"What is going on with you?" Blair hissed as she came to stand next to Serena. "First you snap at Nate, then you walk away from Lily and Rufus when they asked if you were ok and now you're acting like a teenager trying to piss off her mother, who peed in your cheerios?"
Serena took a sip of her drink and turned to glare at Blair, propping her hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow, daring the brunette to say another word.
"You can't be pregnant," Blair said, raising her eyebrow and matching her expression and posture to Serena's, two could play at that game. "No, that's not possible because you and Nate haven't done the deed yet and this..." Blair said plucking the glass out of Serena's hand and sniffing it. "Is vodka."
Serena's expression soured even more as Blair finished speaking and stood there waiting for an answer. "You're not helping," she muttered clenching her jaw when Blair poured the contents of her glass onto the ground.
"I'm not here to help you S, I'm here to stop you from making Summer's birthday party miserable," she said watching Serena's face soften as she glanced over at the newly 13 year old who was happily showing off her new pony to her friends, of course Anne and Howard would buy her a pony.
It was Summer's birthday and Serena wanted to throw her a huge party, especially now that she had her father and his family in her life. She didn't expect them to take over everything, moving the party to Grandfathers estate and providing accommodation and transport for everyone invited, handling the cleaning and catering staff, the entertainment and inviting almost all of Nate's extended family and of course buying her the most extravagant gifts. Serena just had to be comforted by the fact that she surprised Summer by flying her friends from LA to New York and seeing the pure joy in her girls eyes when she saw them step out of the limo. Take that Anne Archibald.
"They make me so mad," Serena said pressing her hands to her face and rolling her eyes. "I should have just had this in Central Park like I planned."
"And you think that would have made anything better?" Blair asked, letting out a short laugh. "They would have still been there ... ignoring you ... being the perfect grandparents ... looking at you like you were just a surrogate."
"Thank you, I get it," Serena said holding a hand up to stop Blair from continuing. "I was so prepared for them."
"You will never be ready for them," Blair said thinking of the people she thought would one day be her in-laws. "The best you can do is ignore them and focus on Summer, she the only one that matters," Blair paused as she looked around the grounds to find a pair of worried blue eyes watching them before adding, "And Nate, that boy is hopelessly in love with you."
"You know, that was actually helpful," Serena said looking up at Blair.
"I blame Henry, that child made me soft," Blair said smiling as she scanned the grounds for her energetic 5 year old.
"Where is he anyway?" Serena asked, and Blair gestured to the jumping castle that the Van der Bilts set up for Nate's cousins' children who were all at the party to meet Summer for the first time and celebrate with her.
"I'm going to go and let Erik and Jenny know that it's safe to come out of the house," Blair said and Serena rolled her eyes, she really couldn't have been bad enough that her brother was hiding from her, she definitely couldn't have been bad enough that he told Jenny to hide as well. Although since Dan and Vanessa couldn't make it, she didn't think Jenny would stray too far from Erik anyway, Nate's family could be a little intimidating, especially to those who weren't old money.
Serena watched her go and smiled to herself, how did she survive all these years without her friends, her grandmother was right to force her to come back to New York, the crazy old lady always knew what she was doing. Making sure that Summer was still occupied, Serena made her way over to Nate who was watching her wearily.
"I come in peace," she said holding up her hands and rolling her eyes. "You really didn't need to send Blair to sort me out but I'm glad you did."
"Oh I didn't," he said pulling her into a hug and Serena smiled against his chest letting the warmth of being held by Nate sooth her frayed nerves, why didn't she think of just doing this before? "Erik took one look at you and decided Blair should be the one to get through to you, because she's the scariest of all of us."
"I'm sorry," she mumbled and Nate smiled. "It's just your family ... I can't do it."
"You smell like a bar," Nate said and Serena groaned. "Give them a chance, they don't know how to be grandparents."
"Nate, they bought her a pony," Serena said throwing her arms out and sighing. "A pony!"
"You're just jealous because you didn't think about it first," Nate said knowingly and Serena rolled her eyes because yes she should have thought of that first but that wasn't the point.
"It's not that Natie," Serena said pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose. "It's that they look at me as if I don't exist, I didn't expect open arms but I didn't expect to just be ignored."
"They don't know how to deal either," Nate said soothingly and Serena huffed out a breath, she didn't need soothing right now she needed him to fuel her anger. "Give it some time, we've worked through our problems, they still have to get used to it all."
"Mom," Summers excited voice called. "Come over here."
"I'm going to go see what the Princess wants," she said, looking over at her teenager who was waving her arms at her parents and gesturing for her mom to come to her, only stopping when Serena nodded to say that she knows what Summer wanted. "I'll find you later."
Nate leaned down and kissed her, letting his lips linger on hers until she pushed herself away from him and made her way toward their daughter, turning back and sending him a wink when she saw him checking her out. Nate laughed and shook his head before finding Chuck and walking to him.
The rest of their day went off without a hitch, despite Serena's pleading looks, Summer insisted on a family photo which had Nate's grandfather, both sets of Summer's grandparents, Rufus included, Erik, Serena and Nate surrounding her. As awkward as Serena felt standing that close to Anne and Howard, the smile on Summers face as she showed off her family to her friends was worth it.
"Today was a fun day," Erik said as he settled down next his sister and grinned at her. "Don't you think, S?"
Serena glared at her brother as her mother and Rufus heartily agreed with Erik and discussed the day, while Serena knew he was talking about her mood before Blair straightened her out. "I will set Lauren on you," Serena threatened, Summer's red-headed friend still thought that Erik was the hottest thing to walk the earth, and she wasn't shy about showing it.
"Please don't," Erik said laughing.
"Although you might have competition for her affection," Serena said wiggling her eyebrows as Erik's face turned to confusion. "I overheard her telling Hannah that Summer's father was a 'total DILF'."
Erik burst out laughing, "Does she even know what that means," he asked through his tears and Serena shrugged, Summer's friend was wildly inappropriate but she was a good kid, who loved Summer and who Summer loved back. "I wish Nate luck with that one."
"Why do I need luck?" Nate asked squeezing himself into the sofa next to Erik, putting the younger boy between him and Serena.
"Ahh Nate, there are so many places to sit and you choose this little two seater," Erik complained.
"Yeah but this one has my favourite van der Woodsens on it," Nate said, slinging his arm over the back of the sofa to grasp Serena's.
"Don't let Summer hear you say that," Erik said amusedly.
"She's an Archibald, and she's my favourite of those," Nate told him and Erik raised an eyebrow.
"We had a talk with her last week and she wants to take her fathers surname," Serena said, seeing the questioning look on her brothers face. They were hanging out in Nate's house the week before, debating how they should decorate the living room when Summer decided to spring the news on them, it wasn't that she didn't want to be a van der Woodsen anymore, she loved her mothers surname but it was time to let the world know who her dad was.
"Just abandoning us like that," Erik joked after studying his sisters face to make sure that this was ok with her. "After all that we've been through."
"Stop being so dramatic," Serena said laughing. "Summer isn't even here."
"True, there's no fun in teasing her when she's not here," he mumbled almost to himself.
"Well children, it's time we head to bed," Lily said letting Rufus pull her up, off the couch and stretching her arms. "See you in the morning darlings."
"Good night," the three of them called to Lily and Rufus.
"Now that they're gone and I'm third wheeling, I should go as well," Erik said pushing himself up off the couch and turning to look at Nate and Serena who had fallen together after he got up. "Which direction to my room?" he asked looking around.
"That way," Nate pointed in the direction of the hall that lead to the set of rooms where Summer and her friends were, Erik was going to be close by in case the teenagers needed anything.
"This place needs a map," Erik said scratching his head and walking in the direction Nate pointed.
"You doing ok?" Nate asked letting his hand bury itself in Serena's hair.
"Yeah, Summer's having the best time with her LA friends, her New York friends aren't too bad, Blair stopped me before I drank enough to embarrass us and now, we're finally alone," she smiled, bumping her nose on his, tilting her head up to kiss him.
"My parents trouble you anymore?" Nate asked between kisses.
"I really don't want to talk about your parents right now," Serena said and Nate smirked but kissed her one last time and leaned back obviously waiting for her answer. "Fine, they're manageable."
Nate raised an eyebrow and Serena sighed, he was really going to make her talk about this.
"Your mother and I managed to speak about Summer's dress without a fight happening," she said, it was a shock when Anne approached her and started rambling about Summer, they didn't speak long but it was a pleasant conversation Serena did not expect to have. "And your dad hugged me when he thought your mom wasn't looking, although I have to say your grandfather coming up to me and telling me that I've raised a good kid was the most surprising thing of the day."
"When did he do that?" Nate asked, he watched Serena the entire day, he saw everything she did and everyone she spoke to, how did he miss his grandfather speak to her?
"After Summer's New York friends left," Serena said, she didn't ask any of Summer's New York friends to stay over because she knew how much her girl missed her LA friends and that she wouldn't want to split her attention at all. "He came up behind me, said that, nodded and left before I could form a word."
"Sounds like Grandfather, always so dramatic," Nate said and Serena laughed, this family was going to love her again, she'd make sure of it.
"I think we're going to be ok," Serena whispered, biting her lip and looking at him. "All of us."
"I know we will be," Nate said pulling her legs over his.
"Are the girls ok?" Serena asked, she checked on them a while ago, telling them to go to sleep early so that they wouldn't be tired the next day but she knew they wouldn't so she sent Nate back an hour later to make sure they were asleep.
"They seemed to be having fun, I told them I'd take them riding in the morning if they got up early enough, but I doubt they're going to sleep any time soon," Nate told her and Serena rolled her eyes.
"Teenagers," she mumbled and Nate laughed.
"We have a teenage daughter," he said blowing out a worried breath, every time he thinks of Summer's age he still gets frustrated that he's missed so much of her life, but he's gotten better at stopping those feelings from turning to rage and focusing on the future. "If she is anything like you were, then we have problems."
Serena nodded until what he said sunk in and she frowned and pouted at him, Nate grinned and kissed the pout of her face.
"Where am I sleeping?" she asked as their kisses got hotter and she moved to straddle him.
"With me," Nate panted and Serena raised an eyebrow. "I'm not waiting anymore."
A few days ago at Nate's townhouse they were having a very heated make-out session when Serena stopped them from going any further and told him that she wanted them to wait just a little longer, for a time when their daughter was not in the next room and she was feeling less paranoid.
"Nate," she whispered, her breath catching in her throat when he ground their hips together. "Room, now," she said in an urgent whisper, she knew exactly where this was going and she refused to be in an open lounge area where anyone could walk in and see them.
Nate willingly obliged, standing with her legs wrapped around him and walked them to his room, shutting the door behind them, his lips never leaving hers even as they fell onto the bed.
"Are you sure?" he asked pushing himself up so he could hover above her, she knew that he was all for where this night was going but he didn't want to push that on her if she wasn't ready for it.
Serena smirked at him, unbuttoning his shirt and pulling him down to kiss him. "More than you know," she assured him breathlessly, pushing his shirt off and wrapping herself around him again, they had years to make up for, starting tonight.
A/N : I am so sorry for this chapter coming out as late as it did but I lost all my inspiration and it took rewriting the beginning of this chapter 4 times to really be ok with it and then continue with the rest
Also I am starting a new job on Monday and that is requiring me to move away from home and work hours that would give me less time to write but I promise I will still get out the next chapter to you as soon as I can
So everyone who has been following my stories would know that I suck at smut so I don't write it, I always attempt it but it feels forced and silly so I scrap it lol but I tried to just make the end of this chapter a little sexy, hopefully you guys like that
Happy New Year everyone, I hope you had a wonderful festive season and I wish you all the best for the year ahead!
I had so much more to write and apologize for but I cannot remember now haha Please please review and let me know what you think about this chapter
Until Next Time (^^,)
PS - Points to anyone who recognized the One Tree Hill quote/reference :D