"Hey, you came," Nate said getting up to kiss her cheek and pull out her chair.
"You didn't think I would?" Serena asked biting her lip and smiling as he took a seat in front of her. Tonight was their first date and Serena could think of nothing else the whole day, which made her meetings useless and frustrating for all those trying to get answers from her.
"I wasn't sure how you would get it past Summer," Nate said and Serena shrugged, their daughter still had no idea what was happening with her parents.
"As far as she knows I'm still on a plane back from LA," Serena told him, giggling as the waiter stopped at the table to pour her a glass of wine. "She knows I'll wake her up when I get in to say goodnight if I'm too late."
A strange expression crossed Nate's features but before Serena could comment on it he smiled at her and raised his glass. "To us," he said and Serena laughed and clinked her glass with his. "May we never lose each other again."
"I'll drink to that," Serena said taking a sip of her wine.
They made small talk through their meal, joking around about their childhood and their daughter and how excited Summer got when Nate told her that he and Lola had broken up. "You don't look as comfortable as I would have liked," Nate said after their plates were taken away, Serena raised an eyebrow and poked the very comfortable cushioned seat she was on and Nate laughed. "That's not what I meant and you know it."
"I know, I just ... I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop," Serena said looking up at him through her eyelashes.
"What other shoe?"
"Everything is just working out perfectly and that its scaring me," Serena said taking a shaky breath, things never went her way, at least never this flawlessly. "You and Summer have a relationship like I always dreamed you would and you broke up with Lola and now we're here, on a date, it's just too perfect."
"S, that's a good thing, I'm not going to let anything come in between us again," he said taking her hand in his and squeezing it gently. "Is that too much for a first date?"
"For a normal first date maybe," Serena said laughing. "But not with us and our complicated history."
"Chuck told me that we've been suffering for the past 13 years and that we should just let go of that anger and be happy," Nate told her.
"When did he get so smart?" Serena asked and Nate chuckled.
"So I was thinking," Nate started.
"That's never good," Serena joked and Nate shot her a deadly look.
"You are not funny Miss Van der Woodsen," Nate growled and Serena giggled and took a sip of her wine. "I think we should take Summer somewhere nice and tell her what's been going on."
"This is only the first date what if I don't like you enough for this whole forever thing," Serena said and Nate narrowed his eyes at her.
"You are full of jokes tonight," he said rolling his eyes and Serena grinned at him.
"I'm sorry, it was too tempting not to," Serena said. "You really are serious about this, us."
"That's what I keep telling you," Nate said and Serena smiled shyly.
"If this is a dream I really don't want to wake up," she said in a whisper and Nate leaned across the table to kiss her gently.
Serena giggled as they broke apart, sighing dreamily as she rested her face in her hands. It was a couple of days since they kissed on the balcony and every time Serena thought about kissing him she got really smiley and her daughter was getting very suspicious of her. It baffled and excited her that kissing Nate made her feel like she was a teenager again, every time something happened with them she expected to feel different, or have the feelings from 13 years ago fade away, she never expected them to be stronger.
"I know you want to tell Summer but I think we should let her suffer for a little longer," Serena told him. "She's so confused as it is, she thought as soon as you and Lola broke up we'd get together."
"You'd be that mean to our girl?" Nate asked with a chuckle.
"Our girl and I have an understanding, you'll get there once you stop feeling like you should give in to her every whim," Serena said cocking an eyebrow up at him because she knew that there was no way he would deny the child anything, just the other day she was parading around with his credit card, buying half the store before Serena realized what was happening.
"I can't help it, I can't say no to that face," Nate said and Serena laughed. "Don't laugh, you used to make the same face when we were kids."
"I only did that for important things Natie," Serena said blinking innocently at him and Nate rolled his eyes.
"Do you want to get out of here?" he asked, he could see the tiredness in her face, he knew that she had an early flight and it was so late already that he didn't want her to fall asleep at the table.
"What about dessert?"
"Another time," he said and Serena nodded, draining her glass as he flagged down their waiter to bring them the bill. Nate held out his hand and laced their fingers together as they started to walk down the streets of the Upper East Side.
"I think I might have had too much wine," she said with a content smile on her face as she leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Maybe just enough," Nate said, knowing that her guard was completely down right now and he was left to enjoy it. "Tell me more about LA."
"What do you wanna know?" Serena asked and Nate shrugged.
"Tell me about your friends and your dates and if I'm living up to them," he said and Serena turned to press her face against his shoulder for a moment. "Tell me if you miss it."
"Sometimes, we were mostly in the country, so being thrown back into the fast life of New York is a little jarring, I'm surprised Summer is handling it so well, I miss Grams' house the most," Serena said twisting her mouth to the side in thought. "I had a few friends, no-one like Blair though, it was hard to go out and stuff with a baby, I think it was only when Summer started pre-school that I made friends with some of the younger moms but even then they were so much older than I was, so it was weird."
"Judge-y weird?" Nate asked, from the tone of her voice and she nodded.
"They'd never say it to my face but I knew, I used to pick her up in my school uniform sometimes," Serena said shaking her head. "I didn't care much though, with Summer I didn't need anyone else," she said smiling. "As for the dates, I think you did pretty well, topped any other first date I've been on."
"I think I like the sound of that," Nate said and Serena bit her lip.
"What about you?" Serena asked and Nate raised his eyebrows. "How's this compared to all your first dates."
"Oh you know, a little boring," Nate said and Serena's jaw dropped and she hit him hard on his arm when she realized he was joking. "Ow."
"I believed you," she shrieked and Nate laughed.
"How could anyone ever be bored with you?" he asked stopping them and turning her to face him so he could lean down and kiss her. "Best. Date. Ever."
"Charmer," Serena mumbled when they broke apart, wrapping her arms around Nate's middle and just enjoying the feel of him against her as they walked toward her mothers apartment.
"My mother has been talking about getting everyone together for a family dinner soon," Serena mentioned and Nate looked at her curiously. "Maybe you could be my date and we can tell them all then."
"What if you don't like me for the whole 'forever thing'?" Nate teased and Serena laughed out loud making Nate smile.
"Don't tell Chuck," Serena whispered as they came to a stop at the door of the building, their slow walk from the restaurant wasn't long enough.
"He probably knows already," he said and Serena nodded because that man knew everything. They kissed for a few more minutes before Nate reluctantly let her go and Serena used the ride up to her mothers apartment to compose herself. Since it was so late, everyone was already asleep so she snuck into Summer's room and made sure the girl was tucked in nicely.
"You're late," Summer mumbled and Serena giggled as she bent down next to the bed. "And you smell like alcohol."
"I had wine," she said smoothing Summer's hair back. "Go to sleep, I'll talk to you in the morning."
"Love you mommy," she said turning over and falling back into a deep sleep.
"Love you too baby," Serena whispered.
"How's school?" Serena asked Summer as they walked slowly through Central Park.
"It's been 3 days, it's as good as you'd expect it to be," Summer said frowning which made Serena frown.
"What's wrong?" she asked and Summer sighed.
"All these kids knew each other from the time they were conceived and they have their clicks and I don't fit in," she said chewing on her lip. "Aunt Blair told me exactly what to do but I don't know how, I'm not a queen bee, I'm Summer."
"I know honey," Serena said soothingly, rubbing her back. "But like you said, it's only been 3 days, it took me 3 months to make friends and find a place in my new school after I had you, you'll be just fine."
"I know I was the one who wanted to move to New York but I'm kinda missing home and Lauren and Hannah," Summer said softly. "I even miss my teachers and my school."
"I miss the country house," Serena said and Summer smiled as she remembered it. "And Grams' rose garden, I sometimes miss Mr Wilken's annoying dog," Serena said laughing, she hated their neighbours dog, their houses where so far apart and yet that dog still managed to make itself heard and if Serena had her way she would have strangled it. "We could always move back if you don't want to stay here, we still have the house and the school will take you back in a heartbeat."
"I don't want to go back, everyone's here and it's been so much fun living in New York," Summer said. "I just want to fit in."
"You will, you will make friends with the kids from your school and we will find a place to call our own and really soon, this place will start to feel like home to you," Serena told her.
"It's already home to you again, isn't it," Summer asked and Serena smiled at her thoughtful girl, remembering their conversation from when they first landed in New York all that time ago.
"It's always been my home," Serena said, she grew up in New York, she fell in love in New York, New York had loved her and she loved it.
"I get why you didn't want me to grow up here," Summer said after a few moments and Serena furrowed her eyebrows. "I was listening to the kids talk in school about the things that they do and life is so much more hectic here even for them, I didn't worry about half the things that they worry about when I was growing up."
"Your dad and I never wanted you to have the childhood that we had," Serena said and Summer smiled. "He used to say that his kid's biggest worry would be choosing their favourite TV show."
"What did dad have to worry about? I know you had to take care of Uncle Erik," Summer said and Serena shrugged.
"You met Grandfather, honey," Serena said and Summer cringed slightly, he was scary, they had spent time together after their first meeting where he seemed to like her more but he was still scary. "He's a lot easier to handle now than he was when your dad was growing up, but why don't you ask your dad now?"
Summer looked at her mom confused before following her eyes to where Nate was approaching them. Summer leapt into his arms when he got close enough and buried her head in the crook of his neck, refusing to look up.
"What happened?" he asked worriedly looking at Serena.
"Bad day," Summer mumbled into his shirt and Nate 'ahh''d, adjusting the 12 year old in his arms.
"School," he asked and Serena nodded. "We've all been there, it gets worse."
"Nate," Serena scolded and he laughed and bounced Summer who whimpered slightly.
"And then it'll get better," he said with a laugh as Serena glared at him. "Besides, you're Blair Bass' goddaughter, if anyone gives you any trouble they're dead meat."
"She's Summer's godmother?" Serena asked because they had never actually discussed it.
"Like she said, is there really anyone else that we'd choose?" Nate asked and Serena shrugged after thinking about it for a moment, there really wasn't.
"Let's go to my place," Nate finally said looking around. "We'll get ice-cream from that place your mom and I used to go to, that'll make you feel better, Summ."
"I knew there was a reason I called you," Serena said and Nate laughed, holding Summer tightly with one hand, realizing that she wasn't going to stop clinging to him like a monkey anytime soon, he let the other drop down so he could interlace his fingers with Serena's. Serena smiled and got closer to him, she almost expected Summer to sense that they were holding hands but the little girl kept her face buried in Nate's shirt only answering questions when her parents asked her things directly.
Serena squeezed Nate's hand as they walked, just to make sure that he was really there, that this family moment was actually happening. He took on the role of being Summer's father so perfectly that Serena wondered how she could ever have kept them apart.
A/N : OMG another chapter, barely 2 weeks since the last one? What is happening?
Lol I can only hope that the quality of these chapters are as good as I think they are, this chapter basically wrote itself and there was so little that I changed after I read over it that I'm a little nervous but I think it fits in , I love Summer and Nate's relationship almost as much as I love Serena and Nate's relationship so I am thrilled to have both of those in this chapter
How are you guys liking the story so far? Its coming to a close, I feel like I could have ended the story on this chapter and been really happy with it but I want the family to see NS together and I want to write that in this story and not as a separate one-shot
Please please please review and let me know what you think, it has been a year since I posted the first chapter which I find crazy! So thank you guys for sticking with me for this long, and especially the reviewers, guys this is the first story I have written that has reached 200 reviews, I can't even express how happy that makes me
I feel like this story has 1 or 2 more chapters left but with my pacing and the way I have written this I might stretch it further lol I think I will let my muse decide that
Until Next Time (^^,)