Pacey shifted the car into part and looked over at her. She was gazing fixedly out the window over the ocean. "So... do you want to walk or sit? I can leave you alone here, if you want."

Joey quickly undid her seatbelt clasp wanting to get out of the car and clear her head. "Walk." She opened the door and stepped out into the cool ocean breeze. She shut her eyes for a few moments and breathed in deeply before opening her brown eyes, studying her environment intently.

Pacey slid out of his seat and closed the door. He watched her pause and enjoy the scent of the clean ocean air. Closer into town the stench of rotting wood and gas often overpowered the smell of the ocean, but this was crisp and clean, and so very Capeside. She probably missed that back in Boston.

She shut the door behind her and walked forward a few steps before stepping into the sand. She felt the grains shift under her shoes. She smiled.

Pacey leaned against the car and watched her step out onto the sand. He smiled when she did, it was the first time he'd seen a real smile on her face since she'd arrived in Capeside.

Physically, she was much the same, older, more graceful, and just as beautiful.... at least, when she smiled she was.

But the Joey he knew from high school was radically different than the one he knew now. Or at least, who she was pretending to be. He couldn't really tell if her submissiveness was just for Dawson's benefit, or if she'd really changed that much. He fervently hoped for the former.

After a few minutes she turned to face him and raised an eyebrow. "Ready to walk?"

"Yeah," he mentally shook himself from his reverie, "Sure."

Joey smiled again and began walking, lost in thought of what she was going to say to Bessie when she got there or Dawson. Although, she was pretty sure she had at least two days before she heard from Dawson.

Pacey shoved his hands in his pockets and fell in beside her. He tried not to think too much about her circumstances, it didn't matter if she broke things off with Dawson. He was with Jen. He liked Jen, he cared about Jen, he lo- She was important to him, and he didn't want to ruin that. He lifted his eyes from the sand and noticed the crumbling old pier yards away from them. He froze in his footsteps.

Joey stopped when she realized he wasn't walking with her anymore. "What's wrong?"

"I-uh…" he looked from her to the pier. She didn't seem to remember. Or even notice. "It's, um, nothing, Jo."

Joey nodded and glanced to where he'd been staring. She felt her breath catch in her throat. "Oh..." She tried to push the hair away from her face because of the strong breeze. "I-uh, wow. It's been a while since we've been here." She forced a bland smile pretending that this didn't affect her in the slightest.

He swallowed, "Yeah, a good seven or so years." He winced hearing the hoarse emotion in his own voice.

"Eight." She shrugged nonchalantly. "I mean, it's been eight years."

He shot her a surprised look. "Yeah, it was." He looked down at his hands then across sand, they were only about ten feet from the spot they'd picnicked at nine years, 2 months and 18 days ago. The place where it had all begun to fall apart for them.

Joey stared at the spot wistfully. "It was nice." She gave a small half smile, her eyes almost watery. "Of course it was probably one of the most romantic experiences of my life." She gave a small laugh. "Dawson's not high on the list with romantic ingenuity lately." Her eyes began to tear. "Of course now I'll never know after this."

"Oh, Jo." He frowned at her tears. He stepped closer to her, and loosely wrapped his arms around her. "Someday you'll find the romance you deserve, Joey. I promise."

"No, I mean it's okay. It's not like I need anyone." She wiped at her eyes and sniffled. "I've been so pathetic today." She smiled shyly. "So how are you and Jen? I could definitely stand to hear some happy news right now."

"I don’t know that a discussion about Jen and I would qualify as happy news." He said evasively, and continued walking towards 'their' spot on the sand.

Joey sighed following him. "Want to talk about it?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, "Would it help get your mind off Dawson?"

She shrugged. "It could help."

"I don’t know, Joey." He said quietly, turning to face the ocean. The gentle sea breeze rumpled his hair, blowing it away from his darkened eyes. "There's not much to say."

She frowned and kicked aimlessly at the sand. "There's always something to say. You just have to want to say it."

He sank down onto the same sand he'd sat upon nearly a decade ago. "Some things just shouldn't be said. No matter how much you want to say them."

Joey sighed and sat down next to him. "Only the important things."

"And what would you classify as important?" He asked, more to put off talking about his relationship with Jen, than out of curiosity.

Joey shrugged and hugged her knees to her chest thoughtfully. "I don't know but it's always the things that you should say that you keep to yourself, like me for example. I should have told Dawson no when he asked me to marry him. I should have told him that I wasn't ready but I didn't and now everything's ruined."

"You know... you shouldn't look at this as something ruined, but as opportunity gained. Think of the things you can do now, the people you can meet. You'll never be tied down to one person until you want to be."

Joey grinned and leaned back on her arms, squinting under the bright light of the sun. "Yes, I can see the line forming now. I'm going to have to beat them off with a stick." She rolled her eyes.

Pacey shook his head and looked out to the ocean. "Are you ever going to get over that low self-esteem?"

She pouted. "Hey, I just broke off my engagement I'm allowed to wallow."

"Wallow, yes. But you're not allowed to completely demean yourself. You're a beautiful woman, Joey. Don’t ever think otherwise."

"Thank you Dr. Witter," Joey teased.

"You're welcome, Miss. Potter." He returned with a smile. He watched the sunlight play over the water, and his smile faded. He watched a seagull land on the end of the old pier and ruffle his feathers. It was a beautiful day out, just a few clouds in the late summer sky, and a nice warm breeze to keep the heat of the sun from getting too warm.

Joey stood silent at lost for words. Her eyes fell shut and she let the warm sun bathe over her. She was glad Pacey had brought her here.

"She's important to me, you know?" Pacey said out of the blue. He examined his hands, finding them incredibly interesting for some reason.

Joey nodded her head in aquiescence unsure of what to say. "Yeah?"

"I care about her, I really do. She's the first woman I've let myself care for since Miranda..." He trailed off. His hand drifted through the sand, drawing little designs in it.

"But..." Joey added helpfully.

He sighed deeply, "But, I don’t think- Well, actually, I know, I don’t deserve her."

"Why?" Joey questioned quietly trying to understand.

"We have fun together, and she's the most understanding and beautiful people I've ever met. You should see her with her students, Jo. They look up at her with this light in their eyes. They absolutely adore her." He started talking faster, "And why shouldn't they? She's strong, smart, caring, and patient...infinatly patient...perceptive, cheerful, funny..." He continued.

Joey smiled. "And why don't you deserve her?"

"Because, that light in their eyes, that madly adoring light that they have...I don’t have that when I look at her. I'm doing the same thing to Jen that I did to Miranda. And just like Miranda, Jen doesn't deserve that. She deserves to be loved with everything a man has." he sighed.

Joey grimaced feeling bad for Jen. "You're right. She doesn't. So what are you going to do about it because Jen seems to be under the impression that everything is just fine and she's too good of a person to have you lying to her like that. Was it just sex for you Pacey, is that what it was? God, I thought you had changed."

"No!" He gave her a disgusted look. "It was never about sex." He paused, "Well, maybe partly. But that's not the entire reason. I'd never get into a relationship just for sex."

Joey smirked. "Is that new policy or something?"

"What is your problem?" He gave her an angry look. "That's always been the 'policy'."

"Oh yeah, and I just imagined that whole part when you and Jen agreed to no strings attached sex. What was I thinking?"

"That is not what this is. That was way back in high school! We all made mistakes back then." He countered.

"Mistake or not, it counts," Joey retorted hotly.

"Let me remind you that we never actually got around to having sex in high school. That didn't happen until last March."

She clapped her hands in mock. "Want a medal?"

"You know what, Potter. You wanted to talk, not spend the afternoon insulting my integrity. If you decide to continue to do so, give me a few reasons for your murder of my character."

Joey pretended to mull it over. "Um, it makes me feel better." She grinned wryly and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, well it makes me feel like crap. Not something I need right now." He muttered, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the clear blue sky.

"You big baby," Joey teased and let herself fall onto her back. She brought her hands under her head and watched the sky above her. "I can't spend anymore time with you. You're depressing me."

"Hey, you have no one but yourself to blame, you said you wanted to hear about me and Jen." He countered lightheartedly.

"Yeah and it's suddenly made me feel better about my pathetic little life."

"I aim to please." He sighed. "So, Potter...any words of wisdom that don't involve calling me names?"

"Don't you know who you're talking too. I'm certainly not one to be giving out advice in the romance department."

"And exactly who else am I supposed to ask? You're a step up from no one." He gave her a teasing smile.

"Right now I think no one would give better advice than me."

"Try me. If I don’t like it...then I won’t take it."

Joey scowled. "Great, you expect me to come up with something sweet and well thought out that about sums up this situation off the top of my head? Keep dreaming. You're on your own buddy. Though, with your track record may I recommend staying away from women in general."

"You'd prefer that I go after men?"

Joey shrugged. "Maybe it'll help besides, all that ragging on Doug about being gay leaves one to wonder..." She smiled.

He laughed, "The gay population of Capeside would run screaming before giving me a chance. See, why don't women do that? Why can' t they have that creep-radar that tells them to get away from me as fast as they can. Sure would save us all a hell of a lot of trouble."

Joey grinned faintly. "Oh, we do, but you're able to slip past it with that smile of yours, those eyes, that ass." Joey giggled. "Plus, you're tall, kind of a good kisser, so you have that tall, dark and handsome thing going on. Basically, some woman are shallow if they like what they see it doesn't matter what's underneath."

Pacey felt a faint blush creep up his cheeks. Oh God, how he missed her these last eight years. "So, basically, you're saying I'm some kind of wolf in sheep’s clothing?"

She nodded. "Yep."

"Great..." He trailed off. "Basically, I'm doomed."

Joey grinned. "Yep. So maybe you should stick with Jen. She, at least, knows what she's getting into."

"Maybe..." He conceded. Silently adding, 'I just don’t think that I can.'

She paused. "Or you can grow old and lonely with only a cat to keep you company." She sat up and took off her sandals before standing up and wiping the sand off her clothes. "It's been way too long since I've been at the beach so excuse me while I take it advantage of it." She grinned and started jogging toward the water.

"Oh, yay, a cat." He muttered sarcastically as he watched her wade in the water. "That'll keep me warm at night."

Joey waded in slowly walking in until the water was up to her knees before turning around to see Pacey. She waved at him as an unexpected wave of water knocking her over and she came up sputtering and gasping for air. Her hair matted to her face and clothes clinging to her like a second skin. She wiped the salt out of her eyes.

Pacey burst out laughing as he watched her resurface. He rose from his spot on the sand and walked toward her soggy form. He grinned at her, "Atlantic Ocean, 1, Joey Potter, 0."

Joey scowled strings of hair getting caught on her lips as she tried to talk. "Oh yeah, yuck it up. It's not that funny." She wiped at her mouth. "Besides I don't see you in here."

"I beg to differ, that was very funny." He smiled. "And there's a good reason I'm not in there...I don’t want to get wet."

Joey's eyes alighted and she splashed at him. "Oops, I'm sorry did you say you didn't want to get wet?" she asked with mock sweetness

His eyes widened at her brashness. "I do believe I said something to that extent, Potter." He smiled, before cupping his hands and splashing her back.

Joey gasped and splashed him back. "I must of have heard you wrong."

"You must have..." He retreated and kicked off his shoes before advancing again.

Joey paused in thought an evil grin on her face. "You're definitely too dry. I'm going to have to fix that." She lunged at him knocking them both down to the ground leaving him sandwiched between her and the wet sand. "There that's better."

"Are you happy?" He whined from beneath her, trying to ignore the fact that her wet body was plastered to hers.

Joey grinned and began to climb off him. "Very much so."

"You are so going to pay for that." He grinned rising from the sand. "Hey, I'll even give you a head start." He offered.

Joey raised her hands to her hips and stared at him pointedly. "I wouldn't need it."

"Fine, but don’t say I didn't give you a fair chance." He smiled and started advancing on her, waiting for her to run. After all, the chase was the fun part.

Joey took a cautious step back. "Pacey," she said warningly. She gulped not liking that look in his eye. "Don't even think about it!" She let out a shrill shriek and darted off.

"I tried to warn you, Potter." He called after her, running behind her. He let her gain a little distance before upping his speed.

Joey ran quickly trying to make it to some safe haven before he caught her. "Ooh, I'm so scared," she taunted

"You'd better be." The distance between them was rapidly shrinking. "You're about to make a return visit to the ocean."

"Ha!" she scoffed. "In your dreams."

"So you'd like to think." He caught up with her and wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her to a halt.

Joey paused and swung back at the sudden stop. She struggled to get out of his hold. "Would you like to let me go?

"Umm...let me think...nope." He smiled from behind her before scooping her up in his arms.

Joey tried to wrangle her way out of his arms. "Put me down!" She cried.

"Give me a minute." He said mischievously, carrying her back towards the ocean waves.

"If I'm going down I'm taking you with me!"

He laughed at her threat. "Like you could." He teased, wading into the water. He tightened his grip on her as she struggled against him.

Joey wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight. "You're so going to pay, taking advantage of me like this," she whined.

"But that's what I do, take advantage of poor trusting women who don’t know any better than to fall for me."

Joey stuck her tongue out at him. "I am so hating you right now!"

"You'll get over it." He smiled down at her and waded a little further until the water was up to his thighs. "You ready?"

"No!" she screeched. "Don't you dare!"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't?" He asked, arching an eyebrow.

Joey inhaled a sharp breath and tried to come up with a good reason. "Because you like me so much you would never do anything that would make me hate you?"

Pacey thought that over for a minute, biting his lip as he did so. Then he shook his head, "Nope, I've done far worse before, and you still don’t hate me. I think our friendship would survive a dip in the ocean."

"I think you're wrong."

"You'd say anything to get yourself back on dry land."

"Can you just be really, really nice and not drop me?"

"Ummm... no." He grinned.

Joey sighed reluctantly. "Fine just get it over with."

"You're such a party pooper." He complained before releasing his hold on her, depositing her safely in the arms of the ocean's waves.

Joey got up choking and sputtering on salt water. "Grr! I am so hating you right now! Now you pay!" She threw herself at his legs knocking him over as the next wave came. She stood up triumphantly. "Now do me a favor and drop dead."

"No way, Potter." He sputtered, wiping the water from his face. "That'd make life way to easy on you." He stood and tried to tackle her. Anticipating his move, she dodged.

She stopped and crossed her arms in front of her chest shivering slightly as the wind hit her. "D-don't even think about it."

He stopped, suddenly realizing how wet she was, how wet they both were. "We should probably get out of the water before we freeze to death."

She shook her head, teeth chattering. "Good idea. We can dry off in the sun."

"Yeah," he nodded and turned back to the beach.

Joey walked back to where she had left her shoes and glancing up and down the deserted beach, rubbing her arms to keep warm. "Pacey, you'd say we're two reasonably mature adults, right?"

He laughed and nodded, "Reasonably."

She grinned and began to pull off her blouse. "Good. I am freezing and there's no way these clothes will dry if I keep them on." She walked over to one of the nearby tree's and hung it on one of the low hanging branches before reaching for her pants.

Pacey gawked at her open mouthed, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly before words came forth. "Exactly what do you think you're doing, Joey?"

Joey rolled her eyes. "I'm putting my clothes to dry what does it look like I'm doing. Relax, I'm going to keep my underwear on and that shows no more than a bathing suit." She shrugged and pulled her pants off placing them next to her shirt. "You should do it too. It's not like anyone's going to see us."

"We-there-I..." He fumbled for reasons that this was a bad idea. But she had a point, this was a beach, and they wouldn't be wearing anything indecent. And really, he should be completely okay with it, there was no reason he should feel uncomfortable. No reason at all. They were mature adults. He had Jen...sort of, and she had...They were mature adults. His protests faded from his lips. "Okay, yeah...I see your point." He turned away from her, reluctant to watch her undress and pulled his wet shirt over his head.

She turned around to find Pacey getting undressed. She let out a low whistle. "Woo hoo, take it off!" She laughed and walked over to a good patch of sand that had plenty of sunlight before sitting down. She leaned back on her arms the hot sun washing over her and warming her up already.

Pacey rolled his eyes after her. "You know, usually, I get paid for stripping my clothes in public places." He gathered his pants and socks, hanging them beside hers. Slowly he approached her, she was sitting in almost the same place they had been ten years earlier.

Joey raised her hand to shield her eyes from the bright sunlight. "Well, I guess I'm lucky then." She smirked.

"Naw," He sat down beside her, "I figure it's an even trade. I get to see you in all your glory." He let his gaze wander over her glistening skin, lingering longer than he should have.

She let out a soft breath and arched her back, her hair barely brushing against the middle of it. "I just hope I don't get burned."

Pacey swallowed with difficulty and forced himself to look away from her delectable body. She'd only grown more beautiful with time.

She shifted her body to get a better look at him. "Y'know today's been kind of fun despite of how it started. Well except for the you throwing me into the water part."

"You mean, that wasn't fun for you?" He asked feigning disbelief. He smiled at her. "Yeah, it has been fun. It's been awhile since I've let myself cut loose."

"Yeah, when did you become so boring?" Joey asked cocking an eyebrow. She lifted her right leg and stretched it out in front of her before doing the same with her left.

"Boring?" He asked incredulously, "Potter, you don't know the half of it."

"Want to enlighten me, all knowing one?"

"There's plenty you don’t know about me, Joey. A lot has happened in the years after graduation." He looked down at his hands.

"Like what?" Joey questioned innocently.

"Like...I really was a stripper." He offered.

Joey burst into laughter. "Liar! I mean I can't believe you'd- well, actually I can, but still!"

"How else is any self respecting guy supposed to pay his way through college?"

Joey giggled and fell onto her back stretching her arms out in front of her. "They'd do something respectable, but you of course would have to be different." She burst into another round of giggles. "Well, Jen would have gotten a discount for my bachelorette party. It would've been scarring but funny." She turned to her side and propped herself up on her elbow. "Anything else you've done that I should be aware of?"

"Traveled the world, got married, had a kid, got divorced, won the lottery, and I was knighted...I think that about covers it." He leaned back on the sand and crossed his ankles, taking in her shocked look.

Joey smiled. "Fine." She rolled onto her back using both her elbows to hold her up this time. Joey bit down on her lower lip nervously before speaking. "Well, if we're being so honest I guess I can tell you that I cheated on Dawson with another woman once. It was my first lesbian experience and she was great about the whole thing. It was only once and Jen promised just to keep it between us."

"So that's what got into you two at the bar the other night." He paused, "Wait, your first lesbian experience? There was more than one?!"

She glanced down at her feet. "Well, there was Andie. I was drunk."

"Yeah, okay, I could believe Jen, but not Andie."

Joey shrugged. "You'd be surprised. Jen walked in on us. Just ask her."

"Ha ha, I'll believe the lesbianism when I believe the moon is made of green cheese."

Joey grinned and leaned back resting her head against her arms. "Yep, so not a lesbian. Just good ol' virgin Joey Potter saving herself for marriage." She shut her eyes against the sun. "Explain to me the kid."

"Well, it starte-" he looked over at her suddenly. "You're saving yourself for marriage?" He blurted out.

Joey blushed and stammered out a response. "No, of course not. I mean, Dawson and I have had sex plenty of times, tons of times. Good sex."

"Right...except that's not what you said the other night. After your little party with Jen at the bar. Were lying then or are you lying now?" He questioned carefully, trying to hid the hurt that she'd try to lie to him.

Joey racked her brain for an answer. "Okay, so maybe it wasn't like um, spectacular sex but we've had sex."

"Oh...I see. Well, that's a shame. Everyone should have spectacular sex at least once in his or her life. Just another thing you can catch up on now that you and Dawson are no longer."

Joey nodded. "Yeah, except now I'm not going to bother rushing into anything. I'll just wait."

"Yeah, find right guy." He nodded.

Joey shrugged uncomfortably. "Yeah...So what were you saying about that kid of yours?"

"Oh, yeah. It, uh," He swallowed with difficulty. "It kinda started with the stripping." He began.

"And..."

"You ready for this? It's kind of a long story." He shifted uncomfortably in the sand.

"There's no rush."

"Um, after Freshman year my scholarship ended and as hard as Doug tried, he couldn't scrape together much money to send my way, so if I wanted to stay at CLU I had to do it on my own. Even with the student loans I took, there wasn't enough to pay for room and board, let alone the cost of living." He paused, staring out over the ocean, remembering the panic he felt at the thought of slinking back into Capesde and taking up a job at the gas station, just like his father had told him numerous times.

"And you thought, 'hey I like the way I look in skimpy leather underwear' so why not turn it into a lucrative profession," Joey commented with a wry grin.

Pacey chuckled and shot her a smile. "Yeah, something like that. My old roommate did it for a while, and he knew of a popular place that would be willing to hire me.

"So I took the job there, I made great money, a steady $12 an hour, plus tips. Friday and Saturday nights I'd make upwards of $600 a night in tips. I met Miranda there."

"Ooh," Joey mocked.

"Do you wanna hear this or not?"

Joey sighed and slowly closed her eyes feeling a bit sleepy. "Oh fine, continue."

He shot her a wary look, but continued. "She worked at the bar and we started casually dating. We found out she was pregnant in June, just after finals."

"Mmm hmm," Joey murmured.

"Her parents were very religious and insisted we get married, I didn't really have a reason to say no. I wanted to be a part of the baby's life...to make up for what my father never gave me, y'know?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"So I agreed. We got married that summer, then worked as much as possible the rest of the summer. I took two jobs, days I worked at a warehouse and nights I stripped. We decided she'd quit school and look after the baby, and I'd finish, then put her through. You know, the typical young parent routine. "’cept it wasn't typical in the least. We barely got the chance to speak to each other, let alone even act as husband and wife. She gave birth to Chelsea Marie on January 18, 2004. My little girl." He smiled sadly, it came out looking more like a grimace. He hung his head as he felt tears prickling the back of his eyelids.

Joey's eyes slowly fluttered open and sat up casting him a weary look. "What happened?

Pacey took a deep steadying breath. "W-when she was a year and a half old, she just...stopped breathing. I'd gone to classes all day, then to work that night, Miranda stayed home with her all evening. I didn't come in until after four in the morning. I stopped in her bedroom as soon as I got home. I always check on her when I get home..." A tear slid down his cheek, "She was suffering from a cold that week, we thought she'd picked it up at the day care she sometimes went to. Anyway, so she'd been wheezing a lot lately, the doctor said it was just a cold. When I went in her room...I didn't hear it. I thought it was kinda weird, but not a big deal." His voice grew thick as he tried to speak past the lump in his throat. "I turned on her night light, and saw her face...her pretty little face was this sickly blue color." He paused in his speech trying desperately to bring himself back under control.

Joey felt her own eyes begin to well with tears and she glanced down at her hands not knowing how to respond. She just wished she could have been there for him.

He continued a few moments later. "I woke Miranda and we took her to the emergency room. The entire time, she didn't move... her skin was cold and clammy. I couldn't bring myself to believe that my baby girl was dead. This little person who was a part of me..." His hands clenched into tight fists, "The doctors said there was nothing they could do. It was too late." He swallowed, "The worst moment of my life, was holding her lifeless body in my arms as the emergency room doctor told me she was already dead."

Joey sniffled quietly and wiped at her eyes. "I'm sorry, Pacey."

"Don't be," he looked away from her, wiping at his own eyes. "You couldn't have done anything about it."

Joey burst into fresh tears. "Yes, I could have our lives would have been different if I had just not taken the easy way out and lied and maybe that'd be our kid, maybe she'd be running through the sand in front of us." She whimpered softly and brought her knees to her chest hugging them tightly.

"Don’t think about what could have been, Jo." He said sadly, feeling his heartbreak. "I spent years doing it and I only hurt myself and everyone I cared about."

Joey glared at him, her eyes red rimmed and teary. "You just don't get it. It is my fault. I'm the one who lied. I'm the one who changed everything. There's no one else to blame but me!"

"Your fault? Whatever it was you lied about didn't kill my daughter." He countered. "What would make you think you could have prevented this?" He asked, his eye lashes damp with tears.

Joey panicked and stood up. "You know Bessie's probably worried about me and I left my cell phone in the car so I can't even call her and tell her I'm okay."

"You're ready to leave then?" He sniffed, wiping at his nose.

Joey stared down at him helplessly. "No. I mean, yes but no, um there's no rush. I just need to uh, call Dawson because you can't just break up with someone over their machine it's just so impersonal. What was I thinking?" She ran a ragged hand through her hair. "And then there's Bessie. Bessie must be worried. Dawson's probably got my message already and wondering what the hell has happened to me, but I'm just um, going to start getting dressed." She turned away from him and slapped her hand against her forehead in embarrassment. ‘Oh God, what the hell was I thinking’, she thought as she pulled on her clothes.

"I- yeah," he sighed. He couldn't really focus on all she said right now. He nodded and rose from the sand, pulling his still damp pants on.

Joey pulled her blouse over her head and slipped her feet into her sandals. "I'm going to walk."

"Okay, I'll just...wait here." He mumbled, watching her walking away. Now that he thought about it, her reaction to his story wasn't anything like he expected. Why had she been rambling on about a lie when he'd told her about his daughter. And how it could have been theirs...he shook his head. He could think about that later, just like he had a thousand times when she'd been alive. A more pressing matter on his mind was the fact she was going back to Dawson.

Joey couldn't get away fast enough and she wiped at her eyes wondering how she could be so irresponsible. She'd almost blown it back there and she didn't know what the hell she was supposed to do now. She sat down on an old log and prayed some black hole would open and swallow her. At least before she had Dawson to turn to and now she wasn't even sure she had that anymore. She buried her face in her hands and tried to figure out some way to make sense of the mess that had apparently become her life.