Sitting at the kitchen counter are four children. Four children who love them more than any other adult. Jenny loves Alison, and Dan; Eric loved Bart. But for these four children, these two adults have been the center of their lives for as long as they have been alive. And without them knowing, their parents have been the center of each others' for even longer than that. And there's something wonderful to me, something Chrismukkah, in the idea that the whole time Rufus and Lily have been sparring, and fucking; guilty, and angry, and resentful, and estranged; crying, playing the guitar or drinking Chardonnay in the dark, their children have crawled across the world and found each other, and made a family without their parents ever knowing.

"But every once in a while, the fates smile upon you and you get the one thing you really need." Lily's hand reaches out and grasps Rufus's, and just like it all fits together. They've made their family out of bonds of love and history, and didn't even know it. It's a story, complete and beautiful for a moment. Not a hair out of place, nobody missing, nobody scared or afraid or alone. Dan and Serena have been best friends since she got back to town, on their own steam and without regard to what else they were. Jenny and Eric have clung to each other like kids in a storm since they met. Jenny loves Serena as fiercely and simply as Eric loves... Chuck.

Chuck. Remember him? Lily went to Boston to find the son she gave away. And while she was gone, she lost the one who needed her the most. The son that went missing because nobody cared, while a whole family grew up around the place he'd been standing, until he fell.

Because the son that went missing is kind of a dick, actually. Nobody sent bouquets or casseroles, when he disappeared. He has a lot of irritating, destructive habits we can blame on anybody but us. And the riptide that's pulling him, out of the story and out into the sea? It's still got him, and it's drawing Blair along behind. It's not letting go.