Chapter 5

A/N: I finished this so fast omg where is all this inspiration coming from? Anyways, hope you enjoy and let me know what you think :) x

"Good Morning." Dan greets his son as Milo bounds out of his room happily, still blissfully unaware of whatever danger may or may not be ahead of them.

"Hey, Dad." He greets, grinning at him as he rummages through his school bag. "I'm going around Nathan's after school to play that new game with him, is that okay?"

Dan hesitates. Is that okay? If he had it his way, Milo wouldn't even be going to school at all. However he's never been able to convince him to take a day off of school, even when he's been ill, and doesn't think that he could even do so now without raising suspicion about what happened to him. Though he and Milo have a strong bond, and he's never been anything but honest with him, he's fairly certain that this is something he should keep to himself. No need to worry him. After all, Milo will only tell everything the Nanny who will contact the police and report this woman and he doesn't want him to do that. Serena let him go. She's spared his life. At least for now anyway.

Besides, Serena's not the one behind this. Serena's been hired. He needs to figure out who's behind this; or why anyone wants to kill him at all.

"Sure." He says and winces at how strained his voice sounds. Milo must hear it too, because his head pops out from his school bag to stare at him quizzically.

"Is everything okay, daddy?" Milo asks, walking towards the island of the kitchen where Dan stands making himself a mug of coffee.

"Oh, everything's fine." He assures him, looking away to the mug of his coffee because he's always been useless at eye contact when lying.

Milo laughs, and Dan freezes confused.

"You're writing again, aren't you?"

Dan frowns, looking up at his son - how is he so...smart? Sometimes he's extremely confused about that, but then he remembers that he is his dad and just because Georgina is his mom, doesn't mean he had to end up being dumb. Besides, Georgina is smarter than people make her out to be.

"Uh - I - Yes?" He eventually manages to stammer, not quite sure why he's so afraid to admit that.

It's probably to do with the fact that he's found inspiration from a woman who was hired to kill him.

Milo grins enthusiastically. "That's great, Dad. You know how worried Grandpa and I have been ever since you had this stupid writer's block."

"Yeah, worried enough to spill to my publisher." He grumbles despite his reluctance to talk about this subject.

His son shrugs, amused smile not leaving. "You know what Grandpa is like." He says, then presses up on his toes to kiss his cheek. "Get some sleep, Daddy. Writing can wait now you've finally got an idea."

Dan closes his eyes, savours the feel of his son's kiss on his cheek, the love in the normalcy of the situation. Wonders whether this will ever be the same again. If anyone else is going to come after him. Or if they'll leave him alone. Even if they do, will there ever be a day when he's okay to let his son walk out of the door, certain he'll return home? Because he's not quite sure that day will ever happen again. His life has changed drastically in just a matter of hours and he doesn't understand why.

"Bye, Milo." He replies, watching him disappear out of the front door.

Dan slumps against the island, suddenly exhausted and alone.

Surprisingly, his adress isn't all too hard to find. He's a bestselling author, but he's pretty low-profile and she'd figured it would be hard to find it. However, just a few internet searches and sifting through some fansites and she's found it almost immediately. This is probably the easiest she's ever found a target's adress.

Serena parks her car two blocks away, pulls apart the rifle whilst glancing around her uneasily. She shoves the parts of the rifle into a non-descript backpack and slings it on, shoving her hoodie over her head as well as large sunglasses. Sometimes she finds it rather terrifiying how easy it is to blend into the streets of New York. Makes her wonder how many others hide in the crowds.

Not that it's her job anymore. She's one of them now.

Serena swallows the bile down and walks the two blocks to his building, pulls the marker from her hoodie pocket and discreetly tapes it to a nearby pole to gauge the wind. Before attracting too much attention, she turns away and walks in the opposite direction, eyeing the building opposite to Dan's.

It's not all too hard to reach the roof of the building. A stairwell on the side of the building leads her straight there, as well as a ladder, though her scar itches and pulls with every step she takes.

Once there, she pulls out her binoculars to find which window leads to Dan's loft. It's not too hard to find which one it is. Probably lushly furnished, showing off how rich the man is from a dozen bestsellers.

It's not all too hard. She can tell immediately, and turns to the window beside that, strains her eyes but sees Dan and a young boy talking over a kitchen island.

Serena's heart thrumps, choking her as she's seized momentarily with a bout of sentiment. She studies the young boy. Dan had mentioned he's 7. He looks so young. Innocent. Not world-weary yet. He's not been exposed to real life, Serena assumes, and she supposes Dan's been able to keep it that way due to his money. Perhaps there are perks of having so much money, besides the comfortable lifestyle and never wondering where the next meal would come from.

So Serena pieces the sniper rifle back together from the backpack, scrapes her hair back into a ponytail and holds the large sniper in her arms, tries to adjust to the feel of the cool gun in her hands as she glances back at her wind marker.

It's a hunk of steel. It has no magical powers, she reminds herself, words Nate had once told her when she'd been going through her PTSD.

Serena shuts her eyes as she lifts the rifle, head bent. Opens her eyes to look through the scope and sees just an everyday, domestic scene happening before her. The young boy presses a kiss to Dan's cheek before turning away, and it isn't too long before Dan slumps down on the island.

That's his son.

The look on his face, the way he'd watched him leave - like it pained him - it was as though he knew it was going to be the last time he'd seen his son.

Looking closer at him now, she realizes he probably hasn't slept yet. There are bags under his eyes, his hands shake and she can see the way he's perfectly holding himself together, as though he's moments away from collapsing. Strange. She'd thought he'd be able to sleep. Admittedly, she'd only managed to catch a few hours of sleep herself. Though they were broken by nightmares, strange visions of his blood on her hands as she bends over his body, weeping and begging for help despite the fact that no one else is there to help her, just like nobody ever was.

Serena closes her eyes and shakes the stupid nightmare away. This is the time. She'd never had such a clean shot. She just has to brace her shoulder and pull the trigger, and one bullet through his brain will end his life. He won't feel a thing.

His son will.

His son will come and find his Dad slumped dead in the kitchen, in the same place he was before he left for school.

His son will feel emptiness. He'll always feel grief lurking in every crevice of his heart.

His son will want revenge, because who doesn't? Serena did. Serena wanted that. And she's never quite got that, but she's so close now, so close to the retribution and that's why she needs this job. She needs it.

But his son.

She can't do to someone else what had been done to her when her Dad was taken from her so many years ago. How many has it been now, twelve? And that aching emptiness is always there, revenge left unfulfilled.

How is she supposed to do that to someone else?

"Excuse me?"

"I won't do it." Serena says bravely as she stands on the roof of the building, phone pressed to her ear, rifle in the other hand. "I don't see what this man has done."

"Your job isn't to decide who or not deserves death, Miss van der Woodsen. It's to kill him with no questions asked."

"Take the money back if you want, but I'm not doing it until you tell me what this man has possibly done that is so bad." Serena argues hotly, glancing away from the window of Dan's loft to the heavy weight of the rifle in her arms. "I don't need to take orders from you, Mr Carmichael."

"You know, your daddy always said you were the best lawyer he'd ever trained." Mr Carmichael says smugly. "Why don't you figure it out yourself?"

The words send a chill down her spine, leave her floundering for words for a moment as she feels all the air escape her lungs. How dare he.

"Well, it looks like Dan Humphrey is staying alive for now then." She hisses, shoving the rifle onto the floor. "Your loss."

Mr Carmichael chuckles. "Oh, Miss van der Woodsen. You think I can't hire someone else? You think I can't do it myself?" He doesn't wait for her to answer, "I just don't like to get my hands dirty. The cops always find a trail somehow. Though you'd know that, of course."

A monotone ringing shows Serena that he's hung up.

Serena swallows the panic down in her chest, but it doesn't quite work and she feels it bubbling beneath her skin as she stares at the phone. Oh God. She'd largely underestimated this guy. And now she's gone and landed Dan in tons more trouble than he had originally been in.

If she'd just taken the damn shot.

She pulls the rifle apart with trembling hands, shoving it back into the backpack hastily and practically flying down the stairwell. Her mind is racing, possibilities of what these men are going to do to an innocent Dan flashing before her eyes - she already feels the sticky texture of his blood on his hands, mingling with her tears that she doesn't understand, but doesn't bother wiping them away this time.

This is not going the way it should do at all.

At the sound of knocking on his door, Dan figures it's probably his father on his way back from another drunken night out, forces a smile to his face and is ready with a witty remark when he opens the door.

But it's not his father - It's Serena.

"I...Serena?"

Serena doesn't hesitate, pushes past him into his loft and turns to him with a fierce glint in her blue eyes.

"You need to come with me. You're in danger."