Chapter 20

A/N: I am so grateful for each one of you that ever reviewed this story. I wouldn't be where I am right now if it wasn't for you guys. You really help me continue with this when sometimes all I want to do is give up. Also, friendly reminder that this is AU, you'll find out why I mentioned that again ;)

There's a metallic screech of metal. It reminds him of the rusty taste of blood on his tongue.

There's a hissing sound in his ears, and he opens his eyes to find the source of the sound. His vision is hazy though and his eyes sting when he attempts to open them, so he shuts them again and grunts against the pain. Raises a hand to his eyes and swipes them. Something sticky. Blood. Probably. Right?

His eyes briefly flicker open again and he finds he has red fingers, confirmation of his earlier thoughts. Damn. He's bleeding. Where's he bleeding from?

"Dan?"

Her voice is tiny and raw. Something in it like fear that he's never once detected from her brave attitude. Huh. Assassin's get scared? Or just her? She's only human after all. The most humane kind of assassin he could've ever conjured though. The most loveable.

"Da.."

The runaway thoughts in his mind halt as she trails off weakly and his eyes flutter open again, stay open wide this time. Not that he can help it. The sight he sees paralyzes him the minute his eyes open.

Serena's face is covered in blood leaking from her temple, eyes lolling in their sockets, almost all-white. Blood soaks through her clothes, everywhere, all at once, and he can't even begin to start guessing where all of this blood is coming from, where she's even hurt. One obvious injury is her leg, trapped between the crumpled steering wheel and the rest of her body, twisted and compressed at a strange angle that raises bile to his throat. It's probably the cause of her clenched jaw, the pain he sees in her white fists.

Her body keeps twitching, as though she can barely suppress the pain, and he reaches a hand out despite the fact his eyes are hazy with his own blood and his body all but screams at the move; just needing to touch her, to make sure that she's still breathing, but then-

A click of a gun. Cold metal pressed against his temple.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll get out of the car." A raspy voice says. "Now."

He spares a glance towards Serena and watches as her eyes shut close, lips parting as though she has something to say. Nothing comes out and her body stops twitching, fists relaxing. Just- stops.

His heart stutters at the sight but the cold metal against his temple is suddenly insistent, overpowers the roaring beat of his heart that suddenly floods his ears. The lovesick, pathetic side of his mind aches to fight, to get Serena to safety. However, the more rational side of his mind thankfully is louder and makes him see that complying with this man's orders is the bes way to get them both out of this alive. So he retracts the hand reaching out to Serena and nods slowly, feels the gun leave his temple and climbs from the car.

Dan closes the door of the car and turns to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun, a scarred man holding the thing in his shaking hands. From fear or adrenaline, Dan cannot tell, and nor does he think he wants to know.

"Thought she'd kept you safe, hadn't she?" The man says lowly, swallows thickly around his statement. "Thought that she could hide you away and that would be that, did she?"

Dan grimaces. "You could just leave us. We won't tell."

The man shakes his head profusely, eyes never wavering from Dan's. The handgun drifts slowly to the right in his hands but he catches himself. Steadies the gun in his hands and aims it towards Dan. Huh. So the guy is nervous then. Not that it would surprise Dan, he hardly looks professional. The scar on his face screams danger but it's nothung in comparison to the tremble in his hands, the frightened way he holds the gun, an uneasy look in his eyes so dissimiliar to Serena's cold ones.

"I've got to- I-" The man clears his throat, shaking his head. "It's your lives or mine. I don't owe you my life. Either of you." There's the briefest flash in his eyes of regret, but then it's gone.

Dan chances a look at Serena and notices that she's still knocked out, stone cold. How long does she have left? Perhaps he can talk this guy round, but he doesn't know how long that will take. Whether Serena will survive that long. If she's in any life-threatening danger at all.

His shoulder is screaming in pain from holding his hands up for so long. He doesn't know how he's going to get either of them out of this. He needs to get her out of this.

"You- You ordered the hit on me?" He wonders aloud, eyes scanning the road for any approaching vehicles and finding none. He tries to let disappointment flare too brightly in his chest.

The man grimaces. "I didn't want to. It's nothing personal. But- There was a deal. I owed William a favour. He wanted me to protect her and I did, but then she dropped off of the damn Earth." The man growls, brows furrowing in anger. "I thought she was dead herself. But then I get a call one day: She's learning too much, she needs to back off. I didn't even know she was still alive."

Dan digests the information slowly, word by word. This would be so much easier to keep up with if Serena had actually explained to him how she had gotten into this line of work.

"Who's William?" He asks lightly, fingers twitching with physical strain. His body is going to give out any moment now.

He will not be able to save her.

The man gives out a bitter laugh. "That your play? Think you can fool me into thinking you're dumb, Mr Humphrey?"

"I- I honestly don't know what you're going on about."

But the man ignores him, stares into Dan's eyes but they're empty, unseeing.

"If she had just stayed away from the case then none of this would've happened. She could still have her job. I wouldn't have to kill you. I wouldn't have received this." The man gestures to the scar on his face. "When I couldn't control her."

"What has any of this got to do with me?" Dan demands hotly.

"The man's eyes come back to the present and he glares at Dan, lips a thin line. "You know what you did, Mr Humphrey. You know how the two of you have been connected long before I called her with you as my target."

"I don't." Dan insists honestly. "I don't know at all."

His head tilts to the side and his eyes seem to size Dan up. Weighing up the lies against the truth, though his eyes have that same look in them that Serena's did. The look of a hunter sizing up it's prey. Dan feels so vulnerable, so weak.

"Well," the man says, "I don't suppose you ever will."

He clicks the safety off of the gun, finger wrapping around the trigger.

Dan gulps and closes his eyes. I'm sorry, Serena, he thinks. Remembers how her skin had felt beneath his skin, so soft, a wonderful contradiction of smooth dips and curves compared to her sharp personality. Her eyes, so wide and vulnerable in that one night they'd been together; giving him everything, more than he had ever asked for. Her hair splayed on the pillow and the way she had bitten her lip and let out the softest of sighs. The absolute reverent touch of her fingers as they had mapped his skin, telling him more than she ever could with her words. Remembers a love tha had consumed him like a raging fire and felt as wonderful as the knowledge of safety and, finally, home.

But then there's the slightest of touch on his elbow and he opens his eyes just in time to watch Serena van der Woodsen slit the mans throat open with one flick of a blade.

He jerks back in shock and watches as the gun clatters from the man's hands to the ground, eyes going wide and rolling back into his head before he slumped down to the floor, gurgling.

"Serena." It's the only thing that he can find to say, throat suddenly tight and dry.

She turns to him without the barest hint of remorse in her eyes. "Go get the bags from the trunk. And your burner cell." When he doesn't move, she adds, "Now!"

He nods hastily and hurries off to the trunk of the car, lifting their bags with his shoulders screaming in agony. He grimaces but makes no comment, reaching in through the window to grab his temporary cell. He tries with all the strength he possess to ignore the scarlet stains on her seat, but it doesn't work out. Makes his stomach roll in disgust.

When he reaches Serena, she's hunched over the man, tears mixing with the blood on her cheeks. He should probably feel sympathy for her over that. All he can feel is nausea.

"I'm sorry you've been roped into this. I didn't know about the deal. My dad didn't tell me, because why would he?" She whispers, hand trembling over the man's chest.

"I owed William." The man gasps. "Not you. You bitch."

She shakes her head against the words. "You should have left it. Nobody is touching him, you hear me? Nobody gets to Dan."

The man's lips part, but then his eyes shut tight. Chest stops moving. Life just vanishes so suddenly that, if Dan had blinked he probably would have missed it.

Dan thinks that he has seen enough murder to last a lifetime.

Serena lifts from the floor and swipes the congealing blood from her eyes, pale and swaying. He'd offer a hand to help, but he doesn't think that she would accept his offer of help, even in such a vulnerable position. Such pain.

"C'mon, Dan."

Her voice is tight and tired, strained. All traces of joy and acceptance disappearing as though they had never been there at all.

"What are we- I mean- The body?"

His speech is fragmented but he can't help it. Two murders in the same day, one at his own hand, one from hers. This is too much for his mind to wrap around, the even believe that he's seen.

"We don't have time to move the body and the cars, Dan. Nor do I have the energy. My blood's everywhere so they'll identify me sooner or later." She runs a hand across her tired eyes. "Main traffic will come soon."

Serena tugs on his elbow and he follows her willingly, as he always will. They trek into the forest on the side of the freeway and disappear into there, two black silhouettes against the orange of the sunset.

Five minutes after they begin walking away, her head is too light to carry on anymore, her leg too heavy to lift without pain stuttering throughout her entire body. They set their things up against a tree and she sits, taking a moment to rest. Eyes drifting shut but she snaps them open again. Rest. She just needs a little rest. Just for one moment.

"Serena."

Her eyes open again and she finds him sitting opposite of her with a concerned expression.

"You need to go to a hospital."

"Sure, Dan. I'll just explain how I was in a car crash with a man out to kill us and murdered him as I was there." She returns dryly.

But he's right, of course. There's far too much blood for her to be okay and she doesn't have any first aid on her (completely foolish on her part) to even attempt to begin to heal herself.

"Serena. Please. I won't let you die on me." He whispers.

She reaches out and gently runs her shaking fingers through his hair, tenderly cupping his skull. "Hand me your cell."

He nods eagerly and passes her the phone, watching her as she types in the number she's known off by heart for years upon years. Not that she's ever called it in so long. Never had reason to. (So afraid. So alone).

"Who are you calling?" Dan asks curiously.

"Help. Though it's not guaranteed." She replies, pressing the phone to her ear.

The dialing tone goes on for one beat too long and she's certain that they're not going to answer. It's been so long after all. Could have changed numbers, could have moved on-

But then-

"Doctor Waldorf speaking."