Serena had her whole life planed since she was five years old, graduate high school, go to brown, and marry a man she loved. She only got to graduating high school before life began to go downhill, she didn't go to any college or get married to a man she loved instead she just married the first guy that asked. Well that wasn't true there was a time she loved Dan but that was a long time ago, before all of the business trips and the forgotten anniversaries. She remembered the days when he would write poems for her and even plan the most romantic dates but inevitably all of the romance got buried by the resentment and there fairy-tale story became more of a horror show.

She knew she should just divorce him and they could both move on with their lives but part of her hoped they could make it work. If she just repeated I love Dan, I love Dan, I love Dan maybe she might start to believe it. After all they once loved each other if there was even the smallest chance they could fall in love again she was going to take it.

That's why she had spent the past three days planning the perfect evening together. First to surprise him he was going to return to find a delicious home cooked meal and then they would watch Dan's favourite movie "last year at Marienbad" Serena hated it and always fell asleep after 10 minutes but Dan seemed to like it so it was worth it. After the film she planned to play pool with him at the bar they had their first date. And they would return to their penthouse to find it lit with candles and full of their closest friends and family. After the guests had left they would finish their romantic evening in bed. To make the night the biggest surprise ever she even told him she would be in Paris for the week, he definitely wouldn't see this coming.

"Are you it's going to work" Nate sighed over the phone "maybe you should just give up"

"What is that supposed to mean" Serena snapped

"Serena you can't just force yourself to love someone, that's not how it works" Serena paused for a while not sure what to say, He was right, she knew that but if she "just gave up" she would have to admit she had spent four years of her life stuck in a loveless marriage, she didn't want to be like her mother. "Look Serena we've been friends for years and I can't stand to see you waste you're life"

"Who says I'm wasting my life" she was mad now, who the hell was he to tell her what to do with her life "I love Dan, always have always will"

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself" Serena could tell that Nate was trying to keep calm and hold himself back from saying something he would regret, he'd had the same sound in his voice for the last few years and she was sick of it.

"Nate if you want to say something say it!"

There was a long pause over the phone for a moment Serena wasn't sure if he was going to answer but he blurted it all out in just a few seconds "you don't love him you stopped loving him the second you left high school he's arrogant, rude and you seem to have conveniently forgot he was gossip girl, he spread rumours about you and ruined our lives and I don't get it, you married him anyway because you are desperate for someone to love you"

After everything that had gone wrong in her life, Georgina stalking her, getting arrested by her own mother even the car crash, Serena had always taken comfort knowing she was part of the non-judging breakfast club. She knew that her adopted brother chuck and her best friend Blair would always scheme against any guy that hurt her. She thought that Nate would always be by her side to comfort her with his kind words but if Nate could say something like this to her maybe it was all a lie maybe Blair and Chuck would just get fed up wither and leave her.

"… Serena I'm sorry, I didn't mean that"

"Yes… you did" she said barely holding back tears "maybe you shouldn't come tonight"

"Ser-" Nate didn't get to finish before she hung up. Normally Serena would have burst into tears but tonight she didn't have time for that, she still had to do her hair and get the chicken out of the oven. She bounced up the stairs and rummaged through her hair supplies trying to find her usual curling tongs. She had only just started her hair when she heard the elevator doors open, great he was early. She was about to welcome him home when she heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Are you sure she won't be home" a female voice whispered

"Why are you whispering, she left for Prise this morning" Dan replied. Okay she shouldn't panic Dan could just be planning something for her as well, it could just be one big misunderstanding. "Besides we've managed to keep this a secret for months now" Dan continued "Serena isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the box"

"I know right, how could she possibly believe you had to go on two business trips in one week, you're a poet not a CEO" the female responded and they both began to giggle and all of a sudden they stopped giggling.

Serena had been scared many times in her life, when someone died right in front of her, when she was in a car crash, when her father left, but none of them compared to the fear of forcing herself to look down the stairs and see what the hell her husband was doing with that bitch. Okay she soothed herself it could just be a mistake there could be a reasonable explanation, so just take a deep breath and walk down those stairs.

It turned out Serena didn't have to force herself to go down the stairs, instead they came to her, half naked and running to the bedroom. Words couldn't even begin to express what she was feeling. Dan and his mistress stood there frozen they didn't have anything to say but Serena sure did.

"I can't believe this"

"Ser-"Dan tried

"How could you do this to me, after all I did for you?"

"Sere-"Dan pleaded

"Who convinced everyone to forgive you after the whole gossip girl thing, ME, who managed to get you a job at that stupid poet agency, ME, who gave you all the money in the world, ME"

"Seren-"

"ALL I DO IS GIVE, GIVE, GIVE AND THIS- THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME… BY SLEEPING WITH SOMEBODY ELSE IN OUR BED!"

"Well technically, we were going to do in in the guest bedroom" Dan interrupted

"Yeah we're not monsters" the mistress agreed

Serena couldn't even respond to that. She just stood there trying to hold back tears before the mistress broke the silence. "I should go"

"No stay" Serena hissed "you two have fun with whatever this is" she turned to Dan "I want your stuff gone by tomorrow" she was about to walk away before she turned to Dan for the last time "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT FOLLOWING ME"

She turned to go down the stairs only to find a bewildered looking Nate standing at the bottom not sure what to do. Serena did the only thing she could think of to avoid him and ran into the elevator.

She waited until the doors were fully closed before she let the waterfall escape her eyes.