TEASER

The camera pans from the people walking down a crowded street in New York (despite the early hour) to a cafeteria window. In the far corner, almost invisible to the people that pass by, we see an unidentifiable couple kissing, causing him to chuckle. The girl has long brown hair, and is sitting in his lap, running one hand through his nape’s hair, the other one grasping at his shoulder as she breaks the kiss and laughs. His hands are around her waist, playfully pushing her closer to him.

We see a mature man sitting in the bar stool watching them for a moment, smiling to himself and presumably remembering what it was like to be that in love as he hands the waiter the money for the bill and the tip.

As he leaves we go back to the couple, still kissing until the woman breaks away, letting us see that it’s Joey, breathing heavily and resting her forehead against Dawson’s.

“Okay I really have to go now,” she laughs, taking a deep breath and smoothing her hair down. “And I’m sure we are getting everyone’s attention by now” she says, glancing over her shoulder, but no one is really looking at them.

“No one can see us, we’re almost hiding behind the curtain.”

Joey laughs as Dawson lifts his hand from her shoulder to bury it in her hair, like he did that night in her dorm, so many years ago. It was a caress that stayed printed in her mind, and every time he made that simple touch to her, she would shudder and hold her breath. Dawson kows this because she confessed it to him while they were in L.A (he was, once again, amazed that she was able to recall such little, tiny details about them), and that is exactly why he is doing it.

“Okay one more kiss and I’m outta here,” Dawson smiles, noticing her reaction and nipping at her neck.

“No, no, no, you said that five minutes ago and this is my first breath of air since I said okay,” Joey laughs, swatting him away, relenting eventually, for him to kiss her cheek, then standing up as Dawson does the same, they both with big grins in their faces.

“Pick you up after work?” Dawson asks, sliding his arms around her after leaving the money on the table.

“Sounds good, I’ve missed you the last few days. Too much work if you ask me,” she says, kissing his forehead.

“I know, I’ve missed you too. I’ve missed us,” he says softly as they lean foreheads once more. “That’s why…” he is saying, his hand going to the back pocket of his trousers, ready to kiss her again, when his cell phone rings.

Joey raises her brows and bites her lips in a mocking defeated gesture. Dawson sighs softly as he takes the cell to his ear.

“Tell me Robert.”

Some nods and a-has follow as he sends Joey an apologetic look. Joey just smiles and shakes her head, in an ‘it’s ok’ gesture.

“See you later,” she mutters, kissing the corner of his mouth, Dawson turning instinctively for more as he nods, but she is already skipping down to the door, trying not to bump into a group of people who is entering the place at this moment.

“Yeah, I know,” Dawson follows her path until she is out of his sight and sighs as he sits down “I said it will be ready by tomorrow, and it will, don’t worry about it.”

We see Dawson taking from his trouser whatever it is he was going to take out earlier, when Joey was still there. A smile creeps to his mouth as he plays with the keys to his loft in his hand.

“Robert, I’ll call you in a minute. Just tell Patrick that it’ll all be done in time.”

With that, he pressed the end call button and rushes to the door of the café.

Lost in her thoughts, we see Joey skimming down the street, absorbed in her own world. The feel of someone’s hand on her shoulder causes her to spin around, ready to face and kiss Dawson yet again.

But her smile slowly disappears when she turns to see not Dawson but Chris, her former boyfriend and near former fiancé standing in front of her, with a bitter smile on his face.

“Hey Joey, that smile sure disappeared fast,” he snaps, folding his arms across his chest.

“You surprised me Chris…it’s been awhile,” she says softly, feeling terribly uncomfortable.

“Yeah, it has been awhile. About a year I think, since you broke up with me over the phone for no reason after dating for two years and living together for almost a year,” he says coldly.

“How have you been?” she asks, trying to downplay his comment.

“Better, now that the anger and bitterness toward you is just about gone, you?” he says with a smile. And not a very gentle one.

“Fine, how’s the family?” she asks weakly.

“Good, they miss you, couldn’t understand how you got away or why you would do something so high-school like break up with me over the phone and cut off all contact,” he says, seeing her squirm.

“I’m so sorry Chris, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Joey sighs, shifting her purse.

”I know Jo, I just wish I could actually believe you,” he and a moment of silence follows. “I should get going though, call me sometime, you seem to love sharing news over the phone.”

Joey’s about to say something else to him but he’s gone, causing her to hang her head and rubs her temple with one hand, feeling horrible about how things ended between them and the way their current conversation had just gone.

With a deep sigh, she turns to leave, her mood dampened, to go back to work.

It’s only when she’s gone that we see Dawson standing at the door of the deli, which is half a block from where Joey ran into Chris. He had been watching almost the whole exchange and his brows are now furrowed, a serious look on his face. He looks down to his hand, where the keys still are. Looking at where Joey had disappeared, he puts them back to his pocket with a pensive face.

Slamming pots, sizzling grills, the barely contained chaos of the restaurant. The kitchen gleam with the sparkle of stainless steel and the bright colors of the vegetables and edible flowers dot the wooden preparation tables and varied dishes that are being prepared.  It is controlled chaos though, if there is such a thing. 

“Well, seems as if it’s all good for today,” thinks Pacey, feeling satisfied and content with the activity in the kitchen. Not as much with Brecher´s attitude. As he had already predicted, it hadn’t changed at all. But he was doing what Andie advised him: taking it easy, keeping himself out of his way and seeing if things calmed down with time.  

“Witter!” yells Brecher, who is entering the kitchen at that very same moment. 

‘Speaking of the devil’ Pacey thinks.

“What the hell are you doing?” Brecher continues to yell at him as he looks at all the supplies and food in preparation on the table. 

Another day, another hassle, sighs Pacey inwardly. His strategy doesn’t seem to be working that well after all.

“Hey Brecher,” says Pacey forcing a smile on his face. ‘Take it easy, don’t play his game, keep it cool’ he reminds to himself.

“I told you that you have to be the top of your game to be part of my team,” says Brecher with some impatience. “But Witter, you’re just not cutting it,” he continues. 

“I am,” Pacey replies, annoyed that he is questioning his work.

“No, you’re not.” Brecher says defiantly, both men standing face to face, Brecher at one side of the table, Pacey at the other. They both seem to be about to jump at each other’s neck. Pacey´s knuckles are white.

“Then, tell me what you want me to do,” responds Pacey evenly. 

The rest of Brecher´s kitchen staff shift uncomfortably as they quietly watch the exchange in between the two men. It’s been like this the whole week, and each day the discussions are just worst. Seems to them as if Brecher is putting more and more pressure each time on Pacey, waiting for him to explode. But somehow, he never does.

“This,” he says, taking some of the carrots Pacey had just supervised and given as good, “is crap.” Brecher says, throwing to the trash a work that took Paul almost an a hour to do. “This,” Brecher says taking this time a spoon and getting closer to the kitchen, taking a spoon of soup from a casserole, “looks like dirty water to me” he adds, turning on the fire and walking towards Pacey again.

“You just messed up the work of more than two hours,” Pacey says under his breath and through his clenched teeth, but still, trying to keep his composure.

“And I’ll do it again and all the time I need to do it until you get it right.”

Brecher looks at Pacey, as if seizing him. As Pacey remains silent, Brecher speaks again triumphally.

“You know what I want you to do.  So just do it,” he says, staring right into Pacey´s eyes, almost spitting his words before he turns to leave. 

Pacey sighs heavily and closes his eyes briefly. It’s just what he needs, more public humiliation. But still he takes a deep breath and turn to the people of the kitchen, who is looking at him with expectation, waiting for the new orders.

“Ok mates, I’m sorry for this.  It won’t happen again. You have my word” he says, as he starts giving instructions again to redo everything Brecher just threw away.

The kitchen follows Pacey´s commands without arguing or complaining. They know that Brecher unfairly criticized Pacey.  They like Pacey, he is a fun guy to hang out with, but Brecher is the boss and this is starting to become a very hard situation for all of them. In their opinion though, Pacey needs to learn to put up with Brecher´s request for “favors”. That’s the way it works. The way it always works everywhere: the boss is the boss, and you play by their rules, or you got it bad.   

Calmly, Pacey exits the kitchen and walks to his office. He sits down and sighs, looking through the window.

‘This is so over’, thinks Pacey.

Meanwhile, at the studio of the new show, New York.

Dawson, already sucked into the affairs of the day, is in his office on the phone while typing something in a computer at the same time. What he saw that morning practically gone from memory.

Practically, but not quite.

It was bound to happen eventually, Dawson considered. He had long ago accepted that there were other people Joey had been involved with besides him, just like he had been involved with other people as well. He didn’t get upset about it. It was just a fact of life.

It was just that he didn’t like the whole tone of the scene he had seen from afar. It seemed tense, something still floating in the air. Or maybe not. Maybe it was his imagination? Because actually, what does he know about this guy? Joey had told him the basics, and he had seen a few pictures that she had eagerly thrown away before he even had the chance to say that it wasn’t necessary. ‘I’m not gonna look at them anymore anyway’ she had said.

So he knows that name is ‘Chris’. Yeah. The guy she dumped right before Jen passed away. The guy who was going to propose to her.

And why hadn’t she called to tell him she had met him? He was used to geting one or two calls from her during the morning, to tell him whatever silliest thing that had happened to her that day. ‘Just so you get a little distressed’ she always jokes.

“How many rewrites is this now?” Dawson asks into the phone. “I count at least three. We start shooting in a few days, so I expect to have the final copy in my hand by tonight. I don’t care if it’s on a Subway napkin… just get it done!”

He hangs up the phone, sighing.

“That was professional, Dawson!” he mutters to himself.

He knows it isn’t fair to take out his frustration on somebody else. But it was true after all; they need to have the final script revisions done as soon as possible.

He reaches into his pocket for a pen, but instead comes up with a piece of paper. It is a note, folded in two. It is from Joey.

Dawson smiles as he starts to read it. Already his mood is shifting. It isn’t anything big, just a general ‘enjoy your day and don’t forget to buy me (or send some of your work slaves to buy it for that matter =) ) some bath soap. I kinda finished it the other day’ letter.

How is it possible she can still do this to him with a simple letter? Maybe it is because it made him recall the smell of the soap in the bathroom whenever he stepped into it as she was having a shower or right after it. It was vanilla and it was so… Joey. It just felt so good, to enter the bathroom and see her toothbrush in there, her hairbrush as well, and how he laughed at her when she brought all those cosmetics and pomades she would apply almost each night. ‘Hey, a girl has to do what she has to do’ she complained while applying some mascara to her face as Dawson was leaning on the doorframe, his arms crossed and laughing. ‘So the moment has come. I just know that some time from now on, I will have to call you Josephine. I love you Josephine’ he had said, and had burst out laughing as Joey threw him the towel.

“Oh lord!” Sam exclaims behind him, rolling her eyes at the daydreaming look in his face and after reading the note over his shoulder without Dawson noticing. “That’s wrong, very wrong Dawson. She just came back to your life and she is already organizing it.” She says with a mischievous smile. “And the worst thing” Sam adds as she notices the goofy smile in his face, shaking her head as if he is helpless. “You seem not only to enjoy it, but to rejoice on it. Why don’t you just marry her already and get it over with?”

Dawson chuckles and smiles at her as he goes to sign some papers an assistant is handing to him at that moment.

“A little abrupt, don’t you think?” he inquires, reading the papers over and nodding his head after signing them. The assistant nods as well and leaves.

“So?” Sam asks. “She’s good for you. Ever since you started going out, you’ve been smiling a lot more. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. Or the rest of the people working for you, for that matter. Except for Johnny, who’s in fear for his life right now.”

Dawson bit his lip.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he apologizes.

“Oh, don’t worry about it” Sam assures him, with a smirk. “He needed to be taken down a peg.”

Dawson laughs and Sam looks at him with attention.

“What?” he asks, sitting behind his desk and putting an innocent face on.

“Come on, don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it. I’m sure it has passed through your twisted mind once or twice” Sam says as she seats in front of him and hands him a few piece of papers.

”The press notes for publicist and newspapers?”

Sam nods her head but she doesn’t let him go away with it.

“Dawson?”

He sighs and looks at her faking exasperation.

“Ok, I’ve thought about it. But” he says, holding up his hand when he sees Sam’s gesture of triumph “not in the way you think. What I’ve been thinking about for the last week is something much simpler but also as important. I’ve been wanting to ask her to move in with me. We practically live together, but I want to make it official, you know?”

Sam nods her head in silence as Dawson keeps on going on, more like debating with himself than actually explaining anything to her.

“I know we’ve been together for hardly three months, but it feels just so… natural. To go home at the end of the day and find her there, or find her notes everywhere, or to walk around the house and find some of her editing notes, or the shirt she didn’t know where she had left in one of my drawers by mistake. And we work fine together. We complete each other.”

“But? There is a ‘but,’ right? Otherwise, why would you be listing all the reasons why you should ask her?”

Dawson thinks about this for a moment.

“It’s not really a ‘but’. I mean, we’ve been sleeping together since we were 7 years old till we were 15, and even after that as well,” he laughs and Sam smiles, “so I don’t think it can be rushed to ask her to share the bed officially. There was a time when it was just natural for me and Joey to share a bed. And it feels like that again”. ‘Only that this time it is so much better’ he thinks to himself. “And I’m sure of this. I’m sure of what I want and who I want. But maybe now is not the right moment to ask her”

“Why not?” Sam inquires, surprised he is saying that.

“I saw her talking with that guy Chris this morning. It looked tense and filled of emotion from where I was standing. And she hasn’t even called to tell me about it”

“Ok, hold that boat. Who is Chris?”

“Her ex boyfriend, the guy she lived with here in New York before Jen died and the guy that she dumped.”

“I see,” Sam says calmly, trying to read Dawson’s expression. “So what’s the problem? That she met Chris or that she hasn’t called to tell you?”

“Both I guess. As weird as this may sound, I think it was easier to see her with Pacey because I had been there before, and Pacey is my friend. But this guy is new to me, and the feelings he inspires me are totally different. I don’t know who is he or how he is, or who… I could be competing with. Because what if he wants her back in his life?”

“Are you serious?” Samantha asks, her mouth hanging open.

“I know, I know, it sounds crazy, and I don’t wanna feel like this. I already did once and it wasn’t pretty. But that’s how it goes. I am with her now, and that’s how I want it to be. And if I had to fight for her again, I more than likely would.” He says, kinda surprised at his own words and the intensity even he can hear in them.

“I don’t think it is wrong to feel like fighting for what you want Dawson. Just as long as you know the limits. I don’t think you have to fight though. You’re just being jealous right now, and a little insecure as well. But I guess it is normal, knowing the track record of the girl. I mean, no offence, but even she has told me about it”.

“Has there been any girl bonding that I haven’t heard about?” Dawson asks, arching his eyebrows jockingly, but Sam just shrugs her shoulders. “Yeah, if we’re being totally honest here, I guess is because of that. I think maybe I am afraid that I am being the one dumped this time.” He stares of the space reflecting on his own words “But you know, even as I am saying that out loud, I don’t believe it. I know that this is the real thing. I always knew, and I am sure she knows too. I just wonder why she hasn’t called me to tell me about it.”

“Dawson, you really overanalyse things, don’t you? And it takes away a lot of the fun. So forget about it and just do what your heart tells you to do. If you wanna ask her to move in with you, just do it. Don’t waste your time pondering about this or that, just live your feelings to the maximum. Enjoy the moment. It’s you and Joey, and I swear I’ve never seen any other couple as much in love as you are. So she hasn’t called you to tell you she bumped into an old ex? So what? Probably, because it doesn’t have much importance. Or maybe because she is being caught up in work right now, like we all are for that matter” she says, standing up ready to go.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m just being paranoid, letting old memories and feelings take over. Thanks for listening.” he adds with a smile.

“No problem you fool,” she replies, smiling back as she walks to the door.

“I’ll let you know about the notes as soon as I read them,” he says to Sam as she waves her hand to him while exiting the room.

Then his eyes go to the note Joey wrote and a little smile appears in his lips. Still smiling, he leans on his chair and pick up the phone. Sam is right: carpe diem.

“Hey Marcia. Is there someone who can do me a little favor?. Actually, a couple of them.”

"Mr. Johnson can see you now," the secretary tells Jack, shaking him out of his troubled thoughts. He has been sitting in the lobby for a few minutes, thinking about Jen and the current situation with Amy, not to mention of all the papers he will have to correct once he is back at high school in the next few days.

"Thank you," Jack smiles, gets up and walks towards the office.

Well, one more moment of truth. One more moment of having to face the chances of getting Amy back or not. Encouraging himself, he takes a deep breath before opening the door.

Just like the first time they met, Bryce is sitting behind his desk and he stands up the moment Jack enters the room to greet him.

"Mr. McPhee," Bryce says as he extends his hand, his voice resounding firm and strong in the place.

"Mr Johnson," Jack says, less upbeat.

"Please, have a seat," Bryce points him the chair and they both sit down.

The lawyer goes through some papers, making some time in true dramatic lawyer style (or so thinks Jack at least) as Jack feels his heart beating faster and faster each passing second. He knows whatever reason Bryce called him in for today probably wasn’t good news. Not the way things have been going for him. He looks over at the other chair beside his own, and his is surprised when his thoughts go for a moment to Doug, and for a second his face saddens as he wishes Doug were there by his side.

The lawyer coughs and Jack’s attention goes back to him.

"Mr. McPhee, I called you today because I had something to tell you and I didn’t want to make it over the phone," he begins. “Well it seems our earlier suspicions were in fact correct.”

Jack swallows the knot that has formed in his throat, knowing what follows next.

"Mrs. Lindley." He offers, and Jack closes his eyes tight feeling as if someone had knocked him in the stomach. "Seems like she’s in fact the one behind the investigation of your guardianship over Amy. After the baby was in the hospital, Mrs. Lindley started to work with her lawyers and asked for clarifications, finally pushing the whole foster parents thing".

Jack grits his teeth in anger. Anger over Helen, anger over Amy being in the hospital in the first place, anger over everything going wrong in this new turn of events.

"Damn it," he curses under his breath. "I should have known she was behind this," he says as he stands up and paces across the room.

"The important thing here is that you stay calm and keep a clear head about all of this." The lawyer says, moving his hands with his palms down.

"I just..." Jack stops and sits down again. "I can’t believe she’d do this. Jen knew the best person to raise Amy was me. That’s why she gave Amy to me and not Helen." Jack can’t believe Helen would do something so selfish.  He understands the want and need to be close to the only thing left of Jen, but not to take Amy away from her home. From Grams. From her family.

"Well, now what we need to know is where our chances are standing. I’m sorry to tell you that since Mrs Lindley is a relative of Amy, with direct blood linking - she is her grandmother - while you’re not, she has some good chances to make it.” He says as he hands him some papers.

We see the two men going through the papers as Bryce explains some of the concepts and statements on them to his client. Jack listens and occasionally makes some questions.

When they’re done, a moment of silence fills the room as either of them speaks,

“Jack, I think it’s a good idea to contact someone from your previous meeting in N.Y," Bryce says.

"You think. What good would that do?" Jack asks, a little confused.

"Just to get some moral support. I know you may have friends for that, but it may do you some good to talk with someone who has or is going through a similar situation as yours," he explains.

Jack nods, knowing he is right even though he feels more worried now then he did before he entered the room. He couldn’t let Jen down; he wouldn’t. He looks up at Bryce and forces a smile.

“Will do then,” he says, “I think I still have some phone numbers with me.”

“Well then, I’ll be holding some meetings with Mrs. Lindley´s lawyers during this week and the next one. I’ll keep you updated.”

They both stand up and shake hands once more, and then Jack walks to the door, his hand in the knob when Bryce calls him.

“Jack,” he says, using his name for the first time, ”I know things seem to be bad, but let’s not lose hope. This is just starting.”

Jack nods his head, wishing he could believe him, as the rage grows inside of him

We can hear a man yelling into the phone, his office door slightly ajar. Pacey is standing a few feet from it, his chef’s hat in his hand, taking several deep breaths, just staring at the door. Looking down wistfully at his hat, he takes another deep breath before stepping up to the door and knocking. A man pauses his phone conversation and yells, “come in,” which Pacey does.

“Hey Danny do you have a minute?” Pacey asks nervously, holding his hat tightly.

“Witter! Yeah come on in,” Danny yells, telling the person on the phone he’ll have to call him back. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something, something that’s not really easy for me to say,” Pacey says, trying to put the words together that he wants to say.

“Oh man that sounds serious,” Danny says with a mocking smile, reclining back in his chair.

“I’m giving you my notice Danny, I’m quitting the restaurant,” Pacey says, looking up to see the blank expression on Brecher´s face.

“What? You’re joking right?” he scoffs.

“No I’m not,” Pacey says softly. “I didn’t want to do this Danny but I can’t work here anymore, not with you. When you offered me this job I thought it was the start of really great things for us and for this place, the dreams and opportunities we had in front of us, but not anymore.”

“And why’s that?” Brecher asks, crossing his arms as if what Pacey had said is the funniest thing ever. “If there’s a good reason behind the huge stupidity you’ve just said. Don’t tell me that you’re quitting just because I have been a little hard on you lately Pacey. I didn’t know you were this whiny,” he says with certain despise in his voice “It’s just for your own good.”

You can't hide
behind social graces
so don't try
to be all touchy feely
cause you lie
in my face of all places
but I’ve got no
problem with that really

“No it’s not, and you know it as well as I do. The way you’re treating me has nothing to see with my own good. The way you’re treating me has to see with my disagreement to play your game and do all the things you want me to do. The way you’re treating me has to see with the fact that I won’t applaud or laugh at your behavior as maybe you expected me to do.”

“My behavior?” Danny asks. “Who are you? A fucking school teacher?”

“No. I’m just a man who wants to change. I started already.”

“Oh, Saint Pacey. And getting rid of probably the best opportunity of your life is part of the process of maturity?

“If that implies lying, yes. Sure it is. The world is much bigger than this place Brecher, there are other possibilities out there,” he says, suddenly realizing that is true.

What bugs me
is that you believe what you're saying
what bothers me
is that you don't know how you feel
what scares me
is that while you're telling me stories
you actually
believe that they are real

“Aren’t you tired of being you? I mean, you’re not able to live for more than two months without letting your loser underdog side go out, are you?”

Pacey lets out a half bitter, a half amused laugh.

“You amuse me, man. Empty words. It seems that I’m the only one who’s been learning something constructive in the past months. You know what? Yes, I’m tired of always being the same person. And that has led me to make the same mistakes over and over again. Like working with you again. Didn’t this all happen before? But I went with the gut feeling that people change, that with time they get better, but they don’t. Well, you didn’t at least,” Pacey shakes his head, holding Brecher´s gaze. “You’re hiding behind a lie Brecher. Believe me, I’ve been there so many times. And I won’t let you to take me with you on it. I can’t let life pass me by this way. I won’t.”

Pacey turns around to leave the room.

“You know what Pacey? You’re a total failure.” Brecher snaps before he can leave.

And I’ve got
no illusions about you
and guess what?
I never did
and when I said
when I said I’ll take it
I meant,
I meant as is

Pacey shakes her head with a linger smile on his face. For the first time in a long time, he knows he’s not like that anymore. It’s not that you fail; it’s just that some things just can’t be, and you need to know when to move out of the picture.

He replies without even turning around. “You know? Maybe some months ago I would have believed your words, but I’m not that person anymore. I’m not a failure. I know it, and you know it too, don’t you?”

He is about to leave but he turns to face Brecher to add something.

Just give up
and admit you're an asshole
you would be
in some good company
I think you'd find
that you friends would forgive you
or maybe I
am just speaking for me

“You know the saddest part of all this Danny? You’re one of the most talented guys I know. If you could have just kept your hands to yourself and not mixed business with personal life, asking me to do things for you I wasn’t suppose to do, we could have really done something here. Maybe building a reputation and then branching off, opening locations in Louisiana or even nation-wide. Then we could just sell it and retire on the money, looking back at all the good times… but that’s not a reality, not matter how much I wanted them to be. I’m holding onto those dreams though, but it’s time to make that happen for me, to do this on my own, just like I should have done all along.”

Danny stares at him in silence, somehow shocked. He really thought he wouldn’t have the guts to quit. But he just did, didn’t him? He opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out, so he just leans back in his chair. Since Brecher says nothing, Pacey ends the conversation.

“Take care of yourself Danny, thank you again for this opportunity, it’s really too bad it didn’t work out.”

With a bittersweet but satisfied smile, Pacey waves and leaves the office, letting the door shut gently behind him.

Cause I’ve got
no illusions about you
and guess what?
I never did
and when I say
when I say I’ll take it
I mean,
I mean as is...

We see Pacey leaning on the door, looking down at the hat squeezed in between his hands. Slowly he releases the grip on it and smiles before walking away with no regrets. When it is over, it is over and that is something he has finally learned very well in his life.

Helen Lindley almost jumps off her seat, as the door to her study swings open. She’s not that surprised though when she realizes that the person who barged in unannounced ends up being Jack McPhee.

“What the HELL are you trying to pull?!?” he demands.

“Mrs. Lindley,” a remorseful secretary enters following him “I’m so sorry, I couldn’t stop him. I have already alerted security”.

“It’s ok Maxine, I know Mr. McPhee and I’d like to talk to him alone please. Don’t pass any calls or let anyone enter the office,” she demands firmly, not afraid at all. Maxine in the other hand seems to be a little annoyed, while Jack is just waiting for her to leave them alone.

Helen nods her head in a ‘there’s nothing wrong’ gesture and finally Maxine leaves, sending confusing glances in between her boss and Jack.

“Wanna take a seat?” Helen asks calmly and politely while Jack keeps breathing hard and flexing his free hand in a fit on and off

“What are you trying to do??” he exclaims, ignoring her offer.

“What are you talking about?”

Jack throws a folder onto the table. The papers his lawyer gave him start to spill out immediately.

“It was you!” he spats. “You’re the one who’s trying to take Amy away from me?”

Helen’s upper lip suddenly became still, as she stares Jack in the eyes.

“She’s my granddaughter!” she reminds him, cold as an iceberg. “You can’t take away what rightfully belongs to me!”

“Belongs to you?” Jack inquires, not believing his ears. “She’s a person, Helen! Not a piece of your… elegant furniture!!” he exclaims, gesturing around him at the impeccable furniture that fills the place. “You don’t own her.”

“Neither do you Jack. You’re not her father, so stop pretending you are!” she screams out, the tension between the two of them growing at each passing word they throw at each other.

“Yes, I am” Jack almost spits, pointing himself in the chest. “I am the father. Not biologically, but morally and sentimentally, I am her dad because Jen chose me to be.” He exclaims, putting emphasis in his words. “And there’s nothing you can do about that”.

Helen breathes deeply, trying to regain her composure. Someone has to.

“Jack, be reasonable. Don’t you think it would be better for Amy to be with her real family?”

“I made an oath to Jen!” he yells to her, annoyed at her passive aggressive ton, and hoping that that fact finally enters her brain. “I promised I’d look after her. And Grams is her family too”

”Grams is old Jack” she explains to him as if he was a little kid who you’re trying to learn that he shouldn’t put his fingers in a plug “Soon she won’t even be in her right mind. Who left the window open, huh?” Jack’s blood boils at the mention of that, remembering how bad and guilty Grams had felt because of that for weeks.

“How can you talk like that about your mother? And you want me to give my daughter to someone like you?”

“I don’t hold it against her”, Helen adds, ignoring the offence “I’m just saying it like it is. My mother is growing old and she can’t take care of a baby, and that’s a fact.”

“Whatever she is capable of taking care of Amy or not, you’re not the person who has to decide that” he replies aggressively, angry that she is talking of his grams like that.

“Of course not dear” Helen replies with glacial courtesy. “That’s what Social Services are for”.

A loud silence after all the yelling fill the room as Jack realizes defeated, that notthing is gonna change this woman’s mind.

“What was I supposed to do, Jack?”

“You could have asked me!” he explains, frustrated. “You could have trusted me with the truth instead of going behind my back!”

“And what difference would that have made?” she says. “You still would have fought me about it. Jack, you’re a good man. You’re honest, and Jennifer loved you terribly. But I just don’t think your lifestyle would make you a suitable father.”

A look of horror crosses Jack’s face.

“And what would you know about being ‘suitable’?” he spats, his voice dripping with bile and disgust. “All throughout high school, Jen didn’t even want to know you! You virtually disowned her! You made her hate herself. If you think for one moment I’m going to let you do the same thing to Amy…”

“I don’t think you have a choice,” Helen cuts him off.

Jack becomes so angry once more that the veins in his forehead begin to show.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he whispers. “I can fight you! I don’t care if I have to go all the way to Washington…I will not let you take Amy. That is a promise!”

He spins around, and starts to walk away.

“Jack wait…” Helen calls to him, trying for the last time. “Please be reasonable! Listen to me…”

“No, you listen!” he replies. “I always thought Jen was over exaggerating about you. That it was all a misunderstanding. That you were scared, or that it was your husband’s doing. There were a few times I considered the notion that she might have been right…but the one thing she never accused you of was being a bigot!”

And with that he leaves, slamming the door behind him.

“Damn it!” exclaims Joey, burying her face in her hands and combing her hair with her fingers exasperated. 

“Cursing so early?” inquires Ethan with a smile. He is sitting in front of her as usual, reading some papers. “I don’t think it’s even 9:00 a.m. yet,” he continues. 

“I didn’t know that there was a no cursing restriction in the morning,” Joey retorts. “It’s just that I left my notes on the novel I’m editing at Dawson’s place yesterday, when we went there for lunch.” She tries to ignore Ethan’s funny look and blushes lightly. “I’m going to have redo the work I did unless Dawson can bring me those notes from home,” sighs Joey, looking through the bunch of papers she has in her desk in a last try to see if the notes are somewhere in there.

But they’re not.

“Can you wait a minute, I just need to call Dawson and then we can discuss the structure of the short story collection”, she says, nodding to the papers in Ethan’s lap as she reaches for the phone.

Ethan waits patiently as Joey dials Dawson’s phone number.  She taps with her fingers on the table waiting for Dawson to pick up the phone, but all she gets is the busy tone. Bip bip bip.

“Just great” she sighs, stressed out. “Ok, so let’s start with this anyway” she says as she motions Ethan to hand her the revisions and notes that he had brought and she starts to review them. 

Ethan looks at her with curiosity. She seems to be tense, as if something is bothering her.

“So how crucial are these notes anyway?  I can’t imagine you really got all that much work done at Dawson’s while you two were… eating,” teases Ethan, hoping to make her laugh or something, so she can relax. 

Joey can’t help but smile.  He’s right, she didn’t write a thing. Since they knew they couldn’t be meeting that night or even the next day at all because Dawson would be in the studio filming some general shoots in a frantic pace, they agreed to meet at least for lunch that day. ‘A romantic, intimate lunch at my house. Just you and me, being quiet and boring’ Dawson had said. She had laughed and of course, accepted. And of course, one thing lead to another, and…

“Shut up Ethan,” she says, realizing she has zoned out for a moment and that Ethan is staring at her with a malicious grin in his face. 

“So I’m guessing that you and Dawson are becoming, dare I say, cliché domestic? You know, the whole ‘his home is my home now’ phase of a relationship,” inquires Ethan

“Yeah, I think we are” she says, a sweet smile in her face. “And is weird, you know? I hadn’t pictured myself like this with him in years. But then things happened, I took the blind off and nowadays, I can’t imagine it any other way. To go home at the end of the day and to find Dawson there… is something I dreamed of for so long so many time ago,” she says, her voice trailing to these days at college, when the thought of Dawson leaving Boston had perturbed her so much.

“So now what?” Ethan asks.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, are you going to take the next step? Are you going to move in with him, or him with you, or… what?”

Joey bites her lower lip, a new light in her eyes, glad that Ethan brought that subject up. She puts the papers he handed her before aside and leans her arms on the table, playing with her fingers as she speaks.

“Actually… I don’t want him to move in to my apartment. But I was thinking… I’d really like to move to his. But maybe it is too soon? I mean, I don’t wanna make him feel pressured, you know? Things are going well the way they are now. Maybe we should wait? You’re a guy, what do you think?” she inquires, waiting for Ethan’s answer.

Ethan sighs and accommodates himself in the chair.

“Well, anyone but you can really know. You two, for all I know, have such a history of bad timing behind you, that maybe now that time seems to be by your side, you might just go ahead and take this chance. I don’t think Dawson would feel pressured at all. But once again, only you can know that.”

“If it was my house, I would ask him in a heartbeat. But since it is his… I guess I’ll have to wait till he does.”

“What’s the problem with your house by the way? I guess his is bigger or something, but I don’t think he cares.”

“Oh no, is not because of that. It’s just that I wouldn’t feel right with him there, where Chris and Pacey have been before. I don’t know,” she shrugs her shoulders. “I guess I really want this to be a new beginning for us, so I want a new place as well to live what Dawson and I have.”

“I see” Ethan nods his head “It makes sense”

“But let’s not talk about ex-boyfriends,” she says, burying her face in her hands. “No, wait. Or maybe, we better do,” she says, resting her chin in the cup formed by her hands together.

“Chris seemed pretty upset when I last spoke to him. This morning”

Ethan’s eyes go wide. “This morning?”

“Yes. I met Dawson in a café near here to have breakfast together, and in my way to the office, Chris bumped into me by accident. He didn’t look very pleased to see me”

“Well, I’m sorry Joey, but I can’t say I blame him,” says Ethan. “It hurts when you’re the one who gets dumped, mostly over the phone, and after almost two years of relationship,” he adds softly. 

“I don’t blame him neither, it’s just that I hadn’t thought about him in a while, and seeing him today and the way he looked at me... it’s kinda sad. You know what he told me the last time I saw him? When he stopped over my apartment to take his stuff.” Ethan nods his head in a negative gesture “That ‘love is an addiction’ and that like everything else in the world, the novelty just wears out,” says Joey. 

“Yeah, I guess that’s what happens the greatest part of the times.”

For a moment they both remain silent.

“Have you told Dawson?” Ethan asks.

“Should I? I mean, is nothing big, just a casual encounter.”

Ethan nods his head, not wanting to influence in her decision, and goes back to the work in hand. Joey looks at him thoughtfully, then she goes back to work as well as she sees he is not going to add anything else. 

As she assured to Ethan, there’s nothing to say about Chris.

Just another crowded lunch scene in New York.

It opens with a busy New York deli, people pushing and yelling orders to the cooks behind the counters, waving money and waiting in line, slightly annoyed. In addition to the people waiting for food, we see people sitting at tables, reading books or the newspaper, absorbed in their own little world.

We see Joey, Dawson, Sam and Ethan sitting at table with the leftovers of the meal spread in front of them. Sam and Ethan are having a conversation, Ethan lightly stroking Samantha’s hand, Sam flipping her hair over her shoulder and talking to him. Joey and Dawson are sharing a dessert, taking turns feeding one another. Joey laughs at something Dawson says and he leans in to kiss a bit of chocolate on the corner of her mouth, left over from her last bite, which lead them to a lingering kiss.

“You two, get a room” Ethan retorts, breaking the moment.

“Oh, shut up Ethan” Joey says, rolling her eyes and leaning on Dawson, who just laughs and takes a sip of his drink. “Jack over here!” she waves her hand for him to see them since he seems to be a little disoriented after his call to Capeside.

He gets closer and sits in the chair between Dawson and Joey and Sam and Ethan.

“So how’s Amy?” Dawson asks, wrapping his arms around Joey’s shoulders, pulling her back against his chest. “Did you talk to Bessie?”

“Yeah I did, Amy even called me dad,” he says, proud of his baby and forgetting all his worries about it from the other week. “Bessie told me that Amy didn’t sleep very well tonight because of her teeth”, Jack says wistfully, motioning for a coffee from their waitress.

“Oh yes, they always have a hard time with that” Ethan says, which causes him a curious and half amused look from the rest of the table. “I’ve got little siblings,” he says, and everybody forgets his earlier comment.

“So… it won’t happen, but if it does…“ they all look expectantly to Joey. She takes a deep breath and decides to go ahead and pose out loud the question everybody has been thinking anyway “If the worst scenario happens and Helen gets Amy’s custody, do you think you would be able to visit her?”

“Well, with Bodie and Bessie I am able to go and visit anytime I want. I even stayed at the B&B a couple of days last week. Not more because I don’t want Grams to be alone at home. But I doubt Helen’ll allow me to do something like that. I’ll be lucky if I get any visits regime at all after my little interruption at her work today,” he says, rolling his eyes now that he is more calmed, and realizing how bad following that impulse can be for his case in the future.

“Well, when it’s time for Social Services to re-evaluate the case, just let us know and we can come make statements or do what we can do to strength the case. Our word has to count for something.” Dawson assures him. He knows that what Jack did and he related to them sooner while having lunch is not the best thing he could have done, but with the right lawyer, he is sure they can prove that Jack was in the middle of a crisis, frustrated… something. They’ll find a way to prove that he is never like that. Never. Hell, he can even explain how he punched him once and Jack didn’t even try to beat him back.

“Jack if you need anything, please let us know, we’d love to help as well,” Sam says, reaching to touch his hand affectionately.

“I second that,” Ethan adds seriously. “We might not know each other that well. Actually, we barely know each other. But an injustice is always an injustice, so if there is something that can be done about it, then I’m on it.”

“My hero,” Sam mocks him, causing everybody to let out a light laugh and distending the mood. Ethan just throws a paper napkin at her as she laughs.

“So what are you going to do now? Going back to Capeside or are you staying a little longer?” Dawson asks.

“Actually, I’m meeting with some of the parents from the HPA, (The Homosexual Parents Association) after lunch. You know, looking for advice, similar experiences and all that stuff. Bryce said it would help”.

“But you’re going to Dawson’s later, right?” Joey asks, knowing that he had stayed there last night already.

“Yeah, I will. Unless Dawson wants to kick me out,” Jack jokes.

“Not gonna happen,” Dawson says with a smile.

A beep goes then from Dawson’s cell, startling Joey, causing Jack to laugh.

“Damn!” Dawson exclaims. “I gotta go. I have a meeting in twenty minutes” he adds as he stands up and speaks to Sam. “I’ll be back at the office around 4, or so I hope. Make sure that Jhonny has those revisions ready or he’ll know my fury” he says, half joking, half serious.

“Yes, sir” Sam jokes, making a military salute.

“I’m going with you,” Joey says standing up as well. “See you later Ethan”

Ethan nods his head as the two of them leave.

Dawson and Joey reach the street and stop in there facing each other for a moment. Joey takes Dawson’s hands in hers and Dawson brushes hers with his thumbs.

“I called you several times this morning, but I always got your voice mail.” she whines pouting.

“You did? I’m sorry about that. I have been all the morning hanging on the damn phone. Didn’t even have time to check my lost calls. Did you have to tell me something?” he inquires, thinking that maybe she will tell him about Chris now? Despite his conversation with Sam earlier, he had been waiting all lunch for her to say something about it, but obviously it wouldn’t have been the right moment with their friends there.

“Yeah, I wanted to ask you if you would have had the time to go home and take some notes I left in there so you could give them to me at lunch, but I see you’re busy, and so I am, so it’s ok. I’ll work on that tomorrow and that’s all.”

Dawson nods his head, a little disconcerted.

“So that was all you wanted to tell me?”

He sees her bite her lip and how she becomes a little nervous. ‘It might be not that important’ or something like that Sam had told him that morning. But if so, why was she so nervous?

“Well, actually…”

‘Tell him. Just tell him’ she encourages herself. ‘Dawson, what do you think about me moving in with you?’

She looks at his expecting, serious face. He looks so stressed, and he sure is. With all the work he has right now, the last thing he needs is all the stress that also comes along with a moving. She sighs lightly and shakes her head.

“It’s nothing. Forget about it,” she waves her hand in the air and then kisses him lightly in the lips. “You better go or you will be late,” she smiles at him, removing her hands from his.

Dawson just stands there, pensive, but suddenly it blurts out, even though he knows it shouldn’t.

“So you’re not gonna tell me about Chris?”

Joey is petrified in her spot.

“What?” she exclaims, surprised at the question. How does he know?

“I saw you talking to Chris this morning, when you went out of the café. I thought that a meeting with your ex boyfriend would be something worth of mentioning.”

“Yes, my old boyfriend ran into me and we talked. You would think in a city of 2 million people the chances of running into your ex would be slim to none, but it seems like not.” Joey says, getting a little exasperated. So there she was, thinking about asking him to move in together, and all he was thinking about was Chris?

“I’m just asking because seeing you two talk, it looked kind of intense from where I was standing,” Dawson says, “so I was just wondering why you two were so tense, that’s all” he says, noticing her becoming upset and knowing he had just made a bad move.

“What is this all about Dawson?” Joey asks, now truly annoyed. “If you had something to say about it, why didn’t you just come up and asked me to introduce him to you? Is it that you were spying on me, expecting me to throw myself at his arms or something just because we had casually met in the street? How alike in the movies that would have been, right?”

“I didn’t say that,” Dawson states calmly, “I’m just saying that it seemed to me as something I would have commented to you if I had met one of my ex-s…”

“Well Dawson, maybe you would have commented it to me, but maybe I just don’t feel the need to comment everything that happens in my life to you,” she kinda yells, feeling how she is getting more and more upset each passing moment. Just two minutes ago, she was reuniting courage to ask him to move in together and now they are arguing.

She stops herself when she notices a few passing people staring at them as they walk by.

“You know what? Forget about it. This stupid and nonsense argument is over,” she says, motioning with her hands as she turns around and walks away.

“Just great,” Dawson says out loud, exasperated, as he walks the other way.

Jack is concentrating, walking in the mall along the aisle filled with toys, trying to think about something Amy would enjoy and she didn’t have already. He scans the shelves of toys, a lot of stuff already in his basket.

“Typical,” says the man with the curly sandy hair that is standing slightly behind him, following him around.

Jack watches him as he takes a little teddy bear in his hand and looks at it with concentration.

“What is typical?” Jack asks, puzzled.

“This,” and the guy motions to the selves. “It’s called guilty. Guilty for not being there with them. So you try to supply your absence with present so they know you love them, even though you’re not able to show it in a normal way.”

“Yeah, I guess you can call it that,” Jack agrees absently, grabbing the teddy bear from the man’s hand and watching him as he walks to the shelves in the other side of the aisle.

So Paul. Paul Jackson. They have both attended today the HPA reunion that Bryce had recommended Jack. Paul was there, just like he had been there the first time Jack had visited them after meeting with his lawyer in New York a few months ago. Although then Doug was with him. This time, just like before, he had offered Jack his support along with the rest of the group did. But once everybody had left, Pauk stayed and chatted with Jack for a little longer. When Jack commented he was going around town for the rest of the day, Paul insisted on going with him. Jack hadn’t protested.

“So, does it work?” Jack asks, walking to him, placing the teddy bear in the basket among the other things. “I mean, if I’m gonna spend all this money, I hope it is at least worth it,” he jokes.

“Well, sure it works at first. But the more time passes, and the older they become, the less effect it has. Actually, my father used to do that to me, since he was always out in business trips and stuff like that, and I hated it.”

“Kids are complicated, aren’t they?” Jack sighs, hoping he will get it right with time.

“Yes they are. I guess it is because we tend to forget we were once kids as well, and we are unable to put ourselves in their shoes. What is a shame if you ask me”.

“The lost of innocence, right?”

“Yeah.” Paul agrees softly.

“How old are your kids?” Jack asks.

“Mark is seven, Stephanie is five,” he answers as they walk to the cashiers to pay. “Mark is starting to make questions already. You know, about me, and why I have no girlfriends and things like that. It’s hard to explain to him.”

“I bet it is. Any advice you can give me for the future is more than welcome” Jack says as he puts the basket over the rolling belt and starts placing the toys in there.

“I’ll exchange advices for dinner. What do you say?” Jack smiles at him brightly.

Jack is startled and flattered. 

“Well, that’s if you’re not already seeing someone. It’s just that I didn’t see your boyfriend with you so I assumed… we can go out just like friends anyway,” Paul adds quickly, misunderstands his hesitance.

“There’s no boyfriend at the moment. We’re kind of… in a break.”

“Oh, I see. Well, either way, my invitation is still up”

“Thanks Paul. I’ll… I’ll think about it, ok?” Jack smiles at him.

Paul smiles back and relaxes.

“Ok.”

Jack takes off his credit card and hands it to the woman in the cashier, his face serious and pensive. 

We see Dawson sitting at his desk, reading the so awaited revisions he had asked to be done by today.

He is leaning in his chair, and his eyes drift to the phone in the desk, then back to the papers. Back to the phone. Sighing, he straights up and picks up the receiver, ready to dial the numbers and surprised to hear Joey’s voice in the other side of the line when he places it over his ear.

“Wow, that was quick. I think it didn’t even ring”

“Joey? I was about to call you.”

“Well, seems like I was faster” she laughs, and Dawson smiles.

“Joey, I just wanted to apologize, I should…”

“I shouldn’t have accused you of spying,” she interrupts.

“And I shouldn’t have pressed you to tell me. You’re right, you don’t need to tell me everything that goes on in your life.”

“But the funny thing is that I do Dawson, I do tell you. Everything that happens to me, everything that passes through my head, I can’t wait to go home and tell you about it. But with this... I guess I didn’t know how to approach it. I mean, if I mentioned it, maybe I was giving it more importance than it really had. Or maybe you would give it more important than it’s needed. And not mentioning it didn’t seem such a bad idea to me. I mean, it really was nothing but a casual meeting,” she reaffirms.

“I know. I think I just let jealousy take over. I have never met the guy, you rarely speak of him except these days we spent in L.A updating each other, and out of a sudden, and there he was, standing in front of you. I felt a knot in my stomach and I overreacted. It’s not that I doubted of you, it was more like… making him real. Until now he was just a name, or a picture, but not… real, you know? Not someone that could go back to your life.”

“He is not coming back to my life Dawson. He left it, and it was my choice for him to do that,” she stops briefly “and maybe my choices didn’t hold much weight before, but this time it does. There’s nothing between Chris and me anymore, there’ll never be. But seeing him again today… I was just thinking that I never gave him a proper goodbye” A beat “I’m gonna call him. I’ve been thinking about it and I really need to clear up some things with Chris.”

She waits for Dawson’s reply in the other side of the line.

“Dawson?”

“Yeah, I’m here” he says, as we see him leaning on his chair, tapping with a pen in the table. He leans forward, placing his arm over the desk. “I understand. Do whatever you need to do,” he adds softly.

In her own office, Joey smiles lightly as she twists the cord of the phone in between her fingers.

“I knew you would understand.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes it takes me a while, right?” he laughs softly.

“Just sometimes,” Joey jokes, trying to clear up some of the tension. “See you later, ok?”

“Yeah”.

“Love you.” she says softly.

“Love you too” he replies, a little smile on his face.

Dawson hangs up and rustles through his papers, pondering his conversation with Joey. 

He is still going around that idea he had for tonight, but he wonders if this is the right time. Today of all days, maybe he can wait till the air is cleared up, until Joey has done and thought about… about what? About Chris? Dawson leans back on his chair and stares off the space. It’s still the same, isn’t it? Waiting for the right time, for the perfect moment. Well, maybe that moment doesn’t exist. Maybe we are the ones who have to create it. How many things did he and Joey lose waiting for that? Things they never said, things they never did.

‘To the hell with it’ he says under his breath. He’s gonna make it. But he may need some help. ‘Now if only I could find that address’ he murmurs as he goes through some papers in the table. 

Joey sits alone at a table in the same cafeteria she had been with Dawson in that same morning. Noise all around her, she looks around once more. Nothing. She sighs as she starts to doubt if this was even a good idea. But before she can continue her train of thought, she sees him walk in and scan the room for her. His eyes stop as he locates her and begins to walk over.

Joey stands up and smiles at him weakly.

"Hey Christopher, thanks for meeting me here," Joey says as he stands motionless in front of her.

“I gotta say, I was truly surprised when I got your call. I was being sarcastic when I suggested it," Chris explains. His tone of voice is rather cold, but at least is not despising as it had been earlier that day.

Joey instantly picks up on the hostility, but she decides to ignore it. Instead of replying, she sits down and motions for Chris to do the same in the seat in front of her. After a slight hesitation, he does.

“I guess you’re wondering why I have called you today of all days, after all this time” she starts.

“Yeah, gotta say that the question has popped into my mind a couple of times on my way here,”

"Chris, I just wanna apologize for my behavior." She stops as she puts all her thoughts together. "Breaking up with you the way I did it… well it was really immature and impersonal and… cowardice. I shouldn’t have done it the way that I did."

“Wow” Chris has is eyes fixed on her and seems to be truly surprised for what he just heard. “Well, I don’t know what to say except… that I agree”

Joey makes a face, pursing her lips and nodding her head.

“I guess I deserve that,” Joey says softly.

“Well, it was you who said it, not me”

A silence falls upon them and Joey looks at him with a sad face, realizing how pointless it all was.

“Chris, you knew so little about me. Hardly anything actually. And that was comforting. It has always been, since I was in high school and I started running from real love. Being with guys that hardly knew me, or that knew me well but not as well as to being able to read into me like he always did.” she ends the sentence referring to Dawson almost whispering, her eyes sad.

“Yeah, you were kind of a mystery to me, and I liked it like that. The tall, stunning brown eyed girl that was helping me go through my first novel. Your big grin, your easy laugh. That is, whenever we weren’t fighting and bickering,” he adds as an after thought, and Joey is amazed by how easily all of her relationships could be defined like that looking back: constants fights and bickering with some sweet moments thrown in between.

All of them, but one.

She watches as Chris face lights up when he starts speaking, and how it falls at his afterthought.

"But then it all ended with a phone call, and you running to another guy.” He throws her a hard look that she holds, trying to show him what she feels like that: remorse, regrets, shame. “Was it worth it Joey?”

Joey looks down at her hands before replying.

“Yes it was,” she answers softly, looking up at him again and trying to explain herself when Chris face shows disappointment and hurt. “Our time ran out Chris. My circumstances these days helped me realize that. If I hadn’t realized it then, I would have had later. What you and I had wasn’t there anymore. It wasn’t the first time that it happened to me, and I bet it wasn’t the first time for you neither. Although I hope it is the last one.” she adds, softly.

“Thanks for your best wishes Joey. So this is what you called me for? To wish me luck in my search of love out there?” he asks, impatient.

Joey nods her head.

"No. I called you because I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I’ve always acted without thinking about the consequences, or how my acts could affect other people. I’ve been kinda selfish in the past when it comes to things like that." Chris just looks at her, still listening. "I don’t know, I guess being with the right person has helped to give me that final step into adulthood; it’s grounded me into reality."

“Well, congratulations” Chris snorts as he is about to stand up and leave.

“Chris, wait. I… I´d like to tell you a little story. And maybe, alter listening to it, you will know who I really am and why… why I did the things I did?” she looks at him expectantly “I feel like I own you at least that”

Intrigued, Chris sits down. This is the woman that, after all, filled his mind and heart for two years. And as she said before, he never really got to know her. Not like he thought he did at least.

Seeing that she has now all of his attention, Joey relaxes and starts to speak, trying hard to thread the timeline right.

“Ok, so… well, this is a story that starts down a creek, in a little coast town. In one side of the creek, there was a girl whose world was about to fall apart and change forever. In the other side, there was this boy whose life seemed to be perfect, and that would be there for her when hers crumbled down…”

As Joey speaks, we see the camera go round and round the two of them. Sometimes Joey is talking animatedly, sometimes she laughs and little by little, Chris face softens and he even smiles. Other times, she is somber as painful memories are as well related.

The ambient is more relaxed as the story progresses, as if the ex couple were getting to an understanding.

“And I think” Joey says, leaning on her chair exhausted “that that was all”.

Chris lets out a deep breath and leans back on his chair as well.

“Well, I really had no idea where I was getting myself into. That love life of yours has been…”

“Intense?”

“Complicated.”

Joey nods her head.

“Yes, it has, for someone who thought that she would go to her grave as a virgin” she laughs softly as she rolls her eyes and Chris smiles.

“And how do you know that now is over, that you are finally with the right one? That I wasn’t or that I am not the one?” Chris asks, curious.

“I can feel it.” Joey shrugs her shoulders as a sweet smile appears on her face. “I don’t need him to make me stop running, because I don’t wanna run anywhere but to him.”

Chris just looks at her, noticing, probably for the first time, now that his anger has somehow subsided, that she has really changed over the past months.

“Just for you to know, all I’ve told you has been the hard work of my therapist for months now,” she laughs, noticing the way Chris is staring at her.

As she says this, her eyes lie in the figure that has just walked into the café. He spots her almost at the same time she does, and walks to the table. Chris follows her gaze and immediately figures out who the guy is. He stands up and so does Joey with a big grin in her face.

“Hey,” Dawson says softly as Joey gets close to him and kisses him softly in the lips. She links her arm with his and turns to Chris.

“Chris, I wanna introduce you to someone. This is Dawson. Dawson Leery” she flashes a smile at him as he shakes hands with Chris.

“I think I’ve known you better by Colby all this time. I didn’t know he was real though.”

“Well, as real as he can get,” Dawson laughs. “Nice to meet you Chris.”

“I don’t know if it is nice, but it’s sure as hell interesting. And odd.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Dawson agrees as he interlaces his fingers with Joey, holding her hand. Chris gaze wanders from one to the other before he nods his head.

“I think better go. My unfinished second novel is awaiting. The curse of an unfinished ending, you know?”

“Oh yes, he knows it too well.” Joey says, rubbing Dawson’s arm as she speaks.

“It was… nice to see you Joey. And thanks for… for letting me know,” he says.

Joey smiles to him and nods her head.

“It was nice to see you too Chris.”

With a nod of his head, he leaves the place. Dawson and Joey follow him with their gaze and then Joey smiles up at Dawson, who kisses her softly. Soon, she is wrapping her arms around him as the world around disappears for the two of them until they’re able to break the kiss.

“Thanks for calling me,” Dawson says, placing a lousy strand of hair behind her ear.

“Let’s just go home. Jack might be about to arrive,” she states, holding his hand as they walk out of the café.

The apartment is dark, though we can see the furniture vaguely in the dark. Panning across to the door, we can hear a man and woman’s voice, laughing, their voices getting louder as they get closer to the door. Finally with the sound of a key in the lock, the door opens and Sam and Ethan step in, playfully pushing and teasing one another, although we can’t hear exactly what they’re saying. Finally, Ethan turns on the light and we see Sam is carrying a bag.

“Well, this is it,” Ethan says, putting the keys on a little table near the door while Sam looks around at the house. She has never been there and she was curious to see how it was. And it definitely is very… Ethan.

“Looks good to me,” she smiles at him and Ethan smiles back. ”And thanks for letting me come here to change. After the argument I had with my aunt today I didn’t feel like going back at all. Hopefully by the time I’m back from the theater, she will be sleeping.” she sighs.

“So still giving you a hard time, huh?”

“Kind of. And I’m still looking for a place on my own. Oh well. Where can I change?” she asks, lifting the bag where she has her belongings.

“Upstairs,” Ethan points up. “First room in the left”

“Okay,” she smiles and heads there.

Ethan watches her go with a smile and takes off his coat. He is lucky; he’s a guy and doesn’t need to dress up for the theater. But Sam insisted she wanted to, so…

While he waits, expecting her to take her time to get dressed, Ethan begins digging through things, looking for something. But it hasn’t been five minutes when he hears her walking down the stairs.

“I’m sorry all I need is five minutes and I should be able to find the tickets,” Ethan says with a sigh, digging through the tidy pile paperwork on his counter, then turning to face her.

And for a moment, his breath is caught in his lungs.

Realizing the look of admiration on his face, Samantha smiles and resumes her walking down the stairs, her hand caressing the rail gingerly as she does so, enjoying the impression she has caused on him.

“It’s fine, you’re kind of cute when you’re all frustrated,” she smiles, referring to his earlier mood while trying to find the tickets. But Ethan can’t close his mouth, his jaw still dropped at the vision of Samantha in her red dress.

“Well then you would love working with me, Joey teases me constantly about being a rather ‘negative nick’ when we’re slammed with work, which is pretty much always,” he laughs softly, they both holding each other’s gaze.

“I’ve always realized how beautiful you are.” He starts, softly, “which combined with the strong and appealing personality of yours is just like a death weapon” and Sam smiles at that compliment.

“Thanks.” she says softly.

The air between them is vibrating with intensity and their heartbeats are fast and their mouths dry. Sam walks up to Ethan and it seems to him as if he had lost all capacity of breathing. Ethan, the Casanova, the wild guy from ………, don’t know what to do or what to say.

‘Probably kiss her, you idiot. Not like you haven’t done it before’.

But is different this time, because they’re at his house, and he doesn’t want to push the situation farther than he can handle it. And he knows that if he kisses her now, things may go out of hand.

So regaining his composure, Ethan resumes his search.

Waiting patiently, Sam flops down on the couch, reclining back a bit with a smile still playing in her lips, amused at how nervous he got when she was standing just a few inches from him. She knew that dress could have that impact on him. And oh my, how she loved to be right, she thinks as a mischievous smile lifts up the corners of her mouth. She watches him move about the room, opening drawers and moving paperwork around for a little while before she stands up.

“Here let me help you,” she says, getting off the couch and moving to a long table against the wall. He doesn’t notice her moving over to that particular piece of furniture, otherwise he would have directed her elsewhere, but it’s too late.

“Ethan here are some envelopes, they might be in here,” she says, opening one to look for the tickets, but stops when she finds photos.

“Oh my, is this you?” she laughs, seeing pictures of a much younger Ethan, smiling happily in the camera. “Nice hair by the way,” she kids.

Flipping through some more pictures, anxious for more material to tease him with, she stops when she sees pictures of Ethan with another woman, a woman about his height. Okay she’s an old girlfriend, Sam reasons feeling nothing about it, but further pictures show a small child sitting on his lap and shoulders with the woman next to him again, everyone smiling and posing…like a family.

She turns around, curious to hear what he has to say about the pictures, privately hoping there is a logical explanation for what she’s seeing. When she looks up, he is staring at her, his mouth slightly ajar, like he meant to say something but couldn’t. He looks down at the pictures and up at her, neither one saying a thing.

Sam opens her mouth to say something, wondering if it’s really any of her business at this moment to know what this is about. She tries to look indifferent but the confusion is written all over her face, just like the uncertainty is written all over his.

Palpable tension and silence fill the room as neither one knows who should speak first or what to say.

Pacey sniffs the air as he steps into the cafeteria. If there’s one thing he hates about hospitals it is the smell. He made a silent promise to himself that he was going to die at home for the sole reason of hospital smell not being the last sent of his life.

Fortunately, the cafeteria was mild compared to the rest of the place. Probably because of the food.

That is, if you could call it ‘food’.

"Pacey?” Andie McPhee calls from across the cafeteria.

Smiling, Pacey makes his way over to her table where she is standing by and a rush of content goes through him, enough to lift her in his arms in the middle of the hospital cafeteria and hug her tight, making her squeal in surprise.

“You made it,” she says with a laugh as he puts her down.

“Yes, I did. In more ways than you know” he adds as they sit down.

Andie looks at him waiting for some explanation to that cryptic comment, but he just looks around the cafeteria.

“Here…I got you something to eat.” She hands him a plate that Pacey looks at with a rather unfaithful look in his face that makes Andie laughs. “Yes, it looks horrible, but it doesn’t taste as bad as it looks”.

“If you say so,” he concedes, taking a fork, still not sure.

“So are you going back to Capeside today after all? You don’t need to, you know? You can stay at my house and leave tomorrow morning if you want to,” she offers.

“No, is ok. I like travelling at night. Thanks for the offer though. Very appealing indeed,” he replies, a funny and flirting spark in his eyes that make Andie narrow her eyes playfully.

“Watch it, Mr. Witter” and he laughs. “I meant that in the merely platonic and friendly way.”

“A shame,” and she laughs again. “I’m actually looking after it: taking a train, staring at the lights as we pass them by and think. Thinking about the past, the present, the future... about all the things I’ve said and done. I used to do that when I was here in Boston while the rest of people were in college. I would take a train to Capeside and just... think”.

“Wow, who could have known,” Andie teases him and Pacey laughs before taking a whiff of the concoction on his plate and grimace.

“Man, this stuff is horrible,” Pacey comments. “For now on, I’m not believing anything you say. How can a hospital possibly condone feeding people something that could be poisonous?”

Andie giggles.

“Well, I guess I get used to it then, to me it tastes good,” she replies.

“You definitely need to taste some of my plates“ Pacey offers “and that. McPhee, is an invitation you’ll have to take upon me.

“Ok, I think I can make the sacrifice.” she laughs.

Pacey smiles fondly at her, into her bright eyes and her smile. The same one he remembered and that always gave her face that soft look, that serene confidence that everything was going to be ok even in the darkness despair.

And with that in mind, he speaks.

“I quit,” he says simply, but awaiting of her reaction. “I quit my job.”

”Oh Pacey…”

Andie just reaches her hand to him and places it over his. Pacey turns his hand up and takes Andie’s on his, thankful for the comforting and friendly gesture.

“I tried to save the situation, like we talked in Capeside. I tried to keep myself away from Brecher, away from his personal life, but he just kept trying to drag me in, and if I didn’t oblige, he would get mad at me. And I’m not going through that. I’m not a kid. Anyone can treat me like that”

“That’s so unfair,” Andie complains, “I know you loved