ELITE, nate archibald?

chapter twenty-nine.
o brother, where art thou?

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More towers than Trump more bucks than Bloomberg. Bart Bass definitely made his mark on Manhattan. The passing of a public figure can shake a whole town but the real story is always the one happening in private, away from the headlines, at home.

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DEATH TENDED TO change the way you think, even when it didn't directly affect you but the people around you. The hatred you carried for an individual begun to slip away and sympathy washed in. Chuck Bass, though he had done a terrible thing, lost the only biological parent he had. Biologically he was an orphan. No mother and no father. Lily Bass lost her husband. Serena and Eric lost their stepfather. Victoria had once witnessed death, but it was upon different circumstances being old age rather than a fatal accident that tore Bart away from his family and friends. Those were people Victoria were prepared to support when she layered herself in black clothing to attend the funeral happening within the day.

For the past few days Victoria soothed Nate and tried to comfort his sadness with soft touches of affection like cuddles and soft pecks on the top of his head when he was in her arms. Then there were days she visited the van der Woodsen penthouse with Dan, she'd bring comfort food, even though they had private chefs. But a homemade meal was always different. Serena expressed her gratitude to the Humphrey twins the times they passed by or stayed for hours, checked in with Eric and herself, but most importantly her mother.

Lily hadn't settled with the news, who could? She was paler, her hair continuously frazzled from laying in bed for hours long. When Dan and Victoria visited she tore herself away from her comforter to try her best to interact. Though she might've spoken a word or two, Victoria hadn't seen her eat.

The day of the funeral, Victoria didn't know what could've been running through the minds of those in the van der Woodsen penthouse. She felt that she'd been bombarding those suffering a loss if she joined Dan in wandering his way to Serena, so she found herself stepping a few streets down, her heels clattering against the floor to the Archibald townhouse.

Nate knew of her arrival, he was actually waiting on the doorstep for her unable to fight his eagerness the moment he knew she was stopping by with just a text. "Hey. . ." His tone was gentle, his eyes filled with a slight sadness ignited by mourning which led to Victoria embracing him into her arms, rubbing his back to soothe the loss he, too, felt.

The thing was, it had been days since he last heard from Chuck. When news hit that his father passed, he had isolated himself away from all of those he believed were incapable of understanding his loss. It was true, they couldn't. No one knew the pain of losing his father but there were people who were willing to comfort him through his pain. While pushing them away from having the chance, Nate only feared what trouble Chuck had gotten himself into. How many bottles had he gone through? How many drugs had he taken in the hopes of soothing his grief?