"Mr Humphrey please calm down" An assistant at the Ostroff Center asked of Dan.

"No I will not calm down". Dan shouted out from the window of his room. "Get them away from me"

"Daniel, your family have come to visit you, they're worried about you"

"Family? They're not my family". Dan looked at Rufus, Jenny and Lily and repeated his previous words "They're not my family". His harsh words tore shreds through Jenny and Rufus.

Since his arrival 6 days prior, Dan had to be moved to a more 'secure' room because of his irrational and 'odd' behavior which meant he was closely monitored throughout the day. He felt like he was being unfairly imprisoned.

"Son, please don't do this". Rufus begged. Dan coldly looked him up and down like he was a piece of scum on the bottom of his shoe.

"Still think this was a good idea?" Rufus walked past Lily with his hands on the back of his head in defeat. Sending Dan to the Ostroff Center had initially been Lily's idea. The help and care they had given Eric on his road to recovery had been wonderful and she thought Dan would benefit from the Center, when she brought it up as a suggestion Rufus immediately shot her down claiming that his son didn't need that kind of care. He wasn't suicidal or mentally unbalanced.

Serena stood just outside Dan's eyeshot, scared that if she showed herself it would only make matters worse. Only did she move when Jenny begged her to intervene with a simple look of her pleading eyes. She loosely threw her arms around herself in a self-comforting embrace before walking into his view.

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity but in reality it had only been 4 seconds before Dan shouted "This is your fault. You're the reason I'm being held like an animal in this hell hole". He slammed his hands against the secured glass that was separating them causing Serena to jump back in fear. The sinking feeling in her stomach began to rise up into her throat. She did her utmost not to let the tears welling in her eyes to fall onto her crestfallen pale face or let him see her trembling bottom lip. "What did you tell them?" he barked again. She shook her head violently before running off when she could no longer fight the tears.

"Look at yourself. The way you're behaving you deserve to be locked up like an animal" Jenny snapped before chasing after Serena. She could still hear the faint sound of Dan hitting and kicking the door of his room as she literally jumped down the stairs hoping to catch up to Serena, almost tripping over her own feet. She found the blonde on the bench outside of the centre. "Hey, do you mind if I sit down?"

"Of course" Serena smiled, but her smile faded as quickly as it had come. "You know I tried to tell my mom not to send him here and that it would only make the situation worse" She wiped away a few tears from her cheeks. "He was so full of hate and rage up there. I've never seen that side of Dan before. I didn't even think there was that side of him. It's scary, I really don't like it"

"That's not him, trust me. He really doesn't blame you. He's just angry and needs to point the blame on someone. I'm just sorry that that someone was you". Serena remained silent so Jenny decided to carry on. "Do you think he'll change from being here? Because I really miss my brother" Jenny sighed and played with her fingers. "I even miss our bickering and his annoying rambling"

"Me too" Serena for the first time that day let out a little laugh. "God that boy could chew your ear off with his rambling. You know on our first date he had a 10 minute conversation about monkeys and why they eat bananas. All on his own. He even answered his own questions. I never got a word in edge ways, not that I would have attempted to because he lost me after his second intake of breath" both girls laughed. "I miss that boy"

"Yeah, that sounds like Dan. Do you know that he was so nervous about your date that he paced around the loft for an hour asking me whether or not you'll answer the door to him or that you'd act like you didn't even know anything about saying yes to the date. He was so paranoid that you'd wake up and realize he was so far down in your league and that he didn't deserve a date with the most beautiful girl he'd ever set eyes on"

Serena looked amazed. "He said that?"

"Yeah" Jenny nodded

"It was me who was worried that he'd wake up and realize I was out of his league" Serena said honestly. "I was so excited about our date that I was on the phone to Eric for 45 minutes going on and on about it. I think he was just as excited as I was until I bored him to death with my nonstop chatter"

"He still loves you, you know" Jenny nudged her. "Do I still have a chance of having the glamorous Serena Van Der Woodsen as my future sister-in-law?"

Serena leaned her head against Jenny's shoulder letting her words sink in for a moment. "I hope so…….one day. But I don't think that was love he was feeling up there"

In another part of the grounds, Rufus and Lily stood by the fountain just watching the water trickle. "I shouldn't have blamed you, I'm sorry" Rufus began. "It's just I feel so…..helpless. I don't know how I'm supposed to help him when he doesn't even want to see me. He hates me right now"

"He doesn't hate you. It's just that his head is all messed up at the minute. Throughout my own experience of being a parent of an 'ill' child is that you just have to be strong and to not give up on them. However much he kicks and he screams just let him know that you'll still be there whenever needed. He'll plea and swear to you that he's better and that things are gonna change. He'll say and do whatever it takes to leave this place but you can't cave however much it breaks your heart to see him like this. Know that it's for the best and have the utmost trust in the doctors. In time I promise things will start looking up"


I'm SO sorry it took this long to update.