Chapter Twenty-One - Pacey's P.O.V.
"Joey wait! Where are you going? Come back, I love you!" Dawson cries as Joey pulls me from the hallway.
As soon as we are clear of Dawson's earshot I pull Joey close and hug her tight. I can feel her shaking. I have no idea what he said to her before I got there, but whatever it was it obviously has her upset.
"Baby, come here. It's alright." I try to sooth her rubbing her back; calming her fears with my touch.
"Pacey." she sobs against my shoulder.
"Jo, I have to know what did he say to get you so upset?" I ask worried that he tried to hurt her.
"He's crazy, he wouldn't listen to anything I was saying. He just kept going on about how he was moving back here, and starting BU in January. He said he needed time to think things through; which is why none of us have heard from him, and now he's decided that he wants to be with me. He thinks that stupid kiss last summer meant something, that it was a sign that I wanted to be with him, that we belong together." She rushes out in one long breath.
"Sh, Baby, everything's going to okay. Dawson just needs to realize that, that kiss meant nothing more than good-bye, that were together and happy."
"Pacey can we talk about this later? Please? I just went to spend a pleasant evening with my friends and family. I don't want anything to ruin tonight."
"What ever you want baby." I agree but the look I give her tells her that we will finish talking about this later. Taking her hand I lead her back to our table, where we are greeted by curious and concerned looks from our friends.
"Is everything okay?" Jen asks.
"Yeah, we just ran into Dawson, it was a little overwhelming." I say still holding onto Joey's hand under the table.
"Really, Dawson is here? Where is he? It's been forever since I've heard from him. How's he doing?" Jen asks excited about catching up with an old friend. When neither Joey nor I say anything Jen becomes worried again. Its written all over her face.
"Jo, what happened? She asks quietly.
"Now Jen, lets not ruin what will hopefully be a wonderful evening." Joey whispers back.
"Hey, Bess." I greet my future sister in law, smiling at her reassuring her that her sister is fine. "So I see you got this little monster dressed finally?" I say tickling Alex who is in the booster seat beside me.
"Yeah, finally! He kept taking off his shoes, and when I finally got those on he decided he didn't want to wear his jacket."
"Alex, is this true little man? Were you being difficult for your mom?" I ask trying to lighten the mood and take attention away from Joey.
He just smiles up at me and laughs before slapping his hands together. Small talk is going on around the table, and soon Joey is smiling and laughing. The evening progresses and all too soon we are heading back to the B&B. I let Jack drive so I can sit in the back with Jo and talk to her.
"So." she says snuggling in next to me for the short drive.
"Yeah." I pull her closer and tilt her face up to look at me. She smiles and I have to kiss her, let her know that I love her. I brush my lips against hers whispering words of love as I do so. Resting my forehead against hers I stare into her eyes and listen to what her heart is telling mine, we remain like this until we get home.
"Alright, you two, we're home." Jack teases as he pulls up in front to let us all out before going to park the truck over with all of the other vehicles.
"Jo, how you doing?" Jen asks now that we are alone
"I'm better. I don't know what I would have done if Pace hadn't come to look for me."
"What did Dawson say or do that upset you so badly?"
"He cornered me back by the washrooms, and kept going on about us being soul mates. Jen he thinks that kiss back before he left meant something. He's moving back and plans on going to BU next month." She explains. I can hear her getting upset again and move to comfort her.
"Oh my God!" Jen cries, realizing that Dawson is back to where he was over a year ago when Joey and I first got together.
"Jen, I think he's losing his mind, there was something in his eyes that really scared me. He looked at me like I was his possession. I really thought he was going to hurt me. I've never seen Dawson act the way he did tonight." Joey continues.
"This could be really serious, he could hurt someone."
"Yeah I know!" I say.
"So what are you guys going to do?"
"Jen, what can we do? I tried talking to him. I told him the truth. I even showed him my ring. He thought we were joking."
"I want to talk to Gail and Mitch, see if they know about any of this. Maybe they can talk some sense into him, at least find out why he thinks that him and Joey have a chance. I know he was my best fiend for years growing up but I'm not going to let him hurt Joey in any way, he can't go on believing that she belongs to him."
Jen just sits there, her hands over her mouth as she worries, and thinks things over in her head. Jack comes in and sees all of us sitting in the living room. He walks over to Jen and places a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Okay, what I miss?" he asks cautiously.
"Basically Dawson's gone crazy, he thinks Joey still loves him and wants to be with him. Oh and he's transferred back east for next semester, he's going to be at BU." I say.
Jack just stares at me for a minute collecting his thoughts, before speaking.
"But if all of this is true then why haven't any of us heard from him since he left?" he asks.
"He has issues!" Joey says bitterly from across the room.
"Well Duh! We all knew that, but I thought he'd moved on." Jack says.
"Apparently not." I say quietly moving across the room. We all sit silently in the dark for a while.
Suddenly Joey screams, "Damn you Dawson Leary!"
Grabbing a picture off the mantle and throws it across the room, the glass shatters as it hits the wall and falls to the floor. Joey slumps against the wall defeated and slides to the ground sobbing. As I rush to her side I notice that it's the picture from Graduation, the one where Dawson has his arm around her. I notice the expression on his face and really start to worry.
"Jo, there's nothing we can do right now. Let's go to bed, we'll deal with this in the morning." I tell her. Lifting her into my arms I carry her towards the bedroom. I look back at the two faces in the living room and let them see how worried I am.
"Pace, why?" she asks.
"I don't know." I sigh as I lay her on the bed and start to remove her clothes, getting her ready for bed. Once I get her into her pajamas I put her in bed. Stripping down to my boxers, I climb in beside her and hold her close.
She sleeps fitfully most of the night, and all night I watch her. Twice she wakes up screaming at Dawson, screaming she would never love him, never be with him; both times I hold her while she cries. Finally exhaustion catches up to her and she falls into a deep peaceful sleep. Around six I get up and make myself some coffee, now nearly an hour later I'm sitting at the kitchen table thinking about what I can do.
"Morning Pace, you're up early." Bessie says entering the kitchen.
"Technically I'm up late."
"How is she? I talked to Jen last night, she told me what happened."
"She's sleeping now, earlier she was having nightmares. Something he did or said really scared her. Bess can I ask you to do something for me today?"
"Sure Pace whatever you want."
"Take Joey out, get her mind off this. Go dress shopping or something. Her and Jen were supposed to have a female bonding day today but I think she needs something more."
"You got it Pace, what about you? How are you doing?"
"I've been better. He threatened my fiancee and I'm going to do all I can to fix this. I'm going over to the Leary's and talk to Mitch and Gail see what they know."
"Be careful, no matter how upset she may be right now she'll be even worse if she has to worry about you too."
"Don't worry Bess, I can take care of myself."
We continue talking for a few more minutes until a very tired looking Joey stumbles into the kitchen.
"Pace I woke up and you were gone so I thought I'd get some coffee. I was wondering who I could hear out here talking." She gets her coffee and crawls into my lap kissing me quickly.
"How you feeling?" I ask.
"Tired." she mumbles into my chest.
"Are you still going out with Jen today?" Bessie asks casually.
"I guess, why?"
"Well things are quiet around here today, and I thought I could tag along make it a true girls day out. We could go dress shopping?"
Instantly she smiles. I know that she has wanted to go shopping for her dress for a while now, and hopefully she'll take Bessie up on her offer.
"Yeah Bess, you can come with us. We'll have fun."
"Well, as fun as that sounds I've got some stuff to do today so Im going to go shower, that is if you're sure you're okay." I say.
"Yeah Pace, go do your thing. I'll see you this afternoon."
I kiss her softly before moving to get ready to go see the Leary's.
At the door of the house I once felt comfortable with walking in unannounced I raise my hand and knock for possibly the first time in my life.
"Pacey! It's good to see you again." Mitch says opening the door for me. "If you're looking for Dawson, Gail just sent him to the store for a few things." He continues.
"Actually, Mr. Leary I came over hoping to talk to you and Mrs. Leary about something."
"Oh well, in that case come on in."
"Thanks!" I say as he heads towards the kitchen where Gail is baking cookies. I follow reluctantly.
"Honey," he says getting her attention, "Pacey's here. He wants to talk to us about something."
"Hello Pacey, its good to see you again so soon. Where's Joey today?"
"The girls are all out bonding. They went for breakfast and then dress shopping."
"So Pacey, what can we do for you?" Mitch asks, offering me a cookie off one of the plates.
"Well I wanted to talk to you about Dawson. He bumped into Jo before dinner last night. He said something I don't really understand, and it upset Jo. I was hoping you would be able to explain it to me."
"What did Dawson say?" Gail asks.
Um, well he said that he's transferring back east and is going to be attending class at BU starting in January."
"WHAT?" Both say loudly, surprised by what I just said.
"Thats not all. He's under the impression that Joey is in love with him, and that with him back here they can finally be together again."
"Are you sure about that?" Mitch asks.
"Unfortunately I am. I overheard part of their conversation. He doesn't believe our engagement is real. He thinks Joey is just saying it to punish him for not being in contact with her since he left for California."
"Oh my! Mitch I'm worried. Why don't we know about any of this?" Gail asks, her voice tight.
"I don't know, but when our son returns we are going to talk about this."
"I'm sorry for worrying you, but my main concern if for Joey. If anything were to happen to her I don't know what I'd do. I just wanted to know if you were aware of any of this."
"Pacey, thank you for bringing this to us." Mitch says.
"I think I'm going to go now. I'd appreciate it if you could let us know what you find out. Dawson's going through something and I think he needs some help." I say heading for the door.
"Of course we will, I just want to see all of you happy." Gail says.
"Thanks, I'll talk to you later." I walk out of the house and head towards town. As I walk I wonder what is going on in Dawson's head.
Later I'm sitting on a bench over looking the frozen water lost in thought when someone sits down beside me. I look up and see that its Jack and he's holding out a cup of coffee for me.
"Hey man!" I mumble taking the warm cup.
"So what did Dawson's parents have to say about all of this?" he asks.
"They had no idea any of it was going on." I say staring straight ahead.
"That's not good."
"I know. Dawson has always been a little off ya know, but I really think he's lost it. I think he's capable of hurting her if things don't go his way. Last night he was really out of it and Jo woke up twice screaming like he was hurting her."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know, but I have to protect her; she doesn't deserve to be hurting like this."
"Maybe Mitch and Gail will be able to talk some sense into him."
"I hope you're right Jack, I hope you're right."
"So you want to get out of here? It's getting late, the girls should be back soon." He asks.
"Yeah, I guess." I stand and notice that it is starting to snow.