"Ok grandma, not that I don't love big ballrooms and pretty decorations," Summer said as she surveyed the room. "But what exactly am I doing here?"
"Cotillion?" Serena asked from behind her and Summer raised looked at them confused. "I completely forgot about it."
"Yes, well darling, you missed yours," Lily said and Serena thought back to where she was when her cotillion was happening.
"Summer would have been about 4 months old," Serena said scratching her chin in thought and then she looked at her daughter. "When were you born again?"
Summer glared at her mother for a few moments before turning to her grandmother again, "What is it?"
"It's a debutant ball, girls and boys are taught to dance in the correct way, there are many other etiquette classes they have to take as well before the ball and their introduction to society," Lily said smiling as a group of teenagers walked into the hall.
"Grams used to make me go for those," Summer said watching the group of teenagers and hiding herself further behind her mother.
"She isn't anything like you at all," Lily commented with a laugh, noting how at Summer's age, Serena was all about hanging out with the older kids, while Nate would shy away from them unless Chuck was with him.
"What are you talking about?" Serena asked and her mother just shook her head.
"Ah look my helpers are here," Lily said waving over Chuck, Blair and Nate. "I wonder where Henry is?"
"He has a play date that he couldn't get out of," Chuck said kissing his stepmothers cheek.
"We have work but I guess cotillion is more important," Nate complained looking over at Blair who glared at him.
"Of course it's important, these children need our guidance," she told him clapping her hands together and grinning. "Besides it's only a few hours, I checked your schedule, you were free this afternoon."
"Of course you did," Nate said chuckling and going to stand next to Serena. "I think she has a new favourite."
Serena grinned amusedly as Summer ignored everyone but Chuck after a quick greeting. "Well the Bass boys have worked their magic on her," Serena said. "She adores Henry."
"I think I'm glad there's such a big age gap between them," Nate said paling and Serena laughed.
"Age is just a number Natie," Serena said and both of them froze at the long forgotten nickname before Nate cleared his throat.
Before either could say another word her mother was calling her and Nate forward to join the group of teenagers in front of her.
"I have a treat for you today," she told the kids. "My daughter Serena and Nathaniel here, were partners in most of their dances since they were about 4 was it darling?"
"I think so," Serena said slowly, trying to jump onto her mothers train of thought. "Chuck and Blair were dance partners as well."
"Yes but the two of you had such grace, no-one could ever replicate in all my years of being part of this committee," Lily said placing her palms on her chest and looking away as if lost in a memory and Serena frowned. "Do you remember the dances?"
"A few," Serena said looking at Nate who shrugged, obviously not getting what her mother was getting at or just not paying enough attention. Blair on the other hand was biting her lip to hide her smirk while Summer was smiling so wide Serena could count all her teeth. "I'm not dancing."
"Just one dance," Lily encouraged. "Just to show the kids what they need to aim for."
"Cotillion is in 2 weeks, I don't think watching us dance is going to change much," Serena said trying her hardest not to glare at her mother and completely avoiding looking at Nate.
"But we want to see what we're supposed to look like," one of the kids said and Serena looked over to find a bunch of bobbing heads agreeing with the speaker.
"Yeah S, they all want to see," Blair said reaching forward to push Serena toward Nate. "Show them."
"It's been years since I've danced, I'll probably end up stepping on Nate's toes," Serena said with a nervous laugh looking at Nate who had an almost horrified look on his face.
"Come on mom, dad," Summer said in her pleading voice and giving them her best puppy eyes. "Please, I've never seen you dance together before and I'd really like it."
Serena raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, she knew that look and she wasn't going to fall for it. She and Nate had just started talking again, he finally stopped looking at her with all the hate he could muster up and while she definitely didn't mind dancing with Nate, she wasn't going to be forced to dance with a man who was not ready to dance with her. But before she could pull Summer away and tell her this, Nate's hand appeared next to her and he nodded his head to the dance floor.
"We can't let her down," Nate said and Summer smiled triumphantly. Blair looked down at Summer impressed and Serena cringed, she always wondered when her grandmothers meddling was going to show up in her daughter. "We did this dance so many times as children I don't think you could ever forget it, no matter how many years you've been lost."
Serena swallowed hard and glanced at Nate's outstretched hand, it had amazed her at how easily their friendship was coming back, it was still fragile but it wasn't like he needed to force himself to be calm around her anymore, she was afraid of pushing his limits too much but here he was offering to test those limits.
How could she refuse?
Serena placed her hand in his and let him lead her out to the middle of the room, she could see her mother making dramatic hand gestures to the teenager by the sound system and Summer beaming at them from the sidelines and discretely bumping fists with Chuck. Of course.
"Are you ok?" Nate asked and Serena snapped her focus back to him and it was like the world around them disappeared and they were teens again, making fun of the dances and how serious their friends took it and how difficult it was for them to get through an entire song without messing up, while Serena and Nate flowed with the music, never missing a step.
"Just thinking back to practices," Serena said trying her hardest not to gasp and keep her face neutral as he placed his hand on her hip. "Do you remember when Blair almost made Robert Taylor quit when he dropped her?"
"She was so happy to be done with that partnership ... until your mother made Chuck take his place," Nate said chuckling, stepping back as the music started.
"She didn't talk to me for a week after that because I had you as my partner and she had the Basshole," Serena said and Nate snorted.
"Blair has always had a way with words," he said loosening his grip of her waist and then spinning her. Serena smiled wide as she twirled, she loved doing this dance and watching the skirt of her dress when she moved.
"You know that Summer tricked you with her puppy dog eyes and sweet voice to get you to dance right?" Serena asked and to her surprise, Nate grinned, the laugh lines around his eyes deepening.
"She got that from you," he said softly looking down at their feet for a moment before catching himself and straightening his back again. "I could never resist that face."
Serena cleared her throat but before she could say anything Nate had both hands on her waist and she remembered just in time that she needed to help him out, placing both her hands on his shoulders and jumping up so he could hold her above the ground because he couldn't carry her just like that. Nate held her eyes as he brought her back down, the moment seeming to last forever when in fact it was barely 5 seconds.
"Blair seems to have gotten over things," Nate commented clearing his throat and Serena laughed, no longer needing to focus on her steps and just letting Nate lead her. "When did that happen?"
"After breakfast the other day, I apologized," she said and Nate raised an eyebrow. "And then we went shopping."
"Of course, everything can be solved when the two of you are shopping," Nate said rolling his eyes and Serena grinned, it always confused Chuck and Nate when they were younger how they could get over these huge problems after a shopping trip.
"It's the best form of therapy," she reminded him.
"I'm going to spin you twice and then let go," he said, warning her, no matter how many times they practised it, he never forgot to remind her. Serena bit her lip as she spun, she wondered if this looked as graceful as she knew it did back when they were teens. He let go of her hand and she twirled to face him, both bowing as the last notes of the song played out.
Nate stood up straight and reached out to take her hand, when she straightened, walking back to the group of cheering teenagers and her family, Summer already pushing her way between them and babbling excitedly about how amazing they were.
"That, children, is how you dance at cotillion," Blair said, clapping twice and then shooing them all onto the dance floor to practise. She turned to them with a smile on her face that immediately dropped into a scowl when she caught a glimpse of something behind Serena. "Oh joy."
"What?" Serena asked laughing at Blair's expression.
"Oh nothing interesting," she said sighing and Serena turned and winced. "Nathaniel, your cater waiter is here."
Nate looked at her confused for a moment before catching sight of Lola and rushing to her. "She doesn't look very happy," Serena commented, wrapping her arms around Summer, who had her eyes on her father and his girlfriend.
"She never looks happy," Blair grumbled, watching the mass of teenagers try to keep up with the music and then gasped when one of the boys dropped his partner after lifting her too high. "Stop the music."
Summer put her hands over her mouth and tried to hide her giggles but Serena could feel her body shaking. "Was he trying to throw her?" she asked and Serena shook her head.
"I saw your little fist bump with Chuck," Serena said pulling away and holding the girls hands out in front of her. "What was that about?"
"It's a secret," Summer said grinning.
"I thought we didn't keep secrets from each other," Serena said frowning.
"Well you should have known better," Summer said shrugging her shoulders and giving her mother a playful look. "I mean you were bringing me to New York, the heart of all secrets and lies."
"I'm keeping you far away from Chuck," Serena grumbled and Summer laughed and looked back around her mother to Nate and Lola. "Stop looking at her like you can make her disappear."
"Uncle Chuck said it wouldn't be very hard to do," Summer said and Serena sighed, reaching out to grab her child's shoulders and turn her around to face the dance floor.
"Uncle Chuck and I are going to have a talk about these idea's he's giving you," Serena told her. "Where is he anyway?"
"Grandma Lily has him controlling the music," Summer said pointing to where Chuck stood looking like he could kill his step-mother and wife for dragging him out here instead of just letting him stay at work.
"That would have been Erik's job if he were here," Serena said, thinking her brother was lucky he had an excuse to miss this, he had decided that she and Summer didn't need him to be there as backup or a safety net so he called up his friends and they were leaving that afternoon for a holiday before college started up again. "So tell me, child of mine, what did you think this dance would accomplish?"
"Exactly what it accomplished," Summer said and Serena frowned. "Don't worry about it too much mom, it'll give you more wrinkles."
Serena's mouth fell open as Summer patted her hand and ran out to stand by her grandmother and critique the teenagers.
"What's up with you?" Blair asked coming back to Serena after making sure there were no sprained ankles or broken bones from the fall.
"I think my daughter just said I look old," Serena said reaching up to touch her face. "Do I have wrinkles?"
"If you keep your face scrunched up like that you will," Blair said and Serena immediately relaxed her face, moving her jaw around a little.
"Is it just me or is she trying to get Nate and I to do things together and Chuck is helping," Serena said turning to Blair who shrugged lightly.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said and Serena rolled her eyes, Blair knew exactly what she was talking about. "Trust the kid, she's got good instincts."
"You are no help," Serena mumbled and Blair smiled.
"I'm all the help you need S," she said cryptically.
A/N : Hey guys here's chapter 14! Assignment week turned into assignment month and I'm so stressed its not even funny but I took a break and wrote and i got fluff lol its about time I start moving this story along but I'm enjoying the fluffy cute stuff
Anyway hope you guys enjoy this, I need to get back to my next assignment
Please review and let me know what you think, thank you so much for the reviews, you guys are awesome
Until Next Time (^^,)