Who: Serena, Chuck, Blair, Nate and Katherine What: The Gossip Girl gang gets stuck at Katherine's When: Sunday, first day of Storm of the Century Where: The woods and then Katherine's brothel Warnings: Will update as necessary
Chuck had been insistent that the four of them go out into the woods together. Serena was reluctant. She hardly ever left the prison. In fact, the last time she had left had been under duress. She had walked voluntarily out hand in hand with Kol but only because she knew if she put up a fight he would make her regret it. Kol had been surprisingly gentlemanly during their time together but she wasn't looking for a repeat. The time before that had been with Damon to rescue Nate and Pam had peeled her away from the tree she was clinging to and carried her off. Since there seemed to be a running theme here, Serena wasn't looking forward to going out. Especially when she had her engagement party to be getting ready for. There were outfits and shoes that needed to be picked out.
But Chuck had insisted that he had some surprise to show her and Nate. Out of the four of them, Nate was most capable of defending himself and he seemed open to the proposal of heading out into the woods. Chuck had also reassured Serena that one of Katherine's vampires, some guy named Ignacio, would escort them wherever they went. That did little to soothe Serena's worries but since everyone else seemed okay with the idea she had reluctantly agreed.
She borrowed a pair of her roommates boots and hoped that either Claire wouldn't notice or that she wouldn't care. The girls were roughly the same size, Claire was just a couple inches shorter than Serena. The perky blonde had already offered her clothing and shoe supply to Claire anytime she wanted to borrow anything. She wasn't sure if the serious brunette would ever take her up on but it they were roommates and Serena wanted to share the same closeness with Claire as she had with her former roommate, Gigi. The only problem with that was Claire was nothing like Gigi. Gigi and Serena used to stay up well into the night giggling and talking about guys and shoes. Claire wasn't really into that so Serena grappled to find some common ground between the two of them. But she was pretty sure her serious roommate thought she was just some fluffy silly blonde.
Serena had other things to worry about as she bundled up for the cold. She hated the fact that Chuck had gotten chummy with Katherine. She knew her stepbrother could take care of himself. Chuck was made of something tougher than Serena and Nate were. He and Blair both had a resilience that ensured that they bounced back from every tragedy bigger and badder than ever. Chuck had promised that besides Ignacio that they wouldn't be seeing any other vampires. Serena understood compulsion on a very basic level. She knew that Damon had made Nate happy again. It was like he had lifted the hate from his heart. But she was still conflicted on whether or not it had been the right thing to do. The last thing she wanted was for Katherine to get her hands on Nate again or for Nate to see the evil bitch and suddenly remember everything that Damon had taken away from him.
That was why she hid the gun in her jacket. Serena was a terrible shot and bullets didn't kill vampires. But if she was close enough she figured aim didn't matter much and it would at least hurt Katherine enough to slow her down. Serena wasn't going to let anything happen to Nate again. He had shielded her through so much and now it was her turn to protect him.
The four of them set off through the snowy forest. It was so beautiful outside that Serena was lost in the wonderment of it all for awhile. It really had been far too long since she'd set foot outside of the safety of the prison gates. It wasn't as if she had really taken the time to appreciate the scenery when Kol kidnapped her. But now she could. The big fluffy flakes of snow looked like perfection, like a scene straight out of a Christmas movie. There were surprisingly few zombies wandering around too. Serena had a theory that they didn't like the cold much.
They made small talk for much of the walk until the snow picked up. The winds picked up to hurricane speeds, blowing snow into their faces and Serena and Blair's hair all over the place. The vampire was still following them, Serena had noticed he'd closed the distance between them when the snow got so bad that they couldn't see anymore. Serena had one arm threaded through Nate's, holding on tightly and her other hand was holding Blair's. She was not getting separated from her friends.
Ignacio ushered them into a building, a really nice building. Like a mansion. When Serena laid eyes on someone who looked exactly like Elena, she almost swallowed her tongue. Her eyes bugged out of her head for a second and she swallowed hard. Determined to play it cool. She still felt the weight of the gun in her jacket. Nate didn't seem to notice her discomfort.
"Why are we here?" she demanded, annoyed. Chuck had promised they weren't going to see Katherine.
"It wasn't part of the plan," Chuck answered in a cool voice.
"It's too dangerous out there for you right now," Ignacio finally said. Serena was beginning to think he was mute. "This place is safe until the storm clears out."
"Safe?" Serena raised a blonde eyebrow in Katherine's direction. Hardly.