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There was a screen shot of Gossip Girl with a picture from 2.25, in Nate/Noe's apartment, with Noe, Nate, Hope, Alex, Brooklyn, Thyra, Dylan, Wyatt, James, Zaya, Sadie, Blair, Chuck, Nate and Carter stood in front of the glass walls, a little further up than Marie, not noticing her behind them.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "Gossip Girl here. Your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite."

From 2.19 "The Grandfather", outside the Vanderbilt Estate, Noe, Hope and Maureen were standing on the balcony over the field.

"I'm Maureen," Maureen introduced. "Politics is a Vanderbilt birthright."

"Alex's set to become an architect, and the only thing Nate's ever voted for is American idol," Noe told her.

On the field, Tripp tackled Nate to the ground while playing football.

Maureen: (voice over from 2.19 The Grandfather) "Tripp was the same way. Grandfather can be very persuasive."

From 2.19 "The Grandfather", in Noe's room, Nate and Noe were talking.

"Tripp may be a little creepy, but he used to have a crush on you when we were kids, you know?" Nate asked. "He was just a few years older, but he liked you, but you didn't like him, and it seemed like a huge deal back at the time since even a little crush seems huge at a time like that. But Tripp's happy with Maureen, I think."

From 2.19 "The Grandfather", at the Vanderbilt reunion, Tripp walked up to Noe, intentionally starting a fight between Nate and Noe when he told her this before Nate did. "You excited for Alex and Nate's big adventure this summer? I was talking about the internships at the mayor's office." Noe was confused. Tripp nodded, as if 'realizing'. "You didn't know."

"There must be a misunderstanding," Noe told him.

Tripp nodded. "Yeah. I--I guess there must be."

Noe walked away. Tripp turned and watched her go, watching the fight between Noe and Nate, smirking slightly, taking a drink.

Nate: (voice over from 2.20 Remains of the J) "Tripp started a fight between you and me."

From 2.20 "Remains of the J", at the party in Rhodes/Bass apartment, Noe and Nate were talking.

"I'm gonna apologize for that again, since I overreacted," Noe told him.

Nate tilted his head. "Noe, you have reason to. I mean, since the accident and the trauma, the doctors specifically said that you could react out of proportion to situations like that, especially if things come as a surprise like that. I was waiting for the right time to tell you about the summer internship, but of course Tripp took it into his own hands."

From 2.20 "Remains of the J", at the political office, Noe looked at Nate. "Since when did Tripp decide to run for congress? And should somebody tell him the election is not until next year?"

Nate chuckled. "After Congressman Kruger died, a house seat opened up in Manhattan. You know Grandfather. He figured, why wait?"

From 3.06 "All About Marie", in the political office, Alex looked at Nate and Harry. "What about the picture you gave PJ and Malchus?"

"They think they won the picture, and we left it there," Nate answered. "We have the real one."

"Why would you leak a fake photo?" James asked. "Are you trying to destroy Tripp's campaign?"

"No," Alex answered. "That's going to win Tripp the election."

"Once Malchus and the Buckleys leak it, we'll release the real photo," Harry told them. "It's gonna look like they planted the fake one. People are finally gonna see them as the villains they really are."

"And Malchus won't win the election, so at least he'll have less power over Beck," Nate told them.

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in the vault/club before the party, Marie looked at Nate, Chuck and Dylan. "Serena's still mad about the whole Harry convincing Hope to lie thing and risking my and Noe's mindstates, and she's mad that you, Alex, Noe, Hope and I kept trying to see it from the other side of things, the way that it saved everyone, including us, and James, Zaya, Sadie, Aurora, Carter, Eric and Beck."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in the vault/club after the party, Serena, James, Wyatt and Blair were talking.

"I'm sorry, Serena, but without the celebrities and James's contacts, we're buried in the city section," Wyatt told her. "Now we're front page news. This is something we needed to do for Theo."

Serena watched Wyatt go, before looking at Blair. "I know why Chuck, Dylan and Wyatt would do this, but why would you do this to me? You knew how important it was for me to prove myself to Sherry and Simon."

"Remember when you chose Chuck, Dylan, Wyatt and Theo?" Blair asked. "Now I did too."

"What about Zaya and Sadie?" James asked. "You know that they have to keep out of the spotlight in a bad way in case it sets Richard off, and puts them and Laureen at risk because he goes nuts when he thinks one of them does something wrong. And Zaya and Sadie performing at a speakeasy with an illegal liquor license would definitely be wrong in his eyes."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in the vault/club after the party, Serena looked at Blair. "Sherry and Simon can be bitches because they're my bosses. You're supposed to be my best friend. Chuck might forgive you, but I don't."

"Serena, I get that you're mad, but Zaya and Sadie are fine, and Laureen's gonna be fine," Noe told her. "And your job's safe. And Blair, Dylan, Wyatt and Chuck only did what they did so that they could save the hotel, all to make a career that is separate from Bart's business, for Theo. James and Brittany helped you salvage things."

"Of course you would defend them, like you, Nate, James and Alex defended Harry and Hope after they lied to us about the mission and could have severely messed with your mind and Marie's," Serena told her. "You know what? I can't do this right now."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in the street, Jenny's handmaidens threw eggs on Jonathan, running off, leaving Jonathan looking humiliated.

Zaya: (voice over from 3.07 How to Succeed in Bassness) "Jenny had Jonathan egged to get back at Eric."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in the vault/club during the party, Jenny, seeing that Eric was watching, took Beck by the jacket and brought him into a kiss. Beck was shocked, and Eric was stunned, hurt and angry, even a bit jealous though he didn't want to admit it. Beck broke the kiss off before walking away. Jenny turned to look at Eric, smirking, winking, walking away.

Zaya: (voice over from 3.07 How to Succeed in Bassness) "And she kissed Beck in front of Eric even though knowing beck likes Eric and Eric is his friend."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in the Rhodes/Bass apartment, Zaya, Sadie and Eric were confronting Jenny while Marie tried to stop the fighting.

Eric looked at Jenny. "If you did this to Beck and Jonathan to get back at me for telling our parents, what are you gonna do to Zaya and Sadie, since I told Mom to ask them what you did? They're the ones that explained everything."

"And if you try anything against us, we will retaliate and take you down," Sadie told her.

"Jenny, what the hell are you doing?" Marie asked.

Jenny looked at Marie in annoyance. "You know, you might be our sister and you're new but that doesn't mean you know me or any of us."

Zaya, Sadie and Eric glared at Jenny for hurting Marie like that.

"I want nothing to do with you in either world," Eric told her.

Zaya scoffed, placing her hands together briefly. "You know, we were wrong to think that this could work. You as princess with us."

Jenny nodded. "Finally, something we agree on. But I'm not giving up my spot. In fact, if you four don't give it your all, I might take over completely."

"If you want to have a war to see who remains on top, trust me, you will lose," Zaya told her.

From 3.02 "The Freshmen", outside Ostroff, Richard was mocking Laureen. "What happened to your little plan on trying to bring me down? Even if it meant pushing me over an edge to get me locked away, either in an institution or jail. But you know neither of those work since I have all the contacts I need under my thumb to make sure that you can't do something like that. No other psychiatrist is going to commit me. And no cop is going to lock me away."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in the street, Zaya, Sadie and Laureen were walking, while Zaya and Sadie were ready for school.

"You haven't heard from or seen Dad since the wedding, right?" Zaya asked.

"Thankfully, no," Laureen answered.

"Do you think he's planning something?" Sadie asked.

"I don't know," Laureen admitted. "But I do know that I got nervous enough to check in on where he's been. His job said that he had to leave for a little while for 'business'. I'm not sure what kind, but at least it got him far away from us for the time being."

"Do you know when he'll be back?" Zaya asked.

"No, I don't," Laureen answered. "But I'm gonna make sure that I do know when he does."

From 3.06 "All About Marie", in Dominic's office, Laureen and Dominic looked at each other intensely for a long moment, before Laureen finally gave in to what she felt and what she wanted when she took Dominic by the front of his shirt and pulled him closer. They met halfway in a fierce, passionate kiss. Dominic held the back of Laureen's head, and Laureen wrapped an arm around his neck as they continued to make out.

Laureen: (voice over from 3.07 How to Succeed in Bassness) "I wanted to wait until all of this was over with Richard, so that we didn't risk setting him off more."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in Dominic's room, Laureen and Dominic were kissing, hooking up.

Dominic: (voice over from 3.07 How to Succeed in Bassness) "That was until Zaya and Sadie convinced you not to wait so that you could be happy now."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in Dominic's office, Zaya smiled. "We told you that we wanted you to be happy, Mom. And this clearly does make you happy. Dominic does."

"So thank you, Dominic," Sadie told him. "For making Mom happy."

Dominic chuckled. "You're welcome, girls."

"And contradicting your obvious guilt because of us and Dad, this isn't a bad thing," Sadie told her. "I know you wanted to save Dad and not give up on him, but we couldn't save him. And you deserve to move on."

From 3.03 "The Lost CruSadie", in the hospital, Sadie held an ice pack to her head, looking at Preston and Prince. "I cannot be in the spotlight right now either, okay? My father is already on a rampage, and he's pissed about me and Zaya getting on Gossip Girl. If my dad finds out about this because I'm in the spotlight because of you, he could really lose it more than he already has."

From 3.04 "Zaya de Fleurette", in the car, Preston was driving Sadie home. "I like hanging out with you."

Preston smiled, as the two shared a look, before looking away.

"And stop doing that," Sadie told him.

Preston smiled. "What am I doing?"

"Oh, you know exactly what you're doing," Sadie told him. "Giving me that look that other girls would fall for. But it's not gonna work with me, so stop trying."

From 3.06 "All About Marie", in Carter's suite, Carter had explained the Silence to Marie.

Marie placed a hand on Carter's cheek as they looked at each other. "What are you gonna do? About trying to find out about who had James and Caroline's crash happen? Or trying to find out about Thyra's parents? Or anything about Angela?"

"I don't know yet," Carter admitted. "But I do know that if they call, I have to go to them to keep up appearances. Sometimes they call for business reasons or shady reasons or... mere parties across the world that are like gatherings of the most dangerous people in the world."

"I don't want you getting hurt," Marie told him.

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassnes", in Carter's suite, Brittany was treating Carter's wound. "You know that people who date DID survivors can have a thing with more than one alter in a system, right? I'm into open relationships, but maybe I'd like something with you, whether it's serious or not."

Later, Marie was talking to Carter. "My mom helped me set up with a restraining order, in case Vincent's still out there. We can't prove that he did anything since what he did to me was when we were both 16, four years ago. So even if we can't have him arrested right now, if he comes near me..."

"Then he will be," Carter finished.

"Brittany does want to have some kind of connection with you, if that's okay," Marie admitted.

Carter nodded. "I'm okay with any part of you, and Brittany. Brittany, Lacy, Andrea and Nick are free to kiss and do whoever or whatever they want. And even if nothing really happens between me and Brittany, I'm happy with you as Marie. But either way, I'd be happy with you."

Marie smiled. "I'd be happy with that too."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in the hotel, Serena opened the curtains to reveal Dan and Olivia kissing to the paparazzi that James had gathered. "Look, everyone, it's Olivia Burke kissing her boyfriend, Dan Humphrey."

Brittany realized she could help, smirking, looking at Carter. "Remember what I said about open relationships?"

"Yeah," Carter answered, confused on where she was going with this.

Brittany smirked, winking, stepping closer to Prince, speaking to the press. "I'm dating Prince Shea."

Brittany gave Serena and James a helpful look, smirking, winking. Serena and James smiled at the fact that Brittany wanted to help them. Carter nodded in amusement, looking away.

Simon: (voice over from 3.07 How to Succeed in Bassness) "Prince, now you might have to be publicly dating Marie Rosson."

Prince, also relieved with the plan to get out of the fake relationship with Olivia, took off his hat, tossing it aside, taking Brittany in his arms with a hand on her back and on the back of her head, dipping her down as they kissed, with all the photographers taking pictures.

Sherry: (voice over from 3.07 How to Succeed in Bassness) "We have to figure out what to do about Marie Rosson when the time comes because of the public kiss with Prince."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in Noe/Nate's room, Noe and Marie sat on the bed, seeing the results to the pregnancy test.

Marie sighed anxiously. "So what's the verdict?"

Noe looked up. "It's... positive."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in Noe/Nate's room, Noe and Eric were talking down.

Eric gave her a reassuring look. "You are Noe van der Woodsen. And Nate Archibald is going to be an amazing father. Like you are going to be an amazing mother."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in Noe/Nate's apartment, Noe took a very deep breath. "I'm pregnant." Nate was stunned but he started to smile. Noe was incredibly relieved by his smile, starting to smile. "You're... you're happy?"

"It's a shock," Nate admitted. "But yeah. Yeah, I'm happy, Noe."

Noe smiled in complete relief. Nate took Noe in his arms, lifting her slightly off the floor, spinning her around, making her laugh, setting her down, cupping her cheeks so they could kiss passionately.

From 3.06 "All About Marie", in the Waldorf lobby, Angela had hold of Theo in a car seat, looking so incredibly upset but knowing that she had to let him go to keep him safe, tears in her eyes. "Don't worry, Theo. I'll come back for you when things are safe again."

From 3.06 "All About Marie", in the Waldorf penthouse, Brooklyn, Dylan, Thyra and Wyatt found Theo.

"The Silence came too close to tracking Angela and Theo down," Brooklyn realized. "If they found her again, and she was with Theo..."

"They would've killed them both," Dylan finished. "That's why Angela sent Theo here."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in the museum, Giovanni looked at Angela and Emilia. "I know Gianni killed our father so that she could take his seat on the Council. So she could become more in power and more brutal than ever. And I can't help but wonder, what can I accomplish in the seat instead? Especially if it means making sure someone on the Council can curb the darkest impulses of the Silence."

"So you want us to kill Gianni," Emilia stated.

"Do this for me, and I promise you, I will use my power on the Council to ensure that both of you are granted pardon," Giovanni told them. "You would be free. Along with anyone you care for that may be in danger from the Silence."

Emilia considered all of this. "You grant me, Angela and Theo freedom, help us find Giselle, and make sure that James and Carter Baizen, and Hope, Thyra and Aurora Diamond are no longer in danger due to their ties to the people that are with my grandson as of now, then you've got yourself a deal."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", in the De Los Caballeros apartment, Angela and Emilia were talking to Hope, Alex, Brooklyn, Thyra, Harry and Aurora.

"Tell us what?" Hope asked.

"The reason why we know so much about the Silence and why they are truly after us," Angela answered. "Our family used to be the 12th seat on the Council. Giselle is missing, and I'm looking for her, and my father was killed by the Silence."

"What's the plan?" Alex asked.

"Wait, you're still willing to help us?" Angela asked.

"Even now?" Emilia asked.

"Like you said, Angela," Aurora told her, looking between both Angela and Emilia. "Theo is our family and both of you are his."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", at the coronation, Hope, Alex, Brooklyn, Thyra, Aurora, Harry and Emilia were all fighting the guards.

Harry: (voice over from 3.07 How to Succeed in Bassness) "Anything you need. That's what family is for."

On the roof, Gianni and Angela were on the roof edge, fighting with both swords. Angela kicked Gianni back to make her fall onto her back on the edge of the room, running closer, jumping up to come down on Gianni overhead with her sword, landing next to her and slashed her sword through Gianni's neck, decapitating her to kill her.

Angela: (voice over from 3.06 All About Marie) "I'm going to finish this."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", on the road, Brooklyn did a full J-turn, while Angela hung out of her side of the car, holding onto her seat belt tightly with one hand, while she was firing her gun at the man's car, blowing out his tires, while he was still shooting at her. When Brooklyn finished the turn, Angela pulled herself back into the car, closing the door, but she was holding her shoulder, near her chest, breathing heavily.

Emilia turned to her daughter, seeing that Angela was bleeding from a gunshot wound in her chest/shoulder, horrified, reaching toward her daughter to help her. "Angela!"

The man barely managed to be able to drive his car forward enough to slam into the girls's car, making their car roll down a set of stone steps, and as the car crashed more each time, Brooklyn, Thyra and Emilia's car doors were flung open, and they fell out of the car into the river as the car fell into the river with Angela still inside it.

Dylan: (voice over from 3.07 How to Succeed in Bassness) "We need to get to the hospital, now."

From 3.07 "How to Succeed in Bassness", at the hospital, The medivac landed, and Aurora, Harry, Alex, Hope, Brooklyn, Thyra and Emilia helped Angela out of it, while she was still unconscious, and they needed to get her inside. Dylan, Wyatt, Blair, Chuck, James and Carter walked up to the hospital in a hurry, seeing Aurora, Harry, Alex, Hope, Brooklyn, Thyra and Emilia with Angela, in shock, horrified and worried when they saw that Angela was not waking up. They all looked at each other, worried about what would happen if Angela didn't wake up.

In the closing, there was a screen shot of the Gossip Girl website, with a picture of Aurora, Harry, Alex, Hope, Brooklyn, Thyra, Emilia, Dylan, Wyatt, Blair, Chuck, James and Carter outside the hospital with Angela, all looking at each other in horrified worry in 3.07.

The headline read: Killer Queen Killed?

The caption underneath the picture read: Spotted outside the hospital. Hope, Thyra and Aurora Diamond, Alex Archibald, Brooklyn, Dylan and Chuck Bass, Wyatt and Blair Waldorf, James and Carter Baizen and Harry Vanderbilt, and a mystery older lady who bears a striking resemblance to Angela De Los Caballeros, all standing around the Killer Queen as she was rushed into the ER, shot and unresponsive. Could our Killer Queen really have been killed? We pray for the best for Dylan's baby mama. Little Theo deserves to have a mother in his life. And though Gossip Girl and all her readers don't know much about Angela De Los Caballeros, what is a known fact is that she doesn't go down without a fight and she never gives up. Let's hope the same goes for this.

X•O°X•O

Worlds Colliding (Gossip Girl)

X•O°X•O

Day One

Morning - Hospital - Hallway

The Waldorf-Bass-Diamond-Baizens, Alex, Harry and Emilia were at the hospital with a doctor, waiting to hear about Angela.

"Angela's a very lucky girl," the doctor told them. "She suffered massive blood loss from the gunshots to the shoulder and chest, and she sustained a cranial injury from the impact of the water. There's been some bleeding on the parietal lobe, which we'll monitor, but she'll pull through."

They all sighed in relief. Emilia had tears in her eyes, scared of losing her daughter after she already had lost everything else. Dylan looked so worried about Theo losing his mother, and Wyatt held Dylan's hands to be there for him. Hope, Alex, Brooklyn, Thyra, James, Carter, Blair, Harry and Aurora all tried to be there for them without pushing too far.

There was a fast forwarding effect as the rest of the day had to be attended to, and everyone went to do their things, while Emilia stayed in the hospital with Angela, waiting for her daughter to wake up.

X • O ° X • O

St. Jude's/Constance - Classroom

(Song:) I Could Rob You - Plasticines 

Sadie and Preston were studying on their project together for their class, and people were starring because of Preston's celebrity status, and Sadie's status on Gossip Girl among the Upper East Side's elite. They both tried to stay on the down low to not be outed or put in the spotlight because of Richard's psychotic tendencies to punish his family when they did wrong, and because Preston needed to stay out of the spotlight to be able to land the movie with Prince.

Zaya saw Sadie and Preston, tilting her head curiously.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "In Manhattan, some parties are VIP only."

X • O ° X • O

Dominic's Mansion - Bedroom

Laureen and Dominic were sleeping, with Laureen facing away from Dominic. Dominic was shirtless, his arms behind his head.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "Others strictly private."

Laureen turned in her sleep, bumping into Dominic, a little startled, laughing. "Oh. I'm sorry. I'm not used to having someone next to me anymore."

Dominic smiled. "Sleep well?"

"Like a baby," Laureen answered, looking at him.

"What?" Dominic asked.

Laureen shook her head teasingly. "I don't know. You just... you seemed more attractive last night. Huh, must have been the alcohol."

Dominic, knowing she was teasing, smirked in amusement, propping himself up on an elbow. "Is that right?"

Laureen laughed. "Yeah."

"That's too bad," Dominic told her. "You're stuck with me."

Dominic pulled her closer to hold her, kissing her head.

Laureen smiled. "Good."

Laureen and Dominic kissed slowly, sweetly at first, building up in passionate and heat.

X • O ° X • O

The Empire

There was a montage of Marie helping organize a political party, though she was getting a lot of attention from people around her since people were reading newspapers, Page Six, with a picture of Prince and Brittany after they kissed in 3.07, with the headline: "Shea's new 'it' girl". Marie was trying very hard to ignore them so she could focus on planning.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "But some parties are political, and those lines are drawn by the most established of the establishment."

Hope, Thyra, Dylan, Chuck and Brooklyn were working on hotel things for the party. Nate, Alex and Harry were helping with Tripp's campaign party, talking with Marie about what needed to be done. Marie nodded in understanding. All of them were clearly trying to remain busy so they weren't thinking about their worry for Angela while waiting for her to wake up to know that she would be completely okay, needing to work on the party to stay distracted.

Noe was also here. She saw that a bellhop was checking her out, snapping her fingers at him in annoyance, pointing at the bellhop dolly. "Hey, you wanna use that and beat it?"

The bellhop ran off. Tripp walked by, seeing Noe's brush off of the bellhop, smirking in amusement. While planning, Marie felt like she was being watched, turning to look around, but not seeing anyone.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "And once those lines are drawn, they can never be crossed."

X • O ° X • O

Café

Serena and Prince were sitting at a table for coffee, talking.

"A Michael Mann political thriller?" Serena asked. "That's great news."

"Yeah, that's the movie that Alan Smith wants me and Preston to star in as brothers, but I have to do whatever they say regarding this or the Endless Knights series, including getting good press," Prince explained. "Which your sister Marie helped out with and I haven't heard back from her since we kissed."

Serena pressed her lips together in amusement. "Uh, yeah, there's a reason for that, Prince, but, uh, I'll let Marie explain."

"So I have to get my photo taken with politicians tonight at the Vanderbilt's election party tonight," Prince explained. "So does Preston. Mom and Dad think that the producers will eat it up, plus, it'll help us get into character for auditions next week."

Serena made a face. "Wait, Prince. The problem is, I'm kind of on the outs with the Vanderbilts right now. Harry mostly, Alex and Nate Archibald's uncle. Something happened with me, them, Noe, Marie, Zaya, Sadie and Eric, plus Hope and Aurora Diamond, James and Carter Baizen, and Beck Boardman. It's a long story, but, uh... ever since, I haven't even been on good terms with Noe, Marie, Alex, Nate or Hope."

Prince gave her a look. "Serena. Whatever happened with you and Harry Vanderbilt, don't let it ruin friends with the Crew, or your family. Noe, Marie and Eric are your siblings, and Zaya and Sadie are your cousins. And Hope Diamond's your stepsister."

"Adoptive stepsister, but, yes," Serena agreed.

"Aurora's her mother, right?" Prince asked. "Thyra's her cousin?" Serena nodded. "Got it. But, uh, Nate Archibald is Noe's boyfriend, and they live together. And Alex is Hope's boyfriend. And Carter Baizen would be James's brother then, and Marie's boyfriend. You guys are all like practically family, so maybe it's time to try and make up, hmm?"

Serena tilted her head. "You sound just like James. But, uh, he's been a little busy with them, and Thyra, Brooklyn, Dylan, Chuck, Wyatt and Blair with Angela De Los Caballeros. She's in the hospital, and she hasn't woken up since last night. She's the mother to Dylan's child Theo."

"All the more reason to make nice," Prince pointed out. "Since I know Brooklyn, Dylan and Chuck are your adoptive siblings too. Gossip Girl has an impressive map to keep track of who's who."

Serena smiled. "Yeah, the Basses are my siblings too. I just... we haven't been able to talk because of Angela with everything, and..."

"And maybe Angela is a sign for all of you to stop fighting," Prince pointed out.

Serena took this seriously, thinking about what to do.

(Song Ends)

X • O ° X • O

NYU - Vanessa/Olivia's Dorm Room

Olivia and Dan were waking up in bed together.

"How long you been awake?" Dan asked.

"Not long," Olivia answered.

Dan sat up slightly. "Remind me to send the Vanderbilt campaign a muffin basket. Vanessa's been completely on MIA since she started shooting that documentary."

Olivia smiled. "She was here for, like, ten seconds earlier and I guess she's getting amazing footage."

"The only footage I wanna see is your Jimmy Fallon appearance," Dan told her. Olivia looked very worried. "I mean, last night was great. I just wish we'd gotten back in time to see it." Dan got out of bed, pulling on his shirt, walking toward his laptop. "You know what? I bet it's online."

Olivia sat up. "No. Uh, you can't watch it like that. Uh, the--the quality's so bad, you know? I rather you watch it in HD."

"Okay," Dan agreed. "When? I'm sorry. I'm just excited. It's been a while since I had a girlfriend on a late night talk show."

Olivia smiled nervously, shrugging. "Um, well, I'm--I'm sure I can get a copy from Sherry and Simon."

Dan nodded. "Okay."

Dan walked out of the room to go brush his teeth. Olivia sighed, laying down.

X • O ° X • O

Hallway

Dan walked down the hallway.

A guy passing Dan by raised his arms in the air mockingly. "Oh-ho-ho! Watch out. It's bathroom boy. Clear the way."

The guy laughed, walking away.

Dan seemed confused. "Okay, all right. Good morning to you too."

X • O ° X • O

The Empire - Penthouse Suite

Chuck was showing Noe, Nate, Hope, Alex, Thyra, Brooklyn, Dylan, Wyatt and James the penthouse. "Welcome to my new suite. We may patent the media system, interactive, high-def 3-D gaming. Instant access to the world's largest media library, and all in house food, spa services." He gestured to the security feed. "Just touch that button. Blair's favorite part. Real time surveillance playback. It's naughty."

Chuck chuckled.

Nate patted Chuck on the shoulder. "Well, it certainly is a step up from your last hotel room."

"Most penthouses are, Nathaniel," Chuck told him. "Wyatt made a joke about James and Alexander crashing here to free up space at the Waldorf penthouse and for Alexander to get away from the Archibald/Vanderbilt influence, which might not be such a bad idea after all. And Hope Diamond, you are of course more than welcome to stay here with Alex when the need arises. And Serena for James when she comes to her senses. I'm sure Harry and Aurora wouldn't mind. James also won't be the only Baizen brother staying here, since Carter plans to as well, and of course Marie would be thrilled to visit. Brooklyn and Dylan are staying at the Rhodes-Bass apartment and of course Brooklyn, Dylan, Thyra and Wyatt can go back and forth between which place they want to see each other in while also taking care of Theo. Not everyone can have a glass apartment like Nate and Nevaeh."

Noe looked at Nate and Alex in annoyance directed at Chuck. "I swear, the next time Chuck calls you Nathaniel and Alexander and he calls me Nevaeh..."

Alex smiled, chuckling. "Forget it, Noe. He's never gonna stop."

Chuck smirked smugly.

Hope chuckled. "Nice."

"There's three bedrooms," Dylan explained. "Wyatt and Chuck's idea to let James and Alex crash here might actually turn out to be a good thing."

James nodded. "Yeah, thanks, Chuck."

"Yeah, I think it'd be nice staying here, you know, after a day when Vanderbilts are over the place here," Alex agreed.

The others smirked in agreement.

Wyatt crossed his arms. "At least you're taking my idea seriously."

The others managed small smiles.

Marie walked in for more party planning stuff. "Alex, Nate, hey. Harry just wanted to get your comment on this."

Marie showed them the clipboard.

"Yeah, thanks, Marie," Alex told her. "Everything looks great."

Marie nodded. "Uh, how's Angela?"

"The doctors said she's gonna pull through, but she hasn't woken up yet," Brooklyn answered. "But Emilia said that she would call once Angela wakes up."

Thyra sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "All of us just really need this distraction until Angela wakes up and Emilia calls."

They all nodded in agreement.

Nate looked around in confusion. "Where's Carter?"

"The Silence called and demanded he came to some secret party for the society, and I'm guessing it has to do with Angela and Emilia, and the Rome mission," Marie answered. "Carter said that he would call if he thinks that anyone is onto him."

"Carter told me the same thing," James agreed. "He promised to be careful and make sure that they can't find out anything about us, or Angela and Emilia."

They all looked worried.

Aurora, Harry, Tripp, Maureen and William walked in.

"There you kids are," Aurora told them. 

Thyra walked up to Tripp and Maureen. "Tripp, Maureen."

Tripp smiled a bit. "Hey, Thyra."

Tripp and Thyra embraced, and Maureen and Thyra kissed each other on the cheeks.

William looked between Hope, Thyra and Aurora. "I'm glad that all the Diamonds can be in attendance to an Archibald/Vanderbilt event, with all of us on good terms this time. Aurora, Thyra, you two of have had a long history with our family, and Hope, I have apologized for my actions to you and Nevaeh in the past, regarding the two of you, Zaya and Sadie."

"Yes, you have," Hope agreed. "Apology accepted."

Noe nodded, looking slightly nervous since no one but she, Nate, Marie, Eric and Wyatt knew about the pregnancy. "Right. It's like we're already family, so..."

Nate, Marie and Wyatt looked at Noe in assurance.

William shook Marie's hand. "And it has been a pleasure to meet you, Marie. The other Rhodes sister. You've outdone yourself with this party, as have Brooklyn, Dylan, Charles, Thyra and Hope with allowing us to have it at their hotel."

"Our pleasure, sir," Brooklyn told him. "I can't think of a better way to christen the ballroom than with the Vanderbilt victory party."

"Your generosity will not be forgotten by me or my family," William told them. "We're very much looking forward to tonight's event."

"Thanks again, guys," Tripp told them. "Even if the night ends in defeat, at least we'll have a good party."

Maureen chuckled. "Sweetie, don't talk like that."

"This morning's polling numbers aren't great," Tripp told them. "We're down where we should be up, and where we are up, we're barely hanging on."

"That's what makes it exciting, right?" Harry asked. "You'll be fine, Tripp. With Beck's father Malchus Boardman out of the running, you're basically a shoe in."

Wyatt turned to Dylan. "I should head home, free Blair from watching Theo. I'll let you work."

"Wyatt..." Dylan trailed off. "If something happens to Angela, and Theo loses her..."

Wyatt shook his head reassuringly. "Angela's gonna be fine, Dylan. Keep faith, okay?"

Dylan sighed, nodding. "Okay."

Wyatt gave Dylan a kiss, and Dylan leaned his head on Wyatt's. They pulled away, and Wyatt left.

Nate pulled Noe to the side to talk to her alone. "You okay?"

Everyone else was talking across the penthouse, giving them some room to talk alone.

"I just wanted to be here for everybody, since it's Harry and Alex and the other Vanderbilts, your family, even if William's shady and Tripp still kinda creeps me out," Noe admitted. "And everything with Angela and Theo... I just really wanted to be here for Dylan through all that, and Wyatt..."

"Noe," Nate said quietly. "That's not what I asked. I'm worried about the Crew and our families too, including Angela and Theo, but I'm worried about you too."

Noe sighed heavily. "I'll be okay when all the fighting stops. Jenny is waging war against Brooklyn, Thyra, Zaya and Sadie, and she humiliated Eric by using Beck and Jonathan, and she bit Marie's head off just because she tried to stop the fighting. Serena's still being a bitch about the Harry/Hope omission when all of us and Aurora worked on saving Carter, even though it was to make sure all of us stayed safe. You'd think she'd be a bit more forgiving since we were saving James's brother and the guy that Marie's clearly falling for." Nate nodded. "Zaya, Sadie and Laureen still have to deal with Richard, though Laureen and Dominic are getting closer and closer every single day, and I think that they could be really good together. And Serena and Blair are now fighting after last night at the club. And I didn't want to tell anyone other than you, Marie, Eric and Wyatt about the..." She didn't finish because of other people around, looking down, hand over her stomach. "Until all of the fighting is over, and we knew that Angela was gonna be okay, because right now, that's all we can worry about because of Theo, and..." Nate gently trailed his fingers along Noe's arms to help her calm down and stop ranting, both of them sighing. "At least you can still use that trick to calm me down."

Nate chuckled, but both of them were still serious and worried. "Yeah. And I agree, okay? We won't tell anyone until the fighting settles down and we know that Angela's gonna be okay. All right?"

Noe nodded, sighing, closing her eyes. "Yeah."

Nate nodded. "And hey, Marie, Eric and Wyatt do know, but we know they won't say anything because they know we don't want to yet with everything going on." Noe nodded in agreement. "Did you talk to your doctor again?"

"Yeah," Noe answered. "She said that it must be about 8 or 9 weeks... along, maybe 10. We can't really tell because my meds always had my periods irregular." Nate nodded in agreement. "So she wants me to come in for a check up later. It's kind of early but she wants to make sure things are okay because of everything else wrong with me."

Nate gave her a look. "There's nothing wrong with you." Noe tilted her head. "Trauma or no trauma. It's not your fault either." Noe managed a small smile, sadly. "But yeah, making sure everything is okay sounds good. You are getting an ultrasound, right?"

Noe nodded. "Right."

"Then you mind if I come with?" Nate asked.

Noe smiled. "I knew you were going to ask that." Nate smiled. "But what about your family, the party?"

Nate shrugged. "There's plenty of time, and they've got plenty of help until the party. It's not like they're gonna miss me. I'd rather me with you and seeing..." He spoke softly, still in shock but also content, reeling over this. "Our child." Noe smiled. "For the first time."

Noe took Nate's hands. "Are you sure we're ready for this?"

"When can anybody know that they're ready?" Nate replied. "I didn't think that this would happen this soon, and clearly you didn't either. And we were being careful, but your meds counteracting the pill was not something that either of us expected to happen, but things like that still happen." Noe nodded in agreement. "But either way, I'm happy, and I'm happy it's with you."

Noe smiled in complete relief, leaning up kiss Nate sweetly with passion. Nate held Noe close as they kissed.

X • O ° X • O

NYU - Vanessa/Olivia's Dorm Room

Olivia opened the door.

Serena was standing in the hallway. "Hey, I was running errands, and Sherry and Simon asked me to drop off your Jimmy Fallon interview."

Serena took the copy of the video out, handing it to Olivia.

Olivia put it behind her back. "Great. I guess that means you've seen it."

Serena nodded. "Yeah."

Olivia went to put the video copy in her nightstand, walking back over to Serena. "You know I didn't mean what I  said."

"Oh, don't--don't worry about that," Serena told her. "I'm sure Dan understands."

"He hasn't even seen it," Olivia told her. "I don't know what to do. I have to fix this. And meanwhile, keep him away from TV and Internet and strangers with the urge to make fun of him."

"Don't forget about Gossip Girl," Serena told her.

"I have to just keep him completely isolated," Olivia told her.

Dan walked in, seeing Serena. "Oh, hey, what are you doing here?"

"Um..." Serena trailed off, coming up with a reason, which was true. "I was just coming by to talk to you about Prince, Preston, Sherry and Simon. Sherry wants to hire Marie after she saw the work that she did planning the 20s party, plus now that she's technically in a fake relationship with Prince after their kiss, or, well..." She whispered to Dan. "Brittany and Prince are."

Dan nodded in agreement. "Right, so it was Brittany that kissed Prince, not Marie. That makes sense."

"I actually have to go talk to Marie about that, and talk to Alex and Nate about something else," Serena explained. 

"Listen, as much as I enjoy my current girlfriend talking to my ex-girlfriend who is also my stepsister about how the sister that we share is fake dating her best friend from boarding school, who also happens to be my current girlfriend's fake ex..." Dan trailed off. "Uh, you-you-you could probably get us a copy of that Fallon interview, right?"

Olivia quickly changed the subject. "But first, um, Serena, you should probably talk to Marie before Sherry and Simon get mad."

"Yeah," Serena agreed, walking out.

"Bye," Dan told her.

Olivia waved. "Bye."

Olivia closed the door.

X • O ° X • O

Hallway

Serena walked down the hallway, seeing Blair.

Blair was surprised to see her. "S. I just got back from watching Theo after Wyatt relieved me. What are you doing here? I hope you're not here looking for an apology."

Serena walked past Blair without a look. "No, I was just dropping something off to Olivia."

Blair turned after Serena. "Oh, that's right. I momentarily forgot your job is more important than your friends."

Serena turned to look at Blair. "I have a couple minutes. Do you wanna get a latte?"

"If by getting a latte, you mean apologizing, then no, I don't," Blair answered.

Serena stepped closer. "Out of respect for our many years of friendship, I'm willing to let what you did slide."

"What I did?" Blair repeated.

"Putting paparazzi over every exit of the club and the hotel after Chuck and Dylan called the police to bust the party after Zaya, Sadie and Brittany put on a show at a club that shouldn't have been open, knowing the risk of what happens when Zaya and Sadie get caught doing something in public that is bad in Richard's eyes, not just for them but for Laureen too..." Serena trailed off.

Blair knew she had a point, looking away. "I told you and James. Chuck, Dylan, Wyatt and I thought of that and had Zaya and Sadie stay in the club until things passed."

"But it didn't pass," Serena replied. "James had to gather all the paparazzi he could so that Noe could get them out. But people were filming that performance so who knows if Richard saw it or not. He could end up snapping, my cousins and my aunt could end up hurt, Sadie's vessel could end up bursting. You were mad at me because I chose to stand by Chuck, Dylan, Wyatt and Theo at the club, for them, Hope, Brooklyn, Thyra and Alex, but you did the exact same thing and much worse."

Blair looked guilty with the way Serena put that, knowing that it was true, but didn't want to. "I've already apologized to Zaya and Sadie. They're not mad at me, or Dylan, Chuck and Wyatt, so I don't know why you are. Just like how you were the only one mad about Harry getting Hope to lie about the second part of the plan to save Carter when Alex, James, Zaya, Sadie, Aurora, Beck and Eric went to save him, and they didn't tell you, Nate, Noe and Marie so that all of you could get home safe without getting caught."

"It was gambling with Noe and Marie's mind states, and they should've been mad," Serena replied.

"But since it was to protect everyone, they weren't, and they weren't hurt," Blair countered. "You could have at least set aside this anger after what happened yesterday with Angela. Theo could be in risk of losing his mother."

"That's why I wanted to talk to you," Serena told her. "Because of Angela and Theo."

Blair shook her head. "Spare me, Serena. I actually have to go meet Chuck right now. Marie, Hope, Thyra, Brooklyn, Dylan and Chuck have been going nonstop prepping for Tripp Vanderbilt's election party tonight because it's distracting them from the worry we feel about Angela and everything. Oh, including Carter, who has to meet with some of the Silence people after what happened in Rome, and we don't know if he's gonna be okay, but we can't do anything about it considering that if we do, he'll be outed as a mole in the organization and then there's likely gonna be a lot more targets and death." Serena looked surprised by that. "Oh, Noe and Marie didn't tell you? Makes sense after the way you treated Noe last night, and Marie not telling you makes sense too. So unless you wanna make things worse for them, I'd suggest staying away from the party tonight."

Serena was tired of Blair treating her like she was the one in the wrong when Blair was too. "I am going to the party tonight, and I'm going to talk with Noe, Marie, Alex, Nate and Hope. Maybe make things right. I'll be going with Prince Shea. You know, the other best friend of mine that hasn't stabbed me in the back more times than I can count." Blair frowned, looking hurt by that and jealous. "Since Dylan and Wyatt are gonna have to take care of Theo until Angela wakes up, and Hope, Brooklyn, Thyra and Chuck are working the party, and James is gonna be helping them, and Carter's on a mission, who are you going with, one of your knockoffs?"

"Well, since you're so interested, I have made real friends here," Blair told her. Amalia walked up behind Blair. "I just don't share your need to brag."

Serena was not convinced. "Okay. Well, I can't wait to meet them tonight."

Serena turned around, walking away.

Blair looked at Amalia. "I need a friend. Stat."

"I'm your friend," Amalia told her.

Blair scoffed in disgust. "Please. I'm not friends with staff."

X • O ° X • O

Dominic's Mansion - Dining Room

Laureen, Zaya, Sadie and Dominic were having a meal.

"Thanks for inviting us over to eat, Dominic," Zaya told him. "With the Crew busy with the Vanderbilt party, with Harry and Aurora helping, and everyone worried about Emilia, Angela and Theo, and others fighting, we don't have a lot to do really today."

"It's my pleasure," Dominic told them.

Sadie smiled a bit. "I do have to go soon. I have to meet up with my partner for a project in class."

"What kind of project?" Laureen asked.

"Literature book presentation," Sadie answered.

Zaya smirked. "With Preston Shea. Isn't that right, Sadie?"

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Zaya."

Laureen and Dominic smiled a bit in amusement.

"Isn't Preston Shea that kid pop star, your age, Sadie?" Dominic asked. "Prince Shea's younger brother."

"Yeah," Sadie answered.

"She's in denial about her crush like you two used to be about your feelings for each other," Zaya told them, taking a bite of food nonchalantly.

Sadie, Laureen and Dominic were slightly amused being put on the spot like that. Sadie gave Zaya a push, both sisters smiling, causing Laureen and Dominic to smile a little.

"Zaya..." Dominic trailed off.

"Yeah, yeah," Zaya said.

Laureen looked at Sadie. "Preston's a friend of yours, right?"

"I wouldn't go as far to say 'friend' right now, but..." Sadie trailed off. "Just a partner."

"Sadie, if you're just saying that because you're worried about what will happen if your father found out, you don't have to keep it from us," Laureen told her. "You know that Zaya, Dominic and I would protect you, always."

Sadie nodded. "I know. It's just... Zaya and I have to stay out of the spotlight because of Dad, and Preston has to stay out of it because if he gets bad press, then he might not get this movie with Prince, and then their parents would kill them, so..."

"I'm sure that once things cool down for all of you, it will be fine, Sadie," Dominic told her. "For you, Zaya, Laureen, Preston, Prince."

"Marie too since she has this thing with Prince now because of their kiss," Sadie added.

Dominic chuckled. "Right."

"But enough about me," Sadie told them. "I see you two have fully stopped denying your feelings. Are you two together together?"

"We work together," Laureen told them.

Zaya smirked. "If that's what you're calling it."

Dominic chuckled. "Zaya. Sadie."

"What?" Zaya asked. "We just... we think you deserve a second chance, Mom. And we want you and Dominic to be happy."

Laureen nodded sarcastically, teasingly. "Well, now that you've once again made it clear that we have you permission, we'll make sure we fall deeply in love."

Dominic smiled.

"Hey, don't act like it's impossible," Sadie told them.

Dominic chuckled. "At least this is easy for the four of us. Together, talking."

"Bonding," Laureen added.

Dominic nodded in agreement. "Exactly. The hard part is..."

"Dad," Zaya finished. "But, Mom, if you find someone you can be in love with who's also your friend, wouldn't that be the best thing?"

"I don't know," Laureen stated. "It sounded like a fairytale at first, compared to the nightmare we've been living."

Sadie shrugged. "Well, there's nothing wrong with fairytales. Everyone ends up happily ever after."

"Well, after this nightmare is over for real..." Dominic trailed off. "I wish that the three of you get that happily ever after."

Zaya smirked, raising an eyebrow, taking a sip of mimosa. "With you?"

Laureen and Dominic chuckled at their bluntness and persistency.

Laureen smiled. "I guess we'll see how it goes."

Zaya and Sadie smiled. Dominic chuckled, shaking his head, smiling.

X • O ° X • O

Dock

Harry, Alex, Hope and Tripp were on the dock.

Vanessa was nearby, filming a guy about the election. "So, it's election day. Who are you voting for?"

Alex's phone rang. He looked at the Caller ID to see it was Serena.

"You need to get that?" Tripp asked.

Alex hung up. "No, it's not important."

"Tripp, if this morning's polls put you neck and neck with Sullivan, then there's still time," Harry told him. "So why not let Father help you?"

"Harry, I've said it before, and I'll say it again," Tripp told him. "I'd rather lose fair and square than win with a dirty campaign."

"Yeah, well, asking Grandfather for help doesn't necessarily mean playing dirty," Alex told him.

Hope looked around. "I wonder where Nate and Noe went off too."

They heard a man's voice. "Hey, someone's drowning over here! Call 911!"

A man was in the water, thrashing, trying to get out. Everyone ran close.

"Help!" the man told them. "I can't swim! Help!"

Tripp dove into the water, swimming toward the man to save him. Alex, Hope and Harry watched in shock.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "It looks like Tripp's prayers have been answered with another miracle on the Hudson. Are the Vanderbilts blessed with good luck or good timing?"

X • O ° X • O

Hospital - Angela's Hospital Room

Emilia was with Angela, sitting by her bedside, holding her hand. Angela was slowly starting to wake up.

Emilia looked at Angela in relief, sighing heavily, brushing back some of her hair. "Mija."

Angela was very confused, disoriented, out of it. "Where... where am I?"

"You're in the hospital," Emilia answered.

Angela frowned. "Why? What happened?"

Emilia frowned, concerned. "You don't know? What do you remember?"

Angela tried to think, but looked scared. "Nothing. I don't remember... anything. Please, tell me... who are you? Who am I?"

Emilia looked completely stunned and heartbroken by Angela's apparent loss of complete memory.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "Though it looks like the De Los Caballeros are cursed with the worst luck of all time. Losing Giselle and Ivan, and now Angela's memory. Wonder how Emilia can fix this to get her daughter back and give Theo his mother back."

X • O ° X • O

X • O ° X • O

Ultrasound Room

Noe and Nate went to the hospital for a checkup and an ultrasound. When the doctor lifted up Noe's shirt and exposed her belly, Nate couldn't help but smile. Noe smiled in return.

Nate smiled. "I can't believe it." The doctor put the gel on Noe's stomach. "Is it cold?"

"Just a bit," Noe answered.

The doctor picked up the ultrasound wand, running it over Noe's stomach slowly. "So, we're going to find the heartbeat first."

Noe nodded, waiting until she heard the heartbeat, and got excited when she did. "There it is."

A sudden happiness took over both Noe and Nate as they heard their baby's heartbeat for the first time, both in awe.

Nate smiled. "Oh, my God." He took Noe's hand, their fingers intertwined. "That's the heartbeat."

Noe smiled. "Yeah, it is."

The doctor turned on the screen to show the sonogram of the baby. "And here she is too."

Noe and Nate looked at her in surprise. "She?"

The doctor smiled. "I'm sorry, did you want it to be a surprise?"

"No, it's fine," Nate answered.

Noe smiled with tears in her eyes. "We're gonna have a girl?"

Nate had a tear falling as well. "It's our daughter."

Noe smiled. "Nate, you're crying."

Nate smiled. "I'm happy, Noe." He rested his hand above Noe's head, stroking his thumb at her temple, as both smiled purely in happiness. He looked at the doctor. "Um, can we have pictures? We have family and friends who would like to see."

"Yeah, sure," the doctor answered, putting the ultrasound wand away, handing a cloth to Noe. "Well, your baby girl is physically healthy. And I know the doctors are concerned about..."

Noe wiped the gel off her stomach. "Mental well being because of mine, from my accident a couple years ago."

"Well, yes," the doctor answered. "But we can't be sure of anything until well after the birth, when you will know for sure."

"Thank you," Nate told her.

The doctor nodded. "I'll be right back with those pictures."

"Thanks," Noe told her.

The doctor left the room.

"Noe, I know you're worried, but she is gonna be just fine," Nate told her.

"How do you know that?" Noe asked.

"Because she's a survivor, just like you," Nate answered. "And you're not doing all of this on your own."

Noe smiled, and Nate held her close. Noe returned the embrace, as both shared a kiss.

X • O ° X • O

Hallway

Emilia was speaking with Dylan, Wyatt, Harry, Aurora and Laureen.

"What's wrong?" Laureen asked. "Aurora, why did you call me?"

"We need your expertise," Aurora answered. "Laureen, this is Emilia De Los Caballeros, Angela's mother. Theo's grandmother. Emilia, this is Laureen von Miller. Dylan's adoptive aunt. Theo's adoptive great aunt."

Emilia and Laureen nodded to each other.

"What's going on?" Laureen asked.

"Angela doesn't remember anything," Emilia answered. "Not even who she is. It's bad."

Aurora nodded. "I was talking to the doctors. There's brain swelling. Transient global amnesia. It's neurological damage, which is why we asked you here, Laureen."

Harry handed Angela's file to Laureen. "This is Angela's case file. See what you can make of it."

Laureen looked over the file. "Angela's diagnosis is as psychological as it is physiological."

"So what are you saying?" Dylan asked. "That it's not just from her injuries?"

Laureen shook her head. "Her mind shut down. It's a defense to deal with the trauma, like Marie and her DID."

"So Angela's not like Noe with this amnesia, she's like Marie, since it's a defensive mechanism to protect them both," Wyatt explained.

Laureen nodded in agreement. "Angela needs someone to just make an emotional connection with her, so she feels safe to be, well, Angela again."

"Laureen, I was just with Angela," Emilia told her. "That didn't work."

"She just woke up and she's on edge and she's scared," Laureen pointed out. "But you, Emilia... as her mother, I think you're the only one that can make her feel safe enough, given the time, empathy and caring, to make her feel safe enough so her mind will lower its guard and let her remember everything. And she's not exactly primed to find her happy place in there."

Dylan looked worried. "If she even has one after everything she went through."

"Well, we need to hurry to get Angela to remember," Harry told them. "I mean, Emilia hasn't heard from Giovanni, and for all we know, someone is biding their time, waiting to finish the job."

"You're right," Aurora agreed. "But that's why Harry, Emilia and I are here, for Angela."

"I'm not going to let anything happen to Angela," Emilia told them. "I just need to make sure I can help her get her memories back. Make her feel safe enough to where she can be her again. Laureen, thank you."

Laureen nodded in agreement, sympathy. "Of course. I wish you luck."

"There is someone else we know that Angela loves without condition," Wyatt pointed out. "Theo."

"Maybe seeing Theo could help, right?" Dylan asked.

"I'd wait a little while before bringing in Theo, since telling a 16, almost 17 year old without memories that she's a mother, might not bode well," Laureen pointed out. "Dylan, Wyatt, at least wait a little while to bring Theo in until Emilia can help Angela with some of her memories."

"Okay, sure," Dylan agreed.

"I'm going in there with Angela," Emilia told them. "Aurora, could you keep an eye out in case there are any attacks?"

"Yeah, of course," Aurora answered.

Harry sighed. "I have to get back to the campaign for my family, but call me if you need anything."

"We will," Wyatt agreed.

"Thank you," Emilia told them. "All of you."

Noe and Nate walked down the hallway, seeing them, looking nervous that they were busted, not knowing what was going on.

"Hey," Noe greeted. "Laureen, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Noe," Laureen replied. 

"Noe, Nate, where the hell have you two been?" Harry asked. "You disappeared on us."

Wyatt realized that they were there for a baby appointment, looking at them expectantly, but didn't say anything.

"Uh, sorry, Harry, but Noe had an appointment," Nate explained, not going further into detail.

Noe saw Emilia. "Is that Emilia?"

"Who the hell are you?" Emilia asked.

"That's Noe, my adoptive sister," Dylan answered. "So she's Theo's adoptive aunt."

Emilia nodded, looking away. "Well, at least Theo has no shortage of family here then."

"No shortage at all," Wyatt agreed.

"Is it Angela?" Noe asked. "Is she okay?"

The others exchanged a look, not knowing what to say, sighing heavily.

X • O ° X • O

Coney Island

Sadie was walking along the beach of Coney Island, seeing Preston, wearing the hat and jacket that Sadie had borrowed for him from Eric, sitting in a chair, smiling, walking closer. "Excuse me, is this seat taken? No? Oh, okay." She sat down. "What a beautiful day. Isn't a beautiful day." Preston had been sleeping with sunglasses on, waking up when he heard Sadie. "Oh, I'm sorry. You were sleeping? Did I wake you? No? Oh, then you're awake. Good." Preston didn't realize it was her because he had his head down, glasses on and arms crossed, eyes closed. Sadie picked up a bottle of sunscreen sarcastically. "Would you put some sunscreen on my back?"

Preston finally looked up and at Sadie, lowering his sunglasses. They both smiled.

Preston chuckled. "How did you know it was me?"

"The hat and jacket," Sadie answered.

Preston nodded, taking off his sunglasses. "Now what are you doing here? I thought we were supposed to meet later."

"I came early, and I'm having fun," Sadie answered. "I can have fun, you know." Preston smirked in amusement. "And what are you doing here, sleeping? Go home."

Preston scratched his head. "I tried."

"And?" Sadie asked.

Preston shook his head. "Nah, you wouldn't understand."

Sadie nodded sarcastically. "Oh. So you think you're so special that you think a regular old trust fund baby like me couldn't possibly understand how hard it is to be you?"

Preston nodded, tilting his head. "Okay. There were about 10 paparazzi parked outside my house with their cameras."

"Oh," Sadie said. "Yeah, that is tough. At least it's paparazzi keeping you from being able to go home instead of your own father."

Preston looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

Sadie realized she said that out loud, shaking her head. "Forget I said that. It doesn't matter."

"Well, it sounds like it matters," Preston told her.

"Well, I'm not gonna tell you," Sadie replied. "Trust me, you would be the one who wouldn't understand."

Preston shrugged. "Fine. Don't tell me. Plus Prince ditched me to hang out with Serena, and to get us an invitation to the political party tonight because our parents say that we need to go in order to get ready for this movie role, and so Prince could talk to Marie about our parents wanting to hire her because of how well she planned the 20s party and because of her talent and being in a fake relationship with Prince. So I don't have a ride home anyway." He looked at Sadie curiously. "Did you take car service here?"

"Yeah," Sadie answered. "No one else could take me."

Preston nodded in understanding. "Maybe we could find a ride. Come on."

Preston stood, offering a hand to Sadie. Sadie looked at him for a moment before taking his hand and letting him help her up. They walked toward the parking lot.

"What are we doing?" Sadie asked.

They saw several paparazzi vans pull up.

Preston ducked, pulling Sadie down with him. "Duck! Down. Get down. I can't believe it. How do they know where to find me?"

"You're really predictable," Sadie answered.

"Not helping," Preston told her, taking off his sunglasses, holding them toward Sadie. "Here, put these on." Sadie looked at him weirdly. Preston tilted his head at her. "Unless you want to be spotted by Gossip Girl readers and posted about."

Sadie took the sunglasses from Preston, putting them on. "Good point."

Preston checked the cars nearby, finding a car door that was unlocked, starting to get in. "All right, get in the car."

Sadie got into the vintage car. "Are we really in an unknown car right now?"

"You got a better idea on how to get out of here?" Preston asked.

"Uh, no," Sadie answered.

"Quick, buckle up," Preston told her, lowering his head, and putting his hand on Sadie's head to lower her head. "Put your head down."

Sadie leaned down in her seat. "It's down."

Preston looked through the visors, finding the keys to the car. "Ah, great. That makes things easier. Who's stupid enough to leave their keys in the car?"

Sadie chuckled. "Oh, you'd be surprised." Preston looked through the glove department. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for something," Preston answered, finding a head scarf, handing it to Sadie. "Here, put this on."

Sadie put the scarf on around her head to better hide her identity. Preston had his shoulders up high so he could hide his face with the jacket, still wearing the hat so it could help hide his identity, as he pulled out of the parking lot and started to drive away. When they realized that they had tricked the paparazzi and got right past them under their noses without being noticed, they both laughed.

"Okay," Sadie said. "I'm liking this Bonnie and Clyde vibe."

Preston smiled. "Me too." Sadie took off the head scarf. "Oh, I need my sunglasses back."

Sadie adjusted the sunglasses over her eyes. "Oh, I don't know. I kind of like them."

Preston chuckled. "I'll give them to you. Later."

Sadie faked a mocking gasp. "For reals?" She took the sunglasses off. "Because my friends just won't believe that I, Sadie von Miller, have an actual pair of Preston Shea sunglasses worn by Preston Shea himself." Preston smiled, biting his lip, looking at Sadie in amusement, knowing she was being sarcastic. Sadie faked another gasp. "Will you autograph them for me?"

Preston smirked. "Ha ha. Very funny."

Sadie dropped the act, smirking. "What? No, but seriously, I really want these glasses."

Preston held out his hand. "Uh-huh. Give them. Come on."

Sadie smiled, putting the sunglasses in his hand. "I still need Eric's hat and jacket back."

"Yeah, I'll give them to you after all this with the sunglasses," Preston told her.

Sadie propped her elbow up on the open window frame of the car door, to use her hand to prop her head up as she looked at Preston. "So how long do I have to drive around with you this time?"

Preston shrugged. "Only until the paparazzi leave the beach. Hey, let's go do something."

"Like what?" Sadie asked.

"Anything," Preston answered.

"I thought you needed to get home," Sadie told him.

Preston smiled. "I'll take the long way. And we still got to work on our project anyway, so we might as well make it fun." Sadie smiled, turning on the radio, only to find one of Preston's songs was on. They both laughed, looking at each other. Preston shrugged. "What can I say?"

X • O ° X • O

The Empire - Penthouse

Many, many people were gathered in the penthouse while watching the news about how Tripp saved the man in the river.

Man: (on TV) "You're watching New York 1. News all day."

A anchorwoman appeared on the screen.

The headline read: BREAKING NEWS. VANDERBILT RIVER RESCUE

Anchorwoman: (on TV) "Just this morning, congressional candidate Tripp Vanderbilt rescued a man who was drowning in the Hudson River."

Tripp and the man appeared on the screen, sitting in the back of an ambulance.

The man was wrapped in a blanket. "One minute I'm walking along the pier, and the next thing I know, I lose my balance, and boom, I'm in the Hudson. If it wasn't for this brave, young man, Tripp Vanderbilt..."

The anchorwoman appeared. "Apparently Vanderbilt was on his way to his..."

William paced in front of the TV. "Ten hours till the polls close. Let's seize the day, gentlemen. Where are we with the media."

"I've locked down coverage from every local station or the midday news," a man told him.

"Time to call Couric," William told them. "She owes me a favor. Maybe she can squeeze Tripp into the evening news."

Alex walked up to William. "Excuse me, Grandfather. Can  I speak with you for a moment?"

William nodded.

"Zogby has them neck and neck," the man told them. "Rasmussen puts him up by a point."

Maureen laughed. "Tripp, that's fantastic."

"Remember, until the polls close, any time someone mentions the name Tripp Vanderbilt, it should be followed by the word hero," William told them.

Alex and William walked away to talk alone.

"Well, I guess miracles do happen, huh, Grandfather?" Alex asked, having a suspicion that William was behind the man's apparent near drowning.

William nodded. "Our family is really blessed. So is that man who almost died."

Alex was skeptical.

Zaya walked up to where Brooklyn and Thyra working. "Hey, this is quite the turn out."

"Zaya, hey," Brooklyn told her. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, Sadie's working on a project with Preston Shea, Blair's doing her own thing, Carter's gone, Dylan, Wyatt and James are with Theo, and the rest of the Crew's here," Zaya answered. "I figured that I could do something to help."

Thyra nodded in agreement. "That would be so helpful, thank you."

Brooklyn and Thyra were worried.

Zaya looked at them in concern. "Mom told me about Angela's memories. Do you think Emilia can get her to remember?"

"That's what we're all counting on," Brooklyn told her. "I don't know what'll happen if Angela doesn't get her memories back. Dylan and Theo..."

"Well, don't think like that," Zaya told them. "Emilia's gonna get Angela to remember and things are gonna be better. You'll see."

Thyra nodded. "Okay. Let's get to work."

Brooklyn, Thyra and Zaya all nodded.

Elsewhere in the penthouse, Hope was were walking along, seeing Vanessa on her phone.

Vanessa was on her phone, smiling. "Absolutely. No, thank you. Thank you so, so, much." She hung up, looking at Hope, smiling. "My rescue footage is gonna be on the news tonight. William told me to go out and drum up some interest, and it looks like I'm the only one who got it all on tape."

Hope nodded. "Congratulations."

Vanessa put her camera in her bag. "I've gotta go home and get my tapes together. Bye."

"Later," Hope told her.

Vanessa walked out.

Serena walked in behind Alex. "Alex, hey. Have you seen Noe, Nate, Marie and Hope?"

Alex turned to look at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I left you a message," Serena told him. "You--you never called me back."

"Yeah, well, as you can see, I've been sort of busy," Alex told her. "We all have been."

"Right," Serena agreed.

Nate, Noe, Hope and Marie saw them, walking closer.

Marie sighed. "Serena, what are you doing here? If you're trying to stir up another fight like last night..."

"No, no, I'm not," Serena answered. "I mean, I don't get why you and Noe aren't mad, Marie. Or Zaya and Sadie. After everything that happened, but, uh... it's fine, I guess."

"After the way you talked to me last night, not sure if I want to talk to you right now," Noe told her.

"And I'm sorry," Serena told her. "I shouldn't have taken it out on you. And I'll make this quick. Alex, do you think that you and Nate can put me and Prince and Preston Shea on the guest list for Tripp's party tonight?"

"Are you kidding me?" Hope asked. "After everything you've said and held against us because we were trying to make sure that everyone was safe..."

"And risking my sisters and cousins at the same time," Serena replied.

"Noe, Zaya, Sadie and I are not mad, Serena, so you can stop being," Marie told her.

"Marie, my job is at stake, and Sherry and Simon want to talk to you about a job given everything with the party planning and Prince, and..." Serena trailed off.

Marie looked down. 

Nate wanted to stop the fighting because of Noe. "Fine. If it'll stop the fight and put it behind us."

Noe sighed in relief. Marie nodded in agreement. Hope and Alex nodded.

"Thank you," Serena told them. "I'll see you guys."

Harry was at the back of the room, on the phone. "Look, thanks for calling to check in, Aurora, but you can worry more about Angela and Emilia right now than the party."

Aurora was still in the hospital hallway, making sure no one could come after Angela while she was so defenseless. "I'm multitasking. I can worry about Angela and Emilia and worry about the rest of the Crew and family. This whole Hudson hero thing sounds kinda like a set up if you ask me. Something that your father would do."

"Honestly, I thought the same thing, and so did Alex," Harry admitted. "But, uh, I guess we'll see. Listen, Rory, keep me posted about everything, okay? If you see any sign that you may need help..."

Aurora smirked, tilting her head. "I think you're forgetting who you're talking to, Harry. I don't need your help."

Harry smirked in amusement, nodding. "Right. Still. I don't want you getting hurt. Or Angela or Emilia."

"Well, Angela might be defenseless right now, but Emilia and I are not," Aurora pointed out. "We'll be fine, Harry. I promise."

"Okay," Harry agreed. "Have you heard from Carter?"

"Not yet," Aurora answered. "I'm worried, but I know Carter can handle himself too. I just... hope that he's not made as a mole. I wish I could be there with him but I can't. James, Thyra, Hope and I all wanted to try to be there but knowing we can't without getting him exposed. Blair and Wyatt are just as worried. Like I know Marie is."

"I know," Harry told her. "But Carter's gonna come home to you, James, Thyra, Hope, Blair and Wyatt. And he's gonna get back to Marie. Emilia's gonna get Angela's memories back. And Theo's gonna get his mother. Things will be okay, Aurora."

Aurora sighed heavily. "I hope so."

Harry and Aurora hesitated on the phone a moment longer before hanging up.

X • O ° X • O

Waldorf Penthouse - Nursery

The nursery was closer to being done. Dylan and Wyatt were with Theo.

James walked up behind Dylan and Wyatt to check on them. "Hey."

Dylan and Wyatt turned to look at him. 

"Hey, James," Dylan told them.

"I heard about Angela's memories," James explained. "Dylan, Wyatt, I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Wyatt told him.

James sighed, walking closer.

"What are we gonna do if Angela can't remember?" Dylan asked.

"She will, once she feels safe," Wyatt assured. "Laureen said as much."

"I know both of you have been exhausted trying to take care of Theo and worrying about Angela throughout all of this because you don't want Theo to lose his mother, and Angela doesn't deserve all this," James told them. "Look, we're all worried. The Crew, the family. Just, uh... both of you know that Angela is going to survive. The doctors said that. And Laureen said that Emilia can get Angela's memories back. You guys can breathe again, and know that she's gonna be back sooner than you know. Back to being her badass, ruthless and caring self. And no one's gonna be able to hurt you guys. And I'm worried about Carter with the Silence, but I have to believe that he's gonna be okay to, and that he'll come back home, and Hope, Thyra, Wyatt, Blair, Aurora, Marie, Cyrus, Eleanor and I won't lose him. So that none of the Crew does. Like I've already lost Caroline because of the Silence."

Dylan and Wyatt were relieved to have James here telling them this, also trying to reassure him.

"Carter's gonna be okay, James," Dylan told him. "I mean, he's a badass."

They managed small chuckles.

Wyatt sighed heavily. "You're not gonna lose Carter like you lost Caroline, James. And Hope, Thyra, Aurora, Blair, Cyrus, Mom and I aren't either. And neither is Marie. The Crew's not gonna lose Carter, and we're gonna make sure that Angela's okay, and Theo has his mother, and that all of you are free from the Silence since Angela did finish the job that Giovanni gave her and Emilia."

The three of them nodded, worried, but trying to keep faith.

"Angela and Emilia have literally killed to keep Theo safe, James," Dylan pointed out. "To make sure that they, you, Carter, Hope, Thyra and Aurora got free from the Silence completely. So no one from the Crew would be in danger."

James sighed heavily, nodding in agreement. "Now it's just a matter of time before we learn if we're actually free or not. We just have to... keep hope that we'll be okay."

"Thank you, James," Wyatt told him. "For talking to us like this."

"Of course," James agreed.

Dylan sighed, nodding, reassured that things would be okay.

X • O ° X • O

Café

(Song:) Float - Quitzow

Blair was sitting at a table with Amalia, Sophie, and the twin minions she had been speaking to at the end of 3.04. "Washington Square Park, Bobst Library, bar none. I even tried spinning the cube in St. Mark's place, but not a friend in sight. I just know this wouldn't be so hard at Yale."

"What about that Vanessa girl?" Sophie asked. "Didn't you know her in high school?"

Blair looked down. "I have never heard that name before in my life." She looked at Sophie. "Now feel free to see yourself out." Sophie stood, walking away. Blair looked at the counter, seeing a woman with a very expensive and new purse, a woman named Brandeis. "Oh, my God. How does that girl have the Valentino 360 bag? I'm still waitlisted."

"Who?" Amalia asked. "Where?"

"At the register," Blair answered. "Quick, how do I look?"

"Superior," Amalia answered.

Blair sighed. "No one follow me." She stood, walking toward Brandeis. "Love your 360."

Brandeis smiled. "Thanks. I just got it."

"Very smart to pair it with Peter Som," Blair complimented.

Brandeis was impressed. "You're good."

Blair smiled. "I know. I'm Blair. May I?"

Brandeis held the bag toward Blair. "Oh, please, do."

Blair touched the bag. "Oh. The moment I saw it, it joined my list of Blair's most wanted. Believe me when I tell you, I don't say this very often. But I think I like you."

Brandeis looked at Blair's shoes. "Well, give me those peep toes and maybe I'll believe you."

Blair smirked. "Sorry. My Alexandre Birmans are sacred."

Brandeis smiled. "Amen." They both chuckled. Brandeis shook Blair's hand. "By the way, I'm Brandeis."

Blair smiled. "How would you like to come with me to a fabulous party tonight?"

They smiled.

X • O ° X • O

Times Square

(Song:) Ruin My Life - Zara Larsson

Sadie and Preston were going through Times Square and all the vendors and booths set up, wearing their disguises to do so so they wouldn't be posted on Gossip Girl because someone recognized Sadie, or be bombarded by paparazzi because of Preston. They got to try on several pairs of sunglasses from an outside store, smiling, laughing and having a good time. Preston pointed up to one of the signs, which advertised a world tour coming up for him. Sadie put Preston in front of the sign so she could take a picture of Preston in front of the sign for Preston's world tour. Going all around the amazing sites of New York, they were taking many pictures, with Sadie taking pictures of Preston, or Preston taking pictures of Sadie, or them taking pictures together.

X • O ° X • O

On the Road - Car

Sadie and Preston were driving, and singing along to the song that was playing on the radio, though it was the edited version since it was on the radio. "You set fire to my world, couldn't handle the heat / Now I'm sleeping alone and I'm starting to freeze / Baby, come bring me hell / Let it rain over me / Baby, come back to me / I want you to ruin my life / You to ruin my life, you to ruin my life, yeah / I want you to mess up my nights, yeah / Mess up my nights, yeah, all of my nights, yeah / I want you to bring it all on / If you make it all wrong, then I'll make it all right, yeah / I want you to ruin my life / You to ruin my life, you to run in my life / I miss you more than I thought that I could / I miss you / I know you missing me too like you should / I miss you, I miss you / I wish you, I wish you / Would come back, would come back to me / Come back to me, come back to me."

"You are really good," Preston told her. "Especially at the speakeasy with Zaya and Marie."

Sadie smiled. "Thanks. I took some lessons for singing, and years of dancing, but my sister Zaya is more into both singing and dancing. She's gonna be on Broadway some day."

"That's awesome," Preston told her. "And you said that you wanted to be a neurologist."

Sadie nodded in agreement. "Mm-hmm."

"How do you already know that that's what you want to do?" Preston asked. "I mean, most kids don't know what they want to be until they're not kids anymore."

Sadie shrugged, looking down. "Well, this kid might not have an entire long life to figure it out and start doing what she wants to do." Preston frowned in confusion and concern. "And, uh, other than neurology, I'm into romance novels, obviously."

Preston smirked. "Obviously. So you want to be a neurologist, you are a hacker, you sing, dance, make clothes. What else can you do?"

Sadie smirked. "A lot of things." Preston smiled. Sadie chuckled, looking out the window. "It's been such a perfect day. You know, besides the Crew and the family worrying about Angela, while Dylan, Wyatt, Theo, and Aurora are there for her, along with her mother Emilia, but this has been a perfect distraction from everything, at least until tonight until Alex and Nate Archibald and Harry Vanderbilt's party tonight for their family, so thank you."

(Song Ends)

Preston saw paparazzi vans driving closer through the rear view mirror. "Not anymore." He was very frustrated. "Man. I need to lose these vans."

Knowing they were in the middle of nowhere, Sadie picked up a road map that they had gotten when they were going around the city. "Okay, take your next left."

"You sure?" Preston asked.

Sadie nodded. "Yes." Preston took the next left quickly. The paparazzi vans continued on, not having seen where they went. "Okay, if you take your next left, the road loops back to the highway." They drove along a dirt road. "Or maybe not."

"This isn't even a road anymore," Preston told her. "This is a firebreak, it has to be."

"Just--just keep driving," Sadie told him.

"The last sign said 'dear crossing'," Preston told her. "There are no deer."

"You complain more than Serena," Sadie told him.

"Are we on the right road or not?" Preston asked.

"We are, we just have to go a little farther," Sadie answered, pointing at the map. "See?" Preston leaned his head over to try and see. Sadie turned his head back to front. "Keep your eyes on the road."

Preston shook his head. "You're such a know-it-all. 'Turn here, this is the right road, I'm sure of it'."

"I am sure of it, and I'll prove it when we get to the highway," Sadie told him.

They were too busy bickering to realize that the car stopped.

"You always have to be right about everything," Preston told her.

"No, I don't," Sadie denied. "I just am most of the time."

"And you're defensive," Preston added.

Sadie pulled her hair into a ponytail, very annoyed, realizing they weren't going anywhere. "Move the car. We're not moving." Preston realized the same thing, pushing his foot harder on the gas, when they realized that the car had gotten stuck in the middle of a patch of very deep swampy mud water which the car was starting to sink into. "Oh, great."

When the car sunk like a small drop, Sadie gasped.

Preston sighed. "We'll have to get out and push." They started to climb out of the windows. "Wait, wait, wait. Look, I'll help you."

"I don't need your help," Sadie told him.

They climbed up to the top of the car.

"Why are you so mad?" Preston asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Sadie told him sarcastically. "This."

"Turning on this road was not my idea," Preston told her.

They stood up on the roof of the car.

"You're blaming me?" Sadie asked incredulously. "This is the right road." She pointed up the road to show Preston that the highway sign was up several meters. "There's the highway. I told you. I'm a good navigator, you're just a terrible driver."

"I'm a great driver," Preston retorted.

Sadie nodded sarcastically. "Right."

"Sadie, we're gonna have to jump," Preston told her.

Sadie shook her head. "I am not jumping. I don't know if I can with that distance."

Preston frowned, confused by what she meant by that, since he didn't know that jumping that far could put too much strain on her heart vessel, not yet knowing about her heart condition. "You got a better idea?"

Sadie spotted a branch nearby. "Use the branch as a bridge."

Preston gestured to the branch before putting his hands on his hips. "It does not look stable."

"It looks fine," Sadie told him.

"All right," Preston agreed, climbing down to the window of the car to stand on it, reaching his leg over to the branch. "Here goes."

There was loud sinking noises as the car got further into the water.

"It's sinking and making noises," Sadie told him. "Go faster."

Preston climbed onto the branch. "Okay. Just give me your hand." Sadie took Preston's hand, but when he tried to pull her up onto the branch, they both lost balance and fell into the water, gasping. "Come on, let me help you up."

Preston climbed up onto the branch, helping Sadie up, and they crawled the rest of the way to the other side of the swampy water, to the road, climbing down, and they watched as the car sunk completely underwater.

"Well, at least we won't get in trouble for stealing," Sadie pointed out. They both looked at each other, and getting over their bickering, they both started to laugh. "Oh, my God."

Preston sighed, smiling. "Yeah."

"So, we walk?" Sadie asked.

Preston nodded. "We walk." They started to walk. "But where the hell do we walk?"

"Back to the beach at Coney Island?" Sadie suggested. "That's where my mom and Zaya know where I went. We can see if they're there so they can take us home."

Preston nodded. "Yeah, sure, okay." Sadie started to walk in the wrong direction. "Uh, Sadie?" Sadie turned back. Preston pointed behind them. "Coney Island's that way."

Sadie and Preston sighed, walking further in that direction, opposite way of the highway since Coney Island was in the other direction.

X • O ° X • O

Hospital - Angela's Room

Emilia sat by Angela's bedside.

Angela was confused and overwhelmed, tearful. "Why didn't I remember that you're my mother?"

Emilia sighed heavily, being very soft-toned, sympathetic, feeling her daughter's confusion and pain immensely, showing her how much she cared for her and how worried she was about her. "You went through something horrible. Tragic. As we both have all of our lives. Your father and I tried everything in our power to make sure that you and your sister could protect yourselves from getting hurt. And you both managed to protect yourselves and others so incredibly well."

"Sister?" Angela repeated.

Emilia nodded sadly. "Yes, sister. Giselle. Both of you were inseparable. And I couldn't have been more proud of either you. Your father couldn't have been more proud either."

"Where are they?" Angela asked.

Emilia gently brushed back Angela's hair, not wanting to tell her since she knew that it would be the opposite of helpful. "They couldn't be here now. But I can tell you that they loved you and me more than anything. We loved each other more than anything. No matter the struggles that we went through, together as a family, or independently."

"How can I not remember any of it?" Angela asked.

"It's completely natural for you not to after what happened," Emilia assured.

"Do you think I'm weak?" Angela asked in a scared, broken voice with tears in her eyes.

Emilia shook her head with tears in her eyes. "No, mija. You are the opposite of weak. You are so strong. You've had such strength in everything you did, Angela. Do you remember where you got it from? That strength, that will to push forward through everything you've been through?"

Angela was thinking very hard, longing to remember something, everything. "No. I hate this. I--I feel so helpless."

Angela tried not to cry.

"You're one of the strongest people I have ever known," Emilia told her. "And given our family and where we come from, the enemies we've faced, the friends we've made... that is saying a hell of a lot."

Angela whispered. "You keep saying things like that. I don't feel it."

Emilia stroked Angela's cheek and forehead soothingly. "Trust me. You are the toughest, most badass daughter I could have had. You and Giselle are the best things that have ever happened to me. Like Ivan. And I am so proud of you for coming this far." Angela started to cry, looking at Emilia brokenly, though she was relieved that her mother felt this way, and appreciated the way that she was comforting her and making her feel safe. "Come back, Angela. You will be safe and loved and welcomed into a whole new world. A whole new family, a Crew. And you will be the safest that you have ever been. You could finally have a home. Safe and sound."

Angela closed her eyes, starting to remember.

X • O ° X • O

Flashback 1 - Training Montage

There was a montage of when Emilia and Ivan were training Angela and Giselle as they were growing up.

Emilia trained Young Angela and Young Giselle from a young age, through the years.

Young Angela, about six, could do a cartwheel with ease, and a handstand to build strength.

Emilia held gloves as Young Giselle, a young preteen, kicked and punched both of them. Young Giselle spun to kick and punch. Emilia swung her sword at her, but Young Giselle ducked, trying to take Emilia down, but Emilia put Young Giselle down to the ground, offering a hand to help her back up.

Young Angela started out with the gloves, learning to kick and punch and fight. She was taken down but toughened up, and she learned quickly, with the help of all three members of her family.

Young Giselle was standing with Ivan, as they both held a bow and arrow.

"So that's the secret?" Young Giselle asked. "A tennis ball?"

"You know how you use a honing steel to keep the edge on a chef's knife?" Ivan asked. "This keeps you sharp. Only a direct precise hit will pin the ball. If you are off just a little bit..." He shot an arrow at a deliberate angle to deflect the tennis ball, and both the arrow and the ball fell to the ground. "It deflects." Young Giselle nodded in understanding. "Ready?"

"Toss it," Young Giselle told him. Ivan tossed a tennis ball. Young Giselle shot the arrow through the ball and pinned it to the wall with ease. "I thought this was supposed to be hard."

Ivan smirked. "This is the warmup. Ready?" He turned on a machine to toss many of the balls in the air, stunning Young Giselle. Each time she tried when there were many of the tennis balls, she got more and more pinned to the wall the faster she shot with more precision. Eventually, she was able to get all of them against the wall, smirking. Ivan smirked, impressed, proud. "Not bad."

Young Giselle smiled. "What's next?"

Ivan and Young Giselle were training with staffs, blocking and trading blows. Young Giselle swung at Ivan. Ivan ducked, raising his staffs. Young Giselle raised hers to block his move.

Ivan twisted Young Giselle's staffs down and put his staff to her throat. "It's all about timing. You keep practicing, you keep flowing, it just becomes second nature."

Young Giselle smiled, spinning her staffs around, holding them up, ready to fight. "All right. Again."

"You don't want a break?" Ivan asked.

Young Angela was watching nearby. "She's a machine, Papa. They don't need breaks."

As Angela was growing, she was training with Ivan from a young age.

Ivan twisted Young Angela to the ground, holding a knife prop to her neck. "Dead."

Later, as Young Angela was growing, she was training with Ivan with staffs, trading blocks and blows. Young Angela was clearly getting better, hitting Ivan with her staff, trying with the other, but Ivan raised his to block the move. Young Angela got in a few more hits, using her staffs to maneuver one out of Ivan's hands, hitting him in the arm to make him drop the other, putting one of her staffs up to his throat. Ivan smirked, impressed, proud.

Later, Ivan was training Angela how to use a sword. Young Angela slashed toward him.

Ivan ducked, grabbing her arm, twisting her through the air, causing Young Angela to fall to the ground, sword to her throat. "Dead." Later, Ivan tried to restrain Young Angela from behind. Young Angela twisted out of the hold, spinning around, putting the sword to his throat. "Good. Getting the blade to someone's chest or throat or head is one thing. Making the final swing is another entirely. There is no giving up. No crying, no buying your way out of it. You have two choices. Survive, or die."

Later, when Angela was now a preteen, Ivan took out a gun, holding it toward Young Angela. "Jam this in my face." Young Angela looked from Ivan to the gun. "Do it." Young Angela took the gun, aiming it at Ivan. Ivan locked his arm around Young Angela's, twisting the gun out of her hand, flipping her to the ground, now aiming the gun at her. "Try it."

Young Angela stood. Ivan was still aiming the gun at Young Angela. Young Angela grabbed the gun, spinning to twist Ivan's arm behind his back, with her back to his, taking the gun from his grasp, flipping him to the ground.

Young Angela was running through the woods with a bow and arrow, shooting targets on the trees, making every mark. Ivan, Young Giselle and Emilia watched with pride.

When Angela and Giselle were older, they were training with Emilia. Emilia swung either sword at either daughter. Angela and Giselle ducked, spinning around Emilia. Giselle spun to kick at Emilia, who ducked, while Giselle completed the spin as her other leg left the ground and kicked one of the swords out of Emilia's hand, and Giselle landed on both feet. Angela spun around fast to kick at Emilia, who ducked, and slashed her other sword at Angela. Angela ducked, grabbing Emilia's arm, trying to get her to drop the sword, but Emilia twisted free, flipping Angela through the air, but Angela landed on her feet, taking the sword from Emilia's hand, putting the sword up to her throat.

Emilia smirked proudly at both her daughters. "You're ready."

X • O ° X • O

Ice Mountains

Ivan and Emilia were training Angela and Giselle, when they were both teenagers.

Angela and Ivan were standing on an ice covered river with swords.

"You know how to fight six men," Emilia told them. "Now we'll teach you how to engage 600. You know how to disappear. We'll teach you how to truly become invisible. Invisibility requires patience and agility."

Angela and Ivan swung their swords at each other, blocking and parrying. Angela spun around to slash at Ivan. Ivan ducked, swinging at Angela. Angela ducked, slipping on the ice, falling to her knees.

"Always mind your surroundings," Ivan told her.

Angela stood.

Nearby, Emilia and Giselle were training. Giselle punched Emilia in the face, spinning to kick her, following up with another kick from her other leg, trying to punch her. Emilia caught her arm, twisting it around, spinning to where her back was against Giselle's, still holding her arm and using it to flip Giselle to the ground.

"Good," Emilia told them. "We need that anger and confidence. You will learn to balance it with patience and observation."

Angela stood, slashing at Ivan repeatedly. Ivan managed to block most of her moves, but not all. Ivan swung at Angela repeatedly, and Angela was able to block most. Angela spun to slash at Ivan. Ivan ducked.

Giselle and Emilia trained with swords, blocking and parrying each other. Giselle swiped her sword at Emilia, near her head. Emilia leaned back to avoid the sword, swinging at Giselle. Giselle maneuvered their swords, raising her arm to trap Emilia's sword between her arm and her sword, twisting it free and making it fall. Emilia broke free from the hold and went for her sword. Giselle kicked Emilia's sword away, swinging her own at Emilia repeatedly. Emilia was able to duck and dodge, backing away, flipping over Giselle's low swing to make her miss her legs. When Emilia landed on her feet, Giselle wasted no time spinning around to kick Emilia's legs while they were unsteady from just landing, making her lose her balance and fall into an ice wall behind her, aiming her sword at Emilia.

Angela continued to train with Ivan, blocking many hits, maneuvering their swords to twist Ivan's out of the way from grabbing him and flipping him to the ice. Ivan got to his knees, swinging at Angela's legs. Angela flipped over Ivan and his sword to make him miss, landing in a crouch behind Ivan, sliding a bit over the ice, laying back. Ivan stood over Angela, swinging down at her. Angela used her sword to block the move, kicking Ivan's legs, flipping him to the ice, standing over Ivan now, aiming her sword at him.

Emilia and Ivan were both proud of their daughters. Giselle smirked, spinning her sword in her hand, waving it around, flipping it through the air and catching it by the hilt. Angela stabbed her sword into the ice.

X • O ° X • O

Now

Day - Hospital - Angela's Room

Angela opened her eyes to see Emilia, with some of her memories back. She was overwhelmed but relieved. "Mama?"

Emilia, realizing that she was starting to remember, leaned in to kiss Angela on the head, incredibly relieved. "Oh, Angela. It's okay, mija. We spend our lives struggling to hold on to the things we value most, to the people and things we believe we could never exist without. But our memoires are often an illusion, protecting a far more destructive truth. But it can also be the thing that saves you."

Angela wrapped her uninjured arm around Emilia as they embraced, both near crying.

X • O ° X • O

Rhodes/Bass Apartment - Living Room

Lily, Rufus, Dan and Olivia were sitting around the table, playing Scrabble, while Jenny was laying on the couch, seeming sick. Dan put three letters on the board.

Jenny read the word he put. "Mat. Are you kidding?"

"Oh, not in the least," Dan answered. "It's going on the end of door, which makes it a triple word score, Scrabble bitches."

Rufus smiled. "That's my son."

Olivia smiled. "Wow! The Humphreys are serious about their Scrabble games."

Rufus, Dan and Jenny all said something in agreement.

Lily looked at Dan and Olivia. "You two are so sweet to come over and entertain Jenny, poor thing."

Lily gave Jenny some tea.

"I mean, when she called, how could we resist?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, thank you guys so much," Jenny told them. "Really getting sick of, uh... TV and Internet."

Jenny's phone went off. When she checked her phone, she sent Olivia a look. Olivia grabbed Dan's phone before he could. Jenny faked coughing for a distraction.

Dan looked at Jenny. "I need a SARS mask."

"Uh, can I--can I borrow your phone?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, go ahead," Dan answered.

Olivia exchanged a knowing look with Jenny. "I keep leaving mine in the dorm."

Olivia stood, walking away.

"That's 33," Dan told them. "A whopping 33 points."

Olivia checked the Gossip Girl blast on Dan's phone, which read: Keep your eyes peeled for Bathroom Boy, DH, getting naked and nasty in a stall near you. GMTO!

"Uh, jetdoorman, is that a word?" Rufus asked.

"Don't you mean jetdoormat?" Dan asked.

Olivia deleted the Gossip Girl message.

Rufus nodded. "Oh, jetdoormat."

Olivia sighed.

X • O ° X • O

NYU - Vanessa/Olivia's Dorm Room

Vanessa was going over her tapes, seeing the video she had been filming on the dock, seeing that the man who almost "drowned" was in the video behind the guy she had been asking who he was voting for. She saw that the man jumped into the water, swimming out into the open, before he pretended to start drowning. She had to zoom in up close to be sure of what she saw. "What?"

X • O ° X • O

The Empire - Outside

Marie was working on the party, on the phone. "Please tell me that there's no sign of anyone being onto you."

Carter was outside a building out of town, carefully making sure no one was around. "Not from what I can tell, no. They're just talking about how Angela was shot and they think she drowned, but they're making sure because they know Hope, Alex, Brooklyn, Thyra, Aurora, Harry and Emilia were trying to save her. They put Angela under a different name in the hospital so they can't track her down, right?"

"Right," Marie answered. "Yeah, they're taking every precaution they can. But you're saying Alex, Brooklyn and Harry are on their radars now too because of Rome. Hope, Thyra, Aurora, Angela, Emilia, you and James already were, but now so are Alex, Brooklyn and Harry?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Carter answered. "But Giovanni Di Genova is pushing hard with the Council to grant us all pardon, and they all think that I'm still clueless about Caroline and my dad's role in her death and James nearly dying. I just have to keep it like that."

"You think that they're keeping you around to keep your parents under control?" Marie asked. "I know you said they were involved in the Silence."

"Yeah, I think that's exactly why they're keeping me around," Carter answered. "I'm avoiding my parents though. Luckily I haven't seen them one on one."

Marie sighed, nodding. "Okay. Just please be careful, and let me know if Giovanni actually gets a pardon for all of you."

"I will," Carter agreed. "What about Angela?"

"She's awake, and Laureen explained that her amnesia is like a protective barrier from the trauma from being shot and the contact with the water, how her head hit when she was in the car," Marie explained. "But Laureen said that all Angela needs is to feel safe and loved to get her memories back, and Emilia is working on that."

Carter nodded in agreement. "Okay. Keep me posted about that."

"Of course," Marie agreed. "Please tell me that you're coming back tonight."

Carter chuckled. "You're worried about me. I bet James, Hope, Thyra, Aurora, Blair and Wyatt are too. Don't worry, Marie. I'll be back before you know it. All right?"

"Yeah," Marie agreed. "All right." She felt as if she was being watched again like early that morning, looking around, but not seeing anything. "Just call me when you can, Carter. And be careful."

"Yeah," Carter agreed. 

They both hung up.

Vincent Sinclair was across the street in hiding, watching Marie, eyes like a cougar stalking its prey. The longer he watched her, the more irritated he became, since he wanted, but couldn't have, something that was right in front of him, someone who he had been obsessed with for so long.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "I wouldn't say the danger ends with Alex Archibald, Harry Vanderbilt, Brooklyn Bass, Hope, Thyra and Aurora Diamond, James and Carter Baizen, Angela and Emilia De Los Caballeros and Theo Bass just yet. Looks like Marie Rosson might have a rude awakening from her dark past not even her Dark Prince, or Brittany's Prince Shea, can save her from."

X • O ° X • O

Silence Gathering

Carter was looking around, acting out the part that he didn't know anything more than he was supposed to, very well. He turned around, still looking, when he saw a familiar face up ahead talking with other members of the Silence.

Richard was talking with other men, smirking, nodding.

Carter was stunned to see Richard, but looking like everything was starting to make sense, looking away. "Son of a bitch."

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "And it looks like Zaya, Sadie and Laureen von Miller have been in more danger than anyone realized until now. With Richard involved, how will the Crew manage this time around?"

X • O ° X • O

X • O ° X • O

Upper East Side

Middle of Nowhere

Preston and Sadie were walking.

"My mom and sister are gonna kill me," Sadie told him. "I'm dead, you know that? I just wanna get home so they're not freaking out about me, because my d..."

Sadie stopped herself before she said anything about Richard.

"You know what I want?" Preston asked. "I wanna have fun. Okay, for the first time in years, there's no reporters, there's no interviews, there's no crowds. I'm having a great time, and I wanna enjoy it. You're not having fun?"

"No," Sadie told him, still walking.

Preston stood in front of Sadie, backing away to keep moving while she kept walking. "When we were on our little photography tour, you didn't have even a little bit of fun?"

"Of course that part was fun," Sadie told him. "But knowing that Mom and Zaya are freaking out because my freak show of a dad is still out there and they have no idea where I am, and I can't call them because there's no service... that's not fun."

"What are you talking about?" Preston asked.

"Why would I tell you in the middle of nowhere?" Sadie asked.

"Because what else are we gonna do while we're walking to try to get to someplace?" Preston asked, still backing away, falling into a river behind him since he wasn't watching where he was going.

Sadie walked forward with worry and concern. "Preston!" Preston got up and grabbed Sadie, pulling her into the water with him so they could both wash off the mud and have fun, making Sadie squeal with surprise. "I can't swim."

Preston swam closer. "What?"

Sadie swam perfectly fine, dunking Preston under the water, smiling, backing away. "Got you."

Preston realized she was messing with him, smiling. "You're evil."

Sadie grinned. "You deserved it."

Preston smiled. "You're so evil."

Sadie and Preston splashed each other with the water repeatedly.

X • O ° X • O

Later

Sadie and Preston were sitting outside the river, completely clean and dry.

"This is nice, isn't it?" Sadie asked.

Preston nodded. "I wish I could just stay here where no one can find me."

"Why?" Sadie asked.

"'Cause they all want something from me," Preston answered. "A performance, or an interview, or a photograph."

"Even your parents?" Sadie asked. "Prince?"

"Prince, no, since he gets it," Preston answered. "But, uh... our parents. That's complicated."

Sadie looked down, picking at the flowers on the ground. "Believe me when I tell you I get complicated parents."

Preston nodded. "Sometimes I feel like my parents only care about the business of Prince and Preston Shea."

Sadie looked up. "I'm sure that's not true."

Preston sighed. "I don't know. I feel like all we talk about right now is music, or the movie deals coming our way. They think that me doing a movie with Prince is my next big career move, so... You know, since both Shea brothers being in a movie together..."

"Would draw in a lot of fans and press," Sadie finished.

"Exactly," Preston answered.

"But what do you think?" Sadie asked.

Preston shrugged. "If I get a for real offer, I have to take it."

"What about your tour?" Sadie asked.

"What about it?" Preston asked.

Sadie stood. "Well, 30 countries, 12 weeks. One million screaming fans." She walked closer. "Seems like a lot. The tour and the movie at the same time."

Sadie sat down next to Preston.

Preston gestured aimlessly. "I don't have a choice."

"Everyone has a choice," Sadie told him. "What do you wanna do?"

"Well, I know what I don't wanna do," Preston told her. "I don't wanna disappoint anybody. Especially my fans. I wouldn't be where I am without them, so... I just never say no. To anything." Sadie nodded. Preston looked at her. "But getting some time away from it all? Right now, here with you, I feel like I can just be myself. Not Preston Shea. Not famous. Just... You know, just me."

Sadie smiled a bit. "How do you like it?"

"I like it a lot," Preston answered.

Sadie nodded in agreement. "Me too."

Preston smiled. "So tell me something about you."

"What do you want to know?" Sadie asked.

"Everything," Preston answered.

"That could take a while," Sadie told him. "I live a very exciting life."

Preston smiled. "Don't I know it."

They looked at each other and smiled.

"You're doing it again," Sadie told him.

"What?" Preston asked.

"That thing with your eyes," Sadie answered.

Preston smiled, crossing his eyes. "Oh, you mean this?"

Sadie chuckled. "Okay, so comedy? Not your next big career move."

"What?" Preston asked. "No, I'm funny."

Sadie smirked. "Funny-looking."

Preston scoffed. "You like me."

Sadie pushed him lightly in the shoulder. "You wish."

"Seriously, tell me something I don't already know about you," Preston told her. "I already know that you and your sister Zaya and cousin Marie are good singers and dancers, you've told me about Noe and Serena and the rest of the Crew, that you love romance stories and plays, and I do too, because my parents got me and Prince hooked on it when we were young, but Prince dropped it some time ago, though I never did. And I know that you can make clothes even though you're not a designer."

"I know how to fight, but I have to take it easy most of the time," Sadie explained. "Along with basically every other physical activity."

"I gave you detail," Preston pointed out. "A lot of it."

Sadie nodded, sighing, wanting to make them even after he told her that. "Well, um... Zaya, she has dyslexia. And our entire father's side of the family is full of geniuses. Me included. But our father's side of the family is really sketchy and dangerous. Including our father. Our father started to put a lot of pressure on me to be so smart because of Zaya's dyslexia, so he felt like the family legacy was slipping up because of a learning disorder. I tried to help Zaya in anyway I could, and most times I could, but sometimes I couldn't. He had an affair, cheated on our mom, and something happened with his girl that caused him to completely snap. And he hasn't been the same. And then after an incident at Unity, our father completely started to ignore Zaya, causing more pressure to fall on me to 'rebuild' our family reputation in his eyes, since he blamed Zaya for ruining it, but... what she did was an accident, and her liking girls shouldn't be enough to 'destroy' our family reputation. He had a psychotic break. And we don't know how far he's willing to go. Our mother was always so angry with our father. She tried to get him to stop every time he did these things to us, but at first, she had to let most of what he did go, so that she could protect me, my heart, so that he didn't use my sickness against them, which could have ended up..."

"What kind of sickness?" Preston asked.

Sadie looked down nervously. "I have a heart condition."

"What kind of heart condition?" Preston asked in concern.

"It's, uh, called a thoracic aortic aneurysm," Sadie answered nervously. "Basically it's a blood vessel connecting to the heart that is swollen. And the treatment I've been going through since I was a kid, it's to prevent the aneurysm from growing, so it doesn't dissect or rupture. That's why I have to be careful with so many things, like fighting, and dancing, and a lot of other stuff, but I don't want it to hold me back for all my life, so..."

Preston was stunned, in shock and horrified. "That's what the doctor and you were talking about the first night when Prince and I took you to the hospital?"

Sadie nodded, feeling really vulnerable now, but feeling a little bit better now that she was finally getting this off her chest. "Depending on the size and growth rate, treatment can vary from watchful waiting to surgery. But since I am a kid, and the survival rates of the surgery aren't the best, they want to keep the surgery as far off as possible so that it's a last resort. It's been small for most of the time I've been growing up, and only intense situations can make it grow, ones that cased me a lot of stress. Like with my dad. I've been taking blood pressure medication, and meds to keep my stress low. I do dancing, singing and sewing because it keeps me calm. It is manageable, but a couple more of situations like with my dad could either put me in the hospital or in the ground."

Preston was incredibly horrified to hear all of this. "My God. Sadie, I'm sorry."

Sadie shook her head. "It's okay. You didn't know. I grew up from a young age trying to help take care of an older sister, while Zaya and our mother were trying to do everything in their power to take care of me too. And our aunt, uncle, and many of our cousins."

"I am so sorry for that, Sadie," Preston told her.

Sadie nodded, fighting back tears. "Looks like both of us, and our families, are a little more screwed up than we first thought, Preston."

"Looks like," Preston agreed.

They both looked at each other for an intense look.

Sadie sighed. "We should go."

Preston hated the thought of leaving, but nodded. "Yeah. Come on."

They stood, and Preston took Sadie's hand as they started walking away.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "Bickering, fighting, fun, adventure and heartbreak all within a day away in isolation. Only time will tell if this is a start to a happier story for Sadie von Miller and Preston Shea, or another chapter in the life of a living nightmare."

X • O ° X • O

Bridge

Vanessa was waiting on the bridge, looking over the river.

Harry walked closer. "Hey, Vanessa. Listen, I'm really busy. Uh, this couldn't wait?"

"Honestly, no," Vanessa answered. "And I thought it'd be better to talk away from the campaign chaos. Hmm. I'm in a really awkward position, so I'm just gonna say what I have to say."

Harry waited cautiously. "Okay."

"What happened at the Hudson this morning wasn't what it looked like," Vanessa told him.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"The guy Tripp saved, he didn't fall," Vanessa answered. "I think it was set up."

Harry looked like this confirmed his, Alex and Aurora's suspicions earlier, but wasn't going to let Tripp's campaign fall apart for something they thought William did. "That's ridiculous."

"I have it all on tape," Vanessa told him.

"Well, has anyone else seen the footage?" Harry asked.

"No," Vanessa answered. "But I--I already agreed to sell it to New York 1, and I'm going to meet Caroline Lowe, one of the producers, at Cafeteria."

"Whoa, wait, Vanessa, if you do that--" Harry started.

"I'm sorry, but if I just sit on it, I become part of a cover up," Vanessa told him.

"Listen, the polls close in a few hours," Harry told her. "Can you just wait?"

"I wish I could, but this is someone running for public office, Harry," Vanessa told him.

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure that the cover up is my father's fault, not Tripp's," Harry told her. "And if you ruin Tripp's career over something he didn't do..."

Vanessa sighed. "I don't want to, but I have to do this. I have so much respect for Tripp and he has been so generous to let me film his campaign. Should I warn him so he can prepare strategy for damage control?"

"Don't worry about telling Tripp," Harry told her. "I'll tell him. He's my nephew, just like Alex and Nate. And I'd do anything for my nephews."

Vanessa tilted her head. "I'm sorry, Harry."

Harry shook his head. "No."

Vanessa walked away. Harry took his phone out from his pocket.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "This election may be too close to call, but when it's his family's honor or his own, Harry Vanderbilt has the number on speed dial."

Harry made a call. "Yes, uh, New York 1, please. Caroline Lowe."

X • O ° X • O

The Empire - Penthouse

Serena walked up to James while everyone was bustling around. "James, hey. There you are."

"Serena, hi," James told her. "Uh, you still have to bring Preston and Prince?"

"Yeah, Prince is ready, but uh, we can't find Preston anywhere," Serena answered. "I wanted to talk to you tonight about the one year anniversary since you've been back in the city though."

James chuckled. "Yeah. One year anniversary of me asking you out the day after I got back is tomorrow."

Serena nodded in agreement. "Yeah. And I know everyone is fighting right now, and I've been trying to stop it but then I get angry and things get worse, and... I'm trying to fix things. I just... I do wanna be here for you though. I do have a surprise for you tomorrow for the anniversary."

James smirked. "Well, that's ironic, since I got a surprise for you too."

"You always surprise me," Serena pointed out. "And you keep upping it every time so it's hard to surprise you properly."

James chuckled. "Yeah. Well, we'll see everything tomorrow." Serena nodded in agreement. "And I know you're still mad, and so are the others. But eventually, sooner rather than later, the fighting's gonna have to stop, Serena. With everything with Angela, Emilia, Theo and the Silence... we can't be fighting each other too."

Serena sighed, nodding.

X • O ° X • O

Coney Island

Preston and Sadie made it back to the city.

"We made it," Sadie told him.

"Yeah," Preston agreed. "Look, I had a really great time today."

Sadie smiled. "Me too."

Preston smiled. "You're so different from any other girl I've ever known."

"What, in your whole 13 years of life?" Sadie asked teasingly.

"Yeah, well, I've met a lot of girls in my line of work, and not in that way," Preston replied. "But you're different."

Sadie chuckled. "Different weird, different annoying?"

"Different surprising," Preston answered. "In the best way. I mean, you say things to me everyone else is afraid to say, and... you make me see things about myself that I can't see."

"You're pretty surprising too," Sadie told him.

"Really?" Preston asked. "How?"

"Well, for one thing, you're a terrible driver," Sadie told him.

Preston smiled. "Well, I am only 13."

Sadie giggled lightly, tilting her head. "True. You really think I'm a know-it-all?"

"Sometimes," Preston answered. "But I think you're amazing."

Sadie smiled. "I think you're amazing too."

Preston and Sadie looked at each other, smiling slightly, and almost drawn in to a near kiss, before Sadie felt winded, and had to take a step back, a hand to her chest.

Preston was concerned, worried. "Sadie? You okay?"

Sadie took a few deep breaths, nodding. "Yeah. It's just... too much for one day."

Preston nodded in understanding. "Okay. Yeah. Pretty sure kissing in public wouldn't be good for either of us anyway. Since you want to stay out of the spotlight because of your dad. And I have to stay out of it period if I want this movie deal to work with Prince." Sadie nodded, breathless. Zaya and Laureen were seen walking around Coney Island looking for Sadie. "Oh, there's Zaya and Laureen. Come on." Preston led Sadie over to them, a hand on her back. As they did, a photographer was taking pictures of them from the bushes. "Zaya! Laureen!"

Zaya and Laureen were incredibly relieved to see Sadie, pulling her into their arms.

"Oh, my God, Sadie," Zaya told her. "Don't ever scare us like that again."

"I'm sorry," Sadie told them.

Laureen brushed back Sadie's hair. "It's all right. Thank you, Preston." Preston nodded. "Now where the hell have you two been?"

Sadie and Preston exchanged a busted, amused, sheepish look. The photographer was still taking pictures of them.

Preston took off the hat and jacket he was wearing, handing them to Sadie. "Here, as promised."

"Are those Eric's?" Zaya asked.

Sadie and Preston couldn't help but laugh lightly.

Preston took off his sunglasses from his head, handing them to Sadie. "And these too. Like I said."

Sadie smiled, placing them on. "How do I look?"

Preston smiled. "Like a super star."

Zaya and Laureen looked between the two.

Laureen took Zaya and Sadie by the hands. "All right, come on. We all have a party to get to."

"Yeah, I gotta get home and get ready to go to the party too," Preston agreed.

"See you later, Preston," Zaya told him.

Preston waved. "See you guys tonight."

Zaya, Sadie and Laureen went their separate way as Preston, while the photographer was still taking pictures.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "Uh-oh. Sadie and Preston might have finally got caught. And they, Zaya and Laureen might all suffer the consequences."

X • O ° X • O

X • O ° X • O

Night - The Empire - Ballroom

(Song:) Damn You Hollywood - Fred

Everyone was here for the political party, including Preston, Prince, Sherry and Simon.

Sherry and Simon were talking with Marie.

"Wow, thank you so much for reaching out to me," Marie told them. Prince walked up to them. "Hey we were just talking about you and this job that Sherry and Simon are offering me because of the party, the performance, and, oh, you. Maybe you'd like to join us."

Prince chuckled. "Nice to see you too, Marie."

A reporter was nearby, wanting their picture. "Sheas, over here."

The reporter walked away after getting their photo.

Preston walked over to them.

"Preston, there you are," Simon told him. "Prince said you've been gone all day."

Preston nodded. "Yeah, long story. I see you're trying to hire Marie."

"Yeah," Prince agreed.

"Sherry, Simon, why do you wanna hire me, even given everything?" Marie asked. "I'm a Rhodes girl, and a Humphrey, and yet you wanna hire me for all sorts of things. I'm not a publicist, so..."

"We wanna hire you because you're the best at what you do, and I know that you could bet the best event planner in this city and beyond, and seeing what you can do at the 20s party, and with Prince, it can only go up from there," Sherry answered. "After seeing some of your other talents, you could be quite big in other things other than planning and publicity. Maybe even bigger than me and Simon."

Marie managed a small, nervous smile. "Here's to hoping."

Simon smiled. "Indeed."

Prince chuckled. "I really think you could go far, Marie."

Marie nodded nervously, but showed confidence at the same time.

Serena walked up to them, relieved that this seemed to be going well. "See, Marie? Isn't this great?"

"Yeah," Marie answered. "I think this could be a great opportunity. But, um, you should probably know something about me if we really do this. Um, about a disorder called DID." Prince looked at Marie in surprise, but like this made sense to him. Preston, Sherry and Simon were confused. "I'll explain later, but if you'll excuse me, I have a party to work, so..."

"Of course," Simon agreed. "Go ahead."

Marie walked away.

Serena turned to the Sheas, smiling nervously. "Everything going well?"

"Well, I'd think so," Preston answered.

Prince smirked. "Yeah. This place has a great Capitol Hill vibe. Could really help us with getting into character, right, Preston?"

Preston nodded in agreement. "Right."

"Good," Sherry told them. "Keep focus on that. It'll help you both land these roles."

Simon chuckled.

X • O ° X • O

Elsewhere

Noe and Nate were in the party, while Noe was still looking somewhat overwhelmed.

Nate noticed this, putting an arm around Noe. "Hey. I know things don't look great right now, but we both know they can get better, Noe. I mean, despite everything going on with the Crew, Angela, Emilia and Theo, this is the greatest day of my life. After we saw that ultrasound at the hospital today."

Noe smiled. "I know. Me too. But it makes me feel really guilty because of Angela and Theo and Emilia and everything else with the Crew."

Nate shook his head. "You don't need to feel guilty. I know I do a little bit because of how great today was at the hospital for you and me. It's not because of this party or Columbia, or anything else. It's because I know that you're pregnant and we're having a daughter. And it's an absolute honor. I get to go with my family's best interests at heart. Noe, no matter what happens, we'll face it together, and I promise you this. I've never been happier." They both smiled, as Noe had happy tears in her eyes. "Everything's gonna be okay. I love you."

Noe whispered softly. "I love you too."

Nate and Noe kissed slowly and tenderly, sweetly with passion, holding the other in each other's arms.

X • O ° X • O

Elsewhere

Blair and Brandeis were talking.

Brandeis recognized someone. "Oh, my God, that's Senator Proctor."

Blair was impressed. "Wow. You really do know everyone."

Brandeis waved her off. "Oh, I don't know everyone. I'll be right back."

Brandeis walked off.

Serena walked up to Blair. "Hey, Blair."

"Hey," Blair replied. "Do you see that gorgeous blonde in Proenza Schouler talking to those high-profile politicians? That's my best friend Brandeis. She knows most of them personally."

Serena nodded. "Oh, that's great. I mean, political connections aren't the first thing most people look for in friends."

"They must really love her because when she introduced us, they seemed thrilled to meet me," Blair told her. "They even asked if we were sisters."

"Well, I can't wait for you to meet Prince," Serena told her. "He's with Preston, Sherry and Simon now. I used to look forward to the day when my best friend from home and my best friend from boarding school would meet."

"Yeah, well, James might need to be weary of any potential competition with Prince," Blair told her. "You've cheated before, and no one's ever accused you of saying no."

Serena scoffed, and Blair and Serena turned their backs to each other before walking away.

(Song Ends)

X • O ° X • O

Hospital - Angela's Room

Angela was still slowly getting her memories back, and Emilia was there for her the entire time.

Angela was breathing shakily. "Mama. I remember. Giselle. Papa." She started to cry. "They're gone."

Emilia looked at Angela with tears in her eyes, holding her in her arms as they embraced. "It's okay. It's going to be okay."

Angela remembered, pulling away to look at Emilia. "Theo. Where's Theo?"

Dylan slowly walked in with Theo. "Right here."

Angela looked at him. "Dylan?"

Dylan bit his lip, nodding. "I'm glad you remember. Welcome back, Angela De Los Caballeros. You know, you told me once that that means 'Of the Knights'. And it is so fitting for you, Emilia. And Giselle and Ivan. And for Theo. In fact, I was thinking of giving Theo the middle name Knight after you, since you already gave him the name Bass after me."

Angela whispered to herself. "Theo Knight Bass."

Emilia smiled. "Theo Knight Bass."

"That's right," Dylan answered. Angela looked at Theo emotionally. "Do you want to hold him?"

Angela nodded immediately. Dylan walked closer, gently putting Theo into Angela's arms. Angela held Theo in her arms, looking at her baby as she cried. Theo looked like he had missed her so much, knowing who she was, and smiling at her. Angela smiled through the tears at seeing Theo smile at her, looking up at Dylan. Dylan smiled. Emilia smiled at both of them.

Wyatt stood in the doorway, seeing them, looking sympathetic and worried for Angela, and relieved that she was getting her memories back and Theo had her.

Angela saw him. "Wyatt."

"I'm sorry," Wyatt told them. "I didn't want to intrude."

Angela shook her head. "You're not. Please, come in." Wyatt walked in. "I know you would have been helping Dylan with Theo. When I left, I told Dylan to follow his heart and it led him right back to you. I'm glad that Theo had both of you looking out for him, Wyatt."

Emilia smiled a bit.

Wyatt smiled. "I'm glad. I mean, we've been doing as well as we could, but Theo needs his mother in his life, Angela."

Angela nodded in agreement. "And I'm never leaving Theo again. I love him so much. More than anything else in the world."

Aurora was watching from the hallway through the windows, looking sad, sympathetic, and protective over Angela and Theo just as much as she was over the Crew. 

Angela held Theo close, kissing him on the head, a tear falling as she remembered more of her memories.

X • O ° X • O

Flashback 2

Rio

Day - Beach

Angela and Giselle were at a beach together, selling Giselle's handmade jewelry and Angela's art.

"Your art is amazing, Angela," Giselle told her. "Don't give up yet."

Angela held up a Polaroid camera to take a picture of Giselle as she smiled. "Oh, thank you. And your jewelry is going pretty quickly. A talkative boy bought one for his fiancé."

Giselle smiled. "Really? I should have you sell my stuff for me all day."

Angela waved her sister off. "Oh, your jewelry sells itself."

"Well, the Brazilian princess lover can't hurt," Giselle replied.

"Are you talking about me or you?" Angela countered. "For the jewelry or the art?"

They both laughed.

"Mama and Papa want us back for training soon, but they agreed that we could have some time to ourselves as sisters and normal teens," Giselle explained. "Papa never thought that we needed much innocence, but at least Mama gets him to see that we do."

Angela nodded in agreement. "True. I wonder what it would be like if we were normal. Without the Silence. Without anything."

"Well, you'd be bored out of your mind," Giselle told her.

Angela smirked. "True. But I'm sure I could find something to keep me entertained. And so could you."

Giselle chuckled. "I guess we've never played the 'let's pretend we're normal' fantasy game together. All right. Let's play. We're normal. Five years from now, where are you?"

"I'm not sure where," Angela admitted. "But anywhere I could have fun and use my art and passion for fighting to an advantage. What about you?"

"I'd like to live in the States," Giselle answered. "Maybe own a bar, where I could sell the jewelry to customers and everyone could have fun and be dancing all night long. Any kind of dancing from any and all the cultures we've been to. I'd find a nice man to settle down with and have at least two kids. Would you want kids, Angela?"

"Yeah, of course, eventually," Angela answered. "I'd like three. I'd actually really love to have three. I don't know all their names, but I do know one. One of the names that we've seen across basically all the cultures we've been to, since it's derived from Greek but it has so many origins and ethnicities. Theo."

Giselle smiled. "Theo. I like that name."

Angela smiled. "And we'd be together, always there for each other, like we are now."

Giselle smiled. "Always. I love you more than anything in the whole world, Angela."

Angela nodded. "I love you too, Giselle. More than anything else in the world."

Angela and Giselle embraced.

X • O ° X • O

Now

Night - The Empire - Ballroom

James was helping with the party, on the phone. "Carter, slow down. What do you mean?"

On the other line, Carter was in a limo. "I mean, I know now why Laureen could never get Richard arrested or committed no matter how many things she's tried over the summer and the last couple of months. James, I saw him at the Silence gathering. Richard is in the Silence. He's apart of it."

James looked stunned and worried. "No."

"Yeah," Carter answered. "Marie's not answering her phone since she's working the party with Chuck, Brooklyn, Thyra, Noe, Nate, Hope, Alex and Harry. Dylan, Wyatt, Aurora and Emilia aren't answering their phones either."

"Chuck, Brooklyn, Thyra and Marie are around here somewhere, and Noe, Nate, Hope, Alex and Harry are up in the penthouse working Tripp's campaign," James explained. "Dylan and Wyatt took Theo to the hospital to see Angela after Emilia got her to remember more. Aurora's with them, and they can't really use phones in the hospital."

"Right," Carter agreed. "At least Theo has Angela. But, James, listen. Now that we know Richard's in the Silence..."

"Zaya, Sadie and Laureen have been in more danger than we've even realized," James finished.

"The Silence has contacts in all things possible, and they're basically above the law, which explains why Laureen couldn't get rid of Richard no matter what he did to her, or Zaya and Sadie," Carter told him.

James nodded in agreement, looking very worried. "And it explains why nothing Aurora tried to do worked either, when she's one of the best lawyers around. She couldn't find anything on him, and... it also explains why Dominic Driton ran into that block when he was looking into Richard's past for Laureen, until Sadie hacked it so they and Zaya could find out what happened."

"If Richard completely loses it, he could end up taking out Zaya, Sadie and Laureen, and Dominic Driton if he gets jealous enough, with contacts in the Silence," Carter told him. "James, you've gotta warn them."

"Yeah," James agreed. "Zaya, Sadie and Laureen should be around here somewhere. I gotta find them. When are you coming back?"

"I'm heading to the air strip now," Carter answered. "I should be home in a few hours, maybe less."

"Okay, be careful," James told him.

"You too," Carter agreed.

They hung up, and James immediately went to find Zaya, Sadie and Laureen.

X • O ° X • O

Rhodes/Bass Apartment - Jenny's Room

(Song:) The Nerve - The Republic Tigers

Dan walked in, looking around. "Where's the Scrabble dictionary? I could swear squiffy's a word." He started to type on Jenny's laptop. "Scrabble dictionary." He stopped when he saw a video thumbnail for Olivia and Jimmy Fallon, reading the title of the video. "Bathroom boy?"

Dan played the video.

Jimmy Fallon: (on video) "All right, you know our next guest from the Endless Knights movie franchise. Please welcome the lovely Olivia Burke, everybody!"

Dan watched Olivia walk onto stage in the video. "She's cute."

X • O ° X • O

The Empire - Penthouse 

The penthouse was very busy with everyone bustling around for Tripp's campaign. Noe, Nate, Alex, Hope and Harry were helping out while the news was playing on the TV.

(Song Ends)

Vanessa walked in.

A woman, Caroline Lowe, walked up to Vanessa. "Someone just told me you're Vanessa Abrams. Is that right?"

"Yeah," Vanessa answered.

"So who did you end up selling the footage to?" Lowe asked. "My office just called, said you sold your rescue footage to another network."

Vanessa nodded. "Yeah, I sold it to New York 1, actually. A woman named Caroline Lowe." Lowe looked stunned, placing a hand on her hip. "I met her two hours ago."

Lowe shook her head. "I'm Caroline Lowe."

Vanessa was confused. "So who was the woman in the restaurant?"

Vanessa looked across the penthouse where Noe, Nate, Hope, Alex and Harry were talking and working, realizing what Harry did, tilting her head.

X • O ° X • O

Rhodes/Bass Apartment - Living Room

Lily, Rufus, Jenny and Olivia were still sitting around the table.

Dan returned to the room.

"Finally," Jenny told him. "It's your turn."

"Oh, you know what?" Dan asked. "I just realized I have an, uh... environmental studies paper due tomorrow."

Olivia started to get up. "Oh, wait, um... I'll just get my stuff."

Dan shook his head. "No, you know what? Stay. You're winning. And you got to keep Jenny company. I'll text you later, okay?"

Dan walked out.

Rufus was puzzled. "Did my son just walk out before playing a Q on a double letter? That is so not the Humphrey way."

Jenny realized, looking at Olivia. "My computer."

Olivia groaned. Jenny and Olivia walked toward Jenny's room.

Rufus looked at Lily. "You know, I am sensing something else is going on here."

Lily smoothed her hair back with both hands. "Well, you didn't actually think they wanted to play five hours worth of board games with us, did you?"

Rufus shrugged.

X • O ° X • O

Jenny's Room

Olivia and Jenny were watching the interview.

Jimmy Fallon: (on video) "So you're out with this guy, and he goes to the bathroom, he comes back..."

Olivia: (on video) "Well, it was--it was our first date and he goes to the restroom and when he comes back, his--his shirt was on inside out."

Jimmy: (on video) "Uh, tut, check please. That's where you go right there. Yeah, that--that's when you get out. That's when you have to leave, yes."

Olivia: (on video) "No, I find out later that on the way into the bathroom, he's walked into a spider web, and the spider crawled inside his shirt."

Jimmy: (on video) "Yeah, the old, the old spider excuse. Yeah, you know, we've all used that one before. Yeah, the old, you know, uh, a spider came down my shirt and that's why I had to take my shirt off and... Okay, yeah, that's... yeah, I believe that. Yeah, I would believe that one. And--and now, are you still dating Bathroom Boy, or..."

Olivia: (on video, gave Jimmy a look) "Jimmy."

Jimmy: (on video) "Or are... was he arrested?"

Olivia: (on video) "You know what? Tomorrow is our one month anniversary."

Jimmy: (on video) "Oh, my gosh. Congratulations."

Olivia: (on video) "Yeah, yeah, that's big."

Jimmy: (on video) "In honor, in honor, I'll be taking my clothes off in the bathroom and then redressing myself."

They stopped the video.

Jenny sighed. "Wow, and after all that Scrabble."

Olivia shook her head. "I can't believe I told that story on national television. He must hate me." She tried to call Dan. "Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up. It went to voicemail. Hey, um, it's me. I know that you're not picking up because you must be so mad at me. Please know that I'm so, so sorry."

X • O ° X • O

The Empire - Ballroom

(Song:) Two Left Feet - Anya Marina

James was walking, finding Brooklyn and Thyra working for the party. "Hey, Brooklyn, Thyra."

"Hey, James," Brooklyn told him.

"Have you seen Zaya, Sadie or Laureen?" James asked.

"Uh, Zaya and Sadie are by the back," Brooklyn answered. "And, uh, Laureen's somewhere around here with Dominic Driton."

Thyra smirked. "Yeah, Laureen said it was about a business meeting with Dominic Driton, but more like Dominic's junk's got a meeting with Laureen's lady business."

James nodded in amusement, shaking his head. "Okay, I did not need to hear that. But, uh... you both need to hear this, and we need to tell Zaya and Sadie. Laureen can have a night off with Dominic."

Thyra frowned in concern. "James? What's wrong?"

James bit his lip, sighing. "Carter called me from the Silence gathering. And you won't believe who he saw."

Brooklyn and Thyra looked at James curiously in concern.

X • O ° X • O

Elsewhere

Marie had been switching into Brittany, and now Brittany was awake during the party. She was trying to pretend to be Marie so that no one would notice anything was different to protect their secret, and she was a good actress.

Prince walked up to Brittany. "Hey."

"Hey," Brittany replied.

"I'm sorry that my parents are making you do this, the job, fake dating me," Prince told her. "I mean, it's twisted, even if she doesn't really know about DID completely yet. Like alters and all of that."

Brittany remembered what Marie had said DID to the Sheas, but she was surprised that Prince knew about it. "You know about DID?"

"Uh, one of my secret ex-boyfriends, he had DID," Prince explained. "I'm pansexual, by the way."

Brittany smiled. "Well, looks like we have that in common. Did your ex see you exclusively?"

"No, he saw other people," Prince answered. "We both did. I'm okay with open relationships like that, especially considering that there's more than one alter to think of for DID."

Brittany chuckled. "That's actually really thoughtful. I'm not Marie right now, by the way."

Prince smiled, nodding. "I figured. You're the one that I kissed after the speakeasy, the one I've been hanging out with, right?"

"Right," Brittany answered. "My name's Brittany. There's also Lacy, and Andrea, and Nick."

Prince smiled, taking Brittany's hand to kiss it. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Brittany. Marie's been a pleasure to meet. And I look forward to meeting Lacy, Andrea and Nick too."

Brittany smiled. "You know, Marie, she has this thing with Carter Baizen, and I do like him too. And we might have a thing, but it's not going to be anything like what they have. And I'm okay with open relationships too. I mean, a girl has needs."

Prince chuckled. "So you want to continue fake dating me?"

Brittany shrugged sheepishly, smiling. "Well, it doesn't have to be fake dating, but we don't have to be officially together 'together' if you don't want to." She smirked teasingly. "You know what friends with benefits mean, right?"

Prince stepped closer, smirking. "Obviously. And I'd be up to that with you, or any alter. If it meant being very close friends with a lot of benefits."

Brittany smirked. "Well, you'll learn how close I can be and how many benefits I have to offer."

Prince chuckled. Brittany smirked, tilting her head, shrugging cutely, impishly. Prince smirked a slight smile.

Serena walked up to them. "Hey, have either of you seen Blair? I'm trying to stop this stupid fight, but she won't let me."

"Yeah, she's talking to that high-priced call girl friend of hers," Prince answered, nodding across the way.

Brittany raised her eyebrows, smirking, pursing her lips. "Ooh."

Serena was stunned. "What did you just say?"

X • O ° X • O

Penthouse

Vanessa walked up to Hope, Noe, Nate, Alex and Harry, looking at Harry. "Why'd you do it?"

"Excuse me, we were talking," Noe told her.

"Yeah, and I'm interrupting," Vanessa replied. "I don't care."

Hope gave her a look. "Vanessa."

"Harry, you wanna tell them what you did?" Vanessa asked.

Hope, Noe, Nate and Alex frowned in confusion.

"Do what?" Nate asked.

"I had to protect Tripp," Harry told them.

"Protect him from what?" Alex asked.

"Vanessa here had video proof that Hudson Hero was set up," Harry answered. "And she was going to sell it to the highest bidding network and ruin Tripp's campaign, when we all know that it was my father behind this, not Tripp. I had a woman pretend to be Caroline Lowe to get the video from Vanessa and here we are."

"Luckily it wasn't my only copy," Vanessa replied. "I came to you first."

"Don't be so self-righteous," Harry told her. "You were only selling the footage to further your own career."

"That is not true," Vanessa told him.

"Oh, so you're saying you weren't excited to see your name flash on every television in Manhattan?" Alex asked. "I know you were excited about that earlier."

"You know what, Alex?" Vanessa asked. "I'll let you know how that feels in just a minute."

"What does that mean?" Noe asked.

Hope saw the TV. "Hey, everybody quiet down for a second."

Hope turned up the TV.

Anchorwoman: (on TV) "We are just now getting reports that firsthand footage of the Hudson River rescue reveals Tripp Vanderbilt's heroic act might not have been so heroic. It seems after close inspection of the footage taken at the time, it's apparent the man deliberately went into the Hudson River."

Noe, Hope, Alex, Nate and Harry looked at Vanessa. Vanessa glared at them before walking away. Noe, Hope, Alex, Nate and Harry exchanged a look, not knowing what to do.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "The polls are closed and Gossip Girl is calling this election dirty."

(Song Ends)

X • O ° X • O

X • O ° X • O

Noe, Hope, Alex, Nate, Harry, William and Tripp were still here with others from the campaign.

Anchorwoman: (on TV) "It remains to be seen who exactly is responsible for this hoax. Someone in the Vanderbilt camp? Maybe the candidate himself?"

Tripp looked at Alex, Nate and Harry. "Grandfather."

"All right, could someone just turn that off?" Noe asked.

Hope turned it off. "I got it."

"And please just give us a moment of privacy," Alex told them. "Thank you."

The people from the campaign were leaving.

Noe and Hope looked at Nate and Alex.

"We'll give you some time," Noe told them.

"All right," Nate agreed. "If you need anything..."

"I know," Noe told him.

Hope gave Alex a kiss on the cheek. "It's gonna be okay, Alex."

Alex sighed. "Yeah, let's hope so. And no, I don't mean that as a pun, Hope."

Hope smirked, walking away. Noe chuckled, smirking, shaking her head, walking away.

With Noe, Hope and the campaign people gone, it was just Alex, Nate, Harry, Tripp and William in the room.

Tripp glared at William. "I can't believe you would compromise my integrity like this."

"Take a deep breath, Tripp," William told him.

"You didn't believe I could actually win, did you?" Tripp asked.

"Honestly, I had my doubts," William answered. "But I did not do this."

Tripp clearly had anger issues that he couldn't control. "The hell you didn't."

"Tripp, just calm down," Harry told him.

Tripp pointed at William, glaring at him darkly. "Listen to me very carefully, Grandfather. If you don't go out there and take responsibility for this, then I will, by stepping out of the race."

Alex, Nate and Harry were stunned to see a different side to Tripp here.

"I'm not gonna go stand in front of those cameras and lie," William told them.

Nate tilted his head. "Oh, come on, Grandfather. It's time to come clean."

"I give you my word," William told them. "I'm not responsible for this."

"Unfortunately, for all of us, your word means nothing anymore," Alex replied.

William looked between Alex, Nate, Harry and Tripp. "Well, if you four are done, I'm going to go down and join the celebration."

William walked out of the room.

Harry sighed, thinking, putting a hand to his head.

"Gather the press, Harry," Tripp told him. "I'm gonna announce my official withdrawal. I just have to tell Maureen first."

X • O ° X • O

Ballroom

Noe and Hope walked through the party.

"Do you think Dylan, Wyatt, Aurora and Emilia are doing good with Angela and Theo right now?" Noe asked.

Hope nodded. "Yeah, I think they've got it. Mom keeps me updated with texts. Angela is remembering more and more the safer she feels, Emilia made her feel safe enough to start remembering, and when Dylan and Wyatt brought Theo, it made it so much easier to relax and feel safe and protected and loved so I'm sure she's gonna get everything back by tonight or tomorrow."

Noe nodded in agreement. "Got it. I feel so bad for her."

"I know," Hope agreed. "Me too. But she's strong. A real survivor. And since she finished the job, me, Mom, Thyra, James, Carter, Angela, Emilia and Theo, along with Alex, Brooklyn and Harry, should be safe. Since they got on the Silence's radar when they helped us in Rome."

"That's true," Noe agreed. "But like you said, you guys should be safe soon enough. Carter's gonna come back, he's gonna be okay. So are you, Thyra, Aurora, James, Angela, Emilia and Theo. And Alex, Brooklyn and Harry at least have only gotten on their radar once. So..."

"Right," Hope agreed, grabbing two wine glasses from a tray from nearby, turning to look at Noe, raising a glass. "Drink?"

Noe shook her head. "Oh, no. I actually wanted to tell you this before because you're my best friend and now my stepsister, albeit by adoption, but you were in Rome, and then everything happened, and I didn't want to say anything because everyone is fighting and we all need to be more worried about Angela and Theo, and..."

Hope placed the glasses down, taking Noe's hands. "Noe, hey. It's okay. You know you can tell me anything no matter the circumstances. Like you said, you're my best friend. And have been long before we became sisters."

Noe smiled. "I know. It's just, um..." She knew she would feel better if she told her, exhaling. "Hope... I'm pregnant."

Hope was stunned, surprised, processing. "Wait, what?" She started to get excited. "You and Nate..."

Noe smiled, nodding. "Yeah."

Hope smiled. "Oh, my God. This is a good thing for you two, right? You're both happy?"

Noe nodded. "Yeah, we actually felt really guilty today because of how happy this made us while everything's going on."

Hope shook her head, wrapping Noe in an embrace. "No, you don't have to feel guilty. This is great news, Noe. I'm so happy for you."

Noe smiled in relief, wrapping her arms around Hope in return. "Oh, thank you."

Brittany walked closer. "Well, looks like cat's out of the bag to someone else. Hi, girls."

Brittany took a glass of champagne to drink, drinking, winking.

Noe and Hope smiled, knowing which alter it was.

"Hey, Brittany," Hope told her. "I'm guessing Marie already knew."

"Marie's the first person I called since Serena was fighting with everyone and you were gone," Noe explained. "And she's our sister, so..."

Brittany smiled. "So sweet."  Vanessa walked up to them, and Noe and Hope were very annoyed with what Vanessa just did beforehand. Brittany rolled her eyes. "What is she doing here?"

"Don't ask," Hope told her.

Vanessa came to talk. "I know I'm an enemy of the state right now."

"You think?" Noe asked.

"I get what you did, but you didn't have to do that to Tripp since it's his grandfather behind it all," Hope told her.

"What happened to you, Hope?" Vanessa asked. "The girl that I used to know, the girl who was a friend, had a moral compass."

"I still do," Hope replied. "And that includes not punishing people who don't deserve it. I just had to toughen up and learn to fight back to help everyone around me. Don't you dare act like I've done something that wasn't called for, because everything I've done, every single thing, it was to help someone I care about. Not hurting others like you've done to me, Thyra, Brooklyn, Blair, Dylan, Chuck, Wyatt, Noe, Alex and Nate with previous videos."

Vanessa sighed, looking at Brittany, not knowing that it wasn't Marie at the moment. "And what about you, Marie? You used me for information on your family so that you could reunite with them."

"Actually, me, as Brittany, used you," Brittany corrected. "Marie didn't."

"And you've been nothing but a bitch to me since, or ignoring me," Vanessa told her.

"What did you expect?" Brittany replied. "Why would we like somebody that talks badly about our mother's side of the family and judges our father's side of the family when they are just adjusting to the Upper East Side rich life? You're no better. You're not better than them by acting the way you do, and sure as hell not better than we are just because we decided to be with them in this family, in this life. You are so fake, even China denied they made you."

"I had to do what I had to do," Vanessa told her.

Noe scoffed. "I'd agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong, and that's no way to go through life. Just go away, Vanessa. We don't care what the hell you think, and I doubt anyone else does either."

Noe, Hope and Brittany walked away, leaving Vanessa stunned speechless.

X • O ° X • O

Elsewhere

Zaya and Sadie were standing by the back, helping out with some of the party stuff, while Chuck was doing other things further on.

Laureen and Dominic were further away in the party, talking, smiling, clearly having a good time together, looking toward Zaya and Sadie. The four of them waved at each other with smiles.

Sadie looked across the way, seeing Preston with Sherry, Simon and Prince. Preston looked toward Sadie, but neither of them could talk here given their no-press/spotlight issues, not knowing that they had already been caught since photographers still needed to post in the morning.

Zaya looked at Sadie. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," Sadie answered. "I'm just really tired. Today's been a super long day."

Zaya nodded in understanding.

James, Brooklyn and Thyra walked up to Zaya and Sadie, all three looking very worried.

"Zaya, Sadie, hey," James told them.

"Hey, James," Zaya told him. "What's up?"

"We need to talk to you," Brooklyn told them.

"We're helping you, Chuck and Marie with the party while Dylan and Wyatt are at the hospital with Angela, Theo, Emilia and Aurora, and Brittany's switched out," Sadie told her.

"You can take a break," Thyra replied. "This is important."

Brooklyn and Thyra took Zaya and Sadie's hands, leading them over to a table to sit them down.

James walked with them. "Zaya... Sadie... I don't know how to tell you this."

"Tell us what?" Zaya asked. "What's going on?"

"You are freaking me out, James," Sadie told him. "What's wrong?"

James looked at Brooklyn and Thyra.

Thyra nodded. "Um... Carter called James, from his meeting with the Silence, because he saw someone there that none of us expected."

"But in a way, we should've known," Brooklyn pointed out. "I mean, the Silence people are basically above the law with all their contacts in police forces and psychiatric centers, and... that explains why Laureen and Aurora and Dominic could never take down... your father."

Zaya and Sadie looked at them, stunned.

"Wait..." Zaya trailed off. "You're not saying..."

James nodded sadly. "The reason why Laureen and Aurora and Dominic are having such a tough time in trying to find a way to take Richard down is..."

Zaya had to take a deep breath, in shock. "Our dad's in the Silence?"

Sadie was very overwhelmed, looking away, a hand over her chest. "Oh, my God. I know you guys were trying to protect me from knowing everything about the Silence, but I got most of it. And I know they're dangerous and killers and that's why James, Caroline, Carter, Thyra, Hope and Aurora, and Angela, Emilia, Theo, Giselle and Ivan were being targeted. And our dad's one of them?"

Zaya took Sadie's hand.  

Brooklyn and Thyra took Zaya and Sadie's hands to be there for them in moral support.

"Shh," Brooklyn told them. "It's okay."

"How is it okay?" Zaya asked. "Okay, we had to learn that our dad had an affair with a woman and got her pregnant, and she died in a house fire, our unborn half sibling died in a house fire, and that's why Dad snapped and he's done everything he's done. And now we find out we can't stop him because he's in the organization that is targeting some of our closest friends?"

"He could seriously hurt any of us," Sadie told them. "He might not fight like we do, but the contacts he has... The Silence..."

"We will figure it out," Thyra promised. "I swear. We're not gonna let him do anything to either of you or Laureen or Dominic."

"How are we gonna stop him?" Zaya asked.

"I don't know," James admitted. "But we will figure out a way. Now that we know why we couldn't do it before, maybe Laureen, Aurora and Dominic could find something that can work now that we know."

Sadie realized. "Oh, my God. Mom and Dominic don't know anything about the Silence. If they keep looking into Dad's past... they could get hurt. That's why Dad threatened them, and us."

"Sadie had to hack for us to find out about Dad's affair and our half-sibling being dead," Zaya explained. "And everything going on lately with the press and everything... Dad could stop, and he could end up hurting us or Mom or Dominic."

"And we'll figure out a way to make sure that you two, Laureen and Dominic will be safe," Thyra told them.

"Look, Laureen might not know much for fighting, but she can still somewhat defend herself, and I don't think Dominic's in immediate danger," Brooklyn told them.

"But we will do anything to make sure that you all stay safe too," James told them. "Okay?"

Zaya and Sadie nodded nervously, swallowing. Brooklyn and Thyra looked at them sadly, embracing Zaya and Sadie. Zaya and Sadie returned the embraces. James looked at them in concern, either a hand on Zaya and Sadie's arms to be there for them as well.

X • O ° X • O

Elsewhere

Brandeis was speaking with a man. "Well, right now, I'm thinking I'm just gonna go for my master's, but who knows?"

Serena walked up to them. "Sorry to interrupt. Brandeis, right? I'm Serena."

"Hi, Serena," Brandeis greeted. "This is Congressman Wade."

"Pleasure to meet you," Wade told her. "And are you a, uh, a student, like Brandeis?"

Serena was testing Brandeis. "No, I'm just a regular old working girl."

"Really?" Wade asked. "And do you two work together? Because maybe--"

"Uh, congressman, you've been campaigning a little too hard," Brandeis told him.

Serena chuckled. "Let me guess, you wanna go upstairs and see if two blondes make a right?"

Brandeis looked at Wade. "Uh, excuse us." She led Serena aside. "I'm sorry. I thought I was working this party alone. Did the agency send you?"

Serena smirked. "No, you're right. This party is all yours. Excuse me."

Serena walked away.

X • O ° X • O

Elsewhere

Hope and Thyra, Chuck and Brooklyn were being interviewed by a man.

The man looked at Hope and Thyra, since they had close ties with the Vanderbilts/Archibalds. "As friends of the family, what do you have to say about the allegation that Tripp Vanderbilt's heroism might have been staged?"

"Uh, I say I'm a businesswoman, not a politician," Thyra answered. "But I am very close with Tripp and Harry Vanderbilt, and Alex and Nate Archibald, and my cousin here, Hope, even though a recently discovered Diamond, Aurora's daughter, is dating Alex."

"Alex, Nate, Harry and Tripp are all very well aware of what they plan to do about this," Hope told him. "And I can assure you that Tripp was not behind that set up."

The man nodded. "Fine. So how will it affect your business together as a collaboration? If the Empire's inaugural event is mired in scandal?"

"Uh, look, you think anyone goes to to the Mercer for the maid service?" Chuck asked. "They go 'cause they wanna see Russell Crowe throw a hissy."

"Anyway, nothing happens at the Empire without our say so," Brooklyn told him. "And we have everything under complete control."

X • O ° X • O

Ballroom

(Song:) Take You Out - Estate

Blair was looking around.

Serena walked up to her. "What are you doing, Blair? Looking for your best friend? Bad news, security just escorted her out in time to avoid a major political scandal."

"You're kidding me," Blair told her. "Now we're doing tit for tat?"

"She was an escort, a high-priced hooker," Serena explained.

Blair scoffed in disbelief. "You're ridiculous. Brandeis is not a call girl. She's a psych major. Who on earth told you that?"

"Prince," Serena answered.

"And you're really gonna believe your boarding school best friend over me when Prince is now technically fake dating Brittany, or Marie?" Blair asked. "Though that seems to be a theme with you Rhodes sisters, since Noe and Marie both dated Carter."

"Oh, don't bring them into this," Serena told her.

"I'll gladly leave them out," Blair replied. "You're just trying to get back at me."

"No, actually, I'm just looking out the Crew," Serena told her. "I doubt Hope, Brooklyn, Thyra, Dylan and Chuck would want a prostitute at this hotel, especially at a party for Alex and Nate's cousin, who is also really close to Thyra."

Seeing the fighting, Zaya, Sadie and James walked up to them, trying to get them to stop.

"Serena, Blair, please," James told them.  "This is supposed to be a classy event, not a sample sale at an outlet mall."

"James, you'll never believe what Serena did," Blair told him. "She had my friend kicked out of the party."

"The call girl?" James asked. "Serena already told me."

"What?" Blair asked. "No, I--I promise you, Brandeis is not an escort. Serena's just trying to get even with me."

Serena smirked, tilting her head.

"Look, I don't know what's going on here, and I don't care," Zaya told them. "But it needs to stop, because this is for the Crew, and we have something seriously important to tell you guys. Um, I know Hope, Thyra, Brooklyn and Chuck are working, and Dylan and Wyatt are still at the hospital with Angela, Aurora, Emilia and Theo. And Alex, Nate and Harry have to deal with Vanderbilt drama. Carter called James with something that changed everything for us. Where're Noe and Marie? They need to hear this too."

Noe walked up to them. "I'm here. Why? What's going on?"

Sadie looked very nervous. "You'll never believe this." She looked around, confused. "Okay, we know where everyone else in the Crew is what, but where the hell is Marie? She's supposed to be working, and..."

They all looked around, not seeing Marie, looking very concerned.

(Song Ends)

X • O ° X • O

Hallway

WARNING: Some descriptions of events in this scene may trigger people who have been molested and/or raped and/or abused and have had a stalker.

In the hallway of the hotel, Marie had woken up from switching back to herself after Brittany was done. She looked around in confusion, not remembering how she got there due to the disorder and switching.

Vincent walked into the hallway behind Marie, smirking. "Hello, Marie." Marie froze at the voice that caused her to freeze in place and made her blood run cold. "Did you miss me, kitten?" Marie turned to face him in denial. "Need my help with anything?"

Marie took a few steps back. "Yeah, you can help by getting the hell away from me. I have a restraining order against you, and if I call security, you're out of here, and arrested. So think about that before you get anywhere near me."

Vincent shrugged innocently. "It's a party. I'm here to party. And it looks like your new little boyfriend isn't around to defend you this time. And Nick's not out to play yet."

"Give it time," Marie replied. 

Vincent smirked. "Really? Because I've seen you and Brittany drinking a lot tonight, and as we both know, that makes it extremely hard for you to switch between alters, so it's probably gonna be a while before Nick or Brittany come out to defend you, able to anyway. We both know that Lacy can't defend you because of how weak and sweet she is."

Marie glared at him, but knowing that he was right about the alcohol making it extremely hard for switching. "I don't need Carter, Nick or Brittany to defend me. Or Lacy. I can defend myself against you just fine."

"There was a time you didn't have to," Vincent retorted. "You know that I loved you, kitten. Truly loved you."

Marie tilted her head skeptically. "There's a difference between true love and truly psycho and you're truly psycho."

Marie tried to go quickly.

Vincent grabbed Marie by the arm, pulling her back to him, making her bump into his chest, smirking in amusement. "Don't be like that. I just wanted to talk. Don't be mad. We just had a little miscommunication, that's all."

Marie pushed Vincent off of her. "Would an ax to your head be a miscommunication?"

Vincent smirked. "Is that Nick or Brittany speaking? Or all three of you? Man, you are a hard girl to get alone these days, Marie. I've been watching you. You've been with Carter Baizen, or the Upper East Side Crew, and you end up being their family. Who knew? I've seen you working at the café, surrounded by others, unable to get you alone." Marie looked like she was thinking 'I knew it'. "And then you stopped going there because you knew that I could find you. I've seen you at Central Park after your parents' wedding, but they were there so I couldn't get to you alone. You had a lot of hiding places there to check through." Marie looked very overwhelmed knowing that he had been watching her the entire time. "But finally I get you alone all to myself, kitten."

Marie backed away. "Get out of here, Vincent. Leave me alone."

Marie tried to run for the hallway exit.

Vincent grabbed Marie, spinning her away from the exit, standing in her way of the doors to the other room, smirking, blocking her path. "Uh-uh-uh. Nice try." Marie turned to see double doors at the end of the hallway, but seeing that she needed a key card to open them, which she didn't have. "Yeah, you don't have a way out of here, Marie, so you can stay here and listen to what I have to say. Like I said, I just want to talk, just like I wanted to talk to you the day your boys interrupted us."

Marie glared at him, shaking her head. "Don't think for a second there is an us. There will never be an us. Not after what you did to me. So get that through your head."

"You're quite wrong about that," Vincent replied. Marie tried to run past Vincent to the hallway exit. Vincent turned after Marie, wrapping a cord around her waist, pulling her back, holding her hard enough to hurt her. "Try to run away and I'll not hesitate to crush your spine." 

Marie tried to pull her arm free. "Let go of me!"

Vincent forcefully grabbed Marie's arm a lot tighter, holding her wrist firm in his grip, her hand turning purple from the blocked blood flow, pushing her against the wall, chuckling at the sight of her wriggling to get away, unable to break his hold on her because he was far too strong for her. When Marie tried to hit him with her free hand, Vincent clamped her other wrist in the same hand he held the first, twisting her arms painfully, taking advantage of her weakened arm and nearly sprained it, making her groan in pain, pinning her arms to the wall over her head, bringing his free hand up to hold the side of her neck, causing her to tense up, kissing her deeply, making her whimper. Marie tore her head away from him to break the kiss.

Vincent whispered harshly into Marie's ear. "I was always the one that had the power between you and me, Marie."

Marie was struggling. "Get off of me! Let me go!"

Vincent smirked. "Why would I do that? That would ruin the fun, now wouldn't it?"

Marie tried to yell for help. "Hel--"

Vincent put a hand over Marie's mouth to stop her. "As much as I wanna hear you scream, not here. I don't want anyone to ruin my fun. I'm gonna have fun with you first. Think twice before you try to yell for help, because you know that I can beat anyone down that comes to help you. Do you understand?" Marie knew that was true, and didn't want anyone to get hurt because of her, or worse, not trying to yell for help because of not wanting someone to get hurt because of her. Vincent smirked, taking his hand from her mouth when he was sure she wouldn't yell. "Good girl, kitten. Tell me something."

"Tell you what?" Marie spat. "What else could you possibly want from me?"

Vincent ran his free hand over Marie's bare legs, keeping her knees pinned down so she couldn't knee him or kick him, looking up at Marie mockingly as she tensed up in fear as he got closer up. "Tell me if your little boyfriend Carter has more to offer."

Marie was finally dissociating, having to stop struggling because of it, though still spoke what was on her mind at that moment. "Like you wouldn't believe."

Knowing that she was dissociating, switching, Vincent let her go, smirking, ready for whatever alter came out. "Now who's coming out to play?"

Lowering her arms when Vincent let her go, Andrea was the one to awaken and take control, pushing Vincent away. "Get the hell away from us."

"Hmm, not Nick this time, huh?" Vincent asked. "Who is it this time?"

"The alter that took after her sister when she died," Andrea answered.

Vincent raised his eyebrows in amusement, smirking knowingly. "Marie's got an alter for Andrea now?"

"Don't forget that Marie knows her real family now, family to me, Nick, Brittany and Lacy since we're parts of Marie, and they have a lot more power than you do," Andrea told him. "We're in a much more powerful place than you are now. And the things that we know about you, what you've done, to us, don't think for a second that we won't expose you for who you really are."

Vincent smirked smugly. "All feisty and strong, warrior-like just like Andrea now, huh, Marie? Gotta say it's hot. And if you could expose me and send me away, you would've already done that, but you can't because you don't have proof, since it was four years ago, and not even in this city. But you can drop the Andrea act."

"It's not an act," Andrea replied.

"So Marie's really got an alter for Andrea," Vincent stated, smirking at something ironic. "Ain't that a bitch." He grabbed Andrea by the head. "Not so tough now, are you?" Andrea pushed Vincent away, trying to kick him. Vincent sidestepped to make her miss, grabbing her, pushing her into the wall with enough strength to hurt her. "You better play nice."

Andrea just glared at him, unafraid. "Sick bastard."

Andrea tried to hit Vincent, but Vincent caught her wrist, pushing her hand to the wall over her head to pin it, kissing her. This triggered another alter, this one that gave the body more fury and emotional strength out of pure anger.

Nick kneed Vincent hard in the gut, pushing him back into the wall. "Son of a bitch!"

Vincent smirked. "There you are, Nick."

Nick spat on him. "Lowlife piece of--"

Nick punched and kicked Vincent.

Vincent laughed. "You're lucky I don't want to fight, but you know I can destroy you either way."

When Nick tried to punch Vincent again, Vincent caught the arm he punched with, which was the weaker arm, twisting it, eliciting a groan in agony as it was the second time Vincent twisted that arm that night with enough strength to hurt it. Nick spun back to face Vincent to backhand punch him in the face, kicking him into the wall. Vincent was clearly not interested in fighting, but was incredibly amused to see Nick fighting back. Nick found a cart, pushing it into Vincent to distract him enough so he could quickly make the way to the ballroom, pushing the doors open, walking back into the party.

X • O ° X • O

Ballroom

Nick pushed the ballroom doors open, walking into the party, but paused in walking when he started to dissociate again, another switch happening on its own due to the negative triggers that Vincent brought.

Vincent followed quickly, angrily. "I'm not done talking to Marie."

Brittany was now awake, turning to look at Vincent sassily with heavy sarcasm, very bitchy and in charge. "Oh, but we're all done listening to you. Security!" The party people looked toward them. Vincent grabbed Brittany's arm, but Brittany clawed her nails into his cheek roughly to make him let go and back away with a groan. "I'm sure they'll have a nice place for you in prison where someone can do to you what you did to us. Security! Not getting any younger here!"

"Brittany..." Vincent trailed off.

Brittany stalked closer, tilting her head. "We warned you. We all warned you." Security came over. Brittany spoke as Marie so that her disorder didn't get exposed. "I have a restraining order against this man and he won't leave me be. Restraining order for rape and stalking, by the way. Can you take care of this so I can get back to work? He's already cornered me in the hallway, pinned me to the wall and kissed me. Twice."

The security guards started to handcuff Vincent.

Vincent scoffed, laughing evilly. "You and your alters want to do this to me, Marie? Just remember that I always come back and it gets worse every time I do, no matter how long it takes. Who knows what new personality you'll get the next time something really horrible happens? Like the one you have where you're paid to date clients like a prostitute. And you have to wonder if your claim that I raped you is really true or not when you take in that fact. Slut. You might have everyone thinking that I'm the crazy one, but if they all knew about your DID, multiple personalities, they would know that you are."

Noe, Hope, Alex, Brooklyn, Thyra, James, Zaya, Sadie, Serena, Blair, Nate, Chuck, Laureen, Dominic, Prince, Preston, Sherry, Simon and Harry were watching along with the rest of the party people. The Crew members there were stunned, horrified and concerned when they realized who Vincent was, and that he exposed Marie and her DID like that in front of everyone.

Brittany was furious, pushing Vincent forward into the cake in front of him while the guards were handcuffing him. Everyone in the crowd exclaimed, including the rest of the Crew. The guards pulled Vincent up, as he had cake and icing all over his face.

Brittany took a handful of the cake, stalking closer, glaring at Vincent. "How's the cake taste?" She slammed the cake into Vincent's face and mouth, causing more exclamations. The guards started to take Vincent away. Brittany leaned against the table, taking a glass of champagne from a waiter's tray nearby, watching calmly as the guards escorted him away. "Have fun being someone else's bitch."

Marie was coming to, and she seemed to remember most of what happened since most of the alters had been co-conscious due to the triggering events of that night. She watched the guards take Vincent away to be arrested calmly in relief, smirking slightly at how Andrea, Nick and Brittany all defended her/each other and what they all did to him, taking a drink of champagne.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "My oh my. Marie Rosson taking a page from the Rhodes girls handbook and putting the men that deserve it in the places they deserve to be. Looks like Marie has some Rhodes and Humphrey in her after all. And of course the Queen of Hearts was ready to send her enemies to the brig. Luckily she didn't take his head like she lost hers."

X • O ° X • O

X • O ° X • O

Hallway

Marie had to sit alone after everything that happened, upset because she knew that Vincent outed her secret in the middle of the party, and left shaken after what he did to her, holding her arm in pain since he had hurt her arm to keep her from fighting back, but she was relieved to know that he was arrested.

Laureen walked closer to Marie. "Marie. Honey..."

Marie looked up at Laureen, tears in her eyes. "Laureen..."

Laureen sat next to Marie, looking at her in concern, taking her hand. "I'm so sorry that he did that you."

Marie swallowed, nodding. "Everyone's gonna know. Gossip Girl, blogs. Everyone's gonna treat me like I'm crazy."

"But you're not," Laureen told her. "You know that."

"Doesn't matter since they think I am," Marie told her. "I hated it. When I first saw him, when I first heard him, I felt like I was that scared little girl again and I could barely fight back. And he hurt me to make sure that I didn't. And threatened to beat down anyone that I called for help, and he could do it. Believe me."

Laureen put an arm around Marie. "Shh. It's okay. He's locked away now. He can't hurt you anymore."

"The police will think that I'm making up what he did to me because what he said about Brittany dating Prince and the disorder," Marie pointed out. "The only thing he's in jail for right now is that he broke a restraining order. And that won't keep him in jail for long. Maybe a few months. I think six months to a year."

Laureen gently stroked her arm to calm her down. "We will figure out a way to make sure he can't hurt you again."

"How?" Marie asked.

Laureen shook her head sadly. "I don't know. But I am here for whatever you need. Okay?"

Marie nodded sadly. "Mm-hmm."

Laureen wrapped her arms around Marie, holding her head to her shoulder reassuringly, trying to soothe her, as Marie was still trying to recover from what happened.

X • O ° X • O

Ballroom

The other Crew members were talking (besides Carter, Dylan and Wyatt since they weren't there).

"My God," Nate said. "Poor Marie."

"Is Marie okay?" Chuck asked.

"Laureen's in the hallway talking to her now," Hope explained. "We didn't want to overwhelm Marie more."

They all nodded in understanding.

"Laureen said that when Marie was ready we could talk to her," Noe told them.

"I can't believe that was Vincent," Brooklyn admitted. "I'm glad Marie and the alters took him down."

"Yeah, but at what cost?" Alex asked. "Vincent outed Marie's disorder and that Brittany's being paid to fake date Prince, so that people would doubt that she's telling the truth about what he did to her."

"I don't know," Thyra admitted. "God, I can't believe he did that to Marie."

"From the stories Marie told about Vincent, I can," James told them. "But still. That was horrible."

"Are you gonna call Carter about what Vincent did to Marie?" Zaya asked.

"I'm sure that Gossip Girl's already posting about Marie's disorder and blogs knowing that Brittany's dating Prince would post soon," Sadie pointed out.

"Carter is gonna be so pissed," Blair told them. "Pretty sure he would've ended up killing Vincent after what he did to Marie if he was here."

Serena nodded in agreement. "I can't believe this happened to Marie before and she still has to deal with it."

Everyone was still talking about what just happened, not just the Crew, but everyone in the room.

Harry walked toward the stage, looking at Tripp. "Let me talk first. I need to get everyone focused, and to stop talking about Marie and what just happened."

"I'm not even sure what happened with Marie," Tripp admitted. "But, uh... Harry, I know what I'm doing. I can talk."

Harry stood at the podium. "Excuse me." Vanessa was filming him. "Hi. I'd like to redirect your focus from what just happened between a sweet girl and an unstable man determined to ruin her life to what we came here for, so please, do not talk about what just happened." The crowd silenced down. "My name is Harry Vanderbilt. Alex and Nate Archibald and Tripp Vanderbilt's uncle. I know there's a lot of buzz going around about what exactly happened this morning at the Hudson River, and it saddens me to tell you all that the story about it being a hoax, it is true. However, my nephew, Tripp Vanderbilt, had no knowledge of any kind of setup. My nephews are not only the most moral, honest and courageous men I know, Tripp is still a hero, and how do I know this? Because I'm the one who set it up."

Everyone was murmuring in shock, and Alex and Nate reacted in shock, though they knew that Harry only said that so that he could protect Tripp, knowing that he didn't really do it. The Crew all knew that Harry was just protecting Tripp too.

X • O ° X • O

Lobby

Serena was pacing.

Chuck and Brooklyn walked toward Serena.

"Whatever this fight is with Blair, can you get over it after everything else that has happened?" Chuck asked. "Angela, the Silence, what just happened with Marie."

"I tried to make amends but she made things worse, and then I did, and then now it's just a big mess again," Serena told them.

"The reason Blair is fighting is because she misses you," Brooklyn told her. "Don't tell me after 18 years, you can't read Waldorf subtext."

"I shouldn't have to," Serena told them. "If that's what she's feeling, then she should tell me. Its' time for her to grow up."

"This coming from the girl who is holding onto anger about what you think everyone is doing  to use Noe, Marie, Zaya and Sadie's issues, but they themselves are not mad because they know that's not the case," Chuck replied.

Serena turned to leave.

Brooklyn grabbed her arm to stop her. "Look, you think your friendship is going to take care of itself. You're not kids anymore. You can't say you hate each other and then make up an hour later on the Met steps."

"You tell her that," Serena told her.

"I'm telling you, because you're my sister, and you fighting, is making everything worse for all the Crew," Brooklyn told her. "You have no idea how much."

Chuck sighed. "And you should be careful, because one day, you're gonna find yourself telling people about Blair Waldorf, the girl who used to be your best friend. Not only could you lose Blair, but you could lose James because he is Blair's adoptive brother." Serena knew they were right, looking worried. "And like Brooklyn said, you need to stop fighting with Noe, Marie, Zaya and Sadie just because they aren't mad about things that you are mad about when it comes to them, because given everything, they need you now more than ever."

Chuck and Brooklyn walked away, leaving Serena in shock to think about what they said.

X • O ° X • O

Hospital - Angela's Room

Angela, Dylan and Wyatt were sitting together, while Emilia was holding Theo and giving them some room to talk. Angela tilted her head back against her pillow.

"How will Angela De Los Caballeros return with a vengeance this time?" Dylan asked.

Angela shook her head. "She won't. It's over."

"You survived, Angela," Wyatt told her. "You're back."

Angela sniffed. "I can't go back to before. Not after everything that's happened. I don't want to. I have a son to take care of and a sister to find, but I can't do everything I did before. I have to be here for Theo. And you know, the hardest part about losing my memories was... having to relive them as they came back. Losing Giselle. My father. So much pain."

Dylan and Wyatt looked at her sadly in sympathy.

X • O ° X • O

Flashback 3

Night - Garage

Two men were talking while Angela, Ivan and Emilia were working their way through the men that had taken Giselle, trying to find her.

"This family, they're looking for their missing girl," Man 1 explained.

"So what's the big deal?" Man 2 asked. "They're just three people."

Man 1 scoffed. "Not just any three people. Angela, Emilia and Ivan De Los Caballeros. Looking for Giselle and looking for revenge."

Man 2 looked scared when he heard their names. "Oh. But still. They're three people. Why don't we just eliminate them?"

"The De Los Caballeros are deadly focused," Man 1 told him. "And independent. With sheer will."

"I've heard the stories," Man 2 told him.

Man 1 tilted his head. "Believe me when I tell you that all the stories you've heard have been watered down."

X • O ° X • O

Downstairs

Angela, Emilia and Ivan were breaking in.

When a man tried to shoot Emilia. Emilia caught his arm, spinning him around to throw him against the wall, having hold of his wrist so he couldn't shoot her, making her shoot the wall behind her, elbowing him in the face, swinging her arm down to take his gun from him, backing away, aiming and firing into his face.

Angela ran toward Man 2, pushing him against the wall, punching him in the face, kneeing him in the gut, delivering many punches, slamming Man 2 into the wall, flipping him to the floor, shooting him.

Man 3 tried to attack Ivan with a knife.

Ivan was able to duck and dodge each swing, grabbing his arm, twisting it, rolling over the floor with his arm still in hand to flip him to the floor, rolling up to a crouch, taking his knife, stabbing him repeatedly, pushing him down the stairs, running down after him, grabbing him, pushing him into a car, punching him in the gut, kicking him in the crotch. "Giselle De Los Caballeros. Where is she?"

"I don't know," Man 3 told them.

Man 4 attacked Angela from behind, making her fall to the ground. Angela turned onto her back, kicking Man 4 away from her, kicking him between the legs to make him fall to his knees, getting up to her feet, kicking him in the head hard enough to take him down.

Man 5 ran at Ivan to push him back into a car, trying to punch him repeatedly. Ivan was able to block all the blows, slamming his hand into his neck to stun him, slamming his head against the car to knock him out.

Man 6 managed to push Emilia into a railing, threatening to push her over, but Emilia punched him in the throat to make him let her go and grab his own throat, flipping him over the railing instead of her to save herself, hanging onto the railing to keep herself from falling the major distance, watching as the man fell several meters from up high, until he hit and broke many of his bones. Emilia flipped back over the railing into safety.

Angela, Emilia and Ivan met up on the ground level over Man 6, who was groaning in pain from his broken bones due to the major fall, who they were going to make give them the lead they needed to try and find Giselle.

X • O ° X • O

Flashback 4 - Silence's Parties

Angela, Emilia and Ivan found their way to one of the club's many places for parties, undercover, dressed up to remain hidden, wearing masks, like Angela did in 2.17 when she got Chuck and Dylan out from a party like this, seeing that some girls were drugged into a stupor in some of the rooms, looking for Giselle while undercover.

One of the men knew that Angela wasn't one of them, grabbing her. "Hey."

Angela broke free, punching Man 1 in the face, kneeing him in the stomach, kicking him in the chest, making him hit the wall and fall to the ground, taking a cloth from the ceiling, wrapping it around the man's neck, pulling on it until she could choke him into unconsciousness.

Ivan was also caught, in a fight with another man. Man 2 grabbed the father, dragging him through the hallway, and Ivan had his arms out which pulled back many of the curtains around them, causing girls to scream. Ivan broke free, spinning to face Man 2, slamming his head against the wall, making him fall.

Man 3 tried to punch Emilia. Emilia caught his arm, twisting it around to force the man to his knees, punching him in the head repeatedly, slamming him down.

Man 4 ran closer with a gun. "Hey!"

Angela, Emilia and Ivan ducked. Ivan kicked the gun out of Man 4's hands, launching up to punch him in the throat, making him fall. Man 5 burst into the room with a gun, already firing. Angela grabbed Man 6 to use him as a shield against all the bullets, making Man 5 kill Man 6 instead of her. Emilia had ducked for cover, taking the gun from Man 4 to use it to shoot Man 5 down. Now that there was a break in the attacks, Angela, Emilia and Ivan were helping the girls that didn't want to be there get away, and they were also on the run to look for Giselle before they could get caught, but they could never find her.

"Angela, Emilia, let's go," Ivan told them.

"But Giselle--" Angela started.

"Giselle's not here," Emilia told her. "Let's go."

They ran outside to get to their car. Men ran outside with guns, firing, shattering windows with bullets as they did. Angela, Emilia and Ivan remained close to the ground to avoid being shock, ducking behind cars and doors to stay safe. Emilia and Ivan fired their own guns back at the men, distracting them long enough for Angela, Emilia and Ivan to get into their car and start driving. While the men continued to shoot at them in the car, Angela drove them in a circle, knocking down barrels of gasoline in the process, causing a flame eruption that blew the men firing their guns back to the ground so that they were no longer shooting at them, so that Angela could drive herself, Emilia and Ivan safely away from the premises, and another explosion erupted that took out the building. Angela watched the explosions through the rear view mirrors as she was driving away, smirking a bit in victory for being able to shut down one of these establishments, but was still determined to shut them all down and save her sister.

X • O ° X • O

Flashback 5

Emilia's Solo Mission - Brothel

Emilia was on a solo mission at a brothel to try and find Giselle. She saw several men up ahead, grabbing a rope, swinging it to hit Man 1 in the face, taking his arm to aim his gun at Man 2, making him shoot him instead of her, using the rope to hit Man 2 in the face, making him fall, punching Man 1 in the face, kicking Man 3 in the face before he could shoot her, making him fall, kicking his gun away from him, wrapping the rope around Man 1's neck, using it to flip him to the floor and snapping his neck in the process. She used her gun to shoot both Man 2 and 3 so they could not get up. She snuck up behind Man 4, wrapping the rope around his throat, yanking hard to pull him to the floor, somersaulting over the floor to avoid being shot by Man 5, standing, kicking the gun out of Man 5's hands, throwing a throwing star into his head to kill him, turning to see Man 6, whipping the rope to hit him in the face, kicking him in the crotch. She took out her dagger as Man 6 and Man 7 both tried to attack, slitting into both of their legs on either side of her in a fast spin movement, throwing the blade into Man 6's head, and using the rope to wrap around Man 7's neck, flipping him to the floor to snap his neck like that, tying the rope to Man 8. When more men ran closer with guns, Emilia ran out onto the outside balcony, rope still in hand, jumping off the balcony, and using the rope to glide herself down, and the force on the rope pulled Man 8 across the floor since the rope was tied around his neck, and he was screaming all the way to the balcony, slamming against the railing. Emilia jumped down from the rope to the ground. Man 9 and 10 tried to stop her from outside, on either side of her. Emilia punched Man 9 in the stomach, turning to elbow Man 10 in the face with the other arm, using her other arm to elbow Man 9 in the face, punching Man 10 in the stomach with the other arm, then punching Man 9 in the face, flipping him to the ground, catching the gun arm of Man 10, using it to flip him to the ground, taking his gun, and using it to shoot and kill both of them. Since she was unable to find Giselle, she walked off, ready to go try another lead with Ivan and Angela, who were both on their own mission together.

X • O ° X • O

Angela/Ivan's Mission - Brothel

Angela and Ivan were breaking into another brothel like building in search for Giselle. Angela was undercover as a waiter, looking around through the rooms, and pretending to be serving men their meals.

Man 1 noticed something off about Angela, reaching for a knife on the table. "Hey."

Angela caught Man 1's wrist before he could aim the knife at her, slamming his wrist on the table, twisting the knife out of his hands, tossing it through Man 2's hand before he could reach for his gun, kicking him in the chest, making him fall. She grabbed the table, flipping it at the oncoming men to distract them, punching Man 1 in the face, spinning to kick him in the head, knocking him down and out.

Ivan stabbed Man 2 in the chest, taking his gun, firing at Man 3 and Man 4.

Angela and Ivan ran through the building in search for Giselle, releasing the girls there against their will as they went, firing guns to protect themselves and stop the men coming after them. Ivan was shot in the side, making him fall to the floor.

Angela saw this, and was horrified. "Papa!"

Angela was distracted enough to where she couldn't stop the men from knocking her out from behind. Ivan was knocked out just afterward.

X • O ° X • O

Later

Angela and Ivan were tied up to a pipe over their heads so they couldn't cut the ropes, but forced to stand, while Ivan was shot and bleeding from the side.

A man named Joffrey Campbell walked closer. "Angela and Ivan De Los Caballeros. It's good to see you both again. I've been seeing a lot of Giselle lately, while you two and Emilia have been looking for her."

Angela glared at Joffrey in pure hate and anger. "Joffrey."

Joffrey smirked. "Hello, Angela."

Angela struggled against her binds. "You son of a bitch! I will kill you!"

Joffrey laughed mockingly. "I'm looking forward to seeing you try. Giselle's counting on you to."

Angela glared at him in fury. "Give her to us."

Joffrey stroked Angela's cheek mockingly, causing her to turn her head sharply away so he wasn't touching her. "I wish I could, but I can't. You really should've thought about taking me up on my offer to show you the world, Angela."

Ivan glared at him. "This wasn't her fault, you psycho. It was yours."

Joffrey smirked, shrugging, backing away. "Maybe. Maybe not. All Angela had to do was say yes to me. But helping take Giselle and put her in the same program that Emilia's brother was in... sex slavery and torture. Mm, that's a little poetic justice, don't you think? Hurting all of you De Los Caballeros so immensely, Ivan."

"When I get out of this, I'll show you a little poetic justice," Angela seethed.

Joffrey laughed. "Oh, I bet you'll try."

"I'll pay whatever you want to get Giselle back and for me, Angela and Emilia to be free," Ivan told him.

"This business, which I learned from my father?" Joffrey asked. "We have no refunds, no returns. No discounts, no buy backs. All sales are final, and Giselle has been sold. Besides, discretion is about the only rule that we have." He stood in front of Angela tauntingly, running a hand along her waist and side, causing her to tense up. "Unless you wanna change your mind. Beg me. Or you can continue to chase your tail like a little bitch."

Angela glared at Joffrey, and launched her head forward to headbutt her head into his face, making him reel back, stand and back away from her. "Who's the little bitch now?"

Joffrey was not surprised by Angela's reaction, though he pulled hard on her hair to make her look at him, as both glared at each other. "Get settled in then. You'll be here a while." He let go of her hair, pushing her head back, turning around, walking away. "Keep them here. I have superiors to report to. Tell them that we got Angela and Ivan. And soon enough Emilia too."

Joffrey left. 

Angela looked up at the ceiling to see that the pipe they were tied to was very weak, lifting herself up by her bonds, and thrusting down with all her weight in order to break the pipe and allow herself and Ivan to slip off their ropes and break free. Steam was being released from the pipe right at another man, making him scream and run away.

Ivan turned to the man behind him, pushing him back over a railing, pushing him over to the ground below. When the man landed, he landed on his head and snapped his neck.

Angela was aiming the pipe around to use the hot steam from the pipe as a way to burn and blind the men around them. When the pipe ran out of steam, she tossed it at the face of another man, hitting him in the face with it over and over again, making him hit the wall behind her. The man tried to aim a gun. Angela ran closer through the fog, grabbing his gun arm to make him aim the gun at his crotch and making him fire, making him scream in agony, pushing him to the floor, twirling the gun in her hand, tilting her head.

Ivan stole a gun from another man, shooting another on the way out. With his gunshot wound and the hot steam mixing in the wound, he was getting weaker and more lightheaded, in severe pain. Angela wrapped Ivan's arm around her shoulders, helping him walk into the hallway, where they found another man.

"Hey, we can resolve this," the man told them. "I know how you feel. We should talk. We--we can work this out." Angela and Ivan both raised their guns, firing into each of his shoulders, making him fall into the wall. "You have no idea."

"Where is Giselle?" Angela demanded.

"You don't understand," the man told them. "Joffrey will kill me. Please..."

Angela shot him in the knee, making him fall to the floor. "I think you should be more worried about what I'll do to you."

The man had to give in. "There's a boat by the river. I don't know anything else. I swear."

"I believe you," Ivan told him. "But it won't save you."

The man was terrified to die. "Please understand. It was all business. It wasn't personal."

"It was all personal to us," Angela replied.

Ivan shot the man repeatedly to kill him.

X • O ° X • O

Boat

Angela helped Ivan to the boat, leaning him against the wall. "Papa, you should stay here. You're hurt. You're just..."

"I'm not staying out here when they're in there, Angela," Ivan told her. "I'm fine, mija. We have to save Giselle. Emilia's not here, but..."

Angela gave him a look. "Stay here. I'll be more worried about you than about me or Giselle. Please."

Ivan sighed, nodding. Angela ran to the edge of the bridge, looking down to see the boat passing underneath, climbing over the railing, jumping down, rolling over the top of the boat and coming right up into an attack against Man 1, grabbing him from behind in a choke hold, rendering him unconscious within a moment. She walked downstairs, seeing Man 2 down there, grabbing onto the stairs above her, swinging down to kick Man 2 in the face, making him fall into the railing of the boat, jumping down. Man 2 got up, trying to attack. Angela punched him in the head, grabbing him by the shoulders to slam him down into her knee as she brought it up, spinning them around to throw him off the boat into the water below. She made her way to a door, waiting behind it as Man 3 walked through it with his gun. Angela grabbed his gun arm to stop him from firing, slamming the door into his face and head to stun him, grabbing him, slamming his head into the wall, letting him fall unconscious. Angela walked down the hallway of the boat, looking around, finding Man 4, slamming her gun onto his head repeatedly to knock him out. She remained behind a wall as Man 5 walked closer, waiting until he got close enough so she could hit him in the face with her gun, making his gun go off at the wall, shooting him in the stomach a couple of times. She walked up to a door with a window in it, shooting Man 6 in the face through the window, watching him fall, opening the door, walking through it without a second look, shrugging like it didn't matter. Man 7 approached Angela from behind with a gun. Angela spun to kick his gun away from him so that it wasn't aiming at her, spinning underneath his arm to kick him in the gut, slamming him into the wall, tossing his gun aside. Man 7 tried to punch her. Angela ducked, twisting his arm around to break it. Man 7 tried to punch her with the other arm, but Angela caught that arm as well, spinning underneath both his arms to flip him to the floor, making him land on his already broken arm and making him yell in agony. Man 8 grabbed Angela from behind in a chokehold, taking her to the floor. Angela bit his arm to make him loosen his grip enough to where she could push them both up to their feet, spinning to face him, punching him in the face repeatedly, flipping him to the floor, grabbing the nearby gun on the floor, shooting Man 7 and 8 both to kill them, but realizing that the gun was out of bullets, she tossed it down. More men were making their way closer with machine guns, causing Angela to take cover behind a wall, unable to get a clear shot at the men firing at her, and having to stay down due to the machine guns firing being much more than her handgun. Suddenly though, the men firing at Angela were shot down one by one, and Angela peaked out when they were dead, looking around for the shooter.

Ivan managed to limp his way over to his daughter with his gun in his hand. "Angela?"

Angela sighed in relief, stepping out of cover, running to his side in concern. "Papa. I told you to stay outside."

"You're welcome," Ivan replied. "Without Emilia here, and us unable to contact each other, you need all the help you can get to find Giselle."

A man suddenly came up behind Angela with a blade to her throat to pull them apart. Angela was breathing heavily, and Ivan was aiming his gun at the man, hoping to get him to release Angela without having to shoot.

The man smirked. "You don't look so good. With the amount of blood you lost, with the way you can barely hold yourself up, if you shoot, you might kill your daughter instead of me. So drop your gun or she gets the knife in the throat."

"Papa..." Angela trailed off. "Get Giselle."

"Giselle is not here," the man mocked. "So you both did all this for nothing. She was here, so it wasn't a complete waste. But she's not anymore. But you get to save one of your daughters, Ivan. And you won't make your wife Emilia lose both her daughters. Drop the gun or Angela dies. I've had it with you De Los Caballeros."

Ivan slowly lowered his gun. "It's okay, Angela. You and Emilia can keep going. You find Giselle. You and Emilia both can."

Angela knew that he was saying goodbye, shaking her head with tears in her eyes. "Papa..." The man let Angela go like promised, but threw the knife into Ivan's wound to finish him off for good before he had the chance to fire at him now that he wasn't holding Angela. Angela cried out in shock and horror, denial, sobbing as she had to watch Ivan die in front of her. "No! Papa!"

Angela ran forward to catch him and the gun, crying. She held Ivan's body in her arms, knowing that they never got to find Giselle, crying.

The man smirked. "And then there were two. But Emilia's on her own little mission so you could split the workload in half, but it didn't work in any favor for any of you. Now none of your little family can ever cause this club any more problems."

Angela glared at him with fury in her eyes. "Don't be so sure."

The man almost shot Angela, but Angela rolled out of the way, and as the man continued to fire, Angela ducked over the edge of the boat, jumping into the water below, swimming away before she could be killed alongside her father. She lost her father during her mission to try and save her sister, but she was never going to stop looking for Giselle, no matter how bleak the odds were of finding her sister alive.

X • O ° X • O

Now

Night - Humphrey Loft - Living Room

Dan opened the door to see Olivia outside.

"Hi," Olivia greeted. "I got your text."

Dan nodded. "Yeah. All it said was..."

"Maybe we should talk," Olivia finished. "And so I just came right away. I'm sorry about Fallon." Dan smiled. "Up till now, Sherry and Simon would decide everything for me. What I'd talk about during interviews and even script exactly what I would say, and just this one time, I wanted to just... be myself and go out there and be me, and I--I bombed."

"What?" Dan asked. "No, you didn't. No. No, it was funny, really."

"And then today, you left, and I knew... I knew that I'd hurt you and..." Olivia trailed off. "Our first date meant so much to me."

"Olivia, Fallon was right," Dan told her, taking her hands, leading her further into the loft. "The spider story isn't even true."

Olivia saw that candles were set up everywhere. "What is this?"

"You wanna know the truth about our first date?" Dan asked. "There was no spider. I, uh, I--I was so nervous that I was with you, I kept sweating through my shirt. So I was running to the bathroom to use the hand dryer so..." Olivia laughed. "What? This isn't funny. Don't laugh."

Olivia shook her head, laughing. "I'm not. I'm trying... I'm really trying not to."

Dan laughed. "So, and then today, I rushed out of Scrabble because I'd just seen your interview on TV where you told the whole world that today was our one month anniversary, you know. I mean, I'm--I'm usually very on the ball with these things."

Olivia shook her head. "Stop. You're amazing." They both smiled. "And you're not the only one with a surprise today."

X • O ° X • O

The Empire - Penthouse

Alex, Nate and Harry were watching the TV.

Man: (on TV) "You're watching New York 1. News All Evening."

Anchorwoman: (on TV) "Before we return to the race for the mayor of New York City, we first wanna take you to the congressional election which really couldn't be any closer. At this time, with 85% of the votes counted. Mike Sullivan has 49,837 votes..."

Tripp walked over to Alex, Nate and Harry. "Hey."

"What are you doing here?" Nate asked. "Get back to your party."

"I was hoping you'd still be here," Tripp told them. He looked at Nate and Alex. "Speaking of, are Noe and Hope talking to Marie after what happened?"

"Yeah," Alex answered. "They're all taking this whole Vincent thing pretty hard. Marie's so shaken up, so Noe, Hope, Zaya and Sadie wanted to be there for her while Serena still has to work."

Tripp nodded in understanding. "Nate, Alex, you're good people to be so understanding of that. And Harry, I wanted to thank you for the sacrifice you made on that stage tonight, for me."

Harry nodded. "Hey, I was happy to. Because I believe in you." He saw that Tripp won on the news. "And apparently, New York does too."

They all looked at the TV.

Anchorwoman: (on TV) "In favor of newcomer, 26 year old William Vanderbilt the third, affectionately known to those around him as Tripp. That is right, with 96% of the votes counted,"

Tripp turned to look at Alex, Nate and Harry, stunned. "I won."

Nate smiled. "Yeah, you did. Just do me one favor, though."

Tripp nodded. "Anything."

"Be the best congressman this district's ever seen," Nate told him. "We have complete faith in you."

Harry looked between Alex, Nate and Tripp. "I have faith in all three of you and your futures. After all, you three are the only honest men in our family."

Alex, Nate and Tripp hugged, and Harry.

"Congrats, Tripp," Alex told him.

Tripp smiled. "Thanks."

"You deserve it," Alex told him.

Harry sighed. "I better get going before we're seen together and another scandal erupts."

"I promise you, one day I will make things right," Tripp told him. Maureen was watching them from across the room. "I will fix this. This is the beginning of a new Vanderbilt dynasty, one we can be proud of."

The four of them smiled. Harry, Alex and Nate walked away.

Maureen ran up to Tripp so they could embrace. "Congratulations. I'm so proud of you."

Harry, Alex and Nate smiled at Maureen and Tripp, and each other, before walking away.

X • O ° X • O

Lobby

James and Thyra walked toward Blair.

"Where the hell have you been?" Thyra asked.

"I just got done talking to Brandeis," Blair explained. "Turns out Serena and Prince were right. She was a call girl after all. She used me to get into this party to get clients. She's new to the big apple but rotten to the core."

"So at least you can admit Serena and Prince were right about something," James told her. "How about another thing? The speakeasy? I know that you, Chuck, Dylan and Wyatt did what you had to for the club, for Hope, Alex, Brooklyn and Thyra too, and Theo, but you put Zaya and Sadie, and Laureen, in danger, more than you realize."

"James, don't start this again," Blair told him.

"Blair, listen to me," James told her. "Wake up and see what's going on. Serena's drifting from her family because of all of this, she's losing the Crew, her closest and oldest friends, because of what she sees as people using Noe and Marie's mentality issues to their advantage, and taking Zaya, Sadie and Laureen's safety for granted."

"I know you miss her, so grow up and tell her that, because we know she misses you too, but she's hurt by what you did," Thyra told her.

"What about what she did?" Blair asked.

"She literally just did the same thing you did to her, but what you did was worse because you were putting her cousins and aunt in danger without actually wanting to, but knowing that it could, but not knowing how much," Thyra replied.

"What are you talking about?" Blair asked.

James sighed heavily. "Zaya, Sadie and Laureen are in more danger than we've all ever thought, because Carter saw Richard at the Silence gathering. Richard is apart of the Silence, which is why Laureen, Aurora and Dominic could never find anything to take him down, never make anything stick. So risking Zaya, Sadie and Laureen's safety is very real and very dangerous, more than we thought before."

Blair was in absolute shock, horrified. "Oh, my God."

Thyra nodded in agreement. "Yeah. And the Crew is at a point where everyone is fighting or in danger or hurting, and this isn't making it easier. Get over it before it destroys us all."

James and Thyra walked away, leaving Blair in shock to think about what they said.

Carter walked up to James, Thyra and Blair. "Hey, I just got back."

James, Thyra and Blair were all relieved to see him, sighing.

"Carter, there you are," Thyra told them.

"What's going on?" Carter asked. "You guys did talk about Zaya, Sadie and Laureen, right? The fact that Richard's in the Silence, they could be in danger, and so could Dominic Driton?"

"Yeah," James answered. "But, Carter... that's not the only thing that happened tonight."

Carter frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

James, Thyra and Blair exchanged a worried, concerned look.

"I think you should go talk to Marie," Blair told him. "After tonight, I think she needs you."

Carter looked at them in confusion.

X • O ° X • O

Bar

WARNING: Scene might be triggering for victims of sexual abuse/trauma survivors.

(Song:) You're Safe - Rachel Platten

Marie was sitting alone now, drinking after earlier. Noe, Hope, Zaya and Sadie were sitting with her, making sure she was okay.

"Marie, maybe you should slow down," Zaya told her.

"Yeah," Marie agreed, tipsy, enough to where she was more willing to talk than she would have been before. "Laureen wanted to be here with me but she didn't want to crowd me either. So I told her that it was okay if she left. She didn't want to though."

"Mom's gonna help you with whatever she can, Marie," Sadie told her. "You know that."

Marie nodded in agreement, biting her lip. "Yeah. I know."

"I know that Vincent's not gonna be locked away for a long time, especially after everything he said in there, but you can relax for now, you know?" Hope asked. "He can't hurt you anymore."

"For now," Marie replied.

Noe bit her lip, wondering but not wanting to push. "Marie... did he do that to you... follow you and hurt you, even after he..."

"Raped me," Marie finished. "Yeah, he did. He took pleasure in scaring the living hell out of me, knowing that I couldn't stop him." She licked her lips nervously, swallowing, remembering. "When he... did what he did to me. He was taping me. Recording what he did to me. Like he said he did with the first time he tried. Singing a song. He was singing. He never left me alone back home, and now... he wasn't going to leave me alone here until he was locked up."

Hope was horrified, reaching out to Marie in concern, holding her hand. "It's all right. You're safe here. You survived. You are alive. You'll keep on surviving. He tried to destroy you by taking your pride and your strength, but those things cannot be taken, not from you, not ever."

Marie managed a small smile with tears in her eyes, releasing a shaky breath. "That's what Andrea used to say. I don't feel like that because I can barely even say the word 'rape' out loud anymore, unless I'm drunk like right now. I can't sleep most nights, not without drinking first, and I woke up screaming because of flashbacks for years. How am I a survivor when my soul didn't make the trip? And my mind and personality were so shattered that I ended up the way I am now? It felt like I wasn't even living a life just lying awake all day and night and waiting for someone to finally catch Vincent, and make him pay for what he did to me, for three years. But Andrea and I couldn't get him in trouble back home because his parents were the sheriff and the mayor and they were protecting him, and he knew how to fight and how to stop me from fighting back, like he did tonight, but now that I was here, I could finally make him go away. I could put him behind bars, even if it was just for breaking a restraining order. I might have survived, but a part of me died. More than just figuratively."

"What do you mean?" Sadie asked.

"After what he did... I was pregnant," Marie answered. Noe, Hope, Zaya and Sadie were completely horrified. "And I had to get an abortion. I couldn't raise the baby. I couldn't even take care of myself. I was not in the right headspace for it. None of us were."

Noe looked horrified the most since now she realized why Marie was so sad before. "I shouldn't have asked you for help when I found out..."

"Noe, you did nothing wrong," Marie told her. "And I wanted to help you."

Zaya and Sadie frowned.

"Help you with what?" Zaya asked.

"We'll explain later," Noe told them.

"I felt so guilty for what I did," Marie confessed.

Zaya shook her head in concern. "You do not get to feel guilty. You did what you had to do. I'm sorry you had to go through this. But why are you punishing yourself, making your life a living hell when it's not even your fault?"

"He made it seem like it was my fault because of the way I am," Marie told them.

"If you mean demisexuality, you can't help that, because that's who you are," Sadie told her. "And he shouldn't be the one to tell you that you're wrong when you can't change who you are. You did nothing wrong."

"And Vincent should not succeed in damaging your hopes and dreams," Noe added.

"Don't let him destroy you," Hope told her. "He doesn't understand your power. You are a survivor and you win every day over him, by living another day. You deserve only the best. You are so strong."

Marie took a deep breath. "I don't feel very strong."

"But you are," Zaya told her.

Carter walked up to them. "Marie?"

Marie looked up when she heard Carter's voice, looking at Noe, Hope, Zaya and Sadie, who nodded for her to know it was okay for her to go.

Marie stood, walking toward Carter instantly. "Carter."

Carter sighed in relief to see that she wasn't badly hurt. "You're okay."

Marie held her arm, which was hurt after the confrontation with Vincent. "Not entirely."

Carter saw the way she was holding her arm, realizing what she meant, and looking angrily protective like he could have done some serious damage to Vincent if he had been there. "Marie, I'm so sorry."

Marie ran a hand through her hair nervously, looking upset, but trying to be strong. "It's not your fault."

Carter pulled Marie into an embrace, as they held each other close. "It's okay. He's gone."

Marie held him tightly. "And you're here."

Carter and Marie remained in their embrace.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "Seems like the Queen of Hearts is a queen of heartbreak after all. The Dark Prince might not be able to save her, but at least she and her plurals can help save themselves. If Marie Rosson is the queen, the other personalities are the hearts. And there's more than enough heartbreak for them, Carter Baizen, and so much more. Sorry, Marie. Party's over."

(Song Ends)

X • O ° X • O

X • O ° X • O

Ballroom

Serena walked up to Prince and Preston. "Hey, I'm sorry about tonight."

"You don't have anything to apologize for, Serena," Prince told her. "How's Marie?"

"Noe, Zaya, Sadie and Hope are with Marie now," Serena explained. "I should be with her, but Sherry and Simon still got me running around."

"Seriously?" Preston asked. "That is complete bull. They should at least be understanding about tonight given everything."

"Yeah," Serena agreed. "You know what? Tell your parents I quit. I can't take it anymore. I need to talk to my sisters and cousins."

Prince nodded in agreement. "Go ahead. Let Marie, or the alters, know that if they need to talk to somebody..."

"Pretty sure our aunt Laureen's got that covered, and Marie's boyfriend Carter, but thank you, Prince," Serena told him. "I'll see you later, Preston."

"Bye, Serena," Preston told her. "I hope Noe, Marie, Zaya and Sadie stay safe. Sadie and I talked a lot today, so..."

Serena nodded, walking away.

X • O ° X • O

Counter

William was sitting alone, having a drink.

Maureen walked up to him, sitting next to him, looking incredibly smug and pleased with herself. "I think Alex, Nate and Harry were brilliant tonight, don't you? Alex and Nate stayed by Tripp's side, and Harry's sacrifice... well, that's what makes him a great uncle to all three of them."

"Brilliant for taking the fall for something Harrison didn't do?" William asked. "Foolish is more like it."

"Come on, William," Maureen told him. "Even you have to admit it. This couldn't have worked any better if it was planned."

William looked at Maureen in realization. "You."

Maureen smiled. "All this time, you thought the only thing I was capable of was holding his hand and smiling on the sidelines."

"To be honest, my dear, I never really spent that much time thinking about you," William confessed.

"Well, your loss is my gain," Maureen told him. "My husband is a congressman. And thanks to Vanessa's camera, you're out of our lives for good. Finally, Tripp can be his own man. My man."

"You think I'm really just going to stand aside and let myself become collateral damage?" William asked. "I'll tell him."

Maureen smirked. "You don't exactly have a lot of credibility right now. Haven't since you tried to strong arm Noe and Hope last year and used Noe's cousins Zaya and Sadie's issues as leverage. Who's Tripp going to believe? Or Alex, Nate and Harry for that matter?"

William knew that they would believe Maureen over him after what he did the previous year. Maureen smiled, walking away.

X • O ° X • O

Hospital - Angela's Room

Angela had fallen asleep, and Theo, Dylan and Wyatt remained with her. Emilia was rocking Theo to sleep, watching as Dylan and Wyatt were close to falling asleep as well.

Aurora stepped in, looking at Emilia. "Are they...."

"They're getting some well earned sleep," Emilia answered. "They deserve it." Aurora nodded in agreement. "Any issues?"

"Thankfully, no," Aurora answered. "The fake name we used for Angela here kept anyone from the Silence finding out she was here."

Emilia sighed in relief. "Good." She looked at Theo in her arms. "Who's a good boy, Theo?"

Theo smiled tiredly before he fell asleep as well.

While Angela was sleeping, she was remembering getting revenge for Ivan.

X • O ° X • O

Flashback 6

Day - Road

Angela was undercover as a drunken, scantily clad woman, running her car into a police car, faking a stumble out of her car, wearing a realistic wig, pretending to be barely able to stand on her feet, looking around like she was confused as to where she was.

The two cops from inside the car got out of the car, aiming their guns at Angela. "Put your hands on the car!" Angela held up her hands. "Put your hands on the vehicle right now! Right now."

Angela looked at what she did, pretending to be shocked. "Ooh... bad."

The cops grabbed Angela, who laughed like she was drunk as they pulled her to the car and pushed her against it face first.

Cop 1 was handcuffing Angela's hands behind her back. "You stupid, crazy bitch."

Angela smiled. "I'm really sorry. This is not... it's not even my car."

"You think this is funny?" Cop 2 asked.

Angela raised her voice to mock them in amusement. "No, sir!"

Angela burst into a fit of giggles to appear really drunk.

The cops pulled Angela off the car, taking her to their cop car.

"I'm gonna give you something to laugh about," Cop 1 told her.

Angela smirked as she got into the back of the car.

X • O ° X • O

Police Station

The cops had Angela by either arm as they escorted her down to bullpen. Angela was laughing and giggling, and making sure she looked good, gaining the attention of everyone in the precinct. The cops put her into a chair to book her at the front desk.

The cop behind the desk started going through Angela's things. "There's nothing here. No license, no registration, no ID. Except for a library card. Miss Valerie Philips. In addition to all that, you are being charged with D.U.I, driving on the wrong side of the road and the destruction of police property." Angela looked around like she was out of it. "Miss Philips!" Angela looked at him. "Do I have your full attention?"

"I know I have the full attention of every person in here," Angela replied. "I'm used to this kind of attention. I like it." She acted like she would hurl. "I have to throw up."

The cop behind the desk tried to stop her. "Oh, no, no, no. Get her out of here. And a cup of coffee, too. We can book her tomorrow. We can book her tomorrow. Let her sleep it off, for Christ's sake."

The two cops that arrested Angela helped her up, and took her to put her in a cell.

The man who had killed Ivan was being escorted into the precinct by federal marshals.

A marshal looked at the cops. "Excuse me. Federal Marshall Warren. We're here with Gennaro Rizzo on an overnight."

"Wait, wait, wait," Cop 1 told them. "Hold on a second. You know, it says here that you're not expected until tomorrow."

"Yeah, well, never expect the expected, sergeant," Warren replied. "Open the gate."

X • O ° X • O

Cells

Warren led Rizzo to the cellblocks, who had a black bag over his head. He pulled it off of him and left him in the cell to be locked up. "Home sweet home. I'm going to miss you, Rizzo."

All the men left, and a cop left a coffee at Angela's cell next to Rizzo's. Angela was pretending to be passed out from being "drunk". The last of the cops all left the cellblock, and turned off the lights.

Once they were alone, Angela sat up, completely alert and serious, taking the pins out of the wig she was wearing, taking off her wig, shaking out her hair. She reached beneath her short skirt to lower black leather leggings from underneath the skirt, to cover her legs, pulling the rip away skirt away, tossing it aside. She stood, pulling on her leather jacket, using a lock pick to pick the lock to her cell, slowly opening it, stepping out, and staying out of the view of the camera as she turned it away from the cells, so that she wouldn't get caught. She stepped out to see a guard on watch, only one, sneaking up behind him without a sound, spinning around to kick him in the head to knock him out cold, letting him fall to the ground. She took his gun, checking to make sure that it was loaded, seeing that it was, making her way up to Rizzo's cell, using her lock pick to pick his cell door open, sliding it open very slowly, quietly, looking at the man who killed her father in a quiet rage.

Rizzo woke up, startled to see her, recognizing her. "Angela De Los Caballeros. You and Emilia couldn't find Giselle so you come to avenge Ivan, hmm?"

"Damn right," Angela answered, firing the gun twice into Rizzo's chest, then his head, to kill him.

The cops and marshals all heard the gunshot and were making their way to the cell block to find out what happened, as all the alarms in the precinct went off. Angela stepped onto the lower bed, then the top bunk, so that she could reach the ventilation shaft up above, removing the lid and climbing in so that she would be able to crawl through and get away with ease, taking the exit right out of the building through the shafts.

X • O ° X • O

Rooftop

Angela pulled herself onto the building rooftop, running across it, jumping over the edge of the building, turning to grab the edge to keep herself from falling, hanging on tight to the side of the building. A cop was up above, looking down the side of the building to see if he could find the culprit, but he did not see Angela. Once Angela was sure that he left to go back inside, Angela pulled herself up onto the rooftop again, and finding the safest and quickest route to make a clean, stealthy getaway without ever being caught.

X • O ° X • O

Now

Night - Hospital - Angela's Room

(Song:) I See You - Mika

Angela was turning in her sleep, opening her eyes, seeing Dylan and Wyatt nearly asleep nearby who had been there for her and Theo, smiling slightly. She looked over to Aurora and Emilia who were keeping an eye over them, while Emilia was holding Theo as he was sleeping. She managed a small smile, content for the moment.

X • O ° X • O

The Empire - Penthouse - Chuck's Room

Chuck walked in to see Blair laying in bed. "I thought you said you were going home."

Blair clearly felt overwhelmed, sad and guilty after learning what James and Thyra told her earlier. "I changed my mind."

Chuck walked closer. "Well, if I'd known, I would have come sooner."

Chuck laid down next to Blair, kissing her cheek, wrapping an arm around her.

X • O ° X • O

Waldorf Penthouse - Thyra's Room

Thyra and Brooklyn walked in.

"Do you think that everyone's going to be okay?" Thyra asked.

"I have to believe that," Brooklyn told her. "I can't think of anything else."

Thyra nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Me too."

Brooklyn took Thyra's hands. "But let's not think about that right now. Okay. Everything can take a beat, and everyone can relax for one night."

Thyra nodded. "Let's get to the part of Bonnie and Clyde they don't show on TV."

Brooklyn smiled a bit. "That's my favorite part."

Thyra and Brooklyn laid down, kissing, but they weren't going further, just laying down to hold each other in their arms.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "Sometimes it's hard to see the lines we've drawn."

X • O ° X • O

The Downing - Carter's Suite

Marie was laying down, nearly asleep, still looking shaken up and upset, but numb all the same. Carter laid next to Marie, holding an arm around her protectively, and Marie wrapped her arms around him, laying her head on his chest. Carter kissed her head. Marie soon fell asleep in his arms.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "Until we cross them."

X • O ° X • O

Humphrey Loft - Living Room

Dan and Olivia were watching another video of Olivia and Jimmy Fallon, while Olivia was laying down with her head in Dan's lap. They were cooking, and Jimmy was dressed in all white.

Jimmy: (on video) "All right, oh, you know, I did want to say something. Uh, we want to apologize for last time. I was a little hard on your boyfriend, and I apologize for that, so, uh... Dan, if you're watching, we wanna say happy anniversary. This is for you, Olivia and Dan."

Jimmy set out a cake, which said "Happy anniversary!"

Dan and Olivia looked at each other, smiling.

Olivia: (on video) "Thank you!"

X • O ° X • O

Waldorf Penthouse - James's Room

Serena had set up James' room with twinkling lights, and photographs of their time together from their childhood, to teen friendship, to them officially together. James walked around the room in awe, seeing pictures taped to the wall, arrows leading through their love story timeline, seeing pictures hanging from the ceiling by strings, everything looking absolutely beautiful and original.

Serena came up from behind James, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind. "I know it's a day early, but I wanted to do it now. I had a lot to make up for for the past couple of days. So take this as my apology. Noe, Marie, Zaya, Sadie and Hope aren't talking to me tonight, and I get why not. I just wish I could apologize to them too."

"And you'll get the chance," James told her. "Don't worry. Serena, this is amazing."

Serena smiled. "I wanted to do something amazing for you. Come here." She led James to a table where several lit candles were in the shape of a heart, around a gift box in the middle of the table. James picked up the box. "It's been like a lifetime since we've been friends, James. Since we became friends, we've been through a lot of things. And a lot of things more when we turned into something more."

"We've technically always been something more," James pointed out. "Getting 'married' at a young age."

Serena smiled. "That's true. But we smiled and cried together. I just want to tell you that you are number one in my heart."

"You've always been number one in mine, even when I wasn't in yours," James told her. "Happy anniversary. Let's stay together like this for as long as we can. Hopefully never having to stop."

Serena nodded in agreement, smiling. "Hopefully."

"I know that there's pictures of us here that I've taken," James told her. "And some of the others, did you take them?"

"Yeah," Serena answered. "I know, I'm not good at taking pictures. But my boyfriend is very good at it, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," James answered. Serena and James smiled, embracing. "Surprises aren't over yet. I've got something for you."

Serena got excited. "You've always got a surprise for me. Whether it's showing my face on screens in Time Square, or romantic dinners and dates... You treat every day like it's an anniversary or an occasion."

James shrugged. "Well, that's how I view it. Anniversaries are no different than any ordinary day. And I'm happy every day to have you with me. Normal people might only show their loved ones that on an anniversary, but I'd rather show you every day, even if I can't really show you every day because then we'd run out of surprises."

Serena shook her head. "I doubt that James Baizen can ever run out of surprises." They chuckled. "Okay, show me. But there's no way you're gonna top all this."

"You think so?" James asked in amusement. "Just you wait and see. Thank you, for all of this."

"And thank you, for everything you do," Serena replied. "And for always standing by my side. Even when I don't deserve it."

James chuckled. "You deserve it, Serena. And now, your surprise."

James took out a necklace that was made out of the sea glass that they had collected when they were younger.

Serena smiled in awe, taking the necklace. "Our sea glass?"

"Yeah," James answered. "You put together this amazing thing for me. And the thing that I wanted to give to you, was something that was meaningful to both of us. From when we were kids, when we got fake married, all that."

Serena smiled, putting the necklace on. "It's something new from something old, and it's something blue, and something borrowed from the sea, or, well, the lake. If we made it to a real wedding, I would definitely be wearing this."

James smiled. "Yeah, I figured you'd say that."

Serena held the necklace, completely in awe. "I love it."

"Look, I know that things have been tough for all of us, but tomorrow, we can make it better, okay?" James asked. "I can't stand the thought of it being worse for another day."

Serena nodded in agreement. "I know. Me neither. I, um... I can go, if you want me to. I wouldn't blame you if you did."

Serena turned to walk away, though James caught her by the wrist, twirling her back toward him, pulling her in to kiss her passionately in the middle of all the photographs and the lights. Serena returned the kiss in kind, placing her hand on the back of his head while he cupped her cheeks. After a few moments, they pulled away, looking at each other breathlessly.

"I don't want you to go," James answered. "But I want the fighting to stop. For all of us." Serena nodded in agreement. "I love you, Serena."

Serena smiled breathlessly, her voice also a whisper. "I love you... James."

X • O ° X • O

The Empire - Penthouse - Alex's Room

Alex was moving his things in so that he could get away from Anne's influence to make him listen to his grandfather as fast as he could especially after that day so that he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore, or so he thought.

Hope walked closer, wrapping her arms around Alex. Alex wrapped his arms around Hope in return, both of them still processing everything that happened today, both worried for their friends and family, and knowing that everyone was in a pretty bad place, just wanting to help make it better, sharing a couple kisses.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "That's when we rely on the ones we love to pull us back."

X • O ° X • O

Rhodes/Bass Apartment - Living Room

Zaya and Sadie walked in toward Laureen, and the three of them embraced, all three reeling. Zaya and Sadie knew that they had to explain about Richard, but not knowing where to begin. Dominic walked closer to check in on them, having been there for Laureen after that night. They all looked at each other in concern.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "And give us something to hold on to."

X • O ° X • O

The Empire - Outside

Nate and Harry were taking care of a few finishing touches after everything that night.

X • O ° X • O

Inside - Bar

Noe, while waiting for Nate, was sitting at bar, but not drinking, looking worried for the rest of the Crew, especially Marie, Zaya and Sadie that night.

Tripp walked up to Noe.

Noe looked up. "Congratulations, Congressman Elect."

"Noe, thank you," Tripp told her, sitting next to Noe.

"Shouldn't you be in the ballroom?" Noe asked.

"Probably," Tripp answered.

"Where's your better half?" Noe asked.

"I don't know," Tripp told her. "I was looking for her. Then I realized this might be my last private moment for a while."

"Well, I can leave," Noe told him, starting to stand.

"No, it's okay," Tripp told her. "Stay, please. I'd love to have someone to sit with, not talking about politics." Noe nodded tensely, sitting down. "How's Marie?"

"Not good," Noe answered.

"You wanna talk about it?" Tripp asked.

Noe shook her head. "No, I--I don't think you wanna hear this one."

"I do," Tripp told her. "Noe, this happened at my election party. And whoever this guy was, my people should have been able to stop it, stop him from hurting Marie."

"Well, this guy, Vincent, he's from a military family and he can certainly take down a couple of guards to get what he wants, and he did just that," Noe explained. "Don't blame yourself. Marie is... she's in a lot of pain and I don't know how to help her. And it's not just Marie that is in pain. It's most of our friends. The Crew. Zaya and Sadie and their mother Laureen. And Dylan and Wyatt with Theo, and Angela in the hospital. And Hope, Alex, Brooklyn, Thyra, Aurora and Harry, and James and Carter, and Angela's mother Emilia. It's all a mess right now."

Tripp adjusted his tie, playfully confident. "Then let our problem be the first that I address as your elected representative."

Noe scoffed softly. "This one might need a special committee."

Tripp held up a finger. "Uh, wait. Bartender, can we get a couple drinks?"

"Oh, no, I can't drink," Noe told him.

"The trauma from the accident?" Tripp asked.

"No, but another reason," Noe answered. "But thank you."

Tripp nodded sneakily, smirking slightly, while Noe clearly felt a little uncomfortable.

Gossip Girl: (voice over) "Then there are the clearly marked lines, the ones that if you dare cross, you may never find your way back, and find yourself in a hell of a lot of danger. XOXO, Gossip Girl."