He paused just before the double doors, taking a deep breath, before pushing them open. He spotted her immediately, sitting right they’re on the steps, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees.

"Uh, Hey Potter." He said carefully. "Sorry I missed your and Jen's catfight." He smiled nervously as he sat beside her, making sure there was plenty of space between them.

"Really? Then I suggest you come closer because I hear my encore is killer," She glared at him for a moment before breaking eye contact with him.

He nodded, having judged just how angry she was, by her words. "I didn't use you, you know."

She sighed, "I know you didn't."

His eye brows shot up, "You might be the only one."

"Pacey, did you really think I'd disregard everything that I've learned about you in the time I've known you? I know you are not that vengeful," She told him. "And you didn't deserve to hear me say that because I'm still angry at you for lying to me."

"I know...but the thing with Jen was...an experiment. We weren't really serious. If I thought there was anything real there, I'd have shared it with you. And then, we happened and that was...a huge surprise, you know?" He looked pleadingly at her, "In the fallout from that...Jen wasn't even entering my mind, It didn't cross my mind that to tell you about it."

She sighed, unsure if forgiveness was even a sane idea at the moment. "I feel like a moron, y'know? I went to her about you, asked her for advice about you. Then this comes up. It's humiliating, Pace."

He looked down at his hands, "I know, I'm sorry. This whole thing just happened so fast, you know?" He sighed, "It hasn't even been a week since you and I slept together and already I've fought with every single one of my friends, save Jack. And I am sorry Joey, I don't know how everyone found out so fast...we should have just sat down and talked about it immediately."

"You're right, we should have," Joey agreed. "Promise me I won't have to learn any more surprises about you through the rumor mill."

He nodded, "There's nothing else...I don't think."

"I don't mean about just this Pace," she told him. "I mean ever."

He met her eyes and nodded again. "Okay. I promise." He told her seriously.

She nodded, "Thanks." She was stayed silent for a few moments. "So we're good now?"

"Yeah, we are." He offered her a small smile. "So tell me, what about this cat fight?"

She smirked, "It was all Jen's fault, I swear."

He chuckled, "Yeah? What'd she do?"

She shrugged, "She's far too envious of me." She rolled her eyes, "She basically judged me the wrong way."

"Hmm, that doesn't sound like Jen. She's usually pretty open-minded."

"Not in this case. She accused me of using you and not caring about you."

"And she was wrong?" He asked quietly.

"Of course she was," Joey told him. "If she wasn't I wouldn't have slapped her."

He bit his lip, "Is there any chance the two of you might become friends again?"

"We weren't exactly friends to begin with, Pace."

"Whether you admit it or not, you were."

"I don't know, Pacey," Joey told him honestly. "To tell you the truth the only friendship I really want to regain right now is yours."

"You have it." He replied easily.

"I know," She told him. "But we kind of made it all screwy last time. I want get it right."

"This whole honesty thing we have going right now seems to be a step in the right direction." He replied, leaning back on his hands.

She nodded in agreement, "So tell me Pace, what do you think will be on the rumor mill tomorrow. With us talking, there's got to be something interesting."

"Well," he squinted in concentration. "I suppose your fight with Jen will make the headlines. And our running away to Canada might also feed the masses. Oh yeah," he smiled, "And Dawson's secret crush on Jack."

She laughed, "Oh we can't forget about Dawson and Jack. So, remind me, why did we have to flee to Canada?"

"To escape the persecution of course. Build a new life for ourselves and our bundle of joy." He patted her stomach lightly.

"I have something to tell you Pace," She told him in a serious tone. "It's twins."

He ran a hand through his hair, "We'll never be able to afford college." He said morosely.

"Yes, we will. You can't forget about the bank we robbed on our way to Canada," She said resting her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah...poor teller. She didn't stand a chance against my charms." He chuckled. "Hmm, I can finally get that Viper."

She shook her head sadly, "Sorry, sweetie. You made a mistake when you left me in charge of the money. I ended up buying a hideous station wagon. It helped keep us hidden from the cops."

"Damn." He pouted, "Always have to ruin my fun, don't ya?"

"Well you never should have married me in that chapel in Atlantic City," She stated matter-of factly."

"What else could I do?" He shrugged his shoulders helplessly, "I couldn't let our two little boys grow up Potters."

She rolled her eyes, "The sonogram was wrong. It's really one of each."

"Darn...I guess Pacey Jr. and Pacey the Third are out of the question."

"It was always out the question," Joey told him sadly. "You're not allowed to name them. You lost the bet we made about who was going to name them the night we went gambling in New York."

He gave an exasperated sigh, "You always win, babe. When's it my turn."

"Whenever the viagra prescription you're on kicks in," She teased him.

"Lord, if you weren't so insatiable, I wouldn't need it. But damn, woman, you're like the Energizer bunny. No man could keep up."

"What can I say, my job as a stripper just gets me in the mood."

He chuckled, "A pregnant horny stripper on the LAM in Canada? That's how you picture your future, Jo?"

She looked up at him with a wide smile, "Only if I end up with you."

He gave her an appraising look, "Like I'd let anyone else but me see you naked."

She blushed but managed to recover, "Really? Because last time I checked you owned the strip club."

He laughed, "Now that's a career I could get into."

She slapped him in the chest teasingly, "I swear Pace, if you do that, I'll really have to drag you off to Canada."

"I donno, I'd make a decent businessman, don't you think?"

"Sure, but what bank in the right mind would loan you money?"

"Who needs a bank loan? We robbed one."

She sighed, "Fine, you win."

"Don't I always? And you're not stripping there." He waved his finger at her.

"What if I want to?"

"No," he draped an arm across her shoulders. "No woman of mine is taking her clothes off for money."

"Not even for the 5,000 dollar tip I get one night?" She asked.

"Nope." He shook his head.

"7,000?"

"Nuh uh. Sorry, honey. Only one person gets to see those breasts of yours and it ain't some grubby 50-year-old vouirist who isn't getting any at home."

"Gavin and Tiffany?"

"Who?" he pulled away from her a little to give her a confused look.

"The twins, of course."

"Tiffany? You'd really name a child Tiffany? Do you want her to grow up to be Playboy's Centerfold?"

"Well with parents that work in a strip club, what do you expect?"

"Gavin's okay, Tiffany no. Try again."

"Um, Mindy?"

He gave her a pained look.

"Buffy? Muffy?"

He stuck out his tongue at her. "Try something that doesn't end in a Y."

"Kendall?"

He looked thoughtful, "Marginally better."

"Um, Emilie?"

"Ah ah ah, That's a Y," he pointed out.

"Not if you spell it with a i-e," she countered.

"That's just a fancy y."

"What’s wrong with the name Emilie?" She asked him. "Nothing I guess. Far better than Muffy."

"Hmmf." She said, "So we're almost in agreement about what our imaginary daughter's name is."

He laughed, "Which brings to question, why are we naming imaginary twins we're never going to have?"

"Creating an imaginary world is a hell of a lot better than facing the real one," She said with a shrug.

"So very true." He replied, his voice resigned.

She just sighed and buried her head in his shoulder for a minute as a dark shadow came over them.

"I'd get your hands off her, if I were you." Threatened the shadow in a low voice. "Don't you think you've done enough damage, Pacey?" Dawson seethed, having come across them on his way back from his car.

Joey looked up startled by the voice, "Dawson."

Pacey looked stonily up at Dawson, remaining silent. He pulled his arm away from her.

"Hello, Joey." Dawson smiled icily.

Joey caught Pacey's elbow and kept her grip on it. She turned her attention back to Dawson, "I think that I can decide who does or doesn't touch me, Dawson."

"That's right...you don’t mind taking over Bessie's roll as town slut now that you're of age."

She would have replied but she was filled with such feelings of hurt and betrayal, all she could do is gape at him.

"You did not just say that." Pacey glared at his one time friend, rising to his feet his fists clenched at his side.

Dawson snorted, "What? So now you're gonna defend her?" he threw his hands up and shook his head from side to side, "This is rich. You two deserve each other. Wait, no you don't. You two deserve no one. I can't believe you'd have the gall to even talk to each other after what you did to me."

"After what we did to you?" Joey asked, suddenly getting her voice back, and standing up besides you. "The only thing we owed you was to tell you before the rumor mills got a hold of it. That's what happened, anything else, is really none of your business."

"Not my business?" Dawson gaped at her, his eyes narrowing. "What part wasn't my business? The part where my best friend is sleeping with someone and I don't know about it? The part where my soul mate loses her virginity to someone else? Or the part where you're doing it in my bed?!" He yelled, drawing the attention of the few students milling around the quad.

Joey bit her lip, looking nervously around the growing crowd around them.

Pacey's eyes flashed fire, "No! The part where I'm in love with her!" He glared at Dawson as he pushed passed him and walked away from the school, trying to put as much distance between the people in it and himself.

Joey looked between the crowd and Dawson, before bolting in the direction that Pacey went. She found him sitting in the driver seat of his family's station wagon. She opened the door and sat in the passengers seat.

"Hey," she greeted him softly.

"Hey," he replied emotionlessly, staring straight ahead out the window.

"So, that was a fun showdown," she commented sarcastically, looking down at her feet.

"Yeah, what a blast." He agreed dryly.

"So uh," She began studying her hands, "Do you think we've managed to completely alienate ourselves from our entire student body yet?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I think that little show back there clinched it."

She sighed, "So you want to cut the rest of our classes?"

"That'd be the easy way out." He sighed, and gripped the steering wheel. "I really didn't mean for you to find out that way."

She forced a little smile, "Yeah well, it kind of fits the whole situation anyways."

"Yeah. I don't think it could really get much worse than this."

She bit her lip, remaining silent for a few moments. "Hey Pace? Thanks for sticking up for me back there."

"It was nothing," he shrugged it off. "He was being a first class asshole."

He frowned, "I didn't think he had it in him."

"He did have a point, kind of, about us doing it in his bed," She said weakly.

He tilted his head, "Maybe."

"I was serious about us cutting the rest of school," She told him, "It's not like we haven't earned it."

"Canada?" He finally met her eyes with a playful smile.

She smiled genuinely this time, "Well I do have an itching to do some dancing at my favorite strip club."

"I thought I made it clear there would be none of that." He pulled his keys out of his pocket and inserted them into the ignition.

"Yeah, well maybe I'll just go in the back and give you a private dance," She said, pulling on a seatbelt.

"That, maybe, is doable." He replied, buckling his own seatbelt and pulling out of his parking space.

"So where we going?" She asked, leaning over to turn the radio on.

He thought for a moment, "However far we can get on $13 worth of gas."

"I got cash, you know," She told him.

"Yeah? Well, where do you want to go?"

She shrugged, "Wherever you want to go. I have no suggestions or objections."

He nodded, after a few moments, he spoke again. "You do realize we're running away, right?"

She nodded, "I understand. I just want to run away right now, y'know? Besides, it's not like we're not coming back. I just want to be away from all the rumors, the dirty looks, the fighting."

"Right...and we're not gonna fight?" He asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, well life holds no guarantees. On anything," she said softly.

"Yeah..." he sighed, not really understanding her cryptic comment. He came across the highway entrance, "North or South?"

"North," She answered. She sat, just listening to the radio for a few minutes. "Hey Pace?"

"Hmm?" He turned onto the north ramp.

"Before...when you said that to Dawson," She began timidly. "When'd you realize it?"

He was silent for a length of time, she almost thought he wasn't going to answer. "You really want to get into this right now?"

"Well, you already got the hard part out didn't you?" She asked.

He tilted his head, "I thought I did."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," She shifted in her seat uncomfortably, "I was just curious, that's all."

"I've always kinda felt something for you, but it was that night..." he said softly. "You, um, touched your fingers to my lips...and you looked up at me with so much trust in your eyes...and," he shrugged, "I just knew."

She nodded, absorbing it all. "You know, I was talking to Jack the other day, about this whole mess. And you know what he asked me?"

"No..." he shook his head and signaled for a lane change.

"He asked me if you were worth it."

He tensed, "...and?"

"I said you were," She turned to look at him, "Thank you for proving me right."

He smiled softly at her, then averted his eyes back to the road, slightly embarrassed. "I think you should thank Dawson, he only made me look good in comparison."

"Even before that Pacey, you were really...great. I mean sure we got into a few tiffs since then, but, um, the during part you were really...sweet, and gentle and kind," she began to blush as she continued on talking. "So, you proved me right long before I said that you were worth it."

He shrugged, "Thanks, Potter." He glanced to his side, and slid his free hand into hers as they headed North on I-44.

She smiled slightly, and leaned her head back into the seat, and closed her eyes, just enjoying the contact with him, and the music playing on the radio.

"Nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh, I don’t wanna hear you tell me everything is wonderful now. Nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh. No, I don’t wanna hear you say that I will understand someday. No, no, no, no, no, I don’t wanna hear you say--" Pacey looked away from the road to give Joey a side long look, "What?" He asked innocently.

She bit her lip to keep from laughing, "Nothing. I just hope you don't plan on making singing your career."

"Nope," he turned down the volume slightly, "I'm going to be a very lucrative business man, remember."

"Oh right, how could I have forgotten?" She asked, "Seeing as your place of business is where my career gets started."

"I thought we discussed this? Joey no strip."

"Keep telling me what to do and I'll stop giving you the private lap dances."

"Hmmm," he made a thoughtful face, "I don’t know if it's worth it..."

"Oh, trust me it's worth it."

He shook his head, "Nope. I don't think so...you're just gonna have to deal with my possessiveness."

"Fine, but you're going to have a hell of a lot lonely nights," She said with a mock pout.

"I doubt it." He said confidently, checking the rearview mirror.

"You cheatin' on me?" She asked him.

"Course not, I just don't think you can resist me."

"Oh, I can resist you. Besides, you will so cave before I do."

"You think so, huh?"

"I know so, Potter." He said confidently.

She shrugged as she leaned back in the car seat, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see. We've been riding for awhile, where are we?"

"I think Vermont, we just passed an exit sign for Derby." He gave her a side long look, "Where exactly are we headed, Jo? We've been driving for awhile now."

"Derby, huh?" Joey asked. "Isn't that by the border?"

He gave her a look, "You really think I'd know the answer to that? I'm not exactly Mr. Geography here."

"It was a rhetorical question Pacey," She told him.

He drove by a sign for Canada, and met her eyes questioningly.

She couldn't help but smile a little and she nodded in response to his unasked question.

He grinned and stepped on the gas a little harder, speeding them along the freeway towards Canada.

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