3x21

[The Family Archibald]

"This summer's going to be awesome," Serena announces giddily as they walk down the Brooklyn sidewalk under the sun, on their way back home – which, at the moment, is Nate's family's empty penthouse apartment. Nate loves her at all times, but just the smallest, strangest bit more in the summer months. She just thrives in the sunshine, eyes glowing, skin kissed and freckled, blonde hair practically glittering. Not to mention the fact that her long, lithe body is constantly on display due to the minimal clothing she wears. He feels so lucky to be walking with her, their linked hands swinging between their bodies. She lifts their hands and steps ahead of him on the sidewalk, letting him twirl her like they're dancing. He pulls her back to him by the same arm and she giggles, wrapping her arms around him as they walk.

"Definitely awesome," Nate confirms.

"And Dan and Vanessa look happy, don't you think?" she asks with a sweet smile.

"Yeah, they do," he agrees. "But I can't help but think how…intertwined we all are. I mean, our exes our dating each other, and my other ex is dating Chuck Bass, which no one could have ever seen coming, and…"

"Honey," she cuts him off, laughing that light, luxurious, summery laugh of hers. "You're thinking way too much for summertime. Or really, you're just thinking too much for you," she jibes, sticking her tongue out.

"Ha," he says dryly.

"I know what you mean. But…it's good. We're finally all happy; we've evened out. Dan and Vanessa are together, Blair and Chuck are together, and most importantly, you and I are together."

Nate nods. "I maintain that we couldn't have seen Bluck coming though."

"Bluck?" Serena splutters. "Chuck and Blair's names don't really work well for that whole Brangelina thing."

"They could be Chair," he suggests easily, smirking at her. "But my point here is that that was unpredictable, but Dan and Vanessa…" He shakes his head. "We probably should have seen that coming all along."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I bet you they say the same thing about us." She presses her lips together, trying to keep from laughing. "Bluck or Chair, seriously?"

Nate cracks up as well. "Maybe you were right about that whole thinking in the summer thing."

"I'm always ri –" She cuts herself off with a squeal of, "Oh, puppies!" and drags Nate across the street by the hand; they narrowly avoid getting hit by a cab as they hurry to stand in front of the large window of a pet store. "Oh," she gasps, melting as she leans toward them, making faces at the small dogs. "They're the cutest things."

He laughs at her, though admittedly, they are pretty cute. He glances at Serena for a long moment in his peripheral vision, then gives her hand a squeeze. "Come on, let's go in."

Her eyes are wide and shiny, sparkling whether from the sun or overload-of-cuteness tears, he's not sure. "Oh, Natie, if we go in I don't know if I'm going to be able to leave without one."

Nate nods. He knows that: it's obvious in her expression, and he knows how she is. "So maybe…we can leave with one."

Her jaw drops. "You want to get a puppy?" she asks, clearly touched and enthusiastic about the idea, but uncertain.

"Yeah," he says softly. "I mean, your birthday's in a month…this is a pretty good gift, right? And we can leave for the Hamptons this weekend – it would be great for a puppy to spend the first couple months of his life running around out there."

"But…what about when we get back, with school and everything?"

"We can get a townhouse instead of an apartment. And our classes don't usually coincide, we'd be able to be home taking care of it."

"A puppy…" she muses, looking adoringly at the little ones in the window. "Do you think we could really take care of it? I mean, we're not exactly that awesome at taking care of ourselves yet."

"So maybe it'd be good for us," he counters her. "I think we'll be okay. We wouldn't hurt it or anything, babe."

Serena nods slowly, inhaling deeply as she clings to his hand. "Okay. Let's just go in and look."

It feels like she falls in love with every single one of the puppies; they're all incredibly adorable. She coos over them while Nate looks on, laughing both at the clumsy litters of tiny dogs and at her. She wanders through the pet store to get a look at them all while Nate talks logistics with the manager – food, collar, vet, etc. She smiles at the kittens but passes them by: Blair's old cat Kitty Minky once pounced on her when they were younger, scratching her just above the eye, and she's never really gotten over it.

And then she falls in love.

"No cat, babe?" Nate's voice asks from behind her teasingly. "Oh, right: you're scared of them."

Normally she'd banter back with some kind of witty retort, but she's too distracted by what she's looking at. "Natie, I want him," she pouts, tearing her eyes away to look at her boyfriend.

He slips an arm around her waist as he steps up to look into the cage as well. "A bunny?" he asks, surprised but not entirely against the idea.

"He's so cute," she says very quietly. The manager sidles over and asks if she'd like to hold him; she nods enthusiastically.

The bunny is a tiny little bundle of perfect warmth in her arms and she never wants to cute his cute little self down. "Hi," she whispers, nuzzling her nose in his fur. "Hi, baby bunny." She glances up at Nate, giving him a pleading look.

"You don't want a dog anymore?" Some of those puppies were really cute, and he found himself daydreaming about dog-walking and playing fetch in the Hamptons over the summer.

She shakes her head and the only answer he needs is the look she's wearing. She's entirely smitten with the small bunny rabbit she holds.

"Okay," Nate says, never one to deny her. He turns to the manager. "We'll take him."

[xo]

"Oh, you are the absolute cutest thing," Serena gushes as she picks up their new pet out of his cage. She lies back on the expensive Persian rug that covers Anne Archibald's living room's floor, placing the bunny on her tummy while she coos at him.

"Did you pick a name yet?" Nate asks, having finished lugging their rabbit supplies indoors. He sits next to her, patting the top of the small brown-and-white bunny's head.

She picks the bunny up so she can look at his little face, considering it. "Your name…is Mr. Fluffy," she decides.

Nate groans. "Mr. Fluffy?"

"You had a toy bunny when you were five and that was his name," she reminds him pointedly.

"Yeah, but I was five. Now, Mr. Fluffy is just…bad. It's bad."

Serena smirks at him. "Natie, does our bunny's name emasculate you?"

"Mr. Fluffy is not his name," he insists.

"Fine," she huffs, turning her attention back to the bunny. "Your daddy doesn't like your name," she confides. "So let's call you…Mr. Fuzzy." She glances back over at Nate. "Is Fuzzy better than Fluffy?"

"Small improvement," he concedes as he laughs at her. "Welcome home, Mr. Fuzzy."

[xo]

Serena yawns, stretching her arms over her head, as she pads into the kitchen in her bare feet, where Nate's making nachos. "God, who knew taking care of a bunny could be this much work? And you wanted a puppy," she teases.

"Yeah, maybe not the best idea," he laughs, feeding her a nacho chip. "It's good that we're starting small. Maybe after we're done at Columbia we can get a dog."

She smiles warmly at him; she loves it when he talks about the future, especially when he does so in such a casual tone, as if their being together forever is a given. "That sounds good," she agrees, adding, "As long as it won't eat my baby."

Nate nods, laughing. She's always had maternal instincts, toward Erik, even toward Blair, and he knows that Mr. Fuzzy is going to be completely spoiled and utterly loved. "You're going to be a good mom." He means to tease, but it comes out sounding much more serious. Serena's lips part but she doesn't say anything, and he quickly amends, "I mean, to our bunny."

"And to our future dog?" she questions, looking like they've got some shared secret, though he doesn't know what it is.

He nods once more and takes a deep breath. "And to our future kids," he mumbles.

Her smile blossoms again. "You, too, Nate." She wraps her arms around him from behind and kisses his shoulder blade. "We're going to rock this parenting thing way better than our own did," she promises. Burying her face in the material of his shirt for a moment, she asks, "How is your dad, have you been talking to him?"

Nate turns in her arms, placing his hands lightly on her hips, and shakes his head. "No more than you've talked to yours."

They share bittersweet, understanding smiles for a moment before she hugs him tightly, her forehead pressed to his collarbone. "I love you," she whispers, fiercely and passionately, against his skin, like it makes up for everything that has ever hurt him.

And it does.