Hello everyone! Thank you so much for your feedback and support for the ficlet series so far. We are really enjoying revisiting S3 and it warms our hearts to know you are too. We're back this time with a smorgasbord of scenes from the Secrets and Lies episode. Hope you enjoy…

*~* Sedulous *~*

Guiding her shopping cart steadily through the aisle, she came to a stop in front of the cereal and picked up a box of bran flakes. Her study of the back of the box was interrupted when she heard voices drifting across from the aisle behind her.

"And how much longer do you think it will take to finish?"

"We're not sure. Probably a couple of months or so? Maybe sooner thanks to Pacey. I told you he's the one that got some of the police auxiliary to help out, right?"

"He's such a sweet boy."

A female laugh. "Yeah, when he wants to be. We're seeing a lot of him lately that's for sure. He and Joey are attached at the hip." Another laugh. "He stays so late most nights I have to feed him, which gives me all the practice I need serving meals for our future B&B guests."

Hearing their conversation come to an end as they said their goodbyes, she abruptly put the cereal box back on the shelf and turned to push her cart. She had only taken two steps when one of the speakers from the eavesdropped conversation rounded the corner and headed in her direction.

"Hi," Bessie smiled brightly as she passed her and continued down the aisle.

"Oh, um, hi, Bessie!" Andie adopted her usual perky voice, smiling back as she watched Bessie walk by and disappear out of sight. Only then did she drop her smile, her face turning contemplative as her mind rapidly absorbed what she'd overheard.

Looks like if one wanted to reach Pacey, indirectly or not, their best bet was to find him at the Potter residence these days.

Interesting.

*~*

Joey randomly considered that she and Pacey were once again in his truck together as a result of Andie. Since when had she become a member of the Witter White Knight Society? She shook off the thought. Andie was in trouble at Rob Logan's house and had called her. It wasn't as though Andie knew Pacey would be at her house and insist on coming with her. That was just a coincidence. She needed to go and help. She, of all people, knew what a slimeball Rob was and knew what he was capable of.

She stole another glance at Pacey, whose face bore a crevice between his brows, whether of worry or anger, she wasn't sure.

"Pace, we're almost there," she reassured. "It's gonna be okay."

Pacey's glare flicked away from the road to pin her in place. "Potter, why the hell didn't you tell me about this guy before?"

"Excuse me?" Joey looked at him in shock.

"Was I unclear? Why. Didn't. You. Tell. Me?" Disdain punctuated his question.

"Why would I?" She snapped at him.

"Didn't this guy harass you at work, Joey?"

"Pacey, Rob was really no different than any other asshole that couldn't keep their comments or hands to themselves since I was old enough to be a serving wench at the Ice House. Why would I tell you about him?"

"Because Andie's going out with this one."

"And you are no longer Andie's boyfriend!" She winced at the flicker of pain that shadowed his eyes. Ticking her fingers as bullet points, she reasoned, "Look, I tried to warn her. I interrupted their date at the Rialto. I got fired because I tried to interfere."

"But you didn't tell me." Jaw set, brow furrowed, Pacey sang the same refrain.

She narrowed her eyes at him thinking what a stubborn ass he'd always been and shouted, "Because I knew you'd be hurt!"

Pulling to a stop at a stop sign, Pacey closed his eyes briefly as his shoulders dropped and she could see him deflate. "I don't need you to protect me, Potter," he muttered and proceeded through the stop sign.

She turned away from him then and watched the dark streets dotted with warmly lit houses slide by her window. "Don't worry. It'll never happen again," she promised.

Cars lined the street ahead, lights spilling out of an overcrowded house. Pacey slowed down to turn in the driveway and glanced at the girl beside him. It wasn't her fault that Andie was here with Rob Logan but he didn't have the time or energy to make it right between them at the moment. Joey could wait. Their relationship had survived a lifetime of battles and Andie needed him right now.

*~*

As Pacey watched her walk lightheartedly toward her front door, he was not surprised to realize that knot of dread in his gut had returned. His eyes drifted shut as if to block out the sight of last night's memories. 'What was I thinking?' played on a continuous loop in his mind as if, examined often enough, an answer to the question would present itself.

Attempting to reassure Andie that he was okay by taking her to see the True Love had not been the most carefully considered course of action. In her fragile state, she seemed to have misunderstood and kissing her – or allowing her to kiss him - had just reinforced that misunderstanding.

As much as he had appreciated being able to hold her once more, it just didn't feel the same as it had before…

He shook his head to clear it and turned the SUV toward home.

*~*

Seething, Joey paced away from the door she had just closed against Rob Logan and chewed the inside of her bottom lip. Hands on hips, she paced back towards the door, his words reverberating in her thoughts.

I have never forced myself on anyone.

Then why would she do this, huh? That's all I wanna know. For what possible reason?

Despite her hostility toward him, she began to catalog Andie's behavior the night before.

Andie refused to make a police report.

She refused Joey's offer of refuge.

But she didn't refuse Pacey's help.

Stacked against the evidence of Joey's own experience with Rob, his denial seemed inadequate but she was surprised that Andie was so willing to sweep the whole incident under the rug. Could Andie think that she deserved this? That Rob attacking her was some screwed up karma for cheating on Pacey? No, that couldn't be it. At least, Joey hoped it wasn't. No one deserved that to happen to them.

Perhaps it was simply the stigma of word getting around the country club set that caused her to balk at reporting him to the authorities. Joey was certain the elite of the east coast didn't operate under the same dictates as the rest of the plebeian population.

Still, something didn't feel right. Maybe she should stop at Andie's to see if she had reported Rob, or at least told her dad or Jack what happened.

Moments later, she was headed down the steps of the porch, calling back over her shoulder, "I'll be back later, Bessie!" as the screen door slammed shut.

*~*

Pulling his patrol car to a stop, Doug lifted the handbrake and rested his elbow on the edge of the open car window. As he watched his little brother hard at work on his boat on the other side of the yard, Doug's smile was soft, bordering on proud.

He was glad he'd introduced Pacey to his friend and that Pacey had snapped up the idea to buy the dilapidated boat. Although it seemed that Doug didn't know the first thing about Pacey – and, okay, most of the time he didn't - he did know that right now Pacey was hurting.

For whatever reason he hadn't seen him and Dawson hanging around each other as much as they usually did. His instincts had kicked in and he knew it was time for him to step up to the role of big brother once and for all. Problem was he didn't quite know how to go about doing that. After all, he hadn't had a lot of practice over the years and he was pretty sure that any direct attempts he made wouldn't be welcomed with open arms.

The gap between their ages wasn't the only reason they had never gotten along but once he'd joined the force, he noticed a marked difference in the way Pacey behaved toward him and they became even more distant. It was as though the uniform triggered something in Pacey. And he had an inkling it was somehow related to their father, whereby Pacey had come to associate the uniform with pain, whether physical, psychological or emotional. Theirs was a family which didn't talk about the things that happened behind their closed doors. Some things were taboo. Growing up, their father was the man of the house and however he deemed it best to discipline his kids, especially his youngest son, was not something that was open to discussion. You simply accepted it and turned a blind eye.

Now that Doug was older and living in his own place, he was able to see things in a new light but that didn't mean he had the power to change them.

He sighed as he studied Pacey shaping what looked like a rudder with a circular saw. All Doug could do was work on the little things. Like continue his drive-bys of the Witter house late at night to check that things were okay, keeping an eye on Pacey, always watching from a distance much like he was right now.

As they weren't at the stage yet where Pacey could come to him to talk about whatever it was that was troubling him, Doug was content that Pacey was able to use the project of rebuilding this boat as something constructive to focus on and direct his boundless energy.

He smiled once more. It didn't matter that Pacey didn't know the efforts Doug had gone to find the boat in the first place before suggesting the idea to Pacey or that he'd called in a favor with his friend and convinced him to offer the boat to Pacey at half price. None of that was important. Seeing that spark of light back in his brother's eyes, however small, was worth it and all the thanks he needed.

With one last look, Doug released the brake and turned the car back in the direction of the main road.

*~*

Joey had declined Andie's dinner invitation, an undercurrent of something still between them. Unspoken questions, quick defenses. As she slowly walked home, she wondered most at Andie's sense of settled satisfaction. Something that shouted, "Mission accomplished."

She tried to shrug off her doubts. If Pacey and Andie were back together, good for them. Maybe Pacey had taken her forgiveness speech to heart after all. Maybe enough time had passed for the sting of Andie's indiscretion to have faded to an unpleasant memory. His reaction to the news about Rob and Andie dating seemed to indicate otherwise but who was she to judge the human heart? She and Dawson had certainly participated in the revolving door of "on again, off again" enough.

Hey, maybe now he could enlist Andie to help with that heap of timber he was determined to restore and she'd be off the hook for unpaid work detail at the boatyard.

And yet, the uneasy feeling that had driven her to the McPhee residence in the first place persisted. Because despite what Andie said, Joey knew that everything usually doesn't just magically go back to the way it was, no matter how much you may want it to.

*~*

Pacey caught sight of the slim figure approaching in the dim light from his perch on the deck of the True Love. She looked around the yard, tugging her sweater down over her hands before finally tentatively calling out his name.

She didn't know exactly what had drawn her here. What she did know was that Andie was hurting; she imagined that he was, too. She felt as if somehow she were ultimately to blame for this whole mess. And she just wanted to see if he was okay.

She hadn't seen him yet and he wondered if he sat absolutely still, if she would give up and leave. But then she spotted him in the shadows, elbows propped on his knees, head down.

She came closer. "Pacey?" This time there was a question in her voice.

"Go home, Potter."

Her footsteps faltered and she gazed up at him from beneath the sweep of her long lashes, her eyes luminous in the reflected lights lining the waterfront.

"Go home," he repeated more gently, adding with a whisper, "please."

Bobbing her head, she turned and slowly retreated, giving him the gift of privacy in which to grieve – again.