A/N: One season. Twenty-four chapters: some longer, some shorter, as not every episode can be dedicated to NS goodness. I'm going to try really hard to keep things canon, because this story is basically what I wish to happen in season three of GG. The chapters (episodes) will be named after movies. Everything that's happened on the show has indeed happened in this. It's centered around Serena and Nate, because god knows us NS fans deserve it, put it will also feature Carter Baizen, Chuck & Blair, as well as Erik and Dorota and Lily from time to time. The idea and plotlines of this story come from a late-night effort to kill a thread at FF by making up a season three wish list, so I've got to give Rui and Jacquelyn credit for their ideas, too! :)

And now, my fellow NSers, welcome to season three…

3x01

[Summer, Like it Hot]

She whirls back into his life, as she always does. She's a tornado, swirls of blonde hair, long legs, pretty dresses, perfect smiles, and something that's not allowed to be love.

"Hey!" she squeals delightedly, rushing toward him for an exuberant hug that's got her legs wrapped around his waist for a moment. She releases him, laughing at herself, the kind of laughter that's contagious. She leans in and they are hidden away by a moment by the curtains of her hair that fall on either side of their faces. She kisses the corner of his mouth and breathes, "I missed you, Natie."

He pulls her into another brief hug, relishing the sound of the nickname that has always been hers for him. "It's good to see you, too," he answers jokingly, dropping a kiss on top of her head. A friendly kiss, platonic kiss, an it's-been-too-long kiss – it could even be a brotherly kiss, but he hates that thought so he chooses not to use that particular descriptor.

"Babe."

She steps away from him and they both turn toward the door of the building, where Carter Baizen is, walking toward them. He steps up next to Serena and rests his hand at the small of her back in an incredibly familiar way, a move that makes Nate uncomfortable and angry. Since when does Carter fucking Baizen call anyone babe, never mind Serena?

"Hey, you," she says, speaking to him with a tenderness that shocks Nate. She looks back and forth between the boys, resting her palms gently against each of their chests. "Can you two play nice while I run upstairs?" she teases.

"Of course." Carter pulls his hand from his pocket and flips his wrist with practiced, casual elegance. "Our reservation's in five minutes – be as fast as you can, I beg of you," he adds teasingly.

She winks at him, flirtatious and adoring. "I promise," she says, throwing Nate a quick smile before she hurries upstairs, a couple men rushing after her with all of her bags.

Carter stands there wearing a knowing smirk similar to the ones Chuck tends to sport, watching Nate watch Serena go. "She looks good, doesn't she?"

Nate turns back to him so fast that his neck makes a disturbing cracking sound. Wincing, he reaches up to massage his neck. He regards Carter warily before he finally agrees, "Yeah, she does." She's all tanned, her hair naturally highlighted by the sun, eye sparkling blue, her dress revealing just enough. "Where, uh…where have you two been?"

"Fiji," Carter says casually. It seems that he and Serena always run into each other in crazy, exotic destinations. "The sun agrees with her. Summer's her season."

Nate can do nothing but stand there and glare. He knows all of that, he knew it sooner than Carter ever did, and he knows it better. Of course the sun agrees with her, she's practically it's living embodiment. One of the first serious things he ever said to her when they were little kids was you've got hair like sunshine, or maybe a halo. And summer is not her season. It belongs to them, Serena and Nate, doing nothing and everything and pretending that none of it matters once the leaves begin to fall even though it meant the world on hot, summery nights. Summer is theirs, not Serena's alone, and certainly not Serena and Carter's.

She reappears in a white dress with a pale blue sweater thrown on overtop, breathless and beautiful. "Hey, no fist fights!" she teases happily, touching both their arms. "I'm so proud of my boys."

Plural. He hates plurals. Two boys, sure, but one's got to be more important than the other.

"Hey!" she cries once more as if she's just gotten a brilliant idea. "Where's Vanessa? Why don't you two come to lunch with us?! I'm absolutely dying to here about your European adventure! I know how excited she was about it." Her smile is bright and encouraging.

"Vanessa and I are…I mean we aren't…we're not together." Something changes in her eyes that shocks him; it's clear that she hadn't known that. "The trip was good, and we're friends, I guess…but we're both a lot different than we thought we were. We don't know each other like we thought we did. She's home in Brooklyn, her crazy rockstar lesbian sister's in town."

Serena grins at that description, but there's still something different about her eyes. He could never read Vanessa's eyes like that. "I'm sorry, Nate," she says softly.

"Yeah, that sucks, man," Carter inputs, and Nate really wants him to disappear.

He shrugs, speaking only to Serena. "We went as friends, we came back as friends. It's how it's supposed to be."

"Yeah," she whispers sympathetically.

"Our car's here, sweetheart," Carter says. He sounds sincere and kind and like he actually cares about her wellbeing, but Nate has many reasons to distrust the other man. Serena's probably the most precious thing in his life. He's not really ready to admit that to anyone, especially not himself or the couple he's standing with, but he's not going to risk her like this.

By some miracle, or maybe because she feels the same way, she understands. "I'll meet you outside, okay?" she asks Carter softly. It sounds like a question but all three of them know it's really an order.

He glances back and forth between them for a moment before he nods. He leans in to speak close to her ear: "You look amazing in that dress."

Her hand finds his and she gives it a squeeze as she leans in to give him a quick kiss. "Thank you," she murmurs, and she means it for more than just the compliment he's given her.

As Carter leaves Serena reaches out to touch Nate's arm, her hand cupping his elbow and skimming downward. "Are you really okay?"

He nods. He doesn't want to talk about himself. "Are you?"

Her smile is sweet but puzzled. "Yeah, of course."

"Serena…" He sighs. "Carter is not a good guy."

"Nate." Her tone tells him to stop right there but he ignores it.

"I don't…I don't think this is a good idea. I know you guys have got some history but…" He trails off, shaking his head.

"Nate." She tilts her head, trying to meet his eyes. "I can take care of myself, I promise. I know him."

Stubbornly standing his ground, he says, "I don't want you to get hurt. He'll hurt you."

She sighs heavily. "He won't," she finally says. "I love you for this, Nate, but…I know him. I know what we're doing, what he's doing for me. He actually…he cares."

He stops thinking for a moment, struck speechless by those three words. He shakes his head a little to clear it and reminds himself how she means them. "What next then?" he demands. "What happens next?"

"Nate, really –"

"Are you going to go off with him somewhere? Disappear off to some island and do whatever the hell it is you two do? Give up on college? Never come home?"

"Nate!" she cries, shocked at his outburst. She's standing there in her white dress looking sun-kissed and drop-dead gorgeous and very much like she's got a thing going on with some other guy, and it only fuels him onward.

"What the fuck are you thinking, with him? Dan, I understood. Dan was kind of good for you. But Carter's no different than that Gabe guy you dated. Carter's no different from all the guys before that. Hell, Chuck I could understand, but not Carter! You can't get close to a guy like that!" He's ranting and he knows it, but he's angry and he's just starting to realize that he's hurt, and he can't stop.

Serena gives him a long, hard look with those startled blue bedroom eyes of hers. "I don't know you right now," she murmurs, but she doesn't move away, she doesn't even look away.

"You can't leave with him," Nate blurts desperately.

"We have a reservation!" she cries helplessly.

"No, not now! I mean, I don't want you to go now, but you can't just disappear somewhere with him!"

"And who says that's going to happen? I have no plans to disappear."

"Because you never plan," he shoots back. "It's not who you are. You never plan and you always disappear. And I'm tired of it. I am fucking tired of it, Serena."

"Wha…why…" she splutters. She furrows her brows and her nose scrunches up adorably. "Why are you…"

"Because I don't want to lose you again, okay?" he asks sharply. "You never plan, you disappear, and I am always left behind."

"Nate," she breathes out, a tortured look in her eyes. It's a moment painfully reminiscent of the day she kept insisting that she didn't come back for him. She glances down, sniffling, before she meets his eyes. "Damn it, I can't do this now, we have a freaking reservation for lunch! Nate, I…"

His anger evaporates. Her eyes are pleading with him and that's all it takes. He waves her words away and turns to go. Maybe if Chuck isn't busy with Blair, they can hang out and smoke something and Nate can whine and Chuck can pat his shoulder and tell him to tap that ass, or something equally stupid. He can't be near her anymore, not when she's hurrying off to be with some other guy. "Go. Whatever. Go."

"Natie," she says in a small voice.

He plasters smiles at her to tell her it's okay. "Carter's waiting for you."

She doesn't want to go. She shifts her wait from foot to foot and frowns at him. "Can we hang out?" she asks quietly. "Some time this week, can we spend time together? I'll bring lattes, you turn on the History channel, and we'll just…hang out? Summer's always been our thing."

And just like that, she melts his heart, and his smile becomes a real one. "Yeah, sure." She nods and turns slowly to go, and he sighs. "For the record, Serena," he says, because he feels like he has to: "I missed you, too."