"Guys you all remember Serena," Nate said when Serena and Sumer showed up to the cafe that he and Summer went to every morning. "And this is Summer," he said pulling her in for a hug before introducing her to his other three favourite people in the world, even if she'd already met them before.
"But Summer is a season," Henry informed them frowning at her and Summer laughed at the little boys confusion, she got that alot, it was all kinds of confusing when they were learning about the seasons in school.
"It's my name too," Summer told him watching as he raised an eyebrow obviously not believing her. "You can call me Charlotte if you want, that's my middle name."
"My middle name is Bart -o- o- mew," Henry said trying to pronounce the middle name he inherited from his grandfather.
"Bartholomew," Chuck offered watching the boy with an amused expression and Henry nodded.
"Yeah, but no-one calls me that coz it's weird," Henry said scrunching up his nose a little and Blair rolled her eyes, no matter how many times she explained that it was a perfectly normal name passed down through the generations in the Bass family, Henry always just told everyone how 'weird' it was.
"That's a long name," Summer said, glad that her names were easy.
"It's my dad's dad's name," Henry said grinning at the way he said 'dad's dad's'.
"No way," Summer said gasping for effect and keeping up conversation with the little boy while their parents struggled to find things to talk about.
"So Nate where's Lola today?" Blair asked after she decided that the children were occupied enough and Nate raised an eyebrow at her because he was pretty sure she didn't care, Serena cleared her throat and adjusted herself in her seat next to him and it dawned on Nate that Blair was using Lola as a way to make Serena uncomfortable.
"She's spending the day with her parents," Nate said shooting Blair a look. "They're leaving New York tomorrow."
"Doesn't she work," Blair asked, her annoyance at anything Lola-related winning out over trying to make Serena feel bad about Nate moving on.
"She took the week of," Nate said, looking to Chuck for help but his best friend was helping Henry explain something to Summer.
"You don't sound like you like her very much," Serena commented and then wished she didn't as Blair turned her glare toward her.
"I like her more than I like you," Blair snapped. "Although at this point that really isn't that much."
Nate sighed and Chuck winced but continued to keep Summer and Henry talking to him. "Blair not now," he said pressing his fingers to his temples.
"Why not Nate?" she asked. "You know how I feel about her, how you feel about her, so why is she here?"
"Maybe I should go," Serena said softly making a move to stand and Nate grabbed her hand and held her in place before she moved.
"It's ok Serena," Chuck said but she barely registered it because her world was in slow motion and all she could feel was Nate's had on hers and his semi acceptance of her by not letting her leave. "Blair needs to realize this isn't all about her."
Blair turned to glare at her husband and Serena looked to Summer who had her eyebrows furrowed as she watched Chuck and Blair before moving her eyes toward her parents and gasping in delight when she saw their clasped hands. Nate let go of her hand as soon as he realized what Summer did and Serena held her breath for a moment longer as everything around her sped up again.
"Nathaniel, Henry wants to go onto 'The Charlotte' again soon and I'm sure you want to take Summer as well," Chuck said clearing his throat and taking the attention away from Blair. "We should try taking them this weekend."
"Charlotte's your middle name," Henry said beaming as he made the connection. "Like the boat."
"Yeah, I'm named after a season and a boat," Summer said dryly turning to look at her mother who shrugged. "I'm all kinds of weird too."
"I like it," Henry declared after thinking about it for a little while.
"I'm glad you approve," Summer said giggling.
"What do you think Summ?" Nate asked, glancing at his daughter. "You can finally see the boat you got your name from," he said dragging out the joke about her names.
"Sure," Summer said smiling wide and Serena bit her lip, this was the biggest and most she thinks she'd ever seen her daughter smile. Summer's smile dropped a little when she thought of something and she looked at her parents with questioning eyes. "Wait ... I wasn't conceived on that boat, was I?"
Nate choked on his coffee and Serena's eyes went wide, she needed to start listening to this kid's conversations with her friends. Chuck and Blair hid their laughs until Henry turned to them as asked what that meant.
Serena walked down the streets of Manhatten with a smile on her face, breakfast that morning had gone much better that she thought it would. After Summer's more than awkward question, they settled into a strange groove where Blair only hmph'ed and rolled her eyes on occasion and Chuck and Nate carried the conversation to the point where she could feel the familiarity of their friendship 13 years ago. It was only Henry and Summers welcome interruptions brought her back to the present and how it could possibly be in the future when they might be ok with each other.
As they were leaving Summer said goodbye to Chuck and Blair, calling them by their names only for Chuck to turn around and say 'that's Uncle Chuck to you' and then calling her 'sis' when he hugged her good bye. Never before had Serena been so grateful to have Chuck in her life, she thinks the 13 years she was gone had changed him the most and she wished she could have watched him grow into the amazing man he was today.
Serena took a breath as she opened the door of the cool office, checking her phone one last time to see if Summer had tried to get ahold of her before dropping it into her bag and zipping it shut. She left Summer with Jenny, Rufus' daughter had promised a day of fun, showing Summer what she did and the 12 year old was all for hanging out with someone other than her mother or uncle cooped up in her grandmothers apartment, which left Serena with nothing else to do but keep trying to rebuild all those burnt bridges.
"So it has occurred to me that I have been blaming you for something that has been my fault," Serena said leaning on the door to Blair's office, the brunette snapped her head up and stared at Serena suspiciously for a minute.
"How did you get in here?" she asked glaring down the hall to find her assistant flirting with the delivery guy. "I should really fire her."
"She's sweet," Serena said with a smile. "Got excited when I said I was Mr Bass' sister."
"You can't throw that title around if it isn't true," Blair said and Serena smirked and shrugged, her mother adopted Chuck, in the eyes of the law it was true enough. "Since you're here, you might as well shut the door, hopefully then she'll understand that it means 'do not disturb'."
"Are you busy?" Serena asked as she closed the door and walked toward Blair's desk. "I can come back later."
"I would say I'm always busy and that you should never come back but I'm curious because you are going to apologize," Blair said with a fake smile.
"You've taken over from your mother," Serena said looking around and smiling. "Just like you always wanted."
"You wanted to speak about something that's your fault," Blair prompted irritated and Serena took a breath. "Not rehash my past dreams."
"Yes, you shouldn't have told Summer who Nate was to her," Serena said and Blair looked like she was about to protest when Serena held up a hand. "But I was avoiding telling her the truth and she needed to know, so I'm sorry for ... attacking you after that."
"Not exactly the apology I was hoping for," Blair said tilting her head to the side and studying Serena. "Where is your teenage doppelganger?"
"With Jenny," Serena said laughing at the description and Blair's eyebrows shot to the top of her head. "She's being taught the art of ... whatever Jenny does."
"Rufus' daughter?" Blair asked and Serena nodded. "She had the biggest crush on Nate in high school."
"I'm sure," Serena said chuckling, she didn't know a girl in school that didn't have a crush on Nate.
"Nate and Chuck seem to think that I need to give you the benefit of the doubt," Blair said grudgingly, pushing her hair back. "Stop being so angry with you, they had enough to say about it this morning after we left."
"What do you think?" Serena asked, biting her lip as she waited for the answer.
"I think that you left me," Blair said and Serena winced. "Everyone just thinks that Nate was affected because he loved you and you left and you had his child but you also left me, I had no one to talk to when things with Chuck and Nate blew up in my face, my dad left, I got married, I had a baby and I missed you."
"I know B," Serena said with tears in her eyes. "I missed you too."
"So yes Serena of course I'm angry with you," she said as if she didn't even hear Serena speak. "I got married and all I got from you was a card saying 'Congratulations – xoxo S', what was I supposed to feel, you're my best friend and you didn't even bother showing up for my wedding."
"Blair-" Serena started, wincing as she thought about how badly she wanted to be at Blair's wedding like they'd planned but she couldn't face Nate with Summer.
"At least no one really noticed, since you'd been MIA for such a long time before that, you know what the worst part was?" she asked and Serena shook her head. "Not that you weren't around every single time I needed you because the boys picked up your slack there but I had to make Penelope my maid of honour."
Serena pressed her lips together and took a few quick breathes to stop the laughter from slipping through her lips, "I bet she was thrilled," Serena said and Blair shot her a look before both girls burst out laughing.
"She got to walk down the aisle, arm in arm with Nate, of course she was thrilled," Blair said laughing and shaking her head at the memory. "You just ... you missed so much."
"I didn't want to," Serena said looking down. "I have so much to make up for, I missed you the most when Summer was a baby, she had the cutest clothes and every time I went shopping for her I thought about what you'd say about the outfits I bought, which headband you'd choose to go with the stockings she was wearing that day, and then over the years I just ... stopped, I pushed New York out of my mind."
"Until you came back," Blair finished and Serena nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Do you remember what you were like back then with Nate?" Serena asked and Blair winced. "You would have probably ignored me for 13 years anyway, a few years ago I was really dead set on coming home and telling Nate and then I went to tell Summer and she must have been about 6 and I froze and I just sat there for an hour watching her play and hoping she would forgive me one day."
"And she has?" Blair asks and Serena nodded. "I wouldn't have forgiven my mother."
"Summer is different from us, she's forgiving," Serena said biting her lip. "I don't think I would be able to forgive my mother either."
"There's also the fact that this is the only time you've ever actually let her down," Blair said. "Unlike our mothers and their multiple disappointments."
"I can't believe that it's been so long and bitching about our mothers is still the thing that we bond over," Serena said and Blair grinned.
"Are we bonding?" Blair asked raising her eyebrow and Serena shrugged, they kinda were. "When I stopped hoping that you would come back home, I decided that if you ever did come home I would not acknowledge you, I wouldn't care and then you dropped Summer on us and there was no way I could let it go, you had to suffer for it."
"Have I suffered enough?" Serena asked.
"You'll never have suffered enough for all those years," Blair said shaking her head. "But I think I've missed you too much and making you suffer is making me suffer and I don't want my niece to think of me as that awful lady married to her Uncle Chuck."
"I wouldn't have let her think that," Serena said smiling softly at Blair. "She's a good judge of people and I've told her not to judge the situation with us just yet."
"Nate said she immediately didn't like Lola," Blair said with a laugh. "She's the best judge of character in my book."
"Lola seems ... nice," Serena said and Blair rolled her eyes.
"Oh please Serena, that fake nice would have never fooled you if you hadn't stayed away from New York for so long," Blair said and Serena laughed, it wasn't a jab at her, it was just a Blair-fact. "Besides she's horrible for Nate."
"Oh?" Serena asked, not wanting to ask too much and give away her longing for Nate, when did she turn back into a teenager.
"Of course not and Nate's just too dumb to realize he's been using her as a substitute you," Blair said causing Serena to raise her eyebrows. "Don't look at me like that, I know you've thought about it too."
Serena laughed and shook her head, watching as Blair switched off her computer and grabbed her handbag. "What are you doing?"
"I'm taking the day of," she said standing up and walking around the desk to pull Serena with her. "There's no way I'm getting any work done when we have some catching up to do."
A/N : I cant even begin to tell you how sorry I am for leaving this story for a whole month but real life can really suck sometimes and I have work and assignments piling up, I feel so over worked, I have written as much as I possibly could of this story which was this chapter lol which I loved coz it made me laugh so I hope it makes you laugh too
I have 2 weeks of assignment hell to get through so I cannot promise you guys an update for at least 2 weeks but I will try my hardest
I love the reviews and that you guys love this story too, keep it up hehe
Ok let me know what you think of Summer and gang and if you think I resolved everything with Blair too soon coz i resolved quote a bit with Nate last chapter, personally I feel that it could work like this
Please review and let me know all your thoughts
Until Next Time (^^,)