Disclaimer: I do not own Dawson's Creek. I don't even own all of the seasons. This girl is broke and it ain't no joke. Yes, I know that ain't isn't a word. It's a phrase that people use sometimes.

AN: I thought that this was going to be one of those stories that I would have to delete because I would never be able to finish it. Thank God I found the chapter summary that I made three years ago. Expect more updates to come.

He stood in the middle of the kitchen of the restaurant. All around him people were busying for the opening that would happen in less than an hour. He had never thought that he would open his own restaurant, now he was the owner of two. Gail had helped him find someone to run the Icehouse, but he would still stay on as owner. He found himself lying awake at night marveling at how much his life had changed in the past few months. It all seemed so surreal. He had never known so much happiness in his entire life. Now if only Joey were there to share it with him.

Pacey and Joey had been spending less and less time together since the holidays had passed. The publishing house was busy trying to get at least a dozen books out by Valentine's Day. He had not seen Joey for longer than half an hour at a time in a week. She was usually sleeping when he came home and was gone before he woke in the morning. If he had known that living with her would be like this he would have talked to her about lessoning her work load.

He understood that she was only working at the agency so she could get an edge on the writing world so that when she decided to start writing she would be at the top of her game. It was like the three years that he spent working as a Sous Chef at Leery's Fresh Fish before opening the Icehouse two years ago. He couldn't condone her for wanting to learn everything that there was to know about the publishing industry, he just didn't like it that she was sacrificing her entire life to do it.

"Mr. Witter?" One of the young hostess' asked.

"Sam, how many times have I asked you to call me Pacey?" he asked, giving the girl a small smile.

"Sorry, Pacey. There's someone on the phone for you. She says her name is Joey." she said with a shy smile.

"I'll take it in my office."

Pacey sat behind his desk, cradling the phone on his shoulder a few seconds later.

"Jo?" he asked.

"Please don't be mad at me." she begged.

"Why would I be mad at you? You're only an hour late, now if you were three hours late I might be a little agitated." he teased.

"I'm still at work." she said with a ragged sigh.

"I thought that you were taking off early." he stated.

"I was planning on it. I was gathering my stuff together when my boss came in with a manuscript for me to look over. It's a first draft and the person apparently doesn't know how to spell check." she said agitatedly.

"How much longer will you be?"

"I'm going to read through the first half and then I'll bring it home and work on the rest this weekend. It shouldn't take me more than an hour. I'll come straight there; I won't even go home to change." she promised.

"It's okay. It's not your fault that your boss needed you to do something." he reassured her.

"I knew you would understand. I love you." she said endearingly.

"I love you too."

He rested his elbows on the desk before fisting his hands in his hair once he had hung up the phone. This wasn't the first time something had kept Joey from being there for him. She had only been the restaurant once. She had offered to help him with the tastings only to back out the day before because her boss needed her to fly to Boston for the weekend. He knew that she couldn't help that she had to work so much and he didn't place all of the blame for what was happening on her. He only placed half of the blame on her.

XXXX

Joey stood outside the restaurant looking in. It was void of customers but she could see that they had been busy. The bus boys were clearing the tables while the waiters and waitresses vacuum cleaned different sections of the floor. The main hostess was writing in the reservation book when Joey finally gathered the courage to open the door.

The hostess raised her head from what she was doing to give Joey an apologetic look. Joey gave her a half smile before walking through the room. She stopped outside the kitchen doors, looking through the window. Three people were loading the dishwashers while someone swept the floor. There was someone at the counter with their back to her cutting up vegetables. She pushed open the door enough to poke her head in.

"Hey, Eugene." she said getting the attention of the person working on the prep work for the next day.

"Joey." The imposing black man's voice rumbled in acknowledgement.

"Is Pace around?"

"He's on the phone with some reporter who wants to do an article about the restaurant. You can go back, he should be almost done."

"Thanks." she said before shutting the door behind her.

She walked down the short hall to stand outside Pacey's office. The door was cracked enough for her know that he was still on the phone. She pushed open the door silently then closed it just as softly behind her. Pacey was looking down at his computer, reading something as she sat across from him. If he had heard her come in, he hadn't let on.

She wasn't looking forward to the conversation that they were about to have. She knew that he would more than likely bring up that her job was taking over her life. He said that all the time. She felt so guilty for not giving their relationship the time and attention it deserved.

She hadn't meant to be four hours late tonight. Time had gotten away from her and before she knew it she had finished the entire manuscript. She was willing to do anything to make up for what she had done.

Pacey turned off his phone then shut down his computer before his eyes met hers. His eyes searched hers, waiting for her to explain herself.

"I am so sorry. I didn't realize how late it had gotten."

"It took you four hours to read half the manuscript?"

"No." she said slowly.

"Well you're wearing the same thing that you wore this afternoon when I came to take you to lunch. So, what happened?"

"Like I said, I lost track of time and before I knew it I had read the whole thing."

"You blew me off?" he asked, sounding hurt.

"No, I didn't mean for this to happen." she said quietly.

"A lot of things have happened that you haven't meant to have happen lately. How many times is it now Jo? The tenth time in the past two weeks?" he asked harshly.

"I am trying to apologize to you." she said, feeling tears sting her eyes.

"Don't bother. Go home, I'll be there in an hour; if I don't lose track of the time."

"That's not fair." she said, her voice thick with grief.

Joey stood with a sigh when he didn't answer her. She knew that he was stressed out but so was she. She was trying with everything she had to make everyone around her happy and all that she was doing driving a wedge between her and Pacey. She would talk to her boss about taking some time off if that was what it took to make Pacey see that she was serious about him.

XXXX

Pacey walked into the apartment just after midnight. He had walked the streets of New York for nearly an hour before finally coming home. Joey had left the lamp behind the couch on for him so that he wouldn't have to walk through apartment in the dark. It was the little things that mattered.

He had felt awful for shutting her out the way that he had and he had hoped that she would be up when he got home. He walked into the kitchen to grab something to drink from the refrigerator when he saw a message written on the message board by the stove.

Staying at a friend's. I'll be come by the restaurant tomorrow to talk to you. Jo

He shook his head as the guilt that weighed down on him apply so much pressure that he felt that his heart might burst open. He hadn't meant to drive her so far away. He could be so bullheaded sometimes. He needed to work on that.

He pulled out his phone and hit the number one before pressing send. Her voice mail kicked in on the first ring.

"I just wanted to tell you that I love you before I went to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." he said sadly.

He shut his phone before finally grabbing a bottle of water from the refrigerator. He walked back through the living room, stopping long enough to turn out the lamp before going into the bedroom. He stripped down to his boxers then grabbed a t-shirt from the dresser before getting into bed.

He lay on his back with an arm beneath his head staring up at the ceiling. He had really made a mess of things this time. He was going to stop at nothing to make Joey see that he wanted to be with her.

XXXX

Pacey was kneading bread with flour covering every inch of him from the tips of his fingers to his elbow when his phone rang. He had come in early because he couldn't sleep in the apartment with Joey. He growled in frustration as he quickly scrubbed his hands then arms clean. His phone chirped letting him know that he had a message.

He had missed a call from Doug. Doug wasn't exactly the person that he was hoping had called him but he could use a brotherly perspective on things. He dialed Doug's number and Doug picked up on the first ring.

"I didn't think that you would be at work this early." he said after he picked up.

"I didn't sleep well last night." Pacey answered with a sigh.

"You know, most people have trouble sleeping the night before their business opens, not the night of."

"Joey and I had a disagreement." Pacey explained.

"Define disagreement."

"She worked all the way through the restaurant opening last night."

"You mean she worked in the office, right?" Doug offered.

"No. She didn't show up until we had closed for the night."

"Why would she do that?"

"She did it by accident. She tried to apologize and I shut her out."

"You are more like Pop than you think." Doug reminded him.

"Do you think that I don't know that? Do you think that I like it?"

"Being like dad isn't a bad thing." Doug reasoned.

"So says the only Witter child to escape his wrath." Pacey said darkly.

"You egged him on and you know it." he chided.

"Back to Joey, did you apologize to her?"

"Not yet. She was on the verge of tears when she left and when I got home she wasn't there. She stayed with a friend last night. I called last night when I got in to tell her good night and that I love her."

"That's a start."

"She says that she's coming to see me today."

"That's good." Doug agreed.

"What do you think I should do?"

"You are asking the wrong person. I am just now getting my relationship with Jack back on track."

"What would you do if you were me? I know that Jack's career is important to him. How do you deal with it?"

"My career is just as important to me as his is to him. We make time for ourselves. Let me remind you that you do not have a toddler taking away from your time with Joey."

"No, but I did have to compete with Dawson when we were younger."

"And the two of you made it through that pretty well."

"I don't see it that way. I went off the deep end. I had to get leave the country to get away from it all." Pacey pointed out.

"I was talking about your relationship now."

Pacey hadn't thought of it that way. She had finally made up her mind and chosen him. That had meant the world to him and was the incentive he needed to fight for the relationship.

XXXX

Joey walked through the kitchen talking to different people as she passed them. She put a gentle hand on Eugene's shoulder as he read through a recipe book and he smiled in greeting. The hostess from last night, Maci had told her that Pacey was in the kitchen, helping with the prep work.

Pacey came out of the walk-in; seeing Joey immediately. She smiled in greeting as he set the boxes he was carrying on the island.

"Eugene, can you get this bread in the warmer. I also need the scallops put on to boil."

"You got it Pacey."

Pacey took hold of Joey's hand, pulling her out of the kitchen and into his office. She sat in the same chair as the night before and he pulled the chair next to hers closer to her.

"I never should have talked to you the way I did last night. I know that your career is important to you and I support you one hundred percent. I feel like you don't support me as much as I support you." he accused.

"You knew getting into this relationship how important my career was to me." she said in defense.

"Can't you meet me half way? I want to make this work. Isn't what we have together important to you?"

"Yes what we have is important to me and I am sorry that you feel that I don't value it as much as you do." she apologized.

"What are we going to do about the situation we are in?"

"I can lesson my work load, I can work from home there aren't that many things that I can do about my job."

"See about lessoning your work load. That would be a good start. You are the most important person in my life, you keep me sane. I don't want to lose you." he pleaded.

"I don't want to lose you either." she agreed.

"Come here." he said pulling her to him.

She sat in his lap, letting her body mold to his. He wrapped his arms around her waist then rested his chin on her shoulder. She didn't let her guard down very often. He rubbed her back soothingly as she tried to control her breathing. She did have a lot going on and she knew that she was in jeopardy of messing up everything that she had worked so hard for with Pacey. She needed to work just as hard at their relationship as she did with her work.