"Jack!" Amy shouted and ran grinning into his room.
"Happy Birthday," he greeted her.
"Pancakes are coming up!" Andie shouted from the kitchen.
"Why don't you go help Andie?" Jack suggested and went to go splash some cold water on his face. Amy ran off to the kitchen
"Who's coming to visit today Amy?" Andie was excited to see her friends.
"Hmmm…" Amy said and thought hard.
"Do you remember Pacey and Joey?"
"No."
"You were really little last time you saw them. But you're going to love them! Jack entered the kitchen. "What time are they coming anyway?" She asked him.
"Around noon," he explained. "They're going to pick up the cake on the way."
"Great," Andie replied enthusiastically.
"Come on Pacey, get out of bed," Joey pleaded.
"It's too early," he whined.
"Well maybe we shouldn't have stayed up so late, but you wanted to-"
"Right," Pacey said changing his attitude, "I'm up."
"That's what I thought," Joey laughed.
Joey navigated as Pacey drove from their apartment in Boston to New York City. When they began to get close she kept her eye out for the bakery. They stopped and picked up the teddy bear shaped chocolate cake and continued on to find the apartment building.
Andie heard them at the door and leapt from her spot on the couch. It'd been a least a couple of months since she'd seen them. "Joey!" She shouted and wrapped her arms around her.
"Hey," Jack greeted her, next in line for a hug.
Pacey found a parking spot for the car and they swapped greetings again when he arrived. Amy was introduced to everyone and she was captivated by all of the new faces.
As soon as they all got settled and Andie put out some chips, the phone rang. "And that," Jack announced, "must be Dawson." The other three exchanged confused looks as Jack picked up the phone. "Hey Dawson, hang on, let me put you on speaker."
"Hey," Dawson said.
The other three excitedly greeted him.
"So I couldn't fly down today," Dawson began apologetically, "but it's my lunch hour and my secretary thinks I have a conference call with a Hollywood hot shot, so I'm all yours until 1:00," Dawson explained.
"Cool," Pacey replied.
"So what's up?" Joey asked him. Dawson caught them up about his life as a tv producer and they all laughed and joked as they enjoyed lunch. After singing happy birthday, Amy blew out her candles and was ready to open her presents.
"Jack did you get my-"
"Yep," Jack assured him. "It arrived yesterday." He pulled the present Dawson had sent, out from the closet.
"Wow!" Amy shouted as she opened her gifts.
"Say thank you," Jack reminded her.
"You've really got this father thing down," Pacey chuckled.
"Hey," Joey chimed in, "I think it's cute!"
Jack pulled out the biggest present he saved for last.
"A tricycle!" She shouted as she tore off the wrapping paper. "Thank you!" She grabbed and held onto his leg.
"I thought we'd go down to the park later and try it out."
"Yay!"
"I love you, Amy," he told her. He went upstairs and came back with a disc in his hand. "You know how I always tell you Mommy loved you too?" Amy nodded. "She loved you so much and she was so sad she wouldn't get to know you, that she made you a movie," Jack said trying to simplify it as much as he could. "So you could always know her." Jack walked towards the dvd player.
Everyone else was quiet. "Is this a good idea?" Joey whispered to Andie.
"Probably not," she replied and took a deep breath. "But it's what he wants."
Jack overheard them. "I want Amy to know her." And they all knew Jack well enough, to understand. He put the dvd in the machine and clicked play.
The image of Jen appeared on the screen. "Hi, Amy, it's mom," she began
"Mama," Amy said. It made everyone else cry.
"Well, by the time you see this, I won't be here anymore, and I know how much that sucks, for both of us. So seeing as how I won't be around to thoroughly annoy you, I thought I would give you a little list of the things that I wish for you. Well, there's the obvious. An education. Family. Friends. And a life that is full of the unexpected. Be sure to make mistakes. Make a lot of them, because there's no better way to learn and to grow, all right? And, um, I want you to spend a lot of time at the ocean, because the ocean forces you to dream, and I insist that you, my girl, be a dreamer. God. I've never really believed in god. In fact, I've spent a lot of time and energy trying to disprove that god exists. But I hope that you are able to believe in god, because the thing that I've come to realize, sweetheart... is that it just doesn't matter if god exists or not. The important thing is for you to believe in something, because I promise you that that belief will keep you warm at night, and I want you to feel safe always. And then there's love. I want you to love to the tips of your fingers, and when you find that love, wherever you find it, whoever you choose, don't run away from it. But you don't have to chase after it either. You just be patient, and it'll come to you, I promise, and when you least expect it, like you, like spending the best year of my life with the sweetest and the smartest and the most beautiful baby girl in the world. You don't be afraid, sweetheart. And remember, to love is to live."
They all sat there for a moment. None of them wanted to be the first one to speak.
"Amy," Jack said struggling not to cry, "you listen to your mom. She was one wise woman."
"I'll second that," Joey said.
"Me too," Dawson's voice said through the speaker. "I've got to go, now. But I promise I'm coming down for a week or so this summer. I love you guys. Happy Birthday, Amy!" He said and hung up the phone.
"Happy Birthday Amy!" Other voices in the room cheered.
"How about we go down to the park," Andie suggested.
"Can Pacey come?" Amy asked. Pacey had gotten in her good graces ever since he slipped her a lollipop on his way in, and after he tickled her for a while he'd grown to be her favorite.
"How come you've always been so good with kids?" Andie asked him.
"Because he is one," Joey offered.
He rolled his eyes. "I guess it's just one of my many God given talents."
"Yep," Andie continued. "You've always been cocky, too," She laughed.
"Can we go?" Amy begged.
"Sure, kiddo," He said lifting her onto his shoulders, "Joey and I can stay here as long as you want." Since his friends had arrived Jack had been relieved from dad duty, but he was starting to miss it, and that made him happy.
"Ever think about having any of your own?" Andie hinted.
"Don't give him any ideas," Joey joked. Then she answered seriously, "I mean one day, of course. I just want to feel like it's right."
Andie nodded and Jack shut the door behind them as the five of them headed to the park.
A/N Passage taken directly from Dawson's Creek Series Finale written by Kevin Williamson and Maggie Friedman