Part 7 ~ When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

Dawson gets up and starts to stomp around the room. The thought of Pacey and Joey together keeps swimming around in his head. That, plus the emotions from the dreams and how he felt so left out when Pacey and Joey were at the ruins. "But does that mean I love Joey? And if I do what have I been doing with Jen. Why am I still so attracted to her?"

Just then, who but Pacey comes through the window. "Hey, Dawson man, need help?"

"What I need, Pace, is a lobotomy, a heart transplant and a physic. What can you give me?"

"A lobotomy, but I don't think the girls would forgive me, though how they'd tell the difference I don't know. So just a sounding board."

"A sounding board, with an emotional investment. No, thank you."

Pacey, sighs. "Be that way, and you won't have anything, a decision for tonight or friends tomorrow. Life's rough my man, and this is only the beginning. But if you choice right. And I mean what you really want and not what you think all of us want, then you may get a breather, for just a little while."

"If it helps, I'll tell you what we want. We want our friends to be happy. Now that seems like an impossible task, but it's not.

"I love Joey, so I want her to have what she needs to be happy. If that is you, fine. If it's me, all the better. Jen loves you, so she wants you to be happy. She will be hurt if you decide to date Joey, but she'll get over it. She'll get through it, we'll be there for her.

"Joey loves you. She wants what's best for you. Before, she didn't think it was Jen. Now, she'll deal with it better. She's ready to move on, with or without you.

"What do you want Dawson? I thought you wanted Joey. You seemed to spend too much time consumed by her. But now I don't know. Jen really loves you, so maybe she saw you loving her. I don't know, and where the heart is concerned, I know I'm the person to ask."

"Thanks Pace, you've been a real help. Why don't you go away and let me think, I have four lives to screw up."

Pacey laughs. "Don't give yourself so much credit, Dawson. Remember you don't write our lives, we can decide for ourselves if something's not right. See you tonight Daws. Life goes on man, life goes on, with or without you to enjoy it."

Pacey leaves, through the door this time. The radio can be heard with the DJ saying, "This is a special request going out from Pacey to Dawson. Pacey says to remember 'This is not the end, nor is this the beginning of the end, this is simple the end of the beginning.' This is Semisonic's Closing Time.