Disclaimer: I lay no claim on Dawson's Creek or any if its characters.
Chapter 3
Two and a half hours later Pacey was in the kitchen cooking enough food for the army that was their family while Joey kept the kids busy in the living room and out of Pacey's hair.
Everyone was coming - Gail and her husband, Stan with Lily, Jack and Doug with Amy and Bessie, Bodie and Alexander. Dawson, Andie, Gretchen and Audrey were the only four who couldn't be there but they promised to be at their phones so they could listen in on speaker phone to the big news.
As Joey was finishing a book with the kids, Pacey appeared in the doorway. "Evie, could you please come set the table?"
"Okay Dad," she sighed, heading toward the kitchen.
"Wait! I wanna help!" Kyle called running to catch up with his big sister.
"You can do the silverware," Evie told him, happy to not have to do the work by herself.
"How are you doing out here, Jo?" Pacey asked before turning to follow the kids into the kitchen.
"I'm going crazy Pacey," she declared tossing aside the storybook she had been reading before.
"Well Sweetheart, you're just going to have to get used to it because for the next two weeks you're not helping with anything - doctor's orders." Joey answered with a huge sigh. Pacey grinned and turned his attention back to the kitchen.
At 5:30, the doorbell rang. Joey answered the door despite Pacey's warnings. It was Gail, Stan and Lily. "Hey guys," Joey greeted them.
"Joey, Sweetie, you didn't need to get up. We could have let ourselves in," Gail said as she walked in.
Joey rolled her eyes and smiled. "Please. Pacey hasn't let me off the couch for the past three hours. The only reason I'm up now is because I had to use the bathroom - he didn't have a choice." The women shared a laugh.
"I thought I heard voices out here," Pacey smiled coming from the kitchen once again. "How are you guys?" Pacey came over and hugged Gail and Lily and shook hands with Stan.
"We're great," Stan answered, "Do you need any help in there?" he asked nodding toward the doorway Pacey had just came from.
"I think I've got it covered but a little company wouldn't hurt."
Joey's jaw dropped. "Why is it that every time I asked if you needed help, you said no but as soon as Stan walks in the door and asks you say 'sure'?!"
"Jo, you know the answer to that…" He turned his attention to Lily and Gail. "Would you two please try to get her to relax?"
Gail smiled. "Sure Honey." As Pacey and Stan left the room, Gail couldn't but notice and smile at the glare Joey shot at Pacey's back. "Come on Joey, let's go sit down." She guided her to the couch. "Where are those kids of yours?"
Not long after Gail and Joey settled on the couch and Lily, Evie and Kyle on the floor surrounded by an assortment of trucks, cars and Barbies, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" called Evie, jumping up from the floor and running to the door. She yanked it open and shouted, "Aunt Bessie, Uncle Bodie and Alexander are here!"
"Evie," Joey scolded from the other room, "inside voice please."
"Sorry Mom." Evie let the three in the house before running back to her Barbies and Lily.
"Hey everyone," Bessie greeted. Then she directed her attention to her little sister, "How are you feeling Joey?"
"Pregnant," Joey declared. Then she changed her tone, "Bodie, Pacey and Stan are in the kitchen, if you want to join them."
"Well, I'll take that as my cue," Bodie replied good-naturedly and left the room. Bessie took a seat in a chair and started a conversation with Gail and Joey as they all waited for dinner to be ready.
After Evie answered the door and announced Alexander's presence, Lily couldn't move. On one hand, she didn't want to hurt her cousin but getting up in the middle of their game but she also didn't want her best friend and secret crush to catch her playing with Barbies. The 17-year-old hesitated too long and when Alexander walked in, she had one of the platinum blonde dolls in her hand. She could feel his gaze on her as he walked in and panicking, Lily threw the doll down but the damage was already done.
"Aren't you a little too old for dolls, Lil?" Alexander snickered. Lily couldn't reply; she was blushing too hard.
Thankfully the doorbell rang on last time, saving her. It was Doug, Jack and Amy, the last three to show up. Not long after that, the group settled down to a delicious dinner of beef stew with homemade biscuits. The meal was uneventful and soon the table was cleared off, the dishes were in the dishwasher and everyone was gathered in the living room for the special announcement.
First Pacey called Dawson on the home phone. After a very brief conversation, he put the phone on speaker. Joey then called Audrey on her cell phone, Pacey called Gretchen on his and Jack called Andie on his. Finally, everyone was "present."
"So are we going to sit here all night or are you guys going to tell us what's going on?" Bessie declared with everyone else murmuring in agreement.
"Okay, okay, okay," Pacey said, "As all of you probably know, today was Joey's last ultrasound and we had a little bit of a surprise…"
"Good or bad?" Dawson asked over the phone.
"Definitely good," Joey replied.
"Come on Joey," Bessie urged, "out with it!"
"Do you think we've tortured them enough, Pace?" Joey asked feigning seriousness.
"Hmm, I think so," Pacey replied.
"Guys!" everyone yelled.
The excitement was a too much for Kyle. "I'm gonna be a big brother twice!" he blurted out. Pacey and Joey groaned together. Then, realizing what he had done, the little boy covered his mouth with both hands and his eyes got big. "It was a secret!" he cried behind his hands.
"It's okay Buddy," Pacey soothed and put a loving hand on his son's back.
"Wait a minute," Jack said, "Joey… you're pregnant with twins?"
Joey nodded and the entire room became a pandemonium. Everyone was gasping. Then they were saying "Oh my God I can't believe it!" and "How did this happen?" and "Why didn't they see this before?" Then of course, after everyone recovered from the initial shock, there was a huge round of congratulations.
Pacey and Joey proceeded to tell them all of what Dr. Peterson had said about the surprise twins. From there, the conversation turned to twins in the family. But when Pacey turned to ask his siblings about their grandfather being a twin, he was surprised to see Doug gone. "Where did Doug go?" he asked.
"Oh he said he needed some air," Jack told him.
Pacey frowned "Oh okay." He turned to Joey. "Honey, I'm going to go see if everything's okay. I'll be right back." When she nodded, he excused himself and went to find his brother. He found him leaning on the railing on the porch.
"Hey Doug… is everything all right?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Doug replied, sounding shaken up.
"Hey Man, I've known you all my life. I know how you sound when you're fine and right now you sound the furthest thing from fine. I'm going to ask you again and give me a straight answer this time… is everything okay?"
"Fine, Pacey, no everything is not okay…" Doug whirled around to face his little brother.
"What's wrong? Is it Jack? Amy? Work?" Pacey's tone turned soft and concerned.
Doug laughed. "Why is it that those are the first things you think of?"
Pacey frowned. "Probably because those are the things you'd usually be upset over…" He trailed off trying to think about what else could be bothering his brother.
"You're right, Pacey. Those are usually the things that I'd get upset over but did you think for one second that maybe you're the reason I'm upset? That maybe it's your family that has me feeling this way?"
Pacey went on an automatic defense mode. "What do you have against me and my family?"
"Nothing Pacey. Don't worry about it." Doug turned back around to face the yard.
"No Doug, I'm serious … what's going on?"
Capeside's sheriff spun around once more. "Okay do you really want to know what's bugging me?" he yelled.
"Ye-" Doug cut him off.
"Okay - You're a twin, Pacey but your brother is dead. He died at birth!"
TBC
A/N: Well here's the secret that's been plaguing Pacey's family since he was born. I know I ended in a terrible cliffhanger… Leave me some reviews on what you think about this chapter and I'll update as soon as I can. Happy New Year everyone!
