A/N: I realize it's short and it may be a bit rushed (not sure, let me know!) but it's far from done! And I'm not sure where relationships will go...but I know Serena and Chuck won't become romantic (just thought I'd clear that up!) Please, critisim and comments are greatly apreciated. OWN NO CHARACTERS...which is a real shame when it comes to Chuck, honesly... ; ) Thank you to gleechild for beta-reading!

Reconciliation

"To the new you," came Georgina's false testament, falling unnoticed on Serena's ears.

"To the new me!" Smiled content, yet slightly bemused Serena, unaware of her old friend's lie.

Serena's silver eyes fluttered open.

Her hand flew automatically to her head, where a monstrous pain was making its presence known. The tiled ceiling stared blandly back at her. "What's going on?" She asked softly, tongue thick and lethargic in her mouth. She slowly rose, wincing at the ache in her temples.

Glancing around, Serena realized the horrible truth straight away. She had no idea where she was. Panicking, she stumbled across the room to find a small bathroom situated in a small corner. The lights glared harshly in her eyes and she blinked furiously, refusing to hyperventilate. She reentered the main room. It was tiny, cramped and just plain atrocious. The wall was crumbling and the carpet was peeling. Water dripped from the pipes, making nasty brown stains appear on the curtains. The beds (there were two) were teeny and the stuffing was falling out.

"Georgie?" She called hopefully, although she actually wanted to strangle the girl. Where are you? Serena started as the door to the tiny hotel room clicked open. Serena spun around ready to scream blasphemy at her former friend when she stopped dead.

"Ah! You're awake! I made reservations for breakfast."

Serena stared, horrified, at the man who had just entered. On a normal, carefree, She-and-Blair-hitting-the-scenes kind of day, Serena would have found this guy incredibly stunning; in fact, she wondered how he could have ended up in a place like this. Now she looked at him as if he was born devoid of light, perhaps in a cave where the foulest creatures roam.

His dark brown hair fell over his eyes in a way that would make any girl desperate to brush it back. His nose and mouth were both straight and normal sized, and his cheekbones were extremely well defined.

He was smiling now, revealing perfect teeth and adorable dimples. He also looked like he was naturally bashful, because he was hesitant with his eye contact, but not in a way to suggest he did anything wrong.

"You're a real pig, you jackass," Serena muttered as she grabbed her purse and fled the room.

"Wait, what?" The man ran after her and grabbed her shoulder. "What's wrong, Serena?"

"Oh! So you know my name?" Serena practically shrieked; the guy flinched. "So how is it I have no idea who you are or where the fuck I am?"

Passersby threw reproachful looks at Serena, and resolutely hurried away. Jackass, as he was now so happily dubbed, let her arm go with confusion.

"What?" He repeated for the third time, "I'm Kyle, we met last night!"

"And you decided it would be fun to take advantage of me and get laid just because I was out of it?" Serena was in hysterics now, scrambling down the stairs. Kyle followed.

"Nothing happened!" Kyle was panicking, afraid of the legal actions undoubtedly running through her head. "We just ended up sharing a room! I didn't touch you; you told me you needed a place to stay!"

Serena stopped. She frowned and looked deep into his hazel eyes, debating. "Where's Georgina?" Kyle sighed.

"Your overly friendly pal? She hooked up with two guys I don't know. And I don't know where they went," he added as Serena opened her mouth angrily.

"Fine, just fuck off," Serena made a mad dash to the front foyer. Once she reached a chair she sat down and cried. She had never cried so much in her life, at least, not over something as terrifying as this. She looked at the concierge (who just looked like some schmo of the streets) and noticed the man looking uncomfortable at her sudden appearance. People were going to think the hotel had made this poor girl the total wreck she was.

"Do you need assistance, ma'am?" He asked reluctantly; teenage hormones weren't his cup of tea.

Serena sniffled. "No," she mumbled. What am I going to do? Dan's in his SAT—Oh my god! I'm missing the SATs! At this revelation, Serena began sobbing again. All of her hard work was for naught. She had changed her life so successfully, only to be derailed by some junkie slut who had decided to pay a visit to her old haunts.

She began shaking at this point, and was attracting several leers from greasy looking, beer-bellied men in a corner smoking what looked to be joints. One even crooked a finger in her direction and patted his leg.

Serena shuddered and closed her eyes. And then she knew what to do, and scolded herself for not comprehending enough to do it before. She reached into her purse and grabbed her Blackberry. Flipping the cover, she prayed for a signal. The five little bars were the sweetest things she'd ever seen. She gasped and sobbed as she dialed the number she had been typing more and more as of late. It rang.

And rang.

And rang. "Come on," Serena whimpered.

"Hello?" Came a muffled reply.

"Chuck, it's me."

"Sis! Missing me already? Ya know, we could have had a slumber party-,"

"I need your help," Serena choked out, her voice trembling.

Silence was the only response.

"Chuck?"

"What happened?" Chuck's protective mode was kicking in, and when it did, whoever was hurting his friends would be one sorry son of a bitch.

"I don't know where I am, Georgina isn't here, I woke up alone, but some guy apparently spent the night with me, and I don't remember anything!" Although she couldn't see it, Chuck was already pulling his clothes on and calling his limo around.

"Okay, Serena, I need you to figure out where you are. What's the name of the hotel?"

Serena asked the guy behind the counter.

"Cal's Motel…you're in the Bronx," he stated.

"I'm in the Bronx!" She wailed pitifully into the phone.

"Okay, okay," Chuck murmured, "Stay calm, what is the hotel called?" He was in his limo, already on his way.

"Cal's Motel," Serena sniffed.

Chuck flinched at the tacky sounding name. "I'm coming. Just, stay inside, and talk to no one, understand?"

"Please just hurry," she whispered and hung up. Serena took a deep breath and let it out. She hugged herself, the only reassuring, defense she had. Please hurry she repeated in her mind.

Three of the four sleaze-balls in the corner had disappeared, and the remaining one was still staring hungrily at her. She hugged herself closer and shut her eyes tight.

Twenty minutes had come and gone. Time ticked away in slow, agonizing seconds as Serena waited, watching the street outside for the familiar vehicle. How ironic she thought, I'm depending on the biggest sleaze I know to save me from these sleazes. She smiled at her little joke.

"That's right girly, you have nothing to cry about now that I'm here." The rank, acrid stench of alcohol and marijuana filled Serena's nostrils as a big, sweaty arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"Get off me," Serena seethed in the toughest voice she could muster.

"I have no intentions of doing so," he breathed in her ear, his other arm dragging her to her feet. He pushed her against the wall. Heart pounding quite audibly, Serena squeaked at his roughness. She glanced over his shoulder and saw that the concierge was gone. Oh God help me.

The chubby man pulled her along into a deserted stairwell while she tried in vain to get away. "Get off or I'll start screaming," she threatened heatedly.

"Oh, I don't mind," whispered the man as he drew closer. Serena's stomach lurched spastically.

"But I do."

Serena's heart leapt.

Chuck spun the man around and delivered a punch that Serena never thought possible from him. The guy fell against the stairs. Serena jumped over him and stepped behind Chuck as he bent down to eye level with the pervert.

"If I ever catch you again…anywhere in a ten mile radius of her, I'll kill you," he hissed quietly.

"What the hell do you know pretty boy? What can you do about it?" The man spat on the ground at Chuck's feet.

Chuck's hands shot forward and wrapped around the man's collar. He pulled him face to face, and Serena was amazed he could stand the smell.

"I'm Chuck Bass you son of a bitch," he let him go roughly and began to turn around, "I do whatever the fuck I want."

He removed his scarf and placed it around Serena's shoulders, along with his arm and led her away.

Once in the limo, Serena buried her face in Chuck's shoulder and cried. He wrapped his arms around her and gave the direction to take her to her apartment.

He let her cry as long as she wanted, just holding her close. When she finally stopped, she wiped her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder. "Thank you," she murmured.

"You're welcome," he said, laying his head on hers. "I still haven't heard from Georgina, what happened?"

"I don't know," Serena, recalled, "All I had last night was a diet coke! I got up to call Dan, and then she made a toast, claiming that I was her hero for turning my life around."

Chuck snort disbelievingly. "Wait, you never had alcohol?"

"I must have…I never talked to any guys before hand, they couldn't have slipped me anything."

"It didn't have to be a guy, Serena."

"But then-," Serena trailed off as the realization hit her. And it made her want to cry more. The fact that a former friend would ever drug her for any reason was too much to bear. She yelled for the driver to stop and flung open the door. At the curb, she vomited violently, her entire body wracked with spasms.

Chuck held her hair as she finished. Physical pains, emotional pains, every kind of pain coursed through her. Her spirit was diminishing.

"She was my friend!" She screamed, crying and choking.

"Shh," Chuck rocked her back and forth. "Serena, you can't do this, I'll track her down and get some answers." And he would, too.

As they reached her building, Serena untangled herself form Chuck. "Thanks again," she smiled tiredly.

"You're sure you don't want me to come up?"

"Yeah, I just need some sleep."

"Okay, call me if you need anything," he smiled back.

"Sure, and Chuck?" she grinned, "Thanks bro."

Chuck's eyes flashed as his lighter side came rushing back. "Oh, no problem. I have some ways in which you can, uh, repay me," he smiled laughingly.

"Oh shut up," Serena laughed, and then added, "Come up and see me sometime," in her sultriest voice.

Chuck started and cleared his throat. He barked directions at the driver who pulled away.

Serena chuckled.

"He hates it when he loses control."

She turned towards her building.

"As for you G…as for you."