"Ok so Henry will be here in a little bit," Serena said walking behind Dan's chair and putting her hands on his shoulders. "We could go to the park with him later, get some fresh air."
"Why is he coming here?" Dan asked distractedly as he typed. "Can't Dorota watch him?"
"She's spending the next few days with her family," Serena said shocked. "And Nate's still not back so I offered to watch him."
"Why not just hire a nanny?" Dan said still typing furiously.
"There's no reason for a nanny when I'm perfectly capable of handling him," Serena said blowing out an exasperated breath and placing her palm on his keyboard stopping him from typing.
"What was that for?" he asked and then looked up to see her annoyed expression and realized that he was the one who put it there. "I just mean that Blair would never willingly send him here, where I live."
"Of course she would, it isn't Brooklyn," Serena said, she and Dan had moved into their very own Upper East Side apartment the week after they got back from their Honeymoon so she could be as close to her family as possible and he was just a stone's throw away from any of the places he would ever need to go to in the city. "And Henry loves us, Blair can't say no to him."
"No Henry loves you," Dan said and Serena opened her mouth to protest but he stopped her. "Where are Blair and Chuck going to be?"
"Doctors appointment to make sure everything is going well for the next super cute baby Bass," Serena said giddily, she loved it when Blair was pregnant, they went to the cutest shops with the tiniest baby outfits and Blair eats anything and everything so Serena doesn't feel as bad as she usually does when she cheats on her diet. "Are you against the idea of having Henry over?"
"No exactly Serena," Dan said carefully, removing her hand from his keyboard and deleting the characters her angry palm had typed in. "I wonder though if we should be entertaining a four year old while I'm working."
"You can take the afternoon off, have some fun," Serena said walking around his desk and throwing up her arms exaggeratedly. "You've been stuck there for the past three days, I'm bored."
"Ok," Dan laughed as Serena pouted and stared at him with big blue eyes that he never felt belonged to him even now, although he'd never admit that to anyone. "Later we'll take the kid to the park and leave my laptop at home."
"Good," Serena said clapping her hands together and smiling, turning to walk out of the room, she was so happy by the fact that he said yes that she forgot to scold him for calling her favorite four year old, 'the kid'. "I'm glad you aren't against having Henry over."
"No I was just … curious," Dan called after her in an attempt to explain his earlier questions, he thought that after the Gossip Girl revelation, they would all see exactly how much he fit into their world, how he wasn't just some kid that wandered off a poor path into the land of the rich and privileged, he worked for all that he got and he was extremely proud of himself but these people, the ones he called 'friends' didn't see it like he did.
Serena did, of course she did, she had wanted to believe in him so much that she readily took everything he threw at her and spun a romantic tale, whereas Blair flat out refused to listen to any reasons he had as to why he was Gossip Girl, he knows she told Serena she was crazy for accepting it and that she never would, Dan still felt the hate radiating off her sometimes but she manages to play nice for Serena's sake. Chuck is a little easier than Blair to handle because while he shares his wife's sentiments, he isn't as outwardly obvious about it, he also plays nice for Serena's sake but Dan could never feel quite at ease in his presence.
Finally there was Nate, Dan had unintentionally alienated the only real friend he made in his years of being part of the Upper East Side, they just drifted apart, Dan got more focused on his writing and met new people and he just didn't have time to hang out with Nate unless it was at one of Serena's parties, not that Nate had made any effort either, no one knew where Nate stood on the whole Gossip Girl thing but it had been five years and the blond hadn't said or done anything that would suggest he hated Dan beside refuse to be in the city when he and Serena got back from their honeymoon. Dan knew for a fact that this distance was all because of his wife, he'd seen it in Nate's eyes the night they got engaged, the hurt when he congratulated them and disappeared to his grandfathers, he had no doubt in his mind that Nate was in love with Serena and it made him more than a little pleased sometimes to think that he actually beat Nathaniel Archibald at something, he got the girl.
It wasn't too long after Serena left the room that she opened the door to find Henry beaming up at her with a backpack in one hand and Mucky the stuffed monkey that he can't sleep without (a gift from Eleanor) in the other. Henry hugged her legs quickly and then sprinted to the lounge so he could put his things down.
"Henry…" Blair started but then sighed and shook her head. "He isn't going to stop running in the house no matter how many times I tell him not to, is he?"
"He really isn't," Serena said giggling, thinking back to how she and Erik used to run and slide on the floors, it drove her nannies crazy. "Where's Chuck?" she asked keeping an eye out for him.
"He's going to meet me there, he had a meeting he couldn't get out of this morning," Blair told her and then looked around the room herself. "Where's Humphrey?"
"He's working in the next room," Serena said shaking her head. "And I would appreciate it if you'd not call him Humphrey, it took me forever to get Henry to call him Dan and not 'ha-free'." Serena said exasperatedly and Blair laughed.
"Would you like me to start calling him Gossip Girl?" Blair asked and Serena deadpanned, she'd been expecting that. "Fine, I'll call him Dan but I won't be happy about it."
"You never are," Serena said with a smile remembering all the other times she asked Blair to stop calling him Humphrey and start calling him Dan again like did for a period before he revealed his blogging past.
"Henry, I'm leaving now, don't I get a hug?" Blair asked and Henry nodded running to her and hugging her, giving her a kiss on the cheek and grinning because she couldn't be angry at him for running when he was that sweet. "Be good for Aunty S."
"I'm always good mommy," he said showing her all his teeth when he smiled.
"We'll just have to see about that," Blair mumbled setting him back down and watching him scamper off to the couch where he dropped his toys. "Nate called, he'll finally be home today."
"Things with Diana went well then?" Serena asked, her chest unconsciously tightening at the mention of Nate.
"No, he just took my advice and stayed for that holiday," Blair told her with a smirk making a move to walk out the door. "I'll get him later S, love you."
"Love you too B," Serena called as Blair left the apartment and Serena walked over to her godson and kneeled down next to him. "Hey baby boy, what do you want to do today?"
"I was hoping Uncle Nate would be here today," Henry said sitting down on the couch and pouting a little.
"Don't you want to spend the day with your Aunty S," Serena said giving him her best sad face and sounding hurt, she and Nate were extremely close to Henry, like Dan had noted they were basically his second set of parents, his godparents. They always jokingly competed to be Henry's favorite and Serena had never thought he'd ever actually choose Nate over her.
"I do but Uncle Nate was sad and I wanted to make him happy," he told her with sad eyes and Serena held in her gasp. He was four, he wasn't supposed to be this perceptive, he wasn't supposed to be looking for ways to 'make them happy'.
"Did he tell you he was sad?" Serena asked and Henry nodded, Serena rolled her eyes, she knows Blair and Chuck wanted total honesty with the little boy but he was a baby and Nate shouldn't have been this irresponsible with him.
"I heard momma and daddy say he was sad," Henry told her and Serena nodded, that made more sense than Nate dumping his feelings on their godson. "And Uncle Nate said its coz he isn't gonna see you lots anymore," he said and Serena could feel her heart start to beat faster but she shouldn't be letting what Nate told Henry get to her, not like this, not now.
"Oh sweetie, don't worry about me and Uncle Nate," she said and Henry stared at her still not convinced that he should stop worrying. "Do you have a plan?" she asked wearily, this was Chuck and Blair's son after all.
"No," Henry said dejectedly and Serena wanted to wrap him up and squeeze him tight and just erase all his worries about the world. "I thought building the train set would help but then he went away for a whole month."
Serena almost laughed at the way he exaggerated the words telling her how long Nate was away for. "I know but that was for business, I'm sure when he gets back he'll be happy again," Serena told him and Henry shrugged.
"He'll still be sad coz he isn't gonna see you all the time Aunty S," Henry said, staring at her as if she should come up with the solution for Nate's sadness. Serena took a breath and scanned her godsons face, she knew that until he was certain he could do something about the reason Nate's he would continue to worry. "Like we used to when we went to the park last year, member?"
"I remember," Serena raised an eyebrow at Henry who was grinning and smiled gently, she and Nate took him to the park together every week the year before when she and Dan were separated until the week of the Christmas party and her engagement. "Ok how about Uncle Nate and I take you out together, to … wherever you want to go once a week, until you are happy that Uncle Nate is happy?" It was a spur of the moment decision, one that she wasn't so sure about, she hadn't talked to Nate about the feelings she saw in him the night she got engaged and she didn't want to go there but spending the day with Henry wasn't going to lead to that right? After all they'll have the little boy to entertain and that would leave no time for talk of feelings or the nights they spent together.
"Yeah that sounds so cool," Henry said with a huge smile on his face as Serena picked him up and carried him on her hip. Henry smirked and wrapped his little arms around her neck turning his head away from her so it wasn't in her hair, he didn't think his plan would really work, his mom helped him come up with it to help his Uncle Nate and Aunty S see each other more so they won't be sad and she said that Serena had to be the one to come up with it not him so she just told him what to remind her of and Henry took care of the rest. He was pretty happy with himself for pulling it off, pretty soon he was going to be just like his dad. "Thank you Aunty S."
"You're very welcome sweetheart," Serena said hugging him back and laughing as she carried him into the kitchen. "Let's make some smoothies and we can convince your Uncle Dan to the park ok?"
Henry crinkled his nose when Serena called Dan his Uncle Dan, he knew his mom and dad didn't like him and he took Aunty Serena away from Uncle Nate and anyone who made any of them sad was not someone he liked. He didn't want Dan to be his uncle until he earned that status, but to appease Serena he nodded and whispered ok.
Henry sat on the counter swinging his legs around until Serena dug out the correct ingredients and plugged in the blender. Together they dropped in whatever they thought should go into a smoothie, laughing when Serena almost started the machine without closing the top and frowning when their concoctions tasted terrible. It took a few tries before they finally came up with something that didn't taste half bad.
"Ok let's get this to Dan and then we can try and get him away from the desk of his long enough to come outside with us," Serena said after she'd poured the drink into three different glasses.
"Does he always sit at his desk?" Henry asked taking one of the glasses from his aunt. "Momma said daddy can be like that sometimes but she has ways to get him to stop work."
"I bet she does," Serena said chuckling and nudging Henry to walk ahead of her to the next room. "You give that to Dan and I have yours in my hand ok?"
"Ok," Henry said grinning running ahead of her. Serena smiled at the little boy and shook her head, Blair hated him running around the house like that but he was too cute to scold. Serena picked up her pace to catch up to Henry and turned the corner just in time to see him trip over one of Dan's balled up discarded pieces of paper that had obviously missed the bin and the glass fly out of Henry's little hands as he fell to the ground.
"What have you done Bass?" Dan roared jumping from his seat and picking up his pages, swatting at them but it was too late because the liquid had already seeped through the paper and his shirt, not stopping to see the horrified look on Henry or Serena's faces. "This is why I didn't want to have him over, I'm glad we don't have any children."
"Dan," Serena said stopping him from saying anymore and he looked at her and shook his head. She set the other two glasses onto the table and watched as her godson sprinted from the room. "What is wrong with you?"
"Look at this, I finally had that story planned brilliantly and now I can barely make out what I wrote," he said, he liked planning his stories and ideas on paper, he liked the feel of writing with a pencil and the noise of it scratching against the paper as he wrote. He looked up to see his wife's hard expression trained on his face. "Can you pass me another shirt?"
"No," she said harshly, putting her hands on her hips. "I have to calm Henry down because you've scared him and hurt his feelings, he was only trying to be nice."
"He dropped his juice all over my work," Dan said following her out of the room, sounding more like a child than a 26 year old man. "He's Chuck Bass' son, he'll be fine."
"He's four," Serena growled stalking past him to find the little boy. "And he was bringing that smoothie for you."
Dan huffed and grumbled as he walked back to his office, somehow this was all his fault.
A/N: So it begins hehe I hope you guys loved this chapter, I hate Dan and it shows in everything that I write lol I'm pretty sure all of you guys hate him more now as well because Henry is adorable and what is wrong with him?
What do you think about Henry taking after his parents in the scheming department lol meddling in his godparents lives at 4, I love it
So my exams are over yey! Now the real stress begins when the results start to come in hehe but I have time now to write a little more which looks hard since I lost myself in One Tree Hill fanfiction for the last few days and only wrote a little of the 4th chapter, I really wanted to get ahead in this story but it seems like I'm gonna struggle in keeping up with the updates as usual lol so please try not to get too annoyed with me hehe
Thank you guys for all those amazing reviews I love reading what you think, if you have any ideas for what should happen, nothing is really written out yet so I'd love to see what you guys think and maybe add it in
Please let me know what you think of this chapter, thank you again for all the support
***Minor correction in the DS conversation at the beginning nothing too important, thank you to 'the lights of paris' for pointing that out
Until Next Time (^^,)