Disclaimer: I lay no claim on Dawson's Creek or any of its characters.
A/N: Here's the last chapter… a big thanks to all my reviewers. You've all helped me a lot! As I said last chapter, I'm planning one more sequel but, as usual, I'm not sure when I will have it up. You'll know when you see it. Enjoy!
Chapter 8
Three Months Later
Life at the Witter house had calmed down dramatically over the past three months. Everyone had settled into a routine that kept things moving smoothly but today was a different day.
Today, Alexander was celebrating his 18th birthday and the Witters were desperately trying to get everything done and get to the party on time. Unfortunately, nothing was going right.
"Mommy," Evie called into the nursery where Joey was with the twins, "I can't find my sneakers."
"Did you check in the hall closet?" Joey asked trying to calm a fussy Ethan.
"Yeah I did – they weren't in there," she whined.
Joey sighed as Logan started crying. "Try your room and by the front door, maybe they're there."
"But I did already and I couldn't find them," the little girl protested.
"Have your brother help you look again!" Joey snapped. Instantly she regretted her tone. "I'm sorry Sweetheart but you have to go look again, I can't help you right now." It was Evie's turn to sigh and she chose to do so very dramatically and walked away. "And tell Daddy I need him up here please!" Joey called after her.
A minute later, Pacey appeared in the doorway. "Do you need me for something, Jo?" he asked, knowing well why she wanted him up there. Joey glared at him from the rocking chair where she held Ethan on her lap crying with Logan screaming from his crib. Pacey held up both hands in defeat. "I'll take Ethan," he declared.
In minutes, he had the little boy giggling. Logan, seeing his brother happy and no longer crying, settled down as well. Joey stared at her husband in disbelief. Pacey glanced up and saw her expression. "What?"
"I can't believe you," she declared.
"What did I do?" he protested.
"He must have crying for at least twenty minutes and no matter what I did, he wouldn't stop but then you come in and instantly he's happy."
"I don't know, Jo," Pacey replied setting the baby down to finish getting him ready. "And it wasn't instantly."
Joey just shook her head and proceeded to dress Logan.
An hour later, everyone was in the car. Pacey and Joey managed to get the twins ready with no more incidents, Evie found her shoes under her bed with Kyle's help and everyone had eaten lunch.
Fortunately, the car ride was peaceful and uneventful but it wasn't going to end that way.
"I'm going to carry Logan inside when we get there," Evie boasted as the car neared the driveway to the Potter B&B.
"You always get to help with Logan," protested Kyle, "I'm carrying him in."
"No."
"Yes."
"Nuh-uh!"
"Yuh-huh!"
"Mommy!"
"Daddy!"
"Tell Kyle I'm carrying Logan into Aunt Bessie's," Evie ordered.
"Daddy, tell Evie that I get to," Kyle countered.
Pacey and Joey looked at each other and grinned. "Sorry guys," Pacey said, "But neither of you are carrying either for your brothers. You both know you are too little to carry their car seats."
"NO FAIR!" the siblings cried.
"Actually, it's very fair," Joey said, turning to give them the look that said "End of Story."
Both children crossed their arms and turned to look out their windows. However, the bad moods didn't last long as the car rolled to a stop. Both of them jumped out and ran off to play, leaving their parents with two babies, two car seats and two diaper bags to manage.
Alexander was having a great time at his birthday. So many great things were happening. Senior year was almost over, he was on the football team which was having an exceptionally successful season, he had tons of great friends and he had Lily Leery.
At the moment, he was watching her watch Joey with Evie and his new cousins. Earlier, he saw her playing with the twins. He couldn't help but feel closer to her then. It was true; he had been feeling more than friendly toward her for months now but was too scared to talk to her about it.
Lily turned and saw his gazing at her with a stupid smile on his face. She felt self-conscious. Lately she always felt that way around him. It was weird, he was her best friend. They'd survived the "boys have cooties" and "girls are yucky" stage without losing their friendship and the same thing with the awkward puberty stuff too. Now things were changing and she wasn't sure how she felt about that…
"What?" she asked, looking down.
"Nothing," he replied, "I was just thinking…"
"What?"
"You're great with kids."
She rolled her eyes. "Well I have been babysitting for over five years."
Alexander just smiled in response.
Lily leaned over and punched him in the arm. "Snap out of it Xander, you're creeping me out," she insisted using her nickname for him, the one only she could use.
He yelped grabbing his arm. "You better be glad you're a girl or you'd be in for it."
"That's never stopped you before!"
"Yeah, well…"
"Well what?"
"Well you better be thankful I'm in such a good mood, seeing as I am the big one-eight now," he ended lamely.
Lily rolled her eyes once again and turned back to watch Joey with her kids.
"Mommy, can I feed Ethan, puh-lease?" Evie begged.
"Sure Sweetie." Joey carefully handed her son to Evie, making sure he was safely supported before reaching for the bottle she'd just warmed up. "Okay now here's his bottle… do you remember how I showed you to hold it?"
"Uh-huh." The little girl demonstrated. "And he can only drink half of it then you have to burp him."
Joey smiled, "Exactly."
Just then Kyle came running in from playing by the creek with his uncle and father. When he saw Evie with Ethan, a frown covered his face but before he could protest, Joey spoke up.
"Don't worry, Bubba, I saved Logan for you." The little boy cheered and ran over. In a minute, he was sitting next to Evie, feeding Logan.
Bessie came in with her digital camera. "Well, it looks like I'm just in time," she declared and snapped a picture of the four kids. "Okay everyone," she announced, "Group picture! Everyone squeeze in with the kids!" The group obliged.
"Hey Bessie," Joey said from her place on the couch, "You have to be in here too."
"Sorry Sis, but I have to hold the camera."
"Mom, I told you, that camera has a timer on it," Alexander reminded her.
"And we got a tripod for it last month," Bodie added. "I'll go get it." He disappeared and returned a minute later. "Go sit down, I'll set it up."
Defeated, Bessie compelled. "You better hurry up before the twins need to be burped."
Bodie ignored the comment. "Okay guys," he announced, walked back to his place, "Ten seconds; everyone smile!"
"CHEESE!" everyone chorused.
THE END
A/N: Well that's all this time. I was trying to achieve the ending as being a snapshot, if that makes sense. I don't know if it worked too well… As you can see I laid some groundwork for the sequel. I'll get working on that as soon as I can. I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Thanks again to everyone who gave me reviews!
