She can't hear much of anything, just this strange whirring in her ears and her son's voice.
"What's wrong with mama?"
She wants to assure Jamie that everything is okay, but her mouth is too dry for words. She's being lifted up, and for the first time in a long time, she feels warm. She hears Chuck's voice right at her ear. He sounds scared. Serena hates this fact, because it takes an awful lot to scare Chuck Bass.
"You okay. . .? What's wrong with her. . .?"
She's laid down on a bed. She's cold again. Blair is calling her name, and someone is pulling at her arms.
"No! I just. . ." she tries to defend herself, but they won't listen. She's picked up again, and a wave of dizziness overcomes her. Someone is behind her, their hands on her hips. She imagines that it's Nate, because Chuck has left the room for some reason.
"Come on, let's go. . ."
The next thing she knows, her shirt is being pulled over her head and she's being dunked in cold water. "B, it's cold!" She protests; Blair doesn't listen.
After a while, she finally scrapes up enough courage to pull her eyes open. "Where's Jamie?"
Blair looks down at her with sad eyes and runs a wet washcloth over her forehead. It feels good.
"He's with Chuck and Nate downstairs."
Nate is starting to worry, and even though he's trying not to show it, Chuck is, too.
Jamie is huddled in a corner, and he won't come out.
"Why does this look familiar to me?" Chuck mumbled. Nate looked at Jamie out of the corner of his eye. He knew what the little boy was thinking. He was thinking about a night that would haunt Nate for the rest of his life.
"Mama!"
Nate could hear Jamie's piercing screams from the street below. Something inside him snapped, and he was racing up the stairs to Lucas and Serena's apartment. He followed the sound of the little boy's screams to the master bedroom, where he found Jamie huddled in a corner, staring at the long figure of his father, which lay lifeless on the floor.
"Mama!"
Those screams would haunt Nate forever.
"Nathaniel, you okay?"
Chuck was looking at him worriedly, eyes narrowed, as if he was trying to read his mind.
"Yeah," Nate whispered hoarsely.
"Ah, the Sunday-school answer," Chuck drawled. "Classic."
But he, too, was haunted by memories.
"I'm treating my sister and my girlfriend to ice cream," Chuck declared as Blair and Serena walked out of Barney's, loaded down with shopping bags.
Blair wrinkled her nose. "Don't use the word 'girlfriend.' It's so cliché."
"Lover," Chuck corrected. His cell phone rang, and he flipped it open after a quick glance at the caller i.d. "Nathaniel."
"Whoa, Nathaniel slow down. Talk to Chuck, buddy. What's going on?"
Chuck almost dropped the phone. He glanced at Serena. "Where?"
Long pause.
"Okay, we're on our way."
"Chuck, what's wrong?" Serena knew this was about her.
"It's Lucas, S."