Spoilers: None, but it would be a good idea to read Breaking Away first since this is a continuation of it.
Mercury Rising
"Jen, crash at my place tonight," Pacey whispered into her hair. "Go get some clothes and your books and I'll take you to school tomorrow." Jen stopped crying.
"What?" she asked as if she didn't understand what he had said. She was still sniffling, and there were still tears streaming down her face.
"You heard me," Pacey said.
"Pace, that's insane. My grandma would kill me, I don't think that I'm going to school tomorrow, and I'm not really in the mood to have you putting moves on me." Jen lied about the last part. She still wanted Dawson, but she found herself really wanting any guy's consolences. "That was the old Jen," she thought, shaking her head. "I need to rely on myself now."
"First," Pacey said, "Your grandma will probably spend the night at the Church. Second, she needs to make the funeral arrangements tomorrow, so it might be better for you not to be around. Third, what do you think I am? Would I put moves on you now? Besides, I bet you'll be the one coping a feel in the middle of the night, seeing how I'm so irresistible." Pacey started to preen. Jen giggled, but quickly covered her mouth and punched his arm.
"I don't want to encourage you," she said, managing a smile.
"Also, I know the crap that you gave Dawson when you broke up with him. If you're worried that you can't take care of yourself and hate needing someone to lean on, relax. You'll have plenty of time to yourself. I think that you could use a little cheering up, though," Pacey said matter-of-factly. "Even when someone doesn't have a boyfriend, they still have their family and their friends to lean on."
"Ugh, so I have to be spending a night in the same bed as you?" Jen frowned jokingly.
"I'll take that as a yes," Pacey smiled. "Go get your stuff." Jen got back, and Pacey walked his bike along side her as they went to his house. He took her backpack and cheerfully said "I have the best excuse if your grandma gets really mad. I found you asleep late at night on the bench and decided not to wake you and to bring you to my house."
"Why do I have my books and a change of clothes, then?" Jen smiled. "And why didn't you just bring me home?"
"Well, I was bringing you home, but when we got there you were passionately calling my name in your sleep. I couldn't resist..."
"Please, spare me the details," Jen begged. "Things are bad enough already." Pacey smiled and took Jen's hand. He suddenly heard a loud rumble. "Rain again?" he grumbled. "Come on, we've got to hurry up before the storm gets here."
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Joey woke up in Dawson's arms. She heard the wind blowing rather loudly outside, but she didn't mind in the least. She liked listening to the wind blow over the water, it was peaceful. Joey just laid there for a minute. It was still dark out. She turned her head to look at the clock. 3am.
"Good," she thought. "We don't have to get up for another four and a half hours." She stared at Dawson lovingly. A flash of light suddenly filled the room followed by a loud crack of thunder. Joey jumped and snuggled deeper into Dawson's arms. She hated storms, but she still felt safe. Dawson would protect her.
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Dawson awoke with a start. "Great, it's only 6:30," he mumbled. He was about to go back to sleep when he suddenly realized that he was holding something in his arms. It was actually someone. Joey! "What the--" he thought. Then he remembered. He couldn't let her leave. He begged her not to leave. "What was I thinking?" he thought. But he knew exactly what he was thinking. He started to blush when he remembered exactly what he was thinking. "I have to get out of here," he whispered. He took his arms from around Joey, careful not to wake her, changed his clothes, got his books, and walked out the door.
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The alarm went off at 7:30am sharp. Joey groaned and rolled over to shut it. She kept her eyes closed. "Dawson," she said softly, smiling and putting her arm over her eyes. "I'm so happy I finally have something to hold on to-- Dawson?" Joey realized that her other arm wasn't feeling anyone. She quickly opened her eyes and sat up. "Dawson?" she called, instinctively clutching the blanket closer to her. She looked around silently until she spotted the open door. She got up and walked to it. "Dawson?" she said as she looked into the hallway. She slowly went to the window and leaned out. She didn't see any cars, so Dawson's parents must have left really early. "Wonderful," she said bitterly as she climbed down the ladder and hurried home to get ready for school.
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Dawson walked for a long time. He skipped breakfast and just walked aimlessly until it was time for school. "And to think, Dawson," he said to himself. "Three months ago you wanted conflict." He sighed. He knew that he had meant what he said to Joey the night before. He loved her, but he was still afraid. He didn't want to ruin their friendship. He knew that wouldn't happen, though. "The truth," he said. The truth was that he was afraid of his feelings. He was afraid of Joey being his everything. He was petrified of the fact that he couldn't live without her. He didn't want to be so dependent on her, but he couldn't help it. He needed her. He didn't want to feel this way knowing that in two weeks she would be gone for three months. He also couldn't let her stay for him. She wanted to go. Dawson sat down on a bench with his shoulders slumped and stared at the water. "Jo, Jo, Jo," he kept repeating her name. "What do I do? Avoid you and hope that when you come back everything will be the same as before? But I can't. I remember even telling you a few months ago when we went to the movies how pretty I thought you looked with that lipstick. I ignored it, but I though it. I can't ignore this anymore. That's the problem." Dawson ran his hands through his hair in frustration and threw himself against the back of the bench. He sat there thoughtfully for a while and then left for school.
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"Wake up sleepyhead," Pacey said shaking Jen.
"Pacey, what the hell are you doing?" she laughed.
"Feel better?" he asked, moving around her to stare at her from a different angle.
"No. But thanks," Jen added. "Truthfully, I do feel a little better. And you're scaring me very much right now." Pacey had gone straight up to Jen's face, crossed his eyes, and put his tongue on his nose.
"Let's get to school, shall we?" he said in a terrible British accent, offering her his arm.
"Thank you, kind sir," she replied in an equally horrid accent.
"Have you seen Dawson today?" Joey asked Pacey when he got into school. Jen nervously excused herself to go to the bathroom.
"No witty remark, Josephine?" How shocking!" Pacey slapped his hand to his face in pretend disbelief.
"Shut up, dogbreath," Joey grabbed Pacey by the collar and glared at him. "My day has gone drastically wrong since I woke up. Just answer the question or I swear I'll--"
"Okay, okay, kindly remove your hand from the merchandise," Pacey said, brushing her hand away from his neck. "I have not seen Mr. Leery today. I should think that you'd be in a better mood since you finally got some last night."
Joey followed Pacey as he started to walk down the hall. "How did you know about that?" she asked nervously.
"Everyone knows, dear. You may be carrying his baby right now." Joey gave him the meanest look he'd ever seen. "Okay. I was biking by and I saw your silhouettes kissing. Tough crowd today, geez."
"Never mind, there he is. Dawson!" she yelled as she saw him walk into school.
"Good thing I'm prepared for this," he thought. "I hope."
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Thank you for the feedback that I've already gotten. I hope that everyone liked this part. More feedback is always good!