A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers and keep those reviews coming the faster I receive comments the more I'm more enlightened to update.
When everything is said and done.
Pacey went into the kitchen and found Joey there. "Hey I thought you might have gone back to Dawson's" He said. "No I stayed behind. Besides Ryan didn't want to leave Marissa tonight and I didn't want to leave you" She said looking at him.
He smiled. He kissed her. "They are at least sleeping in separate room's right? I don't need to have a migraine over this." He said kidding. "Yea Marissa's in the guest room with Julie and Gretchen and Ryan's got the couch" She said laughing. "Good. One less thing I have to handle" He said.
She smiled. "Don't be such a worrier" She said. Dawson came into the kitchen. "Hey man I'm going to head out help my mom out with the extra guests" He said. "Yeah sure." He said with a smile. "But listen what do you think about doing breakfast together tomorrow morning at the house?" He said. He looked at Joey. "That sounds great" He said.
"Yeah" She said. "Great so I'll see you guys tomorrow" Dawson said. "Hey Dawson?" He said. He turned looking at Pacey. "Thanks for being here man" He said. "What are friends for Pace" He said walking away.
She smiled. "Wow I'm impressed when I left you guys weren't all that close. I see you worked on that" She said. "Yeah well when you left there wasn't many people to bond with so we gave it a shot of course it took place over the phone. We just recently lost touch but as you can see it doesn't look like it hurt our friendship all that much" He said. "I'm glad" She said.
"That was the one thing you've always wanted for us" Pacey said. She nodded. "That's true" She said. He smiled. "So does Dawson know about us?" She said. "Well what about us?" Pacey said teasing.
"Be serious" She said. "Yeah he knows" He said. "Okay" she said. "You know for the record I didn't really care if he does know or not I just wanted to know if there was an us" She said. He laughed. "That was sneaky Potter" He said. "I know. So there is an us then?" She said. He smiled. "What do you think?" He said.
He leaned into kiss her but she stopped him. "You get no more kisses until you tell me" She said. "Jo that was my way of telling you way to ruin the moment" He said. She laughed at her stupidity. "Never mind" She said laughing. "Okay then" He said and he kissed her again.
But in walked Marissa. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry" She said turning away. They both turned and looked at her. He laughed. "It's okay Maris" He said. Marissa was embarrassed.
"I'm gonna go" she said walking back out of the kitchen. Joey turned and looked at him. "Congratulations I think you just mortified your niece. As long as I don't mortify you then its all good" He said kidding. She playfully hit him. He smiled. "I was kidding" He said.
Marissa shook her head as she left the kitchen. She saw Ryan sitting on the couch. She sat next to him "Hey where you been?" She said. "Just wanted to give you some space" Ryan said. "Right" She said. "So how'd it go?" He said.
"Okay I guess it's definitely going to be a while before I can actually forgive and forget but you know it takes time" Marissa said with a smile. He smiled. "Words to live by" He said. "Yes they are? So what's this about you not spending the night at the Leery's? She said teasing him.
"Oh I just thought since I'm leaving tomorrow that we could spend time together and it would be better if I stayed here. I could leave if you want?" He suggested. "Does it look like I want you to leave?" She said. He smiled.
"No" He said. "That's right" She said resting her head on his shoulder. "So do you know when you're coming home?" He said. She smiled. "Why do you miss me already?" She said teasing grabbing his hand and enclosing it with hers. He laughed. "Sunday I think" She said. He nodded. She was falling asleep.
Back at the leery manor Seth laid awake on the floor while Summer laid a few feet away in the guest bedroom. "It's too quiet Cohen say something" Summer said breaking the silence. "I wonder how Ryan leaving tomorrow is going to effect Marissa" he said leaning up.
She shrugged. "But she'll be back in time for school on Monday so it might be a little weird but they'll get through it" she said. "Listen Summer about Kick off carnival I just wanted she interrupted. "Seth look can we just table that conversation for right now. I just with everything that's been going on with Marissa I just feel like we shouldn't discuss this not here." She said looking at him.
"No of course not so maybe when we get back to New Port" Seth said feeling shot down. "Not maybe Cohen it's a promise. You do know what promise is right?" She said teasing him. Which made Seth laugh. "Yeah I do" He said.
"Okay then since that's over with you know I'm sure there's something on tv that we could watch" She said. "Sounds like a plan" he said. Summer flickered the remote. "Any Suggestions?" she said. "Nothing with drama please" Seth said. "Well said so something like a comedy would suit us" she said checking stations.
Summer flipped the station again landing on something. "Ah ha ace ventura pet detective. Now that's a classic" he said. She laughed at his enthusiasm. "You know Seth you could barely see from down there why don't you watch from up here" she offered patting the space next to her.
"Are you sure?" he said. "Positive" she said. He got up and slowly sat next to her on the bed. "I'm not invading your space am I" Seth said nervous. She laughed.
"Of course not. But just so you know after the movie He interrupted "It's back to the floor I got cha" he said. She smiled at him and they went back to watching the movie in silence.
Hours later Pacey and Joey came out of the kitchen having talked for most of the night way into the early morning. They saw Marissa and Ryan passed out on the couch. "Marissa's in the guest room huh?" He said teasing her.
"Come on that's platonic she obviously just fell asleep" She said. "Joey platonic means friends and Marissa and Ryan are not defined as friends" He said whispering. She laughed. "Come on Pacey how many times did we just fall asleep after talking or whatever and we never got any slack for that" She said.
"Because it usually happened at the B&B and Bessie was a little lenient with you" He said. "I'm sorry what? Did you know my sister?" She said. "Yes I did" He said. "Really if she was so lenient why did she give me a lecture in high school about me not being ready to sleep with anyone?" She said.
"She said that?" he said. "Yes" She said. "Still how many times did I sneak out of your room without her even realizing it? I mean come on" He said. "Oh you mean the time were you almost broke your ankle climbing out of my window which by the way got me punished for a week" She said remembering. "I don't remember that" He said.
"Pace there just kids and whether you like it or not things are going to happen especially if you fight them on it" She reminded him. "Are you saying you decided to sleep with me because of Bessie?" He said. "No I'm saying if she fought me over every little thing it wouldn't matter because I was going to do what my heart told me to do" She said.
"Yeah I probably would have done it just to piss my dad off" He said joking. "Are you saying you slept with me to piss off your dad?" She said teasing him. "You were never about trying to piss him off and you know that" He told her. "Right I forgot he liked me it's just my dad he disapproved of but hey that was everyone even me at times" She said joking. "Hey I liked your dad. People make mistakes" He said.
"That's true but then why does he keep making them?" She said. He stayed silent he knew the subject of mike potter was like skating on thin ice when it came to talking to Joey about it.. "I'm sorry I didn't really want an answer I was just rambling" she said.
"Joey do you talk to mike at all?" He said wanting to know. He waited for an answer. "The last time I went to go see him in jail I was told he made bail and he didn't even bother letting us know" She said sadly. He nodded.
"I'm sorry" He said. "Yeah so am I" She said cutting the conversation short. There thoughts were brought back to Ryan and Marissa. "I'll go get some blankets so there not cold" Joey said going off to find blankets. Pacey watched her go. When she did she came back and covered them and went to find Pacey who was out on the porch.
"So did you succeed?" He said. "Yep" She said sitting next to him on the porch swing offering him part of the blanket. "Thanks" He said. "Don't mention it" she said. "So you leaving tomorrow?" He said. "No I thought I'd stay until Sunday actually" She said.
"Yeah?" He said. "Yeah did you decide when you're going to go back yet?" She said. "Well Marissa's going back on Sunday because of school but I don't know I'm sort of on standby. I might have to stay longer" He said.
"What about Marissa?" Joey said. "I guess I could ask the Cohen's to look after her?" He said. "The Cohens? And your worried about Marissa and Ryan sharing a couch for the night" She said. Well I'll have to figure it out" He said.
"I could keep an eye on her" She insisted. "Thanks" He said. "Not a problem" She said resting her head against his arm. "If someone would have told me this is where I'd be now I wouldn't believe them" He said. She smiled. He wrapped his arm around her.
The next morning Joey woke up from the incessant sunlight beaming in her face. And she turned to face a sleeping Pacey. She heard some noise in the kitchen and decided to see what was going on so she went in. She came in and saw that it was Ryan.
"Hey" She said flattening her hair down. "Hey. Coffee?" He said pointing towards the freshly pot of coffee. "Thanks "she said going up to it. "So you generally wake up this early on the weekend?" Joey said fixing her coffee. "No but we promised Seth and Summer that we'd have breakfast with them before we left." He said.
"Is Marissa up?" She said sipping the coffee. "Yeah she's upstairs getting ready" Ryan said. She looked at him. Joey was silent figuring Ryan had talked enough and she didn't want him to feel uncomfortable. "How's he doing?" He said. She looked at him surprised that he would actually strike up a conversation with her.
"I think Pacey's going to be okay" She said with a smile. "Good" He said. "I know Marissa will be fine too" She said answering his silent question. He looked at her. "How do you know that?" Ryan said. "Because losing somebody close to you is hard but as long as we have people that we love to lean on than eventually we come to realize that everything's going to be okay" She said.
"Wow you sure you're not a shrink?" He said joking. She smiled. "No unfortunately it comes from personal experiences." She said. He nodded wanting to know more. "My mother passed away when I was fourteen and my dad was sent to prison for drug trafficking but the students and faculty can not know that we're discussing personal matters it's sort of student faculty rule" She said. He was shocked.
" I understand but I'm sorry" He said. "Thank you" She said. "So did your dad ever get out?" He said curious. "Yeah only to make the same mistake again so he went back. He just recently got paroled again a few years ago" She said. "Is he still making mistakes?" Ryan said.
She looked down and then looked back at him. "I don't know because I haven't seen him in years. I went to visit him one day and found out that he had been released and he never contacted me or my sister" She said. "That sucks. But you know maybe it was his was of telling you that your better off without him" he said.
"I guess" She said shrugging. "So I guess there are a lot of us out there with screwed up families?" Ryan said. "Yeah so be glad you're with the Cohen's" She said kidding. "Yeah it was either stay with Sandy or be abandoned by my mother it wasn't such a tough choice" He said trying to make light of his situation.
She remembered reading a sketchy story about the Cohen's being his legal guardians but she didn't really know the back story. "I'm sorry I didn't know" She said looking at him. He nodded. "But you do know that I have been arrested before?" He said.
"Well yes but I know you had your reasons and I wouldn't judge you for them. Sometimes being loyal to our families can cloud our judgment" She said staring at him. "You think it matters to Marissa?" He said. "What that you've been arrested?" Joey said. "Well the whole idea really that I come from a screwed up family, you know my mother's an alcoholic, both my brother and my father are serving time" He said.
"If she likes you which it's obvious she does then no I don't think it matters. We can't fix the mistakes that our family have made we just have to live with them" She said. "Unfortunately" He said. "But you shouldn't feel responsible for them and their choices gone bad" She said.
"I know" He said. "You're a good kid Ryan remember that" She said. He nodded. They heard foot steps tramping down the stairs. She met them in the kitchen. "Hey. Good Morning Joey" She said. "Morning Marissa" She said. In walked Pacey with his hair all disheveled and not so much awake. They all looked at him.
"What's wrong?" He said. "Did you look in a mirror lately?" Marissa said laughing. "Funny since when did you become a smart ass." He said. "Here you look like you can use some coffee" Ryan said passing him a cup. "Why thank you Ryan unlike my niece right now I actually like you" He said.
"Ouch" Marissa said joking. "So what are you two up to this morning?" He said. "Well we promised we'd meet Seth and Summer for breakfast in like twenty minutes" She said. "Alright well you can have the keys to Gram's car just be careful with it" He said passing them over to her. "Thanks and we promise to be back in time to so that they won't be late to the airport" She said.
Joey looked at Pacey with a smile. "What?" Marissa said looking at them. "Well since your going home tomorrow I just thought it would be easier if you flew back with them so I had their tickets switched and called their parent's and everyone's fine with it. I didn't ask you guys because I figured you wouldn't mind" He said.
"Ahem" Joey said. "Okay well actually Joey said you wouldn't mind" he said wrapping his arm around Joey's shoulder. Ryan and Marissa looked at each other. "No we don't mind" They said. Joey laughed. "Great so make sure you fill Summer and Seth in on the plan. Oh and if they want they can actually stay here since everyone's going home today" He said.
"What about mom?" Marissa said. "She already left" He said. Marissa nodded. He looked at her. "You okay?" Pacey said. "Yeah but we better get going we wouldn't want to be late" She said getting up to go Ryan followed her and they left.
"Huh so Julie left without saying good bye to her daughter and she's hoping that there relationship will change" She said shaking her head.
"I just hope she puts more effort into this because otherwise she's going to ruin Marissa's progress" He said pouring the rest of the coffee down the drain and walking out of the kitchen. Joey watched him go hoping that he was right.