Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl – I own Lydia and Sebastian who are from my previous story "The Unheard Sister of Chuck Bass" and the other characters have been submitted through my SYOC, PM me if you're interested in submitting a character

A/N: Little Harpischord is all growing up, but who is about to be targeted this time?

Chapter 20 – Sebastian Archibald

I sat at the foot of the stairs, watching my parents rushing around the house. My grandparents on my dad's side were coming to visit and would be arriving at any moment. Rosalie and Elle were on their way home from practice for some extravagant recital, so I was temporarily representing the grandchildren. There was so much on my mind already that the last thing I wanted to do was be the golden boy heir of the Archibald family.

Mom stopped at the stairs and looked at me. "Are you alright, Sebastian? You've been quite quiet lately. Did you sort everything out with Henry and Violet?"

"Sort of. Might have made a bit of a mess of things, but everyone keeps whispering in my ear and nudging me to do things. I know they are just trying to help sometimes. It's just that-"

"Sometimes you think that they are doing it to stir trouble?" Mom asked, trying to sound reassuring. "Everything will be fine in the end, Seb- I know it will."

I looked up at her and frowned. "If you say so…"

"Now go get changed and sort your hair out. For me?"

I couldn't exactly say no. She had had a rough few months with Dad constantly campaigning and knowing what I knew about the Hamptons, I felt the need to cooperate with Mom now more than ever. Shuffling up the stairs, I disappeared into my room when I heard my phone vibrating against on the drawers.

"Hey Merry," I sighed, answering the phone.

Her voice was soft and unusually giggly on the phone. "Oh hey, Sebby- I was hoping you would pick up. I need a favour."

"Now's really not a good time."

Her voice was persistent and eager on the phone. "Oh come on- stop it! I can't believe you're trying to pass me off. You owe me, Seb and the debt collector is here to claim. Perhaps you'd like to answer the front door quick?"

I knew Meredith wasn't joking around and so I sprinted down the hallway and down the stairs to the front door.

She grinned and her eyes grew wide when I grabbed her by the hand and pulled her up the stairs. "Easy now Seb. I didn't want any sexual favours. Just a little thing really. It's not about Violet either."

I slammed the door shut to my room. "Haven't you already meddled enough? Made me do things for you. I'm not your puppet to play with."

Merry was right behind me with her hand on my shoulder, pulling me around. "You're not listening to me. You have to do this."

"Back off," I replied sharply. "I don't have to do anything."

"If you don't, then I'm in really big trouble. I'd do anything... anything," Merry whispered.

Whatever it was that she needed my help with must have been serious if she was willing to offer that. That offer could come in handy at a later date.

"What do you need?" I asked, calmly counting down the minutes until my grandparents' arrival.

"You've always been good with computers and technology and such- Dustin's been super secretive about things. Really cagey. I need to know what's going on with him?"

"Why?"

"I'm pretty sure he was chatting to some bimbo on a hookup app and I'm not about to start sharing." Merry frowned at me, annoyed by my silent judgement. "I don't care whether you think this is a good or a bad idea. I want you to hack his phone."

"My grandparents are set to arrive at any moment- can it wait?"

"No!" she snapped angrily. "No it cannot!" Merry's hand brushed my arm tenderly. "Please Seb?"

"Fine- but I hope you've got his cloud logon details. And the name of the app would be helpful."

Merry looked back at me with a blank face. "I mean no I haven't... instead, I've got his phone." She plucked it from her bag and dropped it on my lap before making herself comfortable on my bed. "Just like old times."

I started pressing her for information on Dustin that might relate to the passcode his phone. Typically security was not this dude's strong point - the passcode was his birthday.

"Woah..." I murmured when I noticed how organised his phone was. It was all divided into folders and each one was labelled relevantly, but there was no sign of the app Merry had seen on the screen. "Unless..."

Bingo! Hidden in the second panel of the utilities folder were tons of other dating and hook-up apps.

"Sebastian- what have you found?" Merry asked, bolting upright. "Oh my god- how many of them are there?"

I tried to hide the phone but it was too late. "Meredith?"

Her eyes were shut and her face twisted from sadness to anger and back again. Merry threw her arms around me and started to sob, wailing about how she trusted Dustin.

"I mean, his name sounds like Dustbin so why don't you just put him in the bin where he belongs. Bin him off you want my advice," I said comfortingly, trying to pry her away from me. "That was a really bad joke..."

Merry laughed, smiling brightly at me even though tears stained her cheeks. Though I didn't stop her, I could feel her hands lacing themselves neatly at the back of my neck.

"Merry."

"Shut up, Seb." Merry pressed her mouth to mine, taking my breath away momentarily. "Oh god- sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

I didn't even realise the door was open and Mom was standing there. She did not look too happy either. "I think you should go, Meredith. This is a family event. Family only."

With her blonde head hung in shame, Merry shuffled out the room.

Mom blocked my way. "Be careful, Sebastian. Don't go hurting your friends unnecessarily. The family might joke that you've got the Archibald blues, but don't treat it like a joke or a medal."

I was sick of her condescending tone. "Oh what would you know Mom? You pined for Dad since you were kids. He was the only boyfriend you have ever had. What do you know about getting to know people?"

Mom breathed deeply. "Downstairs. Now."

-o-

Grandma and Grandpa stood up when I walked into the room, hugging me quickly as they knew that wasn't me. They asked me about school, with Grandma even dragging the topic of girls into the mix.

Whilst I was answering, I noticed my parents were caught in a deep conversation. But it seemed polite and amicable which bugged me.

Rosalie and Elle burst into the room and I took that as my moment to leave and talk to Dad.

He was standing in the kitchen, staring at his phone. If there had been a large enough window in the room, then the phone would not have been so captivating.

"You okay, son?" Dad asked, head down.

"Can I ask you about something?"

"Of course you can. What's wrong, champ?"

Champ? When was the last time he called me that?

"Why did you go to the Hamptons when you said you were going to Long Island?"

Those ice cold blue eyes locked on mine, asking me to elaborate on the claim. Then something in his mind clicked like the last puzzle piece completing the image.

"It was you who Ava spotted on the balcony across the way. How? Why would you follow me?"

"Because I knew something was going on." I folded my arms, implying checkmate.

Dad chuckled softly to himself, wiping a hand across his face. "I wish you'd spoken to me sooner. Then I could have cleared this whole thing up properly. Sebastian, I wasn't and am not cheating on your mother with Ava. Ava was helping me to practice for the wedding anniversary. I was never much of a dancer all those years ago and her parents trained professionally- as did she as a teenager. I just didn't want to risk the secret coming out."

"A likely story..."

"Then tell me how to convince you."

"Prove that you've been learning to dance. Ask Mom to dance."

-o-

Dad did ask Mom to dance- much to my sister's delight. Seeing ta genuine smile on Mom's face was strange at first because it had been so long since I had seen her looking this happy. Rosalie pleaded me to dance, but I pulled away – happy to watch our parents dance so Grandpa stepped in a playfully whisked her around the room.

"That was… a surprise." Mom smiled, holding onto Dad when their music drew to a close. "I didn't know you could dance like that. Have you been holding out on me, Nate? Because it wouldn't be the first time."

Dad looked down lovingly. "Sometimes surprises are the best, and I just wanted to show how much I truly love you. Yes, I understand that things haven't been easy for you with Chuck and Blair totally on the rocks, so I'm sorry for not being there for you. I will try and endeavour to be there for you. Even through this campaign. I love you, Lydia."

Across the room, I could see Ava in the doorway looking in. Looking in on something it was clear that she wanted. Ava wasn't old, but I think she fell into the category where the clock was ticking down, as Grandma would say. Maybe she did like my dad and the family man that he came across as. The way Ava was behaving made me feel as though there was something going on between Ava and my dad, but it was clear that he had ended it.

On my way out of the room, I heard the doorbell ring through the house and rolled my eyes believing it to be Meredith who was clearly out to make trouble. "Oh come on Mere-dith…"

Violet stared back at me with wide eyes in shock. "Seb- wh-why did you think I was Meredith?" she stammered, trying to compose herself. "Never mind. Can we walk and talk? I've done something really stupid and I need to tell you about it."

I nodded immediately. "Sure."

She didn't say anything for a while. "Seb, I need to tell you something, and I need for you to not get jealous or angry at me." Her voice cracked and croaked as she tried to force the words out.

"I can't promise anything, but I'll certainly try."

"Jane Doe hit me again." Violet brushed her hair back behind her shoulder. "There's some stuff I want to tell you and I need you to keep this to yourself. Me- me and Henry are sort of back together again."

Oh, man alive. This just keeps getting better... Why wouldn't Henry tell me?

"We didn't want to tell anyone because we didn't want Jane Doe to meddle in things again. But then Jane Doe found out somehow and threatened me."

"Threatened you?" I rounded on her, solidly holding her gaze.

"Jane Doe sent me pictures… Pictures that I wouldn't want Henry to see." Violet's voice dropped as she pulled me close. "Photos of you kissing me on the step, of me in the café with J.J when I said I was meeting Meredith and then one of me and Logan in the park last week."

"Right- this all sounds interesting, but like- where do I come into this?"

Violet sighed dramatically before quickly blurting out, "Because I didn't want Henry to know, so I told Jane Doe a secret to make it all go away and that was the affair that your dad and Ava were having." She screwed her eyes shut like she was preparing for me to shout at her, but I laughed. "Why are you laughing? This isn't funny."

"I know it's not funny, but I confronted Dad about it and he said that it was all for some surprise that he was planning for Mom. I kind of ruined it, but I really don't care because it wasn't what we thought!" I was positive and clapped my hands together. "So, anything else that you think is going to be catastrophic and needs to be settled as soon as possible whilst we are here."

Violet looked across the street at something and back at me. "Seb- this isn't good for your dad's campaign though. An infidelity like that could ruin his chances of becoming mayor."

The illusion before me shattered and I grabbed Violet's arm, pulling her towards the house and into the kitchen. This really was bad news, and I had to think fast. I could try and supress the post, but Jane Doe was ruthless. They would want something in return.

What could I offer up?

"Violet- is there anything else you know of that can help to stop Jane Doe from posting?"

She sternly shook her hand, resting her hands on the polished white marble top island. "No. Jane Doe already knows that Harper ghosted Logan, and that Henry and I are kind of getting back together." Violet bit her lip, holding back some secrets of her own. "You must have something."

"I might do. Give me a second."

Was I really about to do this? I thought to myself as I took out my phone. Whilst I wanted to tell Jane Doe that Meredith's boyfriend had cheated on her, but this had nothing to do with her and Meredith wasn't a target of Jane Doe's either.

"What are you going to tell J.D?" she asked, refusing to say Jane Doe when my parents walked in.

"Something I've been meaning to say for a long time." Hitting send was potentially one of the most daunting things I had ever done and when my eyes scanned the reply, I felt like I could breathe again. "It's done." I sent another message to a friend to try and soften everything.

"Mr Archibald, can I talk to you- oh…" Ava paused in the doorway when she noticed the kitchen was rather busy. "I can come back later."

Mom waved her in. "It's fine, Ava. What is it?"

"I'm so sorry to have to tell you like this, but I can't be your campaign manager anymore." Ava fidgeted nervously with her blazer, pulling it down sharply. "My circumstances have changed, along with my priorities."

"Well this isn't ideal, Ava. We're less than a month from Election Day and you drop this on us now. Is everything absolutely okay? You're not in trouble or anything, are you?" Mom tried to comfort Ava. "Ava?"

"It's nothing I can't handle, Mrs Archibald…" Ava glanced at Dad and I could smell a fish.

I jerked my head towards the door, urging for Violet to follow me out. At the bottom of the stairs, I was about to say something to her when someone tapped on my shoulder. As I turned around, I caught a millisecond glimpse of Dustin before his fist connected with my nose. My head snapped back and I hit the ground. Screams echoed in my ears as a trainer repeatedly hit my cowering body, catching my arms, chest and stomach.

"You think my relationship with Meredith is funny? You think you can meddle and intervene, and I won't say anything? Huh? Do you?" Dustin taunted, slowly his beating momentarily.

"Stop," I whispered, trying to decide whether to stay down or fight against it.

"Mr Archibald!" Violet screamed. "Mr Archibald, quickly!"

The beating stopped as Dad dragged Dustin away, maintaining composure and threatening to call the cops if my abuser didn't flee quickly. I rolled over as my mom bent down beside me, mumbling something about Meredith being trouble.

"I'm fine, Mom. It was just a misunderstanding…" I growled, clenching my jaw as I stood up. "Sorry Violet. You should go home. Please." I couldn't even look her in the eye. I felt humiliated that I didn't stand up for myself and fight back.

Then our phones buzzed and I urged Mom and Dad to help me inside. The dry taste of blood in my mouth mixed with the embarrassment that I walked straight to the kitchen and went to wash my face.

Mom didn't ease up and stayed with me, stopping me at a point. "Hold still," she said, taking a damp cloth and gently pressing it to my nose and mouth. "Sorry darling."

"It's fine. It's not your fault."

"Still – I wish that I had been paying close attention to you…"

"You can't be everywhere. And I'm sorry about what I said to you earlier. There's something I want to ask you."

Mom brushed my hair aside. "What is it? You know you can always talk to me about anything. Anything at all."

Instead of telling her, I showed her the text from the last Jane Doe post on my phone.

Hey UESiders, so there's a juicy little tidbit of information about Mini Gatsby that I know you are dying to know about. About the ladies in his life. History with Sparky, a secret girlfriend, a fake relationship with Vicky, and now there's a new bird in his sights. Could she be the Daisy that he's looking for? Sorry Pencil Boy- three strikes, you're out… Little Birdie, batter up. Know my name, keep my secrets. Jane Doe. Kisses X X

Mom didn't know what to say – that much was written on her face, but she looked past me at something or someone standing in the doorway. "I'll leave you to talk things over." I was sure as she left, she whispered, "You take care of him…"

I tried to push my aching shoulders back and stand tall. Someone pressed their forehead to the centre of my back, right between my shoulder blades. The person's breathing was in time with mind, minus the pain in my chest.

"I'm so sorry…"

Violet. Her voice was sad and miserable that it made my heart ache.

"Violet."

"Why didn't you tell me you really meant what you had said?"

"How could I?" I whispered. "You are my cousin's girlfriend. My best friend's girlfriend. There are some things I just wouldn't do. I can't choose how I feel about people. I didn't want to ruin the friendship, so I need you to leave and go back to Henry. Work on things, explain that you put me straight and then it will be fine."

"Sebastian."

"No Violet. Please do this for me." I twisted my body, shaking her from her spot. "I'm sorry."

Then she was gone.

-o-

Later that evening, I was lying on the sofa, propped up on the arm. My grandparents had taken Rosalie and Elle out for a fancy dinner whilst Mom and Dad spent some time on the campaign plan in preparation for Election Day in a couple of weeks. After the beating, I couldn't go outside. I didn't want to leave the house at all. Vick, Meredith and J.J had been messaging me – each one with their own agenda and reasoning for getting in touch. But I couldn't bring myself to respond.

Occasionally I would hear them laugh, which made me smile weakly, unable to ignore the pain in my chest and right side. Until Dad went to answer the door, then it went cold and silent.

"Ava- what are you doing here?" His voice was a perfect blend of concern, frustration and shock.

"I'm sorry Nathaniel," Ava replied, making me sit up slowly. "She needs to know the truth."

Mom's voice sounded out from the open doorway I could see her standing in. "Tell me the truth about what, Nate?"

I don't think anyone, or anything could have prepared me for the words that were about to leave Ava's mouth.

"I'm pregnant."

Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = Eek! And what is in store for the gang next? Jane Doe seems to have slipped in Meredith's name to the mix as Sparky, so perhaps some secrets have been 'deleted'?