True to his word, Pacey refused to let Joey work on True Love that day. Instead she set up a makeshift art station on the dock. Pacey had originally planned to continue his work below deck, but he quickly decided being that far away from Joey was simply unacceptable. He made himself busy with tasks above deck, which allowed him to frequently look in Joey's direction. Every time he did he fell more in love with her: the way her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she made movements on the canvas; how her lips settled in an adorable pout; and how she kept putting her hair back behind her ears because the breeze from the sea had dislodged it from its place. She was gorgeous, talented, and happy. Pacey was quickly discovering that there was nothing more attractive than a happy Joey Potter. Sure he loved to banter with her, and found her wit very sexy, but carefree Joey was most amazing. Since the insurance check had arrived, there was an unmistakable twinkle in her eyes. Pacey was quite certain his eyes were twinkling too, but it had little to do with reimbursement.

Joey had created a pretty comfortable set up on the dock next to True Love. She had been staring at the blank canvas in front of her for about 20 minutes before feeling inspired to actually create anything. It was not a coincidence this was the same amount of time it took Pacey to join her on deck. He hadn't said anything when he walked up the stairs, but smiled warmly at her. This was enough to cause Joey to hold her breath wanting to savor the moment. Pacey turned his attention to adjusting the deck rail. Joey found herself admiring his hard work and dedication. He had turned his heartbreak into something beautiful, which was no small feat. He was very deliberate, and thoughtful with every action he took restoring True Love. Given that Joey had grown up with the impulsive, often short-sided boy that Pacey used to be, she knew this represented a major shift for him. She truly appreciated the mixture of spontaneity, and thoughtfulness that he currently exhibited.

Joey carefully observed Pacey's movements deciding she felt most inspired by his presence. She began quietly sketching him while he worked. She had drawn the outline of the deck when Pacey took off his jacket to roll up his sleeves. Joey remarked that it was unusually hot today as she noticed a small bead of sweat trickle down the side of his face. She blushed slightly as she began to draw the outline of his body. Joey had come a long way since sketching a nude Jack, but this was different. She had watched Pacey work before, but drawing him in the process was strangely erotic. As the drawing progressed she became less anxious, and intimately familiar with Pacey's features. She utilized shading to show how the sun shined on him making the front of his wavy hair appear lighter, and her finger to smear the crease in his forehead that indicated he was concentrating on his task. Joey was also concentrating on her work, which is why she didn't hear the footsteps approaching.

Doug coughed trying to make his presence known, but neither Joey nor Pacey heard him. "Hello, Joey," he finally said from behind her. Startled, Joey almost dropped her drawing into the water. She looked up to see Doug smiling at her. A wave of embarrassment came over her as she tried, unsuccessfully, to hide the drawing from Doug's view.

"Hey, Doug," Joey said sheepishly.

"Sorry to interrupt," Doug began. "I just wanted to stop by to tell you that the Fraternal Order of Police agreed to help provide labor for the B&B."

Forgetting her prior embarrassment, Joey jumped up. "What do you mean?" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah, sorry, Jo. I didn't want to say anything about it until I heard back from Doug, but sounds like the police fraternity … or whatever it is they call themselves … are gonna help with the remodel for the B&B," Pacey explained.

Returning to her cynical ways, Joey asked skeptically, "Why would they do that?"

"Because we think it's a worthy cause, that's all," Doug responded with a smile. "Not to mention my little brother is very convincing."

Pacey chuckled, "Having cops in the family may finally come in handy."

"Well, I'll let you guys get back to what you were doing," Doug said pointing toward Joey's drawing. "Joey just let us know when you want us, and we'll be there."

"Thanks a lot, Doug," Pacey said joining his brother on the dock to give him a pat on the back before he headed to his patrol car. Pacey then turned his attention to Joey. "What are you working on there, Potter?" he asked noticing a half-covered drawing lying next to her art supplies.

"Oh nothing. Here, how about I help you with the deck rail?" she responded anxiously.

"Are you done with your drawing?" he asked.

"For now."

"OK. Since I helped find you some free labor, I'll accept yours," Pacey smiled as he hopped aboard True Love. He held out his hand to help Joey join him. "Jo, I want you to know that I would never look at your work without your permission. I do hope you'll want to share it with me when it's done though."

Joey suddenly felt at ease. She was surprised to find that she completely trusted Pacey. Somehow she knew that he was being honest with her, which was especially impressive because a curious boy had burned her before. "Will do, Pace," she agreed with a smile.

The pair worked quietly for a while. After completing the deck rail at the bow, they sat on the dock to take a break. "Water, miss?" Pacey asked handing Joey a bottle.

"Thanks, Pace," she said before taking a long drink. "Did Dawson talk to you at the party at all?" Joey asked.

"Yeah," Pacey grunted intending to hide his displeasure better than he actually did.

"What happened?" she queried.

"Nothing," he tried lamely. Joey was clearly not buying it. She crossed her arms in front of her, and stared at him expectantly. "Fine," he said submitting to her stubbornness. "He talked to me while you were leaning on the tree, and I went to get you water." Joey nodded her head recalling the events Pacey was referring to. "He said that he found it 'strange' that I would bring you to the party and then 'sneak off' with you after you were drunk."

Joey's face instantly clouded with anger. "He said what?!" Pacey opened his bottle of water, and took a long drink preparing to observe what looked like a classic Joey rant. "But it was my idea to go to the party! I asked you to go with me. It's absurd to somehow suggest that you're corrupting me. I make my own decisions. Not to mention the insinuation that you planned to take advantage of me while I was drunk. I tried to take advantage of you, for God's sake. Has he forgotten that he is not my boyfriend anymore? I will kiss whomever I want, whenever I want," she said resolutely.

Pacey paused to ensure that she was finished, at least for the moment. "Jo, I know those things. I reminded him that you're stronger and smarter than that."

"He owes you an apology," Joey stated conclusively. Pacey considered her statement for a moment. He was used to her opinions and rants. They were something he liked best about her – she always argued from a really beautiful, pure place. What he wasn't used to was her sticking up for him, especially not against Dawson.

"Honestly, I think he was just upset that we didn't invite him. And maybe a bit jealous that we were there together," he suggested.

"Maybe, but we can't keep making excuses for him, Pace."

Pacey nodded his head in agreement. "He's going to freak when he finds out about this," he said pointing between them.

"Maybe not," Joey offered choosing denial.

"No?" Pacey questioned raising his eyebrows suspiciously. "Let me tell you a little story, Joey. Remember our extra credit project from hell?"

"Yeah, you killed our specimen because of your twisted snail ménage a trios. So?"

"Remember that was the night I first kissed you," Pacey explained. Joey nodded her head remembering their less successful kiss. "Well, I actually asked Dawson's permission before doing that."

"His permission?" Joey asked clearly not amused.

"C'mon, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. You guys always had this long, tortured subtext together, and I didn't want to be stepping on any toes. You know … guy code," he explained.

"How enlightened," she deadpanned.

"Well, the point is that he wasn't OK with it. At first he said there would be nothing better than his two best friends kissing, but 10 seconds later he did a complete turnaround. Only to retreat back to saying it would be fine."

"OK, so maybe he won't be fine with it," Joey admitted. "I think we should probably figure out what we think before worrying about Dawson."

"Really?" Pacey asked surprised at her suggestion.

"Yes. I mean, it wasn't so long ago that I thought I couldn't stand you, and now here I am kissing you," she confessed.

"Not just kissing me, but liking it," he added.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Witter."

"You like it. Admit it," Pacey instructed as he closed the gap between them.

"Meh, I suppose your kisses are satisfactory," she teased.

"In that case, we should probably not do it anymore."

"Probably not," Joey agreed. "We might have been great."

"Now we'll never know," he continued.

"I think we'll survive," she said with a smirk. Then they were kissing again. Finally coming up for air, Joey asked, "What do we do now?"

"Kiss some more?" Pacey suggested with feigned innocence. Joey rolled her eyes at him, but laced her fingers through his. "Let me think …" he said trying to focus on something other than how good it felt having Joey this close to him. "What if we didn't tell anybody else until after we get through the jar? That way we'll have some time to ourselves before we go adding other people's feelings into the mix."

"That's actually a good idea, Pacey," Joey said after considering his proposal.

"Don't act so surprised, Potter. I'm full of good ideas. You just don't usually stay quiet long enough to actually hear them."

"It's hard work to shift through the tiny nuggets of useful things mixed in with all the other crap you spend most of your time talking about, and usually it's not worth the effort," she said turning away from him.

"So we work through the jar questions, and go from there?" he asked for clarification.

"Yes," Joey agreed.

"And what about kissing? Is kissing allowed in the meantime?"

Joey shrugged, "I suppose some kissing can be allowed. No PDA though."

"I can agree to that," Pacey said. Joey stuck her hand out to shake, but Pacey shook his head. "We should probably kiss on it. Seems most appropriate." He stifled her laugh with a kiss.