AUTHOR'S NOTE--IMPORTANT!: All of the scenes involving Dawson do not mirror Stu's actions in the following story since Stu did not have access to the same type of information Dawson did. Thus begins the collision of the two decades, where Dawson interferes with "fate." Also, I suggest you re-read Part Five. Not *all* of it, just the scene where Pacey reminds Joey that when they were younger, she gave him his first kiss. Re-read it or you won't know the significance of a present! =)



~*Somewhere in Capeside: Valentine's Day, 1958...3:27 p.m.*~

"Don't you think you're going a bit overboard, Ben?" the blinfolded Nina said as Ben lead her to their Valentine celebration.

"Nope. Not at all," she heard him answer.

"Funny. You're not the one wearing a blindfold and being lead to some mysterious destination. How do I know that you're not going to kidnap me and bring me to some abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere?"

"Hmmm....abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere...the possiblities..."

She felt a quick kiss against her neck.

"In your dreams, Wagner," she said, grinning.

"Every night. You cold?" Winter had been unusually kind to Capeside, yet the air still held more chill than they'd prefer.

"A little." After several seconds, she felt the warmth of Ben's jacket around her.

"C'mon," he said, tightening his grip on her hand. "You gotta trust me. Do you really think I would do something to jeapordize our relationship on Valentine's Day of all days?"

"I can think of a couple things you've done in the past follow the same type of irony."

"I'm contradictory. Not stupid." She felt him suddenly stop. "And here we are."

"Can I take off my blindfold now?" Nina asked hopefully.

"Uh...not yet..." He let go of her hand. "Wait here."

She heard the striking of matches and smelled fire. "You're burning me at the sake. Great present, Ben."

"Isn't it every girl's wild fantasy to reenact the life of Joan of Arc?"

"I've had my share wild fantasies, but none of them involve burning to death."

"Ooh...wild fantasies. Do tell."

"Maybe later. Perhaps when I can actually have my sight back."

"Okay, okay..." She sensed him coming to her side again. "I'm done. Off comes the blindfold." He gently undid the knot.

Nina blinked, her eyes getting used to light again. Then she looked around her. "Oh, my..." A picnic had been set out, and around the blanket were several candles. "I will never doubt you again."

"Take a seat, rest your feet, here comes a fabulous meal to eat," he laughed, ushering her to sit down.

"Yum...Diner burgers and fries. A delicacy in these parts."

Ben answered apologetically, "I was going to get something else, but the restaurants aren't open 'til six..."

"Hey, no apologizing. I love it, I love all of this," she reassured, gesturing around her.

"I wish I didn't have to leave tonight. Then maybe we could have had a *real* Valentine's Day."

"*Ben*--"

"I'm just wishing we could. Figures, you know, our first Valentine's Day together, and I have to spend half of it on a plane to visit some relatives that I've never even seen or heard of."

"It's not all that bad. At least you get to take a little vacation."

"So, you *want* me to go? Nina, I am crushed." He feigned hurt.

"I'm just trying to be optimistic, balance things out." She paused. "Truth is, I wish you didn't have to go either."

A small, sweet smiled appeared on Ben's face. He went over to her and kissed her softly on the lips. "Thanks, Nina. I needed that," he said to her sincerely, lightly squeezing her hand. "Now, time to eat."

~*The Leery Household: Valentine's Day, Present Day...3:39 p.m.*~

When Dawson heard the phone ring on the other end of the line for the ninth time, he slammed down the phone in frustration, then crossed out the name "Geoff Walden" on his list of 1956-1958 Capeside graduates.

"Who's the next lucky contestant?" Dawson muttered to himself, moving his eyes downward to the next name. "Manda Warren, come on down." He dialed 555-0846 into the phone.

Not even a dial tone.

"Is there one 1950's alumni who didn't leave a forwarding address or hasn't disappeared off the face of the earth?!" he said, frustrated.

For the past few days, he had been adding tremendously to his parents' phone bill trying to locate a yearbook that listed Nina Connley and Ben Wagner as students. A seemingly simple task, yet it was as if something was trying to keep him away from a copy

"I should have stopped at the N's," Dawson groaned.

But he picked up the receiver again. Something was pushing him...he needed to find one. Even if it did mean getting grounded for excessive use of the phone.

Rose Williamson. 555-8892.

"Hello?"

Dawson almost dropped the phone in surprise. "Yeah-- uh, hi, I'm looking for a Rose Williamson?"

A pause. "She passed away about a month ago."

"Oh," Dawson said in disappointment. "Sorry. About her dying...and for bothering you."

Just about as he was about to hang up, he heard her say, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Well I'm trying to find a high school yearbook. Her high school yearbook. Well, that particular year, anyway. But I couldn't ask you to search through boxes--"

"I'm looking at it right now."

"What-- you are?"

"I came in town this weekend to clear out the rest of my mother's stuff-- Rose Williamson was my mother-- and, well, it's in my hands right now. I could drop it off. I still have a couple hours before I head back home. Where in Providence do you live?"

"Actually, I live in Capeside."

A pause. "Capeside?"

"Please. I will pay for gas money, I will return the yearbook to you as soon as I photocopy the pages, and it will be in the exact same condition as it is right now. *Please.*"

"Well, I don't have any big plans for Valentine's Day...I'll leave after I finish some stuff down here, how's that sound? I should be there around nine or ten."

"Thank you! Thank you so much, Ms.-- I'm sorry, I forgot to ask your name."

"Celia Chandler."

~*Somewhere in Capeside: 3:58 p.m.*~

"I must say, that was the most delicious Diner burger I have *ever* had," Nina said, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"Now it's...drumroll, please...present time!" He lifted up part of the picnin blanket and brought out a small, nicely-wrapped box.

"Ben, we agreed: no gifts."

"Yeah, right. Like I was going to let the opportunity to buy my beautiful girlfriend something that would make her eternally grateful to me pass me buy." He waved the box in front of her face tauntingly. "But, if you don't want it..."

"Hand it over."

Ben obliged, and he anxiously watched Nina greedily open the package. Under the paper was a small box, andnside the box was a delicate silver ring.

"There's an inscription," Ben said.

Nina tillted the ring and squinted at the inside of it, trying to make out the cursive letters. "November 8th, 1951...," she read out loud. She looked at him in surprise. "That was..."

"The start of it all," he smiled.

~*Rose's Florist Shop: 1958...9:12 p.m.*~

"Why, hello, there, Mr. Wagner."

Peter Wagner was standing in line at the local florist shop, purchasing a bouquet of roses for his wife. He turned around at the sound of a familiar voice. There stood Laura Miles, a dowdy-looking housewife whose only hobby was being the town gossip.

Peter smiled cautiously. "Hello, Mrs. Miles." He went back to his original standing posistion. The less he associated with the woman, the better.

"Forget to buy the Mrs. a Valentine's Day present?"

"No, just picking up something a little extra," he answered, hoping that was the end of it. He had had a long day at the bank and still had to go home to pack for the trip to California to visit his in-laws.

"I love Valentine's Day," Mrs. Miles continued. "Love in the air, sparkle in the eye...why even young Benjamin has grown up and caught some of the love bug."

"Uh, why, yes, he has...," Peter said, not having any idea what she was talking about.

"Him and that Connley girl...*such* an *adorable* pair," clucked Mrs. Miles.

He thought to himself, **Nina *Connley*? The Connleys were practically on the bottom of the food chain.** "Yes, yes, they do." Peter coughed. "If you excuse me, I just remembered that there's something I need to take care of."

~*The Connley Household: 9:31 p.m.*~

Nina hummed to herself as she sat on the dock, her legs dangling over the edge.

"Every time that you're near," she sang softly. "All my fears disappear..."

"Somebody's in a good mood."

Nina turned around to see a grinning Max. "Hey, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Stu?"

"I still have twenty minutes to kill before I have to meet him," Max said, taking a seat beside her. "Did Ben leave already?"

"His flight's at 11:30," she answered. "He's home packing."

"Did you two have a good Valentine's Day?"

Nina smiled. "It was pretty nice."

"You're starting to really like him, aren't you?"

Nina said nothing; she just shrugged and let her smile grow wider.

"I'll take that as yes," Max laughed, hugging herself to get more warm.

"You look as cold as hell," Nina noticed.

"This jacket may be fashionable, but it's not very practical," she admitted. "You look pretty warm. Is that Ben's jacket?"

"Yeah," she said, putting her hands in the wide pockets. She felt something rectangular and leather against her fingers, and pulled out the object. "Oh, my god, Ben forgot his wallet."

"Does he really need it?"

"It has his driver's license," she said, putting the wallet back into the pocket and standing up. "He needs his driver's license."

Max grinned at her. "You're just finding an excuse to see him for more one final time."

Nina rolled her eyes good-naturedly, though what she said was one-hundred percent true. "See you later, Max." Nina said good-bye to Max and wished her a happy Valentine's Day before setting off.

It was about a twenty-minute walk to the Wagners, but she quickened her walk, hoping the family wouldn't leave for the airport before she got there. When she arrived, she noticed the family car still parked on the driveway. She breathed a sigh of relief and walked up to the front door. Just as she was about to raise her fist to knock at the door, she heard yelling inside.

~*The Wagner Household: 9:57 p.m.*~

"You cannot see that girl anymore!" Mr. Wagner shouted at his son. "She is white trash!"

"You don't even know her!"

"I know enough to know that she and her family are poison. Any association with them will only lead to the negative," Mr Wagner replied. "And I'll be damned if I let the family name be ruined on account of my teenage son's hormones. So you will not see her again!"

"Like hell I'm not!" Ben yelled back at him. "You can't tell me what to do!"

"I'm your father! You will do what I say!"

"YOU WERE NEVER MY FATHER!" Ben screamed out. At this, Mr. Wagner became silent.

Ben seized the opportunity to be able to be heard and continued in a more calm voice, "One thing I learned from watching Stu and Mr. Pauling and then looking at us is that family isn't about blood. It's about love. And I was obviously deprived, because I cannot thing of one moment between us that didn't involve me feeling worthless in your presence." Ben's voice began to falter, but he swallowed and went on. "I was never a 'son' to you, no matter how hard I tried. From Day One, I was nothing more than a mistake, an accident, a nuisance, an embarrassment, a screw-up. You never loved me, never tried to anyway. I must say, you did a hands-down lousy job playing the role of my so-called father." He paused again, and then finished bitterly, "So if *anyone's* the screw-up here, Dad...it's you." He headed for the front door.

"You walk out that door--" Mr. Wagner began to warn.

"And what?" Ben laughed bitterly. "What do I *possibly* have to lose? My family? We've already covered that. A home? Just a roof over my head. I can find another roof. Heck, maybe even a family." He opened the front door and slammed it behind. Just when he thought that things couldn't get any worse, he saw the figure of Nina running away in the distance.

"Nina? Nina!" He began to ran after her, then decided to take one of the family cars to catch up to her instead.

~*The Leery Household: Present Day...10:02 p.m.*~

Celia Chandler was an attractive woman in her late thirties, her sad eyes reflecting the fact she was still mourning her mother's death. Nonetheless, she was quite polite and coversational, and Dawson and Jen, who had arrived a few minutes before her, took an instant liking to her.

"Would you like some coffee?" Dawson offered, as the three sat down in the living room.

"No, that's all right, I can only stay a few minutes. On my way here, my editor called me on my cell phone. I have to be back in New York in a few hours." "I'm sorry about taking up your time."

"It's okay, I scheduled a flight from Lewiston that's leaving in two hours. I have a few minutes to spare."

"I was wondering. Did your mother ever tell you anything about a Nina Connley and a Ben Wagner?"

Ms. Chandler paused. "Why do those names sound so familiar?"

"They died in a car crash on their way to Highway 6 in 1958," Jen explained.

"Oh, yes...I do remember them," she said slowly, as memories of the story resurfaced in her mind. "My mother had told me about them when I was younger. It was such a tragedy."

"Well, can you tell us?" Dawson asked. "All we know is what the paper reported."

"Of course. There was so much they left out," Ms. Chandler said. "I remember the day after my mom told me the story, I went to the library to try to find out more about them and found absolutely nothing, just one measly article. I'm assuming it was the same one you found."

"What were they like?" Jen asked.

She chuckled. "My mother said they were as different as night and day, always fighting, always bickering. But something happened in high school...I think they were in a play together, and that's when they fell in love. Quite romantic, I always thought."

"Is it true that Mr. Wagner disapproved of Nina?" Dawson brought up.

"Very much so. My mother said that Mr. Wagner was very well-respected here, and Nina's family was quite the opposite. For starters, the Connleys were borderline destitute, Nina's father had been in jail since before she could barely walk, no one really knows what happened to the mother, and her sister, who wasn't much older than she, was pregnant and unmarried. Ben's father thought that any romantic association with a girl with such a backround could do a lot of harm to his status in the community."

"Selfish bastard," Jen muttered under their breath.

"I can't believe that the town hasn't gotten rid of the road that Ben and Nina were driving on when they....well...you know. I can't believe they even built it in the first place," Ms. Chandler said. "Driving on that thing is a suicide mission."

"They did get rid of it," Dawson answered. "At least, I think they did. One- way streets seem so archaic."

"No, it's still there, I used it earlier. The street that winds around Ivy Hill? Even though it's a two-way street now, it's still fairly dangerous. Especially when it come to delivery trucks."

"How so?" Dawson questioned.

"Well, a truck could be using that particular street to enter Capeside, and when winding around the Hill, the truck's trailer would be lagging behind, and at a certain point, would cover the other part of the street. And a car that's exiting Capeside could drive straight into it," explained Ms. Chandler. "My cousin's fiancee was is a similar accident." She glanced at her watch, and stood up from her seat. "I best be going. It's a 45-minute drive to Lewiston from here."

"Oh!" Dawson suddenly remembered. "The yearbook..."

"Oh, yes. I nearly forgot." Ms. Chandler opened a carry-on bag that she was using as a purse and pulled out a worn-looking book with a dark blue cover.

"Here it is." She placed it in Dawson's hands.

~*Capeside street: 1958...11:12 p.m.*~

Ben's car drove beside Nina, who was walking rather quickly. "Ben, leave me alone."

"We need to talk," he said. "Get in."

"Maybe you didn't hear me the first time. LEAVE...ME...ALONE."

Ben parked the car at the side of the road and started to run to catch up with her. "Nina," he said when he had caught up.

She walked even faster and ignored him.

"Nina!" Ben grabbed her arm.

"Ben, let me go!" Nina demanded, pulling her arm away.

"We need to talk," he pleaded. "What you heard in there--"

"Ben, I can't let you do this," she interrupted, stopping the power-walk. "I can't let you get kicked out of your house because of me."

"I am *not* giving you up," he said firmly. "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I'd be stupid to let you go."

"I'm not letting you do this," she said stubbornly.

"No, no..." He shook his head. "I need you."

"No, you don't need me."

"I do. I..." He paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "I love you."

Nina looked at him incredulously, and he rushed on. "Look, I don't expect you to say the same thing. I know how you analyze things until there's nothing left to analyze and you like to think practically, so hearing those three words coming out of your mouth right now would be downright unexpected. But you know me well enough to know that when these sort of things exist, I'm a hundred percent aware of them because my head's not clouded with doubts and fears."

Continued