(A/N: I know I haven't written anything in a long while, and I'm still not ready to restart my main story, I'm still deliberating on some ideas for flashbacks and the 'current situation' for that, so it'll still be on hold. I apologise for the delay, but I think as soon as Dan & Serena come back on the show, my inspiration will come. To tide you over for now, here's a one-shot, about Dan and Serena talking about why things come between them. It's set in the future, hopefully not too far off though. Lyrics in italics come from Between The Trees' You Give Me Hope.)
Dan looked at his phone, staring at the text he had sent earlier, wondering if it would be a move he would eventually regret. There was just something about her that he would never be able to get over, he didn't want to either, but somehow, things could not work out. He knew it was because they had always jumped right in, and forgot about what had happened, and the same situation repeated itself, all the time. He loved Serena, he knew she was the only woman he could ever love completely, but he knew that if they didn't have closure to their misunderstandings, they could never open a new chapter. She had seemed pretty positive in her reply, but he knew that this was the last shot they had talked about. He was ready to swim the distance, but was she?
You give me hope, in spite of everything,
You show me love, even with so much pain
So I'll take this life and live like I was given another try
"Dan?" The familiar voice hit him, his preferred one-syllable name punctuated with her uncertain tone. There she was, the woman of his dreams, the long blond hair that tickled his face flirtatiously before, and those beautiful eyes of hers, boring into his with that hint of sadness he loathed to see.
"Serena. I just thought, it was time, to talk. I don't know if it's too sudden or anything, but I can't fight my feelings anymore." Dan fiddled with his thumbs, shifting his weight to his right leg.
"It's not too soon. We should have had this talk a long time ago. I know it's time for me to stop running away. Dan, I love you. You're my first love, you know that. But it just seems that every single time I try to love you, this fear holds me back."
"We haven't been perfect, I know. But you've changed my life, and I can't just let you go without trying one more time. I know you're unsure, I know you're scared that the same old problems will surface and we'll just fall apart hurting even worse than before. But I'm not going to let that happen again. I know I've judged you too quickly in the past, done some things I never should have. But the fact remains is that you're going to be the only one that I can love wholeheartedly. I always have, and always will."
"I don't know, it's not that I don't know that you love me, or that we'll make mistakes. I'm just afraid that this will be the only chance we're left with, and I'm going to do something stupid again. I don't love any other guy, Dan. Just you, and only you."
"We'll make this work. We don't even need to care about what people say we've done, and will do. It's in the past, and that was the old us. It's going to be different. With you in my life, I have that hope."
We laugh, we cry
Sometimes we're broken and we don't know why,
I'm tired and I lose my way,
You help me find faith.
(A/N: It didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted it to. But I hope you guys liked it anyway.)