This one is dedicated to d4s, who asked for a contiuation of last chapter. Lily gets a rough interpretation, but meh. Thanks heaps for the reviews, sorry for the delay in updates my lovelies :)

Dan hazily plays with a lock of hair as Serena naps, winding the golden strands around his fingers gently. His girlfriend has an effortless beauty about her that is quite apparent when she sleeps; lips slightly parted, face impassive, the even rise and fall of her chest. He's lying on the couch and she's lying on him, one hand folded beneath her face and the other wrapped about his middle as if she's afraid he'll leave.

I love you too.

Truthfully, the unadulterated fear she tried to hide when she mumbled it had been one of worst things he'd ever seen, second only to the tears that rolled down her cheeks after I'm pregnant. Dan isn't sure why it was so scary for her, but he's beginning to appreciate how much morethere is to her, and how much more he wants to know. Nothing he said got her to stop shaking, so he held her tightly, pressing his lips to her hair until she slowly drifted off to sleep.

After the twelfth time Serena's phone rang he'd turned it off and tossed it onto one of the armchairs, resisting the urge to throw it out the window. He loves Serena, so so much, but he fucking hates the voyeuristic nature of the Upper East Side and the fact that they're trying to deal with this as best they know how while half of New York is watching with bated breath. The way people had looked at him at school and smirked, laughed even, as though they're pleased to see their relationship stumble; he didn't know it was possible to loathe people you barely know quite this much, but he does, every last label-whoring entitled pretentious one. Dan hopes that when he approached Blair that morning she hadn't read the blast, because if that's her reaction to the photo of Serena and that pregnancy test his opinion of her is officially unsalvageable.

Serena moves in atop him, the arm around him tightening as she buries her face in his chest, yawning. He smiles, sweeping her hair from her face,

"Do you feel better?" She mumbles an affirmation against him, rolling back to look up at him with sleepy blue eyes.

"What time is it?"

He works the kinks from one of his shoulders, "I don't know, I threw your phone over…there, somewhere." He gestures in the general direction of the chairs, and she braces herself against his shoulders. Serena's still drowsy, and she brings up a knee to try and sit up only to get Dan right in the stomach.

"Oooff!" He cringes as the wind's knocked out of him, and she scrambles backward, "Oh, I'm sorry!" Serena slides in between him and the back of the couch, giggling a little at his face. She looks at him, clutching his side where she's kneed him, the line of empty pregnancy tests on the table behind him, and she can't help but giggle again.

They're seventeen and pregnant; there's nothing funny about it. Lily's head might actually explode when she finds out, and she's not sure how Rufus will react but she doubts it'll be positive. Gossip Girl took the liberty of informing the whole world except the people she's really dreading saying it to, and the irony makes her laugh harder. Dan's staring at her quizzically, but there's a lift to his mouth, and he begins to chuckle as she leans into the couch and closes her eyes in mirth.

It's the most serious situation she's ever been in, and it's so monumentally screwed up that she either has to laugh or cry about it, and she's cried herself out for the moment. Besides, this reaction is much more satisfying-if less appropriate.

Dan's confused, but he's just so glad she isn't crying that he laughs along with her, and they sit on the couch a few minutes giggling like idiots. Serena starts to compose herself, but she looks at Dan's smiling face and cracks up again.

It's just all too fucked up.

Serena braces her elbows on her knees and buries her face in her hands as the laughter makes a more permanent dissipation, cheeks sore from smiling. Dan chuckles, resting a hand on her thigh and bumping her shoulder with his own. Serena's hair bounces as she shakes her head, "Dan, I think-"

The swing of the suite door cuts her off, and as Lily's voice wafts into the lounge Dan can actually see the colour wash from Serena's face as she whips her head around to face the sound. Her blue eyes meet his, wide and panicked and she wants to runrunrun.

"What is she doing here?" She half whispers in a voice pitched with fear. Dan stares quizzically, "How would I-"

"She's supposed to be at Canyon Ranch, what is she doing here?" Serena jumps from the couch, frantically sweeping the empty pregnancy tests into her arms and looking for somewhere to stash them. Dan grabs his school bag and helps her shove them inside just as Lily wanders gracefully into the room,

"Where is ever- oh, Serena." She smiles ever so slightly at her daughter, glancing over the two of them standing awkwardly in the middle of the lounge room, Dan's bag between them. Serena cringes inwardly. It'd be hard to look more guilty.

"Dan, it's nice to see you." Every time she says it he wonders how she really feels about his presence, but he savours her poised, practised greeting this time. After Serena tells her their news Dan anticipates she'll spend a while greeting him a whole different way.

"You too, Lily."

Serena's been curiously quiet, but she smiles carefully at her mother, "I thought you weren't coming back till Thursday."

Lily places her purse on the counter, "I was, but Bart called and said he had a benefit come up and that we simply must attend together. Mother was planning on heading back early anyway. You'd know all this if you'd answer your phone, I rang you from the airport." Dan thinks about all the calls he'd assumed were texts or blasts from Gossip Girl, now wishing he'd answered one of them so they'd had some warning of her arrival.

"I'm…sorry." Serena says softly, and Lily gives her a querying look before walking out of the room. Serena's a good liar when the need calls for it, and it sure as hell does now, but the way her mother is acting so normal, like everything is fine when it's so not is freaking her out. She wonders how she's going to tell her and how irrevocably this is going their relationship, and she feels as panicked as she did when she first saw the positive test.

Dan's staring at her unmoving form and wonders if this is a normal reaction. He leans out to look in her eyes, and they dart to meet his, "You okay?" He says it with a half-smile, and she gives him a tight smile as she nods a little. He rubs her arm and a tiny nervous giggle falls from her lips, "That was close."

"Daniel, your father was just on the phone."

They jump at Lily's proximity and the stealthy way she's managed to reappear at the doorframe, arms crossed as she regards them both with an unreadable, ominous epression. Dan's heart feels like it skips a beat then returns at twice its normal rate as Lily's stone gaze burns into them, and he hopes against hope his father didn't say anything.

Serena picks up her schoolbag, blissfully unaware Rufus has blown their secret as wide open as Gossip Girl did that morning, "Hey, we're just going to go-"

"Serena Celia Van der Woodsen. Sit down."

She stills beside him, and Dan swears he can hear a barely audible whimper come from his girlfriend. He meant it when he said they would explain this to their parents together, but he hadn't thought that would be quite so soon. He would have liked a few days to prepare his mental fortitude for the onslaught Lily is about to throw at them now.

Serena drops straight to the couch, her palms slick with sweat and heart beating somewhere up in her throat. She's done plenty of stupid things, and seen Lily react accordingly; public drunkenness, skipping class, drug possession. Nothing is scarier than the total lack of emotion on her face now.

Dan sits beside her carefully, sliding his hand into hers. It's clammy but he doesn't care, squeezing her fingers in his own. Lily moves across the room in stiff, robotic movements and braces her hands on the back of the couch facing them. Serena stares at her inexpressive face, but when Lily's gaze rises she drops her eyes to the carpet. She's scared and unsure and needs her mother, but it's a child's fantasy to believe Lily Van der Woodsen would consider that right now. Serena would like to melt away into the couch beneath her, but Dan's presence beside her is solid and warm and she unsteadily looks to her mother, hand clenching around his. The closed stare of her mother makes her want to cry again, and she opens her mouth to speak. Lily raises a hand swiftly, face pinched in anger,

"DON'T."

She shrinks imperceptibly and Dan has never seen his girlfriend so submissive. He shuffles closer and stares right at Lily though she is intently fixed on Serena. A few carefully measured breaths and she opens her mouth, jaw tight and voice low.

"You've done a lot of stupid things in your life Serena. A lot of stupid, selfish things," She shakes her head, disappointment rolling off her in tangible waves, "But this is worse than all of them."

Serena wishes Dan was somewhere else, somewhere he didn't have to hear her mother say such awful things, such true things, but at the same time she thanks a higher power he's here. "Mum-"

"I know about your lifestyle, as much as I try to ignore it, and I cannot believe with all your experience you could let something like this happen! I mean, this is really it, isn't it Serena? There is nothing more you could possibly do now is there, short of getting arrested for arson. Though God knows you've been arrested for less."

Serena feels a tear escape down her cheek, and she swallows, looking up at her mother's iron glare, full of anger and torment and how could you do this to me?

"Do you think I enjoy this, Serena? Do you think I enjoy spending my time cleaning up after your mistakes, trying to save your reputation from yourself? Keeping your name out of the papers and making 'donations' to keep you from being expelled? Do you even think about what this does to me?"

Me me ME, no matter what she does everything comes back to Lily. She's seventeen and pregnant, and somehow Lily manages to make even that about her. That fact hurts the most.

Dan's always been socially awkward, but he's never felt as out of place as he does now. Lily's raving at her daughter like he's not there, and he feels like he should say something but isn't sure where the boundary is here. Still, his girlfriend's hand is shaking in his, and though Lily is one of the most intimidating people he's ever met, he clears his throat.

"Lily, have you even thought about what this is doing to Serena?"

He feels like he just volunteered to be eaten, the way her face fixates on him and she digs her nails into the couch.

"Go home, Daniel." He frowns defiantly and says nothing, "Daniel Humphrey, go ho-"

"Don't you dare tell him to get out!" Serena has been so quiet he jumps at the fire in her voice as she straightens her shoulders and stares at her mother, something hard and strong and raw in her eyes.

"How dare you-"

"Yes! ME! This is happening to ME!" Lily balks, and Serena stands up to face her mother, "You don't think I know how stupid this is? You think I'm not afraid and angry with myself?" Dan stands but doesn't move to stop her. Lily deserves to hear this, she needs to hear it.

"And all those things you do, covering up my mistakes, I didn't ask you to do any of that! And how dare you stand there and act like you did any of that for me!"

"Who else-"

"IT'S YOU! It's always been for you! Everything you fucking do is so you'll look good, everything that happens is about you!" Serena's shouting and crying, and Lily has backed off somewhat but she's still standoffish, staring her daughter down with cold eyes. "I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant and I could really use my Mum right now." She falters, and Dan rubs her back gently, and there's a heartbroken quality to her voice, "I'm scared and, and, I don't know what to do and I could really use my Mum, and all you care about is yourself."

She trails off, and the room descends into the most uneasy silence he's ever experienced. Serena's hoping, praying for a flicker of something kind in her mother's eyes, but their relationship is so scarred and Lily is so tied up in what people will think she can't seem to allow even that. Serena looks away, and Dan takes the opportunity to pick up their bags, tugging her towards the door. Lily says nothing as they exit the suite; Serena's not sure if she's hurt or relieved.

"Where are we going?" She mumbles to Dan as he shuts the door behind them, looking at the ground. He takes her face in both his hands, brushing a few stray tears from her cheeks and examining her a moment, his perfect, broken girl,

"You aren't staying here."

They shuffle into the loft quietly, Serena's arm wrapped around his middle. It's late and the lights are dimmed, but Jenny still pokes her head out of her room when she hears them come in. When she opens her mouth to speak Dan meets her gaze and shakes his head, not tonight. God bless her, she gives him a concerned look, waves at Serena and goes back into her room.

He takes her to his room and she collapses on the bed. She's tired of today, tired of people and crying and feeling. Dan brushes her hair from her face,

"You want a hot chocolate?"

She smiles at him, at the protective way he's kept a hold of her hand since the moment they saw Lily and how his warmth hasn't left her since she told him they were pregnant. Serena nods, and he kisses her forehead before walking out.

He'd make a good Dad…

Dan shuts the door to his room when he sees Rufus sitting in the kitchen, shoulders tensed. He sighs, rubbing his temples,

"Hey Dad."

"Dan. Serena's staying the night, huh? I should think you'd ask, given it was this sort of thing that probably got you in this situation in the first place." His tone is blessedly kinder than Lily's, though disapproving.

Dan gets out two mugs, regarding his father over the bench, "She couldn't stay there Dad."

"Serena is Lily's daughter, Dan, you have to let them talk this out together."

"Yeah, which I would have done if there was actual talking involved." Rufus' brow is furrowed, and he raises his eyebrows to prompt Dan further, "You weren't there. You should have heard the things Lily said to Serena, they were….I couldn't leave her there. Not like that."

Rufus' eyes soften, and despite himself he sees his own instincts in his son. Dan spoons out the cocoa, and Rufus smiles slightly. "You really love her, don't you?"

"I said I did. But yeah, I do." He glances toward his bedroom, smiling crookedly at the thought of Serena curled up on his doona cover, "I really do." Rufus nods, shrugs and walks away with a sigh,

"I'm not pleased with this Dan. I'm disappointed in you, as a child." Dan pours the warm milk into the mugs; he knows his father wants only the best for him. "But I'm proud of you, as a man." Dan looks up, and his father has a sincere look to his eyes, "You're a good man, and that's the most important thing you can be. Serena can stay here."

Dan smiles with thanks, and he takes a bag of marshmallows with him into his room.

That night, as she drifts off to sleep, a belly full of chocolate and sugar, Serena snuggles into Dan's chest and hopes when she wakes up it won't be real. She knows it will; tomorrow her mother will still hate her and she'll still feel the pain of it, she'll still be a pregnant teenager. But when she breathes in Dan's smell and his arms tighten around her, it doesn't seem so bad.

Lily will still be there, and the…the baby will still be there, but so will Dan. She looks up at his dozing face, lips pouting in sleep, and she kisses his chin gently,

"I love you." She says it with all the sincerity she has, with every honest and good part of her there is, and her heart buoys when he lays a hazy kiss on her eyebrow and mumbles,

"I love you too."

But so will Dan.