The silence between the pair was almost suffocating, they did their best to ignore it on the walk home, awkwardly making small talk about the weather and other things they didn't really care about, but when the elevator doors closed she couldn't take it anymore.

"I don't want things to change" she blurted out "between us I mean… I don't want it to be awkward" she explained even though he already knew what she meant.

He put his arm around her, closing the distance between them. "Serena things could never be awkward between us" he said because it was the truth, they had a one night stand together, they had dated and broken up hell they she had even cheated on him with one of his closest friends and things weren't awkward between them, one drunken kiss wasn't going to change anything. There was a few moments of a comfortable silence before he felt her skinny arms wrap around him

"Thankyou" she whispered into his ear. He didn't know what she was thanking him for but he couldn't bring himself to care he just breathed in the familiar smell of her shampoo and let himself relax into her body.

= XOXO

The brunet paced up and down the room clearly irritated.

"Blair would you calm down" he said helping himself to an apple from the fruit bowl.

"How can I calm down Chuck" she snapped taking the apple he was biting into and throwing it across the room. "It's bad enough that she forces us to pretend to be happy for her and her failing marriage but now she's running two hours late for the party she had us organise!"

He tried to put his hand on her shoulder or anything else that would calm her down but she just waved him of and looked at the empty room. "Nobody came, not even Nate"

"Blair you know why he couldn't come" he sighed, Chuck Bass wasn't the kind of guy that felt pity for love struck idiots but he saw the pain on the guys face every single day since he let her go, because in the end you only regret the things you didn't take and Nate learnt that the hard way.

"I know I just wish…" she trailed of desperately trying to hold back her tears "I just wish she could see wat everyone else see's… I just wish she could see if she was brave enough to say goodbye life would reward her with a new hello" She sighed thinking of all the happiness her best friend had traded in for a marriage cabbage patch. She took a deep breath and turned to see Chuck's shoulders shaking desperately trying to supress a laugh and she threw his half eaten apple at him and yelled "THIS ISN'T FUNNY BASSHOLE". And at that he exploded into so much laughter he was practically rolling on the ground.

"I'm sorry" he smirked after he had calmed down "It's just 'if you are brave enough to say goodbye life will reward you with a hello'" he said mimicking her dreamy voice from before "It's just a little more… cheesy than I'm used to" .

"Ugh" she groaned throwing her hands in throwing her hands in the air "I can't believe I married you!" she looked at the elevator which much to her disgust Serena still hadn't walked out of. "It's too hot in here!" she complained.

"Oh I'm sorry should I leave" He smirked turning Blair to face him

Blair couldn't help but laugh at her husband as she was reminded exactly why she married him "And you say I have the cheesy lines". They were about to kiss when the ping of the elevator interrupted them. "After two hours THIS is the moment she chooses to arrive "she said exasperated "Right happy face" she said to Chuck before walking to the elevator.

"Oh I am very happy" He smirked staring at his wife's ass

Blair mentally prepared herself for whatever image her best friend and Humphry were about to scar her with, having to look at Humphry's stupid face was bad enough without Serena's attached to it. When the doors opened her fake smile was replaced by a real one

She was met not by the sight of a blonde and a brunet but by two blondes.

"Oh. My. God." She squealed jumping up and down on the spot like an excitable child. "Chuck get over here!" she yelled at her husband who was retrieving his half eaten apple.

"Blair-"Serena tried

"Well, well, well" chucks smug voice interrupted "My sister and best friend getting hot and heavy in the elevator" he looked at Nate his smirk only growing bigger "I have taught you well Nathaniel"

"Chuck-"Nate began

"Oh my god" Blair squealed again, eyes darting between Nate and Serena like it was a ping pong match "I can't believe it! My ship was sinking and now it is rising from the ocean like a beautiful dolphin!"

"Blair-"both Nate and Serena insisted

"And to think I was about to start a scheme to make you two lovebirds to realise your true feelings" she said happily clapping her hands together "So?" she said beginning to drag her best friends to sit on the sofa ignoring their protests. "Tell us how did this happen? How did Humphry take it?"

It hits her like a ton of bricks it might have only been a little while, but Nate had managed to make her forget, all the hurt, the betrayal even the very existence of Dan Humphry but now she remembered.

She felt his grip tighten around her waist and she couldn't help but smile. Yes Dan had hurt her in the worst way imaginable but that only reminded her of how Nate would never do that. "He didn't have to take it, he was too busy making out with his secretary" she said as if it was nothing important, she actually had to supress a laugh when she saw her brother and best friends reactions. Blair's eyes had almost popped out of her head and chuck had stormed off muttering something along the lines of "nobody does that to my sister and comes out alive"

She looks across at Blair who is biting her lip and Serena can only guess she is coming up with a scheme. As if on que Blair aggressively pushes herself of the sofa "call me if you need me S me and Chuck have got scheming to do".

Normally that look in Blair's eyes would make her shiver but today it just made her smile grimly "do your worst"

"Oh by the time we're done with him he'll wish he was never born" Blair smiles, clearly daydreaming of all the ways to torture Humphry. They both pull in for a long hug and she whispers with a little more empathy (but she still sounds angry) "It's going to be okay S"

"I know B" she whispers back "now go torture my husband".

Blair smiled she liked this side of Serena, she held her hand briefly for support and quickly hopped into the elevator to catch up with her husband. She had been waiting a long time to make cabbage patch suffer and she now finally had an excuse. She was going to enjoy this.

They both watched Blair stride out of the apartment with an evil grin on her face and couldn't help but shudder. As mad as he was at Dan he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him, nobody wanted to feel Blair and Chuck Bass's wrath. Neither of them are talking but it's not awkward, and Nate can't help but smile, because they don't need to fill each silence with small talk that's just how comfortable they are around each other.

He looked at her and she wasn't crying, in fact she was smiling. Most girls in her situation would be distraught and depressed but not Serena. She accepted that life isn't perfect and people do bad things, it was one of the many reasons he loved her.

Part of him couldn't help but hate her for being so perfect. Not just her beauty but just how she was. Like how she always put others before herself, or how she trusted everyone even if it was against common sense, or how she still acted like a child and had fun despite being from the Upper East Side. All of these things made it so difficult for him to pretend he didn't love her.

He didn't mean to love her it just kind of happened, one minute he loved her and the next he was in love with her. He didn't want to love her there were so many reasons he shouldn't love her, she was his ex-girlfriends best friend, she was his best friends sister and she was married but he couldn't help it.

"I should go" he said before he did anything he would regret. He was halfway to the elevator when he felt her delectate fingers wrap around his wrist.

"Can you stay" she whispered "Just for a little while".

He hesitated because he knew if he stayed he wouldn't be able to resist her but she looked so sad and he couldn't bear to be the reason. "Always" he said more to himself than her, because he knew at the end of the day he would always do whatever she asked.

They spent the next hour eating Chinese and arguing over which celebrity couples are best. "How can you possibly think Jennifer Aniston is better for Brad Pitt than Angelina Jolene!?" Serena screamed at Nate

"Because Jen is way hotter" he shrugged taking another bite of his meal

"If Jennifer is hotter why did Brad sleep with Angelina?" He was about to reply when he realised she wasn't talking about celebrities anymore. "Do you think Jennifer was too slutty, to loud, wasn't their enough, to childish?"

"Brad was just an ass" he said firmly looking into her eyes so she knew he wasn't lying "and so is Dan, cheating on you is like throwing away a diamond and picking up a rock"

She managed to give him a small smile, it only lasts a second but at least it's genuine. "Yeah but even if he threw me away for a rock, he still threw me away." She whispered "I'm just fed up of people throwing me away for someone else you know? Dan threw me away for his secretary, Tripp threw me away for Murine and Carter threw me away so he could be a slave! Am I that unlovable?"

"Serena you are the most loveable person in the universe." Nate chuckles "can you name one guy that hasn't fallen at your feat"

"That's my point" she exclaimed throwing her hands in the air "People always think 'oh look its Serena Van Der Woodsen she's so beautiful it must be easy for her to get the guy' but it's not. Whenever I find someone they never take me seriously, they either love me for what I used to be or what they want me to be, why can nobody just love me for me?"

He wants to tell her he loves her for her, but he can't so he settles for the next best thing "Serena you are perfect, just because Dan doesn't see it doesn't mean it's not true"

A goofy grin finds its way onto her face as she settles onto the couch "you always know what to say Archerbald" she moans sleepily "I wish I could find a guy like you"

He doesn't know where his sudden courage comes from but before he can think he says "well… maybe if you can't find someone like me you should just date me?" He waits a long time and all he can hear is silence "Serena?" and that's when a snore escapes her lips. He can't help but laugh at his bad luck, of course the one time he is brave enough to ask her out she falls asleep.

He scoops her up into his arms and carries her up the stairs. He can't help but wonder if Dan would have ever done this for her or if he would just leave her down there, he knows that he would have probably left her and he probably never did anything for his wife and it just hurt. It hurt to know that after all he did for Serena she still chose Dan over him.

He makes sure she is comfy on the bed before he turns away and he promises himself not to look back.

But some promises are made to be broken.

He knows that it sounds like a cliché but she really does look like a fallen angel with her golden hair spread across the bed sheets and her hands on her heart. She really is too beautiful to be on this planet. He doesn't know if he should smile because she's his friend or cry because that's all he will ever be. He knows he should turn away before he's tempted to stay but god dammit she's just so beautiful.

He finally builds up the strength to leave when her soft voice interrupts him. "Nate could you lay with me" he doesn't know when she woke up but all he can do is pray it was after he asked her out no he is about to say but her pleading voice interrupts him "just for a little while"

If this was any other girl he would have just left, but this wasn't just any other girl this was Serena Van Der Woodsen the girl of his dreams so what else could he do but climb into her bed and cuddle up to her.

"Always" he whispered into her ear.

A/N sorry it took so long to update again. The next chapter should be added sometime within this week hope you liked it and please like follow and review