Nate rubbed at his face tiredly as he went to open the door, it had been a long, stressful few weeks, he had one perfect afternoon to break it up, where he got to hang out with Serena and Summer and just enjoy their company without any angst or anger hanging over their heads. Summer of course was a little depressed but they'd managed to cheer her up with stories of their school years and the mischief they'd get up to.
Tonight he'd get to see them again, just the thought of his girls made him smile in his worst moments. "I'm coming," he mumbled as someone knocked on the door again.
"Wow look at you," Serena said when he finally opened the door and she saw him with his suit on and his hair slicked back. "You know it's just the family that's going to be there, you didn't have to dress up."
Nate stood at the door and just stared at her as she touched his hair, Serena knitted her eyebrows together when he still didn't speak and drew her hands together against her chest as she became self conscious.
"Are you ok?" she asked confused about his reaction.
"Yeah, I just ... wow," he said, running his eyes up and down her body appreciatively. "I thought you said this was just a family thing."
"It is just a family thing," she whispered as he pulled her against him and inside the apartment. "And we should leave now."
"Do we have to? I mean we could just stay here," he said kissing her neck suggestively. "Order pizza, have wine ... cuddle?"
"Nate," Serena scolded giggling and hiding her face under her hair so Nate had to push it back to see her face. "We should go, our daughter is waiting and she's very suspicious about us and tonight is the night we tell her that we're together."
"She probably going to kill us when she realizes we've been together for a while," he joked and Serena groaned and dropped her forehead to his shoulder. "I told you we should have told her after the first date."
"I know but I wanted the time to be right before we told her," Serena said moving to lean against the counter when Nate let her go.
"And now's the time?" he asked picking up his coat and his phone.
"Yes, we're sure so we'll be sure when we tell her," Serena said decisively and Nate raised his eyebrow as he led them out. "I didn't want to tell her after the first date and then we realize that we're better off as friends and we have to disappoint her."
"Serena, I get it," he said soothingly as she babbled. "I did this with Henry, it took 6 months before I introduced Lola to him."
"How old would Henry have been when you started dating Lola?" Serena asked getting into the cab Nate just flagged down, she was under the impression that Lola was in their lives from before Henry was born.
"It was only after Henry was maybe a year old when we met Lola so he would have been around t3 when we started dating," Nate clarified and Serena laughed.
"He wouldn't have really noticed if you broke up with her," Serena said, sure Henry might have noticed a slight change but that thought would have passed as soon as someone handed him a new toy.
"We couldn't have known that, he's very mature for his age," Nate said rolling his eyes dramatically. "And from the length of my relationships before Lola, Blair wouldn't take that chance."
"Honey I think Blair just didn't want Lola introduced to Henry at all," Serena said and Nate shrugged because that made sense.
"It didn't make a huge difference anyway, Lola and Henry spent almost no time together and I don't even think he's noticed she's gone," Nate said squinting slightly as he thought about it.
"He's a smart kid, he probably listened to Blair when she told him that Lola won't be around for much longer," Serena mused, Blair couldn't stand to be around Serena when she first came back but she loathed Lola even more so Serena could only imagine how much she tried to keep her son away from her.
"I don't want to talk about Lola anymore," Nate said shaking his head and getting out of the car, holding his hand out to help Serena step out. "I wanted to ask you something."
"I'm not stopping you," Serena said with a nervous laugh at his words even though his tone was relaxed. They greeted Vanya as he opened the door for them and got to the elevators before Nate spoke.
"Do you remember my family's townhouse?" he asked and Serena nodded, of course she did, half her happy childhood memories included running through that house. "It went back onto the market just before you moved back here and I put in an offer."
"And," Serena asked, the excitement bubbling up inside her, but she refused to show it until he confirmed that the house was his again.
"I signed the papers yesterday, I am officially the owner of my childhood home," Nate said and Serena hugged him tightly, knowing how much that townhouse meant to all of them growing up. "After my dad was locked up, another family bought it before I even knew so I've been waiting for it since then."
"But now you got it back," Serena said softly as they stepped into the elevator for the short ride up to her mothers.
"And now I got it back," he said. "Which brings me to the question I wanted to ask in the first place."
"Do you need me to decorate?" Serena asked, because she and Blair redecorated as often as they could when they were younger and she was pretty good at it.
"You can but that's not exactly what I was going to suggest," he said and Serena tilted her head so that she could figure out what he was talking about. "I was talking to Chuck and he said you still hadn't managed to find a place."
"That's my fault, with Erik gone and Summ still getting into her school routine, I've gotten so used to being in this place that it's not my biggest priority," Serena said guiltily.
"Right, well, I thought maybe you two could just move in with me," Nate said watching Serena, not sure how she was going to react.
"Nate," Serena said with a short laugh. "Are you serious?"
"Daddy," Summer's excited voice drifted to them as they stared at each other in the elevator.
"Hey Summ," he said stepping out of the elevator to hug his daughter.
"Did you and mom come here together?" she asked grinning at her mother who was now out of the elevator and giving her a tight smile. "Are you like together together?"
"That's one way to put it," Nate said and Serena nodded when Summer looked to her for confirmation before screaming and hugging them both.
"Jeez kiddo, didn't I tell you that you're only allowed to scream like that if someone is trying to steal you?" Erik asked walking into the room to see what all the commotion was about, since Serena and Summer were now in New York, it was easy for him to be with them every weekend without spending half a day on a plane for each flight.
"Uncle Erik!" she squealed jumping up and down and looking at him. "Guess what guess what guess what?"
"You had the whole bag of candyfloss when I told you not to?" he guessed because sugar was the only thing he could think of to explain her hyperness.
"No, mom and dad are together, like together together," she said flashing him the biggest smile she could before turning to her parents again. "I knew it, how long has this been going on and when and how and ..."
"Hey kid why don't you go tell grandma Lily," Erik said noticing the look on his sisters face and knowing that something else was happening. "Let your parents get comfortable here before bombarding them with questions."
"Oh yeah," Summer said as if she just realized there were more people in the house, Erik laughed and ran his hand over her head as she sped past him calling out for his mother.
"You guys are actually together right?" he asked and Serena nodded stepping next to Nate and hooking her arm around his. "Good, coz I would not want to break that kids heart."
"We wouldn't either," Nate told him, his eyes flashing and Erik nodded, as much as he fought with Summer and troubled her, if anyone had to hurt her even if it was her parents he would kill them. She was his little sister and he'd protect her like it.
"Ok, I'm going to keep her busy in the next room, you guys look like you need to talk," Erik said, watching the tight expression on Serena's face even though Nate looked completely at ease. "Everyone's still coming up so you might want to move away from the doors."
"Thanks E," Serena said and her brother waved his hand at them and walked away.
"So do you want to tell me why you look like I just told you we need to break up?" Nate asked pulling Serena away from the elevator to sit on the couches in the abandoned living room.
"I wasn't expecting that Nate," Serena said. "You can't just drop something like that on me before the elevator doors open to our very excitable daughter."
"I didn't know she was going to be there," Nate said and Serena shot him a look because that really was not the point.
"Isn't this too fast?" Serena asked, anxiety creeping up in her chest. They'd barely been together a few months, of course she'd loved him forever but that was from a distance, she needed to relearn everything about him before they made such a huge jump.
"I'm not saying immediately, there's still some things to do with the house before I can move in," Nate said squeezing her hands. "But every time I look at Summer I feel as if I'm missing things, I know I get to see her after school on most days but I don't get to tuck her in at night and have midnight snacks with her, I don't get to do the things I should be able to do as a dad, she's getting older, there's very little time for me to enjoy this before she gets tired of us."
"Nate," Serena whispered as tears welled up in her eyes, she hadn't thought about it like that.
"Look I love the both of you so much and I want to spend as much time as I possibly can with you to make up for everything that we lost," he said bring his hands up to cup her cheeks. "We don't even have to stay in the same room, there are plenty of rooms in the house, I even have one in mind for Erik."
"Really?" Serena asked choking out a laugh and Nate wiped the tear that fell from her eye away. "You even thought about my brother."
"He's a huge part of your life and of Summer's life and I know that you want him to feel at home with you wherever you live," he said. "I'm not expecting an answer now, just think about it, I think it's a good idea, solves your housing problem and my fatherly problems, it's an idea."
"I'm sorry, I just need sometime," Serena said and Nate shook his head to tell her there was no need to say sorry and wiped the tears that were freely flowing from her eyes. "I need to go sort out my make-up, I know I look scary."
"Yeah you kind of do," Nate said and Serena hit his arm jokingly and got up. "Hey S."
"Yes?" she asked turning to look at him.
"Can Summer still stay with me, on weekends and when you're out of town," he asked, hesitantly and Serena smiled, he was so cute, asking permission for his daughter to stay with him.
"We'll ask her later," Serena said. "But I'm sure she'll jump at the chance."
Serena walk around the corner just as the elevator pinged and Summer's voice echoed to her. "Aunt Blair guess what," and Serena laughed to herself, her girl was crazy.
The rest of the night went fairly well, Summer could barely keep the smile of her face and everyone knew as soon as they walked through the door exactly what was happening with Serena and Nate. Serena finally managed to get her to calm down enough to eat but that didn't last very long and she was bouncing in her seat before she was done with the first course but she was sitting next to Erik so Serena decided to let her be his problem.
Just before dessert came out Dan and Vanessa announced that they finally set a date for their wedding, after 3 years of being engaged, Rufus was so excited that they were finally doing it.
Blair was surprisingly quiet throughout dinner but she managed to corner Serena and Nate after dinner while everyone else was occupied with discussing wedding plans.
"I can't believe this has been going on for weeks and no-one bothered telling me," she fussed, annoyed that she was the last to know, and even more annoyed that Chuck wasn't the slightest bit fazed by the news.
"Well," Serena started but Blair cut her off.
"I don't care about 'the right time' to tell us, as your best friend I expect to have known the moment you decided this was going to happen," she ranted to Serena before turning to Nate who shot Chuck a 'help' look. "And don't even get me started on you, not only do I never see you anymore but you can't even pick up the phone and tell me what's been happening in your life."
"I speak to Chuck, I just thought he'd tell you," Nate said sheepishly, hiding himself behind Serena.
"Of course he told me, you were supposed to tell me," she growled and Serena looked at Chuck who was thoroughly enjoying himself. "The only person who seems to see you often is Henry, since you pick him up from school on the way to get Summer."
"Blair, darling," Chuck crooned and Blair rolled her eyes and nodded, they'd discussed earlier, she was going to try and control herself.
"I know I know," she said turning to the blonds and taking a deep breath. "I am really happy for you two, but I expect us to double date to make up for you not telling me."
"Of course," Serena said laughing as she hugged Blair. "I really didn't mean to keep this from you."
"You're forgiven," she said, eyeing Nate who grinned and flung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him.
"We love you too B," he said laughing at Blair's glare.
A/N : I'm so sorry, I tried, real life is hard, exams and assignments and family commitments are really hard to balance with fanfiction
But look new chapter yey! Ok so I'm really not sure about this chapter, it has everything I wanted from it but the way its written is troubling me, I just finished it so I didn't go over it to edit so I'm not too sure of it, please let me know if its ok
To the guest to sent a review for me to update every couple of days, I know the frustration but I promise I didnt forget about the story I will finish this story, I wont let it hang as an incomplete just bare with me for the next month while I sort my life out. Also guests please use your names or a penname so I know who you are lol
Anyway, please review and let me know what you think
Until Next Time (^^,)