Truth Revealed
by hzeleyes

Disclaimer: I don't own the Joey, Dawson, Jen, or Pacey characters. They belong to Kevin Williamson and whoever else is lucky enough to be involved in that wonderful show. I don't even own Bessie, Bodie, Alexander, Sarah, or Cliff :-( Sad, but true, but hopefully in one of my other parts I'll put someone I own in!! :-) Send comments/feedback to hzeleyez23@aol.com.

"What are you watching? You're not trying to solve a problem by using your damn Spielberg theory, are you Dawson?" Josephine Potter sat on her best friend, Dawson Leery's bed. He raised his head up from the pillow.

"What if I am, Joey? It helped me the past four years," Dawson countered. "Maybe you should try it."

Joey nodded. "Yeah. And then I can go on a hunt for dinosaurs. Please. And isn't this the tenth time you've watched Jurassic Park in the past three days?"

"Eleventh, actually. I feel the answer is in this movie, I just have to find it."

Joey turned to him, annoyed. "And what is the question this time, Dawson?"

He looked back at her. How could he tell her it was about them, together as a couple? Ever since that night in his bedroom when he had kissed her they hadn't mentioned it. Joey had pulled away and run out the window. He was sure she was going to go to France, but two days later she came through the window, acting as if nothing had happened. Dawson didn't know what to do, so he acted the same way.

"I'm asking....whether I should....take on a new outlook on life," he said quickly, a little too quickly. Joey didn't buy it.

"If that's what you were asking, I'm the Queen of England. I know what it's about. You're still obsessing over Jen. You didn't show it for the last week, but now that her grandfather passed away and she's having these little breakdowns, all the feelings are starting to rush back, right? Don't need to explain to me. I understand everything. Perfectly," she added the last word through gritted teeth.

Dawson sighed and shut the TV off. "You're still jealous of Jen? I can't believe you. That seems like years ago. Some things never change I guess." He wiggled up and leaned against the headboard of the bed.

"Whoa, wait a minute," Joey shot up off the bed and faced Dawson, "Who said anything about jealousy? I was merely making an observation. And at your response obviously a right one. Just forget I said anything about blondie if it bothers you that much."

"Joey, her grandfather died. Have a little more compassion."

"And she's using her grandfather's death to squeeze every ounce of sympathy from you. God, Dawson, can't you see? She's using you. You're like a plaything to her. Now that guys like Cliff Elliot are interested in her, she doesn't want you." She moved over to the window, ready to climb out and down the ladder.

"And what about you, Joey?" Dawson asked softly, not really intending for her to hear. Joey turned and walked back to the bed, sitting down.

"What about me?"

"Are you using me? Am I just a plaything for you?" he asked seriously. Joey was taken aback by his boldness. He saw the shocked look on her face and continued, "We can't pretend it didn't happen because it did. Now either we tell each other how we feel or it'll eat away at us for years, destroying our friendship at the end."

"I don't know.....," Joey looked down, worried about what to say. What if he didn't like the kiss and she said she did and he felt obligated to say the same thing. The last thing she needed was Dawson pittying her.

"Joe," Dawson prompted.

"Dawson, I'm just really messed up right now. I don't think it's a good time for us to talk about it. Please?" she pleaded silently with her eyes.

"No. No, it's the perfect time. I'm not gonna dance around it here. I wanna take this thing head on. When we kissed how did you feel?"

Joey sucked in her breath and slowly let it out. She turned and stared into his aqua blue eyes with her dark green ones.

Jennifer Lindley stood at her bedroom window, looking over at Dawson's. She had seen Joey go in there about twenty minutes ago, but she hadn't come back out yet. Jen couldn't help but feel jealous. She had broken up with Dawson when she was still upset over Billy, her ex-boyfriend from New York. She had tried to tell him the night that Joey was in the pageant, that she still had feelings for him, but he had said he didn't know how he felt. Now more than anything she wished she hadn't broken up with him.

"Jennifer," her grandmother came into the room, "are you going to have any dinner?"

"Not now, Grams. I'll heat something up later. I"m actually gonna go for a walk," Jen walked over to her bed and picked up her red velvet jacket from where she had thrown it.

"It's late, Jennifer," Mrs. Ryan warned. "Be home soon and don't go too far." Jen nodded and walked quickly past her grandmother, down the stairs, and out the front door.

She put on the jacket as she walked. She thought about walking towards Dawson's house, but decided against it and walked toward Main Street instead. Somehow she ended up in front of the video store where Pacey Whitter and Dawson work. She looked inside the window and saw Pacey flipping through a magazine at the counter. The bell above the door jingled as Jen walked in. Pacey looked up, bored, but brightened when he saw one of his friends.

"Hey, Jen, you want a movie?" he asked, setting down the magazine. "Or did you come here just to see me?" he smiled.

Jen rolled her eyes. "Actually I don't know what I'm doing here. I was walking and found myself in front of this place so I came in. How are you, Pace? Having another boring Saturday night?"

Pacey nodded. "Oh, yeah. I'm stuck working the late shift where no one comes in and then when I finally get to go home my father and brother are there to make it worse. How 'bout you, Jen?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Cliff called and asked if I wanted to do something, but I think I'm just gonna take a break where he's concerned. So yes this is a boring Saturday night for me, but I made it this way." Jen laughed, "I actually thought that maybe I could hang out with Dawson, but that would be impossible."

"Uh-oh. You still have feelings for him."

"Only as a friend. He's been there for me and now I think of him as a best friend," she lied.

"Yeah, right," Pacey laughed.

Joey untied her boat from the dock, hopped into it, and took the oars. She looked at Dawson's bedroom window and saw him hanging out of it, waving. She waved back, smiling. She was relieved that they both felt the same way and now they were officially going out. Her heart felt light as she rowed away toward her home where she lived with her sister Bessie, Bessie's boyfriend Bodie, and their son, Alexander. She tied the boat up at her dock and walked to the small house.

"Bess? Bodie? Anyone here?" Joey called as she entered the house. It was quiet so she knew there was nobody home.

She went to the kitchen and found a note from Bessie. It said: Joey, I'm at the Icehouse. Bodie and Alexander are with me. Come by if you want. Love, Bess. Go to the Icehouse and get served for a change? That'd be nice, Joey thought and ran back out of the house.

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"Finally, my shift is over. Wanna go to the Icehouse? It's not far from here," Pacey asked Jen, who had stayed with him for the last half hour.

"Sure. Maybe I'll actually have some fun for a change," Jen agreed. Pacey followed her out and locked the door behind them. "So, um, do you know what's going on between Dawson and Joey?" Jen tried to sound casual as they walked up the block to Bessie's restaraunt.

Pacey's throat tightened at the thought of Dawson and Joey together. He had never told Jen about his "pass" at Joey, which she had politely brushed off. "Haven't talked to either of them in a while. Me and Dawson have had different shifts for the past week."

"And what's the reason you haven't talked to Joey? I thought you guys were friendlier after that science experiment thing."

Yeah, friendlier, he thought sarcastically. "Haven't seen her around."

"Well, here's your chance to finally see her. She's just walking into the Icehouse."

Pacey looked up excitedly, just in time to see her dark brown hair before it disappeared. "I guess I'll see her inside. Let's get a good table."

Joey walked into the S.S. Icehouse and saw Bessie at the counter. She sat at one of the stools and smiled wickedly at her older sister who was also her guardian now. "I'll have the Diet Coke, two and a half spoons of sugar, and a cherry or two in it with a straw. A curling straw."

"Joey," Bessie began in a low voice, "first of all, we have no cherries or curling straws. Secondly, you know where the sugar and drinks are. Go get it yourself."

Joey shook her head. "Is that any way to treat a paying customer? No wonder we're not rich."

Just then there was a wail, then Bodie screaming, "Bess, help!" Bessie sighed and shook her head.

"I'll get him," Joey said, anticipating the request and walked to the kitchen where Alexander was in his car seat on the counter. "Great. When I'm not working as a waitress for my sister, I'm working as a baby-sitter for her," she said, picking him up.

"Thanks, Joey," Bodie came up behind her in an apron. She looked at him and smiled.

"The kitchen wife look is very good for you, Bodie." She took Alexander to the outside part of the restaraunt in the back. Jen and Pacey were there, having their order taken by Sarah. What are Jen and Pacey doing here? Are they on a date? she asked herself. Why did it bother her anyway? She had Dawson now.

"Hey, Joey. Hi!" Jen called to her. Joey had intended on keeping her distance, but not being rude to them. She slowly made her way through the tables over to them. "Are you working tonight?" Jen asked her.

"Nah. Just here as a customer. And baby-sitter," she held up Alexander.

"Alex!" Pacey finally said something.

"You'll have to excuse Pacey. He's forgotten how to say 'Hello, Joey'."

"If you guys are on a date, I can leave.....," Joey started to turn, but Pacey called after her.

"Date? Me and Jen? No. We're friends. Sit with us." Joey sat next to Jen and across from Pacey. "How's life, Joe?"

Joey shrugged, smiling, "Pretty good."

"How are you and Dawson?" Jen asked, not being able to stand not knowing any longer.

"Me and Dawson?" Joey repeated, her eyebrows raised in surprise. Pacey closed his eyes for a moment, praying that she would say they were friends and he could have another chance with her. "How should me and Dawson be?" Pacey looked at her in hope. Could they really just be friends?

Jen shrugged, then looked at her watch. "Oh, gosh, I have to go. I told Grams I wasn't going far and now I've been gone for almost an hour. She's gonna call the FBI soon. Bye guys. See you tomorrow."

Pacey and Joey watched her walk away and then Pacey turned to Joey. "What's going on between you and your beloved Dawson?"

Joey looked down, embarassed, but now knowing exactly why. Maybe it was the intense way Pacey was staring at her. "C'mon, Pacey. Can't you tell? Look at me. I'm actually happy for a change."

Pacey's face fell. He was hurt by the comment. But then he realized he was right all along. Joey would never be happy with anyone but Dawson. Guess the time to stop fantasizing was here and he had to face it. "Congratulations," he said, dryly.

Sarah came back with the two Cokes and fries for Pacey and Jen. "Where did the other girl go?" she asked Joey.

"Oh, she left. But I'll take her Coke," Joey smiled, took the Coke and passed Pacey his fries, taking one in the process. "You did order the fries, right, Pacey?"

He smiled. "How did you know?"

Joey shrugged coyly. "Don't you know? I'm psychic." Pacey laughed and drank half his coke in one gulp. "You don't mind if I take a few, do you, Pace?"

"Help yourself, Joe. You always do." She rolled her eyes at him and reached for a fry at the same time he did. Their hands bumped and she drew her hand back as if she had touched fire. "I don't bite, Joe. Geez, talk about nervous."

"Actually, Pacey, I have to go," Joey reached into her jeans pocket and took out a five dollar bill. She left with Alexander, tossing the money on the table. Pacey watched her walk away sadly, then payed for his half.

"Jennifer, where have you been?" Mrs. Ryan pounced on her granddaughter the second she walked through the door.

"I was...around, Grams. It's not really that late. And it's summer now. No school tomorrow."

"That's not the point. I told you not to go far and to come back soon, and you went against both those rules."

"I was...at the Icehouse. I didn't think you would mind if I went out with my friends for the first time in what seems like months. I'm sorry, Grams, really I am, but you have to understand I don't have my whole life planned out. I don't even have a whole hour of my life planned out. I do what comes up," Jen began to walk up the stairs, her grandmother following.

Mrs. Ryan sighed. "Go have some dinner, Jennifer. You're not planning on going out anymore tonight, are you? Oh, that's right, you don't plan."

Jen took her jacket off and threw it on her armchair in the corner of the room. "No, I'm not going out anymore. Let me take a shower and I'll eat."

Joey sat on her bed/couch, trying to read a book when Alexander started crying.

"Joey, please," Bessie called from the kitchen. "It'll be another few minutes before his bottle's done."

"Bessie! I'm trying to read. Where's Bodie?"

"He's not here. Remember? He stayed at the restaraunt to check over some lighting problems. Now please get Alexander."

Joey stood up reluctantly and went to his crib. "You have to start calling him Alex. I mean kids at school will torture him with the name Alexander. Can't he just be Alex?"

"I like the name Alexander. It's a sophisticated name. Why do you always try to shorten names? Maybe I'll start calling you Josephine again."

"You try and I'll never answer. Besides, you think kids actually care about the sophistcation of a name?" Joey picked up her baby nephew and walked with him to the kitchen.

Bessie turned from the stove and blew him a kiss. "OK," she agreed, "We'll call him Alex for his childhood and teen years. Then as soon as he's twenty we go with Alexander? Deal?"

Joey nodded. "Deal. Although I'll be long gone from Capeside, Massachuttes by then."

Bessie shook her head. "Don't plan anything Joey. Go with the flow. Anyway, I saw you with Pacey tonight. What's going on with you two?"

"We're friends. What did you think?" she raised her eyebrows at her sister, putting Alex in his highchair.

Bessie shrugged, pouring the warm milk into the bottle. "Judging by the way you guys were acting and the way he was looking at you, I'd say you were MUCH more than friends." She gave the bottle to her son, who sucked on it happily, looking at her and Joey curiously.

"No," Joey shook her head. "The day when me and Pacey are anything but friends will be the day.....you and Bodie get married and have a set of twins." Even she was surprised at her quick defense. Wasn't that the way she acted when she liked Dawson and someone accused her of it? Bessie nodded, not really believing her. Joey glared at her for a moment, then went back to trying to keep her mind on her book, but instead it was wandering to Pacey. It's probably 'cause he was the last of my friends I saw, Joey insisted to herself.

Jen tried to block off the sound of her grandmother's voice as she ate her cold dinner.

"And, furthermore, there will be some rules in this house. A lot of rules. You can't go gallavanting about town at night. It's dangerous."

"Grams! I've been around New York later than this. I don't think some monster is lurking around Capeside ready to catch me."

"Oh, yes, there is. A lot of them. They're called high school boys. I just don't want what happened in New York to happen here. And it's happening. I know you still feel for that Leery boy. But can't you just forget about him and see what a nice, smart, handsome young man Cliff Elliot is?"

Jen sighed. "Why don't you go out with him then, Grams?"

"I would if I were you. I want you to come to church with me tomorrow, Jennifer. Praying to the Lord will do you good."

Jen shook her head and got up. "No. Grams, I respect your beliefs, now why can't you respect mine? Every time I find one of your little "reminders" in my room I take it out and don't complain. Now I am. I refuse to go to church tomorrow. It's not fair that I have to practice your beliefs when you can't even hear of mine."

"This is my house, Jennifer and what I say-."

"No, this is our house. I live here now, and I have as much right as you do. So get used to it." Jen dropped her plate in the sink and ran up to her room.

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Look for other parts. I luv feedback so send some to me at hzeleyes23@aol.com. But I have to warn you, if you send me something that is nasty and degrading I will not bother to respond. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but don't curse at me. If you can give me some healthy criticism I'll try to improve whatever you feel needs to be improved.