Chapter 8: The king of Pain

AN : the brief POV shift is over for now, and it is back in Doug's POV. Also, thanks to madscientistgirl, angelicminds, samcdn, and phoenixfirefly for the reviews.

I open my eyes, wondering what time it is. I must be late for work. I am disoriented for a few seconds, and forget where I am.

I am about to spring out of bed, when I notice that Jack is snuggled in my arms, his head resting comfortably on my chest. I also see Pacey out of the corner of my eye, on the other side of the bed, his arm thrown majestically covering his eyes. I feel my sense of awareness coming back. I check the clock it says 12:30. I wonder how long I was sleeping; the last thing I remember is being in Jack's car. I change my position slightly where I can watch Jack sleep. I don't want to wake him up though. I reach down and touch a few strands of his hair, when I notice that he has one eye open and is watching me. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." I whisper, not wanting to wake Pacey up either.

"No, I woke up a few seconds ago. I just didn't want to move and wake you. Pace said you were a light sleeper." He opens both eyes, and tilts his head so he can look at me fully.

I nod. I guess it has always been the police officer in me, which has made me a light sleeper. I never really knew. I could have been a light sleeper before that, but I think once I remember not being able to wake at every little sound, and I am actually surprised I managed to sleep so soundly. I am having this feeling that I missed something that happened like someone knocking on the door, or the phone going off that I usually would have heard.

"Do you want me to move?" He seems so sweet, as if he doesn't want to upset me. "I didn't mean to end up like this. I ..."

I stop him, by giving him a soft smile. "It was nice to find you like that."

He smiles back at me. "How are you feeling?" His eyes seem to scan me for any problems, or worries.

"I am not sure how to answer that." I have never been one to make my answers to questions like 'how are you' long, even though sometimes they were. I try to keep it to a simple 'okay' or 'fine' even if I wasn't feeling that way at all.

The corners of his lips go down slightly, in a slight quizzical manner. "What do you mean?" He watches me for a second. "Not sure how to go past the standard responses or not sure how you are feeling."

"A little of both. " I find my hand still playing with his hair. It is so soft, and kind of fluffy, but by appearance it looks as it might be soft, but I didn't think it would be this fluffy. He doesn't seem to mind though, and I wonder if it is my imagination but he seems to move slightly closer to me on the bed, as if to snuggle into me more. "It's nice to wake up and find you guys here to protect me, but I feel bad for missing work..."

He stops me softly, by placing a finger on my lips, very softly. "You are allowed to take a sick day, Sheriff." He moves slightly, where he is eye level with me. He tilts his head slightly, and kisses me softly on the forehead.

Time seems to stand still for a second as his lips are still on my forehead. I feel a tear start to roll down my cheek, one I hadn't noticed before. I am not sure the reason though. I think part of it has to do with that I am so touched by the gesture.

"What's wrong?" Jack asks, concerned.

"No one has ever done that before."

He nods, as if he understands, and kisses me on the forehead again. He is about to say something, when Pacey sits up bolt right on the bed.

"Wow, already playing kissy face." Pacey jokes. He gives me a concerned smile. "How is it going?"

I move slightly, and sit up, pulling my legs into Indian style. I feel guilty about Jack kissing my head now. I shouldn't. I shrug. "It's hard to describe completely."

Jack sits up on the bed as well, staying sideways so he can watch us both.

Pacey pats my back, as if understands. "Are you hungry, I can make us some lunch?"

"You don't have to. You guys can leave if you wan..."

"We're not going anywhere. We're all playing hooky today, because it is spend time with your favourite brother day, or brother's friend day, and there is nothing you can do about it." Pacey smiles at me. "Don't feel guilty about it either. Now, race you to the bathroom." He smirks, knowing that usually when people wake up that they need to use the bathroom. As he says this, I feel Jack slipping off the bed.

"You can go ahead, Pace. I can wait for you guys to go first if you need to. "

Pacey nods, as if he knew I was going to say that. "Want to race Jack."

Jack smiles at him, one foot already off the bed, and heads out the bedroom door.

"No fair, you cheated." Pacey calls scampering after him.

It makes me chuckle softly watching them, and it is sort of calming in a way to have this playfulness in the house, especially after all that I told them in the last 36 hours, a lot more than I have told a lot of people.

A few minutes later, I sit in the kitchen at the island in the middle of the room, listening to them talk. They had started the cooking while I was in the bathroom, so I am not exactly sure for the most part what they raided my fridge and took as they are being secretative about what they are making.

"It amuses me that the first thing he did was confess his feelings to you." Pacey says, as he cooks something I can't see on one of my frying pans. He smirks at Jack, who is sitting on the counter near the sink, stirring something in a bowl.

Jack sticks his tongue out at Pacey, and it makes me chuckle softly. "I really couldn't think of anything else to say." Jack turns to me. "I do like you, and I don't want to pressure you into anything...because I am sure it was kind of awkward at the police station."

I give him a soft smile. "It's okay."

Pacey turns to me for a second. "Really? It was okay for him to say that." He seems concerned that I may be lying.

I laugh softly. "It's okay now, I didn't say it was totally okay then, it was a bit awkward."