A/N: So, this is a future fic. Everything that has happened in the show so far has happened however, for the sake of this story, lets pretend that by the end of Season 3, Nate and Serena get together. (Really hoping that will actually happen!!) Feedback/reviews are love :)

Nothing left to lose

With a little help from my friends…

Serena van der Woodsen turned on her heel and started back down the stretch of beach she had just walked. She was getting sand in her Manolos, but she didn't seem to notice; a warm breeze blew her loose, golden curls in her face, but she didn't seem to notice that either.

She had spent the last four years here. Did she really want to leave? In desperation, she turned and walked towards the ocean. The pristine water lulled and swayed with the breeze. There was not a wave to be seen. The deep blue glittered strikingly under the candescent stars. Serena let her feet sink down into the sand.

The last four years passed through her mind like a blur. Staying in different hotels all over Europe, living (quite nicely) off her mother's credit card. See, Lily was trying her best to understand and support her only daughter however, there was only so much Lily Bass was prepared to put up with. She wasn't going to let her daughter waste her life away flitting in and out of country after country. No, this so-called lifestyle Serena had been living for the past 4 years was over, and Lily had given Serena an ultimatum. She could stay here, in Nice, on the terms that she would settle and go to university, or she could return home.

Back to New York. Back to Nate. The reason she had left. After his boating accident it was terrifying for her to see how scared she was, how much she needed him. So she left. Yet, not a day had passed when her mind had not lingered on the thought of those beautiful green eyes. It was true, Serena still needed him. It was all so confusing. Going back to the Upper East Side... it would open up all that confusion again.

She couldn't deal with that right now. She would stay.

Serena entered her suite in her beachfront Nice hotel. Her balcony faced the city, and she loved it. She picked up her cell phone to call her mum, and tell her she was here to stay.

One new voice message. Fine.

"Hey S. I know today's the judgement day, and I'm not trying to sway you. But I think you should know. Nate's getting married. Two weeks. She's horrible S. She hates me, and Chuck. Nate doesn't even love her. But, this has to be your choice. Just so you know though, if you come home, I don't think he'll get married. But we'll love you no matter what. Call me."

Nate? Getting married? To someone who wasn't her? She'd always had it in her mind that if she stayed, he'd come find her. There was a reason she hadn't hooked up with any cute European boys. She staggered out onto her balcony, and stared over the lights of Nice. On any other night, she would have soothingly breathed in the warm night's air, soaking up the beauty of it all, but tonight had turned out to be far from just any other night. Now, in light of the information she had just been told, well, the lights just looked so.... false, misleading.

If you're not with the person who makes you happy, who cares how things look? Beauty, fun, excitement. Without Nate, she couldn't feel it. She ran inside and grasped her cell phone.

"Who was on the phone?" Nate asked Blair, strolling into the sitting room.

"Um, Chuck!"

"Chuck's in the kitchen."

"Right, so I'll go confirm his um, phone call."

Nate raised his eyebrows at his ex-girlfriend's strange antics. "You do that." Sometimes, he just didn't get those two.

Blair hurried inside, and grabbed Chuck. "That was Serena. On the phone."

"And?"

"She's coming back."