"So what'd Lily talk to you about earlier?" Dan asked, fingers loosely entwined with Serena's.

"Oh um, she told me not to leave the dinner table to have sex and um to use protection. Which reminds me, please tell me we used a condom last night." Serena said, a red blush sprinkled across her face.

"Uh...you're on birth control, right?" Dan asked, turning away from his book to look at her. His eyes were serious as he looked at her. They haven't had a real pregnancy scare yet and he wasn't ready for one.

"Yeah. That...yeah." Serena blushed and pecked Dan on the lips. "Don't worry about it, kay?" She rubbed her hand up and down his arm, feeling his muscles relax.

"Okay." Dan replied reluctantly, turning back to his book. "Oh and by the way, you're still going to Brown."

Serena rolled her eyes, sighing. "Dan, I can go to Yale if I want to, okay? Please just let me make this decision by myself."

He put his book down, not even bothering to mark the page. "Fine, but if you're going to make this decision by yourself, that means you don't use our relationship as a reason to go to a college."

"Fine. I want to go to Yale."

"Any reasons why?" Dan raised his eyebrows

"The campus is beautiful." Serena retorted, smiling at him.

"That's one." He replied easily.

"My best friend is going there and we've never been separated and we're not going to be."

"Two."

"I'm afraid that you'll fall for some hot book club girl and forget all about me." Serena admitted, starting to list fears instead of reasons.

"Three. And it won't happen. I'm completely heads over heels for you." Dan whispered, kissing her on the cheek.

"I'm afraid of being alone. All by myself in a campus where I don't know anyone."

"Four." He said quietly, eyes locked onto her.

"I...I don't want you to leave me. Not now, not ever." Tears from her insecurities welled up in her eyes. The feeling of him wrapping his arms around her made her slowly choke out the tears. "I want to be with you, Dan. Where ever you are."

"I know." He whispered, rubbing her back slowly. "I know." He let her cry into his shirt for a bit longer before tucking both of them under the covers so he could hold her quivering frame tighter. "You know how I feel about this, love. I want the best for you. Even if it means sacrificing us."

"Why do you have to be so noble? Can't you be selfish for once, Dan?" She begged him, her hands clutching his shirt. "Please."

"I'm not noble." He whispered, licking his lips. "If I was noble, I'd let my girlfriend go to the same college as me instead of making her cry like right now. If I was noble I wouldn't even consider letting you be alone without me because I know it'd be hell on both of us. I'm not noble."

"Can we just stay here and not make any decisions today? Please?" Serena pleaded, tears starting to slow.

"Okay. What do you want to do?"

"Will you read to me?"

"Read? Like what – a bedtime story?" He chuckled lightly, pressing a kiss to her forehead as she nodded. "Okay, what story?"

"Can you make one up? I just want to hear your voice." Her request came out small and childish.

"Sure." He brushed a lock of hair away from her face. "In a land far far away, there was a girl. Her name was Serena and she was the most beautiful girl ever, with long blonde hair and the most amazing green eyes. On top of that she was also a princess. A lot of Princes liked her, but she didn't like any of them. They weren't real enough for her. So one day she met a boy. His name was Owen. Owen was unlike all the other Princes because he was really nice. He was just a normal boy inside a Prince's body."

Serena giggled and he rolled his eyes at her before continuing. "Serena immediately took a liking to Owen, partly because he reminded her of someone she knows in her dreams. A guy named Dan. Owen and Dan were a lot alike. Both were artistic in some way, good looking and down to earth."

"You're not Owen?" Serena asked, her voice full of confusion.

"No. I'm Dan." He said, kissing her again. "A few months later after many dates, Owen and Serena fell in love. Real true love. They got married six months later and Serena was the happiest she could be. She went to Brown with Owen and they lived happily ever after. The end."

Serena looked up at him, eyes showing the betrayal she felt. "Is that how you imagined my life without you?"

"I just want you to be happy." Dan muttered, tracing little circles on her arms absently. "I don't want you to wake up one day and realize you could have chosen a different path. A path that would ultimately make you happier. Like dating Nate or something."

Serena sat up, her frame stiff. "You're pushing me towards one of my best friends?"

Dan sat up as well, trying to sooth her. "No of course not. But you know."

"No I don't know. Care to elaborate?" Serena said harshly, glaring at him as she threw the covers off of her.

"I want what's best for you, alright!? I don't want to drag you down!"

"Have you maybe considered what's best for me is you? Or maybe that I'm the one dragging you down?" Serena yelled, pushing him away when he tried to hug her. There was no way he could sweet talk his way out of this. "You know what, Dan? Just- Just go home!"

Dan raised his eyebrows, arms crossed against his bare chest. "I live here."

"Then I'll leave!" Serena made a move to cross over to his window, ready to use the fire escape down.

"No, no, no." He stood in front of it, blocking her path. "It's late and you'll freeze to death anyway. I don't want you attacked on your way home. Come on Serena. Let's just go to sleep and talk about this in the morning. Okay?"

"Move Dan!" She tried to shove him out of the way, but he didn't budge. Not even a little. Trying another tactic, she hissed at him. "I am not sleeping with you tonight."

"You're sleeping here – or else you get your heart back." He said firmly, stopping her trying to move him.

"What?!"

"Don't tell me you forgot." Dan said, reaching into his pocket. "You gave me a heart on my birthday. Your heart. The one I carry with me every single day." He pulled it out, the small silver heart with the engraved Serena facing her. "That day, I told myself that the only time I would ever give it back is if we truly broke up."

"You don't mean that." Serena whispered, arms dropping to her sides. "You wouldn't."

"Go to sleep, sweetheart." Dan said, slipping the heart back into his pocket and enveloping Serena into a hug.

"I hate you." She whispered, nails sinking into his back. "I hate you Daniel Humphrey."

"You don't mean that." He said confidently, voice wavering slightly. He kissed the top of her head. "Please just go to sleep darling."

"No." The word was spoken faintly, but he heard it clearly all the same. "I'm leaving."

He held her tighter, bringing her closer to the bed. "Please Serena." He begged.

"If you're going to give me back the heart, you might as well do it now." She slipped into the bitch mode that living in the Upper East Side had taught her.

"I was bluffing."

"I'm not." The words were coated with a layer of ice. "You wanted me to be happy. So now I can be. And I'll go to whichever college I please."

Wordlessly, he pulled away from her and dropped the heart into her open palm. "Okay."

"Okay." She echoed, eyes searching his sad ones. "Goodbye Dan."

She turned to leave, but he caught her wrist. "Can I just say one thing?"

"What?"

"In that story no matter how much Serena wanted to know the guy Dan in her dreams, he wasn't real. I want you to be happy – and find your Owen."

"In this story, Dan is real. And sometimes Owens aren't enough." Tears pooled in her eyes as he let go of her wrist.

"I guess we'll have to make do, won't we?" He smiled sadly at her, his heart breaking in two as tears fell down her face.

"But we don't have to." Serena's resolve crumbled as she watched tears appear in his eyes.

"Maybe." Dan said simply. "The offer still stands if you want to sleep here tonight."

"We can't keep having this same fight over and over again."

"I know."

She collapsed into his arms, the hot tears branding his chest like irons. "I'm sorry." She sobbed. "I'm so sorry."

"Shh...you don't have to be. Let's just not talk about college for a while okay?"

"Okay." She buried her face into his chest. "I don't hate you."

"I know."

"Will you-" She licked her lips, ticking his skin. "Will you make love to me? I-I need to forget about this. All of this."

"No." He muttered, pulling her onto the bed. "Forgetting doesn't make it go away. Sex is not going to make anything better." He pressed a kiss to her temple. "I love you okay? And nothing is going to change that."

"Okay."