Serena sighed as she looked at all the papers on her desk, her grandmother, Cece, had passed on after a long battle with cancer, leaving a big part of her possessions to Serena, most of it for safe keeping but all of it requiring her signature.
"It's just two more pages and we're done," her lawyer said when he noticed Serena's exhaustion. "Just sign there as well," he said pointing to the extra spot that needed her attention.
"Why couldn't she have had less things," Serena mumbled looking through the last two pages before scrawling her signature onto the bottom of them and then where he pointed. "That's it? Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," the lawyer said chuckling as he inspected the pages, he then gathered all the paper and stacked them before putting the stack into his briefcase.
"Finally," Serena said leaning back in her chair and pushing her hair back.
"About the letter Miss Rhodes left?" he probed lightly, placing his briefcase on the floor and leaning in slightly wanting to know if his client and friend's last wishes will be fulfilled. "She was very adamant about wanting you to do everything that she asked."
"I'm flying out to New York tonight, my mother is sorting out the rest," Serena told him, trying not to look as against the thought of going back to her childhood home as she felt.
"Serena, I'm talking about the second half of that letter," he said breaking out of his professional persona for a moment to let Serena know that he is an old family friend and he knows what her grandmother wanted.
"Can't I just ignore that part and say my tears smudged her words?" she asked with a nervous chuckle and the man raised an eyebrow and stared at her.
"I wouldn't suggest that, your grandmother just wanted you to mend ties with everyone you left behind in New York," he told her and Serena nodded and sighed, she knew exactly what her grandmother wanted, how sad her grandmother knew she was without them. "She knows you didn't want contact with them before and she agreed but she realized that you need them, it's time to make amends."
"I know, she went on about it enough when she was supposed to be resting," Serena said rolling her eyes and the lawyer laughed, Cece was a persistent woman even in her final weeks. "Don't worry, my time in New York will be spent taking care of her last wishes ... my grandmother was right, I need to do this."
"I know how hard this might be and I know there might be repercussions," he told her, holding eye contact with her to make sure that she was paying full attention to him. "If at any time you need representation, give me a call, I won't let you lose."
"That won't be necessary," Serena said shaking her head and laughing, she wasn't that worried about any legal representation for the weekend ahead. "I assure you, it won't come down to that."
"Very good," he said picking up his briefcase and standing up to adjust his suit, back in full lawyer mode. "I'll be in touch Miss van der Woodsen."
"Thank you," she said shaking his hand and walking him out of her office, closing the door and then leaning back onto it and sighing tiredly, it had been almost a week since her grandmother had passed away and it had been filled with lawyers and plans and secrets that needed to come out and crying and she was exhausted.
Serena pushed herself away from the door and walked to her chair so she could sit herself down and close her eyes for a moment. Her grandmother insisted that when she died her funeral should be in New York, her body to be buried in the family plot at the cemetery close to her parents and as far away from her ex-husband as can be managed.
Serena laughed at that request and at the horrific luck this family had with men, she barely knew her grandfather only because her grandmother refused to let him see them, he passed away before Erik was born so all she had were stories from her mother.
Her grandmother dated a few younger men when Serena was little but by the time Serena's mother went through her second divorce Cece had decided that men were too much work and it was time to move on from finding love and just focus on the business her ex-husband trusted her with.
Her mother's track record with men was well known, after her father had left them, there were too many boyfriends and 4 new marriages, only three of which Serena attended, and since then she's only seen her mother a handful of times, enough to know that her latest husband was one of her high school friends fathers and he had died. Since then she's been carrying on a relationship with her high school lover and Serena stopped listening because it all just got much too complicated for her to keep up with.
It hadn't been much different for Serena, she met the love of her life when she was in diapers and he was taken by her best friend by the time they were in pre-school. She realized too late that loving him the way she did would destroy her friendship and she left them both when she was 15, without a goodbye or reason. How young and stupid they had been. She'd had a few relationships in the past 13 years, nothing too serious, nothing worth thinking about.
Her cell phones ring jolted her out of her thoughts and forced her to open her eyes, she glared at her phone for a few seconds when she saw that it was her mother calling and then sighed as she answered the call.
"Hey mom," she answered putting her head back on the desk.
"Serena darling what time are you leaving the office? Your flight leaves soon," she said and Serena could picture her staring at her watch.
"I'm at the airport, call you when I reach New York," she said acting as if she was in a hurry so that she could cut this call quicker.
"Serena, I spoke to Mr. Gibbens, he told me he just left your office," Lily laughed and Serena groaned.
"I'm leaving as soon as the car gets here," Serena said rubbing her temples. "Bags are packed and everything, I'm on schedule."
"Yes I'd expect you would be," Lily said distractedly and Serena rolled her eyes, just another thing her mother says that she would never truly understand.
"Is Erik there yet?" Serena asked, out of everyone she knew she was going to see when she went back she was most excited to see her brother. Sure she saw him as often as his studies allowed but he was going to be her safety blanket in New York and it had been over a week since she last saw him.
"He reached yesterday, went straight to bed," Lily said and Serena could picture her mother rolling her eyes at his lack of communication. "And he woke up so late, he better not be doing that in college."
"He's doing fine in college mom," Serena said shaking her head and sighing. "Just let him be."
"Well darling, he's much too young for me to 'just let him be'," she said and Serena bit down on her tongue to stop herself from asking where these thoughts where when Serena was a child and her mother just 'let her be'. "I guess I can't complain too much, he's been doing well."
Serena nodded on her side of the world with an expression on her face that said 'duh'. "When you see him, tell him thanks for letting me know he reached," she said sarcastically, her brother didn't even send her a text to let her know he was in New York.
"You'll probably be here by the time I see him," Lily said and Serena held her giggle in, her brother hated being in the presence of their mother and grandmother for too long, they always managed to say something to anger him, no matter how much he loved them, he just couldn't handle them. "Everyone is excited to see you."
"Really?" Serena asked sceptically, although she was curious about how everyone handled the news that she would be flying to New York to be with her mother and brother for her grandmother's funeral and wake. "Are you sure you told them that I was coming to visit?"
"Yes of course, Charles wanted to have a coming home party for you, you know how he is," Lily said and Serena winced at the way she said Charles, it was so loving and motherly, so different from the woman she and Erik were exposed to growing up. "I told him it would be rude to have a party so soon after the funeral but I'm sure they'll still do something."
"And um ... and Blair?" Serena asked tentatively, she knew everything that happened in New York through the papers and social media, she knew Blair and Chuck were married, she knew they had a beautiful little boy but she didn't know anything about her best friend anymore, she felt horrible for missing so much of their lives but she couldn't have any contact with New York if she wanted to start fresh the way she did when she left.
"I haven't spoken to Blair yet but I'm sure she's thrilled," Lily said faking excitement and Serena knew that when Blair was told she either had no reaction or she made her plans not to acknowledge Serena's existence known. "Darling the caterer is calling, don't miss you flight, love you."
"But," Serena said but the call was already cut, she didn't have time to ask about him. Nate Archibald, she wanted to know so much, what he said when they told him she was coming home, if he's single, if he'd still love her the way she still loved him, even after 13 years of no contact, she thought it would fade but it only burned stronger.
Serena sighed as she looked at her watch and then frowned she had more than enough time she didn't know what her mother was going on about. Serena straightened up her desk and grabbed her bag to make sure she had everything for her trip back home.
She checked off all the things she would need for this trip home in her mind, her heart beating rapidly every time she imagined seeing all the people she left behind. There were so many questions that they were going to ask and so many hard conversations she knew she had to get through and there was one secret that she was terrified of revealing, she knew it was time, it had been hidden much too long, but the fallout of her secret might destroy her.
She wasn't entirely sure how her grandmother knew the things that she did but Serena had learnt long ago to just accept that nothing she tried to keep from her grandmother ever stayed secret. The old woman knew everything. Serena wondered why she didn't say something before but with knowing all her secrets, her grandmother also knew that she never wanted to talk about it and Serena was ok with that.
The door flew open and Serena was ready to scream at the person who just barged into her office when the door was closed but she stopped short and smiled when she saw who it was.
"Come on mom, we gotta go," she said crossing her arms and staring her mother down, her blond hair hung in waves to her waist and her dark blue eyes challenging her mother. Serena could see that she wanted to stay as serious as possible but she was itching to jump in the spot because she was so excited. "The car's waiting and I want to go to New York, finally."
"I'm coming, I swear you and your grandmother could be the same person with the way you nag me," Serena said earning a glare from her daughter, she smiled zipping up her bag and locking her office. For the hundredth time since being handed that letter containing Cece's request that she tell everyone the truth and be in New York for her funeral, Serena cursed her grandmother, she hoped that this trip wasn't going to be a mistake, after all 13 was a bad-luck number.
A/N : Hey guys I'm back, its been a really long time since I've posted I know I know, I was supposed to be working on the sequel to 5 years later and state of grace and I pretty much got a paragraph and then got stuck so maybe soon when inspiration strikes I can get back to that
This story has been something I've wanted to do for a very very long time, I've had the idea almost from the moment I started writing GG fanfics but I was never really able to write it out until now, I have a basic plan for this story and I've written a few chapters ahead but I keep scraping and rewriting so hopefully by the time I get to those chapters I'm more sure of how it looks
Anyway for now I hope you guys really like the first chapter of this new story
Until Next Time (^^,)