So sorry it's taken me a bit of time to update. I've been a bit consumed with the end of the show - the Chuck and Blair wedding (!), little Henry (adorable), the reveal of Dan as GG (really? everyone's okay with it?), and the complete lack of Serenate in the finale (why oh why?!) – as well as real-life (you know, husband, toddler, and job).

Anyways, here's the continuation of my story. I hope everyone enjoys it. This chapter is a bit different from the rest. It's a little Serena-lite (and I don't mean Lola – haha!), and it's told from Blair's memory.

Chapter 5: Secrets

June 24th, 2021

"I can't believe that you never told me about that," an exasperated Blair proclaimed, a little disappointed that she had missed out on this piece of gossip for so long. "But still, that was over six years ago. We've all moved on."

"Except Ellen," Serena quickly corrected her. "To her, its just one of the many things I've done in my life to wrong her." She then rolled her eyes when she continued to think about Ellen's issues and all that she's done since that night.

Blair just shook her head from side-to-side in disbelief as the hostess opened the door to the café for them.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Bass," she eagerly greeted Blair, hoping that the result would be a nice tip for her congeniality. "Table for two or will your husband also be joining you?"

"Just two. Thank you," Blair answered.

The hostess then led Blair and Serena past the dessert display, which definitely caught Blair's attention, to a tiny table in the corner near the window. She handed the ladies their menus and left the two besties to continue their conversation.

"I can't believe that nutjob is still complaining about all the things you've done to her - none of which are actually your fault might I add! She needs to take a long look in the mirror."

"I've given up even trying when it comes to her." Serena then put down her menu and leaned back in her chair. "Don't get me wrong, she infuriates me. But I'm resigned to the fact that she's never going to let it go. And I just want Nate to be happy. If I start a war with Ellen, it will just upset him."

"I can't believe that Nate is okay with her," huffed Blair. "God, I still remember the first time Nate told me about some of her craziness. We were having dinner at our place for Nate's birthday back in 2015!"

Blair then continued recounting the events of that day, nearly six years earlier.

XOXOXOXOXO

March 29th, 2015

Blair was sitting on the floor in Victor's nursery laughing as she watched Chuck play 'airplane' with their 5-month old son. Her baby boy's smile lit up the room and filled his parents' hearts with so much love. Both Chuck and Blair worked during the week, so they employed a nanny to help take care of Victor. But they vowed that Sunday was family day. Just the three of them. No office, no work, no nanny.

That's how at 4pm on this particular Sunday afternoon, Nate found Blair and Chuck closed off from the outside world in their son's luxurious nursery. For a couple of minutes he watched the Bass family as they enjoyed this precious time together. Then, when he felt as if he had spied on them for long enough, he knocked gently on the door to let them know that he was there.

Immediately, Blair and Chuck turned to the door, both surprised by the interruption.

"Nathaniel," Chuck said as he gestured for his best friend to enter their sanctuary as he held Victor in his lap.

"I hope you don't mind, but I told Alan that it would be okay for me to come upstairs unannounced."

"Not at all," Chuck replied as he handed the baby to Blair and stood to greet his friend properly. "What brings you by?"

Blair then jumped into the conversation. "Yeah, why are you here so early? Dinner isn't going to be ready until 6:30pm."

"Well, it's about dinner actually," Nate said nervously, because he knew that messing with Blair Bass's plans was never a good thing.

"Don't tell me you and your lovely fiancée are cancelling on us," Blair huffed, with a heavy dose of sarcasm placed on the word 'lovely'. She then hugged Victor to her chest, "We've even arranged for Shawn to be here in an hour to take care of Victor for the evening."

"No, no, no," Nate exclaimed as he held both hands up. "I'm not cancelling on dinner. In fact, I was wondering if, per chance, you wouldn't mind if I joined the two of you, well the three of you, for dinner for the rest of week. Maybe longer."

"You need a place to crash?" inquired a slightly concerned Chuck. He knew Nate didn't want to join them for just a meal, which meant something else was happening with him.

"Yeah, I kind of do."

"No problem. Of course you can stay with us Nathaniel," Chuck reassured his friend. "I'll get Alan to make sure your usual room is ready for you."

Blair, however, took a slightly less tender approach.

"Okay Archibald, spill," she demanded.

"Blair," Chuck drawled as he gave his wife that look. The one that told her to calm down and play nice. "Why don't we let Nate get his things and settle into his room before we interrogate him?"

"Nah, its fine man," Nate remarked. He knew that Blair would be full of questions, so he was prepared for this. Pretending like it was no big deal, Nate then said, "Ellen and I split up."

"WHAT?!" Blair screeched as she stood with Victor in her arms.

"I know that puts a kink into your dinner plans. Sorry about that, but it will only be the three of us tonight," a very nonchalant Nate apologized before turning back to Chuck. "I think that Alan may have already put my things into my normal room, since he took my suitcases in that direction when I arrived."

Nate knew he would have to tell them the truth. They were his best friends and he knew they would be understanding, support him no matter what. But he also needed a little longer to digest everything, to find the words to explain what had happened between him and Ellen. So he was going to act like he was okay until he was ready to talk.

"I guess he knows you're part of the family," Chuck joked as he patted his buddy on the back and signaled for the two of them to leave the room. The two gentlemen started walking down the hallway, leaving Blair in the nursery with baby Victor but knowing that she would be only steps behind them.

"Not so fast, you two!" Blair yelled as loudly as she could without upsetting her son. She then followed the men out of the room with Victor on her hip, "I want details Nate! And I will not be denied!"

XOXOXOXOXO

A few hours later, the three best friends were sitting comfortably on the sofas in the living room. That was after Nate had had a nap, shower, and a little time by himself. After Blair and Chuck spent another hour with their boy before relinquishing him to his nanny Shawn and dressing themselves for dinner. After enjoying the exquisite five-course meal that the Basses' chef had prepared in honor of Nate's 24th birthday.

Now, as they sat there with their drinks in hand (Scotch for the gents and a cup of Chamomile tea for Blair), Nate felt relaxed and completely at ease. He knew it was time to talk.

"So, I'm sure you are both wondering what happened," he started and he took a swig of his Scotch.

Blair instantly jumped at the opening, straightening her back in fervor. She then felt Chuck's hand come to rest on her knee and he gave it a little squeeze. Blair took that as a sign that her husband wanted to take the lead on this, they were a team after all. Earlier on, Chuck had firmly, but politely, requested that she let Nate be and to not push him about what had transpired between himself and Ellen.

"Only if you want to tell us," was Chuck's reply. He felt, rather than saw, Blair's shocked reaction to his words so he slowly moved his hand up and he began massaging Blair's thigh to restrain her.

"I don't know," pondered Nate. "Part of me thinks it's for the best if I keep this private, but at the same time I really want to talk to you guys about this. Make sure I haven't made a huge mistake."

While Nate spoke, Blair was finding it harder and harder to keep quiet. She grasped Chuck's hand tightly to let him know her frustration and that she was about to burst if she didn't speak soon. Chuck knew that she wouldn't be able to contain her innerBlair much longer, so he returned the grasp, rubbed her thigh once more, and then removed his hand from her leg and draped it around her shoulders. This all but told Blair 'Go ahead, your turn'.

"Nate," Blair exhaled. "You know you can tell Chuck and I anything. You can trust us not to say a word. To anyone."

"You're right Blair," Nate conceded.

"Of course I am." Blair had to hide the huge smile that was tempted to spread across her face at getting her way. Chuck continued to caress her shoulder as a reminder that she should not look happy about this, but Blair pressed on. "So, what happened?"

"Well, I guess you could say that I've been having doubts for a while now."

Blair uncrossed her legs and recrossed them to get more comfortable while still looking at Nate. Then she asked, "How long is a while?"

Nate put down his Scotch and began playing with his hands, avoiding eye contact with Blair as he spoke, "Since my birthday party last year."

"Nate!" squawked Blair, shocked to just be hearing now that her friend was having doubts about his future marriage. "That's an entire year. And only a day after you had gotten engaged."

Upon hearing Nate's admission, Chuck removed his arm from around Blair and leaned forward placing his elbows on his knees. He had a feeling something was going on inside of Nate's head since they all visited Serena in LA and now he knew he was right.

"Nathaniel, does this have anything to do with Serena and her surprise visit to your birthday party?"

"Yeah, it kinda does," and Nate covered his face with his hands as he fell back into the cushions of the plush sofa.

"Oh my God!" bellowed Blair. "Did you two hook up? Is that why she took off so quickly?" At this, all Chuck could do was shake his head from side-to-side in disbelief at his wife and her mouth sometimes.

"What?! NO!" A riled Nate quickly shot up and countered, "I can't believe you would think that Blair. Of me or of Serena. Don't you know us better than that?"

"Of course I know you two and I know your history." At seeing Nate's appalled expression, Blair apologized. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Still, how does Serena factor into this?"

"Well, I was pretty drunk at the time, so I'm not sure if she really said it or if it was just something I imagined because its what I wanted to hear. Regardless, it was enough to put the seedlings of doubt into my mind."

"But Nate, you continued with the engagement for a whole year. You were supposed to be getting married three months from now."

"I know Blair, you don't need to remind me," hissed Nate. He knew Blair had a point, but these were his friends, they were supposed to support him, not question him.

Chuck, seeing his friend getting upset, decided to take a more cautious approach and try smooth the waters.

"Hey, no one is mad at you here. I think Blair is just trying to comprehend why you went ahead with all the wedding plans if you weren't sure. Or maybe she is trying to understand why you didn't think you could come to us sooner."

"Honestly, you two aren't always the easiest people to talk to about this kind of stuff. You are lucky enough to have found your perfect match and your relationship is pretty much that, perfect." As Nate said this Blair leaned her body into Chuck's and she felt him kiss the crown of her head. "I don't think most marriages are like yours. I think what you have is really rare."

Then Nate admitted the truth, "And I figured that the doubts I was having were natural. Something that everyone feels when they think about getting married and the rest of their life."

Blair's heart went out to her dear friend, so she leaned forward and clasped his hand in hers. She wanted to extend her support to Nate, and the gesture was also her way of apology for her harsh words earlier.

"So what happened to change things now? Why after all this time to you decide to break things off with Ellen?"

"Well, things were going great between us, or at least I thought they were, until our engagement party. That's when I found out that she went behind my back and didn't invite Serena to the party even though she was one of the top people on my list. And the argument between the three of us brought out a side of Ellen that I hadn't seen before."

"Yeah, not an evening any of us can easily forget," Chuck chortled at the memory and Blair playfully slapped his arm at his lack of tact. Chuck pulled back and faked pain in response to Blair's actions. This garnered a real laugh out of Nate for the first time since their conversation had started.

"Sorry, Nate. My husband is hard to control sometimes." Chuck just rolled his eyes at his wife's dramatics.

"Are you kidding? Seeing you two like this makes me believe I made the right decision. I can't remember the last time I was that comfortable with Ellen. Ever since that party Ellen's been a different person."

"In her defense, she has been planning a wedding. That's no easy feat." Blair added.

"I know, but it's more than that." Nate then stood up and began pacing back and forth. Chuck knew this meant his friend was really bothered by something. That he had something big to reveal and he was trying to figure out how to best do it.

"You guys know that Dan's tell-all book about our lives is finally going to be published, right?"

All four of them knew about Dan's book. When Dan finalized the book deal, he did the honorable thing and told Nate, Blair, Chuck, and Serena about it ahead of time. In the past few years, they had all managed to achieve a functioning 'friendship'. Maybe they wouldn't be the best of friends, but Serena, Dan, Chuck, and Blair were all family now so they learned to co-exist.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Blair grumbled while Chuck just smirked. "Our lawyers have been in contact with the publishers so we've seen an advanced copy. We were going to sue them for invasion of privacy, libel, and defamation of character, but instead we just made him remove some of the passages that we deemed were too scandalous for the public consumption."

"It turns out that Ellen is the reason Dan's book is getting published at all."

"Okay, start over and tell us everything," insisted Blair, who was now visibly aggravated. The subject of Dan's book did that to her.

"Last month Ellen and I were out to dinner when we saw Scarlett Young. You might remember her Blair, she was an old sorority sister of Ellen's from Columbia." Blair shook her head in recognition because she remembered Scarlett from her attempts to get into Hamilton House. Nate then continued, "Anyways, Scarlett came over to our table and was flooding Ellen with gratitude for telling her about Dan's book and sending her his contact information. Turns out that Scarlett works at the publishing company which is going to put Dan's out."

"So you're telling me that we have Ellen to thank for all of this?" Chuck chimed in. The only aspects of Dan's book that bothered him were the negative images it gave of Blair. He knew that a lot of his early business was fueled by his bad boy image, but Blair's public life was different and she wanted to keep it that way. Of course, Chuck just wanted to see Blair happy, so he put their lawyers on the case.

"Yeah, what exactly does she gain from it being published?" raised Blair. Then she pointed out, "It's not like Dan paints you in the best light."

"I wondered the same exact thing. When I asked her she said that she was trying to help a friend of mine. She told me that she and Dan talked about it at the engagement party."

"So, the same night that she flipped out about you and Serena?" Blair argued. She was starting to connect the dots.

"Well," Chuck interjected. "I've read Dan's novel and Serena does not come across as an angel in it, to put it kindly. So if Ellen was trying to take aim at Serena, this is one way to go about it."

"I guess that could be part of her reason. I don't really know what to think about her anymore. I'd like to think that Ellen is a good person who was helping a friend, but..."

"But what Nate?" Blair snapped.

"I was willing to let that go because I believed what she told me, but recent events are making me question everything about her, especially her honesty."

"Are you telling me there's more?"

"Don't worry, it doesn't affect you guys at all," Nate reassured both Blair and Chuck and he sat back down. However his friends were still visibly worried and he appreciated the sentiment – he knew Chuck and Blair would always have his back.

"But," Nate snorted, "maybe this all does come back to Serena? I can't believe I've been so stupid."

"Nathaniel, we can't read minds so you have to give us more than that." Usually Chuck just let things roll, but if Ellen really did have it out for his sister, he wanted to know.

"It all started this past Friday. You know, my birthday." Both Blair and Chuck nodded indicating that they were following his story. "Well, Serena usually texts or emails me 'Happy Birthday' at midnight, but when I woke up there was nothing. I figured that she was busy with school because this was her last semester and she just forgot. But in between classes I got a text from her with a picture of her new puppy in which she said she meant to send it through with her earlier email."

"So Ellen deleted Serena's email before you could see it?" Blair pondered out loud, jumping to conclusions.

"Yes, but I didn't know that then. I just thought there was some glitch with my email."

Nate knew he was about to confess to doing something that he had not told a soul. Not Ellen. Not even Chuck. It was something private, something that was unsure about until this morning. And he knew that once he made his confession, there would be no going back. At least not as far as Blair is concerned. She would never let him live this down.

"So Ellen has a bit of jealous streak," Chuck tried to introduce reason into the conversation. He sensed there was more to it. "I highly doubt you broke off your engagement because of that."

"Not exactly. So I'm about to tell you guys something but you have to promise to keep it to yourselves. No one else can know. Especially Serena."

"Why?" Blair questioned Nate. "I tell Serena everything."

"Oh really?" Chuck raised an eyebrow at his wife as his attention was peaked.

As Blair turned to look at Chuck in disgust and she swatted his arm. Nate couldn't help but laugh at his friends antics again.

"Ugh, you are insufferable sometimes," and Blair rolled her eyes at her smirking husband. Then she turned her attention back to Nate because she really wanted to hear the rest of what he had to say, particularly now that Serena was involved. "We promise not to say a word to Serena, as long as you promise that she won't get hurt."

"I can promise you that this won't hurt Serena."

"Good. Now please continue," Blair ordered Nate as if he was a minion.

"Okay," and Nate took a deep breath. Here goes nothing he thought. "I've been thinking about transferring to another school and in December I submitted my application."

Nate braced himself for the onset questions he expected to come. Instead, he was met with confused looks.

"I don't get it Nate," Blair was trying to understand why Nate would want to transfer. "You're going to Columbia. That's one of the best law schools in the country. Where else could you possibly want to go? And please don't say NYU – eww."

All of a sudden, everything just clicked for Chuck. A huge smile spread across Chuck's face and he blurted out, "UCLA."

"Huh?" Blair uttered, and she looked between Chuck and Nate with a classic Natefused look on her face.

Chuck wasn't listening to Blair, he leaned back on the sofa, clasped his hands behind his head, and just continued talking to Nate. "Now it all makes sense. Why you wanted to visit the UCLA campus when we were out in LA."

"Yeah. I didn't want to say anything because I wasn't sure."

"Wait a second," Blair held up her hands to pause the conversation so she could catch up. First she turned to Chuck, "I can't believe you knew about this and never said a word to me." Then she whipped her head to face Nate, "And you, why the hell would you want to transfer to UCLA?"

"Really, Blair," Nate deadpanned. He couldn't believe that Blair Bass hadn't put all the pieces together.

When it all finally dawned on Blair, she shrieked, "OH MY GOD! Serena!"

"Finally," Chuck playfully sighed and he mockingly patted her on the head.

Blair started bouncing in her spot on the sofa and clapped her hands together a few times.

"This is the best news! I always thought you two would be perfect together."

"Slow down there Blair," Nate cautioned her. "Serena and I are just friends."

But the look on Nate's face as he said 'friends' gave it all away to Chuck and Blair. Other people may not catch on, but Chuck and Blair are not other people and they do not miss a beat.

"Uh huh, sure. Whatever you say," teased Blair. She was still shining with the prospect of her two best friends together. But then she came back to the present and she had more questions for Nate. "Uhm, Nate?"

"Yeah?"

"If you have any feelings at all for Serena, I completely understand why you would call off your engagement. But what happened on Friday to make you do it now instead of a while ago? You said you sent in your application in December?"

"HaHa," Nate chuckled. "I guess I never finished because we got distracted. Well, I thought there was something wrong with my email because I never got Serena's message and I started to wonder if that is why I hadn't heard anything from UCLA. Like maybe there was a glitch with my emails coming from LA."

"Oh, Nathaniel," and Chuck just shook his head from side-to-side. Sometimes Nate could be so dense. "Email doesn't work that way."

"Thanks, Chuck. I know that," and Nate just rolled his eyes at his friend. "Anyways, I decided to contact the Admissions office at UCLA about the status of my application. Turns out I had sent them a nice message declining my acceptance."

"What?!" an incensed Blair spouted.

"I know!" agreed Nate. "That's exactly what I said. Here – I'll show you. They sent it back to me."

Nate then pulled out his phone and scrolled through his emails to show Blair and Chuck the message. Blair grabbed his phone so she could read the entire message. Her jaw dropped as she read it.

"Why would someone do this? Who had access to your email account?" Blair grilled Nate and look for Chuck for his expert opinion. He just shrugged his shoulders because he didn't know, even though he had a clue.

"I immediately thought it was Grandfather because he's never wanted me to go to California," Nate revealed. "And since Ellen and I were staying at the Vanderbilt compound for the weekend, I confronted him about it after dinner on Friday night. He had no idea what I was talking about. It wasn't until yesterday morning that I figured it out."

Both Blair and Chuck had their full attention focused on Nate at the moment. Nate leaned forward, with his weight on his knees and continued, "When I walked back into my room after my shower I caught Ellen going through my messages on my phone. That's when I realized that she must have done it."

"Bitch," Blair murmured just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Yeah," Nate agreed. "As you can imagine, it led to a giant fight. Ellen went absolutely crazy - she made 'Engagement Party Ellen' look sweet. I realized there was no way in hell I could marry her, so I ended it."

Nate stood up again and resumed his pacing.

"She left yesterday afternoon and I haven't seen her since. I only went by the apartment this afternoon when the doorman confirmed that she wasn't there. Of course she's been bombarding me with texts and calls, but I refuse to talk to her. It's over."

Chuck let out a low whistle and Blair released a barely audible "Wow".

Nate then all of sudden plopped down on the sofa. But he didn't sit. He laid down instead.

"So tell me what you really think? I did the right thing, didn't I?" Nate rolled his head to the side and looked to his best friends for reassurance.

"Absolutely," Blair confidently said. "I can't get over all the sneaky, underhanded things Ellen has done. You definitely shouldn't marry her."

"I agree with Blair," added Chuck as he got up to refill both his and Nate's glasses. "And not just because of what Ellen has done. But because you were having doubts independent of knowing all that. A marriage can never work if you have doubts, especially if you are still in love with someone else. Just look how well Blair's marriage to the frog worked out."

Chuck raised his glass to Blair in mock congratulations while she simply shook her head in fake annoyance. She was already plotting her revenge for later that night.

"Thanks guys. My family wasn't very thrilled when I told them. They like Ellen but they really loved the idea that I was marrying into another 'old money' family."

"So," Chuck decided to turn the conversation back to an earlier topic. "What about UCLA?"

"Ooooh, yes!" and Blair clapped her hands together loudly. "Not that I want you to move, but if it means you and Serena will be together, I'm all for it."

"Blairrr," Chuck muttered as he tried to rein his wife in. He knew this was her dream - Serena and Nate were her OTP - but he also knew this was a delicate matter. Especially since none of them knew how Serena truly felt about Nate. Not even Blair.

"You promised you wouldn't say a word!" asserted Nate in a strong voice and Blair pretended to zip her lips shut. "As for your question Chuck, I woke up this morning and decided I'm going. I'll move to Los Angeles after my summer internship."

"This is sooo exciting," Blair couldn't contain her excitement.

"You know, I'm pretty excited too." The relief and enthusiasm was written all over Nate's face. "Now I just have to figure out how I am going to woo Serena."

Nate immediately saw Blair's mind start churning, so he had to shut her down. "No Blair, I do not need any help. Thank you very much." With a pout, she folded her arms across her chest like a child.

Chuck decided it was time to shift the topic of conversation again. "Have you thought about where you'll live in Los Angeles? Because I've got a yacht docked there that could be a very nice birthday gift."

XOXOXOXOXO

While all this was going down in New York with Nate and Ellen, Serena had decided to make some tiny changes to her life in Los Angeles. On the Monday of that week, she allowed herself to have a little pity party when she received her formal invitation to Nate's wedding in the mail. The same day her mother told her that Dan and Liz had finally gotten engaged over the weekend. That night, Blair had sent through a photo of Victor laying on Chuck's chest, both of them sleeping on the couch. On Tuesday she skyped with Eric and got all the details about his new boyfriend who was a fellow medical student at Cornell. He even told her that Jenny was apparently dating some up-and-coming rockstar. It dawned on Serena that she was lonely and she missed her friends and family.

In an effort to cheer herself up, she decided to get a puppy. Serena named the cute, fluffy ball of fur Penny and she immediately thought that she needed to send Nate a picture. So at midnight on Nate's 24th birthday Serena snapped a picture of herself and Penny together with the purpose of emailing it to Nate. However, when she finished writing her email (it was much longer than she had planned) she hit send before attaching the photo. It wasn't until the following morning that she realized her mistake, so she texted it to him instead.

The next week Serena was bogged down with classes so she avoided Blair's phone calls with every intention that she would call her on the weekend. Hence, Serena was shocked when she read on the cover of a gossip mag in the checkout at the grocery. It was about the break-up of the 'Vanderbilt heir' and the 'Tate family sweetheart' because he was having a secret affair with his ex-girlfriend, the former princess of Monaco and the current wife of billionaire Chuck Bass. There were even photos of Nate and Blair embracing, Nate and Ellen in an apparent argument, Chuck shouting angrily at his phone, and Nate through the window of the Basses' townhouse in his boxers and t-shirt. Without a second thought, Serena left her groceries in the basket and walked out of the store while hitting Blair's number on her phone.

XOXOXOXOXO

June 24th, 2021

"Oh my God, did Nate really say he was going to 'woo' me?" Serena couldn't contain the childish giggle that erupted from her as she spoke, thinking of Nate telling Chuck and Blair that he was going to woo her.

"Serena, I couldn't make that up if I tried." Blair started chuckling right along with her best friend because while it was really sweet, it was also pretty funny. That, and Serena's laugh was infectious.

"Ahh," Serena snorted. "You've just got to love the things that Nate comes up with sometimes."

"No, I don't," Blair challenged. "But you do. You're the one who's married to him."

And all Serena could do was smile because it was truth. She was Mrs. Nathaniel Archibald.

A/N: So, Serena and Nate are married and Nellen is officially over. Are you all as upset about the demise of that relationship as I am? I hope you aren't too disappointed and stop reading. HeHe.

Many thanks to those of you who reviewed: sydcasy, Danneis, annabelle12, RauhlPrincess, JuhAlves, SNlove, scarlett2u, SnowedUnderNJ, ita, ericaalynn, BikerChick101, DeDe, and Lily, as well as those who favorited and followed. You keep encouraging me to write more!