A/N: Oops, I got lazy about uploading...chapters are coming, fear not!
"Dan, please, wait." Serena jogs to catch up with his retreating back, her stilettos rapping a signal against the concrete.
Dan turns around, and his eyes alight on Serena. "Wow, I did not expect you to come so fast," he says, his tone acerbic, but with a touch of reconciliation. He warms where Serena grasps him around his upper arm with a soft hand.
"Dan, I know we fought last night, but I don't want to lose you. You were the reason I didn't suffocate in that hospital. You were my rock, you are my rock, and I need you, Dan. I always need you."
"Really? Because you were pretty close with Nate back there. It's been, what, two days since we established our relationship, which you are supposedly thankful for, and yet you still run off to Nate behind my back. I can't keep waiting and forgiving forever, Serena. And it's not fair for you to make me."
"Look, I didn't know that you were comforting me about something that Nate wasn't responsible for. I didn't know that one of my closest childhood friends was going to framed for something I know he didn't do. God, Dan, we've been so scared to talk about this, and you know why! I didn't really make a choice between you and Nate, because you full well know the reason why Nate couldn't have been more to me is, because he was supposed to have drugged and kidnapped me."
"So what you're saying is that the only reason you chose me was by process of elimination. That because the only other competition was eliminated, you chose me."
"No! Dan, how can you even say that? If I didn't want to be with you, I wouldn't be with you. Ever since we played pool on that first date, ever since all you've done for me ever since this mess happened, I love you, Dan Humphrey. I'm in love with you. I can't ever stop thinking about what we could be like without everything fighting against us. I chose you. But I can't ignore Nate." She puts a hand on her forehead, as she blinks furiously to rid herself of the water in her eyes. "God, I just can't ignore Nate, Dan. And I don't have much time to help him."
He bows his head, closing his eyes for a brief moment. When he opens them again, his voice is softer. "So where does this leave us? Back to square one? Again?" But there's no malice in his words. A hint of hope maybe, with a little bit of resignation.
Serena laughs shakily, the laugh catching in her throat as she reaches for his hand and squeezes, their grips fitting together perfectly. "I don't know, Dan. Have I ever known, with the both of you?" Serena sighs and collects her thoughts, wishing that there is enough time to hash out what was going on in their little love triangle. "We'll work it out, okay? We always do. But right now, I need to know why I'm right about Jenny."
Dan looks at Serena for a few more moments before dropping his gaze, running a hand through his hair before looking back up to her. "I, uh, called the house phone in Hudson after you left." He scratches his head. He wants to look downwards in shame over the way he acted when she told him of her suspicions about Jenny. And, suddenly, he realizes that Blair is right. He has no right to berate her newly restored friendship with Nate when he treated Serena the way he did the night before. "And I found out you were completely in the right. My mom thought she was staying with us in New York for the entire weekend, but none of us have seen her since she supposedly left the night of Chuck's other party. I didn't tell my mom that because I didn't want to freak her out completely. I still don't know if that was a good move on my part, but I just didn't want her to feel as I do right now, because my little sister is more than likely involved in what happened to you, with Nate." He looks up at Serena, his features desperate. "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."
Serena touches his shoulder, deciding to fight the battle of Nate's innocence another time. "Come on, it wasn't your fault. Don't apologize." She pulls him into a hug. As she relaxes into the familiar position, the need for his support and his presence swells. His cologne, the feel of his button down shirts against her body, it's all so right. You know what also feels right, Serena? When you hug Nate.
She springs away almost immediately, causing Dan to pitch forward.
"Are you okay? Did I do something? Are you dizzy? You've only been just released from the hospital. I'm sorry, I should have been more careful."
"No, I'm okay. I just realized we have too much to do on such a short notice. So will you help me?" Serena lies quickly, efficiently, and Dan is too confused by her actions to see through it like he usually does.
"Uh, yeah, of course. Anything to help."
"Come on, let's go back to the hotel and decide what to do next."
Dan's brows knit together. "Maybe that's not the best idea to make the rest of the day efficient. I'm guessing Nate wasn't happy that you came for me, and Blair and Chuck aren't my biggest cheerleaders. How about you and them try to find out if anyone else was involved? I'll use the rest of the day to find out more about where Jenny is. Actually... I should probably check at the loft to see if there are any signs she stayed there."
Serena nods, relieved that she made the decision she would have. "You know, I think that might be for the best. Then I'll text you where we're meeting tomorrow?"
Dan's posture stiffens. "I'll see you later, then." He's unhappy that she's returning to within 50 feet of her kidnapper.
"Of course." Serena says, with a bright smile, reserved just for him.
Surprising both himself and Serena, he pulls her quickly into a deep kiss. He isn't sure if that's altogether within the newly redrawn parameters of their relationship, but he needs it, and from the reactivity of Serena's lips against his, she does too. They pull back, both with wide eyes and small secretive giggles turning up the corners of their mouths. Serena puts a hand on his cheek, running a thumb over his slight five o'clock shadow before running off.
Serena's emotions roil within her as she flees to The Empire. Dan and Nate. Same thing, again. Always? She knows it won't be. Of just one thing she feels confident at this moment: if she doesn't choose soon, they'll choose for her, and she would be left without two of the most important people in her life.
"Where's Nate?" Serena raises her voice as she walks in through the doors and spots Blair and Chuck having an intense conversation but with no one else around. Both don't reply, being too engrossed in their own exchanging of words. Serena raises an eyebrow at how close they're standing—almost nose to nose. "Blair! Chuck! Where's Nate?"
Blair jerks up out of her and Chuck's tense dialogue, coming into her senses and stepping back with a petite clearing of her throat. She wastes no time getting snippy. "Oh, Serena! There you are. Where's Humphrey? Shouldn't you two be holding hands and forgetting about Nate?"
Serena's mouth twists into a retort, but before she can say something she'll regret, Chuck interrupts. "Nate's taking a shower and changing up in the penthouse."
He looks at Serena, holding her gaze but measuring his next words with care. "Blair is partially right. You can't keep doing this. You can't choose, leave, then come back expecting Dan or Nate to still be here waiting. I don't pretend to give a damn about Humphrey, but-"
"-we all care about Nate," Blair finishes. "You made it clear you were choosing Dan when you left, but now you're here, looking for Nate? It doesn't have to be Pretty in Pink, Serena."
"I'm not trying to confuse anyone, Blair, and I'm not Molly Ringwald. I just don't know who to choose." Serena looks away, feeling exhausted for the fiftieth time that day. It's past noon, and she's still running on no sleep nor food.
"Look, Serena, Nate's court date isn't decided yet, and you know how long these things take. God knows there are enough convicts in the world, and New York has exactly 90 percent of them. We have time to figure this out, and I'm sure we'll come up with a plan tomorrow," Blair says.
"You have the best of the best to catch the person who did this." Chuck adds, looking at Blair, smirking.
Blair ignores him. "S, you just got out of the hospital, and you're exhausted. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you look like one of those plebeians camped out at Chanel waiting for the latest supply of nail polish. You can't get worse than that. Go take a nap." Blair tries to make her voice comforting.
Serena forces herself to stop a shiver from coursing through her at the thought of taking a nap. "No." She imagines sleeping and feeling her limbs so heavy she'll never wake up. But when she catches sight of Blair's piercing stare that can only mean she's about to argue, Serena amends her statement and agrees, but with no intention of heading to her suite.
Serena heads up the elevator, trying to think of what she's going to say to Nate. Did it really seem like she chose Dan over Nate when she had left? She had sought Nate's approval when she left to stop Dan, but it hadn't been a conscious action, merely one to seek reassurance that he wouldn't be angry if she tried to stop Dan. But, perhaps, she acknowledges with a yawn, it's truly too much to ask for none of her actions between Nate and Dan to be misunderstood.
The elevator arrives at the penthouse suite, and she holds her breath an instance before the elevator door opens, preparing herself for the sight of Nate. No such person is in sight, however, as she enters, and she lets out her breath, stepping into the apartment. Serena can vaguely hear the shower running in the bedroom Nate usually sleeps in and steps into the room, plopping down on the unnaturally neat bed to wait for him, then thinking the better of it. It might be awkward. She moves to the spacious living room couch to wait. Eventually, the water stops, and after a couple minutes, a robed Nate, complete with wet, dark hair, steps out.
"Nate?" Serena speaks uncertainly.
He starts, turning around quickly. Shock registers as he sees Serena on the couch in the middle of standing up. "I thought you were with Dan."
Serena doesn't know if he means spatially or relationship wise, so she replies as if he means the former, the safer of the two. "He told me what he needed to. Jenny's been here in the city, and he's finding out where exactly she is right now."
Nate rubs his wet hair with a thick towel, walking towards her. He stops a few feet in front of her, not knowing what to say.
"I'm sorry," Serena says lamely.
Nate looks at her quizzically as he continues running his towel through his locks. "What for?"
"I chose him. But I didn't know you were innocent. It's different now, and I still haven't chosen." She sighed. "I hurt you again. Of course I did. I always do." She refuses to make eye contact with him, ashamed as she tucks a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. Serena feels him sit down on the couch next to her with a loud plop.
"I'm sure I should be used to you leaving me for someone else by now." Nate's voice is resigned. It isn't meant to be a painful jab, or intended for her pain, but Serena winces anyway.
"Dan, Tripp, probably more." She gives a short bitter laugh, her hair falling forward. She feels his hand on her shoulder turning her towards him. She looks up as Nate gives an almost imperceptible shake of his head, telling her to stop with a warm smile on his lips that don't quite reach his eyes but is sincere nonetheless. She thinks for a moment about his words, her brows knitting together as she grasps a meaning that hadn't been clear before.
"You said you should be used to me leaving you. Does that mean you're not used to it?" Serena asks curiously, staring into his ocean eyes, faceted perfectly. The way his words were phrased now leaves her with this burning question.
Nate falters a moment, running his hand through his wet hair before speaking. "It doesn't matter to you. You haven't chosen. And whether I'm used to it or not, there's always going to be someone else."
The breath leaves Serena as she heard his words. She struggles to form words. "Nate..." She swallows hard before continuing. "You need to understand I wasn't ready to choose at the party. I didn't send that text message to you and Dan. I need to know, for sure, who I want to be with. Then and now, I'm still not sure. Nate, if it doesn't matter how you feel about me, then I would be with Dan right now." Serena grasps one of Nate's hands. "Believe me when I say all I want to do is think about what's going to happen next with you and Dan. But right now, we have to focus on getting you cleared, absolutely, of all charges, because you are innocent." Serena tries to lighten up the mood with a weak smile and a joke. "And we won't fail with a Waldorf working on our side."
"Not to mention the Bass working with her," Nate says with a small curve of his lips, returning the joke as he stands up, withdrawing his hand. He walks towards the bar, pouring himself a small amount of scotch in a glass cup.
Serena also stands. "I'll conspire with the both of them and see what else we can find today. I think I'll be out of my element with the two of them," she laughs a little, "but I can try to help."
Nate nods, taking a sip from his liquor, quiet, pensive. There is only silence as Serena puts her hands in her back pockets, ducks her head, and leaves without another word.
Serena pauses by the door to her suite, keycard in hand but with a slight tremor. The tremor grows into full fledged shaking as she thinks of the possibility of an empty, dark room-another person waiting to shove drugs down her throat, causing her to lose control of her body once again. Absolute terror causes her body to shut down. That deep fear in her stomach nearly chokes her. She closes her eyes, trying to calm herself and her breathing. She turns away from the door, leaning on it while wrapping her arms tightly around herself.
It's okay, she tries to convince herself, there's nobody there. Nobody. It doesn't work. She can't go in that room. That fear feels like tentacles gripping firmly to her insides, threatening to tighten its hold if she enters that room. Serena looks down, blinking back tears and shaking her head as if that could really clear her head.
She slides down her door instead, sitting down heavily with a sigh. She pulls out her cell phone to check Gossip Girl. Maybe there is a blast she missed while out, or there could be an updated location on Jenny. She scrolls and can almost whoop with satisfaction to find a post on Jenny's slip off to the UES, which was only supposed to be temporary. After nobody seemed to blow up over her presence, it seemed Gossip Girl had deemed it unnecessary to send out an alert. But GG informants probably still thought Jenny's present was OMG worthy and sent in places where she's been spotted immediately. Location tracking of Jenny showed she was spotted nine different times at four places: Grand Avenue, Brooklyn, a certain Bushwick Avenue in Queens, and another address she knew to be Carolina Herrera's atelier, and the loft. Dan doesn't have to look for signs Jenny is here in the Upper East Side; here is the proof. The Carolina Herrera atelier explains how Jenny had gotten ahold of her blue lace dress too, and how Serena's own dress was damaged, delaying her arrival to Chuck's party.
I should set Blair and Chuck on Jenny's trail, she thinks, pulling out her cell phone.
"You bitch-" Blair's voice roars out of the phone, and Serena jerks away from it, wincing.
"Blair, it's me! Not Jenny."
"Right. Sorry. Have you found something? Chuck, stop drinking like you think you're Hemingway and get over here."
Serena gives a tiny smile before sobering. "Dan told me Jenny is involved in this somehow. We have to find out just how much and also how to get proof. She's still in the city. She lied to Dan, Rufus, and her mom about where she was. Gossip Girl located her on the map a couple of times a few days ago on Grand Avenue in Brooklyn, and a few other places that I want to check out with Nate. Can you and Chuck get to Brooklyn? There probably won't be much to find but maybe we can piece something together."
There is a long silence. "Jenny Humphrey took it too far when she slept with Chuck, but this is a whole new level. She's come close to taking away two people I love most. This bitch is deader than my crocodile skin Hermés." Indeed, Blair's voice is still-anybody listening in would say she spoke quite calmly. But Serena knows the fury behind the calm. Blair resumes, "Chuck and I can see what dump this Grand Avenue place is."
"Thank you, Blair. Good luck. Wait a second!" Serena says before Blair hangs up. "Do you mind meeting Dan at the loft and taking him there as well? He was going to check to check for signs of Jenny at the place, but he should be done now. I think he should be involved in this somehow. I would go with him, but I really need to work things out with Nate. Don't let him and Chuck fight! And Blair, don't pick on him either."
There is only a scoff and a muttered 'fine' before Blair hangs up, but not before Serena hears her command Chuck to check Gossip Girl for the address and to find some sanitary masks. Serena shakes her head with a smile at her best friend.
Serena pauses for a minute before dialling Dan. He picks up on the first ring. "Hey, Dan. You're at the loft right now, right? Did you find anything?"
Dan sighs audibly through the telephone. "Yeah, I did. There are things in Jenny's room that I'm pretty sure weren't there before, and I see that her bed is kind of hastily made. Plus, neither my Dad nor I go near the Raisin Bran, which is almost completely gone, and that's her favorite cereal."
"I'm sorry, Dan. I know how much you wish she could be innocent."
"That's nice of you, Serena, to say sorry when Jenny probably took part in kidnapping and drugging you. God, how did it come to this? What am I supposed to tell my parents? And where the hell is she?"
Serena has no answers. Jenny has never been a close friend, but Serena never thought she could be capable of something horrendous. But her trying and failing to steal Nate away from Serena probably has a lot to do with this—hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Jenny had been scorned all right. She tried to ruin Serena's life and pinned it on Nate.
Serena closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing. "Listen, Dan. We have to find her, and we have to figure out what really happened. Will you help me do that?"
There is a shorter silence that she expected, and Serena smiles at his answer immediately. "I'm in."
"Dan, thank you. You're the best. Okay, Blair and Chuck are heading over to Brooklyn now to pick you up and take you to an address Jenny's been spotted at on Gossip Girl."
"Serena van der Woodsen, did you really know I was going to agree to be a part of this before I did?" Dan has a laugh in his voice, and Serena feels light-hearted at his tone.
"I know you, Dan, and I know you've always wanted a chance to play Sherlock Holmes."
"Ah, the truth comes out. You remembered that I said those short stories were my favorite freshman year."
"I distinctly remember walking in on you reading a monologue to me in a bad British accent and pretending you had a pocket watch."
"Ah, my dear Watson, you simply don't understand the humor of the books."
Serena giggles at that, and they share a happy moment before both come back to reality. "I'm sorry I saddled you with Blair and Chuck. I know they're not your favorite people, but please don't fight. I wish I could come, but there are other locations that I have to check with Nate."
Dan takes this surprisingly well. There's only a brief pause before he answers,"Okay. I guess I'll see you later. I hope we'll have good news."
Serena takes on a doubtful expression, even though Dan can't see her. "Yeah, I hope so. Bye, Dan." She closes her cell phone and breathes out a long breath at the coming afternoon. She knows she still needs to talk more with Nate. He sacrificed a lot to help her that night, and she's treated him poorly since then by running away to Dan. She texts him to come down to the lobby and meet her. Hopefully it will be enough.
Unsurprisingly, it isn't. Nate isn't cold, nor unfriendly, but neither does he make a conscious effort to be friendly. He responds to Serena's efforts to talk monosyllabically, though kindly. After a short while of it, she gives up with an internal sigh of disappointment.
"What the hell?" Nate says disbelievingly as they arrive on foot.
"One of Jenny's locations on Gossip Girl's map. 5379 Bushwick Avenue, Queens. Is this it?" Serena asks. The taxi had dropped them off in the middle of the street since they couldn't see the house numbers from the cab.
"Serena, this is Juliet's old apartment!"
Serena, looking at him, furrows her brow. She pulls out her cell phone, double checking Gossip Girl's locator. "Jenny Humphrey. Spotted. January 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, and today's the 25th.I haven't gotten it wrong."
"Then what was Jenny doing here?" Nate says, running a hand through his hair. "If she was here four days in a row then-"
"Juliet had to do something with it."
"Brooklyn! Get out of the car before I have to touch you and shove you out. These gloves are new you know."
Dan still refuses to move, instead staring out at the apartment with with wide eyes. He should've known, should've asked for the address. He could've saved them a trip all the way out here. He knows this place and its surroundings like the back of his hand. "What does this place have to do with anything," he says in a monotone.
Chuck deigns to acknowledge Dan's presence for the first time. "Jenny-"
"Don't you dare say that bitch's name, or I'm going to soil my gloves throwing you out of the car too." Blair fixes a piercing look on him before turning to reply to Dan whose fist clenched when Chuck addressed him. "The wannabe racoon was spotted here three days in a row a couple days ago. Do you know this place? I can see that you do, so speak up."
Dan inhales slowly before opening his mouth, inspecting again with his eyes the neighbourhood that he knew so well. "It's Vanessa's apartment."