Serena and Blair both sat in the interrogation room waiting for Nate and Chuck to show up. Nate walked in with Chuck right behind him. Chuck mentally cursed himself for not giving him the heads up earlier but they were being watched and it was too late.

Detective Given walked in the room. "So, we're all back again. What a nice reunion."

Blair rolled her eyes. "I honestly have no idea what I'm here."

"You were all up at the Hamptons this past weekend when Nate and Serena here just happened to stumble upon a dead body."

Serena looked up at him. "We already gave the police our statements."

The detective laid out a picture in front of them. Blair's face went pale. "Does that say…?"

"Yes. It does say Happy Birthday. To who I assume is you because your friends all call you B, right? And it was your birthday after all. Someone left you a very twisted gift."

Blair noticed that Serena was the only one who also looked like she was going to be sick. She looked at Nate and Chuck. "You knew! You guys knew and didn't tell me!"

Nate looked away and Chuck gave her a scowl. "We can talk about this later, Blair."

Blair shook her head. "Unbelievable. How could you keep this from us?"

Nate came to Chuck's defense. "We didn't want to worry you guys! We noticed it a second before the police got there. We…"

"Shut up, Nate!"

Detective Given cleared his throat. He tried not to show how pleased he was by Blair's outburst. She was usually so collected. "So…Blair, is this all just some big coincidence?"

She looked at him. "I don't know! I didn't even see the body! Did you even read the report! Maybe you should ask these two idiots! Apparently, they have a habit of not revealing the whole truth!"

Serena put her hand over Blair's to calm her down. "Detective Given, we honestly don't know anything about this."

He nodded at her. "This is connected to Georgina isn't it? That box…that splashed you with blood in central park...there was a small note on the bottom of it that said, Surprise, S. Followed by xoxo."

Serena looked up at him. "I didn't know that."

"Nate. Chuck. Can you give me any other information about what happened that night? Did you see anything else on the beach?"

Nate shook his head. "Just the man and that balled up blanket next to him. I picked it up and shook it to check if there was anything else but there was nothing. The police checked the nearby plants but there was nothing."

He pulled up another picture. "They took this picture. It's an imprint on the sand. Do you see that?"

Chuck's eyes betrayed him for only a second when he saw a gun clearly outlines in the sand but he recovered immediately. Nate looked at Chuck before answering. "There was no gun when Serena and I got here. We didn't even notice that on the sand. Maybe it's because we were too busy staring at the dead body!" He slammed his palm on the table on that last sentence and was suddenly angrier than he could comprehend. "Are we done?"

The detective nodded. "You can all go."

Nate was the first one out of the building. Serena ran to catch him by the arm.

Nate pulled free and turned to her angrily. "You never should have touched it."

…

Blair gave Chuck a scowl then turned back to her book like he wasn't there at all.

"Blair…you're being unreasonable."

Blair rolled her eyes but kept quiet.

"I did it to protect you. Just like I lied about the gun to protect Serena."

Blair turned to him. "You lied to the police about the gun. We're not supposed to lie to each other. That's the only thing that keeps me sane."

"I should've told you but I didn't know how. I didn't think the Hampton police would think much of it, how was I supposed to know the NYPD would be interested in those files?"

She frowned at him. "Maybe I can move on if you'd apologize."

"I'm sorry."

"Apology not accepted."

Chuck rolled his eyes at her. "Very mature."

…

Nate sat across from his therapist, it was their third session and he'd said maybe 3 sentences over all. He wasn't sure what he expected. A mental breakdown, maybe. He refused to give him the satisfaction.

Dr. Ashe scribbled a few notes on his pad.

Nate got him a dirty look. "What could you possibly be writing? I haven't said anything."

"You sound defensive, Nathaniel."

"Nate. And I asked you a question."

"Just a few observations."

"Like?"

"You seem angry."

"Well, yeah. I don't see why I'm here."

"Everyone needs someone to talk to."

"I have friends. I talk to them."

"Tell me about them. Tell me about Chuck."

Nate stared at the clock for a few seconds. "Time's up."

…

Serena heard her doorbell ring and sprinted to open it. She was expecting Nate. As soon as she opened the door Nate crushed his lips against hers and kissed her passionately.

Serena pulled away to look at him. "What's gotten into you?"

He pulled her to him again. "No one else is here, right?"

Serena shook her head. "No."

Nate kissed her again, this time only stopping to pull her shirt over her head. Serena ripped Nate's clothes off too, struggling to keep her breathing even as he kissed her neck.

Nate picked her up and sat her up on the bar counter. With one quick motion he was inside of her and Serena felt her whole body go into overdrive and Nate bit the base of her neck softly.

Serena felt a wave of pleasure taking over her body and wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him. Nate finished with her, gave her forehead a kiss, and pulled away to slip his clothes back on. Serena still felt her body shuddering but she hopped off the counter and pulled her clothes on too.

"I like this side of you." Her smile faded when she noticed how sad he looked. "Go sit, I'll make us drinks."

She poured them drinks and sat next to them on the couch. She handed him his drink. Nate was being way too quiet. "What's wrong?"

Nate shook his head and brought his drink to his lips with a trembling hand. Then he looked down and brought his under hands up to cover his face.

Serena was shocked. She'd only seen him cry once in her life, he was about 7, and Blair had just hit him in the crotch. She set both of their drinks down and pulled him to her. She held his face against her chest. She felt her heartbreak and the tears sting her eyes but she refused to cry because she had to be strong for him.

Nate couldn't remember the last time he cried. But he just felt so overwhelmed with all the lies. They were killing people now. He was terrified and he was exhausted; he hadn't slept through the night in weeks. He pulled away from Serena and sat up wiping his tears on his shirt.

Serena turned his face to hers. She pressed her forehead against his. "I wish I knew the perfect thing to say, something that could take all the pain away."

Nate smiled at her. "You being here is more than enough. I've just had a really long day. Everything just hit me but it's all worth it. I would do whatever it takes to protect you. And Chuck and Blair."

She nodded. "I know you would. And we would all do the same for you.

…

Serena slipped on the dress her mom had laid out for her. Lily was being honored for her dedication to philanthropy. She zipped up her dress and walked to her mom's room to help her finish getting ready. Serena smiled at her mom and held up a CD to her. "I have the presentation, you're going to love it."

Lily smiled at her. "Thank you, darling. Can you zip me up? And go make sure your brother is ready."

Serena knocked on Erik's door and he popped his head out. "All done?"

Erik nodded. "I'm ready."

Lily met up with then in the hall. "Nate's gonna meet you there?"

Serena nodded. "He's already there."

"How about you Erik? You should've invited a nice girl to come along."

Erik rolled his eyes. If only his mother knew…but those weren't the kinds of conversations people had in the UES. "Let's get going."

Serena walked in and made a beeline to Nate. She gave him quick kiss. "Hi."

Nate smiled at her. "Hi." He gave her another kiss. "Have fun up there."

Serena nodded and joined Erik on the stage. "I am so thankful to all of you for recognizing my mother's hard work. But mostly I am proud of her for being so dedicated to her philanthropy." Erik introduced the slideshow they'd prepared and they all directed their attention to the big screen.

The final slide was a video. She gave Erik a nervous glace –she didn't remember them putting a video in. It was Erik shirtless and making out with…another guy. Serena felt her jaw drop and the people around her started whispering loudly. Erik turned so pale he seemed to blend in with the wall.

The video was cut off abruptly but it was too late. Erik was already out of there and Serena walked over to where her mom stood speechless. "Tell me you had nothing to do with this."

"I didn't, mom. I swear." Serena heard her phone chime and read the text: Come out, come out wherever you are! Xoxo

Lily grabbed Serena's arm and yanked her away from the murmuring crowd. "We're going home."

…

"How's Erik holding up?"

Serena shrugged. "He's working it out."

"What's going on? You said we needed to talk."

Serena looked over at Nate. "I'm not sure how to tell you."

Nate looked down at his lap, he knew her too well. "I thought everything was good between us."

She nodded. "It is."

"So then...what?"

She felt the tears sting her eyes. "Erik can't handle going back to St. Jude's. He wants to go to school in California. Cece is living out there now."

He understood what she was saying. "And…you're going with him?"

"I am. It's awful here anyway. I mean except for you obviously. But I just can't handle all these threats and lies and…they outed my little brother! Erik has never hurt a fly."

He was quiet for a bit. "We can make it work. A year isn't that long."

She looked at him. "That would be miserable for the both of us. I can't ask you to do that."

"Yes you can. I love you."

Serena looked away. She thought about the text message she'd received earlier. The one that told her to go far away. She fought the tears back and turned back to him. "Nate..."

Nate got up and turned his back on her. He felt like such an idiot, Serena had never said those three words to him and now he finally understood why. She just didn't feel the same way. As simple as that. "Well there's nothing left to say then."