Ben lay back on his bed atop the covers late on a Saturday night, with sleep failing to come upon him. He kept replaying the events from earlier that same day over and over again in his head, as if it had been something unreal – something he'd seen on a television show. But he knew it had been real all the same, and this was what kept him awake.

Kevin had truly outdone himself this year – this much was certain. Thinking to get Gwen a promise ring of all things for Christmas? Well, Ben had been surprised when his friend had taken the ring box out, before handing it over to her; her face had looked surprised, as well, though not too eager. Of course, the lack of enthusiasm had also puzzled Ben, but he was moreover still caught off guard by Kevin getting her such a serious gift in the first place.

Sighing, Ben rolled over on to his side, thinking about the way Julie's face had seemed almost – dare he think it? – fallen when she'd opened her own gift from him, only to find a charm bracelet. She'd thanked him kindly, and given him a hug, but a charm bracelet was not a promise ring, and it had truly shown. Still, he couldn't help but to put the blame on her rather than on himself. After all, why would she just assume she'd get the same gift that Gwen had gotten? Wasn't that just a bit silly?

Little did he know that his cousin was lying in her bed awake as well, though rather than trying to fall to sleep, she had her cell phone in hand, talking with none other than Julie, even at that late hour.

"I'm really sorry he didn't get you a ring – it's my fault, really – I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions just because I saw Ben looking at rings through the window of the jewelry shop. I guess he decided to get you a bracelet instead," Gwen was saying to her at the moment, a bit of a frown on her face.

"It's alright, Gwen. It's a logical assumption. I mean, what else would he be looking at rings for, if not to buy one? I guess he just didn't want to . . . yet," Julie replied, sounding slightly dejected at the Christmas Eve get together that had taken place earlier that same day in the living room of Sandra and Carl Tennyson.

"Well, what really has me confused even still is how and why Kevin decided to get me a promise ring," Gwen returned.

"Oh, it was a beautiful ring, wasn't it, Gwen?" Julie said. "I mean, just be happy he got you a ring at all, right?"

Not answering right away, the redheaded eighteen year old thought back to the moment she'd opened Kevin's gift, and how confused she'd felt about it. Sure, they'd been more or less together for a while now, but a promise ring meant only one thing to her. It symbolized a vow to stay with someone until it was time for a different kind of ring to be placed on her finger. She very much cared for Kevin – hadn't she even brokered a deal with Mike Morningstar of all people just to help him?

Still, a promise ring was a big deal. It wasn't that she hadn't considered Kevin in that light before, it was that she hadn't considered it happening when they were both so young. She had college ahead of her, didn't she? Not only college – she and Kevin both had many adventures ahead of them before they took on such a promise to keep to each other. Who knew what would happen between now and the future? It was a bit too much, too soon.

With a sigh, she glanced over to her bedside table, where she'd placed the ring back into its box, before placing it there for the night.

"Uh, Gwen?" Julie said into the phone then, trying to get her attention. "Hello - Earth to Gwen."

"Sorry, Julie – I kind of zoned out there," she finally replied. "Anyway, yes, it's a beautiful ring. I'm just not sure if I was ready to get such an important present yet. You know?"

Also now hesitating her own self at the other end of the line, Julie finally said, "Okay, I – well, I have a confession to make, Gwen."

"A confession?" she repeated back, sounding confused.

"Yeah, look – the truth is, Gwen, that Kevin came to me and asked me for advice on what to get you for Christmas. He told me that he'd asked, Ben, but that Ben didn't seem to be of much help, so . . . yeah, he asked me instead. I sort of kind of pushed him about getting the promise ring for you. I figured that, well, I really wanted one and maybe you'd want one, too, you know?"

Growing quiet as she mulled all this over, Gwen ultimately smiled slightly, before saying, "So then, it wasn't all Kevin's idea?"

"No, it wasn't. I'm sorry," Julie replied. "I really wasn't trying to interfere – I just, I dunno, didn't want you to not get a promise ring while I did get one . . . of course it ended up being the case anyway, just, vice-versa."

"I'm sorry, too, Julie," Gwen said, feeling bad that she'd misled her regarding what she'd suspected to be Ben's present in the first place. "The truth is I'm not all that concerned with a promise ring. I know it would have meant a lot to you, but I guess I just have a little bit of a different way of thinking about things - that's all."

"I guess so . . ." Julie agreed in a reluctant sort of tone; clearly, she was still just as depressed about not getting a promise ring as she had been earlier on that day. "Well, good night, Gwen. Sleep well and Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Julie – you sleep well, too."

"Goodbye."

"Bye."

Slowly lowering her phone from her ear, Gwen flipped it closed and reached over to place it on her nighttime stand, alongside the ring box, before rolling back onto her other side.

Back in his own room, Ben had long since left his bed, and had taken to pacing back and forth across his bedroom floor. His hands behind his back, there was a small, gift-wrapped present in his palm, and the more he continued to pace about, the tighter he grasped onto it, feeling confused and indecisive.

She leaves for college in the fall, he thought to himself, pausing briefly, before beginning to pace again. I should wait and give her my real present then. No. Yes. No – it's a Christmas present. She already got a truckload of disappointment from me for Christmas Eve; I'll give her the real present tomorrow when I see her.

"But what if it's too late to give her the present?" he asked aloud to himself, before hearing a light knock at his door.

"Ben, are you okay in there? I heard you mumbling."

"I'm fine, Mom. I just can't seem to get to sleep."

"Well try to, dear – we're going over to Frank and Natalie's in the morning, remember?"

"I know, Mom. I'll try to get to sleep."

"Okay, dear. Good night."

"Good night, Mom . . ." Ben said, frowning as he heard her walk away from the door, his own footsteps leading him back over to his bed.

Placing the gift down on his bedside table, he plopped down onto his bed, before lying back and sighing. His clock-radio told him that it was nearing one in the morning, and even though he felt exhausted and confused, he still wasn't too sure that he'd be able to fall to sleep. However, eventually, whether he'd have believed so or not, sleep did finally come and find Ben, and as he drifted away all the worries and concerns in his head influenced the images in his mind as he slipped into a dream.

"Kevin, I can't believe it . . ."

Ben found himself running down an empty street late at night. The street lamps that lined the way were strangely flickering, as if threatening to die out with a tiny pop! sound as they went. Where he was running to he couldn't be sure, he just knew that he felt a fierce inner determination to arrive at his destination as quickly as he could.

Skidding to a halt outside of an old, abandoned looking building that he'd surely never seen before in real life, Ben peered into a dust-covered window only to see his two best friends standing in the center of a room, caught up together in an embrace.

"What's not to believe?" Kevin said to Gwen, a slight smirk on his face. "I gave you that ring for a reason."

"Wait," Ben said, slowly raising his hands before balling them into fists, and then banging on the panes of the window. "Gwen, wait – I'm right here!"

Watching as Gwen and Kevin leant in toward each other more closely Ben began to beat his fists on the window more. Why he was so intent on getting his cousin's attention and stopping her, even Dream-Ben had no idea. After all, he'd seen her kiss Kevin before. He knew they were together, just like how he was together with Julie. Of course, not only had he liked Julie, and cared for her very much, but he had felt for Eunice, too, before her true identity had been revealed.

Maybe he'd felt for just one other person, too, and maybe he'd felt for her before Eunice and Julie both. Maybe, before he'd ever even stopped to realize it, it'd snuck up right behind him and caught him off guard completely. All the same, as he found himself lost in the throes of this dream, he found that he still couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that had took him by surprise in the first place; more to the point, he wasn't positive of who exactly had taken him by surprise.

Ben was looking back through the window still, staring at Gwen and Kevin as they kissed, locked in their embrace, not hearing Ben knock on the window. They seemed unable to notice him at all.

Rushing away from the window, Ben instead grabbed onto the doorknob of the old building's front door, latching onto it with both hands as he began to jiggle and shake it, trying to wrench it open. It wouldn't bulge or give an inch either to the left or the right – it was completely locked, or else jammed.

Grimacing in frustration, he tossed his head forward against the door, before smacking his forehead against it hard.

Jerking awake, Ben threw his head back and away from his bedside table that he'd just smacked his forehead against the corner of. Muttering whispered words he'd never have dared to say any louder in front of his mother as she stepped into the room, Ben brought a hand to the red mark left on his forehead as he rolled back over onto his back.

"What in the world happened to your head?" Sandra asked as she walked over to her son's bed.

"I just hit it in my sleep. I don't know how – maybe I was tossing and turning," Ben said, his eyes squeezed shut as he tried to will the developing throb in his head to go ahead just as quickly as it had come.

"Well, were you having a bad dream or something?" Sandra asked in a concerned voice.

Sighing, Ben slowly opened his eyes as he thought back to what he'd just witnessed in his dream. "Yeah," he said. "I guess I was."

"I'm sorry, Benjamin. Still, it's time to get up. I let you sleep in a little bit longer than I'd have liked to as it is. We need to all get ready so we can head over to your aunt and uncle's house."

"I'm up, I'm up," Ben said, giving a groan as he sat up straight in the bed, rubbing at his eyes. "I'll be all dressed and ready to go in ten minutes."

"Good to hear," Sandra said, before pausing when she noticed the small, giftwrapped present on his bedside table. "Isn't that the present you got for-"

"Yes, it is, Mom."

"Well, you gave her something else yesterday. She wasn't too happy about it, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why you gave her that other present."

"Yeah, well, me either," Ben said kind of grumpily, before standing up from the bed and stepping over to his chest of drawers.

"Well, are you going to give her the real present today when you see her later on?" Sandra then asked, hesitating by the door of her son's bedroom.

"Mom, I'm – I'm not sure," Ben said, shaking his head as he opened his sock drawer. "Maybe, I guess."

"Well, you think about it – I'll leave you be now," Sandra said, before leaving the room at last.

Looking back over his shoulder to glance at the end table, Ben looked at the present, before slowly nodding his head. Socks in hand, he stepped over to the table and picked up the gift, before returning to the dresser. He fully intended to put the box in his jeans pocket, just as he'd done the day before, only this time, he'd actually follow through and ultimately give it to the person he'd bought it for in the first place.

"Just like I should've done yesterday," he said to himself.

Standing around in the kitchen of his aunt and uncle's home, Ben watched as his aunt and mother worked together to fix up the last bit of a Christmas Day brunch for their get together. His father and uncle were setting the dinnerware on the table, and according to a phone call they'd just received, Grandpa Max would be leaving any minute now, to head on over to get there, as well.

"I need to go and get Gwen from upstairs," Natalie said, dusting her hands off on her apron. "Sandra, I'll be back in a minute."

"You know what, Aunt Natalie, I'll go ahead and go get her," Ben said, before nodding his head in the direction of the staircase.

"Oh, well, if you don't mind going to get her Ben, I'd appreciate it."

"No problem," he said with a curt nod, before heading for the stairs and skipping up them.

In a few seconds' time, he was heading down the hall, his hands stuffed into his pockets as he gazed down toward the floor. It was a short enough walk though, and he soon enough found himself standing outside his cousin's bedroom.

Slipping a hand from his pocket, he made a fist and had moved it forward to rap his knuckles against the door just as said door was pulled inward, opened from the inside by

"Gwen, hey – Merry Christmas," Ben said to the looking-as-startled-as-he-did redhead.

"Oh, same to you," she said, before giving a bit of a grin and saying, "You came up to get me, right? It must be time to eat brunch then."

"Well, it almost is," Ben said, before saying, "Look, I was just wondering if we could maybe talk for a minute before we go back down there? Maybe we could talk in your room?"

"Oh, well, sure Ben, okay," Gwen said, taking a few steps back into the room to let Ben step inside, as well. "What's up?"

"About yesterday," he began without any real preamble, keeping one hand in his pocket as his other moved up to his hair, before scratching there nervously. "About that silly gift card I gave you-"

"It's fine, really," Gwen said, interrupting him. "I mean, I got you that video game, but it was just a video game. I like smoothies – I'll really get a lot of use out of the gift card."

Sighing, Ben said, "Oh jeez, Gwen - I didn't get you a gift card for Christmas this year."

"You didn't?" she asked, a puzzled expression on her face. "But you did give me a gift card yesterday, so, what do you mean?"

Ben hesitated for a few seconds, before shaking his head and saying, "What I mean is that one of my aunts on my mom's side sent me that gift card along with the Christmas card they send every year."

"And you re-gifted it to me instead of getting me a gift yourself?" Gwen guessed, before sighing and saying, "It's okay really, Ben. It doesn't matter. Like I said, I like smoothies."

"Gwen, you don't get it," Ben said. "I got you a gift. I just didn't give it to you yesterday. I gave you the gift card instead, because . . ."

"Because why?" Placing her hands on her hips, Gwen tilted her head over to the side, before furrowing her brows as she looked back to her cousin. "I'm really confused, Ben."

"I'm sure you are. I am, too," he said, before slipping a hand into his pocket and taking the little box from it; handing it over to Gwen, he spoke again, saying, "But either way, here's your real gift. I'm sorry I didn't give it to you yesterday like I meant to, but I hope you like it anyway."

Carefully unwrapping the little package, Gwen soon pulled from it a ring box. Smiling slightly - though a look of confusion was still in her eyes - she leant behind her and dropped the torn wrapper from her hand into a nearby waste basket. Then taking to opening the small box, her eyes soon fell upon a small, silver-banded ring. Affixed at the top was a small silver monogram of a cursive letter g, and two small stones the color of her birthstone were set on either side of it.

"This is so pretty, Ben," she said, breaking into a true grin as she lifted it from the box and slid it onto her finger. "I saw this in the jewelry store before and wanted it, but I needed to save my money for-"

"Upcoming Christmas presents?" Ben said, before smiling and adding, "I have to admit, I overheard you saying so to Julie before. So when I went to get her that bracelet, I already had in mind exactly what to get you, too – the ring with the g on it."

"Wow, thank you so much, Ben," Gwen said, admiring the way the ring looked on her finger, before throwing her arms around his neck for a hug.

Returning the embrace, Ben said, "I'm really glad you like it. After the way you . . . well, didn't react to the ring Kevin got you, I wasn't sure if you'd like my ring either."

"Ben, it wasn't the ring that made me seem not too excited about it," Gwen said, as she pulled out of the hug. "It was the, well, the presumption that came along with it. It was the fact that it was a promise ring. It was kind of overwhelming for me to be surprised with it."

"Oh, well I guess I can understand that. I wouldn't be ready to give a thing like a promise ring to Julie yet, after all," Ben replied, before saying, "You know, speaking of Kevin, anyway . . . I had this weird dream about him and you last night. I'm not sure why it happened exactly, but yeah."

"I wanna hear about it," Gwen answered, before adding, "But, can it wait until after we eat? I'm starving."

"Ha, yeah, me too," Ben said. "Let's go eat. I'm sure I've been gone longer than Aunt Natalie wanted to be gone anyway."

"Maybe," Gwen replied, before leaning forward and placing a kiss on Ben's cheek. "Thank you for the ring. Merry Christmas, Ben."

As Gwen pulled away and then turned to leave the room, Ben slowly raised a hand and placed it over the spot on his cheek where he'd just been kissed. Feeling warm in the face, he watched as she disappeared from the room, before slowly following after her. "Merry Christmas to you, too, Gwen."