Joey was made to leave the room as the nurse her friends had went to fetch arrived in an instant and carried out several tests on Pacey. She waited alone in the corridor for several minutes, deciding then, it was a good idea for a coffee fix. By the time she had found the coffee machine, one flight down, Pacey was alone. She tapped the glass of his door and smiled in at him before pushing her way through.

"Wow," Pacey wheezed softly, as he scanned a critical eye around the room, "Dawson really must have swept the floor with me."

Joey blinked at this, a vacant expression playing on her features.

"We were fighting..." Pacey prompted slowly, "In the lunch hall."

"Pacey," Joey lowered her head dejectedly, "Is that the last thing you remember?"

"The last thing I - huh?"

"That fight was two days ago. You... you've been asleep for two days. You aren't here because of that fight. You walked out into the road, right in front of Mitch's car," She explained simply, "When they brought you in you were in a bad way."

"I walked in front of a car?"

"Mitch's car."

"Mitch's car." Pacey repeated thickly, fidgeting with the bandage around his forehead. She slapped at his hand gently, scolding him as if he were a young child. "Didn't I see Mitch's car?"

"One of the tests showed that you passed alcohol," Joey raised an eyebrow, "Why were you drinking, Pace?"

"I don't know... I was upset," He shrugged. "Probably. All's I can remember is going for Dawson in the lunch hall."

"You're a loser Pace, you can't make her happy. You're just this comfort blanket - she's only using you - you're only around to make her feel better. Heck, I only kept you around to make me feel better," Dawson whispered in Pacey's ear.

A smile crept onto his lips as he caught Pacey's tightening fists. "It'll be like Andie all over again. Once she was fixed - once she sought proper help she wised up and realised she was done with you. That's why she slept with that guy at the hospital. That's exactly why Joey-"

Pacey leapt across the table, sending everyone's lunch flying. He caught Dawson by the shirt and started dispatching blows either side in a blind fury.

Jack who was keeping a keen eye on them at a neighbouring table was suddenly on the scene. He tried to rip Dawson away from Pacey, using himself as some sort of peace barrier. Pacey whacked him sharply in the eye and Jack's hands flew erect, nursing his face. Pacey was halted instantly. Stunned.

"I... Jack... I..."

Dawson glanced at an irate Joey who was being restrained by Jen and stormed towards Pacey, trying to drag him back into a fisticuff. He caught the momentarily distracted teenager with a powerful swing to the gut and Pacey doubled over gasping for breath.

"Dawson! Jack stop them!" Jen yelled above the noise. By now the group had snatched the attention of everyone in the lunch hall and they knew it would not be long before a senior member of staff was alerted.

While Pacey was bent over holding himself, Dawson pulled the boy's sweatshirt over his head and punched out again. Pacey straightened and kicked out blindly. He felt himself being hauled backwards, taking a few seconds to realise it was Jack that had managed to secure a tight hold around his arms and chest. Dawson shot his arm back and delivered a second blow, but Pacey was still thrashing from Jack's grip that it was Peacewall-Jack who was on the receiving end again.

Pacey freed himself and launched towards Dawson just as before. Without the lunch table as an obstacle he was able to topple his former best friend to the ground and they continued to brawl violently.

"Get up! Get up!"

The senior teacher finally came.

"If Dawson didn't send me here then he has nothing to feel guilty about," Pacey thought aloud, "What was he doing here today?"

"He was worried about you Pacey. We all were."

"He didn't want to know me," Pacey disputed as a tired, sad train of thought sorted itself out in his mind, "Unless... is there something wrong with me?"

"Pacey..." Joey sighed, her head falling into the hands that rested on the tops of her knees. "You have your own consultant to go over this kind of stuff with you. The nurse already told you that. I'm sure you'd prefer a medical opinion to mine."

"If everything was fine you wouldn't be rambling now," He collapsed down onto his pillow and tried to roll over onto his side. Joey took his hand in hers and brushed his fingertips with a soft kiss. He watched her do so and retracted his hand, "You would tell me, wouldn't you Jo?"

"When you were brought it you were taken straight to surgery," Joey closed her eyes, "I don't know when they're letting you out, but they're putting this brace thing on your leg. Your right one. You had surgery on your knee... whatever way you landed, you messed up your knee pretty bad."

Pacey traced a hand down his leg curiously, "My right one?" Joey nodded, "I... I... I can't feel a thing."

Joey cringed, "I know you can't. You won't be able to walk on it."

"With the brace?"

"With or without the brace, Pace," She smiled through her tears, "You're what they call a disabled-bodied person now."

Pacey did a double-take, gazing across at her wide-eyed, "For now?" Joey shook her head, not even bothering to wipe at her sodden cheeks. "For... forever?"

She nodded. Pacey copied, then brought his hands to his eyes and wept bitterly. Joey's lip trembled as she reached out for his shoulder, he jerked away reflexively. She stood silently, took one last look at him, lifted her handbag and left him to suffocate with this new revelation.

She didn't want to be the one to devastate his life, but then, if she hadn't caused a stir in his and Dawson's friendship he wouldn't have stumbled drunkenly in front of Mitch's headlights two days previously. She knew he knew this too.