Get ready for drama to come in the next few chapters. You will cry possibly at the end of one of them.
I came back from the bed in breakfast so relaxed and ready to be back in the city. I wanted to catch up on work and get back to class but that would have to wait. I barely make it to my apartment before I'm getting frantic texts and calls from Blair.
"B, what is going on that you..."
"Ella, listen to me. Bart somehow has evidence that Nate forged business numbers and... uh well, Nate was just taken down for booking and..."
"Bart had Nate arrested!" I scream not understanding what he's doing. "Is Nate okay?"
"We don't know. They won't let us see him and we worry he won't be let out. Bart will only get him released if we stop trying to ruin him."
"So, that's his game. Blackmail us so he can continue to go around like the lying bastard he is!"
"Ella, if anyone can talk to him it's you."
"No worries, B I will talk to the bastard." I call Bart's assistant for his whereabouts and hail a taxi so I can give him a piece of my mind.
I find him back at his place where Lily won't come back since she's afraid of him. "What in the hell is wrong with you? You lying piece of shit!!!!" I walk into the living room not caring who is there. I see Dan looking back at me uncomfortable and Bart less than amused.
"Yes, Ella please come in. Danial and I were just talking about him possibly living in this building."
"Did you have Nate arrested?" Bart smooths out his suit.
"What that troubled boy has done has no concern with you."
"Like hell it does! Nate is family to me and you just wrong him like that! How dare you!"
"I'm sorry Danial for my daughter's outburst she's..."
"Shut the hell up Bart. You're pissed that we know what you've done and want the world to know you're not this generous person you make yourself out to be. You're a killer!"
"That's enough Ella. If you have a problem with me you can take it up with me in private." Bart stands up to face me but I'm not backing down.
"Why are you afraid Dan is going to know what a liar you are and then he'll write an expose on what you've done."
"Danial wouldn't do that."
"And I didn't think you would be this much of an ass."
"You can thin all you want about me, Ella. But everything I've done has been for you."
"No everything you've done has been for yourself! You care for no one else!"
"I'm sorry you see me this way, Ella. I hope you will still come tonight."
"Why would I go to an event honoring a killer?"
"Because if you don't Nathanial will root in that cell for the rest of his life. And between the two of us, he won't make it long."
"This is what gives you joy, running people's lives."
"I didn't want to do this, but Chuck gave me no other choice."
"You could be a man and talk to your son rather than try to destroy him!"
"And what lesson will that prove. Charles needs to know what it's like to lose everything or he will never become the man he needs to be."
"Go to hell Bart!" I storm off trying to catch the elevator so I wouldn't have to look at him. The elevator comes and I walk in wanting to be as far away from him as possible. Someone's hand stops the door.
Bart stands there looking smug as usually. "I would be careful if I were you, Ella. Being pregnant and all it's so easy to lose a baby."
"Are you threatening my child?"
"No, I'm just giving you an incentive to stay out of things that do not concern you."
"And if I don't?"
"Then things will get messy and we both wouldn't want that."
"No, we wouldn't. How's Lily?"
"Goodbye Ella, see you tonight." The elevator closes and I breathe a sigh of relief being away from that monster.
__________________________________
The first thing I do after seeing Bart was head to the precinct to check on Nate. It is unfair that Bart is using him against Chuck. The officer checked me in and showed me to Nate's visitation room. He probably won't even want to see me, but I need to make sure he's okay.
He has his face in his hands when I walk in.
"Hey." I wave at him and he looks up shocked to see me. I move to sit in front of him trying to gauge what he's feeling. There was a point where I could always tell how Nate was, but now I'm at a loss. "I'm sorry that Bart did this to you."
"You don't' need to be sorry E, it's not your fault."
"No, but he's wrong for getting you arrested and threatening your freedom just so we can ignore what he's done."
"I know everyone thinks he's just doing this to get Chuck and the fed's off his back, but it's deeper than that."
"What could be deeper than that?"
"He's getting back at me for hurting you." I let out an exasperated breath.
"Seriously? That man doesn't care for anyone else besides himself! There is no way he's going through of this trouble to frame you just to punish you for our breakup."
"Trust me. I talked to Bart once when he first threatened me with jail and you came up."
"How long has he threatened you?"
"For a month."
"He's unbelievable. He is so hypocritical thinking what you did is even on the same level as him!"
"It doesn't matter what he thinks. I did do what he is accusing me of doing. I altered the numbers because I was scared of losing my company."
"You forged business numbers." Nate nods his head not proud of what he's done. "Why didn't you ask someone for help?"
"There was no one I could ask. Chuck didn't have enough money after saving Blair's family from losing everything and Serena and I weren't on great terms and..."
"What about me?"
"I didn't think I could ask you for such a thing since how things ended between us."
"But I would have done anything for you, Nate." I reach for his hand squeezing it. "No matter our failed relationship I will always consider you family."
"I am sorry for how I treated you. I should have valued our relationship more instead of looking for a distraction."
"Nate's it's okay. I've forgiven you already. When will you forgive yourself?"
"I guess I will never forgive myself for letting you get away."
"Nate...I uh..."
"I know we haven't had the chance to talk since life got in the way, but...when I found out that you and Carter were going to have a child I think I realized how much I lost my chance on loving you for life."
"Nate, I know I made you think we could have a chance in the future, but nothing is certain. I do know at this moment in my life I'm fully in love with Carter."
"So, you'll marry him."
"Having a child together doesn't mean we have to get married. I want our marriage to be based on love not because we have an obligation to our child to be together. I want love, not a forced commitment."
"I know this won't make a difference but I feel like I owe it to you to tell you the truth." I can tell by the tone of Nate's voice that what he's about to say will make things more complicated.
"Nate, don't do this."
"You need to hear what I have to say." He reaches for my hands again. "Before I acted like an ass I was fully ready to propose to you this summer. I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you and yet I still managed to mess it up with my childish ways and I lost you forever." I feel a tear escape as it rolls down my cheek. I quickly wipe it away.
"Nate, I have so much to deal with having you confess your love to me again...it confuses me. I don't know how I should feel."
"You can tell me that you love me too and we can be happy together."
"But I love Carter. He's been amazing to me and I've told him our future isn't certain but I owe to him and myself to try."
"And what about us? You once told me that you waited for a love like ours. I want to give that to you and more."
"More as in you would be fine loving another man's child and co-raising it with a man who cheated you out of money."
"If that means I get to love you and have you be mine I would do that and more. I am still madly in love with you Ella."
"But sadly Nate, I'm not madly in love with you." I release my hand from his needing some distance. "I love you because your family to me and will always be a part of my life, but I feel out of love the moment I fell back in love with Carter."
"Even after everything, he's done to you!"
"At least he grew up and realized the error of his ways. You, on the other hand, had me believing that you changed and that being with me was enough, but the moment another pretty blonde walked by you got bored with me and ruined our relationship!"
"That is not what happened at all!"
"I'm sorry you were lonely and we didn't spend as much time together as we would have liked but that's what happens when you're in a relationship. You are supposed to work through things and come out better. What we did was make each other worse. I hated who I became when I was with you, Nate. I forgot who I was and what I wanted. You made me believe in this fairytale life that I thought I could have but you ripped that out from underneath me."
"I... I know what I did was wrong, but loving you is something I can't let go of."
"Well, you're going to have to learn. I've moved on and I thought you did too with Sage." He hangs his head low and I know I crushed his heart. This was one of the things I feared I would do.
"I knew by telling you how I still have feelings for you may end with me having a broken heart, but I couldn't go on without fighting for you one last time."
"I wish I could give you what you wanted, but my heart has found someone else."
"And I hope he treats you the way you should be treated. Better than I have."
"Carter has really changed since the last time you hated him. He's still stubborn and set in his ways, but he makes me happy and that's something I've always wanted."
"How did he take the baby news?"
"He wanted to propose to me not just because of the baby. He planned on proposing all along before the news was dropped on him, but the baby reinforced his reasoning." Nate instantly looks to my ring finger.
"Did you say no?"
"Not to marrying him, just not marrying right this second."
"Why would you do that? You love him and it seems like he loves you."
"I want to be married one time because I believe those vows two people in love share is meant for one person not for five. I don't want to be like Lily or the other Upper East Side women who collect husbands like their handbags. I want it to be real and true the first time I say I do."
"And he's okay with this?"
"In a way, he is. I know he wishes I say yes because he loves me that much, but I'm working on opening up more to others and taking their help even when I didn't ask for it. Carter's made me realize I'm not alone in this world and I should open my eyes to the world around me.
"Wish you nothing but the best Ella."
"I'm going to try my best and get your charges dropped. We can't have you going to prison."
"I could make it in prison." I laugh straight tin Nate's face. He's pissed but somebody needs to be realistic with him.
"Nate, I love you and all but you would defiantly become someone's bitch."
"Ella!"
"It's true. The pretty boys normally do and we can't have that happening to you."
Does this mean the end for Nate and Ella or during the time jump things can change?