Back to the Disasters Page
Disclaimer: As much as I wish that they were, these characters do not
belong to me in anyway.
Author’s note: The characters have been aged. There is no set age, but
they are older.
Dawson sat alone in his cabin in Colorado, thinking about his latest
movie. He was having trouble with the script, and it was driving him
crazy. That’s why he retreated to Colorado for a week. There was a
knock at his door.
Who could that be, he asked himself. Geeze, I
thought I might have a moment of peace. How stupid. As he walked to
the door he looked outside and realized how hard it was snowing.
***
Joey trudged up the stairs of the foreign cabin. Her car had broken down, and it was snowing hard. Please let someone be home, she prayed, please.
***
In front of Dawson stood a tall, beautiful woman with dark hair. She
looked half frozen.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“Yes, my car broke down a few miles - Dawson?” Joey was taken a back.
She and Dawson had parted badly after high school and hadn’t really
talked since. His face had matured, but you could still tell that he
was the young boy struggling to understand life on the inside.
“Joey? My God, I can’t believe it. Come inside, you’re frozen,”
Dawson pulled Joey inside and shut the door, “What are you doing out
here?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” Joey replied.
Dawson sighed, “Well - no, nevermind that now, you have to get out of
those clothes. You need warmed up.”
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but this is all I...” Joey started to
say before she fainted into Dawson’s arms.
“Joey? Joey? Come on, Jo,” Dawson tried to wake her back up. He
slapped her face repeatedly and she finally came to.
“Ummm? Oh, hey Dawson. Always here to save the day, huh? That’s just
like you,” Joey was still faint, “Everything’s spinning, what’s going
on?”
“You’re frozen, Jo. We have to get you out of this things and into a
hot bath,” Dawson carried Joey into his bedroom, and laid her on his bed
while he went to draw her bath water. He came back and tried to wake
her back up, “Jo? Come on, Jo. You have to get your clothes off.”
“I can do it, Dawson,” she faded in and out of consciousness, “I can do
it,” she tried to pull off her coat but she couldn’t get it, “It’s
frozen on,” she said and a laughed, “I guess I’ll have to wear it
forever.”
“Okay, Jo, never mind, I got it,” Dawson told her, “Maybe a bath isn’t
the best idea right now. We’ll just get you into some warm clothes and
into bed.” Dawson carefully peeled off Joey’s frozen clothes and put
her in his bath robe and a pair of socks. He then tucked her into bed.
***
Joey slept for two days straight, sometimes she was conscious, but most of the time she wasn’t. Dawson took care of her, tried to get her to eat some warm soup, and sat by her. She occassionally yelled out for her father, and even her mother, but she usually called for Dawson. He didn’t know what else to do, so he just held her. They were stuck together in the middle of a blizzard, and there was no way Dawson could get her to a doctor.
***
Joey awoke in a foreign bed. The room didn’t look familiar to her.
She didn’t know where she was or what she was doing there. She saw a
tall blond man enter the room carrying a tray of what looked like soup.
“Hey,” the man said, “I never thought you’d rejoin the land of the
living.”
“Dawson?” Joey wasn’t sure it was him, “What am I doing here?”
“I don’t know, Jo, you never explained yourself,” Dawson replied.
“I remember my car breaking down and I had to walk and then I saw this
cabin,” Joey’s memory was foggy.
“Which just happened to be my cabin. You came in here, fainted, and
you’ve been sleeping ever since.”
“I’m sorry, Dawson. I didn’t mean to be such a burden, it was just so
cold outside,” Joey felt badly for intruding on Dawson’s life.
“Don’t talk like that, Jo. I’m glad to help. Why don’t you go take a
hot bath. I’ll keep this soup hot for you while you do that.”
“Okay. Umm, where are my clothes?”
Dawson smiled, “Actually, I haven’t gotten to washing them yet, sorry.
Washing machines and I don’t mix too well. I have some extra clothes,
you can wear those until I decide to challenge the washing machine for a
rematch.”
Joey laughed as she walked into the bathroom. Dawson couldn’t believe
his incredible luck. Out of all people, Joey Potter ends up at his
doorstep. They had dated all through high school, but had decided to
break it off when they left for college. They hadn’t really seen each
other since. Dawson had attended Carnegie Mellon University and become
a world famous director and producer. He had revolutionized the teenage
spectrum of the movie industry with his first movie. He always had a
girlfriend, but he found he couldn’t commit himself to anyone.
Something was always missing from his relationships. He couldn’t quite
put his finger on what it was, though.
***
Joey sighed as the hot water ran over her body. If it hadn’t been for Dawson, she might have died. She hadn’t seen him in so long, but it felt as if it hadn’t been any time at all. She had attended Boston College on a full scholarship, and now she was an English professor at Harvard. She had been married once, but it had failed miserably.
***
Dawson was setting the table for dinner. He had made chicken noodle
soup for Joey, and just decided that he’d eat some too. As he was
laying the silverware, Joey came out of his bedroom in one of his
sweatshirts and a pair of boxers.
“Well,” she said, “I think I’m ready for a night on the town.”
Dawson laughed and pulled out a chair for her, “Not yet, I don’t
think. But maybe tomorrow. Didn’t you know? That’s the latest fashion
in snowed-in cabin ware. I designed it myself.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you were a designer too. I should have guessed it,
though, I always knew you had a fetish with woman’s clothes,” Joey
replied.
“Ha, ha,” Dawson said sarcastially as he sat down at the table,
“Hungry?”
“Famished,” Joey tasted her soup and made a terrible face, “You make
this yourself, Dawson?”
Dawson acted hurt then started laughing, “That bad, huh? Sorry, I’m no
chef.”
“I realize that.”
***
Dawson and Joey were sitting together under a blanket watching
television. The weather man had just reported that the snow wasn’t
expected to stop for another three days.
“Well,” Joey said, “I hope you
weren’t in a hurry.”
“Actually, I came up here to think,” Dawson replied, “Things haven’t
been going as well as they used to be and I needed a... break... I
guess. How about you? I mean, what were you doing up here?”
“One of my collegues had decided that I needed a break. She loaned me
her cabin for a week.”
“Oh,” Dawson didn’t know what to tell her, “Look, Jo, I’ve been
thinking a lot lately and I want you to know that I’m so sorry I didn’t
keep in touch with you.”
“Dawson, it’s not your fault, it’s mine. I’m the one that broke things
off and I shouldn’t have.”
Dawson looked up at her, “What?” he asked barely above a whisper.
Joey sighed, “Giving you up was the worst thing I could’ve done. I
never wanted to, but I felt I had to. This whole situation just proves
it.”
“Proves what?” Dawson asked.
“That I need you. And I want you to need me, too. I know that’s a lot
to ask, especially after not seeing you for so long. I’m sorry, I’m
being terribly selfish. It’s just that while I was unconscious,
everything suddenly became clear. This just feels right,” Joey pulled
the blanket tighter around her, as though shielding herself from what
Dawson was going to say.
“Man, Jo, I can’t believe this. It’s been so long, but it feels like
it was just yesterday that we last saw each other. There was always
something missing from my relationships, and I just now realized what it
was. No woman that I dated was you,” Dawson kissed Joey lightly on the
lips. There kiss slowly became more passionate.
When they broke away, Joey smiled and said, “Well, I guess being snowed
in here for a couple more days won’t be *too* bad.”
Dawson laughed and kissed Joey again. He then said, “I think we’ll be
able to entertain ourselves.”