A/N: So, you know the drill by now… we are shamelessly milking the Stolen Kisses epi, and this week is no different ;) As promised, it's time to look at that all important second kiss. We've teased you long enough and won't keep you in suspense any longer, so on with the show…

Thank you so much for your continuing support and feedback! Special shout out to the following lovely people – cleanslate, Saltpeanuts, nightshadowlife, pippiboo and ckoder

*~* No Going Back *~*
by M&M Works

Cheer up, Sleepy Jean
Oh, what can it mean
To a daydream believer
And a homecoming queen?

Joey's radiant smile and happy glow, brought about from the nostalgia of singing a childhood song, quickly evaporated as she watched Pacey's pained expression and consequent exit from their makeshift karaoke club aka the living room.

Tick…

She stumbled over the next lyric, glancing at Dawson to see if he'd noticed, only to find him staring intently at the song book laid open on the ottoman in front of them. She couldn't decide whether she was irritated that he seemed to have forgotten the words to a song they'd sung only a hundred times before or thankful, this once, for his oblivion.

Tick…

For the rest of their number, her eyes remained glued to the door willing it to open. But Pacey did not reappear. When the last note faded away Dawson grinned at her, and the remaining audience members applauded as Joey reluctantly accepted their praise with a shy smile. The perky voice of Andie coaxing Aunt Gwen into a solo followed her outside as she took the opportunity to slip away unseen instead of heading to the bathroom as might have been expected.

Squinting as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she eventually spied him sitting not far from the house on the rocker across the yard. She fretted but determinedly made her way over to him, deliberately ignoring that nagging voice in her head telling her to walk faster and hurry up and see if he was okay. More importantly, she ignored the anguish she felt inside and just how alarming her need was to fix things, and why that was the case.

Tick…

Instead she was more than happy to convince herself there was no harm in making sure he was okay. Just like a good friend would do.

If she had acknowledged that anguish or that need, she'd have discovered it went far beyond her smoke screen promise to be there for both the boys in her life - this time she had to know that Pacey in particular was okay. That they were okay.

Tick…

Something had happened between the time Pacey had entertained the crowd with his rendition of Wild Thing and she had participated with Dawson in an innocent childhood ritual. It didn't escape her notice that he had sung the lyrics, "I think I love you" while piercing her with that look.

Tick…

What was he thinking?

Was he trying to say he loved her? A small thrill crawled up her spine at the notion.

Or was that just her imagination assigning something to nothing?

She was so confused.

Tick…

Shaking her head to clear it and, using both hands to rake her hair back off her face, she travelled the last few steps to reach him feeling the emotions inside her well to those of irritation and frustration.

Tick…

Whatever!

Thisthis was weirdness.

He just got up and left.

Tick…

Why?

They'd agreed to be friends.

Why was he making this so hard?

Didn't he see? This was the way things had to be.

Tick…

At the close up image of his hunched form, a swarm of butterflies took flight somewhere in the vicinity of her solar plexus adding even more chaos to her jumbled emotions.

Tick…

"Are you okay?"

Although she ventured it as a question, her tone lacked the sympathy you'd expect with such a question, making it sound more of a statement – that he was okay, and if he dared to disagree, well, he was damn well going to be okay. He didn't have a choice.

Tick…

Because now that she was standing so close to him she suddenly wasn't so sure she really wanted to know whether he was okay - afraid that she'd just set in motion a conversation that would change everything.

Tick…

There'd be no going back after this.

Tick…

*~*

Wrapped in a blanket of despondency, Pacey's jaw clenched as he made out over the din of the crickets echoing in the night air the sound of approaching footsteps.

Now what?

Tick…

Joey's slim form appeared in his peripheral vision and he wondered if she'd come to once again remind him that they were just friends and/or chastise him for any perceived weirdness.

If she was determined to torture him, she could have saved herself the trouble of finding him and simply stayed inside with Dawson. His well-laid out plan of action to fix everything, to which he'd fallen asleep the night before, had gone out the window while watching them up there, singing - Joey obviously tickled pink to be sharing this treasured childhood tradition with Dawson one last time.

He'd felt sick.

Tick…

What he witnessed was something he could never offer her.

A shared past, and a harmonious one at that.

Tick…

His own past with her couldn't have been more different; riddled with punching, pinching, hair-pulling and ridicule. With Dawson, on the other hand, not only did she share a fucking karaoke routine, countless sleepovers after movie night, but they had actually been in a romantic relationship.

No matter how juvenile in substance. It still counted as a shared history.

And, of course, Dawson had been the one who had held her hand when her mother died; while he had hung back, afraid she'd reject any offer of comfort he made, no matter how much it had killed him to watch her grieve.

Tick…

He shifted a little in his seat to look up at her, so breathtaking in the filtered moonlight that he had to look away. Then he sighed, ever so slightly shaking his head, as he braced himself for her words. He honestly believed that proximity was a good thing – but, sadly, it could also be a bitch.

"Are you okay?"

The retort "Are ya kidding me?" crossed his mind at her ridiculous question and he was half tempted to voice them in spite. Of course he wasn't OK! Was she really that daft?

Tick…

He wondered again at her motivation in seeking him out as their conversation continued. She persisted in her quest for the root of his problem, albeit asking her questions reluctantly and almost defensively, leaving him to conclude her impetus was more to restore balance to their universe – and quickly at that - rather than any real concern for his state of mind.

Tick…

Add to that his suspicion that her desire to resolve their current state of weirdness meant she'd have no qualms in sweeping any awkward feelings under the metaphorical rug, caused him to hesitate in revealing his inner turmoil.

His intense feelings for her couldn't be stifled that easily.

Or maybe his hesitation was that he was afraid if he did reveal them, she'd give him a look of pity and finally state clearly once and for all that his feelings of love were unrequited. And, well, he wasn't sure his battered heart could take much more.

Tick…

At this thought, he felt his emotions shift at the unfairness of this all. He didn't ask to fall in love with Joey Potter! He'd been helplessly drawn in, like a river flowing to the ocean; it was only natural.

Losing his inner battle with his frustrations, he resorted to sharp-edged bickering, during which she raised his hopes by insinuating that they needed to have their own history; only to dash them by retracting her assertion in the very next breath.

Standing in front of her, so close he could reach out and touch her, he ached. Literally. But there was nothing on her face but distress.

Tick…

Fuck this.

Pacey began to walk away from her rather than damage whatever relationship they were doomed to have or salvage. He wouldn't… he couldn't risk losing her from his life completely.

Tick…

~*~

Throughout their conversation, if you could call it that, Joey's emotions had made a complete turnaround. After her initial fear of kick-starting a conversation she wasn't sure she wanted to have, she was now panicked at the thought that she would never get another chance to have it.

Tick…

Joey debated briefly, hearing Aunt Gwen's voice in her head, "Those kinds of feelings just won't be ignored. You know, I owed it to myself to explore them."

Tick…

Letting go of all her fears, she spun around and called after him, "I felt it."

Tick…

As if an arrow pinned him in place, Pacey halted his housebound retreat before slowly turning back to face her.

Tick…

Just three little words. Much like those other infamous three little words, they held so much power and meaning.

Tick…

But he had to make sure he was reading between the lines clearly this time.

Tick…

Heart in his mouth, he was surprised that he was able to choke out, "What?"

Tick…

Now that she'd removed the breakwall surrounding her heart, Joey found that the words poured out of her. They were crystal clear, if not a little shaky. "This morning… when your arm brushed up against me in bed and… I felt it."

Tick

Knowing her answer to his next question would be the most important in his life to date, Pacey asked quietly, "How did it feel?"

The quietly ticking bomb that was Joey took a leap of faith and confided, "It made me feel alive."

Utter joy spiked through Pacey, restoring his confidence. The tip of his tongue slid across his bottom lip in preparation of his next move. As if aware that Joey was such a bomb about to explode, he stated his intentions plainly, moving toward her carefully, one step at a time, hands in motion as he talked.

He could only hope that instead of exploding in anger, she'd give over to the passion he knew she held inside her; and then he'd show her just how alive he really could make her feel.

Tick…

Her courage depleted by her confession, Joey weakly protested, wavering between flight and anticipation of the rational kiss. The second kiss. Of all the things to pass through her head in that precise moment, the conversation she'd had with Bessie so long ago sprang to mind about such a kiss. The one to which Bessie was partial because it was about something more… something real, something meaningful.

Tick…

Oh God, this was really happening.

Tick…

Nerve endings tingling, butterflies alight, she waited for that kiss.

Tick…

Thick lashes swept up to reveal a swirl of hazel centered in wide white saucers as Pacey murmured, "Ten." His fingers slid along her cheeks so that he could feel her skin and then kept his promise.

Ka-boom!

With her complete cooperation and participation, Pacey Witter's hands tenderly cupped her face and he sealed his mouth to hers. The lips that she had been dreaming of were but a ghost of the pulsing, warm and living heat that claimed her.

Their world narrowed and time stretched out between them.

If Pacey had known of Bessie's theory about the second kiss, he would have wholeheartedly agreed but in reality he couldn't form a single coherent thought. Joey was breathing life back into his battered heart; her kisses a soothing balm to the pain of the past weeks as they ignited his senses.

Safe in the last place she expected, Joey allowed herself to surrender to the moment as life pulsed through her, transfused from the boy that held her.

There was definitely no going back now.

*~*

Aliveby Melissa O'Neil

Stuck in the world
No longer turning
Always the girl
Waiting for something
Too many days
Walking around sleeping
Open my eyes
I'm tired of dreaming

[Chorus:]
I wanna run with the reckless emotion
Find out if love is the size of an ocean
Even if I crash down, burn out
At least I'm gonna know what it's like
To feel alive

Sun on my face
Lights of the city
Maybe in love
Or just learning to be
On my two feet
I can only imagine
I'll say the words
And believe it will happen

[Chorus:]
I wanna run with the reckless emotion
Find out if love is the size of an ocean
Even if I crash down, burn out
At least I'm gonna know what it's like
To feel alive

They think they know me
But how can they know me
I'm getting to know myself
I'm finally ready
To be somebody
With a story to tell

[Chorus:]
I wanna run with the reckless emotion
Find out if love is the size of an ocean
Even if I crash down, burn out
At least I'm gonna know what it's like
To feel alive

*~*