Breathe in.

Andie's head rested silently on her brothers' shoulder, her mouth wide with sleep. Jack mirrored her expression, lost in his own world of sleep. Audrey was snuggled up to her fiancé Pacey on the window seat, his arm slung over her small frame. All of them were sleeping off the effects of the vast amounts of alcohol they had consumed when the two parties had finally joined together. Jen glanced around from her vantage point on the lazy boy, her swollen feet up in the air. Despite being sober as a judge, it was one of the most fun evenings she had had since discovering she was pregnant. She pulled up her top and rubbed her enlarged stomach, her skin stretched tightly. Her belly button had turned inside out and she was finding it difficult to see her tiny feet.

When Andie had noticed her size at the beginning of the evening, her heart sank. The secret she had been keeping for months, about how pregnant she was, would become knowledge sooner or later. She knew that Charlie was the father of her child, not the anonymous stranger she had told her friends and family about. She wanted to remove Charlie from the situation permanently. But she knew it wouldn't be that easy. His belongings still remained scattered over her room; he never collected them after that evening months before.

Another Branson Hick's racked its way through her system as she closed her eyes tightly and breathed slowly. They had been coming more frequently and much more painfully. She knew the time was coming. And she was dreading it.

The pain subsided and she slowly brought her breathing back to normal, wary of waking the others. She had it all planned out. She was going into hospital the day after the wedding, when everyone was wrapped up with the wedding and have the baby alone. Then call everyone and let them know that it was a 'surprise' delivery. She had run out of options, run out of ideas and run out of time.

She lowered down the foot rest of the lazy boy, a present from Pacey and Audrey when she was complaining about her feet and made her way to the kitchen.

Suddenly she felt it, the thing she had been dreading all these weeks.

'Ahhh, I guess you had other plans then young lady'

'God this is so wrong,' Joey said as Dawson pushed her up against the wall of Jack and Jen's bathroom.

'Yeah….and?' Dawson said, kissing and biting Joey's neck furiously.

Joey considered this for a moment before her senses over took any reason she had left. She closed her eyes and drowned herself in him, in everything he was doing to her. She started to peel off his shirt, having already loosened his buttons the minute the door closed. Dawson grabbed Joey's hands lightly and step away.

'Maybe not the best idea we've ever had….I mean…there are people…' Dawson panted, resting his forehead on his equally out of breath soul mate's shoulder.

'…next door. I know…we could just go back to the hotel?' Joey said, letting go of Dawson's grip and cupping his face in her hands.

'That sounds like a good idea,' Dawson said, raising his head and kissing her furiously.

'Woo there, save it for the cab at least,' Joey said, pulling his shirt back on him and buttoning him up. She planted a kiss on his nose and turned to leave.

'Umm, you better leave me for a minute,' Dawson said, his cheeks going a deep crimson. 'I need to…wait till the little man goes to sleep,'

Joey's hand flew to her mouth as she stifled a laugh. 'Okay then, you send it to sleep and I'll call a cab.'

Joey opened the door a crack and looked side to side, checking to see if anyone was awake. When they had escaped into the bathroom everyone had dozed off. Satisfied that no one was about, she tip toed out into the living room and made her way to the phone.

But was she found wasn't what she expected.

'Jen? What….' Joey stopped when she realised what was going on.

'Thanks for not finishing that stupid question. But yes, this is it,' Jen said, holding onto the side of the breakfast bar, her water broken and sweat running down her face.

'Okay, I'll call the hospital and we'll get you in a cab and…' Joey started, running towards the phone and hitting Jack upside the head as she went.

'Joey, there's no time. I think…….arrrrrrhhhhhhh,' Jen screamed, slowing lowering herself to the floor.

'Jen, are you okay? Jen,' Jack said, wide awake now.

'She's in labour Jack, help me get her onto the couch.' Andie said, jumping to action.

'Wha…? I was asleep…' Audrey said, as Pacey stood up. Audrey fell back against the wall and dropped back to sleep.

'Is she okay?' Pacey said, moving the cushions on the sofa so they were more comfortable.

'She seems to be close. Pacey, I need some clean towels. Joey, I need you to call an ambulance.' Andie said.

'Okay,' Pacey said, running to the bathroom and bumping into Dawson on the way out.

'Whoa, too much to drink hey Pacey?' Dawson said, watching as Pacey ran inside the room and ransacked it for towels.

'No, Jen's having the baby in the living room, Jack's with her and Audrey's passed out. By the way, put the mouse back in the house man,' Pacey said, brushing past him with more towels, leaving Dawson staring at his unzipped jeans.

'Okay, towels,' Pacey said, tripping and throwing the towels over Andie's face.

'Not helping Pacey!' Jen screamed, gripping onto Jack's hand tighter.

'Sorry, sorry!' Pacey screamed back, tripping again in Jen's broken water.

'Pacey, you're seriously pissing me off now, so if you want to help me why don't you just go and wait for the ambulance outside,' Andie said as Joey picked him up off the floor and lead him to the door.

'Okay, I'm sorry Jen…' Pacey shouted but was interrupted by the door being slammed in his face.

'The ambulance is going to be here in 15 minutes. How she doing?' Joey said, joining Andie at the foot of the couch.

'Jen, I need to know. Is this baby premature? Because it's here now and if she's early I need to know,' Andie said firmly, knowing already what the answer would be.

Jen couldn't answer, the pain overwhelmed her. She shook her head from side to side firmly, biting down on her lip.

'Okay then. Joey, I need another towel and you here to help me.' Andie said, pulling Joey down onto the floor next to her and passing her a pair of surgical gloves.

'Where did you get those from?' Jack said

'I'm a doctor Jack, it's a bit like you stealing pens from school,' Andie said not looking up.

'Neat,' Jack said 'Owwww,'

'Sorry,' Jen breathed loudly, gritting her teeth.

Dawson made his way into the lounge, with another armful of towels.

'Thought you'd join us then?' Joey said sarcastically, shooting a smile over at him.

'I got more towels, I didn't know what else…..' Dawson faltered, the spectacle unfolding before him.

'It's okay Dawson, why don't you join Pacey outside. He's waiting for the ambulance,' Andie said, taking the towels from him.

'Okay…' Dawson said, rushing to the door.

'Why did you send two of them to…' Jack said, wiping the sweat off Jen's brow.

'Because he looked like he was about to vomit everywhere and with this baby about to be in the world, I thought it would be better if he did it outside.' Andie said calmly, looking up at Jen's expectant face.

'Is….she…?' Jen said breathlessly.

'Yes she is Jen, so with the next contraction I need you to push. You understand?' Andie said

She nodded and then closed her eyes tightly, her grip on Jack's hand increasing. 'It's coming….' Jen said

'Okay Jack, count down ten through her contraction. Jen try to push your way through the countdown okay?'

'Okay…ready?' Jack said, his hand shaking slightly.

'Owww!,' Jen shouted, taking Joey by surprise.

'10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1' Jack said slowly,

'You're doing great Jen, it looks like she as eager to come into the world as you are.' Andie said, throwing another towel aside and glancing over at Joey for another.

'Where the hell is that ambulance?' Joey said, looking at her watch.

'It will be here, but not before this baby is, so concentrate,' Andie said, rubbing Jen's legs soothingly.

'Okay Jen, we're all here for you. You're doing so well,' Jack said.

'I can't do this, it's too hard. I'm going to OWWWWW' Jen left her sentence unfinished.

'Come on Jen, she's right here,' Andie said.

'10-9-8-7-6…'

'Her head! She had a head!' Joey shouted.

'Don't make me send you outside too Joey,' Andie said

'..3-2-1, let me see, let me see,' Jack said excitedly, swapping places with Joey who grabbed onto Jen hands tightly.

'Okay, but this baby is here on the next push Jen, so I need you to really really push okay?' Andie said calmly.

'Okay…AAARRRRRRHHHH,' Jen screamed as the next contraction racked through her.

'10-9-8…' Joey began, wrapping her arms around Jen's shoulders.

'Oh my god, oh my god,' Jack said quietly.

The loud crying of the baby rang around the room, as Jen collapsed in Joey's arms. Andie cleaned off the baby girl quickly, checking if she was breathing and everything was okay.

'Is she okay, is she okay?' Jen said, finally being able to regain her voice.

'She's perfect, absolutely perfect.' Jack said, looking over at her in Andie's arms.

'Why don't you see for yourself?' Andie said, lowering the crying child onto Jen's chest.

Jen took the baby in her arms, the little girl curled up tightly, red with her crying.

'Hey there angel, hey…' Jen was lost for words as the baby grabbed her finger tightly, gripping on her dear life. Joey kissed Jen on the forehead, hugging her friend tightly.

'She's amazing Jen, congratulations,' Joey said through her tears.

'She is, isn't see?' Jen said, kissing the little girl on the forehead. 'I can't believe she's finally here'

Joey moved out of the way for a patiently waiting Jack, who eagerly took her place.

'Hey there baby girl, how's my little girl?' Jack said, tickling the little girl's face.

'I'm fine Jack, just had a baby but apart from that I'm fine' Jen said, turning her head to look at him.

'You know what I meant. I'm still angry at you for lying to me, but I suppose I could over look it…just this once,' Jack said, kissing Jen on the cheek.

'Well I need you now Jack, more than ever. Taking by her appearance into this world, she's not going to be easy,' Jen said.

'I'm here. We all are,' Jack said, kissing Jen again.

Suddenly the door flew open and two ambulance men came in, questioning Andie about the status of Jen and the baby.

'Well hello there,' Pacey said, walking over to the crowd and seeing the baby being wrapped up in clean blankets. 'Seems like someone couldn't wait for their favourite uncle,'

'So I was right all these years?' Joey said, standing between Dawson and Pacey as they looked over the scene.

'What?'

'That you do think the world revolves around you,' Joey laughed. Pacey pulled a pouty face but couldn't hold it when he saw Joey smiling.

'Yeah well, so things never change,' Pacey said, wrapping his arm around Joey and giving her a squeeze,

'Wha…whats all the noise,' a mumbled voice from the other side of the room suddenly caught Pacey's attention.

'Well, you slept through your best friend giving birth, but apart from that…' Pacey said, walking over to his confused fiancé.

'But I was suppose to be there, tell her to breathe…' Audrey mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

'Okay, we are going to the hospital now. You might want to say goodbye,' Andie said, kissing the baby and Jen.

'Oh, I haven't said hello yet!' Audrey said, her energy levels zooming through the roof.

'Well, say hello to Amy,' Jen said quietly, gazing at her daughter's now sleeping face.

'Amy! Oh Jen, she beautiful,' Audrey said, leaning over Jen to kiss the baby. 'How long was I out for? Wasn't she suppose to be here….'

'Lets talk about that later, we have to get them both to get fully checked over,' Andie said, leading a stunned Jack out of the apartment.

'We'll stay and clean up,' Joey said, nudging Dawson in the ribs.

'Yeah, not a problem,' Dawson said, slinging his arm around Joey's shoulder.

'Okay, I'll keep you posted.' Andie said.

'Say bye Amy,' Jen said quietly as she was wheeled out of the room.

The ambulance men closed the door as they left, leaving the stunned 4 holding onto to one another.

'So, I'll get all the towels…..woo, is that blood? I think I'm gonna….' Audrey started before running to the bathroom.

'Now that's someone who needs the bathroom,' Pacey said, staring at Dawson.

'I can explain….I….we…' Dawson started but failed.

'What?' Joey asked, quizzically looking at the pair of them.

'Either Dawson had developed a perversion for bathrooms or he's been getting busy with someone…any idea who?' Pacey said changing his stare to Joey's shocked face.

'Ah, I see,' Joey said simply.

'So?' Pacey said, trying to stop the grin spreading across his face.

'Well, I won't insult you with a lie. Yes, Dawson has been getting busy with someone.' Joey said, looking from Dawson to Pacey.

'Yes?'

'Jack, he's been getting busy with Jack. Dawson's gay,' Joey said quickly.

'Joey!' Dawson said loudly.

'Potter I knew you were a terrible liar, but this is the bottom of the barrel.' Pacey said, walking towards her and placing his hands on her shoulders. 'I'm happy for you,'

'Really?' Joey said.

'Really' Pacey said.

'I think Audrey might need you,' Dawson said, putting his arm around Joey's shoulders.

'As always,' Pacey said, patting Dawson on the shoulder as he passed.

'So, that was…' Dawson said, moving in front of her and kissing her forehead.

'Yeah…Lets just leave it at that shall we,' Joey said, kissing him on the lips.

'I could go with that,' Dawson murmured into her lips as the kiss deepened, leaving the two of them in the middle of the messy apartment at the end of an amazing night.