Serena smiled as she looked out the window to see New York below her, she was only 15 when she left and now she was 28 returning home, she glanced at her daughter who was asleep on her shoulder, headphones still plugged into her ears. Not for the first time since she was born Serena wondered if it would have been better had she come back home to raise her and then thought better of it.
Her grandmother lived in an up market area, it was quiet and people generally kept to themselves, the parties were sophisticated like Blair wished the ones at home where and not as wild as the ones she went to with Georgina. Serena lived her life differently there than she would have in New York where she knew she would have succumbed to the pressure of living up to expectations of that world and the tempting party scene that she was always drawn to.
She wondered if Gossip Girl was still a thing, she unsubscribed after she left, refusing to check in on what everyone was up to, she wondered if Blair and Chuck would have still gotten together had she stayed or if her mother would have married Bart or not. If she and Nate could have found their way to each other.
There were so many different possibilities and she was going to drive herself crazy thinking about them. The plane touched down and was moving toward their drop-off point when Serena woke her daughter up, first she tried flicking her nose to which the girl just batted her hand away and continued sleeping, Serena then tried calling her name to wake her up, all that got was a 'hmm' and another snore. Finally when the passengers stood to exit Serena did as well laughing when her daughters head fell from her shoulder and she jerked awake looking around wide eyed and shocked.
"Mom that was mean," she protested picking herself up and taking the bag Serena handed to her. "You could have just shook me awake."
"Where's the fun in that?" Serena asked laughing and the girl glared at her. "Oh don't give me that face."
"Do we really have to be here?" she asked looking up at Serena, she was excited to come to New York for such a long time but she had also picked up on Serena's hesitance, it was like she could sense a change coming and she wasn't sure that she wanted it.
"What happened to the girl who was pushing me out of my office because she wanted to come to New York?" Serena asked, laughing as her daughter scowled at her.
"I want to be here, I'm just not sure if you want to and that makes me nervous," she said looking up at Serena and shrugging.
"I want to be here," Serena said, not entirely sure how true that was. "Grams wanted us all here."
"Grams was also senile and she always had a drink in her hand," her daughter replied and Serena gasped and laughed, tapping the girl on her head lightly as they walked. "Ow."
"Watch it," she said still giggling as she threw her arm around the child. "She might just haunt you for saying that."
"I'm not five," she said rolling her eyes. "I don't believe in ghosts."
"Oh yeah?" Serena asked as they stopped by the carousel to wait for their bags. "So which 12 year old was it jumping into bed with me 2 weeks ago because, and I quote 'There's something under my bed'."
"12 and a half," she said crossing her arms and Serena laughed and shook her head. "And that was a bad dream, it could have happened to anyone."
"Sure it could have," she said and the little girl huffed. "Go get our bags before a ghost grabs it."
"That was just lame," she said squinting at Serena when she picked up the two bags and handed them to her mother. "Horribly lame."
"I'm a mother, I'm allowed some lameness," Serena said leading them out of the crowd toward the line of drivers with names on boards. "Arthur, I didn't expect you to be here."
"Mr Chuck insisted Miss van der Woodsen," he said with a smile when she recognised Chucks driver. "May I?"
"Oh of course," Serena said handing him the bags and grabbing her daughters hand to follow. "Where is Chuck?"
"He is at Miss Lily's," Arthur replied as curtly as ever, leading them out of the airport. "He said to take you straight there," he said it as a statement but there was a slight questioning tone to his voice as if he might have gotten the wrong instructions.
"That's fine, we'll be staying with my mother for the weekend," Serena replied as he opened the door and waited for them to enter. Serena pushed her daughter forward so she could get into the limo but she was amazed by the limo that she refused to budge. "Come on honey, we have to go."
"Oh yeah, sure," she said with wide eyes and Serena shook her head and laughed when she finally got in. "Mom we're going to Grandma Lily's in a limo."
"It's like you've never seen one before," Serena said as Arthur closed the door and got into the driver's seat, raising the partition before they left.
"Yeah for those big parties grams made us go to but never for coming home from the airport," she half whispered.
"He can't hear you," Serena whispered back.
"Fine, fine, but mom I'm used to town cars and juice boxes, this is a limo with scotch," she said opening the cabinet and pulling out a bottle.
"Scotch that you look at because the bottle is pretty not for opening and drinking," Serena told her putting the bottle back, she expected the eye roll to come but the little girl was much too excited to really care what her mother was saying. "This is how I used to go to school sometimes when Chuck was early enough."
"Seriously? And you left all this for public transport every morning," she asked looking at her mother like she was crazy.
"I had you to think about and I wouldn't change that decision, New York is where I grew up and I love it but there's so much more that I wanted for you than this fast paced, dramatic life," Serena said wrapping her arms around her daughter. "You'll see what I mean."
"Do you miss it?" she asked tilting her head to look back at Serena. "Did you ever want to move back?"
"I do miss it but I'll only ever move back if you want to," Serena said pressing a kiss to her daughters head.
"I don't know ..." she said trailing off and Serena shook her head.
"We're happy where we are, we don't need to move to New York," Serena told her. "Grams left that place to you, it's your home."
"But this is yours."
"Was," Serena said looking out the window at the buildings. "I don't live here anymore."
The little girl smiled up at her mother and nodded content to just gasp at all the sights that her mother saw all the time at her age. They travelled a lot, but New York was out of bounds mainly because Serena didn't want the temptation to uproot her new life and come back home but also because she was afraid of Blair and Nate and Chuck and their reactions to who she'd become and why she stayed away for so long.
When the limo finally stopped Serena took her daughters hands in hers, "I know that this weekend is going to be hard especially since these people are strangers to you, so if at any time you want to leave just say the word and we're gone, ok?" Serena asked cupping her daughter face. "Grams will understand."
"Ok, same to you," she said nodding and Serena smiled at her baby's thoughtfulness, turning around in time to find Arthur opening the door for them. "It's so pretty."
Serena took a deep breath as she looked up at the block of apartments her mother now lived in, smiling at the awe in her daughters eyes she grabbed her hand and they both entered the building.
"This way," the concierge said when Serena told him who they were here to see. He led them to the elevator and pressed the button to take them up to the floor.
"Are you excited?" Serena asked almost jumping in her heels, she didn't know what to expect.
In the past 13 years she saw Chuck once when her mother, Erik and Bart visited about a year into that marriage, they've spoken through the years but not enough to be considered close. She hasn't had contact with Blair or Nate, she knows they tried at first but she couldn't see them, she kept herself just out of their reach and finally they gave up. For the past 7 or 8 years she's seen her mother every few months, never less than once a year but never more than thrice either, the only person she can still say she knows and talks to regularly is Erik.
"Do you think they'll like me?" her daughter asked and Serena could hear the nerves in her girls voice. "Grandma Lily's boyfriend and your old friends."
"They will love you," Serena assured her kissing the top of her head. "Ready?"
"Serena darling you're here," Lily's voice floated to them as soon as the elevator doors opened. "I'm so glad you made it."
Serena hugged her mother and looked around her. "Hi mom, where is everyone?"
"They're in the next room waiting for you," Lily said holding Serena by her shoulders when someone else caught her attention behind Serena. "Oh, look at you, you've grown so much since I last saw you, I can't believe you're 12 now."
Serena pressed her lips together to hold back her laughter when her daughter rolled her eyes as her grandmother hugged her. She was 12 and a half and she wouldn't let Serena forget that, the half mattered because it was that much closer to 13 and anytime anyone tried to say otherwise she would get so annoyed.
"Hi Grandma Lily," she said hugging her back quickly and letting go even as Lily held on.
"I thought I heard my favourite girls," Erik said and Serena smiled, hugging her brother quickly before her daughter got to him.
"Uncle Erik," she screamed running full speed into his open arms. He grabbed her and spun her around before setting her on the ground, Serena loved that her baby was close to Erik, she knew her daughter needed a male figure in her life, and who better than the most perfect boy in her life, her brother. "I was hoping you'd be here."
"Someone had to come and keep an eye on you and make sure you don't get into any trouble," he said tapping her nose and she laughed at him.
"I never get into trouble," she said straightening herself up and making it seem as if she were the most proper lady.
"Sure you don't," Serena said and the little girl turned to stick her tongue out at her mom.
Serena didn't realise they had migrated to the other room until the other occupants stood up, she gasped when she saw Blair standing next to Chuck, looking like every bit of the confident woman and mother Serena always pictured her to be and Rufus, her mother's boyfriend smiling warmly at her from the side of the room. Blair and Chucks little boy, Henry was asleep in his father's arms.
"Hi," she said waving awkwardly.
"Serena," Chuck said smirking, he hadn't lost that confident look about him, it just looked strong now instead of creepy like it had in high school. Serena took a moment to look at the little boy in her step brothers arms, he was perfect, dark head of hair and pouty lips, he was so close to what she imagined Blair's child to one day be.
Rufus waved back at her and then moved toward Lily, Serena looked at Blair and Blair stared at her, both girls not really sure what to say to each other and neither wanting to make the first move.
"Are you both just going to stand there and look at each other or is someone going to say something?" Serena turned to glare at her daughter when she spoke, cursing her brother for being there because she knew that if he wasn't close to her, she wouldn't have had the courage speak so openly.
"Serena ..." Blair said a little confused as she took a step toward her former best friend, looking not at her but at the girl standing next to Erik. "Is that...?"
"Blair, meet my daughter," Serena said putting her arm around her daughters shoulders and pulling her closer so Blair could look at her better. "This is Summer Charlotte van der Woodsen."
A/N : I'm so thrilled with the response to this story! I honestly thought I'd just be writing this for myself and one or two other NS fans who still like to read GG fanfiction but you guys are all amazing, thank you so so much for the wonderful reviews
So I spent a long time with deciding on Summer's name but finally I recycled the name used in Misguided Ghosts and I'm pretty happy with it, I'm excited about this story :D
As always please let me know if there are any mistakes and if you'd like to see something happen in the story :P I'm sure you have some questions, all will be revealed shortly, for those who know my writing you know how impatient I am to get to the point lol thats why my longest story is 20 chapters and even then I rushed quite a bit lol
I might not update next week because I have to finish my assignments before I go to The Fray concert next Friday! So I'm super excited about that, you have no idea, I will try to edit the next chapter and update before I leave but if I don't get around to it, as soon as I get back home I will do so
I do not own any of the characters except Summer
Please review and I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter
Until next time (^^,)