The decision hadn't been easy. At all. In fact for both of them it was easily the hardest decision of their life thus far. But they both believed it was for the best. Serena's plan had been to go to Brown, and Dan's; Dartmouth, and as much as they loved each other and felt as if they were for forever, they weren't going to let this get in the way of their futures.

That last summer was the most amazing 3 months of both of their lives. They spent their last days together completely on top of one another the whole time. They were together almost always – Serena sleeping at the loft and Dan visiting the new Bass-Van der Woodsen home alternately. When they had to split apart for whatever reason, they were on the phone to each other hourly and text messaging all the time. Perhaps you should try and slowly ease off one another, like weening an animal off its mother's teat, Blair had suggested one day. But what did Blair know? Her infatuation for Nate and desire for Chuck was nothing like what Serena and Dan felt for each other. They wouldn't, in fact they couldn't, spend time apart unnecessarily, even if it was going to make their time apart that little bit easier.

The summer flew by, but that's not to say they didn't make the most of every minute of it. Trips to the Hamptons, South America, and a surprise trip to Paris organised by Dan to celebrate their 2-year anniversary since they got back together that scorching day on the beach after the White Party. Of course they spent a lot of time in bed together, making love, but often spending hours after just lying in each other's arms staring into one another's' eyes. In the last few weeks these hours were usually full of tears.

Sometimes the tears came suddenly – and were loud and passionate. Serena would lay there with her head back gripping Dan's hands in her own, moaning and screaming "Why!?", "It's not fair!!" "It hurts!!" "Why does it have to be so hard??". Dan would not even try to comfort her, shaking his head with his brow furrowed and bottom lip turned out, sobbing in response, "I don't know, I don't know", and repeating her name. Other times they would cry silently - often straight after they had made love. She would roll over and they'd face one another, breathing irregularly as the tears flowed out of their eyes like uncontrollable waterfalls, holding on to one another as if one were in their dying days.

But the decision was made at the beginning of that summer – they were to separate when they went away to college. While they both knew they could not touch another while they were away, they did not want to remain boyfriend and girlfriend for the next three years. They were only young, as their parents kept telling them, and it would make everything too hard if they put rules in place regarding other girls or boys, how often they had to visit, etcetera, etcetera. Dan and Serena approached the idea maturely – reassuring themselves that it was simply the best for the both of them – whilst they loved each other so much and had done so for the last two years, they were individuals, and they both needed to sort their own lives out at college before starting a real life together. But there were no promises. No pacts, no pledges or guarantees, nor guidelines, on what was ahead of them.

And this made the end of their time apart even more thrilling. They had spoken on the phone the night before graduation and congratulated each other on making it. They were both graduating the same day so they couldn't attend each other's ceremonies. But that didn't matter to them – Dan and Serena both knew it was what would come after those few days that really counted.

Initially the idea of graduation had made Dan nervous – petrified in fact. He began to realise that there were indeed no promises or pacts guaranteeing that when this was all over – when it was time to move back to New York – Serena and him were to be together. This thought made him feel sick in the stomach. So sick, that he couldn't pay any attention to his final papers and examinations. Dan's mind seemed to create their own nasty scenarios and replay them over and over whenever he tried to concentrate on something: running into Serena at the airport – with a new boyfriend, Rufus calling just before it was time to head home – to tell him Lily had informed him Serena had moved on, Serena calling to congratulate him on graduation and let him know she was moving away, or worst of all, her not calling at all and him realizing it was all over, through a lack of communication on her part.

He missed her so much, and these thoughts made his life unbearable. Jenny told him it was simple. A letter. And it was.

Dear Serena,

I can't believe it has been three years since we started college - we're almost finished! I hope you have been well since we last spoke and have survived the horrendous exams and papers you've been bombarded with. I wish you all the best for the graduation ceremony, and like I said on the phone last time I'm so sorry I can't be there – you looked so cute in your gown and hat at the high school ceremony.

Now I'm going to say something to you, in this letter, which I never thought would make me feel so nauseas. I love you, Serena. I really, really, love you. I have loved you ever since I first told you that day I thought you were pregnant – and I want you to know that ever since then, through all the bad and good times we've had together, I've never stopped loving you. And yes, that includes these past few years we've spent apart.

I know we made the decision to end it when we parted for college – to search for ourselves and prepare for whatever faced us afterward – there were no guarantees that we would be back together when college was over. But here I am, asking you to be my girlfriend again. I won't lie and say I haven't changed in the last few years – I have. But my feelings for you have not. And honestly, I would throw this university degree in the bin if it meant being able to have you. I would give up anything and everything for you right now and I want you to know that. No matter how you feel I want you to know that. I want to spend the rest of my life with you Serena van der Woodsen and I have never been more clear about anything in my entire life.

So now I am asking you a favour – tell me whether you feel the same way. If you don't, I respect that – it has been a long time and I know how people can change and their feelings for others can change during time apart. You only have to look at my parents for evidence of this. I'd like to say that love never fades – but I wouldn't want to lie to you – it can. If you have moved on, Serena, if you have doubts about us being together once again and need to move on and start a fresh, I will try to understand and not hold that against you – trust me, I want what's best for you.

If, however, you still love me, and you want to be with me, now, in one week when we both return to New York, and 20 years after that, then meet me in Central Park by the fountain on April 3rd at 5:00pm. I will be waiting for you there, but please save me the false hope and don't come to tell me you don't want to be with me.

All the best for next week,

Love Dan

She read it over and over, the tears flowing from her green eyes uncontrollably. She spluttered and cried aloud at the last sentence each time.

Graduation came and went – without much notice to Serena or Dan. They both flew home safe – on different days – and spent the first couple of days home with their families. Unpacking into their old rooms they felt like children again – neither had made plans to move out of home with anyone yet. Of course people asked: "Have you spoken to him?" "How is she?" "And Dan's finished at Dartmouth?" "When does Serena come home from Brown?". But they had both perfected their answer – and it was the same – a feint 'oh…um' with a small nod of the head and eyes looking away. It told the questioner to move on, and they always did, not wanting to touch further on the subject that seemed so sore. Dan had told Jenny everything, and Serena was lucky Blair had gone straight to France to visit her father as soon as she'd finished up at Yale.