"Don't let me forget to get the creamed onions." "Oh, no." "What's the matter?" "You don't like creamed onions?" "They creep me out." "I'm being dead serious here too." "Just the thought of them makes me sick." "Okay, how about this?" "I promise to keep all offending vegetables out of your line of sight at all times." "Good?" "When I suggested that we hook up today this is not exactly what I had in mind." "Believe me, I know, but unfortunately, Grams' Thanksgiving feast takes precedence over our burgeoning sex life." "Correct me if I'm wrong, but we don't actually have a sex life yet, do we?" "What, and you think that that's my fault?" "Yeah, I do actually think that that's your fault." "I'm sorry, Pacey." "I just find it difficult to watch you paw at me with...." "Foreplay is no laughing matter." "How do you expect a guy to do his best work in the face of scorn and derision?" "It's just that we're friends, right?" "And seeing as how we are friends, but now we're friends that do that it's just gonna take time getting used to." "Although maybe we could find a moment later?" "I can't. I think I have to go to my parents' for Thanksgiving." "Okay." "I'm sorry. I have to." "I figure it's the right thing to do seeing as they brought me into the world and all." "You sound so excited." "Well, it's such a joyous occasion." "Just imagine the Witter women slaving over a hot stove all afternoon just to be told the Butterball is too dry by a guy sitting on his derrière, getting drunk and watching football." "Well, even despite the creamed onions gotta love Grams for offering an alternative." "You do." "Speaking of, you know, you never told me who else is coming." "Don't worry, Pacey." "Andie politely declined the invite." "Hey, I wasn't going there." "Please." "I think that she's making dinner for Jack and her dad tonight." "Sounds nice." "It's good for her to have family at Thanksgiving." "Come here." "Good Lord, you smell good." "What was that?" "Oh, come on!" "I'm sorry." "I'm so sorry." "All right, come on." "Big play." "Go, go, go." "Give him a block, somebody." "So, what do you think?" "Tell the truth. I want my contributions to Mrs. Ryan's Thanksgiving dinner to be straight out of Gourmet magazine." "It looks like the cover of the November issue to me." "So while those cool, I can now get started with this oyster stuffing." "So how goes the apartment search?" "Oh, it's coming." "You don't mind, do you, me taking up temporary residence in the guest room?" "Go!" "Go!" "Touchdown!" "All right!" "This is starting to feel oddly familiar." "What, your father watching football and me in my apron?" "Hey, Dawson, you're missing a great game in there." "Check out these pies." "Grab a knife." "Let's see if they taste as good as they look." "Don't even think about it." "Hands off." "I cannot show up at Mrs. Ryan's with half-eaten baked goods." "That hardly seems fair, does it, Dawson?" "She invades our kitchen, fills the house with the scent of pumpkin pie then tells us we can't have any." "Fair or unfair, no one is gonna spoil their Thanksgiving dinner on my watch." "Why do I suddenly feel like I'm stuck in an episode of The Waltons?" "Honey, why don't you go change." "Okay." "Grams!" "There you are." "Hey, Sam says hi." "Who's Sam?" "You know Sam." "The deli guy." "The one with the bad dentures, the liver spots and all that nostril hair." "l think he likes you." "Jennifer." "There's something I need to tell you." "Grams, I know. I won't eat any of the food before the meal is served I'll clean out my closet to hang up the guests' coats in and I'll think of something to be thankful for so I won't embarrass you." "Yes." "Actually, no." "No, that's not what I want to talk to you about." "Seriously, you've got to relax." "It's only a meal." "It's a meal with a long history." "I'm sure it is." "I gotta go get ready." "Jennifer, I just want you to bear in mind that Thanksgiving is a holiday with a tradition." "A tradition of people with differences, different ideas, different beliefs breaking bread together in harmony." "Despite the fact that I learned all that in kindergarten when we made little lndian construction-paper headdresses I appreciate the refresher course." "But don't worry." "I plan to stay as far out of your way as humanly possible." "Mom." "Hello, Jen." "l'm so stupid." "What?" "Oh, my God, that reminds me." "I totally forgot-- l forgot that" "You know, I forgot that thing that goes inside the bird." "What's it called?" "The gizzard bag?" "Yeah." "Oh, yuck." "I swear, if Mom were still alive, she would have her own cooking show on the Food Network by now, and look at us." "I'm glad we're having Thanksgiving at the Ryans'." "Me too." "I don't know, maybe it's just the holidays but I feel like any minute now, she's gonna walk through that door and:" ""Out of the kitchen, everybody."" "Dawson?" "Come in." "Hey." "You're wearing your new sweater." "Mom." "Sorry." "You know, honey, I didn't want to say anything earlier in front of your dad but you're never gonna guess who I ran into this morning." "Helen Lindley." "Jen's mom?" "So, what do you think that means?" "What do I think it means?" "What, you think it's not possible at this moment the two of them could be discussing a certain half sister?" "I think that's unlikely, considering Jen doesn't know she has a half sister." "You didn't tell her?" "No." "Dawson, I'm impressed. I had no idea that you had such self-control." "I'd like to say it was self-control, but it was more gutlessness than anything." "Well, then it's just a coincidence." "What's just a coincidence?" "Well, that one week you discover a skeleton in the Lindley closet and the next, the aforementioned family just happens to get together for the first time in over a year." "You've been down here for nearly a half an hour now, Jennifer." "You have to come up sooner or later." "How could you not tell me she was coming?" "I didn't know." "She just arrived." "It seems your father was detained unexpectedly in Europe on business." "Now, that I can believe." "Probably tossing back a vodka martini about now drowning his sorrows." "As if he actually felt any." "Be generous, Jennifer." "Why?" "My mother isn't here because she really wants to see me." "She has nowhere else to go." "You don't know that." "You know, you're right. I don't." "And how would I?" "The only contact that I've had with her in the past year was a phone call." "You know what I think?" "What?" "I think that underneath all this, you're really pleased to see her." "Well, maybe " pleased" isn't exactly the right word." "Maybe it's more like " prepared."" "You are prepared to deal with the past." "You're prepared to start facing the problems between you." "I can't even look at her let alone talk to her." "Maybe you can't find the right words because there's too much to say." "Jennifer, for the past 1 4 months, I've been watching you." "I've watched you change." "You're more serious now." "You're more at peace with yourself." "It's like you've crossed some kind of a threshold." "Threshold." "It feels more like a crossroads, like l" "Like I could just go either way." "Well, I know that you will choose the right way." "But in the meantime?" "In the meantime, one foot in front of the other starting in that direction." "Come on, Jennifer." "You can't stay down here all afternoon." "People are starting to arrive." "Besides, I'm willing to bet your mother is just as nervous as you are." "You think?" "Absolutely." "In some ways, the two of you are more alike than you know." "Hey, Pacey." "Happy Thanksgiving." "Yeah, you too, man." "Happy Thanksgiving, Andie." "You too, Pacey." "I...." "l thought you guys were spending the afternoon with your dad." "Well, that was plan A, but he got stuck in Chicago." "You know, any other dad would find a plane, train, automobile anything to see his kids, but not Joseph McPhee." "You know what, Jack?" "I'm sure he did everything he could to get here." "What'd you bring, Andie?" "Apple pie." "Yeah, she made it herself." "Yeah, it looks amazing." "What'd you bring?" "lt's.... lt's cranberry sauce in a can." "Little lame, but it's about the extent of my culinary expertise." "Don't knock cranberry sauce." "I mean, it's the backbone of any good Thanksgiving dinner." "Yeah." "So how you been, Andie?" "Me?" "Fine." "Why do you ask?" "Well, it's been a while since you and I touched base." "I just wanted to check in and see how you're doing." "Okay, can somebody please tell me why guys always do that?" "You want to be the nice, polite friend after the breakup." "You know what, Pacey?" "You made a decision." "At least have the strength to believe in your convictions." "You're right." "You're absolutely right." "Listen, Jack, I think I'm just gonna mosey." "I think I'm just gonna get off to my second stop..." "...on my tour of Thanksgiving." "No, you know what?" "We were the ones who came at the last minute, so I should be the one to- l wouldn't think of it." "Be the one to leave." "You're not going anywhere, and neither are you, okay?" "It's Thanksgiving." "I think it's pretty cool of Grams to play host to this group of misfits." "If you two can't get over your history for just a couple of hours and enjoy the company of your friends you should be home eating a TV dinner, okay?" "So get over yourselves already." "God." "It's weird to see your parents together." "They seem to be getting along." "So it would appear." "Oh, hi, everyone." "Happy Thanksgiving." "Come on in." "All right, everybody." "Coats." "Hand them over." "Sorry. I didn't realise you were still here." "Oh, please, we can share." "It is your room now, after all." "No, I was just gonna drop these coats on the bed." "Sorry." "Jen." "Would you mind?" "Thanks." "My God, you're getting so beautiful." "I'm sorry." "Did I say something wrong?" "No." "No, I was...." "Tell me." "I was just remembering how I used to watch you in the mirror when I was little." "Watching you put on your lipstick and brushing your hair." "I just studied your every move." "Like I was the most important person in the world." "Something like that." "Here, I have something for you." "Mom gave these to me when I was about your age and I figure that it's about time to pass them on." "They're beautiful, Mom." "You know I've always thought so." "But I can't." "Why not?" "Because where would I wear them?" "I mean, at home maybe, but...." "l mean, in New York maybe, but here?" "And this is where l live now." "Save them for a special occasion." "Mom, you're the one that taught me." "Pearls lose their lustre if you don't wear them." "They're like people in that regard." "Keep them close to your skin." "Jen, please." "l need to go help Grams in the kitchen." "is there anything we can help you with, Mrs. Ryan?" "Pray." "About anything in particular?" "General prayer would be fine." "Rumour has it your mom's in town." "Yeah, are we gonna get a chance to meet her?" "I would love for you guys to meet her." "It's just that we seem to be having a failure to communicate right now." "She's currently primping in the mirror." "I'm sure that she'll be down shortly." "Did you know she was coming?" "No." "Big surprise." "Guerrilla style." "It seems my mom is a graduate of the Ho Chi Minh school of parenting." "is she here for some reason other than Thanksgiving?" "Any news on the home front?" "What, you mean, is she begging me to return home to the familial fold?" "I don't think so." "Well, did you talk to her?" "I mean, it's been a long time." "She must have a lot to tell you." "Like what?" "Like maybe she misses you." "Maybe she's sorry she sent you away." "You know, I mean...." "l know she hasn't always been there for you" "Dawson, ever since I was 1 3 years old that woman's done nothing but stare at me with a look of mild disregard like I was some stranger who spilled a cocktail on her carpet." "Jen." "We're all strangers to our parents." "I mean, they love us, but they don't really know us." "And sometimes, before we get the chance to know them they're gone." "And so we can't ask them all the things we want to know about turnips or turkey gizzards or what they were like when they were young." "Joey, I'm sorry." "Oh, it's okay." "No, I am. I totally" "No, look." "What I'm trying to say is why don't you give her a chance." "She's your mom and the reality is that, you know, she came here today to talk to you and to be with you." "And I think you owe her that much." "Mrs. Lindley." "Hi, I'm Dawson." "Dawson Leery." "Oh, Gale's son." "Of course." "Hello." "Pleased to meet you." "Pleased to meet you." "Don't think I could have imagined a more beautiful day." "Sometimes I forget how magical this place can be." "You should know that Jen and I actually dated for a little while." "We're still very good friends." "I care very deeply about her." "Well, that's nice to hear, Dawson." "I'm glad that Jen has a friend in you." "There is also something else that you should know." "Yes?" "It's not gonna be easy, so I'm just gonna say it." "You can tell me if I'm out of line." "I'm listening." "A few" " Not too long ago I met a girl who was just passing through Capeside and I got to know her a little bit." "And it came out that she had been given up for adoption." "She recently discovered this and was determined to find her birth mother." "What does this have to do with me, Dawson?" "Mrs. Lindley, this girl was carrying a picture of you." "And where is she?" "is she still here in town?" "No, she's not." "By the time I realised who she was, she had left." "So it's true." "Does Jen know anything about this?" "No." "I wrestled with telling her but I ultimately decided it wasn't my place which is why I'm really glad you're here." "This is a very difficult and a very personal issue." "l'm sure it is." "And as you said, the girl is gone." "So I don't see any reason for Jen to know anything about this." "That's not entirely true." "There's nothing to prevent Eve..." "...from coming back into town" "Eve?" "That's her name." "Eve Whitman." "And, for all I know, she could approach Jen herself." "Something tells me that this information would be much better..." "Remember when you asked me to tell you if you were out of line?" "Look, I'm not an authority on functional families but I've seen what happens when families keep secrets from each other." "I just don't want to see Jen get hurt." "Neither do I." "It gets easier, you know." "What does?" "Being in the same room with him." "She ever ask about me?" "What do you think?" "I'm thinking she'd probably hate me right about now." "Only every other day." "Andie as a veteran of multiple breakups with the same boy I know what you're going through." "And I just wanted to let you know that the dark nights will pass." "Eventually, you will find peace." "I wish I could believe you, Joey because sometimes it's just so unbearable and it's like this feeling of being uncomfortable in my own skin." "And I have to keep busy, because if I stop, even just for one minute all I can think about is how badly I hurt him and how badly I got hurt." "Well, it's not a judgment, it's a fact." "I mean, you broke my sister's heart." "She broke mine." "Okay, so imagine how much pain she's in." "So you guys have gotten to be pretty good friends lately." "Yeah. I mean, Pacey's a doofus, but, you know, he has his moments." "So does he talk about me?" "Not really, Andie." "You know Pacey. lf he can't come up with a clever quip about something then he goes stoic." "The way he feels about you he keeps that close to his heart." "It's really precious to him, Andie." "And now my favourite part of the meal." "Shall we all stand and join hands?" "Here you go, dear." "Thank you." "Dawson Leery, would you begin?" "Sure." "I would like to give thanks for the wonderful food..." "...that was just on our table." "indeed." "Hear, hear." "Great cranberries." "I'd also like to give thanks for the opportunity to gather with friends and family who, in the best of all worlds, are one and the same." "Well, I'd just like to pass my thanks along to the ladies of the Ryan brood for an outstanding meal and an afternoon of peace." "Both of which will be sorely lacking from the noisy, dysfunctional family feast I'll be having in 45 minutes." "First of all, I'd like to thank Mrs. Ryan for her kindness and for welcoming me into her home at the last minute." "Of course, dear." "But I guess what I'm most thankful for is my friends." "All of you around this table have helped me in so many ways that you'll never know and without you, I'd be lost." "I'd like to give thanks for the kind of people that take strays into their life and the kind of person to whom it doesn't matter whether or not you're family." "Just that you have a home." "It's my turn, I guess." "I guess I would just like to give thanks to all the people we love who aren't necessarily with us today, for whatever reason." "Just because they're not here doesn't mean we love them any less." "It's your turn, Jennifer." "Let me think." "Well, in keeping with the theme I guess I'd like to give thanks for second chances for the opportunity to try and rebuild bridges that were once thought beyond repair and for the promise of many more Thanksgivings to come." "That was lovely, dear." "Excuse me." "Grams, I'll go." "Mom, wait up." "I didn't mean to upset you by what I said. I was just being honest." "You didn't upset me." "I was just thinking." "About what?" "Oh, maybe I did something right for a change." "What do you mean?" "Sending you to live with Grams." ""Sending" isn't the way I'd put it." "Fair enough, Jen." "But I don't think you realise how lucky you are." "I've been searching in vain for friends like that all my life." "Well, I'm glad that it makes you feel better but as good of friends as they are, they're not family." "No, you're right, Jen." "This past year has been anything but easy for me." "I've stumbled and picked myself up and stumbled and picked myself up over and over and over, with no safety net." "I know I should've been there for you." "I should've written or called." "So why didn't you?" "l wish I could tell you that for a thousand different reasons." "I kept wanting to." "You have no idea how much that hurts." "I know." "What did I do that was so bad?" "What was so wrong?" "Nothing, Jen, nothing was so wrong." "Then what?" "Let me try and explain this." "You guys mind if I join you?" "Well, of course not." "Sweetheart, I was very proud of what you said at the table today." "Dawson, check out your mom's pie." "It's well worth the wait." "All right, guys, that's enough." "What's wrong?" "You two acting like Rob and Laura Petrie." "One more moment of false, sitcom-y good cheer I'm gonna throw up your oyster stuffing." "We're just trying to become friends again, Dawson." "Friends or more than friends?" "You move back into town, and you take up residence in our guest room." "What is that supposed to mean?" "Are you part of the family, or are you a tenant or what?" "It's not that simple, Dawson." "It never is with you two." "All right, look." "I'm obviously out of the loop here." "But maybe that's for the best, okay?" "The last thing that I want to do is get caught in the middle of your drama." "But...." "Guys, if there's something going on that affects me then I need to know about it." "Okay, you guys have to be honest with me." "Okay, let me see if I understand." "Mother finds daughter in compromising position and instead of sharing her own experiences as a teenager when she actually got pregnant and had a child, mother turns into a hypocrite and sends her daughter into exile?" "It wasn't only me." "There was also your father to consider." "Right, I forgot about him." "Just for a minute, try to put yourself in my place." "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" "Didn't you think it would help me with what I was going through?" "That you would make something easier on me?" "Instead of pushing me away and turning your back?" "It was a shameful secret." "A secret I've had to carry for over 20 years." "So the answer was to make me feel dirty and ashamed?" "That was never my intention." "Know what I think?" "I think that you were just afraid of Dad finding out about your indiscretion." "The story of my life, waiting for the day you decide to take my story for once over his." "You can think what you want, Jen." "But I was not and am not prepared to wind up alone." "That's the difference between you and me." "Because I would rather be alone than in a pathetic, loveless marriage." "Don't go." "Mom, you are the most intensely selfish person that I have ever known." "God, I mean, look at you, you can't even cry." "Something's taken that away from you." "You're numb, and you're grateful for it." "Know why you're so afraid of being alone?" "The day you are, you're gonna look inside of yourself and you're gonna see what I've known for a long time." "There's nothing there." "Well, he's had it." "It's definitely time for us to go." "Yeah." "Let me just say goodbye to them." "Oh, just us, not you." "You stay." "Be with your friends." "Hey, Bessie, are you leaving?" "Hi." "Oh, yeah." "I'll see you later." "Hey." "So I saw you huddled up with your parents over there." "What's going on with them?" "Well...." "See the final chapter of the Mitch/Gale saga." "What do you mean?" "The divorce is final." "The Leerys of Capeside are officially finished as a family." "You know how sorry I am." "I know." "So, what did you say to them when they told you?" "I really let them have it this time." "I looked them both in the eye and I said:" "" Congratulations."" "Good for you, Dawson." "Yeah, but I figure after a year of if-ing and but-ing any decision is a good decision." "Right?" "I mean, besides, the only homes we ever have are the ones we make for ourselves." "I know what you mean." "So, what do you say we really cut loose tonight?" "Act out our teenage ennui in wanton, destructive ways." "What do you have in mind?" "Sex drugs, rock 'n' roll." "Or we could just sit right here and have a mind-blowing, three-hour conversation." "Come here." "Where are we going?" "To the gardening shed to play in the enriched potting soil." "Did I miss something here?" "No, we agreed to be available at a moment's notice." "Besides, don't you like getting dirty?" "l do but I don't want to sound like a prude here but actually, I really can't do this right now." "Come on, I can say with absolute certainty..." "...there will be no giggling right now." "You just need to give me a second to catch up here." "Our arrangement precludes any emotional foreplay." "Yes, it does, which, by extension also precludes the idea of angry sex." "Tell me what happened with your mom." "Nothing." "Okay, long story short." "Like mother, like daughter." "Seems that I'm not the only girl in the Lindley family who can't say no." "Well, wake up and smell the sanctimony, Mom." "My sentiments exactly." "I plan to file it under "wish I never knew."" "I wouldn't be so hasty." "What, Pacey?" "All right." "For what it's worth as a guy who's gone through this himself what just happened to you is a defining moment." "When you come to see your parents as human beings with their own problems it is, oddly, kind of liberating." "When you realise they're way more messed up than you and I are it's not worth your time or energy to go on despising them for it." "Leaving so soon?" "I think I've wreaked enough havoc for one holiday, don't you?" "If you're worried that I'm gonna spill your little secret to Dad, don't." "I won't get in the middle." "lt's your marriage and your life." "Jennifer" "But I don't regret saying the things that I did. I won't take them back." "I deserved them." "I deserve everything that happens to me." "What do you mean?" "Don't marry a cold man, Jen." "Don't wake up at 40 and realise that one false move and everything you've built your life around could be pulled out from under you." "Why don't you just divorce him?" "l can't." "Why not?" "Do you realise what happens to women like me when their marriages fail?" "The charity events stop." "The social register inexplicably loses your address, and you disappear." "You just disappear." "Ever since you put me on that plane, I always thought that you hated me." "But you never did, did you?" "No." "If anyone, you just hated yourself." "If I had realised that earlier this past year would have been so much easier for me." "I'm sorry, Jen." "I know." "I guess now I have to stop worrying you'll turn out like me because you're already so much stronger than I ever was." "I guess I should be going." "Goodbye, Helen." "Bye, Mom." "Bye, Mom." "Call me sometime." "I will." "You all right?" "Yeah." "I'll be fine." "Pacey, what are you doing here?" "Oh, I just couldn't do it." "You know, I got right up to my front door and I thought to myself:" ""What the hell am I doing here?"" "Who would I rather spend my time with?" "My family who thinks I'm an idiot or my friends who think I'm an idiot?" "Well, I'm glad that you're here." "Yeah?" "No hard feelings for this afternoon?" "Except for ones of utter embarrassment." "No, I'm sorry about what happened." "Sorry?" "There's no need for you to apologise to me." "This may be hard to believe, but it's actually not every day that a beautiful woman throws herself at me." "And-- And thank you." "For what?" "Conduct above and beyond." "It was nothing." "You're a 1 6-year-old boy." "That must have taken superhuman restraint." "Oh, Jen, you have no idea." "is this seat taken?" "It is now." "You know what I'm thinking?" "It's been kind of a while, you know since we've all ended up in the same spot together." "I must say, it's nice." "You know, Dawson, you're right." "I feel like I'm in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special." "I love that one." "That's where they eat on the Ping-Pong table." "But it keeps collapsing." "They end up making popcorn." "Yeah, I think the group hug is a little premature, however." "I'm sure we'll find a way to be estranged again in no time." "Well, before we do I'd like to say that in a world where the people who raise you end up letting you down it's an honour and a privilege to have you guys to turn to." "I can't wait for the Oscar speech." "There's not gonna be a dry eye in the house."