A/N: Hey everyone. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. I want to personally thank those who last reviewed: Nanna Black, kitkatbaby611, Erica, alistedfreak, The Real Gossip Girl, stephanie, hero6, cesca, Destiny45, IncandescentAngel, M-maiden...and others who have been reviewing. I appreciate you all taking the time to read and leave a comment. It's great to see people reading and enjoying my fic. It means a lot and I hope to not disappoint any of you.

Destiny45: Hey! It's awesome that you also read Gossip Girl. I'm glad that even though you are a DS fan, and not so much of an NS fan you're still reading my fic and giving it a chance. That means alot thanks!

Alrighty with that said...here is the latest chapter. R&R. Enjoy!

Chapter 11

"Stay With Me"

The following morning, Dan Humphrey goes to visit Vanessa at her new part time job in Williamsburg where she works as a waitress. As soon as Dan enters the building and takes a seat on a nearby table, Vanessa immediately spots him from across the room as she makes her way over to him.

"Well good morning, Humphrey." She greets while handing him a menu. He looks up at Vanessa in her pink apron and chuckles.

"Nice outfit."

She shot him a look as she takes the menu and smacks him on the back of his head with it. Dan's mouth fell open in surprise. "What can I get for you today?"

Dan allowed her mischievous behavior slide. "Coffee," he responds vaguely, "and lots of it."

Vanessa purses her lips as she takes a seat in front of him. "You're still bummed out about the break up aren't you?"

Dan pathetically shrugs his shoulders. "Are you doing anything tonight?" He attempts to change the subject. "I was thinking maybe we can watch a movie or something."

"Actually…" she pauses, "I have other plans."

"Oh. You're working overtime or something?"

Vanessa begins getting up as she coyly smiles. "No…I have a date."

Dan lifts his eyebrows in surprise. "A date huh?" He smirks. "With who?"

"The guy who works in the bar where my sister plays," she answers, "you know…the bartender."

"Oh that guy." Dan responds halfheartedly while nodding. "Oh well that's cool…"

"Yeah, but if you really need me--"

"No," he chuckles. "You go on your date and have fun okay?"

She smiles. "So how do you like your coffee?" She asks before it gets even more awkward, "dark as usual?"

He smirks. "You know me too well."

After the startling events of last night, Nate brought Serena home after witnessing an attempted rape. If it weren't for him being there at the right time, in the right moment Serena would have been raped and possibly killed. The thought of nearly losing her troubled his mind for he could never imagine life without Serena. It was bad enough to not have her around for a year, but a lifetime…now that's a different story.

It has been a sleepless night for Nate as he continues being by Serena's bed side—watching her sleep peacefully, looking vulnerable but yet so beautiful. Moments later, Serena's mother Lillian walks inside the room as she brings in a cup of coffee for Nate. She then takes a seat on the edge of Serena's bed, looking over her daughter.

"I can take it from here, Nate. You should go home and get some sleep."

"I actually want to stay here until she wakes up. That is if you don't mind, Mrs. van der Woodsen." Lillian shifts her gaze over to Nate and gratefully smiles at him.

"Thank you for looking after my daughter, Nate. You've been so good to her." Tears begin to stream down her face. "If I have lost her…"

"She's here now." He reassures her as he places a hand on her shoulder for comfort. "She's safe. I promise I won't let anything bad happen to her okay?"

Mrs. van der Woodsen nods her head, feeling at ease by his words, "okay."

Dan Humphrey returns home after running a few errands for his father Rufus. As soon as he reaches the kitchen, he finds his sister in front of a laptop.

"What are you doing?"

"You wouldn't believe what just happened to Serena."

Dan furrows his eyebrows as he looks over Jenny's shoulder to see what she's looking at. "You're on Gossip Girl again?"

"Someone witnessed Serena getting drunk with some stranger at a bar and then Nate showed up and carried her away."

"Let me see!" Dan nudges Jenny out of the way as he turns the laptop towards his direction. His lips parted as he stares at the photo of Nate carrying a helpless Serena out the bar.

"I have to go see her." Dan begins heading towards the door as Jenny follows him behind.

"But didn't you two just break up?"

"Yeah so?"

Jenny shrugs her shoulders. "Well, what if she doesn't want to see you right now?"

He rolls his eyes. "I just want to make sure she's okay. Tell Dad I'll be home before dinner."

Jenny nods her head as she watches Dan swiftly exits the room.

As the morning turns later in the afternoon, sunlight seeps through the curtains of Serena's bedroom as she weakly begins fluttering her eyes open. Serena could feel her head throbbing in pain as she turns to the side where she finds Nate sleeping peacefully on a chair beside her. A small smile appears on her face as she weakly reaches for him.

"Nate?"

He suddenly wakes up from the faint sound of her voice as he sits up on the edge of the chair and smiles at her.

"Serena," he whispers in relief. "You're okay."

She weakly looks up at him. "What happened?"

"You don't remember anything?"

She wrinkles her forehead. "I just remember going to a bar and meeting some guy."

"Yeah, that guy happens to be an asshole who tried taking advantage of you."

Serena averts from his gaze. "And then I remember you taking me home." She shuts her eyes shamefully. "I am so stupid. I should have never gone to a bar alone."

Nate chuckles. "Yeah, you are stupid. You should've come to me if anything was bothering you or Blair."

She sighs. "Blair was with Chuck. After breaking up with Dan I felt horrible I just wanted to talk, but she wanted to go out there and find someone to replace you. But we both know that will never happen."

"Well from now on no more going to bars alone okay?"

Serena smiles, "I promise."

"Good."

There is a moment of awkward silence.

"So…how are you feeling?"

"Well my head hurts."

"Here, take this." Nate hands her pain reliever pills and a glass of water. "This should ease the pain."

Serena sits up on her bed, "thanks."

"So what happened?" He asks. "Between you and Dan…"

"I rather not talk about it."

Nate nods his head considerately. "Is there anything else you need?"

She looks back at him as soon as she took her medicine. "Yeah, you think you can stay here with me for awhile?"

Nate smiles warmly in response, "of course."

Moments later, Nate hears a knock on the door. With Lillian and Erik out getting food for dinner, there was no one else in the suite but them. Not wanting to leave Serena's side, Nate reluctantly gets up from the chair to answer the door.

After several knocks, Nate finally opens the door where he unexpectedly finds Blair standing on the other side. The two former "it" couple look at each other in surprise as Blair narrows her eyes at him. "What are you doing here?" She retorts while inviting herself in. Nate sighs while shutting the door behind.

"You heard what happened?"

"Yeah I did." Blair turns around to face him. "How is she?"

"She's fine. She's up if you want to go and talk to her."

"Good, you can leave now. I can take it from here."

Nate furrows his eyebrows. "Excuse me? But she asks me to stay…"

Blair forces a smile. "Nate, I'm the best friend here. You're just the ex-boyfriend who slept with the best friend." His lips parted. "And as far as I know you're nothing to Serena. I mean just because she and Dan broke up doesn't mean she's gonna all of a sudden fall for you." She chuckles as Nate looks down dejectedly. "You can go now."

Nate shakes his head in dismay as he begins walking towards the door. He then stops and looks over his shoulder. "You know, you didn't have to be such a bitch."

Blair smirks as she waves goodbye and watches him leave the room.

Meanwhile, as Dan finally makes his way towards the elevators of the Palace after walking a long distance from Brooklyn, he unexpectedly bumps into Nate as the two boys look at each other in awkward silence. After a few seconds, Nate shakes his head and greets him. "Hey."

"Hey." Dan responds breathlessly as he buries his hands uncomfortably in the pockets of his jacket. "I heard what happened and I wanted to make sure Serena is okay."

Nate scratches the top of his head. "Yeah, she's fine. Look, you can try and go see her but you're gonna have to get through Blair first."

"She's giving you a hard time?"

Nate nods his head. "She pretty much kicked me out."

Dan chuckles, "I'm not gonna even try." There is a short pause. "It's hard to imagine that Serena is actually best friends with her."

"If only you knew how Serena was like back then." Nate smirks as he pats Dan on the shoulder and exits the hotel. "Later, man."

To be continued…