Joey looked panicked, "What happened to Dawson?"

Jen tried to reassure her, "Nothing bad, in fact it's great. Dawson woke up."

"What?" Joey and Pacey said at the same time.

"You heard me, he woke up." She paused to explain, "Mr. Leery was in there visiting him and then all of a sudden nurses came flying in and Mr. Leery came out a second to explain."

"That's great, when can we see him?" Joey asked as she looked towards Dawson's room.

"The doctor just went in to see him, so it shouldn't be too long."

"Well," Joey said, "I've waited all night, I can wait a few minutes."

The sun was casting rays of light in the waiting room and Pacey was glancing at his watch when Joey came out of Dawson's room. Mr. and Mrs. Leery and Jen had already visited him and now it was Pacey's turn.

He stood up and turned towards Joey noticing how tired she looked, "How is he."

"He looks better, but you should go see for yourself. He was asking for you." Joey smiled for the first time since the ordeal began and patted her stomach in a peculiar way. Just the sight of her smile made Pacey's heart race. "You better go and see him."

Pacey nodded in response and went into Dawson's room. He walked over to the bed where Dawson lay with his eyes close. So Pacey pulled up a chair, much like Joey had the night before.

"Hey, D-man."

Dawson opened his eyes and smiled weakly at Pacey, "You're the only one who calls me that."

Pacey grinned at the comment then he became serious with his next question, "How are you felling?"

"Oh, like I just got driven off the road."

"Sorry, stupid question."

"It's okay," Dawson said attempting to reassure him, "I'm just a little bitter and my whole body aches. Not a good combination."

Dawson spoke again, "I'm really trying to find that silver lining in all of this. I guess the fact that all four of us are together again is a good thing. We haven't been together since before college, I'm mean me and Joey talk, but I have to find out about you through Jen. Our lives are so different now."

"It's called growing up Dawson and since your 28 years old I thought you would be over this by now," Pacey paused reflectively, "but I know what you mean. Me and Joey were really good friends and I haven't seen her since my wedding."

Dawson searched Pacey's face for a glimpse of what he was feeling. "How is Stacey?"

"You are the fifth person to ask............ we're divorced."

"I'm sorry, Jen didn't tell me."

Pacey shrugged, "I didn't tell her." He stood up to leave, "you need your rest and I need to change clothes so I'll be going."

Dawson nodded, "Okay. But Pacey............ tell her."

Pacey looked at him stunned. "What do you mean?"

"You don't fool me, while watching all those movies in high school I became quite perceptive. Besides me and Joey are best friends and I know about your conversation at the wedding."

Dawson's smiled at his friend loving the fact that the tables were turned. "Listen, she may not know how you feel, and she will have reservations about getting into a relationship with you, but it's obvious to me just make it obvious her, okay."

Pacey just smiled and walked out of the room as his friend closed his eyes and went to sleep.

"No Jen, I can just get a hotel. This is Capeside Land of Bordem, I doubt if many people are registered."

Joey had an exasperated look on her face. Bessie, Bodie, and Alex had moved to New Jersey where Bodie's parents lived and there were more job opportunities. Jen's grandmother had passed away a few years back, Jen had kept the house, and now she wanted both Pacey and Joey to stay there with her.

"I have enough rooms besides, it would be nice if-."

"What would be nice?" Pacey asked as he walked up to them.

Jen looked at him, "I'm insisting that Joey stay at my house. I told her that I had already asked you and it would be nice if were all together." Jen turned to Joey and gave her a pleading look.

Joey looked at Pacey in hopes that he would come to her defense, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine," Joey said in a tight voice, " I'll stay at your place."

Jen smiled triumphantly and turned to talk to Pacey. Joey wondered how she was going to deal with another night so close to him especially knowing that there could never be anything between them. *Not anymore,* she thought pushing her hair behind her ears. That was the reason why she didn't want to stay at Jen's house. She was contemplating going back on what she had said when they both turned towards her.

"I'm going to stay here with the Leery's for a while, so you and Pacey can go to my house and get settled in the guest bedrooms." Jen said and Joey was about to protest when she spoke again, " I can take Pacey's rental car, even though I shouldn't and you can take him in your car."

Joey shook her head, "No, we can wait for you."

"You told me that you wanted to freshen up and I may be here for a while, so go." Jen had been directing them out of the door with each word she spoke.

Joey gave up when she noticed that Jennifer had basically shoved them out of the room and headed to her car, making a mental note to kill Jen later.

The hospital was about twenty-five to thirty minutes away from Jen's house. Joey drove in silence trying to keep focused on the road ahead of her. Yet she was acutely aware of the person next to her.

"Do you mind if I turn this on?"

Joey glanced to the right, seeing Pacey point to the radio.

"Sure"

She turned back to her driving and heard the fragments of different DJ's words as Pacey flipped through the stations. As he kept going through them, her whole body became tense from being near to him. Finally Pacey settled on to a station that was playing a song by a band that she didn't know.

Joey listened half-heartedly, but grateful that there was something to eat up the silence. But Pacey wasn't going to let her off that easy, yet he didn't want another incident like in the cafeteria.

"What have you been doing these past seven years?" He turned to look at her inquisitively.

Joey quickly glanced at him with a longing in her eyes, "Nothing much, just getting through each day. But even that is hard sometimes. And I've made my share of mistakes"

Pacey continued to look at her, this time there was a sadness to his voice as he asked her another question. "Are you seeing anyone?"

She gave him a half-smile and a sarcastic tone, "What do you mean seeing anyone? I see you right now."

"You know what I mean."

"Yes," she said sadly, "but that's over now."

They were on Capeside's Main Street and the sun was shining through the windows as they stopped for a red light.

"There was someone else," Joey said as she finally looked Pacey in the eyes.

"What happened?"

She lowered her voice and averted her eyes, "he didn't love me."

Pacey put his hand on her, "I'm sure he did."

"How can you be so sure?" She was looking into his eyes again searching for an answer.

"Because there is no one else like you."

He looked into her eyes with the same longing trying to signal his feelings without saying a word.

Joey was the one to end the gaze as the light turned green. "He may have never said that he loved me, but his actions spoke loud enough............ so I moved on."

Her tone implied that the conversation was over as the drove the rest of the way in silence, but the music played on.

How did you like it? Whatever your feelings, feel free to tell me. I thrive on constructive criticism so send some e-mail.

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