Chance Encounters
I don't own Gossip Girl.
Chapter 1: Someone like you
Present time: July 22,2022
Blair looked out of her office onto the New York City Skyline. She sighed when she thought about her life. 'How did it come to this' she thought to herself.
She was still reeling from the shock of seeing him yesterday. Somehow, seeing him happy hurt her more than words can say.
Flashback Yesterday
Blair started walking towards her mother's photo shoot in Central Park. Her mother greeted her with a hug and told her how beautiful she looked.
"So what do you think of the shoot?" asked Eleanor.
"It's pretty good but, you're new handbags for this year are a bit gaudy." Blair said.
"Ha, can't you stop being a fashion editor for a minute. Besides, isn't it a conflict of interest to critique you're poor mother's new fashion line?"
"Unfortunately, it is. Otherwise I would write a glowing report about your entire line. Well, I would compliment everything except those handbags that are clearly inspired by Jewish grandmothers."
Eleanor laughs, "Well, Cyrus's mother does want the first one off the line."
Blair laughs heartily at this little fact.
"Well mother, how about I let you get back to work while I have a walk in the park."
"Okay darling. How about lunch Friday?"
"Sure, see you later this week mother."
She walked for twenty minutes before sitting down on a park bench overlooking a children's playground. She looked out seeing the children play and her heart began aching. She was close to thirty now and only a couple of times she thought of giving someone forever. In the end she realized how she was her own worse enemy when it came to love. She realized how much her underlying fears had come to destroy all her most intimate relationships. To put it simply her mind always told her heart to "Hurt them before they hurt you." Too bad her heart never spoke up for itself.
Now, here she was sitting at a park bench wondering what could have been. It was times like these that she wondered if her success was truly worth it. She was still lost in her thoughts when she heard a little girl laughing and running excitedly to the playground. She saw the girls father yelling at her to be careful. She smiled at the cute, curly haired little princess when she took a better look at her father. She gasped when she took in his appearance.
It had been 7 years since she's seen him but, to her it still felt like yesterday. She saw his handsome profile from a distance and immediately she was taken back to his former loft in Brooklyn. She remembered the laughter, the fights, and the lovemaking that always followed both. If she were truly honest with herself, those were some of the best times of her life.
Involuntarily, she let out the one word that her lips haven't spoken in years, "Humphrey."
Immediately, the man she had been looking at turned around and spotted her.
"Waldorf?" He said as he smiled at her and started walking to her bench.
She stood up and went to hug him. Dan squeezed her in a bear hug that she hadn't realized she missed. She let go of him and started appraising him. He still had his boyish but, there was something inherently different about him. It was something that she had rarely seen from people coming from the upper east side. In fact, she had only seen it a handful of times. Her mother had it, Serena had it, hell, even Dorota had it. It was the one thing that you couldn't fake, steal, or buy. It was contentment.
"Hi Humphrey." She said with a smile.
"Hi Blair. Long time no see." he said to her as they moved over to the bench.
"Yeah, it has been awhile. So, what are you up to these days." she says as she looks over at him.
"Well, I moved back to New York, after spending my self imposed exile in Chicago. I finally got my dream job and I'm a feature writer for the New Yorker." He says with some gusto.
She gives him a sincere smile.
"I'm glad to hear that. It seems like you've finally achieved your dreams."
He looks at her and says smiling once more, "I'm not the only one. Look at you, Ms. head editor at W"
She punches his arms lightly and chuckles softly. She is surprised that it seems like old times. No one would have thought that there was almost 5 years of no contact between them.
"Yeah, it feels good to be the boss." Blair says with a smirk.
Dan starts to laugh, " When were you ever not the boss?"
This makes Blair laugh. She then caught sight of a little girl running a laughing towards her father. For a moment, Blair totally forgets who the little girl is. It's only when Dan hugs her and places her on his lap that she's brought back down to reality. Immediately, the bubble that her and Dan had built around them is shattered.
"Daddy! Daddy! Can we get some ice cream?"
"Abby, you'll ruin your dinner if you have ice cream now. You know your mom would kill me if we had ice cream before dinner."
The little girl starts to pout but, then she looks at Blair and starts smiling.
"Hi. I'm Abby Humphrey." the little girl says as she holds out her hand.
Dan rolls his eyes and introduces them.
"Blair, this is my daughter Abby. Abby, this is my friend Blair."
Blair forces a smile and shakes the little girls outstretched hand.
"Hi Abby, I'm Blair Waldorf. It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too. Will you be my friend?" she then takes a moment and says, "I don't have any friends in this city."
Blair is astonished at how easy going and smart the little girl was.
"Of course, any friend of Cabbage Patch's is a friend of mine."
Dan rolls his eyes. "Can we please stop with the Cedric references."
The little girl then squeals and says out loud, "You know Cedric! I bet he misses you!"
Dan shakes his head and Blair can't help the real smile that comes to her face.
"Of course I know Cedric. I knew him when he was your Dad's only friend." She says reminding Blair that they had just moved back to the City.
"The little girl grows wide eyed. "Wow, I didn't know Cedric was that old." Causing Blair to laugh and Dan to a face palm.
Dan tickles the little girl causing her to jump off his lap. He then stands up and faces Blair.
"Well, as much as I'm enjoying the female bonding here. Me and the little Miss have to get going."
The little girl looks up at her father and says, "Why Daddy?"
"Because, we have to leave right now if we want to get some ice cream before dinner." Dan says as he gives the little girl a wink.
The little girl jumps up and down. Blair stands up to say her goodbyes.
"It's times like these that I'm reminded of how easily you succumb to the charms of pretty brunettes." Blair says.
Humphrey smirks at her and says, " Aint that the truth."
Blair gives him a hug then steps back. Dan looks at his little girl and says, "Abby say goodbye to Aunt Blair."
Abby runs over to give her a hug.
"Bye Auntie Blair"
"Bye Abby."
"We'll be seeing you around Waldorf. It was good seeing you."
"You too Humphrey. Don't be a stranger."
Blair sits back down and watches as the father/daughter combo make their way out of the park.
She stares in the direction that they left long after they disappeared from view.
She keeps thinking about the little girl with brown curls and blue eyes. She can't help but, wonder about that day many years ago when Dan Humphrey told her he was moving to Chicago for a job. She can't help but, remember his face when she said she wouldn't be moving with him. How devastated he was that she wouldn't make that jump with him. It was the last time she had seen him since this afternoon. She would hear things in passing but her friends soon realized that Dan Humphrey was the only thing that the Upper East Side queen found taboo. It was pretty much "out of sight, out of mind" as far as Dan Humphrey was concerned. Unfortunately, those days were now over.
End of Flashback
She's still looking at the sidewalk ten stories below her when a tear escapes her eyes. She thought about Abby and Dan. She can't help but think that they could have easily been hers, if she had been brave enough. She sees Abby give her that Humphrey smile and it causes her heart to ache. She always thought that Dan would come back to her and finally fill the part of her life that she was missing. She missed him. He was her true confident, her lover, and her shelter from the storm. Now, he was back but, he had found someone else. He had finally achieved his dream of working for the New Yorker and someone else had given him the child he had always wanted. Someone had made his dreams come true and it wasn't her.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and saw that her makeup was running. She never realized that her heart always thought of him as hers. Only now, after seeing how happy he was with his daughter that her heart finally accepted that it was over. He was someone else's. She cried alone in her office. The shock of yesterday finally getting to her.
"Goodbye, Dan." She says to an empty room that seemed to echo her sobbing. She then walks to a keyboard that she kept around the office. She tells her secretary that she didn't want to be bothered for the rest of the day. She starts to playing a familiar tune. Then she begins to sing:
"I heard
That you're settled down
That you
Found a girl
And your
Married now
I heard
That your dreams came true
I guess she gave you things
I didn't give to you
Oh friend
Why you so shy
Ain't like you to hold back
Or hide from the light
I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn't stay away I couldn't fight it
I hoped you'd see my face and be reminded
That for me
It isn't over
Nevermind
I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best
For you too
Don't forget me
I beg
I'll remember you still
Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead
Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead
Yeah
You know how the time flies
Only yesterday
It was the time of our lives
We were born and bred
In a summer haze
Bound by the surprise
Of our glory days
I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn't stay away I couldn't fight it
I hoped you'd see my face and be reminded
That for me
It isn't over
Nevermind
I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best
For you too
Don't forget me
I beg
I'll remember you still
Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead
Nothing compares
No worries or cares
Regrets and mistakes
And memories made
Who would have known
How bittersweet
This would taste
Nevermind
I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best
For you too
Don't forget me
I beg
I'll remember you still
Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead
Nevermind
I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best
For you too
Don't forget me
I beg
I'll remember you still
Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead
Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead"
By the end of the last verse she was crying uncontrollably. It was the first time in years that she had cried this much. Tomorrow, she would stop the tears but, tonight she would let them flow freely. It was the least she could give to her now broken heart. She had neglected her heart for years and now her heart would not be denied. It was in agony and it deserved a good cry. She started playing the piano again and again her fingers played "Someone Like You" like it was on autopilot. It was this sight that her best friend walked into when she opened Blairs office door..
"Oh Blair." Serena says with an understanding look.
"He's back. "Blair says to the blonde.
"He's back.." The blonde says as she hugs her from behind.
The end for now.
So, how was it. It's the first thing I've really written in years. Tell me what you think about it.