"You're really not kidding about all this, are you?" Joey looked around Andie's bedroom at the books and papers spread out over the quilt, half burying Pacey. "I mean, you guys are seriously going to launch a full-out assault on the Wolfe-Morgan campaign, aren't you?"

Pacey looked up from the book he was reading. "Do you have any idea how amazingly suited to politics Abby is? I mean, she's cold, she's manipulative, she's heartless, she doesn't give a shit about anyone, but half the time can sweet-talk them into anything. She's like a born politician. Which means that we have to pull out all the stops if we're going to win."

"We're not going to win, Pace."

He raised one eyebrow. "We're?"

"Yeah. So I got pissed off at Abby's superior attitude and threw down." Joey shrugged and rubbed her bare arms. "Jack told me he'd tell Andie."

"I haven't seen Andie."

"You're in her room."

"Ah, but as you can see, she is most definitely not." He picked up a notepad and wrote something on it. "She's at a doctor's appointment or something. She left about fifteen minutes ago. Told me to stay here and work."

"And you listened to her?" Joey's incredulous tone got her a quick view of his tongue as he stuck it out at her. "Wow. You must like her, huh?"

He shrugged. "Yeah."

"Even though she's actually in the same age bracket as you?"

"You wanna drop that?" He glared at her and shifted uncomfortably. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Dropping by campaign headquarters." She shivered again. "Jeez. It's freezing in here."

"Well, if you'd wear something actually suited to fall, maybe you wouldn't have this problem." He grabbed his jacket from the pillow behind him and tossed it to her. "There."

She put it on gratefully, sitting on the edge of the bed. She picked up one of the papers from the pile beside him. "The Art of War?"

"Notes."

"It's a political campaign, Pacey. Not some battle."

"You're not thinking along the right lines here, Potter. Chris and Abby are going to play dirty. It's in their nature. Now, I know all about your life, so there are no surprises there."

"Everyone knows all about my life." She sighed and pushed her hair away from her forehead. "I hate being the laughingstock of this damn town."

"You're not." He grabbed the book that was lodged under her thigh and tugged it free, giving her more room to sit beside him. "That would be me."

"Instead of Miss Windjammer, maybe you and I should just try out to be Mr. and Mrs. Capeside Screw-up."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Jo." Pacey looked at her, his blue eyes guileless. "Look at everything you are."

"Too tall girl from the wrong side of the creek?" She smirked at him and he shook his head.

"You're beautiful, Jo. And you don't know it, which is infuriating as hell sometimes, I think, but most of the time it's charming. And you're smart and funny. You've got two different guys completely head over heels for you, you've got some good friends. I don't see why you think you're a screw-up."

"What about you?" Her voice had dropped all of its teasing. "You're funny and Andie loves you and you're not as dumb as you pretend to be and, as much as I'll probably regret ever saying this, you're not half-bad."

"Gee, Jo. These backhanded compliments warm the cockles of my heart." He gave her a half smile that didn't quite reach his eyes and turned back to the book on his lap. "Why don't you head on home? I'll have Andie give you a call when she gets back."

Her hand touched his forearm lightly then settled on it. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"You didn't." He turned his head slightly so that he could smile at her. "I don't have 'em anymore, remember? My father and Doug have done their level best to make sure of that."

"You do so." Her thumb ran over the dark hair on his arm. "You forget, Pacey Witter. I know you. Better than you think I do."

"You don't know shit about me, Jo." He pulled his arm away and turned the page. "But thanks."

She sat there, staring at the papers in front of him and picked one up. He started to protest, stopping when she turned her back on him. "Did you write this?"

"No, Mr. Snuffaluffagus came out of nowhere, borrowed a crayon and scribbled it out for me."

"This is our campaign plan?"

"If Andie approves it."

"Pacey, this is well done. You've obviously thought a lot of stuff through and I think Andie's going to be really impressed."

"Stop it."

"What?" She turned back to him, setting the paper down. "Stop what?"

"This!" He practically roared the words, shoving the books and papers to the floor. They both sat there in a stunned silence as sheets of notebook paper with his handwriting all over them drifted to the ground. "I don't need you to humor me. I don't need you to pity me. And I don't need you to act like I'm not some dumb idiot who was lucky enough to be befriended by you and Dawson, okay? I know I'm a fuck-up, all right? I know that I let my father down and Doug down and I know I did a stupid, messed up thing by getting involved with my English teacher and I know that Andie can do a hell of a lot better than me, okay? So quit trying to make me feel like I'm somebody when I'm nothing."

"You're not nothing." Joey faced him, her eyes holding his even when he tried to look away. Her hand curled under his chin and forced him to continue meeting her eyes. "You've never been nothing."

"I've always been nothing, Potter."

Tears stood in his eyes, shocking her. She didn't think she'd ever seen Pacey Witter cry, even when he'd jumped off the roof outside Dawson's bedroom and broken his leg. He'd been all cocky bullshit then, no pain showing.

"That's not true." She reached out without thinking, catching one of his tears before it fell. "You've done stuff no one else would have done, Pace. You took the rap for when I shoplifted at Murphy's store. You saved Miss Jacobs career…"

"After I jeopardized it."

"You're a nice guy, Pacey. You're sweet and funny and charming." She tilted her head and bit her lower lip. "You wanna know something?"

"What?" He was looking at her with a mixture of sadness, disbelief and the desire to believe.

"That night? The night of the carnival and the snails?"

"Y…yeah?" He said the word cautiously, not sure he wanted to hear what she could possibly say about that night.

"I had a good time that day, better than I ever thought I could with you." She smiled at him, sighing softly. "And after you left, I felt bad."

"Bad?"

"That I couldn't appreciate your kiss. I was so busy thinking about Dawson, I didn't even think of you."

"That's the status quo, Joey. Always has been."

"I still felt bad. Not that I ever intended on telling you, of course."

"Of course." He laughed softly, shocked when she cut him off with a swift kiss. He pulled back for a second, before moving in again, his pulse racing as his lips found hers, as hers molded to his, as his hand found its way into her hair and tangled in the long strands.

They broke away from each other at the sound of the front door closing, both of them breathing heavy, even though the kiss had been deceptively light. "That's probably Andie."

"My girlfriend," Pacey breathed. "Right."

"Right." Joey took another step back and stooped to pick up the books and papers that were scattered across the floor. She dumped an armload of them onto the bed, biting her lip when she realized the bed looked rumpled and messed up, Pacey looked completely dazed and she… She glanced into the mirror above Andie's dresser and blushed a fiery red. She looked like she'd been kissed. Very knowledgeably and thoroughly kissed. She raised her fingertips to her lips and caught Pacey's gaze in the reflection. "I really should go."

"Yeah."

Andie walked into the room and made a beeline for Joey, hugging her tightly. "I was so excited when Jack said you were going to do this!" She moved over to Pacey and hugged him as well. "Chris and Abby don't stand a chance."

"I'm sure you're right." Joey nodded. "When shall we get together and discuss strategy?"

"How about tomorrow? Outside the Icehouse?" Andie slid her arm through Pacey's. "Would that work for you?"

Joey nodded as she made her way to the door, looking back to find Pacey's eyes. "Sure. See you on the campaign trail."