But is different this time, because they’re at his house, and he doesn’t want to push the situation farther than he can handle it. And he knows that if he kisses her now, things may go out of hand.
Coz something's gotta go wrong
Coz I'm feelin' way to damn good
So regaining his composure, Ethan resumes his search.
Waiting patiently, Sam flops down on the couch, reclining back a bit with a smile still playing in her lips, amused at how nervous he got when she was standing just a few inches from him. She knew that dress could have that impact on him. And oh my, how she loved to be right, she thinks as a mischievous smile lifts up the corners of her mouth. She watches him move about the room, opening drawers and moving paperwork around for a little while before she stands up.
“Here let me help you,” she says, getting off the couch and moving to a long table against the wall. He doesn’t notice her moving over to that particular piece of furniture, otherwise he would have directed her elsewhere, but it’s too late.
“Ethan here are some envelopes, they might be in here,” she says, opening one to look for the tickets, but stops when she finds photos.
For 48 hours I don't think that we left my hotel room
Should show you the sights
Coz I'm sure that I said that I would
We gotta make love just one last time in the shower
“Oh my, is this you?” she laughs, seeing pictures of a much younger Ethan, smiling happily in the camera. “Nice hair by the way,” she kids.
Flipping through some more pictures, anxious for more material to tease him with, she stops when she sees pictures of Ethan with another woman, a woman about his height. Okay she’s an old girlfriend, Sam reasons feeling nothing about it, but further pictures show a small child sitting on his lap and shoulders with the woman next to him again, everyone smiling and posing…like a family.
Well something's gotta go wrong
Coz I'm feelin' way to damn good
She turns around, curious to hear what he has to say about the pictures, privately hoping there is a logical explanation for what she’s seeing. When she looks up, he is staring at her, his mouth slightly ajar, like he meant to say something but couldn’t. He looks down at the pictures and up at her, neither one saying a thing.
And it's like, every time I turn around
I fall in love and find my heart face down and
Where it lands is where it should
This time it's like
The two of us should probably start to fight
Coz something's gotta go wrong
Coz I'm feeling way to dam good, oh
Feelin' way too damn good
Sam opens her mouth to say something, wondering if it’s really any of her business at this moment to know what this is about. She tries to look indifferent but the confusion is written all over her face, just like the uncertainty is written all over his.
Palpable tension and silence fill the room as neither one knows who should speak first or what to say.
Boston General Hospital, at that very same moment.
Pacey sniffs the air as he steps into the cafeteria. If there’s one thing he hates about hospitals it is the smell. He made a silent promise to himself that he was going to die at home for the sole reason of hospital smell not being the last sent of his life.
Fortunately, the cafeteria was mild compared to the rest of the place. Probably because of the food.
That is, if you could call it ‘food’.
"Pacey?” Andie McPhee calls from across the cafeteria.
Smiling, Pacey makes his way over to her table where she is standing by and a rush of content goes through him, enough to lift her in his arms in the middle of the hospital cafeteria and hug her tight, making her squeal in surprise.
“You made it,” she says with a laugh as he puts her down.
“Yes, I did. In more ways than you know” he adds as they sit down.
Andie looks at him waiting for some explanation to that cryptic comment, but he just looks around the cafeteria.
“Here…I got you something to eat.” She hands him a plate that Pacey looks at with a rather unfaithful look in his face that makes Andie laughs. “Yes, it looks horrible, but it doesn’t taste as bad as it looks”.
“If you say so,” he concedes, taking a fork, still not sure.
“So are you going back to Capeside today after all? You don’t need to, you know? You can stay at my house and leave tomorrow morning if you want to,” she offers.
“No, is ok. I like travelling at night. Thanks for the offer though. Very appealing indeed,” he replies, a funny and flirting spark in his eyes that make Andie narrow her eyes playfully.
“Watch it, Mr. Witter” and he laughs. “I meant that in the merely platonic and friendly way.”
“A shame,” and she laughs again. “I’m actually looking after it: taking a train, staring at the lights as we pass them by and think. Thinking about the past, the present, the future... about all the things I’ve said and done. I used to do that when I was here in Boston while the rest of people were in college. I would take a train to Capeside and just... think”.
“Wow, who could have known,” Andie teases him and Pacey laughs before taking a whiff of the concoction on his plate and grimace.
“Man, this stuff is horrible,” Pacey comments. “For now on, I’m not believing anything you say. How can a hospital possibly condone feeding people something that could be poisonous?”
Andie giggles.
“Well, I guess I get used to it then, to me it tastes good,” she replies.
“You definitely need to taste some of my plates“ Pacey offers “and that. McPhee, is an invitation you’ll have to take upon me.
“Ok, I think I can make the sacrifice.” she laughs.
Pacey smiles fondly at her, into her bright eyes and her smile. The same one he remembered and that always gave her face that soft look, that serene confidence that everything was going to be ok even in the darkness despair.
And with that in mind, he speaks.
“I quit,” he says simply, but awaiting of her reaction. “I quit my job.”
”Oh Pacey…”
Andie just reaches her hand to him and places it over his. Pacey turns his hand up and takes Andie’s on his, thankful for the comforting and friendly gesture.
“I tried to save the situation, like we talked in Capeside. I tried to keep myself away from Brecher, away from his personal life, but he just kept trying to drag me in, and if I didn’t oblige, he would get mad at me. And I’m not going through that. I’m not a kid. Anyone can treat me like that”
“That’s so unfair,” Andie complains, “I know you loved that job.”
“Yes I did,” he said, “I loved it, but not enough to sell my soul over it. Not again. I’ve just had it with Brecher’s lying and his trying to get me involved. I’m done with it! And you know what…it doesn’t bother me in the slightest.”
“It doesn’t?” she asks. “I mean, honestly Pacey. This is me you’re talking to, and I want you to be honest. You don’t need to put on a brave face with me,” she says, squeezing his hand lightly.
Pacey stares at her and sighs lightly.
“Well, I went through all the motions through the day. I was totally satisfied with myself when I left Brecher´s office, for having stepped up and done the right thing. I was disappointed and sad at how things had turned out when I was collecting part of my stuff from the apartment. I was relieved when I left to come here and see you,” he says, with a smile that Andie gives him back “And on my way here I made balance of the situation and despite everything, I think I’ve taken more good things than bad from it.” he informs her. “Maybe I’m just getting optimistic in my old age, but it doesn’t bother me as much as it should. I almost feel…free. Like this huge weight has been lifted off of me. If anything, I feel better now that it’s done with.”
“So, what are you going to do now?” she inquires.
“Move back to Capeside, I guess,” he answers with a shrug. “That place is like my magnetic North. I’m going exactly where I started out.”
“Not exactly,” she reminds him. “As you said, you’re wiser than you were before.”
Pacey manages a small smile.
“That is true,” he agrees. “And the whole 'Your dreams will follow you wherever you go, right?.”
“What?” Andie asks, curious about his comment.
“Nothing, just something a friend told me,” he explains, remembering Dawson’s words. “I didn’t get what he meant then, but I do now. See…what’s supposed to happen to you will happen no matter where you go. Whether you’re in Boston or New Orleans, or Capeside, or LA or anywhere. Your destiny will end up coming to you and bite your ass no matter how hard you try to push it away or how hard you try to take what is not yours. If there is something I’ve learned, finally, is that. It’s only a matter of time. And I will find mine, and make it real. I have no doubt about that.”
Andie smiles at him.
“You’re right, you know,” she tells him. “You are getting optimistic in your old age.”
Pacey laughs.
“I’m just through trying to make someone else proud of me, McPhee,” he says. “For now on, I’m working for me and no one else.”
“Too late for that,” she warns him warmly. “I already am. Proud of you, I mean it.”
At those words, Pacey feel his heart melt.
“Keep saying that to me and I will actually believe it,” a beat “Thank you,” he whispers.
“You’re welcome” she smiles at him brightly. “But you’re absolutely right. The important thing is that you make your own decisions,” Andie states. “And take a risk every now and then. That’s who you are. That’s the guy I…that’s the guy I know.”
Pacey looks at her for a moment, then picks up his small plastic cup.
“Cheers?” he asks.
Andie raises her own cup, and they toast.
“For the days ahead of us.”
“For the future. A bright one.” Pacey adds, smiling.
Back to New York, Dawson’s place.
Joey is washing dishes in the kitchen, humming along with the radio while Dawson takes the wet dishes and dries them with a towel, leaning in and kissing her cheek before putting them away. Joey smiles and when he returns to take the next dish, Joey wraps her arms around him, wet from washing, playfully wetting his t-shirt. But still, they kiss, enjoying each other’s company.
“Sam and Ethan are right, someone needs to turn the hose on you too,” someone says, causing them to break apart.
“Jack,” Joey giggles, going back to washing the dishes. “You scared me.”
“That would be easy to do when you’re too involved in one particular person’s company,” Jack laughs, sitting at the kitchen counter, watching them move in sync, Joey washing, handing the dishes to Dawson, him drying and putting them away.
“For how long have you two been married anyway?” Jack laughs and Dawson and Joey look at him with an inquiring look, what only makes him laugh some more.
“That is something that Grams told Jen and I long ago,” he comments softly as his face softens and Dawson and Joey exchange a look.
“I should go get the garbage together to take out,” Dawson says then, putting the towel down and throwing a glance to Jack as if to see if he gets what he is talking about. Jack makes an imperceptible gesture that he does.
“Don’t forget to check the garbage in the bathroom and the mock-laundry room too, we forgot about that last week,” Joey calls as Dawson walks away, hearing Jack laughs softly behind her. “What is so funny Mr. McPhee?” she asks; glad to see her friend cheering up after a hard day.
“You, Miss Domestic Goddess,” Jack says. “It’s like you’re living together already, worrying about garbage pick up, washing dishes together with your own little system, it’s sickening.”
“You’re not the first person to mention the ‘are we living together’ thing. Apparently that seems to be the million-dollar question,” Joey laughs, throwing him the towel to help her out.
(“Walk away” by Ben Harper starts playing in the background)
Seeing a pensive look on Jack’s face, Joey stops washing and turns to him.
“How are you doing Jack? And tell me the honest truth, what’s on your mind?” Joey asks, hearing him sigh.
Oh no- here comes that sun again.
And (that) means another day without you my friend.
And it hurts me to look into the mirror at myself.
And it hurts even more to have to be with somebody else.
“I miss Doug,” he says flatly. “With him and Amy gone right now, I feel lost and alone. Like I’m wandering around with no where to go and no direction of what I should do next. The only thing I am sure of is of my job, and how much I love it. But I don’t want my whole life to be revolving around that, you know?”
“And it won’t Jack. You know though that this thing with Amy is only temporary, it’s not permanent,” Joey says softly.
And it's so hard to do and so easy to say.
But sometimes - sometimes,
you just have to walk away - walk away.
“Yeah but what about with Doug?” Jack asks, causing her to pause. “Even if and when all of this is worked out, I don’t know if I can run back into his arms after everything that’s happened. I asked for time and now I’m not sure if I want that time or not. But at the same time, I know I wouldn’t be able to make him happy right now, not when I can’t be into our relationship 100%”
With so many people to love in my life, why do I worry about one?
But you put the happy in my ness, you put the good times into my fun.
“I know that feeling too well, believe me. And if Dawson and I have been able to make it after all the back and forth, I am sure you two can too, if that is the way it has to be” And they share a look, since Jack directly or indirectly, not only has been a witness of her history, but for a moment in time, he even was a part of it. Those days of sexual confusion seem to have happened an eternity ago though. “And sometimes the only thing you can do is wait and let time heal the wounds between you,” Joey says, walking to him and giving him a hug, not knowing Dawson is around the corner listening to their conversation.
And it's so hard to do and so easy to say.
But sometimes - sometimes,
you just have to walk away - walk away and head for the door.
“You may feel this way right now, but don’t let this be the end decision for you. As much as it hurts now, don’t run from the one you love, the one who knows you and understands you better than anyone else because it’s their love and support that is always there, waiting for you to find them again. And when that happens, it’s a really powerful thing that you just can’t deny it,” she ends.
“But with this date tonight, and stuff in the future, how can I really know if we’ll end up together again?” Jack asks as Dawson enters the kitchen.
We've tried the goodbye so many days.
We walk in the same direction so that we could never stray.
They say if you love somebody than you have got to set them free,
but I would rather be locked to you than live in this pain and misery.
“I hate to say it, but the girl is right,” Dawson says, standing next to Joey. “Time will heal these wounds for you and Doug and maybe for right now you guys aren’t supposed to be together. You grew together as a couple, now maybe you need to grow as people apart from one another. I mean, you took that man and spun his world around, making him accept a few things from himself he didn’t even know he was, or that he had been trying to deny at least. Maybe he feels… he feels as if up to some point, you invented him,” and Joey’s heart tugs at his words remembering crystal clear when they had been mentioned before, “and he needs some space as well, even if he doesn’t know it.”
“You’re right,” Jack says. “I hadn’t thought about it that way, but you’re right. I mean, I have been the first one and maybe… maybe he needs to find out who he is without me pushing him to be who he is. Did that make sense?” Jack asks, his brows furrowed.
They say time will make all this go away,
but it's time that has taken my tomorrows and turned them into yesterdays.
And once again that rising sun is droppin' on down
And once again, you my friend, are nowhere to be found.
“More than you know,” Joey says, smiling comprehensive at him. “Sometimes things happen that shake your entire universe, and you need time, sometimes a lot of time to process it. Like the love of your life making you come out of the closet to face the whole world about it. Or taking your hand after your mother has died, giving you the strength to carry on.” she adds softly, taking Dawson’s hand in hers and smiling sweetly. “And sometimes that is too much to handle.”
“So the whole point is,” Dawson adds, interlacing his fingers with Joey’s, “that maybe you should go out tonight and maybe it’ll lead to more, or maybe not. But the thing is that the promise of what Doug and your relationship could be should not stop you from being you and going out with other people. You can still hold on to those feelings for him and for what you had, but if you let them get in the way and stop you from seeing new things, experiencing something new and unsure, then when or if you guys do reconcile, you won’t be able to last because you’ll always be holding each other back. And that’s no way to keep a relationship strong or keep yourself strong as well.”
“Sounds like you know what you’re talking about there Dawson,” Jack smiles, seeing them holding each other tightly.
“Yeah I have a bit of experience in that field,” Dawson laughs, kissing Joey’s forehead.
“I think we both do,” she adds softly.
And it's so hard to do and so easy to say.
But sometimes, sometimes you just have to walk away,
walk away and head for the door.
You just walk away - walk away - walk away.
You just walk away, walk on, turn and head for the door.
For a moment, the three of them are immersed in a comfortable silence, before Joey speaks again.
“Okay well the dishes aren’t going to get done this way so both of you grab a towel, no excuses!” Joey laughs, tossing towels to the guys.
“Joey I’m a guest,” Jack playfully whines.
“I said no excuses!” Joey laughs, pulling him next to her.
“And you better do what she says,” Dawson laughs, avoiding Joey’s towel directed at his arm, then pulling her to him for a quick kiss before the three of them start cleaning.
Ethan’s apartment.
“So . . .,” says Samantha, “is this the part where you tell me about your dark past?. Or is this your present and I haven’t been clued into it?”.
She is not even mad or anything. She is more shocked that any other thing at that moment. The woman is definitely not her sister. And the little girl has his eyes and smile. A sister maybe?.
(“Feelin’ way to damn good” by Nickelbag keeps playing in the background)
Sometimes I think best if left in the memory
It's better kept inside than left for good
Lookin' back each time they tried to tell me
Well something's gotta go wrong
Coz I'm feelin' way too damn good
Ethan looks at the pictures nervously and smiles, “If I tell you, maybe you can sell my story to a studio.”
“There’s always that hope,” retorts Samantha, who is now at his evasive of a straight answer starting to feel some kind of light panic raising in her chest. Has she been being ‘the other’ without knowing?
Ethan looks at Samantha and realizes she is starting to feel upset.
And it's like, every time I turn around
I fall in love and find my heart face down and
Where it lands is where it should
This time it's like
The two of us should probably start to fight
“C’mon Ethan, you know how this goes,” says Samantha impatiently, “you tell me about a few disastrous relationships, I return the favour, and then we both feel like we know each other better. Am I right or not?”
Ethan doesn’t respond.
“Or maybe I’m just misreading where I thought we were.”
Seeing her disappointment and confusion, Ethan takes a deep breath and resolves to tell her about his past. The part he feels he can share at this point at least.
Coz something's gotta go wrong
Coz I'm feeling way to dam good, oh
Feelin' way too damn good
Oh, oh, feelin' way too damn good
“Samantha you’re right about where we are,” says Ethan, “it’s just that sometimes you keep me a little off balance. So let’s start the full disclosure slowly, okay?”
Samantha nods her head, waiting for him to continue, seeing him struggle with words.
Ethan takes another deep breath.
“I haven’t really been in a serious relationship for a long time. And I think that is what this could be. What it may be already actually.” Ethan continues, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not Colin Farrel. I just haven’t found anyone that it felt right with in a long time… until you stepped into my universe.”
Samantha listens carefully to Ethan and asks what he seems to be leaving out
“So there was someone, wasn’t there?” she says, looking back to the young woman in the pic, Who was she?”
I missed you so much
That I begged you to fly and see me
You must've broke down
Coz you finally said that would
But now that you're here
just feel like I'm constantly dreaming
Ethan shifts uncomfortably and finally reaches out to take the pictures from Samantha’s hands. For a moment they are frozen in time, Samantha holding to the pictures, Ethan gently trying to remove them. Finally, she lets go and after that is uncharacteristically quiet. She knows that somehow they have reached a turning point and that maybe if she is simply still, Ethan would open up to her as he seems to be trying to do. And that if he doesn’t… is gonna hurt like hell.
“Yes, there was someone,” he says finally. “We were both very young and she was an incredible part of my life,” he continues. Samantha watches his expression as he talks, looking for signs, hints, any kind of information that goes beyond the neutral tone that is in his voice. “But that’s gone now, she’s gone now,” he says. “There’s a lot from my life that has simply vanished, these two girls included” he says, his finger tracing the little girl’s face so sweetly that against her will, Sam feels a tug of pain in her heart.
Ethan takes a breath and looks steadily into Samantha’s eyes.
Coz something's gotta go wrong
Coz I'm feelin' way to damn good
“I had a life, then it all ended and I moved away, left it all behind. That was three years ago. I think that’s as much full disclosure that I can provide tonight,” he says with a weak smile. Hoping, dying for that to be enough.
Samantha is more busy trying to decipher the look in his eyes than his words. For words can lie, hide and mislead. But eyes can never do that. And Ethan’s eyes show suffer, and pain but also hope that she will understand and give him a chance.
“Hey,” says Samantha softly, “we all have pasts and emotional baggage. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I don’t expect our relationship to be built in a single night either.”
Ethan smiles weakly.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better that’s more than I’ve told anyone in a long time. Actually, you are the first person who has ever seen those pics besides my own family”
And it's like, every time I turn around
I fall in love and find my heart face down and
Where it lands is where it should
This time it's like
The two of us should probably start to fight
As he looks down Samantha can feel his sadness. A sadness that suddenly she feels the urge to erase from these dark eyes of him.
“Don’t look so sad Ethan,” Samantha whispers softly and he looks up at her. She then squeezes his hand, “I don’t know what it is that happened, but that’s ok because I trust you. And I know that it’s going to be okay. We just need to find our own pace, and when you’re in that place where you feel like you can confide on me, then you will”
Coz something's gotta go wrong
Coz I'm feeling way to damn good, oh, oh
And just like he did before, she gently removes the pics from his hands and places them in the same place they were before she found them. They have plenty of time to get to know each other, to open up and show each other their darkest secrets, if they ever get to that as she hopes they do.
Feelin' way too damn good
(I missed you so much
That I begged you to fly and see me)
Ethan looks at her, trying to read her expression. The secure, strong and decisive Samantha he knows is back and slowly, he moves his face closer to hers. When he sees no rejection, he kisses her softly, trying to prove to her that what matters is the here and now, and the here and now belongs to her.
“Since the soul baring is done for tonight, I think it’s time to leave for the theatre” he jokes, trying to erase the tension that had been present between them just a few moments ago.
Feelin' way too damn good
Sam smiles at him and we see them leave for the theatre hand in hand, as the door is closed behind them, leaving the house immersed in the darkness.
(I missed you so much
That I begged you to fly and see me)
Dawson’s loft, a little later.
Back at the loft, Jack is busy saying his goodbyes. He finally called Paul and accepted his invitation for a late drink. Just as friends though, he was clear and firm on that. But as Dawson and Joey had told him, he shouldn’t close himself to new people.
“Just remember what we said,” Dawson reminds him.
“And above all…” Joey adds, “Try to enjoy tonight. You truly deserve it”
Jack smiles and gives her a hug.
“Thanks.” they break the hug and Jack smiles at them “Well…”
“You have the key right?” Dawson asks, and Jack takes the key out of his pocket and shows it to him with a nod of his head just as a honk sounds in the street.
“Ok, I better leave. You two sleep tight,” Jack jokes, winking at Dawson who returns the smile. Then he exits, leaving the two of them alone.
“They grow up so fast, don’t they?” Joey sighs.
Dawson chuckles at her little joke as she fills a glass of water to take it to her nightstand by the bed. She always do that, one of her latest habits he hadn’t known about before.
“It’s kinda weird, you know?” Dawson points out. “They say that if you go far enough, you’ll start to see yourself reflected in other people.”
“Mmmm…I know,” Joey agrees. “Perhaps we’ve seen so much melodrama in our lives that we can’t help seeing it in other people.”
“And then ask ‘we’re we ever that innocent’?” he adds, leaning on the counter.
The two of them laugh.
“He’ll be ok,” Joey seems to be reflecting out loud. “Jack just needs some time, that’s all. Doug too, for that matter. Just like we did, didn’t we? You described it perfectly.” she smiles at him.
“It’s been a long road,” Dawson comments in a soft voice, as some memories pass through them, leaving them suspended in a place where there is no time or space, but only some scenes hanging like pictures in a wall that go through their minds.
“Who ever thought you and I would be the people setting an example, Jo?” he asks, matter-of-factly. “When did the world decide that we suffered enough?”
“Oh, I promise we haven’t even begun to suffer, Dawson,” she teases him. “Think of this as a momentary respite.”
Dawson laughs and she beams at him.
“The way you put it” he complains jokingly. “Come on” he says then after a brief silence, reaching his hand to her, Joey grabbing it with a smile and following him.
Joey bites her lower lip as her eyes are fixed in his nape and she tugs at his hand, causing him to stop and turn to her, curious.
“Dawson, wait. There is something I want to talk about.”
He gets closer to her, cupping her face with his free hand.
“Is it really that important? Can it wait until tomorrow?” he asks as his thumb caresses her cheek.
Joey looks at him for a second, into his blue eyes that are bright and powerful, asking her with no words to wait, that there is something else as important or even more going on. Yeah, tomorrow is such a good day as any other day. Anything to see that sparkle in his eyes, she thinks.
“Yeah, tomorrow then.” she smiles at him and they kiss softly before he resumes taking her upstairs.
As they do, Joey closes her eyes and leaves him guide her with total confidence, leaning her forehead in his back, still holding his hand, a smile lingering in her lips.
When they arrive to his open room upstairs, she notices Dawson stopping and stepping aside, pulling her gently in front of him. Placing his hands on her hips, Joey slowly turns to him and hardly opens her eyes enough to just look up at him. Dawson leans down and after placing a little kiss in the tip of her nose, he whispers in her ear.
“Open your eyes Joey”, embracing her from behind and placing his cheek on hers, making her turn to look in front of them.
And there she finds the reason on why she hasn’t been able to go upstairs in the last couple of hours. The reason on why Dawson would disappear from time to time and the reason why Jack seemed to have, today of all days, more topics of conversation that any other day since she knew him whenever Dawson was MIA and she tried to go upstairs to look for him. It may have taken him a while to do this.
In truth Dawson’s style, that has to be one of the most, if not the most, romantic settings she may ever seen.
(“Sing me sweet” by Matt Nathanson, starts playing in the background).
The room is filled with little candle lights, some of them hanging on the walls and the lamps, inside little baskets held by tiny sparkling chains. There are bouquets of white roses placed in different places, along with some red ones as well. There are even some petals spread in the bed, and a song humming softly in the DVD.
5 am, undressed
In your static, in your mess
I don't need any new voices
I'm thick enough with superstitions and choices
Without a word, Dawson holds her hand once more and leads her to the bed. She obliges and sits down without a word at the feet of the bed, too moved to talk, as Dawson kneels in front of her. He takes his hand to his back pocket and grabs something she can’t see.
“Joey Potter, will you move in with me?”
A little bit of something
Maybe just a way home
Dawson’s hand opens and she can see a set of keys on it. Joey’s mouth hangs open as her eyes well up. First, when she saw him kneeling down and taking her hand to his pocket, for a moment different emotions rushed through her in what should have been just two seconds. First panic, then surprise, and finally a joy that quickly turned into happiness. When instead of a ring she saw the keys, she was shocked to realize she had felt a tug of disappointment as well.
And maybe that is what her face is showing, as Dawson looks at her inquiringly and squeezes her hand lightly.
Sing me sweet
Sing me low
Say you'll never let me go
Sing me sweet
Say you'll never let me go
Never let you go.
“I know we’ve only been going out for a few months,” he reminds her, “and I know that this must sound rushed, and maybe for the rest of the world, it is. Not for me, though. Not for us, because I am certain of what we are now, or what we truly mean to each other. But if you feel as if you’re not ready just yet, I totally understand” he accepts, although Joey can hear disappointed disguised in his voice, and that is what finally makes her react and speak, although still unable to find the right words.
“Dawson, did you just ask me to move in with you?” she states, not quite believing him. Tat was, after all, what she had been trying to tell him for the whole day. She shouldn´t be surprised though, should she?
“Yes, I did, and I am completely serious. But I am serious as well when I say that…” he tries to repeat the whole 'if you´re not ready is ok', but before he can, Joey’s lips are upon his, her face cupping his, as she kisses him deep and Dawson returns the kiss.
Just to stay like this
In the give of your lips
In the dim half-light dawn
Pinned below your undertow
When everything meant everything again
When the kiss is over, they look at each other and Joey flashes him her world-famous all teeth-smile.
“And you’re so sure we won’t drive each other crazy?” she asks. “You know, with our at-home routines?”
Dawson can’t help but laugh at the suggestion.
A little bit of something
Maybe just a way home
Way home, a way home
“We never did before, did we?” she smiles big as a reply and shakes her head. Actually, all these days she used to spend at his home were some of the happiest ones in her life ever “If anything, your snoring probably has improved over the past decade,” he jokes as she slaps his shoulder playfully.
“Hey!” she complains and he laughs.
Sing me sweet
Sing me low
Say you'll never let me go
Sing me sweet
Say you'll never let me go
Never let...
“So, what do you say?” he asks, although judging by her kiss and the look in her eyes, he already knows the answer, but he still wants to hear it from her lips.
“I say…” she replies, staring into his expecting eyes, “… that not even the greatest love of my life coming back this very moment could make me say no. Which is kinda impossible, since he’s the very same person who wants me to say ‘yes’,” she ends, taking the keys from his hand.
Sing me sweet
Sing me low
Say you'll never let me go
Sing we may
And you'll never let me
Never let me go
The two of them smile and leaning to him, Joey kisses him again, to what he obliges happily, a smile still lingering in his lips. Taking his hand, Joey silently asks him to stand up, and so he does, kneeling down this time in the bed, hovering over her.
Falling back onto Dawson’s bed (now their bed), Dawson on top and Joey under him, they keep kissing, more heatedly each time, as Dawson’s hands roam under her shirt and Joey’s through his hair.
Sing me sweet
Sing me low
Say you'll never let me
Never let me go
Say you'll never let me go
Rolling over him, we see different scenes fading into each other as Dawson and Joey make love in a slow motion: Joey takes off his shirt; her shoes fall to the floor, where the keys are lying as well; we see the two of them under the sheets, Dawson kissing her neck, Joey’s eyes closed and her mouth slightly open; Joey’s hand resting in the pillow and Dawson’s approaching it, their fingers finally lacing tight till their knuckles are white and the camera pans out to the wall as we see their silhouettes in bed;
Sing me sweet
Sing me low
Say you'll never let me
Never let me go
Say you'll never let me go
As the camera pans back to the bed, we see Dawson and Joey, facing each other, their foreheads still a little sweaty, their eyes still a little welled up. Joey smiles sweetly and Dawson kisses her forehead as she closes her eyes feeling his lips upon her skin, this time in a total different way than just five minutes ago.
“Welcome home,” he says softly.
Joey smiles and kisses the tip of his nose as he wraps her in his arms, his eyes closing slowly under her gaze as she strokes his sweaty hair, the smile still on her face when Dawson falls asleep. Cradling herself closer to him, she looks at him for a while before her own eyelids give up and close.
“You’ve always been my home,” she hardly whispers before she drifts into a peaceful sleep.
I'm coming down
Coming down
CREDITS.