Disclaimer: Okay, sorry for the long absence but finally, a new chapter is here! Although, I still own nothing! Haha. Enjoy! :)
Chapter 24.
Serena's got to hand it to Blair. Not once did Blair cause a scene at Butter, something that the blonde was extremely thankful for. Although she insisted that all of them shared a table together. It was nearly impossible for it to happen but since she's Blair Waldorf-Bass, well, nothing's really impossible when a Bass is involved.
It was decent - very awkward and uncomfortable, yes - but somehow they managed to finish their meals without screaming at each other. Dan fidgets and squirms every once in a while, Chuck never seemed to take his eyes off of Dan, Nate made it his job to control the flow of conversation - trying to change the subject when it gets too uncomfortable, Blair spent the night glaring at Dan and it just makes Serena want to curl up in her bed and sleep or disappear or something. But they made it. They finished their meals - Blair insisted that Dan pay for all their meals and he did - and currently, they ended up going to the Bass' mansion with Blair refusing to let anyone go home, not until the newly gotten-back-together couple explained.
"Blair..."
"Shup up, Serena." Blair hisses, taking a second to glance at Serena's way before going back to glaring at Dan. "Nobody goes home until you explain what this is."
Serena opens her mouth to speak but before she could utter a single word, the elevator dinged, signaling a visitor. All turned their heads towards the lift and waited for whoever it was to step out.
"Eric?"
"Jenny?"
"Vanessa?"
"Finally!" Blair lets out an exasperated sigh. "I was beginning to think you got lost or something. What is Vanessa doing here?"
"Hello to you too, Blair." The girl in questions greets before settling on a couch, sitting beside Jenny. "If you must know, I did not plan on going here, Jenny showed up at my apartment and practically dragged me -"
"Yeah, yeah..." Blair waves her hand dismissively. "I don't care. Moving on... There is a reason why I asked all of you - well, maybe not all of you - to come here."
"Blair, you're making a big deal out of this." Nate comments and was about to say more but quickly shuts his mouth when Blair gives him a pointed, almost murderous look.
"Because, Nate... This is a big deal."
"Uhh, what is going on here?" Eric asks.
"Wait, is this about..." Jenny trails off, glancing at her brother and his girlfriend before turning to Blair.
"You knew about this?" Blair all but shrieks.
"I found out earlier. I sort of caught them."
"Jenny." Dan groans, giving his sister a scathing look. Jenny merely shrugged at Dan before turning back to Blair.
"Well, then, Little J..." Blair shot the blonde a wicked look. "Care to share what you know?"
"That... Umm..." Jenny stutters, feeling uncomfortable and nervous under Blair's stare. "...All I know is that they're back together."
"Wait, what?" Vanessa interrupts, glancing at Dan and Serena, only then noticing their intertwined hands.
"Blair, I was going to tell you -" Serena starts, but gets cut off by her brother quickly.
"Hold on a second, when did this happen?" Eric asks.
Silence.
"Well," Blair taps her foot impatiently.
"About two weeks ago."
Heads turn to look at Dan and Serena, in disbelief and shock - well, Jenny's not so shocked. There was silence after and Dan feels a little too uncomfortable that he keeps on squeezing Serena hand with the blonde sometimes returning the gesture. Finally, after a few minutes of silence - though it felt hours to Dan - Blair went to Serena and grabbed the blonde's free hand in hers.
"Serena, a word." Blair demands, tugging at Serena's arm.
...
"What the hell are you thinking?" Blair shrieks, once the two of them were upstairs, in Blair and Chuck's bedroom, with the door locked behind them.
"Blair..."
"Do you not remember what he did to you? He was ready to exchange you for 15 million dollars! Serena, seriously, have you lost your mind?"
"But he didn't, B. He didn't take the money."
"Serena, he cheated on you! With Georgina Sparks!"
"Blair, remember when Chuck chose the Empire over you?" Serena quips, slightly irritated. She sees Blair frown and stops herself. She doesn't mean to offend her best friend or anything, she was just trying to prove a point. "Look, B, if you were able to forgive Chuck for doing that, then I can forgive Dan for almost doing basically the same thing. And Blair, he didn't do it. He never chose the money over me."
"Yeah, he cheated on you! With Georgina Sparks! God, Serena, I would accept him and forgive him easier if he just chose the money."
"You forgave Chuck and you managed to be friends with Jenny, Blair. You work with the girl for crying out loud!" When she sees her best friend's glare not faltering, she continued. "I'm not saying that me and Georgina will be the best of friends any time soon - or at all but if I can move on from it then so should all of you."
"But... But..." Blair starts. "He's Dan Humphrey."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"He's Dan. He's Cabbage Patch, the ultimate insider. He is Gossip Girl. Plus, he's from Brooklyn, Serena. He's not one of us." Blair shakes her head as she finishes.
"Blair.." Serena stares at the brunette, amused expression on her face as she sits down on the edge of the bed. "..Do you hear yourself? I though we already established years ago that Dan is one of us."
'What is "one of us" even mean after all these time? He's friends with our friends, we both dated him, his father married my mother, his new apartment is in my building..."
"Yes and when we did that, you asked me to give him another chance. And I gave him that! It's not my fault he screwed it up." Blair sighs before taking a seat next to Serena.
"Blair, just please support me. I wanted to tell you, I do, but I just - I know you would react this way and I just... I'm happy, B. For the first time in two years, I am truly happy. So, please just be happy for me."
Blair sighs before wrapping an arm around the blonde, tugging her closer to her so that she could give her a squeeze. They stayed like that for a couple minutes before Blair spoke up, arms still around Serena.
"Do you know how I was able to forgive Chuck?" Serena lifts her head up at that, pulling away slightly from the embrace.
"How?"
"I love him." Blair shrugs. "S, you know all I want is for you to be happy, right?"
Serena nods, with eyes brimming with tears.
"And you swear to me that Dan makes you happy?"
"The happiest." Serena giggles. "I just - I love him, B. The way that you love Chuck."
"You really love him that much?" Serena nods. "And you're sure you really forgive him, like really forgive him. Because I can kick him out of here, if you have even a single doubt in you mind that he might -"
"B..."
"Okay, fine." The brunette sighs, a smile slowly making it's way towards her face. "One more chance, last chance. If he screws it up, I don't care what I have to do, I'm gonna make him pay."
Serena smiles at her best friend. "Thank you, B. I love you."
"Love you too, S."
...
Meanwhile, when Blair dragged a reluctant Serena towards the bedroom, Nate and Chuck cornered Dan and led him to the balcony. Jenny - being the nosy little sister that she is - tried following the three men out but was quickly stopped by both her best friend and her brother's best friend, with them telling her that she needs to leave it alone and that she needs to tell them what she knows and how she knew. Although reluctant, she let herself be whisked away towards the kitchen, leaving the three men to talk without her to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"So, you and Serena, huh?" It was Nate who started the conversation, since all Chuck has done was glare at Dan while taking occasional sips of his scotch.
"Uhh, yeah."
"Okay, I totally see that coming." Nate chuckles, making Dan want to just disappear - partly embarrassed, partly because he's pretty sure if looks could kill, well, Chuck had just committed murder, because his glare was not wavering, not even in the slightest bit.
"When we had that talk after my birthday, I knew it was a matter of time before -"
"Just don't hurt her again." Chuck's voice was low, dangerously low. And it makes Dan shiver because that tone combined with that glare was nerve-wracking to say the least.
"I won't."
"I'm serious, Humphrey." He sets his glass on a table before taking one step closer to Dan. "If I see her cry again because of you, I will make sure you regret ever stepping foot on the Upper East Side."
"Chuck..." Nate warns.
"Look, we all know you can make Serena ridiculously happy. I've seen it, Nate's seen it, hell, the whole Upper East Side has seen it." Chuck smirks when he saw Dan gulp. "But I don't know if you've noticed, but you are also the only one who can destroy her, break her. And she's dated lots of guys, sure. But none of them came close to how you affect my sister. Not even Nate."
Dan takes a step back, creating space between the two of them before clearing his throat.
"I won't ever hurt her again, you have my word."
"Your word means nothing to me." Chuck states. "But I do hope you take to that brain of yours mine. If you hurt Serena again, I will fucking kill you."
"Alright, that's enough." Nate finally intervenes, placing one hand on each of the guys' shoulders before pushing them inside. Chuck swats Nate's hand away before going inside. Dan, however, was a step away from the balcony when Nate stops him from going any further.
"Dan."
"Yeah?"
"Don't screw this up. Because I'm pretty sure Chuck is serious about that threat."
"Don't worry man!" Dan states, clapping a hand on his friend's back. "I won't, I swear, I won't."
...
Dan and Nate enter the living room the same time Serena and Blair re-emerged from the bedroom. Serena immediately went up beside Dan - which made Blair roll her eyes at the blonde - and dragged him to the couch, sitting beside Jenny who gave the couple a knowing look and a smirk. Serena glanced at Eric who simply smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up.
"Soo..." Vanessa started. "I never got to hear the story of how this happened. I am happy for you guys, especially since Dan finally got rid of Georgina but I still want to know how you guys got back together."
"Yeah, I kind of want to know too." Eric piped up from beside Chuck.
"Well, after the talk I had with Nate, I called Georgina, asked if we could meet up and talk. And -"
"I knew calling Nate to talk to you was a good idea." Jenny exclaimed from her seat beside Dan.
"Anyway..." Dan gave Jenny a pointed look before continuing. "...I broke up with her when we met up, called Serena afterwards asking if we could meet up at Central Park but -"
"Central Park?" Blair snorts. "That is so lame."
"Well, B, we never really met up there." Serena told her best friend.
"Why?"
"Well, I was with Eric and my mom and dad so I only got to hear his voicemail when I got home." It was now Serena who took over the story telling. "I was on my way out, on my way to Central Park but when I opened the door, Dan was standing outside my door."
"I told her I love her. Told her I would do whatever it takes - everything to win her back. I apologized for everything I've done to hurt her. I told her that this time around I am going to fight for her, I'm going to fight for us. And well, she somehow forgave me and we went on from there. "
"Aww..." Jenny and Vanessa cooed together, making Dan blush while Serena merely giggles. Blair rolls her eyes at the three women before turning to glare at Dan.
"Listen, Humphrey..." Blair starts, having Dan's full attention. "Ugh! I can't believe I'm actually saying this but... From what I see now - what with Serena's ridiculous smile - that you do make her happy. So, fine, we're giving you one last chance, one final chance. Screw it up, I will make sure you regret it. Understand?"
"Gee, you sound just like your husband." Dan chuckles but stops short when Blair gives him a scathing look.
"All we want, Humphrey, is for Serena to be happy. And she told me that you make her happy and I can see that finally she is truly happy. With you. But we'll be watching you."
"Don't worry, Blair. Like I've said to Chuck and Nate, I won't screw this up." Dan turns to Serena and smiles at her, giving her the look - the nobody's ever looked at me the way you just did look and after a while, Blair drops her glare and smiles softly at the sight of the two.
"Dan." Dan tears his eyes away from his girlfriend to look at Chuck.
"Remember... Screw it up, I won't hesitate to fucking kill you."
"Chuck!" Serena yells at Chuck. She grabs Dan's hand before standing up and pulling Dan towards the elevator. "Okay, we're leaving. Bye guys!"
"He doesn't really mean that." Nate shouts from behind and when the couple turns back to look at them they see Blair lightly punch Nate on the arm. They gave the remaining people on the living room a smile just as the elevator opens. Serena waves a goodbye, mouthing a thank you to Blair and Chuck before pulling Dan inside the lift.
.to be continued.
A/N: Guys, I am really really sorry for not updating. Honestly, I was supposed to update just before the New Year but a lot of things came up and therefore I wasn't able to update. And then I had to catch up with school works because I was absent for two weeks, so yeah, sorry for the delay. But I'm seriously trying my best to finish a chapter as soon as possible, so bear with me, please.
But finally, I was able to finish this chapter and I will try my very best to update! Anyways, as always, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. And please review, it makes my day and puts a smile on my face. I literally get excited whenever I get new reviews, so please, share me your thoughts and give me suggestions. I appreciate it! xx