Night Without End (Chapter 12) - Updated 25th January

Ok, ok Angel... I didn't say in 'a' week... I said 'next' week... I think

So Sunday is next week, right? Anywho... here I am with the next un-betaed chapter - so sorry for any typos *slaps herself on the wrist*

Thanks for the replies!

Chapter 6

The car journey back to Boston was peaceful and Joey’s mind felt clearer than it had in a long time. She was terrified of the future, but she knew that grief was an unfortunate reality for her and she found herself hoping that she could have a second chance to live life on her own terms again, without being engulfed by so much anger. Strangely enough, it was Bodie’s death that had ultimately hit her the hardest by forcing her to finally say goodbye to Bessie and Alex, and realise that there was nothing she could do to change the past anymore.

Talking to Jen and Doug had made her face up to the a lot of the baggage she had been carrying around and she new that sometime sooner or later she would really have to grieve for the loss of her family.

And as much as she didn’t like it, Joey knew it was time to confront that pain instead of running away from it again. Even though her marriage was over now, Joey new that Pacey’s place in her life was very tangible and unlikely to change anytime soon, so she would just have to get used to the ache she felt whenever she stepped inside the restaurant.

But as they drove down the highway from Capeside, she managed to enjoy her first dreamless sleep in weeks and as she snored softly as the countryside sped by, Jen smiled in relief, hoping that her friend might finally be through the worst.

~~~

Pacey was busy emptying change into the register when Joey returned to the restaurant later that morning. He kept his back to her, knowing it was her, but let out a silent breath in relief that she’d made it there and back with no accidents. He was convinced that the stretch of road into Capeside was jinxed and always would be. He’d even asked Helen to drive them via a different route when he had returned for Bodie’s funeral, desperate not to meet the same fate as the others.

But Joey was more precious to him than his own life and he hadn’t been able to rest since she left the day before, for fear of another late night phone call from the Boston PD.

“Welcome back,” he didn’t look up, but reached next to him for two mugs before filling them with coffee from the machine next to the register. “How was it?”

“It was therapeutic…. I think,” her voice echoing around the empty restaurant, feeling lighter inside for the first time since she’d seen him again. “I brought you something.”

“Yeah,” Pacey turned around. “What’s tha..”

“Hey little brother,” Doug said quietly, an uncertain smile on his face.

“What’s going on Joey?” Pacey’s voice was deep and dangerous.

“I ran into Doug in Capeside. We talked and it helped. I thought you should do the same,” she explained simplistically, walking past him and reaching for the coffee mugs. She handed one to Doug and smiled in reassurance. “Here’s one for you, and one for you,” she handed her own mug to Pacey. “Now take a walk… go sit and look at the boats…. Do something… and don’t come back until you have.”

She herded them both out of the door and walked back around the bar, stowing her purse away under the shelf. Jen walked in, having returned her rental car to the place across the street. “Did I just see the brothers Witter smile at one another?”

“I don’t know? Did you?” Joey felt hopeful for the first time in a long time.

“I think so,” Jen nodded. “Seems kinda weird.”

“But it feels good though,” Joey smiled shyly. “Jen I don’t know how to thank you for everything you’ve done this week. It’s like you’ve turned things around for me and these hurdles I’m facing just don’t look quite so big anymore.”

“Joey, you’ve got a long way to go. And you know, I really didn’t do anything but bully you,” they both laughed. “But now unfortunately, I think it’s time I headed back to the New York grindstone. This week has gone way too quickly. Will you be ok?”

“I think I will you know?” Jen nodded. “Want me to call you a cab to take you back to my place for your bags?”

“Nah… it’s a beautiful, sunny day for once, and I think a walk would be nice,” Joey came round the bar and Jen hugged her tightly. “You call me if you need anything, ok? Call me, or call Michael or one of his therapist buddies out here, or just call any old crazy cable TV phone-in… just don’t hold it inside, ok?”

“Yes ma’am,” Joey giggled. “Jerry Springer?”

“Never Jerry Springer,” Jen laughed and kissed Joey on the cheek before whispering, “Let me know how it goes with those two.”

“Will do.”

“And with you two,” Jen said sternly.

“Oh hush and get out of here.”

Joey found that she was still smiling long after Jen had left.

~~~

Pacey and Doug stared out across the harbour in uncomfortable silence. They sipped their coffee and cast occasional quick glances at each other before smiling sadly and returning their attention out onto the water.

Pacey always felt calmer near the boats; it was probably why he had been so keen to choose this location for the restaurant as opposed to somewhere further into the city. The water just reminded him of a happier time. It kept him calm and grounded in a good part of the past while he struggled through the reality of the present.

“So…. You and Joey huh?” Doug finally said aimlessly.

“Well it’s pretty much been forced upon us,” Pacey turned sadly to look at his brother. “But yes, we’re partners again, in the business sense of the word, if only for a little while.”

“I couldn’t quite believe it when she showed up on my doorstep yesterday.”

“I can’t really comprehend it myself,” Pacey agreed before turning his back to the water and looking across at the restaurant. He could see Joey through the window, moving around behind the bar, preparing to open up to the lunchtime crowds. “She’s been through such hell, and her usual modus operandi is to ignore things or run away, so to say I’m shocked she brought you back here is an understatement to say the least Doug.”

“I think she’s tired of being angry. She certainly looked as though she wanted to yell at me when she first got to my apartment, but it became obvious quite quickly that she was just…. really, really sad,” Doug sighed. “But I think she knows she needs to be angry at dad instead of us now,” he added.

“Doesn’t really get rid of my guilt though I’m afraid Dougie,” Pacey shook his head sadly.

Doug smiled at the sound of someone calling him that name again. In fact, it had only ever been Pacey who called him that, or Joey sometimes if she’d had a little too much to drink and was teasing him about something. It felt good to be back in the company of his brother without being pushed away or feeling like he was just some painful reminder of their father to Pacey.

Having to tell his brother the truth about John all those years ago had hurt them both so much. Doug had even taken extended personal leave from the force for a while to get over both his father’s death and his estrangement from his family. Doug had exposed his father’s wrongdoing and his mother and sisters could never forgive him for that.

It had been a long time before Doug had even felt comfortable looking at himself in the mirror again; before he realized that he couldn’t have prevented Bessie and Alex’s deaths and that it should have been anger he felt towards his father, rather than guilt towards Joey and Pacey.

In the end, Doug had been able to forgive both himself and his father…. Something he hoped that maybe Joey and Pacey would be able to do one day too.

“You can help each other through this Pacey,” Doug warned Pacey. “It’s a little late, but you know you can, if you just open yourself up to her.”

“Oh right, and in six months when she’s got rid of all that anger and is finally at peace with herself and happy about the future, she just sells her share of my life and walks away again. That would be fun,” Pacey said dryly, tossing the last dregs of his coffee mug down the drain next to him.

“Who says that has to happen?”

“I do.”

“Why?”

“Because it will. And I have no intention of having my heart ripped out of my chest when that happens or the curse of Pacey Witter strikes again and someone else dies.”

“Pacey,” Doug sighed.

“Don’t Doug, ok?” Don’t tell me I’m crazy or paranoid or downright stupid. I’m quite sure I’m all three and I…”

“You love her,” Doug said simply. “I think I’ve mentioned to you before that you can’t ignore that fact. Indeed, ignoring it only makes it stronger.”

Pacey sighed and walked awkwardly away from him. Doug wasn’t sure whether he should follow, but he did anyway.

“So what do you suggest oh wise Witter?” Pacey asked after a few minutes walking.

“Well you could start by talking to her about what happened.”

“Hell no.”

“Why not? You’re talking to me. She talked to me. You’re telling me you can’t talk to each other?”

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you Dougie. I can’t talk to her about it and I don’t want to talk to her about it.”

“Ok, ok. Well until such time that you do, how about you just try to be her friend?” Doug smiled as Pacey eyed him warily. “You said yourself Pace, she’s been through hell. She’s lost her whole family and a husband she loved very dearly along the way. Now somehow, through further tragic events, she’s found herself back on your doorstep. So maybe fate is giving you a little nudge. Be her friend Pace. Be there for her; because as she’s coming to grips with letting this stuff out, she’s going to need a big strong shoulder to cry on.” Pacey shrugged uncertainly at his brother. “And wouldn’t you rather that shoulder be yours than some other strong shouldered guy?”

Pacey’s eyes opened wide and Doug knew he’d hit the desired nerve. Taking a deep breath, Pacey looked out at a little sailboat that bobbed calmly on the water. “You want to stay for dinner Doug? I think maybe Joey and I can get cover for half an hour or so and the three of us can eat….. just like old times,” Pacey suggested and smiled knowingly.

“Sounds like a plan to me Pace.”

~~~

It was almost 2.00 am when Pacey walked Joey up the stairs to her apartment. The restaurant had been busy and it had taken Pacey and Joey a long time to clear and lock up.

Pacey had handed Doug a key a few hours earlier and insisted that he go back to his place to stay the night in the spare room instead of catching the last train to Capeside. Doug had smiled and hugged them both tightly, making Joey promise to stay in touch now they had found each other again, before catching a cab outside the restaurant.

They had managed to share an enjoyable dinner with Doug, talking about anything and everything except for the past.

In fact, all three had found it refreshing to talk about themselves in a positive way for a little while. Joey had talked at length about her days as a journalist, and some of the assignments she had been sent to cover. She had them laughing until they cried about her embarrassing antics in Europe where she had been hopeless with both the language and the currency. She had made such a fool of herself that the paper she worked for had paid for her to have interpreters in each city she visited for fear of her misinterpreting a story and getting them all sued.

Doug told of his daring deeds capturing many of Capeside’s master criminals, which usually somehow only involved old Mrs Welsh driving her electric wheelchair at high speed down the sidewalk to the post office once a week.

Pacey showed them both the many scars he’d gained from his first days learning the ropes in the kitchen, before Bodie had banned him from standing anywhere near the stove, suggesting he might be better suited to running the bar.

It had been so long since all three had been in the same room together but they somehow managed to slip back into their old casual, teasing ways and Joey found herself smiling as they slowly approached her front door.

“What a difference a day makes,” Pacey said and she looked up from retrieving her key from her purse.

“That’s a song isn’t it?” she smiled.

“Probably, but I was talking more about this,” he gently touched the corner of her mouth where it was still upturned. “It’s been years since I’ve seen you smile.”

“It’s been years since I’ve felt like it,” she whispered as his thumb gently brushed across her lower lip, making the skin on her arms tingle and she shivered, as though she was merely cold without her winter coat. “Thanks for seeing me home,” she tried to ignore his fingers as they continued to touch her face gently, his eyes fixed on her lips.

Pacey shook his head slowly, “No problem.”

“I should…”

“Pacey, I’m really glad our truce is working. You and I,” she took a deep breath, the familiar aroma of his shampoo filling her senses, she was unable to push his hand away from her skin. “We always worked well as friends.”

“We did.”

“So I… I think this partnership can work. I mean, it’s going to be hard, but I think it can work,” she shifted from one foot to the other, awkwardly, pulling him out of his trance. "So I don't want you to worry about me abandoning the business… about me running away again."

He looked up, finally hearing her words, “Um.. oh,” temporary lost for vocabulary in his flustered state at the fact that he was both turned on and mad at himself for touching her. Mentally kicking himself, Pacey knew that they shouldn’t be running before they could walk in this shaky truce they’d called; in fact they shouldn't be running at all. “I gotta go. Goodnight Joey.”

He turned and fled down the corridor faster than she could call his name out.

“But Pacey it’s ok… urgh!” she shouted at the corridor wall. “What the hell was that?”

She walked into her apartment feeling more at peace and more confused than ever.

~~~

Author	Comment
SnoozyC Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 33 (3/23/03 11:01 am) Reply	Re: Night Without End (Chapter Six) - 23rd March Ok, ok Angel... I didn't say in 'a' week... I said 'next' week... I think So Sunday is next week, right? Anywho... here I am with the next un-betaed chapter - so sorry for any typos slaps herself on the wrist Thanks for the replies! Chapter 6 The car journey back to Boston was peaceful and Joey’s mind felt clearer than it had in a long time. She was terrified of the future, but she knew that grief was an unfortunate reality for her and she found herself hoping that she could have a second chance to live life on her own terms again, without being engulfed by so much anger. Strangely enough, it was Bodie’s death that had ultimately hit her the hardest by forcing her to finally say goodbye to Bessie and Alex, and realise that there was nothing she could do to change the past anymore. Talking to Jen and Doug had made her face up to the a lot of the baggage she had been carrying around and she new that sometime sooner or later she would really have to grieve for the loss of her family. And as much as she didn’t like it, Joey knew it was time to confront that pain instead of running away from it again. Even though her marriage was over now, Joey new that Pacey’s place in her life was very tangible and unlikely to change anytime soon, so she would just have to get used to the ache she felt whenever she stepped inside the restaurant. But as they drove down the highway from Capeside, she managed to enjoy her first dreamless sleep in weeks and as she snored softly as the countryside sped by, Jen smiled in relief, hoping that her friend might finally be through the worst. ~~~ Pacey was busy emptying change into the register when Joey returned to the restaurant later that morning. He kept his back to her, knowing it was her, but let out a silent breath in relief that she’d made it there and back with no accidents. He was convinced that the stretch of road into Capeside was jinxed and always would be. He’d even asked Helen to drive them via a different route when he had returned for Bodie’s funeral, desperate not to meet the same fate as the others. But Joey was more precious to him than his own life and he hadn’t been able to rest since she left the day before, for fear of another late night phone call from the Boston PD. “Welcome back,” he didn’t look up, but reached next to him for two mugs before filling them with coffee from the machine next to the register. “How was it?” “It was therapeutic…. I think,” her voice echoing around the empty restaurant, feeling lighter inside for the first time since she’d seen him again. “I brought you something.” “Yeah,” Pacey turned around. “What’s tha..” “Hey little brother,” Doug said quietly, an uncertain smile on his face. “What’s going on Joey?” Pacey’s voice was deep and dangerous. “I ran into Doug in Capeside. We talked and it helped. I thought you should do the same,” she explained simplistically, walking past him and reaching for the coffee mugs. She handed one to Doug and smiled in reassurance. “Here’s one for you, and one for you,” she handed her own mug to Pacey. “Now take a walk… go sit and look at the boats…. Do something… and don’t come back until you have.” She herded them both out of the door and walked back around the bar, stowing her purse away under the shelf. Jen walked in, having returned her rental car to the place across the street. “Did I just see the brothers Witter smile at one another?” “I don’t know? Did you?” Joey felt hopeful for the first time in a long time. “I think so,” Jen nodded. “Seems kinda weird.” “But it feels good though,” Joey smiled shyly. “Jen I don’t know how to thank you for everything you’ve done this week. It’s like you’ve turned things around for me and these hurdles I’m facing just don’t look quite so big anymore.” “Joey, you’ve got a long way to go. And you know, I really didn’t do anything but bully you,” they both laughed. “But now unfortunately, I think it’s time I headed back to the New York grindstone. This week has gone way too quickly. Will you be ok?” “I think I will you know?” Jen nodded. “Want me to call you a cab to take you back to my place for your bags?” “Nah… it’s a beautiful, sunny day for once, and I think a walk would be nice,” Joey came round the bar and Jen hugged her tightly. “You call me if you need anything, ok? Call me, or call Michael or one of his therapist buddies out here, or just call any old crazy cable TV phone-in… just don’t hold it inside, ok?” “Yes ma’am,” Joey giggled. “Jerry Springer?” “Never Jerry Springer,” Jen laughed and kissed Joey on the cheek before whispering, “Let me know how it goes with those two.” “Will do.” “And with you two,” Jen said sternly. “Oh hush and get out of here.” Joey found that she was still smiling long after Jen had left. ~~~ Pacey and Doug stared out across the harbour in uncomfortable silence. They sipped their coffee and cast occasional quick glances at each other before smiling sadly and returning their attention out onto the water. Pacey always felt calmer near the boats; it was probably why he had been so keen to choose this location for the restaurant as opposed to somewhere further into the city. The water just reminded him of a happier time. It kept him calm and grounded in a good part of the past while he struggled through the reality of the present. “So…. You and Joey huh?” Doug finally said aimlessly. “Well it’s pretty much been forced upon us,” Pacey turned sadly to look at his brother. “But yes, we’re partners again, in the business sense of the word, if only for a little while.” “I couldn’t quite believe it when she showed up on my doorstep yesterday.” “I can’t really comprehend it myself,” Pacey agreed before turning his back to the water and looking across at the restaurant. He could see Joey through the window, moving around behind the bar, preparing to open up to the lunchtime crowds. “She’s been through such hell, and her usual modus operandi is to ignore things or run away, so to say I’m shocked she brought you back here is an understatement to say the least Doug.” “I think she’s tired of being angry. She certainly looked as though she wanted to yell at me when she first got to my apartment, but it became obvious quite quickly that she was just…. really, really sad,” Doug sighed. “But I think she knows she needs to be angry at dad instead of us now,” he added. “Doesn’t really get rid of my guilt though I’m afraid Dougie,” Pacey shook his head sadly. Doug smiled at the sound of someone calling him that name again. In fact, it had only ever been Pacey who called him that, or Joey sometimes if she’d had a little too much to drink and was teasing him about something. It felt good to be back in the company of his brother without being pushed away or feeling like he was just some painful reminder of their father to Pacey. Having to tell his brother the truth about John all those years ago had hurt them both so much. Doug had even taken extended personal leave from the force for a while to get over both his father’s death and his estrangement from his family. Doug had exposed his father’s wrongdoing and his mother and sisters could never forgive him for that. It had been a long time before Doug had even felt comfortable looking at himself in the mirror again; before he realized that he couldn’t have prevented Bessie and Alex’s deaths and that it should have been anger he felt towards his father, rather than guilt towards Joey and Pacey. In the end, Doug had been able to forgive both himself and his father…. Something he hoped that maybe Joey and Pacey would be able to do one day too. “You can help each other through this Pacey,” Doug warned Pacey. “It’s a little late, but you know you can, if you just open yourself up to her.” “Oh right, and in six months when she’s got rid of all that anger and is finally at peace with herself and happy about the future, she just sells her share of my life and walks away again. That would be fun,” Pacey said dryly, tossing the last dregs of his coffee mug down the drain next to him. “Who says that has to happen?” “I do.” “Why?” “Because it will. And I have no intention of having my heart ripped out of my chest when that happens or the curse of Pacey Witter strikes again and someone else dies.” “Pacey,” Doug sighed. “Don’t Doug, ok?” Don’t tell me I’m crazy or paranoid or downright stupid. I’m quite sure I’m all three and I…” “You love her,” Doug said simply. “I think I’ve mentioned to you before that you can’t ignore that fact. Indeed, ignoring it only makes it stronger.” Pacey sighed and walked awkwardly away from him. Doug wasn’t sure whether he should follow, but he did anyway. “So what do you suggest oh wise Witter?” Pacey asked after a few minutes walking. “Well you could start by talking to her about what happened.” “Hell no.” “Why not? You’re talking to me. She talked to me. You’re telling me you can’t talk to each other?” “That’s exactly what I’m telling you Dougie. I can’t talk to her about it and I don’t want to talk to her about it.” “Ok, ok. Well until such time that you do, how about you just try to be her friend?” Doug smiled as Pacey eyed him warily. “You said yourself Pace, she’s been through hell. She’s lost her whole family and a husband she loved very dearly along the way. Now somehow, through further tragic events, she’s found herself back on your doorstep. So maybe fate is giving you a little nudge. Be her friend Pace. Be there for her; because as she’s coming to grips with letting this stuff out, she’s going to need a big strong shoulder to cry on.” Pacey shrugged uncertainly at his brother. “And wouldn’t you rather that shoulder be yours than some other strong shouldered guy?” Pacey’s eyes opened wide and Doug knew he’d hit the desired nerve. Taking a deep breath, Pacey looked out at a little sailboat that bobbed calmly on the water. “You want to stay for dinner Doug? I think maybe Joey and I can get cover for half an hour or so and the three of us can eat….. just like old times,” Pacey suggested and smiled knowingly. “Sounds like a plan to me Pace.” ~~~ It was almost 2.00 am when Pacey walked Joey up the stairs to her apartment. The restaurant had been busy and it had taken Pacey and Joey a long time to clear and lock up. Pacey had handed Doug a key a few hours earlier and insisted that he go back to his place to stay the night in the spare room instead of catching the last train to Capeside. Doug had smiled and hugged them both tightly, making Joey promise to stay in touch now they had found each other again, before catching a cab outside the restaurant. They had managed to share an enjoyable dinner with Doug, talking about anything and everything except for the past. In fact, all three had found it refreshing to talk about themselves in a positive way for a little while. Joey had talked at length about her days as a journalist, and some of the assignments she had been sent to cover. She had them laughing until they cried about her embarrassing antics in Europe where she had been hopeless with both the language and the currency. She had made such a fool of herself that the paper she worked for had paid for her to have interpreters in each city she visited for fear of her misinterpreting a story and getting them all sued. Doug told of his daring deeds capturing many of Capeside’s master criminals, which usually somehow only involved old Mrs Welsh driving her electric wheelchair at high speed down the sidewalk to the post office once a week. Pacey showed them both the many scars he’d gained from his first days learning the ropes in the kitchen, before Bodie had banned him from standing anywhere near the stove, suggesting he might be better suited to running the bar. It had been so long since all three had been in the same room together but they somehow managed to slip back into their old casual, teasing ways and Joey found herself smiling as they slowly approached her front door. “What a difference a day makes,” Pacey said and she looked up from retrieving her key from her purse. “That’s a song isn’t it?” she smiled. “Probably, but I was talking more about this,” he gently touched the corner of her mouth where it was still upturned. “It’s been years since I’ve seen you smile.” “It’s been years since I’ve felt like it,” she whispered as his thumb gently brushed across her lower lip, making the skin on her arms tingle and she shivered, as though she was merely cold without her winter coat. “Thanks for seeing me home,” she tried to ignore his fingers as they continued to touch her face gently, his eyes fixed on her lips. Pacey shook his head slowly, “No problem.” “I should…” “Pacey, I’m really glad our truce is working. You and I,” she took a deep breath, the familiar aroma of his shampoo filling her senses, she was unable to push his hand away from her skin. “We always worked well as friends.” “We did.” “So I… I think this partnership can work. I mean, it’s going to be hard, but I think it can work,” she shifted from one foot to the other, awkwardly, pulling him out of his trance. "So I don't want you to worry about me abandoning the business… about me running away again." He looked up, finally hearing her words, “Um.. oh,” temporary lost for vocabulary in his flustered state at the fact that he was both turned on and mad at himself for touching her. Mentally kicking himself, Pacey knew that they shouldn’t be running before they could walk in this shaky truce they’d called; in fact they shouldn't be running at all. “I gotta go. Goodnight Joey.” He turned and fled down the corridor faster than she could call his name out. “But Pacey it’s ok… urgh!” she shouted at the corridor wall. “What the hell was that?” She walked into her apartment feeling more at peace and more confused than ever. ~~~
Angel608J Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 27 (3/23/03 11:05 am) Reply	Re: Night Without End (Chapter Six) - 23rd March I don't know whether to sing your praises for an absolutely wonderful update, or scream at you for leaving like that! sighs When he touched her face, I actually let out a dreamy sigh, giggled (yes I giggled - who knew that I could ) and then I said out loud, 'kiss her!' And what do you go and do? You have him leave. Although I wish there was about 20 more pages to this update, I did love every single freaking word. Which I knew I would because I love everything you write. Wonderful update sweetie. So...uh...when's the next one? Edited by: Angel608J at: 3/23/03 2:25:57 pm
PJfanLizzy Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 14 (3/23/03 12:44 pm) Reply	Re: Night Without End (Chapter Six) - 23rd March Peace and confusion is what true love is all about, Joey. I love this story! It's really angsty. I love that kind. I'll be checking back for more soon. You will post more soon right?
leep4joy Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 27 (3/24/03 11:41 pm) Reply	Re: Night Without End (Chapter Six) - 23rd March I'm not usually one that likes darker fics with angst and more realistic pain in them, but this is just so amazing. Great update!! I'm really excited to see where you're going with this. Please update soon! ~Lee
millietvgal Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 2 (3/26/03 3:10 pm) Reply	Hi This one is really good. I like all the questions you've raised in the fic. I like a good story about truth. Now it's time for some Pacey and Joey, right? Millie
LadyHaHa Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 31 (3/27/03 12:13 am) Reply	Re: Hi I LOVE THIS FIC~ please send more of this love Donna!
Redfish74 Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 11 (4/6/03 11:29 pm) Reply	Re: Hi Sorry it's taken me so long to get to this story. I'm so glad you're posting it over here. It's about time Joey started dealing with the past. I so can't wait to find out what's going to happen next. More please. Jill Chocolate Heart PJamas Creek Ho #74---Keeper of Pacey's fishing trophy Truelover #74 Lover of Pacey and Joey Hugs
SnoozyC Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 50 (4/10/03 12:39 pm) Reply	Night Without End - Chapter 7 Sorry for the delay in posting this.... I'm such a slow writer Anywho, here is the next chapter now - hope you like it, do let me know Chapter 7 The following weeks passed by very quietly and increasingly amicably for both Pacey and Joey. Although she still struggled getting to grips with the both running the bar and the restaurant as a whole, Joey felt an inner calm that she hadn’t remembered feeling for many years. She found that she and Pacey were acting more friendly to one another than the polite civility that they’d suffered through in the beginning of their partnership. They never spoke about the past, although occasionally when they were alone together in the office, a simple glance at one another brought memories flooding back. One or other of them would often get a far-away look in their eyes when something reminded them of the past. Doug called regularly, always ringing the restaurant so he could spend time speaking to both of them. He was desperate to keep a firm hold on their somewhat shaky but well-meaning truce. Joey had ultimately decided against finding a new therapist in Boston. She realised that she’d made great strides through her demons purely on her own merit these last few weeks and wanted to stand on her own two feet a bit more. Her compromise was to have a long weekly telephone call to her old therapist from New York, Michael. He was a good friend and colleague of Jen's. She had introduced them years ago when Joey had first run from Pacey to the sanctuary of New York and her good friend. Michael had been her saviour in those early days and she had clung onto his every word like a lifeline. He had helped her to live through every day, one day at a time, just enabling her to survive before she could even begin to deal with her grief. The one thing that Joey had always been reluctant in facing with Michael was her relationship with Pacey. No matter how much he’d pushed her in later years to talk about her feelings for him and his role in the breakdown of their marriage, Joey had never been able to confront it. As far as she was concerned, Michael was a grief counsellor, and that was why she was his patient. She refused to concede the fact that the break-up of her marriage should be discussed at all. Michael had been astounded that she could sit on the sofa in his office, pouring her heart out about losing her mother, then sister and nephew, crying like a lost child, and yet completely freeze when mention of Pacey was uttered. Michael knew that this partnership was Pacey would either make or break Joey, and he was guessing it would be the former rather than the latter. She had made such great headway dealing with the majority of her demons from the past and Michael truly thought that Pacey was the last piece of the jigsaw that would put her back together again. He looked forward to their weekly calls, and noticed that when they talked nowadays, Pacey’s name was mentioned, albeit at first quite stiffly, but now much more frequently, and on occasion even, fondly. Pacey lived half of the time in a daze that Joey was back in his life, in any context at all. He was revelling in just being near her once again. The rest of the time he was in a state of denial about the whole thing. He still missed Bodie desperately, as both his friend and as an efficient business partner. For all of Joey’s efforts, she was still very much the new girl learning the ropes and mistakes could start costing them money and business. Pacey dealt with his emotions very efficiently. He had never been one to run away from his feelings, he’d always tackled them head on. The only thing he’d ever really walked away from was Caepeside and in Pacey’s eyes, that was perfectly justified. He reluctantly began to admit to himself that he had missed Doug though, and realised that they had wasted many years. They were certainly doing their best to make up for the past now. By talking regularly and planning to meet up again the next time Doug and Pacey had a day off, they still limited conversation to only the present and the future. Pacey wasn’t sure if this was simply moving on or desperately ignoring the past, but he guessed it was a bit of both. During his time in Boston, Pacey had immersed himself in work and books, discovering a whole other side to himself. He realised that it was ok to be both mature and emotional without losing the youthful, good-natured qualities of his younger self. He had never allowed himself to become too submerged in sadness, and these qualities were helping him deal with Joey being back in his life… most of the time. Walking into work that morning, Pacey felt happier than he had in a long while. There was a crisp, chill of fall in the air and yet the sun shone brightly down on him as he walked towards the restaurant, looking at the new boats which were docked along the water. He found Helen standing behind the bar, shaking her head as he walked through the door. “What’s up?” he asked warily as he stood next to her, removing his coat and pouring himself a cup of coffee. “It may well be a long day,” she sighed. “I repeat,” he said, looking down at the delivery note in her hand from the drinks supplier. “What’s up?” “You really want to know?” “Just tell me already woman!” he laughed. “Sally-the-sexy-sales-rep came in yesterday to introduce herself to Joey and talk through ideas for the next food order in your absence.” “Oh god,” Pacey felt his stomach drop and knew what was coming. “Did you really think Joey wouldn’t find out you two used to do the horizontal tango in your office?” “It wasn’t in my office. It was one date. One dinner, too many drinks and never again, believe me,” he ran his hands through his hair. “God, what happened Helen?” “Well I’ve got to hand it to Joey, absolutely nothing happened in front of Sally. She was perfectly calm and chillingly polite,” she smiled softly. “She’s your ex-wife Pacey. She knows she has no right to be jealous. She smiled at Sally and got rid of her as soon as she could.” “It doesn’t matter that she’s my ex-wife Helen, Joey, by nature is an incredibly jealous person. She's jealous about friends, possessions, and I’m quite sure especially about ex-husbands. If her jealousy about actual husbands was anything to go by, then I can’t imagine a little word like ‘ex’ getting in the way too much,” he sighed. “Look chill Pace. She’s fine. She’s just been a little….. flustered since then, that’s all.” “I’m so glad it was my day off yesterday,” he shook his head. “I really wish it hadn’t been though, because maybe then you’d have spotted the mistake,” Helen pushed the delivery note in front of Pacey and he read down the list, his eyes widening in horror. “Twelve crates?” he gasped. “She ordered twelve crates of everything?” “She just misunderstood the order form Pace. She thought she was ordering a dozen of each item and so she wrote 12 in each of the check boxes. She honestly didn’t know it was per crate. She feels awful about it. You should have seen her this morning when the truck arrived. She tried to get them to take it all back and they wouldn’t. She begged and then she threatened, hell she even tried to sweet talk them, but she’d already signed the form and now we’re stuck with all this fresh food, which is…. currently blocking up most of the storeroom out back,” Helen explained and cringed at the look on Pacey's face. “She’s going to bankrupt me if she keeps this up,” he sighed. “Well I honestly can’t see it happening again Pace.” “I guess,” Pacey gulped down the last of his coffee and rubbed his eyes tiredly before standing. “Where is she?” “She’s been in the office crying all morning,” Helen picked up her keys and went to open up the kitchens. “Don’t be too hard on her ok? She feels like shit and she feels even more embarrassed because she knows if she had been concentrating on her job instead of all jealous about Sally, then it probably wouldn’t have happened.” “Yeah, yeah. Got it,” Pacey walked towards the office door, taking a deep breath before entering. ~~~ Joey was on the telephone to Michael when he walked in. He couldn’t really see her face because she was leaning over the desk, her arms folded in front of her. Her head was tucked somewhere in amongst her arms, with her shoulder holding the receiver in place as she mumbled down the line. His heart ached as he watched her, assuming she was talking to Alan. “I dunno…. Yeah, I guess…. Mmhm…. I just wish you were here that’s all,” she looked up, finally realising that Pacey was in the room with her. “Um… I gotta go…. Yes. Ok, well I’ll call you next week. Okay… bye.!” Her eyes flitted up guiltily to Pacey. “I guess you know then?" “Helen just told me. Listen Jo…” “I’m sorry ok Pacey. I made a mistake, a stupid mistake and I know it’s going to cost us a lot of money and I don’t really know what to say except for the fact that I’m sorry and you can believe me when I say it’s a mistake that I will never, ever…” Pacey raised his hand to interrupt her. “Joey, it’s ok. Really. I think we both know the fact that the phrase ‘accidents happen’ is an understatement. So really, don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s fine,” Pacey smiled and took her hand. Pulling her up out of the chair, he tried to ignore the feeling of her warm, soft skin against his, that was so familiar to him. “I won’t do it again,” she sighed nervously, not quite meeting his eye. Pacey nodded, breathing in and shrugging casually, “So…. You met Sally then.” “Is that a question or a statement?” Joey replied brusquely, suddenly remembering that her hand was still in his and pulling away. “Both I guess,” he sighed. “Jo, there’s nothing going on between us, we went on one date… like a year ago or something. There’s no need…” “Pacey I’m not jealous so don’t even think of insinuating that I am,” she frowned, shaking her head vociferously. “I’m really not a jealous type of person, so I have no idea why you would even think to mention her when there's obviously no need for you to do so.” “Not a jealous person?” he smirked. Joey nodded her head again, less determinedly this time. “No?” “Nuh-huh.” “So…. Why was it that you punched that redhead on our honeymoon Joey?” he teased. “Pacey you know full well that…. that…..” Pacey laughed as Joey’s eyes darted about the room, desperately trying to think up a reasonable enough excuse. Unable to think of one, she decided the harsh route would be best to take. “I am NOT jealous, ok? We’re divorced Pacey in case you forgot. We’ve both had sex with other people; it’s both perfectly normal and perfectly ok with me. You’re totally within your rights to fuck whoever you damn well like, just like I was. Believe me, I don’t care a jot.” Pacey hung his head, hating the bitterness in her voice. “Thanks for reminding me Jo,” he said softly, looking down at the floor, before walking away from her, back out to the bar. ~~~ Joey sighed as she walked through the doorway into her apartment. She headed straight for the sofa, tiredly kicking her shoes off on the way before falling down onto it. Hearing his owner coming home, Elvis jumped up onto her stomach, purring and mewing until she tickled him behind the ear and stroked his head a few times in welcome. “Hi sweetie,” she smiled, feeling the tension slowly start to leave her body. “Am I glad to be home with you? It’s been one hell of a day!” Elvis jumped off her and walked in the direction of the kitchen to search for food. Joey sat up slightly and watched the kitten ran away. “Hhmph. You deserting me too huh?” Joey pouted before flopping back down onto the cushions. Looking around the room aimlessly, Joey’s eyes fell onto the framed photos that Jen had put on all available surfaces when she’d redecorated. She had insisted that Joey needed such reminders of all the good that had happened in her life, to stop her from thinking only of the bad. Smiling at the various pictures of Bessie and Alex, some of Jen, even a few of Dawson who she hadn’t heard from in years, she spotted for the first time, right at the back, that Jen had framed a picture of Joey and Pacey on their honeymoon. They were all smiles and laughter and arms entangled as they stood on the balcony of their hotel room, grinning like idiots and waiting for the timer button on the camera to work. Joey felt the tug of a smile at the memory. It had been the second day of their week long honeymoon in Barbados which Bessie, Bodie and Pacey’s parents had all joined together to give them as a wedding gift. The irony was not lost on Joey, but somehow it didn’t deter her smile at seeing the picture. ”It’s not working Pacey, you must have done something wrong. Go check it.” “It just takes time Potter. It has a time delay to allow you to strike your pose,” he grinned. “Strike my pose?” she laughed as she slapped him on the arm that he held securely around her as they continued to stare at the camera which was balancing precariously on top of the hotel room dresser. “You’re such a dork.” “Shut up and smile, it’ll take any second now.” “Pacey, it’s been like a minute and a half already. If I grin anymore then my face is going to stay like some freakish Jack Nicholson ‘Joker’ mask. Come on! I love you sweetheart, but you’ve obviously not programmed it right… go fix it!” “Never insult a man and his electronics Josephine, it’s akin to an affront on his manhood,” Pacey pouted, then quickly returned to grinning inanely whilst staring into the camera lense. “Well I would never ever criticise your manhood Mr Witter, because I like it just fine,” she turned slightly in his arms and patted his shorts with a smile. “You weren’t saying that last night, Mrs Witter. In fact you gave me the silent treatment, all night. The first night of our honeymoon and I didn’t even get up to any married activity!” “Shut up Pacey. Don’t get me started on you and that redhead again. If there’s one thing I will not put up with, it’s…” “I was NOT flirting with her Joey. She may have flirted a little with me as she was pouring our drinks, but let’s face it, she’s a woman, it’s totally understandable. I am just a love machine after all,” Joey glared at him, but Pacey coughed and continued undaunted. “But I did not, repeat NOT flirt back with that woman Potter,” he looked right into her eyes and smiled softly. “and you know that Joey.” “I guess,” Joey admitted begrudgingly. “You guess huh?” “Mmm-hmm,” she rolled her eyes. “Then you can admit that there was no need to give your adorable husband the cold shoulder last night when he should have been getting all kinds of wedding night lucky.” “Awww. Is little Pacey just grumpy because he had to spend another night living hand-to-gland?” Joey laughed and raised herself up on her toes. She leaned into him, kissing his neck softly and whispered into his ear, “Well there’s six more nights to get all kinds of lucky Pacey…..days too.” “Well, when you put it like that, then…..” Pacey’s voice trailed off as they began to kiss each other slowly. Their movements gradually took on more urgency when their bodies realised that six days just didn’t seem enough to be quite this free and happy. Joey was in the process of unbuttoning his Hawaiian shirt when they heard the clicks. Looking around the room to see where the noise was coming from, they both started to giggle as they saw it was the camera. Quickly they began trying to straighten themselves and control their laughter and just managed to turn to the camera in time for the picture to take before they fell to a heap on the floor, kissing and laughing for another hour before they decided to take things to the bedroom, rather than taking more photos for the album. Joey stared at the picture. Reaching up to wipe a tear from her eye, she discovered that this time, she wasn’t crying. She put the picture frame back down, giving it pride of place at the front of her happy memories before walking into the kitchen to feed Elvis with a soft smile on her face. ~~~
Angel608J Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 37 (4/10/03 5:09 pm) Reply	Re: Night Without End - Chapter 7 sighs What a great update, sweetie. hehe - I love a jealous Joey. Now get those two talking, kissing, and some shaggin' wouldn't hurt either! Excellent update Suzy. It was well worth the wait. Don't make me wait another 73 days for another one. Wonderful as always.
Redfish74 Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 12 (4/11/03 12:34 am) Reply	Re: Night Without End - Chapter 7 Loved the update. Jealous Joey is too cute. I'm so glad she's facing the past. I can not wait to find out what's going to happen next. More please. Chocolate Heart PJamas Creek Ho #74---Keeper of Pacey's fishing trophy Truelover #74 Lover of Pacey and Joey Hugs
JannP Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 1 (4/12/03 9:42 pm) Reply	Re: Night Without End - Chapter 7 Oh, yay. Joey is dealing with things, crying less...and that means moving on. Which as we know, means she's going to hook up with Pacey again. You're not the only one who plays with others' storylines in your head, missy. Don't think I forgot about Immortality while I've been MIA. Fabulous update. I can't wait for more. And you know I'll bug you about it every chance I get.
LadyHaHa Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 42 (5/9/03 4:09 pm) Reply	Re: Night Without End - Chapter 7 UPDATE! You can't just leave us hanging like that! Awww, please!!!!
SnoozyC Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 62 (5/28/03 12:43 pm) Reply	Re: Night Without End - Chapter 8 Sorry for the long delay, thanks for the replies, and for sticking with me ETA: Grrrr, stupid swear protector is on... I forgot what a pain in the bum it was to have to put FU.CK instead of the real word! Chapter 8 Joey loved working the early shift. She found that she always woke so early since being in Boston. She would jump in the shower to revive herself as much as she could. Then, wrapping herself up in her oversized coat and tying a long scarf around her neck in protection from the crisp fall air, she would head outside. It was a twenty minute walk to the restaurant and there were few people about at such an early of the morning down by the water. She often stopped off at a little coffee shop along the way that opened early for the fishermen and buy coffee and a bagel before heading onwards. She loved to amble along the harbour, sipping her cappuccino in the half light; where the day was still caught somewhere between early morning and late, late night. Joey waved at the fishermen who were standing on a far dock, smoking their pipes and drinking from their flasks of steaming hot liquid and then smiled as she passed her favourite little blue boat that was bobbing on the water a little further on. She was an extra hour early today; not out of choice, but the cat had jumped on her yet again and she’d been unable to fall back asleep. Instead she had decided to venture in early to take a look through the books that Pacey studiously kept up-to-date. The restaurant seemed to be doing great business. They were all making good money out of it, and their reviews didn’t seem to have been damaged by losing Bodie's talents from the kitchen. Their new chef had created the perfect menu, which kept a lot of Bodie’s original, classic recipes whilst mixing in new and exciting dishes from around the world. Their clientele was an eclectic mix of young and old, traditionalist and lovers of more contemporary dishes. The décor and ambience seemed to be liked by everyone, and there never seemed to be an empty table during the evenings. Joey, Pacey and all the staff were rushed off their feet at night; another reason why Joey loved working the early shift. The lunchtime ‘rush’ was a lot less stressful; in fact things were much more relaxed during the day; something that Joey found a lot easier to cope with, still being very much new to the business. Nights felt like such a steep learning curve, whereas she loved the more chilled-out feel at lunch, when she at least got to take a break and drink a cup of coffee for ten minutes before somebody yelled for her assistance. By now, the sun was slowly beginning to rise and Joey could see the sky in the distance in front of her turning a soft shade of orange as the night clouds slowly lifted. Suddenly, Joey felt a peaceful acceptance about this new life of hers. She smiled again and looked out to her left over the water, seeing the sun rise above the dotted row of boats on the horizon. Stopping in her tracks, she frowned slightly, looking at the boats to her left and then ahead of her once again. Two sunrises? Staring intently at the orange glow in the distance in front of her, Joey suddenly felt a chill run through her. That wasn’t sun. That was flames. Instantly, she dropped her coffee cup and started to run as fast as she could, pulling her cellphone out of her pocket to dial 911. “Hello… yes… there’s a fire somewhere… No I don’t know where yet, I’m running towards it and I see flames coming out of the roof of the building, there could be people trapped inside there and….” Joey rounded the corner and saw the restaurant in front of her, smoke billowing out of the front windows and flames licking out of the roof on the right hand side. She stopped in her tracks, all air suddenly knocked out of her lungs. “Oh my god… oh my god… It’s my restaurant. It’s MY restaurant!” Joey screamed, tears running down her cheeks. After a couple of minutes of them trying to calm her down, Joey finally gave the full address of the restaurant to the emergency services and the hung up the phone feeling completely helpless. They had told her to stay well back and keep calm, but she could feel the heat radiating from the building and worried that nothing would be salvageable. How the hell could it have started? Dread filled her as she realised she’d have to call Pacey and tell him that his whole life was burning in front of her. She pushed his number into her cellphone and sat down on the curb across the street, waiting for the fire crews to get there. The phone at his end just rang and rang and finally his voicemail kicked in after ten or fifteen rings. Joey sniffled and left an ambiguous message asking him to call her as soon as he could on her cell. Looking back to the water, she could hear the quiet wail of the sirens. They still sounded very far away, but the sirens were getting louder and louder as the fire trucks came closer to her, seemingly dreadfully slowly. That was when she noticed it. Pacey’s car. It was parked in its usual spot opposite the restaurant and Joey just stared and stared at it for a minute before realisation hit her. “Oh my god!” she shrieked, jumping up and instinctively running towards the restaurant, getting as close as she could. She covered her nose and mouth with the sleeve of her shirt as she strained to look through the large glass windows to the left of the door. The inside of the restaurant looked completely black; thick with smoke and she saw the orange glow of flames flickering from somewhere inside. “Shi.t. Shi.t...” she shook her head and moved back from the window. She wanted to go inside. The fire trucks were taking too long; and she had to go inside. Reaching for the handle she jumped back, gasping in pain as the heat from the metal handle burned into the skin of her palm. “F.uck… awww, f.uck!” she cursed, jumping up and down whilst blinking away the tears. Joey began to kick at the door; putting all her weight and anger at the world into it, but her choice of footwear that morning really offered no help at all. Her determination didn’t waver however and she almost didn’t notice a strong pair of arms encircling her from behind to pull her back to the safety of the curb. “It’s ok miss, you need to stand back while our crew gets to work on the place. It’s not safe for you to be this close to the building. We’re trying to control the situation – let us do our jobs now.” “My husband,” she cried. “My husband’s in there. You have to help him. You have to…” Joey grasped at the man’s jacket as she fought for air to fill her lungs. “Please…. You…” “Are you sure there’s someone in there Ma’am?” Joey nodded and the fire chief turned her gently but firmly and sat her down on the curb. “Do you know what part of the building he may be in?” “Um… I dunno… the office maybe… um the far back wall, on the left hand side,” she wheezed. Her eyes were streaming and she wasn’t sure if it was from the smoke, the fear or the pain in her hand. “Stay there ok?” Joey nodded as he walked away. She stared up at the building dazedly and then watched in silence as he directed the organised confusion that seemed to be going on in front of her. “We have one adult male still potentially in the building,” the fire chief shouted to his team as they donned breathing apparatus and headed into the building. The rest of the crew aimed the powerful hoses to the roof of the building in attempt to stem the worst of the flames which shot out from there. “I think I see something….” She could hear crackle over the two-way radio. “In the office…. The smoke’s pretty thick in here…… yes…. we have one white, adult male on the floor of the office,” the radio crackled with interference and was silent again. Joey felt she may as well have been in that building because she couldn’t breathe. She felt dizzy; like death was surrounding her again and she couldn’t get away from whatever curse had been put on her. Staring helplessly at the door, Joey silently willed the men to come back out. The fire itself seemed to be contained now as water poured onto the building, but smoke continued to billow out from every available window. It seemed to be taking them hours…. To Joey it felt like hours… but five or ten minutes later, she saw two firemen stumble out of the building on either side of Pacey. His arms were wrapped around their shoulders for support, but he was able to stagger out himself. His clothes, hands and face were all covered in heavy black soot and his mouth was covered by one of the men’s breathing equipment. They walked him over to sit on the edge of the back of the ambulance and Pacey was coughing badly as they pulled the mask from him so that the paramedic could offer him some oxygen. Joey sat frozen to the curb as she watched him coughing and gulping at a bottle of water before spitting it out onto the ground. She couldn’t see his face through the blackness, but as he reached up to wipe his eyes with the inside of his shirt sleeve, she let out the breath that she seemed to have been holding in ever since she saw the flames. He looked up at that moment and their eyes met. Joey jumped up, tears streaming down her cheeks and ran at him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissed him like her life depended on it. Pacey was stunned but wrapped his arms around her waist and held onto her like a lifeline as her lips finally left his and she peppered his face with rapid kisses before hugging him tightly to her body in silence. His face burrowed into the crook of her neck, inadvertently covering her in soot, but clearing his vision a little at the same time. “Excuse me miss, we really have to get him to the hospital now,” the paramedic touched Joey gently on the shoulder and pulled her out of her trance. “Oh… um…yes, ok, of course,” Joey’s breath was ragged as she pulled out of his arms and stepped back, staring at the paramedic in shock, unable to quite meet Pacey’s eyes. He stared down at the floor, not wanting to accept the fact that she might think the kiss was a mistake. “Are you coming in the ambulance ma’am?” “Well… I….,” she finally looked back at Pacey who was frowning down at the ground. “Um, yes – yes, absolutely,” she nodded resolutely. “It’s ok Jo,” Pacey shrugged. “You need to stay here and talk to the fire guys. I’ll be fine,” he still didn’t want to look at her but couldn’t help himself. As he looked up into her wide eyes Pacey finally smiled as he saw only fear, not regret looking back at him. “Stay. I’ll see you later,” he waved shyly as the paramedic helped him onto a gurney and drove off to the hospital. ~~~ Joey stood alone in the centre of the kitchen, surveying the charred remains around her. The stench of smoke was acrid throughout the restaurant and the thick soot in the air was stinging her eyes and drying out her throat as she moved slowly around the room. The fire department had left about half an hour earlier. After boarding up the broken windows and securing the burnt roof in the kitchen, they had pronounced it safe for her to go back in; but Joey had no clue what to do next. Luckily it appeared on closer inspection that the damage was primarily cosmetic; with only certain pieces of the kitchen equipment needing to be completely removed and replaced along with the work needed on the roof at the back. It apparently looked a lot worse than it actually was, and Joey certainly hoped that was the case because it truly did look devastating. Hearing footsteps, loud against the dust and debris on the floor behind her, Joey turned to see Helen’s grief-stricken face. “Oh my god,” she whispered. “Holy hell. I never thought… I mean… when you said on the phone…. I never imagined…” she shook her head and started to cry. Joey shrugged helplessly and reached out her hand, lethargically patting Helen’s arm. “They tell me it’ll be ok,” Joey sniffed, the stinging of tears now making it difficult for her to see properly. “But I just have no idea how to make it ok.” Helen swallowed hard, finding it difficult to breath with the strong smell of smoke everywhere around them. “Let’s get outside. It’s hard to breathe in here; I think we both need some fresh air.” They made their way through the rubble and large puddles of water left by the firemen’s hoses and headed outside to sit on the front step of the restaurant. Joey half laughed as Helen reached into her purse and slowly lit a cigarette. “What?” she frowned, closing her eyes and laughing as she realised what she’d done. “What can I tell ya? It’s an addiction.” It felt good to laugh, if even only for a few minutes of trying to ignore the million to-do-lists Joey had warring with each other inside her head. “Any word on Pacey?” “Not yet,” Joey closed her eyes. “But I guess he looked ok when they took him away.” “Maybe they’ll keep him in overnight… you know, for observation or something.” “Maybe,” Joey kicked at a pebble in front of her foot. “What was he doing in there anyway?” “I don’t know,” she sighed quietly. “I was on the early shift. There was no reason for him to be there at all.” “Yeah, but you know what he’s like. He’s married to this damn place.” Helen cringed. “Sorry.” Joey took a deep breath, “It’s ok.” “Me and my big mouth. I seriously need to start thinking before I speak.” “I’m just glad he’s alive, you know?” Joey sniffled and wiped at her teary eyes. “Of course I do. He’ll be fine Joey, trust me,” she put her arm around Joey’s shoulders and tried to offer comfort to the woman who’d never been particularly hospitable to her. “I didn’t realise how much it meant to me,” Joey looked up, nodding back through the door into the bar. “This place, I mean. I didn’t realise how much it had become home.” “Maybe it always was home,” Helen suggested gently. “I don’t know how to fix this. It’s going to take so much money and hard work and I just don’t know if we can get through it,” Joey was openly crying now, in her own world of panic. “Joey it’ll all work itself out. I promise you. Just wait until Pacey’s back on his feet. He’ll think of a plan. You guys are a team. The two of you will work something out to make this place ten times better than it ever was.” “You think?” “I know,” she smiled confidently. “I guess…. well… they did say the damage was mainly superficial. Maybe we just need to take a proper look at it and see exactly what needs doing?” “There’s the Joey Potter ball-breaking spirit!” “Hhmm.. thanks, I think,” Joey frowned sadly. “Joey what you need now is just to go home, take a long soak in a very hot bath and lie back on the sofa watching old movies. Then have an early night and come back here in the morning refreshed and feeling positive that this isn’t going to be the end of the world.” “Why are you being so nice to me?” Joey asked warily. “Because, contrary to your immediate assumption upon meeting me, I’m actually a very nice person; and even though you’ve regularly been a bit of a bitch to me, I forgive you,” she grinned. “Why?” Joey whispered, her head hanging down. “Because I know why you did it, and I maybe I kind of understand why you did it; even if you don’t.” “I wasn’t jealous if that's what you think,” Joey said resolutely. “Nah, because I hear you're not a jealous person at all," Helen smirked, then smiled sincerely at Joey. "And I think you know that when it comes to me, you have no reason to be, don't you?” “Yeah,” Joey admitted sheepishly. “We should be friends Joey,” Helen suggested, rising from the step and pulling Joey to her feet. “Us married women have to stick together,” she winked. “You think you’re so clever don’t you,” Joey scowled and Helen laughed at the thunderous frown on her face. “Come on,” she smiled. “I’ll drive you home.” ~~~
Angel608J Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 45 (5/28/03 2:23 pm) Reply	Re: Night Without End - Chapter 8 I'm at a loss for words. And we both know that never happens. Thank heavens Pacey is alright. I was holding my breath right along with Joey. Ooooooh, and she kissed him!! That makes me a very happy Angel. I'm also happy that the restaurant isn't a write-off. Now they can work together to rebuild what needs repairing. With the restaurant and in their relationship. LOVED IT sweetie. hugs
ragingfire2 Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 1 (5/30/03 7:12 pm) Reply	Re: Night Without End - Chapter 8 OMG! I didn't know you were still writing this one. I would have been here sooner, if I would have known. I don't even know what to say. Everything that's happened to them and is still happening to them is just so damn powerful, you've made me speechless. When she knew it was a fire and then she turned the corner, realizing it was the resturant, I about died. I knew it was going to be that and I knew that Pacey was going to be in there, but, holy hell. It was breaking my heart reading what was going through her mind, how she was reacting, even when they brought Pacey out and he was walking himself. But then... grins She ran to him AND kissed him. How big of a cheesy ass grin did I have on my face? HUGE! I'm just hoping in the light of a new day, it will only get better for them. They have some major stuff to work though, and obviously they haven't been doing it. They will soon though, right? RIGHT?!? I'm so loving this, Suzy. When do we get more.
leep4joy Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 50 (5/31/03 5:48 pm) Reply	Re: Night Without End - Chapter 8 Ok, I've been horrible about giving feedback lately...sorry However, I need to tell you that I LOVE this fic and I'm so excited that she kissed him and that somewhere she's allowing her feelings to resurface. They'll get through this eventually, right?? Cause they are both so strong. Please come back with more soon! ~Lee
Redfish74 Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 16 (6/30/03 8:57 pm) Reply	Re: Night Without End - Chapter 8 Thank goodness Pacey's okay, you scared me to death there for a minute. So what's going to happen now that Joey's starting to realize how much things in Boston really mean to her? More please. Chocolate Heart PJamas Creek Ho #74---Keeper of Pacey's fishing trophy Truelover #74 Lover of Pacey and Joey Hugs
ragingfire2 Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 2 (7/1/03 11:13 pm) Reply	Re: Night Without End - Chapter 8 I think it's time for an update.
Angel608J Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 48 (7/6/03 7:59 pm) Reply	Re: Night Without End - Chapter 8 Update please.
SnoozyC Loves Pacey and Joey Posts: 76 (9/29/03 9:51 am) Reply	Re: Night Without End - Chapter 9 Oh my goodness! Can you believe I actually got off my bottom and wrote something? The world's slowest writer (second only to JannP! LOL)? Well I did.... after months of doing nothing much else than reading other people's fics and going to work, I actually bashed a chapter out in the office today while my boss was off holding his wife's hand as she gave birth.... I may even write another one tomorrow! Anywho, on with the show... Chapter 9 Joey stood in the centre of the charred kitchen, on the floor still damp from the fire hoses, and stared dejectedly around her. Picking up a menu which had fluttered to her feet, she stifled a sob looking at its burnt edges, seeing where the flames had licked around the black printing of the restaurant name on the coloured card. She carried it with her as she walked back towards the office. The kitchen was the only room that had been badly burned but the office still had the acrid smell of smoke and its pale cream walls were covered with sooty stains. Joey was frightened at how quickly this place had begun to feel like home to her, and she almost wished it didn’t, because as the fire proved, it had the potential to break her heart again. Blocking all thoughts of ‘what ifs’ and ‘could have happened’ from her mind, especially in relation to Pacey, Joey tried to concentrate on how they were going to fix this problem. The fire chief had continued to remind her how lucky they had all been when he called her cellphone that morning to say that his crews had finished all their investigations. Still, the kitchen was going to require a hell of a lot of work to get them up to the health & safety standards which they needed to comply with in order to open up the restaurant again. Time and money were two things that Joey was pretty certain they didn’t have and certainly couldn’t waste. She didn’t often check the books so she wasn’t sure of how much disposable cash they had to pour into repairs and also had no idea about the status of the restaurant’s insurance policies. She kicked herself for not taking more of an interest, but she was pretty sure that with Pacey in charge of all administrative duties, they would probably be ok. Joey was scared though and she hated feeling scared because in turn it made her feel totally out of control of the situation and she didn’t like that one bit. Hearing footsteps stepping towards the office, crunching against broken glass on the floor from the bar, she looked up to see an exhausted looking Pacey. “Hey,” she whispered. He nodded in greeting and stepped further into the room. Looking around he thought back to the night before when he had been shaken awake, surrounded by smoke and barely able to see or breathe. He had been dead tired after having worked a double shift and sleep had overtaken him, as it often did at the end of the night, slouching in his office chair, feet up on desk and head tucked snugly into his shoulder. It had been a rude awakening a couple of hours later, when Pacey, convinced he was still dreaming, struggled against the fire crews who he was convinced were aliens come to take him to the mother ship. “Doesn’t seem real does it?” he asked, sitting down in the chair once again and gripping the sides tightly. She frowned and reached out to touch his hand, smoothing the white knuckles until his grip lessened. He looked up at her, his eyes tired and scared and wanting to find all the answers. “What are we going to do?” Joey knew that they couldn’t both fall apart over this; that was what had happened last time. One of them needed to be the strong one. Back when Bessie had died, neither of them had been in a place where they could be the one that the other leant on. This time, Joey realised that she could take control in order to get them both through it. “It’ll be ok,” she said firmly, squeezing his hand. “The insurance money will pay for the repairs and for any loss of earnings while we fix the place up. We can put ads in the press, or posters outside letting out customers know what’s going on and when we’ll be back up and running again, and if we can get the stench of smoke out of the bar, then we can open that up in a few weeks at least,” she smiled and Pacey felt a gratitude that he couldn’t put into words. He just stared at this beautiful, strong, brave woman in front of him; she was almost the Joey he married again. “You kissed me,” he said quietly, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Joey dropped her head, blushing furiously. “You remember that huh?” “Well I wasn’t drunk Jo,” he teased, staring at her unblinkingly. “Cute,” she smiled. “Thanks,” he grinned lazily, raising an eyebrow. “I didn’t mean you! I meant…. oh shut up,” she pouted as Pacey’s smirk grew wider. Joey knew she wasn’t ready for whatever he was trying saying to her, but there was no denying that something still existed between them. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Joey nervously tapping her foot and Pacey waiting patiently for her to speak, knowing she was working up to some sort of explanation and fearing what it would be. “I was worried about you,” Joey stated simply when she eventually looked up at him. He nodded slowly, realising that this wasn’t going to end well. “I mean… I thought you were dead in here.” “Mmmhmm.” Pacey frowned down at the floor. “It was relief. I saw you and it was just huge relief.” “Why?” he asked so quietly she could barely hear him. “Well… I…. because I thought you were dead ok? And…” her voice trailed off. She didn’t want to be pushed in analysing anything right now. She had to keep in control and keep focused on getting things back to some kind of normality. “Look, I can’t deny that I care Pacey. Neither one of us can deny that we care.” She took a breath. “But it was a highly charged, life threatening moment, and the relief I felt that you hadn’t had died, that no-one had died in here, led me to act rashly. I’m sorry if I made you think it was anything other than something borne out of feelings of relief and… and friendship… and I think we need to put all that behind us and just think about the business and…the future, and…” “Ok,” he said abruptly as he stood, effectively ending the conversation. She tried desperately to ignore the deflated look in the back of his eyes as he walked past her towards the kitchens and followed silently behind him, cursing herself for always handling everything so badly. “Wow,” Pacey looked wide-eyed around the room. “The fire chief said it’s mostly superficial, cosmetic damage really. I know we’ll need to gut out those ovens and replace them, and tear out those shelving units and build new ones…” “And replace all the produce, and get new fridges, a whole set of menus reprinted,” Pacey added, shaking his head tiredly as he reached up to push his hair back and rub his forehead. “And a whole list of other stuff that we haven’t even begun to think of yet. It could take us years to get this place back to how it was.” “Not years, Pacey. For god’s sake, stop being morose, it’s not nearly as bad as it could have been,” she shouted, gesticulating around the room. “At least there’s no structural damage; at least you’re not dead. At least all these belongings can be replaced, people can’t!” Pacey turned to see the anguish in her eyes and immediately reached out and pulled her to him, swaying slightly as he stroked her hair and down her back until her sobbing subsided. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s ok. You’re right. It’ll be ok. I’m sorry. Please stop crying Jo.” “Oh Pace what are we going to do? I’m trying to be so strong, but I was so terrified,” she sniffed as she held on tighter to him. He kissed her hairline gently and tried to ignore the emotions he was feeling as her body was touching his again after so long. He squeezed her gently and then released his tight hold on her. Looking down he saw her hands slip naturally into his as they faced one another. He turned her hand over and saw burn marks, bright red against the pads of her palm. “What’s this?” he frowned. “Oh. I. I must have burnt my hand on the door handle yesterday.” “You tried to get in there when it was burning down?” Joey shrugged. “Instinct I guess,” she sniffled before pulling away completely and putting some distance between them. “Hurt like hell though,” she laughed lightly, studiously ignoring Pacey’s probing eyes which followed her around the room. Finally he looked away from her and down at the floor, “So, where do we go from here?” “I guess we’ll need to get some advice, maybe find a project manager who can find us all the right people: plumbers, carpenters, painters, and we’ll need to go through our stock list and see what we’ve lost and then go shopping for more stuff. We’ll need to cancel all the orders we’ve got in place for the next few months for supplies, put some kind of notice outside to the customers, keep the staff on payroll, speak to the insurance company,” Joey was just beginning to realise how much of a mountain this seemed to be, and a costly one at that. “Is it all worth it?” Pacey asked, feeling defeated in his exhaustion. “You’re damn right it is,” a confident voice said from the doorway and Pacey and Joey turned to the to see Helen and the rest of their staff standing there. The chefs, the waiters and waitresses, their bar staff, all stood smiling at their bosses, ignoring the devastation around them. “We’ve been talking. We knew you’d insist on paying us while you’re closed down, so we all agreed you might as well get your money’s worth. It’s a little known fact to many, but Carlos here used to be an electrician before he started learning to dice onions,” she explained with a grin. “And apparently Lucy took a carpentry class or two at school. Added to that, my brother has been a plumber for fifteen years and what the rest of us lack in experience, we more than make up for in enthusiasm to make a real good start on a clean up job and helping to paint when the time comes.” She signalled to the others behind her who walked further into the room bringing boxes of cleaning equipment and large cardboard boxes for clearing away as much of the damaged stuff and rubble as they could. “As for a Project Manager,” Helen added teasingly, “I think the two of you work pretty well as a team, you could save yourselves plenty of money by you doing it instead. Anyway, it’s your restaurant, only you’ll know how you want it to be fixed up.” Helen grinned at the dumbfounded faces of Pacey and Joey. It slowly sunk into Joey’s mind that their team, who she’d been such a bitch to when she arrived, had totally rallied around and were helping to save the restaurant, and save Pacey and Joey some money. Joey felt herself choking up as her eyes filled with tears. She looked to Pacey who was just grinning speechlessly and shaking his head. He reached out for Helen, picked her up and swung her around furiously until he realised that he was exerting way too much pressure on himself, bearing in mind he’d only left the ER department a few hours earlier. Wincing slightly at the strain he’d put on his already ribs, Pacey put Helen down and coughed quite furiously until Joey reached into the soot covered refrigerator and handed him a bottle of water. ~~ Three hours later Joey told everyone to take a well deserved break. They had immediately cleared the kitchen out so it was completely empty, and since then had been meticulously going through every item to see what could be salvaged and listing what needed replacing. The room itself looked much better once everything had been removed and it was clearer to see which areas had been most badly damaged. All of the ovens were going to need replacing, along with a faulty gas pipe, which the fire chief suspected was the cause of the blaze in the first place. The majority of the appliances had melted too and there was a strange smell of burnt plastic and hard white residue where each item had stood. This also meant replacing most of the work surfaces which hadn’t been damaged too badly as they were stainless steel, but there were so many health and safety laws that they needed to comply with, that it was easier to strip a lot of things out and start again. Luckily, the structure of the room was sound, and the walls and floors would mainly need stripping down, cleaning and repainting. Joey found that she was actually almost looking forward to that part. The rest of the restaurant hadn’t been affected too badly by the fire but the smoke and fumes had impregnated the soft furnishings in the bar, which would have to be professionally cleaned and Joey decided all the surfaces in both bar and office would definitely need a lick of paint. The only rooms not to be affected at all were the bathrooms as they were located on the opposite far wall to the kitchen and were completely tiled from floor to ceiling inside, so would only need a thorough cleaning. Having made endless lists and notes in each room, while the others were emptying the kitchen, Joey decided that she too needed to take five. “Where’s Pacey?” Joey smiled, accepting a can of coke from Helen. “In the office,” Helen shuddered, shaking her head. “You’d think he’d be desperate to stay out of there after what happened.” Joey smirked in agreement. “I think he’s been talking to the bank and checking on insurance matters.” “Ok, thanks Helen,” Joey smiled and walked towards the office door before looking meaningfully at her over her shoulder. “For everything,” she added. Pacey was just finishing up a phone call when she walked in, so she sat quietly in front of the desk and handed him the remainder of her coke can. Smiling his thanks, Pacey held up his hands to signal he’d just be one minute more. “Ok, thanks Andrew. I’ll talk to you soon. Thanks for calling. Yeah, you too.” Pacey put the phone down and took a long drink from the can before smiling at Joey. “That was Andrew Mills." "Bodie's lawyer?" "Yeah. He's a friend of mine too…. said he saw the fire mentioned on the local news this morning and wanted to check up on us. I guess we’re famous huh?” he laughed. “Well, all publicity is good publicity,” Joey laughed. “Or so they say.” “Speaking of which, I’ve been thinking about what you said,” Joey raised her eyebrows in question. “About putting an ad in the paper to tell our customers what’s going on with us. I think it’s a great idea, and we can even mention a date for our grand reopening at the same time, so they don’t think we’re giving up and going out of business. It could be a great party…. Attract loads of new clientele.” “Now just hang on a minute Pace. Let’s not try to run before we can walk here. We just had our restaurant on fire yesterday. How on earth can we possibly guess on a date we’re going to be ready to reopen on at this early stage? It’s crazy.” “No, it isn’t. It actually makes a lot of sense,” by now Pacey looked totally calm and in his element. He looked almost excited at the thought of opening a new restaurant all over again. “Look, with all the help we’ve been offered it’s not going to take us for ever, and if it looks to be taking longer than we anticipate, we can hire more helping hands. The insurance policy we have is excellent and we’ll be getting more than enough money back to fix everything and make some great improvements to this place.” He smiled and shrugged. “I just think if we chose a date now, it’ll give us a target to work towards and stop the whole process from dragging out so that we end up never opening again,” he explained as if it were the simplest thing in the world. “How are you so calm about this?” “Because, it’s what I know, and what I love Joey. And it actually feels like a new start. I dunno…..It’s weird, but maybe we need to remove the memories of Bodie from here." Joey stared in horror. "I mean, not that he can ever be removed from our hearts and minds; nor would we want him to be. But maybe, you and I…. maybe we need this place to be about us and the future and not the past anymore?” Joey felt her heart hammering in her chest but tried to ignore it and focus solely on the huge sense of pride she felt for him right then. He was right of course, and she felt as though he were doing it for her, and not just them. He knew how much the past had hurt her, seemingly more than him in reality and once again, she felt grateful and proud that he was trying to take away her pain to help her move on. “Ok,” she said quietly, staring down at her hands to check they weren’t shaking too badly. “How about New Years?” he grinned, looking like an excited child planning his birthday party. “We could have a huge reopening party on the December 31st, with fireworks outside, music and champagne and a whole new menu.” Joey smiled; his enthusiasm was contagious. “It could be a costume party!” he continued, pacing up and down the room by this point. “Ok, ok,” she laughed. "December 31st it is. I’ll speak to the paper about putting in the ad, you go and break the news about the fun deadline to the guys out there.” Pacey stood in the doorway, smiling and staring at the only woman he would ever love. “Jo this is going to be good… for the business, for the past, for everyone.” “I don’t think I’d have ever thought that this time yesterday, but now I think you might be right. At least I hope so Pace.” “This is where you belong Potter,” he dared to add, but Joey merely smiled sadly before looking down at the newspaper to search for the telephone number of the advertising department. She was glad that Pacey left the room before seeing her hands shaking so badly she dropped the paper, scattering the pages which floated down onto the floor around her feet. ~~~ I'd love some feedback if anyone's still reading this! LOL

Operation True Love: Pacey and Joey > Pacey and Joey Fan Fic > Night Without End (Chapter 12) - Updated 25th January
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