AN at the end of the chapter.

Securing the love of her life at such a young age had seemed to put Serena van der Woodsen in a bit of a bubble. One that she wasn't even aware of until it burst the day her wedding was called off. Yet now, the creeping sensation of doubt is all too familiar as the blood in her veins run thick with insecurity.

Just when Serena thought the feeling couldn't get any worse, a new sort of quivering has taken hold on Sunday morning. A dizzying whirl of nerves pulses through her laced thinly with hope. She supposes it's far preferable to that destitute feeling that had filled her emotions since her engagement had been called off.

But it still leaves her unsettled.

Three hours until the picnic and she's practically trembling with the need to see Nate. To know what that smiley face meant. What those words meant…

I can't wait to see you.

Was it just his politeness or was there subtext?

She still hadn't figured it out.

As soon as she had read it, she had thought about screenshotting it and sending it to the Pearls text chain but then decided not to. Her friends would probably all respond with inappropriate GIFs captioned with suggestive comments. It wouldn't be helpful.

God, was she dying? Serena glances down at her shaky hands and thinks maybe it's not nerves and it's some serious disease that's permeating her fragile bones. It would explain the nausea of a few weeks ago, the constant feeling of weakness, and the blue feeling she can't shake.

On impulse, she texts the phone number she's only ever used once.

Do you work on Sundays?

Blair's reply is instant.

No, why? Don't tell me you're having another pregnancy scare...

Serena regrets texting her as soon as she reads her nemesis' reply. Naturally, Blair would be sarcastic and rude, what else did she expect?

Nevermind.

A text bubble appears.

I can come in. If it's urgent.

Serena types back:

It is. I think I'm dying.

Blair replies within the second:

Of a condition your equally trained father can't diagnose and treat?

Serena texts back a simple no. Blair replies:

Fine, meet you at the practice in 30.

Serena exhales in relief and heads out the front door.

Dan looks disappointed as Blair announces that she needs to head over to the practice. "But my dad was really excited for you to try the French toast waffle recipe he perfected."

Over the past few weeks, Blair and Dan had traded breakfast at Nate's for breakfast with the Humphrey's. Something about Nate's felt a little sad lately so they had been spending time with him at the bar or around town since they had gotten back from New York.

Blair grimaces inwardly. The caloric (and cholesterol) content in Rufus Humphrey's breakfast was enough to send her running toward the exam room, even if Serena van der Woodsen would be inside it, waiting. "Sorry, I know. But it's a patient emergency and you know how I relish the opportunity to boast to Dr. Van der Woodsen how the town now relies on me for urgent cases, not him."

Dan nods, smiling. "Especially when it's his own daughter? I saw the name on your screen, sorry. By the way, should I supervise this examination and make sure you don't secretly inject Serena with something lethal? I'm suspicious that you would sacrifice your Sunday for her apparent medical benefit unless it was for an ulterior motive."

Blair laughs, "I won't need to do anything that drastic. According to her, she's already dying. Maybe I'll save her life and then she'll owe me forever. I think I'll make her rename 'The Pearls' to something less ridiculous. Or perhaps absolve the whole thing. I haven't decided yet."

"Well, okay, just don't do anything that would bum Nate out. He's seemed happier lately and I have a feeling that if anything happened to Serena that might change."

Blair shakes her head, reaching for her keys. "'Natie' need not worry. Serena will be in very good hands."

When Blair arrives at her closed medical office, Serena is pacing back and forth on the sidewalk. "There you are." She exhales loudly.

Blair eyes Serena's made-up face and old Hollywood style curls. "I see your supposed terminal condition didn't stop you from going about your normal beauty routine."

Serena rolls her eyes. "Are you going to let me in or what?"

Blair unlocks the doors and they stride into her exam room. Serena perches delicately on the cold metal table, not even giving Blair a chance to place down a fresh paper liner sheet. "So, pray tell, what caused you to summon me here today?"

Serena draws in a breath. "I just feel like I'm dying. My heart is all uneven, palpitating I think. My hands are so shaky and I keep dropping things. A Pearl is never clumsy, Blair, so this is serious. I saw this documentary on Michael J. Fox once and I'm wondering if I have what he has."

"You are wondering if you have Parkinson's Disease? That's a serious condition and isn't a light claim to make." Blair advises, sagely.

So maybe she wasn't dying to stuff her face with a bunch of sugar and carbs this but still, she'd way rather be with her boyfriend and his family than sitting here listening to the ravings of a clear hypochondriac. "Serena, be real with me."

"I am." Serena holds out her hand. "Look, it won't stay still."

Blair indulges her and watches as Serena's lilac-polished nails tremble in the air. Blair pulls out a few supplies from a drawer and starts to check Serena's vitals.

After a thorough examination, Blair announces, "You seem to be in good health. Minus the shakiness. Are you nervous or something? I know it probably goes against the Pearls' good breeding to display human emotion but it seems to me that you are simply anxious."

Serena looks away and Blair knows she's solved it. Not that it would have even taken a medical professional to work this case out.

"A little."

"Why?" Blair sets down the patient chart and leans against the counter.

"I have a-" Serena bites her lip. "A lunch appointment that I am uncertain of."

"A lunch appointment?" Blair echoes.

"A date. Possibly." Serena sounds dubious.

"Ah," Blair nods with understanding anyway. "So who's the unlucky guy?"

"It might not be a date." Serena amends suddenly and then frowns at Blair. "Do you always have to be so mean? 'Unlucky guy'," She shakes her head. "Most guys that spend time in my company call themselves lucky."

Blair laughs at that. "Oh really? Is this a nightly thing or? And do you get paid by the hour?"

"Not that kind of company!" Serena blanches.

"Fine, who is your 'lunch appointment' with? Who is making the perfect-Pearl Serena van der Woodsen so nervous? I am curious." Blair admits.

"You won't tell?" Serena is as wide-eyed as a child.

"Depends on who it is."

Serena presses her lips together firmly and begins to rise. "I shouldn't have come here."

"Fine, I won't tell anyone. Except maybe Dan, but he won't tell anyone." Blair says quickly as her intrigue grows. "I promise."

Serena settles back onto the exam table. She lets out a breath. "Nate."

Blair is puzzled as she watches Serena start twist the pearls around her neck anxiously. "Nate? That's it? That's the mystery man? I don't get it. You were engaged to him, he's seen you naked, he practically left you at the altar. What's there to be nervous about if it's just lunch with Nate? I think he's already done his worst to you." Blair shakes her head and starts to take off her white coat.

Serena looks up at Blair with blue shining eyes. "That's precisely why. Because it's Nate and I think I may finally be able to fix things. But I don't know how."

Recognition fills Blair and she decides the sit in the chair across from the exam table. "I see..."

Forcing herself to pretend Serena isn't her enemy and is instead a friend, she thinks about the situation. "You want him back but you don't know how to get him back?"

Serena nods.

"I think you have to go to the root cause of the breakup. Which was…" Blair searches her memory. "The illicit affair with Carter Baizen?"

"We didn't have an illicit affair. How do you even know about us?"

"I was friends with Carter when he was in town. Plus, Dan." Blair replies simply. "Anyway, so am I right?"

"Nate and I had problems before that," Serena confesses.

"What sort of problems?" Blair asks curiously. "Bedroom ones? Because I can prescribe something for that."

"No," Serena's cheeks redden. "We just were distant. Even when he got back from the internship after college. I don't know. He felt so far away from me and I- I guess I didn't always make his feelings a priority. I suppose I cared more about what other people thought of our relationship so I lost sight of whether our relationship was actually functioning or not."

Blair gestures for her to continue.

"Then Carter came along and he made me feel like I wasn't so alone. But then that all fizzled out anyway and Nate and I got engaged and it felt like everything was on track until it wasn't."

After a bit more of Serena filling in the blanks of the times when Blair wasn't here and didn't know what Nate and Serena's lives were like, she reaches a conclusion. "I think you two should talk."

"We have been talking," Serena sounds exasperated. "I told you that."

"No." Blair shakes her head. "Talk, like really talk. About the problems you had, about what went wrong, and everything else you never said I can't imagine you two haven't changed in terms of desires, needs, and aspirations in the past decades you've known each other. So get to know the new Nate and let him see the new Serena. Because I think you have changed. The Serena I first met would have never asked me for romantic advice."

"You had just been dumped so of course, I wouldn't have." Serena wrinkles her nose. "Plus, you were from New York."

Blair bites back a retort. "You get the point. You used to conspire against me but now… Now, I can be in the same room as you and not worry you're about to catalog every move I make into some Blair Waldorf dossier."

Serena's face turns amused. "Are you saying we're friends?"

"No," Blair says quickly. "Definitely not. But I don't think we're enemies anymore."

Serena seems to consider this and then nods. "I don't think so either." Then, with a hopeful tone, she asks. "Maybe someday we can be friends?"

The old Blair would have snappily rejected this notion but just like Serena, she's changed for the better too. So she smiles faintly and acquiesces. "Sure, someday."

She starts to go out the door but then turns back to Serena. "Next time you want advice, you don't have to feign a medical emergency."

Serena laughs following Blair toward the lobby area of the practice. "Alright. As long as we meet somewhere covert."

"Obviously," Blair agrees automatically. "We can meet at Rufus' B&B or something. He won't tell."

"Deal."

Blair checks her Dior watch and sees that there is still plenty of time to try out Rufus' latest breakfast concoction so she heads for the B&B. She texts Dan to let him know and muses over her conversation with Serena. Subconsciously, she's aware that she sort of hopes things work out between Serena and Nate. She doesn't know why though. It's not like she cares about Serena. But she does care about Nate and he hasn't ever seemed truly happy to Blair. Maybe a happy Nate is a Nate contently with Serena. Before trouble began brewing.

Blair opens the door to the B&B without knocking, Rufus would ignore it anyway and make her let herself in. Blair, family means always being welcome. It had sort of warmed her when he had said that. The thought that she was a part of the Humphrey's… But she didn't let it show.

"Hi," She says tentatively as she walks into the powdered sugar filled air. "Any French toast left?"

"Blair!" Rufus beams, standing up from the table. Dan gets up too, coming over to kiss her on the cheek. Even though they've been dating for over three months now the familiar gesture still fills her with delighted surprise, every now and then.

After the butterflies in her stomach have settled, she takes her seat next to Dan's and lets Rufus fill her plate with gridlocked French toast which has been generously coated with syrup (by Rufus, of course.) She adds a handful of strawberries to it, hoping that'll balance out the meal.

It won't.

"This is really good," Blair says, a little shocked that she means it. She expected it to be an abomination. "I am impressed as always, Rufus."

"See," Rufus grins. "I told you Blair would love it. I think I'll serve that to the next B&B guest."

"It's something they can mention in their TripAdvisor review. It'll set you apart from the other Rhode Island B&B's." Blair agrees.

"Stop boosting his ego," Dan stage whispers. "He's always talking about how the Humphrey B&B is the highest rated bed and breakfast in the New England area."

"Is it really?" Blair asks without a trace of sarcasm. As she predicted, Dan audibly groans and Rufus begins to pull out his phone to show Blair the page.

After the plates have been cleared up and Rufus and Jenny head to the kitchen to tackle the dishes, Blair informs Dan of this morning's events.

"I think I agreed to be friends with Serena van der Woodsen today." She says grimly.

Dan drops the napkins he was collecting from the table. "I think I misheard you."

"You didn't." Blair starts pushing chairs in as she recounts the morning's events. "She basically called me in just to get advice. Even more weirdly, I told her she could do it again. Well, not the pretending to be dying part but the advice part. I might be the one in need of an exam now, of the head."

Dan presses the back of his hand to her forehead. "Not feverish… I really think you might be. This does not sound like you at all."

"I blame you," Blair says at last. "You've made me go all soft."

"Yeah?" Dan looks amused.

"Yes." She shakes her head at him. "Now, I'm roped into coaching Serena's love life for the foreseeable future."

"Wait," Dan's brows furrow. "Love life? Who was she asking for advice about?"

Blair winces. "I can't tell you. I've already said too much. This alliance with Serena is already on treacherous ground so I shouldn't say. Even though I really want to... Let's just say, you'll probably find out on your own."

"Why?" Dan seems even more intrigued now. "Is it someone that gossip-worthy?"

"'Gossip worthy,'" Blair laughs. "You've been working too many shifts with Georgina. Speaking of, did you put in your two weeks yet?"

"I'm doing it tomorrow." Dan looks so excited that Blair leans over the table where he's brushing off crumbs to kiss him impulsively.

"I'm proud of you."

"I'm proud of you," He echoes with feeling. "You're on your way to becoming a Pearl."

"Ugh, no." She turns serious. "But you… You're on your way to becoming Pearl Island's first literary journal owner."

The fact that in two weeks time, Dan's days would be spent behind a desk rather than a bar still amazed him. He had spent years dreaming of owning his own literary journal, giving him the ability to publish indie works from locals. The arts scene was very small in Pearl Island despite their proximity to the very arty RISD.

He had been determined to change that.

It had always felt like it was such an unattainable dream though. But as soon as he had told Blair, a month into their relationship, she had whipped out her Tiffany & Co fountain pen and a Moleskine notebook to form a plan.

One month from that day and they had a name planned, a printer sourced, a few writer and artist submissions, and a launch date. He wanted to name Blair editor-at-large but she refused. Initially. He managed to wear her down because he couldn't refrain from giving her credit. Editor-at-large meant she could be as involved or uninvolved as she wanted. But that her name would be in print on every issue masthead.

For so long owning a literary journal had just been a pipe dream. But thanks to her, it was going to be a reality.

"I had an idea," Blair says the following morning over breakfast. "I know you hate all things social media but I think we should talk to Serena about forming a digital presence for Isle."

Dan considers Blair's suggestion. He supposes The Isle Independent should be digitally marketed as well considering publications were less stable in the current climate.

"Do you think she would run that portion?" He asks. "I still don't quite get what she does over there at her business. I'm convinced it's just a front for The Pearls to gossip while they get paid."

"Ask Nate," Blair suggests. "I heard Serena is the one that ran that whole campaign for the town. He'll be able to say whether her firm did an efficient job or not."

"Won't he be a little biased?" Dan is wary. "I mean I doubt he'd sell out Serena even if she were a fraud."

Blair takes her empty plate, cleared of its whole grain toast and fruit, and sets it in the sink. "Either way he can tell you if the town has seen an uptick in tourism."

"True." Dan follows her over to the sink and starts rinsing their mugs and plates. "I'll see him after work."

Blair turns to face him. "We have dinner with Dorota, remember?"

"Ah," Dan nods. "Then on my lunch break. I'll go over to the Mayor's office and chat with him then."

"Perfect," Blair says, pleased. "Dorota would never have forgiven you for missing her pierogis."

After waking up Monday morning, Serena pads over to her vanity, barefoot, to survey her reflection. Gone are the dark circles that plagued her undereyes ever since the break-up. Instead, her eyes are now traced with faint lines at the edges, from crinkling in happiness, and her mouth too is adorned with traces of a smile.

She should hate the new wrinkles.

But the cause of them makes her love them.

She shuts her eyes briefly and sees Nate's beaming face as she crosses the beach to reach him for their picnic. A blanket is laid out along with takeout containers from The Ivy Veranda. The Captain even sprang up from his perch by the shore to greet her with slobbery kisses that normally would have made her frown.

Nate gently took the basket of pastries from her and kissed her on the cheek. The current of the wind cut between them then, a gust of sand rising up with it. She just adjusted her sunglasses to keep the fine grains of beach from getting in her eyes and followed him over to the blanket.

Somehow, she found herself following Blair's advice the whole afternoon. She pretended like Nate was someone brand new (which she supposed he was) and asked him questions that she wouldn't have thought to before. Was he planning his campaign for the fall yet? Any word if of who the other mayoral candidates would be? Had he considered going into state government?

At first, Nate seemed amused by her questions but then his eyes began to spark with something like pleasure. She realized that for so long she had held him back by limiting their plans to just this town but he had dreams of rising up to higher levels of government service. With his ambition, it might be possible.

Part of her felt sad at the prospect of Nate eventually moving to the capitol if elected to a state position. But she tried not to let it show. Instead, she let the conversation flow back to the time in twelfth grade when they ran against each other for Student Body President. The campaign got so intense that rumors swirled they would break up. They didn't of course, but Serena and Nate still laughed at the memory of the heated debate in the auditorium in which they teamed up to make the sole other candidate, Penelope Shafai, drop out in tears.

Perhaps that was why Penelope was The Pearls' most passive-aggressive member.

"Do you think Penelope ever forgave you?" Nate asked, grinning mischievously. "You did publicly call her 'Daddy's Little Minion.'"

"Well her dad was practically running her campaign. It was high school, she didn't need to have her lawyer father come up with a twelve point plan for action if she were elected." Serena giggled. "But no, I don't think she ever did forgive me. Oh, well."

"How are the rest of the girls?" Nate inquired then.

"They're good, all gunning for Kati's job though. I think I might let Hazel come work at the firm as a junior marketing assistant."

"Hazel?" Nate's brow had quirked. "But she's your least favorite."

"I don't have a favorite-"Nate's face stopped her sentence.

"Fine, maybe I do." She admitted. "But Hazel did go to an Ivy League so I suppose she has the necessary education."

Serena felt a ripple of pleasure at the fact that Nate knew exactly which of the girls were her closest friends and which ones were merely obligatory friendships. No one knew her better, yet, still she tried to focus on the present rather than their past and the sun soon dropped toward the horizon line.

Serena steps away from the vanity now and goes to start her shower water. A pang of yearning hits her as she catches sight of the framed photo on her nightstand. It's the least couple-y photo of her and Nate, one that wasn't totally tragic to keep in her bedroom despite their disentanglement. An old group photo from eighth-grade summer camp. Nate's arm was around her and she was laughing into the sun. After she's tucked the photo back in her nightstand drawer she feels the past slip away a little. Grasping the present, she steps into the steam filled shower.

When Dan arrives at Dorota's house, Blair is already there and is unsuccessfully trying to dodge the crayons being flung at her by a giggling Emil. The last time this happened, Dan had to intervene and it seemed it would be necessary once more as Blair shrieks and ducks behind a chair.

Emil, clever for his age, climbs up onto the wooden chair as though it's a tree and throws the crayons down bouncing them off Blair's head like ping pong balls.

"I think that's enough harassment of your godmother for one day, Emil." Dan scoops Emil up easily and then wrenches the remaining crayons from his hands. "Where do you even get all these?"

Blair comes up from behind the chair and heaves a sigh of relief. "My savior." She smiles playfully and greets him with a sideways kiss, dodging the kicking legs of a squirming Emil who's still in Dan's waist.

"No more throwing crayons and then I'll put you down, deal?" Dan looks down at the wriggly toddler.

"Okay." Emil sighs and is placed on the ground by Dan. He scurries off to go watch TV with his baby sister.

Dan turns his attention to Blair. "Let's see the damage." He gestures for her to spin around in her cream-colored dress so he can survey the artwork left behind.

Blair grimaces as she does a three-sixty turn. " Is it bad?"

"Surprisingly, no," Dan says. "He only got one streak of yellow along the back but I'm sure the dry cleaner can get it out. So why was he tossing Crayolas at you?"

"Dorota said she forgot an ingredient for the dessert at the store and left me in charge. She and Vanya should be home any minute." Blair glances at the door hopefully. "How was your day? What did Nate say?"

They both take seats at the dining table and Dan fills Blair in on his conversation with Nate. Once he finishes Blair concludes, "So it sounds like Serena is indeed hireable. That's good news, I guess. Did he happen to hint at anything else?"

"Like what?"

"Oh," Blair pauses. "I don't know. Like if he's seen Serena lately and in which case, how was it?"

Dan surveys her skeptically. "Why? Do you know something?" Realization dawns on him. "Is this why she asked you to meet her on Sunday? To gain intel on Nate? Now that the project is finished I guess she can keep an eye on him herself. But she must be pretty desperate to ask her rival to do her dirty work."

Blair rolls her eyes. "You're quite the storyteller. But no. I mean, you're only half right. She did ask me to meet me Sunday for reasons pertaining to Nate it turned out, rather than medical ones. But it wasn't so I could spy. I can't say anything else, remember?"

"Was it because she had plans with him?" Dan guesses and quickly knows he's right by Blair's face. He hears the front door being unlocked and hurries to finish his line of thought before Dorota and Vanya serve dinner. "Ah hah, so that is it. Well, are they getting back together or something? Because if so, you and I might need to move-"

"Did someone say moving?" Dorota pops in from the front door, brandishing a bunch of flyers. "I have perfect idea."

With a flourish, she deposits about fifteen real estate brochures on the table in front of them and then heads off to the kitchen. Blair catches her by the back of her shirt and reels her to the dining table. "Dorota what the hell are these? Are you becoming a real estate agent or something? If you leave the practice then I'll riot-"

"Relax," Dorota says soothingly. "I never leave. Besides, would be a waste of my medical training. These for you. I hear Dan say you two need to move so-" She gestures in front on her.

Dan picks one up and sees that they're all advertising the same house. A storybook-looking three bedroom single story with baby blue paint and a dove grey front door. All the windows have freshly lacquered shutters and the house features an enormous garden in the front lawn. It is probably the sort of house Blair would love and much prefer to the beach cottage.

With a sinking feeling, he looks up to see if Blair's already fallen in love with it… He doesn't get his answer yet though because she's still peering at Dorota incredulously.

"You just so happened to have these on hand as Dan said something about moving? Which I didn't even get to finish hearing, why if Serena and Nate get back together would we have to move?" She turns to ask him.

Dorota interrupts. "Mayor Archibald and Serena get back together? Oh no."

"Because," Dan says. "Serena will start up on her renovating plans again. She wants to use the cottages for family members to stay in, remember?"

"Oh." Blair looks down and picks up a flyer too. After a few moments, she says, "This house does look nice. But Dorota, it's a little big for me. Although I suppose I could convert one of the bedrooms into a walk-in closet-"

"Master bedroom already has walk-in closet!" Dorota interrupts, excitedly. "Plus built-in shelves for Manolos, Jimmys, and all your handbags."

"Oh." Blair seems to consider this. "Well, I don't think I really need a house right now, Dorota. This is all purely speculation. Thank you though for the foresight, I will consider this."

Dan quietly breathes a sigh of relief. The idea of Blair moving further away on the island would have definitely discouraged him asking her to move into him. It would have felt like a sign not to.

As Blair stands to go pour the wine she brought, Dan feels a sharp nudge at his side. He looks up to see Dorota shooting him a sharp glance toward the flyers. He shoots back his own stare of confusion. "What?" He mouths.

She shakes her head and lightly swats him. "You supposed to encourage."

"Um," Dan frowns. "Why would I want Blair to move there when she's currently my neighbor? It's convenient."

Dorota taps the flyer meaningfully. "You and Blair move here. You closer to me and Emi and Ce."

"Oh." Dan says in recognition. Before he can say anything further Blair comes back in with a glass of wine for Dorota.

"Is it time to eat? I'll just clear these away." She starts scooping up the real estate ads and moves to throw them away.

"We could save one." Dan says lightly.

Blair gives him a quizzical glance before shrugging and handing him one. From over her shoulder, Dorota gives him a thumbs up. He shoots back a reluctant smile.

"Dinner! Dinner! Dinner!" Emil comes in wildly demanding his dinner and they all set to serving the pierogies before the crayons can be hurled again.

"All I'm saying S," Penelope sets down her martini. "Is that this is the chance for you to get out there and live it up. Why shackle yourself back to Nate when you can finally say yes to everything you've always denied yourself because you weren't single?"

Serena had caved and filled the girls in on the latest with Nate. From the picnic to their daily text exchanges, she needed advice on the murky waters she was treading with her ex. She couldn't hide the note of hope as she recounted it all.

Except, Penelope was not so sold that these were all signs of good things to come. Instead, she had been trying to convince Serena to join a dating app.

"Nate didn't 'shackle me down.'" Serena replies defensively and folds her arms over her chest. "Am I really missing out anyway? You always complain about how wretched being single is. So you can't honestly try to tell me now that it's all yellow brick roads and happily ever afters."

"Maybe it's not perfect but at least if I feel like making out with the stranger who buys me a drink at the bar I can."

Hazel chimes in. "I feel an urge to tell you, Serena, that the last stranger P made out with was hardly a catch. If I recall correctly, he had bit her tongue twice during said makeout and then informed her that it was a trick that made 'all the ladies go wild.' Didn't you say you tasted blood mixed with beer for days afterward, Penelope?"

Penelope wrinkles her nose in memory as she nods and Serena winces. "See, case in point. If there's a chance to get back together with Nate, I'll skip the oral injuries and take it."

Serena feels her phone buzz then and her heart skitters at the anticipation of seeing Nate's name across the screen.

The Captain misses you. Come with us on our beach walk tomorrow morning?

Grinning, she types back:

Sure :) Same time as usual?

Her friends are drowned out as Nate confirms. The satisfaction of another commitment with him is enough to rid her of any lingering worries they may have instilled with all their naysaying.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Blair can't help but ask in the middle of It Happened At Night after dinner at Dorota's. They're sitting on her couch watching the movie when the curiosity creeps in. Why did Dan want her to take the flyer? The niggling doubt was making her feel uneasy and in need of an explanation.

"What?" Dan looks at her incredulously, as though he hasn't the slightest clue to what she is referring. At her silence, he pauses the movie. "I thought you wanted to watch this. You said you love Clark Gable."

Blair finds herself rolling her eyes, "Stop playing dumb, Humphrey. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You and Dorota have apparently been scheming to move me out of here. I suppose if you were to dump me, you'd want to make sure I'd be further than the cottage next door."

Dan frowns then laughs. "Blair, what? I don't know how you come up with some of your ideas. Dorota wants you to move there, not me. It's pretty clear why too."

"Why?" Blair asks with an edge to her tone.

A breath escapes Dan, as though he's exhausted having to explain it. "Dorota wants us to move into that house. Together. I think she's picked up some of your scheming skills over the years, that was clearly premeditated coercion."

Thinking this over, Blair finds that Dan's answer is clearly the most logical explanation for the odd real estate incident that happened tonight. "You think so?"

Dan nods. "Definitely."

He flips over the remote in his palm a few more times before looking up at Blair with a hesitant expression. "Do you think she's crazy for suggesting it?"

Blair considers how to answer his question. His face is unreadable enough that she doesn't know how he wants her to answer. "I don't know, do you?"

He chuckles, "I should have known you'd flip the question on me. But no, I don't think so. I think it's actually a good idea."

"Really?" Blair asks tentatively.

"In fact," He scoots closer, letting a hand trail over her knee. "I've been thinking of asking you if you'd want to move in together. But every time, I almost did I thought about how impossible it would be to combine all our belongings into either of our cottages. And I know moving to a second house in this town might be more permanent than you would want…"

Blair studies him. "You really thought that? You know I'm not going anywhere right? And if it takes moving in a few doors down from my hellion of a godchild to prove it, I will. I just ask that we never ever keep crayons, colored pencil, or any other sharp-pointed object he can throw at me."

"I think I can agree to that." Dan smiles broadly at her and then asks, "So, glad I saved that flyer now?"

"Yes. But I'm fairly certain if you hadn't, Dorota probably would have just had a few mailed directly to us." Blair says knowingly. "I say, we don't tell her we're moving in. I'll have the movers bring our stuff in covertly and then one day, we'll wave at her from across the street. It'll serve her right for using my own tricks against me."

With a laugh, Dan presses play on the movie and lets Blair sink back into his arms. A contented smile crosses her lips as she settles against them and thinks of the move to come.

A breeze sweeps over Serena and Nate as they watch The Captain run toward the shore. His paws leave prints along the glistening sand as he treads closer and closer to the crashing waves.

"Should we chase after him?" Serena asks once he's shrunk into little more than a speck on the horizon.

Nate shakes his head, "He'll run away from the water as soon as the first wave crashes onto shore. He's missed you too much anyway to stay away for long."

Serena laughs, "We both know he always preferred you to me. I bet he's been thrilled to have you all to himself these past months."

She feels a prickle of unease at her own words, realizing she's just accidentally broached the topic they never speak of. Since starting their friendship, they both refrained from talking of their past. The past, sure. Like old memories or shared acquaintances. But never anything that might bring up the painful memory of what once was between them.

Her breath catches as she waits for Nate to speak. She wonders if he'll brush off her comment and pretend it didn't just make him jump a little too.

"I doubt that," Nate says, at last, his hands in his pockets. Serena keeps her gaze fixed on The Captain running around in circles up ahead, too afraid to meet Nate's eyes. "I can say from experience that not having you around is not something to be thrilled about."

Serena is so caught off guard, she can't speak. Instead, her heart seems lodged in her throat as she unsuccessfully attempts to say something, anything.

Nate seems to misconstrue her silence as a sign of agitation. "Sorry," He begins. "I shouldn't have said that. I just- I miss you, Serena. It's hard to pretend I don't."

"I miss you too," Serena confesses quietly. "I miss you so much when we're not together. I always have."

Nate stops in his tracks where he walked a few paces ahead of her and turns to face her. She has no choice but to meet his sober gaze. "You have?"

Nodding quietly, Serena lets the wind rip through her hair. "When you went away after college, it was the worst time in my life. I realized that without you, I had nothing. Everything I had planned for the future involved you. You had your own ambitions, I held you back I know that now, but it wasn't because I didn't want you to succeed. I just didn't want you to succeed without me. I know that's not an excuse but I am so sorry for not encouraging you more to pursue your political career. I know you can do much bigger things than being mayor of this small town."

Serena feels a weight leave her chest as she lets out the apology she's been avoiding giving ever since she and Nate became cordial again. Realizing she has more to say, she continues. "I'm sorry too for how I treated Blair. It wasn't fair to her or to you. You just were trying to help out someone new, doing your mayoral duty, and I stood in the way of that. I just thought Blair would be a reminder of all the big city dreams you could pursue if I wasn't in the way. I guess I thought by keeping you apart you wouldn't realize how much better off you'd be without me. But, I'm happy for you now and I'm so glad we're friends."

Nate's face is awash with emotions Serena can't quite read except. Just when she thinks he's about to explain what he's thinking, his impending sentence is broken by the sudden swiftness of The Captain jumping up on him, trying to get them to follow him further down the beach. Nate grabs the leash, exhaling loudly, and then lets the dog pull him along.

Serena trails behind, trying to fight a wave of tears. Through all her blind hope, she had been dimly aware that all these picnics and beach walks might ever amount to would be friendship. She had tried to tell herself she'd be fine without that, just having Nate in her life was enough. But saying it aloud made her realize that it would never be true.

Nate releases the leash once more as the happy golden retriever walks at a steady pace ahead. Serena feels him watching her and blinks away any tears threatening to fall.

"I'm not better off without you, you know that right?" Nate asks suddenly. "You're the one that pushed me to even run for mayor. Believe it or not, it all started in high school with that Student Body President campaign. I didn't realize until then that government might be something I'd be interested in. I think you caught onto it too, didn't you? That's why at the final debate you said you thought students should be given more tests?"

"I don't remember." Serena lies.

"Yes, you do." Nate disagrees. Her eyes are still on the stretch of beach so she misses the sight of his hand moving toward hers. Her skin comes alive as he grasps her hand tightly with swiftness and meaning in his touch. "You've never held me back. You've done the opposite. It just took breaking up for me to realize it."

Continuing, he says, "I know I hurt you when I called off the wedding and I'll always be sorry for that. You have no idea how much I regret being so hasty. I wish I would have just talked things through with you, instead of ending them. But I can't change what I did, so I have to ask, do you think you could ever forgive me?"

"I already have," Serena admits. "You did the right thing anyway. That wedding was an ill-advised last ditch effort to save our failing relationship. I think we both knew that."

The words wrench her heart to say and they seem to affect Nate too. He drops her hand suddenly, reaching forward to catch The Captain's leash. Serena watches, fearing it's a reproach.

They walk in silence for a while before Nate asks, "So to be clear, you think it was all for the best?"

He sounds guarded and Serena wishes she could go back to that moment his hand was in hers and the bridge between them seemed about to be repaired. She thinks of how to get them back to that place and goes for total honesty.

"My heart was so broken when we broke up that I never thought I'd say it was all for the best. But time went on and I started to realize that we needed something to change between us. I much would have rather we talked through our problems but that isn't what happened. With that said, I'm glad you didn't marry me and come to regret so in that sense, yes. I think it was for the best that you called it off. But that doesn't mean I don't wish we could have had a different ending… Or stop me from hoping that someday, we will."

Nate stops walking to look at her. She feels so vulnerable having laid it all out, that she wants to shut her eyes for a reprieve from this bare moment. But she forces her eyes to stay open as she stares at him with fresh hope in her eyes.

The romantic in her wants to think that hope is reflected in Nate's eyes but she can't be sure.

"Serena," He reaches out and trails a hand down her goosebump covered arm. Looking up at her, he says, "I want that too. I want so badly to stop pretending to be your friend, it's so hard not to touch you every second I'm with you. I was so convinced that you and I could be just that. Just friends. But I don't want that to be our ending. I want more with you, I don't care if we'll break up again and again. Even if we end up right back here in five years, it'll be worth it to have kissed you again, to have held you again, to have told you I love you, that I still love you-"

Serena's lips crash into him, overcome with relief. As she tangles her hands in his windswept hair, she lets the dizzying sensation of happiness pierce her heart. Because Nate still loves her. Which means, he never stopped.

She was never alone in her heartbreak.

That gives her the courage to pull apart, taking in his amazed face, and say it. "I never stopped loving you. I'll always love you, Natie."

Nate smiles his dazzling smile at her, the one that made her fall thoroughly at the precocious age of six.

As she starts to kiss him again, she's nearly knocked over by The Captain clearly jealous of the attention. Nate quickly catches her by the waist, righting her before shooing him off. With that, he pulls her back in and presses a grin to her lips.

Even the almighty sound of the crashing waves is drowned out as Serena lets happiness swallow her whole.

End... Sort of.

I still plan to write an epilogue, I know what I want to put in it but am not sure when I'll have a chance to write it. But hopefully soon!

Thank you all so much for reading this immensely long story. I definitely never expected it to spiral into over 150,000 words but I'm grateful you all encouraged me to write this length of a story.

PS Strangers in Las Vegas is just going through edits on the final chapters so it will be updated again soon :)