell me. Who did that to you? And don't say you walked into something because you're a terrible liar. Always have been." He smiled, but quickly sobered when she didn't even smirk. "Jo, you can deck me for this if I'm wrong, and Doug can too, but, um, well, did- did he do that to you?"

She looked away from him, and that was all he needed for an answer. Setting his jaw he attempted to give his brother the benefit of the doubt. "Okay, Jo, you have about thirty seconds to convince me not to go find him and beat the shit out of him."

"Other than reminding you that he outweighs you by, oh, thirty or forty pounds?"

He didn't smile. "I'm serious, Jo. What did he do, and why?"

Staring at him, she knew he really was serious, and he wasn't going to let this issue drop. "I wanted to call you, and he wouldn't let me. He grabbed my arm, and didn't realize how hard he was squeezing it. I tried to pull away and made it worse. It was more my fault than anything." That really was true. Doug hadn't realized how much he was hurting her. He'd been too dazed.

"Okay then," Pacey said slowly, studying her face and looking for any sign that her story wasn't the truth. "Care to tell me why he didn't want you to call me? Or, even why you were calling me in the first place?"

At the thought of telling Pacey that his brother was dying, her eyes filled with tears that she didn't even attempt to stop. Wrapping both arms around his sister-in-law he pulled her close to her, letting her bury her head in his shoulder and cry.

After only a few minutes the tears subsided, and she could face him again, as long as she reminded herself that this absolutely had to be done and that she was the only one who could do it. "Pace, you know Doug hasn't been feeling well for a while, right? Headaches, dizzy sometimes?"

He frowned. "Yeah, I think he mentioned it at some point. I figured he was just stressed and upset about dad."

"Yeah, um, that's what he thought, too." The tears were filling her eyes again, and she blinked, trying to hold them back until she'd said what she needed to say. "Turns out it's not that simple."

Pacey froze. He didn't like where this conversation was going in the least. "Is something wrong with Doug, Jo?"

She glanced up at the ceiling, then down at the floor - and everywhere else she could think of to avoid looking at Pacey, but eventually she forced herself to meet his eyes again. "Yeah, there is."

He swallowed hard. The look on Joey's face made it clear she was devastated by whatever she was trying to tell him. And anything that could do that to Joey scared the hell out of him. "He's sick? What's wrong with him?"

"Um, sick is not exactly the most accurate word, Pace. Dying is somewhat closer to the truth." She tried to laugh at the flip way she told him, but the reality of the situation was anything but amusing.

Pacey stared at her, stunned. I did not hear her right. There's no way Doug is dying. The man doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, God forbid he take anything stronger than aspirin. He exercises til I'd be blue in the face. He can't be dying. He shook his head slowly. "I, uh, I must have misheard you, Jo. What did you just say?"

"He's dying, Pacey. He has brain cancer, an invasive tumor. The diagnosis hasn't been confirmed yet - they're doing a biopsy on Tuesday to make sure they diagnosed him correctly. But they're pretty certain. We met with a specialist today, actually, a doctor at Massachusetts General in Boston." She forced herself to look directly at him. "They don't think he'll survive, even if he goes through all the stages of treatment."

Pacey tried to speak, but no words came to mind, and even if they had, he doubted he'd have been able to force them past his lips. Doug? Cancer? Her words echoed in his head. Dying.don't think he'll survive.brain cancer.dying.dying.dying. Only the sound of the door opening and footsteps approaching shook him out of his trance.

Dazedly, he looked up and saw Doug kneeling in front of him and Joey. His older brother reached out toward him, laying a hand on his knee. "You okay, Pace?"

Pacey didn't answer, just stared numbly at his brother. He felt Joey slip away from him. "I'll leave you two alone, and go find something that we can eat for a late dinner." Doug nodded, standing as she did and wrapping his arms around her.

"I'm so sorry, Jo."

"It's okay," she whispered. "But we can talk later, if that's what you want. Right now, he needs you."