5:00

It seemed as though the coffee was not doing its job. For fear of falling asleep at the round two-person table currently only being occupied by one person, Dan had plugged his ears with his iPod buds and started blasting an audiobook version of Fifth Business. Around the time of chapter six, as the last glimmers of the sun had finally faded beyond the horizon and only him, his emptied cups of coffee, his iPod, and the ever diminishing crowds of the Starbucks started to clear out, that feeling in his gut; a muted melancholy had begun to grow more pronounced. His focus was elsewhere or at least he tried to keep it there but the shuffling of the crowds and the countless trendy faceless past his vision and became a blur; a mess resembling that of a mass of humans, the distraction was fading. He supposed he couldn't linger long.

They laughed and they giggled, as they often did when they were together. And although, she felt slightly guilty about it, the fact of the matter was that these girls were her new friends and despite her previous objections and despite what Dan may or may not think, she liked them. And they were kind to her. On some level of course she felt as though she had failed, having finally graduated from Columbia after a prolonged stay, to end up modeling and riding her family's name into an easy career based in large part, if not solely on her blood and birth, and of course her beauty, was less than she had imagined herself to be. She couldn't begin to think what Dan truly thought of her these days. Even still, she still loved him; she couldn't ever imagine a time that she hadn't.

6:00

He wandered through the forest and as the foliage muffled the sirens and the endless honking of cars and rush hour traffic, his mind started to clear. And that was never a good thing. Distractions, he needed distractions, as she had often told him. As if he was a child who needed things to keep him occupied from matters he did not yet understand. Would he ever understand? How long could he possibly wait? His fingers were cold and his breath even colder. He could see his breath hanging in the still air as he walked through and dispersed it into every direction. When he had found what he was looking for, what could be done had been done, his lips curled slightly, only on one side and his heart tried to lift itself. But without the help of his soul he knew that it was hopeless.

As the girls finally lost their energy and as the champagne finally started to take its effect, the models, Serena included, lost their breath for talk and gossip. She had noticed that everyone but herself had fallen asleep. Now left alone with only the constant hum of the airplane engine to accompany her, she drifted into the corridors of her subconscious, a maze she had only explored hoping to find the center, as if there were some golden nugget of truth that would put all her worries to rest. But most times, she wasn't looking for truth, truth was too scary, too real. She didn't want real, she wanted things her way, the way it had always been. Here where not even Blair been, in the depths of her thoughts, her loneliness always got the best of her. Never would a trip through this labyrinth, leave her without a tear in her eye.

7:00

The doorman had been more than courteous. Dan apologised again and again as he made a mockery of the lobby. He would have to send him a gift basket for his troubles. He kicked open the door to his penthouse suite, inside was cold and lonely as he had left it. His hands were bloody and ripped, mainly due to his own laziness and carelessness, as he hauled the tree into his home. He hoisted it up onto his back one last time, this time without the need of his little sister, carried it over to the space he had set aside for it. He looked upon the tree and apologized for the condition of his home. He stared at his hands before deciding that he should probably wash the blood and dirt off before it got infected. Half an hour later, he sat on the stool of the kitchen island, with a cold bowl of Chef Boyardee Beefaroni wharfing it down, staring at the barren tree thinking, what I am going to do with this thing, who would even see it?

After she had left the restroom of the plane, she returned to her seat, careful not to wake up the other girls, hoping to not have to explain the condition of her red cheeks and puffy nose and the slight sniffling in her breathing. She reached into her purse and pulled out a book, Fifth Business, which Dan had packed for her before she had left on for the job. She could still remember the disappointment in his eyes… and the smile on his lips. He wasn't much of a liar but for her he tried really hard. Her happiness came first, that was the golden rule. Sometimes she wanted to slap some sense into him. She had always thought he spent too much time in his stories reading about impossible heroes and perfect goddesses. He had always thought of her as his perfect goddess and in turn killed himself trying to become that impossible hero. When was he going to realize that person is not real? How could he go through life expecting to sacrifice himself and get nothing in return?

8:00

He spent an inordinate amount of time washing and rinsing the dishes, as if he didn't want to moment to end. He figured all he had to do was keep busy. His hands stung a bit from the dish soap but he didn't have any deep cuts from the tree so he wasn't worried about a little pain. Besides, living and eating alone for the last two weeks, he had let the dishes pile up and the apartment was a mess. By the time the last bowl was on the drying rack and had reached for the vacuum only to realize the only reason it was out in the living room instead of the closet was because he had just vacuumed 30 minutes before, right before he had started on the dishes. Damn it. But ever the resourceful one, he found the Windex and a wash cloth and went to town on the coffee table and the TV.

She had stepped off the plane just behind Melanie; the brunette who had always wore her smile as an accessory. She turned around and caught Serena off guard. Serena tried to force the corner of her lips but it was too late.

"Come on girl, you think I didn't notice?" Melanie said with a knowing yet sympathetic smile?
"What? What are you talking about?" Serena feigned ignorance.
"You know when I know something is wrong?" Melanie asked rhetorically yet pausing anyways.
Serena gave her the uncomfortable yet cool look.
"When you don't giggle like a four year old." Melanie said as her smile dropped into a kind of come on gesture. "Hey, I know things have been hard at home… especially around this time of year, it's a little more than anyone care bear."
Serena simply tightened her lips.
"You should see the way you smile when you were reading that book." Melanie continued with her ever-present warming smile.
Serena's eyes betrayed her as a tear escaped and her lips broke rank. Melanie reached forward and gave her friend a genuine hug. She stroked her hair and told her it was going to be okay. They shared the moment and they shared the silence.
Finally they broke their hug. "Take care of yourself Serena…"

9:00

The warmth greeted her as she stepped into the apartment with her winter coat on. Now, like then, like so many years ago, that tree, almost as if it had been the same tree greeted her. Lights and all, he had done all he could to replicate that first tree, that first present he had ever given her. How had he known exactly what she wanted for Christmas when she didn't even know herself? She found him curled up on the couch in his NYU hoodie and boxer shorts. How very unsexy.

He was perfect.

Not wanting to wake him, she took off her heels and went barefoot in the apartment. She went into the bedroom and dug through the dresser for something to wear. She had found his gym shirt from their days at Constance-St. Jude. She took off her white leather coat and tossed it onto the bed, she slipped out of her skirt and took off her stocking. She undid her blouse and took off her bra and tossed on the t-shirt. She freed her hair from the ponytail that she had been wearing all day and went into the bathroom to wash her makeup off. Before returning to the living room she grabbed a fur blanket off their bed. When she got back into the living she jumped onto the couch behind him and wrapped her arms and the blanket around the sleeping man. She kissed his cheek and smiled. A genuine smile. Her fingers ran across his hand and intertwined with his. She felt a roughness in his hands and pulled them closer to her only to discover the cuts that he had recently suffered earlier in the day.

"Oh Dan…" She whispered.

A/N: Merry Christmas and happy holidays! This is my present to you guys! I hope you like it.