This is my first Gossip Girl story ever, I hope you like it!

Chapter 1: Gelato

July 7, 1992

Lily van der Woodsen sighed as she leaned back on the black leather couch in her living room. Heat rises – that was just a physical law of the universe, even on the Upper East Side, so it didn't matter that the air conditioning unit in her penthouse was state of the art and the best there was – the hot July sun just made everything unbearable. She should have gone to the Hamptons as she'd planned, even if that meant living under the same (albeit big) roof as her mother for three months. At least that way she would have had a pool to cool off in.

Lily pushed some stray curls out of her face as she turned her head, looking at the baby girl next to her. So far, Serena had been an easy child with a head of beautiful blonde hair that matched her own. But even the most angelic baby reached her breaking point when the temperature climbed into the hundreds, and Serena had been fussy for the last two days. She cursed William again in her head. The only reason she was still here – in the city, that was – was that he had promised her he'd be home more often, even take the fourth of July off so that he could take her and Serena to the park to watch the fireworks.

Well, he hadn't been home on the fourth of July, nor on the fifth or the sixth, and now on the seventh, she was very much fed up with the whole situation. If her husband couldn't make it home to her, that was his loss. If he couldn't make it home to their perfect baby girl even once in three days –

She huffed out a breath. Sitting here and agonizing over her husband wouldn't do her any good. She was newly twenty-four years old. She had only been a mother – a real mother – for one year. Lily racked her brain. What had she done before she had had Serena? She hadn't sat at home waiting for anybody, that was for sure.

She had gone to Brown. She had partied. She had found herself a handsome young husband, one of the most promising doctors around. Before that she had been a photographer following Lincoln Hawk up and down the country – following Rufus up and down the country. She'd had her son.

Again her eyes found her daughter who looked up at her with a toothy grin. Her son would be turning four in three days, just a few days before his sister would celebrate her first birthday in one week. She brushed a kiss against Serena's forehead. How different her life could have been, but how could she regret anything if William had given her this little girl she adored so much? She just wished she'd been brave enough to keep her son with her, too.

Resolutely, Lily got up from the couch. She couldn't sit and wallow here for another second. She picked up the phone from its cradle on the wall, calling the front desk to have her car brought around. Then she did a quick search of the penthouse, packing everything she and Serena could possibly need for an afternoon out before she picked up her daughter and walked over to the elevator.

She could go to the park, but she wasn't in the mood to put herself and Serena through the masses of tourists Central Park would attract on a day like this. Shopping centers were out, too, as was her regular spa, but – the museum. She could take Serena to a museum, with their glorious, notoriously chilly halls, it would be the perfect destination for a day like this. And if she remembered correctly, MoMA even had a new exposition she hadn't seen yet.

Having made a plan, Lily could feel herself relax just the tiniest little bit. Things would turn out alright. She would spend a wonderful day with her daughter, and maybe her husband would even make it home for the night today.

"Alison," he said, trying hard to not raise his exasperated voice above a whisper.

Angrily the blonde whirled around. "What, Rufus?"

"Alison, you have to calm down or you're going to wake up Dan," Rufus hissed, keeping a wary eye on the one-year-old who was soundly asleep on his playpen.

"Oh, so now you care?" Alison put one hand on her hip whilst she used the other to brush some of her blonde curls out of her face.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked. "I rock him to sleep as often as you do, I get up during the night to make sure he's alright, and you're not even around half the time when your son needs something," he lashed out, his anger getting the best of him.

"And what about you?" she got right back at him. "You're still trying to turn this pitiable old building into an art gallery, hoping that you might sell something within the next ten years."

"I have several artists who would love to present their work in my new gallery. And anyways, aren't you always trying to paint one thing or another, hoping it'll catch someone's eye?"

Alison pressed her lips together into a thin line, the fury stealing the color from her face as she turned away from him. Her eyes caught the photographs on the wall opposite of their open kitchen.

"Maybe you should sell the pictures from your last Lincoln Hawk tour. Once CeCe Rhodes finds out that it was her lovely daughter who took them, she'll pay you any price to get them off the market," she said, her voice laced with disdain. Lily Rhodes had been a sore topic between them since before they had even been an item, only to be brought up in arguments and fights.

"Alison, what else do you want me to do? I haven't seen Lily in two years, last I heard she got married to some hotshot doctor and had a kid with him, so I doubt she'd even be interested. Stop being so paranoid," he replied, tired of getting into the same old fight with his wife over and over again.

"You loved that girl, Rufus, your biggest hits are the songs you wrote about her, you put her pictures up in our apartment, and sometimes you stare off into space with that little grin on your face, and I have to wonder if you're thinking about me or about her."

"Alison –"

"And the fact that your little speech right now was exclusively about the fact that Lily Rhodes couldn't possibly still be interested in you, but you haven't spent a single syllable explaining how you're not interested in her anymore doesn't really put my concerns to rest," Alison continued, her voice getting progressively louder.

Silence reigned for a second in their loft as she finished her rant, the words hanging in the air between them until the quiet was pierced by the screams of the little boy behind them. Alison's shoulders sagged as an exasperated sigh escaped her lips, her eyes finding her son's teary ones. Instinctively she stepped towards him until Rufus took her arm.

"I've got him, Ali," he said as he bent down to pick up Dan, cradling the boy against his chest as he made soothing voices. "You know what, maybe just take an afternoon to recalibrate? Dan and I can go out for a while, do some male bonding?"

She shot him a small but tired smile as she came up to him and just rested her head against his chest for a second, looking her son in the eye. He made a grabbing motion with his little hand, the tears in his eyes having completely dried up again.

"Alright," she nodded as she caressed Dan's dark hair and pressed a kiss to his head before she leaned up to kiss her husband. "You do know I love you, right?" she asked.

Rufus nodded. "And you know I love you too?"

She rolled her eyes a little at this cheesiness that was so not them, but nodded nonetheless.

"Alright then, Dan and I will go out, have a couple of beers, play some pool, the usual. Don't wait up, hon," he joked.

"I better not find out that you took my one-year-old son to a bar, Rufus Humphrey, or your life will turn around pretty soon, and not in the way you hope it will!"

He just laughed as he picked up a couple of things for Dan before he put the bag over his shoulder. "See you later, Alison," he called out as he closed the door behind him, wondering what he would do with this afternoon with his son.

She felt pretty fabulous again as she stepped out of the museum, pushing Serena's stroller down the ramp to the side. After several hours wandering through the cool halls and looking at all kinds of paintings from weird to wonderful, even the abnormal July heat didn't seem as bad anymore. Lily smiled as she put her sunglasses on, letting her gaze roam over the people on the street as she watched a couple of them walk by with some ice cream in their hands. She would kill for some gelato right now, and maybe Serena could have a tiny bit of hers, the baby still looked a little hot.

She made her way up the street, leaving the stroller outside the gelato shop and picking Serena up to take her inside with her. She was just turning around as she suddenly collided with another body.

"Oh my god," Lily breathed, her hand going to the back of Serena's head, instinctively checking the little girl for injuries but her daughter seemed fine. "What were you –" she started angrily as she looked up. "Rufus? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Lily. Don't you live in some plush penthouse on the Upper East Side?"

She let her eyes wander over his form for a moment. The broad shoulders, the roguishly handsome look that let him seem so much darker than he actually was. He hadn't changed much, she realized with a start as her heart rate sped up.

"I'm just coming back from MoMA," she divulged, "and thought I'd get myself and Serena some ice cream. What about you?" Rufus looked at the baby in her arms for a moment, taking in the blonde curls and the rosy cheeks.

"She looks a lot like you, Lil," he said with a smile. "And I was actually doing something quite similar, taking Dan out for a little stroll to see the sights of Manhattan."

It was only then that she noticed the stroller behind him and the curious little boy in it that observed them with attentive eyes, mumbling to himself.

"Dan?" Lily asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Daniel, really. My son," he explained when he saw the blank look in her eyes.

"Oh. I didn't know you were seeing someone, let alone that you have a child," she said, feeling a little stupid as she looked at Rufus and his son. Her thoughts returned to her own son, growing up somewhere in Boston without ever knowing his real parents. Apparently Rufus was more ready for a stable relationship than she ever could have thought.

"Married, actually," he volunteered the information with a small smile as he opened the door to the gelato shop and motioned for her to go ahead while he picked up Dan.

"Married," she repeated, trying not to sound too curious.

"Well, not everybody's mother puts an engagement and a wedding announcement in the Times," he quipped, shuddering slightly as he thought about CeCe.

Lily laughed a little. "Ah, well, at least it was only a small announcement when Serena was born. You should have seen Carol's and mine." There was a slight lull in the conversation as the line slowly moved forwards. "So married. Do I know her?"

Rufus seemed a little uncomfortable as he looked at her before he answered. "Actually, you do. It's Alison."

"Alison…" she repeated.

"Yeah, Alison. About your height, blonde curls, grey eyes?" he tried to help her along.

"Oh, I remember Alison," Lily said coolly. "I remember her well."

"Ah, well," he said, not really sure where to go from there.

She looked at her watch, shifting Serena at her hip a little. The awkwardness settled over them. "Oh, look at the time. I'm so sorry, Rufus, I completely forgot about this appointment I have. It was so nice to see you again."

"The pleasure was all mine, Lily Rhodes," Rufus said, the grin back on his lips.

She raised an eyebrow at his goodbye, so reminiscent of their wild time together four years ago.

"It's Van der Woodsen now, Rufus, and as you just told me you've read my wedding announcement, I'm pretty sure you know," she countered with a smile.

"Well, you'll always be Lily Rhodes to me, Lil," he said as he leaned down and brushed a quick kiss against her cheek. "See you soon?" he asked as she left her place in the line, heading towards the exit.

"If you actually venture out of Brooklyn again, there might be a chance for that to happen," she quipped as she gave him a last wave before she left the shop.

He looked after her until it was almost his turn to order and she'd long disappeared between the other people on the street. "And that, Dan," he said in mock seriousness as his son earnestly looked up at him, "is why we Humphrey men should never get involved with a Rhodes girl."

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