Title: Bruised Peonies
Author: fadingtales
Fandom: The Vampire Diaires/Gossip Girl crossover
Ship: Blair Waldorf/Damon Salvatore
Summary: Companion fic to Bloody Roses. Blair Waldorf is done with the fairytale.
A/N: Wow almost two years since I wrote Bloody Roses. This companion fic follows the same dynamic in BR, and it's an alternative ending to GG 5x13. I hope you guys enjoy it.
It's been far too long. They've both gotten caught up with their own lives to talk any more. But when the realization set in, when she finally recognized what a huge colossal mistake she had made, it was him that she thought of first.
She remembers his number like she does the numbers to her safety deposit box or Audrey Hepburn's birthday. It comes so naturally even if she hasn't dialed it in two years.
He picks up on the first ring.
"I need you."
That's all she needs to say. She doesn't wait for an answer. She doesn't need to.
As she's rushing down the stairs into the busy New York City streets, she berates herself for getting herself into this situation to begin with. She's never been the type of girl to need someone to rescue her, but what is she suppose to do? Her heart is hammering in her chest and she's filled with nausea and the suffocating feeling akin to drowning.
She stumbles down the last few steps, the cold city wind chills her in her strapless wedding dress. She clenches her hands into fists and realizes that she's still holding onto her wedding bouquet and quickly tosses them to the floor. The perfect pink peonies that she had spent days hand picking out bruises as they hit the concrete ground.
She looks around for his familiar face in the crowd. Strangers stare back at her, their expressions perplexed. Some recognize her and are already pulling out their phones to snap photos of the notorious newly crowned European princess. And for a moment she thinks he's not coming.
They haven't spoken in so long and why should he care? He has his own problems to deal with and it's not like he owes her anything. And more so than when Louis had told her that it was all a sham and that her marriage was over before it even started, more so than when Chuck ripped out her heart, stomped on it, more so than when Nate chose Serena over her, she felt utterly and completely broken.
As the tears are about to run down her face in the cliché mascara tracks, she sees him.
"Blair… I'm here."
And then suddenly it's like somebody had pulled her out of the water, and she found air in her lungs again.
"I'm sorry I'm late."
He emerges from the darkness in a tuxedo that looks ruffled from his haste. His usually stylishly tousled dark hair looks merely mussed. But otherwise he looks almost exactly as she remembered him. Of course he does. Vampires don't change.
"You're dressed up," she points out breathlessly.
He smiles a little and scratches the back of his head sheepishly.
"I didn't want to miss your wedding."
"You didn't RSVPed," she chastised.
"I wasn't sure you really wanted me there."
"I'm glad you came."
She doesn't explain whether it was to the wedding ceremony or in answer to her spontaneous call.
"You call, I come. I'm easy like that," he answers with his usual smirk.
It's an old line and it's worn with use. She doesn't mind. She misses the familiarity.
"I'll always come for you."
She shakes her head and tries to give him a smile. It doesn't work and she rushes towards him, throws her hands around his neck and buries her face into his shirt so that she can smother the sobs. She hasn't realized how much she had missed him until now.
He pats her hair and holds her. Doesn't say a word, doesn't ask for explanations or any grand confessions or any sort. He just accepted that she needed him and so he had come.
She's as beautiful as she has always been, but he had seen the shadows under her eyes. Witnessed the weariness set into her shoulders. She's not as put together as she'd like everyone to think and he's fine with that. He's no prize himself and maybe that's why they always come back together. Kindred spirits indeed.
After a moment she finally composes herself and pulls away.
"Take me away from here. Please."
He nods and extends his hand out to her. She takes it. Their fingers interlace. He squeezes her hand once reassuringly and brings it to his lips to place a soft, chaste kiss across her knuckles.
"If it's what you want, Blair… I'll take you anywhere."
As he leads her to into the car she thinks to herself, perhaps it all worked out for the best. Maybe all the heartache, all the drama and the messes, it was all to bring her here, to this moment, to this realization. It was like finally waking up and she realizes for the first time that she knows exactly what she wants. No more muddy, clouded feelings, no more doubts and hesitation. It was all crystal clear.
She turns to him when he slides into the driver's side of the car. Smiles, and this time it does reach her eyes.
"Thank you, Damon."
He smiles back and turns the key in the ignition. As they pull away from the curb she watches the buildings flash by and says good-bye to her past, to her regrets and her sorrow. It was time to start anew and she's glad that it was Damon who was beside her.