Disclaimer:
Pacey: Donna does not own Dawson's Creek. She just wishes she did.
Jack woke to hear Amy jabbering in baby talk through the monitor. He rolled over in bed with a heavy sigh. Today was Amy's second birthday. It broke his heart that Jen wasn't there to see how fast Amy was growing. Her personality was starting to come out and he was proud to tell everyone that she was exactly like Jen. She was a mix of sweet, funny, compassionate and stubborn all mixed into one.
He had given Andy free reign to plan the birthday party that would happen that afternoon. He hadn't had the time or the heart to do it. He still expected Jen to come bustling through the door and demand that he give her the baby back.
He hadn't talked to Doug in over a week, not since he had left the house after their last disagreement. He didn't see anything wrong with Dianne watching Amy. It saved him from having to pay for daycare. The Witter's were finally starting to accept that they were together and then Doug had closed himself again because of some snide remark from John. Jack had never liked him anyway so the problem had been blown out of proportion.
He threw his legs over the side of the bed, not able to hold off the start of the day any longer. He made his way down the hall to Amy's room, smiling as the little girl sat up in bed as soon as she saw him.
"Yack!" she exclaimed excitedly.
He shook his head, laughing on the inside. Jen had thought that it was hilarious that Amy couldn't pronounce Jack when she was little. No matter how many times he tried, the little girl always said 'Yack'. He was going to miss it when she finally started calling him Jack.
"Hey, Pretty Girl," he said crossing the room.
"Amy, Pretty Girl," she said proudly.
"Yes, you are," he praised.
She learned something new every day. It baffled him how much more verbal she was than when she had first gotten there. It had taken a few days for her to warm up to the idea of living with Jack, but after the first week she was like a sponge, constantly mimicking him.
Jack was getting her dressed when the front door opened.
"It's me," Andy called from the front of the house.
"Hey, you," Jack called.
That had been their greeting since they were little kids. It never got old. Andy came to stand at the door and Amy waved a pudgy little hand in greeting. Andy waved back with a smile. Jack looked over his shoulder once he finished, giving his sister a wide grin.
"How are the two of you doing?" Andy asked in greeting.
"Fine, I'm thinking about moving. This place is too big for the two of us. There's too much for her to get into."
"I told you that this place was too big for one person when you were thinking about buying it. Doug isn't living here?"
"He won't give up his apartment. Sometimes I think he won't do it so that he has an out if we don't work, like he's expecting us to fail. I haven't talked to him in over a week."
"What's going on?"
"Dianne wants to watch Amy while I am work."
"That's very generous of her."
"Doug doesn't think it's a good idea. John has been giving him a hard time," Jack said rolling his eyes.
"So you two fought about his dad again? Don't you get tired of him putting his dad first?"
"I do," Jack said solemnly.
"Maybe it's time to let Doug go," she reasoned.
"No. Not while I've still got some fight left in me," he said with determination.
"That's what I was hoping you would say," she said with a smile.
"Why do you always have to bait me?" he asked darkly.
"I have to keep you on your toes somehow. I need to get everything ready, so you need to get her out of the house for the next few hours," she said sternly.
He picked up Amy and carried her to the car. Andy followed them, kissing each of them before going back into the house. Jack planned on taking Amy to Jen's grave for a little while before going to see Gram. Amy would probably be ready for a nap by the time they got home. That would give Andy a couple extra hours to get everything ready.
XXXX
Joey sat on the couch at the B and B marveling at the changes that had been made. This was only the third time that she had been home in five years. Every time she came she found something new. Bodie had mentioned that they were thinking of adding on but she hadn't expected the changes to be so drastic. There was a crew installing a staircase in the front room that would lead to the second floor. Bessie had mentioned that there were days that they had to turn people away because they had no room. Joey and Bessie hadn't held high hopes for this place when it was first opened. Their mom had always said to aim low so that when things turned out better than you planned the element of surprise would be even sweeter.
She felt bad now for trying to discourage Bessie from opening the house to the public in the beginning. She wasn't the naysayer that she used to be. Years of living on her own had made her jaded. Pacey's coming back into her life had made her realize that she wasn't living the life that she wanted.
Something hit her in the face bringing her out of her reverie. She pulled the dish towel off of her head to give Bessie a dirty look. Bessie stood against the entry way with a smug grin on her face.
"What?"
"I had the same look on my face for a good year after Bodie proposed to me."
"Why haven't the two of you gotten married?"
"Why want to wait until the time is right. Things are so chaotic right now that I don't have time to plan a wedding."
Joey nodded in understanding before looking down at the ring on her finger. Bessie had noticed it as soon as she had come in. It was like it had called out like a signal to Bessie and her eyes were drawn to it. She had set up Joey's old room without question when Joey mentioned that Pacey would be staying there too. He didn't want to deal with his family right now. He may not be the cause of it, but his parent's house was a war zone and he didn't want to be caught in the middle of it.
With everyone in town it seemed like the town was buzzing with activity. Dawson had mentioned that he had run into three people in one day that they had gone to school with. All of them had tried to make plans with him and he had begged off, explaining that he was only in town for the weekend. Andy had mentioned that she had gone out for a drink with Toby and his boyfriend a few nights before and said it was like being a teenager again.
Joey doubted that she would have invites to go out with anyone that they went to school with. She had secluded herself from pretty much everyone outside of their circle when they were in school much like Pacey had. It felt good to be home nonetheless.
A pair of hands kneaded her shoulders and she tilted her head back to see Pacey looking down at her. He gave her a crooked smile before brushing her hair behind her ear. He smelled of sawdust and paint but she wasn't going to turn him away. He stopped massaging her shoulders and let his arms rest on the back of the couch.
"Why did you stop? I was enjoying that," she asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"Because I'm about to ask you to do something that I don't want to do," he said with a sigh.
"Did your parents invite us over for dinner?"
"They want to celebrate our engagement."
"I think that's a nice idea," she agreed.
"Mom said that we could invite whoever we wanted, so I brought up Jack and she bulked," he said with a shake of his head.
Pacey had been the first of their friends after Jen to accept that Jack was gay. Of course he would want to defend him. Pacey and Gretchen were nothing like the rest of their family. They had stopped letting their father dictate their lives years ago.
"We should do something. Jack came over with Amy a little while ago and he looked miserable. Talk to Doug, please?" she pleaded.
Talking to his older brother was not on his list of favorite things to do but he would do it because he wanted Doug to take a stand against their dad for once. He deserved to be happy just as much as anyone else did.
XXXX
Jack was dressing Amy in the dress that Andy had bought her for her birthday while people trickled into the house in groups of two and three. He heard Gail, Dawson and Lily from the entrance way. His mind was still on what had happened when he went to see Misses Ryan. Evelyn had been sick for the past week and the head of the retirement community was talking about sending Evelyn to a rest home if things got worse. That was the last thing Evelyn would want. She had been upset that she was missing Amy's party but she had asked Jack to take lots of pictures. He was surprised to find Helen Lindley in his living room when he came home.
Amy had refused to go down for a nap without a story from Helen. Jack had been surprised that she remembered her. Once Helen had seen Amy her eyes had welled with tears which she brushed away quickly explaining that the little girl looked just like Jen as a baby.
Someone knocked lightly on the open door and Jack turned his head to see who it was. Joey was leaning against the door frame with her arms folded over her chest.
"Where's Pace?" he asked, picking up Amy.
"He'll be here in a little while. He had something he had to do while he was in town," she explained with an easy smile.
"How are things going for the two of you?"
"Great. But that isn't what I wanted to talk to you about," she said her features turning serious.
"What did you need to talk to me about?" Jack asked confused.
"Could you let someone watch her for a little while, what I have to say would be better said if you didn't have a buffer," she explained.
"Hey, Bessie can you come here?" Jack called.
"Yeah?" she asked, coming to stand next to Joey.
"Would you take Amy? I need to talk to Jo."
"Sure," she said taking hold of Amy's hand and leading her out of the room.
Jack led the way to his office and Joey sat on the couch with him at the other end facing her.
"You and Doug need to decide if you are willing to make things work," she broached.
"I can't if he won't talk to me," he mumbled.
"Pacey is taking care of that," she promised.
"Why do you care so much?"
"Because you and Doug pushed us until we realized that something needed to be done or we would end up resenting each other. Do you want that to happen to you? Again?" she asked pointedly.
"No. I want to make things work, I do. I can't tell you how many times I have reached out to him. I can only be pushed away so many times before I give up,"
"Don't do that," she pleaded.
"Thank you for caring so much," he said closing the gap between them
She opened her arms and he fell against her. He buried his face in her neck breathing deep. She rubbed his back, feeling the tension in his back and shoulders melt away beneath her touch. Someone cleared their throat from the hall and Joey met Doug's gaze with a sympathetic smile. She pulled away from Jack and he gave her a confused look. She pointed over his shoulder and he turned to look. He looked at Doug from underneath his lashes as Joey crossed the room.
"It's good to see you Jo. You get more beautiful every time I see you," Doug praised.
"Can you tell your brother to say that every once in a while?" she teased.
"I'll see what I can do," he said with a polite nod.
Joey closed the door once Doug walked into the room. She saw Pacey at the end of the hall with Alexander tugging at his pants leg, pleading with him to take him outside so that they could play catch.
"It's forty degrees outside, and you want to play catch?" Pacey questioned tentatively.
"It's not raining," Alexander said with a shrug.
"Tell you what, how about we set up the Wii in Jack's room and we play baseball in there?"
"Sure!" Alexander said enthusiastically.
Alexander bolted down the hall and Joey had to dash to the side so that he wouldn't mow her down. She looked up to see Pacey watching her with a smile. She exhaled a shaky breath as she pushed her hair out of her eyes.
"You handled that pretty well," she praised once her heart rate returned to normal.
"You sound surprised," he said, pretending to be hurt.
"I'm not," she said with a shake of her head.
"So are they okay?" he asked, gesturing to the closed door across from her.
"I hope so."
He draped an arm over her shoulder leading her to Jack's room at the end of the hall.
"So, would you like to see your nephew kick my butt at baseball?"
"Absolutely," she said with a breathy laugh.
Half an hour later Alexander tired of playing and Pacey was grateful. He was losing six to two. Everyone had arrived and Andy called everyone into the living room to get the party started. Gretchen helped her round up the younger kids so that they could play a game and the older kids followed Gail and Joey to a makeshift craft table where they could make t-shirts to take home.
Once the kids were wrapped into their project Gail put a hand on Joey's to get her attention.
"I wanted to congratulate you on your and Pacey's engagement. I'm sure your mother would approve."
"She always did have a soft spot for Pacey," she said with a chuckle.
"Mother's usually know who is right for us before we do," she said wisely.
Joey nodded as she noticed Andy making her way across the room. She stopped at the table to stand in between them.
"Gail could I trade places with you? I haven't had a chance to talk to Joey yet," she asked politely.
"Of course," Gail said before kissing Joey's temple.
"It's funny, we were both in town for the holidays and yet we were too busy to see each other."
"We haven't seen or talked to each other since graduation. You made it clear that you didn't want to keep in touch with the letter that you wrote me," Joey said sadly.
"I regret writing that stupid letter every day. Thank you for respecting my wishes."
"Why did you write me that letter?"
"I was bitter. I could tell that Pacey cared for you a great deal more than he ever did for me. You made him into a better person," she whispered.
"You had a hand in the changes he went through. He wouldn't have stood up to his dad if it weren't for you," Joey reminded her.
"Yes, that's true, but you made him finally decide what he wanted out of life. He followed you to Boston Jo," she said, her voice wavering.
"You mean he followed all of us to Boston," Joey corrected her.
"He went there because he wanted to try to work things out with you. He would never admit it unless you asked him. Please don't tell him that I told you."
"He never told me," Joey said in astonishment.
Joey looked across the room to where Pacey sat with Dawson and Bodie. She had thought that nothing could shock her when it came to Pacey anymore. She remembered back to her freshman year of college to think if there had been anything that would have stopped Pacey from telling her how he felt. She'd had an affair with her professor and then Charlie had happened, but only after Pacey started hooking up with Aubrey. No wonder Pacey had kept the information to himself.
"I'm glad that the two of you were able to get a second chance. Second chances don't happen very often, so don't waste it," Andy cautioned.
Joey nodded in understanding as Andy announced that it was time to play another game. Joey stood off to the side watching the kids play Pictionary. Pacey came to stand next to her and she took his hand silently. He squeezed it gently, not taking attention away from his sister and Dawson. They were talking on the couch. It looked completely innocent; there was a good foot of space between them so there was no reason for him to worry. Yet he was.
XXXX
Joey and Bessie were cleaning up after everyone left when the phone rang. Andy answered it then called for Jack.
"It's someone from the retirement community," she explained when he came into the room.
Jack listened to what the person said but didn't say much else after picking up the phone. He placed the phone on the receiver with a weary sigh.
"Jack? What's wrong?" Joey asked.
"Misses Ryan died an hour ago. I was the person she put down as her contact when she filled out the paperwork when she moved in," he said, distraught.
Joey crossed the room to wrap her arms around him. Andy came to his other side and mimicked Joey's stance. They all knew that she wouldn't live much longer, but they hadn't expected her to die so soon. She was the only family that Amy had left that she was close to and now she was gone. Jack didn't know how he would explain it to her but he would answer whatever questions she had when the time came.
Bessie and her family, Gail, Lilly, and Gretchen left without a word. Doug took Amy to her room and settled her down with a movie. The friends needed to comfort Jack without a lot of people around. It was like none of them had been apart.
