“She is in a coma.” The doctor said, but trying not to cause a panic, he continued “However, she did pull through the initial crash, and I believe her chances of pulling through are good, but all we can do is wait.”
A sheer look of terror came across Bessie and Dawson’s faces. Bessie sat back down and looked forward with a very blank look on her face. Dawson was not quite as sane, however. “What! No! This is all my fault, I never should have let her go alone!” He said in a panic, stood up, and ran down the hall towards the door.
“I’ll go after him,” Bodie said to Mitch who was trying to calm Bessie down. Bodie ran down the hall of the hospital and out the main doors of the hospital. He managed to see him bolt around the side of the building. Bodie, quite the athlete, easily caught up and found Dawson in a shadowy corner of the hospital with his head between his knees.
“Dawson,” he said as he sat down next to the distressed teen. “I know, I feel terrible, she’s like a sister to me.” Bodie said, trying to comfort him, but Dawson was a complete mess. “She’s more than a friend to me Bodie, I love her, I have for a long time now.”
“I know, it’s been kinda obvious,” he admitted, standing back up, “Come back inside, Joey’s strong, she’ll be alright.” “I wish I could be sure of that.” Dawson groaned as he surrendered, standing up, but still very upset.
Bodie hugged him, “It’s gonna be alright man. I’m gonna go see how Bessie’s holding up.” Bodie finished as he began walking back towards the hospital entrance. Dawson stood there quietly watching the people walking along the sidewalks outside the hospital.
“Mitch, you might want to go talk to him. He needs his father now.” Bodie said approaching Mitch, who was keeping the baby occupied while Bessie filled out paperwork. Bodie could tell that Bess had been crying, so he sneaked up behind her at the counter and gave her a bear hug.
“Hi, how’s Dawson taking it?” She asked Bodie, a bit concerned about his bolting out of the hospital. “He’ll be alright, I think. He has a mess in his head and he’s got to straighten it all out.” He finished as he walked over and took the baby from Mitch, who began walking towards the door to go talk with his son, but as he stood up Dawson walked in.
Bessie walked over to Dawson and gave him a hug of support. “She’ll get through it. She’s stubborn.” Bessie said as she comforted the little boy next door, realizing that they had grown up so fast, both him and Joey. Bessie wanted to scream at this point, but had to keep cool, for everyone else’s sake.
“Dawson, do you want to stay here? I’m gonna go back home and see if your mother has gotten back yet.” Mitch then asked. “I’m not leaving her,” Dawson looked up to his father and told him, “not now, and not ever again.” He said in a very serious tone. Mitch knew from how Dawson was talking, that if Joey pulls through, Joey would probably end up his Daughter in Law within a few years.
As Mr. Leery began to leave, Joey’s doctor approached. “She’s been stabilized and put into a room, you can see her now, but only one person at a time.” The Doctor said while leading Bessie and Dawson, who both stood up quickly, towards her room. “Like I said before, Only one at a time please.” The doctor said.
“Dawson, you go in, make sure she’s alright for me.” Bessie said to Dawson who was a bit more than impatient to see the love of his life. “Thanks Bessie, but you’re her sister, you should go.” Dawson replied, knowing how badly she must be hurting. “No Dawson, god knows she must want to see you right about now.” She said to Dawson who kissed Bessie on the cheek and said “Thanks, Bess.”
The Doctor led him into a cold room. The walls were a drab off-white color, which conveyed how he felt, until the Doctor pulled back the curtain around her bed, revealing Joey, completely unconscious, with respirators and all sorts of medical devices and probes monitoring her condition. It was almost too much for him to handle.
“God, Joey!” he said with a sigh as he walked over to the bed and kneeled down next to it. “I’m so sorry,” he told her lifeless body while tears streamed down his face. “I shouldn’t have let you go alone.” He knew if Joey was conscious she would call him an idiot because he would have been injured also. He didn’t care though. “You cannot leave me, I love you too much.” He declared to her even though he knew she couldn’t hear him.
The week that followed was rough on everyone, Dawson either spent his days at the hospital with Joey, at school, or at home locked in his room. He didn’t say a word to anyone, and no one really tried to talk to him, except Pacey and Jen, who was also a mess from her grandfather’s death, but was now worse. Pacey even tried to seriously talk to him, but Dawson shut him out too.
“No…Joey. Don’t leave me… No!” Dawson sat up in his bed, covered in sweat. He had another nightmare, the third one this week. “Dawson, are you alright?” Gail asked, sticking her head through the door. Gail looked in to find her son sat in his bed, curled up in a ball rocking back and forth.
“Dawson,” she walked over to his bed and sat down next to him. “Come on Dawson, you can’t keep all this inside. You’ll hurt yourself more by bottling up your feelings like this.” His mother pleaded with him to talk about how he was feeling.
Dawson suddenly sat up and threw his arms around his mother, still bawling. “I can’t loose her, mom. Joey means way too much to me, I love her. I’m scared I’m about to loose the most important person in my life.” Dawson blurts out while his mother comforted him. Gail smiled and assured Dawson “Come on, the doctors say there is a good chance she’ll come out of it with a full recovery. Let’s hold onto that.” Gail said while standing up from the bed. “If you need to talk, you know where to find us.” She said as she walked through Dawson’s door and back to her bedroom.
Gail walked back into her bedroom and crawled back into bed. Mitch rolled over, noticing the bed shift. “Is he alright?” he asked. “I think he needs to figure out all of his feelings before he will be himself again.” Gail finished and rolled back over.
Dawson sat in bed thinking. A lot of things were flying through his mind, but what stuck in his mind most was what he had said to his mother “the most important person in my life.” He thought aloud. He lay back down and stared for the ceiling for a while before falling asleep again.
The next morning before school, Dawson dug through his dresser with a purpose looking for something, he dug way to the back of a drawer and found what he was looking for, quickly shoved it in his pocket, grabbed his books and headed to school.
Between classes, Pacey walked up to Dawson, “Hey, how goes it?” Pacey asked carefully trying not to set him off. “I feel like crap, but I know what I gotta do.” He finished with no explanation. Dawson continued walking. But Pacey stopped to think about it. “Whoa, Dawson, what are you talking about?” he asked, a little confused.
“I don’t really know myself, but I’ll figure it out when it happens.” He finished as he ducked into his next class. Pacey stood outside the class very confused, but the confusion quickly broke as the bell rung for class. “Damn.” He said under his breath as he ran down the hall to his class.
After school, as usual, Dawson made his way to the hospital, but this time, he wasn’t sad, he was determined. “Hello, I’m here to see Joey Potter.” Dawson said to the lady at the front desk. “Ok, here’s a pass.” The woman recognized him and smiled. “I hope your friend gets better.” She said as Dawson walked quickly towards her room.
As he entered her room, he looked down at her sleeping form. She looked like an angel, not counting the monitoring equipment. “My little angel” he said aloud as he approached her bed and sat next to her. “Joey, can you hear me?” he asked, but got no response. “Well, I have thought long and hard about this, and I love you too much to ever loose you again, so I have something for you.” He said while pulling something from his pocket. It was a gold ET ring that Joey had given him a few years ago for Christmas. He slipped it onto her finger, leaned over and kissed her. “I want to be with you forever, I want to marry you someday.” He said in the most romantic tone of voice, and he meant every word of it.
Dawson was so wrapped up in Joey that he didn’t notice was Pacey coming to visit at that exact moment. Pacey walked in to see Dawson propose, and quickly ducked back out of the room. “Not the time or place.” He thought to himself, considering making a remark, but his better judgement kicked in. He walked over to a chair and sat down, amazed at the show he just witnessed. “Nice work, Dawson” he said quietly.
Dawson sat with her for about five minutes before he looked down at his watch; he was going to be late for that family-counseling meeting. “Damn, Joey I have to go, one of those family meeting things.” He said to her, not noticing that she had stirred. “I’ll come back later, but just know I want you forever.” He said as he leaned over and kissed her again.
As he pulled away, he was surprised to hear Joey talk, “Dawson… is that you?” she mumbled, stirring in the bed, “Thank god!” Dawson shouted as he ran into the hall, “Someone get Joey’s doctor, she woke up!” he called down the hall of the hospital. Pacey was relieved to hear the news but didn’t leave the seat knowing the commotion that was about to occur.
Doctor Miller walked in and checked her pulse and breathing, and smiled as he turned to Dawson. “She’s going to be alright. But what pulled her out of it?” he asked, but then looked down at the ring on her finger, looked at Dawson and knew exactly what did it. “Josephine, can you hear me?” Dr Miller asked her, “Don’t call me Josephine,” she said with a slurred voice. “Yes! That’s my Joey.” Dawson cried while walking towards the bed. “I’ll call her family,” the doctor said, “You keep talking to her, keep her conscious.”
Pacey saw Doctor Miller leave the room with a grin from ear to ear, and decided it was time to see his friends. He walked in the room to find Dawson, who was beaming with happiness. It sure was good to see him happy again.
“Dawson, my man, how’s she doing?” he asked Dawson, who turned to him and said with tears dripping down his face “She’s gonna be alright!” Pacey was thrilled and walked over to the bed “Joey, are you in there?” Pacey asked her. Joey responded by sticking her tongue out at him and smiling. Pacey couldn’t have been happier to be insulted by Joey again.
“Dawson, you’re going to be late for your family meeting.” She said to Dawson who was far past caring about any meeting. He had his Joey back. “, And I hope I can come to the next one,” she said playing with the ring on her finger. Dawson was a little shocked that she had heard his proposal, but that made him even happier. “I’ll never leave you… never.” He told her with the most sincerity he had ever had in his voice.
“Congrats you two, so when’s the big wedding?” Pacey said with a grin. Dawson looked over at him with an evil look. “Can we finish High School first?” he said to Pacey, but Joey smiled and chuckled, “Do we have to?”
Dawson smiled and kissed her again. “Everything worked out perfectly, the plot reached its most tense moment and I finally got my happy ending.” He thought to himself looking down at his beautiful Joey, and they all shared a laugh.
The End
Author’s note: This is not the end of this series, just the end of the three-part Road Trip
series. I could have stopped here, but I felt there was more plots in this alternate DC
reality. If you have any ideas about how it should go from here or want the whole series
sent to you, e-mail me at , but NO Pacey/Joey stories unless it is non-romantic, I plan on
sending a certain blond Pacey’s way.