Jack threw the newspaper he was reading at Pacey in disbelief. “Have you read that?”

“No?” Pacey offered feebly, picking up the paper.

“Well, probably more than half of Boston did and now think you’re an idiot.” He rubbed his temples tiredly. “I’ve been getting phone calls about this all day.”

Pacey scanned the article, “It’s not my fault the woman doesn’t like me. Besides, what’s the big deal? It’s sports, not politics.”

“Everything is politics, Pacey. If they don’t like you, they won’t pay you.” He frowned. “Did you sleep with her?”

Pacey suddenly found the article very interesting. “What kind of question is that?”

“A good incentive for her not to like you.”

“You’d think it would have cleared the tension.” Pacey sighed.

“Well obviously it didn’t.”

“It wasn’t anything she didn’t agree to, Jack.”

“You’re gonna have to find some way to fix it.”

Pacey groaned. “I don’t even know what happened, Jack.”

He motioned to the paper. “If she keeps writing things like that you can just forget about Boston.”

“Ugh. So what do I do here, Jack? The woman doesn’t like me.”

Jack smirked. “I think we have to mark this day down in history. A woman doesn’t like Pacey Witter.”

“No, she liked me just fine when we were in my hotel room. It was the after she told me she wasn’t Jen and that she was Joey that things got ugly.”

“She doesn’t have to like you. Just make sure she doesn’t write anything like that about you, again.”

“And how would you suggest that?”

“Do I have to think of everything for you?” Jack asked exasperated.

“I’m open to suggestion here. You already know my usual methods. I don’t generally try to make a woman like me *after* we’ve had sex.”

“Why did I ever let Andie near you?”

“Cause you knew I loved her,” Pacey said with a smile.

Jack sighed. “Maybe you should ask Andie for help with this then.”

“Right, like she needs the extra burden right now.” Pacey sighed. “I’m just going to have to talk to her.”

“Whatever. Just fix it.”

Pacey frowned. “She hasn’t called here, has she? We’re supposed to meet once a day, aren’t we?

Jack shook his head. “Not yet.”

“If she keeps this up, couldn’t we just sue her for destruction of character or something?”

He rubbed the back of his neck wearily. “I’d have to look in to it but I’m not sure it’d work.”

“Why not? I mean, she can’t get away with this kind of stuff, there’s gotta be laws about it.”

“But it’s not like she broke any of them. Now if she’d made most of that stuff up, we’d have something.”

“I’ll be more careful about what I say next time, then.”

“Good thinking.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m a moron, Jack. If I knew she was gonna misquote me on all that, I wouldn’t have said it.”

“Then watch out for next time, okay?”

“Will do. I have my cell phone, so if she calls have her call me. We’ll figure something out.”

Jack sighed. “Okay.”

Pacey stood. “I’m going over to the house, there anything you want to send over to Andie or the kids? “

“I’ll be by to see them later.”

“Okay.” He headed out the door. What he’d say to Joey when next he saw her weighing on his mind.

~*~

Pacey tickled the stomach of a three year old with fiery red hair and gray eyes. The boy was perched on his hip as he moved to answer the door of the large Victorian house he was renting for Andie and the kids.

Joey frowned and rang the doorbell again. This was completely unfair. She was a serious reporter and this whole thing was a joke.

The boy buried his face in Pacey’s neck as he opened the door. The teasing smile on his face fell as his eyes landed on Joey. “Potter?”

“Last time I checked,” she said dryly. This time she had opted to wear a pair of blue jeans and a gray sweater, hair pulled back in a sloppy bun, if she was stuck doing this might as well stay comfortable.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, glancing down at his torn and muddy jeans and his grubby t-shirt.”

She ran her eyes over his attire. “Ooh, out of all days not to bring the photographer with me.”

He rubbed Tyler’s back softly. “I told Jack to have you call me. Not show up here uninvited.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“This is my personal life here, Potter.”

“Exactly.”

He glanced behind him into the house and sighed. “I was doing yard work,” he turned back to her.

“Who’s the kid?”

He bounced Tyler in his arms, looking at the boy. “This is Tyler.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Yours?”

He chuckled to himself. “Come inside, Potter.”

“Fine.” She cast a backwards glance at her car before walking in.

Pacey let Tyler slide to the ground. “Go play with the other kids,” he told him shutting the door behind Joey. “So, is this what you call investigative reporting?”

“I didn’t realize where you live was supposed to be such a mystery.”

“It’s not the where, it’s with who.” He led her through the main living room and through the kitchen. He opened the sliding glass door and held it reluctantly open for her.

Joey’s eyes widened in surprise, there were children all over the place and a blond who couldn’t have been any older then she was, watching them all. “Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not.” He smiled faintly at her and headed down the porch stairs towards Andie. “But you were the one who came here.”

She bit the inside of her cheek and followed him, gazing around curiously.

He swept a little girl with her blond braids falling out into his arms, holding her upside down, as she laughed. “How’s my Sarah doing?”

The little girl laughed hysterically until Pacey put her down, and then she ran off, to play with a little boy on the swing set Pacey had spent the morning building.

Joey smiled faintly as she watched them before turning to Pacey. “So are you going to explain or am I supposed to guess?”

“Hold on,” he took Joey’s hand and led her to Andie, who sat on a blanket with three babies lying with her. “Joey, this is my ex-wife Andie McPhee.”

Joey smiled politely at the perky blond more confused than ever. “Hi.”

“Hey, So you’re the Joey Potter that ripped Pacey a new one.” Andie smiled warmly. “Oops,” she looked around at the kids. “I didn’t say that.”

She stifled a laugh. “I doubt they heard you.”

“Lovely,” Pacey smiled. “Andie here is working on opening an orphanage. Speaking of,” he addressed Andie. “Laurie called and said she was only going to be a few more minutes.”

“Oh,” Joey said realizing why all the kids were there.

“She’s the heart and soul behind the place. I’m simply the money,” he told Joey.

Joey remained indifferent. “Interesting.”

“Pace, I need to take these guys up to the nursery, do you wanna watch everyone out here?” Andie asked.

He looked around at the nine or so kids in the yard. There were two on the swings, three girls were playing dolls in the corner and another four were playing tag around them. “Are you kidding? I’ll take the babies up.”

He bent down and lifted a little girl named Aria with big blue eyes into his arms. “How are you today, Miss. Aria?” The baby laid her head on his shoulder. “All this moving has you tired, huh?” He turned to Andie who had stood and held out his other arm. “Hand over another one. Joey, you think you can handle Sammy there?”

Before Joey had a chance to respond, Andie was placing the small baby in her arms. Joey’s heart lurched as she gazed down at the tiny bundle in her arms. With its perfect little nose, two sleepy looking hazel eyes, cute little hat the covered black hair that peeked out the front it was hard to believe anyone wouldn’t want to have this. It was so weak and defenseless and adorable. She’d complained all the time about her nephew Alex when he was growing up, all the late night feedings, the teething but she would have never been able to give him up, no matter how much she complained about it.

He smiled softly watching her. “This way, Potter.” He led her back towards the house and up the porch, easily balancing the two children in his arms. “Hey sweetie.” He kissed the side of Aria’s head; she was already falling asleep. “Don’t sleep yet, you need a diaper change.”

Joey cradled the baby in her arms protectively as she followed him. She lightly brushed a finger against his cheek and smiled as his little hand wrapped around it. She counted all ten fingers and all ten toes. She’d never admit it but it kind of made her want one of her own.

He led her up two steep flights of stairs. The house was fairly old, but it was only a temporary home. Which Pacey hated, he wanted to give the kids a place of their own, and somewhere that could be comfortable and feel like home. There wasn’t much they could do until the apartment building was finished being renovated.

The stairs opened up into a large room with many windows. Three cribs lined the wall, the room was painted a pale yellow, and there was an ugly orange shag carpet on the floor. Two changing tables and a large dresser lined the other wall. The floor was covered sparsely with toys.

Joey smiled faintly as she tickled the baby’s stomach. “He’s so cute,” she cooed.

Pacey nodded. “They’re all cute.” He put the second baby, Charlie in his crib before taking Aria to the changing table.

She glanced up. “Do you know what happened to his mother?”

“She was fourteen,” Pacey answered mechanically.

She smiled dolefully, gazing back down at the baby. “He’s so small,” she murmured slightly in awe. She lifted her head and cleared her throat, motioning to the cribs by the wall. “Which one is his?”

“The far one.” He replied, pulling on the small pants Aria was wearing and undoing her diaper.

“You made a stinky didn’t you?” He teased the little girl and she kicked up her legs.

Joey snickered as she set Sammy in his crib somewhat reluctantly. She rubbed his small back soothingly before stepping away.

“So,” Pacey began as he started to clean the little girl up, using the baby wipes on the shelf under the changing table. “How are we going to do this, Joey?”

She shrugged her eyes traveling around the room. “For now I’ll just observe.”

“Not just today, I mean in general. It’s going to be an impossible two months if you’re going to paint me as an insufferable moron.” He smiled down at the baby and tickled her feet.

“Well, I tried to do the best with what I had.”

“Come on, pumpkin.” He lifted her legs to slide a new diaper under her bottom. “Then this time, ask more questions. I don’t know what you’re going to need to know, I’m a baseball player, not a reporter.”

“I’ll try to remember that.”

He fastened the diaper, and lifted up Aria, just as she was yawning. “You’re a tired girl, aren’t you?” He carried her over to her crib and laid her down on her stomach, pulling up the worn blanket over her. He rubbed her back for a few seconds before moving onto Sammy’s crib and lifting him out. He hated to disturb the boy’s sleep, but he needed to change his diaper.

“So am I to take it, that you didn’t like my little article?” The corner of her mouth turned up in a sardonic grin.

“Personally, I couldn’t care less. But as my agent would say, it’s all politics. And I need to come off well, or at least interesting enough to get people to come to the games. Or my contract may be retracted.”

She tilted her head thoughtfully. “Too bad I can’t lie.”

“Aren’t you under a code or something that keeps you from airing your personal opinion?” He asked while changing the little boy’s diaper. “Look, as you’ve said, sleeping together was a mistake. We didn’t know we were going to spend the next two months together. So I think we need to clear the air here.”

“And how do you suggest we do that?”

“Talking. Right, Sam?” he asked the baby in a soft voice.

“Should I be writing this down?”

“Writing what down?” he asked, keeping his voice low as he directed the words to the baby as he fasted his diaper.

She rolled her eyes. “Never mind.”

“So, what changed between that night and yesterday?” He lifted the infant into his arms and took him back to the crib. Sammy was the youngest of kids at four months old.

She attempted to hold back a smile as she watched him. “What are you talking about?”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but we were getting along perfectly well when you were Jen.”

“I’m not normally like that.”

“Not normally a pleasant person to be around?” He moved to the last crib to change Charlie’s diaper.

She crinkled her nose distastefully. “No, I don’t sleep with strange men.”

“That’s beside the point, should I be punished because you stepped out of your shell for a night?”

“Yeah, well, I don’t want to be here. I hate baseball. I hate that I’m stuck with you for two months and I hate that instead of actually reporting on serious matters, I’m stuck making sure some overpaid “athlete” looks good in front of the public.”

He shook his head tiredly. “Then quit. I don’t need this. I certainly don’t need you hanging over my shoulder and invading my personal space. He waved an arm round the nursery.”

“Oh believe me. I’d love to but I happen to like my job at the paper.”

He frowned and didn’t bother to say anything else. Once Charlie was sufficiently cleaned and changed, Pacey put him down in his crib, the baby’s fingers curled around Pacey’s index finger.

Joey whirled around angrily unable to watch anymore and stomped down the stairs, the way she came.

Pacey sighed watching her go, “What’s her problem, Char?” He wondered as he watched the baby fall asleep. When he felt Charlie’s grip loosen as he fell into sleep, he turned down the lights and headed down the stairs to find Joey.

Joey had been halfway to the door when Andie had stopped her and offered to show her around. She resisted the urge to be rude, it wasn’t Andie’s fault her ex-husband was an ass. She instead politely declined but Andie insisted and she somehow ended up in the kitchen helping her make lunch.

Andie seemed pleasant enough, if not a little too perky for Joey’s taste but she was friendly and a veritable fountain of information. She was great with the children and for someone in charge of the well being of so many; she didn’t seem the least bit flustered by it. She went around tending everyone’s problem with not a strand of shoulder length blond hair out of place. She really had the whole schoolteacher look with her high waist cream colored dress that reached her ankles and a pair of Keds.

Pacey found them talking as they made sandwiches in the kitchen. “Don’t believe a word she says.”

Joey looked up from the slice of bread she was spreading mayonnaise on. “Who?”

“Either one of you.”

“Spoken like a man who has something to hide.”

“What do you expect when I don’t want to do this anyway?” He asked, checking on the kids outside.

“Pacey, you’re a big baby,” Andie told him.

Joey turned to Andie. “Can I quote you on that?”

“No, you can’t.” Pacey interjected. “And how exactly am I being a baby?”

“Hello, Pacey, you spend six months of the year in front of a crowd of, at the very least, 1,000. No to mention those that are watching you play from home.”

“That’s different.”

Joey just watched the exchange between the two of them curiously as she began to make another sandwich.

“Right, it is. But come on, what’s the big deal. It’s just a few articles. I already know you have nothing to hide.”

“Andie,” he said in a warning voice.

The blond turned to fix Pacey with her green-eyed gaze. “You don’t need to worry about us, Pace. Nothing will happen.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Sure, I do. What you should worry about is losing this contract. Then we’ll have a problem.”

Joey raised an eyebrow, just listening quietly and placed the sandwich she’d just finished next to the growing pile on the plate in front of her. She began on another one, this time using mustard.

“If you’re worried about losing the contract, talk to her,” he pointed at Joey. “She’s the one who wrote the article.”

“Oh, you shouldn’t give me all the credit. I couldn’t have done it without your help.” She smiled wryly.

“Joey,” Andie turned to the other girl, “Be nice to him. There, problem solved, Pacey.”

“Only because you asked me so very nicely, Andie,” Joey said as she recapped the mayonnaise jar.

“There’s no reason you two shouldn’t get along. The easier you make it for one another, the easier it’ll be for yourself.” She told them diplomatically.

Joey sighed dramatically. “I try but he’s just so impossible to work with.”

“Why do you think we’re divorced?” Andie asked, giving the brunette a knowing look. “Here’s a hint, it wasn’t because he was bad between the sheets.”

“Oh Lord,” Pacey groaned, running a hand down his handsome face.

Joey tried not to blush and returned the mustard and the mayonnaise to the refrigerator. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“I’m going to round up the kids,” he said, making a quick escape out the backdoor into the yard.

Joey released a rush breath and closed the door to the fridge, turning to Andie. “So can I quote you on that?”

The blond arched an eyebrow. “Would you need to? Judging from the tension in the room...”

“Tension?”

“Slept with him, didn’t ya?” Andie said knowingly.

“A mistake I’m duly regretting right now.”

“I don’t blame you.” The blond smiled warmly at the girl beside her as they set plates and glasses on the table. “The minute I saw him I wanted him.”

“I don’t normally do things like that,” Joey said quickly in defense of herself. “He’s not even the type of guy I would usually go for but that’s what happens when hormones overrule sensible thinking.”

Andie giggled. “Well, he certainly has what it takes to make a woman’s hormones wreck havoc.”

“A fact I think he knows too well.”

“Yep.” Andie nodded with a smile. “But once you get beyond that. He’s really a good guy.”

Joey glanced up from where she was setting down napkins. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions later?”

“About Pacey?”

Joey nodded. “Yes.”

She nodded thoughtfully, “Yeah, I guess.”

“Well, you really can’t count on him to make himself sound good,” Joey commented at Andie’s seeming hesitation.

“As long as you don’t twist my words around, I’m all for it.”

Joey smiled serenely. “I promise.”

“Okay,” Andie replied as the nine kids swarmed into the room. “Just find me when I have a free moment.” She laughed as one of the girls gave her a hug. “It’ll be more difficult than you think.”

“Thanks.” Joey nodded her head grateful in more ways than one. Andie had just given her a brilliant idea for her next column, one that’d be able to get her through these next two months.