A/N: It's update time! This week's episode is Valentine Day's Massacre, and we have a collection of missing scenes from both Pacey's and Joey's POV for you. And just for a little fun we've decided to include a song at the end which, in our opinion, fits perfectly with how Pacey is feeling right now. (Disclaimer – we don't own the lyrics or the song.)
Thanks so much for your continuing support and comments. We always love reading your feedback and it truly does inspire and keep us going. So, please, don't stop ;) Shout out to sweetserenity4 and Seersha for taking the time to leave feedback last week, and writingflirt for the story alert.
** Driving Force **
"Love is the driving force of all hearts, whereupon one can spend a lifetime
learning to avoid the bumps and road blocks. Sometimes you can cruise along in the fast lane;
other times, it's best to leave the handbrake on. Navigate correctly and
it will be the best, most rewarding journey of your life."
~ Anonymous
Hoping to walk Joey to school, Pacey's habit of dropping by in the mornings (under the guise of seeing whether there were any maintenance emergencies), had netted him not one but two unpleasant surprises that morning – neither concerning broken appliances.
Pushing the door open after a perfunctory knock, he called out for either sister receiving no response. Just as he opened his mouth to shout louder, he heard a sound coming from the living room and made a beeline in that direction. Turning the corner, Pacey stopped dead in his tracks. With a frown he beheld one smiling Joey Potter seated at the telephone desk, head bowed, a pretty pink bloom spread across her cheeks. In her hand she held the official Potter Bed and Breakfast reservation pen and was using it to doodle idly on the desk pad.
His frown grew at the sight and he flattened his lips. He just knew she was talking to college guy. Darkness clouded his thoughts as he raged against the injustice and irony of this guy's appearance in Joey's life just as he himself realized how he felt about her.
How could he compete with somebody like him?
On the most superficial level, he could never keep Joey interested intellectually; while evidently college guy could wax poetic on every topic, about which no one cared. Then, of course, there was the guy's career path, which looked much more promising than anything Pacey had in mind at the moment - since he was actually in college. Video sales and handyman didn't bode well for a successful resume.
He strained to hear, yet her voice was nothing but a low murmur; her face portrayed a mixture of emotions, ending with a smile. He stood stock still until he heard her say, "Me, too. Talk to you soon." before hanging up the phone.
Pacey wondered to what exactly she was responding "me, too", trying hard not to assume the worst. He shuffled his feet as if just arriving on the scene and let out a somewhat too hearty, "Hey, Potter!"
Dropping the pen she still held in her hand, Joey jumped a little and gasped, "Witter, what are you doing?"
Pacey arched an eyebrow at her. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing! Don't sneak up on me!" Shaking her finger at him, Joey stood up.
"You hiding somethin'? 'Cause I just walked right in here and said hello – no sneaking, at all. But let's face it; it's a well-established fact that you Miss Potter are a skittish kitten." Crossing his arms, he tilted his head at her and waited for her denial.
Joey narrowed her eyes and ignored his gibe. "What do you want, Pacey?"
"Must I remind you every time, Potter?" He sighed dramatically.
From the look on her face, it appeared he did.
"Well, you see… I'm the handyman," he said very slowly. "I fix things." Chuckling at her unbroken scowl he continued in a normal voice, "I just stopped by to make sure everything here is ship-shape. That there haven't been any major - or minor, for that matter - maintenance emergencies that require my skill and expertise."
Rolling her eyes, Joey smirked. "Nope. Made it through the last 24 hours without even a burnt out light bulb." She brushed past him, heading toward the kitchen.
"Excellent. Ya know," he exclaimed, walking closely behind her, "if you changed your mind about what we discussed the other day, it'd help you remember my role here."
Joey looked at him over one shoulder. "Pacey, for the last time. We are not making you a Hawaiian print t-shirt with the slogan 'Potter's handyman - happy to service all your needs' written on it."
"Kill-joy."
He fumbled for an excuse to keep her further engaged. "So… you, er, you wanna go over that, um, trig homework before heading to school?"
"Completely aside from the fact that I can't begin to fathom your sudden interest in homework or your willingness to go to school… no," she said emphatically.
In the process of sliding his coat off, Pacey stopped, his arms still encased in the sleeves. "No? Why?"
"Can't."
"Why?"
"No time."
"Why?"
Joey spun around to face him. "We've been over this, Pace. Contrary to popular belief, you're not two. What's with all the "why" questions? Read my lips - I can't. I'm busy."
"With what?"
The Potter eye roll made another appearance as Joey became exasperated. "If you must know, Dawson is coming over to teach me to drive. He'll be here any minute now."
"Dawson?" Pacey's voice raised an octave in disbelief. "Dawson Leery, who can't even drive a speedboat? Oh wait, I forgot! Extenuating circumstances in that particular mishap."
"Thanks for that reminder, Pace." She sighed and explained, "Look, he offered and, considering Bessie has categorically refused me further tutelage based on our last fiasco, I accepted. Besides, Dawson needs something to do right now to keep his mind off the aimlessness of his career path." She searched his eyes. "What's the big deal?"
Forgetting that his arms were bound by his sleeves, Pacey attempted to raise his hands in peace and only succeeded in flapping his arms like a puppet gone haywire. He saw that Joey was reaching for her coat and shrugged his own back onto his shoulders.
He stepped quickly, following her out the door as she exited the house to wait on the porch steps for Dawson. "No big deal at all." He lifted his shoulders. "But I better supervise since I have more driving experience than the two of you combined. Wouldn't wanna wreck the only set of wheels the Potter family owns, right?"
"Whatever, Pacey. I'm sure Dawson is perfectly capable of teaching me how to drive without your supervision but suit yourself if you wanna hang around." She shrugged and added in a softer voice, "Anyway, he could use all the friends he's got right now."
Pacey glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as they sat on the steps. First, the phone call with college guy and now this? Great. Just how far down was his place on the Potter priority list? And Dawson needed all his friends? Please. More like he was fishing for some one-on-one time with a particular "friend".
His knee bounced and he chewed the inside of his cheek as he contemplated. What Dawson really needed, for his own good, was a distraction that didn't come with doe eyes and silky brown locks. But where could he find Dawson a new diversion, one that would keep him busy enough to put Miss Potter on the back burner again as he was wont to do?
He mentally flipped through his social rolodex. Ahhhh… he knew just the thing! Matt Caulfield's Anti-Valentine's Day Party! He rubbed his hands together and jumped up as Dawson came across the yard.
"Hey, D!" Pacey haled his best friend.
Now, to put his plan into action!
**
"Stupid, damn clutch," Joey swore under her breath as she stalled the cart, again. Thanks to Murphy's Law, Capeside Golf Course had to be the one club in the world whose golf carts actually had clutches. Sighing heavily, she turned the ignition and restarted the engine, slowly easing off the clutch and guiding the vehicle forward. Gradually, she built up as much speed as she could in first gear, and headed once more in the direction of Doug's golf cart.
When she hit an unexpected bump in the grass, almost stalling yet again, she cursed Andie's name. This was all Andie's fault; she'd deserted Joey. After Doug had stopped them, he'd insisted they follow him back in his cart to the club house, not trusting them to return their cart safely on their own. Andie, fretting about the impact an arrest record would have on her college applications, had jumped into Doug's cart with the hope of sweet-talking him to not press charges. Or knowing Andie, more like chattering him into submission.
Joey had been fine driving when Andie was with her, for she'd been too distracted by venting about Pacey to worry about gears, clutches and all that nonsense; the driving had come naturally to her. Yet now, not so much. She was beginning to wonder if she'd ever learn how to drive without stalling.
She hit another bump and swore again when she had to readjust her hat after it slipped down her forehead.
But it wasn't only the driving that was bothering her. She was still very much irritated with Mr. Village Idiot. He'd been on rare form tonight. She felt completely justified in being annoyed with him.
And Andie thought Joey reminded her of herself right before she started dating him?! Joey mentally rolled her eyes at that inference. Maybe instead of imagining things, Andie should open her own eyes and see what was right in front of her – that the fact that she was so quick to draw similarities to her past relationship with Pacey proved Pacey wasn't far from her mind; that Andie still wasn't over him.
Another bump, another curse.
Pacey. Maybe she should be cursing his name and not Andie's. What was with him tonight? Surely, he had to see that she was really worried about Dawson? That he needed his friends right now to guide him.
She sighed once more. Or possibly Pacey didn't see that. Perhaps his eagerness to let loose tonight was based on a need to forget about all the things he'd been through this year. Sure, he had the True Love and she knew that brought him joy, but she had no idea if he was still hurting over Andie since he never said a thing about it. Instinct told her that he wasn't but she couldn't be certain.
Judging from the amount of time he was spending over at the B&B and the quantity of Bessie's hamburgers he'd ingested, she wondered if it was possible that things at his house were worse than ever. Maybe Sheriff Witter was drinking more? It was another thing he never talked about.
She frowned as she realized something. Pacey didn't appear to have anyone to look out for him, except himself.
Pulling her cart to a stop behind Doug's in the club's parking lot, Joey removed the keys. She remained seated, fiddling with the key ring, deep in thought.
Then she smiled as she made a decision.
Neither boy would be alone.
She'd be there for them both.
**
Despite the early morning hour, Pacey stirred under the filtered light warming the glass block window high in the cell wall. Foggy with sleep, his thoughts seemed stuck on the phrase: the best laid plans - repeating in a continuous loop. Suddenly, his eyelids shot open in remembrance. He wasn't absolutely sure how the rest of that quote went but he knew its essential meaning was that those plans got screwed up.
Oh God.
What he'd said to Joey… a long rambling discourse ending with, the reverence that you treat this little saga of yours with is enough to make a guy puke, afterwhich he'd proceeded to provide the full special effects, complete with audio.
Wonderful.
And almost as bad, what he'd admitted to Dougie. That the girl who had driven him to drink last night was actually the kind of pretty that gives you butterflies.
None of that was part of the plan.
Fuck.
Groaning, Pacey swung his legs over the edge of the thin mattress, the metal-framed springs creaking and bending under the movement. Perched on the edge of the cot, he scrubbed his hands over his face and through his unruly brown hair, leaving it to stick up in spikes and tufts. Thanks to Doug's insistence on copious amounts of water after that initial cup of coffee and two aspirins, he only had a slight nagging headache but his mouth tasted like... well… puke.
He heard footsteps approaching in the hallway and then the sound of Doug's cheery voice, which seemed to bounce and echo off the concrete walls of the cell. "Rise and shine, little brother."
His keys jangled loudly as he unlocked the door and it swung open. He held out a steaming paper cup to his brother. "You ready to head out of here?"
Pacey stood, bracing himself against his knees, the cot letting out one more mighty creak as it gave up its occupant. Grabbing his coat from the bench where he'd thrown it, he took the cup from Doug with a grateful look. He drained it in only a few mouthfuls then followed his brother without a word, tossing the cup in the trash on the way.
When they reached the sidewalk outside the station, Pacey mumbled, "See ya, Dougie" and started off in the direction of the boatyard.
"Hey, Pacey?" Doug called after him.
Pacey paused and turned, squinting at the neat, crisp figure now standing by his cruiser. "Yeah?"
"Need a ride somewhere?"
Pacey hesitated, unwilling to face the Witter household quite yet. "How pissed is Pop?"
Doug grinned. "He probably doesn't even remember last night. But I wasn't suggesting you go home." He winked. "I'd be happy to drop you… somewhere."
Pacey shared a look with his brother and briefly considered his offer. He figured that the least he owed Joey was an apology, and the sooner that was offered the better. Whether he spilled his guts about the way he felt would depend entirely on the level of his courage by the time he got there.
He shrugged. "Yeah, okay. Thanks. Er, you got any gum?"
"I can do better than that. Why don't we stop at my place and you can get cleaned up?"
Thirty minutes later, his breath minty fresh, Pacey stood at the end of the Potter driveway as the cruiser disappeared back the way it had come.
Thankfully, Doug had refrained from offering any further opinions and had not subjected him to the satanic racket of Mariah or Celine. It was bad enough his brother had known to head to the Potter B&B without prompting. Pacey wondered what he'd said last night that made it so obvious to Deputy Doug. If he'd had to listen to advice, no matter how well-intentioned, on top of that - well, it wouldn't have been good. In lieu of conversation, Pacey had spent the ride gazing at the passing scenery, running through possible scenarios in his head of opening lines.
Hey Potter, sorry about last night and, oh by the way, I'm in love with you.
Joey! How's it going? Didn't mean all that stuff I said last night but I do mean this: I'm in love with you.
Joey, last night really sucked. It sucked up one side and down the other. Sorry. But before you kill me, I need to say something. Let me put it really simply. I'm in love with you.
Hi Jo, I wanted to apologize and I really, really need to tell you how I feel about you; I'm in love with you.
Morning, Jo. Nice day isn't it? Look, about the way I behaved last night. I'm sorry. I was wrong. But if you'll hear me out, you'll understand why I acted the way I did. It wasn't just that I was drunk. You see, the thing is… I've been meaning to tell you this… I'm in love with you.
Like a thousand times before, he walked toward that familiar red door; the one he had actually helped hang and paint. Muttering to himself, he debated and rehearsed dialogue; the words becoming dyslexic in his anxious brain. Panicked, and in need of just a few more moments to compose himself, he veered away from the house and ventured toward the safety of the dock.
The water moved lazily around the bend, reflecting the bright blue sky of the clear winter day. Taking a deep breath to calm his frazzled nerves, he stood for a moment in the place where the year had begun. The place where comfort had been offered and taken and the possibility of friendship had been predicted.
For him, that tentative beginning had grown into something more, something special and precious. And now he wanted, no… needed to express that to Joey. He had to take his shot, put it out there, tell her the truth or just as Doug declared, he would spend the rest of his life in his own personal prison.
Resolved, he set off across the yard and this time actually came to stand in front of the door where he raised his gloved hand and knocked.
**
"I still can't believe I did it!" Joey exclaimed happily, eyes coruscating. "I made it to third gear!"
"You did good, Potter. Real good." Pacey's blue eyes scanned her face and smiled softly at what he saw. "Once you got goin', you were a real natural."
Standing in the doorway of the Potter B&B, hands deep in his pockets, he cleared his throat. With a twist of his hips and one shoulder, he pointed behind him. "Well, I should go. Gotta face Pops sometime."
Joey walked with him out the door and stood on the porch near the railing, the chill of the mid-morning air causing her to subconsciously pull her dressing gown cord tight around her waist. "Think he'll still be mad?"
Pacey smirked. "With me, it's more like when isn't he mad, ya know?"
Joey gave him an understanding look and nodded.
"See ya, Potter." He jogged down the steps, taking two at a time, and began walking in the direction of the road.
Swiveling around to watch him, Joey leaned against the railing and called out his name. He turned at her voice and raised his brows in inquiry.
"Don't tell Dawson this, but you're a much better driving instructor."
He dipped his head briefly then gave her his most charming smile. "Was there ever any doubt?"
She rolled her eyes and smiled reluctantly.
"All part of the handyman service, Potter. Never let it be said that Pacey J. Witter isn't happy to service all your needs." He waggled his eyebrows. "Oh, and I think for our future driving lessons you should continue to wear those PJs."
Joey's eyes instantly dropped to her outfit, only now remembering she'd been dressed in her PJs all this time. She blushed, managing to pull off a glare and look embarrassed all at the same time. "You wish."
Pacey didn't answer her, simply chuckled and recommenced walking.
Joey continued to watch long after she couldn't see him anymore. She placed her elbows on the railing and rested her chin on one upturned hand. Shaking her head, she eventually gave into a smile, seeing the humor in the situation. Of course Pacey would be the one to see her in the novelty PJs Bessie had given her last Christmas. Of all the people to see her like this, it had to be him.
Much like right at the beginning of the school year, when he'd joined her at the end of her dock and she'd been crying, or even when she'd been soaked after the infamous snail debacle, he always seemed to catch her at the times when she either looked her worst or most vulnerable.
Her eyes tracked the course of a cardinal as it flew overhead. She was glad that she and Pacey had resolved things from last night, even if she still wasn't completely sure what had set him off. She mentally shrugged. At least now, she could keep that promise to herself to look out for him. At one point last night, locked in that cell, she'd almost changed her mind.
She smiled her trademark smile. The boy challenged her, that's for sure.
Shaking her head this time to clear her thoughts, she pushed back from the railing and turned to go inside the house to get properly dressed, her smile still firmly in place.
**
Long after the sun had set, Pacey lay in his bed, arms tucked behind his head as he stared unseeing at the ceiling. Another plan – definitely not the best laid one - had gone awry.
Standing in front of her this morning, seeing the look in her eyes as she waited patiently for him to vocalize his feelings – he'd known.
The timing hadn't been right.
More important than his burning need to tell her was her ability to hear his confession right now. He sensed that she wouldn't understand the depth or sincerity of his feelings; she wouldn't have been receptive.
And he wasn't quite willing to face outright rejection just yet.
Way back when, when he'd kissed her right after the carnival, she'd been thinking of someone else. Sadly, nothing had changed. If he admitted his feelings now, she'd still be thinking of someone else - maybe two someone elses.
Whenever and however he told her what was in his heart, he wanted her to be thinking only of him.
Still, it had been a good day. A very good day, in fact. For not only had Joey expressed concern for him but the driving lesson had been a resounding success. Seeing that brilliant lop-sided smile as she mastered the gears and knowing he had some part in putting it on that beautiful face… well, that was enough for today.
She was worth the wait.
**
Colbie Cailat – Realize
.com/watch?v=KdQA6mC3ZWI
Take time to realize
That your warmth is
Crashing down on me
Take time to realize
That I am on your side
Well didn't I, didn't I tell you
But I can't spell it out for you
No it's never gonna be that simple
No I can't spell it out for you
If you just realize
What I just realized
That we'd be perfect for each other
And we'll never find another
Just realize
What I just realized
We'd never have to wonder
If we missed out on each other, now
Take time to realize
Oh oh, I'm on your side
Didn't I, didn't I tell you
Take time to realize
Oh oh, I'm on your side
Oh ooo oh ooo oh
But I can't spell it out for you
No it's never gonna be that simple
No I can't spell it out for you
If you just realize
What I just realized
That we'd be perfect for each other
And we'll never find another
Just realize
What I just realized
We'd never have to wonder
If we missed out on each other, but
It's not the same
No it's never the same
If you don't feel it too
If you meet me half way
If you would meet me half way
It could be the same for you
If you just realize
What I just realized
That we'd be perfect for each other
And we'll never find another
Just realize
What I just realized
We'd never have to wonder
If we missed out on each other
Just realize
What I just realized
That we'd be perfect for each other
And we'll never find another
Just realize
What I just realized
We'd never have to wonder
If we missed out on each other, now
Missed out on each other now
Missed out on each other now
Missed out on each other now
**
