106: This Magic Moment

Marie

 After I went home from Armand's and showered, Dawson called and asked if I could just go ahead and come over now. I told him fine. He told me to dress comfortably. I may have overdone it.

"Holy crap, Marie." he said when he saw me and immediately pulled me into a hug.

"What? Did I do something wrong? Should I go change? I wasn't sure what you meant by comfortable." I spoke real fast.

"No, no. That won't be necessary." he says as his hand rubs my lower back. "What I meant was I wanted to go hiking in a little while, if that's okay?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure." I answer, somewhat bewildered. Hiking? I mean, I love being outdoors, but I know he doesn't.

"I was packing us a picnic lunch. Come inside while I finish it up." he says and I follow him in.

I hear the TV going, so I head into the living room. My heart nearly stops beating when I spy Andy sitting on the couch in only his pj pants. Holy shit.

"Hello, Marie." he says calmly while I work on catching my breath and not falling into the couch.

Perhaps I should've chosen the chair and not the couch, but that might've been too obvious. I'll just sit here on the far end.

We sit and watch some lame reality TV show. Well, he might've been watching it, I couldn't seem to focus on it at all. I press my hands on my thighs real hard to quell the shaking.

He turns his head in my direction, but doesn't actually look at me as he asks, "So, how are things?"

I do likewise. I don't think I could take looking at him directly right now. I answer, "Good I guess. I still haven't decided which career path I'm going to take. So, right now I just keep house for my mom."

"Hey, Marie!" Dawson calls from the kitchen, "Could you come here for a sec?"

I get up to go see what he wants, and make the mistake of not walking around the coffee table.

I trip on the middle front foot of the sofa and nearly land flat on my face. Andy doesn't notice at first, but quickly reaches out to catch me and roll me in to him.

Without saying a word, he puts his hand around my neck to pull me to kiss me passionately. His mustache tickles as I slide my arm around his neck. What am I doing?! Holy crap, Andy! How can you do this to me after you broke my heart? And how can you do this to your brother?

 His mouth continues to hungrily posses mine. I'd forgotten what a good kisser he is. His thumb traces my cheekbone, making me shiver. Any minute now, Dawson could catch us. I can't do that to Dawson now. I pull back, and he looks at me like he understands why.

Just as I move to stand, he holds me tight for a moment more to ask very quietly, "Go out with me this Friday."

I'm going to need a dayplanner at this rate!

"I can't." I say simply, knowing that Armand has already asked for that day.

"Thursday?" he asks with a pleading look in his eyes.

"What's going on?" I suddenly hear from behind me. Oh crap!

Andy's look of horrible surprise mirrors mine. I struggle to get off of his lap and explain. "I tripped." I say lamely. It's the truth! Of course, that doesn't explain why I was still in his lap.

"Whatever." Dawson snaps. "I give up!"

"Dawson, honest. I tripped on the middle leg of the couch. Andy caught me." I plastered on a pathetically fake smile as I explained what happened. I dare not look him in the eye. I can feel him glaring at me. Andy still has the 'oh shit' look on his face and I want to kick him.

I walk around, this time the right way, the coffee table to head him off.

"C'mon, Marie. I'd prefer to talk about this without my brother listening in." Dawson says as he grabs hold of me and nearly drags me out the door.

Andy won't look our way. It looks like he's silently cursing himself.

Dawson hardly looks at me the entire drive to the nectary. He'd planned on us taking a tour before our hike. 

He's not said a word to me since we were at his house.

"Dawson, talk to me. You said we could talk about this." I beg.

He stops and half turns his head in my direction, keeping his back to me, and asks, "Did you kiss him?"

Crap. "He kissed me."

Dawson's right hand moves back and forth agitatedly as he lets out a huff of air in a painful way. "And you didn't stop him, did you? Marie, why do you do this?"

I get a little angry now. "Now hold up! I didn't set out for that to happen! Don't you dare paint me out to be some kind of hussy!" I stop off to stare at a nearby fountain.

"No, you hold up!" Dawson argues back at me as he stomps over in my direction. I'm not the least bit scared of him. 

I'm angry at myself. Why did I kiss him back? Yes, he's a great kisser, but that was more than just an automatic response. Dawson has every right to be angry. I sure would be.

I angrily wipe away an errant tear. I can hear Dawson behind me and see his shadow.

"I'm sorry, Dawson. I know that doesn't make up for it, but I am all the same. You have every right to be pissed."

I hear him breathing heavily as he says to me, "I have watched you: first with him, then my ex-best friend. I stood aside even when it hurt to do so. I didn't want to have to fight them. Not that you're not worth fighting for. I just didn't think I was up to it. Now, we're finally dating and I have to do it anyway!" His voice raises in volume at the last word.

I get a little angry now and turn to face him. He meets me halfway, however, by walking around me. "Yes." I say, "We're finally dating. Dating. I've been honest with you. I did trip on the couch leg. Then he kissed me. Yes, I'm dating Armand as well. I'm being fair."

"Oh, yes." he says sarcastically. "Miss Marie, the queen of fairness. Honest. Open. Maybe a little too open, if you ask me."

"You'd better not mean what I think you mean by that." I warn.

"I mean you're open to new options. Always."

"I will not be part of a buffet! Where you get a little of this, a little of that. Why am I not enough?" he roared. I've never seen him this angry.

"Dawson, lots of people do this. I'm not ready to date anyone exclusively. You know that." I say calmly when really I want to storm off.

"What if I didn't want to date exclusively? What would you do then?" he asks.

My voice belies my statement as I say, "That would be fair, I guess. I mean, I'm not going to hold you back. It's not like I've told you you can't."

"It's a moot point anyway, Marie. I don't think I could. I'm a one-woman man, and it's driving me crazy." Dawson says, his anger gone.

"But you could. I won't stop you. I mean, we will always be friends regardless." I say while looking at my shoes.

"Is that what you want?" he asks, his voice full of pain.

I shake my head as I say, "No. That's not what I want, but if you're being driven crazy..."

He gets hold of my chin and lifts it up to face him, then brushes another damn tear away with his thumb. "Good. I don't want that either. You let me worry about the crazy."

"Dawson, this isn't fair to you. It isn't what you want."

"You are what I want. What I've always wanted." he says softly.

Oh boy. Why do I get the feeling hurting him is inevitable?

"Your brother asked me out. You walked in before I answered. I'm going to tell him no." I state simply.

He lowers his hand and a dark look comes over his face. "I think it's high time either my brother or me move out. That stunt he pulled today is the last straw. I wouldn't be half surprised if he'd tripped you."

"No, Dawson. Don't be that way! He's your brother!" The last thing I want is to come between family.

He smiles sadly. "Too late. He's proving to be a scrupulous bastard." Then he smiles a true smile at me and pulls me close.

 "Damn it, Dawson." I lightly scold him as he squeezes me.

He laughs a little. "Don't worry about it, Marie." He kisses my shoulder before he says, "I think we missed our tour time. Let's just skip it and go hiking a little early."

I nod. I'd prefer outdoors to in, and, I guess, he realized this when he planned the hike. That thought makes me smile.

We start hiking in the woods in the hills above town. We're not following a trail, which is fine by me, but Dawson always used to prefer a trail.

"So why won't you tell me where we're going?" I ask as I follow him.

"I told you. It's a surprise." he says and turns around to give me a boyish grin. I roll my eyes and smile.

When we arrive at a lake he turns around and smiles again. "We're here!"

"It's so pretty here." I say while taking it all in. The woods had just opened up to this lovely little glade with a lake in the middle of it. Even from here I could see the fish jumping.

"Then you fit right in." he says and I lightly punch his shoulder.

"The water is so dark." I comment, still looking around.

"Might be the light, or lack of it." he says and I can feel him staring at me. "Marie, what have I got to do?"

Oh no. Please let's not go there again.

"Dawson," I sigh, "you don't have to do anything. It's me that does."

"Well, what can I do to help you decide?" he said, stepping closer to me. I turn to face him.

"I have no idea." I say as I stare into his smoldering gaze. What is it about being out in the woods? Our last date we went on a hike in the woods. He doesn't like either the woods or hiking. Not that he really dislikes it, but still.

"Why another hike, Dawson?" I ask.

He lets out a quick sigh, "Because it gets us away from everyone. Don't take this the wrong way, but it's a way that I know you'll pay attention to only me."

"Don't take that the wrong way! How can I not take that the wrong way!" I almost snap.

He growls a little and gets hold of either side of my head, changing my mood immediately to a better one for some reason. "I knew as soon as those words were out of my mouth I'd regret them." he says while running his fingers through my hair.

The sun begins to head for the horizon, and the crickets and frogs start up their nightly concert. In the dim light, I can see Dawson's eyes look at me almost mournfully. I don't want to know what he's thinking. I get the feeling his thoughts have returned to the state of our relationship. I feel like his soul tells me 'please don't hurt me', and it makes me almost want to cry. Why can't I just give him what he wants? He's not asked for anything unreasonable. He's not been all over me the whole time like Armand was yesterday. He's never broken my heart like his brother did.

Hm. Well, right now I want him to be all over me.

I close the slight distance between us and kiss him passionately. His surprise only lasts a nanosecond before he eagerly responds. I feel like a dam has burst inside of him as I can feel through his kiss how much he loves me. How much he needs me. Like last time, I feel like I can't keep up. That doesn't stop me from trying.

"Please, Marie." he asks, acting like getting any more words out than that would be beyond what he is capable of at the moment.

I look back at him, knowing what he means. I can't help but think of last night when Armand was giving me a different kind of 'please'. Oh, Armand wants me exclusively too, but I get the feeling that wasn't his goal yesterday. Now, today, Dawson is asking me to be his girlfriend, and I don't know what to say. I stand there staring mutely back at him.

He stops waiting for me to respond and kisses me again. I'm reeling. I mean, I know he loves me, but I don't know if I'm worthy of this. This more-than-just-passionate love he has for me. It's so powerful I can't even think up a word to describe it.

But... how do I feel about him? Do I love him? 

Well, I know when he mentioned he might date someone else I, very unfairly might I add, felt hurt. What does that mean?

It means I don't want him to date anyone else. 

Very, very selfish of you, Marie.

I refuse to lie to myself though. 

He carries me and deposits himself on the grass near the water with me on his lap.

"Please, Marie." he begs again and my heart cries. 

I start to back away, but he doesn't let me.

"Marie. Please. Just. Go. Steady. With. Me." he says while planting kisses on my mouth, cheeks, jaw, and nose before going back to my mouth again.

"Dawson, I... just don't know... if I can." I say while he keeps kissing me and pulling away. This is mildly ridiculous, what he's doing, but it's so cute.

"Yes, you can." he says fiercely before keeping my mouth from responding negatively again. Sitting on his lap like this, I can feel the evidence of his arousal, and when I try to pull away, he pulls me back. My heart rate spikes and my hands start shaking as his hands reach up to cup the back of my head. His other hand firmly maintains its position on my lower back, holding me to him.

 He leans me back slightly and the sun gets right in my eyes so I have to close them.

"Please, Marie." he says against my jaw.

Shit.

"Dawson, don't do this to me."

"Do what?" he says as his mouth travels down my neck.

"Continue to put me on the spot like this." I answer.

"Don't you know I have to? I'm not brilliant like Armand. Or devious like my scumbag brother. All I have is the fact that I know you better than any other person on this planet." Armand said the same thing, but I think Dawson is right. "That and the fact I love you more than the two of them put together."

"If that were true, then why didn't you break up with Cristina sooner?" I couldn't help it. Until this moment, I'd had no idea how jealous I'd been of her, but now the pieces click together. The way I was so eager to beat the crap out of her at prom... I was jealous!

I almost angrily detach myself from his lap as he sits there in paralyzed, mute shock. Before I can stand up, however, he stops me.

"I didn't think you wanted me to." he says huskily and tilts his head up to kiss me again.

Damn it, Dawson! I want to throttle him. Who's more clueless here? You or me? I grab some hair on the back of his head in an angry fist. He pulls himself up more to my level and we stand there on our knees, both of us healing old wounds as the sun finally sinks below the horizon.

He pulls back and says, "I brought you out here for more than just to plead my case yet again. I hope it shows up tonight."

"You hope what does?" I ask as we both stand.

"I have to stand a little away from you for a little bit. They usually show up for women. Beautiful virgins mostly." he says with a roguish grin. I roll my eyes.

"Are you going to tell me or what?" I gripe.

"Um, Marie? I don't think I have to. Look." he says and points in the general direction of town.

"Is... is that what I think it is?" I ask in awe and bewilderment.

"Yes. Yes it is!" Dawson looks as happy as a small boy.

The unicorn looks like it's going to walk right up to me. I stand real still.

My heart is racing as the majestic beast cautiously walks up to me. What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? It completely ignores Dawson.

My breath hitches in my throat when it stands right in front of me. I cautiously reach my hand up to pet it's face. It actually leans into my hand! It treats me like an old friend! This is almost more than I can handle.

I laugh as he nuzzles me. This is incredible! I feel like I've stepped into a fantasy land where magic is real and fairy tales with happy endings do come true.

"I have to be dreaming." I finally speak.

"Nope. You're not. This is real." Dawson says and I can hear him smiling as he says it.

"How did you know this would happen, Dawson?"

"I didn't really. I mean, I hoped." Dawson sighs happily. "I'd heard rumors. I thought to myself, 'If he's going to appear to anyone it would be Marie', and I wanted you to see him as well."

"So beautiful." I say with awe in my voice as the unicorn presents his flank to me.

"Um, Marie? If I'm not mistaken, I think he's giving you permission to ride him." Dawson says with controlled surprise.

Incredibly, Dawson is right.

"I'm not much of a rider, so go easy on me, my friend." I say to the beautiful being as I sit on his back and rub his neck.

"Be careful." Dawson says, sounding nervous.

And we're off! I giggle with girlish glee. He moves so fast!  

This is every little girl's fantasy, and the unicorn chooses me. Me! The tomgirl that knows simfu like nobody's business and got in a fist fight at prom! And Dawson is the one that made all this possible.

He eventually brings me back to a very relieved Dawson. I dismount and the two of us make our way slowly back to town.

The light on my front porch feels unnaturally bright when we arrive. We were quiet the whole walk here. Now, I finally feel ready to speak.

"Dawson, that was... wow." I say and feel stupid I can't come up with a better way to describe it. Words are failing me at this moment.

That same boyish grin is back as he says, "I'm so glad. I'm so glad also that the rumors were true."

"Thank you." I say simply and throw my arms around his neck. I feel his arms wrap around me so tight it's like he doesn't want to ever let me go. Maybe I don't want him to.

"I love you, Marie." he whispers into my ear after a few moments.

I shake a little and feel my insides melt. "Yes, Dawson." I say suddenly and I feel his whole being straighten up like an exclamation point.

"What?" he asks with so much hope and longing in his voice that it breaks my heart to think what he's been through waiting for me to get to this point. He loosens his hold enough so that he can pull back a little to look at me.

My breath hitches in my throat as I clarify, "I'll go steady with you. Sorry for taking so lo..."

He doesn't let me finish my sentence, but I don't mind.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was so thrilled when 1: the unicorn showed up (the reason this update is so out of chronological order) 2: it actually approached Marie on its own!!!! It appeared and immediately targeted Marie for 'ask for carrots'. :D

I do admit to a tiny bit of cheating to get her to ride it. *sheepish grin*

I have been wanting to get these two together ever since....

this. This is the child Dawson that, in the forum story, I made it like he came by looking for Marie after she'd gone to boarding school. He randomly decided to do his homework in John and Elena's front yard. Then the wheels in my head started turning. :)