First Times.

The first time Serena met Chuck they'd been starting prep. She'd been playing by herself until he'd walked confidently to her with his bright green striped shirt and handed back the ribbon she'd lost. He'd grinned at her when their hands touched and introduced him self. "I'm Chuck Bass." At age five, Serena had already found someone who's eyes were deeper than her swimming pool, who was already more confident than the others, and who was less of a bore than everyone else in the playground.

The first time Serena saw Chuck cry was on mother's day. Their mother's were supposed to be coming at lunchtime for a special luncheon, and Chuck spent recess hiding behind the bike-shed crying. Serena found him, and sat down in the dirt with him, wrapping her arms tightly around his shaking form and not letting him run away. Because even at age six she understood what it was like to be alone. She held his hand securely in hers for the rest of the day, and dragged him to eat with her mother; loaning him her broken family and inviting him over for dinner. He'd nervously wrung his gloves in his hand, but eventually smiled and laughed, genuinely enjoying himself. That was the first time Serena realised she wanted to make sure he was never sad, because he was the only one who's laughter could make her mother smile, who's chatter chased away awkward silence, he was the only one who would allow her to hold his hand in public. And even at age six she realised that was rare.

The first time Serena slid her tongue into Chuck's mouth was at Carter's birthday party. Some one had brought alcohol and she and Chuck were drinking heavily. He'd told some lame joke and she'd reached forward and pulled his face to hers. She may have blamed the alcohol, but truthfully she'd wanted to do that for weeks.

The first time Serena stood up for Chuck was when Blair was badmouthing him to some of the other girls. Serena had yelled at her, called her a liar and Blair stopped speaking to her because of it. When Chuck found out about it he ran up to S and hugged her, whispering thank you into her blonde locks. That was the first time Serena realized that he was defiantly worth fighting for, and always would be.

The first time Serena felt her heart break was when she saw Chuck kiss Georgina. Of course Chuck didn't know how S felt about him, but it still brought tears to her eyes and prompted a week of insecurities. Serena stopped talking to Chuck and instead stuck by Blair and Nate's side, because Blair made her forget and Nate made her feel beautiful. But when she was alone she'd cry herself to sleep and refuse to eat. She faded until she was quiet and sickly thin. It was the first time she saw a couple kiss and felt physically ill.

The first time Serena told Chuck she loved him he'd already left. They'd been fighting about Georgina and he'd asked why she cared so much. By the time she'd unfrozen herself and answered with a soft, "Because I love you" Chuck had already slammed the door and left her staring after him.

The first time Serena had ever been genuinely scared of Chuck was the day with the truffle oil sandwich, the day he'd forced himself onto her and she'd realized just how much he'd changed. He threatened her, and laid a once gentle hand onto her leg, trying to kiss her, wanting more than just words.

The first time she saw the young kind kid again just searching for approval was from when she'd stated she was laying down the ground rules to when she left his suite the next morning, fears about Georgina slightly less. He wanted his father to see him, to actually bother looking, to trust his God-damn son for once! He just wanted to be accepted, mainly by his father. He was the same kid who'd set his hand on fire when attempting to burn the painting he'd done his father didn't like. And he still wanted to protect Serena, at least from Georgina.

The first time she admitted that the Serena 2.0 was falling for Chuck Bass again was when he punched Dan out for calling her a bitch. Chuck's face had been so angry just because of Dan's words, proving that he did care. And really Serena needed someone to care genuinely, because her life was kind of collapsing again.

Chuck dropped his hands lower as their bodies danced. Serena's black dress was leaving many staring but she didn't even notice as Chuck pulled her closer and kissed her ear gently. They'd been unofficially dating for the past few weeks; oddly not many people were really surprised when Gossip Girl spread news of the latest UES couple. Chuck and Serena understood each other so well, and they really did make sense as a couple. Getting sick of all the eyes glued to them Chuck pulled on S's hand, leading her to a nearby hallway and pressing her body between his and the wall. His lips found hers and his hands rested on her hips. Breaking their kiss, Serena began to say the words she'd been thinking for a week. "Chuck?"

"Hmmm." He replied as he moved onto kiss her neck greedily.

"Chuck."

"Mhmm."

"I… This is the first time I've ever felt like this."