A/N: Whew Okay, this is going to be the last chapter. I wasn't sure where I was gonna go with this…whether I want to end on a good note or not, but I guess you'll have to find out! Thank you, thank you for all the wonderful reviews and to all the readers. You guys rock! R&R! Enjoy!

Chapter 25

"What's Worth Knowing"

Chuck Bass is standing in front of a mirror in his suite straightening up the collar of his white dress shirt and putting on a purple Armani jacket over with a matching tie. As he buttons the sleeves of his white undershirt getting ready to leave for the night, he stays on the line balancing the cell phone between his shoulder and the side of his face. "Hold your raging hormones. I'm coming." He says over the phone in a seductive tone as he hangs up and takes another good look at himself in the mirror. A satisfied smirk crosses his features when suddenly a knock on the door disrupted his pleasant thoughts. Chuck groans as he reluctantly walks over to the door and opens it, only to find his best friend Nate Archibald standing before him looking quite miserable.

"Nathaniel," he greets him in surprise. "I was about to leave."

Nate ignores him as though he didn't hear a single word he said as he absent-mindedly invites himself inside. Chuck lets out a sigh, shutting the door behind. "Okay what happened?" He asks while walking over to the bar. "Can I get you a drink?

Nate turns around and looks at him. "I spill my heart out to Serena and she just blew me off."

"Nate told me he loves me." Serena exclaims anxiously as she burst inside Eric's room and finds her young brother lying on his stomach in front of a laptop. He looks up at her and smirks.

"So what else is new?

"I told her that I love her and she just looked at me, and then mumbled something like 'oh I got to go' and left."

Chuck lets out a yawn, taking a sip of vodka as he watches Nate pace back and forth in front of him out of frustration.

"You are such an idiot." Eric retorts as Serena lets out a heavy sigh.

"What should I do?" She asks making herself comfortable on the edge of his bed. "I mean I love Blair. She's my best friend and I don't want to hurt her." There is a short pause as Serena stares at her brother with a wide smile. "But I also love Nate…"

Erik arches a curious brow. "Are you bi?"

"Maybe we're not meant to be together." Nate says solemnly. "I should just stop trying." He turns to Chuck for some kind of response, but he simply sat there bored out of his mind with a drink in hand and anxious to get out. Nate furrows his eyebrows at him. "I'm not taking your time am I?"

Chuck shakes his head. "In fact you are, Nathaniel, but go right ahead."

Nate narrows his eyes at him. "I should just go then."

"No, wait. I'm sorry." Chuck gets up from the couch and grabs his shoulder before Nate reaches the door. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Nate simply nods his head as he turns back around and leaves the room.

"Serena, what about your happiness?" Eric questions. "What about what you want?" Her lips slightly parted. "Look, I love you for being selfless and thinking about other people and their interest at heart, but sometimes you can't just let opportunity pass you by." Serena listens intently. "There is a reason why Nate and Blair aren't together anymore. Ever thought of that?"

She looks down dejectedly. "It's because of me. It's my fault they aren't together anymore."

"Stop." He retorts seriously. "Stop blaming yourself. And stop letting Blair push you around."

Her mouth fell open in surprise. "I do not let Blair push me around."

Eric lightly chuckles. "Uh yeah you do and I see it all the time."

"No, I don't." She argues back as the room fell silent.

"Alright," he says nodding his head and taking her word for it. "Here's your chance. Prove it."

Nate Archibald leaves Chuck's suite at the Palace as he stood outside, thinking about going home but immediately changed his mind as he finds himself heading towards the Brooklyn area of New York. It was quite a walk as the night is cool with slight windy conditions, but it didn't bother Nate as his mind continues to wander endlessly. Everything seem rather peaceful and at ease in Brooklyn as he takes a seat on a nearby bench, studying the stars right above. His eyes eventually drifted to the ground where he sees a dark shadow figure nearing him. Nate quickly turns around and finds that the shadow belongs to none other than Dan Humphrey. "Nate?" Dan says in surprise as his face appeared under the street lights. "What are you doing here in Brooklyn?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "I went for a walk and I ended up here."

"That must've been one hell of a walk." Dan adds as he takes a seat next to him on the bench. There is a moment of silence.

"So…" Dan starts off while staring at his male companion from the corner of his eye. "How's it going with you and Serena?"

"Nothing is going on." Nate retorts as his eyes remain on the floor. Dan bit his bottom lip due to Nate's skeptical behavior.

"Why not?"

The green-eyed Archibald looks up and sighs. "She doesn't want me."

Dan shakes his head and chuckles at the thought. "I don't believe that." Nate slowly looks up to meet his gaze. "Look, to be honest when it comes to Serena I'm really jealous of you."

He scoffs. "Why?"

"Because I know I don't stand a chance." Nate listens intently as his eyes soften. "She doesn't look at me the way she looks at you or any guy for that matter. Same goes with you too whenever you look at other girls. That means something."

Silence lingers in the air once again as the cool wind gently hit their faces.

"I told her that I love her today." Nate says all of a sudden as Dan looks up at him in suprise. "In fact, I told her several times and nothing."

"I'm sure she loves you, Nate. It may not be the response you're hoping for, but give it some time and she'll come around." There is a brief pause as Dan lets out a groan. He then begins rubbing the back of his neck, thinking about his own issues. "Good for you though. I don't think I'll ever have the guts to tell Vanessa that I love her."

Nate shot him a look and grins. "Vanessa huh?"

Dan smiles, "Yeah…"

"So what's the deal with you two anyway?" He asks as Dan simply shrugs his shoulders.

"She's pretty upset with me. I can't get a hold of her; I don't even know where she is." He stops in mid-sentenced and sighs at the thought. "She's probably hanging out with Chuck Bass of all people." He says in disgust. "Speaking of, I still don't get why a nice guy like you can be friends with an ass like him?"

Nate chuckles. "Look, you got nothing to worry about. Chuck was just trying to get under your skin."

"Well, it's working."

The two share a quick and playful laugh as they throw a few jokes on Chuck. Then it was complete silence once again.

"I haven't told anyone this, but I'm leaving for the weekend." Nate says as Dan looks at him.

"Another one of your family business trips?"

"No, I'm heading off to sea."

"You mean you sail?"

Nate chuckles, "Yeah, believe it or not my Dad and I have been working on this one boat ever since I was a little kid. We would always take it out during the weekends." He smiles at the memory. "I took Serena sailing once and she loved it. It's always nice being out there yah know? It helps ease some of the pain away."

Dan nods his head. "Well, be careful out there."

"Thanks, man."

"Maybe catch me some fish. Like trout or something."

Nate looks at him weirdly and chuckles.

The following morning…

"And where do you think you're going, young lady?" Lily van der Woodsen catches Serena walking towards the door after being excused from breakfast half an hour ago. With her hand on the door knob, Serena lets go as she turns around and smiles at her mother.

"I'm going to Blair's."

"But I thought you were having a hard time getting a hold of her." Erik responds as Serena narrows her eyes at him.

"I am having a hard time getting a hold of her, little brother which is why I'm heading over there right now."

"What's so important that you must go see Blair right away and miss out on breakfast with your family?" Lily asks while taking a sip of orange juice and reading today's paper. Serena and Erik exchange looks.

"Look, Mom this happens to be very important. I'll be home for dinner, I promise."

Lily sighs. "Fine, whatever."

Serena glances over at Erik for luck and smiles before taking off.

Meanwhile, Dan Humphrey heads over to the coffee shop where he and Vanessa use to go every morning for breakfast. It has been over a day since he has last seen or spoken to Vanessa as it continues to bother him. As soon as Dan steps inside the shop, he looks across the room, and to his relief, finds Vanessa sitting alone with coffee and his favorite glazed donuts in hand. A smile crept over his lips as Dan slowly begins approaching her table.

"Hey…" he greets her timidly as she slowly looks up from her coffee cup to meet his nervous gaze. Vanessa has on a blank expression as she studies him carefully. "Do you mind if I join you?"

She shrugs her shoulders and looks back down at her now half-empty cup as Dan pulls out a chair right in front of her. He looks at her and sighs as she continues to avoid him. "I'm sorry." He finally says out of relief. "I'm sorry about the whole thing with Chuck…about everything." Vanessa suddenly looks back at him. "I just--" Dan pauses in mid-sentenced and groans, "I really can't stand the guy, and when I saw you two dancing, I…" He stammers nervously as Vanessa furrows her eyebrows in bewilderment. "I got jealous okay?"

"Of Chuck?" She scoffs, followed by a chuckle. "You're jealous of Chuck."

"Not just Chuck." Dan retorts as his eyes soften. "But every guy that comes your way." Vanessa's lips slightly parted as she stares at him intently. "What I'm trying to say is…I-I love you." He says smiling. "I'll always and I'll always will."

"Dan..."

"I want to be with you, Vanessa."

Silence lingers in the air as she stares at Dan in disbelief. He searches her eyes carefully…for a hint of response…for some kind of hope that she too wants to be with him.

"Dan…" Vanessa whispers, finally breaking the silence. "I…"

"Yes?"

She averts from his gaze and slowly shakes her head. "I'm sorry. I can't."

His face immediately fell as he could feel his heart drop to his stomach. "W-what?"

"I can't be with you." Vanessa reluctantly looks back at him, his eyes filled with hurt and confusion. They were unbearable to look at as she tries to keep her composure without breaking.

Dan's mouth fell open in surprise. "Why?" He snaps angrily. "Is it Chuck?"

She glares at him. "What does he got to do with anything?" She groans irritably. "And can you please keep it down."

"I tell you that I love you and that I want to be with you, and you tell me you can't be with me?" He questions in disbelief. "All this time you make me believe you feel the same way about me."

"How can you even say that?" Vanessa snaps as her voice grew louder. The customers in the room begin to look their way. "I came back for you, Dan! All these years I've loved you, but you were stupid to even notice. Why?" She scoffs. "Because it was all about Serena!"

"How many times do we have to go over this? Serena and I are done!"

"It doesn't change the fact that you broke my heart when I came back home."

He narrows his eyes at her. "And so you decide to break mine."

She sighs. "It's not like that, Dan."

"Whatever. You broke my heart way before I did when you left the first place."

He gets up angrily from the chair, slightly startlingly Vanessa as he leaves the shop.

Serena van der Woodsen arrives in the Waldolf's household where she was greeted by one of the maids. As always, the maid kindly invites her inside.

"I'll go and get Blair, Ms. van der Woodsen."

"Oh no, don't do that." Serena smiles, "I'll go get her myself." The maid nods and leaves the room as Serena heads up the spiral staircase. As soon as she reaches Blair's bedroom, she lightly knocks on the door.

"Blair," she knocks on the door, this time a bit harder after getting no response the second time. "I know you're in there. Come on, open up." Serena presses her ears against the door as she hears several voices among the moving and shuffling coming from inside. She furrows her eyebrows in bewilderment, trying to recognize the voice when suddenly the door opens. Serena immediately straightens up as Blair steps out in a red silky robe, completely out of breath. Blair's make-up from last night smeared and wore off; her hair is down and all over the place. Serena eyes her suspiciously as Blair steps outside and closes the door behind.

"Serena, what are you doing here?" She breathes heavily while getting some of the hair away from her face.

"I came here to talk."

Blair folds her arms across her chest. "And we couldn't do this over the phone?"

"Well someone wasn't picking up any of my phone calls."

She rolls her eyes. "Okay, what is it?"

"Look, I know we have our differences." Serena pauses making sure she got Blair's attention as she looks at her seriously. "And about the Winter Ball..."

"I thought I told you I didn't want to discuss it any further."

"Just listen to me, Blair for once." Serena retorts, almost taking Blair surprise, as they share a moment of silence. She sighs and continues on. "I know what I did at the Winter Ball hurt you, and I'm sorry that it did. But I'm not sorry for kissing Nate." Blair looks at her hard. "The truth is I love Nate. I always have." A smile crept over her face as Blair's eyes soften. "When I lost him to you my world started to fall apart. I wanted to tell you so badly, but I see that you love him and that he loves you and I didn't want to ruin that. But for years, I've been hiding this and trying to fight it, hoping it would all go away, but it keeps coming back to me."

Blair sighs, "Serena…"

"You're my best friend, Blair and for so long all I cared about was being a good friend to you and making sure you're happy." Serena stops and smiles at her. "But this is my chance to be happy."

Blair groans irritably. "Okay, whatever. So be happy." Serena furrows her eyes as Blair cracks a small smile. "Nate doesn't want to be with me. He wants to be with you and you want to be with him. You two will be great for each other."

The blond eyes her suspiciously, taken by surprise with Blair's sudden change of heart. "Who are you and what did you do to my best friend?"

Blair glares at her with her hands on her waist. "Am I that much of a bitch to you?"

Serena wrinkles her nose and grins. "Yeah, a little bit."

"Go on." Blair smiles approvingly, "Get your man before I steal him from you…again." She says teasingly as Serena purses her lips. "I was kidding."

The blond giggles in response, "So that's it? You're okay with it? You're not gonna make me work a little harder?"

Blair shrugs, "I don't know, do you?"

Serena smiles, "So we're officially cool. BFFs?"

"Best friends forever." Blair says with a forced smile. "So are we done here?"

"Oh, one more thing."

"What's that?"

Serena looks at her curiously. "Who are you with?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I heard another voice in the room."

"No, you didn't." Blair retorts defensively. "I was on the phone with someone."

"Right…and so why are we standing out here, and not in there--"

"Serena, no!"

The blond sneakily gets past Blair as she swings the door open and gasps at the sight of him. "Chuck?"

Chuck, wearing only a towel, looks at Serena and grins. "Well hello, Serena."

Blair rolls her eyes as Serena's mouth fell open in surprise. She slowly turns back to Blair and grins at her innocently, "Bad timing huh?"

Blair shot her an evil look, "Oh yeah."

Serena bit her lip and smiles. "Okay, umm…" She awkwardly scratches the top of her head while slowly heading towards the door. "I'll leave you two alone. Bye now!"

She immediately steps outside and shuts the door behind. Serena leans her head against the door, taking a deep breath before smiling.

Dan Humphrey returns home later that night after running a few errands and bringing home Chinese for dinner. After setting the keys down on the table, he walks further inside the house to his room and surprisingly finds Jenny and Vanessa in the livingroom playing Scrabble.

Their laughter slowly subsided as they both look up at Dan. "Hey, come join us. I'm totally kicking V's butt."

"Watch it. I'm going a little easy on you, J."

Dan turns to Vanessa in bewilderment. "W-What are you doing here?"

Jenny stares between the two awkwardly as silence lingers in the room. Vanessa looks up at him, her eyes filled with guilt and sadness while Dan's were filled with hurt and confusion. "Um, I'm hungry. " Jenny exclaims to ease tension. "Did you bring any food, Dan?"

"Yeah," Dan finally breaks his gaze from Vanessa to face his sister, "it's in the kitchen."

"Thanks. Bye!" Jenny rushes to the kitchen to give the two some alone time. Dan and Vanessa share a longing look for a moment until he finally looks away.

"So," he starts off with a groan as he remain standing with his arms folded across his chest, "what brings you here in the Humphrey household?"

There is a short pause as Vanessa looks down nervously.

"I wanted to talk about what happened this morning." She weakly responds as Dan takes a seat on a chair across from her.

"Alright, I'm listening."

She takes a deep breath before continuing on. "The truth is…" Vanessa pauses in mid-sentenced and looks up to meet his gaze. "I'm scared. And before you laugh at me for being scared of anything...I just want you to know that we've been best friends for a long time and I'm afraid that if we become something more," she stops to catch her breath, "it'll ruin the awesome friendship we have."

Dan slowly nods his head perceptively. "I'm scared too, Vanessa. But what I'm most scared about is not being with you." He says sincerely as her eyes soften. "I promise you that whatever happens, no matter how bad or how great it gets, you'll always be my best friend." Vanessa smiles as she casually gets up from the couch and takes a seat next to Dan. She turns her body to face him, searching his eyes carefully. "Besides, things will still be the same. Except now there will be touching, hand holding…" he pauses and grins, "and kissing…"

Vanessa lets out a chuckle. "Oh really?"

Dan nods his head and looks at her seriously, "really." He gently touches one side of her cheek with the stroke of his hand, and with one sudden movement, the two begin moving their heads closer as their lips finally touch.

"V?" He whispers once their lips parted.

She smiles ecstatically. "Hmm?"

"Is it okay to laugh at you right now?"

Vanessa glares at him as she gets up and playfully smacks him hard with a pillow.

After spending some time with Blair and shopping at Bendel's that afternoon to catch up on their gossip, Serena makes her final stop at Nate's grand apartment complex that took the entire two floors of the building. As soon as she reaches the top floor, the elevator to his home finally opens as she steps outside and knocks on the door. Serena begins feeling even more nervous and uneasy every second she waits for someone to answer. When the time has finally arrived, Serena straightens up, and instead of seeing Nate on the other side of the door she was greeted by his mother. She smiles.

"Hey, Mrs. Archibald."

"Serena," she smiles pleasantly in return, "it's nice to see you again. How are you?"

"I'm doing well, and yourself?"

"Same. If you're here for Nate you actually missed him. He has taken off."

Serena wrinkles her forehead. "Taken off?"

"Yeah, he's taking the boat out for the weekend."

"Oh…" she smiles weakly in disappointment. "I see…"

"Nate will be back in a few days. I'll let him know that you dropped by."

"That's okay. Thank you, Mrs. Archibald."

"No problem, sweetie. Have a good night."

"You too."

Serena turns around and deeply sighs as she heads back downstairs. Once outside, her waiting driver escorts her inside the back of the limo.

"Back to the Palace, Serena?" Her limo driver asks while looking at her from the rearview mirror.

She looks back at him. "No," the blond responds solemnly, "take me to Brooklyn."

Serena finally arrives in Brooklyn, unsure of why she wanted to be there. Though it was a place she'd go to quite frequently while she dated Dan at the time, it was a place outside of her chaotic world—a place that gave her a sense of peace.

As she begins walking down the street where Dan lives, Serena thought about visiting him and Jenny to catch up, but then finds herself walking even further down the street not knowing where to go or where she might end up. Serena simply kept on walking, thinking about the things she wanted to tell Nate and how much she wanted to be with him. To her surprise, Serena walked as far to the docks where the boats take many tourists across the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. She begins walking down the planks to get closer to the water as memories of Nate taking her sailing years ago cloud her mind. Serena smiles at the memory. Though she hated the water due to her fear of drowning, Nate somehow always made her feel safe.

Serena finally reaches the edge of the dock as she stops and looks up to examine the clear skies. She shuts her eyes and allowed the cool breeze to blow her blond hair away from her face. Serena releases a sigh of relief as she finds herself in her own world, unaware of her surroundings—not even the distant footsteps that is following her behind. A dark shadow cast beside her as she finally opens her eyes to the sound.

"Serena?"

A shrilling yell escape from her lips as she loses balance and falls into the cold water. Serena could feel large amounts of water go into her mouth as she begins kicking and swimming frantically towards the surface after what seem to be like long dreadful seconds of being under water. As soon as her head appeared above water, Serena desperately gasps for air when suddenly a splash of water hit her face. She turns around fearfully to see who or what jumped after her. As she adjusted her eyes to the dark with the dim lamppost as her only light source, Serena couldn't believe who it is.

"Nate?!"

He moves closer to her as the two begin floating atop.

"Are you okay?" He asks worriedly as Serena splashes him with water right on the face. "Hey!" He groans agitatedly. "What was that for?"

"You scared the hell out of me, jackass!"

"What are you doing walking here all by yourself in the dark anyway? And why are you in Brooklyn?"

"What are you still doing here? Your mother told me that you were going sailing for the weekend."

He wrinkles his forehead in bewilderment. "Why are you answering my question with a question?"

Serena groans. "Well I don't know why I end up here. But you're not supposed to be here."

Nate sighs. "Well I wanted to make sure the boat is in good condition before I leave in the morning."

"Oh…" She nods her head as her teeth begin to chatter from the cold. "T-that's good to know."

He eyes her suspiciously. "Why did you go see my Mom?"

Serena stares deeply into his intense green eyes. "I wanted to see you...and tell you that…" Serena pauses in mid-sentenced and smiles. As she continues smiling at him, holding onto her words for a brief moment, Nate noticed for the first time that it wasn't just any of Serena's infamous smiles that got everyone smiling right back at her. It was the kind of smile that went up to her eyes, and from that moment it didn't matter whether they were together or not. All that mattered is that she knows how much he loves her, and knowing that she hasn't run away from it, makes it even worthwhile. "That I love you." The words finally escape from her lips as he looks at her in mere disbelief. Nate couldn't believe what he is hearing as she smiles once again, and he knew in his heart she meant every word. "And I want to be with you."

There is a moment of dreadful silence as Nate continues to read her carefully. Serena could feel her heart beating rapidly as the silence lingers on.

"Wow…" he finally says with a light chuckle, feeling overwhelmed as emotions went running high, "the timing couldn't be anymore perfect."

She bit her bottom lip nervously due to thesudden change of tone in his voice. "Oh?"

Nate gives her a serious look. "Serena, I'm leaving tomorrow and you tell me this now?" He scoffs as she wrinkles her forehead in bewilderment. This was making her feel ill at ease.

"I know the timing sucks, but--"

"Come with me."

She turns to him quizzically and with unexpected surprise. "What?"

Nate smiles his captivating smile as drops of water continue to drip down on his face. He gently wipes the damp strands of hair away from her eyes, staring deeply into them as he could feel Serena's body shiver in the cold against his in the shallow water. "Come with me," he says softly, looking down at her trembling lips as it slowly curves into a smile, "And this time...I won't take no for an answer."

The End