"Your glove compartment is ringing."

"Huh?" Jen looked over at Jack, who was sitting in her passenger seat and eyeing the glove box suspiciously. "Oh. My cell phone. Let it go to voice mail."

He paused as it rang again. "Could be Grams, though."

"I'll call her back if it is."

"You sure? You don't want me to—"

"Damn it, Jack, I said let it go!" she snapped. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she stopped herself and shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm not feeling all that well."

"Really? I couldn't tell," he said in a softly sarcastic tone. "Is it the morning sickness again?"

"Yeah. That's what it is." She kept her eyes fixed determinedly on the road.

"Did you sleep okay last night?" he asked after a period of blessed silence. "Cause you look rough."

"Well thanks, Jack. A girl always likes to hear that."

"You know what I mean. You look tired, Jen. Did you have trouble sleeping?"

"Maybe. Is that a crime? God, what's with the interrogation?"

He sized her up and then seemed to think better of pursuing the matter. Her bad mood was radiating off her in waves, and he knew her well enough to know he shouldn't push his luck now. But he really didn't like the way she looked; dark circles were etched under her puffy, bloodshot eyes, and there was something else, too ... fatigue seemed to have settled into her face overnight, making her look older than she was. Too old for her age.

When they pulled up in the driveway of the Potter B&B, Pacey and Dawson were already there, both of them leaning against Pacey's car and talking. No sign of Joey, though. Jen parked the car next to them, glanced over at Jack, and forced a smile. "Hey," she said. "I'll try to stop biting your head off, okay?"

"That would be very nice of you," he said.

She pointed a finger at him. "But only if you stop looking at me like you think I'm about to have a nervous breakdown. Deal?"

He nodded. "Fine, it's a deal. Just ... don't."

"Don't what?"

"Have a nervous breakdown. I've seen those up close before. They're not pretty."

"Damn, that was in bad taste," Jen said dryly, getting out of the car.

"J and J, long time no see," Pacey said cheerfully, hopping down from his perch on the trunk of his car. "Never fear, you haven't missed her; she's still inside packing up. You know, it's one of the mysteries of the universe why women feel the need to pack every piece of clothing they've ever owned for a weekend getaway. Jen, why do you guys do that?"

She took Pacey by the elbow. "Excuse us, boys," she said over her shoulder to Dawson and Jack as she began pulling him away from the car. "Pacey and I are going to take a walk."

"We are?" Pacey asked, puzzled. Then, when she pulled him harder, "Okay, apparently so." He adjusted his speed so that he didn't fall flat on his face. "All right, Jen ... has anyone ever told you that you could use a few lessons in the art of subtlety?"

"Can it, Witter. What happened last night?"

He almost made another characteristic crack, then decided against it and sighed deeply. "Nothing."

"Nothing? What do you mean, nothing? Did you talk to her? I know you talked to her, I left you talking to her. What happened?"

He shook his head, and she saw a flicker of sadness in his eyes. "I tried, Jen. I tried to tell her. She didn't want to hear it."

"Of course she didn't want to hear it, Pace. This is Joey we're talking about. She never wants to hear what she needs to hear. So what did you do?"

"She made me stop talking. She put her finger to my lips and said 'Please don't make this any harder than it already is.' And she kissed me."

"She kissed you?"

"It was a goodbye kiss, plain and simple. She's going to marry New York Guy, Jen."

"She can't!"

He shrugged, his self-protective wall re-emerging in front of her eyes. "Yes, she can. She's a free woman. You might not like it, I might not like it, Dawson over there might not like it, but it's Joey's decision. She knows how I feel. I told her. And she's still leaving." He took a deep breath and smiled sadly. "So there you have it. At least I don't have any regrets. I don't have to lie awake every night wondering what might have happened if I had told her the truth. Because I did. And it didn't make a difference."

Jen looked past Pacey, out at the sparkling water of the creek, frowning. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. Pacey and Joey were meant to be together. What was Joey thinking?

"I have to go talk to her," she muttered, almost to herself.

Pacey reached out and put his hands on her shoulders, urging her to look at him. "There's nothing you can do now," he said. "Look, if there was a way ... if it was supposed to happen ... I'm doing everything I can to just let it go now, okay? Let me hold on to some self-respect here."

They looked at each other for a long time. When she finally looked away, he took that as a sign that she was dropping the matter. "Are you feeling all right?" he asked her.

"Yes, why?" she said too quickly.

"You just look—"

"Tired. I know. I am." She turned from him and began walking slowly back toward Jack and Dawson. Pacey followed her.

As the four of them waited by the cars to say their goodbyes to Joey, Jen leaned back lazily against Jack, who started massaging her shoulders. She began to feel strangely distant, as if none of this was really happening.

The sun beat down its familiar warmth on her head, making her drowsy, making her eyes and her brain ache, taking her friends' voices and turning them into monotonous drones speaking foreign words. It occurred to her that the nausea was coming back. So she hadn't really lied to Jack when she told him that was what was wrong with her.

She rested a hand on her stomach and pressed gently as if to assure herself that one thing, at least, was still real. The baby inside of her was real. The new firmness there had a couple of months yet to start rounding itself out into a noticeable shape, but the baby was in there. David's baby. Her baby. Theirs. The sole living reminder that there had been a couple named David and Jennifer, and that they had shared something, if not love. Something solid. Something real. Something capable of creating. The baby who had driven his true colors to the surface and forced Jen to accept what she had suspected and denied throughout much of their relationship. The one who would never know her father. The one who might have his eyes and have no frame of reference to believe that except for her mother's own affirmation. Mother. The word loomed with implications and frightening expectations, of unconditional love and healing touches and power to stop the world from spinning.

Spinning ... she was spinning ...

"Jen? Hey Jen! Dawson, help me, help me!"Jack's voice came from incredibly far away; so far that it was tinny and hollow. Jen wondered briefly if she should be concerned, if she should ask him what was wrong, but before she could do that, she slipped into the soothing cool darkness that beckoned from all around her. It was nice here. It was nice not to worry. To not care if Joey and Pacey found happiness or if her darling Jack was taken care of ... it was such a relief....

"She's coming around."

"Here's the washcloth."

"Put it on her head. Jen? Can you hear me? Answer me if you can hear me."

"Mmph," Jen managed, opening her eyes slowly and trying to focus on the collage of concerned faces that hovered above her. Something cold and wet was trickling down her forehead into her ears, and she realized vaguely that it was water from the washcloth someone had put on her head. "What happened?" she asked, focusing first on Jack, who was kneeling next to her and supporting her head.

"Whoa, not so fast," he said. "Don't sit up yet, okay? Just lie here. Everything's okay."

"You fainted," Joey said.

"You scared the hell out of us," Pacey added. "Geez, woman! Are you all right?"

"I think so," Jen said.

"Here, drink this," Dawson said, appearing above her and handing her a cup of water. She raised her head with Jack's help and took a sip of the cool liquid. It made her feel better. Against Jack's protests, she pushed herself up on her elbows and made her way into a sitting position, realizing that she was now inside the B&B. Someone must have carried her in.

A sudden, frightening thought occurred to her, and she looked at Jack in alarm. "Oh, God, I didn't hit the ground, did I? The baby..."

"No," he said quickly. "I caught you before you fell, thank God. But I think we should take you to the hospital and have you checked out."

Jen shook her head. "No, Jack, I'm fine now."

"Jen, don't argue, okay?"

"I'm sorry, I was under the impression that I was capable of making my own decisions. I'm really all right."

Pacey smiled mischievously. "There's our girl," he said. "See? Now I believe she's fine; the attitude's back."

Jen smiled back at him gratefully as Jack, Joey, and Dawson continued to frown at her. "Pregnant women faint sometimes, guys," she said. "It was hot, and I just stood up for too long."

Pacey winked up at Joey. "Way to go, Potter. Your packing procrastination almost killed our friend."

She slapped him half-heartedly on the shoulder, and for a moment it seemed like old times. Then she kneeled down next to Jen too. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Absolutely." Jen paused. "Unless my being less than all right would keep you in town a little longer...?"

"Nice try."

"No dice?"

"Come on, Jo, the least you can do is stay in town long enough to make sure you didn't cause her any long-term damage," Pacey said, still in his boyishly teasing tone. For a moment all of them seemed to be holding their breath as Joey studied Jen's face.

"Well, I'm not even done packing yet. And I am kind of dreading the ride back. I hate to miss out on all the action around here." She glanced around at each of them in turn. "You know what, I'm going to stay for one more night. One," she emphasized when Pacey opened his mouth to speak again.

Jen finally persuaded them to let her stand up, and she felt more like herself again. She pushed the whole occurrence out of her mind, convincing her friends that she was just experiencing normal pregnant-woman problems. She was almost able to convince herself of that, as well. Almost.