Impatience Part 1
By Lee Burton ©1998
"Do you wanna try it again?" Dawson asked Joey, who was now wheelchair bound.
During the accident, a nerve ending in her leg was damaged, making it difficult for her to
walk, but Doctor Miller says she will regain all use of the legs with practice, and while she
remained at the hospital, Dawson was helping her walking around the hospital.
"Yeah, the sooner I can walk again, the sooner I can go kick Pacey’s ass for blabbing our
engagement around half of the school. I’m surprised Bessie and your parents haven’t
heard about it yet." She said with a touch of annoyance.
Pacey witnessed Dawson proposing to her just as she came out of her coma, and the next
day Abby found out, providing her with enough gossip to last a month.
"Do your parents know, Dawson?" she asked him, hoping for a no. She wanted the
engagement to be announced at the proper time, but Pacey sure screwed that up. He
shook his head to indicate a no.
She breathed a sigh of relief, lifted herself out of her chair, and began to walk a few
paces. "Good, Joey, but take it easy, you’re not in the Boston Marathon." Dawson said as
she began to speed up her stroll to a full speed walk.
Just as Dawson caught up to her, she slipped a bit on the linoleum floor of the hospital,
just in time for Dawson to run up behind and catch her. "Joey, as much as I like having
you fall into my arms, you’re going to hurt yourself." He said, standing her back up and
giving her a little peck on the cheek.
"Dawson, it’s been two weeks! I’ll go crazy if I stay here much longer." Joey argued.
Dawson agreed with that however, he was just as impatient to get her out of the hospital
and have the woman he loved back.
"Yeah, but Doctor Miller said yesterday that if your CAT scan comes back clean, you get
to go home." He told her, even though she knew that, it seemed to make her feel
better.
"But what other hells will my return bring?" she asked. "What? I figured you’d be thrilled
to go home. You sure want to get out of here." Dawson chuckled, even though he was
now confused.
"You’re forgetting a few things Dawson. First off, we have to tell your parents that we’re
engaged, but the second and most frightening prospect is that we have to tell Bessie."
Dawson grimaced at the thought of the inevitable explanation to his parents and
Bess.
"That’ll be interesting." Dawson laughed as they continued to walk down the hospital
corridor.
The sound of footsteps woke Joey up from her much needed slumber. "Hi Doctor Miller,"
she groaned as she sat up in the bed. "Well Josephine, err Joey." The doctor quickly
corrected himself after getting an earful about her name two days ago. Joey noticed it and
smiled. "The results from the final CAT scan are in and everything looks good. You’ll be
home in two days."
"Thank god for that!" she called out to the heavens. "Not that I don’t appreciate all the
attention, Doctor Miller, but I’m going nuts in here, and I’d like to get home, although I
bet someone we both know will be waiting on me hand and foot." She said with a
laugh.
"I know it’s been difficult, but we don’t want any relapses. Anyway, how’s the walking
coming?" Miller said while looking over her report from the Physical Therapist.
"Pretty good, in fact, I’m thinking of signing up for the track team next week" she said
with the sarcastic little smile he had come to appreciate over the last week. "Just
remember, it’s just the Morphine talking." Miller responded while laughing as he left the
room.
Miller walked out of the room and into the main corridor, where he saw Dawson getting
his visitor’s pass to see Joey. "Hello Dawson." Doctor Miller said as he walked up to
Dawson. "You’ll be happy to know that she gets to go home in two days." Dawson smiled
as Miller lead him back down the hall towards Joey’s room. "Now, I know you’re
engaged and all, but don’t let her jump you too soon, she isn’t fully recovered yet." He
joked while giving Dawson a fake punch to the side. "I’ve got to go do rounds, I’ll see
you later." Miller said, then turning and walking back towards the main entrance, leaving
Dawson stood there, with his face red with embarrassment.
Dawson’s head turned at the sound of the ladder hitting the edge of the windowsill. He
was watching a Biography of Steven Speilberg on A&E, but the noise distracted him, he
missed seeing Joey climbing through the window.
"Hey Pace," Dawson called out as Pacey, always the jokester, jumped through the
window, and called out with his arms in the air "The life of the party arrives!" He turned
to see Dawson looking at him like he was nuts.
"So Dawson, what’s the plan?" Pacey asked, but Dawson became confused.
"Huh? Plan for what?" he replied, but he seemed to be glued to the TV.
"TV Dawson? When you have better things to do, like help me plan the big surprise party
for Joey’s return." He said with a bit of chastising in his voice.
"Surprise Party?" Dawson asked, not having heard any plans of one.
"Well, I was talking with Bessie earlier, and she thought it would be a great idea."
He finished, but Dawson’s ears quickly perked up hearing Bessie’s name.
"What! You talked to Bess? Did you tell her?" he asked sounding nervous. "No Dawson,
that gets to be your duty and privilege my friend." He said with a smile.
"Anyway, when are you two going to announce your little union officially?" he asked,
just aching for a little gossip.
"I figure if we’re gonna throw her a party, It might as well be then."
He said starting to think about how he was going to pull it off without getting anyone
killed.
"Well, I for one cannot wait to see Bessie’s reaction, her motherly instinct might just open
a can of whoop ass on you." He joked, but Dawson was seriously worried about how it
would all go.
"Anyway, I figure that you and Bessie can go and pick her up from the hospital, then she
can make up some excuse like she forgot something at the Icehouse, where we will be
waiting to spring the surprise." He explained the plan, which seemed perfect.
"Joey is going to flip, you know how she hates being the center of attention." Dawson
said laughing as Pacey turned to the window.
:Well, call me tomorrow and we’ll finalize the plans. I have to go get the keg," Pacey said
with a very big grin on his face. Dawson just laughed at him.
"Yeah, I’ll talk to you tomorrow."
After a day of planning with Bessie, and a visit to Joey, they were ready to pull it off.
Dawson and Pacey had gone into town and bought the rest of the food that Bessie didn’t
have at the Icehouse. Dawson and Pacey got an old photo of the three of them from when
they were about five and had it professionally framed for her. The frame was engraved
with the words "Friends always and forever", they were sure she’d love it.
It finally came time for the plan to go into action, but Dawson was still nervous as hell,
not about the party, but about announcing Joey and his engagement.
He hoped no one would kill him, or think he got her pregnant or anything. It could turn
out in a number of ways and he sure was hoping for a good ending.
Bessie and Dawson walked into Joey’s room to find a very impatient Joey with all of her
things packed up and she was very ready to go home and resume her normal life, or as
normal as it gets.
"Hello my love, you ready?" Dawson asked as he bent over and kissed Joey who was sat
on the edge of the bed. She was a touch surprised and embarrassed that he did all of that
in front of Bessie. "God! how cute." Bessie thought to herself watching the two friends
she knew would find each other sooner or later.
"Am I ever!" she said jumping up to her feet and grabbing her bag.
"Nope, I’ll get that." Dawson said, taking the bag from her "I wouldn’t think of you lifting
anything yet, and you have to be wheeled to the car in a wheelchair anyway, the doc said
it’s a regulation or something."
Just as he finished, Doctor Miller came in and said, "Well, everything looks good Joey,
just take it easy for a while. I’m sure Dawson will make sure of that." Dawson nodded as
an orderly brought in a wheelchair.
"Thank you Doctor Miller, for everything." She said as she hugged him and sat down in
the wheelchair. "Take me home, Dawson" she asked as they headed out into the
hall.
Doctor Miller walked out into the hall with them and they all headed towards the hospital
lobby, but soon after that his beeper went off. "Sorry I can’t see you out, but I have a call.
Good Luck." He bent over and kissed her on the cheek and began to head back to where
they had just came. "Oh, Congratulations!" he called back to them before going into a
room.
Dawson and Joey looked at each other and their faces turned a bit red, Bessie didn’t
notice, but she did ask, "What was that all about?" "Oh nothing, private joke." Dawson
said trying to cover their asses, at least for a little while.
To be continued...
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