She couldn't help but shake as she looked at the one person she never wanted to see again, she wasn't sure if it was fear, anger or maybe both but whatever emotion he was making her feel it was defiantly not love.

He looked happy with her, his new girlfriend, happier than he ever looked with her, and she couldn't wait to wipe that smile of his face. He was at the other side of the room with his hand around the mistress's waist talking seriously to who Serena guessed was his editor. He hadn't seen her yet and she was glad, it would probably ruin Blair's plan if he did.

At first when Blair told her she would have to go to Dan's new book's launch for phase ono of 'make Humphry un-comfy' she was a little shocked, she half expected that they would just send him to an insane asylum or something and that would be it, but according to Blair that was too good for him.

They had to take everything he loved away from him piece by piece

*yesterday*

Serena almost fell of Nate's lap when Blair told her that she had a plan. She half expected they would do the scheming without her, she usually messed it up anyway, the other half of her expected it to take longer for the Bass family to conger up a plan worthy of Humphry.

"You-you have a plan" she said eyes darting between her brother and best friend, dread evident in her eyes. It's not like she still had feelings for her soon to be ex-husband but she couldn't face him yet, it was only yesterday she found him with his secretary attached to his face.

"First things first" Chuck interrupted leaning in the doorway with a smirk on his face "why is my sister on your lap Nathanial?" he asked wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"The chairs are un-comfy" she said not bothering to get off, instead her grip tightened around his neck. The husband and wife just gave her an unconvinced look which Serena chose to ignore.

"Second thing" Blair continued a little curious "what the hell happened to your kitchen?"

"Oh… um well we thought we needed to put gas on the oven" Serena mumbled, she thought back to the fire, the disgusting pancakes she couldn't control the laugh that escaped her lips and almost as if they were linked Nate began to laugh aggressively causing both him and Serena to fall to the ground.

Nate was on top of Serena his arms on the floor next to her barely pushing himself above her, leaving only a fractional space between them. They weren't laughing anymore, this was far from a joke. She couldn't take her eyes of his lips and he couldn't keep his eyes of hers, it'd only been a night ago that they had been connected and she couldn't help but wish it would happen again.

She didn't have to wish for long though, Nate was slowly leaning in. It was a perfect moment two people that loved each other finally admitting their feelings, their lips were milometers apart when the sound of Chuck clearing his throat interrupted them.

Almost as quickly as it began it stopped, he sprang off of her and she slowly got up and pulled her dress down self-consciously. Blair shot daggers at Chuck he had just interrupted a very important moment between her OTP "oh sorry the idea of my best friend and sister making out in front of me made me uncomfortable" he said before his wife glared a hole in him "please do continue" he said doing hand gestures insinuating more than an innocent kiss.

"You're disgusting" Serena said glaring at her brother even though she was secretly amused. "So you have a plan?" she asked to more to distract herself from Nate than genuine interest.

Blair rolled her eyes at her best friend, why couldn't she just follow Chuck's advice and kiss Nate like a normal person "It's in the file" she said pointing at the binder she had dropped on the table earlier today.

Serena looked at the binder and saw it was so full that they had to use elastic bands to keep it shut "You can't be serious" she said raising her eyebrows at the brunet "why can't we just throw him into an asylum or some Jesus camp like everyone else who wronged us?"

"Because that's too good for Humphry" both the brunet's said in union

"So what's the plan?" both the blondes asked in union

The husband and wife smiled fondly at how in sync the two blondes were, Blair was secretly counting down the days until the double dates started "Well I call it operation make Humphry un-comfy" Blair said with an evil smirk that put Chuck's to shame "we are going to take everything he loves away from him piece by piece"

"So what do we do first?" Nate asked intrigued and even if he didn't want to admit it excited by the plan, nobody does that to Serena and gets away with it.

"Well what's the three things he loves most in the world?" Chuck asked

"Books" Serena tried

"Being an ass" Nate said grudgingly.

"His career, money and his family" Blair corrects with the devil in her eyes "and we're going to destroy them"

*now*

She walked silently but confidently through the rows of chairs she wasn't scared of Dan, he should be scared of her. It helped that she wasn't alone Nate was right behind her, and that boosted her confidence more than it probably should. Of course Blair was there to, fearlessly leading the group to their seats, there was no way she was missing the take down of her mortal enemy.

They all sat down still not talking, what was there to say. All they had to do was sit back relax and enjoy the show. Her eyes carefully followed her ex-husband as he walked onto the stage with a smug smile on his face and Serena wondered how long it would take before it was replaced by the same look she wore when she caught him with his secretary.

He started to talk about his new book and she rolled her eyes when she noticed how in awe the audience were, boy were they going to be angry when they all found out what their favourite author really was.

He continued to talk about how much effort he put into his book and she scoffed. "And now" he announced lazily "you can all watch a video that sums up the book". She squeezed Nate's hand in anticipation, this was it the beginning of the end.

"What you doing?" Serena's voice rang out from the screen. It was a shaky home video, nothing special, but what was recorded on that crappy low budget camera had the power to destroy the prestigious reputation Dan had worked oh so hard to get.

She watched in amusement as his eyes snapped up when her realised this was no advert for his book "TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF!" he yelled in desperation eyes scanning the crowd for the DVD player, but when he saw it he lost all hope of keeping his dirty secret, he saw none other than Chuck Bass leaning lazily against the DVD player with smirk on his face.

"Just writing the new book" Dan said on screen not bothering to look away from his computer. The shaky camera continued to walk to him ignoring his lack of interest. It zoomed in to his face, she can't remember why she wanted a close up of him probably because she thought he was beautiful at the time, but the camera soon moved its lens towards the computer which was definitely not writing a book.

Instead it was downloading something "No you're not, what're you downloading" Serena's giggling voice echoed through the room. Dan just stared as the screen obviously trying to block out the sound of his wife, you could almost picture her lips curled up and eyes sparkling behind the camera "let me guess… you're downloading a book from the internet and taking credit for it" she said laughing at her own joke. She almost immediately stopped when Dan's face changed from indifferent to guilty. "Wait your not are you?"

"Let's just call it inspiration" he said slyly, a smirk growing on his face she still shuddered at how similar he looked to Chuck.

"DAN!" her voice yelled coldly, the entire audience jumped at how quickly her voice changed from the warm summer like tone to a stone cold shriek even Blair Bass couldn't pull off. "THAT PERSON PUT THEIR HEART AND SOLE INTO THAT NOVEL AND YOU'RE JUST GOING TO STEAL IT! THAT'S TOTALLY ILEGAL! WE COULD LOSE EVERYTH-"

Dan, still not bothering to look away from his computer waved his wife of with the flick of his hand before he sent the camera a glare that she was suppressed didn't crack the lens "Serena stop pretending to be smart and go make me a cup of coffee"

The camera was cut out and the darkness consumed the room. She watched as all his 'loyal' fans stormed out of the room, a few of them with tears streaming down their faces, some of them throwing their signed copies at him but all of them were angry.

She looked up at her darling husband who was completely broken, she had always told him on his darkest day, when nobody could remember his name and all hope seemed lost she would be by his side because 'I love you Dan Humphry, always have always will' but she wasn't there nobody was, not even his mistress, it almost sickened her how much pleasure she got from his misery.

It didn't take long before his eyes met hers and he knew exactly what happened, Serena honestly didn't know why he was surprised, after all wasn't he the one saying the upper east side was poison what did he expect would happen when the lonely boy broke the it girls heart? Did he honestly think that the non-judging breakfast club would let it go?

She linked arms with her two best friends not bothering to give Dan a second look and walked away from him, on the way out Blair held Chuck's hand. All four of them walked triumphantly not caring that there was only enough room to walk in pairs on the sidewalk because none of them were going to let go of each other ever again.

As she walked away she couldn't help but feel like she did all those years ago in the playpark, Yes someone she loved had just walked out of her life but three people way more important than him had just walked back into it.

=xoxo

Secrets never stay secrets on the Upper East Side, it only took seconds before word spread about the Humphry scandal. It was almost funny how one little secret could cause such devastation.

He stole somebody's work so they stole his money. They didn't even bother to put it to court, they had all the evidence they needed anyway. That's how Dan found himself on a bus from his luxury apartment to his Father's small rundown apartment in Brooklyn.

He hadn't called his family in a while, well that's not strictly true he called them ten minutes ago but they didn't pick up, he assumed the phone was turned off or something.

The second he stepped of the bus he let out a loud groan, after all his work, all of the hours he locked himself in his office, all of the time he pretended to care about Serena and he was standing here again, on Brooklyn soil.

Every step he took was excruciating, but not from physical pain, he hated it here he spent his whole life trying to dig his way out but now he had no choice but to jump right back in.

He exhaled deeply before pushing the door, mentally preparing himself to be bombarded with his Father's homemade waffles and sympathy, but that's far from what he got.

He was met by Rufus's icy stare and his sisters watery one "how could you!" she whaled holding her hand against her mouth to muffle the sobs.

He just glared at her. How come the judging breakfast club just destroyed his life and everyone was on Serena's side "Oh come on! None of this is my fault Serena's-"

"We're not talking about you're stupid book" Rufus said trying to stay calm "you told me she knew" he said pointing to Jenny

Dan stood frozen to the spot, she knew about gossip girl. He told everyone that she already knew because he knew his dad well enough to know he would never forgive him for doing that to Jenny without permission, he also knew he that if he told him that Jenny already knew and she wanted him to post all that stuff about her Rufus would probably never bring it up again to avoid the awkward conversation.

"I can't believe you did this to me" she sobbed not bothering to hide the tears anymore

"How did you find out?" he asked infuriated his masterplan failed

"Really that's all you can say" Rufus yelled giving up on staying calm "you won't even apologise after you did that to my daughter!"

"I'm you're son" he said rolling his eyes, he was having a bad day and he really wasn't in the mood for people dwelling on the past.

"Not anymore" Rufus said quietly, placing a hand on Dan's chest pushing him out of the apartment and slamming the door in his face.

=xoxo

They got home around midnight, refusing to take any public transport Blair forced them to walk all the way, none of them cared though they were in to high spirits to care about anything. They didn't even care when Serena and Nate started to drunkenly sing 'we are the champions'.

"Cause we are the champions" She sang really of tune

"Of the world" he sang just as badly as the pair stumbled into the apartment, a completely sober pair of brunets following behind with smirks on their faces. The blondes fell onto the sofa laughing harder than they had in a really long time.

"Thanks" she said seriously staring at the husband and wife, they both looked at her quizzically "for helping take down Dan"

"Yeah man" Nate said still a little drunk "and telling Jenny about gossip girl… that was a nice touch"

"Well I had to use my genius on something, other than in the bedroom" he said winking at Blair before finding his way to the alcohol cabinet.

"Too much information bro" Serena squeaked covering her face with her hands

"Well if he didn't use his genius on something else I would need a vagina transplant" Blair said cunningly, she knew how uncomfortable that it would make her. A triumphant smile played on her lips when she saw it was working.

Serena buried her face in Nate's neck hopping that this conversation was just a terrible nightmare at the end of a good day. "Stop torturing Serena" Nate said in a scolding voice even though he was suppressing a laugh.

Chuck returned to the group handing a glass of scotch to each of them. Nate wrinkled his nose up at the glass in front of him "I thought we should toast" Chuck explained pushing the glass closer to his friend.

"Can't we toast with beer" Nate said pleadingly.

Chuck shot him a disapproving glair "have I taught you nothing Nathanial".

Nate grudgingly grabbed the brown liquid in front of him "What should we toast to?" he asked

"To the success of operation 'make Humphrey un-comfy'" Blair stated like it was the most obvious thing on the planet.

They were about to clink glasses when the beautiful blonde spoke up "no" she stated with a wide smile on her face "to new beginnings" she said looking straight at Nate.

"To new beginnings" they all cheered pushing their glasses together.

Serena took a sip of her drink and immediately spat it out "ew Chuck, what is this" Nate nodded in agreement ant the two brunets stared at their best friends in disbelief.

"You two have no taste" Blair tutted and the whole room burst into laughter, how could four people with absolutely nothing in common, except from money, be such close friends?

A feeling started to stir in Nate's chest, and he hadn't felt it in so long it took him a while to register what it was.

Hope.

He wasn't sure how but he was going to win back Serena if it was the last thing he did.

A/N- hey guys I'm so sorry it took me so long to update… again. I don't know if that's the takedown you were hopping for but I just couldn't think of anything so I wrote this. I'm not sure if it's any good but I hope it's good enough.

I realise there was barely any NS in this chapter but don't worry they will have plenty of time together next time.

So if you haven't already guessed I really hate Dan and I'm glad to tell you this is the last time he will be in this story. I'm going to try to update every two weeks but I can't promise anything. As always please favourite, follow or revue