Title: Playing House

Rating: T

Fandom: Gossip Girl

Characters: Blair, Dan, Serena, Nate, Chuck, Carter, Jenny, Eva, Rufus, Dorota, Lily, Eleanor, etc. The usual GG crowd with a few OC's thrown in.

Pairings: Blair/Dan, Serena/Carter, Nate/Jenny, Chuck/Eva, mentions of Blair/Chuck.

Spoilers: Up until 3x17.

Summary: After the disastrous events of 3x17, Blair wishes to be somewhere else. Anywhere else. And so, her wish is granted, and Blair finds herself waking up twenty-one years in the future. Where she has a daughter and the life she's always dreamed of. Only it's with Dan Humphrey.

Author's Note: I'm back! On a new account maybe, but I've finally returned to the land of Dair fanfiction. I missed it, so I decided to come back with this incredibly ridiculous fanfiction featuring everyone's favourite couple. Some things are canon past 3x17 in this, but that's mainly the whole ChuckEva debacle (still ship them) and the Inside arc. Things will become clearer as time goes on. The prologue is pretty Chair heavy, but certainly not in a positive way. But this is Blair after he trades her for a hotel, so she's obviously going to be focusing on their relationship. Anyway, I've missed you all a whole lot, and I'm now officially presenting: Playing House!

It's when she's sitting at the bar, glaring down at her fourth cosmopolitan, that Blair starts to think it's her fault.

Deep down, she knows it's not. If your complete dickhead of a boyfriend trades you to his creepy uncle for his hotel then it's not like you can be held accountable. But Blair's been playing along with Chuck's sick game for nearly three whole years now, and she knows the ropes almost as well as he does.

And rule number twenty-five is that no matter what happens in their relationship, no matter who does what to who, it's always Blair's fault. It's how they play the game, it's how they've always played the game, and Blair is almost certain that it's how they'll always play the game. Eternal game of cat and mouse.

But Blair also figures it will all be worth it in the end, because she loves Chuck and Chuck loves her and sometimes, most of the time, it's all she needs. It's all he needs, and Blair is very good at giving Chuck whatever he needs.

And it's with these thoughts that Blair begins to think that what Chuck really needs is some time away from her. She hasn't been helping him that much recently, always off doing her own thing and getting mad at him. Maybe if she had just been there for him a little more, maybe if she herself had tried to do something with this whole hotel situation, none of this would've happened. And instead of sitting here getting drunk by herself, Blair would be in Chuck's suite, cuddled up with him.

God, sixteen year old Blair would hit her.

But sixteen year old Blair isn't around anymore, and the brunette thinks it's incredibly ironic that the night she turned seventeen was also the second time she slept with Chuck. It's almost as if he ripped the real Blair to shreds when he was having sex with her that night. It feels like something that happened to someone else a million years ago, not something that happened to Blair herself just over two years ago.

Two years ago. Despite everything that had been going on in her life at that current time, Blair would've done anything to trade it for the complete screw up that was her life right now. She didn't have Yale, she didn't have Chuck, and she wasn't sure if she even had Serena. At least two years ago Yale was still possible, and she certainly had Serena.

Before she knows it, Blair begins to cry, the soft, silent tears that for some reason always hurt so much more than the loud, wracking sobs. Apparently, despite everything, the universe decided that Blair hadn't been hurt enough.

For some unexplainable twist in fate, a twist that Blair couldn't whether it was a plus or a minus, it was Serena who found her, an hour or so later, a frown on her face and a silver dress on her body. Blair had no idea where the pair stood right now after everything that had happened in the past year, and she didn't know whether the blonde was stalking her or if she just happened to end up in the same bar, but she really didn't want to ask. She had learnt long ago not to ask any questions when it came to Serena and bars. Eighty percent of those stories ended up being incredibly TMI, in ways that Blair didn't exactly want to remember.

Blair's best friend-or former best friend, depending on what was going on with them-took a seat next to the brunette, still frowning. Serena had never been in this situation before, a situation where she herself walked in to a bar and found her best friend drinking and crying. There were numerous times when the positions had been switched, but out of the pair of them, Blair was the good girl. And it didn't take a genius to figure out that Blair must've been pretty upset to be in a situation like this.

"Blair" Serena said softly, reaching for her best friend's hand. Blair flinched, but didn't pull her hand away, so Serena grabbed it tightly, wanting, and needing, to take to the smaller girl. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing" Blair replied, slurring slightly. An empty glass stood on the bar in front of her, although Serena knew it was far from her first. Blair didn't get drunk that often, but whenever she did, she was incredibly unpredictable, and she felt a shot of sympathy to everyone else who had taken to the bar that night.

Serena opened her mouth to question her best friend further, but Blair cut across beforehand, slamming her hand on the table "Waiter!"

"Blair" Serena hissed under her breath, before quickly regaining herself as the bartender came over "No thank you. We're both fine." Blair looked like she wanted to argue, but the bartender left as quickly as he came, probably relieved to be away from the tiny drunk girl, and Blair simply slipped back into fatigue.

Unpredictable. As always.

The pair sat in silence for a few moments, Serena knowing that bringing Blair into this full frontal wouldn't end well, and it appeared the brunette had gone off into her own little world anyway. For Blair, this little world was thinking about her and Chuck, about everything that she should have done and should have said, about everything that he should have done and he should have said, and about how they were now officially broken up. It may have been Blair's doing, the whole break up idea, but she still felt incredibly upset over it.

Serena glanced at the clock above the bar and her frown deepened as the hands pointing at the three and the six marks, deciding that even if she protested, if was about time Blair got home. The blonde got to her feet, slowly easing Blair out of her own chair. The girl protested but couldn't bring herself to seat herself back down, and instead opted to be led outside by Serena, remarks slipping off her tongue more frequently than usual.

"You're being mean" Blair groaned as Serena waved down a taxi, leaning into the other girl. The early morning was cold and both girls shivered, although it appeared that Blair's mind had yet to register that temperature "You're just as bad as Chuck!"

Serena froze at Blair's statement, finally figuring out that whatever Blair was crying and getting drunk over had something to do with Chuck. She didn't blame her friend, considering the history between Chuck and Blair, and Serena herself knew what it was like to get drunk over a break up, but she had no idea what could have gone wrong between them. With those two, there were a million possibilities.

"What happened with you and Chuck, B?" Serena asked quietly, keeping a firm grip on her best friend. A taxi rolled up in front of them, although Serena stood for several moments, waiting for an answer from her best friend. But Blair had gone silent, and had instead turned to trying to open the cab door, with no such luck. Serena sighed, before opening the door herself and ushering the girl in. She knew she'd get no answers from Blair tonight, no matter how much she pushed it.

The cab ride was silent, although Blair eventually snuggled closer to Serena, resting her head on her shoulder. She was defeated, which was very clear to see, and it hurt Serena to see her best friend like this. Blair, who was usually so strong and fierce. She made a mental note to either talk to Chuck about it or kill him, depending on how things played out, and how Blair felt in the morning.

Eventually, the brunette was snuggled up in her bed, sleep coming, but her thoughts still racing a million times a minute about her relationship with Chuck. She wanted it to be easier for them, wanted it to stop hurting so much, wanting a happy future or a complete do over. She knew that given their track record, it wasn't going to happen, but Blair just wanted a happy future. Even if it wasn't with Chuck.

"That's exactly what I want" she muttered, not realizing she had spoken aloud. Serena raised her head with a frown, studying Blair from her seat on the end of Blair's bed. She got to her feet, walking around the bed to stand over Blair, a small smile already playing on her lips.

"What do you want B?" Serena whispered, tucking the covers in around the smaller girl. Serena's been in this situation enough times to know how to act, although she's rarely had to do it with Blair. Blair doesn't get drunk and cry and have to be taken home that often. It was always Serena, who was too busy living the high life with her contagious laugh and long legs and golden hair that was taken care of, the one that was tucked into bed at night when she had drunk too much by Blair. But Serena could count the times the roles were reversed on one hand, and she realizes that that only makes the situation all the more upsetting.

"I want" Blair mumbled into her pillow, thinking around in her hazy mind for her wants and her needs. It all got mixed up so long ago, and her drunken state wasn't going to help that. "I want" she repeated, feeling Serena's long fingers brush her hair back "I want to be somewhere else. Anywhere else. I wish I could be in other time or another place, but just not here. And not now."

Serena gave a sad smile, before leaning in and pressing a kiss to her best friend's forehead "We all want that sometimes, Blair. I see you in the morning with a hangover cure. I love you, B."

But Blair had already drifted off to sleep, so Serena left quietly, the click of the door being the loudest sound in the room. Blair slept on, dreaming of a better place without the hurt she felt right now, completely oblivious to what was taking place.

Serena, surprisingly, was right for once in saying that many people wished to be in a different time and a different place at one point or another. But most of the time, people never got that wish. They were forced to face the next day in the same time and in the same place, the hurt still constant in their heart or their head. Granting a wish like that isn't easy, and wish granting isn't the type of thing that is taken lightly. But the universe had hurt Blair enough tonight, and it was decided that she would be one of the lucky few to get that wish.

Be careful what you wish for, B.