"So Jack Bass..." Serena ponders, walking back to the Empire with Nate. It is almost pitch black outside, thick storm clouds covering the moon and stars. She shivers.
Blair fed Serena and Nate a quick bullshit story after getting off the phone with Dan. She feigned that the PI had called her cell phone right after talking with her mom, and he had seen Jack Bass hovering outside Lily and Rufus' penthouse. Chuck sat up ramrod straight upon hearing his uncle's name, incredulous, but knowing the look in Blair's eyes, did not protest. Blair insisted that Serena and Nate go over all the transaction records that Chuck's lawyer was sending over in order to find something to nail Jack with while they saw Andrew about getting Jack's phone records. Ten minutes into their walk, Blair called again, this time with Chuck fully on board with hoodwinking Nate and Serena off the real trail. Together, they concocted a phony voicemail from Jack threatening to harm Serena again if Chuck didn't hand over the company. It had apparently been obliterated from the network when they tried to access it for Nate and Serena, so they never got to hear it. They were off to find Jack's whereabouts in New York while the blond duo were discovering the "proof". Little did they know that Chuck just shipped 15 cartons of paper records to the Empire to bury them in. ("I'm sorry, but my father never subscribed to the idea of using devices that had the potential to leave traces that couldn't be completely burned, and I agree. We do things the old-fashioned way in my company")
"It wouldn't have been my first guess, but Chuck and Blair seemed sure of it. They had the evidence in the voicemail too, even if it was destroyed before we could hear it," Nate says, shrugging.
"I still can't believe Juliet, Vanessa, and Jenny would hate me enough to try to take me down in the first place. At least they hadn't gone as far as to drug me."
"Are you kidding? That seems easier to believe than Jack Bass. I can't picture it."
Serena protests. "The guy's crazy. Blair said in the voicemail it was just because I was the first one of his family he saw at Chuck's masquerade-so it could've been you, too. Or Blair." She shivers, this time partly fueled by fear for those possibilities. "I still think we should've gone with the both of them."
Nate surprises her with a one armed hug. "Don't worry. They'll always be fine as long as they have each other. Come on, you know Chuck would kill anyone who so much as touches one hair on Blair's head, even if that anyone is his uncle."
Serena leans into his hug. "We'll all be okay if we have each other. I mean that more than you know." She leans back and looks up at him. "I hope you know that no matter how any of it turns out we will always have this."
'This friendship?' can't help resonating through Nate's mind, slightly crestfallen. But he dispels the thought. It's comforting enough to know that Serena will, as of old, be a true friend, when just a week before, he was sure she would never want to see him again.
"What the-" Serena breathes, breaking away from Nate as they both stop in their tracks and the moment is gone. The sight of at least twenty people decidedly not dressed like most of the clientele at the Empire bringing enormous boxes stuffed with various manila files was enough to make most of the street stop in confusion.
"Son of a bitch."
Blair grimaces as she pokes a toe of her Guiseppi Zanottis on the grey cement of the police department. "Is this sanitary," she deadpans.
"Blair, it's a police department, not a sewer, which is what you are miming stepping into right now," Dan retorts.
Chuck and Jenny, as far from each other and Blair as possible, sigh in exasperation. The first day they had met up had been spent in what they now considered heavenly blissful silence-Blair had not condescended to react to Jenny, and Chuck had not the face to speak in front of Dan and Jenny. The trip to the Koch Avenue in Queens yielded nothing to clue the motley foursome to the location of the mysterious woman who had given Nate the envelope. The hopelessness of it all had even driven down the ever-determined Blair, causing her to snap at everyone and fight constantly with Dan-perturbingly the least awkward and most acceptable person to talk to (fight with) in her retinue at the time. She had slightly calmed when Dan had contributed most excellently to their accumulation of evidence, but Blair soon returned to her irritable mood when catching sight of Jenny again.
Nonetheless, they emerged victorious. By asking a particularly knowledgeable man living on the street, Dan found the huddled figure currently trailing behind them that mutters to herself, jerking silk cloth between her fingers.
Chuck stares at her for a moment. "Let's just get to the detectives, alright?"
Blair jerks her chin up. "Aren't I leading the way already?" She marches up to the desk and requests the presence of the detective in charge of the Serena van der Woodsen case. 'Demands' is probably the better operative word.
A while later, a dark haired man in a wrinkled suit and bags under his eyes approaches them. He holds out a limp hand, and Blair shakes it, surprised to find his grip firm. "Blair Waldorf. The others don't matter." She reconsiders. "As much."
"Detective Constable Robert Kwychowski. Wish I could say I have the time, but I'm swamped right now, could you-"
"Actually, we can help you clean up some of your, ah, swampage."
"We have the evidence to prove Nathaniel Archibald's innocence," Chuck cuts in.
"You're going to want to hear this. Even better, you're going to want to see it," Dan adds.
The detective rubs his face. "I'm guessing you're his friends?"
"We're also Serena's friends. We want to bring the person who hurt her to justice, but we want to bring the right one," Blair says.
He ponders his next words before speaking. "And I'm guessing you think you know who the right one is?"
"Juliet Sharpe. But not only that, but after grubbing around in God-knows-where, we found what you incompetent fools couldn't. Here-"
Kwychowski starts at this, cutting Blair off before she could say another word. "Lady, let me give you a reality check here. You may live in your hoity-toity la-la-land part of the city, but this is goddamn Queens and your boy is not high on my priorities when I got a murder investigation, two sexual assault claims, and a couple of vehicular manslaughter charges on my plate with no more budget to hire more officers, are we clear? So I don't need you, Blair Wal-shit, to come waltzin' in here calling me and my men incompetent fools, you get that?"
Blair has a rare moment of speechlessness. Dan stifles a laugh and an urge to shake the detective's hand.
"Now, what do you have to show me?"
She regains herself quickly, and although with a newfound attempt at respect, speaks with no less verve. "Jenny. The dress receipt."
Jenny wordlessly passed over the embossed cardstock from Carolina Herrera's atelier to the detective.
"This is a dress receipt to prove there was someone who pretended to be "Serena" that night by buying two of the same dresses."
Blair then grabs the bag lady by the arm and jerks her in front of the detective, who was scrutinizing the cardstock. "And here is the person who Juliet told to give the envelope to Nate with the address of the Calderon building, who is willing to testify to that fact."
Blair waves a hand forward, and Dan pulls out his phone, tapping a few times on the screen before handing it to the detective who puts on a pair of spectacles to see. "Courtesy of Dan dumpster diving, the blasphemous shredded Carolina Herrera. And in case you want to prove this was staged, go ahead. Call Carolina-she never made or sold more than three of that dress, which means the only way we got a hold of these dress shreds is by breaking into your evidence locker to get to Serena's dress, or we found the one Juliet shredded. You'll see the address of where that picture was taken at the top of the screen.
"Keep scrolling, Detective. You'll see another picture of some scissors that we didn't touch, but if I could make a suggestion to you very competent people to dust for fingerprints, you'll probably find Miss Sharpe's prints on them. So yes, Blair Wal-shit did do your job, didn't she?"
"This preliminary hearing has found that in light of the insurmountable evidence brought forward proving the innocence of the defendant Nathaniel Fitzwilliam Archibald, I hereby declare Mr. Archibald innocent on all charges in the Serena van der Woodsen Case." The judge bangs her gavel with an air of finality. "Court dismissed, hearing is adjourned."
Serena is too aware of Dan sitting in the row behind her as Nate comes down to the rest of the courtroom, but she pulls Nate into a chaste hug of triumph anyway, laughing as she almost knocks him over in surprise. "You're free."
"Thank you for believing in me," Nate whispers.
"No." She pulls away slightly to look in his eyes. "Thank you. You went through all of that just because you tried to help me when I was in danger. Thank you."
"Oh come on, Serena, you know the toughest part of this thing was spending hours going through those stupid files and wanting to kill Blair and Chuck for lying to us about it." They pull away from each other, laughing, before Anne Archibald comes running over to throw her arms around her son. Serena smiles at the pair of them, with Nate trying to calm his mother down by awkwardly patting her on the shoulder.
She walks away, thinking of the past few days, with the both of them frantically trying to make their way through the records while having no idea what to look for or what the mess of numbers was supposed to mean. And it had been so damn awkward in Chuck's penthouse with each other. Serena didn't know what to say, and what little they had said barely counted as small talk or commiserating over what the numbers in the left corner meant on page 792 and 233. They slept on top of the files, which Serena was grateful for, given that it meant she could avoid her fears of breaking down when confronted with memories of two weeks ago. No, she had to keep that bottled in. She couldn't let Nate see that when she was barely ready to confront it herself.
She shakes her head as if that would shake off her heavy thoughts as she watches Blair and Chuck congratulate Nate. Jenny cuts in at the exact moment before Blair and Chuck can reach him, throwing her arms exuberantly around her former flame. "I'm so glad you got out of this alright, Nate."
Effectively distracted, Serena bites her lip to keep from screaming at Jenny. She not only tried to take Serena down, but was also part of the reason why Serena and Nate broke up in the first place. She needn't have worried about Jenny and retribution, however. One look at Blair's fiery glare, and she almost laughs out loud.
"The trash here really needs to be picked up, doesn't it?" Blair spits out.
"Looks like your high school tricks didn't work it, did it? It's been a long time since you've been Queen Bee." Jenny smirks, lording the fact that she had been the one to get the first piece of evidence over Blair.
Blair takes a step slowly over to her with a small smile on her lips. It isn't a warm one. "I'm not someone who doesn't give credit where it's due. Congratulations, Little J, on being not so little anymore. You've bested Blair Waldorf on this one." Blair leans forward conspiratorially. "But no one will forget that you tried to ruin Serena and turn everyone against her. My punishment for you coming back to the Upper East Side won't even need my doing. Once everyone finds out what you did to Serena, they'll all think you only helped so you wouldn't be put on trial for the drugging. And they will find out. Your sorry face won't ever be accepted here again. You can pass that along to your friend Vanessa too." Blair smiles wider. "You may not be so little anymore, Jenny Humphrey, but you're still Little J, because you never learn." Jenny tries to speak, but Blair cuts her off. She sees Rufus behind Humphrey. "Save your protestations for your father," Blair says, before a crisp turn to Nate.
Serena schools her vindicated expression into submission. She looks toward Dan who's also making his way over. Serena catches his hand as passes. "Hey," she says simply.
He intertwines her fingers with his and gives it a squeeze before letting go. "You know I hate to say I told you so, but. . ."
Serena lets out a light chuckle. "But you told me so. You proved it, almost on your own."
"Hey, I went dumpster diving for that evidence, which is more than Chuck and Blair's claim to fame," Dan quips.
Serena's voice softens. "I know you did all of it to clear Jenny's name, and it's great that she's not going to be on trial like Juliet, but I really am glad you helped Nate. You helped me too, you know. I don't know what I would've done if Nate really had gone to jail when the only thing he did was try look out for me."
"I know that, Serena. Jenny may have been part of the reason, but I thought about you. A lot actually." Dan's too afraid to say just how much he thinks about her. I'm in love with you! he wants to scream.
Serena looks into the chocolate brown eyes, ringed with long lashes, that see right through her, to the deepest thoughts she's ever had, the very core of who she is. She always feels like he can look straight to her essence. She could have kissed him then, just out of wanting to thank him for involving himself for her, but settles for a tight hug across the seats, just feeling her cheek on his and their arms wrapped around each other. She misses this. Just two weeks ago, she came out of the hospital, and his arms were all she had. But things are different, circumstances have changed, and Serena knows she either has to go back into his arms or leave it forever for someone else's.
Dan breaks the hug and says something about going over and congratulating Nate, but Serena is already far away, striding out of the crowd and heading home to figure out her jumble of thoughts, because she needs to make a choice. A choice that will break Dan or Nate's heart, but also, she feels, her own.
A/N:If you liked it/hated it/want to see more or less of something, leave a review!