Sunrise, Sunset

Sunrise, Sunset
Lee Burton 1998

DISCLAIMER: All characters owned by Kevin Williamson, blah, blah, blah.

The morning sun brought Joey from her slumber, and as she sat up in bed she realized that she had fallen asleep at Dawson's again. "Damnit!" Joey said as she looked at the clock and realized there was only half an hour until school started.

"Dawson, wake up. We're gonna be late if you don't get up." Joey said as she nudged Dawson on his arm. He rolled over and saw that Jo was running around his room looking for her shirt. He remembered the night before and smiled, they hadn't done anything other than make out, but he knew that they were ready to face sex. His brain fired up as he dragged himself out of bed.

"Bessie is gonna ream me!" Joey screamed as she pulled her shirt back on, looked to Dawson and saw him watching her with a stupid smile on his face. "What?" she shouted as his expression changed.

"Just taking in the sites." He replied and walked into the bathroom to comb his hair. Joey smiled and continued getting dressed. "I'll see you in school" she called into the bathroom, went back into Dawson's room and crawled out the window and down the ladder.

Dawson finished getting ready, came out of the bathroom, walked into his room and grabbed his books. He walked back out and down the stairs, he passed his parents who were looking at him as if they knew something he didn't.

"Gotta go, bye!" he happily called as he walked past them. The two watched as he left the house in a very good mood. "Do you think??" Mitch asked with an evil little grin. "Mitch!" Gayle said hitting him in the arm. "Sorry, just wondering, he was in a VERY good mood, and there's nothing that puts me in a mood like that like, well, you know." He said with that cynical grin, as he looked at Gail with a you-me-in-the-bedroom-now sort of a look.

"Sorry Mr. Man Meat, I have to go to work." She said to Mitch as she looked down at her watch. "Shucks," Mitch said, and then smiled. "If you're good, maybe we can have a little fun tonight." Gayle said with a grin as she grabbed her papers and left with a smile.

Joey stormed into the trailer and ran to grab her books. A hand however, quickly stopped her on her arm. "Where were you last night?" Bessie asked with a smile on her face, knowing damn well where she was. She wanted details.

"At Dawson's, where else would I be? I'm running late for school." She argued as she went for the door. "Come on Jo, I want details." Bessie said to Joey.

"Look Bessie, I don't have time to argue, so nothing happened, ok?" she said as she ran out the door. Bessie stood there with only a little relief, she knew that eventually something would happen, she just hoped that Joey was prepared.

Joey ran into the school and over to her locker, hoping to find Dawson there, but instead she saw something more shocking, Jen and Pacey stood outside of Jen's homeroom, heavily making out.

"Wow." She said, a little distracted from what she was there to do. She quickly snapped back into reality and grabbed her books from her locker and ducked into homeroom just as the bell rang.

All throughout homeroom Joey sat there thinking about her and Dawson, and Pacey's new relationship with Jen. "Well, at least now she won't want him back." She thought aloud without realizing it.

The student in front of her turned around with a smile and said, "Oh, I assume you saw the little face sucking contest between Lindley and Witter then?"

Joey ignored it and went back to her thoughts of Dawson. They nearly let their hormones go wild. She had to muster all of her inner self-control not to jump him right then and there. She sighed and stood up as the passing bell to first period rang.

Joey walked into the class she had with Jen. "This will be fun." She thought as she sat down next to Jen, who barely noticed she sat down. "So Jen, did Pacey's CPR technique work?" Joey asked as she looked over to Jen. "Huh?" she said almost incoherently. Her head was in the clouds after what must have happened.

"So, how was your night, it looks like it went even better than mine did." Joey asked, pulling Jen out of her trance. "Oh, sorry Joey, I was a bit distracted." Jen said, "I noticed, so what happened?" Joey began to pry.

"Oh, last night Pacey and I went out to Boston with someone I thought was my friend. Lindsay kicked us out of the car and we had to walk home." Jen answered. Joey was not satisfied. "Come on Jen. I know more than that happened, spill." She said wanting every juicy detail.

"Gees, if you insist, while walking, I discovered while talking with Pacey that he actually was a really nice guy under all the hard coating he's built up. We took a bus back to Capeside and once we got back into town, he kissed me." She said sounding like she was in a dream.

"Wow, I knew there was something going on, I just wasn't sure what." Joey smiled as she lied right through her teeth, covering their intentions to get the two together anyway.

"Well, best of luck." Joey answered and looked up to the front of the room. "Oh, no, you don't get away that easy, how are things with you and Dawson?" Jen quickly replied. She was a bit hungry for details as well.

"Well," Joey started "After a night of hell at work, Dawson and I went for a walk, went back to his house and we did it for hours on end." Joey replied with a smirk.

"What!" Jen replied with surprise. "Unfortunately I'm kidding Jen, the other parts are real." Joey admitted. "Unfortunately? Sounds like you're ready and willing to jump our friend the Speilberg wanna-be." Jen responded with a big grin.

"You know, normally I'd have a witty comeback, but I think you're probably right." Jo admitted as she sighed heavily. "Good, then you'll need some of these." Jen said as she pulled something out of her purse and slipped it into her bag.

"Jen!" Joey said looking embarrassed, realizing what she had given her. But before she could reply, the teacher entered the room and they quickly ended the conversation.

After class finished, Joey approached Jen at her locker. "So, Jen are you up for a girls night out?" Joey asked Jen, which would normally been surprising, but they had actually managed to become friends since the accident.

"Sorry Jo, Pacey begged me to go apartment hunting with him. It looks like he has no plans of going back home." Jen replied while trying to figure why Joey hadn't commented about the condom she passed along during class.

"Joey, you're not just trying to avoid a certain confrontation with our good friend Dawson are you?" Jen asked, turning to Joey with a sneaky grin on her face.

"Damn the female intuition" Joey grumbled and walked back to her locker. Jen knew she was right, Joey was scared, and with good reason, If she messed she'd end up like her sister with a baby before she's ready.

Joey walked over to her locker, looked at it and began to bang her head up against it in frustration until a hand on her shoulder pulled her back. "You know that Doctor Miller would have a fit if he saw you doing that." Dawson said as Joey turned to face him. He could see that something was bothering her, since normal people don't just bang their heads into lockers unless something's wrong.

"It's nothing, Dawson." She lied as she opened the door to her locker and began to exchange her books. Dawson didn't buy that answer.

"No Joey, something's bothering you, now spill." He replied but received an almost angry look back at him. "Sorry Dawson, I have to figure this out myself." Joey said, leaving Dawson stood at her locker very confused.

After school, Joey made a beeline for the Icehouse since she didn't feel like explaining her actions to Dawson. She needed time to think and knew it just wouldn't happen with him around.

"You're here early," Bessie said as Joey walked in. "Just here to relax a bit before I get to work." Joey replied, going into the kitchen and getting a drink. She walked out to the dock and sat down with her legs hanging over the edge.

Joey was very confused, she knew she wanted to be with Dawson, but all of the possible consequences ran through her mind. The thought of ending up like Bessie with a child too early frightened her, and all of those nasty diseases.

She then realized that this wasn't going to be with a stranger, this was with Dawson, and she knew him better that he knew himself, Joey suddenly felt a little better knowing that fact. She also knew that he's responsible and would take precautions, and would accept the responsibility if something did go wrong.

She smiled as the feelings of worry began to disappear and that of excitement and hope. She wondered what it'd be like. Would she enjoy it, and most importantly, would he?

She finished her drink and headed back into the restaurant and put on an apron. "Bessie, I'll get table 6" she called out as she picked up an order book and approached the table.

Dawson walked down to the ruins after he finished up at the Video store. He figured that he needed some time to think. He had thought of Joey all day and how strange she was acting. He had a pretty good idea that the increasing sexual tension between them was bugging her as much as it was bothering him.

"It has to be perfect" he thought aloud, but not to anyone or anything specific, and as such, jumped when he got a response. "What has to be perfect?" Dawson heard from behind him, causing him to spin around and look to who was intruding his time alone. He smiled when he saw Joey stood there, looking weary from a long day of work, but still beautiful.

"Hey," Dawson said as he noticed who it was. "Joey, come and sit down, the sun's about to set.

Joey, who didn't notice the amazing sunset, walked over and sat down on the seat that Old Man Ethan put in for his wife to sit and watch the creek when he built the ruins.

She groaned as she sat down as her back twitched from being stood up all afternoon taking orders. After getting comfortable she looked out over the creek and saw that the sun was setting, and the orange glow from the sun sparkled across the water. In all of Capeside it was one of the most beautiful places she knew of.

"God, it's incredible." She said, and continued "I know we live here and see this almost everyday, but each time it still looks incredible." She spouted off dreamily.

She turned and looked to Dawson, who was completely drawn in by the sights of the creek, and rested her head on his shoulders. "We have to stay out here after we're married. I don't think I could bear to live anywhere else." Joey said as she waited for a response.

"Definitely." He said as he turned from his daze and looked right into her eyes. The two were immediately put into a trance and just looked right into each other, trying to figure out what each was thinking. It was hard in the recent months to decipher each other's thoughts, but now they were perfectly clear.

The two leaned over to each other and began to kiss each other tenderly, and as they went, it became more heated, both of them completely drawn each other, with absolutely nothing else on their minds.

Neither noticed how much time passed while they were entwined kissing on the bench, but a cold breeze came up off of the water, causing Joey to shiver.

"Dawson, I'm getting cold, can we go back to your house?" she asked gently. "Sure" Dawson replied, stood up and helped her up and they headed back toward's Dawson's house.

They entered through the front door, something Joey hadn't done in a while and they went into the living room where they saw Dawson's parents watching a movie. They didn't bother to interupt them and went upstairs.

Joey plunked herself down on Dawson's bed "Much nicer inside" she said as Dawson walked over, sat down next to her and they continued from where they left off.

"Mm... Dawson?" she mumbled between kissing, he pulled his head away and said "Yeah?" Joey smiled and pushed Dawson down onto the bed, smiled and stradled him.

Dawson, completely surprised, since this was completely out of character for Joey, said "Jo, what the hell?"

Joey thought about explaining her actions, but then decided to just shut her mouth and show Dawson her reasons and began to unbutton her blouse.

The day had become night in Capeside just like many other nights, but this was certainly not an ordinary night.

The End

The setting sun has brought great changes for Dawson and Joey, but now what? Find out in the next installment of Storm's End.



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