. Summary: During the pilot episode Dawson asks Joey to come to the movies with him, Jen, and Pacey so Jen won't feel awkward. So this is my way of spicing it up.  Warning: Some parts may be racey, read at own risk. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13

"Miss Windjammer 1998," Pacey read off the flyer as he headed down the halls of Capeside with Dawson. "They actually have these sorts of competitions?"

"Yeah and the prize is $5,000 so these girls are getting paid good money to be ogled at."

"$5,000? When is Mr. Manmeat because I am ready and willing to sign up for that one."

"Well rumor has it that the competition isn't technically for Miss Windjammer," Dawson explained with a grin.

"Where do I sign up?"

~*~

"$5,000, I could use that kind of money," Joey said eyeing the flyer as she and Jen sat in Biology first period.

"To demean yourself in the name of 'Woman's Rights'?" Jen questioned dryly.

"How many of these things did you compete in?" She countered.

"Too many to remember," Jen paused snatching the flyer, "You should do this, finally add some worthy competition into the pool."

"Me in a bathing suit parading in front of a bunch of gross middle aged men and grinning moronically over World Peace? I don't think so."

"Oh come on you know you want to."

"Well $5,000 would be a great starter pack for college funds."

~*~

Joey stood awkwardly on line tapping her foot impatiently feeling more embarrassed by the minute. Jen had gone to fill out her registration for her being the experienced one and she felt stupid just standing there.

"Here for moral support in Jen's return to Beauty Queenhood?" Pacey asked sliding up beside her.

"No, actually I'm entering," Joey shrugged crossing her arms over her chest.

"Really?"

"I need the money for college, you know that," she paused eyeing him strangely. "What are you doing here?"

"You're looking at the first Mister Windjammer," he smiled smugly.

"You're entering? Is that even legal?"

"My good ole anal friend Dawson found a loophole." Pacey explained, "If I win this money my dad says that I can move out and buy an apartment, you know get rid of me ASAP, he has the papers and everything. Think how great it will be, us with our own little Love Shack."

"That is so many degrees of wrong," she shook her head. "You in a beauty pageant?"

"Sounds just about as sane as your participation.

~*~

This was a stupid idea, a stupid idea indeed, Joey thought wondering through the yacht club. She already felt nauseous and had only made one appearance on stage with the rest of her competitors for the opening presentation of jailbait meat. Heading down the long hallway located backstage, Joey frantically fastened her earring running smack into Pacey who was adjusting his tux. "I can't believe you're doing this," she said eyeing him with a smirk.

"I’m a man on a mission, it causes me to do crazy things."

"Well I'm up," she said gesturing towards the stage, "Let the best Windjammer candidate win."

"Agreed," he nodded patting her on the shoulder as she headed towards the stage.

"And now singing the song 'Stay' by the band Coal, Miss Josephine Potter," the host announced as he stepped aside for Joey's entrance. She squinted under the bright lights trying to shake the tension in her neck and the butterflies in her stomach as she approached the microphone on the center or the stage.

She glanced over at Jen who gave her a supportive wink and took the microphone into her hands.
 

Dawson furrowed his brows listening to the lyrics of the song, was this about him was this some declaration that he had known she had kept in the back of her mind. He searched her eyes willing for her to look at him but her eyes stayed trained into the dark of the crowd. 
 

She looked so beautiful her hair swept off her shoulders with a few escaping tendrils loosely curled along her soft neck. Her eyes were a smoky dream accentuated by the gray flecks in her green eyes along with a subtle blush that defined the contours of her cheek, with luscious pink lips as a final touch.
 

Dawson smiled inwardly to himself, a new gleam in his eyes as he discovered for the first time the woman standing before him. Singing timidly done up beautifully in makeup and wearing a gorgeous silk dress that hung perfectly on every curve. The pieces of the puzzle finally clicked.
 

She attempted a weak smile making brief eye contact with Pacey as the room filled with cheers she walked on shaky legs backstage. 

~*~

"You look beautiful tonight Jo," Dawson said catching up with her as she stepped out into the cold November night.

"Thanks," she mumbled turning to him with a shy smile.

"Roberta Crump didn't deserve to win, not even close," Dawson said sincerely falling in stride with her. "I mean how much world peace and feeding the starving children can you handle in one night?"

"Your sympathy for the needy is breathtaking," she smirked as they headed down the dock.

"You know what I mean," he nudged her shoulder playfully.

"Why don't we increase animal testing and nuclear weapon test zones in Arizona," Joey said through a giggle.

"Well as long as we make another three candle sticks from the great Blue Whale."

"When the Noble Peace Prize nominations come about and you're not on that list it will be a travesty."

"We are the future of America," he shrugged dragging his feet across the salty wood. "I'm being serious though Joey, what you said about America's youth, it wasn't one of those manufactured responses it came from the heart and that's what seems to be missing from these pretentious 'talent' observations."

"Is this you telling me that I should have won?" Joey asked with a cocked brow.

"No way, Pacey definitely Pacey, he was setting the curve changing the standards, he was on a mission that no other man in Capeside has the balls to do."

She paused, a small smile lingering across her lips, "I do admit he cleans up nicely, I never thought I'd see the day that Pacey Witter would wear a tux."

Dawson smirked, "and it will probably be the last, well unless he invites you to his wedding."

Joey shivered wrapping her arms tighter across her body trying to seek warmth in her thin silk dress. "Here," Dawson said draping his coat around her shoulders and pulling it tight around her lithe body.

"Thanks," she whispered avoiding his eyes.

"You really do look beautiful tonight."

Something didn't feel right she thought as he briskly rubbed her arms, "As opposed to every other day?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Whatever," she muttered quietly turning back onto her path.

"Joey I wanted to talk to you," he said catching her arm.

"We've been talking or have you forgotten the subject, we haven't been doing a lot of talking lately."

"And whose fault is that?" Dawson replied incredulously, "You spend every waking moment with Pacey, you know for two people who hate each other you spend a lot of time within one another's proximity."

"Excuse me, Mr. I Can't Spend Three Minutes Without Mentioning my Goddess Next Door Neighbor that I Don't Even Care About the Girl Sitting Next to Me Whose Boobs Aren't a C-Cup!" Joey spat out bitterly.

"I don't want to fight with you Jo, you're my best friend, you have been for years," he said soothingly. "I realized something tonight, something that I've been too ignorant to notice."

"That's not a first."

"I don't want Jen, we're not right for each other she doesn't compliment me in the way two people in love are supposed too."

"Thanks for this startling revelation," she said dryly.

"And then I saw you tonight and everything clicked, you were some dream woman that I never expected to see, especially not from Little Joey Potter from Across the Creek. It was like seeing you all over again for the first time."

"That's the point Dawson, I'm not that beautiful woman, tonight, tonight I'm playing dress up, tomorrow you're going to look at me and see Little Joey Potter again the clock will strike midnight and the fairy tale will end."

"I thought this is what you wanted," Dawson urged following her as she continued down the dock. "What you've been eluding to for months."

"I thought it was too a long time ago I thought it was," she trailed off pulling at the pins that held her hair off the column of her neck. "But I don't want somebody who only notices me when I find a new shade of lipstick, or do my hair like a super model, or show off more skin then an old art museum. I want somebody who doesn't look at me day after day and sees Little Joey Potter. Who saw me as just Joey a long time ago."

"What are you saying Jo?" Dawson asked furrowing his brows.

"I've been lying to you Dawson, lying to you right to your face for a few months now." She could feel the tears welling in her eyes as she spoke to her best friend by at this point she barely even knew. "I've been sleeping with Pacey," she trailed off unable to meet his eyes as she brushed her loose hair from her face. "And all of those times you asked us what was going on we flat out lied to you because we knew you couldn't handle the truth."

"What?" Dawson said his face growing pale as he supported his weak legs on the dock railing.

"I should have told you and I don't know why I didn't but," she trailed off studying his downcast expression carefully, "I'm sorry Dawson."

"I can't believe this Joey," he said with a hint of disgust, "who are you? I mean I thought I knew but obviously, obviously I have no idea." He exhaled loudly running both hands through his blond locks, "I mean Pacey, I expect this from him, he talks about his crude fantasies and meaningless desire for sex constantly but you Joey?" He cringed, "You lied so many times and now… I can't even look at you right now." Finally regaining composure he found the strength to stomp off down the dark dock and into the starry night.

Joey batted away the falling tears taking his jacket off of her shoulders and dropping it to her feet seeking solace in the grand expanse of water before her.

"Hey," Pacey said timidly coming up behind her, "congratulations for the whole runners up thing, you really deserved it."

"I try," she said almost bitterly trying to hide her emotion, "but the 'Dead Mother Incarcerated Father Living with Your Unwed Sister Nephew and Future Brother in Law' only gets you so far."

"Jen did a great job though, I almost thought you were a lady," he smirked stepping beside her and resting his hands along the wood railing.

"Am I supposed to find that amusing," she curved her lips into a small smile still trying to shake her conversation with Dawson.

"I was hoping to spur some sort of grin and judging by your reaction I feel partially successful," he said tilting up her chin with his thumb causing her smile to widen.

"You were quite handsome tonight too Pacey, I'm very proud of you."

"I do what I can to entertain this town."

"No really Pace," she continued, "you did something tonight that no one in this town has had the courage to do and no matter how shallow the reason is for you entering this contest it was very brave."

"Actually all I really did was ruin to hopes of some male who really did want to be crowned Miss Windjammer seeing as I'm the reason of the official rules third revision, that behind the removal of the bikini contest."

"You're right your plan for that little love shack was completely dishonorable and all encomiums that I have offered you will now be decried."

"Much better," he said placing a hand on the smooth porcelain skin of her shoulder. "You're freezing Joey, haven't you heard of a jacket in the fall, most sane people use them." He said throwing his jacket over her shoulders then glancing at the abandoned one pooled by her feet. "This one no good?" He asked picking it up.

"Dawson and I had a little rift," she shrugged glancing back over the water.

"Is that why you seem upset?"

"That would probably be it," she said pulling Pacey's coat tighter around her shoulders.

"What about?"

"He said I looked hot with cleavage and lipstick so I told him that we'd been fucking behind his back."

"I sense that there was a lot of miscommunication going on there," Pacey replied taking a sizzling intake of breath.

"He was under the impression that if I was pretty, I was worthy of his affections," she explained.

"Which prompted you to tell him about our little agreement," Pacey continued.

"That wasn't the only reason," she glanced at him shyly before nervously tucking her hair behind her ears. "Just to give you a heads up, Dawson may not be speaking to you right now, or any time in the near future for that matter."

"I can understand why."

"What's going on between us Pace," Joey asked softly. "I mean first we have this strange inexplicable attraction, then we're goin at it like animals, and finally we're cuddling and going on dates and I have no idea what I'm doing."

"I think we just once more proved that friends with benefits never work out the way you anticipated," he sighed watching as his breath escaped his lips in a cloud of vapor.

"I think our problem is that we've excluded the most important thing, we don't talk about it, we don't know what we are because we never discuss it."

"Well there isn't usually room for talking during our escapades."

She narrowed her eyes shaking her head, "I realized something tonight that's been in the back of my mind since the beginning of the school year but I haven't been able to express it."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I thought this was nothing, just some physical glitch but it's not, I realized that so long ago but I didn't know how to say it how to comprehend it but…" she trailed off trying to gain the courage, "I think I may be in love with you."

He felt his heart jump into his throat as he bit at his lip, "It's been a traumatic night Jo, I mean first our defeat in the Windjammer Extraordinaire and then with you and Dawson." He cleared his throat swallowing the large lump that could only have been his heart wreaking havoc on his jugular. "Maybe I should take you home."

Her confidence deflated and she felt like a shell of all the hope that she once held. "Um sure," she mumbled in a barely audible whisper as she fought with the threatening tears on the brink of release.

He placed a hand on the small of her back leading her down the dock mentally kicking himself for not having the courage to say it back some periling fear that prevented him from uttering those words. Maybe because he wasn't sure if she understood the weight of those words, that she didn't really mean them, or maybe because he was a moron.