December 23.

"I warned you that this town is pathetically small," Joey reminded Audrey as she tugged on her gloves while they made their way back to the house the next morning.

"It's cute!"

"Try living here for eighteen years."

"It's totally quaint. I bet you guys had a blast here." She gazed around, her eyes wide. "It's absolutely gorgeous with all the snow. The only snow in California is in the mountains."

Joey shrugged with a faint smile. "I guess it was okay."

"Come on, I bet you've got tons of humiliating stories on Pacey and Dawson. Spill."

Joey grinned. "I think it's better for all parties if I just keep my mouth shut."

"What if I told you Pacey already spilled your embarrassing secrets?"

She eyed her suspiciously. "And what exactly would those be?"

"Where would the fun be if I told you?" She grinned, heading for the house.

"You're bluffing."

"Possibly."

"You are."

"Honestly, Jo. Do you really think Pacey's the kinda guy to keep embarrassing secrets to himself?"

Joey paused on top of the porch steps. "Fine. Then tell me one embarrassing secret he said."

"No way," She shook her head, "I'm not risking his wrath."

"Fine. Whatever."

"Although...you could get even with him and tell some of his dirty secrets."

"Why does that sound like a remarkably bad idea?"

"I don't know why you're trying to protect him. It's not like I'd tell anyone."

"I don't know why you're so eager to know."

"There's all sorts of stuff I don't know about you guys. It's my mission this Christmas to find it all out."

"I warn you now, it's really not that interesting."

"So far...it's all be incredibly interesting to me."

Joey sighed and pushed open the front door. "I think Bodie's making cookies."

"Oooh! Gingerbread?"

"Why don't you go check it out?"

"I might just do that. I've never had home made gingerbread before. For that matter, I've never had homemade anything." She bounced happily towards the kitchen.

Joey sighed, a day with Audrey could really exhaust a girl. She pulled off her gloves and stuffed them into her pocket, before removing her coat and hanging it on the rack.

"Welcome home," Pacey smirked as he entered the room, a roll of wrapping paper in one hand, and tape in the other.

"Thanks."

"So how was Audrey's tour?"

"Pretty much uneventful." She smirked as she sat down on the couch. "How was your day, honey?"

"Well, sweetums," he winked at her. "Actually, I didn't do much. Just the last of my Christmas shopping."

"Did you get my socks?"

"Maybe..."

She smiled and leaned back in her seat, shutting her eyes for a moment. "I'm tired."

"Audrey does have a tendency to be high maintenance."

She muffled a yawn. "Uh-huh."

"Why don't you go take a nap?" He suggested, sitting down beside her on the couch and putting his feet up on the coffee table.

"Don't. Want. To. Move."

He leaned back and put his arm around her shoulders, tugging her to rest against him. "Relax."

She adjusted herself comfortably. "I don't think I drank enough coffee this morning."

"That stuff'll stunt your growth, ya know."

She smiled. "I don't I have anything to worry about."

"Yeah, me neither. You always were tall for your age." He smiled, resting his cheek against her hair, "It's a good thing I caught up to you when we were thirteen, or I'd be suffering some major self-esteem issues."

"It sucked being the tallest girl in the class."

"Now you're the envy of them all."

"Still wish I was shorter."

"You're the perfect height. You've got the long legs women die for and yet, you’re just a few inches shorter than me."

She grinned. "That's because you're a big doofus."

"A big, sexy doofus," he corrected. "And don't you forget it."

She snuggled closer to him with a small smile. "How can I forget?"

"Beats me," he replied with a shrug. "You feel cold," he commented before wrapping an arm tighter around her, pulling her closer.

"It's cold outside," she replied. "Besides Audrey had me walking all over Capeside with her."

"As much as you may protest, I know you genuinely like her." He teased, lifting a few strands of her hair and wrapping them around his index finger.

"I do," she admitted. "Considering the horror that most first year roommates can be, I am very happy with Audrey."

"She seems pleased to be rooming with you too."

"It could be worse. We could hate each other's guts."

"Like you and I?"

"You hate my guts?"

"Nuh uh." He kissed the top of her head. "But you have to admit Potter, for a while there we weren't what you'd call best friends. Even now...are we even that?"

She shrugged. "We're friends."

"That's good to know." He continued to play with the strands of her hair.

"Dawson and everyone else are coming over later with movies."

"Peachy," he said wryly.

"It'll be fun."

"As long as it's not another Speilburg. I have a sinking suspicion that he's going to resurrect ET from the depths of his bedroom."

"He was thinking along the lines of Jimmy Stewart."

"Yeah, that's what he told you. But I guarantee you, ET's going to be in there somewhere. He'll probably pretend it was in the wrong case."

Joey laughed. "He's not that bad."

He smiled, "Just you wait."

She sighed. "I need to get up, but I don't really feel like moving right now."

"I've got no where to go right now," he smiled softly, "Feel free to use me as a pillow."

A corner of her mouth turned up. "I'm planning on it."

He stroked her hair gently, keeping quiet so she could fall asleep if she wanted to. "I think I hate winter." She slid a hand underneath his shirt. "My hands are still cold."

He inhaled sharply, "I'll say."

She smiled. "It feels like below freezing out there."

"I should hope so, considering it has to be freezing for it to snow." He covered her hand with his own rubbing warmth into it.

"I hope it snows."

"I think our chances are pretty good," he said softly.

"I better check on Audrey," she murmured with no enthusiasm at all.

"No," Audrey's piped up from the doorway. "Go right on ahead with what you were doing." She bit back a grin.

Joey sat up hurriedly. "I'll just see if Bessie needs any help then."

Audrey took a bite of gingerbread cookie and shot Joey a look as she rose from Pacey's side.

"You know, I should see if Bodie needs some help in the kitchen," Pacey quickly excused himself from the room and disappeared into the kitchen.

Joey headed for the hallway with Audrey trailing behind. "Well?" the blonde pressed.

"What?" Joey asked with feigned interest as she headed for her bedroom.

"Your hand was up his shirt!"

"It was cold!"

"Uh huh," Audrey scoffed, "And so you decided to grope him. Yeah, that makes all the sense in the world."

Joey's face flushed. "I was not groping him!"

"What would you call it then?"

"It was nothing."

"Uh huh." She crossed her arms over her chest knowingly.

"It was," Joey repeated firmly.

"I knew spending Christmas with you guys would be interesting." She smirked turning on her heel to go interrogate Pacey.

"You have an overactive imagination," Joey called over her shoulder.